In Kansas City With My Favourite Tattoo
On Tuesday, northern Norway experienced a strange light show. No, the photo you see on your left is not a Photoshopped image. It is the real deal. But what caused this bizarre phenomenon? Bad Astronomy can tell you (incidentally, if you are not following the Bad Astronomy blog, do so! It is great).
All that aside, my first reaction was: "Oh my giddy aunt, northern Norway? Philip Pullman got it right!" This reaction was quickly followed by: "Northern Norway? Wonder if there is a Bad Wolf Bay close by..? Oh no, not Rose again?!" And then I realised that maybe I am a bit of a geek after all..
Speaking of which, we watched Duncan Jones' Moon the other night. I enjoyed it, although it did not move me (but I do not think the film intended to move me and I appreciate that). A man stuck on a lunar mining base with a three-year contract about to run out, a robot to keep him company and an unreliable video link to Earth. Space is not a brilliant, adventurous place. It is lonely, cold and remote and it forces people to address questions about human identity, the frailty of memory, and the relationships between Man and Machine. Maybe this sounds dry, but Moon is a good film. Recommended.
And the other side of my geekiness: literature. This photoblog of literary tattoos has me wishing I wasn't so scared of needles, because, seriously, there are some really amazing tats there. One of my favourite songs of this past decade (and just maybe of all-time) is about a literary tattoo: The Lucksmiths' "Fiction"(youtube link)
Oh, and the new Drops Summer Collection has just been unveiled. Voting decides which ones will be given full translation priority, but I just enjoy looking at the patterns. A few look interesting, but, really I'm not that bowled over. Perhaps it's because it's not even Christmas yet and they are talking about summer designs?!
December 10th, 2009 - 14:48
Funny, this was taken close to my hometown. If I still lived there I would have seen this live – it must have been quite spectacular. I haven`t read Philip Pullman unfortunately (but laughed a lot when I read in Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy about the designing of norwegian fjords).
December 10th, 2009 - 15:05
I haven’t read Hitchhiker’s Guide in *years* – and I can’t remember the fjord comment. what was it?
December 10th, 2009 - 15:11
Oh, Contrariwise is one of my favourite photologs. I found it when they linked my literary tattoo and immediately added it to my feed reader!
And that light show is wow!
December 10th, 2009 - 15:15
Meg, you’re an internet celeb! More seriously, I really do like your tattoo. As you may know, I’m not a big Gaiman fan, but i can definitely appreciate people connecting with words and sentences gaining personal significance.
I sometimes wish I weren’t so afraid of needles and that I were more of a tattoo-kind of person because I certainly have words and sentences that I would want to carry with me at all times.
December 11th, 2009 - 08:36
On geekiness, tattoo art and knitting: Have you seen the Ravelry group with knitting tattoos?
December 11th, 2009 - 14:22
Karie, hee! I know! It’s slightly disconcerting when it turns up on Neil’s twitter etc. My arm is famous on the internets! aaah! My other tattoo is sort of literary as well – it’s part of a panel from bird and moon (birdandmoon.com) and I want to get a matching Sandman quote on the other arm, once i work out how to arrange it so it fits.
I’ve been very glad that I’ve got it done, tbh. I thought about a lot of tattos for a long while and I don’t have them but that one was a quick decision and I’ve never regretted it. Even if people do keep asking if it washes off. (“Yeah! I write it on again every day!”)
December 15th, 2009 - 12:02
About designing fjords in Hitchhiker`s guide:
Slartibartfast is a Magrathean, and a designer of planets. His favourite part of the job was creating coastlines, the most notable of which were the fjords found on the coast of Norway on planet Earth, for which he won an award. While Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect were on ancient Earth, they saw Slartibartfast’s signature deep inside a glacier in ancient Norway.
(From Wikipedia)