Thursday 21 August 2014

Rubber Duck Bathtub Blues: Thursday, August 21st!

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day. -AA Milne author (1882-1956)


Hi Glasgow! Trust you received the email from Chloë. Yesterday had longest ride since being home. Out to Iona, via UBC/Marine and back. Stats for ride:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/570051501#

Need to start gearing up my distance as Whirlgig and I are part of Team Jackal, (Charlie's office won five tickets to Whistler Granfondo on September 6th), along with Carlos. As part of route reconnoitre, this coming Monday Giorgio and I will ride up to Squamish to stay overnight with friends, Ruthless and Ricardo. Tuesday we plan to ride to Whistler and back and then stay overnight in Squamish again. Ride back to Vancouver on Wednesday. Not sure if I mentioned that Whirlygig moved to Galiano on July 15th so that has changed many things, obviously. For this "training session" he may well come over on Sunday.


Cora Lee and Ayn are off to Tofino on Friday. They will stay with Grogg/Lurch in Parksville that night and drive to Tofino on Saturday. Ayn was invited by the Vogt family to be part of memorial weekend to scatter the ashes of her uncle, Erich Vogt, along with those of her biological father, John Vogt. Originally, Chloë and I were invited as well but she simply could not take off anymore time from work, having been in Winnipeg for almost two weeks. Then we learned that Cody and Jim would be here as well so decided it was easier to stay here to host guests.

Plan to see Boyhood this evening at Fifth Avenue at 8:50 pm. You are more than welcome to join us should you be interested. In case you don't know anything about it:

"Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, this film is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason, who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. This drama charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years from Coldplay's Yellow to Arcade Fire's Deep Blue. The film is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting. It's impossible not to watch Mason and his family without thinking about our own journey."


By chance, I heard a radio interview, a month or two ago, with actor who plays Mason and have wanted to see film ever since. Was immediately reminded of The Up Series (Seven Up / 7 Plus Seven / 21 Up / 28 Up / 35 Up / 42 Up / 49 Up), although this was a documentary as I'm sure you know. Anyway, perhaps we'll see you at cinema. Cheers, Il Conduttore!


Michael Roesser is having a work anniversary.
2 years this August at AMAG Automobil- und Motoren AG.
Congratulations on your 2nd anniversary, Michael? When are you planning to visit Vancouver? Any Esperanto conventions here? Have you seen Marco lately? Cheers, Patrizzio!
 
Hi Lauren! Trust you are managing. Not sure what you plans are but if you would like to come over this evening, for dinner, or just a drink, depending on your schedule, everyone would be glad to see you. I'll be here over the weekend, as mentioned, so perhaps we could get together then if tonight isn't possible. Anyway, let me know what you think and we'll plan accordingly. Fond regards, Patrizzio!

Hi Tinsel Town! Thanks for enabling! I'm going to take a quick run to Shopper's to see if I can find a battery for one of Nana's cameras. I tried to phone her but iPhone rang in her study!!! Cheers, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Smart Phones!

welcome back,patrick.road rage from a passenger in the front seat is quite unusual.glad you made it back safely and the car held up.enjoy the movie .we are out tonight .sounds very interesting,.yes i thought about the up series also which of course is multi facetted but so interesting as to what life throws at us and how we react/move on.i am up to date with it. chloe is coming over on saturday.take care matt 

Took a quick trip to Squamish with Laura, Ayn and Cora Lee, after they had had lunch at Bridges. I wanted to mule up some hootch and a change of clothes as I knew I wouldn't be able to carry much in my camel pack on Monday. Had a great visit with Little White as Ayn had not seen her in some time. Laura had not met her either. Drive, there and back, was gorgeous but there was a 20 minute wait psoted for Lions gate so we opted for Second Narrows. Even worse but with some creative dipsy-doodling, navigated by Laura who knows North Van well, we managed to finally get home by 6:15 am. Chloë joined us after work and we enjoyed a tasty dinner on patio before strolling up to 5th Avenue Cinemas to see Boyhood. Flamin' joined us so I was surrounded by The Sisterhood! 

From Hans Christian Andersen: European Witness by Paul Binding. Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author who left an indelible mark on Western culture with stories that transcend age and nationality such as "The Ugly Duckling," "The Princess and the Pea," "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Snow Queen," "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "Thumbelina," and "The Little Match Girl." 

His earliest writings were based on stories he heard as a child, but he soon brought the genre to a new level with bold and original stories that he labored over, meticulously constructing each phrase, image and theme. His most famous story, "The Ugly Duckling," while universal in theme, reflected his own struggle to overcome his ungainly looks and humble background. Some scholars believe it was also an expression of his struggle with his homosexuality in an era in which same sex relations were illegal:
"Like 'The Emperor's New Clothes,' 'The Ugly Duckling' has passed into proverb. In its proverbial form its account of an unprepossessing, unsatisfactory member of one species evolving into a beautiful, admired member of another encourages us to expect for ourselves an eventual transformation of situation and self for the better, whatever the restrictions of our early circumstances and the current low opinion of others.

Obviously this is of irresistible appeal to insufficiently appreciated children, and few of us have not at some point seen ourselves in this category. Here is a story which seems to assure us of our right to a future consonant with our instinctive hopes during our unhappy times, and probably exceeding them, while confounding all those fault-finding authority figures who have given up on us or showed us downright hostility. More, it suggests that we will be granted our rights by a natural process..."The widespread love (there is no other word) felt for this story, and from the very first, cannot be explained only by its invitation to respect the once despised artist or its confessed correspondence to a celebrity's (Andersen's) own life. Nor even by its extraordinarily concentrated literary art, endlessly repaying of analytic attention though it is. 

Separation from, and consequent need for fellow spirits -- these are conditions by no means peculiar to practitioners of the arts. All of us know moments of oppressive solitude of the soul. What we want most at such times is the assurance that we are not unique in our emotions, that others have the same yearnings, have suffered similarly. If we only could meet these others -- if not in life, then in art -- we could be comforted, and, above all else, 'The Ugly Duckling' is an instrument of profound comfort. And if we accept homosexuality as a strong component at the very least of Andersen's emotional make-up, then we can see the duckling's journey as one out of the loneliness of mocked heterodoxy to acceptance by those who knew what he was and who felt as he did, or at any rate sympathised with him. Unfortunately Denmark, as the nineteenth century progressed, would deny homosexuals any show of public unity analogous to this convergence of the swans. By the end of the century, like Britain, like Germany, it had made same-sex relations illegal. But the Andersen of 1843 would not have been able to predict this sad subsequent development."
"Many have found it ironical that 'The Ugly Duckling' -- the most constant favourite with the young of all its author's tales -- appeared in Andersen's first book of fairy stories to drop from its title the designation 'for Bern' (for children'): Nye Eventyr, Forste Samling (New Fairy Tales, First Collection 11 November 1843). But this deliberate omission is surely appropriate. ..."
"'The book is selling like hot cakes!' declared Andersen in an 1843 letter translated by historian Maria Tatar. It was shortly after the release of his new collection, which included this popular, heartwarming tale. The similarities between Andersen's life and the ugly duckling are irresistible: Andersen -- gangly, poor, and uneducated -- became a literary star despite the under-estimation he suffered. In a similar fashion, the hatchling is mistaken for a common duck and mistreated before discovering that he is a beautiful swan. 
It took Andersen a year to write 'The Ugly Duckling,' and nineteen years later, he opened up about the process, calling the tale 'the hardest to compose, perhaps because it was the most directly autobiographical.' This classic example of an animal tale also spawned one of Andersen's famous quotes: 'Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg.' In Andersen's day, the definition of artistic genius was shifting and was less bound to class than it had been before. He was part of an exciting new breed, and the tale's inspiring and hopeful message continues to make it one of Andersen's most beloved stories to this day. ...
Hans Christian Andersen: European Witness, Paul Binding, Yale University Press, 2014

 


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