Escapism – One Could Do Worse Than Eric Northman

Posted December 17, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries, Stress, Twilight Saga, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A  couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about the lure of mind candy when escapism hits. At around the same time, I wrote a post about reading nine Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood vampire novels in one week.  (This, I should note, was not a week in which I was on vacation sitting reading on a beach.)    Comparing the Sookie Stackhouse vampire novels to the few other vampire novels I’ve read (the Twilight Saga), I said that the Stackhouse books weren’t really such great re-reads because they were mysteries rather than romances.

A couple of weeks, and several re-reads, later, have led me to revise that opinion.  The Sookie Stackhouse books actually are fairly romantic, at least fairly raunchy, and they score quite well on the escapist/obsessive-compulsive/manicD re-reading charts.  (The audible books read with a delightful Southern accent by Johanna Parker, are also pretty helpful for the highly-pressured who eschew medication.)

I also want to revise my previously posted opinion of the character of Eric Northman (noting again that I’ve never seen the True Blood TV series.)  I said in my post that  I thought Eric was too devious to be a romantic hero.  While I think it very unlikely that Sookie ultimately ends up with Eric (because of the whole non-aging, non-childbearing, vampire thing), she could definitely do worse.

Re-reading these books has also led me to wonder what exactly people, escapist people, like about vampire novels.

Of course, there’s the utter (fun) silliness.

Then too, there’s the attraction (for female escapists) of unpopular girls suddenly being swooped up into a world of super-handsome, super-devoted, rich, handsome, strong, protective, males.

But I think what escapists are particularly attracted to is the dominance of compulsion in these books.  The vampires are portrayed as beings who, despite being control freaks, are implacably driven by the rules of their deeper natures–their desire for certain scents of blood; their apathy towards other beings; their inescapable hierarchies.  Anyone in escapist mode finds both these battles with compulsion, and the many guiltless surrenders to it, pretty intriguing.

Secondly, there’s the inner logic.   Once you make the huge leap into the world of all these crazy magical beings, everything else is very rational, ordered, in the books.  Certainly, there is a lot of violence, but it’s never random.  (Books with seemingly random, yet very real violence, like, for example,  Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses¸ only make an escapist feel terrified; as if his or her lack of attention to the details of daily life could lead to some truly disastrous consequence.)

Finally, the dialogue-filled prose forms a comfortable groove in the stressed brain a whole lot faster than something like, let’s say, Heidigger.  This accessibility makes them particularly good for reading on a treadmill, of virtually any kind.

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Go-For-The-Throat December–Getting It All Done Now

Posted December 16, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: New York City, Stress, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The last few years have led me to the conclusion that I should simply find a way to skip fall.   That sounds like a dance or marital arts move – as in “skip jump” or “break-fall”–but what I’m talking about is that breathtaking (in all senses of the word) period from mid-September (beginning from around the time of year that first the World Trade Center, then a few years later, Lehman Brothers, fell) until Christmas.

The very beginning of September is acceptable.  Even pleasant.  It can still get steamily hot, but there’s a halcyon edge to the sunlight.  The sky is more often blue than white; the farmer’s markets smell like apples; if you live in those parts of  New York City where they still have Korean vegetable stands, the sidewalks are laden with chrysanthemums.  Yes, in early September, you have to get the kids back to school, or, if you’re lucky, move them to college.  But, with practice,  you find that either of those goals can be pretty readily accomplished with several rolls of duct tape and a usable credit card.

But once September merges into October, a go-for-the-throat pressure sinks its teeth into New York City life.   By November/early December, this morphs into a go-for-the-jugular stress which makes one  forget how really beautiful the leaves just were.

So much to do.  Right now.

Do people live this way in the rest of the country?   Certainly, they did not in prior history.  They were physically busier—think of the difficulty of having to heat water just to wash clothes.  (Of course, in the City, I have to carry my laundry up and down a few flights of stairs, and used to have to drag it across two courtyards.  Yes, I appreciate that’s not the same as gathering wood.)

And yet, the busy-ness of today’s constant mind gyrations—the nonstop, if often inconsequential, “right-nowness” of a life lived on the computer—has its own wear and tear.  (Presumably, in prior ages people got to sit quietly for at least a little bit, watching the fire heat up their laundry water.)   Of course, people can probably sit quietly now too, even in New York, without multiple Microsoft “windows”, constant channel changing, commercial breaks, cell phones, emails, deadlines, if they have either (i) a large trust fund, and/or (ii) a certain force of will.

Enough whining!  I felt a tide turn today as we crossed the December mid-point, a place  where it suddenly became clear that what “needs” to get done before the end of the year either will (because it’s already almost done), or won’t.

And then, we will enter those freezing days of January, February, March, when everything—buildings, sidewalk, street, sky—becomes so grey that it’s hard, for a time, to measure the progression of the season.  The words “hunker down” will line our turned-up collars, and we will know once again that we are “in it” for the long haul.

Which, from December’s perspective, looks like a great relief.

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The Holiday Spirit – Politeness Rules! (Hmmm….)

Posted December 16, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: New York City
Tags: , , ,

A snarled shout at the door of the subway train from a person keen on politeness–“Say ‘excuse me,’ God damn it!”

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“In the Ukraine”

Posted December 15, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: poetry, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Here is another poem which has the dank feel of early winter.  It was written after reading about Father Desbois, a French Roman Catholic priest, who has worked in the Ukraine to document the murder of Ukranian jews during the Holocaust.  It was brought to mind today by Hanukkah (another shining of light), and the terrible news of a different priest (a Russian Orthodox priest) leading a crowd to attack  a Menorrah in  Moldava, neighbor to the Ukraine.

In the Ukraine (sixty-some years later, still finding)

Reluctant shovels prod earth;
roots grip hard; growth
took well here,  the ground
not trod by paths, boots,
only perhaps by light feet running on a dare,
and the fine dart of swallows,
a swivel of darkness against blue-violet,
evening sky;
the underdirt unfolds in webs
of stems as pale, as green, as bones;
coarse hair that might have grown too, white.
Men pause, leaning against
shovels’ long-grained necks; it feels
like gasoline coming up,
a poison surely
that must come out, that wants to come out,
still burns.
The priest extends his hand, not touching flesh or cloth–
“this was the place?”
His voice reminds them of rock–worn, smooth,
soft, hard, a color that seems to them indeterminate–
at least, they don’t know what it’s called.
Looking down from beneath wool cap, a looser collar
swallows unseen, then digs again.
Too late to bargain.
Yellowed pages rumpled
like the inside of that non-priest’s collar, the returning circle
of neck, have been
produced;  the prints of names
(letters quavering like blades of sea grass)–
the smudged “A” of
“AVRAHAM,” the terminal H of
“DEVORAH”–have been again recorded.
Dark eyes’ insistence
on having once seen, has been seen.
Burns coming up, those digging
want to spit it out
but can’t, not here.

All rights reserved, Karin Gustafson.

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Bill Compton as Vampire Camel

Posted December 14, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Vampire Bill as Camel

Bill Compton as Camel.  I know, it’s weird.

All rights reserved.

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Homemade Presents- Forget the Pomander

Posted December 13, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: parenting, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

As those of you know who read about the “sheep” costume made by/for a young daughter at Halloween, I’m a big believer in home-made celebrations.  It’s fun for kids, a great way to hold out against commercialization, and terrific for grandparents who have pretty much all that they need.

That said, coming up with gifts that can be made by very young children can be difficult.  Of course, there’s always the picture–the child’s painting or drawing which can be framed, or better yet, converted (commercially) into a plate or mug.   (My mother-in-law had a beautiful hors d’oevre plate emblazoned with a vivid shooting scene made by a young grandson, for example.)

But my kids and I tried to come up with things that could be completely made at home.

Our first effort was a set of “pomanders”.  These are those oranges stuck with cloves.  Supposedly, people like to stick them in drawers to make the drawers smell nice (and not just to hide the pomanders.)

Pomanders are not a terribly satisfying gift.  For one thing, they are much harder to make than they look.  This is probably not surprising because they look incredibly unimpressive.

We moved on from pomanders to home-made Christmas ornaments.  Did you know that you can bake playdoh?  You can, but shouldn’t.

If you do not heed this warning (let’s say, because you have no viable sense of smell), you can make some hard-baked cute little blue animals and yellow stars.  Remember to leave holes for strings or ribbons with a scissors point or sharp pencil before baking.

Ornaments made from cardboard, colored foil, and glitter (lots and lots and lots of glitter), instead of playdoh,  might work out better if you ever want to use your oven again.

Speaking of baking, one of our most enterprising home-made gifts was a gingerbread house.   My kids did a few of these at school fairs with graham crakers, canned frosting, and all kinds of gumdrops.   These were pretty artificial constructions, however, built with artificial stuff over milk cartons; strictly inedible.   Finally, we graduated to the real thing.  A gingerbread house baked from dough rolled out into matching rectangles, i.e. walls.

The walls were to be stuck together with sugar glue, not elmers, and, most impressively, were to have stained glass windows, made from powdered hard candy.  (Put the hard candy in plastic wrap and hit it with a hammer.)

The project was both amazingly time-consuming and nervewracking.  A great deal of extra frosting and an unexpected interior wall was needed in the end, as were several books to hold the walls in place until all the sugar and frosting cemented (about twelvehours)

The end result was amazing.  A lit candle could be put inside, and the stained glass windows (not blocked by the unanticipated interior wall) shimmered.  It also, eventually, tasted quite good.  (Gingerbread has a long shelf life.)

As a final note, if you can’t manage a homemade present, kids can at least make wrapping paper.  Potatoes can be carved into great printing tools,  fingerpaint substituting for ink.    (If the potatoes don’t work, “hand” fingerprinted wrapping paper is also pretty terrific.)

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Vampire Elephant Santa

Posted December 12, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: children's illustration, elephants
Tags: , , , , ,

Vampire Elephant Santa with Dog and Igloo

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Observations – Teenage-People, Child-People, Adults

Posted December 12, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: parenting
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Some people are born teenagers.  This is not to say that they don’t age and grey—sometimes with unfortunate clothing and very heavy make-up—but only that they have a certain kind of self-centeredness that focuses their whole lives.  They want what they want with little apology, their sense of entitlement profound enough to smother most glimmerings of guilt.  They can be antic and fun, spoiled and indolent.  They are pretty good at “moving on” from sadness and loss, less good at moving on from a perceived offense; a certain narcissism (which is different from self-confidence) makes the offenses of others feel pretty serious, also making forgiveness come hard.

Some people are born children; usually “good” children.  As good children, they  crave approval so much that the absence of it (a simple silence) can feel like implied castigation.  Child-people want to feel taken care of, by a benign fate as well as a loved one.   (Often, this doesn’t happen; the child-people are concerned enough about pleasing that they tend to do a fair amount of caretaking.)  Even so, always in search of signs of such care, they look for “silver linings,” justifications, explanations, nuance.  They can hardly bear not finding what’s “right” about something wrong, and go through endless convolutions trying to make it right.   This convolution makes it difficult for such child-people to make decisions, an abstract difficulty magnified by the obstacles child-people have identifying their own needs.  A sense of entitlement not natural to them, they need “permission” to satisfy their needs.  Because others may not be paying close attention to these needs  (the teenage-people in their lives, for example), the child-people may have a hard time getting this permission.

Some people are born adults.  They can make thoughtful decisions, understanding the concept of cutting losses.  They are happy to help others, but also understand the airplane rules of the dangling emergency oxygen mask (put your own mask on first.)   They also understand the limitations of help (i.e. that the helpee must be willing and able to be helped.)

Each of these types of people can be happy, indifferent, troubled, content.  (Well, I don’t know about content.)

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Bill Compton, Sookie Stackhouse, Elephants

Posted December 11, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: elephants
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Bill Compton in Sookie Stackhouse's Hair (as Elephants)

I haven’t seen the HBO series, True Blood, so my depiction of Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton is based solely on the Southern Vampire Mystery Series (by Charlaine Harris), plus my own preference for drawing elephants over humans.

For those who haven’t read the books, Bill the side-burned vampire loves to detangle the long blonde hair of Sookie, the cocktail waitress.

(All rights reserved.)

For elephants without fangs, check out 1 Mississippi by Karin Gustafson at Amazon.

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Friday! Canine Christmas Tree

Posted December 11, 2009 by ManicDdaily
Categories: children's illustration, dog
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

This one looks good!

Enjoy the weekend.

PS – If you like elephants as well as dogs, check out 1 Missississippi by Karin Gustafson on Amazon.

All rights reserved.

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