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Tuesday, December 24, 2002 |
It doesn't matter how sincere it is, or how heartfelt the spirit, sentiment will not endear it...
Busily doing the holiday thing. It's an annoying obligation to get relatives who don't have lists of things they want, because we all have too much stuff already, and I'd like my contribution to consumerism to be something they at least want, if not need. It's a fun, non-obligation when I get to buy stuff for kids of friends. Their parents never expect it, and, being nice kids, they always pretend they don't expect it either. This year I got to buy August his first pair of walkie-talkies, and being a good honorary Uncle, I got him three pairs of 9V batteries, also, so they'll go on working for a while. His sister is getting a Barbie, though not a yucky one (Nurse Barbie=yucky, Pediatrician Dr. Barbie=not yucky.)I always try to find time to read Terry Pratchett's Hogfather at this time of year, his very funny story of the year that the Hogfather does not appear to fly his hog-born sleigh thru the air on Hogswatchnight, and the children of the world are in danger of waking up to a world without presents and pork products:
"I believe that, over the years, I have been a net exporter of Hogswatchnight presents", said the Dean.
It's hard for me to keep this free of words like "tremedous", "astonishing", and, of course, "not since J. R. R. Tolkien has there been a writer...". I can say that all the books are funny, and all but the first two (which are parodies of the whole Sword and Sorcery genre) have a strong sense of story and character. Pratchett pokes fun at his subjects, but it's just fun: he's got a real affection for his characters, and for humanity in general, and is shows. I can add that, if you meet him at a convention or book reading, he is charming and courteous and patient, much like his friend Neil Gaiman. I'll finish by noting that Hogfather, deserves some kind of double award with Neil Gaiman's Nicholas Was for "Most terrifying use of HO. HO. HO."
