Almost nothing in the past four weeks has gone quite as intended, including the weather.
Blogging, especially early silly summer contributions, had been part of the plan, but instead I've been visiting other people, either in town or on line. A handful of the magazines in the growing piles devoted to music, cinema, sci-fi, science and Macs remain unread, but since this is the season of July-August double issues, I can catch up when everybody else goes on vacation.
However, it's been a good time for hacking and chipping away at all sorts of things, ranging from the rest of my life to my poor but spirited computer. Some of this has been legal, but most of it has been "against the rules".
Now that I've updated the reading list on the left, Morbus Iff, self-proclaimed master of disobedience, gets a special mention:
"...besides series editor Rael Dornfest, I believe I've been mentioned or involved in the most O'Reilly Hacks books (...). Seven total. I rule." (at Disobey).
There's evidence of the axiom that modesty got nobody anywhere.
The Kid, meanwhile, has decided that her prowess on the Internet and at school remains insufficient. This afternoon, I frogmarched her from our Parisian village to another very nice one nearby, the "Convention" district of the XVth arrondissement, where we found 'Total Music' (Fr.), a shop where everybody was friendly and Marianne will now buy her first guitar.
She was a little distressed when a customer as helpful as the staff told her that if she wants to learn classical guitar, holding the object of her latest dream the way she was would not be a good place to start. I've never seen John McLaughlin or Paco de Lucia ever lift a leg as high as this kindly fellow's demonstration, but the Kid merely turned pale with fear, practising for the stage fright she'll be feeling if she sticks to her plan to be famous by this time next year.
She was reassured when he added that it wasn't necessary to become a latter-day Jimi Hendrix overnight, but there ensued a great debate about whether she will buy a classical guitar or the folk guitar she really wants. This was made no easier by her determination to believe that every music teacher in Versailles, where she'll be having lessons with a young friend come the autumn, is of necessity an old fart about as revolutionary as the palace. I reminded her that the population of Versailles includes a few more modern minds.
It'll be the folk guitar she really wants.
In our little spare time together, we continue to raid the growing DVD collection, which must stop after Doctor Zhivago gets released cheap later this month, otherwise I'll have no bank account left for anybody to hack.
Marianne doesn't know it yet, but tonight she's in for 'The Color Purple'. This recommendation by she who no longer gets mentioned here filled in a very big hole in my upbringing.
Our big surprise of the week was 'The Mists of Avalon' (Tomatoes). Reviewed as "rotten" by almost everybody referred to on that page, this 2001 retelling of the Arthurian legend from the viewpoint of the ladies (a superb Julianna Marguiles and splendid Angelica Huston and Joan Allen) deserves far better than that and gets it elsewhere on the Net. We should know, since we're both experts in the field.
Anyway, 95 percent of the people can so easily be wrong. Why else does Bill Gates earn a living? As for the Kid, she was so angry at the magical mayhem 'The Mists' made of one of her favourite myths, she's now decided to read the book as well. Me too.
8:34:27 PM link 
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