I was going to write in a rather scholarly mode about my visit to the Tarim mummies, but I think all my “scholarly” has been temporarily burned out of me by my intensive month or so of thesis writing. I’ll have to write about that too at some point — what a trip that was!…
Planning a trip down to the LA area this weekend for a potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience. Some of the astonishingly well-preserved Tarim mummies from China will be in a little Santa Ana museum, and considering I mentioned them in my thesis, I am definitely going to see them! To explain my comment about once-in-a-lifetime, I quote…
The other really nice display on a 3-dimensional model was of a 19th-20th century shaman in full regalia. I was inordinately delighted by this (much to the continued amusement of my companions), excitedly pointing out the large, flat, bodhran-like drum (unfortunately unpainted with helpful symbols, which made me wonder if it had actually been used…
We have the same situation of frustratingly half-told stories occurring repeatedly in the Tech’s exhibit. For example, exactly one sentence was dedicated to Genghis’ daughters, stating that one of them led a successful conquest of a particular city. Why wasn’t there more said about her in the signs? We weren’t even given her name! If…
Try any of these books for more on this fascinating and amazing era. The Secret History of the Mongols was written a scant 20 years or so after Genghis’ death, and is startlingly realistic instead of sycophantically complimentary. The author of the other two books is eminently readable and well researched. I especially recommend the…
(Originally posted in June 2005) Well, crudpuppies. I’ve been so head-down in work and thesis writing that I realize I’ve let not one but two posting dates slip by me. I apologize; I’ll try to do better in the future. For now, please enjoy the following book review… while I go back to typing madly…
There were a number of very nice “grace notes” in the story which I rather liked. The panel of Butterfly whispering her safeword, “Jamaica,” to the violent (and bad) dominant — after she’d killed him in self defense — was creepily elegant. I was unsurprised to see archaic crosses on his shirt, in fact; it…
Thinking about it, there are a number of religious themes running through Butterfly’s story, as well as some extremely common (and unfortunate) tropes. The narrator is, of course, raped by her father as a child, then years later has a sexual bondage game go badly wrong, with the strong implication that this is why she…
I’ve been told I tend to ramble quite a bit in my book reviews, and that they’re consequently more interesting… so I thought I’d try doing one as pure train of thought. The “book” in question is the comic book titled “Punisher MAX: Butterfly.” Because this work is train of thought, there will be spoilers…
The closing symphony was by Prokofiev. The music was expertly performed, and it was clear by the end of the piece that the musicians were playing their hearts out and, at its conclusion, exuberant at having successfully performed a passionate and technically difficult performance. Consequently I find myself feeling faintly guilty at not really caring…