happy halloween

Happy Halloween

- Sam the Polar Bear

austen, byatt, and eckhart tolle

I thought I'd jot (type?) down some thoughts regarding some books I finished recently.

As a Jane Austen fan, I'm embarrassed to admit that I never read Persuasion until last month. I really enjoyed this book (much better than Mansfield Park), although I couldn't help being reminded that Jane Austen tends to use the same themes and character types in her novels. Sir Walter Elliot as the silly and ridiculous parent = Mrs. Bennett (Pride and Prejudice). Anne as the demure and sensible heroine = a mixture of Fanny (Mansfield Park) and Jane (P&P). Mr. Walter Elliot is exposed to be a man whose character is less-than-admirable, which = Mr. Wickham (P&P), Mr. Willoughby (Sense and Sensibility), and perhaps Mr. Crawford (Mansfield Park) too. And Lady Russell seems like a combination of Mrs. Weston (Emma) with a little of Lady Catherine De Bourgh's (P&P) pride.

I thought it was interesting to see Austen's own feminist sentiment reveal itself at the end of the novel. Anne and Captain Harville are debating whether men or women have the capacity to truly fall in love. Harville comments that all prose and poetry contain references to women being fickle, but then recognizes that these were all written by men. Anne agrees, "Yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have had advantage to us in telling their own story...the pen has been in their hands." I think that Austen was expressing her own frustration as a female writer through this conversation.

I don't think I would have read A New Earth on my own volition, but this was the book chosen for my book club. It took a while for me to get into this book, perhaps because I felt that Tolle's writing was sometimes laced with a slightly condescending tone. I did think he had some interesting points, though. For example, he argued that people get attached to material possessions because they project part of their personality or image onto those things. For example, I am attached to a really cute red purse. According to Tolle (and I agree with him), I am attached to this purse because I think it's cute, and thereby I consider myself to be cute when I'm using the purse. This point made me rethink my attachment to material goods - including all of my purses and shoes! There were several other interesting points in this book, but I don't know if I would ever read it again or recommend it to someone else.

I really enjoyed Byatt's Possession a lot, although a handful of things bothered me. This book is about two scholars of 19th century poetry who stumble upon love letters between two poets. One of these scholars, Maud Bailey, is a feminist professor who is a specialist of the poet Christabel La Motte. Roland Mitchell is the other scholar, who specializes in the poetry of Randolph Henry Ash. The book follows the discovery and research regarding these found letters, and it's absolutely fascinating. In regards to the unfolding of plot, climax, and resolution, I think this is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. Plus, the past year and a half of my life has been spent doing intensive research for my thesis, and I get excited when others make exciting discoveries in their research.

I really loved the last chapter of the book, but I had one issue with the second to last chapter (which involves most of the resolution of the plot). The two scholars, Roland and Maud, have begun to form an attachment to each other. In this chapter they are deciding what to do about their relationship, now that their adventure is ending. Roland says, "I'll take care of you, Maud." And, basically, that's the end of their story. I was kind of mad - doesn't Roland know that that phrase ("I'll take care of you") is the absolute last thing that a feminist scholar would like to hear a male say? I kept on reading, hoping that Maud would get mad too, but nothing else is written. Perhaps Maud wasn't the true feminist that her character seemed to be during the previous 400 pages?

Next books on the reading docket: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
The Genius in the Design: Bernini, Borromini, and the Rivalry that Transformed Rome by Jake Morrissey.
Mila 18 by Leon Uris (I know nothing about this book - it's this month's choice for book club).
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Douglass' famous autobiography).

the whipping boy

Does anyone remember the children's book The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman? With Jemmy and Price Brat? I loved that book growing up. Even today, when I cook with too much garlic, I think of Hold-Your-Nose-Billy.

Maybe because I loved The Whipping Boy so much when I was little, I especially like these Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis clips from the Colgate Comedy Hour. This is the perfect premise for a Martin and Lewis sketch - Prince Dean has all of the fun while whipping boy Jerry gets beat up. I especially love Jerry's mock praises and insults. I cracked up when he said to the guards (with metallic hats), "A plague on thee, a plague on thee, thou father of a nail file!"

all hail the Magic Pumpkin Sleeper

So, for all of Sam's four-month-old-life, he has hated to have "tummy time." As loving parents, we still force him to lie on his stomach for a little while each day, and just bear with his crying and exasperated looks which seem to say, "Hey, aren't you going to help me out here and flip me over? Don't you know that I'm hating this?"

That is, Sam has hated tummy time until we dressed him in the magic pumpkin sleeper. Our Aunt Susie mailed Sam this Halloween-themed sleeper, which he has been faithfully wearing this whole month. And when he wears this sleeper, he likes tummy time. In fact, he liked it so much last week that he fell asleep promptly after I laid him on his stomach for the obligatory exercise time. I was baffled. It was magical. There was no swaddling + rocking + shhh-ing + roaring white noise + nursing + bouncing for fifteen minutes to get Sam to sleep. And he was on his stomach. I know you're not supposed to let babies sleep on their stomachs anymore, but I had to let Sam snooze while I took pictures of him in his magic pumpkin sleeper.

Maybe Sam liked sleeping on his stomach because he could show off his cute pumpkin bottom?

Last night, for the second time ever, Sam slept through the night. He was wearing his magic pumpkin sleeper. Finally, at 6:30 a.m. I woke him up (I was about to explode with milk), nursed him, and he fell asleep soon after. And he's still asleep now - and still wearing his sleeper. Coincidence? I think not. Magic? Definitely.

Everyone needs an Aunt Susie who can give their kids magic pumpkin sleepers.

for joanna and katie

Two of my best friends from high school, Joanna and Katie, gave Sam cute outfits that he is now big enough to wear. Since both Joanna and Katie live far away (one lives a sixteen-hour drive away and one is a ten-hour flight away), I thought I would post pictures of Sam in his cute outfits for them to see. Thanks, friends, for being so thoughtful. It hasn't been cold enough for Sam to wear his hat or mittens yet, Katie, but I'll send you a picture when he starts to wear those.

"SMALL BUT INTELLIGENT"

up in arms

After posting this morning about The Inspector General, I was reminded of another great Danny Kaye movie, Up in Arms. This is a really entertaining film. Danny Kaye plays a hypochondriac who ends up getting drafted in the army. I remember watching this film a lot in high school. My mom thinks that my best friend Katie looks like co-star Dinah Shore. Maybe she does a little bit.

Before going into the army, Danny Kaye goes out on a double date with his friend. As the group stands in line, waiting to get into a movie theater, Danny Kaye sings a song about how all movie "pictures" are alike. I love the timbre of his voice when he mimics the chorus girls. (Sorry about the Spanish subtitles. This is the only clip I could find online).



One of the other scenes I love is when Danny is in the army. He is trying to listen to a recording that he made in a recording booth before getting enlisted - but he has to sneakily use the record player of another bunkmate. When the bunkmate walks in the room, Danny Kaye lip syncs to the record to he won't get caught. This scene starts at about 2:12 on the clip. I love when he forgets to lip sync one of the dog barks, and he just kinda shrugs it off.

the inspector general

Like Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye is one of my favorite comedians from the early film era. I can't even count how many times I've seen The Court Jester. I think that Danny Kaye is so endearing - even though I agree with critics that he uses his hands too much when he sings. He is especially good at singing tongue-twisting lyrics. Quite impressive.

One of the first Danny Kaye films that my mom bought for our family was The Inspector General (1949). It is about an illiterate stooge who is mistaken by corrupt town officials for being an inspector general. In this clip, Danny Kaye has decided to pretend that he actually is the inspector general, in an attempt to help the town get back some of the money that was stolen by the corrupt administration. During this song, Kaye imagines different personality traits that an inspector general might possess. Although this isn't the most hilarious Danny Kaye clip, it's quite fun. I watched this film so many times growing up that I have this whole song memorized. Unfortunately, the end of the song (which is quite funny!) is cut off in the clip. You'll just have to watch the whole film to see it.



This second clip is also quite fun. Here, the corrupt town officials have placed poison in Danny Kaye's drink, and they are waiting during this whole "drinking song" for him to take a sip. I think it's so funny to see the man joining in with the ladies (in the group assigned to say "ha ha ha!"). I also love when Danny Kaye stands up on the piano and puts his hands out like a little ballerina before he jumps. He hee!



If you love other Danny Kaye movies like White Christmas or Hans Christian Andersen, I think you should see The Inspector General.

four months old

Just over the past week or so, Sam has developed the funny habit of pulling his clothes up to his face and examining the patterns and colors- but this only happens when I lie him down to change his diaper. He often will stare at his clothes during most of the diapering process. Perhaps looking at patterns and colors is the baby equivalent for reading material in the bathroom?

"mom bottom"

I can't tell how many times I've teased J that I need to start wearing "mom jeans" since I'm now a mother. For anyone else who's paranoid about getting a postpartum "mom bottom," you will especially appreciate this.

sam silliness

Sam insisted on wearing a matching outfit with J this morning. Can you tell them apart?

This is the first time Sam got to ride in his stroller facing forwards. He wasn't quite sure if he liked it...

...and then he decided that he did like it!

Sam the cowboy. Does this hat look familiar, Zillah?

Sam the bear. He's all ready for fall with his bear jacket.

Sam's political persuasions

Tummy time

cuzzin time

These pictures are too cute. We got to visit with N, SJ and Norah tonight. Here are two pictures of the cousins - it's crazy to see how much to two of them have grown since our trip to Seattle.

We have obviously taken too many pictures of Sam - he is quite apathetic towards the camera. Norah, on the other hand, seems to be wondering why I'm keeping her from her nap...