sunday before the harvest

We harvested our 1st non-misshapen shiitake mushrooms earlier this week.  THEY WERE DELICIOUS.  Andy noted that they seemed to have a slightly creamy quality to them.  I noted that the wonderful thing about growing mushrooms at home in a box is that there’s no dirt on the gills.

Here’s a photo essay of the mushrooms we harvested on sunday and then on monday.  It’s amazing how quickly the 2nd batch of mushrooms grew once the 1st set of mushrooms were out of the way!

On sunday we harvested the 2 mushrooms growing on the inside of this line of mushrooms.  We chose those 2 largely because, as you can see, the 2nd mushroom is trying to take over everything.  We were vaguely afraid we’d wake up monday morning to a giant mushroom trying to push its way into the bedroom.  At one point the mushroom seemed to double in size over the course of one day.  It was amazing.  It was also delicious.

Sunday: before harvesting.

Sunday: beautiful, dirt-free gills.

Sunday: comparison shot to show how huge the mutant mushroom was.

Sunday: another comparison shot.

Monday: the remaining 2 mushrooms swelled to fill the gaps where their neighbors had been.

Monday: So big in just 24 hours!!

This was loaned to us by a friend who enthused about what a quality film it was. Read more »

This is based on the novel by the same name by Neil Gaiman.  I read the book a few years ago when it was a Mithlond selection and i quite liked it.  We missed the theatrical release of the movie, but based on the strength of our enjoyment of the novel we bought a DVD of the film last year or so.  This viewing was my 2nd time watching it — we popped it in because a visiting friend was in the mood for a movie but wanted something light and happy. Read more »

about

Note: This list was begun in april 2009. I re-post it from time to time so that you can leave comments
in order to make your own suggestions. Otherwise, comment threads on wrdnrd.net close within a month.

When i realized that i was beyond cranky about the quality of discussions of class at WisCon, i decided to start making a list of speculative literature that actually addresses class in some way or another.  This is (to the best of my ability) an annotated list, so you’ll find comments about why a work has been suggested as well as a note (i.e., the italicized information in parentheses) of who suggested it.  Please note that i can’t vouch for every single book on this list — so many books, so little time!

general recommendations

China Miéville has compiled a list of Fifty Fantasy & Science Fiction Works that Socialists Should Read. Maybe not *quite* what you’re looking for *g* but there may be some there to add to your list. (from carenejeans)

novels

Burndive. Lowachee, Karin. (New York: Aspect, 2003.)

Use[s] changing class as part of the plot. (affreca)

Finity’s End. Cherryh, C.J. (New York: Warner, 1997.)

Use[s] changing class as part of the plot. (affreca)

The Kappa Child.  Goto, Hiromi.  (Calgary: Red Deer Press, 2001.)

I really loved The Kappa Child because it’s one of the few times i saw the rural working class / poor depicted in a way that was … real.  (Chris Wrdnrd)

Tales of Neveryon. Delany, Samuel R. (New York: Bantam, 1979.)

Has quite a bit to say about slavery vs court life, powerlessness and power…  (carenejeans)

Slow River. Griffith, Nicola. (New York: Ballantine, 1995.)

(deifire)

series

Gormenghast. Peake, Mervyn.

Was Steerpike challenging the class structure, or was he just “the poster boy for amoral social climbers”? (Chris Wrdnrd & Phredd)

Disc World. Pratchett, Terry.

Terry Pratchett certainly addresses class a LOT in his books. The trajectory of Sam Vimes from drunk to Duke is fascinating (and of course, funny), and pointed observations about class are always, always present in Pratchett’s books. (carenejeans)

Miles Vorkosigan Adventures. Bujold, Lois McMaster.

It’s true she focuses on the upper classes, but she doesn’t ignore the lower ones — for instance, “At the Mountains of Mourning.” (carenejeans)

“Cat” novels. Vinge, Joan.

I can’t think of many sf/f books that deal with class by examining one class. However, quite a few use changing class as part of the plot. The first ones that come to my mind are Joan Vinge’s Cat books, especially in Cat’s Paw. Cat is both limited in his choices by his upbringing, and able to take different paths. (affreca)

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book is the january selection for Mithlond.  In a surprising turn of events, i’ve actually managed to read it — the whole thing! — before the meeting! Read more »

First, an update to an earlier fic & vids post because a link broke:  …on the dance floor, by Sloane.  (This is the “Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor” / “Star Trek” fanvid i keep talking about.)  I still <3 this vid so much.

Fic!  “Apocalypse How?” A Dinosaur Comics fic.  Yes, really.  And it’s good!  Even Andy liked it.

And finally.  Um, okay, this isn’t really a fanvid, but i found it thinky in the same way vids make me thinky because i think it’s transforming, and thus questioning, culture in the same way. This is “He Wolf,” by Andrew Foster, a sophomore at the University of Washington.  Why’d he parody Shakira’s “She Wolf”?

Foster admits he’s not a big Shakira fan. But when he and his friends saw her newest video, they couldn’t stop watching it — or imitating the sexy, oddball dance moves he called “over the top.”

In the 1st place, i wind up liking the parody way better because it’s being ridiculous on purpose instead of merely being ridiculous by accident — is Shakira supposed to be dancing sexfully, or is she twisting around because she’s supposed to be undergoing a transformation into a werewolf, or both?   But in the 2nd place, the parody is interesting because, to quote again from that september 22nd (2009) Seattlepi.com article:

[T]his morning the YouTube community flagged it as inappropriate for audiences under 18, which surprised its creator: If Shakira can do it, why can’t he?

Why, indeed, does a video where a man is gyrating around get flagged as inappropriate for audiences under 18 when the original video of a woman gyrating in exactly the same way does not get flagged?

And while i’m asking questions with no satisfactory answers:  Why does the scene in the original “She Wolf” video where a wolf prowling across the floor becomes a woman prowling across the floor feature a black woman when there are no other obvous women of color in the video anywhere?