The Blog of the LCSNA

Burbles

Page 86 of 121

The Blog of the LCSNA

Seek it with thimbles, seek it with care, order it today from Amazon.com!

Posted on

There is Thingumbob shouting! Mahendra Singh’s beautiful new illustrated version of The Hunting of the Snark is being released tomorrow, Tuesday, November 2nd (and we refuse to make any Election Day analogies) from Melville House Publishing. You can still pre-order it today for $10.08 on Amazon with free shipping (where it’s listed as a “graphic novel,” although where is the line between a graphic novel and a book with many, many pictures and conversations?) Singh, an LCSNA member and an editor of the Knight Letter, has been blogging about the creative process of this book for years with tons of sneak-peaks of the art at justtheplaceforasnark.

From Melville House’s blog MobyLives:

In 1879, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson–a.k.a. Lewis Carroll–published the classic “nonsense” poem, The Hunting of the Snark. Though often outshined by Carroll’s prose works like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Snark is beloved by Carroll fans and has been adapted in numerous iterations since it was originally published.

In November, Melville House is publishing the latest iteration, a lovely new graphic novel edition of The Hunting of the Snark, illustrated by the artist Mahendra Singh. (Singh has been blogging about the process of adapting this famous work over at justtheplaceforasnark–I encourage anyone who considers themselves aficionados of Carroll or graphic novels to check it out. His commentary about the process is incredibly fun and often brilliant.)

When you’re publishing something that’s already so well known, there’s no shortage of adaptations and interpretations out there. Each tends to say something not just about the original work, but about the time and place it was adapted. Yesterday I found this wonderful audio clip of Boris Karloff doing a reading of Snark. It’s lovely to hear Karloff’s eloquent rendering, to let it take you back to his time as he ruminates on Carroll’s playful language, and get wrapped up in all the “nonsense”…

Share

Lewis Carroll-themed signs at Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity

Posted on

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s march on Washington, D.C., yesterday, the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, was estimated to be about 250,000 sane people strong (approximately triple the headcount at Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally in August, which yesterday’s event was parodying.) Stewart requested attendees to bring pro-sanity signs, and suggested for example “I Disagree With You, But I’m Pretty Sure You’re Not Hitler” and “I am not afraid of Muslims / Tea Partiers / Socialists / Immigrants / Gun Owners / Gays … But I Am Scared of Spiders.”

The Huffington Post did a nice job supplying slide shows of hundreds of suggestions and photos from the rally yesterday. I just went through them looking for a few good Lewis Carroll-inspired ones:

UPDATE! Here’s two more that another LCSNA member found at BuzzFeed’s 100 Best Signs at the Rally to Restore &c…


Share

New York Times obituary for Hypothesizer of Red Queen Theory

Posted on

The New York Times today is running an obituary under the sing-songy heading “Leigh Van Valen, Evolution Revolutionary, Dies at 76.”

The evolutionary biologist Leigh Van Valen’s eccentricities were legend far beyond the University of Chicago, where brilliant and idiosyncratic professors rule. He named 20 fossil mammals he had discovered after characters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fiction, and his most famous hypothesis — among the most cited in the literature of evolution — was named for the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass.”

[…]

Dr. Van Valen’s metaphor to describe this idea came from the Red Queen in Carroll’s “Looking Glass.” In the book, Alice complains that she is exhausted from running, only to find she is still under the tree where she started.

The Red Queen answers: “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.”

Read the article (including the explanation of the theory, which I ellipsed out of the excerpt) here.

Share

Grin without a cat = great jack-o’-lantern idea

Posted on

I’m slightly daunted by the fact this Cheshire Cat pumpkin stencil is only rated “3/5 Intermediate” by Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils. Look at all those teeth! Upping the ante, the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter stencils (fair likenesses of Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp respectively) are rated “4/5 Challenging.” (Advanced pumpkin carvers seeking the giddy heights of “5/5 Ultimate” may have to turn to either a stencil of Conan the Barbarian lunging with sword, or Mr T point straight at you, as if to say “I want you to pity the fool”.)

A single stencil can be downloaded for $4.95 or you can purchase the full Alice in Wonderland trio for $9.95.

I have a feeling that LCSNA members might not need inspiration either from Tim Burton or from pre-cut stencils in carving their Alice-themed jack-o’-lanterns. Please send us your pictures of any Carrollian cucurbita creations, and we will delight in honoring them on this blog.  Tenniel jack-o’-lanterns will receive an automatic “5/5 Ultimate” rating. Any individual who attempts a Jan Svankmajer jack-o’-lantern will be crowned Jack the Pumpkin King without contest.

Share

“Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter Writing” (for the E-mail Generation)

Posted on

Over at the blog Booktryst: A Nest for Book Letters, Stephen J. Gertz has posted most of the text of Carroll’s pamphlet “Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter Writing,” with some commentary about its relevance 120 years later. The original pamphlet “was very popular, going into five editions 1890-1897.” Mr Gertz says:

The Net has been compromised; it’s lights out for email. Time to get out a piece of stationary, a pen, and write an old-fashioned letter. But how? What’s a 21st century citizen to do? Ask Mr. Dodgson!

[…]

Finally, do not, under any circumstances, use emoticons or texting shorthand to express yourself. Mr. Dodgson would disapprove – in around 800 – 900 words, minimun.

Share

Gathering for Gardner celebrations worldwide on October 21st, coordinated online

Posted on

So far, sixty-six parties have been coordinated around the planet to commemorate the giant Carrollian, Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 – May 22, 2010) on what would have been his 96th birthday, Thursday. The website g4g-com.org (possibly named by Dr. Evil) invites you to join them “in celebrating the life of Martin Gardner by attending or hosting a G4G Celebration of Mind Party.” There are maps to help find you one in your area, and a Twitter account @G4G_Com has a cacophony of tweets about the ever-increasing number of events.

Share

Pre-Raphaelite Society invites monographs for essay prize

Posted on
Alice Liddell by Charles Dodgson

The Pre-Raphaelite Society in the United Kingdom is calling for entries to the John Pickard Essay Prize. Last year’s winner was Anne Anderson, for her essay “The Pre-Raphaelite Lovejoy: Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Charles Augustus Howell, the eponymous ‘dodgy dealer.’”

Alice Liddell by Charles Dodgson

You are invited to enter a monograph of not more than 2000 words for The John Pickard Essay Prize.  The monograph may be on any individual related to the Pre-Raphaelite circle.

The winner will receive £100 prize and publication in the Spring 2011 Review of the Pre-Raphaelite Society and subsequently the essays of runners-up may also be published.  The final decision will be made by the Committee of the Pre-Raphaelite Society.

Entries are to be received by the Editor by 31st  December 2010, and may be emailed to serena@serenatrowbridge.co.uk.

Share

State of the City Address “Aliso is Wonderland”

Posted on
Mayor Phillip Tsunoda, left, and others accompanied by a mad march hatter

Politicians are frequently accused of dwelling in an “Alice in Wonderland world” but few would deliberately claim the address. Not so the mayor of Aliso Viejo in Orange County who declared “Aliso is Wonderland” in his annual State of the City address on Wednesday night. In what the Orange County Register describes as “a big departure from past State of the City speeches,” Mayor Phillip Tsunoda, welcomed City dignitaries and guests before talking with a voiced-over Johnny Depp/Mad Hatter. Guests then posed for pictures with various Wonderland characters.

Mayor Phillip Tsunoda, left, and others accompanied by a mad march hatter. Photo credit: Oliver Yu
Share

Alice eats some more…

Posted on
Sneak peak of Alice Eats, by Pierre Lamielle and Julie van Rosedaal
Sneak peak of Alice Eats, by Pierre Lamielle and Julie van Rosedaal

It looks like there may be another Alice-themed cookbook in the works. Pierre A Lamielle, author of the Gourmand award-winning Kitchen Scraps: A Humorous Illustrated Cookbook, has just mentioned on his blog that he is collaborating with best-selling cookbook author Julie van Rosendaal on a new book, Alice Eats. Once again, this cookbook will follow what seems to be a very tempting format:

This version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland will include the original text laced with story-inspired tea party-themed recipes with step-by-step photos, vibrant illustrations and a nice big Mad Hatter Tea Party section in the middle.

According to the posting, the book is almost finished and they are approaching publishers. There was also a “sneak peak-ture” of one of the illustrations.

Sneak peak of Alice Eats, by Pierre Lamielle and Julie van Rosedaal
Sneak peak of Alice Eats, by Pierre Lamielle and Julie van Rosedaal
Share

101010 = 42

Posted on

Mr. Burstein points out that today is 10/10/10 – and 101010 in binary is 42!

(42, besides being the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything, is also a number that Lewis Carroll hid throughout his books. Most famously, the King of Hearts’ Rule Forty-two is All persons more than a mile high to leave the court.)

Share