R.I.P. lain Banks

Sad to hear of the early death of writer Iain Banks.

I discovered his science fiction in particular ... which he wrote under the name Iain M Banks. To be precise I discovered his Culture Series. Grand Space Opera. OK... not always even.... but in these books Banks shows his ironic humour. His is an imagination to savour.

A detail from the series ... the ships' names. The space ships are AI beings and as such they are often characters in their own right with names that reflect their personalities. How can you resist craft with names like "Poke It With A Stick", "Charming But Irrational", "What Are The Civilian Applications?" and "Yawning Angel".....?

For an exhausting and exhaustive list of craft names from the Culture series... click here.

The Wish For A Moth

It's being wonderfully hot and we are given a cracking thunderstorm the other morning. Last night I do go to bed with the window a bit open because of the mugginess. Lie there listening to a recorded book for too long... not very sleepy. Suddenly aware of clatterings going on and look up to watch big blurry things (I got no spectacles on) flapping about the ceiling. Leap out of bed because I decide enough is enough. Put on glasses to discover I have... not moths as I had excitedly hoped... but three crane-flies dancing around the room. Takes me some time to find a method of getting them back out the window... during which time another one popped in to join the fun. Must be some mass emergence on the crane-fly front.

All in all I be thoroughly awake after all that dancing round the room at midnight. Seems like I didn't get back to sleep till after 3 a.m.... still disappointed that I do not get an exciting moth.

So....  I be tired this morning and grumpily go around the garden drawing back the mesh from my vegetable patch. (Necessary barrier against wind, rain, insects... maybe snails and slugs... and most importantly.... night-roaming cats who need to .... use the cats' bathroom that is my garden.) I have forgotten the cut-up T-shirt strips that I use to tie the mesh back for the day. I trudge back to the house and back down to the potato patch. And there it is....

... One huge moth. Like a piece of bark hanging on to the frame. He looks fresh and new and very big. I know it is a hawk moth but not sure which. I drag out The Old Man to get a look. He takes some pictures and is fairly impressed....But the reception temperature drops when I work out that it is as an Eyed Hawk Moth.

You see its caterpillars like to eat apple leaves if they can't get their preferred sallows and willows ... and the potato bed is down near the apple trees. It's not good to get between The Old Man and his beloved fruit crops.

Late afternoon now.... and the moth is where we left it... I'm going to have to leave that potato bed unmeshed tonight... Hope the moth decides to fly when it gets dark.

Animated Discussions: A Softer Touch - "Ernest & Celestine"

Sometimes I like to watch animation of a softer kind. And so it is with hand-drawn "Ernest & Celestine".... a French/Belgian production from the same animation team as the hysterical stop-motion gem "A Town Called Panic". (See my Post about "..Panic..")

"Ernest & Celestine" is based on a Belgian children's book series about a bear (Ernest) and a mouse (Celestine). Never the twain should meet and co-exist but they do... and in this film they fight to stay together despite the horror of their respective communities.

So?  I do like a bit of heart-warming some time.... eh-hem... so what's embarrassing about that?

The screenplay and dialogue is by Daniel Pennac.
Pennac is a French writer that I do already like for his series of off-beat crime thrillers set in the Belleville district of Paris - The Malaussene Saga - which includes (in English translation)... The Scapegoat, The Fairy Gunmother and Write to Kill.
I see there is another book translation available - "Monsieur Malausenne". I'm off to find if I can get hold of that still... tout suite.

Animated Discussions: Ernest & Celestine - Trailer

Animated Discussions: Miyazaki and Giraud (aka Moebius)

Two "Greats" talk and give us an insight into the meeting of the European and the Japanese worlds of imagination and film-making. The late Jean Giraud, French comic book artist and animator  and Hayao Miyazaki.... the "Man" of Japanese anime... discuss the influence of each others work in the (previous post) video.

Animated Discussions: YouTube Interview with Hayao Miyazaki and Jean Giraud (Moebius)

Animated Discussions: Japanese Gods: Hayao Miyazaki & Princess Mononoke

So... I must be passing through a Japanese phase.

I'm listening to a Japanese crime story on my MP3 player.... and the other evening I turn to my comfort food - animation .... in this case "Princess Mononoke" by Hayao Miyazaki.

Released in 1997 it is one of Miyazaki's greats. Gods and men battle for ownership of the land.... or should I say the earth. I like the "foreign" quality of the spirit-world in Japanese anime. Westerners love to make their gods look like human kings and queens. Anime spirits are definitely "other".

I'll leave the critical discussion to this here video clip from New York Times.

Critics' Picks: 'Princess Mononoke' - NYTimes.com/Video