Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:25 PM

Even though I've read other biographies and know how it ends, I still have trouble reading about the death of Christopher Marlowe and the circumstances that led up to it in the months before it happened.

Just watching the events spiralling out of control.

Such a tragic waste...

Puts me in mind of the story of Icarus, for reasons that I can't put in words at this time. [If you're familiar with the biography, maybe you'll understand; if you're not, there's a lot to sum up.] Perhaps someday the muses will give me leave to speak -- I've certainly done enough research on the man and the period, I only need a story to tell and the confidence to write it.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:27 PM

Via fernwithy, 20 Questions to a Better Sense of Humor, a quiz which tries to analyze your sense of humor.

I don't know if I wholly agree with it, but here's what it came up with for me:

Sunny/Dark: 0/10
drY/Gross: 2/10
Traditional/Offbeat: 0/10
Active/Passive: 0/10

You are a SYT--Sunny Dry Traditional. This makes you a Sophisticate.

You like conservative humor --implied rather than explicit, and a well-timed eyebrow raise rather than a punchline. You're exactly the right kind of funny a well-bred hostess would want at her functions. You might be Jewish.

You're not afraid of a risque joke -- you just don't often make them. This means that people may keep it squeaky clean around you, and that when you do work blue it's super too so funny.

You're like Jon Stewart on that fake cover of the public domain Victorian erotica textbook in the back of America. You should get that book. You'll think it's funny as hell.

You might like The Daily Show, Remember Wenn and when Hamlet says, "Do you think I meant country matters?" You would snigger thyself all the way to the buttery bar.

Of the 3627 people who have taken this quiz, 26.6 % are this type.

Your Active humor score of 0/10 means you are too shy shy. Hush hush, hide-away. You could really unload a can of whoop-ass hilarity on anyone -- anyone receptive to humor at all -- but the sneaky thing here is you don't really care. You don't feel the need to be the center of attention, so you hold the big guns in reserve until the right moment. In a world full of people who think they're funnier than they are, you're exactly as funny as you want to be. Um, regardless of whether anybody else ever takes notice.

After you take the quiz, you can see a listing of all the other categories and the distribution among all testtakers to date.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:45 PM

Get a load of the headline to this CNN article:

Poll: Nation split on Bush as uniter or divider

I don't think CNN is known for their irony, which either makes it funnier or more tragic, depending upon your perspective.

From the body of the article:

During the 2000 campaign, Bush promised to be a "uniter, not a divider."
Forty-nine percent of 1,007 adult Americans said in phone interviews they believe Bush is a "uniter," according to the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Wednesday. Another 49 percent called him a "divider," and 2 percent had no opinion.

I don't know about you, but it seems pretty clear to me that if you can't get a majority of people to say you're a uniter, then you almost certainly aren't one...

Added later: Ian says it's not just the inability of a majority to consider him a uniter, but the fact that an equal number explicitly describe him as a divider...

Courtesy of Josh Marshall, who wonders whether Onion staffers infiltrated CNN for that one...

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:15 PM

For no good reason, I checked Google News for recent reviews of The World of Christopher Marlowe. Found two: from the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News.

Both articles begin with Riggs' introductory comments on how little direct documentary evidence exists for the details of Marlowe's life and how much biographers must depend upon supposition. Then the Chronicle immediately steps in it:

We do know that Marlowe was born on Feb. 26, 1564, in Canterbury.

Um. No. Wrong.

We know that Christopher Marlowe was christened on February 26th. That means we also know he must've been born before that date.

Popular reckoning seems to have designated February 6 as Marlowe's birthday (observed) but really, it could've been as early as mid-January.

Regardless, the newspaper's statement about one of the few facts "[w]e do know" about Marlowe is demonstrably false.

I'm such a pain in the ass, sometimes...

Maybe I ought to warn my coworkers that if we release any products with data on Christopher Marlowe, I will be conducting an informal factchecking QA of the information...

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:30 PM

I escaped the worst of the LJ outage by spending the day at ALA Midwinter. By now, almost everybody knows the story and has seen the filk.

But I'm amused at how the ripple effect of disconnectivity led to some of the unforeseen consequences. From Sunday's Leaky Cauldron (emphasis mine):

HP Fanfic a Top Search on YAHOO
Yahoo's BUZZ reported yesterday that Harry Potter fanfic regularly pops up into the top searches list on Yahoo, but on January 14, it spiked 147% (this editor wonders if that was because of LiveJournal being down for much of Friday and Saturday).

I do sympathize. I'm also impressed by the size and persistence of LJ Potter fandom.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:15 PM

So, catching up on my LiveJournal friendslist from the workday and came across two personality tests making the rounds. Cute, though neither should probably be taken seriously.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:10 PM

So, I've resumed reading David Riggs' World of Christopher Marlowe.

And as I wrote earlier, I like David Riggs' writing style. Every now and then, I get gobsmacked by some unexpectedly snarky comment. Two excerpts that cracked me up when I came to them (emphasis added):

Concluding a long paragraph on the career and accomplishments of Thomas Watson:
"The only thing that prevented Watson from becoming a major poet was his lack of talent."

p. 187

"[Thomas] Nashe wanted to show that he and [Robert] Greene were upstanding men of letters rather than popular writers (which is what they were). . ."

p. 226

Doesn't pull his punches much, does he?

Anyway, that's really about as far as I've gotten in reading the book (Right now, Marlowe is 23 years old, and his play Tamburlaine is a massively popular stage sensation).

I am definitely enjoying myself and learning things. It's not the easiest of books to read in places with a lot of distractions: Riggs' prose is clear, but some of the quotations (such as precisely what Nashe is criticizing about Marlowe & Kid) are rather dense and need a few moments to parse.

But, on the whole, amid the vast quantities of Marlowe biographies, I definitely perceive this as cream rising to the top. I expect I'll write a better recommendation after I actually finish.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:15 AM

[Yes, that is spelled correctly!]

I tend to define bookmark as:

noun — something I can slip between the pages of a book to mark my place that (a) won't damage the book by being used in this manner, (b) won't be damaged by being used in this manner, and (c) is conveniently available at whatever moment I happen to need a bookmark.

I rarely spend money on bookmarks, because I so easily misplace them. My most common bookmarks are date due cards, of the kind which libraries so conveniently provide in every book... :)

I often read while eating or walking -- in situations where I don't necessarily have both hands free. I can easily open a book singlehandedly and turn the pages as needed. But removing the bookmark (if you want to hold onto it) and replacing it when you have to stop -- that's not so simple.

On Saturday, Ian and I saw these bookmark-gizmos for sale at the ALA exhibit halls. We looked at the display, and started chatting with the vendor -- a really friendly guy. Then Ian accidentally clocked me while trying to get out of somebody else's way, and that was a convenient excuse for him to purchase one for me.

The BookFlip is a one-handed bookmark!

The BookFlip clips to the spine of a book. When the book is open, a flick of the wrist can remove or replace the bookmark. [It takes a teeny bit of practice, but you pick it up real quick!] While not in use, the ribbon/cord (that otherwise marks your page) hands down the spine.

One warning: the dangling ribbon can be a tempting target for cats. Outside a book, the BookFlip makes a pretty decent cat toy. Boopsie certainly enjoyed herself. But as I was reading on the bed the following day, she spontaneously hopped over to tag the back of the book I was reading. No problem, but a possibility to be aware of.

The vendor and BookFlip website spend a lot of time hyping all the pretty and thematic designs, but for me, I'm just impressed because it's practical and it works.

In short, I really like it. I'm using it. My only problem is deciding in which of the half-dozen or more books I'm currently reading to put my BookFlip. [I know, the vendors' suggested solution would probably be to buy more for all the books I'm reading. But I've only got so much money, and I worry that I'll lose any that I'm not currently using.]

Of course, I've just printed off a thousand promotional bookmarks to sell my Librarian Illuminati wares. So weaning people (even myself) off bookmarks seems like awfully poor timing.

[No, I haven't accepted any money for posting this, though I wouldn't say no to a few more BookFlips :) And I give the BookFlip people permission to quote from this post for their testimonials.]

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:01 PM

Well, my weekly Free Will Astrology horoscope is up:

Is it too late for you to make another New Year's resolution? Not according to my astrological analysis. In fact, I think it's a perfect time to conjure up a few resolutions with financial themes. Try saying this one aloud, Cancerian, and see how it feels: "I resolve to win the lottery this year." Or how about this: "I resolve to find wads of hundred-dollar bills that careless drug dealers have accidentally dropped on the sidewalk." Here's another that might suit you: "I resolve to make a fortune on eBay by selling deeds to real estate on the planet Venus." If none of those feels quite right, try this: "I resolve to spend the coming weeks filling the holes in my understanding about how to generate, save, and invest money."

Call me a dreamer but I have to say that, as unrealistic as they are, I prefer the first three resolutions to the last one.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:40 PM

For those who will be attending Arisia this weekend:

The complete Arisia '05 schedule, in pdf form, is up on the website at http://www.arisia.org/2005/arisia05pp2.pdf. It's 2 MB, a hefty download if you have a slow connection.

[Source]

Ian and I can't make the Friday night programming due to a schedule conflict (something else I've been meaning to blog about in my backlog). So far, I don't see any panels Friday night that I'll be devastated to miss. Many that I'd like to attend, but nothing I feel I must.

Also, for those who were wondering, the Shakespeare panel will be Saturday at 1pm. See any of you there?

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:25 PM

Last year, Arisia held a panel on "Shakespeare and SF," which I attended and blogged.

This year, the precis includes the logical followup:

Shakespeare in Fantasy and Horror
Before Brooks, before Anthony, before Tolkien, there was the Bard. William Shakespeare was not the first to build the genre, but he was the first to make it marketable. This panel takes an in-depth look at the works of William Shakespeare and we reflect on Will's way through the genres of Fantasy and Horror.

I didn't volunteer to be a panelist this year (even though members of last year's panel thought I should). I was hoping to put together a list of Shakespearean fantasy and horror for this year's con, but I'm rapidly running out of time. I've conducted some literature searches, but haven't had the chance to collate and crosscheck them.

But while I may not be able to contribute that, here are a few of my thoughts for discussion:

In brief, I believe that "Shakespeare in Fantasy and Horror" can be divided into several distinguishable groupings:

• Shakespeare as a character within the story. Usually these stories are set in Elizabethan/Jacobean England, but there are stories involving time travel or AIs that also might qualify.
• Stories set within Shakespeare's writings, or using elements from his writings as a major element. How many Romeo & Juliet pastiches have you read?
• Stories using Shakespeare's writings to provide a background or character or a minor plot point. Settings that involve a Faerie-land ruled by Oberon and Titania, for example.
• Stories where Shakespeare's writings are read/performed as a pivotal plotpoint.

Sometimes, multiple aspects can occur in combination, such as within Neil Gaiman's Sandman, which has included stories about Shakespeare and stories involving performances of Shakespeare and used Shakespearean characters and settings and themes.

And then, there may also be minor aspects to all of these; I'm sure there are countless stories where characters see Shakespeare without it making the slightest bit of difference to the story, for example. I don't know if those really need to be included in such a listing.

What do you think? Am I missing anything? Any categories you think should be subdivided for clarity? And would you find a list of any of these types useful? [I could probably do the "Shakespeare as character" most easily, since I can base chunks of it off my Marlowe list.]

Articles: Several years ago, I came across this Locus article on Shakespearean Fantasy by Sophie Masson, that might make a good starting point for discussion. Also, if you have access to College Literature, last month I found a journal article in their latest issue on Shakespeare in Sandman.

Anyway, I don't have much more to write about this at the moment, but I wanted to get this percolating before the con, in case any other panelists or attendees happen to be looking (if so, say hi!)

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:25 PM

My mother phoned me a little while ago. She had some news for me about my best friend from preschool, my across-the-street neighbor, a boy I was so close to we used to pretend to be married (hey, we were 4-5 years old)...

Well, apparently last summer he killed his wife, and then a few months later while on bail awaiting trial, committed suicide.

I'm not going to name names, since it really shouldn't make a difference to anybody reading this here, but needless to say, it's quite a shock.

My family moved away from that neighborhood sometime before I reached first grade. We stayed in occasional touch until my family moved to Florida about five years later. I haven't seen him in well over a decade, but still...

Not something you'd expect.

Once my mother told me, I was able to find news articles on the story via Google and LexisNexis, though I couldn't find any pictures. I'm tempted to dig up my scrapbooks for the old photos of us twenty years ago. It seens so hard to believe.

So how are you?

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:45 AM

...regarding the quanitity and variety of books that I've mentioned in the previous two entries.

That's what I mean by "mental magpie."

Ooh! Shiny new intellectual pursuit! Must feather my nest with it!

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:45 AM

At the end of last year, I didn't have much on my plate reading-wise. I was in the middle of:

• The World of Christopher Marlowe
• Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I've started and stopped several times, but haven't yet gotten immersed in

From the library, I was borrowing:

• The ivory tower and Harry Potter: perspectives on a literary phenomenon: I read the essay (by Nel) for which I checked out the book. I've flipped through the rest of the book, but nothing else has really grabbed me. I expected to return it to the library without reading much further.
• Elizabeth's London: everyday life in Elizabethan London
  This was the third time I've checked this out, and I began to suspect I'd once more return it unread. Just get a load of this excerpt in the first chapter:

  The Thames rises near Kemble in Gloucestershire, and flows for 215 miles through the English countryside until it spreads into a wide estuary and reaaches the sea at Gravesend. The distance from Chelsea to Greenwich is 16 miles, and from Greenwich to Gravesend 20 miles. The river flows at 3 1/2 knots an hour. On its way it gathers silt, which makes its water an opaque grey, very far from a 'clearest crystal flood'. It is tidal as far as Teddington, with high tides twice every 24 hours. The difference in water level between low and high tide can be as much as 25 feed.
  The Lord Mayor had jurisdiction over the whole stretch from Staines to the Medway, dating back to a deal with Richard I, in 1197.

  I'm sure my readers from the UK will find this painfully ignorant, but I don't know precisely where Kemble, Gloucestershire, Gravesend, Chelsea, Greenwich, Teddington, Staines nor Medway are located in relation to London. And she doesn't provide a map. I want to get through this book, but I think I'll have to postpone it until I have the time to stretch out with the book in one hand and a good map of the UK in the other. I get the impression this was first written for a British audience, but if they're going to publish in America, they have to make a few allowances. [Before anyone accuses me of hypocrisy, I'm not talking about textual changes, as in Harry Potter -- just include a frickin' map!]

And I had just purchased:

• Elizabeth Bear's Hammered (Ian's already finished it)

But that wasn't enough, so just before New Year's, I started requesting a pile of likely books from the library, which have all been trickling in:

• The intellectual foundation of information organization: Late December I saw an announcement on LISNews about an online Librarian's Book Club, and this title was January's selection. Since requesting it from the library didn't cost anything, I picked it up several weeks ago, but still haven't even opened it. Given all the other books I've since turned up (the rest of this list), I don't think I'm ever actually going to get to this one.
• Christopher Marlowe: a Renaissance life: I was really impressed by this book when I first read it, but wish to re-examine portions in light of what I'm reading in Riggs. I remember Kuriyama as being very rigorous and detailed, but if it feels too scholarly for typical readers, I may alter my recommended nonfiction in my Marlowe list.
• Christopher Marlowe: a literary life: as I've been searching the academic literature on Marlowe (perk of my new job!), I've noticed Lisa Hopkins has written a number of recent scholarly articles on Marlowe that greatly impressed me. This was her full biography of him, and though it's a bit outdated, I'm curious as to her take on the whole story.
• The English court: from the Wars of the Roses to the Civil War: I'm really only interested in one essay in this anthology: Neil Cuddy's "The Revival of the entourage: the bedchamber of James I, 1603-1625." I don't expect to read the book beyond that.
• Shakespeare on the American Yiddish stage: Just sounds intriguing. I already knew that King Lear was extremely popular in the Yiddish theater ("How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child"), but this book also promises to explore how other plays, including Merchant of Venice wer performed by Jews.
• Tamburlaine must die: new Marlowe fiction! Mind you, the catalog merely shows one copy on order with no indications when it will arrive. I suspect this will just sit on reserve for quite a while, but at least I'm in the queue.

Then, right at New Year's, things got stressful and I wanted comfort reading, so put all of these on hold and instead decided to reread Tamora Pierce's entire series of Tortall novels. I just finished the last book of the third quadrology (quadrilogy?) last night. I think I can skip her Trickster duology, since I last read those only three months ago.

And, of course, I picked up a huge stack of books & ideas at ALA.

So suddenly, I'm facing reader's block: too many choices.

What do I read next?

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:45 PM

So, this past weekend was the ALA Midwinter Meeting. I talked my company into paying for membership to the exhibit hall, ostensibly so I could see the kinds of things our competitors were up to. I'll confess, I primarily wanted it just to browse around, and had the company not paid for it, I would've bought it myself, just for browsing purposes^* (indeed, we did pay for an exhibit hall pass for Ian to accompany me).

At any rate, let me first describe the exhibit halls. Those of you who were at Worldcon: picture the space used for the dealers' room and the nearby space used for exhibits. All of that space was occupied by ALA vendors, plus the equivalent amount of space upstairs. Four times the dealer space of Worldcon.

Now, to be fair, ALA vendors often required much more floorspace than Worldcon vendors. For example, there were a lot of furniture companies with seating and shelves, or tech companies with demo workstations and seating areas for presentations.

But on the whole, most of the floorspace was given over to books, and oh how I enjoyed browsing...

Describing everything I found gets extremely long, so see my supplemental page for all the details, including massive lists of current and upcoming books.

^* By the way, for anybody from the company reading this, I did do what you paid for the pass to accomplish; I just managed to have lots of fun in the process.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:50 PM

Just FYI, between the domain hijacking that afflicted panix.com and other issues, I don't appear to be receiving mail at the moment. The quiet is rather pleasant, but if you need to communicate me, either try other methods or be patient and wait a few days for me to settle everything out.