Favorite book roundup
Link Get a Hobby!: 101 All-Consuming Diversions for Any Lifestyle, by Tina Barseghian.
I like to dabble with things I know nothing about, and Get a Hobby! is full of ideas I've never considered. African violet cultivation, ant farming, balloon twisting, beekeeping, bell ringing, bike customizing, bonsai, coffee roasting, composting, deejaying, docenting, dumpster diving, falconry, gilding, ikebana, mushroom hunting, seed trading, topiary, treasure hunting, and whittling are just a few of the hobbies Barseghian covers.
Only two pages are devoted to each hobby, so this shouldn't be considered an in-depth how-to guide. It's more of an introduction to the hobbies, with pointers to resources and an occasional sample project.
A Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My
, by Tove Jansson
I don't know how this book ended up on my shelf. It just appeared one day when I was looking for something to read to my 4-year-old daughter. It's an English translation of an odyssey undertaken by a hippo-like creature named Moomin and two girls, Mymble and Little My. The art is a strange delight and the pages have holes cut in them to add a nonlinear twist to the story. Whoever gave me this book -- thank you!
Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters: Defending the Earth with Ultraman and Godzilla, by August Ragone
Eiji Tsuburaya the Japanese special effects director for the classic Japanese monster movies like Godzilla, Ultraman. This biographyis packed with hundreds of photos, film stills, and concept drawings. This hardcover edition is beautifully designed. I'm not a huge fan of Japanese monster movies, but this book might turn me into one.
The Subgenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon, edited by Rev. Ivan Stang
Peter Lamborn Wilson (aka Hakim Bey) once told me that the Church of the SubGenius was not a joke. I agree. It's the only religion I can take seriously. There are deep truths buried in the pages of this zine-like book of high-weirdness, false conspiracies, idiot synchronicities, and tales of the mystic supersalesman, J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. SubGenius ministers include: Pee-wee Herman, David Byrne, Mark Mothersbaugh, Penn Jillette, Robert Anton Wilson, Rudy Rucker, John Shirley, and me.
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Moomins aren't hippos, they're Moomins. I know this from many happy hours watching The Moomins cartoons when I was younger :)
Moomin is most definitely not a hippo - he is a troll. You have a lot to look forward to when your daughter is old enough to enjoy the regular storybooks of his adventures.
It's not that the Church of the SubGenius isn't a joke. It is, and I think that's pretty obvious to anyone who spends even 10 seconds flipping through that book. It's that all the other religions are a joke--a big, stupid, sick joke--and they just won't admit it.
Well, in the immortal words of our savior J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, "F*ck 'em if they can't take a joke!"
Bob Dobbs is but a minor deity compared to our lady Eris! All hail!
The Moomin books are awesome. Hunt them all out for your kids, and you'll enjoy them for yourself.
"Finn Family Moomintroll" by Tove Jannsen, is a series of childrens books I read as a child in the 70s, although I think they are much older than that. Wonderful stuff, dark and fun and very different from most childrens books. Highly recommended.
I'm going to have to side with Mark on this one, ShortFatSteve. The Subgenii have gone so far up their own asses to dig up bullshit that they managed to come out the other ends with truth. Pretty much all other organized religions go in and stay in. I once wrote a paper on what have been termed "neophilic irreligions," more or less meaning any organization that mimics the structure and activities of actual religions but eschewing dogma; the Subgenii would seem to be the most successful example thereof.
I picked up The Bobliographon last month at the Subgenius Mid-Atlantic Devival in Baltimore and have still barely scratched the surface. I do think I preferred the slightly junkier look of Revelation X over the slicker graphics and layout of this one (I also missed so many illustrations by indie cartoonists like Paul Mavrides and Hal Robins), but I'm sure whenever they put out their next major tome I'll be pining for the simple days of 2007 and this book.
Any time my laughter prompts someone to say, "Oh, you think I'm kidding?" I always respond "No; I just think it's funny!"
Just chiming in to agree with all the other commenters recommending that you check out the other Moomin books. They're wonderfully illustrated by the author herself, and very philosophical, considering they're meant for children. My and Mymble aren't girls, either. They're trolls, just like Moomin and all the other creatures in the books. :D
Mmmm nostalgia.
Let me add another vote for the Moomintroll series. I absolutely loved them when I was a small kid. Adventures, magic, comets attacking the Earth; what more could you want?
Re: cefeida; Mymble and Little My are Mymbles, not trolls; Mymble is the mother of Little My (who I used to have a mortal fear of from the very freaky fuzzy felt puppet series).
The moomin series are childrens' books as they should be: Tove Jansson clearly didn't believe that children are stupid.
Where have you been to have only just found the Moomin family? I guess that the answer is that if you're of an age to have a four-year-old daughter then you missed out because of the generation gap that exists in the literature that children read -- or have read to them.
Wikipedia has a good entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moomins