VWF Kick-off Blues: Tuesday, October 21st!

Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals, the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great creative scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned if at all. -Martin Gardner, mathematician and writer (1914-2010) 
 

Up at just before 6:00 am and very happy to note that my "gout" afflicted left foot had improved greatly! Swelling on both big toe and ankle had subsided considerably and I could walk without any noticeable pain. Now begins the painful process of trying to change my dietary habits so that I can minimize or eliminate further attacks! Am to see my doctor later this morning. Funnily enough, if this can be considered "funny", I had, coincidentally, made an appointment for my annual physical a week or so ago. Suppose, if I was to be so stricken, couldn't have happened at a better time. Understand that caffeine and alcohol are contributing factors so am wondering if Life is going to be worth living!

 In part, up to listen to the yesterday's interview with Michelle Eliot, "a CBC journalist and Director of @cbcearlyedition. She reports on commuter issues Tuesdays at 6:50 am 88.1 FM." Never heard it so was wondering if it made the airwaves between 5:30 am-6:00 am, before I tuned in. Sent Michelle a tweet:

Hi Michelle! Great to meet you. Enjoyed interview. Thanks for selfie! Not sure if clip aired this morning. If it did, I missed it! MP3? Thx!

Hi Patrick! Love the Twitter handle! It didn't air this am unfortunately, but will air tomorrow at 7:45 or so.

I'll get a recording of the version that goes on air, with Rick introducing and music etc, and will send you after!

Thanks on both counts! Off to a VWF session shortly, Sebastien De Castell and C.C. Humphreys. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hi all,Here’s our travel…I will come in a couple days earlier, but I booked us all back on Friday the 26th to cut down on border-crossing trips

Ayn – LAX to Bellingham – Saturday, December 20th, 2014 with arrival at 9:42PM
Ayn – Bellingham to LAX – Friday, December 26th, 2014 with departure at 2:45PM
Pierre/Alex - LAX to Bellingham – Monday, December 22th, 2014 with arrival at 8:57PM 
Pierre/Alex - Bellingham to LAX – Friday, December 26th, 2014 with departure at 2:45PM
 

Hard to believe this is only a little more than 8 weeks away J Hope Poppa is feeling better soon xoxo

Hello Tinsel Town! I have penciled you into my day-timer so all I need is to arrange to collect hootch from Katie's Grandmother, in Bellingham, beforehand so I can bring back almost a case over two trips to collect everyone! Must away to session! Love and Fondestos to one and all. Cheers, Papa "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Gout" San!

P, will be at Bart station where and when you suggest. Other plans sound great to me. Would like to be back on the 7th. 6th is okay too. Will check in later today. W

In spite of not making my Early Edition debut, the rest of the day was more than rewarding, from both a literary as well as an a oenological point of view. I had arranged for Michaelo to deliver six bottles of hootch, from cache at their place, to the Multnomah Club to Whirlygig, as both were playing in the Wrightson. Found the muled stash last night, on our patio after I attended My Way:  "Writing in the risk zone of the unconventional often comes with a personal cost—and sometimes results in a great reward. Charles Foran, whose biography of Mordecai Richler won several major awards, rejects convention with his new novel, Planet Lolita, told in the language of social media. For almost 50 pages straight, he writes in pure “net” talk. Karl Ove Knausgaard, after trying for four years, left behind traditional plot and character to say what he really wanted to say, in a raw and unembellished way. The result? (My Struggle) “Like being tumble- dried through another person’s brain,” writes one ecstatic reviewer. Eimear McBride dared to represent experience “at the moment just before language becomes formatted thought.” Her award-winning novel is a staccato stream of consciousness without commas or quotation marks. Unique and provocative, these are pioneers arriving triumphantly in new literary lands."

Session was hosted by Aislinn Hunter, a friend, (a novelist herself), and wonderful moderator. Again, simply fascinating to listen to each of them read and then listen to them discuss the process/motivation, etc., of/for their writing. Had seen Eimear at her previous session at Studio 1398, our bar, and she was absolutely compelling in her reading from A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing. (At 27 she wrote this first novel in just six months yet it took nine years to find a publisher. This year she won the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction!) It was simply fascinating, (She is so articulate!), to hear her talk about how she came  to write what she did.

At 1:00 pm that afternoon I took in Blade Writer: Two BC-based authors who also work as fight choreographers take the stage this afternoon. Sebastien de Castell brings the first of his Greatcoats series to readers with Traitor’s Blade, starring a trio of bodyguards on a mission to foil a conspiracy with nothing but the tattered coats on their backs and the swords in their hands. C.C. Humphreys is no stranger to the art of swordplay, staging fight scenes for Bard on the Beach when he’s not writing historical fiction and fantasy. His novel Shakespeare’s Rebel stars England’s finest swordsman, who is helping playwrightWill Shakespeare mount a new tragedy about a Danish prince.There may be real swordplay, as well as wordplay. En garde! Touché!

Session was nothing short of swashbuckling as the two came onstage and proceeded to have a sword fight! After Sebastien, the "Spaniard", using a rapier and dagger, was dispatched by Chris, the "Englishman", using a broadsword and buckler, they explained their choice of weapons and the historical evolution of same. Then they showed two film clips, first from the Princess Bride and then from The Duellists to demonstrate different fighting styles. Their analysis of weaponry and swordplay was riveting. Both read masterfully from their books and proceeded to explicate the anatomy of the fights described in written form.

The multimedia format of the presentation, from "stage to film to page", as Chris put it, was, simply put, brilliant. Interestingly enough, I learned when I had them sign their books, that Shakespeare's Rebel will be produced at Bard this coming season. 

On my Feedback Form I commented that "the two of them should be sent into the schools of the world, or at least the province!" Their treatment of the subject, bladed weapons, taps into the Western tradition of the martial arts, (as rich as those of the East, according to Sebastien), and manages to link current popular media with drama and reading that can, by its very nature, capture the imaginations, foment the curiosity of all, certainly most levels of school students. Wow! Completely unexpected and unbelievably rewarding. Serendipity at it very best! Thanks VWF! 

Cora Lee was already in bed and I soon joined her, wanting to finish The Confabulist. Did just that and was pleased with the resolution to such an interesting tale. Look forward to chatting to Steven about it as he is also at the VWF and I hope to bump into him along the way. Started in on The Cold Cold Ground, 2012, Book One of The Troubles Trilogy, A Detective Sean Duffy Novel, by Adrian McKinty, and could hardly put it down. What a find, originally made by Cora Lee, via reviews passed along by Robo Man! Read until 12:30 am but had to stop then as I knew it was going to be a busy day on the morrow.