Marian Womack, Memoria de la nieve (2011)

On the train back from Zaragoza, I finished Marian's novel. Of course I have read it before, in various drafts and earlier versions, but I hadn't seen the finished article until now. It is really, really good: the structure is fascinating and everything fits together in a completely convincing and intriguing way. Stories end and then pick up on themselves again, but everything is held together by repeated images, ideas, lines. It's like a book-length poem, and I am very proud.

Werner Herzog reads Where's Wally?

Zaragoza!

Zaragoza, where we presented the publishing house this weekend, is a pleasant provincial town. No one seems to have informed the builders of the train station of this fact. This is the old train station. The building behind it is the new train station, or, as I like to call it, the seat of the regional party congress. It really would be a great location to shoot a science fiction film.

Them! (dir. Gordon Douglas, 1954)

Speaking of which...

Radiation

No indication here of the amount of radiation required to make ants grow fifty foot long and start eating innocent passers-by.

Viral Publicity

We took Marian's novel for a walk today.

Cat on a Smooth Wood Floor

We have not bought another cat. This is Sheldon, who owns two friends of ours. He weighs eight and a half kilos and is menacing.

Friends

In the same bar as the previous post, with our friends Eva and Joe. Picture of Marian and Eva by James; picture of Joe and James by Eva.

Self-Portrait in a Convex Lampshade

Michel Simon (1895-1975)

One of the great faces. More info here.

L'Atalante (dir. Jean Vigo, 1934)

Yevgeny Anatolevich Popov (1946- )

More info (in Russian) here.

Christa Wolf (1929- )

Today's favourite divisive figure. More info here.

Barbara "Babe" Cushing Mortimer Paley (1915-1978)

Marilyn: You know so many women. Who's the most attractive woman you know?
TC: No contest. Barbara Paley. Hands down.
Truman Capote, 'A Beautiful Child' from Portraits and Observations (2007). More info on the most elegant Babe Paley here.

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917-1993)

Lessening the pain of an afternoon spent preparing a class on dour capitalist Adam Smith by revisiting Jambo Caribe (1964). Remember that, BR"L"W? More info here.

Current Favourite Soft Drink

Kas Bitter tastes of slightly sweetened earwax. Here's the Wikipedia page on the whole gamut of Kas drinks. I like the fact that one is advertised as being greenish-yellow. Mmm, more greenish-yellow please, barkeep!