Monthly Archives: November 2012

The Invisible Man

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , ,

I’ve just finished listening to the invisible man by H.G. Wells, read by James Adams
I’ve enjoyed some of Wells’ other novels, and was interested in this one. apart from the obvious aspect of his explanation of how the invisible man became invisible, other things I found interesting were:
The implications of being invisible which I had not previously thought of, and which it seems the invisible man had not thought of before either. For example, dirt collecting on his skin is visible, so when his feet get dirty they can be seen. Likewise snow, and rain. When he eats, his food is not invisible until it is digested – ‘assimilated’ in the book, is this trying to sound more scientific, or a nod to Victorian squeamishness about bodily functions? There is also no mention of what happens when he goes to the toilet, presumably urine and faeces would become visible on leaving his body, but this would probably be too much for Victorian sensibilities.
These things are all problems which he has to figure out ways to overcome, and the only way he can be completely invisible is to be naked, which is not necessarily comfortable. He gets cold, and at one point in the book Kemp, who is trying to catch him, hopes for a cold and wet night, since if the invisible man (Griffin) is forced to seek shelter he will be easier to catch. He also can’t eat whilst anybody is watching, since his food would be visible. Even smoking a cigar reveals him, since the smoke swirls around his throat and lungs and can be seen. This would be a cool trick now for the anti-smoking ads on TV, in fact I think I’ve seen something like it. Smoking a cigar in those days was, of course, not the health hazard it is now, or at least was not known to be.
The other thing I found a little difficult to come to terms with was the attitude of the invisible man towards the end of the book, and his reign of terror. Was he a character who would have turned violent anyway, and the stress and despair caused by invisibility just accelerated that change? Or was the change caused entirely by the circumstances he found himself in? This was not really explored in the book I don’t think, and up until that point I was quite disposed to like him. Maybe I missed early pointers towards his character. I might go back and listen to it again and see if I can pick up a bit more.

Still here!

13 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Still here, but not posting much. No particular reason, except that the spring weather has me outside and working in the garden rather than indoors on the computer. This time of year is a busy time in the garden here in Western Australia, with grass to cut, and other general tidying up before the hot weather really hits. Summer is the time when the garden is really almost dormant, as it is in the winter in cold climates, with most plants just surviving the heat and the dry. Some are exceptions, and flourish, but apart from watering and the occasional dead heading I usually leave the garden to its own devices during summer. Watering gets done early in the morning or in the evening, and I go indoors during the heat of the day and sew or write or whatever else takes my fancy. On days when I am not at work that is.

My busy weekend was just that, and I will take photos of the kanzashi I made and post. Since then I’ve also found another tutorial, which I will try (if I can just remember where I found it!), and have said that I will show how to do them at one of our Red Hat meetings next year. Must practice a bit in the meantime.

Last weekend went with the other Red Hatters to the garden of one our our members, which she had opened as a fund raiser. Lovely garden, we’ve been there before, and lovely morning tea too. As usual came home and compared my garden unfavourably, but I will get there one of these days! I bought a couple of plants, one of which I don’t know the name of, and nor did anybody else. Also bought a bag from another Red Hatter which she had made. She had used as fabric all the selvedges cut from her quilting fabric, and it was very effective. Will get the camera out later this week and take pictures of that too.

At writing group one of the members had been to a workshop on ‘zines’ and showed us the results. I had no idea what they were, and Googled a bit, and here they are, the Perth Zine Collective.  I liked the way the paper was folded to make a tiny book out of one page, but whether all zines are like that or not I have no idea, I suspect not. Anyway, I had the idea of making a few to give to other members of the group instead of Christmas cards at our next meeitng, which will be at the beginning of December. I need to dig through my card making supplies to come up with some paper and other suitable decorations.

I also need to make a card to take for ATASDA meeting, and a gift for Red Hat Christmas function, so along with the skirts I still intend to do I shan’t have to look far for something to keep me busy.

 

Prospect of a busy and fulfilling weekend

02 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

This weekend is going to be busy. Writing group tomorrow morning, for which I eventually submitted a very quickly written piece on blogging for the over 50s. Needs a lot more work, which I didn’t have time for, but I might do the work some time and try and find somewhere to submit it. See what comments and feedback from the group first.

Then in the afternoon I am going to a new group, new to me that is, I imagine the others have been going for some time. Having joined ATASDA I am going to a meeting of the West Australian branch. The topic for the afternoon is Kanzashi, which is a Japanese way of making hair ornaments. These particular ones are made of folded fabric to resemble flowers, and I bought some fat quarters in red and purple, thinking that it would be good to have a decoration for a hat or lapel when going to Red Hat functions. I’m looking forward to meeting the other members and having a productive afternoon.

The whole Japanese thing led me to thinking again about the Pattern Magic books, which are Japanese books of clothing designs and instructions on drafting paper patterns. At least I think that’s what they are, I haven’t actually read any of them. I’ve been wondering about buying them, either one or all, but I found two are available through the WA library, so I might try and borrow them first to see if I really would use them. I did once buy a Japanese pattern book, because I’ve always liked the look of their clothes, but the ones in the book I bought were very basic, whereas it’s really the little details I like. Obviously I got the wrong book there.

In the evening going to dinner at a friend’s place, for which I am taking the first course, so have decided to make two different pates. There will only be 4 of us so not too arduous. I plan one smoked salmon one, and the other I found a recipe for is lentil and goat’s cheese. It sounds a bit unusual to say the least, but the recipe book did say it was very tasty, well I guess they’d hardly say it tastes dreadful would they? Have to pick up a few ingredients on my way home from work, and make the pates tonight since there won’t be any time tomorrow. Also have to pack up my sewing stuff to take, and read all the other submissions for the writing group, so I can at least make some informed comments about them. I’m looking forward to the weekend!