The house smells like garbage
Eleanor and I made a sort of kimchi and tofu stew tonight. Man, does it stink! Kimchi is about the worst-smelling food I’ve ever eaten. It doesn’t taste too bad, though.
We’ve also been listening to the audio book version of the latest Harry Potter book while we work. The reader does a good job; I think he actually improves on certain characters and scenes… but maybe it’s just a failure of imagination on my part. I’ve been listening to a lot of audio books in the last couple months (they’re great to draw to, unless it’s a particularly complicated bit of drawing.)
One I just finished was Jaques Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence. The version we had was only part of the entire book – the part dealing with the 20th century. I thought the first 3/4ths or so were great… a very informative look at the art and culture of the late 1800s forward. But the last part of the book descended into a sort of screed against modernity, the likes of which can be found in a typical Kenneth Smith TCJ essay. He makes the usual mistakes (like comparing the art and philosophy of the aristocracy of the 1800s to the tastes of today’s “common man.”) You’d think a guy so well-read and well-informed would be a little more self-aware.
I actually went to the library and got all the Harry Potter audio books out. They kept me from getting bored while drawing for a little over a month. I got the newest one and listened to it during my drive across the country. It got me all the way into South Dakota. I think I like the audio books better than reading them myself, too.
Incidentally, Jim Dale (the fellow who reads the books for the audio versions) also wrote “Georgie Girl,” which was a big hit for the Seekers back in the late sixties.