Well, Slap My Thigh...

Went all the way to Birmingham yesterday to see John Barrowman in pantomime (Robin Hood). I'm a sucker for a good panto anyway and this was truly, gloriously silly. Barrowman is such a ham, he's perfect. (And the rest of the cast were also excellent.) Plenty if innuendo, lots of good singing, some very decent dancing and a bit of ice skating, too.

The whole thing was so good humoured; I haven't laughed so much in a long time. Well worth travelling from Huddersfield to Birmingam in cold January.

Americans, it has nothing to do with mime artists. If you don't grok pantomime look here.

Well, Slap My Thigh...

Went all the way to Birmingham yesterday to see John Barrowman in pantomime (Robin Hood). I'm a sucker for a good panto anyway and this was truly, gloriously silly. Barrowman is such a ham, he's perfect. (And the rest of the cast were also excellent.) Plenty if innuendo, lots of good singing, some very decent dancing and a bit of ice skating, too.

The whole thing was so good humoured; I haven't laughed so much in a long time. Well worth travelling from Huddersfield to Birmingam in cold January.

Americans, it has nothing to do with mime artists. If you don't grok pantomime look here.

Book Log 10/2009 - Passage - Sharing Knife #3

Lois McMaster Bujold: Passage - The Sharing Knife #3

The third adventure for Dag and Fawn in the Sharing Knife sequence. Like the other two this doesn’t rocket along, but it’s rich in detail and character development and has a lot of charm. Dag, a Lakewalker, and Fawn, a farmer, marry against the will of both their families. Eventually Fawn’s farming family sees sense, but the Lakewalkers are so intransigent in their refusal to accept Fawn that Dag resigns as a patroller and leaves his kinfolk and his dangerous life hunting killing supernatural ‘malices’ in order to seek a way of bringing farmer and Lakewalker together by fostering some mutual understanding. He’s also developing his talent for healing – an ability to manipulate life energy known to the Lakewalkers as ‘grounds’.

Dag’s intent is to take Fawn to see the distant sea, but on the way he collects a ragtag group of farmers and Lakewalker misfits who unite into their own little family aboard a flatboat on their way downriver.

There’s a menace to be fought and conquered but that’s not really what this book’s about, it’s about Dag’s search of a way for Lakewalker and farmer to interact and his personal quest to understand and learn to use his own newly emerging healing powers.

Book four is out in hardback but it may be a year before I get to see it in paperback. Can I wait that long?

Book Log 10/2009 - Passage - Sharing Knife #3

Lois McMaster Bujold: Passage - The Sharing Knife #3

The third adventure for Dag and Fawn in the Sharing Knife sequence. Like the other two this doesn’t rocket along, but it’s rich in detail and character development and has a lot of charm. Dag, a Lakewalker, and Fawn, a farmer, marry against the will of both their families. Eventually Fawn’s farming family sees sense, but the Lakewalkers are so intransigent in their refusal to accept Fawn that Dag resigns as a patroller and leaves his kinfolk and his dangerous life hunting killing supernatural ‘malices’ in order to seek a way of bringing farmer and Lakewalker together by fostering some mutual understanding. He’s also developing his talent for healing – an ability to manipulate life energy known to the Lakewalkers as ‘grounds’.

Dag’s intent is to take Fawn to see the distant sea, but on the way he collects a ragtag group of farmers and Lakewalker misfits who unite into their own little family aboard a flatboat on their way downriver.

There’s a menace to be fought and conquered but that’s not really what this book’s about, it’s about Dag’s search of a way for Lakewalker and farmer to interact and his personal quest to understand and learn to use his own newly emerging healing powers.

Book four is out in hardback but it may be a year before I get to see it in paperback. Can I wait that long?