Maurice Sendak and The Best Childhood Books Ever

R.I.P. Maurice Sendak, the author of the wonderfully inspirational "Where The Wild Things Are", one of my favourite childhood books.  Why was it so great?  Perhaps it was the illustrations, widely challenged as being "too scary".  Pish tosh.  I thought they were amazing.  I loved the way he embraced the forbidden and frightening and made it into something quite beautiful.  Perhaps it was the way we as children could all relate to Max, the alienated kid with a longing for adventure, friendship and greatness. 

I also loved "In The Night Kitchen", which was met with horror for the terrifying illustrations of....  a little boy happily flying around naked.  Big deal.  Again, I thought this book was wonderfully imaginative and not offensive in the least, especially not to children. I was more interested in the food aspect of the book, the baking, the kneading, and how Mickey becomes part of the food, at least for a time.  We need more authors like Maurice Sendak and he will be sorely missed by those who grew up with his books and for those just discovering his works.

Maurice Sendak lamented the declining standard of children's books in recent times.  However the wonderful thing about books is that you can track them down and children of today can discover these books all over again.  Here is a brief list of my favourite books from childhood:

"Petronella" - Jay Williams
My favourite fairy tale of all time.  It's a pity I couldn't find the one with the illustrations by Friso Henstra that I remember.  This is the original cover in all its glory:

Petronella was the youngest of three who sets out to seek her fortune.  She rescues a prince and has wonderful adventures.  There is a clever twist and Petronella must use her mind to help her in her quest.  I can't speak highly enough of this book.  It's just brilliant.  Jay Williams apparently wrote this book as a response to his daughter who wanted to read a book about a princess who actually does something (other than stand in a tower and look pretty)!  The result is an empowering, thought provoking read that kids will love.


"Tintin" - Herge



Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock. Professor Calculus, the Thomson Twins. I can't think of better companions for a bookish kid with a big imagination. I especially loved Captain Haddock. He is a classic character and still makes me laugh out loud! Red Rackham's Treasure, Prisoners of the Sun, Explorers on the Moon - there isn't a place where Tintin fears to venture. The mild-mannered reporter, the crazy sea dog and a resourceful, intelligent dog called Snowy face danger and adventure on the high seas, on light planes, in rocket ships and strange and wonderful lands.  On a rainy day, I'd like to think of kids reading Tintin's adventures and laying off the Wii/XBox/Playstation for a bit.

Captain Haddock is shown in typical fashion here.  The object of his wrath being a wayward llama who refuses to stay put on a treacherous climb.  Captain Haddock's creative swearing was one of the great inspirations of my life:

 


Speaking of funny characters, I can't go past Asterix, Obelix, Getafix, Vitalstatistix, Fulliautomatix, Cacophonix and Dogmatix!


"Asterix" - Goscinny and Uderzo



For some reason I related to Asterix quite strongly. 
I think there is a superhuman-strengthed-mustache-wearing-crafty-small-dude in all of us.

There was something quite innocent and sweet about these stories, while also being wildly hilarious while making some rather large political and social observations.

And there was something very anti-authority / anti-establishment about a small village holding out against the Roman invaders with the help of a magic potion of invincibility.

Make sure you get the earlier "Goscinny and Uderzo" books only.  From all reports the new books written by the illustrator Uderzo lack the wit, sophistication and originality of those written by Goscinny.   But the earlier ones?  Not always completely politically correct, but brilliant!

"Lord of the Rings" - J.R.R. Tolkien



Before it was a movie, it was a book.   A large, incredible, wonderfully involved book.   When I was little, I asked for this book to be read to me by my Mum and Grandma.  I was quite, quite little.  I'm not sure if I could read yet.  Hmm...  Perhaps that's why I'm such a serious person.   But I love Bilbo Baggins, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin and Gandalf and think of them as old friends.  It is the classic good vs evil tale told from a different angle.  There is something quite Zen about finding your strength through humbleness, gentleness and a pureness of heart.



Possible further reading:

"Girls Can Do Anything" - Jan Harper

"The Hobbit", "Return of The King" - J.R.R. Tolkien

"Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy" - Lynley Dodd

"Marina" - Jan Harper

"Grimm's Fairy Tales" - The Brothers Grimm - this is perhaps a controversial one.  These are NOT nice kiddy stories and can scare the crap out of some kids.  But if you want your kid to grow up like Nick Cave or some other brilliant dark poet type, give them these books!

"Fairy Tales" - Hans Christian Andersen - this is what I thought of as the "lite" versions.  The same imagination and wonder, just less blood and guts.

"Fun Food Feasts" (cookbook) - Nanette Newman

"The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" - C.S. Lewis - better yet, get the whole series!!

"Serendipity" - Stephen Cosgrove

"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" - Eric Carle

"The Lorax" - Dr Seuss (and various other Dr Seuss books!) - The Lorax will always be my favourite.  A children's book that weaves in hyper-consumerism and environmental degradation.  I Love It!!

"Sherlock Holmes" - Any of these books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - perhaps for older kids!

"Alice In Wonderland" - Lewis Carroll

Also try Enid Blyton, Judy Blume, and Shirley Hughes ("Alfie").  

technorati tags: Childrens books, Maurice Sendak, Where The Wild Things Are, In The Night Kitchen, Petronella, Jay Williams, Tintin, Herge, Snowy, Captain Haddock, Asterix, Obelix, Goscinny, Uderzo, Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien, Frodo, Bilbo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Girls Can Do Anything, Grimm's Fairy Tales

Red Lentil Dhal

 This recipe was inspired by Madhur Jaffrey and a couple of other recipes I found online.  I changed a lot of things, adding heaps more garam masala, using olive oil and adding extras like green chillies and cherry tomatoes.  I hope this recipe works for you as well as it worked for me - it's quite a simple process and is very tasty indeed!!


Ingredients

2 cups red lentils (dhal)
6 cups water approx


Olive oil
5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
Tumeric powder
Knob of ginger
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds
Chilli powder
Garam masala powder
Curry leaves
3 large green chillies
6 shallots
10 cherry tomatoes


Put lentils in pot with the water. 

Bring to boil, scrape off the foamy stuff on top.

Add some large slices of peeled ginger and a couple of curry leaves to the water and a few teaspoons of tumeric.

Reduce to a low (very low!) simmer, partly covered for around 40-50 minutes.

After around half an hour, put some olive oil in a frypan, heat and pop the mustard seeds and cumin seeds (if you ask me, more is more so don't be afraid to throw a few teaspoons in!)

Fry the garlic, shallots, the rest of the ginger (finely chopped), 3 chillies (seeds are optional - they aren't particularly fiery, so why not!), chilli powder, garam masala and curry leaves.  

Add more and more garam masala as you go, remember this will be diluted when mixed with the dal.  Add some tumeric and the cherry tomatoes, frying until cherry tomatoes have disintegrated. 

When dal is looking almost ready, add all the ingredients from the frypan and mix thoroughly.  You will need to add some salt (perhaps quite a bit!) and a bit more tumeric.

Serve with or without rice, add fresh chopped coriander and top with heated roti or naan bread. 

technorati tags: dal, dhal, lentil, red lentil, madhur jaffrey, cooking, recipes, food, vegetarian, healthy, Indian cooking

Prehistoric Red Bull Gives You Rather Leathery Wings

A quick note on how to tell if you have flu delerium.

I was in the supermarket today, buying Red Bull.

I read the ingredients briefly, then wondered what it was I had just seen.

Reading the ingredients AGAIN I somehow saw the same thing:

"May contain Pterodactyl".

Do I have flu delerium?

I think that's a yes.

technorati tags: pterodactyl, red bull, prehistoric, dinosaur, supermarket, shopping, personal, funny

Keyword searches for SaveSaveSave

It's always fascinating to find out where people find SaveSaveSave in search engine queries.  Here are a few of my faves (I am so proud to be ranking for these particular phrases):

poem on maggi noodles  (Banjo Patterson, eat your heart out!!) 

cellulite stadium 2   !?!?!?! (I'm sorry, I'm afraid I missed Cellulite Stadium 1!)

wacky toilet seats  (this one actually makes sense, I did do a post on wacky toilet seat designs)

naked people crossing  (I'm not going to ask why people are searching for this!) 

quinny  (er... use your imagination!)


And best of all, if you type in Google:

i need toilet paper for my bung hole.... acdc

you will find me.

I finally rank for "bung hole".

A dream is achieved.

Don't Go To The Bathroom During "24"

I made the mistake of taking a bathroom break during "24".

If we're watching a program on TV, I usually ask my partner when I return "what did I miss?"

And he will say something like:
"they haven't worked out who did it yet" or
"they are still trying to figure out who is sending the letters"

When I came back after missing what must have been less than 3 minutes of "24" I asked the same question.

"What did I miss?"

"Well...
the plane's blown up,
a cougar's loose,
this girl's missing,
this guy's dead,
this one blew up,
this thing exploded,
they found another bomb and everyone's about to die."


Don't go to the bathroom during "24".

technorati tags: 24, kiefer sutherland, jack bauer, twenty four, TV, Digital TV

Helium 3 Mining and Fusion Power

I was fascinated by a documentary I watched last night called "Selling the Moon".  The show centered around the human thirst for energy resources and the new technology that will help us get there.

Nuclear scientists have long known that fusion power is a possible way to generate large amounts of electricity using relatively small amounts of source material.  Rather than using large amounts of coal in a standard power plant or using fission power in a nuclear reactor, this method of fusing, rather than splitting elements seems to be the way of the future, if the technology is ready and the materials are available.

However, the only setback is this...

Helium 3 is the material needed to create this wonderful fusion reaction, and it's a tad scarce on the ground.  Literally.

In fact, the only large deposits we can find are on the moon.  So, logically, rocket companies and scientists alike are jostling for the rights to mine the moon.  Makes sense, doesn't it?

Except the cost of getting to the moon is somewhere in the hundreds of billions of dollars.  In fact, it costs 1 million dollars per minute to keep a man on the moon.  So a week of mining with say, 5 astronauts would cost, say 50400000000 dollars, if my calculations are correct.

Not to mention, a standard sized rocket ship can't really hold that much Helium 3 (possibly in moon rock, soil or dust form), because it would mess up the weight on re-entry.  And since Helium 3 costs billions and billions per tonne (a human-made concept), it makes it one of the most valuable commodities.  Ever.  And a kilogram of this stuff can keep a large city going for about a week.  So it is a given that many, many more trips will be needed to get enough to get us started.

It all seems just a little bit... mad.

These particular scientists / geologists and rocket companies have decided that the best way to solve our ever growing energy concerns is to mine the moon and create fusion power here on earth.  The idea is to replicate the very process that the sun and the stars use to create energy.

There's a small gap in this logic.

We want to create a miniscule replica of the sun's energy producing process here on earth using a multi billion dollar rare-as-hens-teeth Helium 3 gas that is only found on the moon.  So we're going to scoot up to the moon, mine the crap out of it, drag the stuff back here and start fusing it together using extreme heat to create energy so we can power our iPods.

Meanwhile, as we try to be insanely entrepreneurial and reinvent the wheel, the actual wheel is spinning up in the sky for all to see.

It's called the sun.

If we advance solar panel technology (using terrestrial materials!) we can further improve on what is a rather perfect solution.  Since the sun is already generating massive amounts of energy using fusion power, wouldn't it make more sense to harness the ready-made power of the sun, enjoy our practically (barring any supernovas!) inexhaustible supply of clean, non-polluting energy...

...and leave the moon alone.

technorati tags: science, astronomy, helium 3, moon, fusion, nuclear, fission, moon mining, alternative energy, solar power

Save Money By Taking Advantage of Sales This Spring Shopping Season

The spring shopping season is almost upon us, meaning that many of us will soon be hitting the mall and checking out the latest warmer-weather fashions. It also, of course, means that we come home from our shopping expedition having spent more money than we would ideally like.

We can certainly try to reduce our spending at the mall by using traditional tricks such as planning our purchases in advance, carrying only cash, and even forgoing the mall altogether in favor of online shopping. But for those of us who can’t bear to stay away from the mall this spring and who plan to buy enough clothes to fill a self storage Chicago unit, perhaps the best way to cut our costs is by taking advantage of the widespread sales expected at most major retailers this year. By using sales to our advantage we can oftentimes find great items that we want and pay minimally to have them. It’s a definite win-win when done correctly.

Taking advantage of sales usually means following retailers’ websites closely and obtaining some measure of luck while browsing through the racks at a given store. Here are some other tricks you can employ:

Repurchase Products That Have Gone On Sale

It’s always good to research a purchase beforehand and make sure that you’re getting a good deal. But, when you buy something at full price, you can also continue to research afterwards to insure that the item doesn’t go on sale. If it does, you can return the full-price version and then return it at the sale discount. This way you can get the sale benefits even if you don’t buy at the right time.

Take Advantage of Store Discount Cards’ “Honeymoon Period”

Most major retailers offer a store credit card that can be used to get sale discounts on a wide range of purchases. These cards commonly share two strong attributes. First, they offer substantial deals and savings on your first main purchase or during an initial “honeymoon period.” Second, these great offers usually quickly dry up, leaving you with a card that charges a higher interest rate and provides fewer rewards than most. In light of these attributes, you are probably best off to enroll in a store card right before making your major spring purchases, use the card to get a discount on those purchase, and then stop using the card shortly thereafter.

Use Technology To Price Compare

With the proliferation of smartphones and tablets these days, the internet is always at our fingertips – even while we shop. You can take advantage of this to price compare, both between stores and between platforms. Sometimes retailer A will have a much better deal on jeans than does retailer B. Sometimes, on the other hand, retailer A will offer a far better deal online than it does in the store. Whatever the circumstance, you can always check your iPhone while shopping and immediately see what other options are out there. There are even apps out there that can help make the comparison process even easier.
Following these tips can hopefully help you maximize your sale benefits and save some more money this shopping season. While spring shopping never fails to be fun and exciting, it’s always important be financially responsible and keep a close eye on our spending at all times.