Elves Need Love too.

SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoy David Sedaris's humor. This story has a very original perspective on the holiday season. The protagonist is a Macy's elf, Crumpet/Blisters, and - through him - we get a behind-the-scenes look at the business of manufactured levity.

There is a bitter tone to much of the story, and it's a useful vehicle for us to dress in the skin of the elf, to make it all more believable. It's very credible, especially the anecdotes about how the outrageous parents and their needful children live without regard to the people around them. The elves and santas, of course, forge bonds to get through alive.

A lot of the humor stretches the imagination. Transposing Santa and Satan for example... "Satan will be right with you." "Everyone loves Satan." That just couldn't happen, right? But there is enough purchase of credibility that, well, maybe it could have. Oh, I forget this is all a story, but no, it's non-fiction. This is a memoir. No, I just can't believe it. The kid peeing in the fake ice, sure... even the "Your pictures will be ready August 10."

And, yes, you can hear an excerpt on "This American Life." It's well worth it. I think they do it sometimes on "Morning Edition" too.

What else? There are other short stories too? Mine just has the one. The story about the Christmas whore sounds great!

Anyway, this is good stuff. I don't know why I read it in August, but it seems appropriate. Next time I see a photo elf, I'm going to give him/her a thumbs up.

View all my reviews

Comments

Nwahulwana

Wazimbo's "Nwahulwana" Found this on a German site: Warum wanderst du von Bar zu Bar? (“Why do you wander from bar to bar?”) So, the first time I heard this I thought I recognized some Portuguese, but it’s illusory; the language is actually Ronga. I suppose it was just the echoes of Brazilian music. I found, though, a translation into Portuguese, which I will translate to English, but here’s the thing: this transcription of the words isn’t correct. Also, I’m almost certain I hear “vôce” which means “you” in the lyrics. First, “nwahulwana” itself is a soft expression for prostitute, hence “night bird” is the poetic meaning. I thought it was a love song. My wife thought it was a prayer (probably because of the way Wazimbo lifts his eyes to the sky when he sings “Maria”). So, it is something like this, but there are mistakes, because the lines don’t match up. Also, I wonder if he is singing “Nwahulwana” when the song starts - . It’s hard to know since I don’t

My review of The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood My rating: 5 of 5 stars Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is brilliant literary science fiction. I will discuss the literary aspects of it in a moment, but first it’s important to place it squarely in the domain of science fiction. First, under Darko Suvin's definition of sci fi, the question is whether there is cognitive strangeness and nova. They are very apparent, specifically the new assignment of gender roles, along with the reason they exist. The nova introduced are ecological disasters, an enormous rise in failure to Gileadeans to sexually reproduce, and the imposition of a fundamentalist government that divides women by their function, entirely controlling them. We know (again from the lecture) that Atwood was responding to societal changes, such as the rise of the Moral Majority, which lends a spooky plausibility to the strangeness, making it not so strange and that much scarier. Delany's definition is wider. He as

Script Abbreviations in Screen Writing

SCRIPT ABBREVIATIONS ELS extreme long shot MLS medium long shot LS long shot MS medium shot MCU medium close-up CU close-up ECU extreme close-up OS over-the-shoulder shot 2-S or 3-S two-shot or three-shot POV point of view shot ZI or ZO zoom in or zoom out INT interior EXT exterior SOT or SOF sound on tape or sound on film BG background SFX or F/X special effects (can be either sound or visual) VO voice-over OSV off-screen voice DIS dissolve MIC microphone VTR videotape Q cue (as in cue talent) ANNCR announcer SUPER superimposition

A Man Glides Through

Search This Blog