Reading: Looking For Jake by China Mieville
Music: Seamus Egan
TV/Movie: American Splendor
Link o' the Day: The Official R. Crumb Site

So the busy part of the month descends on me.

Waitaminute... didn't I just get past a busy period?

Well, yes. But that was busy freelancing. This is busy at the day job.
Ugh.

I'll survive it, tho. I just wish I had another three-day weekend to look forward to. Alas.

-=-=-=-=-=-

So I finish reading Wasp by Eric Frank Russell, but about two-thirds or the way through it I notice something. And I finish it. And I realize--there are no women or children in the book. At all.

Not as minor characters, not in the background. Not even referenced. There are two species--humans and Sirians. They're essentially the same except that Sirians have purple skin, flatter ears, are a little shorter on average, and walk slightly bow-legged. This is why it's relatively easy for the human protagonist to masquerade as one.

Much of the book takes place in a capitol city. No mention is made of women or children having to live elsewhere, so one can only assume they live in the cities alongside the men. No mention is made of asexual reproduction, cloning, or anything that would suggest a purposeful absence of women or children among the Sirians.

Yet they ain't there.

They aren't discussed or even obliquely referred to.

The closest is a reference to how someone might dress nicely to attend a wedding. the book was written in the late 50s, so I doubt they're referring to same-sex matrimony.

Weird.

It's kind of like how you might watch Lawrence of Arabia and come to notice that no women have speaking roles--just minor background roles, and even then, very rarely.

Otherwise it was a pretty good story. Not a great ending, but a pretty good journey for the most part.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I recently re-watched American Splendor, a movie in my Top Indeterminate-Number List of Favorite Movies. This time I put on the directors commentary for the first time and was pleased to discover that in addition to the directors, Harvey Pekar, his wife, his adopted daughter, and friend Toby were also taking part in the commentary as well as the actors who played Harvey and Toby in the film.

If you're a fan of the movie, or of Harvey Pekar and the American Splendor comics, you must check out the commentary track. You learn some interesting things about the truth behind the comics, some tidbits about James Urbaniak and Robert Crumb, and a lot more.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Finally, today's link goes to the pricey home of The Official R. Crumb Site. The stuff here is pretty expensive, but neat to look at. Give it a look-see.

Cheers!