A dozen geese waddling toward you is far more intimidating than the word “gaggle” suggests.

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Ya know those little ad-lib bits that we all do when singing Rudolph? The ‘Like a flashlight’, ‘Like Pinocchio’, ‘Like Monopoly’, etc etc etc? Sona has taken to singing this song, amongst other holiday tunes, relatively constantly. The only thing is, sometimes those ad-libs end up in the normal lyrics, so we get lines like:

“Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came in his underwear.”

Other Sona Song Stylings

Sona has started swinging her lyrical rhythms of her own volition. I’m not sure where she picked it up? It just started happening one day earlier this week. I wonder where she’ll take her musical expressions next!

Alastalon Salissa

Or “In This Alastalo Parlor”. It’s a Finnish novel about a handful of rich people debating investments in the ship building industry. It’s written pretty stream-of-consciousness style. It came to my attention in an online thread, where someone mentions that the book contains a 70pg chapter of the titular character walking from their chair to the mantel and deliberating on which pipe they should choose to smoke out of.

There is no English translation of the book, and I have not read it (my dad’s parents spoke Finnish, but that didn’t make it down to me). A translation was commissioned, but it was given up on after a few paragraphs. The translator, David Barrett, had this to say:

Reluctantly (I really have tried), I have been driven to conclude that Alaston Salissa is untranslatable, except perhaps by a fanatical Volter Kilpi enthusiast who is prepared to devote a lifetime to it. To mention only one of the difficulties, there is no English equivalent to the style of the ‘Finnish’ proverbs (real or imaginary) with which the main character Alastalo’s thoughts are so thickly larded. Add to this the richness and, yes, eccentricity, of Kilpi’s vocabulary, and the unfamiliarity of much of the subject matter, centered as it is on the interests of a sea going community that hardly exists any longer, even on the islands, and you have a text that is full of pitfalls for the translator. As for the humor, I’m sorry to say it depends so much on the idiom and presentation that it doesn’t come over at all. If I did any more, I’m afraid it would just have to be a laborious paraphrase, and I don’t think I’m capable of making it effective, or even readable, in English.

Every time I think about how many books I’ll never have time to read, I tend to double over with the weight of all the languages I’ll never learn, and all the books (and songs and poetry) I won’t get to experience. Though, frankly, I probably wouldn’t read this in the first place. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Core Musical Sensibilities

The Distance Is So Big - Lemuria

This album is maybe the most musically me album I’ve encountered. Lemuria is a band I first came across in 2008, when the bassist of a band I loved (s/o Lance) posted about their album Get Better (which I also love). I caught them a couple weeks later at Mac’s Bar, and then a couple times a year for the next decade (including a handful of shows I played too). My favorite track on TDisB is Cthulhu- the bass lick that comes in early on in the track just really does it for me.

Here are some pictures I’ve taken recently

Reading List and Bookmarks

Ian’s Shoelace Site // Here’s everything you could imagine (and more) about shoelace theory and technique.

Against A.I. // Compendium of resources for those (particularly those in education) on combatting and mitigating the use of AI in the field.

Abigail McGrath's Legacy of Art-Making Reminds Us That Another Way Is Possible // Essay about Abigail McGrath, a writer, actor, and theatre founder who passed away at the end of 2024.

Killer Whales Hunt Moose For Prey In This Region—A Biologist Highlights One Of Nature’s Most Unique Interactions // I had no idea this happened! Coastal waters of the Pacific Northwest.

Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna // Researchers are looking at texts from almost a millennium ago, noting the plants referenced, figuring out what specific areas the texts are from, and observing how the landscape has changed.