The Ying Tong Song - The Goons

now for something insane, silly and very irreverent. What can I say? It's the goons. The masters of silly--before Monty Python even. if you're a dreadfully serious person sitting in your office doing frightfully important things you may not like this. or you might. particularly if you open your doors and put the sound up too loud...

inspiration and plumber's block

"I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning." — Peter De Vries, quote in The Writer, June 1994.

Reminds me of something else someone said: that writing is magical but it isn't magic. I love this because it gets rid of the preciousness and the idea that you must feel inspired to write. Writing only requires sitting down in front of the computer (or piece of paper) and showing up. Whether you feel like it, or not.

It also keeps you with a correct perspective — and reminds you you have a job to do — just as a plumber has a job to do. Nine to five. Five days a week. And the best thing about that? Well, as Phillip Pullman points out, no one's ever heard of a thing called plumber's block, have they?

Peter De Vries (1910–93), by the way, was the one who came up with such clever stuff as, "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be" and "Deep down, he's shallow," and was, according to Kingsley Amis, "the funniest serious writer to be found on either side of the Atlantic."


"But," Amazon tells me, "De Vries's life and work was informed as much by sorrow as by wit."

His classics are Slouching Towards Kalamazoo and The Blood of the Lamb. First published in 1982 and 1965 respectively.

Two Brits' Birthdays

It's the birthday of Roald Dahl, born in Llandaff, South Wales. Initially he was known for his dark short stories for adults but later switched to writing books for children.

"A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom." — Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

It's also the birthday of J B Priestley, born in Bradford, England (1894). He wrote more than a hundred books of fiction, essays, and drama.

"We plan, we toil, we suffer — in the hope of what? ... The title deeds of Radio City? ... A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs." — J B Priestly (1894-1984)

Madeleine L'Engle

The New York Times Obit included this wonderful quote:

" 'Why does anybody tell a story?' Ms. L’Engle once asked, even though she knew the answer.

" 'It does indeed have something to do with faith,' she said, 'faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.' " — Madeleine L'Engle (1918 - 2007)

In the Shadow of the Moon

If you get the chance, see this film. On the big screen if you can.

It's a brilliant documentary narrated by the astronauts themselves, filmed in tight close-up, and it is nail-biting, funny, deeply moving and on the edge of your seat stuff. "I called the moon my home for three days of my life. And I'm here to tell you about it!" says one of the astronauts. "That's science fiction."

In the Shadow of the Moon leaves you with renewed awe at the bravery of these men, the vastness of our universe and in particular with your eyes wide open to the wonder and beauty of this beautiful world we've been given to be our home.

You can watch the trailer here.

don't give up, give in, give way!

a friend sent this DML-J quote to me this week and it's so encouraging and inspiring, I thought you'd want to read it, too...

"Frequently there comes a point at which development and advance seem to have come to an end and we are in some kind of doldrums when it is difficult to know whether the work is moving at all, either backwards or forwards. All seems to be at a standstill and nothing seems to be taking place...we are considering people who are not so much tired of the work as tired in it... What shall we say about it and what shall we do about it? Let me say at the outset that there is no aspect of this great problem of depression in which negatives are more important than they are on this particular occasion. Whoever we are found in this position of weariness, before we begin to do anything positive, there are certain negatives that are absolutely all-important.

"The first is this: Whatever you may feel about it do not consider the suggestion that comes to you from all directions - not so much from people, but from within yourself, the voices that seem to be speaking around and about you - do not listen to them when they suggest that you should give up, or give way, or give in. That is a great temptation that comes at this point. You say, 'I am weary and tired, the thing is too much for me.' And there is nothing to say at that point but this negative - do not listen. You always have to start with these 'don'ts' on the very lowest level; and that is the lowest level. You must say to yourself, 'whatever happens I am going on.'

"You do not give in or give way."

— Dr David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981)

more fun with accents

Peter Sellers' English accents

i thought for such a day as this when we're all going back to school or work or both, we could do with some silliness from this master...