The Bits'n'Bob-stones Blog

2003-03-11T02:31:00.000Z

Bye!

Well, folks, this is it. For now, at least - and possibly for good - this is the last entry on this here blog. Less than 20 visitors in the last month tells its own story. However, in the unlikely event that you like reading my inane babblings, I do skulk around other dark corners of the net:

Email - daveb75 (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk
Note spamtraps - though I suspect even the harvesters have given up on this place!

FictionPress.Net - http://www.fictionpress.net/profile.php?userid=315214
This one is for original writing...

FanFiction.Net - http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=315214
...and this is for Watership Down fanfic.

The WD Yahoo Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/watershipdown/
Over 12,000 messages! (No, not all from me!) Essential for all WD obsessives.

alt.lifestyle.furry - news:alt.lifestyle.furry (with a newsreader) or via Google Groups (on the web)
Usenet for furs

I suppose it's appropriate here to look back at how this blog changed over time - which was quite a lot considering its short life. When I started it in October, it was intended to be my primary outlet for Watership Down-related stuff; I'd only just discovered the Yahoo Group, and didn't realise how much fun it would be there. And the Bits'n'Bob-stones website was only a little thing - Frithaes! (my Lapine course) had yet to grow into the monster it is today!

Inevitably, the increasing use of my website and the Yahoo Group rather marginalised this blog, and so it became rather more like a normal blog, with bits and pieces of whatever came to mind. I stopped putting this address in the "URL" section of Guestbooks, and put the website's address instead. By this time, this was really only a clearing-house for ideas too vague and aimless even for me to publish elsewhere. The blog's days were numbered, but it still had one more task to perform - and one which has changed my life for good. ("Good" in both senses of the word.) Four short words will suffice:

I am a fur.

Obviously I'd known how much Watership Down affected me for years... but it wasn't until I read a lot more furry literature that I realised that the fact that the heroes were rabbits was so important in itself. I'm not the sort of fur who believes that they were a rabbit in a former life, or has a rabbit "power animal" or suchlike. Rather, I'm an "empathic fur" - someone who feels a deep, intense kinship with rabbits, beyond anything I can rationalise, to the extent that even the sight of the word is exhilarating and elating.

It's extraordinary, now I look back on it, that just three months ago I was confidently writing "I am certainly not a furry lifestyler" in a post on the WD Yahoo Group. Actually, it was reading through that post after I'd published it that triggered the "hmmm, I wonder, though" synapses. And to cut a long story short, here I am. Furry, and very, very, very happy to be so. I'm more at peace with myself than I can remember. So for that, blog, I owe you more than I can say.

2003-02-27T13:09:00.000Z

The Cup's Waterloo?

Well, it's Waterloo Cup time again, I regret to say. But with a bit of luck it'll be the last one, as hare-coursing will be banned if the Hunting With Dogs Bill manages to fight its way past the House of Lords and into law. I shall now inflict on you a little poem I wrote on the subject - don't worry; it's very short:

Hare today.
Gone tomorrow -
Gone to the dogs.
Dog days?
Hares hoping.

('Fraid I can't be bothered to keep the "current mood" thingies going!)

2003-02-24T01:17:00.000Z

Yep, I'm still here

Apologies to anyone who fondly believed I'd been got rid of! I see from the paper this week that a couple of young men are up in court in Scotland accused of hunting with dogs (which is now illegal there). No prizes for guessing my views on the matter! Also, I've started reading Richard Adams' autobiography, The Day Gone By. All I can say is that it is written in pure Richard Adams style, with all that that implies. Watership Down fans will almost certainly enjoy it greatly: others might find the style a bit of an acquired taste. Oh, and do have a look at the small photo of John Gifford in there somewhere - he is Hazel!

Current Mood: =:)
[pleased]
Music: George Butterworth, Banks of Green Willow

2003-02-14T23:42:00.000Z

Fanfare for the Commons Man

And woman, of course... wonder of wonders, Parliament has done something useful, by accepting an amendment to the Hunting Bill that would outlaw hare hunting with hounds as well as coursing (and stag hunting). The Times reports that there are 70 registered beagle and harrier packs in Britain. Not for much longer! I'm sure the House of Lords will try its darndest to block this, but with a bit of luck it should make it into the final Act.

Current Mood: =8D
[ecstatic]
Music: The Beatles, I Feel Fine

2003-02-12T03:51:00.000Z

Spanish practices

What is it about Spain, for God's sake? Every time I look up, there's another story about some appalling bit of cruelty to animals. Today's jolly installment concerns greyhounds considered inadequate for hare coursing. It's bad enough that hare coursing should be considered a "sport" in the first place, but in Spain it appears that "inadequate" greyhounds are hanged alive, sometimes deliberately with their hind legs on the ground so that they have a slower and more painful death. The link below is from Planet Ark, and the words themselves are from Reuters, so it should be pretty accurate.

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/19778/story.htm

Current Mood: =>:(
[angry]
Music: Elton John, Jack Rabbit

2003-02-11T12:16:00.000Z

Castle in the Hare?

Been having a look at the website of Britfur, which all being well is going to be the first full-scale furcon in Britain, in just about two years from now. Not a lot on the site yet, and I somehow suspect that their recommended resolution of 1034x768 is a typo, but one thing that is mentioned is a possible location: a place called Peckforton Castle, in the wilds of Cheshire. Here's a map of the area from multimap.co.uk - zoom in twice on the northern end of the Peckforton Hills to see the actual castle marked. Also might be worth having a look at the Mascot competition if you're more artistically inclined than me (which isn't hard!)

Current Mood: =:}
[quietly intrigued]
Music: Nikas, Bein' Furry

2003-02-06T14:09:00.000Z

Hare today... rabbit tomorrow?

An excellent website I've just discovered (well, via someone else's links page...) is The Dancing Hare, which describes itself as "A Celebration of the Mystical Lapine". Despite not going into a huge amount of detail, it does cover a lot of different lagomorphic myths from around the world... and yes, Watership Down is mentioned, and described (rightly) as "the pinnacle of modern Rabbit mythology" - in fact, the picture used for the "Modern Lore" section that contains it is that of El-ahrairah from the first part of the Nepenthe film! A thoroughly recommended site, despite its apparent lack of updates in the last year. All rabbits should read this, and be proud!

Current Mood: =|D
[proud]
Music: ABBA, Dancing Queen

2003-02-05T02:37:00.000Z

For shame, Texas

I see on the BBC Online site that Jackie Elliott, who was born in the UK, has been executed in Texas for the rape and murder of a woman. Regardless of whether he was actually guilty - and the fact that there is doubt ought to have stopped the execution on its own (the family's Conservative British MP, John Gummer, even says the case would not have reached the courts over here) - it's deeply depressing that in the 21st century one of the most advanced nations on earth still believes that killing people is an acceptable form of justice. I mean, here's the list of the top 10 users of the death penalty:

China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United States, Taiwan, Sierra Leone, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Belarus and Kyrgistan.

Barbaric doesn't begin to cover it - and no, the fact that Mr Elliott might himself have been barbaric does not make it okay for the state to be so in return. I'll stop now before the anger overtakes me.

Current Mood: =:(
[sad]
Music: Oasis, Cast No Shadow

2003-02-04T13:55:00.000Z

Furries for Firman!

Brilliant news from Formula One - the last free seat, at Jordan, is to be filled by British driver Ralph Firman. As it says here, he nipped in after previous favourite Felipe Massa couldn't raise the necessary sponsorship. Four Brits on the grid this year - I don't think we've had that for a while. If this was one of they trendy Livejournal thingies, I'd be doing a "mood: thrilled" here! Actually, who needs LJ? Look at this:

Current Mood: =8D
[thrilled]
Music: The Kinks, Apeman

D-I-Y addons, folks! Ya can't beat 'em! Next week we'll be showing you how to set up a complete news server with just a length of string and a washing-up bottle. No, wait, that's BT Openworld, isn't it...? =;)

2003-02-02T01:12:00.000Z

I think I'm going to be sick...

There are people (if one can call them that) on eBay advertising "Space Shuttle debris". I really don't know what to say. I'm pleased to see that eBay are taking down the auctions as fast as they can, but I hope these revolting bastards get every book in the place thrown at them. Ugh.

2003-01-31T13:53:00.000Z

Dem bones, dem bones, dem hominid bones

Interesting article on the BBC Online site about a new fossil find in South Africa that suggests humans and chimps might not be as closely related as is generally thought. It's an Australopithecus, about 3.5 million years old, but not a knuckle-walker like modern chimps.That might suggest that the infamous "common ancestor" is a pretty long way back. As usual, though, other scientists disagree. Still, evolution is a funny thing, innit?

Thinking of hominids, anyone recognise this?:

She got the which of the what-she-did,
Hid the bell with a blot, she did,
But she fell in love with a hominid,
Where is the which of the what-she-did?

You ought to - it's from Cordwainer Smith's The Ballad of Lost C'mell, an excellent (and, I think, furry) SF story. Read it! Read it now! =:)

2003-01-31T13:48:00.000Z

'S no Snow

Everywhere in the entire British Isles seems to be reporting blizzards, blocked roads and Gawd knows what else yesterday and today. Except, of course, for Worcestershire, where *looks outside window* it's completely dry with a bit of high cloud. Bloody cold, though. Of course, the fact that there was more than one inch in - gasp! - London meant that we had hours of coverage on the TV news. People stuck on the M25 for fifteen hours (so how does this differ from a normal day?) with one vegetable pasty to sustain them. All I can say is, some of these people are amazingly stupid. You do not go out in that sort of weather without taking food with you! Weather forecast for tonight looks like there'll be more snow in the north, but I expect they can cope with it up there. Hey ho.

2003-01-30T15:44:00.000Z

The morning slice of dehydrated apple

Thought it was about time I posted something here, so here's a link to a newspaper article from Minnesota's Pioneer Press, about the forthcoming first anniversary of their local House Rabbit Society. "The downside is... they chew everything," it says. Yep -you should see the state of this pencil... =:)

While I'm wittering away on the subject, there presumably must be someone out there who's actually called Timothy Hay. Not that I've anything much to add to that; it's just a micro-brainstorm.

2003-01-26T00:57:00.000Z

Not me guv!

Worrying news from the Football Diary of the Guardian newspaper: they've received an email from some load of mad nutters calling themselves the Luther Blisset Explosion Experiment. The message apparently reads, in its entirety:

"?20:03:2003? (never trust a rabbit)".

This is a bit disconcerting, you know: that's my birthday! And I'm not at all impressed by the statement in the brackets. What can it all mean?

2003-01-25T01:08:00.000Z

It's a worthwhile habit to follow the rabbit

That used to be the slogan for a furniture shop called Harvey's (I suppose the name suggested the lapine connection). Seems to have stopped being used now, though. Shame =:(

2003-01-22T11:46:00.000Z

So long, and no thanks to all the fish

I see on BBC Online that huge numbers of dolphins are getting caught up in huge fishing nets slung between two boats. On top of this, a number have been found with terrible knife wounds, so it doesn't seem to be just accidental. Can't people ever have a bit of common sense?

2003-01-21T17:38:00.000Z

Burp...

The alt.lifestyle.furry folks don't let up on the hospitality, do they...? I think I might have to revise my self-description as a smaller than average rabbit...!

Anyway, while I'm at it, anyone wanting a ridiculous amount of veterinary information about rabbits (and, let's face it, who doesn't?) should click here to find an absolutely tremendous page by a couple of top academic types from Edinburgh and Liverpool. As I say, it's really aimed at vets, and is very tough going for us ignorant types, but to get this much for free is unmissable.

2003-01-20T21:03:00.000Z

Alea jacta est

...as they say in the Asterix books. 'Tis done.

2003-01-20T01:21:00.000Z

Burrow Furveyor

Now that, folks, is a bad pun. Learn from the master, okay?

Anyway, this post is here because I've taken the decision that the Furvey is for me, and I shall now be posting it just as soon as the screaming abdabs have relented. Which could be several decades, to be honest, but might be tomorrow. Watch this space...

2003-01-17T15:51:00.000Z

The titled classes

Well, here I am in Birmingham Central Library again, which means that a lot of the pages I'd like to do some catching up on are blocked by Brum's trigger-happy filtering software. (Yahoo Profiles, for example - they count as "Personals", apparently, so are beyond the pale. And something I do all the time on my own PC, and in other libraries, which is to look at the cached version of Google searches so's the words I'm looking for are highlighted (which is a godsend on text-heavy sites) is banned as well - apparently it's a "loophole". Sheesh. How long before Google's blocked as well, 'cause you can actually find things out on it? Come on Brum, this is getting silly. Worcestershire are way ahead of you here.

Still, in keeping with the well-known idea of being completely and utterly illogical, blogs are fine, it seems, whatever they may contain (not that this one has anything terrible on it, but still...). So I thought that I'd share with you an outline of my answer to one of the questions on the Furvey: the one which asks about one's taste in furry literature. Here goes:

Ah, now we're cooking with charcoal. If it's a book, I'll probably read it, basically. Obviously, Watership Down is the undisputed top bunny (shame about the sequel), but there's plenty more around. I suppose my favourite type would be a good solid adventure story with a decent helping of humour - I've never understood the mentality of those authors who seem to consider fantasy and humour to be mutually exclusive ideas. WD itself is, contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, hysterically funnny in places.

As to specific books, one of the most enjoyable I've read recently has been Michael Tod's The Silver Tide, which is about squirrels. It's maybe not so much of a "literary achievement" as WD, but it's a good read all the same - and manages to treat its subjects seriously, which I always tend to think is vital. There are two sequels, and I'll be hunting out for them.

It's always preferable to me when the animals behave with a high proportion of realism. That doesn't necessarily mean that they can't wear clothes, have schools etc (think Mrs Frisby. That's with an F. What sort of a name is Brisby? Bloody Frisbee lawyers), but they shouldn't just turn into fur-covered human beings. On the other hand, I think some things, such as direct speech, should be included - the (almost) complete absence of it in the badger tale The Cold Moons annoyed the heck out of me, and pretty much ruined what was otherwise a decent story.

Other bits and pieces: I've had a glance at Tad Williams' Tailchaser's Song (cats), and it looks like it's well worth a go. And, though it's not furry as such, Lynne Brian's novel Like Rabbits, about a five-year-old girl and her rabbit-showing Grandad, is one I have down on the "to read fairly soon" list.

Oh, and Redwall? Never read it. Not even one book. Should I get on to the Guinness Book of Records? =;)

2003-01-17T01:51:00.000Z

And your specialised subject?

Well, like I mentioned I might do here, I've bitten the bullet and downloaded the (in?)famous Furvey. Actually, I've only really nibbled the bullet slightly, as the actual biting is going to be in the posting to alt.lifestyle.furry itself. Will that ever happen? Well, probably. Could be tomorrow, could be next year - I'm not exactly the super-confident type, to put it mildly! Here's different, as absolutely no-one reads this blog. Look at the stats, folks! =:) But anyway, reading the Furvey questions has been a strange experience: sort of "it'll be interesting to read this, but it's not really my thing. Well, except for that bit. And those. Oh, and that section as well. Come to think of it, that part and all. Actually, rather a lot of it's relevant. Yikes."

So, like a good netizen (blimey, what an ugly word that is) I went and read alt.l.f's charter, but as these things tend to be, it's written in "Usenet-charter-speak", and didn't really tell me much. What I needed was a FAQ. And thankfully, alt.l.f turned out to have a good one, as you can see. And one sentence absolutely leapt out of the screen (figuratively, natch):

A person with an important emotional/spiritual connection with an animal or animals, real, fictional or symbolic.

Bloody hell, he thought (lapsing into the third person like some second-rate boxer, as was his wont). If we're going to go by that definition, then there's no doubt whatever about it: I'm in. Yikes. (Again.) Okay, so Watership Down is mostly where it's at, hepcats (heprabbits?), but it's more than that. Just liking WD doesn't explain why my heart leaps every time I even see the word "rabbit" in print, or why I sometimes chin my possessions. Actually, I really don't know how I can express my feelings in words. Which is going to be a bit of a bugger with the Furvey, innit? Darn.

There's a nice poem by AndrewB, That Nature Yet Remembers, which is about as close as I've seen to reflecting what I feel about rabbits. It's not quite there, though, as "elation", though not a bad choice, isn't really enough. I don't know what to add, though - exhilaration, certainly, but what else? Frith knows, frankly. But I don't, at least not in words. Darn. (Again.)

2003-01-15T02:32:00.000Z

Doe, a rabbit, a female rabbit

What is it with wildlife authors? I looked at half a dozen articles on rabbits in the library today (well, yesterday now), and three said does were usually bigger than bucks, and three said the opposite. Well done, people; you've been a great help. On the whole I'm inclined to go with the "does are bigger" school: for the female to be larger is an unusual feature in mammals, so I can't see why it would be mentioned at all otherwise. Maybe I should write to David Attenborough... =;)

2003-01-13T22:12:00.000Z

Wailing and gnashing of teeth, with a side order of outer darkness

Hmmm. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to get interested in this sort of thing. It would seem that, as Private Frazer would have it, "we're all doomed!" The furie4jesus site says so. Here you can read why Jesus wants furs to DIE!, discover the shocking TRUTH ABOUT FUR FANDOM, and perhaps most terrifying of all, See A Fur Punished On The CROSS!

Well, I don't know about you, but that's enough for me, folks. I'm off down the local Repentorama first thing tomorrow. (Just next to the zebra crossing, which annoys them no end.)

It's a hysterically funny site. Unfortunately, it also has a big message saying:

This site is a work of parody and/or satire. Your mileage may vary.

on its "About" page, which completely ruins the effect. Bloody lawyers, eh?

2003-01-13T13:07:00.000Z

Waffly versatile

You'll have to excuse me rambling on a bit here - ignore this post if you want to know anything useful! However, I'm just using this as a bit of an emotional outlet for the moment. The thing is, I said that I was impressed by The Wolf In You (well, apart from the overdone trills on the Rs, but maybe that's an accent thing)... but "impressed" is a bit too bland. Actually, it's a lot too bland. To be frank, well... it did me in emotionally. You see, I don't cry at music. Well, there's Bright Eyes, of course, but there I'm really crying at the thought of "Fiver Beyond" rather than the song itself. But listening to The Wolf In You, I couldn't stop the tears coming on. I really wasn't expecting that. After all, I have no particular attachment to wolves other than the fact that I was born in Wolverhampton, so can call myself a Wulfrunian (good word, eh?). But that's what happened - I know it sounds horribly "pseudy" saying this, but that song pretty much bypassed my brain and went straight to the heart.

I've never thought of myself as a "furry lifestyler" at all - I certainly don't believe I'm an animal "trapped" in a human body, for example - but maybe there's more of that side in me than I've been "admitting" (stupid word to use, I know) even to myself up to now. After all, I'd certainly go considerably further than calling myself "just" a fan; I get an extraordinary feeling whenever I think about, or especially see, rabbits - even on TV, but when I'm lucky enough to see wild ones in the flesh... wow. And when I come to think about it, there are one or two little "rabbity" things I do without thinking about it consciously - grooming my ears, for example, which I've done for as long as I can remember. The honest truth is that I'm not really sure what's going on: it's all part of me, and isn't really something I can "separate out". Maybe I'll have a look at that "Furvey" questionnaire thingy the folks on alt.lifestyle.furry put out, and see where I end up. As of now, I'm not certain that I really know.

Okay, end of waffle for now. But isn't pouring out your innermost whatevers what blogs are for...? =:)

2003-01-13T03:11:00.000Z

It isn't easy bein' furry

Oh dear, that FMF site I mentioned last time has a lot to answer for. I downloaded a ridiculously silly song called Being Furry, and it refuses to get itself out of my head. As the song says, though, "it isn't easy bein' furry"!

2003-01-10T02:26:00.000Z

I hear sweet music

I have no idea why the previous post is dated 30th December - it should actually be at least a week later! Anyway, I discovered an interesting place just recently: the Furry Music Foundation, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Seeing as how people have been pestering me with variations on the theme of "you must listen to that The Wolf In You song", I nosed about in there and soon found it. 5 megs is a big d/l for us poor modem users (BT refuses to upgrade my exchange - grrr), so it was going to have to be damn good to be worth it.

It was.

2002-12-30T03:55:00.000Z

Just passing through...

Actually, I have discovered a use for this. You see, while I do have net access at home, I quite often post from the library. And I've now discovered that Birmingham library has such a fanatically restrictive filter that I can hardly get anything done. (In fact, it even stops me doing some work research, as, ludicrously, it blocks not only the Yahoo Group, but every Geocities site! So I can't even look at, let alone edit, Bits'n'Bob-stones! (Well, if I know exactly what I'm looking for, I can find its cache on the Google index, but going any further would probably count as "attempting to evade the filter" or some such.

The really ridiculous thing is that if I made an exact mirror of my site on an ISP's webspace, BT or somewhere, the filter would have no problems. It's only because it's a Geocities site! Sorry, Birmingham, but that's absurd. And before you start telling me that every library does this, I'll tell you that my home service, Worcestershire, doesn't. In fact, Worcs. has about the most liberal net policy I've seen from a library service: you can use your own floppies, use chatrooms, edit your websites, even play games, go on as long as you like (if no-one's waiting), and so on. Frankly, they're better at it.

Another absurdity: the B'ham libraries' homepage is Yahoo, yet most Yahoo services are blocked! Even the directory of member pages is out! Email works, thankfully - which means, of course, that I could get at the Yahoo Group that way - but that's about it.

Hey - I've rediscovered a use for this blog - moaning! Maybe I should call myself the Furious Furry [something else alliterative] =:) Oh yeah, while I'm on the subject, have a read of this:

http://www.suburbanjungle.com/proud_furry.html

Of course, it's way too sensible for anyone "wiv inflooens" to have read, but such is life...

2002-12-12T12:25:00.000Z

Hello? -oh? oh?

Does anybody actually read this thing? I only ask because it's a fair amount of work to maintain, and I generally do most of my (considerable) quantity of talking on the watershipdown Yahoo Group these days (public archives, so you don't need to be a member to read them, though you do to post or look at the Files section.) There's also my own website, Bits'n'Bob-stones to think about. So, given the tiny numbers on the hit counter for here (<5 most days), I'm wondering whether to keep it going. If anyone's reading this, and has an opinion, and can be bothered, they can email me at daveb75 yahoo.co.uk.

2002-12-09T01:29:00.000Z

Methrahessi lay hli hyaones!

Or "Methrahessi is here today!" Methrahessi (which itself translates as "storyteller") is a little program I knocked up in Delphi to translate between Lapine and English (and vice versa). It's not on the site, as Geocities won't allow zipfile hosting, but I have put it in the Files section of the Yahoo Group. You'll need to be a member of the Group to get at it, which itself entails having a valid Yahoo ID, but neither of those things costs anything, so get on with it!

2002-12-06T23:00:00.000Z

Spectator Spectacle

There's a letter in the current issue of the Spectator putting forward the view that the reason for Tolstoy's lack of enthusiasm for Shakespeare was that Tolstoy did not speak English. The writer of the letter says that he considers the sound of Shakespeare to be the reason why people consider him a genius, and that this simply does not survive translation.

Why is this of any interest to us? Well, the letter is signed "Richard Adams, Whitchurch, Hampshire". Mr Adams is known to have a very high regard for Shakespeare, and the clincher is the style of writing in the letter. I have no doubt that this letter was written by the Great Man himself. Completists, rush out and buy your copy now!

2002-12-04T23:36:00.000Z

Wot no WD?

In my increasingly desperate search for any news on the Watership Down film front, I had a look through every film magazine I could find in Birmingham Central Library today. I didn't find anything relevant, but I did run across an interesting article in the "Vol 56, #1, Fall 2002" issue (it's American, as if you couldn't guess!) of Film Quarterly, written by Akira Mizuta Lippit, Associate Professor of Film and Visual Studies at the University of California in Irvine. (He's the author of Electric Animal: Toward a Rhetoric of Wildlife, don't you know...)

The article is called The Death of an Animal, and considers how animal death has been treated on screen. I would have thought that this would have been the perfect place to mention Watership Down, which is pretty much unique as a U-rated film (The Plague Dogs is PG) containing scenes of bloody and violent animal death. But no, not a word about it, although animation was clearly considered as there is a lengthy footnote about the shooting of Bambi's mother.

One other interesting passage referred to a hunting scene in Renoir's The Rules of the Game:

"'To die like a rabbit', which implies a meaningless, unconscious death at the hands of a vastly superior force, seems, in Rules of the Game, to have lost its metaphorical value in the extratextuality of the scene ... to die like a rabbit in Renoir's film is to experience and suffer a surfeit consciousness of death; to experience the death of the rabbit as an impossible and ecstatic death."

(And you thought I only posted light stuff here...!)

2002-11-30T14:02:00.000Z

Was the dream just a kind of shadow?

Things on the cinema front are looking less promising, I'm afraid: both the December 2002 and January 2003 copies of Total Film have been checked minutely, and there is no mention of a rerelease. The Dec 2002 edition has a feature on film rabbits, which mentions Watership Down (of course), but there's no indication whatever of any rerelease. It looks as though we were all getting excited about nothing :-( So it's back to scouring the listings pages in the local papers, on the remote off-chance that a cinema owner puts the thing on other than in some blasted Kids' Club showing...

2002-11-29T21:43:00.000Z

Boo to the Beeb!

Good news/bad news time...

Good news: the BBC has apparently been intending to release the recent Radio 4 adaptation of Watership Down by Neville Teller on their own label of audiobooks.

Bad news: they've now decided not to.

I don't understand this, to be honest. I wasn't really expecting them to release it anyway, but having decided to, why change their minds now, at a time when WD is more in the public eye than it's been for some while? That's thanks to the 30th anniversary of the book's publication (and new Penguin and Puffin covers), plus the pleasingly wide distribution of the DVD, which I reckon I've seen in more than half the video shops I've checked in.

And then there are those few tantalising hints of a cinema rerelease, as I mentioned in my last post - though nothing comes up on Google, the January 2003 Total Film is completely free of WD references, and Universal's website is a great victory of style over substance, though I can't see anything there either. Maybe we were all misled? I hope not, but it's always a possibility.

Of course, it is at least possible that Mr Teller has unwittingly undermined his own case here (though I doubt he had much say in the matter), as his other adaptation, the Puffin reading by Andrew Sachs, is also pretty widespread, at least in WH Smith, so perhaps it's considered that one adaptation is all the market can bear.

It's still a shame, though: for all I could find a lot wrong with the radio version, there's a good deal to enjoy about it, too, and I think it would have done pretty well as an audiobook, as it would avoid one of the obvious problems with the radio series - the hour-long episodes. So a big BOO! to the Beeb here.

2002-11-28T00:16:00.000Z

Oh is it a dream come true?

This is third-hand information, but it seems that Watership Down may indeed be given a 25th anniversary cinema rerelease next year, at least in the UK. More details as and when I get them, but this is probably the most exciting news in the WD world since the TV series was announced. (Which I don't like, of course, but that's beside the point here.) Please, please distributor types, don't restrict it to arthouses in the West End of London... and don't only put it on in kids' clubs etc - I want to see it on a main screen at a major showing. I reckon it might well be a Christmas 2003 release - if so, it's going to be a long wait!

2002-11-27T11:02:00.000Z

Ah me, a DVD

Another little moan: why is it that the DVD and video of Watership Down use such an utterly appalling print? It's ridiculously dark - for example, you can barely tell when Fiver's eyes go all red just before Cowslip appears. When I've seen the film on TV, it's been much better than that - and someone told me that the Region 1 (USA etc) DVD had a better print, so there's really no excuse. Is there, Warner Home Video?

2002-11-24T01:40:00.000Z

O what a tangled webring we weave

(Though I hope it doesn't deceive anyone!) The Watership Down Webring is taking on a new lease of life, thanks to "tesandco" (probably better known to most readers as "Entei-rah"), who is going to set up a proper homepage for the ring here. He's also in the process of sorting out some up-to-date navigation code, which he hopes to have done around the New Year. Look on the Thank U Stars page's news and updates pages to keep up to date.

(Actually, that's an interesting site to visit in any case - without doubt the best resource for the TV series [even those, like me, who hate the series, will find the site interesting], and with a large and growing picture gallery from both the TV series and the Nepenthe film.)

Entei-rah's obviously hard at work on the Webring improvements - I can personally vouch for the fact that the Webring link banner has already improved noticeably in appearance! Vao-nyt, Entei-rah!

2002-11-21T12:17:00.000Z

All the news that's fit to post

People might be interested (and even if they're not, I'm telling them anyway) in a thread on the rec.arts.books.childrens Usenet newsgroup about whether Watership Down qualifies as a children's book. As with most Usenet discussions, it wanders off topic a bit, but you might find something of interest therein. Here's a link to the Google archive of the thread.

2002-11-17T03:19:00.000Z

But is it Art?

In this case, it certainly is. Channel 4 last night put on a three-hour special, counting down the UK's hundred best-selling singles of all time. It will surprise no-one at all to discover that Candle in the Wind '97 was at number one, having sold close on five million copies, but it was perhaps more startling to discover that only 76 records have ever sold a million (what I still think of as "going gold", despite the fact that the required sales threshold for that is now far lower) in this country. And one of them, I'm pleased to say, is Bright Eyes, which managed number 53, with total sales of 1,155,000. Most sites I've looked at say something more like 1.7 million, but I assume that that figure includes the various cover versions, most notably Stephen Gateley's.

The programme was marred by the world's unfunniest presenter, an unbelievably feeble and tacky Craig David impersonator, but luckily the Bright Eyes section avoided him by not being on next to an advert break. Instead, we got some short but interesting interview clips with Art Garfunkel ("this was the one singular experience where the cassette that came in the mail knocked my socks off") and some more or less random clips from the film, only one of which was from the actual Bright Eyes sequence! See this message for a more detailed transcript.

2002-11-15T12:12:00.000Z

A serious post

Yes, really. This is a more traditional blog entry, if you like, which is to say an extended complaint about something that's a storm in a teacup.... Yesterday, I was on the train when we stopped at a signal. It was an electric, so it was pretty quiet, and we could hear the birds and so on (and the traffic on the nearby roads, but never mind that...) But then we (I was with three other people) heard a horrible scream - hard to describe exactly, but in tenor it was very much like a small child in great - and I mean great - distress. The train started up after a few seconds, so we only heard it for that short time, but it scared the hell out of us, to be honest. No-one quite thought that it was a child, because the countryside around was empty of people as far as we could see, but nevertheless we worried. When the guard came along to do the tickets, I told him about what we'd heard, and asked whether he'd heard it too. He said he hadn't, but was pretty sure it was a rabbit, maybe being attacked by a fox cub.

Now, anyone who's read Watership Down knows that rabbits do indeed scream in terror, but I should think that most of us - including me - have never actually heard the sound. So last night, I posted a question to the alt.pets.rabbits Usenet NG, on account of its members being the most likely to know, asking whether the scream was indeed likely to have been a terrified rabbit. Most people gave answers in the affirmative. One said that it was a most upsetting sound - which it was even to me, who doesn't keep rabbits and only heard it for a matter of seconds - but one, answering that answer, said "that's why the troll posted it". In other words, this poster was accusing me of deliberately posting a distressing article with the intention of upsetting the NG's subscribers. That really upsets me - I don't do trolling, and I certainly don't make jokes about sounds like that. I sent this person (whom I'm deliberately avoiding naming, as I'm sure it was an honest mistake) an email explaining, and if there's any reply I'll put the gist of it up here.

As a postscript, on the train this morning, I overheard a couple of people who had obviously heard the scream too, and from the way they were discussing it they were certain that it was a rabbit. I didn't hear enough of their conversation to be certain, but it did sound as though they knew what they were talking about. Anyway, I'd like to make one thing absolutely clear: no-one who hears a scream like that and has a heart is going to be exploiting it for laughs.

2002-11-14T02:26:00.000Z

Happy Birthday, Watership Down!

14th November is the anniversary of two great events in British cultural history. In 1922, the BBC began broadcasting. And exactly 50 years later, Rex Collings issued the first edition of Watership Down. Here's to you, Mr Adams!

2002-11-13T00:02:00.000Z

!!L@@K!! !!RARE!!

Yes, folks, it's eBay madness time again. Click ye here, and you'll find a seller on Amazon's zShops offering a copy of the Film Picture Book - a snip at £32! Now, it's described as "very fine", which sounds good, though booksellers' jargon generally bears little resemblance to what an ordinary person would use... but thirty-two quid? And, I have to say, not the greatest feedback record either... more than one buyer complaining about the prices charged. Of course, the seller is entitled to charge whatever they think they can get, but my advice to anyone after the FPB is not to even think about getting out of single figures unless you want one in genuinely mint condition.

2002-11-11T02:08:00.000Z

Roll in the barrel?

It seems from a couple of comments I've read (though I can't be sure) that said pub (below) has given up on the rabbits it used to have in the garden. A shame if so, though it's hardly the end of the world.

Much more annoyingly, I find from an old Hampshire County Council blurb that on 6th October they (or possibly Basingstoke Council; it's unclear) organised a walk entitled "Watership Down and Bigwig's Tree". Now, I was under the impression that the famous big tree at the corner of the beech hanger had been cut down some months ago... so which tree was the one mentioned here? If anyone knows, do drop me an email.

2002-11-08T01:07:00.000Z

Roll out the barrel

The North Hampshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale has voted the Watership Down Inn in Freefolk, just outside Whitchurch, as North Hampshire Pub of the Year 2002. Well done them!

2002-11-05T02:54:00.000Z

It's the final countdown...

...to "WD30"! Rex Collings published the first edition of the Great Man's Great Work on 14th November 1972, so there are just a few days left to the actual anniversary. Frith in a cake, what larks, eh?

2002-11-04T01:28:00.000Z

Off-topic moan

Well, sort of. I've been nosing around the various "top 100 books of the century" list that appeared around the turn of the millennium, so that I could get irritated when some idiot had left off you-know-what. The thing that really got to me, though, was the terrifying number of Americans (in particular) who think that the vastly overrated Ayn Rand is the best author of the last hundred years. Quite apart from Rand's complete inability to distinguish democratic socialism from Stalinist-style communism, Atlas Shrugged is a waffly, poorly edited mess. Why is this in print in Britain, and Tales from Watership Down not? There's no justice in the world...

2002-11-04T00:20:00.000Z

First in the queue?

Sadly not, as it's way out of my price range. But over on eBay, there's the Holy Grail - a genuine Rex Collings first edition of Watership Down. As I write this, it's over the £200 mark already, with four days to go, and still hasn't reached its reserve. It looks in very good nick, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the price approach four figures. Here's the link for them as has the dosh, or for those of us who just want to gaze enviously:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1577332527

2002-11-01T14:54:00.000Z

Tucker's Luck

Anyone who's read the Puffin Modern Classics version of Watership Down will know that it contains a short Afterword by Nicholas Tucker. However, what you might not know is that said Afterword comes in two versions! The version I have, the first printing of this edition, contains a whole paragraph which has been excised - without any acknowledgement of the fact - from later reprints. Here it is:

However satisfying such stories are for male readers, they now fit rather uneasily into the modern world of equal consideration for both sexes. If there is a fault in Watership Down, it is in its treatment of the does. All the rabbits in this story know that they must reproduce themselves soon if their warren is to survive. Yet while one male rabbit is shown capable of talking in great detail to another about their hopes and fears, these same males are shown as having a far more mechanical attitude towards the opposite sex. There is none of the sensitivity here with which Hazel treats Fiver, for example; merely a question of "Some mating and a scuffle or two". This is hardly fair to the does, who are shown as little more than passive baby-factories.

I think that judgement is rather unfair, and indeed that last phrase - "passive baby-factories" - spurred me to write an essay on this very subject over on Bits'n'Bob-stones itself. But I'm still surprised to see the whole argument removed in later printings, and to be honest I'm unhappy with the rather sneaky way in which the change has been made. Perhaps I should write to Mr Tucker and ask him why it was done.

2002-10-28T13:03:00.000Z

Paper! Paper! Read all about it!

Nosing around on the This is Hampshire site's archive, I found an interesting piece from a year ago about Richard Adams. Among other things, it tells us that the famous car journey was made in 1966, not 1967, that Hazel is his favourite character and that Shardik is his favourite among his novels. Intriguingly, "he says he does not know if he will write another novel, but continues to make up stories for his six grandchildren" - I'd give a lot to know what those stories are! You can read the whole article here.

2002-10-26T12:30:00.000Z

Is it a dream?

This is very unconfirmed, but it seems that there might be a cinema rerelease of Watership Down in 2003 to mark its 25th anniversary! From what I can gather, a UK release is the most likely, with a US (etc) one less so - unsurprising, as the film did best here (and Bright Eyes was number one for six weekds and sold 1.7 million copies in the UK, as opposed to about twelve in the States...). I have absolutely no knowledge beyond this, but here's where I got the info from:

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0078480/board/thread/245976

Fingers crossed!

2002-10-25T00:14:00.000Z

Batt Man!

I sent a quick email to Mike Batt a day or two ago, via the address he gives on his website, complimenting him on Run Like The Wind, and yesterday he answered! Not a long post - just a "glad you liked it" sort of thing - but it was a quick answer, it was polite, and it was from Mr Batt himself rather than a flunky. On the site he says: "Send us an email if you like - we reply to all of them"... and he means it!

Top man!

2002-10-23T16:12:00.000Z

I Will Sing, Sing My Song

By that man Art, that is, you know. Anyway, I only made that comment about singing Run Like The Wind at the Crixa as a throwaway line, but the more I think about it the more I like the idea of actually doing it! Given as how the clocks go back this weekend, it's something for next year... but I really think I might do it, if I can only work out the trains and buses and find some spare time and money!

So, how would it work? Well, first off there'd be no trespassing, which means that certain sites - the roadless railway arch, for example, and of course the Honeycomb itself - would have to be missed out, though I'd get as close as I legally could. If you want to know what the "hidden" bits look like (well, what they looked like in the early 1980s), then Chris Boyce's fabulous site, The Real Watership Down, will show you everything you want and more. (He also shows on this page how the beech hanger looked by 1998, blocked off by a damn great fence :-( )

The three "song breaks" would be fairly easy: first, (When You're) Losing Your Way In The Rain at the edge of Newtown Common (which is criss-crossed by public footpaths, so no problem there). Then Bright Eyes, which presents more problems, as it could reasonably be either at (well, as near as possible to) the beech hanger or, if I can find the damn thing, at the infamous ditch where the "bloody hole" was. Finally, Run Like The Wind at the Near Hind Mark's side of Efrafa.

Yeah, all right, it's completely insane, and I reckon it might take two separate journeys. But I have a sneaking feeling that I might just go for it!

2002-10-22T00:36:00.000Z

Run Like The Wind

Back to song titles, but for a very good reason. A lot of people don't know that the 1978 film of Watership Down was originally going to include three Mike Batt songs, rather than the one - Bright Eyes - that made it through. One of them was (When You're) Losing Your Way In The Rain, which eventually turned up, sung by Mr Garfunkel himself, on Watership Down: Original Soundtrack Music and Songs, which despite only being released in 2000, is already deleted! Annoying, as I haven't got it, and neither do Worcestershire Libraries... (they have got a copy of the 1978 soundtrack on cassette, though, which is something).

The other song, however, I know more about. It's called Run Like The Wind, and it was sung by Barbara Dickson. It's about thoughts of a break for freedom, so it's unsurprising that it was intended to be about Hyzenthlay. It's easily obtainable (in the UK at least) on The Best of Barbara Dickson. Having got hold of it myself for the first time today, I like it a great deal. It's simple, but memorable with a nice melody. I think it would have been perfect for Hyzenthlay's character, and it's a great pity it ended up in the bin. Now, all I need to do is to get a choir together to go and sing it at the Crixa...!

2002-10-19T00:27:00.000Z

Thereby hang some Tales

Right, enough of the song-title thing. To my shame, I don't actually own a copy of Tales From Watership Down, and - egad! - it seems to be out of print already! So 'twas off to the library today to get my hands on one - luckily, Worcestershire's libraries are stuffed to the gills with Mr Adams' novels, and judging by the datestamps in the front they're still much sought after (cheers cheers). Quite a while since I last read it, so I didn't really remember much. I'm currently up to the end of Part I, which consists of various stories, mostly (but not all) told by Dandelion. I have to say that I found the quality rather mixed - for example, El-ahrairah sings on a couple of occasions, which is surely reserved for Cowslip's lot... anyhow, over and out.

2002-10-18T09:49:00.000Z

We could be lifted

A little snippet now, but that's what blogs are for, surely? Anyway... I can't be the only one, surely, who feels a great surge of emotion - almost pride - at getting to Part IV and seeing "Hazel-Rah" at the top of each page. It really does lift me up.

2002-10-17T00:05:00.000Z

Where have all the posters gone?

Long time passing... well, three days, anyway. That's how long it is since anyone but me has posted to the Yahoo Group, which is odd. Maybe some virulent disease is attacking only Watership Down fans - it'd go some way to explaining this bloody cough...

Updates galore at Bits'n'Bob-stones itself. Most importantly, Unit 08 of the Lapine course is now up, explaining how to do possessives ("mine" etc) and some handy prepositions. No MP3s until my cough goes away, but in one of my healthier moments I managed to get the recording done for the Unit 10 story about Rooli Roo. I'll I've just listened to it, and actually it sounds rather impressive, even if I do say so myself. I should think it's easily the longest extant piece of Lapine - over 200 words, taking around 90 seconds at quite some pace.

The other new publication on the site is a piece I've called simply Why Watership Down?. It's on the reviews page, but it isn't really a review; more a personal exploration of what the book means to me - which is an awful lot. Except for correcting typos, I've left it completely in first-draft form, and it does get quite emotional at times, but that's what I wanted it to do. I very much doubt I'd ever publish it anywhere else, but I'm among friends at B'n'B.

Finally, I've succumbed to the Curse of Geocities Homepages, and stuck in the Obligatory Guestbook. Comments are of course welcomed in both English and Lapine :-)

2002-10-16T01:35:00.000Z

Amazon Grace

Maybe this song-title thing is getting a bit out of hand now... anyhow, this is just to tell those of you who hang on my every word (why?) that I have yet another copy of Watership Down on order from amazon.co.uk, to replace one I've just torn the cover off by accident! It's the basic Penguin edition, which you can see here - "Children's Books", aaarrghhh! Not the most inspired cover art you'll ever see, but actually that rabbit's expression is rather good - much better than it looks on screen. And at least these editions are based on the original Rex Collings one, so we get the full ending to ch. 11 ("Hard Going"), rather than the greatly condensed one poor American readers generally have to put up with - see here for what I'm talking about.

I really ought not to be doing this, I suppose, as I object to Amazon's doings on several counts, for example their anti-union policies and their weaselling out of our Data Protection Act by shipping the info over to the US. (Eg: if they were a British company, they would be required by law to make available all personal data they hold about customers. They refuse to do this. Not good enough.) But unfortunately they give such a damn good service that I can't be bothered to go elsewhere!

2002-10-15T11:55:00.000Z

Make like an Apeman

That title's there for no other reason than that I was listening to a Kinks CD yesterday and Apeman was the last track. It really is the most utterly ridiculous song ;-) Anyhow, maybe I was slightly over-the-top about the US blurb last night - it was half past three in the morning, after all. I still find "a glorious dream called home" horribly sickly-sweet, though. In other news, it seems that that Big Brother site I mentioned is no longer updated, as it's still at Day 9. Shame.

2002-10-15T02:35:00.000Z

Dream a little dream of me

Might as well carry on with the musical theme ;-) Getting back to WD, is it just my cynical British viewpoint speaking here, or is the US blurb for the book unbelievably cringe-inducing? The bit I'm talking about is this:

It is a powerful saga of courage, leadership, and survival; an epic tale of a hardy band of Berkshire rabbits forced to flee the destruction of their fragile community and their trials and triumphs in the face of extraordinary adversity as they pursue a glorious dream called "home".

I don't know why, but "a glorious dream called home" strikes me as epitomising all that is worst about American publishers' sentimentalism - and the whole damn reason WD works so well is because it isn't sentimentalised (a subject on which I've got a bit more to say sometime). Frankly, that phrase makes me want to vomit.

2002-10-14T20:21:00.000Z

Ring, ring (2)

Yup, I'm in. Good stuff :-) While I'm here, I'll just give a quick plug to an amazingly silly, but strangely addictive, site on the ring: Big Brother on Watership Down. Yes, exactly what it sounds like - 13 WD characters (in more or less human form) shut up in a house and having incredibly stupid rows. An example: "Hazel told Woundwort that he was wrong to tell Bigwig that he (Hazel) fancied Hyzenthlay. Woundwort retorted I do what I like pretty boy. Hazel told Woundwort that he hated him. Woundwort told Hazel, I'm the king of the house, shut up. Hazel stormed off in a strop. Hyzenthlay and Nelthilta went to comfort him. Hazel cried into his pillow that Woundwort was incredibly mean". Only on day 9 of 64 and I'm hooked already!

2002-10-13T23:17:00.000Z

Ring, ring

Nothing to do with ABBA (though I quite like them), but rather ye olde Watership Down Webring, which I've put in my application to join (for the companion site, not this blog). The webring gets a navigation rating of 94, dontcherknow! (That's good, by the way.) Some very interesting WD-related stuff in there - I hope I get the nod from The Management. We'll see.

2002-10-13T00:20:00.000Z

The weekend quiz

Okay, so the weekend's half over already, but never mind. Ten tricky teasers for Watership Down fanatics (ie us lot) on the Yahoo Group, here (public archives). Note that Q9 is slightly wrong: the differing text is in two editions that I know of - the UK Rex Collings 2nd ed, and the US Avon paperback. (Cheers to Chris Paci for setting me straight on this!). Answers will be posted to the Yahoo Group on Monday - I'll link to the answers from here.

2002-10-11T11:33:00.000Z

Review review

No, not another review from me, but rather a comment on the very variable quality of some of the reviews of the 1978 Watership Down animated Nepenthe film. Some of these pieces are excellent potted descriptions with just the right amount of prejudice to make them interesting, but others - well - you sometimes wonder if the reviewers got the whole thing from the video box! Anyhow, here's a guide to some of the reviews - I'm not going to comment on whether or not I agree with them (well, not much...), but rather on whether they're fair and accurate, plus I'll give them a grade (A to E; C is average, not useless!). Incidentally, I'm ignoring tech info such as DVD extras - all I'm interested in here is the film. So then:

Animated Lust - this site has one-para reviews from several people, obviously fans, which read together give a pretty decent idea of what to expect. One small mistake is the reference to Bigwig as "Thlayli" - that name is never used in the film - but that's minor stuff. B

Allwatchers.com - a very unusual idea, this - reviewers are guided through a lengthy sequence of multiple-choice questions in order to build up an idea of the film's structure, plot etc. Sadly it doesn't really work for such an unusual film as this - for example, because rabbits don't wear clothes, the review gives "90-100% full-frontal nudity"!! The reviewer has tried hard, and obviously knows the story, but the format still doesn't work. I did have a go at seeing if I could do better for them myself, but discovered that they wanted exclusive rights. No thanks. D

amazon.co.uk - actually, the reviewer here (Keith Simanton) is from the .com site, but that's not a problem. A two-para review, which dashes through most of the relevant points (yep, we get the "a-word" [allegories]), and sensibly mentions that it's not for young kids. Could have done with a bit more detail, but there are customer reviews here too, of course, some of which are even readable.B-

Film Freak Central - unacceptably slow to load, but once you do get there, the review itself is detailed and thoughtful, making the interesting point that its unsentimentality about death might in fact make it a good film for children. Reviewer Walter Chaw is not a fan of the animation ("shoddy"), but considers it "unusually thoughtful" for animation. The only real complaint about this well written piece is that nowhere are we told that the film is British! A-

Daily-Reviews.com - another quite lengthy review here, and in general a very good effort, and I have only two quibbles, both cases of mistaken identity: one, we are told Kehaar notices the lack of does (it's Hazel); and two, the impression is given that Bigwig single-handedly thinks up the entire "escape from Efrafa" lark, which is a little bit hard on Blackberry. B+

Kayframe - this site has a similar setup to Animated Lust (above) - several short reviews on the same page. The bottom review (by "Athena"), which is otherwise good, complains about some of the "thick British accents" making the dialogue unclear, which is simply rubbish - the voices are some of the clearest you'll ever hear. There's the odd silly mistake caused by a lack of fact-checking (who's this "Ka-reel" character?), and UK readers will be annoyed by the constant "it earned its PG rating" comments (it's a U over here), but other than one or two completely pointless (and very short) efforts, the reviews here are worth a glance. B-

The Cavalcade of Schlock - what a URL! Sadly, a generally good review is ruined by a couple of horribly sloppy moments. For example, right at the beginning we're given a reference to Woundwort shaking a rabbit about in his jaws. What film was that in, then? Wasn't this one, that's for sure. Also, the blood is apparently orange - try cleaning your video, matey. Finally, we're told that the film "keeps that part where Bigwig tells Woundwort to eat shit and die". Quite apart from the fact that he doesn't quite say that even in the book (silflay hraka, u embleer rah means""go outside and eat shit, you stinking lord"), in the film this is reduced to one word: "Hraka!". Oh, and you can't find reference to WD in "The Stand"? Where do you think the word "tharn" comes from, eh? Overall, this would have got an A- with a bit more fact-checking; as it is I can only justify a C+

World Kids Network - a one-para effort here from Mario Rodgers, but not a bad one at all, though the phrase "the bleeding fields" might bring a smile to the face of some British readers! (Cor blimey guv'nor.) B

ninemsn - this ludicrously-monikered Aussie company (blame Murdoch, as per usual) has a small, TV preview-type review which doesn't tell us much, but what is there is correct (except that it's a 1978, not 1977, film). C

Laserdisc Movie Reviews - remember when these were the next big thing? Ah, nostalgia, eh? Anyhow, this review is really more concerned with the disc than the film on it, so we only get a bare-bones description of the movie itself. Reviewer Robert A. George obviously likes the film a lot, which makes the lack of detail all the more infuriating. D+

DVD Savant - aha! This is more like it, despite the presence of the dreaded "A-word" (see above). Glenn Erickson has gone into some detail here, with a thoughtful and interesting discussion of whether WD might not be better treated not as some latter-day Animal Farm, but merely ("merely"?) as the story of "nature and survival and life and death" that it is. Kehaar is Russian this time (another one for the collection!) - out of interest, Adams based him on a Norwegian, though I think he sounds Dutch - and the quote Erickson gives him is wrong, but you can at least imagine him saying it! One other quibble - "Only a few, if any, [Efrafan] rabbits are allowed to mate", fine, but: "with [Woundwort] siring many of the offspring"? Where's the evidence for that? There's also a quite detailed letter Erickson received from a correspondent which gives some interesting info about creative differences in production, though quickly becomes a (deserved, if you ask me) rant against The Plague Dogs. Still, the WD review itself is one of the best of the "non-fansite" version, and so I think I'll end on a high note by giving this an A-

2002-10-09T02:10:00.000Z

When will I, will I be famous...?

Dunno, but I've appeared in a national newspaper already! Well, sort of. If you click this link, you'll find a discussion on the Guardian newspaper's talkboards. And guess what? It's about me! Or rather, about the companion site to this blog. Some of the language in the talkboard discussion is a bit strong, but if you can live with that I urge you to read it - basically it's a rant by someone who's seen my site but completely missed the point. In other words, they think I'm taking all this deadly seriously. Though I note that I can't win either way - if I say that it's a bit of fun, they'll also sneer at me for being a person who says "I'm a bit mad, me". It really did make my day, this - it's absolutely hilarious :-)

2002-10-08T11:17:00.000Z

As for the radio serial...

The second half was considerably better in some ways. General Woundwort's military character worked pretty well - rather like a slightly less lunatic General Melchett from Blackadder Goes Forth, and Hazel's death scene, though changed somewhat from the book, was highly effective, and perhaps the only part of this version that could fairly be called moving. The actors were also much better at bringing out their characters' "rabbitalities", and the voices were, at last, distinguishable.

There are the usual complaints, though: Woundwort's "dogs aren't dangerous!" got the blue pencil, Bugloss was sentenced to death instead of merely losing his commission, Nelthilta was let in on the escape plan from the start, Hyzenthlay's second sight was virtually ignored and the Lapine was again pronounced very oddly (HyZANthlay??). The worst change by far, though, was the complete omission of Blackavar. Not only does his plight affect Bigwig quite deeply, but he's also involved in a classic confrontation to Bigwig which ends up with the party encountering the fox again - this scene is also left out.

Overall, then, this episode would get 6-7 out of 10, compared with the 5 of part one. So 6 seems a reasonable mark to give to the adaptation as a whole. Not something to be ashamed of, but neither was it any sort of landmark.

2002-10-08T11:10:00.000Z

The train

Remember when the escaping embassy party to Efrafa is saved from their pursuers by a train? Well, I've been trying to find out what sort of train it was. The book certainly gives the impression of it being a steam train, and the film is explicit in this, but the Radio 4 series uses a rather feeble diesel horn effect. So, I went off to the fount of all knowledge (ie Usenet) and asked on uk.railway about it. And it turns out that the exact date is crucial. It's pretty much agreed that WD was conceived in the summer of 1967, and we know that the main action takes place between May and August. From uk.railway I've managed to establish that the last steam train through Overton was on the night of 8/9 July 1967. Now, a careful reading of the book will tell you that the scene in question is set in mid-summer, when the nights are very short - so it would seem that the train that did for Charlock was one of the very last steam ones to pass along that line.

2002-10-06T00:06:00.000Z

Radio 4 again

Just caught the last few minutes of a prog on Radio 4 about how rabbits have been portrayed by humans over the 100 years since Peter Rabbit was published. Interesting stuff, including a comment from Richard Adams about how real rabbits might climb on kennels, but would never co-operate to free a fellow from a snare as the Watership Down crowd do for Bigwig - real rabbits just walk on by, so to speak. I also listened to the repeat of the first half of the radio adaptation of WD, and I stand by my earlier comment - it's acceptable, but no more.

2002-10-04T11:26:00.000Z

Hrair!

That's right, folks, we're up to five units and beyond the reach of lapine counting. Which is a shame, as one of the new bits of Frithaes! is about exactly that. Other subjects include the future tense (easy), more complex ideas of time (not too difficult), a few simple words to describe rabbits (straightforward) and an important milestone - which you'll recognise when you get there!

2002-10-03T00:44:00.000Z

Fu hyao, e laynt meth "Frithrah!"

That translates as "after a day, he said 'Great Frith!'". Good, eh? Unit 02 of the Lapine course is now up at the companion site, and in this section you can learn how to form the past tense (very easy), and a whole slew of words relating to telling the time (which is rather less simple). Have fun!

2002-10-02T03:01:00.000Z

Lapine, Lapine everywhere!

I've reorganised the site a bit, so that the Lapine section stands on its own, and - more importantly - uploaded some MP3s of yours truly speaking (not very fluent) Lapine. The contents page (not that there is much in the way of content yet) is now here.

2002-10-01T12:21:00.000Z

More on the Lapine front

Last night's post got me thinking. I don't think I'm up to constructing a comprehensive grammar for Lapine, but I think I can have a reasonable stab at some of the easier parts of speech. Zoe Kealtan's version of the present tense is an inflected one, but - so my thinking went - what if Lapine, like Welsh, had a formal "literary" version (yes, I do know rabbits don't write, but you see what I mean) but also a more roundabout colloquial version? It would seem reasonable to assume that this everyday version would have a simple yet robust structure, and make considerable use of auxiliary verbs.

I've cobbled together a simple explanation of how to form the present tense in Lapine by using the auxiliary verb lay, "to be" in conjunction with some simple phrases. Words I've taken mostly from Watership Down itself, but a few are ZK's inventions and one or two are - gasp! - my own work! The structure is vaguely reminiscent of that of Welsh, simply because that's a language I have a little knowledge of. I don't pretend to be any sort of expert in this field, so I'm sure that there are huge glaring flaws in my work, but it might be of some small interest in any case. At the moment, I have only one page on the subject, here. Comments, as ever, are welcome - address on the right.

2002-10-01T00:30:00.000Z

Lapine linguistics

I'm sure a lot of people enjoy the scattered words of Lapine dotted around Watership Down - especially Bigwig's wonderful curse: "Silflay hraka, u embleer rah"! But some people have gone even further. One such is Zoe Kealtan, who several years ago produced a few very interesting posts on the matter. Here is one such post, containing a Lapine translation of "El-ahrairah and the Pike", mentioned quite early on in WD. There's also a guide to pronunciation here, and an introductory grammar lesson here. Sadly attempts by others to expand Lapine have been dogged by bad feeling and politics, which I don't think it would serve any purpose to elaborate on, so for the moment this is as far as we get.

2002-09-30T13:37:00.000Z

Clover's mate - not Speedwell but Holly

I notice that quite a lot of people are under the impression that Clover's mate is Speedwell, drawing such an inference because he is the buck who announces the birth of her litter. But I disagree - only a couple of pages earlier, we're clearly told that Speedwell is digging a hole with Boxwood, one of the farm bucks, rather than hanging around with Clover - and in any case there is plenty of evidence for Holly's paternity of the kittens:

* Quite some while back (ch. 27), we've been told that "Holly had taken to Clover".
* One of Clover's sons is called Scabious, after a rabbit Holly saw killed by men.
* I really doubt whether Speedwell would win a fight with Holly over any doe.
* And finally: it's likely that the kittens were conceived while Speedwell was away on the Efrafan raid (remember that Kehaar brought them the news that "ees all to fight").

2002-09-29T23:47:00.000Z

More thoughts on the Radio 4 version

Okay, here are a few more detailed thoughts about the first half of the BBC radio serial.

Today we experienced a rare event - a brand new adaptation of Watership Down, this time for BBC Radio 4. Neville Teller has dramatised the story in two hour-long episodes, of which the first was broadcast a few hours ago. This covered the story from the beginning until the moment at which Fiver insists that Hazel, who has been shot in the farm raid, isn't dead.

I really don't know what I was expecting from this version - after all, there's never been a version intended for radio before, although the soundtrack of the 1978 film is bordering on that. But, after listening for an hour, I felt... well, not much frankly. The film worked better than could really have been expected because the actors had obviously invested deep reserves of emotion in their characters, but the participants here seemed at times to be going through the motions. Most of us who love the story will find it hard to understand how such a moving story can be rendered so - well - passionless.

That's not to say that the radio version was dreadful - it wasn't. The cast are not the star-studded lineup of the film, but that's not really important, though I doubt any Hazel could have lived up to John Hurt's brilliantly judged portrayal. And there were at least no extra does shoved into the initial deserters to make up the numbers. The voices are reasonably well judged, though Kehaar is not strident enough, and I found that the rabbits stressed almost every Lapine word differently to how I pronounce them!

All the initial band from the book are present and correct, which is a definite plus point - even the minor parts of Hawkbit, Speedwell and Acorn - though poor old Pipkin (who you'll remember I have something of a soft spot for) doesn't seem to be allowed to speak at all (are the BBC that strapped for cash?). As in the film, Holly appears alone in the ditch, without Bluebell, and Silverweed is gone, though as his poem is dispensed with entirely in the radio version (why?), that makes little difference. Strawberry, on the other hand, does join the party, which is nice after his omission from the film.

As far as the story itself goes, things haven't been messed around too much - the opening scene is in the Threarah's burrow, and there's only one visit to the farm (which is a bit hard on Pipkin, who therefore misses his adventure), plus there are the inevitable losses of some of the peripheral subplots - the lendri for example, and the crossing of the Common (which is a shame, as it's an early test of Hazel's leadership). No real complaints, though - much as I'd love a 15-hour marathon with absolutely everything included, realism demands that something has to go.

However, now I have to be a bit harsher. One of the great pleasures of listening to an adaptation of a favourite book is in listening out for and speaking along to the "great lines". Sadly, Mr Teller doesn't seem to realise how important this is, and has taken from us some of the genuinely great speeches from the book. For example, Fiver's "the field! It's covered with blood!" is replaced by a bland line about dead bodies, Bigwig's "I'm finished with you" to Fiver at the Warren of Shining Wires is gone too, and also removed is Frith's great promise to El-Ahrairah: "be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed".

Worst of all, though, the scene where Bigwig is saved from the snare is robbed of almost all the power it has in the book (and the film, which did an excellent job here), and absent entirely is possibly the most extraordinarily moving line in the whole book: "my heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today". I can't see any excuse for that, and this particular change annoys me more than any other.

Finally, I felt that the cliffhanger was in the wrong place - after Fiver had said that Hazel was alive. It would have been much more effective to have stopped a few moments beforehand, when the farmer's gun went off, with it left hanging as to who - if anyone - had been shot. There's no "Bright Eyes" here (the music, incidentally, is a rather strange choice of ooh-arr countrified folk fiddling, pleasant enough on the ear but paling by comparison with Angela Morley's excellent film score), so there's no need to put the "interval" in the same place as in the movie.

Half-time report, then: Mr Teller's adaptation is by no means a disaster, but it simply does not live up to the glories of its source. It's inoffensive - and yes, I know I'm damning with faint praise here. I'll still be listening to the second half of the story next weekend, and if that's better then I will be delighted - and will say as much here. I think a lot depends on the people playing two characters: General Woundwort, of course, and Hyzenthlay. If we imagine a scale of 0 to 10, with the book at 10, then the 1978 film would score around 7 or 8, and the TV series 2 or so. This would get 5 - it doesn't excite strong emotions either way, which is really not something I often feel about Watership Down.

2002-09-29T15:50:00.000Z

First thoughts on the Radio 4 dramatisation

More here later on, but I thought it was adequate. It wasn't great; it wasn't awful. It didn't change the story much, except that for some reason Dandelion replaced Pipkin on the farm raid, and Haystack was a bit more talkative. But it lacked passion, and left out several of the most famous lines, ones which every fan would expect to have heard. I hope this wasn't just being different for the sake of it.

2002-09-29T00:51:00.000Z

UK Radio alert!

To mark the 30th anniversary of the publication of Watership Down, BBC Radio 4 are putting on a brand new, two-hour dramatisation of the novel by Neville Teller! The play will be in two parts, the first today at 3pm BST (repeated at 9pm on Saturday). Not a terribly well known cast - the complete opposite of the Nepenthe film - but that's not important - what is important is that the producers resist the temptation to "modernise", as seen so disastrously in the telly series. It's not often we get something as new and exciting as this in the WD world, so let's keep our claws crossed that it lives up to its illustrious name!

In the UK (and some closer parts of Europe), you can get Radio 4 on 198KHz long wave; otherwise you can hear it via the internet (you'll need RealPlayer) at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 - click the "listen live" button.

2002-09-28T23:53:00.000Z

"Passive baby-factories"? - the treatment of does in Watership Down

Nicholas Tucker, in his otherwise complimentary Afterword to the Puffin Modern Classics edition of Watership Down[1] states that the bucks' sensitive attitude towards each other is not reflected in their attitude towards the does, quoting the phrase "some mating, and a scuffle or two" from Watership Down itself as evidence that the does are shown as "little more than passive baby-factories". This is, on the face of it, a valid objection - almost all the principal characters in the novel are bucks - but I think it's a rebuttable one.

Tucker is hardly the only person to make this complaint. For example, Bob Dixon says[2] that "Hazel's leadership is sanctioned and the seal of approval put on ... the treatment of does as breeding objects ... to say that rabbits are like this is beside the point, in terms of the story". This is utterly mistaken - Watership Down only works because it does follow closely the group dynamics of real rabbits. Would Mr Dixon also object to the portrayal of an all-male Roman Legion? Perhaps he would. And in any case, he shows signs of not knowing his source that well, for example saying that it is "Lord Frith" who comes for Hazel at the end of the book. Whoever it is who appears (there's some argument on this point), it isn't Frith.

A much more sensible expression of concern comes from Jane Resh Thomas in a well-known American children's fiction journal[3], who worries that Adams "grafted exalted human spirits to the rabbit bodies of his male characters and has made the females mere rabbits. The [bucks] are superhuman and the [does] sub-human". John Rowe Townsend, referring to this comment[4], points out that it "does not seek to condemn the whole book", and says that "it would be a pity if it were met with yawns or instant resentment".

Yawns seem unlikely, but resentment is another matter - as with any book which has become a cult, fans of Watership Down [raises a paw] react strongly to any suggestion that their beloved masterpiece is less than perfect in any way. For myself, I feel much more uncomfortable with Adams' occasional references to "simple African villagers" and the like than ever I do about the sexism or otherwise of the novel, but I think that the role of the does is rather undervalued by many critics.

Of course, I must make it clear here that it is the book to which I refer: the TV series is in effect a different story, and can (and should, if you ask me) be ignored, but the 1978 animated film, though largely respectful of its source, does let itself down in one way: by having a doe, Violet, included in the initial leaving party from Sandleford. This is a bad move: her presence means that she has to be killed off (by the crow in the beanfield) in order for there to be an absence of does later on. This also means that we lose the passage in the book where Hazel proudly tells Holly that all the initial party are still alive, an early example of Hazel's leadership skills. It's noticeable that Violet does not appear in the cast-list - perhaps the producers were slightly ashamed of this particular piece of meddling.

The earliest doe to appear in person in Watership Down is Strawberry's doe, Nildro-hain[5], but her only importance to the story is that her death at the hands of the Shining Wires prompts Strawberry to join Hazel's band. The does in the hutch are another matter. Clover, "a strong, active rabbit" is "clearly excited" by the thought of freedom[6], and is the first doe to mate with a Watership rabbit, Holly in all probability - we're told that "Holly had taken to Clover"[7]. This also means that hers are the first kittens to be born - a vital sign of the Watership warren's long-term viability. In fact, one of the last scenes in the book is that of Bigwig teaching a proto-Owsla made up of Clover's sons, one of whom is called Scabious after a rabbit Holly had seen killed by men - a nice symbol of renewal.

For all Clover's strength, though, she doesn't do anything particularly out of the ordinary. The same cannot be said of a couple of the Efrafan does, Thethuthinnang and - especially - Hyzenthlay. We first encounter her in Holly's description of the initial expedition to Efrafa[8], but she really comes into her own once Bigwig realises that he had found "a strong, sensible friend, who would think on her own account", and who is quite clear about who is to be trusted (Thethuthinnang) and who is not (Nelthilta). Hyzenthlay is also the one who organises the does' escape party from Efrafa - a vital task requiring a great amount of intelligence and common sense, and not at all one for a second-rate camp follower[9].

In conclusion then, it is perfectly reasonable to accept the view of John Rowe Townsend that dismissing the criticism of sexism out of hand is unfair. However, Bob Dixon's charge that what real rabbits do is irrelevant misses the point of Watership Down entirely - what real rabbits do is central to the whole book. The does are not, it is true, the great wandering adventurers that the bucks are, but they are - Hyzenthlay in particular - a great deal more than "passive baby-factories".

References
[1] Nicholas Tucker, Afterword, within Richard Adams, Watership Down, Puffin Modern Classics, London 1993.
[2] Bob Dixon, Catching Them Young 2: Political Ideas in Children's Fiction, Pluto Press 1977.
[3] Jane Resh Thomas, The Horn Book, August 1974.
[4] John Rowe Townsend, Are Children's Books Racist and Sexist?, within Only Connect: Readings on Children's Literature, Oxford University Press (Canada), Toronto 1980.
[5] Watership Down, ch. 13.
[6] ibid., ch. 24.
[7] ibid., ch. 28.
[8] ibid., ch. 27.
[9] ibid., ch. 35.

This essay may be freely reproduced for non-commercial use, so long as credit is given.

2002-09-28T20:40:00.000Z

A very happy International Rabbit Day to hrair!

See the Rabbit Charity's page, here, for more.

2002-09-28T00:38:00.000Z

Pipkin's Progress

Page numbers vary by editions - I'm using the 1974 Penguin edition here, which is probably the best known - so I'll also include chapter references.

Pipkin - Hlao-roo in Lapine, the "-roo" being a diminutive suffix here used affectionately - is a rather overlooked character, it seems to me. He's not the only rabbit to develop and change, of course, but the very fact that he does so largely in the background is what makes it most interesting. We first meet Pipkin in ch. 4 (p. 29), where he is introduced as "a friend of Fiver ... small, and inclined to be timid". Hazel and Fiver had spent some time persuading him to leave (which in itself suggests that they thought he would be worth having), and felt "extremely nervous", deciding to "keep close to Hazel and do exactly what he said". His next important appearance is at the river crossing (ch. 8), where he is clearly almost tharn and has to be "bullied" onto the makeshift raft by Blackberry. In ch. 9 he is clearly limping from the thorn in his foot, yet does not complain and bears it as best he can until Hazel removes it. (Echoes of the mouse and the lion here.)

So far, so ordinary, but in ch. 14 (p. 91), it is Pipkin who comments that Cowslip and his fellow rabbits are "like trees in November", and who offers the opinion that, despite their size and shining coats, "I don't believe they can fight". "You notice a lot, don't you Hlao-roo?" responds Hazel, but nothing more is made of it. This is a piece of wild speculation, but I sometimes wonder whether Pipkin might just have a very faint version of Fiver's intuition. And - another vague clue? - they are the only two rabbits who are given the "-roo" suffix.

Bravery in adversity is first noticeable in the following chapter, where he sheds blood in the - ultimately successful - rescue effort for Bigwig. He is also starting to risk the occasional lone foray outside, as when he comes to find Hazel and Bigwig in the ditch where Holly and Bluebell are found (ch. 18, p. 149). "You stood by me at the river, so I thought I'd come and look for you, Hazel", says Pipkin with the loyalty that is second-nature to him. (Note that even Pipkin is not yet using "Hazel-rah" - Strawberry, in ch. 20, seems to be the first to do so as a matter of course.) Pipkin seems to have a lot of pride in being a useful member of the warren, and would surely have been pleased to hear Dandelion praise him as "first-rate" (ch. 20, p.154) in keeping the recovering Holly talking to avoid his going to sleep and suffering nightmares. Indeed, once the Warren of Shining Wires has been escaped, the party "had become closer together, relying on and valuing each other's capacities" - there's no question now of anyone merely making up the numbers.

Of course, Pipkin is still timid in other ways - Holly's story of the Sandleford Warren's destruction in ch. 21 causes him to shudder, cry and tremble piteously (p. 161), though other rabbits are equally deeply affected. Later on, during the story of El-Ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé (ch. 31, p. 278), he confesses to Hazel that "I don't like this story. I know I'm not brave", just in time to go out (with Fiver - see above for the significance of this) and save the rabbits from the fox which does for Efrafa's Captain Mallow. Actually, I think Pipkin is putting himself down rather in the latter case, as by this time he has already participated in a dangerous, and nearly disastrous, adventure - the raid on Nuthanger Farm. The film of Watership Down rather overdoes Pipkin's terror if you ask me - in the book (ch. 24) he's very nervous, but by no means a gibbering wreck. And by the time of Bigwig's mission to Efrafa, Pipkin has clearly found new reserves of courage: when Hazel says (ch. 37, p. 347) "if he [Bigwig] doesn't come tomorrow, I'm going into Efrafa myself", Pipkin's immediate response is "I'll come with you, Hazel-rah". It might be that his terror of losing Hazel exceeds even that of going into Efrafa, but I don't think so - I think it's real bravery.

Finally, we come to ch. 46, in the midst of the Efrafans' final assault on the Honeycomb. Fiver is lying inert and cold in the middle of the floor, and Pipkin is desperate to rescue him. "Oh Bigwig," cries Pipkin (p. 446), "let me stay out there with him! you'll never miss me, and I can go on trying-". Although Bigwig and Silver refuse to contenance this plan on the grounds, as Holly says, that "if we lose no one but Fiver ... the Lord Frith himself will be fighting for us", it illustrates just how much courage Pipkin does have - it is quite clear that he is prepared to die a horrible death at the claws of Woundwort and his cronies on the off-chance that he might be able to rescue a friend. Hlao-roo, we honour your name.

This essay may be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes so long as credit is given.

2002-09-27T02:39:00.000Z

Oh, why wait, eh? Let's have a small piece now, just to stop the damn page looking so empty.

Bigwig's early use of "Hazel-rah" - author error or deliberate plot development?

Anyone read "Watership Down All According to Captain Campion"? That has titles like this, though with rather more in the way of scholarship beneath them!

Anyhow: before the farm raid, Bigwig says to Hazel: "do you mean to go tonight, Hazel-rah?". This is pretty odd considering that the "-rah" honorific suffix is not otherwise used by Bigwig towards Hazel until the very end of the book, and in any case, "Hazel-rah" otherwise comes in very subtly and gradually - this occurrence is a wrenching break with that pattern. There seem to me to be two possible reasons:

1) A pure mistake on the part of Adams, missed at the proofreading stage.

2) A slip of the tongue by Bigwig. He's made it quite clear - particularly in his "that'll be the day" speech - that he has no intention of calling Hazel "rah", but we're told later on that he is "generous and honest", and that honesty might lead him, in his heart of hearts, to accept that Hazel has become de facto Chief Rabbit already.

Interesting as option 2 is, I regret that I have to come down on the side of option 1. Reasons for this include the complete lack of reaction from Hazel when addressed as "rah" (unlikely to say the least), Bigwig's own ignoring of the event and Adams' own reference, after Bigwig's "that'll be the day" speech, to his use of "Hazel-rah" being a "momentous speech", which this hardly is.

This essay may be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes so long as credit is given.

2002-09-27T02:20:00.000Z

Greetings to hrair! This is a test message and no more, really, but when and if I discover that it actually works, I'll get writing properly. As many of you will have guessed, Watership Down is (probably) going to be the main focus of this blog. I don't have anything particularly startling to say, but there are some small comments and suchlike I'd like to make about the book, film and TV series, and here seems like a good place to do it!