Seven eleven–
a winning throw of the dice!
Mukg rhymes with Luck, yes!Well done, Koy and Richard!

Love,

Russ

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Wonderful news. Congratulations and best wishes!Val

— In the_____@_____.com, “Richard Cooper” &lt_____@_____.>
wrote:

> Yo Krakenites,
>
> This isn’t strictly Kraken business but a few of you kindly asked

for news

> of the baby Cooper which was impending at the time of the Some-

Poasyum. He

> was born this morning at 7.11 GMT, weighed 7lb 8oz or 3.14kg, and

was I

> think 49cm in length. The delivery seemed to us a bit long and

drawn out,

> although probably not as much as in some cases, but both he and

Koy (mum)

> are doing fine. We haven’t decided on an official name yet but,

being

> half-Thai, he will have a Thai nickname. These are often quite

candid,

> poetic or seemingly odd (to us) words, translating literally as

things like

> Mouse, Cow, Moon, Fat and Red (Koy in fact means “little finger”).

In

> mini-Cooper’s case I feel fairly sure, with his Kraken

connections, that he

> will be known as “Mukg” (it’s difficult to transliterate

phonetically, but

> pronounced like “muck” with the “k” sound unreleased), which

translates as

> Squid.
>
> Love Richard
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Congratulations Richard!
I’m intrigued to notice little squid’s weight: at 3.14kg he might also be
known as Pi.
Cheers & warm wishes
Lisa

> This isn’t strictly Kraken business but a few of you kindly asked for news
> of the baby Cooper which was impending at the time of the Some-Poasyum. He
> was born this morning at 7.11 GMT, weighed 7lb 8oz or 3.14kg, and was I
> think 49cm in length. The delivery seemed to us a bit long and drawn out,
> although probably not as much as in some cases, but both he and Koy (mum)
> are doing fine. We haven’t decided on an official name yet but, being
> half-Thai, he will have a Thai nickname. These are often quite candid,
> poetic or seemingly odd (to us) words, translating literally as things
> like

well done rich, especially well done mum and hello to the little one
(squid pi(e) anyone?), malc p.s. hope you’ve bought a suitably
expensive present for mothers day tomorrow richard.

Dear Richard and Koy,Mazel Tov! Delighted to hear the news.

love, alida

At 12:26 AM 3/5/2005, you wrote:

 

>Wonderful news. Congratulations and best wishes!
>
>Val
>
>
>— In the_____@_____.com, “Richard Cooper” &lt_____@_____.>
>wrote:
> > Yo Krakenites,
> >
> > This isn’t strictly Kraken business but a few of you kindly asked
>for news
> > of the baby Cooper which was impending at the time of the Some-
>Poasyum. He
> > was born this morning at 7.11 GMT, weighed 7lb 8oz or 3.14kg, and
>was I
> > think 49cm in length. The delivery seemed to us a bit long and
>drawn out,
> > although probably not as much as in some cases, but both he and
>Koy (mum)
> > are doing fine. We haven’t decided on an official name yet but,
>being
> > half-Thai, he will have a Thai nickname. These are often quite
>candid,
> > poetic or seemingly odd (to us) words, translating literally as
>things like
> > Mouse, Cow, Moon, Fat and Red (Koy in fact means “little finger”).
>In
> > mini-Cooper’s case I feel fairly sure, with his Kraken
>connections, that he
> > will be known as “Mukg” (it’s difficult to transliterate
>phonetically, but
> > pronounced like “muck” with the “k” sound unreleased), which
>translates as
> > Squid.
> >
> > Love Richard
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>—————————————————
>The Kraken: The Russell Hoban Mailing List
>http://www.ocelotfactory.com/hoban
>For help contact the_____@_____.com
>To unsubscribe, send mail to:
>the_____@_____.com
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

 

Alida Allison, Professor
Center for the Study of Children’s Literature
English and Comparative Literature Dept.
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-8140
(619) 594-5443 (messages)
(619) 594-4998 (FAX)

WEB SITE FOR THE CHILDREN’S LITERATURE PROGRAM AND BOOK REVIEWS:
www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~childlit/news.html

———-

“It’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.”
Spinal Tap

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Richard,
this is good news! Congratulations!
Love and best wishes for you, Koy and your little one.
Olaf— In the_____@_____.com, “Richard Cooper” &lt_____@_____.>
wrote:

> Yo Krakenites,
>
> This isn’t strictly Kraken business but a few of you kindly asked

for news

> of the baby Cooper which was impending at the time of the Some-

Poasyum. He

> was born this morning at 7.11 GMT, weighed 7lb 8oz or 3.14kg, and

was I

> think 49cm in length. The delivery seemed to us a bit long and

drawn out,

> although probably not as much as in some cases, but both he and Koy

(mum)

> are doing fine. We haven’t decided on an official name yet but,

being

> half-Thai, he will have a Thai nickname. These are often quite

candid,

> poetic or seemingly odd (to us) words, translating literally as

things like

> Mouse, Cow, Moon, Fat and Red (Koy in fact means “little finger”).

In

> mini-Cooper’s case I feel fairly sure, with his Kraken connections,

that he

> will be known as “Mukg” (it’s difficult to transliterate

phonetically, but

> pronounced like “muck” with the “k” sound unreleased), which

translates as

> Squid.
>
> Love Richard
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> —–Original Message—–
> From: malcolm crosby

> hope you’ve bought a suitably
> expensive present for mothers day tomorrow richard.

 

Yes, it’s called a baby!

RC 😉

Hi Russ and all,Thanks so much for your kind wishes. I hate to disillusion anyone but I made
two mistakes in my original email – he was 3.41kg rather than 3.14, so
although he’s perfect he isn’t perfectly round, and the Thai for “squid” is
pronounced more like “Mg”, which rather messes up Sushi’s wonderful haiku,
but at least doesn’t add any syllables I suppose. He does however have an
official name now (Mg, not Sushi) as we’ve settled on Joseph (a.k.a. Joe),
which is a tad easier for all to pronounce. I was going to add that he has
his dad’s tentacles and his mum’s beak but pursuing the cephalopod analogy
is probably unwise.

Love Richard

It was more than just a few
shouting, “Let’s be ‘aving you!”,
so the mini-Cooper thought he’d better show.
He played the hero’s role
and he scored the winning goal–
now the world is very pleased with little Joe.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Richard, Koy, and MgJoe,Such wonderful news!

I have enjoyed the subject headings so much lately, for sheer
squidliness.

I’ve been trying to think of something sufficiently jubilant to say
about the arrival of your child. The results, so far, have been too
extreme and I was afraid the Hyperbole Police would be on me in a
flash. They seem extra quick these days.

Anyhow.

I decided to go out to lunch, to help myself think.

A sushi restaurant I have never been to before. Kindly imagine a
counter height, narrow, water-filled metal moat, surrounding the
Sushi Chef Island. It has a uni-directional current and wooden boats.
If you are sitting at the counter, your sushi comes to you afloat.
It’s wonderful. Sushi, Ahoy!

So. After recovering from the amazement of all this, I sat there with
my mind full of pictures of all of you. Powder blue. Bouncing on a
ball. Hovering back and forth. Etcetera. The waiter put down a mug of
tea in front of me. It was gaudily printed, covered with a sort of
cartoon picture. A happy little boy. With black wavy hair. The rest
of the surface covered with squids.

It’s a Long and Winding Tentacle we’re all on.

And it did occur to me that young Joe has already shown quite
exceptional intelligence and insight by choosing the two of you as
his parents.

Love,

Ruthie

Dear RichardMany congratulations to all three of you! I was
delighted to hear the news. And think of the hours of
fun reading him all those wonderful Hoban children’s
books….

Love, Linda

> — In the_____@_____.com, “Richard Cooper”
> &lt_____@_____.>
> wrote:
> > Yo Krakenites,
> >
> > This isn’t strictly Kraken business but a few of
> you kindly asked
> for news
> > of the baby Cooper which was impending at the time
> of the Some-
> Poasyum. He
> > was born this morning at 7.11 GMT, weighed 7lb 8oz

 

Linda Whitebread

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

I read Colin Midson of Bloomsbury’s excellent interview with Russ at
the Convention site with interest (www.hoban2005.co.uk – go to the
Celebratory Booklet section and scroll down to find some
contributions we didn’t have space for in the printed book).I’ve learnt that whenever Russ recommends a work of art, a piece of
music – or, in fact, anything – it’s worth making the investment.
So, having already been rewarded with ‘The Princess and the Warrior’
from Amazon, I ordered ‘Read My Lips’ (‘Sur mes levres’), the
Jacques Audiard film with Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos, which
Russ describes in the interview as “a masterclass in character
development and exploration”.

It only took a few days for the DVD to arrive in New Zealand, and I
watched it last weekend. It helps that the casting is superb, but
Russ is absolutely right: the screenplay reveals each twist in the
story without patronising the audience or cheating it. It’s such a
fresh telling of the story, I felt almost as though this was the
first film I had ever seen. It can genuinely be described as a
thriller and I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed ‘The Princess and
the Warrior’, as well as to Krakenistas in general.

I feel as though anything that comes with the Russ Seal of Approval
has to be worth experiencing, so I should really start compiling a
catalogue. We already have our Troubador audio cassette; perhaps
films should be the next step.

Chris

–On 07 March 2005 07:47 +0000 kleinzeitnz <chr_____@_____.nz> wrote:

> It helps that the casting is superb, but
> Russ is absolutely right: the screenplay reveals each twist in the
> story without patronising the audience or cheating it. It’s such a
> fresh telling of the story, I felt almost as though this was the
> first film I had ever seen. It can genuinely be described as a
> thriller and I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed ‘The Princess and
> the Warrior’, as well as to Krakenistas in general

 

Agree totally Chris…. superbly directed (always less is more) with some
scenes that will stay with me forever, the wording of the underground
conversations in Carla’s head recalling ‘Wings of Desire’, the plane ticket
episode….
For any UKers it is available from www.play.com @ £9.99 & no postage

Another Russ recommendation that I really enjoyed was Aki Kaurismaki’s ‘The
Man Without a Past’

Best,
Tim

————————————————————
Tim Haillay email: t.h_____@_____.uk
Cataloguing Supervisor tel: 01273 873500
University of Sussex Library
Falmer
Brighton
BN1 9QL

— In the_____@_____.com, Russell Hoban wrote:

> how he got his leg over without knocking the lady off the croupe.

 

I’ve given this my best upmarket thinking and shaken a lot of
dandruff over the word machine, and this the best I have to offer.

A combination of an extraordinarily short charger and very long
limbs might provide the required Vorsprung without any yet-to-be-
invented Technik; a sort of sleight of foot. And a lanky Lochinvar
rings true with Scott’s aside about his hero’s stature being
stately. Having a short steed would also explain why he considered
it to be the best through all the Border: It made him look even
bigger to the girlies, who famously love little ponies.

An alternative is that Sir Walter was telling porkies.

Galloping off sharpish,
Chris

In the introduction to the fifth canto of Marmion, where the story is
told, Scott says:
Come listen! bold in thy applause,
The bard shall scorn pedantic laws;
Presumably the law of gravity was one of those he considered pedantic.An Hugh Bis

On 7 Mar 2005, at 08:23, kleinzeitnz wrote:

>
> — In the_____@_____.com, Russell Hoban wrote:
>
> > how he got his leg over without knocking the lady off the croupe.
>
> I’ve given this my best upmarket thinking and shaken a lot of
> dandruff over the word machine, and this the best I have to offer.
>
> A combination of an extraordinarily short charger and very long
> limbs might provide the required Vorsprung without any yet-to-be-
> invented Technik; a sort of sleight of foot. And a lanky Lochinvar
> rings true with Scott’s aside about his hero’s stature being
> stately. Having a short steed would also explain why he considered
> it to be the best through all the Border: It made him look even
> bigger to the girlies, who famously love little ponies.
>
> An alternative is that Sir Walter was telling porkies.
>
> Galloping off sharpish,
> Chris
>
>
>
>
>
> —————————————————
> The Kraken: The Russell Hoban Mailing List
> http://www.ocelotfactory.com/hoban
> For help contact the_____@_____.com
> To unsubscribe, send mail to:
> the_____@_____.com
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>
> ADVERTISEMENT
> <22305_0205_016_b_300250_a.gif>
> <l.gif>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> • To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the-kraken/
>
> • To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> the_____@_____.com
>
> • Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service.
>
>
Dr Hugh Bowden
Department of Classics
King’s College London
WC2R 2LS
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kis/schools/hums/classics/Staff/bowden.html

020 7848 2010
07966 034005

SCENE: A cluttered flat in London. Baby chaos throughout. DAD checking email
in rare moment of grace between feeding frenzies.DAD: Hey, Joe! Guess what!! Russell Hoban wrote you a poem!!!
JOE: Ah, pull the other tentacle. You think I was born yesterday?

Dramatically,
Richard

> —–Original Message—–
> From: Russell Hoban [mailto:noc_____@_____.uk]
>
> It was more than just a few
> shouting, “Let’s be ‘aving you!”,
> so the mini-Cooper thought he’d better show.
> He played the hero’s role
> and he scored the winning goal–
> now the world is very pleased with little Joe.

Dear Richard and Koy,
Just came home to the new Kraken news!
Firstborn and a boy seems especially clever to me, (let’s not get
into why,) but a new baby is always a miracle, any way you look at it.
Here’s lookin’ at your kid!
Or skwid.
Love, Emmae.— In the_____@_____.com, “Richard Cooper” &lt_____@_____.>
wrote:

> Yo Krakenites,
>
> This isn’t strictly Kraken business but a few of you kindly asked

for news

> of the baby Cooper which was impending at the time of the Some-

Poasyum. He

> was born this morning at 7.11 GMT, weighed 7lb 8oz or 3.14kg, and

was I

> think 49cm in length. The delivery seemed to us a bit long and

drawn out,

> although probably not as much as in some cases, but both he and Koy

(mum)

> are doing fine. We haven’t decided on an official name yet but,

being

> half-Thai, he will have a Thai nickname. These are often quite

candid,

> poetic or seemingly odd (to us) words, translating literally as

things like

> Mouse, Cow, Moon, Fat and Red (Koy in fact means “little finger”).

In

> mini-Cooper’s case I feel fairly sure, with his Kraken connections,

that he

> will be known as “Mukg” (it’s difficult to transliterate

phonetically, but

> pronounced like “muck” with the “k” sound unreleased), which

translates as

> Squid.
>
> Love Richard
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Richard and family, congratulations. Wonderful news. My own youngest son is called Joe/Joseph. It’s a great solid name. Hello MgJoe. I noticed in your round robin letter that you wrote, ”I was born…”. At first I thought you were writing as your son, but on second reading I’m thinking that, in the heat of the moment, you committed the most wonderful Freudian Slippery (as we call them in our family). Wishing you all the best of luck and sending you all love. GillianPS. As to Lochinvar. Maybe he did knock the poor lass off the steed but was too embarassed to include that bit in the pome.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Russ asked about:

> > > how he got his leg over without knocking the lady off the croupe.

 

And then Chris wrote:

> Having a short steed would also explain why he considered
> > it to be the best through all the Border: It made him look even
> > bigger to the girlies, who famously love little ponies.

 

There is a related explanation that I have hesitated to put forward,
but since we’re talking about it:

Chris is on the right track here, in that the croupe, or posterior, of
a horse, actually varies quite a bit in terms of shape, size, and
elevation, depending on the height and breed of the beast in question.
Enough so that equestrians of Sir Walter Scott’s time actually
classified horses’ rumps in terms of how many passengers they could
accommodate comfortably, in addition to the primary rider.

And, interestingly enough, they used the names of playing cards to
classify the size of the horse’s rump. For example, an “ace” would be
just the right size to seat a knight like Lochinvar solo, with no room
for passengers; whereas a “tre” could actually seat two passengers in
addition to the knight, and they would be far enough back on the
horse’s hind end to give the knight plenty of room to comfortably swing
his leg over in front of them.

Lochinvar’s horse, we can assume, was right in the middle, with just
enough room for two people, and space to get a leg over in front of the
passenger.

Yes, that’s right. It was a little deuce croupe.

Dave
_________________________________
Ocelot Factory:
http://www.ocelotfactory.com

The Customs & Excise heavies have broken down the door and are engaging hand-to-hand
with the stacks of books and videos in the hall. I can’t hold out much longer but before they
drag me away I must make one last recommendation. Not a new film but one from 1933
directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther: The Bitter Tea of
General Yen. It is available in VHS from Amazon. It is a masterpiece. Capra said in later years,
“Of all the movies I’ve made, this is the one with the most movie in it.”Russ OMCAM (old man crazy about movies)

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

At 01:23 AM 3/7/2005, you wrote: 

>— In the_____@_____.com, Russell Hoban wrote:
>
> > how he got his leg over without knocking the lady off the croupe.

 

Could he have been riding side-saddle?

-= Fred =-

Slow days passing, accumulating,
How distant they are,
The things of the past!
– Buson –

Liz Smith’s column in the Monday 7 March issue of NewsDay begins
with a Russquote:www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-a4167883mar07,0,3998764.column?
coll=ny-news-columnists

(Be careful to copy and paste the entire link.)

And if you’re wondering how I have the time to scour the world’s
press to locate Russnews, sadly I don’t. I have Google do it for me.

(Apologies to those for whom this is no news.)

Go to www.google.com/alerts?hl=en where you can specify search
terms. Google will scour the world’s news sites for you and send you
an email when it finds something containing your terms. Be as
specific as you can; I collected a lot of recipes containing almonds
as an ingredient, for example, when I requested updates on singer
Marc Almond’s recent motorcycle crash.

Back to work,
Chris

I like to think that the lady was savvy enough to duck when
she saw the leg of Lochinvar swinging toward her – a delicate
maneuver all round, as she would have to straighten up
sharpish to avoid having her head sat upon, but not so
sharpish as to inadvertently damage Lochinvar’s “goods.”Heads up, everyone!
Slick

Regarding the Hoban Seal of Approval (which for some reason I
prefer to think of as the Otter of Approbation), The Cooler
happened to show up on one of the many hundred satellite TV
channels that make their way into my apartment and I happened
to show up at the same channel at the same time, just a few
days after hearing Russ’s appreciation of the film at the
Nomad reading. The theme of luck reversing resounds in Come
Dance With Me and The Cooler as well. I thought the
performances were excellent – worth watching for that reason
alone. I thoroughly agree with Russ’s assessment of William
Macy’s talents. His mere presence immediately elevates the
quality of any film. This phenomenon is officially known as
the Harry Dean Stanton Effect, for another actor who tends to
lift all the rest of the boats on the tide of his quirky and
subtle performances.Really, I should be working now,
Slick

“There was racing and chasing, on Cannobie Lee,
But the lost bride of Netherby ne’er did they see.
So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,
Have ye e’er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?”So we don’t know how it ended. Maybe she was decrouped, and when she climbed aboard
once more she had doubts about the relationship. Or maybe she said, “As soon as we get
to wherever we’re going I want a horse of my own or this isn’t going to work. I don’t intend
to take a back seat when we’re married and we might as well start as we mean to go on.”

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Or maybe – to avoid being decrouped – she just lay back and thought
of England.
It seems that when Scott wrote badly he wasn’t even
as good as the bad McGonagall.Emmae

— In the_____@_____.com, “Russell Hoban” &lt_____@_____.>
wrote:

> “There was racing and chasing, on Cannobie Lee,
> But the lost bride of Netherby ne’er did they see.
> So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,
> Have ye e’er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?”
>
> So we don’t know how it ended. Maybe she was decrouped, and when

she climbed aboard

> once more she had doubts about the relationship. Or maybe she

said, “As soon as we get

> to wherever we’re going I want a horse of my own or this isn’t

going to work. I don’t intend

> to take a back seat when we’re married and we might as well start

as we mean to go on.”

>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

As a biscuit lover I couldn’t help but see the Roswell Clarkism in this
story from BBC.co.uk today:Biscuit-eating dummy tests crumbs

Experts have invented a mannequin with a motorised mouth to test the amount
of crumbs biscuits produce.

Staff at the Mcvitie’s laboratory in High Wycombe, Bucks, designed the Crumb
Test Dummy to test which baking techniques produce the most crumbs.

The motorised mannequin has plastic teeth and is designed to replicate human
eating.

A Mcvities spokeswoman said the crumbs produced by a biscuit show if it has
been cooked to perfection.

“Eating lots of biscuits is obviously an enjoyable prospect for most people
but we haven’t yet found a human who can test on this scale,” Mcvitie’s
brand manager Liz Ashdown added.

“The Crumb Test Dummy has a never-ending appetite and doesn’t need to stop
for breath.”

Crestfallen that Liz never asked me if I wanted the job,
Richard

There’s a 1st edn of Pilgermann going on eBay (UK) at
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6950002177
with a starting price of 99p.I’ve got 2 copies already (not 1st edns, admittedly), so I will leave
it for any Krakenite who hasn’t got it!

peter

Hello,This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the the-kraken
group.

File : /hoban.jpg
Uploaded by : jpage12002 <mal_____@_____.com>
Description : russ’ 80th birthday card

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the-kraken/files/hoban.jpg

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files

Regards,

jpage12002 <mal_____@_____.com>

as you can garner from the previous notification,i have uploaded the
front of Russ’ birthday card as signed by the some poasyum
conspirators for the benefit of those who haven’t seen it. credit
must go to Ruthie Bosch for her beautiful original. my crappy old
scanner hasn’t done it justice at all-trust me the original is a
thousand times better. malc xx

Am 08.03.2005 um 12:36 schrieb halfbaconsandwich:

> Or maybe – to avoid being decrouped – she just lay back and thought
> of England.
> It seems that when Scott wrote badly he wasn’t even
> as good as the bad McGonagall.
>
> Emmae

 

What an interesting line of thought, Emmae.
But I think what really happened was that after getting kicked off the
horse by Sir Lochnivar, the lady took revenge by becoming the muse of
McConagall himself, viz. his immortal verse “Forget-Me-Not”:

Forget-Me-Not

A gallant knight and his betroth’d bride,
Were walking one day by a river side,
They talk’d of love, and they talk’d of war,
And how very foolish lovers are.

At length the bride to the knight did say,
‘There have been many young ladies led astray
By believing in all their lovers said,
And you are false to me I am afraid.’

‘No, Ellen, I was never false to thee,
I never gave thee cause to doubt me;
I have always lov’d thee and do still,
And no other woman your place shall fill.’

‘Dear Edwin, it may be true, but I am in doubt,
But there’s some beautiful flowers here about,
Growing on the other side of the river,
But how to get one, I cannot discover.’

‘Dear Ellen, they seem beautiful indeed,
But of them, dear, take no heed;
Because they are on the other side,
Besides, the river is deep and wide.’

‘Dear Edwin, as I doubt your love to be untrue,
I ask one favour now from you:
Go! fetch me a flower from across the river,
Which will prove you love me more than ever.’

‘Dear Ellen! I will try and fetch you a flower
If it lies within my power
To prove that I am true to you,
And what more can your Edwin do?’

So he leap’d into the river wide,
And swam across to the other side,
To fetch a flower for his young bride,
Who watched him eagerly on the other side.

So he pluck’d a flower right merrily
Which seemed to fill his heart with glee,
That it would please his lovely bride;
But, alas! he never got to the other side.

For when he tried to swim across,
All power of his body he did loss,
But before he sank in the river wide,
He flung the flowers to his lovely bride.

And he cried, ‘Oh, heaven! hard is my lot,
My dearest Ellen! Forget me not:
For I was ever true to you,
My dearest Ellen! I bid thee adieu!’

Then she wrung her hands in wild despair,
Until her cries did rend the air;
And she cried, ‘Edwin, dear, hard is out lot,
But I’ll name this flower Forget-me-not.

‘And I’ll remember thee while I live,
And to no other man my hand I’ll give,
And I will place my affection on this little flower,
And it will solace me in a lonely hour.’

(This poem and other “gems” can be found at
<http://www.spda.com/mcgonagall/browse_gems.cfm>)

Getting lost again,
Yvonne

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello,This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the the-kraken
group.

File : /Come dance with me/AngelMusic.jpg
Uploaded by : noctylus <nex_____@_____.com>
Description : The “pinball”-like game as pondered by Christabel and Elias (at least I think it is the one, mentioned in the book. It’s called “Angel music”) Located at Tom Bradley International Terminal. “Rhoads ’96. A deep one, Mr. Rhoads”. See Chapter 33.

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the-kraken/files/Come%20dance%20with%20me/AngelMusic.jpg

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files

Regards,

noctylus <nex_____@_____.com>

Thanks for that, Yvonne.
He never fails to make me laugh!
Emmae.— In the_____@_____.com, Yvonne Studer &lt_____@_____.>
wrote:

> Am 08.03.2005 um 12:36 schrieb halfbaconsandwich:
>
> > Or maybe – to avoid being decrouped – she just lay back and

thought

> > of England.
> > It seems that when Scott wrote badly he wasn’t even
> > as good as the bad McGonagall.
> >
> > Emmae
>
>
> What an interesting line of thought, Emmae.
> But I think what really happened was that after getting kicked off

the

> horse by Sir Lochnivar, the lady took revenge by becoming the muse

of

> McConagall himself, viz. his immortal verse “Forget-Me-Not”:
>
> Forget-Me-Not
>
> A gallant knight and his betroth’d bride,
> Were walking one day by a river side,
> They talk’d of love, and they talk’d of war,
> And how very foolish lovers are.
>
> At length the bride to the knight did say,
> ‘There have been many young ladies led astray
> By believing in all their lovers said,
> And you are false to me I am afraid.’
>
> ‘No, Ellen, I was never false to thee,
> I never gave thee cause to doubt me;
> I have always lov’d thee and do still,
> And no other woman your place shall fill.’
>
> ‘Dear Edwin, it may be true, but I am in doubt,
> But there’s some beautiful flowers here about,
> Growing on the other side of the river,
> But how to get one, I cannot discover.’
>
> ‘Dear Ellen, they seem beautiful indeed,
> But of them, dear, take no heed;
> Because they are on the other side,
> Besides, the river is deep and wide.’
>
> ‘Dear Edwin, as I doubt your love to be untrue,
> I ask one favour now from you:
> Go! fetch me a flower from across the river,
> Which will prove you love me more than ever.’
>
> ‘Dear Ellen! I will try and fetch you a flower
> If it lies within my power
> To prove that I am true to you,
> And what more can your Edwin do?’
>
> So he leap’d into the river wide,
> And swam across to the other side,
> To fetch a flower for his young bride,
> Who watched him eagerly on the other side.
>
> So he pluck’d a flower right merrily
> Which seemed to fill his heart with glee,
> That it would please his lovely bride;
> But, alas! he never got to the other side.
>
> For when he tried to swim across,
> All power of his body he did loss,
> But before he sank in the river wide,
> He flung the flowers to his lovely bride.
>
> And he cried, ‘Oh, heaven! hard is my lot,
> My dearest Ellen! Forget me not:
> For I was ever true to you,
> My dearest Ellen! I bid thee adieu!’
>
> Then she wrung her hands in wild despair,
> Until her cries did rend the air;
> And she cried, ‘Edwin, dear, hard is out lot,
> But I’ll name this flower Forget-me-not.
>
> ‘And I’ll remember thee while I live,
> And to no other man my hand I’ll give,
> And I will place my affection on this little flower,
> And it will solace me in a lonely hour.’
>
> (This poem and other “gems” can be found at
> <http://www.spda.com/mcgonagall/browse_gems.cfm>)
>
> Getting lost again,
> Yvonne
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

ladies of the kraken (and gentlemen secure in their sexuality) , i
know you are a sophisticated, elegant and fragrant collection of
individuals and as excellent examples of all that is mature and
broad-minded in the cannon of modern womenhood i offer you a picture
of William Macgonagall in natural repose for your perusal. as well
as writing poetry of purity and intelligence he also cut a fine
figure of a man as you will see if you open the milligan.jpg file in
the files section.don’t all rush now ! (is this on-topic?…does
anyone care?) malc mcRosby xx

Oh, Ellen! Oh Edwin! Long may you live in your innocence…..Gillian

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Yo Dearest Everyone,Speaking of which.

If anyone would like a few extra cards, please let me know. I had to
get a lot when they were printed. There are also envelopes, for them
wot wants em. Please write to my email address and tell me how many
you’ld like, envelopes or no, your postal address, and I’ll get them
to you.

Don’t be shy.

beaucoups de love,

Ruthie

— In the_____@_____.com, “malcolm crosby”
&lt_____@_____.> wrote:

>
> as you can garner from the previous notification,i have uploaded

the

> front of Russ’ birthday card as signed by the some poasyum
> conspirators for the benefit of those who haven’t seen it. credit
> must go to Ruthie Bosch for her beautiful original. my crappy old
> scanner hasn’t done it justice at all-trust me the original is a
> thousand times better. malc xx

I’m not sure McVities have a fair test going. Consider some of the
influencing variables of crumbiness (crumbliness?):
1. Some biscuits are rendered crumbier by the breathing patterns of the
biscuit-eater (as I’m sure you’ll discover when little Mg moves onto
biscuits) – which would increase with the rate of eating (rate of breathing
would increase proportionally with the speed of most activities).
2. The packaging could also influence crumbiness; many biscuits are more
likely to crumb because their packaging exerts force directly on the
biscuit, weakening inner bonds before the package is opened. And
enthusiastic tearing at packaging could also increase crumb production.
3. Attempting to hold a conversation – or do something else at the same time
as eat one’s biscuit – might also affect levels of crumb production.
4. In my own experience, biscuits eaten while driving seem to produce the
most crumbs.
It seems to me there are too many variables in human biscuit-eating that are
just not represented in the crumb test dummy. Richard, go for it.Lisa (after a week of writing science experiments for Jordanian
schoolchildren with a curriculum emphasis on ‘Is it a fair test?’)

>
> “The Crumb Test Dummy has a never-ending appetite and doesn’t need to stop
> for breath.”
>
>
> Crestfallen that Liz never asked me if I wanted the job,
> Richard
>
>

Hello everyone, I just thought I’d introduce myself. I’m a new
member, based in the UK. I have a background in English Literature,
with special interest in children’s literature. I think The Mouse and
His Child is one of the best children’s books ever written and when
working as a children’s bookseller would buy in multiple copies and
shelve them face out with a rhapsodic shelf-talker underneath, in a
vain attempt to boost its sales 🙂 I also think the Frances books are
extraordinarily good. I’d be very interested to chat with anyone who
has research interests in Hoban’s children’s books.
I am just starting to read Hoban’s adult novels now, am about 3
chapters into Riddley Walker, which I am really enjoying.
All the best,
Leila

Welcome to The Kraken, Leila.Many of my favourite people frequent these parts.

I look forward to hearing more from you.

Well being,
Chris

— In the_____@_____.com, “leila_rasheed”
&lt_____@_____.> wrote:

>
>
> Hello everyone, I just thought I’d introduce myself. I’m a new
> member, based in the UK. I have a background in English
> Literature, with special interest in children’s literature.

Welcome to the group, Leila, maybe you can get us back on track with
some serious discussion here!
Actually, I don’t think Russ led us astray with his puzzle of
Lochinvar’s leg. There’s surely a parallel between the young L.’s
story and Come Dance With Me. After all, Elias Newman does go off
like a knight on his fair steed, (which airline was it?) to Hawaii,
to rescue his Christabel from the clutches of the Pacific, and we
don’t know what happened to them in the ever-after. Okay she wasn’t
thrown on to the rump of a horse but she’d had a rough ride in her
previous lives. The universality of myth prevails.
Emmae.– In the_____@_____.com, “leila_rasheed” &lt_____@_____.>
wrote:

>
>
> Hello everyone, I just thought I’d introduce myself. I’m a new
> member, based in the UK. I have a background in English Literature,
> with special interest in children’s literature. I think The Mouse

and

> His Child is one of the best children’s books ever written and when
> working as a children’s bookseller would buy in multiple copies and
> shelve them face out with a rhapsodic shelf-talker underneath, in a
> vain attempt to boost its sales 🙂 I also think the Frances books

are

> extraordinarily good. I’d be very interested to chat with anyone

who

> has research interests in Hoban’s children’s books.
> I am just starting to read Hoban’s adult novels now, am about 3
> chapters into Riddley Walker, which I am really enjoying.
> All the best,
> Leila

Bugger, i have just written a HUGE post to the Kraken but
accidentally deleted it (idiot) so count y’selfs lucky-you’ve all
been spared. Basically the gist of it was this-a)we all have
different backgrounds,life experiences and personalities .b)we all
admire Russell Hobans’ work. C)we all have our own subjective view
on why we admire Russ’ work and our own idea of what is ‘Hobanesque’
(Bloody hell-it took nearly 1000 words to get this far before)So
what point are you trying to make?,i hear the more intelligent (or
less easily bored)amongst you ask? It’s this; what do you
consider ‘Hobanesque’and how does your idea differ to mine, i find
this genuinely interesting. The things i consider to be so generally
seem to fall under one or all of these 3 categories:-
1)Items/objects/artefacts in the real? world that might
interest/inspire Russ (e.g. the Bat Bowl)
2)Writing/art similar in tone/content to Russ’ work (classic
example: ‘A Canticle For Leibowitz’ by Walter m. Miller Jr.-does it
have paralells with ‘Riddley Walker’?)
3)A totally subjective idea of what is ‘Hobanesque’ which i may not
even be able to explain !? (e.g. Chris Bells’-David Byrne inspired-
powerpoint Haikus, Catherines’ holoreality doc. in the files
section, a knitted scarf i saw in a charity shop yesterday)What really interests me is category 3 above. If I said ‘Not a Penny
More’ by Jeffrey Archer was Hobanesque would i be wrong (‘course i
bloody would, it’s only an example) but i could honestly believe it
to be so based on mental (conscious or unconscious) connections i
had made with Russ’ writing. It seems to me to be true to say that
the writing itself is only half the bargain. For a book to be truly
satisfying to the reader he or she has to bring their own
experiences and thoughts to the party and be able or willing to
apply them. So without further ado,here are some things i consider
to be Hobanesque.
A)The Australian/German co-production ‘Lantana’ a film starring
amongst others Geoffrey rush (who for me has the Harry Dean Stanton
Effect that Slick refers to.)-Russ has written that he enjoys films
where characters are given space to develop and this film certainly
does that beautifully.Perhaps the best recommendation i can give it
is this negative review it had on the internet movie
database…ahem ‘This is one of the most aweful(sic) movies I have
ever seen. It takes exactly 1:00 hour to have the plot unfold.’???
b)The book ‘Galatea 2.2’ by Richard Powers.A cognitive neurologist
tries to model/replicate the human brain via a computational neural
network and develop it to the point where it can pass an english
literature exam. This is an amazing and beautiful book which makes
many philosophical points about the nature of sentience, free
will,the need to create and the way people interact or fail to.
c)The animation of studio a.k.a. The studio that gave the world the
Bafta winning ‘jo-jo in the stars.’click this
link<http://www.studioaka.co.uk/html/index.html> to see their work.
go to this page then click on ‘films’-then click on ‘studio soi’-
then click on ‘strasse der spezialisten clip’-then click on either
of the ‘play’ links.finally enjoy the crash test dummy dream
fantasy, it’s fantastic and no biscuits involved.All of the clips on
this page are great and the version of William Burroughs’ Ah Pook is
Here is one of my all time favourite pieces of animation.

These are just a few of the things i subjectively think of as being
Hobanesque even though they don’t directly relate to Russ’ books.I
would love to see other peoples ideas of same, even if i don’t
necessarily agree at least i’ll get some good
recommendations.cheers, malcolm.

Yo Malcolm,
For me, another important aspect of the Hobanesque is the sense of
an “underground stream”, whether implicit or explict, that links
together other artists and works of art. In other words, there may
be elements of what I love about Russ’s writing in the paintings of
Edward Hopper or Caspar David Friedrich, but it was Russ ‘holding up
a mirror to them’ in his writing, as if to say to me, “Just try
looking at them in this way,” that shifted my perception, altered my
consciousness and my appreciation of them.
In my mind, the Hobanesque cannot be held onto – I can grasp a tiny
piece of it, but it morphs before I can commit its shape to memory.
There is to it something of the spark of recognition you sense when
you meet someone new and yet you feel as though you have met them
before and have perhaps even known them very closely.
I guess what I am trying to say is that it feels as though on a hot
day I saw a forest from the top of a hill. The shape and colouring
of the trees looked enticingly cool and I walked in. I walked around
in the forest for a long time, rediscovering parts of it as I
retraced my steps, but never feeling lost. Soon it all became so
familiar and so inviting and cool that I couldn’t really remember
what it looked like from the outside any more. I decided to stay.
Over the years, new trees have grown and I’m still in here.
I only went out for a pint of milk.
My Mum’s going to kill me when I get home.Chris

— In the_____@_____.com, malcolm crosby wrote:

> what do you consider ‘Hobanesque’ and how does your idea differ to
> mine, i find this genuinely interesting.

Blimey Malc! Where to begin? A few random reflections from the twilight zone
of Newdadville (it may be 8am now but it’s always three o’clock in the
morning at the moment).- Agreed Lantana is a superb film – two hours just about ordinary lives
unfolding but utterly gripping and thoroughly recommended.

– Jeffrey Archer is about as unHobanesque as you could get, of course, but a
world in which Archer sells more copies of Not a Penny More than Russ sells
of Riddley Walker is in itself Hobanesque.

– Cheers for the animation link – just the home page is amazing!

– Is the knitted scarf actually a knitted klein bottle, of the sort featured
on this page?
http://cerebro.cs.xu.edu/~smbelcas/mkkb.html

Joking apart, I find many “Things” or objects are Hobanesque, whether they
be bowls or scarves or ornaments or biscuits (depending of course on the
crumb factor). I went through quite a big phase a few years ago, when trying
to liberate my imagination and get my own writing off the ground, of tuning
myself in to Things and trying to find stories in them. This was definitely
something I picked up from Hoban books, or more specifically the fascinating
clutter of the desks and workrooms of Herman Orff, Harold Klein and the
like. My own exobrain is still in its infancy but I collected quite a few
Things which interested me, mostly bits from local charity shops such as a
pair of animal-shaped carved wooden napkin rings, a metal tea candle holder
with star- and crescent moon-shaped holes, a reproduction of “Sappho” by
Charles August Mengin, and any number of elephants. I didn’t, incidentally,
get very many stories out of these Things, I think because I was trying too
hard to tune in to the general Hoban frequency, whereas what Russ’s
characters do is tune in to the Things themselves.

Of course those looking for a definitively inconclusive definition of what
is “Hobanesque” in Russ’s books should look no further than “Towards a
Definition of Hobanesque”, the paper written by the renowned scholar Dr
Albert Bridge CSE for the Some-Poasyum Celebratory Book (copies still
available, folks!)

Cheers
Richard

Hi everybody. I think it might be a good idea for me to withdraw from The Kraken.
You should be able to talk among yourselves without being aware of my constant presence.
It isn’t good for the group and it isn’t good for me. Anybody who wants to contact me off-
Kraken is welcome to. All of you have my e-mail address.Russ

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Kraken!
Bye Russ 🙁
At last – I’m in, but alas, Russ is out.
I finally managed to join after some strange techno shenanigans. Please don’t anyone else go, or I’ll get paranoid!Just wanna say the somepoasyum was a truly gorgeous weekend, my heartfelt thanks to all involved. I am still absorbing it, on some level, and am loving my prize!
(Also would like to say hello and welcome Joseph you squiddly little thing, and congrats. to your mum & dad.)

Deena xx
(HalfPilgerwomannHalfBiscuit)

—–Original Message—–
From: Russell Hoban [mailto:noc_____@_____.uk]
Sent: 10 March 2005 16:13
To: the_____@_____.com
Subject: [the-kraken] IT IS A FAR, FAR BETTER THING…

Hi everybody. I think it might be a good idea for me to withdraw from The Kraken.
You should be able to talk among yourselves without being aware of my constant presence.
It isn’t good for the group and it isn’t good for me. Anybody who wants to contact me off-
Kraken is welcome to. All of you have my e-mail address.

Russ

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

—————————————————
The Kraken: The Russell Hoban Mailing List
http://www.ocelotfactory.com/hoban
For help contact the_____@_____.com
To unsubscribe, send mail to:
the_____@_____.com

Yahoo! Groups Sponsor

ADVERTISEMENT
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=1297lmbln/M=298184.6018725.7038619.3001176/D=groups/S=1707630058:HM/EXP=1110557565/A=2593423/R=0/SIG=11el9gslf/*http://www.netflix.com/Default?mqso=60190075> click here
<http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M=298184.6018725.7038619.3001176/D=groups/S=:HM/A=2593423/rand=609047287>

_____

Yahoo! Groups Links

* To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the-kraken/

* To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
the_____@_____.com <mailto:the_____@_____.com?subject=Unsubscribe>

* Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .

_____________________________________________________________________
This e-mail has been scanned for viruses by MCI’s Internet Managed Scanning Services – powered by MessageLabs. For further information visit http://www.mci.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

WE ALL LOVE YOU AND WE WANT WHAT’S BEST FOR YOU!

I cherish the time you have been on the Kraken. It has been a
brightness.Reading “Come Dance With Me” and loving it,

Lindsay

Hi Deena, and belatedly, hi Leila and everybody else who has joined
recentlyWelcome to the Kraken. Good that you were eventually able to overcome
the technical problems of joining, Deena. New Krakenistas always bring
up new ideas, and I agree with Malcolm, Chris and Richard that the
recommendations posted here never fail to broaden the mind or at least
provide a good laugh.

Dear Russ, thanks for being with us for as long as it felt right for
you. x

Yvonne

Am 10.03.2005 um 18:27 schrieb Deena Omar:

>
>
> Hi Kraken!
> Bye Russ 🙁
> At last – I’m in, but alas, Russ is out.
> I finally managed to join after some strange techno shenanigans.
> Please don’t anyone else go, or I’ll get paranoid!
>
> Just wanna say the somepoasyum was a truly gorgeous weekend, my
> heartfelt thanks to all involved. I am still absorbing it, on some
> level, and am loving my prize!
> (Also would like to say hello and welcome Joseph you squiddly little
> thing, and congrats. to your mum & dad.)
>
> Deena xx
> (HalfPilgerwomannHalfBiscuit)
>

If you’re not gone already, Russ, take away with you my
thanks for hanging around with us this long. It’s been a
pleasure to have your company here.with love,
Slick

I second all the reactions to Russ’s withdrawal. If it seemed a bit sudden,
I guess it should be borne in mind that it followed a period of intense
Kraken activity on his part – I suspect posting to the group became too
tempting, too much of an exquisite distraction from his writing, which is
the most important thing both to him and us. I’m sure we’re all grateful
that Russ joined the group even for a short period – it’s been a
fascinating, funny and rewarding experience having him contribute to the
discussions. And we’ll always have Paris!Richard