Category: Miscellany

Thanksgiving

As I’m writing this, it’s the night of Thanksgiving 2020. As one tends to at this time of year, I’ve been thinking a lot during the last few days about things that I’m grateful for. In fact, I find myself thinking more about those things this year than I have in most past years, for whatever reason. And so I’d like to share some of those with whomever is interested in reading (perhaps you). So let us begin.

I am grateful for my family. In particular, I am grateful for my immediate family. Don’t get me wrong; there are many members of my extended family whom I love and whose company I enjoy. But throughout my life, no one has been as close to me as my immediate family. I am grateful to have parents who love me and who love each other. I’m not sure I ever heard an argument between them. There were a few times, certainly, where feelings were hurt unintentionally and apologies had to be made, but I don’t think I ever heard them yell at each other. As far as raising my siblings and me goes, I was never under the illusion that they always knew what to do. In fact, with each child, they seemed to encounter new problems. But they did their best to work together to solve those problems, and they successfully created an environment where each of us felt loved and respected.

As for my siblings, I have been fortunate to have a younger sister and brother with whom I share a good deal of common ground. Our relationships have not been exactly smooth at all times, with the usual fights, teasing, outbursts, and unwelcome intrusions into each other’s lives, but we have managed, throughout the vicissitudes of our youths, to cultivate a close, respectful, and loving relationship. And at the end of the day, I know that I can depend on my siblings for support when I need it. And I think they know the same about each other and about me.

I am grateful for good food. Food has had a place of great importance in my life. The food of my youth was largely Italian and British, but I’ve also grown to appreciate other cuisines–Japanese, Thai, Indian, German, Peruvian… There are, in short, many foods that I enjoy. But there are a few foods that transcend beyond that to being foods that have a particular importance to me. Foods that I feel have enriched my life in something beyond the ordinary.

There are the foods that are the staples of my childhood, of course. Family recipes that are a part of me both physically and psychically. Spaghetti alla carbonara, Yorkshire pudding, Welsh leek soup, cream of mushroom soup, pasta with cream and parmesan, pork veal spaghetti (a recipe made originally with veal but with pork as a replacement), cheesecake, snow cream, lasagna, lemon thyme cookies, chocolate Bavarian cream cake, mom’s pasta surprise, and so on.

Then there are the foods that I discovered later that I found transformative. This is where we have gelato (particularly limone), sushi (particularly things with unagi), butter chicken (most especially from Chillies in Cardiff), bacon-wrapped dates filled with goat cheese (that I was introduced to at Settebello in Salt Lake), and miso soup.

There are also branded foods that I treasure particularly. Sioux City Sarsaparilla goes on this list, as do Jelly Bellies, Lindor Balls, Amano chocolates, lemon Jolly Ranchers (which might not be here were it not for their very scarcity), Rowntree’s blackcurrant pastilles, Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets and lemonade, and Altoids.

In a different category are the simple fruits and vegetables that provide flavor with little preparation at all. Fresh tomatoes sliced up with just a bit of salt, ripe, sun-warmed peaches, golden raspberries, lychees, and strawberries.

And in my final food category, something whose absence may already have been noted by those who know me: pizza. So many pizzas have enriched my experience. There are the good, hearty pizzas from places like Joe’s Italian in Moreno Valley, Luigi’s Pizza in River Falls, Route 66 in Orting, Ah, Badda-Bing! in Shelton, and Nicolitalia, Two Jacks, and Fat Daddy’s in Provo. Then there are the deep dish pizzas, thick and heavy, of which my favorite comes from Pizzeria Uno (originally in Chicago but with branches elsewhere). And finally there’s the Neapolitan pizzas, thin, small, but packed with marvelous flavors from places like Settebello in Salt Lake, Brick’s in Hudson, and Punch in the Twin Cities.

I’m grateful for good books. I have read many books in my life, and were I to list all the ones that have left a mark on me, I would be going on for a long time. However, let what follows be a small glimpse into the books that have become a part of my soul.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe

The Dying Earth, Jack Vance

The Corfu Trilogy, Gerald Durrell

The Sacred and the Profane, Mircea Eliade

The Three Investigators books

The works of R.A. Lafferty

Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete, Gene Wolfe

A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. LeGuin

Blue Moose, Daniel Pinkwater

“The Bicentennial Man,” Isaac Asimov

Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury

Women’s Work, Elizabeth Wayland Barber

Doorways in the Sand, Roger Zelazney

The People Stories, Zenna Henderson

Arabel’s Raven, Joan Aiken

A Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England, Ian Mortimer

I’m also grateful for good video games. Like books, there are some video games that have been particularly meaningful or interesting to me. I’ve been very slowly writing a series on this very blog that highlights many of these, but I’m just going to list a few here.

The Suikoden Series

Chrono Trigger

ICO

The Last Guardian

Flower

Katamari Damacy

Spyro the Dragon

Portal

Beyond Zork

Bust-A-Move 2 and 4

Night in the Woods

I’m grateful for fingernail clippers. They act, in my mind, as a perfect example of a simple, ubiquitous invention that has improved our lives in a minor yet tangible way. Wikipedia informs me that it was invented by David Gestetner. This is a man who should be remembered.

I am grateful for places of beauty. I have been privileged to see some great beauty in my life, and I hope to see more. I have spent time both in Britain and in the United States, and there are some places that stick in my mind: a pebbled beach in Wales that I have forgotten the name of, the Grove of the Patriarchs on Mount Rainier, Point Lobos, Joshua Tree National Forest, Ilkley Moor, Saint Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, Tintern Abbey, Mount Snowdon, Goblin Valley in Utah.

I am grateful for my faith. I am grateful for a faith that makes sense of the universe and that doesn’t shy away from tough questions. I am grateful for fellow members of my church who inspire me to be a better person. I am grateful for holy scripture that contains the words of life and healing for the troubled soul. And I am grateful for prayer, for a personal connection to a loving Father in Heaven who, despite his role as creator of the world, knows his children intimately and comforts them in times of need.

I am grateful for and to my friends. If you know me at all well, you probably have reason not to like me. I have probably hurt you at some point, possibly even intentionally. I have likely bored you with the same stories time after time, have irritated you with my aggressive conversational style, and have made you profoundly uncomfortable with something that I have said in a complete lack of social awareness. And yet, there are those among you who have, for some inexplicable reason, found something to value in my companionship and have remained my friends despite my many failings. And if you are one of those people, I thank you, not just for tolerating me generally, but for tolerating my ramblings at this time in particular.

You have my gratitude.

2018 Goals

It is the new year, a time of goals and resolutions. Now, as most of you know, I have many lists–lists of games to play, things to watch, books to read, etc.–and I often find myself frustrated by how slowly I move through those lists. Furthermore, I also know that many of my friends and relations are frustrated by me constantly saying things like “It’s on my list.” As such, this year, I’m going to post a bunch of goals that I hope to get done in the coming year as well as stretch goals should I complete my current goals. I am also going to post a survey on my Patreon account, where my patrons can vote for what goals they want me to direct my efforts towards as well as suggesting other goals. So if you want some sort of input on this matter, go check it out.

Otherwise, here are my goals for the coming year:

  • Finish playing the Batman: Arkham series
    • Stretch goal: Finish playing all the games I own that begin with the letter B
  • Finish my thematic summary of the Book of Mormon
  • Finish reading The Book of Yokai and make the appropriate adjustments to my bestiary
    • Stretch goal: Add stuff to my bestiary from another book (probably Pandemonium and Parade)
  • Finish reading the Faded Sun trilogy
    • Stretch goal: Read something else (perhaps the Helliconia trilogy?)
  • Finish my blog post on Mormon Cosmology
    • Stretch goal: Write more stuff
  • Finish reading Self and Society in Medieval France
    • Stretch goal: Read The Waning of the Middle Ages
  • Brush up on my Japanese
  • Read Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant
    • Stretch goal: Read Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith
  • Finish making the text-based adventure I’m working on
    • Stretch goal: Start work on my next game
  • Read all the webcomics on my list of webcomics to read
  • Finish digitizing my filk packets
    • Stretch goal: Write some music (maybe that Christmas children’s rock opera I’ve been thinking about)
  • Finish reading Arabian Nights
    • Stretch goal: Read something else (maybe the Epic of Gilgamesh)
  • Visit another World Heritage Site
    • Stretch goal: Get in a position where I can visit Japan in 2019
  • Finish reading Go Forward with Faith
    • Stretch goal: Read something else (probably Kimball)
  • Get back to having a one-month buffer for my webcomic
    • Stretch goal: Get a two-month buffer
  • Read Women’s Work
    • Stretch goal: Read something else (probably America’s Ancient Forests)
  • Finish watching Fringe
    • Stretch goal: Watch something else (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?)
    • Side goal: Get through the second Doctor in my watching of Doctor Who

And there you have it–an ambitious list. Hopefully at least some of these will get done. We’ll see how well it went this time next year.

On the Importance of Lists: Part One

As those who know me well may recognize, I am somewhat obsessive in my organizational habits. This may seem strange to others who know me, have seen my room, and have come to the conclusion that there is nothing of order at all in that chaos. Nevertheless, in some aspects of my life, at least, I am organized.

My primary organizational tool is the list. I love lists. When I was at college, I would list my assignments in the order that they were due and schedule my work accordingly (there’s an added layer of complexity with long-term assignments that required some extra rules). I also have a mental list of the full names of many acquaintances (53 of them). By far my greatest list, however, is what I refer to as my free time cycle.

The idea of my free time cycle is this: the list consists of various chronic projects of mine which I cycle through as I get free time. I started the list in college. You see, I was having some difficulties. I would frequently postpone doing homework by engaging in various time-wasting activities, such as reading mediocre webcomics or watching music videos on YouTube. The problem with this pattern was that I would postpone my homework until the last minute and I wouldn’t even have  been doing things that I particularly liked to do. So I decided that I would make this list and that when I got home I would do a homework assignment, and then, after I was done, I would spend an hour on the next thing on the free time cycle before going back to my homework to repeat the process. It worked well, and I have kept the free time cycle ever since, albeit with some changes as my projects have grown.

Now I’m sure that at this point, some of you are saying “When is he going to show us this list?” To which I say, “Now.” So without further ado, here is my list. Following the list, I will have an explanation of the various points.

Video games

Scriptures

Bestiary

Read

Write

Research

Languages

Church books

Video game making

Webcomics

Music

Classics

Exercise

Biographies

Webcomic Creation

Supplemental Books

Art

Watch

So there you go. An extensive list. Let’s start at the top, shall we? My first entry is “Video games.” This is fairly self-explanatory. However, let me add that I have lists of video games as well. My first list is my “Games of Interest” list. That contains games that I encounter and find worth further consideration. If a game successfully makes it to the next stage, it either goes into my “Games to Get” list or my “Games Wish List.” The difference between these is that the “Games Wish List” is full of games for consoles which I do not yet own, while my “Games to Get” list has games that I could play immediately upon acquisition. Finally, I have my “Games I Own” list, which exists as a way for me to keep track of the games that I have that I need to play. As a side note, let me point out that for the most part, I play my games in alphabetical order. I’m currently playing “Batman: Arkham Asylum.” It’ll be a long time before I get to Xenogears. Now, just for fun, I think I’ll include a sample from my “Games to Get”.

The Last Guardian

Steambot Chronicles

Pandora’s Tower

Xenoblade Chronicles

Race the Sun

Knock-Knock

Windforge

The Adventures of Cookie & Cream

Anachronox

PaRappa the Rapper

Astebreed

Swarm

Spacebase DF-9

Strength of the Sword 3

Duck Game

Among the Sleep

Elemental Gimmick Gear

GoNNER

Moving on, we get to “Scriptures.” I’m pretty unashamedly a Mormon, and one of the things that we’re supposed to do is read regularly from our holy works: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. My current project regarding these is going through the Book of Mormon and listing themes. It’s the sort of thing that might be cool if you’re Mormon and probably isn’t if you aren’t.

Next we have “Bestiary.” The deal here is that I have a bestiary of mythical creatures that I am compiling for use in one of my fictional universes. I’ve been working on this for a long time, and unfortunately I recently had a setback in the sense that I decided that I was going to find primary sources for as many of the creatures I could and do a good job documenting these sources. What this means is that currently I’m working on a translation of an edition of a Japanese book called Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, a book of illustrations of yōkai (Japanese monsters and spirits) from the eighteenth century. If you guys want, at some point I can either include some stuff from that book or other things I’ve encountered in my bestiary creation. Until then, here’s a list of a few of the beings in my bestiary pre-correction.

Aatxe- A Basque spirit that changes form between a human and a large, fierce red bull

Boobrie- A shapeshifting Scottish monster that often appears in the form of a giant diving bird

Sea Dog- An aquatic dog with scales and webbed feet

Sea Hog- A beast with the tail of a fish, legs of a dragon, and body and head of a boar

Monk Fish- A fish that looks sort of like a monk

Stollenwurm- A beast with the body of a lizard, head of a cat, and a long, ridged tail

Following the bestiary, we have “Read.” Really what this refers to is fictional reading for enjoyment. If we’re being totally honest, it refers to science fiction, fantasy, and the occasional mystery. I’m currently reading Hothouse by Brian Aldiss.

Next, we have “Write.” This is exactly what it seems like. In fact, I am writing this blog post as a result of my current position on the list. I’ve tried writing novels and such, but it’s not really working out right now because so much of my mental energy is going towards my comic. So instead of working on long fiction, we get my blog posts and the occasional bit of short fiction.

We are now at “Research,” which is where I read for the purpose of learning things for my story creation. I am currently reading a lovely book by Ian Mortimer called The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England.

And we come around to “Languages.” This entry is where I work on either learning new languages or working on languages I already sort of know. The only languages that qualify so far are Japanese, German, and Welsh, though I hope to add some more. Currently, of course, my translation of Gazu Hyakki Yagyō is doing double duty as both bestiary work and language work. I think the next language I actively try to learn will be either Irish or Greenlandic.

Next up is “Church books.” This is another reading one and should possibly be called “Religious books” instead. This entry is devoted to the reading of religious books. Whether these include holy books of religions other than my own or whether those go under the later category of “Classics” I am unsure of at the moment. Currently, I’m reading through a set of books released by my church that are about the teachings of various past leaders of the church. I’m currently at Joseph F. Smith, so I’m about a third of the way done.

Now we get to an exciting one: “Video game making.” Did you know I want to make video games? Of course you did. Everyone wants to make video games. What I’m currently doing is working on an outline for a JRPG I want to make. If it ever goes anywhere, maybe I’ll talk more about it.

And at this point, I think I’ll take a breather. We’re halfway through the list, so now is a fine time for an intermission. Part two may come later when I come back around to writing.

My Current Obsession: Over the Garden Wall

A month or two ago, I was introduced to a cartoon with which I fell instantly in love. The title, as you no doubt surmise from the title of this blog entry, is Over the Garden Wall. It’s a 10-episode series with each episode lasting 11 minutes, leading to a total run time of a little under two hours.

Now, I have a cousin–an aspiring moviemaker–who intends to make a movie inspired by Over the Garden Wall, and he asked me a few weeks ago to send him an email wherein I detailed my thoughts about what makes the series so great. As I have thus far been remiss in this duty to my esteemed relative and I flatter myself to believe that my thoughts on the matter may be of interest to a slightly wider audience (not deluding myself as to the readership numbers of this blog), I have decided to put forth my thoughts in this larger forum.

over_the_garden_wall_animated_miniseries_poster

First let me give a brief background for those who have not had the pleasure of seeing this animated masterpiece. Over the Garden Wall is the story of two brothers, Wirt–a studious, geeky, awkward high schooler– and Greg–a strange, whimsical young child of about six or seven–who have found themselves lost in a magical forest from which they are trying to find their way home. On their way, they encounter many interesting and peculiar characters, some of which assist them in their quest, and some of which hinder them. The basic story idea is nothing new, but it’s a solid premise.

And now that I’ve given that brief introduction, I am faced with the challenge of explaining exactly what’s great about Over the Garden Wall. I’ve sat here for about ten minutes now trying to decide how to proceed, and no clear way has presented itself. So what I’m going to do is describe some of the individual elements that make the show stand out, and hopefully by the end a schema for fitting them all together will show up.

First, I love the animation. I think what I like most about it is the way that it blends styles. For the most part, the characters are animated in what I would characterize as a very modern American animation style, not out of the ordinary for what one would see on Cartoon Network. It’s not a style I’m actually particularly fond of, but it’s done well, and clearly a lot of polishing has been done. Meanwhile, the scenery is beautiful and evokes (to me at least) a German Black Forest vibe. Those are the two main art styles, but there were also some times (particularly in an episode that takes place entirely within a dream) where the art seems to be imitating a much older style of American animation, akin to a colorized Betty Boop or Popeye. And non-talking animals tend to be rendered much more realistically than the human characters. There’s an episode that involves non-anthropomorphic animals that have been dressed up in human clothes, and the effect created by a non-anthropomorphic Opossum wearing overalls sitting next to Greg is both hilarious and disconcerting.

And then there’s the wonderful attention to detail. If the camera is following Wirt, you will always be able to catch glimpses of what Greg is doing in the background, which is usually funny and often winds up being plot-relevant. There’s also an episode where Greg steps in a pumpkin and spends half of the next episode walking around with a weird gait because of the pumpkin still stuck on his foot. The show is full of things like that–little things that show the care the animators took.

Next let me talk about the music. Music plays an important part in Over the Garden Wall. Many of the characters sing, and the songs that they sing provide characterization. Greg, in particular, sings a lot, largely songs of his own devising. The brilliance in Greg’s songs lies in both their eccentric humor and in their low quality. What I mean by that is that the songs, while often catchy and very funny have the sort of odd free association that occurs in songs by real children. Consider the following lines:

Oh potatoes and molasses,

If you want some, Oh just ask us!

They’re warm and soft like puppies and socks

Filled with cream and candy rocks!

These lines, while undeniably funny make only slightly more sense than songs that I have heard real little children make up, which is brilliant on the part of whomever is responsible. The creators managed to make a song that simultaneously sounds like it was written by a child and is something you might actually want to listen to.

Wirt, unfortunately, rarely sings. We see an instance where he tries, but he clearly either never had the skill of whimsical song-weaving or has lost it. His awkward attempt at an off-the-cuff song doesn’t rhyme or scan and misses more notes than it hits. We do learn, though, that he plays the clarinet, and in the one instance where we here him play the bassoon, he does a good job.

Which brings me to characterization. One of the areas where Over the Garden Wall really shines is in its characters. The story specifically focuses, of course, on the two brothers (indeed, I would argue that the main theme of the series is brotherhood–particularly what it means to be an older brother). Hopefully, by now you’ve gotten some idea of what Greg and Wirt are like. Looking at the musical examples we can see some aspects of each of their character. Greg is free-spirited, innocent, and a little strange. Wirt is considerably more constrained and he’s the type of person who plays the clarinet. The incredible thing is that in almost every scene, the creators take an opportunity to cram some characterization in, whether that characterization be Wirt going on about how his life is like “a boat upon a winding river, twisting toward an endless black sea” blah blah blah or Greg coming up with a new name for his frog.

There are also some wonderful side characters. There’s Beatrice, a bluebird who seems to only grudgingly accept her role as the brothers’ guide. There’s the eccentric old tea baron who isn’t sure whether he’s more afraid of the idea that he’s seen a ghost or the idea that he’s going crazy. And there’s the frog, who starts off being named Kitty and winds up being named… but that would spoil it.

I also love the world that has been created. It reminds me of Oz: a series of strange communities with little tying them together, each of which has odd quirks. The second episode features a strange community that uses giant turkeys as draft animals. Another episode has a tavern full of people defined by their professions, each of whom is happy to sing a song about it (including the highwayman).

Which brings me back to the difficulty of bringing this all together. Because what makes this really work is that all of these elements–character, setting, music, art–tie together into a cohesive whole. They all build on each other to create a series with a very definite tone. I would call this union “voice”, but I think it encompasses much more than that. I would call it “world building”, but once again, I think it encompasses more. I am tempted to call it “aesthetic”, but that may give the impression that the whole thing is superficial, when it’s clearly more. Perhaps the word I’m looking for is gestalt, but as I haven’t read extensively about just what “gestalt” is, I’m worried that’s all wrong.

At any rate, the show is good. I’ve heard that sometimes talking things up too much makes people less inclined to look at them, so instead I’ll follow up this gushing praise with “It’s okay, I guess” or maybe “You could give it a watch if you like, but you don’t have to”.

And if anyone can tell me what word I want, please do so.

An Auspicious Beginning

For this, the inaugural post of A “Blog” If You Will, I feel that I, Nathan Langford, author of Chronicle and longtime trilobite enthusiast, should do something special. Perhaps I could show some pictures of fireworks or of the sadly extinct Golden Toad. Perhaps I could include a midi file playing “Deutschland Über Alles” in double time. But I will not do those things. Instead, I will give a list of some of my favorite words. Enjoy. And feel free to comment with some of your own favorite words.

  • Gloaming
  • Circumambulation
  • Dolmen
  • Antediluvian
  • Avarice
  • Clopen
  • Portmanteau