Poachers moonlighting as game-keepers. …or more accurately gate-keepers. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, just like almost everything else. Here is T.S.Eliot, in his day job at Faber and Faber, writing to tell George Orwell they won’t be publishing Animal Farm, because they agree with the pigs.
Your newsletter continues to be the only such item I will always seek to read, after long over a decade since I first started reading your old blog.
On the topic of payment, I am fortunate to be able, and therefore willing, to throw you a beer every month to continue receiving them. The money for one, obviously, not an actual pint in your face. That would imply you deserve discouragement and, well, nothing could be further from my intention :p
But if you do make a paid version, please don’t stop advertising your own work - I want to know when your shows are and advertising doesn’t count as such if it’s subscribed to. Then it’s just news.
I for one have never thought Daniel Wells was not Daniel Wells, but lest you start to think that I therefore must not be like "most people," I will have you know that nothing could be further from....well, you know.
I feel like #4 would be most at home in an airfield in Tunisia, but perhaps that's just me.
Rather nervous to write a comment here, as I'm finding being just one web interface away from someone who's work I've enjoyed so much and for so many years to be slightly terrifying.
I am now on the lookout for a suitable opportunity to use the "He may hang himself; or he may lasso a unicorn" line; will report back if successful.
In similar vein to "Nothing could be further from the truth", I get disproportionately annoyed by “Anything can happen - and probably will!” It doesn’t make sense. “Anything can happen”, fine, a bit of exaggeration, but let's accept it within the parameters of whatever the reality of the context is - there is a very substantial list of possible things that can happen. “And probably will” - so you’re saying that the things on that very substantial list of possible things that can happen, will probably happen? No: only one of them is going to happen.
To the Airport, warmly may I suggest you never stop never stopping, as I am invariably delighted by what you come up with - in strong contrast to most airports in real life.
Musing on your wonderful caricature work:
1 is a man who wishes to be a deep sea fisherman.
2 is a man who wishes to be an owl.
3 is a man who wishes to be a deep space radio telescope collecting dish.
This is wonderful stuff, as were the others. And too good not to contribute towards when the time comes. Maybe sooner. Anyway, I must stop now as I need to write a letter to someone else's local MP asking them to rename a short section of the A37.
This is all very fun, thank you! Now I don't need to refresh your blog every four months or so, not knowing whether I'll find the same drawing of an elephant from last time or three random posts about literary oddities that I'd completely missed...
RE your advertisements, is there any chance that you and/or the Souvenir Programme team will be performing in August or September? Planning a long-awaited trip to the UK sometime in that region of the year and on the off chance that was a possibility I wouldn't want to just miss it...
(Alternatively... would you guys consider coming to New York?)
So I've always thought the moral of Animal Farm was that more public-spirited pigs and more/better communism are both effectively unattainable because power is just so super-corruptive.
My question is: did I misunderstand Animal Farm (and Orwell actually was arguing for more/better communism as Eliot implies) or did T.S. Eliot misunderstand Animal farm (and I was right)?
Or... was it intended as a pro-communism tale but it accidentally came out as a power-corrupts tale and actually it's *George Orwell* who misunderstood Animal Farm...?
(Disclaimer: I try to avoid Orwell because I like happy jolly books where splendid things happen to lovely people - but I accidentally read Animal Farm as a teen thinking it might be that sort of book..)
Happy Birling day!
I saw you sent out your newsletter on the day of the Six Nations final, surely not a coincidence?
I was giggling at this so much that I was made to read it out loud to all those assembled for Spring Christmas.
Your newsletter continues to be the only such item I will always seek to read, after long over a decade since I first started reading your old blog.
On the topic of payment, I am fortunate to be able, and therefore willing, to throw you a beer every month to continue receiving them. The money for one, obviously, not an actual pint in your face. That would imply you deserve discouragement and, well, nothing could be further from my intention :p
But if you do make a paid version, please don’t stop advertising your own work - I want to know when your shows are and advertising doesn’t count as such if it’s subscribed to. Then it’s just news.
That caricature looks like it ought to be Grytpype-Thynne from the Goons…
I for one have never thought Daniel Wells was not Daniel Wells, but lest you start to think that I therefore must not be like "most people," I will have you know that nothing could be further from....well, you know.
I feel like #4 would be most at home in an airfield in Tunisia, but perhaps that's just me.
Re: caricaturing - I think we both know that it’s vanishingly unlikely you’d get to 25 things, going on past experience.
I spent a lot of time snorting with laughter at this! Thank you!
Rather nervous to write a comment here, as I'm finding being just one web interface away from someone who's work I've enjoyed so much and for so many years to be slightly terrifying.
I am now on the lookout for a suitable opportunity to use the "He may hang himself; or he may lasso a unicorn" line; will report back if successful.
In similar vein to "Nothing could be further from the truth", I get disproportionately annoyed by “Anything can happen - and probably will!” It doesn’t make sense. “Anything can happen”, fine, a bit of exaggeration, but let's accept it within the parameters of whatever the reality of the context is - there is a very substantial list of possible things that can happen. “And probably will” - so you’re saying that the things on that very substantial list of possible things that can happen, will probably happen? No: only one of them is going to happen.
To the Airport, warmly may I suggest you never stop never stopping, as I am invariably delighted by what you come up with - in strong contrast to most airports in real life.
Musing on your wonderful caricature work:
1 is a man who wishes to be a deep sea fisherman.
2 is a man who wishes to be an owl.
3 is a man who wishes to be a deep space radio telescope collecting dish.
4 is Mr. Bean.
This is wonderful stuff, as were the others. And too good not to contribute towards when the time comes. Maybe sooner. Anyway, I must stop now as I need to write a letter to someone else's local MP asking them to rename a short section of the A37.
This is all very fun, thank you! Now I don't need to refresh your blog every four months or so, not knowing whether I'll find the same drawing of an elephant from last time or three random posts about literary oddities that I'd completely missed...
RE your advertisements, is there any chance that you and/or the Souvenir Programme team will be performing in August or September? Planning a long-awaited trip to the UK sometime in that region of the year and on the off chance that was a possibility I wouldn't want to just miss it...
(Alternatively... would you guys consider coming to New York?)
So I've always thought the moral of Animal Farm was that more public-spirited pigs and more/better communism are both effectively unattainable because power is just so super-corruptive.
My question is: did I misunderstand Animal Farm (and Orwell actually was arguing for more/better communism as Eliot implies) or did T.S. Eliot misunderstand Animal farm (and I was right)?
Or... was it intended as a pro-communism tale but it accidentally came out as a power-corrupts tale and actually it's *George Orwell* who misunderstood Animal Farm...?
(Disclaimer: I try to avoid Orwell because I like happy jolly books where splendid things happen to lovely people - but I accidentally read Animal Farm as a teen thinking it might be that sort of book..)
P.S. Absolutely laughed my face off at "...how to have a long life without particularly enjoying it"! Ha!