before anime and byron

last night, lachlan and i went to 'before anime' at goma - a series of early animated shorts from japan. it was increeeeedible. the animation featured papercut figures with the most exquisite japanese paper, in really wonderful shapes. the stories were strange, but far less strange and terrifying than early western animation, which is one of the most deeply disturbing things known to humankind. i have seen some shorts of it on our local tv station and it just makes me want to curl up in the fetal position.

but it's a great series, looking at the fringes of japanese animation - my main interest in anime is the aesthetics of it - the plots generally don't do much for me... though i did love howls moving castle and spirited away - admittedly howls moving castle is based on a fantasy novel. but yeah, it's easy to see where the richness and beauty of contemporary anime comes from in seeing these shorts. we left after the first session - l. tired, me knowing that two hours of surreal cartoons would send me over the edge into crazytown. we'll probably try and catch the first 'beyond' next week - lifted brow launch though, so i'm not completely sure if we'll have time. tis all very exciting.

other news - in an attempt to stave off lack of work boredom, and for my own interest, i am embarking on a 'romantic adddventure!' currently i am reading 'byron, life and legend' - the most recent scholarly biography of byron. part of it's importance is the fact that the author had more access to the john murry archive than previous biographers, thus allowing her to properly investigate the role of his bisexuality in forging his identity as a poet and an individual. ---side - pet hate of mine is labling byron gay - he wasn't. he most definately had carnal desires for womankind. this desire to pop people into one binary or the other shits me. my interest in his sexuality is not for categorising purposes - it's just interesting in the context of his romantic - small r - verses.---- after reading this, i shall embark upon reading his complete works. following this, i am cautiously optimistic that i might, might, might have enough $$ to afford the two volumn shelley biography put out last year.... if not, it'll be that US copy of 'shelley, the pursuit' we have at work, which i haven't read since i was 17 - almost 5 years. then, onto the complete works of shelley. i also want to get a copy of the miranda seymore biography of mary shelley - for context - and then i'll read what works of mary's i can easily get a hold of. current book desires match this interest. i want a proper, updated, scholarly complete works in multi-volumes of both shelley and byron. i am also wanting to go... into... the... past... and investigate coleridge as well. i love christobel. and not just because of 'the cure' b side of that name. admittedly it is one of my favourite cure songs. but yes. my complete works are old. and incomplete and i want copies of the letters.

happysigh. i am going to keep a journal of reading while i do this. not sure if it'll be virtual or paper as yet. at the moment, i want to do a Big Rant about what a vile mysogynist ( i swear to god i spell that differently, and wrongly, every time) byron was. he really was a grotesque, amoral human being. i find him facinating, and i adore his work, but as a human being, ... he was dubious to say the least. i mean, despite space for exaggeration, his frequent comment of 'i detest that sex' towards women is just hideous. and there is only so much appologising one can do on the basis of social context. shelley, despite his constant dragging m. around while pregnant, and his cheating (though, in the context of his ideas of marriage, that perhaps has more to do with free love than with cheating per say) at least has a solid respect for women as human beings. i also find the strong notion of class that completely pervades this time really, really interesting.

shawl continues along merrily, especially during my daytime tv watching.