Plenty of Nothing

Revising Yotsuba

One of the most daunting things about wanting to draw good comics is that the ones I most admire contain huge amounts of background detail. How do those mangaka manage to hit their deadlines while drawing all that background? They must have abilities I will never possess, I'm inclined to think.

So I am relieved to come across this blog page comparing panels of Yotsuba&! chapter 51 as they appeared in magazine and then book form. (Bear in mind that it's a Japanese blog so the earlier magazine versions are on the right.) Clearly the lesson of the middle panel is do the background later if you have time. The top panel says you will change your mind about some things, and the bottom one if you hate it just do it over. Those are lessons I can live with. D

Broom and Shovel

Sackville New Brunswick has a little bit of a plaque problem. Where other towns have graffiti, Sackville has plaques. There are plaques to persons and places and historical events. Everywhere. Not many towns of 5000 people come with so many explanatory notes.

One of the side effects of a high plaque policy like Sackville's is the temptation it offers landlords to treat the plaque as the equivalent of the building. Conceivably you might get away with a wanton act of destruction so long as you follow it up with a display of public remembrance. If Mount Allison University actually does go through with the demolition of its heritage Memorial Library you can be pretty sure they'll erect a memorial to the memorial right afterward, like the folly they built out of bits and pieces of Palmer Hall following its destruction. I'm sure they'll be all pious about it when they do, but it's a bit like the murderer offering to pay for the headstone. 

One monument that any town would be glad to have is the sculpture of Harold Geddes' broom and shovel, at the corner of Bridge and Main Streets. Not many towns erect public art to a guy who swept the sidewalk. That's nice, unexpected and one of a kind. 

Another good piece of public art is that page of Douglas Lochhead's book High Marsh Road on the green telephone switch box in the background. There are laminated pages attached to telephone poles all along Main Street and out to the highway, each with a photo by Thaddeus Holownia and a poem by Lochhead, poet laureate of Sackville up until his death not very long ago. They are a very good introduction to the nature of the place if you have just got off the bus at Tim's and are walking in.

Alumni and family members will be walking in in a few weeks for class reunions and convocation, at which time the university administration will be touting its decision to knock down another one of its heritage buildings. A shovel and broom will come in handy then. D

Women's Hockey Champions 2011

Clarkson Cup: Montreal Stars.

CIS: McGill Martlets.

NCAA: Wisconsin Badgers.

Sweden: Segeltorps IF.

Finland: HPK Naiset.

Switzerland: ZSC Lions Frauen.

Tibetan Musical Notation

This manuscript leaf comes from the Tibetan Collection of the US Library of Congress, and contains a passage of music notated in an evocative script that certainty looks like music even if you can't construe the sounds. Tibetan books usually take the form of a stack of long narrow unbound leaves between two wooden boards tied together with a scarf. A musician playing from this would likely need an assistant to turn the pages, but that's not much different from a Western score. Other Tibetan libraries are the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India; the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center; and the Tibetan Collection at the University of Virginia.

Atrium, Rowe Building, Dal

Desperate Men

Sheriff Court, Ferry Road, Dingwall

Morton journey to Victoria Park for the last of five meetings with Ross County this season. So far Morton have won once, tied twice, and County have knocked them out of the Challenge Cup. When the season began it seemed that Ross County, coming off a Scottish Cup final, were by far the better team, but the Staggies have gone into a goal-scoring drought. They have 19 goals in 27 games including a streak of four scoreless draws from February 12th to March 1st. Now they are desperate men. They must finish ahead of Cowdenbeath to avoid the relegation playoff. Theirs is one of two interesting races left in the first division, the other being Raith Rovers versus Dunfermline for promotion. Okay, there is a third: can Morton finish ahead of Partick?

I have only just discovered the blog My Football Travels. Its author is most of the way through a tour of every SPL and SFL ground, with a few other pitches pitched in, including Greenock's lesser known football ground, Ravenscraig Stadium. There's usually a good set of photos for each stadium, a description of the walk to and from the train station, and a visit to the pub. It is from him that I learned that one of the stands at Victoria Park is called Jailend Terrace, because it backs on to the old Dingwall Prison and Sheriff Court, a handy arrangement that must keep a lid on the football hooliganism.

[Ross County win 2 - 0, and move two points ahead of Cowdenbeath. Morton slip from fourth to sixth, but are still ahead of Dundee.]

How Messenger Got to Mercury

Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to visit Mercury, photographing it three times in 1974 and 1975 as it swung past in an elliptical solar orbit. The probe was the first to use the gravity of an intermediary planet (Venus) to bend its trajectory and conserve fuel.

Messenger's path is a much more sophisticated use of the same technique, involving multiple fly-bys of all three inner planets and a lot more time. The first year of the journey was spent on a rendezvous with ... Earth. Messenger has now inserted itself into orbit around Mercury where it will spend a year mapping the surface. For more detail see here. D

MEC at 40, by Pascal Colpron

The new Mountain Equipment Co-operative catalogue contains a two-page comic by Pascal Colpron about the founding of the co-op by a group of bummed-out hippies in 1971. You can see an animated version at MEC's French blogue.

The Siege of Pingyu

If you love to revel in beautiful objects you could never own you can travel to the world's great museums, or you can visit the Christie's and Sotheby's websites and lust after the lots coming up for auction. I favour Asian art, and by coincidence, or maybe not, because my birthday's coming up, it's Asian Art Week this week at both auction houses.

There's an auction of fine Chinese ceramics and works of art going today at Sotheby's New York that features this battle painting commemorating the siege of Pingyu during the Nian rebellion (1853-1868) in the reign of the Guangxu emperor. I don't know but I prefer to think that the man looking at you from the lower left corner is the victorious general. D

A Coo On Yonder Hill

Image from Giuseppe Mingardo's Subbuteo site. Link.

Seems as though I have just begun this Morton 2010-11 project and already I'm up to the fourth and final appearance of Cowdenbeath FC. What have I learned? Have I even scratched the surface? Could I find Cowdenbeath on a map?

This I know, or rather have just read here. The name of the Cowdenbeath supporters' stand is the Cow Shed. They sing, "There was a coo on yonder hill." They hate East Fife.

Also: their park has a speedway.

Q: Of the two clubs, Morton and Cowden, which is more illustrious? A: Don't be daft, it's Morton.

Cowdenbeath are where Morton were this time last year: trying desperately to get away from ninth place. Stirling are a sure thing to finish tenth, but Cowden have to stay ahead of Ross County if they want to avoid a playoff. A win against Morton would help. Morton are bobbing around mid-table and should finish the season fifth, sixth or seventh. But you must never rule out a late-season collapse.

Rangers won the Scottish League Cup on Sunday, ensuring that Celtic, who had earlier eliminated them from the Scottish Cup, cannot win the Treble this year. In Scotland, domestically, the Treble means league champion plus Scottish Cup plus Scottish League Cup. Since Scottish League Cup play began in the late 1940s Rangers have won the Treble seven times, Celtic three times, and everybody else never. There is also the Continental Treble, meaning Scottish Cup plus Scottish League Cup plus European Cup. Celtic did that once, in 1967.

[And Morton win!]