Bloody hell.
December 22nd, 2006 | Uncategorized
I had tea this afternoon with my friend Lenna from London, and she said I should have titled the Time book of the year post “bloody hell” instead of “fuck me.” I liked the sound of it, so here it is.
I’m sorry I haven’t been responding to all your kind comments on the Time thing. Yes, it’s a great moment for all of us. But beyond that I guess I just don’t feel up to being very articulate about it right now. I’m very pleased and grateful. Now I’m trying to get some work done.
I just skimmed your latest comments on the Time Mag post, though, and I don’t feel quite so bad now that I see nearly half of them concern Silvio Soprani’s orange cake. Man, that’s gotta be the most blogged-about dessert in the history of the internet.
Oh. And for the record? I’d “date” Sydney any day of the week.
23 Responses to “Bloody hell.”
she is a hottie… but i think lois still wins for me. i always had a soft spot for dyke bois.
That’s interesting that you’d date Sydney, as when she appeared, she was labeled evil and insufferable. But as she’s fleshed out over the years, I’ve come to really like her as a character. She’s flawed, but always interesting.
I’m thinking Sydney would probably want to “date” you, too, Alison. Just a hunch.
Hey I finally got my “official” copy of Time today. I was all calm and cool, and thought I’d just skim the list to see what else is there (“Absurdistan “looks like it’ll be next on my reading list) and then I saw the artwork, with a youg womsn,looking like my mom circa 1950, seated on a bench, reading your book–well I got all jazzed again.
I know it can be difficult to deal with a lot of compliments, and I can only imagine how weird it must be to deal with all our praise at times. But even though we know just this tiny piece of you that you’ve shared with the public, we love what we do know, and sometimes it’s just hard not to show the love…
BTW, I’ve like “bloody hell” better too. Love those Brit expressions (right now, my favorite is “sod off”!)
I want to get with Thea. But she looks a bit like I might look in cartoon form, and we have the same name. So perhaps this is sheer narcissism on my part.
Hey Allison, if you have time and the inclination, could you tell us if she pronounces it “The-uh” like theater, or “Tay-uh” (which is the British/Greek/technically correct pronunciation)? Many thanks.
Okay, now I am totally embarrassed to have emoted so excessively about baking and caking (and Alison, IT’S LONDONBOY’S CAKE!! I cannot take credit.)
But on the other hand, being an introvert, I vicariously get overwhelmed by all the attention directed at a person (A.B.) for her creative work. My only experience with this is as a singer/composer. When performing, all that attention is appropriate and empowering. When not performing, having to speak with appreciaters of one’s work is draining and frightening. Their desire to dissect and engage the creater (I just can’t say “creator”…sounds like God…bad weather might ensue) seems to deflate the power of the actual work. (Probably just in my mind, but that’s where I live.)
Of course, being an artist (painter/cartoonist etc) is a little different from being a performer. Until Alison (and the glbt community) nourished the concept of the visual artist making personal appearances and talking about their work (on a large screen, for pete’s sake…), I think most visual artists only met their appreciators perhaps at a gallery show, and I am sure all that schmoozing could be pretty draining. (Unless you like it.) So visual artists don’t get the opportunity to jam with other artists (until Alison and Phranc did that poster collaboration with the paper clothes…damn what an innovator A.B. is!)
What is my point? It is that some people are energized by attention and others like their work to get the attention but not themselves. Unless “themselves” is the performer, and then the attention is only useful when there are stagelights serving as a protective barrier.
So back to the cake; a little levity,you know? Obviously I worship the weeds under your Crocs, Alison, but I was trying to show it indirectly. And LondonBoy was the source of the recipe. I was merely the devotee (and devouree). And yours (your cake) will be in the mail within the week.
Hey, Alison, I never thought you’d be responding to everything we post! If you did, you’d never get anything else done. Just like the rest of us. You start the conversation and we take it from there. (Although I always get a little extra thrill when I see your name in orange within the comments!)
Responding to the comments on the Reverse Bank Heist thread re: the less well-off giving more: oh, yeah so true. I do a fair amount of fundraising from my friends and family, and there seems to be an inverse proportion to money earned to money given. I’ve come to think it’s because those of us who have less (or had less in the past)can empathize more. I’ve seen when people have/get money, they tend to become more insular and materialistic, wrapped up in their own concerns. Although I must say I am quite impressed with Warren Buffet’s huge gift to to the Gates Foundation. There is an interesting article about philanthropy in the past Sunday’s (12/17) New York Times Magazine, which is still available online for free. (I’d provide the link, but don’t know how I’d get there and back here without losing what I’ve already posted….)
And then it occurs to me I can just post twice. Sheesh. Hope this works!
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/magazine/17charity.t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin
Forgive me if I already put this here, but in talking to my friend David (a cartoonist of note, originally from Virginia), I learned the details of his dream date: Alison, ca. college era. In the dream date, he’d be college age also. He’d pick her up at her dorm, they’d go off campus for dinner, then to a movie, then he’d drop her off at her dorm with a chaste handshake and awkward pauses, then wander the quad alone for a couple of hours full of thoughts.
… and write a pretty good poem to show her in the morning, I hope!
I should add Harriet to my list of DTWOF characters I’d date.
Oh, and at the risk of getting the “slow down, cowboy” mention, I want to second those folks who don’t expect you, Alison, to respond to all the comments. If you enjoy what we’re writing, that’s a bonus in itself. “Let us entertain you, let us make you smile…”
Dare I say this? I have never understood Sydney’s appeal for Mo. FLAWED? She is TOXIC. Not cute. Not hot. Not nice.
However, in a way, what I do like about her is also a quality I like about my fave, Lois: both are not constrained by the crowd; they do what they wish and don’t seem to feel insecure about it. In Lois’ case I would call it high self-esteem, while in Sydney’s case it is more like self-absorbed callousness. (Whew that was harsh!)
When Sydney was getting all mushy about her cancer nurse, (Cheryl?), I think it was because she (Sydney) had to be “herself” in the medical context, so she did not have to hide anything. That was probably a big relief for her, since most of the time she drags around all that baggage about her mother and her father and her academic competitiveness, etc. So she probably felt grateful to Cheryl and thus could be a little less barricaded behind her wall. (I was trying to avoid using that spongy word, “vulnerable.”)
In spite of my “understanding” all this (if one can understand a cartoon character!), I still don’t feel drawn to Sydney. I would not want to have a cup of coffee with her. Perhaps a beer, but only from a distance with other people around.
Okay, how am I doing? I have not mentioned orange cake even once. (oops; too late.)
Alison, I sure hope you just take in all the love and forget about responding. It is fun just checking your website, feeling connected to other lesbos out there and enjoying this conversation. I have never blogged before (is this what this is, blogging, this is what i am doing, right?)so, I never expected you to respond. Crikey, go easy on yourself and have a piece of cake.
Bloody Hell just describes things so graphically doesn’t it? I love the British! And as for dating Sydney? Yep, being single now………..I would take Syd in a heartbeat. And, if you go through the blog topics, Alison posts frequently. Sorry for the disjointed post. I just got up and haven’t had coffee yet! Addicted to this blog? Nawwwwwwwww!
I have been a lurking voyeur here for several months, and a huge Alison fan for years, so I am a little embarassed that what finally moves me to comment is the issue of the pronunciation of my name! I was thrilled when Alison included a “Thea” in the DTWOF cast, and OF COURSE I always assumed when reading about her that her name was pronounced “The-uh”–like mine! I know “Tay-uh” is the Brit pronunciation but though I am an Anglophile I vote for what I consider the correct American version of this wonderful name.
Kudo for all the positive and deserved attention “Fun Home” has received. Can’t wait to see what happens next!
Personally I have never gotten over my crush on Harriet. It started with the extremely hot portrayal of the first time she slept with Mo and I am forever hooked. I really miss her and would happily be her daughter’s other mommy if given the opportunity (although it is good for all involved that she is a factional character because my partner would not be too happy with my last statement ;))
Well, Eva, and all the rest, there may be hope for hooking up with all the hot women of DTWOF: I was visiting Amazon bookstore cooperative last night, and in the non-fiction section was Fun Home prominently dispayed, of course. Next to it: copies of Hot Throbbing Dykes and another of the collection….hmmmmm, perhaps there is that other universe where they’re all alive and just waiting for us to pick up the phone!
I agree with Lydia and Tallie about Sydney — that she’d go for Alison and that she’s a babe. I especially like her choice of sleepwear!
Alison can probably keep up with her intellectual prowess while Sydney would have me pinned and helpless in a nanosecond. I’d like to go out with Ginger or Jerry. more low key and both very sexy!
Make sure to check out this week’s Entertainment Weekly’s Best of 2006 (Grey’s Anatomy and go to the book section.
“Fucking hell” always worked for me. It comes off the tongue better than “bloody” and “fuck me.” (Just a personal preference, Alison.
ciao, Annie
Oh yeah, I’d date Sydney too. I like it that she’s as lusty as she is intellectual. She would be fabulous company at dinner and for drinks, and I envision being on one of those dates with her that lasts three days. I think she would be a riot.
I don’t think I’d be interested in a long-term thing with her. Boink buddies for sure.
I wouldn’t date Sydney, but I think I might enjoy having her for a professor. She’s prickly, but she is smart and would be fun to spar with. She builds all sorts of walls around herself, especially intellectual ones, but since students pose less risks to her than friends and partners she seems to have more fun having the walls tested with them than with people she might be closer with. Besides, I’m too young to date a professor.
I think part of why Mo likes Sydney is that she doesn’t have a hope of making her into Mo’s idea of the ideal person. She spends so much energy trying to change people into that ideal, especially herself, that Sydney’s utter refusal to be that is a big relief. Of course, no one is willing to be Mo’s ideal, but most of the charecters come closer to it and are willing to embrace at least parts of it. Sydney won’t. That doesn’t mean Mo doesn’t ever try to change her, in different ways as the relationship becomes a more established part of her life, but some of the urgency goes out of it.
Lois all the way.