Less than two hours to go in Perth!

Less than two hours to go in Perth! Happy New Year to all my friends and family and readers. Hope it's a good one for you all!

I liked the relaxed, low key Crimbo this year. Don't forget to clean out your advent calenders KoL-ers.

"Police Puzzled"

"Police Puzzled"

The murders of two of Her Majesty's Swans by a marauding Fishwoman have been avenged by a mysterious assailant. Police were called to the incident by a woman (who declined to be named) saying that "Mysterious voices" had informed her of the altercation.

While this reporter would question this with some scepticism, several police also reported that the voices guided them to the orphaned eggs and beseeched them to care for them.

The mystery of just who killed the Fishwoman (name and address unknown) continues.

Keen fisherwoman and "Friends of the Park" committee member Miss Cynthia Sparrowsbreath is quoted as saying "This is a very old wilderness. Even those of us who know it well don't know all its secrets. Perhaps one of the unlicensed werewolves who are known to use the area as a refuge was responsible."

Western Australian drivers can you please stop making illegal U-Turns at traffic lights, it's freaking me out!

Western Australian drivers can you please stop making illegal U-Turns at traffic lights, it's freaking me out!
https://youtu.be/Uct1yVOiE2M

Broken Token must have been working overtime to get this out so quickly.

Broken Token must have been working overtime to get this out so quickly.
https://www.thebrokentoken.com/fireball-island-game-crate

Gauging the numbers for tomorrow night. Who would be able/willing to attend if we run?

Hope everyone can enjoy the water!

Hope everyone can enjoy the water! It's summer holiday time in Australia and I'm enjoying my new Sun Tail Mermaid tail! #SunTails #SunTailMermaid #TerroroftheDeep

I'm not going to be up to gaming tomorrow night, I'm afraid folks.

I'm not going to be up to gaming tomorrow night, I'm afraid folks.
Have a delightful and merry holiday and might see some of you at Brocon Homes.

This is a great article.

This is a great article. Most of my memories of family Christmases when I was a child involve heat - no aircon in those days, cooking hot food indoors, rellies stressing about other rellies, BBQs in the heat and flies.

I like that one family's no stress of nachos and icecream!

Sit down with your folks or with yourself and work it out, what do you really want to do for Christmas? Me, I want to eat cold turkey, cream cheese and cherry chutney sandwiches, with coleslaw on the side and play boardgames and swim.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-14/how-to-survive-the-christmas-holiday-silly-season/10615424

All on tonight at Glendalough unless I hear otherwise. I'll ask Mum to turn on the A/C.

I think Tansy Rayner Roberts should be very pleased with the way these pins turned out!

I think Tansy Rayner Roberts should be very pleased with the way these pins turned out! They look fantastic and well worthy of the Creature Court.

If anyone would like to join us on the evening of Wednesday 19th of December to view the Christmas lights in Perth...

If anyone would like to join us on the evening of Wednesday 19th of December to view the Christmas lights in Perth we will be starting from No.1 at 7:00pm. Note that's pretty much when we'll be leaving No.1.

Santa's Magical Castle
Perth Cultural Centre
Experience the magic of the illuminated walk-through castle, created with over 100,000 twinkle lights in an array of festive colours.

Beforehand we'll have dinner at Guz Y Gomez in Northbridge but if other food grabs your attention just meet up at No.1 at the Cultural Centre.

You can download the information including information on accessibility. If anyone who needs wheel-friendly ways to go joins us we will adjust as necessary.

https://www.visitperth.com.au/en/events/christmas-lights-trail?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgveni7P23gIViImPCh1EFQMjEAAYASAAEgJOb_D_BwE for the two trails and what's there and also accessible info for those that want to organise their own wheelchair friendly meetup.

We plan to visit every installation but you can join or leave any time you want.
https://www.visitperth.com.au/en/events/christmas-lights-trail?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgveni7P23gIViImPCh1EFQMjEAAYASAAEgJOb_D_BwE

Still tickets left.

Still tickets left.
https://www.lunapalace.com.au/special-events+2843+the-nightmare-before-christmas-monkey-collective-immersive

All on for tonight at Glendalough.

Rather a charming story by Zen Cho about a worm striving to become a dragon.

Rather a charming story by Zen Cho about a worm striving to become a dragon. Free to read online, courtesy of Barns and Noble.

Interesting article about the rise of roll and writes recently.

Interesting article about the rise of roll and writes recently.
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/12/the-resurgence-of-roll-and-write-board-games/amp

Have a read. Dr Nikola is the best villain!

Have a read. Dr Nikola is the best villain!
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21640

There's a movie coming out "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" and when we saw the trailer, we remarked to each...

There's a movie coming out "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" and when we saw the trailer, we remarked to each other that it looked kind of cool. As I'm a firm believer in the roots of things (never mind that it sometimes makes me disappointed in how things are portrayed by Hollywood)I decided to do some research.

This was because my previous knowledge of the Nutcracker story was very scant.

It existed of a poster in the music room at school depicting the Nutcracker and the words "Clara's new doll was a nutcracker" and that there was a famous ballet by Tchaikovsky based on the story. Also that there was a mouse army involved, and toy soldiers in a war with them and that it was all very much a Christmas story. That's it.

So today I looked on Wikipedia and found that the ballet is not based on the original story, but on a retelling called The Story of a Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas which was considerably lighter and fluffier.

The original story is called The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E T A Hoffmann. Hoffman was quite a guy!

I found a translation from the original German right here https://www.oldstyletales.com/single-post/2018/01/23/ETA-Hoffmanns-The-Nutcracker-and-the-Mouse-King-English-Translation . I'm deeply grateful to whoever did the work and put it up for us to read. And I read it out of curiosity but I was sucked right in. You had me at seven-headed Mouse King and proactive heroines. (shades of the rat king Terry Pratchett introduced some of us to?) A mixture of Gothic and Arabian Nights and a lot of action! It's pretty disturbing in some spots, and I would not recommend to younger children, it's wild mythic stuff happening.

It's a very mine-able resource, and lots of things are there for continuing the franchise with unfinished plots. What of the Giant Sweet-tooth?!

I might be doing Dumas's version a disservice, but I'll let it sit for a while - I'm digesting the Hoffman. Apparently The Pacific Northwest Ballet did a version that was based on the Hoffman - Maurice Sendak was involved. I would have liked to have seen that! Here's an article about it. https://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167732828/no-sugar-plums-here-the-dark-romantic-roots-of-the-nutcracker

Me? I'm gonna hunt up some more Hoffman.
https://www.oldstyletales.com/single-post/2018/01/23/ETA-Hoffmanns-The-Nutcracker-and-the-Mouse-King-English-Translation

I'm thinking of wandering into the city at night sometime to see this year's Christmas Lights.

I'm thinking of wandering into the city at night sometime to see this year's Christmas Lights. They do sound like fun! Is anyone interested in accompanying me? Perhaps we can arrange a mutually acceptable date and time?

Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights are generally out for me.
https://www.visitperth.com.au/en/events/christmas-lights-trail?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgveni7P23gIViImPCh1EFQMjEAAYASAAEgJOb_D_BwE