Author: Michael

I love Patricia A. McKillip. I have been reading her books since I discovered her as a young adult in the mid-70’s and her gloriously romantic fantasy, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. Now 30 years and 20 novels later, McKillip continues to entrance me with her latest work, Od Magic. Before I talk about this book, let me mentions something about McKillip’s work, most notably, her use of language. Words seem ironically inadequate to describe the skill with which McKillip spins the English language into magic. Lyrical is one word that is often used in reviews, but it’s so much more. Most of McKillip’s work deals with magic, and if there is any true magic in the world, I would suspect it would be found in her use of language. I could luxuriate in work written by McKillip regardless of the story, simply to enjoy her use of words. How double wonderful for me that she writes the kinds of stories that fill me with wonder and emotion.

Od Magic is in some ways, standard McKillip fare. It takes place in a land where magic is commonplace, found in mighty wizards, unlikely, unnoticed princesses, and lonely gardeners. It is populated by wise and misguided kings, and mysterious beings of great unknown power. Long ago, a wizard giantess named Od, saved the city of Keilor in exchange for the promise of a school of magic being founded there. In the centuries that have passed, the school has flourished, becoming part of Keilor’s royal palace, overseen by the King. Od has been seen less and less frequently, sometimes presumed dead, before mysteriously appearing again, this time to a solitary gardener with the curious ability to talk to plantlife. Od encourages Brenden, the gardener, to travel to the school. His appearances startles the complacent teacher Yar, who keeps the fact of Od’s reappearance to himself. You see, magic is now entirely under the province of the King. All magic must be learned at his school, and used for the protection of Keilor. All other magic is outlawed, so when rumours of a master illusionist Tyramin, performing in the city’s Twilight Quarter emerge, the city of Keilor is thrown into a tizzy.

It all sounds complicated, as most of McKillip’s storylines tend to be, but it is the strength of her characters that has always been her second strength, after the sorcery of her words. Heroism lurks in unlikely forms; villainy is often found in the form of misguided nobility. Love, like magic, is a powerful force that overpowers reason. In an ironic twist, the magic that threatens the stability of Keilor in Od Magic is one without words. The fact that McKillip would imbue the ultimate wonder in this world with such power without her own greatest strengh; words, provides an interesting twist.

I am so happy that Patricia A. McKillip is out there writing and filling my heart with wonder with each and every novel she writes. You can all take your Harry Potter, I’ll take a little odd magic anyday.

Scot and I went to the hot new restaurant in the South End last night: Sibling Rivalry. The intersection of Tremont and Berkeley Streets is hoping to become an alternative to Boston’s lackluster theatre district. Already the home of the Cyclorama, and a pair of black box theatres that are part of the Boston Center for the Arts, the recent construction of the Calderwood Pavillion and the Atelier 505 building has added new elegance to the neighborhood. Sibling Rivalry is the dinner companion to the new theater located in the Calderwood Pavillion. We’d been aware of Sibling Rivalry for a while, but when my co-worker Maura mentioned it as the new hip place to eat, it became lodged in my brain as a place to check out.

We arrived as the restaurant opened at 5:30 since it was a Saturday night and hadn’t made reservations. My inital impressions were good, bolstered by the elegant decor, warm rust and purple design, and friendly hostess. Their specialty cocktails were funky and appealing, and both of scored with delicious drinks. I enjoyed El Diablo, a bold concoction of tequila, creme de cassis, blackberries and a splash of ginger ale, while Scot’s tart blend of gin, lime juice and mint was offset by a sugared rim. The dinner menu revolved around the two brothers who act as Sibling Rivalry’s chefs. Down the center of the menu is a list of key ingredients; arugala, garlic and rosemary; lamb; poultry, etc. To the right were the dishes created by Chef David and to the left, those created by Chef Bob. (The experience is reminiscent of Iron Chef.) The appetizers were printed in red and the main dishes in black. [On a side note, I read in today’s Boston Globe Magazine that a menu for the colorblind is available.]

Scot started with the four cheese raviloi appetizer followed by the braised and grilled lamb. I ordered the tuna tartare, with the mussells in a rosemary garlic cream sauce appetizer as my main course. Both of us were pleased with our first dishes. The tuna tarare arrived wrapped in a thin cucumber sheath, complimented by duck skin sushi rolls, two thin handmade potato chips, a delicious shallot garlic dipping sauce, and a tiny ball of wasabi. It was delicious and refreshing. Scot was quite taken with his four raviolis. Between courses, Scot ordered a glass of zinfandel, which I was not a fan of, but he enjoyed.

I was surprised by the size of the bowl of mussels that arrived shortly thereafter; it was, after all, listed as an appetizer. The rosemary garlic sauce was delicate and rich. I only had one bad mussel (it’s my own test of a restaurants ability to do mussels — B&G Oysters, ltd. is the all-time mussel champion) but a couple were a little rubbery. All in all a pleasant if not perfect mussel experience. Unfortunately, Scot’s lamb dish was less successful. The sauce was a bit sweet, the braised portion incredibly dry, and the grilled lamb alternately tender and tough.

For desert I opted for the warm, chocolate sourdough cake with sliced peaches and a peach sorbet (which Scot enjoyed.) The cake was nice and semi-sweet, and deliciously rich. No complaints there. I had hoped to enjoy desert with a nice cognac, but their choices were on the expensive side. Scot finished off with his signature Knob Creek neat.

Scot was disappointed with his entree, and I noted that the lamb dish was the only selection we sampled from Chef Bob’s side of the menu. Chef David’s offerrings were uniformly enjoyed. We thought it might be a nice touch for a board to hang by the kitchen marking which chef’s received the most orders, thereby enhancing the rivalry inherent in the menu’s presentation.

Ultimately we decided that Sibling Rivalry was fairly overpriced, entrees in the high $20’s. If the food had been exquisite, the price would have been worth it. Despite the hype, if I want to spend that much for a meal, I will stick to a reliable favorite in Aquitaine. And if the need to feel hip and trendy strikes, I’ll cross the street and hit B&G Oysters. I doubt that we will visit Sibling Rivalry again, giving David and Bob another chance to show that their food matches their ambience, but our first experience was less than stellar.

Woo Hoo… check this out. When Harry Potter fans go bad.

Okay, granted, it’s taken from a livejournal called “Child Free Hardcore.”

Yesterday was a little surreal at the Boston Public Library. Much of the day was filled with Harry Potter control. I am amazed at the level of mania induced by this series of books, especially in the workplace when that workplace is a library. Personally I’ve never read any of the Harry Potter books; never had the desire to do so. This is a little strange, since I am a fan of the fantasy genre; you’d figure I would have tried one out by now. I have nothing against the books, and suspect that one day I will at least read the first one, if not the whole series. Anything that gets this many people, especially young people, is a good thing. I have seen the three movies that have been made so far, but I find them to be average to uninteresting and they haven’t inspired me to go back and read the books.

But I’m here to write about the strange hold Harry Potter took over the library yesterday. Libraries are notorious for not having new popular books; or rather, not having them on the shelf when someone comes to look for them. It makes sense: if a book is popular, it means many people want to read it. By their very nature, libraries only have one to several copies of any given book, and if a book is popular, it will be check out. Therefore new books, books with an advanced build-up of excitement, will all be on reserve for the people who have been waiting for its release. Nothing will be on the shelf when the books first comes out. Browsers who are not intimate with the “library way” will innocently walk into the building expecting to find the new Harry Potter book (I’m sure the library will own a couple of copies) and of course, it won’t be there.

The BPL decided to do something special for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which, if you didn’t happen to know, is today. When we ordered our copies of this book, we wanted to try to have a copy for everyone who requested it in advance. We ordered 300 copies, thinking that might be enough. 300 copies of a single book (albeit for 28 locations)! Well, unfortunately, we ended up being about 88 copies short to cover everyone’s reserve copies.

At a recent manager’s meeting, we discussed the Harry Potter events that would be occurring on it’s release date (today) including multiple events, face-painting, screenings of the film, people dressed in costume. It dawned on us that it would be pretty sad to have these events running all day long, but not a single copy of the new book available for anyone attending these events, and not have the advance knowledge of the reserve system available in the building. We decided to try a radical new experiment. We would take 50 copies of the book and make them non-requestable. These books would not be used to fill customer requests and hence would be available for our customers who walk in looking for the book. You wouldn’t believe the planning and controversy that erupted from this decision. One branch librarian complained that this project would “violate” that sanctity of the reserve list. Most were thrilled that we would actually be serving that large section of our customer based who did not use the reserve system. This week was consumed by Harry Potter preparations.

Our 300 copies arrived on Thursday, were entered into the system and prepared for their release date of today. Yesterday was almost entirely consumed with preparations and tweaks to the system. The tension in the building was palpable, with so many copies present, but unable to be checked out until its actual release date. An early check out could suffer legal ramifications, after all. Glitches were found in the system, and solutions implemented. Now, it’s half an hour until the library opens, and the BPL is poised for the influx of Potter fans who will be in to pick up their advance requests, and the 50 people who will be lucky enough to actually see a copy on the shelves.

It’s quite an amazing phenomenon, and one that both mystifies and thrills me. To see such an amazing amount of excitement built around a book, an object that many people believe has become almost passe. Who said working in a library was boring?

I’m rather stunned at the findings of a study conducted by a team of psychologists in Chicago and Toronto who claim that bisexuality in men doesn’t exist. The findings were boldly reported in the New York Times last week. A pretty strong claim, and when you read the article, a pretty silly one based on the evidence. I found out about the article from AJ, and he does a good job pointing out all the flaw there. Check out his comments.

One of the comments in the article that I found particularly silly is this quote, “I’m not denying that bisexual behavior exists,” said Dr. Bailey, “but I am saying that in men there’s no hint that true bisexual arousal exists, and that for men arousal is orientation.” Not being a huge fan of the term ‘orientation’ to begin with, my homosexuality has just been reduced completely to my arousal. Well guess what, I make no claims to be even the slightest bit bisexual yet I have been aroused by women. How do you explain that one Dr. Bailey?

Sheesh.