On The Dubious Widom of Resurrecting a Beloved Literary Character

A few days ago mom got an alert on her kindle thingamajig, she clicked it and the alert lead her to a description of an item the Amazonians thought she might like to buy.

Now we have written before about our mom's love of PG Wodehouse  (here and here and here again).  See mom was raised on this stuff, our late grand dad was a major Wodehouse fan and while other children were listening to Good Night Moon mom was hearing Jeeves and The Tie that Binds.  When mom met dad she quickly set about educating him in the ways of Wodehouse and while Dad is not as big of a fan of the books as mom, he does like the Jeeves and Wooster TV show, which is frequently on repeat viewing here.   When they got married they even had a line, only one for me,  from the song Oh by Jingo which was sung on the show engraved on their wedding rings (you can here the song in the clip below.)

 So you might think mom would be  jumping for joy at the idea of a new Jeeves and Wooster book, but in fact she is pretty non-plussed.  See this book is not some lost tome from the master, but rather the work of an imitator, Sebastian Faulks.   Apparently Wodehouse's estate thought it would be a good idea to publish another novel and Faulks who previously resurrected James Bond was their choice.

The idea seems pretty silly to us, Wodehouse was nothing short of prolific.  During his 93 years he published 96 novels and short stories, 15 plays, and  the lyrics for over 30 musical comedies, a tolerably large amount of material to keep his legions of fans entertained.

We have heard that many feel the Wodehouse  writing style is a bit shall we say formulaic, something Wodehouse admitted to himself in the introduction to Summer Lightening (1929)

A certain critic—for such men, I regret to say, do exist—made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained ‘all the old Wodehouse characters under different names’. He has probably now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled this man by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy. (From preface)

But shouldn't a formula this perfect be left to the master, and if Jeeves and Bertie do have to be resurrected then shouldn't our dear friend Bouncing Bertie  have done the honors?  

While Bouncing Bertie's chosen field may be science one glimpse at  his blog will show you he has mastered satire.  Perhaps a letter writing campaign to the Wodehouse estate could ensure that the responsibility for next book, if there is a next one, could be placed in his capable paws.

Note: If you have no idea who PG Wodehouse is then we apologize for this post.  Also we hope Bouncing Bertie doesn't mind us using his picture.

See Beautiful-Prospect Park Dogs

Over our end of summer break we went to Brooklyn's Prospect Park to check out their famous dog beach and dog friendly green spaces.  Even though we lived in Brooklyn years ago and the hounds Grand Dad still lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn we had never been to the park.   It is not a traditional "dog park" in fact their is a leash law in effect from 9 am to 9 pm but it seems that it is not enforced.  The result, since this is a large green space transformed into a doggie paradise.  I didn't see a single unpicked up poo or dog fight.  We brought only our three pugs since Bob and Norbert can be somewhat unpredictable with off leash dogs.  I also kept Weasley leashed since I'm not 100% confident of his recall.  I think its the fact that ever single dog guardian I saw in the park seemed to know the dog and respectful of other people's dogs that keeps this place so wonderful.  Of course I can only speak from one visit but the idyllic sight of all those happy dogs and happy humans  was definitely one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, unfortunately my phone pictures don't do it justice, and I can't wait to course back.  Of course Tubby, Ping, and Weasley loved it too.

After we we played in the park we visited the delicious Pie Shop Four and Twenty Black Birds. 

 They have the best pie and I love this sign they have hanging outside their shop.
 
 If like me you are a fan of the TV show Twin Peaks, you may remember this is a reference to a famous line from that show.  

Sci Fi Saturday-Tribble Edition!

Weasley here:

Sometimes mom strikes out in the toy department and a toy just doesn't get our mojo running, but she scored a home run when she got us these Silly Squeakers Balls from doggy loot.  

 These things are amazing!  With a super loud squeak and lots of neat fluffy hair, plus they are they are perfect size for a pugs mouth. (Our big guy Norbert likes them too, but mom is not sure if they would be good for big dogs who are aggressive chewers.)  When I hear them squeaking I just go crazy (sorry for the blurry photos but my speed was too super awesome for mom's camera phone)!!!

Another super cool thing about these balls they remind mom of the tribbles 

from our favorite show Star Trek!  Too bad our toys don't keep reproducing like the tribbles on the show.  We think mom is already going to have to get a new batch.

 In a final nod to the awesomeness of  Star Trek (and of course my own awesome self) mom has to include two picture collages of me in Tubby's Kobeyashi Maru t-shirt (a reference for serious trek fans only) courtesy of zazzle.  It's a little tight on Tubby which is why I am sporting it. 

Tasty Tuesday-Bluth Banana Bites for Dogs

Mom and Dad are big fans of the TV show Arrested Development, and where very excited when it resurrected by Netflix for a fourth season.  Evidently lots of other people where too.  There was even a Bluth Banana stand in Manhattan

with a typical Manhattan line wrapping around the block.  Now mom and dad don't particularly like frozen bananas so Arrested Development fans or not they had no desire to wait in that line, but mom thought it would be fun to make us some Bluth inspired frozen banana treats.   They where a hit with everyone except Tubby, who takes after mom and dad and does not like bananas, plus they are super easy to make

 Bluth Banana Bites for Dogs

2 large bananas cut in 2 inch segments
1 cup carob chips
1 tbsp vegetable oil
unsweetened coconut flakes

Like a baking sheet or pan with foil and spray the foil with non stick cooking spray. Melt the carob with the oil in microwave save bowl or measuring cup for about 1 min at 50% power, pausing after thirty seconds to stir, be careful as carob burns easily.  Dip the bananas in the carob coating and transfer to the foil lined baking sheet and sprinkle over the coconut.  Freeze about 2 hours or until firm.   Feed to any dogs in the vicinity before a marathon Arrested Development viewing session.

A Pug on Poirot

Recently mom made a new discovery via the Roku box and net flix streaming, the show Poirot.   Its based on the Agatha Christie stories about the little Belgium detective and its dramatized by Clive Exton, the man who made the Jeeves and Wooster series mom is so nuts about.  Now Poirot came out in 1989 but mom is always a little behind the times and now she is totally addicted.  She particularly loves the costumes and the whole time she is watching the show she is talking about the gorgeous outfits and sighing over the dresses.   Then one day mom noticed this:

 Now of course mom started squealing and ran to get her phone to take a picture of the TV screen.  She thought the pug looked just like Tubby.   During all the fuss, we noticed something this fictional pug is significantly more spoiled then us!   I mean there his is sitting on his owners lap inside the restaurant of a fancy hotel, we get left at home when mom and dad go to restaurants, and even though you can't see it in the picture he is eating an eclair!  An eclair!  We have never had one of those.  We are keeping our paws crossed that mom decides to emulate this lady pug owner or to at least reenact this scene, since evidently we are suffering abominable neglect.

Simple Projects-Twin Peaks Coffee Cozy

Tubby and Ping model their Twin Peaks shirts from Cafe Press, once again they are victims of my fandom.

Did you know that  April 8, is Twin Peaks. Day, the 23rd anniversary of the premier of what was perhaps the weirdest (and  in my opinion most wonderful)  show that was ever on TV.   I was too young to appreciate the show when it was first on but thanks to Netflix I have become a loyal fan of the reruns, and am eternally depressed that there are only two seasons.  The show had everything:

Style:

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Music

Mystery 

The Log Lady

Pie

Donuts

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And coffee

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To celebrate the anniversary of my beloved show I made a Twin Peaks coffee cozy and it couldn't have been easier.  I used the magic loop method to knit the coffee cozy but you could also use double points or crochet.  The whole project didn't take you much more then an hour from start to finish, just long enough to watch an episode or two of the show.

Twin Peaks Coffee Cozy

Select a pattern you like for a coffee cozy.  Ravelry has some good options for both knitted and crochet cozies and most can be made in under an hour.  I particularly like this pattern because it can be adapted a number of ways.

Once you have knitted your cozy cut a small rectangle of black felt that fits nicely on the cozy.   Use a white fabric  pen to mark the saying of your choice (I wrote Black as Midnight, because its how I like my coffee and its my favorite coffee related line from the show,   but of course you could write anything: a line from a favorite movie or show or your name or a quote from a favorite writer.) Using an embroidery needle and thread embroider over your writing and then stitch the felt square to the coffee cozy.  Voila you are done! 

Here is a video montage of Twin Peaks characters appreciating their favorite beverage (towards the end you can see Agent Cooper use "the black as midnight on a moonless night" line that I love so much, if your like me you'll never go back to coffee with cream again:

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Friday Fun-Star Trek Sweaters (and another Birthday)

If you have been reading this bog you know we are Star Trek Fans (just check our Geekery page) we were so lucky that Melissa from Pug Notes was able to make us truly out of this world Star Trek inspired sweater vests, complete with insignia!  Check us out (we are posing in front of our Star Trek The Next Generation Fan Mosaic, which features picture of Weasley and Bob):

Tubby as Captain James T. Kirk

Weasley as Lt. Commander Spock

Ping as Lt. Uhura

The whole crew:

Today is also Tubby's 12th birthday.  I started this blog when he was turning ten and I was having a hard time with his advancing years, I wrote about it in this post: Ten Years of Perfect Pug Love.

Now ten sounds down right young.  I'm so lucky to have had Tubby in my life for 12 years and I hope and pray we have many more years together.   Whatever time we have together I try to look at Tubby as my model, he appreciates every moment and never worries about getting older.  A great way to "Live Long and Prosper" if you ask me.