Back in 1995 there was NOTHING on the web about the creations of author Tove Jansson - the Moomins. So I put together a website to explain what the book series was all about to my American friends who'd never heard of it.

Since that time they've sprung up many, many web sites devoted to the Moomin's as well as commentary and plenty of merchandise on eBay. Every once in a while I lament that I haven't really updated my own Moomin site and go out in search of links to add to it. I came across a rather nifty commentary today that was in the LA Times last year. I just LOVE the following paragraph:

"Melancholy, ambivalence, loss and disillusionment, yearning and disappointment are Tove Jansson's great themes; she is also really, really funny. The unnameable may be no farther away than the bottom of the garden, but it is also no closer. Moominland has floods, comets and tornadoes, but it also has Moominmamma, who can banish most terrors with weapons no stronger than a cup of coffee and a good spring cleaning. We can rely, too, on the gnomic Snufkin, who drops by every spring clad in a pointy hat and the smell of faraway places; sturdy fisherwoman Tooticky, modeled on Tove's own female companion, and a bit of a Zen master ("All things are so very uncertain, and that's exactly what makes me feel reassured"); and above all stubborn, fearless Little My, who looks something like an angry tea cozy, and very nearly stole my heart away from Pippi Longstocking."

Heh. Heheheheheheheh... Angry tea cozy... Heheheheheh*cough*heheheheh. That just fits so well!

But this is probably why the books meant so much to me:

Moominland is not an entirely friendly place. It is full of private, curmudgeonly types who huddle in their houses, and even more private, curmudgeonly types who huddle in the stoves, cupboards and closets inside those houses. This may say something about the weather in Finland, and it says even more about Tove Jansson, who didn't leave home until the age of 28. But these private types have their secrets, as private types will, and one secret a lot of them share is a gloating sense that inside their fussy rotundity is an adventurer of the first water, and that if they felt like it, they could show a few people a thing or two.

THE OTHER SECRET, AND IT'S A BIG ONE, IS THAT these prudent, small, fearful critters don't always feel like being safe. Someone is always wandering away from the party and staring wistfully at something terrible and fascinating: the black water, the toothy mountain range, the distant sails of the Hattifatteners.

That sort of described me. Quiet. Shy. Introverted to a fault, but with an itching adventurer inside. I like my sweet little gardens and my warm and cozy home, but I also yearn every now and then for a good and terrible thunderstorm - the kind that make the sky green, white and black by turns.

Maybe it's a Finnish thing? I don't know. But as melancholy as some of the books could be - I loved 'em and identified with 'em in all their fantastical oddity. I could identify with the hermit-like wanderer Snufkin, the appealing Moomintroll, calm and centered Moominmamma and the wild Little My, depending on my mood.

Anyway, it's a good article.

Friday Five:

1. What was the last TV show you watched? I think it was "Dharma and Greg" or then a re-run of "Good Eats".
2. What was the last thing you complained about and what was the problem? That the mustard for the cashew chicken take-out wasn't sinus-searingly hot enough. :-)
3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say? I think that was my student worker on his photography.
4. What was the last thing you threw away? A fortune cookie wrapper.
5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited? eBay :-)

Diane Sawyer's indecorous performance with the Dixie Chicks.

What they said to PrimeTime.

I loved this quote by Martie Maguire:

It's the people who have gone overboard and done such irrational things that take you back to the days of book-burning. That is a concern for me in our format, that this is how country music is being viewed now, by people who don't like country music, and I just don't like what that says."

These women are just fabulous.

Printable version
<Prev | Next>

	November 2008October 2008August 2008April 2008March 2008February 2008January 2008November 2007October 2007September 2007August 2007July 2007June 2007May 2007April 2007March 2007January 2007December 2006November 2006October 2006September 2006August 2006June 2006April 2006March 2006February 2006January 2006December 2005November 2005October 2005September 2005August 2005July 2005June 2005May 2005April 2005March 2005February 2005January 2005December 2004November 2004October 2004September 2004August 2004July 2004June 2004May 2004April 2004March 2004February 2004January 2004December 2003November 2003October 2003September 2003August 2003July 2003June 2003May 2003April 2003March 2003February 2003January 2003December 2002November 2002October 2002September 2002August 2002July 2002
			1	2	3	4	5
	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
	27	28	29	30