(no subject)
My dad called me a little before ten this morning. He's wandering aimlessly around the Washington D.C. airport.
When I answered the phone, I could tell that he was somewhere crowded by that vague hum of activity you can hear in such circumstances. Without introduction, his first words were: "Do you want to hear an amusing story?"
--which seemed rather ominous, so I replied, "I don't know. Do I?"
Apparently he and a colleague from Greensboro were meant to meet with the FDA today. He was searching for this other colleague in the airport when they called to tell him that they weren't coming, because, due to inclement weather, the FDA decided to be closed today.
YAY. So he thinks he'll probably be spending the rest of the day waiting in stand-by for another shuttle out of D.C. He may, in fact, just have to wait for his evening flight--which is what I would do, were I in his position. Leave the airport, wander the town (as depressing as it is) ... but he's determined not to be there any longer than necessary. Can't say I really blame him about that.
The moving stuff is making concentrating on anything else kind of difficult. Even reading on the T. If I finish Inkspell by the end of the weekend, it'll be a wonder.
And on that, I was looking through the publishing information at the front of the book. Cornelia Funke is a German author, so everything she writes needs translation time... Anyway, German student here wanted to know the German word for 'spell', so I go to check. Only, the original title of this book is actually Tintenblut. Blut is 'blood', not 'spell'. I don't know; maybe the English publisher thought that 'Inkblood' was an inappropriate title for young readers. Maybe Funke was the last word on the decision. Regardless, I get irritated when, in translation, things are needlessly changed. I was equally irritated when the U.S. publisher changed Rowling's title from Philosopher's to Sorcerer's. What, did they think people would actually mistake it for something to do with philosophy? Or was it the idea of incorporating something with an actual historic (albeit just as quacky then as it is now) relevance that scared them? I don't get it.
Dracula (the Masterpiece Theatre version, because I'm on a Marc Warren kick) and The White River Kid (I don't know why I added it, but it's coming) should arrive today. No more new Grey's or Lost, so I might actually have a faster turn around on Netflix for a while.
When I answered the phone, I could tell that he was somewhere crowded by that vague hum of activity you can hear in such circumstances. Without introduction, his first words were: "Do you want to hear an amusing story?"
--which seemed rather ominous, so I replied, "I don't know. Do I?"
Apparently he and a colleague from Greensboro were meant to meet with the FDA today. He was searching for this other colleague in the airport when they called to tell him that they weren't coming, because, due to inclement weather, the FDA decided to be closed today.
YAY. So he thinks he'll probably be spending the rest of the day waiting in stand-by for another shuttle out of D.C. He may, in fact, just have to wait for his evening flight--which is what I would do, were I in his position. Leave the airport, wander the town (as depressing as it is) ... but he's determined not to be there any longer than necessary. Can't say I really blame him about that.
The moving stuff is making concentrating on anything else kind of difficult. Even reading on the T. If I finish Inkspell by the end of the weekend, it'll be a wonder.
And on that, I was looking through the publishing information at the front of the book. Cornelia Funke is a German author, so everything she writes needs translation time... Anyway, German student here wanted to know the German word for 'spell', so I go to check. Only, the original title of this book is actually Tintenblut. Blut is 'blood', not 'spell'. I don't know; maybe the English publisher thought that 'Inkblood' was an inappropriate title for young readers. Maybe Funke was the last word on the decision. Regardless, I get irritated when, in translation, things are needlessly changed. I was equally irritated when the U.S. publisher changed Rowling's title from Philosopher's to Sorcerer's. What, did they think people would actually mistake it for something to do with philosophy? Or was it the idea of incorporating something with an actual historic (albeit just as quacky then as it is now) relevance that scared them? I don't get it.
Dracula (the Masterpiece Theatre version, because I'm on a Marc Warren kick) and The White River Kid (I don't know why I added it, but it's coming) should arrive today. No more new Grey's or Lost, so I might actually have a faster turn around on Netflix for a while.