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Okay, those of you who’ve known me a while know that I really like golem legends, specifically the Golem of Prague. (I actually have a wee tiny clay golem from Prague who sits atop a compass and watches me work at my desk. I call him Yossele.)
One thing that really bugged me, though, was that a lot of the pop culture images of the Golem of Prague (including my teeny Yossele) show cracks across his chest, held together with rivets, like so. And I couldn’t figure out where that design quirk came from!
It’s not in any of the legends. (And I’ve read a LOT of renditions of the Golem of Prague legends, I have FOUR books with him in it.) It’s not in the 1915-1920 silent movie series. (There, the Golem looks like this.) It was driving me crazy!
Well, today I found out where the golem’s rivets come from. It’s from a 1951 movie, totally unheard of in the states, called The Emperor’s Baker. (Well, it’s two short movies shown together, the Emperor’s Baker and the Baker’s Emperor.) It’s a freaking comedy, of all things. It’s mostly about an emperor and a baker switching places, but the golem has a minor role in it, and there, he looks like this. The cracks, the rivets, the only vaguely humanoid shape, it’s all there!
The Emperor’s Baker was a total nonentity in the states, but it was a BIG hit in its native Czechoslovakia--where, of course, the legend originated. That movie seems to be pretty much singlehandedly responsible for how every person in Prague envisioned the golem forever after... and of course, they were the ones making most golem memorabilia, including mine.
So yeah, this random movie I’d never heard of (but now want to see) is responsible for the golem’s design forever after! That’s so cool!
And I’m so glad to finally know where it comes from. Drove me crazy!
--Rogan
Things I’ve read recently:
I found a comic in the free library with the best title: Integration is a Bitch!
Of course I got it.
(It’s not about multiplicity at all, by the way. It’s a gag/educational comic from 1969 about being a black white-collar worker. It’s been posted in its entirety on tumblr here, though I DO recommend hitting the archive and reading in chronological order. It's quite good!)
Craft fair ACHIEVED!
To celebrate, I bought a couple bargain-bin gay golem romance novellas. Today, I have made too much money to feel shame for my purchases!
Seriously, thank god for Boomerang’s. We are slowly but surely getting our hands on all the nostalgic classics of our youth. Yesterday, Mori got her hands on Robin McKinley’s Beauty, and I’m sure if we wait long enough, we’ll get our hands on Susan Wilson’s novel of the same title and theme too.
Wee Tiny Us had better taste than expected.
--Rogan
Because Calamus Bookstore (the last gay bookstore in Boston) is shutting down for good, us and roomie went to ransack its bones and buy all the queer stuff we could get our little hands on.
I did not have much luck in traditional books, but I did have a pretty neat haul! I got some leather pride flag stickers, found a tiny trans pride flag lapel pin, some old gay mags (worse comes to worse, Sneak can chop them up for zer craft projects), but that is not the crown jewel of my haul! I found a really cool surprise hidden in there!
For some reason, I found a copy of Oni Comics/Rosy Press’s Fresh Romance! The thing was, it wasn’t a book. It looked like all the pages in proof form, just printed out (at very high quality) on ordinary paper, held together with brads. No cover or anything, just... a pre-book, as it were.
And I got it for like $6! Dang right I nabbed that sucker! And it was really awesome and cute and I’m so glad I was able to get all this stuff for less than $20 altogether.
Goodbye Calamus. You were a great shop. :(
--Rogan
Rogan: Just finished watching the first season of Cleverman with our roommate. Man, that show is INTENSE, and relentlessly paced, but great! Uber-glad we watched it, dying for another season because it ended on a cliffhanger.
Mori: Also, Biff actually paid attention while it was on. Usually he can’t give less of a shit about any kind of fiction. It’s all science and history shows with him. (And cooking. Dude fucking loves cooking shows.) I’m starting to think it’s not the fiction that bugs him, it’s how white and unrelatable it is to him. Stuff to check out!
Lately we've been watching 'Murder, She Wrote' with our roommate and her girlfriend. And I've realized: the main character is basically the kind of person I'd like to be.
Jessica Fletcher has all the money she needs, but lives in her humble home because she likes it. She has lots of people she cares about and who care about her, and she helps makes their lives better. She's active socially and physically, taking her little morning jogs, interacting with people, and while she's experienced loss and grief because she's a widow, she's a generally happy person.
She's also a NICE person; even when people are nasty to her, she's never nasty back. At the same time, though, she's a whiz at standing her ground. People dismiss her, insult her, and even threaten her, but while she's always polite and never cruel, she's really hard to push around.
I want to be Jessica Fletcher when I grow up.
--Rogan
