Neon’s A Doll A Day… Again (2020)

[Elfy]

These 2 are so adorable. We have Jello here, but we call it jelly. Which for some reason is what Americans call jam.

[Lejays17]

they look like they're having fun with their lizard punch

[neon_jellyfish]

... I'm too taken in by their cute. They can do nothing wrong, clearly.

Also I like their cauldron.

The cauldron came with Ghouls Rule Frankie.

That punch has a lot of body to it.

Or bodies.

More like... Jello. With... things sticking out of it. Lizard things?

(Do you have Jello in Czech Republic?)

I think the sticking out parts are supposed to depict how the... contents of the cauldron bubble and gurgle.

We call it gelatine or jelly (well, Czech equivalents of those, derived from French), and most people buy leaves or powder without flavor and make their own. It is mostly used as topping for tarts or cakes and there aren't any brands famous specifically for their jelly. There are shops importing foreign noms, sou you can get Jell-O Jello in those, but it's not really popular.

These 2 are so adorable. We have Jello here, but we call it jelly. Which for some reason is what Americans call jam.

What we call jam has bits of fruit pulp (and seeds or zest) in it, and when it's just the juice, we call it marmelade, which can have texture simmilar to jelly, which is why I assume US English calls it that.

My mom's peach-lavender jam, Lavender Cult's equivalent of Ambrosia, is indeed a jam (she also makes her own orange-and-whiskey jam, and it's also the best).

they look like they're having fun with their lizard punch

I think these two have fun with everything they do.


Day 282

Precious book again! This one is Kytice (=bouquet or posy, I think posy is more apt in this particular case as it's supposed to be wild flowers, not a sophisticated bouquet), a poem colletcion by Karel Jaromír Erben - the same guy who collected and edited Czech fairytales in the Zlatovláska book I showed you previously. These poems are inspired by Czech folk legends, and they're dreamy, and fairytale-like, and dark and macabre.

Erben was born with some sort of (then undiagnosable) issue that impaired is speech, but not his intellect, and he bacame the master of the written word to make up for his limited ability to ex'press himself vocally. I love the way he uses language, and his poems were a major molding force when I was growing up and forming my own idea of what 'beautiful' is.

You can always get some edition of Kytice, as it is one of the most important works in Czech history, but I especially cherish this one, as it has illustrations by Jan Zrzavý, one of my favorite Czech artists (Erben was a mid-19th century author, Zrzavý lived and created in the first half of 20th century, so the illustrations aren't 'historically accurate', but they're my favorite, and are generally considered the best ones). History of Kytice's illustrations, or rather, woeful underillustration, is an intriguing topic in itself. Given how important it is, and was perceived as such from the very beginning, it took a long time before it got decent illustrations, despite the poems practically painting themselves in vivid colors in your mind as you read them.

English translation of Kytice exists, but half of the magic is in specific use of language, and I don't know well it can be translated, and I'm also afraid that being able to enjoy this collection fully requires you to be familiar with Czech folklore, as in, not only know the facts, but know how it feels, if that makes any sense.

...And I better stop ranting now.



Zombie princess seemed like the perfect choice to illustrate both the ethereal beauty and the blood-curdling terror of these magic spells disguised as poems.

[werepuppy]

Ooh, this book sounds fascinating and I wish my Czech was existant so I could fully enjoy the ex.perience of it. Zombie Rapunzel seems very interested in the book, and from how you've described it, I cannot blame her!

[davidd]

You were not ranting, you were lecturing. Do please continue, Professor! Your informative while being entertaining style is captivating, far more so than that of most literature instructors I had at university!

Plus... spooky zombie doll photos.

(I wasn't in to doll photography when I was at university, although I never lost my appreciation for my childhood toys, and had some of my childhood space toys hanging from my ceiling well through university and beyond. I wonder what I would have thought of a professor who illustrated lectures with slides featuring spooky zombie dolls? Well, I don't actually wonder; I would have thought it was majorly cool.)

[Alliecat]

Symphonic metal is more melodious subgenre of heavy metal that combines metal sound with classical instruments and sometimes whole orchestra, some bands have vocalists trained in operatic singing.

Hahaha, oh boy... I understand the operatic reference... some of it sounded quite movie-soundtrack-ish and kind of cool, although I have to admit the verses with the singing bears (?) made me literally LOL.
(I assume the growling noises were bears, but I could be wrong )

We have Jello here, but we call it jelly. Which for some reason is what Americans call jam.

Jam has stuff in it; jelly is clear.  Canadian version
I actually googled peach lavender jam but the recipes seem to require flowers, not some infusion from the leaves, and mine hasn't bloomed.  Sigh

English translation of Kytice exists, but half of the magic is in specific use of language, and I don't know well it can be translated, and I'm also afraid that being able to enjoy this collection fully requires you to be familiar with Czech folklore, as in, not only know the facts, but know how it feels, if that makes any sense.

I was thinking as I read through that it would be nice to ex-perience this poetry and artful use of language you describe, but I wondered how much would be lost in translation, & then I read that.  Kind of too bad that any culture's best writing can't fully be ex-perienced the same way by people from other cultures.  Exclusive national treasures, I guess.

...and the photos are nice too

[Elfy]

I love your collection of old, beautiful books.

[neon_jellyfish]

Thank you very much, everyone!!!


Day 283

These two books aren't treasures because of their age or inaccessibility, they're simply some of my favorite stories. They're The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and Jessie and Morgiana by Alexander Grin. Bulgakov and Grin are among my favorite authors (I can't do one favorite of anything, there's too much good stuff to ex!perience, and picking just one seems almost wasteful...), and I love pretty much everything they wrote, but that would be a big pile, so I chose these two books as representatives. Spokesbooks?

Both of them read like fairytales, but they are different. Grin dreams of a romantic world where the good always wins, and his stories really are like modern fairytales, with pure and pretty girls and brave and righteous men to win their hearts, crowds of pirates and adventurers and the most suave villains made of nothing but evil. Bulgakov uses the fairytale-like form and comedy to deliver mordant commentary on the state of things in his part of the society - that is, in Soviet Union.

Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita was, of course, translated to English, I don't think Jessie and Morgiana was, but some of other Grin's works were. Scarlet Sails are/is (not sure here, in Czech it would be 'are', but I guess 'is' is the right one in English?) a magical short story, so magical that I don't even feel like ranting about stupidity of insta-love, because for once, it totally works.



Rochelle, because sweetness and courage are qualities found in both Bulgakov's and Grin's heroines.

[werepuppy]

Ooh, they both sound fantastic to read. Rochelle really is the perfect model for them.

[Elfy]

The Master and Margharita is an amazing book. It also inspired Sympathy for the Devil, The Rolling Stones classic. Bulgakov himself had quite an interesting life. There was a good, but quite dark tv show made about him starring Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm as the author at different stages of his life. It’s called A Young Doctors Notebook.

[davidd]

If you were talking about actual sails, plural, you would say "are." But because you are referring to the singular book, even though the title ends in a plural word, "is" is correct.
Your mastery of English is much more masterful than that of most native English speakers.

And I am very happy to see a photograph of Rochelle in her stock skirt. I have misplaced the skirt of my Rochelle, and I had forgotten what it looked like, and have been intending to look it up online. You've save me the effort!

These books sound quite wonderful and fun!

[Alliecat]

I also think they would be interesting to read. The Bulgakov one is available through our library.

[Lejays17]

They both sound like interesting books to read, and I totally agree that it seems wasteful to only have one favourite thing. I generally have a top 5 or so "favourite" of anything, and which one is currently "first" will depend on the mood im in when I'm asked the question.

Rochelle is the perfect pairing of doll and story in this picture.

[neon_jellyfish]

Thank you very much, guys!

I definitely recommend reading The Master..., I think this one goes beyond my peculiar tastes and counts as a true classic.


Day 284

And this is my last 'precious books' post. I mean, all my books are precious to me, but most of them are not that special - not hard to find, and not so niche. I had a lot of fun with dolls&books photos, so I'd like to revisit the topic when I have some interesting new treasure.

I mentioned that the one about history of European bookbinding is one of my oldest books. Third oldest, to be exact. And here are the two oldest ones:



The bigger red one is from 1948, it's a book about Czech gothic architecture, and it appeared in my photo for Alliecat's Scavenger Hunt. The smaller one is Czech translation of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám from 1947.

[werepuppy]

Ooh, thy both look brilliant for their age, and Cleo is the perfect model here.

Hm, maybe I should take some book and doll pictures...