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Bad Santa meets Dr Dee

I went to see Bad Santa last night with gingiber and anonymous_seth. Seth thought it was a long ttime to spend on one joke, but as I believe I may have mentioned, I am very easily amused. Be warned that this is not a nice film, though, and may make you laugh at things which are just not fucking funny. There's a lot of swearing as well, which may possibly make up for that. Santa in a balaclava preparing for a robbery is just wrong, and the nice Jewish girl with the Santa fetish (she makes him keep the hat on) is worse.

Important point, though : What the hell is the "talking walnut" bit all about?

In other news, I've just finished Fiona's copy of The House Of Dr Dee by Peter Ackroyd, which I liked a lot. It's partly set in Elizabethan times and partly recently, and features an archive researcher's difficult family, Dee, Edward Kelley, angelomancy, homunculi, and various sorts of unexpectedness. Recommended.

If you've read the book already, those Wikipedia articles are well worth a look.
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    More Dr Dee Goodness
    akicif
    Can be found in Mike Scott Rohan's Maxie's Demon -- which is a follow on from the "Steven Fisher" trilogy (Chase the Morning, The Gates of Noon and Cloudcastles) -- along with Kafka, that Makroupoulos woman, Harry Lime and a few other folk....

    I didn't manage to find any Dee/Kelley stuff in Prague - not even at the travelling museum of witchcraft, alchemy and magick.

    [Um, the way I wrote the names in the last para is not meant to imply the existence of slash fiction involving the alchemist and his assistant)
    Re: More Dr Dee Goodness
    zotz
    I don't believe you.

    Were they around Prague long? AIUI they didn't impress folk much and ended up elsewhere.
    lsur
    Was it Peter Ackroyd who did 'Hawksmoor'. That's also deliciously grim.
    zotz
    I believe so.. In fact, I think that may be the other one I have a loan of. I'm looking forward to it.
    valkyriekaren
    I've got a scholarly biography of John Dee somewhere if you'd like to borrow it.
    zotz
    Perhaps if I get my to-read pile down to manageable proportions. I have to be more careful about borrowing books. Very tempting if I do manage that, though - cheers.
    steer
    Have you read John Crowley's "Aegypt"? Profound, beautiful, incredibly written and John Dee heavy. Treads a delicate tightrope between scepticism and mysticism without offending either.
    zotz
    I'll look out for it. I've only read Little, Big of his. Thanks.
    steer
    Ah... I love that -- one of the best written novels I have ever read (IMHO) -- I didn't understand what happened but I enjoyed the experience.
    blu_matt
    Dee and Kelly also make appearances in various Rankin (Robert, not Ian) Books.
    ex_lark_asc
    the nice Jewish girl with the Santa fetish (she makes him keep the hat on) is worse

    OK, now it sounds like a fun film :)
    inulro
    The House of Dr Dee and Hawksmoor are just about the only of Ackroyd's books I haven't read. I highly recommend Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem but Chatterton was really disappointing. And don't get me started on the faults of the Blake biography.
    neriedes
    I didn't think much of it at first until some random guy attacks santa for accusing him of being gay - it started to warm up after that and was very funny indeed.


    Oh I forgot the flying lizards cd last neon, I hope it didn't get left there by accident?
    zotz
    some random guy attacks santa for accusing him of being gay

    Which he hadn't. It made no sense at all. Like the talking walnut. Brilliance.

    flying lizards cd

    It's OK. I picked it up at the end. Did you get a chance to listen to it?
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