Ramblin' Rosen

Roommate From Hell by Jim Munroe is a novel being published in the form of a blog. The premise is that Katie’s new roommate Lilith may or may not be a demoness, and on the blog is a poll to see if readers think she is or not. Jim is planning to write a spin-off based on the results of the poll.

The blog will consist of 88 entries, one post each day. For those who have to find out how it ends sooner, it has already been published in dead-tree form as An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil. Unlike the blog version, the book version will not feature any of the photographs.

I’m definitely planning to follow this, both because the idea of a novel in blog form is intriguing but also to see how Jim handles my favourite demoness Lilith (or not, if she really isn’t a demoness). So far what’s been posted is intriguing and is definitely making me want to read more.

[Link courtesy of BoingBoing]

Last Sunday, I went to the British Museum to see the Queen of the Night relief (a.k.a. the Burney relief) in person. As I mentioned in my last post, it’s on display in the Reading Room temporarily. As can be expected, it is much more impressive in person, and, to be honest, I don’t think photos really do the relief justice. It’s still impressive in pictures, but anyone who has a chance to see it in real life should definitely go and see it. See my post on a virtual reconstruction of it for links to more information on the tour it is taking around England.

I tried photographing it, so I could post a picture of it here, but none of them turned out well, since the Reading Room has rather low lighting, and the relief was in a glass case. So when I tried with a flash, the flash reflected from the glass, and when I tried without a flash, it ended up out of focus. If I go back to the British Museum and it is still in the Reading Room, I will try again, as I’d like my own photos of it, but it will probably be easier to take a good picture when it is on permament display in a regular exhibition area.

One thing I noticed is that the British Museum has yet to exploit the commercial potential of the Queen of the Night yet–the only thing in any of the gift shops that I saw related to it was part of a picture of it on a new book. Not even a postcard yet, but I’m sure these things will come, and I’m sure I’ll buy at least one of the products, especially as the BM is a great institution to support just in general. I did see a Louis Wain paperweight that I plan to go back and get some time, but I didn’t want to buy it that day as I wasn’t going directly home afterwards and did not want to carry it.

If anyone else has had the chance to see the Queen of the Night in person, please post and give us your impressions.

The Burney Relief is an ancient Babylonian relief that some consider to be an image of Lilitu, the Mesopotamian predecessor of Lilith, though it could also be an aspect of Ishtar or her sister and rival Ereshkigal. It is most commonly associated with Lilith to the general public, which is why I have a picture of it on the front page of my Lilith Shrine, even though it’s more likely to be someone other than her.

Recently, the British Museum acquired the Burney Relief, renaming it to the ‘Queen of the Night’ Relief. It is currently on tour throughout Britain and is on display in the Reading Room while not on tour until the end of August. I have tentative plans to see it this weekend and will write about it here if I do.

Along with having the original on display in the museum, they also have a virtual exhibit that includes images done in Photoshop showing how the relief would have looked originally.

Many people do not realise that reliefs such as the Queen of the Night would originally have been painted and seeing them ‘in colour’ can be a shock at first, and often modern people prefer the ‘bare’ images, but I find the colour version fascinating and can’t decide which version I prefer.

Here’s a small picture of the reproduction with colour. Please visit the virtual exhibit to see a bigger version and to see a comparison between it and the actual relief.