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Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Go here for more.
Labels: HP
0 comments
Yayyyy for being done with classes. I've finished my last seminars and only have to attend the instructor-training class tonight (which will probably get out early...*pleeze, pleeze*) and teach my class once more in about 35 minutes. Hoo Ray.
I'm feeling pretty good about my papers. Not that they're technically started yet. But I have direction, which is worth two of something in the bush, I'm sure. Also, I've now talked to both my professors multiple times about the papers and both were encouraging and helpful and all that, which makes one feel as though, at least, one can't be completely out in left field. (Oh dear. Did I just use a sports metaphor? Forgive me, I meant "out in Wisconsin," or maybe "out in deep space," or even "out in 17th century French romance." Ok that was a stretch...) Furthermore, talking to professors above and beyond the required amount gets you points in the see-I'm-working-hard-on-this-paper-and-not-blowing-it-off-even-if-the-final-result-might-make-it-appear-that-way category. Always a plus.
I'm feeling pretty good about my papers. Not that they're technically started yet. But I have direction, which is worth two of something in the bush, I'm sure. Also, I've now talked to both my professors multiple times about the papers and both were encouraging and helpful and all that, which makes one feel as though, at least, one can't be completely out in left field. (Oh dear. Did I just use a sports metaphor? Forgive me, I meant "out in Wisconsin," or maybe "out in deep space," or even "out in 17th century French romance." Ok that was a stretch...) Furthermore, talking to professors above and beyond the required amount gets you points in the see-I'm-working-hard-on-this-paper-and-not-blowing-it-off-even-if-the-final-result-might-make-it-appear-that-way category. Always a plus.
Labels: grad school
0 commentsSaturday, November 26, 2005
Yay for Harry Potter Parodies
Thanks to Mugglenet.
Thanks to Mugglenet.
Labels: HP
0 commentsFriday, November 25, 2005
You're not going to believe this.
No, really.
My church is actually canceling its services on Christmas Sunday.
Why, you ask? What twisted reasoning can possibly account for this travesty?
Because Christmas morning is for sleeping in and opening presents of course. And it would be a real bummer if the fact that it falls on a Sunday were to interfere with the true meaning of the holiday. We don't want God to interrupt our conspicuous consumerism and self-indulgence. After all, God shouldn't ask anything of us that can't be done in our spare time, right? And only if we feel like it.
Un. believable.
**Update: Apparently a bunch of people complained about this whole thing, so church on Christmas is back on. Whew. 0 comments
No, really.
My church is actually canceling its services on Christmas Sunday.
Why, you ask? What twisted reasoning can possibly account for this travesty?
Because Christmas morning is for sleeping in and opening presents of course. And it would be a real bummer if the fact that it falls on a Sunday were to interfere with the true meaning of the holiday. We don't want God to interrupt our conspicuous consumerism and self-indulgence. After all, God shouldn't ask anything of us that can't be done in our spare time, right? And only if we feel like it.
Un. believable.
**Update: Apparently a bunch of people complained about this whole thing, so church on Christmas is back on. Whew. 0 comments
No rest for the weary
So last night I had a dream:
I was sitting in a lit seminar with various and sundry of my classmates, and the professor was (don't laugh) Arvin Sloane from Alias. I was bored and wishing I was elsewhere (as usual), when suddenly Professor Sloane turned to me and started telling me all the reasons why I wasn't good enough to be in grad school. I wasn't a very good writer and I didn't seem to be paying attention much in class. I wasn't committed enough to the profession. Then he started asking other students to contribute to the discussion. So they all pitched in with "yeah, she doesn't take very good notes in class," "she's always complaining about grad school," "she never goes to any conferences," and so on. Pretty soon I was fighting back tears, so the class just went on with the lesson. I would try to contribute but my voice would crack with trying not to cry and everyone would turn to me with these pitying looks, until finally Sloane leaned over and said, "Do you need to leave?" I nodded, gathered up my stuff, and walked out of the class in disgrace. Out in the hall, I found a little corner where I could let loose the tears, and then woke up.
*sigh*
It's a good thing this term is almost over. I've definitely reached the going-crazy threshold.
I was sitting in a lit seminar with various and sundry of my classmates, and the professor was (don't laugh) Arvin Sloane from Alias. I was bored and wishing I was elsewhere (as usual), when suddenly Professor Sloane turned to me and started telling me all the reasons why I wasn't good enough to be in grad school. I wasn't a very good writer and I didn't seem to be paying attention much in class. I wasn't committed enough to the profession. Then he started asking other students to contribute to the discussion. So they all pitched in with "yeah, she doesn't take very good notes in class," "she's always complaining about grad school," "she never goes to any conferences," and so on. Pretty soon I was fighting back tears, so the class just went on with the lesson. I would try to contribute but my voice would crack with trying not to cry and everyone would turn to me with these pitying looks, until finally Sloane leaned over and said, "Do you need to leave?" I nodded, gathered up my stuff, and walked out of the class in disgrace. Out in the hall, I found a little corner where I could let loose the tears, and then woke up.
*sigh*
It's a good thing this term is almost over. I've definitely reached the going-crazy threshold.
Labels: dreams, grad school
0 commentsThursday, November 24, 2005
I went to see Pride and Prejudice last night. I couldn't stay away. Even though I knew the BBC version is the ultimate realization of Austen (I would even go so far to say that Austen herself must have come forward in a time machine, met Colin Firth, and then gone back to create the character of Mr. Darcy), I still had to see it.
And... well... Keira Knightley won me over. *sigh* It's true. I liked it. It feels like a betrayal, but as much as it was a travesty against Austen's straight-backed parlor chairs, it was still a lovely movie. So, here's the breakdown, and look out for spoilers....
First of all, hello rain. Apparently it rains as much in England as it does in Eugene in the winter (although not this winter, strangely). Of course, the plot occasionally demands rain, but seriously, it was like in every other scene it's pouring. Also, dirtier than the old version. There's a lot more mud and farm animals and peeling paint and all-around messiness. It was sort of like going from Chris Columbus to Alfonso Cuaron in that way (minus the farm animals). And at every point that the BBC version is quiet and slow, this one is raucous and rushed. There are no long, counting-the-seconds awkward silences. But, on the other hand, it made the whole country-vs-city argument a lot more believable and understandable. You have more sympathy for Mr. Darcy not wanting to dance in the crowded, sweaty hall in his first scene. And although I'm no film expert, I loved the camera work throughout the movie--it was absolutely beautiful.
As for Keira, I seriously think she was channeling Jennifer Ehle at some points--there were lines that she said in exactly the same way. I was right in my previous post (July 12) about how she'd be "all windblown and impetuous looking," and rather than smirking at absurd people (a la Ehle), she pretty much just always laughs straight out or tries unsuccessfully to stifle her giggles (a la Lydia). She's also quite a lot more melancholy. You get the sense that she's only saying all this "I'll never marry" stuff just because no one's asked her yet. Also, you never for one second truly believe that she hates Mr. Darcy.
And yet... her embarrassment over being caught at Pemberly was brilliant. Her relationship with Jane was very touching--in fact, the relationships between all the Bennett family members were quite a bit more sympathetic. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett were not so one-dimensional as in the old version. And Lizzie and Mr. Bennett's relationship was more fleshed out and very touching.
Similarly, Mr. Collins was somewhat more sympathetic; at least, you felt sorry for him, poor little man, that no one wanted to marry him and that he was pathetic and puppy-dog-like. Although, the whole scene with Jane Fairfax defending her choice to marry him, pleeeze. Let the story convey the feminist message. Remember, show, don't tell.
Let's see, Lydia was nowhere near as obnoxious and self-centered as I expected, but I do like Jena Malone, so that evened out. Mr. Wickham was an Orlando-Bloom-esque hottie. Miss Bingley was more beautiful, which made her cattiness more subtle (although I'm pretty sure sleeveless dresses aren't real period-accurate. I'm just saying...)
Oh, and I loved that they picked up on the potential for a perfect Mary/Mr. Collins romance that is never to be. And there was a sweet moment of Mr. Bennett comforting Mary after he humiliated her by interrupting her piano playing. .
So, all in all, it was pretty much unrealistic and not at all faithful to the spirit of the book, but wonderful anyway. High recommendation, particularly for non-Austen fans.
And... well... Keira Knightley won me over. *sigh* It's true. I liked it. It feels like a betrayal, but as much as it was a travesty against Austen's straight-backed parlor chairs, it was still a lovely movie. So, here's the breakdown, and look out for spoilers....
First of all, hello rain. Apparently it rains as much in England as it does in Eugene in the winter (although not this winter, strangely). Of course, the plot occasionally demands rain, but seriously, it was like in every other scene it's pouring. Also, dirtier than the old version. There's a lot more mud and farm animals and peeling paint and all-around messiness. It was sort of like going from Chris Columbus to Alfonso Cuaron in that way (minus the farm animals). And at every point that the BBC version is quiet and slow, this one is raucous and rushed. There are no long, counting-the-seconds awkward silences. But, on the other hand, it made the whole country-vs-city argument a lot more believable and understandable. You have more sympathy for Mr. Darcy not wanting to dance in the crowded, sweaty hall in his first scene. And although I'm no film expert, I loved the camera work throughout the movie--it was absolutely beautiful.
As for Keira, I seriously think she was channeling Jennifer Ehle at some points--there were lines that she said in exactly the same way. I was right in my previous post (July 12) about how she'd be "all windblown and impetuous looking," and rather than smirking at absurd people (a la Ehle), she pretty much just always laughs straight out or tries unsuccessfully to stifle her giggles (a la Lydia). She's also quite a lot more melancholy. You get the sense that she's only saying all this "I'll never marry" stuff just because no one's asked her yet. Also, you never for one second truly believe that she hates Mr. Darcy.
And yet... her embarrassment over being caught at Pemberly was brilliant. Her relationship with Jane was very touching--in fact, the relationships between all the Bennett family members were quite a bit more sympathetic. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett were not so one-dimensional as in the old version. And Lizzie and Mr. Bennett's relationship was more fleshed out and very touching.
Similarly, Mr. Collins was somewhat more sympathetic; at least, you felt sorry for him, poor little man, that no one wanted to marry him and that he was pathetic and puppy-dog-like. Although, the whole scene with Jane Fairfax defending her choice to marry him, pleeeze. Let the story convey the feminist message. Remember, show, don't tell.
Let's see, Lydia was nowhere near as obnoxious and self-centered as I expected, but I do like Jena Malone, so that evened out. Mr. Wickham was an Orlando-Bloom-esque hottie. Miss Bingley was more beautiful, which made her cattiness more subtle (although I'm pretty sure sleeveless dresses aren't real period-accurate. I'm just saying...)
Oh, and I loved that they picked up on the potential for a perfect Mary/Mr. Collins romance that is never to be. And there was a sweet moment of Mr. Bennett comforting Mary after he humiliated her by interrupting her piano playing. .
So, all in all, it was pretty much unrealistic and not at all faithful to the spirit of the book, but wonderful anyway. High recommendation, particularly for non-Austen fans.
Labels: movies
0 commentsMonday, November 21, 2005
I went home last weekend to spend some time with la familia and attend our church's Thanksgiving potluck. I did manage to get some homework done, but the greatest benefit was getting some rest and stamina for the next couple weeks. I think that I've said every term that I don't know how on earth I'm going to finish the papers by their due dates, but this time I really really don't know. (Do I hear cynical readers muttering about all the time I spend blogging...?) Anyway, I explained to a couple people at church what I'm writing about (in response to their questions "What are you working on?"), and as their eyes glazed over it occurred to me that I was really giving them way more than they wanted to hear. Not that I blame them. It's more than I want to hear sometimes too.
One book that you should all hear about is my most recent read: A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/calvinist, anabaptist/anglican, methodist, catholic, green, incarnational, depressed-yet-hopeful, emergent, unfinished Christian by Brian McLaren. (And I'm hoping the library has a generous orthodoxy because it's a good week and a half late.) It's a quite interesting and articulate apology of the emergent evangelical movement, which, granted, I don't know much about yet. He really reverses a lot of the priorities of the modern Church by pointing to other values held by believers on the fringes of the borders we've drawn around ourselves--Anabaptists, for example, liberal Christians, and so on. He also provides one of the most coherent and understandable descriptions of differences and similarities among denomiations that I've ever read. I can't really do justice to his ideas in a paraphrase (especially not if I'm going to get any further in Niklas Luhmann this morning) so I'll take the shortcut and just give you a quote:
Okay, I have to stop here before I quote the whole chapter and get fined for copyright infringement. Anyway, it continues from there. I'm not jumping on the emergent bandwagon just yet, but I'm very interested since some of my new favorite writers (Lauren Winner, for one) have been linked to this movement, and I think it offers some much-needed checks on some other aspects of modern Evangelicalism (which I won't go into here--must stop blogging and do homework.) I'll try to talk more about this at Christmas.
One book that you should all hear about is my most recent read: A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/calvinist, anabaptist/anglican, methodist, catholic, green, incarnational, depressed-yet-hopeful, emergent, unfinished Christian by Brian McLaren. (And I'm hoping the library has a generous orthodoxy because it's a good week and a half late.) It's a quite interesting and articulate apology of the emergent evangelical movement, which, granted, I don't know much about yet. He really reverses a lot of the priorities of the modern Church by pointing to other values held by believers on the fringes of the borders we've drawn around ourselves--Anabaptists, for example, liberal Christians, and so on. He also provides one of the most coherent and understandable descriptions of differences and similarities among denomiations that I've ever read. I can't really do justice to his ideas in a paraphrase (especially not if I'm going to get any further in Niklas Luhmann this morning) so I'll take the shortcut and just give you a quote:
Perhaps the most profound and yet most troublesome, [the missional approach] gets us beyond the us-them thinking and in-grouping and out-grouping that lead to prejudice, exclusion, and ultimately to religious wars. It opens up a third alternative beyond exclusive and universalist religion. Exclusive religion says, "We're in, and you're out." Good news for us, bad news for you. Understandably, universalist religion reacts and says, "Everybody's in!" That's good news for everyone at first blush until you ask, "Why is there so much injustice then? Why are so many sad, cruel, harassed, and helpless? If everybody's in--is this as good as it gets?" Saying that "everybody's in" can too easily lead to complacency about injustice here and now and can create a kind of nice, relaxed, magnanimous apathy. This magnanimous apathy may be better than the narrow antipathy often associated with exclusive religion, but I think we need a better alternative.
Missional Christian faith asserts that Jesus did not come to make some people saved and others condemned. Jesus did not come to help some people be right while leaving everyone else to be wrong. Jesus did not come to create another exclusive religion--Judaism having been exclusive based on genetics and Christianity being based on belief (which can be a tougher requirement than genetics!).
Missional faith asserts that Jesus came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God to everyone, especially the poor. He came to seek and save the lost. He came on behalf of the sick. He came to save the world. His gospel, and therefore the Christian message, is Good News for the whole world. . . .
One of my mentors once said to me, "Remember, in a pluralistic world, a religion is valued based on the benifits it brings to its non-adherents." . . . Many people think the opposite of what my mentor said: that religions offer benefits to adherents and catastrophic threats for nonadherents. This offer/threat combination motivates people, they assume, to become adherents out of fear of catastrophe and desire for benefits. I think the missional way is better: the gospel brings blessing to all, adherents and nonadherents alike. . . .imagine a hospital analogy: if followers of Jesus are like hospital employees, the sick who come to them benefit by their care, and the hospital employees benefit by being part of the hospital staff, which is rewarding in many ways. . . .
The old universalism pronounces that the Good News was efficacious for all individual souls after death, in heaven, beyond history. . . .But I'm more interested in a gospel that is universally efficacious for the whole earth before death in history.
Okay, I have to stop here before I quote the whole chapter and get fined for copyright infringement. Anyway, it continues from there. I'm not jumping on the emergent bandwagon just yet, but I'm very interested since some of my new favorite writers (Lauren Winner, for one) have been linked to this movement, and I think it offers some much-needed checks on some other aspects of modern Evangelicalism (which I won't go into here--must stop blogging and do homework.) I'll try to talk more about this at Christmas.
Labels: books, Christian sub-culture, grad school
0 commentsSaturday, November 19, 2005
Please Note...
New addition to the sidebar: my top ten favorite books, about which I offer no explanation or apology (Do you sense the English major paranoia?). Also, the next ten, which are also important. Subject to frequent change. In no particular order.
0 comments
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Well, I'm unaccountably cheerful at the moment, which lends itself to blogging, so here we go. ('Unaccountably' because of all I have to do and all the reasons I don't want to do it. Actually, though, I think the real reason I'm cheerful is because I've been listening to the Mugglenet/Leaky Cauldron podcast from the Harry Potter fans' premier party at Barnes & Noble in New York. For those of you who don't know, the fourth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is coming out on Friday, at which time I will be sitting in the movie theater with a few equally-obsessed friends and forgetting there was ever such a thing as grad school.)
In other news, not much. My rose has spider mites, my library books are overdue, and today is laundry day. Oh, also I got two coupons in the mail for 99 cent rentals at Hollywood video, which I'll probably use for renting the fourth season of Alias, since its a new release, and thus not available for MVP rental yet.
...Yeah, I'm really stretching here....
The truth is, I'm sick of complaining about grad school, but there's not much that can be said at this point without complaining, and I don't do anything else, which in the end leaves me with very little to talk about.
Hmm, let's talk about Harry Potter--that's an endless reserve of conversation topics. First of all, I've been listening to Mugglecast from Mugglenet.com and Pottercast from The Leaky Cauldron. There's been 13 or 14 episodes each thus far, and I love listening to them. I definitely recommend Pottercast over Mugglecast, especially if you're only dabbling in HP; Sitting through the hour-plus of four or five nerdy high school boys rambling about random Harry Potter trivia that is Mugglecast is only for those of us who are hard-core. Whereas, Pottercast provides interviews with the cast members and production crew from the movies, interviews with fans, a more coherent discussion panel, and generally a more streamlined show.
In either case, though, I think the podcasts--as well as the fansites--offer something that is entirely unique to the literary world, at least on this scale: that is, a giant, international, several-years-long forum for discussion about a series of books by its fans and readers. I cannot think of another book/series that has had such an immense fandom willing to spend hours discussing, theorizing, role-playing, writing fan-fic, and interacting with each other in anticipation of the next installment of the series. (Perhaps something similar happened with the second Star Wars trilogy, but since that involves film only, it doesn't count.)
The only thing that I can think of that is comparable is the coffeehouses in London in the 19th century, when novels by Dickens and George Eliot were coming out serially in newspapers, chapter by chapter, and everyone would sit around drinking coffee and discussing whether Oliver Twist would ever escape the clutches of Fagin, or whatever. Another parallel in that case is the fact that many times the authors of those Victorian novels would change the story to accommodate the wishes of their "fans"--giving a certain character a more prominent role, killing off an unpopular character, allowing a favorite romance to flourish, and so on.
Similarly, J.K. Rowling interacts with her fans, periodically checks the fansites, and occasionally makes changes in her books (or provides supplementary information on her website) in response to the wishes of the fans. Of course, another element in the mix in the 20th/21st century is the film versions of the novel, which provide a sort of second version/vision of the story, told by someone new and enacted by real people. Rowling acknowledged this, I think, in the sixth book*, when she has one of the characters (drunk at the time) accidentally call Ron "Rupert" (Rupert being the name of the actor who portrays Ron in the Harry Potter films.) Moreover, the fans affect the filming of the books as well. Warner Bros recently posted pictures from the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film, in which a certain gravestone had inaccurate information on it--information that was important to the plot of the upcoming story. Fans freaked out, sent a deluge of emails to Warner Bros explaining exactly why the gravestone had to say this and not that, and surprise, the final version has a corrected gravestone.
In any case, I'm very curious find out what will happen in two or three more years when the seventh book has been published and the series is complete. Will the Harry Potter fandom dissipate (except for those few diehards hanging on to their fanfic sites)? Probably so, which makes the next question "will anything take its place?" You see, the Harry Potter series is somewhat unique in its ability to sustain such a large group of active fans for up to two years between the release of each novel.
Certainly, the movies help fill that gap, but also the organization of the books is, while certainly not unique, quite rare among children's novels: The series is so tightly plotted from Book 1 to Book 7 that fans can read all 6 books in search of clues that may reveal the events of the final story. Rowling provides false leads, obscure allusions to myth, Latin roots of words, literary archetypes, and more--all of which foster endless debate and theorizing among Potter fans: Is Snape good or evil? Where are the rest of the Horcris? Who's going to live or die? Can Malfoy be redeemed? How will Wormtail repay his debt to Harry? Why was Lily Potter given the opportunity to live? Does the conclusion of Harry's hero's journey mean that he will have to sacrifice himself in the end? Is there a Lost Day? What happened to Dumbledore's hand? Who is R.A.B.? Even, will Harry and Ginny be together in the end?
Every week, groups from at least two fansites sit down and talk for over an hour about these questions and more, and enough fans tune in to put both of these podcasts at the top of just about every podcast ranking there is. I just think it's worth paying attention to.
* I believe it was the sixth book--correct me if you know differently.
One more thing, thanks to The Teaching Assitant:
Elvish
To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla
In other news, not much. My rose has spider mites, my library books are overdue, and today is laundry day. Oh, also I got two coupons in the mail for 99 cent rentals at Hollywood video, which I'll probably use for renting the fourth season of Alias, since its a new release, and thus not available for MVP rental yet.
...Yeah, I'm really stretching here....
The truth is, I'm sick of complaining about grad school, but there's not much that can be said at this point without complaining, and I don't do anything else, which in the end leaves me with very little to talk about.
Hmm, let's talk about Harry Potter--that's an endless reserve of conversation topics. First of all, I've been listening to Mugglecast from Mugglenet.com and Pottercast from The Leaky Cauldron. There's been 13 or 14 episodes each thus far, and I love listening to them. I definitely recommend Pottercast over Mugglecast, especially if you're only dabbling in HP; Sitting through the hour-plus of four or five nerdy high school boys rambling about random Harry Potter trivia that is Mugglecast is only for those of us who are hard-core. Whereas, Pottercast provides interviews with the cast members and production crew from the movies, interviews with fans, a more coherent discussion panel, and generally a more streamlined show.
In either case, though, I think the podcasts--as well as the fansites--offer something that is entirely unique to the literary world, at least on this scale: that is, a giant, international, several-years-long forum for discussion about a series of books by its fans and readers. I cannot think of another book/series that has had such an immense fandom willing to spend hours discussing, theorizing, role-playing, writing fan-fic, and interacting with each other in anticipation of the next installment of the series. (Perhaps something similar happened with the second Star Wars trilogy, but since that involves film only, it doesn't count.)
The only thing that I can think of that is comparable is the coffeehouses in London in the 19th century, when novels by Dickens and George Eliot were coming out serially in newspapers, chapter by chapter, and everyone would sit around drinking coffee and discussing whether Oliver Twist would ever escape the clutches of Fagin, or whatever. Another parallel in that case is the fact that many times the authors of those Victorian novels would change the story to accommodate the wishes of their "fans"--giving a certain character a more prominent role, killing off an unpopular character, allowing a favorite romance to flourish, and so on.
Similarly, J.K. Rowling interacts with her fans, periodically checks the fansites, and occasionally makes changes in her books (or provides supplementary information on her website) in response to the wishes of the fans. Of course, another element in the mix in the 20th/21st century is the film versions of the novel, which provide a sort of second version/vision of the story, told by someone new and enacted by real people. Rowling acknowledged this, I think, in the sixth book*, when she has one of the characters (drunk at the time) accidentally call Ron "Rupert" (Rupert being the name of the actor who portrays Ron in the Harry Potter films.) Moreover, the fans affect the filming of the books as well. Warner Bros recently posted pictures from the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film, in which a certain gravestone had inaccurate information on it--information that was important to the plot of the upcoming story. Fans freaked out, sent a deluge of emails to Warner Bros explaining exactly why the gravestone had to say this and not that, and surprise, the final version has a corrected gravestone.
In any case, I'm very curious find out what will happen in two or three more years when the seventh book has been published and the series is complete. Will the Harry Potter fandom dissipate (except for those few diehards hanging on to their fanfic sites)? Probably so, which makes the next question "will anything take its place?" You see, the Harry Potter series is somewhat unique in its ability to sustain such a large group of active fans for up to two years between the release of each novel.
Certainly, the movies help fill that gap, but also the organization of the books is, while certainly not unique, quite rare among children's novels: The series is so tightly plotted from Book 1 to Book 7 that fans can read all 6 books in search of clues that may reveal the events of the final story. Rowling provides false leads, obscure allusions to myth, Latin roots of words, literary archetypes, and more--all of which foster endless debate and theorizing among Potter fans: Is Snape good or evil? Where are the rest of the Horcris? Who's going to live or die? Can Malfoy be redeemed? How will Wormtail repay his debt to Harry? Why was Lily Potter given the opportunity to live? Does the conclusion of Harry's hero's journey mean that he will have to sacrifice himself in the end? Is there a Lost Day? What happened to Dumbledore's hand? Who is R.A.B.? Even, will Harry and Ginny be together in the end?
Every week, groups from at least two fansites sit down and talk for over an hour about these questions and more, and enough fans tune in to put both of these podcasts at the top of just about every podcast ranking there is. I just think it's worth paying attention to.
* I believe it was the sixth book--correct me if you know differently.
One more thing, thanks to The Teaching Assitant:
Elvish
To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla
Labels: HP
0 commentsTuesday, November 15, 2005
So, yeah, Cole's engaged. (breathe in, breathe out...) And, yes, I did burst into tears (not sad ones, just emotional) when he told me about it. I find that I cry much more easily these days than I did when I was in high school. I don't know if that's because I'm more empathetic now that I'm older or if I'm so exhausted all the time that my emotions are just that much closer to the surface. In any case, I'm very proud of him and also rather weirded out. I mean, I always guessed that he'd get married before me, but it's still just... strange.
Anyway, the days until Christmas break are disappearing one by one. Three terms of experiences suggests to me that by the time December 10 gets here I will have finished everything that looms before me now, although I'm not sure how it's going to happen. I just have a sort of blind faith that it will. Remember all that optimism I had in September? Yeah, me neither.
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Anyway, the days until Christmas break are disappearing one by one. Three terms of experiences suggests to me that by the time December 10 gets here I will have finished everything that looms before me now, although I'm not sure how it's going to happen. I just have a sort of blind faith that it will. Remember all that optimism I had in September? Yeah, me neither.
Labels: siblings
0 commentsSaturday, November 12, 2005
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Tuesday, November 08, 2005
It's Not Christmas Yet
For the most part, as my friends will attest to, I am very strict about saving Christmas things for the Christmas season. Just because the grocery store is stocking napkins with holly on them doesn't mean its time to string up lights and go chop down a Christmas tree. My feeling is, if you start Christmas after Halloween, you miss out on Thanksgiving altogether, not to mention November, which as months go may not be the best, but isn't the worst on the list (that would be February, am I right?). So I refuse to sing or listen to Christmas carols until after Thanksgiving. I don't put up decorations, or bake Christmas cookies, or watch Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer in claymation, or read A Christmas Carol, or put paper snowflakes on my windows.
But...
My one exception to these otherwise rigidly followed rules is candy canes. The moment they show up on grocery store counters I buy them. You can pretty much count on seeing me with a candy cane in my mouth from now until February. The reason they're excepted from the November 25th rule is that I never get tired of them. All the other Christmas traditions get old if you start them too early, but candy canes could be a year-long treat if you ask me. (But only the red and white ones--none of this fruity-flavor business.)
Also, I bought this book yesterday called My Sister's Keeper, by Jody Picoult, which I've been wanting to read for awhile, and the funniest thing...after awhile, I noticed that the picture on the cover is the spitting image of my sister Brenna. Seriously, I showed it to Christin, who agreed with me that it could be her twin. Anyway, I really loved the book (although it had a tragic ending, so then looking at the cover made me want to burst into tears), but I still recommend it. 0 comments
But...
My one exception to these otherwise rigidly followed rules is candy canes. The moment they show up on grocery store counters I buy them. You can pretty much count on seeing me with a candy cane in my mouth from now until February. The reason they're excepted from the November 25th rule is that I never get tired of them. All the other Christmas traditions get old if you start them too early, but candy canes could be a year-long treat if you ask me. (But only the red and white ones--none of this fruity-flavor business.)
Also, I bought this book yesterday called My Sister's Keeper, by Jody Picoult, which I've been wanting to read for awhile, and the funniest thing...after awhile, I noticed that the picture on the cover is the spitting image of my sister Brenna. Seriously, I showed it to Christin, who agreed with me that it could be her twin. Anyway, I really loved the book (although it had a tragic ending, so then looking at the cover made me want to burst into tears), but I still recommend it. 0 comments
Friday, November 04, 2005
"By swaggering could I never thrive / For the rain it raineth every day." --Twelfth Night
So I've decided to copy Steph and do an I'm Thankful For bit, hopefully to be updated every day (although I'm already several days behind... oh dear).
Can I just sing the praises of Lauren Winner one last time? I just bought her newest book Real Sex and read it under 24 hours. It's brilliant, just like the rest.
Now for a very odd transition: I went to see North Country with Christin the other night. Now that is a movie that will make you hate men. As one reviewer said, it would be unbelievable if weren't all a matter of public record. It was also quite difficult to watch at times, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you're looking to be depressed for a few days.
Speaking of depressing movies, I checked out The Hours soundtrack from the library and it is lovely, lovely, lovely. All those arpeggios....
You know, that haiku from the previous post still makes me laugh and I've read it like 50 times now. Here's another guffaw-inducing quote from a certain children's book:
Can I just sing the praises of Lauren Winner one last time? I just bought her newest book Real Sex and read it under 24 hours. It's brilliant, just like the rest.
The emphasis that Christians sometimes place on virginity may be, to put it bluntly, destructive. . . .The concept [of born-again virginity]--turning from sin, rededication to righteousness--is a good one, but the terminology, which became popular about a decade ago, is silly. It tells us less about the born-again virgin himself, and more about the communities that emphasize a one-time state, virginity, rather than an ongoing unfolding of discipleship, repentance, and faithfulness. To organize one's Christian sexual ethics around virginity is to turn sexual purity and sexual sin into a light switch you can flip--one day you're sexually righteous, and the next day, after illicit loss of your virginity, you're a sinner. . . . the critical question for Christians is what are you doing now? Not have you sinned in the past, but if you sinned in the past, how are you dealing with it? How has Christ's blood redeemed you, and how are you obeying now?
Now for a very odd transition: I went to see North Country with Christin the other night. Now that is a movie that will make you hate men. As one reviewer said, it would be unbelievable if weren't all a matter of public record. It was also quite difficult to watch at times, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you're looking to be depressed for a few days.
Speaking of depressing movies, I checked out The Hours soundtrack from the library and it is lovely, lovely, lovely. All those arpeggios....
You know, that haiku from the previous post still makes me laugh and I've read it like 50 times now. Here's another guffaw-inducing quote from a certain children's book:
If the Baudelaires had been born yesterday, perhaps they would be innocent enough to believe that all of their troubles were truly about to end. . . .But the three siblings were not born yesterday. Violet was born more than fifteen years before this particular Wednesday, and Klaus was born approximately two years after that, and even Sunny, who had just passed out of babyhood, was not born yesterday. Neither were you, unless of course I am wrong, in which case welcome to the world, little baby, and congratulations on learning to read so early in life.
Labels: books, Christian sub-culture, movies
0 commentsThursday, November 03, 2005
A Haiku Poem
Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs.
Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs.
Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, leaves.
(from Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge).
Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs.
Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, leaves.
(from Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge).
Labels: poetry
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So I had intended to get all productive this morning and finish loads of homework, but instead I spent my entire morning running over to the Campus Health Center to deal with an eye thing. Which apparently is not contagious (even though the doctor has seen three people with the same problem in the last couple of days). Anyway, an entire morning of sitting in waiting rooms looking at brochures for athlete's foot--just the thing for my day off.
So now I'm going to take a lovely walk through the Oregon rain to la biblioteca and actually (hopefully) get some work done. In other news, fishy #2 died last night. It was very sad. He had a very solemn burial in the trash can. Cause of death unknown. He is survived by fishy #1 and his owner, that girl with the eye thing.
So now I'm going to take a lovely walk through the Oregon rain to la biblioteca and actually (hopefully) get some work done. In other news, fishy #2 died last night. It was very sad. He had a very solemn burial in the trash can. Cause of death unknown. He is survived by fishy #1 and his owner, that girl with the eye thing.
Labels: doctors
0 commentsWednesday, November 02, 2005
Gobs of sympathy to my little sis, who is experiencing one of those lovely college hoops known as the Freshman Seminar. I was going to comment on her blog, but I'm having computer issues today. So here's my question for her: what department is the professor in? Music? Education? I'm guessing the latter. My advice: see if you can switch advisors. Talk to whomever you can, shmooze whomever you must, but get them to switch you to someone you feel comfortable with. Your advisor is the person who lets you know that you forgot to take that last Science credit and tells you where you can pick it up for the least amount of work and money. Or better yet, they'll petition the college dean to let you out of the requirement altogether. You don't want someone who won't go to bat for you because they think you have too much "negative energy." And anyone who says that you writing is "too academic" when you're a freshman is clearly a fruitcake. Then, if you do manage to switch advisors, find out if you'll ever have to take this prof again for anything. If not, do what you want in the class--you're not the only one not to take it seriously. If you will have to take her again someday, then do just enough so that she won't remember you later as a troublemaker. Be invisible. Later, when you're no longer a freshman, she'll probably like you a lot better and think your writing is very professional or something.
So, there you go, Ger. Some naughty advice from big sis to counteract what Mom and Dad will undoubtedly tell you ("Do your best anyway. You can only get out of a class what you put into it. Are you sure you aren't actually having a bad attitude that the teacher is noticing? How can you improve your teacher's perception of you?") Am I close?? :)
So, there you go, Ger. Some naughty advice from big sis to counteract what Mom and Dad will undoubtedly tell you ("Do your best anyway. You can only get out of a class what you put into it. Are you sure you aren't actually having a bad attitude that the teacher is noticing? How can you improve your teacher's perception of you?") Am I close?? :)
Labels: siblings
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