Sam Saturday

Fantasy baking

2009-06-28T22:18:00.006+12:00

After the Sci-Fi and Fantasy themed BTT I got all fan-girly and excited about the idea of SFF Writers' Day and decided to bake awesome, fantasy-themed foods. I got sick of baking after about an hour and the results were mostly FAIL but here are the pictures anyway.

The biggest FAIL was my Wizard Cupcakes. They're supposed to look like the picture on the right (click for website with recipe etc.) but I apparently didn't put enough cupcake mixture in the ice-cream cones and this is what I ended up with:

They were tasty though, better than I expected. Also just as easy as putting the cupcakes in patty pans and a bit less messy. Because the 'wizards' didn't have enough head to warrant hats, my sister and I decided to make the pointy cones into standalone wizard hats. They're dipped in white chocolate and decorated with all the kinds of sprinkles we have. How badly we failed probably depends on how phallic you think they look.

Here are the hats being modelled by Nathaniel and an owl who prefers to remain anonymous:

Last, and the only think that turned out more-or-less like hoped, is a cake with the coat of arms of Valdemar on it. Valdemar is a fictional country, the creation of Mercedes Lackey, and one of my favourite literary getaways. The blue, amongst other things, is totally wrong but check it out - I drew a recognisable pegasus! In icing! With a little help from Google image search.

Life is attention to both the large and the small. Pay heed to the sun, but watch your feet, or you’ll fall ingloriously on your nose. (not sure which book this is in... one of the Storms trilogy)

How many Hawkbrothers does it take to form a mating circle?
|Only one, but he has to be flexible.|

BTT: Fantasy and Sci-Fi

2009-06-18T22:35:00.007+12:00

One of my favorite sci-fi authors (Sharon Lee) has declared June 23rd Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Day.

As she puts it:

So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?

Yay! I've never read much sci-fi (television is a different story) but fantasy is my literary hometown. I'll probably make a cake, 'cos that's standard practise in my family for this kind of thing. A themed cake. =D I'll definitely spare a few thoughts for my favourite SFF writers and their positive influence, probably read some fantasy, maybe blog... What, if anything, are you planning? Please share so I can copy! :-)

Why fantasy? One of these days I'm going to sit down and write the long answer to this, but here's the short one for the meantime: I've never been particular interested in reading stories set in the here and now - if I'm reading fiction, it's usually to take a break from that. Obviously fantasy isn't completely distinct from reality but I like the feeling of 'going' somewhere else. Then there's the fact that magic and adventure and elves and dragons and stuff-that-talks-in-your-head can be a whole lot of fun. =D

Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can. Of course, I could be wrong. Terry Pratchett

Exams

2009-06-17T23:16:00.005+12:00

Woot woot! Exams are over!

Things I learned/thought/noticed this week:

1. Exams are boring. Also a good environment for daydreaming. I only noticed this recently, probably because in high school I was busy actually doing the exam...

2. I have brought shame upon myself and my high school English teachers by actually starting a conclusion with the words, 'In conclusion...' :-(

3. Curséd be those who ask for extra sheets of paper! I rarely fill half the exam booklet. How do they do it?!

4. You know you spend too much time on the internet when you pause part-way through writing the word 'nominate' to snigger at the phrase "which religion to nom."

5. A gender-neutral singular pronoun in English would be really nice. I tend to use 'one,' or alternate between 'he' and 'she,' but neither is ideal.

6. "It's going to be a no surprises exam" actually means "the questions will be exactly the same as last year."

A student who changes the course of history is probably taking an exam. ?

For Holly

2009-06-17T22:13:00.005+12:00

Before

After

Everyone else: I'd explain, but I'm not sure I can...lol.

The coffee post

2009-05-03T22:04:00.009+12:00

I'm nearly done acquiring a taste for it. My approach has been wholistic—not only have I been forcing down a cup a day, I've changed my iPod wallpaper to a picture of a steaming cup with the caption 'sweet nectar of life' and have been listening to 'Java Jive' on repeat. I'm talking black coffee by the way. I decided to start with that partly because of a preference for simplicity and partly because I've been harbouring a no-longer-secret desire to be a person who drinks black coffee of epic strength. Seems to be working out—I ordered a cappuccino at McD's the other day and blergh.

This week I have learned that:

1) You should leave the water to cool a bit before brewing coffee because boiling water makes the coffee release more undesirable bitterness.
2) Black coffee is one of the healthier ways to get your caffeine—less sugar than stuff like Lift+ and V.

(Let me know if either of these are actually bollocks.)

3) Coffee + iPod = air piano. Question: favourite music for air piano/guitar/instrument of choice? Actually, favourite air instrument?
4) I am willing to torment my taste-buds for the sake of feeling awesome but not to improve my health. Mum wanted to know why, if I can acquire a taste for coffee, I can't do the same for Weetbix (pictured on the right).

Thank-you Quote Garden...

Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffee. Stephanie Piro

COFFEE.SYS Not Found: User startup disabled. Author Unknown

if(pot.coffee=EMPTY) {programmer->;brain=OFF}; Author Unknown

You know you've been playing too much Nethack when you refer to coffee as a potion of sleep resistance. Sweeney Todd Lundgren (= one for Ally)

Coffee, the finest organic suspension ever devised. Star Trek: Voyager (= one for me)

Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in green pastures:
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my buzz:
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for its name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of addiction,
I will fear no Equal™:
For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of The Starbucks:
Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over.
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the House of Mochas forever.

Author Unknown

BTT: Worse?

2009-04-30T22:30:00.003+12:00

Which is worse?

Finding a book you love and then hating everything else you try by that author, or
Reading a completely disappointing book by an author that you love?

I think finding a book you love and then hating everything else by the author is worse. I get really excited when I find a new favourite and have high hopes for the author's other works. Still, with living authors at least, there's always the hope that you'll love their next book. :-)

I think that expecting to love everything a person writes is a bit unrealistic. Not unheard of, obviously (I'm thinking Austenites), but when an author is trying lots of different things it makes sense that not all of them overlap with my taste. Come to think of it, most of my favourite authors have written series I never got into. What is really disappointing is when a beloved series jumps the shark mid-flight.

Happy BTT everybody!

Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so slightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners. Virginia Woolf

I'm a fun-loving, self-improving builder!

2009-04-16T13:24:00.006+12:00

Though not, perhaps, at this moment. I'd like to say I'm posting this because I've been studious all morning and deserve a break but actually I just had a lunch break and am now procrastinating.

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a

Fun Loving Self-Improving Builder

Funny because they're true...

I have many regrets, and I'm sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret... if you have any sense, and if you don't regret them, maybe you're stupid. Katharine Hepburn (= probably the only part of this post actually worth reading)

Music Monday: Glitter in the Air

2009-03-23T22:15:00.004+13:00

Long time, no post, I know. I guess I should make it official that I'm not going to be blogging a hell of a lot until the mid-semester holidays. I haven't had this many hours of the week filled since high school. Not complaining really, but it is taking its toll on my interwebs time. Being lazy doesn't help either. :-P

Glitter in the Air - Pink. The album it's on (Funhouse) is fantastic - a good mixture of fun songs and sweet songs and sad songs.

I really like this song but it does have one lyric that bugs me every time: "the thunder before the lightning." Spot the mistake? There's a Sheryl Crow song that does it too: "every time you hear the rolling thunder, you turn away before the lightning strikes." Nice lyrics, just not meteorologically correct.

I could eat alphabet soup and shit better lyrics. Johnny Mercer. (Not directed at either of the songs mentioned here, just funny and mildly relevant.)

10 honest things meme

2009-03-12T21:56:00.006+13:00

I'm not a big fan of this kind of meme, but a tag's a tag, so here it is. Courtesy of Holly.

1. Right now I'm listening to a song called 'Keep Your Jesus Off My Penis.' (Here you go.)

2. Today I got two books about Fairies out of the library. Y'know how, according to the tales, fairies sometimes steal human children and replace them with changelings? Well apparently, sick or deformed babies were sometimes suspected of being changelings. One of the ways to get rid of a changeling baby is to torture it until its fairie parents decide to rescue it and switch back. So babies would be whipped, thrown in fires, etc. as late as the 19th century. :-(

3. I had a really good night's sleep last night. I should have started closing my curtains at night again ages ago.

4. I've been wearing the top I'm wearing now for *does the math* almost 40 hours (except for when I had a shower). I will not still be wearing it tomorrow.

5. I wrote this sentence last.

6. There are planet and star stickers on the ceiling above my bed. They glow in the dark. :-D

7. I'm not very good at sustaining interest in something over a long period of time. I'm more of an obsessive-interest-that-lasts-a-week kind of person. That is why I leave so many books, especially long ones, unfinished and why I'm not going to start knitting a jersey any time soon.

8. I'm hungry.

9. One of the things that amuses me most at work is the strategies kids use to try to cover up the fact that they farted. One started making fart noises with his mouth, as if he'd been doing that all along. Another, after thinking for a moment, turned around and said, "That was you!" These kids seem to think I was born yesterday, which is weird given that I spend most of my time at work imparting to them my demonstrably ineffable wisdom.

10. Now I'm listening to Bette Midler - 'The Rose.'

If you're lucky you'll find something that reflects you,
helps you feel your life, protects you,
cradles you and connects you to everything.
This whole life I remember has led back unto itself.
Never turned me into someone else.

Dar Williams, 'The Hudson'

Music Monday: Sometimes

2009-03-09T22:50:00.005+13:00

My latest earworm. You know you like it.

Lovely day

2009-03-08T13:20:00.001+13:00

The weather has been lovely the last couple of days. This is the view from my bedroom window today.

BTT: Best book you've never read

2009-03-05T22:12:00.003+13:00

We’ve all seen the lists, we’ve all thought, “I should really read that someday,” but for all of us, there are still books on “The List” that we haven’t actually gotten around to reading. Even though we know they’re fabulous. Even though we know that we’ll like them. Or that we’ll learn from them. Or just that they’re supposed to be worthy. We just … haven’t gotten around to them yet.

What’s the best book that YOU haven’t read yet?

According to my dad, the best books I haven't read are Mervyn Peake's Gormanghast trilogy. The first thing that came to my mind (okay, second, after Mansfield Park) was James Morrow's The Philosopher's Apprentice. I've had it out of the library a couple of times (and paid to reserve it) but haven't read it yet. I feel a little twinge every time I remember it. Not only have I really liked other stuff by Morrow but I'm a philosophy major! I don't know what's stopping me.

There are heaps of other books I wish I would make the time for: really popular ones like My Sister's Keeper and The Time Traveller's Wife, quite a few classics, a handful by some of my most beloved authors... I'm just so lazy.

This question has been a bit depressing, but motivational too. :-) I'm going to get my hands on The Philosopher's Apprentice tomorrow!

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. P.J. O'Rourke

Music Monday: Travellin' Soldier

2009-03-02T09:24:00.004+13:00

'Travellin' Soldier' by the Dixie Chicks. It's a bit of a tear-jerker but good for singing in the shower.

Shower-singing: do you and, if so, what?

Country music is three chords and the truth. Harlan Howard

The geekery must go on!

2009-02-27T23:21:00.002+13:00

I was trying to post a comment when this obstacle arose:

Which Austen heroine are you?

2009-02-27T22:58:00.002+13:00

Take the Quiz here!

I suspected as much.

While we're on the subject of Jane Austen, I'm currently reading The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James. Actually, I'm currently avoiding reading it. I'm at the good part. If this were an Austen novel, it would end at this point. Unfortunately, I know how her real story ends... I just don't want to watch as it all goes pear-shaped! :-( I will eventually though, because the book is really good and I like the Jane 'character' too much to abandon her now. Is character the right word when it's a fictionalised real person?

Tomorrow I'm picking up Jane Austen in Boca by Paula Marantz Cohen from the library, as well as Book Lover by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack. :-D Gotta make the most of the calm before that storm that will be my first batch of essays.

My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter. Thomas Helm

Just some ramble

2009-02-24T22:50:00.006+13:00

I wasn't looking forward to today, basically because it was kinda busy. Having just come off the 3 month summer break (break from university, that is) I'm not used to having more than one thing on my agenda for one day. However, it was fine. I had the pleasure of watching about half a dozen people walk into a crotch-height pole that was meant to prevent cars passing through. Mostly guys. I had the second best lecture moment yet,* when my lecturer on Shakespeare turned out to be a fan of ICHC and used a lolcat picture in her powerpoint presentation. She also used words like "kick-ass" and "dude." Unfortunately, when I started the readings for this week (the magic of beginning-of-term-motivation is still in effect though waning disturbingly quickly this time around) the first sentence was this: "The critical quest for expressive realism acts as the ally of classic realism in constructing the reader as consumer." I have a feeling the theoretical side of this course is not going to agree with me. But hey, as long as there are lolcats I'm happee. And it's only the first day of course (haha, see what I did there?).

* The best is still the American studies class I had where the lecturer asked, as a serious question, if anyone could explain the Prime Directive.

Of course there's a lot of knowledge in universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don't take much away, so knowledge sort of accumulates. Abbott Lawrence Lowell

Music Monday: The Picard Song

2009-02-22T23:03:00.005+13:00

This is a purely self-indulgent post. :-) It's called "The Picard Song" and the clips are all from Star Trek.

The song was created by Dark Materia and can be downloaded here.

Jane Austen in Scarsdale

2009-02-19T22:54:00.005+13:00

I seem to get along well with contemporary, Austen-themed novels. I loved Austenland and The Jane Austen Book Club and liked Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict too, though not quite as much. The mini-series Lost in Austen was awesome. What I haven't tried is any of the 'sequels' to Pride and Prejudice and I'm still not convinced I want to.

I'd love it if anyone could recommend more books like these. :-)

I just finished Jane Austen in Scarsdale, or Love, Death, and the SATs by Paula Marantz Cohen and it was another hit. Cohen is a professor of English who has published scholarly works as well as two other novels. Jane Austen in Scarsdale is about a high school guidance counsellor, Anne, whose job is to steer her students through the college application process. That's the SATs part, which seemed to me to be the main focus of the book. The love part is a more-or-less a modern day version of Persuasion. The love of Anne's life, Ben, whom she dumped because her family didn't think he was good enough for her, arrives back in town with his new fiancé and stress/regret/tension ensues.

What else? It's very well written, very witty, and there are plenty of interesting supporting characters in the students, parents, and family Anne deals with. I liked Anne, especially how she stuck to her morals throughout all the sneaky business that goes on with the college applications and how she dealt with both obnoxious parents and confused teenagers. I laughed out loud a bunch of times. I would have preferred a little less of the college application stuff and a little more of the Persuasion plot personally. It was definitely interesting, and entertaining, reading about how getting into university works in the US, since it's very different from here, but sometimes all the detail was a bit too much for me.

My sympathies to American seniors (is that the right word? Even after all those Sweet Valley High books, I'm still confused about where juniors, freshmen and seniors fit in.) applying for college. This book made me appreciate how much simpler it is here, although I think the US system has some definite advantages (which I will not go into).

Here there isn't the different in quality or prestige that seems to be important in the US. Our universities have different strengths - you go to Otago to do medicine, Canterbury to do engineering, etc. - but none is considered better or more prestigious than the others overall. Entry is "open." Basically, if you pass high school you can go to any university. You also get in automatically if you're over 20. No application essay. No reference letters. No need for back-up options. Mostly, entry into first year isn't competitive.

High schools are a slightly different story, but one for another day. To get back to Austen and Scarsdale, here are a few quotes from the book that I liked enough to mark with scraps of torn up receipt (which I had to lean a good few feet forward to fish out of my wallet).

"Life isn't a Jane Austen novel. It's one thing to be long-suffering in a story, where the author can make it worth your while, but in real life, who's going to make sure it ends happily?" (p.154).

This is from a speech Anne's grandmother gives her, basically telling her to get over Ben and move on. The answer to her question being, presumably, you. I have plenty of faults that will stand in the way of a happily-ever-after but I don't think that being unnecessarily long-suffering is one of them. On the other hand, if the love of your life is out of your reach and no-one else ever measures up, maybe long suffering is what you're stuck with.

"All Jonathan ever does is read." "And what's wrong with that?" demanded Winnie. "Much better he should read for the first half of his life and then life for the next half. That's the proper sequence to know what you're doing. Nowadays, they start off by living and never get around to the reading--it explains the mess we're all in" (p.186).

Anne's grandmother again. I really hope this is true. I like the idea that reading lays the foundation for a more fulfilling life. It also makes me feel better about spending more time with stories than at parties.

Ben gave a short laugh. "She can't understand that books don't get used up. I've tried to explain that they aren't like clothes or furniture--that we keep them because we might want to read them again." "And because they remind us of how we felt when we read them," added Anne softly.

I can't believe this never occurred to me. That is why glancing at my books makes me smile.

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading. Logan Pearsall Smith

BTT: Storage

2009-02-19T21:55:00.003+13:00

This week’s question is suggested by Kat:

I recently got new bookshelves for my room, and I’m just loving them. Spent the afternoon putting up my books and sharing it on my blog . One of my friends asked a question and I thought it would be a great BTT question. So from Tina & myself, we’d like to know “How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?"

This is a good question for my sleepy brain! I love arranging and rearranging my books too. It's oddly relaxing. :-)

Mine are in split by genre if there are enough to warrant it. I have small SF, classics, and plays sections, slightly bigger fantasy, general fiction, and children's/YA sections, and a Mercedes Lackey section that is the biggest (not by much). :-) Within these they're arranged by author. CDs and DVDs are on a bookshelf too, arranged by artist and title respectively.

My books share space with a few dinky ornaments. I have a little archer dude made out of scrap metal that sits in front of Mercedes Lackey's Arrows trilogy and some wee owls that go by Owlsight/Owlflight/Owlknight. I couldn't resist.

I don't have much non-fiction, it's on two shelves - one for big books and one for small. Books on the same subject are together and arranged by height lol.

One day I'm going to arrange the lot by the colour of their spines, take a photo, and then put them back. :-)

Happy BTT everybody and thanks for visiting!

It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it. Oscar Wilde

TV show meme

2009-02-19T10:51:00.005+13:00

I have cheesecake and a meme about television. Good times. :-) I copied this from Rebecca at Just One More Page....

Actually, thanks to some distractions and mucking around, I now have less than a quarter of a cheesecake and a meme about television.

1. Name a TV show series in which you have seen every episode at least twice: Friends probably. They just keep playing it! I'm pretty close on Star Trek: Voyager. There are a few I've only seen once, mostly in S7.

2. Name a show you can’t miss: Anything I've decided to watch, really. If I'm going to watch a show, I take it seriously. :-) Currently, Bones, House, and starting Friday, Battlestar Galactica. I'm okay with missing an ep of Boston Legal because I don't watch that for the story.

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to watch a show: This hasn't happened to me much but I guess I have to say Kate Mulgrew, since I started watching The Black Donnellys largely because she's in it. Anyone who has played a favourite character of mine would give my interest in a show a boost.

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show: Um... I can't think of one.

5. Name a show you can, and do, quote from: I said "moo point" yesterday, so Friends. I'll use "I don't know what that means" whenever I can too, so Bones. Firefly is good for quotes but I'm not quick enough off the mark to use them. I sometimes get a kick out of using a quote no-one else in the room recognises as a quote.

6. Name a show you like that no one else enjoys: It has recently started to annoy me that whenever I start watching a show, my whole family will usually jump on the bandwagon. Call me weird, but I like occasionally watching thing by myself! So I don't have an answer for this one.

7. Name a TV show which you’ve been known to sing the theme song: Pretty much every theme song that is singable, or hummable. All the Treks, SG1, SGA, Battlestar, Boston Legal, Scrubs, Friends (even did that one in school choir), Seaquest, Earth: Final Conflict (that was great theme music), Buffy, Jonathan Creek, Firefly, QI, Dr Who, Sailor Moon...

I have a playlist labelled 'TV/film' in my iTunes which includes no less than 4 different versions of the Voyager theme (one of which is in the style of Strauss).

8. Name a show you would recommend everyone to watch: Battlestar Galactica. The new one. I don't care if you're not a sci fi person, you will be sucked in. It's not Star Trek. Also Boston Legal. It's hilariously quirky and says so many things that need to be said.

9. Name TV series you own: Sadly, my list is a lot shorter than Rebecca's.

Voyager (s4-6)
Bones (s1)
Firefly
The Dresden Files
SG1 (s1)
SG:A (s1, which I haven't actually watched yet. I jumped in part-way through when it was on tv.)
Earth: Final Conflict (s1)
House (s2)
Scrubs (s1)
BSG (miniseries, which I also haven't watched yet. I foolishly started with s1.)

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium, but has surprised you with his/her acting choices in television: I can't think of any...

11. What is your favourite episode of your favourite series? No way. I'm not even going to try to answer this. The beauty of a series is that there are lots of wonderful episodes.

12. Name a show you keep meaning to watch, but you just haven’t gotten around to yet: I have a few. Andromeda, The 4400, more of SG1, ST:TOS, maybe Babylon 5.

13. Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad? Heroes. It's probably not that bad but some of the dialogue recently has just been awful. Plus I never really cared about any of the characters.

14. Name a show that’s made you cry multiple times: House gets me occasionally. Voyager a few times too.

15. What do you eat when you watch TV? Nothing usually. I like to have chips though. When my friends and I do DVD days we try to cover all the major junk food groups.

16. How often do you watch TV? *counts* There is something I 'have' to see on 4 nights a week at the moment. On the other nights I might catch a bit of the news but I tend to only watch the shows I've committed to.

17. What’s the last TV show you watched? Some of Chuck. But only because I was avoiding tidying the kitchen. The last thing I properly watched was the season premiere of Scrubs. :-D

18. What’s your favourite/preferred genre of TV? Science fiction. Movies, sometimes. Books, hardly ever. But sci fi television...

19. What was the first TV show you were obsessed with? I can't remember. I remember liking Sailor Moon and some other kids shows around that time but I don't remember if I was obsessive or not. I suspect Voyager is the one. It's definitely the obsession that has stuck around the longest.

20. What TV show do you wish you never watched? Um... Teletubbies maybe? I didn't watch much of it but I'll never get that time back...

21. What’s the weirdest show you enjoyed? None of my favourites are all that weird, IMO. Every show has it's weird moments though. "Get the cheese to sickbay!"

22. What TV show scared you the most? I tend to avoid things that scare me. Something that freaks me out is the times on House when things go horribly wrong with people's hearts and they show what's going on inside the body. *shudder*

23. What is the funniest TV show you have ever watched? QI.

24. What show was cancelled too early? Firefly, obviously. I wouldn't have said no to another season of Voyager but I have no complaints about it ending when it did.

They say that ninety percent of TV is junk. But, ninety percent of everything is junk. Gene Roddenberry. I had a hard time finding a quote about television that was even remotely positive. Thank-you, once again, Mr Roddenberry.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...

2009-02-17T23:12:00.006+13:00

Shakespeare's Henry V. I had to Google it this time but in six months time I will, if all goes according to plan, be a font of knowledge about Henry V.

Only *counts on fingers* five more days until uni starts! I got my enrolment done online (which made me very happy) with only one hiccup - the history paper I really wanted to do, and had arranged everything else around, got cancelled. Never goes smooth. How come it never goes smooth? :-( I'm over it now. Mostly.

I'm taking three courses this semester: one on Shakespeare, one on philosophy of religion, and one on ethics (also a philosophy paper). The two philosophy ones are all I need to meet the requirements of my philosophy major (yay!) and the English is just for fun really. And to stop my brain exploding from all the thinking in phil... I just downloaded the syllabus and am quite excited for all the wrong reasons. It's a first year course so the essays are relatively short (1500 words), and the topics look fairly straightforward. It has an exam, which sucks because English exams are (a) hard, (b) not fun, and (c) tend to pull down my grades, but... But. It's open book. We can take in the text and notes. And we get given some of the questions in advance. Of course, no exam would be even better...

I'm happy about the reading list too:

As You Like It
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Henry V
Othello
Macbeth
The Tempest

I did Macbeth and Othello in high school which will hopefully make that section a bit more relaxed. I don't like tragedies anyway. :-P Apart from the fact that A Midsummer Night's Dream involves faeries (yay!) I don't know squat about the rest. The only thing I'm not thrilled about is the apparent emphasis on participation in class (i.e. talking) but oh well. Experience has taught me that 'class discussion' really means 'conversation between the lecturer and two or three people, most likely adult students, who are brave/knowledgeable enough to say anything.' You never know though.

Right now, I'm at the beginning of the line on this graph. I will likely end up going through most of the other stages. Not the drunk one though. Chocolate and novels are my drugs of choice. :-)

I wanted to end with a Shakespeare quote...

Music Monday: Summer

2009-02-16T12:06:00.003+13:00

Every week my Music Monday goes like this: I get an idea, look it up on youtube, find about a dozen related things that are even more awesome and then get stuck trying to choose one.

I was going to post the largo movement of Winter from The Four Seasons because, although it's supposed to be summer here, the weather is crap today. But then, I accidentally opened a video of the presto from Summer, which is much more exciting. And then I found an electric guitar version of Winter...

In the end I went with the Summer one (this rock version was a close second):

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music. Gustav Mahler

1 more sleep...

2009-02-11T22:44:00.007+13:00

Darwin Day tomorrow!

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. Charles Darwin

Wordles

2009-02-11T00:04:00.005+13:00

At wordle.net you can input a bunch of words of a URL and get a pretty (and highly customizable!) one of these awesome thingies. The first is my blog a couple of days ago and the second is my blog after I added, in case you couldn't guess, the atheism meme.

I always thought Wordles were those puzzles where common phrases are represented in clever visual ways, like these:

ALLworld

It's a small world after all.

stand
I

I understand.

MCE MCE MCE

Glory and an invisible chocolate fish to the first commenter to answer this one. :-)

The beauty of a pun is in the 'Oy!' of the beholder. (I don't know who came up with this one.)

How hardcore are you?

2009-02-10T22:51:00.006+13:00

A (mostly) light-hearted atheist meme, created by The Friendly Atheist. How hardcore an atheist are you?

1. Participated in the Blasphemy Challenge.
2. Met at least one of the “Four Horsemen” (Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris) in person.
3. Created an atheist blog. In as much as this is a blog by an atheist and I occasionally take a specifically atheistic PoV toward something.
4. Used the Flying Spaghetti Monster in a religious debate with someone.
5. Gotten offended when someone called you an agnostic.
6. Been unable to watch Growing Pains reruns because of Kirk Cameron.
7. Own more Bibles than most Christians you know.
8. Have at least one Bible with your personal annotations regarding contradictions, disturbing parts, etc.
9. Have come out as an atheist to your family.
10. Attended a campus or off-campus atheist gathering. If the local Skeptic society counts, which I expect the vast majority of them do.
11. Are a member of an organized atheist/Humanist/etc. organization.
12. Had a Humanist wedding ceremony.
13. Donated money to an atheist organization.
14. Have a bookshelf dedicated solely to Richard Dawkins.
15. Lost the friendship of someone you know because of your non-theism.
16. Tried to argue or have a discussion with someone who stopped you on the street to proselytize. My friends and I have had a few lengthy conversations with student evangelicals on campus.
17. Had to hide your atheist beliefs on a first date because you didn’t want to scare him/her away.
18. Own a stockpile of atheist paraphernalia (bumper stickers, buttons, shirts, etc).
19. Attended a protest that involved religion.
20. Attended an atheist conference. Skeptic conference count?
21. Subscribe to Pat Condell’s YouTube channel.
22. Started an atheist group in your area or school.
23. Successfully “de-converted” someone to atheism.
24. Have already made plans to donate your body to science after you die.
25. Told someone you’re an atheist only because you wanted to see the person’s reaction. Can't remember, but I probably have.
26. Had to think twice before screaming “Oh God!” during sex. Or you said something else in its place.
27. Lost a job because of your atheism.
28. Formed a bond with someone specifically because of your mutual atheism (meeting this person at a local gathering or conference doesn’t count).
29. Have crossed “In God We Trust” off of — or put a pro-church-state-separation stamp on — dollar bills.
30. Refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
31. Said “Gesundheit!” (or nothing at all) after someone sneezed because you didn’t want to say “Bless you!”
32. Have ever chosen not to clasp your hands together out of fear someone might think you’re praying.
33. Have turned on Christian TV because you need something entertaining to watch.
34. Are a 2nd or 3rd (or more) generation atheist.
35. Have “atheism” listed on your Facebook or dating profile — and not a euphemistic variant.
36. Attended an atheist’s funeral (i.e. a non-religious service).
37. Subscribe to a freethought magazine (e.g. Free Inquiry, Skeptic) I get the Humanist Network News via email. Mainly for the comics...
38. Have been interviewed by a reporter because of your atheism.
39. Written a letter-to-the-editor about an issue related to your non-belief in God.
40. Gave a friend or acquaintance a New Atheist book as a gift.
41. Wear pro-atheist clothing in public.
42. Have invited Mormons/Jehovah’s Witnesses into your house specifically because you wanted to argue with them.
43. Have been physically threatened (or beaten up) because you didn’t believe in God.
44. Receive Google Alerts on “atheism” (or variants).
45. Received fewer Christmas presents than expected because people assumed you didn’t celebrate it.
46. Visited The Creation Museum or saw Ben Stein’s Expelled just so you could keep tabs on the “enemy.”
47. Refuse to tell anyone what your “sign” is… because it doesn’t matter at all.
48. Are on a mailing list for a Christian organization just so you can see what they’re up to…
49. Have kept your eyes open while you watched others around you pray. On a weekly basis during high school.
50. Avoid even Unitarian churches because they’re too close to religion for you.

My result = 15. "You are, literally, a “New Atheist.” But you now have something to strive for! Go for the full 50!"

I feel a bit disadvantaged by living somewhere that doesn't have resident Horsemen, creationist museums, religious currency, etc., but hey, I'm not complaining!