Y Come estas?

Well it has been a long while hasn't it? Not to raise any hopes but it looks to be a long while again. This year, for what ever reason, is incredibly busy. So I'm popping in to at least list the books I've read since Winter Break began. (I have lots more in stacks -like so many homeless looking for an apartment, but there you go).

The Old Curiousity Shop, Charles Dickens

Psmith, Journalist, PJ Wodehouse

The Complete Lord Wimsey Short Stories, Dorothy Sayers

Father Brown, the Essential collection, Chesterton

Robison Crusoe, Daniel DeFoe

A Study in Scarlet, Conan Doyle

During November one of my students presented a research on Queen Elizabeth (I'm insisting that all my third years research two historic persons- one ancient and one modern), consequently I thought it might be good if I knew a little about Good Queen Bess myself (somehow Blackadder didn't seem historic enough y'know). So I read the Virgin Queen and I watched Queen Elizabeth (the 1970's BBC productions) and have subsequently read the biographies of Cardinal Wolsey and Sir Thomas More. 

Just imagine my reaction to borrowing TheTudors series from that library.

Dude, thugs in the hood or what? I honestly thought central heating had not been invented until way past Henry the Eighth's time but the way those crewcut nabobs went at the wenching I guess I was wrong.  And about the crewcuts ... Sorry, were the portraitists of the time making it up as they went along? Such clean shaven lads I never did see 'til the 20th century.

From the depths I return

I finally found a way to get Edmund and its been keeping me sane during these interesting weeks of prepping a brand new classroom by oneself not knowing who, if anyone, will be working with me and then having the person who would decide to work somewhere else so they hire a person who can start working but only on the very first day of school (and who speaks no english while I speak no spanish) so okay at least they found an assistant who knows how to be with the children but turns out she got accepted to graduate school and could only be with us for two weeks but hey they found someone else who (for what ever reason) decided this past week that the best way to heat up english muffins for the children was in a glass tray on a stovetop burner.

So yeah: Edmund Black Adder has been a spot of all right. Well that and seeing Nick Cave last night :) What a fabulous show.

Recently read:

Crossing to Paradise, Kevin Crossely-Holland

Chalice, Robin McKinley***CV

Avenant or Bete or Ardent?

I had a hard time falling asleep lat night (the fact that it was 4 in the morning is beside the point) I kept wondering if I had put in the correct dates for my vacation request. Were they going to expect me in today instead of next Monday?

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I went into the city today to pick up some loose leaf tea as well as see if it would be possible to purchase the series from a real time vendor. I tried ordering on line but for some reason they refused to believe that m method of payment was really what I said it was. Makes you think doesn't it? Just because our card calls itself AmerigoQuick*** or DominantCard or Freedom doesn't mean it is. It's really just a clever disguise. It's a Credit Card Carnival Masquerade!

Stupid on-line ordering monopolies

So I went to the mega-shop where I found out that yes I could order it from them but only three volumes as the others are discontinued (?!) and it would take 3 - 6 weeks and I would have to leave a deposit which would be refunded to be used as a credit for a purchase with that particular store.

okaaaay. I said, "I need to think about it."  

I browsed instead. Found a copy of Stardust and A Hard Days Night on sale then wandered looking for Amelie. Didn't find it. But I found the Criterion section. Oooo a section to buy criteria who'd have thought! Wonder what a criteria looks like when it's not being scientific? 

Turns out it's a label for a selection of films that are supposed to be the criteria of filmmaking. Yeah but whose? I don't think it's the criteria of all film makers everywhere cause some of them... it ranged from Pandora's Box to Brazil to the 400 Blows to Samurai Trilogy to Slackers, Time bandits....

BUT they did have La Belle et la Bete and the aforementioned Pandora's Box.

Guess what I watched tonight as I continued to knit the forever flare? :)

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Since I was doing the public commute I also started the Sky Sock from Cat Bordhi's book. Finished one cuff and I'm on the second of three repeats for the leg. I like the fact that she has baby sox as first experiments before starting with an adult sock. Not only do I get an idea of what I'm letting myself in for but, since one of my team members is expecting and two staff recently got married. I can start a prezzie stash ;)

****CV

Alphaville

A sam spade secret agent visits a town operated by a computer. All the women are numbered and some citizens are encouraged to suicide if they cannot adapt  and if incapable of either are executed. Something like nazi germany meets Bladerunner and hal is president.

the Sea Hawk

Errol Flynn. Need I say more? Okay Alan Hale is there too and Claude Rains. But really Flynn should be enough. To quote Elizabeth about "Flash": 'I've got such a crush on him'. Well who else could have been the original Man In Black??

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Melmoth has put me off my reading. Only 200 more pages to go. I think I can I think I can. The fact that Balzac has written a conclusion to this book is the only thing keeping me at it. I've been dabbling in non fiction: Yoga Morality by Georg Fuerstein (about the yamas essentially), and The Disciplined Mind by Howard Gardner (he of the Multiple Intelligences theory).

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Other films watched include: 

the Triplets of Belleville

Robin Hood (Douglas Fairbanks)

Roxanne (Steve Martin)

Thanks to the DVDs I've actually been knitting again. I've completed one felted bag, finished a

noro fan and feather scarf and just need to make the handles and lining for two intarsia bags.

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So I really enjoyed watching the Black Adders and I'm considering owning the set. With that thought in mind I perused the offerings. I'm tempted to present what I found as a lesson in consumerism for some of my class, viz:

You have the opportunity to own a complete set of films which you know you will enjoy. The set is 100 dollars. Do you get it? Perhaps you want to now what is meant by a complete set? Thus a complete set is 5 DVDs. So that is roughly 20 dollars per. Well you know you will like it ad watch it so do you get it? Perhaps you are curious how much each costs if purchased individually? Okay they are 15 dollars individually.

See my confusion? Why if I want the whole set does it cost more for one package then if I buy each of them indivdually?

***CV

A Turnip that Looks Just lIke a.....

I've been renting lots f movies lately. I recently discovered that my local library has a fairly decent collection and so I've taken advantage. They have all the Black Adders as well as silents. Yesterday I watched the Douglas Fairbanks version of the Three Musketeers and this evening John Barrymore in The Charming Rogue (about Francois Villon).

side note: HRH Elizabeth makes a comment about Edmund and parties and how he always wears very "tight tights". So does Msr. Barrymore.

I have a complaint about the silents on DVD and if anyone can recommend good versions I'd be grateful. My complaint is the soundtracks. Scott Joplin durng a romantic scene or Swan Lake during a fighting scene is not necessarily appropo. I know that originally compositions were made to be played during the actual performance of these films. Have the scores been lost? Can the companies just not be bothered? It's irritating and I'm somewhat tempted to score the films myself just (ie create my own compilations) to have a better experience.

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Still reading Melmoth the Wanderer. It is really a trying experience. I find myself skimming whole paragraphs in order to move the action along. Melmoth has finally turned up and is attempting to corrupt an innocent island girl by explaining all the religions of the world to her. This consists of (from what I can make out and I'm presuming that Maturin knew more about his own Protestantism then anything else and this is his excuse) Seeva worship (though the idol sounds like Kali), Hari (which is what Krishna is called but apparently this hari requires the sacrifice of babies), Brahma (is a goddess??),  Juggernaut (no idea) Turkish (which he identifies as Muslim), and generic christianity.  

*sigh* I would prefer it if a person is going to incorporate spirituality of other faiths they at least match the proper deity name with that particular deity's worship. Or make it all up: names and rituals. It's just too confusing and I find myself more interested in making proper names and notes in the margins than actually reading the story.

I ran into a similar issue last week reading the preface to a collection of Sindbad the Sailor stories. The translator was talking about castes in India and identified  Bhramins as the warrior caste and Kshatryia as the intellectuals. I'm not denying brains or fighting spirit to either ncessarily but I thought it was the reverse.

***CV