Right! Last time, I left off in Exeter college. There were still lots of other things to do in Oxford -- all the other Open Door colleges and the Botanical Gardens and the Witchcraft exhibition at the Ashmolean and the Pitts-Rivers Museum of Anthropology and, and, and -- but there was pressing business to attend to. As you may or may not recall, I ( Read more... )

I had announced early in the year my intention to travel to Oxford and see the Tolkien exhibition, and we had agreed to attempt a family vacation in England because the kids are absorbing the BBC's children's programme and learning to speak actual English. But then with one thing and another, the summer holidays passed and we didn't make it. And ( Read more... )

Sooo, time to fess up: I wasn't just internetless for a week, I was away from home for two, too! Nobody will be surprised at this point that this year's vacation - the last vacation in which we were independent from the school holidays and their ludicrously raised prices for presumably a long time - took us to Britanny once more. Yes, it was good. ( Read more... )

so I'm glad I didn't commit myself to liveblogging about it. (I do hope I'll manage to do the finals on Saturday.)

I did not actually go to bed. But because it was a rather unexciting Semifinal, I couldn't tear my eyes off Robert Harris' Imperium until there was no more book left. It was RIVETING, I tell you, and I can't wait to get my hands on ( Read more... )

Eruvision Song Contest.

...
*facepalms*
Screw this, I'm going to bed.

*creaky old Maia voice* So this is what they call the Ainulindalë these days ---

and other assorted thoughts on Rogue One!

(Yes, I made it to a cinema for the second time this year! Exciting times!)

Spoiler-free version: I really liked it; it ties in perfectly with A New Hope, not only story-wise but also as far as the aesthetics and the tech level are concerned; it answers some open questions in the way the best fanfics do ( Read more... )

I was planning to get Work (TM) done, but then I made the mistake of following a link to the Stand Still. Stay Silent webcomic and now I CAN'T STOP READING HEEEEEELP. ladyelleth, this is all your fault ( Read more... )

GUESS WHO WENT TO THE CINEMA!

[This is a big deal for me, OK. Last time I went to a movie cinema was for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I've missed out on everything that was hot ever since then.]

A bit absurdly, the best thing about the movie (which I enjoyed!) was just watching the crawly text crawl up, going EPISODE VII. EPISODE VII, GALS ( Read more... )

First off, Happy belated birthday, juno_magic!

Second, STAR WARS TRAILER. So far, I wasn't that excited by the franchise revival, but now I really am! See, I knew that the EU was no longer canon, but of course it was still what I had in my head as "that's what happened after RotJ". The trailer suggests that things went completely differently, and I can't ( Read more... )

(Or Guys, guys! to the three guys in the audience.)

YOU KNOW WHAT.

There's a copy of Thorin's Map in the Hobbit Art & Design book and YOU KNOW WHAT ( Read more... )