The fourth of July used to mean that summer had reached its apex.
For my family it always meant that it was time for us to start transitioning out of summer, to start thinking about school starting and fall and those harvest time, Indian Summer, crisp shadowed days. Now that I live in Florida I don't feel like the transition happens for at least another month or two. I miss it.
This was my summer moment in Pittsburgh. Crazy colors wet with rain.
So, I did live like an island today. Alex got up at about 2:45am to catch a plane to Canada (because he's awesome like that). I was completely alone and very productive. Two pages of dissertation (this marks four useful days in a row now), one load of laundry, about 90 minutes of exercise, finished a book and enjoyed two movies(Penelope and my second viewing of Twilight). It was great.
I did discover something funny though. I have a fairly high tolerance for B grade (or sometimes worse) cheesy fantasy culture. Yes, I love even mediocre books and movies about ancient Ireland, dragons, Arthurian mythos, fairies, paganism, medieval crap etc etc. But today I found something that really goes beyond my limits. I tried to watch Excaliber. Here's its IMDB page: title/tt0082348/ Fifteen minutes did me in. Merlin's chanty voice, Igraine dancing(semi tribally?) for a group of warriors at her husbands command, and a talk of a man's lust making his horse able to walk on top of fog, were all big warning signs, but really the semi-consensual sex between a naked woman and a man in full armor was just too much. I was really surprised because it had a fairly high netflix rating and its IMDB score is 7.4 and Helen Mirren supposedly shows up later. *shrug* Maybe it's worth another try with a big group of people MST3K-ing it, perhaps with head fizzying beverages taken as precautions, but that bit of 1981 Arthurian, Renn Faire, Dragongirl fluff was too cheesy for me. Maybe I'll have to give back my fantasy geek card?
Book List 2009
42. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347/ref=sr_1_1 This was a very silly book, but quite fun. While I could not lose myself in it or read it marathon style like real Austen, I did find that it would probably be great for someone who's only read Pride and Prejudice once(preferably recently). It makes clear so many things that Austen includes obliquely, and explains the social mores and internal workings that are so easy to skim over the first time through. A fun punchy Jane Austen for beginners sort of book.
Okay, time to read in bed, maybe even read a school book in bed.
This was my summer moment in Pittsburgh. Crazy colors wet with rain.
So, I did live like an island today. Alex got up at about 2:45am to catch a plane to Canada (because he's awesome like that). I was completely alone and very productive. Two pages of dissertation (this marks four useful days in a row now), one load of laundry, about 90 minutes of exercise, finished a book and enjoyed two movies(Penelope and my second viewing of Twilight). It was great.
I did discover something funny though. I have a fairly high tolerance for B grade (or sometimes worse) cheesy fantasy culture. Yes, I love even mediocre books and movies about ancient Ireland, dragons, Arthurian mythos, fairies, paganism, medieval crap etc etc. But today I found something that really goes beyond my limits. I tried to watch Excaliber. Here's its IMDB page: title/tt0082348/ Fifteen minutes did me in. Merlin's chanty voice, Igraine dancing(semi tribally?) for a group of warriors at her husbands command, and a talk of a man's lust making his horse able to walk on top of fog, were all big warning signs, but really the semi-consensual sex between a naked woman and a man in full armor was just too much. I was really surprised because it had a fairly high netflix rating and its IMDB score is 7.4 and Helen Mirren supposedly shows up later. *shrug* Maybe it's worth another try with a big group of people MST3K-ing it, perhaps with head fizzying beverages taken as precautions, but that bit of 1981 Arthurian, Renn Faire, Dragongirl fluff was too cheesy for me. Maybe I'll have to give back my fantasy geek card?
Book List 2009
42. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347/ref=sr_1_1 This was a very silly book, but quite fun. While I could not lose myself in it or read it marathon style like real Austen, I did find that it would probably be great for someone who's only read Pride and Prejudice once(preferably recently). It makes clear so many things that Austen includes obliquely, and explains the social mores and internal workings that are so easy to skim over the first time through. A fun punchy Jane Austen for beginners sort of book.
Okay, time to read in bed, maybe even read a school book in bed.