A month ago today, i.e. Thursday 26 May, I gave a lecture to mark World Dracula Day in Bradford ( LJ / DW). Since then, my life has managed to unfold with immense intensity on almost all possible fronts - generally with very good results, but it's just been A Lot. Here's my attempt to narrativise and capture the main outlines of it at least. For ( Read more... )

Back in April I got a request via a friend who works in the British Library to translate a few words and sentences into Latin for Ben Aaronovitch's latest Rivers of London book ( LJ / DW). I knew squat all about the series then, but agreed to the assignment and, with help from a couple of colleagues, supplied the requisite text. A few weeks later, a ( Read more... )

People who don't have much time should probably learn how to write short film reviews. Let's see how I get on with that...

This was a recent purchase of ms_siobhan's, which has also been in the 'high priority' section of my Lovefilm list for a while, and which we watched together. It is a Universal picture starring both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, and is ( Read more... )

Whew! It's taken me a couple of days to type this lot up, as I saw a lot of films on the final day of the festival, and I think we all know I am a bit prone to tl;dr reviews, even when I think the thing I'm writing about was rubbish. But I've managed it now! It's up to you to decide if you are brave enough to read it all. ;-)

( 15a-f. Short Films )

In November, I made a passing comment in my LJ about using the word 'fuck' in one of my lectures. I'd done so, perfectly legitimately, because it cropped up in an accurate translation of some Pompeian graffiti I was covering in a lecture on literacy. My comment was tongue-in-cheek, but the point I was making in the lecture was serious. I was ( Read more... )

Or, Why I Cannot Stop Listening To This CD.

For one thing, I have waited a long time to hear the voice I am listening to now1. Without even knowing I was waiting, for much of that time.

( My long journey to the Vatican )

I generally detest MemeGen memes, on the grounds that they aren't funny and reveal nothing of interest or value about the people who do them. However, even I could not resist finding out what Latin case I am:

( Cut for those who feel as I do about MemeGen memes )

      latin is love(lingua latina amor est)brought to you by the isLove Generator

Yes, I did add the translation in the second line myself: seemed kinda appropriate. Perhaps even nicer would have been 'latina lingua amoris est': 'Latin is the language of love ( Read more... )

... that's according to The Passion of The Christ at least, which I have just seen with James, Hugh and Zahra ( Read more... )