Active Week, plus large collections of links :o)
Diary: Week of 23/04: Philosophy, Buffy, Dungeon, Cinema and Money
Having felt not my best the night before, I hadn't had much sleep when waking up on Monday, but I stumbled my little way into university in time to attend my first lecture of the day, sit about being confused as to why my dissertation tutor wasn't about for the meeting we'd planned (I'd gotten it wrong) and then got fed up and went home without going to the second lecture of the day.
In my defence, I don't tend to do much in my Imagination and Self-Conciousness lectures other than staring into space looking vacant. Alas I don't think our lecturer is very good and most of what she says sound suspiciously like gibberish, a problem I'm not sure I've had with any other lecturer... :o/ Add a cold on top of this and it can be a bit much...
Tuesday I had a Kierkegaard lecture, and was annoyed to find I couldn't find my copy of Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling (which I need to read for my exams). Hence I walked up to town after university and up to Borders to buy myself a new copy, which I did but I also made a brilliant discovery.
I now own a copy of... 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosopher: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale' :oD
It doesn't actually have much to do with the book Fear and Trembling, but does have a lot of philosophical essays concerned Buffy: The Vampire Slayer in it. They're divided up into four sections
Codex 1: It's a kind of Slayer thing
Buffy, Faith, and Feminism
Including 'Feminism and the Ethics of Violence: Why Buffy Kicks Ass' by Mimi Marinucci, and 'Faith and Plato: "You're Nothing! Disgusting, Murderous Bitch!" by Greg Forster
Codex 2: Don't speak Latin in front of the books
Knowledge, Rationality, and Science in the Buffyverse
Including 'Between Heavens and Hells: The multidimensional Universe in Kant and Buffy the Vampire Slayer' by James Lawler
Codex 3: You're really enjoying this whole moral superiority thing, aren't you?
Buffy and Ethics
Including 'A Kantian Analysis of Moral Judgement in Buffy the Vampire Slayer' by Scott R Stroud
Codex 4: That's the kind of woolly-headed thinking that leads to being eaten
Religion and Politics in the Buffyverse
Including 'Brownskirts: Fascism, Christianity, and the Eternal Demon'; by Neal King
Codex 5: You're all slaves to the television
Watching Buffy
Including 'High School is Hell: Metaphor Made Literal in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
How awesome is that? :oD :oD :oD
Wednesday started off brilliantly when my new external network hard disk arrived. A whole 250 gigabytes that plugs straight into my hub and thus can be accessed by any computer on the network (although I can password protect it). Only problem is, it's been a bitch to install...
Eventually I got the ip settings right so I could both access the drive and connect to the Internet (although I think I've bumped the second computer on my network off), but now I can't get it to format so I can use it :o( *sob*. I sent an email to the address address on the manufacturer's site for technical support but they haven't gotten back to me yet either :o(
Went down to Dungeon that night with Fraggleonspeed, halluciphy and _pheonixrising. Music was fairly naff but still managed to find some room to dance. Some little girl tried to come on to me on the dance floor, and looked a bit miffed when I wasn't interested (looked way to young...), aww, poor little thing!
Thursday I had my meeting with my Dissertation. Most of the things he said weren't too bad and should only require me to re-write part of my dissertation. Other things may require me to retitle the essay and re-jiggle a few bits. The annoying thing is there is an issue he wants me to put more focus on and I don wanna, partly because it's going to involve me doing more reading (I hate secondary reading...). Oh well...
Friday I got a bank cheque for £1,200, yay! Is a pay-off for an insurance claim I made a while back for whiplash after a car accident. Will be useful when I'm leaving university and need some money to set myself up :o)
Saturday I went down Dungeon again. Was fairly quiet, but the music was slightly better (still generally naff as Dungeon music is of course...). There were enough interesting people around to make it worthwhile anyway, although waiting for a taxi afterwards took ages (although Fraggleonspeed was nice enough to keep me company)
Didn't sleep Saturday night, partly because my sleeping pattern has been awful anyway lately, so stayed up online looking through the Internet finding weird links to bore you all with instead (well, I've been doing that on and off all week...)
Come midday I went down town to meet up with Dan, and soon after Fraggleonspeed
Searching the DVD stores I managed to pick up some cheap DVDs. :oD I now own 'The Thing', the old transformers movie, 'Big Fish', Ultraviolet (the film, not the series), Edward Sissorhands, and 'The Last Unicorn' (which is just fantastic!). Will have plenty to watch when Elegy_of_flames is next around it seems :oD
Then, after grabbing something quick to eat, we headed off to the cinema where we saw Bridge to Terabithia, which is the second film recently that has took me by surprise.
When I sat down to watch Pan's Labyrinth, I had only seen the posters for it, which seemed to portray some kind of fantasy film, and I had no idea what to expect, or what sort of feel it would have, and I was very pleasantly surprised.
I'd seen a theatrical trailer for Bridge to Terabithia, and I don't remember being impressed. It made some show of some kids finding some kind of fantasy land, and it seemed rather like some Narnia clone (Fraggleonspeed had a similar impression), but still, seemed like it might be good (Fraggleonspeed had already seen TMNT so that was out)
It's not anything like Narnia, in fact, it's not like any fantasy film I can remember seeing, it approaches it from an entirely different angle. It plays with childhood fantasy in a way that is like elements of Pan's labyrinth, but is rather different from that as well. At almost every point in the film I kept expecting it to go down the very familiar path I might expect from a fantasy film, but it didn't, it bore down an unexpected path that might have made it somewhat boring if it wasn't for the strength of the plot, which was actually intensely moving. Despite not having slept at all the night before, I didn't feel sleepy at all through the film because I was just that engaged (and not via action or special effects, both of which have limited use in the film, the plot itself is intellectually engaging)
Very much recommended by little me :o)
Afterwards we dropped by Firehouse which was full of people, but I was getting tired by this point (not having slept at all), so I've come home now to finish this off, and in a couple of hours, I'll likely go to bed :o)
Meme: My Daemon
First a Chimpanzee, then a ladybug, then an Eagle... this thing is just bizarre
Image: Hot News (stupidity)
Image: Avoid older men!
Links: Star Trek Links :o)
I've decided that because my link sections of my entries have been getting longer and longer that it would be a good idea to group them where I can. Thus, as I've been looking up a lot of Star Trek stuff on youtube lately, I thought I'd throw them into one lj-cut :o) That way the non-Trekkies (who don't know what they are missing!) can pass on by :o)
Okay, first off, here's Patrick Stewart doing a brilliant sketch on the British comedy show Extras: linky. I thought it was hilarious, but not everyone will it seems because it didn't touch Elegy_of_flames until the Star Trek reference at the end. :o)
Still regarding Patrick Stuart, here's a two-part interview with him by Clarkson, including Patrick discussing doing the show in a Yorkshire accent: Part 1 and Part 2
Here's a couple of amusing musical Star Trek youtube videos:
Lwaxanna drives us crazy
The Enterprise Will Survive,
Captain Janeway and Tom Jones
Female of the Species
I was also a bit startled to discover a whole collection of music videos based around the Geek fantasy that Captain Janeway and Seven and Nine would get together...
A Geek's fantasy...
Women in love...
Poision...
Summer Nights
Here's a nice piece on Seven of Nine's transformation from Borg: linky
And, more interestingly, here's part of a Q&A sci-fi convention where Kate Mulgrew (who plays Captain Janeway) speaks out on how she disliked the introduction of the Seven of Nine Character: linky. The criticisms are seemingly born from feminist reasons (although she denies being a feminist). She discusses the issues behind this criticism a little in a separate interview: Part 1 and Part 2
And this is something rather special: one Completed Scene and one outtake from the pilot they originally filmed for Voyager with the original choice of actress for Captain. I would have loved a non-American captain, but I have to agree with her decision.
Here's a scene-by-scene comparison: Geneviève Bujold vs. Kate Mulgrew. Geneviève just isn't able to create the same sense of authority and power that Kate is, and it effects the other actors as well, note how much softly Tuvok speaks to Geneviève as compared to Kate. To her credit though, Geneviève apparently recognised this and stepped aside for someone else, just wasn't her role.
To switch to a different character, enjoy these Worf quotes: linky
Also, check out this guy who has converted his flat into a Star Trek style Space Ship: linky
And if you just want to see Star Trek vessels blow each other up, click here
Links: Batman and Superman
I was searching my little way through youtube and managed to turn up a few interesting things.
First I stumbled across this crossover between Batman and Superman, which is fairly entertaining in it's own right (it's just one of the animated cartoons however)
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
But then I discovered something better than that...
This is a live-action film trailer...
Batman Vs Superman
It's by the same people that made that Batman: Dead End short, which most people have already seen and is made of awesome (if you haven't seen it yet, go take a look... I won't spoil what happens in it... but it is serious good) :o)
And just to finish off, let's leave with what has to be the best sketch Only Fools and Horses have ever done: linky (it was actually voted as such on a Best of Fools and Horses special on television once)
Links: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Brilliant nostalgia: linky
Amazing how they can have such a silly masculine archetype who punches the screen in the intro, and yet it still turns moralising at the end, brilliant! :oD
I'm not sure She-Ra really lives up to the same nostalgia value (although extra points for being extra-camp) but for what it's worth: linky
What I was actually searching for, however, was a trailer for the He-Man: Masters of the Universe live-action movie, and I found it! linky :oD
Link: Extended Firefly song mocking fox
Link: All the Dr. Who intros in one video
Link: Do Not Want
Link: The New Volvic Mineral Water advert Rocks!
Link: Beautifully illustrating Comic Book Sexual Double-Standards
Link: The Computing power behind LucasArts
Link: Students attend their first Racially Integrated Prom
Link: Proposed ban on parents giving children alcohol in their own homes
Plans: May be going down to The Edge this Wednesday given it's Fraggleonspeed's last night down in Southampton for a goodly while.
Plans: I hear rumour that this Friday is the last Emanate ever? This true? May have to make it if that's true.
Having felt not my best the night before, I hadn't had much sleep when waking up on Monday, but I stumbled my little way into university in time to attend my first lecture of the day, sit about being confused as to why my dissertation tutor wasn't about for the meeting we'd planned (I'd gotten it wrong) and then got fed up and went home without going to the second lecture of the day.
In my defence, I don't tend to do much in my Imagination and Self-Conciousness lectures other than staring into space looking vacant. Alas I don't think our lecturer is very good and most of what she says sound suspiciously like gibberish, a problem I'm not sure I've had with any other lecturer... :o/ Add a cold on top of this and it can be a bit much...
Tuesday I had a Kierkegaard lecture, and was annoyed to find I couldn't find my copy of Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling (which I need to read for my exams). Hence I walked up to town after university and up to Borders to buy myself a new copy, which I did but I also made a brilliant discovery.
I now own a copy of... 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosopher: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale' :oD
It doesn't actually have much to do with the book Fear and Trembling, but does have a lot of philosophical essays concerned Buffy: The Vampire Slayer in it. They're divided up into four sections
Codex 1: It's a kind of Slayer thing
Buffy, Faith, and Feminism
Including 'Feminism and the Ethics of Violence: Why Buffy Kicks Ass' by Mimi Marinucci, and 'Faith and Plato: "You're Nothing! Disgusting, Murderous Bitch!" by Greg Forster
Codex 2: Don't speak Latin in front of the books
Knowledge, Rationality, and Science in the Buffyverse
Including 'Between Heavens and Hells: The multidimensional Universe in Kant and Buffy the Vampire Slayer' by James Lawler
Codex 3: You're really enjoying this whole moral superiority thing, aren't you?
Buffy and Ethics
Including 'A Kantian Analysis of Moral Judgement in Buffy the Vampire Slayer' by Scott R Stroud
Codex 4: That's the kind of woolly-headed thinking that leads to being eaten
Religion and Politics in the Buffyverse
Including 'Brownskirts: Fascism, Christianity, and the Eternal Demon'; by Neal King
Codex 5: You're all slaves to the television
Watching Buffy
Including 'High School is Hell: Metaphor Made Literal in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
How awesome is that? :oD :oD :oD
Wednesday started off brilliantly when my new external network hard disk arrived. A whole 250 gigabytes that plugs straight into my hub and thus can be accessed by any computer on the network (although I can password protect it). Only problem is, it's been a bitch to install...
Eventually I got the ip settings right so I could both access the drive and connect to the Internet (although I think I've bumped the second computer on my network off), but now I can't get it to format so I can use it :o( *sob*. I sent an email to the address address on the manufacturer's site for technical support but they haven't gotten back to me yet either :o(
Went down to Dungeon that night with Fraggleonspeed, halluciphy and _pheonixrising. Music was fairly naff but still managed to find some room to dance. Some little girl tried to come on to me on the dance floor, and looked a bit miffed when I wasn't interested (looked way to young...), aww, poor little thing!
Thursday I had my meeting with my Dissertation. Most of the things he said weren't too bad and should only require me to re-write part of my dissertation. Other things may require me to retitle the essay and re-jiggle a few bits. The annoying thing is there is an issue he wants me to put more focus on and I don wanna, partly because it's going to involve me doing more reading (I hate secondary reading...). Oh well...
Friday I got a bank cheque for £1,200, yay! Is a pay-off for an insurance claim I made a while back for whiplash after a car accident. Will be useful when I'm leaving university and need some money to set myself up :o)
Saturday I went down Dungeon again. Was fairly quiet, but the music was slightly better (still generally naff as Dungeon music is of course...). There were enough interesting people around to make it worthwhile anyway, although waiting for a taxi afterwards took ages (although Fraggleonspeed was nice enough to keep me company)
Didn't sleep Saturday night, partly because my sleeping pattern has been awful anyway lately, so stayed up online looking through the Internet finding weird links to bore you all with instead (well, I've been doing that on and off all week...)
Come midday I went down town to meet up with Dan, and soon after Fraggleonspeed
Searching the DVD stores I managed to pick up some cheap DVDs. :oD I now own 'The Thing', the old transformers movie, 'Big Fish', Ultraviolet (the film, not the series), Edward Sissorhands, and 'The Last Unicorn' (which is just fantastic!). Will have plenty to watch when Elegy_of_flames is next around it seems :oD
Then, after grabbing something quick to eat, we headed off to the cinema where we saw Bridge to Terabithia, which is the second film recently that has took me by surprise.
When I sat down to watch Pan's Labyrinth, I had only seen the posters for it, which seemed to portray some kind of fantasy film, and I had no idea what to expect, or what sort of feel it would have, and I was very pleasantly surprised.
I'd seen a theatrical trailer for Bridge to Terabithia, and I don't remember being impressed. It made some show of some kids finding some kind of fantasy land, and it seemed rather like some Narnia clone (Fraggleonspeed had a similar impression), but still, seemed like it might be good (Fraggleonspeed had already seen TMNT so that was out)
It's not anything like Narnia, in fact, it's not like any fantasy film I can remember seeing, it approaches it from an entirely different angle. It plays with childhood fantasy in a way that is like elements of Pan's labyrinth, but is rather different from that as well. At almost every point in the film I kept expecting it to go down the very familiar path I might expect from a fantasy film, but it didn't, it bore down an unexpected path that might have made it somewhat boring if it wasn't for the strength of the plot, which was actually intensely moving. Despite not having slept at all the night before, I didn't feel sleepy at all through the film because I was just that engaged (and not via action or special effects, both of which have limited use in the film, the plot itself is intellectually engaging)
Very much recommended by little me :o)
Afterwards we dropped by Firehouse which was full of people, but I was getting tired by this point (not having slept at all), so I've come home now to finish this off, and in a couple of hours, I'll likely go to bed :o)
Meme: My Daemon
First a Chimpanzee, then a ladybug, then an Eagle... this thing is just bizarre
Image: Hot News (stupidity)
Image: Avoid older men!
Links: Star Trek Links :o)
I've decided that because my link sections of my entries have been getting longer and longer that it would be a good idea to group them where I can. Thus, as I've been looking up a lot of Star Trek stuff on youtube lately, I thought I'd throw them into one lj-cut :o) That way the non-Trekkies (who don't know what they are missing!) can pass on by :o)
Okay, first off, here's Patrick Stewart doing a brilliant sketch on the British comedy show Extras: linky. I thought it was hilarious, but not everyone will it seems because it didn't touch Elegy_of_flames until the Star Trek reference at the end. :o)
Still regarding Patrick Stuart, here's a two-part interview with him by Clarkson, including Patrick discussing doing the show in a Yorkshire accent: Part 1 and Part 2
Here's a couple of amusing musical Star Trek youtube videos:
Lwaxanna drives us crazy
The Enterprise Will Survive,
Captain Janeway and Tom Jones
Female of the Species
I was also a bit startled to discover a whole collection of music videos based around the Geek fantasy that Captain Janeway and Seven and Nine would get together...
A Geek's fantasy...
Women in love...
Poision...
Summer Nights
Here's a nice piece on Seven of Nine's transformation from Borg: linky
And, more interestingly, here's part of a Q&A sci-fi convention where Kate Mulgrew (who plays Captain Janeway) speaks out on how she disliked the introduction of the Seven of Nine Character: linky. The criticisms are seemingly born from feminist reasons (although she denies being a feminist). She discusses the issues behind this criticism a little in a separate interview: Part 1 and Part 2
And this is something rather special: one Completed Scene and one outtake from the pilot they originally filmed for Voyager with the original choice of actress for Captain. I would have loved a non-American captain, but I have to agree with her decision.
Here's a scene-by-scene comparison: Geneviève Bujold vs. Kate Mulgrew. Geneviève just isn't able to create the same sense of authority and power that Kate is, and it effects the other actors as well, note how much softly Tuvok speaks to Geneviève as compared to Kate. To her credit though, Geneviève apparently recognised this and stepped aside for someone else, just wasn't her role.
To switch to a different character, enjoy these Worf quotes: linky
Also, check out this guy who has converted his flat into a Star Trek style Space Ship: linky
And if you just want to see Star Trek vessels blow each other up, click here
Links: Batman and Superman
I was searching my little way through youtube and managed to turn up a few interesting things.
First I stumbled across this crossover between Batman and Superman, which is fairly entertaining in it's own right (it's just one of the animated cartoons however)
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
But then I discovered something better than that...
This is a live-action film trailer...
Batman Vs Superman
It's by the same people that made that Batman: Dead End short, which most people have already seen and is made of awesome (if you haven't seen it yet, go take a look... I won't spoil what happens in it... but it is serious good) :o)
And just to finish off, let's leave with what has to be the best sketch Only Fools and Horses have ever done: linky (it was actually voted as such on a Best of Fools and Horses special on television once)
Links: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Brilliant nostalgia: linky
Amazing how they can have such a silly masculine archetype who punches the screen in the intro, and yet it still turns moralising at the end, brilliant! :oD
I'm not sure She-Ra really lives up to the same nostalgia value (although extra points for being extra-camp) but for what it's worth: linky
What I was actually searching for, however, was a trailer for the He-Man: Masters of the Universe live-action movie, and I found it! linky :oD
Link: Extended Firefly song mocking fox
Link: All the Dr. Who intros in one video
Link: Do Not Want
Link: The New Volvic Mineral Water advert Rocks!
Link: Beautifully illustrating Comic Book Sexual Double-Standards
Link: The Computing power behind LucasArts
Link: Students attend their first Racially Integrated Prom
Link: Proposed ban on parents giving children alcohol in their own homes
Plans: May be going down to The Edge this Wednesday given it's Fraggleonspeed's last night down in Southampton for a goodly while.
Plans: I hear rumour that this Friday is the last Emanate ever? This true? May have to make it if that's true.