I redid the second verse of my "Senior Service" mini-vid, which I wasn't completely happy with. I think the clips go with the lyrics better now. Maybe one of these days I'll catch up with the Vexercises, good Lord willin' and the crick don't rise.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30576815

Ratty fans can rest assured that the second verse is still entirely based on "The Daredevil Rescue Raid." :-)

Both TODS and I had seen this movie many years ago (separately, before we met). We wanted to see the new one, but also wanted to rewatch the old one since neither of us remembered it very distinctly.( Read more... )

Duuuuude. A very thinky movie. ( spoilery )

I've really enjoyed reading both maubast and supercheesegirl's accounts of what books they're reading, so I thought I might start doing the same, though it probably won't be in as much cool detail.

I just finished The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies, which I found very hard to get through because it was way, way too much like work. Also the author thinks he's very very clever and works hard to show it, often by having his characters spout Great Wisdom, which gets tiresome after a while. It all took place at a university and there was a lot of inter-faculty politics and bits of Latin and Greek and gnosticism and I probably wouldn't have even finished slogging through it except I had borrowed it from a friend and didn't want to return it unread. I had read the sequel, What's Bred in the Bone, which was far more entertaining (my mom lent it to me), and I thought I would enjoy this one. Alas.

Now I'm reading Harry Potter et l'ecole des sorciers to get practice because we're spending a week in Paris next month and I want to be ready! *very excited*

Next up: The Lightning Thief.

Got this from maubast - it's *fascinating*! The oldest existing copy of the Iliad is being digitized - v-e-r-y c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y:

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2007/06/iliad_scan

My brother sent me this. I love my brother. :-)

From "jean's blog" at http://www.irintech.com/x1/blogarchive.php?id=859

If ancient Rome had the Internet...
( Read more... )

I appreciated all the responses on getting the video! I wound up being able to stream it after all (the classroom computers are networked).

The Gender Studies class had a lot to say about "My Humps" and I was *very* proud that they made the transition themselves - I didn't have to point it out - from the *visuals* as objectifying women to the *lyrics* as being about the exploitation of men. And they loved "Stupid Girls" and did a great job looking at it from various perspectives.

But my very favorite comment of the night was an observation about "Beep." There was a very cool and serious conversation about what the girls say in the song about how they don't care if the guy looks at their *beep*. Some of the students interpreted that as a healthy attitude toward the male gaze (shrugging it off because they're not offended); others found it to be a sad acceptance of harassment (not caring because they've been dulled to how offensive it is). Then one of the women burst out, "If she don't CARE if he's lookin' at it, she should NOT be shakin' it in his FACE!" This received general acclaim from all sides.

Why did I EVER agree to do an independent study on medieval philosophy during the summer? What psychotropic substance was possessing my brain? Where the hell are my notes on Al-Farabi?

(update: Found the notes. What do they mean? I understood them when I wrote them...)

And why did I give my sci-fi class a difficult long-answer essay test last week? Do I still feel I have to prove to somebody that this is "real" philosophy? Haven't I won this argument with myself before? Didn't I realize I'd have to FRICKIN' GRADE it???!!!! I've graded TWO intro tests in the time it's taken me to even get up the courage to look at this humongous pile of, um, writing....

And don't get me started on the fact that I agreed to teach two classes next summer session too. Vacation? What's that?

::whimper:: I'm done yelling now. Can I have a hug?

I did not create a hostile learning environment in class today.

We were going over English-to-Latin exercises on the board. I was leading them through it this time (last time I made them go over them in small groups & put the consensus on the board). So we get to "Dido gives a dinner for the Trojans" and of course we started with our verb (dat) and our subject (Dido) and our direct object (cenam) and then I said, "What case do we put the Trojans in?"

And I resisted the very very strong temptation that suddenly came over me to say, "NOT your wallet!" And I kept a perfectly straight face. So I am very proud of myself.

*snicker*