Tuesday Linkage

I may be in the throes of female hormones, so here are some calming links. + Smugopedia: "Smugopedia is a collection of slightly controversial opinions about a variety of subjects. We offer you the chance to buy a fleeting sense of self-satisfaction at the small cost of alienating your friends and loved ones."

+ It’s Not You, It’s Your Books: Literary dealbreakers. I once dated a guy who had a shelf of Oprah-esque self-help books. I'm not saying that's why I broke up with him.. but we only lasted a week after that discovery.

+ Pretty staircases. Note that the URL is NSFW but the content is very, very SFW. This is my personal favourite (first photo).

+ A Field Guide to Ten Most Common Frontmen Styles. My favourite frontman happens to be a cross between no. 6 and no. 10. Hmm.

+ The Lost Tribes of Green Sahara. Beautiful photography.

+ Sarah Palin is Your New.. What? Many people have opinions on just what who Palin is. I quite like "..Hail Mary" and "Faustian Bargain" but my absolute favourite is "Star Wars: Episodes I - III Plus The Clone Wars". Heh.

Addendum: Booker Shortlist.

Put Those Fangs Away, Mr Propp

I'm toying with the idea of reading a couple of articles in From Homer to Hypertext: Studies in Narrative, Literature and Media. And I'm very amused that Amazon recommends 'laurell k. hamilton', 'paranormal romances' and 'dark hunter series' as similar products. I now have a vision of narratologists sinking their sharpened fangs into the alabaster necks of unsuspecting guest lecturers.. .. okay, no more coffee for me today.

Ps. I accidentally ordered some red alpaca/silk worsted weight the other day. First yarn purchase in a month! Any good ideas for cardigans or sweaters?

Welcome To My Head

I promised E. that I'd list the podcasts I like. I'm relatively new to podcasts (I'm slow on the uptake), so I'm yet to build up a list of definitive favourites. If someone has recommendations, I'd be happy to hear them! Left Field Cinema is an intelligent podcast looking at both arthouse cinema (like Kieslowski) and mainstream films like Alien. I like the podcast because it assumes the listener is intelligent and it covers a lot of films I enjoy.

The Knit Picks Podcast. KP is a low-budget yarn company focused on the North American market - and they've managed to produce a podcast which is both very informative and very intimate. Kelley Petkun will either irritate or amuse you - she reminds me of a good friend of mine and so I enjoy catching up with Petkun's wide-eyed middle-class commentary on travelling, dogs and golf. I kid you not.

Oxford University's Medieval Podcasts. I have really, really enjoyed their podcasts on Anglo-Saxon texts and culture. This may not be everyone's cup o'tea, but these podcasts have been right up my street. To be avoided if New Historicism gives you a headache.

Lingua Franca. An Australian podcast on language. So far my favourite episode focused on linguistic typology (i.e. classification of languages based upon structural rather than semantic or historical similarities) but the podcast covers a lot of ground: spelling, loanwords, coarse language usage etc.

I'm yet to find podcasts dealing with current literature, modernism, poetry, art history, entertainment or humanism. Anyone?

In related news - that is, "Karie starts using web tools that have been around for years" - I am now keeping up with blogs via a blog aggregator. Gosh, I'm so 2003 sometimes.

Finally, I have (re-)discovered The Phoenix Foundation in recent days. If you like your music indie, mellow, folky and kiwi ..

Wednesday Woes

I woke up this morning with a very sore throat and a pounding headache, so I will make this brief.

Startling Things I Have Seen Recently On the Net:
+ The Han Solo Stitch Sampler
+ Dark Side Stained Glass
+ The 'Scariest' Garden Ornament Ever
+ Bad Baby Names (Legend Haakon? Calaya Delphine? Aemezolina Mercedes? Gennavieve Luaraleigh?!)
+ 10 Comics Creators That Should Make Movies Instead Of Frank Miller

Have at it. I'll try to find some LemSip and my bed in the meantime.

Addendum: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

"Blast My Dresser's Arthritic Hands!"

I bring you The Victorian-Era Superhero Archives. A comic strip entirely spiffing and splendid, albeit too brief.

The comments are worth a look as well.

(Thank you, Alex)

Life's A Cabaret, Old Chum

Some time ago my partner, David, bought us tickets for the one-year anniversary of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School - a burlesque-meets-art school monthly event. David and a pirate had attended a previous Dr. Sketchy's and loved it.

What happened? A lot, I tell you. I sang along to Cole Porter songs and my partner produced this:

Some of you might know that in my former life as a quasi-academic, I worked and published on Alasdair Gray, the writer and the writer-artist. Who would have thought I'd end up sitting next to him at a burlesque-meets-art school event? Or that David would think it funny to draw Ally Gray and have him sign the drawing? It beats my signed first edition hands down, damn him.

Another boon was that the founder of Dr. Sketchy, the very lovely Molly Crabapple (NSWF, possibly) was present as well. I've long nourished a minor internet crush on her and her illustrations. Sigh. And we absolutely loved Kitten on the Keys (quite NSFW) and David drew yet another fabulous portrait. I'd post it but it'd completely ruin his ego.

Mmm.. I'll be humming Cole Porter songs in my sleep, methinks.