He’s intelligent, insightful, and admits when he was wrong… what a guy! Oh yeah and there is still all that groundbreaking Sci-Fi he wrote to be considered.

That being said, the author seems hugely successful. I was just curious because her vampires, fairies, and other creatures seem to inhabit a section of the country I’ve tried all my life to escape. If someone has read these, can you please tell [...]]]> I don’t really expect anyone of my acquaintance to have read these things.

That being said, the author seems hugely successful. I was just curious because her vampires, fairies, and other creatures seem to inhabit a section of the country I’ve tried all my life to escape. If someone has read these, can you please tell me how accurate the depiction of North Lousiana is? If it’s accurate, why the hell, if you’re a powerful vampire or whatever, don’t you go to California or New York or at least New Orleans, like in the Concrete Blonde song?

Ok, so I realize that after Katrina (that bitch) that a lot of people fled North. But if you’re a vampire, who has powers and stuff, wouldn’t you go somewhere, oh, I dunno, cool? Interesting? With better food? Oh wait, you’re a vampire, and they don’t eat. Okay, forget about the food part. But maybe better tailors and shopping? Vampires always seem to have the best tailors.

Someone solve the mystery for me!

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In the meantime, I want to [...]]]> Girl Genius is the best online comic ever! I would have a great little graphic here but my website is experiencing technical difficulties. These difficulties are probably due to a component error between the chair and the keyboard and will be rectified when I figure out what I did wrong.

In the meantime, I want to tell you about Girl Genius.

Thought I forgot, did you?

A student at Transylvania Polygnostic University, Agatha Clay seems to be your average beautiful but clumsy underdog of science. She’s orphaned, ignored, and seems to have a painful version of ADHD. The universe is created in the Steampunk genre, so you get the Victorian underwear and the more elaborate Rube Goldberg type technology. What could be better?  Magic and Science combined. Oh wait. and the best scientists are also a bit… well… MAD! Mad, I tell you! Oh, yeah, and the art is nothing short of fantastic. Fantastic, I tell you!

It should be noted that I have only reached volume three. I have to read the rest of it. You should too.

Ta.

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I just wanted to say thank you again, Brien, and let you know that you got me really cool stuff. [...]]]> Brien gave me a gift card to Amazon for my graduation. Well, what with moving and all, and then my perverse enjoyment of anticipation over gratification, he basically almost got me a birthday present (2 weeks!).

I just wanted to say thank you again, Brien, and let you know that you got me really cool stuff. I got an educational book, a movie, and an electronic gadget – ok, a memory card, but it goes inside an electronic gadget. I put them on my Amazon store as the last three items, if you’re curious. But yes, through the magic of Amazon, I was able to get three of my very favorite things.

I’m pretty sure I’ve thank3ed everyone else for graduation goodies, but if I’ve missed you, feel free to berate me by email or even here, (sort of) publicly. I won’t be offended. And then you’ll probably get a thank you note in the mail if I have your address.

And yes, Brien, I could have emailed you, but this way is better: it announces your awesomeness to the world. If that makes you uncomfy, I’ll happily delete this post.

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I couldn’t get over the fact that in order for Jekyll to commit [...]]]> In the interest of expanding my knowledge of 19th century literature, I recently read Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. I admit I’ve been a fan of Treasure Island since childhood, but I had never read this book before.

I couldn’t get over the fact that in order for Jekyll to commit acts of brutality and savagery, he had to physically transform into an object of loathing. Everyone who ran into Hyde claimed that not only was he misshapen, but he also had an aura that made people extremely uncomfortable around him.

Now in the book, Jekyll states his reasons for experimenting on himself as being that once he “learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man,” and thinking that because “the nature of [his] life had advanced infallibly in one direction . . . on the moral side,” Jekyll decided that if he could separate the part of him that was infallibly amoral, it would relieve him of that part once and for all. His reasoning was that if his life was infallibly moral, it must follow that there was a part of his subconscious that was infallibly evil, because of the “primitive duality of man.”

This idea got me thinking. What’s the closest thing that comes to mind when one thinks of a man who is fairly upstanding and and all around “good citizen” who changes form on certain occasions and commits atrocities upon his fellows? A Werewolf! Right? Well, that’s what I thought about.

Incidentally, I have to mention that although I intend to (soon) read some actual criticism on the book, I did not immediately head for any of the following essays:

• Karl Miller, “The Modern Double”
• Judith Halberstam, “An Introduction to Gothic Monstrosity”
• Frederic W. H. Myers, “Multiple Personality”
• Norman Kerr, “Abject Slaves to the Narcotic”
• John Addington Symonds, “This Aberrant Inclination in Myself”
• Katherine Linehan, “Sex, Secrecy and Self-Alienation in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

Or any other essays that could actually give me a good critical bent on the story. Nope. I read a book about werewolves. Somewhat to my credit, it’s a 19th century case study about werewolves and witch hunts, and it has medical case studies in it as well as rural legends.

Mostly the Book of Werewolves is concerned with people transforming into animals and then committing murder or cannibalism. Again, it is interesting that pretty much up until Jack the Ripper, you don’t see regular, everyday, “nice” looking people chopping up their fellows and/or eating them. It’s always some monstrosity that is somehow outside of society physically who is doing the chopping.

I’ve been chewing on this idea for a couple of weeks but I can’t really get an angle on it. I seem to remember from my Epics class that Autolykos, or “man-wolf,” (Odysseus’s grandfather) was not really “well in” to society – he made a few wrong moves according to Greek societal rules. I would have to dig out my notes.

I may come back to this idea after reading some criticism on Dr. Jekyll and turning it over. I’m sure there’s a lycanthropy connection, but I can’t decide what it means. I’m not just reasserting the “duality,” “hypocrisy,” and “alienation” ideas, although those are all implied in lycanthropy, but I am very interested in the monstrous form and the grotesque and their implications in the 19th century novel.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed the educational section of our programming today. If I have time tomorrow, I’m going to post some more about Austin. I may not get to it, though, because we’re leaving tomorrow night to go to Monroe and will be there for the weekend.

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[...]]]> So it’s almost time for me to stop reading for pleasure altogether. Okay, it’s almost time for me to say I’m not reading for pleasure anymore and then do so anyway, probably ruining my eyes in the process. I wanted to put in a few words for Philip Pullman and the “His Dark Materials” trilogy.

This is good stuff. Pullman has created a pretty neat universe here that goes beyond both fantasy and “Steampunk.” Of course, I believe technically these novels would be in the “young adult” category, but there are some very dark themes present here. The kinds of themes that I would hope my kids weren’t understanding even though I’d know they were. There are also really interesting presentations of demonology and the “Fall of Man,” which I’m a total sucker for. I’m in the middle of the final book, and it’s just kickass. I think kickass is a literary term. At any rate, the series is complex without bogging one down, and Pullman’s craftsmanship outstrips the Harry Potter novels easily. Oh, the blasphemies I will commit in the name of literature!

Pullman is also the author of some Victorian-style mystery novels: The Ruby in the Smoke, Shadow in the North, and The Tiger in the Well. I haven’t read them yet, but Pullman is an excellent writer, so I have high hopes. I also saw The Ruby in the Smoke on LPB’s Masterpiece Theatre with Billie Piper as the lead, and after I got over seeing “Rose” (late of Doctor Who, for anyone who doesn’t know) as an “unconventional” Victorian girl, it was pretty good entertainment.  Of course, you have to really like Victorian and Early 20th Century mysteries, which I do.  Probably more than is healthy.

I have more news, but I think it should go in a separate post. I’m thinking of getting a new boardgame, and there is, of course, my Master’s Degree to think of!

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Halloween is my favorite holiday. It’s pagan in origin, has been [...]]]> If I lived somewhere with seasons, the weather would be getting cooler like it does in the movies, and the leaves would be turning. I love October! It’s the month of my favorite holiday, and it’s also my anniversary (on the 26th).

Halloween is my favorite holiday. It’s pagan in origin, has been corrupted beyond recognition by “Hallmark syndrome,” and it involves candy and dress up! What’s not to love? I also enjoy it because it’s a holiday that doesn’t make you feel like a total craphound if you can’t/won’t be with your family for whatever reason. Suicides increase around Thanksgiving and X-mas: not around Halloween. It’s probably all that emphasis on family that does it….

So here’s to October! Definitely gotta get a copy of:

(mine’s in the mail…)

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Do I need to say more?