Notes from a wandering minstral: August 2005

Old movies. Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Bogart again, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn (sorry if I misspell), Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, and Cary Grant. Who could ask for anything more?

Just in case anyone was wondering, this is the first collage I made. It was just for me, some people who make me happy. Sam and Pippin from LOTR, Bogart in Casablanca, Lupin from HP III, Leonard Bernstein, Danny Kaye, Virginia Woolf, Nancy Willard, and the cover of my childhood library copy of Alanna: the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. And there's a large, out-of-focus image of a medieval (or proabably faux) choirbook from Hearst Castle in the background.

Collage for Len. This is actually the first one I ever put text in. The images were so dispirate, I wanted something to unify them, and this just popped to mind. If you don't know Len, the image choices might seem odd; if you do, I think they make a lot of sense. Hurrah for British actors. :)

Colin Firth. I made this one for Crystal last year.

Jeeves and Wooster, anyone?

Here's a Harry Potter III movie one..... It has no quote and is not particularly profound, but I had to search hard for this pic of Lupin, and I'm rather proud of it. Also, I like the way some of the images connect, although some other blends are clunky....

I don't know if this'll mean anything to anyone not me, but it's a collage of the Derek Jacobi Cadfael series on PBS's Mystery!. He's a 12th-century monk who solves mysteries. It's based on the Ellis Peters novels. The quote is from the last Peters novel, which has not been dramatized. It's kind of complicated to explain, but essentially Cadfael is offereing his own life in exchange for his son's. Hurrah for dramatic moments.

I took the GRE this morning! I love the instantaneous score reporting. So, I did well enough to get into the schools I want if it were only up to the GRE. Hurrah! And I did better on the math than I was expecting.... On the verbal, I did exactly the same as I did on the last practice test I took. Hurrah for consistancy.

As a result, my spelling is even worse than normal. Sorry.

Now I just need to get a good writing sample.... But not today. Today we rest. We being me and all the bits that are currently trying to float in opposite directions for no particular reason.

And there's Kurt Weil floating in from the other room. . . Mmmm, Kurt Weil. . . .

Forget grad school; I want to be a pirate when I grow up. I love the picture of Depp and Bloom on the ship--they look like they're having the time of their lives.

I love the Princess Bride; it's such a classic.

By the way, who's really psyched about the new Pride and Prejudice movie? I think that would be me. Among others, I hope. It looks like it's going to be more faithful to the spirit of the novel than the BBC was, although that was extremely faithful to the letter. I know this is sacrilage, but although I admire Colin Firth very much, I thought he didn't have the physicality for Darcy, whom I always saw as more craggy, less cuddly. Kind of like Mr. Rochester. And as many people who've taken classes from Susan Zlotnick or Priscilla Gilman know, there's a school of thought that Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre are both based on Pamela. So it's all connected!

I've been thinking about academic stuff way too much for it to be summer. I guess it tells me again that I'm doing the right thing. :)

And the comics! I also love the comics. One of the great things about being home is getting to read them fresh every day instead of having to sort through fifty gagillion websites. I think when I go to England I'm going to cave in and subscribe to one of those services... any recommendations?

Anyhow, I think I'm going to go type up some thoughts about the Sherlock Holmes stories.

I take the GRE next Friday. Freaky!!

Here are more pictures from Japan.... :)

Bridge in a garden.

Fushimi Inari-- lots of orange gates.

View of the river

Roof ornament at the Hall of the Phoenix.

Cool tree at the Hall of the Phoenix.

A lantern at the shrine to a scholar.

A Zen garden (they're not all dry)

The Chinese bridge at the Heian Shrine.

A mea of soba noodles with toppings.

Did I say a week? I meant a month. Sorry. :) No, a week would be not nearly enough time.

I leave for the UK a week from today! It seems like so soon suddenly. So much to do before then. Like work on my PhD search. So insane. I've also been working a lot at the bookstore this week. Seven days in a row. I'm off on Sunday, though. Woo hoo! That'll give me time to work on my grad school writing sample.

BTW, for those of you wondering, I found out that I didn't get the Birmingham scholarship. :( But I still have the Maguire, and I should have some left in my savings account going into the PhD. Just need to find a school that will actually fund me.

Meanwhile, everyone needs to read the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy Sayers. Start with Strong Poison. It's really good. I just finished Busman's Honeymoon again, and it makes me all happy like. I think I might read The Historian next. I read Dracula last week--very good. This summer's reading has been scattered with good-for-me books; I read Ivanhoe a few weeks ago and Tess on the plane back from Japan. And I read Portrait of a Lady in Japan. I enjoyed all of them. Guess that proves I'm right to do a PhD in English. Hurrah. I like being right; it's a pleasant novelty. Did I spell that right? Oh well. Going to work on my writing sample--on my nice, clean desk. Hurrah for cleanliness! Now if I can just get the stuff off the floor... and detatch my fingers from the keyboard...

I just posted some Lord of the Rings desktops I made a while ago. I'm rather proud of these. The captions reveal the extent of my dorkiness, just in case anyone was wondering.

The quote refers to Merry, but really applies to her. I preferred it to the "cage" one because that's depressing. There are very few images of her with Faramir, so this one's a bit grainy, but I really liked the one with Aragorn, and I thought that if I included that, I really should include one with the guy she actually marries.

I love Billy Boyd's performance in the third film, which is why almost all of these images are from that, although the quote is from the first film.

Here are some pictures from my California trip -- a little late, perhaps, but better than never. These are all from Point Lobos, which is one of my absolute favorite places in the world. It's hard to take bad pictures there, so here are some pics that I rather like.

By the way, I had a great time visiting Andy. I got back yesterday. Rebecca was unable to see us, but we hung out with Gail, which was a lot of fun. So.... fun couple-stuf, but a little bittersweet because it's going to be till January till we can see each other again. Still, the marvels of the Internet will mitigate the distance, I hope.

And I have a place to live next year! I don't know how many are in my flat yet, but I definitely have a room! And it's the least expensive option available. This will mean some laundry-hauling, but hopefully I will save enough money to travel to Europe over the summer. Talk about penny-wise and pound-foolish. :)