bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
[personal profile] bironic
Okay so! The first draft of my thesis is TURNED IN and I don't have to think about it until next week. There was a phrase from a story by [livejournal.com profile] astolat, "Under the Sea" I think, that described some frat boys the morning after a party as "hollow-eyed and stunned-looking." That is my last little while in a nutshell.

Now let's unload what I've been saving up all that time.

Well, first of all, while disappointed that the skies didn't deliver as much as the forecast promised, I was pleased to wake up this morning to




That would be the Charles River, always an interesting shade of puce in winter. The ice floes remind me of the flabby petroleum jelly in Drawing Restraint 9.

.

I escaped twice during the marathon: once to see astrophysicist/TV host/McKay nemesis Neil deGrasse Tyson give a talk about his new book about having been blamed for demoting Pluto, and once to go to a birthday party. I took your advice on the former—okay, I was going to do it anyway, but you said it was all right—and teased him about having been on SGA. He said he's a terrible actor; I said, but you only had to play yourself!; and then he said something else I don't remember. Then we talked about my professor who knows him, and he signed two books for me. It was fun.

Here are a picture and two video clips I took that I thought might entertain:




Demonstrating angular momentum:




Dear Mr. Tyson, You Forgot Pluto:





I kicked myself afterwards, though, because it was only when I was on the train home that it occurred to me to have had him dedicate the second autograph to Rodney.

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At the party there were fangirls and cake and juice and a game of fannish charades, which I'd never played but now recommend to all, so long as the people involved share fandoms. My favorite part was how the group had their own shortcut movement for "John Sheppard/Joe Flanigan" where the charader would put her hand behind her head and stick fingers up like turkey feathers. (Sproing!) I submitted "Sam the Whale" for consideration; someone else had "[someone I don't remember] goes grocery shopping with Dr. House."

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Speaking of Sheppard, I had this terrific series of classes a couple of weeks ago in which we got to do textual analysis (my long-ago love!) not only of some pieces of writing but also Beethoven, Glenn Miller band, a Hungarian Cold War film I now want to see, and Dirty Harry. The prof started out by reciting from memory Adrienne Rich's Storm Warnings, which I remember from high school, when I was the only person in class who knew that "the glass has been falling all the afternoon" meant that the barometer signaled the approach of a storm, not that it was icy outside or that shards of glass had been falling on her all afternoon. Byron was even mentioned at some point. I was in my happy place. But here is my point: the end of Dirty Harry, and SGA's "The Eye"—

John Sheppard = Clint Eastwood, y/n?

Spoiler for the end of the movie, I guess? But when I saw this, I thought the scene where Sheppard shoots Kolya in the shoulder while Kolya holds Elizabeth hostage could have been a deliberate echo of this one. Probably I was meant to have seen Dirty Harry to appreciate the resonance, and not the other way around. Or maybe shooting a hostage-taker in the shoulder is not a unique movie circumstance.



Can't you just see Sheppard delivering the "punk" monologue?

Oh and hey, that's Andrew Robinson (Garak) with the bandage across his nose. He looks more like Harvey Keitel to me. Shudder.

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What else. My sister is on tour for two months with her musician and David Cook all over the south and midwest, I passed Henry Jenkins in the hall the other day, I haven't washed the dishes in like two weeks, tomorrow I will finally get to catch up on House, I'm going to Florida in a few weeks to see my grandparents, and there are two fun events coming up on Wednesday and Thursday that I'm looking forward to telling you about.

Also, does anyone know of any Audacity tutorials?

Date: Mar. 3rd, 2009 01:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pynelyf.livejournal.com
I apologize because this is only peripherally related to your post, but this semester I am thinking about teaching an essay about Harry Potter fanfiction, fandom, and media literacy by Henry Jenkins ("Why Heather Can Write: Media Literacy and the Harry Potter Wars"). I haven't read the essay yet and I'm not really sure whether I should go with it or not, but I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on him and his work.

Date: Mar. 3rd, 2009 01:52 am (UTC)
ext_2047: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
I have thoughts on him and his work, and I have thoughts on that essay -- which are not the same. Let me email you, yes? As soon as I'm done with my reading for tomorrow.

Date: Mar. 3rd, 2009 01:57 am (UTC)

Date: Mar. 3rd, 2009 01:56 am (UTC)
ext_25882: (Champlain)
From: [identity profile] nightdog-barks.livejournal.com
I have no Audacity tutorials, but oh what a lovely poem.

Date: Mar. 3rd, 2009 04:26 am (UTC)
ext_2047: (cassiel comfort)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
Isn't it? I can never think of adjectives that do it justice.

Date: Mar. 3rd, 2009 04:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zulu.livejournal.com
Those are some great videos! And it sounds like an awesome conversation you had with him, too.

Also, love me some fannish pictionary.

Date: Mar. 3rd, 2009 06:54 pm (UTC)
ext_2047: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
Pictionary would be fun, too! I do like the challenges of abstract charades, though -- you can't draw a fan or a rod plus a knee. Plus, think of the fun when acting out FandomWank. :)

Date: Mar. 3rd, 2009 09:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jadesfire.livejournal.com
It sounds like you're both having fun and being productive. Woo hoo!

On the Audacity front, there's a basic podficcing guide here that might help, as well as a specific Audacity one here. Are you thinking of venturing into the world of podfic, or is it a school thing?

Date: Mar. 3rd, 2009 06:56 pm (UTC)
ext_2047: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
The latter for now, although I hope one day to have time to do podfic. Thank you! The link looks great.

Date: Mar. 4th, 2009 12:45 am (UTC)
ext_3244: (Default)
From: [identity profile] ignazwisdom.livejournal.com
I am so glad you came on Saturday! And so impressed that you nailed "touch my stump" without having any idea what it referred to!

Date: Mar. 4th, 2009 06:03 pm (UTC)
ext_2047: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
Thanks! I picked up "The A Team" first, and just... how do you mime that word by word?

Date: Mar. 4th, 2009 05:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] musicisbelievng.livejournal.com
tour for 2 and a half months and no stops near you. blarg.

Date: Mar. 4th, 2009 06:03 pm (UTC)

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