Links, thoughts, etc

[dolorosa_12]

I've had a fairly productive weekend. Yesterday I did all my Welsh translation, about a third of my reading for my M.Phil seminar, and the translation for my medieval Irish reading group (having a decent glossary really helped). I spent today working on my Review of Scholarship. It's shaping up nicely, but I feel it could be a bit clearer and more focused. Unfortunately, I don't really know what to do to give it this added focus and clarity. In any case, my supervisor said she was happy with my progress, which makes me feel a bit better. I'm still my usual paranoid self, however, and think that any compliment must have some kind of hidden agenda (usually pity or contempt).

I've been distracted by the US elections and basically listening to All Systems Red on continuous repeat. It's my favourite song, in case you haven't guessed.

A few blogs that have caught my attention recently:
DeepGenre, and in particular this post, which is about conservatism, mythology and kingship (or lack thereof) in the fantasy genre. Good stuff. You can get it on LJ feed.

The second one is Confessions of a Bibliovore, which is of particular relevance and interest to me. It's the blog of a librarian, about all things YA-related, and tends to echo my thoughts on a lot of YA-related issues.

I've also just discovered the RiotACT, which is a nice dose of that particularly Canberran brand of insanity that I've been missing.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

In other news, I'm still madly in love with MGMT and thank Mimi every day for introducing me to so much lovely music.

Comments

[ondes-martenot.livejournal.com]

Welsh? Cool! I've wanted to learn it ever since reading The Whispering Mountain by Joan Aiken in 8th grade.

Confessions of a Bibliovore looks pretty interesting. *bookmarks it*

[dolorosa-12.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm doing a Masters in medieval Irish literature, but I'm learning a lot of other medieval languages too, including medieval Welsh and Insular medieval Latin.

I'm glad you like my links.

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, 'Whispering Mountain' was the book I was recommending to you at your farewell, Ronni, but it was too loud. And all the Joan Aiken ones in the 'Wolves of Willoughby Chase' series. I've just been rereading them, but some are quite hard to get hold of.

[(Anonymous)]

From Catie, btw.

[dolorosa-12.livejournal.com]

When I have time to read something not related to exile in Irish literature, I shall definitely try to check it out.

By the way, thanks for linking to that 'Nosey in Newtown' blog. I like it very much.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm trying to make your tales of doing things inspire me, but mostly they're depressing me (why am I so lazy? argh).

Joke! Well... at least you definitely shouldn't apologise.

But why I'm really posting this comment is to say thank you for letting me know about MGMT, since I bought their CD (well, the recent one) after you compared Oracular Spectacular with that Regurgitator song. Funky music :)

James (H)

[dolorosa-12.livejournal.com]

Wow! I can't believe I've made another MGMT convert. They're fabulous, aren't they. I've been thinking recently they're a little bit Pink Floyd-y, really.

In terms of laziness, just so it makes you feel better, I've spent the past two hours trying to write one paragraph.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, but at least you're trying... (hope it's finished)