Beyond Selidor

I'm meant to be packing for my trip to Ireland, but, guess what, I'm online, flinging links at you.

First up, I've been blogging epically. The release of the new Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, sparked a bit of discussion on the 'Pub. I came to the conclusion that I read the books not for the magic, but for their theme of overcoming one's history. This caused me to blog at length on Geata Póeg na Déanainn.

Then I posted my weekly post on Longvision. It's about genre, and whether it's necessary.

A couple of things have caught my eye on the internet recently. The first is an absolutely excellent post by Justine Larbalestier. She is speaking out about her anger that although her latest book, Liar, has a black protagonist, her US publisher's marketing department insisted on a cover with a white girl on it. It's a particularly timely post, and shows that the publishing world, like society at large, still has far to go with issues of race.

This is a New York Times article about Pottermania and nostalgia among Gen Y. I've been talking about my generation's early-onset nostalgia for months now, but I disagree with the author of the article that this nostalgia was brought about by September 11. Real, ordinary mundane life is the culprit.

Speaking of Gen Y's nostalgia, ellevee has a great post of all the wonderful things that future generations will miss out on. Scroll down a bit to find this. I remember being aware of this when I took a photo of my (then) four-year-old cousin, and he turned over my camera to see the photo. My camera wasn't digital, and it was beyond his comprehension that it didn't have a little screen where he could check out all the photos I'd taken.

A while ago, I planned to write a rantpost about how bad Season 3 of Robin Hood was. Now, I don't have to because ravenya03 has done it for me.

A lot of people are asking if I've had a chance to watch 'Epitaph One', the Dollhouse season finale, and the answer is, so far, no. I will eventually get around to it, but I'll be away from the internet all next week while I'm in Ireland, so I won't be able to see it for a little while.

In its latest episode, the BBC series Robin Hood didn't just jump the shark. It flung itself joyfully over that shark, shouting 'Woohoo! Look at me! I am jumping over a shark!' While setting the shark on fire. With a flaming arrow. While the shark was under water.

I was willing to give this season the benefit of the doubt, but I'm almost at the end of my patience. There are three more episodes, and I'm hanging on grimly to see how it ends, but it's bringing me very little joy.

I'm the lunatic in ur cafes, laughing crazily in the corner

Today I was sitting in My Favourite Cambridge Cafe Whose Name I Will Not Divulge Because Then It Would Always Be Too Crowded And I Would Never Get A Table. I had brought Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman with me to read. I got as far as the list of Dramatis Personae before I had to leave, as I was laughing so much I thought everyone in the cafe would think I was a nutcase. Here were some of the gems:
Crowley (An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards)
Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer (A Witchfinder)
Anathema Device (Practical Occultist and Professional Descendant)
Madame Tracy (Painted Jezebel [mornings only, Thursdays by arrangement] and Medium)
Full Chorus of Tibetans, Aliens, Americans, Atlanteans and other rare and strange Creatures of the Last Days.

I adore Pterry and Neil Gaiman.

Links
When I looked at yesterday's Irregular Webcomic it looked very familiar. Surely not, I thought. That looks exactly like the main quad at Sydney Uni. Then I scrolled down and read the commentary. Oddly enough, it was modelled on Sydney Uni, jacaranda tree and all! And Sydney Uni's modelled on Cambridge, which is even cooler.

Have some swing dancers dancing in front of Parliament House, thanks to the Riot Act. You've gotta love those Canberrans.

Raphael is going to be blogging about his trip to the UK here. (I suspect that everyone who knows him and reads my blog knows this already, but oh well.)

Life
Well, I suppose I should do something productive today. I'm meant to be writing an article for the newspaper, but I've been putting it off. Now my editor's written to me suggesting it be 'broader'. Any broader, and this article's going to wind up longer than my dissertation. *sigh*

Edited to add:
TV
I don't have anything much to say, except that Dollhouse keeps getting better and better. The new series of Robin Hood, on the other hand, is just getting worse and worse. The replacement Djaq new Girl Outlaw Kate (dubbed 'Blondie' by the good folks at Obernet) is exceptionally annoying. Gisbourne's mopey, Robin's angsty and the addition of Friar Tuck to the gang does little to cover the fact that this was one season too many.