Already posting...

19 May 2019: My summer class includes a blog component. We don't officially start until Tuesday, but I gave them the first set of assignments a few days ago and some are always posting. Good stuff so far!

Another Buffy post...

Now that I am thinking of it, I ought to link to a new favorite tumblr I stumbled across: BtVS Confessions. It's sort of like PostSecret for Buffy fans. I really agree with the one below. That scene kills me every time.

Slate's "The Vault"

 

Image source: https://acdc.amherst.edu/view/asc:16630

Slate's "The Vault" is one of my new favorite blogs. Check out today's entry, featuring Emily Dickinson's manuscript fragments. And the subject of this one, from last week, is both fascinating and heart-breaking--it's the image of a pair of tiny handcuffs, used to transport Native American children to government boarding schools. I hope to use it this semester when I teach the writings of Zitkala Sa.

Links, links, links...

Some of these have been in my bookmarks folder for far too long...

1) A great piece about the awesomeness that is Radiolab.

2) A fun article about an arcade that one of my friends in Greensboro has opened up. Go Daniel!

3) A fun tumblr to check out. And although I can understand why its title might confuse you, it is not a bunch of pictures of me hanging out with my friends.

4) Dear Photograph is another great place to visit. 

Two Quick Links...

1) I've been meaning to post this one for a long time: the unaired Buffy pilot. Worth checking out if you are a big Buffy fan. The biggest difference, of course, is the actress playing Willow. You can get more info about the pilot here and here.

2) Holla Back DC! Fighting back against street harassment. There's at least one good 4Cs paper in here, isn't there?

Yeah, it's hot out there, but I want more summer...

I am already not looking forward to the (short!) walk to my sure-to-be-a-replication-of-what-hell-might-feel-like car, and am hanging out here in my nicely air-conditioned office just a bit longer. I want this "historic heat wave" to be OVER. Yet, I am also fighting off a bit of a freak-out about not getting nearly enough scholarship done (yet) this summer. Because--honestly--this darn summer is flying by and I feel like I've wasted some time. Ugh. Talk about yucky, conflicting emotions. With all that said, how about some mindlessly fun links before I get a bit more reading done and then head home?

1) From Gawker, "How to Survive the Heat Wave with No Air-Conditioning." Fortunately, I have AC at home, but I am such a mega-cheapskate that I use it pretty sparingly. Anyway, the tip about using a regular old electric fan made me laugh: "Park the fan nice and close to your face and it's double the pleasure. Pretend you're Tyra Banks at a photo shoot and your weave is just blowing in the wind." I also like their tips about losing your socks. That one is so absolutely true (right down to making sure your feet aren't all stinky!).

2) A fabulous new blog: Catalog Living, which imagines those perfect yet slightly "off" catalog photos from Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, etc through a couple named "Gary" and "Elaine." I will admit to doing some serious coveting while looking through these sorts of catalogs (or for that matter, houses in movies like It's Complicated), but then I always think, "Do people actually have houses like this?" No one I know. And when do we cross that line from "cool conversation piece/decorating element!" to "huh?" My sister Tara is actually pretty good at this. Her house is kind of amazing. I did once scratch my head at her purchase of a ball of twigs for her coffee table. "What will you do with that?" I asked. I don't think she ever answered.

3) Glenn Beck University. Just the title is funny...or horrifying. Whatever.

Random Link Dumping...

...because my bookmark file is getting unruly.

1) Awesome collection of photos, courtesy of The Big Picture, marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The before and after ones are pretty amazing.

2) Metaphors people use to describe their lives. Most days, I'll go with "a journey," although sometimes it feels like "a battle" (yes, I am being dramatic), and when I am teaching, a lot like "a performance."

3) A blog of bank robbery notes. This one is a bit addictive. And lord help me, some of these read like little found poems. I love how some are so short and simple (one simply says "$250,000"). Others are (perhaps not surprisingly) marked by some serious spelling/grammar mistakes. And who knew so many robbers were concerned about dye packs? Finally, gotta love how many of them say please or thank you.

4) Are the Dexter fans out there aware of these animated webisodes about our favorite serial killer's early adventures? Very cool.

5) Poor Dollhouse. It's probably too late to do anything to save this show, but that doesn't mean people won't try viral marketing campaigns.

6) In better Whedonesque news, check out what Nathan Fillion has to say about more Dr. Horrible.

Two quick (completely unrelated) links...

1) Remember this post about Tamara, who graduated from Roanoke with me? Short recap: she wrote a blog about 31 dates in 31 days. Well, how about an ending straight out of a movie? Love it!

2) Via Andrew Sullivan, a really cool chart that helps you understand cell size.

Two quick links...

...to fun blogs.

1) My Parents were Awesome. Great old photographs of cool looking people.

2) 1000 Awesome Things. No explanation needed.

Couple of quick links...

...from The Daily Dish, which has been overflowing with good stuff today.

1) A great new (to me) blog called "Letters of Note." Check out this one and try not to get choked up a bit. There are also lots of more famous notes, like this one.

2) Amazing video footage of a skier trapped in an avalanche and then rescued. Seriously--it's amazingly intense and, in the words of the person who posted it, "I don't think that you could've paid a Hollywood crew to stage something better. The fact that he could've been facing any 360 direction and yet he's looking right up into the sun-filled blue sky with that first full scoop away of the shovel is borderline spiritual."

Forgotten Bookmarks...

A great new must-read for me: Forgotten Bookmarks. If you like Found Magazine, you'll want to add this one to your bookmark list, too.

Three quick links...

1) Fancy Fast Food. The posts at this blog are certainly creative, but they also kind of make me want to throw up.

2) Vanity Fair's executive literary editor, copy editors, and research department take on Sarah Palin's resignation speech. This is all kinds of awesome and I kind of wish they would do it for other political speeches--from both parties, because this kind of poor writing is definitely a bipartisan problem.

3) Les Lye, who played Barth and just about every other adult male character on You Can't Do That on Television, just died. This show was a favorite for my little sister and I when we were kids.

Awful Library Books

A new favorite blog! (Read about the above book here.)

Some more favorites: here and here (a companion to the first one, of course), and here.

And then there's this.

Now I have to say that the historian in me (or at least the literary historian...ugh, that sounds pretentious) doesn't believe any book is really without value. And, importantly, that isn't really the argument these bloggers are making. Check it out here.

Link dumping...

1) What the aliens are watching right now. (Trust me--this one is interesting.)

2) Kate has drawn my attention to My Life is Average. This is one of those A) "it's funny 'cause it's true" and B) "it's funny 'cause I can relate" blogs that threatens (because of A and B) to become kind of sad.

3) This year's Bulwer-Lytton winners. A couple of my favorites:

"The wind dry-shaved the cracked earth like a dull razor--the double edge kind from the plastic bag that you shouldn't use more than twice, but you do; but Trevor Earp had to face it as he started the second morning of his hopeless search for Drover, the Irish Wolfhound he had found as a pup near death from a fight with a prairie dog and nursed back to health, stolen by a traveling circus so that the monkey would have something to ride."

"On a fine summer morning during the days of the Puritans, the prison door in the small New England town of B----n opened to release a convicted adulteress, the Scarlet Letter A embroidered on her dress, along with the Scarlet Letters B through J, a veritable McGuffey's Reader of Scarlet Letters, one for each little tyke waiting for her at the gate."

4) From insidehighered.com: "Dear Plagiarist..."

5) Also, there's this. The music is the best part.

Some quick laughs...

On a rather serious and depressing news day, how about some quick funny or feel-good links?

1) "The Happiest People Ever." Here's my favorite picture so far:



2) You so need to check out this crazy clip from Dixie Carter. At the end, she says, "You're not laughin' at me, are you?" Uh...yes, yes we are. And hiding from you.

3) Finally, via Andrew Sullivan, the surprise wedding reception. This looks like so much fun!

Puppies!

A blog shout-out to my friend Kate, who along with her roommate, is fostering two puppies. Check them out here--and pass along the word to anyone in the DC-metro area who might have a good home for Alice and Alba.

Some link dumping...

The end of the semester seems like a good time to clean up my bookmarks and post some links I've been saving. So let's start with some funny ones:

1) "Texts from Last Night." This one combines hilarity with equal doses of depressing--and sometimes unintentional profundity. A sample: "Is it possible to be promiscuous but in a classy way?"

2) "Awkward Family Photos." This one is awesome. But for all that is good and holy, tell me that this one isn't real!

3) And finally, DickensURL, which converts any URL into the words of Charles Dickens. It's totally random, but kind of fun, especially if you are Dickens geek like I am.

A couple of lists...

1) This one is fun, sweet, and interesting: 1001 rules for my unborn son. I love the brevity of some of the entries.

2) Every once in a while, when I need a mental break (perhaps on a day like today, where I've spent 4 straight hours conferencing with ENGL 102 students), I stop by this list and work my way through a couple of its entries...even the ones I've seen before. Then it's back to work...

Even more link dumping: Literature Edition

Three more:

1) A student brought this up in class today and it reminded me that I had a bookmark about it: A new portrait of Shakespeare?

2) Lots of folks are discussing the sad news about Nicholas Hughes, son of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. This certainly demonstrates the lingering power of mental illness and depression on a family.

3) On a lighter note, be sure to check out this awesome blog that recently came to my attention: How a Poem Happens. And I might as well give another shout-out to my former grad-school colleague, Dan Albergotti, who has an entry there.

Seven weeks to go...

...for the Spring 2009 semester. We're back from break (obviously) and although I came back to school feeling like I'd gotten a whole lot done, I already feel behind (again). A short list of things I need to get done in the next couple of days outside of teaching four classes and all that: my annual report and merit pay raise application, a cfp for SAMLA, a textbook review, scheduling of advising appointments for next week, and a report on the conference I just attended (to the folks who helped fund it). Long story short, I could use another week of break.

This evening, I was about to head home with a big stack of papers to grade and the best of intentions to plow through them tonight. As I pushed open to the door to head outside, I felt a searing pain in my hand. A freakin' wasp that got inside the building had perched itself on the door handle. Lovely. Fortunately, I am not nearly as allergic to stings as I used to be (in fact, I wonder if I am at all), but it sure did hurt. That was enough to throw me off my carefully planned schedule.

Right now, for instance, I should be grading. Instead, I am blogging and catching up on some shows sitting on the DVR.

Anyway, here's are some links that have been clogging up my bookmarks, the first of several link dumps I've got planned for tonight. Let's start with the purely funny and random ones:

First, take a look at yourlogomakesmebarf.com and blackpeopleloveus.com.

Also, leave it to the Japanese to invent stink-free underwear.

Enjoy. More to come...