Renaissance Girl

Hello everyone! Here's a little This Day In History for everyone's edification & enjoyment.

On this day in...

1521: Ferdinand Magellan was killed in the Philippines.

1570: Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V. Go Lizzy.

1667: Milton sells the copyright to Paradise Lost.

& my personal favorite: 4977 B.C., the universe was created, according to Kepler! We gotta have a party for that one!

The epitaph we only can dream of.

Obama promises major investment in science. My god, this just makes me so damn happy that this is our president!

The only thing you need to know about swine flu is this. (Okay, I'm kidding... & remember to wash your hands!)

Like Crayons? Click here!

This is a rad Postsecret; it makes me want to wear goggles & play superhero.
& I love this one,for the phrasing of it all.

I'm fairly ambivalent about A Softer World, but I found this one hilarious.
(Probably also because it reminded me of a line from Breakin' Hearts & Takin' Names, "I like my men like I like my coffee: Stupid.")

This xkcd makes me laugh every time. Also, I want to start doing that.

Okay, that's enough links for now. I think, as exhausted as I still am, I am going to go to the gym before tech starts! Ooo. I feel good about that.

I am tired, in that deep lethargic way where my mind wants to curl up in a tiny corner & go away from everything.
Especially my history paper, which...oh, it's just so frustrating in so many little ways, & it's one of those projects that I'm interested in vaguely but just cannot make myself buckle down & do anything.
I have vague thesis ideas, & vague plans for structure, & vague knowledge about things I know I should know more about, & a totally concrete aversion to the entire thing.

I'm just so over school, & this--even though I have two other classes--this paper feels like the last giant hurdle I have to wrangle a way over before I get to be finished with something, you know? & it's just...staring me in the face & being implacable & frustrating. Agh.

This paper on the William Robinson murder is going a little faster than I'd thought, although I still think it's silly. I am, however, made happier by the hilarity of primary sources documenting a murder investigation:

"28 August 67
Col. Sec.

Did your Excellency notice that the foreman of the Jury in this case is apparently the man suspected of committing the murder — ?"

...what. This is what you call a twisted legal process!

I have no more words. :D

The second post! Day 2 of the weekend extravaganza, in Belfast. Well, beginning with Saturday night. We went down the street to the Bot (the Botanic Inn), a bar that had been reccommended to us by a northerner at the Gaiety. It was loud and crazy but loads of fun; we got drinks and danced around & were talked to by drunk boys, including one who butted into our group, put one arm around Charlotte and the other around me & started swaying back and forth with us like we were at a folk rock concert, and another who was flirting hardcore with Nora, mostly about her hair.

In the morning, Kate, Lee, Nora and I woke up early and tried to find a Catholic church to go to mass, it being the first Sunday of Advent and all. We had the lady at the hostel give us a map and draw on it where to go, but we still managed to get lost, our feet soaked within minutes, and getting very cold. We managed to somehow nearly get onto Falls road, but thankfully we finally found the church. There was still an hour before mass so we went to McD's for breakfast (classy, I know), & then back for mass. It was short and simple, but really lovely.

We found a cafe to get some warm beverages (harder than you'd think...everything is closed until about 1pm on Sundays), and met up with the other girls, to go on a Black Cab Tour. This is where a taxi driver will take you around Belfast and tell you about the politics and history. If you're lucky you get to go to both sides. We were lucky.

Our driver (who never gave us his name) first took us up Shankill road, which is the Protestant side of Belfast suburbs. Falls road is the Catholic side. They're separated by the Peace wall, and no one really crosses sides at all. In the city centre, Catholics and Protestants mix with no problems; there isn't really a lot of violence anymore. But still no one goes to the other side of the wall. We stopped off Shankill road to see the murals. Similar to Derry, people on both sides of the wall have painted murals about their history in the conflict (though in Derry as far as I know it's mostly the Catholics?).



(This one's a mural of Protestants defending their homes from an attack. The words read, Can it change? We believe!)

( Belfast murals, etc )

Now we're in our last week of classes...everything finishes for Enriqua tomorrow. Friday is a semi-showcase of devising stuff at the Gaiety (should do my research (read: watch Bugs Bunny cartoons on youtube) for that soon), & rehearsal with Antoinette. The weekend is our own. Monday and Tuesday we have rehearsals; Wednesday is the showcase; Thursday is Peter's Seagull reading; Friday is packing & cleaning the apartment & last hanging out with people; next Saturday we all go our separate ways. 10 more days.

Through a convoluted series of links, I came across an article entitled Proof that Shakespeare did not Write Shakespeare. I'm really fond of it, mostly because it's hilarious, and not very well written. The author makes the assertion that a woman wrote the plays, mostly because women are better writers than men: "this is a proven generic fact." Ahaha! As the Shakespeare Geek Blog said, "I think perhaps that a woman should have written his article for him."

Some choice excerpts (italics and parentheses are mine, mostly pointing out parts I find particularly amazing):

"Some, mainly Americans, believe that there was no such person. A woman from New England named Delia Bacon who taught Shakespeare in school went to England in 1853 to try to dig him up to prove that there was no body in his grave, just a bag of rocks. She went to his grave at night with shovel in hand, but the British authorities, in furtherance of the scheme or conspiracy to hide the fact that there was no Shakespeare, stopped her from digging him up." (I'm not sure which is funnier--the image of a schoolteacher trying to dig up Will, or the implication that the Brits have a cover-up operation going on.)

"Further evidence that Shakespeare did not write Shakespeare: The exact date of his birth is unknown. Few documents or verifiable sources of Shakespeare's life exist, much fewer than would be expected of such a prominent figure. Originals of none of his manuscripts have survived. Not one document exists giving evidence of anyone ever seeing him. Not even his own family ever referred to him as a famous playwright." (What does he want? Journal entries from every prominent politico saying 'Oooohla, today I spoke with the famous playwright William Shakespeare!'
1. While we don't have the date of his birth we do have it of his baptism, which was the date mostly recorded during that period anyway.
2. We have a good sight more documents on Shakespeare than we have on other people in the period (does this author think that actually having historical documents is the norm? Is there a large document preserver these things are supposed to go in?)
3. Actually, we have plenty of records involving him and the Globe, both financial records, and playlists listing him as an actor. If people didn't see him on stage...well, damn, he must have been a mighty fine Ghost.)

...I'm being a terrible mocker, aren't I? It's not that I don't mind the authorship debate; I think it's fascinating. I just think one should do a little more research first.

And oh my god, this guy. This website is bizarre. His home page has tons of different links...videos for him running for governor somewhere? Talking about his hard drive recovery and all the books he's written? Plus this: "DNA Tests have proven that I am the father of my daughter Sandra. With these test results (in PDF Format), anyone who believes that I might be their father can have their own DNA test done and compare the results with the data I have posted and determine with a fair degree of certainty the likelihood that I am their father."

....there are no words.

Ah, I love historians: "...out of curiosity, I went through 780 [Venetian] wills..." Ehehe. Gawd.

Watch me, in thirty years I'll be using that excuse. "Just out of curiosity...I read five hundred incomprehensible documents of Roman law. Just out of curiosity, I traveled for eight months through Ireland collecting folktales. Just out of curiousity, I got lost in the sewers under Manhattan for a week. It was research!" Etc, etc. Hee.

Have read most of my homework for tomorrow (The Song of Roland); am about to finish it. It's really strange--the tenses in the translation, because of the way the Old French was written, are truly bizarre:
'Marsile was white with rage;
he breaks the seal and threw aside the wax.
He looks at the letter and saw the written message...'

Rather double-take-inducing.

Last night Jared (from PCMS!) called me. Which was definetely a double-take, as a) I haven't talked to him in about three years and b) I have no idea how he got this number. It was really weird. He wants to catch up, which I suppose I ought to do. Still, very weird...

Tomorrow I am seeing Melissa! Hurrah and yay! And then Friday is Naka's. YES.

Have put on Neverwhere for background company. Hee. Suspect it may become rather more foreground. Ahhh, Neverwhere...I forcibly lent it to Chris the other day. (Am forcibly lending Good Omens to Erin, as well.) This summer I really want to explore the Seattle underground...I'm sure there's interesting things down there. Terribly much. I feel, at the moment, as if I haven't got enough weirdness in my life; I'm not sure what to do to remedy that. Write, I suppose; not that I have time for that. But then, I haven't got time to go wandering about in Seattle Below either, so.
I don't think Seattle has any tunnels quite so large and well-kept up as the tube ones, but then I might be wrong. It's been a while. Oooh, I want to go explore....

There is something rather wonderful about sitting on the floor surrounded by piles of books and papers and notes and information, rewriting this history paper. It's frustrating, sure, but for once in a good way. I think I have most of the information I need, which means I just have to edit the paper and put the new information in. Which, geeky as it might be, I actually enjoy.

I feel so collegiate. Hee.

(I get to pick my classes for next quarter on Thursday. For Honors I have History (Crusades! High Middle Ages!), Literature (Dante! *geek-squeal*), and Art History (I hope Renaissance, but I'm not sure); and for my fourth class I am looking into either Astronomy, Biology (If I can pull getting into a 400-level Darwinian theory class, that would rock), or Drama, either Playwriting or Costume Design. Coo-eee...)

Also CSNY is reminding me in a lovely way of summer. Mmmm yay.

Because I am an utter geek, of the Elizabethan drama variety, and damn proud:
MARLOWE: Gay Athiest Spy! (He likes boys. He talks shit about Moses. He Fights Crime.)
Because, well, drama geeks need TV shows too.

Was Dad's birthday today. (Happy birthday dad!) I had dinner at home and hung out and watched part of Buckaroo Banzai, Adventures in the 8th Dimension. To which I can only say, "wtf?" with a silly grin on my face.

Internally, I am flipping out about the amount of homework I have to do. Outwardly, I'm too tired to care. Dad suggested that I go talk to Madsen, irregardless of the fact he isn't technically my adviser anymore. I may just do that.

Also, I need some Bathhouse love. *hopeful look* Party? *snerk*