End of semester
I'm not posting as often these few weeks because of end-of-semester chaos.
I've done this before with a kid - but never before with a new baby. Plus that makes it two kids. It's all part of the way I'm living my life backwards, like Merlin as portrayed by T.H. White. Some of my old friends now have kids of their own going through the same thing.
I've got a couple of weeks to write two papers and complete one thesis proposal. There is a lot of reading and prep work, but the fact is that I do the most important work inside my head, before I even begin to take notes. However that makes even me nervous as the deadlines approach and I haven't set fingers to keyboard yet.
In case you're interested, what I'm doing is: 1) designing a study (interviews most likely) of foreign-language media in Oklahoma, 2) a rhetorical analysis of Robert Emmet's speach on the occasion of his being sentenced to death in 1803, and 3) an essay arguing that the study of mass media effects and propaganda should begin with the study of classical rhetoric.
* And about Robert Emmet and other Irish rebels, I sometimes wonder why a nation known as "Britains nursery of soldiers" produced so many spectacularly incompetent revolutionaries?
* And media... it's interesting that Imus got canned, but now evidently Rosie O'Donnell has too - or at least left The View by hearty mutual agreement. Do you suppose the audiences are getting tired of no-class, trash-talking bullies?
OK, perhaps I don't believe it either.
* What gives that we have to wait until 2008 for new Battlestar Galactica? Is production of episodes really slow because of special effects or what? This is one of the few shows I've ever followed that kept consistently ahead of me. I've never anticipated where the most important plot lines have gone, and that's saying a lot.
* Worse, I've picked up a new habit - Rome. I'm not going to see any more of that for several months either. Rome feels more like history than any movie or TV series I've ever seen.
Notice something about Rome? Reviews by Conservatives I've read rave about it, in spite of the fact that there's a lot of explicit sex.
* We've also found a new sitcom - Notes from the Underbelly. I wonder if anyone who hasn't gone through the pregnancy thing, either pregnant or partner, can really appreciate it? It's the first new sitcom I've enjoyed enough to follow since Scrubs, and I wonder why that is?
* God I miss Titus! Sort of a sitcom, but dark and very, very edgy.
I've done this before with a kid - but never before with a new baby. Plus that makes it two kids. It's all part of the way I'm living my life backwards, like Merlin as portrayed by T.H. White. Some of my old friends now have kids of their own going through the same thing.
I've got a couple of weeks to write two papers and complete one thesis proposal. There is a lot of reading and prep work, but the fact is that I do the most important work inside my head, before I even begin to take notes. However that makes even me nervous as the deadlines approach and I haven't set fingers to keyboard yet.
In case you're interested, what I'm doing is: 1) designing a study (interviews most likely) of foreign-language media in Oklahoma, 2) a rhetorical analysis of Robert Emmet's speach on the occasion of his being sentenced to death in 1803, and 3) an essay arguing that the study of mass media effects and propaganda should begin with the study of classical rhetoric.
* And about Robert Emmet and other Irish rebels, I sometimes wonder why a nation known as "Britains nursery of soldiers" produced so many spectacularly incompetent revolutionaries?
* And media... it's interesting that Imus got canned, but now evidently Rosie O'Donnell has too - or at least left The View by hearty mutual agreement. Do you suppose the audiences are getting tired of no-class, trash-talking bullies?
OK, perhaps I don't believe it either.
* What gives that we have to wait until 2008 for new Battlestar Galactica? Is production of episodes really slow because of special effects or what? This is one of the few shows I've ever followed that kept consistently ahead of me. I've never anticipated where the most important plot lines have gone, and that's saying a lot.
* Worse, I've picked up a new habit - Rome. I'm not going to see any more of that for several months either. Rome feels more like history than any movie or TV series I've ever seen.
Notice something about Rome? Reviews by Conservatives I've read rave about it, in spite of the fact that there's a lot of explicit sex.
* We've also found a new sitcom - Notes from the Underbelly. I wonder if anyone who hasn't gone through the pregnancy thing, either pregnant or partner, can really appreciate it? It's the first new sitcom I've enjoyed enough to follow since Scrubs, and I wonder why that is?
* God I miss Titus! Sort of a sitcom, but dark and very, very edgy.
posted by Steve @ 10:25 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:07 AM,
Brian Dunbar said…
I sometimes wonder why a nation known as "Britains nursery of soldiers" produced so many spectacularly incompetent revolutionaries?
Soldiers and revolutionaries have different skill sets.
And too ... if you're a successful revolutionary you're a) out of a job and b) they can't sing bloody-minded pub songs about you. No incentive to win, just to try hard and loose in a grand and romantic way.
At 7:15 PM,
History Snark said…
I noted the same quote as Brian. But when I read it, I thought of a line from "The Eagle has landed". It allegedly quotes a German officer that was sent to Ireland in WWII to try and stir up trouble. The line was something along the lines of "The IRA knows how to die for Ireland, but not how to fight for her."
So I guess Brian is right: the good fighters join the Army, the poor ones stay home and rebel.
But at least they die gloriously, and inspire interesting songs.
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