Mischievous Muse

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Location: Austin, TX, United States

Scholar, Writer, Mother, Dreamer. Editor of Luminarium, an online library for English Literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Diet Comics Con't.

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Stove News

It seems the old stove was "hard-wired" to the wall/floor/whatnot. This is against the building code nowadays where I live, and the building inspector should have noticed it and required it to be fixed before he OK'd the house for sale.

Tomorrow, my new stove arrives. I will have to really convince the delivery people to fix that or I'm in trouble... I'll have one stove in the kitchen, hard-wired and not working, and another, unplugged in the middle of the floor. GAH! If I ever get this new stove installed, it'll be sweet though. Stainless steel, baby!
 

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Sunday, May 27, 2007

Horrible Storm

Bad lightning storm. Stove just fried. Weird. I'm ok. Except now I need to buy new stove >.< turning off comp before that fries too.

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Friday, May 25, 2007

Haiku upon a Rose



          Three years I've waited—
          Suddenly you bloom,
          Quite taking my breath away.
 

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Yeah, Baby, Who's Moving to Fiji With Me?


Your Chances of Being a Multimillionaire: 80%

You have a good chance of being a multimillionaire. Better than most people. You simply have a natural knack for money and the personality for success.

 

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Blogs of Note: Picture Book Junkies

I just ran across the most charming website: Picture Book Junkies, a blog for children's book illustrators. These guys have such talent: check out, for example the mad skills of Heather Powers and the breathtaking Merbaby of Laura Logan. Nice page to visit whether or not you have kids, as long as your inner child is up for it :)


I know I keep saying this, but next life I'm definitely coming back with talent for the illustrative arts.

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More Dieting Cartoons

Nicked from Lasse the Horrible with love

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Thursday, May 24, 2007

The Tudors and the Codpiece

The TudorsSomeone on the Luminarium Discussion Forum asked for the "whats, whys, and hows" of the codpiece, and why the costumers had removed it from the costuming scheme of Showtime's The Tudors. I thought I'd share with you all:
______________________________________________________

The codpiece came into being, according to most historians, due to necessity. Some scholars suggest it was due to the shortening of the doublet to the point that modesty deemed it necessary, since hose were tight, and had to be slit in the front for movement; this could sometimes leave the... umm.... "male parts"... exposed to view.

It became very popular in England during the reigns of the Yorkist kings (Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III), but legends already mention the codpiece in the time of King Edward III. One legend in particular talks of Edward having his codpiece padded to outrageous proportions and ordering his courtiers to do the same, so as to scare the French (they were fighting The Hundred Years' War at this time) by the potency of these "well equipped' Englishmen.

So yes, what started out as a necessity got out of hand over time, as many fashions do; one could think of the codpiece as the padded push-up bra for penises. Henry VIII embraced the fashion enthusiastically, and during his reign the codpiece was "exaggerated in size, the bag was puffed and slashed, and even ornamented with jeweled pins" (Grass, History of Hosiery, 1956). It was the "my codpiece is bigger than yours" syndrome.


Even Henry VIII's armor had a codpiece!

The codpiece's popularity waned after Henry VIII's reign, and disappeared by the end of the century, being replaced by folded material where the parting of the hose was.

To the modern eye, the codpiece is a source of great mirth and ridicule, and that is probably why they removed it from the costuming in the show.

To read more about the codpiece, see:

Modesty to Majesty: The Development of the Codpiece - Beth Marie Kosir
A Brief History of the Codpiece - Renaissance Dance Society
So....what exactly is a Codpiece? - Codpiece International

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More Diet Humor

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Muse 365

I was inspired by Scrivener's Project 365 to start my own photo blog: Muse 365. I'm not much of an artist when it comes to taking pictures, but the object is to improve, and exercising that muscle is the only way to get there, right?
 

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A Fine Frenzy Indeed

I've just discovered something lovely: the music of A Fine Frenzy — the songs of Alison Sudol, whose debut album comes out in July. She cites musical influences ranging from Ella Fitzgerald to Björk; to me she sounds like a mixture of Suzanne Vega, Tori Amos, and Jewel, yet with entirely her own "voice". Many of her songs can be played at A Fine Frenzy's Myspace. I love her lyrical ballads best, my current favorite being "Almost Lover", for which lyrics and music below.





 Almost Lover
(Lyrics by Alison Sudol)

Your fingertips across my skin
The palm trees swaying in the wind,
In my chest

You sang me Spanish lullabies
The sweetest sadness in your eyes
Clever trick

I never want to see you unhappy
I thought you'd want the same for me

Goodbye my Almost Lover
Goodbye my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
Can't you just let me be
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Shoulda known you'd bring me heartache
Almost Lovers always do

We walked along a crowded street
You took my hand and danced with me
Images

And when you left you kissed my lips
You told me you would never never forget
These images, and now

But I never wanna see you unhappy
I thought you'd want the same for me

Goodbye my Almost Lover
Goodbye my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
Can't you just let me be
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Shoulda known you'd bring me heartache
Almost Lovers always do

I cannot go to the ocean
I cannot drive the streets at night
I cannot wake up in the morning
Without you on my mind
So you're gone and I'm haunted
And I bet you would justify it
That I make it that easy
To walk right in and out of my life

Goodbye my Almost Lover
Goodbye my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
Can't you just let me be
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Shoulda known you'd bring me heartache
Almost Lovers always do

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Sugar, Ooh Honey Honey!

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Dieting Day 2: A Little Easier

First of all, let me thank you, each and every one, who posted responses to my diet post. Your overwhelming support and kindness, as well as good tips, made me feel really great. As everyone who's ever dieted knows, it's tough going, especially when you first start, and the feelings of aloneness and self-loathing don't help. The fact that everyone rallied made a big difference for me. Thank you.

Today has been easier. The carb cravings weren't as bad as yesterday (although they're still pretty harsh), and going to the grocery store assured that I could choose foods I liked, which fell into the "good foods." I figured I don't have to eat things I hate, I just have to find foods I like that aren't bad for me or my waistline.

I bought bananas, apples, an orange, 2 kiwi fruit, baby greens, cucumber (Canadian, or hot house cucumber, the kind we have in Finland, not the awful American kind), Roma tomatoes, and baby carrots. I also bought two different juices, which I'll be judicious with.

Here's what I had for dinner tonight (and yes, I know I should have been less liberal with the salad dressing and butter, and I should not have eaten the skin—baby steps). Before anyone freaks out, I didn't eat that whole portion, except for the salad; that's where the doggies come in and help mommy diet.


Yes, it was as good as it looks. If anyone is ever in town, come over and I'll make it for you.

For tomorrow's dinner I got tofu, believe it or not. They make this tofu "ground beef" that is a pretty near substitute for real meat, it actually tastes good. Not that I'm going to stop eating meat, but I thought that might be a good protein boost a few times a week.

I think this whole life change thing is gonna work.

~A

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Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Tickled Pink - Error Message Fun

The error message that popped up on Luminarium, if you ran into a page that was not there, used to be my ISP's standard message: a black screen that said "Error 404" - IP Address has been recorded. I got an email from a long-time visitor and contributor saying it was quite sinister, and I should think about changing it. Quite right.

Here's a broken link, try it to see my new error message - I'm tickled pink about it:

http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/oman.htm

Tehee!

~A

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Dieting


All joking aside, I'm on the first 24 hrs of my diet. And by diet, I don't mean any gimmicks or books or diet pills. It's the "thinking man's diet" in the sense that it just means eating sensibly. It's more about changing the way I eat, because, let's face it, I eat "bad stuff" 24/7.

As most of you know, I'm a carbholic. I eat obscene quantities of bread products: breads, cookies, pastries, crackers, pasta. Furthermore, the potato is my best friend—just think about Bubba's litany about shrimp in Forrest Gump, and that's how I like my potatoes—and don't disregard my love of the noble potato chip. To this already insane intake of carbs, add my love of chocolate and nearly everything named "candy."

Is it any wonder that according to all the Body-Mass Indexes and weight guides online (even the ones from 30 years ago, which liked normal-sized women), I am about 25 lbs (12kg) overweight? All of this weight seems to concentrate on my belly, and the thought of a) ever wearing a bikini again, or b) appearing naked in front of another human being, is horrifying. I feel like a Botero painting (;_;)

Girls, you know how you have one or two pairs of "fat jeans" for when your weight fluctuates? I feel uncomfortable in my "fat jeans", which means... time to lose weight.

I've eaten 1 yogurt, 1 banana, 2 bowls of Special K cereal, some baby carrots, some cheese, and a proper dinner, but my carb-cravings are out the wazoo, making me horribly grumpy. An added grump-factor is that I'm planning on exercising tomorrow, and if there's one thing this lazy couch-potato/computer-potato hates, it's exercise. But I'll be damned if I can't wear my cute summer dresses in a week or two. Damned, I tell ya! Wish me luck.

Yours grumpified,
Anniina
 

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Monday, May 21, 2007

I Wiggle My Toes Lacquered Red

 
I wiggle my toes
     Lacquered red
Like the fire-engine
I wanted to drive when I was little,
          Preferably with a dalmatian.

I wiggle my toes
     Lacquered red
Like my lipstick,
Or the strawberry margarita
          I've never had in Mexico.

I wiggle my toes
     Lacquered red
Like the tight little fists
Of rosebuds,
          Waiting to open in my garden.

I wiggle my toes
     Lacquered red
Like the red words of love
Locked in my heart
          The red words of love I never say.

(AJ, 5-2007)
 

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Sunday, May 20, 2007

Hyperliterature Reading Group


Mark at Hyperliterature is starting up a reading group. Check it out, see if you'd like to join in too :)
 

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Sonnetsday 38



Astrophel and Stella        
(Starlover and Star)        
 
Sonnet III              
 Let dainty wits cry on the sisters nine,
     That, bravely masked, their fancies may be told;
     Or Pindar's apes flaunt they in phrases fine,
     Enam'ling with pied flowers their thoughts of gold;
Or else let them in statelier glory shine,
     Ennobling new-found tropes with problems old;
     Or with strange similes enrich each line,
     Of herbs or beasts with Ind or Afric hold.
For me, in sooth, no Muse but one I know;
     Phrases and problems from my reach do grow,
     And strange things cost too dear for my poor sprites.
How then?  even thus,—in Stella's face I read
     What love and beauty be, then all my deed
     But copying is, what in her Nature writes.

Sir Philip Sidney.

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Saturday, May 19, 2007

My Food Groups

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Friday, May 18, 2007

Haiku on a Moonless Night


The pre-dawn silence
Fades into a hundred songs.
How I miss your voice.
 

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DVD Rental Rap

CRANK (2006)
Jason Statham's char plays an assassin who has been poisoned with a "Beijing Cocktail" which will kill him unless he keeps his adrenaline up. Naturally, he goes after the bad guys who did it. Although I'm a fan of Statham, and this movie features great film school editing tricks, it's not a good flick. Big snooze. C-

Notes on a Scandal (2006)
I love Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench — they got me to rent this film. Overly faux-literary, with not a single likable character, slow pacing, and GWAHHH subject matter, this movie was an absolute painful bomb for me. D

Tristram Shandy - A Cock and Bull Story (2005)
Sounds good as a premise: take a classic novel (Sterne's Tristram Shandy) and interweave it with a modern crew making a film of it. Hey, a similar concept worked for The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981). Difference is, FLT had Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, and even better, it had A PLOT! This movie is charmless, pointless, full of ponces poncing about, no plot, little comedy. One thing this movie does capture, is what it is like to make a movie. C+

Just when I was beginning to lose faith in the Film industry as a whole, I finally got to see a good one. A real movie:

The Last King of Scotland (2006)
James MacAvoy (whom some may remember as Faun Tumnus in "Narnia") plays a young Scottish doctor, who ends up in Idi Amin's Uganda in the late 1970s. Forrest Whitaker gives the performance of a lifetime (for which he won the Oscar). It was without a doubt the best and most honest acting performance in a long time; absolutely staggering. It's saying something, to say that there were scenes in which MacAvoy outshone him. First time feature director MacDonald (who has an Oscar as a documentary director) acquits himself well under what could not have been ideal location shoots. The film is tactile, and the screenplay fluid, based on Floden's excellent book. This movie is by no means pleasant watching, but it is a worthwhile film. The ending, for me, left a smidgen to be desired, and for that reason I give it an A-.

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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

LOST Season III, Episode 21: The Greatest Hits



 "In destinies sad or merry,
True men can but try."
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

I love Charlie — that's what heroes are about. What a fabulous episode. Of course, I also had some pleasure out of the whole conversation about Santa living down the street in Helsinki, and Finland being as cold as the North Pole.

I can't wait for the Season Finale. Eeeeeeeeeeee!
 

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Age Activated ADD

Nicked from Wulfweard the White

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my lawn.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over
at my car and decide my car needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail
on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in
the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table
and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox
when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my cheque book off the table, and see
that there is only one cheque left.
My extra cheques are in my desk in the study, so
I go inside the house to my desk where I find
the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I'm going to look for my cheques, but first I need to push
the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.
I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should
put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke,
a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye -
they need to be watered.

I set the Coke down on the counter,
and I discover my reading glasses
that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk,
but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container
with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember
that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it
back in the living room where it belongs, but first
I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers,
but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back down on the table,
get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then I head down the hall trying to remember
what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

the lawn isn't watered,
the car isn't washed,
the bills aren't paid,
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter,
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only one cheque in my cheque book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
I don't remember what I did with the car keys,
and my neighbor called to tell me he turned off the
hose that was flooding the driveway.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done
today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy
all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is
a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for
it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
 

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Peanuts: Theology

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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Urban Dictionary: Outslang Yourself

*Mom, don't read this one - using foul language*

For those of us who are not 15, extremely cutting-edge, and living in a large American city, current urban slang holds many question marks.  The latest word to have baffled the takers of the Rum and Monkey "How Compatible Are You" -test was the word "unfuckwitted."  Well, a fuckwit is someone who is equal parts a fuckhead and a half-wit. A famous person comes to mind, but I don't need to tell you who, do I?   So it follows that someone who is unfuckwitted, is neither of those things. A great place to look up baffling slang words is

The Urban Dictionary

Since I am "old and grey and full of sleep," to quote Yeats, and none too cool to boot, I find myself referencing it quite a bit, to understand what the hell the younger, cooler peeps are saying....
 

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I'll Be Damned!

Purgatory


"Though you are leaving this life in God's grace, you haven't quite been able to stop youself from sinning. Our God is an angry God, and requires that you serve your time in limbo before you pass through the pearly gates. Some theologians believe that while you are resting here you won't know that eventually you will reach heaven, causing terrible doubts and hopeless speculation. Good luck."

Are You Damned?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

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Monday, May 14, 2007

QUIZ: What Are You?

via History Geek

I'm a generally unfuckwitted, liberal, not-too-generous,
not-too-selfish, relatively well adjusted human being!


What are you?

Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

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Sunday, May 13, 2007

Robert Louis Stevenson: Out of the Shadows

 For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.
I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.
Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879)

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but
to write what you mean; not to affect your reader,
but to affect him precisely as you wish.
Virginibus Puerisque (1881)

It is the mark of a good action that
it appears inevitable in the retrospect.
Reflections and Remarks on Human Life (1898)

When most people think of Robert Louis Stevenson, they probably think about his Treasure Island — visions of pirates, Long John Silver, "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum" and all that. Some may think of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Stevenson, however, was an extremely versatile and prolific writer. In addition to novels, he wrote collections of short stories, poetry, travel narratives, and critical essays, not to mention his vast output of letters. Stevenson was a celebrity in his own time, but future generations relegated him to the children's book shelves, and dismissed him as a great literary mind, leaving him out of the canon of English literature. Fortunately, the tide has turned and appreciation for Stevenson is resurfacing.

I have just finished a new website for Stevenson at Luminarium. If it sounds like your cup of tea, do visit:

Luminarium Robert Louis Stevenson Site


~A
 

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Saturday, May 12, 2007

Mwahahaha

I nicked this from History Geek a while back:

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Eurovision 2007: Helsinki Tonight

Eurovision Song Contest will be airing tonight from Helsinki. A big deal for us Finns, who sometimes still feel like we're the one country in Europe nobody's ever heard of. I listened to the 12 Finalists on the website, and I would say, if past years are any indication on which song wins, it'll be Romania. Upbeat, Pop, Silly. Should appeal to all the judges. None of the songs really did anything for me this year. Kind of a blah offering, and everyone's song lyrics can be summed up by "I love you." Really original, dudes.

Where are the good old days when someone like Johnny Logan could come out of the blue and just blow the competition away?

Johnny Logan, Ireland - Eurovision 1987 Winner

I was seriously crush-o on him. *sigh*
 

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A Dark and Hungry God Arises...

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Doggie Pictures, by Popular Demand

The crowd clamored, and they must be requited. Here are
Boo (Wilbur) and Noo (Ariel). Boo is a pure Wheaten Terrier boy, 5; Noo is a half-n-half Wire Fox Terrier/Poodle girl, 13. As you know, they are the loves of my life.

I'm allergic to dogs, as is my mom, and growing up I never thought I would ever have a dog. But I always kept hoping. Finally one day the doctor told me there were dogs that had hair instead of fur, whose allergens would be so low as to be negligible. I looked for "Any-well" for 9 months, scouring every pet store and pound, and when I saw her, I knew. Before anyone asks, "No, she was not named after Disney's Little Mermaid." She was named after the sprite Ariel in Shakespeare's The Tempest. She's very smart, willful, and bossy, and a total lovebug. I love her fiercely. It's hard to get a good picture of her, because she's a ham and loves to come up close to the lens.



Boo, on the other hand, was a surprise. I had a horrible nightmare one night, in which a little dog needed me, urgently. In the dream the dog was a poodle. Vik and I went to all the local SPCAs but none of them had a needy poodle. In the pet store near one of the SPCAs, there was Wilbur. He was all skin and bones, and his hind legs had atrophied from being in a cage for so long. But he was full of bounce and sunshine, saying "take me, take me." The vet was so angry with Boo's previous 'caretakers', as were we. Boo's legs are fine now, and he's all muscle, but his nose and paws are a little big, since he never grew to be as big as he would have, had he not suffered from neglect. For Boo-Boo life, and everyone in it, is wonderful. He's a big lug, loves to wear bandannas and bounce around the yard like Tigger.


 

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The Wisdom of the Fox



"Tame me," said the Fox.

* * *

"To me, you are just a little boy, no different from a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. You will be unique to me in all the world. To you, I will be unique in all the world."

* * *

"You see the wheat-fields there? I do not eat bread; wheat is of no use to me. The wheat-fields mean nothing to me. And that is sad. But you have hair the color of gold. Think how wonderful it will be when you have tamed me! The golden wheat will remind me of you, and I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat."

* * *

"Men no longer have time to understand anything. They buy things ready-made at stores. But there is no store where one can buy friendship, and so men no longer have any friends. If you want a friend, tame me."

* * *

And the Little Prince tamed the Fox.
And when the time of his departure drew near,

"Ah," said the Fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince.
"I never wanted to hurt you; but you wanted me to tame you..."

"This is true," said the Fox.

"But now you are going to cry!" said the Little Prince.

"This is true," said the Fox.

"Then it has done you no good at all!"

"It has," said the Fox, "because of the color of the wheat-fields."

* * *

"Goodbye," said the Fox. "And now here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the Little Prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

"It is the time you have spent on your rose that makes your rose so important."

"It is the time I have spent on my rose..." said the Little Prince, so that he would be sure to remember.

"Men have forgotten this truth," said the Fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."

"I am responsible for my rose," the Little Prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

* * *

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince. (AJ Transl.)
 

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A Plague on Both Your Houses!

I've spent the whole day refreshing myself on the Black Death. I first became fascinated by it after reading Connie Willis' wonderful sci-fi novel Doomsday Book, in which an Oxford history student is sent to the Middle Ages to study everyday living, but gets accidentally sent to December 1348, when the Black Plague first arrives in Oxfordshire. The latest book I read on the plague was J. Kelly's The Great Mortality. I'm working on an article for the Luminarium Encyclopedia on the plague, specifically as it relates to the English Middle Ages and Renaissance. My head is swimming with thoughts of fleas and buboes, blackening skin, whole villages wiped out in a matter of days... gory stuff. I wonder what my dreams will be like tonight. Perhaps tomorrow I should work on a page of fairy tales....
 

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Tuesday, May 08, 2007

The Tudors, Episode 7 - Enter the Plague

Dance of DeathWhat a fabulous episode this last episode of Showtime's "The Tudors" was... after episodes of soap opera and romancing in Tudor gardens, galleys, and four-posters, the "sweating sickness" ravages first the countryside, then London itself.
[[A thing to note here, the "sweating sickness" was a different disease from what we now call the plague (i.e., the Bubonic plague, which struck England first in 1348 with occasional comebacks); but the various virulent epidemics which hit England in the Middle Ages and Renaissance were commonly all called "plagues" by the populace.]]

Henry VIII was notoriously frightened of sickness in general, the sweating sickness in particular — with good reason. The outbreaks could kill thousands of people in a matter of days. I delighted in the scene where Henry opens the royal medicine cabinet and introduces the supposed cure-alls and preventatives against sickness. This is the kind of detail that makes the show superb.

Latimer tells the King, in his opinion the cures are of little worth, but suggests exercise; Wolsey, who has just dispatched Gardiner and Fox to Pope Clement VII, tries to ward of the sickness by eating oranges. Not a bad idea, actually; vitamin- C can at least boost one's immune system.

Fleeing the Plague

Queen Catherine is sent to Wales to be with the Princess Mary, Anne Boleyn to her father's Hever Castle, while Henry stays in the palace with a bare minimum of servants. Sir Thomas More gathers his family around for prayer and tells them the plague is sent upon them by God, because of a greater sickness sweeping Europe — Lutheranism.

The mis-en-scene is staggering in its authenticity and effectiveness. The palace without its bright lights and courtiers fluttering about like butterflies seems like a living tomb; a gorgeous aerial view of London, all dark save for plague fires burning, cries of "Bring out your dead" piercing the silence... it is eerie and effective. The gravediggers digging a large grave with old skulls and arm bones cannot help but put one in mind of "Alas, poor Yorick!"

Anne and Wolsey both catch the sickness, but pull through. The King's friend, Compton, is not so lucky. After the sickness passes, the court gathers to hear a mass for the dead, and the audience is treated to a heartbreakingly beautiful composition by Thomas Tallis, sung by the little choirboys of Paul's.

The TudorsI ask you, does it get any better than this? Every week I wait for the second the next episode becomes available. I need to own this when they finally sell it.

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