Do Vote

.... because the whole world is sort of depending on you.






From Karen's blog.

Speaking of Books

Ana, a reader from Portugal, reviewed THE LILY BRAND on her blog and gave it a B+. Yay! *Sandy blows a kiss down south to Portugal*

Speaking of books, among the novels I read in the past few weeks was Teresa Medeiros's latest release, SOME LIKE IT WICKED. Teresa is an author whose books are like warm, cuddly blankets, with which you want to snuggle up on your couch on a cold winter's day: to escape an unwanted wedding, Catriona Kincaid marches into Newgate Prison and strikes a bargain with a disgraced nobleman, Simon Westcott, the enfant terrible of London society. Together they travel to the Highlands in order to save Catriona's clan and find her brother -- but a villain is already hot on their heels. And in the end, what they find in the Highlands is not quite what Catriona has expected. This was a thoroughly enjoyable read.
A friend of mine (yes, I'm looking at you, Esther) got me hooked on Patricia Briggs's Mercedes Thompson series. I've read the first book, MOON CALLED -- it's fast and furious and great fun to read. And the hero(es)! Oh, the hero(es)!!! Scrumptious, super-sexy werewolves. Hmm. :)

I also tried Deanna Raybourn's SILENT IN THE GRAVE, but for some reason the book and I didn't really fit. I guess my former folklore professor is to blame: I know too much about death in the Victorian Age... :)

Winter Haiku

I'm thinking about doing personalised Christmas cards this year. With some nice, religiously neutral picture and a winter haiku (written by yours truly). Unfortunately, my haiku-skills are not quite what they used to be (wrote some really nice haiku in 2004 for the Ladies of Lallybroch Lit Forum Christmas Post). Hmph. The best I've come up with so far is:

Old Grandfather Frost
Tiptoeing around your house,
Makes ice bloom on glass.

And:

Bak'd apple, clovers,
Cinnamon, nutmeg and pine --
The scents of winter.

(Perhaps I should simply take one of the 2004 haiku ...)

Uh-oh

Have I already mentioned that this is a horrible semester? This is a most horrible semester indeed. The introduction of the new degree programmes has resulted in chaos and confusion. The registration day alone was - oh my gosh - awful beyond words. It was like Ragnarök. (Without the giant snake.) (And, of course, nobody spoke Norse and the sun didn't get eaten either.)

I'm trying to push my PhD thesis along, but sometimes it seems as if I were moving along at a snail's pace. A few days ago it took me the whole afternoon to write one measly paragraph on metafiction. Duh.

The only good thing is that the people in my Gaskell seminar seem to be really motivated. At least lots of them participated in the in-class discussion on Monday. Yay! But on the other hand, the people in my history course (yes, it's the "From the Ice Age to Maggie Thatcher in 9 Weeks" again) don't seem to get my jokes. (Or they're still exhausted after all the fighting at Ragnarök. Who knows?)

The Horror Schwab is Back!

I saw this on Carolyn Jewel's blog -- didn't I tell you I'm the Horror Schwab? *g* Besides, parts of these past few weeks did resemble a horror film (I'm thinking of this semester's registration day -- uh-oh).

Your result for How Long Would you Survive in a Horror Film?...

The Killer

68% chance of survival!

You would think the hero/heroine would out survive the villain, but that's rarely the reality in a horror film. Sure, when they tossed your body through that meat grinder and cooked your severed head in battery acid it looked like you were done for good, but the chances of the killer staying dead forever are extremely slim. Ok, so you'll probably be stabbed, shot, burned, run over and even exorcised at some point but as the star of the movie, you'll always find a way to come back.

Congratulations! This is the highest score you could have gotten!

Some villains you should look to for inspiration: Pinhead from the Hellraiser series; Pennywise, IT; The Firefly Family, House of 1000 Corpses; Krug, Junior, Weasel and Sadie, Last House on the Left; and Angela Baker, Sleepaway Camp

All possible results:

Jock/Cheerleader

The Black Guy

The Horror Aficionado

The Hero/Heroine

The Killer

Please remember to rate, but more importantly, please message me if you've found any blatant errors (especially with the results page and links). Thanks!

Take How Long Would you Survive in a Horror Film? at HelloQuizzy

Back Home

I had a lovely time at the Anglistentag in Tübingen: I had a successful conference (got to know lots of new people!) and thoroughly enjoyed the town itself. The old town of Tübingen is one of those picture-perfect German places, with lots of black-and-white buildings, narrow alleys, and a castle (yay!). In a word: it's very pretty indeed!

Coming Home

That's what I'm doing today. I'm going to be less vocal about it than this cat, though. *g*


Reminds me of the way Pünktchen often threw a temper tantrum after I'd gone to bed and jumped against the bedroom door.

Something to Make You Laugh Out Aloud

Cats: better than any alarm clock! *g*

Food Court Musical

Those Improv Everywhere guys are the greatest!

Totoro!

My favourite Studio Ghibli film. It's cute beyond words. :)

Ze Kiss!!!

You know, there is a big advantage about teaching an undergrad seminar on Elizabeth Gaskell this winter: it gives me the bestest excuse ever to watch my favourite scenes from NORTH & SOUTH again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again ...

Like this one:

Off the Blog, but still Thinking of You :-)

Since I'm in Tübingen from Sunday to Thursday, I thought it would be nice to prepare some fun stuff for you to enjoy in my absence. Therefore I put together a mini-collection of YouTube videos.

ENJOY!!!!

Off to Tübingen

Will leave hearth and home, blog and kittehs for a few days to attend a conference in Tübingen, in the south of Germany. Will be back next week.

Betthupferl

I'm being quoted. Or rather, somebody refers to one of my academic articles. How exciting! :)

TMT: Negotiating Gender Relations: Penny Jordan's They're Wed Again

I've just posted a short analysis of Penny Jordan's They're Wed Again, which is part of the Mills & Boon Centenary Collection, on Teach Me Tonight. You can check it out here.

They're Wed Again is a rather sweet second-chance-at-love story. Here's the blurb:

When Belle found herself seated next to her ex-husband Luc at a wedding, she knew there would be fireworks. She still believed that he was her one true love -- and this was the perfect setting to rekindle the flame of their past passion.

Update on ze Kitteh plus Trouser Crisis

Thanks bunches for the cheering up and the good wishes, Laura and Carolyn! Jago seems to be somewhat better than on Monday, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that the new treatment is working after all (even if he views the dietary cat food that's supposed to be good for him with disdain and refuses to eat it) (cats!!!).

~*~


I really like academic conferences (they're good for networking purposes and chances are you'll get to hear some good papers, too), but oh my gosh, the question what to wear is always driving me demented! (It doesn't really help that I indulged in my love for cookies in the past few months ...) I'll attend the "Anglistentag" (= meeting of German university teachers of British lit) next week and have to look smart and professional (in contrast to the dress code at a certain annual academic SF&F conference held in Florida, flip-flops, jeans and tee-shirt do not constitute looking smart and professional at the Anglistentag - 'tis a shame). Do you know what I hate even more than going to the dentist? Can you guess? Yes, indeed, it's going shopping for clothes, especially for trousers. My patience with shopping, clothes and shopping centres generally wears thin after about half an hour. And today it took me three (THREE!!!!) hours to find a pair of black trousers that fitted over my bum, weren't too long or too short or so high-waisted that sitting down in them would make me feel sick. Argh! Argh! Argh! (At one point I considered sitting down and bawling my eyes out.)

But to make up for the horrid trouser crisis, the Goddess of Shopping and Malls granted me a boon and let me find a really, really nice blazer. It was love at first sight! :)