Tragedy Tomorrow. . . Comedy Tonight!

Oh did you see me

Mon, 21 May 2012 20:43:35 GMT

I'm going to miss the terrimazing Worlds announcers, with their laconic delivery and creative name pronunciations :'(
(I'm sure their pronunciations for many players were more accurate than NHL announcers', but not so much for the Canadians :P)

Go to 11:50 of this video you won't regret it! HAPPY RUSSIANS :D

Real life has been very good! Very tiring what with attending evening seminars that get me home 9 or 10pm, but good. Also I found a thing at the archive that proves a certain phrase was used prior to 1730 to describe the British-Cherokee relationship, and it may end up just being a footnote, but it is awesome.

Emotionally though, I have been all over the map, between academic contented exhaustion, new-relationship giddiness, and the utterly gross feeling that a friend of mine doesn't care to be my friend anymore. I would like to focus on the contented and giddy, please and thanks.

In conclusion: I finally figured out why I get ear-wormed when I read "South Carolina" (which is frequently!)

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Lepore, The Name of War

Mon, 21 May 2012 08:42:52 GMT

The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity, Jill Lepore (Vintage Books/Random House 1999).

Lepore uses primarily literary-type analysis to delve into the personal perspectives and experiences of King Philip's War (1675-76). Lepore employs a very effective thematic organization to the book, which I think she is particularly able to do because the events of the war occurred over such a short period of time. She also balances a very narrative style focused on individuals with incisive analysis of their words (or gestures, or silences). She also shows her work very well as to how she has perceived the voices and opinions of individuals and groups who did not leave written records. However, her final chapter takes the speculative approach to the extreme in a way that feels manufactured for a neat thematic conclusion rather than to provide particular insight into the material.

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Fri, 18 May 2012 21:32:23 GMT

ATTN: anyone who has talked to me about how there should be more wives/girlfriends in hockey fic because it would be generally awesome and also smoking hot: run, don't walk to The moon, on her horses, blushed by cccccontroversy. It is Daniel Alfredsson/Birgitta Backman/Erik Karlsson and so great!

I just got in from seeing Avengers Assemble - HOLLYWOOD EXPLOSIONS \o/ That was fun!

Also I just put in a load of laundry, so if you're around you should definitely come talk to me so I don't fall asleep before my pajamas are dry! :D?

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fandom events!

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:59:02 GMT

Want to know how much my sleep patterns have changed since I moved to England? I'm looking at hockeyrarepairs thinking I'm going to have to stay up till 1am for prompt claiming? D: 1am! is late! I have become an old woman :/ That's ok, I'm pretty sure the anticipation of knowing what genius pairings have been prompted will keep me up just fine!

On the topic of fic exchanges, with all the excitement going on in fandom right now, I feel the need to say, offseasonmatch is going to be happening again this year! It feels very weird to say that before the playoffs are even over, but if disreputable post-game hook-up fics are your thing, pencil it in for the end of July/start of August :D :D :D

And also I'm sortof brainstorming how it would work to run a primer exchange/fest (I think I have a good idea of how to do it) but I don't know if there's just too much going on these days? I was thinking having it between hockeyrarepairs and offseasonmatch but maybe next fall is better? Only that's a long time to sit on an idea! What do you guys think?

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Pugh, Records of the Colonial and Dominions Offices

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:20:26 GMT

The Records of the Colonial and Dominions Offices Public Record Office Handbooks No. 3, R. B. Pugh (Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1964).
Read: for research

This is a finding-aid type thing that has really useful information in sections one and two about the history of British parliamentary administration of colonial affairs and the archival history of the Colonial Office papers. Of particular note is that all of the Colonial Office records from 1660-1782 were reorganized in the 19th and early 20th century according to geographic subject.

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Hockey Fic: Laugh When the Sun is Out

Wed, 09 May 2012 06:49:12 GMT

Title: Laugh When the Sun is Out
Fandom: NHL hockey: Edmonton Oilers
Pairing: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins/Jeff Petry/Jordan Eberle/Taylor Hall
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: ~1400 words
Content Notes: No standard notes apply.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction.
Author’s Notes: The idea was entirely cccccontroversy’s really, whether she knew I’d take her seriously ;) It was only fair she beta it (thank you! ♥). Title and cut-text from the Beatles’ Good Day Sunshine.

Summary: The smiley-est foursome. PWP. Inspired by this gif.

( I feel good, in a special way )

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take the rain as read

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:49:20 GMT

Monday's like Sunday, for a list:

I signed up for hockeyrarepairs, so excited! rarepairs you guys!
I've gone all avoidy on the consolidating emails/gmail thing. So if you left a comment about that, sorry I've ignored it, it's me, not you :/
I watched hockey games on Saturday, woohoo.
And I started writing a fic on the bus whose pairing only makes sense if I finish the WIP that introduces the pairing /o\ good move, self!
I was going to go grocery shopping but it started pouring. This could be a problem around dinner time. Also somehow school writing has to happen today, hrmm.
I went to the Tate Modern yesterday, that was interesting.
happy thing, is actually a thing!

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Berlant, The Female Complaint

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:15:54 GMT

The Female Complaint: The Unfinished Business of Sentimentality in American Culture, Lauren Berlant (Duke University Press, 2008).

Another book I am ambivalent about. The introduction to this book rocks, and has some really neat theory stuff presented in a coherent manner. Unfortunately the following chapters don't really live up to that. To me, they seemed way too all over the place, a bit like an undergrad essay where you're throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Some of Berlant's connections between examples and ideas worked really well, but especially in the first chapter I wish she would pause and give them another paragraph or two before moving to the next thing. Basically she looks at female-authored texts (novels, poems and citizenship manuals) and the movie adaptations of those novels, of the early/mid 20th century, to talk about how women create and "intimate public", a culture to which they can belong based on sentimentality. I dunno, I should probably read the intro again.

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Levenson, Gifts, Trade and Diplomacy

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:07:12 GMT

Gifts, Trade and Diplomacy: the Creek Indians and the Georgia Colonists in the American Southeast, 1733-1763, Claire Schuette Levenson (Cambridge PhD thesis, 2008).

So I trundled off to Cambridge to read this, because it isn't available electronically or ILL, and Cambridge is beautiful but it took me much longer to get there than I expected, so I ran out of time and really skimmed the last chapter. That being said, I went to read it because my supervisor told me I had to, and it was really a bit of a let-down. On the surface it seems like the perfect thing for me to read: analysis of British Colonial-Creek diplomatic relations through the lens of gift giving, in 18th century Georgia. However, I found it internally repetitive and not especially enlightening in its analysis of gift-giving (and I've read most of the gift-giving parts of her bibliography). I was about to say this is because it was very descriptive, but even then the amount of detail for the particulars of the gift giving were lacking. The chapter on Mary Musgrove was pretty interesting.

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hug!spam

Wed, 02 May 2012 20:32:00 GMT

You know what today needs? Hugs. Or failing that, cute pictures of people hugging.

( here, I'll start )

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Gmail: how evil?

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:55:43 GMT

A traditional Sunday list:

Starting off with the most pressing thing - I have realized that having about 8 different email accounts is a system that no longer actually works for me, since I'm either missing emails or slow to email friends because I don't know what email to use. I need an email that I can aggregate all my emails at, and email from, and look professional. I figure gmail is the standard, still, but every time I go to import all my email addresses to it, Google does something wonky and I get scared off. But the email situation is getting a little critical!

What email provider do you use to get all your emails in one place? Do you recommend it?

In other news, by most reasonable benchmarks, I've now been in hockey fandom for over a year, and way more active in it than I've been in pretty much any other fandom. This feels noteworthy, and I was going to make a post about it, but it turned out very emo because while lots has been AMAZING, some of it has been absolutely horrible :( but then I ended up writing Ordinary Hazards on the bus and oh yeah, there's my happy fandom mood :D

Also when LJ tells you that they'll take away your least used icons after your icon spots expire, they are lying. They took away my Oilers icons! Good move on their part, I totally antied up, can't do without my happy Oilers icon.

Happy thing that I don't want to jinx!

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Hockey Fic: Ordinary Hazards

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:02:01 GMT

Title: Ordinary Hazards
Fandom: NHL hockey: Edmonton Oilers
Pairing: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins/Jordan Eberle/Taylor Hall
Rating: R
Wordcount: ~730 words
Content Notes: No standard notes apply.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction.
Author’s Notes: For juliandarling for their prompt “five times they had bizarre accidents while trying to have threesome sex?” Only it turned out a little less than bizarre. Thank you to northern_star for beta-ing!
Also on the AO3.

Summary: Sometimes sex leaves a mark.

( Ordinary Hazards )

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Davis, The Gift in 16th Century France

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:35:44 GMT

The Gift in Sixteenth-Century France, Natalie Zemon Davis (University of Wisconsin Press, 2000)
Read: for enjoyment/research

I mentioned this plan involves remedial reading, right? I mean, this book's about Early Modern European ideas of gifts, I should have read it ages ago. But now I have! And I wish it had been about 200 pages longer, because Davis brings up so many interesting aspects of gift-giving in 16th century France, and glancing mentions French/European use of gifts outside Europe, that I wish she had expanded on all of them. What came across most strongly to me, was how gifts were used to communicate and reinforce social hierarchies - certainly Davis argues that gifts are pretty much all about social relations, but the status and rank aspects were really pervasive as far as I read her analysis of situation.

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still raining, of course

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:23:55 GMT

I have discovered a proper big grocery store \o/
hockey :| :/ :(
on the lighter side of hockey, we all know I have a fondness for post-game hookups, and for Corey Crawford, and for unusual pairings, yes? So you'll understand that I squeed when I saw the fic post for Squeaking Through The Five-Hole - and yes, it lives up to all expectations, and then some :D fully recommended :D
I need to renew my LJ icon spots, and all I need is 5 extra, but apparently I can't buy less than 70? this is annoying me today. I do not want that many!!

Also yesterday I went to the Wellcome Collection which was pretty neat. The permanent collection has a selection of items collected by Henry Welcome in the late 19th/early 20th century - items that in some way have to do with "wellbeing across centuries, continents and cultures." The museum map describes them as "curios" and they are displayed in a very cabinet of curiosities type way, displayed in large glass cases with very low lighting for preservation. I have found pictures of two of my favourite things: this very dainty view of an 18th century medical lecture (with autopsy) and these Greco-Roman phallic amulets (NSFW obviously).

The special exhibit at the Wellcome right now is about brains, and was an interesting mix of scientific and artistic responses to brains - so there were sculptures and drawings, alongside teaching models, case notes from brain surgery, surgical instruments and slices of brains. It was also apparently the premier date event for Londoners yesterday - so many couples, too many PDAs in front of brains!

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Steele, Warpaths

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:31:24 GMT

Warpaths: Invasions of North America, Ian K. Steele (Oxford University Press, 1994).
Read: for research

This book combines an almost-dry "this, then this, then this" account of warfare in North America between 1513 and 1765 with a very nuanced awareness of the multiplicity of actors, alliances and enmities in play during this time. Steele gives Native American actions, motivations and success/failures equal weight as European ones, particularly by emphasizing in all cases the lack of unitary visions among the commanders and the internal logic of decisions and military tactics. While most of the time Steele takes the decisions and actions according to their context, sometimes he seems to jump to an oversimplified "success/failure" evaluation.

[note to self: I did not take notes on this book.
note to self: Steele gives the origins of the Mohawks' name Corlaer for the Governor of New York as "in honor of a beloved Dutch Settler" (p 123).]

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And it's raining again

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:25:45 GMT

I'm exhausted. Also homesick. All I want is a Loblaws, or a proper grocery store where I can buy tomatoes individually and toilet paper in packs of more than four.

I am enjoying having a daily bus commute again, and then spending the day looking at old things.

And the fact that there are tufted ducks on the pond in front of the archives, and they are ADORABLE.

This is pretty great: Calming Manatee (via ladybird97)

( I enjoy this picture too )

On that topic, it's weird to not be watching hockey most nights, to not be watching the playoffs. The only game I've watched so far was Pens/Flyers on Sunday since it was 8pm here.

As a result I've been listening a lot to the Marek vs Wyshynski podcast (also something I'm enjoying!) which is conveniently on at dinner time.

Also Jeff Marek went to the same highschool as a bunch of my friends and sounds like home.

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Reinterpreting New England Indians and the Colonial Experience

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:03:20 GMT

Reinterpreting New England Indians and the Colonial Experience, edited by Colin G. Calloway and Neil Salisbury (Colonial Society of Massachusetts/University of Virginia Press, 2003).
Read: for enjoyment/research

The title to the introduction of this edited collection lays out its purpose: decolonizing New England Indian history. The papers come from a conference which sought to "combine scholarly research and inquiry with native testimony and insight." According to the introduction, the conference was quite successful in this regard, however, those papers they chose to publish are all on the academic end of expression of ideas. The most interesting articles are those at the start, I thought, particularly Virginia Dejohn Anderson's analysis of "Indian responses to European Animals in Early New England" as an intercultural encounter rather than ecological challenge, and Ann Marie Plane's discussion of dreaming and conversion narratives. The papers cover the period from the mid 1600s to the mid/late nineteenth century, and emphasize particularly religious organization as a means of self-definition and self-government.

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Let's Go Hawks!

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:43:18 GMT

Like a genius, I didn't bring my Blackhawks hat with me to England :O Which means it's time for a remedial Blackhawks (mini-)spam!

( look at these beauties, they should totally win )

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Agamben, State of Exception

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:03:00 GMT

State of Exception, Giorgio Agamben, translated by Kevin Attell (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005)
read for: research enjoyment

Here starts my summer of pretentious reading! I have a bus commute which is perfect for reading the sorts of things I ought to have read or that will "expand my thinking" but which are no good for taking notes (seriously, this book is not at all suited to my style of note-taking). Speaking of, do you have recs? Books I should be embarrassed to have got this far in my academic career without reading, or ones that rocked your world? :)

As for State of Exception well, Agamben theorizes and traces the history of the "State of Exception" an ambiguous political state that is declared by law yet outside the law (I think). I'll just quote the line that I underlined, though it isn't the definition or most salient point either. The division between sovereign power and the exercise of that power corresponds exactly to that between norms of law and norms of the realization of law. (page 56).

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Atwood, Oryx and Crake

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:34:26 GMT

Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood (Seal Books, 2003)
Read: for fun!

I picked this up to read on the plane under high recommendation from a new friend. Generally I really like Margaret Atwood, but I did avoid reading this book when my mom was raving about when it first came out, and I remain ambivalent. I'm not sure if that's because of issues with the main character and the themes and some particular details that threw me out of the world-building, or because it's been so long since I read a real, live novel. Still thinking of getting the next book in the trilogy to find out what happens next :P

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Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:03:51 GMT

There's something rather strange about the balancing act of being a tenant and a relative at a family Easter dinner. When in doubt I played the "awkward Canadian cousin" card. My weird-meter is particularly high because I don't drink much, and they do.

After a delicious dinner, we all watched The Ides of March which was very well done, and Ryan Gosling and the other actors are great, but it also gave me pre-anxiety feelings waiting for the inevitable bad things to happen (which in itself if probably a mark of effective storytelling). But ( spoilers and potentially triggering subjects )

On a happier note, I am off to a museum today! Will have to figure out the bus and the tube.

Oh! and I was going to make a note "officially" of my playoff thoughts, which are basically, who I would like to come out of each matchup, not who actually will. Also my choices are fully designed for the ideal ultimate matchups of Blackhawks vs Canucks and then Canucks vs Penguins/Flyers because I think those would be great fun *knocks wood* ( under the cut )

And finally, I spent the non-Eastery parts of yesterday working on a Marcus Kruger primer which will see the light of day eventually. I wish I could find out more about his growing up, as it is he seems to have sprung fully-formed aged 19 to be drafted by the Blackhawks.

(oh don't worry, I went for a walk and saw lots of English birds also!)

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Sat, 07 Apr 2012 10:16:25 GMT

Internet, I am in England! It is grey and looks like it is going to rain, which is a wonderfully stereotypical start to my time here. I had a couple days in Brighton, which was all conference & touristing, now starts the living here. Of course it's Easter so I can't get to the archives yet, but Tuesday I will be productive, unlike this lazy weekend. Also it turns out where I'm living is right on the flight path for airplanes going/coming from Heathrow - quite noisy in fact. The room is lovely though and my hosts/landlords/distant relatives are incredibly welcoming and nice. She sings in a "rock choir" and volunteered to sign me up too, so you know she's good people. They also have an 8-year-old Irish setter, and usually I am not a dog-person, but Safi is an absolute sweetheart. I've sort of ground to a halt in terms of the last few things I need to get done (including find some sort of food to make a meal tomorrow and Monday) but maybe after lunch I'll have more motivation. Oh and I'm half-way through Oryx and Crake and not really sure what I think of it.

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Bags packed, jet plane etc

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:15:36 GMT

Coming to you from the airport (hurrah free wifi), plane will be boarding shortly. Did I ever actually say I'm going to England for a research trip? Well I am :D till August. I ought to have normal-person internet access there, but not for the first few days. Very excited, kinda nervous, hoping that there will be lots of neat 18th century documents for me to look at! Trying to decide between reading Margaret Atwood, writing 5 things fic or sleeping on the plane :P time will tell...see you soon!

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MOAR packing

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:42:28 GMT

Another day of packing, this time I have to guess what I'd like to wear for the next four months. Ahahaha :( my brain is not happy with this.

Help distract me? Give me a pairing (rare or common) and a 5-things style prompt (5 places they go for dinner, 5 times someone walked in on them) and I'll write you something :) likely more as a list than a ficlet /managing expectations

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A Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Primer

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:05:53 GMT

Being an entirely biased and somewhat epic account of things I think are interesting about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Briefly:

Position: Centre.
Team: Edmonton Oilers.
Born: April 12, 1993.
Parents: Deb Nugent and Roger Hopkins, separated when Ryan was little.
Brother: Adam, 5 years older.
Grew up in Burnaby, BC.
Had to miss a year of hockey for family financial reasons.
Played Junior with the Red Deer Rebels.
Was really quite good.
Drafted 1st overall by the Edmonton Oilers, 2011.
Nicknamed "Nuge".
Is noticeably quiet off-ice.
Currently lives with Ryan Jones and his wife, along with Jeff Petry.
As of writing, is tied for second in rookie scoring, having played 12 fewer games.

( In Detail )

In Conclusion:

Enjoy this highlight video of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' first 38 games in the NHL, made by 488fitter on youtube.

( ps - sources )

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