(no subject)

[minervasolo]

Yahoo now have a category entitled 'Strange News'. It's not hard to see why.

In other news, finished Evelina and have resolved to say 'Egads' whenever something shocking happens. Or 'Good god', because in the right accent that's just hilarious. The phrase "I almost burst my bosom" has stuck in my head too, complete with 'boom' sound.

Also read the Short Introduction to Eighteenth Century Britain, which would be much more useful if I were doing politics or economics, and some how seems to be under the impression that the 18th C is 1688 to 1788, roughly. I wanted French Rev, but no. Anyway, only took an hour, even if it is rather dry. Next stop:A Hero of Our Time, or rather watching Dangerous Liaisons, since it's set in the right era and I've yet to get around to that.

So, that's my productivity for today. The building site keeps making TARDIS noises (Toast and I decided that they keep one around so they've got somewhere to keep the tools and hide in when it rains), and I saw a ginger rabbit yesterday. Know how they're usually dusty brown? Practically orange. I blame the chemistry buildings.

So yes, the grand exciting life of Nat. Ginger bunnies, books with every single unattached male character falling in love with the protagonist, and a great deal of prevarication.

Comments

[elynrae.livejournal.com]

Haha! She was such a Mary Sue. Why yes, she is pretty and clever and they all love her and she is secretly the daughter of someone really rich and gets to marry the perfect man! How else could it work? If only there were an accepted literary term for that; I bet if I call her a Mary Sue in the seminar you'll be the only one to get it.

[minervasolo.livejournal.com]

Some people use 'author avatar', that might work. Wish-fulfillment. Because yes, so Mary Sue. I mean, she's tolerable to read, but I've got a character list in the front with little hearts next to all the characters that fall in love with her. There's a lot of hearts. And I spent so much of the book cringing for her.

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

What about gazzooks? or blistering barnacles?

[minervasolo.livejournal.com]

So many wonderful words and phrases abandoned these days. We must ressurect them!

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

At one point I was keen on Toodle Pip, but then a friend copy catted me. :-(

My more useful guide to the C18th...

[ultharkitty.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I remember the C18th (well, you know, studying it a few years ago, there was a time machine...). There was syphilis and magnesium pills for other veneral diseases. London had more prostitutes than the rest of the empire put together. There were whigs in wigs in government, and all the men wore really sexy waistcoats (unless they were poor). Coffee houses featured very highly as hotbeds of revolutionary discussion, and Richardson wrote Pamela, which spawned some really amusing spin off merchandise (I kid thee not), including Pamela fans and Pamela mugs. There were probably Pamela chamber pots too, but they ususally had pictures of politicians in instead. I like the C18th.

Re: My more useful guide to the C18th...

[minervasolo.livejournal.com]

C18th seems like far the most interesting century. I keep seeing history shows and reading stuff like your guide (brilliant guide, BTW) and being very interested, and then all the textbooks and Short Introductions do their damndest to pretend none of it ever happened and it was all about the National Debt and somehow even manage to skip the whole Mad King George part. Maybe royalty didn't play a huge role, but they're more interesting than North vs Pitt.

Re: My more useful guide to the C18th...

[ultharkitty.livejournal.com]

The interesting bits all happen in Art History books. See Art on the Line by David Solkin, and any book about Hogarth (especially the one by David Bindman. Both of these are in the JBM), and you'll get a really good social history of the C18th. Who cares about war and empire building and all that jazz when you can read about the South Sea Bubble (lotto-mania, woo!) and the shopping experience in London. The JBM also has a few C18th London newspapers, like The Spectator, which are worth a look for a good laugh. I'm beginning to think that with its cult of celebrity, its scandal sheets, its obsession with making money and its bigger obsession with sex, the C18th was closer to the C20th than the C19th. And there's always all that C18th porn in the British Library (from the erotic to the downright x-rated, and mostly involving S&M).

[tyasante.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'm not even going to pretend that I understand half of what's written about the C18th, so instead I'm going to take the layman's seat and comment about the sausage.
[snorts]
He got hit in the head with a sauasage. Nice.
[chuckles]

[minervasolo.livejournal.com]

It's just trying to work out how it could have happened. Did someone open the packet, see they were still frozen and chuck it out the window? Did the packet burst suddenly? Or was it deliberate? Perhaps there's going to be a new wave of crime: frozen goods attacks. It's like Hell's Granny's, in a way.

[tyasante.livejournal.com]

... [thinks about Hell's Angels OAPs on motorway, weilding frozen sausages and those round Bernard Turkey processed joints ... tries desperately to keep a straight face ... fails.]