my virtual notebook

Saturday, August 18, 2007: Name that film: Project365: #294

Saturday, August 18, 2007: Name that film: Project365: #294
Originally uploaded by cathie.

Saturday evening in front of the telly. This was a good, interesting if a little melodramatic movie/series: Best of Youth. It was made in Italy.

What I've been up to (>The Hill's< are not very alive in my book...)

As the summer moves along I feel the familiar feeling of time running out a bit regarding my research projects, or just regarding not being as busy as one generally gets during the semester...it's a mix of feelings, because the start of the semester is always a fun time too-one catches up with colleagues, meets new people and of course meets new students and gets a bit "infected" by their general >excitedness< at coming back or beginning  college.  As language instructors we always go through that with our new batch of native speaker teaching assistants, for whom everything is new a bit different from how things are done at their universities back home.  There really is nothing like a small private residential liberal arts college in the German education system. The closest thing would probably be a private residential high school ("Internat") but even that is not really the same....

I am trying to get a lot done: first and foremost the article. It's coming along and together slowly. I now hope and think I shall have a good draft/version ready by the time classes start. The first weeks of school I will spend formatting what I have written so that it looks the way it should for whatever journal I decide to send it to--every journal has different guidelines as to how one should do footnotes and the bibliography.  If I think too much about such stylistics during the writing stage I can tell it slows the writing phase down--sometimes a lot. That's why I have decided to split off the formatting of the paper from the writing. I'm also still reading as I write/edit, which is fine I just have to not let the reading slow the writing down too much.

And I'm also trying to get a bit of course prep done, so there'll be a less to do in August. I'm also reading a certain amount of pages every day of the book I have to write a review about by August 1. I want to have the review done before the start of our holiday: July 25.  And then there are neighbors pets to be looked after (fun--I've bonded with my first dog in a long time!) and the usual household jobs to be taken care of: cleaning, vacuuming, laundry, cooking etc...Next Friday I'm off to visit a friend in Columbus, OH. She actually lives in California, but she's attending a workshop in Columbus. And then next week Friday is the first day of our holiday. Yeah!

Today I have to clean litters and we will go shopping. We're having salmon for dinner and we'll probably watch the movie "Michael Clayton." We've started watching 30 Rock, which is pretty funny, and we're on Season 5 of Babylon 5. I'm not sure why - maybe because I wanted to see what the youngsters are into and so I got the first disc of the first season of "The Hills" and I was so bored and annoyed by the show!

Boring uninteresting young people doing boring uninteresting things in a fake reality show way! Lauren doesn't seem really interested in fashion at all--at least we're not seeing that side of her, and her lazy, extremely self-involved friend is a joke! (Heidi?) I don't like the way they dress, and their male friends are boring too! Well I was seriously bored and wanted nothing better than to quickly get an Austen or a Dickens fix...or even better Prime Suspect!!! Mirren is amazing. I would have found it more interesting if we had seen what Lauren had to do for her classes -- does she have to sew anything or create anything or even go out and shop for things? does she draw or sketch or have a portfolio that we could hear her talk about? Fashion as I gather is all about hard work of a very specific nature and we don't see ANY of that in this show....I much prefer looking at the great warderobe remix group on flickr--so many cool, innovative outfits - that I wouldn't ever wear but its nice to get ideas...Now a show about some of those people might be interesting.....what I don't understand is why anyone would like this show....why why why???...I guess I'm too old to "get it"...

Well I guess I'm off to clean some litters!

Die Maus (famous kids show in Germany): Project 365 #74

Taken on Friday, January 12, 2007.

I used to like this show when I lived in Germany-even though I was too old for it. I especially liked the segments that showed you how things were made like pencils or cars, they went into the factory and shoed you exatcly how things were made... I thought that was cool. Plus the mouse and especially the elephant were cool too.

Hangin' with the Gilmore Girls on a Friday night: Project 365 # 33

Taken on Friday, December 1st, 2006.

I put the tree up and Mietze is absolutely fascinated by it...so far though I have been able to keep her away from the ornaments. "Gilmore Girls" has been one of our shows for a while now...one can tell (we're watching the sixth season) that it has reached and probably passed its zenith, but it has provided us with hours of pleasant, slightly escapist entertainment.

"24" minus how many minutes for commercials?

Tomorrow I'm off to England (Sheffield) for my conference on 19th century German women writers. I'm looking forward to it! I get back on Sunday and will have to get as ready as I can for class on the following Monday.  All in all there are only three weeks left in the semester - and I am glad: I can tell it is the end of the year: I just feel a little weary. There will be a few graduation related events and then the summer will begin. 

We have started watching "24" on netflix and it is a totally addictive show....but one thing that is strange/funny when you watch it on DVD are the commercial breaks that mean the clock jumps a couple of minutes here and there....so the whole "real time" set-up doesn't quite work: imagine if in real time little chunks of time just evaporated, because that what seems to happen when you watch it on DVD.  I imagine them all just holding their poses for minutes at a time.

One more fun link

Ok I'll stop and get back to work but this is a funny video!  I got to it via the side bar on  random good stuff, which does seem to be appropriately named.

what I'm up to these days

Here's a list of activities I'm engaged in these days:

writing,editing an article on Bettine von Arnim that I hope to send out very very soon, like the end of this week!

psyching myself up for my summer diet: I'd like to loose between 10 and 15 pounds.  I plan to do a yearly summer diet and then not worry about dieting for the rest of the year when I'm usually busier and lunch buffets and conferences await.

taking my cat for walks on the leash: it may look a little funny but Hansi doesn't seen to mind the leash and he likes the walks.  Mietze goes out on the leash too occasionally, but George has no interest what so ever, he just likes to play with the leash when they come back. He really is a scaredy cat....his favorite place to sleep is under the covers.

watching the final season of Upstairs/Downstairs, Season 5 of Angel and Season 7 of Buffy. also other things, like "The Incredibles" which was good, although I liked Shrek even better.

thinking about a CFP I need to get out by the end of June

thinking about another Bettine-paper I want to write: for the G(erman S(tudies) C(onference) in the Fall,

thinking about other possible research topics.

thinking about (=checking airfares and hotel prices) our Christmas trip to Germany, which will be nice.

and last but not least thinking and reading a lot for my Fairy Tale course and my Exile Lit. course. I'm changing the Fairy Tale course a lot: a different book, I want it to have a more European focus and I want us to read more fairy tales.  We'll read some of Andersen's fairy tales, although I'm afraid finding out the "real" motivations behind the "Little Mermaid" for example (--> it has to do with feelings related to his homosexuality) might put them into a negative spiral...but maybe this group will be more willing to engage in critical/adult/difficult thinking.