The Film Noir Experience

Well, the first ten books plus one:

1. The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket

2. The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket

3. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

4. Introducing Social Semiotics by Theo van Leeuwen

5. Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar... by Cathcart and Klein

6. The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide by Black and DeTerlizzi

7. The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone by Black and DeTerlizzi

8. The Spiderwick Chronicles: Lucinda's Secret by Black and DeTerlizzi

9. The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Ironwood Tree by Black and DeTerlizzi

10.The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Wrath of Mulgarathby Black and DeTerlizzi

11. The Gathering by Enright

The beautiful thing about creating a book list is that as you cross things off, you get to add new things. I have decided that the list should remain at around 50 books, so as I cross things off and add them here I will get to add new ones to the list!! I am also going to be putting them up on Good Reads. I have been using my friend's lists as a way to pick out new books, so if you're on there, let me know and I'll friend you so I can see what you're reading, too!

Posted by Kate at 06:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have the Berlitz page-a-day Phrase a day calendar. So, everyday since the first of the year I've been learning Italian phrases (and working on keeping up with the language I worked so hard to learn the first two years of undergrad.) The phrases are themed, so each week there are seven phrases that all deal with the same topic.

It has occurred to me, these phrases are just begging me to write dialogues. But, since they are just phrases, they will need some supplementing. So, here are the dialogue rules:

1. The dialogues have to be all in Italian (and they must also include translations.)
2. They must be made up of at least 75% of the phrases
3. One can not rewrite the phrases (but they can be reused.)

Dialogue One: A Spot of Coffee

Incontra Beatrice e Lucia, amiche di scuola*.

Beatrice: Gradisci un po'di caffè, Lucia?

Lucia: Si, grazie. Mi farebbe molto piacere per caffè

(Lucia guarda della finestra.)

Sta Nevicando, Bea!

Beatrice: È vero? Adoro la quiete dell'inverno. Che Bella! Lucia, tu caffè, come lo prendi?

Lucia: Lo preferisco nero. Penso che è una giornata perfetta per andare con la slitta.

The Translation!

Admittedly, this is a little contrived, but there you have the first installment of Lunedì Italiano!

*Meet Beatrice and Lucia, school friends. This bit isn't part of the dialogue.

Posted by Kate at 05:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You know when you do something so completely stupid that you want to hide under the covers? Or, you forget something small but that is part of something bigger and more important and your jaw just drops and you are so flabbergasted that you are at a loss of exactly how to proceed. This happens to me frequently; I am constantly doing or saying things that are stupid and embarrassing and make me flabbergasted.

Most recently this flabbergasting has taken place because it would appear I forgot to enlcose a piece of paper when applying to one of the graduate programs I applied to. So, I now have to email my this piece of paper on place so that it can then be emailed some place else. Its awful.

However, because I am once again living at my parents house so when I do something stupid I can talk to my Dad. Dad's have a way of making things feel a little better. Although, I still feel like an idiot. Now, I'm just an idiot who has someone to talk to.

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This is the kind of snow they call powder. The snow that is falling now. It is small and looks innocuous. Its little flakes for the moment before they melt into your fingertip. In the morning while the cat was in vet hospital, I watched the wind drive it down at an angle out near the neighbor's fence. Closer to the house, it swirled leisurely to the ground. The house acts as a wind break until a gust pulls the recently fallen snow back up into the air making it seem as if I live inside a snow globe and someone has just given the world a shake.

This is the snow that snakes across the road in the wind. The snow that causes white outs when the wind reaches higher speeds. In spite of this, when work calls I take the shift they offer me. I bundle up and head out into the cold, driving slowly and arriving a little later than planned. . An hour before I do to return home Dad calls to tell my the cat is home from the vet hospital. Its just her arthritis acting up; she will be okay.

Posted by Kate at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have slowly been making me way through a number of courses that I've found via iTunes. There are a number of Universities out there that have lectures up online and available for anyone to download. I've been taking the opportunity, since I've not been in school, to fill in gaps in my knowledge. I like learning things, so this is mostly fun, but sometimes its frustrating. It turns frustrating when you need to turn to texts in order to illuminate what a lecturer has said (or, in order to go deeper on a topic.) It becomes frustrating because there are a great many books out there that are not available in your average public library nor are still in print. This means going through alternate channels in order to procure these tomes so that you can read the relevant chapter or two (and then, more than likely put them back on the website from which they have come in order to make back what you just spent on them.)

It makes learning a little like a treasure hunt.

Sometimes, this is a funny process. It is hilarious the number of people who have books listed as being in "good" or "fair" condition that have higher asking prices than the people who say they have the book in near perfect or unused condition. However, it is less than hilarious when you see something listed for cheap and in "unused" condition, go to click on it and find that someone has, just then, beaten you to it.

Posted by Kate at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is something sadly wrong with my kitty. Mittens has some arthritis, which isn't that unusual given that she is a pretty old cat (she's 20). But, she's losing her mobility. She was fine yesterday, but whilst we were watching Roy Jones, Jr. and Felix Trinidad she started walking funny like she was feeling stiff and then this morning and all day today she's been avoiding using her right hind leg. My Dad just had to help her across the kitchen because she got almost to her water bowl and then she fell. She is going in to see the vet tomorrow. I am very worried. She's a very good kitty and she's still quite healthy. She keeps herself clean and she still has an apetite, but if she can't walk by herself she has a very serious problem.

We think she may have injured herself jumping down from the sofa. I hope that's the only problem and that she'll be okay. She's a very wonderful cat.

Posted by Kate at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It is nice being home. It is nice to be able to watch my Mom's favorite tv shows with my Mom. It is nice to be able to curl up and knit or read around the 20 year old cat. It is nice to wake up to a note from my Dad asking if I have time to do the dishes and another from My Mom asking me to run to the store. Its fun to make the cat lunch (she's a spoiled little 20 year old cat that gets ground beef. ) Its also fun to play scrabble over a wireless network that I've set up because the people my Dad paid to set it up were morons (or at least incapable of communication with their clients) whilst drinking coffee and watching the snow fall.

Its nice to go through the tea stash that I worked so hard to build (and that has clearly been added to whilst I was gone). It is nice to have some of the lemon-flavored green roibos with my Mom and then after she's gone to bed have Millenium mint with my Dad.

And, snow. Lots and lots of snow. And, ice. I'm not as fond of the ice.

It is also nice to go on sale-hunting shopping trips. There is nothing like a January sales shopping trip. Especially now that all of my American PhD applications are out of the way.

Posted by Kate at 02:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dubious is a good word. According to the dictionary it means, "marked by or occasioning doubt." It can also mean, "of doubtful quality or propriety." Questionable.

I find the banking industry to be dubious. I recently had occasion to look at my online bank statement from which I discovered that while I had asked them to deposit money some place they had put it some place else and were currently in the process of charging me each time they moved the money to where I told them to put it in the first place from where they decided, in all their wisdom and glory, it obviously needed to be. I'm pretty pissed about this, and will no doubt be headed back to the bank to point out there error and ask for my money back (I don't expect to get it back) but for now I'm feeling pretty relieved. There was a moment when I thought the money was just completely gone and that I'd have to take all my little deposit slips in and show them that they had swindled me out of loot. Not loads of loot, but loot nonetheless. It makes me want to switch banks, but is there a bank out there where this sort of fuck up wouldn't occur?

Posted by Kate at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Episode Six is Here!

In this episode we listen to some more tunes from the awesome Podsafe Music Network, we talk about the meaning of the word resolution and why its so hard to keep them. I then set myself some goals for the coming year.

Please enjoy this episode! I am looking forward to putting together the next episode on American Politics!

Posted by Kate at 07:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda, my good friend! It is January 2nd in the town of C'ville. I have the day off and I've gotten most of my errands run already this morning. There's healthy food in the fridge. I have pomegranate and blackcurrant juice, tea and cold medicine. I also have this year's booklist all prepped and ready to go.

This year's list I am expecting to add to as the time goes on. For the first part of the year, if I go by the list, I'm going to be reading or rereading a lot of kids books. I have the remaining Lemony Snicket books on my list as well as Harry Potter and the Wrinkle in Time Quintet. But, its not all children's books. The list also contains Marcel Proust's Swann's Way, a book on Social Semiotics, a book on Critical reading, and two Bill Bryson books. There is also a book on the Twysogion. Well, its actually just about Welsh history during the time period when the Prince of Wales was actually Welsh. I'm very excited about this year's list. So excited, in fact, that I have just finished reading one of the books! The Wide Window.

The Wide Window is the third installment in the Series of Unfortunate Events. The book finds the children living near Lake Lachrymose with their new guardian Aunt Josephine Anwhistle, who is afraid of everything. She is afraid that doorknobs may shatter if you touch them. She is afraid of the possibility of electrocution if you use the phone. She is afraid that the stove may explode if she turns it on. So, living at her house is a bucket full of fun eating cold food, ignoring the phone, and pushing doors open and shut without touching the doorknobs. Aunt Josephine is also in love with grammar. Grammar in the English teacher sense. Not, in the Linguistic sense. Enter Count Olaf disguised as Captain Sham and the lachrymose leeches in the lake that can smell food in a person for up to an hour after they have eaten, shake and serve. This book was a lot of fun because of the situations they find themselves in. Also, it was not nearly as heartbreaking as the second book. Where Uncle Monty in the Reptile Room was warm and kind and fun, Aunt Josephine is cowardly and cold and a bit of a wet towel. I'm really looking forward to the next installment of the series The Miserable Mill.

Posted by Kate at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)