Monthly Archives: February 2007

auction frenzy

20 Tuesday Feb 2007

Posted by in clothing, media, miscellany

≈ 5 Comments

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I think Audrey would have liked this.

The sale of Audrey Hepburn’s iconic black dress from classic film Breakfast at Tiffany’s is to fund 15 new educational centres in India.

Yeah I know, it seems rather obscene to value a dress this much, but the end result achieved something very important and special. A nice news story, for a change.

what obsolete skill are you?

18 Sunday Feb 2007

Posted by in fun stuff, quizzes

≈ 5 Comments

Quelle surprise! 😉


What obsolete skill are you?

You are ‘French’. In the nineteenth century, it was the international language of diplomacy. It is a ‘beautiful’ language, meaning that it is really just a low-fidelity copy of Latin.

You know the importance of communicating ‘diplomatically’, which for you means both being polite and friendly when necessary and using sophisticated, vicious sarcasm when appropriate. Your life is guided by either existentialism or nihilism, depending on the weather. You have a certain appreciation for the finer things in life, which is a diplomatic way of saying that you are a disgusting hedonist. Your problem is that French has been obsolete for a long time.

Take this quiz!

Swiped from Archie, who swiped it from raincoaster. . .  f_thief.gif

5 books that changed your life

17 Saturday Feb 2007

Posted by in books & writing, culture, life stuff

≈ 31 Comments

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In any way at all, big or small …

  • Fifth Business (Robertson Davies). It was the first book that really opened up new worlds for me. I was about 17 at the time and it was responsible for piquing my interest in subjects such as magic, philosophy, religion, mythology. It was also the first book I admired for the sheer intelligence and wit of the writing.
  • The Salmon of Doubt (Douglas Adams). It wasn’t the book itself that changed my life, but rather that it led me to the h2g2 site where I met Nog four years ago. If I hadn’t read that book I doubt I ever would have ever found h2g2 … or Nog (eep!).
  • Night Watch (Terry Pratchett). The first Discworld book I read. Got me started redeveloping my laugh-out-loud muscles. I’d forgotten that I could laugh so much. 🙂
  • Mother Tongue (Bill Bryson). It showed me just how fun the English language can be and helped me to teach better, with humour and relevence.
  • Foucault’s Pendulum (Umberto Eco). Made me feel clever and thereby warned me of the dangers of becoming an intellectual snob. 😉

Okay, your turn now. List any five books that have made a difference to your life and also explain why or how they did so.

This is also entered in engtech’s 5 things contest.

tv junkie

16 Friday Feb 2007

Posted by in life stuff, media, television

≈ 14 Comments

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How has this happened?

Last week I was a happily mal-adjusted internet & intensity junkie, still managing to squeeze in a few basically necessary RL activities here and there … but since I got the new Telefónica service it seems I’m suddenly also hooked on television!

How can this be? And more importantly – where will I find the time for this?

Well okay, I haven’t actually watched all that much TV since last Tuesday, but as I find out more about what is available to watch I find myself thinking about my day in a totally different way … as in, what will I be doing at 5pm today when House is on?

It’s crazy. For about the past 14 years I haven’t thought of my television set as anything other than a means to watch video/dvd films. But now there are actually programmes and films being shown in English!!! and it’s proving too tempting to ignore. f_bigeyes.gif

For example, last night Nog & I watched a couple of Simpsons episodes, which was quite fun (trust me, the Simpsons dubbed into Spanish seriously does not work). But then they put on Desperate Housewives – something I’d never seen before – and even though I wasn’t particularly enjoying it, I kept watching. Eep!

Perhaps the novelty will wear off? Maybe there is still hope? f_grovel.gif