Hopeful Theory on Doctor Who

I'd really like to apologize for the lack of posts.  I've been busy, with this being that particular time of year. 
I did make it to see the first new episode of Doctor Who (though sadly, not the latest.)  I've not got a lot of time on my hands, so even making time for that 45 minutes was tough. 
But someone posted this idea about the first episode.  Not only does this strike me as completely plausible, but a really interesting idea.  It's the sort of thing that I wish would happen more often on sci-fi shows, to explore paternity, especially in this day and age, where people can have more than just a mom and dad. 
Cross your fingers this theory turns out to be true. 

Human Rights and the State

Reading this post today about how Syria has recently gotten itself onto the Humans Rights Council.  While I agree that Syria isn't a good candidate for Humans Rights, considering they recently arrested a bunch of kids, all under the age of seventeen, for criticizing the government through street art, I don't think we as Americans should pretend we are better.  The government and the military violate laws and rights all the time.  (The war on terror has a bunch of examples were the U.S. violates the rights of its own citizens as well as combantants and civilians, digging a legal black hole around their recent designation of "citizen combantant.") 
The problem isn't even really one or several or even most countries.  It's the state as an institution.  States are always going to be interested in maintaining power; they'll do it at anyone's expense, and they're not above breaking their own laws to make it happen.  If anything, having states policing themselves is stupid, because inevitably they'll avert their eyes to other council member's violations, especially if money or other deals can be made. 

Colonization Handbook

I always have too much to read.  Tonight, I came across this large post on colonization.  Really fascinating stuff.  Lots of little history tidbits too. 

Sequels

Was reading a pop culture blog today and came across this post that discussed sequels.  I love that the post described sequels as each being uniquely idiotic.  I find that really funny, because that's how I think of so many people I went to high school as.  They were idiots, but each in fairly different ways from each other, though I guess if I thought of it, I could put them into categories of stupidity. 
Back to the issue at hand: Mostly, it said, sequels are bad, and there's even a graph that proves it.  (We're so mathy about things.  So many people organize their lives in terms of graphs.)  I really take umbrage with putting The Silence of the Lambs as only slightly better than the original.  I love that movie; it could easily stand on its own as a well-played thriller. 

Manuscript Reading

Tony over at London Calling has this great post discussing how the Bodleian Library is going to be posting Jane Austen's manuscripts online.
The only possible sour thing about this is, of course, reading Austen's handwriting.  It may be perfectly legible, but anyone who is a historian of a non-modern era knows that manuscript reading can be a chore if the writer was sloppy.  I've never seen Austen's manuscripts before, so I have no idea what it's going to look like, but hopefully it doesn't make me think of 17th century Jesuits.  That stuff will give you a headache three words in.  Hopefully Austen is as purposeful in her handwriting as she is in her prose. 

Sylvia Plath, I'm Revisiting that Poem I Wrote

As my last post would probably indicate, I have been poeming it up over the last few days. I've been reading poems, and now I have turned to writing more.
I just pulled out this old poem I wrote my freshman year when I broke up with a certain someone. I wrote this angry little poem about it. A teacher (who later became my thesis adviser!) said she liked it. Josie loved it.
And now I've rewritten it.
It's better now, though not perfect, and as you all know my writing must always be perfect.
But I'm going to be brave and submit it anyway.
Wish me luck, yeah?

Con Virgin, part 2

Like I was saying in my last post, Matt and I spent a lot of time in the game room, since Matt was interested in learning more about games.  And, as I also mentioned in that post, I was looking to do a little amateur anthropology work.
The game room ended up being the best place to talk to people.  Whenever I'm in these situations, I feel very much like Elizabeth Bennet, since I find myself being witty and doing my best to endear myself to people.
I made jokes making fun of Republicans, and those went over surprisingly well.  Because of all the time I've spent with Dean over the past few years, I guess I've gotten it in my head that all nerds are libertarians, but my sense was they were liberals, which made me happy.
One of the people I ended up meeting was Matt Arnold.  When I first noticed he was wearing a tag with that name, I was tempted to ask him if that was really his name.  (The last time I saw that name, I was at Westminister Abbey.  Go on, look up who the historical figure is.)  I was impressed with certain things about him, and he seemed game enough for my wit.  (Along with his friend Nathan, who played along.  Score!)  Briefly looking around on his website, he appears to be way nerdier than I ever have been, but that's okay.  And the best news?  He appears to be pro-poly.      
I hate to admit it, but there were some cute boys there.  And there were some not-so-cute boys there who also had personality.  And, let's face it, I'm a personality fan.  If you want my immediate attention, sure, looking cute helps, but if you want to keep that attention long term, you better be something more.  It's too bad that I will certainly never see some of those boys again.  Some of them might be worth it.
The strangest thing that happened was that a young boy named Milo followed Matt and I out of the game room.  He introduced himself to us as Milo.  He was so young, and maybe a little too young to be wandering around the convention alone.  Matt totally blamed me for getting him to follow us around, but honest to God, I didn't do it on purpose.  I didn't even talk to the boy.  But, really, he seemed harmless enough, so no biggie.  
Matt and I also sat through this discussion of a steampunk movie maker.  The movies were well-made, and the one director seemed a little boring, but his best friend with him was hilarious and maybe manic.  I'd totally love to see the latter do nerdy stand-up. 
So maybe I didn't end up doing much in the way of anthropology, but that's not the end of the universe.  I definitely feel like, for the most part, people were very friendly.  There were a few people who were exactly like the most negative stereotype of nerds, but I was mostly pleased with the experience.  
Getting home?  Not so much.
Matt is wonderful and all, but he managed to get lost three times on the way back home.  I know what happened the last two times, but I'm still trying to figure out how the first time happened.  I wasn't paying attention because Matt and I were having an intense, heart-to-heart conversation and I was dealing with frantic text messages from my Mom, so I wasn't watching where Matt was going.  I think the first time he turned somewhere funny, because all he had to do was go straight before we hit a particular freeway.  At one point, it became clear we were going east when we were suppose to be going north.  And then for some reason, Matt turned around and went south. 

Correspondences

So, I suspect that my posts to this blog might become a little less in the coming weeks, just because I have all sorts of people emailing me and whatnot and will be communicating to my friends elsewhere.  Don't worry, I'm probably fine. 
I really like keeping personal correspondences with my friends.  I know this seems super old school, and, well, it is, but there's something nice about it.  I actually have people that I write snail mail letters to.  My freshman year, my friend Owen wrote me a snail note and it felt so good to open it and see his handwriting.  (We used to exchange notes in high school and middle school.)  It was so familiar and good and Owen-y.  (He would giggle if he heard me saying that, "Owen-y.")  So, if you'd like to snail mail with me (which I doubt since most of you cooler kids like tech), please drop me a note.  Send it by carrier pigeon if you have to.  (I'll send you back a dead bird just for the giggles.) 
Elsewise, I'm available via email, text messaging, and good-old fashion calling.  If you want to chat or catch up or are wondering if I'm being super nice on this blog (Hint: Got to behave for my freshmen.  Some of them actually look up to me.), then you know where to find me.  If you for some reason don't have my contact infos, drop a comment or email elizamelvilleATyahooDOTcoDOTuk.  (And tell me who the hell you are people.  Can't read your mind over here.  Not that much of a superwoman.)  If I kept you around, it means I probably like you, which means I would LOVE to hear from you.  So don't be a stranger none. 
I am planning on coming to find you if you don't find me first.  You might not like what it looks like when I have to go looking for you. 

Sense and Scandal

If my morning post didn't already tell you, I've been in sort of a sour mood lately. There's a lot of stressful stuff going around lately, and in an effort not to bore you, I've been trying to keep it to myself.
I ended up watching Sense and Sensibility with my Dad tonight. (The 1995 version, natch.) It was on tv, and I knew that I shouldn't watch it, because it would just make me sad, but I did. My Dad came in midway through and started teasing me about it.
I really think I'm going to have to write real person fanfic on this movie, because I imagine there was a lot of drama going on. I read that Emma Thompson, who wrote the film, nearly lost the screenplay on her computer. She took a cab, in London, to Hugh Laurie's place and begged him and Stephen Fry to fix her computer. (It had to have been a desktop, given that it was the early 90s.) I can just imagine Laurie's and Fry's faces as she explained to them what happened. Lol.
Also, Thompson was married to Kenneth Branagh, but their relationship fell apart in 1995, around the time of this movie. And now Thompson is married to one of her co-stars, Greg Wise. It's hard not to think about what might have been going on...

The Final Final

Paper update: Today, I edited two of Kelly's papers. She's revised one of mine and says she's working on the next one. Have been revising my thesis. Also, completed my essay exam for African history. It was exactly as the study guide said it would be, so that's good. I was one of the first people to walk out of there, which doesn't usually happen. I suspect it's because I usually take essay exams in an hour and a half, and don't have outlines on me when I come in. This was easy in comparison. It's also my very last exam at MSU. I don't really have time to comprehend or enjoy it yet.
I was in a cheerful mood earlier this evening because Kelly really liked my Matilda essay. She said it flowed well. I would like to think, given how much I write, that I am getting better at it. I am pretty proud of it, I must admit.
Tomorrow is crunch day. Wish me luck.
Geez. 60 posts. Doesn't seem possible.

The Time of Angels

Every once and a while I have a moment where I realize that I really am meant to work in literary theory. I was watching the latest episode of Doctor Who, and I had a great idea for a paper. I'm going to have to do a little research for it (read up on Foucault and the gaze, and probably have a look at one of my best theory books Ways of Looking), but I think I can swing it. I don't think it'll be a very long essay, but I want to write it, all the same, if only because I think it's a good idea and because I've never heard anyone apply theory to Doctor Who. I'm not up on British studies, so possibly someone has, so I'll have to do some research there too. Possibly someone's come up with this before me, but I suspect not, given the episode just aired yesterday. More likely, someone did something similar with other episodes, and I can draw on that to write a more informed and interesting essay.
These moments make me happy, make me feel like I might be teetering on the edge of genius. Even Erin, who read an early draft of the paper I mentioned a couple posts ago, was impressed with one of my observations about Toni Morrison's Sula and "Recitatif." Last night, as I was working on my paper, I felt like I was really doing this, really applying theory to a work, really creating an interpretation. I love this feeling. I love other related feelings, like that feeling of yes, I understand this and yes, I've created something worthwhile. Ta-da! I'm an emerging scholar, and an enthusiastic one at that.
Also, I cannot believe I am past fifty posts already! I feel like this blog just started. Maybe I am capable of keeping this up.