Our Living Language

Oxford University Press has just published The New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition, which contains 2,000 new words . . . everything from Abdullah II to Zyban.

Oxford University Press provided The Resource Shelf with the entire list of new words and definitions, so check it out to learn about new words such as adultescent, eustress, and plotzed.

Elizabeth 1: Ruler and Legend

At left: One of many "Sieve Portraits," which are representations of Elizabeth's chastity (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, c. 1580-83)

From August 17 to September 30, 2005, the Powell Branch Library will host the traveling exhibit for the Newberry Library's Elizabeth 1: Ruler and Legend, an exhibit commemorating the 400th anniversary of her death. According to the Newberry, "This exhibition explores the life and reign of this remarkable queen, examining how her unique personality was forged and why her legend has endured."

In Chicago, the full exhibit has become a record-breaking success for the Newberry. According to one news service, it is "The largest and most comprehensive North American event centered on the British monarch" and has drawn diverse audiences.

In Powell, the exhibit has a number of associated programs, including a Renaissance Fair at the end of August. Here's the schedule of events:

• Children's Program, Homesteader Museum, Thursday, 11Aug05, 2 pm
• Grand Opening Reception, Powell Branch Library, Sunday, 21Aug05, 7 pm
• Elizabethan Middle Class, Washington Park Bandshell, Friday, 26Aug05, 7 pm; presented in character by historical re-creators Jerry & Susan Shinn
  
• Renaissance Fair, Washington Park, Saturday, 27Aug05, 11 am - 8 pm
• Life & Times of Elizabeth 1 (lecture), Hinckley Library, Northwest College, 15Sep05, 7 pm
• Elizabethan Culture (panel discussion), Fagerberg lecture Hall, Northwest College, 20Sep05, 7 pm
  

The exhibit is made possible through grants from the Newberry Library, the American Library Association, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Excellent background materials are available from the Newberry Library, including links and factsheets.

Movie Scripts

BLACK SCREEN
SUPER: New Line Cinema Presents
SUPER: A Wingnut Films Production

BLACK CONTINUES... ELVISH SINGING....A WOMAN'S VOICE IS whispering, tinged with SADNESS and REGRET:

GALADRIEL (V.O.)
(Elvish: subtitled)

"I amar prestar sen: han mathon ne nen, han mathon ne chae...a han noston ned wilith."

(English:)

The world is changed: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air...Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.

SUPER: THE LORD OF THE RINGS
EXT. PROLOGUE -- DAY IMAGE: FLICKERING FIRELIGHT. The NOLDORIN FORGE in EREGION. MOLTEN GOLD POURS from the lip of an IRON LADLE.

GALADRIEL (V.O.)

It began with the forging of the Great Rings.
_______________________________

Thus begins the script for The Lord of The Rings. For those interested in film, the Internet Movie Script Database is a wonderful resource which offers access to hundreds of movie scripts for free.

Children's Books - Spring 2005

I love children's literature, and I rejoice when The New York Times publishes its semi-annual Children's Books Section that rounds up the latest offerings.

Among this spring's selections are three terrific-sounding books on Egypt, including How the Amazon Queen Fought the Prince of Egypt, written and illustrated by Tamara Bower (ages 7-11), based on an actual Egyptian scroll that dates from the Greco-Roman period. At left is a detail from an illustration depicting Queen Serpot as she plans her defense against invading Egyptians. Her plan includes she and her advisors disguising themselves as men and infiltrating the Egyptian forces. For those of us looking for positive female models in children's lit, this book offers plenty: "Serpot led her troops. She fought like a bird of prey, like a raging leopard. Each Amazon fought like 10 men. The Egyptians dropped their weapons and fled."

Other featured books include a posthumous Runny Babbit from Shel Silverstein, a death-cheating fairy tale from Hans Christian Andersen given a new setting in China ( Amy Lowry Poole's The Pea Blossom), and H. L. Panahi's Bebop Express (illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher). Be sure to check out the Times's multimedia presentation on Bebop Express.

The Wonderful Parody

A parody is an imitation of another creative work (be it literature, music, film, or art) which usually aims to amuse by distorting the original. Some parodies are satiric and aim to criticize or even ridicule the original; other parodies are more gentle and amuse without attacking the original. A parody accomplishes its effect by maintaining the style and approach of the original while substituting a very different content.

Parodies abound. The heart and soul of Mad Magazine has always been the parody, and its parodies of movies and television shows are legendary. In this great cover on Friends, Mad makes a few crucial changes to the cast. (See Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site for a wonderful collection of Mad Covers.)

A performer who has made his career off the parody is "Weird Al" Yankovic, who imortalized Michael Jackson's hit "Beat It" with his parody "Eat It." (Michael Jackson has been particularly vulnerable to the parody. Even Jackson's current legal troubles are not off limits, as demonstrated by this Mad Magazine Cover which makes a comment both on Jackson and the media attention his problems have attracted in one fell swoop.)


Literary parodies also have a long history. By 1969, The Lord of the Rings had attracted sufficient attention that the Harvard Lampoon published Bored of the Rings. Online, The Onion offers biting parodies of contemporary news.

Finally, with the impending release of Star Wars: Episode III -- The Revenge of the Sith, it seems only right to end this post with a link to grocery Store Wars, a very funny parody of the original star wars brought to you by the Organic Trade Association. In this case, the parody is used to delivery a message that you can't miss.

Penguin Audio Remixes

Cool! Penguin Books is running a contest at penguinremixed.co.uk for people to sample selected audiobooks and remix them onto techno tracks.

Since I seem to be working on a Dracula theme, the example I've chosen for you to hear is the remix a contestant uploaded using a selection from Bram Stoker's novel:

[The Count:] "We are in Transylvania, and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways . . .."
[Jonathan Harker] I know now the span of my life. God help me!

Blogging the Classics

Dracula Blogged is a blogging project which started last week (03May05) to serialize the novel Dracula in its entirety over the next six months. The blogger, Bryan Alexander, will post the novel according to its own calendar, just as if the narrator, Jonathan Harker, were a modern blogger who was recording his thoughts from Transylvania.

Here's a sample from the entry for May 5. The Castle, as Jonathan Harker travels to Dracula's castle:

When I got on the coach, the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him talking to the landlady.

They were evidently talking of me, for every now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting on the bench outside the door--came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them pityingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for there were many nationalities in the crowd, so I quietly got my polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out.

I must say they were not cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"--Satan, "Pokol"--hell, "stregoica"--witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"--both mean the same thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is either werewolf or vampire. (Mem., I must ask the Count about these superstitions.)

Here we have a painless and amusing way to read the entire Dracula novel in the space of six cliff-hanging months.

Dracula Blogged is not the first to serialize a classic as a weblog. One of the first and most logical is Samuel Pepys's Diary which Phil Gyford blogs as The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Pepys is the renowned 17th century diarist who lived in London. His daily entries lend themselves perfectly to the weblog format; reading the Diary as a blog gives it freshness and immediacy.

The Last "First Friday"

First Friday, the Humanities Division's open mic poetry reading conducted on the first Friday of each month in the Hinckley Library, came to a rousing conclusion on March 6th. Students and faculty read a wide range of poetry--both their own work and the work of poets they particularly enjoyed.

Renee Dechert and Janet Meury were among those who read.

Shakespearean Insulter Generator

Stressed out? Nerves frayed at the end of the semester? Find yourself in dire need of expressing yourself, but concerned about doing it well since you're a Humanities major? Try the Shakespearean Insulter!

The generator freshly coins some of the insults from Shakespeare's adjectives and nouns, but others are direct quotations, such as this zinger from The Two Noble Kinsmen:

[Thou] shall stand in fire up to the navel and in ice up to th'heart, and there th'offending part burns and the deceiving part freezes.

Four English faculty win awards

Four English faculty members received awards during the spring semester for their outstanding contributions to the college.

• Kathleen Bieke received the Faculty Outstanding Service Award
• Renee Dechert and Rob Stothart received the Team Outstanding Service Award
• Deborah Spangler Koelling was named the Northwest College Master Distance Educator for 2005.
  

Congratulations one and all!

Cinco de Mayo 2005

Cinco de Mayo 2005 was celebrated on Thursday, May 5, in the ORB Lounge. Students in Spanish 2220, Intermediate Composition and Conversation, delivered presentations on the history of Cinco de Mayo and other aspects of Mexican culture.

Skate Martin, Private Eye World Premiere

Bennett Capstone on 10May05

Stephanie Bennett will present her capstone presentation for CyberCulture at 4:00 p.m., Tuesday, 10 May 2005, in ORB131.

Stephanie's project--"Statistics and Information: How the Internet and Technology Have Affected Statistics"--explores the changes the cyberculture era has wrought on the field of actuarial science.

Please join us--all are welcome!

2005 Visualize Verbalize available

The 2005 edition of Visualize Verbalize is now available in the Northwest College Bookstore. The art / literary magazine features fiction, poetry, and artwork by Northwest students. In addition, it is designed and produced by students in the Literary Magazine Editing course.

Congratulations to one and all!

Ghost towns in Japan

We usually associate ghost towns with the American west, but it turns out that Japan has some truly spectacular abandoned places.

Here are two web sites which feature several of them. The first features an abandoned amusement park, and the images are arresting. (This site has several additional collections of photos of abandoned sites.)

An equally fascinating place is Gunkanjima, the "Battle Ship Island," a small island completely devoted to coal mining off the southwestern coast of Japan. It was abandoned in 1974 and travel there is no longer permitted.

There are several sites devoted to Gunkanjima, but this one by Saiga Yuji is particularly haunting.

Jane Eyre performance in Cody

In the tradition of 19th century parlor performances, Lisa Hayes creates all the characters in Charlotte Bronte's tale of love and mystery. It's an 80 minute performance with 25 different characters.

The performance will be given on Friday and Saturday, May 6th and 7th, on the Cody Stage , 1110 Beck Ave.

The show starts at 7:00 p.m. There is a $7.00 admission fee.