The February Reading Review
Posted: 28 February 2011 Filed under: Literature, North-East, Opinions, Quotes | Tags: 50 book, 50 book challenge, book quotes, book review, Catherine Lim, Karen Blixen, Wendy Moore Leave a comment »
I’m a little disappointed in myself that I haven’t read as many books this month as I did in January! However I am still very much on target with the 50 book challenge I started this year.
The books I chose in February seem to carry a mutual theme, that of strong women living inspiring lives and exchanging the socially acceptable in a struggle for empowerment and freedom. I’m not sure whether my choices were deliberate on a subconscious level or just random, but they made a good month’s reading nonetheless.
The Quotes of the Week VIII
Posted: 27 February 2011 Filed under: Current, Politics, Quotes | Tags: census, Christchurch, earthquake, Gaddafi, gay rights, Japan, religion, World War 2 Leave a comment »Sunday 20th
“It’s still very difficult for me to tell my family about my life being a lesbian. They know I am a believer, they know I am religious, but going as far as saying I am a lesbian is quite hard. I remember thinking this is the only time I am going to get married, and my family weren’t there.
That was constantly going through my mind – I am having an Islamic nikah, doing as much as I can through my faith, but my family weren’t there.”
Asra, a lesbian muslim woman who has married her partner Sarah through a ‘nikah’ or traditional Muslim wedding rite, despite the faith’s ongoing majority opposition to same-sex marriage
The Star of Eärendil / I Galad Eärendil
Posted: 26 February 2011 Filed under: Middle-earth, Poetry | Tags: Elvish, Elvish script, Lord of the Rings, poem, script Leave a comment »
Morning comes, yet all is dark
Over the plain of the Pellenor Fields
Rohan has emptied its men and its steeds
Noble men riding against evil
And in a dark cave in the Morgul Vale
Eärendil’s star shines into the black
Under the shadow, mist and despair
The flagging hopes of mankind
Under the sun, the battle finished
Let kin asundered be apart no more
For in a dark where all lights go out
Eärendil’s light has come again
The Hobbit’s Riddle-book
Posted: 25 February 2011 Filed under: Literature, Middle-earth | Tags: Lord of the Rings, riddles Leave a comment »
Just a quick post today for all you LOTR Purists out there who want to prove themselves!
I hereby challenge you to the time-honoured contest of riddles; with a twist! I love riddle games, as all with hobbitish tendencies do, and I’ve written a good few that I’d like to share with you. All the answers to my riddles are found in either The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings or The Silmarillion.
Feel free to leave your guesses as comments here and leave your e-mail address if you would like me to mail you the answers! Highlight the text where it says ‘clue’ for a handy hint.
The Elf Said What?!?!
Posted: 24 February 2011 Filed under: Literature, Middle-earth, Quotes | Tags: geek, Lord of the Rings, Ringers Leave a comment »
Now that there’s a new Lord of the Rings film firmly on the horizon, I thought it was high time to be geeky again!
There are, in my eyes, two different kinds of LOTR geek. First, you have ‘the Purist’, and then you have what’s known as ‘the Ringer’. Ringers (like Trekkies) are fans who love the films and indulge in all-nighter bumper viewings of all the extended versions back-to-back, but perhaps haven’t read the books themselves. Purists are the kind of fan who won’t touch the films with a barge pole, on account of the grave departures in plot or character from the original books. Purists look down on Ringers as lacking some sort of intelligence, and Ringers think that Purists are a bit snobbish, actually.
It’s perhaps a bit ironic that I’m a bit of both. I love the film adaptations of the books, in spite of all their idiosyncrasies and deliberate differences from the original books. I believe both are amazing masterpieces in their own right. Although, it’s true that a very impractical part of me still laments the loss of Tom Bombadil. It also wonders why Elrond, one of the most important Elves in Middle-earth, travelled unaccompanied for thousands of miles just to give Aragorn a sword – when he could’ve avoided the journey completely by handing it over back in Rivendell. As he did in the book.
The Annoying Thing About… Gyms
Posted: 23 February 2011 Filed under: Opinions, Personal | Tags: exercise, gym, gyms Leave a comment »
The day someone came in with a ‘sniffle’ and everyone else left with full-blown flu.
A particular type of male which comes in packs and hogs a single weight machine by playing ‘who can lift the most stupidly heavy weight’ with his pals.
People who sweat profusely then refuse to wipe the evidence from the equipment after they’ve used it.
Attendants who seem to spend most of their time hiding, appearing in the actual gym once in a blue moon.
Two words. Hot seats. Euch.
Getting your shoelace trapped in the bike pedal and not noticing until it’s physically impossible to disentangle yourself without taking off your shoe.
The Magic Brocade
Posted: 22 February 2011 Filed under: Asia, Folklore, Story | Tags: brocade, China, Chinese, fabric, fairies, fairy, magic, silk, Sun Palace, weaving Leave a comment »
Think about the ancient civilisations of Asia, and if you’re anything like me, it won’t be long before you begin conjuring up mental pictures of beautiful men and women dressed in fabulously rich and decadent clothing; the iconic Japanese kimono [着物], the elegant Chinese cheongsam or qipao [旗袍] or perhaps even the Korean hanbok [한복]. The fabrics used to make these garments have long been popular trade commodities between the east and west – especially silk, which has been developed in China since around 3500 BC – and intricately decorated, through printing, dyeing, weaving and embroidery.
Silk brocade remains a popular Chinese export even today and its history goes back to at least the third century AD. Often mistaken for tapestry or embroidered fabric, brocade is in fact woven and is traditionally used for clothing, bedspreads, furniture and many other household items. The fabulous patterns and scenes depicted on brocade were often so intricate and beautiful that they appealed to the belief they were real…
The Respect We Owe Our Old People
Posted: 21 February 2011 Filed under: Current, Opinions, Personal | Tags: abuse, actor, age, Christmas, church, elderly, fame, film, Hollywood, Mickey Rooney, movie, old people, panto, pantomime, respect Leave a comment »
You know, this week I was looking at the news web sites and discovered something which made my blood boil.
It was this; reports that 90 year old acting legend Mickey Rooney has been granted a temporary(?) restraining order against his step-son Christopher Alber, who’s mother is Rooney’s wife of 33 years, Jan (nee Chamberlin). 54 year old Alber has allegedly been “withholding food and medicine and interfering with his finances” and even, I quote;
“Mr. Alber is verbally abusive. He yells and screams at Mickey. Mickey is effectively a prisoner in his own home.”
A similar report from the New York Daily News added that,
“He threatens, intimidates, bullies and harasses Mickey. Mickey is extremely fearful that Chris will become physically threatening against Mickey and may even attempt to kidnap Mickey from his home.”
It’s also alleged that Aber confiscated Rooney’s passport and other identification cards. It’s difficult to surmise the whys and wherefores of this… but it makes my blood boil nonetheless.
The Quotes of the Week VII
Posted: 20 February 2011 Filed under: Current, Politics, Quotes | Tags: abuse, Ali Abdullah Saleh, child abuse, government, Italian, Italy, Jupiter, Luga Flow, Manchester, Mickey Rooney, murder, planet, poverty, revolution, science, sexism, Silvio Berlusconi, solar system, Tyche, Uganda, Ugandan, vote, Yemen, Yemeni Leave a comment »Sunday 13th
“If it does, John and I will be doing cartwheels. And that’s not easy at our age.”
Professor Daniel Whitmire of the University of Louisiana on research which may prove the existence of another ninth planet in our solar system; Tyche, thought to be four times the size of Jupiter
The Loneliness Which is Barely Different
Posted: 19 February 2011 Filed under: Asia, Media, Music | Tags: beauty, China, Chinese, Deserts Chang, indie, song, Taiwan, Taiwanese, Xi Huan, Zhang Xuan Leave a comment »
It’s not often that you will find a song which will take your breath away. I discovered this one last year, and many listens later it hasn’t lost the tender beauty or the power it held over me the first time I heard it.
Unbelievingly, I first discovered Xǐ huan [喜欢] ‘Like’ as a free download. It’s by Zhāng Xuán [张悬], most commonly known as Deserts Xuan or Chang, a Taiwanese singer who is thought to be one of the leading voices of contemporary alternative Chinese music. It’s from her second album, released in 2007 and entitled, Qīn ài de…wǒ huán bù zhī dào [親愛的…我還不知道], ‘Dear…I Don’t Know Yet’.
A long-time independent musician and composer, Chang began writing songs barely into her teens. She was performing her own music on stage by the age of 16 and at 19, she had written over 100 pieces of music. She chose the stage name ‘Deserts’ because it was “mysterious and suggests something hanging in limbo”; like her personality.
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