Done with the Prossies, Finished Good Omens, and Moving On

Well, I have finished my paper on Roman prostitution in the ancient world, and also, this morning, some 9 hours after finishing said paper (with sleep injected in between) I finished reading Good Omens. It has taken me a while, mainly due to my silly schedule and habit of reading in bed, which means I often have to read a bit extra to find out where I am, and what actually happened in the latter half of last-nights' reading...

Good Omens was a really(!) enjoyable book, by arguably two of the best living authors, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It was wonderfully crafted, with interesting characters, who had intriguingly human responses. It is a charming exploration of humanity's reaction to problems, prophecies, and the nature of religion. Also, the ending was mind-blowing good. I will give it (because I'd be mad not to) a 10/10.

I am now moving on to read Toby Alone by Timothee de Fombelle, which I bought yesterday, and mentioned in yesterday's blog. I also am reading more Sherlock Holmes.

This evening, I am going out for tea with uni folk, and it will be tops. It's similar to wartime, this point in the semester, with assignments, headaches, and late nights flying around at dizzying speeds. There is a certain camaraderie to getting together with fellow soldiers and generally abusing the thought of anyone remotely involved with creating these courses. Ah, uni. I love it.

Have a great day. Blake.

Prostitution in Ancient Rome, Toby Alone, and Looking Fowards to a Nice Cigar

The essay on prostitution in Ancient Rome is coming along nicely, and with luck (or rather, if I stop buggerising around...) I will have it done tonight, as well as the beginning to my Education assignment, which, coming as a great shock to all and sundry, is as utterly useless in measuring my knowledge as all the other ones have been.

I periodically get emails from BORDERS bookstores, which tell me to buy books, and also give me previews and discounts. I downloaded a preview for a book called Toby Alone, by French author Timothee de Fombelle (his first novel) and I really liked what I saw. I purchased it today, and was thrilled to find that the book is very pretty, and the dust jacket is a large foldout map of the setting. It's a translated text, but done by a lady who is apparently quite good, and it seemed to be fine when I read the preview. It has little illustrations, and overall is very nice.

We just purchased a house. We will have cigars on the nbew deck. Looking fowards to it.

Blake.

Indiana Jones meets Lovecraft

Well, I've just been to see the new Indiana Jones film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and I must say it was different. It was different to what I had expected, it was different to the original trilogy, and it was definately different in content, although not in style, to the old film.

Without ruining the plot, I can tell you this - Indy still has the magic, Ford is brilliant, and no-one on film can take a beating like he can. Shia LeBeouf (pronounced Le-Buff) was great also, quite the rising star. I was underwhelmed by Cate Blanchett somewhat; her star power could have been used to greater effect, and in one scene it looked like she had an Adam's Apple. Hmm.

The content side of things was your traditional Indy tale of archaeology, deciphering ancient texts and so on, along with the general fun wisecracks. Where the film became different was the introduction of almost a kind of pulp horror. The films always sought to tap into the pulp era of the 20s, and bring that over-the-top style to films. This film deviates slightly into the realm of pulp horror, and certain parts felt like they came from a H. P. Lovecraft tale. Which I personally think worked very well. The combination of styles and influences made a nice package of a film; there is no need to distance this from the others in the series, all the magic was still there, and the acting, by and large, was rather good.

Despite people bagging the film, I would encourage you to see it yourself. It has to be seen at the movies, small screen is too small for the action and great landscape scenes, especially in the late stages of the film. Having some knowledge of the stylistic influences will aid in the enjoyment of this film, without knowing the connection to pulp horror, especially the weird stuff of Lovecraft, you will not get all you can out of it.

I give it, for performance, magic, and partly nostalgia: 4/5.

Another Day, Another Lot Of Nothing

Well, another day has passed, and I have once again managed to accomplish absolutely nothing. How do I do it? Sometimes I even ask myself that.

What I have done is type out more of The Witching Hour which is beginning to take crazy shape and form. I am happy though, and I am working on where to go next.

Indy tomorrow!

Have a great night. Blake.

Still on the Tea Kick

I'm still on the tea kick from when I was sick last week. And I am still loving it. Crazy.

On the other hand, I am reading Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I had never really gotten into Terry Pratchett, and granted, I had never really given him a chance. For Two reasons:

1) I have a strange paranoia about anything that gets too much hype from a lot of people; a sneaking suspicion creeps in and says that it really can't be all it's cracked up to be.

And 2) When I was young, I recall seeing a terrible cartoon version of Discworld, and I think that has put me off ever since. I also (more recently) hired Hogfather, the film version, and was rather underwhelmed.

However, I am really liking Good Omens, and I have gone and bought The Colour of Magic, the first Discworld novel, which I plan to begin when I finish Good Omens. Hold forth for reviews to come.

Five Assignments, Seven Thousand Words = ProcrastiNation

Ah, Australia. We put the Nation into ProcrastiNation.

I have 5 assignments due in the next month. Four weeks, 5 assignments totalling between seven and eight thousand words all said and done. Which is nice, really. Normally all my major assessments are 2000-3000 words, but not this semester. Hurrah for a bit of a bludgey busy period, if you can work with that contradiction...

So yes. Point is, I will be doing a lot of procrastinating, which means lots of blogging and other assorted uselessness. From me, to you.

PS - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is out on Thursday (in Aus), and I cannot wait. Woot!

A Paper on Prostitution

Hey all. Just a quick note to let you all know that I am writing a paper on prostitution. In Rome. How very cool is that, eh? Pretty darn. Apparently I get to look at all manner of sordid documents in uncovering the social impact of prostitution on Rome, and also compare the profession to the modern same.

Hope you have as much fun studying. Blake.

Arsehole Customers, 21, and Rantings

A few things.

Firstly, I went to see the movie 21 tonight. It was good. Starred Kevin Spacey and Lawrence Fishbourne. It was a fun popcorn flick, with a nice happy ending with everyone left happy and justice satisfied. Not breaking any cinematic conventions or making anyone's career, but it was fun, and for that, I give it a 3.5/5.

Secondly, I cannot stand arrogant customers. At my work (I work at a cafe) we close at three on a weekend. We have this one bloke that comes in all the time, knows our hours and whatnot. Fairly frequently, he shows up at 5 minutes to three and wants lunch, and wants to sit for half an hour and eat it. Which is very annoying when you want to pack up and go home. Frequently, I have to ask him to leave. Today, I had to kick out about 4 tables of people around 20 past three, one table of which was his. I used my colloquial "Sorry folks, I'll have to kick you out 'cause we are all going home", which is usually quite fine.

About a minute after this, the guy comes over casually, and says "Blake, I come here often, and thats twice now you've spoken to me in that manner. I don't appreciate being told I'll be kicked out of a place." So I apologised, and he left. And all was well.

But. I've been thinking. SCREW HIM! He has no right to do it week after week, and expect me and the other staff to cop his arrogant arseholery. It's not on. If he can't hack a colloquial expression and take it in the jovial spirit it was given (difficult to maintain, given how much we were all put out - did I mention he came in after we had shut the gates and stopped taking customers?) then he needs to grow a cock and harden up.

While I'm in the ranting mode, why is it that people assume that everyone working in customer service industries are idiots? I'm freaking on my way to a bloody Masters degree, looking into PhD studies in literature, and this is after snobbing an Economics/Commerce degree and leaving a Traineeship in Accounting. I'm not a retard, and I really hate pricks thinking my intelligence is knee high to a sparrow's anus because I work in a cafe to pay my bills while at Uni. Chances are, whatever they are doing is nothing to what I'll be up to in 5 years. Bugger the lot of 'em. Besides, didn't they work to go through uni? No? That's because they didn't go to uni... aww. Screw them.

Have a nice rest of the weekend. Blake.

Gluttony Sketch, and 'One-Eye' John.

Here is the accompanying sketch from my notebook at the top of the page where I wrote the Gluttony poem. I've done these for all the Sins.

Gluttony





Also, this is 'One-Eye' John




Both images Copyright Blake Jolly, 2008.

Bottled Water, Gluttony, and Chapter One

I got a bottle of water at uni yesterday, and the brand name was Another Bloody Water. What's more, it was the nicest bottled water i have ever had. Forget Mount Franklin or EastCoast, this was top notch.

I have almost finished Chapter One of The Witching Hour. I spent an hour or so talking about it with Bec yesterday, and we worked through a bunch of issues with logic with where I was taking it. Mainly because I had all these very complex ideas that didn't function entirely as I wanted them to. So I had to rethink where things were going, and in the end, I had to axe a character entirely. That being said, the whole thing is now a lot more like what I originally wanted, and it works an awful lot better. I am now convinced that these people would do these things, and internal logic is important to any work of fiction. So there you are. Writing Writing.

Also, in order to kind of hold to a promise ages ago, I have included here the Gluttony poem:

You never quite know when you've had enough -
The delicate flavours and textures
Beckon with their subtlety and sweetness:
"Just one more bite."

Glut your senses on the smoothness of fine wine,
Wooden and deep, with sensuous fingers it ensnares your tongue
Until you have had too much again.
Never fear though, what is a little excess now and again?

Sweet spices make your tongue tingle with delight,
Warm buttery pastries glide down your neck,
Which grows ever thicker with your surfeit.
A plethora of indulgences lie waiting.

One day, you realise you are an addict;
You hate what you have become, but
In the way of all addicts
That is not enough to stop you.

You think maybe you need help
By then, though, it's much too late
To stop the ravages of heart disease.
So eat, drink, and be merry...

...Because while you may die tomorrow,
You have lived large today.
Revel in the pleasures and raptures of the flesh
And feast your way into oblivion.

Copyright Blake Jolly, 2008.

Have a great weekend. Blake.