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ENG 332: Modern Drama (24 plays in 13 weeks! Woooooouch!)
ENG 395 (04): Thesis - Tom Stoppard/Oscar Wilde (...go ahead. Make the joke.)
FLMST 230: Documentary Film

*big sigh OF RELIEF*

Now I just have to do the reading for all of these.
Drama: A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen
Thesis: finish Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon (1968) - Stoppard's one and only novel.
Film: 2 chapters from this and from this, which will be much easier once the books actually arrive.

And I don't have class until 2:40 PM today. Brilliant!

The perfect gift for English professors and librarian-types: Holy Tango of Literature, by Francis Heaney, a survey of literature through the ages, "if poets and playwrights wrote works whose titles were anagrams of their names."

For example:

SKINNY DOMICILE
EMILY DICKINSON

I have a skinny Domicile—
Its Door is very narrow.
’Twill keep—I hope—the Reaper out—
His Scythe—and Bones—and Marrow.

Since Death is not a portly Chap,
The Entrance must be thin—
So—when my Final Moment comes—
He cannot wriggle in.

That’s why I don’t go out that much—
I can’t fit through that Portal.
How dumb—to waste my Social Life
On Plans to be—immortal—

You can also read the whole thing online, but that doesn't help with the gift-giving.

Instead of packing, I watched 28 Days Later for the first time today. I'm far too proud of myself; I don't do scary movies well, and spent a couple of years being too frightened to see it, despite all the good things I'd heard. (To be fair, most of the "good things" were "HOLY SHIT SO SCARY!" so I don't think you can blame me for staying away.)

The thing is, having seen it? It's not actually that scary. Creepy, yes. But I'm a fan of the creepy -- see my affinity for M. Night Shyamalan, or even Buffy the vampire slayer (shutupitwastoocreepysometimes) -- so this worked well for me. And it's interesting from a Hollywood standpoint, with Cillian Murphy and Christopher Eccleston being considerably more recognizable now than when it was made. (I also had a Hey! It's That Guy! moment with Brendan Gleeson, who you may remember from such films as Troy and...King Arthur, maybe? Historical stuff, like that.)

Additionally, having sat through all three alternative endings ("This one's pretty much the same...only Jim's replaced with a chicken!"), I've decided that I really like Danny Boyle. And I need to see Shallow Grave. *makes a note*

My other entertainment experience of the day was reading Osborne's Look Back in Anger at work. Groundbreaking when it was first performed (1956), as usual, it's lost some of its luster. But it's still easy to see how it "revolutionized English drama," and the characters are surprisingly compelling. So hooray. *checks it off Stoppard reading list*

There will be more (there is always more to tell), but I'll be kicked out of the Uni library in about 15 minutes. Until that time...

I got to go to the beach today! The whole program was on a weekend trip to Devon, and the weather hit an unusual warm spell yesterday morning. (I didn't have to be constantly cold this weekend! Yay!) We were staying in Maypool hostel, near Dartmouth, about 6 miles from the sea--and what would you rather do: see yet another castle, or spend the morning on the shore?

It was warm and lovely, and marred only by the fact that I had to be reading Lord of the Flies the entire time. Am seriously about to be kicked out, so must run.

Any more, my life consists of sleeping, reading, work, and watching movies (more or less in order of importance). In the past week: finished three books, worked almost 40 hours, and seen four five movies.

( lists and reviews, including A Movie I Actually Liked )

Hopefully, this week will bring more fun. llogan--we need to get together.