It's spring break...

...so wacky kitten videos for everyone!

cat on frozen pond

kitten hitting a hammer

this kitten knows kung fu

kitten falling asleep while standing up

Enjoy!

Stephen Colbert's writing a book!

Well, it's not Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure, but according to the L.A. Times (registration may be required) Stephen Colbert is writing an, umm, educational* book. The details and information are a bit sketchy (I'm puzzled by the phrase, "Colbert also has a background with words") but I'm excited about reading what he writes. It seems strange to me, though, that he's writing a book when it's so clear that he doesn't trust them.

* "This book will have the same noble goal as my television show: to change the world one factual error at a time," Colbert said Tuesday in a statement issued by Warner Books.

Happy first day of spring!

It's cold and rainy in southern California. What's it like where you are?

Oh, and...

...do check out Geoffrey Chaucer's blog. Because I sayeth so.

this is (theoretically) very cool

The Musipedia allows you to search for music in various categories by singing a tune into your computer microphone or entering it in with the piano keyboard feature. I've got it to work every time with the piano keyboard feature (although I have trouble getting the rhythm right with the mouse; anyone else have this problem?), but I don't think my computer microphone is sensitive enough to pick up my singing. That or my singing is worse than I thought, which is possible. Still, I was impressed when I entered the minor version of Frere Jacques and it correctly identified it as Mahler's 1st symphony. Cool.

picture this

The weather has been beautiful the last few days. It rained on Friday and Saturday, leaving gorgeous grey and white clouds and crisp blue skies on Sunday.
















I'm not sure the photo does it justice, but the skies reminded me of the summer I spent in the mountains of North Carolina, and the ways in which clouds would roll in like this each afternoon. I just have to pretend that the weather is thirty degrees or so warmer than it is, and the illusion almost holds.

I've been thinking lately that I ought to carry a camera more often. If I did, I might also be posting pictures of . . .

- the mountains in the east half covered in snow

- a duck standing with a befuddled expression in the middle of a large puddle on campus

- a car in my parking lot with its front end completely crushed and a license plate frame reading, "Don't come too close; I'm not that kind of car" (well, I probably wouldn't post this, but I might have photographed it)

- my friend's 5-month-old, obscenely cute labrador retriever puppy

I'd give you a thousand words for each, but I'm waaay too sleepy.

the absent-minded T.A., starring Sagejenn the Clutzy

This morning I had the brilliant idea of getting up at 5am to finish commenting on my student's paper drafts. The result? Within the next few hours, I stubbed my toe on one of my shoes, hit my face (not just my head, but my face) on the side of the closet, and tripped over a very large, very visible stick.

On the upside, my audition tape for the remake of The Three Stooges is almost done.

the strangest things I've been asked by students in my English class this quarter:

"You've read a lot of books, right?"

"Did Cinderella become a princess or a queen?"

"Were men and women in nineteenth-century Norway expected to be married by a certain age?"

"What is the big deal about Shakespeare?"


And, the winner of the Non-Sequitur Award for Excellence in Irrelevancy:

"How exactly do you compose music?"

I need to get out more...

...if by "out," I mean into other classrooms. In the last two weeks, I have sat in on three classes -- one of my fellow T.A.'s (who is teaching the same class that I am) and two by professors who are on my committee and are teaching works on my exam lists. I know it sounds cheesy, but I feel that seeing them teach has already enriched my teaching, if only by reminding me that there are always other ways of doing things. I think one thing I've learned is that it's okay to give students more of my own direction and general sense of the text; I tend to expect them to generate most of the discussion and discussion topics, but I think there may be such a thing as too much Socratic method in a ten-week class. I think I can focus more on generating very specific starting points for discussion, pointing not only to passages and general themes but to specific patterns and language that begs for close reading.

Finally, I've noticed that I really admire those teachers who are able to pull threads together and make the entire class discussion make a lot of retrospective sense. This, I think, will take a lot of practice.

I was going to post a picture of Jon Stewart at the Oscars...

...but then I found this:
















Oh, Jon Stewart. Why do you make me laugh so?

I thought the Oscars weren't that bad, and that Jon Stewart (I was going to type "Jon," but then I realized that I don't technically know him on a first name basis; maybe I should say "Mr. Stewart"?) seemed to relax a bit as the telecast went on. I think it was awkward in the same way that any segment on the Daily Show in which Jon Stewart has to stand is awkward; he works best in a desk and chair. Still, I think he did a good job considering the non-funniness of most of the movies nominated. It also helped that Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell were part of the show. (I think one of Colbert's ads scared Reese Witherspoon, but the Judi Dench one was really hilarious.)

Oh, and...say CHEESE!















As much as I thought Mirrormask should have been nominated, I'm glad Curse of the Were-Rabbit won.

Mad Libs, inspired by Defoe

Video Games

"I love to pimp video games. I can play them day and objection! My mom and Providence are not too happy with my bespattering so much time in front of the television idiotism. So we compromised: After dinner I can play 47 hours of video games, provided I help clear the parliament and wash the scriveners."

Fanny Hill, the musical

This is . . . well . . . I've got nothin'.