reading again!
I have started a reading revival. It’s only a personal thing, but boy, is it great! It is all the ‘fault’ of my English Fantasy Narratives class. I started by re-reading some old favourites: The Hobbit, Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, A Wrinkle in Time. I went to the library and got some more books on the reading list out: The Princess Bride, The Amulet of Samarkand, and Anansi Boys. I read them in that order- FANTASTIC.
I’d forgotten the thrill of wanting to flip to the end of the book to make sure everything is all right, and not wanting to because I’ll hate myself for spoiling the ending… Dramatic Tension, in other words. These are well written, entertaining books.
Perhaps it is the format as well- books are real, you can hold them and curl up with them. (Sure you can curl up with a laptop, but it’s not really the same.) The other difference is that books are polished, with text drafted and re-written, in a way that perhaps blogs are not. (Especially small, amateur ones like this one!) Books have solid ideas, not half-collected outbursts. Books are refined.
I had a conversation with some friends about the amounts of reading we did- and it was pointed out that an otherwise not-very-much-book reader actually did a lot of reading of things online. Yes, that is reading, but I don’t think the absorption, the can’t-put-it-down quality isn’t there. I need to find more books to read, and not take up reading time with surfing time. Both are good, but I don’t want to neglect reading any more.
Real paper books are magic. And I’ve rediscovered that I love reading them.
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harry potter comparisons
I overhead this today at the end of an English Fantasy Narratives lecture:
If I’m ever an author, I’m going to make sure I say at every interview: If you compare my work to Harry Potter, I will personally
Hunt you down, and
stab you in the eyewith a fork.
That may not be an exact quote, but it’s pretty close. I had to walk out of the lecture theatre quickly and chuckled to myself.
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my degree, how it works. MISSING TEXT
I’m studying towards a double degree. Arts, and Computer Science.
The Arts one is made up of a Major (8 subjects) a Minor (4 subjects) a first year sequence (2 subjects) and two other random subjects- random because Computer Science stole one of them. “Ethics in the work place” etc. are my options there. The Computer Science is made up of a stack of core subjects and a few electives at second and third year level.
I have a minimum of four years, maximum of ten to finish my course, so I’m not worried about fitting it all in- I have plenty of time.
My year is made up of two semesters. I take 4 subjects each semester, two each from Arts and Computer Science. A first year sequence is a first semester class and a second semester class from the same subject. A minor is a first year sequence, plus two other subjects at second year level. A major is 8 units- a minor plus others.
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concrete versus cement
I have always wondered exactly what the difference is between cement and concrete. The terms seem pretty much interchangeable, yet people would disagree whether the path you were talking about was made of concrete or cement.
I looked it up, and I found my answer. Cement is the grey powder that, when mixed with water, goes hard. Cement is a key ingredient of concrete, which is sand, gravel, cement and water.
So there you go- now you know.
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preaching to the converted
A documentary review I read recently criticised it as “preaching to the converted.” Later on as I was thinking about it, I thought “hang on, that’s not right!”
If we didn’t preach to the converted, there would be no sermon on Sundays, Bible Colleges would be empty and leading bible studies would be pointless. This is like saying that once a person is converted, that’s it, they don’t need to do any more.
Surely we need to preach to the converted? Tradition shows that we often do. Preaching to the converted encourages them, challenges them, reminds them of what they need to do, and strengthens their faith.
Perhaps people prefer “I told you so” evidence and arguments, rather than uncomfortable reminders of what their own behaviour should be.
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religion’s very own f word
Last night I watched the second episode of a two part documentary on fundamentalism , religion’s very own f word, by Mark Dowd.
Fundamentalists emphasise the fundamentals of their belief, to counter what they see as a dangerous new world that is trying to wipe them out- the modern world. With fundamentalism, religion has gotten mixed up with politics, and with politics, violence.
At one point in the documentary, one of the authors/experts states that all those who are religious should be fundamentalist- that is, well versed in the fundamentals of their beliefs. It is the fear and violence, however, that is the problem.
Mark Dowd interviews leaders of different religious faiths, regular every day people living out their lives according to their beliefs, and authors on fundamentalism and religion. He examines what makes a fundamentalist, and what rules their actions. The five major faiths he covers are Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism (surprisingly), Judaism and Islam. He visits the USA, India, Sri Lanka, Israel and Gaza.
At the end of his report, these are his points:
- Fundamentalism is a product of the modern world. It can be particularly fuelled by the media, and is definitely influenced by globalization.
- Reading text without interpretation is dangerous. He blames the printing press for allowing people to read sacred texts and “find a catchy one liner” to justify what they were going to do anyway. Interpretation, suitable to our times is important. Having educated leaders of religion is important.
- There needs to be respect for the religious. Mark points out that ‘sacred’ means that it is sacred to somebody- and points to the Mohammed cartoon issue as a huge arrogance of the secular west not understanding that religion is very important to some people.
- The solution lies in Israel/Palestine. He says that if the world was a human body, and fundamentalist violence was a disease attacking it, the area of Palestine/Israel would be where the Doctors would have to focus if there was to be any hope of a cure.
He raises an interesting point about the availability of sacred texts- any one can pick a verse out of context that justifies what they are doing. Being able to read the text for your self and make up your own mind, to experience a personal faith, is something that I hold as important- I don’t think it is a good idea to lock away texts, and I don’t think it is possible to put the genie back in the bottle in any case. However, interpretation is a skill that is important.
I enjoyed this documentary, it has given me some great brain food to mull over. What are your thoughts? As always, drop a comment in the box.
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textbooks for sale!
I’ve realized that I don’t need some of my old textbooks any more, so I’m selling them. Feel free to skim over this post if you’re not into commerce. Regular broadcast due to return soon.
| title | author | edition | price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repase y escriba | Dominicis | 4th | $40.00 |
| Database Systems | Rob, Coronel | 5th | $20.00 |
| The Making of Europe | Robert Bartlett | 2nd | $10.00 |
| The Portable Medieval Reader | James Bruce Ross, Mary Martin McLaughlin | 21st | $10.00 |
| The Renaissance in Europe | Margaret L. King | 1st | $20.00 |
| The Penguin History of Medieval Europe | Maurice Keen | 2nd | $9.00 |
| the Australian short story | Laurie Hergenhan | 4th | $15.00 |
| Waiting for Godot | Samuel Beckett | 3rd | $5.00 |
| Hotel Sorento | Hannie Rayson | 5th | $6.00 |
These are listed on Textbook Exchange
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brief posting: apple L
Unfortunately my blogging time is rather compressed at the moment, therefore I am going to just do a brief “heads up” or “hey look at this, I think it’s cool” post. 
My Firefox short cut of the week is Apple + L (or CTRL + L for you PC people). It jumps the focus to the address bar, a quick tab will get you to the search bar.
Handy!
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kids walking places
You know, I don’t know what all this fuss is about kids walking places these days, stranger danger and all that. Bucking the trend, there are a couple of kids in my neighbourhood that walk home in twilight nearly every week night by themselves-
from their karate class.
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city shopping
I like multitasking. Today, I sketched out a rough outline of my creative writing assignment for Introduction to Fantasy Narratives, bought a decent sized Spanish-English dictionary, and had a good afternoon out at the same time.
It’s a 40+ minute train ride into the city from where I live, so I was able to do quite a bit of sketching out of my creative writing piece- entitled ‘magical monash’ at the moment for lack of a better title. I was quite pleased, as I worked out the major plot events and devices before I started to write. This is an improvement on the old stories I would write, which never got past the incredibly suspenseful and dramatic first chapter before I would think: “ok, now what?” The train ride soon came to an end though, so I put away my notebook and pens, and found my way out of Melbourne Central Station.
Walking around the city is fun… except when you realize you are going in the wrong direction. I had ended up out side Flinders Street station, after walking in the opposite direction to the one I had intended. While I had looked at the map before I had gone out, my confidence in my memory was totally deflated- having a real map helps, even if it’s a dodgy tourist one. A dodgy tourist map doesn’t name all of the streets, only the key ones and makes sure to highlight all the major attractions- which you probably aren’t heading for. However, it was useful enough in pointing me in the right direction.
Having walked a few blocks and unsure of the distance still to go, I hopped on a tram, and went as far as Melbourne University, then walked down Elgin Street to Lygon Street, and my goal for the afternoon: Second hand bookshops.
I love books. I can hear a hum as they will me to pick them up, “read me… read me…” they whisper. This effect is only magnified when you have a massive collection of books, like when you go to the library, or to a bookshop. This particular second hand book shop was MASSIVE. Unfortunately, it didn’t have any Spanish/English dictionaries, so I tried next door at a smaller, more school based shop. Success! I even had a choice from two. I paid for my book and walked out into the street, feeling very chuffed with myself.
I caught the tram again, retracing my steps to the train, and did some more creative writing idea brainstorming on the way home.
Today was a very enjoyable day: the satisfaction of working on two subjects, tracking down an uncommon object, exploring the city and riding on a tram. (Yes, I’m easily amused. )