Everyone is posting this but:

I really just have to put out there how sad I am I can't see this. Hopefully there will be a DVD to rent, in some far flung future:



Thanks to Dr. Nokes and Steve Muhlberger!

Music Meme and Lazy Musings

My brain is still slightly broken from the semester being over. My Introductory Old English final was Monday. I'm always uncomfortable trying to predict these things, but I think I showed it who's boss. In a week, I need to kick the thesis into high gear. Compile research, find holes, edit what I've got, do new research, write, write, write, write-write, write. Edit. All those things. But that's next week. The staged reading for our FringeNYC show is this coming Saturday, and right now, that's in the front of my brain.

This morning I called Il Museo Nazionale Etrusco Di Villa Giulia for a lovely friend of mine. She's interested in a piece the museum has for a planned tattoo, and I called to ask for photographs. I was delighted to find out my Italian is still extant. Isn't it nice to discover you're not actually stretching the truth on your CV when you fear you might have done? Yes.

Since my broken brain is still healing I am going to jump on the music-meme train. Belatedly. Really belatedly. If the music-meme actually was a train, I'd be running behind it, grasping at the back railing on the caboose. But here we go:

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random [incidentally, I didn't skip the song if it had the title in the first line. Consider it a freebie!]
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song [believe me, I have some embarassing ones].
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Bold the songs when someone gets them right [note: I will also include the songs and artists for the curious].

1. Cuando sei Maria Dolores/Cuando sei quei mal d'amore
2. And you know the light is fading all too soon
3. Holding hands, a lover's glance/We could wait or take a chance
4. When all the world was very young/And mountain magic heavy hung
5. Buckets of rain, buckets of tears/Got all them buckets coming out of my ears: Buckets of Rain- Bob Dylan
6. If i could stick my pen in my heart and spill it all over the stage
7. From what I've seen, you're magnificent/You fight evil with all you do
8. There is a game I play/Try to make myself okay
9. There's a little black spot on the sun today: King of Pain- The Police
10. First the mic then a half cigarette, singing Cathy's clown
11. A heart that's full up like a landfill: No Surprises- Radiohead
12. I was getting ready to be a threat
13. Do I, Do I? belong to the night? Only only Only tonight: Guiding Light- Television
14. The sun shines on this funeral the same as on a birth
15. When we laugh indoors the blissful tones bounce off the walls
16. I was never young even as a child, I was never young, I always felt beguiled
17. Flying saucers, levitation. Yo! I could do that
18. I was the restless kind with a heart inclined to play games of chance
19. Well first you gotta want to get off, bad enough to want to get on in the first place
20. Away from the city that hurts and knocks, Im standing alone by the desolate docks
21. Well, Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene: Cowboy Dan- Modest Mouse
22. If You Can Feel What I'm Feeling Then It's A Musical Masterpiece
23. He started the day with a mood and a shake, he was finally arranged
24. Good morning, The Worm, Your Honour, The Crown will plainly show: The Trial- Pink Floyd
25. Under some dirty words on a dirty wall, eating take-out by myself

That's it! Start making with the answers now.

Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Well, it appears I am not getting a fellowship for my doctoral studies. This is a minor setback, really, as I'm going to a fairly low-cost school, but it's still a drag. It means more loans, added to the already sizable loan debt I have, and more hours I need to work to get through the first couple of years.

Anyway, the Pope says it's okay to believe in aliens:

Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.

The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.

But he said he continues to believe that "God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance."

Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo's persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has "caused wounds."

In 1633 the astronomer was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

"The church has somehow recognized its mistakes," he said. "Maybe it could have done it better, but now it's time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration."

Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."

The Vatican Observatory has been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world's best.

The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has a summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.

A WMAM too tired for catchy titles

Oh my gosh, SO tired. It was a busy weekend with anniversarying and mother's daying and studying for today's Old English final, and I'm tuckered out. But it's a good tuckered out, from doing good fun things. I even got in about eight hours of thesis research in there. Steve got me a lovely replica poesy ring:



And I really love it.

Okay, WMAM:

The Echeneis!



According to The Beastmaster, "The echeneis is a fish, half a foot in length, that clings to ships and delays their passage. When this fish attaches to a ship, even in the high winds of a storm the ship will not move, but seems to be rooted in the sea. The echeneis is found in the Indian Sea."

Seriously, that is an impressive fish. Only six inches long and it can stop SHIPS. He must work out a lot.

Enchirius is a little fish unneth half a foot long: for though he be full little of body, nathless he is most of virtue. For he cleaveth to the ship, and holdeth it still stedfastly in the sea, as though the ship were on ground therein. Though winds blow, and waves arise strongly, and wood storms, that ship may not move nother pass. And that fish holdeth not still the ship by no craft, but only cleaving to the ship. It is said of the same fish that when he knoweth and feeleth that tempests of wind and weather be great, he cometh and taketh a great stone, and holdeth him fast thereby, as it were by an anchor, lest he be smitten away and thrown about by waves of the sea. And shipmen see this and beware that they be not overset unwarily with tempest and with storms.

The Encyclopedia Mythica tells us of how this little fishy plagued Caligula.

Today, he survives as the Echeneis naucrates, or "Live Sharksucker," or "Slender Suckerfish."

Neither of which are likely names that he chose for himself. Poor guy.

Some Things That Are Not Medieval

Here are some things that I've been thinking about lately that are not medieval.

1) I want this shirt:

Which is from www.glarkware.com. You have to admit, Roslin knows how to get stuff DONE.

2) This site features a photographer who takes drawings by children and recreates them in photographs. I really, really like them:


3) Here is a beautiful short story, by Catherynne M. Valente, called "A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica." She wrote a story called "A Dirge for Prester John" that took my breath away. This is also wonderful.

TIMH Returns

Though Jeff Sypeck has declared a medieval blogging moratorium and I intend to participate, I have to get the new TIMH out there. We are back from our tiny, tiny hiatus. I will have SO much non-medieval content after this.

Here it is!

Also: Wizardry Threatens America!

Thanks Jon!

Fla. Teacher Accused Of Wizardry: Man Made Toothpick Vanish In Class

LAND 'O LAKES, Fla. -- A substitute teacher in Pasco County has lost his job after being accused of wizardry.

Piculas recently did the 30-second trick in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes.

Piculas said he then got a call from the supervisor of teachers, saying he'd been accused of wizardry.

"I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue, you can't take any more assignments you need to come in right away,'" he said.

Piculas said he did not know of any other accusations that would have led to the action.

The teacher said he is concerned that the incident may prevent him from getting future jobs.

No k'zoo for me

I am very sad that I won't be at Kalamazoo this year. My paper didn't get in (probably because I didn't submit to a specific panel, BIG mistake!), and it's graduation time here at NYU and the office is busy-busy-busy. Ah well. Next time. I've never been, and I'm dying to go. All the bloggers are heading off to the great festival, and I sit here at my desk, and languish. Have a drink for me, bloggers!

I will be pleasantly occupied, however. I have a thesis to start writing, a play to start producing, and a three-year anniversary to celebrate this coming Friday. Three years! I haven't done anything for three years! Except be in school. Hence, this blog.

There are big plans for this blog. I've been arranging for my sister, the author of the lovely baking blog Ice Cream Before Dinner, to do some guest blogging for me. I charged her with baking a medieval treat, sharing some photos with us, and of course letting me eat whatever she comes up with (which is difficult, as she lives in Florida and I live in New York). As a result, I've spent a lot of time looking for medieval recipes. I found a great site, Medieval and Renaissance Food: Sources, Recipes, and Articles, that has many.

BIG PLANS.

WMAM After a Busy Weekend

Hey gang. Yep, it was a busy one. Saturday was spent filming some TIMH segments for the coming few weeks. We have a bit more to do, but we got a nice chunk done. I think the few conferences I attended since last time helped with my reading aloud skills, as well as my Latin pronouncing skills (or rather, I am more confident in my Latin pronouncing skills, and so no longer feel compelled to pronounce things badly on purpose). Also my puppet-burning skills. Yep.

After filming we saw Iron Man, which was great fun. If you haven't seen it yet, and plan to, STAY AFTER THE CREDITS. Fellow comic dorks will rejoice.

Sunday was all business. I met a few girlfriends for a brunch-session-of-planning for our June trip to Italy, and had an eye exam for new glasses and contacts. Ordered some sexy new semi-rimless, in a desperate attempt to decrease certain cases of mistaken identity.

The semester is almost over. I have my last Old English class tonight, and the final a week from today. After that, it is HARDCORE THESIS WORK TIME. While technically due August 16, I'm going to shoot for August 1 so that my break between M.A. work and PhD work is a bit longer than one week. This is obviously complicated by the fact that I know how to help mount an Off-Off Broadway production in the exact same timeframe. Thinking about it too much makes my knees a bit wobbly, so I tend not to think about it and assume it will all get done. Somehow.

All right, it's WMAM time up in here. I seem to have attracted the attention of the Beastmaster, who has approved of this enterprise despite the fact that I callously hurt the bonnacon's feelings. I would argue that the term weird, far from being pejorative, is instead intended to express and celebrate the extraordinary uniqueness of medieval animals. Especially you, bonnacon. Embrace your awesomeness.

Okay, here we go!

ONAGER.



The onager is a wild ass that brays 12 times to signal the spring equinox. The alpha male onager is extremely protective of his onager-harem, and will castrate any new males born. Izzy says:

The wild ass is called onager because "ass" in Greek is onus and "wild" is agrion. The wild asses of Africa are large and wander in the desert. A single male is lord over a flock of females. Being jealous of newborn males, the male lord bites off their testicles; in fear of this, the females hide their young in secret places.

Here a baby onager passing inspection:



Doesn't strike me as the best way to keep the species going. Guess that's why we don't see onagers running all over the place. Except that WE DO. They must have pulled it together somehow.

The onager also inspired a Roman seige weapon.

That's all for now, lovelies. Catch you later.

Good news, internet.

A play I wrote with a very good friend of mine was accepted to the Fringe New York Fringe Festival this summer in NYC. We''ll be getting five or six performance dates sometime from Aug 8 to Aug 24. I'm very excited.

We are doing a reading on May 17. Here's the info:

time, et al

by Gil Varod and Jennifer Lynn Jordan

• When: Saturday, May 17th, 2PM
• Where: The Kraine Theatre, 85 East 4th Street, off of 2nd avenue.
  
• Starring: Mick Bleyer, Rachel Pincus and Josh Burstein
• $6 to help us cover the Theatre rental and prepare for our Fringe production.
Hope you can join us. Use the form below to RSVP!


The full name of one of the people in your group:





Number Seats Reserved for your group:


0 (I am cancelling my RSVP) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

E-mail Address: