Those were actually common knowledge in my grade school, but I did make this one up for the all-but-impossible to recall Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Ghosts Haunt Stone Towers More Cautiously Lately -->
Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse at Alexandria
That doesn’t sound so bad. I wonder if MLA would accept a study (or panel) on Peeps in the works of Oscar Wilde, which, like Dorian’s decadent bible, Against the Grain, can be had in a rainbow of colors? Odysseus, I don’t know if you have any background in this area, but you are obviously a Peeps scholar and can write your way around history and literature. Why don’t you contact me if you have any ideas?
Thank you for the acknowledgement Johnny! I look forward to reading it. I'll be sure and let you know if I hear of any upcoming conferences on Peeps, the semiotics of holiday-themed candy, or sweets and the marketplace.
Peeps in Pepys? I think we have the beginning of a conference paper title. But Odysseus, I am a little uneasy about your allusion to the story (long considered apocryphal) that Peeps started the legendary Great Fire – or indeed, were anywhere near it. Peeps are far too easily melted themselves to be capable of arson. I suspect you are on sturdier ground with the Decaramelization, although you will have to prove that Peeps had an interest in religion.
Yeah, I can see how Dickens’ saccharine sentimentality might be a metaphorical expression of an underlying sweet-tooth. Twain, by contrast, sought refuge in humor that was a jejune attempt to avoid sentiment, later falling into bitter misanthropy in The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson in a blatant denial of the inspirational role that sweets played in his work. We should also note the varieties of consumption so conspicuous in Dickens’ novels (and so absent in Twain's), from the tubercular death of Little Nell, to the pitiful feast at the Cratchitt’s Christmas table, to the wretched excess of the ancien regime in A Tale of Two Cities – each a marker of preoccupation with consuming sweets that contrasts sharply with Victorian moralists' warnings against them.
By the way, can anyone remember if there are any chickens in Dickens?
I was considering reading that. How did it not live up to the title? Was it things that aren't crucial that everyone know? Things that are not proven scientific knowledge? Not really 1001 things?
What do you think of Gilmore Girls this season? I'm thinking about firing it if it doesn't improve. What I loved about it--the unexpectedly affecting dramatic moments and clever lines--are in short supply right now.
Well, it was submitted as evidence at Wilde's trial (one of them, anyway--there were three) for sodomy, and Wilde did end up serving time.
On the ending, yeah, I don't know if it is all that much of a concession--I mean, he decides not to confess, even though he does destroy the picture. My take is that it preserves the ambiguity of the rest of the book about whether you should try to do what you know to be right, or to do what you feel. Dorian chooses to compromise, and it kills him.
Sophie Kinsella and Oscar Wilde...that's pretty eclectic taste! We had an interesting talk about The Picture of Dorian Gray in a class I took, trying to decide whether the moral ending was a concession to the Victorian public.
Those were actually common knowledge in my grade school, but I did make this one up for the all-but-impossible to recall Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Ghosts Haunt Stone Towers More Cautiously Lately -->
Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse at Alexandria
Please excuse my dear aunt Sally. --> parentheses, exponents, divide, add, subtract
King Philip cut open five green snakes. --> kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
That doesn’t sound so bad. I wonder if MLA would accept a study (or panel) on Peeps in the works of Oscar Wilde, which, like Dorian’s decadent bible, Against the Grain, can be had in a rainbow of colors? Odysseus, I don’t know if you have any background in this area, but you are obviously a Peeps scholar and can write your way around history and literature. Why don’t you contact me if you have any ideas?
Thank you for the acknowledgement Johnny! I look forward to reading it. I'll be sure and let you know if I hear of any upcoming conferences on Peeps, the semiotics of holiday-themed candy, or sweets and the marketplace.
Peeps in Pepys? I think we have the beginning of a conference paper title. But Odysseus, I am a little uneasy about your allusion to the story (long considered apocryphal) that Peeps started the legendary Great Fire – or indeed, were anywhere near it. Peeps are far too easily melted themselves to be capable of arson. I suspect you are on sturdier ground with the Decaramelization, although you will have to prove that Peeps had an interest in religion.
Possibly, but you'd best back off from the peeps libel, or you might have to contend with something worse than a lawyer: a fearsomely enlarged peep.
Yeah, I can see how Dickens’ saccharine sentimentality might be a metaphorical expression of an underlying sweet-tooth. Twain, by contrast, sought refuge in humor that was a jejune attempt to avoid sentiment, later falling into bitter misanthropy in The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson in a blatant denial of the inspirational role that sweets played in his work. We should also note the varieties of consumption so conspicuous in Dickens’ novels (and so absent in Twain's), from the tubercular death of Little Nell, to the pitiful feast at the Cratchitt’s Christmas table, to the wretched excess of the ancien regime in A Tale of Two Cities – each a marker of preoccupation with consuming sweets that contrasts sharply with Victorian moralists' warnings against them.
By the way, can anyone remember if there are any chickens in Dickens?
Peeps is actually the name for the genus. The species are subdivided into bunnies and baby chicks.
But don't you have a dissertation to be working on? Does your advisor know you spend this much time on the psychology of Peeps?
Peeps are not carcinogenic. They are sugar-coated marshmallows.
You will be hearing from the Just Born Corporation's lawyers very shortly.
I was considering reading that. How did it not live up to the title? Was it things that aren't crucial that everyone know? Things that are not proven scientific knowledge? Not really 1001 things?
No problem. Reading through your plot summaries, I wonder why it is that so many movies about movies end in chaos?
What do you think of Gilmore Girls this season? I'm thinking about firing it if it doesn't improve. What I loved about it--the unexpectedly affecting dramatic moments and clever lines--are in short supply right now.
On the up-side, Jess is out of the picture.
Well, it was submitted as evidence at Wilde's trial (one of them, anyway--there were three) for sodomy, and Wilde did end up serving time.
On the ending, yeah, I don't know if it is all that much of a concession--I mean, he decides not to confess, even though he does destroy the picture. My take is that it preserves the ambiguity of the rest of the book about whether you should try to do what you know to be right, or to do what you feel. Dorian chooses to compromise, and it kills him.
Sophie Kinsella and Oscar Wilde...that's pretty eclectic taste! We had an interesting talk about The Picture of Dorian Gray in a class I took, trying to decide whether the moral ending was a concession to the Victorian public.
How about:
Sock matching (blues and blacks only)
Gift wrapping
Sidewalk crack avoidance
Literary criticism
Grocery shopping (cribbed from a Laverne and Shirley episode)
Telemarketing
Origami
Making change
Balloon sculpting
Toasting marshmallows
Graffiti