Hazel

First the carrots. These carrots come with a Fluffeh Cyuteness Alert. ;)

( I can haz carrot? kthnksnom )

And so to Gawaine. On the BBC at the moment, it's Poetry season, and last night I watched a wonderfully atmospheric programme about one of my favourites. Written 600 years ago and untitled, it came to be known as Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight. Simon Armitage, who has translated the poem from Middle English in a new version that follows the alliterative spirit of the original, took us with him on an exploration of the country through which Gawaine travels. Use of dialect words suggest that the author of 'Gawaine' lived in (or was familiar with) the area and dialect around the Peak District. Leek was mentioned. He followed the way that Gawaine could have taken using clues from the text and his knowledge of the area. We go from Camelot to Holywell in Wales and then to the Peaks.

You can read what Mess Armitage has to say on the how and the why of his translation, which is fairly poetic reading of itself, here: Guardian book review.

In this clip, you can hear Mess Armitage reading what he'd written during this journey in Gawaine's footsteps. It would make more sense if you'd seen the programme; seen him trudging up t'fells in the occluding veil of penetrating drizzle, thick as sea fog, and camping at night under wintry trees in a forest clearing, but it's still two-and-a-quarter minutes of highly descriptive language with some great imagery.

To keep up the time travelling feel, a bit of archaeology news. Oldest Pottery in China

An article I read in Nat Geo on a fabulous cave while waiting in the airport earlier today. I looked it up and had to share.Crystal Palace

Don't forget to check the article's photo gallery.

Last night I watched Lewis. For those of you not familiar with this character he is now a Detective Inspector based in Oxford and used to be the DS to Morse (played by John Thaw). Each story is completed in 2 hours and there are always some neat twists along the way. Last night's was no exception. We were treated to excellent character development of Lewis's sidekick, DS Hathaway, shown and not merely told, by means of effective use of backstory to demonstrate how one's past impinges on the future unless you come to terms with it. Hathaway (another James, which made me giggle) is played by Laurence Fox, who is the third son of James Fox, another fine and distinctive actor.

This news item about bats surprising their keepers amused me so I thought I'd share. I love bats. Have I said? (But I couldn't eat a whole one--no! lol Kidding!) They have such cute little faces, some of them are almost dog-like. One of my favourite things from a couple of years ago was walking through the Twilight house at Chester Zoo where the bats fly freely around you. Although, mostly, they hang off the heating pipes near the roof... *laughs* They're not stupid.

My bent for archaeology ensured I read this item about ice ages axes found under the North Sea with great interest. I can almost hear Phil Harding enthusing... Oo! Ar! Oh! All in broad Zomerzet. *laughs* He's an expert flint knapper so I imagine he would read far more from tiny details than many others. I wish I could have seen his reaction on being shown these items. *grins* His enthusiasm shines in Time Team -- even when they don't find anything he puts a positive spin on it.

Finally, I have to comment on Jersey people's reaction to the La Haut de la Garenne case. I was with you in spirit in Royal Square, with my daffodils, anger, sick to the pit of my stomach, and prayers for the future.

BBC radio Jèrri said that those involved will receive counselling. I wanted to email Gary Craig and suggest that he and a few EFT masters fly out to help. EFT is available on the island (I found that out when looking for the one closest to me) but with 160 victims come forward, and probably more too afraid to, I think he'd appreciate some help.

Et ch'est tous. À la préchaine!

Kissing. So I was struggling a bit to write a, er, romantic scene and decided to see what helpful and or inspirational answers Google came up with.

This one gave me a very hearty laugh!
http://janette-rallison.blogspot.com/2007/05/writing-kissing-scenes.html

This was interesting, although I already knew the thing about mistletoe. I wear a mistletoe brooch during advent.
http://people.howstuffworks.com/kissing1.htm

This one made me think:
http://ballsandwalnuts.com/?p=2084
But Thorne further specified, “The kiss by which all others have been judged; and found wanting,”

Mmm... Still waiting for that one.

Who the hell are you and what have you done with the real fifteen-year-old marauders??

I am severely disappointed. I was *really* looking forward to this bit in the film. They've even got James wearing the same spazzy little wire-framed glasses that Harry has to. Come on, peeps--this is the late 70's! The only kids who wore those kinda frames were the kids who got them free on the National Health! Granted, the choice wasn't as varied as it is today but puh-lease! James Potter's parents are rolling in wizarding gold; James is brilliant at Transfiguration; JKR says he is considered 'the height of cool' so why have they made him wear those spazzy specs? James would not have been seen dead in them! Trust me!

They must have thought they could pick any old fifteen-year-old for the part. As long as they stuck those pathetic specs on him, we'd go, "Oh look! James Potter!"

WRONG!!

And don't even get me started on how the others look! I'm ready to bet that Lily won't even have deep red hair. I'm not expecting green eyes anyway--that's rare enough as it is.

:pants:

Gee, I feel *so* much better for getting that out!