Newton Day Is Over

In celebration of the great physicist's birthday, I received several books and sock yarn. Hurray!

Particularly notable amongst my acquisitions today:

The Coast Of Utopia by Tom Stoppard

I've always wanted to read this series of plays, ever since I first caught wind of its epicness over five years ago. I'm a huge fan of Stoppard's work, and an even bigger fan of Russian history and the playwright Turgenev, both of which figure greatly in this massive opus. Definitely excited to begin reading this, and I'll post a review when I've finished each of the three parts.

Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

Love Martin McDonagh and his insanely dark sense of humour. I'd been meaning to get my paws on Pillowman for a while.

Baker Street: Original Broadway Cast Recording

The Sherlock Holmes musical that few people remember, which nonetheless has several delightful tunes and an interesting plot. I may post a review about this one too, considering how few articles one can find on the interwebs.

Great day otherwise, spending time with family and giving ill-advised gifts to my younger siblings. And now two more weeks of similar bliss.

Rainy Saturday

Went to the store and found ricotta cheese and grape leaves to make a cheesecake in the Ancient Roman style. The former comes in plastic tubs, like margarine or sour cream, the latter comes in a big glass canister like pickles. What a rich country I live in. Incidentally, the Ancient Romans would have used fresh bay leaves, but I've never seen a bay leaf that wasn't completely dehydrated, so grape leaves seemed the best substitution. I'll probably blog on how this recipe goes tomorrow, when I make it.

Watched Doctor Who. This episode was written by Neil Gaiman, and, wonderfully, it showed. I also detected some similarities to the works of Beckett, but I feel that this may have more to do with the fact that I'm taking a studies in literature class right now, and so cannot look at any media from after 1957 without seeing magic realism or existentialist motifs.

For that selfsame studies in literature class I must write a version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis in the style of Franz Kafka's stories, preferably The Bucket Rider, but I feel Metamorphosis is more appropriate.

Not to mention the ongoing essay on The Name Of The Rose, which turned into a bloody university thesis.

The Scriptorium is my thesis [insert evil half-crazed laugh]!!!



And now for lists.

List Of Things I Need To Read:

• Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
• The Short Stories of Jorge Luis Borges
• House Of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski
• The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Name Of The Rose, by Umberto Eco
• The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
• One Hundred Years Of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• The Butcher Boy, by Patrick McCabe
• The Pillowman, by Martin McDonagh
• The Poems of Sophia Parnok

Things I Am In The Process Of Reading

• The Name Of The Rose, by Umberto Eco
• A Brief History Of Time, by Stephen Hawking
• The Lieutenant Of Inishmore, by Martin McDonagh
• Beowulf, with Seamus Heaney's brill translation.
• Tartuffe, by Moliere. I can't find a very brill translation, at the moment, so I've taken to reading it in French.

I see maybe a slight imbalance in ratio. Er.

Have some Janelle Monáe, singing her song 'Metropolis'. I enjoy this artist because of her aesthetic, true, but unlike most artists who have a great look (I'm looking at YOU, j-rock bands), her music is actually excellent as well.