Category Archives: Great Expectations

Sky of Swords by Dave Duncan

By terje | Published: January 20, 2009
450 pages. Eos Fantasy paperback. 2000. Third published novel in the Tales of the King’s Blades trilogy. So. Denouement, eh? After having spent Lord of the Fire Lands setting up pretty much an alternative plotline to the one told in The Gilded Chain, Dave Duncan endeavours to straighten things out again in Sky of Swords. Obviously, any such an [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Annoyance, Boredom, Disappointment, Discomfort, Literature, Rant, Review, Speculative fiction, meh. | 6 Comments

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

By terje | Published: December 30, 2008
The first Elizabeth movie is one of my all-time favourites, so I had rather high hopes for Elizabeth: the Golden Age when I watched it a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, they were not fulfilled. Where I had expected more political drama, the focus was all on Elizabeth’s love life, and her struggles to be a woman [...]
Also posted in Disappointment, Movies, Review, meh. | 12 Comments

YES! (And a call for assistance)

By terje | Published: December 4, 2008
Yesterday, I got got an e-mail notifying me that I have been accepted as a student at the Norwegian Institutes at Athens and Rome next semester! Along with about 20 other students from various Norwegian universities, I’ll be spending first six weeks, from January 26 to March 6, in Athens, followed by six weeks, [...]
Also posted in A Moistening of the Eyes, Bliss, Dumb luck, Education, Glee, Gloating, Goosebumps!, Gratitude, Greek stuff, Help!, History, Hodge-podge rambling, Hope, Lists, My microcosmos, Optimism, Pride, Roman stuff, Strategy/Plans, Whoa, Yay! | 24 Comments

The Histories by Herodotus

By terje | Published: November 18, 2008
[Approximately 435 BCE] 2003. Translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt (1954). Introduction and notes by John Marincola (1996, 2003). 600 pages of main text. 166 pages of paratext.
Also posted in A Praise Chorus, Art, Awe, Boredom, Collections, Conflicting emotions, Education, Glee, Gloating, Greek stuff, History, Impressions, Literature, Loki, Pimping, Pleasant surprises, Pride, Recommendations, Review, Strategy/Plans | 3 Comments

Curse of the Golden Flower

By terje | Published: October 18, 2008
I had myself a small movie marathon last night, and as a couple of the movies I watched might be of interest to my readership (I do after all have a fairly good estimation of both you gentlemen’s tastes), I though I’d review them. First one out is Yimou Zhang’s Curse of the Golden Flower.
Also posted in Awe, Goosebumps!, Links, Loki, Lotta, Megalomania, Movies, Pleasant surprises, Potential, Recommendations, Review, Whoa | 3 Comments

WALL-E

By terje | Published: September 20, 2008
As I went to see WALL-E (from now on Wall-E, as Nature abhors a shout, even though it’s supposed to be an acronym) last a couple of days ago, I was feeling highly ambiguous and thus also a bit scared. You see, my hopes for this movie were nothing short of astronomic, as just about [...]
Also posted in A Moistening of the Eyes, A Praise Chorus, Ambiguity, Art, Awe, Bliss, Glee, Goosebumps!, Hodge-podge rambling, Hope, Impressions, Irony, Love, Movies, My microcosmos, Optimism, Pimping, Pleasant surprises, Potential, Rant, Recommendations, Relief, Review, Speculations, Wistfulness, Yay! | 11 Comments

Not again!

By terje | Published: August 30, 2008
Shit. Here I turn my head for a second, and when I turn back towards the ‘net again, two months have passed. If I’d had a dollar for every time this has happened (or, perhaps more precise, for every time I’ve done this) in the last three years, I’d probably have… enough for a soda, anyway. So, [...]
Also posted in Conflicting emotions, Education, English, Goosebumps!, Greetings, History, Hodge-podge rambling, Language, Laziness, Lists, Literature, Love, Media, My microcosmos, Opinions, Pessimism, Pleasant surprises, Rant, Roman stuff, Strategy/Plans, Stress, This Blog, Words, meh. | 29 Comments

I still don’t quite believe my own eyes…

By terje | Published: August 29, 2008
Because of the extensive coverage of the American presidential election in the last couple of weeks, I’ve suddenly found myself wanting to see the complete West Wing series — of which I’ve seen the occasional season, but never the whole shebang. Subsequently, I go to Amazon.co.uk, search for “west wing”, and get this as one [...]
Also posted in Collections, Dumb luck, Glee, Links, My microcosmos, Procrastination, Recommendations, Revelations, Television stuff, Weird stuff, Whoa, Yay! | 14 Comments

Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber

By terje | Published: June 9, 2008
(If this isn’t my best review, please bear over with me; it’s been over two months since I read this book.) 2001 (1970, 1962, 1970). 165 pages. “Induction” (2 pages) “The Snow Women” (74 pages) “The Unholy Grail” (27 pages) “Ill Met in Lankhmar” (62 pages) Swords and Deviltry is the first collection of short stories in the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks series’ [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Annoyance, Collections, Conflicting emotions, Disappointment, Discomfort, Hope, Impressions, Language, Links, Literature, Opinions, Pessimism, Potential, Review, Scepticism, Speculative fiction, meh. | 2 Comments

A Plague! A Plague on Our Houses!

By terje | Published: May 24, 2008
In my Last.fm shoutbox, I was recently asked by one of my readers to post more frequently in my blog, and seeing as your whim is my law, I bring you this: an essay of sorts about the last topic you’d expected me to write about! One of the things you might not know [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Annoyance, Boredom, Conflicting emotions, Disappointment, Discomfort, Dumb luck, Evilness, Failed attempts at subtility, Family, Football, Forums, Glee, Gloating, Goosebumps!, Grief, Hallucinations, Help!, History, Hope, Impressions, Irony, Language, Laziness, Links, Lists, Lotta, Media, Megalomania, Misery, Music, My microcosmos, Norse stuff, Norway, Nostalgia, Oh noes!, Opinions, Optimism, Pain, Panic, Paranoia, Pessimism, Pettiness, Pleasant surprises, Politics, Potential, Pride, Procrastination, Roman stuff, Scepticism, Speculations, TMI, Television stuff, This Blog, Various, Videos, Weird stuff, Whoa, Why do I think anyone cares?, Wistfulness, Words, Yay!, lol, meh. | 11 Comments