Category Archives: Impressions

A lesson to learn from Peter Jackson (or, stating the obvious, part infinity plus eight)

By terje | Published: July 19, 2009
(Disclaimer: The following, while containing at least some opinions the author can sort of be said to hold, is more of an exploration than a presentation of ideas. It should all therefore be taken with a few barrelfuls of salt.) So I’m watching the appendices on the Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition DVD, and as [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Annoyance, Art, GRRM, Harry Potter, History, Hodge-podge rambling, Language, Literature, Malazan, Movies, Opinions, Rant, Scott Lynch, Speculations, Speculative fiction, WoT | 3 Comments

The books of 2009, so far

By terje | Published: July 13, 2009
As I’ve been fairly absent from my blog in the past six months, to say the least, I thought I’d post a quick summary of any recommendable books — and not only novels this time – I’ve read since I was last observed round this neck o’ the woods. Also, I’ll include some not-so-recommendable books, [...]
Also posted in History, Lists, Literature, Opinions, Recommendations, Review, Roman stuff, Speculative fiction | 20 Comments

The Awesome Epithets of European Nobility and Royalty, part 3

By terje | Published: July 7, 2009
It seems I promised you a series of these once, so let’s continue, shall we? Constantine V (741-775) of Byzantium: Kopronymos — the Dung-Named. Constantine was an Iconoclast, and hostile Iconodules referred to him as “the Dung-Named”, as he was to have defecated in the purple cloth in which he was swaddled during his baptism. Imagine how nice [...]
Also posted in Byzantium, Greek stuff, Irony, Links, Lists, Medieval stuff, Roman stuff, The Awesome Epithets of European Nobility and Royalty | 17 Comments

An Update, Telegram Style

By terje | Published: July 7, 2009
Saw Athens with fun people. Loved it. Stayed home, wrote papers. Got bored. Visited Rome with nice persians. Hated leaving. Wrote paper. Worked. Bought tickets for Dinosaur Jr. Found out 6 months had passed. Wrote this post. Send more money.
Also posted in Bliss, Boredom, Conflicting emotions, Education, Gloating, Goosebumps!, Greek stuff, Hodge-podge rambling, Language, Laziness, Lists, Love, My microcosmos, Rant, Regret, This Blog, Why do I think anyone cares?, Winter, Wistfulness, Words | Leave a comment

Terje’s Best of 2008

By terje | Published: January 20, 2009
Okay, so I had intended to choose the ten best books I read in 2008, the ten best movies I saw for the first time, and the ten best albums I bought, right? Unfortunately, it turned out I hadn’t really read as many as ten great books this year, so I decided to throw in [...]
Also posted in Lists, Literature, Movies, Music, Recommendations | 33 Comments

An awesome coincident

By terje | Published: November 23, 2008
So I’m sitting in my room, working on my linguistics home exam, and I’m trying to explain why the verb paint in the sentence his father was painting a picture is not the same verb as the paint in the sentence his father never painted again, right? My line of resoning is the kind I [...]
Also posted in Awe, Coincidents, Collections, Education, English, Glee, Goosebumps!, Hodge-podge rambling, Hope, Language, Links, Megalomania, Music, My microcosmos, Optimism, Pessimism, Pleasant surprises, Potential, Pride, Procrastination, Rant, Videos, Weird stuff, Whoa, Words, Work, Yay!, lol | 5 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, Great Expectations, Greek stuff, History, Literature, Loki, Pimping, Pleasant surprises, Pride, Recommendations, Review, Strategy/Plans | 3 Comments

For better or worse, you just don’t get life stories like this anymore (Or, the only thing missing is piracy)

By terje | Published: November 10, 2008
“Raised in an Ibo village (in modern Nigeria), Olaudah Equiano (ca 1745-1797) was kidnapped by African raiders and slod into slavery. He survived the horrors of the Middle Passage to the New World, where an English naval officer bought him ito serve as a cabin boy and renamed him Gustavus Vassa, after a sixteenth-century Swedish [...]
Also posted in Awe, Conflicting emotions, Education, English, History, Literature, Misery, Nostalgia, Quote of the day, Relief, What I Learned Today, Whoa, Wistfulness, Words | 7 Comments

Conan the Barbarian

By terje | Published: October 18, 2008
He also strangles a chicken (well, not strangle, really) pucnhes a camel, punches a horse, clobbers the same camel again, and for a second there it looked like he was going to do something to the elephant too. Conan HATES animals. — MegamanIXI, on the IMDb boards. In Conan the Barbarian, an adaptation of Robert E. [...]
Also posted in Annoyance, Discomfort, Hodge-podge rambling, Links, Literature, Misery, Movies, Quotes, Review, Speculative fiction, Weird stuff, meh. | 4 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!, Great Expectations, Hodge-podge rambling, Hope, Irony, Love, Movies, My microcosmos, Optimism, Pimping, Pleasant surprises, Potential, Rant, Recommendations, Relief, Review, Speculations, Wistfulness, Yay! | 11 Comments