Living with Tolkien

Such was the title of an enjoyable talk by Martin Barker, illustrated by Powerpoint because these cultural studies chaps do newfangled stuff like that. His study of the way audiences watched the Jackson films tells so much about the audience, and I'm glad that my laptop ended up being used as I now have a copy of the presentation on it, which I will mull when I am more awake. The ideas came quickly and my late nights were catching up with me, not that my typing this at the moment is doing much good.

"The Lord of the Rings and ‘Identification’: A Critical Encounter" in European Journal of Communication, 2005; 20: 353-378 was Barker's recommended article for those wanting to know more, but it turns out that Oxford, never particularly open to cultural studies, isn't presently subscribed to the online version (though it seems to have been once if the tag 'online' on the telnet OPAC is anything to go by) and the print version of the 2005 volume hasn't been barcoded yet. I've requested the volume anyway and will see if it actually gets to the Upper Reading Room.

Birthdays...

Happy birthday, loneraven!

Lost projects

Fresh from wirelessing my flat, so I can do fantastically lazy things like check e-mail and post to LJ and watch television on a large screen at the same time without changing the layout of the flat any further, as well as practical things like transfer files between computers, I've now got back to the great reorganization, and have all but emptied one cupboard and refilled it. Along the way I've come across a second folder of NFT programme notes, and various attempts at starting other projects, including proposals for fan-crit articles. One of these projects was something called 'Buffy in the Garden of Good and Evil', which evidently didn't have legs; but I'm hoarding it in case the right circumstances turn up to take it forward.

The study floor should be clearer after this, anyway.