Ink and Incapability

You can find the script to "Ink and Incapability," the Blackadder episode that we watched, at this site.

And if you're interested, check out this interesting essay by Jenny Perttola, "Linguistically Speaking: the verbal play and lexical wit in Blackadder." A good bit of her essay is about "Ink and Incapability."

Remember, we'll be using Blackadder's coinages for our Forgotten Words. And while the sense or meaning of the words is obvious from the context of the scene, try to be creative as possible in your own word histories. You don't have to stick to the meanings from the show.

The Strike Is Over!

Thats right kids, the WGA's strike is over. They signed with a 92.5% margin to lift the strike. I am very excited, TV series will continue and life as I know it on my couch will continue. Still I couldn't help but be slightly irritated at my roommate when the only thing on his mind was the fact that he will get 14 episodes of lost as opposed to just 8 we would have gotten if the strike had continued. This was an enormous blow against major corporations.

This was HUGE. Amazing. This was like David standing up slinging the rock at Goliath's head. Never again will big bad corporations swindle money away from the people who deserve it. I've worked for corporations for far too long.

It was amazing, it was moving, and it was accomplished by the people who will be fortunate enough to retell it. They are the writers. They have the power to immortalize the events forever. Whether it is in blogs, books, or snappy one liners in the TV series they have gone back to write.

They banned together, they knew what they wanted, and they achieved it. How many people actually get to say they did that?

Word and Quotation Week 5

Forgotten Word:

pendigestatery interludicule


Quotation of the Week:

"The two most engaging powers of an author are, to make new things familiar, and familiar things new." --Samuel Johnson

Apostrophe Antics

As I was finalizing my movie review this morning, I couldn't help but laugh as I struggled over how to make the name of Robert Downey Jr. possessive (notice I didn't even want to put what I thought it might be, so I used the word "of" instead). Anyhow, after reading Truss' chapters on punctuation (something I thought I didn't have a problem with), I now pore over every detail in the fear that my previous beliefs on punctuation were wrong. So, when I proceeded to use that certain actor's name in my paper, I came to struggle with how to make "Jr." possessive. After all, my heavy reliance on the spelling and grammar check told me that "Jr.'s" is incorrect (it actually gave me the substitutions "Mr.'s" and "Jars", so now I am completely thrown for a loop). So, in the end I went with what I thought and put "Jr.'s". Whether it is right or wrong, I took a leap of faith and disregarded the evil red squiggly line that sat under the word like a worm undera rock. I just pray that Truss' spirit will not haunt me from across the Atlantic Ocean.

What does everyone else think?

Word and Quotation Week 4

Forgotten Word of the Week:

poosk

Quotation of the Week:

"In the arts, the critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising."
-- Pauline Kael

I believe that we respond most and best to work in any art form (and to other experience as well) if we are pluralistic, flexible, relative in our judgments, if we are eclectic."
--Kael

Wedding Roller Coaster Ride

In a world of uncertainties it’s nice waking up in the morning with the thought of certain things. Planning a wedding has been extremely exciting and like a roller coaster, it has its ups and downs. Swirls of emotions go round and round, kind of like an amusement park ride, I’m on a merry-go-round. For the past four months, I have been planning my own wedding with the help of my soon to be mother-in-law. My mind is completely rapped in creating the perfect wedding according to my standards. For three months, I have been in search of the perfect wedding reception location but have not been able to find one that was in my budget and gorgeous. Last Saturday, we, my fiancé and I, found the perfect location for my spring wedding-The Mansion on Main Street in Voorhees, New Jersey.

We desired to view the location of the Mansion to ensure it was met our standards. As we were driving up to the main entrance, we saw a small lake surrounded by beautiful grass, as beautiful as it can be in the winter, and a bridge over the lake for guests to take a romantic walks from one end to the other. A fountain lies in the center of the lake and, when lit in the spring, it will create beautiful pictures. We were greeted by a few staff members until we met with the general manager. He proceeded to take us to view the Vanderbilt Room where the reception will be held. We quickly fell in love with this room and the structure of the room. When it came time to talk business, you know money; we were disappointed to discover that the room was unavailable for April 12 of this year. My fiancé and I excitement quickly turned into a depressed and defeated demeanor and the change could be felt throughout the room. It was as if a one-hundred pound weigh was attached to everyone that was in the room and for a few monments, no one spoke or made eye contact with another human being in the room. After a few moments of sadness, someone spoke up and asked about changing the time from a night wedding to an afternoon wedding. This shift in time worked and now we are able to use one of the most beautiful places New Jersey has to offer.

Since we changed times we also had to change rooms, which wasn’t a bad swap. Our new room will be the Versailles Room. This room appears as if it has been in gold! The windows and mirrors are outlined in gold frames and the chandeliers are crystals that sparkled when the light reflected off of them. The Versailles Room is dipped in gold, with a splash of elegance, class, suffocation, and perfection, the most importance attribute of them all. With this in mind, we made a impulsive decision to select the Mansion’s Versailles Room as the place to have our wedding reception.

Book Review Idea

Considering we have a book review to write in a few weeks I figured some of you are beginning to look for a book to read. I went to BJ's last weekend and picked up a book, Murdered by Mumia by Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish. Danny Faulkner was a Philadelphia cop who was murdered in December 1981 while on duty. The man charged with the murder, Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted and is currently on death row. However, many think he should be freed and that he did not or could not have committed the murder. I am only a few chapters into the book so far, but so far I have really enjoyed reading it and I thought I'd recommend it to anyone looking for something to read. It is interesting in that he was a local cop, so the story hits very close to home. I will warn that it is a very sad story. Just an idea for anyone looking!