We've turned the corner, and the days are slowly starting to get longer. We also had a very nice and mellow Christmas celebration. Since all three of us in the Kverulantinnen household have been sick with a nasty cold and hacking cough, it was a big relief that this year my sister-in-law offered to host Christmas dinner.
I decided to take a couple of days off from my usual routines after Christmas. That means a few days off from both academic work and knitting (gasp!), and the chance to revel in some of Jane Austen's novels. I read Sense and Sensibility and Emma in the course of about three days, before heading back into work to take care of some nagging tasks. Having now submitted both a peer review of someone else's article and a revision of one of my own, I came home today with a clear enough conscience to pick up Mansfield Park. I'm skipping Pride and Prejudice this round of re-reading, I think. I have to admit that this time I was totally blown away by Sense and Sensibility. I have become a huge fan of the level-headed and gracious Elinor Dashwood. In comparison, Emma Woodhouse is exactly what Mr. Knightly calls her, namely a "nonsensical girl."
I did a big rush of pre-Christmas knitting: two Zissou toques for KE and E, and most of the Plain and Simple pullover for me. I've knitted up to the shoulders, but have completely lost my steam on it. All I want to do is read Regency novels! It's pretty clear that I won't finish it by January first, so I'll have to just live with the fact that I "only" finished knitting 10 sweaters this year.
We don't have any plans for New Years at all this year. We're really all just trying to gather strength for the coming term, consciously or unconsciously, I think. 2010 has been a hectic, productive, and emotionally challenging year for me. I'm glad it's over, and am not quite sure how to face a new one. It's a little overwhelming to think of all the things big and small I'd like to change. As always work and knitting goals are easier to identify and carry out than personal ones.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Fred og ro
I'm back from a two day retreat, and back to this blog, after my brief fling with 30 Pages in 30 Days (which ended up being 35 pages in 22 days). The retreat was very nearly perfect. I was literally the only overnight guest at a fairly posh conference hotel high up in the woods above Oslo. Here's what the bustling dining room looked like at breakfast from my alpha position in the corner:
It was like that at every meal, except for Tuesday's lunch, when there was a group of five people who were having a meeting.
It was totally quiet up there among the trees. All I did was sit in my room and work on my book. I arrived on Monday at around 2 pm, and by the time I started packing my bags at 10 am on Wednesday I had written over 5000 words. As I was putting in my last mid-morning stretch of work today I was greeted by this rather astounding glimpse of the sun streaming through my window:
That haze down in the valley below the trees is Oslo. I think this is one of the most productive and satisfying things I've ever done. It was a shock taking the subway back down into the city center. Suddenly there was so much noise! But having said that, it was definitely good to come home to the boys, who seem to have survived just fine without me.
I think the book is going to be pretty interesting. There are still a few things that need work, but basically it is done. It's hard to believe that I actually accomplished this. The book seemed like a crazy idea when I came up with it back in August or September or whenever it was, though I did have a gut feeling I could pull it off. It was hands down the most fun I've ever had with an academic project. Having done this, I can now envision actually getting the cabin book written as well. I don't know why I got myself so worked up over that one. I just need to sit down and start working on it bit by bit like I did with this one. Is it pompous to say that I feel really proud of myself for completing the manuscript on my third scholarly book?
Now I can take some time off to relax with the family over Christmas. I don't think I would have been able to do that if I hadn't had the retreat and gotten the book out of my system...
Merry Christmas!
It was like that at every meal, except for Tuesday's lunch, when there was a group of five people who were having a meeting.
It was totally quiet up there among the trees. All I did was sit in my room and work on my book. I arrived on Monday at around 2 pm, and by the time I started packing my bags at 10 am on Wednesday I had written over 5000 words. As I was putting in my last mid-morning stretch of work today I was greeted by this rather astounding glimpse of the sun streaming through my window:
That haze down in the valley below the trees is Oslo. I think this is one of the most productive and satisfying things I've ever done. It was a shock taking the subway back down into the city center. Suddenly there was so much noise! But having said that, it was definitely good to come home to the boys, who seem to have survived just fine without me.
I think the book is going to be pretty interesting. There are still a few things that need work, but basically it is done. It's hard to believe that I actually accomplished this. The book seemed like a crazy idea when I came up with it back in August or September or whenever it was, though I did have a gut feeling I could pull it off. It was hands down the most fun I've ever had with an academic project. Having done this, I can now envision actually getting the cabin book written as well. I don't know why I got myself so worked up over that one. I just need to sit down and start working on it bit by bit like I did with this one. Is it pompous to say that I feel really proud of myself for completing the manuscript on my third scholarly book?
Now I can take some time off to relax with the family over Christmas. I don't think I would have been able to do that if I hadn't had the retreat and gotten the book out of my system...
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Jeg er ikke alene
Since this blog has basically gone dead due to my big writing project, I thought I would gather some links to blogs of other Americans living as expats in Norway that I have come across. I'd love to hear about more of them!
http://corinnenorway.blogspot.com/
http://littlenorwaytobig.blogspot.com/
http://eventyrhus.blogspot.com/
http://karlastories.blogspot.com/
http://tobringe.blogspot.com/
http://mygrandadventure2.blogspot.com/
http://corinnenorway.blogspot.com/
http://littlenorwaytobig.blogspot.com/
http://eventyrhus.blogspot.com/
http://karlastories.blogspot.com/
http://tobringe.blogspot.com/
http://mygrandadventure2.blogspot.com/
They are all quite different from this blog in focus, ideology, and aesthetics. I think they're all primarily kept by women as well. Where are all the male American expat bloggers in Norway?
ETA: Aha, found one!
http://milesinnorway.blogspot.com/
ETA: Aha, found one!
http://milesinnorway.blogspot.com/
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Teologen
A couple of weeks ago at the Bjørnson conference I ended up sitting next to one of the big names at the banquet. I was told that in addition to his academic profile he had also published "books on theology." I decided it would be good to engage, so I tried to ask him about it but he was quite slippery, and basically avoided talking about it. I figured that was fair enough, not everyone wants to get into a big discussion about their moral philosophy at a banquet.
When he found out that I was working on a book about cabins he did what Scandinavians usually do when they hear that an American in writing about cabins in Norwegian literature, namely start listing cabins from American literature. I suppose they're trying to be helpful? I don't know how many times Henry David Thoreau's Walden and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin have been suggested to me as relevant to my analysis of the role of place in the construction of Norwegian identity. It's kind of irritating and kind of sweet at the same time. Any way, the "big name" quite enthusiastically suggested to me an American novel that I haven't heard of, William Paul Young's The Shack from 2008. I took note of the recommendation, and just this morning I decided to look it up on Amazon. ARGH! It's apparently the next great thing in Evangelical Christian literature, guaranteed to revolutionize my faith in God. I could spit.
I then googled the "big name" and discovered that not only is he a literary scholar and a theologian, but he is also a right wing commentator with a newspaper column and a huge chip on his shoulder against the "liberal" or progressive bias of higher education and the general level of secularization in his home country. YUCK. He also happens to have written or edited dozens of books in my field. I'm torn as to whether I should try to read some of it (his most recent book may have some relevance, based on the title) or can I just write him off as ideologically questionable? I don't know. On principle I should give him a chance, but he has already given me the impression of being the kind of person who deals in half truths.
When he found out that I was working on a book about cabins he did what Scandinavians usually do when they hear that an American in writing about cabins in Norwegian literature, namely start listing cabins from American literature. I suppose they're trying to be helpful? I don't know how many times Henry David Thoreau's Walden and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin have been suggested to me as relevant to my analysis of the role of place in the construction of Norwegian identity. It's kind of irritating and kind of sweet at the same time. Any way, the "big name" quite enthusiastically suggested to me an American novel that I haven't heard of, William Paul Young's The Shack from 2008. I took note of the recommendation, and just this morning I decided to look it up on Amazon. ARGH! It's apparently the next great thing in Evangelical Christian literature, guaranteed to revolutionize my faith in God. I could spit.
I then googled the "big name" and discovered that not only is he a literary scholar and a theologian, but he is also a right wing commentator with a newspaper column and a huge chip on his shoulder against the "liberal" or progressive bias of higher education and the general level of secularization in his home country. YUCK. He also happens to have written or edited dozens of books in my field. I'm torn as to whether I should try to read some of it (his most recent book may have some relevance, based on the title) or can I just write him off as ideologically questionable? I don't know. On principle I should give him a chance, but he has already given me the impression of being the kind of person who deals in half truths.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Fråtsing
While all my brain power is supposed to be going into the push to finish the Peer Gynt book, I'm still making at least an attempt to lead a normal life. E turned six yesterday, and I think he had a very nice day. One of the fun things about Waldorf school is that they make a really big deal of birthdays - he got to wear a regal cape and crown, and was attended by two friends. I brought cake and got to eat lunch and participate in the festivities. I totally over indulged while baking the cake - way too much cake batter, frosting, and candy decorations were consumed in the process. Not good. Tomorrow we're having a party for E here at home with about five of his friends - all boys, I'm afraid, little chauvinist that he is.
I've also been knitting, but it's such a drab color and pattern, and there is so little light for photography now in the darkest time of the year that it has seemed pointless to try to post a snapshot. I'm knitting the "Plain and Simple Pullover" (Ravelry link) and I have to confess that I have yet again frogged a sweater I knit myself that I wasn't entirely happy with in order to do so. The dark green fair isle yoke sweater I made earlier this year never quite worked out: it was too tight and the colors of the yoke ended up being too Easter candy cheerful. Of course I got lots of compliments on it, but it was just totally not my cup of tea. I was relieved to rip it all out and knit something, well, "plain and simple" out of the olive drab alpaca yarn (which appears to be holding up pretty well, by the way). I'm thinking of knitting up a quick hat out of all the short pieces of yarn left over from the yoke, maybe something like Urchin?
ETA: I managed to get close to a decent picture on Sunday morning, so here it is:
The color is almost impossible to photograph in the winter light.
Another confession: I have to admit that I'm counting the days until my little writing retreat. The ideas are percolating and I'm so excited about how the book is coming together. I can't wait to totally immerse myself into the project in the same totally self-indulgent way I used to back when I was a single graduate student. Every once in a while I think that kind of thing is healthy.
I've also been knitting, but it's such a drab color and pattern, and there is so little light for photography now in the darkest time of the year that it has seemed pointless to try to post a snapshot. I'm knitting the "Plain and Simple Pullover" (Ravelry link) and I have to confess that I have yet again frogged a sweater I knit myself that I wasn't entirely happy with in order to do so. The dark green fair isle yoke sweater I made earlier this year never quite worked out: it was too tight and the colors of the yoke ended up being too Easter candy cheerful. Of course I got lots of compliments on it, but it was just totally not my cup of tea. I was relieved to rip it all out and knit something, well, "plain and simple" out of the olive drab alpaca yarn (which appears to be holding up pretty well, by the way). I'm thinking of knitting up a quick hat out of all the short pieces of yarn left over from the yoke, maybe something like Urchin?
ETA: I managed to get close to a decent picture on Sunday morning, so here it is:
The color is almost impossible to photograph in the winter light.
Another confession: I have to admit that I'm counting the days until my little writing retreat. The ideas are percolating and I'm so excited about how the book is coming together. I can't wait to totally immerse myself into the project in the same totally self-indulgent way I used to back when I was a single graduate student. Every once in a while I think that kind of thing is healthy.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Grønt i desember
Hey, after my third try with this yarn, I now have a green sweater I think I'll be able to wear! Yay. Here's the reveal:
The snapshot was taken with Photo Booth on my office computer. The pullover turned out a little big, but it's very comfortable. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it, especially since it was my own design.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Utro
I admit it. I'm cheating on this blog. I've started a big push to finish my academic book project this month. I'll be posting daily updates to a new blog, 30 Pages in 30 Days. That means this more personal, crafty blog is probably going to languish for the month. Sorry! The other one is totally work related. It's basically just a place for me to gather all my working notes (bibliographical info, quotations, ideas, etc.) and update writing progress. It will be really boring for everyone on the whole planet except for me, but I happen to think it's fun and thrilling, so I'm just going to do it.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Disiplin og tukt
Brrr! It's icy cold here in Norway. You can tell that it's really cold because even the tough guys at my bus stop in the mornings have hats on. Despite the cold, and despite coming down with a sore throat, I made it through two days of the three-day Bjørnson conference this week. My own paper on Thursday went really well, though I was unexpectedly gripped by nerves, and stumbled a lot over my words in the beginning. Really, I should have know it would be well received, given the fact that I devoted way too much time to revising it.
The next day one of the nestors in the field gave a paper on the same text (Synnøve Solbakken) and he explicitly praised my paper from the previous day in his presentation. I was kind of blown away, to put it mildly. Of course he had two points to criticize, but that is actually the best thing about being engaged in that way. One of the points was something I definitely overlooked, but the other was a point of interpretation, and we had a nice little chat afterward discussing our differing interpretations of the passage (Synnøve's dream sequence in chapter six, in case anyone's interested).
Having given a good paper made it easier for me to focus on the social networking that I really need to do. I put myself out there more than I usually do, and had four or five interesting conversations with people I don't know all that well or had never met before. And to top it all off, my friend S rather unexpectedly invited me to participate in a brainstorming seminar he's arranging this week. It's quite an honor to be invited, and it will give me another chance to network with people who may be in the position to hire (or not hire) me for a permanent position in the next few years. I'm very grateful and excited!
My mom sent us a package, mostly for E's birthday, but it also contained some yarn that she picked up for five dollars at a garage sale. It's about 1100 yards of worsted weight two-ply New Zealand wool in a beautiful brown-gray color:
When she first told me about it I initially thought I would use it to make a matching scarf, hat and mittens, but now that I see how much there is, I'm thinking I need to make some kind of garment instead. This is a color I've been eyeing appreciatively in various contexts, so I'm thrilled to have some to work with. ETA: I'm thinking Cathy Payson's Placed Cable Aran would be a good choice, if only I had the Fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. I've put out a request on the book and magazine swap group on Ravelry...
I'm trying to be disciplined, however, and finish up the Riborama pullover. Once I finally got the second sleeve done, the body has (as anticipated) gone much faster. I'm down to the waist, and I'm just going to keep going until I run out of yarn. I've done some slight waist shaping, and I think I may continue some gentle increasing over the hips to make it kind of an a-line tunic. Here's a shot:
The color is way off. It's really hard to take good pictures these days, since the light is so low even at ten o'clock in the morning. The green is much more intense that in the photograph.
I've been participating in an academic writing group on Ravelry for the month of November. We all stated our research/writing goals for the month, and have been posting daily updates (most people petered out after about seven days, unfortunately). I've found that quite helpful, and it has certainly encouraged me to squeeze in even a tiny bit of book-related work on days when I otherwise wouldn't have done so. The potential shame of having nothing to post is a very motivating factor for me!
So even with the Bjørnson conference craziness, I did some planning for the book on Thursday, and a tiny bit of writing yesterday and this morning (about 500 words). I am now about thirty pages short of my goal of 170 pages, and most of that is spread out among the various chapters. There are a bunch small sections I want to add throughout, so it was helpful to write up a list of those missing bits. Some of them are the hard parts that I've been avoiding, others are new material that I haven't yet fully processed. I was feeling overwhelmed -- like, how do I even get started on these last thirty pages after my two week fling with my conference paper?! -- but now I'm more on track. I started this weekend with the easiest of the new sections, and even though it's not very good, at least I have written something. I have had such fun and flow with this project that it's only to be expected that it would get hard at some point.
Interior link of the week: The Swedish furniture design firm G.A.D. They have some lovely, minimalist/modernist furniture made with materials from the island of Gotland. It's very puritanical furniture, which suits my current ascetic mood.
The next day one of the nestors in the field gave a paper on the same text (Synnøve Solbakken) and he explicitly praised my paper from the previous day in his presentation. I was kind of blown away, to put it mildly. Of course he had two points to criticize, but that is actually the best thing about being engaged in that way. One of the points was something I definitely overlooked, but the other was a point of interpretation, and we had a nice little chat afterward discussing our differing interpretations of the passage (Synnøve's dream sequence in chapter six, in case anyone's interested).
Having given a good paper made it easier for me to focus on the social networking that I really need to do. I put myself out there more than I usually do, and had four or five interesting conversations with people I don't know all that well or had never met before. And to top it all off, my friend S rather unexpectedly invited me to participate in a brainstorming seminar he's arranging this week. It's quite an honor to be invited, and it will give me another chance to network with people who may be in the position to hire (or not hire) me for a permanent position in the next few years. I'm very grateful and excited!
My mom sent us a package, mostly for E's birthday, but it also contained some yarn that she picked up for five dollars at a garage sale. It's about 1100 yards of worsted weight two-ply New Zealand wool in a beautiful brown-gray color:
When she first told me about it I initially thought I would use it to make a matching scarf, hat and mittens, but now that I see how much there is, I'm thinking I need to make some kind of garment instead. This is a color I've been eyeing appreciatively in various contexts, so I'm thrilled to have some to work with. ETA: I'm thinking Cathy Payson's Placed Cable Aran would be a good choice, if only I had the Fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. I've put out a request on the book and magazine swap group on Ravelry...
I'm trying to be disciplined, however, and finish up the Riborama pullover. Once I finally got the second sleeve done, the body has (as anticipated) gone much faster. I'm down to the waist, and I'm just going to keep going until I run out of yarn. I've done some slight waist shaping, and I think I may continue some gentle increasing over the hips to make it kind of an a-line tunic. Here's a shot:
The color is way off. It's really hard to take good pictures these days, since the light is so low even at ten o'clock in the morning. The green is much more intense that in the photograph.
I've been participating in an academic writing group on Ravelry for the month of November. We all stated our research/writing goals for the month, and have been posting daily updates (most people petered out after about seven days, unfortunately). I've found that quite helpful, and it has certainly encouraged me to squeeze in even a tiny bit of book-related work on days when I otherwise wouldn't have done so. The potential shame of having nothing to post is a very motivating factor for me!
So even with the Bjørnson conference craziness, I did some planning for the book on Thursday, and a tiny bit of writing yesterday and this morning (about 500 words). I am now about thirty pages short of my goal of 170 pages, and most of that is spread out among the various chapters. There are a bunch small sections I want to add throughout, so it was helpful to write up a list of those missing bits. Some of them are the hard parts that I've been avoiding, others are new material that I haven't yet fully processed. I was feeling overwhelmed -- like, how do I even get started on these last thirty pages after my two week fling with my conference paper?! -- but now I'm more on track. I started this weekend with the easiest of the new sections, and even though it's not very good, at least I have written something. I have had such fun and flow with this project that it's only to be expected that it would get hard at some point.
Interior link of the week: The Swedish furniture design firm G.A.D. They have some lovely, minimalist/modernist furniture made with materials from the island of Gotland. It's very puritanical furniture, which suits my current ascetic mood.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Småplukk
This past week has been filled with many small projects. It's fun to finally have some finished objects to show, but I am a bit bummed that I'm not getting anywhere with any larger projects. I think my knitting is definitely in a lackluster period this fall. I'm hoping that's because I'm channeling my creative energy into the Peer Gynt book instead. So, with apologies for being really boring, here are three finished objects:
First out is four crocheted washcloths/dishrags from Tove Fevang's Helt enkel hekling:
These were crocheted in a mad dash to get something together for E's school's Christmas Market (which was yesterday). I had originally hoped that the three of us could make tie dyed t-shirts together as a family project, but it turned out that the materials were just outrageously expensive here in Norway. I don't mind spending money to support the school, but this would have probably been about $75 for the supplies, and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much. I'm happy with the substitute project: I learned how to crochet a piqué edge (easy!) and used up the rest of the yarn left over from a thrift store harvest. I really like Tove Fevang's patterns from this book, and it was a good reminder that there are still lots of things I'd like to make from it.
Next up was a pair of fingerless mitts that I knitted for myself:
I used the Rauma Inca alpakkagarn that I bought last year for something else that didn't end up working out. The pattern is from a Rauma Design pamphlet called Alpakka 1. It's supposed to be striped, but I just wanted something plain and simple to wear when I'm typing in my campus office. Although most public buildings are overheated in Norway, for some reason my office gets really chilly. It will be nice to have these at hand when my hands get cold and stiff.
The last thing I finished this week was a gift for my official mentor:
I didn't dare make anything other than the plainest of manly toques for him. I used Marks & Kattens Eco Ull for the first time. It's a single ply Aran weight yarn, and I must say I liked it a lot. I ended up using just a tiny bit of the third ball I bought, which is always a little irritating. I'm now wondering what I can use it for. The pattern is Cheryl Niamath's Zissou, which I've knit twice before (both for KE).
I had been hoping that I could report that I was finished with the second arm of the Rib-o-rama pullover too, but I'm not quite there yet. I should finish it by the end of today, though, and then start picking up the stitches for the body. I can't believe how slowly that project has been going, even when I do actually pick it up and knit on it.
First out is four crocheted washcloths/dishrags from Tove Fevang's Helt enkel hekling:
These were crocheted in a mad dash to get something together for E's school's Christmas Market (which was yesterday). I had originally hoped that the three of us could make tie dyed t-shirts together as a family project, but it turned out that the materials were just outrageously expensive here in Norway. I don't mind spending money to support the school, but this would have probably been about $75 for the supplies, and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much. I'm happy with the substitute project: I learned how to crochet a piqué edge (easy!) and used up the rest of the yarn left over from a thrift store harvest. I really like Tove Fevang's patterns from this book, and it was a good reminder that there are still lots of things I'd like to make from it.
Next up was a pair of fingerless mitts that I knitted for myself:
I used the Rauma Inca alpakkagarn that I bought last year for something else that didn't end up working out. The pattern is from a Rauma Design pamphlet called Alpakka 1. It's supposed to be striped, but I just wanted something plain and simple to wear when I'm typing in my campus office. Although most public buildings are overheated in Norway, for some reason my office gets really chilly. It will be nice to have these at hand when my hands get cold and stiff.
The last thing I finished this week was a gift for my official mentor:
I didn't dare make anything other than the plainest of manly toques for him. I used Marks & Kattens Eco Ull for the first time. It's a single ply Aran weight yarn, and I must say I liked it a lot. I ended up using just a tiny bit of the third ball I bought, which is always a little irritating. I'm now wondering what I can use it for. The pattern is Cheryl Niamath's Zissou, which I've knit twice before (both for KE).
I had been hoping that I could report that I was finished with the second arm of the Rib-o-rama pullover too, but I'm not quite there yet. I should finish it by the end of today, though, and then start picking up the stitches for the body. I can't believe how slowly that project has been going, even when I do actually pick it up and knit on it.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Brodder
That's it! Today, November fifteenth was the day that I broke out my brodder, which is to say strap on spikes for my shoes. We had a centimeter of snow and the temperature is vacillating between freezing and thawing, so there's slippery ice all over the place. Sigh. It will be like this for the next four months.
I got my Bjørnson conference paper more or less done today, which is a big positive. I still need KE to proofread it, and I really should do a bunch more research for it, but I just don't have time. I so need to get back to work on the Peer Gynt book. I did my mid-month tally today, and I'm way behind schedule.
I also survived and actually really enjoyed our early Thanksgiving dinner for ten on Saturday. I spent two days cooking and I think I finally have the menu nailed. I even consolidated all the recipes from various sources into one document, complete with metric conversions and a shopping checklist. So I guess I'll be really ready for Thanksgiving in years to come.
No interesting knitting to speak of. I'm working on a very simple pair of fingerless mitts for office wear, and finished the first one last night, but it's too dark to take any pictures now. It's so plain that I may have to add some kind of decorative crochet edge to it. We'll see...
I got my Bjørnson conference paper more or less done today, which is a big positive. I still need KE to proofread it, and I really should do a bunch more research for it, but I just don't have time. I so need to get back to work on the Peer Gynt book. I did my mid-month tally today, and I'm way behind schedule.
I also survived and actually really enjoyed our early Thanksgiving dinner for ten on Saturday. I spent two days cooking and I think I finally have the menu nailed. I even consolidated all the recipes from various sources into one document, complete with metric conversions and a shopping checklist. So I guess I'll be really ready for Thanksgiving in years to come.
No interesting knitting to speak of. I'm working on a very simple pair of fingerless mitts for office wear, and finished the first one last night, but it's too dark to take any pictures now. It's so plain that I may have to add some kind of decorative crochet edge to it. We'll see...
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Litt vaklende
Found a new favorite small house: the so-called "Friggebod" from Sweden: apparently as of 2008 you can build a dwelling of up to 15 square meters without a permit, so there are a lot of cool designs for them now. There's a company producing elegant little upscale prefabs. And there's also a Norwegian company producing a series of small, high-quality prefabs. Their Blåtann series (named after the Viking king Harald) is very modern and elegant as well.
At work today I had a nice meeting with a colleague from ILOS, got a bunch of Synnøve Solbakken secondary literature, and watched the Peer Gynt in Cairo production from 2006 as broadcast by NRK on New Year's Eve of that year. Really interesting. I recently read three absolute hatchet job analyses of the performance (by Helland, Helland again, and then by Rem), and I have to say I agree with most (though thankfully not all) of what they say. I also added about a half a page to my conference paper, so it was an okay day, though I've had a headache for most of it. Not sleeping well, but family life is much more harmonious than earlier this week.
So now it's time to gear up for an early Thanksgiving dinner this Saturday. We have commitments the next two weekends, so we have to do it early or else it conflicts with December madness (E's birthday, final exams, and Christmas...). I'm already feeling enervated just thinking about the holidays...
I started knitting some fingerless mitts since my office is kind of chilly. More stash yarn.
At work today I had a nice meeting with a colleague from ILOS, got a bunch of Synnøve Solbakken secondary literature, and watched the Peer Gynt in Cairo production from 2006 as broadcast by NRK on New Year's Eve of that year. Really interesting. I recently read three absolute hatchet job analyses of the performance (by Helland, Helland again, and then by Rem), and I have to say I agree with most (though thankfully not all) of what they say. I also added about a half a page to my conference paper, so it was an okay day, though I've had a headache for most of it. Not sleeping well, but family life is much more harmonious than earlier this week.
So now it's time to gear up for an early Thanksgiving dinner this Saturday. We have commitments the next two weekends, so we have to do it early or else it conflicts with December madness (E's birthday, final exams, and Christmas...). I'm already feeling enervated just thinking about the holidays...
I started knitting some fingerless mitts since my office is kind of chilly. More stash yarn.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Skepsis
Yesterday morning (before our big blow out) E asked me to knit some clothes for his bear. It's the first time he's asked for anything like this, and I was more than happy to comply. I think his lopsided face kind of expresses how I'm feeling too. Hopeful but worried and wary, and a little gun shy. Nothing I try seems to be working. I can kind of feel the attraction of just giving up, but there's just too much at risk. I would so hate for all the sacrifices and work we've done to just disintegrate into nothing.
E has a cough and a snotty nose today, so I'm staying home with him. When KE gets home I'll head into town to go to the National Library to look at Arne Øverland's 1970 comic strip version of Peer Gynt. I'm very curious about it. If I have the time and energy I'll go to campus too to try to get more work done.
Other than the bearwear, I did finally pick up Rib-o-rama again, and am now closing in on finished a corrected version of the second arm. Then I just have to knit knit knit until I run out of yarn on the body. That should be fun!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
...og ut av balanse igjen...
Just when I think things are back on track my life explodes again. Confused. Sad. Scared. Nothing I can blog about.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
I balanse
KE and I fell back in step this week. I actually think it helped just to acknowledge openly how far apart we are on some issues (relating to our interpersonal communication and expectations about our life together). Certainly the theme for the rest of our week has been how much we have in common and how much we really enjoy each other as people. We just had a fabulously interesting conversation that managed to encompass some of my thoughts about the Peer Gynt book and KE's thoughts about becoming an art teacher. The conversation was so good that I had to take notes afterwards! So, yay for us, we really are a good couple after all, despite driving each other crazy at times.
I got to spend today at home writing. I managed four pages (about 1000 words): two additional pages for the theoretical introduction and two pages' worth of additions to chapters four and five. In the introduction I'm trying to write about "cultural appropriation" and adaptation. I can really feel the project coming together (despite lots of holes and problem areas), which is just so darned exciting. It's a good sign (or not, depending on how you look at it and why you read this blog) when my work is more interesting and fun than my knitting!
I got to spend today at home writing. I managed four pages (about 1000 words): two additional pages for the theoretical introduction and two pages' worth of additions to chapters four and five. In the introduction I'm trying to write about "cultural appropriation" and adaptation. I can really feel the project coming together (despite lots of holes and problem areas), which is just so darned exciting. It's a good sign (or not, depending on how you look at it and why you read this blog) when my work is more interesting and fun than my knitting!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
To artikler
Earlier this year I submitted two articles to the main American scholarly journal in my field. One of them, the Frobenius article, had been rejected by a Norwegian journal previously, the other, the one on children's novels by Aanrud and M. Hamsun, was "fresh" as it were. I've just heard back on the second one, and I'm gobsmacked: both have been accepted for publication without revisions. Anyone who is a professional academic knows that only vary rarely do things get accepted without a laundry list of revisions suggested by the two anonymous peer reviewers that read each manuscript. Often times the two reviewers have vastly different visions of what needs to be changed, and sometimes one recommends rejection while the second thinks the work is brilliant. It can be a maddening process. It usually means a long and difficult round of revision. It can be really hard (not to mention demoralizing and even humiliating) to change fundamental things about the analysis that one has worked so hard to construct, and sometimes the reviewer comments can be mean spirited and petty.
I am so incredibly relieved to have had not one but two pieces of recent work make it through the process intact. For one thing, it means a lot less work for me, but beyond that it means that my work appears to be viewed as of very high quality, and that feels fantastic. I think a lot of the credit has to go to my friend L, who critiqued both drafts before I sent them out. She always has good insights and asks all the right questions that challenge me on all the right issues.
We're struggling (as usual?) here at home. Had a tough discussion with KE last night. Sometimes it feels like we just don't understand each other at all. E is doing fine, but I think he caught a cold on Halloween. He went to his friend S's house for a party and for trick-or-treating, and somehow he managed to go out without a coat. I would have never let that happen. Last night he was froggy so I'm preparing myself for staying home with him today if need be.
I am so incredibly relieved to have had not one but two pieces of recent work make it through the process intact. For one thing, it means a lot less work for me, but beyond that it means that my work appears to be viewed as of very high quality, and that feels fantastic. I think a lot of the credit has to go to my friend L, who critiqued both drafts before I sent them out. She always has good insights and asks all the right questions that challenge me on all the right issues.
We're struggling (as usual?) here at home. Had a tough discussion with KE last night. Sometimes it feels like we just don't understand each other at all. E is doing fine, but I think he caught a cold on Halloween. He went to his friend S's house for a party and for trick-or-treating, and somehow he managed to go out without a coat. I would have never let that happen. Last night he was froggy so I'm preparing myself for staying home with him today if need be.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Kulturstudier
Today was the day I set aside to flounder around looking for a theoretical model for my Peer Gynt book. It started out really bad, but I think I caught a glimpse of where I need to take things by the end of the day, so I have to count myself satisfied. I've been thinking of this as a cultural studies project, but I really haven't done any reading in recent cultural studies research or theory in a long time. I had spent some time in the library on Tuesday looking for stuff on consumer and tourist culture, plus some art history stuff (the most well known probably being Hal Foster's The Return of the Real). I had skimmed over the big stack of books I brought back with me, and had actually intended to stay home to read today.
E got me up at four o'clock in the morning with a bed wetting episode (yay new washer and dryer! It was so much easier to deal with than it used to be), however, and since I couldn't fall back asleep I started reading, and I didn't like what I saw. I could just tell that none of what I had brought home was going to work for the project, so after taking E to school I went in to my office. I did a bunch of poking around on databases, and what seemed to work the best was to go to the "best" journal in the subject area (Cultural Studies--the only one at level two in the Norwegian ranking system) and do searches in their archive for relevant terms. Bingo! I downloaded eight articles, and two of them have my research radar going "zing!" A scholar named Lawrence Grossberg has come up with an approach to Cultural Studies that builds on the philosophy developed by Deleuze and Guattari. This branch of Cultural Studies is being labeled "Spatial Materialism" and it combines all the things I love: the non-transcendental (or "monist"--a new word for me--basically a rejection of dualism) philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari, a focus on space/place questions, and a concern with cultural production of all kinds, including popular culture and stuff we don't even think of as "culture." If I weren't so outrageously tired I would try to explain it some, but my head is about to hit the keyboard out of sheer exhaustion, so I won't even try.
The only other thing I wanted to add before I crash was that I finally got around to asking an IT person to install Zotero on my computer at work. He came late in the day today, so I got about a half hour of playing around with it in before I had to go home. That's some incredibly clever "reference management software" there! I think this may really change the way I work for the better. It will be especially useful in that I'm writing two books that are going to have some bibliographic overlap, and also because it will make it a lot easier to switch between citation styles. The weird thing, though: Zotero works in Firefox. I had received a message last year from the UiO IT folks saying we couldn't use Firefox any more because of security issues. When I brought that up to the guy who came to set up Zotero, he said he'd never heard of that happening, and that Firefox is what they recommend. D'oh. Further evidence of the inscrutability of UiO IT support, I suppose.
Picked up the tickets for Trolljegeren for tomorrow night...
E got me up at four o'clock in the morning with a bed wetting episode (yay new washer and dryer! It was so much easier to deal with than it used to be), however, and since I couldn't fall back asleep I started reading, and I didn't like what I saw. I could just tell that none of what I had brought home was going to work for the project, so after taking E to school I went in to my office. I did a bunch of poking around on databases, and what seemed to work the best was to go to the "best" journal in the subject area (Cultural Studies--the only one at level two in the Norwegian ranking system) and do searches in their archive for relevant terms. Bingo! I downloaded eight articles, and two of them have my research radar going "zing!" A scholar named Lawrence Grossberg has come up with an approach to Cultural Studies that builds on the philosophy developed by Deleuze and Guattari. This branch of Cultural Studies is being labeled "Spatial Materialism" and it combines all the things I love: the non-transcendental (or "monist"--a new word for me--basically a rejection of dualism) philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari, a focus on space/place questions, and a concern with cultural production of all kinds, including popular culture and stuff we don't even think of as "culture." If I weren't so outrageously tired I would try to explain it some, but my head is about to hit the keyboard out of sheer exhaustion, so I won't even try.
The only other thing I wanted to add before I crash was that I finally got around to asking an IT person to install Zotero on my computer at work. He came late in the day today, so I got about a half hour of playing around with it in before I had to go home. That's some incredibly clever "reference management software" there! I think this may really change the way I work for the better. It will be especially useful in that I'm writing two books that are going to have some bibliographic overlap, and also because it will make it a lot easier to switch between citation styles. The weird thing, though: Zotero works in Firefox. I had received a message last year from the UiO IT folks saying we couldn't use Firefox any more because of security issues. When I brought that up to the guy who came to set up Zotero, he said he'd never heard of that happening, and that Firefox is what they recommend. D'oh. Further evidence of the inscrutability of UiO IT support, I suppose.
Picked up the tickets for Trolljegeren for tomorrow night...
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Fotspor
I made slippers! They started out like this:
This is some of the yarn I harvested from a thrift store sweater. The color is accurate here, but since winter is fast approaching, it was too dark this afternoon to take a decent picture of the finished project, but I'll slap it up here anyway, even though the color is totally wrong:
Ta-dah! Totally magic that strips of garter stitch turn into something so three dimensional. And they fit me perfectly. Only problem is that they were made for E! I'm already working on a downsized version for him out of left over gray yarn. My mom wants a pair too, so I have lots of excuses to knit really easy garter stitch pieces over the next week or so. Yay!
This week I decided to get serious about the theory that will support the Peer Gynt book. I've basically just been jotting down anything and everything I can think of about the context and works that I'm examining, but I'm now at the point where I need a theoretical model to reign it all in. I grabbed a ton of stuff at the library. Once I've digested it all, I'll try to sum it up here. But I was distracted from working on it all today for three reasons: first, I decided at the last minute to submit my conference paper from IASS this summer to their online proceedings volume. I had been hesitant because I didn't think it would count toward the Norwegian system of publication bean counting, but the editors have assured me that it will. That was enough incentive for me to spent the three hours it took today to revise it slightly and change the citation formatting from MLA to some kind of wacky Swedish-Chicago Style hybrid. 90% of those three hours was spend on the formatting. Then there was a lunch talk over at ILOS about the journal Norsk litteraturvitenskapelig tidsskrift, which was interesting enough. And then I had to race to put together tomorrow's lecture on Hedda Gabler. I'm still not done with that, so I'm banking on a two hour stint before classes tomorrow. That's playing it really close, so I hope the lecture isn't a disaster.
Speaking of disasters, here's what I'm really excited about this week, Trolljegeren:
Yay, a scary Norwegian monster movie! Much crunching of jeeps under the feet of trolls! And as far as I've been able to tell it's a total spoof. Can't wait. I'm going to see it on opening night together with L, who is a little skeptical about monster movies, but basically up for everything. KE was a little disappointed I wasn't taking him! But if I really like it I'll probably end up writing about it, which means I'll need to see it again... I really shouldn't get my hopes up though. There are more than enough bad Norwegian movies (that inexplicably get rave reviews) to go around.
This is some of the yarn I harvested from a thrift store sweater. The color is accurate here, but since winter is fast approaching, it was too dark this afternoon to take a decent picture of the finished project, but I'll slap it up here anyway, even though the color is totally wrong:
Ta-dah! Totally magic that strips of garter stitch turn into something so three dimensional. And they fit me perfectly. Only problem is that they were made for E! I'm already working on a downsized version for him out of left over gray yarn. My mom wants a pair too, so I have lots of excuses to knit really easy garter stitch pieces over the next week or so. Yay!
This week I decided to get serious about the theory that will support the Peer Gynt book. I've basically just been jotting down anything and everything I can think of about the context and works that I'm examining, but I'm now at the point where I need a theoretical model to reign it all in. I grabbed a ton of stuff at the library. Once I've digested it all, I'll try to sum it up here. But I was distracted from working on it all today for three reasons: first, I decided at the last minute to submit my conference paper from IASS this summer to their online proceedings volume. I had been hesitant because I didn't think it would count toward the Norwegian system of publication bean counting, but the editors have assured me that it will. That was enough incentive for me to spent the three hours it took today to revise it slightly and change the citation formatting from MLA to some kind of wacky Swedish-Chicago Style hybrid. 90% of those three hours was spend on the formatting. Then there was a lunch talk over at ILOS about the journal Norsk litteraturvitenskapelig tidsskrift, which was interesting enough. And then I had to race to put together tomorrow's lecture on Hedda Gabler. I'm still not done with that, so I'm banking on a two hour stint before classes tomorrow. That's playing it really close, so I hope the lecture isn't a disaster.
Speaking of disasters, here's what I'm really excited about this week, Trolljegeren:
Yay, a scary Norwegian monster movie! Much crunching of jeeps under the feet of trolls! And as far as I've been able to tell it's a total spoof. Can't wait. I'm going to see it on opening night together with L, who is a little skeptical about monster movies, but basically up for everything. KE was a little disappointed I wasn't taking him! But if I really like it I'll probably end up writing about it, which means I'll need to see it again... I really shouldn't get my hopes up though. There are more than enough bad Norwegian movies (that inexplicably get rave reviews) to go around.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Date-kveld
Last night KE and I had a date night, for the first time in about a year. E spent the night at his aunt's house and we went out for dinner at one of the few local restaurants here on Nesodden. It turned out to be a real treat. Generally I hate going out to eat at restaurants in Norway because I usually think the food tastes bad and it is so expensive, but this place was actually worth eating at! Last month the only restaurant within walking distance of our house changed from a more traditional pub menu to an all-Thai menu. Thai food is my absolute favorite. I'm of the mind that if you're going to pay someone else to make you food, it should at least be something better than you could make at home, and preferably much more exotic. This place had better Thai food than either of the two restaurants I've tried in Oslo, and actually better than the disappointing restaurant we tried near our hotel in San Francisco when we were there on vacation. I can't believe my luck, though it probably won't last since restaurants have a terrible time keeping afloat out here where we live.
We had borrowed a couple of movies at the library, and decided to try Mona Hoel's Salto, salmiakk og kaffe (2003) when we got home. Argh. It was so bad I hardly know where to begin. I'm sure it was supposed to be a poetic, heart-warming, smart, funny and intuitive women's film. It fails miserably. It was so bad that I'm actually angry at myself for wasting time watching it. Hoel reinforced every lame stereotype about women and men and she uses every single hackneyed plot device. Basically, the message is: women are idiots trampled on by men who are assholes, but if men just read Robin Norwood's Women Who Love Too Much and develop empathy for women, everyone will be happy. Seriously. That's it. That's the message of the film. The whole thing culminates in a hospital sequence with one woman giving birth (to a girl), one woman having sex in a back room, and one woman dying (oooh, the irony of life...). Then they all end up in church at the funeral of the woman who has died, with all the relationships repaired and the new mother connecting with the man (not her estranged husband, who is the father of the child) who helped her (intuitively, sensitively - seriously, he even rather incongruously had massage oil with him) through childbirth. This was more or less the same ending that incensed me with Thomas Vinterberg's Submarino. Somehow placing all the characters together in a church has become shorthand in Nordic film to signify that all is good and right with the world. Clearly Hoel had some kind of life changing experience after reading Women Who Love Too Much and decided that it was so important that she had to make a film about it, but the only thing worse than a self-help book is a self-help film...
Seriously, we enjoyed watching the few minutes of Hvem kan slå Aamodt og Kjus that we happened to turn on before starting the film a million times more.
We had borrowed a couple of movies at the library, and decided to try Mona Hoel's Salto, salmiakk og kaffe (2003) when we got home. Argh. It was so bad I hardly know where to begin. I'm sure it was supposed to be a poetic, heart-warming, smart, funny and intuitive women's film. It fails miserably. It was so bad that I'm actually angry at myself for wasting time watching it. Hoel reinforced every lame stereotype about women and men and she uses every single hackneyed plot device. Basically, the message is: women are idiots trampled on by men who are assholes, but if men just read Robin Norwood's Women Who Love Too Much and develop empathy for women, everyone will be happy. Seriously. That's it. That's the message of the film. The whole thing culminates in a hospital sequence with one woman giving birth (to a girl), one woman having sex in a back room, and one woman dying (oooh, the irony of life...). Then they all end up in church at the funeral of the woman who has died, with all the relationships repaired and the new mother connecting with the man (not her estranged husband, who is the father of the child) who helped her (intuitively, sensitively - seriously, he even rather incongruously had massage oil with him) through childbirth. This was more or less the same ending that incensed me with Thomas Vinterberg's Submarino. Somehow placing all the characters together in a church has become shorthand in Nordic film to signify that all is good and right with the world. Clearly Hoel had some kind of life changing experience after reading Women Who Love Too Much and decided that it was so important that she had to make a film about it, but the only thing worse than a self-help book is a self-help film...
Seriously, we enjoyed watching the few minutes of Hvem kan slå Aamodt og Kjus that we happened to turn on before starting the film a million times more.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Form og farge
My Dad is kind of a kook. He's been married to an equally kooky woman for the past twenty years or so, and they are definitely a good match. They just sent E a Halloween package, that among other things included this fabulous photograph of themselves:
Creepy, no? E really got into it, and slapped it up on the wall in our living room almost immediately. Only about two feet of scotch tape were involved in the process. I'm going to have to ask for a digital version of the photograph, since there's no way all that tape is going to come off without tearing the print.
Thanks to their package, though, I'm now thinking that maybe I should figure out some kind of low keyed Halloween activity for E and some friends. And of course if I do that, I'm going to need to work out a costume for him. I am thinking about some kind of Jedi costume, since he is totally obsessed with Anakin Skywalker right now (he refuses to believe that Anakin turns evil, even though he's well aware that Darth Vader was once Anakin. Too subtle for a six year old mind, apparently). I first thought of sewing one, but then I read somewhere that someone had just used a Karate outfit and dressed that up (belt, boots, light saber, easy cape). I think I can pull that off. I'll have to dye it dark for Anakin, of course, but I'm sure I can manage that.
This morning I finally picked up the rib-o-rama pullover so that I could knit the last two inches of the second arm. I had a sneaking suspicion there was something wrong, which is probably why I haven't looked at it all week. And wouldn't you know it, I had four stitches fewer on the second arm. Gah! I'm going to have to rip it all out and see where I went wrong in picking up stitches. What a drag.
Clearly this calls for some consolation (i.e. idiot-proof) knitting. I'm going to use the rest of the dark blue recycled yarn to make felted slippers for E. Here's this morning's start:
I'm knitting it with the yarn doubled to make extra thick slippers. The pattern is more or less this one, though I cast on 15 stitches, and am only using one color. I'm going to have to buy some "Formgummi" to smear on the soles to make them non-skid.
In a much larger constructive project, our garage is now starting to take form! This week the foundation was poured. It's still curing, but I think it's possible that we'll actually have a garage within the next two weeks (it's a modular construction, so once the foundation is done, it gets set up in a couple of days). Amazing. Here's a shot of the placement:
Of course it figures that we wouldn't get going on the project until the first snowfall! Thankfully, it doesn't look like it's going to start accumulating, and the weather is supposed to be a few degrees above 0 (celsius) during the day for the next week or so. Here's a shot from a different angle:
Our yard feels so much more open. We had to take down two large birch trees, and then this weekend the neighbor who lives in the white house you can just see behind ours has been cutting down a bunch of trees on his property. This is all very exciting, and exceptionally boring for anyone except the three of us who live here!
Creepy, no? E really got into it, and slapped it up on the wall in our living room almost immediately. Only about two feet of scotch tape were involved in the process. I'm going to have to ask for a digital version of the photograph, since there's no way all that tape is going to come off without tearing the print.
Thanks to their package, though, I'm now thinking that maybe I should figure out some kind of low keyed Halloween activity for E and some friends. And of course if I do that, I'm going to need to work out a costume for him. I am thinking about some kind of Jedi costume, since he is totally obsessed with Anakin Skywalker right now (he refuses to believe that Anakin turns evil, even though he's well aware that Darth Vader was once Anakin. Too subtle for a six year old mind, apparently). I first thought of sewing one, but then I read somewhere that someone had just used a Karate outfit and dressed that up (belt, boots, light saber, easy cape). I think I can pull that off. I'll have to dye it dark for Anakin, of course, but I'm sure I can manage that.
This morning I finally picked up the rib-o-rama pullover so that I could knit the last two inches of the second arm. I had a sneaking suspicion there was something wrong, which is probably why I haven't looked at it all week. And wouldn't you know it, I had four stitches fewer on the second arm. Gah! I'm going to have to rip it all out and see where I went wrong in picking up stitches. What a drag.
Clearly this calls for some consolation (i.e. idiot-proof) knitting. I'm going to use the rest of the dark blue recycled yarn to make felted slippers for E. Here's this morning's start:
I'm knitting it with the yarn doubled to make extra thick slippers. The pattern is more or less this one, though I cast on 15 stitches, and am only using one color. I'm going to have to buy some "Formgummi" to smear on the soles to make them non-skid.
In a much larger constructive project, our garage is now starting to take form! This week the foundation was poured. It's still curing, but I think it's possible that we'll actually have a garage within the next two weeks (it's a modular construction, so once the foundation is done, it gets set up in a couple of days). Amazing. Here's a shot of the placement:
Of course it figures that we wouldn't get going on the project until the first snowfall! Thankfully, it doesn't look like it's going to start accumulating, and the weather is supposed to be a few degrees above 0 (celsius) during the day for the next week or so. Here's a shot from a different angle:
Our yard feels so much more open. We had to take down two large birch trees, and then this weekend the neighbor who lives in the white house you can just see behind ours has been cutting down a bunch of trees on his property. This is all very exciting, and exceptionally boring for anyone except the three of us who live here!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tenke tenke skrive skrive
Today I hit 114 pages of manuscript on the Peer Gynt-book. Here's the page breakdown:
Blimey. That's starting to look like a book manuscript! My English class was cancelled today, which gave me two extra hours of writing. I also had to submit my paper for that class on line. I'll be really curious to read the instructor's response. At least I had fun writing it.
I gave a lecture on Norway's national anthem in my literature class today. It was actually pretty fun. The students seemed to find it interesting to talk about national anthems as a genre. Here's a nice recording of the Norwegian one from 2005.
I ran across a thingy that I think I'm going to want to do an article on at one point: "Ekko av Ibsen," which was a big film project for the Ibsen centennial in 2006 consisting of 8 short films created in dialogue with Ibsen's work. Can't wait to check it out. I need to find out if any relate to Peer Gynt. If they don't, it will still probably be worth putting together an analysis. ETA: here's the list:
Basically, this is just a quick note to say I really dig my job.
- intro: 1/10 pages (this is the hardest part to write. I'm saving it for the end. I need to come up with a theoretical approach lickity split. I mean, I have a theoretical approach, otherwise I couldn't write the material. I just don't have it laid out neatly yet.)
- chapter 1: 27/30 pages (from a 2008 article)
- chapter 2: 30/30 pages (all new material since August)
- chapter 3: 16/30 pages (half of a 2007 article)
- chapter 4: 11/30 pages (the other half of the 2007 article)
- chapter 5: 29/30 pages (all new material since September)
- conclusion: 0/10 pages (I have no idea what this is going to be. It seriously scares me. I hate conclusions. I think my friend L has a good one in her new book, so I need to read that for inspiration...)
Blimey. That's starting to look like a book manuscript! My English class was cancelled today, which gave me two extra hours of writing. I also had to submit my paper for that class on line. I'll be really curious to read the instructor's response. At least I had fun writing it.
I gave a lecture on Norway's national anthem in my literature class today. It was actually pretty fun. The students seemed to find it interesting to talk about national anthems as a genre. Here's a nice recording of the Norwegian one from 2005.
I ran across a thingy that I think I'm going to want to do an article on at one point: "Ekko av Ibsen," which was a big film project for the Ibsen centennial in 2006 consisting of 8 short films created in dialogue with Ibsen's work. Can't wait to check it out. I need to find out if any relate to Peer Gynt. If they don't, it will still probably be worth putting together an analysis. ETA: here's the list:
- Dobbel salto (Lars Göran Petterson, 2005), inspired by Bygmester Solness
- Klippan i livet - kan du leve uten? (Pia Lykke, 2005), inspired by Peer Gynt, Lille Eyolf, Fruen fra havet and Gengangere
- Nora (Geir Henning Hopland, 2005), inspired by Et dukkehjem
- Kjøter (Marius Holst, 2005)
- Edderkoppfest (Aril Østin Ommundsen, 2005)
- Trøbbel (Dag Johan Haugerud, 2005)
- Terje Vigen (Mari Monrad Vistven, 2005) inspired by the poem "Terje Vigen"
- Hvis jeg faller (Johanne Helgeland, 2005)
Basically, this is just a quick note to say I really dig my job.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
"Beskikk dit Hus"
I think nearly everything that could go wrong since last Thursday did. Our washing machine broke. With impeccable timing, E wet his bed three mornings in a row as a celebration of the fact that we had no washing machine. I did a terrible job teaching. I had a monumental case of PMS. I was stood up about three different times in different contexts, including the girl we hired to cover our week to clean E's preschool (yes, the parents have to do it all, from scrubbing toilets to emptying trash to vacuuming and washing about 120 square meters; yes the girl who agreed to do it blew us off on two of our three evenings). E was kind of on the warpath. KE had what seemed like dozens of extra activities scheduled, meaning I barely saw him. Our house just reached a new nadir of filth. And to top it all off, I had to dip into savings to make it through to my next paycheck, which thankfully arrived yesterday. I can't remember the last time I had to do that.
As of today, I'm slowly starting to impose some order on the chaos. I actually spent most of the day cleaning, which is a rarity. KE was a hero and, with the help of a neighbor, carted home our brand-spanking-new laundry facilities. With a huge sigh of relief, I present you with...my bathroom:
What is that strange creature on the left, you ask? Lo, it is a dryer. We haven't had one since leaving the US. I have been quite smug about not needing one, but I had to bite the bullet and admit that there's no way I can keep up with all the bedding and workout gear by air drying on two indoor drying racks. I feel like a sellout, but I also want to have a tidy house. And of course I don't have to use it for every load of wash.
Even better than these behemoths (well, almost) is what E did with some of the packaging:
Too cute.
Rarely can I say that I'm too stressed out to knit, but that was certainly the case this week. Normally I would have been done with the Riborama pullover by now, but I have barely made any progress at all. I've managed to finish one arm and get a few inches on the other. In the meantime, I've done a little experimenting with the Shetland yarn I bought in Denmark this summer. Five of the eight colors I bought looked really lovely together, but I couldn't get any of the other three to work into the combination, so I broke down and ordered another color online (BC Garn). Here's the result, which is the corrugated ribbing for an Ivy League Vest (Ravelry link here, non-Ravelry link here), which I'll probably add arms to:
I'm thinking that looks pretty good. I'm not going to agonize any more over it, and just go with what I have. It's the lightest, wheat-ish color in the middle that I just ordered.
Another good thing about this terrible week bears remembering: I exchanged WIPs with my friend L at work, and we had a really productive and exciting critique session yesterday morning. She had such amazingly insightful comments about my chapter on the Peer Gynt films. Since yesterday was the fifteenth of the month, I also did a page tally for the book, and I now have 110 (out of a projected 170) pages written! Granted much of that is rough, but still, I'm making decent progress. I was really anxious for L's feedback on this chapter so that I could get a sense of whether I'm on the right track with the book, or whether it's a big waste of time. She was enthusiastic about it, which gives me a lot of hope.
ETA: a link to one of the coolest studio apartments I've seen in a long time on Apartment Therapy. Here's the same place during an earlier decorating iteration. I think what I like is less the individual elements than just the idea of starting out life as a college kid in a place like that. I'd love to be able to set up E in a funky place of his own if/when he goes away to study (in about 12+ years...). Look at me, already living vicariously through my child and he's not yet six!
As of today, I'm slowly starting to impose some order on the chaos. I actually spent most of the day cleaning, which is a rarity. KE was a hero and, with the help of a neighbor, carted home our brand-spanking-new laundry facilities. With a huge sigh of relief, I present you with...my bathroom:
What is that strange creature on the left, you ask? Lo, it is a dryer. We haven't had one since leaving the US. I have been quite smug about not needing one, but I had to bite the bullet and admit that there's no way I can keep up with all the bedding and workout gear by air drying on two indoor drying racks. I feel like a sellout, but I also want to have a tidy house. And of course I don't have to use it for every load of wash.
Even better than these behemoths (well, almost) is what E did with some of the packaging:
Too cute.
Rarely can I say that I'm too stressed out to knit, but that was certainly the case this week. Normally I would have been done with the Riborama pullover by now, but I have barely made any progress at all. I've managed to finish one arm and get a few inches on the other. In the meantime, I've done a little experimenting with the Shetland yarn I bought in Denmark this summer. Five of the eight colors I bought looked really lovely together, but I couldn't get any of the other three to work into the combination, so I broke down and ordered another color online (BC Garn). Here's the result, which is the corrugated ribbing for an Ivy League Vest (Ravelry link here, non-Ravelry link here), which I'll probably add arms to:
I'm thinking that looks pretty good. I'm not going to agonize any more over it, and just go with what I have. It's the lightest, wheat-ish color in the middle that I just ordered.
Another good thing about this terrible week bears remembering: I exchanged WIPs with my friend L at work, and we had a really productive and exciting critique session yesterday morning. She had such amazingly insightful comments about my chapter on the Peer Gynt films. Since yesterday was the fifteenth of the month, I also did a page tally for the book, and I now have 110 (out of a projected 170) pages written! Granted much of that is rough, but still, I'm making decent progress. I was really anxious for L's feedback on this chapter so that I could get a sense of whether I'm on the right track with the book, or whether it's a big waste of time. She was enthusiastic about it, which gives me a lot of hope.
ETA: a link to one of the coolest studio apartments I've seen in a long time on Apartment Therapy. Here's the same place during an earlier decorating iteration. I think what I like is less the individual elements than just the idea of starting out life as a college kid in a place like that. I'd love to be able to set up E in a funky place of his own if/when he goes away to study (in about 12+ years...). Look at me, already living vicariously through my child and he's not yet six!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
En lang dag...
This week is going slowly, slowly. I'm afraid it was a bit of a boring day for E, but I just couldn't muster the enthusiasm or energy for more than a walk to the library, unfortunately. We did have glorious weather today, which helped a lot, though. I think part of the problem for me is that there is just no relief from the constant attention-seeking. I had a maximum of seven minutes alone to myself at one stretch (I timed it), and for a lone wolf academic like me, not having any head space really knocks me off kilter. Okay, I admit it: I really miss work, especially since I'm in the midst of so much exciting new research. This makes me feel like a bad parent, but it's the truth...
The new sweater project is at a point where it is now worth taking a picture of:
I'm making this up as I go along. The plan is to do ribbing all the way through the pullover, maybe with a little cabling at the sides when I hit the waist, maybe a few increases over the hips. Not quite sure yet, and I'll just have to see when I get there. So far I'm super happy with the way it's turning out. I think this will be infinitely wearable. The two previous incarnations of this yarn were both cardigans, and I have developed such an aversion to cardigans that I couldn't wear them. To put it bluntly, my breasts and chest get really cold when I wear cardigans. Weird, I know, especially since every other knitting woman I know of--regardless of cup size--loves them.
I'm sure some people would look at this and cringe because of all the ribbing. For some reason, I happen to love knitting 2x2 ribbing. I think it has to do with my super-effective continental style of knitting. I barely have to change the position of anything to switch between knitting and purling, so ribbing is totally no big deal. I've been wanting a sweater like this for a really long time, but never found the pattern I wanted. I've now learned enough about the magic of top down knitting (especially from the Miss Honeychurch sweaters I knitted earlier this year) that I am able to design my own--yay! The ribs are a little wonky since I'm re-knitting the yarn, but I'm banking on it all smoothing out with a good soak and block at the end.
Today I made what I think must be my fourth or fifth dish out of Camilla Jensen's Bønner og linser. This one is called "Oreganofreste kikkerter," but since I didn't have any fresh oregano (and don't liked dried oregano very much) it ended up being Spisskummenfreste kikkerter" (cumin-sauteed chick peas):
The verdict was split. I loved it, KE thought it was just okay. I also made a thai green curry for dinner that got mixed reviews. That I just winged, but I realized half way through that I was missing a couple of essential ingredients. I forgot about fish sauce, which I always used to use when I made green curry back in the US, and I also didn't have frozen green beans, so I had to substitute with frozen peas, which don't work nearly as well for my idea of a green curry.
The new sweater project is at a point where it is now worth taking a picture of:
I'm making this up as I go along. The plan is to do ribbing all the way through the pullover, maybe with a little cabling at the sides when I hit the waist, maybe a few increases over the hips. Not quite sure yet, and I'll just have to see when I get there. So far I'm super happy with the way it's turning out. I think this will be infinitely wearable. The two previous incarnations of this yarn were both cardigans, and I have developed such an aversion to cardigans that I couldn't wear them. To put it bluntly, my breasts and chest get really cold when I wear cardigans. Weird, I know, especially since every other knitting woman I know of--regardless of cup size--loves them.
I'm sure some people would look at this and cringe because of all the ribbing. For some reason, I happen to love knitting 2x2 ribbing. I think it has to do with my super-effective continental style of knitting. I barely have to change the position of anything to switch between knitting and purling, so ribbing is totally no big deal. I've been wanting a sweater like this for a really long time, but never found the pattern I wanted. I've now learned enough about the magic of top down knitting (especially from the Miss Honeychurch sweaters I knitted earlier this year) that I am able to design my own--yay! The ribs are a little wonky since I'm re-knitting the yarn, but I'm banking on it all smoothing out with a good soak and block at the end.
Today I made what I think must be my fourth or fifth dish out of Camilla Jensen's Bønner og linser. This one is called "Oreganofreste kikkerter," but since I didn't have any fresh oregano (and don't liked dried oregano very much) it ended up being Spisskummenfreste kikkerter" (cumin-sauteed chick peas):
The verdict was split. I loved it, KE thought it was just okay. I also made a thai green curry for dinner that got mixed reviews. That I just winged, but I realized half way through that I was missing a couple of essential ingredients. I forgot about fish sauce, which I always used to use when I made green curry back in the US, and I also didn't have frozen green beans, so I had to substitute with frozen peas, which don't work nearly as well for my idea of a green curry.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Flink pike
Traumatized as I was by last night's attempt to follow a meme designed for earnest homeschooling stay-at-home mothers, I really had to make up for things today, and golly it turned out to be a fun day. It started out with the brilliant idea to use up the left over mashed sweet potatoes in the fridge for bread. I scanned my cookbooks but didn't find anything, so I went to the internet and found this recipe for "healthy" pumpkin bread. I had to modify it some, but not much. Here's the result:
I'm glad I took a picture, because it's already gone! It was really yummy, gaining the stamp of approval from E and his friend who was over playing, KE, and me. I had to make some modifications on the fly, so here's the recipe for my version:
Mix the dry ingredients first, then add the wet. Pour into a bread pan lined with baking parchment, and bake for 1 hour in a 175 degree (celsius) oven. E did most of the mixing, which I think he actually really likes doing.
After baking, E and I ran some errands. We stopped by the green grocers, dropped off outgrown clothing at the UFF bins, picked up some staples at the grocery store, and did some fun shopping at the Kiwanis barn again. They're open from 10-12 on Tuesdays, so it's not often I can make it. I scored a great set of glass mixing bowls (kind of like this). It was missing one bowl, and when I got home I discovered that one of the two glass bowls we already have is the missing link, and it's even originally from the same set. Woo-hoo!
As if that wasn't enough domesticity, I also did a bunch of laundry and made a huge batch of hummus (recipe from Camilla Jensen's Bønner og linser, my current favorite cookbook) :
That's a full sized dinner plate. You're probably thinking it looks like cottage cheese. It's very lumpy because I mashed the chickpeas by hand with a potato masher. I still have a ton of chickpeas left over. I may try to put together a salad with the rest. The hummus isn't the best I've ever tasted, but I consider it a pretty decent first effort.
The universe rewarded me for my efforts. My good friend L from back in Eugene sent me a box of yarn from her stash! It was such a treat to open up the package and find:
Score!
I'm glad I took a picture, because it's already gone! It was really yummy, gaining the stamp of approval from E and his friend who was over playing, KE, and me. I had to make some modifications on the fly, so here's the recipe for my version:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 1/2 or 2 cups (didn't measure) mashed sweet potatoes (could also use pumpkin)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons of melted butter
Mix the dry ingredients first, then add the wet. Pour into a bread pan lined with baking parchment, and bake for 1 hour in a 175 degree (celsius) oven. E did most of the mixing, which I think he actually really likes doing.
After baking, E and I ran some errands. We stopped by the green grocers, dropped off outgrown clothing at the UFF bins, picked up some staples at the grocery store, and did some fun shopping at the Kiwanis barn again. They're open from 10-12 on Tuesdays, so it's not often I can make it. I scored a great set of glass mixing bowls (kind of like this). It was missing one bowl, and when I got home I discovered that one of the two glass bowls we already have is the missing link, and it's even originally from the same set. Woo-hoo!
As if that wasn't enough domesticity, I also did a bunch of laundry and made a huge batch of hummus (recipe from Camilla Jensen's Bønner og linser, my current favorite cookbook) :
That's a full sized dinner plate. You're probably thinking it looks like cottage cheese. It's very lumpy because I mashed the chickpeas by hand with a potato masher. I still have a ton of chickpeas left over. I may try to put together a salad with the rest. The hummus isn't the best I've ever tasted, but I consider it a pretty decent first effort.
The universe rewarded me for my efforts. My good friend L from back in Eugene sent me a box of yarn from her stash! It was such a treat to open up the package and find:
Score!
Monday, October 4, 2010
En enkel kvinne
Every once in a while I come across some internet meme that both irritates me and piques my interest. The internet is so full of blogs written by frustrated housewives who use them to create an ideal public persona. I find them both fascinating and ... oh, I don't know, sad? Delusional? Sweet? Apparently there's something called the simple woman's daybook, which gives a kind of template to nudge them in the right direction. I thought I'd give it a try (things in bold are the template):
FOR TODAY
Place: Dovre, Dovrefjell; Dovre, Svånådalen
Date: 1915
So, did you learn anything about me you didn't already know? I am nothing if not consistent.
FOR TODAY
- Outside my window... Rain, granite, moss, a volunteer cherry tree, a broken ten speed, a rotting medicine cabinet, and raspberry brambles.
- I am thinking... About what a difference there is between the days when I'm "on" intellectually and when I'm "off." Today I'm dead off.
- I am thankful for... I'm not really the thankful type. I know that sounds mean, but really I (and virtually everyone I know or know of) am so incredibly and overwhelmingly privileged that it seems fantastically arrogant to go around listing everything. I wouldn't even know where to begin to quantify my privilege. Plus, being the unrelenting atheist that I am, I don't have a transcendent being to address my feelings of gratitude to, and I don't think the people suffering in sweat shops around the world want my thanks so much as they want a living wage, safe conditions, healthy families, and peace.
- I am wearing... A wool sweater under my down comforter and over my pajamas. My nose is still cold.
- In the learning room... Oh, I get it. This is a thingy for homeschooling moms. Whoops. No wonder it's not quite my vibe.
- I am remembering... Being 19.
- I am creating... More gibberish to add to the enormous stream of data on the internet. Also, I am onto the third attempt to knit a wearable sweater out of a bunch of green Rauma finull. It is a testament to the durability of that yarn that I have knitted and unravelled two sweaters using the exact same yarn, am now knitting it up yet again, and it shows absolutely no signs of wear. Wow.
- I am going... to have to not knit tomorrow. I think I overdid it today, and my hands will need a rest.
- I am currently reading... The articles in Otto Hageberg's old anthology, Omkring Peer Gynt.
- I am hoping... That I'll be able to get some writing done this week.
- On my mind... Gah, this is getting just way too redundant.
- Noticing that... Doing a meme takes much longer than just writing a blog entry. And that I've had to pee for the last half hour or so.
- Pondering these words... "Hans Hjærne var stor og ubrukt." (His brain was large and unused). Knut Hamsun describing Isak in Markens Grøde.
- I am hearing... Tinnitus.
- From the kitchen... Over the course of today: oatmeal, leftover stir-fry, pancakes, toast, plain rice and boiled vegetables. No sauce. No condiments. Nothing fancy. Not my finest hour.
- Around the house... We don't really have all that much stuff, but what we do own appears to be strewn in every imaginable spot and in a totally random pattern.
- One of my favorite things... Definitely my ball winder. And most definitely worth the 350 Swedish kronor I paid for it, even though I thought the price was outrageous at the time!
- A few plans for the rest of the week: make it through the long days with E without being too cranky. Do laundry. Revise the chapter draft.
- Here's a picture thought I am sharing...
Not sure quite what is meant by a "picture thought," but this image has been haunting me since I ran across it in the National Library photo archives last week.
Source: Galleri NOR
Photographer: Anders Beer WilsePlace: Dovre, Dovrefjell; Dovre, Svånådalen
Date: 1915
So, did you learn anything about me you didn't already know? I am nothing if not consistent.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Høst
It's been a while since I could open a blog post with a finished object reveal. I'm very excited with the end result of the aran pullover from that ancient copy of Vogue Knitting that I've had forever:
The cowl neck is a little over powering, but otherwise this is a pretty ideal use of this free yarn. It's a much more interesting and fun project than the hourglass sweater, and the perfect thing to bundle up in as the temperatures and leaves start to drop.
I have to confess that I rather impulsively started on a new project last night. After a long haul of finishing work on the aran I couldn't bear to pick up the Fanakofte just yet. I'll blog the new project once I have something interesting to show. In the meantime, today I did dutifully start working on the Fanakofte. It's been so long since I even looked at it that I have to repost my list of the remaining finishing work. Here it is, updated with today's efforts:
The cowl neck is a little over powering, but otherwise this is a pretty ideal use of this free yarn. It's a much more interesting and fun project than the hourglass sweater, and the perfect thing to bundle up in as the temperatures and leaves start to drop.
I have to confess that I rather impulsively started on a new project last night. After a long haul of finishing work on the aran I couldn't bear to pick up the Fanakofte just yet. I'll blog the new project once I have something interesting to show. In the meantime, today I did dutifully start working on the Fanakofte. It's been so long since I even looked at it that I have to repost my list of the remaining finishing work. Here it is, updated with today's efforts:
- sew down the hems (one sleeve and the body)
- sew in the yarn ends (both sleeves and body)
- sew machine seams for the armhole and front steeks
- cut the steeks
- knit the shoulders together
- pick up and knit the neckline
- sew down the hem around the neckline
- pick up and knit buttonhole and button bands
- sew down the hems of the button and button hole bands
- sew around each buttonhole
- buy buttons
- sew on buttons
Gulp.
The only other productive things I've done this weekend are some writing on the book chapter (it now has a much better structure, and has filled 27 pages!), and some matauk. There's a scraggly old apple tree way off in one of the hidden corners of our yard that I always forget about. Yesterday KE gathered the remaining apples, and this morning I diced most of them up and froze them in six-cup (pie) portions. It ended up being 24 cups of apples, plus a few of the biggest and nicest ones that I set aside for eating now:
I always feel so darned virtuous when I am able to do something with food sources like this. Next year I want to be even better about gathering stuff from our own yard.
This coming week may be a little trying. E is home all week from school for høstferie, but KE will be in class as usual, so it will just be E and me, with no real plans. The weather has turned rainy too, so I'm not quite sure how possible it will be to get him out doing things. It will definitely be a challenge!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Stolt forfatter!
Title: Figurative Space in the Novels of Cora Sandel
Publisher: Alvheim & Eide akademisk forlag
Year: 2010
Pages: 194 (including the bibliography...)
Author: me me me me me!
This is only my second academic book. I finished writing it in March 2007, and even thought I already had a contract for it with a publisher the publication process took over three years. Three slow and painful years, I might add. I am so happy to have it in my hot little hands, finally!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Strålende dag
1. We had fabulous fall weather today: glorious sunshine and cool, crisp temperatures.
2. I drove E and a classmate to one of the two other Waldorf preschools for a first-grade activity. The three groups of first graders got together for a walk in the woods. Next fall they'll merge the groups to form one second grade class at the big school, so it's important that they get to know each other throughout this school year through activities like this. The other preschool was a really neat place, and I got the sense that E really enjoyed himself. There was another boy with the same name, though. Argh, all my research on name statistics failed me!*
3. I got a lot of administrative tasks done today: four letters of recommendation in the mail, documents uploaded to my course intranet site, revising the set up for my spring course, and answering a student's request for information.
4. There was even a tiny amount of time to plug some information into my Peer Gynt chapter. I made it onto page seventeen, so that puts me over the halfway mark.
5. KE gathered a bunch of small apples from the volunteer apple tree behind our compost pile (not the one we just planted). It is a very small, very unassuming tree, but it actually does produce good apples. On a whim I decided to make an apple cobbler (or crisp. I can never remember the difference). I just made up the recipe: melted butter and honey in a saucepan, then added oatmeal, cinnamon, and a bit of flour, then spread it over the diced up apples in a baking dish, and baked at 200 C for about 15 minutes. We had a package of vaniljesaus left over in our fridge, so we ate the crisp topped with vanilla sauce. Yum. Pretty darned good.
Nothing fancy, but still a treat.
6. I'm about a third of the way done with the second arm of the aran pullover. I'm getting close to running out of yarn, which is okay since I'm just going to unravel the hourglass sweater I made last year. I've gotten a lot of use out of that sweater, but there are a few things I don't like about it, so I won't be too torn up about the end of its life in this form.
7. At work I found out about a conference in the spring that looks just up my alley. It's in Trondheim, which makes it pretty do-able, although unfortunately it's just a few days after my major conference in Chicago. I do think it's worth the effort to do both, though.
*There were 86 boys born in Norway in 2004 who got the same name as E, so it was really pretty unlikely that he would end up with another one in his class. The ten most popular boys names for that year are Mathias, Markus, Martin, Andreas, Jonas, Kristian, Tobias, Daniel, Alexander, and Sander. Not a single one of these is a pre-Christian Nordic name.
2. I drove E and a classmate to one of the two other Waldorf preschools for a first-grade activity. The three groups of first graders got together for a walk in the woods. Next fall they'll merge the groups to form one second grade class at the big school, so it's important that they get to know each other throughout this school year through activities like this. The other preschool was a really neat place, and I got the sense that E really enjoyed himself. There was another boy with the same name, though. Argh, all my research on name statistics failed me!*
4. There was even a tiny amount of time to plug some information into my Peer Gynt chapter. I made it onto page seventeen, so that puts me over the halfway mark.
5. KE gathered a bunch of small apples from the volunteer apple tree behind our compost pile (not the one we just planted). It is a very small, very unassuming tree, but it actually does produce good apples. On a whim I decided to make an apple cobbler (or crisp. I can never remember the difference). I just made up the recipe: melted butter and honey in a saucepan, then added oatmeal, cinnamon, and a bit of flour, then spread it over the diced up apples in a baking dish, and baked at 200 C for about 15 minutes. We had a package of vaniljesaus left over in our fridge, so we ate the crisp topped with vanilla sauce. Yum. Pretty darned good.
6. I'm about a third of the way done with the second arm of the aran pullover. I'm getting close to running out of yarn, which is okay since I'm just going to unravel the hourglass sweater I made last year. I've gotten a lot of use out of that sweater, but there are a few things I don't like about it, so I won't be too torn up about the end of its life in this form.
7. At work I found out about a conference in the spring that looks just up my alley. It's in Trondheim, which makes it pretty do-able, although unfortunately it's just a few days after my major conference in Chicago. I do think it's worth the effort to do both, though.
*There were 86 boys born in Norway in 2004 who got the same name as E, so it was really pretty unlikely that he would end up with another one in his class. The ten most popular boys names for that year are Mathias, Markus, Martin, Andreas, Jonas, Kristian, Tobias, Daniel, Alexander, and Sander. Not a single one of these is a pre-Christian Nordic name.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Fedre og barn
This weekend Nordisk råd sponsored a film festival in Oslo: each Nordic country has nominated a film to compete for the Nordisk råd film prize, and they're all being shown in each of the capital cities successively. My friend L got free tickets, and we went to see two of the films yesterday. I was almost totally overwhelmed with sadness after seeing them!
The first was Thomas Vinterberg's Submarino which tells the parallel stories of two brothers who continue in adulthood to struggle with consequences from the serious neglect they suffered in childhood. It depicts a really harsh life and in some respects was brilliantly filmed. The realism is both grueling and at times poetic, and the acting was totally convincing. The two boys try desperately to care for their baby brother since their mother can't (or won't) and then one of the two ends up as a single father who wants with all his heart to take care of his son, but is addicted to heroin. Truly heartbreaking material...
On the other hand, I ended up totally disappointed by the film's heavy-handed message of redemption. I suppose the (false) hope that the film makers held up at the end is supposed to balance out the horrific experiences depicted in the movie, but to me it just made the entire thing meaningless. It was a huge let down, and in my view a massive intellectual cop out to suggest that everything is going to be okay just because two of the main characters end up sitting next to each other on a church pew at the end.
The other film, Miesten vuoro (being released internationally as Steam of Life) would have been wonderful if I hadn't already been so emotionally battered by Submarino (we had only a half hour between screenings). The film is a documentary depicting various Finnish men talking together while naked in the sauna. Brilliant concept wonderfully executed. It goes straight to the heart of Finnish culture and identity construction. There were a few perfect aesthetic moments in the film that exactly convey the off-kilter surrealism that runs through Finnish life. I wish I could find some images on the internet, but there don't appear to be any.
One such surreal and poetic scene was an exterior shot of a camping trailer out in the woods in northern Finland that had been converted to a sauna; through the steamy window you can see the butts of two men sitting inside. Another was two army officers who, after just having a deeply emotional conversation in the sauna, bow to each other and shake hands, and wish each other a happy independence day while still nude. It is really striking how many of these men interviewed are struggling emotionally with the loss of children, either through divorce or in once case through death. I think I have never seen such a strong portrayal of fatherly love and longing for absent children. It blew me away, and was really almost too much to bear.
When they introduced the film they compared it to Heftig og begeistret, and I can see why, though I think this one is really a better film. The only thing I didn't like is that at the very end they brought in a choir, which I thought made the similarities between the two films just too obvious. After the screening the director explained why they did it, and what the song means in the Finnish context (apparently it's a song often sung at the funerals of children), and that the father whose child had died felt very comforted by the inclusion of the song. That made sense as part of a process of public mourning within Finland, but not for those of us coming to this film from the outside.
It all makes me so very, very grateful for my little family and the amazing job that KE does as a loving and responsible (and fun!) father.
I've finished the front of the aran sweater, and am close to finishing the first sleeve. It's amazing how quickly it's going, considering I haven't really had much time to knit this week. I've pretty much decided just to finish this up before picking up the Fanakofte to do the finishing work on that. Once these two are done, I'm going to cast on for Lissuin, since I'm ready for some color experimentation after all these cables and finishing.
Off to make a pizza dough and block the front of the aran sweater...
The first was Thomas Vinterberg's Submarino which tells the parallel stories of two brothers who continue in adulthood to struggle with consequences from the serious neglect they suffered in childhood. It depicts a really harsh life and in some respects was brilliantly filmed. The realism is both grueling and at times poetic, and the acting was totally convincing. The two boys try desperately to care for their baby brother since their mother can't (or won't) and then one of the two ends up as a single father who wants with all his heart to take care of his son, but is addicted to heroin. Truly heartbreaking material...
The other film, Miesten vuoro (being released internationally as Steam of Life) would have been wonderful if I hadn't already been so emotionally battered by Submarino (we had only a half hour between screenings). The film is a documentary depicting various Finnish men talking together while naked in the sauna. Brilliant concept wonderfully executed. It goes straight to the heart of Finnish culture and identity construction. There were a few perfect aesthetic moments in the film that exactly convey the off-kilter surrealism that runs through Finnish life. I wish I could find some images on the internet, but there don't appear to be any.
One such surreal and poetic scene was an exterior shot of a camping trailer out in the woods in northern Finland that had been converted to a sauna; through the steamy window you can see the butts of two men sitting inside. Another was two army officers who, after just having a deeply emotional conversation in the sauna, bow to each other and shake hands, and wish each other a happy independence day while still nude. It is really striking how many of these men interviewed are struggling emotionally with the loss of children, either through divorce or in once case through death. I think I have never seen such a strong portrayal of fatherly love and longing for absent children. It blew me away, and was really almost too much to bear.
When they introduced the film they compared it to Heftig og begeistret, and I can see why, though I think this one is really a better film. The only thing I didn't like is that at the very end they brought in a choir, which I thought made the similarities between the two films just too obvious. After the screening the director explained why they did it, and what the song means in the Finnish context (apparently it's a song often sung at the funerals of children), and that the father whose child had died felt very comforted by the inclusion of the song. That made sense as part of a process of public mourning within Finland, but not for those of us coming to this film from the outside.
It all makes me so very, very grateful for my little family and the amazing job that KE does as a loving and responsible (and fun!) father.
I've finished the front of the aran sweater, and am close to finishing the first sleeve. It's amazing how quickly it's going, considering I haven't really had much time to knit this week. I've pretty much decided just to finish this up before picking up the Fanakofte to do the finishing work on that. Once these two are done, I'm going to cast on for Lissuin, since I'm ready for some color experimentation after all these cables and finishing.
Off to make a pizza dough and block the front of the aran sweater...
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