It's too hot today.

All right, it's time to admit it: it's been a bit of a slump, as far as blogging frequency goes. So I'll try to do a post every day for a week, and see how that works.

Today's subject: it's hot. By far, the biggest adjustment I've had to make since moving to Ontario way back in 2008 is the weather. Milder winters, fine; I never had a problem with the cold winters of Saskatchewan anyway. (That is, until I moved here--now, I go back for X-Mas, and the cold temperatures turn me into an ice cube. Go figure.) It's the humidity in the summer that kills me. Literally, I think the humidity is killing me. It certainly precipitated my asthma, and anyone who has to spend more than a little time around me knows that my periodic cough certainly sounds like I'm dying. Until recently, it hasn't been too bad, but the recent return to summer weather has meant that complicated things like movement create sticky, sweaty messes best left for other days. Right now, I'm sitting in front of a laptop (granted, not a great activity for producing less heat) at 11:30 pm at night, and it's still 20 degrees. Agh. The kicker is that the house I'm living in has air conditioning. I could turn it on. The roommates are out, and the landlord pays the utilities. No one would ever know. No one... would ever.. know. And yet, here I am. Is it masochism? Is it a desire to conserve energy? Deep down, do I feel like I deserve to be sweaty? Maybe, probably, you're thinking too much, go to bed.

Tune in next time, to find out what I can complain about tomorrow.

Later Days.

Bibliophile: Philosophical Phindings and Pheminism at Cape Breton University

“When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.”
― Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

This week: What books are new and hip at Cape Breton University, after the break.

Book Triad: Series of Fantasy

So it's been a while since I've done a Book Triad entry. As usual, it's not because I stopped reading. No, I think I could give up the television and the gaming before I gave up the reading. Rather, it's because I've fallen rather thoroughly off my 2 nonfiction / 1 fiction rule.  Eventually, though, you have to just go with the fall, and move on. So without further ado, here is an all fantasy book version of Book Triad. Reviews of

The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks
Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb
River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay

all after the break.

Bibliophile: Porn, Pleasure, and Pop Culture at Arcadia University

“In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.”
― Mark Twain

This week on Bibliophile: we look at the new books of New Brunswick's Acadia University.  After the break, of course.

Friday Quotations: The Marzipan Throne

Your mother rests in a vast cave of marzipan, the walls decorated with thousands of glimmering boiled sweets, forming elaborate patterns and detailing a tableau of her life as a gracious and wise Queen. She herself is huge, her hot pink body resting atop a clutch of jellybean eggs.

"My dear daughter, please come in. It is time we spoke about your future."

--Candy Ant Princess





I rule my candy ant minions with an iron fist.  Wait, ants don't have fists, do they? Check out the Twine game here.

Later Days.

Catch-up, sleepy edition

First class of the semester today.  I think I've got everything I want in place. The syllabus, minus a few of the later readings, is in place, and the lesson plan is prepared. The big issue is that it's going to be a 3 hour, once a week course; I've never taught one of those before, and I'm not sure how the pacing works yet. Still, you have to remember that the students are more afraid of you than you are of them.  Or am I thinking wolves?

A review I wrote on the book Dungeons, Dragons and Digital Denizens is up at First Person Scholar. It nearly killed me, largely because I hadn't suspected I needed to write up until a week beforehand. We originally had someone else lined up to do the review, but they fell through. To be honest, I'm starting to find the backing out rather annoying. If I can write a quality review in a week's time (and I stand by the quality of this review), then someone who's had at least a month lead-in time really shouldn't have any problem. I understand that life springs unexpected events on us, but my sympathy is wearing a bit thin. Still, I really did like the book. It's probably the best collection of essays I've seen on Bioware games especially to date.

Expect more here when I've gotten a bit of sleep. I've spent most of the last few days going through syllabi drafts and speed reading through 300+ pages of essays, and my nap time has been sorely affected.

Later Days.

Bibliophile: Machinima, Simpsons, and Radio Waves at The Memorial University of Newfoundland

“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”
― Gustave Flaubert

After a brief hiatus, we've back, with a discussion of the new books available at... what's this week's university? Well, it was going to be St. Thomas University, or New Brunswick University, but both of these libraries don't allow searching from anyone who is not a student or faculty member, which is a rather unfriendly, elitist thing to do. And Moncton University is a French school, and while I have nothing against the language, the nontrivial effort it would require me to translate the page prohibits me from picking it. So that's it for New Brunswick. Next, then: The Memorial University of Newfoundland, after the break.