dear_prudence: (Default)
before asking me to add you, please note: i only add people with whom i have a significant amount in common, and/or who i know in real life. also, i judge people on their icons. there's no excuse for ugly icons.

my graphics journal: [livejournal.com profile] oh_darling
i run: [livejournal.com profile] botanicalstills
i co-mod: [livejournal.com profile] costume_elite
dear_prudence: (Default)
charmed life by diana wynne jones.
i love dwj - her plots are never predictable, and she always writes fun and eccentric characters. i particularly liked the ending of this book. it took some building up to, and it didn't disappoint.

the ordinary princess by m. m. kaye.
this is one of [personal profile] baroquestar's favourite books, and she lent it to me. half way in i decided i had to own my own copy. it's a charming and timeless fairy tale, with a plucky and lovable heroine. i am looking forward to reading this one to my son or daughter.

baby-sitters club #37: dawn and the older boy by ann m. martin.
i used to read bsc novels when i was younger, and in a fit of nostalgia thought i should read one again. i had forgotten how shit they were. dawn is a moron, and her friends are patronising bints. the best thing about reading this book was imagining how they would all be when they grew up. stacey = a hooker in nyc, claudia = unemployed due to being next to illiterate, mary-anne = suffering from neurosis and in a loveless marriage to logan, kristy = a lesbian, and dawn = an anorexic hippy. i think some childhood indulgences are best left alone.

the odyssey by homer (translated by robert fagles).
epic. totally fucking epic.

coraline by neil gaiman.
this would have been way too scary for me as a little girl. as a grown-up, during the daytime, it was great! i love a brave and plucky heroine, and coraline is definitely one of those. and i love a good cat character, and there was one of those too!

the hogfather by terry pratchett.
classic pratchett - nerdy, philosophical, clever, dorky, witty, and odd. this time with a festive theme.

pemberley manor: darcy and elizabeth, for better or worse by kathryn l. nelson.
i can't be quite as glowing and gushy about this novel as other austen geeks have been. there were a few too many irritating little slips out of the right style for my liking, and it seemed to be quite obviously written by an american (not that being american is bad, it's just that if you're going to be writing about regency england, your yank shouldn't show). but it was definitely an enjoyable read, and it kept me interested to the end.

a wrinkle in time by madeleine l'engle.
one of my friends was talking about madeleine l'engle's books on twitter and they sounded right up my alley, so i though i'd give her a go. she was so right! what a wonderful mix of sci-fi & fantasy, what a wonderful adventure, and what a beautiful story. i loved that the main protagonists were GIRL who's good at maths and gets in fights and BOYS who are good at communication and empathy. i love that they came from a supportive family for once, rather than being orphans as is often the case in stories like this and gets a little boring and predictable. and i love the vivid worlds that madeleine l'engle creates. this was SUCH fun, and i am already onto the next one in the series.

a wind in the door by madeleine l'engle.
even after my immense enjoyment of the first book in the series, this was not a disappointment. madeleine l'engle has such a vivid and extraordinary imagination. she is a fantastic storyteller. i can't recommend these stories highly enough.

emma by jane austen.
some people say that life is too shore to re-read books, and i feel very, very sorry for those people. they don't know how wonderful it is to return to worlds and characters that have been dear to you, only to have them become even more dear. emma is one of my favourite fictional characters, and this is my favourite of austen's novels. marvelous fun to come back to yet again.

harry potter and the philosopher's stone by j. k. rowling.
one of my comfort books (well, comfort series really). another re-read.

harry potter and the chamber of secrets by j. k. rowling.
ditto above.

harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban by j. k. rowling.
... and again.

the uncommon reader by alan bennett.
a very clever and funny read. i particularly liked the ending, but the whole book was delightful.

harry potter and the goblet of fire by j. k. rowling.
more comfort reading.

harry potter and the order of the phoenix by j. k. rowling.
... and more...

harry potter and the half blood prince by j. k. rowling.
i'd forgotten how much i love this one.

venetia by georgette heyer.
marvelous fun. a most enjoyable romance. most aspects of the plot were quite predictable, but as i wanted them to happen, that was perfectly acceptable!

harry potter and the deathly hallows by j. k. rowling.
it was so great to read the whole series from beginning to end in a shortish space if time. i really do adore these books.

wolf hall by hilary mantel.
i truly loved this book. it was an epic commitment, because it was LONG, and very involving both mentally and emotionally, but in many ways this is what was most wonderful about it. i love historical fiction, but i'm the first to admit that most examples of the genre are not exactly great works of literature. this novel brought together the unique escapism of entering a different time, and the joy of reading a beautifully crafted novel. i loved the fact that mantel was sympathetic with thomas cromwell rather than thomas more, as most stories about these two take the opposite tack. i can't recommend this book highly enough.

sylvester, or the wicked uncle by georgette heyer
very similar to venetia. light, fluffy, romantic, and fun.

moab is my washpot by stephen fry
i am an insufferably nosy person. i'm fascinated by people - their secrets, their motivations, their histories. this is why i love biographies and autobiographies. this is one of the best i have ever read. part confession, part treatise, part coming-of-age story, part tale of corruption and redemption, this story gave a wonderful insight into the mind of a man that i admire so very much.

decline and fall by evelyn waugh
i laughed out loud SO many times while reading this. so witty, so clever. everyone should read it. especially teachers.
oh, and i now know where stephen fry got the title for his autobiography.

knife by r. j. anderson
... meh.
i think anderson had some good aims in writing the book, but i don't think she achieved them as effectively as she thought.

anne of green gables by l. m. montgomery
i read and re-read this book as a girl, and loved it very much. anne is one of my favourite fictional characters, and i think went a long way to shaping my own character. it's been a long time sine i have enjoyed a re-read this much.

rescuing the spectacled bear: a peruvian diary stephen fry
a wonderful adventure, wittily and engagingly related. reminded me how much i enjoy well written non-fiction.

anne of avonlea by l. m. montgomery
continuing to enjoy the re-read...

anne of the island by l. m. montgomery
this one was always my favourite.

anne of windy poplars by l. m. montgomery
i didn't enjoy this one as much as a little girl, but i really did this time.

anne's house of dreams by l. m. montgomery
i didn't read this one when i was younger - i stopped at windy poplars. it was an absolute joy to follow anne's story further, and i'm glad i waited with this one till i was a bit older. the issues it addresses (grief, motherhood, etc.) are more relevant to me as an adult.

the hippopotamus by stephen fry
an interesting mystery, satisfyingly fry-ishly told. there were some scenes that made me a trifle squeamish, but on the whole, enjoyable.


the red queen by philippa gregory
it's hard to believe that i can find the books of so prolific an author to be so consistently entertaining. you usually expect volume and quality to have an inverse correlation. maybe they do. but i enjoyed this book enormously, as i have almost all of gregory's other books. she seems to have hit on a formula that works for both of us.

the fry chronicles: an autobiography by stephen fry
i am having a very fry-filled year, it seems. there were parts of this book that were genuinely funny and entertaining, but it lacked a lot of the appealing (for want of a better word) confessional quality of 'moab'. what in the first volume of his autobiography rang true as insightful introspection and self examination, evoked empathy and identification from me. if he was aiming for a similar feel in this second offering, it came across more as self conscious apologism, and the book was poorer for it. i loved his tales of cambridge and life as an oxbridge scholar, and it was lovely to read his impressions of some of my favourite actors (emma thompson in particular), but on the whole, i was left wanting more.
dear_prudence: matt smith wearing a stripy shirt (dr who: matt smith is stripy)
so, i feel like i should catch you guys up on the few things that have been going on for me...

i mentioned i've been crafting a bit. i've been cross stitching (as well as quilting), and have designed some patterns:









i sell the patterns as pdfs through my etsy shop, but i'm also getting kits ready to sell at markets, which will have the pattern, as well as all the stuff you need to make it.


i'm also selling little needle books which i think are kind of awesome:




some of m stitching was featured in an italian craft magazine, which was very exciting:



dear_prudence: (Default)
so! i have a colouring appointment for my chest piece tomorrow, and i have been thinking that maybe i don't want it coloured after all. i love that people mistake my tatt for lace when it's poking out of whatever top i am wearing, and a lot of people have said that it looks really good just in black and white.
i was having trouble visulising it in colour, so today [livejournal.com profile] binnessface and i painted it in. obviously these colours are not exact, and the rendering isn't as pretty as it would be if it was done properly, but it just gives us an idea.
i should also say that if we leave it black and white, i'll get some rendering done to give it a bit more depth and texture.
but i'm asking for second, third, and twenty-fifth opinions - what do you think i should do*?








[Poll #1514338]

(*obviously i'm not going to make an important decision like this based solely on an lj poll, but i am interested in what you think)

next year

Oct. 27th, 2009 08:07 pm
dear_prudence: (Default)
they've changed all the subjects around from this year to next, so what i thought i was going to be doing is not happening any more.
my subjects for 2010 are now:

semester 1:
research methods for human enquiry (compulsory)
neuroscience and the mind (elective)

semester 2:
psychological science: theory and practice (compulsory)
the psychopathology of everyday life (elective)
dear_prudence: (Default)


i have a pile of white ribbons here, and i am sending them out to friends and family. they are to show support for equal marriage in australia.
if you want to show your support too, you can get ribbons from australian marriage equality and the money will go towards funding the campaign.
here's why you should:

"Many same-sex couples wish to marry. They want to do so for the same reasons as their opposite-sex counterparts - to publicly proclaim and celebrate their love and commitment, to protect their children, to ensure legal and social recognition and for a whole host of other reasons. These couples would greatly benefit from being able to realise their choice to marry, an intensely personal choice that is widely recognised, at least for heterosexual couples, as a basic human right.

Instead of sending a message that all Australians are to be treated fairly and equally, regardless of their sexual orientation, the message currently being sent by our federal law is that it is acceptable to exclude lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons from a central social institution and that our relationships are inferior.

In recent years, most state and territory governments, have extended to same sex couples many, though not all, of the legal and economic rights and responsibilities available to opposite sex couples. Yet we remain excluded from the institution of marriage itself, a distinction that undermines our human dignity, diminishes our families and discriminates against us in violation of our basic right to equal legal treatment.

Providing same sex couples with the equal right to marry will not harm religious institutions in any way. Each religion will still have the right to choose whether or not to perform marriages for same-sex couples. Religions that wish to perform marriages for same-sex couples should also have the freedom to do so.

Some opponents of equal marriage have suggested that marriage as an institution would be weakened, even tainted, by our presence. Such people are, of course, free to hold whatever views they wish in respect of homosexuality and the treatment of same sex couples, but Australian law should not be based upon such degrading and offensive notions.

No group of Australians should be systemically excluded from any legal institution, let alone one as central to our society as legal marriage. It must be open to all Australians, regardless of their sexual orientation.

Some day, same-sex couples in Australia will have the legal right to marry. That is inevitable. As with every major human rights advance, from the abolition of slavery to allowing women to vote, future generations will look back and wonder how anyone could have opposed such a basic human right.

Same-sex couples have and raise children. Allowing these couples to legally marry affords their children the same protections and benefits as children raised by opposite sex parents.

For many Australians, marriage uniquely conveys the nature and legitimacy of a committed romantic relationship. Gays and lesbians should not be denied this form of expression.

Language does not merely reflect discriminatory social attitudes and practices, but is involved in shaping and perpetuating such attitudes and practices. The exclusion of same-sex relationships from marriage and the invention of a different word to describe our unions represents gays and lesbians, and our relationships in particular, as deviant and abnormal, and as less worthy than heterosexual unions.

Marriage is a part of Australian life and same-sex couples, in fact all lesbian, gay and bisexual persons, are constantly faced with the fact of our exclusion from it. It's not a pleasant feeling.

Because there is greater social reluctance to recognise the legitimacy of same-sex relationships, the benefit of automatic recognition that marriage confers is particularly important for lesbian and gay couples. When a same-sex partner is injured, the last thing the other partner needs is to have the legitimacy of the relationship questioned by hospital authorities. When a child is hurt on a school trip, and the biological parent is unavailable, the co-parent does not want to have to convince a schoolteacher that the relationship is valid.

When a same-sex partner dies, the surviving partner does not need to have the grief of loss compounded by having to prove that he or she is authorised to make the funeral arrangements. In a married relationship, these matters are rarely called into question, and the validity of the relationship can be easily demonstrated if necessary through production of the marriage certificate.

Australia is a country where individuals are afforded the right to choose their own religion and their own philosophy of life, the right to choose with whom they will associate and how they will express themselves, the right to choose where they will live and what occupation they will pursue. The government should respect choices made by individuals and, to the greatest extent possible, avoid subordinating these choices to any one conception of the good life. Our choice to marry should not be denied because we are not heterosexual.

In Australia, same-sex couples, and all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons for that matter, still suffer under the weight of stigma and prejudice. While much progress has been made, we are still often subject to verbal and physical assaults, many of us still grow up in isolation and fear and kids who are not heterosexual still face significantly higher suicide rates than their heterosexual counterparts. These attitudes of prejudice are reinforced – and given State sanction - by discriminatory laws.

The former Prime Minister, John Howard, once argued that preventing same-sex couples from marrying was 'a matter of survival of the species'. Clearly, the ability or desire to have children is not a prerequisite to marriage. Opposite-sex couples can get married whether or not they are able or willing to procreate; same-sex couples are prohibited from marrying, whether or not they are raising children. “Companionate” marriages between elderly heterosexuals past the age of child-bearing are celebrated and affirmed in our society, not banned under law.

Civil unions can provide some or all of the rights and obligations of civil marriage. AME has no objection to civil unions as a supplement to marriage, but as long as we are denied the equal right to marry, alternative regimes do not fix the discrimination.

Australia would not be the first to take this step, and it will not be the last. Same-sex marriage is already a reality in a growing list of countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Spain, Canada and South Africa."

- australianmarriageequality.com
dear_prudence: (Default)
i'm not a fashion blogger, and i never will be, but i do love pretty things, and chanel's spring/summer 2010 collection just made me swoon, so i have to share my favourite bits with you:



+6 )

dear_prudence: (Default)
it was a long wait, but we finally have our copy of the beatles box set:



+15 )

*contented sigh*
dear_prudence: (Default)
we went to roller derby!
they played 90s pop songs all night and i drank UDLs (it was either that or bourbon or beer, both of which make me sick), so i felt like i was 15 again, and it was both awesome and weird.




then sajee, tash and i went to the royal mebourne show!


we saw all the calkes and quilts and crafts etc. sajee and i have decided that we are totally entering things next year!


i ate a stick of fairy floss as big as my own head


and i snuggled a baby sheepling! the farmer said they are called "lambs", but i think baby sheepling is better :p


i love that there are still kewpie dolls at the show!


i always used to want to get these when i was little. i didn't buy one this time. i mean they are cool when you're at the show, but then you get them home, and there's a creepy doll in your house staring at you.


and then sajee played the game where you put the ball in the clown's mouth, and she won me a stuffed cow :)

i was a doofus and didn't bring my own camera, so all these photos are shamelessly stolen from sajee's flickr photostram
dear_prudence: (Default)
so, i have done a ring around of all the record stores i can think of in melbourne. all of them EXCEPT THE STORE I ORDERED MINE FROM have had their deliveries of the box sets now, and of course they all sold out within two hours (while i was dutifully in my lecture).

it looks like it will be at least a month before there are any more available anywhere.

consult john, in picture below, for description of my feelings about this:

(john's malaise may or may not have been brought about by paul's shirtless state.)

soooo...

Sep. 9th, 2009 02:01 pm
dear_prudence: (Default)
beatles day is ruined!
emi fucked up, and have failed to deliver the remastered box sets ANYWHERE in melbourne. so none of us get our 09/09/09 release.
i have been counting down to beatles day... :(
dear_prudence: (Default)
my lecture was interrupted by prosh week fools this morning, and they
refused to leave when my lecturer asked them (politely and repeatedly) to
move on. the lecturer then proceeded to walk out, before he had explained
the details of the assessment - worth 40% of the mark for this subject.
i am extremely disappointed to have missed out on this - my educational
experience should not be limited or hindered by prosh week events, no
matter how "historical" or "traditional" the week is. it seems to me to
have degenerated into an excuse to be drunk for a week and show off in a
boring, predictable, and puerile manner. what a joke.
while i have been a union member for my entire time at melbourne i am
going to seriously reconsider joining the union next year if this is the
crap my money gets spent on.
this is an absolute disgrace.



*prosh week*

...

Aug. 13th, 2009 05:37 pm
dear_prudence: (Default)
my teacup collection is all smashed...



+3, if you can bear to look )

we thought our roof had been fixed. we paid a guy to do it.
but we just had a big downpour, and the water has leaked into our wall, softened the plaster, and the screws that were holding in the brackets that secured the teacups to the wall just fell out... and my beautiful, priceless collection is no more.

i am sitting here just crying and crying, and sajee is collecting the pieces and putting them in a box...

pee ess

Jul. 27th, 2009 09:32 pm
dear_prudence: (Default)
i just posted about those coasters at penelope waits.
there are instructions there for how to make them.
if you think you would like to try some sewing but are a bit nervous about where to begin, i think these would be a good starter project.
*have a handy link*
dear_prudence: (Default)
the trailer for the next dr who special: the waters of mars )






and to that, what i have to say is this... )




yeahhhhhhhh! bring it! ♥

friends cut

Jul. 6th, 2009 10:46 am
dear_prudence: (Default)
i have too many people to keep up with on my flist, so i am going to do a big cut. it's hard because everyone on my flist is really nice, but there are just too many people whose posts i never have time to comment on, and that makes me feel bad.
this isn't an "if you want me to keep you, comment here" post, it's just an explanation for those who may have found themselves cut and are wondering why. it's honestly a case of 'it's not you, it's me', and i'm sorry i've been such a bad lj friend!
dear_prudence: (Default)
"Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language — so the argument runs — must inevitably share in the general collapse. It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.
Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers."

- George Orwell

fine...

May. 17th, 2009 04:44 pm
dear_prudence: (Default)
i will be a sheep and get one of these things.
at this stage, i will probably only use it to cross post, and i will keep lj as my main journal.
trust all my friends to migrate just as i buy a permanent account...

(p.s. tanks for the code, l. x)
dear_prudence: (Default)
humans and cats,
my name is niamh. essie is my human, and i am using her computer and her blog to tell you about a great peril that faces the world today. that peril is the bubble.

exhibit a: bubble


bubbles are a threat to the cleanliness of whiskers everywhere. they are sticky, and they taste gross. what's more they are very tricky to watch because they tend to travel in cloudlike groups. every cat knows that things that move must be watched very carefully, and things that are hard to watch are very suspicious (see also: laserlight, mouse, moth, lizard, things on strings).





there is only one solution to the bubble epidemic: they must be destroyed. i have found that the best method of bubble destruction is the good old fashioned 'bat' or 'swat' motion that your cat (or a friends cat if you have not yet been adopted by one yourself) will have demonstrated on many an occasion. the method is also effective for 'making string move', 'moth control', and 'human baiting'. allow me to demonstrate:











sometimes bubbles will get clever, and hover just out of reach. they will mock you by floating tantalizingly close, but remaining out of batting distance. this is evidence of their evil and sadistic natures:





you can lure them back in your direction by lulling them into a false sense of security, like so:





remember - a bubble is not a friend, nor is it a toy. it is a mortal enemy. stay vigilant, bat well, and send me pilchards as thanks for my gracious and informative warning,

niamh.

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