Jenn

Your day would not be complete without models of San Francisco that are made out of Jell-O

2007-05-14T06:41:47Z

Dan Dennett is coming~

2007-02-25T01:05:22Z

Dennett's giving a lecture on March 29 entitled "How Can the Brain Be the Seat of Consciousness?"

He's giving another lecture the following day entitled "The Domestication of Wild Religions."

I'm going.

You should too.

Who's going?

demure_carp @ 2007-01-22T13:36:00

2007-01-22T19:39:30Z

A short essay by Jared Diamond on agriculture, the worst mistake humanity has ever made

The birds hate you.

2006-12-12T04:02:44Z

live from starlingrad

2006-11-26T00:22:28Z

Birds of Britain

I got a gold star.

2006-10-11T15:04:33Z

Teacher told me I was smart today.

I made what my professor thought was an intelligent remark in my Evolutionary Psychology class today. We were talking about high-status individuals using positive reinforcement to keep their lower-status lieutenants in line.

The irony was not lost on me.

Army of God Pajamas

2006-09-19T17:28:11Z

There's a woman who works at IUB

2006-09-03T18:49:44Z

and her name is JEANNE POOLE.

Titus Andonicus

2006-08-26T22:44:19Z

The New Revels Players are auditioning for Romeo and Juliet and Titus Andronicus Wednesday.

AUDITIONS for both shows will be held THIS WEDNESDAY, August 30th, in room 69 of the English Building (on the Quad). You can come in anytime between 6-10pm that night to impress us. WALK-INs are WELCOME!! For those of you experienced actors, we suggest that you bring in 14-16 lines of a Shakespearean monologue, memorized, not necessarily from TITUS or R&J. The monologue is completely OPTIONAL for everyone, so don't worry... we'll have material for you to read anyway.

I thought at least one of you would like to know. :)

Troglodyte no more

2006-08-26T15:16:32Z

My power is back on. Yay!

RoboCup

2006-06-15T21:25:54Z

RoboCup--the tenth annual robot World Cup

"The organisers of the tournament hope that in 2050 the winners of the RoboCup will be able to beat the human World Cup champions."

Updates:

2006-04-18T20:36:36Z

- I'm going to be in a show on Saturday. It's a Commedia dell'Arte show (meaning it's outdoors and improv and all that), and it should be a lot of fun. Four o'clock Saturday, near Race and Main street in Urbana. Come, damnit.

- Also, I'm going skydiving next weekend. So, if you all never hear from me again, it's because I'm a bloody smear on the pavement somewhere in Chicagoland.

NormalView!

2006-03-29T13:17:59Z

Hey guys. This weekend is the weekend of NormalView 5 -- C-U's annual(ish) festival of really bad movies, run by Sean. As the festival chair's girlfriend, I'm probably going to be present at most if not all of these, so I'd really like it if any of you could come! The line-up this year is looking pretty awesome---here's Sean's official press release:

Good evening, Champaign-Urbana. It is the thirty-first of the third, and this is the Voice of Fate broadcasting to you from the Siebel Center on the medium band. Citizens are advised that Storm Saxon will be delayed throughout the weekend to bring you the following selection of classic films approved by the Ministry of Information...

NORMALVIEW V:
V IS FOR FIVE

Yes, it's that time of year again-- when we take up arms against a sea of crappy movies and heckle them until we can't breathe. Come join us for a slice of improvisation, laughter and horror in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as we direct our verbal violence with valor and verve versus the most vile and vacuous films we can view.

Friday, March 31st (2405 Siebel):
7:00 PM -- Queen of Outer Space
As we've learned in previous festivals, Mars features angry red dinosaurs and angry red oxygen consumption gauges. Venus, however, has Zsa Zsa Gabor. Ever wonder what Amazon Women on the Moon was making fun of? Now you know.

9:00 PM -- The Creeps
From the people who brought you Scanners and Crash and Burn comes this heartwarming tale of lovable midgets: namely, midget Frankenstein, midget Wolfman, midget Dracula... Need I say more?

Saturday, April 1st (4401 Siebel):
1:00 PM -- Sword and Sorcerer
If a sword is a phallic symbol, then what's a three-pronged sword that shoots rockets? Maybe a symbol that the effects department is trying too hard.

3:00 PM -- Double Dragon
Even the combined might of Robert Patrick, Paul Dini, George Hamilton, Andy Dick, Vanna White, and Alyssa Milano will not be enough to save this one. Are you a bad enough dude to sit through this movie?

7:00 PM -- Golden Munchie Showcase: Batman and Robin
Sean has a confession to make. He watched this movie once, and in his weakness has stayed away from it ever since. Help Sean finally conquer Arnold Schwarzenegger by thoroughly roasting this worst film in the Bat-franchise.

9:00 PM -- War of the Planets
What do you get if you mix independent filmmaking, computer technology, and 50s-style science fiction? Apparently, space sasquatch. This one is not to be missed, folks.

Sunday, April 2nd (4401 Siebel):
2:00 PM -- Viewer's Choice
Continuing the grand tradition of last year, YOU bring the movies, YOU vote for the movies, then YOU suffer the consequences.

Also, as a special treat, we'll be showing segments of R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet between films. Marvel at this masterpiece of modern musical storytelling.

"Audiences should not be afraid of their movies. Movies should be afraid of their audiences."

Chambana prevails.

Obviously, NWS

2006-03-03T23:36:09Z

"The Hitler Youth, always sharp,
also has a love life.
His leader also has seduced him:
The asshole is already stretched."

A whole ton of WWII pornographic propoganda

http://www.psywarrior.com/sexandprop.html

Strangely compelling stuff.

demure_carp @ 2006-02-10T22:32:00

2006-02-11T04:32:48Z

http://www.durexdickerations.com/

Beedogs

2006-01-28T00:27:56Z

Beedogs.com is the premier online repository for pictures of dogs in bee costumes.

Forwarded from Sean - a William Carlos Williams poem that doesn't suck

2005-12-16T21:53:42Z

The Descent

The descent beckons
as the ascent beckoned.
Memory is a kind
of accomplishment,
a sort of renewal
even
an initiation, since the spaces it opens are new places
inhabited by hordes
heretofore unrealized,
of new kinds--
since their movements
are toward new objectives
(even though formerly they were abandoned).

No defeat is made up entirely of defeat--since
the world it opens is always a place
formerly
unsuspected. A
world lost,
a world unsuspected,
beckons to new places
and no whiteness (lost) is so white as the memory
of whiteness .

With evening, love wakens
through its shadows
which are alive by reason
of the sun shining--
grow sleepy now and drop away
from desire .

Love without shadows stirs now
beginning to awaken
as night
advances.

The descent
made up of despairs
and without accomplishment
realizes a new awakening:
which is a reversal
of despair.
For what we cannot accomplish, what
is denied to love,
what we have lost in the anticipation--
a descent follows,
endless and indestructible .

--William Carlos Williams

Some of you will get a kick out of this:

2005-12-10T20:20:11Z

Dr. Huntington (Classics of East Asian Literature) posted this on my class's discussion forum. I thought it was amusing:

I'm typing this here because I don't want to drive everyone crazy in lecture telling cute stories about my kids. I think in our household all monkey stories are merging into one really big Monkey story. This means that Sun Wukong is also Curious George is also Hanuman (their father is Indian, so we have a big collection of comic book retellings of Indian myth, epic, and history). (If you think about it, it works in a certain demented episodic way- this is the time he wrecked havoc in heaven, this is the time he called the fire station...) Last night when I recapped for them the chapters I'd be teaching today ("you know, it is the part where he steals the peaches...") and got to the Bodhisattva Guanyin offering Monkey a chance at redemption, my daughter said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed?" (since "five little monkeys jumping on the bed" is also a favorite song.) The image of the Bodhisattva saying that in place of the doctor in the song made me laugh really hard.
Long live the oral tradition.

Exalted and RAGE

2005-12-08T17:35:59Z

I got my paper on "The Pirates of the Carribean" back. Here's what Dr. Littlefield wrote:

"Jen(sic),
I really admire your analysis of PoC - you've done a fine 'queer' reading of the film. I am also interested in the ways this film works to explain your argument about fantasy as transgressive not hegemonic. My main concern is that this repsonse doesn't touch on the article, Gattaca, or Jurassic Park. However, just this once (and because it's quite novel) I will allow this to count for a response.
Well done.
A"

It was all I could do to keep from laughing my ass off.

In other news, I think we should play Exalted at my place tonight, because:
A.) My apartment is warm.
B.) My apartment has places to sit.
C.) My car is still not fixed. Actually, it's been lost, which worries me.

RSVP ~ j

housing

2005-12-08T02:17:21Z

I will not be living with Amanda next year. Do any of you know anyone who's looking for a roommate?

my little english heart is sad

2005-11-08T20:02:50Z

I can't believe that I forgot to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day.

FREE STUFF

2005-11-04T05:49:35Z

Tomorrow, the illustrious student film THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS -VS- A MUMMY will be premiering for free at the main lecture hall of the Natural History Building. Showings will be at 7:00 or 9:00 pm. I will be going. You should come too.

So who's coming, and when?

XAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXA

2005-08-11T16:03:45Z

In case you haven't seen it...