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oursin) wrote2025-07-03 09:30 pmWhoam, whoam, like a wounded maggit
Well, in further conferencing misadventures, woke up around 5 am with what I came to realise was a crashing migraine - it is so long since I have had one of these as opposed to 'headache from lying orkard' - took medication, and after some little while must have gone to sleep, because I woke up to discover it was nearly 9.30, and I had slept well past the alarm I had set in anticipation of the 9.00 first conference session. But feeling a lot better.
I was only just in time to grab some breakfast before they started clearing it up.
The day's papers were perhaps a bit less geared towards my own specific interests - and I was sorry to miss the ones I did - but still that there Dr oursin managed the occasional intervention. There were also some good conversations had.
So the conference, as a conference, was generally judged a success, if somewhat exhausting.
I managed to get the train from the University to Birmingham New Street with no great difficulty.
However, the train I was booked on was somewhat delayed (though not greatly, not cancelled, and no issues of taking buses as in various announcements) and I initially positioned myself at the wrong bit of the platform and had to scurry along through densely packed waiting passengers.
Journey okay, with free snacks, though onboard wifi somewhat recalcitrant.
At Euston, the taxi rank was closed!!!!
Fortunately one can usually grab a cab in the Euston Road very expeditious, and I did.
So I am now home and more or less unpacked.
Given that Mercury is, I recollect, the deity of travellers, is Mercury in retrograde?
beatrice_otter) wrote2025-07-02 08:22 pmWimsey Quote Database
Today I posted on the Gaud Squad Discord that it would be awesome if we had a searchable database of the literature and poetry that they knew or could reasonably be expected to know, searchable by keyword and theme, so that one could look things up easily. And that I would be willing to do the data entry, but had not the technical skills to set it up.
supertailz responded by setting up a Notion instance and is noodling around with the technical aspects of it, so it looks like this is happening!
The easy part is getting the literature that Peter and Harriet quote added--all I have to do is read through the books (no hardship there!) and source the quotations. Although I know there are some annotated versions floating around, and if anyone has a copy of the annotations, that would be lovely.
The hard part is getting the right mix of things that Peter and Harriet would have known. Because what is considered "classic literature" changes over time. Some things rise in acclaim, some things fall out of favor. What would be really handy is a curriculum for Eton ca. 1900 and for Oxford ca. 1910, but so far I haven't found anything. Does anybody know how to search "what literary works were considered classics in 1920"? Or have a good list of where to start?
oursin) wrote2025-07-02 06:56 pmYour regular Wednesday service has been deferred
For hedjog is going floppp.
Travel troubles today: being unable to see where the hell the alleged railway station near hotel was, and taking a taxi instead; railway out of order this evening, Ubers were summoned to take participants to hotel.
Yr hedjog was Living Bit of History in opening roundtable.
And in later sessions, there was a certain amount of That There Dr oursin going on in the questions/comments....
Some good conversation - even if hearing aids not too helpful in crowded rooms - but have noped out from evening meal, feeling too tired, will go for light meal here and early night (I hope).
ivyfic) wrote2025-07-02 10:36 amThe Phoenician Scheme
In brief—I enjoyed it. It’s very much an extension of the aesthetic he’s refined in The French Dispatch and Asteroid City. This is no brain all aesthetic. Yes, there is an overly complex plot, but it is mostly in service of incredibly twee sets and props and incredibly dry humor. But unlike some of his other films, The Phoenician Scheme has no heart at all. So if you want to spend two hours inside his doll’s house with quirky characters doing improbable things for inscrutable reasons, it’s a diversion.
( There are...some issues with the setting )
oursin) wrote2025-07-01 07:37 pmThrough dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, am in Birmingham
Wot a saga, eh, wot a saga, first time I have ventured significantly forth these many years -
And to start with, MAJOR HEAT EVENT.
In anticipation, I had - or so I thought - prudently booked a taxi via taxiapp, with a certain amount of leeway, just in case -
- which turned out very prudent, as when I went to check the booking this morning the app was showing 'network error' and this was clearly on their end rather than mine, and a little looking about suggests that this is not their first rodeo server problem.
So when, at designated time, taxi cameth not, I set out towards the Tube, not without some hope that a black cab might pass me on my way, but that Was Not To Be -
And on reflection, I should perhaps have waited for a Bank train, because getting out on Charing X platforms at Euston involves rather too many stairs.
However, Avanti kindly texted me the approx time my train would be boarding, and this all seemed set - although my (1st class) seat was aisle, backwards, there was nobody in the other 3 seats so I switched -
HAH.
When we reached Coventry, choochoo sighed and gave up, and we had to debouch and take the next Birmingham bound train - which was delayed....
At Birmingham New Street had considerable faff trying to discover a Way Out that would take me to a taxi rank.
When I finally arrived at hotel booked by conference organisers there was an immense performance trying to find the right group booking, as it was not under any title that I might have thought of but that of some hireling booking agency.
However, I am now in nice cool room and have had tasty room service snack. Even if I have had to wrestle with getting my laptop to talk to the free wifi...
oursin) wrote2025-06-30 03:43 pmBecause the sun is far too sultry And one must avoid its ultry-violet ray
How is it the end of June already? Where did it go?
And tomorrow I have to travel to Birmingham for a conference.
I am telling myself that I survived the Hot Summer of 76 in an un-airconditioned office where, if one opened a window in came the noise and fumes of a heavily traffic-polluted thoroughfare.
Of course, I was Much Younger in those days.
I see that it is supposed to get somewhat cooler (and wetter) on Weds.