23 Things Assignment #2

I wanted to find images I would be putting on my own personal computer.
In searching for an image of Derek Jacobi in his Doctor Who appearance, I was pleased to find this picture on a cool Doctor Who blog http://www.behindthesofa.org.uk/ which has some great Doctor Who commentary. But the picture was wallpaper size so I went for a smaller picture on James Bow's site bowjamesbow.ca (I know him as a local Canadian author of Doctor Who fiction and was pleased to find his site). James described the revelation that the so-nice Professor Yana played by this British acting legend was actually the evil Master as a "Squee" moment. Absolutely spot on. I remember squeeing quite loudly last week at this revelation and I thanked the stars that I managed to be unspoiled by friends and articles so I could have this absolutely perfect shocker moment. And that it came from the actor who's title role in "I, Claudius" inspired me to take Latin was a bonus.
Trying a different font now...

In choosing my second and third pictures, I was inspired by one of the panels at the Prophecy 2007 Harry Potter Symposium I recently attended. The panel was called "Why do we love Snape? Is it canon, fanon, or Alan?" These two pictures illustrate a more canonically inspired artwork of the ugly, greasy and unpleasant professor and the delicious movie counterpart. I must admit that I watched the first movie before I read the books and my love of Snape came from Alan Rickman's voice and portrayal. However, the nasty misunderstood misanthrope is also appealing and I realize that I often like viciously sarcastic characters.

At the Harry Potter Symposium, there was a Hall of Memories with memorials for all the characters J.K. Rowling killed. Offerings were welcome: poor Snape's memorial received only the hotel's free shampoo bottles. Sigh.

23 Things assignment #1

Finally had a chance to try setting up a blog after my return from my vacation. Lots to catch up on.

What I hope to learn through the 23 Things training:
I am familiar with much of the technology we will be exploring but I have never seen the appeal of the emotional dumping ground of LiveJournal or the personal confidence-filled mating services of MySpace or Facebook and certainly don't approve of any arena which supports riting lk a IM teenie instead of demanding proper English communication. Encouraging young people to be lazy and clique-coded does them a disservice when they finally enter the workforce. I've been using ListServs and Yahoogroup mailing lists for years and have found them to be great and lucid channels of communication with like-minded people around the world. So, in this course, I will have a reason to explore those sites which I would otherwise avoid personally.

What makes a good blog:
The best blogs enhance the website they are connected to in that they follow an event or project step by step like a diary or they provide an expertly filtered selection of news feeds or links. Authors sometimes write about their progress on a novel and it's a great insight into the creative process. I've seen blogs of personalities on kids TV related sites and they enhance the personal connection between the children and the world they see, making the personalities into people, a valuable lesson in reality versus imagination. The blog has to suit the purpose or flavour of the site.