Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Congratulations! You are a traditional bride!


What Kind of Bride Will You Be?
brought to you by Quizilla

From today's edition of The Writer's Almanac:
On this day in 1851, Harper & Brothers published Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville (books by this author), about a ship captain named Ahab who is obsessed with hunting the great white sperm whale that took his leg. The book had been published in Britain in October with the title The Whale; Melville's decision to change the title didn't get there in time. The British publisher accidentally left out the ending of the book, the epilogue. This confused a lot of British readers.
The reviews from Britain were harsh, and costly to Melville. At the time, Americans deferred to British critical opinion, and a lot of American newspaper editors reprinted reviews from Britain without actually reading the American version with the proper ending. Melville had just bought a farm in Massachusetts, his debts were piling up, he was hiding them from his wife, and he was counting on Moby-Dick to bring in enough money to pay off his creditors. The book flopped, partly because of those British reviews. As a writer, Melville never recovered from the disappointment.
I never knew that!

(Please note that Hakugei - Legend of the Moby Dick, no matter how much its creators say it does, has nothing to do with Herman Melville's Moby Dick. "...the hunt for whales, or salvagable ships..." WTF? *shudders*
I want my Patrick Stewart...

another watcher's account

I think I'm misunderstanding my assignment again... This thing is gonna be way too long, and that's without examples, and examples are kind of important...
*headdesk*

Well, at least I have a better understanding of ergative/absolutive vs. nominative/accusative now.

*hugs Patrick, who helped me get over my "students' block"*

Anyone with a deviantART account, let me know your username? I created a watcher's account.

ANNOUNCEMENT

I am going on an LJ/AIM/Google Talk/e-mail/internet/phone/visitor/visiting HIATUS until Thursday, October November 17th at 4 p.m.
Of course, this doesn't include school-related stuff, but if you notice me breaking this, please ignore me (i.e., don't respond if I IM you). Thanks much.