Month: July 2006

Free Movies and Such

This might be the sort of thing that would be better posted on my Official Blog, but since I have “signed off” there until we get back from our upcoming trip, I’ll post it here. Besides, it is kind of “fun” stuff.

“Free Movies” is a list of/links to movies that have either fallen out of copyright and into the public domain or are otherwise available online. You’re not going to find the latest here, but (for example) you could watch very famous (and silent and hard to find) films like Battleship Potemkin (which I haven’t seen yet) and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In fact, I might watch one of these while Annette and Will watch a different movie in the other room….. Oh, and there’s some totally crazy movies too, like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

The Grades are In, Let the Summer Vacation Begin, and an Official Blogging Hiatus

I just got back from turning in my grades. Funny how comfortable we get with new things. When I first came here in 1998, the way you turned in grades was all on paper and in person. You filled in the little scantron bubbles, walked the grade sheet over in person to Records and Registration– do NOT give your grade sheets to someone else to turn in!– signed, double-checked, stamped, etc.

A few years ago, they went to an electronic system for turning in grades. Initially, there was much complaining of this new-fangled system (what if something gets lost? what if the computer is broken? how do I do this?), but that quickly died down since showing up and R&R in person is annoying and the online system is easy.

Well, with this weird 12 week class format I was working with this spring/summer, I had to turn in my grades on old-fashioned paper. It felt totally wrong to me, just not the same “ah-ha, now I’m done!” sort of feeling. I hadn’t been in the building that houses R&R in a couple of years so I had to hunt around a bit. I gave my sheet of paper to the person behind the counter tentatively, asking “is this alright?” Like I said, it’s funny how comfortable you get with new things sometimes.

In any event, that is (as they say in the film biz) a wrap. It’s time to get ready for the big trip: we leave this weekend for Europe, first to Florence, and then a town in Germany called Mittenwald. We’re visiting Mittenwald because we’ll be seeing my in-laws on that leg of the trip, and we’re visiting Florence because, uh, it’s really cool. Though actually, it will be quite hot, and, interestingly enough, quite cool in Mittenwald.

The day we get back here, the two week before school session of English 596 begins; fortunately, my very capable colleague Linda Adler-Kassner will be running that before she officially starts her sabbatical, so I won’t have to come in right from the airport and totally wacked-out jet-lagged.

I’m going to be bringing a little school reading with me, including some reading for my teaching in the fall, but mostly, I’m just taking a break. And speaking of a break, I’m going to be doing the same with the blog, too. It’s mostly forced because I’m not taking my computer with me to Europe and I’m uncertain about Internet access (and really, who wants to go to places like Tuscany and the Alps to blog and check their email?), but also because I just wanted to refresh a bit. If I do get online at all, I’m more likely to post over at my unofficial blog, but pictures and other cool stuff will have to wait until I get back.

A BOATLOAD of citations on Scholarship in Electronic Publishing

Wow, what a handy resource: the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog, which I found by another handy resource, Digital Koans. A lot of this stuff is really about digital resources in academic libraries, but still a potentially very useful research resource.

Oh, and along these lines and also from the Digital Koans site I came across “Lessons for the Future Internet: Learning from the Past,” by Michael Roberts, in the July/August 2006 version of Educause. It’s a nice little history (more or less) of the Internet that might be useful in a class like English 516.

Failed Ice Cream




Failed Ice Cream

Originally uploaded by steven_d_krause.

I’m not sure what happened. It seems to me to be a conspiracy of some sort.

I blame Steve Pierce.

Actually, in my attempt to make ice cream for the first time in a long time, I had a failure that I really can’t explain. I followed the recipe to the letter, one from the very reliable How To Cook Everything, but I think what happened was I used too much fat– six egg yolks, half-n-half, and then cream. I haven’t used that many eggs in the past, and I have also usually made ice cream with just half-n-half.

In any event, this “failure” has inspired me to try again (stay tuned for more details), and it has also at least resulted in a rich and chocolatey drink.


Hmm, drinkable Ice Cream...

Some Misc. Web Browsing/Links

I should be spending my morning by wrapping up the grading for English 328 Online, but instead, I’m doing a little web surfing. I’ve come across some interesting links, too:

  • Duke University’s Ad*Access Archive, which is a huge archive of old ads for all kinds of stuff. Very fun and interesting cultural icons– these might be interesting for a fy comp assignment where you ask students to compare ads from the past with the present.
  • Something called Kip, which might make for an interesting software experiment to organize things both in my office/home and on my computers.
  • Reflections (perhaps seasonal?) on the job market here, here, and, on a slightly more cheery note, here (good luck with the new gig, Mike).
  • Yet another reason to buy a Mac

Alright, enough of that stuff. On to wrapping up grades and then on to cooking, including making some ice cream.