be_themoon: I want a better world. By me. (Misc: Pic: sunrise through the mist)
Apparently, when I have no school to do but yet need something to do - I do sort-of school anyways. In this case, research for a paper that might never get written, about the prevalence of children's stories in which at the end most/all of the protagonists either choose to leave or are forcibly kicked out of the fantasy land they have found. exhibit a, naturally, being Narnia. I even have a timeline now! For series, the date is the year of the first book's publishing.

1865 - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. English, forcible eviction.
1900 - Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. American, chooses to return home.
1904 - Peter Pan (the play) by J. M. Barrie. English, chooses to return home. (The book adaptation was published 1911.)
1950 - Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. English, forcible eviction.
1965 - The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. English, forcible eviction.

Anyone know of other children's literature, at any point in time, in which the children find a different world and have to leave it at the end?
be_themoon: I want a better world. By me. (Default)
things!

+ [livejournal.com profile] katakokk , if you want a book that's basically all about the American Navy under sail, check out 'The Boys Were Men: The American Navy in the Age of Fighting Sail,' by Forrest McDonald. I think others on my f-list would probably like it too, as a matter of fact. It's a really nice book - I enjoyed it a lot.

+ you guys, I break my political/religious science to say this: how fucked up is this whole Rifqa Bary thing? honestly. unfortunately for me, I live close to where she came (of all states, she picked Florida? really?), and so have to endure articles about her almost every day, and every single one lowers my opinion of her intelligence EVEN MORE. you want facts, boy have I GOT FACTS. *headdesk* basically, wtf, Rifqa. wtf.

+ I'm getting very annoyed at the regular use by people I know in RL of the word gay as a sort of slang word for 'ridiculous/silly/weird/annoying'. I hear "that's so gay!" really frequently, and (this would be amusing if it didn't infuriate) most frequently at the Christian homeschooled co-op! yeah, I know. it's interesting to note that I don't think I have EVER heard gay used like that at choir, most likely because of Shane, who graduated two years ago, was in choir for ten years, has a fantastic voice, everyone liked him, and is quite openly gay. I just... the small-mindedness of the people at co-op is GRATING ON MY NERVES. A LOT. This is only one of the things that they are bothering me with!

+ [livejournal.com profile] xover_exchange sign-ups are open! I have my sign-up form saved and am debating sending it in, though I'm sure I'll end up doing it. what can I say? I have no willpower when it comes to saying no to potentially awesome stuff.

+ I feel... twitchy? I dunno. Eh.

alale alala

Aug. 2nd, 2009 09:29 pm
be_themoon: I want a better world. By me. (Mulan: Mulan: garden walk)
Things Betsy finds fun: making up pantheons. Mostly because it involves researching pantheons, which I find so freaking fascinating. It's amazing! It is like candy to my brain, or something. It's awesome!

Fun facts of today's research:

Alala, female personification of the Greek war cry! Ironically enough, her name means "dumb, mute, speechless." I find this amusing.

Ares was the personification of more of less impulsive violence and slaughter, Athena the goddess of strategic fighting (also wisdom, probably the reason for the strategic fighting). Mars, the Roman (ETA: things Betsy should never do in a hurry - write about gods.) god of war, on the other hand, was the god of manly valor more. Minerva, the Roman equivalent of Athena, tended towards the crafts side of things much more than the war side.

Want to guess how this train of research got started?

Researching the Hippocratic Oath, so I could rewrite it more or less appropriately for Cedric, because he is a doctor. Then I delved into who he would swear by, got out my old research for the gods of a different world (hastily built during Nano for about twelve days and then set aside, because I needed something fun to write that year and that world was much too realistic). Currently he's swearing by the Gods Without Names (alternatively, the Gods Without Faces, which is technically inaccurate), and the small gods, which is the general name for all the lesser gods of all the religions, who have kind of gotten jumbled together at this point. The Gods Without Names were always my favorites - they were going to be the Winter gods, for a region of people who had invaded and conquered around two hundred years before. There's five of them, and each one has multiple titles (and these are just the most-used ones). Each one is very much up to personal interpretation.

The Goddess of Yesterday (the Grey Lady, the Dreamweaver, the Dawndreamer)
The God of Tomorrow (the Grey Lord, the Morrowweaver)
The God of War (the Red God, the Nightbringer, the Blood God)
The Mother (the White Lady, the Sun Goddess)
The Maiden (the Receiver, the Faceless)

Uh. Going to finish rewriting the Hippocratic Oath and going to bed now. *facepalm*

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