gothic PowerPoint

It is appropriately foggy and damp out today. It makes reading Radcliffe's Romance of the Forest all the more atmospheric. It's both dramatic and funny. Lots of fainting women, dark rooms, intrigue. Next week is The Monk. We've also dabbled in The Castle of Otranto and the Mysteries of Udolpho, both of which I'll have to read in full after this class is over.

Thankfully, in this Gothic lit class, we're not required to submit the traditional final paper if we don't want to. The professor encourages us to do something different. He suggested PowerPoint presentations, and since I know PowerPoint inside and out from six years of wrassling with doctors' presentations, I jumped at the chance to do a presentation on something non-medical and non-work related. The professor has approved my topic - Gothic elements in modern children's literature - so I have until the end of March to put it together.

Onward.

Stephen Fry's latest podgram is about dancing. It's hilarious. You can read it on his blog, but hearing him read it is far more entertaining. It's also rather long, with a few tangents wandering off here and there.

Speaking of Stephen Fry's narration, I've only been able to find his audio version of the first Harry Potter book, so if anyone knows where I can get the others, please let me know. He read the UK editions, while Jim Dale read the US versions.

And speaking of Harry Potter, I find this book highly amusing. I wonder if they'll do a crochet version.

I like the cover of Neil Gaiman's next book. I considered doing my PowerPoint presentation on Gothic elements in the Sandman graphic novels, a topic which the professor also approved, but somehow, I don't like the idea of analyzing Sandman too much. Others have done so already, and I don't have anything new or imaginative enough to add anyway. Best to leave it to its mythical wonderfulness.

There. Did you like how I brought things back around to my intro paragraphs? I'm really getting the hang of this writing thing.

I'm off to hair cutting and manicuring. I'll post this on blogger as soon as blogger decides to cooperate again.

Love and bye.