6/26/2017 0 Comments Immersive Summer MediaWell, hello! My first blog post, written over the summer before my first year at Weiss. I rather doubt anyone will read this, save the very dedicated or very nosy, but an English teacher ought to be writing things for pleasure if she expects her students to do the same. So without further ado: thoughts on what I'm currently consuming. Virginia Woolf, The Waves This is like no book I've ever read, and I've read a lot of VW. This book is cram packed with six characters and their cascading, unceasing thought streams. It's exhausting to read in long bursts, as this is one of those books one has to read carefully, pen in hand, in order to appreciate its many subtle metaphors. ("My body shuts in her face, impertinently, like a parasol.") VW has this wonderful way of expressing thoughts I considered my own private perceptions of the external world, and I'm the first to admit I'm a gushing fangirl. However, for the first time since becoming more "woke" (perhaps I will explore this in a later post), I'm noticing a common criticism of Woolf for the first time- she is a voice of upper class feminism. An insightful voice, to be sure, and certainly not uncritical of her class's behaviors and philosophies, but nonetheless I am left aching for a more complete description of the help, or something beyond the cold, stone walls of an ancient private school. Nintendo, Breath of the Wild Wow. Just wow. I won't go on about Nintendo's newest Legend of Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, largely because I'm annoyed it's taking up so much of my time, but I think it's safe to say this is the most I've ever enjoyed playing a video game. It has everything I like in a game- a large map, a non-linear sandbox feel, and of course a massive compendium of every freaking item in the game that scratches my completionist itch. I will say the boss battles with the Divine Beasts are a bit anticlimactic in their ease, but this is a necessity of them being available at any point in the game, regardless of the health or equipment our dutiful protagonist has procured. Plus the Switch just feels so nice. I'm totally hooked. C P G Grey & Brady Haran, Hello Internet Possibly the least accessible thing I'm writing about today, Hello Internet has nevertheless proven to be a delightful, didactic augmentation to my life. It's a podcast cohosted by the indomitable C P G Grey and mathy YouTube personality Brady Haran, in which they talk about... stuff. I (okay, my husband) figured out I can play podcasts in my sadly Luddite vehicle, and it has totally revolutionized how I spend my day. Instead of keeping telly on in the background at home, I listen to two incredibly smart people pick apart the minutiae of things that are already pretty small. Interested in copyright? Good, because they can go into its moral ambiguities for over an hour. Want to hear about which flag is the best flag? Because Grey and Brady have opinions. Best of all, the entire show is coated in a friendly, playful, and highly approachable veneer, even for a someone as stubbornly right-brained as myself. If you find yourself with a lot of time when your hands are busy but your brain is not, I would highly recommend jumping into this podcast.
That's all for now. In the meantime, stay hungry, stay curious, and drop me recommendations for things you've been enjoying in the comments.
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