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Grab bag

What does dactylic hexameter smell like?

About a year ago, back at ye olde blog, I wrote a post about olfactory memory that I well-intentionedly meant to follow up on, making it the beginning of a sequence of mini-essays on the five senses, but then didn’t. I haven’t completely abandoned the idea, but I couldn’t think of anything clever to write […]

Surrealist marketing games

The Prior-Art-O-Matic randomly generates product descriptions, producing some splendidly surreal results: Design #1752498960It’s a cigarette lighter that’s made of solid gold! It induces lucid dreaming and runs on compressed air. Design #4258102746It’s a saucepan that can disable electrical hardware, emits heat and runs on six little wheels. (I’m picturing it racing madly across a countertop […]

Hey, I want a Jack Sparrow costume too!

Far and away the best Google-search referral yet: "Jack Sparrow costume study." I think what they were looking for was more like this, but I’m glad they came here as well. This is giving me an idea for what to wear for Halloween this year. I just want an excuse to find myself a battered […]

Various and sundry notes from the past week

This is going to be another miscellany post. I’m still catching up. Anyhow… Fun with arcane cataloging systems: Today I spent the morning taking a mini-class on MARC records. And I dug it. Once I realized that the bibliographic software I used for my dissertation uses the same fields, it all made sense, and I […]

The Secret of the Mysterious Secondhand Book

(That’s my attempt at a Nancy Drew-ish title, by the way.) Via Bookslut and LISNews: an article about the enigmatic and fascinating objects found in secondhand books. I once had an idea for a short story about a character who likes browsing for used books, and starts to find a lot of books that have […]

A cure for the book-box woes

Given all the books I’m moving? I seriously need some of these. And while I’m fantasizing, maybe this lamp for overhead reading light. (Via Apartment Therapy, which is just waaaay too addictive for one who’s already obsessing over potential living spaces and how to furnish them.)

…and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing

This just in from the BBC: archaeologists think they’ve found the site of the Library of Alexandria. Yup, that one. That is just so cool. My youthful fantasies of becoming an archaeologist just resurfaced after a decade and a half of dormancy. [Title of this post from the last line of C. P. Cavafy’s "The […]

Post of utter miscellany

Thank you all so much for the good wishes. Gosh. [shuffles feet, mumbles something incoherent but pleased] We return you now to your regularly scheduled agenda: In the department of Post/Academic Linkage, everyone has already linked to this, but I’m heartened to see the Invisible Adjunct getting some press. Everyone is also already linking to […]

Marshmallow peeps invade office. Film at eleven.

Is it an art installation or is it a prank? Frankly, it’s hard to tell. But it did make me laugh. (And don’t miss Peeps at the Library, linked in the comments.) Via Crooked Timber, where they’re having a bit of seasonal-candy fun.

Must be something in the air

First I start rereading Emma (which is my favorite among Jane Austen’s novels), then the Invisible Adjunct goes on a Jane Austen posting spree, and now this (via About Last Night): I believe you belong in Pride and Prejudice; a world of satire and true love. A world where everything is crystal clear to the […]