Michael Livingston

Sep

29

First Draft Done

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Well, it’s 12:15 in the morning and I’ve just finished the first draft of the paper I’m presenting at Wofford College next week. For all my haste in writing it, I’m pretty pleased with the results so far. It ain’t bad, though I do need to trim it down quite a bit: my […]

Sep

28

Madden NFL 08

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I’d like to say that I haven’t posted for a few days because I’ve been writing the paper that I have to present at an academic conference in a week. I’d like to say that, because of these days of silence, the paper is done.
Instead it’s hardly begun. And it’s John Madden’s fault.
I bought Madden […]

Sep

25

My First Digital Music Player

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It came yesterday. A Sony NW-S203F Sports Walkman. It’s pretty nifty, though I’m having a difficult time imagining how much time people must spend getting songs on and off these things.
The good: The player is designed for exercise. It can adjust the music being played to your running/walking pace (there’s a pedometer in it), it […]

Sep

22

A Medievalist’s Life: The Pelagian Heresy

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So I’m working today on The Middle English Metrical Paraphrase of the Old Testament. In particular, I’m writing explanatory notes to the Book of Job, which is perhaps the most fascinating and difficult book of the Bible. (For any inclined to reinvestigate the text, I could hardly suggest a better entry than Harold Bloom’s recent […]

Sep

21

Fighting the Future … and Losing

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I don’t own an mp3 player of any kind.
That’s right. No iPod. No Zune. No nothin’. I don’t own one, and I ain’t been sorry. Just about every time I see some kid zoning out with buds in his ears I think of the “seashells” in Fahrenheit 451. Here […]

Sep

19

I Lived on the Moon

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This song, by Kwoon, has been in my mind the past few days — perhaps due to Jim’s passing. The video is extraordinary:

The lyrics, which are difficult to understand in the video (perhaps because the band is French):
Dear little lad,
Here’s the story of my life.
I lived on the moon:
grey flying snakes along
the mountains of destiny […]

Sep

17

Reflections on Robert Jordan

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James O. Rigney, Jr., who wrote most of his books under the name Robert Jordan, died at around 2:45pm yesterday.
The passing of any artist is tragic, but Jim’s loss is particularly so: only 58, he was still very much in the prime of his authorial life. His great epic Fantasy series THE WHEEL OF TIME […]

Sep

16

Obvious Connection I Never Made

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From an article by the Washington Post’s Mary Jordan (via the Denver Post) about the rising numbers of people in the world who are moving away from religion and term themselves non-believers of one kind or another:
Many analysts trace the rise of what some are calling the “nonreligious movement” to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist […]

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