Category Archives: studying

04/18/12

I love Caves!

Currently studying New York, Harlem especially. It is quite amazing the Renaissance that occurred in the 1920s-1930s. I really like Hart Crane’s poetry about Brooklyn Bridge and McKay’s work. Langston Hughes has a rhythm I can’t describe.

Sorry it’s been such a long time, February/March was pretty busy I worked a lot those week, one week it was 6 days with only Sunday off. Wish I could say my bank account was healthier for it, but I like to eat out and we went to Dan-Yr-Ogof Caves, the cinema, bowling, Cardiff Castle and Raglan Castle the other week so I’ve just been spending, buying and enjoying myself. That’s what the money is there for right?

My dystopian vampire novel, is well…. on the back burner for the second, I consider this a big project it needs some mulling over. I have my characters and the setting set, a long with the plot but before I commit to paper, this needs some extensive thought and planning. I want it to be a sort of book series, more than a trilogy so I need to think longer, and bigger in the scope of plot and construction of the novel to lead in to subsequent ones.

Whilst that is going on I’m writing a witch novel, something light heart and dark magic. I love witches and vampires and well I’m a sucker for Y.A. so anything really. I really enjoy making my own original works and when I start querying I’ll let you know but it will probably be after or last year of my degree. I am doing two creative writing modules (Year 2 Creative writing and year 3, advanced creative writing) so I will learn more about literature through writing plays and poems as well. I need a sense of direction in my writing I kind of lost it after school ended and I need someone to show me where my skills lie in and my confidence in it.

Anyway sorry if this is an incoherent ramble of sorts, and a wall of text but I thought I’d update you, not dead yet!

02/21/12

Colonial Lag and Elizabethan Accents

I created this topic in my English Language tutor forums. I don’t know if any of my readers will be interested but the accents in here are pretty diverse and retain elements of Early Modern English brought by settlers to the Americans. Don’t know if you are interested, but here you go! It is interesting nonetheless.

There are a few small places and accents which appear to remain untouched from their Early Modern pronounciations. To get a glimpse of the Elizabethan accent, it is pretty strong in Tangier, VA, U.S.A. It is said that these accents are closer to Elizabethan English than modern British accents.

 

The Tangier Accent is what linguists say is closest to Elizabethan English, the accent has largely remained untouched since Elizabethan times:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E

Alpachian English; many theories are that this is remnant of Elizabethan English as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03iwAY4KlIU&feature=related

NewFoundland English has a distinct accent that retains the old speech patterns from Britain, I think at times it sounds Australian:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rIbitJAbQ

Two Old Brahmin accents, British pronounciations on some words, their pronounciations are dying out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfR4DLXYpCw

Origins of African-American English and how it comes from many African accents mixed with English, there is a distinct dialect present:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvuWSJI87r8&feature=related

Further information http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2501/has-the-tangier-island-accent-truly-remained-unchanged-since-the-elizabethan-per

Futher accents that are said to resemble British accents are those in Canada such as Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island Accents and New Bruinswick accents, that are said to be heavily influenced by Scottish English rather than their neighbours America. I think some call this Maritimer accents.

01/3/12

New year, new writings

Studying literature is immensely difficult. My marks are quite low due to the harder analysis required for this module but I am enjoying it. One of the books I am reading by Thomas de Quincey ‘Confessions of an English Opium Eater‘ and is pretty self-explanatory. De Quincey details his addiction to the drug, the pleasure, the pain of it and how it has bettered his life. At the time it was very controversial as people thought it advocated drug abuse. I don’t think so. I think it is a little self-indulgent (as is most Victorian writings) but it’s very insightful into the psychology of addiction.

An unusual introduction I know but I Lou, am back. I grew quite tired of my previous domain. No enthusiasm, none at all. I hope this stays for this one. I bought a reseller off Secret Kiss Hosting. I thought I’d go with a more personal one before I have only gone for big companies or well-known ones but I wanted to feel part of a community in a sense. And at the moment I am loving it as I missed having a reseller. I have plans for separate websites etc but I am not sure about taking on hostees for the time being. If you ask I will take it into consideration.

I have written a short story called ‘Little Acres‘ it’s where I got the  name for the website from. The short story is not publishable yet, it had several revisions to go, and to change the point of view. It is about a 1500th girl who moves into a farm with her family, there she meets a boy in the attic. They become friends.

89 because that is the year I was born. ‘acres‘ is such a nice word. It is a term for a period of distance but it rolls off the tongue. The ‘ache‘ in acres has such a nice sound to it.

I had a merry good year I will tell you that. Spent it down the pub, had a bit of a buffet then retreated back to the house to watch Lee Evans. My boyfriend Scott as I have mentioned previously have celebrated our 7th years together, I surprised him at Christmas with a Mockingjay pendant from the ‘Hunger Games‘ I bought of Etsy for him. It is beautifully designed. I also surprised him with Goosebumps ‘Series 2000‘ collection I bought off ebay. Then two other book series; Alex Scarrows ‘Time Riders‘ and Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials‘ ooh makes me want to write.

My next post will be full of pictures because I have a new ipod with fancy effects. Hope you like this layout, it’s simple and elegant. Not one I designed myself but maybe one day again because right now I hate designing these things myself. My main focus is to get a consistent blog going.

My question to you, what books did you buy this Winter?