New year, new blog

I've moved to Wordpress. The new place is lighter, brighter, and more sparkling.

I hope you like it.

http://excessivelydiverted2.wordpress.com/

Resolved

I've decided that in addition to the very important New Year's resolution of finishing my dissertation, I'm also going to do the following three related things:

1. I will waste less time on the internet

I spend a lot of time procrastinating online, reading useless websites (some from the Gawker media family) or just looking for something to read. I'm never satisfied unless I find something absorbing. Clearly, I'm looking in the wrong place. Therefore,

2. I will catch up on culture

Specifically, books and movies. My goal is to get through three per month (the dissertation does have to take precedence, after all), with one season of the TV series I've listed counting as "one". And I have a specific list in mind, one which I will add to as I remember things.

And this also leads me to

3. I will use the public library more

I can use my university library card to access the public library system, which is pretty awesome. The public library has lots of great DVDs and (duh) books that are FREE. Free!! I'll likely use my university library card to check out fiction as well, since I'll have longer due dates and I'm terrible at getting to things right away.

So what will I be reading or watching in 2010? Here's the list so far, determined purely by the intensity of my desire. This is the stuff that I really really want to get to, some out of professional obligation, but most out of curiosity. Some of it is pulpy or popular, some off the beaten track, some canonical. Needless to say, it will not be tackled in order.

Books

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov

Camilla by Frances Burney (currently reading, stalled at a five-page sermon on female conduct)

The Wanderer by Frances Burney

Jane's Fame by Claire Harman (controversial bio of Jane Austen)

The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan

Pale Fire by Nabakov

House of Leaves by Mark L. Danielewski

Movies (on DVD)

Shadow of the Vampire

Let the Right One In

Silent Light

The Draughtsman's Contract (Peter Greenaway movie set in the early eighteenth century; was recently the subject of an interesting thread on the C18 listserv I subscribe to)

Once (I know, I know. I even own the DVD)

Where the Wild Things Are

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Hurt Locker

Movies (in theatres)

Mary and Max (playing at the Metro in Feb)

Police, adjective (playing at the Metro in Feb)

TV

Lost in Austen (for work)

The four recent ITV adaptations of Austen's novels which I just haven't been able to screw up the courage to watch. Will need wine for that, methinks.

The Wire

Friday Night Lights

While I won't blog extensively about my cultural consumption like Peter, I'll probably post "snap judgments" and half-baked analyses on this blog. Here's to 2010 being a more enriching year.