http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/index/ en badfaery@gmail.com Copyright 2008 2008-12-09T19:56:00+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_ou_merry_go_round_continues/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_ou_merry_go_round_continues/#When:19:56:00Z The materials for my next course, E301 The Art of English, arrived yesterday, considerably earlier than I was expecting considering that the course doesn’t start until January 31st.  The course website, however, opens on January 8, the same day as my A210 TMA03 is due, so I shall probably start into the course material the day after. I’ve already had a look through the assignments and was amused to see that one of them contains an extract from Lord of the Rings (it’s the bit where Gandalf and Frodo discover that Bilbo’s ring is the One True Ring of lore). I can indulge all my nerd tendencies at once! In other OU news, today I received my course result for U211 Exploring the English Language and was very pleased to learn that I had achieved the Grade 2 Pass I had been hoping for (and a pretty good pass at that). I’m pretty pleased with myself and am celebrating with chocolate cake and Cava and NO STUDYING FOR TONIGHT!!! Open University, U211: Exploring the English Language, A210: Approaching Literature, E301: The Art of English 2008-12-09T19:56:00+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/see_emily_play/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/see_emily_play/#When:18:44:00Z The most Important The most Beautiful The most Magical Saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world Oliver Postgate has passed away. Oliver created many of the classics of British children’s TV including Ivor the Engine and the Clangers but for me he was the man who created Bagpuss, one of my favourite ever TV shows. Animation, Art Elsewhere 2008-12-09T18:44:00+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/absence_and_presence/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/absence_and_presence/#When:20:43:00Z December 1 already and I’ve managed to not post a single entry for the month of November! An entirely unplanned break - it just sort of happened. In fact I’ve barely spent anytime online that hasn’t been Open University related. So what have I being doing with my time? Reading for the most part- the books above are a selection of my leisure reading for the past month. I guess it’s the time of year. It’s dark by 5pm these days, and cold, a perfect time for curling up in front of the fire and escaping with a good book.  I have also been very organised with my Christmas shopping and have purchased almost all of my gifts - hurray for the internet! It really does take the hassle out of shopping. While I’ve bought a few gifts online for the past few years this is the first time that I have done nearly all my xmas shopping this way. I have also been enjoying my new OU course, A210, and spent much of November fairly engrossed in the history of the realist novel, reading amongst other things Jeremy Hawthorn’s Studying the Novel, an excellent and concise text that I would thoroughly recommend to any English Lit undergrad and Gilbert and Gubar’s The Madwoman in the Attic, a book that is referenced frequently in my course materials and which has proven very interesting reading - again I would recommend it for anyone studying A210. I have already completed the first block and my first two assignments. Happily I have received distinctions for both so I am very pleased with how it’s been going so far. My tutor, who I shall probably never meet in person as the tutorials are too awkward to get to, has given me very good feedback on both assignments. I did my second assignment on Frankenstein - a very appropriate book to be writing about on ‘a dreary night of November’! General, Books, Open University, A210: Approaching Literature 2008-12-01T20:43:00+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_31_and_the_end/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_31_and_the_end/#When:18:12:00Z Winter and Persephone descends to the Underworld once more… Drawing and Illustration, The Big Draw 2008-10-31T18:12:00+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_30/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_30/#When:18:09:00Z Pomegranate crown. Drawing and Illustration, The Big Draw 2008-10-30T18:09:00+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_291/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_291/#When:18:05:00Z Pomegranate crown. Drawing and Illustration, The Big Draw 2008-10-29T18:05:00+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/a_cold_day_in_october/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/a_cold_day_in_october/#When:21:09:00Z Our coldest October day in sixteen years and tonight I will do my drawing curled up in front of the fire. The month has flown by and I can hardly believe that I have only 4 days left to complete my Big Draw challenge. My new OU course is flying by, all too quickly! The first 8 weeks focus on the realist novel and in particular Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein, Great Expectations and Fathers and Sons. This week is Great Expectations. I’m not a Dickens fan but I find the background reading interesting all the same. I have completed one assignment so far, a close analysis of a passage from Pride and Prejudice. Next assignment in due mid-November, in which I have to discuss how the novel guides a reader to make moral judgements about a character while allowing sympathetic involvement in their experiences. This made me smile. Open University, A210: Approaching Literature 2008-10-28T21:09:00+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_281/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_281/#When:17:59:00Z Drawing and Illustration, The Big Draw 2008-10-28T17:59:00+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_271/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_271/#When:21:04:01Z Drawing and Illustration, The Big Draw 2008-10-27T21:04:01+00:00 http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_261/ http://www.badfaery.com/index.php/site/the_big_draw_day_261/#When:20:59:01Z Drawing and Illustration, The Big Draw 2008-10-26T20:59:01+00:00