Robin Hood

In addition to Doritos and Budweiser, the Superbowl seemed to want to push several films, one of which was Russell Crowe's Robin Hood.

So now...here is the real Robin Hood. (As best as I can recall.)

Robin Hood first appears in written poetry and folktales a hundred or so years after he is claimed to have lived, and, as such, the actual man - if there ever was one - is rather shrouded in mystery. However, if he did exist, Robin Hood/Robert Hodd/etc. was probably nothing much more than a petty thief, a medieval yeoman-turned-highwayman. Several legal documents such as local court summons and censuses mention a Robbehod (or 'Hobehode' - that damned Hode) who fails to turn up for his trial and therefore becomes an outlaw. Inglorious beginnings.

Of course, the best place to be an outlaw would probably be in one of the uninhabited bits of the country, and if it's in one of the private hunting forests of the king, so much the better...so there's Sherwood for you. It is, however, unlikely that the original Hood was poaching John's game and robbing his supporters as an act of defiance in the name of the 'true' king; Richard Lionheart was essentially a foreigner in England, not speaking the language of its people (and not even stepping foot on its soil for above 6 months of his life). And it's even more unlikely that he was involved in any kind of communist or fundamental Christian wealth redistribution program; these elements of the story were added well after any historical figure ever existed.

Anyway, the mythical Robin Hood's politico-religious campaign, as well as his core band of accomplices - minus the Friar and, of course, the Maid - are established early on in the timeline of the myth for comic relief and further excitement. It is not until nearly 400 years later that Robin becomes elevated to a disenfranchised nobleman. Also at this point, the chivalrous and romantic addition of Marion enters in.

Interestingly, the name Robin Hood does crop up relatively often in the British history records, apparently as an alias for a host of petty thieves. And of course, the myth around the man lives on, continually being embroidered upon, as a tale of bravery, selflessness, and romance; a story of defiance in the face of the law; or simply a spirited, plucky adventure.

Time for another...

QUOTE!
/ SNOW-RELATED POST!

From Anne of Green Gables to you:

The night was clear and frosty, all ebony of shadow and silver of snowy slope; big stars were shining over the silent fields; here and there the dark pointed firs stood up with snow powdering their branches and the wind whistling through them.

I thought, what with the massive blizzard raging all along the East Coast, I couldn't let the last snow-related item on RecAnth be about how it's never too cold to snow and how (despite this fact) brave British men are willing to walk out into it on frostbitten, not to mention gangrenous, feet and nobly die in vain for their Arctic expedition. Anne has a more serene outlook on even the most bitter of snowy nights.

Tonight is Ring Dance (the traditionally romantic if vaguely creepy debutantesque ball traditionally held at the Jefferson Hotel by the junior Westhampton women of the University of Richmond). I missed last year's due to Oxford, but if the weather lets up, I suppose I'll be heading out this time around...so it's good to know that evening snow isn't always sinister, especially as I'll likely be bare-legged.

Happytown

...and they all lived happily ever after.

......^ ^
.....(O∨o)
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....o(uOu).......~(u u)
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Under the Hood

This is how a car starts:

...whoa. I will never be an engineer.

Okay so far as I can tell, turning the key (or whatever) starts a series of computer-run steps that eventually leads to an ignition coil amplifying battery power into a spark that is then used to light vaporized fuel in a chamber. And the engine "turns over."

Also spark plugs.

[For more pretty pictures, go here.]

Deranged Penguins

Yep. Classic Werner Herzog.

Ancient GPS

Sometimes I think that maps are pretty much the coolest thing ever. Even nowadays, when everything is 'accurate', satellite-photographed, machine-recorded and printed off by the bundle, it's fun to go onto Google Earth or Google Maps and find an aerial (or street-view!) shot of your house.

Anyway, back in the day (whenever that was), maps were highly politicized and highly priced works of art. There's a tiny map store in London run by this fascinating man who could tell you all about it...I don't know nearly so much, but I do know that I'm as intrigued by the scripted and illustrated names of roads and towns and taverns as I am by the changing coastlines, monsters, and mythical islands.

Here's a copy of a map from 1675 showing the road from London to Lands End. As you can see, it's set up like our modern-day navigation devices, with the road always in front of you, and the landmarks off to the side.

Right. Lots more of that here.

So yes I could go on about maps for ages, about how they reflect not so much what is, but rather what might be, or what ought to be. But I don't want to bore you. If I haven't convinced you yet, or if maps just aren't your thing...check out Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica - same idea, but the body instead of the globe. Beautiful and a little bit repulsive, I think.

Cheat

Well well well...quite the exhausting day...I thought I was going to have a Very Important Skype Interview with Oxford (is the official name...) and then, after getting no sleep, running around like a nervous duck and bouncing my elbows off of very hard objects, and sitting - on tenterhooks no less - in a frigid room for well over an hour, it turns out that there were some technical difficulties, and so launch has been postponed for tomorrow. :Dies:

So armed with this somewhat flimsy excuse, I am not exerting myself at all today, but instead Apple+C-ing from the sidebar. A list of a few of my favorite (Brit) things from oh, ages ago. No. 4 doesn't apply so much any more, and I seem to have had some serious preoccupation with emo-ness...but it's still all fantastic.

Although I won't be reading them this on my interview. It's not "intellectual/scientific" enough. Whatever. T minus 12 hours! (Again!)

1. Chocolate Biscuits (!!!)
2. The Phrase "As You Do" (hilarious. maybe.)
3. Walking in the Rain (no, seriously)
4. Reduced Drinking Age (because I can...)
5. The Accents (duh.)
6. Cycling in the Rain (still serious)
7. Scarves (both wearing myself and also seeing boys in scarves)
8. Minimal Daylight (yes, I'm a vampire)
9. Old Buildings (remember that one summer I went to Architecture School...?)
10. Indian Food (curry!)