Coptic Language

I found a great website if you are interested in learning Coptic:

http://www.geocities.com/ambroseboles/coptic_language/coptic_language.htm

It has anything you could ever want.

CD Review - Vitas "Return Home"

For those of you who don't know Vitas is a Latvian in his mid 20s who is a counter tenor. He sings pop and some avant garde pieces from time to time that showcase his incredible range. I'm a huge fan - he is truly unique. I love watching him perform. He has one of those personalities that was just born to be on stage. To see some clips from his latest CD check out his website at:

http://vitas.com.ru/titul_eng.htm

Unfortunately to buy it is a bit tougher. I use www.ruskniga.com but I also speak a good bit of Russian so I can work my way through the site. Some of his records are on amazon.com though so don't give up if you can't read Russian. I really like "Smile" it has some neat songs like a really unusual version of Ave Maria. His first CD "Philosophies" is fantastic too. It has his greatest hits like Opera #1 and #2.

On his latest CD I loved the 1st 2 tracks the most. "Lucia di Lammemoor" is a take off on the famous aria - brilliant gave me chills. The second was "Opernaya" which is basically an operatic piece with a modern twist as well. Sublime vocals - a thousand thanks to Vitas you made my day its been so long since someone made a great CD!

Book Review - Savyon Liebrecht "A Good Place For The Night"

I thought Savyon's very first collection of short stories "Apples from the Desert" was superb. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw she had a new short story collection out. As I started to read the first story about a little girl whose mother runs off with another man only to have that man's wife later become the little girl's mother - I thought it was excellent. Just what I remembered about Savyon's style - you feel like you're right there experiencing it yourself. The emotional canvas is so masterfully done that it makes ordinary daily routines seem magical. And then...............

the stories descended into a bizarre mess that I'm still dizzy from trying to comprehend. It seemed like at any minute someone was going to ask me to pass the magic brownies. For example, the little girl in the first story grows up and meets the other little girl whose father was the one who ran off. All of a sudden she turns out to be a bit of a nut raving about how miserable her life has been etc. The ending really didn't work for me - I thought it was too left field of what came before it.

It just got worse from there - "Munich" has an Israeli having explicit fantasies (and yes I do mean hide it from your children explicit) about an Arab cashier at the local cafe as well as a bevy of other unknowing women while he is covering the trial of a Nazi. I was so grossed out by the horrible abuse of language - my favorite author using the "f" word?? Nope it wasn't firetruck folks it was the OTHER one.

As if I wasn't offended enough then she throws in a bi-sexual adventure of a pregnant girl hooked up with a guy who is having affairs with men and she's OK with it. Well if you've read my blog you know I am an extremely conservative gal. I don't care who does what with whom but seriously - I don't want details..........ever. As my mother would say its just vulgar.

I'm trying to think of something positive to say but I can't. I hated it - truly. I'm so disappointed I could just burst out in tears. I really hope her next book goes back to the good old days of clean language and brilliant story telling.

Great site for Latin Language

If you're interested in learning the Latin language I found a site with lots of FREE reading practices and games etc.

http://www.cambridgescp.com/page.php?p=clc^top^home

The World Of Palaeography

I've discovered something really interesting that you might like too. Palaeography (sometimes spelled Paleography) is the study of the history of handwriting. These sites have sample texts from 1500-1800 England where you can see how they handwrote English at the time with all sorts of weird spelling and punctuations etc. It's actually pretty cool and you end up obsessing over it like a Sudoku puzzle.

I think these sites are the best from what I've seen:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/

http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/

I haven't checked this one out as much but it looks good too:

http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/content/

New Series Starting On My Podcast

If you haven't tuned in yet, check out my podcast on how to write in all sorts of different scripts. It's on iTunes and is called "Decoding the Written Word." Here is the URL:

http://web.mac.com/picinapod/iWeb/Site/Scripts/Scripts.html

I've just finished teaching how to write in Georgian, now I am starting my series on writing in Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Enjoy!