...are finally here. My "Russian History Since 1855" class finished in mid-June. It was quite interesting. So much rapid (often forced) social and technological change, and so much pain and suffering! It made me feel grateful to my ancestors for coming to North America. One theme I found intriguing was of continuity in Russian history. There were some surprising similarities between the tsarist, Communist and post-Communist regimes. I'd recommend the text we used: Walter Moss's History of Russia, Volume 2. It was highly readable, if riddled with typos.
The text included not only political history but also cultural and artistic developments, and reminded me of some Russian sf/fantasy-with-religious-elements that I've been meaning to get around to: the films of Andrei Tarkovsky (especially Solaris and Stalker) and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Nothing says "summer relaxation" like a fat Russian novel, in my opinion.
In related news, did you know that a religion-themed Canadian TV show recently called on Gabriel McKee as an expert on religion in science fiction? The show also features Robert J. Sawyer, John C. Wright, Robert Charles Wilson and Peter Kazmaier. Check it out!
Science-fiction-wise, I'm currently reading House of Suns by UK author Alastair Reynolds. It was kindly given to me as a birthday present (I turned 32 on the 28th of June.) It's entertaining so far, though I find myself over-analyzing and trying to spot all the influences he's drawing on.
In other news- it's finally summer! The Winnipeg Folk Festival is coming up soon! Hurray! The mosquitos are back! Booo! I've already registered for my last year of undergraduate classes, which I'm looking forward to a great deal. They include Byzantine History, South Africa in the 20th Century, and the Origins of the American Civil War. And I need to start researching grad schools pretty soon, so as to begin applying this fall. Perhaps I'll be coming soon to a university near you!
Also, in mid-June (a few days after my Russian history exam) I graded to my first kyu (second-level brown belt) in Goju-ryu karate. So for the next five or six months I'll be training hard for my shodan (black belt) grading, which is coming up sometime late this year.
So maybe "lazy" isn't the right word for this summer... But I think "fun" will still apply.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
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