Marital Bliss

I’m now a married man. The ceremony took place in Las Vegas, NE, on the 7th of July. It was witnessed by two Elvises and a pink Cadillac. The bride and now my wife is Maria Pitkänen. America:

Research Blog Antarctica #48

Fiction: Auden Bailey: Drifting at the Bottom of the World (Bella Books, 2002) The second lesbian Antarctica book I’ve read, this is a novel written by a writer who has spent a number of seasons working in the Antarctic. First the good: the book has good detail, and has the Continue Reading

Research Blog Antarctica #47

Non-fiction: John C. Behrendt: the Ninth Circle (2005, University of New Mexico Press) Behrendt is a researcher who has worked in the various American Antarctic programs since the Fifties, and as such his writing about the actual scientific work on the continent is very interesting. His earlier book, Innocents on Continue Reading

Research Blog Antarctica #46

Non-fiction: Sarah Moss: Scott’s Last Biscuit – the Literature of Polar Exploration (2006, Signal Books) This is a book which analyzes interesting and relevant questions posed by the wealth of Arctic and Antarctic literature. I’ve read so much trivial and willfully boring literary analysis that its good to have a Continue Reading

Research Blog Antarctica #45

Non-fiction: Jennie Darlington & Jane McIlvaine: My Antarctic Honeymoon (Doubleday, 1956) An excellent Antarctica book. A hidden classic, even. Had to hunt for it through a rare book website, and got a really nice first edition. It’s Jennie Darlington’s autobiographical account of how she ended up on Finn Ronne’s 1946-1948 Continue Reading

Research Blog Antarctica #43

Fiction: ed. Robert M. Price: the Antarktos Cycle (Chaosium, 2006) This is a comprehensive anthology of Antarctica and H.P. Lovecraft -related horror stories. It was of great help to me in that it saved me from finding these stories individually. The centerpiece of the book, Lovecraft’s own At the Mountains Continue Reading

Research Blog Antarctica #42

Comic: Mike O’Sullivan, Andrew Dabb & Tim Seeley: G.I. Joe: Special Missions: Antarctica (Devil’s Due, 2006) I’m afraid objectivity just flew out of the window. G.I. Joe, or Action Force as they were known in Finland, were easily my favorite toys and comics when I was a kid, trumping even Continue Reading

Hard Evidence

I got a stack of old photographs as a birthday present from my grandmother a while ago. I’ve only ever seen a very few pictures of when I was a child, so I was happy to see these. My mother has told me that I used to play the violin Continue Reading

Research Blog Antarctica #41

Non-fiction: Caroline Alexander: Endurance (Otava 1998/1999) This is the book that launched the turn-of-the-millennium Shackleton craze. This is at least the fifth time I see or read the story in some form or another, soI was prepared to be bored. The writing is engaging, however, and the photos are used Continue Reading

Research Blog Antarctica #40

Fiction film: George Miller: Happy Feet (U.S.A./Australia, 2006) A really good animated movie about tapdancing penguins. Visually very striking, and I appreciated both the obvious amount of research about Antarctica that had gone into this movie and the way they put all the possibilities of CGI into good use for Continue Reading