I was hoping to be snuggling my husband for midnight, but it looks like I will be attending a gathering instead. It should be fairly small and chill and a nice way to start 2006. Before I go, I thought I would share this photo where Miss Bunny and BlueBlood.com wish everyone a Happy New Year.
It is time to make resolutions for the new year. I have not decided on mine yet. Besides lose weight of course. But I’m thinking about resolving to make it to the next Robot Project at EXPO in Aichi, Japan. The Japanese are quite pervy by American standards, but I actually believe they will create and distribute robots with more functionality than simple human sex partner replacement. For example, they are working on robots which can clean, take out the trash, complete art projects, dance, and take care of kids and the elderly. Happy New Year.
I seem to have spent much of this holiday season on the topic of constructed lovers. I’ve touched on dolls, robots, and androids, and the boxes Daleks travel in which are practically the same thing, and other mechanisms for sexual delight. There is something about making love to inanimate objects which seems very appropriate for this materialistic time of year. An interesting aspect of these gadgets which I have noticed is that the ones for women tend to be very functional but not very attractive. The machines for men tend to have much attention paid to appearance, but, when it comes to the act, they just lie there and the guy has to do all the work. No wonder the world needs Real Doll surgery experts. The Roboraptor can play “tug-of-war games” so I’m thinking I should have been more imaginative when making my Winter Solstice pagan desires list. Check out the video clips at this Roboraptor shopping link and tell me those women don’t look like they need to get laid. If there is one thing in life which can be depended upon, it is that human beings will figure out how to use almost any technology for some sexual purpose.
Fandom (from the noun fan and the affix -dom, as in kingdom, dukedom, etc.) refers to a community of keen aficionados who share a common interest in any phenomenon, such as authors, hobbies, genres or fashions. Fandom as a term can also be use to refer to the single interconnected network of these individual fandoms, many of which overlap.
Fans (or the plural fen) typically are interested in even minor details of the object of their fandom; this is what differentiates them from those with only casual interest.
The objects of a fandom typically relate to the arts, sports or entertainment. For example, it would be unusual to refer to an accountant who is very interested in the details of accounting as a “fan” of accounting.
Members of a fandom associate with one another, often attending fan conventions (such as science fiction conventions), and publishing and exchanging fanzines. Today, these communities are often online, especially for less well-known source material.
Some fans also write fan fiction, stories based around the universe and characters of their chosen fandom. Some also dress in costumes (”cosplay”) or recite lines of dialogue either out-of-context or as part of a group reenactment.
The term “fandom” is particularly associated with fans of the science fiction and fantasy genres, a community that dates back to the 1930s and has held the World Science Fiction Convention since 1939. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the usage of the term back as far as 1903, with many of its documented references referring to sports fandom.
The term is also commonly associated with anime/manga. Serious fans of this subject are also called otaku.
“Fandom” is also the name of a documentary / mockumentary about a fan obsessed with Natalie Portman. (via Wikipedia)
fandom (n.) antedating 1896 Washington Post, Oct 10, 1896, the world of enthusiasts for some amusement or for some artist; also in extended use. (via Science Fiction Citations)
Four different incarnations of the Emperor Dalek are known, three seen on the television series, and one in the TV Century 21 comic strip (a squat, golden Dalek with an enormous head-section). The first seen on screen was an enormous immobile conical shell plugged into a corner of the control room in the Dalek City on Skaro. The second was the Daleks’ creator, Davros, in a Dalek casing very similar to the TV 21 comic version of the Emperor, and the third was a visible Dalek mutant in a tank surrounded by a giant Dalek head and armour. It is unclear whether any these are the same Dalek, or up to four different Daleks.
The Dalek Emperor was first introduced in the TV 21 comic strip The Daleks, reproduced in collective format as the Dalek Chronicles . According to this comic strip version of events, the Emperor was originally a standard Dalek, one of the war machines created by the blue-skinned humanoid Dalek scientist Yarvelling. After the nuclear war that devastated Skaro, the mutants had survived in the casings. The only humanoid Dalek survivors of the war, Yavelling and the warlord Zolfian encountered a Dalek that persuaded them to build more Dalek casings for their mutated descendants. Before the last two humanoid Daleks died, a special casing was built for the Emperor to reflect its new rank. It was slightly shorter than the other Daleks, with a disproportionately large spheroid head section and in gold rather than grey. This origin story is completely different from that portrayed on television in Genesis of the Daleks.
The Emperor first appeared on television in The Evil of the Daleks (by David Whitaker, who also wrote most of the comic strips) where it was the immobile shell described above. The novelisation of Evil (adapted 26 years later from Whitaker’s scripts by John Peel) stated that this Emperor had originally been one of the Daleks who had tried to exterminate Davros in Genesis of the Daleks. At the close of the story, the Emperor was apparently destroyed as a civil war broke out amongst the Daleks.
The next time a Dalek Emperor appeared was in Rememberance of the Daleks. The Emperor of the Imperial Dalek faction was actually Davros, greatly deteriorated physically and reduced to a head and partial torso in a customised Dalek casing similar to that seen in the comic strips. He was last seen heading for an escape pod just before his ship was destroyed in the wake of the supernova that consumed Skaro.
The Dalek Emperor, from The Parting of the Ways. Another Dalek Emperor featured in the finale of the 2005 series The Parting of the Ways, its ship having barely survived the Time War. After its ship fell through time, it went into seclusion and went on to rebuild a new race of Daleks. This Emperor was a Dalek mutant floating in a transparent tank of liquid, topped by a giant-sized Dalek dome, complete with eyestalk, and flanked by panels of armour dotted by Dalek “bumps”. Because the Emperor had recreated the Dalek race, it saw itself as a god, and had transformed its Daleks from fascists to religious fanatics centred around them worshipping it.
A Dalek Emperor also appears in the Dalek Empire series of audio plays by Big Finish Productions. (via Wikipedia)
I didn’t even know I wanted this for the holidays and this is the best gift I could possibly have dreamed of. Blue Blood has come to the web in full force. Everything I love about a number of the Blue Blood sites has been packed into one gorgeous package at BlueBlood.com and you will just have to see for yourself. I’m sure I will have even more to say about Blue Blood and the brilliant and inspiring Amelia G and Forrest Black next month, than I have had to say about Daleks and other machine lovers this month. The Blue Blood relaunch is such big news I had to mention it right away. If you are true blue old school and loved Blue Blood magazine as much as I did, you will know what I mean. This is the real deal.
The Daleks were actually operated from inside by short operators who had to manipulate their eyestalks, domes and arms, as well as flashing the lights on their heads in sync with the actors supplying their voices. The Dalek cases were built in two pieces; once an operator stepped into the lower section the top would be lowered onto him. The operators looked out between the circular louvres just beneath the dome that were lined with mesh to conceal their faces.
Unfortunately, as well as being hot and cramped the Dalek casings also muffled external sounds, making it difficult for the operators to hear the director’s commands or studio dialogue. The top sections were also too heavy to lift from the inside, which meant that the operators could be trapped in them if the stagehands forgot to let them out. John Scott Martin, a Dalek operator from the original series, commented in a documentary that it would have been easier to operate a Dalek if one was an octopus, due to to the many controls involved.
Early versions of the Daleks were either rolled around on nylon castors or propelled by wheels connected to hand cranks by bicycle chains. While castors were adequate for the Daleks’ debut serial, which was shot entirely at the BBC’s Lime Grove Studios, for The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Terry Nation wanted the Daleks to take to the streets of London for location filming. As a result, the base of the costume had to be deepened to accommodate small pnuematic tyres. However, the bumpy flagstones of Central London caused the Daleks to rattle as they moved and it was not possible to remove this noise from the final shoot. Also added to the prop was a small radar dish at the rear of the casing, in an attempt to explain why these Daleks, unlike the ones in their first serial, were not dependent on static electricity drawn from the floors of the Dalek city for their motive power.
Later versions of the prop had more efficient wheels and were simply propelled by the operators’ feet. Occasionaly, modified tricycles were used. Even so, they were so heavy that when going up ramps they often had to be pushed by stagehands out of camera shot. In addition, the difficulty of operating all the prop’s parts at once also contributed to the occasionally jerky movements of the Dalek. The latest model of the costume still has a human operator within, but the movement of the dome and eyestalk is now remotely controlled so that the operator can concentrate on the smooth movement of the Dalek and its arms.
The Dalek voice, a staccato delivery, was initially developed by voice actors Peter Hawkins (who had also provided the voice for the popular children’s animated series Captain Pugwash) and David Graham, who would vary the pitch and speed of the lines according to the emotion needed. Their voices were further processed electronically by Brian Hodgson at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Although the exact sound-processing devices used have varied over the years, the original 1963 effect used EQ to boost the mid-range of the actor’s voice, then subjected it to ring modulation with a 30 Hz sine wave. The distinctive harsh grating vocal timbre this produced has remained the pattern for all Dalek voices since then. Notable voice actors for the Daleks include Roy Skelton. In the 2005 series, the Dalek voice is provided by Nicholas Briggs, speaking into a microphone connected to a voice modulator. Briggs has also done Dalek and other alien voices for audio plays.
The non-humanoid shape of the Dalek, unlike anything that had been seen on television before, did much to enhance the creatures’ sense of menace. With no familiar points of reference, it was a far cry from the traditional “bug-eyed monster” of science fiction that Doctor Who series creator Sydney Newman wanted the show to avoid. The unsettling form of the Daleks, coupled with their alien voices, also made many believe for a while that the props were wholly mechanical and operated by remote control.
Manufacturing the props was also expensive. In scenes where many Daleks had to appear, some of them would be represented by wooden replicas (Destiny of the Daleks) or, in the early black and white episodes, life-size photographic enlargements (The Power of the Daleks). In stories involving armies of Daleks, the BBC effects team even turned to using commercially-available toy Daleks, manufactured by Louis Marx & Co. A typical example of such use can be observed in Planet of the Daleks. Judicious editing techniques also made it look like there were more Dalek props than were actually available.
Initially there were four fully functioning props commissioned for the first serial, constructed from BBC plans by Shawcraft Models (which became known in fan circles as “Mk I Daleks”). Shawcraft were also commissioned to construct twenty or so Daleks for the two Dalek movies in 1965 and 1966 (see below). Most of these props from the movies filtered back to the BBC and were seen in the televised serials, notably in The Chase, which was released even before the first movie’s debut. The remaining props not bought by the BBC were either donated to charity or given away as prizes in competitions.
Those still in BBC hands were reused several times but eventually years of storage and repainting took their toll. By the time of the Sixth Doctor’s Revelation of the Daleks, the props were manufactured out of fibreglass, and were lighter and more affordable to construct than their predecessors. These Daleks were slightly bulkier in appearance around the mid-shoulder section, and also had a slightly redesigned base which was more vertical at the back. Minor changes were made to the design thanks to these new methods of construction, including alterations to the lower skirting as well as the mid-shoulder section incorporating the arm boxes, which were now one single unit, with the vertical bands encircling the casing also included in the fibreglass mould.
These were repainted in grey for the Seventh Doctor serial Remembrance of the Daleks and designated as “Renegade Daleks” while another redesign, painted in white and gold, became the “Imperial Dalek” faction. The new methods of construction also allowed the BBC Effects Department to build non-working “dummy” Daleks meant for use in scenes involving pyrotechnics. Several of these props were blown up in controlled explosions during the filming of Remembrance of the Daleks, which would not have been cost-efficient with working props. (via Wikipedia)
Wikipedia has launched a delightful new project called Wikiquote. Harlan Ellison on the subject of this time of year: Christmas is an awfulness that compares favorably with the great London plague and fire of 1665-66. No one escapes the feelings of mortal dejection, inadequacy, frustration, loneliness, guilt and pity. No one escapes feeling used by society, by religion, by friends and relatives, by the utterly artifical responsiblities of extending false greetings, sending banal cards, reciprocating unsolicated gifts, going to dull parties, putting up with acquaintances and family one avoids all the rest of the year…in short, of being brutalized by a ‘holiday’ that has lost virtually all of its original meanings and has become a merchandising ploy for color tv set manufacturers and ravagers of the woodlands. ~ Harlan Ellison, “No Offense Intended, But Fuck Xmas!”, The Harlan Ellison Hornbook (via Wikiquote)
Deck the stairs with amazinging sensual Scar 13 because she is what one really needs by the tree this year, as you can see in this free gallery of Scar13 photos.
The question you should be asking yourselves is “how did Masuimi Max get to be such a sexy hot devil?” as exemplified in this free gallery from Blue Blood’s BarelyEvil.com.
Narni is an ancient hilltown and comune of Umbria in central Italy, with 20,100 inhabitants according to the 2003 census; at altitude 240 m (787 ft) it overhangs a narrow gorge of the Nera River in Terni province.
The area around Narni was already inhabited in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages, as attested by finds in some of the caves. Around the start of the first millennium the Osco-Umbrian (Ombrikoì in Greek), a people of Indo-European origin that dominated the left bank of the Tiber that vertically cuts the region to the Adriatic sea, settled in the area and called the town Nequinum. Records mention Nequinum as early as 600 BC.
The Romans conquered Nequinum in the 4th century BC and made it a position of force in this key point of the Via Flaminia the famous road which connected the city of Rome to the Adriatic Sea (at that time the road passed through the town descending down to the right bank of the Nera to then carrying on to Carsulae, Acquasparta, Massa Martana and Spoleto). It supported the Gauls with the hope of freeing itself from Rome. The attempt failed and the victorious Romans changed its name to Narnia after the nearby Nar River; as in the case of Benevento (q.v.), the former name was considered of ill augury: in Latin, nequeo means “I am unable”, and nequitia means “worthlessness”.
In 299 BC it became a Roman Municipality, and took the name Narnia. In 209 BC, it was destroyed by the Romans, for refusing to help pay for the war against Carthage. It was later rebuilt, and during the Roman times it was an outpost for the Roman army.
In Late Antiquity it suffered the events of the Greek-Gothic war and was plundered by Totila. Seat of a Lombard gastald (guastaldo), Narni embraced the cause of Otho I of Saxony thanks to the mediation of its bishop, now Pope John XVII. Narni was part of the possessions of the Countess Matilde, once more part of the Dominions of the Church in 726. From the 11th century it began to increase in wealth and power, was opposed to Pope Paschal II in 1112 and rose against Barbarossa in 1167. This insubordination cost Narni a ferocious repression imposed by the archbishop Christian of Mainz, Barbarossa’s Chancellor. In 1242 Narni, prevalently tied to the Guelf party, entered into an alliance with Perugia and Rome against the Empire.
In the following century it was included in the reconquest of the papal patrimony by Cardinal Albornoz, who also had the mighty Rocca built. It was work of Ugolino di Montemarte, known as il Gattapone. He was also author of the plans for the Loggia dei Priori and the Colonnade that faces out onto the Piazza dei Priori together with the 13th‑century Palazzo del Podestà and the 14th‑century fountain.
In 1373 Narni was enfeoffed to the Orsini to whom it returned in 1409. Occupied by Ladislao, King of Sicily in the 15th century, to be soon again reabsorbed by the church, thanks to Braccio da Montone. July 15, 1525 marked a decisive turning-point in Narni’s history. The troops of Charles V, mostly in fact the undisciplined Spanish soldiery and German mercenaries (Landsknechten), put the city to fire and sword; it lost its ancient prosperity. Even the inhabitants of Terni took advantage of the situation to deliver their blame to give vent to their long-repressed hatred of Narni. Its reconstruction gives it a physiognomy characteristic of the cities in Papal territory. It became part of the Roman Republic in 1789. In 1831 it joined the revolt against Gregory XV and was annexed to the Italian Kingdom in 1860.
Like many of the smaller towns of Umbria, Narni is still of strikingly medieval appearance today, with stone buildings, and narrow cobblestone streets. The town is famous for the largest Roman bridge ever built, by which the Via Flaminia crossed the Nera: about half of the bridge still stands; it is some 30 meters high. Albornoz’ Rocca, overlooking the town, is another attraction, now hosting temporary exhibitions.
The imaginary land of Narnia, described in the works of CS Lewis, was named after Narni. It has been said that he came across the name in an atlas as a child.
Answer is apparently: sort of. (via Wikipedia)
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – October 25, 1400) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat (courtier), and diplomat. Chaucer is best known as the author of The Canterbury Tales. He is sometimes credited with being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin.
Chaucer was born around 1343 probably in London, although the exact date and location is not known. His father and grandfather were both London wine merchants (vintners) and before that, for several generations, the family were merchants in Ipswich. In 1324 John Chaucer, Geoffrey’s father, was kidnapped by an aunt in the hope of marrying the twelve year-old boy to her daughter; an attempt to keep property in Ipswich. The aunt was imprisoned and the £250 pounds fine levied suggests that the family was well-to-do, upper middle-class if not in the elite. John married Agnes Copton, who in 1349 inherited property including twenty-four shops in London from her uncle, Hamo de Copton, who is described as the “moneyer” at the Tower of London.
There are no details of Chaucer’s early life and education but compared to his near contemporary poets, William Langland and The Pearl Poet, his life is well documented with nearly five hundred written items testifying to his career. The first time he is mentioned is in 1357, in the household accounts of Elizabeth de Burgh, the Countess of Ulster when his father’s connections enabled him to become a page to the noble lady. In 1359, in the early stages of the Hundred Years’ War, Edward III invaded France and Chaucer travelled with Lionel of Antwerp, Elizabeth’s husband, as part of the English army. In 1360, he was captured during the siege of Reims, becoming a prisoner of war. Edward contributed £16 as part of a ransom, and Chaucer was released.
After this Chaucer’s life is uncertain but he seems to have travelled in France, Spain and Flanders, possibly as a messenger and perhaps even going on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Around 1366 Chaucer married Philippa (de) Roet, a lady-in-waiting to Edward III’s queen, Philippa of Hainault, and possibly a sister of Katherine Swynford, who later (ca. 1396) became the third wife of Chaucer’s friend and patron, John of Gaunt. It is uncertain as to how many children Chaucer and Philippa had, but 3 or 4 are the numbers most widely agreed upon. Thomas Chaucer had an illustrious career, chief butler to four kings, envoy to France and Speaker of the House of Commons. Thomas’ great-grandson, Geoffrey’s great-great-grandson, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln was the heir to the throne designated by Richard III, before he was deposed. Geoffrey’s other children probably included Elizabeth Chaucy, a nun, Agnes, an attendant at Henry IV’s coronation and another son Lewis Chaucer.
Chaucer is presumed to have studied law in the Inner Temple an Inn of Court at about this time, although definite proof is lacking. It is recorded that he became a member of the royal court of Edward III as a valet or esquire on 20 June 1367 a position which could entail any number of jobs. He travelled abroad many times with at least some of them being in his role as a valet. In 1368 he may have attended the wedding of Lionel of Antwerp to Violante, daughter of Galeazzo II Visconti, in Milan. Two literary stars of the era who were in attendance were Jean Froissart and Petrarch. Chaucer also travelled to Picardy the following year as part of a military expedition and visited Genoa and Florence in 1373.
It is on this Italian trip that it is speculated he came into contact with medieval Italian poetry, the forms and stories of which he would use later. While he may have been exposed to manuscripts of these works the trips were not usually long enough to learn sufficient Italian. It may have been his upbringing among the merchants and immigrants in the docklands of London that gave him the opportunity to learn the language. One other trip he went on in 1377 seems shrouded in mystery with records of the time conflicting in details. Later documents suggest it was a mission, along with Jean Froissart, to arrange a marriage between the future Richard II and a French princess, thereby ending the Hundred Years War. If this was the purpose of their trip, they seem to have been unsuccessful as no wedding occurred.
A 19th century depiction of Chaucer. For three near-contemporary portraits of Chaucer see here.Another indication of his early poetic life came on St. George’s Day in 1374 when Edward III granted Chaucer a gallon of wine daily for life for some unspecified service. An unusual grant, Chaucer nonetheless regularly collected it until Richard II came to power and converted it to a monetary grant. A more substantial job was that of Comptroller of the Customs for the port of London which Chaucer began on 8 June 1374. He must have been suited for the role as he continued in it for twelve years; a long time in such a post at that period. His life goes undocumented for much of the next ten years and it is not known if he was in the city at the time of the Peasants’ Revolt. He was mentioned in law papers of 4 May 1380, involved in the raptus of Cecilia Chaumpaigne. What raptus means, rape or possibly kidnapping, is unclear but the incident seems to have been resolved quickly and did not leave a stain on Chaucer’s reputation.
While still working as comptroller Chaucer appears to have moved to Kent, being appointed as one of the commissioners of peace for Kent, at a time when French invasion was a possibility. He also became a Member of Parliament for Kent in 1386. There is no further reference after this date to Philippa, Chaucer’s wife, and she is presumed to have died in 1387. He survived the political upheavals caused by the Lords Appellants and some of the men executed over the affair Chaucer had known well.
On 12 July 1389 Chaucer was appointed the clerk of the king’s works, a sort of foreman organising most of the king’s building project. No major works were begun during his tenure but he did conduct repairs upon Westminster Palace, St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, continue building the wharf at the Tower of London and build the stands at tournament held in 1390. It may have been a difficult job but it paid well; two shillings a day, over three times the salary as a comptroller. In September 1390, records say that he was robbed, and possibly injured, while conducting the business and it was shortly after on 17 June 1391 that he stopped working in this capacity. Almost immediately on 22 June he began as deputy forester in the royal forest of North Petherton, Somerset. This was no sinecure, with maintenance an important part of the job, although there were many opportunities to derive profit.
Soon after the overthrow of his patron Richard II, Chaucer vanished from the historical record. He is believed to have died of unknown causes on 25 October 1400 but there is no firm evidence for this date which is from the engraving on his tomb; built over one hundred years after his death. There is some speculation—most recently in Terry Jones’ book Who Murdered Chaucer? : A Medieval Mystery—that he was murdered by enemies of Richard II or even on the orders of his successor Henry IV. The new king did renew the grants assigned to Chaucer by Richard but in The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse Chaucer hints that they might not have been paid. The last mention of Chaucer in the historical record is on 5 June 1400 when some monies owing to him were paid. Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey in London as was his right owing to the jobs he had performed and the new house he had leased nearby on 24 December 1399. In 1556 his remains were transferred to a more ornate tomb, making Chaucer the first writer interred in the area now known as Poets’ Corner.
Chaucer’s first major work The Book of the Duchess was an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster. Although unlikely that it was commissioned by her husband John of Gaunt, as some scholars have claimed, he did grant Chaucer a £10 annuity on 13 June 1374. Two other early works were Anelida and Arcite and The House of Fame. Chaucer wrote many of his major works in a prolific period while working as customs comptroller. His Parlement of Foules, The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde all date from this time. He is best known as the writer of The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories (told by fictional pilgrims on the road to the cathedral at Canterbury) that would help to shape English literature.
The Canterbury Tales contrasts with other literature of the period in the naturalism of its narrative, the variety of stories the pilgrims tell and the varied characters who are engaged in the pilgrimage which sets it apart from other literature of the period. Many of the stories narrated by the pilgrims seem to fit their individual characters and social standing, although some of the stories seem ill-fitting to their narrators, probably representing the incomplete state of the work. Chaucer drew on real life for his cast of Pilgrims; the inn keeper shares the name of a contemporary keeper of an Inn in southwark, and real life identities for the Wife of Bath, the Merchant, the Man of Law and the Student have been suggested. The many jobs Chaucer held in medieval society; page, soldier, messenger, valet, bureaucrat, foreman and administrator probably exposed him to many of the types of people he depicted in the Tales. He was able to ape their speech, satirise their manners and still offer them popular literature.
Chaucer’s works are sometimes grouped into, first a French period, then an Italian period and finally an English period, with Chaucer being influenced by those countries’ literatures in turn. Certainly Troilus and Criseyde is a middle period work with its reliance on the forms of Italian poetry, little known in England at the time, but to which Chaucer was probably exposed during his frequent trips abroad on court business. In addition, its use of a classical subject and its elaborate, courtly language sets it apart as one of his most complete and well-formed works. In Troilus and Criseyde Chaucer draws heavily on his source, Bocaccio, and on the late Latin philsopher Boethius. However, it is The Canterbury Tales, wherein he focuses on English subjects, with bawdy jokes and respected figures often being undercut with humour, that has cemented his reputation.
Chaucer also translated such important works as Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy and The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris (extended by Jean de Meun). However, while many scholars maintain that Chaucer did indeed translate part of the text of The Romance of the Rose as Roman de la Rose, others claim that this has been effectively disproved. Many of his other works were very loose translations of, or simply based on, works from continental Europe. It is in this role that Chaucer receives some of his earliest critical praise. Eustache Deschamps wrote a ballade on the great translator and called himself a “nettle in Chaucer’s garden of poetry”. In 1385 Thomas Usk made glowing mention of Chaucer, and John Gower, Chaucer’s main poetic rival of the time, also lauded him. This reference was later edited out of Gower’s Confessio Amantis and it has been suggested by some that this was because of ill feeling between them, but it is likely due simply to stylistic concerns.
One other significant work of Chaucer’s is his Treatise on the Astrolabe, possibly for his own son, that describes the form and use of that instrument in detail. Although much of the text may have come from other sources, the treatise indicates that Chaucer was versed in science in addition to his literary talents. Another scientific work discovered in 1952, Equatorie of the Planetis, has similar language and handwriting compared to some considered to be Chaucer’s and it continues many of the ideas from the Astrolabe. The attribution of this work to Chaucer is still uncertain.
Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-syllabic metre, a style which had developed since around the twelth century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. Chaucer is known for metrical innovation, inventing the rhyme royal, and he was one of the first English poets to use the five-stress line, the iambic pentameter, in his work, with only a few anonymous short works using it before him. And the arrangement of these five-stress line into rhyming couplets was first seen in his The Legend of Good Women, was used in much of his later work and became one of the standard poetic forms in English. His early influence as a satirist is also important with the common humorous device, the funny accent of a regional dialect, apparently making its first appearance in The Reeve’s Tale.
The poetry of Chaucer, along with other writers of the era, is credited with helping to standardise the London Dialect of the Middle English language; a combination of Kentish and Midlands dialect. This is probably over-stated with the influence of the court, chancery and bureaucracy—of which Chaucer was a part—remains a more probable influence on the development of Standard English. Modern English is somewhat distanced from the language of Chaucer’s poems due to the effect of the Great Vowel Shift some time after his death. This change in pronunciation of English, still not fully understood, leaves the reading of Chaucer for modern audiences difficult. The status of the final -e in Chaucer’s verse in uncertain; it seems likely during the period of Chaucer’s writing the final -e was dropping out of colloqial English, and that its use was somewhat irregular. Chaucer’s versification suggests that the final -e is sometimes to be vocalised, and sometimes remains silent; however, this remains a point on which there is disagreement. Apart from the irregular spelling much of the vocabulary is recognisable to the modern reader. Chaucer is also recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary as the first author to use many common English words in his writings. These words though were probably frequently used in the language at the time but Chaucer, with his ear for common speech, is the earliest manuscript source. Acceptable, alkali, altercation, amble, angrily, annex, annoyance, approaching, arbitration, armless, army, arrogant, arsenic, arc, artillery and aspect are just some of those from the first letter of the alphabet.
Chaucer’s early popularity is attested by the many poets who imitated his works. John Lydgate was one of earliest imitators who wrote a continuation to the Tales. Later a group of poets including Gavin Douglas, William Dunbar and Robert Henryson were known as the Scottish Chaucerians for their indebtedness to his style. Many of the manuscripts of Chaucer’s works contain material from these admiring poets and the later romantic era poets’ appreciation of Chaucer was coloured by their not knowing which of the works were genuine. It was not until the late 19th century that the official Chaucerian canon, accepted today, was decided upon. One hundred and fifty years after his death, The Canterbury Tales was selected by William Caxton to be one of the first books to be printed in England.
A building has been named in his honour at the United Kingdom Civil Service College.
And much of Chaucer’s work was baudy in the extreme, the Girls Gone Wild level of popularity pornography of its time. Positively filthy. (via Wikipedia)
Christine Young is one sexy little lingerie-clad elf for Santa. I’m not sure what he is making in that toy shop now.
The First Androids site features a variety of very small sex dolls and very life size ones. The site is in German, so my comprehension is limited, but it includes features such as movies of humanoid dolls making lesbian love with a double-headed dildo. Yes, I said movies. German sex doll engineers are apparently quite inventive. Unlike most sites for the artificial human replacement, this one features Nax, a plastic stud for the ladies and the gents who swing that way. There is a hetero and homo listing for Nax’s not-so-private parts, but it beats me what the difference between the two is. Anyone read German?
Incidentally, if you were wondering, the pierced to the lungs reference in yesterday’s Microdoll write-up was a Chaucer allusion.
My favorite thing about this time of year is the way it induces regular people to get into costume with a fannish aplomb one would not normally expect in mundanes. That Christine Young really is an adorable seasonally festive reindeer too and I don’t mean to suggest that she is regular.
Does the Microdoll make you feel like a big man? Well, it certainly ought to. She is only around fourteen centimeters in height. The Microdoll site bills it as “the smallest sex doll.” I’m not sure how they know no one has built smaller female simulcra to penetrate, but these are serious enthusiasts, so perhaps they have made a study of the smallest size possible for a sex doll. The site includes some deliciously disturbing photos of human sized and human appearing dildos being inserted into the Microdolls and essentially fucking them, yeah, though they died of it, pierced to the lungs.
I’ve written about a number of nonpenetrative Fucking Machines adjunct robots this month, but the really must-have Xmas gadget from the Fucking Machines engineers is the UPD. “The Universal Positioning Device, or UPD for short, gives a “pillow-soft” feel to even the most ridiculously heavy steel fucking machine. Balance this baby up, and the cock feels like it’s floating on air. The modified parallelogram linkage with pussy-seeking action keeps that cock rock-solid and pointed at that magic spot, ALL the time. Fucking models with the UPD means never having to say “okay, baby; enjoy yourself, but don’t move too much or you’ll get hurt”!”
UPD Specifications:
length on axis 186 cm (72″)
fork spread 61 cm (24″)
weight capacity 0 - 55 kg (0 - 120 lb)
working height 0 - 100 cm (0 - 40″) above floor
spring constant 0.5 N/cm (1/4 lb/in)
work envelope 93 cm (36″) horizontal
66 cm (26″) vertical
geometry modified parallelogram, with “pussy-seeking” action
I don’t think they exactly update terribly often, but it is still comforting to know that there is a long-running site out there featuring hardcore three way sex with a Real Doll with a free sample gallery.
Blue Blood Agent Aeon shows off the circuit boards tattooed under her adorable breasts in this free gallery from Barely Evil.
There is nothing like a little costumed roleplay to spice up sex, so all this talk of Dalek domination may have put the thought in your head that you’d like to try out a bit of that. Project Dalek to the rescue with helpful detailed instructions in downloadable PDF format for building your own Dalek. According to John at Project Dalek, there is something he refers to as the Dalek Builder’s Guild. I can’t tell if this is a humorous reference to his hobbyist friends or an actual organization. Anyway, the site is excellent if you need Dalek construction plans. And you probably do at this point. Disco hotpants not included.
According John Acres and the Bigha web site, the answer is not what Gizmodo and Sexy Fandom previously reported about the Bigha Stargazer Sex Chair, but rather, “The night sky is incredible, especially when viewed with a great pair of binoculars on a dark, clear night. There is so much to see and think about: planets, stars, galaxies, even orbiting satellites. Unfortunately, the human body just isn’t designed for looking overhead. Shoulders and back soon tire: arms too, if you hold a pair of binoculars for more than a couple of minutes. StarSeeker makes night sky viewing truly fun to explore. Imagine reclining in your favorite chair while watching a big screen television. StarSeeker is exactly that, except you replace the television with the entire universe! It also works great for bird watching, whale watching and other terrestrial sightseeing.” They also apparently manufacture a really comfy bicycle and a green laser visible for miles which can be used by “anyone with common sense” which pretty much eliminates everyone I know. Are you extraordinary?
Gizmodo thought this chair looked like it was intended for high tech sex, before I even did, writing “We’ve gotten in enough trouble over the past few months with sex chair posts, so this isn’t one. I promise! This is actually a stargazer chair that can turn a full 360 degrees automatically, tilt backwards and can hold your choice of binoculars. Last time I checked, doesn’t stargazing require a telescope? Multiple colors are available so you can color-coordinate your geekyness.” (via Travelismo sort of)
For reasons best known to the management of Sex n Fun which they have not shared with me, they have posted a gallery of what they suggest are semen-splattered hentai action figure cuties. This is sort of revolting, but, if you can’t use the internet to post pictures of plastic women you have marked with your seed, what can you use it for?
The Daleks (pronounced “DAH-lecks” or “DAH-licks”) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The mutated descendants of the Kaled people (originally refered to as “Dals”) of the planet Skaro, they travel around in tank-like mechanical casings, a ruthless race bent on universal conquest and domination, utterly without pity, compassion or remorse. They are also, collectively, the greatest alien adversaries of the Time Lord known as the Doctor. Their most infamous catchphrase is “EX-TER-MIN-ATE!”, with each syllable individually screeched in a frantic electronic voice (download sample). Other common utterances include “I (or WE) OBEY!” to any command given by a superior.
The Daleks were created by writer Terry Nation and BBC designer Raymond Cusick and were first introduced in December 1963 in the second Doctor Who serial. They became an immediate hit with the viewing audience, featuring in many subsequent serials. They have become synonymous with Doctor Who and their behaviour and catchphrases are part of British popular culture.
The word “Dalek” has entered the Oxford English Dictionary and other major dictionaries (the Collins Dictionary defines it rather broadly as “any of a set of fictional robot-like creations that are aggressive, mobile, and produce rasping staccato speech”). It is also a trademark, having first been registered by the BBC in 1964 to protect its lucrative range of Dalek merchandise.
The term is sometimes used in a metaphorical sense to describe people, usually figures in authority, who act like robots unable to break their programming. John Birt, the controversial ex-Director-General of the BBC, was called a “croak-voiced Dalek” by playwright Dennis Potter in August 1993. The Daleks even appeared on a postage stamp celebrating British popular culture in 1999, photographed by Lord Snowdon. (via Wikipedia)
For some reason, the whole Narnia thing makes me think of the Bookworm Bitches site. The news is that this high quality themed hardcore video site now comes with a bunch of other sites for a high value megapackage. BookwormBitches is the only one of the bunch which really piques my interest, but I think it is nice that they are offering such a good deal.
The Vulvulator is similar to the subwoofer-based Soundfucker in that it is intended primarily for clitoral stimulation. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the nice folks at Fucking Machines take a woman’s needs into account in their engineering feats. Not every machine is just for penetration. Hence the Vulvulator.
Max RPM (vibration): N/A Horsepower: 1/16
Max RPM (revolution): 80 Stroke: N/A
Strengths: The Vulvulator is designed to work in conjunction with other fucking machines. Its sucking power combined with the stroke from other machines creates the ultimate fucking combination.
Weaknesses: Doesn’t penetrate.
Horror sexploitation splatter purveyers Sinerama have gotten their hands on a limited supply of the Dalek porno video. I mean, the Daloid porn flick. I am speaking, of course, of Abducted by Daloids. They have only changed some of the text on the page to say Daloid. Some still reads Dalek, but maybe they were not using a robotronic super search and replace, but were instead relying on fallible humans. Mores the pity. The pending litigation which I mentioned earlier may be the reason for the half-hearted name change from Daleks to Daloids. Sinerama describes this cinematic opus of litigation-bait as, “Abducted by the Daleks: Five years in the making and finally it’s here in a limited edition of just 1000 (numbered) discs. For obvious reasons this is going to become a very collectible item especailly with the resurgence in the interest in Dr.Who. The DVDs will be sold on an incremental basis (eg: Lowest number first). The disc contains a 56 minute main feature plus a 40 minute outake/alternative version plus a trailer . . . The story centers around three sexy young disco babes who have met the mysterious Anna. As they journey through the woods they discuss the legend of The Serial Skinner not knowing that they are already being observed by a more ambitious and ruthless species of Alien. WARNING: This film contains nudity and some strong scenes - especially in the second part of the feature. This film also contains some strobing effects.” Good thing they mentioned the strobe part. Are they worried that viewers will get seizures like kids watching a Japanese cartoon? Now that would be some humorous lawsuit action.
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