The viking saint, as liable to kill you as bless you; he wrought the miracle of the dice. One of my dissertation chapters (the longest one) was about him. Oh, those wacky medieval saints! [from The Broken Dice, and Other Tales of Mathematical Chance by Ivar Ekeland]
Tag: vikings
TOA/V: Valhalla Rising
Valhalla Rising (2009) Dir. Nicholas Winding Refn Mad Mikkelson, Gary Lewis, Maarten Stevenson, et. al. BBC Two showed this the other night and we DVR’d it. Medieval-ish and Mads: I was sold! Where did I know that director’s name from? Hmmm, oh yeah, Drive. A movie people loved and I didn’t. I am going to…
News Round Up
Yeeha! I’m allowed to use that because I have a Western coming out this week. Admittedly it’s a weird Western, but you wouldn’t expect any less of me, now would you? Some of you may be familiar with this story: now expanded into a stand alone novella. It still pokes at me to become the…
TOA/V: Volcano Saga
Thanks to Nicholas Currie (on Facebook, but he linked to his Tumblr site) I was delighted to see “Volcano Saga” yesterday. It’s a performance piece by Joan Jonas, whose fairytale-inspired installation “The Juniper Tree” I wrote about when it was at the Tate Modern. What could be more wonderful than bringing together two things I…
Orkney: Skara Brae
I didn’t get a picture of the seal who was bobbing up and down in the waves, but it was a sunny blustery day and I found Skara Brae very inspiring as well as fascinating. We had a lovely day there, including lunch in the café (mmmm, salmon). I was less interested in the manor…
Orkney: Maeshowe & John Rae
More on John Rae Maeshowe Official Site Be sure to drop by A Knife & A Quill to read my Allan’s latest review
Orkney: Birsay
Only accessible at low tide, the island of Birsay was a viking stronghold offering safety and seclusion and gorgeous views. It’s also John Peel Day: share the music by keeping it Peel!
Mediations on Hávamál 10-14
10. Byrði betri berr-at maðr brautu at en sé mannvit mikit; auði betra þykkir þat í ókunnum stað; slíkt er válaðs vera. 11. Byrði betri berr-at maðr brautu at en sé mannvit mikit; vegnest verra vegr-a hann velli at en sé ofdrykkja öls. 12. Er-a svá gótt sem gótt kveða öl alda sona, því at…
K. A. Laity 