Del.icio.us links for August 2nd through August 19th:
- Fabula and Syuzhet – The terms fabula and syuzhet came from Russian formalism – an influential school of literary criticism from the 1910s to 1930s. Russian formalism is distinctive for its emphasis on the functional role of literary devices and its original conception of literary history.
Tags: literarycriticism history formalism - Facts about civil and public services – PCS – While sections of the media and some politicians continue to try to blame the public sector for the country’s economic problems, the truth is that civil and public servants are as much the victims of the recession as other workers.To help challenge some of the common myths and misconceptions, we provide some facts and figures about public sector pay, pensions and jobs.
Tags: recession coalition publicspending - Does social security do nothing in reducing poverty? – One of the claims in Iain Duncan Smith’s Twenty-first Century Welfare really annoyed me when I first read it, and it has been niggling away at me ever since:
The welfare system has failed to tackle intergenerational disadvantage and poverty.
I suppose the reason I find this statement so annoying is that you come across it so often – after a century of social security, we still have poverty and inequality. So obviously social security/the welfare state is a failure.
This is a claim that fails to take into account what would happen if we didn’t have the welfare state.
Tags: welfare poverty classwar statistics analysis britain - Fist City on MySpace Music – Canadian garage-punk band.
Tags: band music - SKURVI on MySpace Music – Not very interesting punk rock from Brighton. Could be fun live though.
Tags: band music - 7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly) – “Let’s pretend for a moment that zombies are real (as if half of you weren’t already daydreaming about that very thing). Have you noticed how most zombie movies take place only after the apocalypse is in full-swing? By the time we join our survivors, the military and government are already wiped out, and none of the streets are safe.
There’s a reason the movie starts there, and not earlier. It’s because the early part, where we go from one zombie to millions, doesn’t make any sense. If you let the creeping buzzkill of logic into the zombie party, you realize the zombies would all be re-dead long before you even got a chance to fire up that chainsaw motorcycle you’ve been working on. Why?” Zombies: kinda crap.
Tags: zombies horror funny - Ask a real musician: 5 classic male metal singers – If you’re a singer, you should be following Claudia Friedlander’s blog. The classically-trained, New York-based voice teacher provides sage advice not only for singers for all types, but also for musicians and people in general.
Although at least one of her students sings metal, Friedlander knows virtually nothing about it. I wondered what she would think of some of metal’s most classic male singers – the foundation of the artform. It’s rare to find someone who isn’t familiar with any of these singers. Her perspective would be a fresh one, free of cultural baggage. I sent her five completely unidentified songs. Her comments are below. I have also included initial reactions she sent me immediately upon hearing the singers.
Tags: singing vocals music metal interesting