Morning Medieval Miscellany

I've had lots to write of late, but no chance to do it. Tonight I'm scheduled to be on the Geekerati radio program (where we'll be talking about Christmas fantasy) and I'm supposed to be writing the keynote address for the Areopagus Lectures in Orlando this February, so I've got lots of things flitting about my head, pestering to be blogged about.

The good news is that I haven't written much lately because I was getting my computer upgraded. The bad news is that the sound doesn't work on it now, so that's what I've been doing with all my free time -- loading applications, patching applications, and trying to get the sound working.

Here are a few things I almost missed:

• Mark Bauerlein has an article entitled "What We Owe the New Critics" (unfortunately behind the Chronicle's subscription firewall). It strikes me that in my post "Reading Medieval Allegory," where I accuse the New Critics of having failed to work properly with allegory. Though I stand by that assessment, I might have accidentally cast them in the role of villains. I hope this link corrects that a bit.
• Speaking of the "Reading Medieval Allegory" post, it sparked a number of comments in "Allegory in the Voyage of St. Brendan," "Dr. Nokes Pronounces" over at Modern Medieval, and "A Few Thoughts for a Chilly Saturday Morning," which also has lots of other bits and pieces.
• The Folger is performing "The Second Shepherds' Play" -- with puppet sheep! Slouching Towards Extimacy has a detailed and positive review, in which he writes, "I enjoyed nearly every minute of it, and I think they did an incredible job of keepin’ it medieval while still making it accessible to the general public."
• The Anglo-Saxon Studies Colloquium Spring 2008 schedule is available at Old English in New York.
• Jeff Sypeck has an obituary for Bernard Scudder, an Icelandic translator you've never heard of, but should.
• Speaking of Sypeck, his excellent book Becoming Charlemagne is now available in paperback. It's listed at $13.95, $11.86 after the discount.
• Need a job? Dr. Virago tells us of a medieval lit job at University of Michigan - Flint.
• Scribal Terror sends us to an article about a heraldic lion that has been, er, altered. My favorite quote: "'We were forced to cut the lion’s willy off with the aid of a computer,' Christian Braunstein, from the Tradition Commission of the Swedish Army, said."
• Finally, everyone (including Stan Cynedom, Old English in New York, and In the Middle) has been linking to the video below, in which Eddie Izzard tries to buy a cow in Old English.