#gesta asnacorum

[finnlongman]

I'm excited to be helping out with some of the ASNC induction teaching this year, because it means I get to meet the new baby ASNaCs, sometimes I didn't get to do the last two years. Taking bets on the chances that some of them know of me from the internet...

[donn-nimhe]

adventures in reading critical essays at 1am

[finnlongman]

Finn I’m laughing so hard. I just looked up the knight of the cart on goodreads and the first thing that came up was your wonderful review or it from 2015(?)

Ahaha, yes, I periodically get notifications that somebody’s ‘liked’ that review, I suspect it will never die. If you can even call it a review. It’s really more of a summary. I suspect it was written very late at night, since that’s usually when I was reading for essays. A copy of it actually ended up in our department’s student-run magazine at one time -- the same issue that spawned Hamiltáin (or, the Táin Duel Commandments...).

Come to think of it, a lot of my more questionable essay notes made it into that volume.

Anyway it looked like this:

Like I said. Probably written at about 2am. Still accurate, though.

[finnlongman]

On the one hand, I really like making videos about texts I translated as an undergrad, rather than relying on someone else's translation, because it means I understand them on a different level and have put a lot of time and thought (literally months of work) into them before I even start writing my script.

On the other hand, my undergrad self was... well. Firstly, not as good at Old Irish as I would have liked, and secondly, prone to leaving random gaps in the middle of translations when I missed a class or something.

Cue me staring at an incomprehensible paragraph and trying to figure out what on earth is going on.

Also, my grammar notes look like this:

"Toffond is verbal noun of do.sleinn because THAT MAKES SENSE" I felt that in my soul

[finnlongman]

The first in a new series of videos in which I retell medieval Irish stories! Today I'm tackling Tochmarc Étaíne, although because it's a chunky text, I didn't manage to cover the whole thing in one video and the rest will be following in a couple of days. I hope.

Featuring overdramatic hand gestures, a few mangled pronunciations, and me being 3000% done with the Dagda at all times.

[finnlongman]

This is a mind map I made while prepping for my first year exams and I LOVE the topics I've highlighted as being things I know about for Irish: "Cú Chulainn / the Táin", "women", and "euhemerisation".

Why yes, gender, gods, and my eldritch monster son ARE my main interests, how did you guess?

Anyway what I'm saying is, I've been extremely on-brand for several years now.

[finnlongman]

Now that the latest issue of Gesta Asnacorum is out in the world department, I can finally share with you my favourite contribution:

I honestly should've seen this coming when I asked for contributions on the theme of medieval (b)romances immediately after a conversation about Chuck Tingle...

Anyway, this is one of those niche jokes that a lot of people won't get but if you do: this one's for you. Enjoy.

[finnlongman]

This is... a really dark metaphor for academic progress. I'm a little concerned.