Csenge Virág Zalka's Blog, page 4

December 31, 2024

338 earworms

This was my 6th year noting the songs stuck in my head every morning, and once again, here are the statistics. This is my own internal version of Spotify Wrapped...2018: I woke up with an earworm 306 mornings, featuring 150 different songs (post here)2019: 316 mornings, 137 songs (post here)2020: 346 mornings, 149 songs (post here)2021: 312 mornings, 124 songs (post here)2022: 313 mornings, 129
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Published on December 31, 2024 01:53

December 29, 2024

2024: Award-winning TV shows of the year (according to me)

Continuing my end-of-the-year retrospective with TV series. This year was definitely better than the last in terms of good shows. I watched about the same amount (65, although I didn't finish all of them), but somehow I ran into a lot more well done, likable, and memorable stories.Let's see the completely subjective list of imaginary awards:Absolute Favorite of the YearAgatha All AlongMarvel
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Published on December 29, 2024 04:48

December 27, 2024

2024: The best books of the year

As usual, I am taking a look back at this year's most memorable reads. 2024 wasn't an easy ride; I lost track of a lot of things and felt permanently exhausted. Still, reading on my lunch break, of before bed, was very good for my mental health. So I kept reading.Statistics: I finished 94 books this year, with a total of almost 17,000 pages. It is less than last year or the year before, but that
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Published on December 27, 2024 06:35

October 8, 2024

Folktales for Election Time

There are always elections happening somewhere, decisions being made in all kinds of manners. But since the US elections is being followed all around the world (and I have family and friends in the US), it seemed appropriate to post this now. I gathered a short list of folktales and legends that might be useful when a storyteller is engaging in conversations of choices, leadership, and democracy.
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Published on October 08, 2024 00:58

September 19, 2024

Girl in the Chair: The Storyteller and the Bateleur, or, why researching animal tales is worth it

As I have mentioned before, I am busy working on my next folktale collection, focusing on animal tales. I have done a whole lot of research in the past year, making a long list of stories - and animal species - I would love to include. Right now, I am translating, retelling, and polishing the tales one by one, in writing and in telling. The latest one provided me with a bit of a research
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Published on September 19, 2024 00:51

August 9, 2024

Girl in the chair: Luck, research, and wolves

It has been a while since I last did a Girl in the Chair in-depth research post. Incidentally, that one had also been about wolves. Yesterday I went deep down into a rabbit hole, and this time, luck played an important part in the process. So I decided to write down the play-by-play, to show what an adventure research can be.It all started with trying to find folktales where the wolf is a
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Published on August 09, 2024 04:45

July 10, 2024

Important questions, great discussions: FEST 2024, Glasgow

This year's FEST (Federation for European Storytelling) conference took place in Glasgow, organized by representatives from four nations: Scottish, Irish, English, and Welsh. They created a great program in collaboration, running parallel to The Village Storytelling Festival with all its marvelous events.Fun fact: this was my 10th FEST conference! I attended in 2009 for the first time. Even more
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Published on July 10, 2024 02:50

April 30, 2024

2024 A to Z Challenge Reflections - and Theme Reveal

 I adore the A to Z Blogging Challenge, but this year was just not kind to me over the course of April. A bunch of work and family stuff happened in rapid succession, which means that I was mostly distracted by being on the struggle bus - and almost completely fell out of visiting other blogs. Which makes me sad, because I saw and bookmarked so many great themes this year! I only completed
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Published on April 30, 2024 15:00

April 29, 2024

Z is for Zaddy (Romance Tropes in Folklore)

This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.THE TROPEThat's it, I'm officially done :D I managed to get through April, and I scheduled all these posts by March 31st! I might be scraping a
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Published on April 29, 2024 15:00

April 28, 2024

Y is for Years of waiting (Romance Tropes in Folklore)

This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.THE TROPEThere are romances where one party has to wait for the other for a long time before they can be reunited in love. Sometimes, they have to
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Published on April 28, 2024 15:00