shall we not

Thursday, January 26, 2006

no road left to ride

So, up at 7. Then a lift from my gracious housemate into town to get the train but he's running late so have to run for to the station. Argue with the giver of tickets and run again for my train, diving through the doors as they close. Arrival at Birmingham met by more running to catch connecting train. In office at 10 for supervision. No time to a) print off necessary stuff and b) go to the loo. Therefore, supervisors able to blind side me with discussion of the word winnowing and Jeremy Paxman which somehow ends up with me co-authoring a paper and re-learning French to deliver a paper in Lille. I think i prefered it when they weren't happy with my progress! Then teaching, tutoring and teaching (hopefully with time for a sandwich). Straight into a seminar and then the funner bit of my day: a Belle and Sebastian gig which i will have to leave to catch a 11.10 to Derby then get a connection to Sheffield. Eta home 2.30

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

kiss my cellulite free ass!

My current list of cds vying for my attention in February are:
Annie (DJ Kicks)
Fionna Apple
Architecture in Helsinki
Arctic Monkeys
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
Fall Out Boy
Garden State (soundtrack)
Gorillaz
New Pornographers
Secret Love (Jassanova compilation)
Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy

Alas, only two can be selected.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Lost and Safe

I've been thinking recently about identity and friends. I'm beginning to realise that i seem to be quite jealous and protective of the frienships that i have and once they're in a place i like i kind of expect them to stay in status quo (which they obviuosly they can't) and then get annoyed when they don't. Given tha the nature of my frienship groups is that they are distinct i'm uncomfortable when someone from one group bleeds into the other. This may be because i act differently in each group perceiving myself as having a different role so nervous of someone from one group seeing me 'out of character' or i'm worried that that group will end up the best of friends and exclude me. Now this is all very paranoid and over analytical on my part i know but it's how i feel. The obvious solution would be the same in all situation but i'm not sure how possible that is since i think you alter your behavour to accommodate the people you're with. Maybe you should just be the person God wants you to be but then i never find an answer like that particularly applicable in 'real life'.

On a completely unrelated point. My two January albums (Cat Power and Jenny Lewis) whilst being released tommorrow, Amazon only predicts them to be despatched on Thursday- bloody useless. I should have remembered that their pre-order service is lame.

Monday, January 16, 2006

reacher for the short

Some rather perfunctory statements:

  • I'm spending way too much money at the moment. For example, on saying this to my housemate on the way to Blockbuster i proceeded to leave the shop 5 dvds heavier and £25 lighter (Dig, Silver City, In Good Company, In My Father's Den and Mean Creek). It's annoying because i keep finding bargains like that (got a Fenchurch jumper for £10 on Thursday) but they also add up to equal a non bargain.
  • How holy am I? I went to church in the morning and the evening. I was even happy about it, joyous even.
  • I was reminded that i should go on holiday this year. Yes, yes i should.
  • Sunday has become a day for soup with one of the house cooking up a storm. This week, brocoli and stilton.
  • I like the fact i can waltz in and work happily in Hallam or Sheffield Uni libraries.
  • I love it when Arsenal play well.
  • OC has returned therefore, the world makes sesne again.
  • Embarassment has resulted in me buying a key chain after frequently misplacing my keys to have me then dream about keys and then remember in the middle of the night i left them in the back door. This should not happen to me. I am not an absent minded professor.
  • I'm reading Alice in Wonderland. I love the language and style of it, "My ears and whiskers I'm late."

Friday, January 13, 2006

hmmm slanty

Oscar season has well and truly arrived so i think the next month may well be spent in the cinema. So on Monday i went to watch Brokeback Mountain and then on Tuesday, Match Point and spent the rest of the week recovering. Having read the novella for Brokeback i was really looking forward to it but a little nervous it would have me sobbing away. I was a bit annoyed i knew so much about it as it spoils when the two get together as it comes out of no where. I thought it was a beautiful, melancholic film with no one having a happy ending but still great, especially the performances particularly Michelle Williams, Heath Ledger and Anne Hathway's hair. I love films with sparse dialogue but still conveying a lot of emotion (much like i try to be!) like Brokebak as a representation of the suspension of societal rules and norms etc...with the characters never able to get back there. I was a little disappointed about the amount of teasing i got from guys about seeing it though...

Conversely, Match Point i didn't know much about before i saw it and was frankly rather impressed. It genuinely unnerved me which is a rarity but it's odd to be so dawn to the fate of a very nasty lead character (who always looks evil). It was also quite a funny interpretation of British upper class so some was cringe funny in a 'let's go and see the Queen' type way whilst some was 'i could imagine someone saying that' funny. So a pleasant surprise.

Next week: Munich, Hidden (maybe) and Jarhead.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Yeah, in a creepy ironic way

Having recently started reading the newspaper alongside a friend it made me realise how poorly I utilise it. I tend to just read the headlines in the proper news section stopping if the article relates to my course (very rare) and then spending ages on the supplement be it G or T2. However, I am very proud of the fact that i've answered the last three Times Polygons in a row in under 10 seconds (but then if i can't see the answer quickly i can't do it at all). As my parents said over Christmas, "Sudoko is for people who can't use words." Anyway, i was always a Guardian man but have been increasingly finding it rather bitter, so had started going over to the dark side (The Times) especially given the shoddy nature of the Saturday Guardian (the Guide being the only good bit) but end up with the Observer attracted by the supplements even if the Food one never has a recipe i'll use and the Sport can be balnd. I was also thinking that i still like the The Friday Review in the Guardian but then i remembered that the film reviews can be very annoying only praising a film i it was shot by a one armed man filming through a yak in Sweedish telling the tale of deprivation and despair in Sidcup. So my friend reads the Independent, a paper i always want to like but feel slightly underwhelmed by. It also made me think about how i should post, should it be in a bullet point syle like many of the Independent fronts which can be a bit overwhelming or like a maundering Saturday column? Like a true academic i think i'll go for a bit of both.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

you go glenn coco!

1. Things called Munich
Two excellent things involving Munich this week namely the new Editors single with an ace cover of Stereolab's French Disko and free tickets to the film Munich which i've seen two reviews for both giving it 5 stars (Empire and Total Film)
2. Running (or staggering)
Went back to running yesterday and it seems like my lungs have been replaced by that of an overweight smoker in the space of only two weeks- lovely.
3. Work
is boring. I thought i'd be refreshed but nope.
4. Sleep
It's taking me ages to go to sleep and then proving very difficult to get up. It was 55 minutes today.
5. Good music makes you lose control
In breaks between trying to figure out what my PhD is about i've been doing a track listing for a cd.
6. New word to try and get into the thesis
bete noire- one that is particularly disliked.

Monday, January 02, 2006

trains, planes, automobiles (and a tram)

"So this is the new year and i don't feel any different"

After a bit of a blogging break for the festive period i have realised that it was about this time last year that i started blogging in the first place hence the decision to revert back to the earlier title which on reflection i prefer and reminds me i really should watch Mean Girls soon. Anyway some reflection on the season and coming new year:

1. Travel
Getting up to my parents new place was a bit of a mission. My sister had booked it so it involved getting over to her's in Nottingham, then a bus to the airport, then waiting around for a 40 minute plane journey which was to be fair very cool (especially coming back in blanket fog and having to land in a kind of oh look there's the runway 5 seconds before landing way) and made me realise i like flying, then being picked up from Edinburgh so it was a full day travelling. Next time i think i'll just get the train but my parent were annoyed when i explained my reluctance to do this on a weekend.

2. Beaches
Being at a new place for Christmas was strange but on the plus side we went for a walk on the beach after Christmas lunch (beef and roasted vegetables) and the Christmas church service was brilliant; short, accessible, thought provoking, everything St Toms should be. Was remarkable how much we slipped into old family habits though despite the new location. A sub list of excellent Christmas activites: 1. Watching all Season 6 of West Wing 2. Rum butter 3. Reading the Time Traveller's Wife whilst listening to Death Cab for Cutie on Christmas eve- one of those moments when life is beautiful.

3. Films
Disappointing Christmas films but buying Total Film for the train and returning home to Empire made me excited about the coming movies this year. Saw King Kong and Narnia- they were alright but my habit of watching odd films with my parents continues as my family decided to watch Virgin Suicides and Kissing Jessica Stein which i had bought in the HMV sale. So that's a lesbian rom-com and suicidal teenagers then which was greeted again by my dad saying "this is very odd Hugh" (he said the same when he insisted on watching Mullholland Drive with me)

4. New Year
Had a party at ours for new year and it was basically all of one set of friends as the other set were all doing other things. Was very nervous as i can hate new year but it was actually alright even though as it was at ours i would have liked to have gone to bed an hour earlier. Highlights included messing about with J(on) P's cd mixers (until we were interrupted by 12 o'clock), smoking cigars and watching fire works, watching the cornflake box game. Resolutions:
1. 2 cds a month (this month's contenders- Cat Power, Regina Spektor, Artic Monkeys, Annie, Secret Love, Garden State)
2. Try and be happier
3. Not to eat so much chocolate
4. Make a decision about my PhD
5. Beat Lol at squash

Also had a lovely 1st of January watching Firefly (the series that became Serentity) with Abigail and Rob then having tea at Kate and Gnomes.