Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Friday, 16 October 2009
This posting marlarky is a bit less regular than I thought.
So it's over a week since my last post, that's not particularly good blogging is it? Or procrastination for that matter. Been too distracted by other forms of digital distraction.
First week of teaching since term started, and I've surprised every time how different it can be. My tutorial on Wednesday was awful, probably because there was more students in it than there was meant to be, and I'd had a late night on Tuesday (more on that later). Then today I had a really nice group, who hadn't prepared quite as much as they were supposed to have, but nevertheless it was fine. 2 more next week, I've never taught this course before, so I'll be cribbing right up to the last minute on those ones.
Tuesday I went to London to see Kevin Smith, and I enjoyed it immensely. Very funny guy. If you think about it too hard, it's kinda weird to pay £35+ for a ticket to see a man answer questions, but it really was worth it. It's like going to see a good comedian, except you know that all the stories are true, and the audience really dictates the material. I don't think he told any stories I had heard before, which was good, as that would be annoying considering I could have watched the DVDs at home.
I've read this week:
Marg posing for playboy
I knew something didn't feel right about this when I first heard about it. It is a little creepy, but is it all just fun? I can't help but feel uneasy about it. But people use the "gut reaction" arguement for a whole heap of things I do agree with (gay marriage, animal drug testing) so I can't just rely on that. I understand what this article is talking about, with Marg as this strong female role model, potentially a hero to some. But ultimately we are talking about a fictional character, and these pictures a bunch of lines and colour. I don't see how anyone would get off on them, but I do see that their inclusion may encourage younger buyers and therefore they would see the rest of the content. I think they should have a strict age limit on it, with all shops enforcing it, therefore limiting its availability to those who are not old enough for porn. But for the rest of us, it is a free world.
The potential end of Simon Singh's BCA problems?
I don't see why he wouldn't threaten to countersue. Wouldn't it save time and money? But then, if he won the original case, the BCA would get loads of bad press, which is perhaps worth it? Not being a risk-taker myself, I would take the easy way out.
I've seen (last week):
Fermat's Room
I loved it! The film is only 89 minutes long, yet it took me and a friend about 2 and a half hours to watch - we were constantly pausing and talking about the mathmatical problems, trying to work them out for ourselves... we generally didn't suceeed, and then had to pause it again to go over the solutions, trying to commit them to memory but failing dismally... but I really did love it.
I'm looking forward to:
Zombieland
I heart Jessie Eisenberg.
Research Progress:
Very little. Too much teaching to prepare for, and reading to catch up on. Hope to do some EMSAs, maybe today but probably next week, but have a sneaky suspision that the radioactivity will be too decayed. Still need to work out what I'm doing with my last year. Not good.
That'll do.
First week of teaching since term started, and I've surprised every time how different it can be. My tutorial on Wednesday was awful, probably because there was more students in it than there was meant to be, and I'd had a late night on Tuesday (more on that later). Then today I had a really nice group, who hadn't prepared quite as much as they were supposed to have, but nevertheless it was fine. 2 more next week, I've never taught this course before, so I'll be cribbing right up to the last minute on those ones.
Tuesday I went to London to see Kevin Smith, and I enjoyed it immensely. Very funny guy. If you think about it too hard, it's kinda weird to pay £35+ for a ticket to see a man answer questions, but it really was worth it. It's like going to see a good comedian, except you know that all the stories are true, and the audience really dictates the material. I don't think he told any stories I had heard before, which was good, as that would be annoying considering I could have watched the DVDs at home.
I've read this week:
Marg posing for playboy
I knew something didn't feel right about this when I first heard about it. It is a little creepy, but is it all just fun? I can't help but feel uneasy about it. But people use the "gut reaction" arguement for a whole heap of things I do agree with (gay marriage, animal drug testing) so I can't just rely on that. I understand what this article is talking about, with Marg as this strong female role model, potentially a hero to some. But ultimately we are talking about a fictional character, and these pictures a bunch of lines and colour. I don't see how anyone would get off on them, but I do see that their inclusion may encourage younger buyers and therefore they would see the rest of the content. I think they should have a strict age limit on it, with all shops enforcing it, therefore limiting its availability to those who are not old enough for porn. But for the rest of us, it is a free world.
The potential end of Simon Singh's BCA problems?
I don't see why he wouldn't threaten to countersue. Wouldn't it save time and money? But then, if he won the original case, the BCA would get loads of bad press, which is perhaps worth it? Not being a risk-taker myself, I would take the easy way out.
I've seen (last week):
Fermat's Room
I loved it! The film is only 89 minutes long, yet it took me and a friend about 2 and a half hours to watch - we were constantly pausing and talking about the mathmatical problems, trying to work them out for ourselves... we generally didn't suceeed, and then had to pause it again to go over the solutions, trying to commit them to memory but failing dismally... but I really did love it.
I'm looking forward to:
Zombieland
I heart Jessie Eisenberg.
Research Progress:
Very little. Too much teaching to prepare for, and reading to catch up on. Hope to do some EMSAs, maybe today but probably next week, but have a sneaky suspision that the radioactivity will be too decayed. Still need to work out what I'm doing with my last year. Not good.
That'll do.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Here goes nothing... Blood Red Shoes
So, I've tried to write a first post at least 4 times now, and failed miserably each time, editing and re-editing till my nerve disappears and I delete the whole thing. I've even considered deleting the page itself, but I can't work out how to do that either, so rather than leave an empty page, I'm just gonna write something. Anything. My finger is creeping towards the delete button... No! I will not. And as I'm just starting the final year of my phd, the procrastination is most definitely welcome.
So the point of starting this was because of something that happened the other day, but when I tried to write about it, it just didn't sound like me. So I deleted it. Naturally.
So I'll tell it as straight as I can (difficult). I LOVE it when the music playing into your ears, whether it be from a mp3 player, radio, or a passing car, matches your mood, or what your doing, in a way that feels like a movie soundtrack (I also love movie soundtracks. Particularly Tarantino. But I digress). I live near the sea, and I was walking to the supermarket at the marina with my headphones blaring. As I turned the corner where I first see the sea, Blood Red Shoes "It's Getting Boring By The Sea" started playing. It's got these brilliant razor-like guitars at the start, then racing drums, and it matched the mood of the sea, which was almost crashing through the marina walls. It was the first real autumnal day I'd been out in this year, and its definitely my favourite type of weather - not too hot, but sunny, with a real wind up on the seafront.
The song resonates, cos sometimes I am fed up of this town, but when I see the water like that, I realise I'm not ready to move quite yet.
Listen to it LOUD:
So the point of starting this was because of something that happened the other day, but when I tried to write about it, it just didn't sound like me. So I deleted it. Naturally.
So I'll tell it as straight as I can (difficult). I LOVE it when the music playing into your ears, whether it be from a mp3 player, radio, or a passing car, matches your mood, or what your doing, in a way that feels like a movie soundtrack (I also love movie soundtracks. Particularly Tarantino. But I digress). I live near the sea, and I was walking to the supermarket at the marina with my headphones blaring. As I turned the corner where I first see the sea, Blood Red Shoes "It's Getting Boring By The Sea" started playing. It's got these brilliant razor-like guitars at the start, then racing drums, and it matched the mood of the sea, which was almost crashing through the marina walls. It was the first real autumnal day I'd been out in this year, and its definitely my favourite type of weather - not too hot, but sunny, with a real wind up on the seafront.
The song resonates, cos sometimes I am fed up of this town, but when I see the water like that, I realise I'm not ready to move quite yet.
Listen to it LOUD:
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)