| This rant is brought to you by this weeks seminar readings... |
[08 Mar 2009|08:18pm] |
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music |
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Hold On - Neko Case |
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I hate the Holocaust. I suspect that this, in itself, is not an unpopular opinion. However, I specifically have Holocaust fatigue.
Apparently all my modules (across three different departments) have independantly concluded the Holocaust is the defining moment in 20th century modernity, and have proceded to shove it down our throats accordingly. This term alone I have studied Sophies Choice, Hannah Ardent, Lytoard's Auschwitz differend, Charlotte Delbo's concentration camp poetry, Frueds theories in regards to Nazi mentality, and I'm sure many more exciting things will follow...
I find it somewhat ironic that the Holocaust, universally acknowledged as an unspeakable act in History, has such a proliferation of writing about it.
Learning about the Holocaust is also making me a bad person. I was in Coventry city centre on Holocaust Memorial Day and they were having a rememberance parade. When I read one of the banners (6 Million Jews Dead) and realised what parade was for my automatic reaction was, 'fucking hell not the Jews again!' which, as you can imagine, did not go down very well!
Hitler ruined everything for everyone, damnit.
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| Oscars 2009 |
[23 Feb 2009|04:07pm] |
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Davils Dance Floor - Flogging Molly |
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God I haven't posted on this thing in fucking ages, I've been busy, busy, busy. However, now in an attempt to avoid writing an essay, some thoughts on the Oscars last night.
- They are always so long. Every year I think it'll be a breeze, 3 and a half hours, no problem! Staying up until 5am, sure I'll be able to go into uni in the morning. Yeah like that happened.
- Hugh Jackman's opening number was the gayest thing that ever Oscared. As such, it was amazing. I especially enjoyed him soulfully singing to Kate Winslet about swimming through excretement, the unabashedly shit Benjamin Button backdrop and Anne Hathaway (playing Richard Nixon, lol) hitting a ridiculously high note then headbanging. Bonus points for touching Mickey Rourke without getting crabs, and telling Meryl Streep she is on steroids without getting the drama queen eyebrow raise in return.
- Oh wait, the absolute BEST thing about the opening song and dance number was the Kraftwerkesque, 'The Reader, I haven't seen The Reader...' (because really who would want to see The Reader?)
- Regardless of Hugh Jackman's talents, I miss Jon Stewart in all his silver haired glory
- I really liked the way they presented the acting categories this year, using 5 previous winners to pay tribute to that night's nominees. Predictably it ended up with at least half the nominees in tears. There were also really entertaining montages of past winners before each acting award (seemingly every Supporting Actress that has ever won started her speech with, 'Oh my God')
- The floating camera constantly panning over the In Memorium segment gave me something akin to sea sickness.
- The set design was a little bit awkward I thought. I like the idea of a semi-circle auditorium, but the stage was so close to the first row of seating that Winslet, Streep, Penn, Jolie and Pitt probably got accidently spat on a few times
- In regards to the presenters: Jennifer Aniston (plus inevitable jump cut to Angelina), Jack Black, Will Smith, Jessica Biel - could have done without. The dude from Twilight is even whiter than I am, but Amanda Seyfried is gorgeous so she balanced him out. All the past winners (bar Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman's strange plastic head) get a big thumbs up. Everytime Christopher Walken speaks I wish he would be my crazy, mildly threatening, uncle. Tina Fey looked amazing in her sparkly concotion, plus she and Steve Martin brought the funny.
- The kissing scenes from Milk were shown several times and nobody in the Bible Belt states burst into flames.
- My favourite montage was the Apatow written bit where James Franco and Seth Rogen got stoned and watched various movies. Is this version of Take a Chance On Me (I swear I have some sort of Mamma Mia sickness) not genius?
It stars James Bond
And the chick from Doubt
And that girl fom Mean Girls
And that Irish guy
I think he's in Gangs of New York, I'm not sure
Take a Chance on meee....
...(still singing) Orlando Bloom's Dad in Pirates of the Carribbean!
That's it, Take a chance on meeeee
- Fashion wise no one looked spectacularly awful, which is disappointing because I always love at least one cracked out, 'Bijork wears a swan,' moment, Amy Adams did have a huge bejewelled necklace on that clashed with everything. Oh and Tilda Swinton looked like a Rivita cracker, but that's pretty normal for her. Kate Winslet's dress loked like someone had sown her net curtains into it, but oddly it worked. Meryl Streep managed to flip her fashion coin and land on elegant, rather than kooky 1970s bag lady. Angelina Jolie (in black splt upto her lady parts and beautiful green earrings) and Anne Hathaway (sparkly mermaid) both looked fantastic. My favourite was Marion Cotillard who wore basically a full length black/blue embroidered tulle tutu. It was much nicer than that sounds.
Who cares what the boys wore?
- I loved when the curtains didn't upon at the beginning and you heard one of the tech guys hiss, 'open the curtains Steve!'
- The Winners I can't comment on too throughly as I am the only person left in Britain who hasn't seen Slumdog Millionaire. In regards to what I have seen:
- I am glad Milk won best orginal screenplay, although In Bruges pulling the upset would have been brilliant (I also love that the only clip they could find of In Bruges without any swearing was about 2 seconds long). I am happy Wall E won animated film and amazed that Waltz with Bashir did not win foreign film.
- I have not seen Vicky Christy Barcelona (Woody Allen aversion) but I have heard Penelope Cruz was very good in it and I am as amenable to her winning as anyone else. Of course Heath Legder won, he deserved it but can we now let the whole thing go? Hate Sean Penn, but thought he was excellent in Milk plus he seems to be developing a sense of humour about himself in his middle age.
- The Best Actress cluster fuck - well Kate Winslet won as expected. I love her body of work (and body full stop - inappropriate comment) but I saw The Reader yesterday and I wish feverently that she hadn't won for that. Just an offensive film and a horribly overacted performance. Sure Meryl Streep overacts all over Doubt, but that seemed to work in the more theatrical context of that film. I would have given it to Anne Hathaway, which believe me I never thought I'd say because she always reminded me more of a horse than a human being. I firmly believe they gave that award to Kate because she was way overdue in wins to nominations ratio (0 for 5). Which just creates problems down the line when the inevitable happens in a few years and Winslet puts in an incredible, deserving performance. This will promptly be ignored bcause the voters have realised Streep hasn't won in a zillion years and they need to bestow the Queen of Oscars with something before she dies.
- I'm sad Jai Ho beat O Saya in original song, but GO TEAM BOLLYWOOD!
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| Owsies |
[05 Nov 2007|08:01pm] |
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mood |
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pained |
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Aisha - Death in Vegas |
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So I MAY have slipped and fallen over whilst having a water fight last night. I MAY have pulled all the muscles in my lower back whilst doing so. As a result I have definately discovered that back injuries are the most excruciating pain known to man kind.
I can only lie down or stand stock still, anything in between is agony. I've had a terrible glimpse into my future as an arthritic old lady. Or one of those pregnant women who walks around with their hands on the small of their back all the live long day.
ETA: Essay writing after two years of doing fuck all is almost as painful as crippling yourself whilst being juvenile with tap water. I've written two 2,500 word essays this weekend and I have one to go. They are all unequivocably awful. I would feel sorry for myself, but for the fact that most of my old school friends are writing their dissertations this year so are in a far worse circle of hell than I.
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| Well it was going to happen sooner or later... |
[25 Oct 2007|07:48pm] |
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I have such a crush on one of my tutors. Oh dear. She's so pretty and intelligent and funny and young (only 23!)and, and...
I haven't had a crush for years. I feel like I'm 12 years old again (not that I ever thought about doing my seminar tutor when I was twelve ;))
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| Crispy pancakes |
[23 Oct 2007|04:27pm] |
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mood |
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 nostalgic |
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Standing in the way of control - The Gossip |
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I was reading Davis Mitchell's latest novel (Black Swan Green) which is a nostalgia trip, set in 1983. Anyway his protaganist mentioned crispy pancakes. God damn if I hadn't forgotten about crispy pancakes and the inevitable feeling that you were eating an undercooked, greasy dough covered with gravel.
I now really want to poison myself with a crispy pancake.
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| I is fucked off |
[14 Oct 2007|10:58pm] |
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mood |
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 aggravated |
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You see this is how it goes;
Josh, 'loves,' Aimee, Aimee flirts with Will, Will likes Kim, Kim sends jealous looks to Aimee, Josh leaves heartbroken, Aimee goes to bed (flirted out for the day), Kim and Will procede to stir the pot of innuendo in the kitchen. Rinse and Repeat.
I meanwhile would love it if my kitchen would stop being a badly acted scene from Hollyoaks. I got in at 5am this morning, have had very little sleep and would like the teenage theatrics to end right now.
Also it would be fantastic if the females in my flat could learn to have a conversation with a boy without disengaging brain matter and turning on giggly bimbo to insufferable levels.
Thank you, goodnight.
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[03 Oct 2007|10:56am] |
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 happy |
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I get around - Dragonette |
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So I'm at Warwick university now and it's all very strange. I have to go to a seminar in half an hour so I'm going to do this in condensed form. Or maybe I'm just illiterate these days;
The Good
- My flatmates are lovely. There are 5 of us on the floor that actually talk to each other and everyone is a sweetheart. It's also a very international floor. We have one English girl and boy, 3 guys from Hong Kong, a girl from Turkey and a girl from Greece. Plus me with my very strange hybrid of an accent.
- My course looks fucking awesome. I'm doing 2 History modules, The Making of the Modern World and The History of the Novel (chosen for it's English Lit skew), an Introduction to Film module and a Modes of Reading module from the English department. I may go blind from reading so much/watching so many films but it should be worth it.
- Campus itself is beautiful (we have a lake and geese outside our window, I'm happy) and big enough to not feel claustraphobic
- I have the option of doing a year in America next year
- I'm starting to meet people from my various courses now, which brings a bit of variety into my life.
The Bad
- Following on from above, beacuse I'm doing modules in 3 different departments it is abnormally difficult to meet people who haven't already formed little subject cliques.
- My resisdence is a million miles (slight exaggeration) from the centre of campus. It is also a postgraduate residence, bar 50 undergraduates, so is somewhat quiet and unsociable.
- I haven't met anyone one I've really clicked with yet. I've been somewhat spoilt in the past because I've met people I've got on with exceptionally well very early on in my travels to PGL/Canada. This is not given me the art of patience and friendship building. Saying that, the people on my floor are perfectly lovely they're just more friends by situation than shared interest at the moment.
( I'm fairly sure I'm going to have to list my last years reading/film watching for class. So in the interest of getting it all in one place. )
( And finally, some rambling about American TV )
And now I'm going to stop being a dork and actually do some work
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| Listomatic |
[11 Sep 2007|12:27am] |
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mood |
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 bored |
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Toccata and Fugue - Vanessa Mae |
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As ever I will use lj as a dumping place for pointless lists in the middle of the night.
Things to keep me happy/at least occupied in cold, grey England in the weeks proceeding the entertainment that is university
1. Seeing all the peoples again. My family I am already sick of, my friends I know I will have more of a stomach for.
2. Switching back to a UK sleeping pattern. It is not fun but it is necessary. I view it as a sort of marathon, an endurance test between my concious thought and my eyelids to see which can stay open for longer.
3. Contemplating how awesome, 'The Penelopiad,' is going to be at the Theatre Royal. I thought I had missed the adaptation of Atwood's book, as it was starting it's theatre run in Ottawa just as I was leaving. However it is coming to Newcastle. Oh heavenly days.
4. 'The Brave One.' I thought Jodie Foster's new film didn't open here until January, I was wrong. Two weeks baby. Two weeks until Jodie Foster gays up a tank top and a gun.
5. Hunting down as many Amitabh Bachchan movies as possible. Oh Amitabh you have drawn me into Bollywood with your sexy, silver bearded ways. I would also like to see Chak de India again. Oh my flatmates in Warwick are going to get sick of Bollywood soooo quickly.
6. Snakebite
7. American Fall TV. I am looking forward to downloading the following and watching them in varying crappy color on my laptop:
a) The Emmy awards. Come on 30 Rock! I hope neither the Black Crusaders nor the powerful bread lobby thwart your success. Or you know, The Office.
b) On that note - new season of 30 Rock. It doesn't start until Oct 4th, how will I survive without Tina Fey on my tv every week until then?
c) Desperate Housewives with Dana Delaney. I had lost all interest in DH until I read they had cast Dana Delaney as the new neighbour. Delaney vs. Cross. Steely redheaded joy!
d) CSI premiere. It just looks so awesomely dramatic. Sara captured by a psychopath under a car! Drowning! With a bone crunchingly broken arm! And a coyote! The only thing more awesome than that is the prospect of Grissom crying. And also Marg Helgenberger flipping her hair in slow motion angst.
8. Sorting out my hair. This dead animal on my head needs hair dye badly. And possibly conditioning.
9. Researching good tattoo places in the UK. Because there sure as hell aren't any in Newcastle.
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| OH I found the card, they're from your Mom...so tell your gay Mom I said thanks |
[23 Feb 2007|07:47am] |
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mood |
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excited |
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music |
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Down by the Water - PJ Harvey |
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List of things to do in Canada/USA:
- Get a job and have money (the boring things first...)
- Pick up a cool Canadian accent so that when I come home I say aboot
- Find some sort of Magaret Atwood museum and read all the Atwood books I haven't read yet
- Try to catch a Stevie Nicks and Tori Amos gig whilst I'm in North America (sidenote: eeeeep for Tori's new album and Stevie's Best Of! No eeeeeps for the fact that as of now Tori is touring the UK, not America, whilst I am in the Americas, not the UK)
- Eat my weight in Lucky Charms
- Go to at least 3 Canadian cities (Toronto, Ottawa and ?)
- Stalk New York city in the hope that I'll spot any SNL or Law and Order cast member
- Failing that, go to New York and nerd out in front of the 30 Rock building and Friends exterior shot locations
- Convince the Canadian music industry to release the Racoons theme tune as a chart toppng single
- Don't die or get AIDS (my Mum is convinced I'm going to get some horrible STI in Canada)
- Actually learn something (anything!) about Canadian politics and some history beyond, 'Canada is made up of a bunch of immigrants.'
- Buy a laptop
- Buy lots of cheap clothes whilst the £ is strong against the Canadian $ (then have to pay ridiculous amounts when my baggage is way over limit)
- Sing, 'Oh Canada,' on Canada day in Canada (bonus points if Mel and Shut Up are there)
TBC as I think of more...
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| This is untoward, this is NOT toward |
[27 Jan 2007|08:02pm] |
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mood |
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 blah |
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Melacine - Stevie Nicks |
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It amuses me greatly that DFS now has lesbians in it's sofa ads. Equality in home decor for all!
I have a job for a month. I will be working in a call centre for the local city council. I know it is hard to detect intonation in typing, but lets just say I am sarcastically thrilled about this work.
I whine too much.
My godmother offered me £6,000 on Friday. I don't know how to begin to process this offer.
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| How DARE you Liz Lemon, I'm not on time for work - I'm just on a bacon run. |
[22 Jan 2007|02:00am] |
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 tired |
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Diagnosis Murder |
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Oh my poor neglected lj. I really don't have anything to say on here anymore. Consider this an extended, none sensical eulogy.
I'm going back to PGL. Just for 2 months ('catch her for a limited time only...') whilst I wait for my back logged Canadian visa to come through. But yeah, looking after children whilst singing songs about the Crazy Moose, drinking too much snake bite, singing Total Eclipse of the Heart out of tune repeatedly, sleeping on other people's floors, not really sleeping that much at all - here I come for two months. I go mid February and plan to fly to Canada mid April. I am insanely excited about seeing all my PGL people again, if my fucking visa would just come through I would be excited about going to the land of Mel and Maple Syrup also.
I wish I could sleep right now. On the other hand my Dad has taped 24 episodes of, 'Diagnosis Murder,' and I have found this holy grail of a tape. I may just embrace insomnia and watch many, many hours of Dick Van Dyke whilst loading up my icons page with far too many, '30 Rock,' icons.
It's not as if I have to get up tomorrow and go searching for a 3 week job or anything. (where the hell is the vertical line key on this keyboard so I can make the wry blank faced emoticon dude?)
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| High on the hill lived a lonely goat |
[21 Nov 2006|08:33pm] |
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mood |
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 productive |
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music |
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Here it comes again - ? |
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Call to all Sacred Hearters...I served Mr Robinson in WH Smiths today. It made me laugh. He had no idea who I was and thought I was just laughing at his buck teeth and pinky ring. Which was actually fairly accurate about 5 years ago.
On a general note, Gwen Stefani's, 'Wind it Up,' is the worst thing that has happened to music since Madonna started wearing leotards.
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| Why do all good things come to an end? (ah melodrama) |
[19 Nov 2006|08:17pm] |
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mood |
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 okay |
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music |
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Attitude - Suede |
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And I'm back at home. And I'm starting sentences with 'and,' clearly my grammar has had it's final hole shot through it over the summer. It is very strange to be at home. I liken it to a uni holiday to anybody who asks (as in this is just a 'pitstop' before I hopefully head off to Canada next Feb) but really it is not at all. With university I am imagine there is some sense of continuity, you have started a new life and you know you will return after summer. With PGL I started a new life but chances are I won't see the majority of people I met there ever again. Thinking about that makes me sad.
I got used to seeing a bunch of people (Mel, Mike, Cat, Shells and the dutchies in summer. Then Sarah, Milli, Jan, Chris and Lee in Autumn) everyday and it is sometimes lonely without them.
I would like to have friends from PGL that are a bit closer to me than Canada, S. Africa or Southampton (which admittedly at least is in the same country) to just go out for pizza with once in a while. It's fun telling my PGL stories to other people but they don't really GET it.
All in all though I am alright.I've slipped back into old patterns at home, which is strange. It has hard to get all my PGL stuff into my room when I got home, like merging two lives together - in the end I had to throw out a load of stuff from school/the days of internet obsession (ahh fun times!) but I don't really mind.
I got a Christmas temp job in Wh Smith the week after a came back (the first week was spent being ill and sleeping. My liver took a battering over the last 6 months that I don't think it will ever quite recover from ;)) It is, 'stab myself in the eye,' boring but it's money so I can't complain too much. I've come to the conclusion that I was totally spoilt at school, because I actually like studying I've never really had to experience 7 hours of consecutive boredom until now.
Went out with Becca and Rachel yesterday. We made a dead hedgehog out of chips and ketchup! I love Becca and Rachel, those girls make me smile.
I applied for uni again whilst I was away also. I've applied for history (the subject I really should have been doing all along) in 4 places - Manchester, St Andrews, Warwick and York. So far I've had unconditional offers from York and Manchester. To be honest I'm only really interested in going to York or Warwick. I like York as a place much more but the course at Warwick suits me better (I've applied for a joint honors 'History and Culture,' degree - which basically means I can do history with a splash of English, Film Studies and Geography) - so I'm waiting on a yay or nay from Warwick then I can decide.
After that non-sequitor style of an entry I would like to dedicate it to my not forgotten friend Ez. I wrote you a limerick.
There was was a girl named Erica
Nothing rhymes with Erica.
The End :)
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