I thought I'd use today's blog to sing my praise about my generic mp3 player. Why? Because the battery ran out today as I was walking to Uni, and it was a very quiet walk because of this.
If anything my mp3 player is perfect technology for me: it's small and fits easily into my back pocket; although it doesn't have the street snazz of an IPod, it is far less complicated (I feel) to operate; and I can easily change the tracklistings on it any time I want. Being picky I like to put the songs in a certain order, so I'll admit that this takes up more time to do - but that's my fault and not my generic mp3 player's.
What's interesting is that I vividly remember the last song I heard on my little blue music box: it was "Learning To Breathe" by Nerina Pallot, an artist I have often recommended to my friends, who unfortunately does not exactly have the large selling numbers she totally deserves. this song in particular is a jolly, optimistic little number, quite fitting to hear just as you cross the road and enter the property of Winchester University. Unlike "Everybody's Gone To War", her most famous song, sadly 'popped' up by her record company with a heavier drum beat than I feel is needed, it sounds fresher and, let's face it, less commercial. In my opinion this makes it excellent music to listen to for a student - or a stereotypical student at least.
What is even spookier though is that my generic mp3 player seems to read my mind and play songs that befit my mood at the time. For example, the other day I was walking back after a long, tiring day of working in the library on the too-depressing-enough-already FYP project, and I really felt like I needed a slow, quiet song: hey presto, the next song played is "Pyramid Song", a beautiful, haunting number by Radiohead. How we survived without these little beauties I'll never know.
Laters.
Wednesday 26 September 2007
Tuesday 25 September 2007
FYP Fallout
It was perhaps rather ironic that the film the CU chose to watch for our Movie Night towards the end of last week's Fresher Week was Reign Over Me. This is very much a post-9/11 film, and one I shall no doubt be writing a little about in my Final Year Project on 9/11 and its effects on culture.
Adam Sandler plays Charlie, a guy whose wife and daughters were on one of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. Don Cheadle plays a dentist who was Charlie's college roommate - happily married but with obviously something missing in his life. It is a story of how they rescue each other from their misery.
Get it? Got it? Good.
In all fairness it was a pretty good movie; I actually really enjoyed it. Sure, it was a bit depressing in some places, (in fact in some places it was a lot depressing), but some great acting from Sandler, who surprised me, (having not seen Punch Drunk Love yet), and Cheadle, who I've seen enough of to know is a pretty decent actor.
The one sort of niggling feeling I have though is this, and here's where my FYP really begins to infiltrate my everyday life: does 9/11 really have a place in this film? Is it necessary for it to be a plot device? Surely Charlie's family could have been killed in any accident, and it would still work really well, becoming much more of a study about post-traumatic depression. In fact, 9/11 here is arguably treated rather like this kind of accident: a tragic event that unfortunately happens on a daily basis.
9/11 was NOT a car crash. I've already seen and read enough about it to know that it changed our world forever. And although Reign Over Me is a good film, I enjoyed it and I recommend it to you all, the 9/11 element is not necessary.
Laters.
Adam Sandler plays Charlie, a guy whose wife and daughters were on one of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. Don Cheadle plays a dentist who was Charlie's college roommate - happily married but with obviously something missing in his life. It is a story of how they rescue each other from their misery.
Get it? Got it? Good.
In all fairness it was a pretty good movie; I actually really enjoyed it. Sure, it was a bit depressing in some places, (in fact in some places it was a lot depressing), but some great acting from Sandler, who surprised me, (having not seen Punch Drunk Love yet), and Cheadle, who I've seen enough of to know is a pretty decent actor.
The one sort of niggling feeling I have though is this, and here's where my FYP really begins to infiltrate my everyday life: does 9/11 really have a place in this film? Is it necessary for it to be a plot device? Surely Charlie's family could have been killed in any accident, and it would still work really well, becoming much more of a study about post-traumatic depression. In fact, 9/11 here is arguably treated rather like this kind of accident: a tragic event that unfortunately happens on a daily basis.
9/11 was NOT a car crash. I've already seen and read enough about it to know that it changed our world forever. And although Reign Over Me is a good film, I enjoyed it and I recommend it to you all, the 9/11 element is not necessary.
Laters.
Monday 24 September 2007
Old Habits Die Hard
As I was walking to the Uni library this morning to use my free day productively in preparation for the Depression-Fest that is my Final Year Project on 9/11 and its effects on culture, the weather was not exactly fantastic. After threatening heavy rain for nearly all of last week, finally this morning I opened my curtain to see the rain pouring down the roof tiles. Perfect, I thought. I know exactly what to complain about in this week's Monday Moan.
Except now, having used up my morning studiously and having a few spare minutes to update Trials..., the sun is beaming through the window so much tehy've had to lower the blinds. Bummer. But I'm still going to moan about the weather. How dare it change for the better when I was geared up for so much pessimistic prose? (Oooh, I like that - must copyright it asap).
The house is full again now: Smoker and Second Year Teacher moved in fully last night. Great to see Smoker again, though she nearly set the kitchen on fire by putting her small pizzas in the oven and then forgetting about them for an hour! Life sure has been quiet without this drama in my life!
Laters.
Except now, having used up my morning studiously and having a few spare minutes to update Trials..., the sun is beaming through the window so much tehy've had to lower the blinds. Bummer. But I'm still going to moan about the weather. How dare it change for the better when I was geared up for so much pessimistic prose? (Oooh, I like that - must copyright it asap).
The house is full again now: Smoker and Second Year Teacher moved in fully last night. Great to see Smoker again, though she nearly set the kitchen on fire by putting her small pizzas in the oven and then forgetting about them for an hour! Life sure has been quiet without this drama in my life!
Laters.
Thursday 20 September 2007
Shock! Horror! Controversy!
Okay, perhaps not all of the above, but over here in Blighty us footie fans are reeling from the news that the Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has left the club very, very suddenly.
Erm...and that's it. Really, that seems to be the only big news I can find today. Oh no, another football manager has left a club. Oh well, never mind.
Moving on, and again very quickly as I'm running out of time before I'm due to be at the chapel at 10am (don't trust the timings they give me at the bottom of every blog entry by the way, they are NOT correct) , I promise that at the beginning of the next week I will change the Passage Of The Week, which really has been The Passage Of The Last Three Months! And people think I'm ready for Facebook...
Laters.
Erm...and that's it. Really, that seems to be the only big news I can find today. Oh no, another football manager has left a club. Oh well, never mind.
Moving on, and again very quickly as I'm running out of time before I'm due to be at the chapel at 10am (don't trust the timings they give me at the bottom of every blog entry by the way, they are NOT correct) , I promise that at the beginning of the next week I will change the Passage Of The Week, which really has been The Passage Of The Last Three Months! And people think I'm ready for Facebook...
Laters.
Wednesday 19 September 2007
Back For One Year Only
Yes, I'm back in good ol' Winchester, and all ready I'm shattered beyond belief. We of the CU have been helping the freshers move into their new halls of residence for the last three days, and then in the evenings we've been running an acoustic cafe at the chapel, which has been great fun to go to, but I got in at half eleven last night, and then had very little sleep for some reason.
But it is nice to be back with my friends and in my house, though as of yet we are only two - me and a new guy who I shall be referring to from henceforth as Other Boy. It shall be interesting when our other two housemates move back in, particularly Smoker, who is the only other one of last years lot to move back into the house with me. But until they come we cannot sort out the Internet or TV licence in my house, so I have to rely on the University once again. I am now going to go home and sleep, and hopefully will write a fuller blog tomorrow when I'm not so tired!
Laters.
But it is nice to be back with my friends and in my house, though as of yet we are only two - me and a new guy who I shall be referring to from henceforth as Other Boy. It shall be interesting when our other two housemates move back in, particularly Smoker, who is the only other one of last years lot to move back into the house with me. But until they come we cannot sort out the Internet or TV licence in my house, so I have to rely on the University once again. I am now going to go home and sleep, and hopefully will write a fuller blog tomorrow when I'm not so tired!
Laters.
Tuesday 4 September 2007
Twenty Years In The Making...
...and, for me, at least ten years of waiting. Yes, today I finally got to watch The Simpsons Movie, along with my sister and one of my best friends. And was it something that was worth waiting for? I think it's a pretty safe bet it was. At times odd, at other times surprisingly moving, but most of the time just bwa-ha-ha funny, this film really knew how to tug on the ol' funny bone. I thoroughly recommend it.
Last night at a group meeting I like to go to when I'm at home called Open 2 Questions, there were only four of us there. During the course of the evening the topic, which usually veers from one extreme to the other, found itself on 9/11. At once my mind and a heavy heart was drawn back to my FYP Essay and my Final Year in general. I can't quite believe it's been two years already! Well, I suppose I have at least a week left of relative freedom.
Laters.
Last night at a group meeting I like to go to when I'm at home called Open 2 Questions, there were only four of us there. During the course of the evening the topic, which usually veers from one extreme to the other, found itself on 9/11. At once my mind and a heavy heart was drawn back to my FYP Essay and my Final Year in general. I can't quite believe it's been two years already! Well, I suppose I have at least a week left of relative freedom.
Laters.
Monday 3 September 2007
The Monday After The Fortnight Before
Alas, I now suffer from that rare disease known as Post-Course Depression. It currently resides over at least fourteen houses in New Ash Green, as Saturday was the final day of our two week Ash Green Youth Theater course, and the day of the two productions of the show we had created, Alice! It went beautifully and we all had an amazing time. The part afterwards was one that few will forget. (Or remember, depending on how much some of the cast had to drink. One guy drank half a bottle of Teachers all by himself before it was taken away rather quickly...oh dear.)
And so it's back to the daily grind - for most people. Me, I've got at least another week before I have to head back to Winchester. But in that week I'm going to be busy, busy, busy. My final year approaches, looming like a dark rain cloud. Weaker men would wet themselves at the thought of it - not me though. No, I just hide under the Duvet of Comfort or the Sofa of Relaxation, watching the Television of Mind-Melting...you get the idea.
But tomorrow, for a rare occasion, I shall be at Bluewater with my sister and one of my best friends, watching The Simpsons Movie. I think there should be a "finally!" there, either in front of the title or after it - it's your choice! Wow, there's a first - I've written a blog entry which lets you the reader decide what comes next...or before...erm, anyone else a tiny bit confused?
Laters.
And so it's back to the daily grind - for most people. Me, I've got at least another week before I have to head back to Winchester. But in that week I'm going to be busy, busy, busy. My final year approaches, looming like a dark rain cloud. Weaker men would wet themselves at the thought of it - not me though. No, I just hide under the Duvet of Comfort or the Sofa of Relaxation, watching the Television of Mind-Melting...you get the idea.
But tomorrow, for a rare occasion, I shall be at Bluewater with my sister and one of my best friends, watching The Simpsons Movie. I think there should be a "finally!" there, either in front of the title or after it - it's your choice! Wow, there's a first - I've written a blog entry which lets you the reader decide what comes next...or before...erm, anyone else a tiny bit confused?
Laters.
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