Warsi on Griffin

I love the time of year between Christmas and New Year. I'm still lazing about, and I'm at my parents house which means there is loads of food, wine and newspapers.

And, I love the review of the year sections which come in all the papers, which we get aplenty. The Observer says it well, and Baroness Warsi's look back on that famed episode of Question Time this year is worth your time.

The Bookseller

Normally I'm a fan, but this annoys me.

'The Guardian went as far as Islington for its report'...

The snobs. I've never seen any out of London coverage from them.

But they go to Oxford and Cambridge sometimes you say.

Of course, I forgot about that...how provincial!



Jealously amongst the journos.

Books, mostly

Hello.

It's been a while.

There are many things to share, but let's begin with this: books to look out for in 2010, courtesy of The Independent.

I've got to say, I haven't been overly impressed by the books I've read recently. My last read was Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger, which was fine, good even, until the end, which was bitterly disappointing. Perhaps my views were slightly marred by the 'Horror' sticker carefully placed on the text by the excellent librarians at Shoreditch library. If we are never going to find out who the ghost is, indeed if it even exists at all, then that is disappointing for a 'horror' story in my view.

So, I hope this list will yield something cool.

I shall wander to Shoreditch library to take out Yann Martel's new venture, certainly.



I'll read McEwan if I have time. I probably won't have time, unless it gets really good reviews. Like, rave reviews, that come on the TV and everything.

I have read one of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's books - I must make an effort to finish this new one. I got half way through The Shadow of the Wind, but my problem with reading books set in Barcelona (I've only read this one) is that they remind me of the time that those Spanish pickpockets stole my money and my pride.



European holidays are good though.

I have been to see a film recently, but only the one. Paranormal Activity, which has been on in most large cinemas across the country. I don't go to see scary films that often, and after seeing this I still can't understand why people do.

There was nothing wrong with the film, I quite enjoyed the film, it did what it meant to do very well, but I wouldn't do this sort of thing very often. I think the fact that I don't do it very often makes it better when I do.

The last real scary film I watched was Saw, and whilst it makes a lot of money, and I can see the point, it does feel pretty wrong to get off on something that you are only watching because it is more depraved and gross than anything else you've ever seen. Johann Harri's story is better than mine, also courtesy of The Indepdent.

Not done anything else interesting this month at all. I've been making presentations and writing essays. Dull. Must make a note to do more interesting things in the future, for the purposes of the blog only.



And I went to see this woman, it's all coming back to me now.

This is good too:



And this:



But Drowned in Sound says it better than I do.

Last.fm

What a great invention.



I haven't been using it for a couple of years, so this list is a bit outdated. Thankfully, I had some taste when I was 18.

Hoxton

I have already become attached to this quirky area of town in which I am living. Whenever people ask where I am living, the response I give them in 'Hoxton' (not Hackney, Shoreditch or Islington).

To this I get a response of, ooo, trendy. I find this simply bizarre. Not because I misunderstand why people consider this area to be trendy, it is simple to see. Banksy has paid a visit (shouldn't we feel grateful) and we share a postcode with the beautiful people wearing Christian Louboutin shoes in swanky Islington offices.



But really, Hoxton is Hackney. It's a bit scary at night, and most of the population lives in high rise blocks that don't have proper addresses. It is the side of London tourists don't really see. Capitalism at its absolute nexus - the best and the worst.

This is what I find most upsetting but also captivating about London - everything is a flipside. London is a rich city, so rich, sickeningly rich - too rich. Walk down to Liverpool Street, just ten minutes from here, and people bathe in money. They have tailors, 'City of London' parking permits and twenty minute haircuts in your lunch hour for £60.

Walk outside that tightly controlled, marble, clinical area and the money evaporates. There are so many homeless people. More homeless people than you can even bear to think about. There is one that sits just outside the door of Somerfield by Old Street tube. I have come out of that shop so many times with a bag of food and he just sits there.

(No image available)

If I'm going to advertise anything, it would be the George and Vulture pub. An Aussie behind the bar, six pound pizzas (a bit salty but let's not be foodies about this) and a really old quaint globe in the corner just waiting to drop off its hinges.



I made a visit to London Fashion Weekend about a month ago. I simply must complain about the 'presenter' that was there to bridge the gap between the fee paying public and the fashion folk. She was awful. I detest the phrase 'love it'. She loved everything.

Charlie Brooker on Jan Moir

Charlie Brooker's responce to Jan Moir's homophobic article in the Daily Mail has been causing a stir in the 'bloggosphere' today (good word, or bad word?..I just can't decide).



The Mail published a pretty abhorrent piece pinning the causes of Stephen Gately's death down to his homosexual lifestyle. I won't say much more about the content of the article becasuse Brooker is better with words than I am.

My responce to this however is, why is everyone so surprised?

That being said, I do hope that the Mail gets sanctioned by the Press Complaints Commission about this. The Guardian really should set up a political party, what a conundrum that would be.

and in New York...

...Nick Cave was playing with the Dirty Three at the ATP Festival.



Oh my word.

I've moved

to LONDON.

So far, my explorations have been to:

Portobello Road antiques market



The whole time I was thinking, Hugh Grant, where is High Grant, is he hiding amongst all these Americans?

Whilst the houses are clearly gorgeous, I did wonder why anyone would wish to live on that particular street, and you would be mobbed by tourists everyday.

I can definitely tell the difference between East and West London. It's a territorial thing. As I got back on the Central line to take me home, I walked for the Eastbound platform. I thought, yes, East, people are more sensible there. It is a place where 4 toilet rolls cost £1.30, which is robbery enough, not £1.80, like in West London. In West London, people are swimming in money, it comes out of their noses.

I've also been to the Whitechapel art gallery, which I thought was wonderful, especially as it was free.

They had this exhibition on about Picasso's Guernica, by a Polish artist called Goshka Macuga. It was all about how the tapestry in the UN HQ in New York was concealed during a speech Colin Powell made in support of the Irag war. Great.

Ialso enjoyed their exhibit of Elizabeth Peyton's work, although it was much further from genuis. How hard is it to paint a picture of Pete Doherty looking pensive? I'm not an art brain of course, and the pop culture value was fun. She had Noel and Liam, Bowie and Jarvis. I wonder what Jarvis himself would think of it.

Contractual obligations

Last night, I made a one off trip to the nightclub 5th avenue, Manchester. It was so very cool when I was 18, but as I am now 20, it makes me feel old, and badly dressed.

Anyhow, after passing the large hoard of overweight bouncers, I was signalled over to one of them - he had a clipboard. Clipboard mafia was my instant thought - I do not want to take part in any survey about what I think of the 5th ave experience. I think it's pretty poor to be honest and the bouncers at that club are by far some of the most obnoxious and jumped up in town. But there was no survey to complete, instead, they wanted me to sign a contract, accepting 'liability' for any damage done to my feet as a result of my 'inappropriate footwear'. Apparently, there have been a number of incidents where stilettoed girls have crucified sandal wearing ladies with their points and 'ripped their toes off'.

FFS.

I think the words of Peter Andre are appropriate here, this is insania.

The Observer

David Mitchell is right about everything.


If I end up bumping into him in the pub, it will be worth moving to London.

Coco avant Chanel

Worth a fiver to see it, but it didn't need to be as long as it was. If you're not interested in clothes, then I would wait until it comes on television.

Underage and Pregnant

This show is very popular on iPlayer at the moment and I can see why. It is BBC3 at its best - looking into the cracks of screwed up Britain, finding something really troublesome and worrying, and not asking 'why are these girls doing this?' but shoving it in their face and blaming them for their ruined childhoods.

Good to watch, though.

In memory

I was never an avid reader, but I do think its' demise is sad. Nobody likes music anymore, they just like what's cool. It's not about dithering over the words any more.

Nothing good makes money any more. If we don't want to wake in a world full of Tesco furniture, reading the Amazon magazine, then we should start supporting independent ventures, and businesses, now.

Johnny Depp

I recently went to see Public Enemies, the new Hollywood film based on the life of John Dillinger. Dillinger was a bank robber operating big jobs during the Great Depression, and managed to create a image for himself as a hero of the people (or so is the case according to the film, and wikipedia).

Johnny Depp stars and it's worth watching just for his performance, which is reminiscent of his role in Blow. He can definitely make shooting people and cocaine addiction look appealing.

You are not a vegetarian

Just an image.

"It lives in your heart"

Sebastian Faulks - Human Traces

An Oxfam books buy for me. I'd say my buying experience was rather like my experience reading the book. I sorted of wanted it/liked it, but was constantly wondering/considering something better.

Kisses

This Irish film is on now at the Manchester Cornerhouse.

The focus is child abuse on a poverty stricken estate in Ireland, and the victims run away to Dublin for some fun and end up living on the streets, which turns out to be worse. The ending is a huge let down, as they simply return home. That's it.

It bears a strong resemblance to Anne Enright's The Gathering: Ireland, alcoholism, child abuse, violence and poverty.

Primavera Sound 2009

if only I had made it there.

Summertime

I wish I was at the Venice Biennale.



I must admit, I saw this image, and thought of one thing: Michael Barrymore.



Also:
- The centrepice of the Sunday Times today was an exposition on the life of Britney Spears. You know that's what those bankers like to read when they're in bed.

The Unloved

Samantha Morton's semi biographical television film on growing up in an institution. Set in Nottingham, this is a bleak picture of the town. It is a bleak picture of the care system of course, but I think the location is important.

Expenses scandal

I bought the Telegraph today.

For the first time. It will be the last too. Telegraph readers are clearly people with time, and space, on their hands. It's just so impractical. If you can't read it on the bus, it's not worth reading.

Daily Mail

...slanders a hero.

Not Bob Dylan

more Malcolm Bradbury

..for your intellectual delight.

"the media age, the age of simulation.... The age of no ideology, only hyperreality.... The streets are filled with gangs and terrorists, the women rage with anger, everyone lives for themselves.... down in the street people kill for drugs and kicks. Too little reality, also too much. Every- where, wild fantasies, everyone wants a violent illusion. Life is a movie, death a plot ending, no stories are real. And even the philosophers think in unrealities, [as] they describe a world of no ethics, no humanism, no self."

There Are Thousands of Alternatives

This video of a journalist reporting on the G8 protests is great:

Capitalism

You have got to love the BBC meeting the masses - 'who are these people? Why do they behave this way? What newspaper do they read, the Express?! I'm lost in a sea of Express readers....'

Quite ugly

artworks. Even if they are meant to be ironically ugly. I'm not sorry Morrissey.

Enlightening thought of the moment

"Democracy, the free market," she muses, do you really think they can save us? ... Marxism [was] a great idea, democracy [is] just a small idea. It promises hope, and it gives you [Kentucky] Fried Chicken."

Malcolm Bradbury.

The Melbourne Model

I love this. It is a promotion video for a theatrical performance put on at Melbourne University Student Union. They came up with a musical to document the trials and tribulations of the new academic regime that has been put in place there. Based on the American system, the Melbourne Model largely removes the opportunity for students to specialise. It is impossible to imagine something so critical of university management being put on at any British institution, probably because Australia is subject to a legal process called Voluntary Student Unionism. In short, students have to pay (quite a lot for people without an income) to be a member of the SU, making it a completely separate organisation from the university.

New Zealand

The teenager found guilty of the brutal murder of Scottish tourist Karen Aim in NZ has become the youngest person to be given a life sentence in the country's history.

Times article

Italian history

My enlightening fact of the week is:

"The Garibaldi biscuit was named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, an Italian general and leader of the fight to unify Italy, who made a popular visit to Tynemouth in England in 1854. It was here he accidentally sat on an Eccles Cake and 'invented' the biscuit."

I wish I could be in Manchester on 2nd July, because Kraftwerk are playing at the Velodrome, but alas, my exam on this very Italian history (Gramsci, to be specific) is on the 4th.

http://www.mif.co.uk/events/kraftwerk/

I'm

---

Totally Wired

SU elections

One can always rely on members of Conservative Future to prove to us just how ignorant they are.

Oxbridge

Is not exceptional. The AHRC doesn't recognise their undergraduate MAs.

"If a student does not have experience of formal postgraduate study, they may
be eligible for a studentship only if they can demonstrate evidence of
sustained experience beyond undergraduate degree level that is specifically
relevant to their proposed research topic, and could be considered equivalent
to Master’s study. A student and their RO will need to be able to justify why
this experience qualifies them exceptionally as prepared for doctoral
research without prior formal postgraduate training. On their own, the
following are not considered as ‘exceptional’ in terms of qualifying a student
for doctoral study:
• An undergraduate MA from Oxford or Cambridge
• An undergraduate MA from a Scottish University
• A four-year undergraduate degree
• The completion of a dissertation as part of an undergraduate degree."

I'm a little bit bitter.

Just as an amendment to that, this is also quite interesting:

"Certain departments or ROs are ineligible to hold doctoral awards on behalf
of students in 2009 because of their low doctoral submission rates in past
years. Those concerned are listed below:
• School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool
• Manchester Metroplitan University"

And a second amendment, the AHRC details which subjects it accepts:

"Librarianship, Information and
Museum Studies
• Archives
• Computational Studies
• Conservation Science
• Heritage Management
• Information Management
• Information Retrieval
• Information Science
• Journalism
• Library Studies
• Management
• Museum and Gallery Studies
• Publishing
• Records Management
• User Studies"

.....what exactly is user studies?!

Years of Refusal

The new Morrissey album is out on MONDAY. There has been a fair amount of promotion (all on the BBC), a Radio 2 interview and live performance on Johnathon Ross, which I'm currently watching. Every time he appears on Ross's show, he pretends to have a distaste for the broadcaster, but we know that really, he loves it.

GREAT NEWS

Corrie set for console treatment

The Coronation Street game will be out in the UK before Christmas
Coronation Street is being made into a Nintendo DS game before the end of the year, ITV has confirmed.



I'm being ironic, mostly.

Sammy Wilson

As the worst wildfires in decades blaze across Victoria in that beautiful part of the world, Southern Australia, climate change denial remains rife. Sammy Wilson, environment minister for Northern Ireland, today had all of the UK's anti-CO2 campaign advertisements removed in Ulster, calling it 'propaganda'. This insidious act should be decried and reversed immediately.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7879963.stm

Books not booze

I am currently reading 'Black Mischief' by Evelyn Waugh. In the Penguin classics range, it is deemed one of the most racist books ever written; there is an _oddity in reading it for me.

Snow day

Tony Blair will never change.

It just seems so transparent now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7873000.stm

bon iver

....new tunes!

http://www.myspace.com/boniver ... I met you at the blood bank...

I also quite like Lauren Laverne's radio show on 6music. It's a bit hit and miss with the songs, but the guests they have are normally pretty good. Plus, I like her. I look forward to it, it's on every Saturday and available on iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00h5dzl/Lauren_Laverne_24_01_2009/

Tom Robinson's 'Introducing' show is also worth a listen, my advice is to avoid Adam and Joe however.

Also, I'm behind with the times, but the last M83 album is brilliant. 'I'm fifteen years old and I feel it's already too late to live, don't you?'

I saw The Reader after having read the book a long while ago.

Life of Pi

you've got to believe!

http://www.theage.com.au/national/floating-icebox-tale-a-bit-fishy-expert-says-20090121-7mrw.html

Delighted to discover that Jon Snow has a blog, Robert Peston eat your heart out:

http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/author/jon-snow/

I voted for Vince Cable in Channel 4 Political Awards:

http://www.channel4.com/news/general/channel_4_political_awards

I don't think I'll feel like I've had such a democratic opportunity in a long while. I watched PMQs today, in light of Obama's inauguration, it does make one have even less faith in British politics.

I might enter this competition, why not?:

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/domestic_politics/political+book+of+the+year+your+reviews+/2885552


Listening to the second Clap Your Hands album, after finally being able to get hold of it on Spotify. It's not much different from the first one, some tunes, Yanky go hooooome!

What Would Obama Do?

I like this collection of photos:

http://nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/18/us/politics/inauguration-photos.html#/0

This is the third biggest headline on the BBC right now:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7832652.stm

Documentaries

I've seen a few of the documentaries by Journeyman on YouTube; all are excellent. This one is particularly captivating, it has an interview with Sankoh, former leader of the RUF rebel army of Sierra Leone, described as 'the Adolf Hitler of West Africa', who died on trial for war crimes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve42DWluB8A

that time of semester - revision

I read cherie's book recently, well, some of it; as part of an essay of course. But I actually enjoyed it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/video/2009/jan/15/cherie-blair-jay-leno

In other Guardian news, I dislike Miliband, the FCO is no prize.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/15/war-on-terror-miliband

new term, new woes

This is an excerpt from today's student friendly email from the Union:

SU Shops
To help you get through your exams, the SU shops are currently running offers on the following products:
Relentless 500ml (Origin and Inferno) - £1.48
Red Bull 250ml (standard and sugar free) - £1.19
Pro Plus Caffeine Tablets (24) - £1.99
24/7 Instant Energy Strips (24) - £1.49

What exactly are instant energy strips and is this really the sort of thing we should be promoting? Its fairly miserable when you think about it, this is what our lives are.

This is also worth considering, be healthy, eat some cake.
http://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/news/article/6001/623/

HUMAN TETRIS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqGNsZigrGY

new year, any good?

http://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/news/article/6001/622/

new year's resolutions are apparently a bad thing, in that we set ourselves up for a fall and focus on the negative things in our life. Interesting.

new year

This is quite good

http://media.theage.com.au/?rid=45073

I do like the pictures, but I don't think that makes all abstract art a fallacy.

Also, I'm no optimist, but isn't this slightly reminiscent of the Mil Bug?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/4143794/Popularity-of-BBC-iPlayer-leads-to-renewed-concerns-internet-could-grind-to-a-halt.html