Listening to:

Now, since my brain is all clogged up, let us discuss verious media:

a) Music
i) As I have been principally reading and writing in preparation for the mega-essay-writing party later this week, I have listened to a lot of music to pass the time. The most-played cd has been the one pictured at left, which is a big deal to me. I got the album for Christmas but have been to frightened to actually listen to it until now. And hey! What do you know! It is good! I was wary of it mostly because their last release was less than great, and I didn't want any confirmation that they were, indeed, suffering from ageing rockstar syndrome. But I was wrong. They are still lovely, despite being old enough to be, well, not my parents, but at least my professors. Which I guess isn't so old at all.

ii) I understand how some people might yearn for the good old days of a fully-formed Blur, but frankly, I am not that upset over the fact that they may never get back together with Graham Coxon. This article does, however, excite me, especially his use of the word "chordally" (which is not, according to Merriam-Webster, a word at all, though it did turn up in the Columbia Encyclopedia). The whole chord-related description, in fact, makes me giggle. "The shapes of the chords" indeed. Graham, if you weren't so very angry and yes, even slightly crazy, I would ask you to be my rockstar boyfriend merely based on this article. As it is, though, you scare me.

iii) While meeting a friend for a pint last week, my eyes slid (as they often do) toward the television of their own accord. And what did I happen to see? Avril Lavigne in her unmentionables, waving a guitar around and jumping around on her bed! What fun! What excitement! So I found her new single and downloaded it, and I recommend you all do the same. I'm sure it's supposed to be taken seriously, but when I first played it I was glad that the flatmates were out, because I laughed in such a loud and unladylike manner that I couldn't possibly have explained my behaviour. The first verse, of course, makes no sense whatsoever (something about someone giving her a kiss and making her go "oh oh"? what?), but the chorus is delightful. You protect yourself from those evil boys, Avril! I know you're not that kind of girl!

b) Film
i) One of my friends works at the local cinema, and we were supposed to go see a late showing of some Japanese samurai movie last week. When we got there, though, we found out they'd changed the schedule, and that the movie was no longer being shown. In no mood to return home, she talked to her boss and somehow managed to get the (rather large) group of us free tickets to the midnight showing of Shaun of the Dead. This, my friends, is a brilliant piece of cinema, and you should all try to go see it. The best part is the pre-zombie montage of people going to work. There's a two-second bit where a group of men waiting for the bus all pull their mobiles out and check the time. Last year I wouldn't have understood what they were doing, because who in Canada checks the time on a mobile rather than on a wristwatch? But I've seen it here all too often, and I laughed and laughed at that tiny little joke. Heehee.

ii) My flatmate has a peculiar taste in movies, one that is pretty much the additive inverse of mine. For instance, she says the one film she could watch over and over is How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days. Last term she did, in fact, watch the film three times in two days, which made me worry for her state of mind. I cannot stand the movie, for reasons that are too numerous to list here. The point is, whenever I watch a movie with her now, I expect us to have completely different opinions on it, so much that when we both claim to like the same film, I try to find something wrong with it so that I can remain her opposite. The other night we watched Sweet Home Alabama, which I had previously enjoyed for the sake of the pretty clothes (much in the same way I like the otherwise dreadful Simply Irresistible). This viewing, however, made me see how horrible the plot really is. Why did I enjoy the protagonist when she is all crazy and evil? Honestly, sometimes I think I have selective memory about things I want to like.

c) Books
i) Would the person who has the library's only copy of Seamus Deane's Celtic Revivals please return it post haste? It is currently four days overdue, and I would really like to be able to look at it before handing in my essay. Also, I don't like you very much anymore, because you know that I want it (you must have gotten an email saying that someone, ME, put a hold on it) and still, you do not return it. I may be a weakling, but it doesn't take that much muscle to break a kneecap with a cricket bat. Thank you for your attention.

ii) I have started making a list of books I would like to read on my own time, and so far it is eighteen items long. When will I have the time to read all of that? Soon, Emily, soon.

Thank you and goodnight.

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