Thursday Photo: quik girl

Module Madness

Quick Birthday Wish

Very quick.

To my sister.

Best.

School Stuff

In this little part of the world, the universities refer to subjects as modules. When a term is about to begin, lots of head-scratching, heart-sinking, and hair-tugging ensues. This phenomenon is usually explained by the timetables.

While the idea is that you can work out your own timetables, it usually results in a gigantic mess because you aren’t always able to find all the details that you’re looking for.

This semester, I’m thinking of taking a sixth module, but I’m still working that out despite having five already assigned to me. The main problem is that some session details (labs, in particular) haven’t been put up, and I’m not about to try to fit in something else if there might be clashes.

The good news is that it’s so far so good in the sense that nothing’s really disagreeing with anything else. Then again, that might not be good news at all because now I’m still hanging on to the thought of the sixth module (as opposed to just dropping the notion completely, which would spare me a fair bit of distress).

Ah well, I guess it’ll work itself out. Somehow.

Yes, Only Yesterday

Okay, so I’m a bit slow, but I just watched the Series 3 finale of Doctor Who yesterday when it was showing on the telly, and without giving anything away (just in case, you know, you happen to be slower than I’ve been), it was rather fantastic. Sure, the three-part conclusion was wacky, but it also packed a great punch, and the last episode had some rather lovely imagery. It also had one of the coolest moments (hint: involves lots of lights) in recent memory.

Right then, onwards to Series 4. Wait, are they even showing Series 4 around here? :|

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Tuesday Photo: piko

The Eleventh Doctor

Last Of The Time Lords

I reckon you already know but just in case, Matt Smith has joined Doctor Who as the Eleventh Doctor. [via Doctor Who] Here’s the interview with him (which I first saw here):

The youngest ever Doctor is of course very young, but he kind of reminds me of Tom Baker in some ways I can’t describe. I don’t know why exactly. And I think Peter Davison was quite young when he was first cast as the Fifth as well, so I’m sure all the internet hullabaloo is really just hot air. I think he’ll be quirky enough, and the only thing I wonder about is if he’ll be able to carry the weight of being the all-knowing and all-conquering last of the Time Lords.

In any case, I think I’m going to trust Steve Moffatt to produce a sparkling Series 5.

All the best, Matt.

Comics

Comic Book Resources lists their 100 best comics of 2008. [via Comic Book Resources] While I don’t really pay too much attention to these lists, it was useful because it introduced me to a few that I’d never heard of before and would definitely like to try. It also reminded me that I need to get my hands on Casanova.

Oh, and I was amazed to see that Jill Thompson paints her Christmas cards. [via The Seahorse] Not only are they very, very pretty, she says she used to do 50 or so of them each year, which is rather astonishing. Very lovely, these cards.

Last Of The Hols

It’s the last week of the holidays. On the menu: First, I’ll finish up on The Absolute Sandman (which completes my reading for the holidays); I’ll have another crack at that query letter; have to sort out some school administrative things; play some games; maybe watch the new Ghibli; and that’s about it.

Odd how it seems as if I’ve completed quite a significant amount of work during the month but still lack in any sense of accomplishment.

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New Year Reading

Nope, I don’t normally do New Year resolutions and all that. (Though if the feng shui is right I might. That is, now and then.) Still, the New Year does seem like a good time to do a little bit of stock-taking, and one of the areas that will take a bit of sorting out is in reading. You see, inclusive of a couple of photobooks and a couple of comic books, I have over twenty books to read. These are the ones on my Shelfari now:

1. The Absolute Sandman Volume IV
2. Salgado’s Africa
3. The Bashō anthology
4. Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke
5. Blindness
6. Cela’s Boxwood
7. Cannabis Works, by Tatsuyuki Tanaka (this being an artbook)
8. Diary Of A Bad Year
9. Rudolph Wurlitzer’s The Drop Edge Of Yonder
10. Drown, by Junot Diaz
11. Dylan On Dylan (which is a collection of Bob Dylan interviews)
12. Kafka’s The Trial
13. A photobook that collects Lewis Carroll’s photos
14. The John Barth classic Lost In The Funhouse
15. A comic book called The Alcoholic
16. A book I received for Christmas that has many hard words
17. The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
18. Murakami’s The Elephant Vanishes
19. The Rest Is Noise, a non-fiction book by Alex Ross, the music critic at The New Yorker
20. The Singularity Of Literature, by Derek Attridge
21. Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
22. Ulysses (back on my reading list this year as a sort of study thing)
23. Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
24. Yuichi Yokoyama’s Travel

And add to this 2666, which is supposed to be on its way. (Much thanks to my sister.)

Based on my reading habits, I’ll only start when school starts, which is on the 12th. On top of that, I won’t be lugging around heavy books, such as The Absolute Sandman. I’ll instead be doing that next week or so. (I’m finishing up with the third volume now.) Ulysses will also get pushed back till about the long summer holidays. I hope to get a good guide or two by then. Photobooks and artbooks are generally not arranged into these vague plans either.

Otherwise, the general principle is to mix things up a bit. I’ll probably be able to do about ten to fifteen books before the term is up.

If it arrives by then, I’m starting with 2666, because I quite urgently want to read that. I want something less intensive after that, so I’m thinking of short fiction, with Raymond Carver or The Elephant Vanishes most likely to go second in line. Diary Of A Bad Year. Non-fiction next, and The Rest Is Noise looks a bit long, so I’ll go with The Singularity Of Literature. I’d like to do a comic book at this point, so we’ll go with Travel, followed by something long again. I think it’ll be The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, though it might be The Trial. Blindness. If I’m up to it, I’ll go for Oscar Wao next, and if I’m not, either Life In The Funhouse or The Drop Edge Of Yonder. At this point, we’re probably past the middle of the semester and approaching the end, and I’ll likely be in good reading mood, so I’ll try Boxwood.

Hmm, that bit on the long book followed by Blindness feels iffy. I might replace Diary with Blindness. Ah yes, that seems like a good plan.

In any case, from here on there’s really no point in thinking ahead, so I’ll just say that the plan will probably involve one more comic book and a couple of other books if I can fit them in. (Likely to be a novel and a short fiction collection.)

The truth is, you and I know how these things work, and in the end, I’ll probably not follow the arrangement save for the first few books. Putting them into some kind of vague arrangement still helps me prioritise, though, and in my experience it’s always proved helpful when I was in between books and had to make the decisions.

On the other hand, what are you planning to read in 2009?

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New Year Photo: shopping man