Archive for April, 2009
One problem at a time…
Studies!
Terrible things seem to be looming over the horizon. The exams look remarkably unfriendly, but for now I first have to deal with a test on Friday that involves too much studying. It’s not looking too bad, just not very good, although the forecast is less optimistic for the exams. That said, let’s take it one problem at a time.
Checking It Out
I was puzzled as to why my Hazards Of Love order was taking so long, so I dropped the Decemberists Store an email on Monday evening. The reply came somewhere in the middle of the night yesterday, and it appears that it got lost in the sorting process and is now presumably on its way, with a signed booklet to boot.
Lovely, prompt service. Great stuff. Just makes your day a whole lot more pleasant.
I just want to get a first listen to it now, though, so I really can’t wait.
Two Episodes
Went through two more episodes of Doctor Who‘s Series 4 (one a day), and the impression was a whole lot better. The Pompeii episode had those really beautiful sets and a really nice volcano, and the script was sharp. The Ood episode after that worked very well for me, for some reason, though the lines were sometimes a little dull. And Sontarans in the next story. Simply brilliant.
For Today…
Signals lecture, plus I want to finish up notes for my cell biology. Not terribly exciting, but at least it won’t kill me. Sometimes that’s all you’re ever going to get.
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Monday Link List
Last week of school! And we start the week off with a bunch of random things.
Coetzee Cover
Here’s the cover to J.M. Coetzee’s upcoming book, Summertime. [via The Elegant Variation]
Neuroscience!
The neuroscience behind Yorick’s Ghost and related optical illusions. [via Scientific American]
Weepy Doctor
An interview with David Tennant as he prepares to hand over the steering wheel to Matt Smith. [via BBC]
Geeky Ideas To Save The Book
I watched this rather intriguing presentation on Friday. [via The New Yorker]
There are some really great points that he raises. In particular, I think the last idea he raises is something I’d really like to see.
It also reminded me that I have a half-ambition to have my own tiny bookstore far in the future…
Small Updates
Brr, last week of school! This week, I have a test on Friday with too much material to realistically cover. I also have a test on Monday. Then it’s off and away for the exams.
Not been writing, though I have a fairly good idea of what I want to do.
I did get my hands on the video for Series 4 of Doctor Who (too many spoilers on the interwebs), and I got started on it yesterday. I thought the opening was not bad, though not exactly fantastic. I really didn’t like the idea, but the characters managed to sustain it for me. The curveball right at the end certainly helped too. I’ll probably comment a little on it as I make my way through Series 4.
Starting on my final book before school ends today, and it’s Roberto Bolaño’s By Night In Chile. It’ll be the last book I’ll be reading purely for entertainment for a while, I think, because I’m diving into a new run through Ulysses during the break.
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Death At Intervals and Boxwood
Death At Intervals is my third Saramago book. It’s a compact novel that starts with how death decides to stop taking lives in an unnamed country when the New Year arrives. I suppose it’s precisely the sort of plot that you would expect Saramago, that wily old man, to pull off with aplomb, and he does, with a mixture of deliberate ignorance and wit, underscored by tremendous wisdom and compassion.
Then it takes a turn, and death returns, writing letters to people who are going to die. And it all seems to go very well until one day a letter is returned, and death learns… a little something. Not quite the turn I was expecting of Saramago, actually, but he carefully steers it towards its end, and it becomes quite a thing of beauty.
It’s a sparkling read from start to finish, a magic trick that leaves you enthralled with a snap of the fingers. It’s in turns humorous and dark, wise and romantic, a compact novel that fascinates and entertains with the very best of them.
The style, I realise, might be somewhat challenging for some. At least, I often read complaints about that. I think it’s fine. I think it’s brilliant, actually, and is very natural to read. On the other hand, the second book I’m going to introduce, Camilo José Cela’s Boxwood, took a bit of adjustment. It had in part to do with how I had only four hours of sleep on the morning that I started it, and it was quite a Herculean feat that I managed the first paragraph after realising that I was reading with only commas.
But once you do get attuned to it, Cela’s last novel–a day-to-day account of different lives in Galicia, on the Spanish coast–is simply magnificent. Fragments and fragments, bits of thoughts, scores of memory, shreds of imagination, all stitched together with few periods and many commas, into a lush historical and cultural landscape. It is a book about fables and folktales and stories and the annals of history. It’s a story of the common man and the wonderful common man. It is sprawling in its own way, like the beautiful complexity of an orchestral work woven together by a true master.
In the end, it might be difficult to appreciate the depth of the achievement at first. It’s messy and disjointed and seems to be all over the place at first. (At least, it did for me.) And then you stick with it, you give it a chance, and it starts to show you how you’re missing it all. You’re missing the tonal inflections, the rhythms and cadences, the hidden music behind the cacophony. And when you open your eyes to that symphony, you can’t read it the same way again.
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Better today I’m sure.
Closure
The week slowly draws to a close. (Yeah, sure, it’s only Wednesday.) Projects, tests, et cetera, all going by in the blink of an eye. Still got a presentation tomorrow to prepare for, but that’s all the fight the week has left.
Wasn’t too long ago it was Week 1 and it was all work and no play. It’s been a pretty interesting semester, if nothing else, and I’m actually a little relieved to be at the end of it.
Distractions
It is with much embarrassment that I tell you about my waterbottle accident yesterday. While filling a waterbottle for my friend yesterday, I got rather distracted and for some reason thought it was a good idea to switch over to hot water. That wasn’t such a bad idea except for the fact that the bottle was metal. Realising the error in my ways far too late, I shifted my hand away in a reflex action that caused my left index finger to be slightly scalded.
Hey, could’ve been worse, but you know, think before you do things, no matter how distracted you are. Just in case anyone else wants to lose an index finger too.
(And no, it’s kind of all right now.)
Budget
Yesterday, my dad’s birthday present arrived, a black, supposedly limited edition Crumpler to replace his old one. It reminded me of how much I’ve been spending recently.
My Decemberists record hasn’t arrived (and if it still doesn’t arrive, I’m going to have to check it out). I also bought a few books, and these have set me back quite a bit already. I had the intention of buying a couple of games, but that has since dropped to just one game, which I suppose makes my wallet feel a bit better.
Still, all things considered, not doing too badly. It’ll also depend on how the holidays pan out…
Doctor Who Things
If I said I was going to write about chipmunks, I’d spend the next six months being made president of the Chipmunks Society and would have chipmunks turning up at my door, saying, “Can we have work?”
Russell T. Davies and David Tennant talk about leaving the show.
Elsewhere, another piece about Davies leaving the show.
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Mystery Monday
Should have a post. I know. Too busy. Far too busy. Too busy over nothing, in fact. Apologies. Let’s see if I can do better later.
In the meantime, let Hugh Laurie entertain you.
I was watching a bit of A Bit Of Fry And Laurie recently, so…
Onwards. Onwards.
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