The Film Noir Experience

I am still around. I've been having computer problems. And, I know that I missed a few deadlines, one of the 15th and one day. But, in lieu of actually posting, I'm going to tell you about one of my new features!

At the risk of sounding like that Bud Light Commercial that saluted the "Real Men of Genius", I am calling the first recurring feature (for lack of a better name) "Pure Genius". (If you can think of a better title, let me know.) For those of you who don't remember (or who aren't American and weren't...exposed to the ad campaign) the "Real Men of Genius" ads were a series of ads saluting the inventors of ridiculous things. They looked something like this:

Unlike the "Real Men of Genius" ads, my intention is not to take the piss out of things, but rather to highlight some of my favorite things about being alive. I feel like I'm constantly surrounded by negativity. Every time I turn on the news, the stories are always about who has been hurt and who has stolen from whom and what city is currently host to a new group of victims from some cataclysm or tragedy. And, it is important to know these things, to know what is going on in the world. But, the negativity doesn't stop with the news. You can walk into a bar and see the weight of the world and desperation on people's faces. Actually, you can just walk down the street and see that. Or, you can walk into a store and see clerks being harassed by self-important customers or customers putting up with frustrated and touchy clerks. Plus, its easy to think you can't do something and to get down on yourself. Its easy to look at a magazine and think that you'll never be pretty enough or sit in a class and think that you aren't smart enough and all of this just creates energy that is out there in the universe.

Well, I want to put something else out into the universe. Something that is based on my gratitude for the million and one things that are around and that I sometimes take for granted but are really very cool. This feature will cover many things from food to animals to objects to ideas and people. I am very excited about it!

Posted by Kate at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

John and I have been together a year. A year and a week, actually. And, last week on our Anniversary, we went out to the recently redecorated The Royal George pub. Of course, that night both John and I were stricken with the flu. We both spent the majority of the next two days in bed. I, however, had to spend the time half in bed and half working on my presentation for my interview on Tuesday.

So, Monday it occurs to me that I have nothing I want to wear. So, I somehow manage to motivate myself to the shops. Every vendor with a little cart or a clipboard manage to block my feverish path. It was incredibly annoying. It took me a good ten minutes to extract myself from a particularly clingy Hare Krishna. I think he was just excited to have met someone who was willing to donate a quid to the meals and wheels he was collecting for and who wasn't rude to him. On the way back to the bus after picking out a new sweater and some other things on sale, one of the local spas had girls out selling discounted spa days. As tempting as it was, did I mention I was feverish? I made my way home. and back to bed.

Tuesday morning, I got up and the new copy of powerpoint I had installed on my computer didn't work. On top of that, it was incredibly slow. Around 11:30, I decided I would just save the handout I had created to my data stick, and go to the internet cafe to print it out. A half hour later, and I'm at the internet cafe. I stick my data stick into the computer...nothing. So, I try the other port. First, it tells me a new USB device has been attached to the machine. Then, it tells me that the device is faulty and that I should unhook it and try it again. So, I do that. I get the same message. Only, the message doesn't just say that I should unhook it and try it again, it also says that if I have already seen this message then I have faulty hardware and I should contact the manufacturer. Panic, absolute panic. The good news is, I have what is more or less an extra hardcopy of my Thesis (which was what I presented at the interview) with me. Good thing I thought to bring that, eh? So, from memory, I recreated the entire handout. This process took about an hour and a half. So, now its 1:30. I have an interview in Swansea which is an hour train ride away with trains that leave in the 20s and the 50s. My interview is at 4:15 I call a taxi, and but it doesn't get me the station until after 2. I buy a return ticket and notice the train that was supposed to leave at 1:56 or 1:47 or whatever is still listed on the board. And, lucky me its still waiting at the platform, too. I hop on the train, and find myself a seat and it leaves around 2:15. We pull into Swansea about an hour before my interview. My glands are still swollen and huge and I've done nothing but swallow saliva all day, you know how when you have swollen glands and a really sore throat all you want to do is swallow? (Sorry for the over-share.) Anyway, My stomach absolutely aches and a manage to force down about a quarter of an egg mayo sandwich before getting into the taxi queue. Swansea is actually a lovely city and the University is across from the sea. I would like to go back and visit, the city at least, as a tourist because it did seem really nice. I got to the University about a half hour early. I simply waited in the main departmental office and looked over my notes. The interview was with someone from personnel, two people from the government bodies that the project would be working with and the academic that would be running the show. I gave my presentation. The academic seemed really interested and excited about it. I answered some questions. I don't think I did very well. They wanted to know if I had access to a car in order to get to the more remote areas that I would be asked to work in. I told them (and this is true) that I'm not legally allowed to drive in this country. I think that was a bit of an unfair question anyway because it wasn't in the job description. I then came home and made some spaghetti and felt like a tool who had failed at a job interview. I went to bed early.

Since then, I've done some reading and some cartoon watching and a whole lot of sleeping. I'm still not better. started coughing two days ago and John's Mom dropped in some cough medicine this morning. Although, my right tonsil has finally stopped swelling my left one is still inflamed. Its annoying. John is better, at least.

Posted by Kate at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

If one believes in the intrinsic value of art, then--contrary to most contemporary ways of thinking--taste and social construction are of decidedly secondary importance.

This quote is from a piece entitled "Classical Music: Why Bother?" that I read because it was suggested to me by my friend Preston. The piece suggests that our "lack of understanding/like" for Classical Music is actually indicative of a larger problem we have with "Art" (note the Capital A). He suggests, and I agree with him, that Art exists because we get something out of it, because we take something way for the experience and that it is not necessarily there to make us feel good or so that we can draw enjoyment from it.

Preston originally gave me the article as a source of inspiration for a mix CD I was making him at the time. I asked him for a theme, and the article was his response to my request. He wanted not something that he would expect, or something that he would enjoy necessarily, but something that he would give him an experience that we would, afterwards, not want to be without. I think my mix CD fell short of this incredibly lofty aim, but I think it is a good aim and something that should be considered a lot more often, not just of our artistic work, but of work in general.

Posted by Kate at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have a job interview next Tuesday. I have to make a ten minute presentation on a piece of research I have recently completed (my dissertation would be an obvious choice.) I am thinking that I will do a power point presentation. Any advice or suggestions?

OH MY GOD!

Posted by Kate at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, I actually sat down and wrote things out that I wanted to resolve to so or change in the New Year before the end of the Old Year. But, a new addiction to X-Box and my continual computer problems have ...contrived to? colluded against? impeded my abilities to seriously log in (and be in a writing mood) and post these. 2007 is going to be an awesome year, oh, yes. But, its not enough to just make resolutions, one has to actually do something with them in order of them to be of any worth.

My roommate in India, a woman named Lisa, once told me that the difference between a resolution or a dream or an idea and a goal is that a goal is something that you have defined and then set a way to measure its achievement. One might resolve to lose weight, but it is not a goal until one sits down and says:

I would like to lost a stone (12 pounds) by March 1st.

Now, I'm not one that really likes to structure things in relation to time, for some reason I just find that to be too restrictive, somehow it always hits my internal panic button and panic tends to make the quality of the work to go down. (I prefer to set a goal and then come up with ways to accomplish them and then as long as I stick with the tasks I have set myself, then I will be happy with my accomplish whenever it comes to fruition.) So, this is what I plan to do. I am going back on the South Beach Diet, heading straight into phase one with its lack of simple carbohydrates and plethora of veg. I am also going to do two laps around the park outside of my house everyday. However, I understand that the rest of the world tends to operate on time restrictions (deadlines), and I am aware that time can be a very powerful motivator.

But, weight is not the only thing that I would like to work on in the New Year. I've been resting on my laurals in the past six months or so, and I want to give my laurels a rest and press on and be the interesting, thoughtful human being again. How do I propose to do this? Well, with my next two goals, of course.

On this blog, I have the semi-regular features of my reviews of things and This Week in Welsh. In addition to keeping these up, I plan on adding two new features this year. I have yet to finalize these features, so I won't give you any details yet, but I can tell you to expect them On January 15th and January 30th. (Teaser: At least one of them will involve language in some way. Excited? I know I am.)

The second way I'm intending to let my laurels rest is by getting back to my "Classic" education by picking up where I left off on my list of Books I'd Like To Read. I'm intending to start with what I have in my flat and the book for January is Lady Chatterly's Lover.

My last resolution should come as no surprise, and that is to work on getting funding for a PhD. I have decided that, if I can't find funding that I will just have to take out a loan. But, that is hopefully the last ditch effort that won't have to happen. This resolution has been broken down into smaller mini-goals, the first of which is "proposal phase." I have not been happy with what I have written so far, but I think I'm on a roll now. I've given myself a deadline of January 17th for having my proposal finished.

I'm very excited about my goals and I look forward to seeing how they work out and how my life takes shape. I hope that you, too, are excited about the prospect of this new Year!

Posted by Kate at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

When you make a world tolerable for yourself, you make a world tolerable for others.

Long rant, most likely on the subject of politics to follow.

Posted by Kate at 01:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)