Who am I, again?

Well, I believe I am in New Zealand, although I wouldn't be surprised to find it is a dream, and I am still on the plane... I'm in the airport lounge in Auckland, just one more short flight now to get to Wellington. 25 hours on the plane: London-LA and LA-Auckland. Pretty harsh, although thank goodness we had exit row seats so tons of legroom, and the entertainment system on Air New Zealand is really good. You could watch movies on demand, and also turn your remote control round as use it as a game controller (Alice sucks at 'Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire' and I rule at Sudoku).

I watched:

Lions for Lambs 

- anvilicious, really fairly poor, not sure how Meryl Street and Tom Cruise got talked into it. I blame Robert Redford

The Jane Austen Book Club 

- surprisingly entertaining. But then I love Jane Austen, and have a weakness for romantic comedies. Add in Emily Blunt as a snarky teacher, and Shannon from Lost as a skydiving lesbian, and what can go wrong?!

Michael Clayton

- not as good as I was expecting it to be. I did think Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson were excellent, but George Clooney didn't quite pull off the conflicted and complex character that Clayton was supposed to be, in my opnion. But hey - the Academy disagreed and gave him an Oscar nomination, so what do I know?

Ratatouille

- I had originally said I wouldn't watch this, as the posters put a phonetic spelling under the name (rat - a - too - ee), which I thought was really catering to a lowest common denominator. Still, after Michael Clayton, I was in the mood for a talking rat chef. And it was fairly entertaining, I have to admit. Especially Peter O'Toole as the restaurant critic, Anton Ego. Ha.

August Rush

- I'd never heard of this until I saw Keri Russell Oscar-nominated for it, so I thought I'd give it a go. Maybe slightly too fairytale-ish, but if you've got to go for something cheesy, I think music making the world go round is the way to go. Besides, by the time I watched this one, I probably would have cried at 'There Will Be Blood' :)

It's 8am on Saturday here, but it feels more like midday I think. I know it's 7pm on Friday at home, which I still can't wrap my head round. I'm hoping to be able to function for as much of a full day as possible. Alice thinks a dip in the sea will revive us, but it's chucking it down, and I'm not convinced that I'll even remember how to swim by the time we get there. Apologies if this is full of typos... I got up at 5.30am on Thursday...

Time for a big coffee :)

So long, farewell...

It's finally time! Today, Alice and I leave for New Zealand. Because of the international date line, we leave on 28th Feb and arrive on 1st March, thus ensuring that I don't see a 29th Feb in eight years... weird.

I can't wait to see Sandra and visit her hangouts in Wellington, and I am so hoping that the whole trip will be hot and sunny (damn the BBC five day forecast).

I leave you with a scene from one of my favourite movies of all time (there's no irony in this statement, by the way - friends can attest to this): Armageddon

Trying to attach YouTube videos... it's my first time

These are pretty great. I think Sarah Silverman can be hilarious. Here's her message to Jimmy Kimmel:

and his response:

Books for a very long plane ride or two

I need to narrow down this pile of books to four or five to take away with me. If you've read any of them, let me know what they are like and whether or not you think I'll like them. Cast a vote!

The Spiral Staircase - Karen Armstrong

A Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews

The Women's Room - Marilyn French

No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy

The Tenderness Of Wolves - Stef Penney

Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris

Empathy - Sarah Schulman

The Child That Books Built - Francis Spufford

I've just finished reading 'Things The Grandchildren Should Know' by Mark Oliver Everett (aka E, aka 'That beardy bloke from Eels'), which is absolutely wonderful. I think 'Electro Shock Blues' is one of the most amazing albums ever written, and I really like most of his other stuff too. It's a really good read, whether you like the music or not. He's had such a tragic life - shortly after he found his father dead, his sister was gang-raped and later killed herself, he was then in the room when his mother died of cancer just after that, and his cousin and her partner were killed on 9/11. His entire family was wiped out, yet he still manages to sound remarkably optimistic about life, despite his (understandable) depressive tendencies. He's also able to explore with some candour and humour his pattern of being attracted to crazy girls. And of course, the stuff about making the albums is great. All in all, I recommend it.

But enough of that, tell me about the ones I haven't read yet!

Llama song

I don't know why I still find it funny, but I do.

The Llama Song

Ode to a Louse

Thanks to the help of the wonderful, beautiful and endlessly intelligent (I believe it may be liquid brain-cells in the cup and not tea) Louse, who holds the position of BFF as well as assistant professor, my Little Britain chapter is finally submitted!

All hail Louse, and also all hail me :) Yay! I actually think it's good. I hope they don't edit it too much (it's way over the word limit - although it wasn't until they asked me to put a whole load of extra stuff in... so not really my fault). The book should be out later in the year. Same publisher/series as the 'Investigating Alias' book that the aforementioned wondrous Louse and I wrote a chapter for. Hurrah!

Off to have a hit with Rachel and generally be happy for the rest of the day.

still awake, still going

Just had a break to play my final Hogarth box league match. I had beaten Wiebke 9-2, but lost to Alice 9-2 (still, more games than anyone else got off her!), so all to play for going into the final round. I felt reasonably confident, as Caroline had lost to Wiebke in a 9-8 tiebreak, however this confidence was misplaced. I hadn't counted on playing like an arse who couldn't get a first serve in, or hit any lines. Ho hum. We were tied at 6-6 when I managed to take two games in a row to be up 8-6. Caroline held her serve to take it to 8-7, but I finally managed to come through with a big first serve and a couple of decent forehands when it mattered to win 9-7. Means I comfortably stay in Box 1 anyway. And I'm having a lesson with Berj on Friday to see if I can't fix my groundstrokes.

Louse has very kindly agreed to put her editor's hat on for my chapter, so I'm going to stop working on that, apart from entering references, until I hear back from her, and hopefully finish it off once and for all tonight or tomorrow morning at 7am (in Starbucks of course!). After it's submitted, I never want to hear the words 'Little Britain' again. Ever.

I'm meeting up with my friend Stan tonight for a drink and some Thai food. Mmmmm....

For Riccardo

Sia's cover of 'Paranoid Android'

Can Starbucks save my PhD?

As my PhD and assorted side projects have been grinding to a halt over the last few months, I've been getting more and more desperate to find some way to get some good and productive work done. Having tried various combinations of caffeine, sugar, exercise, and sleep (deprivation), I have stumbled across something that allows me to get at least two hours of decent work done. 7am Starbucks! Controversial I know... for someone who does not like getting up early, and feels that Starbucks is perhaps not somewhere that she should frequent as often as she does (big corporation, not supporting independents etc). But the coffee is yummy, the sofas are comfortable, the music is sometimes good (the other day they played the whole of the new Sia album, although this morning I had to contend with big band swing pap - as I believe the genre should be described), and most importantly, IT WORKS. Lack of internet helps, as does the shock to my system at being anywhere at 7am. I've actually been reasonably productive on this regime this week, and this morning I finally gave in and put £30 on a Starbucks card as a sign of my new commitment (to work, not corporate whoredom) :)

Sia - 'Academia'

This is one of my favourite songs of the year so far. From her album 'Some People Have Real Problems'. Enjoy!

'Academia' - Sia

You can be my alphabet and I will be your calculator
And together we'll work out on the escalator
I will time you as you run up the down
And you'll measure my footsteps as I blow through this town
The mean of our heights is divided by the nights
Which is times'd by the daggers and the route of all our fights,
The pass of your poem is to swathe me in your knowing
And the beauty of the word is that you don't have to show it

Oh academia you can't pick me up
Soothe me with your words when I need your love

I am a dash and you are a dot
When will you see that I am all that you've got
I'm a binary code that you cracked long ago
But to you I'm just a novel that you wish you'd never wrote
I'm greater than x and lesser than y, so why is it
That I still can't catch your eye?
You're a cryptic crossword, a song I've never heard
While I sit here drawing circles I'm afraid of being hurt

Oh academia you can't pick me up
Soothe me with your words when I need your love

You're a difficult equation with a knack for heart evasion
Will you listen to my proof or will you add another page on
It appears to me the graph has come and stolen all the laughs
It appears to me the pen has over analysed again
And if I am a number I'm infinity plus one
And if you are five words you are afraid to be the one
And if you are a number you're infinity plus one
And if I am four words then I am needing of your love

Oh academia you can't pick me up
Soothe me with your words when I need your love
Academia

Supernatural Superserious

Do we like the new R.E.M. single, do we think it sounds like bits of 'Bad Day' but not as good, or do we think it sounds like every other first-single-off-the-album from R.E.M. and that's what we've come to expect and as we FEAR CHANGE, that's fine by us?!!

register your vote here...

Valentine's Cheese

Valentine's day was a fun interlude from the work/tennis life. Started off the morning with a little present swapping and glass of bucks fizz, and then James kindly let me restore my bruised tennis ego by taking a 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 beating for the team :) I went to get my hair cut and coloured in the afternoon, which was nice, although god knows how they have the patience to do all the tiny little strands of colour - I nearly died of boredom looking at it, and I had a book with me. In the evening, we had the most amazing meal at Le Vacherin. Here's the menu. The baked cheese with almond and truffles was simply one of the best things EVER, and the chateaubriand was not too far behind. The melting chocolate dessert had to be eaten despite my being fuller than my in-tray. Also dining at the same time as us, just across the room, was Mark Lamaar and his giggling blonde stick-insect date, who must have been about twenty. I couldn't help feeling somewhat disappointed that someone who's obviously smart and likes good music was just out for a trophy shag. Still, maybe she has a beautiful soul, and I've totally misjudged the situation... perhaps in between the fragments of conversation I heard, they really were debating Blonde on Blonde vs Blood on the Tracks and the like. Hope they had fun anyway...

a brief interlude from photo-posting

This looks awesome. I really want to do it. Will have to dig out my records and see what might be suitable...

kitchen and bathroom

sorry to everyone who's NOT Louse and reading this... it must be as dull as hearing other people's dreams...

bedroom

Because Canadians are pesky

and one in particular has been badgering me for pictures of my house since I moved in, here we go. Not sure I'm going to do them all at once, but I'll start with my study (and I am including my untidy desk ON PURPOSE to upset her)

bah

Didn't mean to leave quite such a long gap in between posts. In brief, the end of the other story:

I was walking home from tennis when a man cycled up behind me on the footpath and knocked my shoulder. Being English, of course, I immediately turned round and apologised. On doing this, I realised that the expression on his face was not one of reciprocal apology, but rather a somewhat disappointed and pissed off one, as he speedily buggered off up a side street. He had tried to knock and grab my bag as he cycled past - but I always keep a pretty good hold of my stuff - so had failed in his evil plan. I'd like to say I fought him off with my ninja skills, but there you go. Still, I think apologising to someone trying to mug you is particularly amusing :)

Played a very annoying tennis match last night. Alice and I won our first match 6-1, 6-3. So far, so normal. We lost the next set 6-4, which included me going for a wide shot and slipping on the court - therefore I now have massively skinned knees like a five year old in the playground. The injury gave me a big adrenaline boost and I started playing better, but unfortunately Alice and I didn't play well enough at the same time as each other to claw back that set. We were down in the second set, but making a major comeback when the floodlights went out and we had to stop and split the points. It means we get an overall win, but it was still pretty annoying. I had made chilli (which was good) but the rice didn't cook properly (as there was too much of it), which annoyed me even more. By the time we got to dessert, I just wanted to go home and lick my wounds (not literally, a: I'm not that flexible, and b: ew) so I got James to come and pick me up. I had a hot bath, but was still feeling like a five year old, so James put magic cream on my knees and read me a story from Winnie-the-Pooh. 

Hopefully today will be better. 

It's been a funny sort of day

The day started with a tennis match...playing for the Hogarth again with Charlotte as my partner. We were playing the Hartswood, which was funny, as all the Hogarth team are also members of the Hartswood. Still, we managed to put aside the notion that we were all traitors, and dished out a spanking. Charlotte and I won our first match 6-0, 6-1, and our second 6-0, 6-4. Anna and Gloria had a tough first match which they lost in the third set tiebreak 10-8, but came through to win their second match 6-3, 6-4.

This evening, Alice and I went to see 'In The Valley Of Elah'. Tommy Lee Jones was pretty good, but all in all, I thought the film was a little heavy-handed with its 'war dehumanises soldiers' approach. As Dan would say, anvilicious.

I was about to write the very British story of how I apologised to a man I then realised had been trying to mug me - but my Chinese takeaway has arrived, so I will have to leave you (I'm sure there are at least three people reading this) on the edge of your seats...

Super Wednesday (well I only found this today)

the glass is two-thirds full?

Good things about today:

1. I got Wimbledon tickets in the public ballot

2. My Laura Marling box set arrived

Bad things about today:

1. I have to send my iPhone away to get repaired/replaced (AGAIN)

I'm not sure what cancels out what yet...

Another excellent idea

I ordered this today, which is pretty much the coolest thing ever. I love the idea of Threadless - anyone can make a design, and if enough people like it, they'll make it up.

My Laura Marling box set has not arrived yet. Clearly Riccardo has some kind of postal influence I don't know about, as his has arrived :(

Alice's visa has finally come through, so we are definitely going to Australia now. The stress you get when you hang out with a bad crowd!

Fun weekend

My friends Jude and Joanne came down this weekend for a visit. This picture was taken at about 2.30pm just after they arrived on Friday, and we made sure that a glass of something was never far away. We had a really great time - it's fun to hang out with people who have known you forever... there's no pressure to be anything other than yourself. Hopefully, we'll do it all again soon :)