Episode 448: Camera Sent In, So Now I Wait

Dad drove me down to the Canon service centre in Keppel Bay Tower. Have left instructions to rush the repair, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll be done in time. Otherwise, I'll just swap cameras with my dad. Anyway, today's book was Alessandro Baricco's Without Blood. I love reading continental European writers in translation, partly because the results always seem musical to me, although how much of that is due to the inherent nature of the original languages and how much to the actual content of the writing is difficult for me to disentangle. I'll admit that Baricco was an author whose books I initially purchased entirely on the basis that Vintage published them, but having read Silk over the summer, and now, Without Blood, I can safely say I don't regret that choice. May try to squeeze in time to read one of his longer novels before I fly back, either Ocean Sea or City. For now though, am re-reading Donna Tartt's The Secret History, before moving on to The Little Friend. I think I first read the former in JC, when Liling lent me her copy. I loved it then, but re-reading it now, as someone going through the same stage of life as the main characters, it's setting up resonances that the novel couldn't have had for me before. In particular, I see bits of myself in Richard Papen that chime disconcertingly with things that I've felt, about class, privilege, university life, etc. In any case, it's really a novel that bears re-reading well. Am looking forward to her third novel too, although slightly annoyed that she's switched publishers, which is going to disrupt my nice collection on the shelf.

Episode 447: Still Horribly Sleepy...

Am still really sleepy, but I also really want to watch the latest double episodes of Dollhouse! Appear to be succeeding with my one-book-a-day goal, since I'm just about to finish reading Sarah Kane's Complete Plays. They are intensely brutal and punishing, but at the same time, also beautifully poetic. I like how some of the stage directions would clearly be impossible to achieve in a strictly naturalistic staging, and it really makes me want to see the plays, just to know how the directors handle these. Can't remember if I've ever talked to Bella about Kane's work before, but I think it's a discussion that I should remind myself to have at some point. Have also been reading This Book Will Change Your Life, which is a sort of compilation of the best moments from the past six years of This Diary Will Change Your Life. It's wacky and downright insane in some parts, but a whole lot of fun to read. I imagine some people might even actually do the things recommended in the book. I know some of my friends definitely would. I read another book from Benrik before flying back, Lose Weight! Get Laid! Find God!, which basically takes the diaries' philosophy and applies it to a year-by-year guide for living, from ages 0 to 100. Once again, completely bonkers, but hilarious too.

Episode 446: Watched So Many Films...

This time, I spent almost the entire flight watching films. Started with La Habitación De Fermat (Fermat's Room), a Spanish thriller in which a group of mathematicians must stop a room from crushing them alive by solving a series of logico-mathematical enigmas. The premise is clever, and sounds like it would be right at home in a collection of Borges's stories, but as a film, its plot suffers because the hidden connections between the characters are revealed too glibly, and it becomes hard to suspend your disbelief by the end. Watched The Time Traveler's Wife next, as I really loved the novel and regretted not seeing the film adaptation when it was on earlier this year. I'll admit to nearly shedding a tear at the doomed love story, and I'm glad that they didn't change the ending into some Hollywood cliché where everyone lives happily ever after, although I think they should have stuck to a final meeting when Clare's in her old age, rather than just a couple of years after Henry's death. Did find myself pondering the logical inconsistencies of time travel in the film, but if you scrutinise it too closely, it just falls apart and you can't enjoy it anymore. Kind of like The Lake House, in that regard.

Decided to mix things up a little, and saw Accident, a Cantonese film that competed at the 66th Venice International Film Festival. I generally avoid watching Hong Kong films because they tend to blur into an indistinct mess, much like the music. I'm glad I decided to watch this one though, as the paranoia of Louis Koo's character pushes the film off the beaten track, taking it almost into arthouse territory. I kind of dozed off in the last half an hour, so had to rewind for the denouement, which in contrast to the Spanish film, I felt was handled well. It has that same sense of arbitrariness, but this chimes well with the nature of the plot, which is essentially driven by a single genuine accident, as opposed to the choreographed ones that Koo's character is so good at planning out. So by the end, you end up feeling sorry for him, blinded by his paranoia. I then made the mistake of watching Disney's G-Force. An adequate film, but the amount of stuff that actually happens in it? Wafer-thin. This is one Disney flick that calls for even less thought than usual!

Since my brain had completely switched off by this point due to lack of sleep, the last film I picked was G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra. Only realised at the end that Sienna Miller was in it. I did think her character looked oddly familiar. Great action movie, although that's not really my preferred genre. I can see it becoming the next successful film franchise, and wouldn't mind watching if it did, I guess. Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller are rather easy on the eye. Despite all this watching of films, I did actually finish reading Snark by the end of the flight. I sort of see the point Denby is making about media culture, but I was greatly relieved that he thinks high snark is still permissible in certain situations. At least there's something I can still aspire to, rather than having to be witty all the time. Haha! Have finished unpacking everything, which basically necessitated yet another reorganisation of my bookshelves. I'll definitely need to buy another set by the end of my university education, except there isn't exactly space for it in my room! My goal for the next week or so that I'm back is to try and read at least one novel a day. It's not like people are besieging me with requests to hang out...

Episode 445: En Attendant...

Am waiting in Pool Meadow for my coach to Heathrow, which was supposed to leave 10 minutes ago, but is reportedly delayed for half an hour. Slightly annoyed about that, as I rushed down in a taxi, thinking I would just make it. Randomly bumped into one of those Singaporean freshers who's sort of fallen off the collective SingSoc radar, a position that I might find myself in next year when I move to Leamington whilst most of the Singaporeans in my year move back to campus. Anyway, we chatted a bit, and it turns out we're on the same flight back to Singapore, so I'll have some company of sorts. Managed to finish most of the food in my freezer, except for the beans, and there are still three pints of Ben & Jerry's in there too, so I hope the freezer doesn't break down while we're all gone during the holidays. Also managed to stuff all the books I wanted to bring back and leave behind in Singapore into my Crumpler and laptop bags. Am planning to read David Denby's Snark during the flight. As someone who occasionally refers to myself as snarky and witty in the same breath, it's going to be interesting to discover why one is regarded by Denby as less desirable than the other.

Episode 444: SG Buzz With Dennis Foo

Overslept this morning, but managed to get ready in record time, so I still made it to my 9 am seminar with David Morley. Or rather, with Tom Cornford. His session was definitely out of my comfort zone, but the points he was making were valid and worth thinking about in relation to my self-perceived inability to write sustained, lengthy prose. The Hemans and Landon readings for EN227 this week were a refreshing change, but still not the sort of poetry I would normally pick up. I strongly suspect I'll like the Victorian half of the module better than the Romantic half, and quite probably for all the wrong reasons as well. Skipped the last Varsity of term for the SG Buzz event, although if that hadn't ended so late, I probably would have made it to the pub for a drink or two. It was really cool to meet Mr Dennis Foo though, and chat with him about stuff. In all likelihood, this is probably the closest brush with the entertainment industry that I'll ever have in my life. He struck me as a very down-to-earth man, despite his success today. The Asian food buffet also tasted remarkably authentic, so everyone happily stuffed themselves, myself included. I might be going back in a day, but there's definitely no such thing as having too much spicy food in one's life. Haha!

Episode 443: Christmas Market Redux!

Was supposed to head down to church to do more administrative work, but the electrician's in today apparently, so Sarah told me not to come in. Within minutes of seeing her SMS, I decided that I would head down to the Christmas market in Birmingham again, to get some presents for people back in Singapore. Was pretty efficient, figuring out what I wanted to get after one complete circuit of the market. Would have stayed around longer, but I had to get back for cell dinner anyway. I did stop by the huge Waterstone's on New Street, the interior of which is quite impressive. Couldn't find a clearance section though, so ended up not buying anything, despite being tempted several times. The thing that most surprised me about my spontaneous trip was how little it cost, scarcely more than £2 for a return ticket. When you consider how that's actually less than it costs to get a return bus ticket in Coventry, it makes you wonder what exactly is wrong with public transport in this part of England. Ran into some people on the bus who were headed to the film screening organised by Dan, but cell on Wednesday is kind of a prior long-term commitment, so I had to pass. Managed to spend some time in the Library after the dinner getting some reading done though, so that was good at least.

Episode 442: Practice Of Poetry Party

Have a new episode of Gossip Girl waiting for me, so this post is going to be quick. Got back results for last week's French test, which were epic. 90% overall! Clearly, this module is going to be one of my cleverer academic decisions if I keep this up. Annoyingly, hindsight has shown me that I could in fact have posted a perfect score on this test, which would have been ridiculously awesome. I secretly hope that I was the highest scorer in class, although if that actually turned out to be true, I'm sure it's entirely because I have a knack for not recopying the text's vocabulary in the comprehension section, which really seems to be the aspect of the test that differentiates people's abilities. All in all, a very good way to end off the first term of LL209. Now I just need to work harder on my spoken French and this module is totally in the bag. The tutor just randomly commented today that I was right to make the liaisons in my pronunciations. I say randomly, as at least one of them, 'pas encore', is the kind of thing that I thought people would be used to doing, since the phrase is quite basic. Maybe after I do my presentation next term, she'll compliment my accent? Did some carolling at an old folks' home, and sang 'O Holy Night' solo. That didn't go horribly, although it could've been better. Bad throat! On a different note, would love to hear people doing versions of carols out of Michael P. Spradlin's It's Beginning To Look Like Zombies!: A Book Of Zombie Christmas Carols. Rounded off the day by writing an abcderian poem (that I quite like now after having revised it a little, as its speaker has one of those distinct voices that tend to crop up in some of my work) and a dirty limerick during the Practice of Poetry party, in between wine and nibbles. Now to be equally disciplined during the Christmas break...

Episode 441: Creative Writing Bar Crawl

Have been disciplined tonight and left the bar crawl with Dan to catch the last bus, just before it moved from Kelsey's to a house party. I think the turnout this time was double that of last year's? There's a new Vodka Kick flavour by the way, so that's one more bottle to add to my pointless collection. It bothers me, just a little, that the VK Pear bottle is slightly shorter than all the other flavours. Was not carded at The Benjamin Satchwell this evening, which was where the bar crawl started off. Have mixed feelings on that, since it suggests that I actually look my age now. Oh, the horror, the horror. Was supposed to go in for the second half of a seminar this afternoon, but a combination of not feeling well and thinking that I needed to be at home to wait for a parcel conspired to persuade me it was not worth going onto campus for just one hour. So I just stayed at home, watched a couple of episodes of Lie To Me. No sign of parcel, which leads me to suspect that the Royal Mail parcel I found outside my door the other day was in fact the one that I'd supposedly missed because it was too big to post through the letterbox. Oh well...

Episode 440: Christmas Dinner At Millsy's

Did a lot of singing today. Started off in church, backing up Matt with Bex. Second time around, and it's still fun. Had to dash off after the service to view houses in Leamington, but I think the most exciting part of the afternoon was visiting the milkshake bar with 100 flavours, right next to a sweet shop full of enough candy to make you feel slightly ill just looking at it. Chalk that up as one more reason I'm glad to be moving to Leamington next year. Managed to get back home and then to Millsy's in time for a quick carolling practice before the dinner proper. The food was pretty average, and less plentiful than I thought it would be, but it's not like I left feeling hungry. I guess I'm still kind of tired because I left pretty early. Needed to start (and finish) the poem for tomorrow's seminar anyway. (No progress so far!) I did discover that I cannot detect the taste of vodka in Smirnoff Ice, which means there's one more alcopop I can happily ingest. Planning on singing 'O Holy Night' for another carolling session on Tuesday. Hopefully, I won't screw up.

Episode 439: Hunting For Houses

Have started the search for houses in Leamington! We only actually saw one today, but we're going again tomorrow when all of us will be there. Have had a total of 10 hours of sleep over the past two days, so I'm going to turn in early instead of going to the Rev concert at church. That and take a taxi to church again for band practice, just so that I can wake up later. (Walking there would basically triple my journey time and require me to wake up at least half an hour earlier!) My camera's not working again, but I didn't drop it. The batteries died while I was switching the camera on, so now the lens mechanism is apparently out of alignment. It shouldn't cost more than $60 to fix once I get back to Singapore, if the Canon website is to be believed. I'm just annoyed and frustrated that the problem is, to me anyway, basically a design flaw in Canon's product. Guess I'll be using my N95 to take pictures at tomorrow's Christmas dinner. Finally, a situation I can use to prove to my dad the necessity of having a handphone with a good camera! Have also repacked my suitcase, putting in the sleeping bag and leaving all the papers for my carry-on bag instead, since I couldn't find a way of getting the sleeping bag to Eugene's place before my flight back to Singapore. The papers, consisting of almost all my stuff from first year, are pretty heavy, so not really looking forward to lugging them about. On the plus side, my suitcase when I'm coming back is only going to be as heavy as I choose to make it, i.e. it depends on how many books I decide to bring over.