Don’t worry Tash, I did love it!
Yup, I’m just back from finally seeing Slumdog Millionaire with Oliver and Owen at the Picturehouse, Paper Planes still ringing in my ears. It’s the film that absolutely everybody has told me to go and see and I don’t have much to add to the many, many blogs I’ve read about it already, really. It’s a great film, wonderfully made, with a plot that you know is going to end on a fulfilling, heartwarming and somewhat sentimental note but – y’know – sometimes that’s not a bad thing. I can’t always do grim. It was also the perfect time for me to see this kind of film, at the end of a long essay-writing day where I’d handed it in about ten minutes before the deadline. At the point in the weekly cycle you suddenly get filled with a rush of satisfaction and contentment (the tiredness kicks in tomorrow) so it was lovely to relax and let the cinema wash over me. I am curious about how the film has gone down amongst the Indian public generally – is the depiction of the slums sensationalist, voyeuristic, unfair? I don’t know, and I’m not really in the mood for digging deep into the politics of it at the moment to be honest. It was good.
“Good afternoon! You’re listening to Drivetime LIVE on SpoutRadio with me, Angry McNab, on the show that hands over control to YOU and lets YOU say whatever’s really on YOUR mind. So let’s go straight to the phones, where our first caller is waiting: a Nick Michael from Florence. What’s on your mind, Nick?”
“Afternoon, Angry, afternoon. I just wanted to phone in to tell you how SICK I am with politics in Italy at the moment…”
“Oh it’s disgraceful, isn’t it?”
“It really is, Angry, it really is. But you don’t know the half of it, Angry, y’know cause I live in Florence, see, so I see it all close-up…”
“A ring-side view, would you say Nick?”
“That’s it, exactly, a ring-side view Angry, a ring-side view. And y’know, it really makes me mad because all we get is weak governments, Angry, weak governments and weak states…”
“Bit of trouble with the Spanish, I hear?”
“Oh yeah, I mean, trouble like you won’t believe, Angry..”
“And why do you think all this is happening, Nick?”
“Well if you ask me, Angry, if you do ask me I’d say it was because we have just LOST CONTROL of our military matters, y’know, just totally lost control and the situation’s terrible because of it. I remember, back when I was lad, like, when he had strong republics with a bit of fire in ’em, y’know? A bit of fighting spirit is what we need, Angry, if you ask me because we’ve just LOST it at the moment.”
“I’m glad you’ve brought this up, Nick, I really am, because we get a LOT of calls on this topic at the moment, Nick, an awful lot. In fact, I think the phonelines are going as we speak, y’know, because this is something that really gets you going and what I hear, over and over again, is that what really gets your goat is the use of mercenaries in all of this.”
“That’s it, Angry, that’s totally it, because y’see these mercenaries are just USELESS, y’know? Untrustworthy, just out to make a profit, y’know, out to look out for themselves and their business and no one cares about us in all of it, Angry, no-one seems to give a damn about us…”
“They say, Nick, the princes say that they need mercenaries because it’s just not gentlemanly to raise an army anymore. That’s what they say. What do you think about that?”
“Oh but doesn’t that just SHOW you, Angry, does that just show you how USELESS these people are? I tell you, I pay my taxes, I pay a lot of taxes, Angry, all us hardworking people do and we don’t even get a proper army to show for it. I tell you, it just makes me so mad sometimes, as I said, it really does.”
“And I think our listeners are with you on that one, Nick, they really are, so thank you very much for your call there, really sparking a debate on that one here. Right, time for our next caller, and it’s a Mr. Lipsius…”
Today (well, yesterday) was just one of those happy, fun days you have without particularly special or exciting happening. (It’s probably got quite a lot to do with food, actually.) It was Oliver’s birthday, so we gathered in his room in the morning to present cards and gifts. I felt slightly competitive after Abi and Oliver pulled out all the creative stops on my present last year, so naturally my card had to be in extended video form… but never mind, it all went down well. Then it was off to the Copper Kettle for English breakfast before heading to Caius library to work. And I know this will sound ridiculous to everyone but me, but as I was sitting there, just reading (Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy) without bothering to take notes – sun streaming in through the window on my face – I actually caught myself feeling like I was on holiday. After all, don’t you read a lot on holiday anyway? Machiavelli isn’t exactly stereotypical beach material but he’s a lot more palatable than the others thus far, and I felt strangely relaxed despite the essay deadline looming round the corner.
Despite said reading I am still slightly behind, due to having volunteered on the shadowing scheme this year, but it was a pleasure to do and I felt I should repay the debt anyway. Basically, you’re assigned a state-school (or some other target group) Sixth Former who ‘shadows’ you for a couple of days, in order to give people a taste of everyday Cambridge life and dispel some myths at the same time. I joined up a fair amount with my two fellow Caians who also had shadows this week, so got to know three shadows show them around together, despite the picturesque if cold snow! It seems to have gone pretty well, and I for my own personal touristy checklist I can also say that I’ve (a) been inside King’s chapel and (b) seen a Footlights performance now. Success!
Sorry, but:
‘Tragic Life Stories’ in WHSmith
No. Please… no. This should not exist. Not as a distinct section!
I’m in the computer room, not bothering to go home before I come right back again for dinner. So, meme time!
1. I study History, except most of the time I don’t study ‘real history’ – as my friends do – but cuddly modern ‘history’ about what happened yesterday afternoon.
2. You can always bribe me with chocolate fudge cake.
3. I believe that all of the world’s problems are ultimately a manifestation of inadequate public transport.
4. I often fail to get out of bed until at least several hours after I really should have done.
5. I have completed all but one of the challenges in Peggle Nights.
6. I care about the difference between toleration and respect.
7. People think that gossip involves lying, but I know that gossip normally involves excessive truth.
8. Sometimes, I actually have to stop what I’m doing in order to note down an idea for a blog post on my phone.
9. I overuse the 
emoticon to such an extent that it appears in my lecture notes.
10. I am a major electronic hoarder.
11. I want to study lots and lots of different subjects, against which ‘earning money’ seems very dull.
12. It takes me hours to go through e-mail and RSS after a day or two away from my laptop.
13. I used to be blond!
14. I would be very jealous if Andy got to burn down Daily Mail HQ.
15. I despair at the phrase “let’s agree to disagree”, principally because I’m never sure what happens if I don’t agree to this.
16. I wish I read more 
17. I listen to crazy things on my MP3 player, and smile at the fact that passers by don’t know.
18. I love ‘mango’ beer more than any other alcoholic beverage 
19. I get confused about whether everyone else also realises that other people have also thought about the fact that everyone thinks similar things but believes themselves to be unique.
20. My spelling and grammar are far from perfect, but incorrect apostrophes – including 1920’s – burn my eyes.
21. The superpower ability I would choose would be the slippery art of persuasion
22. It’s not just that I don’t believe in a god, a soul, the afterlife or universal morality, but I don’t even think (in my own subjective way) that these things are at all desirable.
23. I eat way, way too much cheese and drink far, far too much orange juice.
24. I sometimes think my blog had a golden era, but I know that it never really did.
25. Sometimes I think that a deep brooding unhappiness would make for more interesting posts, but I can’t provide one, sorry!
Linda Moffitt on Colombia: “Such a sweet memory of the four of you meeting up in Colombia!” Dec 2, 07:42
