In all its glory
Yesterday we had an English trip to Queen Mary’s College for 4 lectures on Angela Carter’s Wise Children. Without naming names – one of them was brilliant, one was quite good, another was dull and the last… well, he didn’t seem to have been told what the title of his lecture was supposed to be. He was making good points, but thoroughly unconnected, and he kept pausing awkwardly after each one as if we were supposed to applaud. And his shirt wasn’t tucked in. 
Lecture Notes
Swiping the card
I’m a big fan of the ‘cashless society’ in any case. I don’t know how long it will take, but I see a day when cash is virtually extinct, and we’ll be better off for it. Organised crime thrives at the point when physical notes and coins become untraceable. Plus cash is so 20th century 
I’ve already had the discussion with a friend about the big scary Big Brother nature of Oyster. Look – I’m convinced that most of these paranoid claims are made by people who didn’t really understand the point of 1984. Of course if the state turns evil it can really screw you over, but Nazis and Soviets proved that rather a long time ago without any CCTV or glorified electronic bus tickets. I just simply don’t believe I have a ‘right’ to be untraceable. I might have a right to avoid intrusive marketing, or turn off my phone, or go away to the country without telling anyone. But if the police really want to find me I’m pretty glad they can.
I always wondered if I had a mild fear of telephones. Not the actual phone itself, just making calls to someone. A slight nervous feeling – the odd moment at the beginning when you wonder if it’s a bad time, or they can’t quite remember who you are from your voice, or something. Then I read this rather disturbing account and realised that I was being ridiculous and that a slight nervousness and preference for e-mail \ IM \ in-person communication instead is nothing compared to thinking that a hearing a ringtone is “as though someone hit you across the back of the head with a two-by-four”. Phew!
Anyway – I only mention that cause I just phoned an old friend from primary school who I haven’t seen properly for ages. Weird feeling. But lovely to speak to them again! Thanks to Rob and El Barto for shouting at me to shut up and use the damn phone 
What else? Oh yes – Jeffrey Archer! Or should I say… Lord Archer? I’m so pleased to see him back in the news again. As Sky News put it – the decision to readmit him back to the Tory party is a case of either modern or compassionate conservative, but certainly not both
I rounded off my extended weekend by seeing this film, and wow, Tasha actually had a point when she described it as the best – film – ever. Well I wouldn’t go that far, but it certainly rocks 
and is much improved from the first three movies.
Best bit of the film: undoubtedly the scene with the Death Eaters at Quidditch World Cup. Far scarier than any confrontation with Voldemort could ever be because it felt very real – the costumes and fire deliberately invoking the terror of the KKK. I mean, I doubt I’ll ever be locked in a wand-duel with a wizard, but I can definitely imagine being in a big crowd of terrified people as a violent group wrecks havoc. Sinister!
Oh, and if you didn’t feel sorry for Hermione at the ball you clearly weren’t investing enough emotionally
The challenges of the Triwizard Tournament were all very well done as you’d expect, and the film benefits from ditching most of the traditional Hogwarts stuff. (We don’t need to see another lesson with Snape to get the point.) However, it still falls down at points when trying to catch up with Rowling’s text. One minute everyone hates Harry (well, one scene in fact) but that’s all forgotten pretty quickly (the next scene actually). Rita Skeeter is disappointingly never really developed… she writes an article about Harry and then, ur, what exactly?
Overall though, the film is a triumph. Just make sure you’ve read the books first!
Edit: How could I forget?! The thrill of suddening seeing the good Doctor appear in the middle of a scene, now that was cool!
Which of these search engines are the best – Google, Yahoo… or MSN?
Don’t answer yet! Take the amazing Search Engine Experiment first and decide which one is really most relevant to you. It’s a blind test, and for what it’s worth, I picked Google each time.
Hat Tip: Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble.
Helen on It’s (waiting) time.: “Fabulous news, congratulations to you both! X” Jun 8, 21:51
