In the interests of a nice random post to celebrate the completion of another weekly essay cycle, here’s a selection of some of my favourite song lyrics (at the moment, for various reasons) for you to go “ooh, I know that!” or “nah, not a clue” at…
People are just people,
They shouldn’t make you nervous
…
And if you kiss somebody,
Then both of you’ll get practice
– Regina Spektor, The Ghost of Corporate Future
Why? You won’t find many better philosophies for life than this.
Why would you lie about how much coal you have?
Why would you lie about something dumb like that?
– Vampire Weekend, Oxford Comma
Why? Makes me giggle and think about economics lectures.
I never thought it would happen
With me and the girl from Clapham
– Squeeze, Up The Junction
Why? I shiver as the song begins, knowing how it all ends.
In Birmingham, in London – what we need now is love
Not hate and fear, blood and tears – what we need now is love
– Hard-Fi, We Need Love
Why? Should be obvious 
(Hey!) Us kids know
(Hey!) No cars go
– Arcade Fire, No Cars Go
Why? Less a song lyric, more a statement of public transportation policy.
So if you are a racist
Our friendship has got to end
And if your friends are racists don’t pretend to be my friend
– The Specials, Racist Friend
Why? Amusingly direct.
Run along with Captain Jack
Badidado, Badidado, Badidadidadidado
Badadadideidoooo
– Captain Jack, Captain Jack
Why? Because it’s (unintentionally) all about Torchwood 
(Which btw I’m rather enjoying!)
And do share some of yours too!
The Kite Runner
Without having read the book, I saw The Kite Runner tonight along with Joshua, Sanna, Abbi and Saoirse. It was a beautiful film… enormously sad and very moving, though with some some very funny and uplifting moments in amongst it all. The depiction of Afghanistan under Soviet occupation and then the Taliban is suitably bleak, and I couldn’t watch the scene of public stoning. You couldn’t really get a better example of the worst that humanity is capable of sinking to.
Anyway – it was a very good film, and a great evening with wonderful people. Who I will soon be leaving again, for I’m back to Cambridge on Saturday! It will be lovely to see everyone there too, though 
The Simpsons Movie
It was with some trepidation that I saw The Simpsons Movie yesterday. Put simply, The Simpsons means a hell of a lot to me, as one of the defining experiences of the 90s. I grew up with the show, and in its day it was beyond brilliant. So good that Fridays on BBC2 at 6pm (yes, just before Robot Wars or The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air) became a ritual that even my dad enjoyed, and you can measure the amount of TV he watches in nanoseconds.
And, yeah, of course it lost its edge. If you’re geeky, Season 9 to be precise – that’s 1997 in the States. So I stopped watching the episodes, and savoured the memory. But the lure of the yellow family on the big screen is strong, and there’s no way I couldn’t see this movie. So I lowered my expectations and took a deep breath. The result was a film which is not amazingly brilliantly wonderful, but was supremely enjoyable and even brought back some of the serious emotions The Simpsons used to be famous for. There was some great visual gags, many clever lines and still the ‘wow’ sense of seeing the show in the cinema, surrounded by so many other people laughing with you. There was even a queue to get in: a nice reminder of the 90s when everyone loved The Simpsons, aside from the Bush family, naturally.
So, go see it! It put a new shine on your favourite memories from the past, and you even get to hear Maggie speak. Can’t say fairer than that, eh?
Incidentally, if you want to laugh until your throat is sore and your stomach feels weak, go see The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Been around for ages, and when I saw it on Saturday I could see why. In fact, I’m going again! All hail the mighty Shakespeare, and the still-mighty Simpsons!
Just back from seeing Called to Account at the Tricycle, a dramatisation of a hypothetical hearing against “Anthony Charles Lynton Blair for the crime of aggression against Iraq”.
Yet despite being very good and everything, it has now completely gone from my mind because… I just met the Demon Headmaster!
Wow!
Message for Katie
I recognised Terrence Hardiman during the play, and Tasha and I ambushed him a bit afterwards. And yes, it’s all very embarrassing and childish – but there was absolutely no way we could resist. Mum was also quick-thinking enough to get a little note for Katie to prevent any sibling squabbling which was cool.
So all in all, a rather brilliant tactic on behalf of the New Labour spin machine: wheel out the Demon Headmaster and suddenly we don’t give a damn about the war anymore 
After Emily’s dad accidentally booked too many tickets, and then Emily passed the spare tickets along to me and Sanna, and then Sanna was sadly too ill to attend, it eventually transpired that Robert and I went to see Radio 4’s The News Quiz being recorded. Hosted by Sandi Toksvig (can you not love her?) with Mark Steel (weep with joy, Saoirse, weep with pure unadulated joy) Alan Coren, Phil Jupitus, some-new-and-quite-funny-woman and the sexy Radio 4 newsreader-voice guy.
Anyway, it was great fun, with most of Mark Steel’s contributions being utterly libellous and not able to be transmitted. Got slightly worried when I spotted a bloke reading the Morning Star in the audience though, and thought the Radio 4 listenership was about to get revolutionary. Oh and a mobile went off in the audience – to which the team responded by shining a spotlight on the guilty woman. Haha! 
Props to Emily for getting the tickets for us.
They also teased vegetarians in a rather amusing fashion sorry, Emily \ Sanna \ Joshua \ everybody else.
In other news: I have now applied for my student loans! Which is exciting, especially if I end up dying very young and therefore not paying any of them back. (Accidents happen…)
Jeff DuBowe on Haarlem globetrotters: “One of our favorite spots. Super walking city. I think we were the ones who told your In-Laws about it…” Oct 14, 15:15
