Yo! It's been a while! I've been trying to finish a paper for a conference in Dundee. Ok, so it's not the Caribbean or whatever but I'm just happy to be getting my name in print! The conference is by the Crop Protection in Northern Britain people and I'm going to be presenting a poster on my PhD subject. Eeek!
Since the last time I posted (October - wow!) my friend's band Area 11 have had a pretty successful video on Youtube in collaboration with Yogscast. You can see it here, if you aren't one of the 1.4 million who have watched already: http://bit.ly/ts3gdb
In case you missed it, it's just been Christmas! I got an awesome present - a Totoro cushion! I would put a photo here but Ye Olde PeeCee I'm using won't allow it. You'll just have to take my word that it's just the coolest thing! He's all fluffy with a soot sprite on his head ^_^
I also got a recipe book from the Hummingbird Bakery. As I type there's a Lemon & Poppy Seed Loaf baking away in the oven! Pretty sure I've done something wrong though as the recipe says one hour cooking time and I'm already pushing two and a half hours.. Uh oh! Hopefully it will taste ok.
I've just finished watching the 2nd episode of the 2011 Royal Society Christmas Lectures recorded from BBC2 (so I guess it's probably on iPlayer). This series are really interesting, the lecturer, Professor Bruce Hood, is very compelling and it's all about the brain with bits about optical illusions, MRI scanning and senses. It's also pretty cool to see the audiences' minds carefully blown by a number of well-executed illustrative experiements.
Also I watched the new adaptation of Great Expectations (also on iPlayer). It's a fantastic version of the Dickens novel with a perfect atmosphere and lovely sets. It still doesn't make me like the story though. I hate the charater of Pip. I know he's supposed to be arrogant and a pain in the arse and then change his spots towards the end. I know it's a classic tale about the effect of money and influence on an impressionable young mind... But I dislike him constantly and, maybe it's just me, I like to like my protagonist. It's one novel I've not been able to finish because I've been irritated too much by the main character.
Oops, I smell burning lemon sponge! Gotta go!
Friday, 30 December 2011
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Mads Langer/ The Feeling/ Peachykeens
I went to see Mads Langer last night at Rock City. He was supporting The Feeling on their tour. After a speedy buffet dinner at Peachykeens, Linda and I sprinted to City to catch his set.
It was amazing. Mads' voice is so beautiful and way better live than on record. The worst part was that his set was really short, about 6-7 songs and so it was over much too soon. If you haven't listened to his stuff it's mostly laid back acoustic-type tracks. Personally I get a lovely, oxymoronic shivery-warm feeling when I listen to his voice.
Neither myself or Linda are really fans of The Feeling so we stuck around for a few songs to see what they were like and decided it was a bit too loud (even with earplugs!) and the lead singer was a bit too irritating to stick out the whole gig. He kept spinning around and waving his arms and generally being so full of himself I started to feel the urge to slap him with a wet fish. I didn't though. The fishmongers were all shut at that time of night.
Overall it was a fun night and in case you were wondering, Peachykeens is an all-you-can eat 'live' buffet restaurant. That doesn't mean lobster tanks and loose livestock, it means they cook things for you there and then so it's hot and fresh and 'live'. I left feeling very full and sick. Happy days.
It was amazing. Mads' voice is so beautiful and way better live than on record. The worst part was that his set was really short, about 6-7 songs and so it was over much too soon. If you haven't listened to his stuff it's mostly laid back acoustic-type tracks. Personally I get a lovely, oxymoronic shivery-warm feeling when I listen to his voice.
Neither myself or Linda are really fans of The Feeling so we stuck around for a few songs to see what they were like and decided it was a bit too loud (even with earplugs!) and the lead singer was a bit too irritating to stick out the whole gig. He kept spinning around and waving his arms and generally being so full of himself I started to feel the urge to slap him with a wet fish. I didn't though. The fishmongers were all shut at that time of night.
Overall it was a fun night and in case you were wondering, Peachykeens is an all-you-can eat 'live' buffet restaurant. That doesn't mean lobster tanks and loose livestock, it means they cook things for you there and then so it's hot and fresh and 'live'. I left feeling very full and sick. Happy days.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
I Won!
I'm so excited! Alongside a wicked cool t-shirt and lots of pretty accessories I also won a £35 voucher to spend at their online store.
Of course I intend to buy the party ring earrings I mentioned earlier, and as well as these I think I'm going to get the bunting necklace which I've wanted for ages.
Whilst browsing the site for more things I want (of which there are many) I found the little cutie (right). After further research I found out his name is Pusheen and he has his own website/blog with super cute animated gifs!
There are pictures for all occasions, like broomstick riding and eating pizza and also graduation and sombrero-wearing and dressing like R2-D2. Enjoy!
Monday, 26 September 2011
It's that time of year again..
That's right, it's fresher's week! I knew it was coming but somehow it has still managed to surprise me. I'm looking forward to the BandSoc first social but apart from that fresher's is just a big noisy mess on campus after the peace and quiet I've been used to! At first I thought it was kinda cute, seeing the newbies arrive with their entourage of parents and younger siblings. My views quickly changed after I did a 12 hour day in the office and got the bus home where I was surrounded by puke and condoms and the sound of feet pounding on the top deck of the bus.
I think it's time I passed my driving test...
Last week was internationals week and so there has been a massive influx of international students. There have been a few tell-tale signs of people unused to the UK. I saw one guy with his top-notch SLR camera taking photos af magpies and pigeons, and another chap on the hopper bus frantically pointing out a field of maize to a friend. This made me think it must be really weird to live and study in a strange country. I think I'd like to try it, even if it was just for a year or so. Then I can point out weird-looking crops to the locals who would think I was crazy too :)
Buuut then there's the language issue. I'm okay at picking up choice phrases but there can be odd results if you pronounce things wrong or get the words in the wrong order. Recently I saw a link on a friend's facebook page to a site called Bad Translator. It translates a phrase into many different languages and is a bit like a multi-lingual, online Chinese whispers game. For example I entered the phrase "I love doughnuts more than life itself" and 20 random language translations later ended up with "More than a ring of life". Things like this amuse me more than they probably should and can keep me entertained for a long time.
I'm also happy to while away the hours on websites such as www.engrish.com sniggering at messages which take on a whole new meaning when badly translated. One such example being "Safeguard the scenic spot. Show your mercy" which I guess should properly translate to "Take care" or something..
But anyway, I found a pen recently with some classic badly-translated English. There's a photo of it at a jaunty angle at the bottom of this page. Here is what it said:
I think it's time I passed my driving test...
Last week was internationals week and so there has been a massive influx of international students. There have been a few tell-tale signs of people unused to the UK. I saw one guy with his top-notch SLR camera taking photos af magpies and pigeons, and another chap on the hopper bus frantically pointing out a field of maize to a friend. This made me think it must be really weird to live and study in a strange country. I think I'd like to try it, even if it was just for a year or so. Then I can point out weird-looking crops to the locals who would think I was crazy too :)
Buuut then there's the language issue. I'm okay at picking up choice phrases but there can be odd results if you pronounce things wrong or get the words in the wrong order. Recently I saw a link on a friend's facebook page to a site called Bad Translator. It translates a phrase into many different languages and is a bit like a multi-lingual, online Chinese whispers game. For example I entered the phrase "I love doughnuts more than life itself" and 20 random language translations later ended up with "More than a ring of life". Things like this amuse me more than they probably should and can keep me entertained for a long time.
I'm also happy to while away the hours on websites such as www.engrish.com sniggering at messages which take on a whole new meaning when badly translated. One such example being "Safeguard the scenic spot. Show your mercy" which I guess should properly translate to "Take care" or something..
But anyway, I found a pen recently with some classic badly-translated English. There's a photo of it at a jaunty angle at the bottom of this page. Here is what it said:
- Available for any surface
- Please close the cap after use
- Special ingredient of ink, permanent and less effect of pollution
- Keep out of children
- Convenient to mark
- May not be washed if staining clothes incautiously
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Morning Parade - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
I first stumbled upon Morning Parade when they were supporting Feeder at Rock City last February. I recognised one of their songs from an episode of Gossip Girl and started paying proper attention. I then discovered I really, really liked their stuff.
Since then I've been listening over and over to the four tracks listed on Spotify and lately have been trying to catch their daily stream of their album tracks on their website.
Tickets for tonight's gig at Rescue Rooms, Nottingham were crazy-cheap so when I saw them on sale I snapped up two hoping to make a friend go along with me. After a number of unsuccessful pleas to friends to keep me company thanks go to Sparkles* for manning-up through flu and being my gig buddy.
The band were visibly nervous when playing their new stuff and I think the first few dates of the tour will be a bit of a practice for the international dates. It was obvious when playing the older and more tried-and-tested tracks that everyone on stage was comfortable and seemed to have a lot of fun.
Anyway the band had no reason to be nervous, the new material came across really well, the frontman, whom Wikipedia tells me is called Steve Sparrow (charming alliteration), interacted nicely with the audience and the older tracks such as Under The Stars got people, including me, singing along and dancing.
Overall I had a jolly good time and wish I had more cash to see these guys again at another venue near the end of the tour. It would be cool to see how the confidence with the new tracks develops. Roll on new album release!
P.S. Don't buy the new wristbands from McDonalds, it's not really worth it, you save like 50p on a lame Mayo Chicken and you have to buy the thing for £1 in the first place. Credits for this advice go to the staff at McDonalds Angel Row who will not be winning gold stars for salesmanship any day soon.
Since then I've been listening over and over to the four tracks listed on Spotify and lately have been trying to catch their daily stream of their album tracks on their website.
Tickets for tonight's gig at Rescue Rooms, Nottingham were crazy-cheap so when I saw them on sale I snapped up two hoping to make a friend go along with me. After a number of unsuccessful pleas to friends to keep me company thanks go to Sparkles* for manning-up through flu and being my gig buddy.
The band were visibly nervous when playing their new stuff and I think the first few dates of the tour will be a bit of a practice for the international dates. It was obvious when playing the older and more tried-and-tested tracks that everyone on stage was comfortable and seemed to have a lot of fun.
Anyway the band had no reason to be nervous, the new material came across really well, the frontman, whom Wikipedia tells me is called Steve Sparrow (charming alliteration), interacted nicely with the audience and the older tracks such as Under The Stars got people, including me, singing along and dancing.
Overall I had a jolly good time and wish I had more cash to see these guys again at another venue near the end of the tour. It would be cool to see how the confidence with the new tracks develops. Roll on new album release!
P.S. Don't buy the new wristbands from McDonalds, it's not really worth it, you save like 50p on a lame Mayo Chicken and you have to buy the thing for £1 in the first place. Credits for this advice go to the staff at McDonalds Angel Row who will not be winning gold stars for salesmanship any day soon.
Monday, 19 September 2011
Forbrydelsen - *Spoiler Alert*
So last week I watched the final episode of The Killing (or Forbrydelsen in Danish) on BBC4. My Danish post-doc supervisor told me about it and so I gave it a try - mainly because I wanted to hear what spoken Danish sounded like - and I ended up well and truly hooked.
I can't recommend this series highly enough. The atmosphere generated in each episode is amazing and, maybe it's the language barrier, but the mystery surrounding the inner thoughts of main character Sarah Lund, played by Sofie Gråbøl, got me as obsessive about the programme as Lund is about the murder case of Nanna Birk Larsen.
Generally speaking, the series begins with the body of a girl being found inside a car in a canal. Lund, who was supposed to be moving to Sweden, gets wrapped up in the case to her replacement Jan Meyer's dismay. A series of constantly unravelling clues lead the detectives to investigate many possible culprits. More often than not they get it wrong which, in my mind, made it seem more like a real investigation and kept me interested throughout.
The interactions between Lund and Meyer grow throughout the 20 days of the case. Most of the time Meyer encourages Lund leave for her new job in Sweden but eventually they are almost, almost, working as a team and Meyer starts to trust Lund's incredible instincts.
Alongside this Lund and Meyer thread there is an intertwining politics-related plot which follow Troels Hartmann as he runs for election as mayor of Copenhagen. He and his team are under public scrutiny throughout the series and as a viewer I became in turns angry, empathetic, frustrated and moved by the reaction of Hartmann and his team to the events in the murder case.
The main thing I enjoyed (but not in a sadistic way) about the series was watching Lund's personal life degenerate whilst she came closer and closer to solving the crime. At first she is in denial about how single-minded and obsessive she is about the case but eventually she ends up taking incredible risks and losing everything she has to the investigation.
I loved the techniques the writers used to reflect the feelings of the characters in their surroundings and the most moving scenes tended to have minimal dialogue; which I really appreciated being a subtitle reader. I properly appreciated the subtlety of this when a couple of weeks ago I caught one episode of the American version on Channel 4 mid-way through the series. I was taken-aback by complete difference in take on the story, characters and atmosphere. From what I saw the American version loses all the mystery surrounding the character of Lund and seemed to turn her into a bit of a sap. Personally I feel there was too much emphasis on dialogue and making things a bit obvious in case you hadn't grasped the point.On the other hand the Danish version seemed to excel by using actor's expressions, music and scene-setting. After all one draw towards watching a crime drama is trying to work things out for yourself and trying to guess whodunnit and feeling smug if you got it right. I did get it right. I do feel smug.
And so, I could write much more but I will now end my essay on The Killing. Hopefully I haven't spoiled it for you if you want to watch it - after all I barely mentioned the crime itself - and I will leave you with an item I desperately want from the show: The Sarah Lund Sweater. It's a beauty!
I can't recommend this series highly enough. The atmosphere generated in each episode is amazing and, maybe it's the language barrier, but the mystery surrounding the inner thoughts of main character Sarah Lund, played by Sofie Gråbøl, got me as obsessive about the programme as Lund is about the murder case of Nanna Birk Larsen.
Generally speaking, the series begins with the body of a girl being found inside a car in a canal. Lund, who was supposed to be moving to Sweden, gets wrapped up in the case to her replacement Jan Meyer's dismay. A series of constantly unravelling clues lead the detectives to investigate many possible culprits. More often than not they get it wrong which, in my mind, made it seem more like a real investigation and kept me interested throughout.
The interactions between Lund and Meyer grow throughout the 20 days of the case. Most of the time Meyer encourages Lund leave for her new job in Sweden but eventually they are almost, almost, working as a team and Meyer starts to trust Lund's incredible instincts.
Alongside this Lund and Meyer thread there is an intertwining politics-related plot which follow Troels Hartmann as he runs for election as mayor of Copenhagen. He and his team are under public scrutiny throughout the series and as a viewer I became in turns angry, empathetic, frustrated and moved by the reaction of Hartmann and his team to the events in the murder case.
The main thing I enjoyed (but not in a sadistic way) about the series was watching Lund's personal life degenerate whilst she came closer and closer to solving the crime. At first she is in denial about how single-minded and obsessive she is about the case but eventually she ends up taking incredible risks and losing everything she has to the investigation.
I loved the techniques the writers used to reflect the feelings of the characters in their surroundings and the most moving scenes tended to have minimal dialogue; which I really appreciated being a subtitle reader. I properly appreciated the subtlety of this when a couple of weeks ago I caught one episode of the American version on Channel 4 mid-way through the series. I was taken-aback by complete difference in take on the story, characters and atmosphere. From what I saw the American version loses all the mystery surrounding the character of Lund and seemed to turn her into a bit of a sap. Personally I feel there was too much emphasis on dialogue and making things a bit obvious in case you hadn't grasped the point.On the other hand the Danish version seemed to excel by using actor's expressions, music and scene-setting. After all one draw towards watching a crime drama is trying to work things out for yourself and trying to guess whodunnit and feeling smug if you got it right. I did get it right. I do feel smug.
And so, I could write much more but I will now end my essay on The Killing. Hopefully I haven't spoiled it for you if you want to watch it - after all I barely mentioned the crime itself - and I will leave you with an item I desperately want from the show: The Sarah Lund Sweater. It's a beauty!
Friday, 16 September 2011
Online Shopping - Ji Ji Kiki
Ok so one thing I do a lot is browse for shopping online. I have a minor obsession with all things Japanese so I was super happy when I found Ji Ji Kiki last year.
One reason I set up this blog today is because they are having a super giveaway to celebrate their brand-spanking-new website with a goodie bag of things up for grabs. The contents represent a good range of things you can buy at their online store. Not only do they sell kawaii jewellery but they have an amazing range of cute homeware and clothing too.
One reason I set up this blog today is because they are having a super giveaway to celebrate their brand-spanking-new website with a goodie bag of things up for grabs. The contents represent a good range of things you can buy at their online store. Not only do they sell kawaii jewellery but they have an amazing range of cute homeware and clothing too.
Today my number one items are the party ring biscuit stud earrings. I must own them! Party rings are a key ingredient for every gathering. I enjoy putting them behind my glasses lenses and having party ring spectacles too!
New Blog
So here is my first post! I set up this blog because nearly every day (when I should be working) I usually find something online I want to share or I feel like talking about a topic and social networking posts just aren't enough.
The title of my blog is a lame-ass pun on 'Daily Thoughts' because my nickname/username for most things is Snaily, or a variation of it anyways. There's a short, boring story behind it and maybe I'll write it here one day for anyone who's curious.
So there you have it, introductions over, proper post number 1 coming up...!
The title of my blog is a lame-ass pun on 'Daily Thoughts' because my nickname/username for most things is Snaily, or a variation of it anyways. There's a short, boring story behind it and maybe I'll write it here one day for anyone who's curious.
So there you have it, introductions over, proper post number 1 coming up...!
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