Rain and Tea and Influences

It's been a windy day and now it's raining. Soon my tea is ready and I will drink it whilst either reading Surfing the Zeitgeist, a collection of Gilbert Adair's culture criticism from the 1990s, or watching the last episode of David Attenborough's The Trials of Life. 

Adair is occasionally confusing, such as when he says that there's no such thing as television history (because according to Adair there has never been a classic tv-series or classic show which has stood the test of time like old movies have, which if you ask me is just poppycock) but more often than not he's rather brilliant.

Attenborough is never less than brilliant, but more on him later. He is after all one of the defining individuals in my life, outside friends and family. (Others that belong in that category are Alfred Hitchcock, François Truffaut, Enid Blyton and Jan Lindblad.)

Department of Foreign Affairs

You can really tell a lot about someone's feelings towards you by the way she introduces you to other people. I've thought about if before and yesterday and today I've had ample reason to think about it again. I spent yesterday with Lisa and Maeby. Leaving them won't be easy...

At work I've begun clearing the deck. I'm throwing away lots, both physical and digital stuff, and it's ever so satisfying. And just emptying the mailbox is a fulltime job, make no mistake about it! It's a good thing I have two months left. But it's not all deck clearing, I spent two hours at a cocktail party at the department for foreign affairs. Much fun.

I've taken a break from Pankaj Mishra, and I'm reading David Hume instead. As Scotland's foremost philosopher, I feel it's my duty. It would be something if I were to get my Ph.D. in 2011, his tercentenary.

But actually, I'm supposed to be writing a short essay about Bergman's soap commercials now so no more blogging for now.

don't think of me

It's late, I'm drinking tea and listening to Dido. When I was in Auckland, New Zeeland, in 2002 I spent a lot of time at the big Border bookstore which also sold music and where you could listen to the albums for free. Dido was what I listened to most, Dido and Mano Chau.

I've got a new bed, much bigger that my previous, and it feels good. I've got some books with me in bed, four of them actually, lying on top of each other, and when I wake up, I don't want to leave the bed but stay there the whole day. If it wasn't for the warmth and the sun I probably would. Apparently it's going to rain on Monday so...

Right now I'm reading Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond  by Pankaj Mishra and Britton on Film - The Complete Film Criticism by Andrew Britton. The first one is excellent, Mishra is a favourite. He's writing about politics in South Asia, both on a personal level and on a national level. Here he's slightly repetitive, which may be due to the fact that the book as a collection of essays previously published in various newspapers and magazines, and now re-edited for a book. 

Andrew Britton is also good, when writing about films. When writing about politics he's much less astute. It's the other way around with Mishra.

St Andrews and Georgia

Great news indeed! Today I've been accepted at University of St Andrews and it's been decided that I'll go to Georgia in June to talk about Ingmar Bergman at a film festival I've put together. Not bad for a late April Wednesday. 

How shall I celebrate? Well, I'm not really one for celebrations so I leave that for someone else. I settled for being very happy.

follow up

In my post from last Wednesday I said that I was going to do something though, if my nerves didn't fail me. Well, they didn't. I did what I had planned to do. I hope that this new habit I've got, of doing and not just talking, is here to stay.

everyday philosophy

A lot of arguments are based on the fact that those arguing are using different definitions for the thing that they are arguing about. This is often not properly understood. But definitions are important, as this example from Gulliver, The Economist's blog on travel, makes clear.

United Airlines and its larger passengers Gulliver Economist.com:

"The arguments, it seems to me, boil down to the question of what exactly a ticket is.

Is it a) the guarantee of transport for one passenger to an agreed destination? If so then the airline must provide seating for all, and any inadequacies must be addressed at no extra cost to the passenger.

Or is it b) the guarantee of a certain amount of space in the aircraft? If so, then a passenger needing more space is obliged to buy another ticket."

I'm here

Yes, I'm good. I feel very very good. Sharp. Is this life? It's some life.

Dreaming of the Queen

The very first album I ever bought was Pet Shop Boys' second album Actually. I was in my early teens and I wanted to have it on cassette, but I couldn't find one. I tried all the record stores in my suburb but with no luck. But in the suburb were my grandparents lived there was a little store that sold TVs, radios and such. So I tried there. Alas, they didn't have any cassettes. But they did have it on LP, and the clerk suggested I buy that instead because it would last longer and I could easily copy it to a cassette at home. And so I bought it even though if it was slightly more expensive that I had hoped for.

I've been a fan since then, and I still am, just as much. I have all the albums. There's just one thing missing, Chris Heath's book Pet Shop Boys, Literally. It seems to be out of print.

I wonder if I would be able to do a top ten list of my favourite PSB songs. Probably not.

I'm feeling calm and happy. I feel like I could do anything. (Which makes you wonder why I'm sitting here writing...) Tomorrow I will do something though, if my nerves doesn't fail me.

Maeby and Locke

A dog is a man's shoes best friend.

There was a time when I didn't much care for dogs. That was before Maeby. Now I care about very little else. There's so much love in her it's sometimes unbearable, if for no other reason than that she is so very physical in expressing it. After a few hours no part of my skin which she's been able to reach with her tongue and her teeth (that is my face, ears, neck, arms and hands) is left unmolested. It's a good thing I'm not her owner but only her very good friend.

I had a cold last week but now I'm well and good again. Not very eager to get back to work though, so it's a good thing I have 26 days of paid vacation which I must take advantage of before the last of June. There will not be many office hours the coming month.

I've bought myself some books, and begun reading one called Locke, unsurprisingly about Locke, the British philosopher from the 17th century. Always had a soft spot for him so it's about time I read a book entirely devoted to him. Have read a fourth of it and I like it.

Other than that I spend most of my time listening to Pet Shop Boys. They're so very very good. 

post easter post

When I wrote about Israel some weeks ago I was worried about Kadima not getting a seat in the government. Now it seems everybody but Kadima is in the new government. We'll see how that pans out, But it doesn't really matter who's in charge as long as the peace process, such as there is, continues and gives birth to something lasting. 

It's finally warm here and I've started running. It's going very well and it feels good, very fulfilling and satisfying. I'm simultaneously reading Haruki Murakami's book I wrote about in my last blog post, which is also fulfilling and satisfying. For some reason I only read it in the bathtub, bathing. Oh, well.

I've also finished reading Cosmopolitanism, which I also mentioned in my previous blog post. It was slightly disappointing. It's written by a professor at Princeton University, Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosopher, and I had expected more. I agreed with most of what he wrote, in fact I've written myself most of the same things he wrote. But shouldn't he, with all his experience and age, gone farther than me? On the other hand, if he can write a book like that, so can I. One of these days I'm gonna. The working title is at the moment Transit.