Friday 13 March 2009

A Diamond In The Recycling Bin

Sorry about that awful attempt at a pun.

While digging around in the convoluted mess that is my hard-drive, (which i like to think is a fair representation of the state my mind is in) i unearthed a long-abandoned composition.

It's an odd little thing, and i think the reason i ceased working on it was because i could never end it properly. Oh, and i could never write decent vocals to go with it.

The production is a little shoddy - Lot's of guitar related squeaks, but i think it has its own charm.

This also reminds me that i used to be able to play the keyboard...those were the days.

I've included the main piece (statuekeys3) and the earlier acoustic sketch that inspired it (statueearly)...i hope the embedding works, comment and let me know if it doesn't.

EDIT: I tried, and evidently failed to embed the music in the post. It can be found here.

Listlessness

Let's all go and listen to Dark Was The Night. The list of contributors is orgiastic: Spoon, Yeasayer and Bon Iver, to name but three. It's on spotify, which means (unless you are very foolish and don't have spotify) that to listen is to experience considerable cost-effective pleasure.

I've yet to lie down and treat it properly, but i've been giving it half my attention for a while, and from this tentative perusal Sufjan Stevens' contribution strikes me as the most brilliant. It's called 'You Are The Blood', and i'd provide you with a link if i didn't think you were capable of using youtube's search engine.

I've been feeling more than a little listless recently, and i put this down to a pre-emptive sophomore slump. Gone is the frisson of the first term, it's been replaced by awkward glances, weak smiles, and a distinctive collective attitude of 'let's just get this over with'. With two finals looming in but two weeks, spirits on the course aren't exactly soaring. That isn't to say that i'm not still very much excited and enthused by Linguistics.

If anything, i'm looking forward to the summer for the oppurtunity it provides to do lots of tangential reading, without having to worry too much about keeping myself alive.

I've got a to-read list as long as my shelf of dubious stability, which means that it can't get any longer. Since i'm listless, and not unable to write a damn good list, let's list them.

First, books of no relevance to anything other than my own pleasure:
  • Lud-In-The-Mist (Hope Mirrless)
  • Sandman v.2 (Neil Gaiman)
  • Sandman v.3 (Neil Gaiman)
  • Steering The Craft (Ursula Le Guin)
  • The Trial (Kafka)
  • The Origin Of The Species (Duh.)
  • From Descartes To Wittgenstein
  • The Children Of Hurin (Tolkien)
Note that this to-read list consists only of books that i can see from where i sit. This is the rule.

And now books relevant to the ol' degree:
  • Colloquial Icelandic
  • Foundations Of Language
  • An Introduction To Government and Binding Theory (this one is MASSIVE)
  • Understanding Utterances
  • Logic In Linguistics
  • Child Language: A resource Book For Students
  • And Introduction To Philosophical Analysis
Aaand...that was thoroughly pointless.

I saw the most marvellous stand-up comedian on Thursday, his name was and is Daniel Kitson, and if you have no knowledge of him i urge you to type his name into youtube immediately. He is the most interesting, distinctive, endearing, awkward, diminutive and downright odd human being i have ever encountered. In his own words he does not practice 'wilful surrealism', but neither is he merely observational...he's somewhere inbetween. His material is funny and engaging because it is so transparently human.

Anyway, it was a nice surprise to see such a reputable stand-up in the tiny little medic's bar on Huntley Street. UCL really is rather good for comedy.

London beckons and i'm really not making the most of her; Must go to Picasso exhibition, must go to regent's park, must go to canargy wharf, must do thousands of things. Ah well, home in two weeks.