Red Mum

A lovely friend at home in Dublin just sent me some links to Irish blog sites. Red Mum won the 'Best Personal Blog' award at the Irish blog awards this year and is a fantastic blog. Do go over and check it out. She has some excellent photos of Dublin in her Flickr account too. Thanks for the links Emer!

Blood Diamond

So, LJ and I finally sat down to watch Blood Diamond last night. And, surprisingly enough, I was really disappointed. Yep, I know, I didn't expect that. I had heard so much about why this film was so good and so important and, well, it was all a bit meh for me. Good things - the acting was solid, I can't deny that. Leonardo DiCaprio has been in my good books since Gilbert Grape (one of my favourite films of all time) and I truly believe that he is one of the best 'big' actors around at the moment. But, I think I just get sick of films where there are too many of those 'lucky escape' moments - you know, when the protagonists are under heavy gunfire and manage to escape by the skin of their teeth, over and over again. I do hope this film turns some people off the big rock obsession. It's been several years since I was willing to wear a diamond but I know I'm in a very small minority on that one. Perhaps Blood Diamond will swell our ranks. Read other reviews here and here.

High and Deep

No, not stressed at all. Not even a tiny bit.
These comics are pretty hilarious.
It is beautiful and sunny outside but I have papers to write and presentations to prepare. I keep reminding myself that I can enjoy the sunshine when this is all done. As some very wise women told me a couple of weeks ago 'just get the f***ing thing done'.
No, not stressed at all.

I missed...

...my own anniversary yesterday. Eight years since I left Ireland for that 'one year in Australia'...
Nostalgia aside, we are finally experiencing some spring-like warmth which is truly lovely or would be if I didn't have a gazillion pages to write and papers to grade and other bits and bobs to keep me indoors. Yes, I love the work I'm doing at school but this end-of-semester stuff kicks my ass in the stress department.
One of my classmates from last semester sent me this link today. It made me chuckle so I thought I'd pass it on.
K, I'm going to have a wee nap (didn't sleep much because of back pain and had to get up early to go to back doctor - really) then I am going to hammer out at least five pages of searing insight. Must do the same again tomorrow and then I can reward myself with a fun night out with Lizard.
Have a great weekend!

Candyblog

My sugar addiction really doesn't need this.

You're a legend Dave

I never really liked Megadeth back in 'the day' when I was first listening to hard rock and metal. I think I was too busy drooling over Slash.
LJ and I went to see Megadeth in Nottingham a couple of years ago and I was converted. We saw them in a fairly small venue and it was a WICKED show, so much fun. Anyway, LJ is supposed to be on a show-diet after the Cradle of Filth-Sworn Enemy-Lamb of God binge in February but we both admitted that we'd really like to go and see Heaven and Hell and Megadeth. So, got some last minute tickets and we were a go. Because Down were out Megadeth played for about an hour and once they got warmed up they were brilliant, awesome even. They managed to make a half-full echoey stadium show as much fun and as personal somehow as a smaller-club show. Not an easy thing to do.
Heaven and Hell were fun too but, to be honest, a bit lacklustre after the fantastic opening.
Other observations - rock/metal fans are the bestest and the coolest people, they are also some of the unhealthiest looking f***ers I have ever seen.
I cannot drink the beer at the Saddledome without getting drunk. There is something about it that drives me to a)drink too much b)feel the effects more profoundly.
Why does DM remind me a bit of Pat Butcher from Eastenders?

March 8th

Happy International Women's Day folks!
I'm wearing my Storm Large t-shirt today in honour of the fantastic woman of rock that she is. I know I've posted this before but have a listen to Storm's 'Ladylike' and rock out on March 8th!

Silence

I wanted to post last night when I got home from Uni but I was pretty pooped so I opted for an early night instead. I've been thinking a lot about how much of a reflection of me this blog is and isn't. There are so many things that I would like to blog about but really feel as though I can't or feel inhibited about doing so. In the past, when I've studied literature, I've been taught to pay attention to the silences - to what is not said as much as to what is said. Thinking about my blog (and not that I'm making claims of literary-ness), I figured that perhaps it is as telling to read what I'm not writing about as much as what I am.
One reason that I often don't write about my academic work is that, as a relative newbie to this production of original research stuff, I sometimes worry that if I commit to a particular theoretical standpoint, or start making squeaks about my own theories of this and that, I may be in some way held to these statements (especially given that they are made in a public space, however little-read). I don't have a reference handy right now, but I remember reading how Michel Foucault (of whom I am a huge admirer) was criticised for inconsistencies in his theory. From what I remember, his response was to point out that it was kind of silly to expect that a thinker would not develop her/his approach and theory and that development often involves....drumroll...change *gasp*. Now, I feel exactly the same way but it doesn't stop me from worrying about this and about battling some kind of internalised 'rule' that consistency is important, that I will be held accountable for every utterance. Which is, of course, what I do when I write a paper - lift quotations and references from academic texts to support an argument - 'look, Derrida thought this, and I know so because he wrote so - look, here'. When I'm writing about blogging and using blogs in my writing and research I do the same with those texts.
Any thoughts?