F*ing writing.
Honestly this dissertation will not be getting handed in on time. Progress is slow and what I'm writing is crap. It's functional and is to the point but its not going to win any prizes. At this rate, i'll be done in September which is wholly unsatisfactory.
Just got to keep going though.
That's it really.
As someone once said, keep going.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Friday, August 03, 2007
make
Yep, so I was in Paris. Warm, sunny and a million miles away from Edinburgh's summer. Really rather nice. Alas 3 days was not enough to trawl through all the 'highlights' particularly the Louvre. It's a strange but fascinating place. Seems as if the hordes simply make a b-line for the wing in which the Mona Lisa is situated, leaving the 3 other wings largely devoid of people which is some respects is awful given the wealth of art in those 3 wings but from a purely selfish point of view, its great because you get time to look at the paintings with getting hassled or caught up with a tour group.
It's interesting that a large amount of the collections depict Jesus. Whether that be him being born or as an infant or his final moments on the cross. I guess when they were painted, Western Europe was largely devoutly Christian so it comes as no surprise that such paintings exist. That said it is remarkable that such paintings are completely Westernised version of the 'event's' surrounding Jesus' life and it is this version that persists to this day. It's just accepted that Jesus was this Western looking bloke surrounded by lush green landscapes. However, surely its all a big lie. He wasn't 'Western' nor was his immediate environment lush and green, indeed it would have been dusty, dry and lacking in greenary.
Surely its a distortion of history...and one that put me off some of the paintings on show. It's not particlarly a Louvre issue, in fact some of the other Galleries I visited were much the same. I guess though all paintings are in some respects distortions of reality anyway.
It's interesting that a large amount of the collections depict Jesus. Whether that be him being born or as an infant or his final moments on the cross. I guess when they were painted, Western Europe was largely devoutly Christian so it comes as no surprise that such paintings exist. That said it is remarkable that such paintings are completely Westernised version of the 'event's' surrounding Jesus' life and it is this version that persists to this day. It's just accepted that Jesus was this Western looking bloke surrounded by lush green landscapes. However, surely its all a big lie. He wasn't 'Western' nor was his immediate environment lush and green, indeed it would have been dusty, dry and lacking in greenary.
Surely its a distortion of history...and one that put me off some of the paintings on show. It's not particlarly a Louvre issue, in fact some of the other Galleries I visited were much the same. I guess though all paintings are in some respects distortions of reality anyway.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
blow-whole.
July is nearly done.
Still waiting for the Summer to arrive to be honest but today I think that the Summer might well and truly be over. Nothing much to look forward to - just a monster of a Dissertation which hasn't really started yet. 15, 000 words in 3 weeks. Haha.
It's all in my head. Honest.
Alas, July has been interesting. Both in a good way, a bad way. Perhaps I'll get round to filling in the blanks later along with posting some photos.
On the 'to do list'. Amongst other things.
Still waiting for the Summer to arrive to be honest but today I think that the Summer might well and truly be over. Nothing much to look forward to - just a monster of a Dissertation which hasn't really started yet. 15, 000 words in 3 weeks. Haha.
It's all in my head. Honest.
Alas, July has been interesting. Both in a good way, a bad way. Perhaps I'll get round to filling in the blanks later along with posting some photos.
On the 'to do list'. Amongst other things.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Been busy.
Which, for once, is actually true.
I started teaching again last week. I had a class of 16 Austrians to contend with but thankfully they were fine. Being teenagers there was every chance of getting a couple of them who were 'pains' and this group was no different. One of them just didn't want to do anything. So, I beat him around the head until he promised to show something motivation. I didn't actually but the idea was in my head.
This week I have spaniards, a few Swiss, an Italian, an Icelander and a Russian. A bit of a melting point but could be worse. I even asked one of them to leave the class! It was more of a 'go outside and calm down' malarky but it felt good to get the 1st one out of the way.
Alas, i've not really had a chance to say much about the wedding. I'm not sure I really have to. I think it spoke for itself. I will simply wish the happy couple the best of luck for the future.
Might get round to an update soon but might not given the arrival of someone unexpected.
Which, for once, is actually true.
I started teaching again last week. I had a class of 16 Austrians to contend with but thankfully they were fine. Being teenagers there was every chance of getting a couple of them who were 'pains' and this group was no different. One of them just didn't want to do anything. So, I beat him around the head until he promised to show something motivation. I didn't actually but the idea was in my head.
This week I have spaniards, a few Swiss, an Italian, an Icelander and a Russian. A bit of a melting point but could be worse. I even asked one of them to leave the class! It was more of a 'go outside and calm down' malarky but it felt good to get the 1st one out of the way.
Alas, i've not really had a chance to say much about the wedding. I'm not sure I really have to. I think it spoke for itself. I will simply wish the happy couple the best of luck for the future.
Might get round to an update soon but might not given the arrival of someone unexpected.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
limit
It does appear that I've been going about things all wrong. Perhaps not 'all' things but definitely some things. However, I have not always been convinced that I have been doing things wrong.
The thing that I'm specifically thinking about is the /in some eyes/ dreaded 'M' word. Yes, the marriage thing. It seems when you hit a certain age that it is what people do and in many ways I can see why people do it and it does make sense. People are on the whole social beings, brought up in a social environment and to want to be with other people is perhaps built into us. Who am I to criticise thousands of years worth of 'evolution'.
The thing that makes me think that i've been approaching all this wrong is this simplisitic idea that I would get married to someone for l-o-v-e and thats it. I guess that might be a completely radical concept but I honestly thought that is why people do get married. It never really dawned on me that other factors played a bigger role that the one played by l-o-v-e. Naive? Yeah probably. It didn't really occur to me that job, status, money, finance and all manner of material things come into play. Maybe I was taking the 'for better and for worse' part of the wedding ceremony abit too literally. It didn't matter to me if that 'someone' had a cracking job or was rich or came from a well off family...it really wasn't a big consideration for me. Perhaps that why I single and perhaps i'm actually abit of a closet romantic.
The thing that I'm specifically thinking about is the /in some eyes/ dreaded 'M' word. Yes, the marriage thing. It seems when you hit a certain age that it is what people do and in many ways I can see why people do it and it does make sense. People are on the whole social beings, brought up in a social environment and to want to be with other people is perhaps built into us. Who am I to criticise thousands of years worth of 'evolution'.
The thing that makes me think that i've been approaching all this wrong is this simplisitic idea that I would get married to someone for l-o-v-e and thats it. I guess that might be a completely radical concept but I honestly thought that is why people do get married. It never really dawned on me that other factors played a bigger role that the one played by l-o-v-e. Naive? Yeah probably. It didn't really occur to me that job, status, money, finance and all manner of material things come into play. Maybe I was taking the 'for better and for worse' part of the wedding ceremony abit too literally. It didn't matter to me if that 'someone' had a cracking job or was rich or came from a well off family...it really wasn't a big consideration for me. Perhaps that why I single and perhaps i'm actually abit of a closet romantic.
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