To be someone is a wonderful thing!

The jam, or more specifically, Paul Weller wrote the above, and the lyrics read something like a mission statement from Noel Gallagher. That is not necessarily a bad thing, oh no. But it raises a question for me. What is it that people want? What is that I want? I've no idea of the answer to the first question, much less the second. 

That scares me, I have no idea what i want, except I was to be someone. How do i get there, I do not know. My method of keep your head down and plow ahead seems to work ok, and I end up where I want but I do so with little idea of how I got there. Apologies for the philosophical mumbo jumbo shite. Rant over, now to things more light and breezy

I am writing this on a blogger widget for my Mac from Google. It is pretty cool and easy. All I have to do now is press f12, and the dashboard will come up, and I just start typing, and when done I press 'publish post'. it is as simple as that. I can easy put photos and picture in. Have not figured it out yet, I think it is something to do with Html tags. 

Also I had a bit of a cinema marathon this weekend. Seen 4 films in 2 days, probably not much for a film critic or film nerd, but it is a lot for me. The films varied in topic, content, and quality. I seen 'there will be blood', 'juno', 'be kind rewind', and 'vantage point' in that order. Funny also is that the order I seen them is the order I rate them in enjoyment, and quality. Of course 'there will be blood' was amazing, and top of the weekend.

A short history of nearly everything (in 2008)

I write this from my new place, a book case to my left, my immense collection of CDs and smaller collection of DVDs in front of me, and a TV, DVD player, and Nintendo Wii to my right. These are mentioned purely for context, and not to boast, Having all these surround me does not make me a better person. For one, the books could be very poorly written disposable reading that you would buy in a petrol station, the CDs could be the greatest hits of STEPS, or Now thats what I call rubbish volumes 1-30. Likewise with the DVDs. I rarely watch TV, or play the Wii. So these materials do not offer me up as anything great.

I mention these to highlight how comfortable I am living in a new apartment, with my girlfriend. We have been here just over a month, but it feels like we have been here all our life. It is a great place, got everything we want or need on our doorstep. It is simply a home. Of course we seem to see each other less. For some strange reason, when you don't live with each other you have to make time and spend time with each other, now that you live with each other, you need to make time to not see each other. I just think it is an interesting thing I have found out this last month. Of course it is healthy to have your own space and it has worked out really well for us.

I should point out, but it is probably apparent from the above paragraph that we had not previously lived together before, so it is a huge step, and one that seemed to have been climbed very easily. 

As 2008 is just 3 months old, not much can of happened, or so you would think. Remember the year is almost a quarter through. Some things never change, I am still procrastinating on my PhD write up, it seems imminent deadlines are the only things that can get me focused. I write this now, when i am supposed to be writing up a chapter. Yesterday, I installed a new HD on my laptop, reloaded all the software and music and files and all the other computer related things. 

So essentially, my PhD write up may suffer, but 'From Here To Eternity' may get a whole lot more regular. In fact maybe I should use this to write up my chapters. Then again maybe not. My intention of this blog was to talk about music, but I can not express myself in a muso way, and some of my friends can do it better, so I bow to them and their excellent blogs. Nominated for Irish Blog awards in fact. Asleep on the Compost Heap is a great blog, all should read it. I have learned a lot and my music collection and taste has expanded because of it. The Stock pile of CDs has stayed the same, but iTunes and the like are getting some more alternative music business.

My suggestion for this week is Nick Cave 'Dig Lazarus Dig'. Great album, I don't proclaim to be a big knowledgeable fan of his work. I do own a good few of his albums, but the lyrics and poetry that he produces is second to none. I rate him up there in story telling ability with Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Morrisey (maybe too soon to have him here with the greats), and you know the rest of the list. Anyway, this weeks picture comes from Rembrandt (circa 1630) and is titled 'The raising of lazarus'. 

I leave you with my wish, and that is that, like lazarus my concentration and PhD chapter writing skills will rise from the dead and live among us.