Saturday, 20 December 2008
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
the world is spinning faster....
make it stop!
Okay, maybe not literally, but I'd be quite happy if I learned my lesson, said *enough* and took it at a more manageable pace for a week or ten.
This week, I am mostly working my buns off at work, feeling pretty bad about not seeing J and babyB as much as I'd like and missing keeping aware of what's going on in the outside world. It feels like I'm a cycle of sleep, wake, work, home, eat, sleep etc etc. And that's not good. For anyone.
Does anyone else feel that this year has simply got faster in the past four weeks? It's not that long since our anniversary, a few weeks earlier, J's birthday and yet those seem like distant (fond) memories.
I want to sing that Randy Stonehill song and be done with it all. "stop the world, I wanna get off". Not forever, just to learn my lesson. Anyone got the handbrake?
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
whirr, click-click, whirr
Okay, so here we go.
I really enjoy the work of the Pixar Animation Studio and finally got 'round to watching their latest creation; wall-e. I'd kept away from the reviews, but some friends had shared varied comments with me.
So sitting down over the past two days, I took in the 90 minutes of the film on DVD (we've got a wee one, y'know). I loved it.
For me, it's not an obvious children's film in the way that Toy Story of Monsters Inc. were. It's got so many levels, such a feeling of depth and of delicacy that I was enthralled! Okay, so there's a bit of a jump when the story moves into space and a *slightly* overly tree-hugging/watch-out-for-HAL feel to the last 20 minutes. But the main characters are so genuine that you care about them, even if it's a bit conveneint how easy people get awoken from their stupor. But the characterisation is amazing given that there is so much of the performances from inflection, nuance, gesture and sounds (not words? Per se).
I think that's one of the elements of the film that I enjoyed the most - the sounds! The textures that can be added to the experience by the intelligent use of sound. Makes me want to get better and do that kinda work!
As I write this post on my G1, that I've just used to walk down the street in Dargaville where J & I spent four weeks in 2005, it's not lost on me how quickly we can choose to rely on technology. But there's nothing like real interaction to let us know we're alive, is these.
Have you seen the film? Did you enjoy it? Let me know what you think...
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Saturday, 29 November 2008
back on the mic, this time on the blogger platform
Hello.
How's it going? It's been a while, yeah, I know. Sorry about that. So, you've been well? How about the rest of you keeping quiet at the back?
So following a great post by Mitch Joel, I'm getting my act together, staying up even later than intended and writing for you all. How nice of me, eh?
A few months ago, in conversation with a friend while walking around the streets of Edinburgh at lunchtime, we got on the topic of the public/private *you*. It stemmed from the age-old political argument that who we are in our private life is nothing to do with who we are in public.
That's rubbish.
That's what I said.
Politics aside, I'm really not sure that we can be true to who we are if we separate ourselves. It's like the notion that you can separate the secular and the sacred. If the public me is fearless and care-free, but the private me is fearful and consumed by caution then I must duplicitous - right?
If the private you couldn't care less about your impact on the environment, taking 100 flights a year, not giving a moment of thought about the amount of resources you consume - but the public you is bleating about the number of trees, amounts of oil and harmful waste in the water systems, then you can't be genuine in either thing.
D'you know what I'm trying to say?
I think we are meant to be connected. Holistic. I'll explain why another day (maybe even tomorrow). We are meant to connect to each other, to connect the disparate and varying parts of our lives by being ourselves in all circumstances, without being arrogant or disregarding others or considering ourselves *better* than others.
What do you think? Do you agree?