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May 31, 2005
Where am I?
At the parents in law for a couple of days. Didn't realise that the internet connection is so difficult here in South London. Hope to be back online again in a couple of days...
Posted by purple elephant at 11:28 AM |
May 29, 2005
Sunday (not so) random ten..
I have realised recently that I don’t blog about music much. Truth is I don’t often get a chance to listen these days let alone ‘discover’ new stuff so when I do crank up the CD player, I usually listen to something from my teens or early twenties back when I used to listen to music all the time. I’m also a little archaic in my method of listening to music . Just as I used to sigh, roll my eyes and explain to my grandmother for the 100th time the difference between a video and a CD player, I find myself confused over all these MP3s, ipods and downloads. For me there is nothing quite like running my finger along the spines of my CD collection, pulling one out and letting the player whirr into action as I flick through the booklet.
Lots of bloggers do the Friday random ten to let the world know what they are listening to, obviously I can't do this with my CD player, so what I did last night was to choose an album and only allow myself to listen to one track before moving onto whatever else took my fancy. I just went with the flow and documented my travels. Don’t expect to be impressed, I’m unashamedly standard in my music taste..
1) New Model Army; Green and Grey, from Thunder and Consolation.
Why not start with New Model Army? Everything starts and finishes with New Model Army…
2) Seize the Day; I am Dust, from Alive.
This, I think is the newest track on the list, discovered this band at Glastonbury last year, fell in love with them instantly. This is the most empowering track on the album. It touches me deeply.
3) Manic St Preachers; Motorcycle Emptiness from Generation Terrorists.
Here begins the trip down memory lane. Used to listen to Manics in my intense teenage years. Used to pretend I ‘got’ the lyrics, now I’m not so sure. ‘This happiness corrupt political shit’ sure as hell sounds deep but God knows what it means. Something about the government being bad and life being shit. That sounded good enough to my 15 year old ears.
4) Ocean Colour Scene; The Circle from Moseley Shoals.
There is something melancholic about OCS that I can never quite put my finger on. This is one of my favourites of theirs because I’m moved by the idea of metaphorically going 'somewhere I can warm my bones’
5) Skunk Anansie Glorious Pop Song from Stoosh.
Still love SA. Skin was my heroine for a while. I wished I could recapture the way that she looked as if no one should mess with her but if you listen to her speak she has a vulnerability about her. I’ve seen them live quite a few times and she almost bows down and kisses your feet in gratiude just for clapping at the end of a song. Love the irony of the title of this song, seeing as the chorus is ‘You’re still a fucker to me..’
6) Stereophonics; Have a Nice Day from Jeep.
This song reminds me of my daughter being born. Mr PE bought me this album to take my mind off contractions that very long weekend nearly four years ago. Then coincidently as I held her in my arms for the first time early Monday morning I could hear this song playing faintly on the radio in the staff room next door.
7) Pulp; Common People from Different Class.
Just for the build up bit derderderboom etc ‘Laugh along with the common people and it might just get you through..’
8) Kula Shaker; Tattva from K.
Kula Shaker were always treated as a bit of a joke band, I guess they did ham up all that mysticism but I still thought they were great. Don’t know what ‘Acintya bheda bheda tattva’ means and I’m too scared to go find out in case it translates as something horribly mundane like ‘Must remember to pick up some bog roll on my way past the corner shop’ Although judging by the English bits I shouldn’t raise my expectations too much. ‘Like the flower and the scent of summer. Like the sun and the shine.’ What?
9) 4 Non Blondes; What’s Up from Bigger Better Faster More!
Because this song had a resonance when I was 17. I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d still be ‘trying to get up that great big hill of hope’ when I was 29. (See Quote of the Week)
10) Portishead; Glory Box from Dummy.
Portishead irritated me until I went through a serious bout of insomnia when I was at university (the first time!) A friend of mine suggested I put his on as I was trying to fall asleep. It worked. They grew on me after that. Saw them at Glastonbury 1998, knee deep in mud and was blown away. Beth Gibbons did this song, cigarette in hand which made me realise that there is just enough time for a leisurely inhale and exhale between the lines ‘Give me a reason to be a woman’ *drag exhale* ‘I just wanna be a woman.’ If you are a smoker, try this and you will see what I mean. I have of course given up now but this song always makes me crave a cigarette.
Posted by purple elephant at 08:51 AM |
May 28, 2005
Making an 'Effort'
So we were watching Desperate Housewives the other night and both balked at Tom’s line to Lynette; ‘Sometimes you know, men like women to….. make an effort’ We thought it was a touch out of character and not something you would say to a woman (who obviously has self esteem issues) just before you were about to get it on.
Although after some probing I did admit that had I been planning a night of passion all day (as she had) It probably would have occurred to me to change the baby puke top.
The very next day, I decided to make a little bit of ‘effort’ for the Beer Festival, I changed into a floaty skirt, sandals and nice top. We got there a little early though and decided to feed the ducks by the river for a while beforehand. So as soon as I sat down on the grass Mr. PE exclaimed,
‘Eww what’s that on your skirt?’
I looked down and sure enough there was a great big chunk of squashed Kellogs Fruit Winder attached to my backside. How it got there I will never know, I got changed about a second before I left the house and Littleone had not had anything to eat since I had been wearing the skirt.
‘Eww’ I said tying to pick it off ‘It’s a bit of Fruit Winder’
An enormous smile spread across his lips, he couldn’t resist the opportunity (and who could blame him?)
‘Sometimes you know, men like women to….. make an effort’
We both nearly fell in the river laughing.
Well maybe you had to be there….
Posted by purple elephant at 09:00 AM |
May 26, 2005
*hic*
Can anyone explain why I rarely get hiccups but when I do I get them several times that day?
Oh and before you say anything, it had nothing to do with the two pints of beer and the curry I consumed at the Cambridge Beer Festival (the first attack started way before that) Real ale fans among you will probably hate me for this but I cannot remember what I had. I'll update when Mr. PE returns home with our programme.
Posted by purple elephant at 11:11 PM |
May 25, 2005
The one where Purple Elephant falls in love (again)
Did I mention that Meera Syal is my latest crush? (You may laugh but during the election campaign I was madly in love with Andrew Marr. My God did I just admit to that?) I’ve thrown myself right on top of this bandwagon and I’m just going with the flow. I laughed, cried and leaped with joy watching the TV series of Life isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee, rushed straight out and got all the books and hell if there was a t-shirt or a postcard, I’d be right at the front of that queue.
Thankfully I’ve not yet purchased a pack of bindi or taken out a bank loan so I can own one of those sari skirts from Monsoon because there is just a touch more to multiculturalism than wearing the imitation gear every time it comes back in fashion but I digress…
Where was I? Oh yes last night’s show. Loved every last second of it, especially the first forty minutes, which consisted of a child, who coming to think of it looked not at all dissimilar to my daughter, banging the screen with something resembling a bathroom sponge, shouting at the top of her voice ‘I’m hammering Mummy’s favourite TV programme.’ Very surreal and postmodern, a bit out of the keeping with the rest of it but I guess art would be dull if we weren’t pushing those boundaries all the time. What’s that? You don’t remember that bit? Well maybe it was a regional variation or something…
Despite the fact that I have a colossal pile of books that I must tackle, I am in fact going to read Life isn’t all.. first, there was so much in the series that was touched upon that I hope is explored a little more in the book. I even had a dream about the whole thing last night, which is just WRONG!
I hope I’m not giving too much away by raving on about the ending, I thought it was a great touch, it wasn’t a sensationalist or a happy ever after but not at all depressing or anti climatic either. I had been worrying about the finale to the novel I’ve been writing that somehow the reader would feel a little let down because there isn’t a huge explosion or a fairy tale sunset, it’s more of a ‘and there was the potential for everyone to live happier ever after’ which is rather the same impression I got last night.
Oh and that scene right near the end with Chila, Deepak and the baby in the park (again being vague so as to not spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet) was the most inspired bit of TV I’ve seen in a long time…
I’ve finished gushing now..
Posted by purple elephant at 07:22 PM |
Not Dumbledore!
I think I'd really rather she killed off Harry...
*dons cynic's cap*
Or would it all be a clever marketing ploy? Not that the Harry Potter phenomenon needs to make any more money. But hey...
Posted by purple elephant at 08:08 AM |
May 24, 2005
Update on the last post...
You know how I watch and enjoy only two programmes on televsion at the moment?
You know how it was the last part of one of them tonight?
Now take a guess at how long my daughter's manic second wind lasted?
Posted by purple elephant at 10:31 PM |
Snark Snap Bitch Moan Whinge Blah blah blah…
I think I’ve already mentioned that just after Christmas I started getting up at about 6:15. It started because I was behind with my work and I found I could get a good 45-60mins study in before everybody else got up. Then it got to the point where I was waking up at that time anyway so even if I didn’t study I’d get up to do a bit of reading or something. I refer to it as ‘doing a Sylvia Plath’ because she too used to get her work done before her kids awoke, although if I remember rightly she would get up at 4am. Ouch! There’s dedication for you!
I never saw myself as a morning person, I can’t leap out of bed and start doing things straight away, I like to ease myself gently into the day with a nice cup of coffee and I’ve discovered that getting up before Littleone is a good way of dong this. I also value the time alone, Mr PE is definitely a night owl and usually ends up going to bed much later than me and of course looking after the kid all day I don’t really get much time entirely to myself. On top of all that is the added bonus of having a large chunk of my work out of the way before the day kicks into motion properly.
However Littleone is the lightest sleeper in the world, Her bedroom is next to the bathroom and if we flush the toilet it will inevitably wake her up. By morning she usually ends up in our bed, so I cannot set the alarm, I have to train myself to wake up at that time naturally and if she sees or feels me get up, especially now with the light mornings then she’s wide awake, which rather defeats the purpose somewhat.
These past two mornings she has woken up with me, come downstairs and demanded breakfast before the kettle has even boiled. This morning she had a tantrum for a good half hour because I cut her toast into fingers rather than triangles. Naturally I got no work done and I’ve been irritable all day.
To top it all off because she has been getting up early it is a real battle to keep her awake until bedtime and then she seems to get that infamous over-tired second wind when it is finally time to drop, which then means she’ll get a late night and will be ratty all day tomorrow…. and so on and so forth.
I never imagined that a child’s sleeping habits could be such a delicate balancing act.
Posted by purple elephant at 05:20 PM |
May 23, 2005
Strengthen the good
There is a new profile over at Strengthen the good; The Tom Family Education Trust. If you have a spare moment then head on over and investigate and do what you can...
Posted by purple elephant at 09:56 PM |
May 22, 2005
Never judge a book by its football, beer and vomit laden cover.
The human race never ceases to surprise me. I went out last night to my brother’s wedding anniversary celebrations. We went to a nice non-vegetarian restaurant that was more than willing to cook me up something vegan.
On the way home however I unwittingly ended up on a train that stopped at every stop, and I mean EVERY stop including all the little obscure places I’ve never heard of, between Kings Cross and Cambridge. I also ended up on a carriage with a load of drunk, rowdy football fans. (Don’t ask me who was playing, or who won. I don’t *do* football)
Just as the train was sluggishly setting itself into motion, the middle aged beer-bellied footie fan next to me announced that the only toilet on the train was blocked and he didn’t think he was going to make it home without vomiting. So I sent Mr. PE a text message whinging about what a joy my journey was going to be and stuck my head in The Earth attempting to block out the chanting that had taken over the train.
Five minutes later I come up for air and notice Vomit Fan is staring at me.
‘What’ya’reading?’ he slurred
I showed him the cover,
‘Oooo Zola! Bit heavy for a Saturday night innit?’
I refrain from rolling my eyes and begin to wish I’d waited 20 minutes for the fast train.
‘Are you reading it in French or English?’
‘Err English.’
He pulls a face and sucks on his teeth.
‘Do you know any French?’
‘Only what I learned in school’
(Enter predictable conversation here where he flatters me about how long ago that was)
‘Do you remember any of it?’
‘Only the very basics’
He looks like he is pondering something deep for a few seconds (or maybe he is trying to stop himself from throwing up)
‘You should try reading Zola in French. It may be difficult at first but I think it would really start coming back to you after a while.’
I look at him silently thanking him for his helpful advice but really I would like to get back to reading my book now.
‘You can’t beat Zola in French. I mean these translators, they are alright but it’s just one interpretation innit?’
I smile politely and nod.
‘Nuffin like the author’s OWN words.’
God.
‘When I first read Zola, I read him in French, the second time I thought I’d forgotten all my French so I read him in English. It’s just not the same.’
I look at him, not sure if he is having me on or not. But we then went on to have a ten minute conversation about Zola that could only be held by someone who knew what he was talking about. He then sensed I wanted to get on with my book and went to talk to the people sitting across the aisle about God, religion and the meaning of life before passing out and slobbering over the gangway for the rest of the journey.
We are finally pulling into Cambridge when his mates wake him up, he turns to me all groggy and says,
‘D’ya finish The Earth.’
‘Nearly’ I smile.
Last thing I saw of him he was staggering along the platform quoting massive chunks from Midsummer Night’s Dream.
It certainly brought me down a peg or two.
Posted by purple elephant at 08:15 AM |
May 21, 2005
Pure Genius
Spent most of yesterday afternoon pratting about on the Internet convincing myself that I was doing research and looking for inspiration. Found lots of message boards with people asking such questions as, ‘I sent my manuscript off to Bloomsbury 2 days ago and I haven’t heard anything yet. Do you think this is good news?’ (No really)
But arguably the best thing I read all day, I found here and I'm dying to share it with you;
Sinclair Lewis was invited to talk to some students about the writer’s craft. He stood at the head of the class and asked, “How many of you here are really serious about being writers?” A sea of hands shot up. Lewis then asked, “Well, why aren't you all home writing?” And with that he walked out of the room.
Brilliant!
Posted by purple elephant at 09:49 AM |
May 20, 2005
Kneel before the Elephant!
I must be going up in the world, I woke up this morning to no less than six, yes I said SIX, spam comments! It made me feel all authoritative as I hit the delete button. I can’t have much control over my everyday life, if this sort of thing makes me feel important so humour me for now, at least until the novelty wears off..
Kneel before the Purple Elephant all ye spammers…
POW!!
Moving on...
Next up is a question for literary rather than literal purposes. In other words I am NOT about to throw myself off any bridges, well not today at least. This is for an extremely upbeat and cheerful story I’m writing. What I want to know is this,
If the police had been called because a disturbed person was hanging about on a motorway footbridge, threatening to throw themselves off , presumably they would send two officers to the scene (male and female?) but more importantly would they block off the motorway down below, just in case the person did jump and so that a poor unsuspecting driver was not implicated in the whole nasty business?
That’s it for now..
Posted by purple elephant at 07:45 AM |
May 18, 2005
A public service announcement
I don't make a habit of thinking about Kylie but these past couple of days I've been thinking about Kylie just a touch.
And because she is not that disimilar in age to many of us I thought I'd link to this.
Breast cancer runs right down the maternal line of my family and they got to my Mum before it got too nasty because of this sort of thing.
I cannot stress the importance of this sort of thing, however young you are.
Not that I am bossing you about, or telling you what to do or anything but doing this once a month could save your life.
***** End of public service announcement*****
On a lighter note, Mr PE is out tonight. In preparation I have treated myself to wine and chocolate. I also have free run of the computer for the evening. What do you mean am I preparing my next piece of work? No way. Tonight I'm novelling, I got right into it this morning whilst Littleone was in nursery and now I'm desperate to get on.
All I've got to do is make her go to bed. I've tried the bath and story thing but now she seems to be back town here again, more wide awake than I am...
Ho-hum...
Posted by purple elephant at 07:33 PM |
May 17, 2005
Slow down! All of you!
What happens when I get behind on blog reading?
Lili has a birthday.
Michelle graduates at last and is actually well enough to go. Check out the photos too.
Kate gets ill.
Christine gets a new look...
And finally, as I seem to be having some sort of impromtu blog roundup.. thanks to Rob I have some very useful infomation to impart.
Wait for it......
I bring you...
So there you go. No more slinging it in the linen cupboard in the hope that the creases come out when you stretch it over the mattress.
Yes I know, don't all all thank me at once.
Posted by purple elephant at 07:56 PM |
May 16, 2005
Phew!
Thank you for all your wishes. I handed in my essay this afternoon and I’m so glad to have got it out the way that I’m not thinking too much about the embarrassing quality of writing. (Just you wait until I get that mark back!)
That daughter of mine has been great, she has barely been out the house all weekend and has been mostly playing quietly in the corner, although perhaps her being under the weather had something to do with that. (Stop it! I wouldn’t even think of saying it)
Yesterday evening when it was all getting a little stressful for me and she was becoming a little clingy (ie wanting to sit on my lap and add plus and minus signs all over my essay for some reason) I opened my big mouth and started promising the world. Yes I sat here and said that if she could be good for one more night then tomorrow afternoon when it was all over, I would take her anywhere she wanted. In fact why didn’t she go back over there in that corner and think of something really nice that she would like to do with Mummy tomorrow afternoon.
Of course I instantly regretted every word, thinking she was going to come back and tell me she wanted to go to Disneyland, Glastonbury, the Moon or worse McDonalds.
So she went off to her little prison corner, thought about it for about two minutes and then returned to let me know that she had made a decision. I closed my eyes took a deep breath and said,
‘Fire away…’
‘I want to go to Town…’
‘and…..?
‘Go to a shop….’
‘and….?’
‘Buy an Ice Cream’
‘and…?’
‘Eat it in the park.’
‘and…?’
‘That’s all’
And lest she should disturb me any longer she silently ran back to her toys.
Because the weather gods were not as impressed with my daughter’s humility as I was, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees overnight and it pissed down with rain the whole afternoon.
But gawddammit we still went into that health food shop and got her favourite ice cream and ate it sheltering under a bus stop (well it was near the park) and I even treated her to a book of her choice from Oxfam Books, making sure I didn’t miss out on all the fun myself.
Just don’t ever say that we don’t lead exciting lives eh?
Posted by purple elephant at 08:03 PM |
May 14, 2005
Black no sugar…
I am horribly behind on my essay which is due in on Monday. I did consider asking for an extension but the thought of having this hanging over me for another couple of days fills me with dread. I am actually sick to death of Middlemarch and really want to get it out of the way. (Sorry Mary Ann Evans or ‘George’ or whatever you prefer to be called, nothing personal, I assure you it is just me.)
What is worrying me is that in a couple of weeks I’ve gone from ardent passion and enthusiasm for my subject (whilst researching postgraduate degrees in my area) to a complete jadedness (is that a word? I haven’t the energy to find out) with the whole thing to the point where I’m shouting at the critics ‘hasn’t it even occurred to you that it could all just be a plot element!’
Yes I know.
This has caused me to conclude that I need a break from all this study before I burn out and this is why I have decided to cut my losses on this one and just work hook line and sinker for the rest of the weekend and hand it in on Monday in whatever state that might be. My mark is not going to be great but I hope I can take a few days break at the beginning of next week, put my feet up, read something light-hearted, write inane blog posts, watch a bit of TV and come back refreshed and ready to make up my mark on the next one.
This of course means I need to cut down on distractions and take a break from blogging until Monday or Tuesday (reading and writing) so sorry for that, I’m not ignoring you all. I’ve been working since 5am, so probably what I have to say would make no sense anyway. Oh and I almost forgot to mention that I was also up most of the night with a poorly child.
You couldn’t make me a nice strong coffee could you?!
Posted by purple elephant at 07:36 AM |
May 13, 2005
Lesson for the day; Trust your instincts.
Had a chilling scare yesterday. Littleone and I walked home with a friend of hers who lives a couple of blocks down from us. I had my hands even more full than usual, her book bag, my own bag, a bag of shopping from the shop, a sun flower and a broad bean she had grown at nursery, a bike she had abandoned half way down the road, oh and a half eaten packet of crisps, split down the side that she had also abandoned. So we get to the road just in front of our house and I didn’t have a spare hand to grab on to her. She was very good at first, I told her to wait next to Mummy and not move until I told her to. The road was clear and we all walked across to the pavement the other side, I watched her put her foot on the pavement in safety. Phew thank God for that. Except for some reason, and I’ll never know why, she then turned round and ran straight back in the road again, by which time there was a car coming.
No parent should ever have to feel that heart stopping fear as they helplessly scream at their child running into the path of an oncoming car and I hope to God none of you have to witness such a sight and of course I hope I never have to do it again. Thankfully she stopped and ran back just in time and I put the fear of God in her by shouting frantically; ‘What in God’s name did you think you were doing?’ and ‘How could you be so stupid?’ Before hugging her tight and practically not letting go for the rest of the day.
Of course the abuse was directed inwards at myself because I hadn’t felt comfortable about not holding her hand but I didn’t exactly have a spare one (but where your kid’s safety is concerned you FIND one) Also her friend is one of those super advanced for his age type kids (out of nappies and buggy dumped by 18 months, can walk anywhere and keep up with the adults etc etc) I’ve never consciously compared the two but I suppose subconsciously in that split second I had to make a decision, I guess somewhere at the back of my mind I thought ‘But he never has to hold his Mum’s hand and he is always OK’
Also I tend not to walk that way, I take the zebra crossing and walk the longer way round as I don’t like crossing where we did, although there are traffic calming measures, no one takes a blind bit of notice and also they hinder visibility somewhat. But again Littleone wanted to walk with her friend…
I’ve never succumbed to peer pressure, keeping up with the Jones; or comparing my kid with others, but yesterday I saw how it all works in mysterious ways and with what could have been tragic consequences.
Every time I close my eyes I see that blur of green stripes heading towards that car. Something tells me it will haunt me forever.
Posted by purple elephant at 07:50 AM |
May 11, 2005
Oh Dear! I’m turning into my Mother…
Don’t worry I haven’t yet sunk so low as to spit on a bit of screwed up tissue and wipe my daughter’s dirty face with it. THAT is just repulsive but I am beginning to worry if it is now only one step away.
My Mum is famed the world over for crying at any given opportunity whilst watching TV. Little House on the Prairie, Lassie, The Royal Wedding, ET blah blah blah. You name it, she cried it.
My brother and I haven’t yet forgiven her for shedding buckets of tears during Scot and Charlene’s wedding in 1988. ET we could understand but Neighbours is taking it all a touch too far. It possibly also has something to do with the fact that my brother had a play date for tea that day, but where sentimentality is concerned my mother has no shame.*
I used to cry too, Lassie used to set me off each and every time and my Mum and I used to hold hands and sob in solidarity. But then I hit my 6th birthday and I decided that crying was for babies (and Mummies) and I stopped just like that.
I did have a brief relapse when I was about 15 and I watched this play on BBC2. I have no recollection of what it was called or who wrote it (if anyone could shed any light on this, I would be eternally grateful) but it was about this little old lady who was dying in hospital and she had this little darling old hubby who couldn’t cook a scrap or do any housework. So gradually bit by bit she’d send him home with a recipe, simple at first and getting progressively more difficult until she had taught him how to cope without her. Anyway come her birthday, he decided to surprise her with a homemade cake. It was beautiful, he brought it in for her and there she was, dead. I hated that author for doing that I mean she could at least have tasted a slice before popping her clogs. That was a really arsey thing to do. So I’m sure you’ll agree as relapses go, that one could be forgiven.
So what is going on this week then? First there was Lion King after the sad demise of Bertie Bird and last night I watched Meera Syal’s Life isn’t all Ha Ha Hee Hee. No I didn’t cry during the wedding (as I’m sure my Mum did but I haven’t asked her yet) because that sure as hell, was going pear shaped. What touched me was that eloquent voice over at the end, (which was probably lifted straight from the novel) talking about lives never being quite how we wanted them to be yet we couldn’t be without our dreams because what else could we live for? (Sorry Meera I just killed your work. Please forgive me)
Ok so I didn’t actually cry but I had that nasty tell-tale stingy sensation in my throat that caused me to quickly check that no one was looking (thankfully kid was in bed and Mr. PE was out) I don’t think I allowed a drop to part from my tear duct but I recognise the signs all the same.
I’m not quite ready for you to shoot me yet but maybe you should just load up ready for when I give you the sign.
* Mother if you are reading this. We wouldn’t change you for the world. Honest XXXX
Posted by purple elephant at 07:18 PM |
May 10, 2005
The Divine is within YOU! and don't you forget it ... Maaan..
Nicked from Amy
| You scored as Idealist. Idealism centers around the belief that man is moving towards something greater. An odd mix of evolutionist and spiritualist, you see the divine within man, waiting to emerge over time. Many religious traditions express how the divine spirit lost its identity, thus creating our world of turmoil, but in time it will find itself and all things will again become one. |
What is Your World View?
created with QuizFarm.com
Posted by purple elephant at 06:01 PM |
The Venus of Willendorf
Damn that husband of mine who had a chance to sit down and watch How Art Made the World (yesterday BBC2 9pm) while I was trying to research my next essay. I ended up finding the programme informative and interesting (indicated by the fact that I got two whole pages read throughout the course of the hour) There was one thing that really niggled me though (ah here she goes) and that involved the discussion over why certain body parts of The Venus of Willendorf are exaggerated and others almost ignored. Both the presenter and the Doctor doing the research referred to her features as ‘grotesque,’* not ‘commonly regarded in modern times as grotesque’ but just ‘grotesque’ as if such personal opinion could be stated fact.
Shouldn’t it be vitally apparent to so called experts that it would be so much easier for them to enter the minds of our prehistoric ancestors, if they left their preconceptions about the female body in the 21st century, right where they belong?
Lo and behold they came to the conclusion that they who created the Venus were Nomadic and often didn’t get enough food, so she acted as some sort of desirable form (as well as a fertility symbol.)
It a shame that the two men involved in the programme had nothing to learn from the ancestors they are so desperate to study. It seems like many of our contemporaries (male and female) the sight of a woman with naturally ample breasts that haven’t been firmed by £3,500 worth of surgery, and a stomach not starved to ironing-board-flatness but stretched by numerous pregnancies is not something to be celebrated and worshiped but something repulsive and ridiculous.
*My copy of the Oxford dictionary defines grotesque as,
‘comically or repulsively distorted’
Posted by purple elephant at 01:17 PM |
May 09, 2005
Some random thoughts that have been interfering with my work..
1) Watched The Politics Show yesterday. They showed a clip of an interview with Anne Campbell from the other night. There was a certain smudge of make up around her eyes that suggested she had been crying. Mr PE spent the rest of the day reminding me that I had made Anne Campbell cry. If you think I’m over doing this a bit then go here read a few lines and see how guilty I feel. I’m beginning to think that they had it right at the beginning of the last century. Take back my vote, I cannot cope with the emotional consequences.
2) Plonked Littleone in front of Stuart Little 2 so I could get some work done. They had a little ‘Making of..’ type clip before hand. Apparently they trawled through 5,000 different photos for the part of the cat. Now I am an animal lover and agree that they all have distinct personalities but after white-fluffy-cat-with-cute-face number 49, even I would begin to lose the ability to notice/care about the difference. Of course this bothered me for the rest of the film.
3) I have been checking out the key search words for this blog. I must remember not to write an innocent post about knickers and mention famous people such as Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo later in the same month. Indeed. And by the way if you are studying Open University course AA316 and you have reached this page by searching for the words ‘change conflict Middlemarch ‘ or even ‘static, harmoniously integrated’ then I have no bleeding idea either. Try reading a book instead.
Posted by purple elephant at 07:28 AM |
May 08, 2005
The blogroll debate..
There is a very heated debate finding its way about the blogosphere at the moment about the benefits of a blogroll.(Set in motion by Burningbird and Feministe. Also Kate sums up the arguments and links to other posts on the subject here.) Of course I cannot resist sticking my oar in.
I realise that blogs exist for many reasons, so I can only speak for myself when I say that I see the blogosphere (especially amongst us lesser known bloggers) as a community. I see comments and blogrolls as an essential part of that network. Whilst I just about see the point that a blogroll without commentary is just a list of names and if overly long can become confusing, I do not see how scrapping the blogroll is going to ease the situation in any way. Those on my blogroll are there because I read them and endorse and recommend them, indeed many of them I found by scouting other people’s blogolls in the first place. Having said that I do include blogs that do not have a blogroll if they interest me and I read them but I do essentially see them as a different media form altogether, as something static (like reading a newspaper, magazine or autobiography) rather than conversational.
I use Tecnorati in pretty much the same way, to trace conversations and to see who is talking about who. I have never taken any notice of their top 100. I had TTLB installed on my old blog but didn’t transfer it to here because I couldn’t see much use for it, apart from to condone its own ranking system.
Of course I have no right to dictate whether you do or do not include a blogroll on your blog and if this debate had been so simple it would have died out long ago. However I think what Kate objected to (and got a lot of stick for) was the outrageous suggestion that those of us who choose to keep our blogrolls are somehow hurting everyone on them. We have been implicated in the argument by the ridiculous assumption and therefore have a right to stand up for ourselves.
So my blogroll is staying right where it is, I am however in the process of tidying it up, so if you are included and you feel that you are being harmed by such an association them feel free to contact me and I will happily remove you. Likewise if you have a blog and you think you deserve to be included, leave your link here and I’ll check you out.
I am also interested in how you came across my blog in the first place, if you can remember then let me know. Was it through someone else’s blogroll (if so can you remember who?), one of my comments in another blog (if so blah blah blah..), a link in an actual post, a webring, Blog Explosion, or maybe by another method altogether. It would be interesting to get a little perspective on the debate.
Posted by purple elephant at 10:12 AM |
May 07, 2005
The Circle of Life
Littleone named our new guest Bertie after the bird in her Zigby books. Sadly he did not make it through the night. I knew all along that he had a damaged wing and that he would probably never be able to fly but throughout the day I held out hope that maybe we would be able to build some sort of hutch and look after him. I guess it wouldn’t have been much of a life but we would have tried.
Littleone and I learned a lot from his short time with us. Before yesterday I called myself a bird lover but I had never taken much notice of starlings, I thought they were so common and widespread that they almost passed me by. To be honest half the time I was getting them confused with Blackbirds.
Yesterday I had a chance to study the bird in close proximity. I had barely noticed before but the Starling is not black at all, depending on the light his feathers are tinged with a whole range of blues and greens, in some lights his chest even looked amethyst.
Naturally we went to the RSPB website and found out all we could about starlings. Apparently they live in large flocks, which made me wonder if he was lonely, so I spent the afternoon lying on my stomach chatting away to him. We even sang him songs too, yes he was quite partial to our softer rendition of Road to Amarillo. According to the RSPB site starlings are good impersonators;
‘Starlings are outstanding mimics, and incorporate accurate copies of sounds of other birds, frogs and mammals, and even of mechanical sounds into their song.’
Which created a fantastic vision in my mind of Bertie being released back into the wild singing ‘Sha la-la la-la-la etc..’
I think he enjoyed our company, I am amazed at how many facial expressions a bird can portray. He would turn his head towards us and cock his head to one side, blink in all the right places, he even had a way of flattening his forehead which I thought was something similar to the way in which a human will raise their eyebrows in interest. I wonder if he studied us as much as we studied him.
He made it though the day, he was even eating a fair bit, which gave us hope but at 2am Mr. PE retuned from a night out to find him keeled over. He died in his hands wrapped in a tea towel.
I guess it wasn’t to be.
I had a whole story prepared for Littleone about how his friends came for him and he flew out the window, asking me to apologise that he never got the chance to say goodbye but come morning I decided that perhaps this was insulting her intelligence and that maybe she had that first valuable lesson to learn about love and loss. It broke my heart to see her cry but it was the right thing to do. I promised that we will take him to the park for a burial and that his body will be a part of the earth and will help the trees grow. I explained that it is all part of the Circle of Life, which meant that we then had to sit and sniffle over The Lion King. (I never saw myself as someone who would cry over an Elton John song but I guess there is a first time for everything)
It is no coincidence that Bertie came into our lives just as I needed a gentle reassurance about my vote. He let me know in his own head cocking way that every thing we do is important however insignificant it may appear to us at the time and yet we must do all we can. He also reminded me of how much we take for granted, next time I see a starling pecking for worms on the grass I will remember Bertie and pause for a moment to marvel at the way its feathers catch the light of the sun.
So here’s to you Bertie bird wherever you may be.
Posted by purple elephant at 08:56 AM |
May 06, 2005
Anne Campbell’s revenge – The new twist…
Thank God, I didn’t follow my childhood dream and become a vet. The vital and rather basic difference between a dead animal and one in deep traumatic shock seems to have escaped me somewhere along the way.
So Bird is lying there in its little cardboard box coffin, ready for me to bury him when I got back from school drop off.
Can you imagine my horror when I came back to find the box empty but two beady eyes staring at me from the washing machine pipe?
I shit you not.
He put the fear of God in me, more than I did him, or the cat for that matter. He is perched there right now, still happily and perkily munching away on my Multigrain loaf. While I’m sitting here wondering why these things always happen to me. Where animals are concerned I am way too soft.
Thing is, he seems to have an injured wing, even if I knew how to release him then would I not just be sending him back into the claws of some cat or other?
But he cannot stay down the side of the washing machine forever…
Guess how much Middlemarch got read this morning?!
Posted by purple elephant at 02:28 PM |
A great start to Labour's 3rd term
Here are the results for Cambridge, Anne Campbell lost her seat to the Liberal Democrats, I feel a little guilty for not supporting her, (especially as when they came round at the beginning of the campaign I told them I was going to vote Labour, a girl can change her mind right?) but I don't regret my decision. If she was in the room right now I'd happily explain myself pretty much the same way I did in my blog. As you can see Greens did reasonably well here but their result was still down on last time.
Overall the Liberal Democrats didn't do as well as I hoped and I am slightly disappionted with some of the Tory gains. Paticularly in Putney where the parents in law live.
There is a split in the PE household. This is the first election where we voted differently, but let's just say that Mr. PE's party didn't win here either.
I made it to 2:15am saw the BNP get a disgusting 2,263 votes in Blackburn and went to bed.
I have been getting up at 6:15am to get a bit of work in before the rest of the house wakes up. When my alarm went off this morning I did consider going back to sleep but I had to be brave, especially as I didn't finish Middlemarch last night. Dragged myself into the kitchen and didn't even get a chance to put the kettle on as the cat had brought an enormous mangled blackbird in, it flapped behind the washing machine and died. So there I was at 6:15 dragging out the kitchen appliances and cleaning feathers off the floor. All before my first coffee of the day.. I also screamed so hard that I woke the kid up, which defeated the purpose of getting up so early in the first place.
I'm begining to wonder if Anne Campbell has a direct line to the Almighty.
Posted by purple elephant at 07:09 AM |
May 05, 2005
Election Fever
‘The race is on for number 10 Will Mike or Tony end up PM? Or will we all be voting Lib Dem.? Election fever’s in the air.’ Theme Tune to This Week. (To the tune of Amarillo)
Go on tell me that this is the best rhyme you have heard all year, despite it being National Poetry month last month. If you haven’t already and want to see Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo dancing around to this tune, then do not miss out. Click on the This Week link in the bottom right hand corner of this page. It made me laugh but then my sense of humour is slightly off the wall.
My cross is in the box and come 10:00 tonight it will be on its way to be counted. I’ve got 3 hours to get Littleone to bed, finish cooking dinner, finish cleaning a whole packet of flour that relieved itself over my kitchen floor (just don’t ask) and finish Middlemarch (70 pages but I cannot let it run on any longer than tonight. Why has All Consuming forgotten that I am reading that book and why am I also reading The Earth twice? I haven’t got time to work it out) and then I’m putting my feet up and watching the results come in. Bets are on as to how late I can make it before I fall asleep on the sofa.
I’m thinking about 10:01.
Care to join me in the bet?!
Posted by purple elephant at 06:54 PM |
May 04, 2005
My ‘wasted’ vote….
I am aware that I haven’t been posting about the election as much as I should. This is not because I’m trying to be non-political or that I’m being cagey about my vote. It is simply because I have been disturbingly busy and until now I have been deliberating over where my vote is going to go.
I remember posting a while back that ever since I knew the (basic) differences between the Conservatives and Labour, I had been desperate to vote. Back in Labour’s left wing days, my idealistic youth saw Labour as the answer to all the world’s problems.
My first General election was 1997. I sat up all night (back in the days when I could stay awake past 10:30pm) watching the results come through, it felt great to be a part of that landslide victory. Tony Blair told us that ‘things could only get better’ and boy did I lap it all up.
Well if things did get better, I certainly hadn’t noticed by 2001 (even before 9/11). I was living in Brighton then and as a protest against what Labour had become, I voted Socialist Alliance. I wanted to see a party more akin to the one that I had looked up to in my youth.
This year I keep reminding myself that politics is not about personality; a vote for Labour is not necessarily a vote for Tony Blair. (Forgetting the War, a leader who sweats and shakes so violently at the prospect of facing a couple of old ladies and undergraduates on Question Time reeks of liability) Our Labour MP is Anne Campbell and as MPs go, she does her job well. To top it off she appears to be to the Left of the party and was against the war. I happen to believe that Labour will make it back in by the skin of their teeth and if this is the case then is it not my job to make sure that a half decent Labour MP keeps her seat?
Yet if a genie jumped out of a bottle right now and said that I could choose the winner, it would be without doubt the Greens. I heard someone say the other day that in the quagmire that is party politics you have just got to decide what your priorities are. And so I sat down and thought about it really hard and it bothered me for a while because I thought ‘It’s all important’ but then I thought even harder and a light bulb appeared above my head. (Do excuse me. It does take me a while) Sometimes I don’t see the wood for the trees. We all get bogged down with social issues but at the end of the day what use would be a perfect healthcare system, full employment, decent education etc if in a couple of generations time we had no healthy planet to house them all? And besides the idealist in me can’t help but to think that if we look after our environment, everything else would fall into place.
I understand the idea behind tactical voting. Right now Cambridge is neck and neck between the Liberal Democrats and Labour and the argument suggests that I should take my pick between these two, as any other vote will be ‘wasted’ Indeed I know many people who will be voting Labour (or Lib Dem) despite being more inclined to other parties for this very reason. Yet (selfishly perhaps)I can’t help wondering what would be the point of this so called democracy, and more to the point why did Emily Davison get trampled if it wasn’t for me to be able to use my tiny bit of power to support something I truly believe in?
To vote Labour or Liberal Democrat without the backing of my soul would be a wasted vote to me.
Posted by purple elephant at 09:48 AM |
May 02, 2005
Summer is a coming..
Blessed Beltane to you all.
We went to the Beltane festival at the Celtic Harmony Camp near where my Mum lives. It was fantastic. Littleone had a go at grounding some flour, my Dad did some archery, and we listened to some storytelling and went for a walk in the woods. I did however pass up the hog roast! Most of all though I loved the Celtic herb spiral and the nearby demonstration on dyeing with plants. I actually treated myself to one of their pamphlets on herbs and their medicinal uses. Oh well, one day I’ll have an outside space and then I’ll have my own veggie patch and herb garden, I’m planning it already.
*sigh*
Posted by purple elephant at 04:00 PM |