Manchester is green!

Aerial view of Manchester University campus. For a larger version click here.

Marion is struggling to keep up.

Apparently blogging is passé. Twitter is the new, or not so new, thing to go for.

Twitter is the facebook status update as its own application - according to the site itself 'a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?'

But what if I actually enjoyed writing and reading about my own and other people's lives, thoughts, stories and observations? What if I wasn't all that interested in what A. is having for breakfast and if B. got shitfaced at C.'s party? What if I agreed with Rob Horning, who describes Twitter as 'a service devoted to those hoping to communicate but who can't commit to writing more than one coherent sentence'?

I should simply add that I joined facebook a couple of months ago after having written an extremely facebook-sceptical blog post here. So keep checking my status updates. It can only be a matter of time before I sign up for Twitter, too.

Snowmen

I usually hesitate beginning any sentence with 'The English,' but this is a generalisation I'm happy to make: the English have an, uhm, special relationship with the weather.

In this case: snow.

On two days this past week, we woke up to winter wonderland outside; it had snowed enough overnight for it to not immediately melt away. There was up to one inch of snow on pavements, houses, trees.

The result: traffic chaos, lectures cancelled, people taking days off work. One inch of snow and public life comes to a standstill. But also: snowball fights, snowmen, sledges. One inch of snow and the English become completely flustered.

Image: Alan Turing Memorial, Sackville Park, Manchester.

Blitzen Trapper: Furr

From Pitchfork.tv.

Merry Christmas!

image credit

How do you get yourself in a christmassy mood?

For me it's

music

Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio, especially the opening chorus with the trumpets and the line "Jauchzet, frohlocket!" This is the epitome of festive.

Sufjan Steven's Christmas CD box set which comes with five EPs, stickers, short stories and sing-along booklet.

food

gingerbread cookies, stollen, Glühwein, panettone

Christmas Markets

Luckily there's one in Manchester, but my favourite Christmas Market is the one in Ulm.

advent calendars

My friend B. and I exchange advent calendars each year - 24 packages with little presents and quotes. Since the post seems to think I should rather have an Easter calendar next year than an advent calendar this year, I have to make do with virtual advent calendars for the time being, especially this one by the Goethe Institute.

I also got this fantastic advent calendar tea from my sister: 24 different tea bags with herbal, fruit, black, green and white tea, spiced or plain. Today's was rooibos chocolate.

glitter

Getting myself covered in glitter writing Christmas cards. This year I especially like these.

Our insane restlessness.

"I stayed at the Estación de Biología Marina with a party of scientists who dug enthusiastically for sandworms and squabbled about the Latin names of seaweed. The resident ornithologist, a severe young man, was studying the migration of the Jackass Penguin. We talked late into the night, arguing whether or not we, too, have journeys mapped out in our central nervous systems; it seemed the only way to account for our insane restlessness."

Bruce Chatwin, from In Patagonia.

Why you don't want to watch scary movies with me.

Alien was on last night. I'd never seen it before.

M: Is the monster already on the spaceship?
E: Just watch.

M: Oh no. They're going to find eggs on the planet or something, right?
E: Just watch, you'll find out.

M: Is he sure he wants to go down there on his own?
E: Will you shut up, please?

M: What? They're letting him back into the ship?
E: rolling his eyes

M: Oh no oh no oh no. It's inside of him, isn't it?
E: sighing, but taking my hand

M: They want to find it with this thing? ... It’s gonna be the cat now, isn't it?
E: You're so smart...

M: jumping
E: shaking his head

M: Oh no! It's metamorphosing or something! Is there more than one on the ship?
E: Just watch!

M: What did it do to him! Is he dead? How did he die?
E: Maybe you shouldn't have covered your eyes.

M: Ew! Do androids have milk for blood?
E: Shut up!!

M: Hmn. It's kinda cheesy that he turned out to be a robot.
E: This movie was made in 1979!!

M: Oh great. The monster's going to be already in the shuttle now, right?
E: boiling

M: Maybe it would be a good idea to drop the cat...
E: You're driving me crazy.

M: Oh no oh no oh no. She thinks she's finally safe, but she isn't, right?
E: defeated silence