Happy New Year - With Some 70s’ Songs

Happy New Year. Three 70's tunes for you.

"As complete a portrait of total alienation as I've ever heard in music" (Charles Shaar Murray, NME)
 

It starts in the middle of a phrase, has a downbeat swing, stunning vocals and I get lost in it after a couple of bars

Is this where the Bee Gees got that Saturday Night Fever feel from?

Those In-Between Days

Sunday Evening; I'm watching Celine and Julie Go Boating - though I may have to do it in two parts because I'm going into work Monday. If you haven't seen this film, do so and you will understand something has been missing from your life.

 

Also I've spent a couple of days immersed in complex analysis and Riemann-Roch and finally found the simple proof. Not a holomorphic one-form, divisor or sheaf in sight. Well, there is for the projective case, but that's another proof.

Next post will be 2015. That is not a real year. For the first twenty years of my life, 2015 was a different world. Where's my interstellar transport?

Ruby Rose: Transformation

(Props to Fashion Copious)

Ruby is supposed to be "genderfluid", which only make sense if you think that gender is determined by where you buy your shirts. Basically. 80-proof nonsense, but who cares? If only the average British TV drama had these production values and photography.

Happy Christmas.

Why You Drink

Someone circulated this at work.

It could also be why you buy lottery tickets. Or it could be a good example of how capitalism uses humour to disguise victim-blaming. You shouldn't need to drink because you're not scrambling up the greasy pole. You should have a meaningful, satisfying life instead. But you don't, because capitalism, commuting and socialist-state level taxes. But it's still your fault you drink. Because you could put up with all that shit sober, and therefore have a choice.

But I think they thought they were being funny.

It's Carl Jung's Colours Time Again!

Every now and then, we do Colours. It’s supposed to make us aware of each others' differing personal styles and so help us work better together. It was invented by C G Jung and is based on two scales: introversion – extraversion and intellectual – feeling.

It looks plausible and it’s fun. But it’s also based on a misleading concept of human action and personality. Here’s my take on it:

If I’m Cautious it’s because this is the kind of stuff that can wind me up in the shit , and I want to be sure I’m not going to wind up in the ….

If I’m Meticulous, it’s because wrong details will wind me up in the shit

I’m not Deliberate

If I’m Systematic, it’s because it saves effort when I have to do it again

I’m not Formal

If I’m Candid it’s because that’s what I think it might take to get the results I want

I’m Straightforward, because I’m a man

If I’m Single- minded, it’s because I want to get this shit done and out of my life

I’m not Purposeful

If I’m Persevering, it’s because this shit won’t go away so we may as well get done with it

If I’m Diplomatic, it’s because I think you’ve got thin skin or a bad sense of entitlement

I’m Nurturing, Supportive and Patient it’s because I’m a decent person, and you deserve it

I’m Dependable, because I’m a man, and you haven’t done anything to disqualify yourself

If I’m Impulsive, it’s because the sun is shining

I’m not Energetic, I just grind this shit out

I’m Optimistic when the odds justify it, which is not often

I’m not Lively

I’m Persuasive when I think you can be persuaded and I give a shit about whatever it is

People have styles, but these are superficial. The transition into adulthood is about living a life that is about achieving results, in a broad sense that includes raising children, making and nurturing friendships and having fun. So our actions are directed towards those ends, and the style with which we do them reflects the people with whom and the circumstances in which we’re doing them. We do what’s needed to get the job done. People who say “I can’t do that” or “I can’t be like that” might be having a childish moment, but mostly we say things like “Really? Is it worth it?” which is about risk/effort vs reward. That’s a very adult view of the world. So I’m meticulous when I need to be, but not otherwise, as are most people. Some people are just super-control freaky (I am meticulous, you are a little obsessed with details, he/she is a control freak) most of the time, and they have psychological problems. That’s why you need to be careful round them, not because they are detail freaks.

In other words, being an adult is exactly not about being at the mercy of whatever whimsical character genetics you were born with. It’s about transcending those to be someone who gets the shit they need doing, done. And Colours measure the residual stuff that we do when we’re not thinking about how we’re acting.

Sitting in Soho Square One Afternoon

Someone please tell me WTF is it with those huge tubs of nasty smelly noodles from Wasabi? The fuel of choice for people who treat food as fuel. She looks like such a nice girl otherwise. And when she stood up, those legs were very good.

Why I Stopped Drafting Resolutions for 2015

I started to jot some New Year’s Resolution during a particularly optional meeting. When I looked at them again after half an hour, I realised they were all fiddling wound with the basic shape of my life. NO. If I’m not prepared to set something like “Move into flat in Soho” or “Approach 30 girls” or “Visit (exotic location)”, I’m not going to make any resolutions for 2015. The previous year's resolutions have been fine-tuning. I can fine-tune my life on the fly just fine. I'm lacking ambition. I can live with that, but not with pretending that fine-tuning is actually ambition.

This photograph has nothing to do with anything. I just like the red flowers. Click for enlargement.