Saturday, April 21, 2007
This week has been all but calm, people. Now I actually have a legtimate excuse for not being able to get blogging ...that is to say, one that doesnt include "Sims2" and "my boring life" as reasons. The writing lab has me slaving away about 4 hours a day (there are whipcracks and heinous cackles abound) with people who cannot, and aren't trying to see their own mistakes. By the 3rd hour the words start dancing menacingly in front of your eyes and you sigh inwardly as you have to start the rhyme about " No, the bibliography does not make up the length of your essay. You cannot put random words in of which you don't know the meaning. Don't start 7 consecutive paragraphs with "This is".
oh. my. word.
It's enough to make anyone try and peel their skin off from frustration.
*sigh*
(If you were wondering what the title refers to, Im busy with a Translation Assignment, which is a nightmare)
Ok, enough venting. In the midst of this whirlwind of grammar, I've been sitting on an idea. Well...actually, it was sparked by my friend Mikey's fascination with double-barreled surnames, coupled with my fascination with the pretention that is British "Society".
Here is the first bit - it's not even a page long, but I feel I have to put something on the blog so you can start gathering those rotten tomatoes or flowers, however your inclination might be after reading it. Enjoy. And comment! :P“ Get OUT!!”. Malvina Padlington-Croates lilted her intonation so that the last bit of her shriek was so high she almost became breathless. Outraged , she shooed with her pudgy hands, adorned in what seemed like her whole inventory of jewellery. The 24-carat gold gleamed in the dim candlelight, offset by rubies and emeralds which seemed to be glowing indignation at having been thrust onto such an undeserving finger. Meanwhile all hell had broke loose in the chamber as the lady of the house perilously pranced around and yelled at the maid. The bewildered girl could do all but break her knees scurrying out,mumbling apologies and bowing until she was in the hallway.
Malvina slammed the door shut behind the girl and rested her considerable bulk against it. Servants these days were more a pestilence than a help, really. Sighing deeply, her eyes scanned downward to try and assess what the maid saw. Her ample breasts were almost cascading over the too-tight corset that compressed her into almost half the size her waist usually was. The black ribbons were coming loose at the ends and hung down to her hips, where it looked like the corset had spat out two doughy sausages that functioned as legs. In comparison, her ankles were dainty, almost comically so, and her feet the same. Her mother had always bragged in society about her second eldest daughter’s dainty ankles – much to the silent chagrin of her sister Delores, who later died of tuberculosis and jealousy.
She traipsed over to her vanity mirror and sat down. Malvina’s mother, the late Countess Clementina Rutherford-Soarbucks , was as spiteful as she was stupid. Murmurings in society was that she could be outwitted by an autistic racoon. This of course, started as soon as society became aware of the existence of racoons, for they were not very bright themselves. It was very much a case of the blind insulting the blind.
Some time after Clementina’s girls were finally allowed gentlemen callers, she prompty announced that the buck would stop with her when it came to choosing a suitor.
----------------------
Anni
12:06
3 comments
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Weather, at last, has showered us with its cold love and tears. I don't know why people feel that winter is a negative metaphor -winter means cuddling and comfort doesnt it? (Except people like Kirst, who has SAD....and then she moved to England, making us SAD.)
Im feeling too damn introspective to blog today. There are things in my head that can only be appropriately examined by means of poetry and music, neither of which im very good or expressive at. If I had a piano out here I could vent at least. Do you ever force yourself to think about things? Force yourself to see colour even though its very purely black and white?
Attaching little meanings to words like christmas baubles, for you to marvel at in the remaining minutes before you fall asleep. At the risk of this turning into a lyrical catharsis, I want you to think about it, rather than just read it. What do you overthink. Why do you overthink it.
(Purely saying youre an overthinker isnt going to cut it.)
--0--
15:32
2 comments
Saturday, April 07, 2007
It's true though. While black is the unforgiving but loved mystery colour, burgundy reveals just a little of its rich velvety illusion. I daresay a taste is more tantalizing than to stare at the wanted object. Be it an experience, colour, food, you name it. So in light of temptation, I present to you men and women. Does the same apply? To which extent does "the untouchable pedestal" control infatuation, and to which extent does the person have to have a "taste" of another one to start craving them? or want them? What do you find in your personal life?
Now, slightly off topic, here's what Ive been listening to this week:
1.Jim Noir - I Me You, Im yours
Sounds like a throwback from 50's rock from a band who (in my mind) wears thick Buddy Holly-style glasses and snort into their milkshakes. But hey. 2. Throwing Muses - Snakeface
Anyone who saw Empire Records will recall Liv Tyler dancing on this , preparing to lose her virginity to Rex Manning (jaded troubadour with a corn-factor of 1000+). Quite sexy song.3. Hans Zimmer - Thin Red Line Theme
Ah Hans. Along with Mikey, youre my favourite German. This is the theme song to a movie about Vietnam ( I think). So I think the childlike chants with simple melodies , coupled with escalation in involvement from the orchestra (listen out for the horn), makes this a beautiful, stirring song.4. The Shins - Phantom Limb
Shins will always make me think of Kirstin, because she sort of introduced it to our flat. :)5. The the - This is the day
One of my favourite songs of all time.I can't believe it took me so long to find it.6. Alanis Morisette - My Humps
Interestingly, Alanis interprets the famous Fergie/BEP song so that it takes on a whole new tragicomic dimension. Beautiful and slightly haunting. (It also highlights how ridiculous the lyrics are. :s ) 7. Pussycat Dolls- Sway
Makes me wish I had swishy long dark hair and heels....oh and a passionate partner to dance with on this.8. My Chemical Romance - I don't love you
Have you seen the video? Doesnt Gerard Way have something very vulnerable-but-fuck-you about him? Beautiful song. 9. Muse - Invincible
Anthemic lovesong from one of the greatest bands in the world :) 10. Fefe Dobson - Scar
Sadly, a little-known name in music. Something that sounds like it should be on the O.C Soundtrack.So there you have it. My week in music. I'm going back to Stellenbosch tomorrow, to resume my ratrace duties and pick up the slack on my social life. Until next time :)
22:18
1 comments
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Makeover! Nothing to blow life into a sagging blog like a new skin :P
Yesterday was spent in shops, mainly pushing people around as you scoured the rails for pieces of material to cover your shame. Well...most of it anyway. You wouldnt believe how many people can fit into one Billabong shop. Really. China looks underpopulated compared to it.
So as I was peacefully standing in my own space and my mind whirring with thoughts about clothes and violent actions in equal measures, I was unceremoniously bumped a metre farther by a passer-by. When I regained my balance I looked up to see a black woman, who seemed to have bundled up a small tribe of pygmies (no pun intended) and eaten them. Alternately, she could have been pregnant.
Her eyes spat flames as she looked at me, as if I had come out of thin air and chosen
her space to fabricate again. I crept out of reach, imagining how any minute now, she was going to explode warm pygmy-carcass lava.
scary.
In other news : my sister is writing a play that is going to be performed by the school drama group. I asked if I could collaborate, but it seems that the offbeat humour that comes natural to us, will be lost on the masses of parents that warm the hall seats and laugh at the appropriate moments. Did you know that Andrew Lloyd Webber is in the middle of the Forbes list of richest people? From Cats and Phantom of the Opera alone, he has made 50 million plus. Of course, its not everyone who can write timeless classics, but while car-washers in Hollywood are leaving their scripts on movie executives' bonnets to be noticed, playwrights are quietly providing the sustaining fodder every actor dreams of. Sure, it doesnt appeal to the Joe Everyman but I think there's a certain level of prestige that comes with theatre, that can't quite be duplicated in film.
Whether the prestige is validated, is another question.
Until next time kids ;)
Labels: irritation
00:13
2 comments
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Yes. I know. I havent blogged since the Amish New Year, but forgive me for that , because in the process I was just trying to save you the boredom of reading about my routine and boring life. April is the month of new beginnings. Ironically , also the month that the most breakups happen between people. So this is the post that is my step into Blogging Regularly month. As promised to among others, Matt and Mikey. My blogboys :P (and EJ, my honorary one, also the one with whom I share philosophical, slightly insane and wonderful memories)
The past 3 months have been ones of surprisingly little worrying. In comparison to last year's "OhMyGoodnessIhaveToGetIntoPsych" stress. Things at the Writing Lab have been picking up, and Im busy daily with structural problems in documents, and trying to explain to firstyears that you cannot use "bastard" in an academic essay.Also that sentences can't be 3 words long all the time. Mm, Tabula Rasa.
I don't really have any significant news right now , but I will post something tomorrow.
:)
20:50
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