This page represents only my own views, and not those of any university or other body.
Posted Sunday 3rd April 2011 at 5.22pm
MSD
In 2008 a new cricket competition began in India, called the IPL. I was slightly cynical, but my friend Geoff was placing a bet on one team to win and wanted to know my opinion on the strength of the various expensively-constructed squads. I told him that I thought the Chennai Super Kings had done a good job in the auction: they'd bought a few players (Makhaya Ntini, Muttiah Muralitharan, Matty Hayden) for rather less than some other teams had paid for inferior talents (Sreesanth, Harbhajan, Brendan McCullum). And they had MS Dhoni.
MS is India's captain and wicketkeeper, and one of the most remarkable cricketers I've ever seen. He doesn't have the grace of Tendulkar, the flair of Lara, the ball-meltingly soft hands of Healy or the analytic brain of Fleming. But he's a winner. People in sport (and life in general to some extent) often talk about winners and losers, and most of the time they're talking rubbish - most of the time whoever won did so because they were better than their opponents: either they had more natural talent, or they worked harder and longer at their game, or both. Dhoni is massively talented and clearly works very hard at his game; his hands are unbelievably fast, and his incredible balance and perfectly-timed transferral of weight allow him to get so much more power into his shots than looks possible from his stature. He knows that, and without that he'd be a fairly ordinary (on the international scale) cricketer. But there's something else about him that I don't think I've seen in anyone else. It's reflected in his big game mentality, in his unwillingness to accept defeat, in his ability to get the best out of others, in his understanding of his limitations, in his intuitive appreciation of the game situation, and in a million other little things. It's all of these things and it's none of these things; it's something bigger that I can't describe.
Chennai didn't win the IPL in 2008, losing the final to the Rajasthan Royals from the final ball. They didn't win in 2009 either, losing in the semi-final. 2010 was their last chance, as the squads were to be re-auctioned for 2011, and Chennai went into the final game of the group stage needing to win to qualify for the semis. Chasing 193, they needed 29 from the last two overs (that's a lot). Dhoni single-handedly hit 30 from 9 balls. He was so pumped up that he then punched himself in the chin in delight. Chennai were through - the only team to make the knockout rounds in all three IPLs - and they (inevitably, it seems in hindsight) went on to win the competition.
India won the cricket world cup yesterday, and of course Dhoni promoted himself up the batting order and hit a match-winning knock including a gigantic six to finish the match. Tendulkar and Yuvraj scored most of India's runs in the tournament, and Zaheer took most of the wickets. But would India have won the world cup without MSD? I don't think they would.
You could write a story about the life of Brian Charles Lara, and an epic poem about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (and someone probably will). But you could write a PhD thesis about Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Posted Friday 1st April 2011 at 3.57pm
I pity the fool
This story was apparently published on Sunday, which means it can't be an April fool. Odd, because it certainly seems like one.
I'm moving to Canada in September (work permit permitting), so my friend Gemma made me a playlist of Canadian music. There are some songs of... er... questionable quality (by Nickelback and the Beiber for example). But there are also some good ones. There's one by the New Pornographers that reminded me of this song by A.C. Newman.
AC Newman - Miracle Drug (Youtube)
SO WHY ALL THE HISTORY NOW?
Posted Thursday 31st March 2011 at 11.00pm
Cricket
At lunch today I was able to discuss the change in the strength of the Australian dollar relative to European currencies over the last 4 years, and the difference in total rainfall between the two sides of the Pennines. How do I know about these things? Cricket. The Barmy Army chanted about getting 4 dollars to the pound in the last Ashes series four years ago; and Yorkshire's vastly superior County Championship record compared to Lancashire's has often been blamed (mostly by Lancastrians) on the weather in Manchester depriving the red rose county of so many wins. It made me wonder how much of my rather small supply of trivia has roots in a sometimes obsessive following of cricket... and I'm not sure I want to know the answer!
Watch out for Sachin Tendulkar's 100th international 100 in the world cup final in his hometown of Mumbai on Saturday. It's the kind of situation the words "tailor-made" were tailor-made for.
Further to my rant a couple of weeks ago about admin in France, the secretary has finally replied again and said that, magically, she can now refund the money. It seems the only way to get people in France to give you what they owe you is to complain lots. All's well that ends well, I suppose.
Posted Thursday 24th March 2011 at 10.30pm
Grey-haired manky codger
Deux grands et gros messieurs en blouse blanche arrivèrent avec une chaise roulante pour emmener Djamila, et Hector voulut leur expliquer ce qu'elle avait. Mais ils ne l'écoutèrent pas, ils demandèrent d'abord à Djamila si elle avait des assurances.
If you only ever listen to one song of the week, make it this week's.
Posted Sunday 20th March 2011 at 10.59am
Atom
I'll be the first to admit this is a bright but haunted age...
There have been some interesting articles recently on whether or not the problems at Fukushima are actually problems. The one sure thing is that we are spending far too much time concentrating on the nuclear issue, rather than the wider earthquake/tsunami disaster and its aftereffects. An article in the Independent made this point and suggested that this might be partly the fault of nuclear power companies who are afraid (or perhaps not allowed) to defend their position. Instead we are forced to try to hear the voice of reliable science from behind the wall of sensationalist journalism and opportunistic politics. XKCD has an interesting graphic. I didn't know bananas were so strongly irradiating! Click the image to go to xkcd and see it properly.
This week's song of the week is "Atom" by British Sea Power, perhaps the best ever rock song about Niels Bohr.
British Sea Power - Atom (Youtube)
As an added bonus check out Balotelli vs the bib. A true modern classic. I wonder what Bohr would have made of it.
Posted Thursday 17th March 2011 at 8.36pm
Unglaublich
Despite some bizarre selections, England won today. They've had 6 games in this world cup, and they've all been tight. Wins against South Africa, the West Indies, and the Netherlands, a tie against India, and yet losses to Ireland and Bangladesh. Unbelievable.
Moving on swiftly, what's also unbelievable is that private schools in the UK are keeping their charitable status even as the Education Maintenance Allowance - which provided less-well-off 16 to 19-year-olds with a small amount of money to enable them to stay in education or training - is being completely scrapped.
Finally, a little moan. I taught a course on Markov Chains in Paris last October. After the next four months and various emails, someone finally realised that they should probably pay me for that. I had to send them a copy of my passport, a payslip, an official copy of my bank details (which had to be for a French bank of course), and two separate forms that had to be signed by several people at another university (one proving that I did have a regular job, and one giving me permission to take time out from that job to do the lecturing). And then I got an email saying that this wasn't enough, and that I had to have a medical insurance card. Since this was more than two months after I left France, I didn't have a medical insurance card. I told them this. They told me that it was absolutely necessary, and that they couldn't pay me without it. So I emailed some more people, and magically they decided that I could be paid. I still haven't received the money, but apparently I will. Then my French bank froze my account. There was quite a bit of money in the account. I wrote to them to complain, and they told me that they didn't know where I lived now, and that they had tried to contact me. Well, before I left France I tried to tell them that I was moving but I wasn't allowed to because I couldn't prove that I was moving. And the only other way they have of contacting me is via the internet, and they didn't try that, so they clearly didn't try very hard to contact me, did they? Anyway after some more annoyed emails they unfroze my account. Then I remembered that I still hadn't been reimbursed by my University in Paris for two conferences that I went to last year, one in July and one in September. So I emailed the secretary responsible to ask what was going on. She didn't reply. So I emailed again. No reply. So I emailed another secretary, and magically the first secretary then replied. She said she couldn't refund the July conference, because the claim was made after the conference, and she had had problems getting information about me. Never mind that I gave her the claim form two months before the conference, that Julien Berestycki specifically asked whether they would be able to reimburse me and they said yes, and that my office was 2 doors away from hers so if she wanted information about me she could just have asked. I've sent her another annoyed email and we'll see what happens.
What really grates is not the rather large amounts of my money that various French institutions seem very reluctant to let me have, but that every time one of these admin people emails me, I respond almost instantly; yet they take weeks, or often months, to reply to me. Anyone would think I have nothing but admin to do, and they're busy with research.
Well, that turned into more than a little moan. Sorry. I feel like I'm being self-indulgent - not just because that was so long, but also because I'm moaning about such insignificant things given what's going on in northern Africa and the Gulf and in Japan. But I don't know what I can say about those problems. They're too big.
Posted Monday 7th March 2011 at 9.56pm
Collapsing
On the scale of human accomplishments, turning out a classic album ought to rank up there with climbing Mount Everest. Stoned. With one leg. And no oxygen. Given the infinite potential for obnoxious excess within the rock genre, it's no small feat to assemble an album that's so well phrased, so deftly stated, that its impact extends far beyond the realm of the audible. Turn out two or more such albums and you're headed for legendary status. Turn out five or six and you're REM.
Matt LeMay, Pitchfork Media
REM's new album is out today/tomorrow. I've listened to it a few times now (it's been streaming on NPR, and it's on Spotify as of today) and it's actually quite good. It flows quite well, and most of the songs are at least decent. It makes me think that maybe, just maybe, REM have another classic in them wanting to get out. This isn't it - there are a few over-simplistic or failed melodies, and Michael's lyrics are still trite and obvious too often - but I'm more hopeful than I was. It reminds me of New Adventures in Hifi in some ways, which is definitely a good thing.
Michael needs an editor or a collaborator or something to get him back on track. He's still capable of churning out the good stuff - "You pulled me up and out of cartoon quicksand" and "I feel like a contradiction / I'm a walking science fiction" rival "You stumble on glass-top table" from Accelerate's Horse to Water for the prize of Stipe's best one-liner in the last 14 years - but too often he settles for either obvious lines like "I'll show the kids how to do it fine," or the kind of crap a 12-year-old would be embarassed to serve up ("I cannot tell a lie / It's not all cherry pie / But it's all there waiting for you / Yeah you").
The production is still a bit OTT in places (on first listen the "live in studio" version of Oh My Heart is better than the album version for exactly that reason) but that's easily fixed. And Mike and Peter seem to be gradually working their way back into form. If Michael rediscovers his inner editor, they could yet make another great album. Probably wishful thinking on my part, but at least this album - despite its faults - is worth listening to.
REM - That someone is you (Youtube)
Posted Saturday 5th March 2011 at 3.00pm
Un mélange
- Qu'est-ce que vous faites?
Hector leva les yeux et vit la plus jolie Chinoise de sa vie, qui la regardait en souriant. (En fait, elle avait dit: ‹‹What are you doing?››, mais comme ce livre, ce n'est pas des devoirs de vacances, on va tout vous traduire.)
I've been reading "Le Voyage d'Hector (ou la recherche du bonheur)" by François Lelord. Apparently he's sold a shedload of copies of this and other Hector books in France and Germany, but they haven't conquered the English-speaking world. I can see why - Lelord employs a simplicity of language that might sound unnatural in English, but is well-suited to French. It brings to mind something between Life of Pi, with its deliberately sparse imagery except for a few scenes of fuller description - and No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, again with the simple language reflecting the clarity of the characters' minds and feelings, and adding weight to what would otherwise seem to be rather straightforward conclusions. But anyway it's good and I recommend it, especially if you're looking for an easy book to learn French with.
I'm currently working on a project with Marcel Ortgiese, with whom I shared an office in Bath at the start of my PhD. It's based around the parabolic Anderson model. There's a pretty - if not spectacularly useful - simulation here.
So, reading, working... what about listening? I've been listening quite a lot to Okkervil River's latest album The Stand-Ins. It came out quite a long time ago and I didn't listen to it much at first, but I've been really enjoying it the past week or two. Like its predecessor The Stage Names it's not a perfect album, and after Black Sheep Boy it feels like there's something missing. Black Sheep Boy is an absolute classic, hugely melodramatic and full of raw emotion. It seems that Will Sheff, the main songwriter, is just a really melodramatic guy. Unfortunately when that goes even slightly wrong it sounds awkward and forced, and there are a few of those moments on their most recent albums. But despite that they're still stacked with really good songs - and as Hector says, "un bon moyen de gâcher son bonheur, c'est de faire des comparaisons." So this week's song of the week is "Calling and not calling my ex". But wait! I can't find the song anywhere online... there are two youtube videos but they've both been removed... it seems Okkervil River's label don't want you to get to know them. So I'll have to put one of their other great songs up instead... here's "Black" from Black Sheep Boy.
Okkervil River - Black (Youtube)
Posted Tuesday 1st March 2011 at 10.55pm
Are we being radical enough?
A talk at my old college made the front page of the BBC website today. I haven't listened to or read it all - and I'm far from being an economist at any rate - but I had a glance and there's some interesting stuff in there. The transcript and (largely stat-filled) slides are available here and the much shorter BBC take is here. I'm also able to watch the speech (and an introduction from the Badge) here but I don't know if that works for non-Clare people.
Posted Sunday 27th February 2011 at 9.00pm
How things turned out to be
I heard of Billie the Vision and the Dancers just yesterday. They're from Sweden, and like so many Swedes they play twee indie pop. Because I like twee indie pop, and because it's kind of relevant to my last post, this week's song of the week is "How things turned out to be". Enjoy!
Billie the Vision and the Dancers - How things turned out to be (Youtube)
PS England and India played a cricket match today. It was a tie. And now I'm seriously tempted not to pay any attention to the rest of the World Cup and assume that today's game was the final, and that England and India are joint champions. Because from here it's not going to be downhill so much as off a cliff. And that's not even a criticism of the rest of the tournament. Just an acceptance that one-day games don't get much better than that!
| Older posts | Newer posts |