Friends! Family! Random blog readers!
Many apologies for the ridiculously long lag time since my last post! I have been significantly less connected in London than I was in India. My family moved houses a month ago, and Sky, the major broadband/satellite/phone company in the UK needed a month to set up operations in our house. Which is fine, because who needs to be connected to the outside world anyway?
Why did we move, AGAIN? Well, we're basically gluttons for punishment. In addition to moving countries every few years, which involves packing and unpacking all of our stuff, we are a particular about the kind of house we live in. Our previous house in London was gorgeous. It was huge, with a lovely garden and three guest rooms. Unfortunately, the heating didn't work, the roof leaked, the plumbing was a mess and to top everything off, gigantic white mushrooms sprouted in my bathroom overnight. The mushrooms grossed all of us out, particularly my mother. She finally put her foot down and decided we were moving. So with the help of the Aussie Man and Van moving company (no kidding - that is their real name!) we schlepped all our stuff to our new home. It is on the Hammersmith/Chiswick border, on the bank of the Thames! It is cosier, and importantly, it is structurally sound and free of fungus.
Meanwhile, the weather has gotten terribly cold. The beautiful cherry blossom outside my window is losing most of its flowers and every so often I see a bluster of snow sweep over the rooftops. These days I spend most of my time in my cloud pjs writing my dissertation or drinking tea while staring out the window:
Last weekend, we went away to the Cotswolds. My dad finally found a gap in his hectic schedule so my mother insisted that we get away from London. I had to work on my dissertation, so we decided to go to some place quiet and peaceful. Well, it doesn't get more quiet and peaceful than the Cotswolds. I spent the days curled up by the fire writing about masculinity. I am actually becoming quite an expert on the subject of masculinity. I have read all the latest psychological/literary theory/gender studies literature on masculinity, so if you ever need to know about the inner workings of masculine gender construction, do not hesitate to ask.
Thanksgiving came and went. I was sad not to be in California, doing the Thanksgiving thing with all my American nearest and dearest. It is the only day in the year when football is tolerable to me, and that is mostly because I am experiencing a food coma from Amy's mother's fifteen course Thanksgiving feast. This year, a friend of mine in London, Joyce, threw a little Thanksgiving do where we had a ton of fantastic dishes - the Turkey was perfect, the stuffing was delicious, there were about eight different types of vegetables and four pies.
Joyce and I went to the Borough Market in preparation for Thanksgiving. The Borough Market is a famous old London market with fantastic varieties of fruit and meat and desserts. I highly recommend it to all of you planning a visit to London. There are also stalls that serve food all through the day - and it is all delicious!
Apart from all this very civilized fun, I have been able to hear some good music lately! I haven't been to a concert in so long! Prog rock hasn't really made it to India and I hadn't met anyone into the indie music scene in London. But after a couple of months, I managed to find some kindred spirits who are moderately plugged in. A few weeks ago, I went to see the Panama Kings at the Luminaire. They are a grunge rock group from Northern Ireland. They were pretty excellent musicians, even though grunge isn't really my thing. I really liked the act that opened for them. They are called Sixstarhotel. They are mostly post-punk - lots of repeated verses, lots of hooks.
For those of you who are interested in some other good bands - at the moment, I am really into:
1) The Receiving End of Sirens: Really dark, epic music. It's kind of hard to describe. It's very ambient. Very good.
2) Dance Gavin Dance: I have been very disappointed with the latest Alexisonfire. As much as I hate to admit it, I am really kind of a fan of screamo... and I needed to find another band to fill the gaping void that Alexisonfire has left in my life. I love the combination of pretty-voices singing about sappy issues and the animalistic screaming. I find that old DGD is just the perfect blend of the two. Their album Downtown Battle Mountain is very good. It is like old-school Alexisonfire, except perhaps a little less hardcore. Their new stuff is just emo, without the screaming.
3) Paulson: They are a small band from Jersey. I got introduced to them by my Jersey indie music connection (Cub...) They put out an album in 2005. Pretty cool prog rock group. Nothing pretty mainstream prog rock fare, but very addictive music nonetheless.
Christmas will be here soon! I am not sure where we will be this Christmas. Our lives are very exciting at the moment. We decide at the absolute last minute exactly where we will be - I suppose provides some balance to my very sedentary academic tendencies...
I hope everybody is doing well. I still miss all of you in California and I'm looking to seeing you early on in the new year!