. . . bean

Dropkick Murphys, Dwain Chambers, dodgy shoes, and the death penalty

2008-02-12T07:32:00.001Z

Just a few things I want to waffle on about this morning...

Heather and I went to see Dropkick Murphys, supported by Mad Caddies at Southampton Guildhall last night. It was the first punk gig that I had been to since seeing Capdown in Leicester aaaages ago, and it was brilliant.

We got there a little late so missed the opening band (not sure who they were) and the first few songs of the Caddies' set, but made sure we were by the front for the headliners. I'm not going to go to the effort of writing a full-blown review, but the Dropkick Murphys were probably the best punk band I have seen.

Did someone mention Dwain Chambers? No? Never mind. For what it's worth, I think that provided he can prove he is clean, promises to undergo very stringent, regular testing, and accepts that he isn't going to be the most popular member of a relay team, then he should be given a chance to compete for his country.

If he does get a GB vest, he should not let the euphoria of selection affect his fashion choices (seamless link into the next subject). What he, or anyone else for that matter, should never, ever do is wear brown shoes with a black suit or trousers. I don't know where this trend came from, but it is plain wrong.

As bad as it is to wear brown shoes with a black suit, I don't think it should be punishable by the death penalty. Likewise I don't think any of the 9/11 conspirators should be given the death penalty. I am against the death penalty anyway, but in this instance I fail to see the logic in killing people who were involved in plotting a suicide attack. These people place a great deal of emphasis on martyrdom, so let's make them martyrs? Right...

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Ryde 10

2008-02-04T07:42:00.001Z

Yesterday was the Ryde 10 on the Isle of Wight; a race that would have counted towards Hampshire Road Race League points if I was a member of a club. But I'm not. Yet.

I got to the start and there was the usual faffing about, which for me is mostly spent on the toilet. H and I spent some time discussing ways in which to improve runners' pre-race outfits and then it was time to get to the start, which was a small walk away at the Northern side of the boating lake.

It may have been that I wasn't paying attention, but the start seemed a little hurried and I didn't have time to do my right shoe up properly, put my gloves on, or start my watch - all things that I sorted out within the first 100 m. The course went around the boating lake and up hill, out past Tesco, left at Rowbottom farm, through St. Helens and Nettlestone, down to Seaview, up into Ryde, around the boating lake again and finished by the rowing club.

I had been a little uncertain coming into the race as I had been struggling with calf niggles and had only run further than 10 miles on two occasions. As my legs had been giving me problems I have spent a fair bit of time working on my running form, rather than my speed, but had not quite got things how I wanted. As such, though my previous PBs suggested I could do a 1:20 ten miler, I would have been happy with 1:30. Fortunately, everything clicked into place for the race. I have been trying to learn ChiRunning principles to reduce the stress on my lower legs and that really seemed to help, especially with the hills. I've done a fair bit of hill training as it is hard to avoid them in Southampton, and it really paid off. When others lost their form, I steadied my pace, shortened my stride, calmed my breathing and worked my way up fairly comfortably. On the downhill sections I really made up time. As others tried to slow themselves down, placing their feet in front of their bodies, braking and putting their knees under a massive amount of stress, I leaned forward and let my feet go, racing down the hills with very little effort.

By focussing on my running form I got the whole way round the course with no complaints from my body - something that has not happened recently - and by running at a steady pace I still had something left for the last mile. As such, I completed the course in 1:18'52".

I'm very happy and I know I can run faster.

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A little Christmas charity

2007-12-11T18:17:00.000Z

This is a hard time of year for a specific part of society: the poor people who work in retail. I got my Christmas hours through yesterday and I'm not particularly happy about it. The store is only closed for two days - Christmas Day and Boxing Day - and there was a possibility that we might have opened on the 26th. There is only one reason for us to be open during the Christmas period and that is because of the basic economic principle of supply and demand. If we are open, people will shop. If people shop, we will open.

In order for retail staff to enjoy a full Christmas period at home with their families, only one thing is necessary, and that is for the great British consuming public to stay at home. The retail companies will never close the stores of their own accord, as they are too greedy. They will only stop opening shops over Christmas if it does not make commercial sense to open.

Thus, I am making this plea: Get your shopping done now. Don't buy anything between 23 December and 28 December and 31 December to 2 January. If the whole population stopped spending money, the effect would be huge. Personal debt would fall. The environment would be helped by all the vehicles off the road. Families would benefit from the extra time together. And retail staff would be able to enjoy the Christmas and New Year period with their families.

In fact, don't buy anything, ever. Is there really any need? I appreciate that this may just be the ranting of a disgruntled socialist who has found himself within the wrong industry - an industry that he considers as one of the main problems with society - but have a little consideration for those people that have had to get up and out into the cold winter air, leaving their families behind, just so you can exchange that unwanted jumper for gift vouchers.

It is completely unecessary to shop after Christmas. Due to the economic climate, many major high street retailers have sales on now, and any post-Christmas reductions are likely to be negligible. To find the best bargains, do a little research. Look for the retailers whose shares are in decline, as they will be the ones who are putting on sales to boost profits to help their share price. To find the really good bargains, look for those stores who are the subject of takeover speculation. These will be the shops who are trying to increase profit margins, reduce the amount of excess stock, pay off invoices, and sell as much as possible to make the figures look as healthy as possible. If you do find that you receive something for Christmas that you would rather have not, you don't need to return it immediately, as most shops will allow refunds and exchanges until the end of January. So wait, relax, and avoid the New Year crowds.

Thank you.

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victory 5

2007-12-03T22:38:00.000Z

Well... A rather windy day, but at least it wasn't (too) wet.

Met up with Matthew and a selection of family members beforehand and we got to the track to prepare, which mostly involved visiting the toilet, discussing lacing techniques, and wishing that we had club vests so that we looked the part. Expect to see a striking vest design at the debut of the as-yet-unnamed but potentially titled TeamBean/Top Sides/ISDHF Athletic Club. As the runners were called to the start line, Matthew seemed keen to start with the elite runners, but I suggested we group ourselves with people that looked a little slower.

"BANG". And we were off.

The first mile included a lap of the track and then it was out onto Stamshaw Promenade. I started out at a pace that I thought was easy enough, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that I went through the first mile in 7 minutes. I was aiming for a shade under 8, so decided to ease off the pace. The course was pleasant enough and the weather had calmed down from "Absolute Hooly" to "Rather Windy", with a splash of rain round the back of IBM. Up to mile 4 my race was going well. Then I ran into Hurricane Keith which took some effort. It was wind-tunnel, cheek-flapping, can't-keep-eyes-open, difficult-to-breathe-out-as-the-wind-was-pushing-my-exhaled-air-back-into-my-body-before-I-got-it-out-properly, windy.

Strangely, at this point, I felt reassured. I had thought before this race that the most difficult part of racing is getting through that pain barrier and carrying on. When I hit that pain barrier today, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I could keep going. It was not comfortable, but I could do it. Then, when I got back to the track and out of the wind I increased the pace and felt I had just enough to manage a sprint finish, so I put on a burst of speed. Then I found that was OK (though still very hard), so tried to sprint even harder. As such, anyone watching would have seen me kick three times to a triumphant "watch time" of 38 minutes and about 12 seconds.

I realise that is someway off the time needed for first place, and even further off the time needed to break the five mile world record, but I can console myself with the knowledge that the adverse wind conditions would probably made any such attempt ineligible. At least I beat my goal time of 40 minutes.

Matthew knocked a minute off his predicted time to finish in about 43 minutes.

A good day.

Full results here. I was 317th.

helvetica

2007-11-15T18:30:00.000Z

Those of you who appreciate subtle differences in word appearance will have no doubt noticed that there has been a change in this blog. I have changed the typeface of this blog to Helvetica.

To play the game 'Helvetica versus Arial', visit this website. It is surprisingly good fun.

On another note, there hasn't been much posting recently as I have been busy with work, but I have been gradually composing something of a mini-essay which hopefully will appear here soon-ish.

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My first race

2007-10-07T15:09:00.000+01:00

Today was the day of the Beaulieu Cancer Research UK 10k run - the start of my racing career. The course was ten kilometres on an undulating, multi-terrain course around Lord Montagu's Beaulieu estate. There were loads of runners, mostly in the provided turquoise race t-shirts, and it was a great atmosphere. I went off at an even pace, aiming for 5 minute kilometre splits and pretty much hitting everyone. The first part of the course seemed mostly uphill and that really spread the crowd out. Over the last two or three kilometres I ran faster than expected and hit the nine kilometre mark at around 43 minutes. Though I was getting tired, I pushed myself and after spotting Heather and rounding the last bend, I sprinted the last stretch to the finish. I completed the course in 48 minutes, 4 seconds - what I consider to be a very respectable time for my first race. It was also faster than I was expecting. I had run low-50s in training, but they were tough. I told myself before the race that I would be happy with 55 minutes, and very happy with 50. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised with 48'04". As it's a charity event, it's not too competitive, you don't get places, but Heather reckoned I was around fiftieth-ish. As there were around 1,000 runners (I think), I suspect she may be flattering me, but I was certainly faster than a lot of people, and I was only about 10 minutes behind the winner.

So I'm quite chuffed. And you can still sponsor me.

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done

2007-09-28T20:00:00.000+01:00

Today I finished and submitted my dissertation, which means I have now done everything for my Masters. It is quite an underwhelming experience to be honest. An anti-climax.

I'm tired from not sleeping properly the last couple of nights, as well as mentally knackered from writing a 17,492 word essay. The morning went well as I wrote my conclusion and did the footnotes before noon. Then it was off to University to print it out. Everything seemed to be going against me, with printers running out of toner, copy offices (for binding) being closed, and a pigeon shitting on me. Fortunately, the woman in the Avenue Campus copy office did my binding and the whole thing was in, done, but half one.

I was the only one of my class there, and then I walked home, in the rain. I've been alone all day, as Heather is in London, and my parents both seem to be at work. So I've had no-one to talk to. There's not much to say mind. I don't feel any different, now that I am no longer a student. Just knackered.

As I say, a bit of anti-climax.

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shoes

2007-09-24T13:55:00.000+01:00

My trusty Asics Gel Modena's have been taking a bit of a pounding the last few weeks as I have increased my weekly mileage. Upon hitting the three hundred mile mark, I decided to get a new pair of shoes, especially as my feet have been aching. So on Saturday, Heather and I went to Up and Running in Chandler's Ford. They've got a really good set-up with a treadmill and video gait analysis which provides slow-motion footage of your foot hitting the ground so that they can determine the correct type of running shoe for your feet.

It was discovered that I have fairly flat feet with weak arches and that my feet quite heavily overpronate when hitting the ground (Roll in, for those without a runner's amateur interest in podiatry). This has all sorts of implications for your ankles and knees and can result in collapsed arches. A selection of shoes was produced, and after I had tried each out with a test jog around the shopping precinct, I opted for the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7.

It was also recommended that I visit a podiatrist and get some orthotics made before my arches give up. I went for one last run in my old shoes yesterday - I had an eight miler scheduled and had not had a chance to break the Brooks in - and my arches have been killing me ever since, so I think that's the Asics condemned to an early retirement, despite having a good couple of hundred miles in them. I might donate them to one of those charities that gives shoes to children in Africa, or something.

Thus, in memoriam, I have posted these pictures of my right Asics.

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not long to go

2007-09-17T09:10:00.000+01:00

I am aware that there has not been much in the way of blogging round these here parts, but there is not long until my dissertation has to be in.

When it's in, I shall return.

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who stole steve ovett?

2007-09-04T16:58:00.000+01:00

In the news today is the story of the theft of a statue of the British middle distance runner Steve Ovett from Preston Park in Brighton. It seems that Ovett was cut off at the ankle, which means there is now a rather small and pathetic statue of Ovett's right foot standing atop a plinth.

The police have arrested a woman of no fixed abode. As she has no house, I can only assume she had hidden six foot of Ovett shaped bronze in her knickers and that the police arrested her after reports of a woman with a bit of a limp and a curious bulge.

Except, she hasn't got the missing Steve. So who has?

I reckon Steve Cram did it.

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Cancer Research 10k

2007-08-31T12:31:00.001+01:00

I have just entered the Cancer Research UK 10k race at Beaulieu on 7 October. It is race number one for me in my preparation for next year's Berlin Marathon and I'm hoping that I will be able to post a pretty good time.

In my training runs I have run 10k in times around the mid-50s, but I'm trying to improve my, what Michael Johnson would refer to as, "speed endurance". A while ago, Andy "The Liquidator" Bullman challenged Heather and I to a race over 10k. It never happened, but I have decided to use Andy's time as a goal. I would really like to comprehensively beat Andy's "49 minutes and fiftysomething seconds" with a time of 48 minutes, but fear that may be a little out of my reach this time. It is, however, something that I definitely want to achieve before I attempt Berlin.

I don't think I will be able to beat Haile Gebrselassie's 10k world record of 27 minutes and 2 seconds.

The race at Beaulieu is, of course, all in aid of Cancer Research UK. As such, I am hoping to raise some money for the charity. If anyone feels like sponsoring me, then they can do so at my special online sponsorship page. Just as I am running this race to prepare for next year's Berlin Marathon, I would appreciate it if you would consider sponsoring me for this race as preparation for sponsoring me next year.

However, as I am also thinking about running the Norwich Union Healthcare Rose Bowl Run the week later, as well as a load more events over the coming 12 months, I will totally understand if you want to save up all your cash and donate loads of money when I run a marathon.

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justin lee collins...

2007-08-24T22:44:00.001+01:00

...has shit hair and man-boobs.

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soup on the ceiling and a football question?

2007-08-20T17:18:00.000+01:00

A funny incident occurred yesterday while Heather was making soup. The stock and the vegetables and the herbs and other ingredients had all been left in the pressure cooker and were busy doing this thing. Somehow - Perhaps it got too hot? Was the pressure too high? - the pressure cooker did more than vent steam to relieve the pressue as it released vapourised soup into the kitchen atmosphere. Most of it was directed at the ceiling, whereupon it condensed, leaving a thick, gloopy layer of soup.

I can honestly say that I have never had to clean soup off a ceiling before.

On another note, while becoming engrossed in Marxist interpretations of public attitudes to post-war Modern architecture, I had a completely unrelated thought:

Is it possible for a football club registered with the FA of one country to enter a team in a league belonging to another country's FA?

Some obvious examples come to mind. There are Welsh clubs that compete in the English league system and also participate in Welsh cup competitions. Liechtenstein has no professional league of its own, so its clubs compete in the Swiss leagues. Wellington Phoenix replaced New Zealand Knights in the Australian A League. Toronto FC compete in the American MLS. Monaco compete in France and San Marino in Italy. But these examples are not quite the scenario that I was thinking of as they are first teams competing within a foreign league system.

It is not uncommon for clubs to have special relationships with other clubs from around the world. The concept of 'feeder clubs' and 'parent clubs' has become a part of modern football, with teams such as Manchester United and Arsenal sending young players on loan to Belgium to gain first team experience in a professional league. This is seen in many cases as preferential to playing in the reserve leagues which would not be as competitive as the top division in another country. The feeder benefits from receiving talented young players on loan. As it is not permitted to have one club owned by another, agreements have to be made between clubs.

This practice is less common in Spain and Germany, the two nations in Europe where one club can have multiple teams within the same league system. The only concession is that a club can not have more than one team in the same division. This results in a situation where Real Madrid B are denied promotion to the top division, despite frequently winning the second division. Though this arrangement allows developing players to gain more first team experience within a competitive league, it is seen as flawed. The taking up of league places by B teams denies positions for aspiring lower league teams within the middle divisions. Also, these teams have to compete against teams with far greater resources, potentially leading to some disparity in competitiveness. Attendances are also lower in the middle divisions than they are in equivalent leagues from other countries as the prospect of supporting a team that competes mostly against reserve teams is comparatively unappealing.

Which brings me back to my question? Is there any technical reason why Manchester United, for example, could not field a team in a foreign league? Rather than send young players out to another country to play for another club, they could just enter their own team. One possibility could be Wales. It is geographically close to Manchester, so players could train and be monitored at United's Carrington training centre. Manchester United already have close links to Wrexham AFC who would no doubt be more than willing, given their current financial situation, to agree to a ground share. United get to ensure that their young players are getting regular competitive football and the Welsh league would benefit from the addition of a new competitive team.

The detail would have to be very finely tuned: United would not be able to move players between the first team and the B team as they would a regular side (so it would be beneficial to maintain their current reserve side as well), except during transfer windows; In the instance that the B team be allowed to enter the Welsh Cup then they would be exempt from qualification to the UEFA Cup in the instance that they won the cup, so as to avoid any potential conflict of interest from having two Manchester Uniteds in the same European competition; The B side would be made up entirely of players under the age of 21.

There are other scenarios where this could work. The English football league would be more competitive than the Scottish reserve league, therefore Celtic and Rangers could benefit from having sides within the English pyramid, even if they have to enter from the very bottom. Likewise, Newcastle United reserves could do well in Scottish Division 2. Teams from the north of France could have teams wholly based within the English leagues. I am sure Dover FC could quite happily share a ground, a league, and an intense rivalry in the same league as a side from Calais. You could have cross-border arrangements all over Europe, with professional sides from the larger countries entering teams into the semi-professional leagues of the smaller countries and probably competing as high as the top divisions. Bath University have a football team in the football league as well as BUSA: Could they have one in Wales as well?

You could even have a situation whereby one national football authority entered a team within another nation's league. For example, there are plenty of Australian footballers who make the most of their European ancestry by joining European clubs. Might it not be of benefit to the Australian national team to operate a team, or teams, within a European league, or leagues? An offshoot of the AIS could administer the team. To allow talented players to fulfill their ambitions, the player could be allowed to move once he reaches a certain age (though this might have to be altered to comply with labour laws and UEFA regulations). Any transfer fees would be reinvested into Australian youth development. This way, the Australian FA could even operate two sets of national youth teams, cutting down on travel times and fatigue, and giving twice as many players a tast of international competition. The Australian FA struggles to prevent talented players moving to Europe. Those that can't be encouraged to stay, could at least be encouraged to remain within a European based, nationally controlled set-up.

I like to think that there is a hole in the regulations where such arrangements could be allowed. No doubt if there is such a hole then various governing bodies would move to ensure that it was plugged, but I think it could lead to some really interesting possibilities if it was to happen.

Just think: Southampton under-21s win the Bundesliga... FC Barcelona D storm to victory in Sydenhams Wessex League Division 1... Boca Juniors Juniors relegated from Serie B.

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every little helps

2007-08-15T09:55:00.000+01:00

As a new mini-Tesco goes in over the road from us, where the DVD rental place used to be, between Lidl and The Co-op, I received the following video in my inbox from Friends of the Earth:

Of course, it's all very well shopping locally, but what if you're local shop is a Tesco? For what it's worth, I intend to boycott the new Tesco and do as Alexei Sayle says.

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knights of cydonia

2007-07-31T19:59:00.000+01:00

For the last two days now I have had Muse's "Knights of Cydonia" on continual loop in my head. It has been quite an entertaining experience as the guitar solos are just getting longer and longer and more elaborate. If anyone else feels like getting "Knights of Cydonia" in their head, they could do worse than looking at the video. You can find it here, at the director, Joseph Kahn's website. It's also on YouTube (what isn't), but the one on Kahn's site is the uncensored director's version. Mad video, great song.

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are golf balls exciting?

2007-07-27T17:08:00.001+01:00

It often seems that the best advertising campaigns are those that seem like they would have been the most fun to make. A perfect example of this is the campaign for the new Nike Juice golf balls. Generally speaking, it is very difficult to make a golf ball look exciting. The campaign can be found at the Nike Golf website.

As I have been unable to figure out a way of embedding the video into the post, you are just going to have to clink on the link and look at the videos. The videos feature two people (presumably scientists from Nike's secret laboratory) shooting golf balls at everyday objects. The resulting impact is then filmed using a slow-motion camera with a very high frame rate. It looks very cool (especially "Mayonnaise") and looks like it would have been very fun to do. I only wish that they had a whole series more.

Thus, it seems the best way to make a golf ball look exciting is to completely remove it from its normal (ie: golfing) context. Which says a lot about golf I think.

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sneakers

2007-07-27T09:22:00.000+01:00

I came across this site a little earlier today.

If I had the budget, I would love an extensive "sneaker" collection, but alas... I am too poor. The site also reminded me of my sporadic attempts at shoe customisation. I also had a thought (happens occasionally):

When women buy lots of shoes it is often seen as frivolous and a stereotypical irrational female activity. When men do it, provided they have sufficient taste to get good looking shoes, they can present it as a counter culture art collection.

Hmmm....

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tricorn

2007-07-19T17:04:00.000+01:00

Whilst doing some research for my dissertation on Tuesday, I came across (what I consider) a really interesting planning document from Portsmouth City Council from 1965. In it they state:

Pedestrian links will penetrate through to the car parking areaa and also to a new precinct north of Charlotte Street. [...] On completion of this scheme it is not anticipated that there will be any further major extension of shopping facilities in this area, and every encouragement will be given to the expansion and redevelopment of district shopping facilities at Cosham which is considered better situated to serve the growing hinterland population of the mainland.

The new development in question is Portsmouth's notorious, late Tricorn shopping centre, demolished in 2004. At the time of its demolition it had been standing all but empty for a number of years and had become a bit of an eyesore. The people of Portsmouth wanted to get rid of it because it looked ugly.

I concede that the Tricorn was not the prettiest of buildings, but I wonder if maybe the Council itself was responsible for its demise.

In the document of 1965, the Council declare that they do not anticipate any further development in this area, yet in the 1980s they gave permission for the Cascades Shopping Centre, which opened in 1989, at the other end of Commercial Road. The result of this planning policy reversal (I imagine that the integrity of the planners was swayed by the developers' money) is that any trade that the Tricorn might have enjoyed became swallowed up by its more glamorous near-neighbour. It is almost universal enough to become a fundamental rule of life that a new shopping centre will always attract business away from existing centres.

By allowing the Cascades, Portsmouth City Council signed the death warrant for the Tricorn. As a result it became underused. This would have had a direct effect on the maintenance and upkeep of the Centre. Unloved by shoppers, the Tricorn's appearance would have suffered. If the Tricorn had stayed busy, then the relationship between the citizens of Portsmouth and the Tricorn would have been very different and it might have become a vibrant place, that people would have had fond feelings towards. For instance, there are no calls to redevelop the area around Southampton Central train station, despite it being routinely described as ugly. This is because the area works. There are shops, businesses and apartments that are occupied.

Surely a possible conclusion, therefore, must be that it was not the physical appearance of the Tricorn that got it demolished, but the mismanagement of the site. That other buildings of that era suffered similar fates, results in a psychological link betwen 1960/1970s architecture and buildings that just don't work. As such, the term "1970s monstrosity" has become something of a cliche. If these buildings worked, would we appreciate the bold statements of post-war stark concrete municipal construction?

Of course, as much as I enjoy defending such buildings, even I have to admit that the above is possibly not quite the way it works. After all, the Tricorn was never successful, even before Cascades was built. In 1970, the architectural critic Alan Balfour praised the bold vision of Owen Luder, the architect, but noted that four years after completion only 4 of the 48 commercial units were occupied.

It seems that the reputations of some examples of brutalist building are beyond saving.

PS: Cosham is still as unglamorous and uninviting as it was in 1965 (if not worse).
PPS: It seems like the Cascades is going to be superceded by the redevelopment of the Tricorn site, having already taken a hit from Gunwharf Quays.

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twenty-five minutes

2007-07-19T08:54:00.000+01:00

This morning I finished my twelve week beginners 5k running training schedule thingy. I ran a 5km route round Southampton Common in a time of 25 minutes, which I'm pretty pleased with. Not quite World Record pace, but respectable. Next challenge is the 10k training schedule. I've got my sights set on 48 minutes. Of course, the culmination of all this will be a marathon, but I'm building up my distances gradually. Most importantly I'm really enjoying running.

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gay bombs and pig tails

2007-07-03T22:23:00.000+01:00

There are a couple of things that have caught my eye recently. One is Southampton defender, Alexander "Jesus" Ostlund's pig tails, the other is this quite ridiculous news story about the US military from cbs 5:

A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.

As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."

The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.

The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistably attractive to one another.

The whole story can be found here.

Only in America...

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more running

2007-06-25T10:04:00.000+01:00

My predictions of a high scoring week were wrong as I ended up going to Brighton for the weekend and was unable to go for a run. As a result, here is my score for last week.

Distance (miles)_____Speed (mph)_____Score
10.02________________6.81____________68.24

Rather than clogging up my posts with self-indulgent running statistics I am going to put them in the right hand bar.

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running

2007-06-22T20:31:00.000+01:00

I have started running. I've been doing it for a few weeks now and have got to the point where I can actually manage more than a few minutes without having to stop and am really enjoying it. In order to maintain my momentum I have decided to set myself the challenge of running the Berlin Marathon in 2008. Berlin, not London, as it is not too oversubscribed, and as it is in September of next year I should have long enough to actually get quite good at running before I attempt it.

I reckon one of the best ways of charting my progress is with the simple formula of weekly distance multiplied by average speed. Here is my progression thus far:

Week_____Distance (miles)_____Speed (mph)_____Score
1________10.0_________________5.77____________57.70
2________9.9__________________6.73____________66.63
3________0.0__________________0.00____________00.00
4________7.5__________________6.08____________45.60
5________5.2__________________7.71____________40.09
6________16.9_________________6.57____________111.03
7________10.6_________________6.47____________68.58
8________13.1_________________6.86____________89.87

This week is still a work in progress (I'm doing it from Monday to Sunday), but I reckon it will be a high scorer. Not as high as someone like Mottram or Bekele who would no doubt be verging on a thousand points. Week 2 got written off as I had a sore throat. My mileage also took a hit when I had essays due in.

I shall post progress updates. And Ryan, get running!

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Vernon God Little

2007-06-17T21:33:00.000+01:00

Last night Heather and I went up to London to see the Young Vic theatre's production of DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little. It was brilliant. Both of us loved the book so when we saw that there was going to be a play snapped up tickets as soon as possible. The production was so good. It really captures the character of the novel, but isn't afraid to make changes to suit it to the stage - the mark of a really good apaptation in my view. The way the set worked was ingenious, the dialogue was so sharp, and Colin Morgan, in what his professional debut, put on a brilliant lead performance as Vernon.

It was one of those plays that leaves you buzzing afterwards. That it was at the Young Vic makes it even better as the theatre is so committed to new talent, that the atmosphere of the place really helps to set the mood. The play is coming to the end of its run now, but if it is put on again, I recommend that everyone go and see it.

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Squirrel goes on rampage, injures 3

2007-06-16T09:40:00.000+01:00

I saw this brilliant headline on the Reuters website. The story follows...

BERLIN (Reuters) - An aggressive squirrel attacked and injured three people in a German town before a 72-year-old pensioner dispatched the rampaging animal with his crutch.

The squirrel first ran into a house in the southern town of Passau, leapt from behind on a 70-year-old woman, and sank its teeth into her hand, a local police spokesman said Thursday.

With the squirrel still hanging from her hand, the woman ran onto the street in panic, where she managed to shake it off.

The animal then entered a building site and jumped on a construction worker, injuring him on the hand and arm, before he managed to fight it off with a measuring pole.

"After that, the squirrel went into the 72-year-old man's garden and massively attacked him on the arms, hand and thigh," the spokesman said. "Then he killed it with his crutch."

The spokesman said experts thought the attack may have been linked to the mating season or because the squirrel was ill.

London Olympics 2012 logo

2007-06-06T18:18:00.000+01:00

I think that the new logo for the forthcoming London Olympic games is great. I also think it is brilliant that it has kicked up such a stink.

I was reading the Daily Express (I think) in the gym today and they are one of the many papers that have joined the media bandwagon against the new logo. One of their features was a selection of alternative designs that readers had come up with. No offense to those who were so moved to get their felt tips out, but they highlighted the reasons why the new one is so good. They all had some kind of geographical feature, like the Thames, as a motif, or some attempt to combine the Olympic rings with the word London. Yeah, some of them looked good, but they are boring and exactly what everyone would expect.

The new logo is so good because it is so different. Barcelona, Sydney, Athens are all variations on a theme. London's says "Fuck off, our games are going to be like nothing else". Its not a logo for polo shirts, mugs and commemorative baseball caps. It is a logo with a purpose.

My only criticism is directed at the choice of typeface for the word "London" as I reckon it would look better if it wasn't italicised.

What we need is a pro-logo petition.

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two more down, one to go

2007-05-29T16:13:00.000+01:00

That "one" being my dissertation at the end of September. About 45 minutes ago I handed in my last two "normal" essays. They were both 5,000 worders. In no particular order they were entitled:

1497 and 1549: The effects on the Cornish nation

and

The inter-war pan-Atlantic debate on the industrial organisation of labour

Both snappy titles, I know. They were both quite heavy-going, partly because I had quite a difficult time trying to find an angle with each of them to form a question. Fortunately, because they are so different from each other, if I got stuck on one I could flip to the other.

I'm just surprised I didn't have to pull any all-nighters.

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i'm still here

2007-05-14T16:57:00.000+01:00

Hello. No posts recently, I know, but I'm in coming to the end of an essay cycle at the moment, so have quite a lot on.

Will be able to post properly again in a couple of weeks time, but might have the opportunity to squeeze something in before then.

Currently though I am having to concentrate on "Identity and "the Other": A comparison of the experiences of Cornwall and Burgundy in Early Modern Europe", and "Ford, Devinat and Dubreuil: The debate on the Industrial Organisation of Labour". Exciting stuff.

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Dissertation Proposal

2007-04-24T16:47:00.000+01:00

Post-war construction in Portsmouth and Southampton: The conflict between Modernism, renewal, and the concept of urban heritage

The proposed title for the dissertation may be altered slightly before the submission date, but it is hoped that the subject implied shall remain intact. The essay will compare the experiences of Portsmouth and Southampton in rebuilding after the damage sustained during the Second World War. On one level the experiences are very similar; indeed the processes that take place during the 1950s and 1960s in Portsmouth and Southampton are comparable with other English cities attacked by the Lüftwaffe. These processes included the drafting of comprehensive planning policies, taking into account immediate concerns such as housing shortages and the damage to industry and infrastructure, as well as long term plans relating to the predicted requirements of the future city. Though it can be shown that these general trends are common to all the heavily bombed cities of Britain in the aftermath of the Second World War, this dissertation shall examine the ways in which the cities’ experiences diverge, and consider the ideological reasons for this. Here is when the meaning of the essay’s subtitle may become apparent. It is predicted that this dissertation shall illustrate how the planning policies of Portsmouth and Southampton were indicative of a wider ideological struggle. This shall be achieved by using specific construction projects as case-studies and looking at the available planning documents of the period. As a sub-current running through the essay, the mindset of the 1960s post-war planner shall be considered in the light of current attitudes toward redevelopment and the contemporary zeal for conservation, to illustrate how such opinions are subject to constant revision and to give the essay a contemporary relevance.

Modernism had been slow to catch on the United Kingdom. Isolated examples of early Modern buildings exist, but in the first half of the twentieth century, Britain’s cities were suffering from a malaise of urban deprivation (For clarification, by “Modern”, the design ideology is meant. Thus “early Modern” refers to the first examples of Modern, or Modernist architecture. Thus, “early Modern” should be considered as distinct from “early modern”, which would typically refer to Europe in the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries). German bombs served to prompt a reinvigorated period of slum clearance and residential reconstruction. As architects and planners sought to anticipate the problems of the future, Modernism presented itself as a possible solution. Thus the 1950s saw the postponed emergence of British Modernism, characterised in the 1960s in particular with a new era of high-rise developments. Four decades later, such buildings are routinely vilified for being ugly and often unsafe. Yet at the time of their conception, they were considered to be the future of residential and commercial living. Designed very much under the influence of the originators of the Modernist movement, men such as Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, Jørn Utzon, etc., these tall, concrete, angular structures are indicative of a specific mid-twentieth century design philosophy. It is one argument of this dissertation that these structures should be celebrated, where appropriate, as monuments to a bygone age, and considered just as highly as those urban remains from previous centuries. Moreover, it is predicted that this essay shall argue that these buildings were doomed to criticism from the outset by compromises relating to cost and developmental scope that prevented the full realisation of a design ideology that could only ever be ineffective if not properly conceived. Building projects of the period, from Portsmouth and Southampton shall be used as evidence for this argument. As such, the dissertation will use the comparative experiences of two south coast cities to explore a historiography of the intellectual approaches to architecture and urban heritage.

The principal primary sources fall into two categories. The first consists of the buildings themselves. The final list of projects has not been finalised, but the case studies are likely to consist of a small selection from the following: Castle House, Above Bar Street, Townhill Park, Shirley Towers in Southampton; Guildhall Square, Tricorn, public housing projects in Portsmouth. By considering the design and function of each building it should be possible to determine the philosophy behind it. These philosophies can then be compared. To see how the individual case studies relate to the general planning policy of each city, will require the second set of primary sources. These are the documents relating to this subject that exist within the University of Southampton’s Cope Collection of documents from both Southampton and Portsmouth City Councils. Where necessary, these documents will be bolstered by additions from the councils’ record departments themselves and other published primary source material. Examples of this kind include the Department of the Environment’s Homes for today & tomorrow from 1975 and the 1963 Traffic in Towns: A study of the long term problems of traffic in urban areas, the reports of a steering group and working group appointed by the Minister of Transport. The University of Southampton Library contains architectural journals from the period that will provide an insight into the professional trends of the period, and how this altered over time. As far as is known, these documents are yet to be used for a study of this particular subject.

The secondary source material will be of a slightly different nature. This subject has not yet been covered in this manner, as it falls between two different areas of the historical discipline. This is a good thing as it gives the dissertation a certain amount of historiographical relevance, but it will make things difficult at times as the general reading will have to be rather diverse to encompass all aspects of this study. The architectural community has naturally been more eager to consider the legacy of Modernist architecture than the historical community and their has been much recent debate on Modernism and post-war reconstruction in the architectural community. This has arisen as many buildings of this period are finding themselves under threat of demolition. In some cases, one example being Portsmouth’s Tricorn Centre, this is a positive move; when buildings have become dangerous or neglected, having reached the end of their practical life spans (It should be noted that many Modern buildings were designed with a projected lifespan of sixty years). However, other, still great, buildings of this period have come under attack, with contemporary sensibilities opposed to concrete, that material of the future, and developers’ ambitions of building the next West Quay, Gunwharf, or Ocean Village. Curiously, heritage is called into play in the propaganda used to convince people of the merits of such plans. It is not just the names that are chosen to relate to the area’s past, but visual motifs. This is the case with the Spinnaker Tower, a building that attempts to evoke Portsmouth’s maritime heritage, but due to a lack of scale and conviction only succeeds in leaving the impression of a cut-price Dubai.

This reactive appreciation of the Modernist period, as it has come to the fore of debate, has even influenced English Heritage who have made subtle, perhaps even surprising, changes to their approach to mid-twentieth century design, adopting a role summarised as “managing change”. Last year, The Architectural Review and English Heritage hosted a conference entitled “Mending Modernism”. This dissertation would be most relevant in the current climate of architectural history.

In local history, however, such a study would fill a gap. The practical applications and implications of intellectual theorising on a local level is something that could be expanded upon further. Local history is, in many instances, a derided sphere, perhaps due to what could be considered a general trend for it to be studied by amateur historians, who concentrate on nostalgia, trivia, memories, the stories that help define a sense of place, of community. Though this is a noble pursuit, these histories tend to avoid historical theories, unlike texts with a broader scope. Thus there is a gap that needs bridging between local history and the practical historiography of urban design. Nonetheless, local histories will be valuable as they provide the background information to the cities covered, as well as plugging any gaps in the chronology that may become apparent.

So it is that the preparatory reading for this dissertation shall span two rarely united genres. Adrian Rance’s Southampton: An Illustrated History provides a sound introduction to that city’s past and details the period of post-Second World War planning in its final chapter. This is but one of a sizeable group of general histories that are available on the subject of both cities. They will prove just as useful as the more specialised architectural texts that will provide an education on the finer points of design theory and practice. These range from the influential (Le Corbusier’s Towards a new architecture and The City of To-morrow and its planning) through the educational (John Tetlow and Anthony Goss’ Homes, Towns and Traffic, Anne Williams’ Town and Country Planning Law), to the polemic (Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Charles Mercer’s Living in Cities: Psychology and the Urban Environment, Oscar Newman’s Defensible Space: People and Design in the Violent City). Views on current debate will be informed by journals such as The Architectural Review, RIBA Journal, and Architecture Today. The only text that manages to be both local history and architectural history is Pevsner and Lloyd’s Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, part of the Buildings of England series, published in 1967. It is interesting to note that Pevsner and Lloyd display an appreciation of Southampton’s concrete residential tower blocks that is now most rare. Another text that has influenced this essay is Raphael Samuel’s Theatres of Memory, as it covers another area of the debate; how heritage is chosen.

Retro trends and visual references to an imagined past have defined what we consider to be “good design”. If a building appears at odds with what is perceived as appropriate, then the public will reject it. Yet the buildings that are celebrated are routinely chosen according to criteria that bear little relation to any form of real common history. This is the case with the majority of English Heritage and National Trust properties, that promote themselves as authentic representations of our nation’s past. However, such “historical experiences” do not correlate with the experiences of the majority of the population. Not all of our ancestors lived in castles and manor houses, with orchards and ornamental gardens. To get a true representation of our urban history, should we not seek to preserve the slums and dirty residential conditions of the hundred years before the Second World War? Though such an idea is extreme, it serves to raise what is an often unaddressed, yet valid point. Only recently have exhibitions begun to engage with the more undesirable parts of history, possibly as a result of the wider trend towards minority histories. Yet these “visitor experiences” still tend to be along the lines of compassionate portrayals of the holocaust, slave ship voyages and the working class passengers of The Titanic. Is this because there is a certain tragic glamour to these subjects? Just as valid, though rather less popular, would be an authentic reconstruction of the Northam open sewer.

Thus this dissertation will have succeeded in its aims if it manages to raise some questions that have not been sufficiently considered. It is more than a series of questions though. The majority of the essay will focus on the results of the research into Portsmouth and Southampton city council planning documents, to determine the reasoning behind their post-war reconstruction themes. The principal aim will be to show why the urban landscapes developed in the way that they did. It is predicted that attitudes to heritage and specific design principles, in addition to more practical concerns, were responsible for the buildings that, for the time being at least, still have an impact upon the urban environment.

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more words

2007-04-24T15:50:00.000+01:00

Hello. Just printed off, and about to submit, my dissertation proposal. Its not just a plan, more an intellectual justification for my research and it counts towards my Research Skills course, though I am not sure what sort of percentage it counts for.

What it does mean is that I have some more words for my ongoing word count.

I will put the proposal up here later on, but its on my laptop and I'm writing this on a Uni computer, so I need to swap it over.

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twenty four degrees

2007-04-16T08:58:00.000+01:00

The warm weather has been described as unseasonably so. Is it? What temperature is it supposed to be? I can't even remember anymore. It seems like we have always had hot Aprils.

Or, I can't remember a cold April. This either means that I am far too positive and only remember the sunny days, or that global warming is such that the norm is no longer the norm?

I'm not sure what I'm talking about, or where I', going with this.

I may just get in the shower...

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octopus

2007-03-26T12:09:00.000+01:00

i am listening to The Bees' new album, "Octopus" and I must declare myself delighted with it. The album for the summer for sure.

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book review

2007-03-13T11:25:00.000Z

Just completed a book rview assignment on A. James Hammerton, & Alistair Thomson, Ten pound Poms: Australia's invisible migrants (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005). I am not going to put it in here, but I am adding it to the word count in the box on the right hand side of this page.

There has been a small flurry of dicussion going on in the post comments, which does not happen often.

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crap hats

2007-03-09T10:08:00.000Z

I am sat in the computer room of the Avenue Campus. Its a good place to sit. Diagonally opposite me, to my right, is another student. He is not wearing it, but he has a crap hat. It is one of those leather safari-style hats that people from Gloucester who drive Land Rovers wear when they go to the rugby. There is no need for such hats.

Seminar on Hemingway and the Lost Generation in a bit. I want to be Hemingway. At least, I have wanted to be Hemingway since Wednesday and will probably want to be Hemingway until I read something else.

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Deconstructing a text - Jerome K. Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat"

2007-03-06T14:06:00.000Z

(What follows is a copy of the essay that I am about to submit. As it is short and, I think, quite funny I have decided to put it on my blog for all to see. I think it goes to show that you can prove anything is Marxist. Or I have failed spectacularly)

First published in 1898, Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome, can provide us with some detailed insight into late-nineteenth century English life. It is widely regarded as one of the funniest texts to have been published in the English language and tells of three men and a dog deciding to take a boat up the Thames. Chapter sixteen is the focus of this essay and can tell us a lot more than might first seem obvious. On a basic level, the chapter tells us the following: Some people, at least, lived a comfortable enough existence to enjoy cruising holidays on the Thames. We can assume the principal characters to be educated to a decent enough standard to have some grasp of English history. As well as cruising rivers, people were able to enjoy public houses, hotels and art exhibitions. Reading further, the very existence of the book tells us that printing presses existed and that the reading of comic literature was at least popular enough to be a commercially viable enterprise (otherwise it is doubtful that the author or his publisher would have entered into it). Such literature may have been used as a form of escapism; the tale of a river boat holiday with friends may have appealed to the busy reader who would appreciate how the more depressing parts of life – politics, death – are limited to hurried asides. Such an interpretation would be almost universally accepted as valid. However, upon yet deeper reading, alternative views emerge.
The start of the chapter begins with a very brief history lesson. The characters and events mentioned must have been important enough in the history of Reading and the country as a whole to have been remembered, but Jerome does not pay a great deal of attention to them. Dates are not mentioned and many centuries are squeezed into just one page. What might be the reasons for this? Of course, the lack of extended discussion of Ethelred, Henry, and the others, may be due to a necessity for literary brevity and succinctness on the author’s part, but the hurried treatment of these people may be due to a desire to disregard such figures of authority. Jerome may not consider them to be worthy of continued elaboration. Jerome does, after all, suggest that it ‘must have been worth while having a mere ordinary plague now and then in London to get rid of both the lawyers and the Parliament’. Such measures might be considered a little extreme, but by presenting them in a jocular fashion, Jerome may be hoping to subtly subvert his audience, by gently exposing them to anti-establishment thinking. There is certainly some evidence in this chapter, albeit rather circumstantial, to suggest that Jerome may have been a Marxist sympathiser, and perhaps even a proto-revolutionary. Not only does he believe that plagues are an effective method of unseating governments, but he mentions Parliamentary struggle in apparently flippant terms. The concept of armed struggle would not have shocked Jerome who indicates that he is not without the capacity for violence, when he writes, of slow moving rowing boats: ‘I would have one or two of them run down now and then, if I had my way, just to teach them all a lesson’. On a slightly less violent note, the final line of the chapter, which provides advice on leaving hotels without paying the bill, is a practical piece of instruction on one of the many ways in which one could rebel against “the man”.
It can thus be detected that Jerome might have harboured revolutionary ambitions, but it remains to be shown what Jerome’s political and personal ideals might have been. The recounting of the moment the body of a dead woman is discovered provides some clues. As might be expected, the event is treated with the respect required and the fun tone that is apparent at the start of the chapter gives way to a more sombre style. The woman is afforded much sympathy; not just for being dead, but for having been poor and desperate. Trying to keep herself and her child alive on twelve shillings a week had proved too much to bear. Jerome describes her tale as ‘the old, old vulgar tragedy’ and he prays that God might help all those in similar situations. That such a tale would seem so familiar to Jerome hints at a deeper, benevolent, social conscience. Though it is never put in such terms by the author himself, it is not unreasonable to suggest that Jerome is class aware and longs for a time when the poor do not have such a terrible existence. Marxism may have been the solution.
Initially, chapter sixteen of Three Men in a Boat appears much like the other eighteen. Yet, when one delves deeper, it is possible to detect a revolutionary socialist undercurrent. By presenting such views in the context of a comedy novel, Jerome may have been hoping to subliminally influence his audience. On its own, Three Men in a Boat would not have been enough to recruit potential sympathisers or make the proletariat aware of their condition, but as part of a larger, subtle literary movement, it may have been enough to plant a socialist seed, undetected, in the mind of its reader. Of course, if Jerome was ever challenged about his intentions, it would have been simple for him to claim that this text is little more than a piece of escapist comedy literature, written with the intention of making people laugh.

Bibliography

Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat (London: Penguin, 1957 (originally published London, 1898)).

addendum

2007-03-05T10:14:00.000Z

Hello. Me again. You wait ages for a post, then two come along at once.

I realised that I had forgotten to explain my need for make up, a scarf and hairspray. It was for a murder mystery night that has had to be postponed due to the host getting ill. I have been given the role of a rather flamboyant music exec or something. Anyway, not sure when it is happening now, but it will be. When it does, I may leave some photos about this site.

Also, I want to start a journal. Throughout history there are instances of people founding journals and becoming known for having done so. From Marat, to Jerome, to Rankin. I want a journal. Not a magazine, because that's all a bit populist. I want a journal. Not sure of the content, but you can bet your arse that it will be profound. Or pretentious.

I need a title, a publisher, some writers. Look out ...

(you might be looking for some time)

Change of tack: Saw The Departed the other day. It is a brilliant film. The best film to be released in the last year. Also Marie Antoinette. That was less good.

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gilles peterson

2007-03-05T09:46:00.000Z

Its 0947, quite early for me to actually be doing work. That is of course an obvious lie, as I am blogging, not working. But I should be working. The intention is there, just not the application.

I digress. The point of this post is to waffle lyrically about the living legend, Gilles Peterson. I can not think of a cooler person. Except, of course, he is not cool, he is post-cool. To be cool conflicts with the act of keeping it real. Peterson is so real that he must be post-cool. If he was cool he would play Klaxons. He does not. He plays what he wants. He keeps it real.

I digress further. What I wanted to say, is that I am listening to Gilles Peterson, as I try to work in the library, and I have decided that I would quite like to be Gilles Peterson. I figure it's all very easy. I just need to travel to Scandinavia and Latin America, buy a shit load of music, then convince someone to let me have a club night. I compile a few compilations. Get a radio show. Job done. Easy.

Before I do that I need to deconstruct a text (amongst other things).

More later.

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" ... back street lover who's always under cover ... "

2007-02-22T16:46:00.000Z

OK. I know I have been a shit blogger, but the internet has gone a bit pete in Lumpy Mansions so I am reduced to internetting at university (which is normally when I'm in a hurry and trying to read something very quickly as I should have read it aaaaaages ago), or the odd foray into the Bargate internet cafe.

The problem with internet cafes is that I don't trust them. Call me paranoid, but how do I know that there isn't someone looking at me through the webcam on top of the screen, and how do I know that someone isn't logging my keystrokes? I've not got anything to hide, but it's still a concern.

Don't try to start a revolution from an internet cafe.

Saw Children of Men the other day. Brilliant. Wasn't 'til I watched the extras that I found out why it feels so different to other films. Many of the sequences are shot in one take with a strolling camera. Technically tricky, looks brilliant, feels a bit like a computer game. One sequence is 12 minutes long and all one shot, in a car, with a car chase and all sorts of action. Great film. Australia's greatest film reviewer, Jim Vale, recommended it to me ages ago, but only just got round to watching it.

That's all for now. I need to move before the Feds triangulate my position and take me away (actually I need to go and buy some makeup, some hairspray and a scarf. For me. I'll explain later).

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more essays

2007-01-23T12:54:00.000Z

I am currently smelling decidedly dodgy and am suffering from caffeine-induced shakes. That can only mean one thing: I have essays in today. Not one, but two 5,000 worders, which I have just finished and just need to submit. At the risk of blowing my own trumpet, they're quite hefty pieces of work.

But that's a good thing. If I am paying three grand to do a Masters, it better be hard.

So, here's the update for the word count.

The middle passage and the problem of representation - 4,900
Class and postmodernism: The evolution of a problem - 5,029.

Not sure what that brings my total up to, but I shall update it on the side bar.

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turn of phrase

2007-01-12T19:09:00.000Z

On the Southampton FC website, there is a link to an item in the club's news section entitled:

Kids for a quid.

Luckily it's not quite as dodgy as one might think.

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twothousandandseven

2007-01-10T19:19:00.000Z

Well, it has been so long since I have last posted, that it is already next year. Ryan and I decided to mark the occasion by dressing up as charity shop mannequins (I have lost my mask in the picture. The whole ensemble looked a lot more disturbing with the mask).

Bit of a quicky this post; more of a courtesy call really as I have loads of work to be getting on with. Another update to the word count - I submitted an archive review of the Britannia Museum Archive at the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. It's an extra 1,491 words, but there's a lot more to follow. Unfortunately.

Also (and this is usually Ryan's thing), listen to Gilles Petersen. It's all James Brown right now (rest in peace), and is worth a listen.

Anyway, got to get back to some heavy theorising.

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ashes

2006-12-23T10:55:00.000Z

In the words of Silversun: 'I've got a theory that'll push 'em right back. Back, back, back!' (Cheerleading). I believe the Ashes have been fixed. Yes ladies and gentlemen, fixed.

My evidence (albeit somewhat circumstantial and imagined) is as follows.

England won last year. Australia have destroyed England this time.
English cricket, as a sport and industry, made a lot of money out of the whole winning thing.

I think that is all the evidence required.

Picture the scenario. English cricket was in decline. We had not won anything in ages. It was losing ground in the public consciousness and people were beginning to question whether or not the Ashes series was still relevant. And then the unlikely happened. England actually won the Ashes back. All of a sudden cricket was everyone's favourite sport. Local cricket clubs saw memberships increase. County sides saw increased attendances. Cricket equipment suppliers sold lots of stuff. The whole thing had worked nicely. Cricket was cool.

Fast forward to the present day. England are crap again. Australia look like they are going to achieve a good and proper whitewashing. The reasons for this are no mystery. Australia is a better cricketing nation. This is the result that should have happened before. Fair enough, England played some good cricket last year, but that was only because Australia made them look good. Think of that shot that whatsisname (Ashley Giles) caught at full stretch - only because the Australian played it into that exact spot. Also, that ball Shane Warne dropped - only because he was paid to.

If Australia was to lose one Ashes series, that's not too bad. If anything, it is going to make Australia sit up and take a bit more notice (or else they would just learn to forget the whole thing. There exist Australians who have forgotten that England are the current Rugby Union world champions). But they would never be able to lose two on the trot. If that was to happen, the whole country would descend into civil war.

And that, more or less, is my theory. So there.

Probably the last blog before Christmas, unless I get suitably inspired to follow up my post about the whole world going wrong with a counterfactual discussion of what could've been, soooooo.....

Merry Christmas to all yo' sucka MCs.

Word!

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my opinion on what is wrong with the world

2006-12-21T20:46:00.000Z

Not a rant, more a series of highlighted problems and appropriate suggestions, composed in response to Annika's post. Actually, I would not even refer to them as opinions, rather this is the truth. The truth about the third world (though that may seem a touch arrogant).

The third world is a western construct, borne out of a "caucasiacentric" brand of arrogance. It is the result of ignorance, exploitation, colonisation, retreat, denia and greed. Asia and Africa and South America and Oceania were going along very nicely, when along came the Europeans (and eventually the North Americans). All these continents had some fantastically developed civilisations. However, due to the way in which the economic climate grew in Europe, specifically overseas mercantilism, the Europeans sailed overseas in the search for new markets. This is where it went wrong. Upon arriving in foreign lands, the Europeans took the view that because they had sailed there (and therefore "discovered" these lands) and because they could not understand the people they found, that these people must have been uncivilised. Therefore they needed civilising. When this did not work out as planned, the Europeans were able to utilise their superior weaponry. And so these ancient civilisations were, often, destroyed.

Fast forward to the recent past. The West want to sort themselves out after a half century of war and the decline of the great industrial boom age of the nineteenth century. Once more, it looks overseas. When it does, it finds countries that it considers to be somehow primitive. Rather than helping these countries in a way that is sympathetic to their traditions and ecological capability, the likes of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund sought to help them in a way that would 'get them up to speed' in order to make lots of money. An example of this is whole Mozambique ground nut fiasco (Google it).

But perhaps the biggest problem is the terminology. The very term third world is full of patronising connotations. The distinction between developed, developing and underdeveloped, rather than being meaningful categories prevent any attempt at objective analysis. The third world is developed, or at least could have been had the West not trampled over everything it encountered.

As for AIDS, my thoughts on this are as follows. The appearance of the disease is a cruel quirk of nature. However, its spread could have been inhibited the Roman Catholic church. Instead, the Vatican prefer to maintain their dogmatic indoctrination of people at the expense of millions of lives that could have been saved by contraception.

To summarise, this post is not exactly the words of an expert, but me. And my opinion is this: "'Yes', the West is pretty much responsible for alot of the problems in the world".

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jack bauer

2006-12-21T20:20:00.000Z

Right. We all know that Jack Bauer is officially the best man to have ever existed, therefore it should come as no surprise that he features heavily on the internet. One Bauer site consists of facts about Jack. Here a few of my favourites:

Jack once shot himself ten times, just to prove that 50 Cent is a bitch.

When Jack Bauer ran out of ammo, he caught three bullets in his chest and used them to reload.

If it tastes like chicken, smells like chicken and looks like chicken, but Jack Bauer says it is beef, then it is beef.

Tony Almeda was once shot in the neck. He rushed to hospital, had emergency surgery, and was back on the job in a few hours. Jack Bauer thought he was a pussy for going to hospital.

The 'smoothie' was invented when Jack Bauer needed information from a banana.

And if you are reading this and are unsure who Jack Bauer is, it's probably because Jack Bauer doesn't want you to know.

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wales

2006-12-18T09:56:00.000Z

This weekend I went up to North Wales to visit my friend Chris. Gowens and Westwood also made the trip and it turned out to be a bit of a mad one. Infact, I am quite surprised that I managed to make it back in one piece. After drinking far too much for the whole time I was there, we went to the only nightclub in Denbighshire - a suitably grotty venue. It was on this excursion that we (three Englishmen) decided to sing "En-Ger-Land!" in a pub full of Welsh people, mostly in rugby shirts. We also thought it would be a good idea to sing the National Anthem every time we did shots (which was often).

However, I feel I may have made the greatest impression when I, in my sleep, vomitted all over the duvet I had borrowed off Chris. Not very good really. So, I am not sure that I am entirely welcome back in Wales, but it was a great time.

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irritating

2006-12-15T09:09:00.000Z

I know I said a couple of posts ago that I was going to moan less, but it is far more compelling to write things here that are negative, rather than positive. This is my current list: (in no particular order)

The Debenhams adverts. They have to be the most irritating of the Christmas adverts - DJ Santa on the wheels of steel. Aaaaargh! Piss off.

People on buses. Specifically people on buses that just talk constant crap.

So far thats it, I think. No doubt I will think of more in a few minutes (after I have logged off from blogger - which is also irritating).

On another note, I was on the bus yesterday and it almost ran someone over. This woman got off and then ran after it banging the side when she fell over. Everyone on the bus assumed she had gone under it, except the bus driver, who carried on, then stopped, got out, looked back, got in then carried on. I assume she's fine, or her mangled body is stuck in the wheel arch. Could be either. The funny thing is, as soon as the bus driver carried on, the consensus of the bus passengers changed from 'someone has been run over' to 'she must have been drunk'. Which was weird.

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words

2006-12-14T08:16:00.000Z

I handed in my first two pieces of assessed work for my Masters on Tuesday. I thought it might be interesting (at least it seemed that way for me) to keep a running word count of the work that I submit for assessment. The actual amount of words written for an MA in History will obviously be a lot greater, but this will give an indication of the number of words that will be directly marked.

OK, perhaps it's not that interesting, and at this stage it won't be that impressive as these first two pieces of work were both quite small, but here is the total so far:

Annotated Bibliography - 1,235
Seminar Critique - 1,786

Total - 3,021.

I think I will put a little segment in the sidebar for the running total.

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foucault is bollocks

2006-12-11T16:48:00.000Z

For the last couple of months I have been struggling with an ideological problem: what do I think of postmodernism? I was fairly certain that I disagreed with it, but was unable to reconcile my anti-postmodernism stance against the more attractive aspects of the theory. This is one of the problems with postmodernism; it is very hard to disagree with. But there was something about it that I did not like and I was unable to identify that problem. At the same time, it all looked so easy to agree with.

However, I have done it. I have figured out what it is that I do not like about postmodernism and I have figured out how to justify that stance. Without going into detail (after all, this is merely a self-indulgent, cathartic post, and for me to write a full-detailed critique of postmodernism would take ages), I have arrived at the position whereby I have decided that I agree with the idea that postmodernism is an angry, dogmatic way of telling historians something that they already know and when taken to its theoretical conclusion allows no room for common sense. It may be relativistic, but common sense and a general appreciation for the intellectual capacity of the human race is a lot better than disregarding everything.

I actually quite like some of Foucault's stuff, but feel quite comfortable in repeating Marwick's assertion that (at least when it comes to postmodernism), 'Foucault is bollocks' and, as the historian who's name escapes me, postmodernism is intellectual crack.

Hopefully, now that I have got that one sorted in my head my blog will be not quite the mad rant that it has been in the last few weeks. I may have been a bit harsh on the BBC, but I would rather they were more honest and feel that it is quite insulting to assume that people would not notice.

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more deceit

2006-12-08T08:08:00.000Z

This blog is beginning to read like a rant against the BBC, but I feel I need to point out one last piece of dishonesty. On Breakfast they often interview people. Due to the early time of the programme, it has always struck me as unlikely that they would be able to get people up, and into central London, at daft o clock, just to say about eleven words on an alzheimers charity. I am sure some of the interviews towards the end of the programme are live, but I have long suspected that many are prerecorded, but I had no proof.

Now I have it. The prerecorded interviews are done by the next morning's presenters in the clothes that they will be wearing the next day. The problem comes when the male presenter is wearing a broad striped tie. The stripes, especially if it is rather multicoloured, serve as a point of reference. Look at the tie before the interview. During the interview the stripes will have moved. After the interview the stripes will be back where they were before.

This is probably all incredibly obvious and I am perhaps being a little slow on the uptake, but it does make watching the morning news more interesting when you are tryin to spot sneaky 'tells'.

As for your suggestion, Annika, would this be shouty like the whole getting shouty and blaming the pope for AIDS incident? Or should I be a little more restrained?

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let me explain

2006-12-07T07:39:00.000Z

To clarify, my issue with the news is this: Both shows are on the bbc, but neither are really packaged as news bulletins. Breakfast is a rolling news programme interspersed with interviews and light news. Newsnight is a heavy duty review of the days big stories, usually political, with the almighty Jeremy Paxman as host. What gets my goat is that they are trying to disguise the fact that it is the same studio. By changing the lighting and using different camera angles, the bbc are attempting to create the illusion of two different studios. They even refer to it as the Breakfast studio on Breakfast, and the Newsnight studio on Newsnight. You occasionally get a presenter on Breakfast saying something like, Keith Meadows is with Jeremy Paxman in the Newsnight studio tonight. The normal news bulletins being from different studios is not a problem as there is no deceit - they are obvious about it. It is the crap attempt at disguising the truth that annoys me.

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mystery

2006-12-06T07:19:00.000Z

I like watching the news. In the morning I wake up and watch Breakfast on BBC One. If I am in at lunchtime, I often watch the lunch-time news. Occasionally I will watch South Today in the evening or the Channel 4 news. At night it is the 10 o clock news, followed by Newsnight. It is verging on an obsession. But something has happened - I have spotted something.

I think that the Breakfast studio is the exact same studio as that used by Newsnight, but they change the images on the video screens and turn the lights from red to blue.

OK, it doesn't seem that fantastic, but I was chuffed that I had spotted it as the BBC seem to be trying to disguise the fact that they are the same studios by changing the colours and using different camera angles.

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in response

2006-12-05T15:56:00.000Z

I would like to take this opportunity to very quickly respond to Annika's question: 'No, I don't feel any responsibility at all for the slave trade, because I have never traded slaves.' I think any form of national apology would have to be very complex. I am still making my mind up on it. Sorry if that sounds like a moody response, but trying to write quickly has resulted in short sentences, which read rather abruptly.

More later...

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what could have been

2006-12-04T16:44:00.000Z

This has been quite a hectic couple of weeks and it looks like it is going to stay this intense until the end of January. Let me explain. The Masters workload has ramped up as we get closer to the December assessment deadline date. As we get closer to Christmas the amount of work I am being asked to do at Moss has increased. In January I have two five thousand word essays and an archive review to submit, but I am also going to have to do a large number of hours at Moss between now and then. In addition, I also need to do Christmas and get hammered at New Year. But this is not some bleeding heart story, I am merely providing the facts. Besides, it has been like this for the last five years. As much as I enjoy education, I am quite looking forward to a time when I do not have to work in a shop or write essays when I should be relaxing with my family before leaping straight into the New Year.

However, it is not the purpose of this post to moan about my workload (which though tough, is manageable), rather it is to highlight the things that I have intended to write about over the last week, but have not had the time. In no particular order...

David Cameron. Tosser.
Slave trade apologies. Yes or no?
Shopping. Evil.
Football team names. FC is not a nickname.
Music. Hippedyhop.
Drink More Tea. My dream.

As you can see, very interesting potential topics. Alas, they are not to be. They are either no longer topical, I forgot what I was going to write, or I can no longer be bothered. I might come back to a couple of them, but not now.

I need to get back to compiling an annotated bibliography on the problems of representation associated with the Atlantic slave trade (a subject that I will be writing a lot more about).

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alex thomson

2006-11-23T18:48:00.000Z

Exciting news from the Velux 5 Oceans Race. It's been quite a mad race so far with quite a lot of drama, but it's just got a bit more intense. Alex Thomson, in Hugo Boss has capsized after losing his keel and is currently drifting about 1,000 nautical miles off the Cape of Good Hope - which is not a very good position to be in, especially as it is too far to be reached by air-sea rescue and there is very little commercial shipping in that area. Fortunately, fellow competitor Mike Golding is on his way back to rescue Thomson, so he should be OK.

However, Thomson is going to have to abandon the very expensive Open 60, Hugo Boss. I wouldn't be too worried though as Hugo Boss was built back in 1999 (old for an Open 60) and Thomson was going to launch a new Hugo Boss next year anyway. Still, here's hoping that Golding gets to Thomson quickly.

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thorpedo

2006-11-21T08:39:00.000Z

Just a little post to say how saddened I was to hear of the retirement of Ian Thorpe from competitive swimming. A sad day indeed. One wonders what new career path he might take. Perhaps the meedja, fashion or hair dressing.

On another antipodean note, Sainsburys have started selling Tim Tams, which is very good news.

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a statistic

2006-11-18T18:50:00.000Z

This morning I did a little research and a little calculating as I had begun to wonder something. The result of my research and calculations is this:

If every person on the planet had a power shower that was connected directly to the Atlantic Ocean and drained into a large enough hole (say space - after all this is a very hypothetical situation), and if all of the Earth's inhabitants decided to turn on their shower at the same time, it would take about 7,500 years to drain the Atlantic.

I am sure you will agree that this is a pretty impressive statistic. However, this was not a particularly scientific exploration, based as it was on information that was readily available on the internet, so I would not base any kind of even vaguely academic work on this.

Look out for more of Jonathan Bean's amazing facts...

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blogger blogger hey

2006-11-16T17:56:00.000Z

I see I have caught another one...

Annika has resurrected her blog, which is cool. It gives me another website to look at when I do my regular procrastinatory sweeps over the internet, distracting me from whatever it is I should be doing.

I was watching Breakfast this morning and a thought struck me. How bad would it be if you were one of the waddling fat arses that they show whenever they do a report on obesity? Not much of a claim to fame is it?

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Nation States

2006-11-13T17:32:00.000Z

Ok, normally I do not get into online games or any of that sort of thing, and I view online communities with a certain amount of disdain. Blogger is the closest I come to getting all web 2.0 and The Times' Fantasy Football league is the closest I come to online gaming.

However, I have to admit that I have recently become highly intrigued, maybe even slightly addicted, to a game called Nation States. It's not even a game as such, more of a simulation. You create a nation, choose a name, answer some questions and it creates a country based on the information you gave it. I am now the proud leader of the Free Land of Hamtun. This is a progressive nation, built upon green principles, residing in the region of Shirley - a small part of the world that is also home to Theydonia (Ryan's creation).

But it is the detail that some other players go into that really astounds me. People have even developed whole back stories about their nations and have created highly developed imagined systems of government. If you explore the forums you will find maps, people selling imaginary space in imaginary cities for imaginary embassies. It is amazing how far some people are willing to take it all. Yet, it is also a bit scary. There are people who have clearly spent a huge amount of time creating a fake world, no doubt at the expense of any engagement with the real one.

The game is interesting, but I am not going to be trying to build a virtual global empire (complete with statistics on the armes forces and the number of home computers per capita). However, it would be quite nice if there were more nations in Shirley...

Go on, be a cybergeek, create a nation.

On another note, what is going on in Neighbours? Ramsay Street is full of debauchery and adultery. Everyone is at it.

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mighty ducks

2006-11-13T15:08:00.000Z

Last night five showed the mighty ducks on TV and it got me thinking...

How long will it be before we witness the emergence of an emo band with some oblique reference to 'The Mighty Ducks' in its name?

It is, after all, something that happens quite often. One does not have to look far to see childhood films influencing bands in later life - one example would be the Ataris with 'San Dimas High School Football Rules' ('Bill and Ted'), which also references the most emo-referenced of all films, 'Stand By Me'.

Infact, I challenge you, the reader, to think of a Mighty Ducks themed band name. All entries in the comments section, or email me.

My choice is 'District 5' - which is, of course, the original name of the Ducks. I just wanted to stake my claim to the intellectual property rights to such a name now. In fact, I might start a band, does anyone want to join 'District 5'?

Altogether now: 'Ducks, Ducks, Ducks!'

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wind turbines

2006-11-12T11:03:00.000Z

The other day I received an email from my friend Jim, in Australia. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary there, but he did have some very interesting things to say on the subject of wind turbines, which I thought I would reproduce here (I am sure Jim won't mind). So, please find below the wise words of Mr. James L. G. Vale:

It's interesting to see that you're having trouble with the same morons we are here with renewable energy. At least ThWart (sounds like a verucca treatment) are honest about what they're doing. I noticed their site doesn't pretend to support wind towers 'in the right location' and confirms that they're concerned with property prices and actively orchestrating opposition - all of which the Prom Coast Guardians are very sneaky about. I can respect someone's opinion if they're honest about it, but the Guardians try to dress their greed and selfishness up in ersatz environmentalism. One of the major wind farms planned near Foster in South Gippsland has just been "postponed" because they're getting everyone so jittery, and yet I still maintain they're only a vocal minority - not a tiny minority, certainly, but a minority nevertheless. No one's actually taken an opinion poll or referendum down there to find out how the majority of people feel, and to be honest I think it's time to move on from caring too much about people being jittery about property prices and shadow flicker.

We're going through a horrific summer here. Winter was the driest one on record - there were, quite literally, no days of heavy rain. A bit of drizzle and light showers, but that was all. In September we had our earliest day of 30c after winter on record. October was the driest October on record. November's not looking much better. We were having major bushfires in early October. Leongatha is running out of water (which is freaking my Dad out cause he's still the chairman of the waterboard). They've got about another month left. Melbourne's had to introduce permanent water restrictions (as in never to be lifted). Mum and Dad are thinking they'll have to sell all their livestock before February (which is also freaking Dad out!) The whole situation is getting more and more ridiculous - global warming is HERE and we need action now. It's certainly important to consider the rights and desires of the local community, but it shouldn't be the ultimate priority. We need to consider the needs of the global community as well as the local, and at the moment the move to renewable energy's being derailed by petty politics and avarice.

It just goes to show that this really is a global problem that is having very real consequences.

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a bit of housekeeping

2006-11-06T19:03:00.000Z

The eagle-eyed amongst my suspected non-existent readers may well have noticed that the template has changed again. This time, the changes are subtle and are the result of moving over to the new blogger beta which makes it a bit easier to fiddle around with colours and other parts of the page. But this is not a blogger plug, this is a request, not for answers, but questions.

As part of my Masters I am going to have to write a fat dissertation. Only problem is that I do not have any idea what I am going to write about. And so, I ask you, people of Earth, to give me a question. Please, give me a good topic to write about. Bear in mind that I am doing a History degree, so no suggestions about existentialism or quantum mechanics. As interesting as they are, they are not quite relevant. Also, there are practical considerations as any research linked to a potential project will have to be conductable within a fairly sensible distance of Southampton. This, unfortunately, rules out almost anything to do with Mexican muralism in the 1930s or patriarchal structures amongst the people of Indonesia.

I am not going to promise to use an idea, unless it is brilliant, in which case the lucky winner will get the honour of getting referenced in my footnotes. Which is about as exciting as it sounds. So, get those thinking hats on and email me (address is in my profile - look right).

On another note, Heather is in London until Wednesday for part of her Professional Skills Course, which means I'm feeling pretty lonely tonight. I suppose that would be the reason for the flurry of blog activity today. Right, must go now. I need to think of something to cook and then eat it before Spooks begins.

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history and slavery

2006-11-06T17:23:00.000Z

What follows below is a copy of the slightly re-written version of a seminar presentation that I gave last week at university. Of course, this is not an exhaustive historiographical summary of all that has been written on plantation slavery in the Caribbean and North America, but I think I do make some good points and this piece does hint at my ever growing feeling of hostility towards post-modernism and excessive revisionism. Enjoy...

Jonathan Bean

HOW HAVE HISTORIANS LOOKED AT PLANTATION SLAVERY IN THE CARIBBEAN AND NORTH AMERICA?

As we have been discovering, slavery and its eventual abolition can be a highly slippery subject. It is such a massive and, by its very nature, controversial story in the relatively recent history of the human race that it should be of no surprise that there are so many historians of slavery and that there should be a great deal of debate between them. I shall attempt to explore some of these different arguments and the subsequent historiographical developments in relation to slavery in the Caribbean and North America. I shall begin with a more general overview, before moving to attempt to shed some light on the more specific issues that have been subject to academic scrutiny and revision.

In the preface to his American Slavery, published in 1993, Peter Kolchin makes the observation that the previous twenty-five years had seen the production of a massive amount of historical literature on slavery. The result of this was a substantial revision of our understanding on the institution of slavery. The main shift seems to have been the way in which the slaves have been treated by historians. Academics have started to examine the slaves’ day to day behaviour on the plantations, their family lives, their religious practices, their community organisation, resistance and social values. Also subject to reinterpretation have been the economics of slavery, slave demography, slave culture, slave treatment and slave owner ideology. As Kolchin states:

'For years, historians treated slaves primarily as objects of white action
rather than as subjects in their own right, and largely ignored the behaviour
and beliefs of the slaves themselves. Reacting against this emphasis, many
scholars have more recently focused on the slaves as actors, stressing the world
they made for themselves rather than the constraints imposed by their owners
(Kolchin, p. x).'

I would like to take this opportunity to share my own thoughts on some of the points raised by this statement. Firstly, why should this revision have taken place? I think it helps to look at the subject within a wider historiographical and socio-political context. It could be that in the seventies there just so happened to be a new generation of scholars interested in slavery. Once they had read the work of those who had preceded themselves, they sought to find new ways of looking at an old problem in order to gain some form of academic relevancy. In addition, this change may have been affected by the growing tendency towards post-modernism and "history from below" in which the focus is on the working class, the oppressed, the "little people", rather than the middle and ruling classes, the overseers, the "man". Clearly, slavery is well suited to such reinterpretation. Also, the changes may have resulted from changing moods towards African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans from the academic community. In the hundred years since the demise of slavery, racism towards blacks loomed large across much of the United States of America. It is perhaps not unreasonable to suggest that many academics would have been racist. I am not intending to cast a slur on the entire mid-twentieth century academic community by claiming that they were all racist or agreed with the principle of slavery, I merely wish to point out that over the course of the second half of the twentieth century, social attitudes did change and that this may have well have had a bearing on the way in which African-American and Afro-Caribbean history was written.

Of course, not everyone agrees that all this revision is a good thing. Peter J. Parish, in his Slavery: History and Historian of 1989, wrote that historians were in danger of obscuring history by becoming too specialised and engaging in arguments with other historians that only serve to make interpretation more difficult. The earlier statement by Peter Kolchin has echoes of Parish, who wrote:

'During the last three decades, there has been an unprecedentedly rich
outpouring of new work […] The dimensions of the subject have expanded
dramatically as new or neglected aspects of it have been opened up – above all
those relating to the lives of the slaves themselves (Parish, p. ix).'

In the early part of the twentieth century writers, such as Ulrich B. Phillips, devoted most of their attention to the way planters managed their slaves, not to the slaves themselves. Although such “overt racism” (to use Parish’s phrase) was unfashionable by the 1950s, the tendency to treat slaves as objects persisted. Later historians argued that even portraying slaves as victims could reinforce rather than subvert a historical model in which white slave owners and their agents acted and black slaves were acted upon. Kolchin illustrates this point:

'Thus, although Kenneth M. Stampp’s “neo-abolitionist” book The Peculiar
Institution (1956) differed sharply from Ulrich B. Phillips’ American Negro
Slavery (1918) in its overall evaluation of slavery, its main subject remained
the treatment – now the mistreatment – of slaves (Kolchin, p. 135).'

But it is not just Stampp who comes under criticism:

'The depiction of antebellum slaves as victims reached its peak in Stanley M.
Elkins’ 1959 volume Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and
Intellectual Life, one of those rare historical works that not only arouse
intense controversy but also promote sharp reversals of historical
interpretation (Kolchin, p. 135).'

Parish states that the problem with Elkins is that he only moved the slaves from a position where their personality problems were caused by their negritude, to one where they were defined by their servitude. Parish continues to summarise such developments by stating that:

'If the seventies were the decade of the grand synoptic overview of the South’s
“peculiar institution”, the eighties had been the decade of the in-depth study.
With one or two exceptions, the telescope had given way to the microscope
(Parish, p. x).'

From this it would seem that towards the end of the twentieth century historians of slavery became more concerned with slave life rather than the more global outlook of before. Historians such as Ira Berlin, John W. Blassingame, Eugene D. Genovese, Herbert Gutman, and Deborah Gray White, for example, have explored the importance of family, kin, and community to nineteenth-century black American life. For such historians, the use of historical data is an important tool. One example is Blassingame’s The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South, from 1979, which paints a personal picture with the use of impersonal data such as church and census records. For this new approach to blossom and flower it proved necessary for some inter-disciplinary cross-pollination, with techniques borrowed or adapted from archaeology, sociology, anthropology and other social sciences. This development is seen when one compares two texts written over twenty-five years apart.

Elkins’ Slavery was first published in the 1950s in the midst of what Elkins described as a large controversy over the use of cross-disciplinary “gimmicks”. To many of his contemporaries, Elkins would have been considered a bit of a renegade for dabbling in other disciplines. Elkins’ justification is thus:

'Temporarily baffled by some historical problem, one tends to reach out for any
tool in sight with which to attack it. The more familiar ones may not always be
adequate, though I think that more often than not they are. Still, if a less
orthodox tool should happen to work, that in itself should do something to
establish its legitimacy (Elkins, p. 227).'

Nonetheless, Elkins’ book has all the outward appearances of an “old-school” historical text. Elkins is routinely slated in many histories of this subject, but I feel that this is a little unfair. His argument may have been mostly polemic, with some “interesting” use of metaphor (the plantation is compared to Nazi concentration camps), but he did pose some thought-provoking questions.

In comparison, A. Meredith John’s The plantation slaves of Trinidad, 1783 – 1816: A mathematical and demographic enquiry, published in 1988 is full of tables, graphs and other such visual representations of statistical data. It even contains mathematical formulae, yet is still able to engage in historical debate. Whether one appreciates this approach to history, or not, it should be recognised how much the study of slavery and plantation life has changed over such a period of time. This text should also be appreciated as it does tackle some of the more pressing issues of plantation slavery, such as the potential reasons why the mortality rate in Trinidad should have been so much higher than in some of the other Caribbean islands, notably Jamaica and Barbados. Another contentious issue is that of the reasons for the low fertility rate. These arguments can be quite effectively explored with the assistance of statistics to illustrate what was happening.

Despite how it may appear from earlier sections of this essay, I do not wholeheartedly agree with Parish and Kolchin, though it did prove useful to adopt their arguments to explore the work of the historians that had gone before them. However, I disagree with Parish and Kolchin on some ideological and methodological points that I have not discussed thus far, but shall elucidate upon here in my concluding passages. I agree that it is important not to exclude the slaves from the history of slavery, but I believe that what Parish in particular proposes is even more dangerous. It is an important and worthwhile pursuit to document slave life and the societies that slaves tried to create within the plantation communities, and to this end it is productive and necessary to recognise that slaves were actors in their story and not just acted upon by white slave owners. Yet, we should not go so far as to deny slaves their position of victimhood. For Parish to chastise Elkins for portraying slaves in the light of their servitude is discomforting to say the least. It is important for humanity that we do not lose sight of the fact that Atlantic slavery is something that white people did to black people. It was brutal and terrifying and is one of the most profound periods in the history of the human race. It is right to study the actions of slaves, but it is dangerous to rewrite the history of American and Caribbean plantation slavery in such a way that we are no longer allowed to view the slaves as victims. It is Parish, and those like him, who are in danger of obscuring history through reinterpretation at the risk of forgetting what should not be forgotten.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

John W. Blassingame, The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South (Oxford University Press, New York, 1979).
Stanley M. Elkins, Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life (Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1963).
A. Meredith John, The plantation slaves of Trinidad, 1783 – 1816: A mathematical and demographic enquiry (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988).
Peter Kolchin, American Slavery: 1619 – 1877 (Hill and Wang, New York, 1993).
Peter J. Parish, Slavery: History and Historians (Harper and Row, New York, 1989).
Ulrich B. Phillips, American Negro Slavery (1918).
Kenneth M. Stampp, The Peculiar Institution (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1956).

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her name is g.l.o.r.i.a.

2006-10-31T17:22:00.000Z

The following is a copy of an email that I sent to the BBC the other day after becoming so incensed by Heaven and Earth with Gloria Hunniford. Heather found it amusing, so I thought I would share the love (so to speak).

"Dear BBC,

Watching Heaven and Earth is such an uncomfortable experience and this is all down to Gloria Hunniford. How can you expect to have a programme that pertains to hold serious discussions about religion when those discussions are chaired by someone who is completely unable to prevent her own religious beliefs from ruling the debate. Her attitude to those from minority groups is one of patronising condescension and all those who hold a different view from her are treated as though their view is wrong. This was even the case when faced with an atheist the other week. She routinely interrupts her guests when they protest and one feels that all this programme succeeds in doing is portraying the folly of christian zealots who believe everything they are told. Hunniford and her kind are just as dangerous to the future of humanity as all the other terrorists - not through acts of devastating destruction, but through indoctrination and gullibility. Get Hunniford off Heaven and Earth (no more than a dangerous ego-vehicle for the presenter) and lets get a proper debate going.

Yours,

Jonathan Bean

(white and agnostic - not that it should matter)."

I did not get a personal reply.

i am a postgrad.

2006-10-31T15:47:00.000Z

OK, so it has once more been a rather long time since I last posted, but as I sincerely doubt that anyone actually reads this, then I don't think it really matters. Even ryan doesn't blog that much anymore. There are a couple of reasons why I have not been posting. Firstly, I couldn't think of what to write. I am not one of these people that puts their every move up on the internet for the whole world to see. I think myspace is shit. I can see how it is compelling, but let's face facts: myspace is not cool. The same goes for facebook and all other networking sites. I can not be bothered to go into the details of how I arrived at these conclusions right now, but may do so at another date. So I decided that I was only going to put things up here that might be of interest to someone. I need to get into the habit of writing things that are interesting, rather than just academic, and blogger seems like a good tool to use for this. This leads me onto the second reason why I have not blogged recently. When I have had something worth writing, I have not had the time to do so. When I have had the time on my hands, I have not had anything to write.

However, I am now a full-time student again, so that should mean that I have both time to write things (we shall see how accurate this statement proves to be) and interesting things to write (see previous bracketed comment). Once my dissertation is started I may post drafts up here so that people can make comments and suggestions on ways to improve it. It is unlikely that anyone would, but I can give the world the option.

To change the subject, I would like to take the opportunity to say congratulations to Sky Melody Savill for being christened at the weekend, and to Ben and Lee-Anne, her parents. It was a brilliant day and, of course, everyone went to the Portland afterwards.

Right now I need to be academic, so I am going to finish this post. I have a presentation to write on slavery and historians and then it is off to the Union for beer with some of the other post-grads. I may even post my script here. I will pretend that it is so my blog looks all high-brow and serious, but if I am honest, it's padding.

Ooh! Quick rant: the Isle of Wight Council are a bunch of shitheads to reject the windturbines and T.W.A.T. (The Wight Against rural Turbines) are a bunch of shitheads too.

x

NEW HOME

2006-06-21T13:26:00.000+01:00

hello. heather and i have moved. im going to do a proper post on this when i have a bit more time, but we have been in southampton for a week and so far its all gone pretty well. which is great. more later.

x

Tracey Emin

2006-06-02T19:17:00.000+01:00

I like Tracey Emin. I've never met the woman and though I do appreciate her art I would not rate her as one of my favourite artists, but I think her column in The Independent is brilliant

The paper is good anyway, but I often buy it on a Friday just to read Emin's column. It is just honest writing. Not sensationalist or provocatively offensive, not as verbose or grandiose as the likes of Will Self, just very readable.

What I particularly liked about her column today, which prompted me to write about it here, were her comments on the new series of 'Big Brother': 'Four minutes after tuning in to 'Big Brother', I am worried about the contamination of my soul'. I am inclined to agree with her. It just gets more and more ridiculous.

However, my favourite snippet from her column today is her writing about the amount of crap that we are bombarded with in the modern world: 'Going into WH Smith is like being an extra in the opening scene of 'Apocalypse Now'. I find myself browsing with stuff that totally coincides with the death of my brain'. What a fantastic metaphor for life.

In other news; I think the conspiracy theory that Wayne Rooney's foot might never have been broken and is all a big scam to fox England's opposition is an absolutely brilliant story. I love mind games in sport (when done well) and this would be one of the best examples ever.

And in more news; Dave Cameron can fuck off. Rude, I concede, but I can not stand the man.

More later, because I am planning on sticking to this plan to blog more often.

x

a bit of a rant

2006-05-31T10:40:00.000+01:00

Well, yesterday I mentioned that I was in a shitty mood about something. At least, I think I mentioned it, but maybe I didn't. Essentially my mood was (still is) the result of money problems.

It just seems that 'the system' is conspiring to make life hard for people who actually want to do something and sort out their lives. The big mistake is going to university as you are almost certainly assured to graduate with no money and a lot of debt. I order to rectify that situation I plan to move to Southampton, with Heather, in mid-June. This is after my last exam, but before I graduate. The whole point of moving so early is to get jobs as early as possible to start paying off all the debt, but it seems that such a seemingly sensible move is not very easy to do. This is because it involves money.

Before we even get into the flat, Heather and I will have to pay a total of £1,400 to the Letting Agency/Landlady. Not so easy when you don't have any money. This doesn't even include money for furniture, food or anything else.

The only way to pay for that would be a graduate loan, but I won't be able to get one until after my graduation. The other problem with loans is that most of them rely on me being in employment. Of course, the whole point of moving to Southampton so early is to get a job so I can start paying for stuff. If I was going straight into 'proper' employment then I could have already got that arranged, but as I'm planning on doing a Masters at the University of Southampton, any work is going to be of a temporary nature.

'But', I hear you say, 'can't you get some kind of funding because you are going to be doing a post-graduate qualification?' You would think so, but the answer is actually, 'nope'. The only source of funding is the Career Development Loan (CDL). Any money would not be given to me until I start my course in October, which is far too late to pay for this flat. It is also not guaranteed that I would receive the CDL should I apply.

So I went round the banks yesterday asking if there was anything that I could do to get some money for mid-June. The answer everytime was 'no'. I can't get a graduate loan because I'm not a graduate yet. I can't get an extension to my current overdraft as I haven't got a job. They all said that they might be able to give me a loan if I was doing a 'professional qualification', but as I was only doing History (said in a condescending manner, of course) they couldn't give me anything.

Tossers.

What, am I supposed to be doing? A bloody MBA or some other bull-shit course in some office-wankology? If I want to get into academia, then I'm going to have to do an academic course. Simple as that. It's as though the banks want to punish me for wanting to learn about something I am actually interested in.

It's as though the whole world does not want me to finish university, get a job, further my education and live happily ever after. I'm exaggerating, but only a little; not a lot.

Bollocks to the lot of them.

I might write a letter to Tony Blair.

If anyone wants to give me some money (I should be able to pay it back eventually), please feel free to email me, and I will give you a mention in the acknowledgements of my first book.

All I can say is thank you to my parents for helping out, even though the whole point of moving out is to become financially independant.

Rant over.

x

ch-ch-ch-changes

2006-05-30T18:33:00.000+01:00

I have completely changed my template again, as you should have noticed. It's based on one of the stock templates, but I have fiddled around with it and I reckon it looks better.

I just need the content to put on here, but that might have to wait until after my last ever exam at the University of Leicester.

I suppose I could put my dissertation in here to bulk things up a bit.

x

the return of me (again)

2006-05-30T16:47:00.000+01:00

hello. i know i have a habit of vanishing from the blogger world only to return and claim that i'm going to blog again only not to, but that is exactly what i'm going to do again.

except i might actually stick to it. partly 'cos i'm feeling a bit pissed off today, so that might even result in a rant, which always make interesting reads. so i reckon anyway.

but because i'm graduating very soon then i'm going to have to rename this blog again. and i'm thinking of fiddling with the template again.

so it might be worth stopping by here in the near future.

x

cooking

2005-12-04T23:33:00.000Z

i have never been a massive fan of cooking, but i am curiously pleased to state that i am beginning to get into it.

i dont like proper 'delia'-style cooking, but put me in a kitchen with some food, no recipe, loud music, a lab coat and a really big knife, and i love it.

nothing too spectacular comes out of the kitchen when i cook, but i do find it strangely enjoyable.

x

i have returned

2005-11-24T12:28:00.000Z

after a bit of a break i have decideed that it might be time to start my blog up again. i think i might have to change the name again but as i havent come up with any good alternatives yet, that can wait.

so, what would be a good item to grace the newly rejuvenated pages of my own little place on the internet?

i think i have just the thing.

a few days ago i received a telegram from my good friend sir professor dagenham j. heathway, phd (adventurer, anthropologist, explorer and englishman). he was about to embark on a foray into deepest, darkest bangalore to uncover a hidden temple, but first needed to ensure that the editor of 'the ripple' (the university of leicester student paper) received a review that he and his esteemed colleagues had written after seeing the delightful mr. scruff.

so here is that wonderful piece:

Ripple review
Mr. Scruff
Friday 18th November 2005
De Montfort Hall

It was cold outside. Too cold. So our three intrepid adventurers, foreseeing a bitter and unforgiving expedition donned their winter regalia, sank a few hearty ales and set forth into the hostile Leicester night. It was not long, though, before they espied the warm, welcoming glow of De Montfort Hall. After they had successfully negotiated their safe passage with the relentless door-staff, our heroes entered the venue filled with a with a sense of optimism and wide-eyed wonderment at what they were about to experience.

It initially seemed like a strange habitat for a DJ like Mr. Scruff to dwell, but somehow it felt natural. The atmosphere was delightfully fun, with Mr. Scuff easily pleasing his congregation, expertly mixing a variety of musical genres with gusto; hip-hop fused with funk and Aphex Twin inspired electronica, lightly dusted with a pinch of breaks. Our heroes, like the majority of the gathered Leicestershire tribesmen were most amused. They danced with glee, basking in the benevolent aura of the glorious exponent of 'trouser jazz'. Inevitably, however, the night had to end and the young explorers left to wander the desolate tundra, musing as they battled back to their homes. The ground outside may have been frosted, but tonight Mr. Scruff left a warmth in their hearts that will prove hard to extinguish.

Yours patriotically,
Dagenham J. Heathway,
J.J. Martinez,
Hubert F. Spitzer

x

hello … ?

2005-09-21T02:55:00.000+01:00

yeah, im a proper lazy arse when it comes to posting, but who cares?

i think it is time for a recap of my summer in as few words as possible.

got home from oz.
got mugged.
got a job. ocean world. generally shit, but there were good points. like stealing custom t shirts.
didnt sail as much as i would have liked.
didnt surf as much as i would have liked.
decided to take up downhill skateboarding.
fell off skateboard.
went to pony madness. once was enough.
went to london. spent a shit load of cash.
went to the bestival.
didnt go cycling round ireland.

but i did meet heather. which is a very good thing.

other stuff happened but it will take too long to write everything and i feel like going out for a razz on my bike.

i think i will start regular posts again once i get back to the sunny east midlands.

ooh, can anyone think of a new name for this blog? because i am not really an international student anymore.

thats all.

x

good answer

2005-09-05T21:00:00.000+01:00

yeah i know that the last time i posted i was in singapore and it was
still july, but i dont care.

i also know that all the scientific stuff is usually the preserve of
ryan, but this is cool:

CHEMISTRY MID-TERM AT UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of
Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so profound"
that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of
course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs
heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas
cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need
to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which
they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to
Hell, it will not leave.? Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different
religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that
if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there
is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more
than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in
Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the
volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature
and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand
proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter
Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell
breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls inHell,
then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year
that, 'it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into
account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be
true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen
over.

The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows
that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving
only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a devine being which explains
why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A"

thats all. one day i might do a post that involved me having to think
of something to write.

flying home

2005-07-02T00:34:00.000+01:00

just a quick post, cos im on a finickety internet thingy in singapore airport.

my watch says its 730, my body thinks its earlier than that, and im trying to prepare myself for the uk, where it is still yesterday.

pretty strange, but never mind.

should be home soon.

drinks down the anchor on sunday night?

scratch perverts

2005-06-25T23:56:00.000+01:00

i got a new cd on the way back from the rugby yesterday. the scratch
perverts offering in the fabriclive series (no. 22). it is very
scratch perverts and very good. its got a load of choice hip hop and
electronica tunes all weaved together with the 'perverts inimitable
magic and turntable trickery.

yeah, thats all. FabricLive 22, by the Scratch Perverts. Very good CD.

im going op-shopping today. i hope to get a cheap three piece pin
stripe suit to wear on the flight back home. if possible it will look
like i should be in the man from u.n.c.l.e. and i will say "i pretend
to be a businessman, but actually i'm a russian spy" and see if i get
a free upgrade and a date with the airhostess.

it could work.

rugby

2005-06-25T10:25:00.000+01:00

went to watch the rugby today. australia were playing italy at the telstra dome in melbourne. even though most aussies are into rugby, victoria, on the whole, is not. victoria is mostly into australian rules football, so it was a bit of a rarity to have the australian team play in melbourne, but perhaps to be expected. after all, the australian rugby union has been trying very hard to get melburnians into rugby, so i guess they were hoping that the could get them into it with a visit from the national team. i dunno how well this will work in the long run, but about 25000 people turned up. i think most of them were there because it was a curiousity. victoria doesnt have a top-flight rugby union team. it has a rugby league team (melbourne storm), but no one really watches them. the ARU has tried to establish a super 12 team, but the franchise always fails before it starts because there is no public interest. victorians are sport mad, and can talk an englishman's ear off with bollocks about how great they are at australian rules, cricket, swimming, bowls, anything, except rugby. most dont even know that england are the world champions. this is despite the world cup being held in their own country in 2003.

anyway, quite a few people turned out, and it was a good game. italy were never going to win, but they had a good go at the aussies. there was a point in the second half where they got three unanswered tries. but, the aussies won quite convincingly in the end, 69-21. it was a good game and i am glad i got to see australia play before i go back home.

which is in a week! its scary to think that i have been here since february and this time next week i will be on the plane back home. wow.

non sequitur

2005-06-15T05:54:00.000+01:00

a pleasant little way of wasting a minute of your revision time is to look at the non sequitur website. its a cool comic strip with a slightly satirical, liberal, dark sense of humour.

the strips are good and worth looking at, but what i think is good is the 'obviousman' movie. you should see the link just below the daily strip. its not very long, but i like it.

now for more revision …

my political agenda

2005-06-14T03:30:00.000+01:00

i have come up with a better name for the isle of wight seperatist party:

W.I.N.

it stands for 'Wight Independence Now' and i think it is a suitably daft name for a daft political party. and, cos the independence bit might scare some people off, i was thinking the name could originally stand for 'Wight Interests Now', which should get a vote or two, and then, once in power, i replace 'interests' with 'independence' and before long i will be emperor. mwa haha (or however you are supposed to write out an evil laugh).

i am still taking applications for new ministers under the regime. neil gets head of the secret police.

right, now i am going to read up on the italian risorgimento, and after that, how mussolini got into power (thats legit cos i have an exam on it - honest).

distractions

2005-06-14T03:18:00.000+01:00

you know how it is, when youre supposed to be revising and you keep getting distracted by things and then never get anything done? well thats what this post is.

i was revising when i realised that i hadnt blogged in a while, so i thought i would, more for the sake of it than anything else.

anything i can tell you? well …

saturday night i went to see little barrie at the northcote social club here in melbourne.

it was a pretty good gig. the support (treetops) were shite, but little barrie were good. theyre from nottingham in good old england and i first saw them at the charlotte in leicester when they supported the bees in october and i thought they were good, so when i found out that they had managed to find their way out to australia, i decided to go and see them. i dont know how big they are at home, but they are doing pretty well out here. you should check them out. good fun.

should be bacl in england in 3 weeks. it will be good, but strange, to be home.

more good stuff

2005-06-08T05:34:00.000+01:00

while im in the mood for pointing out really cool things, here are a couple more things that i wish i had made.

the first is the new Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany. It was designed by the Swiss architects, Herzog & de Meuron (who also designed the Tate Modern) and it is really cool. Have a look at some of the pictures. It seats nearly 70,000 people and the roof and sides are covered in inflatable plastic panels. whats really cool about the panels is that they are illuminated. most of the time they glow white, but depending on the team playing, they can glow red (bayern munich) or blue (tsv 1860 munich). which is amazing.

its enough to make you want to go to the world cup next year, cos the stadium is hosting the first match.

another cool thing, is the itunes spectrograph visual plug in. i cant remember where i found it but i reckon you could put those words into google and it would throw it up. it is a plug in for the visualiser, and instead of giving you the normal fancy patterns (which are pretty cool themselves) it shows a spectrographic image that changes depending on the music. it shows yellow for mono sounds, red for left channel and green for right. it comes up with some amazing images. you can actually see the sound. if i could ever sort image hosting out then i would put some pictures up but that takes far too much effort and i have spent far too much time on the internet today. however, i might put pictures up of the spectrograph and the allianz arena in the not too distant future.

stadiums can be incredible buildings. the mcg here in melbourne is pretty cool, just cos its so big. its being renovated to fit more seats in before next years commonwealth games and then will be even bigger. i have to say though, that the allianz arena has to be one of my favourite structures at the moment. it glows! all of it! look at the pictures.

anyway, thats more than enough blogging for today - you can tell that im trying to put off doing my essay by how much i write here.

that is all. no more.

look at the stadium.

now.

france (i know its a long post, but it gets good towards the end - trust me)

2005-06-08T03:44:00.000+01:00

i would like to take this opportunity to thank the french for doing
something sensible for once.

they may have too much cheese, they may have a wafty language, they
may have questionable standards of personal hygiene, they may produce
the shittest music ever (except rap - which is good), and they may
have too much bureaucracy, but for once, they have done something
useful.

they have voted against the european constitution (yeah its old new
now, but i am on the other side of the planet).

and in doing so they have shown that it is possible to lead an
anti-europe argument on sensible, left-wing, coherent and intelligent
ideals and not the stupid, narrow-minded, bigotted, xenophobic
arguments put forward by the right wing bastard groups that take on
the fight in the uk.

i oppose any european constitution that meddles too much in everyday
dealings and seeks to shift power to a centralised power base with a
presidency about as democratic as that in the usa. the constitution
even has a sectio regarding the purchasing of holiday homes in
denmark. it is a stupid idea and i am glad that the french have gone
and put the spanner in the works.

the spanish voted for it, but then they would cos spain is hardly the
world power it would like to be and besides, i dont trust a country
that is so inherently racist and refuses to admit it (i am of course
referring to the monkey chants aimed at black english footballers when
england played spain in madrid) and used to be fascist.

yeah germany used to be fascist, and they try harder than anyone else
to suppress neo-fascist groups, but they hardly have the best ideas on
europe. germany's population is in decline and it is dependant on
eastern european migrants to fill the lower paid jobs in order to keep
the pensioners going. the government shifts between conservative
democrats and christian democrats both of which are about as good as
each other. you should never let religion get in the way of politics.

the dutch are fairly sensible, so it looks like they will reject the
constitution.

and so it looks less and less likely that we will have a referendum,
but not cos blair knows he will lose, but cos he knows he has already
lost and there is no point flogging a dead horse.

i didnt mean this to turn so angry, and it worries me how right wing
it sounds when i read it over again, but its not meant to be.

i think it is possible to make broad generalisations about entire
nations and not be xenophobic - though it would appear some people
cant. i am not arguing that the other countries are not good enough
to be part of a political structure with britain, i am arguing that
what is right for some countries is not right for others. i think the
european constitution wll certainly help those "new" european
countries, whose economies would benefit from free trade within a
friendly trading area and the various human rights reforms, etc, that
such a treaty will bring.

but it is not right for others. france rejected it on the grounds
that the constitution threatens a lot of the fantastic welfare system
that france spent a considerable amount of time building up. france
has a fantastic state health and welfare system, but the constitution
would bring it into line with eu guidelines which will encourage the
government to cut spending and trim it all back.

and chirac is a goon, so any vote that pisses him off is alright by
me. and blair is a bit miffed by it too. which is good.

so what im trying to say is, im not sure actually. what i do know is
that i dont trust the european constitution. despite what i may have
written, its not cos i hate the rest of europe, but cos i dont think a
united europe as a political union is a good idea. i dont think
europe should be there just to counter the usa or whatever other
powers grow up. such a union would be unworkable. as a trade and
economic area then it is probably a sensible one, and that is what the
european union originally set out to be. and that is good. that is
how it should be. if they ever write a constitution that states this,
then i will vote "yes" for it, but as long as it stays political, then
i wont.

so there.

a bit of a ramble, a fair amount of rant, and a lot of incoherent
disorganised arguing, but what i mean to say is - well done france
for not voting no for right wing reasons. and britain could learn
something from that. ukip is a stupid party for stupid people. they
should really look at the arguments. look at the numbers. european
union is not bad, but a constitution would be.

in fact, i want to make a prediction. on this day, i am predicting
that we will eventually see two european unions. one will be german
led and will be based on the constitution and will have a president
and a parliament and all sorts of stuff and it will be joined by spain
and possibly portugal, turkey, austria and all the eastern european
countries.

the second eu will involve france, the uk (but they wont get on),
holland, belgium, and scandinavia. we will probably also get stuck
with italy, which would be crap cos theyre one of the most useless
countries in the current eu and are always slow at getting things
done. actually, italy might be in the first group. belgium might as
well actually. ireland will join the first group too.

so, two eu's,

the eurovolksrepublikost - EVRO (or whatever it will be called) of:
germany, spain, italy, belgium, portugal, poland, turkey, greece,
former yugoslavian countries, romania, hungary, czech republic, slovak
republic, etc.

the unified european community/ community des uniones europeenes -
CUEUEC (good, solid, ugly, bi-lingual name) of:
great britain, france, holland, luxembourg, liechtenstein, monaco,
denmark, sweden and finland. quebec will probably try and join but
france will tell to them to piss off, stop wingeing, and get over the
fact that theyre canadian and not french. switzerland and norway will
just yawn at the whole affair.

the usa will be mates with the CUEUEC, but give money to the EVRO so
that they cancel each other out.

the oil producing nations will carry on holding the west ransom as usual.

russia will go, 'bollocks to this' and join china and so the whole
thing will end up frighteningly similar to 1945.

cos lets face it, wars make money and fear is the best way of keeping
people in control.

im not sure where the peoples republic of the isle of wight will stand
on the issue. i shall have to hold a referendum (and then probably do
the opposite cos i have nothing but contempt for my people).

i know ive written a load of bollocks, but in a way, thats what the
whole "europe" issue is. there is no right or wrong answer. theyres
too many variables. it will never work.

right, i need a sandwich.

blogs

2005-06-08T03:03:00.000+01:00

everyone get excited cos its time for the only web log award that does
not mean anything or is constrained by pre-ordained fascist
constraints such as time.

yes kids, its the INTERNATIONAL STUDENT PIRATE BLOGS THAT JONATHAN HAS
SEEN AND FEELS LIKE DRAWING ATTENTION TO WHENEVER JONATHAN FEELS
INSPIRED TO SHOW OFF THE WORK OF SOMEONE ELSE AND NOT ACCORDING TO
TIME CONSTRAINTS LIKE OTHER AWARDS AWARDS'.

hooray.

first is: Jak Death
second is: Post Secret
(yeah ryan pointed it out to me, but it is good)
and third is: King Nicholas.

theyre not really in any particular order, and theyre not even the
best blogs out there, but i was kept faintly amused by them for a fair
amount of time, so i thought i would share the love.

if i was being paid by the guardian or some other post-vegan rag then
i might consider putting some effort in, but as im not, then i wont.

look out for the next set of awards when i can be arsed. which lets
face it, may or may not ever happen. ha!

funny

2005-06-06T07:37:00.000+01:00

the people at google must have a well developed sense of humour, in addition to slightly irreverant views on politics, 'cos when you go to google and type in the word "failure", have a look at what you get.

trust me, it's good.

tiesto

2005-06-06T07:35:00.000+01:00

this week i have mostly been listening to 'adagio for strings' by tiesto.

it is very very good (even though it is very very trance).

essay

2005-06-06T07:30:00.000+01:00

well, i have just submitted my essay on football, culture and politics in brazil. quite proud of it. not entirely sure of its flow, cos my final editing was a bit rushed, but i think it should pick up a good mark.

in fact, to add to the intellectual content of my blog, i think i might post it.

‘HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCCER BEEN RELATED TO THE CHANGING NEEDS OF THE POPULAR URBAN CLASSES AND AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS IN BRAZIL, IN THE PERIOD 1940 to 1990?’

Jonathan S. Bean

The people of Brazil are amongst the planet’s most passionate followers of the game of Association Football.1 Brazilians play with a flair and style that is admired the world over with generations of players from Pelé through to Kaká the idols of youngsters from Buenos Aires to Brisbane and everywhere in between. Ever since the English introduced football to Brazil in the nineteenth and early twentieth century,2 Brazilians have proved themselves to be among the most proficient exponents of the game. This is indicated by the fact that Brazilians are playing for the best club sides in the European Champions League3 and that Brazil have won the World Cup five times; a record unequalled by any other nation.4 Despite the consistently good performance of its footballers, other aspects of Brazilian society are less stable. In the period from 1940 to 1990 Brazilian politics went through a series of changes, from the era of Getúlio Vargas through military régimes, to the burgeoning democracy of the present day. This political instability is not helped by the economic instability of the country. Much of Brazil’s population lives in abject poverty in the favelas, or slums, of the major cities. It is not coincidental that many of Brazil’s best footballers grew up in the favelas, as sport, like samba, are seen as a way of escaping their squalid existence. Murray is correct in his assertion that football
is the simplest game and from all points of view the most democratic. It is known as the “people’s game,” played mainly before the less-privileged sections of society, often by participants from poor backgrounds whose skills might elevate them to otherwise unattainable financial security and social esteem.5
What the various governments of Brazil over the fifty year period all recognised is that football can be seen as a way of connecting with the popular masses. One of the most effective ways of winning the support of (and potentially controlling) “the people” is through popular culture.
Popular culture is that which is most commonly enjoyed and employed by the popular classes. It is that which reaches deep into the very core of social experience. Beezley and Curcio-Nagy define popular culture as ‘everyday culture’ and ‘encapsulates the pleasure in everyday life’.6 Though many historians and social commentators would prefer to think of dance, music, art, or food as popular culture, it is clear that in almost all countries of the world one of the most popular aspects of the social and cultural experience is sport. In Brazil, the most popular of all sports is football. Lever writes that ‘[s]occer gives a common focus to [the popular classes’] attention’. Lever continues to state that ‘[s]occer promotes communal integration’.7 It is a unifying force between all aspects of society, and is just as important a part of Brazilian popular culture as television personalities, music, or samba.8 That Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã Stadium is capable of holding 220,000 supporters is testament to the game’s popularity.9 In 1978, seven of the world’s ten largest stadiums were in Brazil.10
The large role football plays in society can be utilised to promote national integration. Politicians and political theorists consider national integration to be necessary for economic development.11 This is one of the most important agendas of any Brazilian government due to the economic condition of the country. Lever writes how ‘[s]ocial order can promote social welfare, but it can also deprive people of their freedom and keep them in their place’.12 Such a statement can become laden with all manner of value judgements pertaining to one’s own thoughts on the nature of social order in a country where the power of football was utilised to help the military régime achieve its nationalistic goals. Sport can serve as an opiate to the masses, temporarily distracting people from their problems. In addition, it nurtures a false notion of individualism, by presenting a model where success is dependent on hard work, whilst distracting attention from organisational bases for blocked mobility.13 Lever writes that at a minimum, football provides a relief from boredom and that there are other things that deflect people’s energy or provide them with something to do. In Brazil, other “opiates” include Catholicism, samba, television, and movies. Of course, in addition to surrogate opiates, there are real drugs, and consumption of these is not just limited to the poor.14 If there were no sports, then there would be plenty of other “routes of escape”, but it is worth noting that this does not negate the role of football in Brazilian society, especially as a unifying factor, building solidarity among Brazilian workers.15
Football has promoted change in Brazil in a number of ways. As Lever writes that ‘[s]port’s ability to reinforce societal cleavages while transcending them has provided a stage for the “integrative revolution”’.16 By this, she is asserting that by dividing into teams and loyalties based on different social groups, Brazilians are enjoying an integrating factor, in that football is a stabilised pattern of interaction with regularised patterns of conflict. It is taking the roots of ethnocentrism and modernising them, rather than destroying them. Football has harnessed the power of primordial sentiments in order to promote civil unity.17 Such is one of the many links between politics, society and football.
At a basic level there are many links between sport and government aims. A national league can promote national integration. A medal ceremony is an opportunity for politicians and high ranking public officials to show their support to a popular game and to display their own authority. They are showing that they too share the passions of the people by associating themselves with sport.18 But, as is often seen in South America, the relationship between football and politicians runs deeper and stronger. Mason explains that ‘[m]ilitary governments in particular have employed a well-tried mixture of repression, bread and circuses in order to control their peoples, and football has played a leading role in the circus’.19 Brazilian governments and military régimes have regularly used and manipulated the national passion for football to their own ends.
This use of sport by politicians began in earnest with the presidential reign of Getúlio Vargas. Though Vargas’ methods were becoming increasingly dictatorial, he tempered this by nurturing a populism in which he used football to help maintain his grip on the nation.20 Unofficial government policy saw football as a way to distract the workers, and so the government ensured that the poor would not be barred from football matches by regulating maximum ticket prices for the “popular” seats. Prices for the “upper class” seats have no such maximum limit. In April 1941 a National Council of Sports was set up within the Ministry of Education and Culture. It consisted of five members; one from the army, one from the air force, plus three civilians, all chosen directly by Vargas.21 When Vargas left office in 1945 the football fervour, that he had aroused and promoted, continued.22
Football clubs emerged as important social centres, and the success of the national team illuminated the name of Brazil around the rest of the world. Politicians helped the football clubs. A Governor of Minas Gerais hoped the building of the Magalhaes Pinto stadium in Belo Horizonte in 1965 would help him win votes. This proved the precursor to a period of mass stadium building by the government in the 1970s. Thirteen new stadiums were built between 1969 and 1975, with nine of them in the less developed areas of the country.23 When Brazil won their third World Cup in Mexico in 1970, President Médici immediately jumped on the bandwagon with a national address associating the victory with patriotism and national identity. Médici proclaimed that he identified the success of
[the national team] with … intelligence and bravery, perseverance and serenity in our technical ability, in physical preparation and moral being. Above all, our players won because they know how to … play for the collective good.24
“Pra Frente Brasil” (“Forward Brazil”), the marching tune originally composed for the World Cup team by Miguel Gustavo, became the theme song of the new régime. Nationalistic posters even included pictures of a triumphant Pelé celebrating one of his goals with the slogan “ninguém segura mais o Brasil” (“no one will hold Brazil back now”). Indeed, the posters with Pelé on, were considered so effective that a similar campaign was later employed to induce people to return their census forms.25 The day of the victorious team’s return was declared a national holiday and the first stop after Mexico was Brasilia, to meet with the President.26 Photos of this meeting were reprinted in all of the national papers the next day, many showing the President holding the trophy.27 Médici even open the doors of the Presidential Palace to the public. It was the first time this had happened since the coup d’état of 1964.28 This showed how closely the government sought to associate their nationalist, integrationist policies with the successes of Brazilian footballers. Football was considered one of the jewels in Brazil’s cultural crown, and when Queen Elizabeth II visited Brazil in 1968 a special Rio-São Paulo match was arranged and Pelé, a Brazilian national treasure, was proudly shown off to the Queen.29
The relationship between sport and politics was perhaps most obvious when the Presidency of the governmental ARENA party and the Presidency of the Confederação Brasileira de Desportos (CBD, Brazilian Sport Confederation) were both in the hands of Admiral Hélio Nunes from 1974.30 Opponents claimed that in those areas of the country where the ARENA party was performing poorly, the local football teams would be given rewards in the league, even if they had not earned them on the pitch. It is no secret that if you want to be a politician in Brazil it helps if you are a football person, and that if you are a politician an interest in football is certainly an advantage.31
However, the use of sport by politicians is not always cynical. The profits from the sport lottery have been used to support the elderly, handicapped and orphaned, in addition to fund hygiene programmes and the financing of parks and public sports facilities.32 This shows that the link between sport and politics is not always a sinister one. Even though the government would be improving its public image, it is also helping the public. And the poor of Brazil do need help. The favelas are the result of an ever widening divide between the poor and the rich. In the first half of the twentieth century it was apparent that while some parts of Rio de Janeiro were experiencing wealth and enjoying the “civilising experience” that came from having money, the poorer parts of society were being pushed further towards the fringe where they received little or no support from the government. Over the remainder of the century these shanty towns continued to expand as the urbanised sector increased tenfold from 1920 to 1960.33 Ribeiro writes that ‘[u]rban population took a leap from 12.8 million in 1940 to 80.5 million in 1980. Now it is 110.9 million’.34 This all happened against the backdrop of a gradual economic decline that saw Real Minimum Wages halve between 1940 and 1982.35 Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are now two of the biggest cities in the world, with twice the population of Paris or Rome but ten times less endowed with employment opportunities or urban services.36 Yet, these poor conditions often give rise to a strong sense of community, as the inhabitants realise the need for co-operation under their unfortunate circumstances. According to Ribeiro, there is an elemental set of values that raises the passions of all favela inhabitants, stemming mainly from Afro-Brazilian cults, Carnival, and football.37 In a community with little hope, it is natural that the young should look to means of escape. Mason writes that ‘[o]n the football field there was neither favouritism nor privilege. Even a poor man could triumph in the football meritocracy. It was not who you were but what you could do that counted.’38
Clearly football was not the only means of control in Brazil during this period. In the times of the military dictatorships, there were other, more sinister, methods that were employed. The military courts were far from just and political opponents could be rounded up with little or no explanation of their ‘crimes’. Pereira writes that ‘[r]epression under the Brazilian regime was particularly legalistic in the sense that the number of killings was relatively low but the rate of judicial prosecution high’.39 There were more political criminals brought to the courts in Brazil than in any of the other Latin American authoritarian régimes. But football can be seen as a legitimised aspect of the régime. Football was the attractive front that the government applied to their rather less attractive policies and actions.
As we have seen, it is almost universally accepted that football and Brazilian culture are linked. Gordon and Helal write that ‘football in Brazil has been a powerful mechanism for social integration and for the consolidation of a national identity’.40 Unfortunately, this can have negative effects. When Brazilian football went through its ‘crisis’ in the last decades of the twentieth century (and only just being remedied), it had the effect of encouraging some Brazilians to question their own national identity. There were scandals, fraud and bribery and to make things worse, the national team was not performing as well as it should. Pelé had long retired from the game so there was no icon for the Brazilian people to turn to. Fan attendance plummeted and there was widespread disenchantment with the ugly, increasingly commercial nature of the once “beautiful game”. Violent supporters groups grew up and turned the football environment into one of fear and intimidation. Perhaps worse of all was that some of Brazil’s best players were being sold to Europe in order to generate more money for a game in grave financial difficulty.41 This all resulted in a series of court cases and the Plano de Modernização do Futebol Brasileiro (plan for the modernisation of Brazilian football), in an attempt to determine what was wrong with the national game.42 There was some earlier attempt to resurrect the game. Following the end of the military régime in 1985 there was a strong move away from centralisation and administration that were seen as the hallmarks of the dictatorship. Unfortunately the deconstruction of a strong central authority was not what the game needed and so it suffered further.43 As Gordon and Helal write, ‘[t]he tension between the persistence of a traditional (romantic) vision and the tendency towards administrative modernization [sic] has become a key element for understanding football in Brazil’.44 This conflict between the romantic past and the practical future is one that Brazilian football desperately needs to overcome.
To conclude, football is an integral part of Brazil’s recent history. It is almost impossible to write a history of twentieth century Brazil and not mention its love affair with football. But this relationship has not always been an easy one. In the 1940s, during Vargas’ first period in power, football was something that Brazilians celebrated. It was something they did better than anyone else and they were proud to tell this to the world. This sentiment persisted right through to the latter part of the 1970s. As Brazilian politics went from Vargas to another military régime, then came back to Vargas, before returning to the dictators after Vargas’ suicide, football became the most celebrated aspect of Brazilian culture. Brazil won the World Cup three times. Pelé was the greatest footballer the world had ever seen. Everyone wanted to play like Brazil. Football gave hope to the poor and the popular urban classes and was a distraction from the oppressive, authoritarian nature of the government at the time. Unfortunately, Brazilian football has suffered a crisis of confidence in recent times. It is perhaps not entirely coincidental that this has coincided with the movement from a dictatorship to a democracy. Yet football continues to be an integral part of what it is to be Brazilian.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arraes, M.,
Brazil: The People and the Power (London, Penguin, 1972).
Baer, W.,
‘The Brazilian Boom, 1968 - 1972: An Explanation and Interpretation’, in World Development, Vol. 1, No. 8 (August 1973), pp. 1-15.
Beattie, P. M., ed.,
The Human Tradition in Modern Brazil (Wilmington, Scholarly Resources, 2004).
Beezley, W. H., & Curcio-Nagy, L. A., eds.,
Latin American Popular Culture: An Introduction (Wilmington, Scholarly Resources, 2000).
Coelho Netto, P.,
O Fluminese Na Intimidade (Rio de Janeiro, Editor Borsoi, 1955).
Duke, V., & Crolley, L.,
‘Fútbol, Politicians and the People: Populism and Politics in Argentina’, in The International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol. 18, No. 3 (1 September 2001), pp. 93-116.
Dulles, J. W. F.,
Sobral Pinto: “The Conscience of Brazil” Leading the Attack Against Vargas (1930 - 1945) (Austin, University of Texas Press, 2002).
Unrest in Brazil: Political Military Crises 1955 - 1964 (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1970).
Vargas of Brazil: A Political Biography (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1967).
Fiechter, G.,
Brazil Since 1964: Modernization under a Military Regime (London, MacMillan, 1975).
Flecha de Lima, P.,
‘Liberalism versus Nationalism: The Prodevelopment Ideology in Recent Brazilian Political History (1930 - 1997)’, in Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 2 (June, 1999), pp. 369 - 388.
Flynn, P.,
Brazil: A Political Analysis (London, Ernest Benn, 1978).
Foer, F.,
How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization (New York, Harper Collins, 2004).
Forsyth, R.,
The Only Game (Edinburgh, Mainstream Publishing, 1990).
Foweraker, J.,
‘Grassroots movements and political activism in Latin America: a critical comparison of Chile and Brazil’, in Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 33, No. 4 (November 2001), pp. 839 - 866.
Friedman, S.,
Brazil 1960 - 1990: Structures of Power and Processes of Change (New York, University Press of America, 2003).
Gordon, C., & Helal, R.,
‘The Crisis of Brazilian Football: Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century’, in The International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol. 18, No. 3 (1 September 2001), pp. 139-158.
Hoch, P.,
Rip off the Big Game: The Exploitation of Sports by the Power Elite (New York, Doubleday, 1972).
Kucinski, B., et al,
Brazil: State and Struggle (London, Latin America Bureau, 1982).
Lever, J.,
Soccer Madness (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1983).
Levine, R. M.,
Father of the Poor? Vargas and His Era (New York, Cambridge University Press, 1998).
Mantega, G., & Moraes, M.,
‘A Critique of Brazilian Political Economy’, in Capital and Class, Vol. 10 (1980), pp. 125-54.
Mason, T.,
Passion of the People? Football in South America (London, Verso, 1995).
Munck, R.,
‘State and Capital in Dependent Social Formations: the Case of Brazil’, in Capital and Class, Vol. 8 (1979), pp. 34-53.
Murray, B.,
The World’s Game: A History of Soccer (Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 1996).
Pereira, A. W.,
‘“Persecution and farce”: the origins and transformation of Brazil’s political trials, 1964 - 1979’, in Latin American Research Review, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Winter 1998), pp. 43 - 67.
Ribeiro, D., trans. G. Rabassa,
The Brazilian People: The Formation and Meaning of Brazil (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 2000).
Schneider, R. M.,
The Political System of Brazil: The Emergence of ‘Modernizing’ Authoritarian Regime, 1964 - 70 (New York, Columbia University Press, 1971).
Stove, R. J.,
‘Brazil Turns Left: Executive Power in Latin America’s Largest Country’, in National Observer (Summer 2003), pp. 24 - 33.
Williams, D.,
Culture Wars in Brazil: The First Vargas Regime, 1930 - 1945 (Durham, Duke University Press, 2001).

APPENDIX

Though a little superfluous when considering the essay question, I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the role of football in popular culture with a selection of quotes from a variety of sources, both Latin American and European.

Power is only too happy to make football bear a diabolical responsibility for stupefying the masses.
Jean Baudrillard.

All that I know most surely about mortality and obligations, I owe to football.
Albert Camus.

To the aesthete it is an art form, an athletic ballet. To the spiritually inclined it is a religion.
Paul Gardner.

It is not just a simple game. It is a weapon of the revolution.
Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

Football is the opera of the people.
Stafford Heginbotham.

The goalkeeper is the lone eagle, the man of mystery, the last defender. Less the keeper of a goal than the keeper of a dream.
Vladimir Nabokov.

Dopo la letteratura e lleros, it calcio e uno dei grandi piaceri.
(After literature and sex, football is one of the greatest pleasures)
Pier Paolo Pasolini.

There are two types of football, prose and poetry. European teams are prose, tough, premeditated, systematic, collective. Latin American ones are poetry, ductile, spontaneous, individual, erotic.
Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Through a turnstile and into another and altogether more splendid kind of life, hurtling with conflict and yet passionate and beautiful in its art.
J. B. Priestley.

Football now means the score. I am one of those people that spectacular plays fills one’s heart with joy. Fuck it all. But what delights the fan, what the world wants, and in the end what counts, is the goal …
Ernesto Sábato.

Some people think that football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them that it is much more serious than that.
Bill Shankly.

In Latin America the border between soccer and politics is vague. There is a long list of governments that have fallen or been overthrown after the defeat of the national team.
Luis Suarez.

Other countries have their history. Uruguay has its football.
Ondino Viera.

Whenever the ball flew toward our goal and a score seemed inevitable, Jesus reached his foot out and cleared the ball.
Author Unknown, from Rio de Janeiro’s Jornal dos Sports.

From this small selection (most of which have been taken from a variety of internet sites, so it is therefore difficult to determine their accuracy. However, some are from the texts mentioned in the bibliography), it is apparent that football has been given attention by some of modern history’s greatest thinkers. It is not just a sport for the poor, but something that has the power to communicate with so many people on so many different levels. Therefore it is perhaps natural to assume that football be used by governments in order to associate themselves with the people.

_____________

Unfortunately my incredible footnotes have not come out and some of the formatting is a bit off, but beat that ryan! ha! you may have all your physics stuff, but do you have an essay?

bestival (eeeeeeeeee!!! - i'm excited!!!)

2005-06-04T11:36:00.000+01:00

i know i am on the wrong side of the planet and about 3 months too early, but i am getting very, very excited about the bestival. its going to be sooo good. the isle of wight festival may have the "bigger" names, but i stand by my original statement that the bestival has the better bands (by that i mean the most exciting, cutting edge, not-mediocre "dad rock" bands) and djs.

look at this recently updated line up:

Röyksopp * Super Furry Animals * 2 Many DJs * Soulwax * The Magic Numbers * British Sea Power * Saint Etienne * X-Press 2 * Lee Scratch Perry *
Tom Findlay (Groove Armada) * Tom Vek * The Go! Team * The Rakes
Bez (Happy Mondays) * The Cuban Brothers * Grand National
Ulrich Schnauss * Jah Shaka * Two Lone Swordsmen * Bugz In The Attic
BBC Radio 1's Bobby Friction & Nihal present the Bollywood Cocktail Bar
Emiliana Torrini * Caged Baby * Dub Pistols feat Terry Hall (The Specials)
The Earlies * Hot Chip * The Pipettes * Boomclick * Krafty Kuts * Kid Carpet * The Egg * Eclectic Method * Howard Marks * Lauren Laverne* The Longcut * Dreadzone * Fabio & Grooverider with MC Rage * Trevor Fung * Pedro Winter * Max Sedgley * Krafty Kuts * The Black Dog Punk Rock Sound System * Mistys Big Adventure * Fat Freddys Drop * The Broken Family Band * Piney Gir * The Schla La Las * Mista Mushroom * Tayo's Tracksuit Party * Frank Tope * The Filthy Dukes * Michael Cook * Hot Off The Block featuring Cameo and The Aftershock camp: Bruza, Triple Threat, El Rae, Menaz and The Lords * Johnno (Bugged out) * Justice * Prhizzm * Son Of Dave * Mugison * Mara Carlyle * Bearsuit * Superimposers * Sombrero Sound System * Eddy Temple Morris * Sweet Mayhem * Annie Mac (Radio 1) * Simian Mobile Disco * Plus The Bollywood Bar * The JD Set Lounge *The Bestival Inflatable Church * Adventures In The Beetroot Field * The W1 Tea Tent

i know its a bit of a jumble, but a few acts stand out immediately: royksopp. 2 many djs. soulwax. tom findlay. bez. fabio & grooverider. max sedgley and the wi tea tent.

ooh, cant wait.

++++++++++++

i realised that i dont give my degree a lot of attention in this blog, so i thought i would let people know that i am currently writing an essay entitled 'how has the development of soccer been related to the changing needs of the popular urban classes and authoritarian governments in brazil in the period 1940 - 1990', and it has the phattest footnotes ever. anyone doing history knows how cool really good footnotes can be, and these are amazing. on my first page they take up a third of the page, and on the third page i even have a table in the footnotes. wow.

++++++++++++

last night we had a bit of a 'bohemian' night. we all dressed up as the type of person that might be seen in a bar in paris in the 1920s (op-shop suit jackets, scarves, berets, make-up), drinking courvoisier, absolut mandarin and absinthe. great fun.

The People's Republic of the Isle of Wight (or how Jonathan intends to take the piss out of politics by trying to become an MP)

2005-06-01T16:22:00.000+01:00

righty ho, the title pretty much says it all, but i intend to stand at the next general election as the member of parliament for the constituency of the isle of wight. i shall not be affiliated to any current particular party, but shall run as an independent.

like all good independent mps, i will run under the premise of some ridiculous political agenda. in this instance i shall front the movement for isle of wight seperatism as a precursor to the establishment of a people's republic of the isle of wight.

its pretty easy to run in a general election. all you need is a 500 quid registration fee and a stack load of posters. if you get more than 5 % of the votes then you get your money back. of course, if you get loads of the vote, then you get into parliament. which would be pretty funny. so all i need to do is find some financial backing, but if that fails then we've got a few years until the next general election, so im going to start putting some money into a 'warchest' now.

if you have any offers of support or assistance for the Isle of Wight Seperatist Party, please email me, or if you have a better name for the party, cos Isle of Wight Seperatist Party is a bit daggy (to use some Aussie slang). I think we can learn a lot from the Cornish Independence movement. Also get in touch if you would like to apply in advance for one of the many roles that will be available in the future parliament of the Island. I have already appointed one of my Australian housemates as a parliamentary advisor answerable to "The Leader". From now on Jim shall be known as Director of Bestiality and Weapons Research. But there are plenty more positions available.

Linked to this, I discovered on the 'net (so its probably complete bollocks) that the Island has a flag. there is the current council one (total shit) and the old council one (blue with anchors and a castle), but there used to be the flag of St. Geowan (this is where i think the site disappears completely into the realm of bullshit as i can not find any evidence to support the existence of such a saint), which consists of a black field with a yellow cross. bollocks or not, i think this is a pretty good looking flag, so am willing to adopt it is a symbol of the revolution.

details of my manifesto are to be published on this blog in the not too distant future. the document shall also include a proposed constitution for the people's republic of the isle of wight in the appendix.

Of course this could all be seen as the fruit of an overactive mind trying to avoid writing his essays due next week.

COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SUBJECT,

… but i have bought the Carmina Burana opera soundtrack by Carl Orff and it is brilliant (could be adapted for an Island Anthem). Really fat and apocalyptic. Great.

Also watched a couple of fantastic films. Had a mini-Kubrick sesh and watched '2001: A Space Odyssey' (which is amazing. Mind blowing really) and 'Dr. Strangelove (or how i stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb)' (which is brilliant aswell. really funny, yet at the same time, deadly serious. it manages to portray the absurdity of the cold war).

Also watched 'Requiem for a dream' which has to be one of the most full-on films i have ever seen. i think schools could do a lot worse than showing back to back 'trainspotting' and 'requiem … ' as part of their drug education programmes. no-one that watches either of those two films will ever want to do heroin.

anyways, ive got work to do. not long left in this country so all the uni work is coming to a climax. should be back in england by july.

have fun and viva la revolucion.

ha.

the pirate's new clothes

2005-05-18T06:39:00.000+01:00

well as you can see; it worked. this is the new look international student pirate. it's still the same content and the template is following a similar basic, functionalist approach to design, but i think it looks that little bit fresher.

the skeleton of the template is taken from one of the sample templates, but i have fiddled away trying to teach myself the code so i could change the formatting and colours so it bears a strong family resemblance to the previous incarnation.

however, there is one bit of code that i couldn't figure out. and that is the "about me" section to the left. as you can see my name and location are indented left slightly. if anyone knows how i can get them in line with the rest of the column, i will greatly appreciate it. i have a text copy of the code that i can email you if you so desire. just let me know.

cheers.

new template

2005-05-18T04:15:00.000+01:00

i am having a bit of a fiddle and i blog redesign. there isn't
anything wrong with the old black and red template - i really quite
like it - but i've got bored of looking at the same shapes, so i am
going to come up with something else. so if it looks different, then
it has worked. if it looks the same, then i have given up and put the
original template back.

blogging by email

2005-05-17T14:54:00.000+01:00

rightyho, this is a bit of an experiment to see if i can post to my
blog via email. not entirely sure when it would be better than doing
it the normal way, but i am interested to see if it works.

if you are reading this, then you can safely assume that it did work.

2005-05-17T02:29:00.000+01:00

james bond

i have decided that my favourite james bond is roger moore. i know sean connery is meant to be the trad bond, and he is a very close second, but after a lengthy period of deliberation, i have concluded that roger gets my vote. pierce brosnan has done a commendable job and gets third, but roger gets the number one slot 'cos he's more fun. moore got some pretty dodgy films to star in and it was always going to be tricky to follow connery. so he doesnt. he makes bond recognisably bond, but also makes him his own character. moore is smoother than connery and i am fairly sure gets more women on average per film. but the thing that really swings it is the 'roger moore look'. this is a hard look to pin down, but it appears in all roger moore bond films. its that barely perceptible head turn, the raised eyebrow, and the quizzical, incredulous, and often knowing glance. you know the one.

so that is why roger moore is my favourite bond. while we're here, we might as well conduct a not too scientific test.

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE BOND?

let me know by adding a comment through the magic comment link below.

we could also include favourite bond girl/bad guy/film/gadget, all sorts. or this could be a pointless exercise to distract me from the three essays i really need to get on with.

2005-05-16T02:54:00.000+01:00

southampton

with 8 minutes to go, its not looking good for the saints. fulham have done a proper job of norwich, but west brom are winning, and man utd are beating southampton, so that means relegation.

its not all bad though. at least it means games at the walkers stadium. and chris can empathise cos leeds went down last year. and steve likes cardiff who are also in the championship, so that just means that andy is left out with his fancy european football.

on a different note, this is the second night in a row that i have been unable to sleep, so that means i am going to be absolutely useless tomorrow.

watched battle royale earlier - what a bloody fantastically mad film. definitely worth watching.

g'night.

2005-05-09T17:45:00.000+01:00

had an interesting weekend and i will write about it in more detail if you want, but friday night i went to the football (that aussie rules) at the MCG to see Melbourne beat Adelaide. pretty good. then me an my companions got drunk on goon (wine in a box) and tried to find a pub. we ended up walking through a park, on a tram line, over bridges and by the river. i even managed to fall in. then after a taxi ride home i ended the night semi-naked covered in ink, tampons, sanitary pads (all clean) and ravioli.

good fun.

2005-05-04T11:01:00.000+01:00

the last teeth post

you may recall from earlier posts that i was having issues with my teeth. my wisdom teeth were coming through and it hurt. so i went to the on campus dentist to see what needed doing.

he poked around and said that the teeth were very good and that even though they hurt now, they shouldn't be an issue. nonetheless, he ordered an x ray to see if they were coming though the right way up and everything. the x ray showed that none were going to have to be pulled out, but the reason why my gum had swollen - making it painful to close my mouth cos i kept biting it - was that i have a pocket behind one of the teeth that attracted bacteria. though it was awkward now, he said the swelling would go down and it wasnt too much cause for concern.

however, he did spot something else. a cavity. this meant a return trip to have a filling.

i have never had a filling before. in fact my teeth have been pretty much perfect up to this point with dentists complimenting me on my teeth (i reckon its cos of isle of wight hard water), but sometimes bemused by the fact that i have one too many (upper left i have one too many molars, but there seems to be room so no need to pull it). everyone was telling me how horrible it is and i wasnt looking forward to it at all, especially as im not the best person with needles.

yesterday was the day. so i spent most of the afternoon doing things to take my mind off it, before cleaning my teeth, having a shower, and starting the long walk to the medical centre. i got there and the dentist started making small talk, like they do. i sat down and the procedure began.

first was the numbing cream, then the wait as it took effect. then the needle went into my gum. i barely felt it. there was a slight discomfort as he filled the gum with the anaesthetic, but it wasnt painful by any means.

not bad i thought. i dont see what all the fuss is about.

then he started drilling. nearly everyone i had spoken to said the drill was the worst bit. the truth is that theyre talking bollocks. i can see how the noise could be off putting, but i was finding the whole process quite interesting. how the drill made a different noise depending on what part of the tooth it was and what drill bit he was using. then it came to putting the filling in, waiting for it to set, then shaping it, and that was it. whole process done in about 15 minutes.

and it was fine. in fact, it was almost good. i walked back to college with a smile on the half off my face that could smile properly. then the real fun came when i realised how funny things can be when you cant feel the inside of the right side of your mouth. i even wondered how much fun you could have anaesthetising different parts of your body (you would have to have the numbing cream first, before you put the needle in). or, even better, administer local anaesthetic to other people when theyre asleep and see how they react when they wake up and discover that they cant feel their foot/arm/face/arse, etc.

it would be hilarious.

anyway, im going to take this opprtunity to debunk the myth that fillings are bad. theyre not. quite the opposite. i think its a conspiracy to encourage people to look after their teeth, which you should do - obviously, but if you do need a filling, dont worry about it. its actually quite fun.

i suppose it varies on the dentist, but as most dentists seem to be nice enough people (if a little odd), then you should be ok. what i reckon would be an absolute bitch and well worth avoiding would be having your teeth pulled. after looking at my x ray, i realised just how long the roots of your teeth are. the upper canines actually go up as far as the underside of your eye socket. imagine having to have that pulled out.

so the moral of my story is this: look after your teeth. if your wisdom teeth come through, then it might be fine and you might not need any pulled out. if you need a filling, chill out. its worth it for the novelty of having your mouth anaesthetised. if you need a tooth pulled, then you have every right to brick it.

its a pretty shitty moral i know. hardly aesop's fables material, but i suppose i am fortunate that i have only been able to attain this wisdom since having my wisdom teeth.

haha.

2005-04-28T14:05:00.000+01:00

richard cheese

please look at this: i love richard cheese. i heard this guy doing a cover of "hey ya" on radio 1's blue room and it was pretty cool. the website however is brilliant, especially if you take it seriously.

thats all for now.

2005-04-20T13:29:00.000+01:00

the continuing saga of jonathan's teeth

yep, as you may have gathered from the title, my teeth still hurt. but its not just the pain that bothers me. what i dont like is that my teeth have moved which now means i cant figure out which teeth to use to open wrappers. also, if i close my mouth in a certain way, i bite into the inside of my cheek, which hurts.

so today i decided to book an appointment with the uni dentist. its cost me $20 and is in an hour. i shall let you know how i get on, but i have a feeling that this whole teeth affair could get expensive.

on a different note.

yesterday i ate barbecued kangaroo and crocodile. actually quite nice. roo is red and juicy. croc is like a cross between chicken and fish. both are good.

right, i shall keep you updated on the teeth.

2005-04-17T14:59:00.000+01:00

my head hurts

i got quite a spectacular drinking related injury yesterday. fri night i got very very drunk on lots of different spirits after me and my housemates decided we would get all the spirits we owned and drink them all. then yesterday morning (sat) i woke up cos i needed a piss. it proved to be one of the longest pisses ever. during the piss my head started to swim, like a head rush. as i was washing my hands it got worse and my vision went blurry. i left the bathroom to get back to my room and my eyes just gave up completely, as did my sense of balance and my body. i fainted (or something) and fell headfirst into the wall. our walls are just painted brick so as you can imagine, it bloody hurt. i came to about 20 seconds later and managed to get to my room where i monged out for a bit. eventually i got the strength to stand up again and went to look in the mirror. i had fallen without putting my hands out and so the first thing to hit the wall was my head. i now have a big graze on the right side of my face from just abve my temple, down between my eye socket and ear to the top of my cheekbone. the whole area is quite tender and bruised. i also have a cut on my right collar bone and left middle finger. quite a bizarre incident really. fortunately i didnt bash my head up too much and i havent felt any after effects, but its a bit weird. i reckon i had got really dehydrated from the drinking, and had got up for the toilet without waking up properly and was still pissed, so with all those factors combined got the mother of all headrushes. any one who wants to see a photo of my once beautiful face can send me an email.

that combined with my wisdom teeth coming through means that my head hurts quite a lot more than usual.

2005-04-15T01:55:00.000+01:00

LO - FI

hello. carrying on with the wonderful adventures through electronica and the like, i thought i would share a magic little radio station i have come across. it is called the delicious lo-fi lounge and it is pretty cool. it is also german, but thats irrelevant as there are no presenters, just songs. ryan; i think you would like it. it has that lo-fi, ambient, trip-hop, chilled out vibe to it.

that is all.

ooh, one more thing: my mouth hurts. i think my wisdom teeth are coming through. which is a bit if a bastard.

2005-04-12T17:10:00.000+01:00

hello,

slightly in response to ryan's most recent post, i have decided to post some musings.

electronica is very good. in fact it has got to the point now where when people ask me what sort of music i am into, i usually start the list of genres with electronica, simply cos thats what i mostly seem to be listening to at the moment. so i thought i would take the opportunity to be so bold as to give some of my recommendations (partly cos im not the worlds biggest mylo fan - even though the essential mix isnt bad).

dj shadow - 'entroducing' is probably the best electronica/trip-hop album ever made and is perhaps more accessible to the casual listener, but 'the private press' is still a brilliant album.

unkle - 'psyence fiction' features james lavelle working with dj shadow and is very dark and very good. 'never never land' is more recent and has richard file (lavelle's live partner) instead of shadow, and even though i have only just got it and havent finished listening to it yet, is just as good. maybe better.

faithless - 'insomnia' is an incredible track and should be listened to in the dark, very loud, with your eyes closed. think about getting a strobe light for the last couple of minutes.

theres loads more stuff but i can be bothered to put it all in. i suppose steve should be given some credit for first getting me into this sort of thing.

changing subject slightly …

BESTIVAL 2005 tickets are now available. so is the initial line up and it includes 2 of the acts that i most want to see this year: 2 many djs and the scratch perverts. i dont really care who else plays cos those 2 are going to be incredible. ok, i do care slightly, but what i mean is anyone else is a bonus.

er … ryan, is there any chance you could help me out on the long-distance ticket buying front? i will let you sleep in my tent.

change of subject again …

went camping with a load of menzies people at the weekend. it was brilliant. spent 2 nights down in torquay. got very drunk and spent all day on the beach and in the sea in 30 degrees plus heat. bloody marvellous.

thats all

2005-04-03T17:36:00.000+01:00

today i did something amazing (not give blood) - i moved my bed next to my desk. it was originally done to watch a movie in comfort, but i have since discovered how fantastic it is. i can now do work (and procrastinate) without even having to get up.

all i need now is a maid. to fetch food and bathe me.

2005-03-28T15:42:00.000+01:00

SYDNEY

i am in sydney. got here on friday night. just over an hour flying time, then i got on a train to circular quay and got the ferry to manly where i was met by none other than charmaine. which was pretty cool. a good isle of wighters on the other side of the world reunion. cos all the people that she lived with were ex-flying fish people, they were all english, which was strange cos down in melbourne i am the only pom in college. on saturday we went for a surf. i was knackered after sleeping on a sofa, and hadnt surfed since august, so was pretty bad, and the waves werent fantastic, but nonetheless, i have surfed manly. in a couple of weeks i will have surfed bells too with any luck. saturday night we went out. got nice and drunk (and lost for some of the night) before heading back to the sofa. got up yesterday and headed over to sydney where i walked for what seemed like hours trying to find the sydney central youth hostel. i found it, got a room and had a shower before going to find food. i hadnt eaten all day cos i didnt feel too great earlier on, so decided that i should try and get my daily calorie intake in one meal. unfortunately that meant a big mac. i mcdonalds but i was feeling cheap and lazy. then it was back to the hostel for some sleep. after two nights on a sofa i needed it. today i woke up and had a pie at harry's, which is quite a famous pie place apparently. was y good. had a cheese and bacon pie with mash and mushy peas on top for less than 5 dollars, which is about two quid. bargain. since then i have been wandering around, doing the tourist thing until i had up to the airport to meet hattie and mil who are flying out to oz. then another couple of days in sydney before we go down to melbourne.

my time at this internet place is running out, so i better go.

(SYDNEY, Australia)