Edward's Journal

Woes of Persia

da_bush@hotmail.com — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:52:58 GMT

I was interested to see this:

Iranians take offence at depiction of ancient Persians

While I sympathise with their annoyance, they allege that George Bush's 'Axis of Evil' ideology is behind the negative portrayal of the Persians - as decadent effeminates who covet Western lands, but who are destined to be repeatedly hacked apart by Europeans with sharper swords and better dress sense. And I can't agree with them there, because that's been the prevailing image of the Persians for the last two and a half millennia - the unfortunate legacy of fighting a series of wars against people who did a lot of writing in their spare time. There's a certain inevitability about being seen as barbarous when you're one of the cultures for whom the word barbaroi was invented.

None of which, of course, is likely to make them feel much better. An interesting question, though, is how much we can blame Herodotus and his successors (Greek and Roman) for the existence of the 'Axis of Evil' concept. Leaving North Korea aside, of course (as they did, for some reason), I'd say it's quite plausible that they contributed in some way.

Anyway - looking on the bright side, 300 appears to be doing very nicely at the box office, which should go some way to erasing the Hollywood memory of Alexander. Based on a comic or not, if this one had flopped, it could have taken Classical filmmaking down with it. We'd have had to wait another decade for the next Gladiator equivalent.

Music of tonight

da_bush@hotmail.com — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 23:43:15 GMT

One evening of Lloyd-Webber goodness later (thanks to mousey13 and co), I can now more fully understand what people are talking about when they discuss the merits of the parties in Phantom. Excellent. Onwards to Les Mis!

Undeterred

da_bush@hotmail.com — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 10:04:22 GMT

I have the greatest respect for science. But to be honest, I'll continue to take my chances.

Back!

da_bush@hotmail.com — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:56:21 GMT

Ah, Krakow - old buildings, ancient legends, and generous portions of very cheap food. Brilliant place.

I spent my New Year being pushed back and forth by a boisterous crowd in the town square, listening to such old Polish folk songs as Sex Bomb, before two firework displays: the formal, spectacular and provided at government expense, and the informal, provided on a minute-by-minute basis by young Cracovians at considerable danger to themselves and those around them. I think it's my most enjoyable New Year celebration ever, though only the second most alarming.

I also managed to meet up with synergetic, proving yet again that the best way to meet people you know is to travel a thousand miles in any direction. We had a long and nostalgic chat (and excellent lunch). I also found time for various museum visits, trips to churches, and improving my bridge but not my chess. There was also a visit to Auschwitz, which was certainly food for thought.

And now I'm off to a Business Law tutorial. Ho hum. Nevertheless, it's good to be back.

Journey to the Poles

da_bush@hotmail.com — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:41:17 GMT

Right, I'm off to Krakow for the New Year. Apparently it's not all that cold at the moment, which is unfortunate in a way. Enjoy your various New Year celebrations, and I'll see you all back here, refreshed and ready, in 2007!

Barnes storming...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:13:08 GMT

Hmm. I see that Peter Jackson is going to direct a remake of The Dam Busters. On the one hand, it doesn't seem a particularly necessary remake. On the other, the article reveals a dodged bullet:

Jackson asked his agent to inquire about the possibility of remaking the film at the same time as he was securing the rights to the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the 1990s.

"He came back and said that Icon had the rights and that Mel Gibson was going to direct and possibly act in it," Jackson said.

The mind boggles at the thought of Mel Gibson, the man who has essentially made a career out of killing English people on film, directing a Dam Busters remake. It would be fascinating to see how one could make an anti-English Dam Busters, but thankfully we'll be spared that in favour of one shot entirely on location in New Zealand. Well, perhaps.

Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensia, etc.

da_bush@hotmail.com — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 13:21:46 GMT

I haven't posted on LJ for a while, largely (or entirely) because I haven't been doing anything particularly interesting to post about. Playing tennis, catching up on my reading, all that kind of thing.

But I now have something interesting to report, having just got back from a trip to Germany! Inspired largely by the fact that I hadn't been before, I popped off with a friend from school to Berlin and then Cologne.

First lesson - never trust Eurostar. On the way there, a power failure stuck us outside Brussels for three and a half hours in the dark, causing us to miss our sleeper to Berlin and thus the first day of our holiday. On the way back, a train fault meant that we had to change on to a new train at Lille - a painless exercise had the French authorities not decided that we should also take our luggage and go through passport control and baggage checks again. This did not go down well.

Anyway, delays aside, it was all very positive, Cologne particularly, since it coupled an excellent cathedral (or Dom, inaccurately enough) with innumerable smaller churches (we went round thirteen in a day), a Roman museum (and sewer), and large quantities of traditional German cooking ('hearty' is probably the word). Excellent stuff, and well worth a visit.

Berlin was, obviously, a good deal more cosmopolitan - finding traditional German cooking proved an impossible task, as did using my rudimentary German in a city where English was spoken perfectly by everyone from the train staff to the beggars. I managed to order a stamp, I think. We followed the route of the Berlin Wall, explored the Pergamon Museum (featuring a set of friezes so extensive you'd imagine the Turks would like them back) and did a lot of climbing up things. Not to mention the huge quantities of religious art in both cities, often in triptych form, and frequently featuring St. Francis doing what my friend dubbed "flying the Jesus kite", which was in dubious taste but also strangely accurate.

The visit was also highly beneficial in terms of freeing myself from two decades of film-engendered stereotypes. You realise you don't know enough about the Germans when you have mental images of a POW camp on hearing a tour guide lecturing his charges through a loudspeaker. A simple enough connection if you've only ever heard amplified German voices in war films - but not one, fortunately, that was made after that. Sadly, my Tacitus-engendered stereotypes remain unaltered by a week of cloudy weather and drizzle.

The country as a whole was interesting enough to merit a potential second visit. I'm not sure I'd need to go to Berlin a second time, but a trip to some of the smaller cities and towns could well be worth it. I'd just have to fly next time, which is ironic since part of the point of going by train was to avoid having air travel on our consciences.

da_bush@hotmail.com — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 01:45:25 GMT

Via anotherusedpage and cottonwoolfairy, the "write a complete story in just twelve-and-a-half words" challenge. It's getting on for 3am, so this seems the perfect time for my effort.

The elixir bubbles.

"Soon I will be imm-"

Coroner's verdict: 'Death by Irony'.

Fight Historical, No.1

da_bush@hotmail.com — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 14:06:33 GMT

I can't remember the last time I went for 40 hours without sleep. Interestingly, it turns out that, after the first 24 or so, you pass through some kind of tiredness barrier and come out on the other side, so I didn't feel tired at all for most of the second day of the G&S marathon.

A very successful one, too. I'd been slightly worried beforehand that the graveyard shift would be sparsely populated enough to force me to sing the entirety of the male cast of Sorcerer, but that was never even slightly on the cards. Four of us, in some kind of bizarre suicide pact, were there for every operetta (and in fairness to Nic, he only missed out on a couple because he was performing in something else instead, so he didn't get any sleep either), ably supported by a healthy interchange of people - some well-known, some slightly-known, and some I was meeting for the first time - who were almost all very pleasant.

The setting - bright sunshine, a view overlooking Christchurch, the cathedral in the early glow of dawn (possibly the only time I've heard anyone be complimentary of it) - was also pleasant to the point of nostalgia overload, a sentiment to which I subjected a large number of people at different times over the two days.

It was also fun to play a variety of roles - Dr. Daly, Hildebrand, Captain Corcoran (twice), Celia (high bits tricky), the Colonel, Guiseppe, Sergeant Meryll, the Usher, Phantis, Robin/Ruthven and, in a return to my theatrical glory days, Bunthorne's Solicitor, A Gentleman of Japan, and A Bobbing Policeman.

Finally, I got to See People in large numbers. Yes, I know that I last Saw People only a week ago, but this time I not only Saw More People, but, what is a great deal better, Saw People More.

Anyway. A Good Thing in spades, by any measurement. Now...exams. Hahah.

Fairy tale ending. Read that whichever way you like...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Tue, 23 May 2006 15:35:16 GMT

I understand that Foggerty's Fairy is on this week. I'm therefore popping up to Oxford in my usual fashion to see it on Saturday, and hopefully as many people as possible. (If anyone has some convenient floor space for the night, that would be also be welcome.) Good luck to those who have exams in the meantime!

I also have an appeal. I have occasionally heard hushed whispers about the existence of a Yeomen DVD, owned only by select members of the Priory of Sion down the ages. If anyone has come into possession of one of these, and has it at hand in some loanable form, please let me know.

In other news: I also have exams at the moment. Don't ask. Seriously.

Just a bit angry...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Tue, 02 May 2006 19:16:47 GMT

Roman city destroyed for extra parking space

How do you say "Burn in hell, you utter bloody philistines" in Spanish?

Printer, printer! Take a hint-er!

da_bush@hotmail.com — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 13:42:29 GMT

An immensely frustrating phone conversation with Dell Customer 'Care'. Leaving aside the fact that it took me half an hour and three attempts to navigate my way out of the reefs of Automated Messages and into the open seas of Actual Person On The Other End, my mission to change an aspect of my order was annoyingly abortive.

Me: Hello, I placed an order for a PC yesterday on your website. I'd like to amend it, please.

Them: I'm afraid I can't do that, sir. Tell you what, I'll cancel your order...

Me: (hurriedly) No! No! *pause* Er...you haven't cancelled it, have you?

Them: No, sir.

Me: Right. Well, I don't want to alter it really. It's just that it comes with a free printer, and I don't want a free printer. I'd just like the printer to be left out.

Them: I'm afraid I can't do that, sir. But if I cancel your order, you can put a printer in your new order.

Me: I don't want a printer. That's the point. I'm getting a free printer and I don't need one.

Them: That's quite right. I have your order here. You get a Dell 425 printer free.

Me: So can I cancel it?

Them: I'm afraid I haven't got the authority to do that, sir. For Internet orders you select your own options and we can't change them.

Me: Neither could I. It wouldn't let me not have a printer. The box was ticked and I couldn't untick it.

Them: Well, I'm afraid I haven't got the authority to change it now, sir.

Me: All right, can you give me the number of someone who has?

Them: I'm afraid not, sir. We don't have the authority to change Internet orders.

Me: But you're not changing it. All you have to do is not put the printer in the delivery.

Them: I'm afraid not, sir.

Me: I'm just trying to be environmentally friendly here. What's the point of sending me a printer I don't want?

Them: But when you get it, if you keep it around, I think you'll probably find you'll use it.

Me: No, I have a printer already. And the free one doesn't come with a printer cable, so I couldn't use it even if I wanted to.

Them: Well, I can cancel your order...

Me: No! Just...don't cancel it. Leave everything as it is. All right?

Them: Yes, sir.

Me: Don't change anything. Leave the printer in. I'll give it away or something.

Them: Thank you, sir.

I realise it's not the fault of the individual operator. But why should it be so hard to save them money?

Would another 80 years be too much to ask?

da_bush@hotmail.com — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 09:25:25 GMT

Happy birthday!

This interview's already lasted...oh, you know the rest!

da_bush@hotmail.com — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:22:30 GMT

I had an interview with a law firm last Tuesday (slightly disloyally, during my vacation scheme with another firm). They said that they'd get back to me in two days.

Astonishingly, I then heard nothing. Fair enough, they didn't want me. Would it kill them to tell me that?

Fast forward to today, and an apologetic phone call from the chap responsible for interview responses.

He'd gone on holiday. He'd sort of assumed that someone else would handle it. Surprisingly, nobody had. Profuse apologies. And, by the way, would I like a training contract?

It's nice to feel wanted. It will, I hope, be equally nice to feel employed.

A law unto meself...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 17:50:44 GMT

After an interesting couple of weeks, I can now rejoin the real world! Sadly I wasn't on holiday, but doing a vacation scheme at a law firm.

It was actually rather fun. Part of this, I suspect, was down to it being an Easter scheme (populated by an eclectic group of diverse graduates at varying stages of their career or legal education) rather than a Summer scheme (consisting entirely of penultimate-year undergraduates). This made the social side of the fortnight higly enjoyable. For the most part.

However, everyone at the firm was very friendly too, and the work was often fascinating. Not everyone, I'll admit, will take joy from the process of amending a lease to thwart a landlord's attempts at gaining extra control over an undertenant; however, take it from me that it's suprisingly good fun. The excellent food, free drinks and London Eye trip, however, I plan to discount as shameless bribery rather than a representative experience of legal life. The endless stream of Jaffa Cakes, on the other hand, may count for something.

I also went along to the Apple v Apple trial, of which some of you may have heard. We were acting for Apple, I think. There was a British Museum trip as well, but to be fair it wasn't exactly scheduled by the firm - two of us found ourselves in Bloomsbury with an hour to spare. What else, reasonably speaking, could we have done?

Paragons of legislation? Only up to a point...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:42:08 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4834738.stm

I'm not saying that the country's going to the dogs, but one certainly starts to get the distinct impression of a substantial boost to Britain's canine proximity.

Open all hours

da_bush@hotmail.com — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 12:46:48 GMT

An interesting open day at a law firm yesterday. I didn't realise it until I arrived, but the firm in question was founded in 1701 and occupies a former mansion off Lincoln's Inn Fields. All very pleasant, and certain parts of it made me feel as if I was back in Oxford.

In addition to the usual tours, talks and so on, there was a rather fun group exercise. Divided into teams, we had half an hour to think up and then film an advert for any product of our choice, fictional or not. These were then played back to everyone and a winner selected. (My particular role involved coming on with a hammer and violently assaulting the camera with it.) Luckily enough, our team won, which meant a bottle of champagne each. I know what you're thinking - "I hate to raise this, Ed, but you don't actually drink champagne." True...but it's the principle of the thing. I'm sure I can find someone who drinks it.

The chief puzzle of the day, however, lay in trying to work out the identity of a girl in my group. I was sure I'd seen her somewhere before. According to the list of attendees, she'd done History at Oxford, so it seemed feasible that we'd met - but where? I caught her looking at me in a thoughtful way as well, so I asked her if by any chance she'd done any Ancient History options - perhaps we'd seen each other at a seminar. No, she hadn't, but she thought she recognised me from somewhere too. Had I been a member of the History Society? I hadn't, so that wasn't it. Had she been a G&S attendee? She'd been to a few shows, but that couldn't be it. Well, she was from Merton - did she know Marc Stoneham? Yes, she did. Had he dragged her along to any OUCA events? Yes...but somehow that wasn't it either. Well, Marc Stoneham had been at Chris & Laura's wedding - had she? Perhaps I'd seen her there. No, but she'd seen pictures of it. Well, that was no good - she might have seen me, but I wouldn't have seen her. A pause. One last try. Weren't there any more societies she'd attended? She hesitated. "Well...there was also Scottish Dancing."

Mystery solved! We remembered each other because we'd probably danced together at some point. It's a small world, which is something that never ceases to surprise me no matter how often it's proved to be the case.

Another day, another interview...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 20:56:32 GMT

Interviewer: "Right. Now, about your personal interests. You say you have an 'enduring interest in classical music' - good. *pause* Unfortunately, you then go on to say 'in particular the comic operas of Gilbert & Sullivan'. *further pause* Isn't that an oxymoron?"

Me: "I can see I've got my work cut out for me here..."

Postscript to this issue: fortunately, the interviewer didn't apparently hold my musical opinions against me, despite my attempts to convert him, as they've just invited me back for a second round interview.

Onwards, etc.

da_bush@hotmail.com — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 23:41:39 GMT

My recent but determined attempt to build up a portfolio of legal experience continues, and oddly enough seems to actually be meeting with some success. Following an interview last week, I've been invited to attend an Easter vacation scheme at a law firm, which should be interesting. The real boost is knowing that I can actually succeed at an interview, of course.

Next aim: actually get, you know, some kind of job? Well, let's not rush things.

Update...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 23:42:57 GMT

It strikes me that I've been up to a few things lately. So I thought I'd keep people informed.

1. Work experience with some local solicitors. Obtained by the simple expedient of writing letters to every firm in the area until one said yes. Quite an effective tactic, it seems. I learned a lot about putting law into practice, and I was able to do a lot of hands-on work. (They didn't exactly lose out either, because I brought with me my student access to every online law resource you could want.) I also attended a divorce hearing, which went rather interestingly since the husband, who was represented by a very able barrister, managed to get away with a profit on the marriage - the amount he had to pay was less than the dowry he'd received for marrying in the first place.
They seemed (seemed, mind you) genuinely sorry to lose me at the end, but I need my free days back again now things are stepping up at BPP.

2. Work experience at a set of barristers' chambers in London. Obtained by a different simple expedient, mentioned in a previous post. Equally interesting, in different ways. I spent four days attending a rather tragic court case. Absorbing, but depressing, since the claimant looks set, after three years, to lose everything through, essentially, his own refusal to behave reasonably. It's probably not sensible to give more details with the case ongoing, but it was all fascinating. On the last day, I got to analyse a case myself, and also had an excellent two-hour lunch, chat and tour of Gray's Inn with a rather brilliant QC (who shall remain nameless). I now have to have a serious look at my options.

3. Coursework. Went about as well as could be expected.

4. Another interview, for a different firm this time. I definitely feel that I'm getting better - I'm learning some answers to the standard questions, and I'm getting more confident in my general responses. Crucially, I'm also learning control - I now realise that bouncing at them for ten minutes on the subject of Cicero shows enthusiasm but no actual legal skills.

5. Popped up to Oxford to say hello to everyone. Good food, good company, and good fun, as might be expected. Playing Articulate until 5 am is not something to be sneezed at. I'll also be coming up for Iolanthe, of course, which gives me something else to look forward to.

6. Played a lot of poker. It took me three hours to lose 1p.

7. Currently attempting to assess the wisdom of visiting St. Petersburg in the winter. The guidebook says "bring a hat and scarf", which I'd say is a bit of a cavalier attitude to adopt towards a temperature of -15°C. If anyone's been there, I'd welcome input on the subject.

Also - the Government has banned smoking in various public places, but decided that it has to outweigh this good deed with a raft of unpleasant legislation that also passed this week. Meanwhile the Tories, in some kind of fantasy world where the idea didn't represent a minor form of treason, sent a deputation across the Atlantic to grovel at the feet of Bush's chief spin doctor.

This was all so thoroughly depressing that I briefly considered actually getting involved in politics so I could try and get the chance to legitimately shout at someone about it.

Without Fire

da_bush@hotmail.com — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 21:47:27 GMT

Years from now, my children* will ask me "Daddy, you talk about the Blair years as if they were a second Dark Age of unmitigated woes! Even with the country run by a cartel of remorseless, lying philistines who managed to find a way of combining the worst ideas of both left and right into one hideous concatenation of pure evil, surely there must have been one change they made of which you approved?" Articulate little things that they are.

I'll look guilty. "Well...perhaps there was one. But it just proves that saying about monkeys and typewriters."

They'll look puzzled and ask "What's a typewriter?" That's kids for you, I suppose.

*Come on! Let's keep a bit of optimism here!

I thought knirirr might appreciate this...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 19:52:36 GMT

Activists attempt to turn the tables on Supreme Court judge

Childish, I know - he interprets Eminent Domain laws to allow the demolition of private homes on rather tenuous grounds, so they decide to use this to apply to knock down his house and build a hotel on top. Childish, but also highly ironic, and I can forgive a lot of puerility in the interests of irony.

Damn you to Hull...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 22:59:44 GMT

Interestingly, Hull City Council is spying on me.

Idly flicking through the latest Observer, I came upon their advert for a 'Media Relations Manager'. Attempting to emphasise the hard-hitting, action-packed nature of the job, begins "If you're looking for a quiet life, buy a pair of slippers. No offence to those soft-soled readers amongst you, but this is not hot chocolate territory!" It ends: "But, if you'd rather get your slippers on and sit by the fire, then enjoy the rest of the paper!"

Witty perhaps, but also quite spookily true. At the moment of reading it, I was in fact in my slippers, sitting by the fire, drinking hot chocolate. Which probably means that I shouldn't apply, though my lack of a 'track record in serial delivery' might have something to do with that as well. (Though how hard can it be to move Weetabix from one place to another?)

Annual rant, please excuse.

da_bush@hotmail.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 18:16:59 GMT

I couldn't quite believe it: Brown Promotes Britishness.

Leaving aside the obvious 'Labour-Party-bunch-of-traitors-hardly-in-any-position-to-preach-patriotism' point, he appears to be saying that the best way to celebrate Britishness is, er, to copy the Americans. Good thinking, Gordon.

The most objectionable line: "And what is our equivalent of the national symbolism of a flag in the United States in every garden?"

Again leaving aside the obvious 'might-as-well-have-US-flags-in-our-garden-since-there's-one-over-Downing-St' point, let's think about that for a minute. Flags in the garden? What's next? Flags in the classroom? A pledge for children to recite before school?

I don't need a flag outside my house, because, if I can get metaphorical for a moment, I have one inside me. I don't see the need for that kind of thing. I agree that there is a decline that needs to be reversed, but this isn't for lack of symbols, it's for lack of confidence in what those symbols mean. Finding such a direction would be nice, but for the present there's really no point in excessive flag-waving, because we're not stupid and can tell when it's meaningless. It's also utterly antithetical to the principle of understatement, of course, but that's more of a personal national value than a general one.

We don't need more patriotic symbols - if you want people to be patriotic (and of course not everybody does) then you can try talking about it and thinking about it. If you do that, a flag in your garden or the equivalent is rather superfluous. Of course, if you want a flag then by all means erect one, but please let it be because you wanted to do it and not because somebody else was.

Right, annual rant over. See you all next year for "Train companies who pretend that they're airlines."

This interview's already lasted four hours and three-quarters...

da_bush@hotmail.com — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 16:58:20 GMT

On Monday I had my first interview - for anything - since the obvious one in Oxford, December 2000. It came about pretty unintentionally - the firm I went on an open day for turned out to have a scheme giving automatic interviews to people who'd attended the open day. Since going to the open day itself was practically an accident, this was all very good.

Anyway. The important thing to tell myself is that it's all good experience, no matter how badly it goes (or how well it seemed to go but didn't). In a few days I'll find out whether I can ...*drum roll*... advance to the, er, next stage of interviews. I'm not holding my breath - I managed to keep things together on the general questions about past experience, university and so on, but I hopelessly fudged the answer to "What attracted you to commercial law?" since the truth, ie "Well, bits of it can be fun, I haven't really focused on any particular sphere of law anyway, I can leave after two years if I really take against it, and I've got no real objection to the whole 'money' thing" was something I judged unnecessary to bring up at that juncture. However, it provided lots of things to learn from, should I ever have any interviews again.

I'm back at law school now, in any case, so I have other things to occupy my time. Did you know that virtually any religious cult or sect can qualify for charitable status (including the woman in the 19th century who wrote a book about how she was going to give birth to the second Messiah)? The notable exception, apparently, is Scientology, perhaps because of the 'Science' hint in the title.