What on earth was that all about?

The title sums up my reaction to last night's film. D suggested that we watch 2001: A Space Odyssey on blu ray. It was on my list of 'classic films I probably should have seen'. As the final credits rolled D (as always) asked, "so what did you think?" Generally I am able to answer this question, but this time I was stumped. About God? Well, for me this film felt completely godless. About evolution? Well, yes, it begins with monkeys fighting with bones but the human race doesn't seem to evolve...it just gets slightly less hairy! About the nature of humanity? Certainly. The 'death' of Hal was really quite upsetting. About Nietzsche? Absolutely! The whole 'ubermensch' business was clear to see throughout and I think this is the reason I presumed it was a godless universe. About subjectivity and perception? Oh, for goodness sake! Anyways, I'd recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. It certainly got us thinking and talking. I think I probably appreciated it for the incredible visual effects and, even more, for its amazing use of music. I guess it is multi-sensory but how that combines with all the philosophical stuff, I don't know - is it a film for the intellectual mind or for the senses? Or both?

I am currently enjoying slow but happy days of research and Book preparation. Today I hit 10,000 words of that tricky Language chapter I keep mentioning. Finally my argument feels as if it is coming together. The problem is that I am trying to argue two, seemingly contrasting things: first, language is vital to our understanding of a British avant-garde and second, that language isn't quite as vital as previous scholarship has presumed. This sort of argument ties me up in knots! But the mist is clearing...

...which is more than can be said for the weather which has hit the UK in recent weeks. We have had some serious frost here and today the snow was back which meant that we couldn't get to a party in one of the surrounding villages. The main roads were fine but with the promise of more snow (which didn't actually materialise) we decided to take a rain check. Here's hoping that all's fine for our upcoming trip up north.

So this evening we had D & M's special Christmas. We have had this exciting event every year since we were married so we don't have to cart presents for each other around the country. Warden Christmas always comes early, always involves something experimental in the kitchen and always means too many presents for me. To celebrate I made Nigella's Mexican lasagne from her new book, Kitchen (we love Nigella and she has rather generously put the recipe online) It's great, easy and it's veggie too! I used half fat cheese so, given that you are really just eating loads of veggies and pulses, it is also very healthy...particularly by Nigella standards. We both did very well. D surprised me with a gorgeous Ugg leather trench coat.

As usual he bagged himself a bargain and I was the beneficiary.

In other news, I recently joined a website called academia.edu where you can post your academic details and make web-friends with others working in your area. But the truly surprising thing about this online community is that it tells you when someone has Googled you! Emails come through to your inbox to tell you as much. Totally weird! It is a great site though and well worth joining if you have any connection with the academic world. Cheers Joanne and Will for introducing me to it!

Anyways, it feels very late but isn't so I think I'll go and have a snooze in a second. We are able to get our lounge really warm but the rest of the flat is colder than cold. Brr...It doesn't make me want to get up off the sofa and walk across the Arctic region that is our hall!

I'll post again over the festive season!

CSW