Paperback Writer is gone, but, we hope, only temporarily. Miss JenJen turned up at work on Monday morning to find the CEO waiting for her. Someone had come across her blog, in which she discusses her workplace - infact, her hatred of her workplace - and had sent the URL out in an all staff email. The CEO told Miss JenJen that she was fired and then she was escorted from the building. Luckily, she had already resigned and really, it was probably this decision that lead her to writing as freely about her collegues as she did. But Ii's a horrifying prospect. Fired because of your blog...
"So, where do you work?" says one person, to another, at some thing they're both at. "At Melbourne Itching Supplies" says the other person, sipping on their glass of wine. "Do you mean etching?" says the first person. "No, itching. Itching supplies for Melbourne and its greater surrounds." "What do you sell? Long fingernails? Wooden back-scratchers? Scrubbing brushes?" The other person shrugs. "Yes, we sell all of that, but you're making an assumption here that we only supply things to alleviate itching." "You mean you sell things to make people itch as well?" "Of course." "Itching powder?" "That's one way." "Pollens? Hair down the back of the neck? Polyester suits? Underpants with seams? Peeling skin?" "Yes, all of those." "It's making me itch just listening to you." "Yes, that happens a lot."
Well, my paper from the Blogosphere collection got returned to me requiring ammendments. It was interesting to read over the comments- even the reader who had reservations about it had nice things to say as well, which was reassuring. I must admit that my initial response was "there's no way I'm going to redo that essay" because I've already spent so much time on it and the thought of revisiting it filled - and stills fills - my with horror. But I sat down and re-read it last night and thought that maybe I'll give it a go after all. But it's going to be a big job. Both reviewers felt that some of the points needed fleshing out with more examples which I think I can do reasonably easily, but I'm not sure how to do it and keep it within the word limit.
It looks like the next 6 weeks are going to be busy. I also have to also get my head around giving a 1 hour workshop at RMIT next week for MA students on setting up a research blog. Oh the horror. It's lucky that I've taken to riding my bike to work because I've gained an extra couple of hours this way.
So R. and I went to Cremaster 3, filled with trepidation and selecting seats up the back and near and aisle. It was a good decision. We made it through the piercing whistling soundtrack of the first 20 minutes, stayed seated while a corpse was placed in a car and then smashed to pieces by several other cars, edured an unfunny and tedious slapstick routine in a bar, watched the decaying horses running abound the racetrack, but left when they started to smash up the apprentice's teeth. That was at the hour and a half mark- half way through. But it was worth going to, if only for the delightful relief of leaving. And we were by no means the first to go. From the opening sequence on there was a steady stream of people marching to the exits. There were, undoubtedly, some beautiful shots but they work best as stills, I now think. The narrative was so convoluted, so self-absorbed and abstract that it was pretty much incomprehensible. But it must have cost a fortune to produce, and I wonder where he got the funding?
