Sidetracking

Sidetracked by Henning Mankell

From the Amazon Review

“The Swedish summer-time is too beautiful and too brief for something like this to happen.” A young girl commits self-immolation, a former government minister is killed with an axe and scalped; these are the two brutal facts that confront Inspector Kurt Wallander as he prepares for his holiday. As the Swedish midsummer approaches there is no escaping from the darkness of society.

The first of the Wallander books I’ve read and really is rather enjoyable, despite the rather gruesome elements and quite a high body count. The Swedish setting makes an interesting alternative to more familiar British or US police operations. Whilst I found the translation of dialogue took a bit of getting used to (it just seems rather wooden and stilted at times but perhaps this is the way it is meant to be) the plotting is great and the climax really builds in the final part of the book.

Recommended

Vertiginous

Vertigo by W G Sebald

Vertiginous stuff – another outstanding interior/imagined/real travelogue of the mind, taking in the lives of Stendhal and Kafka as well as Sebald’s own youth in Bavaria. The meditations and meanderings built upon travels around northern Italy and beyond are just exceptional and spellbinding.

Doesn’t get much better than this.

Also, just spotted this blog dedicated to the author and related work which is well worth a look.

Life’s a breeze

Call me the Breeze by Patrick McCabe

A nice wee tale. Bonkers characters, crazy town and series of bizarre incidents. Part fantasy, part near-fantasy, Joey Tallon is an extraordinary individual living through absurd times. And he makes it worse. Good stuff.

Approximation of a playlist §32: Periodicity

Referencing popular magazines and journals:

She – Peter Skellern
Big Time Sensuality – Björk
Reet Petite – Jackie Wilson
Look In after No 1 - The Boomtown Rats
Hello, This Is Joannie - Paul Evans

She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby
Totally wired – The Fall
Strength of your nature - The Style Council
My little empire - Manic Street Preachers
Annie I’m Not Your Daddy – Kid Creole & The Coconuts
More Than A Woman – Bee Gees
Heat Wave – Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
Suzie Q - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Loaded - Deacon Blue
Tobermory Zoo - Mull Historical Society
The world’ll be OK – Teenage Fanclub
Vogue - Madonna
Wallpaper for the soul - Tahiti 80
Shot by both sides – Magazine

A brief hiatus…

As consequence of house move, absence of broadband and new job, there is to be a wee break in proceedings here.

Will be back up and running within a couple of weeks I hope with at least four new book reviews (you lucky things) and a thank you note.

Just trying it out…

For a few minutes in any case

Team challenge successfully completed

Follow-up to team challenge from Prole Art Threat

And every one is pooped.

See photos from the morning via this link

team challenge

Well. Senior officers are all rather hot and sweaty but doing very well. We are pretty much ahead of schedule and looking forward to lunch. Photos will be on insite soon I fear!

Incoming freshers: financially clueless?

Writing about web page http://education.guardian.co.uk/chooseadegree/story/0,,1787824,00.html

This article largely speaks for itself

A survey of more than 1,970 school leavers across the UK showed that students estimate they will spend an average of 186.30 per term on alcohol. In reality, the cost is likely to be 274. They also underestimated how much they would spend on clothing and mobile phone bills.

But that isn’t such a huge gap really – less than a tenner a week.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) financial realism report, published today, reveals a “startling knowledge gap among this year’s sixth–formers”. Students were asked to estimate what they thought they would spend at university on a range of essential and non–essential items, including rent, books, food and going out.

It is actually pretty difficult to estimate this kind of stuff though. And. given that they have done it by insitution/location, they are talking very small samples for each sub–grouping:

Students hoping to study in Manchester, Nottingham and Edinburgh are best prepared for their looming financial commitments, but students who have applied to study in Aberdeen could be facing a huge spending shock, the research found. The average Aberdeen applicant estimated they would spend about 2,519.90 each term on living and housing costs. However, the bank’s data indicate those students are actually likely to spend 3,180.50 – 660.50 more than they expect.

Fortunately for the Aberdeen–bound, their parents will fill the gap:

The research also revealed that students about to start their first year expect to receive a total of 442m in financial support from their parents, which equates to an average 773 each during the 2006/07 academic year

No problem there then! But this really is pretty feeble stuff.

Rock n Roll injuries – Keith Richards does it this time

Writing about web page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4957948.stm

Doherty eat your heart out – these old geezers still know how to do it:

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has been taken to hospital in New Zealand after injuring himself while on holiday in Fiji.
A band spokeswoman said Richards had suffered a “mild concussion” and was taken to hospital as a precaution. Media reports in Australia and New Zealand said Richards had hurt his head when he fell out of a palm tree.

But what was he doing up the tree?

And does this really measure up to the most shocking musical injury of all time – Bowie gets hit in the eye by a lollipop:

link