June 2017

Short thought

I know what she meant but love JK Rowling's advice to writers in 1997: "write what you know about". I imagine: "I know about wizard schools"

Short thought

These fine vehicle reg plates were on show at the wedding I attended this weekend. Good they made an effort for me.

Short thought

Another friend from school got married today. Feels strange as those days fade away.

Short thought

Also not convinced by power/drive of digital to disaggregate monograph from para 168. People read like this already... @acbookfuture

Short thought

Reading @acbookfuture report. Quite a few typos so far. "Tthose", "(ref required)", "to completely refashion completely" #digitalmutability

Short thought

... but we're not going to do that, because the mission of Birkbeck is education for everyone.

Short thought

Thing that struck me most, though, was Master's statement: we could climb 50 places in the league tables by raising our entry tariffs...

Short thought

Went to the annual Master's address at @BirkbeckNews yesterday. Some exciting things ahead for the university.

Short thought

Thanks for the well wishes all. Briefly admitted to the hyper acute stroke unit today. MRI shows no new damage or dissection.

Short thought

Today not going as I'd planned. Lost hearing suddenly in left ear and was sent to A&E due to stroke last year.

Short thought

My wife just referred to the quality of the "under barker". Meaning she likes the new subwoofer.

Short thought

Hearing about the @yester_today_t project. Drawings of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, by refugees around the world.

Short thought

We're currently discussing the re-generation/re-coding of formative works of computer art. Code as expression vs code as fact.

Short thought

Gearing up for seminar on the Moral Rights of Authors in the Age of Cognitive Cognitive Capitalism @BirkbeckNews

Short thought

I don't recall any university seeking an injunction for REF results. "Confidence of the sector" in TEF compared to REF seems terrible.

Short thought

We're into the final panel here at International Pynchon Week. CFP dor proceedings forthcoming in @Orbitjournal.

Short thought

My twitter has been buzzing with ScholComms, but I'm at International Pynchon Week and the exit polls look great!

Short thought

I can't think why, with its charming catchphrase, Tamala didn't catch on as a brand for kids toy. "Fucking strike."

Short thought

Richard Moss is currently telling us about the influence of Pynchon on Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space

Short thought

Christian Hanggi giving a statistical breakdown of musical references over Pynchon's entire canon

Short thought

That is Edinburgh -> Gatwick -> La Rochelle. THEN other bloke who's getting a lift turns out to be going to Pynchon conference.

Short thought

Nice Scottish woman phones her friend who offers us all a lift. So generous. Then, it turns out that she did the same Edinburgh flight I did

Short thought

Phone French taxi companies who basically say they can't really be bothered to come to the airport.

Short thought

I had the most "Pynchon Week" experience just arriving at the conference this evening. Landing an hour late, no taxis at all at airport.

Short thought

"There are numerous alternative remedies for motion sickness. One such is ginger, but it is ineffective." #thankswikipedia

Short thought

My motion sickness has become markedly worse in the past year. Seems common treatments interact with other meds, too. Plane landings hellish

Short thought

After Run DMC, van Halen, and Cindy Lauper my next conference's breakfast playlist has a lot to live up to.

Short thought

David Mitchell is the only person allowed into the David Mitchell Special Collection with a pen. #DMcon2017

Short thought

So, David Mitchell came to my talk on Close-Reading Cloud Atlas with Computers and seemed not to hate it! #DMcon2017

Short thought

Although, never cross-gender casting of Hanks points out @drsarahdillon #DMcon2017

Short thought

Cross-casting in Cloud Atlas replicates discrimination against non-white, non-CIS, non-male demographics notes @drsarahdillon #DMcon2017

Short thought

The "genre voicing" of Mitchell's sections is lost in glossy adaptation - no medium specificity, notes @drsarahdillon #DMcon2017

Short thought

. @drsarahdillon on intersectional feminism and difficulties of cross-casting in film of Cloud Atlas #DMcon2017

Short thought

. @drsarahdillon adding a "ribotype"/"medium" analogy to Hutcheon's genotype + environment model of adaptation #DMcon2017

Short thought

. @drsarahdillon turning to evolutionary theories of adaptation proposed by Linda Hutcheon #DMcon2017

Short thought

Difficulty of structuring film in "Russian doll" style of novel notes @drsarahdillon #DMcon2017

Short thought

Here at the David Mitchell conference in St Andrews and just enjoyed the 80s power mix over breakfast. We owe Van Halen so much.

Short thought

Also, the poor woman whom he was bombarding with his nonsense clearly didn't want to talk to him :@

Short thought

Because she is so strong on private regulation! So stable on protecting people's rights!

Short thought

Not even joking: overheard someone at King's Cross saying how pleased he was that "Mrs May" is going to sort out the ticket touts.

Short thought

Imagine running a general election campaign based on charisma of your leader only to find she has none and you need to hide her. Imagine.

Short thought

"Perfect. Thanks, Ronnie." is my favourite received reply of the day in response to agreeing to help out with a focus group/interview.