O Fortuna

Fortuna can sometimes be a wicked mistress. Yesterday afternoon I saw Manu at the Northern Lights to confirm my DJ night, and he retorted that he hasn't got any decks for me as all his ones aren't working. Well we both knew that, ever since Ville and I told him so many many months ago. He should have had Technics from the off. So it means I will not be able to play the 7 new singles I bought over the last few months. It will all be from the laptop, of which the only advantage of bringing it is that it's less heavy than a bag of records.

I did phone Ally to check whether he had any decks, but to my astonishment he doesn't, and relies on using other peoples decks. Also, Ville is on holiday so he was out of the question. C'est la vie

Whilst in the Northern Lights I took the opportunity to have some food as I had three pints in the Evening Star pub. I ordered the delicious Swedish meatballs. This time I managed to eat the lot as usually the last meatball tends to defeat me, especially when you get five massive ones.



Apart from that piece of misfortune, the day went well. I walked to the Evening Star, after dropping off a packet in Alexander Villas, to meet some friends. Tony, Mark, lovely Alice and her friend Belinda, Mark the postman and later on Nigel, all arrived whilst I was quaffing dark fluids down my gullet.



At the bar - left to right, David, Mark the postman and Nigel with barmaid Liz.

I had a couple of pints of Brew Dog Hardcore IPA (9.0% ABV) and Mark bought me a pint of Dark Star Original.



I was talking to Belinda about history and politics , since she is studying them at Nottingham University.

Mark came out with the apocryphal story of the French anthropologist, Claude Lev-Strauss, who use to climb up trees to observe indigenous species of tribes with pen and notebook. The head shaman noted this and thought he looked like a god with mystical powers, and so , copied the anthropologist with similar gestures up a tree without actually understanding what Levi-Strauss was up to This mimicry enabled him to feel even more powerful over his tribe.

Anyway, tempus fugit, and I soon found I had the munchies and thus perambulated towards the Northern Lights.
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When I got back to base I went upstairs and fell asleep.

Deconstruct or Behind The Text

A miserable day. Gloomy, wet and disenchanting. I did the two mystery shops postponed from the previous day this morning. The gloom relieved by having a lunch with Georgian in Yates. She had a fish pie and I had a chilli con carne washed down with Bombardier ale. She was doing an in-store survey.

Whilst in Hove on one of these mystery shops, by perchance, I gravitated to the Oxfam charity shop and bought two items for under two quid each.

The Orb “U.F.Orb” (Island Masters CD)

and

“What Is Deconstruction?” by Christopher Norris and Andrew Benjamin (Academy Editions)

For those who don't know , deconstruction , developed by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, is a term used in literary criticism to describe a method of reading in which conflicting textual meanings are shown to undermine any fixed interpretation. The method can be applied to any area of the arts including art and architecture.

I also picked up a a copy of Graham Swift “Waterland” (Picador) for 50p from the Martletts Hospice chazzer.

After lunch with GC I popped into Waterstones to grab the chance of triple points on my loyalty card. I opted for their 3 for 2 offer. Headed straight up the fourth floor, where the Philosophy section is, and came away with the following Routledge titles -

Michel Foucault “The Order Of Things”
Herbert Marcuse “One-Dimensional Man”
John Gray “Enlightenment's Wake”

Afterwards I walked up to the Evening Star and had another pint and a half of the dangerously drinkable Hardcore IPA.

Alice and Belinda were drinking halves again , and speaking with the latter lass , I discovered more of what she is currently reading, and I showed her my purchases. The Foucault book is one of those on her reading list for the course she is doing and needs it for her dissertation. Serendipity strikes again!

They are doing a poetry slam , which I thought was this evening, on Monday 4th April down at the Earth and Stars pub. Start time is 7.30pm and i will be there!!