I've no doubt in my mind, that since you're reading my blog, you are a highly intellectual and scientifically savvy sort of individual. You, therefore, do not need me expounding my theory on how to sort of explain solids, liquids and gases using concerts and can casually go about your business reading The Origin of Species or updating your own, superior blog with your most recent analytical thoughts about Doctor Faustus as being performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
But, if you are feeling inclined to read on, perhaps do not prepare to be overwhelmed... But nor should you be underwhelmed. Perhaps, could you please be just whelmed?
Imagine you've gone to see your absolute favourite band in the whole wide world in concert (anybody who thought of Justin Bieber can stop reading: I will never be able to teach you anything). You are very excited to see them and you arrive with all of your friends so you can get a good position to see them from (because, obviously you are my sort of person and standing tickets are the only way to go).
First, however, you have to listen to two support acts...
Solid
The first support act is relatively unknown by most of the crowd (except for those strange lot who came to see just the first support act and will then quietly dissipate into the back of the room), but are not terrible. You watch them attentively, perhaps bopping your head to the catchy rhythm, but you and your group of friends with whom you're standing in a clump are content to do just that. Movement is out of the question: Your excitement is currently fairly low, so you don't really fancy exerting yourself.
You stick together, in your own little group and stay that way. You are fairly unexcited. You are a solid.
Liquid
The first act has finished and the roadies for the second act are setting up the stage. The room is filling and the CD playing generic tunes is playing in such a way that more or less entirely fails to catch your attention. The second band is a little more famous than the latter, and the excitement in the room builds collectively, perhaps a screaming teenage fan-girl is weeping with happiness. By and large, you're looking forward to the rest of the show now that you know what's in store. As the wait for the second act goes on, the excitement in the room increases, and people start to move to the front of the room, as close to the stage as they can. This of course, leads to much of the rest of the room following them: even if you don't care about the second band, you must be in a good position to see your favourite, and you don't want to be stuck behind everyone and their dogs. The band comes on and does their thing, and the late-comers trickle in and join the crowd too, getting as close to the front as they can, without trying to occupy the same space that I wouldn't allocate to a disproportionately large rat.
You and your friends have moved to the front of the room, along with everyone else. You are moderately excited. You have filled your container according to gravity (yes, in this analogy, the stage is the source of all gravity's power). You are a liquid.
Gas
The time has come! Your all time favouritest band of amazeballsness is just about to start playing and the excitement in the room explodes as the lights go down for their entrance onto the stage, and the pre-recorded entry music cuts through the screams of fans like a wire through so much cheddar. The band starts and the crowd goes wild, dancing and scream and moving.
You and your friends have likely been separated, hoping for a reunion at the bar after the show. You are so excited you think you might never be able to stop your face from contorting into that thing you call a smile. You and the rest of the crowd are bouncing off each other as you dance. The gravity of the stage has little or no power over you any more, and you move around like the headless chicken we all are and bounce off one another. You are a gas.
And so concludes today's lesson. For more questions or potentially ridiculous theories on how to explain sciencey stuff to nobody in particular, consult me through a comment below!
What I'm Listening To
The Cloud Atlas Sextet by Tom Tykwer
I watched Cloud Atlas the other night and utterly loved it (it has been made clear to me that it has not yet been released in the UK, so do go watch it when it's on in the cinema). The film itself is a cocophony of confusion and interweaving characters and storylines. Complexity abounds but so too does beauty: the music from this film is emotive and powerful. This, then, is the music from my dream.
What I've Been Watching
House M.D.
Yes, I'm still making my torturous way through the entirety of Hugh Laurie's most well-known role. I'm coming to the end of season 6 (and have indeed been stuck on the same episode for a number of days) and will soon be free to watch other things!
Doctor Faustus at the West Yorkshire Playhouse
Ha, I bet you thought I wouldn't come back to that passing reference back up in the opening paragraph, didn't you! I went to see this last night (Monday) and very much enjoyed it. An Elizabethen play, set in the modern day (indeed, two of its four acts were put into mordern syntax) about a fellow who sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. I definitely want to see some other versions of it, but this one was fantastic as well. The ambiguity of the ending is fantastic, and was the source of much discussion amongst the group I went with (helpful hint: if you must go to see a classic play with two English Literature students, be prepared to have the crap analysed out of whatever you saw). £5 for an under-26 ticket and only about £12 for a normal one. Definitely worth a watch!
What I've Been Reading
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
A Christmas present from that red-coated old jelly-belly, which I am only about 11 chapters into. The book is slowly starting to reveal its nature and where the plot is going, but thus far I have come to adore both of the central characters and at least two of the slightly less central ones too. So far, it's an all out thumbs up from me... Thanks Santa!
PS. If you enjoy my blog, please recommend it to a friend!
PPS. If you don't enjoy my blog, but read them out of some masochistic self-punishment, recommend it to someone you don't like!
And as the small, grey squirrel of inexorability buries the sacred chestnuts of time, I realise it is time for me to depart these lands and toddle off towards something resembling sleep. Good night my pretties!
But, if you are feeling inclined to read on, perhaps do not prepare to be overwhelmed... But nor should you be underwhelmed. Perhaps, could you please be just whelmed?
Imagine you've gone to see your absolute favourite band in the whole wide world in concert (anybody who thought of Justin Bieber can stop reading: I will never be able to teach you anything). You are very excited to see them and you arrive with all of your friends so you can get a good position to see them from (because, obviously you are my sort of person and standing tickets are the only way to go).
First, however, you have to listen to two support acts...
Solid
The first support act is relatively unknown by most of the crowd (except for those strange lot who came to see just the first support act and will then quietly dissipate into the back of the room), but are not terrible. You watch them attentively, perhaps bopping your head to the catchy rhythm, but you and your group of friends with whom you're standing in a clump are content to do just that. Movement is out of the question: Your excitement is currently fairly low, so you don't really fancy exerting yourself.
You stick together, in your own little group and stay that way. You are fairly unexcited. You are a solid.
Liquid
The first act has finished and the roadies for the second act are setting up the stage. The room is filling and the CD playing generic tunes is playing in such a way that more or less entirely fails to catch your attention. The second band is a little more famous than the latter, and the excitement in the room builds collectively, perhaps a screaming teenage fan-girl is weeping with happiness. By and large, you're looking forward to the rest of the show now that you know what's in store. As the wait for the second act goes on, the excitement in the room increases, and people start to move to the front of the room, as close to the stage as they can. This of course, leads to much of the rest of the room following them: even if you don't care about the second band, you must be in a good position to see your favourite, and you don't want to be stuck behind everyone and their dogs. The band comes on and does their thing, and the late-comers trickle in and join the crowd too, getting as close to the front as they can, without trying to occupy the same space that I wouldn't allocate to a disproportionately large rat.
You and your friends have moved to the front of the room, along with everyone else. You are moderately excited. You have filled your container according to gravity (yes, in this analogy, the stage is the source of all gravity's power). You are a liquid.
Gas
The time has come! Your all time favouritest band of amazeballsness is just about to start playing and the excitement in the room explodes as the lights go down for their entrance onto the stage, and the pre-recorded entry music cuts through the screams of fans like a wire through so much cheddar. The band starts and the crowd goes wild, dancing and scream and moving.
You and your friends have likely been separated, hoping for a reunion at the bar after the show. You are so excited you think you might never be able to stop your face from contorting into that thing you call a smile. You and the rest of the crowd are bouncing off each other as you dance. The gravity of the stage has little or no power over you any more, and you move around like the headless chicken we all are and bounce off one another. You are a gas.
And so concludes today's lesson. For more questions or potentially ridiculous theories on how to explain sciencey stuff to nobody in particular, consult me through a comment below!
What I'm Listening To
The Cloud Atlas Sextet by Tom Tykwer
I watched Cloud Atlas the other night and utterly loved it (it has been made clear to me that it has not yet been released in the UK, so do go watch it when it's on in the cinema). The film itself is a cocophony of confusion and interweaving characters and storylines. Complexity abounds but so too does beauty: the music from this film is emotive and powerful. This, then, is the music from my dream.
What I've Been Watching
House M.D.
Yes, I'm still making my torturous way through the entirety of Hugh Laurie's most well-known role. I'm coming to the end of season 6 (and have indeed been stuck on the same episode for a number of days) and will soon be free to watch other things!
Doctor Faustus at the West Yorkshire Playhouse
Ha, I bet you thought I wouldn't come back to that passing reference back up in the opening paragraph, didn't you! I went to see this last night (Monday) and very much enjoyed it. An Elizabethen play, set in the modern day (indeed, two of its four acts were put into mordern syntax) about a fellow who sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. I definitely want to see some other versions of it, but this one was fantastic as well. The ambiguity of the ending is fantastic, and was the source of much discussion amongst the group I went with (helpful hint: if you must go to see a classic play with two English Literature students, be prepared to have the crap analysed out of whatever you saw). £5 for an under-26 ticket and only about £12 for a normal one. Definitely worth a watch!
What I've Been Reading
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
A Christmas present from that red-coated old jelly-belly, which I am only about 11 chapters into. The book is slowly starting to reveal its nature and where the plot is going, but thus far I have come to adore both of the central characters and at least two of the slightly less central ones too. So far, it's an all out thumbs up from me... Thanks Santa!
PS. If you enjoy my blog, please recommend it to a friend!
PPS. If you don't enjoy my blog, but read them out of some masochistic self-punishment, recommend it to someone you don't like!
And as the small, grey squirrel of inexorability buries the sacred chestnuts of time, I realise it is time for me to depart these lands and toddle off towards something resembling sleep. Good night my pretties!
