Synecdoche, Nicola

Muffit of Tea

2011-05-09T18:41:00.001+01:00

Lately, I've been craving the perfect cup of tea. Back in 1944, author and tea enthusiast George Orwell (serious, wasn't he?) wrote about the art of tea-making. (Full transcript here.) Updating this solemn document earlier this year, Englishman in America Christopher Hitchens regaled the readers of Slate with with the commandment How To Make a Cup of Tea. Though directed largely at Americans, British coffee shops could learn a thing or two from our eloquent tea aficionados.

Whilst languoring in search of the perfect brew in and across North-Western continents, I was contacted by CSN Stores, who offered me a voucher to review their goods. Spying their tasteful collection of tea-making accoutrements, I couldn't resist giving their beautiful Le Crueset stonewear classic teapot in blue and Sabichi Essential Taper Shape Whistling Kettle a whirl with an especially aromatic box of loose English Breakfast and my long-held hankering.

Le Crueset Teapot

Although, as Hitchens rightly points out, Assam has fallen out of fashion, the rules I was most keen to replicate were very hot, very strong tea, bringing the pot to the kettle and not the other way around. I primed the teapot to get it nice and warm and filled the kettle and placed it on the hob.

Sabichi Whistling Kettle in action

Having been a slave to a Tesco's-own fast-boil electric kettle for years, the amount of time it took this baby to whistle was a little disconcerting. However, great art takes time, and I have to say the piercing whistle of compressed water is music to the thirsty tea drinker's ears: far more rewarding than a violent click! Meanwhile, the cat popped by to say hello.

Sooty awaits his cup of tea

Using a little more than the recommended 5 teaspoons of tea, the teapot was brought to the kettle as it boiled, filled with still-boiling H₂O, and the timer was set for it to brew. (I even set the teapot on a stone mat that reflects heat to keep it piping hot!)

Teacups in waiting

Using a strainer, I poured the (hopefully perfect) tea into warm waiting cups - adding the milk afterwards, as Orwell stipulates, and keeping the sugar far from reach.

Cups o' Tea

While it's a bit of a palaver to get everything together, sometimes a girl's got to have the perfect cuppa. Thanks to Hitchens, CSN, Le Crueset, and Sabichi, it's a wee bit easier to have a nice hot muffit o' tea. Now, if only I could get my American man to get it right, I might be able to have one that's hot and perfectly brewed every day. One can only hope.

A massive thanks to CSN, who have unwittingly unleashed an obsession with sparkly kitchenware and new-found need for a good pair of oven mitts.

How do you make your perfect cup of tea?

B3DA #30: Bye bye

2011-04-30T16:47:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the last day of April!

BEDA aside, I've been looking forward to April's end. I don't know why, but April's always kind of a suck. This one has been fine, but May is almost here and promises to bring new opportunities and time to tie up loose ends. May's going to be a time of planning, followed by a month of hard festing, and hopefully a wee trip in July while I write up my Masters portfolio. I'm hoping to have some work on the go and a new place to live by August. Wish me luck!

Though I always enjoy the challenge of BEDA (click over here to check out years one and two if you so desire), it's tough to keep up when busy or when I have nothing to say about myself. With that in mind, I'll probably be blogging over here a little more often -- we'll see how it goes.

I hope you've all enjoyed BEDA, and if there's anything you'd like to see on this blog or over at Uncultured Critic, do drop me a comment or an email to say hello and tell me so!

'Til next time!

Nicola

Image by Dvortygirl.

B3DA #29: Things I Love / Follow Thriday

2011-04-29T22:41:00.000+01:00

What's up, end-of-April?

Things I Love Thursday:

I've had a fat-ass week of dinners, coffee-tasting, wine and gin with friends, long walks, and sunshine. It has been good to be offline and out enjoying the bank holidays. Basically, Spring has been good to me.

Follow Friday:

I am totally crazy about the Paris Review Blog. In particular: the story of the Westminster Abbey organist, the staff's weekly picks, and editor Lorin Stein's literary agony uncle column: Ask The Paris Review. Hope you all read and enjoy it!

'Til Tomorrow!

Nicola

B3DA #27: Speaking of Movies

2011-04-27T17:49:00.000+01:00

Oh dear, BEDA, I've been slipping. Despite having missed about 4 days now, there are only 3 to go, and I'm determined to finish out the month!

It's been a busy week, filled with noshing, drinking, and generally being out a bit too late. Last night I went to the GFT film quiz with Evan, Graham, and Sam. Despite having come in a respectable 3rd on my last couple of visits, we were unprepared for Branagh-grams (best name for the worst quiz round ever!) and naming ever film starring Reese Witherspoon. Looks like we've got some research to do. Other than that, though, we had a good time.

Today I've been working away on Quotables and finally fired off a few emails I've been psyching myself up to send - which I'm feeling pretty good about it so far! I'm also keeping busy looking for flats in Edinburgh for over the summer, so there's tons to think about.

Book update: Currently reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I have a week to finish this and The Year of the Flood for book club.

What are you reading or getting up to these days?

B3DA #25: Backdated

2011-04-25T23:59:00.000+01:00

It's 1.22am and I just got home after leaving the house at 10am.

My day was filled with Thor, food, coffee, cheese, wine, brownies, and great chat.

I has a stomachache. And a happy.

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola

B3DA #24: Holibags

2011-04-24T22:53:00.000+01:00

Happy holiday weekend! How is everybody doing?

This weekend I have been mostly: eating, watching movies (Hanna, Scream 4, Raiders of the Lost Ark), drinking gin, reading, hanging out with the family, and stuffing my face with 12 kinds of Easter chocolate.

Tomorrow, we're going to see Thor.

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola

B3DA #23: Belated Follow Friday

2011-04-23T23:59:00.001+01:00

That's me lately.

A belated happy Follow Friday to you! This should be an easy one, right?

Well, first off, you should follow me! @robotnic

My B3DA Buddies: @librariansti @autumnleeves @beckie-jean

My man, @diamondnerd

My pals: @usherette, @ktandersonblogs, @factionman, @lalamaguire, @anna_cook, @amyhawes_runner, @hollyjunesmith, @rosiehopes, @paulegreenwood, @paulcgallagher, @jon_melville, @kevinlongrie, @stevenraymorris, @anclag

Some great bloggers: @realjohngreen, @chrisguillebeau, @whatkindofgirl

Funnies: @jakemccaffrey, @atlasbagshaw

Film buffs: @filmfan1971, @nrm1972, @popcornreel, @janiceforsyth, @scottfilmcritic

And some good reads: @parisreview, @newyorker

Hope you find something in there to enjoy!

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola

B3DA #21: Things I Love Thursday

2011-04-21T22:03:00.001+01:00

I'm having a Holly Golightly moment. Surely this can't be Thursday?

Despite having completely lost track, some highlights of my week have included.

Tim Minchin - Evan and I bought some last-minute tickets to see Tim Minchin live with the Heritage Orchestra this week, and holy bleep was it worth the scalp tax! Despite paying a premium for not having booked back in September, our seats were decent, the material was new (and, of course, hilarious) and the orchestra absolutely blew the roof off. I've been a fan of the ginge since about 2008 but never managed to see him live until now. If you haven't the chance to see him I recommend picking up his new live DVD. I'm sorely tempted to go to his added date on 8th May.
High Tea & a chat - High Tea at the Butterfly and the Pig is becoming a weekly expense, but nothing beats tasty sandwiches and some cakey indulgence over a belated catch-up.
Getting a Haircut - I'm one of those people to whom getting a haircut is like getting a full-body massage or using a hot tub. I make a habit of scheduling my haircuts after big deadlines and stressful weeks - chopping off all that excess weight while decompressing feels sooo good.
Holidays! - I'm currently off work for almost two weeks (with one day on in the middle), and although I still have a couple of deadlines and things to work on, it's good to be able to cut loose and spend some guilt-free time with Evan. We've also been hitting up the cinema and eating a little too well. Hope you all have a happy Easter weekend!

Et aussi - Catching up on my reading; Vienetta; walking miles through the West End in the sunshine; payday; wrapping up big projects; looking forward to, and not stressing about, the future; book club; Tuborg beer; laughing; and awaiting Bossypants.

What's brightening your Thursday?

B3DA #20: How to not blog

2011-04-20T23:59:00.000+01:00

The only problem with blogging every day in April is that you don't necessarily have something to say every day in April.

I had a long day. After work, instead of going straight home to stew as planned, Evan and I went out for a nice dinner, a couple of beers (Tuborg suddenly got way more delicious, we think there may have been some kind of incident), and watched the delightfully crap (read: dreadful) Hall Pass.

Tomorrow I'm getting up on the quick smart to watch and review Hanna and (finally!) get a hair cut.

I'll see you there or I'll see you on another time.

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola

B3DA #19: Book(s) Review

2011-04-19T23:23:00.000+01:00

Aww yeah. I finished and handed in my final essay today, so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. As well as celebrating with a spot of afternoon tea, Evan and I have spent the evening curled up with new books for some guilt-free reading.

Since I don't have any recent finishes to review (I re-read Looking for Alaska and have just picked up HP6 after reading a third and deciding to take a break), I figured this would be a fine time to review my 52 Book Challenge thus far. It's week 16, so I'm still doing ok for time.

Here's what I've been reading in 2011:

1. Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

2. Candide by Voltaire - Review

3. The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier - Review

4. One Day by David Nicholls - Review

5. Room by Emma Donoghue

6. Zombiecorns by John Green

7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

8. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

9. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

11. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

12. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

13. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

14. Bette Davis by David Thomson

15. Looking for Alaska by John Green

Clearly I ought to get back into the habit of reviewing books!

Are you on GoodReads? Add me over there so we can stalk each other's book shelves.

What are you reading at the moment?

B3DA #18: Impatience

2011-04-18T17:07:00.000+01:00

Since I'm not feeling so bright today, here's a blog post I wrote about a month ago and didn't publish here. It's basically about how much I hate myself sometimes.

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola

--

I've been putting such a premium on originality lately. Like, I'm not even kidding. I am such a hipster. Not 3.5 days into the Charlie Sheen media frenzy, I'm already sitting there: monitor blaring, mouth agape... not in shock, nor horror, nor wonder - not even in intellectually-fuelled concentration. In boredom. Dude is having a full-frontal public meltdown, carried out online (my office, my playground), and I'm already passing it up with an almighty yawn.

I find it happening in all aspects of my life. Someone reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the train? YAWN. Waiting 3 minutes in line? YAWN. Telling me there's snow in Scotland while there's a natural disaster halfway around the globe? You selfish motherfucker.

I'm obsessed, consumed by getting there first. If it happened 3 days ago, went viral before you found it, I'm not interested. My attention span is dictated not by the movement of the tides (even by this week's standard) but the upload speed of my latest Skype note (no doubt a lol or a yawn). Memes are my heartbeats. Even my analogies are tailored to the events of today. Which, by the way, are so yesterday.

There's this sentence I've come to fear. It's pretty innocuous, but to the addict of buffet-cart pop culture, it's poison.

You haven't seen / heard / read that?!

Unless you can say yes, then top it with a dubstep remix, you're drowning.

So. That's why it's time to take a step back. Not only do I word-count every 280 characters, but I can no longer conceive of a thought or opinion that can be expressed in over 4 paragraphs. It's time to miss out and catch up. Sometimes you've got to hit pause and give your ideas time to buffer.

Maybe I'll get my MLitt written while I'm at it.

B3DA #17: Icky/Clicky Sunday

2011-04-17T22:24:00.001+01:00

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Make sure you click through and watch that full-size.

I'm struggling today. On top of this essay I'm coming down with flu, which isn't the best state to be in on a Sunday night.

Since I didn't post any on Friday, here are some things I've been enjoying online:

When critics get it wrong - Danny Leigh on the critical duds of the age. I can't believe the critics hated Buster Keaton's The General!
John Green's pal Ransom Riggs has an awesome name, great writing and video skills, and a very unusual habit.
This vegan foods website has been caught using stock photos of non-vegan treats.
Tina Fey's press tour for Bossypants is kind of kicking ass. One. Two. Three:

'Til tomorrow!

Nicola

B3DA #16: Part-time Blogger

2011-04-16T23:59:00.000+01:00

So I didn't check the BEDA theme calendar and missed the boat on having a guest blogga. That's what you get for part-timing it.

Today I've been mostly watching Lolita over and over again (Kubrick's 1962 adaptation and the 1997 version), wishing I'd gotten started on writing this essay sooner, and feeling a bit blurgh. I definitely feel like I'm coming down with something.

Since I'm no fun, how about you go enter my giveaway? You can win one of three copies of Blue Valentine on DVD - all you have to do is leave a comment. Go do it now!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekends. I'll be trying to get this essay finished for a few days, so B3DA will be a bit of a toss-up between quick posts and over-indulgent procrastinatory ones. I hope you're all looking forward to that as much as I am.

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola

B3DA #15: Slight of Hand

2011-04-15T18:07:00.001+01:00

No magic tricks here, just a bunch o' links.

Firstly, if you haven't already, go enter my competition to Win Blue Valentine on DVD!

Also, it turns out that although Google posted their tribute to Charlie Chaplin today, his birthday isn't until tomorrow. However, if we have met you will know that I think any day of the year is a fine time to gie it laldy for Mr Chaplin, so the day before his birthday suits me fine! I did a quotable blog post about him on the Quotables blog, and encourage you to check out a post I wrote last year about why you ought to love Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton on Uncultured Critic.

Today I've been mostly working from home, fending off low blood sugar, and looking after the cat (poor buddy's not very well). This evening Evan and I are off out for dinner with a couple I've never met!

I hope you all have lovely starts to your weekends!

'Til tomorrow,
Nicola

B3DA #14: It's Only Thursday?!

2011-04-14T20:19:00.001+01:00

Pleeeease can it be the weekend already?

Apologies for the momentary blip in the blogging schedule - it seems that I'm not the only one who has slipped up! If this carries on we may need to do some naming and shaming, BEDA ladies!

My excuse? I went straight from work to dinner to book club, and didn't get home til I was ready for my bed. We read (or semi-read, or didn't read - bad month!) Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. I know a few of you (looking at you, Christina) are big Pride & Prejudice fans... What do you make of the zombie rewrite? I found it mildly entertaining, if a little self-satisfied. Granted, I didn't make it much beyond about a tenth of the way through.

I've also been gearing up to batter into my Great Loves box set a.s.a.p!

In the meantime, why don't you take a stroll on over to Uncultured Critic, where I'm giving away 3 DVD copies of Blue Valentine? Go on, you know you want to!

Til tomorrow!
Nicola

B3DA #12: Baby

2011-04-12T23:58:00.000+01:00

I enjoyed this.

Lovely day in the 'burgh today. Productive meeting, good food, and coffee with a burrah pal.

I have to apologise for the half-hearted blogging - my RSI has been pretty bad lately so I've been staying off the computer. I hope you enjoy Nunes' tunes!

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola

B3DA #11: Painfully Introspective

2011-04-12T00:01:00.000+01:00

It's the 8th-12th days which are always the hardest, isn't it?

I'm absolutely pooped from this past weekend. It's been lovely to get some sunny weather and fresh company to break up the rain, but there's lots of planning and scheming to be done this week. Tomorrow I'm off to Edinburgh to get started at my new job back at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. I've grown a wee bit fond of Edinburgh over the last 18 months or so - I hope you will forgive me.

Other things what are good:

Laura's amazing Etsy shop.
Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
— Charlie Chaplin

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola

B3DA #10: Whoopsies

2011-04-10T14:34:00.000+01:00

Oh dear, a blog about why I didn't blog yesterday.

It's been a glorious 18C here in Glasgow over the weekend, and I spent all day yesterday out with lovely friends, stuffing my face with amazing food, and partying on til dawn. We're off to a very slow start this morning, hoping for a late afternoon in the sunshine at the park or a wander through the West End.

Hope you're all having brilliant weekends! I'll be catching up with all your B3DAs tomorrow evening.

Til tomorrow!
Nicola

B3DA #8: Follow Friday

2011-04-08T22:43:00.000+01:00

Happy Friday! Phew, one week down, four to go. How are all you BEDA-ers holding up?

I feel like telling you to follow fellow BEDA-ers would be a bit like preaching to the choir, so if you want to find them, you can do so here.

Otherwise, here are some links for awesome things what are on the internet! These are all things I've either liked and not closed, liked and never finished, or liked but haven't actually read/listened to yet. Enjoy!

Stephen Fry visits my favourite radio personality, Jian Ghomeshi, on CBC Canada.
Billy Wilder on The Art of Screenwriting where all great interviews live - The Paris Review.
Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com is my film writer of the moment (even though she quit about a year ago).
From Flavorwire.com: Writers & their typewriters and 20 final lines in literature.
Why We Travel from Paul Theroux of the New York Times.
One of John Green's latest videos: Many Truths, 1 Lie

Got links to share? Send 'em my way!

'Til tomorrow!

Nicola

B3DA #7: Things I Love Thursday

2011-04-07T21:52:00.000+01:00

It's Thursday, and it's been awhile since my last Things I Love Thursday! I have to admit, not a whole lot has changed - but that's not a bad thing. So what's good?

Big Plans - My man is here for a few weeks, and looking to be here for much longer. Yep, we're finally pulling the trigger on that being together all the time thing. We've got plans in the works. I'm also looking forward to starting my new job early next week.

Cinema - I had a bit of a dry spell in March, but managed to go to the cinema 4 times in the past week or so - it's been a strong Spring so far. Now that I have some time I was spending at uni freed up It'll be good to get back into the way of reviewing new films as they come out.

Books - I'm in the middle of reading 3 books right now. So what's new?

This weekend - Pre-emptive excitement for visiting co-workers from Laandaan, a big fundraiser on Saturday night with loads of friends, and generally cutting loose. Looking forward to it!

Et Aussi - Um, Evan; High Tea at The Butterfly & the Pig; my growing collection of film books (& the wonderfully acerbic reviews they tend to contain); Evan's laugh cutting through a too-serious press screening; buying more books than I can read (including these babies); re-watching Misfits; coffee with friends; coffee with old friends; handing in my portfolio!; getting back into blogging outside of UC and Quotables.

What do you love this Thursday?

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola

Image: Behemoth the Cat by Kris Atomic.

B3DA #6: Getting Things Done

2011-04-06T22:59:00.002+01:00

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

— W.H. Murray

B3DA #5: Booyah, Grandma.

2011-04-05T21:08:00.003+01:00

You see that? That's me. Coastin' through life, knockin' out word counts. Aww yeahh.

Okay, so I just finished my portfolio, which means I'm (half-)done with uni for the semester. While I have another 5000-word essay, a commission, and a new job looming... I figure I deserve a little bit of a celebration, albeit in animated gif form. In the words of Tim Westwood, Get ya hustle on baby! Exakly. *airhorn* *explosion*

In other exciting news, Google has finally reinstated my AdSense account. That's all I have to say about that. You all know what to do.

Lovely to see you all keeping up with BEDA - I hope you're all having fun! I will see you all tomorrow, when I'm in a fit state to blog.

'Til next time!
Nicola

B3DA #4: At the Movies

2011-04-04T21:46:00.001+01:00

The theme for today's blog is advice. The best advice I've been given?

You want to be a writer? Write.

This does not bode well, since it's 9pm, I'm dead tired, and was looking for an easy way out of this post. But, as well you know, I want to be a writer and, well, if I didn't take my own best advice you'd have nothing to read and I'd have to hang my head.

I promised you some reviews, didn't I?

Well, Source Code was excellent. Set in the unspecified future, a terrorist has planted a bomb on a train and is threatening further attacks on the city of Chicago. Captain Colter Stephens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the key player in a military experiment called "the source code" which allows him to enter the body of one of the train's passengers for the final 8 minutes of his life. As you can imagine, repeating the same 8 minute scene ad infinitum with slight tweaks and variations is hard work, but if there's a director more adept at navigating plot, layering the narrative and heightening thrills without adding confusion is working today, I haven't found him (or her). Jones' films are difficult to talk about without giving too much away (if you haven't caught Moon yet either I recommend you do), but between great direction and a fantastic lead performance from Gyllenhaal it's already one of my films of the year.

Limitless was so-so. Bradley Cooper earns his first leading role as layabout author Eddie Morra. He runs into an ex's brother, who gives him a mystery drug which heightens motivation, creativity, ability - everything. After acquiring a stash of his own, he sets about making his life remarkable. For a while. Between fast-edited montages of awesome, things suck a bit, but then they get better again. Et cetera, et cetera. It's pretty fun, if a little heavy on the doomsday prophecies, and you never really care whether Eddie's going to make it out of it all alive. An ideal weekend watch if you can rent it cheap with a bucket of ice-cream.

Call me crazy but I'd never seen a Matthew McConaughey film before. The Lincoln Lawyer is a crime thriller based on the book by Michael Connelly. Though courtroom dramas and the crime genre in general isn't really my scene, this certainly held my attention. Mick Hallar (McConaughey) is, shall we say, a gangster's lawyer, on the case of a billionnaire's son who is on trial for beating up a prostitute (Ryan Phillippe). McConaughey is pretty likeable as the shady litigator, and although the film feels quite long it had plenty of kinks and double-bluffs. Plus, his license plate is NT GLTY. Do you think you can beat that?

As always, you can find my film talk and (properly thought-out) reviews over on my film blog, Uncultured Critic. I'll be giving away copies of Blue Valentine on DVD later this week, so watch this space!

Which films have you enjoyed lately?

B3DA #3: A Bookish Interlude

2011-04-03T22:02:00.001+01:00

Penguin has done it again.

Excuse me for a minute while I indulge in a little literary squee, would you?

Though I ought to be sticking to my budget (fiscal and cultural), I was in Fopp yesterday when I came across this new Penguin series: Great Loves. They're beautifully designed bookettes filled with short stories and novellas from 20 authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Katherine Mansfield, Leo Tolstoy, and D.H. Lawrence. I picked up Anaïs Nin's Eros Unbound, which is filled with snapshot short-stories of love. Needless to say, I can't wait to get stuck in. At £5 a pop, they're quite expensive for what you get, but since they're only around £20 for the complete set from Amazon marketplace, I have to say I'm tempted to order the complete set.

To celebrate the wonderful Bette Davis' birthday on Tuesday, I also picked up David Thomson's Great Stars book about the leading lady, and a DVD of All About Eve. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!

As you may have seen, I'm currently in the midst of a 52 Book Challenge. As well as getting cracking on Pride & Prejudice & Sea Monsters for book club, I'm re-reading John Green's Looking for Alaska. Did I mention that I have a massive deadline this Thursday? This is why I need an intellectual budget. Tomorrow, I'll tell you a little bit about the 3 films I watched at the cinema this week.

What are you reading at the moment? Are there any books or films you're currently crushing over?

B3DA #2: Writing types and types of writing

2011-04-02T15:49:00.001+01:00

The theme for today is haikus, and the girls are already going strong. Although brevity is the soul of wit (and lingerie), this is a good time to talk a little bit about the something that has been on my mind: writing.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm a postgraduate student, and I'm currently writing my MLitt in Film Journalism. It's a bit of a tricky course, with a melding of journalism and academic writing. As much as I've slagged it off and pointed mockingly at its shortcomings, I'd definitely do it again. While I was writing an academic essay about film journalism this week, I got to thinking more about the relationship between the two. Having studied Film & Media as an undergrad, I gained a pretty firm grounding in film theory. Moving out of that into journalism, especially in this era of bloggers, comment sections, and the idea that every man's opinion is as valuable as the next, has probably been relatively easy for an internet junkie like me. However, it all warrants some reflection.

This time last year I started my own film blog and started to make serious contributions to other websites and apply for writing jobs. Since then, I've practiced a lot and gained a lot of practical experience, but I still haven't decided what kind of writer I am. Upon completing my first proper academic essay in almost 2 years, Evan (my boyfriend) told me that although he didn't like the argument I was making, academic writing is still my forte. When I consider how much I struggled to get back into the academic mindset, that's a little difficult to swallow. In terms of practice, though, I suppose my hours on academia far outweigh the time I've put into journalism. In the end, I've realised that although I'm a bit lazy when it comes to research and prefer to draw from things I've already "researched" by proxy, academic writing is far more rewarding.

So who am I? Perhaps it has no niche, but I'm a writer who loves to deconstruct "low-brow" entertainment in a fairly "middle-brow" manner. As much as I hate those turns of phrase, I think that comedy, silly films, and ridiculous memes can warrant as much introspection as, say, a Bulgarian Chamber Drama. One of my favourite university lectures was from the late Dr Mark Brownrigg, who deconstructed the music of Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me according to the academic coda he'd spent the semester teaching us. I'd say that's the moment that made me realise that everything that's carefully constructed is worthy of analysis, and those are my favourite things to write about.

In journalistic terms, the closest you can get to publishing academic film writing (without submitting to an obscure journal) is probably Cineaste or Sight & Sound, and it seems they have no room for such silliness. So where does it fit? If I can capture that, you can bet your bottom I'll have found my aca-journalistic nirvana.

--

P.S. Today, I came across the word drabble. A drabble is defined as,"an extremely short work of fiction of exactly one hundred words in length". Drabble Every Day May (DEDM), anyone?

'Til tomorrow!
Nicola