A to the K

I had been putting it off. I had made excuses for many years. It would be too time consuming, you would give up halfway through, it’s intellectually out of your league. Well the excuses have stopped. I have undertaken my first Russian classic, namely Anna Karenina.

When in travelling Mark managed to read Crime and Punishment in its entirety, while I managed eighty pages of whatever book I was reading at the time. I can’t even remember. I used to be a big reader but then I went to university. Despite not reading as much as I should have done, I wanted to get away from books in my free time. Uncultured bum. Since leaving I have rediscovered reading and always have a book on the go. However a Russian classic was still a daunting prospect.

I can’t deny that it has been time consuming. It feels as if I have been reading it for longer than the six weeks I have been. I have really enjoyed it so far; I’m still a hundred or pages so far from finishing. I recently read the William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying. I confess to finding it an uphill battle. The first section written from the point of view from the mentally child in particular left me scratching my head. Though I came round to it the end, it was a slog. Anna Karenia doesn’t feel like that. I have even enjoyed the long sections when the story is completely secondry to Tolstoy giving his opinion on the plight of the Russian worker, the church or the westernization of Russian agriculture under the guise of one of his characters. There is so much covered it feels like you need all 800 pages.

Today my students had a three hour exam, I read the book for the whole time and didn’t tire of it all. The main plot is Anna Karenina meeting the young, proud, play boy Count Vronsky. She falls in love and leaves her stifled, duty bound husband for him and polite society is scandalised. She is an outcast. She has a child with Vronsky but doesn’t feel for her as she does for her son with her original husband. As the book goes on she begins to fear Vronsky has stopped loving her and is only with her out of a sense of duty. There is also Levin who is just as important as Anna. He is an intellectual working on a book of the future of Russian agriculture. He is in love with a woman called Kitty who unfortunately in love with the aforementioned Vronsky. She rejects a marriage proposal from Levin on the basis that she expects a proposal from Vronsky but he was just being a shameless hussy. Levin and Kitty do reconcile and get married. There is a lot more in between, children, death, religion, Russian history and a splash of politics. Lots of people having deep conversation over dinner, lots of sudden realisations and a lot of changes of heart.

Anna is a brave and strong character. She sneaks into her former husband’s house to give birthday presents to her son, she goes to the theatre even though she knows it will expose her to the disapproving members of high society, she does what she wants. You do feel bad for her as her brother is a shameless cheat and no one apart from his long suffering wife thinks any worse of him. However, for me my favourite character is Levin. He is a bit of loner who doesn’t fit in anywhere but is a genuine individual and a good person. He is crushed when Kitty rejects him but the description of him describing his emotions when she comes back to him are my favourite section of the book. He is an intellectual and doesn’t follow other’s opinions, he is brave enough to argue his own view.

I am nearing the end but still have a hundred pages or so to go, though a student of mine today did think it would be helpful to save me the effort and tell me what happens to Anna in the end. Oh I thought it was common knowledge? Yes, maybe it is to people without the football manager habit I have developed. He was very apologetic though I will be bearing it in end when I come to mark his exam.

I have really enjoyed and the best part is getting to leave it lying on coffee tables. Oh that? That’s just my copy of Anna Karenina. I have been accused of dog earring the thing and gradually moving the book mark back but I can assure you I have been reading it! What do people think of me? Actually I better not ask.

Gary Speed

It’s fair to say footballers do not have the best of reputations. It would also be fair to say that a lot them deserve it. Lots, however, do not. Lots of players are not captured on film falling out of a car, lots of players aren’t cheating on their wife and lots of players are not brawling in a Tiger Tiger in Reading. Gary Speed was one of the good guys. He was an excellent and underrated player. He may not have had the glamour of some of the Premier League’s more exotic imports but he was better than most of them.

I have had a stressful week. I have been running around, no time to do anything that isn’t grammar related. I have been a little under the weather and I have been thinking about what I could write here. Then something like today’s awful news comes along and you realise how unimportant it all is. Gary Speed at only 42 is dead, he appears to have hung himself. It puts all those kid reports I have to write, all those hours on the metro and all those bratty kids thoroughly into perspective. It’s all really unimportant.

My first placed Charlton play second place Huddersfield tomorrow and I have been nervous. Fretting about the potential result and what it could mean. In the end it doesn’t really mean anything. In 2009 German goalkeeper Robert Enke killed himself, in the last few days Stan Collymore has gone public with his depression. Collymore said many don’t feel comfortable talking about things such as mental health in the laddy bantering culture of football, both in terms of football clubs and football more generally. It gets ignored, pushed to one side. If one good thing can come of all this it’s that finally the taboo may be broken and football can open up.

RIP Gary Speed

Inglaterra vs España

I have to confess that I wasn’t looking forward to it; I rarely do with England these days. It was a pleasant surprise. It doesn’t mean England have become world beaters over night, it doesn’t mean we are European champions elect and Spain remain the superior team but England still deserve credit. It has ensured that I will be serving some serious humble pie in class, despite agreeing with them all week.

It was a classic job. When you play a better team, especially a team that plays possession football like Spain, its often Plan A to sit back, let them have the ball and try and hit them on the break or from a set piece. That’s just what we did. Spain had much more of the ball but they always do. Spain still passed the ball better but then they pass the ball better than everyone. Spain still created more chances but we scored ours. It’s something that has always frustrated me when talking about who deserves to win. Normally the better attacking team is seen as more deserving but why are the better defenders deemed undeserving? It comes from Charlton. On the rare occasions we beat teams from the top 4 we often got called lucky. We may not have had as much of the ball but we defended well and kept you out. That is not undeserving, that is getting the job done. It may not been pretty, the Spanish press has been very quick to point that out, but it worked. I just hope we don’t fool ourselves or that the tabloids go into hyper drive, Charlton have beaten top four teams but at the end of the year they still finished top four and we did not. For one night only however we can be satisfied with a job well done.

As previously mentioned Spain are still the better team. However, young players like Jack Wilshire, Tom Cleverly, Ashley Young, Danny Welbeck, Kyle Walker, Jack Rodwell, Chris Smalling and Adam Johnson are all promising, though it’s hard to see them as world beaters. It is great that the younger ones are getting more game time. This generation may still suffer from the same old problems. We still need to focus on kids when they are younger rather than in their late teens, we still need to stop young players playing on full size pitches and we still need to pass the ball better. How long have we been saying that?

Spain are a good example for England. For a long time England and Spain were seen as the two great under achievers of international football. With Spain’s recent success we are the sole inheritors of that title. I recently read a book called ‘Why England Lose.’ It’s a mathematical attempt to see if there is truth in certain accepted football opinions. I’m an exciting guy, what can I say? It made the argument that England actually achieve more or less what you would expect. Looking at various factors such as population or money they said England do reasonably. There is some truth to it on the world stage but our terrible record in European Championships is surely harder to explain away. Spain show with careful planning, sensible investment and a focus on youth that we can be a success. What does Spain have on a fundamental level that England does not? Their population is smaller and, with the exception of the top two, there is less money in their league. England can be a success but one good night does change the fact that we are still a long way off.

Computers and Blues

From time to time in the cafeteria or staff room when we are trying to avoid real work someone may mention a computer game they are playing and you can visibly see people smirk or even roll their eyes. I think this is grossly unfair and I’m here to offer a defence of the humble computer game.

Games have come such a long way. Buried in my wardrobe at home is an old Super Nintendo. I loved that console when I was a kid and I am not ashamed to say there are times when it still gets dusted down and brought back into the daylight. Then the games predominantly involved jumping on turtles’ heads but it was its simplicity that made it so much fun. It also made it infinitely frustrating, there were a lot of times when I hurled a controller or wanted to close mt. It looks so easy, why can’t I do it?!? The sheer contempt I felt for myself if I slipped off a ledge, the bitter disappointment of making it to the end of the level only to be hit by a rogue fireball. Why does the fire breathing dragon even want the Princess? Why won’t she learn her lesson and be a lot more careful? These ar questions that plague my still.

But computer games have come a long way since. Take a game like Grand Theft Auto. The time it takes to complete the game allows a serious and complex plot to develop, in a way that let’s the player actually influence the events. My favourite game is a game called Fallout. You can play that game again and again as there are so many different ways for it all to unfold. Its not decided, you drive the story. At the end of Grand Theft Auto 4 when you are rushing to either collect your lady or a bag of cash it depends on what YOU want, the money, obviously. When you include new consoles like the Wii or the Kinect which can actually physically involve you, it gives you so many options. The Wii and Kinect are still very new, imagine what they will be able to do in a few years.

That is one of the biggest points to all of this. When you see how far games have developed, imagine what they will be able to do. I’m currently playing LA Noire. A detective story when you have to search for clues and interview people. What is so impressive about it is the faces of the people you talk to. Often characters in game faces are still, just in the same position constantly, a strange mask as if they had too much botox, like Leslie Ash. Whereas, in LA Noire the character’s face moves giving clues for the player to try and pick up on. Eyes narrow, cheeks flinch, lips wobble. The technology actually captures actors giving a performance. It feels like a film you are a part of.

My favourite thing about games is that they are progressing, developing and aiming to get better all the time. Just look how good graphics are now, some games look better than real life. Or in Gravesend they do at least. Compare that to films. They are making sequel after sequel. Pirates of the Caribbean, Saw, Paranormal Activity and can anyone tell me who on earth needed three Meet the Parent’s films? If they aren’t making sequels they are remaking old films, even Footloose is back for a second time. No one has ever thought, you know what the world needs? Another Footloose. Games are pushing themselves, getting better, films are trying to pretend 3D is new and something that anyone is bothered about. It’s got to the stage now when I ask people how the film they went to see was last night and they answer shit, but that’s alright, it’s Ben Stiller! They knew before they went in that it would be formulaic nonsense and are happy to settle.  There are so few films these days that I actually want to go out and see when they are released, the same is not true of computer games.

A friend of mine spoke about a game he was playing and was greeted by rolling eyes. What a childish waste of time but when someone who said they had spent the weekend in their underwear watching a TV series, everyone said how lovely it sounded. It does sound lovely, but why is considered better than a few hours plugged into an xbox?

Computer games deserve some serious recognition for all they have achieved. They are a huge business now that can compete with both the music and film industry. So next time someone scorns at someone talking games, ask them what they have been doing. If you get an answer that I got not long back, re-watching Sex and the City, feel free to roll your eyes.

http://www.rockstargames.com/videos/embed/8001

The Bulldog Spirit

I was just reading on the Guardian, well of course darlings, that the SNP are building a ‘war chest’ (that’s a saying I really enjoy) for their forthcoming independence referendum. We have quite a few Scots at IH and they are deliberating which way they might go. This strikes me as pretty amazing. It is a great reminder how lucky we are, they get a say on such a fundamental issue.

What I have found more interesting has been the reaction of some of the English guys. Admittedly a lot don’t care. However, quite a few have become really defensive. They are like the boyfriend that becomes aware that his girlfriend might leave them, they have taken it personally. They seem to go through stages, the first asking how Scotland could possibly want to leave. Surely, we are better together. Then they get a little a bit annoyed. What’s wrong with us?? Don’t they recognise all that we have achieved together? It’s an insult! Then it moves into my favourite stage; the fine, go, see if I care, you’ll never manage without us, stage. This has led a few guys to take an active interest in North Sea oil reserves. I don’t really know how I would feel about it. I am not a particularly a patriot. Though saying that, being away has meant that I notice the things I take for granted about home, there’s a lot to be said for it. I have also never been to Scotland, or Wales for that matter, which is something quite a few people find ridiculous, he’s lived in Romania but never been to Wales. That in a way is the point. I’m so used to Scotland and Wales; they are so familiar that I don’t feel the need to visit. If that was taken away it would be very strange, if it was just England. Of course, Scotland wouldn’t disappear and being neighbours and with all the links, it’s not like they will become a strange mysterious nation, but it would still be very strange. The decision is Scotland’s, they will vote but yet we English will have our nationality changed to. I am comfortable being English, I refer to myself as English, but it would be very odd to lose being British. English people are far more likely to refer to themselves as British than either the Scottish or Welsh. A lot of the rest of the world, America for example, only see us as British. All shared that shared history!

As said, Scotland decides and I’m sure they really don’t care about the English opinion, but I think if I was them my reason to stay would be more based in the every day. Free university, free prescriptions, a vote in London which cannot be reciprocated, seems to me they don’t get a bad deal. Could they afford it by themselves? I don’t know but it is what keeps the majority of Basques content to be in Spain, they get a whole lot of concessions from the Spanish government they probably couldn’t have if independent. Maybe I’m not romantic enough.

I don’t pretend to know what way it will go, though the majority of what I have read seem to think the result will be no to independence, and decision is Scotland’s but I’m really interesed to see what happens. If they do go I could see the English collapsing into a jilted sense of self loathing. As a country we do seem unable to find a middle ground between flag waving and self hatred.

It’s all very complicated and this doesn’t even consider Northern Ireland. Maybe the Spanish will take me, I don’t think I could stand the volume.

Don’t You Know Who I Think I am?

Hello, you have found your way to Blog Version 2.0

I started writing a blog when I moved to Romania and I really wasn’t expecting to still be writing it three years later.  I enjoy writing it, always have, but I think we can go one better. I started writing the blog as lots of people were interested in Romania. It’s not a place that a lot of people, not least myself, know very much about. I loved writing about Martisor, the never ending strangeness of Romanian music and the peculiarities that were a part of everyday life. Since then the blog has mainly acted as a journal, as I said I think we can go one better.

Let’s try and have a conversation.

Rather than me writing about whatever I’m doing, or more accurately not doing, let’s try and broaden it out. I may be being over ambitious and more than a little pretentious but I’m willing to risk it. The internet allows all us of us to pour out whatever is on our minds at any given moment for better and for worse. I’ll do my best to ensure this is as close to the better as I can manage. Will I manage? Let’s find out.