I'm Climbing Up Those Walls Again

I saw Tilly and the Wall last night in London, in a tiny venue called the Luminaire. Nothing quite as fantastic as a band with a tap-dancer instead of a drummer. Very down to earth - when a mic broke down and was being repaired one of the singers yelled "dance party!" and suddenly techno music started playing.

Check them out.

Governments and media alike love this stuff. Despite the fact that the British authorities clearly were watching these people and brought the hammer down at the appropriate time, we now act as if they are going to try again right now. My favorite quote from today, from CNN news.


"And another tip for people in airports, Paula, don't operate your cel phone within 50 feet of a suspicious object, you could inadvertently set off an explosive device!"


Will we ever realize that every time we flip out like this - force women to sip their own breast milk, hire people to sit in front of a camera and scare the living shit out of viewers, they win.

I was up late the other night and caught Garth Marenghi's Darkplace on the Sci Fi channel. It's just about the funniest show I've seen in a long time, and has a couple of cast members from "The Mighty Boosh."

Sure, most of you have heard Jose Gonzalez's acoustic cover of The Knife's superb electro-pop song "Heartbeats" (remember the Sony BRAVIA commercial with all those bouncing balls?), but have you heard the original track? Shame on you!

How can you refuse the Broken Social Scene after a video like this?

Ok, here's the lowdown on school and work:

A few weeks ago, I took the three toughest exams ever,

Monday: Economic Theory for Development
Tuesday: Development Economics
Wednesday: Quantitative Methods for Development

According to Oxford tradition, we have to wear sub fusc (the black and white getups we are wearing in the pictures in the previous post) and take each three-hour exam in the Examination School, a large building downtown. The examiners are very strict, and the whole process is fairly uncomfortable and adds to the stress. If things weren't bad enough, I left the first exam convinced I had failed (if you fail any of the exams or your thesis, you have to resit everything the following year).

Well it turns out I was completely wrong. Not only did I pass each exam and the essay, but I got a distinction! The Oxford grading system is rather strange, but basically:

<60 ---> fail
>= 60 & < 70 ---> pass
>= 70 ---> distinction

Where you get an overall distinction if your average score (on the three exams and the thesis) is over 70. Out of a class of around 29 students, 6 got distinctions, it's kind of like an A++++. My exam scores were good but not distinction level (68, 66, and 69), but it was my thesis score which pulled up my average (a 76, which is a really really really high mark!).

Just in case you feel like putting yourself to sleep my thesis (10,000 words or less) was on how parents allocate nutrition based on birth order in rural Ethiopia:

Lining up to eat: Birth order and nutritional status in rural Ethiopia

Because of my performance, it was mentioned that, if I wanted to come back to do a D.Phil (PhD) with the department, there would be a place for me. However, the immediate future will be spent doing something quite different:

While we were all nervously waiting for exam results, my friends and I all got calls from the Overseas Development Institute regarding our overseas placements. It turns out that I'll be working in the Budget Division of the Ministry of Finance of Malawi (see the map above for location). My job will be Desk Officer, and the job description covers pretty much anything you could imagine someone working on a budget would do, drafting reports, advising on the priority of spending both internally and externally (with other ministries), helping prepare next years budget as the political (and donor situation) changes, etc etc etc. It's quite different that anything I've ever done, but challenging in a good way and I'm very much looking forward to tackling it.

I couldn't have picked a better country to be sent to than Malawi. From what I've read it's a beautiful country full of very friendly, if desperately poor people. I'll be working in the capital Lilongwe, where I just recently learned I'll have a house with a garden! This of course means everyone is invited to visit me over my two year stint there, there will be plenty of room. If you're curious, google the country (and read beyond the CIA World Fact book)!

I can't begin to express how excited and happy I am. I can't wait to get out there (Mid-september) but until now it's a summer of relaxing, watching the rest of the World Cup and preparing for the journey. I'll be coming back to the US for the month of August, so I'll try and drive around and see as many people as I can (or maybe I should throw a PARTEEEE)

the start


the finish


everything in between

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

It's songs like this that make me miss my car and its stereo system! I give you Wolfmother, with their incredibly kickass song "White Unicorn" (Enter the site and the song will automatically start playing)

Have you been to the carnival?
I would like to see you
There's a whole lot of people there
Who would like to be you

With the white unicorn
Across her shoulder
Made you think that she might have been
Someone who's older, yeah!

And I know it's on your mind
We've been drinking on the wine
That we drank from the serpent's vine
Now we live in another time

We could live together
We could live together

She lives on the borderline
That they call hazel
And the tent that she lives in
Has the name of her lover, yeah!

And I know it's on your mind
We've been drinking on the wine
That we drank from the serpent's vine
Now we live in another time

Sister, can you tell me when the day turns to night?
She left without a word and wondered inside
How many days must I still wonder why
And see her face in every passer by

We could live together
We could live together

And I know it's on your mind
We've been drinking on the wine
That we drank from the serpent's vine
Now we live in another time

We could live together
We could live together
We could live together

If you haven't heard of the Stars, this gem from Montreal, then seek them out. Personally, their brand of pop music blows The Postal Service out of the water. Amy Milan's voice dominates the songs, which, as fellow member Torquil Campbell notes, are all about "death or sex, or both."

Here's a link to their brilliant shoegazing song "Ageless Beauty":

Stars - Ageless Beauty

You can listen to some clips of their songs on their website:
http://www.arts-crafts.ca/stars/



Stars: "Your ex-lover is dead"

God that was strange to see you again
Introduced by a friend of a friend
Smiled and said 'yes I think we've met before'
In that instant it started to pour

Captured a taxi despite all the rain
We drove in silence across Pont Champlain
And all of that time you thought I was sad
I was trying to remember your name

This scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin
You tried to reach deep but you never got in
And now you're outside me you see all the beauty
Repent all your sin

Nothing but time and a face that you'll lose
I chose to feel it and you couldn't choose
I'll write you a postcard, I'll send you the news
From the house down the road from real love

Live through this and you won't look back
Live through this and you won't look back
Live through this and you won't look back

There's one thing I have to say so I'll be brave
You were what I wanted
I gave what I gave
I'm not sorry I met you
I'm not sorry it's over
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save