Novelty Music

I've never really had any real consistency to the music I like. It's been largely mainstream, but otherwise has spanned genres from Heavy Metal to Celtic Folk Rock (or wherever Great Big Sea fits in), punk, dance, electronica and so forth. However, a friend of mine once pointed out that there was one theme: I like novelty music.

What does this mean? Well, I'm a big Weird Al Yankovic fan, for starters, and-more recently-Richard Cheese. But beyond that, I have a strange and (even to me) inexplicable draw to covers of songs. I have dozens of tracks on my iPod that are techno remixes of something that was never designed to be an electronic song (Beethoven's 5th, The theme song to Titanic, Phantom of the Opera, etc.) and a variety of punk covers (including Mrs. Robinson, Hotel California, Barbie Girl, Baby Got Back and so forth). One of my top-rated songs is a bluegrass/country/folk-rock cover of Snoop Dogg's Gin And Juice (really).

I'm not really sure why I like these so much-I'll often prefer the covers to the original tracks. I think that it's because I find it fascinating to see how someone can take a work of art and reinterpret it to something wholly different, yet referential to that original. Plus, if there's a song that I don't really like (e.g. Gin And Juice), I may well like the genre into which it's been interpreted. I just think it's a cool way to do things.

Anyway, needless to say, I am all but addicted to this. And I feel the need to share its wonderment.

First year report, new family member and the first debate tournament

So, there are three major events that have taken place since I last posted.

First News
The first is my progression to my second year, and thus my official entrance into my Ph.D. program. In the UK, the way it works (at least for many departments, including my own) is that when you're admitted into a Ph.D. program you technically start out in a Master's program (M.Phil). After your first year, you do a transfer report (detailing what progress you've made in the past year, and your plans for future work) and an oral defense.

I did this in the middle of September. My report was a monster of a report (90 pages, 20,000+ words), but was well-received, as was my oral defense. So, all in all, it went very well. There are definitely some areas in which I need serious work, but I'm getting there. However, this means that I really have to bear down, now. I was able to scrape by with having done quite little in my first year; the same sense of slackerdom won't fly this year. I realise the irony of saying this on my blog when I'm supposed to be working, but there you have it.

The point is that I'm very excited because I'm now officially a Ph.D. student (now that the fancy new online registration system has stopped screwing up so massively) and, once I get my funding issues with the system solved, will be well and truly into my second year. I've booked in some time this Wednesday on our fancy-pants £1million FIB (focused ion beam) machine, so I get to try and drill some itty-bitty holes into the oxide layers on my sample. Very cool.

Second News
The second piece of news is that I'm now a first cousin, once removed. My cousin Ben, in cooperation with his lovely wife Jutta, has managed to reproduce. Jason Connor St. John was born on September 23rd (about ten days early, if I recall), and everyone seems to be healthy, happy and doing well (though I suspect that by this point, Ben and Jutta's sleep deprivation has reached epic levels). While I'm not a proponent of me having kids, I know this is something to which they've been looking forward for some time, so it's great to hear that they've gone and done it. Sort of ruined my plans to go visit them for Oktoberfest, since apparently having a drunk and full-of-sausage university student passed out on your floor isn't high on the list of priorities for most 9-months-pregnant ladies or brand new mothers. Yeesh, some people, eh?

Third and final (for now) news
We went to the first debating tournament of the year this past weekend. President's cup, hosted by University College London is a novice-only tournament, and is always the first tournament of the year. Manchester sent a big contingent this year-6 teams, and as many judges. We competed, we partied, we had a great time. And the novices we sent kicked serious ass! We had five teams come first in the first round (each debate has four teams, so any team can come from first to fourth), we had two teams make it to the semi-finals (Catriona/Mady and Chellsie/Hannah), and one of those two (Chellsie/Hannah) made it to the finals. Mere words cannot express the pride we feel for these guys. We watched the semis and finals and they were fantastic. Our novices really came through, and I cannot wait to see them continue this trend going forward. The MDU's legacy is safe and secure in the hands of these indominable debaters. Well done, all, you've blown us all away.