Author Archive
Today…
Word 40: Analgesic
Adams and his colleagues began taking the compound, ibuprofen, when they got headaches. ”We knew it was analgesic, because we were taking it well before it got on the market,” he says.
analgesic (adj) : capable of relieving pain [syn: analgetic, anodyne] (n) : a medicine used in to relieve pain [syn: anodyne, painkiller, pain pill] – source: The Guardian Weekend 26.4.2003, p. 20
Word 39: Rancor
He is, above all else, a totally practical man doing his best. A leader, without rancor, as affable a fellow as you’re apt to meet.
rancor (n) : a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will [syn: resentment, bitterness, gall, rancour] – source: Adventures in the Screen Trade, p. 204
Some notes from Thursday
First up of the proper acts there was Jason John Whitehead who quipped to one heckler ”There’s observational comedy and then there’s observational”. Unfortunately that, to me, seemed to pretty much sum up his own act as well. He had the disadvantage of having been on the telly earlier, so I already knew some of his jokes. But he did have a funny voice, kinda like Jeremy Hotz.
The headliner for the night was Andre Vincent, who seemed to do most improvising of the lot. His stories were pretty standard fare too, and the gross quotient was high. He was nevertheless quite engaging and definitely worth the fiver I had paid to get it. The greatest problem was that his act didn’t really include anything memorable, so unless there’s a radical change of style (which is highly unlike), he will stay where he is now for til the end of time.
Alas, all was not lost even though the headliner wasn’t that good, for the funniest man on the stage that night was undoubtedly Noel James. I mean if you open your act by pressing your eye against the mic and saying ”I’d like to introduce my eye”, how bad can it be? The act verged on the surreal, full of wordplays both daft and smart. The one about his father working as a bootlegging mortician was rather good (”It was illegal. No undertaking on the motorway”) and the musical interlude rather not (”They said do a Beatles song. I said naa… naa nan nan nanananaa [to the tune of Hey Jude]”). I want to see more of this guy!
Incidentally, this explains the mystery of ”Whitehead, James”. See, I had jotted down the names during the night in order to remember who did what, but I couldn’t remember that the following day and therefore presumed it had to be the name of an interesting author. Silly me.
Candy
First: I had to break the piggy bank with a typewriter to get enough money.
Second: I didn’t dare buy candy with all that money (50 marks, I reckon) at one place cos they might suspect something, so I did the shopping at two kiosks.
Third: On one occasion there was so much candy that the clerk couldn’t even tie the bags shut.
Fourth: I put all the candy in one huge bag, sat on it, and pretended to lay eggs ie. candy, which my friends would then go get.
Fifth: We played Afrikan tähti by replacing the tokens with candy.
Six: I never told my parents.
Brain colouring
You decided yet?
This is not a trick question, just a little something I noticed in myself. See, upon looking at the picture I immediately pictured it in blue and white, ie. the colours of the Finnish flag. But actually this picture accompanied the review of a book about English nationality. Of course I knew that all along before I even took a good look at the picture (not to mention that the proportions are all wrong for it to be the Finnish flag), and still… Fascinating.
What’s hot
Word 38: Otiose
As the book progresses, he tries desperately to remember a vocabulary and literacy rendered otiose; but, as all previous achievement slips away, irrevocably, there are signs that the human desire for belief systems, inquiry, iconography and cosmology is ineradicable, and will resume.
otiose (adj) 1: serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being [syn: pointless, superfluous, wasted] 2: producing no result or effect [syn: futile, ineffectual, unavailing] 3: disinclined to work or exertion [syn: faineant, indolent, lazy, slothful, work-shy] – source: The Guardian Review 26.4.2003, p. 23
Changing scenery
It was quite unnerving to notice that several shops had closed down and new ones opened up during the short period of time that had passed. I mean, we basically just arrived to the UK and already things are changing. Very stress-inducing, that.