Bog Blog

I have taken the suggestion for the title of this blog from a random character who is currently camped out in our corridor. His name is Murgatroyd, and he works for Westfield, driving prize cars for those lottery things through the shopping centres. Anyway, he observed that after my fake grass/poo entry, it was "time for another bog blog". I found I couldn't agree more. So I should actually talk bog now... would it be wrong to use this as a segue to the bookshop? ... nobody resigned today so it was not too bad. I think if I worked in a place like that full time, my brain would turn to mush. After a mere day this week, I already feel like I have no interesting thoughts, and nothing interesting to say.
Maybe I should stick to quoting "Age of Love"...

Sorry Felix

I wish i could be witty and cheerful and fun but unfortunately right now I hate my thesis i hate the department I hate the university and I hate the way eating things like croissants and eclairs and ham and mustard sandwiches makes me sick. Things in Felix land are not good at all. Plus I did a day at the bookshop this week - horror of all horrors; it is worse than I remembered. I thought one day a week would be ok but it drove me to drink. All I had was sherry, which I drank in wine sized serves. Admittedly, someone resigned a few hours into my shift, which doesn't happen every day but I am not sure I can take listening to the crap that goes along with ... well everything in that place.
Await with baited breath to find out if Felix will continue to live...

Waiting For Godot...in Lane Cove

I was having a very pleasant lunch in Lane Cove the other day, sitting on a bench minding my own business when a family togetherness excursion/let grandpa out of the nursing home for an hour or so pity drive descended, and decided to sit next to me. I didn't look too closely but I think it was mum, grandpa and adult child. The entire conversation (such that it was) was carried out between the two women so either gramps had given up talking when he lost his final tooth, or he knew from experience that participation in the conversation was pointless, because it was soooo inane.
My favourite bit was when the topic moved to fake grass (we were sitting near some). It went something like this:
Adult child: you'd think the birds would poo on the fake grass, wouldn't you? but they don't!
Mum:mmm
AC: Apparently fake grass is all the rage with retirees at the moment. They fill their ENTIRE homes with it, and then they don't have to mow it or anything.
M: Really?
AC: And it's always green...
M: Well, i suppose with the water restrictions these days it's a good idea.
AC: A lady at my work has it and she says its great. her dog poos on it, and she just cleans it right up.

At this point I got up and pooed on the fake grass.

Barthes: That French dude We Love to Hate

Ok, for those of you who are not familiar with him, Barthes was one of those dense abstract "intellos". Sometimes when I read his stuff I feel like my brain has had a real work out and it's a great achievement when I finally understand what he is getting at. At other times I think it is complete and utter merde.* But I just picked up a book this morning "The Language of Fashion" and what I read made complete sense, AND it was quite interesting. Here is the thread of it:
"For centuries there were as many clothing items as there were social classes. Each social condition had its garment and there was no embarrassment in making an outfit into a veritable sign, sinced the gap
between the classes was itself considered to be natural." (65)
"We know that in the aftermath of the French Revolution men's clothing changed drastically, not only in its form... but also in its spirit: the idea of democracy produced a form of clothing which was, in theory, uniform, no longer subject to the stated requirements of appearances but to those of work and equality." (65)
"So clothing had to cheat, as it were, the theoretical uniformity that the Revolution and Empire had bequeathed it; and within a universal type of clothing, there was now a need to maintain a certain number of formal differences which could exhibit the difference between social classes.
It is here that we see the appearance of a new aesthetic category in clothing... the detail. Since it was no longer possible to change the basic type of clothing for men without affecting the democratic and work ethos, it was the detail...which started to play the distinguishing role in clothing...to highlight the narrowest of social differences." (66)

So the reason I started thinking about all this was that my friend Peta was telling me about a 3 hour meeting held by her colleages to decide what they should wear during a meeting with their chairman on a casual Friday. It's intersting to ponder how important people perceive clothing to be, and what kinds of messages it might be sending that we may or may not be aware of.

In conclusion, I can't break the habit of referencing, so Barthes,Roland "The Language of Fashion", Power, Sydney: 2006

oh, a PS from SP - pronounciation guide... this blog seems to be fixated on Simpsons, and the way to pronounce 'Barthes" is like another famous Simpson; Bart.

*Before a moderator or killjoy typre attempts to remove this word, I would like to point out that in French, it is used the way "break a leg" is used in English. Additionally, and completely aside from that, because it is French it is therefore cultural and thus by definition not rude, crude or insulting in any way.

Makeup Doesn't Talk Back

Well the quote for the day is from America's Next Top Model; "Makeup doesn't talk back". Who said models were stupid?
My other favourite quote came from my favourite part of today - reading a book during breakfast before facing the day. However, in the light of that recent model's gem it just doesn't seem funny any more. But what the hey, I'll talk it up a bit. The book is called "Hello, i'm Special; How Individuality Became The New Conformity" which I picked up on my recent trip to the City Lights bookshop in San Fran (can I just say, you can never have enough hats books or shoes) and the quote, refering to amature internet based wrestling competitions (believe it or not, it makes sense in context) is: "all willing to put life and limb on the line and online"(Niedzviecki, 2006: 7)
But pop culture crap has just won again in the eternal competition for my attention and affection. We are now watching Age of Love with The Poo and that is filling my world right now. Obviously this is the quotes blog, so here are my faves from the young chickies vying for the attention of Australia's greatest export (after Bindi Irwin)
"i have great thoughts" and
"Maybe I am super young and super naive but in my mind i don't know that!"

I weep for the future.

What fresh hell is this?

As Mr O'Neil (Daria's English teacher) says "sometimes boundaries can paradoxically bring us freedom", so I would like to invite fellow time-wasters out there to suggest future topics for FelixforZosia to write about. (ie you will provide the boundaries which will result in my creative/artistic/pointless freedom). In the spirit of this quote, I will start by providing some boundaries of my own; perhaps someone(s) would like to provide opinion(s) on whether or not any of the following may make interesting reading:
1. Why I love lists
2. An open debate on: Which film is better: Center Stage or Save The Last Dance?
3. Words that sound similar but are etymologically unrelated, like 'ginger' and 'gingerly'
4. Whether it is possible to plagiarise a physical movement
5. Hell. Is it blogging, knitting, or other people?

I look forward to your comments

Looking For Pics of Naked Simpson Sisters?

To those of you who are interested, we have experienced some technical difficulties while attempting to post naked photos of Hilton and Simpson sisters. In roughly chronological order, they are as follows:
1. Photos of Maggie and Lisa were rejected by the committe as apparently they are not the right Simpson sisters.
2. Although known in certain circles for my fabulous way with technology in general and the world wide interweb in particular, when I sticky-taped the pictures to my screen, they would not upload. must be something to do with the tower- we have terrible mobile phone reception here you know.
3. Technical difficulties #1 and #2 are fictional. There are no photos.
4. I was busy working on my thesis

Who are Felix and Zosia?

Felix is my thesis and Zosia is my alter ego, alto ergo....
Basically, this blog is a chance for me to procrastinate. So obviously, whenever there are long and detailed posts, anyone who cares to read them (or perhaps just look at all those words for a second before turning to read the latest on a Hilton or Simpson sister) will know that I am not getting very much work done.
I'm trying to keep this first one brief so that I maintain at least a thin veil of scholarly integritity.