Warm greetings to all new followers of this blog (even if usernames suggest that a surprisingly large number of you are heavily into the supply and fitting of high-quality flooring…). I don’t actually know why WordPress should have chosen this week to give me a boost, as it’s actually really terrible timing; the first couple of weeks of term are always a bit hectic, but on top of that I’ve been writing my inaugural lecture (last week) and pursuing a lengthy and increasingly tetchy correspondence about why I don’t seem to be allowed to share the recording outside the university (this week), plus finishing a short-but-nevertheless-quite-substantial-given-everything-else book that ought to have been finished last month (yesterday).
The end result is that it’s been a bit quiet on here, and things may not pick up for a little while yet, until I’ve caught up slightly on the rest of my ‘to do’ list. It’s the usual problem; I love writing stuff for this blog, but it’s not what I’m paid to do (or at least there are many other things that I am more obviously paid to do), and so it has to take second place. But rest assured that the normal service of rants about obscure misquotations of Thucydides, rambling reflections on German culture and random whimsy will be resumed soon – and I feel another music podcast coming on…
Sphinx 
… just nod if you can hear me … is there anyone at home …
Sorry – couldn’t resist 🙂
German culture you say?
That was the reference – but the Scissor Sisters version, of course; I’m not the sort of person who spent his early teens convinced that The Wall was a feat of unparalleled political genius. (Tha5 was a The Final Cut…).
Why the Final Cut???
Although I certainly not hate that album, I definetly think it’s the weakest Pink Floyd Album. You see, while all preceeding albums were a contribution of all four band-members, “The Final Cut” was mostly the work and idea of Roger Waters … and the impression I have from him is that he wanted to make a folk-album. And I don’t really wanna argue about the message here, which seemed to be more clear and focused, but also more one-dimensional than in “The Wall”. It’s more about the artistic style, which was too one-sided and the fact, that if musician talk about politics it’s mostly in a highly moralising manner.