Sampling Error

Just watched the end of Channel 4's 'The Hundred Greatest Albums'. What is your guess for the all time No. 1 album ? Well, whatever your guess, it's wrong. According to whoever voted, it is 'Ok Computer' by Radiohead. Surely, surely this must be some kind of sampling error. WTF are Radiohead ??? They aren't even in the iTMS! Ok, I've heard of the band, seems familiar. And I'm sure they're pretty good, have a ton of fans and all. But the No. 1 album of all time ?? You cannot be serious! (sorry, John.. ;-). Are they short of cash and somehow got to the heads at Ch. 4 ? Did they come in at number 7 and someone couldn't read some other blokes handwriting ? Suure, they're better than U2 with Joshua Tree (nr. 2), a hotter sell than anything Madonna ever did (well, ok, maybe..), and so much more influential than 'Dark Side of the Moon', of course ! What was I thinking ?!

The really weird thing is, that up until that moment, it sort of made sense. Sgt. Peppers was 7th (or so), Nirvana with Nevermind number three. Well, I can see that. That's a seriously cool album. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium, Come As You Are... Madonna was somewhere up there, number 5 or 6. She's made great music, no question. Fine, put her in the top ten, I guess most people can agree to that. Oasis had a to ten album (so this is a british channel - sue them :). At least they weren't interviewing Liam Gallagher.. Guns n' Roses were up there somehow (on the merit that we can all sing the chorus to 'Paradise City'... geez..!) number nine, I think. All big guys (or girls). Automatic for the People landed just outside the top ten. Michael Stipe was cool and sweet as ever. He loves 'Man on the Moon', great song. He said he was hanging out with Curt Cobain a lot and Curt always used to put a lot of 'yeah's' in his songs. So Michael Stipe wanted to sing a song with more 'yeah's' in it than any song Curt had written. He managed.. ! 56, it said :)

I can get most of this. But what fluke of statistics put 'Ok computer' ahead of all these fantastic, great, heartwarming, soulsearching, earthshattering collections of songs ?? I hope I'm not as stumped by the result of the next big poll, on May 5th...

Don't Mention the War!

Firstly, I need to say why I've been so reticient for the last days. This nasty flu had me firmly in its grip for about a week. It felt like a total waste of time, especially since I've got a lot to do and I don't want to hang in bed all day. But there you are... some nastly little viral strain got the better of me.

On Wednesday I was in town for the first time again, in the evening. We met friends and went to see 'The Downfall', which really was a worthwhile movie. It didn't grip me as strongly as 'Schindler's List' did, years ago (gee, that was 1993!). I saw that movie in Berlin, for some reason. I was obviously a lot younger, 21. But after coming out of the cinema those years ago, I was aghast. I was the same nationality as that insane man Goeth, and my ID card bore the word 'Deutsch', the same word that was written across the entrance to Schindlers factory, the 'Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik'. It was frightening, gripping and full of a sense of real horror. All contrasted with the amazing humanity of some of the protagonists, mainly of course Itzhak Stern, played so magnificiently by Ben Kingsley.

Now, of course, everyone has seen Schindler's List and I need not say much about that film. 'The Downfall' was quite different. The people were a lot closer. Closer to the camera, for one. Closer to each other, locked up for days, weeks, in that bunker. The closeness of warmth and insanity, as seen in the eyes and the words of Bruno Ganz, portraying Hitler.

What also struck me is how long it took German cinema to make such a movie. Daring to make a movie about how everything ended, and thus showing how history got rid of this nightmare of a regime, must be a bit like finally laying it to rest. Maybe those were the apprehensions previously. Be that as it may, one of the faces I remember most vividly is that of Christian Berkel playing the doctor Ernst-Günter Schenck. The professor, who refuses to be evacuated right at the beginning of the film, and in the end escorts Traudl Junge out of the bunker. He seemed to not quite understand what was going on, all the while acting as if he knew exactly what was to be done. This kind of incredulous amazement seemed most appropriate for that particular time. This massivley cruel and violent structure is tumbling down right before his very eyes, and he has to cope, find his way through it. That was fascinating.

Then, just a few weeks ago, I walked past the block of flats that stands next to the patch of grass at the Wilhelmstraße, in Berlin Mitte. There is no sign, no memorial. It is, though, very close to the large Holocaust Memorial which is being finished right now just south of the Brandenburger Tor. This is of course the site of the bunker. It is eerily devoid of mention. It seems this is still a place we'd rather not look at.

Gaps

Everyone is familiar with the gaps to be minded on the London tube. I've just encountered some quite different ones. Because I am currently seeking for a job, I have the ability to claim for various kinds of benefits. Nice - just that I don't qualify for any of the major programmes, Job Seekers allowance et al. Still, the government is willing to come up for my National Insurance contributions (which otherwise would just go unpaid), and I'm glad they do. To this end, I need to sign up every two weeks, which means going to the Job Centre and sitting down at a desk for a brief period of time. I am happy to oblige.

Today was slightly different. After thirteen weeks (why thirteen?) you are scheduled for a slightly longer interview. The curious thing is, I found out today, the Job Centre offers a number of training programmes (of which I hadn't been previously informed) that you are eligible for up to thirteen weeks after your last employment. So people who show up to their thirteen week interview can be told that they are not eligible for these wonderful course (if they are that..), because they have been unemployed for longer than thirteen weeks. If that isn't a feat of just in time scheduling. It appears like an episode from a Douglas Adams novel. Please make sure that you arrive on time, so that we can tell you that you are too late.

And it continues. The next courses are available to those who are unemployed for longer than 12 months. I know this makes perfect sense to someone well trained in bureaucracy. And I perfectly accept that training resources are scarce and need to be allocated appropriately. Nonetheless, it's an interesting situation to be in. Oh, sorry, you've been unemployed for too long. Oh, sorry, you haven't been unemployed long enough. Everyone smiles, and agrees that these gaps are regrettable. Being told both these things on the same day is odd. Then why did you ask me to come here today ? I ask myself. In my mind, the nice clerk at the other side of the desk answers: Yes, we get these questions very often. We haven't yet been able ascertain the exact reason for this common enquiry...

Peeves - Pet and Otherwise

On Friday, Karen and I had lunch with our closest friends here in Cambridge. They are a true delight to be with. And while talking about this that and the other, I noticed something that had always annoyed me greatly with other people I know. Often, while talking to some of my friends, I will start some little story about a weird or amusing occurence. Just any old story that happened to me recently, and is slightly worth telling. Then, at the end of it, someone else will start another story with the interminably annoying words: "Yes, but it was even better when I...." or "Yes, but the best thing was when I...." or something to that extent. It has always bugged the hell out of me. They probably don't even realise what they are saying, but why on earth is their story even better, let alone the best ?? Just tell your story, do your spiel, go ahead and say it... just don't put yourself above anyone else here! I find this incredibly rude, because it's a subtle and superfluous way to blow ones own horn. It happens so often with a certain bunch of my friends, that the expectation of their reaction is really off-putting.

How different things can be with a little bit of consideration. With these particular friends, things are totally different. I have never heard any of them introduce their remarks with such superlatives. It's just not necessary, and becomes so boring when it is completely predictable. Certain people just do it all the time, regardless of how good, funny or obtuse their little thing actually is.

Plus, I don't know how to react to this. What do I say ? Let them finish, and then bluntly say that it wasn't the funniest thing ever after all ? Counterstrike, by saying something else that is even better than the best story on earth, ever ? I'd do that, but I'm not twelve anymore. Be ironic, laughing and saying that yes, this really was the best story I've ever heard, by far and away and without a shadow of doubt, funnier than all of Blackadder, Chris Rock and Crazyapplerumors put together, squeezed through a funny-extractor cloth and distilled in a single drop of ultra-extreme funnyness. Your story really was the best. Thing. Ever.
:)