THIS IS NOT AN EXIT

Today I handed my dissertation in:

‘THIS IS NOT AN EXIT’

An exploration of the themes of gender, alienation and consumer culture in Blank Fiction texts American Psycho, Fight Club and Generation X.

A Research Project presented as part of the requirement for the degree of B.A. (Hons) English Literature (Specialist).

For the past few weeks, almost my entire life has existed around that essay. Around American Psycho and Fight Club and Generation X and gender and consumerism and alienation. Knowing that I will never again have to flip through Generation X attempting to find a fitting quote as to why the novel promotes the idea of escape from a consumerist society is the most major relief. But whilst actually having the 51-page essay bound and handed in was terrifying - it signifies a very near end to my course and also a huge chunk of my final mark so if I did poorly it's going to really pull my mark down - it was also one of the most gratifying things I have ever experienced. To have laboured over something and thought about something for so long and to finally have it there, finished, in front of you, was an oddly touching moment for me. Kind of pathetic, I know, but the topic I wrote on was something I really cared for and felt strongly about so it meant a lot to me. Fingers crossed now that the pain and (literally) sleepless nights and unpaid days from work and back ache from carrying sacks of books to and from the library and possible soul-poisoning from staring at my laptop for so many hours on end will all be worth it (and gets me at least a 2:1).

Weekly Review: 8th - 14th November

MUSIC

This week I have been listening almost exclusively to an Irish band that a friend introduced me to called Villagers. This is one of the friends who I am going to visit in Belfast just before Christmas, and she was looking for things for us to do and found that Villagers are doing a gig there on one of the nights that I am staying. She thought I might like them, so she sent me a video and asked if I wanted to go to the gig.

The saying goes that great minds think alike, and both myself and Emma have great minds, so it was fairly obvious that I was going to like them. Little did I realise that I would adore them right from the very first song I heard. Conor O'Brien's voice is beautiful in a way that singer's voices rarely are these days. They are a bit like Mumford & Sons - this is as close a comparison as I can think of - but I have watched videos of them live this week and they are (unlike Mumford) so much heavier and raw live; I cannot wait to see them. I ordered the album off Amazon and it's been on ever since I got it. Every single song is a little pocket of musical magic, so they are my recommendation of the week.

FILM

Years behind, as always, the only 'new' film that I have seen this week is In Bruges, which was released in 2008. I don't know why it takes me so long to see films that I really want to see; I'm a Colin Farrell fan, so this has been on my priority list for, well, two years.

I thought it was great: very funny, lots of Irish accents, Colin Farrell wearing glasses (for sadly only two brief scenes), lots of running around and shoot-outs, and the adorable Clemence Poesy - everything I require in a film, really.

Fun fact that I learnt about this film from IMDB triva: the word 'fuck' and its derivatives are said 126 times in this 107-minute film, an average of 1.18 'fucks' per minute.

BOOKS

Aside from A Prayer For Owen Meany, I also finally read Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk this week. It is a travesty really that I have only just read this, because the film is one of my all time favourites; even though it does feature Helena Bonham Carter, who I cannot stand, it is also Edward Norton's best (I far prefer him to Brad Pitt).
The novel is spectacular, absolutely spectacular. I love Palahniuk's writing style, and his ideas and 'philosophies' are mind blowing. Reading the book, you can understand the film so much better, and you can see how good an adaptation the film is (ven though the end is quite different). If you haven't read this yet, you definitely should. It's a fairly perfect book. I really want to go and quit my job now.