Autumnsong: Science Officer's Personal Log | Hilary term, week 0 (Sunday 8/Jan

Week zero is a thing at Oxford. Not just at Michaelmas, but every term. Undergraduates have collections, which are exams meant to test knowledge from the previous term and from work done during the break, which of course means the college is starting to feel crowded again. I was so surprised when I went to Jesus Library - my beloved Sanctuary for my first Christmas season away from home - only to find out it was once again crowded and noisy. It was a little heartbreaking, I'm not going to lie.

My study/work spot at the Taylorian

As a result, I turned to the Taylorian, one of my favourite Libraries in town. The main reading room is beautiful, with a large chandelier, a fireplace, and tall wooden shelves, heavy with books from floor to ceiling. It has a gallery, and that's my favourite spot, at one of the tables overlooking the columns of the Ashmolean Museum. Now that I'm thinking, my favourite spot at Jesus' library is also at the upper gallery of the upper library. I guess I have a thing for high places. Anyway, I was working on Bioinformatics this week, trying to learn a new programming language, and I believe I did some good progress. Fitting I would say, to study languages - even computer languages - at the Taylor institution library.

In the Spirit of finding new places to work, I sort of found a new writing spot. A quiet donnut shop behind Jesus college, much quieter than the coffee shops at High street - or even at Cornmarket street for that matter, and much nicer for writing. I spent a couple of hours there on Monday, once I was finished with work, and did some progress in chapter 8. And, on Wednesday night I went to the Royal Blenhein with a couple of friends from Trek Soc, for a pub quiz, a nice little British tradition. We did not get the last place which was an accomplishment, considering our disastrous performance in the musical round.

The Royal Bleheim

On Thursday I had choir practice. I wasn't expecting that. I wasn't expecting any sort of formal activity before next week but actually, the term starts on Sunday and therefore, we have Evensong tomorrow! It was nice getting the maestro's email reminding us all of this Thursday's practice because he gave us an overview of things to come in the next few weeks and there is a lot of cool stuff to look forward to. I was starting to feel a little blue, thinking that with Christmas and all last term, we had already done the coolest things we were going to do all year with the choir, but as it turns out there's a lot of cool stuff happening in the next few weeks, including a service in Welsh and the Turl Street Arts Festival. As the song says, it seems the best is yet to come.

First book of the year...

This week I finished reading "The Secret History", by Donna Tartt. I have been curious about this book for a while which is why it is one of the few books I brought with me on the plane, and it seemed a good candidate for the first book of the year. That said, I don't quite know how to feel about it. The prose was amazing but the ending... The ending left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The thing deserves a post of its own if I ever get around to writing it, but I wanted to say that much. Anyway... The first book of the year. Finally, I might add. I have been reading this in conjunction with Orlando, by Virginia Wolf, but that one will take me a little longer to finish.

Something else I did this week was go out shopping. That is always exhausting. I have been on a personal quest to find a style with which I can express myself through fashion. It's difficult. I am extremely bad at shopping. But I did manage to find a couple of items which will enhance my wardrobe and that in itself is a success. Let's leave it at that for now.

I was working at the Taylorian until closing time on Tuesday. This is what the place looks like, when everyone else is gone...

The best part of my week was undoubtedly watching Tarr at the Westgate mall on Friday night. I have been looking forward to this movie for such a long time and as much as I enjoyed it, I am sure I am only beginning to peel the first of many layers in this story. The movie follows Lydia Tarr, the first female conductor of a major Berlim Orchestra, as she is about to conduct Mahler's 5th symphony. The last of Mahler's 9 symphonies that she conducted with this Orchestra, making her the first to accomplish such a thing with the same Orchestra. It's a big moment. And then, of course, stuff about her past comes out and threatens to destroy her life like a castle of cards.

Nothing like a night at the movies...

Tarr is a cancellation story. But I have to say, I didn't really analyze - or perhaps even understand - all there is to this side of the movie. No. My first response to the movie was much more personal. How could it not be, when a cellist plays such a big role in it, playing the piece that is my number one absolute favourite piece in the cello repertoire? But it was the lines of the protagonist that captured my heart. The way she speaks about having nothing to complain about in terms of being a woman in a man's world, for instance, reflects thoughts that first came to me when I went to that Histories of Women exhibition at MASP a few years ago. Thoughts I didn't have the words - or perhaps the clarity - to express, certainly not as eloquently as she did. And then there's the Julliard scene. The leaked scene that made me want to watch the movie in the first place, the ten-minute long one-take-long scene that embodies all of my disappointments with my own generation. It was beautiful.

The movie is fantastic. Great direction. Great Script. If I had my way, it would win best picture. But there is such a thing as a "best-picture-movie" and what that thing is was defined a few decades ago... Tarr is... something else. Something more. Still, I am rooting for it. And I will definitely watch it again...