Bitter? Me? No idea what you’re talking about…

OK… ‘teachable moments’… what’s up with that? It’s a line from Batman – Bruce Wayne: The Road Home Issue #3 Batgirl: Stephanie Brown in which Stephanie, after a close call fighting a mysterious thief in a high-tech armoured suit that imitates the powers of the primary members of the Justice League, defends her reckless charge into the fray in a discussion with Oracle (Barbara Gordon – yes, the Commissioner’s daughter if you’ve seen the films – and first Batgirl) by pointing out that she survived, and the fight was a ‘teachable moment’ – a spontaneous event that can be used as a learning experience.

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This will be a slightly shorter Miscellany, as most of my time is being taken up by thesis (draft chapter three due Wednesday, 1,500 left and something halfway between writers’ block and a complete and utter inability to focus), guru duties (ah lads, ye disappointed me. No-one nommed one particular track I was hoping for!) and… other stuff (I swear to god Facebook chat crashed on me last night…).

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Take this as a sign of my ability to laugh at my own expense…

OK… so… I’m back! I didn’t fulfill my promise to be active on the game every day bar Saturday, but that’s because Saturday really took it out of me! Before that, I was sick and trying to write thesis stuff, so Miscellanies didn’t happen…

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So normal service resumes after last week’s illness, and boy do I have a lot to get through! And yes, I’m afraid this does involve Fall Out Boy…

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So, last week I started reading a webcomic called Questionable Content. It’s brilliant, like a sitcom for hipsters and music nerds… This has inspired this week’s miscellany, a reflection on my current reading and listening material, because I want to talk about how great some of this stuff is.

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…So yeah, that title is inspired by the background-change here on the ‘Spill

Sorry this is a little late, I’ve spent all day writing a chapter of my thesis (and it’s still only half-done!)

I spent all day working because I didn’t work on Saturday or Sunday (despite my best efforts). There is a reason for this, and it has nothing to do with Paddy’s Day, but it will be the subject of my next Miscellany…

Anyway, a long, long, time ago in the comments on a ‘Spill post far, far away, I promised Chris that I would do a post on the music my parents got me into, so here goes…

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…The most appropriate song I could find on short notice…

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We had our first sunny days of 2013 over the last week. In fact, the first one was last Monday, as I sat here discussing Wrock (in my defence, it was too cold to spend long outside!) I always love sunny days. I don’t know whether it’s some strange form of Seasonal Affective Disorder or the by-product of spending my early childhood on the south coast of England, but I feel different when the sun shines. Those are days when I’m more likely to find whatever I’m reading or listening to emotionally-affecting. As a result of this, the careful creation of summer playlists is always a must…

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Before I begin, I’d like to take a moment to comment on the RR discussion thread I started a few days ago. I think a post-deadline discussion of RR’s future on the blog is an excellent idea, and hopefully it’ll generate some discussion. Now, on with the show…

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So, after last week’s rather heavy topic, here’s the post I had initially intended to do in Week Two…

I recently reread two books I last read in my mid teens, Magician and A Darkness at Sethanon (both by Raymond E. Feist). They are respectively the first and third books in Feist’s bestselling Riftwar Saga, the trilogy that launched his Riftwar Cycle of 20-odd high fantasy novels, which will conclude with the publication of Jimmy and the Crawler and Magician’s End this year.

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When I started this series I said that I would write about whatever took my fancy each week. That wasn’t entirely true. By the time I had my first post finished, I had planned out my topics for the following two weeks. By the time week two rolled around, however, the universe (or rather that accretion of atoms collectively known as Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III) interfered in this best-laid of plans. I briefly considered continuing the schedule as if there had been no interruption (i.e., post week two’s topic this week) but a series of coincidences have encouraged me to do the original week three topic in week three and leave the week two topic until next week (assuming nothing else happens along the way!)

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I had my piece for this week all planned out, and I’ll write it next week, because current events in the music world have caught my interest, and they’re VERY EXCITING!

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After much deliberation late last year, I’ve decided to start a series of posts here on the ‘Spill. Inspired in part by Philip King’s (he of Scullion fame) weekly show on RTÉ Radio 1, South Wind Blows, I’m going to take anyone who decides to follow the series on a rambling journey through whatever the hell is interesting me at the moment. This could be music, books, films, life, interestingly-shaped clouds…

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