Links and happenings

Busy times for yours truly over the last two weeks. Here is a list of things that I've been doing, plus one or two items that I spotted on ye olde internet.

1) I moved apartments! More or less the same size as our old place, but more comfortable and modern. Here is a little photo taken from the (car-free) route that I cycle to school everyday. Not too shabby, eh?

2) I had the pleasure of acting as moderator for the inaugural TEDxBergen conference. (My school has actually been hosting TEDx events for a while, but they've now expanded to include the other educational institutions in the city.) The speakers were all very interesting, with two or three in particular being excellent. I believe the video(s) for the event will be made available shortly, so I'll link to them then.

3) I gave a lecture on shale gas (and fracking) to the master's class in Petroleum Economics this week. My slides are here!

4) On a more prestigious note, two Nobel laureates recently gave lectures at my school. (i) As I pointed out on Twitter, Chris Sims is sounding an awful lot like an MMTer /Post-Keynesian lately. (ii) Finn Kydland makes a provocative claim that we are more resilient to energy price hikes today than we were in the past. His argument is that the adverse economic effects of the 1970s' oil shocks largely manifested themselves as inefficient tax rises due to the monetary and fiscal systems of the time. This in turn caused investment and employment to fall. I'm entirely not sure about this story -- the declining energy intensity of our economies would seem to play a bigger role -- but it's an interesting idea.

5) As predicted, some people are using the terrible events at the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi to disparage "interventionist" foreign policy. I'm not saying that they don't have a point -- although, the ongoing anarchy in Somalia is certainly destabilising to the area and has negatively affected Kenya's economy. I'm saying that if blowback is the measure by which policy is to judged, then consistency dictates that one should make equally narrow arguments against (say) liberal immigration policy, subsidy revocation or economic austerity. What's sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander after all.

6) To my American friends that have to suffer through the asinine politicking of the Republican party and the twilight-zone-thought-vacuum of Fox News, you have my sympathies.

Summer has arrived

Yesterday. Finally.

Please stay!

Hardship on the slopes

The posts may have dried up a tad here at the Corral, but things have been busy for yours truly back in the real world. Most notably going away for our department's annual "strategy meeting" (ahem) in Geilo. It was terrible as the following image will testify to:



And, if having to break up our invaluable strategy meetings for regular skiing breaks wasn't bad enough, the enigmatic Ms LB arranged for a surprise birthday trip (to a different resort) upon my return. Is there no mercy! The view from our hotel room was equally depressing.



I know that I tried to plug the Norwegian PhD previously, so I feel it is only fair to share some of the downsides as well.

A journey through the seasons

After my previous Norway bump, here are two videos that seem appropriate.





Both are taken from a new documentary by the Norwegian national broadcaster, NRK, that showcases some of the country's breathtaking scenery. From the NRK website:

The Nordland Railway (‘Nordlandsbanen’ in Norwegian) celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The railway is 729 kilometers long, and passes [through] spectacular scenery, varying from the fjord area around Trondheim in the south, through beautiful valleys, over mountains and along fjords before crossing the Arctic Circle at Saltfjellet and descending down to the coastal city of Bodø.

PS - The band from the first video, Fleur de Lis, could be characterised as a heavier version of Sigur Rós and are well worth checking out.

Another post on empirics (and a priorism)

I was away last week in Amsterdam taking part in The Econometric Game, a competition involving 30 universities from around the world. Despite the... hmmm... dour reputation of econometric get-togethers, this ended being a very enjoyable and social event. I can certainly recommend Amsterdam to any would-be travellers too. It's relatively small, but built around tourism and there's a great deal more to the city than stoner coffeehouses and sex shops.[*]

Unfortunately, my team didn't make the finals and I think that some inexperience caught us out here, since our university decided to send an all new side this year after reaching the finals in two of the last three events.[**] The time pressure of putting together a complete academic paper in one day -- using some technical routines that you aren't necessarily familiar with -- is something that's hard to prepare for. I do think that our analysis was pretty respectable and we certainly ticked all the boxes highlighted by the case makers after the submission. However, we probably let ourselves down by not "selling" our results well enough in the conclusion and discussion parts of the paper. Nonetheless, definitely a good experience overall and congratulations to the top three teams: 1) University of Copenhagen, 2) Aarhus University, and 3) Harvard University. Danes ruling the roost!

The case topic itself was to investigate "the effect that maternal smoking during pregnancy has on birthweight". Of course, maternal smoking is associated with a range of afflictions in addition to low birthweight and premature birth; from clefts to intrauterine hypoxia. However, the long-term economic implications of low birthweight (and, thus, the causal impact of smoking) are far more important than many people realise. All other things being equal, low birthweight babies will on average suffer higher mortality rates, be more likely to have cognition and attention problems, and be more prone to unemployment and lower wage earnings in later life. (For example, see Black, Devereux and Salvanes; 2005.) 

Some of you may remember that I have actually discussed the issue of maternal smoking on this blog before. Of course, that post had very little to do with empirics and was instead aimed at exploring the philosophical ramifications of allowing pregnant mothers to smoke. In essence, it was a thought-experiment on whether it would be morally permissible to ban mothers from smoking (if this were somehow enforceable). The ensuing comments thread became quite excitable, so take a look if you want to see some divided opinions.

___

[*] Mind you, these are freely on display as well. Like any good boy from Cape Town, I am strongly in favour of dope legalization. Holland's drug policy is more complex than simple soundbites, but far superior to what one finds elsewhere.

[**] The coffeeshops had nothing to with it ;)

...

Having returned from Amsterdam, I saw that my mate Russell had left a comment under an older post concerning the paleo diet's strong popularity within libertarian circles. As a follower of the praxeological method, Russ suggests that I am "asserting a false choice" by claiming that that there is a marked inconsistency in the way that (some) libertarians invoke the scientific method and empirical evidence in finding support for their preferred worldview. You can see my reply here, which concludes: My broader point is that the praxeological fixation among its proponents has created a hermetic seal; a complete aversion to empirical methods that far surpasses the limits of what praxeology could (conceivably) claim to hold sovereignty over.

The language is perhaps a bit dramatic, but still accurate I think. A more specific point that I wanted to make is that if you are going to claim that econometrics and other empirical methods in economics hold no validity because of reasons X, Y and Z... Then it it behoves you to be equally dismissive of their applications to medical studies of the type that Gary Taubes (go-to-guy for the paleo crowd) advocates. For these too seek to identify causal effects in a world characterised by complex interactions between people and their changing environments. 

International Energy Workshop in June

Sweet news.

I'll be presenting my paper on electricity prices and water scarcity at this year's International Energy Workshop, which will be held in...

Cape Town!

Come to Papa...

Great to know that I'll be heading home for a visit and even better to have my trip sponsored. GF will be coming too... provided the (slightly ridiculous) NOK3000 nightly accommodation allowance doesn't cause her to spontaneously combust with excitement.

The best thing about Norwegian prices?
They travel so well.

Kings of Convenience - Me in You

If for no other reason than my apartment gets some camera time.[*]

Some very mellow Sunday night listening with suitably serene Scandinavian scenes.




[*] I'm basically famous now.

Hiatus and Happenings

I've been receiving abuse from various quarters lately for the lack of posting on this site. My apologies, but I'd sworn of any real computer activity for a few weeks after completing my thesis. To be honest, I had been meaning to write some stuff here this week... there's certainly been a few things on the go that seemed worth talking about.

Unfortunately, it turns out that I am very lazy and preferred spending my time on the beach. There's also the not insignificant issue of my supervisor asking me to prepare a shortened version of my dissertation by yesterday. (We'll be submitting a joint paper, largely based on the work that I did for my thesis to some relevant journals; hopefully by the end of this week.) This has been taking up what little patience I have for my laptop screen over the last two days.

Amidst all that, I'm supposed to be packing up my room and all my stuff, as tomorrow the GF and I bid a fond farewell to Lisbon. (I travel pretty light as far as these things go, but even then it's rather disconcerting to see how much rubbish you manage to accumulate over a few months in a foreign city.) We'll be heading off to the UK for a few weeks next, visiting a variety of places... Starting off in west Wales where my aunt and uncle have a(n apparently beautiful) holiday spot, then up to the Lake District where the GF's family is and her brother is getting married, before heading back down to London to visit friends, and finally back to my aunt and uncle's house in Hampshire. Then it's up north again, where I'll be starting my PhD in mid-August!

Before all that, however, we'll be attending this bad boy: Optimus Alive. It seemed a good idea to book tickets to a music festival on the day before our departure at the time, and I'm not going to let pressing logistics get in the way of that feeling now! We've only got day passes (today, July 7), but there are some bands that I'm looking forward to seeing. You can see the line-up here. My plan of attack is something along the lines of: Crocodiles (17h00); Jimmy Eat World (18h30); Bombay Bicycle Club (20h05); Primal Scream (21h15); Iggy and the Stooges (22h45); ending off with the big one, Foo Fighters (00h05).

What do you reckon? Am I optimising here (har har), or could I do better?

[For the record, I'm mostly interested in Primal Scream (reliving the 90s -- yeah!) and Foo Fighters. The rest I'm prepared to juggle around a bit.]

UPDATE: A very good night out. I left a remark on Twitter saying something to the effect of: "Bombay Bicycle Club vying hard to take over from Jimmy Eat World's title as most awkward looking band. Both good live acts though." Felt bad about this a few hours later though, as J.E.W. were on the same flight as us the next morning and seemed pretty cool dudes. (And I'll always have a soft spot for The Sweetness.) In fact, I was sandwiched between them and Primal Scream. Lead singer Bobby Gillespie appeared to be holding up remarkably well after being arguably the most stoned human in all of greater Lisbon only the night before -- no small feat, I can assure you. He and the rest of PS still put in a solid performance, though. (They are effectively touring on a live re-visitation of Screamadelica; surely one of the great albums of the 90s.) In other news, Iggy Pop must donate his body to science. He remains equal measures totally compelling and awful as a performing artist: He still flaunts a six-pack at around 65 years of age, and still can't hold a tune to save his life. Not much changed since the 1970s then... And, last but not least, Dave Grohl possess an incredible set of lungs. He screamed and growled his way through a near three-hour set, along with the rest of the Foo's. I was knackered just being in the crowd, so I can only wonder how they felt. I'm as much an armchair fan as anything else, but -- having now seen them live -- the Foo Fighters deserve their place as the headline act for the festival circuit this season... Say nothing of being, arguably, the biggest rock band in the world right now.

Cover Thursdays - Justin Vernon edition

Coming at ya live outta southern Denmark[*], a (very) quick Cover Thurdays edition to keep you interested.

Most of you probably know Justin Vernon as the brains, voice and talent behind Bon Iver. If you didn't, well now you do.

[Note: I was tempted to say "shame on you", but we're trying not be judgemental here at The Corral. However, I highly recommend that you remedy any unfamiliarity with today's subject ASAP. Seriously. Start here and then head here to get idea of what we're dealing with. You can thank me later]

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Nic R showed me a very cool cover of Sade's "By Your Side" by Gayngs, which is another Justin Vernon project. However, since I've made it a habit of putting together a pair of songs for these CT posts, I've been waiting for the right companion piece before posting it...

Now, thankfully, the wait is over. Earlier this week on the Jimmy Fallon Show, Justin delivered a quite sublime performance of the Bonnie Raitt classic, "I Can't Make You Love Me". With apologies to Jónzi Birgisson (Sigur Rós) and Matt Bellamy (Muse), you won't have been this moved by a falsetto, since the first time you watched Saturday Night Fever...





Enjoy.

[*] As mentioned previously, I'm here for an econometrics conference. I'm not expecting this to be barrel of laughs, but looking forward to some feedback on a paper I've been working on and will be presenting. More importantly though... Legoland IS JUST DOWN THE ROAD! Yes, my friends, childhood dreams do come true...

Being back Bri'ish & other immigration debates

There's a lot of talk about immigration policy these days.

I wonder, however, how many of you have ever found yourself on the wrong side of the, er... immigration line? Well, I have, my friends! Many a time, in fact. That is the joy of travelling abroad on what is affectionately dubbed the "Green Mamba"... A South African passport does not open up many doors. Virtually every country seems to demand a pre-arranged travel permit. The upside is that -- if you're lucky enough to travel a lot -- your passport pages get filled with cool looking stamps and visas. The downside is the administrative shlep that comes with any travel plans (say nothing of the massive handbrake on spontaneous trips) and the not-insignificant amount of money that I've had to sink into obtaining said visas.

Today is a good example. I spent the better part of five hours queuing in the Portuguese Immigration Service's charming Lisbon offices, forking over €146 -- €146!--  at the end to secure a six week extension to my student exchange visa. (Whatever happened to student prices?) As they say: the service wasn't great, but at least the waiter was rude. Prior to this I had, over the course of the last month or so, visited several disparate immigration offices/affiliates to obtain "essential" documentation for my big moment today. Needless to say, I am deeply humbled by the benevolent authorities' decision to graciously extend my visa so that I might actually sit exams now. I would also like to voice my appreciation for the selfsame authorities who, in their infinite wisdom, only allocated a three-month visa at the outset of my trip. I would mention that I've already been vetted with a two-year residency permit by a fellow Schengen country, but you know me.. I don't like to complain.

Anyway, I was thinking of this and immigration policy in general when I came across this video, which features an amazingly erudite individual from the British Defence League:



"Muslamic Ray Guns".
Fact.

Via 6000, who also includes this disturbingly catchy auto-tuned version:



Churchill wept... Although, to be fair to lad, he'd probably sunk a good few cans of Stella prior to the interview.

Not too long ago, I was chatting to a relative of mine about migrants to the UK.[*] His basic position was that the UK has got itself into all kinds of social and economic trouble, because it has opened the floodgates to huge numbers of people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. This horde of foreigners are eroding the fabric of British life.[**]

I nearly choked on my tea and scones.

My reply was something along the lines of: "Are you kidding me? The Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and co. (say nothing of the eastern European immigrants from Poland and elsewhere) have become the lifeblood of the British economy. In some areas, they're about the only people that actually work! The UK's biggest social problem, may very well be that they've been raising a generation of yobs and chavs... I've lived in countries where social welfare systems work very well (i.e. Scandinavia), but I'm afraid that Britain does not fall into this category. Immigrants are an easy scapegoat, but the British people need to take a long hard look at themselves to get to grips with their problems."

I think I'll be forwarding these videos on...

Anyway, I really just wanted to moan about immigration red tape and perceptions. Not that I want to come across as too much of an ungrateful gobshite, mind you; I've been very fortunate to travel widely. Studying, working and living abroad are luxuries that few get to experience and I'm well aware of that. Still, it would have been easier if I had dual passports.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: The grass isn't always greener on the other side, but it's nice to be able to take a look once in a while. Even if they have Muslamic ray guns.

[*] At this point, I should say that I lived and worked myself as a "migrant" for two years and continue to visit regularly to see friends and family.
[**] I'm using the UK and Britain interchangeably here just to catch the spirit of the argument. Of course, they aren't quite the same thing... Especially if you happen to be from Northern Ireland.

Snakes on a Plane: The (African) Sequel

Apologies for the lack of posting recently. To borrow a phrase, course work and project deadlines have been tearing me some new ones over the past two weeks. Pulled my first all-nighter in quite some time on Sunday, finishing up a group project. Productivity hit an all time low around 5:30am-6:30am. I must have been working on no more than five words an hour: The mental equivalent of a liquidity trap. It's going to be this way for a while, as getting to crunch time in terms of thesis delivery, etc. (I'm presenting a paper based on my thesis at a conference in May, so need to have all loose ends tied up by then... Cry me a river; I know.)

Anyway, to keep you interested, here's part of an email that I received yesterday from a buddy of mine, writing from (and I quote) "the departure hut of the Lubumbashi airport nestled deep in the Congolese jungle". We were housemates during my bachelors and he's been spending the last three years working on various projects in Africa. And I mean real Africa... Far, far away from the glamorous beaches of Cape Town, the high-rise office blocks and leafy suburbs of Johannesburg, or even the (relative) calm stability of Gabarone. As someone that has done my fair share of travelling in Africa, his emails always bring home the mixture of amazement, frustration and sheer madness that characterises life on the mother continent. Here's one story in particular that deserves retelling:

I have heard some great stories on good authority & I think you’ll find them interesting… This one really shouldn’t be funny, but I find it humorous in a sinister way so if you do too then don’t feel bad. If you think it’s a bit disturbing that I laughed when I heard it, then sorry. (Not really.) 

So, in August last year while flying on an internal flight a small 20 seater aircraft crashed into a house a few hundred feet from its destination airport. There were no distress calls from the pilot before impact & as far as the aviation authorities were concerned the crash was caused by a ”lack of fuel”. There were only two survivors, a Congolese man and a crocodile. Just so we’re all clear, a human & A CROCODILE. After a few days of lying in a comatose state the human awoke and revealed this remarkable story. 

What had happened was one of the passengers caught this juvenile croc in Kinshasa which he wanted to sell in Bandundu but didn’t want to pay the steep transport & licensing fees that would come with sending it up legally so he decided the best thing to do was buy himself a plane ticket to Bandundu and carry the half grown crock on the plane with him in a sports bag. Unfortunately for him (and all the other passengers), this brain surgeon didn’t bind it correctly and it somehow managed to escape from the bag just moments before the plane arrived at its destination. As it jumped free from its “enclosure", the croc startled the passengers who all jumped up from their seats and ran towards the cockpit to escape the gaping jaws of this prehistoric beast. The shift in weight on the small plane caused it to nose dive, the pilot was unable to correct in time and the plane hit a house and blew up. The crocodile was later dispatched with a blow from a machete. (Poor guy didn’t even get to tell his side of the story.) Very sad but really an amazing story! 

The workings of Africa are hard to comprehend unless you’ve truly experienced them, and don’t think to yourself “Well I live in Africa too” because, my friends, SA may as well be in a different solar system when you compare our fair land to the rest of Africa.

What you get if you search Google Images for "Crocodile on a Plane".

There are a few more great stories from the same email that I'd like to reprint here, especially eye-witness accounts to mind-numbing corruption and other acts of incredulity. However, in the interests of space, I'll leave it to this one for now. After having a good (i.e. very humorous) rant about some of political machinations at both local and national government level, my friend signed off as follows:

Let’s just say there are a few reasons I’m writing this email on the day that I leave the DRC... One being that I would very much like to make it out of here, the other is I would not like to return and this email will hopefully guarantee that.

While names and places have been removed, I hope that I'm doing my part to help his cause by spreading the word.

UPDATE: So I've done a bit of Googling and see that the story was covered by a number of news agencies and other sources at the time. I did not know that, Dude. (This email was the first that I've heard of it.)

Tyler Cowen's favourite things South Africa

The alarmingly prodigious Tyler Cowen has a post up on his favourite things South Africa:

I have yet to go, but here is what I admire so far: 

1. Visual artist (you can’t quite call him a painter): William Kentridge. He is one of the contemporary artists who is both a realist and has a lot of the emotional power of the classics. His extraordinary body of work spans film, drawings, prints, and mixed media. Here are some images.

2. Home design: I am an admirer of the Ndebele, some photos of their colorful homes are here. They are better represented in picture books than on the web.

3. Movies: I don’t know many. I enjoyed The Gods Must be Crazy, even though some might find it slightly offensive. Nonetheless I hand the prize to District 9 for its interesting take on ethnic politics, its deconstruction and mock of Afrikaaner[sic] settler myths, and its commentary on how South Africans view Zimbabwean immigrants to their country. 

4. Movie, set in: Zulu, 1964 with Michael Caine. 

5. Novels: My favorite Coetzee is Disgrace, though I like most of them very much, including the early Life and Times of Michael Kand Waiting for the Barbarians and the later semi-autobiographical works. Nadine Gordimer I find unreadable, call the fault mine. Same with Alan Paton. A dark horse pick is Trionf [sic]. Agaat sits in my pile, waiting for the trip of the right length. 

6. Music: Where to start? Malanthini, for one. As for mbqanga collections, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto series is consistently excellent. Singing in an Open Space, Zulu Rhythm and Harmony 1962-1982 is a favorite. Random gospel and jazz collections often repay the purchase price and in general random CD purchases in these areas bring high expected returns.

7. Economists: Ludwig Lachmann was an early teacher of mine and I owe him my interest in post Keynesianism and also financial fragility hypotheses. G.F Thirlby remains underrated. W.H. Hutt was one of the most perceptive critics of Keynes and his insights still are not absorbed into the Keynesian mainstream. His book on the economics of the colour bar remains a liberal classic. Who am I forgetting?

I always wondered whether Tyler was - at least partially - pulling a fast one on his readers when compiling these favourite-things-country-X lists... Surely, he couldn't have informed opinions about different aspects of so many countries? And therein lies the beauty of such a scam; very few people would be in a position to call him out on his bluffs...

But, no. Now that he's referred to a country that I am (hopefully!) intimately familiar with, I have to say he's put together a very impressive list, comprising both obvious and non-obvious choices.[*] For what it's worth, I've added a comment towards the bottom on few additional things he might have considered. They're mostly of a popular culture variety and limited to things that Tyler normally includes in these lists. (Hence my reference to food... All hail Malva Pudding!)

I'd be interested to hear what other Saffas have to say on the issue...

[*] I'm all but resigned to channel Jacob Goldstein, who, in reviewing MR for Time magazine, drily remarked: "Cowen[...] seems to read the entire Internet every day."

To the heart of the Euro crisis!

Well, maybe not the heart... Pancreas perhaps? After seriously hacking to sort out the correct visa (I <3 immigration bureaucracies), I'm off to Portugal!

Having enjoyed great visit home, I'll be packing this final sunburn and heading back to the European winter - a very relative concept after my time in the Nordics - to spend my final semester on exchange in Lisbon as part of this programme (which I'm doing in parallel to my primary Master's). I've heard very good reports from friends that have spent time in Lisbon before and I'm sure the same positive experiences await me. Although, if anyone's wondering, I'm not not complaining that my bursary is denominated in foreign currency...

Snarks about the strength of the country's balance sheet notwithstanding, I'm hoping to soak up some culture, history, language and generally have a good old time..

Bon Voyage Boa Viagem!

o-[-<

Chirp of the Day - Australia

A Norwegian friend of mine was telling me about the first time he ever traveled outside of Europe, which happened to be a gap-year stint in Australia after finishing high school. Not being completely sure of his English at that stage, he was feeling pretty nervous about the prospects of spending such an extended period of time in a remote foreign country. All this wasn't helped by the fact that he had, for some reason, decided to try and sneak some Norwegian meats inside his luggage. (If you haven't been to that part of the world before, I can promise you that no-one is more strict when it comes bringing agricultural produce into their territory and monitoring their borders in general.)

Anyway, he was fairly bricking himself while lining up to face the fierce-looking border official in the NOTHING TO DECLARE queue. Fortunately for him, fate had deemed to place a "pissed Kiwi" (his words) in front of him, which ultimately took all the pressure off. After going through the normal inquiries (purpose of visit, accommodation, etc), the officer got to the money question:

AUSSIE BORDER OFFICIAL: "Do you have a criminal record?"

DRUNK KIWI: "Ahh mate, I didn't know you still needed one to get in here!"

Very good. 

Reminds me of a great Barmy Army chant [sung to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain"] I heard while watching the England cricket team take on Australia* in Australia: "If Your Granddad Was Deported Clap Your Hands!" 

"Meh"

* I had actually meant to post this little story immediately in the wake of England's Ashes victory over Australia - just to rub it in - but got a little sidetracked and then felt bad having another go at our friends Down Under, because of the tragic floods in Queensland. Now, with the water starting to recede and the recovery operation having kicked into gear, perhaps my timing is not too crass. If you feel otherwise, remember: It's just a bit of humour!

Merry Engerland

Exams all done and dusted :)

Went reasonably well. Some time issues for two of them, but that's nothing uncommon for me to be honest...

Anyway, just a quick update as I'm currently in England for a 10 day holiday visiting F&Fs before heading down south for the summer. I thought I might have left the cold behind in the Nordics, but fook me it's chilly over here. Seriously, "this" [-] cold. Snow everywhere and apparently all the airports have been shut. Luckily still have a few days before we're scheduled to  fly back...

In Hampshire right now with my aunt and uncle, but going up to Cambridge tomorrow to "partner" a friend for his College's Christmas Dinner. Got a couple mates studying there at the moment that I'm keen to catch up with and should be a good night. I also can't wait to try on my heels show off my 'tache. (Yes, I eventually ha-ha-hardened the hell up and partook in Movember. We actually got a nice little group at school so I wasn't stuck on a Han Solo mission this time... Anyway, I ended up grooming a real steamer. Think Errol Flynn or Zorro.)

En garde!

After Cambridge, I'm back to London to meet up with some other friends. Not too many of my old crew left standing after the great financial cull, but I have some great memories of my time in the city. Much of which was associated with music; for instance this one:

A little cheesy (read: obvious), I'll freely admit. Still. I personally think this Radio 1 'Live Lounge' version of "Fans" blows the album version out the water.

On the subject of Kings of Leon... WTF was happening with their new album? Perhaps it requires more time, but I thought it was pretty much rubbish upon first listen. Or, as friend told me he saw tweeted the other day: 

"KOL - grow back your beards and divorce your last two albums. You're stealing fans from 30 seconds to mars" 

The painful truth...