feminish

This one’s for someone called Dom,

an old friend who sent me an email a few days back. If I remember correctly, our first encounter was a couple of eons ago when, at 2 in the morning, it seemed (to me) like a good idea to knock on the tiny fire-escape door between our college rooms to ask him if, by any chance, a little Something from his free student union ‘freshers pack’ might be going spare…

I was moved by his email’s kind words and tickled by his insightful analysis of Hackney trains ( “full of character and characters; Christian preachers, burqa-wearing mothers with denim-clad toddlers, young Afro-Caribbean guys who have been working so hard that they sleep standing - and me, the only suit-wearer, feeling a bit like I’ve been sent to do a survey…”).

But it was this question that hit my nail on my head (as-it-were),

Tasha, in almost-total ignorance of your life right now, I have to ask one thing: Is there room in your life for humour and the unexpected? (So inextricably linked, I know, but I couldn’t decide which one should take priority). For me, this has been my salvation in all the big moments. If not, I will have to come find you, jump out from behind trees and tell you jokes.

Now there’s a threat if ever there was one.

Never mind your meditating, Natasha, never mind all this earnest ’simple life’ stuff and all those ‘interesting’ books you’re reading and all those nice thoughts you’re having, and all those organic good-for-you legumes you’re munching ever-so-mindfully, the real question is - in fact, the only question is - are you having fun?

It’d like to say “no”, if only to enjoy being startled out of solemn meditation under a ficus religiousa by a man in a suit with a joke. But, because I don’t know how long I’d have to wait in this profound state for Dom to learn himself some jokes, catch the Ryan Air and track me and my bodhi down, it’s probably simpler to confess that I have been giggling a lot and am still pointlessly frivolous.

In the spirit of which, and against my better judgement, I’d like to share two videos. Both made me laugh. Both are pointless. (If you have a deadline, please spare yourself. I believe they cost the Patterner a few bars of his Third Movement yesterday…)

The first is Britney Spears (How many female popstars does it take to fill up a petrol tank? How bizarre can celebrity be?):

X17: Britney in Action Scroll down a little to see the video.

The second is Kamini - the black rural rapper that has taken France by storm since his homemade video hit YouTube last month (2m downloads to date) - brought to you today in tribute to the general hilarity of Rural France which has so kindly taken us both in:

This one’s for someone called Dom,

an old friend who sent me an email a few days back. If I remember correctly, our first encounter was a couple of eons ago when, at 2 in the morning, it seemed (to me) like a good idea to knock on the tiny fire-escape door between our college rooms to ask him if, by any chance, a little Something from his free student union ‘freshers pack’ might be going spare…

I was moved by his email’s kind words and tickled by his insightful analysis of Hackney trains ( “full of character and characters; Christian preachers, burqa-wearing mothers with denim-clad toddlers, young Afro-Caribbean guys who have been working so hard that they sleep standing - and me, the only suit-wearer, feeling a bit like I’ve been sent to do a survey…”).

But it was this question that hit my nail on my head (as-it-were),

Tasha, in almost-total ignorance of your life right now, I have to ask one thing: Is there room in your life for humour and the unexpected? (So inextricably linked, I know, but I couldn’t decide which one should take priority). For me, this has been my salvation in all the big moments. If not, I will have to come find you, jump out from behind trees and tell you jokes.

Now there’s a threat if ever there was one.

Never mind your meditating, Natasha, never mind all this earnest ’simple life’ stuff and all those ‘interesting’ books you’re reading and all those nice thoughts you’re having, and all those organic good-for-you legumes you’re munching ever-so-mindfully, the real question is - in fact, the only question is - are you having fun?

It’d like to say “no”, if only to enjoy being startled out of solemn meditation under a ficus religiousa by a man in a suit with a joke. But, because I don’t know how long I’d have to wait in this profound state for Dom to learn himself some jokes, catch the Ryan Air and track me and my bodhi down, it’s probably simpler to confess that I have been giggling a lot and am still pointlessly frivolous.

In the spirit of which, and against my better judgement, I’d like to share two videos. Both made me laugh. Both are pointless. (If you have a deadline, please spare yourself. I believe they cost the Patterner a few bars of his Third Movement yesterday…)

The first is Britney Spears (How many female popstars does it take to fill up a petrol tank? How bizarre can celebrity be?):

X17: Britney in Action Scroll down a little to see the video.

The second is Kamini - the black rural rapper that has taken France by storm since his homemade video hit YouTube last month (2m downloads to date) - brought to you today in tribute to the general hilarity of Rural France which has so kindly taken us both in: