All entries for June 2006

Funny Stuff

By popular demand (ie. about 4 people) my stand–up set from last night. It's bit weird as, it being the last Reckless Moment for the time being, I decided to try and write 5 minutes purely about World of Warcraft. To my surprise, people still laughed:

Download Here

Dean Love : 20 Jun 2006 15:07 |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Have a sense of humour? part, The Second

And for those mad ones amongst you that would rather see a gig I'm performing at than one I'm organising, there's the last Reckless Moment on Monday. I'll be talking about being a media–snob and World of Warcraft. Mostly World of Warcraft. It'll be… interesting. Just £1 entry down in Robbins Well in Leamnington Spa, 9pm.

Listen to the man with the face:

THE RECKLESS MOMENT #9
"the end of term pile–up"
starring: JOSIE LONG with her show 'exuberance and kindness' plus a second half free–for–all pile–up of the best comics we've had at the club this run including: Okse, Owen Niblock, Andy Hortor, Dean Love, Simon Dunn, Iszi Lawrence, Jim Smallman, Gary Mawby, Gary Delaney, James Cook, Pete Falconer (in several guises), Men With Bananas, and other people I've invited but can't quite remember. all presided over by Tom Hughes!

we've had so much fun this term that we're giving it the send–off it deserves. by inviting our favourite comics back and getting absolutely slaughtered in the process. it's going to be fun – there will be singing, there will be meat (but not enforced meat), there will be fun, there probably will be robot dancing, there will be everything. so come down and celebrate! yeahhhhh!

there will probably also be a party at our house afterwards. i don't even know! that's how crazy it is!

Dean Love : 17 Jun 2006 15:43 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Have a sense of humour?

The end–of–year comedy gig, this damn sunday baby!

Here's some info:

The last and best comedy gig of the year: a night of entertainment featuring star of BBC Radio's "The Now Show" and "Jammin' " Mitch Benn, BBC New Comedy Award winner Andrew Lawrence, Chortle Student Comic finalist Ben Travis, up–coming stars Andy Hortor and Tom Hughes, plus the very weird Pete 'The Meat' Falconer.

The night will be presided over by Alfie Joey: top compere and star of Johnny Vegas sitcom 'Ideal'. Plus there'll be interval entertainment from our resident band No Comprendo.

Tickets: link

Dean Love : 17 Jun 2006 15:39 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Triggering Memories

With the AUT strike now seemingly resolved it's time to go back to talking about simpler day–to–day things that few people will read but are decidedly more pleasent.

Before I went out today I put on a white REM t–shirt, had a drink of apple juice, and wondered out in the very sunny day. The heat was bearing down on my back and I had my iPod in and some Arcade Fire song came on (Tunnels I think). This song has an unusual sound in that it's slightly muffled, giving the impression of it coming from somewhere more distant, like a stage around the corner.

And then, I had the strongest feeling of being back at Glastonbury festival. It was a combination of being out in the hot sun (clearly it was a memory of the 2003 glasto!), with that a background sound that resembled a live band playing outside, and the taste of fresh apple juice – my morning drink of choice at the festival – in my mouth.

It was quite odd as it was a stunningly strong memory of the best part of glasto – the aimless wondering in the sun.

I frowned slightly, knowing that that fleeting feeling was the closest I'll get to that mental state this summer.

Dean Love : 08 Jun 2006 20:52 |  Tags: Glastonbury Memory |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The AUT strike and the EGM

(Please see my earlier entry for background info on the strike itself. Furthur to that entry, an "Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) has been called":http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/portal/Default.asp?url=ARTICLE&article_id=747 at Warwick Students union)

At the end of my last entry on this subject I noted that an EGM had been called by the Student's Union. I assumed this was down to someone with more drive and less apathy than myself deciding to do something about the bizzare situation we are faced with, with the Union actively backing the AUT despite thier measures damaging students. I encouraged people to go along on the assumption a new policy had been submitted to fix this.

However, when the details of the new policy were made available my heart sank. It seems that some of the Union officers have now reached a monumental level of fuckwittery.

The alarm bells first went off when I saw the proposer and seconder we both saabs, both previously in favour of the strike action despite it's effect on students. Basically, the new policy does fuck–all, and is frankly a mess. I'm going to be referencing both the new policy and the existing one which it superceeds during this entry, so provide links here for your reference.

First thing you should know is that the original policy as submitted to steering had one redeeming feature:
"This Union resolves to continue to support the AUT, excluding their exam boycott."
Even though the policy didn't make clear exactly how we would practically differentiate between supporting the AUT in principle, and supporting the exam boycott, it suggested that at the very least some ethical stance was being taken to support the effected students, even if it was practically no help.
However by the time the policy reached the other side of steering, the term "excluding their exam boycott" was removed. Good going steering! You've truely managed to polish a turd. With a shit–stained brush.

So what else does the policy say that's different from the existing one:
"This Union Believes that taking action short of a strike was the last resort for the AUT."
It's not so much the content that annoys me here but rather the fact it is complete and utter bollocks. The last resort for the AUT is clearly an actual bloody strike – action short of something can never be an actual last resort as the action itself is clearly furthur down the line. It's simply a totally illogical statement.
That sort of statement peppers the policy: sentences that sound impressive but actually have zero meaning.

I love this bit:
"This Union resolves if the dispute is not resolved by Monday of Week 9 to hold a “SORT IT OUT” demonstration, not supporting any party, expressing student disgust at the situation!"
Wahey! An impartial protest expressing our disgust at both sides of the debate and encouraging them to both sort this out and to stop using us as thier guinea pigs.

Problem is this comes after such statements as:

"This union resolves to continue to support students by providing the facility for students to complain to the University, to UCEA, and to the government on the Union Website" (they include the governement, who can fuck all about this, but not, you'll note, the AUT – the people actually responsible for the boycott)

"This Union believes that the Universities have to power to end this dispute now and that by using stalling as a negotiation tactic they have harmed students." (no mention, of course, that the AUT are also using stalling tactics by refusing to put the latest offer to a membership vote, nor even the suggestion that the AUT also has the power to end the dispute now)

"This Union believes that that putting pressure on the Universities, in a coalition with the AUT, is the fastest way to end the dispute." (Which is not justified anywhere in the document.)

And most importantly of all "This union resolves to continue to support the AUT."

Now how exactly are you to hold an unbiased demonstration when the instigatiors, organisers, and attendees are all members of a body that openly supports the AUT in its action? You can't. Even if the demonstraion seems to not be supporting either party, both parties will be acutely aware that the Union support the AUT and are heavily biased against the universities. Of course given current student sentiment towards the AUT, which is mainly rightful anger that they are not marking our exams, any "Supporting the AUT" demonstration would likely have a much smaller turnout. This way they can spin it as being entirely for our benefit and un–biased, attracting more students who will unwittingly be supporting the AUT. If you attend the demonstration I suggest you take a leaf out the Union Officer's books and make a big placard with "AUT: JUST FUCK OFF AND DIE" in big captial letters on, then write in biro underneath "And the university too".

It's a nothing policy that if anything, underscores and strengthens our support of the AUT. There's no actions that will be taken as a result of this policy that wouldn't be possible under the previous one.
But of course, this sort of policy is typical of what we expect from the Union high–ups now. Surely, this is just the typical level of fuckwittery you'd expect from them? It's nothing special.
But here's the rub. It's exam time. Students are very busy. Exams are the most important thing on a lot of thier minds at the moment. Now if a policy to reverse our stance on the strike were to be on the table, it would matter. It would be of some import. If would have far reaching consequences. It would justify calling an EGM and distracting studnets from thier revision. But this policy doesn't do that. It's a big piece of nothing. It's unessecary. It is certaintly not a justifiable reason to be distracting students at this important time of year.

And that, my friends, is why this represents such a monumental level of fuckwittery. Warwick University Student's Union is asking students to sacrifice thier revision time to come and vote on a policy that does nothing. And that is really something quite special.

One final observation – what if this policy is rejected at the vote? It thereby represents a dismissal by the student majority of the idea of supporting the AUT in this strike action. But the original policy on supporting the strike will still stand. But how can that possibly be tenable when it is utterly at odds with the general sentiment of the student body. The only sensible course of action would be to immediatly schedule another EGM or Council meeting to lapse the original policy, given the lack of support by students. Will this happen? Will it fuck.

Dean Love : 05 Jun 2006 01:07 |  Tags: AUT Strike Union |  Comments (26) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

And Now For A Change

Well I've now finished the last exam in the last year of my degree, hurrah. So I figured I'd change some things here, we have a new look, and most importantly, a new name.

Meditations on the Abyss, despite its intentions, sounded far too much like some teen pretentious–angst blog, so the new name comes from the same source for the 3 or so people that will recognise the first one, but is a bit more lighthearted.

So I give you "And Now For a Word".

Rock On.

Dean Love : 01 Jun 2006 19:57 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem