I like this shop, and now for some reason which can only be good, it has this week acquired some big, bright cardboard birdhouses in the window.  It sells sweets from jars that line the wall behind the counter.  It’s the kind of place Roald Dahl might have gone (although I’ve read his autobiography, and he didn’t).  There is also a nice lady in the shop who didn’t bat an eyelid when I asked for one of everything at christmas time (hunting for a present for my father that wasn’t socks).

If you visit when school children aren’t standing around drooling, dithering for at least half an hour, and doing very little (specifically what I go in to do) then it’s wonderful.  If they are there however, the illusion of being seven years old is ruined and it’s best to leave.

I want to see more shop windows that make me grab a camera.

More food to look like this please.

Sussex University is big on campaigns to save the world.  These occur approximately every two months and seem to be run by a small but eager minority.  Recently they’ve helpfully had the BNP banned from talking on campus which is a great move for freedom of speech and educated debate and now, not limited to simply throwing pamphlets at people and showing graphic photos about campus, it appears we’re pretty good at sitting in tents too.  February was a bit cold so the sit-in to stop war in Gaza was inside a lecture theatre, but this week sees us branch outside.

On the sly Sussex has made clever pans to removed its Linguistics department, which perhaps wasn’t the smartest move.  There’s been some fun (and hopefully productive) uproar from students about this, which was nice because it involved people not just in this slightly rowdy minority.  Excitingly, The Argus and some MPs also got  involved.

This week’s new form of attack sees  a camp-out of pop-up tents against the decision.  It’s very civilised.  Interestingly, it seems to be operating under the possibly effective save linguistics campaign but hairy campaigners from a myriad of education-related issues have jumped on the er.. tenting band-wagon which makes working out what all the groups want a bit like this year’s G20 really.
 

Essentially, it seems to pan out like this:

1. Save linguistics!
2. Sussex Anarchists: Free Education For all
3. A free platform for speech
4. More people to join frisbee-playing campaign
 

Photos taken yesterday.  Today it is raining.

My dear friend Ryan made a good point on twitter today whilst pulling an all-nighter. Using the same theory I embarked on a voyage of discovery, and came across a nice stopmotion film, which was a jolly surprise as am not normally massive fan.  It features a pig and pleases me greatly. It also uses 1300 photos, a number that led me on a tangent into the costs of production and the time spent printing/dealing with supersnaps (etc) clerks. I concluded many joy-filled hours.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmkLlVzUBn4&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

I live in a house where the system of organising post varies from ‘leave it at the front door’ to ‘store it under the coffee table’ that I’ve always found a bit strange, considering that’s the mother of our house mess.  A three month old parcel was unearthed today addressed to me, and technically means I’ve lied when I said it was new, but it was a very exciting moment anyway.

It turned out to be the winning result of a Pot Noofle competition.  And saying competition, I mean more of an apathetic ‘find the winning lid,‘ rather than a gusto-wracked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style thing.
 

I noticed two things.

1. It has a big red manly button.

2. It sounds like this (ignoring the loud text alert that interrupts filming):

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/4735359]

Thoughts:
Pot Noodle, really?  Surely it should emit a GRUNTing noise? It’s not alone – I saw the recent PN High School Musical spoof ad without sound the first time it came on TV, and when I finally did get the volume controls to co-operate with me, it gave me the lacking feeling of pressing the manly red button..

Maybe I just miss the gusto of this ad:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NySN_plfiNI&hl=en&fs=1]

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/4189528]

Nyle’s one shot video has become pretty talked about recently. Nice video, and I’m a bit of a fan of the music too. Nicely, his last album S’more is free for download (or on a little player here), which pleases me to no end. A Lou Reed sample with some lyrics on top doesn’t really go wrong in my book, but then maybe I’m a sucker for that.