Yo Yo Moi

Recently, there's been this whole "tapping" for awards phenomenon, which has sadly passed me by. It made me twinge a little, then wonder why I blog. Or, just as importantly, the inapplicable reasons for my blogging.

I do it to share thoughts, to sadly share with friends that I really don't see frequently enough, particularly with my rather unpleasant schedule and resulting severe sleepiness. I don't want the pressure of a serious readership. I'd rather blog about contraception one day and my cats or my iPod the next, and not stress. I am constantly having to think about what it is that I want for me, and not what I think I should want, in comparison to other people.

This has possibly been one of the best things about law school, bizarrely. There is a great deal of competition, of assumptions that your path should take this route - and those pressures are there regardless of whether you go the corporate or public interest route. So I've sometimes applied for things I thought I wanted but, on retrospect, it turns out I don't desire for me. But recently, I've been making decisions and rationalising my choices and they have been the ones that are - shock, gasp - good for me. Whether they are not going to work where people think I should - for whatever reason - or being an activist in an unpopular field or choosing courses I find interesting and useful not just in the future career but in terms of how I think, what I think, and why. Now, and for life.

Anyway, instead of this being my telling you what a great person I now am, the point was, through this "tapping" I found out what people I read read themselves, and have some new and exciting suggestions. Plus some new ones that I should read more often, as they are rather hilarious, but don't, so they're not all earnest, honest guv. So I'm going to re-do my right-hand column, which is probably a big reason as to why I blog - because when I look on my site I see the list of all my favourites on the right, and read those. And they are blogs by friends, strangers, political, frivol, and downright genius (GFY, I love you). Here are the newbies in the meantime:

• Unsprung
• No snow here
• Radical Doula
• RH Reality Check
• TAN
• I Hate Duane Reade
• Yet more Fug Girls!

So Far From Me

I had one of those flashes of inspiration this morning that really isn't, in fact, original or anywhere near approaching genius. Namely, listening to an old compilation album I haven't heard for a while, I "realised" (and this is an epiphany, folks) that the Neptunes are absolute fricking genius producers. Truly extraordinary. They're not as dominant as they once were, but nonetheless, they had an unbelievable run. Admittedly, they've done some pants stuff too, but that's by the by. In terms of stuff that makes you want to shake your behind, that makes you feel that there is no way you cannot be on the floor right now... there was no one better.

Anyway, once I'd realised that in fact this is not a novel concept, I started thinking about the patterns of producers' success. For example, where is Nellee Hooper or David Arnold these days? Why is it all about Mark Ronson right now? This I find interesting simply because creativity is not something I find I understand. I don't get its waves and troughs; nor how it appears to be "used up" - why do you suddenly run out of ideas? This is all mainly because, regardless of the intellectual strengths I may have, creativity is not one of them. I am good at solving others' puzzles, but I couldn't set a crossword (incidentally, I am on the verge of completing an entire crossword, just three clues to go for Quantum's this week - it appears that practice really is necessary but the knack comes back despite lack of use).

Nonetheless, I really feel my cognitive processes have changed for the sharper and better at law school (although maybe not for the more left-wing or moral, but that's another story). I think "better" in terms of linking things together, being able to argue or critique another's argument. But, alas, I'm still not about to write that bestseller--although of course the world is crying out for a female John Grisham, with a thrusting young lawyer falling into all sorts of trouble... hmm... maybe that's the way to make my fortune.

When The Neptunes Ruled The World

• Like I Love You - JT
• I'm a Slave 4 U - The Spears
  
• Girlfriend (remix) - *N-sync (or however they blooming well punctuate that)
• Good Stuff - Kelis
• Milkshake - Kelis
• Got Your Money - ODB
• Light Your Ass on Fire - Busta Rhymes
• Signs - Snoop Dogg
• Beautiful - Snoop Dogg
• Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
• Last Night - JT
• Señorita - JT
• Lap Dance - N*E*R*D feat. Lee Harvey
• Boys - The Spears
• Shake Ya Ass - Mystikal - shame he's a nasty piece of work. No more love for you, Mystikal.
• Frontin' - Pharrell
• I Just Wanna Love You (Give it to me) - Jay-Z
• Blaze of Glory - Clipse

You see? That's some some shaking material there.