h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Once again it’s been a while and I have a lot to catch up on. For the last two weeks I’ve been in Bath putting the final touches to my thesis and dealing with all the last little things that needed to be dealt with. I officially submitted last Monday. It felt really good to finally hand in a thesis, a massive load off my mind. But now I’m beginning to worry about the final examination, the dreaded viva! We managed to sort out an external examiner, but I don’t yet have a date for the exam, though I’m guessing it will be sometime in August. Between now and then I plan to read my thesis thoroughly and revise as sensibly as I can. I’m also hoping to find the time to fit in a mock-viva with my boss before the real deal.

There were plenty of other things going on while I was in Bath. I got there the Wednesday before last and spent nearly a whole two weeks there. Both of my girlfriend’s housemates were away at a conference in Spain so I was there to keep her company as well as finish off my thesis. On the Wednesday night I went out with my girlfriend and her research group for a burger and a movie. We watched Superman Returns. It’s been ages since I’ve seen a “Hollywood blockbuster” and the one good thing about Superman was it reminded me why I don’t usually bother with that kind of film. It began as a thinly scripted special effects movie, but rapidly descended into a laughably bad farce.

I admit that I don’t really like Superman and never have. There’s something inherently boring about a superhero who is just too super. It’s difficult to admire a guy who foils crooks simply by standing in front of a machine gun and watching as the bullets bounce off. There’s no point in having a superhero without a fatal flaw, I know Superman has kryptonite, but I always hated that. A superhero doesn’t have to have a super-weakness, isn’t it more interesting when their flaws are more human, things we can relate to?

I was amused by how blatantly the filmmakers chose to draw parallels with the story of Jesus. I’m not just talking about Superman’s dad harking on about sending his “only son to do good on Earth” either; in the “crucifixion” scene where Superman, weakened by some oh so ubiquitous kryptonite, is beaten into the middle of next week by Lex Luthor and his cronies, he falls off a cliff and adopts the crucifix position. I’m not a particularly religious person and found these references, though in bad taste, largely amusing. But I’m sure a devout Christian could find much more to offend them if they really looked.

Also the film had some pretty clear messages about anti-smoking: Superman’s disapproving looks when he discovers Lois’s guilty habit. And even about single parents: Lois constantly forgets to pick up her son from school and even insists her boyfriend (she never married him, the trollop) fly (in a good old fashioned plane) her and her son back into the terrible danger of Luthor’s lair to save Superman.

But what really bothered me the most was the fact that Lois’s new man, the guy she suckered into playing father figure to her bastard son of the absent Superman, is actually a far more admirable chap than the guy in the stupid blue suit. Isn’t it more heroic to save Lois and her son from certain death when you don’t enjoy the privilege of being virtually invincible? And let’s not forget, this was the guy who was left literally holding the baby while Superman buggered off for five years without so much as a goodbye. Yet the film’s overriding message was that no matter how heroic and downright decent this chap was he really couldn’t measure up to the freak in the cape. No matter what he did Lois still went all weak kneed whenever dreamy old Superman turned up and took her for an airborne tour of Metropolis. What message are they trying to send to kids out there? No matter how good you are there’s always some one better than yourself so don’t even embarrass yourself by trying because you’re bound to loose anyway? Or put more simply, nice guys finish last.

Actually I think I’ll revise my earlier statement, Superman does have an all too human failing, he’s a bit of a dick, and to be honest he deserves a shallow and superficial girl like Lois, who’ll probably die of lung cancer unless she’s sent to prison for absentmindedly leaving her son home alone while she flies off round the world in search of adventure.

I spent the rest of the week doing corrections with my thesis and by the time the weekend rolled around it was all in pretty good shape. That weekend (i.e. the Saturday before last) my girlfriend and I caught a coach to London to have lunch with her parents and brother. This was the first time I’ve met my girlfriend’s parents after being with her for more than two years and I was understandably a little tense. But I think things went pretty well. My girlfriend’s brother brought his girlfriend along, who he’s been seeing for an indeterminate amount of time and who also hasn’t met the parents before so that took the pressure off me somewhat. Other than that I tried not to get food all over me at lunch, tried not to swear and generally behaved myself. After lunch at a lovely little restaurant in Covent Garden we went to see Footloose (the stage version of that old Kevin Bacon flick) at the Novello Theatre in the West End. It wouldn’t have been my choice of show, but it was entertaining and good clean family fun nonetheless and most important of all my girlfriend’s mum liked it.

We got back late on Saturday night and had a bit of a lie in on Sunday morning. We had a lazy breakfast and went to the cinema again in the evening. This time we saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest, another “Hollywood blockbuster,” that’s two in less that a week, a worrying trend. I actually quite enjoyed the film, but I’ve always had a weak spot for pirates and to be honest after Superman anything would have seemed good. The film is in no way conclusive, in an Empire Strikes Back kind of way it’s very obvious that there will be another sequel, but I’d been warned about this before I saw the movie and so wasn’t really expecting any closure. To be honest I think I’ve been guilty of watching too many “important” movies recently and can’t remember the last time I saw a film that didn’t inspire a debate between my girlfriend and I on the walk home (though I’m not sure our lambasting of Superman counts as a debate since it was pretty one sided). Pirates was enjoyably brainless, funny and best of all was simply good fun.

I spent Monday steadily battling my way through the red tape between me and thesis submission, but also found time to hang out with Flammable Flower who was in the chemistry department for the day for an interview for a post-doc position (I knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away) and go for coffee with one of the old members of my group, back in the country after a post-doc in Chicago and killing time until he starts another one in York, who had randomly popped in for a visit.

After submitting on Monday the rest of the week was fairly relaxed. On Monday night my girlfriend and I had a night in and a lovely meal together. On Tuesday we drove over to Bristol to visit Flower and his new baby daughter, who’s just one month old. On Wednesday I had lunch in town with my girlfriend’s research group and later went for a curry with my own group.

On Thursday night we had a bit of a party at my girlfriend’s house everyone from her group bought along some food (everything from Spanish omelette to sea-food lasagne) and my girlfriend made a selection of Sri Lankan curries for people to try. We had a really nice evening, drank a bit too much wine and descended into the same range of drinking games as we did at our last house party the other week, though thankfully as it was a school night and we got to bed at a much more respectable time.

I spent most of Friday tidying up and washing dishes after the party and then we had a nice quiet weekend watched a couple of movies and the German Grand Prix. Schumacher made it three wins in a row and narrowed the gap to Alonso to just 11 points. So it looks like I’m going to get my wish for an exciting end to the season granted. We finished off the weekend with a lovely meal at Yak Yeti Yak, the Nepalese place, on Sunday night. Despite our promises to go there all the time it’s been nearly a year since we first went there and it’s actually been quite a while since we went out for dinner of any sort. It was every bit as friendly and welcoming as the last time we were there and the food was, if anything, even better than I remembered.

After spending so long in Bath it felt a bit strange to be leaving, but I made my way back home yesterday. I spent most of today relaxing and reading, but for the remainder of the week I will be hitting the books revising for my viva. I think my girlfriend is going to be coming over this weekend for a change then next weekend I’ll probably be heading back to Bath again. Aside from the possibilities of a mock-viva my old housemate (who now lives up-north with his girlfriend) is going to be back in town for an evening and it should be nice to catch up with him.