i was rather interested in an article i saw on arts and letters daily on albert speer. i wish i knew more about architecture, although i just don't have von or kenneth's critical eye or appraising minds - i can't see, which is completely pathetic, isn't it? and i don't have their breadth of knowledge and interest and personal philosophy and understanding either. i'm interested only in things like - what does it mean? where does it come from? i seem to like buildings for entirely whimsical and personal reasons. kg would laugh at me for liking le corbusier. (well, have you ever wondered where hdb flats come from?) but anyway, this article made me feel rueful that i have no chance to take an architectural history class. also i was a little touched by the ending of this article. how poignant. speer's present to phillip johnson, and the reaction of the latter.

and i am faintly crushed that sirius and lupin have been cast and that gary oldman and david thewlis are getting the parts. i suppose gary oldman does have a bit of that maniac glint that would suit sirius. and they say sean biggerstaff isn't going to be in the third movie at all. *wail* can this be true? considering they win the quidditch cup that year, they've got to have sean in it!

i am really very pleased with this new cd. the trollope song is so incredibly funny in a cole porterish way and is a hit with half my friends already. when i showed some of the lyrics to poach the day before, she started laughing and said "don't you wish you'd written something like that" addy and yen thought the song was fantastic. yen told me that when she heard the line 'i'll read immanuel kant in german but i'll never read trollope again' it made her laugh extra "cos i know someone who learnt german to read kant in the original." heh. von on the other hand told me he thought it was pretentious, which really annoyed me, because like with so many other things he always indiscriminately applies the term to anything he can't be bothered with. i can't see anything remotely pretentious about the song; if anything, the lyrics are quite anti-pretentious!

anyway, it's a terrific album, and recorded live too. i wonder if i should go to nyc for springbreak and see if i can catch them. if not there's always the ballet : )