Week 9: 25 – 31 January

Well, there we are. As I mentioned in the comments section last week, I’ve resigned from my job. It would be unprofessional of me to talk about it in a public blog, so I won’t, saving it all for my memoirs (which will cause a few blushes in the world of archives when they’re published, I can tell you). But as a colleague said to me today, “sometimes you just have to walk away with your dignity intact”, and that’s what I’ve done – except for the part about the dignity.

I’ll be here till April as I work out my notice. But everyone knows I’m on borrowed time, and it’s disconcerting to walk the corridors of the National Archives of Scotland and have the cataloguing staff rattling their pencil sharpeners on the bars of their cells shouting, “Dead archivist walking!” all the time. Honestly.

But enough of that – on to more serious matters. Anytime I’m asked about my “guilty pleasures” – those things you secretly like but are ashamed to admit because they’re either totally uncool or you know they’re rubbish but you enjoy them anyway – I usually go for the prog-rock group Genesis in the first category (in their pretentious-ish 1970s incarnations), and the Star Wars Prequels in the second. Genesis I’m not really ashamed of – I’m old enough to remember when they were cool, after all – but I have no excuse when it comes to the Phantom Menace et al.

I know the dialogue is awful, the acting is questionable, the CGI is patchy and the movies are frequently boring – and yet, and yet. (Or, as my American brother in law said once, “Hey, whaddya want? It’s a Star Wars movie!”) But then I came across this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI

It’s a 70-minute deconstruction of The Phantom Menace in 7 YouTube segments, and it’s a blast. Not only does it show you all those niggling details about the plot and characters that you knew were wrong, but couldn’t be bothered to work out because it’s only a movie, it’s also got some brilliant diversions of its own. Trust me. Watch the first 2 before you make up your mind – it’s brilliant, if you don’t mind a bit of swearing.

What with dealing with the emotional and other fallout of resigning, and watching all these YouTube videos, the knitting has taken something of a back seat. But as you can see, the trellis pattern is coming along nicely, and the gussets are shaping up.

Thanks to all of you who’ve been in touch, too – it’s much appreciated. The future, as they say, lies ahead of us… Or something.