One of the highlights of the term has been broadening my cultural horizons, with art, film and music all seeing more action than they have in a while.
Despite a 'Day of Culture' in Manchester with a couple of friends turning quite quickly into a 'Day of Shopping', I've still managed to stretch myself, and feel mightily improved.
At the low-brow end, I've made several trips to the cinema and seen some very interesting films - some good (500 Days Of Summer, Where the Wild Things Are, Red Cliff), some bad (Fantastic Mr Fox), and some decidedly mediocre (Dorian Gray, Good Night and Good Luck). The best bit about the cinema, though, is that it doesn't matter how good the film is - if you go with the right people, even the dullest of films can fuel conversation for the rest of the evening, as I discovered when two friends showed me Tim Burton's Corpse Bride on Sunday night. I hated the film, but very much enjoyed the company.
I've also discovered that I'm something of a musical snob, so, in an attempt to open my mind and find more interesting music, I've been abusing Spotify and bringing a wider variety of music to my ears. Particular joy has come from artists like the New Pornographers, Regina Spektor, The Cat Empire, Mumm-ra and this beautiful version of Mad World. Cheers, Spotify.
For a degree in Music Production, my tutors require some fairly unusual things of me - creating Audio and Video installation art has been a totally new experience and, arguably, not a particularly useful one. For my last assignment I projected a video of a running tap onto a fishbowl full of water - I'm still not sure why. Still, though, looking at different art forms has been an eye-opening experience, and I've very much enjoyed learning about the work of artists like Max Neuhaus, whose installation in Times Square was at worst pretty cool and at best an innovative work of near-genius. I'm on the fence, but it's interesting nonetheless.
