There is a time honored maxim in academia (and elsewhere) that declares that the messier your desk is, the busier you are, and hence the more productive you are. For most of my working life i've been on the opposite end of the spectrum. You see, when my OCD (there's that self-characterization again, i'm beginning to think this isn't a joke) kicks in, i simply cannot continue working without tidying my desk. At minimum such that all my papers and books are in nice piles, at worst such that my desk is spotless and all books and papers are appropriately filed. While i can debate my productivity until the cows come home, i tend to think that for me at least a tidy desk is a mark of efficiency. You see, i leave things on my desk when i can't get to them right away, which means that if there are piles of crap scattered around my office then i have been procrastinating. An empty desk (or email inbox, for that matter) indicates that i am being diligent and tackling tasks as they come. But try explaining that to a peer who pops by your office and is wondering how it could possibly be so clean.

For someone who adored Editors' first two albums, i'm finding In This Light On This Evening almost a betrayal. Yes, in previous concert and album reviews i suggested that they'd better stop relying on Chris Urbanowicz's staccato guitar, however that didn't mean they should abandon it entirely. And it definitely didn't mean they should switch bandwagons to C-grade electro-rock. It's almost like they're charting the direction Joy Division were tipped to pursue before Ian Curtis's demise, only thirty years later and in the midst of legions of other post punk wannabes. Ack.