The big meeting is finally behind me (they've even removed the links to it from the society web page). Very good experience on the whole ... heard lots of cool ideas and my presentations were very well received. It was tough, considering that I usually work hard all week to sleep in on the weekends. Last week I worked furiously to prepare for the meeting, and when Saturday came my alarm was going off at 6am so I could catch the T and be at the meeting by 8am. Ick.

So now I'm allowing myself to relax a bit, although now my work focus shifts from preparing presentations to writing papers, which only slightly less stressful but at least a calmer affair in general. Veronica and I managed to finally watch The Filth and the Fury, the Sex Pistols documentary from 2000. As I've written previously in this journal, the Sex Pistols are a mixed bag for me. Of course, I have to respect the radical change in mentality they brought about in the music scene. Countless bands that I admire were formed in the wake of the Pistols revolution. However, you listen to these guys prattle on and you realize that they're all idiots. Johnny Rotten/Lydon is quick to claim that Malcolm McClaren never controlled the Sex Pistols, but you have to suspect that McClaren knew exactly how to put these drunken pricks in situations that would generate the kind of press and publicity that he craved. The feud is more legend than reality at this point, as was true with the far superior 24 Hour Party People. However, unlike the Factory story where the folly of it all takes center stage, The Filth and the Fury comes off as a platform for everyone to spin the story to make themselves out as the saint. Johnny Rotten crying about the "tragic" death of Sid Vicious was the epitome of the film's failed attempts to manipulate public sentiment.

On the slate for this week is The Liars at the Middle East tonight, then Le Tigre and Mary Timony of Helium at the Roxy on Friday, followed by a jaunt down to NYC for Saturday and Sunday to do nothing in particular. And the now ever-present paper writing at work.