I've been on a mission this holidays. To acquire knowledge? Perhaps. To keep up with the Jones'? To an extent. To broaden my experience? Certainly. I've been on a quest to get, well, not quite 'informed' but 'up to speed' on certain things. Sometimes I feel I just don't know enough about things. Now 'enough' isn't exactly quantifiable, and 'things' is a rather nebulous concept, so I'll provide some examples.

 

Art: something I'd love to know more about; I knew Picasso was a slightly dotty dude, and that Monet created magnificent works with waterlillies and bridges, but there's an entire world of art lurking in the ether to be revealed to me. I want to know MORE! I did what most people would do and checked out the art gallery. 'Modern Britain' to be precise. It was amazing. I don't know that I learnt much factually speaking (though I now know that Stanley Spencer was quite awesome and religion obsessed, but painted lovely landscapes to get by financially, and am wishing I could nab that bleak brown painting of elongated diners eating bright fuschia watermelon with their hands, to hang from my ceiling), but it was an amazing afternoon, spent gazing in awe at creations that in some way or another gave an insight into how another person saw the world for an instant. The artists may be, and some of them will be, long gone, but a breathtaking snapshots of their perceptions are still around to educate poor saps like me in need of a culture hit.

 

Literature was another field I've been feeling sorely deficient in of late. Yes, I can read, and in my defence have read quite widely; just seemingly not the texts that come up in conversation. Where people discuss Hemmingway, I've read Frank McCourt. Where someone brings up Raymond Carver, I've read Allen Ginsberg. Luckily I'm a literate person, so it's not an incredibly difficult problem to fix. Reading is good, reading is fun, reading helps you think, and over this holidays, read I did. Pride and Prejudice? Check. Interview With The Vampire? Check. Five People You meet in Heaven? Check. Lord of the Flies? Check. Knowing my luck these books will never come up in conversation and I'll be left in the dark, while someone debates the merits of a central character's impassioned dialogue in 'To Kill A Mockingbird' (it's on the list), but really this crusade probably shouldn't be about what is going to help me sound well-read for a fleeting instant before the conversation moves on to 8th Century Impressionism. If you care to know, I can tell you that I loved Pride and Prejudice, but thought Lord of The Flies was overrated, but more than that, I've read these now and formed my own opinions. And it feels nice.

 

I do like to be able to contribute intelligent things to conversation, after all. I've started reading New Scientist. It's interesting AND educational. So sue me.  

The funny thing about people is that the more you know about people that you like (like as in their company, not like as in like, necessarily, if you get my drift), the more attractive they seem to you (or at least to me, but then I'm telling the story). I've noticed it in a few instances now, and while the person's physical attributes may not have been akin to Colin Firth (speaking of which, Colin Firth actually got more attractive after I watched Bridget Jones...), or to Frankenstein for that matter, whence you first clapped eyes on their visage, they grow in estimation in this regard at the same time as they grow in your regard. And I don't mean that you end up thinking they're great, so you can ignore the hideousness- they actually look more physically appealing. Maybe it was just good lighting. Or the frame of mind I'm in at the moment. I see trees of green....!

 

 

For those of you keeping score, the newsagency celebrity scorecard count has been increased by 50%, yes that's right! We're now on a grand total of three. The latest notch in our broadsheet is none other than that most handsome of the Chaser's gang; Andrew Hansen. Behold (because I did this afternoon.: