Where Is My Mind?

One more of those great songs I may have heard ages ago and had completely forgotten until my mind — for some strange reason of its own (not mine) — suddenly started playing it again over and over at top volume on the private radio I use as a head (that's one lousy pun). And since I'm not there, but way out splashing around in the pool, I'm kindly obliging so I won't collapse (hence the phrase “to be out of one's mind”).

Ey@el

Ooh, ooh
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind
Where is my mind
Where is my mind
Way out in the water
See it swimmin'

I was swimmin' in the Caribbean
Animals were hiding behind the rock
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin' to talk to me koi koy

Where is my mind
Where is my mind
Where is my mind
Way out in the water
See it swimmin'

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
If there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind
Where is my mind
Where is my mind
Way out in the water
See it swimmin'

Ooh
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Ooh
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Ooh
Ooh

Original text by BLACK FRANCIS
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Thriller

I am no special fan of such literary genre, but I do like the aesthetics and heavy atmosphere. For me, a good thriller depends more on the psychological make-up of characters than on crime itself (a good example would be Shutter Island adapted on screen by Martin Scorsese). That's actually what came out of a short quiz entitled "What thriller character are you?" I took for fun on a French publisher's website:

In thrillers, you would be a profiler! You love twisted investigations on the human psyche, those putting emphasis on the mind and subconscious with strong analyses of the sometimes obscure workings of human beings. Psychological thrillers suit you best especially when woven around both intriguing and twisted characters.

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Does Language Influence How You See the World?

Holder of a Master's degree in contrastive linguistics (English-French), regular readers of the French blog will know how fond of language I am and how essential I feel it is to cultivate and preserve it at all costs. Unlike what some might think, I wasn't born nor educated in a privileged environment and only became bilingual through hard work, development of latent potentials (initiated during past lives?) and experiences built in this present life. The article reposted below allowed me to finally understand what I knew already but was unable to express verbally: language is much more than a mere communication tool. Therefore I fully agree with what the author wrote, especially where she says each language we're fluent in has a different influence on our personality and how we see ourselves. This is why there are things I find easier to express in English than in French (my native tongue) and vice versa. This is also why I feel a different person whether I speak or think in the former or the latter.

A Russian young lady (who will recognise herself if she ever reads this) once told me that she felt her mother tongue was an intuitive language, English being logical while French was more emotional, half-way between English and Russian. I tend to agree with her. Incidentally, I have a distant memory of Russian classes at university where there were about 40 of us attending at the beginning of term but only 5 remaining by the beginning of the next. One student, whose mother tongue was Arabic, obviously seemed to grasp the basics of Russian with greater ease than the rest of us French/English speakers — not on account of any linguistic, grammatical or phonetic similarities but rather because the mindset structuring this language appears to be closer to the one structuring Eastern languages as opposed to Western languages. In that respect, Russian could indeed be deemed more intuitive.

Just learning to think in another language allows you to see your own culture in a better viewpoint.

Gates McFadden

However, where intuition does play a major part in the development of linguistic skills, it certainly becomes crucial when translating, not only to spot unknown idioms but also to grasp the meaning of any neologism not matched nor defined in any dictionary yet. Yes, translation is an art online algorithms and casual human translators are not prepared to measure up with. The same applies to the proper use of dictionaries. Only those who can thoroughly think in one language without resorting to their native tongue can expect to achieve bilingualism as it involves some form of mental gymnastics no teacher will ever be able to teach you and that you'll therefore have to find for yourself. In this regard, acquiring fluency in foreign languages is much akin to personal development.

Ey@el

The language you are introduced to affects the structure of your brain, influences how you see the world and who you are. But what if you speak two languages?

Can learning a language rewire your brain?

As our species evolved parts of our brain expanded, resulting in more computing power for language. It's what makes us hard-wired for communication. What is perhaps more surprising is how language can shape our brains throughout our lives.

Most of the evidence for this comes from studies of people who are bilingual. Being bilingual offers widespread benefits across a range of complex cognitive tasks and it comes from distinct areas of the brain.

Read more...

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Fatal Era

An era proving fatal to the U-man race
As it chose to breathe in A-trade
Instead of embracing love.
You could feel it in the air though,
But for worst always,
Clench-fisted U-men
Didn't see it coming
On time.
The stale
Dirty-eyed R
And its regulate-R's
Set up Terra
On their final stopover
Through the Milky Way.
As the initial stage of Terra-mining
Went exactly to plan,
With all souls uprooted
And stuck into the time loop,
Terra-forming could then start.
And the Invade-R's
Sucked the Earth dry
Of all its water and air,
Leaving behind a
Dried-up
Barren
Moonscape
Wasteland.

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Weird Fishes (Arpeggi)

All you sinners or lure fishing victims, there's no way you can avoid the fishies¹ today, especially on a Friday²! Here's some weird “arpeggiesque” fishes from Radiohead's magical music tank — music that came to me at a most unexpected time, taming me gently over time and providing me with anything but positive inspiration. A jigsaw falling into place³.

Ey@el

In the deepest ocean,
The bottom of the sea,
Your eyes —
They turn me.

Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?

I'd be crazy not to follow,
Follow where you lead.
Your eyes —
They turn me.

Turn me on to phantoms,
I follow to the edge of the earth
And fall off.

Everybody leaves
If they get the chance
A small chance.
Not to get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes...
Picked over by the worms
And weird fishes...
Weird fishes...
Weird fishes...

Yeah I...
I'll hit the bottom...
Hit the bottom and escape.
Escape...
And I...
I'll hit the bottom...
Hit the bottom...
Hit the bottom and escape.
Escape.

Endnotes

1. In France, Belgium, and French-speaking areas of Switzerland and Canada, 1 April tradition is known as “April fish” (poissons d'avril). This includes attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed. This is also what we call the joke we make on the occasion.
2. On A Friday was how the band called themselves before they changed their name to Radiohead from a Talking Head song.
3. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" is a song from In Rainbows from which this track also comes from.

Original text by THOM YORKE
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