Solving Problems Like Maria

It's 11am on a Monday morning, and 24-year-old Maria Juur, aka Maria Minerva, has just woken up. It's a setback she doesn't really need, having had grand plans of being up and at the library by 9am, well in time to get in some hours of study and work in on her postgraduate thesis before other commitments infringed on the ever-shortening day. And then Seinfeld happened.

“It's been a busy time,” she explains. “I have lots of things to do before I go on tour. But I'm very lazy, so mainly I've been fighting with myself. I'm halfway through writing my thesis, which I never thought would happen, but at the same time, I've been watching a lot of TV, because you're always at the computer, and you wanna procrastinate. There's another thing I've been doing, it's called procrastinating – you have stuff to do, but instead of doing it, you're so nervous that you constantly eat, which is what I've been doing.

“I started watching Seinfeld, because I have had conversations with people where they quote Seinfeld and I say, 'I've never seen it,' and they're like, 'What are you talking about?' … so now seemed like the best time to start watching all the freaking seasons. I'm in the fourth season right now. It's really funny because, just to get some consolation, I typed in 'how to fight procrastination' on YouTube, and there was a video where someone said: 'Get to work. Don't watch Seinfeld.' And I was like, 'How did you know I was watching Seinfeld?'”

To be fair, though, procrastinating through the magic of the internet and TV has never really gotten in the way of Minerva getting work done before.

“Once I was stuck in Copenhagen Airport for like ten hours, and I was really bored,” she relates. “But fortunately I had a bunch of films and I wanted to see them because they were a starting point for a book that I wanted to read, Peter Shaviro's Post-Cinematic Affect, and the films he discusses are kind of mainstream science-fiction, action movies; the kind of films that I never watch. Like, never. I'm just not into this kind of shit.

“But I wanted to read the book, so I downloaded them and watched them at Copenhagen Airport, and they were really kind of fascinating because they're action movies, and they're supposed to be super interesting, but I've never really got into that. I was watching the films and something resonated in my head, so now I'm releasing an album in a month and there's a track on it, Perpetual Motion Machine, which is a phrase I stole from this stupid movie I was watching at the airport.”

Minerva will be back at the airport soon enough, to embark for her first trip to Australia. And – providing she gets through her thesis and Seinfeld – her sojourn will be a well-earned one. After all, what does a sci-fi-referencing, art-history-graduating, international-music-playing, busy modern lady deserve if not a little relaxation time?

“I think it's gonna be a nice trip because by the time I make it over to Australia, I'm done with my school stuff, and I just can't wait to chill out,” she says. “Because I'm really nervous right now. I have to finish the freaking thesis and then I have to prepare for the tour itself. Every day is filled with obligations, and sometimes you just need a day where you don't have anything, and I'm not going to have that until I fly to [Australia].”