About three months ago, I made a CD for a bunch of people I know, and now I'm making another one.  Not music I've made myself, mind.  I have about as much musical talent as a baked potato.  But I think of myself as a pretty good judge of music, and not to shabby when it comes to constructing a kind of narrative through musical selection.  And thanks to Spotify and listening to my iPod at work, I'm getting through a lot of music, and finding new acts I think people will like, or rediscovering old favourites.  So, while many of the more talented people I know are posting music or artwork on their blogs, facebooks, twitters, etc, I shall be stressing over track listings and whether the best song on an album is necessarily the right one to include (answer: not always). 

As to the legality of the whole thing, I'll simply say this:  I've never illegally downloaded a song, and by sharing music with people in this way, I hope it inspires them to go out and buy the albums of the artists they like.

I won't reveal the track list her, because I imagine some of you who read this might be receiving one, so instead I'll simply leave you with some stats, and if you're interested in a copy, let me know.  Who knows - you might already be on my list.

QUARTERLY SELECTION OF MUSICAL AWESOME: VOLUME 2

31% of tracks from this year
Oldest track's release date: 1997
12.5% of tracks are remixes
50% of artists/groups are from the UK
19% are Canadian
12.5% are Swedish
69% feature female vocalists
12.5% of the tracks are by "super-groups"
Longest track: 5.21
Tracks not included in these statistics for reasons that will become clear: 1

It's been an odd summer for film so far. Star Trek was good, if undemanding; a rollercoaster ride that looked pretty and thundered along at a tremendous pace, but had to so you couldn't stare at the plot holes for too long. Harry Potter 6 was disappointing, a mediocre film based on a decent book, but one not particularly suited to adaptation perhaps, and lacking in the action sequence punch of the last. Moon was excellent, and hung around for far too short a time - I would have liked to have seen it again, and will definitely be buying the DVD. Inglourious Basterds was my kind of mess, a little self indulgent, maybe, but filled with great performances, some crackling direction and dialogue so sharp you could use it to as a Hattori Hanzo blade.

And of course Transformers 2 was the Abomination, the End of Days, the Prince of Lies, That Which Walks and Crawls and Flies, the Unmaker, the Unholy, the Anti-God. Not to fall victim to hyperbole at all :)

That said, there are some very interesting films on the horizon (my horizon stretching as far as next year, of course). Some are out in America already, many garnering rave reviews, or at least decent ones. Others won't be with us or anyone else for some time yet, but I'm still excited about them. And as I'm only sticking in ones with trailers, this list doesn't even include Scott Pilgrim Versus The World, which will be The Bomb, or even The Bob-Omb.



WHIP IT - First of many "perfect storm" movies on the list. Drew Barrymore has managed to make a career out of balancing out Hollywood with some more alternative fare, and her first shot at directing looks firmly lodged in the left-field. Roller Derby is one of those things I regret not attending while in the States, and when I go back, it's high on the list of stuff to do. Compared to the "young man finds his place in the world" sub-genre, there are remarkably few coming of age films for women, and it's encouraging to see a film that fulfills The Bechdel Test in the trailer, let along the whole movie. Plus, Ellen Page is certifiable adorable, Kristen Wiig is hilarious, as is Alia Shawkat (and both of them deserve bigger careers) and it has the mysterious third Wilson brother in it. Sign me up!



THE HURT LOCKER - Out very soon, this has been getting all kinds of critical love over in the States, where it's being called the first great Iraq War film. Jeremy Renner's performance is meant to be pretty extraordinary, and look at that beautiful slo-mo hi-def cinematography. Plus, I have a feeling this movie might be pretty good at ratcheting up the tension...



WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE - Ok, I'll admit it. When I first saw this trailer, I misted up a little bit. I have a feeling the film is going to make me cry like an infant in the cinema (but in a very manly way). Based on the classic kids book, directed by Spike Jonze, written by Dave Eggers, with a great cast and amazing looking visuals, this is going to be a treat in every sense of the word.



YOUTH IN REVOLT - I like Michael Cera. I liked him in Arrested Development. I like him in Superbad and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and I'm pretty certain I'm going to like him in Scott Pilgrim Versus The World. That said, so far, he has played to his strengths. I by played to his strengths, I mean pretty much played the same character over and over again. It's good to see him busting out of that mold, and this film looks set to do that, with him playing both Standard Michael Cera Character, and an amoral criminal sex-god. Which is about as far from George Michael as you can get.



INCEPTION - Oh, Inception, let me count the ways I am excited.
1) You are the new Christopher "Memento/Batman Begins/The Prestige/The Dark Knight" Nolan movie.
2) Leonardo DiCaprio is swiftly proving himself the most talented actor of his generation.
3) The rest of the cast: Joseph-Gordon Levitt (hot on DiCaprio's tail for that title), Ellen Page, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe and several others of equally fantastic quality.
4) The premise: a thriller set in the architecture of the mind. As intriguing as it is confusing.
5) This teaser trailer, which just dropped today. Wowzer.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Taking Woodstock, District 9, Fantastic Mr Fox, Jennifer's Body, Funny People, Extract, Big Fan, Tron Legacy, The Box, and An Education.

I've been slowly refining my chilli recipe.  I finished eating the latest attempt about an hour ago (although half of it's left to be re-heated tomorrow) and decided to keep a photo record as a I cooked this time.  I'm pretty sure I've found the mix I'm gonna stick with now, although all my measurements are done by eye/taste, so each one will be slightly different.

Here's what I was cooking with.  Note the two beers - one for cooking, one for drinking (although in the end, I drank the rest of the cooking beer and saved the forty for tomorrow).
















Mince and pancetta nicely browned off, in goes the onion, pepper, mushrooms, carrots and tomatoes.  Wine's already been added in.















In goes the Hobgoblin.  Yum.
















Delicious and smooth.

Can't remember ever actually having Hobgoblin before - I'm not a huge ale drinker, but this was rich and fruity without being too heavy on the stomach.

I stood in the beer aisle of Sainsbury's for a good 5 minutes picking out the right one - it was tim











In goes the chopped toms, the spices and the sauces.  Now it's just a matter of waiting and refining.















Chef's perks.

Don't you judge me.














The all important testing spoon. 

Kidney beans are in now - it's only a matter of time!














The final ingredient.  FYI - grating chocolate gets your hands very sticky.
















The finished product.  Delicious and delicious.

The lime Doritos have a nice edge to them, and the chilli ended up pleasantly spicy without scorching the roof off my mouth

In other, non-stomach related news, I love Spotify, I'm Twittering much too often, I'm enjoying The Warriors, which I'm watching right now (and kind of wish I had the original Assault On Precinct 13 for a synth-tastic 80s double bill), Harry Potter 6 was disappointing, Moon was fantastic, I'm hoping Cinema City shows The Hurt Locker come the end of the month, my friend Bret's broken his leg after getting crashed into by an old lady (get well soon Bret!), I've just finished World War Z which I recommend to all (thanks Sam!) and that's all I can think of for now.

T

As promised, here's a little slice of fiction I've written.  As I explained, it's based around the role-playing game I run and it's the first bit of writing I've done in a long while, so it's neither very accessible or very polished.  That said, you gotta keep doing these things until you get better, and the best way to do that is to put it in the public domain, where the thought of other people reading your inelegant prose and clunky metaphors can drive you to better work.  Hopefully the people who play the game will enjoy this little Easter Egg, and anyone else who can be bothered to read it won't be too confused.  Anyway, here it is (or at least, here it is below the cut).

( THE BRUISE )

I haven't been reading enough.  I haven't been posting enough.  And I certainly haven't been writing enough.  All that shall change.

For starters, tomorrow, I'm going back to the beginning of Gentlemen of the Road, the Michael Chabon adventure book I've been slowly picking though.  I'm over half way through, but I've been reading it so piecemeal I feel like I'm not really appreciating the beautiful language (and it is beautiful, and funny, and thrilling), so tomorrow, I'm waking early and reading the whole book in one day.  I may break in the middle to go see Coraline with my dad, but hopefully I'll be done before that.

After Gentlemen of the Road is done with, I'm picking up Carter Beats The Devil, with Tom so graciously lent me and even more graciously, hasn't hassled me for even though I've had it for positively ages.  No more iPod on the bus - that means for at least an hour and a half each weekday I get some good solid reading done.  It might even inspire me to read during my lunchbreak.

As for the posting and the writing, the two will be related, but also not.

For the not - on the upcoming bank holiday weekend (for which I also have the Tuesday off - huzzah for 4 day weekends!) I'm gonna have another epic session of finalising the script for the secret project Cat and I are working on.  She showed me some preliminary artwork for it the other day and it's looking awesome.  I'm happy with the shape of the script but I feel like the dialogue can still be punched up a couple of levels.

Also on that weekend, I'm going to write something to submit for Enthusiasm, the intimidatingly cool 'zine produced by Susie, Tim and all those at The Deep Freeze.  Enthusiasm covers everything from Byron to bicycles, coffee to comics, and if you're at all an interesting person, you should track down a copy and get yourself good and entertained.  I'm not sure what I'll be writing about yet, but I'm a pretty enthusiastic fellow, so I'm sure inspiration will strike soon.  If it doesn't, I'll track it down and make jokes about Inspiration's momma until it does strike me.

And for the writing/posting connection - Inspired by friends Frankie and Debs, who have both begun excellent blogs, I'm going to start posting some fiction on here.  I run a role-playing game with some friends, a sort of dark twist on superheroes that's going pretty well so far, and as I have a ton of background in my head for it, most of which will never see the light of day in the game, I'm going to write it up and stick it on here.  Hoepfully, after I get back into the swing of writing regularly, I'll branch out a bit more, but for now, it'll be plotting supervillains and nefarious enemies from other dimensions.  I'll stick it all behind a cut, so I don't know what that'll do on Facebook - it may be that if you want to read it, you'll have to track it down to the source on Livejournal.

And, after talking about all my friends' creative endeavours, it's only fair I plug their blogs.

http://interwebscrapbook.blogspot.com/ - Susie's blog, where interesting things are regularly posted (putting me to shame) and you can hassle her for a copy of Enthusiasm.  Be a mensch and send her a stamped addressed envelope though.

http://thetrickistokeepblogging.blogspot.com/ - Deb's blog about making yourself write.  If we all make enough noise, she'll eventually post some of her actual fiction (hint hint!).

http://caseoflostpossibilities.blogspot.com/ - Frankie's ongoing mystery fiction blog - it's only three entries in, so hop on now and catch up easily!

So, if you're reading this in the original format, rather than Facebook (which is Dave to Livejournal's BBC2) you'll see we have a new colour scheme and a new sub-title.  It's now The Year of The Gyroscope.  So there you go.

A couple of weekends ago I went down to London for the UK Web and Mini Comix Thing (which from now on I'll call The Thing, for the whole brevity thing).  I actually had to wake up earlier than I do for work in order to get a train, because they we're all screwed up, because it's the weekend and that's what happens.  I got there in pretty good time, managed to Tube across London and arrived around 12 at The Thing.

It was pretty crowded, and had hot nerd smell, but it was still awesome.  I got to meet Marc Ellerby (http://www.ellerbisms.com/), Adam Cadwell (http://theeveryday.adamcadwell.com/), Lizz Lunney (http://lizzlizz.com/), Meredith Gran (http://www.octopuspie.com/), R Stevens (http://www.dieselsweeties.com/) and Kate Beaton (http://harkavagrant.com/), as well as a bunch of other cool people.  I picked up a horrendous amount of swag, and was generally very impressed by the high standard of stuff people were putting out.

After spending a couple of hours there, I headed back into the centre of London, to Tottenham Court Road.  I chilled in Soho Square, picked up some comics at Gosh, grabbed a burger at a funny little joint called Cagney's (all the burgers were named after James Cagney films - I had a Yankee Doodle Dandy aka burger with bacon) and then went to The British Museum.

I love the British Museum.  It's free to everyone (although anyone worth a damn leaves at least £4 donation) and frankly, if heaven exists, it looks like the inside of that place.  Great design, peoples of every nation, relaxing atmosphere and cool, interesting stuff everywhere you look.  I checked out the African and Korean halls and then had a wander through a hall full of exhibits on the afterlife and mysticism.  It was most tranquil and cultured.

Post-Museum, I met up with Toby.  We started off in a pub near Spitalfields, but the England game was on, so we moved to a quieter bar.  It was most cool to see Toby again - he's a top chap, and we had a good chat.

After pub, Toby stuck me on the bus to King's Cross Station, but because of traffic, and leaving it a little too late to set out, I ended up at the station 3 minutes late.  The train I was aiming for was headed to Peterborough, and as I ran into the station, there was a Peterborough train in 3 minutes time.  Great, I thought, it's running late, and on I ran.  Except that the train I was meant to get to Peterborough took 45 minutes to get there, and the one I had just run onto took 1 hour 30.  So I missed my connection, and by the time I got to Peterborough, there were no trains to Norwich.  There was a train to Stanstead, which stopped at Ely and Cambridge.  That, I figured, was my best hope for getting home.  So on I hopped.  Except there was no connecting train at Ely, and I was stuck there.

Ely is a lovely town.  But not at midnight, when you're meant to be in Norwich, and there's no room at the PremierInn and so you have to stay at the swanky hotel in the town centre, which isn't quite swanky enough to have digital TV or a decent looking shower.  Sigh.

So I awoke in Ely pretty early, wandered down to the train station, and it turns out the first train to Norwich isn't until 11.  Cue sitting in Tesco for an hour nursing a coffee, and then finally pulling into Norwich at about midday.

Long day out.  But all in all, good.

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random... Read More”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Post it to FB with this text in the "caption" and TAG the friends you want to join in. (you can untag yourself if you don't want this photo up)



Ioannis Theodoropoulos' first solo album, For Young Men To Utter Maxims.  Looks like the Greek answer to James Blunt to me...

This seems to be cropping up all over the place on Facebook, but I'll post it here first then tag it over on Facebook.

1) I can lick my elbow, which you're not meant to be able to do.

2) On a good day, I can name all the Presidents of the United States.

3) On a really good day, I can get them in order.

4) I have performed on stage with the National Ballet Theatre.

5) My signature dish is bacon and tomato risotto.

6) Cockroaches freak me out more than any other creature.

7) I'm extremely good at Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon...

8) And I once spent most of New Year's Eve with people giving me increasingly ridiculous things to link up.

9) I have shallow kneecaps.

10) I've never learnt how to ride a bike.

11) My first memory is of the saloon-style doors leading to the outside pool where we on holiday in...Majorca, I think.  I don't know how old I was though.

12) My favourite character on Tekken is Hwoarang.

13) I find the theory of memetics fascinating.

14) I just fixed our toilet, sort of.

15) I'm finding it really hard to make time to read or write at the moment, which depresses me quite a bit.

16) I make really good mix-tapes, or whatever the CD equivalent is called.

17) My favourite poems are The Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost and A Step Away From Them by Frank O'Hara.

18) In the week after I finished university, I became slightly obsessed with DIY and fixed a bunch of stuff around the house.

19) One of the things I miss most about San Francisco is The Isotope, and I don't care if that makes me a massive nerd.

20) My favourite word to say is "coagulate".

21) I find ironing quite Zen.  Washing up too, to a lesser degree.

22) The TV series Spaced has informed an awful lot of my life.

23) My cheeks go red when I'm cold, or hot, or pretty much whenever they can.

24) I once Space Hoppered round Norwich.

25) Every Wednesday is Physics Wednesday.

So, 2008 in review.

First, here come the lists -

MUSIC
2008 has been a pretty good year for music, not just in terms of what's come out, but in terms of what I've discovered.  Or perhaps discovered is the wrong word - perhaps finally got round to listening to is better.  Anyways, in no particular order, here are the ten songs that have made my year.

Greyhound Bus - The Moldy Peaches
When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
Youthless - Beck
The Spirit Of Radio - Rush
Dancing Choose - TV On The Radio
This Is How You Spell, "HAHAHA, We Destroyed The Hopes And The Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics" - Los Campesinos
Once And Never Again - The Long Blondes
Boyz - M.I.A.
Lovely Allen - Holy Fuck

FILM
2008 in film has been long periods of nothing saved by occasional moments of jaw-dropping excellence.  Juno got the year off to a very good start, The Fall finished the year off beautifully and blockbuster season saw Iron Man, Hellboy 2 and the all conquering colossus that was The Dark Knight.  Most definitely the film of the year by a long, long way.  No Country For Old Men didn't grab me by the hojos the way it did a lot of people, and I haven't got round to seeing There Will Be Blood yet, so I can't comment on that.  All in all, a thin year with a few sparkling highs.

LIFE
2008 has been a mixed bag of big changes, most of which either weren't as big as I thought they would be, or still haven't properly sunk in.  Cat and I now live together, just the two of us, which is so, so, so much better than sharing with the two infinite dimwits we were living with.  I think we're mostly in equilibrium, and we're both looking forward to moving onwards and upwards in 2009, as far as jobs and living spaces goes. 

Jobs - that's the other big change.  I'm no longer a student and instead a Norwich Union employee.  If you'd asked me to predict where I'd be this time last year, I certainly wouldn't have guessed Norwich Union.  Then again, Cat's just pointed out to me that everyone who lives in Norwich works for them at some point (it's like National Service) so my time must have been up.

As for other events, well, we got hit by a car, which was...unusual.  I came close to physical violence (or at least intricately planned revenge) against our old housemates too many times to mention.  Our guinea pigs got fatter and braver.  We painted our hallway, and I began the slow accumulation of tools that in many ways defines a man's life.  We own most of our furniture, including our bed, which, after three years renting, is odder than it sounds.

If I had to sum up this year (which is the whole point of this post), I would say that the shift to being a "grown-up" has well and truly begun.  I'm looking forward to certain things it will bring (hopefully more money, for example) but perhaps I should go pour a 40 on the kerb for my university days.

Bring on 2009!

Sweet Muscular Jebus!  Over a month since the last post?  I would say it's cos the last month has been a whirlwind of activity, in which I've attended dazzling parties, written two novels and begun a career as the world's first dual surgeon/lawyer, but that would be a lie.  Mostly, I've worked, watched money dribble out of the bank, done some Christmas shopping, worked some more, watched Friends repeats in sweatpants, complained about the cold and slept.  Oh, and Catherine and I got hit by a car, but that was also a month ago now, and blogging about it seems, I don't know, irrelevant.  Needless to say, it shook us up a bit, and Catherine, who bore the brunt of the impact, still has a slightly stiff leg, but broadly speaking, we're ok.

So what else is new?

Well, it's almost Christmas, which brings with it various joys and turmoils.  This year, rather than hosting the families, which our present flat couldn't cope with, we're spending Christmas Eve and Day at Cat's folks, and Boxing Day and the day after at mine.  Hopefully, all will go smoothly, and be full of festive frolics and fun.  One thing in particular I'm looking forward to is Cat's parent's dog, Pickle the dachshund, who goes crazy for wrapping paper.  He's an odd little dog with a bundle of OCD-ish ticks and a very sweet demeanor.

I suppose at some point I shall post up some kind of end-of-year summary, probably with some top ten lists, because I am one of those guys.  But right now, I'm tired, and I'm watching No Country For Old Men finally, so I'll finish early and promise to come back sooner next time.

So long.

First of all, I meant to do this earlier.  It's still just about topical, but really I should have been doing this on Tuesday.  So, sorry if you're sick of the US election by now, but no-one's forcing you to read this.

As an American Studies student, it's pretty incredible what we've seen happen in the States over the last week.  I'm a nerd when it comes to American politics, and have followed this election since before primary season, and I'm still bowled over by what has occurred.  I can't remember when I first heard the name Barack Obama, but it was while I was still living in San Francisco, and after finding out a little bit about his politics, and hearing his amazing oratorical prowess (on YouTube I think), I instantly saw that he had the power to inspire a legion of supporters.  And while I may have imagined and hoped to see him as the next US President, I would never have predicted his victory.  America travels quickly, and it to have a President who, when he was born, was a second-class citizen is an astonishing feat.

The social change that we will see in the wake of this will hopefully be huge. The differences between the administration Obama will construct and the Bush administration are going to be seismic.  Here we have an intellectual, liberal President commited to combatting climate change, to serious thought and measured action on the economy, to keeping church and state seperate, to upholding the rights of women, ethnic minorities and the poor.

America is one of the few nations of the world to have been founded on principles, principles that are set down in the constitution and the bill of rights, in the writings of the founding fathers.  As such, it is constantly trying to live up to those ideals of reason, equality, justice and liberty - high ideals that are hard to achieve in any country, let alone one as large or complex as America.  When it does, as it did on November 4th, there is something very, very special about it.

After the cut, there is the lengthy e-mail conversation fellow American scholar Tom and I had as voting commenced in America.  Some of it is political, but it also ventures into the murky world of music piracy and zombie biology.  Read on if you like...



( Polls Now Open On The East Coast... )

I'm a muso and occasionally a snob when it comes to music, although I like to think my passion for eclecticism outweighs my desire to tut at people who listen to Katy Perry.  I know that several of you out there who tend to read these missives are also swelling with musical knowledge.  But I feel a little bit like a fraud occasionally.  I confess - I am sadly lacking when it comes to the classics.  The albums and the bands everyone is meant to know elude me.  It's not just in music - in film and literature I also fall down.  But music seems the easiest to correct, and so, kind readers and stumblers-upon, I ask you, where should I start with the following artists?

The Rolling Stones
Marvin Gaye
Janis Joplin
Crosby, Stills and Nash
The Doors
Neil Young
The Allman Brothers Band
Jimi Hendrix

Does anyone have glowing praise for any particular albums by The Smiths, David Bowie or The Jam - they all seem so good, I'm not sure where to start, and at the moment I shamefully survive on compilations (high treason in musoville).

And are there any albums or artists you think I simply have to listen to?  I'm mainly looking for the classics, the canon of pop, if you will, but any more contemporary recommendations would be welcomed as well.

I hope this post hasn't been too pretentious and whiny for you, and I'll try to make the next one less demanding.

Oh my stars, the agony of two geeks bereft of Internet!

You don’t realise how much you use it (i.e. far too much) until it’s gone, and then you start devising ways to shove your hands down the telephone wire so you can choke the life out of the BT representative on the other end and listen the his last few ragged breaths escape his incompetent frame. Seriously, we’ve just begun a 12-month contract with BT for phone and broadband, and once it’s over, I’m never, ever dealing with this company again if it is at all possible. If you ever hear me saying, “I’m thinking of giving BT another try”, you have my permission to punch me in the gooch and call me a moron.

Rant over.

We’re in our beautiful new flat and things are going swimmingly, at least as far as property concerns go. After a tumultuous first month which saw us using garden furniture in the living room for a short while, we have a comfortable futon, a grotesquely large armchair which needs three throws to cover it, a desk and enough shelving…for now. The guinea pigs have had an upgrade to their living arrangements, we have managed to deconstruct the bed, rotate it 90° and reconstruct it, our kitchen is fully equipped, our bills are set up and our respective degrees hang from the wall like the massive nerds we are. All in all, it’s been a successful and rewarding month of settling. Pictures, I’m sure, will follow shortly.

We’re both full time at Norwich Union now, which is a considerable transition for me. Leaving Waterstone’s was tough - everyone there was great and I got to work with books all day, but Norwich Union has been equally welcoming, and after two days of induction, two weeks of training and a week of actual work, I’m starting to get my brain around what I have to do. For anyone who’s interested, I work in Defined Benefit Pension Quotation and no, I can’t tell you how safe your money is in the credit crunch.

I think I’ll call it an evening as far as this post goes, but expect another one soon with some meditations upon the new series of Heroes, some frankly unsightly gushing over the new TV On The Radio album, and other assorted pop-cultureness.

Stay frosty, marines!

I'll make a proper post soon, but in the mean time, entertain yourselves with this. Tim commands it!

* Put your music player on random.
* Post the first two lines from the first 32 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
* Let everyone guess what song and artist the lines come from.
* Bold the songs when someone guesses correctly.
* Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is cheating, and in a few cases will not help you.

( First lines... )

Enjoy!

Edited to put everyone out of their misery.

Moving day! Moving day! Moving day!

Our living room is mostly boxes right now, and it turns out when you concentrate all your belongings into one place, they somehow double in size. This is just a short note to say 1) hooray! No more sucky damp house! and 2) I'll be offline for a few days, but you can expect a full report sometime in the near future.

Wish us luck!

T

Fair warning, readers, this'll be a big one.  Last night Cat and I went to see The Dark Knight for the second time, almost exactly a week after seeing it for the first time, and it's time to get some thoughts down.  Extensive spoilers follow.



I cannot wait to see it a third, fourth and fifth time, and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

I was planning on my next post being a post-Dark Knight dissection, but holy crap!  It's already time for the Mercury Music Prize nominations again?  That year went fast.

I like the Mercury.  Despite having all the prerequisite equipment (trivia hoover brain, lack of actual musical ability), I only really turned into a muso once I hit university.  I can still remember a party I went to early in the first year where the one person I knew (who was also one of the hosts) asked me if I liked The Smiths and I said yes, knowing that I'd heard of them, but not really making the connection.  Of course, I was already a fan of people like The Beta Band by then, and at this party, people were launching fireworks out of their arses at the university accommodation, so maybe the whole thing is best ignored.

Anyway, dragging this post back to its point, I like the Mercury Music Prize, and I started following it around the time I started really following music.  2005 proved to be a bumper year, introducing me to M.I.A. and The Go! Team, who still rank among my favourite artists, while 2006 gave me The Guillemots.  Last year, I didn't get to watch the ceremony, as it was shown on digital TV, which our house can't receive, and the one band I did pick up, New Young Pony Club, were a little disappointing.  Then again, the list also included Jamie T, who I had already played to death over in America.

Glancing over this year's list, I  can already ignore Adele (too sub-Winehouse-ish), Burial (not keen on dubstep), Estelle (just no) and Neon Neon (no more electro).  I'm not keen on jazz or folk, so I'll probably steer clear of Portico Quartet and Rachel Unthank, and I'm just not sure what to think about Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.  I've hovered around Elbow a few times before, and my brother is a big fan of theirs, I think, so maybe they're worth a try.  The Last Shadow Puppets were pretty good on Jonathan Ross a while back.  Laura Marling has potential; I like My Manic and I but not some of her other stuff.  So perhaps this list is telling me I should finally give Radiohead and British Sea Power a proper go (I'm sure Tom will be pleased about the latter).

Of course, all this is academic - music costs money, and money is at a premium at the moment.  But I can dream.

What the hell is going on with the weather right now?  It's gone schizophrenic.  This afternoon, it was blue sky, balmy temperatures on the side of cool, and generally a nice day to be out in.  This morning, I was afraid I was going to take off the wind was so strong, and the clouds were positively apocalyptic.  Yesterday, we had California rain, in droplets big enough that it feels like someone's spitting at you, arriving without warning.  Within fifteen seconds, you go from no rain to heavy rain, and the temperature doesn't change.  Anyone who doesn't believe in global warming and the effect it has on the global climate is a moron of such epic proportions that there is no hope for them.

Still no full time job.  Still no house.  Still no money, in any substantial quantities.  But today I pulled out matching socks from the drawer on the first try, so I think things are gonna start turning around.  We've got a house viewing tomorrow, which I'm quietly hopeful about (although I'm not sure posting it on the internet qualifies as "quiet") and I've finally pulled my thumbs out of my bottom and got to work sending of applications to a variety of jobs, some less joy-inspiring than others.  With job comes money.  House will take money, of course, but in return for shelter, space, privacy, etc.  It's a cycle I can live with.

When I was first planning this post, it was going to be a little bitter, or frustrated at the state of things, but I've decided to put a positive spin on things as much as I can, for the mental health of me and those around me.  Life is not easy, but it's not bad.  I can live with that, and from what I hear, I'll always have to.  So, bring on the good news!

Thursday we go and see The Dark Knight and I'm so excited it's taking a considerable effort not to jump up and down on the bed right now.  We've booked Gallery seats, which means I will be eating my body weight in nachos and popcorn (which for some reason I'm craving at the moment).  People I know in America have been giving it glowing reviews, and I've managed to stay pretty spoiler free, so it's all good.  I know there are some pictures of Two Face floating around on the internet but I'm not going anywhere near 'em.

Went to see Wall-E yesterday, and really enjoyed it.  Not quite as good as The Incredibles, which is one of my favourite films ever, but certainly one of Pixar's best offerings in a while.  It's great to see that a company so successful isn't resting on it's laurels, still banging out buddy comedies about the value of friendship or working together.  They continue to challenge themselves, which makes their films a million times better than their competition.  Things like Shrek have jokes for kids (farting, people falling over) and jokes for parents (pop culture puns).  Pixar films are family films in the truest sense - the jokes (and morals, and plot) not only don't talk down to kids, but they also awaken the child-like wonder in adults.  You can't help but enjoy Wall-E exploring the remnants of Earth or seeing space for the first time.  You'd have to be carved from granite not to be touched and enthralled.

The trailers ahead of the film were largely CGI kid's/family comedies, and looked atrocious.  You know when you watch film, and realise they put all the best jokes in the trailer, and after seeing them 30 times already, they're not funny?  It was like that, except the jokes weren't even funny once.  The only live action trailer, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, was hilarious, although not intentionally.  Can someone who has actually seen the films answer me this: does Zac Efron always look like he is crying and urinating simultaneously while singing?

I also watched Seven (or Se7en) for the first time this afternoon - I know, I'm a cultureless philistine.  Good film, although I already knew the ending, which kind of spoils it, and I think it's put me in the right mood for Batman.  I'm sure one could argue that the un-named dystopian city it takes place in could be Gotham.  I can certainly picture John Doe in Arkham Asylum.  There was a Seven comic book series a few years back - I wonder if DC produced it?  Crossover anyone?

Anyway, that's enough ramblings for now.  I shall probably be raving about The Dark Knight pretty soon, so you've got that to look forward to :)