As I walk to work each morning, especially as it gets colder and colder and I think of Nat in sunny California, I'm not always in the best of moods. I'm growing less and less fond of my job and the walk down the hill (it takes 15-20 mins; 10 if you're a fitter person) is where I listen to the things that make me able to get through the day. And it's not just music. The Dumbledore quote above is one I love though. And listening to music is one of the most immediate mood changing things you can do.
So, here is the stuff I listen to most:
One Night Stand In North Dakota - well, obviously! ONSIND are always always the band I go to first to be cheered up. Particularly "Suicide Is Painful" and "Heterosexuality Is A Construct" at the moment, at least. Often, I'll put them on shuffle and every song comes as a lovely surprise.
The Futureheads - after I saw them at Split Festival I've been really into them! I don't know why I wasn't years ago! I always meant to be.
The Casual Terrorist - because there is nothing like hearing the words "trying to fit in just so fucking boring" really really loud at 8.30am en route to your unfulfilling job! Also "Anarchists Make Better Lovers" is one of the best songs ever.
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - one of the best bands ever based on the first album. Still waiting for the elusive second one! DDIHC are fast and happy and meaningful. Wonderful. I'd love to see them live so much!
Pavement - always cheer me up, especially "Shady Lane" which I was obsessed with when I was growing up. I'd love to see them play live too!!
Daniel Versus The World - Daniel's beautiful songs are absolutely amazing. Can't wait for another CD to come out!
They Might Be Giants - are another childhood passion that has remained. My brother and I used to love dancing to "Birdhouse In Your Soul" when our parents had it on a record! Then years later, James and I had our big friendship defining moment listening to "Ana Ng". Pushing Daisies made me get into them again.
Weezer - another obsession from my younger days that has carried over. They've gone a bit strange now but still are one of my must see bands.
Then there are things I listen to occasionally that I wouldn't listen to all the time but every once in a while are really what I'm in the mood for:
Crash Test Dummies - are really brilliant. I love "Afternoons and Coffee Spoons" best.
Every so often I go through a The Shins phase and barely listen to anything else. They are so soundtrack-y; I feel like I'm in a cool art film rather than in my life listening to them.
There are obsessions that pop up from time to time. I listened to a lot of Lady Gaga recently - really energising and energised music. I'd love to see Gaga. There are more things too: Golden Virgins, Flaming Lips, Ben Folds, Chris T-T. But at the moment, it's mostly Futureheads.
Oh, unless I'm in a mad hurry in which case, it has to be something fast from the Glee soundtrack. "Safety Dance" can provide so much happiness in three minutes that I'm hyper the entire rest of the day.
Then there are the podcasts:
Dave Gorman is one of my favourites for feeling like you have company for the walk. I love Dave Gorman, Martin White and Danielle Ward and the three of them are so good together. I'd never re-listen to one though. However, Robin Ince and Josie Long's Utter Shambles is worth listening to again and again. They are meaningful, funny, have amazing guests. They're one of my favourite things in the entire world.
Richard Herring and Andrew Collins - I tend to listen to the Six Music podcast rather than their own as it's louder and more focussed. It's really funny.
As It Occurs To Me - is Richard Herring's stand up and sketch show with Emma Kennedy, Dan Tetsell and Christian Riley. I really enjoy it.
I like Seven Day Sunday too for the combined comedy of Andy Zaltzman, Chris Addison and Sarah Millican (all favourites).
If I'm not walking to work I might watch David Mitchell on the bus - short but funny video podcasts.
Then there are radio programmes that I can listen to again and again:
That Mitchell and Webb Sound - consistently brilliant!
Cowards - Bizarre and wonderful. Could listen to Tim Key all day long.
Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive - topical comedy after it was topical but still hilarious!
Toby Hadoke's Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf - I could write an entire entry just about Moths! One of the most wonderful hours of entertainment I've ever encountered. Moving and funny - and so so meaningful.
And then, I arrive at work - whatever happens now, I am ready. I have reminded myself this is not it - there is more. So so much more.
Thursday 21 October 2010
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Hit Me Like You Did The First Time Part One
In 2007 I went to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time ever. To say it was life changing is an understatement. Ever since I was a little Python-watching girl I dreamed of going to the Fringe. I had an idea of what it was: the place where famous people became famous, the city in which all of my favourite actors and comedians made their name. As I grew up and discovered Fry and Laurie, Mitchell and Webb and the Mighty Boosh, I knew I'd have to go to the wondrous place.
When I was at University I went to a few comedy nights on my own and met up with people I didn't know very well. They'd been to the Fringe and told stories of meeting Eddie Izzard and having wonderful times. We were eighteen and they'd managed to do the thing I wanted to do. And I lived much nearer to Edinburgh than they did! It seemed so unfair.
So when I finally got on the train a few years later it really meant something to me. I was excited, hyper and ready for the most amazing time of my life.
It was even better than I expected. We arrived, Richard and I, on a rainy (probably, I can't remember) Friday night and I was raring to go and wanted to see all manner of midnight shows. But when we got off the train and met Paul and headed out into the busy evening I wasn't too impressed. What I didn't understand until later was that Princes Street is not really where the Fringe is. It's where the shops are and it's nice but of course it is the Royal Mile that is the embodiment of the Fringe. We didn't end up seeing any crazy late night shows - we simply headed back and hung out before bed.
Saturday was our first real day there and we saw, looking back, hardly anything! We began with Adam Hart Davis at a book festival event (I love the book festival but just wish I didn't overlap with the Fringe as I barely get the chance to see anything there now!) I'm not sure why we saw him as neither of us is especially bothered about him but we did and he was okay - I think we were expecting more exciting experiments but it wasn't too brilliant. The Book Festival itself though is wonderful. It's all in lovely marquees and is in beautiful Charlotte Square Gardens. It has cool shops and bars.
After that we saw Justin Somper who writes the Vampirates books - it was a childrens' event which didn't put me off as I love his books - it should have put me off though. Singing pirate songs with children was somewhat embarrassing. Then we I met him it wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be.
I can't remember when we first went to the Royal Mile but I think we must have been there more that year than other years as we saw so few shows! The main thing I remember is the brilliant Goose, a suicycling, fire-juggling street performer from New Zealand. He is wonderful.
Even though nothing amazing had happened at this point it was still a great trip - there were comedians and actors everywhere. It was overwhelming and it was happening everywhere and I just wanted to get further in, nearer to the creativity and craft of it all.
We saw a play in a church in the afternoon called Writer's Block - it was a bit weird but mostly good. My main memory of it is that the protaganist was obsessed with this girl and started going out with her and could only write about her. Then he tries to rape her and she kills him with a typewriter!
But as we were leaving this church venue we were handed flyers for a show happening later that night: Hedwig and The Angry Inch. I was deliriously excited about that - and it began at midnight or some such hour and we were free. I assumed we'd go.
Next, the highlight of the day and one of the highlights of life was Stewart Lee: 41st Best Stand Up Ever - I'd never seen Stew before (nor had Richard though he'd loved him for a long time) and wasn't sure what to expect but I loved him. It was a wonderful show (in a purple cow which Lee clearly despised!) though the audience were somewhat annoying (constantly out for drinks etc!). This was the show about how he was voted 41st best stand up on a Channel 4 poll and how everything was going wrong. If you haven't seen it you should buy the DVD! Absolutely wonderful.
We didn't end up seeing Hedwig which I regretted forever (at least until we saw it this year!) instead we had a night out where I was so tired I could barely stand up (I realise now - that's simply how you feel throughout the Fringe!).
I'll save Sunday for another day.
When I was at University I went to a few comedy nights on my own and met up with people I didn't know very well. They'd been to the Fringe and told stories of meeting Eddie Izzard and having wonderful times. We were eighteen and they'd managed to do the thing I wanted to do. And I lived much nearer to Edinburgh than they did! It seemed so unfair.
So when I finally got on the train a few years later it really meant something to me. I was excited, hyper and ready for the most amazing time of my life.
It was even better than I expected. We arrived, Richard and I, on a rainy (probably, I can't remember) Friday night and I was raring to go and wanted to see all manner of midnight shows. But when we got off the train and met Paul and headed out into the busy evening I wasn't too impressed. What I didn't understand until later was that Princes Street is not really where the Fringe is. It's where the shops are and it's nice but of course it is the Royal Mile that is the embodiment of the Fringe. We didn't end up seeing any crazy late night shows - we simply headed back and hung out before bed.
Saturday was our first real day there and we saw, looking back, hardly anything! We began with Adam Hart Davis at a book festival event (I love the book festival but just wish I didn't overlap with the Fringe as I barely get the chance to see anything there now!) I'm not sure why we saw him as neither of us is especially bothered about him but we did and he was okay - I think we were expecting more exciting experiments but it wasn't too brilliant. The Book Festival itself though is wonderful. It's all in lovely marquees and is in beautiful Charlotte Square Gardens. It has cool shops and bars.
After that we saw Justin Somper who writes the Vampirates books - it was a childrens' event which didn't put me off as I love his books - it should have put me off though. Singing pirate songs with children was somewhat embarrassing. Then we I met him it wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be.
I can't remember when we first went to the Royal Mile but I think we must have been there more that year than other years as we saw so few shows! The main thing I remember is the brilliant Goose, a suicycling, fire-juggling street performer from New Zealand. He is wonderful.
Even though nothing amazing had happened at this point it was still a great trip - there were comedians and actors everywhere. It was overwhelming and it was happening everywhere and I just wanted to get further in, nearer to the creativity and craft of it all.
We saw a play in a church in the afternoon called Writer's Block - it was a bit weird but mostly good. My main memory of it is that the protaganist was obsessed with this girl and started going out with her and could only write about her. Then he tries to rape her and she kills him with a typewriter!
But as we were leaving this church venue we were handed flyers for a show happening later that night: Hedwig and The Angry Inch. I was deliriously excited about that - and it began at midnight or some such hour and we were free. I assumed we'd go.
Next, the highlight of the day and one of the highlights of life was Stewart Lee: 41st Best Stand Up Ever - I'd never seen Stew before (nor had Richard though he'd loved him for a long time) and wasn't sure what to expect but I loved him. It was a wonderful show (in a purple cow which Lee clearly despised!) though the audience were somewhat annoying (constantly out for drinks etc!). This was the show about how he was voted 41st best stand up on a Channel 4 poll and how everything was going wrong. If you haven't seen it you should buy the DVD! Absolutely wonderful.
We didn't end up seeing Hedwig which I regretted forever (at least until we saw it this year!) instead we had a night out where I was so tired I could barely stand up (I realise now - that's simply how you feel throughout the Fringe!).
I'll save Sunday for another day.
Sunday 17 October 2010
Hello!
I'm writing this blog as I need to write something and right now I'm not writing anything. When I worked part time I had time to write novels; I wrote two. They were never published or anything but they made me happy and I loved writing them. And now there is no time. Or maybe that should be I can't find the time. I have friends who get up an hour or so earlier than usual to write. It is admirable but I am just not that dedicated. I could, I suppose, write at night. Except I don't do that either. My nights are spent seeing comedy, music, films and plays to the point of exhaustion. My evenings at home (if I'm not catching up with a friend in person, on skype or on the phone) are spent watching television.
Ah, television. Much of this blog will be about TV and here's why: TV is awesome! There is much inverse snobbery about the world of TV - it is mocked, dismissed and constantly undervalued. In the early days of the novel, the highly respected novel, people thought they were a silly distraction for silly women. And yet now to study literature is seen as noble and worthwhile (although I'm afraid it has few practical uses). TV is simpy in its infancy.
I'm not, of course, defending the crap. X Factor, indeed most reality TV is insulting. Soaps, I don't bother with though if I were to watch one it'd be Neighbours. There is a lot of bad stuff you could watch on TV but there's so much amazing stuff too. And if you watch all the amazing stuff it means you're busy quite a lot of the time.
I will come to my obsessions as time goes on but for now I'll just mention the best of the best of TV:
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Gilmore Girls
Dawson's Creek
Angel
West Wing
and some current examples of genius:
Mad Men (of which a lot more later)
Doctor Who
Grey's Anatomy
How I Met Your Mother
Chuck
Lip Service started this week - I'm very excited about that. But for now I must go and watch the first episode of Season 7 of Desperate Housewives.
I haven't even mentioned music yet. Or comedy (where most of my money goes).
I leave you with Virginia:
I'm writing this blog as I need to write something and right now I'm not writing anything. When I worked part time I had time to write novels; I wrote two. They were never published or anything but they made me happy and I loved writing them. And now there is no time. Or maybe that should be I can't find the time. I have friends who get up an hour or so earlier than usual to write. It is admirable but I am just not that dedicated. I could, I suppose, write at night. Except I don't do that either. My nights are spent seeing comedy, music, films and plays to the point of exhaustion. My evenings at home (if I'm not catching up with a friend in person, on skype or on the phone) are spent watching television.
Ah, television. Much of this blog will be about TV and here's why: TV is awesome! There is much inverse snobbery about the world of TV - it is mocked, dismissed and constantly undervalued. In the early days of the novel, the highly respected novel, people thought they were a silly distraction for silly women. And yet now to study literature is seen as noble and worthwhile (although I'm afraid it has few practical uses). TV is simpy in its infancy.
I'm not, of course, defending the crap. X Factor, indeed most reality TV is insulting. Soaps, I don't bother with though if I were to watch one it'd be Neighbours. There is a lot of bad stuff you could watch on TV but there's so much amazing stuff too. And if you watch all the amazing stuff it means you're busy quite a lot of the time.
I will come to my obsessions as time goes on but for now I'll just mention the best of the best of TV:
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Gilmore Girls
Dawson's Creek
Angel
West Wing
and some current examples of genius:
Mad Men (of which a lot more later)
Doctor Who
Grey's Anatomy
How I Met Your Mother
Chuck
Lip Service started this week - I'm very excited about that. But for now I must go and watch the first episode of Season 7 of Desperate Housewives.
I haven't even mentioned music yet. Or comedy (where most of my money goes).
I leave you with Virginia:
"Nothing has really happened until it has been described. So you must write many letters to your family and friends, and keep a diary."
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