Thoughts

So I am trying to remember everything these past weeks I thought: I should blog that.

First up: Bernard is a mouse that lives on the District Line platforms of Embankment Tube Station. Unfortunately he is scared of trains :( I saw him whilst waiting for my train, after the initial silent "wait, that's a mouse!" reaction I just sat there staring at Bernard. He was just minding his own business, trying to get on in life when a train approached the platform. The poor fella was terrified, and started trying to climb up the wall and away. Eventually he ran down the platform. I haven't seen him since but I would like to think he is still there, and still trying to confront his fear of Underground trains. And also it was definitely a mouse, or at least a very small, pale and clean rat.

Also I have been reading xkcd loads. It is nerdy to a ridiculous level, and some of it is quite a long way away from my own knowledge. The guy is clearly intelligent but it is funny and romantic in a very easy-to-relate way. 'Angular Momentum' is my favourite comic, not that funny but very endearing. See it here.

Also I suppose I should comment on the World Cup, I am following England and we've been so-so in the tournament. Come Sunday will we win? Germany might have a marginally better squad, but they seem much better in terms of team balance and tactics. Maybe we will go 4-5-1, with Gareth Barry in a firmly defensive role, trying to counter-act Ozil, Lampard in the middle to link up play and get back when necessary and Gerrard in a more free role behind Rooney. Joe Cole looked a bit pants against Slovenia, so maybe Milner on the right, Wright-Philips on the left. Italy and France going out was a huge shock considering the wealth of talent both countries have, but Argentina might just be the team of the tournament. They have so much great talent going forward, and Maradona has done okay on the tactics side of things.

Also The Guardian Weekly is a great newspaper for articles and discussions, I would highly recommend it if gossip and reactionary "shock" stories bore you. Also The Fly is a damn good music magazine, particularly considering it is free (from participating venues). I have been reading both for a while now and they can make commuting the bit more bearable.

Today I read someone describing "that" bit from LCD Soundsystem's 'Dance Yrself Clean' as "like getting a cumshot from Jesus". The thing is I can see where they are coming from, the first time you hear it is a special moment. All I thought was "oh James, you fucking genius". Whenever you listen to an LCD Soundsystem album you get a sense that this is someone who knows what they are doing, understands music and how to build momentum and energy in a song. That metaphorical climax.

I'm sure some actual "things" will happen in my life soon, when they do I will blog about that. Toodle-pip.

Week Away

So now I find myself on a week of annual leave, with the house to myself. Honestly? I am getting a little bored. I know only boring people get bored but, well, that sort of answers itself. I guess without work I can become bored. How someone with such a good protestant work ethic became an atheist is beyond me.

I have been looking up some interesting topics. Idlers, Freeman-on-the-Land. They seem to be a mystery to me. How do they eat? Do they collect unemployment benefits? It all seems a little dodgy to me, particularly as some of the forums use phrases like "fuck work!" Some kinds of work can be enjoyed, those towards a desirable outcome - the exact definition of "desirable" to be determined by the individual. I find programming to be good in this sense, as if there is something that I really want to do I can work towards it and have an outcome I can use. I code, I compile, I use. It's that simple.

The above brings me to something else: creativity. I have never really paid any attention to my creative side. I can't draw, paint, sculpt, play an instrument, sing, dance, act or do anything remotely creative. I don't know whether these shortcomings are a reason for not indulging my creative side or a product of my non-indulgence. I am considering trying to take a period of time to try and be creative - somehow. Try to write a novel, or poetry or just try to be somehow creative. Because usually I don't create just for creation's sake, if I do create it is for a purpose. I often wonder if art can be useful. Surely designing a good car engine is a sort of art, it is just that it can be used. What about architecture? The skill it takes to create something useful must render its creator a sort of... "technical artist". I don't know, smarter men than me must surely know.

So onto more down-to-Earth matters - I bought some more albums! And books. I have more books than I can read. Actually why don't I have a "Books I Need to Read" list? I have so many that I have bought. I'm not sure I will ever read every single one of them. But either way I bought The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde and In Search of Lost Time 1: The Way By Swann's - Marcel Proust. I'll add it to the quite enormous amount of books I need to read. I have them, I just haven't read them yet. I also bought Errors - Come Down With Me, The Postal Service - Give Up and Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister. I should get an award for all the brilliant albums I buy. I bought those on the 2nd of this month, and once I deflated my head I bought Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, TV on the Radio - Dear Science, The Temper Trap - Conditions and Vampire Weekend - Contra. Haven't listened to any of those last four yet, been listening to the Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo podcast. Mark Kermode deserves so many plaudits for his reviews, his rants are epic - his Sex and the City 2 and Pimp reviews were brilliant. As much as I like hearing about films he loves, we all love to hear someone passionate about their topic taking major issue with examples that are an insult to it. I don't know why that is - why is it more entertaining to criticise than to praise?

Anyway I am currently trying and sort of failing to get my placement report written. Need to get right down to the work this week. See, full circle (sort of).

Edit: Totally forgot to say I watched Unthinkable, How To Train Your Dragon and Any Given Sunday. Unthinkable is an interesting moral ride with Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Sheen giving A+ performances, How To Train Your Dragon is a charming family adventure that ticks all the right boxes and Any Given Sunday is in-your-face intensity. The last one isn't really my kind of film but I enjoyed it anyway. Unthinkable was a good film, it came across as quite brave for a Hollywood film with a very well-known lead actor to discuss the legality and morality of torture - even if it did have some slightly gory bits. It isn't an easy watch but it blends some action with some loud discussion of ethics. Well paced and not overly long, it is not a mind-blowingly fabulous film but it is a very solid film.

Vs. Me

Just a quick post to say that the world hates me. So I am going to Benicassim, 12th July to 20th July. Lots of bands and a holiday to Spain. That's pretty good, right? I had to use up all my annual leave so I could go, but still I had no further gigs planned. Then SeeTickets dumps this lot at me:

Those Dancing Days - The Garage (London) - Monday 12th July
The Go! Team - Summer Sundae (Leicester) - Saturday 14th August
Mumford and Sons - Summer Sundae (Leicester) - Sunday 15th August
Frightened Rabbit - Summer Sundae (Leicester) - Sunday 15th August
Errors - Summer Sundae (Leicester) - Sunday 15th August
The Bees - Summer Madness (Isle of Wight) - Sunday 29th August
The Walkmen - O2 Academy Islington (London) - Wednesday 25th August
Those Dancing Days - Bowlie 2 Butlins Minehead (Somerset) - Friday 10th to Sunday 12th December
Frightened Rabbit - Bowlie 2 Butlins Minehead (Somerset) - Friday 10th to Sunday 12th December
Belle & Sebastian - Bowlie 2 Butlins Minehead (Somerset) - Friday 10th to Sunday 12th December

Those. Dancing. Days. And they are in London! And there are tickets! And I can't go! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! I love Those Dancing Days, I have been desperate to go to a gig for ages, but they haven't been touring. Now a great opportunity comes up and I will be out of the country. Benicassim better be fucking brilliant.

Also The Bees. Except its on the Isle of Wight. And a Sunday. The Walkmen. In the middle of the week. Summer Sundae has a good line up, but its in Leicester and I would have to get back for Monday, somehow. I could see 3 bands I like at the same time, except I would have to get to Somerset, some how. At least it is when I am back at uni, and around my birthday.

But still. Thanks a lot, music world. A heartfelt plea to Those Dancing Days: play a gig in London, on a Saturday. PLEASE.

I think I sound a bit mental with my TDD fascination, but if you listened to them you would understand.

Irritated and now I was supposed to be in bed 10 minutes ago. Bloody early starts.

Summer (sort of)

So the weather is, for a little while at least, approaching something approximating what one might call "summery". To that end I would like to talk to summer, and the opposite sex, and I am well aware that some of this might sound a bit creepy. If that happens I apologise, I am not the word-smith I should be after 16 years of formal education.

So first of all, I have always thought of myself as a "winter person". I don't like heat. If you are uncomfortably cold you can put on more clothes. It won't look that odd. If you are uncomfortably hot you take more clothes off - which may result in nakedness. It is not recommended on a day-to-day basis. I love the way snow can transform a familiar scene into a twinkling, blanketed fairytale paradise. Snow is fantasy. Sun is sweating and burnt skin.

Despite this I do still enjoy Summer. I have been re-assessing my status as a winter person because now I am not so sure. Winter fashions are usually way cooler (no pun intended - even if it was it wasn't a good pun). But as I say: Summer has its upsides. The upside of summer is that attractive young women up and down the land, when trying to decide what to wear, will pull a flowery dress out of the wardrobe and think "why not?" The downside is that fat, middle aged men up and down the land, when trying to decide what shirt to wear, will look at their flabby, naked torso in the mirror and think "why not?" So you get two halves. Manic pixie dream girls gliding gaily across the pavement, and guys walking down the road half naked and with their neck chain tangled up in their chest hair.

You can see why it is easier to call myself a winter person. Well that and the depression.

Another thing I have been thinking about is how for someone (sort of) young, contemporary and modern, I still think of myself as old-fashioned. I don't "do" make-up, expensive clothes or jewellery. Why does a man need these things? I really don't understand fake tanning for men and women but that's probably another topic. There are other things too, how I sometimes will see members of my own generation and regard them as "whippersnappers". I think that there are certain things that at the absolute very least have to be considered polite to the opposite sex. Not looking at a girl's arse once she has walked past you (ignoring the chauvinism) is simply the polite thing to do. I have never been so curious to find out what a particular woman's arse looks like to try the "look-over-the-shoulder" manoeuvre. I hope I never will be. I also think it is impolite to watch a woman eating a banana. I shouldn't have to explain that one, really, it just makes sense.

But other things have happened! Events, dear boy, events. I watched Schindler's List. What can you say really? Fantastic performances all round. Do I even need to bother writing more about it, when so much has already been said? There was Robin Hood, too. First (just to get it out of the way), Russel Crowe's accent is a mess. I have no idea where he is supposed to be from, it seems to change from scene to scene. It was decent multiplex-fodder, but don't expect much more. Some (unintentional) highlights were Robin Hood and Maid Marion's "funny banter", Robin coming roaring out of the water and Robin's "OMGHAX!!!11" trickshot-headshot. I also watched The Road, which is a pretty decent post-apocalyptic thriller about a father and son's travels across a ravaged America.

I bought Some Cities, by Doves. I have this thing about having three albums by the same band that I love (not like, love). So far only The Bees had managed it. Doves have also managed it. I also bought LCD Soundsystem's new album. Welcome to the "Three-Album-Love-Club", Mr. Murphy. I'm not making too much headway with my "Albums I Need To Buy" list but then again there are so many albums to get. Animal Collective's back catalogue. The other two Walkmen albums. The rest of The Smiths back catalogue. Death Cab for Cutie. Blur's back catalogue. The other Decemberists albums. The new Errors album. So much music, so little time.

But on the bright side I have Foals' new album. Ah. May. Zing. I am loving the hippity-hop influenced "Miami" but the whole album's a gem. I'm not sure what albums I'll be getting next, or the next films I'll be watching. Not that I have a super-hectic schedule but long films can be a problem when you get home from work at 7:00 and albums aren't best listened to on a noisy Tube train. Especially when your good, noise cancelling ear phones are broken. AAAH! Anyway.

I am going to Wembley on Sunday. Not to play, of course. Me and my dad are going to see Dagenham and Redbridge play Rotherham in the League 2 Play-Off Final. And our post man is going too, because I just found out today he is The Dagger's mascot (or rather the man in the suit), Digger the Dog. Apparently. Laytaz.

More Ramblings

So I probably should have mentioned I went to see Doves play at Troxy. Were they amazing? Yes they were. The crowd weren't great, they didn't really sing along and some people in the crowd kept chanting "gooners" at them. Also they didn't seem interested in any crowd participation. Still the band were good. Also after the set an image was beamed onto the stage declaring our need to "save BBC 6 Music". And quite right too. During a few of Doves' songs they played videos behind them, which was pretty cool. Also Cherry Ghost were opening for them and they were pretty good as well.

So now to some of the other stuff I need to say. Yesterday I played CS:S for probably the first time in what seems like a year. I was never particularly good at video games anyway (despite the fact me and some mates were in a Call of Duty clan and then a Counter Strike: Source clan) so I was pretty crap. Still, it was good to have some fun with a couple of mates, even if it was in a virtual world.

Yesterday was also the day I finally watched Where The Wild Things Are. You probably don't need me to say this, but it was a really good film. Yes it was weird. But it was also a fun ride, and you can take away from the film whatever you like. The special effects were well done, too - I don't usually mention that kind of thing for a film but they were particularly good. Apparently the wild things were just men in costumes, with the faces CGI'd on later to give them mouth movements and so on. It gives a better sense of immersion because it doesn't seem like there are just some big CGI monsters running around.

I suspect I may watch some more films today, and I am going to see Robin Hood tomorrow so expect some more sort of pointless reviews soon.

Prahd Tah Be Bri'ish

Recently I have been thinking about what it is to be British. I personally think our notions of "Britishness" are completely out of whack and not really relevant to my generation, and the generations to come. Think British and there are images of the past - or of the plain bizarre. World War Two, Winston Churchill, The Queen. I can understand those, in a way. But bulldogs? Anyway I have recently been thinking about what needs to change. Phrases like "proud to be British" make me uneasy. It makes me think of nationalism and xenophobia. But it really shouldn't do.

You could argue that England is the bigger problem. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have quite distinct cultures and traditions. England is not treated in the same way. The St George's Cross has for some reason become synonymous with xenophobia, racism, football violence. But let's just take on the problem of Britain before we move on to the component countries, shall we?

We need to somehow make a new Britishness, that doesn't rely on irrelevant past experiences. The flag is a good start. Hang one in your living room. Go on, it doesn't make you a racist. It's the first step. Now the tricky bit. For me Britain is about a sense of fair play, equality, trust, inclusion, politeness and a sense of humour with a belief that nobody is above ridicule. There are other qualities, of course, but I want ones that don't rely on past endeavours. For some reason I think of The Libertines as being the poster boys of the new British. They seem proud to be British, but not in a lairy, "you what, mate?" kind of way. We need new imagery, throw in some Olympic heroism or something like that. Something to give a sense of never giving in, despite the odds, that doesn't rely on Dunkirk.

This might seem like a load of old rubbish but I sincerely believe that we need to bring Britishness bang up to date and relevant for people. It's important, you see. It gives people a sense of community and belonging beyond their own, closed group - be it friends, regions, religions, ethnicity. That's why I'm going to buy a Union flag (off eBay probably, I have a strange hankering for a really tatty, old one) of reasonable size and see if I can hang it somewhere that won't look inappropriate. Then I'll buy my Union Jack suit. Okay that's a lie but the flag thing I am serious about.

I am on eBay now, looking for vintage Union flags. Not many about.

Also I have bought Frightened Rabbit's album 'Winter of Mixed Drinks' and it is very good indeed. The lyrics are quite brilliant, for the most part they are melancholy but I quite like that really. You need sadness to remind you how good happiness is. More later. Toodles.

Update on Stuff

So here are some things that I have done recently.

I went to see a few films. 'ark at me. I also watched some films via the magic of the Intarwebs. I also watched some of DVD, gratefully borrowed. Here's a smattering of each.

Fargo
One of my "Films I Need To Watch". Probably because it gets referenced every so often. I wasn't sure what to expect from this film really. Wacky comedy? Tense thriller? To be honest I don't think it was that brilliant of a comedy. And there wasn't that much else to draw your interest. Some good performances, though. This is by no means a bad film, I just didn't think it was a brilliant one either.

Extract
Just okay, I suppose. I don't think I should dedicate more characters than that to it. Apart from maybe "why the hell was Ben Affleck in this? I thought he was a sort of credible, Hollywood actor?"

Invictus
A pretty good film, some good performances all round and an inspiring story. I don't think it would ever make anybody's "best ever films" list but it was a very solid film.

Kick Ass
Everyone seems to be splitting their sides over this one. I thought it was pretty good as comedies go, even though it was apparently independently financed by the film maker it still has a very Hollywood sheen, which does tend to put me off, especially with comedies. Yes there is a lot of swearing but that sort of distracts from the point that it has some decent laughs in there.

Four Lions
Just got back from a paid preview screening of this film at Curzon Soho. Curzon Soho might be one of the nicest cinemas I have ever been to. A good selection of really good films, a bar outside the screens and a cafe upstairs. They clearly know their film, it does seem a tad pretentious but it is still a great place. I'm not sure it is strictly speaking an independent cinema - Curzon appears to be a chain - but still a good mix of independent and art house films. Anyway. Four Lions. From the maker of Brass Eye and The Day Today, Chris Morris. Absolutely fantastic. It was hilarious, the funniest film I have seen in ages about an obviously controversial topic, Islamic terrorism in Britain. There are some melancholy scenes towards the end, to make you reflect on what you have just seen but otherwise it is a absolute comic genius from start to finish. I might need to calm down with a decent sleep in order to give a credible review because I expected much, and it delivered more.

At some point I will add the albums I have bought, in summary they are Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks, Bombay Bicycle Club - I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose & The Maccabees - Wall of Arms. I'll give a review when I have listened to them enough.