tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91621047454771720492024-02-08T04:31:01.169+00:00Hello, I'm JamieAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14448757310983623903noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-18520061522664695752013-12-10T07:36:00.000+00:002013-12-10T07:36:50.534+00:00An inverted abecedary snowball...And the most inconsistent blogger award goes to...<br />
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I've got a new poem on the internet. My course this year is pretty much creative writing so I'm going to have to have a few things to show you by the end of it, whether I like it or not. Here's a little something for now, that I'm posting because I can't be bothered to finish off another bit of coursework (that's due in in two and a half hours. I'm just chillin'). Sorry it's so small, not sure how to remedy it quickly without ruining the whole graphology THANG. Hope you enjoy peeps x<br />
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<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/190639680/Time-passed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Time passed on Scribd">Time passed</a> by <a href="http://www.scribd.com/Jaedla" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Jaedla's profile on Scribd">Jaedla</a></div>
<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="1.41444270015699" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_64474" scrolling="no" src="//www.scribd.com/embeds/190639680/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-w0a02ixq1ewz1ds1asb&show_recommendations=true" width="100%"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14448757310983623903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-90086412989705040342013-04-06T22:34:00.002+01:002013-04-06T22:35:59.720+01:00I'm lazy, I'm hazy / new music review / brushing yr teeth - mish mash stuff postEarly afternoon today, I woke up late and wrote out a list of my favourite albums of all time. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/davidsmusicletchworth/posts/368722443244882?comment_id=1967260&offset=0&total_comments=21">HERE</a>. This evening, lying on my bed in a vague haze I am listening to two of my top ten and am beginning to glimpse at the majesty of <i>all</i> - how little I know and have managed to grasp and am beginning to discover. Whilst my family are downstairs watching <i>Doctor Who </i>I am reading through the <a href="http://sickmouthy.com/">Sick Mouthy</a> and <a href="http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/">Devon Record Club</a> archives and bookmarking a lot of things that I don't have time to do without committing to them at the expense of other things (each of these uncommitted to - and so I do nothing).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My two favourite records this evening, brought to mind by my list and pushed into my ears by the discovery of Wild Swim.</td></tr>
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It can't be time to break through yet, though; I refuse to move through the haze, sober up and pursue that which gives me a sense of fulfilment as well as the façade of enjoyment. I really am rubbish at seizing the day.
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What do we do when we are without the drive to delve into the archives of the canon, or shortlist? Either look forward or just ignore the issue. For once, I seem to have done the former and in earlier perusing the Glastonbury emerging sound competition (not capitalised, read: too lazy to fact check the comp.'s name) longlist I discovered a host of new things to be excited about. Of these, the one with which I really clicked was <a href="http://wildswimmusic.com/">Wild Swim</a>. Towards the end of your first listen, it dawns upon you that they're amazing.<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=1948275774/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" style="display: block; height: 100px; position: relative; width: 400px;" width="400"><a href="http://wildswimmusic.com/album/echo">ECHO by WILD SWIM</a></iframe>
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The last thing you would do would be to accuse them of <i>aping</i> Wild Beasts, and yet it is hard to ignore an approach that blends the most baroque of Hayden Thorpe's vocals with a minimalist sound reminiscent of all the influences you would expect cited for <i>Smother</i> - the kind of music that gives you a hankering for late Radiohead or Atoms For Peace. As <i>Echo </i>develops, it reveals itself as almost onomatopoeic: a collage of influences that near-crescendos, never quite coming to flower. Ending in a cacophony that leaves you almost as puzzled as you are pleasured, the track is the more wild side of Wild Swim, a band whose music seems to be the result of mixing restraint with boundlessness. The record's b side, <i>Bright Eyes</i>, showcases the opposite end of the spectrum, a pool in which you can languish and perhaps pull a length or two out of that locker we probably have a key to somewhere. Currently available to pre-order, their latest is a more mature fusion of the two styles, and is even more brilliant than <i>Echo</i>. I may well purchase both releases, but I'm trying to save money and writing this feels like justification for only streaming them. I won't forget about them. This should be more than enough to tempt you into listening now. Do it. Can you sense my urgency? I must flip the record and refill my drink.<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=4059286196/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" style="display: block; height: 100px; position: relative; width: 400px;" width="400"><a href="http://wildswimmusic.com/album/another-night">ANOTHER NIGHT by WILD SWIM</a></iframe>
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Forget it. I have finished my drink and so am signing off here. <a href="http://instagram.com/jamieeelaing">Here is a link to my Instagram account</a>, where I've started a new trend of people taking unattractive pictures of themselves brushing their teeth. Byeeeeeeeee<br />
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J.<br />
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p.s. I only told you about one of the longlist. There were loads of good'uns - find it <a href="http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/2013-emerging-talent-competition-longlist-announced">here</a>. Other favourites were Moats (obviously, I've mentioned before that I like them and they're quite nice too), Isaiah Dreads (a 15 year old mc who has an incredible flow but semi-rubbish beats) and Mt. Wolf. Here's a song.<br /><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14448757310983623903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-15812798352784956602013-04-04T00:08:00.001+01:002013-04-04T00:08:29.987+01:00"Will you by any chance...?" / 'Yes I will'<div><p>Important Jamie news: on the strength of repeated - and I mean heavily - listens to Smother in the last few days, Wild Beasts have now overtaken Los Campesinos! as my favourite band. I would pay quite a lot of money that I do not have to see them again tomorrow. Please buy Smother (LP if you have the means to play records) and then sink into it. Allow it to surround you like a warm bath, sum you up like an epitaph, be blatant ad a bailiff and allow its lips to blister when you kiss. You shall become electrified and mutually bring a creature alive. </p>
<p>It's alive... it's alive... it's alive!</p>
<p>But yeah, buy it.</p>
<p>*Word games at the end of this blog post courtesy of Bed Of Nails, track two on the best album in the wooorld right now</p>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14448757310983623903noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-50195763006059865142013-04-02T14:30:00.001+01:002013-04-02T14:30:37.137+01:00Consider the LiebsterThank you, <a href="http://cluelesspixie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/liebstering.html">Gabriela</a>, for your wonderful introduction. And, ladies and gentlemen, may I wish you all a very good afternoon, good evening and good night. Welcome to - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGwwJEE7k48">cue awesome red carpet music</a> - your yearly fix of slight entertainment from the blog that doesn't bother doing much stuff ever AT THE APRIL 2013 LIEBSTER AWARDS<br />
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Tonight's category: my ELEVEN FAVOURITE BLOGGERS. Aaaaaand the winners are...<br />
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<i><a href="http://hila-lumiere.blogspot.co.uk/">le projet d'amour</a> // <a href="http://ladybirdlikes.blogspot.co.uk/">ladybird likes</a> // <a href="http://heartsofsand.blogspot.co.uk/">hearts of sand</a> // <a href="http://vivatramp.blogspot.co.uk/">vivatramp</a> // <a href="http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.co.uk/">tabloid watch</a> // t<a href="http://opinionsofadickhead.blogspot.co.uk/">he opinions of a dickhead</a> // <a href="http://vixenelle.blogspot.com/">vixenelle </a>// <a href="http://emmacarlisle.blogspot.co.uk/">emma carlisle</a> // <a href="http://intimatevignettes.blogspot.co.uk/">intimate vignettes</a> // <a href="http://vickyflynn.blogspot.com/">vicky flynn</a> // <a href="http://brandybisous.blogspot.co.uk/">la vie en bleu</a></i><br />
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Honourable mentions: <a href="http://amyeloise.blogspot.co.uk/">Amy</a>, who is great but has written even fewer blog entries than I; <a href="http://siumani.blogspot.co.uk/">Mani</a>, who won't appreciate this award; <a href="http://ohlittlecloud.blogspot.co.uk/">Oh, Littlecloud</a> - Diane - whose blog I can't find anymore; <a href="http://www.loscampesinos.com/blog/">Los Campesinos!</a>, my favourite band who as such enter this list with irregular posts and at the liberty of a massively biased judge. As an excuse to cut some off of the shortlist, I've stuck to a pretty strict (i.e.: universal other than LC!) Blogger only policy: for more awesome stuff to read, check out my reading shelf on the <a href="http://jamie-laing.blogspot.co.uk/p/blogroll.html">blogroll</a> tab.Well done everyone!<br />
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Anyone confused? I don't blame you. My research, nothing if not vague and lacklustre, told me little about the Liebster awards but here are some handy bullet points:<br />
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- It's a really nice community thing that I am shocked to be a part of<br />
- In receiving this award, Gabriela was super super nice about me but I didn't notice until today which made me feel guilty and rush this post<br />
- The Liebster is a chain-style award in which each recipient, should they accept their award, must present their own set of eleven favourite blogs. I've semi-retired from my Twitter account so God knows how anybody is going to notice that they've been mentioned here. I apologise for ruining the game.<br />
- Embarrassingly, the first four of my chosen bloggers must have been mentioned in about 80% of my posts, and Bee at Vivatramp almost everything I've ever written on this website. Ridiculous, even for someone who made me start this old thing.<br />
- Award winners then must participate in a mandatory Q&A<br />
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Here, I answer those questions put to me by the effervescent Gabriela. Thanks for tagging me, G!<br />
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1. What story do you think had the biggest influence on you as a child?<br />
I don't have one go-to book, or tale, so the biggest influence would most likely have been a subliminal thing, setting a vague tone for me. So probably something in a Dennis the Menace strip. Other things include my 'skim reading' of the Bible, a task undertaken because my friend Peter thought he could read the entire text quicker than me. Save the books of Genesis and Revelations, that I read as 'proof', I counted physically turning the pages of reading to guarantee my success (following his lead. I SPIED on the boy). Revelations - and, indeed, Genesis - was absurd enough that the challenge was the beginning of my interpretation of religion as funny, not serious, something my love for my Grandma (her late husband, my grandfather, a vicar) meant that I didn't come to terms with/give any thought whatsoever to until secondary school.<br />
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2. Do you like IKEA?<br />
S'alright. I like Daim bars and before I became a vegetarian I once went just for their meatballs & jam.<br />
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3. Do you think that social network sites like Facebook have had a positive impact on human interaction?<br />
For me, there are two sides to this: whilst it's hard to deny how much more easy the internet has made it for us to keep in touch, or grab somebody's attention quickly at a minimal cost, this ease allows us to distance ourselves from our own comments, negating time to think ideas through and wearing down our patience. Moreover, this semblance of anonymity combined with the ability to google or facebook stalk someone before actually talking to someone makes us somehow less human, more cold...<br />
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4. What are your thoughts about personal adornment like jewellery etc.?<br />
As in body-art? I have no problem with it but would advise caution with anything permanent or prominent. The combination of <i>a) </i>being rubbish with needles, <i>b) </i>mum's opposition and <i>c) </i>knowledge of my poor decision-making and inability to keep one opinion means that I don't think I'll be able to get a tattoo for quite some time.<br />
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5. What is usually your biggest motivation for reading novels?<br />
Guilt.<br />
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6. What do you view as your best quality?<br />
All of the things I like about myself seem to serve me badly when it comes to anything serious, but I guess I'm quite a nice person in that I'm agreeable and get along well with people. Also I've got friends who are good at making cake.<br />
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7. Is there a language you have always wanted to learn for some reason?<br />
I just find it annoying that I have no motivation to do anything. If I had it MY (lazy) way, I'd be fluent in French (for literature), German (for cool things) and Russian (to be allowed to be interested in how different alphabets relate to each other). Maybe Latin or Ancient Greek too, or one of those African tongues that require different muscles with which to speak. Essentially I cannot see a single bad thing to do with learning another language.<br />
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8. What helps you organise your thoughts?<br />
Rambling out loud or writing things down <i>to someone </i>which forces me to vocalise and then realise what I actually think about something. I also use lots of post-it notes (my favourites besides normal and square are the little bookmark-pointer ones) and a moleskine journal. Plus a load of old textbooks and fake moleskines for extended thought/midnight ramblings/lecture notes. AND it would churlish to disregard my phone 'notes' and desktop sticky notes. The notebook I keep by my bed is good too.<br />
I hadn't realised I was so passionate about notes.<br />
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9. Do you distinguish between reading on an e-reader and reading a paper copy of a book?<br />
As a (joint honours) drama student I'd always choose a paper copy of a script - you can bend the pages of a Kindle (etc), nor throw it down to quickly play a scene. Also one of my top ambitions is a personal library and the smell of old books (i.e. damp) is the best. So, um, YEAH.<br />
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10. Which season of the year do you like the most?<br />
Winter's nice for encouraging people to stick together but it's hard to look past a nice long sunny afternoon for an ideal day.<br />
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11. Do you dread people on the bus suddenly speaking to you?<br />
I almost exclusively welcome it because I'm too lazy to ever get involved in a book. I like social interaction! Providing they're not a nutter or I'm deeply involved in something or rushing etc. SORRY I'M RUSHING NOW<br />
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Here are eleven questions for anyone tagged in this post to answer. Have fun, chocoholics.<br />
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1/ How do you listen to your music?<br />
2/ Do you use local independent shops to buy your books, records, etc.? Why?<br />
3/ Your three favourite second hand shops.<br />
4/ Top four cheeses.<br />
5/ What is your favourite city?<br />
6/ Have you any first-, second- or third-hand words of wisdom to pass on to your readers & I?<br />
7/ Do you tend to view religion as a successful idea-turned-institution, or an intensely personal experience? Are the two mutually exclusive (does the first not negate the other? (feel free to answer in a line or two IF YOU'RE BORING(/interesting)))<br />
8/ Which punctuation mark do you like the best?<br />
9/ Is there any way in which the internet smiley ':3' does NOT look like a botched circumcision?<br />
10/ Is book burning necessarily unjustifiable?<br />
11/ Is <a href="http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/484038_234572650001312_963560111_n.jpg">this</a> valid?<br />
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JAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14448757310983623903noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-85841159368043135082013-02-03T14:27:00.000+00:002013-02-03T14:54:41.262+00:00Wivenhoe one.<br />
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Hellooo and welcome to the first of a new load of blogs coming from pretty little Wivenhoe. I haven’t managed to get hold of a road map yet – I’m working on it* – but for this small introduction piece I don’t really need one. I only walked down ONE road. I’m lazy but you love it.</div>
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Oh, I nearly forgot to mention. This is an evolution of a series I started bored before uni in which I attempted to walk every street in Letchworth. Haven't finished that one yet but we'll see how this one goes. <a href="http://jamie-laing.blogspot.co.uk/p/walking.html">FIND IT HERE</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Finding one. I’d love to be able to keep you updated on my walking through drawing what would be a pretty awesome medieval map but I don’t exactly have the necessary skill set to do so</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All ready to go. Notice correct sock to day alignment</td></tr>
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The starting point: my house. Watsham Place, Wivenhoe, UK. Observe the lovely road sign that can withstand being bumped by my friend Johno in his car. He's a terrible sober driver. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view as you step out of my house and the direction in which I will be walking this afternoon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To the left, to the left. More on this later.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To the right - and a window to Mark's room</td></tr>
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Onward, then, and a lovely picture of next door to me: the fire station. Handy if we're ever ablaze. Crossing the road, and we see a pub and the road to uni in front of us. Funnily enough, we're pretty much the first house in the suburb that is Wivenhoe, so about equal distance between uni and town. I have never set foot in this pub. It is named The Flag and one of the first things I heard about my house once friends had popped round to say hello was a rumour that it is a racist pub. To the other side, we can see One Stop and some other shops: an empty one that used to sell flowers or mirrors or something, Hair Technique (where I get my barnet done), Henley's the award-winning chippie and Boots. We're going in this direction. Henley's never really impressed me beyond its signed pictures of celebrities on the wall (Jonathan Ross, Chris Tarrant, Frank Bruno TWICE, Jasper Carrot et al) but recently it's tasted a lot nicer and I've found myself won over by its large portions at a relatively cheap price. I've never realised just how conveniently located our house is.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEYg65EhVkAyclPYamcUXkRiM85zRbidSkyObTKe2K4AQOq-dKwJjDyi7En1zwn9PFxJemlUJvxDtPJjIqhakVdF7PwEzM5Ntmbo7VoD5mLDAOdjM12qvXhsz4lITA7KwxTBE4ewcoogo/s1600/IMAG0819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEYg65EhVkAyclPYamcUXkRiM85zRbidSkyObTKe2K4AQOq-dKwJjDyi7En1zwn9PFxJemlUJvxDtPJjIqhakVdF7PwEzM5Ntmbo7VoD5mLDAOdjM12qvXhsz4lITA7KwxTBE4ewcoogo/s320/IMAG0819.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Faster than calling 999</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfEQPWX5aKr8dq9QyvRELT5T5a4C7JFSoi7WEhy9btltngFdAl07hIQ1RS_m3dC2Ar9RG2rwTQ78ptqMfxMX0RO0VYu9WFJy59FhFtvb2EAzwEbDVU8ymb1U-u2bCV25y5hyjV4BcRQrg/s1600/IMAG0820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfEQPWX5aKr8dq9QyvRELT5T5a4C7JFSoi7WEhy9btltngFdAl07hIQ1RS_m3dC2Ar9RG2rwTQ78ptqMfxMX0RO0VYu9WFJy59FhFtvb2EAzwEbDVU8ymb1U-u2bCV25y5hyjV4BcRQrg/s320/IMAG0820.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Racist pub -> expensive corner shop that I shouldn't use in the stead of regular weekly shops but I still do</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSrlwtdHNpBB3dN_pHeoDVJAm0LChuWVPw4qH2Ly73gVrxosS3cZOIurrodrVUg2jaqafTuGSZ95B8VbtgOXPgOSfcRHmhQhaMLZ1CwYpXWO213MvQGuD9ePymh1Jr7tkANRvNU7THrQ/s1600/IMAG0821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSrlwtdHNpBB3dN_pHeoDVJAm0LChuWVPw4qH2Ly73gVrxosS3cZOIurrodrVUg2jaqafTuGSZ95B8VbtgOXPgOSfcRHmhQhaMLZ1CwYpXWO213MvQGuD9ePymh1Jr7tkANRvNU7THrQ/s320/IMAG0821.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FISH AND CHIPS HERE </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Turning left at Boots, we get to the only road I'll be walking along today. But first, an apparently dangerous bollard:</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eHixwXGtBm3zITW06-GFdJOMPJlZLhmVdT3jJ1vMOooHiOgqiH91rY00WyM7i37qv-Vt6-YgOqgbZ20LFvOXMBzsU403T130tFfYstXveRM3Y-SbQc_4UE4H3jD_znOm2ebnyhEL-fk/s1600/IMAG0824.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eHixwXGtBm3zITW06-GFdJOMPJlZLhmVdT3jJ1vMOooHiOgqiH91rY00WyM7i37qv-Vt6-YgOqgbZ20LFvOXMBzsU403T130tFfYstXveRM3Y-SbQc_4UE4H3jD_znOm2ebnyhEL-fk/s320/IMAG0824.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hazardous</td></tr>
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... and we arrive on a fine row of bungalows that seem, well, charming. The gardens are all well kept & I begin to suspect that a blog stretched out from a single road won't be quite as boring as first expected. The houses look like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_p8aMoz8EKa6JspA_5rRFepmKcXZJmkp0Jqmy3qEe9JdiADW4AcrlNW0T3ZJNNubJvPT3EkzEhUFrGBfdL9PYFAmnLfhBdephe_UFmEQmjNeiO0eu0EfSVGRxWMJzGECZt8LDm86mKM0/s1600/IMAG0823.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_p8aMoz8EKa6JspA_5rRFepmKcXZJmkp0Jqmy3qEe9JdiADW4AcrlNW0T3ZJNNubJvPT3EkzEhUFrGBfdL9PYFAmnLfhBdephe_UFmEQmjNeiO0eu0EfSVGRxWMJzGECZt8LDm86mKM0/s320/IMAG0823.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinjHpbl8CCrCDLeJfwFM_R-x5yiAIQggTlVxem0d6w-RR5ynRQgRYuE_ImelNNf1hio0zEfnJBQCCU2T6m5xyMg8LIUg61-FGw3V_I988_EwSwOwgFXttORF439p9LRRhyphenhyphenvADa0zy5PZ8/s1600/IMAG0827.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinjHpbl8CCrCDLeJfwFM_R-x5yiAIQggTlVxem0d6w-RR5ynRQgRYuE_ImelNNf1hio0zEfnJBQCCU2T6m5xyMg8LIUg61-FGw3V_I988_EwSwOwgFXttORF439p9LRRhyphenhyphenvADa0zy5PZ8/s320/IMAG0827.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judging by the camper: excellent residents.</td></tr>
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If you're new to this series, it's at this point that I begin to bitch about people's gardens and windows. Here are two houses that seem to be named after places in The Lord of the Rings and a house that feels the need to display both '15' and 'FIFTEEN' in case the postman is an idiot. Which is unlikely, because they live close to me and the guy who delivers my post is really very nice. I apologise for the unclear pictures: that's the zoom. This is my first photo-taking walk and I haven't quite built up the courage to get close to people when taking pics of their house yet.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGaod4MLtkmIieBzA35NpEM1oOHXa0xnCpHwslfeiLv4MiSkruqk0E_G-69crXo3pc_oMMQbzFwunXjBuSiu5im8UO5fLZSAYIQfQroHcj_TVxbCQ7_1bfmTM2G90ZKzDO1lwnOWQV9oY/s1600/IMAG0825.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGaod4MLtkmIieBzA35NpEM1oOHXa0xnCpHwslfeiLv4MiSkruqk0E_G-69crXo3pc_oMMQbzFwunXjBuSiu5im8UO5fLZSAYIQfQroHcj_TVxbCQ7_1bfmTM2G90ZKzDO1lwnOWQV9oY/s320/IMAG0825.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVW3K4U86Xr9ZAir3MaVfh8B5ncrpFD4tQci3I1OCeHPI5O8Huv-W8-aovILb5XQfIcVvkIYjeNQmCY-JzEVfgLAkPSfplBGZtyOEvNOTpXdaLyS82Ae8bUPLpuzVNV6Acneumn66k-c/s1600/IMAG0826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVW3K4U86Xr9ZAir3MaVfh8B5ncrpFD4tQci3I1OCeHPI5O8Huv-W8-aovILb5XQfIcVvkIYjeNQmCY-JzEVfgLAkPSfplBGZtyOEvNOTpXdaLyS82Ae8bUPLpuzVNV6Acneumn66k-c/s320/IMAG0826.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlx2iI6yxPK6I8T6TfkWkgK59ESKt81J61UbN4VXAH1yGM7mtb7ZvchiHIu7M7tufREdBCCD5_m-j_muTRt7MBjaB6Wz4HCj-eFmgQCVRDlgb45DgD73ix7t_Z2uHUxx0hHdBseg6v434/s1600/IMAG0829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlx2iI6yxPK6I8T6TfkWkgK59ESKt81J61UbN4VXAH1yGM7mtb7ZvchiHIu7M7tufREdBCCD5_m-j_muTRt7MBjaB6Wz4HCj-eFmgQCVRDlgb45DgD73ix7t_Z2uHUxx0hHdBseg6v434/s320/IMAG0829.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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And onward. One guy is very slowly building up a garden chess set. He's stuck on one of four rooks. Much more excitingly, I found a garden with disgusting furnishings: a tree-look bird table with a stone squirrel on it and a stone snake to scare away bloggers who go for walks with their phone cameras. Nutter.<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">The second might actually be a little bit funny if I'd had the gall to hang around long enough to grab a decent picture. To make do, I have enlarged it for your delectation. But now it just looks massively disproportionally important to this blog. I HAVE FEW STRAWS TO CLUTCH</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmLBD-AlwKRj_P6eSHT3o7baepqvNRedtr4wP2o_zgugjfVWVZ943gmtoPzSdNBkxUp_iZG1zBx0vVVsGwmff_gZxVzYrOAQ4idwxW-Ju4fUwRw4487sy36ePlMoS_p7jZZChWfzR5uc/s1600/IMAG0828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmLBD-AlwKRj_P6eSHT3o7baepqvNRedtr4wP2o_zgugjfVWVZ943gmtoPzSdNBkxUp_iZG1zBx0vVVsGwmff_gZxVzYrOAQ4idwxW-Ju4fUwRw4487sy36ePlMoS_p7jZZChWfzR5uc/s320/IMAG0828.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiprJeV-2lz7vFt0QTw-yvTjoQ00ChV9-tAGgbpvFpXKyIWRT_luPpWYZ3ngfNGrHEJPlcklV3T4J-I1WmMBt-2uFmzkLjPQJXWJT_0Tdjk77t52upoAR7h2K-8-UXSj6e2N29Tuz-vmM/s1600/IMAG0837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiprJeV-2lz7vFt0QTw-yvTjoQ00ChV9-tAGgbpvFpXKyIWRT_luPpWYZ3ngfNGrHEJPlcklV3T4J-I1WmMBt-2uFmzkLjPQJXWJT_0Tdjk77t52upoAR7h2K-8-UXSj6e2N29Tuz-vmM/s640/IMAG0837.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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Nothing else really interesting on this road. A massive tree root, two colourful garages and a dude working on his car. How dull. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZinA76Rl0o1sr_TqBc0JGLMDUB02ygLQVRU9-t-tGfjW3zr93e0wlPdUkUe0zOm0oT688xGFDe44clarsHqPlo533kSGEHhanBYNTX_gcfD-KuhGuRNfG7fGzVb7C_icdt1Dx2Fb0lw/s1600/IMAG0834.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZinA76Rl0o1sr_TqBc0JGLMDUB02ygLQVRU9-t-tGfjW3zr93e0wlPdUkUe0zOm0oT688xGFDe44clarsHqPlo533kSGEHhanBYNTX_gcfD-KuhGuRNfG7fGzVb7C_icdt1Dx2Fb0lw/s320/IMAG0834.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK-X-vxPJjWsKLFwlUbZxcpn0hcLbxMDBG0hs2klJmBmhvUqe_184UNG24225sRl1IlKVkyhoAfN3c4_7W7JWFcg1bwoURISTXcIxthXgLx6RkBttFTxvdVd6VI2TUFX_tVZdJYpej0wk/s1600/IMAG0833.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK-X-vxPJjWsKLFwlUbZxcpn0hcLbxMDBG0hs2klJmBmhvUqe_184UNG24225sRl1IlKVkyhoAfN3c4_7W7JWFcg1bwoURISTXcIxthXgLx6RkBttFTxvdVd6VI2TUFX_tVZdJYpej0wk/s320/IMAG0833.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhahl01Z0s5o2cahKsCaQ_kBW4Ap4pas85IbgyKOkn3X4rx2AjFaT2dPrJvhEM4ffuRugT19oLJcFGlxdjfaL541AVefbS19iYmTKQIl4eA9ZtZR7CJf4qFDrTrMQvZfu5BVufT3VPocJE/s1600/IMAG0832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhahl01Z0s5o2cahKsCaQ_kBW4Ap4pas85IbgyKOkn3X4rx2AjFaT2dPrJvhEM4ffuRugT19oLJcFGlxdjfaL541AVefbS19iYmTKQIl4eA9ZtZR7CJf4qFDrTrMQvZfu5BVufT3VPocJE/s320/IMAG0832.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MASSIVE. I told you!</td></tr>
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...and we return home. Let's go round the corner from my house, towards our garage. Walking past the two other houses on our little terrace, I can see that the third has bin bags outside, an open electricity box and what looks like white spray paint on the door, downstairs AND upstairs windows (only the ones facing the same way as the door). Although this is where a lot of the football team live, and they do have a rivalry with hockey, I don't think they've been attacked or anything. It's probably snow spray that they haven't bothered cleaning off, right?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69W1qQpxw0zfsxRbTEX8BI-uv_oh7Mn1tRKakJMDMSoORIUNAdq-tXTDTLfs9vdQ7E8QN1zmFEaJwVV1YJtOoagPD9dAjZZkIeMA7dQDrTQIfY3TUagH6bt-YZctlIAVkOXG8QeHLNE0/s1600/IMAG0839.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69W1qQpxw0zfsxRbTEX8BI-uv_oh7Mn1tRKakJMDMSoORIUNAdq-tXTDTLfs9vdQ7E8QN1zmFEaJwVV1YJtOoagPD9dAjZZkIeMA7dQDrTQIfY3TUagH6bt-YZctlIAVkOXG8QeHLNE0/s320/IMAG0839.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzaRrkFl0GxETqUkejD1lPcpAtvB2EKO00duA0n1UfgEw9MM8d64ekSU3WZbzuJAexGCl9dZSbP3SRPFOZzTzxwTkkAvNLYgc8pWvGBlQ7YfRuL8hHpPyuqjOQ2XSRZL1NzcSnax9_JSo/s1600/IMAG0840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzaRrkFl0GxETqUkejD1lPcpAtvB2EKO00duA0n1UfgEw9MM8d64ekSU3WZbzuJAexGCl9dZSbP3SRPFOZzTzxwTkkAvNLYgc8pWvGBlQ7YfRuL8hHpPyuqjOQ2XSRZL1NzcSnax9_JSo/s320/IMAG0840.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House number 3) - vandalism or bad fake snow still there in February?</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXwJ_OkD06V7iwJx4AjLrsXtGsaZfamzOC4eFgpam_jHR06tahPDtGjZtTwZieAaNVHy-J7H7pfyu_Dtuw94W7AuVFcIqW6No-HrSVvmLDa_P7X4Ru1iZQap14IEaEZ-uaVFlXzzJRi2o/s1600/IMAG0841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXwJ_OkD06V7iwJx4AjLrsXtGsaZfamzOC4eFgpam_jHR06tahPDtGjZtTwZieAaNVHy-J7H7pfyu_Dtuw94W7AuVFcIqW6No-HrSVvmLDa_P7X4Ru1iZQap14IEaEZ-uaVFlXzzJRi2o/s320/IMAG0841.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fuck da feds, I'm going this way (I didn't go that way)</td></tr>
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Left at the end then, and towards my back garden. As the turning (it sounds long. It's actually about fifteen paces) approaches, I realise that I've never actually gone beyond it and decide to continue straight, to see the house behind mine. It turns out there's three. And they're really nice. One day, if I've done alright in life, I hope to be living somewhere like I do now. I seem to have forgotten to take any pictures of two of the three, maybe because one house didn't have net curtains and I'd feel bad scouting for thieves. This one has a big telly, a small fountain in the back garden and a basketball hoop on the side. Another is almost farm-housey, maybe owning the fields that are next to mine. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG_vTfR4sSUbHgOXGhySrcGi6aoKL0zAVFWG5Up2eeXkHn6Cbx_xk6uGH9mnRMrmDrxjNZWxQACuNYepd5xRX_i8Z4aquYznNan0XGwZRmVtv_jnqqTCTeK2GWdNjeOj1cJolwuDUcu88/s1600/IMAG0842.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG_vTfR4sSUbHgOXGhySrcGi6aoKL0zAVFWG5Up2eeXkHn6Cbx_xk6uGH9mnRMrmDrxjNZWxQACuNYepd5xRX_i8Z4aquYznNan0XGwZRmVtv_jnqqTCTeK2GWdNjeOj1cJolwuDUcu88/s320/IMAG0842.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left at the tree for mine. Straight ahead on the left is what we'll term the farmer's house and at the end is the nice big house</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdYlPBBmEEIBfeZsMVbGKkr2b_CPPmM-d8BLeWpk3xSMk0XtqEiUlZaXUbOTEpF4mJ23Nhu8XysoiEiSx6kqgSOzuxNgwgKJZVyKFTkNdbzyrCBp1P1s0vQJOim6p1YaZ5usMtzu47lk/s1600/IMAG0843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdYlPBBmEEIBfeZsMVbGKkr2b_CPPmM-d8BLeWpk3xSMk0XtqEiUlZaXUbOTEpF4mJ23Nhu8XysoiEiSx6kqgSOzuxNgwgKJZVyKFTkNdbzyrCBp1P1s0vQJOim6p1YaZ5usMtzu47lk/s320/IMAG0843.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.499999046325684px;">The back of my terrace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1tfihlugNG1Wtr1eygJvkSJ4DU0tgX7RCfpmt7ZePyPMVTA08dD2NcEu7VTHbg9GZ-aHXjG67zzwoVLyvhz1kGeSw1eTVzKrByw4D8jlJb0xU4Bum0rRKn1cnPmY1mx6JMgtYQl44fFs/s1600/IMAG0844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1tfihlugNG1Wtr1eygJvkSJ4DU0tgX7RCfpmt7ZePyPMVTA08dD2NcEu7VTHbg9GZ-aHXjG67zzwoVLyvhz1kGeSw1eTVzKrByw4D8jlJb0xU4Bum0rRKn1cnPmY1mx6JMgtYQl44fFs/s320/IMAG0844.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Totally a bit farmy, right?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBizgT_iy67DYUwJL9yUUNQAtTSIDAmAQDINzpCmPMQCdlC7CTMYjS-GKPOvWSerUUd4nHLlTlN5qPJMu61SSwTafyUZnlMEwvw-Qfp9HWkyVtE1ZyWq1y0bVYY7ZLoio01oJYqDoBD5k/s1600/IMAG0845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBizgT_iy67DYUwJL9yUUNQAtTSIDAmAQDINzpCmPMQCdlC7CTMYjS-GKPOvWSerUUd4nHLlTlN5qPJMu61SSwTafyUZnlMEwvw-Qfp9HWkyVtE1ZyWq1y0bVYY7ZLoio01oJYqDoBD5k/s320/IMAG0845.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Cross Fare'? This is the inside of the farmhouse gate</td></tr>
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<br />
Let's turn around. Might as well show you my garden whilst we're here for a nice round trip. Disclaimer: we're students. Don't judge us too much. The left of these three garages is ours, and we have a door to it in our garden. More than that sucker middle house can say! In this we keep my beer brewing kit that it's currently too cold to use and we let Dom, a really nice man who lives round the corner and works at uni security, keep his 'classic car' in the winter. I haven't got anything bad to say about the guy, I sometimes see him at 3am drunk coming out of a club and have a nice chat with him. His car, though, isn't so much classic as old. But I'm no connoisseur.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hZiJEGmPIWahjfHyjOAtfsji8k-_TrZPhTL9xF1TzsLUgQL92iyO5LOt4t2GPTvcNjc24-mWSgw2UyIckJFNC8oy19_4irUliVvRWAmq-JO7sWTJ0rr1HA7ggVAonOep85Bd-TgZ3oA/s1600/IMAG0846.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hZiJEGmPIWahjfHyjOAtfsji8k-_TrZPhTL9xF1TzsLUgQL92iyO5LOt4t2GPTvcNjc24-mWSgw2UyIckJFNC8oy19_4irUliVvRWAmq-JO7sWTJ0rr1HA7ggVAonOep85Bd-TgZ3oA/s320/IMAG0846.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1evaZM2p3CotvXNxW_SfoEQIiU-IDe-vI0Z-Xx1JOJEgttnF5HC_SwEqsocAPWrIe5xhJ99uSvEVVGo9nHGqF6ZqyQFsDh191awNKhpJEUjBaITXUV2TnoPMeWb7sAwR5GwDR5PctgY/s1600/IMAG0847.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1evaZM2p3CotvXNxW_SfoEQIiU-IDe-vI0Z-Xx1JOJEgttnF5HC_SwEqsocAPWrIe5xhJ99uSvEVVGo9nHGqF6ZqyQFsDh191awNKhpJEUjBaITXUV2TnoPMeWb7sAwR5GwDR5PctgY/s320/IMAG0847.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is my room & my shadow. I live downstairs next to the kitchen/living room and have a French window (well, in this case, patio door, not French windows (boo)) which is useful if I'm hiding from people but need the toilet. I can sneak round/go in the garden. HYGIENE SUX</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7qK3iVqbF1ByexgyVcSWMFssy1uRO1enN43uRWS2bF0eEgxa2alopdl1LYAXCxtgLq0gEHUR3LdN1wdABray_WTppSy2aAH_uTrdFskXTcTwz54_6tC7v_DzU-xxrOEZlaqG50x_2AI/s1600/IMAG0848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7qK3iVqbF1ByexgyVcSWMFssy1uRO1enN43uRWS2bF0eEgxa2alopdl1LYAXCxtgLq0gEHUR3LdN1wdABray_WTppSy2aAH_uTrdFskXTcTwz54_6tC7v_DzU-xxrOEZlaqG50x_2AI/s320/IMAG0848.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A dead pot plant that was here when we arrived. In it I have left my herbs that died from not being watered when I was home for Christmas</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKy-U9UnkhUxDPH_HJR2pTQBont38TJZABT1-_APkjG_FFNYbIoPdJ7QzkuIbt5Q19VzcniX9L8wG3Vp_vNpwbe3td5ygnhpKODH7vEbjCxuPO1lHPwr_W-0wQtn5YPhyK27el-QIqkA/s1600/IMAG0849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKy-U9UnkhUxDPH_HJR2pTQBont38TJZABT1-_APkjG_FFNYbIoPdJ7QzkuIbt5Q19VzcniX9L8wG3Vp_vNpwbe3td5ygnhpKODH7vEbjCxuPO1lHPwr_W-0wQtn5YPhyK27el-QIqkA/s320/IMAG0849.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graham, our metal tortoise, next to the smoker's patch and a broken one of my pasta bowls. The old coffee jar I put out so Rich had somewhere to put his butts is kind of full, as you can see, but that's no excuse for him not to pick them all up. This annoys me.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGp0Zt1K_XrcOckdxv-SdIMLW_IZvy4ySXkUt-iAVUFEjQbisa1iG3R26EzpSsYZGPdeKp8PR8D5f-Z4Z94dc6ZJZrsWKGz9bCFMT11IJiSs0ZG9J9kcrrcFTAkHx7OpyP1syLcBbnss/s1600/IMAG0850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGp0Zt1K_XrcOckdxv-SdIMLW_IZvy4ySXkUt-iAVUFEjQbisa1iG3R26EzpSsYZGPdeKp8PR8D5f-Z4Z94dc6ZJZrsWKGz9bCFMT11IJiSs0ZG9J9kcrrcFTAkHx7OpyP1syLcBbnss/s320/IMAG0850.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our slowly growing traffic cone collection. The one on the left is kind of lime green but you can't really tell any more. Bad photo and it's rather weathered</td></tr>
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<div>
That's me done for my first walk in Wivenhoe. I hope you like this sort of thing, because you're likely to be getting a lot of it in the coming months. Or not. Subsequent posts will be about the same length, but much more brief coverage of a much longer walk so should be more entertaining. Pop back soon please.<br />
<br />
Before then, you might want to give my friend <a href="http://forestsallsorts.blogspot.co.uk/">Forest's new blog</a> a try. He's just starting up, so be nice to him. At the time of posting, he's not actually published anything but word is that the first is scheduled for posting in twenty minutes' time.<br />
<br />
Have a nice week!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
J</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14448757310983623903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-82047283591296963122013-01-27T18:47:00.002+00:002013-01-27T18:47:39.960+00:00'Gay' as a pejorative term<br />
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My housemate Harriet asked me for a quick chat about the word 'gay' and its negative connotations in case it would spark any interesting ideas that she could think about to help write her essay. Instead I dashed off this quick (not really, took far too long) and unedited (yeah, couldn't be bothered to spruce it up for you guys) thing. Although half-regurgitated from a quick google it's nice to get something like this out, written, and on the internet.</div>
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____</div>
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Discussing terminology as concretely offensive or not can be
difficult because of the multitude of readings you can make. The word ‘gay’,
though, was first adopted by the homosexual community as a positive
description, with the immediate response of the general population beginning to
use a historically positive word as a pejorative. Whilst I obviously don’t believe
that everybody that uses the term has a hurtful implication in mind but
considering the origins of its popular usage I find homophobic connotations
pretty much inescapable. The same has happened, to a lesser extent, with
special needs and the term ‘special’ as a means of questioning someone’s
intellectual capacity. Another example on the same tangent is the charity Scope
– which used to be called The Spastic Society but had to rebrand after ‘spastic’
became an abusive term. More recently
there’s been an inverted version, where a negative word has been subject to an
attempt at using it positively: the word ‘nigger’ has been re-emerging in the
public consciousness, with teens describing their friends as their nigz, niggahs,
etc. It’s not reclaiming the word – it’s an insult to bring something with massive
overtones of centuries of oppression into such a mundane context. When
something is so loaded, it can’t be anything but an insult when rich white
girls who listen to Odd Future decide that it’s a funny idea to use it. There’s
a clear lack of respect and obvious attempt at getting a rise from someone. It’s
the snatching, as opposed to forming, of an identity and the use of both ‘gay’
as an insult or ‘nigger’ as a banality by privileged (or the majority of the) people
who are ignorant to context or just plain sadistic does little but to demean
those it means something to. I find it hard to understand why people persist
with terms if they can emote (however hard that can be) even more a moment with
a homosexual teenager growing up as a ‘gay’ person alongside the connotation
that this is synonymous with being second class or pathetic.</div>
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<br /></div>
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A way in which people commonly get confused with why ‘gay’
is offensive is to assume that the issue is one of political correctness. I’m
not going to attempt to tackle that entire issue here (Stewart Lee dissects it <i>brilliantly</i> here and here - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IYx4Bc6_eE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IYx4Bc6_eE</a>
/ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43uZwar92UY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43uZwar92UY</a>
) but the implication that it is really gets my goat. If we allow it to be an
issue exclusively based on ‘pc’ or not ‘pc’ terminology we ignore the pretty
important issue that is genuinely homophobic bullying in schools that’s
practically ignored because of teachers dismissing it as banter or presuming that
‘gay’ is being used in a ‘harmless’ way. Race is, rightly, dealt with in an
incredibly serious way. Homophobic bullying should be, too. </div>
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One reason I think the word ‘gay’ (I have got to stop
bothering with these inverted commas, right?) is so commonly used in a negative
way is that people have the illusion of it as, at worst, a mild insult. “It couldn’t
hurt anyone”, “(s)he knows the score” and so on. Yes, it can be to some, but sexual
orientation is invisible. Homosexuality is not something that someone can see
(as opposed to, say, your race). This means it can’t be challenged – there is
no way of conclusively demonstrating that you are heterosexual. The lack of any
effective recourse is what makes homophobic insults so effective as a bullying
tactic. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">At school, in our
formative years, the currency of kids' conversation is often mean - and that's
part of the rough and tumble of their lives. Children relish in the use of
unacceptable terminology and yet h</span>omophobic insults’ potency lies in the
fact that they strike in a necessarily personal place, one that may or may not
have been come to terms with. Donald Christie: "If there's an area of life
that children themselves feel insecure about they're aware of their own
vulnerability. The whole point of bullying is about identifying and
accentuating weakness in others." What can be poked gently just to get a reaction
can accidentally touch a tender area and, once that line is breached, can spill
into genuine harassment. People like to bully. </div>
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Helen Cowie: "It's a form of peer group control, boys
have to be masculine and macho and anyone who isn't must go along with it or
face being bullied. It's a form of bullying that domineering people seek out
vulnerable people and school age is a time of emergent sexuality which is
itself a vulnerable time."</div>
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For me, one of my most annoying aspects about the culture is
when it becomes ‘gay’ to point out that ‘gay’ isn’t bad. The idea that the word
no longer refers to sexuality is a ridiculous attempt at justifying anti-gay
sentiment. The standard response to even mild trepidation or vocalised concerns
about someone saying “that’s so gay” is that you’ll be laughed at. And then
told how gay you are. I would not expect an honest, apologetic response: any
concerns seem to do little but to further identify you as a target. If a person
is genuinely offended and considering raising concern then they put themselves
at risk at increasingly vitriolic insults.</div>
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That’s my argument for why it’s offensive, anyway. But whilst,
as a straight guy without a large number of gay friends, I might not be able to
claim any real right to be offended, the reason why it really irks me is that I
am embarrassed by it. It is so outdated and the fact that so many of my friends
use it sullies how I think of them. The idea that people my age would still use
it as an acceptable insult or pejorative just seems ridiculous, almost mind-boggling.
I know that, for much of this little thing, I’ve spoken about ‘gay’ as an
insult more than a casually negative term but I find it hard to separate them.
The recurring negative uses of the word are symptomatic of a mind stuck in a
childish schoolyard throwback, a state that I strive to remove myself from. And
although many have been raised on it, negative uses of ‘gay’ sincerely make me
question those that I like. Dismiss my attitude as baseless liberal guilt if
you will, but don’t presume lack of offence in your generalised insults.</div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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All of my quotes, some of the stuff I’ve rephrased but
naughtily not credited, and half of my research comes from this article.
Seriously, don’t hate me, so much is lifted from it, I know it’s shameful: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7289390.stm/">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7289390.stm/</a> // I
also used this: <a href="http://stupidevilbastard.com/2009/08/campaign_to_stop_use_of_gay_as_perjoritive_probably_wont_work/">http://stupidevilbastard.com/2009/08/campaign_to_stop_use_of_gay_as_perjoritive_probably_wont_work/</a> </div>
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Further, completely unrelated reading but worthy of a month’s
blogging (paywall, but...): <a href="http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/Magazine/Features/article1199062.ece?shareToken=e7c567a0d6b2462df3a7380a6be24204">http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/Magazine/Features/article1199062.ece?shareToken=e7c567a0d6b2462df3a7380a6be24204</a></div>
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And something nice that’s been going around Twitter: <a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/4E982E/9wows.com/spectacular-images-of-the-insides-of-musical-instruments/">http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/4E982E/9wows.com/spectacular-images-of-the-insides-of-musical-instruments/</a><span class="apple-converted-space"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14448757310983623903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-11968372378524852142013-01-10T22:44:00.001+00:002013-02-03T14:28:52.262+00:002013.<br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%; text-transform: uppercase;">2013. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">PRIMARILY,
this year I aim to <i>make an effort</i>.
Even writing this, I know I’m in a pretty resigned mindset and doubt I’ll
achieve these. I think it’s okay, I don’t need to get everything done, but
neither can I sit and wallow. I’m only writing this because I have an unstarted
essay due and I’m the world’s worst procrastinator. Why should I wait till
publishing these to do something? You can do things without resolving that you
will in print beforehand to scare yourself for fear of being reproached. Seize
the day! I don’t need Ms Lindsay to push me!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%; text-transform: uppercase;">Explore<br />
</span><span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">Since the start of this
academic year, I’ve lived in term time in a small Essex town/large Essex
village called Wivenhoe. It’s lovely – semi-famed for its artistic community,
full of pubs, really close to uni and has a nice bookshop and antique shop. And
yet the only places I’ve been inside are my house, the train station, One Stop,
Co-Op, my hairdressers’ and the chip shop. This is a ridiculous state of
affairs and I am determined this term to have a snoop around and maybe even
become involved in the community – my favourite performance poet, Luke Wright,
is doing a gig above a pub this month and I’ve already recruited a couple of
friends to accompany me. To aid my exploration of my community I’ve decided to
bring back an old favourite. Who remembers my walking blog? Well I miss it and
it’s a feature that’ll be easy enough to schedule, good fun and probably good
exercise. As a sucker for alliteration, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to
write a blog about walking in Wivenhoe, with the lovely benefits of being able to
stretch my legs and get some fresh air. I’ve started a new blog just for those
updates that hasn’t really been set up yet but you can find <a href="http://walkingwivenhoe.blogspot.co.uk/">HERE</a>. Do us a
favour and bookmark it now, yeah?<br />
Keeping exploring local is nice but I’d also like to commit to splurging a load
of cash I don’t have on seeing a couple of friends at their universities (and,
in doing so, completely justify it to myself when booking). I must go and visit
Plymouth to see Al (and hopefully <a href="http://vivatramp.blogspot.com/">Bee</a>), maybe a trip to Manchester for a couple
of pals up there. I've got to see <a href="http://heartsofsand.blogspot.com/">Laura </a>sometime soon too, given she’s not exactly
hard to get to. PREPARE YOURSELVES LADIES. Inevitable time spent getting to
places on the train (to Plymouth takes 5 hours from Letchworth or something
stupid) leaves me plenty of opportunity to explore beyond the boundaries of
reality, too, and get my nose stuck deep into a big old book. I love but find
it hard to find the time/bother to get any serious reading done so I’m looking
forward to this one.<span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%; text-transform: uppercase;">wORK & CREATIVITY<br />
</span><span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">As the shameless king of
procrastination – my apathy and vague narcissism really do know no bounds – I have
got to get stuck into my work this year. I did so to an extent at the start of
the academic year and remembered how much I liked my course and why I’d chosen
it in the first place. I’m confident that this will hold true this term and
serve only as an incentive. I’m penniless so being able to get a job – maybe exploring
Wivenhoe will help me find something – can’t be absent from my list of
priorities (and the structure that comes with working will hopefully allow me
to slip into working for myself too).I’d like to blog again, even if it is only
about my walking, though shan’t be as naive this time and promise much more
than I can give. I miss doing a photo (however bad it was) a day, so might see
if I can take that up for a while, maybe for a probationary period. Perhaps a
second of video a day, a la this dude? Somebody remind me about it though,
because there’s no point saying you’ll do something and then putting it off.
Look – my new attitude shining through! And one I nicked from <a href="http://trafficintheair.tumblr.com/">Cathy</a>. Thanks, C.<br />
As you may well be aware, my essays are almost exclusively written in the
period from 7pm-10am so to hurriedly apply at the deadline, by which time I’m
more tired than the look behind David Cameron’s glazed eyes. Needless to say this
rules out most planning and pretty much all editing. I MUST begin to do these
things if anything I ever do is going to be good. Was it Ernest Hemingway who
said that “the first draft of anything is shit”? Whoever it was knows a lot
more than I do.<br />
I never write anything for myself, barely even jot down ideas anymore. I must
write. One paragraph every two days minimum, with exception of essay days. Setting
myself tasks seems all well and good now, before I do it, and though it makes
little sense I take this as but incentive to further remove my ambitions from the
accomplishable. By the end of summer I must have written: one whole song and
one play of any length(as well as the short one for coursework); by the end of
the year one page-long poem and two short stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%; text-transform: uppercase;">FRIENDS<br />
</span><span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">This is something I’ve
been quite good at when at home, but not at uni: spending time with people I
feel good to be with. I don’t want to have to continue to waste my days hung
over, drunk or bored out of my tiny mind with people I do like but don’t find
consistently enjoyable. I guess I mean do more fun things than go to a club
bored. It would be nice to share a day or evening hanging out with someone.
Maybe even sober! Musts: meet Laura. Meet Bee. See <a href="http://ladybirdlikes.blogspot.com/">Zoe </a>more. Hang out with the fun
people from uni, not just mates. When home try and meet up with people I
haven’t seen since before uni despite promising we would see each other. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">SOCIAL
MEDIA MODERATION<br />
I’ve noticed since my break-up just before the turn of the year that I’ve spent
a ridiculous amount of time <a href="http://twitter.com/jamieeelaing">tweeting</a>. I don’t know whether this is just because
it coincides with a deadline but I’ve really got to spare myself some real
world time. Everything is going to seem more fun, right? Hopefully it will help
with productivity in any case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">FOOD<br />
Simple, this. Stop making massive 3-4 person portions and then eating it all
because I can’t be bothered to make the tiny bit of effort to store it away; or
learn how to judge the size of my
appetite more accurately. With regards to shopping, buy regularly, sensibly,
healthily and with an undefined but implied budget. The effects of my new
attitudes towards feeding myself will hopefully be twofold: eating less at more
sensible times (I’m putting on a bit of weight, me. The walking blog thing
should help) and stop myself digging into my overdraft to attack campus shop
sandwiches (why do I always buy two again?). Convenience food is my downfall. I’m
not going to commit to that much less pizza and garlic bread but it’d be good
to cut down. By the end of the academic year I will have more than three stock
recipes.<br />
For the past two and a half years, I’ve been a vegetarian. I’m really happy and
incredibly surprised (or would have been should you’d have told me at the
start) that that is still the case. Mostly my concerns with meat are my
personal health and the environmental impact of it, so I’ve to my shame never
conformed to the anti-animal cruelty veggie stereotype. The other day, however,
I stumbled upon a Wikipedia entry in which I learned the process employed for
the mass-production of milk. I won’t fill in the gruesome details here, but if
you care to know just wiki veganism. I’m concerned, though, about how my diet
would adapt to the elimination of milk and if I would be able to sustain myself
well enough without spending a ridiculous amount of money on special vegan
produce. So, as a compromise, by the end of year I will have spent two weeks to
one month without having milk in my diet. Is soya milk nice? I hope so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">MY
main aims are therefore sensible self-discipline, but not exercising too much
self-restraint. Try and sort out a vague schedule but not being afraid to let
go of the reins when able. I want to enjoy my life and not distorting the world
for myself – but still be able to stimulate it. A nice clear head and scope to
enjoy myself. It sounds ridiculous but I’ve written this in pink – by accident,
mainly – but it’s made a lovely change and actually feels really nice. Cynicism
can only do so much for you. I might carry on with such an easy-going colour.
There we go. I’ve started already!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">Here’s
to a happy and active year for all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">J<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #ea9999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: .75pt; line-height: 115%;">Captions I haven't bothered finding pictures for: "I’ll leave money, exercise and learning to drive for now." // "Clutter will NOT be an excuse to fail to write. Living downstairs in a
house of loud students, though, is perhaps acceptable"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14448757310983623903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-58585808373467904252012-07-26T01:01:00.000+01:002012-07-26T01:01:21.523+01:00writing #3 - An Attempt To Be Sexy<br />
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Did a new 'thing'. I'm pretty sure it's a short story but some of the sentences in it are really like I was trying to write a poem. Please excuse the late night husky voice and the phone on which the recording was being made vibrating half-way through. Ta.</div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F54109200&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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___<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>AN ATTEMPT TO BE SEXY</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Hold still”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“yeah?”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Yeah. Okay, I think I got it...”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Right”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Yes, yes, okay, got it”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“So can you hear me now?”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>I stared through the window, my left cheek squashed against
the glass. The once-cooling surface had, within a matter of seconds, become the
source of a chill that prevented me from speaking to you.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Hang on, I’ve lost you again.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>It seemed a shame that it was my jaw, not brain that had
frozen over. My breath had by now clouded the pane and blocked any view. Hot
air escaping from my nostrils began to thaw my mouth and the same gas waiting
to emerge finished the job.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Better?” I began to reply, until I realised that my body
was trying to motion accordingly and the consonants scrambled in my mouth. I
found the futility of this act entertaining enough to divulge my attention from
attempting to distract you from the reality of the fact that we both preferred
it when we had less in common.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>As such I found it a blessing that tonight would not suffer
the routine roll call of all the people I didn’t like, didn’t know and didn’t
want to know. Nor off-the-cuff, semi-relatable (under analysis) remarks about the
coincidence of being alive at the same time being vast and quixotic as it is
and the subconscious setting of barriers because it always pays to be prepared.
No: my mind went blank as you asked me to begin and a mental image of you
seared itself on my mind’s worn-out eye.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Um,” it began, disappointing even myself and starting over,
“I manage to remove my socks with minimal fuss”. Politeness is an only
half-desirable trait and was unfortunately the one of my few to find itself
amplified by the telephone receiver. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Speak up.”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Can you hear me now?”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>“Shh. Carry on.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Something about the subtext encouraged me but a mistimed
gulp between breaths interrupted my flow and startled, it turned into a belch.
Time was, it would have passed with a laugh but the humour was no longer
present and though the lack of reaction was in itself unremarkable it hit me
with a jolt and I once again started to think. Trying to talk I spluttered
outside of my shell and unchecked, half-formed thoughts mixed in the air with
the organic waste and my lungs gave way to the great wave of guts.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>It didn’t turn you on.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>___</i></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-86372159900776376052012-05-04T15:12:00.000+01:002012-05-04T15:15:06.404+01:00Writing - poetry #2Afternoon all, hope you're well. You may remember <a href="http://jamie-laing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/writing-exercises-poetry-1.html">this post</a>, a month ago, in which I shared an upbeat little ditty about two of the world's oldest professions. Today, something a little more dark.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F45289630&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">___<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">Sonnet no.1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">Burn each and
every member of the flock<br />
Before the black bird swoops and takes his prey</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">(The most
easy of these: those numbed by shock,</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">The rest
blinded or taken in affray).</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">But he
swoops, he dives, he eats my insides</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">And blood
drips as we crow, his beak a key</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">That opens
me. Again, I watch him glide</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">I’d rather
drift, a pyre out at sea.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">It seems
smoking him out has no effect</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">So now it is
my chest where he resides –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">Jailed by
ribs, they can take all his pecks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">With his tongue I have no need to comply.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">Now after so
long abusing my pen</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Garamond, serif;">All of my
words shall become mine again.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">___<o:p></o:p></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-59433899962621587992012-04-15T23:39:00.001+01:002012-04-15T23:42:57.073+01:00List: Sunday Evening's Soundcloud SetHow regularly do you go on the internet on Sundays and see a million complaints about boredom? It's a disease, I tell you, but one that I am not currently inflicted with. This might be down to having listened to a lot of music tonight which I can, for once, link you to without too much effort*. So here's a little sequence for any bored ears out there tonight - I can't guarantee it'll flow particularly smoothly or anything, it's just a semi-random sequence of songs I found on <a href="http://soundcloud.com/jamieeelaing">my soundcloud</a>, listened to and particularly enjoyed tonight. Hope you do likewise!<br />
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</div><div><a href="http://soundcloud.com/snfas/tempunauts">Tempunauts</a> - don't be scared off by this one. It's not at all my usual style but someone linked to it on Twitter and listening to it in the background I found it surprisingly enjoyable.<br />
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</div><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F36112899&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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</div><div><a href="http://soundcloud.com/miles-kane/first-of-my-kind">First of My Kind</a> - Like the previous track, this is unusual for me - I don't really like Miles Kane, in that I find his image and popularity irritating given his lack of good tunes. That said, this is much better and I can see myself starting to like him if he releases a few more like this and people stop calling him well-dressed. The start of this song sounds like It's Raining Men!<br />
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</div><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F39727315&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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</div><div><a href="http://soundcloud.com/manchesterorchestra/simple-math-simple_math">Simple Math</a> - Always been a favourite, this. An undeniably good song.<br />
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</div><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F14953190&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe></div><div><br />
</div><div><a href="http://soundcloud.com/alt-j/fitzpleasure-bretonlabs-ghost">Fitzpleasure (BretonLABS remix)</a> - It's not often you find a genuinely good, listenable remix and this, of a stand-out song by a band who blew away my initial expectations with their interwoven rhythms and interesting riffs, is as good as the song itself. This one is downloadable!<br />
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</div><div><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F35423945&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe></div><div><br />
</div><div><a href="http://soundcloud.com/kenetics/toothache-kenetics">Toothache</a> - The first song to really hit the high standards of their first few, this band have so much potential as well as being properly brilliant already. This is the first single with their new member, Asya, singing, and she really adds to their sound. Listen to <i>Two Dozen</i>, too.<br />
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</div><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F32323627&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe></div><div><br />
</div><div><a href="http://soundcloud.com/londonroadstudios/cant-see-myself-maddox">Can't See Myself</a> - A tune I always liked, but was never quite sure why. Good stuff from a band I've enjoyed every time I've seen them. RIP Maddox.<br />
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</div><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F27699512&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://soundcloud.com/los-campesinos/hello-sadness">Hello Sadness</a> - The title track of the latest album from potentially my favourite band. Benefits from repeated listening and savouring, but still brilliant on the first listen, like all genuinely good music.<br />
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</div><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F25351453&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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</div><div><a href="http://soundcloud.com/mimasband/la-moustache-formidable">La Moustache Formidable</a> - I adore Mimas. This was the first I heard from them, and I've listened this and <i>Mac, Get Your Gear On</i> to death. Honest-to-God fantastic.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F9390626&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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If you're still stuck for a listen, before those few I watched this twice, and am rewatching (well, listening this time) this - Arctic Monkeys live at Coachella 13/04/12 (WHY DOES AMERICA PUT THE MONTH FIRST STOP IT NOTHING MAKES ANY SENSE LIKE THAT)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/lFH9jglIVRA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
I love Arctic Monkeys. I cannot be bothered to write about them so here I shall compile some of my tweets from earlier this evening:<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_194507739">Love watching Monkeys videos at the moment, it's a joy to see new tunes as highlights of the set.</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_194507739">(for the first time in ages, as well)</a></span><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_194507739"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I can't help but have the feeling that right about now would be the best time to see the arctic monkeys</span> </a><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_194507739"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Confidence levels and you can see them enjoying it, back catalogue meaning no heavy reliance on new or old material...</span> </a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_194507739">Anyway yes, they really are growing into being almost my favourite band again. Feels like I'm in year eight</a> again</span><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_194507739"><br />
</a><br />
T'ra! Have a nice evening xxxx<br />
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</div><div>* usually listen to records, which come without a hyperlink etceteraaaa</div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-3962595539960553552012-03-29T17:32:00.001+01:002012-03-29T17:35:51.333+01:00I've been finding it really hard to not panic-buy in these hard times<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CIXgDIs4Ga8/T3SOc9cqBqI/AAAAAAAAAc4/pOUgYeEdOfU/s1600/ApKuSVvCAAAr13X.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CIXgDIs4Ga8/T3SOc9cqBqI/AAAAAAAAAc4/pOUgYeEdOfU/s400/ApKuSVvCAAAr13X.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-38525734988680583902012-03-20T22:16:00.004+00:002012-03-21T15:41:07.038+00:00Record Store Day 2012 & The Black Wax Addiction<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">If you know me or my writing, you'll probably know how proud I'm becoming of my growing record collection. I've got so much of my favourite stuff on vinyl now which feels like quite an achievement to someone as lazily perfectionist (there's a contradiction for you) as me - albeit a rather expensive one.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">I'm not going to go over the entire <a href="http://www.recordstoreday.co.uk/">Record Store Day initiative</a> for you, however superb it may be - and is - but focus on this year's exclusive releases - because I'm sad enough to have spent a good hour earlier painstakingly and comprehensively listing a large amount of what I am most after in priority AND alphabetical order. Yeah. Sad, I warned you. It's a bit long and I am a student and am not really able to afford one, let alone everything in the 'want' section of my list, but will regardless do my best to get everything in 'need' as much as 'want a lot' as I can allow myself. Maybe more.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://smugglersway.tumblr.com/">I'd also love to get this</a>.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">It does not even regret me to admit that, nay, proclaim that I will be queueing up for doors to open - I would consider going later, so that a section of my list is already gone and I CANNOT spend as much, but s Arsenal are playing at home (against Chelsea! Big game) later on, which I can't miss, so I'm just going to have to trust my small amount of self-control. My wonderful local record store <a href="http://www.davids-music.co.uk/">David's Music</a> will not have, according to staff, ordered too many copies of things that wouldn't have deserved a stand-alone release but are taking advantage of the RSD 'feeding frenzy', which could eliminate a lot of the 'maybe' list. ANYWAY, enough pre-amble, </span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">here is my RSD list (I AM SO SAD)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">NEED</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine? Ltd heavyweight purple vinyl 7"</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Beach House - Lazuli 7" Blue/opaque vinyl </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Gorillaz - DoYaThing 10" Picture disc </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Oscar Cash - Plays Metronomy 7”</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">WANT A LOT</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Animal Collective - Transverse Temporal Gyrus 4 track E.P. 12" </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Bloc Party - Shes Hearing Voices 7" re-release of the band's debut single </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Bombay Bicycle Club - Lights Out, Words Gone (Rub A Dub)</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Caitlin Rose - Piledriver Waltz/Love Is A Laserquest 7" with exclusive jukebox sticker</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Cure - Friday I'm In Love 7”</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Graham Coxon - What'll it Take</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Metronomy - Black Eye Burnt Thumb (Woodwind version)/You Could easily Have Me (Woodwind version) 7"</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Slow Club – Paradise LP </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">St Vincent - Krokodil/Grot 7” </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Two door Cinema Club - Acoustic EP 7"</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Xiu Xiu/Dirty Beaches - Always/Tu Ne Dis Rien Split 7" </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">WANT </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Dr Who Sound Effects </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Belle & Sebastian - Crash Exclusive 7”</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">David Bowie - A Side: David Bowie - Starman (original single version). Stereo</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">B Side: David Bowie - Starman (Top Of The Pops version) Originally broadcast on the BBC TV Programme 'Top Of The Pops' on 6/7/72. Mono</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys LP, Seventeen Seconds LP, Faith Numbered (normal or coloured vinyl) LP, Pornography LP, The Top LP</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Futureheads – No 1 Song in Heaven</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Kinks – King Arthur, Face to Face, Something Else LPs</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Laura Marling - Flicker and Fail/To Be A Woman 7”<br />
Neutral Milk Hotel - coloured vinyl re-pressed LP</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Odd Future - The Of Tape Vol. 2 Triple album </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Of Montreal/Deerhoof - Stygian x Bisection Split 7" </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Sigur Ros - Ekki Mukk 10" </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Subways - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 7" grey vinyl </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Specials - The Specials Live 7" </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">MAYBE</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Beat - A: Mirror In The Bathroom, AA: Too Nice To Talk To 7" single picture sleeve, coloured vinyl </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Beatles - 1's Singles Collection 4 x 7" Singles in Tin Box </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Black Keys - El Camino 2LP 7" plus additional 7" vinyl with 2 live tracks. Gatefold with poster and bonus CD </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">James Brown - Live At The Apollo: There It Is, Pass The Peas </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Clash - London Calling Special digitally re-mastered new version by Mick Jones and Bill Price </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Consort Audite Nova - Plays Metronomy </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Dry The River - New Ceremony </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Elbow - McGreggor </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Fall - Night Of The Humerons </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Morrissey - Suedehead, We'll Let You Know (live)*, Now My Heart Is Full (live)* - 10" picture disc </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Richard Hawley - Leave your Body Behind You 10" Single (part of Richard Hawley Singles Club)</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Acid Reflex 12" RMX</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Pete Townsend - The Quadrophenia Demos:</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">EP One: Side 1 - The Real Me (demo), Cut My Hair (demo), Punk (demo) Side 2: Dirty Jobs (demo), Is It In My Head (demo), Any More (demo)</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">EP Two: Side 1: I've Had Enough (demo), Drowned (demo), Is It Me (demo) Side 2: Dr Jimmy (demo), Love Reign O'er Me (demo) Two exclusive 10" vinyl Eps featuring a selection of demos from the recent, critically acclaimed box set reissue - Quadrophenia: 'The Director's Cut' </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Ramones -Blitzkrieg Bop/Havana Affair 7", sire house bag</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Supremes - Baby Love (Heart shaped 7”)</span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Frank Turner - I Still Believe/Somebody To Love </span><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Wombats - The Wombats Proudly Present LP</span> </span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-47989639442540524192012-03-19T20:40:00.000+00:002012-05-05T00:50:40.389+01:00Flatmates<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One happy family</td></tr>
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If you were wondering, "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">бляди" </span>is apparently Russian for "whore".<span style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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Does everybody else find this as amusing as me? I particularly enjoy the way he does absolutely nothing to suggest unhappiness with the £50 he was fined for anti-social behaviour.</div>
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He has previously been reported to facebook for uploading pictures of what I can only describe as medieval torture porn and is notorious amongst my flatmates for his lax attitudes towards everybody else's crockery and breaking two toasters in a week for trying to toast cheese.</div>
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What a tit.</div>
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<br /></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-91050908236118910242012-03-11T18:46:00.006+00:002012-03-12T01:33:43.706+00:00Writing exercises - poetry #1Evening. Yesterday evening I was working at a Luke Wright and Ross Sutherland gig - two performance poets who I have a real love for, the latter inspiring the former into poetry, who subsequently got me hooked on the medium when I went to Latitude in 2010. In the afternoon before the show, they held a workshop, which I went to. Not only was it really interesting and informative but we had a couple of 10 minute intervals to try out some exercises, which didn't give me the opportunity to procrastinate, my most seductive enemy. In the first, we could either write an alliterative (alliteration being the technique used before rhyme came into popular useage) or univocal (using only one vowel (Y counting as a vowel)) poem. I didn't get very far with my 'E' poem (called Fleet Street), so here's the product of the second exercise, a long one sentence poem which starts with an image, goes off on a tangent, and returns to the image right at the end. I read this out on stage (very badly):<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F39433674&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<br />
Here's a transcript:<br />
<br />
The anchor strained against the rope<br />
Pulling the boat into the sunny cope*<br />
As its crew flexes to catch the eye<br />
Of the assembled gathering of passers-by<br />
Who witness a sight too silly to believe<br />
As the trends have changed no news reached sea<br />
That the ladies of Britain are now hard to impress<br />
With the sight of muscles bulging from a tight white vest<br />
Other than one, Ms Daisy Hook<br />
Whose more-than-a-glance is a noticeable look<br />
That more than a few sailors see<br />
(Most of whom assume she demands no fee)<br />
A brawl breaks out, friends become foes<br />
The Captain shrieks "She's just a cheap hoe"<br />
It seems that little Miss Hook's look<br />
Was the final fray of that crew's rope<br />
<br />
Ta-da!<br />
<br />
Okay, must dash, off to continue the poetry hype with an evening of being read to be Simon Armitage! Love the theatre I work at. Hope you all enjoyed x<br />
<br />
<br />
*I'm not sure this is right. Is a cope a thing? You get a cape, and in France you get a cote - is cope in that sense a neologism?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-76982855291848531242012-01-12T21:27:00.001+00:002012-01-12T22:27:25.334+00:00How-to: create a fuck-off massive Wagon Wheel (71,640.6 calories)Found this as a draft. Look how old it is!<br />
<br />
"Yesterday (Wednesday 9th) third year, senior RA and fresher-fucker Matthew Rutter walked through our kitchen door with Tesco bags containing £30 worth of ingredients including marshmallows, jam, shortbread and 10 kilos of chocolate, with the purpose of making his ill <a href="http://twitter.com/moatham">girlfriend</a> a GIANT wagon wheel."<br />
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Ha, really should have written this post. The wagon wheel was well cool, as well, here are some pictures:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4TJ8BP8QUA/Tw9Ncy7i-OI/AAAAAAAAAaA/Kt-m5ZfbPe8/s1600/IMAG0358.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4TJ8BP8QUA/Tw9Ncy7i-OI/AAAAAAAAAaA/Kt-m5ZfbPe8/s320/IMAG0358.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tf46XBHGusM/Tw9NfmMNsdI/AAAAAAAAAaI/ZuDYin8Mea8/s1600/IMAG0362.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tf46XBHGusM/Tw9NfmMNsdI/AAAAAAAAAaI/ZuDYin8Mea8/s320/IMAG0362.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sk2USQXL5cE/Tw9Nh3Vsf9I/AAAAAAAAAaQ/_XdN4xbTjPs/s1600/IMAG0364.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sk2USQXL5cE/Tw9Nh3Vsf9I/AAAAAAAAAaQ/_XdN4xbTjPs/s320/IMAG0364.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-djKUymjshLE/Tw9NkYj4I7I/AAAAAAAAAaY/eQ6flKpIzac/s1600/IMAG0365.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-djKUymjshLE/Tw9NkYj4I7I/AAAAAAAAAaY/eQ6flKpIzac/s320/IMAG0365.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katie smashing up some shortbread. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfeyUGZt8nk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfeyUGZt8nk </a> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lwcJlgLA_pc/Tw9NmL4jaqI/AAAAAAAAAag/n72NVc5MlZA/s1600/IMAG0366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lwcJlgLA_pc/Tw9NmL4jaqI/AAAAAAAAAag/n72NVc5MlZA/s320/IMAG0366.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matthew waiting for the first chocolate layer to dry</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fbpla7nKwSg/Tw9NnhUJgVI/AAAAAAAAAao/hxbWTQJjvu4/s1600/IMAG0367.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fbpla7nKwSg/Tw9NnhUJgVI/AAAAAAAAAao/hxbWTQJjvu4/s320/IMAG0367.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CALORIE COUNT (accidentally but hilariously written on a pizza hut box background) </td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ixZwvoYpx7s/Tw9NpiwxeLI/AAAAAAAAAaw/NXw9zKZt4BE/s1600/IMAG0368.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ixZwvoYpx7s/Tw9NpiwxeLI/AAAAAAAAAaw/NXw9zKZt4BE/s320/IMAG0368.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wR0RoFM75vE/Tw9NsKWr28I/AAAAAAAAAa4/e8gjML61wLU/s1600/IMAG0369.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wR0RoFM75vE/Tw9NsKWr28I/AAAAAAAAAa4/e8gjML61wLU/s320/IMAG0369.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Dz8Og3H6fk/Tw9NuN5G-SI/AAAAAAAAAbA/MS29dMUAXg8/s1600/IMAG0370.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Dz8Og3H6fk/Tw9NuN5G-SI/AAAAAAAAAbA/MS29dMUAXg8/s320/IMAG0370.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wy2o2O3QONo/Tw9NwG3izCI/AAAAAAAAAbI/CbkmYbrOD3M/s1600/IMAG0371.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wy2o2O3QONo/Tw9NwG3izCI/AAAAAAAAAbI/CbkmYbrOD3M/s320/IMAG0371.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">some of the top layer of choc</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lIsUECwwtXY/Tw9NyE81A8I/AAAAAAAAAbQ/EyPqE7Wjq7U/s1600/IMAG0373.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lIsUECwwtXY/Tw9NyE81A8I/AAAAAAAAAbQ/EyPqE7Wjq7U/s320/IMAG0373.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ugS1Y9udqxg/Tw9NzxRa1qI/AAAAAAAAAbY/W4_BW7BxMu0/s1600/IMAG0375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ugS1Y9udqxg/Tw9NzxRa1qI/AAAAAAAAAbY/W4_BW7BxMu0/s320/IMAG0375.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o4ATJ9f9gds/Tw9N11DPFbI/AAAAAAAAAbg/PCYoOODEZxg/s1600/IMAG0377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o4ATJ9f9gds/Tw9N11DPFbI/AAAAAAAAAbg/PCYoOODEZxg/s320/IMAG0377.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-boX-dAuZhNk/Tw9N3jhfNqI/AAAAAAAAAbo/gqnrjZtm1pA/s1600/IMAG0378.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-boX-dAuZhNk/Tw9N3jhfNqI/AAAAAAAAAbo/gqnrjZtm1pA/s320/IMAG0378.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hU01nfRF1eA/Tw9N5o-KLoI/AAAAAAAAAbw/H0sLbXxtxS8/s1600/IMAG0379.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hU01nfRF1eA/Tw9N5o-KLoI/AAAAAAAAAbw/H0sLbXxtxS8/s320/IMAG0379.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">just a casual little geek out</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jY-ZKaRsGfo/Tw9N7UstgRI/AAAAAAAAAb4/OYOmlNdZ5Ys/s1600/IMAG0380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jY-ZKaRsGfo/Tw9N7UstgRI/AAAAAAAAAb4/OYOmlNdZ5Ys/s320/IMAG0380.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bOjje_A0vnc/Tw9N-lyeyUI/AAAAAAAAAcA/8nKAwwCrfYU/s1600/IMAG0381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bOjje_A0vnc/Tw9N-lyeyUI/AAAAAAAAAcA/8nKAwwCrfYU/s320/IMAG0381.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2zBPskaBEZE/Tw9OAg6474I/AAAAAAAAAcI/7MM4ANaOObM/s1600/IMAG0383.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2zBPskaBEZE/Tw9OAg6474I/AAAAAAAAAcI/7MM4ANaOObM/s320/IMAG0383.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5-YgPxK_mdw/Tw9OEDf6V6I/AAAAAAAAAcY/b1XtAMakm3k/s1600/IMAG0388.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5-YgPxK_mdw/Tw9OEDf6V6I/AAAAAAAAAcY/b1XtAMakm3k/s320/IMAG0388.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ellie and i decided to attack harriet</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_y-yPZwnWg/Tw9OFRSQ8dI/AAAAAAAAAcg/vFHBQkaKvNk/s1600/IMAG0394.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_y-yPZwnWg/Tw9OFRSQ8dI/AAAAAAAAAcg/vFHBQkaKvNk/s320/IMAG0394.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-73206173172725056382012-01-06T18:31:00.001+00:002012-01-06T18:35:54.046+00:00#ff<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">"40 Posts, last published on 24-Oct-2011 – </span><a href="http://jamie-laing.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">View Blog</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">"</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Woops. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Well I'm sorry it's been a while, it turns out that uni is just totally amazeballs, and I haven't reaaallly had much time on my hands (absolute barefaced lie, all I do is sleep). Anyway, I've got an essay due in soon and there's nothing like procrastination for kick-starting an urge to blog, is there? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Cunctation isn't the only reason for this, however: I've been reading some of your lovely posts and a couple in particular have really stood out. </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">It's Friday, and a</span></span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">s a Twitter addict of the highest order, I thought a few Bloggers #FFs would be a nice thing to do. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><b><u>Very nice people live below this heading</u></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Hila</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The best thing about a fucked up sleeping cycle is being able to see tweets from down under. In the past week I've very swiftly fallen for </span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/tout_moi" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Hila</a><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">, and I think </span></span><a href="http://hila-lumiere.blogspot.com/2012/01/this-year.html" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">her new year's poem can demonstrate why</a><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">. She is also bally ace for good retweets, and I've found several lovely things via her in the past few days, such as </span></span><a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/01/05/poppies/" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Jennifer Grotz’s stunning “Poppies”.</a><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> And no, that's not a link to the Sun.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://hila-lumiere.blogspot.com/">http://hila-lumiere.blogspot.com/</a> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/tout_moi">@tout_moi</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Charlie</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">One of the best people I've met this year (and this is the year I've gone to uni) <a href="http://twitter.com/charliechalkley">is a boy I followed on Twitter on a whim</a> after seeing him tagged in a few friends' tweets. Turns out the guy shares more than an interest in Peep Show with me: a keen writer, bantersaurus rex and fellow sufferer of arrogance and laziness syndrome, we've been planning to co-write some stuff for a good forever now and </span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I therefore pledge to eat a hot chili in a vlog if, by the end of summer, we</span><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> still have nothing substantial to our names.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://twitter.com/charliechalkley" style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">@charliechalkley</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://manucodia.tumblr.com/">Black and white blog</a><br />
<a href="http://7vignettes.tumblr.com/">Colour blog</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Zoe<br />
When I first joined this website - <a href="http://vivatramp.blogspot.com/">almost entirely down to the efforts of Bee, who I'm sure you'll all know</a> - I immediately followed several blogs in a flurry of activity, in an attempt to really get stuck into this whole community business. Zoe's fantastic photography, craft and lifestyle blog, <a href="http://ladybirdlikes.blogspot.com/">Ladybird Likes</a>, is one of very few that I stuck by, and that's as much down to her amazing personality as it is her superb eye for gems when thrifting. I for one am very much excited about the prospect of her new - own - business and if any of you wankers don't at least have a butch I'm going to send the big boys 'round.<br />
(Zo', I'm sending your mixtape SOON AS I'm so sorry it's taken quite so fackin' long)</span><br />
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<a href="http://ladybirdlikes.blogspot.com/" style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">ladybirdlikes.blogspot.com</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://twitter.com/ladybirdlikes" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">@ladybirdlikes</a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoebateman" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Flickr</a><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Flatmates</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">As you might have expected, I'm at university with some pretty charming chaps. My flatmate <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/moatham">Molly</a>, for one, is fiercely intelligent and of everybody I know has one of the best tastes in literature. Together we run (ran) <a href="http://twitter.com/matthewquotes">@matthewquotes</a>, the tribute twitter account to <a href="http://twitter.com/peacockbond">Matthew Bond</a>, one of the most entertaining people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting. <a href="https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1619681240/9kqws.jpg">Here's a photo</a> I took of him the first time we went out as a flat.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">One of the best things about studying at a university notable for its multiculturalism is how different the people you meet are to each other, and just how many people you meet and love. Somewhat surprising, then, is how Charlie has managed to end up in three quarters of my classes, but I regret nothing - she's proper ace, right; she likes feminism, films and fluffy penguins, and her happy new year video was wrapping herself up in cellotape. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/EdgeOfTheInternet?feature=watch#p/u/4/m0i8vbVf8EQ">YouTube channel</a> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/edgeoti">@EdgeOTI</a> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Have you subscribed to Charlie on YouTube yet? Ace. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko5jBnTn9hU" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Now watch this</a><span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">.*</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Aleks </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The nicest person around is <a href="http://twitter.com/aleksbhowmick">Aleks Bhowmick</a> - without his consistently happy tweets, the world would literally collapse. I don't really feel I need to say much more: following him on twitter will quadruple your quality of life. Go for it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/aleksbhowmick">@AleksBhowmick</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">BLOGGY BLOGGY BLOG BLOG</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">*<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nothing she's done, but I'm always up<span style="color: #333333;"> for misleading my readers into watching a nice bit of Thierry-porn. </span></span></span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-79122566135927101502011-10-24T01:12:00.000+01:002011-10-24T01:12:59.782+01:00Right nowI am TOTALLY listening to my new LP<br />
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It's only bloody <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/jamieeelaing/status/128255166108540929/photo/1">Is This It</a><br />
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I've exercised little (but some) restraint since I got to uni. I've been very reasonable with my vinyl purchases - good prices only, y'know? Unfortunately... yeah, I've somehow only just started to find bargains, so I've spent a pretty decent amount on record crack<br />
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I've bought Is This It<br />
I've bought <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/jamieeelaing/status/128255227332800512/photo/1">Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not</a><br />
I've bought <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/jamieeelaing/status/128255473496489984/photo/1">We Are Each Other</a><br />
I've bought Warpaint's cover of Life on Mars<br />
I've bought I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose<br />
I've bought The Libertines<br />
I've bought Brianstorm (B-side is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEWNOzgnmq0">Temptation Greets</a>... which is AMAZING)<br />
I've bought Bloodflood/Tessellate<br />
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I've NOT bought:<br />
- Antidotes<br />
- Total Life Forever<br />
- Radio Ladio<br />
- Heartbreaker<br />
- Holiday<br />
- My Heart Rate Rapid<br />
- Humbug<br />
- Favourite Worst Nightmare<br />
- We are Beautiful, We are Doomed<br />
- There are Listed Buildings<br />
- The Fool<br />
- Romance is Boring<br />
- The English Riviera<br />
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See? The 'not' list definitely outweighs the 'couldn't help myself' list. So that's alright, yeah?<br />
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Well fuck you, so far everything has been amazing, can't wait to play with a good turntable and speakers at home. My loan will never last, so I suppose it's good that £30 I spent on pre-ordering<a href="http://www.loscampesinos.com/wheat/by-your-hand-free-download-tour-dates/"> LC!'s almost definitely excellent</a> <a href="http://www.loscampesinos.com/wheat/hello-sadness-first-single-hello-sadness/">new album Hello Sadness</a> on vinyl was committed before I left<br />
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Maybe I'll do a proper post soon - I've had the final pre-uni walking blog in my drafts for almost a month - or, more likely, you'll get a few more half arsed things like this, written at 1am because I feel guilty to all you lovely followers, before I have to stop going out and start working and make some effort on the blog purely for procrastination.<br />
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See you soon<br />
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(my mum reads this blog :( )Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-22839472338062192512011-10-11T17:28:00.000+01:002011-10-11T17:28:54.328+01:00Just a quickie...I am at university! I am fucking loving it! I shall update properly after I've done some reading, sorry it's been a while; moving in and then my internet has literally just started working and I can't use blogger on my phone for some reason :(<br />
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I have been drinking fucking tonnes<br />
I have been eating a lot of garlic bread<br />
I have been making friends<br />
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Look how good <a href="http://blackboardsinporn.blogspot.com/">this blog</a> is. Definitely worth a follow.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-49871243601715212982011-09-19T23:20:00.002+01:002011-09-19T23:21:25.706+01:00List #5 - I promise Emma is cool with this and in fact asked me to put this up SO NAH<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 14px;">I took this from a vaguely project-y writing exercise I've just started: my own, generally unpublicised, version of <a href="http://www.richardherring.com/warmingup/intro.php">Richard Herring's excellent Warming Up</a>. It wasn't written well, given I wrote it at about 2am. Nor is it really written for anyone but me to read, but effort to rewrite - so at the moment it's an odd cross between, like, Robert Louis Stevenson and Charlie Brooker... But obviously that doesn't apply to the frankly rubbish list which is 100% tired Laing puerility:<br />
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At Chappers' party, Emma had a story. Emma had Shiv's story. Juicy gossip attracts Gemma Inglis and myself as if moths to artificial light, yet Emma would not budge. Eventually, we extracted some small pleasure by spreading the TOTALLY TRUE rumour that Emma bloodthirsty Brooking and Shivan shitting Handa have been known to, on occasion, become involved with pleasures of the anal variety; an absolute fact the sordid pair somehow derive pleasure from. From now on, I am to greet and refer to Emma only as thus:<br />
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- dirty bottom; or<br />
- sticky passage ; or<br />
- spunk seat ; or<br />
- cheeked botty ; or<br />
- soiled buttock ; or<br />
- perved pads ; or<br />
- ejaculate ass ; or<br />
- dodgy derriere<br />
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And I hope she learns the hole of her lesson.</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-61490527316350649802011-09-14T18:22:00.000+01:002013-02-03T14:42:11.920+00:00Walking #5I cannot be bothered to go and find all of my old pictures from this, nor remember about all the walking I did. Will one story do for all of the extra walking I've done?<br />
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LAST MAP<br />
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CURRENT MAP</div>
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So I figured I could get a section of this done walking to Baldock for a couple of tennis matches I had organised, and another (big) section done on a different route back. Turns out I was a bit late so took a shortcut - partially already walked - on the way there, which I justified to myself with the thought of going over an entire estate on my way back, just en-route. Midway through the second I realised I was so shattered that I couldn't feasibly walk home in good time, let alone get to explore Letchworth a bit, so didn't bother in the end. I did get a little bit done, though.</div>
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Some assorted pictures I found from walking from ages ago:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TgmM8RtsyW4/TnDfNUeKSgI/AAAAAAAAAWM/gsCyI6qqB3s/s1600/253895_10150339133163356_694223355_10210635_3982636_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TgmM8RtsyW4/TnDfNUeKSgI/AAAAAAAAAWM/gsCyI6qqB3s/s320/253895_10150339133163356_694223355_10210635_3982636_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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My friend <a href="http://www.twitter.com/maccery">Tom</a> does a photo of the day. This was the 365th one. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7UNgEdttBXk/TnDhWZ1ImuI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/ZH4j2Pr9Uzg/s1600/IMAG0011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7UNgEdttBXk/TnDhWZ1ImuI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/ZH4j2Pr9Uzg/s320/IMAG0011.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>
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Stopped off in a pub in Hitchin. This guy blew mah miiind</div>
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My brother posing with a cowpat </div>
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On the Isle of Wight, but fuck it: I looked down. A face stared right back up at me. Granted you can't really see the face that much but I figured the story was vaguely worth it when this post looked a bit sparse.</div>
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Right, that's your lot. Wednesday walking's back with a bemused smile and a newly undisguised apathetic outlook on the world, baby</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-12439854456031785692011-09-11T09:00:00.002+01:002011-09-11T12:04:53.548+01:00Bands Good Enough for Me to Pay to Advertise Them<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I really like music. Like, loads, yeah? When I first joined Blogger, I followed several people without really reading their stuff as a way into the community. As it turns out, the vast majority of Blogger seems to be fashion blogs; something I have little to no interest in. However, amongst a load of floral print dresses, a segment of leftie politics and a few recipes dotted around the place I found one post, on <a href="http://hipstermusings.blogspot.com/2011/06/bands-i-like-enough-to-own-t-shirts-of.html">Hipster Musings</a>, about T-shirts. I really enjoyed it, and here's my cheap imitation (the closest thing you'll ever get to a fashion post from me):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XvnHXLMVgjs/TmulKEtOZSI/AAAAAAAAAV0/wpFX-TMxA1w/s1600/uy3sx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XvnHXLMVgjs/TmulKEtOZSI/AAAAAAAAAV0/wpFX-TMxA1w/s200/uy3sx.jpg" width="119" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> I really really like Wild Beasts. I like this shirt because I like Wild Beasts and I think it's quite cool - but it doesn't really mean anything, special or otherwise, to me. Should it? I wear it to gigs a lot, I think. There's two slightly annoying things about it - the bit that says Wild Beasts is really small and usually folds over, as well as it being oddly long yet snug It's just an odd shape and I have no idea why. This was on offer online - so I OBVIOUSLY SNAPPED it up. My favourite Wild Beasts album is Smother, but song-wise it has to be <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sxh5zMbNAo&ob=av2e">All the King's Men</a> which is an <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/thebig_sam">absolutely cunting</a> tune.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> <img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6LBuN6luiUs/TmulHqKYFGI/AAAAAAAAAVY/fDeI1Q3J5E4/s200/qfpou.jpg" width="119" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I bought this at a market in a French castle several years ago, just after I passed my massive RHCP stage. I'm not sure I really like them that much any more, but it's a nice piece of bed-wear nonetheless. I think it's a girl's fit, but I'm not sure. Favourite chilis song is probably Otherside, but I've always had an unexplained soft spot for Fortune Faded. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XEgIHXr6MZU/TmulK1JvfMI/AAAAAAAAAV8/9RDmK2sEgXY/s1600/zj9hj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XEgIHXr6MZU/TmulK1JvfMI/AAAAAAAAAV8/9RDmK2sEgXY/s200/zj9hj.jpg" width="119" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Look See Proof were, for quite a while, THE cool local indie band. They headlined, I think, or at least played at, my first local gig; for a while they looked like they might actually make it; their farewell show was the pinnacle of an era of my life. All that said, I didn't own this shirt then. Sometime about two years ago mum came home bearing this as a gift. She'd found it in a charity shop, which seemed pretty apt given my quick transition from change from club night indie wanker wannabee to charity shop jumpers, books and vinyl loser. Their best song was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Jmw66aQpQ">Casualty</a> but Discussions and Local Hero were stonkin', too - my favourite was always this one which began with an S which I can't quite recall. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bByMPqL9XyA&feature=related">EDIT: found it!</a></div><br />
When they split up, they released a free internet EP which I can promise you is still amazing. Ever now and again I find it on an old computer and overplay it for a month before promptly forgetting about it again.<br />
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(I'm listening to them now. NOSTALGIA. Only bands from that time of my life I still really like are Guildean Gang, Spiked and Model Horror. I'm well over Rosalita.)<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-axaCH7UO--U/TmulGVJ9LBI/AAAAAAAAAVI/1UjGuyJuHIk/s1600/nuwctt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-axaCH7UO--U/TmulGVJ9LBI/AAAAAAAAAVI/1UjGuyJuHIk/s200/nuwctt.jpg" width="119" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">This is a relatively recent purchase - The October Game are one of those bands that don't play 'my kind' of music, but are fairly incredible live and good enough that I like them nevertheless. Think they're a bit of a music geek's band. It's too small, but I bought that size because trying it on I had another shirt underneath and the creepy guitarist selling it was giving me a funny look. Found out when I got home it had gaffa tape from display still attached to it and oil stains at the bottom :( Still, it's an alright shirt, and they're a good band. Just listen to <a href="http://vimeo.com/23851288">this</a> and see how fantastically cool <a href="http://www.flashfloodsandwildfire.com/">this</a> is! People like Zoe from <a href="http://ladybirdlikes.blogspot.com/">ladybirdlikes</a> will proper love that second link.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ic2F-dXRyyg/TmulILq700I/AAAAAAAAAVc/vR4OoKZ3XA4/s1600/sbvxe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ic2F-dXRyyg/TmulILq700I/AAAAAAAAAVc/vR4OoKZ3XA4/s200/sbvxe.jpg" width="118" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I don't really like New Found Glory, to be honest, but I got this shirt with the only money I spent on a free day out for a friend's birthday (I can never thank Esther McNeil and her lovely mum enough) which was an evening in Leicester to see Paramore play (supported by NFG, Kids in Glass Houses and another band I've forgotten the name of. Conditions?) at the De Montfort hall. Great night, and this shirt looked really cool. I still wear it pretty often - the print's just 'New Found Glory' written loads of times in loads of different styles, by the way.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ic2F-dXRyyg/TmulILq700I/AAAAAAAAAVc/vR4OoKZ3XA4/s1600/sbvxe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CY_u2CvxYPg/TmulKeMe_TI/AAAAAAAAAV4/ImNBE81V8nk/s1600/yv0qg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CY_u2CvxYPg/TmulKeMe_TI/AAAAAAAAAV4/ImNBE81V8nk/s200/yv0qg.jpg" width="118" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ic2F-dXRyyg/TmulILq700I/AAAAAAAAAVc/vR4OoKZ3XA4/s1600/sbvxe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Bought this years ago but still love it. I don't wear it very often - I don't really like wearing black shirts, not sure why - but the band (Spiked, obviously) only get better and, excitingly, two thirds of them are proper besties of mine. The other third apparently used to go to the pub with Yannis from Foals all the time, but *clutches, grabs a straw* he's probably a dick and I <3 Sian and Lauren so fuck them! What is it about assonance that you always have to put monosyllabic names first? Anyway, yes, had for years, bit small now, love it, amazing family at the heart of the properly brilliant band. Best song is reeeeeallly difficult, I like their new EP 'Machines Please' too much to choose, really, but out of songs I can link you to I'm going to pick <a href="http://www.myspace.com/spikedmusic/music/songs/good-with-dollar-76946043">Good with Dollar</a>. If you don't like pretty heavy stuff (and I don't, really, it's just Spiked and Hold Your Horse Is) Casio Kid remixed their song <a href="http://www.myspace.com/spikedmusic/music/songs/what-39-s-this-casio-kid-remix-76946158">What's This?</a> which is ace too. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ukS4Ynx_arU/TmulBZND9rI/AAAAAAAAAUU/AzhTxOi06iU/s1600/7uzat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ukS4Ynx_arU/TmulBZND9rI/AAAAAAAAAUU/AzhTxOi06iU/s200/7uzat.jpg" width="118" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I've seen Fiction once. They're not actually that good - they're not bad at all, just <i>quite</i>, not <i>that</i>, good - but the combination of really liking their shirt, really enjoying Klaxons (who they were supporting), and Klaxons having 'meh' shirts made me get this as a memento. I'm not sure why I like it so much, I just really love the design... it's an owl, man! Trouble with wearing it underneath a white shirt (as you do at school etc) is the orange eyes look a little bit like a tea stain and you get a lot of remarks. I wear this all the time. Best song... not sure. I think there's a car advert on at the moment which uses one of theirs, so that's ruined their cool, but they're toured with Klaxons, Warpaint, and soon Metronomy, so that's not too bad at all - there's a song called Phyllis which you can get for free which is pretty good... Ooh, just googled them, this is a song called <a href="http://www.myspace.com/fictionlondon/music/songs/parakeets-81589119">Parakeets</a>. It is good. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">(that was a lie. I had not listened to it when I linked. However, I have heard 1:17 of it now, seems alright)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ic2F-dXRyyg/TmulILq700I/AAAAAAAAAVc/vR4OoKZ3XA4/s1600/sbvxe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nMA5kkudRs4/TmulIx-kosI/AAAAAAAAAVk/kiGTP6bviVs/s1600/tgugn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nMA5kkudRs4/TmulIx-kosI/AAAAAAAAAVk/kiGTP6bviVs/s200/tgugn.jpg" width="118" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Big big love for the Hives shirt! Bought this at Wireless, during a Pulp song, because they were so good. I think that they are second only to Blur in my 'best live bands' list they were just that good. £20, which is twice what you should pay for any good band tee, and I still didn't have the sense to not take this wonderful white shirt to Reading this year. IT IS <i>STILL </i>MUDDY. I don't regret a penny of that twenty, though. Great band, great shirt which gets me occasional high fives from strangers. As I tweeted last night, they're very much a listen to LOADS for half a year then forget about for 18 months before a prompt rediscovery and half-year LOVE (repeat) kind of band, great for angry teens, frustrated fathers and nostalgic nannies alike. It's a fairly obvious choice but <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCQ7VLoY7bQ">this</a> is probably their best song, although <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPVpggvwbFQ">this</a> or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY73JGRyaAY">this</a> would be my favourite. For the second 'this' link, skip to 6 mins in and watch the PERFECTLY timed guitar drop over and over again and marvel, like I did, for days.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HIggqZb5dlQ/TmulF6gf0QI/AAAAAAAAAVE/mGcTqvtrMNs/s1600/kmlqgd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HIggqZb5dlQ/TmulF6gf0QI/AAAAAAAAAVE/mGcTqvtrMNs/s200/kmlqgd.jpg" width="118" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jqKJgDi4Jpw/TmulAae1wdI/AAAAAAAAAUI/BJUfKTRLKew/s1600/6isqop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jqKJgDi4Jpw/TmulAae1wdI/AAAAAAAAAUI/BJUfKTRLKew/s200/6isqop.jpg" width="118" /></a> Stax are a record label, not a band, I know, but I like Northern Soul and I got these and the Kinks shirt whilst Andrew got The Beat's Stand Down Margaret and The Who's My Generation tees. They're pretty darn coooooooooooool, no? No, thought not :(</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XvnHXLMVgjs/TmulKEtOZSI/AAAAAAAAAV0/wpFX-TMxA1w/s1600/uy3sx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CY_u2CvxYPg/TmulKeMe_TI/AAAAAAAAAV4/ImNBE81V8nk/s1600/yv0qg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">KINKS SHIRT WHICH DAD GOT OFF DAVE DAVIES FROM THE KINKS WHO HE USED TO LIVE NEXT DOOR TO DEFINITELY DESERVES CAPITALS. IT'S TOO SMALL AND I'VE HAD TO PASS IT ON TO <a href="http://www.twitter.com/andrewalpha">THIS LOSER</a> BUT STILL OH MY WORD A PROPER OLD KINKS SHIRT</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LGStksQA9g8/TmulJ8QD_HI/AAAAAAAAAVw/waJaRYtGVnQ/s1600/uvlbq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LGStksQA9g8/TmulJ8QD_HI/AAAAAAAAAVw/waJaRYtGVnQ/s400/uvlbq.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Well I seem to have drifted into chatting about music, not fashion there, but to be honest thank God for that! The layering shirts over one another thing didn't look as funny as I thought it might :( </div><div style="text-align: center;">I apologise for the big gaps between blogs now but I've been enjoying real life a lot recently and now I'm back want to ease myself back into the swing of things. To be honest, I do harbour a bit of an ambition to be all that I'm not on Twitter - occasionally brilliant, and that's it, rather than quite good or okay a lot of the time.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Next week I'm going to attempt a return of my walking blog, maybe talk about my 'goals' list which I carried on updating whilst I was away, and hopefully do a vlog! It's nothing interesting, just, like, a guided tour of my room, but I thought it'd be interesting to compare with another when I move into Colchester for uni - also, <a href="http://www.followlaurasrainbow.blogspot.com/">Laura</a>'s meant to be doing one too, so that'll be a laugh I guess. See you then x</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(did you notice? New glasses! I am really happy with them)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXJI9DXjyGU/TmulB8DH9pI/AAAAAAAAAUY/-ZqyaqsRlrw/s1600/8cmzq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXJI9DXjyGU/TmulB8DH9pI/AAAAAAAAAUY/-ZqyaqsRlrw/s200/8cmzq.jpg" width="119" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vKWbUJlwQeg/TmulBCh-dpI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/sAzcE9j-pAs/s1600/7ggo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vKWbUJlwQeg/TmulBCh-dpI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/sAzcE9j-pAs/s200/7ggo.jpg" width="119" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oi5rFCFwZ18/TmulClCdC2I/AAAAAAAAAUk/csHejDzkYkE/s1600/70uhh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oi5rFCFwZ18/TmulClCdC2I/AAAAAAAAAUk/csHejDzkYkE/s200/70uhh.jpg" width="119" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3W11OAF_aqc/TmulHa0bBFI/AAAAAAAAAVU/5jkIeTltC5Y/s1600/oz3s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3W11OAF_aqc/TmulHa0bBFI/AAAAAAAAAVU/5jkIeTltC5Y/s200/oz3s.jpg" width="119" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Who I really want a shirt of: Blur. The Beautiful South. Metronomy. Gaga (tho' I bet she has no nice ones). Libertines. Bombay Bike Club (who do amazing jumpers too). A good Pulp one. The Smiths. Los Camp! (more than the one I have ordered). Foals. Gorillaz. Laura Marling, the Beach Boys, Biffy Clyro. Copy Haho. The Clash, the Cribs, Flight of the Conchords.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">You?</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-52218652207465864222011-09-04T12:25:00.000+01:002011-09-04T12:25:41.793+01:00innuendo fruit<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So I guess my first blog for yonks should probably be some grand occasion, with loads of trumpets and guest bloggers and something meaningful, right? Instead I think I'm gonna do a subject I hold dear - innuendo. And fruit!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">1. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu2K4eIqxd4">Plums</a>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">2. Melons.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">3. Mangoes.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">4. Is that a banana in your pocket?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">5. *peels* one skin, two skin, three skin...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">6. Brown Turkish Figs<br />
7. Peachy<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> It's almost always hilarious in my book. I love a good double entendre or even a bit of a whoopsie. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zT9AyM11AE">I kind of agree with David Mitchell</a> but there's still <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT2wE0fLdWg">plenty of ways</a> to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UunqBAHBDo8">make innuendo funny</a>. If you don't like it, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLTnacYvvg4">just swearing over</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Dcl2aUzsc">over is hilarious</a> too.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Might have ruined my topic somewhat there...<br />
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HELLO AGAIN (':</div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-67681213208409973292011-07-18T20:37:00.000+01:002011-07-18T20:37:14.139+01:00List #3: Things I Have Learnt About Myself From the Night of Saturday 16th July 2011, My 18th Birthday<ol><li>If I have done really well for myself and got a really good job for the first time in my life - don't mess it up by being sick all over it before your/my first shift.</li>
<li>Always have dinner before a night of drinking, even if you had a massive lunch and even if its convenient to walk there with Alice at 7.</li>
<li>If you're drinking consistently all day, a <i>little</i> bit of mixing is allowed. A little, not a lottle. For example, you're allowed to follow a - frankly massive - G&T, followed by beer, over the course of late-morning - mid-afternoon; but don't mix Leffe, Fosters, Jagerbombs, Crabbies, Goat's Gash cocktails, Ale, something I can't quite remember and a lot of cake in just over an hour.</li>
<li>Goat's Gash is one of the nicest things that I have ever drunk.</li>
<li>It's a good thing that you can make friends with random strangers at the bar when you're waiting for mates to arrive, but don't allow them to buy you too many birthday pints of Leffe</li>
<li>Leffe costs more than your average lager, and an extra pound can really annoy said strangers</li>
<li>Leffe is 7.5%, not the 4.5% you assumed it to be. If you're drinking it, that's cool, it tastes great; just ease up a bit.</li>
<li>When your drink hits you (it will), stand outside for a bit, yeah? Don't eat loads of cake.</li>
<li>Seriously, go to Hitchin, not your workplace.</li>
<li>You know that friend that everyone has? The one that's a bit cooler and older than everyone else, and you cannot begin to kid yourself you don't model at least a little bit of yourself on him? Yeah; when meeting his girlfriend for the first time, don't introduce yourself by being sick on her.</li>
<li>The friend who doesn't mind taking you home is amazing and must be cherished. Always force them to stay over.</li>
<li>Make the most of not being hungover (although potentially still drunk) whilst you're young and you can. It's worth drinking the night after, if in moderation (but when it's a house party half-dedicated to you, you kinda have to).</li>
<li>Reading the entirety of Caitlin Moran''s How To Be a Woman is the best thing the next day. With baths, cheese and water. Also: go for a run (don't let people see you (shuttles in the back garden)).</li>
<li>You're going to really enjoy being a student, if you're vaguely careful.</li>
<li>Being drunk is lovely. It's good for being happy after the after-effects (if you read good things and haven't lost your job because of it).</li>
<li>Writing this in the same place you were sick two nights ago, making friends with the bar staff and apologising profusely, is fun and a good move. Hopefully I'll get a second chance.</li>
<li>Might go for a walk after this cuppa (75p. Win).</li>
<li>Oh, and Craisins. The best.</li>
<li>(post-script): Buy some records. Use loads of your birthday money up on vinyl shopping. You'll feel immeasurably better.</li>
</ol>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-20748490887341904882011-07-14T10:54:00.001+01:002011-07-14T10:54:51.340+01:00List #2: Summer Playlist<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">I'm far too lazy to bother writing a proper list today, because that requires brainwork; so I've got a 5-song summer playlist for you today, which comes from a post I co-wrote for my good friend <a href="http://vivatramp.blogspot.com/2011/07/were-all-going-on-summer-holiday.html">Bee over at Vivatramp</a> whilst she's on holiday (: This is a bit of an elongated (and is the original) version.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Rightie, my choices are:</span><br />
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<div class="im"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z66wVo7uNw"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">Move on Up - Curtis Mayfield</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> The perfect summer playlist – you can dance to it, you can relax to it, it makes you feel happy. Right? Then where better to start than Curtis Mayfield’s stone cold classic Move on Up? WHAT. A. TUNE. It's played at Arsenal after we win, so reminds me of the good times; trumpets blazing, it's impossible not to get into - whether it's head nodding or hand-drumming to that goddamn bongo rhythm you'll proper enjoy it, although you might crash the car (I recommend trying the Single Ladies dance with it (I'm not joking - do it)). Perhaps it would benefit from losing a bit of the extended instrumental, at least for a mixtape, but it's hard not to forgive him when you see how amazing his outfit is in that video. This song is good enough to dissuade me from putting <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHbYLjWEEQA">Isaac Hayes’ Shaft</a> on the playlist, which is probably the best compliment you can pay a song.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h1oRP7FfBw"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: inherit;">Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> It’s hard to be a member of my family without liking The Kinks (Dad used to live next door to Dave (the guitarist with the luscious locks)) and Sunny Afternoon is candidate for my favourite song of all time as well as being just generally amazing. Sit back in your hammock and enjoy whilst you're basking in the sun. Far too good to not be mentioned.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI6YPGdDB1A">Sunday Sunday - Blur</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>Blur are my favourite band - and Sunday Sunday is a song from their best album. This was such a hard choice: I only allowed myself a single Blur and picked it above For Tomorrow - also on Modern Life is Rubbish - and Girls and Boys on the basis that it doesn't need to be 'listened to' to be enjoyed (you can dance) but neither is it limited by in depth listening. It features on the best 'passage' of the album - Blue Jeans / Chemical World / Intermission / Sunday Sunday / Oily Water - and manages individual excellence without interrupting its flow. It also has some <b><i>ace</i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><b><i> </i></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">slide guitar at the end. Amazing but not overshadowing? Playlisted.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grj7sjQ0_p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">Surfin' USA - The Beach Boys</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>Beach Boys are a quintessentially summer band, and one of those which I discovered through the medium of 50p charity shop records. I've stuck to it: I have 4 Best of The Beach Boys 12"s and only one full album, Pet Sounds, and that on a scratched CD. I originally had<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EGxTvkAqhE">Girls Aloud's Love Machine</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> in this slot, but you can't really leave BBs off a summer playlist and Love Machine was a very definite sixth choice.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdUUmyBqr2E">Set The Tigers Free - Villagers</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>Does everyone here like Villagers? Set the Tigers free is a lovely song to relax to. Every precedent for a superb summer song is filled: sounds so clean, consistently fresh and amazing on vinyl. I think that the line 'I'll be cheering from the sidelines / with a sandwich and a beer' clinched its place here. Let's not forget we're in Britain, and embrace the line 'and all at once I step outside / into the wind and rain' as an example of it working brilliantly for sitting around inside during a humid storm. Sounds amazing in the morning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Things I very nearly put in include <a href="http://sweetbaboo.co.uk/?page_id=6">The Girl under the Tree</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjG4dUlucVw">Zorbing</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gudEttJlw3s">Girls on Film</a>. Does that sentence count as cheating? I didn’t even consider The Beautiful South because the choice of song would have been nigh-on-impossible.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">What are your favourite summer songs/what would be your playlist/how would you amend mine? I'd love to hear from you on this issue, which is one of my fave questions - love a good mixtape - so comment comment comment</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><i>Chaaaars</i></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162104745477172049.post-66507440654717098722011-07-07T14:05:00.005+01:002011-07-07T17:42:46.380+01:00I know a place we can go / that you'll fall in love so hard / that you'll wish you were dead<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I was just looking back through some old files, and found this, which is a little thing I wrote about a year ago, when I was trying to transform <a href="http://wonderingminstrels.blogspot.com/2003/07/miss-gee-w-h-auden.html">a W.H. Auden poem</a> into the style of J.D. Salinger. So, yeah, I'm not that sex-obsessed, Caulfield is, honest. It's a bit weird, and I haven't made any changes, just thought some of you might be interested really! </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Gosh, this is my fourth day of consecutive blogs; I do treat you sometimes. Enjoy x</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">~</span></b></div><div style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>One time, I knew this bird – Miss Edith Gee – when I was in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Minnesota</st1:place></st1:state>. Everyday for a month, I went round to see her. Number 83 Clevedon Terrace, if you really wanna know. Anyway, I moved to Maine and met Jane soon enough, but I never forgot quite how Eeds’ quirky charm somehow wormed its way into the fathoms of my emotion – not my heart, I like that – but anyway, she was like an ironing board with a face, that girl, no bust. None at all. Real narrow shoulders, you know? Like, really; from wherever you chose to stand.They were sloped enough to give the impression of a nice little green hillock – angled towards the sky, into the sky, with slight bumpy molehills of breasts giving the most slight rise you ever saw, creating this tiny dip, dyke-like, a beautiful ditch, and then you’d move upwards, past her tiny thin lips. Particularly her bottom lip – a friend of mine, ol’ Jimmie Hunt, had once told me this crazy theory of his, whereby you can judge the manner of a girl in bed from the size of her bottom lip. Now, I haven’t quite got a grasp of some of the very finer points of sex quite just yet. I make rules for myself most nights, and end up breaking them necking some girl the next week. You’ve never seen such a crumby fiend as me; I really believe that, no phony is quite as manic as me. Whilst I do tend to overanalyse tricky business, I find it a great turn on if I don’t, so try to keep it out of my mind. I just don’t understand it. I swear to God, I really don’t. So old Jimmie, he had told me this great trick for seeing just how vicious a girl was in bed. The smaller the bottom lip, the more fiendish they are. It was a load of bull, obviously, but has served me damn well on a few occasions. Top lips, whilst not irrelevant, have little effect on proceedings, If y’know what I’m saying. Technical matters only; solely the finer points of technique.Anyhow, if we can be viewing Eedie as a little hill, we can rise above the sharp red rose of her tight, angular little lips and then we can see two glinting suns, her eyes, blue enough to perfectly bridge the colour gaps between her green umbrella, purple mac and violvet hat (which she wore all the damned time, I’d have gotten through several hunting hats by then (Phoebs likes ‘em, keeps taking ‘em)) but also grey enough to absolutely convey the ambiguity of her emotion to the world. A puzzle, that girl was. It is the imperfections that truly make a person or thing perfect, and Eeds had a little squint to her left eye. When I mentioned this thought to her one time, she just cried. I don’t know why, I don’t really get girls. All over the place – it was a nice enough compliment though, right?</i><br />
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</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When I remembered the oversized, lolloping tears dripping, rollin’, down her pretty bone cheeks, it makes me smile. I did that. It reminds me of Jane’s chessboard, how her own particular saline blend smudged into the dyed wooden squares. Red, swirling; tainting the ‘blank’ segments of the grain.</i><br />
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</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><i>Eeds resided, as I said, in Clevedon Terrace, but what I didn’t mention was her actual living quarters, a small room of a bed-sit. Clevedon is fairly downtown, but was far from desirable. In her sole room, she kept her few outfits, all high-necked – no-one could damage her integrity, except me, they were all buttoned and I have nimble fingers; she also kept her knitting kit and titbits around the place, and a silvered crucifix she held dear.I took that when I left, just on a whim. I replaced it some wooden beads, all glued up. I left my mark on that room, just like Jane’s chessboard. Something so I’d be remembered, comforting to me for some reason; it was fair enough. She had a thing for stuff, E’, aside from that crucifix and various jewellery, and those knitting titbits – cotton and the like – she had this hat, I’ve already mentioned it, I’m sure. My point is this – she couldn’t just have a normal hat, oh, no, it was not only velvet but covered, draped, in all this sentimental garbage. It ruined an already poor hat. And have I mentioned her bicycle? You could always tell when Edith was about by the screech of brakes, a real edgy crescendo.The dreadful noise was made even more so with the rattle of this pristine little basket she’d kept on the front all that bike’s life. It’d gotten to be grotty, until I’d cleaned it for her.She undid a button that day. And, the second time, I another. I won’t deny it, nor shall I go into detail, but we horsed around a bit. I was a real phony back then, making bad rules.She cried when I stopped, though, and even more when I started again. It was all very confusing, and in the end I just gave up. But not before taking a wicker strip from her basket, something I did each time I cleaned it. Leaving my mark.</i><br />
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</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><i>One time, I walked past her parking her bike outside <st1:place st="on">St.</st1:place> Aloysius’ Church, a load of knitwear and children’s toys piled high in the basket. I helped her carry them in, naturally; the hot summer’s day gave me an opportunity to work her down to a possible third button.The chance never came – maybe something to do with being in a church yard and all, right? You know I’m right. I caught her praying later on; praying for love, piety, and money.Bit selfish to ask God for material matters, I’d thought. Maybe the prayer had something to do with this experience she told me she’d had in this dream once. I don’ kno’, could have been the heat. I am one sexy guy. It was mighty odd, this ‘dream’, starting off with Eeds somehow having become French royalty in the course of one night and being asked by the vicar to undo a button and dance. Then, some crackpot psychiatric student would love this, she began to bike through fields, fields of corn; the vicar’s face was transposed to a bull, and Eeds got charged by this gargantuan quasi-holy beast. All after a storm had blown down the palace, Josh style. The vicar was about to overtake, and Queenie Eedie was slowing, due to her old back-pedal brake. I’m a sceptic, yeah – so imagine my face when I first learned exactly what had happened new. Being at church, alone, everyday, Eed had developed a sort of complex. Because I had left by then, obviously. It burned her gut each and every day, and she prayed to God, more an’ more goddamned more. She felt so lonely; the choir’s inept harmonies drew out a loneliness issue in her, and she hurt still more. One day, of boredom most likely, she got on her pretty dainty bicycle, with the clean but bare basket and paid the doctor’s a visit. Now, I’d always lived by the ‘apple a day’ method of things – if you keep them all in a box, you can throw them and repel any encroaching medics – but she had this thing for health, hygiene, and fitness. Without me, of course, she never undid a button any more. Well, when she got there, it turned out that the pain she’d been feeling was further developed than she had thought to herself, even by her standards, and the doctor didn’t really feel like telling her, or anyone what really was damned wrong with the bitch.</i><i> Two days later, Eeds was in hospital, can you believe it? A rabid, quivering wreck, that girl; all over the place. Like, really. Ironic, really – her corpse was too long for the child’s shroud they gave her; it only reached up to her neck.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><i><br />
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<i>They examined her good and proper after that, strung her up, blood tainting the checked hospital floor. Used her for training purposes; looking at her advanced sarcoma, apparently. I had to look that word up. A malignant tumour, it turns out, ironic what with her personality and all. Right on the knee. Unusual, I suppose, but she’d never have had one above the neck.</i></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2