This seems like a rather wanky post to make but...

2008-02-16T23:46:57Z

I have been cleaning my flist of a veritable avalanche of HP comms that I no longer read, and made a small friends cut at the same time. It's nothing personal, just a consequence of my limited LJ time. Every day is defriending amnesty day on my journal, so anyone should feel free to defriend me without fear that I'll stalk them all over the interwebs.

Nature abhors a vacuum

2007-12-09T19:36:16Z

This time last week I was planning to be all 'woo, one year since I gave up smoking!' but my triumph was somewhat overshadowed by the icky virus and case of laryngitis I had at the time. And to add insult to injury, at a time when I should be enjoying my best lung-health for years, the virus has left me temporarily asthmatic. Bastards!

I have had a lot of time to read though, and recently finished The Line of Beauty and Boy A which were both awesome and tragic by turns. I only have one of Alan Hollinghurst's oeuvre left to read, so I hope he comes up with another book soon. I can't think of another contemporary writer I have enjoyed so much.

I want this Mix Tape USB set so much it hurts, but paying £20 for a 64mb USB key in cool retro packaging would ultimately be more painful, I think.

Excellent Wikipedia meme, taken from grrliz:

1. Go to the Wikipedia home page and click "random article" (in the menu on the left). That is your band's name.

2. Click random article again; that is your album name.

3. Click random article 15 more times; those are the tracks on your album:

Band name: Sihuas Province
Album name: Lyris

Track 1: Jon Lindstrom
Track 2: Røssesund Bridge
Track 3: Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy
Track 4: Amitabha Sutra
Track 5: Thunbergia
Track 6: Brethren Christian Junior/Senior High School
Track 7: Loyal Luton Supporters Club
Track 8: By Way of Deception
Track 9: Julian St. Jox
Track 10: Regional Bell Operating Company
Track 11: Soldier's Rest
Track 12: English-Speaking Union
Track 13: 1979 Stanley Cup Finals
Track 14: Tin Animal Money
Track 15: Antwerp Mannerism

Tachuelas Gigantes!

2007-05-24T20:18:37Z

I'd had such a long, crappy day today that I didn't think it could possibly improve. Then I went to Staples after work to get some paper and found

Jumbo pushpins! (excuse the crappy phone camera photo)

I'm almost embarassed by how much this cheered me up.

Frankenmix 8.0 [December Halfway] - Romantic Comedy.

2006-12-31T19:28:08Z

I've never managed to finish a Frankenmix before, but the latest one, to pick out a soundtrack to the perfect romantic comedy, inspired me.

My mix, complete with tracks, is under the cut!

The Tracklist

Opening Credits - Ape Man by Zombina and the Skeletones

All I need is an ape man to hold in my arms,
Thriller gorilla to keep me safe from harm,
I wanna date a chimpanzee and feel that King Kong vibe,
Simian Don Juan monkey business is really gonna blow my mind.
Introduction of the Kickass, Yet Lonely Heroine - 411 (La La La) - Kenickie

There's not many places to go here
I`ve seen them all
theres not many faces I know here
the others I don't want to know

She never gets home sick
she never feels shy
people tell me I'm lonely
you know its a lie
Introduction of the Sensitive, Yet Manly Hero - You Can't Spend Your Whole Life Hanging Around With Arseholes - Ballboy

and you're running round town with a fistful of money
that you got from a hole in the wall and it's funny that you
you didn't see it there before

you're with a man on the piss and a man on a mission
and a man of respect and exalted position
he is not like
he's not like those other men
Our Heroes Meet - The Record Store - The Brunettes

Ever since I started working at the record store
I get to flirt with many girls
More than I did before
There are tall, short, blonde and brunette but
None can conversate me like how we used to get
Our Heroes Go On a Wacky First Date - Strange Powers - The Magnetic Fields

on the ferris wheel
looking out on Coney Island
under more stars than
there are prostitutes in Thailand
our hair in the air
our lips blue from cotton candy
when we kiss it feels
like a flying saucer landing

nb. I took 'wacky' to mean weird rather than outright disastrous. Because there is nothing bad about this song but it is odd.
Our Heroes Deconstruct Each Other With Their Respective Best Friends - Jonathan David - Belle and Sebastian

I know you like her
Well I like her too
I know she likes you
Our Heroes Have a Significantly Better Second Date - G.P.T. - Martha Wainwright [m4a]

Catch a feel or cop a ride
I won't be late, I won't decline
Your invite tonight this starry cold night
Your invite tonight, yeah

It's six o'clock get up the block
Don't be scared, don't be shocked
I'll be there tonight
On yours and mine's night
I'm yours and mine tonight

[...]

The sun is down
You'll act the clown, I'll dance around
We'll hit the town
Your shirt is stained my dress is frayed
But later they'll go
The Significant Moment in Which Our Heroes Fall in Love (montage) - Love Comes To Me - Bonnie Prince Billy

O, sugar won't you be my only
I'm a hard-hearted honey-pot hungry shepherd
And I'm longing to be born for you, that's her

Love comes to you
Love comes and all
It's your hands, your heart, your lip
And that is all

In the night time when you feel me
And the backs of your knees conceal me
And your eyeballs unreal me
Love comes to me
Love comes to me
Our Heroes Make Love for the First Time - Anything - Martina Topley-Bird

No doubt
You're gonna be thinkin'
I'll run out
That's where you're so mistaken
You take me to a high
Of just no other kind
I don't want anything (but you)
I don't need anything (but you)
I don't want anything (but you)
I don't need anything (but you)
The Tragic Misunderstanding and Breakup - Something of an End - My Brightest Diamond

It was something of an end
Of a lovely and a wild thing
So beautiful in the morning
You're beautiful
So beautiful
You're beautiful
In the morning

And I can't seem to get it through your head
No matter what I do
I can't seem to get it through your head
That I will always love you
The Montage of Attempting to Move On and Failing Horribly - Cup of Coffee - Garbage

So no, of course, we can't be friends
Not while I'm still this obsessed
I guess I always knew the score
This is how our story ends

I smoke your brand of cigarettes
And pray that you might give me a call
I lie around in bed all day just staring at the walls
Hanging round bars at night wishing I had never been born
And give myself to anyone who wants to take me home
The Montage of Missing Each Other - That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart - Aimee Mann

So, like a ghost in the snow
I'm getting ready to go
'Cause baby, that's all I know –
How to open the door
And though the exit is crude
It saves me coming unglued
For when you're not in the mood
For the gloves and the canvas floor

That's how I knew this story would break my heart
The Chance Meeting - Been so Long - Vetiver

I can’t believe that you’re knocking, Knocking at my door
It’s been so long, been so long
Fate has a way of showing, I’m where you belong
It’s been so long, been so long
The sound of my heart stopping–
A surprising song
It’s been so long, been so long
Time has a way of knowing
What we have is strong
Oh it’s been so long, been so long
The Reconciliation - 3am Phonecall - Kathryn Williams

She looked up quick and back down
Like a flash from a light house
He noticed the sea asleep in her eyes
He knew from that point
That this was her gift to him
Movement of the moon
And love with no sad end

It's the game you've entered
And life's what you're getting
Life has always been yours
Closing Credits - Something Changed - Pulp

I wrote this song two hours before we met.
I didn't know your name or what you looked like yet.
Oh I could have stayed at home and gone to bed.
I could have gone to see a film instead.
You might have changed your mind and seen your friends.
Life could have been very different but then,
something changed.
Do you believe that there's someone up above?
Does he have a timetable directing acts of love?

Hope you like it, and let me know if there are any problems with the links. All the songs are available in one zip file [71mb].

Happy New Year!

patron saint of the mediocre

This seems like a rather wanky post to make but...

Nature abhors a vacuum

Tachuelas Gigantes!

Frankenmix 8.0 [December Halfway] - Romantic Comedy.