this is the last day

ok, i know it isn't 1953... but it's a nice picture of old debs reynolds, 'ite!!!

Sorry for the depressive post yesterday.

My friend Kate said 'if you write things which are that depressing then no wonder no-one reads your blog!'

oop, my bad!!

Have an amazing new years eve.

Me and the aforementioned Kate are rocking up to london to watch the fireworks.

BOOM!

x

Current obsessions

glitter

the first days of spring album by noah and the whale...

anything sequined....

lace

the xx

'the road'by Cormac McCarthy.

Just finished this book. So scary... but good.

oh and my friend lucy who is staying at my house wants a mention.

hi lucy.

(fool...)

hope everyone is good!!! new year.. so soon!!!!

end of a decade... crazy stuff. it's gone fast, hasn't it?

Marina

Marina and the Diamonds

I. LOVE.

I actually can't believe I haven't blogged about her already... I guess I was waiting.. don't know why....

She's my proper obsession, along with all of her songs.

a beautiful one is in fact called 'obsessions.'

Quirky indie pop + weird, incredible voice = !!!!

here is her video for her newest song, hollywood.

and OH. MY. GOD. the fenech soler remix is gooood!!

FREEEE download ici!

it makes such good use of that awesome 'oh my god' section, it's wicked.

I saw marina live twice over the summer, once at camp bestival and once at underage. she was so incredible both times, at at underage i was lucky enough to meet her briefly... and it was mah b-day too!! woop! so yeah, long story short, a friend of mine was VIP and managed to blag me backstage for a bit too, and just as I was asked to leave that area (oopsy daisy) I saw her... and i figured GO FOR IT, so i went up and said something along the lines of 'oh-my-god-i-love-you-and-all-your-music' ..annndd yeah! had a quick chat!! she was super lovely. and then she pointed at me when she noticed me in the crowd during her set later on.... ahh... love love love.

The first song I heard of hers was i am not a robot, also check out seventeen and obsessions.

cannot wait for her album

and to finish this obsessive post (i could look at google images of her all day.. just too beautiful) here is another of her videos, mowgli's road. Cuckoo!!

Not much

Nowhere Boy is still making me long for rock and raaawwwllllll........!!!!

ps. i think i'm going to start putting taggy things in my posts.... that newfangled, high-tech malarky...

Nowhere Boy

Hope all of your christmases were very merry, by the way :)

I just went to see Nowhere Boy.

I loved it...

I think Aaron Johnson had a tough job.

He's only been seen in Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging - I mean, he's not exactly considered a serious actor, as of yet. And I feel sorry for actors like him whose big break is in a tweenager-aimed chick flick, so whose only fan base consists of 10-14 year old girls, who comment on the trailer for a biopic about the childhood of the genius that is John Lennon by saying something like:

' OMGGGGG I AM SOO EXCITED FOR THIS FILM, AARON JOHNSON IS SOOOOO FIT!!! <3>

gah...! But equally I think it is unfair for people to say 'I can't believe that twat from angus thongs and perfect snogging is going to play Lennon,' 'he's shit' etc, without giving him a fair chance to actually prove himself.

I think he did a damn good job... It's not an easy part, especially in an accent which isn't your own.

That kid from Love Actually was good too, nice to see him actually able to take on a role of anything other than an intelligent yet precocious little boy, and he managed it really well.

Mention definitely has to go to Anne-Marie Duff and Kristin Scott Thomas, who play Lennon's mother Julia and aunt Mimi. If you know the story of Lennon's childhood you'll understand that they are central to his life and the conflicts therein. Both of these are obviously experienced actresses, and they're excellent in this...

And, uh, let's be honest. He is a good looking bloke.

No wonder Sam Taylor Wood, Nowhere Boy's director and 23 years his senior, snapped him up... hmm!

I Built My Dreams Around You

Let's be honest, the pogues' 'fairytale of new york' just has to be the best christmas song ever.

Partly in that it's not really necessarily your typical 'christmas song' - it's set at christmas but it's still brilliant at any time, unlike, perhaps, songs like wham's 'last christmas,' which are brought out and dusted off just once a year, which is probably a damn good thing....

ah, I listened to it about 3 times on repeat on the train home from London this evening. I was supposed to go ice-skating today but due to falling down some stairs (and then falling again in the street) and screwing up my ankle last thursday night i wasn't really in a fit state to don the skates and hit the ice... so I was designated cameraman for the team. I'm pretty sure I got frostbite.. stupid fingerless gloves... mutter mutter...

Here's 'fairytale of new york' live from 1988...

This year a couple of cover versions were done on the radio.

It's not a song to cover lightly... You just cannot mess with this one...

Here's Paloma Faith and Roy Stride's version....

The choir's a bit cringe, but I think this version's quite good,

not a patch on the original, obviously.

I have a soft spot for Paloma - she has an incredible voice, not really shown off here...

And to give him his due, Roy doesn't do as badly as I assumed he would,

when I heard he was from scouting for girls...!

And this one is Billy Bragg and Florence Welch.

Billy is amazing... I love that man... He just seems so sincere.

And obviously I have exalted my love for Flo before, so a good combo in my book.

I also like the way they've made it their own by having harp (typically florence)

and guitar (ol' billy) as accompaniment.

1 criticism is that Flo could perhaps sound like she cared a bit more,

in the 'you scumbag, you maggot' verse!!

Kirsty Macoll just made it come alive when she sang it.

So, I've got a lot of love for this song!!

My favourite line is 'I could have been someone, well so could anyone'

Not really sure why; that response, I just love it, and the way Kirsty sings it.

Which side are we on?

Don't get me wrong, Joe McElderry seems like a sweet guy, with a genuinely good voice.

But the X factor have now gone from murdering old classics like Hallelujah to putting out pointless covers of newer songs, which seems even worse, somehow?! It was ALREADY shit, I mean... it's 'the climb'... it's MILEY CYRUS.

So which side are you on? I'm all for Rage for number 1.

I've put in my hard earned 99 pennies for the cause.

Have YOU..?

The Drums

"We only write about two feelings: one is the first day of summer when you and all of your friends are standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun set and being overcome with all of your hopes and dreams at once. The other is when you're walking alone in the rain and realize you will be alone forever."

ooh, deep...

But sarcasm aside, it is a nice quote.

There is something beach-boys-esque about the drums, especially in their first single, 'let's go surfing,' which is in no way a bad thing when combined with the sort of post-punky thing they've got going on. Their EP, summertime!, is awesome, definitely worth getting. Granted, it's a shame it was released at the start of October, just as summertime (!) was finishing, had it come out earlier I'm pretty sure it would have featured heavily in the soundtrack of my July/August.

Here's my current fave of the seven, though I love all of them and my preference depends on my mood! It's also one of the lesser known ones, but it is literally impossible not to groove along to. and seriously, I don't dance, so I wouldn't say something like that lightly!!

Gonna see them at the NME Shockwaves Tour in Feb with THE MACCABEES and THE BIG PINK and BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB!!!! ahh!! ah!! ahhhhhh!! such a good line up. Rather excited about that one...

Stories

These are just lovely, if you haven't seen them already.

These are the only two up so far, can't wait to see what Arvida comes up with next...

Here is the second. Love the 'heartbeats' cover playing in the background of this one too.

Go to http://storiesmadebyus.blogspot.com/

Childish Love

At the moment I'm doing some work experience at a village primary school.

One thing that amuses me most is chatting to some of the little girls about the dramas of

'who's going out with who'

When I decided to ask one about what this 'going out' actually meant, she said,

"well, it's like, when, they both, fancy each other, and stuff..."

Right......?!

I love the simplicity of these relationships.

When the girls pointed out those in the playground who were 'going out,'

they were apart; boys playing football and girls chatting with friends,

there was no way of telling that these were, supposedly, couples.

It doesn't really seem to mean much, at that age,

But being in love certainly seems easier then,

And I think there's something sweetly innocent about it.

Doubt

Liking this new track from Delphic.

Love those juddery vowels at the start.

+ Epic Chorus.

Ladyhawke + Becks

I'm liking the new Becks Beer 'music inspired art' labels, especially these Ladyhawke ones.

Ladyhawke - aka Pip Brown, a new zealandish, indie pop songstress - and her childhood friend Sarah Larnach, designed these awesome bottle labels.

Pretty groovy huh?

Snaps for Pip.

She was really good live, too, she finished off Underage festival this year (on mah b-day!) in style.

Here's one of my pics. That was a fun day.

noel

I like this quote, but sometimes it doesn't work out.

Sometimes you need to deal with reality and just suck it up, you know?

I like this picture.

Noel (my love) is in a box.

Plus, if you look at the post it note, it says 'the kills' on it.

Who are a good band.

So all in all, a rather fine specimen of a photo, methinks.

And here's a bit of The Kills for those who are interested!!

ps. due to my new-found techiness, you no longer post a 'comment' to my blog, you post an

'utterance...'

how cool is that!?

so utter away, si tu veux!!

Sweet

I know after a few days I'll be bored of sitting around at home...

But, for the mo, it's lovely.

Hmm... What do we think about Ellie Goulding? I'm undecided as of yet.

There's certainly a lot of buzz, like her getting The Critic's Choice Brit Award, over one of my utter girl-crushes, Marina and the Diamonds.

I do really like this single, but need a little more convincing.

So Ellie... surprise me!

grrr it won't let me embed the video.

But click:

HERE!! ME ME ME!!

because the video is super cool, and it's mega catchy.

To Winter

I will now admit that I am one of those people who say whichever season we are in is my favourite.

I love them all for different reasons...

But for the moment, winter is my favourite. yay.

I broke up from school for christmas today. also yay.

So now I must find things to fill my time with,

And I must find christmas presents,

And I must wrap up warm,

And I must read lots,

And I must catch up with old friends,

And I must try not to eat too much christmas food,

And I mustn't wish too ardently for snow, then be disappointed,

And I must find a bit of time to do maths revision......

I want snow so bad!

Ice skating will be the closest I'll get I think, at least for the moment, and I'll have to make do.

And did I mention I'm totally malcoordinated?

So I don't look quite as elegant as I would like when I attempt to skate.

Dang nabbit.

Kill It Kid

If you fancy some 'propa' bluesy stuff then check these guys out.

It's really gutsy and generally awesome.

Her voice is really sweet and pretty but with a harder edge, and his is weird and crazy yet somehow ever so cool.

This is the video for 'Send Me an Angel Down' which is lurrrvally. But definitely definitely check out some of their others too..

burst its banks

fool for loving you

heaven never seemed so close

have a feeling they'd be super good live too...

maybe they'll be on the festival circuit next summer....?

Fields and fields of wheat

There's something really raw and real and clean about Wheat Wurtzburger's photos.

Here are a few.

There are lots more good ones on her website.

Although there is one of a dead deer on a road, which isn't that nice.

But I guess she doesn't bullshit round the point, right?

Sparklers

I like Sparklers

Even if they do take an age to light

And the zippo keeps burning our fingers

And it's 3 in the morning

And so so so cold

And nearly everyone else is asleep

If

If you could have relationships

And end them with a simple handshake

Would you?

a weird fascination

She's certifiably insane, I think.

But by god does she make mainstream pop music more interesting.