If it wasn't for the girls in marketing, we'd have to get blow jobs off our wives

So that's almost that for 2007 then. Looking back I'd say there have been a number of highs, a number of lows and a fair amount of stuff in-between. My prediction for 2008 is that it will be much the same. However, I will endeavour to maximise the highs and minimise the lows and make better use of the fair amount of stuff in-between. I will be making one New Year's resolution, the same two word resolution I've made every year for a good few years now*.

I like end of year lists. The favourite this, the most despised that. It's fun to see what others think when with shared interests. I'd add a disclaimer to "I like end of year lists". I have no interest in the top ten amusing Amy Winehouse stories or Eastenders quotes, they have to be lists that interest me, others are for others. So if you have no interest in my top ten movies, gigs and albums, then cheers for reading this far, happy New Year, please pop in again soon. For those that do, then cheers for reading on past this bit, happy New Year, please pop in again soon.

I'm not going to give reasons for my choices, omissions or placings. This is partly because many of my reasons are far from sound, and partly because I couldn't do so without gesticulating like an amphetamine crazed gibbon.

Top 10 Movies:
1) Letters From Iwo Jima
2) Joe Strummer - The Future Is Unwritten
3) Cashback (US release only)
4) Mr Brooks
5) 3.10 To Yuma
6) Stardust
7) American Gangster
8) This Is England
9) Die Hard 4
10) Sunshine

Top 10 Gigs:
1) The Who (Glastonbury)
2) The Broken Family Band (Glastonbury)
3) Okkervil River (The Lumiere)
4) The Raveonettes (Cambridge Barfly)
5) Maximo Park (Glastonbury)
6) The Shins (The Astoria)
7) The Duke Spirit (The 229 Club)
8) The National (Shepherd's Bush Empire)
9) Aimee Man (Indig0)
10) Adam Green (Union Chapel)

Top 10 Albums:
1) Sandy Denny - Live At The BBC
2) Okkervil River - The Stage Names
3) The Broken Family Band - Hello Love
4) Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures
5) The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
6) Dinosaur Jr - Beyond
7) Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
8) Neil Young - Chrome Dreams 2
9) Bruce Springsteen - Magic
10) Radiohead - In Rainbows


*It' not 'more sex' although I would consider trading it.

Listening to an old compilation CD Smudge gave me

When i walk beside Her, i am the Better Man

Listening to Music from the motion picture Into The Wild by Eddie Vedder

A Little Japanese Girl That I'll Never Know

It's time to play the iTunes Oracle. As I reached home on Monday, after my last day in the office this year, poddy pulled off one of those lovely shuffle moments where two songs mix beautifully into each other. In this case it was the Joe Strummer soundbite: Without People You're Nothing and Luna's Tiger Lily. Try it, it works. I don't know why this sublime little combination reminded me of the Oracle, it just did.

I first read about the Oracle on Pat Tomek's blog. Pat Tomek was the drummer in The Rainmakers, arguably one of the greatest bands ever to have come out of the US. You can try arguing the toss with me about that one but I'll only have to come over and burn your house down. That I once passed up an opportunity to see them live, will shame me till the day I croak.

The Oracle can be played on any digital media player with a shuffle. It's like a stupidly fun blend of the IChing, a magic eight ball and whatever's on your iTunes (or other digital media player). So what you do is this: set your player on shuffle and then ask each of the following questions in turn. As you've asked the question, hit next and the song that plays is your answer.

So here we go:

(Oh, before we start, I should say that my iTunes library currently holds only 998 songs, a small selection of what I hold on silvery disc, but that's all we have to work with today.)

Q) How does the world see you?
A) Listened On / Lightning Dust (something most people have never heard of, but some might quite like if they did?)

Q) Will I have a happy life?
A) Abel / The National (great tune, but it's kinda about losing control. Oh dear...)

Q) What do my friends really think of me?
A) Oxford Town / Bob Dylan (Maybe they all think I'm smart? Or a hippy. Hmm... Actually, this song's about racial divide in the US, so maybe everyone thinks I'm a humanitarian and hopefully not a racist!)

Q) Do people secretly lust after me?
A) They Can't Buy The Sunshine / Turin Brakes (Yeah, lust away, but I'm on to you and I can't be bought. Which is probably so far from the truth!)

Q) How can I make myself happy?
A) Just Because / Jane's Addiction (Heroin, rockin' out? I think this song means just be yourself.)

Q) What should I do with my life?
A) Evil Walks / AC/DC (Find myself someone with a flying broomstick?)

Q) Will I ever have children?
A) A Million Miles Away / The Rainmakers (Not for a while then, looks like broomstick girl has other plans.)

Q) What is some good advice for me?
A) Girls In Their Summer Clothes / Bruce Springsteen (Now that's more like it.)

Q) How will I be remembered?
A) Pink Bullets / The Shins (from SongMeanings: "i guess its about finding someone that changes you because they are so different, in the best way, from everyone else. its about being affected by someone so strongly, that when you lose them and nothing in your life seems to make sense, you still wouldnt want to forget them". I'll settle for that.)

Q) What is my signature song?
A) Blizzard of '77 / Nada Surf (No matter how long it's been, I never forget those who've touched my life, even when they are no longer in it. Sometimes you get a chance to make peace with your past.)

Q) What do I think my current theme song is?
A) Everywhere I Go / The Black Keys (This is one of the horniest pieces of music I've ever heard. One of my fantasies is to have the woman in my life slowly strip to it. I even know what I want her to be wearing! I know how cheesy that sounds, but once you've heard it you'll get it. I have the tune, so that's a start.)

Q) What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
A) Can't Get There From Here / R.E.M. (This is one of my favourite R.E.M. songs, Fables is one of my favourite R.E.M. albums, and that's as far as I can go with this one.)

Q) What song will play at my funeral?
A) P.S You Rock My World / Eels (A song about funeral's, love, hope, and embracing the future. I love this song, it's a beautiful track and I'd be honoured if someone wanted to play it at my funeral.)

Q) What type of men/women do I like?
A) Mrs Rita / Gin Blossoms (This is far closer to the bone than I'd care to admit.)

Q) What is my day going to be like?
A) Simple Man / Lynyrd Skynyrd (It wasn't this morning, I had to head into the smoke to do some final Christmess shopping, but it will be for the rest of the evening.)

Try it. Have some fun. Feel free to post your own results in the comments.


Watching: Battlestar Galactica Season 1 (new version)

Kindness is a card game

When I first moved to Tooting, I'd just returned from working on this horrendous no-budget movie shoot in Brighton, where, by the end, everyone involved had somehow managed to hurl themselves wholeheartedly into the deep end of the insanity pool.

The art of stair-surfing pre-dates Mainline Run by a few months, but it wasn't until Tooting that it developed into an art-form. The original idea was to see if we could get down the stairs on an ironing board. The answer to that is no. What tends to happen is that the front end gets caught in a stair and the 'surfer' hits the bottom without hitting a single stair on the way down. I don't remember too much about the details; you have to be fairly steamed to try such a stupid idea out in the first place.

In Waterloo Street we built upon the concept of bumping down stairs on your arse by adding more alcohol, in-journey drinking, water weapons, lying down, going backwards and eventually a combination of all together. That, I don't recommend as it could incur some serious and permanent damage. It was a hoot.

I thought stair-surfing had pretty much died out until the other day when this guy came sailing towards me down the escalator at Waterloo. Backwards. A couple of us managed to prevent him from carrying on to the bottom, for which he seemed to be reasonably grateful.

Watching: Eastern Promises
Listening to: Steve Earle and the Bluegrass Dukes

Profiteers on dream street

Every year since 2001, I've dispensed with the idea of Christmas cards and put together a compilation CD of my favourite songs, from albums released that year.

Afraid of Christmas 2007 is ready.

There are a couple of tracks that have sneaked in from 2006 but for good reasons. You get to feel smug if you can spot 'em.

Love Your Man, Love Your Woman: The Broken Family Band, from Hello Love
Surrender: Dropkick Murphys, from The Meanest Of Times
Gypsy Biker: Bruce Springsteen, from Magic
Bushes and Briars: Sandy Denny, from Live At The BBC
Plus Ones: Okkervil River, from The Stage Names
House of Cards: Radiohead, from In Rainbows
Grace Kelly: Mika, from Life In Cartoon Motion
No One Would Riot For Less: Bright Eyes, from Cassadaga
White Chalk: PJ Harvey, from White Chalk
Russian Literature: Maxïmo Park, from Our Earthly Pleasures
Plywood Superman: Jim White, from Transnormal Skiperoo
When You Go: Lightning Dust, from Lightning Dust
Aly Walk With Me: The Raveonettes), from Lust Lust Lust
Turn On Me: The Shins, from Wincing The Night Away
Baby Fratelli: The Fratellis, from Costello Music
What If I Knew: Dinosaur Jr, from Beyond
Without People You're Nothing: Joe Strummer, from the OST to The Future Is Unwritten

The cover image is of New York at night.

All is well in hell, wish you were here

Last week, I woke up after a work leaving party, with the reigning champion of no food bourbon and champagne hangovers. I tenderly crawled off to work, brain pounding, backs of the eyes screaming through my pre-flight checks: wallet, oyster card, money, phone, iPod... It was that moment that I was able to answer the question: 'what had I been up to on the way home the night before'?

I had been playing AC/DC at full volume.


Listening to: Afraid of Christmas 2007

You guys had me at blood and semen

Now all this is over, I can hopefully get back to some more of this.

It's been a tough month. The culmination of a year of work and the most ambitious and complex thing we've done since I started. And in the end it was all good. But none of the considerably deserved excitement could compare to that of getting Iron Maiden tickets. I suppose you could call that work-life balance.