Balance

Today is Good Friday. Next week it's Bad Friday.

That doesn't happen often.

Mark's mini movie review: The Hunger Games

Given the complete disdain for human life historically shown by governments and institutions sooner or later The Hunger Games will be a documentary. It is dark, but not dark enough, could have a sharper edge, but is well made and most entertaining. Whether or not the future will see some of America looking like The Grapes of Wrath and some of it spray painted by Gaultier on an acid trip remains to be seen. The potential self reflexive irony of The Hunger Games as the Hunger Games is in no certain way totally ignored. Then again, they did the same in The Running Man (but with Lycra)                       7/10

Mark's mini movie review: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 3D

In which it is proved that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear but you can polish a turd. The major faults remain, to my mind: the plot, the script, the under-use of and unnecessary termination of a cool bad guy (see also Boba Fett), and the age gap between Anakin and Padme which goes on to screw up episodes two and three. The action sequences, on the other hand, remain amazing and the pod race and space battles particularly look awesome in 3D. If you're asking why I bothered, you're wasting a perfectly decent question. Roll on Clones and Sith in 3D...                                             5/10

Mark's mini movie review: The Descendants

In which Alexander Payne reminds us that you can look like George Clooney and live in Hawaii but you'll still have to face death, deceit and decisions no matter what. Just not as well constructed. Save your two hours for when the crap really happens and watch something with explosions instead.   7/10

Mark's mini gig review: Jeff Mangum @ Union Chapel, 13/03/12

If Emo Philips had been eastern European and formed The Flaming Lips with half the crew they'd have been support act, The Music Tapes.
Jeff Mangum's voice rises and falls through a tumbling word stream like a penguin that's lost its footing on a particularly steep and slippery slope. His strumming arm remains conversely constant. The audience are so happy to see the Neutral Milk Hotel frontman at all they remain in rapt reverie and would ecstatically applaud his nosebleed. This is ok because he is geniously brilliant and worthy of such tonight. The tunes are acoustically beautiful. The bit at the end was wonderful.                       9/10

My big 'Summer of '82' movie challenge

The summer of '82 is widely acknowledged as being a halcyon time for sci-fi, fantasy and horror movies. Well at least here, and here, and of course, here. There may have been a few better movies before and since but as a package, '82 certainly delivered a big bag of treats - not all of them tasty mind you - for the movie (as opposed to film) geeks. Although to be fair, the latter did have Gandhi and some other stuff.

That so many of these movies have or are being revisited, or have made a lasting visual and cultural impact on the movie landscape certainly sures up 82's reputation. For me, it is brings back fond memories. Me, Chris and Steve catching Tron on the day Friday 13th pt 3 (in 3D - 3D folks, who would thunk that would ever catch on) came out, or peeking through the door at The Thing when going to see Firefox (we only saw the bit at the Norwegian camp before being chased out by an usher). Or getting taken to see Poltergeist (because kids could go with adults in the US) and having the bejeezus scared out of me, which was great fun. Most of these films I remember reading about because I was too young to see them or not allowed to. I read Starburst avidly in the UK and the awesome Fantastic Films when in Canada, or occasionally Starlog which I wasn't so keen on. Mad Max 2, Blade Runner, The Thing, Conan, I had the books and posters and every available scrap of knowledge about these movies long before I ever saw them, in some cases many years later.

And thinking back, I was probably about as fan-boy excited about the movies as I've ever been.

So to celebrate I'm laying down my Summer of '82 movie challenge. The aim: to see as many '82 geektastic sci-fi, horror and fantasy flics as possible before December 31st of 2012. The prize: none - the prize is in the joy of taking part and the movies you get to watch...

It works like this. You get points for each film. The winner is whoever comes back at the end of the year with most points. Of course. Of course the bigger and better movies get less points. The more obscure or awful they get, the more points. It wouldn't be fun any other way. And cheating just means you miss out. Plus there's no prize so no point anyway.

The choice of films and distribution of the points system is entirely my own and throws in a couple of movies that lie on the cusp of the year as well as a couple of action flics I fancied chucking on for the hell of it. If you don't like it, sod off and go make your own challenge :)

OK, so here's the list. Have fun, good luck and happy memories.

Tier 1 - 5 points per movie:

Blade Runner (original European or US version)
Conan the Barbarian
Creepshow
The Dark Crystal
ET
Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior
Poltergeist
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
The Thing
Tron

Tier 2 - 10 points per movie

Airplane 2: The Sequel
Android
Basket Case
Britannia Hospital
Cat People
Firefox
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Q: The Winged Serpent
Swamp Thing
Tenebrae

Tier 3 - 25 points per movie

Amityville 2: The Possession
Beastmaster
Class of 1984
The Flight of Dragons
Friday 13th Part 3
Halloween 3: Season of the Witch
Megaforce
Pieces
The Sword and The Sorcerer
Turkey Shoot

Tier 4 - Mega bonus - 50 points per movie!

Alone in the Dark
Friday 13th Part 3 in 3D
Humongous
The Incubus
Parasite (extra 50 if you get to watch it in 3D)
Slumber Party Massacre

Mark's mini movie review: Midnight In Paris

Wherein Woody Allen channels an existential meditation on the 'grass always being greener' through a time travel movie; Owen Wilson channels Woody Allen through West Coast Hollywood; and everyone else just has fun turning up and pretending to be other people. Some folks get to change the course of their lives so that they presumably get to live happily ever after. But not all of them.                       9/10

Alt Tags

It struck me the other day that the genius of those who photograph political figures, especially our own here in the UK, is that almost all of their work can be better captioned with the words: "Look Mummy, I just did a poo!"

Naming Conventions

I was greatly impressed by the recent story suggesting the Home Secretary is going to split the UK Border Agency. Not that bit, but the creation of a UK Border Force. I think it's great that all new police agencies are going to be given names that can be preceded with Ross Kemp's...

Mark's mini movie review: The Artist

"                       



                                                                                                               "   7/10

Getting Here From There

It started with Metallica, and has often been the case, it was all Dan's fault. He had an interview disc and Lars was talking about 'some weird folk band' that James had been listening to: R.E.M. So Dan went out and bought the first thing of theirs that was out - Document, and The One I love, and End of the World on the car stereo were my introductions, sometime in '87 I guess.

It didn't take. Not immediately. There was another year before then, one afternoon late in '88, painting skirting boards for a guy I was working for. Orange Crush on Radio 1. That blew my mind.

'89 was all about Green being played on South African Radio 5. Sitting in our breeze block house at Uzumba Secondary School (Murewa, Zimbabwe) on a Saturday, tuning in on Anna's tiny FM radio, listening out for Stand, Pop Song '89, World Leader Pretend, Get Up. When I got back to the UK in September the Green tour was over. So until Out of Time came out I would frequent the Wednesday record fair picking up the back catalogue on vinyl.

Of all those records, it was hearing Life's Rich Pageant on tape in Canada, staying with my old childhood friend Chris, that lingers longest. To this day it's my favourite album, Hyena still my all time favourite R.E.M. song.

Since Out of Time I've gone on to buy every album on the day of release, and most of the singles too, especially when they were on vinyl. That's one of the things I'll miss the most; the excitement of a new R.E.M. song. Hearing the new songs for the first time. I still remember Jo Whiley playing ...Kenneth late one Friday night in my bedroom in Tooting, hearing Daysleeper whilst working at the Print Shop in Tooting, The Great Beyond on a promo Ant brought back from the record store, Bouncing all over the office when that first clip of Living Well popped up on the 'net.

Not every album has been a classic, but I love each and every one for different reasons, different memories, different places and different people. And with only one exception (Around The Sun) they were all still really good. Really really good.

It's not all been wine and roses. Up was an album that bookmarked a bad patch and for some reason a lot of ironing. Leaving New York kept me going when a good friend was in hospital.

I didn't get to see the band live until the day before my 25th birthday, the Monster tour at Milton Keynes Bowl. They sucked. No matter how much I want to remember the show as a blazing baptism of brilliance, I can't. Since then I've seen them a further 8 times (Glastonbury twice, Isle of Wight festival, Hyde Park, St James's Church, the Royal Albert Hall, Twickenham Stadium, The Hammersmith Odeon) and they never ever disappointed me again.

Once they undertook the Greatest Hits tour, dusted off the classics, they seemed to ease up as a band and became the whirling dervish of a live act that I saw all those times. Whether in front of 200 or 20000 they remained one of the most intense, fun and interesting live bands I've ever seen (and I've seen more than my and your share). For all those who detracted them, on stage they were peerless; changing the set lists regularly, playing around with the songs. Those stand out moments so many: bouncing across the Isle of White to These Days with my god-daughter on my shoulders, Patti Smith turning in a jaw dropping E-Bow at Hyde Park, Thom Yorke doing the same in a small church in Picadilly, Man on the Moon at Glastonbury, Perfect Circle at Twickenham. And with the exception of Hyena, I think I've seen them play most of my favourite songs live. I'm not sure I can forgive them for that omission though  : )

It's that I'll never see them live again that hurts the most. My one regret, perhaps.The greatest loss.

And beyond the music, beyond the shows, beyond the words and beyond the flack, I'm left with these last thoughts on a band I've spent almost 24 years listening to, over half my life, my favourite band of all time:

They were funny. Check out Furry Happy Monsters if you don't believe me.

They were innovative in interacting with their fans and friends over the net, especially around the last two records. They gave back, they didn't hoard our memories of their work. Even when re-releasing old albums or compilations, the liner notes and extras gave the dust-off an added bonus for those looking to add a third or fourth copy of the record to our collections.

And damn, I was an idiot to let my fan-club subscription lapse, but I'll cherish those three Christmas packages.

Being able to interview Bertis Downs when I used to blog with Londonist was a high point in my brief foray into serious blogging - the man was a true gent.

And I got that interview through one event that really blew me away. Sitting on my boat in the summer of 2004, recently redundant, paid off, enjoying a new life and, at the time, quite stoned, my mobile phone rang. It was Dave from the fan-club. I'd won two tickets in a raffle for a fan-club show at St James's Church in Picadilly to be recorded for radio. My old email had bounced, they hadn't been able to tell me I'd won. But they didn't let it go and move on to the next guy, they checked my details, pulled my phone number and rang me. All the way from Athens. Ant and I floated home from that show, let me tell you. God bless you Dave; and for returning my call a year later when I tried to blag an interview with the band. And for putting Bertis on, you didn't have to do any of that. But it epitomises to me what the band were and all that was around them.

I wasn't surprised when I heard the news. I wasn't upset. We'd played a pretty good version of Man on the Moon in the band that evening. It just kinda seemed to be.

It ended in the HMV in Victoria Station on a Monday morning on the way to a meeting. Buying my last R.E.M. record on its day of release. 24 years later; over half my life - spanning three continents, tape to vinyl to CD and DVD, more memories than could ever be collected in a few words, more memories sounds thoughts feelings than anyone should ever be able to leave behind on a total stranger.

My box would be full of Micronauts

A couple of weeks ago Patrick sent me this video from the Onion AV Club with the heading - You will never be as happy as this man and his box of toys (to which I think there's a somewhat sad truth):



Anyways, it sparked a ponderings of what would be in our respective boxes, Action Man, Transformers? Well mine would be Micronauts. A big box of all the original Micronauts toys, and if I were to be granted complete ecstasy, the comics too.

I remember seeing Micronauts toys for the first time at the home of friends of my parents. There was this cool looking giant robot and a run of track and bubble domes that just blew what I guess must have been my six year old mind. There were all sorts of connectable bits and pieces that riffed on the build yourselves worlds of mechano and lego but with these strange translucent figures and all sorts of space vehicles. It spoke of an fully formed universe, of invention, of imagination (ok - I'm putting thoughts into that six year old mind) and it had an awesome logo.



That's how I knew what they were, the kid had kept the boxes.

A little later something awesome happened. My next door neighbour and best mate (as is the way when you're six and still have a coal bunker to climb over the fence on) got what to my mind might still be one of the best presents ever. Baron Karza, Force Commander and their respective steeds Andromeda and Oberon. These guys looked cool. They still look cool and they looked cool way before Darth and his Stormtroopers looked cool like they looked like BK and the FC cool. And Darth and the others never had horses that could be made into centaurs through the power of magnetic joints. And they fired rockets from their chests, and they fired their fists. We're talking massively awesome now. Did toys ever get better than this? NO. It took years before Star Wars figures ever had that kind of mobility. In all honesty SW figures sucked, and continue to do so against how much more you could do with the Micronauts.

Oh yeah, there was probably an Acroyear or two there, and who knows what else. But on that day I first set my eyes on them, I also set my heart on this quartet of interchangeable amazingness and it's never left. Not really.

I got my first Micronaut in a toy shop in Nottingham whilst on holiday with my grandparents. I got a Time Traveler that I still have (go me!) and Microtron who never made it through the moves, or the rough and tumble of childhood. I don't know why it was Microtron, it may have been all they had in the shop at the time. I seem also to remember that Star Wars had come out by then and I was also dreaming of the Millenium Falcon, but more of that maybe another time.

I don't remember exactly when I got Baron Karza, possibly also visiting granny and grandpa. That was a moment. And I don't remember when I lost him. Somewhere down the line in Canada I also picked up a Pharoid and Repto. The former survived, the latter didn't (unless of course, they're hiding in my parents' loft waiting for my squeals of delighted discovery). So FC and the horses never made it but my door is always open should they wish to show themselves.

Editor's note - I did pick up another Baron Karza at school, swapping him for a Scorpozoid which makes that one of the better deals I've pulled off. Baron 2 has been very carefully looked after since then!

So even though that makes five toys out of a stunning range of many - you count 'em - I never lost hope that one day I'd have 'em all. Even as they disappeared from my life, I never stopped loving them. Perhaps it was just a few early memories infused with childlike potential and amazement that have lingered on, imbuing the name with a contented Pavlovian response.

Or perhaps it was because years later they came to life again in the Marvel comics series, which I avidly collected over my teenage years, picking up all the back issues until I had both series complete. Or maybe I loved the comics because I'd loved the toys. Anyway, it had the most devastating ending that just brought me to my knees. And years later in a pique of poverty, I sold them all at a pittance to be able to pay for presents or sort out a bill. I'd prefer the latter given the choice. So perhaps I can't separate them from some quasi-romantic sense of loss that you get when you're spending way too much time being some geeky shy kid instead of getting out there and talking to women. That's the nightmares of bad poetry and emo bands and I'm happy to report I came through on that one. At least I think I did!

Or perhaps it was because they were genuinely an incredible toy range, providing scope to build cities, fight space battles or have good and evil clash in some manga infused cyberpunk Greek myth mash up. And no matter how clunky some of them look to 21st Century eyes, they maintain a wonderful sense of a toy that could both be a joy in creation and exploration as much as in acting out youthful games of destruction.

Or to put it another way, perhaps it was just because the ROCKED.

And to this day I still hope that this mythical box of Micronauts will one day appear on my doorstep.

Campsite Envy

Conversation heard on my birthday whilst lying in my portable hammock:

Man: I must get me one of those
Woman: You're really into your camping gadgets aren't you
Man: That's not a gadget

I've had my first taste of enjoying someone else's campsite envy - insert appropriate smiley here.

Oh, it's been a while. I've made some changes.

Don't play with your food unless you've eaten all your toys already

So I'm taking 100 days to make myself a better person! I can't remember where I saw mention of Josie Long's project but took a peek yesterday and joined up. As part of the London Word Festival she and various friends and artists decided to do something every day for 100 days that will make them a better person. And now they have 863 people signed up, including myself. It's day 53 for the project but latecomers are welcome, so my 100 days starts today.

My pledge is to take a photo of what's around me, and put it up on Flickr with a few words. I'm not sure I'll be able to put the picture up every day, there will be a few days I know I'll be away from the net. But I will take the picture every day and put it up as soon as possible. There's a Flickr group for the project which I'll also add to.

The discipline of doing something for 100 days is no bad thing. Making the effort, not breaking a promise and being related to a bunch of unrelated folks for no other reason than an idea that looked like fun. That's betterment in itself surely. And I don't take enough pictures in general, and I certainly don't focus enough on grabbing those odd moments. So this is an excuse to do that a little more.

When I started using Flickr all those years ago I never really expected that anyone other than friends and contacts would bother looking at my shots. So it's always a pleasant surprise when an unknown comment appears or I get a spike in the view stats with some more band pics. Of course there's a touch of pleased ego thinking they're my pics! But over and above that I'm fascinated by being able to share a moment with a bunch of complete strangers and bring back a memory of a great show or just a provide an image that pleases. That's the beauty of the old internet, a bunch of connections making a connection.

I hadn't looked at my page since last year and so decided to pop in last night. Which is when I caught a bizarre spike in views around Christmas. All on a shot of a snow dalek that was built down by the bridge moorings in last February's snow. Then I noticed that it's had over twenty four thousand views in total. Outstanding! I've made sure the guys who built it know that their efforts have raised a little smile or a chuckle to a whole bunch of folks theyll never know. It's like that little Japanese girl with the pizza. It's kinda cool really.

Halfway through series 4 of The Wire

White on top of white

I can't remember the name of my 3c English teacher. I do remember his face. That makes him no different to most folks I encounter these days. However he did have a resounding impact on me which was to bury an aversion to bad spelling and dodgy grammar deep inside; although some might argue that I'm still fighting the latter to this day.

Most times it doesn't worry me too much in the day to day but I'm exceptionally unforgiving when it comes to people who should know better: managers and anyone in any official capacity whatsoever.

An email appeared in work the other day that caused some amusement. It's for a training course at Disneyland Paris and you can read all about it at this location. The email offered an exciting opportunity for edutainment and imagineering! I'd like to offer those that wrote this drivel an opportunity to swim in the undertow. But wait, its a money can't buy offer for a truly amazing price (495 + VAT). Perhaps it's 495 worth of potatoes then. Plus VAT of course. These people must have taken all the mirrors down in their homes.

If you take a glance at the website, and you don't have to really, then it offers you the chance to LEARN a number of things. Some of these are things you can learn, like Leadership Management, some things that you can pretend to learn like Business Magic and some are really things that you experience, or would want to at 495 + VAT, like Thrilling Rides, Fine Dining and Complimentary VIP Access to the Park. But NOT FUCKING LEARN YOU CRETINS.

Listening to the Jarvis Cocker show on 6 Music

All bands secretly wish they were metal bands

The title comes from Dan. I think it says all that needs to be said about music. So all the music journalists can go home now and do something useful. Thank you.


I am a geek.

Here are the lists:

My 10 favourite films of 2009 in no discernible order have been:
The Wrestler
Gran Torino
Not Quite Hollywood
Star Trek
Crank 2
The Hangover
Let The Right One In
Zombieland
The Hurt Locker
Moon

My 10 favourite albums of 2009 in no discernible order have been:
Crippled Black Phoenix - 200 Tons of Bad Luck
Walkenhorst and Porter - No Abandon
Lightning Dust - Infinite Light
The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
The Yellow Moon Band - Travels Into Several Remote Nations Of The World
Kiss - Sonic Boom
R.E.M. - Live At The Olympia
Willard Grant Conspiracy - Paper Covers Stone
Hush Arbors - Yankee Reality

My 10 favourite gigs of 2009 in no discernible order have been:
Metallica - Nottingham Ice Rink
Faith No More - Reading Festival
The Low Anthem - The Tabernacle
ZZ Top - Wolverhampton City Hall
Massive Atack - Brixton Academy
Blur - Hyde Park
Snuff - Reading Festival
Radiohead - Reading Festival
Okkervil River - The Scala
Neil Young - Hyde Park

There's no such thing as rock stars there's just people who play music

...and some of them are just like us and some of them are dicks.

Since I said I'd put some sleeve notes up for this year's comp I suppose I should. This is my third attempt. Which is useless by the way.

It's late enough now for those who may have looked to have given up. Probably late enough for me to not bother at all without anyone noticing. But after having gone to the trouble of getting the covers printed, cutting them all out by hand, folding them, putting them in the slip cases and burning the CDs, not to mention putting them in the cases too, then I should probably make some kind of an effort. For you.

So here we go, in order of appearance.

1) Desolation Row - My Chemical Romance (Watchmen soundtrack): Cover versions are a real guilty pleasure of mine and this is a classic. MCR cover a Sex Pistols covers band covering Dylan. It goes dagga dagga dagga dagga gnnnnrrrr and is therefore genius. Like the next one. It's also probably the most original thing about the Watchmen movie (which I really quite enjoyed for what it was).

2) Got Some - Pearl Jam (Backspacer): Some what? Do I need to go back and read the lyrics? I think this is what Pearl Jam sound like when they're having fun jamming in the basement with no one about. It also feels like it's an identical bpm to the preceding track so there's obviously something about that time signature that pushes the right buttons. Or perhaps it's because it goes dagga dagga dagga gnnnnrrrr. I picked Backspacer up in the HMV above Birmingham New Street on my way to a conference.

3) Pieces - Dinosaur Jr (Farm): This is just VERY LOUD pop music.

4) Ticket Taker - The Low Anthem (Oh My God, Charlie Darwin): I could have picked any track off this album. I almost did. What sealed it was when I realised this was a kind of post apocalyptic love song, which in my mind became a narrative that blended I Am Legend, Apocalypse Now and John Hughes. My imagination worries other people sometimes, I think it's quite sweet.

5) The Ghost of the Girl in the Well - Willard Grant Conspiracy (Paper Covers Stone): I love this song, I love their original version, I love the wooah ohhhh ohhhh bits that send shivers down my spine. This should really be used to soundtrack The Lovely Bones but probably won't. It's a stupid world sometimes.

6) Overland Hill - Walkenhorst and Porter (No Abandon): For those who don't know this next bit listen up, it's important. The Rainmakers are one of my all time favourite bands. We're talking top three here. At least. It's good to hear anything new by Bob and this is about as close to the Rainmakers sound he's got since the band split. Apart from the fiddles, they're new.

7) The Times - Lightning Dust (Infinite Light): Sometimes all I really want to say is that I just really like this song, and the only reason for adding any notes is so you can see what album it's on in case you like it too and want to track it down. And this is one of those times. Tell you what though, this is going to pop up in my top ten albums of the year I reckon. If and when I get around to writing them.

8) For While You Slept - Hush Arbors (Yankee Reality): You've not heard of them, I'd never heard of them, and once I had I couldn't stop playing them. There's always a bit: a hook, a line, a harmony, a whatever, like the woah ohh ohhhs from the Willard Grant tune. This has the widdly diddly bit that's repeated throughout until it gets a bit mental. That's the bit. Outstanding!

9) Try This At Home - Frank Turner (Poetry of the Deed): Bless you Frank for being cool on the train home from Reading, for having a very attractive girlfriend, for writing a very funny song, for providing the title to this piece and for sounding like The Levellers and yet still being seen as cool by the indie fraternity on the basis that you actually do wear skinny jeans but you don't have dreadlocks or smell bad.

10) When Lightning Strikes - Kiss (Sonic Boom): Appreciating Kiss is like appreciating good wine or good cheese. But even if you don't / can't then more importantly this has some grade a MOTHERFUCKING COWBELL... And if that's not enough for you then quite frankly I'm not sure why you've even bothered reading this far. Sonic Boom is an excellent album title.

Look, I'm going to post this now as the family has just arrived and we're about to have Christmas dinner. So I'll get back and fill in the rest later.

OK, later...

11) With a Girl Like You - Condo Fucks (Fuckbook): I like the original by The Troggs more.

12) Film Noir - The Gaslight Anthem (The 59 Sound): Technically this album came out last year making it invalid for this year's cd. But I only bought it this year. And I love this song. I like the line about less right than wrong, that's the bit again. I like the grng grng grng grng bit too. That's another bit. And then they re-released the album this year so it was all good for me to put it on the disc. Also they didn't play this one at Reading. Bastards.

13) Burnt Reynolds - Crippled Black Phoenix (200 Tons of Bad Luck): This is all Dan's fault so ask him.

14) Go - Marillion (Less is More): There's a previous post in which lies the roots of an explanation as to why this song retains a certain resonance for me. Anyway, I think it reminds me of Talk Talk, especially Steve Hogarth's voice. I wonder if he still has that cool glove that plays keyboards in the air?

15) Barter Blues - J. Tillman (Vacilliano Territory Blues): I don't like Fleet Foxes, live or on disc, or in photographs or text. I'm not that keen on their drummer's solo effort although it's way better than the band thing. But I like this one a lot. Especially the bit when it fades back in all grungy. That' the bit. Although you do have to wait a while to get to it. Sometimes a little wait is worthwhile. This wait is nothing compared to sitting through the Fleet Foxes album. Or any of the Twilight movies.

16) Everything's Coming Undone - Michael Stipe (Ciao My Shining Star): This is an album of covers of Mark Mulcahy and Miracle Legion songs. I have the original on the only solo Mulcahy album I own (and I know nothing of Miracle Legion) and it sounds nothing like this version. I'm not even sure any of the words are the same. Anyway, the album's also a tribute to Mulcahy's wife who died earlier this year. Listen to it again with that fact in mind.

17) Mazel Tov Cocktail - The Wildhearts (Chutzpah): Of all the bands that go dagga dagga dagga dagga gnnnnrrrr and grng grng grng grng and occasionally kersprrroing, The Wildhearts are the second best. Soul Asylum are the best. This also has the second best song title of the year after Burnt Reynolds. It would be silver all round for Ginger and the lads but this isn't the second best album of the year. That's someone else.

18) The Wrestler - Bruce Springsteen (Working On A Dream): The Wrestler is one of the best films I've seen this year. This is a beautiful song. It's the only one on this thing that makes me feel in any way melancholy. It reminds me of earlier.

19 Castaway - Shearwater (The Golden Archipelago): The Golden Archipelago doesn't come out till next year but this is a pre-release download with a proper cover and everything so it counts and YOU WILL listen to a new Shearwater song when there is one. Happy happy joy joy for me. Expect more next year.

Oh wow, that's me done.

In that case.

Merry Christmas xxxx

Watching Season 2 of The Wire