Yuletime traditions.

I've always liked traditions and superstitions, and luckily December's full of 'em.

 On Christmas Day my dad, being the secretive bastard he is; likes to play a game in which he essentially pretends he's got us a crap gift (or in some cases no gifts at all) and then at some point later in the day, whip out a gift from behind my ear or hidden in the turkey or something ridiculous along those lines. On Christmas eve, my friends and I successfully manage to go to our Christmas eve curry and eat more food that any one man should ever eat. On Boxing Day I like to spend the day simply sitting around playing with anything new and then, at 1pm exactly, go for a wee walk around my hometown just so I feel like I've done some exercise in the last few weeks. 

Wherever you are, whatever you do, whatever you believe, I think it's nice to think of this as a time for things you know with people you love. 

Merry Christmas.

P.s My dad just told me I'm a loser with no friends for writing a blog to myself on Christmas day. Good times.

P.s.s I just read this and thought it was pretty suitable for the Christmas season. Happy holidays x

Doodles, part one.

I said in one of my earlier posts that I've started drawing, and due to PHENOMENAL public demand (I'm joking) here are a couple of things I've done. I've only drawn two in pen thus far, I tried scanning the pencil ones in and you couldn't see anything. Eventually I'll put up some more.

House points for guessing who's who.

La Blogotheque.

To those who haven't been there before, the land of Youtube can be a terrifying place. But once you get past the videos of fat kids falling over and homemade rap videos, there are some gems to be found. La Blogotheque are a French company who film mainly up and coming bands in and around the streets of Paris. This video of Bon Iver might be my favourite thing on the internet, so put some headphones on and enjoy it.

Zombies.

 American T.V show 'The Walking Dead' for some reason went completely under the radar here in England. I don't want to tell you too much about it but you should know that it's directed by Frank Darabont, the genius behind 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'The Green Mile' and it's got a shit load of zombies in it. If you're hungry for viewing you can watch all of the first series here. You are so welcome. 

Getting old.

20 is pretty old. I've sort of entered a strange, ethereal state since my birthday on Saturday where everything seems somewhat surreal and time passes really slowly. Maybe it's cos I've just not slept properly for weeks, or it might even be my dire lack of vegetables. Either way it's been an interesting few days.


 On Friday it was Detonate at my local awesome club Plug, where Andy C and London Elektricity were playing. I'd like to state this was the first of many consecutive nights where my memory is particularly shady, namely due to excessive alcohol consumption. On the night however I did conceive one of my best puns to date - 'Dubstich'. The act of dancing so fucking hard to music in a club that your body physically aches and groans like a pensioner. Needless to say, a good night. 


Saturday the 4th of December was my actual birthday and I crawled out of bed at about 2pm, literally feeling like I'd been battered by the cast of Stomp the night before. I met with some friends and braced my liver for another evening of horrific battery and ended up going out to somewhere I don't recall. I literally felt like an amnesiac the next day, moping around my flat like a depressed housewife. At one point I had to look through photos of the night before just so someone could prove to me that they were actually there. Horrendous. Memory loss aside, I had fun and it was nice of those who were around to come out or say happy birthday. The combined efforts of many may well have prevented my inevitable suicide due to excessive life span.


Sunday held a visit to Leeds with my good friends Emma and Fred to see my future wife and her brother play at a lovely venue called The Wardrobe. The ever wonderful Angus and Julia Stone played an awesome set, during which I pretty much wept at the beauty of the what may be some of my favourite songs from the best looking siblings I know. I swear there was a point during their performance where Julia stared me straight in the eyes for a good ten seconds and I literally felt my heart stop. If you open the picture at the bottom of this blog and squint real hard you just about make out my head in amongst the crowd of the show.  If you want a good starting point, this is maybe my favourite song of theirs, although they have loads of consistently pleasant tunes. If you do already know them, then you should know that Julia's got a new solo LP out called 'The Memory Machine'. I've only had a chance to listen to through once, but from what I gathered, it's more delicious folky goodness. 


On Monday things were calm so I took time to relax and look some stuff over. Unfortunately for me, this meant I fell into a deep hole, filled with a Smörgåsbord of emotional turmoil, worry and fear, all concerning that at the age of twenty, I should have done more with my life. I took a mortifying test which told me I'd only been to 8% of the world and that "I've got a lot to do!", I almost started tying a noose I swear. However, I resolved to make a list of things that I'd like to achieve, see or do at some point in my life. There's the simple ones - learn a new language fluently, live in New York, make love to Rachel McAdams. But then there's also a couple more outlandish ones - go to space, be a millionaire, win an Oscar etc. It's growing longer by the day, and I'm never guna have time to do them all but I think it's nice to have plans, even if they're ridiculous. It was Publius Vergilius Maro, a Greek poet, who wrote "Audaces fortuna iuvat" meaning "fortune favours the brave". I suppose I have to push the boat out at some point. Here's hoping I make it to 21.