This Blog Has Moved

Due to a prolonged period of inactivity, this blog has been jump started at morelifeafterblog.

Sorry for the delay.

Silver F*@!$ng Bells

Ok, quick rant for the day:
I was doing some shopping the other day, which was of course early November, and as I went from shop to shop all I heard was Christmas music. It's November. It's too early. I love Christmas, I love listening to all the cheesy Christmas music but there's only so many times you can hear them before the cheesiness overtakes the Christmas sentimentality and this week, thanks to the fact that every shop I went into seemed to be playing 'silver bells' I have had that tune going round my head all week. Even the tried and tested 'singing the jurassic park theme to get a song out of your head' has failed as now I have an arrangement of silver bells in my head that uses the theme as it's backing.
STOP THE CHRISTMAS MUSIC UNTIL DECEMBER!

Well, I'm Back

So, it’s been about 5 months since I last posted anything. This hasn’t been because nothing has happened, but more because I’d got bored of writing on my blog (having been writing one for over a year at that point). However, after literally tens of people have been moaning at me to write something I’ve decided it’s time to start posting again. So here we go with a quick catch up of my last 5 months (so apologies in advance if this turns out to be a rather long post).

The big news (which of course 99.99% of you reading this blog will know) is that the wonderful, if slightly foolish, Lizzy has agreed to marry me and on the 21st July next year she will take on the slightly strange name of Grinnell.
For those of you (basically the girls) that are interested in the details:
I asked her to marry me in the gardens of Buckingham palace (this in no way makes me a royalist, it just means that I can appreciate the fact that the Queen does have a rather nice house and gardens and that if I am going to have to be there I might as well take advantage of that). I hadn’t brought a ring before hand since my ability to pick out jewellery is practically non-existent, I brought Lizzy a necklace for Christmas last year that I know she absolutely hates even though she’s never admitted it.
Since then we’ve been busy planning a wedding. By planning of course, I mean Lizzy planning and me saying ‘anything you want dear’ followed by the signing of increasingly large and worrisome cheques.

So what else has been happening?

Well, work is going well and continues as normal (just on my lunch break now in fact).
I went on holiday to Tunisia with Jimmy (our new housemate). We stayed in a hotel where the majority of the guests made me look posh and the staff had seen too many episodes of hi-de-hi. Every morning we were accosted by the entertainment staff to join in the game of water polo and every day we’d say ‘no thank you, we’re quite happy lying in the sun reading our books thank you very much’ and so were christened ‘the lazy boys’.

I am now an uncle. My sister gave birth to a wonderful baby girl, Elisha. I would give details of weight and stuff that I know some people (girls again) find so interesting but I can’t remember them, cos I don’t find them interesting, I was just pleased both Elisha and my sister were ok.

Now all that boring stuff’s out of the way some interesting things:
George Martin, the genius producer of all the Beatles albums (apart from ‘let it be’ that Phil Spector over produced) has, along with his son, gone back to the original tapes of the Beatles recording sessions and remixed a whole new album of ‘songs you know but will have never heard like this before’. Now, as most of you will know, I love the Beatles, but I’ve become increasingly annoyed with the number of different released of Beatles albums that basically are just everything I already own in a different order so I wasn’t that bothered about this release, until I heard the 4 songs posted on the Beatles website. George Martin has taken the sometimes overly familiar songs, cut them down, found different takes, used different arrangements and has made something, that if it lives up the promise of the 4 tracks posted (especially Strawberry Fields and While my guitar gently weeps) will be wonderful to listen to. You should check them out at on the the website.

Right, that’s all I’m writing for now, lunch break, as well as my break from the world of blog, is over. I’ll just leave you with one of the best comments Lizzy has made over these past 5 months:
“I hate driving at night, I have to use my senses”.
How can you not love her?

Guilty Idols

Lizzy, in case I haven't yet mentioned this yet, is a music teacher at a secondary school in Sutton. Lizzy works with a guy called Gareth. I met Gareth for the first time when me and Lizzy went to see his band, 'Guilty Idols', play at the half moon. I enjoyed the gig and got talking to Gareth. A few months later, having got to know the rest of the band too, they ask me if I want to come to one of their practices and see if I can play keyboard with them. Three practices later and I'm playing a gig with them at the half moon on Wednesday night, we go on at 8:30. Who know's what it'll sound like, but hopefully not too bad! It'd be great to see any of you there, it's £5 to get in. If you want to hear what they sound like without me ( which may be the best way to hear them) go to guilty idols myspace page.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Coffee

I like my Thursdays. Thursday is the day I do sessional hours for YIP (who I work for) in Battersea. I like them for a few reasons. The kids I work with 1 on 1 there are really good kids. We do a table tennis club which I really enjoy and I don't start to 12:30. Now, in the past I would probably have used this as an excuse to stay in bed for as long as possible, but not any more. Now what I do (at least until my new job starts) is leave at the usual time, get on the bus to Clapham Junction and spend the 30 minute bus ride with my ipod and a book. When I get to Clapham Junction, I spend an even more enjoyable hour before work sat in cafe nero drinking coffee and reading. This is a great way to start the day, especially since I get to drink some really good coffee, which as many of you know, is something that I really like to do.

I don't understand people who don't like coffee, it's a wonderful drink. Now please understand that when I say coffee, I'm not talking about that instant stuff that tastes almost, but not quite entirely unlike real coffee, I'm talking about cappacino's, esspresso's, americano's, real, ground, fliter made coffee and I would encourage anyone that doesn't drink coffee or thinks that they don't like coffee having tried kenko once.

There is definitely a coffee drinking culture in London. Coffee shops are busy, cool and generally places where people hang out during the day in the same way that people hang about pubs in the evening. But on Thursday I heard and saw something that makes me think that maybe, things have gone too far.

There was a lady with a pram in front of me in the line at nero's. The child in the pram can't have been more than 2 years old. She ordered a regular cappucino and a babycino. I had to do a bit of a double take. I'm pretty sure I know nero's coffee menu very well, I've never heard of a babycino. I was also pretty sure that surely something that ridiculous didn't exist and that the guy making the coffee would say that he had no idea what the lady was talking about. He didn't. He actually said 'of course' and turned away to make the coffee. I checked the menu. There was no 'babycino' on it. I wondered what it was, thinking that surely they don't make coffees for kids, that would be silly. But of course, we live in a sometimes ridiculously silly world and apparently a babycino is just a cappucino,served in a small, take-away type cup, for kids. The lady took her drinks and sat down, with kid on her lap, and they drank there coffees together.

Like I said, coffee is good. But surely this is a step too far.

I'm sorry, ok.

I know it's been almost a month since I blogged and I'm sorry. It's not like I forgot all about you. It's just that when I have sat down to write something I've either been interrupted (actually just deleted three draft posts) or been so struck by the apparently contageous bloggers-block that I've not actually been able to think of anything to say. Today however, I had Hoylus, Matt L and Tim (who I've not seen for ages but was really nice to get a comment from, so Hi Tim) making comments about me not writing anything and, again as you all know, I'm nothing if not willing to bow to peer pressure, so here is a new post about the things that I've been up to this month.

I went to see the Kaiser Chiefs at Brixton Academy. They were excellent.

I watched 'Life Is Beautiful' on DVD and was reminded what a wonderful, powerful and ultimately teary film it is.

Steve, one of the guys who I share, or rather shared, a house with has left to sun himself in Australia, and various other places as he learns how to teach people to sail, scuba dive, windsurf and various other things that you can do if you get bored sitting on a beach. It was sad to see Steve go as I was just getting to know him really well and appreciate the friend that he is before he left to have fun all over the world (no jealousy, honest). The up side to all this is that I now have a permanent place to live and a new room which, incredibly, has remained tidy and clean for an entire month (I'm scared Lizzy will shout at me if it gets into a mess).

This month I've been listeing to the Raconteurs album (brilliant), Richard Ashcroft's slighly inconsitently brilliant new album and anything that my ipod has randomly shuffled to as I walk around.

I've watched nearly two series of Alias with Sparky and Lizzy and am absolutely loving it.

And finally (suddenly came over all Trevor McDonald then, sorry) I watched the last episode ever of the west wing. This was a sad moment for me. Yes, since Aaron Sorkin left at the end of series 4 it's never been quite the same, but a bad episode of the west wing is still better than pretty much anything else on TV. My only consolation is that I can hapily re-watch them again and again on DVD and enjoy them everytime.

Will do my absolute best to post more often since my bloggers-block seems to have, at least for now, gone.

Gigs, Albums and Why's?

Sorry, again, for the delay in posting. I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. Things are still going well with job, girlfriend and life in general. BT finally admitted that we do exist and so have kindly started giving us access to their wonderful broadband so that's allnow sorted. Now for some (hopefully) more interesting stuff.

On Thursday night I went with James Underwood to the first Raconteurs gig in London. It was obviously some sort of big deal as we saw a bunch of music/radio people in the VIP section also waiting to hear exactly what Jack White's new band would sound like. I went to the gig having not heard anything that they'd done at all and came out knowing that I'd be buying the album as soon as it came out. It was proper rock and roll with a bit of pink floyd and an occasional country style flourish thrown in. Jack White is just an incredible, genius guitar player and hearing him play in the context of a band as oppose to him on his own with a drummer was something that everyone should try and see. He dominated the stage, not just because he looked about a foot taller than the other four in the band, but with his sheer stage presence and vituosity. The gig for me was like listening to an album by a new band that you'd not heard before and falling in love with it, except this time it was at a gig, live and loud, and that made it all the more exciting and all the easier to fall completely in love with the exciting, outstanding music of the Raconteurs. You should check out their website www.theraconteurs.com not only because it's just a very cool website, but so that you can listen to a couple of their songs too.

The other night I finally got wound to downloading Graham Coxon's new album 'love travels at illegal speeds' which is a great album title for a great album. Since leaving Blur Graham's made two fantastic guitar driven pop albums that, if they'd been made by a new band and not 'that guy from Blur' would have probably become much more popular. His singing's certainly not the best in the world but his voice is right for the songs which are consistently strong, exciting and excellent. As you'd expect from graham, the guitar playing is fantastic, but he's also got a great band together, which is something that he didn't have for his last album which makes this album sound better than 'Hapiness in Magazines' although I'll need a couple of listens more before I'm confident enough to say that this album is better.

After all that geeking out over music, I want to ask a question. Why are we so crap? Why, for example, do we always leave the washing up until the tea has grown so solid and attatched to the bottom of the mug that it takes 5 minutes soaking and 1 minutes rubbing with the cloth to go away? If we'd just rinsed it under the tap when we'd finished it, wiped it quickly with the cloth it would have been done in seconds. Why, when there's a job to be done, for instance cleaning the bathroom, writing an essay or finally sorting out that bill that should and could have been paid a couple of weeks ago do we, rather than actually just do it, find ourselves suddenly obsessed with beating blackburn on pro evo, fascinated by exactly what Philip Schofield thinks about todays heart warming/tear jerking story on This Morning or unable to do anything without the aid of at least three cups of tea/coffee/cigarettes/west wing episodes or whatever other substance gets you through the day. Why, when we see that the bin in the kitchen is full, do we start a game of jenga with the rubbish, delicately balancing an empty yoghurt pot on top of the pile of old tea bags which in turn are wavering dangerously on the bottom of an upturned empty jar of Lloyd Grossman's Tikka Masala sauce? Why do we do these things? Or is it just me?

The ongoing saga of our internet connection and some more news that's even harder to believe

After 3 months of complaining to Wanadoo that our internet connection isn't working properly, and three months of them saying it will be fixed in 5 days (their definition of days could be similar to the ones in Genesis where one day=an age of the earth) we finally had enough and cancelled our service with them. This means that for the last week we've been without internet access and explains the lack of posts from me this week. Today we found out that wanadoo had disconnected us and so I took on the job of signing us up with a new broadband company. This, technically should be easy but of course, isn't. I tried to sign up with Virgin.net. However, and this may explain the name of the company, every time I got to a certain point in the sign up procedure it told me that it really didn't want to go any further and that maybe I should take things slowly and look at some other broadband companies if I wanted that sort of instant gratification that means that it'll actually do what it says it will. So I tried BT instead, I knew their reputation for being cheap, easy and, according to Lloyd at least, going down at least once a week. I gave BT my phone number and my account number, both of which they originally gave me, and they told me they didn't exist and should go away unless I wanted to phone them, which would of course cost more money. So at this point, after 3 hours and 3 cappucicnos in the natural cafe I am no closer to having any sort of satisfying experience than I was when I got here in the first place.

Now for that hard to believe news.
For reasons that are unlikely to become clear at this point [it's a long story involving the charity I work for, a friend that will remain nameless (although certainly not blameless) and a rock and a hard place] I have been invited to join the Queen and possibly her diplomatically challenged husband at the Buckingham Palace Garden Party on the 20th July. I shall be taking Lizzy for moral support and also for the sandwiches. Obviously most people who know me know my particular feelings on the monarchy (somewhere between indifference and complete and utter pointlessness) will realise exactly how funny this is, especially given that I have to wear 'Morning Dress', whatever that is. I'm sure it will be an interesting experience, but just as a side note, I had to give mine and Lizzy's details to the palace this week so that the invitations would reach us by the date of the party. 'Surely the British post can't be that slow?' I can tell you're asking and of course, it's not. The reason the details now is that they need to write the 24'000 invitations (8'000 at each of the three garden parties) by hand. Yes, someone is paid (probably with our own tax money) to hand write 24'000 invitations. Surely the palace has at least one computer somewhere?

Anyway, should go now. No idea when I'll post again, hopefully I'll sort out our internet problems with a phonecall to BT (although I wouldn't bet on it). I wanted to post a poem by Spike Milligan that I discovered the other day, but I can't cos I forgot the book and can't find it on the internet so I'll do that next time.

My Supportive Girlfriend

This week, as I've already mentioned, has been half term. This has meant a very busy week for me. It has also meant a nice, quiet week off for Lizzy. Now, normally, as I'm the first to admit, Lizzy works incredibly hard and she absolutely deserves a week of relaxation and lie ins. Because Lizzy works hard I like to think that I support her by doing things like sending her a nice text during the day or helping her out with some of her schoolwork [just to remind you here that she's a teacher] or going to see her school productions. This week then has been a bit of a role reversal and Lizzy, in her own way, has tried to support me. How has she done this? She has also used the medium of text to send encouraging messages. Thursday morning, as I sat on a bus, still trying to wake up properly and surrounded by 13 excited and very loud young people on our way to a football tournament I got the following, encouraging, supportive text from Lizzy:
"I'm watching lord of the rings with a cuppa and some carrot cake! x"

Friday I had the day off and Lizzy suggested we have lunch and watch return of the king together. 'Brilliant' I thought, 'I've got a girlfriend that wants to sit down together and spend a relaxing afternoon watching Lord of the Rings.' Eventually we did actually get to do this, and it was wonderful to sit with Lizzy and watch one of the most incredible stories ever. However, I use the word 'eventually' for a reason. What Lizzy, showing a continuing understanding for my hard week, actually meant when she said 'we'll have lunch and watch Lord of the Rings' is: 'We'll have lunch and then you'll work out how to put up my cupboard doors, then you'll help me sort out my room, then you'll put up my new computer desk having moved my keyboard around and then we'll watch Lord of the Rings.' A saying containing the words 'carrot and stick' come to mind.

[Disclaimer: I want to make it perfectly clear that I had a completely wonderful day on Friday. It was nothing but a joy to help Lizzy set up her room and the text I recieved from Lizzy on Thursday did nothing but brighten up my day and in no way made me just wish I was sat at home in the warmth watching Lord of the Rings with my wonderful girlfriend.]

You just won't believe this

My Mum and Dad's church have been wanting to do some awareness and fund rasing about human trafficing which is a terrible injustice that is going on. In a couple of weeks they have a big weekend launch for their project called... wait for it: Stop Human Traffiking. Or, to use the acronym they're actually using: the SHT weekend! There comes a point when you just have to let go and see if your parents sink or swim, I think this is one of them.
Just thought that you'd all enjoy that piece of information.

I'm Knackered

I'm knackered.
Three days with large groups of the kids I work with playing different sports, eating food, making valentines cards (just don't ask!) and various other things has finally driven me to the point where I'm now lying on my bed with my laptop on my lap (which is surely the whole point of them anyway) and not planning to move from this spot til I get up tomorrow. I know all that sounds like it might be fun, and some of it was, but you would not believe the bickering and abuse that has gone on over the last few days. AHhhhh!!

Other than being knackered though, things are going well. Spoke to Steve and Em using the wonder that is ichat, they both seem to be having fun and enjoying life as bigshot businessman and wife (Steve has a very cool chair, ask him about it).

Anyway, just thought that i should write something so that the people that say 'you never write anything' haven't got anything to moan about. I know that there's not really anything interesting in this post, so I'll just give you a rundown on the things I'm looking forward to this year:
New albums from Radiohead, the streets and maybe Blur if we're lucky.
The final episodes of the west wing (what will I do when that finishes? other than just watch then all repeatedly on DVD) and the new series of Scrubs.
The return of superman and, with a sense of dread, the x-men.
I'm sure there's things I've forggotten in that list, but like I said, i'm knackered so not particularly thinking that straigh.

Record vs Song

Last night in, I presume, Los Angeles U2 won five Grammys including best album for 'how to handle an atomic bomb' and best song for 'sometimes you can't make it on your own'. On winning, Bono said 'don't expect this to give us big heads, it's too late for that. The Guardian covered the event if you want to read a bit more about them HERE.
I read the whole article and there was no mention at all of Greenday in it until, at the bottom of the article where there's a list of the big winners of the night and, alongside song of the year and album of the year is an award for record of the year which greenday won for boulevard of broken dreams (which is a great song). Now my question is this: What's the difference between record of the year and song of the year?
If anyone has any idea please let me know, cos I haven't got a clue!

A Moose

I had a roast diner round at Lizzy's house last night. Lizzy has taken to calling me monkey in what can only be described as a very, very bad yorkshire accent after she heard me going on about the Arctic Monkeys and took a liking to the way I say monkey. However, she also sometimes calls Chalie (her housemate) a monkey and has decided that she can't call us both that and so, for reasons that are completely unfathomable to anyone that isn't Lizzy, she has taken to calling Charlie a moose. This sparked a discussion that went something like this:

Lizzy: [to Charlie] You Monkey!
[Charlie starts to make monkey noises and jumps around the kitchen. Lizzy has been thinking about her comment and makes a decision]
Lizzy: I'm not calling you a monkey, that's James. You can be a moose.
Charlie: What noise does a moose make?
Lizzy: [after thinking for a bit] I don't know.
[Charlie and Lizzy leave the kitchen and enter the front room where, along with their other housemates I'm sat]
Lizzy: James, what noise does a moose make?
James: I'm not sure, but I've got a feeling that they honk.
Claire (another of Lizzy's housemates): I thought Geese honked.
James: Yeah, that's true, but I've got a feeling that Moose do too.
Jenifer (Lizzy's other housemate): What is the plural of moose anyway.
James: I think it's one moose lot's of moose, like sheep.
Charlie: I thought Moose were more like cows, not sheep. I don't think they baa.
James: No, not that moose are like sheep. Just that the plural of moose is moose, like you have one sheep and lots of sheep.

Of course I wasn't willing to not know what sound a moose makes so I did some research on the web today and it turns out that they do indeed honk. If you want to hear a moose honk click on this link:
Moose Honks
Incidently, I think hearing a moose honk is the sort of thing that everyone should do at least once in their lifetime. I'm sure that a live moose honk is much more impressive and provides a much better clarity of sound. However, since I don't know many people, in this country at least, who happen to have a moose handy for when they do want to hear one honk, this recording can at least safely allow you to experience a mooses honk without all the trouble of having to cope with the smell and general unpleasentness of having to come face to face, or at least face to snout, with a moose. I don't want to be Moosist here, really, I mean I've never even met one. I just get the impression that they are rather smelly and bad tempered beasts that, if you ignore their wonderful honk, you would rather not meet, especially if you take a look at some of their rather dangerous and potentially neck breaking horns.
I think I've said enough about Moose now.

Oasis vs. The Arctic Monkeys

I spent last Friday night at a bar (mook) in Notting Hill celebrating Jenny’s 30th Birthday. It was a great night despite the music being at a level that meant that the following morning, anyone that had spent any time actually talking to people, woke up with either no voice or a very sore throat. I had a great time catching up with some people that I hadn’t seen for a while. One of these people was James Underwood, a good friend and, at least as importantly, someone that I can talk to about music, films and Nick Hornby style top 5 lists with without repetition, hesitation or pause. During a long conversation that included our top 5 lists of last year and various other geeky things, the subject of the arctic monkeys and their huge debut album (Whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not) came up. The last time I can remember a debut album causing this much of a stir was Oasis’ definitely maybe, so I asked him which one he thought was the best. I must be honest and confess that I can’t remember what he said, but since then I’ve been trying to work out what I thought about this question.

So, which album is better? If we judge on sales then the arctic monkeys (since they do have the biggest selling debut album of all time have sold over 360’000 copies) clearly win. But then if we judge things on sales then that makes James Blunt, Westlife and all the other waste of space ‘bands’ very good, which clearly they’re not. Musically both albums are fairly basic guitar driven albums. There’s nothing hugely inventive or different about the music on these albums from many other guitar albums. They both take a sound that was (or is) progressing and popular at the time but also feel in some ways a culmination of everything that is or was going on in the indie scene. They both come from northern cities, which at first may just seem either a bit irrelevant or just grandstanding on the part of us northerners but it does mean that both bands have made it big without moving to London. This means that both bands have had to build up a following and a reputation in their own cities before being taken notice of by the ‘people in the know’ of the music scene. In the case of Oasis this was done through creation records and particularly Alan McGee, with the arctic monkeys it was with clever use of the internet (which in those ancient days of the mid 90’s was not an option) and for both of them it was an embracement by the music press and people (and more specifically) the teenagers that embrace and identify with the music and the style.

So to the important things, the songs themselves. Both albums are consistently full of songs I love, even the naffer songs on each album (digsby’s dinner or red light indicates doors locked). Neither album really has any great variety on it just slightly louder/quieter/faster/slower songs of the same type. Lyrically the arctic monkeys album is consistently better oasis. Alex Turner has a similar sort of lyrical style to that other great Sheffield bloke Jarvis Cocker, full of whit, cynicism and biting humour. He’s introduced the distinctly phrase ‘mardy bum’ (think ‘stroppy cow’) to the world and my personal favourite ‘There's only music, so that there's new ringtones’. Of course on the other hand we have oasis singing about ‘driving with my friend mr soft; mr clean and mr ben are living in my loft’. Not that all Oasis’ lyrics are bad, cigarettes and alcohol, rock and roll star and live forever are songs that defined my generation and, when I was a teenager expressed my thoughts and dreams better than anyone else. I’ve got to be honest here say that, in the end, no matter what I think musically about the albums, it’s always going to be difficult for me to choose anything over definitely maybe. Mainly because I’m not 15 anymore, and as much as I hate to admit it, and as much as I still love and get excited about music, it just isn’t in the same way as when I was 15. When I was 15 music was my entire world. When a new album, a new song, a new band came out that excited me, it was the most important thing in my life and as good as any new music is, I’ll never quite feel like that about music now.

So which album do I think is the best? Of course Oasis suffer from the fact that the album’s over 10 years old and incredibly familiar to everyone over 16 and that they’ve since released 5 carbon copy albums of varying, but always at least slightly substandard, quality. It’s not really fair to let that dilute the brilliance of Definitely Maybe, but there’s over 10 years of disappointment associated with Oasis that the Arctic Monkeys just don’t have. [Just on a side note, was doing some studio work with an 11 year old this week who happened to mention he like guitar bands but just looked blank when I mentioned Oasis, I must be getting old.] The Arctic Monkeys on the other hand are still at the point where not only is their music still exciting, new and young, so are they. These guys only got their instruments for their 18th birthdays and only one of them has reached 20. If they’ve gone from not really playing to this album in under 2 years and they keep developing musically at the same rate they could be an outstanding band. There is a hope of that when you listen to them that just doesn’t exist anymore when I listen to Oasis. SO which album do I think is better? Well, at the moment I’d rather listen to the arctic monkeys than anyone. Does that make it a better record? Probably not. Nearly 12 years later I still love listening to Definitely Maybe and there’s a remembered excitement and nostalgia when I do. Will I be able to say the same about the arctic monkeys in 12 years time will be a fairer way of judging the two. Of course by then, the Arctic Monkeys could either be as big, exciting and innovative as Radiohead, or bring a vague memory of a half decent album.

I'm back, and I'm sorry...

I know it's been a long time but, honest, I ran outta gas. I had a flat tyre. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from outta town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locust's. It wasn't my fault!!

How is everyone? It's been a long time since I last entered the world that is blog but Christmas being Christmas I was busy with the usual parties, families and Christmas cakes, puddings and food in general. Since then things have settled down a bit but our lovely new wireless internet at home has, when it's actually working at all, been doing it's best impression of an early 90's dial-up connection. So I'm sorry that it's taken so long to actually write anything. My Christmas was good, caught up with a lot of friends and was wonderful to see all the Coles clan briefly back in Britain. Got some great presents (the 'Conversations with Bono' book is highly recommended) and got to spend some time with my family, my girlfriend and my friends which was all good.

The new years really been and gone and various lists of top 5's of the year that have been appearing all over the various blogs (although strangely as far as I'm aware only on the ones written by the male bloggers) and there's no need for any more. Then again, there's probably no real reason to add any more blog entries in this blogful world but that hasn't stopped anyone so here are my top 5's of 2005:

Music:
For me, it's not been a great year for albums. A lot of bands have written some good singles and some of the albums I've listened to most were actually released in 2004 and just slowly burnt their way into my life in 2005. That said, my top 5 albums of 2005 are:
1. Come on and feel the illinoise - Sufjan Stevens
2. Get Behind Me Satan - The White Stripes
3. You Could Have It So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand
4. The Back Room - Editors
5. Employment - The Kaiser Chiefs

And my top 5 songs of 2005:
1. Fix You - Coldplay
2. Sometimes you can't make it on your own - U2
3. My Doorbell - The White Stripes
4. Photograph - Jamie Cullum
5. I bet you look good on the dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
Now I'm not saying these are the best albums or songs in terms of musicianship, but they are the ones I've listened to the most and the songs/ albums that have meant something to me, or excited me over the last year.
As for the worst, most annoying music of the year, for the first time in years someone has supplanted the consistently evil westlife. Congratulations James Blunt, I didn't think it was possible to mix the sheer crapness of westlife, the whinyness of David Gray and the lyrical shallowness of the pussycat dolls, but you managed it. May your huge advertising royalties provide some sort of comfort as you lie in bed knowing that you annoy as many people as seem to, for no logical reason whatsoever, buy your records.

Film:
Again, not a great year for films. There's some films I've enjoyed at the time but will never watch again (the lion the witch and the wardrobe, King Kong). There's some films that have been huge disappointments (King Kong again) but unlike with the albums and songs my top 5 of last year is actually fairly easy to write:
1. Batman Begins
2. Sin City
3. Crash
4. Serenity
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Of course, with a new trilogy Star Wars film coming out it was going to be difficult for any other film to win the prestigious honour of most disappointing film of 2005. That didn't stop many trying, with special mention going to the Fantastic 4 which only managed to stay ahead of Star Wars by having Jessica Alba appear in various states of 'highly amusing and embarrassing' undress as she came to terms with her invisibility powers (having mastered these though, I fear for the sequel). So despite other films best efforts, and despite revenge of the sith being easily the best of the new trilogy, it still is so disappointing to see a star wars film bereft of humour, character and any lasting sense of excitement that only this film could rightly be named the most disappointing film of 2005.

TV:
Unlike film and music, this year has been a wonderful year for television. I watched lots of this on DVD so to say some of it is the best of 2005 may be unfair, but this was the year that the west wing came back from its disappointing 5th season. It was the year of Doctor Who's return. But most of all it was the year that I discovered Scrubs. Therefore my top 5 are:
1. Scrubs (all 4 and a bit seasons of which I've seen for the first time this year)
2. The West Wing Season 6 (and beginning of series 7)
3. Doctor Who
4. QI
5. 24 Season 4.
And the worst thing on TV? Anything with the word celebrity in the title or that includes a public phone vote.

Other 2005 Stuff:
I'm not going to get into any top 5's here, but there are some things worth mentioning about 2005. The Make Poverty History campaign and Live8 concert is something that will stand out in my memory, as is the incredible U2 concert I went to in June.
2005 was also the year I left Scotland to return to London where things seem to go from good to better at the moment.
2005, as ever, was also a year that I managed to get over excited about some stuff that, in retrospect, wasn't really worth it (see the Hitchhikers movie and Star Wars posts for evidence of this!).
My sister and my best friend got married, I only moved house twice (which isn't bad going for me) and I got a real, proper, grown up job.

So that was 2005. Let's hope that 2006 is a great one, which so far, it has been. Already there's been an album that eclipses all of last years, the arctic monkeys - 'Whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not' which will probably be confirmed today as the biggest selling debut album ever. If you've not heard them (and where have you been if you haven't?) they're a Sheffield band that write lyrics like Jarvis Cocker, write music somewhere between the strokes, the futureheads, franz ferdinand and the libertines and are as exciting as Oasis were when definitely maybe first showed up.
And 2006 has also already got a contender for the funniest quote of the year. Lizzy, like her sister Jenny (whose 30th was happily celebrated this Friday) has a tendency to mix up their sayings whenever they try. Please post what you think she was actually trying to say when she uttered the immortal phrase: "there's no point snogging a dead donkey".

I promise to post more often this coming year. Honest!