It was dark as I drove the point home

Listening to: That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore - The Smiths

Oh my god, oh my god, this is the greatest thing ever: Christina Aguilera and Le Tigre to collaborate. How genius is that? I knew Christina Aguilera was cool. I’m so excited!

Also, this is not exactly the greatest thing ever, but some of that laughter you hear might be mine – my housemate B and I were at this taping last week!:

It was so much fun to go to! I hate Johnny Vegas – cannot stand him – but they seem to have cut most of his stuff out anyway, because it was utter incoherent nonsense. Jimmy Carr seemed to find him as irritating as I did and did lots of quiet huffing and pointed ignoring. (I’ve been listening to Jimmy Carr’s Writers’ Room podcast lately, and I have a new appreciation for him. He’s quite funny and surprisingly interesting.) The team captains didn’t have as much to say as the edit makes it seem – Sean Lock pretty much stared into space for much of the last hour or so of taping (everyone was a bit tired, and he apparently has a new baby at home). But there was a lot of really funny stuff, and it was interesting to watch it all happen. Also, the BBC employs some very attractive camera crew people.

In other news, there is a tube strike on for another 24 hours or so, but it’s okay because I’ve started walking to work as well as home.

Also! I am going to see Tori Amos in September! And I’m so broke now. Scarily, can-pay-my-rent-for-two-months-but-not-much-else broke. But I think it’ll be okay – I still have the temp job, and I just need to stop slacking off on the library job search. (I’m not slacking off so much as – I can only use the internet in the living room [wireless issues], and my housemate M always seems to be here and will not shut up EVER so it’s hard to concentrate on anything. But I had a sneaky look at job sites with one of the other temps at work today, and I found some library jobs to apply for in the next couple of weeks!)

(On the subject of M’s talking? So annoying. Oh my god. I have had to become monosyllabic in self-defence, which feels kind of rude but there doesn’t seem to be any other way to stem the tide. And it’s so inane! Some of my best friends are talkers, and that’s cool because they have interesting though processes, but this – it just makes me want to be mean. Which is bad. Help.)

P.S. Also from The Guardian - new Lemonheads album!

 

Don’t mess with the messer

Dudes!

Koko Taylor died. She was brilliant. Check her out.

 

You broke my heart in seventeen places / Shepherd’s Bush was only one

Listening to: You Broke My Heart in 17 Places – Kirsty MacColl

Argh! I just tried to rewrite my CV to get it down to 2 pages, and now it’s about 63 pages long.

Is your CV full of achievements? Do you find it hard to think of public library assistant work in that way, or is it just me? I should have viewed the past year in terms of CV fodder, and instead I frittered it away. Even things that I sort of think are “achievements” sound wanky when I try to write about them as such. Should I have been keeping a tally of how many books I personally catalogued? How do you quantify ordinary customer service to make it more marketable when you haven’t actually been selling anything?

Yeah, it occurred to me recently that my resume is complete rubbish and is probably the reason I haven’t got a job yet. Still, as I get on with it, this is making me laugh:

 

May you never lose your temper if you get in a bar room fight / May you never lose your woman overnight

Listening to: May You Never – John Martyn

Hello!

I think I should start blogging again, or I’ll probably missing out on what is potentially the most interesting content this blog will ever see. And having set the bar that high, I find that I don’t actually have time to write about anything today - think of this like a trailer for the main event.

(Making this more appropriately English than you may realise – trailers here suck! They’ve been advertising a couple of films on TV lately – In the Loop and The Boat That Rocked - and they don’t tell you anything! Or rather they tell you but don’t show anything! The In the Loop trailer basically has a couple of shots of Peter Capaldi and Tom Hollander not saying anything and a voiceover going “Critics are calling it the funniest British film in years!” – and that’s it, ad over. Who would go and see anything based on that?)

 

When I first came to London I was only sixteen, with a fiver in my pocket and my old dancing bag

Listening to: The Old Main Drag – The Pogues

I’m at an internet café, so don’t have much time left for anything, but I just wanted to quickly let you know that so far I am so, so pleased with everything. So far, this is not a disaster! Who’d have thought?

Shepherd’s Bush is really – everything that Adelaide is not (for me! I mean, I did actually take a few moments before I left to appreciate that it’s quite a nice city, sort of, and I seek to disparage none of you who choose to stay there). And obviously the grain of salt there is that I’m two days in and everything is still new and exciting, but I do like it so much. The house is not a dump. The area is pretty but interesting. There are things to see and do, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg – out there, beyond Shepherd’s Bush Green, which is far as I’ve yet ventured, is London.

Oh! And today it was properly cold until mid-afternoon – scarf/gloves/beanie cold. So awesome.

 

[tinkly, flutey, Muzak-y sounds]

Listening to: airport music

Hello! I have very little to report, but I am blogging from Changi Airport just because I can (!).

(Changi Airport is awesome, by the way. I can’t believe the time I’ve wasted at KLIA and Denpasar in the past. They have a butterfly garden here! And a free cinema, which will shortly be screening Juno.) And free internet! Being stranded here for 24 hours would probably be fine!*

I immediately burst into tears upon disappearing through the customs gate at Adelaide Airport, but I’m doing okay now. (If any of you would like to drop everything and move to London with me, that would be great, though. Give it some thought.) Singapore is exciting, and I can only imagine actually leaving the airport in London will be better still (right?).

I’m off to explore – thanks, everyone, for all the well wishes, etc. (Eeeeee! I’m actually doing this!)

*Yeah, ask me about that sometime.

 

She makes dirty phonecalls ’cause it pays well, and she calls it the wages of love

Listening to: Mary Mac – The Blackeyed Susans

Quick question: would it be foolish to go and see Jeffrey Lewis by myself at the Scala? I’d be okay, right? I’m accustomed to wandering streets at night by myself, and it’s on a big main road close to Kings’ Cross St Pancras station.

I’m kicking myself for not checking gig guides sooner, because PJ Harvey was already sold out by the time I realised she was playing Shepherd’s Bush Empire in mid-April. Jeffrey Lewis seems like a nice consolation, but I don’t know London-at-night well enough to judge whether it’s a good idea.

 

If this is the future, I don’t want to know

Listening to: The Teller – Throwing Muses

I answered my own question! I’ve started listening to Slate Magazine’s Culture Gabfest and Spoiler Specials podcasts.

Also, I forgot to mention before that I quite like Stephen Fry’s Podgrams, too.

 

Close your eyes, stop your ears, shut your mouth

Listening to: Song of Choice – Roaring Jack

Do you listen to podcasts? Which ones?

My favourites are the Guardian’s Media Talk (not because I’m especially interested in the ins and outs of the British media, but I like the dynamic between the presenters) and BBC 4’s Friday Night Comedy News Quiz (which I love). I used to listen to Filmspotting, but I’ve gone off it a bit, so I’m looking for another – any suggestions?

(The F Word also did a couple of podcasts, but haven’t posted any new ones in over a year. I really enjoyed them.)

 

Oh, I could squeeze my lemon till my blues went away

Listening to: If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day – Half Man Half Biscuit

Remind me to try this pancake recipe – I’ve been using the recipe from Vegan with a vengeance and I like it, but it’s a bit cakey and American-y.