Thursday 24 December 2009

in case I don't get chance to say it

Have a lovely Christmas. Lots of mince pies and crackers and sprouts and stuffing and family and smiling.

The works.

Monday 21 December 2009

one of the more flowery outcrops of modern life

Such such splendid times. I love my blog (so much), and I have always loved YouTube, but I think I've fallen for YouTube even more deeply in the past few weeks.

I have added links to a few excellent channels in the "Some Things Extraordinary" list on the right - definitely worth a look.

I am not neglecting my blog, however, as I do adore it - but new realms of YouTubian possibility are revealing themselves in an exciting way.

If you're not a user of YouTube or just haven't really explored it much, I really encourage you to. Well worth it.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

And so it has :)

Friday 18 December 2009

exciting

I have decided to embrace the world of "vlogging" (that's the video equivalent of blogging, for the unacquainted...). Huzzah!

Here is my first attempt:

Wednesday 16 December 2009

my life currently

The probability of me being able to get to sleep any time in the next few hours is fairly low to be honest, so blogging is what I shall do.

Summarise my life over the last couple of days? Well, I've been dipping in and out of feeling pretty low, to relatively OK, to gritty and tragic again. An inordinate amount of time has been spent on Facebook (and trying not to be on Facebook), poetry has been read, Christmas tree has been decorated, and yet I have moped about, wished for things that can't be, and felt sorry for myself far more than I probably should.

I should really have been working on my two essays that are due in after the Christmas holidays - I did get a little bit of work done on one of them - but haven't really been able to concentrate much. Pathetic, I know.

A good thing that has come out of the past couple of days, however, is my acquisition of the soundtrack to the aforementioned Somers Town. Both the film and its soundtrack I literally cannot recommend enough. The music is only available by download (you can find the right site through the film's own website), but so so worth it. Just so lovely.

So, while I was inevitably moping about and debating whether to get out of bed this morning, I turned the album on and lay there grinning inanely. Trust me, it's fab.

As for this evening, I watched this film (for the millionth time) with my Mum with a bowl of soup and a hefty tub of Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream. And that was lovely too.

Now? Well, I will try (and inevitably fail) not to linger around pointlessly on Facebook, and try instead to read my book, listen to my new album, and try to get a grip.

Tuesday 15 December 2009

he knew his stuff



Though gay companions o'er the bowl
May dispel awhile the sense of ill;
Though pleasure stirs the maddening soul,
The heart -- the heart -- is lonely still.

- Byron

Sunday 13 December 2009

an explanation

I am now at home, so Monday's Faces and Leunig on Sunday will continue when I get back to Newcastle after the Christmas holidays (3rd of January).

But panic not, I shall rustle up something equally wonderful in the upcoming weeks...

Sunday 6 December 2009

well and truly

in the Christmas spirit now. I trotted off to Wilkinsons on Friday with a view to buying some serious decorations (well, as many as my impoverished student pocket could afford) - and this was the result:







Not bad, eh?

Wednesday 2 December 2009

two cinema trips

The first:

Just lovely. Very beautiful film, full of colour and expression. Very sad, but to be expected given the true story, but very delicate and not over-sentimental. Not only that, but heroine is curvy enough to give us all hope of finding a tragic but beautiful Romantic poet out there.



The second:

Feel ashamed to admit it, but I really bloomin' enjoyed this one too. Perhaps not as heart-wrenching and gorgeous, but - I've got to hand it to them - it's certainly compelling. Left the cinema feeling all teen-angsty and as giddy as a 15 year-old, and inevitably in love with a werewolf. £4 well spent, I'd say.

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Monday's Faces

Slightly belated, but here nonetheless. Here is this week's Monday Face:


Love this lady. Perhaps she's celebrating getting her first house? Who knows. I just love the little table with the tablecloth and plant - I wonder how long she took to decide what to put on the table?

I can identify with her pride over her house, something that just belongs to her. Recently, and rather pathetically perhaps, I've been overcome with a nesting urge - I cannee wait to get a house after uni and decorate it and make it all cosy.

Well, maybe when I do I can orchestrate a picture like this one and put it up here for all to see. Sounds like a plan...