Writer's Block

We've reached the end of the year of daily blogging. 366 posts (because on one of the days I forgot how to count). I'm afraid you're going to have to humour me and ignore the 20 or so posts that don't have any real content in them. But I gave it a crack and in a technical sense, I completed the task. For the most part, I've enjoyed writing these posts and I hope they are of some value to someone, no matter how small. As I said on the blog on New Year's Eve last year, maintaining mental clarity is important to me as is trying to keep myself in something approaching the right frame of mind to properly function as a human being. I'm still wrestling inside my head with the idea that I'm wasting my life, what I have achieved isn't good enough and that I should be ashamed of myself. With that in mind I'd like to take a moment to focus on the positive things from this year for me.  Completing the AAT Level 2 Certificate In Accounting in a three mont...

I did a spot of post Christmas vinyl shopping, procuring Dan Andriano And The Emergency Room's "Party Adjacent" and what I believed was going to be Kevin Devine's "Split The Country, Split The Streets" but turned out to be that record plus "Make The Clocks Move". Another record I like very much. This surprise two for one has very much made me a happy camper.  Sunderland lost again. I was at work but my father described it as "shite". The relegation we've inexplicably avoided for the past four season must surely now be at hand. My dad may well take it harder than me. I don't suppose he thinks he'll ever see his team truly competing at the top level again. I've just seen Jelle Klaasen beat Phil Taylor at the PDC World Championships 4-3. It was an extraordinary match, with both players having a dart at double to win. My rather speculative bets both on Klaasen to win and to do so 4-3 have left me with a bit in my betting c...

Since I last wrote, the world has learned of the passing of Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and Pavel Srnicek. I'm not going to claim I was a huge fan of Motorhead*, but you didn't need to be to acknowledge the influence they had on rock music and a huge number of artists. If the claim on his Wikipedia page that he drank a bottle of Jack Daniels a day between the ages of 30-68 is true, it's remarkable he lived to be three score and ten. But what a life. I remember Srnicek from when I used to watch football constantly as a child (not much has changed). Not only was he a fine servant for Newcastle United but also a gentleman admired and respected across the game. There's very little these two men appear to have in common, save for the brutal, swift nature of their demise. Lemmy passed away two days after learning he had an aggressive form of cancer, having played a headline show in Berlin less than three weeks ago (Motorhead were also due to play the Hammersmith Apo...

Only three more blogs to go after this one before I have fulfilled my new year's resolution for 2015. I have made an effort in the past few days to go back and add content to the entries that are a little lacking. I haven't fully checked but I reckon that are at least 20 entries that have no subject matter at all and that's before we even get to the stupid 250 word minimum that I foolishly imposed. It seems unlikely that I will address those before 2016. But I merely vowed to write a blog every day for a year. I didn't say anything about content. I hope the very few readers of this blog haven't been short changed, anyway. Having reviewed the entries earlier this year, I'm kind of pleased that I maintained enough interest at least initially to write pieces of a reasonable length. As you may have read, the past few months have been something of a slog. As my friend Chris said, it was understandable that I might set myself a challenge or preoccupy my time with ...

My Christmas cheer feels like it's swiftly evaporating*. Part of me wants to crack on with 2016 and part of me is terrified of cracking on with 2016 because of the scale of some of the tasks at hand. I suppose this is roughly the time that people who have gone home for Christmas start getting sick of their families. The difference being that those people will be able to leave within the next few days, rather than being forced to stay in the same situation all year round due to economic circumstance/incompetence/whatever else**. I suppose what I'm trying to say is I need some "me time". And me time is in short supply with four adults in a bungalow. I'm rather looking forward to going back to work on Tuesday, as it happens. Still, I won some money on the football yesterday and have been the recipient of an unexpected bonus, which has proved to be a much needed filip. It may have provided a platform for a new strategy. Sit tight, save up and hopefully move out. *...

As is normally the case, this has been a Boxing Day of overindulgence and watching football. I can't remember a worst time to be a Manchester United fan in my lifetime*, as they fell to a fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions for the first time since 1961 in a 2-0 loss away to Stoke. What was most dispiriting about this was the sheer predictability of it. It is difficult to ascertain what Louis Van Gaal's philosophy is anymore. He seems to have no concept of how to alter his tactics during a match or how to use his resources to meet the challenges of Premier League football. He is a profoundly arrogant man who does not comprehend what is required of him as Manchester United manager.  Watching Arsenal getting tonked 4-0 by Southampton later in the day has provided some comfort, even when accompanied by the asinine and idiotic co-commentary of Robbie Savage on BT Sport. Oh god, Robbie Savage. I would happily see Robbie Savage fired out of a catapault like in that episo...

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you're having a good one. Mine has been fairly textbook. Too much turkey, too much chocolate, a little nap. I missed The Queen's Speech but assume it wasn't the sweary outburst I've been hoping for for the past twenty years. I'm currently sitting through a passable Downton Abbey* after a typically nonsensical Doctor Who**. By far the best Christmas viewing so far has been Big Hero 6. Visually stunning, emotive and frequently very funny, I loved it. Alone with Frozen it appears to have invigorated the Disney brand. I very much Baymax comes back for a second outing. It's been good to have a Christmas with the whole family with my sister spending last year's in Bogota. I'm quite fortunate to be spending the festive season with loved ones. I have been following Sarah Millican's "Join In" initiative on Twitter to help people who are less fortunate and spending the day alone. I can only send my best wishes for...

I'm settling down to my traditional Christmas Eve screening of The Muppet Christmas Carol, in my view the best Christmas film of all time*. Gonzo and Rizzo make a fine double act, Miss Piggy and Kermit provide an emotional core as always and of course, Michael Caine puts in an extraordinary dramatic performance as Ebernezer Scrooge*. It is also traditional for me to gripe about the omission of Belle's song from the most recent DVD release and all TV showings on the film. I consider it to be hugely important in Scrooge's transition from hard-hearted miser to generous philanthropist. Some people think that the ballad slows down the pace of the film and are happy to do without it. Those people are fools who are ignorant of the nuances of narrative.Anyway, grumbling aside, this piece from The Guardian this week on the subject of how the film was made is well worth a look. On a sad note, a car crashed through the window of Costa in Westerham this morning. At the time of w...

Unsurprisingly, Suffragette is a drama concerning the Suffragette movement in Britain in the early 1920s and their struggle to secure votes for women. At the end of the film, the year that women were granted the vote in a number of different nations scrolls down the screen. It demonstrates that suffrage for women around the world remains a depressingly prevalent issue. We see the movement through the eyes of Maude Watts, a composite character played by Carey Mulligan. She's a 24 year old laundrette worker who initially finds herself dragged into the world of the Suffragettes by giving evidence to the House of Commons as a last minute replacement. As the film progresses she feels compelled to involve herself in direct action, eventually sacrificing her job and family to do so. Her transition and general hardening of demenour feel believable and that's largely due to the skill with which Mulligan inhabits the role. The film does an effective job of portraying the bleak landsc...

Using multimedia, Kim Noble offers a personal take on the theme of loneliness in the modern age. That would be a reasonable description of "You're Not Alone" but it provides absolutely no insight into what experiencing this show is actually like. It's been critically acclaimed by fellow comedians and arty types. I suspect because they admire his fearlessness. This is more of a performance art piece than a comedy show and Noble is seemingly prepared to stop at nothing as he undertakes what he describes as "stunts". These include but are by no means limited to: rummaging through his neighbour's bins to find her bank details, playing porn through loud speakers as a response to the couple living above him having sex, pretending to work in B+Q, developing an obsession with a Morrisons worker called Keith and creating a female persona to develop relationships with male strangers. There is undeniable a brutal sense of humour in some of these sections, like ...

Frank Turner took to the stage at Union Chapel on Saturday declaring that "It's my last show of the year, I've decided to play the songs that I want to play". The result was the sort of show that I've been waiting to see from him for a while, as he delved into the furthest reaches of his back catalogue. "Broken Piano", last seen accompanied by flames at the 02 Arena last year, proved an effective solo ballad, whilst his performance of "Glorious You" from his new record possessed a sense of nuance and depth lacking from the full band version. It's fun seeing Turner cut a little loose and there's a fun running thread of him playing a series of songs on the subject of past loves after mentioning that he's in a new relationship. "To Take You Home" is undeniably schmaltzy but Turner sells it well. By far the best of these is "Redemption". The tale of a relationship crumbling apart, it's often requested but seldo...

I'm breaking with protocol and splitting my review of Frank Turner's benefit gig for Shelter at the Union Chapel into two sections. The night was opened by Lewis Bootle (22 and from Hertfordshire). His songs are charming, even if I found some of the lyrics a little trite. The people behind me made comparisons between him and a young Jamie T, which I could see. I felt more than a smidge of Ed Sheeran in some of his songs. The set showed promise though and he has time on his side to develop a sound of his own. I wanted to separately acknowledge Ben Marwood's set last night, in part because I love a comeback. It was his first show for 18 months after a bout of illness that threatened to become serious. I've seen him about three times, bought all of his merchandise and never spoken to him. What Daniel Kitson would describe as "melancholy yet strangely optimistic", his songs are darkly witty and distictive and I like them very much. In particular the song ...

There's probably no point writing a match report type analysis here. Sunderland went 2-0 down within 15 minutes to a team who have been rubbish for most of the season courtesy of a decent Ivanovic header and an atrociously defended Pedro strike. Then went catastrophically kamikaze at the start of the second half, conceded a penalty and the third goal. Jermain Defoe could have brought upon a thrilling conclusion with a fine chance spurned shortly after and the rest of the match kind of petered out. Tactically naive and hugely disappointing, it leaves Sunderland 5 points off safety by the end of the weekend with Manchester City and Liverpool to come before the end of the year. What I'll remember is the indefatigable spirit of the Sunderland end, singing constantly for the entire 90 minutes in spite of the match essentially being over after a quarter of an hour. "2-0 and you still don't sing" and "Mourinho's right, your fans are shite" being my partic...

...everywhere you go. Oh what joy and fun we'll have in but a week's time. I saw Suffragette and Kim Noble's show "You're Not Alone" at the Soho Theatre yesterday. Reviews will follow in due course*. Sadly, having bought a ticket with the hope of chanting "You're getting sacked in the morning" at Jose Mourinho tomorrow, the Chelsea heirarchy have jumped the gun and given the Portugese the boot for the second time. He is as short as 6/4 to be the next manager of Manchester United. That to me would simply confirm that the club 's focus is short term. I suspect it won't happen. Anyway, if it's true that the players "stopped performing" for Mourinho then that might place Sunderland smack bang in the middle of the crosshairs tomorrow. Although it will probably be followed by a media inquisition into Mourinho's ousting. But that will be little comfort for us as we presumably sit second from bottom in the table on Christmas D...

Spoilers may follow. Tonight we said goodbye to Peep Show. On the whole, I've enjoyed this final series. It's been rather outlandish and wacky in places but if you try not to think too much about the plotlines, there's been a lot of funny business to enjoy. The finale certainly wasn't the show's finest half hour but it certainly encapsulated why I'll miss it. It might have been quite an easy set up, but Mark describing Jeremy as "Rip Van Wankel" made me laugh more than anything else this month thus far. I didn't seriously think either of them would ride joyously off into the sunset and so it proved, with any hopes of Mark getting together with April dashed by another ridiculous plot executed by Jez and Super Hans (off to the Balkans, obviously). It concluded with Mark (unemployed, having failed romantically once more) and Jeremy (now in his forties, rejected by his boyfriend ten years his junior) left together in the flat in front of the tele...

Tomorrow is a day off and I tend to go to the cinema on my days off. I had briefly forgotten that 17th December is the day That Movie comes out. The one everyone is talking about. With the stuff in the galaxy. It transpires that at the cinema I want to go to, there is one screening of the film I'd like to watch. There are sixty screenings of That Movie. In a 24 hour period. I have no opinion on it really. I can take it or leave it. I do find it tremendously annoying when people bang on and on about something I don't find that interesting while they consider it to be the most important thing in the world. Anyway, I made a deeply reckless decision and bought a ticket for Chelsea vs Sunderland at Stamford Bridge at the weekend. Let's not dwell on how much I spent. In the old days people used to talk about how much they spent on a particular item in relation to the number of hours they worked to earn the money. Let's call it seven hours work. I'm looking forward to ...

Thank goodness my wi-fi connection has returned. It turns out if I'm deprived of unrestricted internet access for three days, I do not respond well. As a consequence, I've burned a giant hole in my data plan. Basically, I'm a dick. Anyway, you haven't missed much. Other than me going to Kingston twice in the past four days. On both occasions I passed "David Cameron Hair" in Cheam and wondered whether the business has suffered for its unfortunate and presumably unintentional association. Or whether it' has become the hairdresser of choice among those on the political right. The second journey back was regrettably dominated by the section of young people who clearly think it's acceptable to "large it" on a Monday night. I and the other passengers were subjected to what I describe as "The Arsehole Medley" where drunken scumbags shout the lyrics to random popular songs from the last ten to fifteen years like an appalling jukebox*. Fra...

EDIT 16/12/15: I wrote a previously one word blog here with half an hour remaining of 14th December, with 14% of my phone battery left. I think we can all agree that that's pretty close to the wire. Right guys? Guys? How devastating it would have been to fall at pretty much the final hurdle. I've come up with an idea to fill some of the gaps in the blog by talking about some of my favourite songs. Which brings me to Konstantine, which I consider to be Something Corporate's finest track. As I've previously discussed on this blog, Andrew McMahon has written a lot of great songs but this may still be the best. It's a nine and a half minute love song, possibly my favourite song on the subject full stop. It's sweeping and epic and beautiful and angsty. If I recall correctly, Kerrang's only comment on the song was that "it could have been written by the ivory tinkling fingers of Elton John" or something similar.  here's a nod to another of my fav...

Sleepwalk With Me is a film based on Mike Birbiglia’s one man show of the same name. The story is narrated by Birbiglia (who directs as well as writing the screenplay with Ira Glass) on his way to a gig, which allows him to directly transfer a fair amount of material, albeit with the names changed. As someone hugely familiar with the show, it’s difficult not to compare and contrast the two. The darker elements (life threatening illnesses and potential bear attacks) are removed from the narrative and what we’re left with is the story of his relationship with his college sweetheart, his attempts to establish a stand-up comedy career and his eventual diagnosis with REM Sleep Disorder. Carol Kane is reliably entertaining as Birbiglia’s mother and the late James Rebhorn brings the role of his father to life, well characterised from Birbiglia’s descriptions of him in the show. Quotes like “You’ve got to zig or zag” demonstrate the ambiguous nature of the advice he hands down to his ...

About 50 people showed up at The Fighting Cocks to see Ataris frontman Kris Roe play solo. This UK tour certainly seems to very much be a DIY affair, from selling his own merch to taking the National Express from show to show. I’m interested in the economics of touring solo as a musician or comedian. I suppose if you can get 50 people or more to see you at £12 a pop five or six nights a week for six months a year, it’s a cost effective proposition. The Ataris produced three albums in their heyday, largely punk influenced affairs about youthful exuberance and being in love. To me this puts the touring solo artist in something of a bind. The fans have come for a night of nostalgia to see you play those songs, but you might find it difficult to engage with your work from more than a decade ago when when you’re pushing 40. The result is a 37 year old man playing a song called “Your Boyfriend Sucks”. But playing it well. There are a couple of times during the set where Roe hint...