Writer's Block

I had a leisurely walk around Aberystywyth on Sunday morning with Dasha, about three hours after she had got up. We have very different views on what constitutes a lie in. But I'm glad we went and had a look round the castle ruins and took in the picturesque coastline. I do enjoy being by the sea, I find it peaceful. I saw a piece of graffiti reading "Don't Cry For Me Aberystwyth". I later discovered that it was the title of a novel by a Welsh author. A shame as I had already filed it away as a potential title for a follow up show in Machynlleth. Dasha departed for another heroically long car journey as I headed back for more comedy. First I caught Gavin Osborn for half an hour in the Big Top. I've written about his music before and I always enjoy seeing him live. There was a rendition of old favourite "Jamie Cook" to honour the player's retirement from football this week, alongside some newer material focusing on governmental attitudes to music te...

I felt that I both slept well and prepared well for my show on the Saturday afternoon, which is unusual. I met my friend Dasha at Aberystwyth station at midday after she'd completed a ludicrous early morning drive from north London to get there*. We headed to my venue and had a chat with Ingrid Dahle outside who had also been on the showcase the night before and was very good. Then it was pretty much show time. Zoe Fell and her team at The Store were very welcoming and helpful. I'd like to thank her, them and the entire crew across the whole weekend because they were all terrific. In retrospect, it would have helped if I'd have gone on stage and tested the mic rather than exhaling sharply in a back room. It was an entirely self-inflicted poor start to the show but these things happen and it was remedied pretty quickly. I ended up having about 12 audience members in plus the crew. I learned last summer that anything over five I can work with and still put on a decent show....

Having not really had the time over the weekend, I thought I'd go back and do a day by day review of the Machynlleth Comedy Festival. Birmingham New Street to Aberystwyth was probably my least favourite train journey of all time, passengers crammed like sardines into four carriages. I appreciate that I was contributing to an increased level of demand on the service but do have to take issue with every other passenger in rural Wales wanting to bring on a sodding bike. I must commend Arriva Wales for their dilligent ticket checks, anyway. I always feel like I've got value for money if I know that I would have been penalised if I didn't have a ticket. Having dropped my stuff off in Aberystwyth I made my way back to the delightful town of Machynlleth and headed to the Owain Glyndwr Centre for my first show of the day, Stuart Goldsmith's "Compared To What". Goldsmith is the host of "The Comedian's Comedian" podcast, in which he interviews other come...

Passed my exam yesterday by the same number of marks that I failed the previous one by. Which is a neat piece of symmetry I suppose. I get knocked down. But I get up again. As Chumbawumba once sang. I consider "Tubthumping" to be the quintessential 90s hit by the way. Other opinions are available. Based on its use in 90s themed television programming of late, "Closing Time" by Semisonic is a strong contender. Tomorrow morning I'm travelling to north Wales to perform stand-up with the new New Found Glory record on my phone. Because, let's face it, I'm too far gone to change. On that subject, I'm looking forward to seeing Tom Parry in Machynlleth on Sunday. Go Faster Stripe have just released a recording of "Yellow T-Shirt" , his Edinburgh Best Newcomer nominated show from a couple of years ago. It's well worth checking out, along with the plethora of other shows in Go Faster Stripe's extensive back catalogue.

In London in 1940, Catrin Cole (Gemma Arteton) is hired by the Ministry of Information to ostensibly write women's dialogue in short information films in support of the war effort. She subsequently finds herself pursuing a story of two young women who stole their father's boat with a view to travelling to Dunkirk. Cole proposes that the story becomes the basis of a feature film, produced with the hope of convincing women and the Americans to involve themselves in the conflict. Their Finest predominantly centres on the relationship between Cole and her co-writer Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) and their sessions of writer's room badinage are a particular joy. Buckley gradually warms to Cole, in spite of his initially dismissive and patronising attitude, describing women's dialogue in pictures as "the slop". Arterton and Claflin provide strong, unflashy performances here. The film's gender politics are subtlely played, whilst the devastating effects of air ra...

Another grindingly long work day. The work I do is undeniable repetitive and frequently tedious and being deprived of the piece of equipment that I require to do it for an entire afternoon doesn't help matters. Last week, I saw an elderly gentleman who I hadn't seen for a while who attributed his absence to a heart attack. To allow you to paint a mental picture, he looks like Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown, if Lloyd had played the eccentric scientist from the Back To The Future trilogy as a cocaine addict. He informed me that he was surprised that I was still at the company (Such a charmer). He clarified his remarks, stating that he didn't feel that I was tremendously interested in the role. Seasoned readers will know by now that I'm prone to self-flaggelation. But the one thing that I'm not is a quitter. Not even in relation to online dating*. But certainly not in relation to the world of work, no matter what issues I might have. I have an exam tomorrow. I might ...

I feel pretty low at the moment. Today was one of those days where my brain posits the view that I am a failure in every single facet of my life and that I deserve to be unhappy. On Wednesday I'm taking the penultimate exam of my accounting course. On Friday I'm travelling to North Wales and on Saturday I'm performing my solo stand-up show "The Wilderness Years" at the Machynlleth Comedy Festival. Leaving aside the sense that I've undergone so many academic endeavours by now that I'm starting to get burnt out, everyone gets trepidatious about exams. But I ought to be much more excited about going to an awesome comedy festival populated with awesome people and performing an hour of my own stuff on a bill alongside a number of brilliant acts. It's a possibility that I could have a great show and a lovely weekend and reignite my love affair with stand-up comedy. What feels a good deal more likely is no-one showing up or me coming to the realisation th...

It's difficult to come back to a blog that you forgot to write on the day in question, even if that day was yesterday. I have no real thoughts on the French election, other than that obviously I hope Le Pen doesn't win it. If memory serves, yesterday I attempted to sleep off as much as I possibly could before watching too much football. I also accepted receipt of Less Than Jake's "Live From The London Astoria" which was taken from shows performed at the iconic London venue in 2001, which was somewhat before my time. I think I'm right in saying it's been seven years since the Astoria went and I still feel its absence. Still, we've got a massive Tottenham Court Station in advance of Crossrail instead. Woo for the march of progress. The place was a huge part of mine and so many other people's youths, the perfect venue for a atmospheric gig. That was back when every live show felt genuinely thrilling. I'm obviously much more jaded now, but Jimmy ...

A very happy Record Store Day to you all. I had been hoping that this year I would be able to give the festivities a miss and that there would not be anything on the list of limited edition releases that I wished to procure. Regrettably RSD dangled a Coheed and Cambria shaped carrot in front of my face. I trekked to West Norwood to The Book And Record Bar to pick up their only copy of "Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness". Thank you to them for taking the time to order it in for me. The record is littered with rifftastic bangers and the double vinyl is lovely. My fear of missing out is particularly strong when it comes to RSD, I must admit. It's a real character flaw. I might well have been able to pick up a copy from Banquet Records online next Friday, or at the merch stand at Coheed's Koko show in June. But I refuse to take that risk, dammit. Banquet remain my record shop of choice but the four and half hour wait i...

David Stockdale conceded two own goals for Brighton tonight after the ball struck the woodwork, came down, hit him on the back and rebounded over the line. As bad days at the office go, I know how he feels. Still, if you are going to suffer that sort of misfortune, it's best to do it straight after you've just been promoted to the Premier League. No such luck for me, unfortunately. Today was one of those exhausting, exasperating days where everything goes wrong and you have to try and muddle on through. I was saddened to hear today of the death of Ugo Ehiogu, who collapsed yesterday at Tottenham's training ground where he worked as the coach of their under 23s team. Ehiogu had a distinguished playing career with Aston Villa and Middlesbrough amongst others and had four England caps. I remember him from the mid 90s when I first starting watching football and he was an archetypal central defender: big, tall and strong. He was hugely popular, both with fans and his fellow pr...

The big venues at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Assembly Rooms, Pleasance, Gilded Balloon and Underbelly) announced their lineups for 2017 today. I'm about 90% going to attend the festival as a punter again, even though I know full well that I should have performed my hour there this year but couldn't due to circumstances conspiring against me and that will gnaw away at me in the back of mind for the entire duration of my visit there this year, gradually festering until it becomes one of the great regrets of my lifetime. In short, I'm aware that the romantic thing to do is jack everything in and follow your dreams, but the potential price is too great and I can't risk things going back to the way they were. Just writing that has made me feel a bit low. Anyway, as usual all tastes are covered in the Scottish capital in August. A cursory glance has placed John Robins, Sara Pascoe, Simon Evans, Joe Morpurgo, Ed Gamble and James Acaster on a tentative viewing list, with ...

I'll break off from the ongoing Electogeddon to talk about music again. Having been underwhelmed by their gig at Koko earlier on in the year, I'm pleased to have a second chance to see The Wonder Years at a different venue as they'll be appearing at the Hippodrome in Kingston in July. It's a multi levelled nightclub with certain sightline issues but the sound is certainly a lot better and I'm subsequently hoping for a better show. Paramore have released a new single for the first time in four years today called "Hard Times", the first selection from new record "After Laughter", which is set for a swift post-announcement release on 12th May. I liked Paramore both before and after they were cool. I remember seeing them on the "Give It A Name" tour in 2006 at the Islington Academy for £4 on a four band bill and saying to my friend after that set "That band will be massive". I'm not often right, but I certainly was on that s...

Teresa May has called for a snap general election to be held in June, having reneged on a number of promises not to do so. I am not tremendously enamoured with the prospect, much in the same way that I'm not tremendously enamoured with her or her party. But I understand the logic of it I suppose, as she seeks a mandate for a probably self-defeating "hard" Brexit. This could yet backfire on the Conservatives but I suppose it's pretty unlikely. Labour of course are the reason why. I did have reasonable high hopes for Jeremy Corbyn as he became leader. I thought that he spoke well and articulated his ideas for the country in a way that could resonate with a lot of people, the younger generation in particularly. Since then, he's been an enormous disappointment and his inaction/total lack of opposition to Brexit last year was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as I'm concerned. Divided and utterly ineffectual, it's difficult to see past a batter...

I left the house at 7:20am and returned at 10:20pm. It's a long day. I've spoken before about what I feel I can handle, work wise. This pushed me to the limit. I started to flag around the ten hour mark which isn't altogether surprising and I think you're more likely to make silly mistakes that you wouldn't normally in that period. I have frequently questioned in the past few years of struggle whether I have exhibited the right work ethic. Days like this help but I'd rather not make a habit of it. Particularly as I'm writing this blog whilst trying to prevent myself from falling asleep. On an entirely unrelated topic, Brighton and Hove Albion were promoted to the Premier League today, ending a 34 year wait to return to the top flight of English football. I like Brighton very much as a place and I am delighted for them, having spent a long time in the wilderness and much of it in the bottom two tiers of the league football pyramid. It's a shame that Sun...

Happy Easter everyone. If anyone still really cares about that sort of thing. Clearly my God-bothering sister does, having expressed her surprise that I was required to work on Easter Sunday. She appeared to be labouring under the misapprehension that a bookmakers would give a toss about religious observance. The two have had something of a shaky relationship ever since the Ten Commandments were laid down. As if to hammer the point home, I have a 14 hour shift on Easter Monday. Still, I engaged in our great if probably troubling tradition of chocolate consumption around this time of year with a Celebrations egg. Generally a strong selection of miniture chocolates, but I still mourn the loss of the Galaxy Truffle. A quick Google reveals there have been several petitions launched to bring it back which I am heartened to hear. I'm going to have to go to bed now if I'm to stand any chance of getting through tomorrow.

I'm trying to study for two exams and prepare my show for the Machynlleth Comedy Festival, whilst working five days a week and have come to the conclusion that although it's a change of pace to have fingers in multiple pies, a couple of them are burning my fingers. I finished rewriting The Wilderness Years from last year's Camden run today anyway. Rewriting is probaly a strong term. I've mostly been tweaking it. Having listened back to last year's performances several times, there were some tonal issues that I've gone back and addressed whilst dropping some material that I'm less sure about. I'm still not certain whether Mach Fest will be the last performance of the show or not. Five shows doesn't feel like enough of an exploration and I'm still not entirely happy with one routine in particular but part of me would like to move on. There's still no glaringly obvious subject matter to form the basis of a second show though. But hopefully tha...

Fast And Furious 8 (or The Fate of the Furious if you prefer) sees Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) blackmailed into working for Cypher (Charlize Theron) a shady cyberhacker and terrorist who seeks to procure nuclear missiles. Toretto's old gang, a ragtag bunch of characters whose origins are presumably spread across seven other films that I haven't seen, must work together to stop them both and get to the bottom of his betrayal. I said at the end of my review of Free Fire that I was looking for something more substantial from a trip to the cinema, so obviously I walk smack bang into the most substanceless film possible. A flimsy plot sees us visit Havana, New York, Berlin and a remote area of Russia for some ludicrous action set pieces, a man diverting the trajectory of a torpedo with his arm and an entertaining precautionary tale regarding self-driving cars. Diesel and Theron are perfectly fine (doing their best with some ropey dialogue) but it's the supporting performanc...

I fear catastrophe is on the horizon. I'm currently sat in a library listening to Sit Down by James on repeat. I'm not sure what that actually says about my current mental state, but it probably doesn't bode well. It feels like a song for depressives anyway. I'm trying to motivate myself to do all the things I need to do before the end of month, but finding it difficult. The past few nights have involved a lot of laying awake until 5am, trying to combat the worst of my thoughts. Part of me wants to head off in the middle of night and never come back. I hasten to add that I don't mean that in a suicidal sense. Just a feeling of wanting to escape, to travel as far away as I possibly can. I feel particularly lonely and isolated at the moment. I appreciate that the fault is my own, that there are few people invested in my life in all likelihood because I am not invested in other people's lives as much as I should be. One of my friends frequently used to tell me ...

The season 3 premiere of Better Call Saul arrived on Netflix yesterday. It's a joy to revisit the world of Breaking Bad but its spinoff stands on its own feet with a terrific central performance by Bill Odenkirk as the unscrupulous attorney Jimmy McGill and great support from Michael McKeen, Rhea Seahorn and Patrick Fabian. But its Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut who is likely to get a lot of coverage this season as his descent into the seedy underbelly of Albuquerque continues. I'm looking forward to the much teased explanation of how Ehrmantraut came to work for Gus Fring by the time the events of Breaking Bad roll around. Episode 1 neatly sets up what we've got to come this season with a tape recorder potentially providing a smoking gun to alter Jimmy's fortunes as Mike attempts to foil those who have attempted to surveil him. It's a section which kind of sums up the show to date. If you're not interested in watching a man fiddle with a tracking devi...

I took one of my occasional visits to Greenwich on Sunday to attend Up The Creek's Sunday Special. I very rarely decline the opportunity to visit the Music and Video Exchange just around the corner, where I have on occasion picked up a curio from the world of music. On this occasion they appeared to have picked up the entire back catalogue of maligned pop-punk's Bowling For Soup. But something else caught my eye on this occasion. Behind a cabinet was the limited edition long out of print 7x7 inch collection of Less Than Jake's "Hello Rockview". Yes, I have the CD. I have the 12 inch vinyl. It's dawned on me mid blog that I also own the 12 inch picture disc. But I had to have it, for fortunately a price that was not completely outrageous. It is probably (despite great admiration for the follow up Borders and Boundaries) my favourite Less Than Jake record and is generally considered to be their best work. It contains "All My Best Friends Are Metalheads...

I got in late last night to catch the finale of The Masters. I am admittedly a casual watcher of golf. I enjoy dipping into the major tournaments and the Ryder Cup. The upshot was that Sergio Garcia, a man who is both 37 years old and seems to have been around in the world of golf forever, won his first major in a playoff with Justin Rose at Augusta. From what I could gather, the narrative had twisted and turned all evening, with Rose ahead of the field for most of the day, Garcia dropping back down before recovering, before both men missed putts that could conceivably have won them the tournament. It probably says much for my frame of mind at the moment but I found myself moved by the action, as much as one can relate to a millionaire golfer who has had an outstanding career regardless. I had read various comments from people throughout the day using words like "meltdown" and "implosion" to describe Garcia's performances in the latter stages of this type of...

Today was my second Grand National in a betting shop. I used to be intimidated by the prospect but it's actually not too bad. The time goes quickly, you feel like you're actually working and you get to see people you normally wouldn't. I understand why people take against the race but it feels like a genuine spectacle, the kind of event that doesn't come around all that often in the sporting calendar. 2017's edition seemed to lack the excitement of last year's, although maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. It was One For Arthur who took home the big prize and will have been a popular winner. Punters are generally a sentimental sort and quite a few in my shop at least had money on him, possibly due to familial connections to the name. The bookies meanwhile are probably grateful that Blakfish and Definitly Red didn't take the crown, both having been backed in to single digit prices by the start of the race at 5:15pm. The former finished fourth yielding a...

I had one of my more down days today, having made the mistake of looking at myself in the mirror. This month is already a slog without bringing self-loathing into it. It already feels like I've bitten off more than I can chew and I haven't even got through the Grand National yet. You'd think that ditching my daily blog for the time being might help, but I'm nothing if not stubborn. Ben Marwood's "Get Found" is out today on Xtra Mile Recordings. If you're into acoustic singer-songwriters I recommend that you give it a listen. I will get round to reviewing it eventually but probably not until May. And perhaps not even then. It'll probably materialise around the time of the  Mike Birbiglia review I promised. And the new New Found Glory record is this month too. And Record Store Day. Christ, it's endless.

In 1970s Massachussetts, two IRA members, Frank (Michael Smiley) and Chris (Cillian Murphy) are arranging a gun deal through an intermediary called Justine (Brie Larson). They meet up with Ord (Armie Hammer) and an eccentric arms dealer named Vernon (Shalto Copley). Representatives of the two groups antagonise one another which escalates into a shootout across an abandoned warehouse. In every film review I've written recently I seem to comment on the lack of plot and it's the case again here. If you want to know anything about the motivations of these characters, you're unlikely to find it. It's not really the point of Free Fire though. Ben Wheatley directed last year's exceedingly disappointing "High Rise" but is back on steadier ground here. On Kermode and Mayo's Film Review last week, Wheatley said he wanted to create a film with a realistic gun fight, where characters would frequently miss each other and suffer from the loud sounds. In that regar...

Three blogs titled with the date in a row. I really am phoning it in. I think I will need to revisit this later.

Most of my thoughts for the day are football related and therefore must immediately be jettisoned. I opened the shop today. It's one of those things that does vaguely make me feel like an actual adult. Although obviously I probably should feel like an actual adult by now anyway but have various issues regarding arrested development. It's been a while since I've done CBT, but having sorted out my medication situation I'm trying to go back to some of the techniques I used to employ. The idea of being a key holder for a business would have absolutely terrified me eighteen months ago. It still does cause me a certain amount of anxiety, but I feel like I need to give myself credit for consistently carrying out tasks that I either thought beyond me or thought were exceedingly difficult. There's always room for improvement but I get through most days now doing the things I need to do competently without heavily relying on the expertise of others. In some senses this seem...

My life has reached the point where I've started watching people play through video games on YouTube. "Let's Play", I believe they're called. I've basically spent too much time recently watching a guy play through Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in a misguided attempt to reconnect with my youth. And living vicariously through people good enough to actually complete games, rather than play them for a week before giving up. Basically I've become very nostalgic about Nintendo in the past few weeks and want to play Mario Kart again. They've dangled both a new console and a Mario Kart reissue in front of my face. Surely I'm not going to pay £330 just to play that. Right now, the answer is no. But I can't entirely rule it out.  My pop-culture fixation has continued with the arrival of the first of three Loot Crates, a box of mystery stuff curated around a theme. This month's one is Primal, which has resulted in an Overwatch t-shirt, a Predat...

Brightening up an otherwise monotonous day of work is Adult Swim's surprise release of the Season 3 premiere of Rick and Morty. For the uninitiated, the show concerns Rick Sanchez (a scientist with a shadowy past) and his grandson Morty's adventures through space and alternate dimensions. It's crude, lowbrow, highbrow, violent and hilarious. Prior to this, co-creator Dan Harmon was probably best known for his work on Community, a sitcom that had a hugely ambitious scope but I often thought was cleverer than it was funny. On this he's got the balance right and it's become an instant cult classic. The first two series are on Netflix and are pretty much essential viewing. Season 3 will return proper in a few months but this episode is enough to tide me over. It has a typically bonkers finale, as the Season 2 cliffhanger resolves in a manner befitting the most intelligent man in the universe. Wubba lubba dub dub. Roll on the summer.

In a world where Donald Trump is the President of the United States and misinformation is disseminated on an almost constant basis, the very concept of April Fool's Day feels redundant. Frankly, I yearn for a simpler time when people could be hoodwinked by the notion of spaghetti trees, or their favourite football teams announcing plans to wear the colours of their closest rivals, or Taco Bell claiming sponsorship of the Liberty Bell. Firebox had a nice one one year when they sent round a list of fictitious products for people to vote for. One day we'll have sat nav sneakers. One day. Anyway, this is a super busy month for a number of reasons, not least because I've got to retake an exam. It's obviously a sizable disappointment but self-flagellation probably won't do me any favours. So there's that, another exam and the small matter of the Machynlleth Comedy Festival four weeks today. Oh and next Saturday is the Grand National, the busiest day on the bookmaker...