Various Lockdown Miscellany
I hope everyone's doing ok. I'm muddling through at the moment, sleeping atrociously, eating poorly. I'm trying to stay informed, but feel that social media is having a somewhat detrimental effect on my mental wellbeing right now. I can't help but find it thoroughly dispiriting that at the time of an unprecedented global crisis, we find ourselves in the hands of the most mediocre and ill-equipped politicians in recent memory. Particularly when you consider that recent memory includes Theresa May.
It's probably time to transition to one of those less lofty topics with which I am more comfortable. My father admitted the other day that he was missing football immensely and that a world without it was unthinkable. Which was somewhat odd, given that he had also watched season two of Sunderland Til I Die in its entirety. He's coping by watching the various nostalgia festivals being broadcast on Sky Sports at the moment, whilst I have retreated to FIFA 20, where Sunderland find themselves inexplicably marching through the leagues and into European competition whilst smashing teams by as many as eight goals. Lord knows any alternate reality I can fashion is preferable to this one. I'm thoroughly looking forward to FIFA 21, where presumably most of the gameplay will centre on charitable donations and whether or not to furlough your non-playing staff in Career Mode.
It would be remiss of me not to plug this piece in the Guardian, on political comedy featuring my good friend Tom Mayhew. Also on the comedy front, I thoroughly enjoyed John Robins' Netflix special 'The Darkness of Robins'. It's essentially a breakup show, detailing Robins' mental breakdown after the collapse of his last relationship. He brings his world to life with eloquence contrasting his practical nature with her carefree attitude ('She was a free spirit, which is a kind way of saying that she lost a lot of debit cards'). It's a strong comedic persona with sense of pedantry and fastidiousness rendolent of Alan Partridge.
Onto music. As I've touched upon before, I am a huge Frank Turner fan and I am really enjoying his weekly livestreams in aid of the Music Venue Trust and small venues around the country currently under financial threat. It's nice to hear deep cuts like 'A Decent Cup Of Tea', 'Better Half' and 'I Really Don't Care What You Did On Your Gap Year' that are perhaps not well suited for performance in front of hundreds of people but are perfect for a quieter setting. There's also a certain amount of fun to be had in watching him play various sad sack love songs from a decade ago in front of his wife Jess.
He's going chronologically through his back catalogue and tomorrow he's performing his third record 'Poetry Of The Deed' in full to raise money for the Tunbridge Wells Forum, a place that's very close to my heart (my first gig there was Electric Six, 15 sodding years ago). It cannot be permitted to go to the wall. More information on the Music Venue Trust is available here.
It's probably time to transition to one of those less lofty topics with which I am more comfortable. My father admitted the other day that he was missing football immensely and that a world without it was unthinkable. Which was somewhat odd, given that he had also watched season two of Sunderland Til I Die in its entirety. He's coping by watching the various nostalgia festivals being broadcast on Sky Sports at the moment, whilst I have retreated to FIFA 20, where Sunderland find themselves inexplicably marching through the leagues and into European competition whilst smashing teams by as many as eight goals. Lord knows any alternate reality I can fashion is preferable to this one. I'm thoroughly looking forward to FIFA 21, where presumably most of the gameplay will centre on charitable donations and whether or not to furlough your non-playing staff in Career Mode.
It would be remiss of me not to plug this piece in the Guardian, on political comedy featuring my good friend Tom Mayhew. Also on the comedy front, I thoroughly enjoyed John Robins' Netflix special 'The Darkness of Robins'. It's essentially a breakup show, detailing Robins' mental breakdown after the collapse of his last relationship. He brings his world to life with eloquence contrasting his practical nature with her carefree attitude ('She was a free spirit, which is a kind way of saying that she lost a lot of debit cards'). It's a strong comedic persona with sense of pedantry and fastidiousness rendolent of Alan Partridge.
Onto music. As I've touched upon before, I am a huge Frank Turner fan and I am really enjoying his weekly livestreams in aid of the Music Venue Trust and small venues around the country currently under financial threat. It's nice to hear deep cuts like 'A Decent Cup Of Tea', 'Better Half' and 'I Really Don't Care What You Did On Your Gap Year' that are perhaps not well suited for performance in front of hundreds of people but are perfect for a quieter setting. There's also a certain amount of fun to be had in watching him play various sad sack love songs from a decade ago in front of his wife Jess.
He's going chronologically through his back catalogue and tomorrow he's performing his third record 'Poetry Of The Deed' in full to raise money for the Tunbridge Wells Forum, a place that's very close to my heart (my first gig there was Electric Six, 15 sodding years ago). It cannot be permitted to go to the wall. More information on the Music Venue Trust is available here.
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