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| Monday, November 30th, 2009 | | 10:48 pm |
This Is Sandy P
Apologies for sticking this here, I just need a place I can access/edit from work and home and considering so much of the novel is on LiveJournal already, this is the easiest place to reference it. I'm trying to 1) compile the discography/biography or a fictional artist 2) get some of my music journo friends to come up with "interview questions"  ( An Imaginary Discography for Alexandria Percy ) | | Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 | | 1:17 am |
I've just been "suggest banned" Just completely out of nowhere. I haven't had a flamewar with anyone, I haven't said or done anything the slightest bit provocative in a month. In fact, I *asked* after that whole row on the P4k thread a month ago, if I'd had any kind of surge in suggest bans - NO ONE actually got back to me sending a number, someone just told me, no, I hadn't had any huge amount of SBs. So how do I suddenly pick up 51 bans in a month? When all I've done is talk about sea arches and Lindstrom and the usual nattering. This is just complete fucking bullshit and I've devastated. I've been so proud of myself that I've managed to keep my head above depression for quite some time now. I was thinking that since coming back from holiday how much calmer and happier I'd been. And this is like a slap in the face and an EVERYONE HATES YOU and I'm right back down in that awful, awful place. If you ever wanted proof that the SB system was total bullshit, this is it. It's arbitrary, there's no warning, no explanation, just a cold hard kick in the teeth. It does not serve the purpose of controlling behaviour if you do not even know what that behaviour is. It just encourages paranoia and backstabbing nastiness. I feel isolated, alone, persecuted and terrified that the next RIP thread on ILX will be mine. I keep repeating to myself, "you have a choice, you have a choice" - you cannot control how other people treat you, you can only control how you react to them. But right now it feels like my sanity, my sense that all is fundamentally "well" with the world has been stolen from me, wrenched away. If you hit that button, my blood - my pain and psychic distress - IS on your hands. You really want to live with that, for shits and giggles? | | Monday, November 16th, 2009 | | 10:45 am |
After the dawn call to prayer, Galip dozed off in the sitting room
Book meme, via Mark S Grab the book nearest you. Right now. • Turn to page 56. • Find the fifth line. • Post that line AS YOUR SUBJECT LINE. AND POST these instructions in a cut-tag to this status.... • Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST book... The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk | | Friday, November 6th, 2009 | | 5:43 pm |
Tom's Meme
"This is Acclaimed Music's aggregate list of the top 107 albums of the 1990s (as of now). Put any that you own in bold. Put any that you have heard all through or used to own in italics. Put a strikethrough any that you hate (whether you've heard them or not!). Underline any you want to hear. And put an asterisk by any that you would count as one of your own favourite albums of the 90s." 1 Nirvana - Nevermind 19912 Radiohead - OK Computer 1997*3 Massive Attack - Blue Lines 1991 4 R.E.M. - Automatic for the People 1992 5 Beck - Odelay 19966 Primal Scream - Screamadelica 19917 My Bloody Valentine - Loveless 1991* 8 Portishead - Dummy 1994* 9 Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? 199510 U2 -Achtung, Baby 199111 Oasis - Definitely Maybe 199412 Radiohead - The Bends 199513 Jeff Buckley - Grace 199414 DJ Shadow -Endtroducing..... 199615 Tricky - Maxinquaye 1995 16 Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted 199217 Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet 199018 Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 1998 19 Air - Moon Safari 199820 Nirvana - In Utero 1993 21 Pulp - Different Class 199522 The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin 1999* 23 Dr. Dre - The Chronic 1992 24 Björk - Debut 1993* 25 P J Harvey - To Bring You My Love 1995 26 Pearl Jam - Ten 199127 Blur - Parklife 199428 Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream 199329 Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) 1993 30 Bob Dylan - Time Out of Mind 1997 31 Metallica - Metallica ("The Black Album") 1991 32 The Verve - Urban Hymns 199733 R.E.M. - Out of Time 1991 34 Moby - Play 1999 35 Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs 199936 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik 199137 Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road 1998 38 Mercury Rev -Deserter's Songs 199839 Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral 1994 40 Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville 1993 41 The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole 199742 The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness 199543 Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine 1992 44 Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain 199445 Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun 199946 Beastie Boys - Ill Communication 199447 Hole - Live Through This 199448 Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space 199749 Soundgarden - Superunknown 1994 50 Beck - Mellow Gold 199451 Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York 1994 52 A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory 1991 53 Fugees - The Score 1996 54 Happy Mondays - Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches 199055 Björk - Post 199556 Daft Punk - Homework 199757 Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die 199658 Massive Attack - Mezzanine 1998 59 Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness 1999 60 Leftfield - Leftism 1995 61 Slint - Spiderland 199162 Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister 199663 P J Harvey - Rid of Me 199364 Beastie Boys - Check Your Head 199265 Johnny Cash - American Recordings 1994 66 Sinéad O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 199067 Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way, Baby 199868 Basement Jaxx - Remedy 199969 Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill 199570 Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club 1997 71 Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual 199072 The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation 1994 73 P J Harvey - Dry 199274 Björk - Homogenic 1997 75 The Prodigy - The Fat of the Land 1997 76 Nas - Illmatic 1994 77 Green Day - Dookie 199478 Roni Size/Reprazent - New Forms 1997 79 Eminem - The Slim Shady LP 199980 The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die 1994 81 The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld 1991* 82 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 199283 Suede - Suede 1993* 84 Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go 1996 85 Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory 1990 86 Wilco - Summer Teeth 1999 87 Pet Shop Boys - Behaviour 1990 88 Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes 1992 89 Bob Dylan - Live 1966 - The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert 1998 90 Weezer - Weezer ("The Blue Album") 1994 91 Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque 1991 92 Sonic Youth - Goo 199093 Tom Waits - Mule Variations 1999 94 The LA's - The LA's 1990 95 Goldie - Timeless 1995 96 The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust 199597 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Boatman's Call 1997 98 The Breeders - Last Splash 1993* 99 Madonna - Ray of Light 1998* 100 Depeche Mode - Violator 1990 101 Missy Misdemeanor Elliott - Supa Dupa Fly 1997 102 Manu Chao - Clandestino 1998 103 Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane over the Sea 1998 104 Talk Talk - Laughing Stock 1991105 OutKast - Aquemini 1998 106 Blur - Blur 1997107 TLC - CrazySexyCool 1994Funny how so many of the albums I consider my "personal favourite" of the decade are just not on this list. | | Friday, October 23rd, 2009 | | 9:53 pm |
L is for...
Comment to get a letter, and make a list of things you like beginning with that letter. Comicdancer gave me an L Lindstrom - everybody's favourite dirty dronerock Scando-Balearic prog-dance-spacedisco producer. Also, he is hott. Though he sometimes looks quite disturbingly like my former partner. Though obviously, I would not have been with said partner had he not been hott. It's complicated. But whatever. Just listen to the amazing noodly prog space-disco and marvel. Laurie Spiegel - who has, coincidentally just come up on my iTunes random. Electronic synth pioneer of the 70s and totally amazing and inspiring. Leather jackets - I know I'm a vegetarian and all, but it's still totally hott when boys wear these. Though I have actually stopped wearing them myself because I can no longer live with the hypocrisy, I lived in mine for years. TC Lethbridge - archeologist, proto-psychogeographer, into dowsing and hauntings and all sorts of interesting things. He came up with a very interesting theory about underground water, especially trapped water, creating a sort of psychic tape-recording of emotional events. Libraries - God, I love them. Really, I should have been a librarian. All those books, all that knowledge, the silence and the studying and the stacks. Bibliophile heaven. Light - you wouldn't have photosynthesis, pretty much the basis of all life on earth without it. I, however, am pretty fond of the coloured kind, especially of the kind of fairy lights variety. I've got bright pink and purple ones in my living room. Loveless - an album by My Bloody Valentine, of which I am very fond. (Though really, I probably like Isn't Anything better.) HP Lovecraft - early 20th C. American horror writer who invented Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth and all those wonderfully creepy and scary Old Ones. "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"Letters - yeah, as in the Alphabet and typography and calligraphy. I mean, isn't the written alphabet one of the most astonishing inventions of human history - up there with The Wheel and Agriculture, if you think about it. | | Monday, July 13th, 2009 | | 1:55 pm |
5 Tracks I Think You Should Hear
So I'm trying to put this together for the old Erol forum, and because I don't have my whole CD/MP3 collection with me here, I'm going to just jot down random things here, so I remember them when I get home. This will totally change entirely over the next 24 hours, of course... * Duran Duran - Planet Earth (Night Version). The US version of the first album started with this, and it pretty much set the template for what I'd love in music for the rest of my life. The LFO throb of the synth, the phased out guitar stabs, the octave-hopping bassline and, of course, completely unintelligable lyrics with a "space" theme and some bubblegum "ba ba ba" in the background. * The Fenwyck - Mindrocker. Oh my god, listen to that tremolo. No, really, just listen to that tremolo, and the way the vocal harmonies go all bubblegum when they sing "ten feet high..." Two chords, that stomping apache beat on the toms, and that weird eeeeeeeeeooooooaaaaoowwwww sound as it builds to a frothy conclusion. Three minutes of utter and complete bliss. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxoWMJzfuU* Harmonia - Immer Weider. After NEU! disbanded, Michael Rother went off to the Black Forest with Cluster to make weird electronic music. There's so much Krautrock that could go here, but there's just something about this track, so stately, so... weird and alien, like music beamed from outer space. The synth tone. The shuffly analogue drum machine - I once had a Bently Rhythm Ace that made that noise if you pressed two buttons at the same time. Or maybe I'll put something by La Dusseldorf, I don't rightly know yet. Or Ruckzuck. ARGH. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd1BH7Nbk8c* Hawkwind - Opa Loka. And this is what a bunch of hairy English druggies did when they got hold of those NEU! rhythms. Oh yay, it's finally on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAy_ePlMtb8* Stereolab - French Disco. How could you possibly make the driving motorik pop of NEU! any better? You could stick on sexy French girl harmonies on it, and some mysterious lyrics that might be about Marxism. * Spiritualized - Run. I have learned to accept that the first Spz album isn't really a Spz album so much as a bunch of Spacemen 3 outtakes. The greatest bubblegum song never recorded. That same driving tremolo from the Fenwyck record. OH GOD I NEED SOME GIRL GROUP STUFF NOW BUT I'VE GOT A MEETING. There's no way I'm going to be able to edit it down to 5 songs. Better cut out all that krautrock, then. reminder to self: SHOP ASSISTANTS VERSION OF TRAIN FROM KANSAS CITY! OH AND SWEET TALKIN SWEET TALKIN SWEET TALKIN GUY... because that is the best harmony vocal EVAH. Though oh god, He's A Rebel. There's just too much amazing music out there. | | Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 | | 1:55 pm |
Everything, everything, all the time
Sometimes the sheer... mass of the internet is utterly overwhelming to me. Is it really *good* for human beings to have the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica, a record library of every song ever made, and an image bank of staggering proportions... all at one's fingertips all of the time? As a child who grew up in the back of libraries, constantly researching, looking things up, sucking up knowledge like a sponge, letting one reference material take me to another, via bibliographies, card catalogues, encyclopaedias, etc. - I freaking LOVE it. The ability to google it/wiki it/look it up on YouTube etc. is intoxicating and addictive. There is no longer any excuse for NOT KNOWING something. Confused about who fought in the Peloponnesian Wars? Google it! Have the sudden urge to hear I Think I Love You by David Cassidy, or Chewing Gum by Annie? No need to go to a record shop, just look them up on YouTube. Instant access. Everything, all the time. And yet, it comes almost as a shock when there is something you can NOT find out by googling. WTF, exactly, is Simon Reynold's Hardcore Continuum? I have to confess, I've never read any Reynolds - not, not even "Rip It Up And Start Again" (and don't mention that Shimuras namecheck in Just Like Friends, OK?) But after seeing The Lex referencing it on Poptimists this morning, I thought... surely, this has to be something that the blogosphere is useful for? Actually... no. Thing is, the Blogosphere buzzes with references *to* it, but it just seems to be one of those things that people discuss, safe in the knowledge that, if you have the cultural capital to be discussing it, you already know what it is. I have a vague feeling from the references that it's something of which I would DISAPPROVE (1. it seems to stand against everything - melody, femininity, joy - that The Lex and I agree on in music and 2. it's some middle-aged metacritic wanking on about dance music and what it should be despite never having set foot in a club - this meme gets repeated more than any explanation of what the HC actually *is*.) So here I am, none the wiser. Like Erol Alkan secret gigs, if I was the Kind Of Person who was supposed to know about them, then I would already know. Clearly, then, it is Not For Me. | | Monday, March 30th, 2009 | | 10:36 am |
| | Sunday, March 29th, 2009 | | 2:09 pm |
| | Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 | | 9:02 am |
| | Monday, March 23rd, 2009 | | 8:18 am |
Writer's Block: Things You Don't Want to Know
Oh god, erm, ARGH, depends on the situation. My first impulse would be, yes, I would tell - but I've been in situations like this before, and the messenger gets shot. So I probably wouldn't unless it was a REALLY close friend - close enough to know how they'd take it. Obviously, _Pulse_ is making me think about adultery and cheating right now, and it's doing my head in. | | Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 | | 2:22 pm |
Writer's Block: Take Your Chances
There is no one-off answer to this. Depends on the crime. Depends on whether it was a one-off aberration or persistent behaviour. Depends on whether they have actually shown signs of recognisances or reformation. Depends on the circumstances. There are some people I will always give another chance to, no matter what. (I guess my brother falls into this category.) There are some people I will never give another chance to, no matter what. (Most ex partners fall into this category.) The rest of the world falls somewhere inbetween. But one has to be careful where one draws the line - as Dear Abbey once said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." | | Friday, March 13th, 2009 | | 2:04 pm |
Writer's Block: Really, Truly
Answering the second part first, of course I do. I fall in love at first sight 3 times a day. It doesn't mean a thing beyond that Malcolm Gladwell "Blink" split second intuition thing. It's not the only way that people can fall in love, certainly - and that instant click is no guarantee that it will last, or even be mutual, but there's no denying it happens. The Great Lost Love Of My Life was instant and total love at first sight. (It just took several years for us to both be single at the same time - and still, even then, we couldn't make it work.) As to true love, nope, I don't believe in that. *ALL* love takes work, all relationships take compromise and effort and working together. This idea of "true love" seems to involve the idea that it's somehow instantaneous and effortless, and I don't know anyone, in the history of forever, that has actually had a long-term love that was like that. But then again, maybe "true love" means that this is the person you're willing to work on things *with* - and vice versa. I don't believe in it, though. I really don't. Maybe because it's never happened for me. | | Sunday, March 8th, 2009 | | 8:48 am |
| | Saturday, March 7th, 2009 | | 8:45 am |
Writer's Block: Comped
"Sounds like Stereolab!" (Actually, the first time this was said, it was meant as an insult I think - I was playing Peng for a friend and she said "Oh stop it, this isn't a real band - this is your demos again, isn't it?" Which remains the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my music.) | | Friday, March 6th, 2009 | | 9:32 am |
Writer's Block: Miss Manners
MP3 players / mobile phones with out loud speakers. Dudes, not everyone in the world shares your taste in music. And not everyone in the world can BEAR to listen to music made to sound UTTERLY SHITE by terrible compression and little itty bitty speakers that turn even the most beautiful songs to utter mulch. It's not even the noise so much as the poor sound quality that bothers me! | | Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 | | 12:26 pm |
ADA. LOVELACE. DAY.
Here's one for the girl geeks of the world. (Thanks to @rarepleasures for the tip): Ada Lovelace DayBasically... “I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same.”
— Suw Charman-Anderson (contact)It's named in honour of Ada Lovelace (who will be familiar to readers of The Difference Engine) - colleague of Charles Babbage and one of the first computer programmers - yeah, let alone first *female* programmers. She called herself called herself "an Analyst (& Metaphysician)," and was known as "The Enchantress of Numbers" - SURELY a hero for any age. (Can I have those as my job title for my next role, please?) Since I'm such a music geek, I plan on writing about Delia Derbyshire, my idol, in terms of electronic music and production. I know that ALL you girls who read this blog are technologically aware and literate - in many technological fields - photography, digital art, electronic music, blogging - so please join me and do this. DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT.  | | 9:13 am |
Writer's Block: Chatty
Texting, duh. Does anyone actually prefer talking on the phone if they can possibly avoid it? These questions have been LAME lately. Methinks the Writers Block people have Writers Block. I am actually incredibly phone *phobic* - picking up the phone and calling someone I don't know is one of the hardest things I can possibly imagine. Hell, it's hard enough to ring people I *do* know. I don't know what I'm afraid of, I know it's totally irrational, but still, it gives me the willies, talking into thin air to people I cannot see and don't know how they're reacting or what they're doing and ARGH. The only thing worse is having to talk on the radio. It makes me swear like a trouper through sheer stress. | | Friday, February 27th, 2009 | | 1:14 pm |
Writer's Block: AKA
It was originally a song I wrote about a beautiful boy who was into 60s music and astrophysics. But then, in the 90s, when I was curating a pop music fan fiction site, it just seemed kind of appropriate, as my epic soap fic was called "The Deep Field" (an astronomy reference to the Hubbell Space Telescope) and I was the Moderator of the site, ergo... I only ever use it for fan fic, as I don't really want it associated with any other online or IRL activity. As, as much as I defend FF as a folk art and genuine expression of female creativity and sexuality, there are still lots of bigots that don't understand. Current Music: Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping | | Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 | | 11:12 am |
Writer's Block: Self-Indulgent
Dude, it's not "an indulgence" it's called LENT and I'm giving up Sainsburys for Lent. I'm going to try and shop local for the next 40 days. I'm going to get to know the Streatham Fruiterers and the local Turkish supermart really really well. (Can I find ANATOLIAN BREAKFAST in Streatham? That would be awesome, don't think they sell it outside of E8.) I'm also giving up Booze, but I do that every year - it's OK if you do the protestant cheat and say you can do it on Sundays. Quite good for me, too. Yeah, despite being raised super-Christian, I'm not particularly religious (Church of England - do we worship god, no, we worship England) but Lent is one of those things I've really hung onto. Because, well - I think self denial is good for you. Even if you go back to your bad old habits once the 40 days are over, it does make you think. Last year I gave up food miles for Lent, and only ate fresh food from England. In March, that meant mainly Kale and Leeks. My colon was happy - the people who had to sit near me, less so. Current Mood: virtuousCurrent Music: Beastie Boys - Check Your Head |
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