music for mercredi: with apologies to those in the United States

It's the last music for mercredi for 2009!

Last music for mercredi it was brought to my attention that Spotify is not currently available in the United States, unless you originally downloaded it in another country as I did. So I have to apologise to all my US readers who will not be granted access to the playlist. HOWEVER, I am at least putting the tracklist up so you can get a sense of the thing, and if you feel inspired enough you can look up the songs. Anyway, off we go:

music for mercredi 30.12.2009

1. Please Don't Stop the Music- Jamie Cullum

2. L'Incendie- Vanessa Paradis

3. When I Go- Slow Club

4. Elenore- The Turtles

5. Underdog- Kasabian

6. No Other Way- Paolo Nutini

7. Eet- Regina Spektor

8. Chasing Pirates- Norah Jones

9. Fables- The Dodos

10. With a Song in my Heart- Ella Fitzgerald

Happy New Year. Much love. x

Soph's A-Z of Great Stand-ups

You guys have no idea how hard this was to do, hence why a few letters have more than one name. I know a lot of them are quite well known, but check out the ones you aren't familiar with. I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised. And, as always, let me know in the comments if I've missed anyone out.

A is for adam guerino
B is for mike birbiglia and bill bailey
C is for dana carvey
D is for david o'doherty and demetri martin
E is for ed byrne
F is for christian finnegan
G is for jim gaffigan
H is for reginald d hunter
I is for eddie izzard
J is for jason manford and john mulaney
K is for shappi khorsandi
L is for lee mack
M is for dylan moran and michael mcintyre
N is for nick swardson
O is for dara o'briain and omid djalili
P is for russell peters and patton oswalt
Q is for colin quinn
R is for rob brydon and ross noble
S is for sean lock and sean cullen
T is for tim minchin
U is for the upright citizen's brigade
V is for victoria wood
W is for robin williams
X is for x-tremely funny comedian rhod gilbert
Y is for gina yashere
Z is for ze wonderful comedian jo brand

Much love. x

music for mercredi: "HO HO HO! Merry Happy!"

Hey y'all.

Here is the music for mercredi for this week. Hopefully it'll get you through that mid-week slump and maybe even make Christmas come a little faster? Hey, a gal can dream. There's some good'uns in this one, although I think I may have failed a bit structure-wise, which is something I normally pride myself on. You'll have to forgive me... go on, just this once.

music for mercredi 23.12.2009

Bonnes fêtes to you all. Much love. x

"I'm off for a game of CONKERS!"

I'm not sure whether to laugh hysterically at this or being really creeped out. Right now I'm going for laughing hysterically.



Much love. x

Presenting the first EVER Music for Mercredi: A Special Hump Day Gift

Oh, come on now! Get those minds out of the gutter!

Announcing a brand new feature of ramblings: A weekly playlist!! This is an attempt to a) stick to posting on this blog, and b) reward its small but devoted group of readers (well, those with spotify anyway). It's also actually a lot more efficient than posting lots of links to YouTube or embedding music video after music video. Every Wednesday you'll be able to find a brand new playlist of 10 songs that I deem worthy to appear on the site. All you have to do is click on the link, which will make the playlist magically appear in your spotify account. Simples!

music for mercredi 16.12.2009

tracklist:
1. folding chair- regina spektor
2. laura- girls
3. relator- pete yorn & scarlett johannson
4. the happiest christmas tree- nat king cole
5. drugs in my body- thieves like us
6. kiss of life- friendly fires
7. slow, slow (run, run)- ayo
8. did i make you cry on christmas? (well, you deserved it!)- sufjan stevens
9. little secrets- passion pit
10. first train home- imogen heap

à mercredi prochain!

Much love. x

"It's like forgetting the words to your favourite song."

I'd like to share a song with you all that has been completely squeezing my mind grapes for the past 48 hours, i.e. I can't get it out of my head, which is kind of funny considering the opening lyrics are the title of this post.

Oh Regina, you've done it again.

Much love. x

Merry Christmahannakwanzaakah!

It's Ludacristmas time!

It's coming up to Christmas time, something we're all feeling particularly heavily over here in Lyon. The Christmas market (the third most visited in all of France, thank you very much) is in full swing right down the road from my hotel, and there is vin chaud aplenty to be swigged. All of the Christmas lights are up, and after Lyon's annual Fête des Lumières last week everyone's particularly anxious for Christmas to arrive.

Jouons avec le temps, the light installation at Place des Terraux, as stolen off Kat's camera!

For me, as soon as it hit December 1 I was starting to get into the seasonal mood. While there is of course taking part in all the activities above (particularly the vin chaud), no holiday season is complete in my eyes without the right movies and music to help the month of December along. Here is a list, complete with links of course, of some of the best ones.

As always, I encourage anyone and everyone to leave messages about your favourite holiday movies/songs, even (or especially) if you're just echoing my choices and praising my brilliance.


My Top Ten Holiday Movies (in no particular order):

• Elf: I don't know how this movie could not make you smile. "SANTTAAAAA!!! OH MY GOOOOOOOODDDD! I know him! I KNOW him!!!"

• It's a Wonderful Life
• A Christmas Story
• Love Actually: Just one quote... "There was more than lobster present at the birth of Jesus?!"
• Scrooge: Albert Finney and Alec Guinness. Amazing.

• Dr Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• Miracle on 34th Street
• Home Alone
• Meet Me in St. Louis: Classic Judy Garland
• Trading Places: Not necessarily about Christmas, but watching a drunk Dan Ackroyd in a santa suit makes it Christmassy enough for me

My Top Ten Holiday Songs (in no particular order):

• Baby, it's Cold Outside- Dean Martin
• Christmas Is All Around- Billy Mack (Bill Nighy)
• River- Joni Mitchell
• Little Drummer Boy- David Bowie and Bing Crosby
• Carol of the Bells
• I'll Be Home for Christmas- Dean Martin
• Mele Kalikimakah- Bing Crosby
• Believe- Josh Groban
• O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)- Il Divo
• Santa Bring my Baby Back to Me- Elvis Presley

If I'm allowed to have 11...

• Last Christmas- Wham

Much love and happy holidays. x

"Well, this isn't going to be your mother's sexually transmitted disease awareness fair!"

This is something I've been meaning to write about for ages, but for some reason haven't.

Not sexually transmitted disease awareness fairs, you understand.

Community, in my opinion, is the best show that started this fall. For those of you unfamiliar, it stars The Soup's Joel McHale as a lawyer's whose college degree is found out to be less than legitimate and is forced to go to a community college in order to obtain a degree so he may practice law again. While McHale is fantastic (my favourite line of his: "Move on with my life? Schmove schmon schmith schmy schmife!"), so much of the comedy is brought by the ensemble cast, and even the minor recurring characters. My favourites are:

Abed: I think we are kindred spirits. The entire first episode practically all he did was quote lines from the Breakfast Club. Plus he does an AMAZING Batman impression.
Troy: His high school's politically conservative shamefully outdated fight rap is one of the funniest things I've ever heard: "Bing bong, sing along. Your team's Al Gore cos you're views are wrong!"
Pierce: These people were so lucky to get Chevy Chase. The man makes eating a slice of pizza look hysterical
Senor Chang: "I am a Spanish genius! In Español my nickname is El Tigre Chino! Because my knowledge will BITE her face off!"
Vaughn: "You're toxic, Britta. You know, you're like the exact opposite of an anti-oxidant. Psh, yah!"
Professor Duncan: And not just because he's British and played by John Oliver

Brought to you by Joe and Anthony Russo (they directed Arrested Development, so you know they're good), this show is filled with people that are so zany yet so real, they may just remind you of your friends or yourself. If you haven't yet, watch it.






Much love. x

"On second thought let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place."

Gosh, I've not posted anything in a while, have I? I'm terribly sorry.

One of my new favourite things to do in my soon-to-be-old city is to visit the Institut Lumière, a museum and independent theatre on the property of the father of the Lumière brothers, who invented the first cinématographe, and therefore the first moving picture in 1895. The house and gardens are gorgeous, and the museum itself is fascinating. One often forgets how much science is involved in cinema, and the beautiful way in which science and art intertwine to make film.

The attached cinema has one theatre, and devotes its screenings to some of the most worthwhile films in history. The Institut Lumière chooses to honour particular filmmakers every now and again, those who have made, in their opinion, a particularly interesting contribution to cinema. From October until the end of this month, they are honouring Terry Gilliam, who just released his new film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. This meant that the cinema would be showing all the Monty Python movies, and being my father's daughter, I jumped at the chance to go and see them on the big screen, starting with The Holy Grail.

Obviously I had seen the films before. But seeing them in a movie theatre totally changed the experience. Jokes that were familiar and even too old to be funny were rejuvenated and therefore hilarious, and there were several times where I was embarrassing myself and Kat quite severely, giggling hysterically with tears rolling down my face (never so much as the scenes with the French soldiers, which the almost completely French audience didn't seem to appreciate as much... see below for clips).

It's odd that these screenings should come at such a time, because it feels like Monty Python and similar creations (I'm thinking Fawlty Towers) have had a little bit of a revival. Thanks to YouTube and the free section on iTunes (best idea ever?) I've been catching up on lots of my favourite old clips and, well, laughing my ass off. It's brill-o pads.









Much love. x

"Wow, I've never played in a cloud before!"

- Michael Angelakos, Passion Pit


Two things to share with you all. I was going to put them in separate posts, but to be honest that takes up far too much time, and I could be spending that time sleeping, something I don't seem to do that much of these days. You guys don't mind, right?

Good, I thought not.


My dearest darlingest friend Colleen sent me this link the other day, and it pretty much sums up what this blog is about. I warn you, DON'T start going onto this site until you have some time to spare, and a decent internet connection that puts up with YouTube.

www.youshouldhaveseenthis.com - Greg Rutter's definitive list of the 99 things you should have seen on the internet unless you're a loser or old or something.


Yesterday I went with Kat to see Passion Pit live for the second time. I had seen them last summer at a Lollapalooza afterparty that I had managed to get into (thanks to my dearest bud, Adam). I was a lot more familiar with their music this time around, and had been looking forward to seeing them for some weeks. We spent some time arsing around in the bar next to the venue, having some cocktails and not quite realising we were in the wrong place. After a free shot from the barman ("Do you like vodka?") we hauled ass over to the teeny tiny concert space with just enough time to catch the end of The Kissaway Trail's set. I'd never heard of them before, but they were awesome. They were all sufficiently hipster looking, to the point where you would just like to take them home and feed them, and warmed up the crowd for the PP, who took forever to set up and eventually come on stage.

The Kissaway Trail

It was such an amazing show. The energy that was pulsing through the crowd was insane. Everyone danced practically the entire set, and those who knew the words sang along with great enthusiasm. You could tell Passion Pit were a little peeved at first that the venue insisted on putting loads of dry ice on so they couldn't see what they were doing (hence the quote that is the title for this post) but the vibe from the crowd seemed to chill them out. The lead singer, Michael Angelakos, looked as good as he always does, and his wonderfully high-pitched voice was on top form (little note about Angelakos for those unfamiliar: the first songs he wrote for Passion Pit were actually a Valentine's gift for his college girlfriend, which they both started passing around campus, making them rather popular). Their incredibly infectious melodies have been squeezing my mind grapes ever since the show, in other words I can't get them out of my head, but I like it. If you haven't heard them already, check 'em out. They are absolutely brill-o pads.

A rather shaky picture of Michael Angelakos

Much love. x

Urban Outfitters, you've done it again.

 

  

A few items from my Urban Outfitters wishlist, should anyone be feeling generous...

I think I can safely say that UO is responsible for at least 70% of my new music over the past year. I've written previously about LSTN, their awesome playlists of 20-25 that they release every so often, for free. Now, they're going one step further. UO Music Mondays started last week, and it consists of five new songs released every Monday, for readers of the Urban Outfitters blog to listen and enjoy or even to download should they so wish. This is how I find out about the bands that get me the very small amount of indie cred I possess, so you're mighty lucky I'm sharing this little secret with you.

MUSIC MONDAYS FOR THIS WEEK, THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 9TH, 2009.

Much love. x

just a little quote...

This quite aptly describes a certain soirée spent with some colleagues, and my opinion of them. Where better place to find such a quote than Pride and Prejudice (I'm taking it from the miniseries rather than the book, because of course that is easier to memorize)?

Elizabeth Bennet: I believe Mr Darcy improves on closer acquaintance.

Mr Wickham: Oh, indeed? In what respect? Has he acquired a touch of civility in his address, for I dare not hope he has improved in essentials

Elizabeth Bennet: No, I believe in essentials he is as much as he ever was.

Mr Wickham: Ah.

Elizabeth Bennet: I don't mean to imply that either his mind or his manners are changed for the better. Rather, my knowing him better improved my opinion of him.

Much love. x

"Today was supposed to be opposite day."

A day spent in bed online shopping and listening to Andrew Bird sounds like a pretty good way to spend a Sunday afternoon to me.



Much love. x

"Smooth move, metamucil"

I would really like to say that this week has been a good week. It has been full of great happenings: the now weekly ritual of cooking dinner chez Laura or chez Kat (soy sauce and honey pork went down a treat), the confirmation of weekend trip to Paris, a letter and photo from my little sister, and, as usual, some very worthwhile impulse purchases. But it is hard to focus on such things. Work has been driving me mad, and by the end of this coming week I will have worked twelve days in a row without a day off. As a result I have not been able to go out in the evenings, and have missed out on some pretty good nights out, and am beginning to feel like a bedridden invalid.

I spent a lovely evening with some great people in Lyon, some of the best, I believe. But now I am at home and in bed and it is hard to focus on anything else than the fun that they must be having, the work I have to do at 8 am tomorrow, the fact that Logan got kicked off Project Runway, and the blisters on my feet.

Look how pretty!!

So, what does one do upon finding oneself in such a funk? Impulse shopping? Done that. Excessive eating of comfort food? Done that, too. Then what else?

1. Community is the best new show out there

2.

3.

4.

5. As above.


6. My Parents Were Awesome

7. 

8.

Hope these lift your spirits, however high they may already be, as much as they lifted mine.

Much love. x

Kasabian!!!

I know what you're all asking yourselves, "what was Sophie's highlight of the weekend?" Would you like me to tell you? Who am I kidding, of course you would.

This past Saturday night Kat and I ventured out to outer Lyon to see the brilliant Kasabian perform. It was a bit of a mission to get there, especially because Kat and I had been particularly hungover that day and had failed to be productive in any way, shape, or form. Needless to say we found ourselves running as late as usual and having no idea where we were going, quite typical for me. We got there almost bang on eight and manage to enjoy a set by a rather humorous-looking DJ in yellow sunglasses. We were supposed to meet up with a friend there, but there was already a large group of people and squeezing through crowds wasn't something that either of us wanted to do at that moment. The crowd got progressively larger, and the number of English voices around me multiplied by a hundred. I don't think I've seen such a large collection of English people since I've been here. We even saw the owner and one of the patrons of one of our favourite 'English pubs', where we take part in the pub quiz every so often.

Kasabian came on soon before nine and they rocked it. It was a great show. I was very glad to see that the lead singer was without his long hair, he was looking rather dashing with a short cut, although he had made what I felt was the unfortunate decision to wear a long brown leather coat, buttoned up throughout the whole show. I have to confess I knew a little about the band when I decided to go to the show, but it wasn't until I was there that I realised how many of their songs I knew, and liked. They got quite a good reception from the crowd and they seemed genuinely happy to be there, which was good. There's nothing worse than grumpy musicians.

Next up on the concert list is Passion Pit, who I'll be seeing for the second time, this time in a rather more intimate venue. Very excited.



Much love. x

194 Movies You Have to See Before You Die (And 78 Movies I Have to See Before I Die)

"You know what your problem is? You haven't seen enough movies– all of life's riddles are answered in the movies."
-Steve Martin

There's one conversation I have with all of my friends, and many members of my family. The particulars change from person to person, but the skeleton of the conversation is essentially the same:

Me: [Insert line of movie dialogue]. *chuckle to myself* That's from [insert movie here]

Friend/Family member: Oh, I've never seen that.

Me: What?! *slams hands down on the table* You've never seen [insert movie here]?!

Friend/Family member: Uh, no.

Me: Oh, you must see it, it's sooooooo good!

I quite like the fact that I've seen so many films, and one of my favourite things to do is scope out new films that I 'have to see'. I avoided going onto the Apple Trailers website for six weeks because my list of films to see was too long, now that I've updated it's at 238 films. That's going to take me a verrry long time. One thing I've always found rather irritating though is those lists of films that critics assemble with a title along the lines of '10 films you have to see before you die'. It's not that I take issue with the principle of the thing, anyone who knows me knows that lists make my world go round, and I depend on them for most things. Really, what I tend to be opposed to is the fact that the lists are often so short, limited to, mostly, 10, 50, or 100 films that are supposed to define the whole medium of film throughout its 100-odd years of existence. These films, while undoubtedly good films, often don't do it, not on their own anyway.

After having emphatically and excitedly told a large amount of people that they "have to see" this, that and the other, I have decided to compile my own list of films that you 'have to see before you die', which is based off of The Guardian's list of 1000 (I say based off, because The Guardian neglected to mention some of the best films ever made, I have marked them with **). It includes really good films that display the talents of the best filmmakers to ever have lived, but also films that are just really nice to watch. Most people don't go to the cinema to see a 'good' film, they to go to see something they will enjoy; if it happens to also be of filmic quality, well, so much the better.

This list, I will warn you, is long. It is also in two parts. Part I is a list of films that I have seen and believe the rest of the world should see as well. Part II is a list of films I haven't seen but have been told I must as they are supposed to be essential viewing. I'm not going to pretend I've seen all these films when in my short 21 years on this planet I have watched a hell of a lot of films already (a lot of them bad) and have spent the rest of my time doing other more worthwhile things, like being outside.

If you think there's a film that ought to be included on this list, leave a comment. Do the same if you see something on there that you find absolutely ridiculous and has made your opinion of me drop several notches.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, here's the list.

Part I

Airplane! (1980)

All About Eve (1950)**

All About My Mother (Todo Sobre mi Madre) (1999)

Amadeus (1984)

Amelie (2001)

Annie Hall (1977)

Au Revoir, Les Enfants (1987)

Back to the Future (1985)

Bambi (1942)

Batman (1989)

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Belleville Rendez-vous/The Triplets of Belleville (2003)

Big (1988) **

The Birds (1963)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Bowling for Columbine (2002)

Brazil (1985)

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Cabaret (1972)

La Cage au Folles (1978)

Casablanca (1942)

Chariots of Fire (1981)

La Ciénaga (2001)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1971)

Clueless (1995)

Les Diaboliques (1955)

Dr Strangelove or : How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Farenheit 9/11 (2004)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Fight Club (1999)

A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

Forrest Gump (1994)**

The Four Hundred Blows (Les 400 Coups) (1959)

Ghostbusters (1984)

Goldfinger (1964)

Gone With the Wind (1939)

Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

Gosford Park (2001)

The Graduate (1968)

Grease (1978)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Guys and Dolls (1955)

La Haine (1995)

Heavenly Creatures (1994)

History of the World, Pt 1 (1981)**

Hope and Glory (1987)

Hot Fuzz (2007)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

The Italian Job (1969)

Jaws (1975)

Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources (1986) **

The Jerk (1979)

Jerry Maguire (1996)

The Jungle Book (1967)

Labyrinth (1986)**

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

Lost in Translation (2003)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Marathon Man (1976)

Meet Me in St Louis (1944)

Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)**

Muriel's Wedding (1994)

My Fair Lady (1964)

The Naked Gun (1988)

Office Space (1999)

Oliver! (1968)**

The Outsiders (1983)

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Philadelphia (1993)**

Poltergeist (1982)

Pretty in Pink (1986)

The Princess Bride (1987)

The Producers (1968)

Psycho (1960)

Pulp Fiction (1994) 

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Rebecca (1940)

La Règle du Jeu (1939)**

Roman Holiday (1953)

Rushmore (1998)

The Science of Sleep (2006)

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Sideways (2004)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Some Like it Hot (1959)

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

St Elmo's Fire (1985)

Star Wars (1977)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Toy Story (1995)

Trainspotting (1996)

Triumph of the Will (1935)

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) (1964)

Wayne's World (1992)

West Side Story (1961)

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

Working Girl (1988)

Y Tu Mama Tambíen (2001)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Part II

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Alfie (1966)

American Beauty (1999)

American Graffiti (1973)

An American in Paris (1951)

American Splendor (2003)

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Casino (1995)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Citizen Kane (1941)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Coolhand Luke (1967)

The Crying Game (1992)

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Dazed and Confused (1993)

Dirty Harry (1971)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

La Dolce Vita (1960)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Downfall (2004)

Dracula (1958)

Duck Soup (1933)

Election (1999)

The Endless Summer (1966)

The English Patient (1996)

The Exorcist (1973)

The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)

Fargo (1996)

Ghost World (2001)

The Godfather (1972)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Goodfellas (1990)

La Grande Illusion (1937)

Harold & Maude (1971)

His Girl Friday (1940)

Howard's End (1992)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Jacquot De Nantes (1991)

The Karate Kid (1984)

King Kong (1933)

LA Confidential (1997)

The Ladykillers (1955)

Last Tango in Paris (1972)

The Lives of Others (2006)

Logan's Run (1972)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

MASH (1970)

Memento (2000)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

My Left Foot (1989)

Nikita (1990)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Once Upon a Time in the West/ Once Upon a Time in America (1984/1986)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Osama (2003)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

The Piano (1993)

Raging Bull (1980)

Rear Window (1954)

Room With a View (1985)

Sabrina Fair (1954)

The Shining (1980)

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Spartacus (1960)

Spirited Away (2001)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Top Gun (1986)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Vertigo (1958)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

The Wicker Man (1973)

The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

Yellow Submarine (1968)

Much love. x

Stephen!!

... just coming!

I just had the oddest experience in my hotel room. Thought I'd share it with you all.

So, I just got back from Carrefour and was looking forward to sitting in my room and doing a bit of facebook stuff before heading out to meet some friends for sushi. It was a rare moment where it was silent in my room– no music, no telly, no me talking to myself. I heard a familiar sound coming from outside... I began to sing along to it. It couldn't be, could it? It was only bloody ADAM AND JOE!! The English clients who I had put in the room next to mine were listening to Adam Buxton's Quantum of Solace!! I pressed my ear against the wall, and listened to the song finish.

I was really tempted to yell out 'Stephen!' to see I would get the response of 'Just coming! (the way to identify other listeners of the Adam and Joe radio show) but I was too embarrassed. Instead, I just played Joe Cornish's Saltum of Quolace as loud as I possibly could.

Great times.

By the way, if I haven't said it enough, subscribe to the Adam and Joe podcast, it's a right laugh, and it's a great way to kill some boredom.

Much love. x

"I feel like I've been beaten up underwater. I can feel bits of my brain falling away like a wet cake."

Ugh. Over the past 24 hours I have learned more illness-related french vocabulary than I care to list. As someone who gets colds a lot, I can officially say that they bite monkeys. big baboon-like monkeys. My head feels so congested and heavy, ewwww.

Anyhoodles, obviously today I've been having illness quotes running through my brain all day, and seeing as I'm bored and in bed, I thought I'd share some with you.
The title of this post comes from Black Books, an ever-present influence on this site. It's from Series 3 Episode 1, which features Simon Pegg. For those of you not familiar with the episode, Fran returns from holiday in Cornwall to find that Manny has left Bernard to go work at the bookshop next door, and Bernard is falling apart without him. I've managed to find the episode for you (on Youtube, in 3 parts of course). Watch it if you can, it's got some of the best bits in series. Below is one of the more bizarre deleted scenes from that episode:


One of the other things that I've been thinking of is Adam Buxton's Flu song. I think this man just gets me. This song and Holiday Blues are soooooo spot on it's insane. Anyway, the Flu Song is available to be listened to HERE!


I don't actually have anything else to offer you at the moment. I'm too tired and I need to drink a 2 litre bottle of OJ.

Much love. x

"Maybe this weekend we cou- I'M CRRAAAAAAZZZZZAAAAAYYYY!"

When I was little, my parents often requested that I perform a sort of party trick for them and whomever else they wished to witness it. We had had The Addams Family Values on tape, and, me being me, I had been able to, without much difficulty, memorise a short monologue that Joan Cusack performs towards the end of the film. I used to recite it, accent and all. I can still remember it to this day.

DEBBIE: All I ever wanted was a Ballerina Barbie, in her pretty pink tutu. [puts slide onto the projector] My birthday, I was ten, and do you know what they got me? MALIBU BARBIE! 

MORTICIA: Malibu Barbie! The nightmare! The nerve!

DEBBIE: That's not what I wanted. That wasn't who I was! I was a ballerina. Graceful, and delicate! They had to go.

Over the past few days, I have begun to question the appropriateness of the title of this blog. Don't get me wrong, 'Ramblings of a quoteaholic' is at least partially accurate for what this site is all about. Ramblings, definitely. My verbose nature means that there is no way that I can ever be concise and limited in my word count, and even when explaining the simplest of concepts, rambling ensues. But that's not the part that bothers me. It's the 'quoteaholic' part that I'm starting to have a problem with.
Because of being abroad and away from people who know me all too well, I am in a situation, yet again, where I am making new friends, and becoming closer with people that I have been acquainted with, which has been wonderful and fantastic and every good thing. Well, not completely wonderful and fantastic, but that is all my own fault. The same problem that I have dealt with for most of my life has reared its ugly head yet again.
I think a lot of the time I forget that most people don't have the same kind of memory that I have and that most people don't have quotes running through their head most of the day. So, when I let my guard down and stop censoring myself, at any time all manner of "quote refuse" will come spilling from my trap. This is where I think the word 'quoteaholic' falls short, as it's not an addiction to quoting. The whole quoting thing goes beyond even compulsion. The reflex to do it is so normal and natural to me that most of the time I barely notice that I'm doing it. This tends to alarm people, because:

1. They have no clue what I'm talking about
2. They tend to think I'm a little insane (which I am, but you don't like to let people know that right away*)
3. They then think I spend waaay too much time watching TV, movies etc., and have no friends and no life

So yeah, I think in this situation (one that I have faced before), self-censorship is the name of the game. Either limiting oneself to not quoting at all or quoting only things that they are very familiar with. But even that leads me to go a little loopy. I think I need to have an outlet for all of this stuff in my head or else said head will explode. An example: yesterday we were in the park, and we for some reason got into a conversation about people standing waiting for us at the gate. I said something that sounded vaguely like a line from The Slipper and the Rose, and I continued to quote it in my head for about ten minutes ("SO Madam you are returned at last! You wicked girl, how dare you disobey me! Where have you been?" I'll stop there...**)

I think it would all be fine if there was some sort of database hooked up to my brain that was able to monitor and trace all the quotes that float around my cranium, and then everyone could log on to it and see what the fuck I was going on about at all times. See, me quoting these things is kind of like me making a joke, except I'm citing another source.

WOW, this is where the rambling bit comes in. Bet you were expecting this sort of post, were you? Don't worry, there's some clips at the end, just to keep you all happy. But I'll end on this: Please don't be alarmed if I go off on a ten minute tangent that has very little to do with what we were talking about, especially if I do it in a funny voice, because I promise, I'm just quoting And I can't help myself.

Much love. x

--For those who are interested (I SWEAR I've not looked up any of this dialogue):

* MIKE BIRBIGLIA: "I used to think I was unstable, and then I met every girl I've ever dated. They keep it under wraps at first, but then one day it's just like 'Maybe this weekend we cou- I'M CRAAAAAAZZZZAAAAAYYYY!' and then they blow away like a tumbleweed."

**Stepmother: SO Madam, you are returned at last! You wicked girl, how dare you disobey me! Where have you been?

Cinderella: I only went--

Stepmother: Yes?!

Cinderella: -- to my parents' grave, Stepmother, to put some flowers there.

Stepmother: How touching. With flowers from my garden, stolen flowers!

Cinderella: No!

Stepmother: I say yes. I say you stole them. You are not only a liar but a thief, and thieves we know must be punished. Come! [Drags Cinderella over to the table, covered in vegetables] Here is your place, and there is your task. We are expecting guests for dinner tonight, important guests. And for repaying my kindness with cunning and deceit, henceforth you will not dare to venture from this room without my saying, is that understood?

Cinderella: Yes, Stepmother.

Stepmother: Then make a start. And make amends.

Back to the videos...

I could TOTALLY go crazy to this in a club


Pot... kettle... racist?


My favourite bit from the premiere of a very promising new series


Everyone needs to hear this song, it's amazing


FINALLY... The song/video that I was production assistant for while I was still in Chicago. You have NO idea how many times I had to top up my silly pay as you go phone to get so much of this thing organised!