Lose Yourself
It's easy to lose hours when you get drawn into searching for random crap on the internet. Like most people, I love a good fail video and odd crazes involving putting bread round a cat's face, but I also like things that are a little more creative.
Here are my faves at the mo:
Sleeve Face
This one has been going for a few years now, but whenever I take a look it always gives me a few giggles. The basic premise is to use a record sleeve with a face on and recreate the rest of the scene. My favourite ones are where people have really gone to town to make the background and outfits match those on the actual album cover. Check out A Festive Christmas by Carl Morris, now that's what I call effort.
Dear Photograph
The idea is to take a picture of the past and put it in the present, using the original setting as a frame around a photograph. I love the contrast of colours and focus, and how time seems to stand still in some of the pictures - THIS is one of my favourites. I really need to dig out my childhood photos so I can do one of these.
1000 Journals
This is such I clever idea I feel that it really should have been mine. A thousand journals are being passed from artist to artist around the world, in what must be one of the biggest and most inclusive art projects going. Drawings, stories and photographs can be used to fill a couple of pages before the journal is passed onto the next person. Images are added to the website as the books get filled and it's really interesting to see what different ideas people come up with.
The Burning House
We've all thought about this. John Peel even prepared for it with a pre-packed box of vinyl he said he would save were his house to burn down. A box that allegedly contained several copies of the 'Teenage Kicks' 7" by The Undertones. While my CD/record collection is one of my life's companions, as well as being one of my most treasured possessions, I feel that most of them could probably be replaced if needs be. I think higher up the list of must-rescue items would be my ticket stubs - a grubby catalogue of paperwork dating the majority of my musical movements over the last 16 years. I would be devastated if I lost this record of my youth as there is no other way to trace my gig movements and as I can't remember most of them without using the stub as a little reminder, all of those wonderful moments would be lost forever.
Last year I went to the Home of Metal exhibition in Birmingham. A beautifully compiled display of all things Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Napalm Death-related cool stuff. Old posters from gigs that took place before I was born, old ticket stubs for amazing gigs in grubby sweatboxes that changed the lives of those that witnessed them for the small price of about two quid and some fantastic black and white photographs. One of the items that caught my eye was an obsessive Judas Priest fan, who had travelled across the globe and documented every gig he had been to in an A4 book - the venue, the city, the country, the date, the support acts, all the details were their for him to pour over and look back to in old age. I can't tell you how jealous I was of that guy and his book. If only I'd logged all this stuff I'd have a complete record of every band I've seen live. Damn it.
Keri Smith
My amazingly talented friend Dina Thanki drew my attention to this crazy lady, who creates activity books that help you feel like a kid again. Forget traditional journalling and sketch books, Keri Smith encourages you to break all the rules with her series of books. From chucking coffee over the pages to wiping your feet on them, paper disguises to random doodles, these books let you let go of being an adult for a while.
Louder Than War
For the best in new and old music, this one can't be beaten. There's loads of interviews and reviews, but I find articles like the top anti-Thatcher songs and what if only 30 bands could exist really get me thinking and unleash the music-list loving beast within. I see a list coming on...
Sabotage Times
For daily laughs and much-needed pick-me-ups this is the website I turn to. It's really well written in a lad mag kinda style and has a sense of humour that just kills me. I love people who don't take themselves too seriously, so this really is my kind of thing. As well as its stupid side, there's really interesting articles on music, such as this interview with Clash legend Mick - you're my guitar hero - Jones
Want to see the world's tallest giraffe, a burger that looks like Chewbacca or find out how having a hard on gets you priority seating on Japanese public transport? Sabotage Times has got it all covered.
Cassette From My Ex
A must for anyone who remembers dedicating hours of their life to perfecting the art of the mixtape in the name of love and who still has shoe boxes full of the things hidden in the wardrobe.
In the wise words of High Fidelity's Rob Gordon: "The making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. There are many dos and don'ts. First of all you are using someone else's poetry to express how you feel - this is a delicate thing..."
Ahh yes, a 'subtle' combination of songs whose lyrics would reveal to the recipient in no uncertain terms that you wanted a shag. About as subtle as filling an entire tape with this sexy little Nine Inch Nails number.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Thursday, 1 March 2012
364 Days to Go - Let the List Begin
Bad Blogger
Ok, I'm really going to have to try hard at this stuff as I'm notoriously shit at keeping up with blog and social networking type things, and I really struggle to take them seriously. I know it's fashionable to vent your spleen for all the world to see or to blog and Tweet work-related stuff, but I have to confess I love posting photos of dogs that look like cocks. What can I say, it brightens my day. But I promise, I will at least try to behave.
The List So Far...
With the help of my buddies I've started putting a few ideas together for ways to torture myself over the next year, which you can find below. I have to say that I'm really excited about most of them, but I feel my fear of heights and spiders may induce an anxiety attack on a couple of them.
All thoughts and suggestions on other stuff I can do are very welcome. Also, I may need my hand holding for some of these so please volunteer your services! Think of it like helping an old lady cross the road.
Ok, I'm really going to have to try hard at this stuff as I'm notoriously shit at keeping up with blog and social networking type things, and I really struggle to take them seriously. I know it's fashionable to vent your spleen for all the world to see or to blog and Tweet work-related stuff, but I have to confess I love posting photos of dogs that look like cocks. What can I say, it brightens my day. But I promise, I will at least try to behave.
The List So Far...
With the help of my buddies I've started putting a few ideas together for ways to torture myself over the next year, which you can find below. I have to say that I'm really excited about most of them, but I feel my fear of heights and spiders may induce an anxiety attack on a couple of them.
- Eat sushi
- Go fishing
- Abseil
- Win a pub quiz
- Crowd surf (last enjoyed circa '99)
- Get a feature published in a national magazine or newspaper
- Rollerskating (not done since around 1990)
- Tandem bike ride
- Hold a tarantula
- Paintballing
- Sphereing
- Speed dating
- Snowboarding (only had one lesson)
- Horse riding*
- Smoke a cigar
- Give blood
- Urban exploration
- Make a mixtape of my favourite 20 tracks of my 20s - yeah, that's right, a TAPE
- Do a Dear Photograph
- Do a Sleeve Face
- Planking
- Headless Horse Manning*
- Play a round of golf
- Complete Zelda (this project has been on and off since I was 10-years-old, but never completed)
- Learn new slang the kids are using these days and use it in everyday speech (lookout for 'peng' and 'sket' coming your way soon)
- Read a Charles Dickens (it's his centenary after all)
- Go ten pin bowling (again, not done since around 1990)
- Watch the original three Star Wars films in one sitting
- Do some night time photography
- Visit a museum or art gallery I've never been to
- Visit a town or city I've never been to
- Cook something new
- Eat an entire meal with chop sticks (anyone who's seen me eat spag bol with a knife and fork over the course of about two hours will know this one is going to be tough)
- Use my limited sewing skills to make something new out of old clothes I no longer wear
- Go vegan for a week
- Seven day cheese nightmare challenge
- Fly a kite
- Take part in the A to Z Blogging Challenge
- Get a new tattoo
All thoughts and suggestions on other stuff I can do are very welcome. Also, I may need my hand holding for some of these so please volunteer your services! Think of it like helping an old lady cross the road.
364 Days to Go - Fear of Turning 30
One of the biggest fears people have about turning 30 is the thought they'll be old. I'm no different. The thought of watching my face sag towards my chest and my arse start slapping against the back of my knees fills me with dread. But it's not just the vanity of getting old that I fear, it's also the thought of becoming a dull fucker.
Watching my 20s slip away has made me all too aware that I've become stuck in the rut of day-to-day monotony. Being a creature of habit maybe safe, but it's also incredibly boring. I feel the need to shake it up a bit and I don't just mean with gin.
My working day, including the commute and the hanging around, clocks up around 11 hours, leaving me with little time to myself. You would think this would motivate me to get off my arse and use my time wisely, but no, I come home with just food and sleep on my mind, while the thought of doing it all again tomorrow lurks in the background. And come the weekend? Yep, food and sleep are probably the most important parts of that too - as well as a huge helping of music obviously.
Of course, there's another big fear that shakes you to your core as you approach 30 - have I achieved enough? Have I done everything on the list? It's pretty silly really as turning 30 doesn't equal death, but still, there's often a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I haven't achieved enough in the last three decades...
It took me until I was 27 to bother with the business of graduating, I don't own my own home (and have resigned myself to the fact I will never earn enough to do so), I have left Europe only once, I haven't learnt to snowboard yet, I don't have a dog or enough tattoos and I still haven't got into the habit of having my hair cut regularly enough to not spend half of every year looking like a hobo. I've never seen Rocket From The Crypt live, been on a tandem bike ride, smoked a cigar or eaten sushi - although to be honest the last one really doesn't bother me, I just feel it's something I probably have at least had a go at before now.
So, in order to cross a few of these things off the list and prevent myself becoming a sad act before my time, I'm aiming to recapture the fearlessness of my youth. The 365 days I have left before the dreaded 30 arrives are my key to eternal youth (well, almost), a last chance to be bold, be brave and misbehave. I'm making a list, mainly of silly things, that needs to be completed by 1st March 2013 - wish me luck!
Oh, and suggestions (that don't involve nakedness) are always welcome.
Watching my 20s slip away has made me all too aware that I've become stuck in the rut of day-to-day monotony. Being a creature of habit maybe safe, but it's also incredibly boring. I feel the need to shake it up a bit and I don't just mean with gin.
My working day, including the commute and the hanging around, clocks up around 11 hours, leaving me with little time to myself. You would think this would motivate me to get off my arse and use my time wisely, but no, I come home with just food and sleep on my mind, while the thought of doing it all again tomorrow lurks in the background. And come the weekend? Yep, food and sleep are probably the most important parts of that too - as well as a huge helping of music obviously.
Of course, there's another big fear that shakes you to your core as you approach 30 - have I achieved enough? Have I done everything on the list? It's pretty silly really as turning 30 doesn't equal death, but still, there's often a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I haven't achieved enough in the last three decades...
It took me until I was 27 to bother with the business of graduating, I don't own my own home (and have resigned myself to the fact I will never earn enough to do so), I have left Europe only once, I haven't learnt to snowboard yet, I don't have a dog or enough tattoos and I still haven't got into the habit of having my hair cut regularly enough to not spend half of every year looking like a hobo. I've never seen Rocket From The Crypt live, been on a tandem bike ride, smoked a cigar or eaten sushi - although to be honest the last one really doesn't bother me, I just feel it's something I probably have at least had a go at before now.
So, in order to cross a few of these things off the list and prevent myself becoming a sad act before my time, I'm aiming to recapture the fearlessness of my youth. The 365 days I have left before the dreaded 30 arrives are my key to eternal youth (well, almost), a last chance to be bold, be brave and misbehave. I'm making a list, mainly of silly things, that needs to be completed by 1st March 2013 - wish me luck!
Oh, and suggestions (that don't involve nakedness) are always welcome.
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