Books I read in 2011

Via my Goodreads profile, these are (most of) the books I read in 2011:  

Favourite films released in 2011

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, USA) At first glance, ‘Black Swan’ appears similar to Aronofsky’s previous film, ‘The Wrestler’, with its shaky documentary style and focus on a single struggling performer. But soon enough the film reveals itself as an out-and-out horror film with a fresh treatment of genre tropes (transformation, mirrors and doubling). Perhaps what [...]

Favourite tracks of 2011

Click the image above for a Spotify playlist featuring all of these songs. Isabel – Baxter Dury I love Baxter Dury’s album, ‘Happy Soup’ as much as I did last year’s ‘Things To Do and Make’ by Ergo Phizmiz. Dury’s vocals have a sloppy, sub-rehearsal quality, he mutters, he’s cynical and he sounds wonderful. ‘Isabel’ [...]

NaNo November 11: That went quickly

It all went in a blur. I’ll take stock about what went right and what went wrong (likely to weigh heavily on the latter), but for now I’ll take a break from writing. In the meantime, these are the albums that accompanied my 23-day flurry of novelling: Actress – Splazsh Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto [...]

What I read in 2010

I saw a similar list on the blog Worlds in a Grain of Sand, and couldn’t resist. These are the books I read in 2010, in the order I read them. The Victorian Chaise-Longue (Marghanita Laski, 1953) A young mother recuperates from tuberculosis in 1950s London, lying upon a Victorian chaise-longue, and dreams, or perhaps [...]

My year of needless data

About five years ago I asked my friend Charley a question: If it were available to buy, how much would you pay for all of the quantifiable data about your life up to this point? The data would (presumably) include such numerical data as number of hours spent on the toilet, number of times spoken [...]

Favourite tracks of 2010

Near-constant Spotify usage has meant that 2010 has, for me, been more about songs than albums. Or perhaps it’s not been much of a year for LPs? Either way: here’s the unordered list (although, for the record, my favourites are Run Overdrive, Late and Mandrill). Oh, and here’s a Spotify playlist for almost all of [...]

GetGlue is a foisting machine

In the last week or so I’ve been playing around with GetGlue, a new recommendation and social networking site that covers all media (i.e. film, TV, books, music, general topics).

Finding a Last.fm for films

I love lists. I love films. Surely there exists an online application that allows me to log the films I’ve watched, which then recommends other films I’d probably like? Last.fm has fulfilled my nitpicky needs for music, and frankly, I would never keep a manual log of music I’ve listened to. However, I do keep [...]

Spotify playlist: 30 Year Old Man (March 2010)

I’m terribly self-indulgent. This summer I’ll turn 30, and as I’m currently feeling more positive about my life than I ever have before, this playlist celebrates all the things that I’m not. 1. 30 century man – Scott Walker 2. Mr suit – Wire 3. You’re getting old on your job – Lonnie Johnson with [...]

Spotify playlist: I Keep Losing Heart (Dec 2009)

Here’s a Spotify playlist that I made at the end of last year. It’s a bit of a mishmash of old 78s, distortion and cheap Beatles pastiches (come on Spotify, surely you can talk the boys around by now?). 1. I don’t want to set the world on fire – The Ink Spots 2. Welfare [...]

Films of the decade

For the record, my favourite films of the 2000s, in alphabetical order: 24 Hour Party People 28 Weeks Later Adventureland Caché Children of Men City of God Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Dogville Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Good Night, and Good Luck I’m Not There In the Bedroom In the Mood for Love Memento [...]