Saturday 14 November 2009

Things feel possible today.

Dream: floods are occurring which means anything and anywhere ground floor is getting submerged under water.  I am OK on my first floor crib but the clock is ticking and how long it will remain safe.  I get involved with some London types with view to moving somewhere safer.

I wake up at 8.25AM and all feels fresh.  Outside the skies are unexpectedly blue and today looks the best it has been for weeks.

As I step out my/the front door a drizzle of rain hits me but today it feels refreshing.  I cast my eyes across the sunny blue skies looking for the rainbow that seals the deal but no joy.

From here I head to the post office to collect the parcel that they are holding for me.  More likely than not it is going to be “This Gift” by Mudhoney on seven inch that I got off Ebay.

Upon picking up the package being the vicinity I decide to hit Tesco instead of Asda.  Again this store feels repressive.  There is no life or soul to the building.  It feels desolate, like something from a George A. Romero movie.  Desperately this place needs muzak, anything to knock some energy into proceedings.

Today I actually buy fruit.  I’m not really sure what it is that urges me to do so but I buy it nonetheless even though it is shockingly expensive but then again what isn’t these days.  I also manage to find a large bottle of Lipton lemon tea.  Asda don’t sell that.

By the time I get back to Bohm Grove it is almost 9.30AM.  I listen to the Danny Baker show and as a guest is Nick Mason from Pink Floyd who proves to be entertainment death, stiff in the worst way.  Later the guest stakes fail to rise as Mark Lawrenson takes part in their quiz/game.  I guess he never heard the old Baker and Kelly Talk Radio show where they would mercilessly but accurately rip the piss out of the guy.  After Lawrenson is done he makes comments to the woman “do you think he thought us lightweight?” and Baker gets in a dig about the old days of he and Kelly making fun of camp Lawrenson comments such as “I love the colour of those shirts.”

So much for DAB digital radio today as while the storm rages outside both my radio and Freeview video stream of the show/station go down.  Rubbish.

Afterwards I experience a premature morning slump.  I endeavour to do some writing but instead I find myself watching Everything’s Gone Green.  This movie is fantastic and a true hidden gem, anything that Douglas Coupland has lent his pen to is generally going to be of quality.  I’m not quite sure why I am choosing to watch this movie at this time.  Perhaps I am getting withdrawal symptoms from no more episodes of JPod (specifically no more Steph Song) or maybe I am just feeling lost in a mumblecore manner.  Its sad that this movie has never been picked up much outside of Canada it would seem because it is clever and relatively universal – everyone plays the lottery.

When the film is over I resume writing to some degree of success by putting in a reasonably good session albeit one where everything gets started and nothing really gets finished as usual.

In the background as I play the Billy Childish “Archives From 1959” compilation the first Bill And Ted movie plays out also in the background on TV but somehow I manage to remain focused on the words.

Annoyingly my boss texts me in the early afternoon noting something about the electricity at one of our theatreland restaurants.  It’s the weekend, I could care less.

Late in the afternoon Without A Clue arrives on BBC2 just as I begin listening to the Beastie Boys “12 Inch Collection” CD which surprisingly delivers in so many ways.  Without A Clue however manages to really snare my concentration as my enthusiasm for Sherlock Holmes over the past few years has really exploded after working at Baker Street for a while and feeling the whole contextual vibe of the place, even applying some character names to those who I worked with there.  I sometimes wonder if I actually live in the real world at all.

During proceedings I remember that this time next week the latest London Rockin Rollers game will be underway so I text Mark with a reminder to see if he is interested.  Sharply he replies with a flu splattered text message so I decide to give him a call and nail our latest movements.  He sounds as if he has the flu worse than me, although to be honest I don’t think I have fully fallen foul to it as of yet (here’s hoping I don’t have it over Christmas again this year).  The call feels received with genuine gratitude as plans for next weekend are given/lent a so so stance as I add that I also have tickets for David Sedaris at the BBC for Sunday.

Today is the day of the England v Brazil game played/staged in Doha and with kick off fast approaching I head to the olds to watch it.  Playing this game in Qatar is the equivalent of the FA acting like a common prostitute.

In the end the game is pretty abysmal as both the players and managers appear to treat the game with the contempt that it deserves.  This is not the England team that will be running out in South Africa next summer.  And trust me neither of these sides is going to win the world cup in that tournament either.

During the game I discover that today James Henry managed to snag another 90^th minutes goal for Millwall as it serves as an equalizer in their game at Brentford, which all in all suggests all things lacklustre.

Eventually the England v Brazil game ends at 1-0 to the Brazilians with nobody learning anything other than that the English FA are slags.

After the match dad disappears by fucking off to bed leaving Harry Hill to bring rare amusement to proceedings this day.  This week on his show he covers X-Factor from last week and suddenly it turns out that the Gummo mention was indeed real and not some kind of weird hipster joke after all.  Its mockery bemuses me, most knowing people of my generation have seen the movie so why are people reacting with such confusion in response?  It’s the Simon Cowell generation in full flow where everyone is equal only some people are more equal than others.  That guy can only dream of creating something approaching the artist merit and integrity of Gummo.

I have to concede that tonight I do spot John and Edward on X-Factor tonight doing a cover of Vanilla Ice.  Now this is funny stuff, it’s so goofy, unpolished and cheesy in a different way that genuinely lends a sense of fun to such a po-faced and usually straight-laced programme.  Hats off.  This is the mark of the idiot.

Tonight the Republic Of Ireland are playing their World Cup qualifier play off first leg against France in Ireland.  This is a game I so want the Irish to win, it would just be so cool to have a second team in finals next year.  Unfortunately Anelka scores late on to give France a 1-0 win making things look bleak for the second leg in France on Wednesday.

After the game I rush home for the new episode of The Thick Of It as all continues to go tits up for the government much to the chagrin of Malcolm Tucker.  As ever its good but I miss Jamie (a message that I Tweet to Armando Iannucci).

And then that’s it for Saturday.