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CRISPS! |
posted by jim on 2/02/10
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tastic!
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TEAM JIM BOB'S 2009 CULTURAL LISTS |
posted by jim on 9/12/09
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JIM BOB
ALBUMS
I bought more old albums than new this year. These were the new ones.
Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South
Art Brut – Art Brut vs Satan
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You
Elvis Costello – Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
GIGS
Edwyn Collins at the Bloomsbury Ballroom
Laura Marling at the Bloomsbury Ballroom
Ross Noble at the Croydon Fairfield Halls
Fleet Foxes at the Roundhouse
Tim Ten Yen at various venues
Chris T-T at 93 Feet East
Art Brut at the Electric Ballroom
Book of Job musical at the Camden Head
The Devils Hatband at Kev & Lou’s wedding
Clinton USM at Jamm
BOOKS
Cormac McCarthy – various books
Nick Cave – The Death of Bunny Monroe
Douglas Coupland – Generation A
Chuck Palahniuk – Pygmy
Denis Lehane – A Drink Before the War
Michael Chabon – The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist
Ari Folman & David Polonsky – Waltz with Bashir
The Damned United – David Peace
Will Self – Liver
Haruki Murakami - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
FILMS
District 9
The Reader
In The Loop
Anvil - The True Story of Anvil
The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
The Wrestler
Changeling
Let the Right One In
The Damned United
Watchmen
Slumdog Millionaire
Gran Torino
TV
Wire
The Thick of It
Generation Kill
Breaking Bad
Red Riding
Mock the Week
The Big Bang Theory
The Street
Criminal Justice 2
NCIS
Family Guy
Miranda
Ross Noble’s Australian Trip
Would I Lie to You?
Harry Hill’s TV Burp
Anything with Charlie Brooker in
We Need Answers
RADIO/PODCASTS
Adam and Joe Show on BBC 6
Collings and Herrin podcasts
The News Quiz on Radio 4
Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better
OTHER GUBBINS
The Revolution Continues – New Chinese Art at the Saatchi Gallery
Swimming
MANAGER MARC
Top 15 Albums Of The Year
1. Lady Gaga - The Fame
2. Lilly Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
3. Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
4. Pet Shop Boys - Yes
5. Jim Bob - Goffam
6. Julian Cassablancas - Phrazes For The Young
7. Eminem - Relapse
8. Little Boots - Hands
9. Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
10. A-ha - Foot Of The Mountain
11. The Orphans - For Queen and Country
12. Neil Diamond- It's a Cherry, Cherry Christmas
13. Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansoon - Break Up
14. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
15. Madness - The Liberty Of Norton Folgate
Top 10 Songs Of The Year
1. Little Boots - Remedy
2. Lady Gaga - Paparazzi
3. Pet Shop Boys - Building A Wall
4. Lilly Allen - The Fear
5. A-ha - Foot Of The Mountain
6. Julian Cassablancas - 11th Dimension
7. Manic Street Preachers - Jackie Collins Existential Questions
8. Jim Bob - Not Far From Here
9. Beyonce - Halo
10. The Enemy - Sing When You're In Love
Top 10 Gigs Of The Year
1. Neil Diamond - MGM Grand Las Vegas
2. Carter USM - The Forum
3. Carter USM - Brixton Academy
4. My Life Story - Koko
5. Pet Shop Boys - 02
6. Morrissey - Brixton Academy
7. Blur - Hyde Park
8. Sultans Of Ping - The Garage
9. A-ha - 02
10. Jim Bob - Borderline
Top 10 Films Of The Year
1. Moon
2. Nick And Norah's Infinate Playlist
3. The Wrestler
4. District 9
5. He's Just Not That Into You
6. Wolverine
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Watchmen
9. An Education
10. The Reader
Top 10 Books That I Read This Year
1. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
2. A Fraction Of The Whole - Steve Holtz
3. Breakfast Of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
4. Haruki Murakami - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
5. Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
6. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
7. Bowie - Mark Spitz
8. Charles Dickens - Great Expectations
9. Kvin Whitcher & Alex Fynn - Arsenal: The Making Of A Modern Superclub
10. Nick Griffiths - Dalek, I Love You
Top 15 TV Of The Year
1. Torchwood
2. Flight Of The Conchords
3. The Apprentice
4. Doctor Who Specials
5. True Blood
6. Lost
7. 8 Out Of 10 Cats
8. Alan Carry - Chatty Man
9. Gavin and Stacey
10. Masterchef - The Proffesonials
11. Harry Hill's TV Burp
12. The X-Factor
13. Sarah Jane Adventures
14. Would I Lie to You?
15. Tonight With Jonathon Ross
Man Of The Year
Russell T. Davies - For the greatest TV show ever made. The 5 part Torchwood will never be topped by anything.
UBER ROADIE MISTER SPOONS
Books - Umm nah didn't read any new ones...
Films - a definite improvement on last year I saw three of this years releases at the cinema, one on DVD and one on a plane...
1. District 9
2. Star Trek
3. State of Play
4. Damned United
999999999. The Boat that rocked (fecking awful)
TV:
1. Doctor Who
2. Red Riding
3. Lost
4. True Blood
5. Outnumbered
6. Torchwood: Children of Earth - it was good, but not THAT good Marc :>)
7. Reggie Perrin remake
8. Defying Gravity
9. Damages
10. Sarah Jane Adventures
Still don't quite get: The Wire - watched start to finish on BBC2 over the summer, but think I'm missing something that everybody else sees
Albums:
1 Mumford & Sons: Sign no more
2. Mick Thomas: Spin Spin Spin & Casino Trousers
3. Pet Shop Boys: Yes
4. Tim Ten Yen - '... Beautiful'*
5. Crystal Castles*
6. Tenek - Stateless
7. White Lies - To Lose this life
8. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
9. 30lbs of Bone (mini-album) - Sea shanties
10. The Killers - Day & Age*
Huge Disappointment: Depeche Mode: Sounds of the Universe (sounds of utter shite more like, after a decent single gave us false hope too)
Confidently predicting Album of the Year 2010: Chris T-T Love is not Rescue (based on the demos I've heard)
Songs:
1. Little Lion Song - Mumford & Sons
2. Save the World, Get the Girl - The King Blues*
3. Depeche Mode - Wrong
4. Pet Shop Boys - Wall
5. True Blood theme tune*
* - possibly not a 2009 releases, but it's when I first heard them... so shoot me.
Gigs of the Year (a tough one, as I went to quite a few and have a memory like a sieve, don't pay too much attention to the order)
1. Mick Thomas - Gofis, Austria
2. PSB - June 2009 - Millenium Dome
3. My Life Story - Nov 09 - Camden Palace
4. Sultans - Oct 09 - Garage
5. Chris T-T - Nov 09 - Carter aftershow
6. Gary Numan - Nov 09 - Br*****n Dome
7. Blur - Jul 09 - Hyde Park
8. Sparks - Mar 09 - Forum
9. Alison Moyet - Dec 09 - RFH
10. Ultravox - Apr 09 - Portsmouth
Favourite Jim Bob gig: Glasgow 13th Note - September 2009 - it proved difficult to get TJB together on tour this year, but for this gig we were all present plus it was fantastic to have honorary members Chris T-T and TTY on board - leading to some monumental comedy misunderstandings in the bus and a legendary row about marketing deaf dogs! We were slightly anxious about how TTY might be received there, we need not have worried - as always he's loved and adored. The lads played a stormer too. Jim messed up the hotel bookings so we had double beds - instead of family rooms - next hour spent in the bar nervously looking at each other. Hee hee.
Favourite Abdou gig: Brixton aftershow - Nuff said!
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THE BLOG MACHINE YEARS |
posted by jim on 16/11/09
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I doubt I could do a long tour of these Carter shows. It would kill me. At my age. Just the thought of it. Look what happened to Michael Jackson.
The day after the Brixton Academy show I had an incredibly stiff neck, bruised knees, pains in my stomach as though I’d done an hour’s sit-ups with Madonna’s personal trainer and a lump on my forehead from when my guitar attacked me full in the face during ‘A Perfect Day to Drop the Bomb’. It was of course worth it. Those four Carter hours onstage were beyond special.
I had a cold during the final two rehearsals and had become paranoid that I would lose my voice. To be honest, I was thinking about little else. I was going to bed early to stop thinking about it. And then I was having bad dreams – that I couldn’t remember but I know I had them – about losing my voice. I must have been annoying everyone for constantly talking about it. Especially when I was telling them how I needed to rest my voice and couldn’t talk.
A lot goes into those four stage hours. We make it more difficult for ourselves than we need to by having a ridiculously lavish lightshow (this year’s was amazing Nic) and thinking how cool it would be to have a 21 or maybe it was 23-piece boy choir on stage with us Lambeth Council could certainly not be accused of not taking their child performance licensing seriously.
Even the aftershow on Saturday must surely qualify for some sort of best ever aftershow award. Most bands don’t even go to their own parties. On Saturday Fruitbat performed at God knows o’clock with Abdoujaparov, I shouted ‘Touchy Feely’ with Chris T-T and the Hoodrats (I thought I’d dreamt it) and bringing Clinton USM over from Japan was a masterstroke.
I don’t know whether or where or how, when etc we’ll do more Carter shows. My personal feeling as the gigs were approaching was that I felt like I might have a nervous breakdown and couldn’t bear the thought of doing it all again. Then pretty much as soon as the final chord of ‘Rent’ was played at Brixton on Saturday I was already wondering about Christmas 2010. We need to calm down and indeed come down before we make any rash decisions. There are other non Carter things me and Les need to do – that Abdou album has been long awaited long enough and I’ve got my novel out in May (it’s called ‘Storage Stories’ by the way, it’s brilliant, I’m the new Will Self, I expect to win the Booker Prize).
Sadly, some pickpockets tried to rain on the parade this year. It seems it’s currently a problem at big rock gigs. I hope it didn’t spoil things completely for those affected. I don’t know what can be done to stop this sort of thing happening in the future. Naked admission only gigs? A cloakroom for mobile phones (youtube must be shitting themselves)?
So, thank you for coming along and to everyone involved in putting the shows on and making them so successful.
David Cassidy sums up my thoughts quite well here
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LONGER THAN A TWITTER, SHORTER THAN (I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING LONG) |
posted by jim on 8/09/09
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My manager Marc and my uber roadie and webmaster Mr Spoons believe that my one hundred and forty character maximum outbursts on Twitter have killed my blog. I’ve become lazy. I’ve got no Barry discipline for the long game.
So, here I am. For the first time in absolutely fumfty ages with a tour blog. Think of it as a compilation of tweets if you prefer it that way.
I was a bit disillusioned with the music business earlier in the year. I was thinking about packing it in, announcing my retirement and becoming a novelist. I had this idea that I was going to start leaving all the CD stock of my back catalogue on trains and buses and begin a new life. Wherever I went, I’d take my CDs with me and leave them under theatre seats and in the bushes in parks. Luckily, or unluckily, this idea was always going to be a non-starter because I never really go out.
Then I bought this guitar
It’s like the one I normally play only baby sized. I liked the novelty feel of it and started playing it a fair bit. Within a few days I’d started about 5 new songs. My retirement from the music biz would have to be put on hold. As for the giving my back catalogue away thing, I decided to just hide copies of my latest LP Goffam in hiding places on a 6-date tour I was about to go on instead.
For this mini tour I was going to play a good chunk of the set with Chris T-T on the piano while I Frank Sinatra’d it up with some hand held mic action and groin movements. Tim Ten Yen would be the special guest every night and we’d all travel together, along with Marc and Spoons in the Spoonsmobile. It would be an adventure.
The gigs were all pretty amazing. I was playing a solo song heavy set but people weren’t booing or going to the bar to talk loudly until I played Sheriff Fatman. If anything, the solo tunes were going down better than the Carter material. In truth, the bubbles on Touchy Feely – double bubble with Chris T-T (and Tim T-Y in Bletchley) joining Spoons on a second machine – were probably more popular than any of the music. Next tour I might just do a seventy minute bubbles show and then play Sheriff Fatman. Something for everyone.
There was a lock in after the Stoubridge show. Miles Hunt was there. I haven’t seen him properly since the nineteen nineties. It was nice and made a pleasant change from the normal ice cream hoover and half a warm Becks at the Travelodge. Speaking of which, after the Glasgow gig we found ourselves in a five men and only three hotel beds situation. I think if we were women we would have shared beds. We had definitely bonded over the past few days together but not quite enough for bed sharing and Chris and Marc drew the short straws and slept on the floor. Maybe next tour I’ll just book one big bed a night and we can all put baby doll nighties on, roast some marshmallows, put slices of cucumber on our eyes and mudpacks on our faces, put on the Grease soundtrack and have a pillow fight till we’re sick.
Other gubbins.
1. It wouldn’t be a Jim Bob tour without a trip to the cinema. We went to see District Nine. It’s pretty amazing. You should go and see it.
2. Me and Chris had a spectacular argument on stage at the Camden gig. It was like Oasis.
3. We had breakfast in a restaurant/hotel that had the worst service I’ve ever experienced. It was actually very funny. They were just so rude and the portions were tiny. Chris had some sort of cola drink that had a head on it that looked like the frothy scum you get in the English Channel at high tide. I was told off by the waitress for asking for a coffee when she was still taking the meal orders. I think we still gave them a tip though.
4. The Goffam CDs are still out there, let us know if you find one.
PS: I was back rehearsing Carter with Les yesterday. It’s coming together. You should buy a ticket if you haven’t already. There aren’t many left. Buy them from here
Phew, doesn't he go on.
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A SHORT BLOG TO MARK GOFFAM DAY |
posted by jim on 3/03/09
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Today has been declared ‘Goffam Day’.
We (Team Jim Bob) had a Humpty Day before the release of my last album ‘A Humpty Dumpty Thing’ and Goffam Day marks the start of the build up to the release of my next solo record ‘Goffam’.
It helps give us a bit of focus and the feeling that we have some control over what can be a fairly frustrating process – releasing an album.
I spent 4 days at Center Parcs as a pre reward for what will be a lot of cutting and pasting, typing out address labels, sticking stamps on padded envelopes and writing nice emails to radio producers.
A lot of people think that Center Parcs is entirely under some sort of super dome. That’s the way it was advertised in the eighties and that’s the image that’s stuck. In reality the majority of the Parcs is in a big old forest. A forest chockfull of wildlife. Ducks, geese and swans, squirrels, rabbits and deer.
I’ve said it before, but I really like Center Parcs. It was originally the brainchild of a Dutch entrepreneur. And there is something very Dutch about the place. People seem somehow laid back. Maybe it’s the bikes. I’m sure as soon as everyone is back in their cars and through the exit, normal aggressive service is resumed.
This has been a short blog about Center Parcs and Goffam Day.
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MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING |
posted by jim on 9/01/09
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I’ve lost the power to articulate my anger at the little things in life.
I used to be able to bang on for ages about saxophones on TV theme tunes and indie bands who kept their coats on when they were on Top of The Pops. These days I just can’t seem to get my goat going.
I want to write a thousand words about why I don’t like the whole idea of the BBC Sound of 2009. And how I hate what Andrew Lloyd Webber is doing to the Eurovision Song Contest. I know I won’t be able to cope if Robbie Williams spoils this year’s Take That comeback shows, but I can’t put it into any more words than that.
This following statement annoys me:
‘Strong record sales in 2008 despite economic downturn
As more and more companies struggle in the ongoing economic recession, the UK music industry seems to be bucking the trend.
It's been revealed that UK single sales broke records last year.
Downloads went up by a third, and 2008 was the biggest sales year on record in terms of single sales in all formats, with 115 million single tracks sold.
Albums didn't fare so well; although while sales dropped by 3.2 per cent year on year, it's still a relatively small decline in the current climate.’
I have to confess, I hate download only music. It scares me. If a band releases a download album, who’s to say that in the future that album will have existed at all? Music will be like a tree falling in a deserted forest.
I remember getting my first single made and opening the box and spreading the records out on the floor. It was fantastic. I had the same experience when my book was published. Fill a bookshelf up with your own book and see how good it makes you feel about yourself and the world. I hate download books too.
2009 started off promisingly for me when I helped erect a shed in our garden on New Year’s Day morning. It felt like a good way to begin a year of getting stuff done and creating things. I have to confess things have slowed down since then and I’ve slipped into a routine of watching videos and browsing the internet. But I won’t lose hope. 2009, bring it on motherfuckers!
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THE TEAM JIM BOB 2008 CULTURAL REVIEW |
posted by jim on 10/12/08
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JIM BOB
Top 10 Albums of the Year
1. Alas I Cannot Swim – Laura Marling
2. Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst
3. Juno Soundtrack – Various
4. The Seldom Seen Kid – Elbow
5. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
6. Glasvegas – Glasvegas
7. Sixes and Sevens –Adam Green
8. Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! – Nick Cave
9. Momofuku – Elvis Costello
10. Everything is Borrowed – The Streets
Top 4 Gigs of the Year (Couldn’t manage ten. Need to get out more)
Laura Marling at the Scala
Laura Marling at St James Church
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at Hammersmith Odeon
The Dears at Porchester Hall
Books of the Year (Need to get out more)
1. The Road – Cormac McCarthy
2. Snuff – Chuck Palahniuk
3. Atonement – Ian McEwan
4. Submarine – Joe Dunthorne
5. Gone Baby Gone – Dennis Lehane
6. Story of My Life – Jay McInerney
7. Cormac McCarthy – No Country for Old Men
8. The Butt – Will Self
9. The Secret Life of a Teenage Punk Rocker – Andy Blade
10. The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats – Cole/Haag
Top 10 Movies of the Year
1. Juno
2. Eagle Vs Shark
3. Atonement
4. The Kite Runner
5. In Bruges
6. Gone Baby Gone
7. Son of Rambow
8. No Country for Old Men
9. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
10. The Assassination of Jesse James
Bubbling under: In The Valley of Elah, Breaking and Entering, Rendition,
Once, Joe Strummer – The Future is Unwritten
Top TV
The IT Crowd
The Big Bang Theory
Criminal Justice
Would I Lie to You?
Mock the Week
CSI
Stephen Fry in America
House
Harry Hill’s TV Burp
Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe
The Olympics
Other wonderful stuff
Russell Brand’s radio show
Collings and Herrin Podcast
Universal Studios LA
The Revolution Continues, New Chinese Art at The Saatchi Gallery
The Samuel Oschin Planetarium Show at the Griffith Observatory, presented by Troy McClure
MARC
(Team Jim Bob Manager)
Albums Of The Year
(This was the best year for albums in the past 20 years)
1. Indelicates - American Demo
2. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
3. Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark
4. Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head
5. Keane - Perfect Symmetry
6. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
7. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
8. The Killers - Day & Age
9. Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords
10. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
11. MGMT - MGMT
12. Chris T-T - Capital
13. Girls Aloud - Out Of Control
14. The Sparks - Exotic Creatures Of The Deep
15. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
16. Britney Spears - Circus
17. Nick Cave - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
18. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of understatement
19. The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
20. Laura Marling - Alas I Can Not Swim
Song Of The Year
The Killers - Human (The best pop song written in the last 10 years)
Gigs Of The Year
1. Keane @ LA Roxy
2. Nick Cave @ Hollywood Bowl
3. Conor Oberst @ Henry Fonda Theatre
4. Russell Brand @ LA Roxy
5. British Sea Power @ Shepherds Bush Empire
TV Shows Of The Year (The best year for TV ever I reckon)
1. Doctor Who/Sarah Jane/Torchwood
2. Gavin and Stacey
3. Lost
4. Peep Show
5. The Apprentice
6. Harry Hill's TV Burp
7. Dragon's Den
8. Ramsey's US Kitchen Nightmares
9. Curb Your Enthusiasm
10. The Office (American Version)
11. Would I Lie To You
12. Survivors
13. The Wire
14. Without A Trace
15. 8 Out Of 10 Cats
16. Tonight With Jonathan Ross
17. Solitary 2.0
18. Strictly Come Dancing
19. The IT Crowd
20. The X-Factor
Films Of The Year
(A wonderful year for films too! I went to the cinema over thirty times!)
1. Iron Man
2. Tropic Thunder
3. Juno
4. Son Of Rambow
5. Ghost Town
6. Superbad
7. Zac and Miri Make A Porno
8. The Visitor
9. No Country For Old Men
10. The Other Boleyn Girl
11. The Dark Knight (Heath Ledger wasn't as good as everyone makes out
though)
12. Atonement
13. Indiania Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
14. Stepbrothers
15. Hancock
16. Definitely, Maybe
17. The Incredible Hulk
18. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
19. Cloverfield
20. Sommers Town
Books Of The Year (What I read, not when it came out)
1. Writers Tales - Russell T. Davies
2. Motel Life - Willy Vaughan
3. Submarine - Joe Dunthorne
4. Making History - Stephen Fry
5. Meetings With Morrissey - Len Brown
6. Bowie In Berlin - Thomas Jerome Seabrook
7. Gotcha! The Story Of The Sun - Chris Horrie
8. Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
9. Timoleon Vieta Come Home - Dan Rhodes
10. Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInnery
Hero Of The Year
Fox Soccer Channel (for giving me Prem action while in the US)
Event Of The Year
1. Carter at Birmingham Academy
2. Barrack Obama winning that election thingy
Most Missed
I missed Sarah Palin in December for comedy value
NEIL (MR SPOONS)
(Team Jim Bob uber roadie, webmaster, driver, chef, backing vocalist, bubble controller etc)
Top 10 Gigs (excluding Carter/Jim/Les):
1. Yazoo @ Hammersmith Odeon - June
2. Sultans @ LA2 - Feb
3. Wedding Parties Anything @ LA2 - April
Best of the rest in no particular order:
Gary Numan @ Indigo, 02 - Sept
Darren Hanlon @ Brunswick - Aug
Chris T-T & Band @ The shitest venue in the world, 93 Feet East
Little Man Tate @ LA2 - May
Helmholtz Resonators @ Grove - June
Crowded House @ Glasto
Tim Ten Yen - Brixton Windmill around Feb Time I think although this may have been last year
Books:
A Writer's Tale - Russell T Davies & Ben Cook
Gordon Ramsay - Playing with Fire
Been trying to read Watching the Engligh by Kate Fox, but that has been relegated to 'bog read' status as the woman makes me want to scream.
Films:
EDIT: Cloverfield & Juno(totally forgot they were this year)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Vantage Point
X-Files Movie (I'm the only person in the world that thinks it was OK - Mrs Spoons fell asleep hafway through)
Saw a few others but they were unfeasibly shite
Albums:
Capital - Chris T-T
Cruel Guards - The Panics
TV:
1. Doctor Who
2. Lost
3. Damages
4. Spooks
5. SJA
And two that jumped the shark: Prison Break, Heroes
Worst TV ever: Bonekickers
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NOTHING TO BLOG ABOUT |
posted by jim on 18/10/08
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Yes, I’m rubbish at this.
So much time has passed me by without fulfilling my blog duties.
I’ve said it before but I just don’t live a life worth writing or reading about.
It would be one long description of a man getting out of bed over and over again. Eating the same two – well not the exact same two but you know what I mean – Sainsbury’s own brand Weetabix every morning, watching the BBC Breakfast show and getting more and more wound up at how the programme is only about one minute long. A minute that just keeps rolling round and round, linked by ever more navel gazing presenters. Talking about their experiences on ‘Strictly’ and trying out new and crazy sports etc. And the way the Scots weather woman can’t pronounce the word Scotland has started to bother me.
After breakfast I head into the ‘office’ to check my emails and then I do one form of writing or other. Music or words usually. I browse the interweb and find nothing but still manage to waste a few hours a day looking at it. I think I preferred the web when it was just porn and Star Trek. There are too many things to check out on iplayer and Listen Again. On Listen Again I can listen again to DJs who’ve played Carter records to see what they said about the records. I’m often disappointed to find out they only played them as part of some guilty pleasures phone in, getting listeners to text and email their witty reasons for why my music should never be played on the radio ever again.
I did win all time worst haircut in pop as voted for by Orange. I beat Amy Winehouse
and Limahl from Kajagoogoo and I must confess I felt kind of proud about it all. Until I looked it up and found yet another pithy comment about how I was smelly and had a dog on a string or something.
I did a short gig for Lexapalooza in North London. I’ve been rehearsing for the Carter shows. I went to three parties. A 90th birthday party in a sheltered housing unit, a visiting US friend’s birthday party and the Cherry Red Records 30th Anniversary party, where I played a short set. That’s the most parties I’ve been to since I was sixteen.
I went to see The Dears in a building with fancy chandeliers and no parking.
As usual – when my new album is recorded it’s going to blow your minds, as is my novel and my film and so many other things I have to do before I’m thirty.
Rock on Tommy
Listens
Fleet Foxes
Glasvegas
Reads
Outer Dark – Cormac McCarthy
No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthy
Watches
Gone Baby Gone
Breaking and Entering
Rendition
In The Valley of Elah
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Everything is Illuminated
Keane (not the band the film)
There Will Be Blood
No Country for Old Men
Flags of Our Fathers
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THE ACCIDENTAL BLOGGER |
posted by jim on 28/08/08
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I’ve got blogger’s block. I don’t know how people do it. I read a few blogs. Andrew Collins, Richard Herring, Chris T-T and my manager Marc’s LA adventures. The one thing they have in common with each other and not with me is their regularity. My last entry here was on July 21st – a month ago.
Is it because I like to keep myself to myself, just like all serial killers and gun nuts do? Or is it more likely that I just don’t do enough with my life that is worthy of sharing with the world?
Don’t get too excited by this new blog. It doesn’t mean I’ve suddenly got loads of stuff to tell you. I haven’t walked on the moon or been nominated for a Mercury Music Prize. Seriously, what do I have to do to win that thing? Oh, I need to enter it, I see. Maybe next time.
I have started writing songs for my next Mercury Prize winning record. I’ve started eleven songs. I’ve plugged in all my dusty recording equipment to record some demos. I’ve discovered that all my dusty recording equipment is broken. So I’ve bought a replacement gizmo, which I’m currently sitting at home waiting for the delivery thereof. It’s on the truck apparently.
It’s going to be something of a concept album I’m afraid. Not as strict a concept as ‘School’ but not quite as loose a concept as ‘A Humpty Dumpty Thing’. Conceptually somewhere in between those two un-nominated for a prize masterpieces.
I don’t know what it’s going to sound like. I have an idea, but until this dude arrives with my package and I can spend a frustrating amount of time learning how to use it, I won’t be sure. I estimate that it will not be a rock record. It will probably be close to my solo live show though. But who knows, maybe it will contain something for everyone. Some R n B, some rock and a couple of ballads for the ladies. With a little bit of rapping. Or maybe it won’t. Like I say, until that lorry turns up.
I’ve bought a lo-fi video camera and plan to film the record’s development and whack it all up on the interweb.
I’ve mostly been reading ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy (incredible) and ‘Knockemstiff’ by Donald Ray Pollock, I’ve been watching Rendition
Son of Rambow Vantage Point
Be Kind Rewind
Batman Begins
and listening to Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes. I went to see him live last night. He was amazingly good.
What’s that sound? Beep beep beep beep, vehicle reversing, vehicle reversing. Watch this space.
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MIGHTY MOUSE HAS COME TO SAVE THE DAY |
posted by jim on 21/07/08
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It’s been a long time.
So, I want to get rid of the fat bits and I finally got round to buying a bike. That would certainly get me fit and off my lazy arse in the way the mini trampoline and the dull sit ups and no cheese or crisps and Coca Cola diet failed to do. The bike arrived in a big cardboard box. It was ready built apart from a few easy bits of assembly, which took me two days. Then it wouldn’t stop raining. Would I ever get out on my new bicycle? Would I ever get my body back to its skinny 1990’s “Is Jim on heroin?” best?
There was a gap in the wet weather and I seized my day. I live at the top of a hill. In every direction from my house it is either very uphill or very downhill. I must have ridden about five minutes uphill before I was shaking and I was coughing and trying not to vomit. I was shocked at just how out of shape I am. It would seem that months on end of sitting in a dull room typing not all that much really into a computer doesn’t make you into Lance Armstrong.
I left the safety of my house and risked certain knife crime death the other day to film a forty-seven minute interview for Cherry Red TV. I also sung a couple of songs. It should be up on their site in about a week. I’ll let you know.
On the tube home I was already regretting half the things I said in the interview. I was in a fairly candid mood. And in the glimpses I caught of myself on the TV monitor I looked like an old fat bellied tramp.
I’ve watched these films recently. They were all good.
In order of goodness:
Joe Strummer – The Future is Unwritten
Atonement
Notes on A Scandal
Once
Notes on A Scandal
Eastern Promises
Sweeney Todd
I Am Legend
Control
Into The Wild
I saw the absolutely incredibly good Laura Marling in a church in Piccadilly.
I played a successful Glastonbury set. I got sunburned.
I read ‘Snuff’ by Chuck Palahniuk, which is filthy and outrageous and quite brilliant.
I’m currently reading ‘Atonement’.
Listening to Adam Green and Carole King.
I might self publish my novel.
I’ve been busy working on something I’m not going to talk about in case it dies on its arse before seeing the light of day. I only mention it because I wouldn’t want people to think I was wasting my life away doing sod all.
I’d like to write some new songs but they aren’t there at the moment. Give ‘em time.
I have a meeting with Gordon Brown about knife crime and what to do about it. How about this for starters:
Number 1: He brings the troops home. The money saved will help pay for my other ideas and will also set a good example to the youth. Bombing innocent people out of house and home to get your hands on their petrol is a bad example.
And then in no particular order we can plough all the money saved into opening and rebuilding all the facilities for sports and education etc that Thatcher and then Blair closed down during their time in power.
If we need something to shut down to keep a nice balance between opening and closing things. We can shut down all those shops that sell ‘sporting’ knives and swords and replica guns on the high streets. Again, they set a bad example. I know that if you want a knife you just have to go into the kitchen but glamorising the blade in the shop window can’t be helping.
Of course, if people are going to commit these horrific acts of needless violence then they should be locked up. And if there aren’t enough prisons, build another one. It isn’t rocket science. Once again, the money saved in Iraq and Afghanistan will help. Hey and think of the employment created with all the prison building.
I’m not really meeting Gordon Brown but just in case I get asked, it’s best to have some kind of a plan so I don’t look like a doughnut.
Mmmmm doughnuts.
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