Tuesday, November 21, 2006

"Apathetic Bloody Planet"

I was going to write a blog tonite, but the truth is I'm too tired and not feeling witty/profound/pretentious/angry/fannish enough to talk about anything of any great consequence, and as there's no-one on Messenger or MySpace to annoy whilst doing it, as much as I enjoy the company of iTunes, I'm gonna go and watch Twin Peaks.

As Agent Cooper says, you should give yourself a present at least once a day.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Thank You, America

The title of this post isn't meant as a direct allusion to an Alanis Morissette song. The truth is I can't stand that Thank You track (you know the one, in the video she's stood naked in Times Square as a load of traffic buzzes around whilst she see's how many long words she can fit into a song). Nonetheless, my thanks go out to the people of America who, perhaps, have finally seen the light. When The Idiot stole the election in 2000 I didn't, to be honest, know much about what was going on. I was too young to remember any of the other US presidents, but I do remember that during my teenage years I became an admirer of America not only because one of my personal heroes, Michael Stipe, came from there and always had something interesting and unexpected to say (usually regarding American politics), but because the place really did seem like somewhere to aspire towards. OK, so I'm now just beginning to learn that life under Clintion was still no bed of roses (and some of his military decisions such as those related to Kosovo were questionable to say the least), but during that time there was always a sense of dignity projected about the place (if we overlook the Lewinsky affair, that is).

When 9/11 happened, it scared the hell out of me. However, over the ensuing years what really came to scare me when I started to learn about what was going on was that America had somehow allowed some backwards, red-neck Idiot firstly buy and the bully his way into power. To me, it was the equivalent of putting a character from Sesame Street in power, although that's an insult to Cookie Monster and Count Von Count. Then in 2004, after a holiday where I became fascinated with the election build up and it's coverage on US CNN (believe me, if you've never seen US CNN I can't recommend it highly enough, it really is so horrid that you have to keep watching. I wonder if 'Anderson Cooper 360' is still running...), I was so sure that The Idiot wouldn't get a second term I was literally bowled over when he got back in. I was almost physically sick when I heard the news.

So now, I offer my thanks to the American public for seeing the light and weaking the grip of The Idiot from power. Hopefully these next two years will work as an example of how American society can get itself back on its feet and actually benefit those least fortunate, so that scenes like those evidenced in New Orleans will not be seen again (I realise this is an impossibility due to the imbalance of global power and the poverty of the Third World, but you would at least think that in the alleged 'most developed country in the world' such images would never appear); that innocent people won't be sent on a war to settle a grudge that dates back to The Idiot's Father and the early Nineties, and that innocent people in occupied countries may stop dying as a result of this so-called 'war'; that the American education system may wake up once more and realise that Evolutionary Theory and scientific fact are widely revered for a reason, and that the whole of Enlightenment thought wasn't for nothing; that people deserve a minimum wage which allows them to live above the poverty line, and that stem cell research does not involve growing clones of people.

I hope in time America will look back at The Legacy of The Idiot and try and work out how it ended up in the mess it presently is, as probably the most disliked nation in the history of the world. Then again, in a world where David Hasselhoff is voted 'The Most Popular Man on the Planet', perhaps we should all adopt the approach of Germaine Greer and just call everything rubbish.

CyberControl's Top 5 Post US Mid-Term Election Songs:

CSS - Alala
The Grates - 19-20-20
The Bluetones - Surrendered
R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
The Long Blondes - Once and Never Again

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Resurrecting Your Cult Icon

So, Dear Reader, where to start. Should I apologise that I've not written anything here for ages? Possibly, after all I did promise last time a full celebration of a certain Keane record. This, however , is not that review. The reasoning for that is that I've come out of the place I was in where I spent the weekend listening to said record and to review it in my current mood wouldn't do justice to the record's subtle nuances. Fear not though, as soon as I get in that place again such an article shall appear, as the strength of the album doesn't suddenly wither away. In all honesty, there's one song on Under the Iron Sea that is very important to me at the moment, but again there'll be more of a reasoning behind that when I get around to it.

Skirting around apologies for not posting, the truth is I've been really rather busy at the moment. PhD life means that there's always a lot to be reading, thinking about and discussing. Outside of work I have been busy, and a brief summary of this would be: saw the Cooper Temple Clause in Cardiff Union and they're still wonderfully snarly; almost killed by being pushed out in the middle of the road by a 'friend' whilst down at Cardiff Bay; enjoyed a very silly meal out with some friends (the meal itself wasn't silly, the conversation was completely off the wall though); discovered the wonders of decent Earl Grey and/or Darjeeling tea; fiddled around with (and was visibly in awe of) the life-size Cyberman voice-changer helmet; refined my PhD idea so that it's more or less what I want it to be; went to see The Grates support The Young Knives; met Patience and Alana from The Grates (the former is thoroughly lovely, the latter being really cool and friendly) and was so blown away from the experience that I couldn't tell you what The Young Knives were like; spent a week trying to rationalise how exactly in four months The Grates have become my favourite band; enjoyed Torchwood; been thoroughly skint; had a wonderful Eighties-twinged night out with one of my closest friends; joined the local committee regarding climate change; been told I'm something of a cult icon to my closest friends; suffered from god-awful Man Flu (seriously, I thought it was Meningitis at one point); thrown a successful, yet rather sketchy and heavily ironic Halloween party; rejoiced in Doctor Who's second triumphant year at the National Television Awards.

So that's the past then, what of the future? What does that hold? Well, hopefully some photos of some of the above-mentioned events; the more than welcome reunion with Ed, Kieran, TJ, Laura and Karen in Cardiff; starting a new job working for The Disney Store (don't laugh, I can't stop doing so myself); more Torchwood; papers to write and presentations to give for my PhD, and probably a good deal more random silliness at any given moment. Am I in a good place at the moment? Well, it's not quite the post-Grates high, but it'll do. There are other places I would possibly like to be, but they're completely unachievable for one reason or another. Oh, and I seem to be getting more and more intrigued by the music of Sigur Ros, it's just very expressive sonically. I promise the next post will be less 'me me me', Dear Reader. This has been a little egocentric. Finally, we'll end with an old classic:

CyberControl's Top 5 Mind-Bogglingly Amazing Albums That Make You Not Want To Buy Another Record for the Next Fifty Years:

The Grates - Gravity Won't Get You High
Keane - Under The Iron Sea
The Bluetones - The Bluetones
The Cooper Temple Clause - See This Through and Leave
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights