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