Stuff what makes my life better #1

Here is a list of some stuff what makes my life better. Maybe it will make your life better too.


XKCD

This webcomic is the undisputed king of the universe. It almost always makes me laugh, and has a great mix of good humour, sweet sentimentality and geeky science and computing references. I recommended repeated and continuous viewing.

KEMPFOLDS

I was recently alerted to this by a friend. Viewing it caused a good amount of laughter, which proved to resurface when I went back to it later. Ideas like this are what makes the world a beautiful place – anything that is ridiculous, pointless and childish yet brilliant is pretty much as close to perfection as you can get, in my book (Seriously. Next time someone in a shop asks you your name, say that it’s Alan Bitch. Never fails to make me happy).


RADIOHEAD (Spotify link)

Not this song in particular, just in general. When I think of all the ways Radiohead have made me feel, it intimidates me. They’re really bastarding tremendous.

CRICKET

Because it's the sport of kings. Someone (not me) once said that a good game of football was like watching a great film but a good cricket match was like reading a great book. Whoever it was that said that, nailed it. At the moment, we (England) are hosting the Ashes, the most hotly contested and exciting test series there is - and it looks like we might take it back off the Aussies. Which is really wizard.

I suppose this post is in danger of being very boring. Hopefully anyone reading it will like at least one of the things. Next post will be another proper one, hopefully.

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Most Definitely

The first time I came into contact with Mos Def (apart from just, y'know, knowing his name) was when he was horribly miscast as Ford Prefect in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film. When I heard of his involvement, I pretty much resigned myself to the film being rubbish. It's very rare that a famous rap singer (you know the rap singers?) makes a blockbuster film better. However, to his credit, when I watched the film I realised that it wasn't him that ruined it. In the absence of Douglas Adams, the Hitchhiker's Guide has lost it's most important component. But that's another kettle of fish entirely. Since then, I've been impressed with his acting (notably in 'Be Kind Rewind') and have cast my ear across his music from time to time. Having liked it, and heard good things about his new record, 'The Ecstatic', I decided to pick up a copy and give it a go.

Woah.

I was expecting good things, but by the end of the first track it was quickly dawning on me that this was not just a polished hip hop album. Within a minute of opening, we've already had Martin Luther King, Indian and rock/metal musical influences and some pretty awesome vocal harmony. Now, I do not intend to give a track-by-track rundown, nor pick out a list of my favourite bits, because that's not really what the album sparked in me. What struck me about this album was how much it stands out from the crowd. This is hip hop in the same league as Outkast (quoted on the second track) and Roots Manuva. A lot of rap is essentially just lyrics, with rehashed or just plain stolen beats underneath, often just plain loops. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, not at all, but it is true. This, however, is one of the most musically accomplished hip hop records I've heard in as long as I can remember - and like Roots or Outkast, it has individuality. It feels like it's leading the way. There are almost none of the genre clichés that infect most popular rap music, and it never feels stagnant. Each tune has distinct sounds, with elements of so many styles of music that it would be pointless to list them. It feels like a rich display of culture and, maybe most importantly, it feels authored.

And that's the bit that got me hooked. Like the first time I listened to 2001 by Dre, listening to this album really made me feel like I was listening to a piece of music that was born of the vision of one man. Now, I've not read up on Mos Def, I don't know how he writes and records, but this feels to me like an album made in his image, pregnant with his ideas (the references to birth in the last paragraph were accidental. Could this be an expression of my subconscious, linked to the fact that I really want children? Hmm).

All this is a bit of a futile exercise, if you're reading this then what you should really do is just go listen to it. Trying to articulate how The Ecstatic made me feel is a bit like trying to explain why everyone on the face of the planet should take 35 minutes out of their life to sit down in a darkened room and listen to In Rainbows. You can't explain it. You just have to go and do it. So, I implore you to open up this link in Spotify:

Mos Def - The Ecstatic

And give it a go. And if you haven't got Spotify, then you're an idiot - get it now and your life will be better (I mean that, and cannot stress it enough). And if you don't like me using 'rap' and 'hip hop' as synonyms, then feel free to post comments, which I will duly ignore. And the same goes for anyone who wants to tell me I shouldn't start sentences with 'and'. And the new Noah and the Whale album just came on. And it sounds pretty good...

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Contact

Hello there.

Firstly, I've just seen a fox snooping about in the garden. That's really nothing surprising, we suspect that there might be a family of them living in the shed. This is because a) they're in the garden all the time, and b) the shed door is fucked. Like, utterly fucked. I wouldn't even really call it a door any more. Not with any confidence, anyway. It's more like a selection of planks that are slightly more arranged and structured than the word 'pile' would describe.

Secondly, I had sardines for the first time in years today. I couldn't remember whether I liked them or not, so I decided to have some for lunch. They were pretty good. I was slightly put off by the small bits of spine hanging around, but I got over it. "What kind of man," I thought to myself, "would I be," I thought to myself, "if I can't eat a few fish vertebrae."

Right, now that that's all out of the way, I'll get somewhere closer to a point. Let's try and explain this blog. Seems like most everyone has got themselves a blog nowadays. Not to be one to miss out on any computer-based craze, I have decided to write one too (albeit maybe a little later than most people). Although this post may suggest differently, it will not mostly be about garden wildlife and my dietary experiments. Hopefully it will be an outlet for my opinions (or as I like to think of them, 'facts') on music and media. Now, knowing me, this could take the form of album/film/programme/art/software reviews, opinionated statements, character assassination or absolutely nothing because I forget about it/can't be bothered. Time will tell.

Any no one will read it anyway.

First 'proper' post will be up soon, possibly about Mos Def's new album. Or maybe the Birdy Song.

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