Music For Your Earholes

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So summer's nearly over and I've basically created an album playlist for ya'll to deal with that. Hopefully I'll be providing links to all of the artist's link to their YouTube channels and Vevo's and stuff so you can have a lil' listen. So, yeah, enjoy.
(Also, they're in no particular order of favourites etc. just random albums that I happen to love. It's just easier to number them and it looks better, dunnit?)

1.) Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
                                                     
 Track highlights: When The Sun Goes Down
                              Riot Van


https://www.youtube.com/user/ArcticMonkeys







2.) Carry On The Grudge - Jamie T

Track highlights: Peter
                            Rabbit Hole



https://www.youtube.com/user/JamieTVEVO





3.) This Is All Yours - Alt-J

Track highlights: Every Other Freckle
                            Left Hand Free



https://www.youtube.com/user/Altjband





4.) Royal Blood - Royal Blood

Track highlights: Loose Change
                            Better Strangers



https://www.youtube.com/user/royalblooduk





5.) Wanted On Voyage (Deluxe Edition) - George Ezra

Track highlights: It's Just My Skin
                            Did You Hear The Rain?
                            (and Drawing Board because the lyrics are the                                   best I've ever heard.)


https://www.youtube.com/user/GeorgeEzraVEVO



6.) You Need Me (EP) - Ed Sheeran

Track highlights: So
                             Be Like You



https://www.youtube.com/user/EdSheeran






7.) Scouting For Girls - Scouting For Girls

Track highlights: She's So Lovely
                             I Wish I Was James Bond



https://www.youtube.com/user/ScoutingForGirlsVEVO





8.) Smoke And Mirrors - Imagine Dragons

Track highlights: I'm So Sorry
                            Dream



https://www.youtube.com/user/ImagineDragonsVEVO





9.) American Beauty/American Psycho - Fall Out Boy

Track highlights: American Beauty/American Psycho
                            Centuries



https://www.youtube.com/user/FallOutBoyVEVO





10.) Love - The Beatles

Track highlights: Eleanor Rigby/Julia
                            Something/Blue Jay Way



https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4dqLAF7yT-_DqeYisQ001w





11.) Other People's Heartache Part 3 (mix-tape) - Bastille

Track highlights: Weapon (vs. Angel Haze vs. F-U-G-Z vs. Braque)
                             Remains (vs. Rag N Bone Man vs, Skunk                                          Anansie)


https://www.youtube.com/user/BastilleVEVO





12.) So Long, See You Tomorrow - Bombay Bicycle Club

Track highlights: Feel
                            Eyes Off You



https://www.youtube.com/user/BombayBicycleVEVO





13.) A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation - The Wombats

Track highlights: Let's Dance To Joy Division
                            Here Comes The Anxiety



https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWOMBATS





14.) Automatic - Don Broco

Track highlights: Money Power Fame
                            You Wanna Know



https://www.youtube.com/user/DonBrocoVEVO





15.) The 1975 - The 1975

Track highlights: Sex
                            Girls


https://www.youtube.com/user/The1975VEVO






16.) The Trick To Life - The Hoosiers

Track highlights: Goodbye Mr. A
                             A Sadness Runs Through Him


https://www.youtube.com/user/thehoosiers






17.) Hozier - Hozier

Track highlights: In A Week (feat. Karen Cowley)
                            Jackie And Wilson


https://www.youtube.com/user/HozierVEVO






18.) X (Deluxe Edition) - Ed Sheeran

Track highlights: Take It Back
                             The Man


https://www.youtube.com/user/EdSheeran






19.) Babel - Mumford And Sons

Track highlights: Lover Of The Light
                            Babel


https://www.youtube.com/user/MumfordAndSonsVEVO






20.) BEYONCE - Beyonce

Track highlights: ***Flawless (feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
                            XO


https://www.youtube.com/user/beyonceVEVO







R.

Back To The Future

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So last Thursday I collected my AS level results. (For anybody not in the UK, or over the age of 30, that means I've got half of my A-levels*. Now I've said it, it seems pretty pointless to be honest.) But, anyway, they were a pretty big deal... and I got A B B C (woo!) But it didn't help that, before I went in to the hall to pick them up, I was greeted by hoards of teenagers sobbing because they've catastrophically failed and they've no idea what they're going to do with their lives. Thankfully, I was not one of those people.

*A-Levels are the qualifications we get in the UK after we've left high school at 16. After 16, we go into college/sixth form (depending on how posh the area you live in is) for 2 years - 16-18. Or some people go into Apprenticeships (Internships for people in the US).

Anyway, for a while, I had completely forgotten about my impending adulthood and was busy rolling in all the cash money dolla I've been getting for my new job. But on Thursday it hit me and, once the euphoria of 'holy shit, my life isn't going to crash and burn', dissolved and quickly turned into 'holy shit, my life is going to crash and burn because I'm a grown up now'. So I decided to turn my
attention back to the future (get it?) and sort myself out.

So, here's my life plan;

1.) Get into University (English Literature and Creative Writing combined degree yes please thank you).

2.) Survive University.

3.) Get a job (preferably as a Journalist or a publisher or whatever).

4.) Start making the cash money dolla.

5.) Write a frickin' book.

6.) Get that frickin' book published.

7.) Dress that book up in baby clothes and take it everywhere with me.

8.) When people ask 'Aw, can I see your baby?', say 'Yes, in Waterstones, WH Smiths and all good bookstores'.

9.) Fall in love and have kids or whatever.

10.) There isn't a 10th point, I didn't like leaving things on such an awkward number. But, I suppose, be happy or whatever.

So, yeah, I don't know whether this makes me an extremely boring person but a.) I like being organised and, b.) I like making lists.

R.

'Cool'

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When I was younger, I used to wear superhero t-shirts to nearly every non-uniform day. I had a really cool TARDIS satchel and Captain America badges. It was safe to say I didn't give a fuck. And this lack of fucks carried on into high school - for about a month or so. It was the end of September, meaning I'd been at there for around 3 weeks and, apart from the bad highlights in my hair and my persistence in wearing sparkly black plastic headbands, everything was good. But it was also the time of my first non-uniform day in a 'grown-up' school. So, like usual, I rocked up in my Spider-Man tee and, even though I'd abandoned the TARDIS bag at this point, I'd picked up some pretty cool TARDIS Vans instead. I was happy. I was wearing stuff that I loved.

But those few minutes of 'BITCHEZ LOOK AT MY AWESOME CLOTH' were over before you could say 'Stormageddon Dark Lord of all', because a big, bad, scary year 11 came up to me, laughed and called me 'weird'. That doesn't seem like a massive thing, but to a greasy, bespectacled 11-year-old, it was horrible. So I went home, picked out all of my now 'un-cool' t-shirts, and threw them to the back of my wardrobe. I went shopping that weekend and even made my mum buy me delicate little tank tops and jeggings (remember jeggings? They were the thing back in 2009) because that's what all my friends were wearing. I remember crying and asking why I couldn't like what all the other girls liked. What made watching Doctor Who 'un-cool' and listening to music that was way too old for you 'cool'?

For years I pretended to be somebody I wasn't. I took down all of my posters from my bedroom walls so that, when my friends came round, they wouldn't think I was weird too. I hung around with people who weren't really my friends. Well, they were my friends, but we had nothing in common. It was a forced and unnatural friendship. And when something that artificial begins to break down, people start to become nasty. I don't blame them, we were kids - we still are. But it wasn't until I realised that, that I actually found some people who were just as weird as I was. It's still sad, though, that it wasn't until year 11 that I regained my 'weirdness' and started adorning my tees again. Even if my new friends didn't like what I did, they cared. They cared about the things I was interested in. They didn't laugh, they asked questions. I was so confused. And then I realised that this is what friends should be like. And I can't be that bad, because I can't seem to get rid of them now.

(Now, don't get me wrong, myself and the people I used to hang around with never actually maliciously fell-out over anything. We just had conflicting interests and ways of dealing with things.)

But this is just something I wanted to say. Embrace the weird-ness. Don't ever stop liking something just because somebody tells you it's not 'cool'. Gloves, capes, masks! Superheroes are cool, man. (If somebody knows where that quote is from, I'll give you a gold star) This whole idea is something I lightly touched on in my last post. I talked about how, thanks to the internet, this 'nerdy' stuff has become more mainstream and 'acceptable'. And, you know, I don't mind being
labelled a 'nerd'. A nerd is somebody who is passionate about something. And, if you're not passionate about at least 1 thing, that means you're boring. And that means everyone is a nerd, apart from you - which makes you the weirdo.

So if you've ever made fun of someone for liking something 'un-cool'... well then, you're a dick.

R.

Just a small selection of my 'un-cool' t-shirts.

Marvel's Daredevil: Netflix Series Review

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I know I'm a bit late to the party on this one but I've only just finished the series so, forgive me. Or shut up.

So, the Netflix original series Daredevil stars British actor Charlie Cox - which I had a 'holy shit, really?' moment when I realised it's the same guy that's in that old film Stardust, and I've had Rule the World by Take That stuck in my head for the last three days. My quickie overall review for the series in four words would be 'Well... okay... that happened.' And for those of you who don't speak the language of the severely sleep-deprived due to an eighteen hour-long Harry Potter marathon, that roughly translates to 'It was pretty damn good'.

Charlie Cox's (Cox'? I don't know) portrayal of the blind lawyer turned vigilante, Matt Murdoch was pretty impressive. Quite a few people's interpretations of how blind people move and act are based on the fact that they've never seen a blind person in, well, person, and they base their characterisation on old videos of Stevie Wonder playing the piano. But Cox's (I'm going with that one. You'd never guess I was an English student) portrayal was subtle and accurate. So much so, I didn't recognise him until the sixth episode.

I also love how the young actor, Skylar Gaertner, portrayed the young blind Matt as I think it would've been extremely easy for such a young actor to go into over-acting mode when portraying such a delicate situation. You know you've done a good job when you leave such a good impression on the audience after only three episodes.

There are other actors in the series, obviously. Deborah Ann Woll's performance as Karen was also fantastic. However, I felt Eldon Henson's 'Foggy' - Matt's best friend and legal partner, was slightly disappointing. Don't get me wrong, Henson was great at the comedy side-of-things, but apart from the lols, I just wasn't convinced. And when his character did face dysphemic themes, there was always drink involved, meaning the humour was inappropriate when it just wasn't necessary.

Vincent D'Onoforio, who played Wilson Fisk (or Kingpin for fans of the graphic novels), a criminal mastermind, was also brilliant. He did a spectacular thing in which he managed to manipulate the audience into both hating and sympathizing with him all within the space of minutes of being on-screen. And, like Matt's younger self, the young actor, Cole Jenson's portrayal of the young Wilson was also extremely, sophisticatedly, fantastically mature.   

Also, the costume and set design for this series was incredible. I feel like design teams don't tend to get much credit for their work in most reviews, but they are definitely deserving of it in this case. Coming from media studies orientated roots, it's extremely difficult to let go of the ties I have to the physical appearance of something. Obviously, the final Daredevil costume reveal was incredible. But I'm not going to go into detail because of some hefty spoilers. And, as you know, it's very easy on the internet to become the object of global hatred.

I just say, if you're planning on binge-watching this thing - do it now. And then you can begin looking forward to amazingly intertwined plot points that most series don't manage to achieve nowadays. Meaning that, in other shows, three episodes in you've already predicted the climax of the entire show and you only continue watching because you've invested your time. This show isn't like that. You watch because you need to.

I can't praise this show enough, to be honest. And, even if you're not a superhero or Marvel fan, this show will still appeal to you. I remember when I was younger and I'd be made fun of for wearing Spider-Man t-shirts. But, now 'superhero' is becoming mainstream and I suggest you take advantage of that.

Now I'm going to watch Stardust and listen to some Take That.

R.