This is my first post and I haven’t thought it through, so it’s likely to be self-indulgent nonsense of no interest to anyone else, except perhaps mental health care professionals. Just like most of the other blogs out there.
If you’re still there I’ll take the opportunity to get some things off my chest. Words and that. Sometimes certain words or phrases become overused. Over the last few years it has been impossible to listen to any news report about Afghanistan or Iraq (or in the case of Heather Mills, Strictly Come Dancing) without hearing the phrase hearts and minds - yes I realise it sprung from the U.S. Vietnam campaign and I understand what it means but please stop saying it. Blah blah blah blah hearts and minds. It’s as if all politicians have been briefed to use the phrase and are living in fear of a Malcolm Tucker-style bollocking if they don’t. As a result I’ve stopped listening to the content of news reports. I just hear disconnected words swirling and echoing against a loud tick-tick-ticking until the inevitable we-have-to-win-over-the-hearts-and-minds bit arises. And then I scream.
But the word which is really getting right on my tits at the moment is the word random. It’s fashionable to say random. I know this because everyone says it. All of the time. With various meanings. People often say random when they don’t mean random, they sometimes say random when they sort of mean random, very occasionally they say random when they mean random but most of all they say random when they mean ooh look at me I say random I’m like totally random I just said random random random random. It’s like a virus. I was having a random drink. A random drink. Eh? When I hear it I have competing physical reactions, one to throw up and one to assault the person who says it. I have to fight both and it’s not easy. The other day I was out with some randomers. You what?… must not throw up… must not batter them with a random object… don’t play into their hands. At the weekend I heard a radio presenter hand over to coverage of The London International Horse Show by saying it was being held randomly in London. And this was on the BBfuckingC. One of the reasons 5Live’s Colin Murray said it was to be funny – because where else would a London event be held – but to my ears it was obscured by the other reason which was oooh I just said random I say random I’m so random I just randomly said random don’t you say random random random random.
Anyway I need to er lie down.
To make up for my ramblings, here are some videos from 2009 featuring the Vivian Girls, Camera Obscura, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, God Help The Girl, Atlas Sound, Grizzly Bear, Beck, Crystal Stilts, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Midlake, Animal Collective, Richard Hawley, Super Furry Animals, Wooden Shjips and Broadcast & The Focus Group. None of them were chosen at random, nor with the intention to win over any hearts and minds. I hope they work, as it’s my first go at embedding widgets.
If it doesn’t work, you can watch them here:
http://www.yubby.com/i/twothousandandfine/channel/player/20518
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