This is the first time this year I’ve felt human enough to attempt a blog so forgive me if the subject
matter seems a little weak. I think the (proper) holiday I’ve been threatening for four or so years beckons - a battery recharge is required and no mistake. I know, I know, 2009 has to be the year when I start to act and DO things. Enough of me though, there’s something a lot more important going down:

Well, not especially, though it is cool. Listen up…

Some of you may have caught the one-off drama called Being Human last year, featuring a werewolf (Russel Tovey), ghost (Lenora Crichlow) and Vampire (Aidan Turner) who all happen to be flatmates. Apart from being a very enjoyable romp that given the subject matter could easily have been a pile of unholy cack, Being Human was a keeper. Fans petitioned long and hard and in doing so have achieved something really quite special and elusive - a full TV series. It’s been confirmed for quite a while now but I thought I’d mention it after seeing the very short promo ad on TV the other night. Check it out
on BBC3.

I’ve decided I really need to concentrate on writing rather than talking about writing. I have catalysts and the third of a book, along with what I like to call a beautiful mess (the “other book” that needs editing/shooting into space). New beginnings and my differing circumstances should afford me more time to get into the writing “zone” though, rather than just farting about watching DVDs and going to work like your normal upstanding citizens.

Happy Belated (depending on how you look at it, I suppose) New Year! Here’s a nice vid of some robots fighting:

P.S. Someone please remind me I need to pay for the rest of my Glasto ticket by Feb 1st!

If I had to name two festival highlights this year, it would be Rage Against The Machine’s angsty performance at Reading and Elbow’s beautiful, soaring epic at Glastonbury where everyone was still chanting their provocative “One Day Like This” long after the final chord and Guy’s last uplifting lyric. Rage were a band I’ve wanted to see since my big brother bought me their debut years ago, but while I’d heard Elbow and some of their tunes, I’d never - prior to this year’s Glasto, owned any of their records or seen them live.

I’m made up that they’ve won the Mercury. They were certainly my winners, and the bookie’s favourites, but I severely doubted they’d come away with the money. Some five-minute wonder would take it, surely? Usually it’s someone I’ve never heard of and don’t particularly want to hear of again (Antony and the Johnsons are a bit like nails on a chalk board as far as I’m concerned). Even better was the fact that I’d just finished watching Rocky II (he wins, too!) and taken the disc out when my TV hit me in the face (not literally) with a very happy Elbow, followed by a rousing rendition of their “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver”. Brilliant!

Buy their latest album, “The Seldom Seen Kid” here - highly recommended by moi!