These are the things, the things that dreams are made of

The second week of September is going to be a big one, at least according to Amazon. First of all, on the 8th of September, the Glasvegas album is released. This is probably the album release of the year for me - I can't wait.

And then, if that wasn't enough, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is released on DVD on the 15th of September. Lots and lots of Segel.

How am I going to cope? And which one am I looking forward to the most...

Our house, in the middle of our street

I've just heard on the news that the Chancellor is considering suspending stamp duty in order to "get the market moving again".

Really??

Yes, that'll make a difference. How about fixing it so that one bedroomed flats aren't offered at some ludicrous high price, effectively pricing most people out of the market? It really makes me laugh (and for laugh read "spit chips") when I hear how house prices are falling. Well, they are going to have to fall a hell of a lot more before me or most of my friends are able to even think about trying to buy something. Tiny percentages just don't cut it.

I am going to stop now because it just makes me angry.

Everyone just loves you so, well hooray

So, ever since my whole "Knocked Up is the new Point Break" post, I have been thinking about what constitutes a comfort film. Here's a list of some of mine, off the top of my head.

Se7en
The Breakfast Club
Point Break
St Elmo's Fire
Knocked Up
North by Northwest
Streetcar Named Desire
Rope
Grease
Grease 2

I asked one of my friends what hers would be. Among others she said:

Dirty Dancing
A Knight's Tale
Point Break
Robin Hood

For me, they aren't merely films that I have on in the background, because I pay attention when my comfort films are on. And neither are they "feel-good" films. Hardly any of the films on this list would qualify for that description, especially not Se7en. Yet it truly is one of my comfort films. Some of them make me laugh (notice that none of them make me cry - I don't see the point in repeatedly viewing sad films. I've seen Casablanca once - I loved it, but I made me cry and so I never want to see it again. And don't get me started on Il Postino.)

But I digress. You can't even really say that they are all "good" films or particularly well acted. Much as I love it, I would be hard pushed to really make a case for Grease 2 being a good film. And it's not even like I have a crush on someone in all of the films (honestly, this is true). Most of them I can pretty much quote from, or I at least know exactly what is coming next. They are all from different times in my life, at least in terms of when I first saw them.

So what makes these films that I love to watch on a Saturday afternoon, when I can close the door on the world, when the rain is falling, yet I am all cosy and comfortable inside? Is it nothing more than there is something in them which has me hooked and I just really enjoy them?

I'm not entirely sure.

Oh when the Saints go marching in, oh when the Saints go marching in

It's August! And the football season has started. Well for those of us who support the best team in the world anyway. Long gone are the carefree Saturdays when you can while away the hours, thinking happy thoughts and not worrying a bean about anything. Nope, when the football season starts, say hello to gut-wrenching Saturdays*, where everything centres of what happens come 4.45. This is doubly true if you are a Saints fan (witness the trauma of the last game of the season before last where we were quite literally 60 seconds away from promotion and it all went horribly wrong), and we always have a slowish start to the season.

So, just imagine my surprise when, come 5.00, we are Top of the League. If only the season could end now.



*although increasingly this becomes Sunday afternoons, Monday/Tuesday evening

My life sees me wandering, lost in smiles forever

Number Three of An Occasional Series

Long before Julian Cope was perplexing crowds at Latitude, he was in a band called The Teardrop Explodes. And they made exquisite pop music. One of the best songs they ever did, and therefore number three, on my virtual album is Passionate Friend. It's from their second and (I think) superior album Wilder - a copy of which should be in every discerning music fan's collection.

I can remember seeing them performing this on Top of the Pops when I was about 10, and being mesmerized by it. There's no preamble - the vocal is launched into straightaway and then you get approximately 3 and a half minutes of sheer awesomeness. I like the way the tempo changes and how it soars and soars until it get to the climax of "ba ba bas". Julian Cope is the king of a great "ba ba ba" - I am not sure that anyone else does them better and for me, one of the hallmarks of a great pop song is a well-placed "ba ba ba". If this sounds incomprehensible, then listen to the song and you will see exactly what I mean. But there is also great emotion in his voice and it suits the lyrics wonderfully.

In short, it's pop genius.