The best daytime TV…

…is the collection of old episodes of Top of the Pops that I’ve recorded off BBC Four at the weekends and then have on in the background during the week. Far superior to house-buying shows or Jeremy Kyle or whatever it is the main channels show during actual daytime hours.

I got a good few watched today because I was still catching up with admin. I then headed out to ukulele class in the evening (songs are feeling easier!) and have been doing a few writing jobs since then.

Back to the day job tomorrow as soon as I’m done with Slimming World weigh-in.

Top of the Pops 1985
Not an OOTD: a 1985 episode of Top of the Pops on our 2010s flatscreen. I still miss John Peel.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Jax Jones and Bebe Rexha – Harder
Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
Blancmange – Living On The Ceiling
Tones & I – Dance Monkey
Jim Croce – Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
Peter Hames – Ordinary Man
Charlie Puth – One Call Away
Lizzo – Truth Hurts
Dominic Fike – 3 Nights

Out on the town

I did my long run this morning instead of going to parkrun, as I won’t have time for a long run tomorrow. I’m getting used to the treadmill now, and it feels a lot more manageable for hours-long runs than pounding the pavements, especially seeing as I’ve got all these BBC4 music documentaries that I need to clear off the digibox.

After my run, I did a bit of tidying and then headed into town to meet up with Mum and Dad (and Geth, who’d been at a gaming tournament all morning). We had a couple of drinks (and I was gratified to find that ginger beer was available everywhere I went) and then went for a meal at El Torero, a tapas place that is one of my favourite restaurants in Newcastle. There’s lots of veggie options and the food is quite Slimming World-friendly (I just need to syn the oil they cook it in…and the cheesecake I inevitably have at the end!).

More adventures about town tomorrow.

OOTD 16th February 2019
OOTD: slightly dressier than usual! Scarf Marks & Spencer (2017), dress Polo Ralph Lauren (2018), tights Pamela Mann (2014), boots Clarks (2016).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Tears For Fears – Change
Lewis Capaldi – Grace
Thompson Twins – Hold Me Now
Khalid and Normani – Love Lies
Halsey – Without Me
The Proclaimers – Throw The ‘R’ Away
The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing
Ariana Grande – Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored
Martin Garrix and Khalid – Ocean
50 Cent – In Da Club

Attempting an actual weekend!

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to take weekends off, i.e. not have a giant to-do list that makes it feel like I’m still working all day Saturday and Sunday. This week, I have been…semi-successful. I do have a few things that fall into ‘really should do that this weekend’ territory, but I’m trying not to stress about them.

Geth and I intended to go to parkrun this morning, but after he came back really tired from his London business trip last night, we decided against it. My marathon training plan has parkrun as an ‘optional’ Saturday run, so it doesn’t matter if I do it or not in that sense, but I do want to get back to it soon.

As such, I’ve instead spent today catching up with BBC music shows on iPlayer. I just watched that Bros documentary film, After The Screaming Stops, which is an absolute must-see if you’re into classic pop. It’s absolutely mental (there are some real Spinal Tap moments!), and an uncomfortable watch sometimes, but very much worth it.

OOTD 12th January 2019
OOTD: a milder winter’s day. Scarf unknown brand (gift from Neil and Nikki 2015), hoodie Sonar (2006), t-shirt Campus Crew for Toronto Blue Jays (2018), jeans H&M (thrifted from Steff 2016), boots Moda In Pelle (gift from Geth 2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Tracey Ullman – My Guy
Genesis – Land Of Confusion

Thirty-four

It’s my birthday today, but I didn’t go out tonight. I’m thirty-four years old now – I have far better things to do. Things I did do today:

  • Got up early and went to Slimming World, because it’s important to keep an eye on things over Christmas even when it is your birthday.
  • Opened presents and cards under Mum and Dad’s Christmas tree, just as I do every year. It’s the tenth day of Christmas and that Christmas tree is still important! Nobody’s ever got me any lords a-leaping for my birthday though.
  • Listened to my birthday number one – Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? – more than once. Was inordinately pleased that the current chart rules mean that it is currently yet again sitting in the Top Ten a whole thirty-four years later.
  • Drank prosecco and blew out candles on my birthday cake – it was a New York style cheesecake as usual, made by the world’s best dad as usual!
  • Packed up and left Edinburgh to go back to Newcastle after ten lovely days spent at Mum and Dad’s for Christmas.
  • Got on a train. Geth was worried about travel stress spoiling my birthday, but it was actually a really relaxed journey.
  • Got home and put on the heating and both fires to warm up our ice block of a house!
  • Ordered takeaway pizza and drank more prosecco. It’s my last non-sober birthday, and it’s been a double-prosecco day. I am okay with this.
  • Spent a perfect birthday evening watching ’80s episodes of Top of the Pops recorded off BBC4. I’m very nearly at the point in the marathon where I’ll get to watch the episode from Thursday 3rd January 1985! So glad I was born on a Thursday. That one’s going to be staying on the digibox and constituting my birthday viewing for many years to come.

It’s been a good day.

OOTD 3rd January 2019
OOTD: favourite day, favourite jumper. Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), jumper Carlo Colucci (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2017), leggings Primark (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Alison Moyet – This House
Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf

And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:

Kraftwerk – The Model

Plus my awesome birthday playlist that I made on Spotify earlier:

will.i.am and Cody Wise – It’s My Birthday
50 Cent – In Da Club
Lesley Gore – It’s My Party
Bowling For Soup – 1985
The Birthday Massacre – The Birthday Massacre
The Crüxshadows – Winter Born (This Sacrifice)
Altered Images – Happy Birthday
Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas?

TV Review: Boys On Film: A Night With Duran Duran

I’ve mentioned before how much I love BBC Four.  Between the old episodes of Top of the Pops and the music documentaries, there’s always something worth watching, which is the main reason my digibox is always getting too full.  They’re always doing new shows about old music, basically, so it’s one of my favourite channels.

As such, I was really excited when I heard they were going to be doing a special evening of shows about Duran Duran, who are my current biggest musical obsession.  It’s the band’s fortieth anniversary this year, and so the BBC Four programmes are part of the celebration.

Geth was due to be at a work do on Friday evening (although in the event, he ended up coming home early and watching the Duran stuff with me, as he’d already had a heavy night on the Thursday!) so I made sure I had a few cans of cider in the fridge and settled in for the evening.

The first programme was Duran Duran: There’s Something You Should Know, which was a new documentary with a lot of interesting features – particular highlights for me included Nick Rhodes talking to designer Antony Price about the suits used for the Rio video, Simon Le Bon meeting up with his old choirmaster, and all of the band members cramming themselves into a tiny Citroen just like they used to do in their early days.  There were also some really good interview segments with more recent collaborators like Mark Ronson.  The documentary was organised into sections based around seven of Duran’s albums – but as they’ve released fourteen, this did mean that there were large parts of their history that just didn’t get mentioned.  It’s a shame, but in an hour-long documentary you can’t do justice to everything.

The second programme, Duran Duran: A Night In, was the highlight of the night for me – it was basically just an hour of the band members reminiscing about TV programming from their childhoods in the ’60s and ’70s.  About five minutes into the programme:

Geth: You’re never deleting this, are you?  It’s clips of all your favourite TV shows and films, narrated by Duran Duran.  It’s basically your ideal programme.

Given that at this point we’d had the 1960s Batman series and Hammer Horror’s Dracula…yeah, pretty much.  Other TV shows and films covered included Barbarella (the film that gave Duran Duran their name) and ’70s Top of the Pops performances from Marc Bolan and Roxy Music.  I love all of these things anyway, but Geth was right – the commentary from the Durans made it a highly enjoyable watch, and unlike most things that I insist on keeping on the digibox, I’m sure I will be rewatching this one many times.

The third programme, Duran Duran: Unstaged, was a recording of a concert played in Los Angeles a couple of years ago, with visuals by David Lynch over the top.  Geth found the flashing imagery a bit much after a couple of days’ heavy drinking, and headed up to bed, leaving me alone to watch what was quite a good show – it was a good mix of old and new tracks, and the band had a lot of guests playing with them like Mark Ronson (again) and Beth Ditto.  I sort of didn’t notice the Lynch visuals after a while because I was too absorbed in the music, so this is definitely one I need to watch again.

There was also a repeat of a Duran Duran TOTP2 special, but as it wasn’t on till three in the morning (the other shows were being repeated first), I went to bed and caught up with it the next morning.  I’d already seen a lot of the performances, but it’s the amusing commentary from Mark Radcliffe and the fact-filled captions that make TOTP2 worth watching.

All in all, great programming as ever from BBC Four, and a real treat for Duran Duran fans.  Hopefully a new album and tour won’t be too many years away!