I wasn’t expecting to try non-alcoholic beer so early after quitting drinking. However, last Friday, Geth accidentally bought a can of San Miguel 0.0 at King’s Cross on the way back from his business trip, and gave it to me when he got back home.
San Miguel 0.0.
I was never really a beer drinker unless cider was unavailable. However, this tastes exactly like the kind of beer that’s palatable to me – light, generic-tasting lager. It was nice and refreshing.
I don’t think I’ll drink non-alcoholic beer in the house again, though, because I found that my mind was doing a lot of the compulsions it always did around actual alcohol (*chug chug chug* *satisfying can squish* ‘BRING ME ANOTHER’) – and that’s the kind of thing I wanted to get away from by becoming sober. I’d be willing to try drinking it in restaurants, where my drink mentality works differently – but I know I need to be cautious, so we’ll see.
I’ve been able to spend a full day today sitting and writing, which has been great. Geth has to work from home tonight, so I’m going to have a quiet few hours sorting out my to-do lists.
It’s going to be a bit of a busy week, but hopefully everything will get done!
OOTD: in a ‘working’ mood! Scarf Marks & Spencer (gift from Geth’s mum Anne 2017), hoodie Sonar (2006), t-shirt Punk Masters (2018), skirt Calvin Klein Jeans (2004), tights Primark (2017), boots Moda In Pelle (gift from Geth 2018).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Billy Idol – Rebel Yell Duran Duran – Save A Prayer Dee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart Murray Head – One Night In Bangkok Jools Holland – Enjoy Yourself Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart Travis – The Last Laugh Of The Laughter Years & Years – If You’re Over Me Duran Duran – Is There Something I Should Know? Howard Jones – I’d Like To Get To Know You Well Howard Jones – Life In One Day
I love music videos, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to babble on about them once a week from now on. Sometimes I’ll be discussing videos from modern chart hits where the video was released too late to be discussed on my New Hits Friday post, but usually I’ll just be banging on about the ’80s, when music videos, like everything else, were so much better. You have been warned.
I’m starting with Howard Jones’ Life In One Day (1985), which works on multiple levels and is a real hidden gem among ’80s videos.
The video starts out not looking like a music video at all. It looks like a Top of the Pops performance instead, complete with an introduction from a presenter (I think it’s Tony Blackburn, but the picture quality is so poor I can’t be sure) about how they’re not going to play the music video because Howard Jones is live in the studio. As the performance begins, there are a lot of jumps and scratches in the tape, like it’s from a dodgy old VHS copy that somebody’s had for years and has played over and over until it’s become degraded.
The original joke, of course, was that viewers would think there was something wrong with their TV picture and get up to perform percussive maintenance on their boxy mid-’80s TVs. A few commenters on the YouTube video describe doing exactly that back in the day.
But what’s so brilliant about the way the joke has aged is the accidental prescience of the way it works in the YouTube era. Here’s the thing: when you search for a music video for an ’80s hit song, YouTube will also throw up a whole load of contemporary performances of the song on music shows like Top of the Pops. Most of them are uploads of VHS copies that people taped off the TV when the show was first on, and so the VHS copy is thirty years old and features the exact kind of jumps, scratches, and other picture issues that were deliberately inserted into the Life In One Day video.
As such, the automatic reaction of a YouTube searcher to this video (it was certainly mine) will be: ‘oh, FFS, this is just the TOTP performance – where’s the actual music video?’ As such, modern viewers are fooled in a way that the video creators couldn’t have imagined back in 1985! Nothing makes this clearer than the fact that the top search on YouTube for the song is ‘howard jones life in one day official video’, which is exactly what you put in when you’ve just watched what you believe to be the opening few seconds of a Top of the Pops performance, shut the video in frustration and try to find the ‘actual’ video instead.
I think this is partly also due to the fact that the Life In One Day video is rarely shown on TV nowadays (I’ve certainly never seen it on any of the UK music channels on my TV package) – perhaps because the joke is (ironically) seen as dated now – and so people are more likely to hunt for the video online.
Anyway, the rest of the video is great too – the imaginary VHS-recording viewer starts to change channels, but the TV keeps flicking back to the performance, and then the song and lyrics start to seep into the other programmes – a newsreader’s words, the background music in laundry detergent adverts, the featured video in a record company advert. It’s all very cleverly done, but of course it’s the initial joke that I find to be the real standout feature of this video.
I noticed from the end credits that Godley and Creme were involved in the production of the video – they did some brilliant videos during the ’80s, so I’m sure I’ll end up discussing them again soon.
I went for my first long run of my marathon training plan this morning. I’m feeling a bit worried about the fact that I’m still having a lot of muscle pain and it’s really slowing me down, but hopefully this should ease off over the next few runs. I’ll see how it goes over the next week.
I don’t usually run on Sundays (unless it’s a race) but I can understand why so many people do. Traffic is quiet and there’s lots of other runners about for solidarity. It was also a mild, sunny morning (it felt more like spring than winter), so it was quite pleasant apart from the muscles fighting me all the way!
Geth was out boardgaming at a tournament this afternoon, so I had some quiet time to myself before we went out for a meal this evening. The meal was a late birthday treat and involved us discovering an Italian restaurant we’d not been to before. I will definitely be going back, though, as there’s a lot I want to try on the menu.
OOTD: discovering all the nice things that sober people can drink in restaurants! Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), scarf Matalan (2016), hoodie Sonar (2006), t-shirt Katharine Hamnett (2017).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Little Mix and Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me Soft Cell – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye Adam & The Ants – Kings Of The Wild Frontier Duran Duran – Come Undone Wham! – Wham! Rap (Enjoy What You Do) Spandau Ballet – To Cut A Long Story Short
I’ve been rereading Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series lately, as I’ve never managed to finish the Heroes of Olympus sequel series (despite them all sitting on my shelves for years) and wanted to read the whole thing again from the start.
I didn’t get into this series until about 2011/2012, by which time the whole of the first series had already been released and were ready on Amazon in a handy boxset for me to devour in one go. The reason, I think, why I hadn’t been interested in reading them – despite being a fan of well-written ‘middle grade’ children’s literature – was the advertising for the film version, which made it look very similar to Harry Potter. This did the books a disservice, I feel, because they have a very different feel and a very different writing style (Riordan’s voice, which is personable and humorous, has become one of my favourites in this genre).
The Lightning Thief does a great job of introducing a world of teenage demigods and fantasy creatures. The story kicks right into action and doesn’t let up till the end, with Percy and his new friends Annabeth and Grover embarking on a desperate mission to find Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt before it causes a war among the Greek gods.
The story is actually very educational – I studied classics at university and yet there are Greek myths I remember better due to this series than due to my studies – but never in a dry or po-faced manner. The way the myths are translated into a modern context is always very fun, and the classic mythical figures are characterised really nicely.
I’m already several books down in this series, so I’ll be reviewing the others soon!
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: 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
I’m logging pizzas instead. I love pizza! I spend far too many of my syns on it.
My first pizza of the year, as I expected, was a Domino’s Veg-A-Roma on the evening of my birthday. I always have this one when Geth and I order Domino’s.
I had exactly the same pizza last night as well. Unfortunately, on both occasions I was SO HUNGRY OMG that I forgot to take a picture of the pizza, so you’ll have to make do with the empty boxes instead! (You can see what an unaltered Veg-A-Roma looks like on the Domino’s website IF your local Domino’s happens to offer it – some branches don’t, including the one local to Mum and Dad, where I have to have a different pizza instead. I’ll update this post if I ever remember to take a picture.)
These are a familiar sight in our kitchen, even with me on Slimming World, as I am totally okay with regularly saving the 60 syns I need for a Domino’s!
Update: it took me until my eleventh Domino’s order of the year to remember to take a picture!
I typically make a few changes to the standard Veg-A-Roma – I have reduced fat cheese on it instead of regular (I’ve no idea whether this reduces the syn value, so I count the normal amount of syns just to be on the safe side), which still tastes nearly as good. I also swap the mushrooms for olives, because in recent years I’ve really grown to like olives! I wasn’t keen on them for most of my life.
It’s lovely and I’ll never get bored of it. This is a good thing given that we have Domino’s so often!
I’ve spent pretty much all of today doing the super glamorous job of sorting out my accounts for my tax return. It’s nice to see my business growing year on year, but it is fiddly to get everything in order.
I’ve also been tidying (part of) the study so that Geth has a workspace for during his upcoming sabbatical. There’s still a lot of sorting out to do in there, and I’m a bit frustrated that I don’t have more time to do it, but it is all scheduled in and it will get done – just have to be patient.
Lots of running to do this weekend, but otherwise I’m looking forward to a quiet one!
OOTD: another comfy day in the house. Scarf MyScarf (gift from Keith and Helen 2019), t-shirt Cyberdog (originally early 2000s, thrifted from Geth 2014), belt H&M (2017), tights Primark (2017), boots Carefree (2017).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Years & Years – If You’re Over Me Julian Lennon – Too Late For Goodbyes Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho
I’ve been doing really well with getting up early every day this week, and this morning it meant I was able to get a run in before I went to Slimming World. Because I’d slept badly last night, though, I didn’t have a hugely productive afternoon, mostly having a bit of a doze before I had to go to Pilates.
It’s not been a bad day, though – I lost 3lbs at Slimming World, which is a good start to getting rid of my Christmas gain. I’ve now got a nice quiet evening to myself as Geth is in London for work, so it’s just me and the Now! ’80s channel on TV.
OOTD: yup, still loving my favourite jumper – plus bonus Mel & Kim in the reflection behind me. Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), jumper Carlo Colucci (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2017).
Today’s earworm playlist:
James Arthur and Anne-Marie – Rewrite The Stars Duran Duran – The Chauffeur Mabel and Notes – Fine Line Tom Walker – Leave A Light On Jess Glynne – Thursday Jools Holland – Enjoy Yourself Jax Jones, Mabel and Rich The Kid – Ring Ring Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas? George Michael and Aretha Franklin – I Knew You Were Waiting For Me Duran Duran – Do You Believe In Shame?
