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I can practically see your face

November dark and mystifying crash courses in aimless, plotless loss of direction.  Late night cocktails and pick-a-back rides down the middle of the road at midnight. Bruce Lee on the telly. Standing on doorsteps and talking to the stars about sapphires. Half hidden ghosts of boyfriends and girlfriends future, past and present. The night collapsing. Lungs emptied. Convulsions in the desolate early morning; waking nightmares, stinging tears on the pillow and a rug full of vomit. Weeping for the things that are lost and never to be found. Thoughts of the hopes to come. Flickers doused by more alcohol and an idle cigarette. Pull down the shades, slip on the ice, fall through the holes.

These are the things I remember.

I’m not even sure why.

The Chameleons – ‘Swamp Thing’

Why is it always cycling that gets dragged through the mire when there’s doping in sport to report on? I’m not denying that there’s been an appalling amount of drug abuse in cycling over the years, but it’s hardly the only sport you could say that about. So the IOC have reported that there are seven positive tests for CERA EPO and/or Insulin from last years’ Olympics. Two were apparently medalists, one of them a gold medalist from athletics, and one a cyclist. What a surprise then that it is Davide Rebellin’s name that has been leaked first, thereby ensuring that it is once again cycling that takes the brunt of the initial press exposure of the story. It was the same with Operation Puerto in 2006. There were a large number of athletes from a range of sports implicated in that investigation, but it was only cyclists who were publicly named and subsequently punished. It’s still rumbling on too, with Alessandro Valverde. And all the other athletes from all the other sports? Well they all got away with it, didn’t they? Presumably because cheating in those sports doesn’t really matter.

Dublab radio

Those nice people at Dublab asked me to record a slot for their online radio a while back. The show has now found its way online, and can be accessed here. Playlist is below. Sorry about all the wittering in between the music...

Trembling Blue Stars - Abba on the Jukebox
Chuck & Mary Perrin - Violets of Dawn
Saint Etienne - Former Lover
The Millenium - The Ways I Love You
Jens Lekman - Julie
The Kinks - Sweet Lady Genevieve
Chris T-T - A-Z (Piano Version)
Gravenhurst - Trust
The Granite Shore - Tomorrow Morning, 3 a.m.
James Roberts - Laughing Mostly
Wolfhounds - Restless Spell
The Magnetic Fields - With Whom to Dance
Abba - Should I Laugh or Cry?

Spirit Of A Vampire

Have you see Let The Right One In yet? We managed to get out to the cinema last night to catch it. What a delight. Certainly one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. The more so since seeing it came so soon on the back of being subjected to Twilight, which is surely one of the most dreadful things ever committed to celluloid. Or DV tape, or whatever it was filmed in. I mean, what a cop-out for letting the vampires go out in the sunlight; oooh, their skin glistens like diamonds, what a tragedy. Bless their little Emo souls. Oh hang on, do they have souls? Whatever.

At least these Swedish vampires obey the rules of the game. And are the first vampire characters who I think work effectively as characters that you can identify as victims. I’m sure that others with a much greater knowledge of the genre will let me know of other examples of that, but hey, I think they’d have to go some to be as effective as the ones in Let The Right One In. There are so many great things about the movie. It’s staggeringly beautiful and outrageously ugly, deliciously uplifting and heartbreakingly depressing. Often in the same instant. Wonderful.

I guess I also liked it because it touches on an idea I’ve been throwing around in my head for a while, which is that of characters who span essentially endless stretches of time but who remain the same age ("Twelve. More or less.") and are therefore unable to acquire the wisdom that aging supposedly brings. Also the ideas of impossible (or at least improbable) love and of the sacrifices made for that love, which in many respects is essentially what Let The Right One In is all about of course.

But of course it’s also about vampires, which gives me the excuse to share my vampire mix with you. I compiled it last year for my Twilight loving friends. Usual rules about buying things you like apply. If you don’t, I’m sending the vampires round to rip off your heads. They know where you live…

Blood Bitch - Cocteau Twins
Vampire Island - Drexciya
I'm A Vampire - Future Bible Heroes
Spirit Of A Vampire - The Go-Betweens
Vampire Girl - Jonathan Richman
Night Of The Vampire - The Moontrekkers
Vampire - Sebadoh
Teenage Vampire - Sultans of Ping F.C.
Secret Vampires - bis
Shopping for Blood - Franz Ferdinand
Si Vous Connaissez Quelque Chose De Pire Qu'un Vampire, Parlez M'en Toujours, Ça Pourra Peut-Être Me Faire Sourire - Stella
Blood Is Sweeter Than Honey - Jazzateers
Maize Stalk Drinking Blood - The Mountain Goats
Love With Blood - The Siddeleys
Blood - Tindersticks
(Nothing But) Blood - This Mortal Coil
Dracula - Kevin Tihista's Red Terror
The Vampire - Buffy Sainte-Marie
Vampire Forest Fire - The Arcade Fire