Seems like I haven’t updated in ages....

( crazy guy update )

Anyway, more pleasant things. loveweasleys04 tagged me for this meme, and who can resist?

1) List 5 celebrities you would have sex with without even asking questions.
2) Put them IN ORDER of your lust for them [5 - 1, 1 is the hottest].
3) Supply photos for said people.
4) Say which movie/show/thing it was that hooked you.
5) Tag five people.

I tag: mrstater, duck_or_rabbit, train_lindz (when she gets back), hrymfaxe aaand pamoreno. And anyone who fancies spreading a little hotness.

( I wonder who'll be number one? )

Anyone else watching the Murray/Roddick match online right now? COME ON ANDY!!!

Happy 4th of July to those of you celebrating being shot of us this weekend ;).

I may very well be scraping the underside of the blogging barrel here, but my new toaster, let me show you it:

( not as retro as I wanted, but the other one was £130... )

Is pretty, no?

Also (incongruously) have Crazy Guy news. He's been charged and he's going to court on Friday (just to enter his plea). He was here again last night even after he was charged, so the police are going to ask that he be remanded in custody. Will know more next week, so... I feel weird asking people to keep their fingers crossed that a man's liberty gets taken away but... if you have free fingers I'd appreciate it. Me and my new toaster would like some peace.

Anyway, happier things - moonlitwoods tagged me for this fiendishly psychologically revealing meme:

Make a list of five questions you wish someone would ask you about yourself. If someone comments to your post and officially asks the question, you must answer. Tag ten people to do the meme.

Mine:

1 Why do you like music as much as you do?
2 If you never achieve any writing success in the real world, will you still do it?
3 If you could choose to be reincarnated as any animal, which would you pick?
4 In real life, are you like you are online?
5 What has been your biggest fandom disappointment?

I tag: moonlitwoods (hah!), eumelkeks, lillbet, gilpin25, calyndra, mrstater, enomis57, javidan, jenni_cn, & enamors.

And for your time this, because gun to my head and really make me choose, Bell X1 are my favourite band. I have epic, epic love for this song, and the video is far too wicked not to share:

Things that made me happy today:

- toast
- Gorecki
- making it to day 8 on this meme

And for you, The Hidden Cameras. I always play this song when I need to be reminded that I do, indeed, believe in the good of life. Has some of my favourite lyrics ever and a really fabulous video.



How To Enjoy:

- improvise some kind of tambourine with paperclips in a mug
- shake along
- sway gently from side to side
- wait for the huh huh huhs at the end and join in

And a random poll to finish on:

Poll #1391856 French kissing in the UK
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

When you kiss do you:

Can I go back to my dreary werewolf music and posting once a week now?

O~ O~ O~

Things that made me happy today:

- took a paragraph out of a chapter and it instantly fixed everything I hated about the whole thing
- red apples
- skiving off this afternoon for a hot chocolate
- coming back to find train_lindz and enomis57 had decided Breaking Dawn should be a musical. This idea is genius. Suggestions for what Edward should sing in the birth scene in the comments, plz.
- am downloading a new episode of The Mentalist, which I am OMGsoaddicted to.

How have I gone so long on this meme without playing you any Ryan Adams? Everybody needs Ryan in their life. I have a staggering Ryan Adams dependency problem. I actually can’t get through a day without him, and for my money, he’s the only singer-songwriter today who holds his own with the greats. I could listen to him all day. Sometimes I do. Asking me to pick a favourite Ryan Adams song is like asking me to pick a favourite internal organ. I need them all in different ways. This one is always on my list of songs I wish everyone had in their collection, though. It just kills me.



How To Enjoy:
- on headphones
- while lying on the floor
- with your eyes closed
- wishing you were his girlfriend and he wrote this about you

( want more Ryan? Obviously I couldn't pick just one )

Tell me, fellow Ryan fans. What's your favourite? Can you even narrow it down to 3?

Apologies for being emo last week. I think I'm over it, and to prove it a list of things that have made me happy today *cough*andattheweekendbecausememefail*cough*.

- Little Boots' new video:

Little Boots - New In Town


She's so cool and I want that dress. Album is now available for pre-order on iTunes so you can hear previews - it's well worth it. There's some killer tracks on there. Also check out her version of the Sugababes' Overload ♥.

- making new playlists for the car. Wanted something Boat That Rocked-esque, and apparently I have amassed huge amounts of cool 60s stuff. Found 9.8 hours of tunes without going through albums or artists individually. My records make me happy. I should spend more time with them.

- thought of a really, really great title for something I'm working on. I hate coming up with titles so when one just happens it's awesome.

- apricot jam

And your bumper Monday happiness under the cut:

( I needed to believe in something )

Happy Monday!

Day five on the happy meme, and I think I may have hit the happy meme wall because it's taken me nearly 3 hours to come up with these:

- duck_or_rabbit. She offered to kiss me and then we made emoty sperm ♥.
- everyone in the pulped_fictions spam post ♥.
- I hear last night's Office really rocked and I'm downloading it to watch later.



And I think it's about time we rocked out. So for you, three of my favoruite things in one place - The Pixies covering The Jesus and Mary Chain. This is one of those songs that I love for no reason. I'm not even sure it's that good a record, but when I lived in a frozen attic I used to put this on full blast and dance around and it's never lost its charm for me:



The original for comparison in all its big hair glory.

How to enjoy:

- grab a beer
- appreciate the fierceness of Kim Deal
- air drum it, bb!

Anyone have fun weekend plans? I got nothing. Anyone want a drink?

Day four on the Ruin-Your-Life-By-Realising-How-Little-Joy-There-Is-In-It happy meme plan. Today's happiness:

- Ctrl+z saving my life when I accidentally deleted 12,000 words.
- Colin Murray off of Radio 1 adding me as a friend on Last.FM. I ♥ Colin.
- Astral Weeks.
- painkillers. My foot hurts like a mf. Feel like I've sprained my ankle or trapped a nerve in it, although how is a mystery since I've done nothing today but sit at my desk. I see frozen peas and elevation in my future.

And for you, the insanely wonderous ELO and what may be the happiest song of all time:



Best Enjoyed:

- while bouncing up and down in your chair
- and playing desk percussion (I recommend mug-biro tinging, some light folder-drumming, with bonus marks for anyone attempting an air cello solo)
- with obligatory conducting at the end

Incidentally, my brother knows Jeff Lynne's son. He hates people knowing who he is, so naturally my brother introduces him as 'This is Mark. His dad's in ELO'. He also knows Robert Plant's son. He should probably get them together and make them form some kind of next gen supergroup. /random

Day three on the happy meme and I'm really reaching. Today's happy:

- at 8am, Chapter One's word count? 11,759. Now? 11,019. Minor win for me and the backspace key.

See? Reaching. Anyway, without further ado, I give you the song that saved my life when I was a heart-broken wretch trying to live on Martini and peas. This song...it's like Burt Baccarach smashing someone's face in with a sledge hammer. The best thing Brett Anderson ever did with his pathetic fetid existence was piss Bernard off enough to write this song.



How To Enjoy:
- Turn it up as loud as it will go
- Wait for the last chorus
- Shake your head wildly and shout ‘yeeeeheheheheheheeeeeeeeeeees!’

Alternatively:
- While stabbing a picture of someone who broke your heart through the eyes with scissors

Also here to say:
Happy Birthday

Rye & Pamoreno!

( gonna party like it's your birthday )

And wow, I only just realised how much Tom Sturridge looks like Bernard Butler....

Day two on the happy meme and I'm already struggling like it's some kind of hideous crash diet. But:

- stopped being a coward, went back to the start of my novel and actually worked out the kinks in the first five pages. Still think I'm probably going to starve to death before anyone buys the thing, but I feel like marginally less of a loser today.
- I'm making twice-baked potatoes for dinner. It hasn't made me happy yet, but I anticipate it will later.
- this post/picture combo at rpattzdaily. Ngl, I LOLed.
- my for_forks_sake chicas. You always make my Tuesday.

And for you today, Sigur Ros, Inní mér syngur vitleysingur (Within me a lunatic sings):



Best enjoyed:

- without worrying that it's Icelandic
- in headphones
- in easy reach of a cup of tea
- while loosely air drumming with a pen

Some music is just plain good for your soul, and no-one saves my sanity on a more regular basis than Sigur Ros. They make beautifully understated but uplifting music, and this will gently tickle your soul better (and give you goosebumps from around 3.15). Videos just don't do them justice - if you get the chance, go and see them live. They're the kind of band who leave you quietly grinning to yourself and then dancing in the car park.

I should probably post something with English lyrics tomorrow, right?

sugar_fey tagged me for the happy meme:

1. Post about something that made you happy today.
2. Repeat for eight days.
3. Tag eight people to do the same. I tag: anyone who fancies doing it.

Today's happiness:

- skiving work to go and get a chocolate frappuccino.
- everyone in the city looking fierce today. Mostly this was down to the sun shining and it being impossible not to look fierce in sunglasses, but still it made me happy. Because I am shallow.
- bought my cats a new scratching post and got them totally stoned on catnip.
- new series of Ashes To Ashes tonight. Anyone else excited and digging out their batwing jumper/Roxy Music to celebrate?
- robstills and posting a bunch of The Boat That Rocked and a bunch of Robert Pattinson being sexy in black and white icons. ( details & links if you want to snag them )

So that's me, but since so many of you seem to be having a hard time at the moment, I thought this week I'd also post something every day that might make you happy or cheer you up, if only for a moment. And because it's me, invariably this will be music. Today's happy is brought to you by the awesomely talented Rokia Traore. Normally I find the world music on Jools Holland a total snooze fest, but on Friday night she rocked my world, and I defy you not to smile by the end:


How To Enjoy:

- forget that you wouldn't normally listen to world music
- click play
- turn up speakers
- clear some dance space
- play some funky air bass

See? Awesome squared, right? Musical Prozac or your money back.

Hope everyone had a nice break :D. I almost burnt down the kitchen, got hopelessly addicted to The Mentalist and went to see Watchmen for that traditional Easter feeling.

I think we should all ease back into this working lark post-Easter break with some quality icon-based procrastination. Who's with me?

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick six of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

( you could lose your heart on a summer night )


Anyway, I have proper icons to post later in the week, but to celebrate the frankly epic news that Michael Sheen has been cast as Aro in New Moon, train_lindz and I are starting an Aro dazzlelution (it's like a revolution, but with more dazzle). If you would like to join us and become a member of Team Aro!Sheen, help yourself to an icon. You know you want to, because AroSheen is the new awesome :D.

Am sick. Vertical bad. Own fault for joking about killer flu with jesspallas and gilpin25 last week. Would like sunflowers at funeral. Thanks.

Anyway, before I got slayed by The Sick, I saw The Boat That Rocked, and it was kind of my new year’s LJlution to use my blog to, like, blog, post reviews for film and music and TV I like. And so (skating past the bit where it’s April and this is the first one) here's the trailer:



( and this is what I thought of it, with some spoilers )

Anyone else seen it yet? What did you think?

So this weekend I was in a position to finally answer the question we've all been asking since December when drumher sent me festive M&Ms and I mentioned to train_lindz how different they were to ours the dawn of time: out of Denmark, the UK, the USA, Canada and Australia, who has the best peanut M&Ms?

My methods were vigourously scientific. I donned glasses, got out my birthday Sharpies and made charts, and M&Ms from around the globe were sourced from impeccably reliable people, namely hrymfaxe (team Denmark), enomis57 (team Australia), train_lindz (team Canada), duck_or_rabbit (team America) and... my corner shop (team Great Britain).

So, with my apologies for the ham-fisted Sharpie flags which are an offense to patriotism everywhere, I present:

( The First International LJ Peanut M&M Taste Test! )

Anyway, there are also birthdays about these parts so happy, happy birthday to bratty_jedi and zomgjess. I hope you both had/are having lovely days ♥.

( click for gifties )

And has everyone seen this?

( I don't want to be the kind of person who gets all OMG about hair, but OMG, Jackson shaved his head )

I'm still in Britney!shock, so if anyone wants to join me in Official Jacksper Hair Mourning/speculation about how bad the Jasper!Wig will be, please feel free.

And a quick public service announcement before I go. Tomorrow I'm going away for a week - I should have internet access but it's been known to be dodgy, so if I disappear for a bit, don't panic - I probably haven't been killed by Crazy Guy. More likely I'm just killing myself because I can't get online.

If anyone wants me in the meantime, I'll be on my Wii, trying to work off half a tonne of peanuts and chocolate.... All in the name of science.

You know how everyone thinks they have the best flist?

Everyone but me is wrong.

Friendship, n - alive and well and found in huge quantities on Livejournal. See also: things that are awesome, project_friday = ♥, and ways to rock my world.

I really don't know what to say, other than that you guys are all kinds of wonderful for doing this, and eltea is a star. As are, I hear, moonlitwoods and scarlett71177 for getting the word out. Truly, I appreciate this more than there are words for. I just got to the part with Prince Caspian and the pizza, and I can't stop smiling.

Honestly, you guys are the best friends a girl could wish for when she's being stalked by a crazy person.

xxx

Feels like ages since I made a proper post, so here is my life, in list form:

- Crazy guy still crazy and on the loose. Police still trying to arrest him. Bored now.

- Being Human rocks. All you international types should try and download it so we can squee about it – it’s the new Merlin. We should all fancy Mitchell and ship him with Annie. Vampire/ghost love ftw.

- Have been wearing skinny jeans for so long that when I tried on boyfriend cut jeans the other day, I was seriously taken aback by the huge expanse of material and worried that I would cause myself some kind of injury getting stuck on door handles.

- I love the snow. I can’t remember the last time it snowed this much and for this long.

- Someone needs to tell me not to get Ladyhawke’s hairdo, otherwise I will and there will be pics and then we’ll all be sorry. Don’t know who Ladyhawke is? this is her cover of Womanizer. Her hair would not suit me, y/y?

- Right now, I have a Corona with lime in it.

- I owe a couple of you emails - I’ll reply this weekend, I promise xx

And a meme, since it’s Friday and I can’t think of a poll:

Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.

( zombies ahead )

Paranoia meme. The other kids made me ;). Ooh, that's peer pressure. Anyone want to go and sniff some glue?

Anyway, you know how it works. They're all supposed to be nice, but I don't cave about whose is whose. Never. Not ever ever. I may, however, respond to inquiries with gifs and amusing pictures, since I just spent ten minutes reorganising my stash.

( dare you? )

And for your soundtrack:



We all want Tony Iommi's hair, y/y?

Oh, and if anyone wants to join Team Unicorn Dazzle, please help yourself to an icon:

Dear iTunes Genius,

I appreciate your love for Tom Wait's Downtown Train, really I do, but do you think you could not put it on absolutely every playlist that's even a bit singer-songwritery? Please and thank you. Also, lay off Sweet Thing. You know my favourite Van track is Domino.

Kudos for spitting out The Lion Sleeps Tonight, though. Had forgotten I owned that.

Lady B

And so to a random music poll:

( you set me on fire )

And a bonus question: how many tracks do you have on your iTunes? I hit the 15,000 mark yesterday, and I feel that may be excessive....

For your time, Scissors For Lefty will be awesome:

So I'm cold and bored and monumentally sick of staring at this thing I should be working on.

Anyone feel the same? Want to play a game?

Ask me a question - any question, something sensible (do you believe in love at first sight? What's your favourite REM song? What is the greatest song of all time?), something stupid (what do you like better, donkeys or strawberries?), fan stuff, real life, music, writing, how do you do this, anything. I'll answer and then ask you something back, and thus our boredom will be slain.

It's Friday, after all. No-one's supposed to work on Friday. Come, join the anti-work on Friday revolution!

So Christmas, in brief:

James McAvoy films watched: 2; Mince pies eaten: 3; Festive injuries sustained in comedy fashion: 4; Boilers on blink: 1; Pairs of socks it is possible to wear at once: 3; New books acquired: 10; Tasteless animal statues to sell on eBay: 1; Family members annihilated in annual festive music quiz: 13; Rock stars flirted with: 1; Trifles eaten: 2.5; Times snowed on: 4; Gin-based cocktails consumed in effort to cope with it all: 8; Days lost to hating the sales and the swarm of tourists they bring: 2; Pine needles left on tree yesterday: 5; Christmas food items still in fridge: 18.

Massive, massive thank yous to everyone who sent me cards, and gargantuan thanks to those who sent me gifts/wrote something that made me smile/drew me sparkly vampires/went to town with Rob’s face and glitter glue. Special thank yous to javidan for the beautiful drawing (I want to lick it), scarlett71177 for the bracelet (which I am still wearing), wildmagelet for the bling, shimotsuki for the CD, and drumher for the snacks (which I am living on, currently). You made my Christmas ♥.

And since I’m here and it’s snowing (which is procrastination carte blanche), moonlitwoods tagged me for this:

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged.

( sweet sixteen )

I tag: 9t9, calyndra, thalia_csiny, duck_or_rabbit, free_to_imagine, bright_blonde, starlight_brite, loveweasleys04, eumelkeks, miss_blanche, sspring92, train_lindz, nola2525, rye_the_random, shoebox_addict, and enomis57.

And because everyone is doing it and I haven’t written anything fannish for ages:

First five comments with a fandom, pairing or character(s), and prompt will get a drabble. If you ask for something [or not], feel free to post this on your journal and offer five of either art or fic that you do, too.

So take your pick from HP, Twilight, The Office, or Merlin. And because it doesn’t seem very fair to just go with the first five, comment away and I’ll pick the five that appeal the most to me (hint: seasonal prompts will most likely curry favour because you know how I like me some angst in the snow :D).

Oh, and if anyone fancies some HP fic on their iPod, Mugglenet Fanfiction are now doing podcasts with a selection of stories. This edition includes Christmas With Lily :D.

Two days until Christmas, and my guess is that if you're about today, you're either at work and not really doing anything, or you're at home procrastinating on the wrapping/cooking/decorating/picking out carrots for Rudolf. So I say we party! You are all cordially invited to:



Don't worry, I've got it all covered. Let's start with the basics:

( in the meadow we will build a snowman... )

And did someone say we need a festive tune to get us in the mood? This is my favourite alternative Christmas song:



So that's drinks, hot date, cool tune... what else? How about a festive meme if anyone is in the mood?

<b>Who would you most like to find waiting for you underneath the mistletoe?</b> <b>It never feels like Christmas until....</b> <b>What is your favourite Christmas song?</b> <b>What are you hoping Santa is bringing you this year?</b> <b>The greatest Christmas moment on TV or film is....</b> <b>What do you have on top of your tree?</b> <b>What’s the best present you’ve bought for someone else this year?</b> <b>It’s midnight, Christmas Eve. Where are you?</b> <b> Christmas crackers: fun as long as you don’t have to wear the hat, or always a disappointment in the gift department?</b> <b>What’s your favourite thing about Christmas?</b>

Come, procrastinate with me. 'Tis the season... :D.