A Playlist.

Hey,

I haven't made a list of songs that I like in a long time. Nice to do one every now and then though, innit?

The thing is, in recent weeks I've kind of reverted back to the Emo way of life. This is partly down to two things;

a) I never really stopped being an Emo, did I?

b) We Are The Ocean.

We Are The Ocean - God Damn Good.

I really like this band these days. Like the way the smell of toast makes one crave a slice, this band completely rekindled my love for Alexisonfire. The contrast between the screaming (I know, I don't like screaming either. But it's there, and trust me it gets bearable) and the singing is striking. Because the screamo element of bands like WATO isn't great, it almost amplifies the quality of the vocals. This song is an example of this.

Alexisonfire - No Transitory

It is with this in mind that Alexisonfire is next. This song especially. But if you don't like the screaming elements of these songs, thank goodness for Dallas Green's sideproject "City and Colour".

City and Colour - The Death of Me

And on a similar note, Luke Pickett...

Luke Pickett - See You At The Disco

And yet, there is still a side of me that tries to be cool. And it expresses itself by liking the XX.
I geniunely do like the XX, and I'm sure many of you have heard their self-titled album due to the praise it recieved since the Mercury prize. Rather, this is a link to a cover of some 80s pop song. It's cool.

XX - Teardrops

Unfortunatly, this urge to try and be cool is immediately squashed by what I dread - enjoying the same taste in music as my parents.

This isn't neccessarily a bad thing, but what has meant is that I am now a fan of Tom McRae. I resent this, since I have always mocked my parents about how he isn't famous. Yet on Saturday I saw him live (free ticket, free dinner). And it was actually really good. So here's the highlight of the night - his song "I Still Love You".

I'll try and and get more music on here, going to see Pete Wentz's new band on Monday. Will let you know how it goes.

DC x

I only think in the form of crunching numbers, or at least I wish I did.

Hey,

So yesterday was the big spending review. And spending reviews aren't nice. What yesterday was George Osbourne looking at the state of finances in our country, much the way a parent would with their sons' bank balance. Imagine Gideon (that's George's real name, honest) looking at what we spent money on, with disdain and the like? All this reckless spending from the last administration has made his head spin. The word "quango" fills him with an uncontrollable urge to slap Danny Alexander. Poor lad.

Now, ideally I would be writing to discuss what was slashed yesterday. But I can't, for you see I don't really know what happened. Yesterday's report was a blizzard of numbers, the noise of the crunching hurt my ears. The sheer quantity of statistics meant that anything that was controversial was burried under all those quangos.

Due to devolution, and being Scottish, much of what was spoken yesterday didn't really affect me and if it does it's still to early to gauge. For instance, University spending is being by 40%, but that only indirectly applies to me since the university system is different up here. All these big questions, like tuition fees and graduate tax are still unanswered. I wish they were answer pretty soon, those megaphones are still in large force on university campus, and between that and the number crunching I am getting a massive migrane.

Media coverage has been awkward because it is difficult to simplify yesterday's review. The BBC basically shrugged and said "err, well, if you have a child, then, err, it's probably not so good". But I don't have a child (I think). So it's confusing.

The only thing I digested was a little contradiction inregards to culture. The blood of the British Film Council is still on Gideon's knife, a geniune loss from the cuts, yet museums and the like remain much of their priveleges, e.g. free entry. Now I'm not suggesting the Coalition aren't fans of Banksy - it's hard not to like Banksy - but if they are so concerned about the deficit why close a successful element? Money is saved but the country is poorer now; if it wasn't for the BFC there would be no "In the Loop", no "Bend It Like Beckham", no "Love Actually" and the financial spin-offs of these. In 2009 British films made $29.9 billion in worldwide box offices - that's quite a lot of money, ain't it? But, if you want to keep some paintings around for free then go ahead. It all seems odd to me.