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December 31st, 2011End Of YearI’m not going to lie, 2011 almost entirely sucked. As you know, I try to remain positive so let’s not dwell on the rubbish bits.
The positive bits have been amazing, beautiful and a little bit overwhelming. I am very much looking forward to 2012 and all it brings. It will be an important special year.
As is tradition, here is a round-up of the year that was.
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Overall Best Moments
Became a Jeerio, visited Bali, had My First Ever Cup Of Coffee, solo UK tour, Brighton Tattoo Convention, London Chocolate Festival, Scifi London Festival, pitched a Hello Kitty party-girl tent, set up Turn The Tables, watched a lot of roller derby, rode on a big wheel, started my second tattoo, went to Trill Farm, Hannah & Mike’s wedding.
There are two memories that will last forever from 2011:
- 13th July 2011 the moment when pom poms were put in my hands at Jerwood Space, London
- 17th October 2011 the moment when I saw the ocean from a beach in Bali, Indonesia
Top 5 gigs of 2011: Extra Special Mention for The Best Gig I’ve Ever Been To: Prince at Hop Farm
- PJ Harvey at Troxy
- Robyn at the Roundhouse
- Shonen Knife and Smallgang at Scala
- Hop Farm Festival: especially Sound Of Rum, James Yuill and Dry The River
- High Voltage Festival: especially Dream Theater, Queensryche and Judas Priest
Special mentions for: Something Beginning With L & Singing Adams at 12 Bar; Envy & Bellatrix at Spit launch; Chris T-T at Old Blue Last; Tom Williams and The Boat, My First Tooth, She Makes War at Borderline; We Are Lizards (Scroobius Pip) at The Book Club, The Indelicates, Dave Hughes & The Renegade Folk Punk Band at 13th Note; Chris T-T, MJ Hibbett at Portland Arms.
Top 5 Bars of 2011:
- Tsuru, Southwark
- Old Blue Last, Shoreditch
- Facebar/Mixwells/Bali Joe/Club Cosmo/Potato Head/Ganesha Beach, Seminyak, Bali
- The Kenton, Hackney
- Off Broadway, Hackney
All the bars I’ve played in during 2011 are listed on my Live page. They all deserve a special mention, particularly 13th Note in Glasgow.
The Best 5 Welsh People of 2011:
- Adam Walton
- Bethan Elfyn
- Becky Davey
- Clare Potts
- Megan Peppin
Top 5 Websites of 2011:
Best Shops/Places of 2011:
- Prick Tattoo
- Vision Hairdressers
- Rich Mix
- The London Particular
Normal Clothes As Fancy Dress
Shakespeare Hero
Peter Pan
Lady Gaga
A Chef
Barbie/Doll
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This year’s lists are brief. I haven’t listed my favourite albums or films of this year because looking back on 2011 has been a bit tricky. Having said that, I met new and existing friends who are really incredible people and have had a massive impact on my life already. Most of them don’t know half of the good they have done and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to show them my appreciation.
And now we go into 2012: the year of travel, the year of love. I am filled with hope and excitement for the future. This will be the best year ever.
No bravado.
AMx
Tags: 2011, Lists -
December 26th, 2010End Of YearTags: 2010, Lists
Wow. Ummm. Almost speechless (Almost but not quite!)
2010 was the year that was. The year that changed my life. The best, most amazing, magical, phenomenal, happiest, luckiest year ever and it’s nearly over. I met truly wonderful people, some of whom I am now lucky enough to call friends. I reforged existing friendships and strengthened bonds with family. People were more kind and generous than I could ever imagine. I discovered you can’t take the party out of the girl, no matter how hard you try.
And I am truly grateful. Grateful for it all.
So while I write a list of secret things in preparation for the year to come and all the hard work and excitement it holds, here’s a round-up of 2010…
Best Moments:
getting my first tattoo, The Crush List party, having my first ever guitar lesson, launching The Angel EP, spending Halloween in the cinema, laughing so hard I cried, watching shooting stars on Hampstead Heath, something I can’t say, getting a black AAA wristband for a festival, spending time with my nieces, walking through London at night, being longlisted for the Just A Girl competition, assisting on Chris T-T’s LINR tour, having my nails done in the street, watching Roller Derby, learning Reiki 2, going to fashion parties, seeing Alex CF’s Many Dead Things exhibition, dancing in the basement at Ladybird, dancing upstairs at Catch, meeting China Miéville (twice), following signs and not knowing where they will lead.
Top 5 gigs of 2010:
1. Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip at Shepherd’s Bush Empire
2. Sage Francis and B. Dolan at the Scala
3. Islet and Pulled Apart By Horses at Truck
4. Fever Fever at The Windmill
5. Liars and Efterklang at Standon Calling
Special mentions for Something Beginning With L, John John Slave, Chris T-T, the Hoodrats, She Makes War, Dry The River, 30lbs of Bone, Mary Epworth and the Jubilee Band, Akira the Don, Le Dance Pour La Floor, Gill Sandell, Tunnels, Justice Force 5.
Top 5 albums of 2010:
1. The Logic of Chance – Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
2. Pulled Apart By Horses – Pulled Apart By Horses
3. Learning – Perfume Genius
4. Body Talk (part 1) – Robyn
5. Ghostclocks – Blood Command
Albums you should also go and buy: Method (30lbs of Bone), 1 Inch/1/2 Mile (Grasscut), The Kidnapping of Akira The Don by Joey 2 Tits (Akira the Don and Joey 2 Tits), Love is not Rescue (Chris T-T), Tarry Awhile (Gill Sandell), Wimmy and Celebrate This Place (Islet), Disarm (She Makes War), Body Talk (part 2) (Robyn), Crystal Castles (II) (Crystal Castles), Latin (Holy Fuck), European Monsoon (Pagan Wanderer Lu), I Speak Because I Can (Laura Marling), The Sea (Corinne Bailey Rae).
Top 5 TV shows I saw in 2010:
1. Carnivàle
2. Twin Peaks
3. Fringe
4. Misfits
5. Mad Men
This is England 86 and The Walking Dead would’ve been 6 and 7
Best films I saw for the first time in 2010:
Let The Right One In, Amer, We Are What We Are (minus the last 5 minutes), Night of the Living Dead, Splice (minus the last 5 minutes), Where The Wild Things Are, The Scouting Book For Boys, Inception, Them (minus the last 5 minutes), Valley of the Dolls, Coco Before Chanel, Juno, Whip It, Kick-Ass, The Science of Sleep, Frenzy, Spider Baby
Most Disappointing films I saw in 2010:
500 Days of Summer, Kick-Ass (I know), Altitude
The best 5 Welsh people of 2010:
1. Roseanna Everitt
2. Emma Hogan
3. Sarah Harries
4. Noreen Blanluet
5. Mags Anthony
Top castles of 2010:
Castell Coch, Nottingham Castle.
Top 5 bars of 2010:
1. BFI Riverfront Bar, Southwark
2. Catch, Shoreditch
3. Ladybird Bar, Islington
4. Prague Bar, Shoreditch
5. The Approach, Bethnal Green
The bar at Udderbelly would be on the list if it wasn’t pop-up/temporary.
Top 5 books of 2010:
1. The Walking Dead
2. Kraken
3. The Human Nature of the Singing Voice
4. Storage Stories
5. A Concise History of Costume
Most embarrassing moment of 2010:
Getting asked for ID on a first date and being refused alcohol because I didn’t have any. It wasn’t in East London and I was wearing heels. I wanted the ground to swallow me up and properly didn’t make the situation any better but won’t share the rest on here.
Most over-used conversation of 2010:
“Is she taking the piss?” “No, that’s just her face”
“She does that to everyone, she doesn’t fancy you”
Inspirations: wings, crushes, quantum physics, compasses, clifftops, magic, corsets, limbs, clocks, gears, hearts, nakedness, castles and (as always) dancing and the circus/carnival.
Normal Clothes as Fancy Dress:
Dorothy Gale
Zombie-fighter
Peter Pan
Street-urchin
Biggest lesson I learnt:
It hasn’t all been good, we’ve lost a lot of good people, many of whom chose to take their own lives. Times have changed for the worse politically and financially. Sometimes it’s hard to see past the sadness, past the fear.
HOWEVER:
There are people who see you; past all the bullshit, bravado and masks you wear. They hold a mirror up to you and show you all the wonderful things you can be. They teach you how to be better than you are. These are the only people who matter. They are the ones who make you a better version of yourself. They are the ones who will still be there when you fail. These will be the people who go to your funeral.
These are the people you should cherish. They are your family, whether blood or water.
Oh, AND you can do anything you put your mind to, however impossible it first seems. All you need is faith, energy and a lot of hard work. You have to keep trying, whatever happens, whatever obstacles are in your way.
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December 30th, 2009Anime, End Of Year, Film, Politics
Although it is very near to the end of the year, today I added another entry to the top films I saw in 2009.
Waltz With Bashir is one of the best films I have ever seen. The art, animation and direction is beautiful. It is accompanied by a gorgeous soundtrack and perfectly suited and accurate sound design. It follows an amazing story.
This is horrific and traumatic to watch and shows better than most films and books the truth behind war. “In order to survive war you have to go to irony and dark humour to go on with every day life”
It is very easy to sit here and preach about the horrors of war and about the injustices by the ‘powers that be’ without ever having any direct experience of it. This film examines from a first person soldier’s account (and other individual soldiers’ accounts) the truth of war.
The interview with the filmmaker, which is an extra feature on the DVD, highlights the impact the film has made on his own life and on others who have seen the film. He tells of since the film release, how he now goes to parties or events and ends up sitting alone in the corner of the room and one by one people come to him to relay their own terrible war stories and experiences. He has opened other people’s memories up to them.
Thousands of lives would have been saved if someone, anyone in power stopped the massacre at Sabra and Shatila happening. It could have been stopped at any point. As with the conflicts around the world that continue today.
Ari Folman is a hero, not for his actions in war as a 19 year old novice soldier, but for his actions afterwards as a 40 year old filmmaker.
Tags: 2009, Anime, Heroes, war -
December 21st, 2009End Of Year, Music
very difficult list to write (this is the final draft of many):
1. A Woman A Man Walked By (PJ Harvey & John Parish)
2. Omega Sanction (Akira the Don)
3. Nonsense in the Dark (Filthy Dukes)
4. Fight My Battles For Me (Pagan Wanderer Lu)
5. XX (The xx)
special mentions for other favourite artists of the year: Jim Bob, Something Beginning with L, Martin Carr, Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, 30lbs of Bone, The Leano
…go buy them all
Tags: 2009 -
December 20th, 2009End Of Year, Gigs, Heroes, Music, Wales
Top 5 gigs of 2009:
- PJ Harvey & John Parish at Brighton Corn Exchange
- Something Beginning with L at Buffalo Bar (Overcoat single launch)
- Akira the Don at the Natural History Museum
- (joint place) Carter USM at Brixton Academy/all of the afterparty at Jamm
- Filthy Dukes at Dingwalls
This doesn’t take into account everything I saw at Swn Festival which was the best thing I went to all year or Lexapalooza Lite which would definitely have made the list had I not played
Top 5 TV shows (of 2009):
- The Wire
- True Blood
- Fringe
- Torchwood – Children of Earth
- Bones
Special mention for Misfits which I haven’t seen yet but am DEFINITELY GONNA LOVE
Best films I saw for the first time in 2009:
Waltz With Bashir, District 9, Kung Fu Hustle, Gran Turino, He’s Just Not That Into You, Star Trek, Push, The Hangover, The September Issue, Don’t Look Now, A Serious Man, Milk, A Streetcar Named Desire, Shaolin Soccer, Role Models, The Good The Bad The Weird, Cronos, Wolverine
(I haven’t yet seen Moon, Up, WTWTA, Coco Before Chanel, Avatar, LTROI, Nine or 500 Days of Summer)
Most Disappointing films I saw in 2009:
Watchmen, Blood the last Vampire (live action), Fast and Furious, Party Monster, Bound, Wolverine (yes, that’s right)
The best 5 Welsh people of 2009:
- Hannah Humphreys
- Akira the Don
- Huw Stephens
- James Anthony
- Eirian Rees
Top 5 websites of 2009:
- www.akirathedon.com
- www.zombiehamster.com
- www.londonshopfronts.com
- www.timmaughanbooks.com
- www.comicsalliance.com
Top 5 bars of 2009:
- the Flowerpot, Kentish Town
- KU Bar, Soho
- all of the Swn venues, Cardiff
- Biddle Bros, Hackney
- Queen of Hoxton, Shoreditch