Snapshots #389: The Snapshots Dessert Trolley

I'm on a diet at the moment, so putting this edition of Snapshot together was an exercise in self-flagellation. For the rest of you - feel free to indulge your sweet teeth below..

15. Non-White Raconteur.

The Raconteurs were a band featuring Jack White and...

Brendan Benson - Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

14. One bed flat for family of ten.

Crowded House - Chocolate Cake

13. Too busy singing.

I'm sure most of you easily spotted the Monkee-Mobile... but did you recall this awful school dinner substitute for rice pudding?

The Monkees - Tapioca Tundra

12. He was always wrong in French.

Mal - Mighty Mighty Roly Poly

Mal Ryder (aka Paul Bradley Couling from Wales) didn't make much of a mark on the UK music scene in the 70s... but he was very big in Italy. I include him here today because I do like a good Roly Poly.

11. Stork joins hawk to create a weird hybrid.

"Stork joins hawk" was an anagram...

Horst Jankowich - A Walk In The Black Forest

Black Forest Gateaux is evil. But if you dined out in the 70s or 80s, it was seen as the height of sophistication. 

10. The UK's chartered professional body for mathematicians puts on a bit of weight  in their luxury abode.

"The UK's chartered professional body for mathematicians", as I'm sure George will know, are the IMA. So Fat + IMA in a Mansion...

Fatima Mansions - Angel's Delight

Another staple dessert from my childhood, but far preferable to Black Forest Gateaux. Especially Butterscotch flavour. 

9. C disappears fast.

In the word Quick, if you make the C disappear, you are left with...

The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble

8. Zeus gave nan a mixed message.

"Zeus gave nan" is an anagram...

Suzanne Vega - Caramel

7. Hedgehog children.

Sonic The Hedgehog, of course...

Sonic Youth - Créme Brûlèe

6. Goat, flippin'... the end of Christine.

Billy Goat + Flipping 'Eck + Stine...

Billy Eckstine - Jelly Jelly

5. Small horses, still kids, you've never seen them before... but they're joining up together! 

Bit of a laborious clue, I admit...

New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream

4. Lights on a flying machine. 

That'll be the LEDs on the Zeppelin...

Led Zeppelin - Custard Pie

3. Fake lists contain everything you need to know.

FaKE LISts...

Kelis - Milkshake

2. I have a legal document stating that I can write this clue.

Warrant - Cherry Pie

1. Proof Stu was a very confused man.

"Proof Stu" was an anagram...

Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)

More tasty treats for you next Saturday morning... 

Self-Help For Cynics #21: Welcoming

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again...

Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound Of Silence

I called this series Self-Help For Cynics because I've always been very cynical about most kinds of Self-Help. The dictionary tells me...

The words misanthropic and pessimistic are common synonyms of cynical. While all three words mean "deeply distrustful," cynical implies having a sneering disbelief in sincerity or integrity. 

I reckon I'm all three of those, but I'm trying to change... and writing this series is a big step towards doing that.

Steve Wynn - Crawling Misanthropic Blues

Fallover 24 - Pessimistic Man

Amy Rigby - Cynically Yours

That said, I'm willing to accept that my cynicism has taken a bit of a back seat in recent editions of this feature. In fact, beyond the odd "that might not work for you, but it could be worth a try" sort of comment, I've pretty much gone along with everything I've read.

Dan Bern - Welcome

Today though, we cover an idea that has me raising an eyebrow like Roger Moore and scrunching up my face like Les Dawson. You might argue it's not possible to do both at the same time, but in my head at least, that's what I'm doing.

Welcome to Welcoming.

Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare

In the last few nail-biting editions of SHFC, we've discussed how it's best to confront your emotions head on rather than avoiding them, bottling them up or trying to distract yourself from them. The more I read, the more I see this advice given as a way of rewiring our amygdala / monkey brain, teaching it not to panic or feel anxiety in certain situations and gradually becoming a lot more chilled in the process. 

My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade

"Feel the fear and do it anyway!" was the mantra that I rebuffed in my younger days. Now I'm grudgingly having to accept there might be something to it. However, there's a school of thought that takes this idea one step further and suggests we take time to actively welcome negative emotions. Monkey Brain Guru Dr. Jennifer Shannon explains...

When you experience fight-or-flight sensations but there is no immediate threat, it is a false alarm. Regardless of how urgent these sensations seem, resisting them will only prolong them. Pointless as they seem to be, uncomfortable sensations, like negative emotions, are necessary. The more we can welcome them, the more easily they will metabolise.

The Electric Soft Parade - Welcome To The Weirdness

At best, this sounds to me like wallowing. At worst? Could it be a form of sadomasochism? Not according to the New York Times... 

...researchers found that people who habitually judge negative feelings — such as sadness, fear and anger — as bad or inappropriate have more anxiety and depression symptoms and feel less satisfied with their lives than people who generally perceive their negative emotions in a positive or neutral light.

I took a moment to think about this in terms of music, and I wondered about famously "miserable" lyricists like Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt or The Pope Of Mope himself, Stephen Patrick M-Word... were they actually happier because they "welcomed" their negative emotions? Although if that's really the case, welcoming didn't work for Nick Drake, Elliott Smith or Kurt Cobain, did it? 

Elliott Smith - Everything Means Nothing To Me

Then I thought back to the opening lines of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, as memorably delivered by John Cusack...

What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

...and I thought... I thought... actually, maybe this provides an answer to that conundrum. Why do I like miserable music? Because it allows me to welcome negative emotions, thereby lessening their hold on me.

Rodney Allen - Happy Sad

If that were the case though, wouldn't the Goths and Emos be the most well-adjusted members of society? Maybe they are...

The Divine Comedy - The Happy Goth

Look! I found a website called "HAPPIFY"! Pour your cynicism on that, fellow misanthropes! But first, let's hear their advice...

When you feel out of sorts, centre yourself with a few deep breaths and connect inward to the emotion you're experiencing. Give it a name, and allow it the space to simply be. Say, "Hello, sadness" if that's what you're feeling, and let it roam freely until it's ready to leave—because emotions are fleeting by their very nature.

Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness

Scientists have done a variety of studies to back this up, because that's what scientists do. One involved getting volunteers to dip their hands into an ice water bath. Half the group were told to try to ignore or deny the uncomfortable sensations they felt, while the other half were told to accept the discomfort of the freezing cold. Guess who managed to keep their hands in the bath the longest? 

Brendan Benson - Cold Hands (Warm Heart) 

You might argue that actively seeking to accept or even prolong uncomfortable feelings could be rather counter-productive... or even self-destructive...  but not according to that New York Times article I mentioned earlier.

“What one resists, persists,” said Amanda Shallcross, a naturopathic physician who studies emotion regulation at the Cleveland Clinic. When you avoid your emotions, “you’re bound to experience longer-term negative mental and physical health.”

Faron Young - Hello Walls

Dr. Jennifer Shannon calls negative feelings "necessary feelings" and invites us not only to welcome them, but to provoke them. She suggests practicing by welcoming everyday anxiety-causing situations such as arriving late, listening to someone complain about you, or being in a long queue. I actually tried this final one last week when I was stuck on the M1 for an hour on my way to work. I sat there and I paid attention to what I was feeling, how my body was handling the anxiety... and I can honestly say that it did help, I didn't get as wound up as I normally would. It didn't stop me badly needing a wee though.

James Taylor - Traffic Jam

Taking this one step further, Dr. Shannon suggests "actually triggering your own negative feelings to welcome". Here are some of her suggestions...

• Listen to a political candidate you dislike (to be fair, that could be any of them, but Trump's imminent return is enough to cause any sane person sleepless nights)
• Watch a movie you know you won't like (life's too short for Tom Hanks, I'm sorry)
• Turn on some music you find distasteful...

U2 - With Or Without You

I'm sorry, Dr. Shannon, but you can take this welcoming stuff too far, you know!

Remember that when you do welcoming exercises, you are not attempting to get rid of or control the feeling, nor are you trying to like the feeling.

U2 - Beautiful Day

So it's just about learning to suffer?

You are simply welcoming whatever emotion arises in that moment with your breath. Breathe in to accept the feeling. Breathe out to let go of control.

U2 - The Sweetest Thing

No. I'm sorry. This is too hard. Why would I want to do this again?

You are getting good at feeling bad.

Ah. Well, in that case...

Watching those three videos - welcoming the music of U2, you might say - did enable me to properly understand my reaction to this band. I realised it's not so much the music that causes me an unpleasant reaction... it's just Bono's smug, supremely punchable face. And that's useful, because as this series has proven time and time again, the more we understand our emotions and reactions, the easier they are to accept. 

Here's something nice to wash that unpleasant taste out of your ears: Norwegian Americana hero Harald Thune, doing his own bit of welcoming...

Saturday Snapshots #139 - The Answers

And God Created Woman.

After that, he sat down and had a go at Saturday Snapshots.

Here's the answers he came up with...



10. Hot, fashionable vinyl clicks a clapperboard.

When you click a clapperboard, you shout, "Action!"

The Flaming Groovies - Shake Some Action

9. The most beautiful hairdresser I ever heard... but build like a stone.

In West Side Story, Maria is the most beautiful sound they ever heard.

The hairdresser (out of work at the moment, presumably) would be Vidal Sassoon.

Maria Vidal - Body Rock

Ah, the 80s never go out of fashion in this house.

8. First letter to where Sonny died... off we trot once more.

The first letter is A.

Sonny Bono died at Lake Tahoe (it says so in the song).

A - Here We Go Again (I Love Lake Tahoe)

7. Back when we used to bop like #2... and shag like an operatic solo.

Those Dancing Days are named after a song by our #2 artist this week.

Those Dancing Days - Fuckarias 

I'm very disappointed that I only discovered this band after they'd split up.

6. Mr. T shoots racist marmalade.

That really does look like Rob Brydon.

But, no!

Mr. T was B.A. Baracus.

The racist marmalade is Robertson's.

B.A. Robertson - Bang Bang

I'm not sure what to make of that after all this time. The video makes it look like a Kenny Everett spoof.

5. Third Scarborough herb for George... in shaky property.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme were the herbs in Scarborough Fair.

George Clooney.

Shakin' Stevens memorably covered this song.

Rosemary Clooney - This Ole House

4. Staple found in the middle of Elvis - I'm just saying.

Elvis's middle name was Aaron.

Pair that with Neville Staple.

Aaron Neville - Tell It Like It Is

What a voice.

3. Smoking hedge partner sets fire to jungle - call George! (Not that George.)

Benson & Hedges?

George of the Jungle was played by Brendan Fraser.

Brendan Benson - Tiny Spark

Forgotten how good that was.

2. Ellen zipped by like a Foreigner tune.

Ellen zipped is an anagram.

A Foreigner tune wasn't anything to do with I Want To Know What Love Is.

Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song

Ever since the last Thor movie, that has been my favourite Led Zep song.

1. Top crying from conquering crow.

Levi Stubbs was the lead singer of the Four Tops.

William The Conqueror.

Crowing is like bragging.



They don't get much better than that on a Sunday morning.

See you next week.