(*I didn't have that negative a Christmas... but given everything that's going on again, we can hardly call it a positive one, can we?)
Alyson shared some of her family's Christmas presents in a recent post, tempting me to do the same. This may be of zero interest, but I was fascinated by her presents, and I'm sharing the ones that I'll particularly want to recall when I'm reading this post back in 20 years time. (Elderly Rol is always my target audience.)
Above is the bag that Louise got me to replace the one that died on the day before I left my old job at The Bad Place. Twin Peaks fans might recognise the badges I stuck to it... the tiny red and blue one reads "Save Ferris".
Louise also tends to buy me a Shining-related gift every year or so. Previous gifts include an Overlook Hotel doormat and a framed poster of a typewriter typing "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". This year, it was Lego Jack Torrance, who is currently guarding my Elvis Costello CDs.
Finally, another Stephen King-related gift. Not the novel, which is by Garth Risk Hallberg, a present I specifically requested as it's set in 1970s New York City, a time and place I find endlessly fascinating. (That said, I didn't know it was that thick! At my current reading pace, I won't have finished it by next Christmas.) No, I'm referring to the bookmark, which you might have to click on to make bigger... it's a library card from Derry Public Library, dated November 1963. Fans of It will get the reference... I'm sure Martin will dig that gift.
Here's the best song about giving gifts that I can think of today...
Martin was talking about revealing his plans for governmental reform last week, so I figured I'd share the above speech with you. This is something Sam wrote back at the end of November. The school was asking for representatives to join the school council and anyone who was interested had to give a presentation and then be voted in by their classmates.
Sam forgot to do anything and only told us about the election on the morning he was supposed to give his speech. His mum gave him a few ideas and one of the ladies at the before-school club helped him write the above.
He didn't win. The girl who did had done a powerpoint and promised to ask for longer playtimes and more pudding and a load of other stuff that sounded good but that she'd never be able to deliver. But she got the votes.
I'm proud of him anyway. But politics isn't about giving the best speech anymore, it's about telling the best lies. Sam gets my vote regardless.
It's interesting for her that it's all about showing off in her mind. And the reason she prefers digital is so that people can't scoff. What a load of horseshit. There's the whole aspect of having something tangible to hold and appreciate it with. Regardless, the sound purity is only one aspect and not the whole thing. It's the same with comics, there's something about completing a certain set and being able to thumb through what you have pride in and enjoy. Isn't that the same for any collecting hobby as well? Stamps, Pokémon cards etc etc etc.
Also, that argument about Adele and Ed Sheeran doing it, it's more just seen as a piece of merch that's easily purchased for the sort of people who are fans of bands like that.
I think the most concerning thing is the way that she's clearly shitting all over something that her partner loves.
Mrs. Ben doesn't get the comics collecting thing but doesn't feel the need to slag it off.
I just feel really bad for her partner.
Yeah. It's also telling that she completely ignores the fact that streaming alone pays the artists fuck all. Her gloating about having her digital only playlists shows she thinks music should be a free commodity, which is a very modern perspective, but ultimately screws the artists. I got some money for Christmas and spent most of it buying my favourite albums from last year that I'd only listened to online. Partly that was about owning the disc, but also it was about giving something back to the people who'd made music I hadn't until that point paid for.
And that's the thing that people who don't actually like music think. By that I mean, they can love Sheeran, Adele, ABBA and her 80s cheese that she feels looked down on for, but they don't get that when you get away from the chart stuff, the artists aren't making them just to fulfill a third album of a multimillion pound contract but to genuinely believe in something and it's not the best paying job. E.g. Jeff Rosenstock took until his second solo album (after 15 years of playing in bands) to be able to afford to pay his rent with selling music.
Like you said with buying it, I do that with the comics and when I go to live gigs, if I like the support acts, even a little, I always buy a record and some other merch like a t-shirt, tote or shirt to support them. I have about 12 band totes that will never get used but I bought them to support an artist.
Yeah, it's even more important for smaller artists.
Also, in 35 years of record collecting, nobody has ever shown any interest in my shelves. No one has ever come to my house and looked through my record collection. Admittedly, I have very few visitors, and these days they're mostly Louise's friends, but still... this dinner party bragging thing strikes me as a very London media / Nathan Barley idea. I'm not sure that ever happens in the real world.
I mean, my friends go through to put something on when they're here or take a look after a drink and either ask what an album is like or to tell me what they think of it.
That's it.
Not a pissing contest.
Then again, as much as I love music, I've never been a muso. There's probably more uncool CDs in my collection than cool. They're only cool to me.
That's it though, isn't it? It's personal and collecting is a personal endeavour.
I'm sure there are people who buy what they perceive to be cool records, to show off their cred, like those people who lined up their most intellectual books on the shelf behind them when appearing on TV during lockdown.o
But surely they're in the minority?
And I say that as a complete misanthrope.
(That errant .o was a typo, by the way, not an attempt at an emoticon.)
In case you were wondering.
I gathered.
Yeah I don't get that. I did it at 18 to show that I'd read Brothers Karamazov etc. But surely you get to a point when you become secure enough in your own self to not need to prove a point,
I have two Billy book cases in my office. One is full of comics, the other full of workbooks which by their nature are smart ones. But the comic book bookcase is the one behind me on camera.
I used a bowling alley background while teaching from home. It was a still from The Big Lebowski, but that was purely for my amusement. Nobody ever recognised it.
When we do interviews for research we have to use a background. Give the participants no idea about us.
So I use the blue sky one.
Because the sky's the limit and you encourage blue sky thinking?
Nah. Just so it lacks personality.
Balloons seem too fun. Office seems too dull.
Something inoffensive and impotent.
Dungeon?
Some of the issues that come up in my work... that's probably a bad idea.
Fair enough. More appropriate for The Bad Place anyway.
You backed down from that joke pretty quick.
New Year's Resolution: be more woke.
Better quality coffee?
How's it feel to be going back to work this week and not dreading it for the past few days?
It was hardly the toughest link to work out, but how often does Saturday Snapshots fall on New Year's Day? Here are the Auld Lang Answers...
10. Often mistaken for space aliens.
I was watching a documentary recently where the US government claimed that when people saw UFOs, they were actually seeing U2 spy planes. Which aren't shaped like flying saucers at all. Far more likely they're seeing Bono's halo...
How better to celebrate the New Year than with a splash of Buble? Or maybe you had a little too much of it last night...?
I'm not convinced anyone will be awake or compos mentis enough to take part in this one, but if you fancy something gentle to take your mind off the hangover, here are ten clues to get your brain working in 2022.
10. Often mistaken for space aliens.
9. Half T-Rex, half King.
8. Found inside Superb All Boys Club.
7. A Trifid Skit.
6. Album of the film of the town.
5. He gets on Agatha's Wick.
4. Herr Flick meets Blackadder Captain.
3. Double Acne.
2. Eat brains.
1. Sheep cry out for well-developed stomach muscles.
