The return of Peep Show, my 19th birthday, and seeing Russell Howard

one.
I've listened to loads of Desert Island Discs recently, mostly because of the fact that I've been travelling to and from London and trains get cancelled and delayed and tingz, but also because it is one of my favourite radio shows. Listening to the David Mitchell and Morrissey ones had me laughing out loud at the station - probably not the most socially acceptable thing to do.

two.
As per usual, I made my own birthday cake (I don't mean this to sound at all bitter, I love baking!) but it was the first year I had to make a vegan cake! I think it actually turned out rather well, who needs eggs when you have vegetable oil and orange juice? (Yes, orange juice)

three.
I had a really nice birthday, I went out to a vegetarian restaurant (with a lot of vegan options) with the family and received a lot of lovely gifts (I did pick a lot of them out on a shopping trip with Mum a couple of days prior, but the thought was still there), the best present I received was probably a Gryffindor jumper - yes, I know I'm 19 now but I'd still like to delude myself into thinking I'm a student at Hogwarts and I'm bezzies with Ginny.

four.
Something that probably excited me more than the prospect of my birthday was the return of Peep Show! If you remember some of my vlogs (oh yeah, because I used to do YouTube before I started being unproductive and stopped uploading things) from earlier in the year, you may remember that I was obsessed with Peep Show and the new series has started off being just as funny as the last.

five.
For my assignment for Uni, I have to read some rather old articles on race and sexuality - it's strange how racist and homophobic they are like I've been reading them and almost thinking they're a joke because of how ridiculous they are. I find it really sad that despite the fact they're quite old, in the grand scheme of things it's all too recent and I do worry that there are still an alarming number of people who still think in the way the people who wrote the articles did.

six.
I went out with my friends to the same vegetarian restaurant I went to on my birthday and received some really lovely presents, one of which being a super cute photo in a frame of me and my friends from when they came down to Brighton to visit me, and another one being a Harry Potter Adult Colouring Book - just to mention a few.

seven.
I had quite possibly the most horrendous train journey of all time on my way back to Brighton - loads of cancellations, delays, and I ended up having to get a cab home because I couldn't get one of my trains due to it being super late (because of all the cancellations and delays). I'm certain I did something really bad to the trains in a past life because I have the worst luck with trains!

eight.
Dodie Clark from the YouTube Channel Doddleoddle (one of my favourites!) uploaded a cover of Happy Ending by Mika which is one of my favourite songs, she and two other girls did a beautiful rendition of it with lovely harmonies - well worth a listen!!




nine.
I went to a recording of Russell Howard's Good News and would you believe I got to sit in the front row like right in front of him (check the picture above and try and spot us)!! Me and my friends were in confusion for the first 20 minutes of sitting there thinking someone was going to ask us to move - it was such a surreal, amazing experience, I love Russell Howard and I like very happy knowing that I've been 2m-3m away from him ;-)

ten.
I brought my guitar back with me when I came back from London and it's been sorely missed, I've been spending a lot more time in my room getting reacquainted.

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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The October mix-tape

This post is a bit late - so sorry, I have been majorly slacking on the blogging front with this sudden influx of uni work and *attempting* to be sociable, but I am hoping to get back into the swing of things. Anyway, here are the songs I've been listening to non-stop for October.

Love Me - The 1975
I'm a big fan of the 1975, I think their music is completely different to anything else in the charts. Although half the time I can't tell what Matt Healy is saying, I still really love their catchy melodies. This song to me feels a little bit 80s and it's probably become one of my favourite songs by them in a very short space of time.

Hotline Bling - Drake
I kept on seeing everyone on Twitter and Tumblr talking about this song and quoting it, and it's hella groovy and chilled and catchy. Plus, I love Drake's dancing in the video.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - Amy Winehouse
Not a new song by any means but one I've only just really discovered. I know Amy's version is a cover, so please don't get all pretentious with me about it I know this. I heard about this song because I read an article in the NME about Amy's top 10 songs and I hadn't heard her version of this song (which is odd because it's used in the second Bridget Jones film which I have seen more times than I can count), and it was the only song on that list I hadn't heard before so as a big Amy fan I gave it a listen. I love the instrumentation of this song (I think I've said this before, but the way to my heart is with a bit of brass) and I love the rawness of Amy's voice, it's just a really lovely song.

Anticipation - Esper Scout
Epser Scout are a band I had never heard of until recently, and in fact I only discovered them because one of my Facebook friends (actually, my childhood friend's older sister) has recently become their drummer so she's going on tour with them and tingz. They recently released an EP which has this song on it (which is the B side) and another one called In Foreign, which I also really like but I've probably listened to this one more.

When We Was Fab - George Harrison
Not a new song, but since George Harrison's solo stuff has been added to Spotify I've been listening to it loads and this song I really like partially for the references to The Beatles (I also love the video because it's one of those 'what the heck is Ringo doing?' sort of situations - check out his selfies on Twitter and you'll have the same sensation) but it's also really catchy with some really rad instrumentation and some nice harmonies.

What have you been listening to this month?

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Return of the Trews, the squad reassembles, and protesting

one.
Maddie from Dinner with Maddie launched her new Podcast series and from the first episode, I'm already loving it - talking about feminism, beauty and even Kim Kardashian? You can't really go wrong - listen to it here! :-)

two.
I watched Bridget Jones' Diary with a couple of my house mates and I just wanted to turn to you guys and ask, out of Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, who do you think is more attractive? We were all quite divided, whilst I love Colin Firth, I'm definitely more of a Hugh Grant girl (especially in the first film with his floppy hair)

three.
Very happy to hear that Russell Brand's Trews are returning to YouTube. Whilst I don't agree with everything he says or does, I do really enjoy the Trews and I've really missed watching them.



four.
Doctors has been so good at the moment! If you don't know what it is, it's a daytime soap on BBC about Doctors - it's the only soap I can tolerate, but it's been so juicy right now, in the saddest way but it's been so so good.

five.
My friends from home came to Brighton to visit me and it was so much fun - one thing I learned, do not buy £3 rosé, you can get a lot of alcohol on the cheap but don't skimp on the rosé.

six.
I've been doing more vegan baking and I made some cookies (which I thought were rather nice and so did my house mates) so I shall hopefully get a recipe up for them on the blog soon!

seven.
I went to the demo in London against tuition fees and actually made it into the Guardian, excitedly told everyone, then I was removed from the article just a few hours later (just my luck) but I did manage to screenshot it - my glorious 2 hours of fame.

eight.
I've become really obsessed with the band Screaming Peaches - I think I discovered the song Sad Kid on a Spotify playlist and proceeded to listen to basically everything they've done, really top notch. Sort of The 1975/Arctic Monkeys kinda vibe?

nine.
Speaking of being obsessed with music, I've been really into Elvis Costello & The Attractions too - I literally listened to Oliver's Army for about 3 hours on repeat!

ten.
I've come back to London for my reading week to spend time with the family and for birthday celebrations (yet to come, it's on the 10th if you want to give me virtual gifts) - quite the journey to get here though, my trains kept getting cancelled so I was about an hour and a half later than I originally was meant to be!

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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Back to the Future Day, vegan baking, and trashy TV

one.
I upgraded to Amazon student (y'know because student life) and I now have Amazon Prime, and I just don't know what my life was before. I think when the 6 month trial runs out I may need to keep it just because it's so great having so many movies and TV shows at my disposal and it's all legal. Especially as I don't have a TV license so I can't watch live TV, so any other form of entertainment is a yes.

two.
I tried my hand at some vegan baking, which is something I've been a bit fearful of doing in case it goes horribly wrong (y'know like GBBO when they're working with alternatives), and I made some vegan pancakes - they actually turned out really well!! Expect a recipe up on the blog soon . . .

three.
I've discovered just how amazing Aldi is, I don't know whether that sounds strange or boring but if you're a vegan on a budget, you've got to get down to Aldi - it's so inexpensive and there are so many vegan foods there (including dark chocolate digestive biscuits, like I've never found any other digestive biscuits that are vegan let alone chocolate ones)

four.
I went to the Feminist Society Mixer at my University and met a bunch of great people - it was really cool to meet some like minded people, and it was also great to go to the pub, it's always great to go to the pub . . .

five.
My friends from sixth form have all bought train tickets to come visit me around Halloween and I'm really excited to see everyone again, basically gonna be top notch #bantz.

six.
I'm very happy that George Harrison's solo stuff has been added to Spotify - out of all The Beatles' solo stuff (even Ringo's) I listen to George's the least because it's not on Spotify and I don't think Dad has any on solo, so it's nice that I finally give that a proper listen.

seven.
I've been watching loads of old episodes of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and I feel so trashy because reality TV *shudders* but there's some addictive quality with the Kardashians - I don't really get it.

eight.
The new Don't Hug Me I'm Scared video is out and as per usual it's wonderfully weird and strange.



nine.
I did a marathon of the Back to the Future films the day after Back to the Future day (annoying, wanted to do it on the day but I was exhausted and I couldn't really stay up all night when I had lectures the next day) - I love these films so much! I had a massive phase with Michael J. Fox when I first watched the films, like I went and watched all of his other less good films and got obsessed with Family Ties, he's just pretty dang amazing.

ten.
I watched Mean Girls with a couple of my house mates which was 'so fetch' - I'm probably the most annoying person to watch this film with because I've seen it so many times and I have a tendency to say the line before the character, whoops (but yeah that was awesome)

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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What I've been watching #10

In this post, we have quite a few films that 'every film buff should have seen' as well as one on Ian Curtis and Kurt Cobain (which I decided to watch in one night, great combo if you want to feel very sad afterwards).

THE WICKER MAN (1973)
★★★★
The Wicker Man starts with the protagonist, Sergeant Howie, venturing to an island to investigate a missing child. This island is predominantly Pagan, however, and Sergeant Howie is a conservative Christian so the commonplace pagan rituals freak him out a bit and get in the way of his investigation.

I feel like this is in that list of films that 'one should've watched' so I'm glad I've seen it now, I can definitely see why it is such a well known film. I did think it was quite an interesting film and the theme of apathy was quite interesting too, like your initial reaction with any film or book or whatever to empathise with the protagonist but Sergeant Howie isn't really a nice character so it questions that initial instinct of empathy. Something I found a bit disappointing (which I know wouldn't necessarily happen for me) but I guessed what was going to happen at the end and I think my brother did too - it could be a generational thing, because in the documentary we watched about it afterwards everyone said how the ending was such a shock and I feel like it wasn't much of a shock at all. Definitely worth a watch, it's a real classic horror movie and one every film buff should watch at least once.

CONTROL (2007)
★★★★
Control is a biopic about the life of Ian Curtis and Joy Division's rise to fame. It shows the leadup to Ian Curtis' suicide as his marriage is failing, the band is starting to become more famous, and his epilepsy is worsening.

I liked this film so much. I've always found Ian Curtis' life interesting and I'm a fan of Joy Division, but I think to enjoy this film those facts aren't even important. The film is so well made and it's really gripping. I loved how it was made in black and white, I feel like that makes the film so much more atmospheric and it just adds a whole other level to the film. It was very emotional, understandably, but such a great film. One I think any person would enjoy, but especially fans of Joy Division or people who are interested in Ian Curtis - top notch.

KURT COBAIN: ABOUT A SON (2006)
★★★
This film is a 'visual essay style documentary' about Kurt Cobain featuring interviews of Kurt Cobain with Michael Azerrad.

As you can tell, I had a themed movie night . . . In all honesty, I didn't think this was a particularly good documentary. Don't get me wrong, I love Nirvana and I'm really interested in Kurt Cobain so I, as a fan, enjoyed it but I don't think it was a particularly good film in its own right. I didn't really realise it was going to be a visual essay documentary so that in itself disappointed me a bit, but I also didn't think the clips used were all that relevant. I don't know, it was a all a little bit artsy, so I enjoyed it for Kurt but I think you'd have to be a fan to watch this.

PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959)
★★
Plan 9 from Outer Space takes place in California's San Fernando Valley where flying saucers from outer space have started to attack. The aliens intend to conquer the world by resurrecting corpses in a Hollywood graveyard. At the same time, the living dead start spying on humans who are looking for UFOs in the graveyard.

This is another one of those films that every film buff should've seen, although probably not in a good way. I've been wanting to watch this film since watching Ed Wood a while ago (great film by the way, Johnny Depp's great in it!). If you don't know, Ed Wood is quite well known as one of the worst movie makers ever and this is one of his most well known films so I've wanted to watch it for quite a while. My brother chose it for his movie choice and whilst in its own right, it's a very bad film, and I mean very bad - the special effects are abysmal, the story's a little bit all over the place, and one of the actors, Bela Lugosi, died halfway through the making of the film but they still carried on making it so the way they covered up that up wasn't done too well. That being said, I really enjoyed watching it. I thought the fact that it was so terrible just made it even funnier, so y'know in its own right it's a 2/5 movie but in terms of the enjoyment I got out of it, I'd probably give it a 4/5.

AMELIE (2001)
★★★★
Amelie is a story about a girl (shock horror, she's called Amelie) who's a waitress and she's quite shy because she was misdiagnosed with a heart condition when she was younger, and as a result she was cut off from real people. This leads Amelie to become a girl with her head in the clouds. When she moves to Paris, she finds a long-lost childhood treasure that belonged to a former occupant of her apartment and returns it to him, and after seeing how much of a positive affect it has on him she decides to set out and make other people happy. She then realises that in doing this, she's disrupting her own quest for love.

My housemate and I watched this rather than going out clubbing (lots of movie nights is the best way to do freshers - #confirmed), and I actually wanted to watch it for ages because I really liked the soundtrack - I actually learned to play one of the pieces on the piano quite a while back, I also quite like foreign films and I feel like this is a film I really needed to watch given its popularity. I really liked this film, I quite liked the storyline but I also thought the way it was shot was really lovely as well like the use of colours was really aesthetically pleasing. I think even if you're not into foreign films this might be a good one for you to watch because it's not a complex storyline, and the aesthetic of it all and the music is generally enjoyable too - it's a good'un.

What films have you watched recently?

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First fortnight at Uni, film themed freshers, and freshers flu

one.
I've moved into my house for uni now and the way I've decorated my room makes it quite difficult to see whether I'm a student in 2015 or 1965 - #Beatlemaniac.

two.
I feel like I've become extremely corporate with the amount of Starbucks I've been having - you see there's a Starbucks on campus that my new #squad like to go to so to be sociable and not at all awkward I have to sit in there but I'm also like this is the most capitalist place to be in, what would Marx say??? (A question we all must ask in our day to day lives)

three.
I'm finding it strange having talks about my modules for my course because it feels like it's been a lifetime since I was doing education, I went onto study leave in about May so to suddenly be thrown back into this world where I have to read things and make notes about stuff feels a little bit strange.

four.
I'm really happy to say I'm getting along with my housemates really well (I already knew Meera, and you may know her from some of my vlogs, i.e this one) but my other housemates are really cool too - we're planning on getting an ironic Margaret Thatcher poster or cardboard cutout for our living room, I had to clarify it with them that it was ironic but it is indeed.

five.
Me and my housemates haven't really been out clubbing much (I say much, a couple of us haven't been at all y'know not about that life) but we have been watching quite a few films - we watched Amelie, Lost in Translation, Howl's Moving Castle (may have had a bit of input on this choice), and Jules et Jim and I'm generally really glad I'm living with people who would prefer a film to a club.

six.
Freshers Fair was quite the experience, I signed up to loads of societies (feminist society, music society, film society, literature society, anime and manga society, drama society and the Uni newspaper). I'm looking forward to going to some of the society meets, I feel like you're a lot more likely to meet like minded people through a society than going to a club where the music is frustratingly loud and you can't hear what anyone's saying.

seven.
I've been living solely on pasta-based foods since I got here, I feel like I really need to branch out and find some other things to cook but pasta is just so easy . . .

eight.
We threw a little house parties with all the hipsters and it was so much fun, it was a really nice housewarming sort of thing, and it's where our first house selfie was taken, although it probably wasn't the best photo because everyone was a little bit not sober.

nine.
I'm really enjoying my course so far, I'm doing Applied Psychology if you're interested. There's a lot more Philosophy in it than I thought there'd be and there's a whole unit on social inequalities and prejudice in society and all that jazz so I'm really looking forward to the year (famous last words I'll bet)

ten.
Inevitably, I ended up getting a cold and I actually ended up losing my voice (I've had laryngitis before so I knew what to do to sort it out, but it was a bit of a pain - fellow singers, you'll be familiar with the warm salt water trick, right?) so I've been a bit pooey on the whole blogging/uploading videos regularly thing, but hopefully things should resume to normal soon enough.

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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The September mix-tape

This post is going up a little late because I've been busy at University and socialising and having to allocate more time to buying adult things like fruit and pasta sauce rather than sitting down and doing a blog post, but despite that, I have found some time to tell you about the music I've been listening to. As per usual, it's a bit of an odd mix.

1. Bite - Troye Sivan
I loved Troye's first album and when I found out he was coming out with another one I knew I was going to love it, I think the whole album is really good but this is probably the song I've been listening to most on the album. It's got a somewhat ambient, chilled feel to it but it's also quite catchy with a good beat - basically, Troye is super talented and I think he deserves all of the credit he gets for his music. I think it's great that his album is good in its own right rather than it just being popular solely because he did YouTube already.

2. Cry Baby - Melanie Martinez
My friend Antoinette got me into Melanie Martinez, she recommended Pity Party to me a while ago and I really liked that, but then she told me to listen to the rest of the album and I did and this is probably the song I've been singing the most from it. It's really catchy and I think Melanie Martinez has a really interesting and unique style of music.

3. Young Volcanoes - Fall Out Boy
In all honesty I've never been too much of a Fall Out Boy fan, I've liked a few songs from them before and I can see why people do like them but they just don't really click with me for the mostpart. However, I watched Evan Edinger and Dodie Clark's cover of this song recently (I don't know why I hadn't seen it before given that I've basically seen all of Evan and Dodie's videos) and I've had the song stuck in my head the whole month, it's a really fun one to sing along to.

4. The Blackest Day - Lana Del Rey
LANA'S NEW ALBUM - CAN WE TAKE A MOMENT???? Okay, I love Lana so much, I think her style of music is different to all of other popular music that's out right now and I've been looking forward to the Honeymoon album since it was announced. I think I might like the Honeymoon album more than Ultraviolence (although, as generic as it is, Born to Die is probably my favourite album). This is such a chilled song with a good beat and it's probably my favourite on the album, although I also like Art Deco and Religion - basically, Lana is amazing and I love her unconditionally (okay, maybe not unconditionally because she does some problematic things but I like her a lot)

5. Isolation - Joy Division
This month I watched Control for the first time and it got me back into Joy Division pretty massively. I've liked them for quite a while but I tend to skip them when they come up on my Spotify (except for Love Will Tear Us Apart Again because that's one of my favourite songs ever and probably, however cliched it is, probably my favourite song by Joy Division) but after listening to the songs in the film I decided to listen to them again and I've rekindled my love for them, I think Ian Curtis' lyrics are literally like poetry, they're just so beautifully written and it's just generally enjoyable to listen to Joy Division songs - like they're beautiful but sad, so it's enjoyable but in a sad way . . . if you feel me . . .

What have you been listening to this month?

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