Heard:
Lots of Northern Soul, from the excellent and cheap compilations "The Golden Age of Northern Soul" - 4 volumes of floor-filling fun.

Read:
Bremner, Bird & Fortune - "You Are Here", a dark and funny rip through what the Government said they would do and what they actually did.

Magnus Mills - the Maintenance of Headway, a quirky, short book, like Flann O'Brien with a greater feeling of dread.

Seen:
The Ex with Brass Unbound at the CCA, Glasgow - a great rocking gig with 4 great horn players and one of the best drummers I've seen in years, Katherina Bornefeld.

Oil City Confidential - The Dr Feelgood Story. A very good film, with lots of detail on their childhood and why being from Canvey made them different. Great to see Lee Brilleaux at the height of his powers, and also a reminder that The Big Figure is one of the most underrated drummers of his era.

Heard: A lot of early Marvin Gaye, 'Wonderful One', and some fine Sam Cooke. His 'Good News' is a joyful thing. Also, believe it or not, Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra as a result of some unexpected results trawling on you tube. His version of 'Song Of India' is remarkable.

Read: 'The Given Day' by Dennis Lehane. Currently being tipped as a 'Great American Novel' I'm not sure what that is meant to be or why it's so important but The Given Day is certainly a quality item. Fast-paced eloquent prose describing a time of social upheaval in the US directly after the Great War.

Seen: 'Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs' at the Odeon Kids Club (with my small daughter I hasten to add). Polished, zany computer animation. The first 30 minutes are very funny for children and adults alike but it dips in the middle before the usual frantic climax. Not a complaint though. And 'Quantum of Solace' again on DVD. Like a lot I was disappointed on the first viewing but on this second I was royally entertained. Perhaps because I was already aware it's not the classic it wished to be after Casino Royale. Daniel Craig fits the colder Bond suitably well.

Also hours and hours worth of clips from Whose Line Is It Anyway, the US version, on you tube. Ryan Stiles is one of the funniest men alive

Beach House - Teen Dream , their new album , just got into them. It's a beautiful record.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM , produced by Beck and you can really hear his influence , title track sounds a wee bit like the last Portishead album . I think it's excellent.

I've been listening to these two on repeat on Spotify , for free.

I thought i hadn't really seen anything but i did go and see Avatar at the Imax. Loved the 3d , not so keen on the story.

Heard
A History Of The World In 100 Objects Podcast. Radio 4's somewhat overhyped series. But it is good and worth subscribing to.
Mumford and Sons "Sigh No More." - Feels like this years Fleet Foxes to me.

Read
Currently reading "Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay" by John Lanchester, which is an extremely good idiots guide to the 2008 crash and how it happened. Anyone who, like me, has been trying to follow the story but failing to understand anything after a certain point, should give this book a go.

Seen
A Prophet. Brilliant French prison flick, tense as hell. Made me wonder if the French, following this and Mesrine, are the best makers of thrillers in the world right now.
State Of Play - currently watching the 2003 BBC series with the FPO. Just buy it folks, it cost me £4 from fopp and it was money well spent.

Read: World War Z by Max Brooks; Suprisingly good and hugely entertaining. Was pressed into my hand by a friend and I approached it with due caution but it's jolly good fun. An oral history of a future zombie war, aftermath and reconstruction. Part political satire, part straight report, it´s well written, not too gory.

Blood´s a Rover- James Ellroy. The final part of his Underworld trilogy and it´s a humdinger of a novel. Less annoying ticks than the last one and whips along at a good pace.

Heard: Strange Weirdos and also High,Wide and Handsome by Loudon Wainwright . He´s on rare form. Great stuff!

Seen; The new season of The Big Bang Theory. The funniest show on TV right now. Don`t miss it.

Heard Label only comps:
A Breath of Fresh Air (Harvest)
Refugees (Enigma)
This is Sue (Sue/Island)
This is Soul (Atlantic)

Read
Keep on Running The Island Records Story - great book but will cost you a wallet-full, filling gaps in the back catalogue

Soul Stylists - Paolo Hewitt

Seen
Avatar - drop any snobbery. Just go and see it. In 3D. Renting the DVD and self-kicking regret await you otherwise.

Cathi Unsworth reading from Bad Penny Blues - gave the phrase 'Here comes the candle to light you to bed' a new spookyness

Whoops! Posted twice

Read: Practically nothing... sorry

Seen: Avatar - really not a great film but definitely worth going to the cinema to experience it. As mentioned above, not one to wait for the DVD

Also, devoured the entire of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in around three weeks. It's a cracking series full of sharp, funny characters. It can get a little sentimental for my tastes at times, but still a crime that it was cancelled.

Heard: I can highly recommend the new Tindersticks album and the new Los Campesinos! one isn't half bad either. Also, listened to Ian Dury's "New Boots and Panties!!" an awful lot this past month. Finally, thanks to Spotify, I discovered the not-exactly-breaking news that Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" is a damn fine record.

Heard : The Duke & The King. Probably well behind on this one, but I heard a few tracks in a bar and love the album. Spotify Link : http://open.spotify.com/album/5LHy2jo9z3Eq60sCCwheSZ

Seen : Again, well behind the times, but In Bruges is excellent. Also keeping up with the hilarious How I Met Your Mother (think Friends, but with real personalities and actually funny scenes and a bar instead of a coffee shop)

Read : Trawling my way through charity shop specials - in a Carl Hiaasen phase at the moment - grimy Florida-based crime with a liberal dash of black humour.

READ
Nothing of particular note, books have all been packed away ready for a house-move in a couple of weeks. I'm no doubt in the middle of about four different books though.

SAW
DVDs I've watched this month include 'The Life Of Brian' (again), '500 Days of Summer (not as good as I was hoping, but Zooey Deschanel looked as lovely as ever) and 'Hillsborough'. I did buy 'Boys From The Blackstuff' too but I haven't got round to watching that.

HEARD
Finally came to the conclusion that I shouldn't despise Nirvana just because I wanted to be different at school ten years ago. Bought 'Unplugged' and 'Nevermind' as a result. Other purchases this month include the two most recent King Creosote albums ('Bombshell' and 'Flick The Vs'), lots of stuff in the HMV 2 for £10 sale, and a Leonard Cohen 5 album box set.

'The Other Half Lives' by Sophie Hannah. - Loved it. One of the best and most twisty-turny thrillers I've read in a while.

Seen - Mad Men series 3. - Oh, what joy. It's so tense, I'm constantly waiting for something to go tits up.

Heard - Midlake 'The Courage of Others' - It's growing on me, but I'm struggling a little with this one. The live clips I've seen of the songs sound fantastic so maybe after the gig in Manchester I'll return to it with fresh ears.
Three I am enjoying are -
Richmond Fontaine 'We Used To Think...' - Wonderful. Like a cross between The Pernice Brothers and Wilco. [or if you prefer, a lot like Uncle Tupelo] http://www.emusic.com/album/Richmond-Fontaine-We-Used-to-Think-the-Freew...

Laura Veirs 'July Flame' - A beautiful return to her best. http://www.emusic.com/album/Laura-Veirs-July-Flame-MP3-Download/11791392...

Jesca Hoop 'Hunting My Dress' - For anyone who wishes Florence and The Machine were less irritating & more interesting, try this. http://www.emusic.com/album/Jesca-Hoop-Hunting-My-Dress-MP3-Download/117...

Oh, & one more -
Danny & The Champions of The World 'Streets Of Our Time' - Lovely, Lovely,Lovely. Former Grand Drive frontman Danny George Wilson's new band's second album. If you like Mumford & Sons this has a similar sound [ie: there's a banjo] but is a more uplifting listen than that somewhat downbeat album.
http://www.emusic.com/album/Danny-The-Champions-Of-The-World-Streets-Of-...

Read: "The greatest sci-fi movies never made" by David Hughes
A trawl through the stories behind the sci-fi flicks that could have existed if only the fates/producers/studios had willed it. Geeky? Yep. But fascinating nonetheless.

Heard: Internet radio and podcasts on our brand new Santa-provided Squeezebox radio. It is truly fantastic. All of a sudden a regular listener to the Mayo/Kermode movie show, FIP, FUV, Radio Paradise and (finally) the Word podcasts...

Seen: The only film I've seen since Starklina was born 3 months ago: Avatar. A fine reintroduction to the cinema if only for the sense of event. A flimsy plot and daft dialogue do little to diminish the sheer spectacle of it all and, as Dave C says, DVD will never do it justice.

Read - And Then There Was No One by Gilbert Adair. Weird post-modern self-aware book about the author himself getting involved in a murder mystery and meeting his own fictional Miss Marple style detective in real life. Very odd but also very good.

Heard - Quadrophenia by The Who. What a dreadful album. Way too much atmospheric padding. Seems to only have about five real songs buried among the atmosphere over the two discs. The two stand out tracks are always included on Best Of compilations. I've never seen the film but I once did own the OST. It was rubbish as well so it was one of the first CDs I ever sold to a second hand shop.

Also the new Vampire Weekend album. Cousins is a great song with a good music video. The rest of the album is a turd. It might grow on me but I doubt it will ever be more than okay at best.

Seen - I saw all four seasons of Ever Decreasing Circles this month. Decent sitcom but I can see why it's never repeated nowadays.

SEEN - at the cinema, the Ian Dury biopic, which I was hugely disappointed by (great performances notwithstanding) - no structure, no sense of time or place, one for (big) fans only. On DVD I'm catching up with "24" after a few years off, and it's still the best machine-tooled hokum available. On TV via t'internet, the final weeks of the Conan Vs. Leno chatshow cluster**** provided some great comic fuel for Conan and David Letterman, strangely none for Jay Leno...

READ - just on the verge of finishing a book of Hancock TV scripts, and even on the page the dialogue feel so natural it seems almost improvised, a good trick if you can do it. Also, the knowledge this is going to be an election year had me finally take Matthew Parris' autobiography "Chance Witness" from the "to read" pile. Excellent, if overlong, but if you're only interested in his politics years, you can probably start in the middle without missing too much...

HEARD - still ploughing through my Christmas present CDs (I maintain Noah & The Whale's is the great overlooked album of last year), but as an antidote to 2009 find myself reaching for selections from the "lounge" shelf - Xavier Cugat, library music collections, 60's film & TV themes, just right for grooving on a zebraskin rug in front of a roaring fire with the snow piled up outside...

I'm with you on that - it's quietly magnificent isn't it? Seems to get better with every listen, and the heartbreak is so visceral you just want to give the poor fella a hug.

Watched... Demons. Rubbish but fun Italian/german horror film about a cinema that shows a film that turns every one into... Demons! The film has bizzare sound track that mixes 80's Metal with Go West. Got the DVD from Poundland can you guess how much?

Listened... Hot Chip - One life stand. Very very fine boffin pop. Highly recomended.

Read. Half way through Nick Hornby's Juliette naked. So far very good and should hit a nerve with a lot of the forums massive.

Heard:

Eels - End Times. Poignant and credibly honest but also with good tunes. A favourite track is

Catching up with The Flaming Lips - Embryonic and the last Mars Volta - both are great and just kind of sound grown-up, original and engrossing. As a contrast the new Wolfmother album is a joke.

Changing pace, have always been a sucker for a bit of noisy dance/electro, you get 60-odd tracks of latest stuff here

http://www.7digital.com/artists/various-artists/cream-future-electro/

Tune I enjoyed most in January was blasting out Genesis 'Snowbound' as the the snow fell fast outside.....

Read:

As part of a 1970's American Cinema thing, 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls' by Peter Biskind. Why wasn't I a film school brat?

Seen:

Best by a long way is the blu-ray of Bleak House, picked up for a tenner. The whole family are enjoying it - it is a fantastic adaptation without being in anyway stuffy.

Also seen - History Boys (Good), Big Fish (much better than I thought) but then a lot of disappointing stuff - Watchmen, Sin City (nasty), and Taken (not the action fest I had hoped for - was eurotrash)

seen
"the Visitors" great little flick about immigarnts in New York in post 9/11 world

BBC Series from my kind friend Joe:- "Paradox" "Criminal Justice" (first series with peter Postletwaite) was fabbo..which as since lead me to him and Thora Hird in the brilliant "Lost For Words" and now Jimmy McGoverns third series of "The Street" northern grit with heart and soul...oh and finally the new Jeff Bridges "Crazy Heart" potential oscar for this performance,he sings the material too.

Read
"Soul Circus" George Pelicanos..follow up to "Hell to Pay" consistantly great.."The Understudy" David Nicholls..Britain's finest comic novelist

Heard
The wonderful Ghana Blues compilation aammmaaaazing stuff..and gone a bit proggy and have been devouring the second Deram Box Set a bargain featuring the great "Sea Shanty" by Khan..and the Chrysalis triple set..just received the Vertigo set as I plow through the 70's in my long fireman's coat holding a large 6 skin spliff!

Read:

Family Britain by David Kynaston. Well, I've got a few pages to go. It's excellent, like his previous tome. I love the fact that he leaves things open-ended at times and admits that there isn't the evidence to offer up certainties. I can't wait for the next hefty installment.

Several volumes of the Italian comic book Diabolik. Tales of a suave, ruthless anti-hero and his marchingegni infernali (fiendish contraptions).

Seen:

Civilisation by Kenneth Clark. I watched this magnificent series for the second time in 3 months... there's so much to take in. So much beauty amid destruction; so many profound ideas... all made vividly real by Clark's unsurpassable narration.

A History of Britain by Simon Schama. A wonderful series, but not perfect. It suffers from many of the more annoying faults of contemporary documentaries - frenetic editing, unnecessary reconstructions, an overly loud soundtrack and a tendency to overplay the moments of high drama. But Schama himself is very engaging and is a great storyteller.

Blackadder Series 1-3. I hadn't watched them for years, and I think they've held up very well.

Heard:

Maria Muldaur by Maria Muldaur. I decided to buy this after hearing Midnight at the Oasis for the first time in ages on the One Hit Wonder Spotify playlist. I've heard it a couple of times now and I'm enjoying it a lot. The cover, however, is an aesthetic abomination.

The Courage of Others by Midlake. I'm not sure about this album yet - it's all very pleasant, but the songs sound rather samey and it's... it's... a bit dull. But I may well change my mind.

A few editions of In Our Time, Melvyn Bragg's Radio 4 series. It really does put the 'high' into highbrow. I can't profess to understand it all, but I love the fact that a programme like this is still being aired and finds a wide and receptive audience.

Read: The Junior Officers' Reading Club, Patrick Hennessey
Loved the podcast, and enjoyed the book overall, real insight into an alien world of testosterone, iPods and DVD boxed sets. Some of the writing was excellent but got frustrated with some of the lengthy, clumsily structured sentences - too much time with lists and bullet points? Might have been a great book if he'd put it to one side for a few more months and re-edited it when he'd decompressed a bit more.

Heard: Been gorging on an obscure beat combo (in mono)

Seen: The Secret Life of Chaos, BBC4 with Jim Al-Khalili
I finally paid attention to what Chaos theory really is about and now can't stop thinking about its implications. The way the programme wove together strands which showed how maths can be responsible for both infinite complexity and creation of patterns from seeming disorder, and then threw in evolution for good measure, blew me away. Any good pop science /maths book recommendations on this topic warmly welcomed.

Seen - my little lad stand up for the first time. As for (grown up) film and telly - virtually none. One episode of the Dexter dvds I got for Christmas. Very good, but it's finding the time and energy...
Heard - bought the SuBo cd for mother in law for Christmas and listened to it about five times when giving her a lift home. I've heard worse. Her version of Wild Horses is better than the original. There, I've said it.
Read - Two graphic novels stand out: I Kill Giants and Chew. The first is about a girl preparing to battle a titan which may or may not be symbolic of something dark and tragic in her life. Very moving.
Chew is about a cop who receives empathetic pictures connected to what he eats. A bowl of soup containing a trace of blood from the chef's cut finger reveals said cook to be a serial killer. There's also a food critic who writes so beautifully that her readership genuinely feel as though they have eaten whatever she describes. She is bored. She starts writing about rancid fish and causes a mass vomiting epidemic. Very funny.

Seen: My Xmas DVDs Series one of Dexter, half of series one of Deadwood, half of series one of the Sopranos, none of which i really caught when they were on proper telly. All good, the Sopranos is fucking hilarious!

Read: Erm Danny Baker and Danny Kelly - Great football debates resolved. A diverting entertainment. The photos reveal that Danny Baker's dad looked like Hunter S Thompson

Heard: Dave Rawlings Machine - great offbeat country album filling the gap since Gillian Welch's last. Piney Gir - The Yearling - just great. Standard Fare- The Noyelle Beat - really good indiepop - three or four top notch single contenders.

Seen: A Prophet - fabulous. Mad Men series 3 - equally so. Spaced & Hot Fuzz - my daughter has developed a Nick Frost fixation! Sean of the Dead up next.

Heard: quite a bit. Enjoying the new Vampire Weekend. Not greatly struck with the Delphic album, despite the hype. Waiting for the new Yeasayer.

Read: started reading War & Peace just before Christmas and about half-way through. Loving it. Have read Colin Murray's football book as light relief. It was OK, but had some annoying errors that a better editor would have picked up: "Robert van Persie", "Hamilton Academicals", "Patrick Viera".

Heard - The Dickies 'best of' - Cartoon punk taking me way back when.
Bronski Beat/Sommerville 'best of'- Pop for a winters day.

Read - 'The Fallen' by Dave Simpson - thoroughly engaging read,
that shouldn't really work, but does.

Seen - Been catching up with some sky + i've not got round to,
Wallander, Glee, Brothers and Sisters

Heard: The Unloveables - Crush, Boyfriend, Heartbreak Despite my vague attempts to cut back on spending in January and not buy any music, I got sucked in by this gorgeous slice of bubblegum punk pop. The album tells the story of a relationship from soup to nuts, as it were, and features the most upbeat and joyful song about being in love ever recorded.

Read: The Ossians - Doug Johnstone This novel follows a Scottish indie band on their make or break big tour. It's not the best book I've ever read, and the clunky mentions of musical influences seems to be more about establishing the authors coolness than the bands, but my fellow Scots may enjoy the honest descriptions of small town Scotland.

Seen: Nowhere Boy and Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll Both excellent films, that you must see. I note an earlier comment that the Ian Dury biopic was one for fans only, but I disagree - it is a beautiful and clever film which manages to be both very funny and very moving. It does make you swear continually for at least 24 hours after watching it though.

Watched

TV - Nurse Jackie - growing on me.
DVD -'I've loved you so long' - Kirstin Scott Thomas stars in a fantastic, moving, involving film. Starts with a woman, who has been away for a while, coming to stay with her younger sister. Anything else would really detract from the pleasure of watching it; this is a film where you need to discover the narrative for yourself as it unfolds.
DVD - 'He loves me, he loves me not' - Audrey Tatou is the anti-Amelie...

Read

'Hurrah for the Blackshirts!: Fascists and Fascism in Britain Between the Wars', by Martin Pugh

A real eye-opener, and not just for chapter and verse on the Daily Mail's infamous headline (which was part of a deliberate and sustained campaign to support Britain's fascists). In particular, this photo:

shows a familiar style of rally with unfamiliar iconography. This is Oswald Mosley speaking to an audience of 20,000 followers at Earls Court. In July 1939. That's just 6 weeks before the start of WW2.

On a cheerier note, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe' by Gayle Wald. Interesting woman Sister Rosetta - she booked a stadium for her last marriage, sold the tickets - and then set about finding the husband.

Listened to

'Fire In My Bones:Raw,Rare & Otherworldly African American Gospel' - 3 discs of rough and ready bluesy gospel, as recently reviewed in The Word. Not religious myself but I do like to listen to people who sound like they mean what they're singing.

SEEN: the 'Sherlock Holmes' movie. Genuinely didn't know what to expect, ended up loving it. It's easy to knock Guy Ritchie but I thought the look of the film, and the sheer energy of the direction, were amazing - like someone had given him a real kick up the arse. And the two leads were enormous fun to watch - Downey Jr just turning on 'bonkers' like a tap, but a really sympathetic, engaging turn from Jude Law as well. AND I now have a bit of a thing for Kelly Reilly.

Also I loved 'Wallander'. I think it's one of the most beautifully filmed TV series since, of all things, 'Around the World in 80 Gardens'. Incredible use of widescreen.

READ: the John Peel book of columns and articles, 'The Olivetti Chronicles' (sorry if I'm the last interested person in the Massive to read this!), and on the fiction side, I'm working my way through Michael Connelly's thrillers.

HEARD: been buying some of the dub recommended to me by the Massive when I asked for help a while back, including the Upsetter's 'Super Ape' and 'King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown'.

On the 'world' side, I've finally got hold of the two Group Doueh albums ('Guitar Music of the Western Sahara' and 'Treeg Salaam'), in places as raw and coruscating as any punk or metal.

Playing a lot of ECM stuff too. Choral group The Hilliard Ensemble, oud virtuoso Anouar Brahem and saxophone genius Jan Garbarek (especially after seeing him live at the Barbican last Sunday).

Also attended a superb Smoke Fairies gig at the Lexington. They sound incredible.

SEEN: The film American Splendour. The story of the underground comic writer Harvey Peskar (whom I had never heard of). A really enjoyable true story depiction of an American outsider who found some kind of fame and happiness.

HEARD: The Duckworth Lewis Radiophonic Blunderbus shows on RTE 2FM on Sunday afternoons. Delightful listening.

READ: Tarry Flynn by Patrick Kavanagh. A poet and a dreamer lives a life of toil, work and more grudging toil on the fields of Monaghan. Recommended.

Heard: 3 albums I got for christmas and now have absorbed enough to judge:
Goldfrapp 'Black Cherry'. I started with 'Seventh Tree' and now this. Love it. I shall be purchasing the other two albums. I am inclined to think they are the best band of the noughties (and a bit naughty on this album too as it goes).
Raveonettes 'In And Out Of Control'. Swedish duo combine JAMC, Suicide, Cure and Spector, among other influences. Highly catchy. Should have had lots of hits by rights. Lyrics about rape, suicide, drugs and stealing cars. That might limit chance of hits. But upbeat tunes.
Flaming Lips 'Embryonic'. Never fussed about this band before but this is a revelation. Dreamy, electronic doodles and startling, noisy rackets intermingle thrillingly. Even the discordant stuff has pretty moments. There's enough riffery and melody for it not to get tiresome.

Seen: 'Edge of Darkness' remake. Bit too long as many films are these days. Not as good as I remember original. But not bad.

Read: Peter Hook 'The Haçienda'. A familiar story we all know - all that Factory, Tony Wilson, Happy Mondays stuff. Yes, but this is a detailed, full account more or less entirely about the club. And it's a staggering, hilarious and entertaining read. Astonishing how they kept it going so long. How it's possible to sustain a folly of a business that loses thousands, although of course it was hugely influential and loved too.

Read:
- Jonathan Ross Why Do I Say These Things - it was OK but you knew what happened just after it came out in 2008 (Just finished it as his "moving" from the BBC was announced).
- 77 Sulphate Strip - a collection of 1977 writings by Record Mirrors Barry Cain
- Kicking Up A Racket (The Story of Stiff Little Fingers)

Heard:
- 'I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight' (Richard & Linda Thompson)
- 'Folk Routes' (Compilation)
- 'Ars Longa Vita Brevis' (Prog Rock compilation)
- 'Chronicles Of Modern Life' (Henry Priestman)

Seen - first series of Battlestar Gallactica, and now into the second which I'm watching in parallel with Caprica. well and truly hooked.

Also, A Prophet which was very good, but not quite worth the hype; and The Road - well worthwhile.

Heard - really enjoying St Vincent and Jesca Hoops (good article on her in today's observer), and Heathen by Bowie on the back of another set of posts on this site. Not quite os impresse dby the new Eels album.

Read - the Wire Re-Up which was good, as was Ian McGecchan's autobiography. Read my first laura Lippman book - okay but won't rush back.

Heard - I've enjoyed listening to Delphic's album and Hot Chip's lovely 'One Life Stand' single. Bill Callahan is still proving difficult to shift from the stereo.

Read - Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, and 'Regga' - not a mis-spelt tome about caribbean music but a biography of Swiss race ace Clay Regazzoni.

Seen - Up In The Air, which I loved.

Listen: The Chi-Lites 'Give More Power To The People', a scratchy vinyl rip from a friend. Features a decent (if in thrall to Marvin)version of Heard It Through The Grapevine. A swinging rather than funky album, with some beautiful vocal arrangements.

Read: Right As Rain by George Pelecanos. A satisfying, if not particularly original read. Most enjoyable for the beginnings of the friendship between Derek Strange and Terry Quinn. Worked beautifully with the Chi-Lites as soundtrack.

Watch: Re-runs of Family Guy on BBC Three. Stewie takes on a new resonance now I've a nine month old boy of my own!!!

Heard; Paper Planes - M.I.A, Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

(re)Read; Fresh Air Fiend - a collection of Paul Theroux writing, The Subterranean Railway - Chritian Wolmar's history of London underground

Seen - Bellamys People, still loving it, The Corner, before the Wire there was the Corner.

Heard - bought first 2 Peter Case albums which I had on cassette many moons ago. Still achingly brilliant songs that stand the test of time better than most stuff from the eighties.
Heard King Curtis on last fm for first time and his live cd should be on its way to me very soon.
Really into the Amorphous Androgynous cd's which seem to satiate my current yearning for psychedelia.
New stuff that is appealing is the Pat Metheney album Orchestrion. He plays everything himself which suggests he is as at home on percussion and keyboards as on guitar.

Read - The Way home, George Pelecanos. Enjoyed very much.
Nearly finished The death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave. Main character is a first class monster but strangely because I am so familiar with Nick Caves face it is him that I picture as the character.

Seen - the road - excellent but harrowing.
Lovely Bones - I loved it, my wife didn't.
40 Year old virgin - didn't appeal to me but actually very funny.