On Lists

The internet is full of lists. Just a scroll down recent posts on sites like Buzzfeed and Thought Catalog reveals more lists than I think I could ever read. It's so pervasive that Buzzfeed, possibly riding off lists made by other sites about their lists, created a list of lists that shouldn't become Buzzfeed articles. And I can understand why it might seem excessive to someone who doesn't have a deep-seated affinity for lists.

Personally, I love all these lists. Remember how in school everything would be broken down into bullet points? The very same bullet points that were advertised as an excellent revision tool (one that - shocker - does actually work)? I like learning from lists, and reading these occasionally nonsensical lists has occasionally taught me things that I wouldn't have come across in a block of prose.

They've opened my eyes to some amazing works of art, like these post-apocalyptic images of British landmarks. I know I can type a TV show into a search box and find all the gifs I could ever need from that TV show. I was trying to explain The Mindy Project to a friend, and wished I could just show her the list, because that encapsulated all the best things about the show.

Lists are like charts. Sometimes, it's the best way to present it all. And in the age of media apparently giving us all short attention spans (which I don't believe, we all find the attention to watch entire seasons of TV shows over the weekend), lists save a whole lot of time and are easier to quickly scan to see if they include the information we want. Which gives me time to watch episodes of TV shows back-to-back, read fantasy epics and learn to hate the voice over on the Nike Training Club app, while still learning about an even caffeine-ier coffee and realising that my Mum is climbing the relationship pyramid from 'person I have to remember to call once a week' to the coveted 'best friend' tier. Who said unemployment was unproductive?

Going Nuts

Dress: Reko for Topshop, Bag: Fat Face, Sandals: Office, Sunglasses: River Island

I'm crazy over this heatwave now, and wishing I could disappear somewhere either with air-conditioning or without an awkwardly positioned area of high pressure. I'm also over my recent shorts-and-vest-top uniform, so today I branched out into sundresses that for some reason I usually feel too 'fancy' in around the house. Plus, I did run errands today so I wasn't just cutting pages out of magazines.

Would You Hire Me?

Shirt: ZARA, Skirt: H&M, Sandals: Office

Much as I enjoy mooching around at home, catching up on reading for pleasure, playing (Lego) video games and watching TV, the lack of any kind of concrete timetable and anything especially productive to do - in other words, the lack of a part-time job - has started getting to me. Alas, I'm old enough to require the maximum minimum wage, and so I'm not the most attractive employee when there are so few jobs around, and plenty of teenagers looking. Essentially, I've stagnated, and today is, I think, the first time since last Monday that I've worn anything other than shorts and a vest top....

The Bling Ring

I loathe going to the cinema on my own, which often means, frustratingly, that due to having friends who dislike cinemas (no, I don't understand either), I miss out on films I want to see until the DVD comes out. Thankfully, my brother's predictable Emma Watson crush meant that it was easy to persuade him to come see Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring with me. Although he thought it was pretty average, I thought that it was exactly what I expected (after my Man of Steel experience, this is a massive plus).

Due to its oddly limited cinema distribution, we bucked our usual trend and saw it in Bath's Little Theatre Cinema, which is always a treat I forget about, with curtains over the two screens and old-fashioned plush seating without cup holders and the like. Plus, you can get tea/coffee at the concessions stand, which gives a pleasingly homey touch to the experience.

As usual with Coppola, there's a hefty dose of shots of things lending the atmosphere, as well as shot-from-web-cam-esque scenes that emphasize the concern-with-outside-image that the film is highlighting. The semi-grittiness of the heist CCTV shots contrasted nicely with the sunshine and fun youthfulness of scenes of the group partying, making what could have been seen as glamorous distinctly less 'cool'.

A lot of the time the group came across as posers, which, considering the occasional flashes of uncertainty in Mark, reinforced the idea that the teenagers are all playing up to their peers, that the situation started as a laugh and got a little out of control. Coppola said in an interview that she listened to how teens spoke to each other when writing the film; the sincerity coming from Watson's character when she tells her adopted sister that her ass looks great, as though that is what truly mattered in life, was like an even eerier version of the Mean Girls standing in a mirror listing their physical 'imperfections' as a bonding exercise.

Coming as a critique of society's obsession with celebrity, the film's slight hollowness in comparison to Copolla's other outings was probably deliberate, and perhaps it's a sign of the direction films are going in that 90mins felt a little too short. Equally it could just be the way that Nikki Moore still seemed determined to find a way into 'the lifestyle' when usually films end in some kind of transformation that made the credit rolling seem a slight shock. These teenagers may not be aspirational - far from it, but at least we might all learn to lock our doors...
image via redcarpetcrash.com

Glasto Tracks VIII/ Summer Tracks IX

Even though the 'Glasto Tracks' are an extension of my 'Summer Tracks', I want this to be officially on both lists. The opener to the Arctic Monkey's headlining set might not be the summeriest track, all grit and snarl and abstract video, but the reappearance of Alex Turner and the boys in my headphones this summer is making me pretty happy, even if I do have to wait until September for an actual album. Even though a friend and I agreed that, in all honesty, the Monkeys would never achieve the gritty, everyman brilliance of 'Whatever People Say I Am', 'Do I Wanna Know?' and 'R U Mine?' prove that the band are still going strong. Unlike other bands that lose their everyman status and somehow then their appeal, Arctic Monkeys were never so reliant on common experiences that their fame has changed the way they write too substantially.

In Love

This album's been out for a few months now, but I'm new to the Peace party. Not that there's anything especially 'new' about it; the foursome sound, in a very 'in' statement, like a vital part of the current Nineties revival - BritPop coming to the fore all over again. It might sound a little peppy at times, a little too polished and upbeat compared to the slightly raw edge that other bands created and have been creating, but something about their verging-on-earnest sound feels like 'home'. It's probably the effect of my parents' taste in music rubbing off on me there really. But if the cultural rehashing of the Nineties is spreading to music in this way, then I'm going to welcome it with a smile and a bit of an awkward dance. In a crop top, perhaps!

Summer Tracks VIII

This is a sister track to today's outfit post... Sure this sounds a little like it's meant to be a start of 'college' deal, but since I'm starting a new university at the end of summer, and since I'm pretty sure in the great book of my life (ha!) finishing my bachelors would be the end of the chapter, it fits here. It was also the first song on my summer mixtape, so now that 'school' is 100% done with and summer is definitely here, it fits in with the messed up timing of my life anyway!

This Is The Beginning

Eeeek graduation! Although, I'm not an excitable person, and if I'm honest the day promised to be more slightly boring than some kind of watershed moment in my life. Maybe I was just seriously let down by Prom. All my mopings aside though, it proved an excellent excuse for a new outfit, which proved to be rather a long hunt. Tip: if your curve is ALL in the hip/bum area, fitted dresses are not for you. Saggy round the chest and too tight around the hips is just icky. Anyway, once I got over that hurdle and headed for pencil skirts, I wondered why I hadn't just thought of that in the first place; I feel like an actual grown up in this outfit, regardless of the origins of the shirt. I couldn't stand the idea of wearing anything too suit-like - yes, this is my graduation and I guess I'm a grown-up now, but I'm also going to be a student for the foreseeable future, so investing in 'officewear' just feels a bit premature, so I went for a fun version, and ignored the idea that I should be dressing plainly or something. Even with that, I still felt a little like a teacher or something, I'm not sure why though because I don't remember ever having a teacher who dressed like this?

Shirt: H&M (Boys), Skirt: ZARA, Shoes: Carvela Kurt Geiger, Arm Party: Assorted silver chains

Glasto Tracks VI

Sure, this is the most obvious Vampire Weekend song, and it's now been long enough (one week ago I was saying goodbyes and picking my way from the Pyramid Stage to Hitchin Hill) that I almost couldn't remember if it was even in the set, but it's here for two reasons. a) it's an excellent song and you can sing it happily or with real purpose, and I love it equally both ways. b) the note on VW in the little mini programme on my lanyard said "No one knew what an Oxford Comma was until these Big Applers bounced onto the airwaves". Plus, it was a brilliant sing-along moment, and they always give me goosebumps.

Glasto Tracks V

Apparently (according to my brother, who I'm guessing heard it from his friends), the crowd at Bastille was rubbish. I was right in there though, and I didn't notice it, so maybe his friends were among those left outside the John Peel Stage due to Bastille's popularity. Who knows, I thought it was a pretty good set to be at. I was tempted to find videos of the covers they did, of 'What would you do?' and 'Rhythm is a dancer' (or whatever those songs are called), but I think they were more icing on the cake than the best bits about the set. Back to the vein of my ramblings about 'regular' summer tracks, the lyrics to the chorus of this sum up my summers back at home from uni - "And if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like you've been here before. How am I gonna be an optimist about this?" - full of awkwardness and reminders of the distance that's developed between my old friends and I. But, y'know, way more upbeat and better written than my usual "oh no, another summer sat at home with no one to hang out with". And Glasto was a million miles from that feeling, so yay!

"Glastonbury is the place where fashion goes to die"

Shorts: H&M, Zip-up Hoodie: H&M (Boys), Blue T-shirt: Gap, Superhero tops adapted from old t-shirts, 

Spotty Dress: Uniqlo, Converse, Old Wellies, Socks: a gift, Bag: White Stuff, Sunglasses: H&M, 

plus festival wristband and lanyard with map/programme

The title to this post is a roughly remembered half-quote from a blogpost I read while frantically scouring the web for a Glasto packing list aimed at girls that didn't assume I thought I'd be showering/actually washing my hair/generally trying to be like the normal version of myself. I'm pretty sure that fashion doesn't die at Glasto, it's just a version of fashion that only exists in situations where you can't be high-maintenance. The term 'festival chic', with all the crochet and the faux-hippy and the fringes isn't very me, and since the sun decided to come out every day there wasn't a raincoats-and-wellies kind of dreariness to the sartorial proceeding, I can safely say that fashion didn't die, and I was far from the best dressed (how did people manage to wear dresses that would crumple as soon as they saw a suitcase? just how?!) There's an outfit missing from this round up, because the couple of photos of me from that day didn't come out (disposable camera problems), but it's pretty indicative of how I felt -all smiley and summery and a million miles from the rest of the world, helped by my going almost completely off-the-grid.

Clockwise from top-left - Wednesday, in front of the Other Stage; Sunday, in the Greenpeace area; Saturday, somewhere in Silver Hayes; Thursday, in the Flag Field

Noisetrade

You know that old adage, that I always rolled my eyes when I was younger and desperately wanted something I was told I couldn't have but was convinced would be the greatest thing since ever - not that money can't buy you happiness, but that the best things in life are free? Well, that's where Noisetrade fits in on my happiness scale. At its heart, Noisetrade is a very clever way for bands to get their music heard and to expand their fanbase beyond the reach of their live shows and word-of-mouth. The deal is, you pick an EP/single/album you like the look of, based on the mini description and 'For Fans Of' list, offer up your email address and postcode, and get that collection of songs for free, with the option of 'tipping' the artist. You end up on the bands' mailing lists*, which means you know the next time they release something or are heading out on tour, every time you 'tip' an artist you feel like an excellent person, and you get music - one of the best things in life - for free.

It's not just about discovering new artists, even though I've found so many brilliant bands via the Noisetrade community; there are special sessions from artists, or recordings of live shows (there's a Radiohead concert from 1995 up there at the moment). Some of my Summer Tracks have been Noisetrade finds, and they made up a decent number of tracks on a recent mixtape I made for my best friend. Personal highlights include Coin, NEEDTOBREATHE, General Ghost, The Gray Havens and We Shot The Moon.

Have a scroll through, you won't regret it!

*as far as I'm aware, nothing happens with the postcode, and I've been using the site for almost a year, I guess it's to do with bands knowing where their fans are

Glasto Tracks IV

There isn't an awful lot of levity around Savages' music, and their live shows are famed for their intensity. There was, however, something very uplifting about the way in which the crowd joined in on the refrain to 'No Face' - one of those moments when you feel like you disappear into the mass of people around you, all of whom had opted to listen to some 'serious' music in the middle of a weekend that is all about not tking anything too seriously. (Other than the need to Save the Arctic of course)

Glasto Tracks III

One of the great things about festivals is being able to find new bands just by walking around. Peace made the list of acts to see based on the recommendations of the people I was with, but I hadn't heard them before and so I'm counting them as a Glasto discovery. The lyrics to this are pretty suggestive, and the official video (this is just audio) came with an adult content warning on YouTube so I assume it matches, but it has a pretty solid hook and that's an excellent way to catch new fans at festivals.

Glasto Tracks II

This is a pretty obvious one, I admit, but it sticks out primarily because it was the only Stones song my friend Hells knew for sure before their set, and so she (drunkenly) sang it throughout the set in anticipation. It was also the final song of the set, so was the lasting impression I was left with, other than the hilarity of 'Glastonbury Girl', the Pyramid bird, the crush that the set began in and the fact that it was better than I expected (I'd heard bad reviews of the live shows during the last couple of decades).

Glasto Tracks I

In a special edition series of 'Summer Tracks', here comes a (daily?) selection of songs that in some way or other defined the festival for me (which is why I've been MIA for the past week) (more on the festival to come once my photos are developed and my ears stop ringing) (here's a third set of parentheses just because I can; it's Glasto, anything goes). Mostly because we all sang them even when we weren't in the crowd for the songs, or because it was the best bit of a set, or because they were played on a loop between sets.



Unfortunately we missed the William's Green set by The 1975 because it clashed, but in the end dancing around in front of the Other Stage in the Saturday sunshine was a perfect way to start a day. It had been preceded by a lot of "We have to see The 1975", and breaking out into "oh we go where nobody knows, with guns hidden under out petticoats, no we're never gonna quit it no we're never gonna quit it no".