An Open Letter To 2013

Dear 2013,

First of all, thank you. Ultimately you were the best year of my life but at times you were a cruel, old sod.

You started off with, and I quote from myself “hand on heart the best New Years and Birthday I’ve ever had” – a great few days in the Cotswolds with a bunch of friends, lots of booze and food. I could not have asked for a better start to the year. Followed by a fairly lethargic meal on New Years Day with family, too (that’s no disrespect to family, just purely on account of the alcohol that was consumed the previous night) the three days, planned to meticulous detail by my amazing wife, were a top start to what promised to be a great 2013.

You, 2013, did have some sad surprises in store though and reminded me how cruel and devastatingly short life can be and at times this has been a bit too much if I’m being honest. The only thing that you can cling to, I guess, and excuse the cheesy nature of this, is those that are around you, that love you and care for you. And because of that, 2013, I will be using 2014 as a time to tell people – friends, family, whoever – how much they mean to me and how much I care about them.

Anyway, 2013, usually the good outweighs the bad and you came good in the end. I had some amazing moments this year, friends have had children, friends have got married and I also started a job at a company I feel proud and genuinely excited to work for. It culminated in an all too familiar ‘over too quick’ Christmas which, whilst short, was very sweet and I’ll bring it to an end tonight with the wife in London Town and usher in 2014.

And of course, on the 7th of December this year I got married which was hands down the greatest day of my life. It wasn’t just the marriage part of it but the whole build up to the day and the day itself. I loved spending time with family and friends, seeing people who have never met before get on like a house on fire and everyone having a great time. Again, not a single part of this would have been possible without the incredible organising talents of my wife, Luci – my hero of 2013.

And on that note, 2013, thank you again. As mentioned before, you were at times a heartbreakingly cruel year but still the best year. 2014 – you have a hell of a lot to live up to.

Thanks

 

Alan

#13for2013 #12 – It’s Christmas!

I’ve missed the last few playlists on account of starting a new job and getting married so apologies for that. However, the opportunity to do a Christmas playlist was one too good to miss. The best thing about Christmas songs for me is that you can love them or hate them (and there are plenty of people who do hate them) but there is a definite case of ‘guilt free’ going on. If it is about Christmas, it doesn’t matter how cheesy or bad the artist usually is. That’s my reading on it anyway…

I’ve put the list together, it’s on Spotify and all below. Truth be told, A Christmas Gift For You by Phil Spector is basically the best Christmas album of all time so that would be my ultimate playlist but where is the fun in that? I have actually missed a load of songs that every time I hear I think ‘ahhh, I love that song’ and there’s no room for The Pogues, The Waitresses and The Pretenders – all great.

#13for2013 #8 – Turn To The Left Turn To The Right – Fashion

August’s theme of ‘Fashion’ for #13for2013 was suggested early into July by Patrick and supported eloquently by Gem with the following words – an extract below:

For me, fashion and music go hand in hand on an obvious level. Fashion, or at least apparel, helps people identify themselves as being part of a group. Goths, punks, “I’m indie”… Short of wearing a band t-shirt, the way someone dresses is often the simplest way for them to nod to the kind of music they’re into…

Now I wouldn’t say I’m a fashion connoisseur by any means and my wardrobe is basically jeans and shirts so relatively boring. Maybe I should Partridge it up with some ice white shoes…

The most daring I get is pairing some Converse with a smart pair of trousers… I like to think this will mean I will go back and look at old photos of me and rather than saying “what WAS I thinking” I can just admire my relative fashion obscurity. Still, comfort over style and all that (I am seriously old at heart).

For this months challenge I decided to produce a list that was two outfits – night and day wear – and songs around those outfits. Style it out and all that…

#13for2013 #7 – What? When? Who? Why?

Swashbuckling Stuff

This month’s brief was suggested by @Dannysturgess and was as follows: Songs with what, when, who or why in the title.

I decided to be quite particular about my approach to this, not allowing myself to have any songs that had already been used (at the time of writing) which saw the likes of Who Knows Who Cares and What Else Is There being disqualified.

I also wanted to have songs that began with the key words and to have a trio of each. I wasn’t interested in @alandooney‘s self-imposed challenge of making every song a genuine question though!

In the end I have ended up with a pretty eclectic selection, something that @_patrickconnor found when he compiled his mixtape.

The final result is loosely arranged into 3 similar sections, following a what, when, who, why, what, when, who, why, what when, who, why format. Me, OCD?

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What When Who Why – July #13for2013

Mr @dannysturgess set this months theme of four of the five Ws – What, When, Who, Why – Where is conspicuous by its absence and all that meant is I had Black Eyed Peas “Where is the Love?” in my head for pretty much the whole time of doing this.

As the original blog posed the idea of the four Ws being questions and after some thinking, I thought 12 questions would be a bit difficult. When it was decided that the didn’t have to be questions I decided to take up the challenge. Foolishly.

I also tried to be too clever by keeping it to three songs for each W and whilst some were easy and meant culling such choice cuts like What About Us by The Saturdays ft Sean Paul, finding songs starting with ‘When’ that were questions was a little more difficult…

Enjoy!

Music in the Movies – Directors Cut – #13for2013

As is the way with movies and music, I’ve swept up what was left on the editing room floor and compiled into the following playlist which is pretty great, too. Still so much more that could be done with this theme – good work Nico!

Start and End – Music in the Movies – Mixtape Six – #13for2013

A bit late to the party but June’s #13for2013 playlist theme was chosen by @loafnico and we were given the theme of ‘Movies‘ with the following well written and thoughtful reasoning behind his choice:

“The relationship between Film and Music is inescapable. Picking the right song or composition that can capture a moment, a feeling, a place, can be a magical thing. Whether it’s comedy, tragedy, scene setting or the opening/closing credits, a film soundtrack takes us on a journey through a directors own personal collection and imagination.”

(By the way, Nico is now guest writing for metro.co.uk so check him out)

I agree wholeheartedly with the above and many of my favourite movies tend to be inspired by the music used in the films – John Hughes, Danny Boyle and Darren Aronofsky are three directors who are a prime example of this. With this theme, there are many different routes you could go down – songs that were originally written for movies like This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush in She’s Having a Baby directed by John Hughes or songs that are part of a ‘score’ like Once Upon a Time in the West by Ennio Morricone which is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. There have also been some great lists provided by the usual suspects:

An ‘original’ soundtrack for an ‘original’ movie by @_patrickconnor; a playlist of songs where the names of the songs are also titles of movies by @ThomHoops; @paulsturgess proving that the 80s were a wonderful decade for both movies AND music with this list; @suz_h and @dannysturgess going brilliantly for just all round great songs in movies here and here respectively.

In the end I’ve decided after some thinking and some culling (trying to keep to songs others haven’t used on this theme or others which left A LOT of good stuff off, top work people INCLUDING About Today BY The National used at the end of Warrior which is one of my favourite movie ending/song start moments ever and referenced here) to go down a ‘Start and End’ theme. Six songs that start off movies in a great way and six songs that bring movies to an end in an arguably more impressive way. This has been such a great theme that I may even do another one. I mean, there’s nothing from Romeo & Juliet which has a brilliant soundtrack and I didn’t get to include anything by Ludovico Einaudi who has done many a great soundtrack, including the wonderful This Is England (and subsequent TV series’ of the same name).

Happy reading and listening!

“Cover Me” – Opposites Attract Mixtape Challenge

This month’s mixtape challenge theme was set out by @ThomHoops and a challenge it was. The rules set out were as follows:

“…a dozen songs that convey the idea of opposites working together in maybe, perfect harmony. Maybe not.

Of course this can be interpreted in several ways which has been the beauty of the previous four themes. Whether it is Michael Jackson – Black and White, 6 x opposing couplets, pairs of songs that are musically opposed, artists that are contrasts of each other, we can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

At first I thought this was going to be far too difficult. My first thought was looking for duets where the two acts were fairly ‘opposite’ – Tom Waits/Bette Midler being a good example – but that river was dry. Then I thought I’d try a fairly well trodden path of the ‘cover version’ but looking at songs where the cover was pretty different from the original and also, where possible, the acts themselves could be thought of as ‘opposites’. And so I started a twelve song list with that theme running throughout.

Road Trippin’ in the USA – Mixtape Challenge

So, having had a month to think about it, I’ve finally got around to picking my list of songs for the 4th (my 3rd) installment of this years #13for2013. April’s challenge was set by @cosmicflood and the theme was Holiday Destinations.

Now, after some deliberation as to what the best way to approach this was, I decided on a Road Trip from the West Coast of the USA to the East Coast, with a cheeky stop off in Mexico along the way. Looking at the route, it’s actually a road trip I really, really want to do… For what it’s worth, my other options were a Round the World trip with each continent split equally (I struggled with songs in Africa and was going to just cover the whole lot with that Toto song), an Interrail jaunt around Europe (but couldn’t get that ‘Paris to Berlin’ song and then Scooch’s Eurovision effort out of my head). I then thought about doing Route 66 but decided to just expand it a bit. So, hold onto your hats y’all as we set off on a rootin’ tootin’ journey across the U S of A in my trusty old Buick Skylark!!

Six Nations 2013 – My Thoughts

So the Six Nations is over for another year and after the highs of the opening weekend with that O’Driscoll pass, the Zebo flick, the Welsh comeback, England scoring four tries (no, really) and Italy upsetting France in Rome for the second time in a row the championship reverted to type where defence was key, teams tended to play with fear rather than flair and the weather did it’s best at ruining things, particularly in Dublin. Those three opening games were some of the best I remember seeing in the Six Nations but what followed were some of the worst. The games between Wales and France and Ireland and France should have been exciting but instead both teams seemed scared of losing and devoid of any inventiveness. “Scotland v Wales 2013 will go down in rugby history as a game which took place” as Andrew Cotter described and that’s been kind. Thankfully, the drama and excitement of the Wales vs England game restored some faith in the fact that when there are good games in this tournament they are often great.

I could go on all day and night (and more) about each game but instead I’ve decided to write my own review on each team based on their expectations going into the tournament and how they performed overall.