Experiments in abstinence/ High Fidelity was a documentary/ SOAP
Sober. Is good. My head feels considerably clearer since it's been almost three weeks without a protective cushion of everyone's favourite cohol, Al. It's not been that hard either. I mean the temptation has been there, but it's been easy to resist it. Last night, workmate's birthday. Went to Bedfords, as the girl who runs it used to work at the Bell. 'All your drinks are on my tab tonight guys!' That'll be a J2O for me then... There was an entire shelf full of fascinating, interestingly aged whiskies. I will go back there. Today is St Patrick's day. As far as I can tell, Irish diaspora aside, the only reason anyone celebrates this day is because it is an excuse to drink all day. Why today? Why not St George or St David's day? Why not All Saints day? All it does is reinforce the stereotype that the Irish are drunken buffoons, masquerading as poets. Give me the Australians any day. They have the courage to be drunken buffoons, which makes them poetic.
On Wednesday I go to Sheffield for Iain's birthday. This will be my first Sadnerks gathering without alcohol. I suspect this will be the supreme test. Of course, being the best group of friends a boy could wish for, I know they will support me and respect my sobriety, but damn! It will be hard not to join in the carousing.
Today I remembered my duties as a music geek. In Beatniks-formerly-Rays I picked up CD1 of A Design For Life, meaning I now have most of the Manics singles from Everything Must Go onwards. I also picked up a 12" of Repeat/Love's Sweet Exile for £5.95, which made me uber-happy, as my collection of Manics stuff pre-February 1995 is not nearly as complete as I'd like it to be. I also bought the DVD of the original BBC TV adaptation of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Say what you like about special effects, big budgets and John Malkovich, I believe this version to be the best visual adaptation. Perhaps because it is so faithful to the original radio version.
I also bought the new Mogwai album, Mr Beast, Come On Die Young (also Mogwai), the Pendulum album (drum n bass for the indie kids) and, since I owe it to them many times over, finally bought the Postal Service album. I was feeling bad that I'd got so much out of their music and given nothing back, so I bought the album just to give ol' Ben 'n' Jimmy my money. Minus evil corporate junk, but I bought it from Soundclash and it's on Sub Pop, so I'm supporting the indies all the way really.
I am sure films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Garden State etc are detrimental to society as a whole. They give emo boys hope that maybe that cute indie girl over there will actually approach them and start talking to them, and so in the meantime we have to suffer godawful poetry and songs and haircuts while they bitch and moan about every other girl on the planet. I know, I'm one of them. And I'm meant to have a girlfriend.
To end on a positive note, here it is y'all, what you've been waiting for. Snakes alive!