Last night I was trying to complete the blog entries promised below when I got distracted by hitting the random blog search button, and came across a page that had a questionnaire attached. I'm afraid I'm a sucker for these kinds of things, so I copied it onto my laptop and had an enjoyably distracted late night session of filling it in. Also, I'm encouraging my fellow bloggers (yes, that means you Hitchman and Boadwee) to give their own versions of this.

1. Do you still have tonsils? Yes
2. Would you bungee jump? No – despite the many surprising physical things I’ve attempted this year
3. If You Could Do Anything In The World For A Living What Would It Be? Late night radio DJ.
4. How many tattoos do you have? None. And it’s a bit late in life to start getting them now, I think.
5. Your favorite fictional animal? Snoopy
6. One person that never fails to make you laugh? Chris Morris
7. Do you consider yourself well organized? I am way better organized than I used to be, but it’s still pretty erratic
8. Any Addictions? I think I may have a genuine problem when it comes to buying CDs
9. From what news source do you receive the bulk of your news? The Guardian newspaper, and the Today programme on Radio 4 every morning.
10. Would you rather go to a carnival or circus? Carnival.
11. When you were twelve years old, what did you want to be when you grew up? A pop star.
12. Best Movie You've Seen This Year? Ha ha. I watched ‘Capote’ on DVD and that was about it. Can I have best gig instead? Radiohead, Empress Ballroom Blackpool.
13. Favorite alcoholic drink? Beer, sadly.
14. What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? That depends where I’m waking up. This year it could be anywhere. But usually it’s say hello to the dog and cuddle Andy, not necessarily in that order.
15. Siblings? 2 sisters
17. Have you ever gone to therapy? Yes. But not for very long.
18. If you could have one super power what would it be? To fly.
19. Do you own any furniture from Ikea? Of course.
20. Have you ever gone camping? A few times – usually at music festivals.
21. Gas prices! First thought? That this questionnaire was put together by an American with a big car.
22. Your favorite cartoon character? Charlie Brown.
23. What was your first car? Ha ha – I’m still waiting to have my first official driving lesson
24. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual? No
25. The Cosby Show or the Simpsons? The Simpsons.
26. Do you go to church? No
27. What famous person would you like to have dinner with? Ralf Hütter
28. What errand/chore do you despise? Ironing.
29. First thought when the alarm went off this morning? I wish I was in London now.
30. Last time you puked from drinking? At a Sonic Youth gig in Glasgow, 1986. Too many cheap vodkas with orange concentrate beforehand. Other than that I have always managed to be just the right side of throwing up.
31. What is your heritage? Scottish
32. Favorite flower? Alium
33. Disney or Warner Bros? Warner Bros. Tweety Pie is a truly magnificent comic creation.
34. What is your best childhood memory? When I was about five, I disappeared when my gran was looking after me. I had run into the cafe near Kinning Park underground station and persuaded some workmen in there to give me money for the jukebox. She found me sitting with them, listening to the records I had put on (one of which was definitely 'Love Grows Where My Rosemary Grows' by Edison Lighthouse. Make what you will of this anecdote in light of my future life interests.
35. Your favorite potato chip? Tyrrel’s organic, I’m afraid. Very posh.
36. What is your favorite candy? Sports Mixtures
37. Do you burn or tan? Burn.
38. Astrological sign? A typically sensitive and home-loving Cancer.
39. Do you own a gun? Ah yes, this was definitely compiled by a Yank.
40. What do you think of hot dogs? It can only be a Nathan’s on Coney Island. Though the ones we used to get at the ABC cinema in Glasgow in the 70s were a close second.

It was only a matter of time before Ray Winstone graged this page. Though there are a few people who understand my total adoration for all things Ray, a quick survey around the office this morning revealed that most people think I'm utterly mad and should be thinking far more about pretty boys like Jusin Timberlake.
They'll never understand ...

After ten years and a string of (in the main) consistently superb records, one of my favourite musical acts – Arab Strap – has announced that they are calling it a day. I use the term ‘musical acts’ because Arab Strap has never really been a band as such, more of a partnership between two highly charged individuals, Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat. In a nutshell you could say Middleton provides the music, melody and melancholy and Moffat the mumbling and the misanthropy. Arab Strap’s sound is largely a sort of self-pitying Glaswegian hangover brought to life - Middleton the depressive who recently wrote a song about spending Christmas day alone contemplating self-harm with a set of kitchen knives he’d been given as a gift (a true story, incidentally), and Moffat the mumbling fat guy with a beard, wrestling with his uncontrollable, over-emotional responses to love and relationships. Ergo, it won’t take much for anyone who knows me that well to fathom quite why I have adored them so much since I heard their debut single, The First Big Weekend, on John Peel’s radio show in the mid ‘90s (back in the days when I still listened to Peel during my pre-bedtime bath and Radio 3’s Late Junction was yet to be its replacement).
The Strap’s first album, The Weekend Never Starts Round Here, was an oddly persistent soundtrack to a month I spent in L.A. in 1997, and, somewhat incongruously, I would habitually fall asleep to its maudlin charm every night in a gorgeous designer hotel room at the Mondrian on Sunset Strip. After that I was totally and unremittingly hooked.
I’ll confess to feeling a bit upset when I read about the Strap’s decision to, essentially, end their platonic marriage. I’d wager there’s certainly a minimum of five songs from their recorded output that rank alongside some of the greatest work of many bands of the last 20 years. I’d say without reservation that one of those, New Birds, never fails to quite literally make the hairs on my arms prickle with emotion whenever I hear it, particularly the version on their live album Mad For Sadness which documents the best set I ever saw them play (at the QEH in London).
I’ve followed and supported the Strap like a sort of second division football team over all these years - appropriate really given the beery, vaguely underachieving, ‘men-are-a-mess-really’ nature of their endeavour. Except that, like such a supporter, I think they’re better than the critical mass would give them credit for. Moreover, I think in years to come their value will do nothing but rise. True, they’ve had their mistakes, and I have seen them play a couple of shows where either apathy or drunkenness have hampered their performance (not to mention the first time I saw them, at London’s Water Rats pub, when they not merely drank themselves into a stupor from the minute they appeared but later passed around a bottle of poppers on stage) but in the main I feel a great affection for what has been an unassuming, steady refining of their craft.
And what lyrics they have. To pull one genuinely at random (because it’s playing as I’m writing this) “If we’re having so much fun how come I’m crying every Monday? Is it just to cancel out the laughter from Thursday through till Sunday? I’ll spend the next two days in my bed and wonder what it’s all about.” And how good an opening line is "Sit by me silently and brush my beard.."? Not to mention song titles such as ‘I Would Have Liked Me A Lot Last Night’ and 'Meanwhile At The Bar A Drunkard Muses'.
I’m going to miss them, but like all my favourite bands (and by that I mean my truly favourite bands – the ones I forget about sometimes, then go back to or rediscover, or get fed up with and subsequently get obsessed with all over again) Arab Strap have a special place in my heart that will no doubt make their farewell shows in Glasgow in December a very emotional experience.