We are back from our road trip, had a fantastic time and only wanted to seriously maim, murder and strangle each other a handful of times, which I think makes for a successful journey.

Main downer for me was I started getting sick on Tuesday. . . the day we left Seville but I pushed on having fun, not resting so by the time we were in Tarragona Thursday night I was a miserable mess and Friday morning on the drive into Barcelona I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and die. Luckily a shower and the boys persuading me got me onto Los Rambles and we rambled but when we went back for our siesta I was down for the count. I will need to go back to see Barcelona properly.

Yesterday and Today I feel alive but am prone to Camille coughing fits.

This afternoon, I went to the NY Times to read some of the headlines as I am out of this weeks news cycle and I was surprised to see that today they published a story on what to do in Seville. One of the things was to go to the Flamenco bar La Carboneria that I dragged the boys to Monday night.

While I do think you should go to La Carboneria as they suggest, (in fact, I want to go back to Seville just to spend more time in that bar) please do not dress up like a Flamenco Dancer or a Matador unless you want to A. Look Like Twat. B. Get Beaten Up and Robbed. C. I Can’t Even Think of a C, I am So Appalled at The Suggestion That This Is A Good Idea.

So until I have the time to blog properly about the events of the past week and to upload my pictures onto flickr, I leave you with this. . .

Ole!

***BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*** THIS IS A TEST OF THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM. IF THIS WAS A REAL EMERGENCY. . .

OgoiliDogili. Having some probs uploading the Flamenco Film I pulled off of my camera. When I can, I will.

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My mini mac died. I don’t know what happened. One day it was fine, the next not so good. Is not that big of a deal I still have my four (or is it five) year old powerbook and Stuart put a new hard drive back in the mini so it is working. I just don’t have lot what I had on there. The only thing I care about is my itunes. I had playlists I really liked on it and some mix cds I had done.

I am in a blog group that sends mix cds to each other and you are supposed to review them. I’m behind on my reviews at the moment. One recent CD was all love songs. The one I just finished on Saturday was all fuck songs. I was really proud of it. . .found some great really raunchy blues tunes. I was also halfway through a drinking song mix.

We’re talking about hours of work. Plus I had just bought some music- Only 20 quid or so. . . but still.

Stuart is seeing what he can salvage from it, but I am not really optimistic.

It’s not the end of the world. I have most of the music on the powerbook, but anyone who has spent an hour here or there for a number of evenings playing with their iTunes can appreciate that it kinda bites.

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“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.” -High Fidelity
Neil has a nifty idea.

He writes, “The first rule of mix club is don’t talk about mix club …

The second rule of mix club is let me know if you are interested in swapping mix cds with random people on an occasional basis.”

If you’re keen go to Dogwood Tales!

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This is absolutely hysterical.

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So you know how I said that we would be seeing The Police in September?

Stuart first realized that something was amiss when he looked at the concert dates on the official Police Website and they didn’t have a date for Cologne while the company that we bought the tickets from (Tickett Out) did. Slightly worrying as Stuart has already booked and paid for the flights and the hotel.

Our fears were amplified after reading reviews for the company on Blagger.

They were confirmed when you try to call the company and the message basically says, “We’re out of business, don’t bother leaving a message.” When you go to their Website now you are redirected to a Insolvency Notice.

Fuckers.

Stuart filed a complaint with his credit card company so hopefully we will get the cash back.

So bad news. No Police.

Good news is I hear that Cologne is lovely.

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Al is in the kitchen whistling The Indiana Jones theme. Ed looks up. “Why is he whistling the Indiana Jones Theme?”

I smirk, “What’s next Al? ET?”

Al comes over to our desks. “So try to do Indiana Jones, Superman then Star Wars. You can’t because they are so similar.” I have a feeling Al has been waiting all his life for this moment.

Ed takes him up on it. “Da Da Daaa Dad a Dummm Dad a da! Dad a dad a da! Duma duma duma dum dumma DA DA DA DA DAAA DAAA DAAA DA DA DA DA DA-DA-DA! Uhhhh I can’t remember how Star Wars starts. “

We of course piss ourselves laughing.

“That’s it you can’t do it!”

Ed was not to be detured. “Okay. I’ll start with Star Wars. Daa Daaa Daa daaa daa Daaa daaammmm da da da daaaa dummm dad da da daaammmm Duma duma duma dum dumma DA DA DA DA DAAA DAAA DAAA DA DA DA DA DA-DA-DA! Uhhh. I can’t remember how Indiana Jones starts.”

We piss ourselves laughing.

What’s funny about it isn’t that he can’t remember. It’s for the ones that he knows he is committing completely to the Dad a da’s. His Superman is rather inspired.

A few minutes later I look over to Ed and he is mumbling to himself.

“You’re still trying to do it, aren’t you.”

“Yes. . .”

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I’m not normally one for getting excited about bands reforming after many years of hating each other. I controlled myself from seeing The Eagles, mostly because the ticket prices were so dear and I was very broke even though I love them and Don Henley.

But the news that The Police were getting back together did fill me with glee. What can I say. . . I’m a child of the 80’s and I do love Sting. Saw him in 1999 in LA and he was fantastic. Also one of my friends Margee had a celebrity run in with him and said he was very nice. And he does Yoga. . .

However even hearing that they were back together, I just assumed that I wouldn’t be seeing them.

Cut To:

Stuart has bought tickets and booked our flights and hotel to see them in Cologne in September! So we get to see one of our favourite bands and have a little mini trip to a beautiful city. . .

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Josh Ritter, (who I have been listening to for a couple of years now and I think is the bees knees) is the musical guest on Letterman this Friday.

So if you: 1. Dig folky singer song writers. 2. Are at home this Friday evening. 3. Live in a country where you can get Letterman give him a watch.

Or just check out his music. You won’t be sorry.

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Sitting down to wrap our Christmas presents, I scanned our DVDs to come up with the perfect film to have in the background.

I do best if the background film is one that I know rather well, but it needs to be a little while since I’ve seen it so I can maintain a small amount of engagement with it while I endeavor to complete the mind numbing task that is wrapping 15 presents of varying sizes.

I grab High Fidelity.

I selected High Fidelity — which I think was an apropos choice for a few reasons, one of which is that John Cusack has been in my top five celebrity crushes since I was fourteen.

Nicole’s Top Five Celebrity Crushes

1. John Cusack - The boy gets my heart all aflutter. The Sure Thing, Better Off Dead, The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything, Fat Man and Little Boy, Eight Men Out, The Grifters, Bullets Over Broadway (“Don’t speak!”), Being John Malcovich. . . I can go on. (I choose to ignore certain big ‘what were you thinking’ flicks like Must Love Dogs.) He’s dreamy. And smart. And liberal.

2. Harrison Ford circa 1977- 1990- Even at seven I was more interested in Han Solo than Luke Skywalker. I guess most little girls are. I suppose it is slightly creepy that he is older than my father but I choose to ignore that. I’ve heard that he is a huge pothead and he is too craggy for my taste now given that he is pushing 70 (!!!) but he has to be on the list.

3. George Clooney. Sigh. Another big liberal. My boyfriend George. I know other women say that he is their boyfriend but he really is mine. Other than during that brief mid 80’s puffy mullet thing he had on The Facts of Life. That George I don’t like so much.

4. William Holden. Ah, Bill Holden. I choose to ignore the fact that he was best man at Ronald Regan’s wedding and all that that entails. I even love him in Network when he’s old. Sad though . . . I just figured out the math and he was only sixty or so in that film. Classic example of the booze aging you. It killed him eventually. He fell when he was drinking.

5. Bill Murray. Okay. I know this might be a weird choice. Started after Groundhog Day. He’s just really groovy. Smart, funny. ‘Nuff said.

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I’ve come to the conclusion that people ought to not consult horoscopes when considering compatibility with other people. (Which is bunk anyway.) No, it ought to be about the key things that you like. . . Dog people should stay with dog people, Pepsi people should stay with Pepsi people and people who don’t like gifts should be with people who don’t like to give gifts. Not to say that it doesn’t or can’t work. It is possible that someone who loves Noam Chomsky will get along with a follower of George Will. . . it just is a bit of a harder road.

For example, one of my favourite movies is The Iron Giant and I have theory that people that don’t like it, don’t have a soul. You know, no pressure or anything. I made Stuart watch it and he lied and told me he liked it. I might not be living in London if he had told me the truth.

This of course extends out to music. If someone hates your favourite artist, you know that they are evil. Stuart has long mocked my iPod and my varied taste. . . I have fado, blues, jazz, rock, classical, rockabilly. . . Whenever we are out and there is some world music playing, he asks me if it is on my iPod.

Often it is.

When we were in the Istanbul airport last spring, a Noir Désir song (they’re a French Rock Band) was playing over the speakers.

“Thomas? Is this on your iPod?”

“Yes, Stuart.”

“God help us if your iPod is the only remnant that archaeologists have for what people listened to.”

I signed up on Last FM a month or so ago. I’ve known about it for a while, but didn’t bother until Richard invited me. Stuart just discovered the wonders of it and insisted that I make him a friend.

He told me that he is monitoring what I am listening to.

>Sigh<

Personally, I really don’t care what he says. I think my ability to think outside the musical box is to my credit. As good as they are, (and I love them) but I’m sorry, I don’t think man can live on The Beatles, The Stones and Led Zeppelin alone.

Anyway, if you would also like to see what I have been listening to, check out the sidebar.

In my main defence against Stuart’s constant dismissal of my música is Robby Williams. I have never and I will never get Robby Williams –unlike some people that I could name.

So Take That.

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