I feel sick...

This is absolutely amazing. I've just watched it twice and now I feel sick. Watch in full screen for the best effect.

Weird, but wonderful

Records of 2010

I've enjoyed my music this year, mainly down to the wonder that is Spotify. My records of the year are as follows:

Albums

1. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
   
2. Ali & Toumani - Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté
   
3. Heligoland - Massive Attack
   
4. Queen of Denmark - John Grant
   
5. The Archandroid - Janelle Monáe
   

Tracks

1. Fuck You - Cee Lo Green
2. Modern Man - Arcade Fire
3. La Iguana - The Chieftains featuring Ry Cooder
4. She Needs Me - Fyfe Dangerfield
5. Fireflies (Tommy Sunshine 5am Edit) - Owl City
   

Empire State of Mind

We've just returned from a holiday to New York. It's been a few years since our last visit and a few things things have changed. Here are some random thoughts:

• New York really is a city that doesn't sleep. They seem to accept sirens going off at 3 or 4 in the morning
  
• The subways are much better than they were 20 years ago. However, they're incredibly dirty, and the signs to tell you where you're going are almost non-existent
• Cars have got bigger and smaller. Whilst many New Yorkers seem to be downsizing their vehicle, others seem to want the biggest, most obscene vehicle they can find (the Escalade is particularly hideous)
• The habit of young Americans to punctuate their sentences with 'like' is very noticeable and really got on my nerves ("OMG, that's, like, really cool"). On a couple of occasions I was very close to saying something which would have seriously soured Anglo-American relations
  
• The Wellington boot is a fashion statement. I couldn't believe the number of very smartly dressed women who, at the first sign of rain, wore something I normally wear in the garden
• The 'have a nice day' attitude of the Americans can come across as being a bit false, but it's much more preferable to some of the miserable buggers you get in the UK
• If you're going, visit Mary's Fish Camp in Greenwich Village. It's a small, local fish restaurant, the food is superb and the music is brilliant. It couldn't be any more perfect.
  

Birmingham. Who loves you baby?

A film about Birmingham. Narrated by Telly Savalas

My Dad

My Dad passed away a couple of months ago. He was 84 and died of a very aggressive cancer (Metastatic Angiosarcoma, if you're interested). I know I'm biased, but Stan Sydenham was a great man. Everyone liked him and he was the very embodiment of 'the life and soul of the party'. I loved him very much, I was very proud of him, and I miss him a great deal.

Two months after his death, the thing that really strikes me is that I feel I've, all of a sudden, grown up. I'm not in the first flush of youth (or even the second), but I now realise that I've spent the past 30ish years of my adult life, thinking that I'm still a young man and my Dad will always be there to help and support me. Now that he's not around, the added responsibility I have of being there for my Mum has put an extra wrinkle in my brow and a few extra gray hairs at my temples. I'm sure this is the normal reaction to a loved one's death, I'm sure, over time, life will settle into it's post-Stan normality, but just at the moment I feel every one of my 52 years.

New York in minature

Click on the HD button and watch it in full-screen for the best effect.

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.