into the real world.

Time to dust off Noddy Holder

2010-12-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

In the interests of full disclosure, I've got to point out that I'm cold, tired and have a giant pile of washing taunting me. As such, my original plan of writing about the onset of Christmas meriment will have to take a backseat.

Well, today is December 1st, or at least it is for another 31 minutes, which means it is now fully acceptable to start feeling the season of joy - that's right, get those Christmas songs out, adjust your belts and prepare yourself for gaudy decorations everywhere.

Oh fudge. Decorations.

Now, I do love Christmas and everything which comes with it (especially this year as it will be my first time back at home after spending my first months away at university), it's just the bookending of decorating which I can't say I enjoy too much. If memory serves correctly this is how the holiday season usually begins:

"Let's spend a full 72 hours funneling this place full of bright shiny pieces of red and green, after which we can all have a huge fall out and good ol' festive fight. If it dances and sings 'Santa Claus is Comin' to Town' all the better!"

OK, that's not fair - our house, for one, is always beautifully decorated, I really can't complain at all. And let's face it, there's no better time to indulge in tackiness than Christmas.

Unfortunately, the preparation of decorations always involves an inevitable trip to the attic - the place we all selectively pretend doesn't exist for the rest of the year. It's always slightly adventorous treking up to the attic - it involves an actual thought process and careful manipulation of narrow steps and, when do you eventually reach safe ground (and I use "safe" in the broadest possible way), you never quite know what you're going to find living up there. You're still in your house, but it doesn't feel like it - it's as if you're paying somebody you know quite well a visit, but not because you actually want to see them, but because they have something you want.

Anyway, the next task is digging out the Christmas boxes which in itself is like a little modern history lesson. Searching through various pieces of clothing and toys from years gone past, you eventually see a fairly torn cardboard box squashed in the corner. Scrawled in the side in authoritive capitals is the sole, daunting, yet somewhat inviting,

CHRISTMAS.

Ho ho ho, we're there. The evidence you find of past Christmas' can usually be fascinating, even if it is only a few years old. You may find a couple of baubles packed away in a box which originally contained a karoke set, which itself was excitedly unwrapped only 7 or 8 years before. There may be some fairy lights (the perenial favourite) in a Panasonic DVD player box from the early 2000s, at the time the new and exciting technology, and now an almost outdated device. If you're really lucky, you may find an old tree or something which every single year you claim you're going to get rid of... back in the Christmas of '08, if memory serves, this did actually happen to us. The chocs didn't look too good, mind.

Times change as evidenced by what we choose to capsulate our beloved Christmas decs in - however this time of year is an absolute constant, no matter what. For the rest of the year we may be off doing our own thing (working too hard, living away, at university etc), but Christmas is, simply, the most wonderful time of year where we all come back together. And everybody always will - I love Christmas and I, for one, am thoroughly looking forward to this one!

Now, at some point I really do have to sort out this washing...

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For today's Bruce section, here's a performance I just heard recently which had somehow escaped me before. From Christmas 2001, a full band version of Springsteen's beautiful 1992 track, "If I Should Fall Behind" from "Lucky Town". This is performed here with Nils Lofgren as a duet (as in an actual duet!), which makes it doubly great!

Also, another site of interest: http://bridgetandbruce.com/ - here's a great blog with some fantastic covers. Check out "Dancing in the Dark", "Atlantic City" and "Thunder Road" in particular. It's not an easy thing to say, but these are among the best Springsteen amateur covers I've heard.

And to all a good night...

We don't need no education

2010-11-28T14:19:00.000-08:00

You know, I’m all for student life and all (I mean who doesn’t love pizza for breakfast?), but there’s one part I absolutely hate with every fibre of my being. And the thing is, I really shouldn’t. In fact, I should absolutely love it and make it the #1 priority during my time here at uni.

Clubs. Nightclubs. The ol’ discotechques.

The music is almost always torturously painful, the rooms are small, sweaty and cramped, there’s far too much heavy drinking going on and, to be brutally honest, I like sleep. I’m much more for hanging out in a nice bar or pub where you can actually hear people and descend into arguments about which Phil Collins song is the best (for the record it’s “Another Day in Paradise” – take that, Cadbury ape). As such it’ll come as a surprise, to me as well, that the resident University of Warwick nightspot “The Copper Rooms” is surprisingly good.

This past Saturday was the originally titled “Skool Dayz” (we don’t need no education) where the basic premise involved tunes from the ‘90s and early 2000s. Now trust me, if a club decides to play “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M. (as seen at the start of this post), it is infinitely better than most others. ‘Twas a good night, with good people, good music and since it was a Saturday I got to sleep through the Sunday morning, which is always a welcome pleasure.

But perhaps I'm not been fair, when I do end up going out I do usually somewhat enjoy it - although, it really does depend highly on the place, people and music. The first is fairly easy to determine: take a student haunt in Leamington Spa: Smack. The name alone should tip you off, but if not a simple glance at the entrance is enough to let you know what the place is about:

Classy place.

Secondly, the people you're with: this is crucial. I'll always make an effort to go out purely because I like hanging out with people. What can I say, I'm a people person! And when you're with good people, you're almost guarrented to have a great time. Everybody I've met in my 8 weeks or so of uni has been fantastic, I honestly can't think of a bad word to say about anybody, and as such going out is usually great fun.

Now, the music (or, rather, the "bangin' choonz") - I'm afraid to say this almost always a great letdown. I'm really not into dance music and the latest chart hits remixed usually aren't up to much either (having said that, my tastes must be evolving as it's worrying how many lyrics I know). But this is fairly easy to get past, what with the folks you're with and plenty of beer! Good music however is a definite plus, and it's definetely why Skool Dayz had so much going for it. I actually heard some tracks this night which took me back to my childhood in the late '90s - who'd a-thought I'd ever hear Chumbawumba again?!

I actually had this on a cassette single, by the way. Yes, I'm thinking the same as you!

No, I'll never be a big club guy and I'm quite happy with this and if you're thinking the same thing, give it a go. I never thought I'd end up thoroughly enjoying a full on club night, but with the right people and atmosphere it can be great.

And as I say R.E.M. does help. All together now, "shiny happy people laughing, ou, ou, ou, ou, ou, ou, ou..."

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I'm feeling festive, so for the customary Bruce section of the blog, check out this 2002 performance of "Merry Christmas, Baby" from "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" - it's a real shame the band can't be struck up to rattle off a few Christmas shows this year:

Wow, I think, if I'm not mistaken, that was a 2nd blog post. Wow. Got to be honest, I didn't I would make it this far - oh well, until next time!

Blogs: helping students procrastinate since 1997

2010-11-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is ever so slightly disconcerting.

No, I'm not referring to mind-numbingly dull criminal law case I'm having to read in order to get a decent degree (believe me, it is a disconcerting case - who knew people were capable of such things), but instead the very notion of this blog. Or "web-log" as they were first perceived way back in the heydays of '97.

I've got to be completely honest dear reader (whoever you may be), I have no idea why I'm writing this. Well, that's not entirely true - it's either this or get back to said criminal law case and this seems a more attractive prospect. Yes, writing to myself seems more fun than doing this case work.

Yup, I've made the highly important and pivotal decision to start a blog... in 2010. I know right, who actually writes blogs anymore in the age of Twitter and Facebook? Well, I don't know either and, to be completey honest, I have no idea how long I will actually keep this up for. I'd love to think this will be updated weekly with enlightening little glimpses into my thoughts on life and whatnot - it's far more likely there'll be a couple of YouTube links posted and then that'll be it.

Gotta love that YouTube.

So, about me: I'm a 19 year old British guy; I'm a somewhat Blairite member of the Labour Party; I've got a slight obsession with the music of Bruce Springsteen; I'm also a first year law student at the University of Warwick - I love this place, by the way! I also like Lasagne and coffee... lots of coffee.

You've probably noticed (and hopefully played) the track I posted at the start of this inaugural blog - this is where the title of this wee little blog came from. "Real World" is a fantastic track on Springsteen's criminally underrated 1992 album "Human Touch", this version from the start of the 2005 solo acoustic tour makes it even better - I love the whole "growing up" into the "real world" theme running through, hence the title! Simple, yeah?!

And incidently, since this is the very first post, I'll leave you with one extra track by the Boss. This goes down as my absolute favourite song of all time, the wonderfully heart-rendering "Streets of Philadelphia" by Mr Bruce Springsteen. Enjoy it, savour it and play it over and over as loud as your speakers and university warden will allow.

Well, that's it for now - I'll hopefully be back at some point in the not too distant future for more thoughts and whatnot. Worryingly since I started writing it's gotten dark, which means I've already spent far too much time here. Now, back to that case...

Tom