swear to be overdramatic and true: my 2019 in music;
Appearing on NPR Music’s legendary Tiny Desk Concert series back in autumn, Taylor Swift talked about how, in interviews over the years, she’d been asked a thousand variations on “what would you write...
View Articleit almost killed me and i will always be thankful for it: my 2020 in music;
Back in October, Fiona Apple – whose Fetch the Bolt Cutters, released in April, captured a particular early pandemic mood – was interviewed by Emily Nussbaum for The New Yorker Festival. “I think we...
View Articlemy favourite books of 2020;
I cried at the Bells. I didn’t think I was going to, but as Susan Calman counted down to midnight – huge numbers flashing on screen as shots of Scottish landmarks whizzed by – I felt something rising...
View Articleculture consumption: lockdown music videos;
After eight months at home, and with a long winter looming, I realise how much of my life was based around a) going to work; and b) going to gigs. Work was the thing that got me out of the house every...
View Articlemy 37 favourite things about being 37;
Lockdown birthdays might actually be the best birthdays. I drank custom cocktails from The Gate from a ridiculous Mickey Mouse Pride-themed tumbler my sister ordered. I got to see two of my best pals...
View Articleculture consumption: lockdown watching;
In theory, lockdown should be the perfect opportunity to catch up on what – if you’re anything like me – is an extensive Netflix queue. In practice, it hasn’t been much of the sort, as my concentration...
View Articleculture consumption: january 2020;
The glib advice, if you’re not happy with something in your life, is to change it – but what if there’s nothing in your life that you’re unhappy with but you’re still, you know, unhappy? I haven’t been...
View Article“you owe it to yourself to still be there”: the catriona mcnicoll interview;
CONTENT NOTE: The play that is the subject of this interview deals with mental health and suicide, which are referenced in the piece. “When my teenage years hit I went through this stage of being like,...
View Articleculture consumption: november/december 2019;
It’s been, what, two months since my last self-deprecating reference to Elizabeth Wurtzel on this blog, which seems about right for how much I feel her life, and her work, tangled up in the threads of...
View Articleswear to be overdramatic and true: my 2019 in music;
Appearing on NPR Music’s legendary Tiny Desk Concert series back in autumn, Taylor Swift talked about how, in interviews over the years, she’d been asked a thousand variations on “what would you write...
View Articleculture consumption: september/october 2019;
I’ve been trying, in a relatively informal way, to shop a little more intentionally this year. Buy better. Buy to last. Stop resenting what things are actually worth and don’t buy if I can’t afford the...
View Articlethe silver linings pixlet: anti-depressants are so not a big deal;
CN: Mental health, medication, fictional portrayals of mental health and suicide. You know when you were little, did you ever stick your arms out and pretend to be a superhero? I still do it,...
View Articletheatre review: motown: the musical, king’s theatre, glasgow;
My tickets were comped for review purposes. It’s two hours until curtain-up on Motown Records’ 25th anniversary TV spectacular. The Four Tops and the Temptations are rehearsing the sort of...
View Articletheatre review: 9 to 5, king’s theatre, glasgow;
My tickets were comped for review purposes. Never seen the 1980 workplace comedy film starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin? Not to worry: the Queen of Country herself has you covered....
View Articleculture consumption: august 2019;
I’m slowly becoming a Spotify convert. I may be one of those people who still buys a decent chunk of her music in physical formats – vinyl, CD (although it occurred to me recently, as I brought another...
View Articletheatre review: the duchess [of malfi], citizen’s theatre at tramway, glasgow;
My tickets were comped for review purposes courtesy of Citizens Theatre. Kirsty Stuart paces slowly towards a vintage microphone, front and centre of a darkened stage. Dressed in deep red (Lindy Bop,...
View Articlesloughing off the cynicism;
I’ve always had this weird hang-up about my feet. They’re small, which I like; but they’re also really wide, which usually means I have to go a shoe size up. And they’re almost completely flat, which...
View Articleculture consumption: july 2019;
Well, we did it. We married her off. And yes, I appreciate that this is a photo of Eesmee-of-honour me rather than the bride in her dress – but the me of 2019, the me who has yet to reactivate her...
View Articlealbum review: the hold steady – thrashing thru the passion;
I’ve stopped cross-posting my music and culture writing from The Arts Desk on here, partly because I’m doing so much of it compared to blog writing these days I’m scared this would turn into one big...
View Articleculture consumption: june 2019;
Every so often, I go through a wee existential crisis. The trigger? Books. Books, and specifically the certain knowledge that I will die before I read every book on my TBR (“to be read”) pile. My TBR...
View Article
![ONEW – KAKERA -Unmei no Piece- – EP [iTunes Plus M4A]](http://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music221/v4/d0/fb/86/d0fb86a5-ba60-4bea-41fb-7f54c125f518/VEATP-45908.jpg/296x296bb.webp)
