Patrick Wolf Reading 2011

Patrick Wolf was definitely one of my favourite acts at this year's Reading. I have only become a fan recently (yes, yes, I know, I am definitely a Johnny-come-lately to Patrick Wolf and will never be a true fan etc.) but I was desperate to get to see his set. Unfortunately for me, I missed the first half due as I was watching another band on the main stage with my brother who was more than reluctant to go and see "that NME twat" (his words, not mine).

Whilst it's unlikely that his view of the flamboyant Londoner remains the same, I was taken aback at what a great live act Mr. Wolf is. Never before has a video paled so much in comparison with the real thing and I urge anyone who is considering it, to go and see Patrick live. Not only is he an entertaining and engaging performer, but he has got a great band behind him, too. I am even considering picking up the saxophone (as in learning, not physically picking up the instrument) just to master the 'This City' solo!

Manhattan (Opening)

Is this the best opening to a movie, ever?! I wish I lived in Woody Allen's Manhattan...

Pulp- Do you remember the first time? (Live at Reading 2011)

It was a toss-up between this and the glorious Common People. In the end I went for Do You Remember the First Time? because it seemed to fit the crowd better. Whilst for the majority of the weekend I felt at times - at the age of 20 - like I had sneaked into the best school holiday ever, during Pulp's set, I was surrounded by people in their thirties. It seemed as though the majority of the crowd had seen the band before and were taking this as an opportunity to relive their teenage years.

What also struck me about the show was the energy on the stage, due mainly to (extraordinarily flexible!) frontman Jarvis Cocker. Rather than stand motionless on the stage like many of his peers (yes, Liam Gallagher, I'm looking at you), Jarvis refuses to grow old gracefully and during parts of the set you would see him writhing around on the amps in his tradmark dandy fashion. Surprisingly, it works. What I liked most about this show was that the band weren't taking this for granted - they were loving every minute of it, and so too did the fans.

My only criticism would be that they weren't headlining the Saturday night (although I know that this wasn't the case in Leeds). I love The Strokes as much as the next person but the incredible energy that Sheffield's finest built up was lost a little during the New Yorkers' set.

Right, I've spoken enough; get watching this masterclass in showmanship. I also recommend watching Common People, purely for the lovely speech Jarvis gives about it beforehand.

Elbow - One day like this (Reading 2011)

Elbow were definitely one of my favourite acts of the weekend. A major crowd-pleaser and One Day Like This is such a sing-a-long. The lyrics are so uplifting and really resonated with me for that weekend. Being part of a crowd whilst we all sang along to this was special and for this reason I would definitely recommend seeing them live. My brother, who is a massive music snob and has waxed lyrical in the past about how boring he finds Elbow, even enjoyed this one.

Reading 2011

I realised that whilst I haven't blogged for a while, I have actually been up to some blog-worthy stuff recently! Normally my summer is spent lounging on the sofa watching E4 alone at 2 in the afternoon whist slowly sinking into a state of depression, but this year I got my arse into gear (and had some ERASMUS grant left over) and so the self-hating sofa time was kept to a minimum. The highlight for me was definitely Reading festival.

This was the first festival that I'd ever been to (I know, at 20, this is embarrassing, particularly considering I was clearly one of the oldest there). I went with my brother who is a Reading-appropriate 17 years old and if you think that I am sad for doing that, believe me it gets worse, as on the Thursday morning the plan was that I was going to be going with my mother. This was due to my brother's admission the night before that he was going to spend the whole weekend with his friends and I was to be left alone in the tent. Luckily, we managed to sort things out and we turned out to have one of THE best weekends.

I am at the best of times a little uptight - more so when I have to spend the whole weekend looking after my little brother who doesn't know his elbow from his arse and has never cooked himself a piece of toast, never mind a bowl of pasta. So I was a little anxious as to what the weekend held in store. As it happened, it was brilliant. I discovered so many new bands as well as seeing some of my all time favourite acts, the best of which was definitely Pete Doherty (made better by the fact that the only people at his gig were the ones that really wanted to be there - Muse were playing on the main stage at the same time). I'm going to include a few videos (all nabbed off YouTube: I hate videoing gigs) of my favourites now.

Yes, yes, I know, I haven't blogged for months. A sign of a bad blogger is that all of their posts seem to be apologies for not updating their blog, so I guess that makes me a pretty bad blogger. What's more, I am now back at uni and have forgotten my camera, so I can't even do a lazy blog post of "The view from outside my window", "A picture of a trendy student". I will be going home next week though so I can hopefully find my camera and take some pictures for inspiration! I'm also going to Dublin to celebrate my friend's birthday next weekend so I will definitely find something to photograph there (providing that the floods stop - otherwise it will just be snaps of a grey and rainy Dub, I'm afraid).

Sorry I've not posted in a week, I've been in Rome (pictures and posts soon to follow). Looking through the pictures I took in Rome, it reminded me of the ones that I had taken last month on my birthday here in Turin. I rather stupidly had forgotton to take my keys out with me, so I was left hanging around outside my house from 5 in the morning. Rather than wake my flatmates, I decided to have a wander around the city in the early morning.

I loved how warm and inviting this shop looked whilst I was stuck outside.

Italians are patriotic.

If I could drive... I would be driving this car.

Hugh Grant for PM!

Not really...
Hugh Grant did a good job on Question Time, proving not only is he not a little airhead, but also that he has some morals and backbone. Occassionally he came across a tad smug and actor-y (see:the glasses) and let us not forget that the non-politican role on Question Time is always the easiest. However, he rightly teared into the panel, especially Jon Gaunt, who unfairly brought up Grant's past misdemeanours. He may not go down the Joanna Lumley route of actor-turned-protestor but who'd have thought that an apperance on QT would be Hugh Grant's wisest career choice of the last five years?

This week, Harry Potter himself Daniel Radcliffe came out and said that he had been sober for a year, deciding to give up drinking after beoming reliant on alcohol to enjoy himself. This reliance on alcohol is pretty common amongst people in his age group, but the reaction to Radcliffe's admission has not really been one of praise. Instead there have been many sneering commentators with lots of (generally older) people suggesting that he is a bit of a lightweight and boring, as though getting blindingly drunk every weekend is the done thing for teenagers and people in their twenties. Now I don't want to come across all Daily Mail; I think young people should go out, have a laugh, have a drink and have fun. If you can't do it when you are twenty, with no responsibilities and a student loan to waste, when can you? However, I don't like the attitude that this should be the done thing for twenty-somethings.


People seem to find Radcliffe's admission interesting because there have been no - or very few at least - pictures of him falling out of nightclubs drunk, nor has there been any knowledge of his drinking. I think it this lack of awareness that is surprising people. There seems to be a general consensus that, if it was so bad, why didn't we already know about it? But for Radcliffe, this isn't the point. It isn't that amount that he was drinking that was the problem, it was the reason for doing it - his belief that he couldn't have a good time without it.

There is a very strange attitude in this country towards drinking, especially towards those who don't drink, or who want to limit their drinking. In the past when I have cut down on smoking, I have had nothing but encouragement from friends. Yet when I have told them that I won't be drinking this evening, I have heard only complaints that I am "boring" and spoiling other people's fun. In fact, the minute I say that I'm not going to be getting off my face, it becomes my friends' personal mission to get me wankered. These are the same friends who see me puking my guts up the next day, the trips to the toilet the only breaks in my weekend under a duvet where a Smiths CD, a loaf of bread and a crushing sense of shame are my only company. Don't get me wrong, I do the same, encouraging people to come out when they don't want to, buying drinks for those who have only brought out a tenner (normally for the reason that they don't want to get to wasted). However, I think it's time that as a nation, we became more tolerant to those who don't want to drink, or who don't want to drink to the excess. Everyone is happy to lambast Amy Winehouse when she turns up drunk to a concert and get on their high horses. Yet when a young actor says that he has given up drinking in order to regain complete control of his life, he is mocked. I think people see it as a criticism of themselves and their own drinking when someone says that they wish to give up. This is not the case here. Daniel Radcliffe is just saying that drinking doesn't do it for him. For that, he should be applauded.

My song of the week

Patrick Wolf - House

I know that Patrick Wolf has been knocking around for ages but typical me, the minute he starts getting mainstream is when I get interested. However, there is a reason why he is getting more acclaim at the minute - his new album is incredible. This is his fourth album and whilst I've found his previous stuff a little inaccessible and left-field for my tastes, the songs on this album are instantly catchy. The song I'm listening to most is (for the moment) House. It might be because I am about to leave a house, a city and a country that I have absolutely loved but I am finding it particularly poignant and heart-wrenching. If anyone is in the same position as me I recommend listening to This City after - it's so upbeat and feel-good that there is no chance of you wanting to curl under your duvet and cry about the past after listening to it (which is obviously something that I never do - ahem).

For the past few months, I have been friends with a girl who's style is somewhat similar to mine in the sense that we both follow fashion and tend to opt for a kind of Urban Outfitters/Alexa Chung-style vibe (I know, what twenty year old British girl doesn't?). I'll admit, she probably keeps a closer eye on it than me, and could identify a brand at twelve paces. However, recently she's become a little territorial with her style. Another girl in our group, who I'll admit has started to embrace fashion a little more than she used to, is now being accused of being a fashion thief by girl A.

Now I know that fashion is a very personal thing - your clothes form your identity and tell the world something about you. But if you choose to follow the latest trends, do you really have the right to claim loafers or a button-up shirt as your own, even if you might have bought it first?

I was a bit late to the Alan Partridge party (what with being about 8 when it first came out on tv), however I recently got in to the, and in fact spent what could have been a horrible hangover weekend watching Alan. I think this is my favourite clip.

"And another!"

Embarrassing Crush of the Week

Tom Pellereau, The Apprentice.





















I know it's wrong, but his geeky charm just appeals to me. He's also got a Michael Sheen thing going on, though that in itself is another embarrassing crush, I suppose (having said that, good enough for Rachel McAdams and Kate Beckinsale = good enough for me).

On an Apprentice sidenote, I was going to do a post last week on how pleased I was that Zoe had gone, what a bully she was etc. but then they revealed on You're Fired that she beat cancer twice as a teenager, and then I felt like the most horrible person in the world.

Things I hate

1. Skiing

It is not the activity so much, but more what comes with it. I was (un)lucky enough to go skiing for the first time this year (apparantly, the dry ski slope in Llangrannog doesn't count) in Switzerland as a friend of ours has a chalet there. Rather naively, I thought I'd take to it pretty well. WRONG!
I won't go into too much detail, but when you've been rescued by a snow plough a few hours into your first run, I suppose you should realise then that maybe skiing isn't for you.
Perhaps it's my own inadequacy that makes me dislike skiing (or more to the point, skiiers) and resent anyone who's better at it than me. However, I couldn't help but stifle a laugh when I went on a trip to Aosta (picturesque little town in the Italian mountains) and one of our group whined
"I can see that the town is beautiful, but for me this is so bittersweet because as a skiier, it's so sad to see that the snow has melted."












Me skiing. Or not.

TrueLad.com

Even though the word 'lad' makes me want to wretch (one place above 'banter' and below ending a sentence with 'BOOM.' on my list things that deserve a shot in the leg for), I did come across some funny things on truelad.com. The site is 40% dickheads, 40% sexist rubbish and 10% lies, but the remaining 10% pretty funny. This made me chuckle this morning.

"Someone's phone went off in an exam last week. Their ringtone was "Eye of the Tiger". Instead of trying to turn it off quickly, he stands up and punches the air in time with the song. He was then asked to leave. GottobedoneLAD"

Miles Kane - Come Closer

This song's greatness is almost outweighed by the fact that Daisy Lowe (boo! hiss!) is in the video. However, it is a great song, so we will just have to overlook this.

Tomorrow (or today, really as it's past midnight now) I am turning 20. I'd like to say that I'll be glad to leave my teenage years behind, but if I'm being honest - I'm not. Being a teenager allows you to get away with a lot of bad behaviour, and I'm not sure if I'm not ready to go of that. Not because I am some mental teenager who gets drunk every other night and sleeps around, but because I'm not. Whilst most people regret what they did as a teenager, I regret what I didn't do. So I propose that for the next year, as a 'twenteen' year old, I can act as childishly as I like. Because everyone knows you become an adult at 21.

How sales assistants put the fear of God into me.

The other day I went into Sephora (a European version of Boots) looking for light foundation (cost price in the UK: approx. £7). I came out having spent over 25 euros on a face powder, which I didn't want, certainly didn't need and to be frank, I was lucky to get away with buying just that.

Speaking of Simon...

... here he is making an appearance in Louis Theroux's documentary on Max Clifford, PR guru extraordinaire/massive twat. Interestingly, he comes across... rather well, actually. This might be because even Bin Laden's remains may seem like charm personified next to Clifford, but I think it could be because he is actually a pretty nice chap really, if also a shrewd one. Which begs the question: why on earth does he need Max Clifford? Answers on a postcard, please.





On a side-note, I'm on a bit of a Louis-kick at the moment. I need something else to watch now that Glee (Glee! Dearest Glee! How will I live without you?!) is on a break.

Cheryl's Exit from the US X Factor

Poor Cheryl. One minute you're the Nation's Sweetheart, flying the flag for Britain on what will become one of the biggest shows in America. The next, you've not got a job on either. Poor, poor Cheryl, after all she's been through.

Or so we are supposed to think. I'm sorry, but we all know the orchestration that goes behind Simon "The Puppet Master" Cowell's shows. As he knows, all publicity is good publicity. He drums up interest in his latest project, while Cheryl - dear Cheryl - gets to play her (or her PR's) favourite role: the victim.

So we finally know who the injunction footballer is. Or, I should say, the press have finally named the injunction footballer, because who honestly didn't know it was Ryan Giggs. As a Welsh person, it's immensely embarrassing. He was the one footballer who everyone respected for his hard work, dedication and his apparant inability to age. He was the one of ther greatest footballers Manchester United had ever seen, and best of all, he was Welsh - one person we could genuinely be proud of, and a name that held prestige all over Europe, if not in the US. And now he's gone and ruined it, right at the end. Thanks a lot, Giggsy.

Marion & Geoff - Series 1

I love love love this programme. It is both tragic and absolutely hilarious at the same time and is without a doubt, Rob Brydon's best performance (and this is coming from someone who loves Uncle Bryn).

Best lines -
"If they only save one life... then probably not very cost effective"
"I was worried that it might be too much, that it might be too violent, but as his mother says, he's a very violent child"

This year I am going to Reading Festival. Any potential street cred I gained from that last sentence will be diminished by the following one. I am going with my seventeen year old brother. Individually, I would say we both fell into the 'uncool'camp at school; not exactly complete losers, but just one bad satorial choice away from 'bullied'. This is the first festival for both of us and we are pretty excited. We chose Reading - despite the poor line-up this year - as a compromise. Whilst he is into hard rock and heavy metal, I am definitely more of a T in the Park kind of girl. Naturally, I said no to Download and he stuck his nose up at Glastonbury. Neither of us have friends going to these so we begrudgingly turned to each other and agreed to go together. Whilst I am pleased that I have someone to go with, my brother is a bit of a liability and I am a massive wimp so I can easily see him getting so drunk he can barely stand up whilst I desperately plead with a group of twenty-something lads not to set our tent on fire.

What is the point in getting a super-injunction? In the age of Twitter, anyone who wants to find out which celebrities have been up to no good can - and will - do just that. The trouble is, I think that in certain cases a super-injunction IS justified.
It's obviously difficult to approach this topic without making reference to specific cases and if I were to do that, I could find myself in a lot of trouble. However, it's difficult to judge which cases are deserving of a injunction and which aren't. Do you go by profession? Likelyhood that it's willing to upset children or just affect sponsors? Level of famewhoreness?

The whole super-injunction issue entered the public consciousness with the John Terry affair. I personally think that it's fair that his super-injunction was overturned. Not because I think that the British public particularly deserve to know exactly what Terry is up to in his private life - at the end of the day, that's his own business. I just think it's wrong that he tried to throw money at a problem to make it go away - a problem that only arose because he failed to keep it in his pants. If there is any justification for these Draconian privacy laws, this is certainly not it.

Lessons we have learnt from Britain's Got Talent

What you look like DOESN'T MATTER, because it is what's inside that counts, like your really good singing voice. Obviously, I, Amanda Holden will judge you when you come on stage because you are like, super ugly but by putting you through not only am I proving that I don't care what people look like, I am also accepting that even ugly and poorly-dressed people can be talented. But not as talented as me, obvs.



As a side note, can we all appreciate Michael Collings' AHmazing voice, and the fact that he is bloody hilarious. Who cares if he is wearing a hoodie.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my little amica Emma who sent me two bags of Cadbury's mini eggs.














On the down side, I have now eaten two bags of mini eggs in the space of about 3 hours, so unfortunately, I will be unable to eat for the next four days.

Is it just me who couldn't care less about the Royal Wedding? I'm definitely not a royalist so I guess it's no surprise to those who know me, but I am genuinely shocked at the way the country's going Wills and Kate-crazy. Even my friends who have never before shown any interest in the Royals are talking about it. But why? I can honestly say that I am more interested Cheryl, Sienna and even the WAGs than the future king and queen to-be. And this isn't because I am some dumb idiot whose always got my head stuck in Heat magazine. To me, any developed country who has a monachy is - well, not as developed as it thinks it is. How can people actually whole-heartedly support a system where someone can become the head of state purely because of who their parents are?

I've tried to get excited about Kate's dress but how can you feel enthused about the wedding dress of a girl in her twenties who goes around wearing this?

Dianna Agron's blog. Surprisingly cool and well-written (I'm judging her solely on her portrayal of Quinn Fabray in Glee).


http://felldowntherabbithole.tumblr.com/

This Week's Playlist

Simon and Garfunkel - America

Belle and Sebastian - Boy with the Arab Strap

Belle and Sebastian - Write about Love

Animal Collective - My Girls

Bob Dylan - Hurricane

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal

Bombay Bicycle Club - Ivy and Gold

Snow Patrol - How to be Dead

Morrissey - First of the Gang

I'm having a bit of a Mad Men binge at the moment. Obviously, I will never be able to replicate January Jones' ridiculous beauty, but I can copy her style. Luckily, Topshop have got some MM-inspired stuff in at the moment, which I plan on buying as soon as I step footback in the UK.

#

Now where are my cigarettes...

Is it possible to die of a hangover?

Does anyone fancy buying my two friends and I tickets to the Glee tour in London? I have tweeted Cory Monteith a.k.a Finn Hudson, asking him the same thing but as yet I have heard nothing back.

If you get the chance to visit Turin, you must stop at the late-night sandwich shop, Don Panino. What it lacks in tasty, cheap sandwiches (two words - mozzarella juice), it more than makes up for in handsome workers (a rarity in Italy), one of whom is so beautiful I am convinced that he is Jesus-incarnate, and to whom I have many a time professed my love (as I say, it is open very late - so obviously at four in the morning this always seems like a good idea).

Venezia

Last week I went to Venice. Unfortunately, I didn't bump into Shylock, but my search for a Jewish husband continues despite this setback. I did enjoy Venice - there really is nowhere in the world like it - although it is full of tourists and I was insulted by a McDonalds worker; the details of this episode are too painful for me to relive via my blog, so instead I will just look at this nice picture. Aah, Venice.

To the sole reader of this blog

Yes, yes, I know, I've not updated my blog for a while. As you can probably imagine, I've been inundated with emails begging to know where I am, what I'm doing and if I'm going to be updating my blog any time soon (or not...). To be fair, I have been slightly busier than usual of late (not difficult, considering my routine up until a month ago consisted of getting up at two in the afternoon, making a sandwich and then watching 90210 on repeat), but I will try to be a better blogger in the coming months.

When a Brit sells out

Compare and contrast


Funny Russell Brand




... and Russell Brand now



And what's with the posh accent?

Italian word of the week

Zitella, meaning spinster. So a particularly useful word for me then, as this is no doubt how I will end my days.

Embarrassing crush of the week

Ever since the mid-00s (known now as 'The Seth Cohen years'), it has been acceptable to find geeks attractive (as long as they fit the cool-geek criteria of nice - ideally curly - hair, witty putdowns, bright but not uncool t-shirts, and more often than not, Jewish). Fast forward a few years and you cannot move for the wall-to-wall geeks on the big and small screens. Whilst Adam Brody and his ever-declining career must be cursing the likes of Michael Cera et al, I for one am rejoicing. And yet, it is with some embarrassment that I reveal this week's crush (hence he is perfect for my ongoing feature - embarrassing crush of the week), because this Cera-doppleganger is almost too awkward and neurotic and geeky to be real. However, he is ridiculously sweet and I have just rewatched the Social Network. May I present to you - Jesse Eisenberg! Here he is on SNL with Mark Zuckerberg (a real-life nerd, but without the lovely hair)

I have an eating disorder

I can't stop eating biscuits. My flatmate has had to hide my own biscuits from me. She will regret this action, as I will now eat hers instead.

If you speak a foreign language, should you put on an accent of that language? At the moment I'm living in Italy and this has been something that's really bothering me. My friend always puts on a very strong accent but I can't help but feel like an idiot doing it. That doesn't mean to say that I'm wandering around like Del Boy, but if I heard an Italian speaking English with a London accent (especially if they make on average one serious grammatical error per sentence, as I do), I couldn't help but think of them as - well, a bit of a knob, really.

Is this the most good-looking man in the whole world?

There is no point to this post. We can all just bask in the glory that is Chace Crawford. Aaaaaah.

I can now add skiing to the seemingly-endless list of sports that I can't do. Oh well, at least I looked cool in my ski gear. Oh no, that's right -I didn't.

AWK.WARD.

As an Oasis fan I obviously feel like a massive Judas listening to Blur. However, not only is this tune ridiculously catchy, but a young Damon Albarn is bloody cute.

This is Hilarious

I'm not one to trawl YouTube for funny videos. In fact, if one of my friends wants to show me something "hilarious" on the internet, unless they are loading up The Thick Of It or The Office (UK - natch), they are usually met with a roll of the eyes and a grunt of disapproval. However, there are exceptions to every rule and here is a genuinely funny YouTube clip. I don't know whether it is the drunk woman's dancing, the bride's look of sheer hatred as she recognises that she is being overshadowed on her wedding day or the disaster-like aftermath that makes this video, but whatever it is, it is BLOODY funny.

Things I Want This Week

Apart from a summer internship at a national newspaper/magazine (I've been watching too much Gossip Girl recently), I would really, really, really like one of these this week. A bit Topshop-heavy, but what can you do when it's all so pretty?

I must get out of the house

I have been in here for 24 hours and am so bored that for the past hour I have been looking up pictures of Ed Miliband a.k.a my embarrassing political crush. I know that it is acceptable to fancy David, but Ed - just no.

A Town Called Malice

The song I've been listening most to this week is A Town Called Malice by The Jam. I first heard it when I was about 11, as it's on the Billy Elliot soundrack (one of my favourite ever films). As a timid soul, there is one line in particular that I really like:-

Stop apologising for the things you've never done


I'm not one to prophesise too much about lyrics, but this one always makes me feel better when I think that someone is pissed off at me. Weller's powerful singing voice and the cracking bassline always take me away from whatever worried little mentaility I've got myself into, and allow me to have three minutes of sheer joy, and I can't help but dance around like a madwoman - not dissimilar to Billy in the film (although obviously far worse - and not in the street)

Embarrassing crush of the week

Anyone who's read this blog before will know that I am a huge fan of Peep Show (the British TV show - nothing weird!). I've been watching it a lot recently and have developed a crush - not on Jeremy, not even Mark (although this is totally acceptable; plenty of my twenty-something friends would happily marry David Mitchell). No, the man in question is... Super Hans. There must be something about rugged-looking drug addicts I like (see: Russell Brand), which to be honest is a tad worrying.




Is anyone with me on the Super Hans love? Or am I, as usual when it comes to people I fancy, completely alone on this one?

Amongst all the craziness that is uni life out here in Italy, sometimes I forget what a beautiful city I'm living in. That's why every Saturday afternoon (I'd love to do it in the morning before everyone else has woken up, but I'm horribly lazy - especially on the weekend), I go for a walk around the neighbourhood. My favourite days are when it's cold, but sunny - like today.

This week I want...

Leather Satchel, Miu Miu

Chocolate Leather Lace-up Boots, Miss Selfridge.

Russell Brand on Ghost busters (BBC Radio 2)

This will never not be funny. Long live the Russell Brand show.

This week's playlist

Dean Martin - Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime
Simon and Garfukel - Cecilia
Oasis - Step Out
REM - All the Way to Reno
Laura Marling - Candlelight
Brandon Flowers - Welcome to the Fabulous Las Vegas
Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
The Beatles - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Jay-Z ft. Mr Hudson - Young Forever
Regina Spektor - The Call

Yesterday I went to the library to get a library card (an attempt to save some money - I always go mental in the little English bookshop in town when I get sudden pangs of nostalgia for Britain. Next thing I know, I've spent 20 euros on a book I never even knew I wanted - normally because I didn't). The library is in a huge and imposing - but like everything in this city - beautiful building in one of the best squares (Piazza della Repubblica, if anyone's interested). I explained to the woman at the desk what I wanted, and she directed me to a man at another desk. I again explained (in my, quite frankly, poor Italian) that I would like to purchase a library card. He walked me back over to the woman, gave her my passport, and handed me... a visitor's pass. Due to my crippling sense of shame at what was clearly my awful Italian, I had to spend the next half an hour sitting in the study area outside his desk without a book, pen or piece of paper, pretending to study. FML.

There is a film crew filming outside our house. I had to run a few errands yesterday, which meant that in the space of an hour I walked past it four times. It can't have gone by unnoticed, and I must have looked like a tragic, fame-hungry loser, desperate for a walk-on part. FML.

Currently crushing on...

Continuing my descent into middle-age before I've even reached my twenties, I have to say that recently I have become rather attached to the exquisitely-named Benedict Cumberbatch. I know, I know -not exactly an original crush, especially after Sherlock. If I was the sort of person who went to the theatre in London every other night, I expect I would go and watch him in the upcoming adapation of Frankenstein. Unfortunately, I'm not rich enough to do that, so I'll have to make do with my DVD of Atonement, in which he plays a swimming costume-wearing rapist. I suppose he is versatile.

I'm turning into my mother

I am a sucker for the radio. Ever since the glory days of Radio 2, a.k.a the Russell Brand years (I think I must be one of the only people who believes that the Russell Brand Show actually IMPROVED Radio 2 and, rather tragically considering my age, my Saturday nights, too) I have found nothing more relaxing than switching on the radio to settle down before I go to bed. Despite this, I am still ashamed to say that three days ago, I chose (repeat: chose. As in, no one forced me to) to listen to... Radio 4. And enjoyed it.