Albums Spotify has allowed me to become obsessed with

Spotify has exposed me to some amazing albums that I definitely plan on buying once father Christmas gives me an itunes gift certificate. For the curious, here is a list (in no particular order) of the albums I've been listening to over and over again:

- Ra Ra Riot- The Rhumb Line

which includes there's stupendous cover of my girl Kate Bush's classic Suspended in Gaffa.

-Regina Spektor- Far

Besides a few songs like Samson, I've never been really into Regina Spektor. This album, however, has made me a real fan of hers.

-Miike Snow- Miike Snow

A friend suggested that I listen to this album. It's really good. They're another Scandinavian group for me to appreciate!

Yeyyy new music!

Just finished my dinner. But now I want to eat a second dinner. Argh! Maybe I'll give it a few and then have some soup or something.

Foods that exist in the UK but not in the US

Blackcurrants are a mystery to me. When I first encountered them, I thought that maybe they had a different name in the US because blackcurrants are everywhere here and I've never seen them in the US. I am actually currently eating blackcurrant flavored yogurt. Well Wikipedia just informed me of the answer. Apparently,

"Blackcurrants were once popular in the United States as well, but became extremely rare in the 20th century after currant farming was banned in the early 1900s when blackcurrants, as a vector of white pine blister rust, were considered a threat to the U.S. logging industry"

WTF. That's definitely not the answer I was expecting, but pretty interesting. However, I'm not too bummed about the lack of this crop in America because I don't find the taste entirely appealing. I am though, shocked at the fact that they were banned in the US. Apparently they're still banned in a lot of states. CRAZY!

Weekend highlights

Today has been a total waste of a day, I did no work and ate way way way too much. Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow I can semi-detox, aka avoid anything that resembles a baked good. I would say avoid cheese but that would probably prove impossible.

Anyways, Friday I watched the excellent film 24-Hour Party People at some friends flat. I'd seen the film before, but years ago. What an exciting place and time musically, minus the violence and general shittiness of everyday life in Manchester at that time.

Saturday I went to Regents Park, which is basically my favorite park in London. I sat by the pond and read Mrs. Dalloway. It was perfect. Saturday night was fine, not the greatest night of my life, but certainly not the worst. But all the alcohol left me feeling gross all day today. Bahhh. And gave me no motivation to do work. Which means I'm going to have to wake up early tomorrow and pound out some reading. Yey.

Crossing Tower Bridge at 3am in attempts to locate the correct late bus. Oy Vey.

I hope everyone has a spooookkkyyy Halloween!

Nature

I've of late felt like autumn is slipping away and I haven't seen enough gorgeous colors. But, I guess the there are still a few more weeks left of the UK autumn, even though Rochester probably is already in winter mode. So I woke up this morning and walked over to Regents Park (about a 25 minute walk from my place). It was gorgeous. I didn't have much time to linger so I just walked around one of the park's sections and took some photos. But, I definitely think a longer visit will factor into my weekend plans.

I had a dream last night that (get ready): I was held hostage at Primark by Simon Pegg (I don't remember why) and as a reward for my good behavior they let Gwyneth Paltrow visit me. Gwyneth wasn't a friend, I just really wanted her to visit me. Also, I cried a lot. Probably because I was being kept hostage in Primark. I also had a dream that involved me getting 8 letters from Barclay's, but I woke up before I could find out if my debit card was in one of the envelopes.