Well my 'shortlist' is down to double figures at least...

Pro: just been in the fantastically warm Med sea Con: bigger than expected wave made me fall over and graze my palm

Valuable new units.

I'm getting ready to ditch Spotify and this could well be the final push (also saying here I'll def do it can be forcing my own hand). www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

Delighted by this spectacle earlier.

'Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told analysts that people without smart glasses may one day be at a "significant cognitive disadvantage" compared to those who do use the tech.'

Went to the Design And Disability exhibition at the V&A yesterday. It's small but fascinating. One thing that impressed (and angered) me a lot was the digital 'Deaths by Welfare' timeline that had been built highlighting state violence against the disabled since 1942. Need a free online version.

Evenin'...

The gurls conk out for a while and this is by far the closest Simone has got to me since her arrival three weeks ago.

Maybe the only high-school based show I ever really liked (and at the time maybe even the best US meta-comedy since Moonlighting) - was v late to Freaks & Geeks and this show even referenced it and its perceived superiority.

This is who they are mourning as a terrible loss to the conservative movement and to the American conversation - in his own words:

Do wonder how "far right" someone has to be now before they'll actually be described as a fascist.

Watching The Caves Of Androzani NOW - think I've only seen some of it before, not at the time, and remember p much nothing.

Also a quick update to the UK Chart hits of 2015 playlist tho it was p much already complete for some time, being as it is, at just 472, comprised of the lowest number of chart entries since 1978. Another huge drop from the previous year for reasons unclear. open.spotify.com/playlist/7JE...

Updated the UK Chart hits of 2014 playlist to now include 632 tracks (a drop of nearly 100 from 2013) that peaked between 1 and 100 with 35 not on Spotify or otherwise excluded for being one of those same ol' holiday songs year after year. open.spotify.com/playlist/6hx...

Friday nite fite! Actually this is every nite now..

Looks like another banger between these two after last year's Euros match - hope to find some decent highlights.

Seen so many Nirvana t-shirts in the last week. Far far more than you'd see at the time and on all kinds of people. Whatever, it's probably good.

Love tooo get home after a few days away and the gals totally remember who you are.

WORSTBLOBY

Readin' the socials

#ALL50RTS The highlight of the Ninth Wave suite for me, the LP first heard in full only 20 years ago. A near-death experience with so much going on behind its telling - the inclusion of Georgian folk song 'Tsintskaro' particularly effective. Wow. 1. Kate Bush - "Hello Earth" (1985 album track)

We got two six month old kittens yesterday and the slightly older one, Nina, just came out of hiding now to meet and mark us properly. Welcome!

I'm not a horror fan at all but have felt compelled to rent SINNERS.

#ALL50RTS Not seeing PSBs much in this last stretch - shocking! Again not known to me until many years after its release but there's a sleek poignancy to this, making it feel so 'West End Girls part 3' and the sound of a home long lost to time. 2. Pet Shop Boys - "King's Cross" (1987 album track)

#ALL50RTS Into my all-80s top 3 and at just shy of an hour, this remains the ultimate tropical island disc. Can be considered one continuous track or a suite based on the named segments on the original release. Influential beyond measure. 3. Manuel Göttsching - "E2-E4" (1984 album track/suite)

#ALL50RTS My intro to an understanding of the BBs as more than just a factory of annoying syrup I never cared for. First heard by me only around 20 years ago, a stirring, soaring song about depression to lift the spirit. And that MiniMoog.. 😘👌 4. The Beach Boys - "Feel Flows" (1971 album track)

Time to post a track that definitely wasn't a single...

*mutes the B word*

Well, that's the second time in a year that a biiiig house spider was indeed, as Moss would say, on my person. Sweet dreams (I myself may be awake a while..).

#ALL50RTS Alright who's ready for the best album track of the 70s?! OK cool, but first...this. Not the only woman appearing twice but technically my top 'track 1' - an ecstatic encapsulation of its era. 5. Minnie Riperton - "Les Fleurs" (1970 album track)

#ALL50RTS While it's still Summer...my highest 21st century pick is, but of course, a 16 minute instrumental by a couple of Swedes. From the wonderful 'West Coast' album rejigged and re-released at the start of this year. 6. Studio - "Out There" (2006 album track)

#ALL50RTS 3 80s tracks in my top 10 but didn't hear any of them in the 80s. My parents just didn't own many LPs, nor can I see either of them ever having been into KB (tho these donkey impressions would've probably terrified toddler me). 7. Kate Bush - "Get Out Of My House" (1982 album track)

Chewbacca's charming little expression of interest when Finn actually turns on the Dejarik board.

#ALL50RTS Another act it's hard to pick just one for but it's from an album incalculably illuminating in a year banjaxed by a brutal darkness, brighter still 20 years on from its release and 14 on from Trish Keenan's own premature passing. 8. Broadcast - "Black Cat" (2005 album track)

#ALL50RTS Not quite the longest album opener here, not quite the best track of its year but regardless utterly magical. 9. Funkadelic - "Maggot Brain" (1971 album track)

#ALL50RTS From my favourite album ever...at least after I mess with the tracklist to put this just before the closer. Seeing them in 2008 still a top 3 all time gig. 10. Portishead - "Roads" (1994 album track)

#ALL50RTS The first of four instrumental LP openers left but the only one of those I first heard (on the radio even) before its release so profoundly special. Also here while 'Melody' or 'Cargo Culte' aren't for much the same reason. 11. Air (French Band) - "La Femme D'Argent (1998 album track)

#ALL50RTS Heavensent House and the last track to parachute into my list when compilimg but remember, Luomo is for life and not just for Christmas. 12. Luomo - "The Present Lover" (2003 album track)

#ALL50RTS And now the best album opener of all time...that has vocals. They ORCH_HIT us and it felt like bliss. 13. Pet Shop Boys - "Two Divided By Zero" (1985 album track)

#ALL50RTS The sound of one decade dwindling and another emerging...four years early and from the other side of the (my) world. The ultimate nocturnal urban lonesome moood. 14. Flash And The Pan - "Walking In The Rain" (1976 B-side of 'Hey St. Peter' single)

Picking up the last stretch of the Live Aid broadcast and can't wait for Le Bon's bum note.

#ALL50RTS It's been a couple of days since somebody picked this, jeez guys... 15. David Bowie - "Station To Station" (1976 album track)

#ALL50RTS Five instrumentals left in my list and this just misses being the best 80s one that wasn't an A-side. As stimulated and towering as its title suggests. 16. Simple Minds - "Theme For Great Cities" (1982 B-side of 'Promised You A Miracle' single)

#ALL50RTS There's probably >1 not even obscure album track by His Purpleness that unifies perfectly his three greatest strengths (romanticism, surrealism, horniness) but the latter has never felt more than enough than on this. 17. Prince - "Erotic City" (1984 B-side of 'Let's Go Crazy' single)

#ALL50RTS If I WERE consciously including two album openers by the same artist Underworld would probably be first to be represented. So 'Juanita/..' could be here too but 'Cups' offers a thrilling, exquisite transition of vibe shift in a little less time. 18. Underworld - "Cups" (1999 album track)

#ALL50RTS Got 5 tracks between 11 and 20 that are great LP openers. Some are even be the LP highlight. In this case I'd maybe give it to the title track (which WAS a single in the US...cos of its title?) but this is a perfect snapshot. 19. Cocteau Twins - "Cherry-coloured Funk" (1990 album track)

#ALL50RTS It's been picked many times already and will be again, including by me right now! Anticipating its popularity more than almost anything else in my list I found I could not deny it a place in my own final_Final 20. 20. Duran Duran - "The Chauffeur" (1982 album track)

#ALL50RTS Not the longest in my list but at over 11 minutes it's one of my favourite long album openers (actually just realised the other long ones ahead of it are all openers too). GGD carve out their niche with this joyous, loving statement. 21. Gang Gang Dance - "Glass Jar" (2011 album track)

#ALL50RTS First among quite a few equals when it comes to their best 90s album tracks, from my most listened to artist of the last 20 years (go figure!) tho this is the best I can do for them in this list. 22. Saint Etienne - "Leafhound" (1993 album track)