I've got a radio show with my mate on the University of Manchester student radio station, Fuse FM. My mate's name is Chris and he is funny as hell. Much funnier than me; you know, in that clever way. I just provide the lunacy, absurdity, and general goofiness.
The show is called Radiowipe. The original idea was to do a spin-off of Charlie Brooker's ingenious Newswipe, but in a radio format. However, we've ended up with something quite different. It's a talk show of some sorts. We discuss weird stories and usually end up digressing and straying far from the original story, which I think is what makes it funny. As most amateur-student radio hosts, we started off very nervous and unsure, but still enjoying ourselves immensely. And we have grown and become a lot more experienced (at least in my view (ears?)) in the short time we've been with Fuse.
So far we've done three "seasons" or broadcasts, and the fourth broadcast has just started. Unfortunately Fuse FM haven't got all year broadcasts. Hence, they broadcast two months every academic year; a four week period in the autumn semester and another one in the spring semester.
So tomorrow Radiowipe is back on air! This will be our last season as Chris and I are both third year students. But we promise you that this will be our best season ever. We've got jingles and features and everything! So from 2pm till 4pm you can tune into 87.7fm if you're anywhere in Manchester and prefer the old-fashioned radio, or simply visit the Fuse FM website and launch the live player.
Chris in the studio. He doesn't usually look this suave and contemplative. Rather, he has a look of nervousness and panic, probably out of fear for what mistakes I will make or things I will say next.
This is me in the studio. I don't usually look like this, either. I'm just looking goofy for the camera. Usually, my look is one of vacuous, infantile, and blissful ignorance and excitement over being on the radio.
Music. Whoever invented it was a bloody genius. Well done, you unknown caveman of yore.
I don't think there is anyone out there that would go "Music? Hate it!" It'd be like going "Food? Ew! Hate the stuff!" Yes, I know it's pretty bold of me to compare the need for music to something as principally life-sustaining as food. But considering how insightful, almost metaphysical, and consequently damn emotional, philosophical and bathetic (fitting word) the human race has become because of our big brains and that, I make that comparison with much conviction. After all, this is my blog. (And it is just a blog. Read a book if you want to prove me wrong).
No wonder people call music food for the soul. It can sooth you and stroke it's ethereal hand across your face, or it can lift you by the skin of your neck and make you go that extra mile. It understands you when you're feeling down, it screams with you when your angry, it smiles with you when you're happy, and it parties with you when you're going out. All of those things!
"What are you trying to tell us, Even? With your unnecessarily wordy blog post..." Well, I'm sure a lot of you out there listen to a lot of different music. You check your iPod and go "Yeah! That is quite a decent and eclectic list of music I've got there!" I think that about my list. But just recently I got that feeling that I was just so fed up with all of my music. There was nothing I could be bothered listening to. I even preferred leaving home without my music! So what to do? I needed a new musical shot of superdrugs.
Enter Daft Punk. Simple as this, really: Went to see Tron: Legacy. And I was hooked. No, not hooked: Lost! I was lost in the world - no, no world: UNIVERSE! of Daft Punk. Yeah I know, they've been around for years. People give me incredulous looks when I say I've just "discovered" Daft Punk. You probably remember "Around the world", "One More Time", "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" and all those songs - they were played to shreds on all radio stations and TV channels. I know, I remember too. Just didn't care much for that kind of music at the time.
Talk about reorganisation! The musical neurons in my brain must have a must have taken a disappointed look at the dusty same old record collection and thought "We need to do something drastic." And they sent me rocketing into the Daft Punk Universe. Because it IS a universe. With Daft Punk you get the entire package. Everyone remembers the weird anime-like music videos of the previously mentioned songs? If you didn't know, they're taken from a feature-length anime movie called "Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem", which Daft Punk created together with anime creator Leiji Matsumoto.
I've seen it and it is frickin' awesome. There are no spoken words in the film; just the entire Discovery album played in its entirety. Work of genius, if you ask me (The unknown caveman would have been proud).
They did the same with their following album, Human After All (Does the name ring a bell? Yep, pretty much inspired the name of this blog). Electroma is quite an arty film, and I'm not one for arty films... Of course I had to check it out because of Daft Punk, and I must say it really made an impression on me. In Electroma, Daft Punk's music isn't played at all. Instead they've selected quite a varied list of songs to fit the speech-less movie.
"What is so awesome about Daft Punk?" you might ask. "I mean, they're alright, but why this sycophantic obsession?" For me, it's the attitude. Look at them. Their anonymous robot-like appearance with those super insanely cool helmets and leather outfits custom-made by Dior. Well, I'm sold. Many attribute their fame specifically to their helmet-wearing anonymity. It's that "want-what-you-can't-have" thing, isn't it? Also, I think those helmets evokes a sense of awe and mystery associated with aliens and space monsters and whatnot. It's fascinating and weird. They just look damn cool to me.
I mean, look at the Tron: Legacy premiere. Two anonymous robot people - in suits!!
(Daft Punk at the Tron: Legacy premiere. Thomas Bangalter (right) is all like "Yeah, I'm a robot and your puny gravitational forces don't apply to me and my space-robot-awesomeness so Imma just stand here all tilted like this. Deal with it, earth-flesh-bitches." And Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (left) is just like "Yeah, that's right space-robot-brother. You show those weird organic human-things how we do it." Awesome.)
They have a massive following of fans all around the world. Their live shows are rare and in SUPER high demand. Their last appearance was at the French band Phoenix's gig in the Madison Square Garden. I'll leave you with a clip from their surprise appearance. At approximately 2:55 the crowd goes wild - and with good reason.
I love laughing. And I do it a lot (some of you who know me might have noticed). Hence, I love and I need comedy! It's one of my great passions in life. So that's what I want to tell you about in this blog post.
Mahatma Gandhi once said "If I had no sense of humour, I would long ago have committed suicide". Quite a gloomy thing to say about comedy, I know, but I totally see where he's coming from. One of my favourite comedians, Russell Brand, says that comedy and laughter is ultimately a distraction from our knowledge of the inevitability of death. In other words, we all know we're going to die some day, and this thought is forever present somewhere in our subconsciousness, making us ever nervous, frightened, pessimistic, dismal and downright sad - had it not been for comedy! (It all sounds very psychoanalytic and Freudian, but somehow still compelling, no? The previous blog post will tell you I am a sucker for pseudo-philosophy/psychology).
So we distract ourselves from the sad things in life with laughter and comedy. Think about it. When you laugh, when you truly laugh so hard that you're crying and your stomach hurts, you never think "Oh no, I've got work in the morning. Oh no, it's raining again. Oh no, I need to pick up milk on the way home. Oh no, I'm inevitably going to die." Everything that exists in that moment is the euphoric and joyous feeling of laughter. And it's the loveliest feeling in the world!
SO let me show you some of the people that provides a constant source of laughter (and distraction from death) for me. I'm well aware of that humour is a subjective thing, so some of you might not find it funny at all. But all I ask is that you give it a go.
Russell Brand is definitively my favourite comedian. I adore this man. He released me from my self-applied shackles of trying to be like Liam/Noel Gallagher when playing in a band in Oslo a few years ago (Just realised that such a sentence deserves some elaboration. It might serve as content for a future blog post). In other words, he made me realise I am actually someone who wears spray-on tight jeans, speaks with a loud and often high-pitched voice, and desperately seeks attention. When I tell people about Russell Brand I always recommend they watch his first DVD. Have a gander, why don't ya:
"In relevant news..." Mr. Brand will soon be on the big silver screen again with a remake of the Dudley Moore classic "Arthur" - a movie I love and thoroughly recommend. Russell Brand, after acquiring superstar status on the British isles, travelled to Hollywood to attempt to break America. As a fan of his stand-up I have been rather sceptical and not that convinced by his Hollywood movies, but Arthur actually looks really promising. Watch the trailer, it is full of Russell Brand-esque wit and hilarities. I'm really looking forward to this movie.
As an ending I would like to recommend someone who has been around in the British media for a long time, but just recently attempted stand-up. Many of you might know Simon Amstell from the pop quiz show "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" on which he served as a preposterously cruel and acerbic (yet, in my opinion ingeniously funny) host. In his stand-up, though, he shows a completely different and honest side of himself. It is quite touching to watch someone set himself up as so vulnerable and yet manage to make it funny. And not only is it funny; I've never learned so much wisdom from a stand-up show. I urge you to watch it and be amazed. Here is a taste:
This. This right here. This is the first post of my blog. Yet another blog. But this one’s mine. Oh yeah. And that means a lot to me.
You’re probably wondering about the title of this first blog post. Well, let me let YOU have a sneak peek into my mysterious mind… Wait, let me rephrase that. This blog will not offer you mere “sneak peeks”; rather, it will slash my abdomen and crack my cranium wide open and pour out my guts, feelings, wits, thoughts, heart, soul and brains all over your confused and bemused eyeballs. No holds barred. That’s what blogging is all about, riiiiight...?
“Coulda woulda shoulda” simply refers to the fact that this is something which I have wanted to do for a long time. It’s one of my little dreams and ambitions which, with this post, finally has taken that first difficult step towards fulfilment. I have a good few dreams and ambitions. Haven’t we all? But, sadly, we let the tethers of everyday life and mundanity restrain and curb them. After all, they are only dreams, right?
And that’s what the “Buddha” refers to. Many people probably go through life with dreams and ambitions about things they want to achieve – mountains to climb, sights to see, bands to play in, what have you – but still they end up old, perhaps without having experienced any of it. Does that mean they’ve lived a life in vain? I don’t know… yet. I think a lot of people end up finding happiness in completely different places to where they might have thought. That perfect life partner and your lovely children, that actually-quite-interesting-and-rewarding-job, those excellent work colleagues. And they let their happiness in their close surroundings guide their once-so-restless minds all content and nice through life. Totally Zen-like, man. Radical.
Hell, I might even join them! Sitting there in my rocking chair at the old people’s home, going “You might as well give up now, Even. Your foolish dreams will come to naught! Stop distracting yourself from what you should focus on! Getting an education, a job, a wife and some kids! (And a cat)” Well, sorry future-senile-Even, I just have to try a few things before I join you there on the porch. (Save a seat for me, though…)
I’ll be the first to admit that starting a blog doesn’t seem like a very ambitious “dream”. But I'm sure that those of you who know me well will have gathered by now that this weirdo isn’t going to settle for a 9 to 5 job behind some desk – perhaps meddling with people’s minds (I study psychology for those of you who weren't sure). But I needed to start this blog for my own sake. I have a personality that craves attention, and not only that: I crave sharing my experiences, my thoughts, my everyday life, my history, my world.
I know a lot of my friends will think of this blog post as quite pseudo-philosophical, wannabe-grandiloquent, and consequently pompous and a bit awkward. But this is who I am. I think even some of you might have guessed already. I am a closet lover-of-pretentious-pseudo-philosophy. Especially my own, mind you.
So deal with it! This is my blog! Excelsior!
(Next blog post won’t be long, hopefully. In the meantime, here’s a “bloggy” picture of me. Oh, and leave comments! Be polite though, you ruffian, you...)
