Heat madness
Yesterday the UK recorded its hottest day of May on record. That record did not last long, because today is now the hottest day of May on record.
It is fair to say I am not loving this. I don't like the heat and I don't like terrifying climate crisis-induced temperature trends that promise even more of it. Very few people here have air con at home and our houses are generally built to retain heat, which means my survival strategy is basically just to close all the windows, pull down the shades, and lie around complaining and eating an unholy number of freeze pops. (Oh, and play Tomodachi Life.)
So, may as well write a blog post.
My boys are blowing up
It's been about a year since I first started listening to Getdown Services, and five months since I saw them at one of my favourite ever gigs and immediately became a rabid evangelist for the band. The thing you need to understand about Getdown Services is that they are really, really, really fun to see live. Like a religious experience if it involved sweat and Monster Munch.
Anyway, it seems like I wasn't alone in having that experience. In the time since then, there have been developments. Someone made them a Wikipedia page. They toured in North America, Australia and New Zealand. They appeared, much to my bafflement and delight, on BBC One's Later... with Jools Holland. It's fair to say their star is definitely on the rise.
While this is exciting to watch, I have to admit I felt a twinge of weird parasocial fear that the band I just saw with a few hundred people is now booking venues that can fit several thousand. I caught them right at the end of that small band experience, and now they are... at least approaching medium band levels. (I'm not sure big band status is on the cards. Somehow I don't think two blokes from Minehead who sing about wanting to kill Baby Oleg from the Compare the Market adverts are going to become the next Coldplay.) For a tiny bit, it felt like they were my secret, and now they are not.
It is cool though. I'm happy for them and I am happy other people get to enjoy their music too. I just need to destroy my inner gatekeeping hipster and make the lads a sparkly boyband-style shrine on this website.
In the meantime, here's the new single "I Can't Die Like That" and a really cool version of "Dog Dribble" with The Bug Club.
My (other) boys are blowing up (mountains, etc)
After my last blog post saying that I rarely watch TV, I have been watching TV. My partner grew up watching Dragon Ball and so we have started working through Dragon Ball Z Kai together. (My understanding is this is an edited and remastered version of the original DBZ to more closely match the manga and cut out some of the filler.)
Aside from randomly watching one of the DBZ films many years ago (the one with Beerus), this is my first proper exposure to the franchise. And after watching the first nine episodes, I have reached one major conclusion:
Piccolo is obviously the best and coolest character and the one I would pretend to be on the playground. He is green. He is hench. He has an incredibly lax attitude towards childcare. He knows he is the best and coolest. He impulsively destroys [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS] within the first few episodes. I'm in love. This guy rules. I might have to go back and watch all the filler stuff cut from Kai just to see all the extra stuff he gets up to.
Thunder???
Oh my god it's thundering. There might actually be some rain. I am stopping work on this blog post immediately to open all the windows and stare at the sky with yearning. Please please please just rain or something. I'm desperate. I bet if Piccolo were here he would absolutely destroy the sun for me