Where Are We Now??

OK, I'm a Bowie fan. A big Bowie fan. I have been for the best part of 35 years. So it was with some apprehension that I clicked on the youtube link I'd been sent on his 66th birthday. After all, it's been a fair while since any new material and there have been a lot of rumours about Bowie's health.
So... first impressions?? Well - I thought the video doesn't do Bowie any favours - he looks awful. The song itself? My first thoughts - a bit whiney... (Sorry David if you happen to stumble across this!)... that's not to say I didn't like it. No - it doesn't come out and grab you, but it's a ballad - it's not meant to. I found it to be a beautiful piece of music  - introspective, yes - but I think also optimistic and full of hope. I may be wrong but I think Bowie is saying 'yeah - it's shitty now but things will get better' and he puts this as a parallel to his own life back in the 70's when he was living in Berlin - when he arrived in Berlin he was hopelessly addicted to cocaine but he broke his habit and produced 3 of his best ever albums (in my opinion) whilst there... It's growing on me with every play - I don't think it has the lasting appeal of Lady Grinning Soul, Wild is the Wind, or Loving the Alien but then again, I thought that about The Loneliest Guy which is now one of my favourite Bowie ballads and that is probably closest to the style of Where Are We Now.
So - don't listen to the press who have been so quick to herald this single as the bell tolling for any musician over the age of 20, listen to the music. Bowie still has the same creativity he always had. He can still write songs which have meaning and which are still in your head more than 10 minutes after you heard them. Perhaps it's not the best thing he's ever done - so what? Did you buy Never Let Me Down? Just because it's not the best thing he's done doesn't mean that he's past it.
Me? I'll be playing it to death and looking forward to the album in March!!

Only 353 days to go

So, it's over. Tree down, decorations packed away until next year and everything back to normal.... Or not. Supermarkets seem to be incapable of restocking shelves with 'normal' products because they are still cramming the shelves with cut price 'luxury' mince pies and 'gourmet' Christmas puddings. Why they think that people will want them after Christmas when they didn't want the overpriced, over-processed muck during Christmas is beyond me. But hey... those of us who want potatoes or dog food will need to wait until the shops are 'fully restocked'. Now call me old fashioned, but is having stock that people actually want to buy not what the business model of any shop should be? It's not as if something like Christmas is a last minute thing - it comes at the same time every year and guess what? The shops can make advanced planning for it!
I expect exactly the same at Easter .. mad frenzied shopping with supermarkets bursting to the seams with crazed people pushing 3 fully loaded trolleys to the till - well, come on - the shops are closed for a day... you need to stock up... and then post Easter there'll be nothing on the shelves other than stale hot crossed buns (which have incidentally already been spotted on the shelves), and overpriced simnel cake (does anyone even know what one of them is??).
I don't know why I'm surprised. It's been like this for years and for some reason we just accept that the supermarkets tell us what to buy rather than us buying what we actually want. For example - can you imagine anyone sitting at home with their jar of nescafe and thinking "hmmm... I think I'll get some stale ground coffee, grind it to a fine powder and add it to the instant coffee - it'll taste much better" yet people are paying double the price of normal instant coffee for something which still tastes of instant coffee. My point is this - people have been quite happy with instant coffee for decades. No - it tastes nothing like real coffee, and yes - people would probably like a more realistic taste. But I bet no-one wanted the sweepings off the coffee factory floor to be added to their favourite jar! Oh, and I'll bet that until a couple of years ago no-one ever thought it would be a good idea to shove an orange in the middle of a steamed fruit pudding!
So - into the New Year and remember, the supermarkets only have 353 days to persuade you to buy more over-priced rubbish in the name of Jesus....

Tis the season.....

OK, it's now December and I suppose I need to acknowledge that Christmas is on its way (note, I have intentionally said Christmas and not some vanilla agnostic phrase such as 'the holidays')
So, what is it the season for??
Well, buying sofa's would be my guess going from the amount of adverts - guaranteed delivery by Christmas, as long as you ordered in September when the xmas adverts started! Not a bad lead time 3 months, just to ensure you have something new to fall asleep on after too much dinner.....
What else? Well it's the season of finding out which talentless nobody is going to win the x factor (as if I care), and which has-been celebrity finished the 'journey' as the best dancer - although I reckon most viewers only watch to see if Brucie makes it to the end of the series.
The rest - overspending, overeating, oversleeping and drinking too much.... none seem to be particularly festive or celebratory. Now I'm not particularly religious, but I thought it was the season of peace and good will? Not much evidence of that these days!
So, that's why I say humbug for the majority of the lead up to Christmas.... no giant inflatable Santa's or tacky decorations will be seen outside my house - in fact the decorations will not be put up until the weekend before (inside only). I will not be trailing round the local shops with a trolley full of enough food for the whole of the UK.
I will celebrate with my family, hopefully miss all of the reality TV 'Christmas specials' and if necessary sit on a crate (well they can't guarantee delivery in time for Christmas now can they!!)