The Nicer Life

You say it's your birthday...

2011-06-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Yep, I hit 29 on Saturday. Last year of my twenties (obviously, but phrasing it that way gives me a strange sense of bemusement).

Had a few days' worth of lovely celebrations, including a picnic at home, and a 6am walk in a thunderstorm in the empty city centre. Wonderful gifts and lovely messages friends, it's been perfect; everything I could wish for.

Have a few pictures of the nicest things:

The picnic hamper. Peppa Pig plate, knife from my grandparents' wedding present set, beautiful handmade blanket from a "loppis" - garage sale - at Hornstull in Stockholm (can you believe it was just 20kr - about $5?! )

Glorious chicken and ham pie. Made by one of those organic farms who raise and use all their own meat and make everything by hand and oh my, utterly, absolutely delicious.

Old-style English fondants, from the institution that is Fortnum & Mason

The bear from the Animal Wall by Cardiff Castle. Their eyes are glass, and the animals are beautifully expressive!

Bute Park, 6.15am. See how one of the trees is already turning; stunning...

So, that's birthdays covered for everyone for a while now! I have a long straight with no plans in my way ahead of me, and I'm determined to knuckle down to my exercise and my writing!

When Technology and Nature Collide

2011-06-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

I have failed to make proper maintenance of this blog already! Partly as I've been busy, blowing bubbles in the rain and eating Eton mess and wrapping presents and talking nonstop, partly because the camera on my BlackBerry has broken and I am furiously cross about this, but convinced that it will somehow sort itself out eventually!

It was my partner's birthday last week, and we had a small, quiet, family-type gathering and mostly played with a bubble set I bought for pence, and ate lots of little tiny party-type things. It was delightful. It was handily accompanied by the Canadian Grand Prix which, oh-so-kindly, decided to go on forEVER, just for us :) I was sorry for Vettel, but, since Jensen Button did those Head & Shoulders ads (WINNING!) and since I discovered he has a tattoo of an actual button, I've come to rather like him, and it was quite the drive, anyone must concede.

Anyway, it was a gorgeous day, made even better by the heavy, heavy rain. I love the rain so very much. It's been the driest year for a century, or something like that, so far, and you could really feel it, so to have the weather break, even for just a day, was perfect. To commemorate its awesome, have the last picture I managed to take before my phone realised it didn't want to be out in the rain!

Like bubbles, in the rain.

I have also been back to see X-Men twice more, as James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are, shall we say, right up my street, and I can't quite get enough of the whole shape and feel of the film. Sidebar: The music during the Big Action Sequence At The End sounds a lot like Quadrophenia - this took me a lot of thinking to work out, but that's what it is.

Accordingly, last night we watched Penelope which I had seen before, but had failed to delight in as extensively as I did last night (I didn't realise it was a Reese Witherspoon-driven project; she goes much up in my estimation for this) and the night before, the wonder and perfection that is Inglourious Basterds (2-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray] (okay, the UK Blu-Ray only has one disc, I now feel like I'm missing out a lot). I remember rambling extensively at the esteemed Mr Heath Solo for his The Film List podcast what must be 18 months or more ago about my love of this film, and it has only grown since. The languages, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, the colours, the references, the detail, the everything. Plus being able to put two and two together and work out where I'd previously fallen in love with Fassbender, whose part in this is so glorious, it feels like a film in itself.

I've always liked to fall for actors/actresses, more than most other kinds of human, for the sake of their back catalogues. In this case, strangely, I seem to own most of their previous films, including a lot that I've bought god only knows when, and left still in their plastic on the shelves. Next on the list: FISH TANK (2009) and Atonement (Full Screen Edition) - which seem like as good a double-billed night in as any..!

Afternoon tea with the mutants...

2011-06-09T01:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a great week so far - a ton of quality, quality cinema. The Senna documentary (Americans, if it gets back to you, you must, must see it...astonishing footage and a legend, truly), Apocalypse Now anniversary edition (my heart, Martin Sheen, a piece of it is always yours), and X-Men: First Class.

It's an epic triple bill, truly. Apocalypse Now was probably the most important for me - and also, the first time I think I have ever been in a full cinema! I watched it a lot when I was growing up, and was captivated by its starkness and the lingering shots of faces, eyes, ears, details, amidst soundscapes of chaos. I find it such an important film, in the scheme of things, and to get that full-screen benefit of it, with swirling helicopter sounds and that vast, horrific final sequence so very much in your face...that was how you were meant to experience the film. It was worth waiting my entire life for it to come back to cinemas...

Senna, I remember the death of Ayrton Senna so clearly, like so many people. I was absolutely in love with him when I was a child, he was so charismatic and had beautiful eyes, and I had never seen a Brazilian person before. He seemed like something magical. And then that awful weekend in San Marino, and it was a good fifteen years before I could watch F1 again. I didn't realise, in a way, until I watched the documentary how affected I was by that footage, as a child. It's not surprising, of course. What surprised me the most, though, was the sense of calm that I took from the film with me. To watch a documentary about such a life, and to take away from it a man's smile, and passion, that's a feat of cinema, and a great piece of construction it is, too. I hope it finds itself in the Oscar nominations when they come around.

And then X-Men: First Class. I very much like Matthew Vaughn as a direector, I like Jane Goldman as a writer, I have a heightened interest for anything they work on, and in the snappy, quintessentially amusing dialogue and the sharp, well-proportioned action scenes I found good evidence of their work. Alas, in a way, it is alas, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are so perfectly perfect that everything else about the film paled into insignificance for me. I wanted so much more of their relationship. Basically, I wanted Charles and Erik: The Good Times, rather than all the other bits and pieces on top. Because there was good stuff there, the Cold War look was really quite appealing and interesting (although I did wonder what you'd be left with as an understanding of the Cold War, if you hadn't studied it to atomic levels of detail at school as I did), but all I wanted was more Charles and Erik. It appears I am not quite alone, either! Plus points to Jennifer Lawrence on the side though - she's beautiful and captivating, and yet for all that, I find her wonderfully understated. She hasn't been trained out of her skills, and I await The Hunger Games with eager anticipatino.

So, I think that's the best week of cinema I can remember. What on earth should I see next?!

Post-cinema yesterday, we decided to, at last, spend our voucher for free coffee and cake, given to us by a leading department store when they screwed up our washing machine delivery. It looked like this:

(That burger-sized thing at the back there is a macaron. Seriously. Phenomenal.)

Really good coffee, too. Coffee is one of those things I truly believe is better in Sweden, but at this place, they have coffee that is almost as good as in Sweden, and that makes me happy. Especially when it's free!

2011-06-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

Perfect <3

Getting more than you'd hoped for!

2011-05-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

I love my dear Kindle (which is named Starbuck, out of interest - I name everything I own) deeply, but occasionally it leads me into unexpected waters. I downloaded the sample chapter of Rob Lowe's new book to have something to listen to whilst cleaning the bathroom (the glamour!) and then, once I'd finished that, as with every single sample chapter I have downloaded, I went and accidentally bought it, instead of going back to the home screen.

As it happens, I am more than pleased by this. One of my all-time favourite films is The Outsiders - not hugely surprising if you know me - and for the multiple chapters on the auditions and filming process of this alone I'm more than glad to have happened upon it! It's incredibly exciting and cheering to find that something you love was important enough to the people who made it that they remember, and are happy to detail, everything about it at any point. I hope he's going to talk about The West Wing this much! For a book I was really just 'passing by' I've certainly had far more than my money's worth already, with a good six hours of listening already under my belt, and half the book still to go. So that's today's joy really - the time when you unexpectedly happen upon something and it turns out to be exactly what you needed to fill in all the gaps in your knowledge, matches your interests perfectly, and makes your day!

Springwatch!

2011-05-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

I couldn't let the return of the glorious televisual swathe of nature and water things wrapped in a bundle of nice, suitably British lecturing, chatting, bewilderment and contented grins that is Springwatch go by unannounced! Such a very, very lovely programme (except when about catfish or cockroaches, but I suppose the children must be entertained), from which I think I learn more than I realise. I am not a great one for nature - I was never into pond-dipping except as a way to get out of lessons (yep, my city school had a Conservation Garden which I essentially took charge of, great way to avoid maths) but I love people talking about the things that they are really interested in, and that is what you get with Springwatch. Passionate nature people talking with lots of love about the largest variety of British nature things.

More about Springwatch at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/uk/ - great site, very interactive, loads of extras.

The thing I love most is that this started as a little experiment of a show, and it's become a real Thing. I think even the BBC are surprised by its popularity, but you have to remember that the generation of kids who grew up watching presenter Chris Packham on the Really Wild Show (there must be youtube clips, I should look) are, frankly, thrilled to have him back, in all his Smiths-loving, poodle-owning madness. And nature, well, not all of us get out to it as much as we'd like...it's great to see it in all its forms, from highlands to cities.

Plus, on the other side, there's Britain's Got Talent. I'll go out on a short limb and say that there's a lot more talent on display on Springwatch tonight...

Also, it's simple, watchable, watch-with-anyone television. Good-hearted, unpatronising, cosy, pot-of-tea (or if you're us, alcoholic ginger beer - I had no idea, oh my, delicious) television. Sometimes the simplest things are the winners, and it's nice to know that there's a massive audience out there for this!

(There are STOAT BABIES on right now. STOAT BABIES.)

I feel I should have some great British nature photograph to go with this post, but alas, right now, I don't. I proffer instead, beautiful, beautiful Welsh coastline.

Sporting Joy!

2011-05-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

Celebrations! I don't think Swansea will look quite like this tonight, but it's a huge achievement in the scheme of things, the first Welsh team in the Premier League. Long away trip for the rest of the league next season.

(I didn't really realise this level of flares could be as lovely as it was. This picture's from the night we went to see my adopted Swedish team, AIK, celebrate their league-winning season, some time ago. Generally I'm terrified of everything like this, but it was phenomenal, and seeing so many people celebrate so wholeheartedly was a glorious affair!)

Coffee coffee coffee...

2011-05-30T00:35:00.000-07:00

Part of this 'nicer life' business is appreciating the things I like about my day, that otherwise I might skip over. I LOVE coffee in the morning. I can function without it - nearly, anyway - but it really does make me happy. If I drink it without noticing, or forget about it and get caught up in email or work and let it go cold, this makes me sad. So, conscious coffee-drinking, with added photography today!

Out of my usual instant coffee, so it's time for the special occasion/emergency stuff! Which I am really coming to like, actually...

A hot water dispenser is one of the best things we've ever bought. Not having to faff with a kettle, oh, the luxury!

Et voila! Magic. These cups were given to us by a Swedish friend's mother, and they are a joy - there are many more handleless cups in Sweden than I'd ever encountered before!

A Usefulshopp?

2011-05-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

London corner shops: gateways of nice things. They cover all eventualities. Except, perhaps, male tights.

Guilty Pleasures

2011-05-29T02:02:00.000-07:00

Guilty pleasures are a strange concept to me. As far as I can work out, pleasures need to be guilty for one of two reasons:

a) they are potentially harmful/not ideal to you, or to someone else. This can include something like gossiping, which, so people say, is not in the best interests of the person about whom you are gossiping, or something like eating food of a quantity/quality no-one would recommend.

b) they aren't cool. This applies to books/music/films that have fallen out of favour, contain excessive amounts of giggling or glitter, or were aimed at a demographic a decade (or five!) younger than you.

So, counting out everything that causes actual harm to yourself or others, which is not a matter for a Nice Place, and is a much more in depth and interesting psychological discussion waiting to happen somewhere else, we're left with something like this:

(I don't know if Carnation milk travels, but I recently discovered that my gran wasn't lying when she said you could boil a can of this stuff for an hour and it would turn into glorious toffee. This seemed like witchcraft, but, no, true. Amazing. It's like science, but tastier.)

So, if I eat the whole can, I will firstly be some kind of incredible competition-like eating force of nature (because seriously, incredibly dense), secondly, I will be sick, and thirdly, and most importantly, the niceness would've gone by about the second spoonful.

But, if I just have a bit, it will be nice. It will be nice because it is not something I have often. If you have something that's a whole heap of Delicious too often, it isn't nice, it's just habit. And if it's habit, it isn't a guilty pleasure. Guilty pleasures are something you always, actively enjoy. They're not bad habits. And if it doesn't hurt anyone (including yourself!) then why would you bother feeling guilty?

(HUGE bottle of whisky-interlude - apply condensed milk-thoughts as above!)

Sooooo, then b). It's not cool. You know when people doth protest too much about how cool/uncool they are/how much they don't care about that? I shall not do this. My point is that, whilst I have been drawn to people because of what they loved, I have never run away from people because of it. So...if you like a film, and I like a film, we can talk about it and maybe we'll get on. If you like a film and I think it's ridiculous, we might still talk about it, or not talk about it at all, but it won't stop me from talking to you again.

When I was nine, I thought this here on the left was the coolest album ever. Truly, I did. I also thought this when I was seventeen, and when I was twenty-two. And I still think it's shockingly cool. At various points in my life, people have thought this worth mocking, or called that album, their guilty pleasure. Why? Why the guilt? Why the faux-irony? One of the most perfect moments I've had was driving through Sweden, years and years after first discovering that Sweden has a special kind of pop music which we just don't have enough of (Melodifestivalen - you're getting your own entry one day), listening to that album. It was like the culmination of an idea, a want, sparked decades before by a bit of music, and it was one of the things that took me to Sweden and on all kinds of adventures.

Compare with this my love of Pink Floyd, which has never really changed in itself since I was a kid, but which has rendered me, at various points in the eyes of all kinds of people who thought they should tell me how my Pink Floyd appreciation made them feel, cool - tragic - pretentious - hipster - boring - muso. No-one could call Pink Floyd a guilty pleasure, I don't think, but you could call them all sorts of other things. Where's the line between loving Ace of Base, and Pink Floyd? Between loving La Boheme and Legally Blonde? Between steak and boiled condensed milk?

This is already much longer than I'd meant it to be, but perhaps I've found a point at the end of it! Too much of anything isn't a good idea, but it's easier to eat too much toffee than too much steak, to hear too much pop as opposed to too much classical, to spend too long lying in bed rather than too long out for a run.

The morals of the story? (Generally - there are no absolutes) it really, really doesn't matter how popular the song/meal/person you like is; it doesn't change - it shouldn't change - how much you like them. Guilty pleasures are generally quick pleasures, little things, a single instance of something that is really great until you tell yourself to put it away. The guilt is perhaps just what makes sure you don't overdo it, turning it into something harmful. But don't ever shy away from the good things, the things that induce smiles, just because someone else might not think they're worth deriving pleasure from. Like this really, really amazing sandwich.

Moving on...

2011-05-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

So the football didn't quite go the way I'd hoped, but, plus side, lots of people look ever so happy at Wembley, and neither of my teams were involved, so I shall, with great grace and mild disinterest, move on.

To the most amazing T-shirt I have ever bought. I mean, really. It defies explanation. I can't even wear it, it's so awesome, it hangs on our kitchen door, where it makes me smile, bemused, every time I see it.

I should point out that, as will become greatly obvious over the course of time, I am no photographer. Nor do I pretend to be - I just like sharing things, and thus, I hope I can at least manage that! I also cannot photoshop for anything, so there is none of that here. And now the back of said t-shirt:

JOY. That's what that is!

Greetings and Salutations!

2011-05-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Nicer Life, you say, what's the point of that? Why not...the awesome, amazing life of fabulousness? Then it would just be rude to have a blog shouting about it. Why not The Perfect Life? Well, because, for starters, that would be immensely dull. Why not The Good Life? A bit pious, for me. Plus we don't have enough space in the back garden (okay, we don't have a back garden) for a goat, more's the pity. Why not The Happy Life? Being happy...is nice, but it's actually quite hard work, being happy all the time, and harder still trying to explain/justify it. The Nicer Life, then, what's that? I'm going with "making a few things a bit better wherever possible". That's the plan. Highlighting the good bits, so that the bad bits pale away.

'Nice' strikes me as a much-maligned word. 'Nice is boring', people say. No, no, people are boring. Nice means nice. That's better than boring, and more interesting than a slap in the face. Tea is nice. Given how much of my life is spent drinking all kinds of tea, it would be weird if I didn't embrace the niceness of tea.

So, here, I intend to make notes on the nice things. The good bits. The things that smooth the rough edges of life, the things that make me smile, the things that don't make me angry. It won't be all running across the sand and cupcakes, although I won't lie, these things are shiny.

This isn't my first blog, but it is the first one I've decided to do without a fandom, without any intent, just...for me. For fun. For the nice things in the world.

Now, I'm just going to go and watch the Champions' League Final, with Nice Thing #1 - my David Beckham duvet, a present from one of my old housemates, and Nice Thing #2 - a good glass of wine.

The sky has been so grey today, there's no sunset, which would've counted as Nice Thing #3, so instead, here's a picture of one, from a long time ago, that I love.