Adventures in Spotify (firrst of a series)

Still here. Work is still taking up 110% of my energy, thus lack of posting.

I keep having thoughts I'd like to share here, but that's inevitably while I'm walking around Bristol and by the time I get home I'm too tired to turn the computer on. Yeah, I have an iPhone but it's hard to post while walking.

Having a lot of fun with Spotify for the phone. At first I was wallowing in 80s nostalgia (Mute Audio Documents are an amazing collection; Television and Magazine are the US and UK versions of the same thing, and there's no way The Strokes had never heard of Television, as they claim). Lately I've been listening to newer stuff that media indicates I might like. On exploratory listening, Florence + The Machine and Lady Gaga seem to be my sort of thing.

Have also caught up with the Ghoultown albums have have come out since I bought the first 2 + EP when I initially got all excited about them. Pretty much the same thing as the old albums, if anything they're leaning more towards Tex-Mex death metal than Tex-Mex goth. I will still be purchasing the actual CDs directly from the band when I have some cash, because I am A Fan and think they deserve my money.

[tv] wallowing in guilty pleasures

I admit that I watch too much TV, and have picked up some more guilty pleasures.

I also hit a whole new level of sadness - I decided I couldn't wait for terrestrial TV to pick up season 2 of True Blood so I increased our cable package so we could get the channel that shows it. I haven't read enough of the books to decide, but on balance I think I like the TV version better - the sense of place is amazing - palpably swamp-like - and there's a lot more to it.

ITV2 is carrying The Vampire Diaries, another teen vampire series. It's refreshingly honest about teens drinking and having sex, for a US series. The books came out back in 1991-93 but the TV show is new, so they insult Twilight a lot.

When we discontinued our cable package with the whole loss of Sky 1 kerfluffle, I missed two seasons of Grey's Anatomy. Season 4 is finally out on DVD and I've been getting through it really quickly from the rental company. There is no excuse, but I find it very comforting. And they're all so pretty. I have two episodes left and then I think I'll be illegally downloading season 5.

In other, not guilty pleasure news, on those rare occasions we run out of rental DVDs, we're working our way through The West Wing from the beginning and are up to the middle of season 3. If anything, it's more amazing on repeat viewing.