• 17/04/13
  • the empire strikes back
  • perfecting mochas
  • the cribs
• 18/04/13
  • coffee with smurph
  • adventure time
  • seth

• bert jansch
  • bert jansch
• compilations
  • dark was the night
  • essential xmas album, the
  • traditional carol collection, the
  • free compact disc
• morrissey
  • you are the quarry
• lcd soundsystem
  • this is happening
  • sound of silver
• bombay bicycle club
  • i had the blues but i shook them loose
• kraftwerk

• INGREDIENTS
  • 250g dark chocolate
  • 50g butter, diced
  • 175g sponge fingers
  • 400ml good, hot, sweetened coffee
  • sweet dessert wine
  • 4 large eggs
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 750g mascarpone
  • 2 oranges
  • a few coffee beans, bashed up finely
• METHOD
  • put 150g of dark chocolate in a bowl and add the diced butter and a pinch of salt, and leave for 5 minutes until melted or combined, stir every few minutes
  • line a large bowl with sponge fingers, carefully pour over the hot coffee, add a few swings of dessert wine, stir it throug...

excluding the time it takes for the squash to roast, this recipe can be assembled in about ten minutes and kept in the fridge until ready to cook (makes 4 parcels, allow 2 per person)

• INGREDIENTS
  • 1 sheet of ready to roll puff pastry
  • 1 small/half of a large squash (variety of choice
  • a handful of cranberries
  • a handful of chopped walnuts
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp sage
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 tsp mango chutney
• METHOD
  • cut the squash in half and remove the seeds, brush with olive oil, place cut-side up on a baking tray and roast around 200°...

• i don't cry easily but some songs can knock me to the floor and start me crying like a needy infant
• i lapse into moments of quiet and moments of rambling and rarely do i find myself in between either of those
• i'm very moody with my affection (we can compare that to a cat)
• i often pronounce everything incorrectly or oddly
• i took up smoking for a while because i knew it decreases your appetite
• my dream car is a hearse like claire's in six feet under
• i like everyone really, even if they're terrible
  • being able to tolerate them though, is a different story
  • constantly gushing over the beautiful things existing inside every person i come i...

• do “that thing” you’ve been putting off forever
  • if you’re an artist, make some art. write? write something new. film-maker? make a film. maths enthusiast? erm, i don’t know. do some sums or something.
• the random train adventure challenge
  • catchy name, right? i thought of it myself. i’m yet to do this but the next time i’m going mad with boredom, this is my plan. call up some friends. meet at a train station. pick a number (a reasonable one) and either get on the first bus you find and get off at that number stop (so if you choose ten, get off at the tenth stop) OR try and find a bus that corresponds to the number you’ve picked. who knows where you’ll end up! if i choose well, i can end up in london, which is kind of exciting.

• laputa: castle in the sky
• grave of the fireflies
• my neighbour totoro
• kiki's delivery service
• only yesterday
• porco rosso
• ocean waves
• pom poco
• whisper of the heart
• princess mononoke
• my neighbours the yamadas
• spirited away
• the cat returns
• howl's moving castle
• tales from earthsea
• ponyo
• the secret world of arrietty
• from up on poppy hill

• drink more water and apple and cinnamon tea
• eat breakfast, and a tiny dinner or tea
• eat fruit and vegetables and natural food
• go for a daily walk
• read a book
• make more art
• write more
• don't put things off
• avoid processed food (makes you ill)
• stretch daily
• take tablets

• a clockwork orange
• across the universe
• atonement
• a single man
• avengers assemble
• captain america
• the fantastic four
• the beach
• battle royale
• batman begins
• the dark knight
• the dark knight rises
• x men
• spiderman
• spiderman 2
• casanova
• pulp fiction
• kill bill vol I
• kill bill vol II
• inglorious basterds
• reservoir dogs

• amelie
• the royal tenebaums
• inception
• lord of the rings trilogy
• control
• submarine
• the breakfast club
• st elmo's fire
• the virgin suicides
• beetlejuice
• the lion king
• labyrinth
• drop dead fred
• kick ass
• american beauty
• the dark knight
• requiem for a dream
• napoleon dynamite
• peter pan (1951)
• finding neverland
• the little mermaid

• prison break
• season 1
• season 2
• season 3
• season 4
• true blood
• parks and recreation
• twin peaks
• bedlam
• the lost room
• hit & miss
• chuck
• the inbetweeners
• season 1
• season 2
• season 3
• ringer
• six feet under
  • season 1
  • season 2

• do something nice or helpful for someone else, especially when you don't want to, do them a favour, help them find something, give them an item that will help them in some way. start the flow of positive energy
• eat the best chocolate you can get your hands on
• turn up the music you really love, play it so loud that it soaks through your skin, dance in your jammies or underwear
• throw yourself head first into a creative project
• sing, loudly, badly, off-key, whatever you like
• write a list of things you appreciate right now, in the present moment
• indulge in your guilty pleasures
• send text messages to your favourite people, just to say hello
• order fast food

• learn french
• visit france/live there for a while
• grow our hair long together
• see more sunsets
• see more sunrises
• have water balloon fights
• stay at the beach and watch the waves till morning
• travel
• get four tattoos
  • "inside all of us is...hope" from where the wild things are
  • 317 on my back
  • the radiohead demon on amnesiac or the radiohead bear
  • and "explore" on the bottom of my foot
  • and maybe something related to another one of my favourite bands
• go to a funfair and go on all the rides, eat candyfloss, and be excited like i was when i was kid

• the blues brothers
• the filth and the fury
• the future is unwritten
• monterey pop
• superstar: the karen carpenter story
• live forever
• the wall
• the doors
• tommy
• detroit rock city
• tenacious d
• a hard day's night
• the importance of being morrissey
• the white stripes under great white northern lights
• joy division
• heima
• neil young: heart of gold
• shine a light
• nirvana
• walk the line

• the wristcutters: a love story
• let the right one in
• say anything
• rocket science
• almost famous
• ghost world
• the romantics
• weird science
• capote
• chocolat
• the squid & the whale
• avatar
• dr strangelove
• despicable me
• julie & julia
• american beauty
• kiss kiss bang bang
• love actually
• one flew over the cuckoo's nest
• sleepy hollow
• breakfast at tiffany's

• he brushes my hair when i've given up the will to live
• he makes me rollies when my nails are wet from painting them
• nothing phases him
• we can talk about anything: be that drugs, or sex, or money, or bodies or life choices
• he makes the most wonderful cups of coffee
• he's living proof that you can fuck up extraordinarily bad and pull it all back
• he never has a bad word to say about anyone
• he'll tell me when he thinks i'm going downhill
• we take turns to go lovely places and buy each other dinner

• stars weaving webs into the sky; stars being stolen at sea to bring home to a lover; stars shooting like arrows to nip and prick skin
• suffocating on nothing, coughing on nothing, being unable to breathe because of nothing, nothing slowly filling my atoms like balloons
• loneliness is my best friend, “sadness is my boyfriend,” and “nostalgia is my hometown”
• the ephemeral nature of my thoughts, forever withering like flowers that bloom for a day and won’t even miss their own existence when their petals fall away

allow one and a half hours to prepare

• INGREDIENTS
  • 1/2 lb carrots
  • 2 cups wholewheat flour
  • 1 tbs baking powder
  • 60g sultanas
  • 125g margarine
  • 125g raw demerara sugar
  • 1 tbs sesame seeds
• METHOD
  • clean, top and tail (and peel if necessary) the carrots then coarsely grate them and set aside
  • put the flour, baking powder and sultanas in a bowl and mix thoroughly
  • melt the margarine in a small saucepan over a low heat then add the sugar and stir until dissolved, remove from heat and pour over the flour mixture

• heavy coats
  • duffle coats
  • craig's parka
• layering shirts and jumpers and coats
• central heating
• blankets
• the smell of cold air
• overcast skies
  • being able to see the world without the sun acting as a harsh filter
• thick socks
• tea
• cuddles
• carpet
• running hot water

• dylan moran
• johnny depp
• winona ryder
• helena bonham carter
• jonny greenwood
• colin greenwood
• thom yorke
• phil selway
• noel fielding
• ed o brien
• ian curtis
• heath ledger
• cillian murphy
• joseph gordon-levitt
• david bowie (as ziggy)
• johnny marr
• natalie portman

• sleep when i'm tired, and not stay up till the morning for no reason whatsoever
• also sleep more and earlier
• start reading for pleasure again
• lose myself in a hobby, in order to keep myself busy and not allow my mind wander to anxiety-increasing things
• do not relentlessly tell myself "i can't"
• stop apologising needlessly
• see my therapist regularly
• and ben
• write in my mental health journal with more regularity
• believe that my psychological disorders are real
  • but also, that they do not define me or make me less of a human being
• eat better/more
• build a duvet fort and lay in there regul...

• curly sue
• uncle buck
• she's having a baby
• planes, trains and automobiles
• ferris bueller's day off
• weird science
• the breakfast club
• sixteen candles
• pretty in pink

• snow white & the seven dwarves
• pinocchio
• dumbo
• bambi
• the adventures of ichabod and mr. toad
• cinderella
• peter pan
• lady & the tramp
• sleeping beauty
• 101 dalmatians
• the sword & the stone
• the jungle book
• the aristocats
• robin hood
• the many adventures of winnie the pooh
• the rescuers
• the fox & the hound
• the black cauldron
• oliver & company
• the little mermaid
• the rescuers down under