My NEW blog!!!

So, I’ve started a new blog.
It’s all about pop culture and how it’s totally changed my life!
Check it out here!!!
Don’t worry though folks, I’ll still be writing on this blog, but it will solely be about graphic novels. My new blog will be about movies, tv, books, etcetc (you get the drift, I’m sure!)
So, please, give it a look as I’m sure you’ll love it as much as “LisaLoves2read!!”

It’s been a while…

Yes, I know…
It’s been ages since I’ve done a proper Graphic Novel post…
And I’m sorry, I have.
My life has become that ol’ John Lennon quote.

SO I thought I’d give you a quick little update on what’s been going on in my life Graphic Novel wise. Let me just tell you first, that I am typing this whilst wearing THIS -

It’s an amazing T-Shirt from Threadless which I ordered months ago, and just arrived yesterday. They have improved the quality of their t-shirts, they are SO soft and comfy! I got quite a few geek inspired t-shirts…actually, I’ve been quite obsessed with T-Shirts lately, and they have taken presedent over my Graphic Novel obsession…
I do have OCD, I do get obsessed with something, stick with it for a bit, and then it slowly goes into the background a bit…It’s not that I don’t love the thing anymore, I guess it’s like a new friend, you become pretty into the excitement of the friendship when you first meet them, and then slowly, they become like a family member, and you feel so comfortable around them there is not need to pretend to be cool around them anymore. I still adore Graphic Novels, and I still love writing about them, but I’m also reading lots of bios and literature at the moment as well.
Anyway, I’m getting off track. The 31st of July was my Birthday. I turned the ripe ol’ age of 27. To celebrate, I had a great little dinner at home with the husband, and the parents and I got a whole stack of Graphic Novels from the husband, including a whole stack of amazing Chris Ware hard to find Acme Novely Libraries. Here is what I got from him -

So, As you can see dear readers of this here blog, I have been once again spoilt by my very loving and beautiful husband!
I also recieved the Sims 3 and a few of the Expansion packs…as I said before I have OCD, and therefore have limited my Sims time…it was quite bad there for a few days, I couldn’t help but play and play!
We’ve also got into Arrested Development of late, a show that I never thought I likedwhen I first saw it, but I guess I’ve developed the taste for it.  but it is SO freakin’ funny, anyone with a suck sense of humor should totally check it out! I love Will Arnett’s character, Gob. Comedy GOLD! Especially when he does his chicken dance..I just piss myself everytime he pulls those moves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Novel wise, I’m reading, in spurts, Will Eisner’s ” A Contract with God.” To tell you the truth, I’m finding it bloody depressing! I know that’s weird coming from a gal who counts Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes as two of her favourite Graphic Novel writers, but I find that he’s strories are so short, and at the end everything just turns to shit in the end – rape, suicide, and general depression are themes that run throughout, which makes for very grim reading indeed. The art work is amazing, especially in the title story, that first page is just hypnotic - I mean, just check out those big gobs of rain! It makes you feel like you are watching it from out your window. There is no doubting that the man had an extreme talent when it came to drawing…storytelling wise, I dunno, I’m not won over… AND I totally respect what he did for Graphic Novels…shot, without him, the name ‘Graphic Novels’ wouldn’t even be around!!

I gotta go back to this theme of  T-Shirts, seeing as I’ve been getting into them in a BIG way the places I have really been getting into are the following -

Teefury – Which specialises in one day specials – $10 t-shirts that are only on sale for 24hours. I got this killer BTTF one the other day -

Their shipping time is a bit crap however, I understand that they only print as many as they sell, and that is why their costs are so low, but it’s a pain waiting for something that you want NOW!!!

Busted Tees – I don’t mind SOME of their stuff…actually, what I really went ga ga over is the T-Shirt below…omg, I swear it’s the most awesome thing I’ve seen in a while! – I like designs like this, that are subtle and that people that only know their shit when it comes to pop culture will get.
I did purchase the T-Shirt on the left, and I tell you, it’s just as soft as the Threadless one!! Plus, it got here in half the time (only took two weeks for internationl shipping!!) and came in a funky ‘Busted tees’ package..I was quite disappointed when my Threadless tees only came in white plastic wrapping, for such a creative company, it really sucks that they don’t put any thought into their packaging.
Other than that my friends, I’ve been busy packing up, as we are moving again, which is great and sucky all in one, as it’s going to be a pain in the butt, but a great move once everything settles down! Just a lot to organise and a lot of stuff to get done before we get comfortable. So, you may not hear from me for a while, as will be a ‘renovator’ – good lord, I never thought I’d actually enjoy going to Bunnings!
Till next time

- L

PS – If there are any t-shirt places that you think I should check out, drop me a comment – I like cool designs, generally focusing on literature (and yes, I DO know about outofprint.com, another fav!), and pop culture.

127 Hours

I know this isn’t a graphic novel, but I thought I’d write  a review on a movie that I really enjoyed.
I just finished watching 127 hours about half n’ hour ago – I always find that’s the best time to write a review, when it’s fresh in my mind. This world is such a bombardment of information, movies, tv, books – and I’m a slave to all those things unfortunetly. Dave, my husband, will probably want to watch another movie tonight, and I don’t want to forget any of what I just saw. I mean, right now, my folks are screaming up and down the stairs to each other, the TV is on (‘Dancing with the stars’ – obviously my Mother’s chose – not mine!) – noise is my enemy right now, and I will fight through it all to write about what I thought about this movie.

Firstly, the movie is based on a book- “Between a rock and a hard place” by Aron Ralston. I remember selling hundreds of the book when it first came out at Borders – it was one of those books that every reader of Literature that works in a bookstore hates. It was a popular book – one that fell in the same category as “He’s just not that into you” and “The Secret” – it was a book that those who were lazy, or those who were easily lead astray by great publicity snatched up and bought – these people probably still have it on their bookshelves unread. Obviously, I didn’t have much respect for the title, I mean, it was kind of like “He’s just not that into you” – the title said it all – and in this case, the picture on the front said it all. Yeah, he was caught by a huge rock in the middle of no where, but obviously, he survived to tell the tale – no suprises here.
When I heard the book was being turned into a movie, I think I groaned out loud. “Great,” I thought, “another one of those  will-they-want-they survival tales. It’s either they die, or they don’t, and usually, you know which from the reviews anyway.” But, when I heard that Danny Boyle and James Franco were connected to the project, I quickly became interested in seeing the film.

Mmmm...geeky James Franco!

I’m a huge fan of Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire is one of my favourite movies – it’s so powerful, fun and colourfull. And Franco, well, I believe he’s a lot like Elijah Wood – the smart girls heart throb – sure, he’s hot, but he’s got the brains to back up why geeky girls like myself get weak at the knees (during a making of special feature of 127 Hours that came with the Blu-Ray, Franco talked about how he always had a book with him on set, and they showed him reading – and that, my friends is so hot! If you want to see his tastes in books, check out this article) and Franco also starred in my all-time favourite tv-show, “Freaks and Geeks” – so with a team like Boyle and Franco, of course I was interested!
So, when we were at JB HI-FI last week, and Dad was searching for a couple of good Blu-Rays for us to watch together, I snatched up a copy of 127 Hours (along with a few others, like Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Fighter the latter which I have seen, and totally recommend) – It’s a funny movie, because when you describe what happens, people usually have the same reaction I did many years ago when I found out the synopsis of Ralston’s book – “Um…ok, so it’s like a story about this dude that chops his arm off…sounds gruesome and boring.” I had been on the net to check out a few reviews, and audiences seemed to think only two ways about it – they loved it, thought it was inspirational, Boyle was a visonary, and Franco deserved the Oscar, or that it was the most tedious pointless movie they had ever seen, it was self-indulgent and not even a fine proformance like Franco’s could save it from being a bore-fest. I was a bit nervous about sitting down today to watch it, I mean, Blu-Ray’s aren’t cheap, and I’d thrust the copy of 127 Hours into my Dad’s hand promising

Brooding stuck to the rock James Franco

that it was going to be amazing…I mean, it had been nominated for an Oscar! (I LOVE the Oscars – every year around Oscar time I promise myself to watch every Oscar nominated movie, and then throw an Oscar party on the night, with Oscar shaped treats, and get all dressed up with my mates and have ballot polls and see who picks the most winners and who gets the most wins an Oscar related prize!…of course, all these grand plans have yet to be put into action!) Sitting in front of the TV, with the Blu-Ray about to do it’s thing, I hoped it wasn’t going to be a disappointment like so many other ‘amazing movies before it – like There shall be blood (which is one of the only movies that I really wanted to walk out of – too bad Nova was filled to capacity and Dave and I had our shopping bags at our feed, or else we would have!) and No country for old men before it.

I’m happy to say that I was totally right in thinking that the movie would be awesome. The reason why I loved it so much was that Boyle took a situation that in all essence, could have been pretty damn tedious and all about waiting - waiting for that pivitol moment of the self-surgery that would release Ralston’s from his prison. Even thinking about it, I find it amazing that he pulled it all off! But, he totally does – he takes all those elements and he makes the audience really feel for the character – and I guess that goes back to my old belief, the belief that I keep on harping on about on this blog – that characterisation is so damn important! You feel for Aron because for the whole film, you are there with him. You are in that tiny cove watching Franco struggle, physically and emotionally with

The tightness of the set

the situation around him. – In the making of, you actually see that the rock formation was a set that was an exact replica of the one in which Ralston was caught in. The set was fixed, which means none of the rocks could be moved, so the cameras only had the space in which Ralson was actually stuck to move around in. Boyle’s decision to do this, I believe, totally made the movie. When watching the making of, Franco actually tells Boyle that in such a confined environment he felt like he was going crazy, making him realise, in some small way of course, what Ralston psychological state must have been.
Like any Boyle movie, it is a colourful watch, filled with sounds and music that heightens the experience for the audience. The way in which Boyle brings Ralston’s feelings to life, is through his interaction with the social mediums that he has with him. He has in his backpack a camera and a video camera. Ralston actually also had these mediums on him, and they were the only connection he had to the outside world. It’s interesting, because for the majority of the movie, we don’t know anything about Ralston. We understand that he is a thrill seeker, but we have no idea what he does for work, if he’s got a partner, any family etc etc. The information is unleashed near the end of the movie through snippets of video footage that Ralston makes, and also through halluctinations. The former shows what is going through Ralston’s mind, but the latter shows what is going on subconsciously, and really discusses what is the most important events and the most important things in his life. Being introduced to this pivitol information latter in the movie works really well what with the subject is at

James Franco with Aron Ralston

hand – Ralston is a man who believed (in the movie,I’m not sure if it is in real life, as, like all movies, there was some artistic license from Boyle) that he could do everything by himself. He thought he didn’t need anybody to help him, he was careless (a great example of this is when he’s getting ready to leave for his hike, and he just leaves the water running into his water bottle, not even pausing in his rapid action of getting his things together to turn the tap off. Of course, later on, water becomes, as Boyle has said, “like a God” within the movie – he becomes a slave to his need for it, and he fantasises constantly about being absolutely drenched in water, soft drink, beer etc.) and he didn’t believe the people around him could help him in any way. I guess he perferred to fly solo. I love the way in which Boyle exercises Ralston’s flashbacks – they are not linear, they do not give you all the answers, but they do give you enough of a  glimpse into what Ralston’s life would have been like.

And there,  I leave you. I don’t want to give too much away about the movie, and I feel that if I delve any deeper this shall occur. One last bit of inf0 – if you do purchase the movie on Blu-Ray watching the making of is a MUST – it really gives you a great insight into where Boyle and Franco wanted the movie to go. There’s also some great footage of Boyle really getting into watching Franco perform – full on facial expressions and all!  – Enjoy, and let me all know what you think/thought!

- L

Henry & Glenn Forever

The other day I was hanging out in Polyester, and saw this here book lying on their main table. It was called “Henry and Glenn forever”

I thought that Glenn was Paul Stanley from Kiss in this photo!

I’m not that much in the know with Danzig, so it took a little Google to find out that the Glenn in the title was actually Glenn Danzig, a guy that I have heard from time to time blare out of my husband’s car speakers. I of course like Danzig as well, but not as much as Rollins, who I have a total crush on.

This says it all really! Oh, and it also shows off his Misfits tattoo...

Not only because Rollins is attractive (because, hell, he is) and not because he’s so rock n’ roll, but also because he’s straight edge (which I am too pretty much) does piss funny stand-up, and is a very good writer. Oh, and he also has amazing taste in music, as I found out when I found a second hand copy of his book “Fanatic!” which has the list of songs that he plays on his radio show, and a little bit about what he thinks about each song.

Glenn Danzig....I don't think this is supposed to be a joke....

Back to the book – it’s done by a group of artists called, “Igloo Tornado” which consists of artists Scot Nobles, Gin Stevens, Dino Fucker and  Tom Neely. It tells the fictional story of Henry and Glenn as roommates and lovers (and they live next door to Hall and Oates!) I can see why they paired these two together – they were both lead singers for two of the biggest 80s punk bands, and then formed successful solo careers. They are both into bodybuilding and being tough ass Punk Rock dudes…that’s why it’s easy to take the piss and turn them into a gay couple.   On Neely’s blog, “I will destroy you”  he talks about how popular the little comic strip has been, and how in-demand new “Henry and Glenn” stuff is. In the interviews I’ve read through links on his blog, it seems the boys came up with the idea after one beer too many, and it’s become so popular, like I said, that they have had an art exhibition in which artists other than Igloo Tornado have added their Henry and Glenn Rock Bromance art to the mix.
These two below were done by Tom Neely himself for the show -

Batman and Robin!

Veronica and Betty...with Hall and Oates in the background - apparently there's a bit of Hall and Oates lyrics thrown into the book itself.

Man, these next two are TOO much! I cracked a smile when I saw them…

Jeff Ward "Henry & Glenn Curled Up on the Couch"

Shaun Peterson, "Mother" an obvious reference to the Danzig hit of the same name. (This is what turned my husband on to Danzig - it was one of the songs that played whilst on the 'radio' whilst he played Grand theft Auto)

!

Ed Luce's interpretation of the Danzig/Rollins love fest. The cats are perfect (and cuttee!)

Another Ed Luce - I love how he draws Rollins eyes. Scary as hell!

Below are a few from the book itself…

This one reminds me of my husband and I - getting all excited about staying in and watching movies...therefore, Henry and Glenn must be a married couple in this picture!

Hall and Oates rockin' it with Rollins and Danzig! Hall and Oate's stuff is so lovey dovey and cheesy, it's an obvious choice for the boys to be into...though the Doobie brothers would have also been a good choice...but they are just crap. I at least LIKE Hall and Oates!

And last but not least, here is one of the latest Henry and Glenn works by Tom Neely…this is ‘supposedly’ what happened when Danzig found out about the book…I’m pretty sure there’s a big emphasis on the ‘supposedly’ part.

Apparently, Igloo Tornado bumped into Rollins at a Comic Con, and got him to sign the comic. He did so reluctantly and said to the boys, “Has Glenn seen this? He would NOT be amused!” hehe funny!

Yeah! Yippppiiee!

I’ve been waiting for this one for a while now. Yeah! Is supposedly out tomorrow in the States, though according to Amazon, it still says the 15th of June…either way, it’s damn soon!

Click to find out more information on Yeah! from the Fantagraphics website!

It looks right up my alley – two of my favourite graphic novelists, dealing with an all girl rock n’ roll band. Chuck in some sci-fi themes, and you have what is reported to be a very cool, very entertaining Graphic Novel read!

If you have read Yeah! let me know what you think! I, being broke as I am, will have to wait till July (cos’ that’s hopefully when I’ll get some spending money for my Birthday) to get my Yeah! fix. Boo.

City of night – first impressions

Disclaimer – **This blog entry is a first impression on a book which deals with very adult themes. If you are under 18, or don’t like reading things about sex/sexual encounters/prostitution or homosexuality, then this post is not for you.**

I actually perfer this cover to the one I got off Amazon - and yes, I DO care about the covers of my books!!

The other day, I received my parcel from Amazon. What a Glorious Glorious day!! The next day another one arrived, filled with Graphic Novels (well, two Graphic Novels, but it sounds better if I say ‘filled’!) The first delivery had my Tina Fey autobiography, a board game for my Mum for her Birthday, and City of Night by John Rechy. Like I have stated in a past post, I had never heard about “City of Night” before untill I read this interview with Rechy in “Vice Magazine” it was a well written, page turning interview, and I thought I’d have to go check it out on Amazon.
To sum it up – it’s Rechy’s semi-autobiographical tale of his times hustling around America in the 1950s. I love it, not just because of the subject material being way ahead of it’s time, but also because it shows an America in which is rarely discussed in books that I have read before. Seedy, haunting, sexual. The scenes in New York are quite vivid and shocking, especially when he talks about how Time Square was such a sordid place – WAY before it was turned into a Walt Disney street Parade of lights and advertisements and the Naked Cowboy.

John Rechy

At Time Square, men of all descriptions sold themselves for as little as 75 cents sometimes – Rechy refers to sex acts as ‘making it’, which is a polite way to say ‘screwing for money.’
That’s another thing I love about Rechy’s writing – he never goes into detail – it’s NOT explaining the acts that he performs that makes it that much more sordid, that much more dark and forbidden. Another reason why I believed he chose not to be too graphic with the sexual encounters (also because he was smart enough to work out that the book would be banned in an instant in the 60s) was to not focus too much on the acts themselves – his book is obviously about the people that he meets, not what he does or does not do with them.
I’m making notes in a little red and black book so that I can discuss it with my book club – I suggested the book, and they were happy to go along with it, so I hope that they get some enjoyment out of it.
I’ll write more when I finish the book, and may even write a bit of what my fellow book club members thought!
Till next time!

Lisa.

day 06 – a song that reminds you of somewhere

I got married in March 2010, and for our honeymoon my husband and I decided to go to the States. I’m a big fan of America – I love it – I would live there for I could, and if my folks would come with us, I would move to Seattle in a heartbeat. Don’t get me wrong, I love Melbourne, I think we live in one of the best cities in the world, but what I love about America is that it has so many more opportunities, so much more variety, and it’s such a big, vast country which has something for everyone. It would be cool to get a big RV and drive around for a year or two and just see it all – or – most of it at least!
Anyway, “Honky Tonk Woman” by the Rolling Stones reminds me of this night we were in Memphis. We were walking down Beale street, which is the main entertainment street in Memphis. I swear, if you are there you need to go to “Miss Polly’s kitchen” – the best soul food I’ve ever had! (Though I haven’t had too much soul food in my time!) – So, back to it – we were walking down Beale street and there was a dive bar hosting karaoke. This fat guy on the stage rips into “Honky Tonk Woman” and of course the first words of the song are, “ I met a gin soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis” I thought, “We HAVE to go in and dance to this song!” So I pulled Dave in and we boogied on town to “Honky Tonk Woman” with a room full of drunken Americans singing along. It was a pretty good night!

The Losers really was a loser.

Every Thursday, my husband my Dad and I have a movie night. It’s a night where I have to put my girlie loves aside (I am a big rom-com fan!) – don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for a good action movie. One with a good script and good acting though – Like “Watchmen”, “Serpico”, that kind of thing.

Looks fun...but trust me...it's not!

So, we sat down yesterday, I put my guy cap on, and we watched two movies (we usually watch three, but called it an early night as  I’ve been a bit cough coughy lately due to Melbourne’s insanely cold weather – it’s only Autumn for christ sake and we’re already getting 5 degree days!!) The first was “I-Robot”, which my husband has seen before and said was “A pretty good movie.” I thought it was Ok, it wasn’t something I’d watch again and again. I actually prefered “Total Recall” which we watched last week – I mean, at least that had some fun bits in it.
The next movie we watched was “The Losers” a movie Dave (the husband) and I have been meaning to watch for some time. Mainly because it’s a Vertigo/DC comics movie, and mainly because the trailers looked so funny and kind of like a slackers action movie – I mean, it would have to be to be called, “The Losers” right?
Wrong. Man, this movie was terrible!! For one, it was not fun – the only fun thing about it, and that saved the movie slightly in my opinion, was Chris Evans, who isn’t a stranger to comic book movies! He was funny, geeky, and charming in his characters own ignorant way.

Now, as I’ve said over and over on this blog, I’m a total sucker for character development. I believe that you need it in order to feel something and give a crap about what’s going on in the movie and to the characters. For me, this movie didn’t really have any character development. – I mean, at the end fighting scene, I really didn’t give a shit if they lived or died – and that is the worst thing an audience member can feel. None of the characters, except for Evans’s, really stood out.
The characters were as followed -
The ‘leader’, Clay, played by my new crush, Jeffrey Dean Morgan (who, I think looks like a cross between George Clooney and Javier Bardem.) – He was stereotypically loyal and would do anything for his team.
Then you had the guy with the attitude, Roque, played by Idris Elba, who played Heimdall in “Thor” – he liked pointing guns at his own team when they pissed him off.
Next is the ‘token-piece-of-ass’, Aisha, played by Zoe Saldana, who also liked pointing guns at everyone in her team when they pissed her off, and liked going around wearing barely anything (of course!)
And in littler roles, you have the ‘Family Man’ – you know, the man who just wants to get home and escape all this to be with his family. He looks longingly at his Wedding ring and hopes for the best. And the ‘Quiet cool guy’, who is good shot with a sniper rifle and always wears a cowboy hat that you never see him take off.
The plot is this – Four soldiers get fucked over by a CIA commander who frames them, and the soldiers fake their deaths in order to get even with ‘Max.’ They start to waste their lives away in Bolivia, untill a pretty stranger, Aisha, comes knockin’ at their door with a business proposition – she has lots of moula and wants to use it to kill Max – in return, she will get the team back into the US.

ALL the characters and the storyline itself has been seen over and over again in other action movies – and though yes, it’s true, there are no ‘original’ ideas anymore, it pays to TRY to make old ideas new again! The acting was weird, I mean, none of the actors showed heaps of emotion, I mean, you think that if you had been set up by the CIA you would be more into getting revenge, but these guys just seem pretty relaxed about the whole thing. – Even the bad guy, Max, isn’t nasty enough. Sure, you see him doing some pretty nasty things, but he’s personality is so dry and boring – just like all the others really. The casting was not the problem, I mean, I’ve seen Jeffrey Dean Morgan go to town in “Watchmen” and he was amazing, and even Idris Elba was pretty good in “Thor” – I’m putting this one down to a very lousy script. Instead of trying to write something new, they have stuck to the same plot that a thousand other crappy action movies have developed. Sure, the original idea in itself is a knock-off of the “A-Team” – but from the press and the trailers, it seemed like it was going to be a cooler, slicker, 00′s version with a cool chick in tow. All it is is a bunch of movie clichés, bad plot lines, stifled acting, and jokes that aint’ funny. A GREAT way to lose two hours of your life – and yes, I’m being sarcastic!!

Retail therapy…it may not be ‘real’ therapy, but it sure as hell helps!

Today, I did something that I don’t normally do.
I bought graphic novels from an actual real life bookstore.
Not an online bookstore.
Or a seconds bookstore.
But a real, “we-charge-at-least-$30-for-a-new-release” bookstore!
SHOCK!
HORROR!

I am of the ‘online’ buying type. Why? Because books are cheaper online! And sure, they sting you with the shipping, but even with the shipping, and the waiting (which I find, geekily, thrilling!) it’s still more worth buying online then it is buying at a real bookstore.

So, today, I was having a sublimely crappy day, and my Mum decided to shout me a couple of books in order to life my spirits. I was beside myself at her generosity, and I got myself a few of Daniel Clowes’s new ones.  Here’s my booty (also note my amazingly cool Asian store-bought plastic table-cloth cover – all you do is wipe it down! Ingenious!) 

mmm...new graphic novels!

I am now cultivating quite a collection, and if I wasn’t such a flippin’ slow reader, I would have posted SO many more reviews and quirky things about each and every book that I owned – which I would have read being a fast reader and all. But alas, for now, I shall put them on my bookshelf and dream of reading them some day.

Oh, and bring on July so I can get some graphic novels for my Birthday already! grr!

30 day song challenge – a song that reminds you of someone

This is the thing with these 30 day song challenges – they are TOO broad! I mean, I have hundreds of songs that remind me of hundreds of people! Which one to choose?!

Like, “Hey ya!” by Outkast reminds me of my first boyfriend. He was SO crap! I’m SO glad it only lasted six months – but there were good times amongst the times that he was treating me like a second class citizen. Sometimes you got to hold on to the good times when something has been so bad, or else you go nuts!
I do love this song though, I just saw the music video for the first time in years, and it’s still an amazingly crafted pop song. Pop can be ok sometimes – I like pop, as long as it’s good pop. That’s why I like Beyonce so much – her stuff is great pop/rnb.

Then there’s “American Pie” which reminds me of one of my best friends in primary school, who died too early and under really horrible circumstances. Whenever I hear it, it makes me think of us sitting in the back of her parents car and her singing every single word to it.

Then there’s anything by “Rage against the machine” which reminds me of my best friend Kate, and the time in which we were just getting to know each other. I was 16, she was 25, and she didn’t care that I was a teenager, she hung out with me and treated me like her equal. I love her a lot, and she’s one of those friends I know will be in my life forever.

Or, “Down by the river” by Neil Young, which is the song that reminds me of my beautiful husband – it was the song that was playing when I realised that there was something really special going on between us.

“Nutbush city limits” by Ike and Tina Turner reminds me of a friend that I wish I still had – or a friend in which I could have some closure with. She was like the sister I never had, and I literally think about her every day. Hopefully one day I’ll find it within myself to just let it all go. It’s hard though, because I know I’ll love her forever.

“Dream” by the Everly Brothers reminds me of my Dad – we used to sing (or try to sing more like it!) harmonys in the car when he drove me to primary school. He was great at entertaining me, he’s so great with kids – he knows just what to say and do to make them crack up and smile. It’s such a special trait to have. This was the song that Dad and I danced to for our ‘Father and Daughter dance’ at my Wedding as well.

 

So, there you go – I can’t pick one, music is too important to me just to pick one. But, I’ve only put YouTube videos for the songs that I really like.