I haven’t written a blog recently because I have been writing a couple of scripts  and my mind has had to be totally focused on that. I don’t know if anything will come of either of them, but we shall see.  I am just glad to have gotten them out of my head and onto the paper (obviously this is a misnomer, onto the computer would be more accurate. I do use a note pad, but for notes!).

But lots has happened. A possibly innocent man was sentenced to death in the United States. That was sad, but an inevitability in a society that hasn’t abolished the death penalty. Scientists have found possible evidence that things can travel faster than the speed of light. Over 100 years of science goes poof! Into a puff of smoke. Exciting no? And today I woke up to find out that we might be crushed by bits off a falling satellite. Well I can think of worse ways to go.

I was also asked to be friends on Facebook by a person I have never met . Which was odd, but not as odd as all the changes they have made.

But the most impactful thing for me, personally, this week was the fact that REM, the band of my youth, broke up.  People bang on about bands being pivotal to their upbringing, and the only ones that can lay that claim on me, other than REM, are They Might Be Giants and Grandaddy.

I could bleat on about this. How I remember my first crush, listening to Near Wild Heaven, Half a World Away on repeat whilst staring at a ceiling. I can remember dancing around to Stand, and Shiny Happy People. I remember sitting by an old ghetto blaster with my cousins trying to work out all the words to ‘It’s the End of the World as we Know it (and I feel fine)’  That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane - Lenny Bruce is not afraid . I remember listening to their latest album, and hearing the song Oh My Heart which I loved so much I started listening to them again. I remember being annoyed at people who liked them because of Everybody Hurts, which I thought was twee for them.  A musical snob even then, what a douche bag!

I remember my first proper love, I remember the album UP which soundtracked it. At My Most Beautiful and Daysleeper being so perfect and so apt.  So I raise a metaphorical glass to them, I can’t think of anyone else I would have liked to soundtrack my life. Here are some of those songs, and some others,  enjoy.

Happy Friday all!

-          Anand