I am obsessive and compulsive, so anything I recommend will fall into the category of “I am only listening to this and nothing else but this”. If you don’t believe me, I’m in my sixth month of solely existing on Gordon Ramsey’s scrambled eggs.
Listen: Look, I’m having a Jarvis Cocker binge and I don’t care what you think. His solo and group work in Pulp still shudder with anger. From blistering angry optimism of Mis-Shapes, the rage of Common People, the sneer of Sorted for E’s and Whizz to the sing-a-long slur of Cunts are Still Running the World, each track shows the theatrics and theories of a genius. As the budget and growing class warfare fester in Australian society, his is an appropriate soundtrack to keep us angry and hope for better.
Bonus tracks: Help the Aged and This Is Hardcore.
Ok, maybe one more bonus track: M.I.A.’s Double Bubble Trouble but, true to OCD form, sometimes I only listen to this all day if I tire of Jarvis (impossible, I will never tire of you Jarvis, let’s smoke and kiss).
Read: Though I despise reading more than one book at a time as it thwarts compulsive immersion, I’m currently tearing through a few at once. After A.M. Home’s chat at the Wheeler Centre, I’m binging on her library of work, starting with In a Country of Mothers – she beautifully affects a weary, languorous focus afforded to long-form New York writers. I’m also reading Antonia Hayes’ unreleased manuscript which moves far more briskly and with greater application of light and shadow. It’s an unreleased manuscript which helped her get repped by Curtis Brown, facts I include just so you can understand how much of a wanker I am.
But, in an effort to show you I can also keep it real, I recommend UTS’s Vertigo magazine which is snappy, insightful and impatient, and Archer, the new journal of sexual diversity that excites me because I’m a feminist pervert wanker.
Watch: I don’t understand why more people don’t spend their lives just watching monster films because they are the perfect metaphors for every aspect of modern life and, just like modern life, are often done poorly. So, watch a monster film, any monster film, and just blow your mind how it will relate back to your life. It’s not just me, Žižek agrees (see former point about being a wanker).
Bonus movies: Just watch all of them or, if you must be so exacting, watch the original Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla, then the entire Alien series, then The Thing, then the new Godzilla, then Pacific Rim, maybe Twilight of the Cockroaches then all of Predator and why don’t you just come around and watch my DVD collection and eat all my scrambled eggs? Jesus.
