Mrs Norman Knows

Why haven't I seen this before?

13 Oct 2011
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Not long..

22 Jul 2011
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..before I'm Martin Parr*

*lies

I'm Comic Sans, Asshole!

19 Jul 2011
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Comic Sans DesignTAXI Joe Hollier McSweeny's Mike Lacher Swiss-Miss Typography

Sheer brilliance: designer Joe Hollier has animated an edited version of Mike Lacher's McSweeney’s article.

I love it, I love it all.

via Swiss-Miss and DesignTAXI

Run, whirlwind run
Further and further away
Into the sun
In twenty minutes
Everyone will remember you when you’re gone
And your heart is a stone
Buried underneath your (pretty) clothes
Don’t you know people write songs about girls like you?

What will you do when something stops you?
What will you say to the world?
What will you be when it all comes crashing
Down on you little girl?
What would you do if you lost your beauty?
How would you deal with the light?
How would you feel if nobody chased you?
What if it happened tonight?

How would you cope it the world decided to
Make you suffer for all that you were?
How could you dance if no-one was watching
And you couldn’t even care if they were?
What would you do if you couldn’t even feel?
Not even pitiful pain
How would you deal if the indecisions
Eating away at the days?

Don’t you know people write songs about girls like you?
About girls like you
About girl like you
Don’t you know people write songs about girls like you?
About girls like you
About girl like you

Everything you say is higher
All the things that make you lighter
Everything you say is higher
See it in the grey you crier

Don’t you know people write songs about girls like you?
About girls like you
About girl like you
Everything you say is higher
All the things that make you lighter
Everything you say is higher
See it in the grey you crier

Over-Identify (With Me)

8 Apr 2011
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Annie Fisher Price Ghetto Blasters Spotify

Through the masquerade
You led me by the hand
Whispered the words
"This is forever"
Said from the a silver tongue
That's where it started from

Spotify is amazing, isn't it? And undoubtedly the best part is being able to share tracks with your friends (or enemies? After all, I don't know who's on your Facebook friends list).

The lack of a 'sent' folder is a well-vocalised gripe amongst users and I'm sure Spotify will rectify this soon enough, but I just can't shake the feeling that this sharing tracks willy-nilly conceals a more worrying issue - and which has nothing to do with the Spotify business model/royalties discussion; that's been covered elsewhere many times. No, I'm getting back to basics, to the very essence of emotion conveyed by music.

Believe me, I'm sorely tempted to rattle out an essay on emotion and music akin to the ones I wrote at university, but instead I'll just say that there are a few notable academic pieces on said subject, should you be interested - for instance, Derek Matravers' 'The Experience of Emotion in Music' (The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 2003). If you're after long words and complex sentences, go there. In the meantime I'll carry on with this subjective posturing.

Let me start by asking you a question: Do you like any music? <your positive answer here> Oh you do? That's good! Why d'you like it? <your explanation answer here> Oh I see! You like music because it [delete as appropriate] makes you feel good / gets your toes tapping / indulges your mood / cheers you up / makes sense of the drugs / really *connects* with your soul / other

I thought as much. You're just like me.

My day goes much more brightly when I have music to listen to and - most times - it's an excellent decision. If I've been made angry by irresponsible Government plans to raise revenue by selling off 99% (exaggeration - just) of England's woodland then a spot of Daft Punk on the train back to London really does the trick to put a smile on my face and a spring in my step. The danger only comes when the emotion is rooted more personally, when it turns out 18 year-old Scandinavian pop stars can sometimes express my feelings better than I can (sort of).

In the olden days, if you wanted to impress someone who was on your mind you'd make them a mixtape, recording songs off the radio or copying them over from well-worn albums - the pleasure was all in the making, despite the lossy format.

I received my last mixtape in 2005, not really that long ago in the digital scheme of things. It came wrapped in a piece of silver fabric tied up with black ribbon and included early Knife tracks as well as an utterly romantic (..) ditty from this bunch. I didn't like all the tracks and it was a major pain having to hijack old car stereos to listen to the thing, but that wasn't the point. It had been put together with care and thought, had taken time and effort. It had also required an envelope and a couple of stamps (plus an airmail sticker) to get it to me. And more than that: every song meant something.

I don't need to rewrite High Fidelity here - go and read it for yourself if you're not so lazy that you'll only watch the film - but I do wonder: what would Rob make of all this immediate music sharing and what does it mean for the art of the mixtape?

Perhaps I'm just an old soul, but even in this age of immediate sharing, I tend to view this as a more fluid mixtape, ebbing and flowing with emotion and excitement as whimsy directs. If I send you something, no doubt there's a message to be eeked out - though eeking suggests rather more subtlety than there usually is - and that the choice has been considered. However, this is the worrying part: I may have only considered it for a few moment before I sent it. And you know what? You might have only spent a few seconds deciding to send me something back, too.

This is where the danger lies.

The thing is, if you send me something, I am going to read into it. In the same way that if I send you a song by Billy Joel - because I remembered it was the first concert you went to - if you send me something by the Beach Boys, I'm going to think it's because you're trying to convey the sentiment of the song to me and not because you've just seen the cast of Glee do their own version.

But who's to say that it can't be both? Perhaps I have just seen the cast of Glee sing a particularly stirring version of P. Y. T. and maybe I do think of you and want to let you know that you popped into my head. But quick as it's sent, the moment (and thought) is gone. At least with a mixtape you had something concrete, some evidence of the person's intentions - and it was probably unique. What sloppy mixtape craft it would be to send the same one to many people, in the same way that trotting out your tried-and-tested moves really doesn't win you any points in the long run?

Ah, Spotify. You offer me the means to express my love / vent my anger / share my dancing mood at the drop of a hat, or, more accurately, the click of a mouse. But do I really want this?

I suppose the future lies with playlists - considered playlists based on notes I've written in the back of my diary, left on post-it notes and sent to myself via sms in this country and others, collected over days, weeks, months. And then, only then, when it's finally been composed and succinctly expresses the entire gamut of things I want to say, will I definitely not send it.

Why? Because Plato would be proud.

...

However, let's not be hasty here. I know I'll keep dropping them into your inbox. After all, the urge to dance surpasses all others.

I have a final question for you:

Shall we just dance?

Sorry, Plato...

God Will See You Now

6 Apr 2011
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Desk Signs Dorothy God Satan Schizophrenic Boss

For a clear indication of what mood your minions will find you in, these desk plaques are de rigeur for every God-complex boss.

I know exactly who I'd buy these for.

Available from Manchester-based collective Dorothy who have so much more you should check out.

William Morris would be proud

5 Apr 2011
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Beautiful Design Fetish Help a Drunk Napkin vs Serviette Useful William Morris

These paper napkins (serviettes?) are both highly useful and entertainingly beautiful; it's just a shame that they're currently out of stock. Please could you have some more in time for the weekend?

Via one of my favourite blogs, Design Fetish

Epic Rap Battles

31 Mar 2011
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Albert Einstein Stephen Hawking The Dawson Brothers epic rap battles nicepeter

Gatecrashing a post on Facebook by one of The Dawson Brothers, I came across these videos. Some are clearly better than others, but what a great idea.

This is my current favourite. Who will usurp it? Who can say?!

Check them all out on nicepeter's YouTube channel

McMarriage

29 Mar 2011
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Classy Wedding McDonalds McMarriage McWedding The Best Day of Your Life

If you liked it then you should have put an (onion) ring on it.

So, McDonalds, you're branching out into the world of weddings. And who can blame you? You've got kids parties down pat these days.

Besides, who wouldn't want classy wedding snaps like these?

Why haven't I seen this before?

Today I am obsessed with this

Not long..

I'm Comic Sans, Asshole!

Girls Like You

Over-Identify (With Me)

God Will See You Now

William Morris would be proud

Epic Rap Battles

McMarriage

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