Solo Swim

1 The channel is not your friend
2 It’s cold, you’ll shiver
3 Don’t swallow the seawater
4 Try to get the extra-centimeter out of every stroke
5 Rhythm reduces effort
6 Put one hand in front of the other until you grab the sand
7 Think about anything and everything but not about how much longer
8 The water is never what you expect
9 Never give in to drowning
10 Even if you are perfect, there’s no guarantee

(The Notwist, "Solo Swim" - soundtrack music for a German documentary about swimming the Channel from Dover to Calais. The actual lyrics of the song run thus: now that everything returns to this / will your bones relax? / now that everyone says hi to this / will your bones relax? / hang on / hold tight / you're falling off the roof / hang on / hold tight / the ground is going to move / to move)

Linkage

Busy at work, is the sum total of it. I know I've missed comments and such - well, not that I usually don't ahaha, but more than usual, for which I apologize. I also apologize for the taunting-with-inaccessible-fic post; the only worse conceivable thing to do would be to post about all the wonderful Japanese fanfiction or some such. ^^;

Some links, apparently on a RPS-meta theme:

Huehueteotl; or, W. Axl Rose 1, Eminem 0, by John Darnielle @ Last Plane to Jakarta. Part I and Part II. Got this off cis the other day, and literally could not stop laughing. It's... RPF I guess (no slash so far and hopefully not ever), albeit unorthodox in intent/execution - methinks I detect an hommage to House of Leaves. XD If more RPS were like this I might actually bother to read the stuff. Tellingly, alas, most of the random people I've shown it to plain didn't get it. Including my sister, and she likes both Gn'R and Eminem.

(I've actually been listening to a bit of Guns n' Roses lately, because I've been listening to Depeche Mode, and Gn'R after DM is like chasing a shot of icy-cold vodka with a gulp of beer.)

The Book of Fanfic, by msmanna. In which God also thinks Orlando Bloom Justin Timberlake is hawt, just like that icon someone on my friendsfriends has ("It is Adam and Steve. Next time, don't read the translation.")

This was supposed to be Depeche Mode, but it got away from me

Conjure One - Manic Star: my favorite Conjure One track, meaning that - yes - I like it even better than "Center of the Sun". Which is saying quite a lot. It's an amazing song clear through, but come the bridge the melody soars impossibly - impossibly, like if you jumped out the window at that very second the girl's voice would catch and hold you in the air.

The Notwist - Consequence: I talk constantly about the Notwist. I don't think I've ever posted any Notwist. This is probably because I associate the Neon Golden album wholesale with Mirage of Blaze, much as I do with Songs of Faith and Devotion - they're both concept albums to my ears, with central conceits I'd rip off and order thematic Mirage fanfiction vignettes around if, er, I were writing any such thing. And... that's pretty much it. I guess discussing it doesn't involve as much of what Suze calls "lossy overhead" as I thought. XD

They sound somewhat like the Postal Service, only... slowed down and not as happy. XD Speaking of which--

The Postal Service - (This Is) the Dream of Evan and Chan: for those as don't have it already. Technically speaking this is before they started calling themselves the Postal Service, and came out as a collab on the Dntel album.

Kings of Convenience - Misread: because I seem to have tangled the Notwist and KoC into one semantic field, and to commemorate my and Aki's discovery that the guy who isn't Erlend in KoC is unexpectedly and unaccountably good-looking. How do you justify writing a twee forlorn-yet-danceable-in-a-Belle-and-Sebastian-sense song like this if you have Roman-statuary facial features? That, my friends, is not on.

(His name is Erik - can I just say that I love the names? - and while Erlend does DJ schtuff he appears to study architecture and psychology or something.)

Massive Attack - Dissolved Girl: a song for Yukiko. Those as know what I mean, etc.

Stop me if you've heard this one

I... I could swear it was Friday.

Okay, work all done. Instead of going home like the saner next person, I'm going to sit here in the nice quiet warm office with a hot anti-flu drink and blog about ( Mirage of Blaze book 10. )

EDIT -- Ran summary up to end of chapter 2 and unlocked entry. Chapter 3 starts with Naoe in bed with some chick, so I gave up. Absolutely nothing has happened by way of plot and I'm depressed already; lj hiatuses loom on the horizon once this arc really gets going. XD;;