No way is this post going to be riding along with that commercialised Valentine's Day bandwagon.

Oh,who am I kidding? I can't help but get involved in these money-making scams they call feat days and whatnot. Not only is Valentine's Day completely overrated, it's also unnecessary, pointless and sets a really bad example to guys (a note to any of our male readers: you ever want a girlfriend for any serious amount of time, you better show your love for her more than once a year, idiots).

Dayum. That totally makes me sound like a bitter old maid, doesn't it?

Anyway. Before I get to the real purpose of this post, let's update you on the history of St. Valentine's Day, shall we? First of all, it doesn't celebrate or honour just one person or god. The Valentines the day remembers are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni, two religious martyrs dating back centuries; Valentine of Terni became bishop of Terni about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the reign of the Roman Emperor Aurelian. Valentine of Rome was a priest who became a martyr almost 60 years later. The flower crowned skull of the second St Valentine can be seen in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Rome (just in case all your heartfelt romantics thought there was nothing remotely sinister or gory about the day).

("Hey honey, I'm taking you to Rome to see part of the history of St. Valentine's Day!"
"Ooh, what is it? One of those fountains of love? A carriage ride around the romantic city so we can see all the famous places to do with it?"
"No, it's the skull of one of the murdered saints from nearly a thousand years ago! Isn't that just so darn sweet?!")

Aaaanyway. Evidence shows that no romantic elements were present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the 14th century, distinctions between Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni were lost, and they became, essentially, one person.

*imagines Voldemort and Professor Quirrell from Harry Potter*

*imagines Voldemort and Professor Quirrell from A Very Potter Musical*

*is ROFL*

But I digress.

So there could be influences from ancient Roman festivals (For example, in the ancient Athenian calendar part of January and February was the month of Gamelion, dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera) poetry, ("For this was on Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate," Chaucer) medieval times (a "High Court of Love" was established in Paris on Valentine's Day in 1400!!), the Renaissance and of course modern day (or fairly recent, at least) ideals and traditions, the fact remains that even if the core themes of love and courtship are celebrated, no one seems to really care about the history of the day, or even anything to dio with it that doesn't involve shopping or fancy restaurants. Not that I don't like giving gifts or receiving gifts or eating nice food. It's just...y'know.

All right, rant over. You can now consider yourself briefly educated in all things the history of Valentine's Day (though it should really be 'Valentines' Day').

And now for the most important (and least torturous) thing. Music.

Colbie Caillat's music is always so cheerful. This one ('I Do') just makes me smile!

Aww, this one's so beautiful 'Some Surprise' by Lisa Hannigan and Gary Lightbody! An incredible duet, and it was part of a charity album, too.

My personal favourite: a cover of the song 'Lovecats' by the Cure, performed by Katie Melua (meh) and Jamie Cullum (AMAZING.) Though the two together make a pretty good combination.

Anyway. I was going to do some depressing songs for all you Anti-Valentine-rs, but that would just bring down the mood again after listening to such wonderful music.

This is one bitter, twisted, pessimistic Allie signing out, albeit it with even more tuneful ears than usual.

Any vampires that sparkle are clearly fairies.

(Well? Did that sound more like a Tora-titled post?)

I've been watching a lot of movies lately. Too many. Although, really there isn't such a thing...Especially musicals. And now I can't get the songs out of my head. Even when I'm supposed to be working through my mountains of work. When I'm online, there should be an advantage to being a fast typer (aside from the fact that any keyboard I use protests vehemently to my incessant hammering) but I never seem to have enough time, ever.

Time. Healer of all wounds my- Well, never mind that. But needless to say it's tendency to run away with itself gets on my nerves. But you know how it is...the show must go on. You don't need to hear my complaining about how little time I have to do stuff. (Although, mentioning it does give me a chance to tell you about one of my favourite books ever - The New Policeman by Kate Thompson. Awesome, awesome book. Vivid, funny, and full of Irish mythical people and legends Tír na n'Óg here I come! Hey, I might even do a review of it next time I get around to re-reading it...)

Not sure how many of you will be reading this, but I haven't posted in a while, so I decided I'd better do something to show y'all I'm still alive....

Current Book: Specials, by Scott Westerfield - this author was recommended to me by a friend, but since I couldn't get my hands on Leviathan (Don't worry, I know it's supposed to be brilliant, and I'm in the process of tracking it down!) I found The Uglies series to get me through while I wait. So far it looks good - it's pure dystopian, which I can only read in small doses (Needless to say it took me a long time to build myself up to read Catching Fire, and - I know, I know, everyone shall shun me for this - I haven't read Mockingjay yet...sorry fellow Hunger Games fans!) though I do love it. Something to do with my constant state of pessimsim and depression, apparently. Too many apocalyptic thoughts are bad for the system. 

Current Playlist: Joni Mitchell, Joni Mitchell, Joni Mitchell, and, er, did I mention Joni Mitchell? I am a self-confessed folk and alternative rock addict, and I've sort of been raised on old music like this, so it only seems natural that I've got one of her albums on constant repeat right now. I'll move onto something else for a while soon, but her songs are so inspiring I doubt I'll be back to stay away for long. My current favourite is definitely Woodstock...so ethereal...

Current Colour: Probably the same as usual. I don't spend so much time thinking about my favourite colours...although colours around me, now that's a different story. There was something bright, bright green I saw recently that I loved...but now I can't think what it was. 

Current Favourite TV Show: The Big Bang Theory! Thank the Lord for boxsets! Several straight hours of Sheldon have cheered me right up about my own state of geekiness. (Who says I don't do anything constructive on weekends?)

Current Book Wishlist: Still so many. To finish reading Matched by Ally Condie (to cut a long story short, I treated the bookshop rather like a library that day, but I did, unfortunately, have to go eventually. Though I was not kicked out, no matter what anyone tells you!), to get some of the fantastic YA books that everyone's talking about at the moment, and also to get a few of those less publicised novels that I haven't seen anywhere yet...including Joe Craig's Lifters! (edit- which I have just been informed isn't even out yet...the publication date was moved back to the end of September? GASPETH! What am I going to do now??)

Current Needs: to find twinsister dearest, wherever she has disappeared off to, to make the pile of work waiting for me as soon as the weekend's over vanish, and to find something sweet to eat...

Current Bane of My Existence: my internet connection, which is being decidedly dodgy at this moment. 

Current Objects Around Me: several CDs, random sheets of paper, random pens, game and DVD boxes, the night sky out the window. 

Currently Thinking: I better schedule some posts just in case I disappear for a while again...

Allie

And, by the way, Tora, I do read books for myself. I also just like to write reviews about those books. (Read: I write reviews when I've got writer's block for my normal form of writing. Just in case any of you readers didn't figure that out already...and as you can see I get writer's block often. Not a good sign. But what else can I do?) 

Allie's Music Meme...

This is where you put your iPod/music playing apparatus on shuffle, and for every question, you answer with the song that's playing. Twinsis introduced me to it...As you know I'm a music maniac, so I'm just glad I didn't have to choose...one thing I'm kinda annoyed about is that no Adele songs came up, even though she's one of my favourite artists, and I listen to her albums almost more than any of the others...but alas, that is the way of doing things randomly...

Opening Credits: Drive My Car, The Beatles

Waking Up: Puncture Repair, Elbow

First Day at School: Dog Days Are Over, Florence and The Machine

Falling in Love: Hard Headed Woman, Elvis Presley

Fight Song: Moondance, Van Morrison

Breaking Up: Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves, Eurythmics

Prom: Black Horse And The Cherry Tree, KT Tunstall

Life's OK: Jigsaw, Ryan Sheridan

Mental Breakdown: Uprising, Muse

Flashback: Last Leaf, The Cake Sale (it's a charity album)

Getting Back Together: Homebird, Foy Vance

Wedding: Girl With One Eye, Florence And The Machine

Birth of Child: An Audience With The Pope, Elbow

Final Battle: This Love (Will Be Your Downfall), Ellie Goulding

Death Scene: Travelin' Soldier, Dixie Chicks

Funeral Song: Marchin' On, OneRepublic

End Credits: Bedshaped, Keane

After Credits Twist: SING, My Chemical Romance

Verdict (Your view of what all this means): Errr....That I have excellent musical taste?

No, really, I think it means:

The start is pretty happy, sort of carefree, but with underlying tones of emptiness...then school starts and it's all hope, but when it came to love life sort of laughed at me for a while. I had friends, but I was a dreamer, and I fell easily for façades. I broke up with my boyfriend because I wanted to be independent and even though I thought I was in love, really in love, there was too much going on and I needed a break. I celebrated being tough and single, and I was upbeat and happy for a while. But then everything started to get to me, being alone without anyone to really depend on wasn't working. I got paranoid and was on the verge of becoming an anarchist when I thought about what I used to have and how I wanted it back. I wanted to go home, and boyfriend took me back; he'd been in love with me the whole time. Our wedding was a bit of a shambles because neither of us wanted a huge-fluffy-princess-and-prince event, and we just wanted to snub society by saying, 'Look, we're young and madly in love, and we're going to do this our way, OK?' by choosing the most inappropriate first dance songs we could think of. And then we had kids and we were totally devoted to them, but we wanted them to grow up happy but with values and everything, but still knowing we'd drop everything for them if they needed us. Love was ultimately the downfall of things...there was a death out in CountryAndWesternLand, but we knew at the funeral that we had to keep marching on, keep living. So I decided I'd start doing good deeds for people, and fighting because even though I knew I'd probably lose, I might be able to save people. And stuff.

Local Natives

I know, I know, this blog is turning into a place where I promote things I love...but I promise I'll try to keep the badgering-you-to-listen-or-read-something to a minimum.

Just going to post this video, because I find the song so awe-inspiring. As the title of this post explains, it's by Local Natives, and it's by far my favourite song of theirs...

Oh. It won't let me embed it...for some reason...Grr.

Guess I'll just tell you the title and copy out the link. It's called Who Knows Who Cares from the album Gorilla Manor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hhE_sqJG3g&feature=artist

(If you want to listen to just the song, skip straight to 1:33.)

Very beautiful. Excellent for getting rid of writer's block.

I'll do a proper post soon!

Allie