Smalltown Boy really is extraordinary. I must have seen it a million times, but it still packs an emotional punch. I know at least four of my gay friends who can talk at great length about how important it was for them as teenagers. 

Cocktail and SBM are actually not bad - lots of good old 'classics' on them. I had those too, and the Good Morning Vietnam soundtrack. I think I got exposed to a good chunk of 60's music through mid 80's soundtracks.

Agreed - being English I had never heard of Raffi until my Canadian wife got me to download it for our son. He is fantastic. Plus he never ever sold out and allowed his music to be used in kids advertising (which he correctly saw as EVIL), which gets him big ticks in my book…I think the point is exposing any child to…

See now I have to spend all afternoon listening to my favourite YMO albums…

Funnily enough, he actually prefers watching him sing. He loves this video in particualr and claps and laughs at every close up of Louis. I have watched it so many times I have started making up back-stories for the members of the audience… http://youtu.be/hLIrS5dtTZI

http://www.slate.com/articl…

Speaking of covers - have AVC ever done a 'hate the original, love the cover' list? Or, to be a bit less extreme, 'prefer the cover' list? This just came up on shuffle, and I think I prefer it to the original… http://youtu.be/KNsbfD9hFkA

Ageed - it does everying a cover vesion of a beloved song should do - it is respectful and rejuvinating to the original, and uses it to forge something new, unexpected, and legitimate in its own right as a song. I don't know Boris so will do some downloading when I get home from work. Any suggestions?

Agree with the Mason & Dixon love - went right into my top ten novels when I read it.

The first tape i ever bought was the TMNT soundtrack. The second was the Batman soundtrack. Both are awesome. "T.U.R.T.L.E POWER!"

My 18 month old son loves Louis Armstrong (singing). Since he was very small he would immediately stop crying as soon as you put on "Hello Dolly" and he now tries to sing along…It is pretty adorable. I have spent hours making playlist like "Oscar's soft mix", "Oscar's fun mix", "Oscar's dancing mix"…all of which gives…

We got married at a registry office for Visa reasons (she was Estonian) so I could get her to a doctor and try and get her some help. It didn't work. Once the MPDG's true BPPNB face is revealed, there is no going back….

been there, done that, got a divorce….

My wife was her personal tutor at Oxford so I met a her a couple of times. She is absolutely lovely and quite ridiculously pretty in real life. Plus, according to my mrs, she is very bright.

Our first baby is 12 weeks old at present. And he is currently screaming the house down. I am taking a short break before going back to take him off the Mrs, to give her a break.

Paul Simon and Bob Dylan
I have mentioned this before but, when I was around 7 or 8 my family started taking holidays in France. We would drive to the Ferry, be seasick for an hour or so, then drive for the rest of the day. Until we finally arrived at some shitty campsite in the Dordogne. We only seemed to have two…

Actually they say 'We don't need no education', so really they are decrying the poor school system which gives them 'no education', something they don't need. PF are pro meat grinding children.

Books I read bits of every year
I probably don't re-read an entire book that much, as my 'to-read' list is way too long…

Read his diaries. They are frickin amazing. As much as I love everything he wrote, I would probably put them at the top of my list (and pretty high on my list of 'greatest books ever').

I'm so goddam horny the crack of dawn better be careful around me….