It's a Blog Meme thing. If you're looking for something highbrow to read, check the Orwell quote in the previous post. Quality stuff. I'm planning a big essay on why the essays of George Orwell should be compulsory reading for everyone between the ages of 14 and 18. We'd have to set up some sort of surveillance system to make sure everybody complies of course...

But back to the matter at hand. Merrick (of the Orwell essays) completed the 7x7 blog Meme thingie that I'd tagged him with. However, he decided to expand it to make it the 9x9 blog meme. Then he requested (in the comments) that I complete the additional two questions. Which I'm doing now.

Nine Things I've Only Done Once And Don't Expect To Do Again

1. Build a soft-drinks factory in Saudi Arabia.
2. Spend three days driving around the UK in a van with my best friend and three big bags of cash desperately trying to find somewhere he could buy a fake passport because he had pissed off both the police and some quite violent drug dealers.
3. Run naked across one of London's major bridges.
4. Get shot at (expect? well, it's more a fervent hope).
5. Datura.
6. Vote Labour.
7. Laugh derisively and call someone "a sad fuck" when they proudly show me their new tattoo.
8. Lose my virginity.
9. Get arrested and interrogated by the KGB.

Nine Songs I Don't Think I Could Live Without

1. Madame George - Van Morrison
2. Listening Wind - Talking Heads
   (This song is from the first album I ever bought - Remain In Light - and it holds within it almost everything that's made music such a central part of my life. It deals with politics through the poetry of magical realism and reveals a timeless wisdom... all the while keeping you mesmerised by the rumbling music behind Byrne's imagery.)
3. All Is Full Of Love - Björk
4. Life on Mars? - David Bowie
   (I just can't imagine never hearing that lilting "It's a god-awful small affair..." opening again.)
5. Back to the Old House - The Smiths
6. It's Only Love - The Beatles
7. Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles
   (To be honest, there's about a dozen Beatles songs that spring instantly to mind when I try to imagine "songs I couldn't live without". These were merely the two that muscled their way to the front and provided a good cross-section of the band's music. Lennon's gloriously ragged voice on the chorus of It's Only Love gives me goosebumps nearly every time. And well... Tomorrow Never Knows needs no justifications from me.)
8. Until The End of The World - U2
   (from Achtung Baby when the band were at their peak. For those of you who can't see past the whole 'Bono' thing, it really is your loss. During the early 90s, for about about 4 years, U2 made truly sublime music. And this track captures the whole period perfectly. It also drags me right back there... to a very groovy period of my life indeed. Ace.)
9. Gloria - Patti Smith