the quirky brunette: Sunday Summary

This week, I have mostly been...

Resuscitating the PC!

PRAISE BE!

Following a tentative "factory reset" that did a clean sweep of a ropey hard drive, the laptop (now known affectionately as Lapzarus) has risen like a PC-oenix from the ashes of, er, that ol' auto-repair loop and is now flaunting its Windows 7 capabilities like a brand-new machine.

...I really am the dullest of all possible tech dullards, aren't I? (It's a really quiet news week, folks, but next week ought to see an improvement...)

Still, without a PC, there's no SS. And without the SS there's no Sunday Self-Indulgence from me, QB.

And that wouldn't do (!)

(I'm kidding. You'd all manage perfectly well without this little injection of monotony.)

Another word to the wise from one who is far from it: if you ever plan to crash your entire system, it's probably cleverer to save all your system images and backup components to the PC itself, rather than externally. (It is however advisable to keep your life's work -- writing, photos, badge designs... -- on that separate, less volatile hard external drive o' yours...)

So when you do crash the entire system, the PC has half a chance of finding aforementioned recovery components.

I bin skool'd.

Of course I now have to claw back all my music (and there is a hawge amount...) but hey.

I'm rediscovering all those tunes I thought were epic back in 2003 and now sound a bit like Lindsay Lohan's Over. (Which is truly a bit awful, but I must have liked it once...)

And in a fit of proactivity I have finally cancelled that pointless subscription to a pointless support plan that failed to actually support me.

{Why, yes, AJ, that is indeed a grab from Bring it On}

Here's to being £7.99 better off every month...(!)

Reading

Um, so, yeah. If someone would like to explain this book to me I'd be most grateful. Charseverso.

I've also now started reading this:

sequel to/companion title to Every Day; and I'm very excited that Miss Clare (of Brighton in the rain fame) and I are going back to our literary mothership, Waterstone's Piccadilly, next Thursday to see Sir DL (along with fellow YA authors Louise O'Neill and Lisa Williamson) in conversation.

Wonder if I can add another autographed edition to my collection?!

#fangirl
#totallynotasycophant
#genuinelylovethelevithan
#isthatenoughhashtags
#ithinkso

I'm also very much looking forward to reading this:

Thank you, Evie!

Listening

(although it's also possible to be a-watching) ... to this series of short (30-40-minute) concerts from the 1970s, as recommended by my musical-encyclopaedic colleague, Gary.

It's all rather wondrous, pared-back, acoustic wizardry, with a little bit of banter mid-way.

Cousin Jo, I think you might enjoy these if you haven't already seen them.

Neil Young
Carole King (embedded below because it really is a treat! One for Charlie, and for Father Andrew too!)
James Taylor*
Joni Mitchell**

*cuts out suddenly towards the end but there's still plenty before to enjoy
**features Both Sides Now. I have so much love for that song

{all via BBC4, on YouTube}

Watching

... Smack the Pony on All4 (the channel formerly -- four-merly? -- known as 4OD.

Much of it is still funny now as STP didn't try too hard back in the late 90s/early 00s to be satirical of the time, more of the way people were, and people still are.

Of course there were parodies in each episode of B*Witched, The Corrs, Oasis or Steps, but Those of Us of a Certain Age (i.e. over 25) can appreciate the old-skool take-offs.

... And in case you were wondering whether I actually left the house/office this week, I did. Honest. Here's proof:

Pinterest Pin of the Week

{I love this so much}

Weekly Web Finds

Sensible*

*(this is basically Literary Linkage masquerading as something else, isn't it...)

Little Black Classics box set coming from Penguin (yes please I would like this please thankyouplease) | on The Bookseller

Waterstones to open three-story shop on Tottenham Court Road | on The Bookseller | Sheesh, as if having Paperchase, TIGER and Habitat on that one road wasn't enough! #temptationcourtroad
Gillian Flynn short story to be published | on The Bookseller
Julia Donaldson bemoans library closures | on The Bookseller
Ladybird partners with Read On. Get On. campaign | on The Bookseller
Pushkin acquire Astrid Lingren diaries | on The Bookseller
Kerr pens first children's novel since 1978 | on The Bookseller

Not for everyone (e.g. people in relationships...) but I thought this was a rather lovely and touching piece by photographer Rosie Hardy on how to be single
England's children 'less free to play out' | on the BBC | Sad times. Pretty sure the proliferation of "missing teenager"/"a friend of a friend's child was approached by a man in the supermarket/park" posts on social media are only perpetuating the mass fear here... :-/
What life is like when having your period means being shunned | on Jezebel | via Evie | this is just... sobering. (Article is from March 2014 but still relevant and grim)