minimania

Christmas 2023

A belated list, but seems it may still be needed somewhat. Some of these & been suggested to D & B already, so talk to John before you decide!

• Game: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for the Nintendo Switch
• Game: Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch
• Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Book: Be Visible or Vanish: Engage, Influence and Ensure Your Research Has Impact by Inger Mewburn and Simon Clews
• Card Game: Exploding Kittens
• Amazon UK voucher
• Steam voucher
• Darrell Lea nougat Christmas pudding - don't know why I've had a hankering for one of these for a couple of years - I only ever tried one once, when I was about 8 and the Wilcoxes had one, but still. They can be hard to get hold of though - Woolies seems to be out of stock of them already, so link is for visual identification if you fall over one somewhere.

Christmas 2021

Hmm. Here we are again. Here's a little attempt at a list. As always, do let John know if you're getting something off this to avoid duplication! (7 December: Made a little update to the CD section below...)

First up there's quite a few books that would be useful, given that I don't currently have access to a university library and may not now until my thesis is finished. Last order date for the UK from Book Depository is 16 December.

William Kentridge: Six Drawing Lessons - I've been watching these awesome Norton Lectures by Kentridge on YouTube and will almost definitely be referring to this in my thesis, but it would be a lot easier to be able to worth through the written text rather than try to find time references in the YouTube videos: https://www.bookdepository.com/Six-Drawing-Lessons/9780674365803

The Studio by Jens Hoffmann (Whitechapel Documents of Contemporary Art series) - this is a great book, which I borrowed at the start of the PhD and have referred to bits from it ever since, so it would be great to have my own copy and re-read this material from the perspective of this end of the research: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Studio-Jens-Hoffmann/9780262517614

How To Fix Your Academic Writing Trouble, by the fabulous Inger Mewburn who runs the Thesis Whisperer blog. Not because I have actual trouble with my academic writing but because I just feel it could do with some polishing and the chapters on Making a Case, Writing Critically and Structuring Your Writing look especially useful. https://www.bookdepository.com/How-Fix-Your-Academic-Writing-Trouble-Practical-Guide-Inger-Mewburn/9780335243327?ref=grid-view&qid=1638735912243&sr=1-1

Timothy Morton: Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World - this one is relevant for work I'm developing with my Porthleven friends and it's come up in a few different places, so feels like it would be a good one to read soon: https://www.bookdepository.com/Hyperobjects-Timothy-Morton/9780816689231?ref=grid-view&qid=1638736313657&sr=1-1

Tim Ingold: Lines, a brief history - this looks a fascinating book which looks at the use of line across many different disciplines, including music, writing, drawing and walking. This one's probably not for the thesis, but it feels very relevant to my work in general - https://www.bookdepository.com/Lines-Tim-Ingold/9781138640399?ref=grid-view&qid=1638736604480&sr=1-1

I do need a new backpack, which I think will probably cost about £70, but I don't know for sure which model I'd want - I'd need to go out and look in the actual shops, so this would need to be a money present.

A teapot would be nice. My acupuncturist has started me on drinking many many cups of herbal tea each day, and often I'm reusing teabags, but it would be much nicer in a teapot which could hold 2 cups' worth of water, and which would also be useful for 2-hour Zoom meetings which don't have a tea break built in. I don't have any specific teapot in mind, but one that comes with an infuser basket would be really nice and would let me use loose-leaf tea or make my own infusions. e.g. something like this one: https://teapeople.co.uk/shop/forlife-stump-teapot-530ml.html . It would probably be best if it could be dishwasher-safe for when the dishwasher gets fixed. If you go for the one in the link, then probably black or white would be best, given all the good colours are out of stock (and apparently are everywhere. Teapot madness).

I bought some masks from Seasalt just before I went to Cornwall, and they've been great, but it feels a bit of an indulgence to buy more even though they'd be useful. https://www.seasaltcornwall.com/shaped-organic-cotton-face-coverings-nose-bridge-pack-of-3

On the more extravagant end of the scale (£65), I've been thinking about this tilting stool from Ikea. I can't sit on a regular chair in my studio because of the slope on the floor - even 10 minutes triggers the muscle spasms, so I can only stand up there now which is making it pretty useless for work. This is a variable-height stool which is designed to be able to be used as extra support for when working at a standing desk and it's for 'active sitting', so while the feet will be solid on the floor, the seat itself tilts (there's a video on the page which shows the tilt), so I'll be able to sit with my hips level regardless of what the floor is doing. That's the theory anyway - hard to say if it'll work in practice but this was the best of the stools I tried when we were last there. It's at https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/lidkullen-active-sit-stand-support-gunnared-dark-grey-70445786/ (although currently saying it's sold out...)

It's been in the news recently that Spotify's owner is investing in high-tech weapons technology, so I've decided to cancel my subscription. Which means I'm going to lose access to some favourite albums that I've not bought yet, so any of these would be welcome. All the links are to Amazon because I'm not sure where else would sell them all. Contact John if you're nervous about the Prime trap and he'll be happy to order for you.

Abrahamsen Schnee https://www.amazon.co.uk/Schnee-Ensemble-Recherche/dp/B002CRJWTY/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=abrahamsen+schnee&qid=1638739084&sr=8-3 - UPDATE - this is the only album in this list that I haven't found in Apple Music, so while I can access versions of the other ones listed here (although they'd still be welcome and I plan to buy my own copies to support these artists properly at some point), this one I can't until I get my own copy...

Any album by The Divine Comedy, but at the moment I'm obsessing over Fin De Siècle - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fin-Si%C3%A8cle-Reissue-Divine-Comedy/dp/B085PJ62P5/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=the+divine+comedy&qid=1638739256&s=music&sr=1-6

and Office Politics - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Office-Politics-Divine-Comedy/dp/B07PWXMM6W/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=the+divine+comedy&qid=1638739256&s=music&sr=1-15

Francisco Lopez's Through the Looking Glass - this box set has become my go to soundtrack for writing - Lopez is a sound artist who makes fantastic field recordings that he uses to create amazing soundscapes. It's a beautiful collection (not just for writing!) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Through-Looking-Glass-F-Lopez/dp/B0026IZ68K/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=lopez+through+the+looking+glass&qid=1638739785&s=music&sr=1-1

Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas - this is a great cheesy Christmas album that I've really enjoyed over the past few years - https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Make-Feel-Like-Christmas/dp/B07HGTP3FD/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=stefani+christmas&qid=1638739977&s=music&sr=1-1

OK Go - Oh No - this has been a favourite album for years now. So many great tracks! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oh-No-Bonus-DVD-Ok/dp/B000JLSZ16/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ok+go&qid=1638740113&s=music&sr=1-3

Blur The Magic Whip - likewise - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Whip-Blur/dp/B00THHH9W4/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=blur+magic+whip&qid=1638740424&s=music&sr=1-1

Alternatively, I think I'm about to replace Spotify with a subscription to Apple Music, which should be £5/month for a student account, so a money contribution could go towards that.

Heigh ho. Hopefully some possibilities in here! 

xoxo. C/POT

Christmas 2019

Ugh this was hard. I'll keep thinking and trying to add things but mostly what I need is time! Amazon.co.uk vouchers always welcome too, of course. And be sure to email John to tell him if you've chosen something off the list!

Philip Pullman's new book in the prequel series to His Dark Materials, The Secret Commonwealth: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Secret-Commonwealth--The-Book-of-Dust-Volume-Two/9780241373330

This is a weird and complicated one: Part of the RSI problem I'm having with the viola is that my shoulder rest has never been right (this is apparently common - as soon as I mention the words 'shoulder rest' to any string player they get a sad defeatist look on their face) so the whole thing slides down my shoulder. BUT when a lovely new conference friend let me play with his viola d'amore this week, I realised that his shoulder rest felt just right. He's given me the details of where he got it, but it's a little music shop in Italy and they don't have the viola version on their website although they do sell it. So I'm going to need to write to them in Italian to ask if they'll please sell me one. Looks like it'll be about £25 or so. I'm thinking I'll go ahead and just buy it because if it helps even a little with the pain it'll be worth it, but if you're interested in sponsoring this one, tell John (so there's some element of surprise as to who it's from!) and I'll hand it over to him for wrapping if it arrives before Christmas.

Breaking the Pattern - pattern book from Named Clothing. I've used their patterns before and they're great and I'm seeing some great clothes from this book all over Instagram

A B.Wear gift card: https://www.bwear.se/en/giftcard/ - this is an online shop that sells bra-making kits. Looks like a basic kit is about 250kroner (around £20) but I don't have time to work out what I'd want and it looks like it might be complicated and stressful to explain to another. Also I don't know yet what size wires I'd need or if there are specifics for the pattern I have! But a gift card would allow me to get started with bra-making.

A travel light - this one by Moleskine has some excellent reviews and looks exactly what I need - but also has some seriously bad reviews, so who knows what to think, but this is the sort of thing I'd like - I'd be using it in the youth hostel mainly when I go to Bath, because they keep the lighting so dim in the common areas that it's near-impossible to read a proper book or do any longhand writing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moleskine-Journey-Scarlet-Travel-Light/dp/B015NG45EW/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=moleskine+light&qid=1575672089&sr=8-15 I like that it's chargeable via USB so doesn't require batteries.

Extra viola lessons with Stephen Upshaw. I think he charges about £50 each - I've got one more to go which was in exchange for the website work I did for him, but would very much like to keep having these every now and then. Not really sure how we would go about this for a surprise but it would be greatly appreciated. Maybe contact him via his website and say it's for me? God, this is hard. How easy was everything when all I wanted was All The Cookbooks???

Daniel Smith watercolour paints - I met an artist-composer at the collaboration conference in Antwerp who has been using these and raved over them - apparently they can be excitingly unpredictable when you start to combine them, which sounds like fun: https://www.cassart.co.uk/brand/daniel-smith/daniel-smith-tube-essentials-watercolour-5ml-set-of-6.htm

There are a few books I'd like to read but I just don't have any time! Still haven't read most of the lovely ones I was given for the birthday. That being said, if there's something you think I'd enjoy (esp. for bedtime reading when I don't read PhD stuff but prefer lighter fare) please send it over - just because I don't want to ask for specific things because I may not have time to read them for several years doesn't mean I don't want to be surprised by other stuff!

What It Is by Lynda Barry - this was recommended by a uni friend as a good book for encouraging one to just get making and stop thinking about what something might be: https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Lynda-Barry/dp/1897299354/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YKGN7XW3BQP7&keywords=what+it+is+lynda+barry&qid=1575730894&sprefix=what+it+is+%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-1

Seasalt socks, always: https://www.seasaltcornwall.co.uk/accessories/socks-tights/+womens The Postcard Socks set looks lovely but all their socks give joy.

Pattern weights! https://www.foxgloveandfield.co.uk/product/jewel-linen/

Low/no-cost John things: Towel rack finished? Cables tidied away in the loungeroom so I can get at the Wii Fit board and actually vacuum the floor by the telly?

Outrageously expensive, in case somebody wins the lottery: Lightweight, high-protection viola case (mine is sturdy but weighs an absolute ton. My violinist friend Mayah's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she picked it up!): https://www.gear4music.com/Woodwind-Brass-Strings/BAM-2200XL-Hightech-Shaped-Viola-Case-Black-Carbon/1DP1

 

Birthday 2019

Once again I'm struggling a bit to come up with things - everything is work work work at the moment! But here's a few suggestions:

Rotary fabric cutter - this will make it easier to cut slippery fabrics and is recommended for making underwear because of that. This Fiskars titanium blade one should be good.

This one's pricey, but the internet declares it to be absolutely the best book on bra-making available. It also has a section on making sports bras which would be very useful in the future. It covers pattern and fabric selection, and extensive info on getting a good fit too - Beverly Johnson's Bra Makers Manual

If that one's a bit beyond the budget (likely - it's beyond mine, alas), then this alternative would at least be useful for getting me started on this - it's received quite good reviews on Amazon although it's not supposed to be either as clear or as comprehensive as the Johnson book. Demystifying Bra Fitting and Construction - note that if you’re thinking Kindle edition (which would be fine) for this or any of the other books on this list, you’ll need to get an Amazon gift card for the appropriate amount and then tell me which book you intend it for - unfortunately, even after almost a decade of Kindle’s existence, Amazon still hasn’t sorted a way to buy an ebook for someone else! 

Repeating from previous lists - these two have been on here for 2 years now - still want to read them, still can't get them in any of my libraries!

• Catherine Malabou Changing Difference: The Feminine and the Question of Philosophy.
• Tim Ingold's Redrawing Anthropology: Materials, Movements, Lines or Lines: A Brief History

There are a number of volumes in the Whitechapel Gallery's Documents of Contemporary Art series which would be useful to have at home: The Everyday, Sound, or The Studio. Or, frankly, any of them that you feel looks interesting would be a worthy read - very tempted by the ones on Failure, The Object, Materiality, Situation, Time, etc. etc. (I haven’t managed to check these links work properly yet so if they don’t - or if any of these don’t, just let me know I need to check - will try to do so soon, but internet can be a little dodgy in Bath!).

Austin Kleon’s new book, Keep Going, is being released on 2 April, so it probably wouldn’t arrive in time (although sometimes pre-orders do arrive a day or two before the release date), but would be very welcome and unlike most of the books I want, is very affordable. Hard copy preferred for this one. If you like the idea of this book but really don’t want it to be late, his previous book Show Your Work! would be well received (I did have Steal Like an Artist here too but just found it in the library and while it’s very good, it’s really for artists who are just starting out - nice to find I’ve gone beyond needing that!)

Running out of inspiration, but I can always do with more cute socks to keep me cheery on my travels. Seasalt socks are my favourite, so either the boxed set of ‘postcard socks’ (or any of the boxed sets) or any of these individual pairs:

Grey fish ‘sailor socks’, Crabs & stripes ‘arty socks’, ‘Cornish Stripe’ socks in either the ‘Cornish Lake’ (teal) or ‘Cornish Rudder’ (red) colourways. But basically any of the women’s socks would be welcome - these are just a few that I don’t already own. They’ve a 3 for 2 special on the individual pairs at the moment and some of the boxes are reduced too. 

A Seasalt gift card would be useful too - while they don’t have a London store (and so socks would need to be posted), they do have a Bath one, so they’re quite easy for me to get to. I also keep hoping (and sending feedback) that they’ll start doing 1.5 or 2 metre lengths of their gorgeous fabrics rather than the 1m/3m pre-cut lengths they do at the moment, so that wouldn’t go astray. Amazon of course would be useful and could go towards one of the more expensive books on the list.

I’ll keep thinking about what else might go on here and will let you know if it gets updated!

Christmas 2018

Oh dear. All I can think of this year is books at the moment, so I'll start there and see what else comes. Usual terms & conditions - please tell John what you've picked to avoid duplicates (unnecessary with the brush pens - duplicates are welcome!). I can give you his address if you can't find it.

Unfortunately a number of these books are quite pricey because they're academic tomes. Sorry! Partial contributions always welcome, either as cash or amazon.co.uk vouchers

Catherine Malabou Changing Difference: The Feminine and the Question of Philosophy.

Tim Ingold's Redrawing Anthropology: Materials, Movements, Lines or Lines: A Brief History

DVD/Blu-ray of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

I'm absolutely loving the brush pens I've been working with lately - but I can't get them easily in the UK (first found them in Chicago). They're online in Aus (with free AU shipping for orders over $15 and if you use the code BUNBOUGU10 there's 10% off - hopefully. It says "on your next order" but hopefully it'll work regardless) at:
https://www.bunbougu.com.au/pages/search-results-page?q=kuretake+zig+clean+color+real+watercolor+brush+pen

And the colours I've been using that I could do with more of are:

• from the Black/Grey colour range: 010 Black, 095 Dark Grey
• from the Blue colour range: 038 Peacock Blue
• from the Brown colour range: 062 Dark Brown
• other colours welcome too, but these are the ones I particularly don't want to run out of as this project has developed quite a distinct muted palette - the art shop in Sydney says they've been discontinued

[Not to be picky, but other brands just won't do for this - these ones have a real brush whereas every other sort I've found has a brush-shaped felt tip.]

There are a number of volumes in the Whitechapel Gallery's Documents of Contemporary Art series which would be useful to have at home: The Everyday, Sound, or The Studio. Or, frankly, any of them that you feel looks interesting would be a worthy read - very tempted by the ones on Failure, The Object, Materiality, Situation, Time, etc. etc.

Oh, and Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust which is the beginning of a prequel series to his amazing His Dark Materials books. This one will be in most regular bookshops (Dymocks, Abbeys, etc.) but probably not discount shops yet.

For notebooks, I've switched to cheaper, smaller notebooks from Muji - the A5 plain books with recycled paper, which are nice and affordable, nice paper, and as always it's good to have a little stash of them because I do tend to zoom through them. (The product code in the page is on the barcode on the notebook if you're trying to find them in-store).

 

Birthday 2018

Sanctuary: Britain's Artists and Their Studios is a marvellous book but weighs an absolute ton. It took everything I had to get it from the shelf in Chelsea College of Art library to the table - there's no way I'm going to attempt to bring that sucker home with me. But it's also enormous and I want to read all of it, which would probably take about 16 trips to the library to achieve. Available on Amazon (cheaper from their 3rd party sellers).

I'm still interested in reading Catherine Malabou's Changing Difference: The Feminine and the Question of Philosophy.

Also Tim Rutherford-Johnson's Music After the Fall: Modern Composition and Culture since 1989

and Tim Ingold's Redrawing Anthropology: Materials, Movements, Lines

As always, cash or gift vouchers would be useful. Australian dollars are good for stashing away, ready for the next visit (hopefully late September 2018... fingers crossed the Financial Gods agree to this plan!). Things that cash might be used towards that aren't easily provided in any other form (in case you wanted to specify a cause!) are: fix CD player, fix record player (I'm suspecting this one's going to need A Little Man but I should probably tinker more first), fabric for clothes, a new jumper/cardigan as I'm down to only one now that's both warm and wearable. Gift vouchers from Amazon, Cass Art (to use these in an actual shop, you need to go to an actual shop - the ones for sale online can only be used online, which would be less useful) or plain old National Book Tokens would all be useful.

DVD of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The Papercut Patterns Rigel Bomber jacket sewing pattern, has been on my list for a while now - I've been thinking of it for (a) the sage green mostly-wool I have lurking and (b) that gorgeous fox flannel the mother bought me. However, it's been a bit out of my reach. It's available as a paper pattern (ships from New Zealand, but free shipping, although likely to take a little while so I'd get on this fast if you're thinking of this as an option) or as a downloadable PDF - and they also do gift vouchers (although for some reason not in values that reflect their actual pricing. huh??).

Recurring post-lottery-win requests:

New iPad

Focusrite 2i2 audio interface so I can return Stuart's which he loaned me about 4 years ago now

Zoom h4n audio recorder because my Tascam one has been a sorry disappointment in terms of audio quality

A wide-angle lens for my DSLR camera would be incredibly helpful for my work. Something like this Canon EF-S 10-18mm, although there are other options for the Canon 600D.

AAARGH! CHRISTMAS 2017!!!

OK, so Christmas is loooooming and suddenly I find a need for a list, so here I am cobbling one together yet again. Usual setup applies - let John know if you pick something off the list so there's no doubling-up and terrible return-based disappointments.

For uni, I am going through notebooks at a simply terrifying rate - the latest one is 90% filled in just a month, but it makes SUCH a difference having nice notebooks, so a backup store of Leuchtturms would be sooo great to have. So far these have been funded by book tokens obtained by cashing in credit card points, but I've run out (of tokens and points) so once the next one's gone I'll be needing to pay Real Money (or steal John's spare. Again.) Any colour, but plain pages and the medium (A5) size please! (note that in the Amazon page, the specification for plain sometimes jumps around if it's not in stock for the colour clicked on so be sure to check it's the plain one before clicking the order button!)

A tailor's ham would still be useful, especially now I'm getting better at fitting :-)

I STILL want to replace our broken Wii so I can relax every now and then with a nice spot of Lego Harry Potter or Little King's Story. There are several secondhand options on Amazon, or in the local pawn shop :-) Usually these are around £20-30. We wouldn't need the cables cos those work fine :-)

The Papercut Patterns Rigel Bomber jacket sewing pattern, has been on my list for a while now - I've been thinking of it for (a) the sage green mostly-wool I have lurking and (b) that gorgeous fox flannel the mother bought me. However, it's been a bit out of my reach. It's available as a paper pattern (ships from New Zealand, but free shipping, although likely to take a little while so I'd get on this fast if you're thinking of this as an option) or as a downloadable PDF - and they also do gift vouchers (although for some reason not in values that reflect their actual pricing. huh??).

A sewing reference book would still be great, especially one which includes a good section on fabric types. The Reader's Digest one is one that's been recommended by the internet. Secondhand is fine (although in reasonable condition would obviously be nice!)

As always, cash or gift vouchers would be useful. Australian dollars are good for stashing away, ready for the next visit (hopefully late September 2018... fingers crossed the Financial Gods agree to this plan!). Things that cash might be used towards that aren't easily provided in any other form (in case you wanted to specify a cause!) are: fix CD player, fix record player (I'm suspecting this one's going to need A Little Man but I should probably tinker more first), fabric for clothes, a new jumper/cardigan as I'm down to only one now that's both warm and wearable. Gift vouchers from Amazon, Cass Art (to use these in an actual shop, you need to go to an actual shop - the ones for sale online can only be used online, which would be less useful) or plain old National Book Tokens would all be useful

There aren't many books I'd really like at the moment. I belong to so many libraries now that most things seem to be easily borrowable and ideas are coming at me so thick and fast still that I don't yet know which of the ones I've read are ones I'll want to read and reread and reread. That said, there's a book by Catherine Malabou that looks interesting - Changing Difference: The Feminine and the Question of Philosophy - I recently read her The Ontology of the Accident, which was fascinating and I'm keen to read more but she's hard to find in libraries.

I'm also currently reading Jean-Luc Nancy's The Pleasure in Drawing, which I'm enjoying but it's quite difficult and I think may need a few passes at it, in small chunks, and I think it'll be easier to have my own hard-copy book rather than the ebook that the library has for this.

DVD-wise, I'm kind of stuck on old favourites at the moment (and the collection is spilling out of the bookcase) so I don't really want to add much. I'm preferring TV series right now, because of the friendly continuity of them when making endless paper boxes. The one set I'd really like which I don't have is Battlestar Galactica - I saw it on Amazon last year and it was amazing, but when I went to re-watch it, they'd taken it off. Grr.

And... in case of sudden lottery win, any of the following would definitely be useful:

I still need to return my friend's audio interface, which I've now had on loan for about 3 years. I'm still looking at the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 for this. An alternative I'm considering is the Zoom H4n audio recorder which can also act as an audio interface and would replace my Tascam recorder, which has been rather disappointing in the sound-quality stakes.

A wide-angle lens for my DSLR camera would be incredibly helpful for my work. Something like this Canon EF-S 10-18mm, although there are other options for the Canon 600D.

New iPad. Mine struggles to crawl along now. Incredibly painful to work with!

Birthday time again

A little list, from which relevant people hopefully will find something suitable. PLEASE EMAIL JOHN with anything you decide to get from this list so we can avoid double-ups and returns! Apologies for the short list, but I'm low on inspiration and time, and there aren't many people who need to use this this year! xoxo. C.

Let's start with the biggest and most unlikely. Everything else in no particular order :-)

I really need to return my friend's audio interface and get one of my own, but there never seems to be quite enough room in the budget to do so. This is the one I have my eye on: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 which has been recommended by several people and I've used it myself at Morley College, so it's a good'un as well as being pretty :-) (Note that there may be cheaper versions than the one this links to - check out the "other sellers" link and do check for postage costs!)

Jenni Gottschalk's Experimental Music Since 1970 - borrowed this from the library but it's more of a dip-in-and-out kind of referency book than read it all at once, so would be useful to have on hand.

Tim Rutherford-Johnson's shiny new book Music After the Fall: Modern Composition and Culture since 1989 - this has been getting great reviews and looks really interesting.

Georges Perec Species of Spaces - nice to have an academic excuse to read some Perec I don't actually own yet :-)

Basics: I'm running through these notebooks at a rate of one every two months! So it certainly would make me happy to have a couple on hand - they're such a nice size, nice paper, nice colours. Pretty much the perfect notebook. I use the medium-size plain paper versions because they allow for more freeform scribbling - note that as you click on the different colour covers in this page, if they don't have stock of the plain version it will switch the style (to ruled, dotted or squared paper), so double-check it's picked a plain one before ordering!

I'd still really like a tailor's ham and a tailor's clapper (John - this is an easy thing to make out of a small piece of wood - instructions are on the internet!!).

Palmer & Pletsch: Fit For Real People is still on the list, especially as I'm thinking of starting to tackle making trousers sometime this year - eeeeeep!

I'd still like to replace our broken Wii so I can traipse around being Harry Potter or Indiana Jones when I need a break - secondhand without cables would be fine (options from about £20 on Amazon).

A sewing reference book would be useful - mama has recommended hers which is available secondhand from 1p plus postage :-) (not in print any more) or the internet recommends the Readers Digest one (which is available new but at vast cost, so secondhand again is fine). Either one would be good to supplement the basic project-related info in my (excellent) Tilly Walnes book.

Yoko Ono's Grapefruit - this is a lovely book of conceptual scores. Recommended by my supervisor as a delightful thing to dip into every now and then. Having seen it, I agree with him :-)

Ho ho ho 2016

Wow. This blog really has disintegrated into present-list tedium! If you're actually following it and wondering where all the content went, try One Creative Thing and/or caitlinrowley.com :-)

And now into the present-list fray for Christmas 2016! Usual disclaimer applies (click back through the posts here if you don't know what that is). If you do choose something off the list, PLEASE TELL JOHN WHAT IT IS. If you don't have his email, get in touch with me and I'll let you know it. If you don't tell him, then you run the risk of someone else having kindly bought me the same thing and one of them needing to be returned and we all know how icky that is...

This has been a super-difficult list to compile this time. Partly because my usual list of books isn't needed because now I have access to All The Libraries - about 7 at current count and more available should I need them. As it's early days for the PhD, I don't yet know which texts are going to be crucial and constantly referred to because I haven't really worked out what I'm doing. Plus having shipped all our stuff from Australia earlier this year, we are now drowning in novels, cookbooks, cooking equipment, CDs and all the other things that make life lovely. We have run out of room and I'm not allowed to think about them (that said, if you've seen something you think I'll love and don't have, don't be put off!)

Sewing things

My big obsession and relaxation activity now is sewing. I've got far enough along that I know this is going to be an ongoing thing, and so there are a few tools that would be useful, and some things that would just be lovely to have.

Pressing tools: I really need a tailor's ham to be able to press curves once they're sewn for a clean finish. There's one here which is getting good reviews, although I'm not fussed about what particular brand. There is also a sleeve roll which would be useful but not as critical as the tailor's ham which as I venture into fitted tops is becoming a requirement! A tailor's clapper would also be nice but as this is basically just a smooth bit of wood to squish down on a seam, it seems a bit mad to buy one. Should anyone wish to spend a little time DIYing one, though, there are loads of pics on Google, and even some instructions. Just search for "tailor's clapper" :-)

A rotary cutter would be nice. This is a hard one for me to justify buying for myself as I have lovely Fiskars scissors, but it is supposed to be far more accurate than scissors and also makes cutting slippery fabric (such as the viscose jersey I seem to be using a lot lately but also things like silk and lining fabric for skirts or coats) much much easier and quicker. I already use an enormous self-healing mat when cutting out fabric so don't need a mat to go with it.

Fabric
I would really like some merino wool jersey, if it's to be found anywhere. I've not found any wool jersey here at all and online it all seems to come from NZ. Some spandex content is fine (as is a blend with natural fibres or viscose/rayon), but no polyester, please, because it tends to make me itch. 1.3m would allow me to make a long-sleeved turtleneck top.

Book
Palmer & Pletsch: Fit For Real People. From everything I've read, this is everyone's go-to guide to fitting things properly. I'm not entirely sure how often I might need to refer to it, but it covers everything.

Vegging-out supplies

Castle, Seasons 1-8. We still haven't seen all of this because while Amazon sometimes brings it back, they keep taking it away again before we've finished.

Battlestar Galactica (new series). I devoured this on Amazon last year - all three seasons in about a week and a half, it was so good. Definitely want to be seeing this again, and I suspect more than once and it's no longer on-demand on Amazon. So so good.

Angel, Seasons 1-5. This is the spin-off series from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (for those who are unfamiliar). I don't think I've ever seen this all the way to the end but there's certainly some great moments in there and it's no longer on-demand on Amazon. First-rate fare for those necessary study-procrastination rest and recovery days.

Star Trek: Into Darkness DVD - can't believe we don't own this one already. Benedict Cumberbatch as the bad guy :-)

Black Sails, Season 2 and Season 3 - I have season 1, and 2 and 3 were great but only on Amazon, which, as you'll be noticing by now I'm sure, cannot be relied on to have favourite TV shows at the ready when one is in need of them! This show is wonderful, though. Marvellous pirates.

Housey things

There aren't many of these I need, really - given the whole household's worth of stuff still in boxes in the basement, but if you were so inclined, any pretty little things from Georg Jensen would of course be well received :-)

A bit of a weird one, but my CD player stopped working pretty much as soon as we got it home from Aus, so that needs to go for repairs. I don't know where or how much it'll cost yet, but any contribution would be well received

Actually...

There are a couple of PhD-related supplies that would be useful:

Gorillapod flexible tripod. For videoing in strange locations

Light diffusion kit. For videoing at home and photographing artworks without strange light-bouncing effects happening

A new scanner would help me to not scream obscenities through the house every week when I go to scan my PhD notes and the Epson continually throws errors at me/won't work if anything is plugged into any other USB port/seems to conform to no logic at all.

Usual gift-vouchers to Amazon.co.uk or Cass Art (note that the vouchers at the Cass website can only be used online but half the joy is going to the shop and poking around all the little bits, so unfortunately this one would require somebody to actually go to a Cass shop to get a real-world gift voucher. I don't know why this system is so archaic and weird.)

and there's one book which sounds like it might be useful and interesting and which none of the libraries currently have (although I should be able to request that Bath Spa buys it in for me, so don't feel you have to - it's rather pricey!) - Composing Under the Skin: The Music-Making Body at the Composer's Desk by Paul Craenen

Crazy expensive stuff that I don't anticipate anyone has the funds for

A new iPad - 9.7" iPad Pro, WiFi + 4G, 64Gb+ - MacRumors reckons there'll be a new one out soon (probably around March/April going by the average time between releases) so I've been waiting for that to see if it's worth getting. There's a fair chance that it won't be though, given that Apple have removed the headphone jack from the latest iPhone, so if you win EuroMillions, just go for it :-) If you want to contribute to this one, either contact John to go forth and get an Apple gift voucher (note: it needs to be an Apple UK one, not Apple Australia or iTunes anywhere) or the dull option of just money would be welcome.

A new Wii / Wii U console - because the one we have seems to be dead. This would need to be bought from a UK retailer as Wiis are region-encoded. There is a cheaper option, though, but you'd need to talk to John - this is to buy a used Wii that lacks cables, sensor bar etc (because ours all work and it's only the main unit that's ceased to proceed) which is about £20-30 (instead of the about £250 for the new model)

Biirrrrrrrrrthday 2015

Lists lists lists. Trying to start this one a bit early.

Also starting with a bit of a wallet-thumper, but even a donation towards this one would be great (Note!! Thanks to the generosity of my friend Stuart, my immediate crisis for this has been solved - I'll still need to buy it sometime fairly soon, but everything's working OK for now and I don't have a deadline on when I need to return the loaned one) - my MBox 2 interface isn't playing at all nicely with my (now-two-years-old-you'd-think-they'd-have-fixed-the-problem-by-now) operating system and puts crackling noises all over any output sound after about 40 seconds which makes it a wee bit difficult to edit stuff. I've now had 3 audio engineers recommend me the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 as a fantastic interface with great inputs and output sound, plus MIDI built in. Or if that's a little too much, the 2i2 is also an option - no built in MIDI, but I do still have Cashman's little MIDI box that he gave me about 9 years ago and it still seems to work, so maybe that's OK (I use MIDI when playing in from my digital piano, just so you have some context there!)

Much more affordable are:

Mapping It Out: An Alternative Atlas of Contemporary Cartographies - a new book, not just geographical maps but conceptual ones too, I gather. Thinking this could be a very interesting resource, esp as regards developing a visual narrative for the Crossing Dartmoor performance this summer.

A second contact mic so I can record inaudible sounds in STEREO. Woot! The one I have is a Jez Riley French C-series (£35 incl. UK shipping), so another one of those would be grand. Would need a 1/4" to XLR adaptor to go with it (£20) (ordering form's a bit complicated - adaptor is further down the page than the C-series)

Warehouse 13 season 2 on DVD

The Anselm Kiefer Studios book that was on the Christmas list.

Disney Epic Mickey Wii game. My mother is going to be shocked at this, but it's getting great reviews and hey! you get to play with paint! And use paint thinner to erase your enemies!!

Boring Formless Nonsense: Experimental Music and the Aesthetics of Failure by eldritch Priest

Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music by the great Alvin Lucier

Star Trek: Into Darkness DVD - not sure how we missed getting this one earlier...

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One DVD - we missed this at the cinema, but have loved (and own) both the previous 2 films and will definitely be seeing the final installment when it's out. This one is being released just in time for my birthday :-)

CDs of interesting music? Not really sure what I'd like - interested to try some new stuff, either classical, sound art or pop. Not really picky (not country...)!