When the lovely Stephen Fry was on Room 101 he attempted to put the concept of Room 101 into itself.
Among the things he chose for ‘Room Lovely’ were libraries, the Apple Mac and Kathy Burke
So let’s see if we can be as creative about things we like as those we hate.
People: as Bo Diddley once asked ‘Who Do You Love?’
LIfe (modern or not) – what things make you smile and glad to be alive
Wild Card: anything that fills you with joy
Yeah grab your sick buckets and try and keep it above the waist, gents. It’s enough of a boy’s club as it is.
Bob Mortimer – Bob comes across as one of the most naturally funny men ever invented. A supremely rich surreal sense of humour, able to thro out phrases that amuse and baffle, many have tried but few can match the worlds that he and Vic create. His appearances on ‘Would I Lie To You’ always have me howling with laffs. When I finally get to see them on a stage next year it will be a life ambition fulfilled. I once saw him at a Neil Young concert.
Twitter – strip away all the trolling, shaming and such – Twitter can throw up little moments that lift the heart. I recall when Bob saw Pixies with me at the Roundhouse and was moved to tweet about it and got thank you tweet from Black Francis. Something similar happened to me the other day when commenting on Luke Haines’ “best song from each Bowie album” tweets. I agreed with him on Lady Grinning Soul and someone favourited my opinion
Peanut Butter Kit-Kats: They said it couldn’t be done but they went out and did it!
People- Malala Yousafzai. I mean honestly, if you want to give yourself a bit of hope, just think about someone who opened a school in Lebanon for Syrian refugees on her 18th birthday.
Life- I was randomly camping in Oxfordshire when I visited a tearoom and found myself getting served by a cousin I haven’t seen in nearly five years. Random stuff like that is incredibly cheering.
Wild Card- I’ll also say twitter. This is going to sound mean and against the spirit of Mr Dog’s intentions here, but the recent shaming of Louise Mensch has cheered me up no end. Basically this dreadful person, who had one job as an MP, to hold Rupert Murdoch to account after his minions hacked the phone of a murdered schoolgirl, but who not only let him off but decided that she’s rather work for him rather than the poor bastards of Corby who actually voted for her has been comprehensively shown to be a gurgling idiot. Many have known this for years, many others have suspected but confirmation has been delicious.
I have enjoyed this because Mensch has been a total bully online to people like Abby Tomlinson, whose rather delightful #millifan thing was one of the few cheerful things about the last election. A nasty piece of work has had her comeuppance which has been great.
People: Stephen Fry. He’s just so lovely I want to hug his furry bunnikins bottom in a bed of damp gardenias until the world explodes in a great pink shower of loveliness, rather like a deliciously scented pillow to which one has applied just a teensy bit too much erotic pressure during a particularly wan and lonely night. Perhaps that’s just me, though.
Life: The little touches of grace which illumine our quotidian struggle against the Dark Forces that seek to stultify our lives; perhaps the gladsome glint of a mirror in the garden, or a sinful morsel of fresh-baked quiche stolen from a good friend’s platter. Mayhap the doe-eyed glance of some slender floppy-fringed creature lolling deliciously in dappled shade, betokening who knows what illicit joyfulness!
Wilde Card: Get out of jail free.
National Treasure Stephen Fry writes: “I do urge those benighted souls who find the blog bereft of wit and sparkle to direct their attention to Saucy Saucepot’s gem-like parody of a style not entirely unfamiliar to me; a veritable Fabergé egg of its kind, small yet intricately-wrought, sumptuous in detail and compelling in veracitude. Alas – the phrase pearls before swine rises unbidden to my moist, slightly parted lips.”
People:
Nurses.
Obvious choice, but when I’ve sat in my local A&E, a few times over the years, I’m always overwhelmed by their patience that would test Saint Jesus Christ himself. The way they have to deal with misery, illness, pain and faecal matter on a daily basis, working on a tight budget on those long shifts for little financial gain??
Everyone of them deserves an OBE and not that fat cunt, Sir James Cordon. Nurses rule!
Modern Life: ?
YouTube, Vimeo , Daily Motion etc
The modern day Oracle Of Delphi. To have all that archived material at your fingertips is like the next best thing to having a time machine. Yes, yes, there is a lot of detritus on YouTube but I love the fact I can be having a heated discussion about a long discontinued chain of 1970’s off-licensces that nobody remembers but yet I can prove the existence of sherry on draft at the touch of a mousepad.
Enjoy this golden era though because more and more stuff is being removed and apparently the copyright brigade are coming after us. It will eventually be just videos of cats, people opening boxes and skateboarders injuring themselves.
Wildcard.
Chicken korma.
The Cow & Gate mild curry of choice. Put a banana in it and I’m in heaven. Has to be restaurant, mind, or a good home made one. I have never found a decent ruby that has come out of a jar yet. Any recommendations?
I know it’s a lightweight dish but deal with this…?
I sometimes order a chicken vindaloo as well. Fire and ice! Fire and ice! Stay out my bathroom the following morning though. Better still, stay out of my postcode area.
As a green faced grimacing friend once said, entering the loo after I’d finished earlier.
“I wouldn’t mind but the smell was almost…pleasant,”
People: the Calais couple in today’s Guardian who took a Syrian migrant into their home for 2 months until he made it to the UK. Such a welcome bit of humanity amidst all the UKIP ranting and xenophobia. Also: the lad on the supermarket till yesterday who knocked $6 off the bill of the confused old gent who couldn’t remember his PIN, so it was down to $100 and he could just tap his card.
Life: from the gloom of being widowed at the age of 60 to the joy of finding myself living on the other side of the world with a wonderful woman. Who’d have thought it?
Wild card: Google Maps on my phone (other devices and operating systems available, natch). How the hell do they do it? How do they squeeze all that information in, and then read it out to me in a nice soothing actor-ish English voice – and get me to where I want to go? It’s obviously a real voice – mine can’t quite sound his Rs – not computer-generated. Do they lock these people in windowless rooms for months and force them to record every possible combination of words and directions? But it’s fantastic, especially if you’re living in an unfamiliar city. And, thanks to Australia’s wonderful 3/4Gness, it even works in the middle of nowhere.
“Do they lock these people in windowless rooms for months and force them to record every possible combination of words and directions?”
From what I’ve read on the subject, that’s exactly what they do.
People – John Oliver. His show “Last Week Tonight” is must-see in our house. He use humour to hit at the crappy things in life (his skewering of Televangelists and episode on Food Waste were excellent)
Life – HBOGo, Netflix, AmazonPrime. I have ditched my cable subscription. I don’t need it.
Wildcard – Food Banks. They shouldn’t exist as we shouldn’t be in a situation in 2015 that people need to rely on them (politicians, I’m talking to you), but they do. They do great work. I volunteer when I can at Houston Food Bank and they are staffed by wonderful people helping equally wonderful people.
People: Anyone who does acts of kindness (which is virtually everyone). It’s very easy to be cynical and weary of people but I am always heartened by the kindness of people. Sometimes only small things, sometimes big things, but they’re the things that keep us going.
My son’s teachers, and teachers in general. The patience, care, inspiration and sheer resilience of teachers is something else.
Life: The internet: Everything is here- music , ideas, stupid shit. And the ability to keep in touch with people around the world, and meet new people, and talk silly nonsense, is great.
Wild Card (s): Nature. I’ve spent a bit of time near and in the sea recently, and it was balm to the soul. Even in That London, the trees/parks/river make me very happy. I went out at about 6 pm the other evening and was walking down the road with my headphones on; the light was beautiful and I happened to look up. I just watched the trees for a while, grinning my silly face off.
The body. An amazing, joyful thing: how complex it is, its capacity for repair. Running, stretching, lifting heavy things, dancing, touching.
Buying a new lipstick. Cheap and fun little boost. I often get it wrong but the hunt for the perfect lipstick colour continues.
Oh Bargepole has exactly the same problem @rubyblue 😉
So much to consider! Skin tone, hair colour, outfit, natural lip colour…..and don’t get me started on the lip liner/no lip liner debate.
Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman.
Giving all your love to just one man…..
This is my kind of thread, as an onwards and upwards kind of guy.
People: Olivia Wilde. I’m mindful of the OP brief but I simply cannot find any level whatsoever upon which she doesn’t completely rock.
Life: people who just uplift you with the little things, put their best foot forward and DGIF. The lollipop lady on the bike into work, for example, who never disappoints with a cheeky grin and is almost always wearing shiny gold trousers. Superb.
Wildcard: Carabiner. A great word, and great yokes altogether.
People: my children. And I don’t care how sickening you find this: no matter how down I am, how sick of everything, my girls light up my day, every day. I have never known two kinder, sweeter, funnier, more cheerful people. I tend to think of myself in broadly negative terms, but when I see my girls, and when I see them interacting with others and lighting THEIR days up too, I know I’m at least doing one thing OK. They’re bright as buttons, too.
Life: again on the parenting theme. Whenever I take the kids out somewhere nice, it’s always chocka with other parents taking their kids out too. Museums, galleries, outdoor play stuff, whatever: everyone’s having fun doing something nice for their children and showing them the world. That makes me happy. All that love, all that care, all that conscious desire to make the world a good and interesting and welcoming place for their children.
Wild card: cold curry or Chinese food the morning after, straight from the fridge.
People: Our neighbour from when we lived in Surrey. Lin had a very bad accident, falling onto a railway line and had to be airlifted to London. Doctors saved her life but she emerged from a long coma minus an arm and an eye as well as being somewhat disfigured. Far from hiding away, she has spent the last few years packing as much into life as she can. She’ll be 70 this year and in between the usual family stuff, spends her time fundraising for the Surrey Air Ambulance and public speaking for The Katie Piper Foundation, who helped her deal with the way she now looks. She’s also a member of a Gospel choir which reached the National Finals at the hackney Empire (due to be broadcast on Songs of Praise over the next couple of weeks). Lin doesn’t regret any of it and says that the accident actually gave more than it took away.
Life: The 21st Century. I love the fact that stuff works now. Turn it on and off you go. Cars don’t (often) break down, I have a portable communication device that gives me reliable access to people and information all over the world. 1971 may have been the best year for music but it was pretty poor in lots of other ways.
Wild card: Art. I’m no expert but we have collected a number of pieces that have given us much pleasure over the years. I would never have thought when I was growing up that I would be in the least bit interested or that I would consider an afternoon in a gallery to be time well spent.
That’s an interesting point re stuff working. I remember David Hepworth commenting on Michael Palin’s 70s diaries that it was remarkable how often Palin was taking the car to the mechanic or having the TV fixed.
I have an Italian friend who told me he was driving his (you guessed it) Fiat in the 70s and the back window just fell in – as one piece, mind, – onto the back seats.
Great post – much rather talk about things I like than things that disappoint.
People: Maggie Smith. I just love her acting. I have no idea what she is like as a person but she is one lady I imagine you could go to the pub with and have a really fun night. She seems to have a sharp wit and, I would imagine, an equally sharp tongue.
Life: So much good stuff in life goes unreported that it is made to feel like trivia. It is not trivia.The kindness of strangers, the human spirit in times of adversity. The human race has as great a capacity to love as it does to destroy. We should always embrace the good in everyone and banish the bad at every opportunity. We all have a part to play.
Wildcard: At this time of the year the Swallows are out in force where I live. Watching them swooping and chasing each other at the weekend was such a source of pleasure and t didn’t cost anything!
Lots of them in Fiskardo, Kefalonia a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful little birds completely focused on their chicks. This nest was about 9ft up, under the canopy of a baker’s shop.
http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l522/davebigpicture/Swallows.jpeg
Good idea, let’s be positive.
People: I was going to suggest the remarkable Malala, however on a similar theme I watched a BBC4 documentary a while back about the fate of Christians in the middle east. There was a young girl who had taken refuge in a monastery. She can’t be more than 13, but her maturity, faith and courage was just awe inspiring. You don’t have to have any religion to be able to admire her. It broke my heart to see her and if this government had any moral fibre, it should do all possible to evacuate and welcome such people into this country instead of wittering on about swarms. I hope she’s still alive and can look forward to the kind of life we take for granted.
Life: Random public engagements that don’t end up in a fight or argument. My dad used to embarrass the hell out of me when he did it, but now I’m all for it.
Wild card: Independently managed shops where staff welcome you, treat you like a friend and do what they do with love. My local bookshop for instance
People: No specific human being, but two vital human qualities. First, kindness: someone can be as funny, sexy, fascinating, intelligent and engaging as hell, but without some kindness in the mix it means little, and they won’t be getting into my Room Lovely (oo-er). Secondly, silliness: the world is often a shitty place to be, and without silliness would be unbearable. Two of my absolute favourite things on TV at the moment are WILTY and 8 Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown, not just because they’re funny because they both have silliness in spades.
Life: The internet, of course. As well as being an incredible tool for Finding Out Stuff and connecting people, it’s an effective transmitter of the all-important Kindness and Silliness (the Afterword included).
Wild card: Budget-label 1970s Tijuana LPs.
Please insert an imaginary “but” in between “funny” and “because” at the end of my first para.
People: I’m one of those people who doesn’t have hundreds of friends, but the ones I do have are deep and enduring friendships. I have shared books, records, gigs with these people, been silly / drunk / silly and drunk with them, gone through births, weddings, and deaths for twenty years and more. They are the good guys, and they make my life better, as do all the writers, musicians and artists who have given me pleasure over the years.
Life: not any one thing, but all those little sprinkles of chocolate that sometimes appear on top of the froth of the cappuccino of life. Walking to work early in the morning and seeing hot air balloons in a clear summer sky, the moment when you spot the spine of that book you’re after on a dusty shelf in a second hand book shop (oh, and the smell of second hand book shops of course), doing something that you know will make your wife happy, the rush that you get when you play a song you love loud and have to jump up and down for the duration even though you’re forty-three, all that stuff.
Wild Card: the deep warm glow I had this morning standing in the road in the rain watching my daughter wobble up and down the cul de sac on her brand new bike
I really like that first one. I’m the same – I’ve realised over the years that, far from being the open and approachable person I thought I was, I’m actually very difficult to get to know. I’m very friendly and chatty, but for most people, they get just so far and I don’t let them in any further. I don’t know why. I wish I didn’t do it – I’m sure I’ve struck people as careless or cold in the past, but I do tend to sabotage budding friendships a bit – or at least, keep them at a bit of a superficial level. It’s quite unconscious.
But I do have my small circle of close, close friends. My two best friends in the world, despite living so far away, are the brothers I never had. They know me better than anyone, and I love them to bits. There are another two, despite not being quite as close as the other two, are real pals – have been for 20 years, and I can’t wait to see them next week for a beer and a curry. And Katy, my bandmate – haven’t known her for nearly as long, but she’s a proper friend and I’m incredibly lucky to have her.
Friends are a wonderful, wonderful blessing.
People. Most of them really. The little conversations with nice strangers in shops or on trains. The man in my office who heard me struggling with the help desk on the phone this morning (first day back from holiday password trauma) and sorted out my computer. Friendly service when you are a customer. Friendly customers when you are working. There are a lot of good people out there if you remember to notice them.
Life. It has to be the internet. I have just had 2 weeks holiday with the family and it’s amazing how ingrained a connected phone and tablet is in daily life. Checking my bank balance, google maps to find the health centre for my ear infection, looking up bottles of wine in the super market to see if they are any good, sorting out an electrician to do some work this week, taking photos of the kids having a ball and listening to any song I want to when the kids have gone to bed and we were sat on the terrace relaxing with some wine. It didn’t get in the way of us doing holiday things – it enabled us to do the good things.
Wild card. Pets. A dog and a cat make a home noisier, messier, more expensive and (probably) smellier. But they also make it a home and it was lovely to come back to them after our holiday.
People: Blimey, where to begin? My wife – the best person I know, the best thing that ever happened to me and the person makes me laugh the most. My kids – for doing just enough good stuff to prevent me from registering them for adoption. My brothers – for being my best mates, never letting me take myself too seriously and for always, always, always having my back. Old mates – some of them live overseas now, but when they come home we pick up exactly where we left off. It just gets better as the years roll by. New mates – for reminding me that I haven’t met all the fun people in the world just yet. Mark Twain said “Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full measure of a joy, you must have someone to divide it with.” Joe Strummer summarised the same sentiment as “Without people you’re nothing”. They both knew the score.
Life: Books, football, movies, music, surfing, gym, Arsenal, video games. Most of all, laughter. Proper laughter with tears out your eyes and everything. What’s better than that?
Wild Card: Last weekend my wife went away to visit some mates, leaving me with the two kids. Within fifteen minutes of her departure we had turned both the living room sofas upside down, built a rudimentary camp and were watching Disney’s Robin Hood from inside it and eating cereal straight from the box. The very stuff that life is made of.
Incidentally, ace 90s cartoonist Evan Dorkin (creator of Milk & Cheese, amongst others), did a fantastic “Life’s Great Rewards” strip, which this thread is reminding me of, and one of which I am going to attempt to reproduce here, for general enjoyment:
DogFacedBoy, you sensual cad, you’ve beaten me to it. As the OP of the Room 101 thread, it was my intention to redress the balance at some point with a counter-thread. I’m rather pleased you’ve done it, as it’s a lovely idea.
People: Maxine Peake. A genuinely great actor – her Hamlet was a real event. It’s so difficult to stir people’s passions on stage, but she does.
Life: Poetry. When you chance upon an original phrase of great beauty, it’s such a pleasure. Going to the pub with your friends, too. Is there any greater pleasure than drinking and talking? I’ll also throw in walking in Autumn.
Wild Card: Weddings. I know a lot of people don’t see the point, and some can be gaudy, but two people declaring love is a wonderful opportunity to lock cynicism in a draw for a day.
Accentuate the positive!
People: Clive Bull, a radio London phone-in presenter LBC who did a famous overnight show during the 90’s. There was a great sense of community (not unlike here) and a cast of eccentric characters who used to regularly phone in including Schlomo who came into the studio and did Jewish cookery live on air and Jan from Rayleigh who played requests on her electric organ while her husband Ray held the phone. Peter Cook rang in under the alias Sven from Swiss Cottage and usually talked hilariously about Scandinavian fish. There were daft competitions, eg Guess The Mystery Fruit, talent shows, a posh lady called Beryl who came in to play the piano for people to guess the tune. It was weird, wonderful and compulsive listening. I rigged up a radio to a video recorder to record it all while I slept. Clive still does a show on LBC, very different now but hearing his voice, his wit, shrewdness and interest in other people is a great comfort. As the great Bill Fay wrote, Life Is People.
Life: A random selection, Trees, Grass. Unexpected kindness. A funny line, a great lyric. Friendship. The radio, more important to me than TV. The World Wide Web. This website.
Wild Card: Colour. In art, especially on @pencilsqueezer works, in plants, wearing it, I am currently have on a vivid magenta top and plum skirt – when my helper remarked on it, I said today I was the Sugar Plum Fairy. In lipstick (@rubyblue Lipstick Queen Mediaeval goes with most outfits I find, though low on staying power!) In the home. My kitchen is yellow and blue and I imagine I’m on a tropical isle.
Yes shame to hear Clive Bull all serious now. I used to like the Murder after Midnight slot by “Dr” Martin Fido – true crime tales in the style of Gelliant Gutfright . I found a torrent last year with a whole slew of them
A bit of Sven
Classic bit of Sven – brings back happy memories! Fishwatch is bound to happen someday, isn’t it? I was going to add Murder After Midnight to my original post but thought it would be too long, so didn’t, but they were compelling. There wasn’t anything like them at the time.
I still like serious Clive, and he does have the odd funny moment. The advice hour at 9pm Wed with Daniel Barnet the barrister is my favourite as they are both so sharp. Clive Bull’s programme can be heard 8-10pm on LBC’s Freeview channel.
This man may share your love of colour @Carolina
Man sees colour for the first time
Very touching. I like too how purple got the strongest reaction 🙂
I am taking it as read that my family are already in room lovely.
People – My best friends for more than 32 years happen to be married to each other, & I love them both dearly. They stood at my side at my late wife’s funeral, & Simon was my best man when I married the lovely Carol last year. I mean it when I say that they are the finest people I know.
Life – I would like to say something deep, philosophical/profound, but I would be lying. I am a simple soul, & say that watching Bruce Springsteen at the stadium of light (Sunderland football club) in 2012, with my best mate Simon & both of us giving it serious ully gully when the intro to ‘Born to run’ started was the highlight of my concert going life. The memory of that moment still brings a stupid grin to my face.
Wild card – The sound of my Grandson James yelling & cheering the first time he rode his bike without the stabilisers.
Sorry if they are less worthy than some of the others here.
People:
John Lydon – for articulate contrartiness, and the conviction/inspiration to say and do what you believe is right
Nigel Blackwell – for lyrically debunking the modern world. If more people knew who he was, he would surely be bestowed the title ‘National Treasure’
Bill Bailey – sort of like a hippie version of Stephen Fry with musical ability
Rik Mayall – for just being a funny f*cker
In fact, most people with an open and honest attitude, respect and a passion/excitement for their chosen subject
Modern Life:
T’interweb, connectivity and social media (when used properly – not just for showing photographs of your dinner, announcing that you’ve just had a big sh*t, or trying to start a sh*tstorm by calling someone a c*nt for holding a different opinion
Wildcard: Microsoft Excel, Boddingtons, Canadian Club Whiskey, Curry, Marlboro, and the opportunity that life gives to learn stuff and enrich oneself.
Oh, and decent restaurants selling good food at reasonable prices
People : I’m afraid this is a For Absent Friends toast from me.
Life : Rocking up to just about any folk festival in the land and immediately finding myself among those that are already friends and those that are about to become so. It’s just ten years since my first, yet I now know them to be my natural habitat. If I were a bird (see below), I would migrate between them like watering holes or favoured saltmarshes. Songs to sing; partners with whom to dance; neighbours with whom to chew the fat, invariably good company. I hit Sidmouth earlier in August; by the time I left, I felt I had been there all month, as if I could live my life like that forever. And as for ‘the schottische band’ ( I suspect that is an in joke only for @hubert-rawlinson ) they played a gig in a pub car park. It was like a fete in a French town square, but with south coast holidaymakers looking on bemused and interested, while the folk dance faithful mazurked and waltzed in raptures. I had a Cheshire cat grin for two and a half hours so wide it began to hurt my cheeks.
Wild card : Birdsong. Us clever civilised humans make all these sophisticated noises. Then you travel to another land, or just step outside your front door or leave the bedroom window open, and it all gets blown away by music that has been there for centuries.
The Australian magpies in the Victorian bush; valleys full of nightingales in the Massif Central; the Montane nightjar I hear from my bed at my brother’s house in Nairobi; the curlews on the moors above Huddersfield or the lapwings punctuating the low sky above Cheshire pastures; tuis in the trees above Waitomo Caves; blackcaps in the oak woods of the Rouergue and at the top of the lane closer to home; buzzards thriving just about everywhere above the English countryside; and above all the blackbird melting my heart every springtime. All these bring unspeakable joy and melancholy.
I’m going to try being positive…
People: Friends. All of them. Their kindness is just about the only aspect of my life that is keeping me in one piece at the moment.
Those that have visited my lass in hospital. Doods, Jolean and in advance of them doing so Mike and Heather Hull who are visiting us both on Wednesday. Bless you.
All of you who have emailed me and sent messages of support. Bless you.
All of you who have commissioned work from me in the past. You are angels.
A special mention for a Ozzy Osborne fan who drives the bus I catch from the hospital to Chester and refuses to charge me. A fantastic lady.
People can be incredibly kind.
Life: It’s a bitch but it’s all we have. Every moment even the most desperate and difficult are precious.
Wild Card: Colour. Line. Form.