SUFJAN STEVENS - MR FROSTY MAN

If you wanna see Santa get disembowelled and a little kid lose everyone he loves then this, my friend, is the video for you.

Filling your The Nightmare Before Christmas Halloween/Yuletide hybrid void perfectly, here we have Sufjan Stevens and Lee Hardcastle's Mr Frosty Man.



One to pop on for the kids as they're unwrapping their presents then...

ONE FOR THE GIRLS: TERRY RICHARDSON SHOOTS THE BOYS (FROM GIRLS)

Professional pervert with a camera Terry Richardson got the boys from Girls into a studio and did his thing. (Except he didn't 'cos they're not prancing around naked.) The guy who plays Adam is looning around and basically makes the set, but the actor who plays Charlie? Don't care if you're hot - cheer the fuck up.

I haven't included any of the ones with Terry himself in 'cos he's a class A creep. Him and Dov Charney? Cut from the same (non-exploited Downtown LA yadda yadda yadda) cloth. You can catch the glorious technicolour shoot and interview in GQ Style or see the rest for yourself here. Including more like this:

SEASFIRE - WE WILL WAKE

'I don’t mean to sound unkind but not everything can go your way'

A lyric we can all learn from. Me especially. Ahem. So Bristol boys Seasfire have just released the title track from their EP We Will Wake (out 3rd December through Cheap Thrills) and I'm relieved to say it's another beaut. The Hurts-esque track is a nice upbeat progression from their previous songs which all make my lip wobble a bit. I'm actually bobbing around at my desk to this; my left leg is really going for it. Gwan leg.

I want there to be torrential rain in the video. And slow-motion dogs. But then again, I always want there to be slow-motion dogs.

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CRISP COMMENT: M&S PORT AND STILTON

After hearing that Kettle Chips were bringing back some 'old classics' (old classics that I'd never even heard of) like Port and Stilton I knew I had to try them. But before I came across the Kettle ones, the M&S ones found their way into my paws on one of my many lunchtime trips there (mostly for the yellow reduced stickers and the samples at the bakery.) I had a brief 'to dip or not to dip' conundrum but thought a creamy dip might be a bit much with the Stilton flavour so decided against the purchase of a yellow stickered Cheese and Chive accompaniment.

Ohhhhhh, how I was wrong. These crisps barely tasted of anything, let alone Stilton. Every now and then I'd get a slight hint of Stilton-ness and then...nothing. Such a fail. Both on my part for not buying dip (it was reduced for crying out loud!) and on M&S' for their flavour faux pas. They had the usual M&S crunch but that was about it. Massive waste of £1.49. Could've bought one bus journey and 19 Black Jacks with that.

FEED ME X CRYSTAL FIGHTERS - LOVE IS ALL I GOT

Heard this tonight whilst washing up and listening to Pete Tong. (Don't be jealous of my evening yeah?) I have nothing else to say other than I FUCKING LOVE THIS SONG. It makes my heart feel light. (That might be 'cos I went swimming and some of the artery lard shifted but let's let the music take the credit.)



Out 18th November, pre-order on iTunes here.

CRISP COMMENT - SPECIAL K CRACKER CRISPS

Those who know me know I'm something of a crisp fiend. Any form of corn/maize/potato-based snack and I'll eat it. Even if it's stale/has been on the floor/tastes like feet. That's just how I roll. However I know my vice isn't so virtuous - I mean, it's not like I smoke crack every day but it's still not good for me, is it now? So when I come across crisps that aren't so artery-clogging, I let out little whoops of delight and do celebratory dances in the aisles of Sainsburys. 

When I first discovered the wonder of Popchips I died a little inside, and when a man in a Popchips tee shirt appeared at my work and hand delivered me a basket of the things? Well. It was like I'd won the lottery. So imagine my glee at spying a new kind of snack in town, suspiciously similar to Popchips and made by a BREAKFAST CEREAL brand. I was confused. I was hungry. And I was drawn in by the half price offer. So I popped a box of Special K Cracker Crisps (such a confusing name) in my basket and ripped the box open as soon as I left the store. (I hadn't had lunch, okay?)

The sour cream and onion taste was kind of...off. Definitely needs a tweak. If Popchips can get their flavours right at the same time as being 'healthy', so can you Cracker Crisps, so can you. Especially as I preferred the texture of these, and that they were thinner than Popchips and more like actual crisps. 

So healthy crisps aren't so healthy when you eat the whole box in one sitting (400 odd calories, fact fans) but for people with more willpower than me, get them for your desk. I'll be trying the Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar next. Though not for the regular £1.99 price tag - bit steep if you ask me.

MARC BY MARC JACOBS ANIMAL iPHONE CASES

Phone covers were a big deal to me back in the year 2000 when I got my first phone. That Nokia 3210 wasn't going to dress itself was it? Then once the novelty of having a phone wore off, so did the high I got from hitting the market and getting yet another (slightly misshapen) knock-off case.

However, as a fairly recent iPhone user, I've realised the importance, nay, necessity of a case - I've seen too many iPhones slip out of their owners' hands in slow-motion, hitting the ground with a sickening crack. I didn't want to become a statistic so I got a grape-scented Jelly Belly case (two months on and still smelling). But that case may just have been usurped. By these bad boys.

iPhone cases, Marc by Marc Jacobs

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one for designer phone cases but I really do quite want the zebra in my life. Can't find the UK price but in the US they're $48. Go see. Bit much for a phone case innit? Guess I'll be investing in this guy instead:

iPhone case, £1.99, eBay

PEACE - BLOODSHAKE

I went for a run along the canal this morning and pretty much had the towpath to myself bar one fellow runner (we exchanged cheery 'HI!'s and telepathic high five's and it was really quite nice) and a few fisherman. Birmingham band Peace's Bloodshake came on and I had a near euphoric experience, slipping around in the mud with the sun on my face and sweat dripping off me thinking, 'THIS IS LIVING Y'ALL!'. I was soon brought back to earth when my playlist spewed out Conor Maynard's Turn Around which reminded me I actually needed to turn back and run home rather than find myself at the opposite end of the Grand Union canal with an angry brother on the phone asking why I'd not turned up to babysit his dogs.

But anyways, with its Foals-esque intro, and opening line of  'From the belly of the jungle', this song had me hooked from the off. People have been quick to point out on YouTube that they'd 'been fanz of dis song back in 2010 when it woz called Bblood' but I'm gonna put my hands up and say the first I heard of the band was when I got a press release about their previous single Follow Baby earlier this year. Sue me.



The newly released video's psychedelic offering is not quite what I was after - in my head I had more of a dreamy, slow-mo, nature vibe (basically my run with lots of post-production) - but that's not to say it's not a good visual accompaniment. I mean, you don't often get to witness a watermelon being sliced in half with a sword in mid-air, do you?

I foresee this being on my stereo and me with drink in hand, hair all over the show, wailing 'you vibe so hard' as I stumble dramatically around my bedroom for many many many moons to come.

peaceforeverever.co.uk

STARBUCKS SALTED CARAMEL MOCHA

Now I'm no fan of Starbucks' coffee, I'm a Nero girl myself (hark at me being all coffee connoisseur when I only starting drinking it a couple of years ago) but you've got to give it to them - they do seasonal drinks like no other. When I got an email shouting about the new Salted Caramel Mocha my eyes lit up like a glow worm in a cave. 

'Espresso and steamed milk, blended with mocha sauce and toffee nut flavoured syrup. Topped with sweetened whipped cream, caramel sauce and a mixture of turbinado sugar and sea salt', you say? 

I love salt. I love mocha. Surely I MUST LOVE THIS? So after spending much of today in a freezing cold studio I thought I'd tret (yes, 'tret') myself to a nice warm drink on the way home. 

Now I don't particularly like cream but seeing as the main point of this drink is the rock salt and caramel drizzle that perches on the whipped cream, I thought I ought to suck it up and have a little bit. So I got a "tall salted caramel mocha with skimmed milk. And just a little bit of cream." Such a palava ordering a drink in there, I always feel like I need to write it down and rehearse it first.

Didn't want to look like the type of loser who takes pictures of her coffee to blog it (OH HAI!) so I lovingly carried the drink home to take a picture there. And realised all the cream had melted. So it just looked like a regular coffee. Cool. So here's what Starbucks say it'll look like (when have you ever been given a coffee in a glass in there?!):

I'm sure it did look like that before the heat and walk got to it. With less cream, obvs. Look at all that salt! Deeeee-lish. I however, didn't get to experience the crunchy crunch of the salt crystals as they'd dissolved by the time I took my first sip, which I was kind of bummed about that seeing as I'm N16's biggest salt fiend. 

Despite weeping over spilt salt, the drink was still pretty damn good. The mocha sauce takes the overbearing nuttiness out of the toffee nut syrup and the dissolved salt can probably also take some credit for making the drink seem less sickly sweet and rich. Though I'm still glad I only got a small one. Give me a venti and I'll quite possibly hand it back to you with chunks of my vomit in it. Oh sorry, were you eating?

p.s. Kind of wish my name was Lissa.

Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha, Tall, £2.95