Thanks to Swearing Mother...

...here are my own crazy eights. And before you ask, they are in no particular order.

Eight things I am passionate about

1. laughing
2. time spent with friends, including those members of my family that I consider friends
3. the power of the bathtub
4. falling in love, although it happens too infrequently
5. sex
6. a well made Negroni in winter
7. a cold, refreshing Mojito in summer
8. hairy chests and beer bellies



Eight things to do before I die

I don't have great plans in this area, you know. It's acttually quite dull. I don't want to climb Everest. I don't want to cross the Atlantic in a pedalo. I absolutely don't want go to Disneyland. I just want to be happy. Here are a few things that would make me happy...

1. get my light from under this damn bushel
2. marry Rufus Wainwright
3. divorce Rufus Wainwright, but only if I get to keep some money and the sex tapes we made



Eight things I say often

there are the phrases that I use far too regularly for my own good....

1. are you on drugs?
2. no shit, sherlock
3. he's just a fucking nuisance, that boy
4. and I'm like, yeah right, whatever

and then there are the ones that I wish I didn't have to say quite so often....

5. is the flight on time today?
6. aisle please, as close to the front as possible
7. non-smoking room, with a double bed on a high floor, please
8. can I order some room service please?


Eight books I have read or am still reading

Each of these books has affected me in one way or another. Usually they just make me incredibly sad to have finished them - the best possible reaction to a book, in my opinion...

1. From Blue to Black, Joel Young
2. The Good Life, Jay McInerney
3. If no-one speaks of remarkable things, Jon McGregor
4. The line of beauty, Alan Hollinghurst

The above books are all recent reads, and all come highly recommended. The next three are authors whose every piece of work I have read and adored :

5. Douglas Coupland
6. Brett Easton Ellis
7. Augusten Burroughs

And finally, in a well-deserved category of his own (I'm suggesting 'literary God') I give you my all-time favourite author....

8. Toby Litt



Eight songs to listen to over and over again

Such a difficult thing to do - it's like that question we all hate "what kind of music do you like?"...

That said, choosing number one is easy - it has to be 'Oh What a World' by Rufus Wainwright. It's where the title of this blog comes from. In fact, Number one should be the whole album on which this track appears - Want One.

1. Oh What a World/Want One - Rufus Wainwright
2. Hong Kong Garden - Siouxsie and the Banshees
3. Jealousy - Pet Shop Boys
4. Valencia - Sara Montiel
5. La Vie en Rose - Edith Piaf / Grace Jones / KD Lang
6. Read my mind - Killers (Pet Shop Boys remix)
7. Suedehead - Morrissey
8. Glorious - Andreas Johnson



Eight things that attract me to friends

1. will I be ashamed to be seen in public with this person?
2. can they advance my career in any way?
3. will they buy me dinner?
4. do they have a villa that I can use?
5. do they have an attractive son in his late twenties?

or maybe this is me being facetious. The real ones are far too obvious...

6. sense of humour - do they laugh at my jokes?
7. things in common - are they interested in what I have to say?
8. attractiveness - will they put up with always being considered 'the plain one'?



Eight people I think should do crazy eight's

Well there are only three, how about:

1. Stew from the tile factory
2. Bruz for a french point of view
3. And the mid-lifer, for a former punk's outlook

Over to you.....