Don’t get me wrong, I understand the reasons why wikipedia are staging their blackout and I do respect them for making a stand, just as I support any other site that is doing this. However, anyone who thinks that the site is 100% a reliable and credible resource to use for their homework is a bit of a fool really.

It started last week, when my left knee began to get a big twinge in it again. I’d had this pain before last year, I’d gone to the doctors with it and had even been referred for blood tests. After a while of using voltarol gel and strapping a tubigrip on it the pain went away. However, it has come back, more painful than it was last time. My left knee looks about five times bigger than my right one. I can only just bring myself to bend it at times. There’s a limp in my walk. I can’t sleep on my left side (my preferred side) without waking up with a start (the pain keeps me awake enough as it is). Getting up and down stairs seems to take an age. As does getting in and out of the bath.

So the other day I went to the doctor’s, where after close examination they told me I had a cartilage injury. A cartilage injury! Isn’t that the type of injury you can get from playing sports? The kind that puts a footballer out for months?! I don’t even play any sports! What’s worse is that I don’t know for sure how I could have got it. My only theory is that it could go back to when I fell over on my street during the great cold snap of late 2010 and early 2011. Back then I didn’t think I’d landed that hard, especially as it was in the snow, but it’s the only thing I can think of. Something must have happened to make it flare up again after so long.

I have to make another appointment if it doesn’t go down after a week. In the meantime, I’m taking ibuprofen and using the tubigrip and hoping it does the trick, as well as resting it as much as possible.

As well as this, I have been looking at some of my blog posts over the last year. I’ve seen how I tried to write a post every week during 2011, then stopped when I realised that I probably didn’t have enough to keep me going throughout the whole 52 weeks.  There have been some good posts, others where I have just written any old rubbish, some of them from when I’ve been in a low mood and just want to moan. Apologies if you’ve read any of those.  Not to mention at least one blog post which got more hits than I have got for any post on my site, which had I known, I’d have posted on my wikinut page (it might have been cool to make a bit of money from my casual ramblings, even if it didn’t turn out to be much).

So what to expect for this year then? Well, after writing more posts in December than I have at any other time of year, I hope to carry on doing it. Maybe not 16, but I guess I can manage about 6 a month, maybe 10 at a push.  I have also resolved to keep a diary this year. When I say diary, I mean that I am going to try and fill every single page of it. I bought a nice day to a page one just before Christmas, and it would be a shame to waste it (I also got two week to view ones for Christmas, which will still be useful even if I can’t write loads of stuff in them). I really want to keep up with my writing, in one way or another. Maybe I’ll attempt Nanowrimo again later this year – or maybe not. I might start making videos again after my (extremely brief) attempt at vlogging. Again, maybe not.  I guess we’ll see what happens.

Anyway, this blog is basically just to wish you all the best for 2012. If this year was a shit year for you, then may next year be a million times better. If 2011 was good for you, then I hope 2012 brings more of the same. And if it does turn out to be our last year on Earth (not that I believe all that BS), let’s go out on a high eh?

The playlist I created can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF3F2EFF1AB17F4AC&feature=mh_lolz

DISCLAIMER: One or two of the songs I have chosen may not have actually been first released in 2011. It was just that this year was when I got into them and the artist who made them. I have also in some cases included more than one track from an artist. I don’t see it as a problem although I know sometimes people try to restrict lists like these to one track per artist. I’ve tried to create a mix that doesn’t have one or two artists  dominating it even so. Oh and they’re also not in any particular order.

The track listing is as follows:

1. Matt Cardle – Letters:  As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I have never been one to be interested in an X Factor contestant, winner or otherwise, enough to actually buy their music, but  Matt’s debut album, (of which this is the title track), is a pretty decent one.  I’ve chosen a live performance for the playlist as I think that while the recorded version is very good, the live versions that I’ve heard are fantastic, especially the one I’ve picked for this.

2. Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks: Their album ”Torches” was the soundtrack to most of my summer. This song in particular was on repeat on my iPod a lot long after summer had ended.

3. Florence + The Machine – Shake It Out: What can I say, I love Florence and this is brilliant.

4.  Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall: I confess, I didn’t like this at first (I speak as someone who has loved Coldplay from the moment they first heard Shiver). But gradually, it grew on me. Now, this is one song from the new album I am really looking forward to hearing live (I’m seeing them on the 9th June. Long way off, I know)

5. Adele – Rolling In The Deep: I’m not the biggest fan of Adele in the world but I can’t deny that she is an outstanding talent. This song is my favourite of hers.

6. The Special Ks – Get Down: First found out about this band on twitter. Checked out their music on YouTube, instantly fell in love with it. Their mini album “BOA” is well worth a download.

7. Clare Maguire – The Shield And The Sword: Not usually my kind of music but this is a great song. And Clare has an amazing voice. Her other song “The Last Dance” is also brilliant (it is only now I realise I should have added that one too).

8. Metronomy – The Bay : Another song that I heard a lot during the summer. I’ve been meaning to get their album “The English Riviera” for a while. I will get round to it at some point. An excellent track, and I love the video to it.

9. Lana Del Rey – Video Games : When I first heard this,  I thought it sounded like something that belonged on the soundtrack of an arty 60s American film. Then I realised it couldn’t be seeing as the song title referenced a relatively recent invention (ok, a 30+ year old invention, but still).

10.  Ed Sheeran – The A Team : Beautiful, end of.

11. The Feeling feat. Roisin Murphy  - Dance For The Lights : For me, one of the highlights of their album “Together We Were Made”.  No proper video for this, so picked one of those “lyric videos” that get made with Windows Movie Maker or similar software for the list.

12. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – AKA…What A Life! – Was never a massive fan of Oasis (got bored with them after their first two albums), but love Noel’s solo material. This is a tune.

13. The Wombats  - Anti – D : The best (if only) song I’ve heard that mentions citalopram.

14. Birdy – Skinny Love: Yes I know that it is a cover of a Bon Iver track, and I did know the original before I heard this. But this version is beautiful.

15. The Hoosiers – Squeeze: My favourite out of the bonus tracks from the trio’s “Bumpy Ride” album (which was a revamped version of their second album “The Illusion Of Safety”).

16. BOXES – Silent Alarm: The side project of Athlete bassist Carey Willets, this is a great piece of indie electro-pop.  WARNING: The video to the track has “Parental Advisory” in its description for a reason, so you may not want to view it if you have youngsters around or if you happen to be sensitive to the visual content. If the themes of the video don’t bother you, or you even like it, the uncut version is on Vimeo (link on its Youtube page).

17. Kaiser Chiefs - Little Shocks: For me, one of the comeback singles of the year. Pretty different from their previous material, but better for it.

18. Matt Cardle – Starlight : A catchy little number about the end of the world. Again, I’ve chosen a live performance of the song for the playlist.

19. Foster The People – Call It What You Want: Another highlight of their album. And like the previously mentioned “Pumped Up Kicks”, will stick in your head for days and have you shuffling in your seat (the type of shuffling you do when it’s not appropriate, or you’re too awkward to get up and dance).

20. Rizzle Kicks – Down With The Trumpets : Again, not the sort of music that I normally listen to but who cares? It is a great song. There is something rather charming about this duo too.

21. Josh Doyle – I Figured The World Out: At the start of the 21st Century, Josh was the lead singer of British pop punk trio The Dum Dums. Nowadays, he is a singer-songwriter living in America. If  you like this (and want to support an independent artist ), then you can find more on his website and Youtube channel. His EPs are also well worth downloading.

22. Coldplay – Paradise : At the time of writing, my favourite song from Mylo Xyloto.

23.  The Hoosiers  - Bumpy Ride: Deserves its place on the playlist for the Hangover- esque video alone. But I would still include it even if the video wasn’t so awesome.

24. Little Comets – Waiting In The Shadows In The Dead Of Night: I first got into Little Comets after hearing them on a playlist someone had made on Spotify. I suppose they are a bit like an English Vampire Weekend, with a lot of Northern grit. This track is from the recently released “Worry” EP, which I highly recommend.

25. Ivyrise – Line Up The Stars: I have been a fan of this band ever since I first came across them on MySpace a few years back (they were one of the first bands I became friends with on there, in fact). An awesome song.

26. Adam Parker – Smart Man: An artist that I invested in on the My Major Company website – the label that incidentally, Ivyrise are also part of. I invested in him after hearing this song. Hopefully, he will be successful in raising the £100,000 needed to fund his album like his labelmates were, as his music deserves to be heard by more people.

27.  Darwin Deez – Up In The Clouds: I heard and liked this song before it got used in an advert for New Look. I still love it.

28.  Little Comets – Isles: The song that first got me into this band. A commentary on modern Britain, the lyrics to this seemed to resonate more during this year’s riots. And the video to the song fitted it perfectly, as you will see.

29.  Elbow – Lippy Kids: Watching Elbow’s Glastonbury set on TV was one of my favourite moments this year. Indeed, watching it made me wish that I was there. The video on the playlist is not from the Glastonbury set  but it is still a brilliant performance.

30. Snow Patrol – Called Out In The Dark: Again, another awesome comeback song.

So there you have it. I know there are probably far more songs that I could include here, but 30 is enough. I’m surprised that I managed to write something for each of them (I am writing these quite late in the evening, so apologies if they look a bit rambling or like I can’t be arsed to write much/edit what I have written).

Anyway, this blog is basically just to wish you all a very happy Christmas. May you all have a fantastic day, get some nice presents and stuff yourselves stupid.  And as a little present to you reader, I have compiled a Spotify playlist of Christmas songs. I challenged myself to make a list of songs without having any of the big songs in (you know the ones). However I did fail a little by putting Fairytale of New York in it. Anyway, if you do have Spotify , you can check out the list I made by clicking this link  Christmas playlist . If you happen to not have it, I’ve put some of the songs on here as well, to give you an idea of what’s on it (trying to cater for everyone here).

Here’s a few for you:

Smith & Burrows – When The Thames Froze:

The Wombats – Is This Christmas?

The Darkness – Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)

Have a good one readers.

Today, the Guardian, that oh so liberal and pretentious broadsheet, announced the results of their reader’s poll for the best album and single of 2011. The winner of both polls was..wait for it…Matt Cardle, for his album Letters and the track Starlight respectively. You can imagine the look of sheer horror on the faces of their pop hacks when they counted the votes and realised that their pollsters had voted an X Factor winner as their favourite of the year. You can imagine how bitter the person writing the article result must have felt towards the voters, as well as their thoughts: “Oh why couldn’t they have voted for The Vaccines, or some dubstep act that nobody’s ever heard of?!” How I’d have loved to have seen them squirm.

The Guardian obviously felt embarrassed by the result, so much so that in the article announcing it the writer ridiculously claimed Matt’s victory was down to his fanbase “hijacking” the poll and “block voting” to ensure he won. For one, most people, except Guardian readers and visitors to its website, did not know that the paper was running such a poll. Two, you could only vote in the poll once as you had to register your email address when you voted – a tactic designed to stop block voting. Not even the most obsessive fan of an artist would have the time or energy to register 100+ email addresses just to vote in what is, for the most part, a not entirely important contest. Not even Directioners would do it, however they would give it a bloody good try (they’re very dedicated, those One Direction fans).

Seeing them try to deny the result was amusing, but at the same time so indicative of the attitude a lot of music journalists have towards people like us – the ones who actually buy records and pay to see the bands they love live. If you are going to ask members of the public what their favourites are, you must be prepared if the answer they give you isn’t necessarily what you expect or want. You don’t dismiss what the people tell you and you certainly don’t go implying that the winner won because of what you believe to be suspicious voting activity. Truth is, there are a lot of people out there who like Matt Cardle. Just as there are loads of people who love Coldplay, Keane, the soon to split Westlife, Stereophonics, James Blunt, Justin Bieber, and many other artists that are popular with the public yet often get stick from sections of the media.  There are a lot of bands and singers I don’t like, and some whose popularity I will never understand, but I would never put them or their fans down.  All music, whatever genre it is, whoever it is by, means something to somebody.  For someone to knock my taste in music would be like knocking my memories, the things that have happened in my life, both good and bad. And as for telling me what I should and shouldn’t like, well I don’t tell you to stop being a pretentious twat, no matter how much I would like to.

I admit, I have Letters on my iPod. I downloaded it as soon as it came out, and  I think it is a good album. Sure it is a little too slick and over produced in places, but it is still better than a lot of the rubbish that has been in the charts this year. It’s not cool, but then I don’t listen to music for that reason.  I listen to it because I like it. The people who voted for it in the Guardian poll did so because they liked it too. And whether the snooty journalists at the Grauniad like it or not, it won fair and square. Fuck da haters, as they say.