It's that time of year again; the clouds are stirring, the temperature's dropping and there's already been snow in Durham. In the words of Ned Stark from a Song of Ice and Fire "winter is coming". Winter is coming but it isn't quite here yet. Currently it's autumn or fall. I apologise for stating the obvious. I fear that I'm beginning to sound like Rebecca Black who famously informed us that thursday came before friday and that saturday and sunday followed it.

It is Autumn and it is glorious. In Manchester we only see the sun one day out of every 15 and normally this would be reason enough to sink into the worst depression but I Afam being made of happiness, joy and all things uplifting have managed to avoid the lows of the season. Even as the filthy rain streaks past my window I manage to beam truly stupendous levels of effervescence on the unsuspecting public. The secret to my climate defying glee is completely drug free. Yes, I don't even so much as sniff caffeine. My coffee order is always a Decaf Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte with soy (The soy milk is because I am lactose intolerant and I really dislike farting and sharting in lectures).

By the way did you spot the rhyme in the previous paragraph? Glee and Free. 

My better than average mood can only be attributed to my newest playlist "Awfully Nice Dreams of Plastic Trees". I don't think there could be a better name for the gravity defying chunes I have for you.

You might have forgotten the definition of chune so I shall remind you. a chune is a chune so infinitely delightful that it defies the rules of spelling and all good sense. Its capabilities of filling one with felicity and gaiety are both uncharted and unchartable. Lastly, whenever the tune comes on, you are visited by the irresistible compulsion to gel CHUNE!!!! at the top of your lungs.


40 Day Dream by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Bye Bye, to that too good to be true kind of love... It sounds like the beginning of some some great movement. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but once the opening sequence starts I'm lost in the 40 day dream that they speak of. It's the perfect song for autumn. the heaviness of it matches the brown mush broken up golden leaves you trudge through on your way to town. It gives you a new appreciation for the season.


Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club
This is the musical equivalent of Caffeine. It adds that extra spring in your step and anyone who knows anything about anything knows that a step can never be too springy. It's what you need to listen to on your way to classes or the office . You need to hear that "you've got to step up your game to make it to the top, so go!" and that "Something good can work and it can work for you."


Ready for the Floor by Hot Chip
It's a little odd and definitely more than a tad quirky but it's so brilliant. It was partly inspired by the first Tim Burton Batman film. It reminds me of The Shawshank redemption when Morgan Freeman says get busy living or get busy dying. In the song they sing "Instead of carving up the wall, why don't you open up we talk, we are ready we are ready for the floor". That's kind of similar isn't it?


Ready for the Floor by Duffy (Cover)
This one isn't actually on the playlist but it's quite possibly the best cover I have ever heard. It's an entirely different song. I think it's totes ahmazeballs so chances are that you will to as my awesome is your awesome. This is because I am Afam and you are all like me. (I kid!!)


Down River by The Temper Trap
The band is most famous for Sweet Disposition, and while sweet disposition is applaud worthy I believe that the success of that song put a bit of a downer on some of the other brilliant songs that they've recorded. Take this one for example, it adds a little bit of colour to the gray colourless days that this time of year tends to deliver.


Half Mast by Empire of the Sun
The drums provide the perfect pace for walking, especially if you want to seem like an individual with purpose. It resonates with me on a musical level. Sometimes I don't even care what they're saying but that's pretty good too.


Melancholy Hill by Gorillaz
When I found out that this was by Gorillaz I was shocked. I didn't think them capable of such lightness. I'll concede that it's not the happiest tune but it makes me happy anyway and I love the lyrics. As someone who used to make regular trips to a melancholy hill it's nice to know that there might be pastic trees and plastic beaches there to lighten the mood.


Gangam Style by PSY
I just had too. I don't listen to it that often but when I'm out painting the town red, black and purple as I do, this song drives me nuts in a good way. If you have not already learned the dance, then you are a social failure. It's twice as important as the migraine skank, the dougie and the single ladies dance. Get after it buddings and broskies .


Happy Days,
Afam

I am like a child, I am capricious. I am human, I need... I want... I want even faster than I can think of wanting. Every thought seems tuned to the next thing I could possibly think about wanting. I am easily seduced by the things of the world. Had I the means I would be the ultimate consumer. I would make purchases as the fancy took me and even before I had derived full satisfaction from the product I purchased, I would have moved on to the next one, and the next one and the next one.

The above is the description of the perfect consumer. I learned this in my second year at Manchester. If we were to get technical then I suppose you would have to replace satisfaction with utility. Even before I learned about the principles associated with consumerism I learned about diminishing marginal utility. This theory can be applied to many things and most of these things are physical. When you have a bar of chocolate and you eat it, you enjoy it immensely. The more bars of chocolate you eat the less you enjoy each consecutive bar. Eventually you get to the point where every new bar of chocolate you eat makes you worse off than you were before you had it.

Sometimes we get like this with relationships. We race through them because let's face it they're fun. At least there's plenty fun to be had in the chase. Once we've consumed the object of your fantasies we're off like a shot in search of the next one. We forget that the concept of diminishing marginal utility still applies. You enjoy each success less and less till the success sucks the life out of you. In terms of relationships I think it's because with each new one you leave a little piece behind and if you fly through them too quickly there's not enough time for the bit that you've left behind to return.

This, Mena is what I think of when I hear the words smashed up hearts hung out to dry. If we would stop for a moment and allow the bit that we've just deposited in someone's jar to return then maybe we wouldn't be so smashed up.

Happy Days,
Afam.