Day 140 - any colour, so long as it's black

Apparently Henry Ford didn't actually say that his cars came in any colour as long as it was black, which is a shame because if it was true he would have been  heralded as a goth icon and he could have been celebrate today. World Goth Day made it to Radio 2 and the BBC news pages, not bad for a niche holiday. I'm a fan of goth music and have a fairly decent selection to listen to, although it's difficult to actually say what is goth music. If you go to goth night at a club you'll actually hear a variety of genres, it's more of an attitude I'd say. Most people wouldn't associate Soft Cell with goth but they wouldn't be out of place.  I went for some classic Sisters Of Mercy before trying out a CD which I recently found in a charity shop but haven't really given any time too - An acoustic goth tribute to Linkin Park. It wasn't bad but I can see why it isn't mainstream. I was tempted to find my eye liner but as it's about 20 years old it's probably moldy by now.  (Do eyeliner pens go moldy?) I'll have to save it for Emo Day, assuming there is one.

Today was also Buy A Musical Instrument Day. Now this was something I've been looking forward to, a great excuse to add to the collection. Unfortunately my bank manager wouldn't agree. I've been playing bass and guitar since I was a teenager but I've never progressed past playing a few chords. My instruments are basic entry level ones so if I was going to buy a new one it'd be something which is out of my price range.  I briefly considered using some birthday vouchers to buy a Ukelele but I managed to stop myself.  The aim of the day isn't to just add to the collection,  buying mediocre instruments to put a tick in a box,  it's about having an instrument available to have a go and learn to play. I mentioned my green fiddle last week which I can't play,  I also have a basic kid's squeeze box which I can't play either. Rather than buy something new I thought it would be sensible to just try something I've already got. To make an effort,  I emailed my friend Ray to get hold of a book to learn to play the squeeze box. It's a start, about time too.

Did Bitcoin Pizza Day pass you by? This one was quite interesting. In case you are unaware, Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a type of money which only exists online. What's thagvgit to do with pizza? The currency had been around for a while but had never been used to buy anything tangible, that is until somebody persuaded Pap John's to accept 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas. It was the first use of the currency to buy anything real so has been celebrated as being the start of the currency having a real value. That was a few years ago now. How much are 10,000 Bitcoins worth now? About $80m. They were VERY expensive pizzas! It's scary how fast the value increased.  The way to celebrate was to eat pizza, but I did that on Friday. What I'm saying is that this was a long winded way of saying that I did nothing. Whilst looking on Amazon for a Ukelele I did however notice them selling cryptocurrency wallets,  basically a secure usb drive. But that kind of turns it into a tangible thing so why bother?

For Harvey Milk Day I researched who he was using Wikipedia.  I knew that there was a film about him but I haven't seen it. The web says that he was the first openly gay American politician. I didn't have time to watch the film (nor access to a copy) but I'll keep an eye out for it, assuming that it hasn't been hollywoodified. 

For Sherlock Holmes Day I was going to watch the Guy Richie film but I ran out of time. Instead I watched a trailer for the new Sherlock Gnomes film. It doesn't look great if I'm honest.

It'll be tricky to celebrate over the next few days as I'm off to play volleyball in Brighton. Hopefully I won't be hit with vertigo again like I was for the hockey! I'll give it a go though. Thursday is Escargot Day if anyone fancies trying snails.