What a fucking awful day. David Bowie has died.

That sentence was really hard to write. I welled up before I even got to the end of his first name.

I don’t want this site to get in the habit of posting obituary after obituary of every passing celebrity we have a vague fondness for, who may be tangentially linked to what we write about. But Bowie… goddamnit, this one hits me right in the heart.

Today was going to be the day we posted a review of – heartbreakingly it turns out to be Bowie’s last album – Blackstar. It’s a tough listen, perhaps one to appreciate rather than truly enjoy, but today’s news has added a new layer of sadness to it that I can’t think about right now. It turns out that everything we thought we knew about Bowie’s past 18 months of activity was wrong, as writer Matthew Sweet said earlier this morning “Good lord, he was saying goodbye and we never knew it.”

So I feel like we need a different tribute. I listen to David Bowie every day of the year, so I’m not sure what else I can possibly do in private or public to honour the man. There are enough articles already published today that will give you a potted history. There are also some cracking books you should definitely read if you want to immerse yourself in 50 years of Bowie brilliance: The Complete David Bowie by Nicholas Pegg, Chris O’ Leary’s Rebel Rebel, Starman by Paul Trynka… And Christ knows there there are 28 albums worth of just incomparably wonderful music to get to grips with, most of which you already know because the chances are at least 10 Bowie songs are your very favourite songs in the world..

So what do I do? How do I get through the day? I never knew the man, but I loved everything he did, so I still feel broken.

I suppose I could start knitting…

YEAH!!!

Or I could watch the phenomenally entertaining ‘Cracked Actor’ again. It’s an Alan Yentob BBC documentary from 1974 that follows Bowie on tour around LA, as he quite visibly loses his mind…

It also has this brilliant scene in it (from 9m58s), which is Adam Buxton’s favourite too…

Or I could listen to my really badly named David Bowie Spotify playlist… ‘Wowie! It’s Bowie Nowie!!’

Or I could just listen to my very favourite song in the world ‘Under Pressure’ the VERY BEST DUET EVER RECORDED for the 1,000th time.

Or I could just stare endlessly at this photo of Bowie from 1964, which reminds me of my Auntie Lesley for some reason…

Or I can remember how happy I was when Bowie made a surprise appearance in The Prestige, and his accent was as delightfully ‘a bit rubbish’ as you’d hope…

Or I can remember how on 8th January 2013 – his 66th birthday – David Bowie gave us the best present we could ever hope to receive from David Bowie, apart from a used pink lipstick or a spare Labyrinth muppet, a brand new single and the news that he had been secretly recording a new album after 10 years of silence. AND it was a good one too!

Or I could watch this collection of David Bowie presenting his own music videos on MTV from 1993, which is equally hilarious and amazing…

Or I could listen to ‘Moonage Daydream’, the best song ever recorded by a human being ever. It was also the song that I ended my 52 part series ‘The New Wedding Playlist’ with, as it’s my wife’s favourite Bowie track and no other artist means more to me and Toni than any other.

Or I can remember how nice Bowie looks in a jumper and a scarf at the beginning of The Snowman…

Ah shit, I’ve started to lose it again… Quick, let’s watch The Labyrinth!!!

I feel a little bit better now.

So what do you do when you feel sad that Bowie is gone… You remember that he left us six decades of pure magic to be entertained and inspired by, and that the world is a much better place for him being in it.

Oh and ‘Sound and Vision’ fucking rules!