testing, testing...
*edit* Well, that works - I can forget about writing anything interesting on my site and just dump videos on it. w00t!
Note: only press play if you are made of stern stuff - Coldplay is involved...
Monday, January 30, 2006
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Saturday, January 28, 2006
So the non-celebrity beats all the other celebrities to win Big Brother, Oh! The grim irony of it all! Not that I particularly care about the fragile egos of some D-list 'celebrities' (god I hate that word, it implies I should be celebrating these people's existence, rather than treating them with the contempt they deserve) being battered around a bit, I just find this sort of thing vaguely amusing...
Anyway let's talk music, the CDs are starting to drip feed back into my purchasing routine. I've got a couple off good ones, the third proper album by final (which has been a good 5 years in the making!), and a new EP from Kid606. Details of both are over here.
I've also got the new Artic Monkeys album... sort of anyway. Since they've got popular and I'm so much of a music snob I couldn't bring myself to buy it properly so I've gone for the allofmp3.com route. It's a pretty good album, I just wish they would stick to the heads down punk-pop type songs like there first single rather than trying to be all clever with jazz chords which they do towards the middle of the album. Even so, it's a blinding first effort.
Anyway, time to leave my fortress of solitude for a trip to the shops, I want to try to make some sushi and need to find some Nori sheets, unsuprisingly they don't seem to sell this in my local Morrisons.
Anyway let's talk music, the CDs are starting to drip feed back into my purchasing routine. I've got a couple off good ones, the third proper album by final (which has been a good 5 years in the making!), and a new EP from Kid606. Details of both are over here.
I've also got the new Artic Monkeys album... sort of anyway. Since they've got popular and I'm so much of a music snob I couldn't bring myself to buy it properly so I've gone for the allofmp3.com route. It's a pretty good album, I just wish they would stick to the heads down punk-pop type songs like there first single rather than trying to be all clever with jazz chords which they do towards the middle of the album. Even so, it's a blinding first effort.
Anyway, time to leave my fortress of solitude for a trip to the shops, I want to try to make some sushi and need to find some Nori sheets, unsuprisingly they don't seem to sell this in my local Morrisons.
Friday, January 27, 2006
it's not ambient...
Final - 3
The best one word description of the sort of music Justin Broadrick produces as Final I can think of is 'beatless'. It's a very practical description, it in no way comes close to giving the range and depth of sounds and emotions spread across these two discs any sort of meaning, but it's a damn sight better than calling it ambient. For anyone unfamiliar with Final and wanting a better reference point than my one word description, think Fennesz with less glitch, maybe a hint of Biosphere, think of some of the Swans more drone based recordings, and then if your feeling imaginative think of the sort of orchestra that is happy playing modern minimal classical music. If that doesn't help listen to the MP3. If possible listen to it very loud, in the dark... you need to completely imerse yourself in this sort of music.
MP3: Hollow
Kid 606 - Done with the Scene
The thing I like about being a fan of Kid 606 is the little suprises, the way his music is constantly evolving, I like that. This EP consists of a song from his recent Resilince LP, along with a handful of rather good remixes (the bravecaptain remix being especially good), and then a really strange cover version of Heartbeat by Annie. When I say strange, I mean it has instruments which sound like they're not coming straight from a laptop. And there is even some singing, although coming from someone who once released a song called Sometimes I Thank God I Can't Sing Because Then No One Can Blame Me For Anything, his vocals could maybe do with some work. I'm still rather intrigued by it and quite look forward to hearing some more of this 'post-laptop' material of his.
MP3: Heartbeat (radio edit)
Final - 3
The best one word description of the sort of music Justin Broadrick produces as Final I can think of is 'beatless'. It's a very practical description, it in no way comes close to giving the range and depth of sounds and emotions spread across these two discs any sort of meaning, but it's a damn sight better than calling it ambient. For anyone unfamiliar with Final and wanting a better reference point than my one word description, think Fennesz with less glitch, maybe a hint of Biosphere, think of some of the Swans more drone based recordings, and then if your feeling imaginative think of the sort of orchestra that is happy playing modern minimal classical music. If that doesn't help listen to the MP3. If possible listen to it very loud, in the dark... you need to completely imerse yourself in this sort of music.
MP3: Hollow
Kid 606 - Done with the Scene
The thing I like about being a fan of Kid 606 is the little suprises, the way his music is constantly evolving, I like that. This EP consists of a song from his recent Resilince LP, along with a handful of rather good remixes (the bravecaptain remix being especially good), and then a really strange cover version of Heartbeat by Annie. When I say strange, I mean it has instruments which sound like they're not coming straight from a laptop. And there is even some singing, although coming from someone who once released a song called Sometimes I Thank God I Can't Sing Because Then No One Can Blame Me For Anything, his vocals could maybe do with some work. I'm still rather intrigued by it and quite look forward to hearing some more of this 'post-laptop' material of his.
MP3: Heartbeat (radio edit)
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
It would be nice to think that I've avoided updating this site as I've been up to all sorts of exciting adventures. Unfortunately that's far from true, basically just been reading comic books and playing videogames.
I'm still not smoking. It's been suspiciously easy so far - I don't think I've been particularly grouchy through nicotine withdrawal (well no more than usual), I've only had a couple of occasions where I've found myself thinking about having a sly fag, and I find smokey pubs particularly unpleasant, much like I suppose all non-smokers do. Still waiting for my sense of taste to return properly though.
Bought my first CD of the year, some Japanese rock from a band called Boris, it's very loud - just the sort of music to get you through those crappy long January days, details over here.
And here are some pictures of a trip to the dogs, which was rather good fun.
I'm still not smoking. It's been suspiciously easy so far - I don't think I've been particularly grouchy through nicotine withdrawal (well no more than usual), I've only had a couple of occasions where I've found myself thinking about having a sly fag, and I find smokey pubs particularly unpleasant, much like I suppose all non-smokers do. Still waiting for my sense of taste to return properly though.
Bought my first CD of the year, some Japanese rock from a band called Boris, it's very loud - just the sort of music to get you through those crappy long January days, details over here.
And here are some pictures of a trip to the dogs, which was rather good fun.
beginning the year with some rock!
Boris - Akuma No Uta
OK, first CD of the year and it's time to blow the cobwebs away with some very very Japanese rock music. The CD starts off slowly with a ten minute long introduction straight out of the Sunn0))) / Earth school of metal, then for the rest of the 5 tracks it's just full on Rock with the amps turned up way past the Spinal Tap 11. Top album, apparently there new one Pink is very good too.
MP3: Furi
Boris - Akuma No Uta
OK, first CD of the year and it's time to blow the cobwebs away with some very very Japanese rock music. The CD starts off slowly with a ten minute long introduction straight out of the Sunn0))) / Earth school of metal, then for the rest of the 5 tracks it's just full on Rock with the amps turned up way past the Spinal Tap 11. Top album, apparently there new one Pink is very good too.
MP3: Furi
Sunday, January 8, 2006
The theme of today's post is 'achievement'...
First, let's take a moment to congratulate Leicester for getting stuck and coming back from 2-0 down, to actually win a match for a change! I think I'm still in shock.
And then what about Nuneaton! I lived there from the age of about 10 so there was a certain amount of interest in that match. I saw them play at Manor Park on a dreary Boxing Day several years ago, nice to see they've still got the same old crappy pitch will resembles a quagmire.
Some more achievements: I've gone a week without smoking, and I've finally finished reading my H.P. Lovecraft book - it hasn't been easy, taken me months to read that, he can be a pretty hard going read. A typical Lovecraft story basically goes 'The Horror! The Terror!' for about 10 pages and then finishes. You have to have a certain Goth sensibility to enjoy them, which of course I have in spades. Anyway, if you are curious about his writing I've found a site with a bunch of his stories, not as good as buying a book though...
And finally on the achievement theme I've stuck a link to my XBox Gamer Card at the bottom of the page. With the new Xbox each game has this built in list of achievements, things like 'get 100 headshots', 'beat game on easy', stuff like that - and if you have a .net passport you can have a poke around at how I'm doing with my newest console. Somewhat sadly I find this sort of thing kind of cool...
First, let's take a moment to congratulate Leicester for getting stuck and coming back from 2-0 down, to actually win a match for a change! I think I'm still in shock.
And then what about Nuneaton! I lived there from the age of about 10 so there was a certain amount of interest in that match. I saw them play at Manor Park on a dreary Boxing Day several years ago, nice to see they've still got the same old crappy pitch will resembles a quagmire.
Some more achievements: I've gone a week without smoking, and I've finally finished reading my H.P. Lovecraft book - it hasn't been easy, taken me months to read that, he can be a pretty hard going read. A typical Lovecraft story basically goes 'The Horror! The Terror!' for about 10 pages and then finishes. You have to have a certain Goth sensibility to enjoy them, which of course I have in spades. Anyway, if you are curious about his writing I've found a site with a bunch of his stories, not as good as buying a book though...
And finally on the achievement theme I've stuck a link to my XBox Gamer Card at the bottom of the page. With the new Xbox each game has this built in list of achievements, things like 'get 100 headshots', 'beat game on easy', stuff like that - and if you have a .net passport you can have a poke around at how I'm doing with my newest console. Somewhat sadly I find this sort of thing kind of cool...
Monday, January 2, 2006
Well, that's 2005 over and done with. How was it for you? Not sure what to make of mine, there were a few memorable moments (watching England win the Ashes, seeing a couple of decent bands, my brother's wedding) but I'm left with this nagging feeling that it could have been better.
Anyway, resolution time - even though the ones from the last couple of years are depressingly similar and haven't been kept, so I'm not entirely sure why I'm doing this.
1. Give up smoking.
Forgotten just how much fun it is to try to give up smoking, what's that? Oh yes, FUCK YOU WORLD! Two days in and the mean, nasty, vindictive nicotine-free mood has kicked in nicely. I'm using the 'just keep telling yourself how stupid and dumb smoking is'-approach whenever I feel like sparking up, if I lapse I'm going to find one of those self help groups.
2. Go on holiday
Why is it so difficult for me to do this? Well, I'm lazy, I'm with Aristotle here: "A body's natural state is at rest". It's not a good theory to live up to unfortunately as it leads to inactivity and not going on holiday! There's also the problem of where to go, not sure I could get anyone interested in the sort of holiday I'd really like to go on - all I can think of at the moment is either a videogame pilgrimage to Japan, trying to get to Barcelona for a week or so around the time of the Sonar festival, or maybe going to New York and seeing a few bands (although the fact that America has turned itself into a Police State nowadays puts me off a trip there).
3. Eat a bit better
I think I can whip up a decent meal, but I've really got to stop eating all the crappy stuff between meals. Combine this with resolution number one for some extra fun!
4. Less Binge Drinking
I know it can be fun, but I've had a couple too many lost moments this last year. Yes I'm sure they can be amusing for any on-lookers, but I'm not really a fan of waking up in the morning and hearing about how much of a dick I've been the night before without having any memory of the incident. Plus the hangovers are getting worse.
That will do for now I think, I can think of a few more (stop being so miserable all the time, finally finish reading this H.P. Lovecraft book, get laid, develop some sort of work ethic), but there's no point over reaching is there now?
Anyway, resolution time - even though the ones from the last couple of years are depressingly similar and haven't been kept, so I'm not entirely sure why I'm doing this.
1. Give up smoking.
Forgotten just how much fun it is to try to give up smoking, what's that? Oh yes, FUCK YOU WORLD! Two days in and the mean, nasty, vindictive nicotine-free mood has kicked in nicely. I'm using the 'just keep telling yourself how stupid and dumb smoking is'-approach whenever I feel like sparking up, if I lapse I'm going to find one of those self help groups.
2. Go on holiday
Why is it so difficult for me to do this? Well, I'm lazy, I'm with Aristotle here: "A body's natural state is at rest". It's not a good theory to live up to unfortunately as it leads to inactivity and not going on holiday! There's also the problem of where to go, not sure I could get anyone interested in the sort of holiday I'd really like to go on - all I can think of at the moment is either a videogame pilgrimage to Japan, trying to get to Barcelona for a week or so around the time of the Sonar festival, or maybe going to New York and seeing a few bands (although the fact that America has turned itself into a Police State nowadays puts me off a trip there).
3. Eat a bit better
I think I can whip up a decent meal, but I've really got to stop eating all the crappy stuff between meals. Combine this with resolution number one for some extra fun!
4. Less Binge Drinking
I know it can be fun, but I've had a couple too many lost moments this last year. Yes I'm sure they can be amusing for any on-lookers, but I'm not really a fan of waking up in the morning and hearing about how much of a dick I've been the night before without having any memory of the incident. Plus the hangovers are getting worse.
That will do for now I think, I can think of a few more (stop being so miserable all the time, finally finish reading this H.P. Lovecraft book, get laid, develop some sort of work ethic), but there's no point over reaching is there now?
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