Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Windows Cracked

Well, sort of. I have solved a couple of computing things that have been bugging me, but there's one in particular that's still getting in the way. In the meantime, my aim to add one picture a day to flickr is more or less coming good, though sometimes there's a day gap and then two pictures, or something like that. Much as I sometimes think it must hardly look like it, I do go whole days without being hooked up to certain parts of the web sometimes! But the good news is that this PC is about to become semi-retired, to be replaced by something that's a bit more modern and higher spec. Which means there's a whole new world of technological games in my near future. Always something new to learn!

Monday, September 25, 2006

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

Once again I find myself still sat here, in this case starting the week having moved from the genius of Robbie Coltrane on The South Bank Show to the rock-comedy genius of The Comic Strip Presents... More Bad News, but somehow having not moved on to bed. And having never seen More Bad News in full, there's only one way this is going to go. But you know, there's always next weekend or an early night tomorrow to catch up on some more sleep. And it's not like I've worked that hard this weekend, I've finished reading my latest book, messed about with two different bikes, caught up on some shopping and some more digital photo housekeeping, and wasted a lot of time queued in traffic, but that's a whole other rant. But in any case, the restorative powers of watching rubbish on the telly are practically as good as sleeping!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

He's A Little Angel

Scarborough's Little Angels were a fabulous band, and at the turn of the 90s looked set to become the next truly big British melodic rock band. Numerous top 40 singles and Top of the Pops appearances notwithstanding, it didn't quite work out that way. Last night I saw lead singer Toby Jepson's band for the second time this year, and they rocked my socks off. It's great to see people enjoying what they are doing on stage, and it's doubly great to see him back after so long away - you can see some pictures on flickr. Welcome home, Toby!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Housekeeping, Mousekeeping

As threatened previously, I finally got around to upgrading my flickr account so I've done a bit of housekeeping there, and I'll add some more pictures soon. And with the addition of another hard drive, I'm well overdue for some serious file housekeeping - and more importantly, back-up taking. There's only so long you can trust technology to last, and while it would be a major pain to have to re-rip all my CDs, that is at least within the realms of the possible. But all the digital photos I have on here are not so easily replaced, and it would be nobody's fault but my own if I could do something about it, and didn't. In the meantime, I've had a rare weekend of going no further than a few miles from my house, which means I've packed a load of stuff away and rediscovered my kitchen floor which was hiding underneath. I've been through a small backlog of junk mail and bills, I've brought my accounts up to date, I've bodged a way of re-attaching my favourite back light to my bike for the forthcoming darker evenings, and I've even had a clay mask drag some of the gunk out of my face. And on top of that I managed to do a couple of hours reading to finish my book, which is something I haven't done in quite some time. Now, if I could just stop spilling glasses over things, I might get on with clearing out a bit more of this clutter. But in any case, I've made a decent start - the trick will be to resume before the same quantity of stuff to do builds up again.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

The Last Command?

There's something ever so slightly disappointing in seeing something that's previously been fantastic go downhill - I've just got home from seeing W.A.S.P. who it turns out are one of a very select group of acts I've seen in the 80s, the 90s and now in this decade too. Perhaps the forerunners of Marilyn Manson in terms of outrage from people plenty old enough to know better, at their peak they were an outstanding live band, and one of the few where it seemed like what happened for the period they were on stage really mattered. Now, the ghosts of earlier incarnations are still in evidence, but here's the problem - when you're Tom Paxton at 70 or Tom Russell at 60, or even Tom Chaplin from Keane at twenty-something, you just keep turning up and doing your songs, and that's what people come for. But W.A.S.P. was always a high production value band, from Johnny Rod running around like a junior Jimmy Saville full of e-numbers to a decent outlay on pyrotechnics every show, and a few less tasteful stunts in between, the songs on their own are not the whole thing without performance and the show. It's not like there's a lot of subtlety in the material to fall back on or show another side of, after all. Blackie's just had a small heart complication which led to the cancellation of a couple of shows recently, and he's not getting any younger. Nevertheless, you have to applaud the spirit of a man just turned 50 who's 6 foot 5 anyway, and wears stack heels on his over knee length boots. You can see he's a little off the pace, the other, younger members of this version of the band do their bit to help out, but by the time I'd paid for the ticket and travel I ended up with less than two minutes of not oustanding performance per pound spent, and that doesn't rock my world on a value for money basis. Nevertheless, it was pretty much a greatest hits set so I knew virtually all the stuff they did, and it was the best show within striking distance on offer on my birthday, but I think this sadly joins my slowly growing list of stuff I probably don't need to see again. But to either confirm the prejudices of people who thought such music a dangerously corrupting force on the world's vulnerable children, or to offer an opportunity to mock the the more outlandish elements of rock stupidity, here's a picture of the only real element of spectacle on the current stage set-up - it's Blackie's custom combined microphone stand and climbing/zimmer frame. I pity the roadies who have to drag it from country to country. Eat your heart out, Julian Cope!

What's Another Year?

I know people twice my age who describe always feeling pretty much the same inside, just finding the body doesn't manage to do as much, or as quickly. I don't remember not having a long-view approach to most things, and I can't say that ageing bothers me hugely; I'm as baseline happy with my life at this age as I've ever been. It's always possible to wish for more, or bigger, or blonder, or something or other that's not how things are right now. But here is pretty good as it stands, and while it would be a good idea to eat a bit less rubbish, and get a bit more sleep, this has been a good year and I expect to try and wring as much out of the next one too. I live in a house over here, and have my world outside it. And that's good enough for me.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Something I Must Tell You

This evening I went to see Aberfeldy, having been hooked by the single Love Is An Arrow last year - it's tremendous to see a band who are clearly having a great time on stage, and with an average of two instruments per band member there's a varied musical palette being used. Even if fully five of those instruments are being played by the same person at various points in the set. It's been a summer blessed with boy-girl harmony vocals, from Captain, latterly from Camera Obscura, and now from Aberfeldy. I've seen Captain, and though they were great they slightly lack the musical diversity and the bunch of people arsing about for their own amusement vibe, so I have no hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending Aberfeldy for all your uplifting, joyous pop requirements. And I defy you to listen to them without smiling, frankly. I know I can't.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Onward And Upwards

Well, that was indeed another day, and no less eventful. The combined miracles of steroids and fish mean that there's a cat who appears to have at least one life left yet, and the improvement over a very short length of time is a joy to behold. I must say a bit more about Sean O'Driscoll though - in the modern era, virtually nobody sticks with the same football club for this sort of length of time. Ever since the game had millions invested from television companies, and got infested with agents desperate to cream off their ten per cent, there has been an increasing pressure on players to move up the pay ladder, and managers have been under increasing pressure to produce results. The first game I went to was before Sean's first, just, and I reckon I've probably seen close to half of his games is the manager's seat, so I feel qualified to comment. You can find plenty of complaints about anything and anyone, but in circumstances that have seen the club lurch from one crisis to another, he has all but worked miracles, and I have nothing to say except thanks and good luck. It's been a little while since I had a gig to race towards in an amount of time barely enough for the journey. So it was no surprise to turn up to a show that had already started and with people sat in every seat in the venue, I made the best of standing at the back out of the way. After an enjoyable night and a thankfully short trip home, I could have slept for a week!

Friday, September 08, 2006

How Come It Never Rains... It Only Pours

In between my football club losing its manager, who's been there twenty three years so this is true end of an era stuff, and the trauma of watching a very old cat inching his way towards the end of his life, it's not been a quiet time. But tomorrow is another day.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Back To Work (And No Worse For That)

A week off at the end of August makes returning to work early in September seem an awful lot like returning to school. Having done some work on my bike to tune up the brakes, and started looking forward to how soon I will need to add my best front light for the completely unlit sections of my commute, it's time to make the most of the last of the daylight in the evenings and the late summer temperatures that mean I don't need to completely wrap myself up just yet. For now the heating's staying off!

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Catching Up - Beautiful Days

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Levellers' Beautiful Days festival. Last year I went just for the one day to see one particular band, and got the added bonus of The Posies on blinding form. The experience reminded me that I hadn't been to a festival where I'd camped for quite some time - since 1994, in fact - and that maybe I was due for another go at that particular experience. As it has turned out I've been to several outdoor gigs this summer, and Beautiful Days to finish off the summer was a nice way to leave it. Here are a couple pictures that give something of an impression of the place - the rainbow was a nice touch, and as an event it's just the right size to be big enough but small enough that you can walk from one side of the side to the other in fifteen minutes. And given the complaints at some festivals it has much to be said for it. Even if the density of tents was a bit higher than it had been elsewhere, earlier this year.
The title link is to the details of the closing part of the festival - the idea of the final evening's festivities being a Masked Ball is a neat one that twists things to leave people on the right side of the line between paying punter and participant. While I was unable to track down a suitably voluminous ballgown in the right shade to go with my green wellies, which turned out very much a necessity as the weather was slightly less baking than it had been at Guilfest, I did manage to team them with my green Primark wrap dress and a sparkly green mask. So you can see what difference a razor and a handbag full of cosmetics can make below - I blame the first bottle of wine for any imperfections documented here!

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Road To Nowhere

Well, that was a surprise. This afternoon I spent nearly three hours doing a little over a third of my normal journey to the match. The whole journey takes about three hours on average, and the combination of busy motorways, roadworks, driving rain and horrific quantities of spray meant that my best estimate was turning up just about in time for the start of the second half. Or about now, in fact. So it was a sensible move to turn round where I did, and at least get back just in time to hear the kick-off on the web. And naturally enough it's turning out to be a remarkably eventful game. Last time I missed a game I should have been at we won 5-1, so if that's how it turns out I'd settle for that. But I'm not holding my breath. * I hope to do a bit of catching up with postings here in the next couple of days.
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