Storm

Just lazing in my bed this morning when it struck me that I've actually not gotten into any kind of new music recently at all. I was bold upright at the thought. A sweat then came on. 'This is terrible' is on of the 'nicer' phrases that I thought to myself. I'm seriously getting old. I mean, as you get older your music tends to stay the same with little or no interest taken in what's happening 'now'.

It scared me heaps.

The more I thought about it, the more I tried to convince myself that it wasn't true. I did get into Burial miles before it was even nominated for the Mercury prize last year. I really thought Crystal Castles was something new and exciting. I had a copy of 'Quicksand' by La Roux ages before she had been tipped to make it big in 2009. I had all the Kitsune Maison compilations. I quite liked TV on the Radio. I'd heard of Friendly Fires and MGMT.

I just couldn't totally convince myself though. Perhaps my musical evolution had stopped. I was stuck in the mid-00's. If it had, what would be the point of anything?

In a blind panic, I hit the online record shops for what was good, new and recommended. I now have 'stuff' on download and frankly it can't come soon enough. It doesn't matter if I like what I download; the important bit is that I have 'it' and its on my i-pod. And it says 'copyright 2008'.

Perhaps is because last year was a 'slow' year. I'm holding that thought because in some ways, it was. It was all 'indie' last year but not good indie. Derivative indie at best. I mean 'Scouting for Girls' is 'indie' but is it the indie of the Smiths, early REM, or even Pulp. No. A revolution is coming and I'm in.

block

I can't even get onto my own website!

Each time I type in the address, I get a message that it looks like some kind of virus or something. What's that about?

Have I been banned?
Are people outside of the this country able to get to the website?
Is there a virus on my website?
Is google.ae doing some dodgy stuff?
Is this anything to do with the fact the facebook has been really difficult to get into this past week?
And by the same token, yahoo?
Oh, so many questions.

I'll have to continue 'blind'!
I will not be silenced!
I'm not a number, I'm a man!
You'll have to take this mouse (actually, its a finger pad thingy) from my cold dead hand!
Freedom, damn it!

cherub

With the thankful end of the Bush years in office, I feel a moment must be taken to slander him in the hope that he reads it, arrests me and forces a court case in which he must prove that what I'm about to say is false.

Well, Bushy boy you were crap. You were the worst President not only of recent times but the worst. Yes, ever. You didn't even win the first election, you stole it. You got your brother and your mates to quietly erase thousands of votes in Florida ensuring that you 'won' the state. For that you must have laughed quite a lot at.

Where to begin with the rest of your time?

It's hard to say really.

I could start with the 'link' between your old mate Osama and your even older mate Saddam. Of course there was a link. Even you could see that there was one! Not only that but the weapons of mass destruction where there. You had evidence of it. You even sent one of your Secretaries to the UN to point it out for us all. It was as clear as day, wasn't it? Well, sonny boy we're still waiting to find them.

Of course, you only had to invade a country to find that out though didn't you. Not only did you invade it but you did so illegally and without the backing of most of the UN. Oh, but you had Poland behind you as well, that's right and for that we're thankful.

Yet, you didn't stop there now did you. You had to show 'them' all who the daddy really was. You didn't oversee torture, no, it wasn't that it was only interrogation. I mean, handcuffed, blindfolded coupled with rendition flights, waterboarding et al isn't at all harmful, its just a friendly way to get them to talk. Boy, you're a clever one!

What about wiretapping without a warrant? Taxing the poor and giving tax breaks to big business? Oh yes and that little incident down in the south where no-one voted for you. What happened again - something about the weather I think. Didn't it get a bit windy? I'm sure everything looked fine when you flew over it in Air Force One on your way back to Washington after your overly long, but needed summer vacation.

Is there anything else I've forgotten? Yes, I think I have - the good things that you did. Oh damn, I can't quite think of any at the moment. Perhaps if I think hard enough something might pop into my tiny mind...

I guess history will surely prove that you were completely misunderestimated. The best of luck with that you knobhead.

express

Now than I've got a new Laptop, I have a pretty mental 250GB to 'play' with. It's much to much for a simple man like me but it's nice to have the option to use it, or not. Actually, half of that space has been taken up by Bond movies; a selection of Connery, Moore and Lazneby (which can't exactly be called a 'selection' since he only did one).

Alas, I've started watching them with the oldest first. Dr. No. A slow beginning it might be said but it includes the legendary cinematic moment of Honey in 'that' bikini and you can't say fairer than that. Thunderball is mighty fine; perhaps one of the only movies to employ such large scale underwater shots. And Tom Jones. Next is one of my personal favourites 'You only live twice'. It's a perhaps the series at its best. Big budget, big set plays, sublime soundtrack and lets face it, has an somewhat improbable storyline but do we care with Connery making everything look effortless particularly when we have the wide shot of him being chased on a roof top by a gang of sailors. He beats them up. Classic. Of course, we get our first look at Bloefeld. The 2 meet face to face and even speak to one another. Bond gets the better of him and his operations but Bloefeld escapes /with cat?/.

The next Bond is something of an enigma. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (OHMSS). Connery had gone and so it was Lazenby who took over. In many respects, its not bad. The final chase with Bond and Bloefeld tobogginning down the mountain is surprisingly intense. It's all just a bit odd though. Stylistically, it belongs to the 1970's both fashion-wise and in its psychadelic 'feel', particularly the mind-control parts. It's also odd in the sense that firstly Bond quits and we see his office for gods sake. He doesn't need an office! Secondly, all this 'love'. I mean, he gets bloody married and has a wedding. Admittedly Diana Rigg was quite hot but come on. It's a faff.

The bit that is puzzling though is that Bond goes to the 'allergy centre' incognito as some historian or similiar in order to meet Bloefeld. The thing is, all he does to 'disguise' himself is don a pair of glasses and carries a pipe. It's crap. In You Only Live Twice he 'becomes' Japanese - he puts some effort into it. But in OHMSS this is all he can muster. It might have been OK had he just been meeting SPECTRE Number whatever but he isn't. He's meeting Bloefeld again. Bloefeld, despite his 'badness' ain't stupid. He creates dastardly plans and constructs epic lairs. Do you really think he's going to be fooled by a pair of glasses and a pipe?! Not a chance! Surely the script writers must have seen this coming. What happened to the quality control?! Perhaps they where thinking that we the audience and Bloefeld might realise that Lazenby wasn't Connery and then get confused into thinking that it wasn't Bond. Maybe it was their in joke 'yeah, this new guy isn't Bond by a mile'. And it would be true - Lazenby was no Bond. He errs on the 'Moore' side of Bond, not the Connery or Craig side.

The thing is, I'm not sure if Connery could have done OHMSS. It's not based in a hot country for starters - all the previous films were. And he certainly wouldn't have been 'up' for getting married. I mean, no way! Perhaps he knew that when he declined it.

Interestingly, the coat of arms at the College read 'The World is Not Enough'. Sly.

Next up are the Moore ones. Not the best, lets just say that.

So, getting back into the swing of things after Christmas and New Year and my week back at home. I've been pretty tired actually. Not just physically but mentally as well. Not a good combination. Hopefully things will settle down at work and I can perhaps get back to some kind of weekly routine, starting with hitting the gym and perhaps even updating here a bit more often.

I'm not even sure if I've mentioned that I bought a new car. Yes, a new one. Mixed feelings about that actually. Good in the sense that I will have more freedom but bad in the sense that it is one of the worst investments that you could possibly make. Anyway, it is a dark blue Toyota. Just a small thing for running about in. I don't need anything big or fancy, in fact I might only use it on weekends as I tend to walk to work each day. I've had it a week and it's been sitting in the basement most of the time. I will get round to using it. Honest.

Also, my long time companion - Mr. Sony Viao - has been placed into retirement. It was 5 years old and it was time. It worked well but the past 6 months have been tough for it and it was decided a younger model was required. In the end, I got myself a MacBook. It's a nice piece of equipment. I've no real idea how to work it but at least I can get on the internet and use the DVD player. I think that's all I need!

I really should write more but I'll leave everything else for another day...

block

This whole blogger thing has been a bit of a nightmare of late. Each time I try to log in, it takes forever to load. I do wonder if it is the people in charge doing things to stop 'us' writing stuff. Perhaps though its just a crap internet connection?

Underground

So that was the New Year and that was the 1st week of the new year...

New Year was actually decent for once. That was a shock. I didn't think that it would be but it ended up being one. Think alcohol might well have played it's part however. Alas, it was spent in Aberdeen and more specifically a friends house, then a bar then the house again. I was safely tucked up in bed by about 4.30am and by 4.31am I was sound asleep.

Then was the trip back to Dubai. I was hoping for a business class seat again - I got one on the way to Scotland and I'm entitled to one - and was looking forward to reclining and getting some sleep in. I checked in and they gave me an economy class seat but said that they would call me at the gate to issue me with my upgrade. It happened before so I wasn't concerned. I got to the gate and my name was called. I was delighted. The little man at the gate said that they had had to move me to accommodate a family, 'yeah, yeah' I thought 'just give me the seat number'. He did and I was less that delighted. In fact, I was raging. It was still in economy. Not only was it in economy but it was at the front where they still all the families with infants. Double rage. I went back to my seat at the gate, cursing under my breath. Rage times 10.

I calmed down...about a day ago.

Back to the office also. Enough said.