Almost Daily - Supersize
Hopes and Expectations
Boy oh Boy! It's bloody hot isn't it? Anyone else reporting serious temperate carnage? It's so weird to realise that serious climate change has happened during my lifetime. Makes you appreciate how much damage we're doing to the planet. I think I need to become genuinely aware of my carbon imprint, do my best to minimise it. Maybe buy a bicycle. Suchness aside I'm now back in london after a weekend away. I had a lovely weekend, but left Monday after a terribly antogonistic and utterly pointless conversation with me Ma that simply made me regret the journey. Got into town and bought iLiKETRAiNS mini-album, based solely on it being in front of me; The Morning After Girls debut because I think the Dandy Warhols need more imitators; Muse - Black Holes and Revelations. Black Holes and Revelations is a great record. I'm very glad I stayed firmly on my high horse and resisted the temptation to buy/download/otherwise hear it early, because on my speakers, as an artefact I can hold, it's a superb and beautifully packaged record. I'm also completely unable to place it out of the context that Absolution set. Lyrically it's as strong as Absolution, though Starlight is the dissappointing exception to that. Supermassive Black Hole and City of Delusion are the deviations from the template that work fantastically, while the flipside of that are Soldier's Poem and Invincible, which sadly sound like old tracks covered. Good tracks, but not as strong. It doesn't flow as well as Absolution, as an album it isn't so well constructed; These are songs. Black Holes and Revelations doesn't have the x-factor that allowed so many of us a chance to hear it as a story or warning shot. It is, admittedly, less 'flabby' than its predecessor, and is stronger for having fewer tracks, but none of Absolution is superfluous. What it does have is Map of the Problematique, which is a very tight tune, a tune that made me very glad to have the album and made it much easier to see it as a step forward, almost entirely because it reminds me of the theme tune to an old TV show that included a lift in it and simple computer graphics (actually, can anyone name that kids TV show? It had a holographic head as the host and the kids had to complete tasks and raid a penthouse suite at the close of the show). It also boasts the City of Delusion/Hoodoo/Knights of Cydonia sequence, which combined are a superbly themed trio that marry westerns and old Orbital theme tunes to create the ultimate Doctor Who/Unforgiven crossover. A solid 'A' of an album, but not yet an 'A*'. It could be though. Now, something I failed to mention yesterday was a very important anniversary. A year ago, thousands of people gathered in Hyde Park for Live 8. 365 days later most of those tens of thousands of people have no idea what exactly Live 8 was for, which is just as well because it achieved so little as to be laughable. Geldof's games as debt-writer for the world was fudged by negotiations that didn't listen to him. For the bands involved though, Live 8 was a commercial gold-mine. Bob Geldof should be congratulated for single handedly raising the HMV shareprices. No, that event was a grand-standing waste of time that proved cultural elitism (Were there any African acts given pride of place that Madonna hadn't included in her entourage? Were there fuck) is far from dead. Nope, I'm celebrating meeting my closest friend at an Oxfam charity night in Leicester Square at a now closed-down club called The Marquee. Ellie has been all I could ask for in a friend and more, and I value her like you wouldn't believe. On July 7th, days after meeting, we cemented a brand new friendship in a five hour phone call after the most intense and strange day I have had. I've known her a year, and we've been as close as we have for ayear. It's a strange world, but a beautiful one too. And so, totally unrelated to anything, my first three links today all share a common theme...
* New Superman Trailer online (sort of)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSygBL_j83s
* Which I loaded at the same time as I loaded this...
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/06/28
* Which reminded me no end of this by my good pal Pip...
http://smallerworld.comicgenesis.com/d/20060521.html
* New Bestival site up and running...
http://www.bestival.net
* See how bad it'll get in your area...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml
Wikipedia of the Day: Donkey Punching
I shalln't lie, this was suggested by ivywag as my Wiki of the day. I think the act described in the entry itself is really deeply unpleasant, but I like the idea of this being a potentially interactive blog. So please complain to him if you find it vile. I think he's vile, so it's an even match. If you have any suggestions, then just drop me a line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Punch
After reading that go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunnies for therapy
Boy oh Boy! It's bloody hot isn't it? Anyone else reporting serious temperate carnage? It's so weird to realise that serious climate change has happened during my lifetime. Makes you appreciate how much damage we're doing to the planet. I think I need to become genuinely aware of my carbon imprint, do my best to minimise it. Maybe buy a bicycle. Suchness aside I'm now back in london after a weekend away. I had a lovely weekend, but left Monday after a terribly antogonistic and utterly pointless conversation with me Ma that simply made me regret the journey. Got into town and bought iLiKETRAiNS mini-album, based solely on it being in front of me; The Morning After Girls debut because I think the Dandy Warhols need more imitators; Muse - Black Holes and Revelations. Black Holes and Revelations is a great record. I'm very glad I stayed firmly on my high horse and resisted the temptation to buy/download/otherwise hear it early, because on my speakers, as an artefact I can hold, it's a superb and beautifully packaged record. I'm also completely unable to place it out of the context that Absolution set. Lyrically it's as strong as Absolution, though Starlight is the dissappointing exception to that. Supermassive Black Hole and City of Delusion are the deviations from the template that work fantastically, while the flipside of that are Soldier's Poem and Invincible, which sadly sound like old tracks covered. Good tracks, but not as strong. It doesn't flow as well as Absolution, as an album it isn't so well constructed; These are songs. Black Holes and Revelations doesn't have the x-factor that allowed so many of us a chance to hear it as a story or warning shot. It is, admittedly, less 'flabby' than its predecessor, and is stronger for having fewer tracks, but none of Absolution is superfluous. What it does have is Map of the Problematique, which is a very tight tune, a tune that made me very glad to have the album and made it much easier to see it as a step forward, almost entirely because it reminds me of the theme tune to an old TV show that included a lift in it and simple computer graphics (actually, can anyone name that kids TV show? It had a holographic head as the host and the kids had to complete tasks and raid a penthouse suite at the close of the show). It also boasts the City of Delusion/Hoodoo/Knights of Cydonia sequence, which combined are a superbly themed trio that marry westerns and old Orbital theme tunes to create the ultimate Doctor Who/Unforgiven crossover. A solid 'A' of an album, but not yet an 'A*'. It could be though. Now, something I failed to mention yesterday was a very important anniversary. A year ago, thousands of people gathered in Hyde Park for Live 8. 365 days later most of those tens of thousands of people have no idea what exactly Live 8 was for, which is just as well because it achieved so little as to be laughable. Geldof's games as debt-writer for the world was fudged by negotiations that didn't listen to him. For the bands involved though, Live 8 was a commercial gold-mine. Bob Geldof should be congratulated for single handedly raising the HMV shareprices. No, that event was a grand-standing waste of time that proved cultural elitism (Were there any African acts given pride of place that Madonna hadn't included in her entourage? Were there fuck) is far from dead. Nope, I'm celebrating meeting my closest friend at an Oxfam charity night in Leicester Square at a now closed-down club called The Marquee. Ellie has been all I could ask for in a friend and more, and I value her like you wouldn't believe. On July 7th, days after meeting, we cemented a brand new friendship in a five hour phone call after the most intense and strange day I have had. I've known her a year, and we've been as close as we have for ayear. It's a strange world, but a beautiful one too. And so, totally unrelated to anything, my first three links today all share a common theme...
* New Superman Trailer online (sort of)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSygBL_j83s
* Which I loaded at the same time as I loaded this...
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/06/28
* Which reminded me no end of this by my good pal Pip...
http://smallerworld.comicgenesis.com/d/20060521.html
* New Bestival site up and running...
http://www.bestival.net
* See how bad it'll get in your area...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml
Wikipedia of the Day: Donkey Punching
I shalln't lie, this was suggested by ivywag as my Wiki of the day. I think the act described in the entry itself is really deeply unpleasant, but I like the idea of this being a potentially interactive blog. So please complain to him if you find it vile. I think he's vile, so it's an even match. If you have any suggestions, then just drop me a line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Punch
After reading that go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunnies for therapy