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David Thai
Soon-to-be Computer Science graduate of Reading University from London, interested in technology, film and music.
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Nokia ringtone during concert of classical music: How to react when a mobile goes off and interrupts your performance
(Found this via BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16688007)
- Really need to use Wikipedia today?
Calm down dear, it’s only Javascript!
As you’ll discover, if you didn’t know already, Wikipedia is staging a 24 hour blackout which began 0500 UTC today.
So much has been made of the Wikipedia blackout… but what if you really need to use it? In case you don’t know how to get Wikipedia back because you didn’t follow the link to “Learn more” then basically you should know that it’s not the end of the world if you urgently need access to Wikipedia today. The pages are all still there, they just appear with an overlay on top of them thanks to Javascript.
So fear not, because Wikipedia have made it very simple to get the normal site back because the SOPA blackout works by Javascript so you can get Wikipedia back by disabling Javascript or adding this line to AdBlock:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:BannerLoader&banner=blackout*
Most if not all of the sites participating in the blackout are probably doing it with Javascript (e.g. I know that the http://sopastrike.com/ blackout is), so disabling it will also bring back those sites.
I think this has been a great idea. It’s like the Internet’s equivalent of peaceful protest versus the more hands on hacktivism of Anonymous (akin those who protest by smashing windows and burning cars, etc.). Having said that, I’m half expecting to hear about various cyber attacks in the next few days against organisations supporting SOPA/PIPA. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is for another post/debate.
I still haven’t seen the Series 2 finale of Sherlock. I think maybe subconsciously I’m trying to shorten the time I have to wait for Series 3. If I left it long enough then the previous two episodes would no longer be fresh in my mind so I’d have to watch Series 2 right from the beginning.
But if I did that then I may as well start right from the beginning from 1x01 and have a Sherlock Marathon! Oh woe is me! >:p
And while I’m at it, I’ll probably want to go back and rewatch Luther too.
<Mini-rant incoming…>
Speaking of a Sherlock marathon, the Sherlock - Series 1 and 2 Box Set is available to pre-order on Amazon… but I think I’ll wait for the Series 1, 2 and 3 Box Set.
Is it just me or does anyone else find it just a little annoying how for a second series and series thereafter they’ll release a standalone series box set (like Sherlock - Series 2 on DVD, also available to pre-order) and also a combined box set of all the series to date? It makes me want to wait until the show has stopped running and then get a combined all-series box set because it’s cheaper that way.
foobar2000: A better audio player
Yesterday I switched to foobar2000 and found it to be my favourite audio player. It has everything I want from an audio player: it’s light on system resources, can scrobble to Last.fm and supports media keys so I can easily play/pause/skip without needing to activate foobar2000. The UI is easy to customise to your preferences and there are various components that you can add for extra functionality. One of the components I’ve added is the lyrics component. I’ve changed the layout so that the lyrics window is docked into the main window rather floating separately.
I don’t use iTunes or WMP because all I want is to listen to my music. I don’t need all the extras. There are specific things I dislike about those two but I won’t go into it here.
For a long time, I’ve used Winamp for playing music. However, I started noticing how it was not lightweight and would slow, freeze and/or crash if I left it running. This in turn would slow down my system. This I did not like.
I looked at what I already had installed and started using VLC instead. VLC is one of my favourite programs. No more worrying about having the right codec. Highly recommended and you should try it if you haven’t already.
Anyway, VLC is much lighter than Winamp and does what I need it to do. Only down side is that it doesn’t support the media keys on my keyboard - its global hotkey settings literally will not let me bind the media keys. The only way to get it to kind of work is if I install mk2mp and even then it only works if the VLC window is active- which sort of defeats the point of using the media keys.
I did also look at Media Player Classic, which does support media keys but doesn’t scrobble. Personally, the Last.fm support is more important to me than media keys support, so VLC, it was.
But I have foobar2000 now and I’m not going back.
Screenshot was taken while foobar2000 was in use. I was listening to Tapping the Vein who are one the many bands I adore. Female fronted gothic metal, yay. Go have a listen on Grooveshark or find the band on Amazon.
[Image: 6-piece blue colored background with a Siamese cat with blue eyes. Text reads: “Top text:Socialize with friends for a few hours Bottom text: In bed in agonizing pain for three days”]
urgh… gpoy
- I want to cuddle...
…a large wolf :/
Originally posted on my Facebook but I suspect there may be others who’ve experienced a similar predicament so I’m sharing my story here! :)
The desire to lie in bed cuddling big cuddly toy increases proportionally to how worn-down I’m feeling.
Lestat de Lioncourt used to curl up with his mastiffs for warmth and comfort but a cuddly toy is going to be the closest I’ll ever get to curling up with a wolf.
My brief search this morning has led me to discover the following:- Wolves are a rarity in the world of cuddly toys. Particularly compared to the obscenely common teddy bear.
- In the entire world - or at least, the world as represented by the Internet - there is apparently only one wolf toy (of the larger variety) on sale.
- This is the “Lge Lying Wolf by Hansa Toys” from http://www.lincrafts.com/wolf.htm - It is a “truly realistic animal” according its Amazon listing and it’s a whole metre length of Canis lupus plushie.
- Cuddly toys can be far more expensive than I could ever have imagined. This one costs £300. Yes, you read correctly: Three Hundred Pounds Sterling.
- The Serotonin Experiment: Epilogue
For the full story behind this, see this.
November-Present
Things have got pretty bad. Towards the end of November I was seeing the GP repeatedly, trying to get him to give me something to stop me being so debilitatingly tired all the time.
The only thing he was willing to offer was to increase my dose of sertraline from 50mg to 100mg- because I found that the 50mg dose seemed to stop me getting headaches as much or as often, so maybe increasing the dose might help in other ways.
I repeat, while it may be an antidepressant I was not taking it because I was depressed, but rather I was taking it because it seemed to help with my headaches- which is one of the symptoms of my ME. Something is better than nothing, I figured, so I agreed to the increased dosage.
As I went through this new packet, I didn’t find that I was getting any additional improvement from the increased dosage.
So I’d take one pill a day but sometimes I’d miss a day but as I’d still have boosted serotonin levels in my system, I could just top up the next day and carry on as normal. Thus, it would be one tablet a day or at least one every other day. No big deal.
But as my condition seemed to take a turn for the worst, there would be more and days that I’d lose to sleeping because I’d be so tired and that was all I could do. This eventually led me to missing more than one day at time. It was at this point I realised that this was not working. Because on the second day without sertraline, I got the mother of all headaches.
It occurred to me that I was locking myself into a drug that provided minimal benefit which if I ever stopped taking, there would be a small bit of hell to pay. If I was benefiting more substantially, then it would be a different story. I’ve concluded that I would rather risk the occasional headache without sertraline than the guaranteed mega headache if I were on it and discontinued it.
I think I’ll see how things go without sertraline. Going onto 100mg tablets was counter-productive. If occasional headaches become a problem, I’ll consider taking a low dose as a prophylactic but otherwise I think the SSRI angle is a dead end.
Damn.
What I’d really like is for the doctor to let me try something else. Screw the “official guidelines”. Given that there’s no cure for ME/CFS anyway, lets forget about the diagnosis for a moment and focus on alleviating the actual symptoms. What I’d like is to be able to take something to fight off the constant tiredness and need to sleep.
- It's not counselling I need...
I wish there was more support in general for people with ME/CFS.
About the extent of it is “Here try these tablets and if you don’t die in the mean time come back and see me in a month.”
We don’t get offered counseling, any kind of therapy eg. art therapy, no support groups, no nothing.
I don’t know if that’s the case for everywhere else, but where I live it seems to be.
I can dream.
The main “treatment” offered here in the UK is CBT but it’s not really what I need and doesn’t treat the symptoms. Forget about “counselling”. Just develop a proper treatment or medication to make the symptoms go away.
At MCM Expo, with Jonathon Young and Agam Darshi who play Nikola Tesla and Kate Freelander in Sanctuary.
Although I wish I hadn’t been so tired and out of it by the time I got to them. I probably gibbered nonsense but they were both friendly and nice about it.
Always knew there would be consequences of going out yesterday - exhaustion aside, will have to go into overdrive to get that report finished for tomorrow morning - but I guess that on balance I have to conclude it was worth it as I had wonderful time with friends ^^
Pretty good experience for my first Expo. Lessons learnt for next time:
- Don’t expect to be able to use ATMs at the venue because there will be long queues- withdraw sufficient cash before arrival
- Immediately acquire map/schedule from Info Desk on arrival so I know what’s happen, where to go and when
- Goes without saying but for things that need queuing, queue early. The earlier the better
- In the “theatre”, closer is not better. Better is to sit in the front row directly in front rather than the side of the protruding “catwalk” bit of the stage because some panellists (i.e. the Torchwood stars, on this occasion) will come out to the edge of that catwalk to get up close to fans and you’ll end up behind them
- If you’re keen on grabbing some of the prizes the MC dishes out then save your enthusiasm for second or third items- unless you really want Pocky, for example. MC will actively avoid focussing on single areas of the audience but rather try to distribute prizes widely across the entire audience area. He typically opened with Pocky here and if you or someone in your area of the audience gets a box of Pocky, don’t expect on getting anything else (T-Shirts, mouse mats, plushie, etc).
- For popular panels, get in early like I did this time to find a good seat/view.
- Personal goal: Must dress up and cosplay next time!
- Priorities...
Doing NaNoWriMo this year.
Are any of my followers?
I set my word count goal for 30,000 words. (I set it lower than 50k because of my ME/CFS, it’s kind of unrealistic to think that with my brain fog I’d be able to churn out 1,500+ words a day.)
So anyway, it’s my first year attempting NaNoWriMo.
Urgh. I wanted to last year. I planned to this year. But between health and keeping up with uni I’m having to skip it this year too :(
Critics of Occupy Wall Street have a transparent objective: They want to persuade blue collar whites and ordinary middle class Americans to turn on the movement for cultural reasons — because its optics offend these voters’ cultural instincts — even if they broadly agree with its general principles and critique of what’s gone wrong.
This dovetails with a quote from John Cole I recently posted here (to much rending of garments and clutching of pearls from the very people he’s talking about):
“The greatest hoax of the last couple of decades has been the ability of the right wing to co-opt members of the struggling lower middle class and lower class and pretend they speak for them while enacting policies that enable the super-rich. They’ve used wedge issues like gay marriage and abortion and the baby Jeebus to alienate folks from their own economic interests, feeding them a steady diet of hatred of minorites, the educated, science, and, well, reality to create a voting block of people so guided by hatred of the ‘other’ that they would crawl over broken glass to cut their nose off to spite their face.”
I just posted that quote from Cole on my G+, and the self-identified conservatives are livid about it. I don’t mean this as an attack on self-identified conservatives at all. I quote it because it breaks my heart.
And not that it matters, but the same thing can largely be said of Democrats since the election of 2000. I strongly believe that if Obama and the Democrats had behaved like the populists they claimed to be when they had majorities in both houses of congress, and actually done something to hold these Wall Street criminals accountable, #OWS wouldn’t be necessary.
Now we just have to hope that the #OWS protests capture enough attention for long enough to force the Democrats (because you can be damn sure it won’t be the GOP) to enact laws and policies that actually address and correct the things we’ve all been begging them to listen to for about ten years.
This is how a movement gets started, and it doesn’t end quickly or cleanly.
And it isn’t the job of the protesters to write the damn laws; that’s the job of the Congress, who need to work for The People instead of The Lobbyists.
I don’t think I have anything more to add…
- The Serotonin Experiment: Mega Update, Days 11-19
For the full story behind this, see this.
Days 11-19: Wednesday 5th - Thursday 13th October
With the start of term approaching, things had become busy. I was focussing on making progress with my project work- or trying to anyway.
My GP assured me that as a side effect, my jumpiness would subside over time.
While at the Medical Practice, I discovered something annoying: starting this month, there will a £10 charge to process Extenuating Circumstances forms - i.e. for my doctor to confirm that I’m not making up my illness/symptoms. I do concede that’s in line with what most GPs would probably charge for supplying similar forms of evidence.
Because I tend to think ahead, I usually put a lot of thought into graduate jobs. So, unusually for me, I hadn’t been thinking about it for a while because I’ve just become focussed on doing well this year. Yesterday I popped in to the SSE Placement/Graduate Fair for a bit. It’s mainly for Part 2 students looking for placements but I was on campus and I had some time to kill. I could be imagining it but it feels smaller this year. I’ve had my eye on FDM for a while now so I had a chat with them to get a bit more information. I’m seriously considering it as an option because it would be nice to gain professional qualifications and practical experience which I rather desire.
Freedom and flexibility
Still, it’s annoying because they never charged anything before to do these forms. Hopefully I won’t have to resort to Extenuating Circumstances forms at all this year. Yes, that’s what I think at the start of every year. I aim for it and hope it will be so. This year though, I really think it may actually be the case- but not because of the disincentive of a £10 charge per form. I think I’ll be able to get through this year without any ECFs because I have a lot more freedom and flexibility this year.
Yesterday I met the new “mentor” I’ve been assigned by the uni. There was a discussion on scheduling or pacing of work. which I believe is largely missing the point because my wellness/illness cannot be scheduled. All I can do is work around it. And to the extent that I can pace my working, I do that anyway already.
Now, the times that I’m feeling well there is nothing stopping me and I will plough my way through an assignment. That doesn’t mean I don’t know to take breaks or that I will overwork myself to the point of exhaustion. I’ve lived with M.E. long enough to know better. Something which they seemed keen to reiterate was that I shouldn’t leave things to the last minute. Well, duh! I would actually always aim for an assignment to be completed by 1-2 weeks before the deadline, at the latest.
The problem is that if I’m really not well then however much leeway I plan in, it still won’t be enough. Case in point: I should have fully completed a draft version of my UI design for my project but in the time that I would have done it over the summer (after resits), I haven’t been well enough.
They seemed keen that I have some sort of rigid schedule planned out on paper. That’s just not how I work- I literally can’t work like that. I have to be flexible because I have no way of predicting if or when I’ll be too ill to work. I will work as much as I can (within reason, of course) when I’m up to it so that I won’t fall behind when I can’t do any work. I prefer to plan fluidly. For a plan on paper to be fluid in that way, I’d have to keep revising it. It would just become paperwork. It would be a chore. It wouldn’t work.
If I miss deadlines, it’s not because I’ve not planned properly. It’s because I’ve been ill over such an extended period. No amount of planning will give me back time that I’ve lost to illness.
This year will be better because I only have two hours of timetabled lectures a week while the rest of the time I will be free to work on my project.
I’m not against scheduling. I guess I just haven’t found a way that fits my style. I can organise myself well enough. I just need enough flexibility to do it.
Whenever I look at Misery Bear I just think gpoy, seriously.
But anyway: aww… misery bear has a book called “Misery Bear’s Guide To Love And Heartbreak” out
this monthnext week. Probably not going to buy it but curious to see what it’s got in it. Will look for it next time I’m in a bookshop.- That awkward case when...
…there’s someone irritating in a group you hang out with who you just have to put up with
- The Serotonin Experiment: Day 9 & Day 10
For the full story behind this, see this.
Day 9: Monday 3rd October 2011
Heatwave continues. Again not much to say here because I would just be repeating what I said the previous few days! (Too hot, can’t think!)
I noticed that I got a link wrong in the main article. Fixed it now. Not that it matters much because I doubt these posts have that many readers. I’m making these posts mainly as a personal record.
Day 10: Tuesday 4th October 2011
Definitely cooler today. Lovely autumn weather. Such bliss.
I can finally think properly. Finally able to develop my design for my project.
Have booked appointment with GP for tomorrow to ask about the jumpiness. Will wander around the Freshers Fayre (Fair?) too.
- The Serotonin Experiment: Day 8
For the full story behind this, see this.
Day 8: Sunday 2nd October 2011
I was wrong. It was not cooler today. Well, it started off cool first thing in the morning but as the day went on it just got hotter.
I think I’ve noticed something that may be a side effect of this sertraline I’m taking: I seem to be quite jumpy these past few days. Just now I was in the kitchen and I jumped when a housemate entered from the hallway.
You’ll probably think you probably would have jumped too but the thing is, I usually wouldn’t - or at least not as much as I have been. Usually I’ll just notice and glance up at whoever is approaching and it doesn’t make me jump. I don’t know if maybe it’s because my senses have been affected somehow or I’m less aware of my surroundings or what.
I’ve never felt nervous or anxious and I’m not feeling nervous or anxious now. I’m sure I’m not developing a nervous disposition.
It only takes 20 minutes for the NYT to shift the blame.
After allowing them onto the bridge, police cut off and arrested dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters.
became
In a tense showdown over the East River, police arrested hundreds of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators after they marched onto the bridge’s Brooklyn=bound roadway.
Don’t let this simply vanish, people. Don’t let them get away with this. Force the NYT to own this, and accept responsibility for lying to their readers, to protect the 1%.
They’re terrified of us.
They know that we’re coming for them.
This is only the beginning.
(image via Reddit. Quote via Daily Kos)
I get the impression that the police have been too heavy handed. That perception persists. In my opinion the police shouldn’t be arresting the protesters. They should be joining them.
- The Serotonin Experiment: Day 6 & Day 7
For the full story behind this, see this.
Day 6: Friday 30th September 2011
Heatwave continues. Not much to say here because I would just be repeating what I said the previous two days! (Too hot, can’t think!)
Day 7: Saturday 1st October 2011
It felt relatively cooler today than previous days. I say relatively because I was still roasting- it couldn’t have been more than a few degrees less.
Was to be able to concentrate slightly better because it wasn’t as warm- sertraline or otherwise.
All this time though I think the sertraline has been working at least somewhat because I’ve had fewer or no headaches. And normally, my problem with headaches is compounded by high temperatures and I would have a headache the entire time.
I’m falling behind so much with my final year project - i.e. I should have made more progress than I have by this point - but hopefully conditions will be more comfortable over the coming week and so be conducive to productivity.
- The Serotonin Experiment: Day 5
For the full story behind this, see this.
Day 5: Thursday 29th September 2011
Can’t function in this heatwave.
Still getting temperatures in the high 20s (°C). I think I’m starting to acclimatise at least so perhaps tomorrow will be better.
With my windows open, my door open and the fan on, I finally started finding the temperature tolerable. But it’s 11pm. Damn.
This is stupid. I have to work on my project and this heat is stopping me.
- The Serotonin Experiment: Day 4
For the full story behind this, see this.
Day 4: Wednesday 28th September 2011
Today was horrible. But not because of the sertraline.
Apart from the initial reaction on Sunday when I start taking the sertraline, I haven’t had any adverse effects. Although perhaps it’s still too early to tell.
No, today was horrible because it was so hot. We were getting highs of 27 °C. I’ve always been sensitive to heat - I like it cool… bring on autumn/winter! - so this was not pleasant. Anyway, ended up being exhausted by the heat most of the day.
I hope it will be cooler tomorrow.
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Posts
- Mar 13, 11
...for Tom - @ItsTomHimself - he's got his own radio show and everything. He's cool. Check him out. :)
140 characters isn't really enough to give a decent response, imo, so I thought I'd type it out here, for all to see. Just what comes to mind initially. I'll probably disagree with myself when I look back on this on another day.
I'd start with Opheliac (2006) first because her next album Fight Like A Girl is a continuation of sorts and promises to be "a bit more violent... bloodier [and]...a little more metal". Enchant (2002) is lighter and pretty much the opposite of that. Whatever people feel about Enchant or Opheliac, F.L.A.G sounds like it's gonna be amazing.
These aren't a "Top 10" as such but I guess they'd be the 10 that I'd probably suggest to anyone asking for a recommendations.
From the instrumental album Laced/Unlaced (2007):
- Unlaced
- Manic Depression
From Opheliac (2006):
- Opheliac
- I Want My Innocence Back
- Misery Loves Company
- God Help Me
- Let the Record Show
From Enchant (2002), which I love, if I had to pick:
- Heard It All
- Second Hand Faith
- Chambermaid
I would also check out the remixes of Dead Is The New Alive (from Opheliac) on the Liar/Dead Is The New Alive EP.
Does anyone find that making specific recommendations can turn out to be rather difficult? Depends on what someone is in the mood for I guess. I find that Enchant is good for relaxing to. Opheliac is part mellow, part "fighting music" (like "fighting talk" but with music) - the latter being good if I need to muster motivation for something so it's great for working to. And then there's her classical music...
- Jan 25, 11
This is actually really going to be about awesome comedy rock band Axis of Awesome (one to watch, imo) but first, a quick (closely related) tangent: Rob Paravonian's Pachelbel Rant
And now more recently, Axis of Awesome (Jordan Raskopoulos, Benny Davis and Lee Naimo) has come up with their 4 Chord Song:
I'm in no way any kind of expert on music theory so won't comment on the technical aspects here but more on the overall performance, which both acts have delivered brilliantly. I really like what these two acts have done, and the resulting medleys. Obviously both sketches are based on a similar idea and indeed, both routines do feature several songs in common:
- U2 - With Or Without You
- The Beatles - Let it Be
- Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry
- Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
RobP deserves the credit for being the first, to my knowledge, to make use of the idea in this way but let me know of anything else similar I've missed via comments because they probably exist!
However, Axis of Awesome has surpassed RobP, perhaps simply because as a trio interacting with each other they've been able to achieve more than Rob was able to achieve alone- that, and the fact that theirs is longer and incorporates so many more songs which increases the "I-know-that-one!" factor.
I'm mostly disappointed that I've never had the chance to see either of these shows, in particular Axis of Awesome because while they've both been in the country before, Axis of Awesome were here as recently as November - if only I'd heard of them before then!
- Dec 29, 10
Wow, now that’s a blast from the past. The original was released in September 1988. This new version of Erasure’s classic hit A Little Respect was released earlier this month on 5th December. This version is more upbeat, sounding more cheerful and positive than the original. The chorus of voices really adds to that and the video is fun and well done.
2010 seems have been the year for relaunches and re-releases.
The start of the year saw the reformation of Berkshire based ’90s band Republica, with the release in April of a new version of “Ready to Go” - their biggest hit and for many, their signature track.
Then in August, Pete Doherty got back together with Carl Barât and The Libertines reformed to play at the Reading and Leeds festivals.
The new release from Erasure, A Little Respect (HMI Redux), is available by digital download from iTunes. All proceeds will go to The Hetrick-Martin Institute, the home of the Harvey Milk High School, in New York, and the True Colors Fund. The Hetrick-Martin Institute, the nation’s oldest and largest LGBTQ youth service organization, provides a safe and supportive environment to all young people – regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity so that they can achieve their full potential.
BUY FROM iTUNES UK | BUY FROM iTUNES USA
Read more at Erasure’s website: http://www.erasureinfo.com/news/index.php
P.S. Thanks for this Alex. End of term at university was so busy that I totally might have missed this if it weren’t for you. Particularly since my tastes in music mainly lie elsewhere. Still, I’m fond of bands like Erasure (“A Little Respect”) and Republica (“Ready to Go”) for the reminders of my younger days :p
Erasure’s new version of ”A little respect” with a new clip.
I am so glad they didn’t change it musically too drastically. Musicians tend to turn their own,good songs into shit whilst re-arranging them so I’m really,really happy about the fact that it turned out that well.
Also,the video is filled with so much love,equality and respect and just ughhh I want to embrace the world right now!!
- Oct 25, 10
How a devoted Lacuna Coil fan lost interest, grew distant and then fell in love with the band all over again
Having been a long time Lacuna Coil fan (nearly a decade in my case), I've recently returned to the fold from what has essentially been a trial separation between the band's music and my musical tastes. I remember how many years ago when I first got into the band, if I was ever asked what my favourite band was then I would answer Lacuna Coil without hesitation. Since then my tastes have grown quite a bit and these days there a number of contenders for "favourite band" but I've once again started to feel about about the band like I used to.
Like many other older fans I was rather disappointed with their 2009 release Shallow Life. I suppose my issue was that it was in fact too shallow for my taste. In their effort to become more mainstream, radio-friendly and appeal to a wider audience I felt that they had lost their identity- while attributed to Lacuna Coil, the music no longer sounded like Lacuna Coil. I'm not saying that Shallow Life was bad exactly - indeed there are a couple of tracks that I do really like - but I feel they had lost sight of what had made Comalies (2002) (and even Karmacode (2006) to an extent) so successful.
To be fair, to some extent every band will have a desire to expand their fanbase. Also, every band must eventually get bored of playing the same old kind of stuff and will yearn to experiment- and if not out of boredom then in the interests of survival. So while I no longer felt any love for the band's music, I still loved the band itself and kept on listening to their back catalogue- and hoped that this was just a temporary deviation from the quintessential Lacuna Coil.
It would appear that my faith in them has been rewarded. At two recent gigs, at Oxford Academy (23/9/2010) and at the Borderline (9/10/2010) I've watched them perform a number of their classic songs from their first three albums. In particular it was a wonderful treat to experience the intimate Borderline gig featuring both an electric set and a special acoustic set.
Once again, I confidently declare myself a huge fan of Lacuna Coil and wait in restless anticipation of their next album. Perhaps there'll be surprises in store when they finish touring Shallow Life and get back into the studio. So the message to any veteran Lacuna Coil fans who may have jumped ship, now may be the time to clamber back aboard.
- Sep 25, 10
At last have been able to see a Smoke Fairies headlining gig. I was not disappointed! This duo has an alluring ethereal quality about them, in both their sound and appearance. I first saw them supporting James Marsters back in May 2009. I was mainly seeing JM for novelty value: while I know him from his film and TV roles, I'd knew little about his musical work. Smoke Fairies was supporting, which was a stroke of luck because they turned out to be rather good.
I had been looking to go to a Smoke Fairies headlining gig ever since and so on Tuesday 21st September it finally happened. Shockingly the tickets were not all sold out (they should have, given how good the Smoke Fairies are) and I was able to get another for my girlfriend who I'd persuaded to join me.
- Sep 03, 10
If you're reading this, looks like things are working properly after the import of this from from Tumblr into Posterous. After some personal downtime, I'm up and running again and hopefully so is the writing- although uni and "real-life" may conspire to rob me of time for writing. Let the balancing act commence
Reasons for adoption of Posterous:
- Better social sharing and integration with social networks- i,e, Twitter and Facebook
- or Posterous' implementation just looks prettier? LOL
- Integrated comments system
- with Tumblr I had to tack on Disqus to achieve the same
- Ease of updating
- sure, I can email into Tumblr but it doesn't seem to work as well as what Posterous promises. And while there is an Android app, it's third party and is sometimes temperamental
- Easier to include multiple media types in the same post
- Tumblr defines separate media posting types - text, photo, audio, video, chat. Unfortunately it's not possible to mix these unless you use HTML mode, which I have from time to time- but if the aim is to get stuff published ASAP, then I don't want to be wasting time on formatting minutiae.
Best of all the autopost to Tumblr means that the old blog will automatically mirror this one here so from an external perspective, the only thing that will have changed is that this blog can now now be accessed from two places.
One concern I have though, is that I have my Tumblr blogs set to automatically post to Facebook and when this gets autoposted to From The Pit on Tumblr, it'll update Facebook so I may have to disable Facebook posting altogether for one of them because Posterous will also update Facebook. Also, there is no way to select on a post by post basis (or blog by blog even, because Tumblr's Facebook integration seems to be account-based) whether I want this to happen.
I may have to delete the superfluous Facebook update manually. Twitter integration on the other hand does appear to allow control on a post-by-post and blog-by-blog basis, thankfully.
An easy solution I suppose would be import my main blog too and disable Tumblr's Facebook and Twitter posting altogether. Will see how this one goes first.
Update: OK, seems that Tumblr doesn't obey blog-by-blog Twitter posting settings
- Better social sharing and integration with social networks- i,e, Twitter and Facebook
- Jul 17, 10
A reminder of Penn & Teller’s [ @PennJillette & @MrTeller ] amazing show that I saw on Wednesday 14th July at the Hammersmith Apollo. Penn & Teller are a perfect fusion of amazing magic and comedy double act: they are perfect in their roles with Penn as the funny-man and Teller as the straight-man.
The night begins with Teller standing with a box over his head. Penn speaks to a volunteer invited onto the stage about her glasses. He asks for them and puts them into the breast pocket of his jacket. They discuss how important glasses are to those of us who need them. Penn goes over to Teller and introduces him. Going back to where they were, Penn proceeds strike repeatedly the pocket in which he’d previously put the woman’s glasses… but they’re not there anymore. Going over to Teller and breaking the box apart reveals Teller wearing her glasses. They are returned to her and she confirms that they are indeed hers.
That opening trick was looked a simple one but it was still more than enough evidence that the show was very much worth the cost of admission.
Some other memorable parts were Penn’s nail-gun “memory” trick and the fire swallowing at the end. Teller appears to be right in his idea that people pay better attention if he stays silent because I seem to remember his tricks better. For me, some particularly memorable Teller tricks were the needle swallowing, the shadow-flower cutting and one where he turns water into coins that are then turned into goldfish.
My only disappointment was that they didn’t do their famous Magic Bullet trick! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T581uwoOYho : Has that trick been banned or something?
Penn & Teller was the first magic show that I’ve ever been to see - and I still need to see Derren Brown - but the first magician anywhere that I became aware of was Paul Daniels who used to appear on BBC 1 quite regularly when I was little. I’ve always found magic interesting- at first because it was so interesting to watch but then as I got older also because I loved trying to work out how the tricks were done.
Meeting Penn Jillette and Teller after the show confirms that they are both really nice friendly guys. They went outside after the show to meet the audience, sign things and have photos taken- staying even when a light shower started. I found a laminated pass on the ground and went to Penn (the remaining hoard of people from our audience was moving onto Teller now!) to attempt to return it in case it was important and belonged to either them or their crew.
Mr. Jillette kindly let me keep it. I even got an indirect mention on Twitter :P
- http://twitter.com/pennjillette/status/18558658942
- http://twitter.com/pennjillette/status/18559815935
Yay, another souvenir- in addition to the t-shirt and programme that I’d bought. :)
- May 15, 10
(supported by The LoveCrave)
Friday 14th May 2010;
Underworld, Camden;Rating: 4/5
Firstly, introductions. Direct from their Facebook group, Diablo Swing Orchestra is a Swedish avant-garde metal band. The band was formed in 2003. As for the main support, The LoveCrave is an Italian gothic rock band formed in 2004 (which I actually discovered before DSO when I was searching for something to replace Lacuna Coil- I didn’t find it in The LoveCrave but I liked what I heard anyway).
The gig began in earnest when The LoveCrave took to the stage and the previously sedate audience started to mosh. They started off with three tracks off their new album Soul Saliva: 1. The Other You; 2. And Scream; 3. Warriors. So far, so good, it looks their new album is going to be a success.
Then it was on to Can You Hear Me, a track from their first album The Angel And The Rain.
What came next was a surprise to everyone who hadn’t heard it before. The LoveCrave performed a cover track from the new album: a goth rock cover of Michael Jackson’s Thriller! When Francesca Chiara announced it, my companion and I exchanged glances and did a double-take.
To finish off, the band returned to two old favourites from their first album after performing Get Outta Here, another track off their new album. It’s not exaggerating to say that the fans went wild when Little Suicide and Vampires were performed.
Now, if that was the end of the gig, I would have left happy… but no, now it was the turn of Diablo Swing Orchestra to dazzle us- and dazzle us they did. The energetic performances were amazing to watch and fans’ satisfaction was ensured with some brilliant tracks off their new album Sing-Along Songs For The Damned And Delirious interspersed with old favourites from their first album The Butcher’s Ballroom.
I loved every single song but I think my favourites from the set were A Tap Dancer’s Dilemma (new album) and Rag Doll Physics (old). They finished off with the track that first introduced me to DSO, Balrog Boogie, the first track on their first album.
Here’s the DSO setlist for reliving the memories:
- Lucy Fears The Morning Star
- A Tap Dancer’s Dilemma
- Stratosphere Serenade
- Heroines
- Velvet Embracer
- Rag Doll Physics
- Poetic Pitbull Revolutions
- Wedding March For A Bullet
- Infralove
- Vodka Inferno
- Ricerca Dell’Anima
- Balrog Boogie
Avant-garde indeed. The operatic, classical style vocals from Annlouice Loegdlund and the trumpet are certainly not typically found in metal.
Whatever the art form, there’s stuff that makes me go mmmm and stuff that makes me go hmmm - the former means I like it while the latter means I find it interesting. Diablo Swing Orchestra and The LoveCrave delivered copious amounts of both- and for me, that’s an indication of a good gig. It’s the hmmm that will ensure that a band has staying power in my music collection and playlists. The problem with a lot of “mainstream” stuff is that even though there might be some “mmmm”. there’s not a lot of “hmmm”- so even if I do listen to it, I’ll very quickly lose interest.
It was a fantastic gig. It was my first time seeing Diablo Swing Orchestra and The LoveCrave live. I wasn’t disappointed. The only reason this gig didn’t get 5/5 is that I thought that the first support band Haken were a bit boring: the singer tried to compensate with showmanship but it would have been more effective if only I liked their music better. Haken failed to ellicit any hmmm or mmmm from me.
— Thus concludes the quickest review I’ve ever written… and apologies for the look of this blog. It’s a work in progress.
- May 15, 10
I’m just trying to entertain people, make a living and pay my rent, without having to get a job I hate and hopefully find an audience who’ll love and accept me and not think I’m a narcissist for wanting to be a performer and find true inner peace and that’s it.
Amanda Palmer, from “GaGa, Palmer, Madonna”
: add “inform” to “entertain” and replace “performer” with “writer” or “music critic” or “reviewer”… and that’s basically the intent behind this blog. Let’s see where this goes.
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- Main Menu by Michael McCann
- Opening Credits by Michael McCann
- Icarus by Michael McCann
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