Sinister Experiments on The Internet

Bored/Meme

2009-06-21T16:38:35Z

1. How far away is the last person you kissed?
Not sure where they are.

2. Has someone ever told you that they would be with you forever?
I don't think so.

3. Last person you were in the car with?
Probably Manuella

4. Any plans for tomorrow?
Write a basic ItemsList control in C#

5. How long does it take for you to take a shower?
10 minutes

6. When is your birthday?
July

7. Is tomorrow going to be a good day?
I doubt it.

8. Did you kiss anyone on friday?
No.

9. Ever thrown up in public?
Yes... on the underground in Vienna many years ago. A bad case of food poisoning. :(

10. What's on your mind RIGHT NOW?
Wondering what to wear to go to the Joy Disaster gig this evening.

11. Who was the last person you talked to?
Alice.

12. What is the WORST subject they teach at school?
Well, this is clearly going to vary from school to school and probably has more to do with the teacher than the subject. In my case, it was geography.

13. Have you seen anyone lately that you don't get along with?
No.

14. What is your favourite colour shirt to wear?
Black.

15. Have you ever been in a car accident?
No

16. What's the closest thing to you that's green?
A post-it note with directions to Ye Olde Cheshire Arms pub.

17. Where would you like to be right now?
I'm quite happy hear, thank you very much.

18. Write down some lyrics to the song your listening to;
I'm listening to poetry please on Radio 4:

Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot--
I think a Sufi pipkin--waxing hot--
"All this of Pot and Potter--Tell me then,
Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"

19. How many dogs do you have?
None

20. Is anything bugging you right now?
My lack of motivation

21. How is life going for you right now?
Badly

22. Is there someone you care about more than yourself?
Loads of people... my friends in general.

23. What made you laugh today?
Nothing

24. What was the last movie you watched?
The Spirit

25. What was the last conversation you had?
Chatted with Alice about The Spirit before she went home last night.

26. What were you doing at 7:00 this morning?
Sleeping

27. Do you like your hair long or short?
Both - long on top and very short underneath, ergo an undercut!

26. Do you want to see somebody right now?
Hmmm... not sure, looking forward to the gig tonight, but right now I'm happy on my own. Unless you are offering to cook for me, of course! ;-)

29. Do you like the rain?
Yes

30. Do you think you'll have a Valentine this year?
No

31. The last person you kissed needs you at 3AM. Would you go?
Yes

32. Would you honestly say you'd risk your life for someone else?
I'd like to say yes, but when push comes to shove, I'm a coward.

33. Honestly, if you could go back 1 month and change something would you?
No.

34. How do you feel about girls smoking?
What a daft question. I don't find it attractive, but really!

34. Could you see yourself with someone forever?
No, I'm too much of a pain in the arse to live with!

35. What was the first thing you thought when you woke up?
Would it be rude to turn over and go back to sleep again?

36. Do you think you can last in a relationship for 6 months or more?
No (cf question 34)

37. Do you forgive or forget?
Forget

38. Do you trust people?
Depends on the person...

39. What are you not looking forward to?
The gig this evening.

40. Do you get mad easily?
Not that I notice.

41. Has anyone ever told you that you have pretty eyes?
No.

42. Do you have strange dreams?
Yes, and I love them!

43. Ever licked someone's cheek or forehead?
Umm... no

44. Last time you fell asleep in someone's arms?
April, I think

45. When did you last throw up?
April sometime again. *Horrible* stomach bug.

46. What do you have on you at all times?
My labret piercing

47. Would you go out in public without getting dressed up or put together?
Yes

48. Do you like fruity or minty gum?
Mint

49. Favourite musician or group?
Oh, this is a tough one. Depeche Mode at the moment but it changes all the time

50. Favourite film of all time?
Don't have one, not that big a film person.

51. Favourite computer game?
I don't play computer games.

52. First album you ever went and bought with your own money?
Bon Jovi - Runaway, I think

53. Think back five months ago, were you single?
No

54. Do you believe in celebrating anniversaries?
Yes, but not my own birthday

55. Do you think someone is thinking about you right now?
I doubt it

56. Last thing you bought?
A tin of mixed beans, coconut cream and thyme.

57. Are you a jealous person?
Yes

58. Does it take a lot to make you cry?
Not really... been doing a lot of crying recently :(

59. Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can talk to?
Yes, several in fact :D

60. Have you ever had your heart broken? If so, how many times?
Yes

61. Do you like to cuddle/snuggle?
Yes

62. Is there anybody you wish you could be spending time with right now?
No

63. What does the sixteenth text in your inbox say?
A message from Alice asking about what I do for a living and what my recent trip to Paris was like

64. Do you wish someone would call or text you right now?
No

65. Is your life anything like it was a year ago?
No

66. This time last year, can you remember who you liked?
Yes

67. You can only drink ONE liquid for the rest of your life, what is it?
Water (Duh!)

68. Have you lost contact with someone you wish you didn't?
Yes - I wish I could contact Rupert Horne from my school days.

69. What is the last thing you said out loud?
I can't remember, probably along the lines of "safe journey home!"

70. When was the last time you cried?
A few weeks back

71. Do you have friends you can tell stuff to and you're sure they won't tell?
Yes, plenty!

72. What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night?
I have no idea. Brushed my teeth probably!

73. What can't you wait for?
Dinner to finish cooking

74. Have you ever told anyone you would marry them?
No

75. What's the worst way to say "I love you"?
In a drunken post on facebook.

76. Seven days from now will you be in a relationship?
I doubt it

77. Are you mad about anything?
No... I've become a little apathetic these days

78. What is the last thing you got in trouble for with your parents?
I haven't been in trouble with them for so long that I really can't remember.

79. Are you mean?
Only to children

80. Were you happy when you woke up today?
No

81. Has a boy/girl called you babe or baby in the past two days?
No

82. Do you hate it when people smoke around you?
Yes

83. Do you have anything that belongs to a boyfriend/girlfriend?
No

84. Has anybody ever given you butterflies?
Yes

85. How long do you think you will live?
82 years 3 months 10 days

86. Does it bother you when people respond with one word?
No

87. Do you believe once a cheater, always a cheater?
Yes

88. Who disgusts you?
People who torture animals

89. Name one thing people think about you that's not true?
That I'm sweet and innocent.

90. What would you do if your best friend turned gay?
Nothing in particular. What a rude question!

91. Is your hair naturally curly or straight?
Straight

92. Do you drink tea?
Lots and lots and lots of it.

93. How do you feel about chocolate-covered strawberries
Waste of good strawberries

94. Do you currently have feelings for anybody?
No

95. Have you ever stripped for money?
No. I think I'd get more money by threatening to take my clothes off unless paid to stop!

96. Is the last person you kissed more than a year older than you?
No

97. Ever kissed someone with the letters c, a, s, d, q, or j as their first initial?
Yes - a and j

98. Two days from now at this time, where will you be?
At work.

99. Do you think you are a good person?
Nope, bad to the bone.

My Musical Journey

2009-02-23T22:24:41Z

Well, something about Mark's post on Facebook got me reminiscing. "Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions."

Well, this rather long post lists the albums that changed my life and why. These are not necessarily good albums, or even my favourite albums. They are, however, albums that marked big changes in my life such as the one that happened last weekend. Most sane people would find this intensely dull and self indulgent, but somehow I feel the need to document my musical journey so far. If you are interested .

1. Mozart - Ave Verum

OK, this might seem a little strange, and lets face it, its not exactly an album! This is the first time a sang 'proper' music, at the age of about 7. Little did I know that I would end up singing 8 times a week in the school choir. Despite being an atheist, I absolutely loved choral music, and still do. I still sing this around the flat. And I've sung it many times 'for real', as a boy treble, alto and tenor.

2. Pink Floyd - The Wall

I have a small confession to make here. I 'borrowed' my sister's limited edition copy of this album. I still have it! When I was 13 I went to boarding school, fully expecting to get the shit kicked out of me. It turned out that I met some great like minded friends... and had the shit kicked out of me. This album reminds me of a time when I was struggling to teach myself to play synths by working out how to play Wright's keyboard playing! R.I.P Rick Wright.

3. Mötley Crüe - Girls, Girls, Girls

Oh dear, what can I say? Again, this is from the same era. Fond memories this time of banging out power chords to this on my sister's acoustic guitar (I stole that too, but I don't feel so bad as she never learnt to play it). In particular, this reminds me of an old friend Rupert Horn aka 'Rupert the Bear' who taught me to play guitar.

4. Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

I discovered the dark side of rock. Enough said.

5. The Sisters Of Mercy - First Last And Always

Bet you didn't see that one coming! Ok, I went to University and discovered that there was a lot more to music than cheesy rock. My musical education had been very limited and suddenly I found myself exposed to fascinating new forms of music. The memory this invokes is of smoking pot, incense burning and... frustration. Frustration that I was unable to find a girlfriend, but also that I couldn't find a band that wanted to make (in my ignorant opinion) decent music.

6. The Dead Milkman - ???

I studied in Germany for a year as part of my degree. I didn't go to gigs much, largely because there weren't many in Marburg. I *did* go to this gig though, and it blew my mind. It *was* possible to do rock without being cheesy! To my distorted mind, these guys blow Nirvana out of the water but they may simply be because I saw them a good year before I heard of Nirvana. I can still smell the sweat and stale beer in the club. Maybe its time I had a shower!

7. Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine

This was an strange period of my life - I was back at my home University but all my friends had left already. I made friends with 'Ancient' Ian Collier, who had done a similar exchange program to Italy. He is one of my oldest, bestest friends and helped me fill in my 'back catalogue' of music. Carter USM were not a band I would probably have seen had it not been for Ian. I'm glad he convinced me. I still love this band, but judging by the gig I went to at the end of last year, their fans are c***s.

8. Leftfield - Leftism

After a fairly dark time at University, I found myself with a brand new exciting job in a dead end industry (localization). I didn't know it was a dead end, though, and the whole rave scene was exploding. A great period of my life in so many ways, and in so many others a complete waste of time. I met another good friend, Lee, and moved to Maidenhead, my home for over 10 years. I also started to drank far too much.

9. The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Lee, Mark, 'Scary' Mary and myself banging out cover versions. This is one of the happiest times of my life: good music, great friends and well... I was still single, but who cared?

10. Rammstein - Sehnsucht

Ricarda. She was unaware that I spoke German when I first met her, and in a moment of what I can only assume was passion, she translated the lyrics to this album for me. I never actually went out with her though as I was unable to convey my feelings for her. I still don't know if she even wanted to go out with me!

11. Faure - Requiem

A bit of a curve ball, this one. Throughout all the previous, I had been singing with choirs - even when I was in Germany. This is the last piece of music I sang as part of choir. It also fantastic, if a little cliched. I will see (or sing) this at any and every opportunity. Even if you think you don't know it, you do - its on adverts, its sampled in pop songs (especially, but not exclusively, goth) Speaking of which... I also have fond memory of seeing this with Jane last year.

11. VNV Nation - Praise The Fallen

When I fell out with Ricarda (my own fault, not hers), I wanted to get away from the closed circle of friends I'd been socialising with for six years or more. I had got in to a rut. I googled 'Maidenhead' and 'Goth' and found a wonderful alternative/goth community. These people still form the largest part of my social circle. There is a photo somewhere on the internet of me dancing like a dick to this album, but frankly I don't care - I love the music, and if I look like a dick, tough shit. This also brings back memories of being... *cough* very happy at Slimelight.

12. Cubanate - Oxyacetalene

Anna. Anna was a totally unexpected relationship that lasted for a month, or two tops and then ended. And then came back again. And blew up. *sigh* I was angry when it ended, and this album summed it up. It brings back memories of intense happiness, anger and sadness. To feel loved, used and rejected in eight short weeks. Lovely!

13. Ocular Sinister - Sinister Experiments

OK, now this *is* being self indulgent, but oh my god, I will never forget the fun I had making this. The Schadenfreude material is pretentious shit though. Memories of gigging, stage fright and arse fright (I still don't trust Rooney...)

14. Combichrist - This Shit Will Fuck You Up

Jane. We first met at a Combichrist gig, and then met again at another Combichrist gig a week later. At last my life seemed to be taking shape. However, I stopped making music completely. Its easy, lazy and just plain wrong to blame Jane for that. I just wasn't inspired by the bands or my which seemed to be churning out the same predictable crap, so there just didn't seem to be much point. Besides, I didn't have any worthwhile ideas of my own.. I started to suspect that I was getting old... or middle aged, at least.

15. White Lies - To Lose My Life

Jane again. This time, it was a totally different feeling. Knowing that Jane would rather dance to this tune with someone else. I wasn't going to buy this album as there seem to be only two decent tracks on it, but I think I have to now. It closes the relationship.

16. Joy Division - Closer

This album has been with me for so many years, and I suspect (hope?) it will be for many more. There are few poets or musicians that can so eloquently describe the emotion and frustration of living in the modern world and the pain of being torn between two goals with the only possible outcome failure. This album has helped me through so many dark times, including my current one. Its just a shame it didn't help Ian through his.

Well, that was that

2009-02-23T20:30:10Z

Three wonderful years, one dreadful week. I am single again. Going by past performance, I should be able to get a girlfriend in the next 10-20 years.

Not been a good week

2009-02-21T15:10:53Z

That is all

Things I'm thinking about

2009-01-29T20:35:04Z

1) German Efficiency

Last Sunday I ordered tickets to various shows in the UK - and one ticket to a show in Germany, the Zita festival in Berlin.
This morning I have Zita tickets... but nothing from English National Opera, The Young Vic, Flag Promotions or Ticketmaster. German efficiency can not be questioned.

2) Chinese parents

It is well known fact that the Chinese have a one-child-per-family law. But what happens if the mother gives birth to twins? Or, as in the recent case, octoplets? Does she get to choose one? What happens to the others?

3) People seem to think that the government has somehow 'mis-managed' the economy.

Well - no. The economy is not predictable. Its not even random - its chaotic. The government can control the economy every bit as much as it can control the weather. I wouldn't like to predict what impact the recent VAT shenanigans have had, or the massive influx of public capital. All we've done is shaken the whole thing up a bit. But... its still an unstable, chaotic system. Unsurprisingly the changes they've made haven't had the desired impact.

4) I really need to start a campaign to get people to vote for anything but the big 2.5 political parties

Labour, Conservative and Liberal democrats are all offering us more of the same. Sure, they've got the odd tweak here and there... but really, giving the Conservatives a whopping great majority is only going to give us yet another parliamentary dictatorship. Vote for the smaller parties! OK, so your chosen party won't win - but at least the party that does win won't have such a whopping majority that they can continue building the surveillance society and screwing us over! And, if we are lucky, we might get a hung parliament and those over paid fuckers will have to work for their living by, you know, defending their policies in a balanced debate rather than relying on an overwhelming majority.

2008 Meme

2009-01-01T18:27:55Z

Best Gig: Close tie between The Damned@Islington Academy and the Diary of Dreams@Dingwalls.

Best Album: I bought only 5 albums that were released this year... none of which are worthy of this accolade. I'm liking the Scroobius Pip single Thou Shalt Always Kill though I don't own the album.

Best Book: The Glass Book Of The Dream Eaters by G.W.Dahlquist

Best Film: Pass

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
We saw a ballet - Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House. It was fantastic, even though we were standing at the back. We will be going back (I'd love to see an opera there)!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't make any, and I don't intend to make any this year either.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
Italy (9 times), France (twice), Luxembourg, Austria

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
More spare time.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 14th - the date Jane went in to hospital.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Managing a rapidly growing team spread between two countries.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I failed to write a single tune this year :(

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Probably my new computer. That's quite boring, isn't it?

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
The UK mainstream political parties. I am deeply concerned that come the next election we will be faced between a choice of two far right fascist parties. *shudder*

14. Where did most of your money go?
This is a stupid question. Everyone will say mortgage/rent, unless they live with their parents! The most expensive thing I bought was my new Ted Baker suit.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Seeing Carter USM - who were to be honest, a bit disappointing.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Diary Of Dreams - The Curse

17. Are you happier or sadder? I'm still a miserable old git.
Thinner or fatter? Fatter - in a beer gut kind of way.
Richer or poorer? Richer - thanks to multiple cuts in interest rates.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing/making music.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Travelling.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
At home pretending its not happening.

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Nope, already taken, thank you!

23. How many one night stands?
:-O

24. What was your favourite TV program?
I don't have a telly.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

26. What was the best book you read?
The Glass Book Of The Dream Eaters by G.W.Dahlquist

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Anne Clark. Not a new artist (by any stretch of the imagination!), but one that I'd never hear of before.

28. What did you want and get?
A new rug.
PVC Jeans.
A new suit & shirts. (Ted Baker - I can recommend them)
A new computer. (Cougar - I can recommend them too)

29. What did you want and not get?
I've done well this year - I've got everything I wanted :D

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I only watched two films (The Duchess & The Dark Knight), and neither are worthy of this accolade.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Went to Cambridge - it pissed it down, but we had a great time anyway. There is a great museum of old scientific equipment there that is a real gem. And I'd always wanted to see the King's College chapel. Sadly, circumstances did not allow us to stay for a concert.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
First class tickets on British Airways instead of cattle class with Ryan Air/EasyJet.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Ted Baker. PVC. Rubber.

34. What kept you sane?
IPM Radio. Sadly, they have just done their last show, so by this time next year... who knows?

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Dita von Tease

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The Israeli governments dire treatment of the Palestinian people.

37. Who did you miss?
A lot of people from Maidenhead/Reading. I really need to make more of an effort to keep in touch!

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Though technically I met her a few times last year, I didn't really get to know Manuella Becker until this year. In the last few weeks I've met a *lot* of new people since we've started going out again now that Jane has fully recovered from her operation. I'm sure some of these people should feature here too... but I haven't quite got my head around all their names yet!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008
Avoid Heathrow Terminal 2 unless the only alternative is Ryan Air or EasyJet.

Infest/Poisioning?

2008-04-13T19:28:51Z

Is anyone planning on going to Infest this year? We're thinking of going as the line up looks better than last year's...

Also... I seem to have narrowly avoided killing Jane and me with a lethal spicy jerked chicken... The first time I've had to throw my dinner out and start again from scratch! :-O

Ho-hum... life goes on!

Help me decide...

2008-04-03T13:16:16Z

My old PC is knackered. The hard disk is blitzed, there's only just enough memory to KPatience and the video card sucks so hard that KDE4 grinds to a halt. This later may be due to the rubbish drivers NVidia provide, but they no longer provide bug fixes or updates for that old card.

Sooo... VOTE!

[ ] Do nothing - you mostlye browse the web and email
Pros:

Cheap

Cons:

Sooner or later fsck is not going to be able to repair my hard disk...

Not portable

Too slow to run the latest KDE or Windows apps, and definitely not up to music stuff!

[ ] Invest in a refurbished 15" MacBook Pro (circa £897)
Pros:

Interesting new OS to play with

Good for music related stuff

Portable

Cons:

Expensive

[ ] Get a generic Kubuntu PC from Efficient PC (circa £630)
Pros:

Cheapish

Much better specification than the MacBook Pro

Cons:

KDE not ideal for music related work

Not portable

Has someone found a bug in Windows again?

2008-03-31T15:49:16Z

The number of junk emails I've been receiving has steadily been dropping over the last few years as more and more people patch their XP installations to SP2. Since this morning, I'm getting 75 an hour! I think someone might be exploiting a bug in XP or Vista on a massive scale....

2007 Roundup

2008-01-03T13:38:49Z

The Arts

Best Single: Its not been a great year for music, but if you push me it would have to be Mark Nicholas - Two Sandwiches
Best Album: Again, not a great year. New albums by NIN and Revolting Cocks are probably the best of a dull bunch of releases. Where is the exciting new music I'm missing?!
Best Gig: VNV Nation @ Slimelight, more for the atmosphere than a particularly stellar performance
Best Book: The Book Thief
Best Film: Tie between This Is England and Control
Best Play: The RSC production of Macbeth

Technology

Best web site: LOL Cats (yes, I know I'm about 5 years behind everyone else with this one!)
Best non-fiction book: The God Delusion
Best Software: Kubuntu - wireless, bluetooth, video drivers, you name it, it 'just works'.
Best Hardware/Gadget: Ion USB record player. Audiophiles will probably shudder, but I can now put vinyl on to my mp3 player!

Life

A lot of overtime.

A lot of travelling to Italy for work. I think I am going to get pissed off with work soon!

A lot of worry about Jane's health. She goes in to hospital 31^st January.

I was very unenthusiastic about music last year. Nothing I heard last year inspired me, and I've made no new music either.

The flat is now decorrated to a habitable standard! This year I'll be mostly buying furniture - its about time we had chairs rather than camping chairs!

The Tiger Lillies review

2007-05-01T12:37:10Z

Part cabaret act, part folk band, gothic, sharply observant and fantastically funny! I didn't know a great deal about The Tiger Lillies and only went to this gig because they were responsible for Shockheaded Peter - one of the best bits of musical theater I have ever been to. The lyrics were, to say the least, crude and focused almost exclusively on dirty filthy sex, rape and lust. The music ranged for classic blues to more folksy numbers, always performed with great wit and style, despite some distractions from an annoying American woman in the front row^[1]

My only gripe was the venue while comfortable and welcoming was really geared towards theater and hence it was seeting only. I don't think I was the only one that would have danced if there had been an appropriate space.

[1] If you are that woman, please, kill yourself now. You have no idea when to laugh and when to shut the fuck up and do not deserve to live. Thank you.

Feature 982

2007-04-30T08:18:44Z

I received a voice mail today for the first time since... the last time I got voice mail, oh about 18 months ago.

Can I remember how to open listen to my voicemail on my work phone?

Nope.

So I open the manual (I know, I'm a geek and shouldn't be doing such things, but...)

To get my voice mail I have to press... wait for it...

Button 'Feature' followed by 982.

What.

The.

Fuck?

Who ever came up with that idea needs their head flushed down the toilet. I mean, what was wrong with using the big blue button with "To Mailbox" printed on it?

Heh?

Ants

2007-04-28T19:27:01Z

How the hell have I got a plague of ants in my third floor flat? Are these some kind of alpine breed of ant?

I give up.

2007-04-27T11:30:54Z

When failure is certain, what's the point in trying?

That is, my workload has now reached a point where I will fail, and probably have a heart attack because of the stress. So why bother!

Hurrah!

I'm free!

Hip hip hooray!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Quick Poll

2007-03-28T14:23:51Z

I need an Apple PowerBook.

But why?

Suggestions below!

Infest

2007-03-13T13:21:09Z

Who's going this year? The line-up looks a bit lack-lustre so I'm currently undecided...

I'm rubbish.

2007-02-07T19:16:42Z

Completely useless.

Haven't updated this thing for months.

So... what have I done...

* I've tried to ignore christmas, but failed due to girlfriends insistance. Bah humbug!

* I've pushed a shopping trolly containing a broken bit of a vacuum cleaner around Walthamstow at the crack of dawn and got (understandably) mistaken for a wine-o.

* Worked, worked, worked and worked some more. I am all worked out.

* I haven't so much as picked up a guitar or piano in three months. This is most distressing, but I just don't seem to have time any more. How do other folks juggle work, romance and music making? I'm fucked if I can work it out!

* I've bought a bathroom.

* Got a new phone (don't worry, the number is the same) 'cos Orange were ripping me off something chronic.

* Hmmm.... that's about it I suppose.

My sense of rhythm...

2006-11-20T20:32:18Z

A while ago there was a meme going round the interwebulator that was basically a simple test to see if you could tell different pitches apart. At the end of the test you were asked if you had a good sense of rhythm or not. Of course I said that I didn't as every single musician I've ever worked with has told me that I can't keep in time for toffee. It turns out that UCL was trying to identify people with a good sense of pitch but no sense of rhythm for some research they are doing. Accordingly I was invited to visit UCL today for further investigation. However, I am pleased to inform all those people that think I can't keep time that actually I'm rather good at keeping time. So there. It does mean that UCL are still looking for people with a good sense of pitch and a shit sense of time, however...

Stuff and things

2006-11-20T20:22:44Z

Good lord, I'm rubbish at updating my Livejournal these days...

What's happened recently?

Well, we went to Black Celebration. Ordinarily I would offer a mini-review of the bands, but given that all the bands sounded like they were playing in a public convenience, I shan't bother as I've no idea what the bands intended to sounded like. We've decided not to bother seeing the Cruxshadows at the Islington Academy because I have a strong suspicion they'll sound much the same as all the bands at Black Celebration, i.e. like they're playing in the toilet.

In other news, I think I might be a Goth. I bought a Specimen best-off album to try and satisfy the goth urges I have at the moment. I promise the next album I buy will be full on banging TECHNO! TECHNO! TECHNO! to compensate. I think it all started with the Dead And Buried Halloween special :S

The Northern Line

2006-10-25T20:35:03Z

So, when is my branch of the Northern Line going to start running on weekends again? Huh? Go on! Tell me!

ICH BIN DER KRAUT MIT DER GROSSEN SCHNITZEL!

2006-10-02T13:20:20Z

Please tell me that they are taking the piss.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day on Tuesday

2006-09-17T18:01:07Z

International Talk Like A Pirate Day on Tuesday and I have laryngitis and can hardly speak at all, yet alone like a pirate.

*mopes*

Infest mini-review

2006-08-29T18:43:17Z

Schmoof - Missed 'em as our luggage hadn't caught up with us. (n/a)
Destroid - Only caught two songs. Might check out their web site. (6/10)
Lab4 - Sounded like a preset on one of my synths (2/10)

O.V.N.I - Lacklustre performance I thought... have heard them do much better in the past (6/10)
S.K.E.T. - Only heard part of one song (n/a)
Reaper - Better than I expected. This year's Blutengel... only at least they had SOME decent tunes! (6/10)
Unter Null - Irksome, rude woman. Songs might have been OK if she hadn't insisted on singing during tracks or talking in between them (3/10)
Architect - Had to take Jane back to the room as she was feeling right proper poorly (not through drink I hasten to add!) (n/a)
Rotersand - Prog rock. I suppose it was okay if you like that kind of thing... Entirely unnecessary and dull drum solo. (6/10)

Autoclav1.1 - Listened from the downstairs bar. Didn't make me want to leave - either for the stage or the upstairs bar. I have to say, I'm tempted to buy the CD just because the cover features a cat... (5/10)
Frozen Plasma - Jane loves this band. Everyone else says they sound like band <insert band name>'s offcasts. They're OK I suppose, but not exactly ground breaking. Enjoyed dancing to it so a healthy... (7/10)
Stromkern - Easily the best band of the weekend. Singer effortlessly moving from rap-core to industrial-rock. Good tunes with a strong political message. (9/10)
Wai Pi Wai - Went for dinner (n/a)
Front Line Assembly - Hmmm... mediocre, if I'm honest. (6/10)

I don't think the line up this year is a strong as it has been. That said I had a fantastic time catching up with everyone, drinking, being a loon and dancing &c....

Thanks to all the organisers, bands, crew &c.! Extra special Thanks to mrsneeze and Adam for driving us around... I would never have thought of going from Bradford to London via Manchester otherwise, and as a consequence missed out on some spectacular views of the peak district!

I'm off to have a nice long bath and do a metric shit load of laundry...

OpenSuSE 10.1

2006-07-11T12:24:19Z

A while ago (like 5 years ago) I installed the latest version of SuSE (8.0 at the time) on my PC. I was very impressed. It was easy to use, easy to configure, ran well on my knackered old PC with just 256 MBytes of memory. I was happy.

Since then I've played around with Gentoo, but a few weeks ago I decided to try OpenSuSE again.

Oh. My. God.

What have Novell done?

The stupid installer loaded the wrong network card driver (granted, Windows does this often enough too). This would be bad enough, but if it can't connect to the net the install doesn't work properly, most notably in the area of software update servers.

They've completely re-written YaST so instead of being a nice simple easy to use software installation tool (think Add/Remove Programs in Windows) it is the beheamoth of an application written in Mono (i.e. .Net) that takes forever to do anything at all (probably because there's not much memory, but still...) and then... doesn't work. A quick dig on the 'net reveals that there's a patch for one of the libraries it uses... but because YaST itself is borked you have to download and apply the patch manualy - not too hard for me as I'm familiar enough with rpm, but a nightmare for anyone new to it. That is, of course, if you can get hold of the damn patch. Novell and OpenSuSE both assume that your network card worked during the install and the installer downloaded a list of servers with all the patches &c. Not so me. Can I find a web site with a list of servers anywhere? Like fuck I can.

(Open)SuSE used to be the shinning star of KDE focused linux distributions, but this recent release makes it quite clear that they've dropped the ball. Gnome is now the default desktop, and things are clearly going more Gnome-centric with YaST's move from Qt to Mono.

I'm going to give Kubuntu a stab, but if all else fails I shall be going back to Gentoo...

Birthday weekend

2006-07-03T09:30:11Z

So, I'm another year older. *mopes*
But! I am now the proud owner of a kitten! *bouncy!* *bouncy!*

Well, acutally, she's a tigress but she's beautiful, wild, lovely and all mine! *swoons*

I also got a Planet Funk LP from the Mind charity shop. It a bit like Death In Vegas - Indie Electro with a pleasing post-punk groove to it. The best track has got to be Who Said (Stuck In The UK). Plenty of nice summery songs too. All in all a refreshing change from the usual gloomy g0th I insist on listening to!

A big thanks to mrsneeze for a great party on Saturday. Sorry I left a bit early, but Jane, Lee and Claudia were all feeling tired (the old gits!)

Ho hum... here's to another year!