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Not A Twitter (it's amazing how many things I don't do)

2008-12-07 20:03:48

Much like I don't have a blog, and this isn't it, I now don't have a twitter feed either, and it isn't here. You'll be able to find all the places I am whilst not twittering, and things I'm doing whilst not twittering. How exciting!

BBC Sound of 2009 (In which I conclusively proof that I am Getting Old)

2008-12-04 20:52:43

I aten't dead! And to prove it, here are some mini-reviews of the acts that form the long-list for the BBC Sound of 2009

• The Big Pink: Glasvegas with synthesizers and drum machines. Which ought to be alright, but it leaves me a bit cold.
• Dan Black: 80s electro-pop. There's going to be a lot of this in 2009, apparently.
• VV Brown: 50s pop. Entertaining and the single Crying Blood is decent, but will probably be pretty disposable.
• Empire of the Sun: Very, very 1980s synthpop. Done well enough and not actually that objectionable to listen to, but you have to wonder why they bothered, given that the 80s already happened, and that.
• Florence and the Machine: Wants to be Kate Bush. Probably isn't, but hard to judge from the one song on the BBC's website.
• Frankmusik: Like Calvin Harris meets The Killers. Insanely, ridiculously catchy, self-conciously fashionable and has the kind of face that would look really, really great on the end of a fist. Guaranteed to be huge.
• Kid Cudi: Hip-hop. I am ill-qualified to pass judgement on this genre, but it doesn't sound like anything new.
• La Roux: Prince, except with a girl on vocals. Hell, the single even sounds like When Doves Cry.
• Mumford & Sons: Quick! Someone find me another band that sound exactly like Noah and the Whale! It seems the public are suckers for half-assed novelty folk!
• Passion Pit: An annoying version of Bent, if they'd been listening to Battles.
• Master Shortie: British hip-hop. Actually, fairly interesting. Likeable in the same sort of way Dizzee Rascal is.
• Lady GaGa: A "hip New York party princess" who went to the same school as Paris Hilton. That's all you need to know.
• White Lies: File under Interpol or Editors. Particularly Editors. Catchy. Remains to be seen if they've got more than a single in them. Worrying propensity for swirly synths. If their album sounds like the single, I'd buy it.
• The Temper Trap: Early U2. Uber-delayed guitars, 3-3-2 rhythms, lots of tom-rolls on the drums, picked bass. Far from terrible, but not exactly revolutionary.

So there you go: Next year's hottest music, comprehensively dismissed as being a bit "meh" by a man who is rapidly approaching 30 and wants the world to know it.

Manchester City Council Council Tax Unit are a bunch of useless cretins (and I hope they all have a horrible accident)

2008-9-11 17:13:18

I knew it was too good to be true. I told Manchester City Council I was moving, they issued a final bill and closed my account, and then a little while later sent me a cheque for the amount I'd overpaid. Fair enough.

Except today they've sent a "final demand" for &ukp;85 for no clear reason and a demand that I pay it by the 16th September (the notice having been issued on the 9th, giving me "7 days" - ahahahahaha, right) to pay it or they get a court summons issued. And their phonelines close at 5pm because they're lazy fuckers and letting people contact them at sensible times is just too much like a fucking good idea.

GAH. This is fucking ridiculous.

Just sayin' ()

2008-9-04 10:20:58

Jeremy, former flatmate and world-traveller, came back from tending to monkeys in Africa to post some photos on facebook. He seems... kind of familiar:

Jeremy Brown, international traveller and monkey rancher

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour

Settled (Well, getting there)

2008-8-04 21:32:19

So, we've been in our new house a week. We've got most of the important stuff unpacked, have taken delivery of a fridge/freezer, built the bed, got a sofa off my parents, got the phoneline and broadband turned on and most of the books, DVDs and CDs unpacked (no small feat, it must be said). We're still waiting on some furniture from Ikea (a desk, a couple of chests of drawers and wardrobe - we're still living out of suitcases at the moment) and I reckon a lot of stuff will probably stay in boxes for a while yet - but basically we're living like almost normal people. Almost.

Anyway, we've got a lovely garden that we've barely used because after being ridiculously hot for the three days we were unpacking and lugging boxes around and things, it's been raining more or less constantly since, and the house is lovely and it's great to be back in the countryside again.

And there's a field of ponies on my way to work. Yay! Ponies!

Down south (I am, now)

2008-7-15 21:55:06

Been at my new job three days now. I have 2 22" 1680x1050 monitors attached to my PC and I'm not quite sure what to do with all those pixels other than have a really wide Visual Studio editing window. Cambridge is nice, and there's a Greene King pub and an Adnams pub within a stone's throw of our office, and both seem to be frequented with almost alarming regularity by my colleagues, so things are good so far. Not really enjoying the commute so much, but that's because I'm staying with my parents in Norfolk until we get our place nearer to Cambridge when Naomi moves down in a week and a bit; it'll be much better when I don't have to sit in a big queue on the A11 at Elveden twice a day, every day.

I've missed the countryside. Went for a lovely walk along a lane this evening and saw fields and trees and wildlife. It was wonderful.

The things you find (clearing out)

2008-7-10 12:27:19

Cycle Facility of the Month (Manchester gets recognised)

2008-7-06 12:38:08

It is with no small amount of pride that I note that my photos of the A56 Cycle Path of Doom have been recognised by the fine people at the Warrington Cycle Campaign and they've made it their choice for July's Facility of the Month. Hopefully someone from Manchester City Council will be around to pick up the award sometime soon, which they can display for all to see, in a nice display case, right in the middle of the cycle lane.

Lakeland (Florida)

2008-7-01 13:02:57

I could say that I'm skeptical. I could say that it's possible for God to work through all things, and that He works in all sorts of mysterious ways. I could say that I'll reserve judgement until I see whether there's a massive increase in people helping the poor and homeless, inviting prostitutes into their home (I mean, other than for the usual reasons), sharing their belongings, giving their money to charities, ditching their gas-guzzling SUVs, and generally being more loving, faithful, fruitful people, as one would expect if this really is a massive move of the Spirit.

Or, I could just link to this video of Todd Bentley kicking a guy with stage IV metastatic colon cancer hard in the gut and say nothing.

Why (Cambridge)

2008-6-20 17:23:03

A few people have pointed out that I haven't said why we're going to Cambridge. There's no big story to tell, really, other than that I got itchy feet and fancied a change, and what with our failure to buy a house last year, we sort of figured we were free to think about whether we wanted to stay in Manchester or elsewhere. So I started casting around for new jobs and a friend pointed me to one in Cambridge which I applied for but didn't get; but I decided I liked Cambridge and so starting hunting for others. Plus, I'm a bit of a country boy anyway, and I've got roots and family in East Anglia so that part of the world makes sense. And it's only an hour out of Kings Cross on the train should we feel the need to go and inhale some smog for a while.

So, I'm quite excited - I start in about three weeks and Naomi will hopefully be joining me at the end of July, assuming we've found somewhere to live. Lovely.