Month: January 2009

I knew there was someone I hadn’t visited for far too long* – Hello Thumper 🙂

*(I blame Blogrolling’s troubles – need to use that second blog of mine to testdrive a workaround…)

Based on some of what you listed, it looks like we have similar taste in music. and you have things I haven’t heard…always a good thing to find new stuff to listen to. Thanks 🙂

Here via Net Chick today!

Lol – spookily enough, the track that’s currently playing is the 9 minute sequence that includes the end bit of Episode 1 …

Oh…and NetChick sent me…

Even though I listen to mostly Punk, I have to agree on the Star Wars. I particularly like the theme during the parade at the end of Episode I.

Lol – I hear and obey 🙂

And I caught an extremely heartwarming story too.

Wow, I’m shocked there’s no Snow Patrol there, either! Looks like they should be 🙂

Glad I came by… Thanks for sharing the list!

I’m also here because I wanted to invite you to come over and play the MEET n’ GREET this weekend! I’d love to have you a part of the fun… 🙂

Have a great weekend!

http://netchick.net

I’ve not done a Thursday Thirteen for a while, which is a shame cos I enjoy thinking up things to put in the 13 🙂 Events have moved on a little though and the Thursday Thirteen hub has closed its doors to allow the people behind it to concentrate their efforts on those events that have moved on.

But ! I’d been wondering about ideas for next post and for some reason the idea of a Friday Fourteen based on music popped into my head 🙂 That could have been something to do with Coldplay’s Trouble coming over the iTunes Party Shuffle 🙂 So, in the tradition of the musical Thursday Thirteen’s I did a little while ago, here is a musical Friday Fourteen that’ll be showing off some of the better tracks that are coming over my iTunes party shuffle at the moment. Youtube links will be provided where I can find them.

1 – Coldplay’s Trouble. Only got introduced to Coldplay a few months ago but I never knew what I was missing. Whereas I ignored Travis because everything they came out with was the same, everything I hear from Coldplay is high quality and original.

2 – Kirsty MacColl’s Days. How beautiful is this song ? And how much of a shame is it that this wonderful voice was taken from us way before its time.

3 – Dire Straits – Expresso Love. It’s not the best track that Mark Knopfler has been responsible for but it’s one that’s really shown off what the new Airport Express link can do. Get this track on decent speakers and you’ll hear all the interplay between guitar, piano and voice. Lots of intricate work in here. If you’ve not heard much Knopfler-music, then Making Movies (the album this track is from) is well worth picking up.

4 – Pink Floyd’s – Wish You Were Here. One of the tracks that’s guaranteed to perk my ears up for a listen, has been for a very long time. Here’s the version from Live 8, which does a good job with the intro which is what really makes this song special.

5 – Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven. Come on ! You musta heard this track before 🙂

6 – Duffy’s Delayed Devotion. Mercy is what attracted me to Duffy’s Rockferry album but this is one of the more special songs on the album. Going to be wishing this girl luck for the awards that are coming up, she deserves a few for Rockferry 🙂

7 – The Hoosiers – Worried About Ray. Not quite sure what to make of these guys. Not bad and this one is the best on the album that I bought on the strength of the Lovestoned cover from Live Lounge 3. Interesting 🙂 (just finished watching the video – great stuff)

8 – Paramore – Let The Flames Begin. Another interesting group, will keep an eye on these. They contribute to the soundtrack for the recent Twilight film. And that cannot be her natural hair colour. (note – not great quality there … erm – I mean the audio!)

9 – Goldfrapp – Road to Somewhere. Why is it that I have a thing for ladies who sing with incredible voices ? I think this is the best track off the Seventh Dream album.

10 – Evanescence – My Immortal. I bought their Fallen album out of speculation, based on some of the music that’s graced Warcraft videos. One word – Wow. It’s not what the purists will like but there’s so much emotion here.

11 – Lene Marlin – How Would It Be. I bought Lene Marlin’s first album, Playing My Game, a good few years ago now on the strength of the excellent Sitting Down Here single. It then gathered a heap of dust on the shelf before I put it into iTunes. Not too much time later, I have all 3 of Lene Marlin’s albums 🙂 And all three are very good indeed. Here’s a track from the Lost In A Moment album that CQ bought me for Xmas. Also, so good to hear someone sing just as well live as in the studio.

12 – Paul Weller’s Wild Wood. Bit different to what I usually go for but this is an exceptional song.

13 – Soul singer Seal. Always been a fan of this fella’s distinctive gravelly voice, here is his interpretation of an old classic, Knock On Wood.

14 – And to finish – the Star Wars end theme penned by John Williams. Yep, I now have 7 cds worth of Star Wars music in my iTunes library ! As well as a couple of Ennio Morricone (Spaghetti Westerns) cds.

Wot no Snow Patrol ! Ran out of room for these guys 🙁 I’m a little disappointed in Songs For Polar Bears but one not so good amongst the 3 gems of Eyes Open, Final Straw and what I’ve heard so far of A Hundred Million Suns can’t be bad 🙂 I’ve also been listening to a bit of Dusty Springfield and Nina Simone lately, which only didn’t get in above cos I didn’t see them in the library quickly enough !

No Arctic Monkeys either ! Lol – time to introduce A Certain Romance and turn this into a Friday Fifteen.

PS Techie note – love the moving thumbnail preview of a window that Vista puts up when you hover over a taskbar button. It was letting me have a look at the Youtube video while tapping stuff here 🙂

Another post brought to you partly inspired by Carmi Levy’s Thematic Photographic 🙂

This time it’s something even older than the hat in the post below, although it’s nowhere near as Aged 🙂 That’s the theme for today’s post – when are things Old but not Aged ?

(click to open a bigger version with more dots per inch that should be more readable 🙂

I was bought that by my mum & dad when we lived in Northern Ireland. If you peek at the bottom right corner, you’ll see “By Ulster”. It’s made of proper Irish Linen. It was bought at the Giant’s Causeway, which dates it to being acquired when I was about 8 years old. Which makes that piece of linen at least 25 years old.

So that’s “Aged” number one 🙂

Number two is the fella in the background taking the bales off the stumps. That’s Old Father Time, who graces the Home Of Cricket. The Lords cricket ground has Old Father Time on a wind vane, over looking the playing area. The wind vane is viewable here. He’s still doing well up there, Old but not Aged.

Lastly, we have the words on the picture. The Laws of Cricket have been essentially unchanged since 1787, with the Marylebone Cricket Club being the custodian, holding them at the Lords Cricket Ground. Again, they’re Old but are they Aged ? Cricket’s stood the test of time so far and it’s still extremely popular. It’s the number one sport in India and still very popular over here and in the other Test playing nations. It has its idiosyncracies but quirks are something it shares with all sports 🙂 (Ermm – Offside rules ? Lol)

So there we have it – 3 Old things that have avoided the signs of being Aged.

I’ll be looking to post up another cricket related piece of cloth later … that’s actually older than the hat 🙂

Yep – Football has half time, other games have quarters … cricket has sessions. A 4 day game or Test Match has 3 sessions in a day, which are supposed to be 2 hours long each. Lunch comes between morning and afternoon session and Tea comes between afternoon and evening. In a One day game, Lunch/Tea comes in the middle 🙂

There’s drinks breaks as well but Lunch and Tea are when the players will come off the field to have a munch and recharge.

Safety stuff – yep, I learned my lesson there, although I never went Michelin Man. I wear a helmet as well as the pads and gloves now, although I avoid things like arm guards, chest protectors and thigh pads. Too much protection can actually mean more bruises … as a blow you might have avoided ends up hitting you !