Month: May 2014

Ok, so I’ve done some fairly painful music posts lately. At least that’s what I think of them ! The A to Z’s have been pretty long, they’ve not had many links in and even with the length, I’ve had to squish them.

I think I’ll keep doing them though. Started so I’ll finish and all that. One question was “how come it’s A to Z of album titles ?” There’s two good reasons for that :

It jumbles up the artists, the other way would be to sort on artist name but then I’d not get the variation that comes with swapping between artists.
Albums with lots of different artists … Sorting by albums helps to keep track of those.

But I thought – maybe a top ten (erm – looks at post in before-publish-read – OOPS !) of my favourites so far ? A chance to get back to my favourite type of music posts, where I share the music I absolutely adore. Here we go :

The catalyst for this post – it’s Alison of Goldfrapp’s birthday today ! I’ve already said happy birthday on Twitter and a thank you for the picture that got their track Clowns running round my head this morning. But … I prefer Road To Somewhere. We’re all on that road, may your destination bring you joy. Could it be the Road To Mandalay ?

Alisha’s Attic – The Incidentals. If I ever find someone so desperate that she’d consent to be my wife, there’s a few songs I’d like played at the wedding. This is one of them. And this is another ! You Make It Easy by Air.

The Cardigans and Nina Persson have done so many amazing pieces of music, lots of which I’ve linked. Here’s Algebra from the A Camp album.

I’ve got a few notable Scandinavian singers in that library, there’s the Abba who we all know. Plus Lene Marlin from Norway with songs like You Could Have and Lisa Miskovsky with a few amazing songs on Falling Water, including Midnight Sun (bit bland but a voice I could listen to all day).

My dear friend Craziequeen introduced me to Mindy Gledhill, who I Do Adore. And that big smile at the end drew out an answering chuckle.

The earliest group I became besotted with was All About Eve and their centrepiece Julianne Regan keeps us updated with what she’s up to on Facebook. They made so many songs that I could call favourite but I think Shelter From The Rain is most appropriate. We’re having what you could call “mixed” weather. Sunshine, then showers … heavy showers ! Usually as I’m looking to run for the bus …

And just as I was about to find Shelter From The Rain, Tracy Chapman pops up on the iTunes pseudoshuffle with For You. Wow. Kate Bush was another of my favourites from that age, that voice makes you go Wow.

I’ve been quite taken with Natasha Khan’s Bat For Lashes too. I’ve linked Laura a few times now but my favourite is the beautiful Moon And Moon.

Before you think it’s all female vocalists, there are blokes in my favourites too. Namely Dire Straits with tracks like Romeo and Juliet, so much interplay between guitar, keyboard and voice. And Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here tribute to Syd Barrett.

I like the unusual too and the Gorillaz are definitely unusual. Here’s Empire Ants from Plastic Beach, it starts slow and … explodes midway through.

And keeping with the unusual, I’m keeping my eye on Hannah Peel and that music box although I’d kinda like someone to not Don’t Kiss The Broken One :-), even if I am that Shy Boy (Katie Melua).

Oh my, I’m nearly listing my whole library again. Someone stop me ! Oh – that’ll be the Police knocking on the door cos of the loud music. Better put something on for them : Every Breath You Take.

And before I do list that whole library, there are exceptions. But not Paramore. They may have come to the attention through Twilight but they’ve done so much more since then. Here’s The Only Exception. And as I listen to that, I realise I can’t leave Tea and Toast (Lucy Spraggan) off this list.

Last one – honest. Wednesday tomorrow ! Obligatory Tori Amos track link 😉

Yeah – 7 is still pretty good but I wonder how long it will last before Microsoft find some way to break it.

I had to move from XP (which I really liked) to Win 7 which I don't have any problems with.

Totally agree on Win 8. HORRIBLE bit of software OS!

You’ll all have heard of that and you’re highly likely to have one of the following reactions about it :

Bored – yep. XP support going bang is highly geeky and the ins and outs of it are mired in corporate politics
Appalled – because it’s still a perfectly good piece of software and MS could make a massive amount of cash still from keeping it going.
Horrified – cos there’s a bunch of enterprise critical applications that will not work on Vista or 7.
Terrified – because the only option if you replace your computer with something retail is the abomination that is Windows 8.

Ok. That’s enough about XP. Almost. The media have it wrong actually, the XPocalypse is all about MS turning off support patches for XP. It was actually killed for me as a realistic gaming system many years ago when Directx 10 became Vista only. That was the beginning of the end, it meant that sooner or later I’d need to update upgrade change to something different or I wouldn’t be able to play newer games.

Right – you’ve believed the hype or otherwise have decided you need a new computer. First … about that hype … What it means that all those security patches that you used to have pop up and annoy you about rebooting, won’t come to XP machines any more. That means that when the Horrible People find out about a vulnerability (and there a lot of them still in Windows), your system won’t be updated to protect against it.

So when a tainted advert appears with a picture that knows about one of those vulnerabilities, your system could be taken over by an outside party. This is a serious and valid concern, especially as anti-virus applications are the first thing to get a “Kill Process – AV” command from the Nasties.

You could say – “this isn’t a problem, I don’t visit bad sites”. However, it’s not just the site you’re looking at, it’s also the extras that come with it. Like 3rd party advertising. Although in the case of the Daily Mail, it appears to have come from their own servers. That’s from over 5 years ago but it’s still a genuine, valid threat.

Choices ?

Go to a big store and get a Windows 8 machine. And then hate it forever because from all I’ve heard, Windows 8 is an abomination. (I’ve only had contact with it in the store but I can believe it due to what RibbonOffice is like)
Be a rebel and get a Mac. This is how I’ve dealt with the problem. I didn’t like the alternatives, plus Mac on the work discount is actually approaching laptop prices for the spec I wanted. The Mac price has stayed the same while the Windows laptop price is going up.
Be a nerd and get Linux. Depends what you want to do – but it excludes the possibility of compatibility with many applications (including iTunes) and you’ve probably already paid for a Windows licence.
Go old school and get a Windows 7 machine.

The Win 7 option is what I wanted to mention here … You can still get these, Novatech and PC Specialist offer the option and most places are still offering Windows 7 licences for home brew PCs. But what’s important ?

Look. And Feel. Everything else is secondary … With a desktop, the look and feel is with the mouse, keyboard and screen but with a laptop, it’s critical. There’s also the “Is this going to fall to bits on me ?” factor. When I build my desktops, I build them to last because of the hassle involved in digging them out from where I hide them. Similar with laptops, my Acer lasted a few years but the HP before started dying after 6 months (and PC World shafted me on its warranty).

So yeah – when you’re looking at a laptop, make sure it’s one you’ll be happy to use. Like – how heavy will it be on your lap, what’s the screen size, how responsive is the keyboard and trackpad, what’s the rebound like on the keys. With the Macbook Air, it felt like my fingers were dancing over the keys … and I’m a fast typer. The responsiveness goes for desktops too, I nearly put in a Beta Fault report for Star Wars Old Republic because I had incidents where the character wasn’t doing anything. It wasn’t the game, it was my wireless keyboard.

Yep. How it feels is the only real factor to consider. But there are a few geeky things to think about :

Feel includes smoothness. And Windows has been broken on smoothness for over a decade. The way to fix it is to use what’s called a SSD (Solid State Device) hard disc. It provides instant (nanoseconds) access to data instead of the milliseconds of a normal hard disc. That’s a few thousand times quicker. And considering that when you wait for Windows, it’s because it’s looking up that hard disc ? That’s where the SSD comes in. But … You need a big one for Windows because it gobbles up so much. I have to use “measures” to keep my system running and it runs off a 60GB SSD.

There is another way, it’s called a Hybrid drive. It costs a bit more than a normal disc but you get 500GB/1TB with a little SSD that makes it much quicker. And they fit in laptops too. I upgraded my Acer to one of these (thought old one was going bang!) and it was … genuinely quicker.

Grab a new processor. Intel’s latest are the Haswell series, you can tell these by the 4000 in the code. They have double the battery life for the same and better performance (it’s done by making everything smaller).

But most of all – don’t spend too much. If I’d waited a bit, I could have got a Macbook Pro with a much better screen than my Macbook Air. But it would have cost me a lot more and the screen on my Macbook Air is perfectly good. Actually better than a Windows laptop because it has more pixels. There’s that “Look” thing coming in.

I hope I haven’t gone too far into my own head with all that ? Buying a PC can be hellishly confusing, especially because places like PC World don’t tell you all you need to know about what they’re selling you and builders like Acer have a hellishly confusing array of machines.

If you are in the market for a PC, I’d be happy to give a few pointers (email is in the profile). But :

Novatech and the other builders may let you avoid Windows 8
PC Specialist have amazing configuration options
Never discount something original … (Like a Macbook or LinuxLaptop)

Picture time ! Remember what I said about Malware and Horrible People ?

Or Horrible People who know about XP vulnerabilities and send nasty software around to exploit it.

PS Warning note – I’ve bought lots of components from Novatech and will continue to do so (cheap + good stuff) but I have issues with the bits they put in their own-brand PCs. I like the customisation options of PC Specialist but didn’t buy from them because I couldn’t get a first hand Finger Pokey at their machines.

The only reason I see for them is keeping up with what people are up to. But … they're good for that but only up to a point – too much and something gets lost along the way.

Twitter seems a self promotion mechanism more than anything else. Some of those idiots I've unfollowed have been more spammy than the trolls who do nasty things like break the uksnowmap site

Have zero interest in Facebook and even less with Twitter. I *really* can't see the point. But then again I'm rather old fashioned and set in my ways…. [lol]

There’s a video out there that’s going a bit viral at the moment …

I suspect you’ll know the one I mean or have actually seen it. It’s commenting on how there’s a correlation between the increase of social networking and the increase in individual loneliness.

I reckon you’ll know what I mean there. We’re sacrificing the immediacy of being around our mates for the apparent greater connectivity that sites like Facebook, Twitter and the various other online thingys offer. We exchange the joyous sound of a whole hearted belly laugh for the rather anticlimatic “lol”. (Alternatives are available, I’ve actually used “roflcopter” in a communicator conversation).

The point is, we don’t get out there as much any more. The online alternatives take over and pull us into the virtual world.

How’s gaming come into this ?

I’ve always been one for gaming. I started off in normal single player games but migrated into online gaming with World of Warcraft. I’d quite happily lose myself in the virtual world of that single player game. I have to admit, I was probably a different person back then. My gaming pattern was certainly different.

Ok – definitely addicted to the gaming but also with a bit of a social scene going on too. The Crazie Mob have always been checking out the latest stuff at the cinema (almost said “greatest” but with some of the films we’ve seen ? Haha) and I’ve been blessed with lots of people to natter with, grin at and occasionally get chuckles out of at work. Not much of an active social scene though, I’ve never really been one to get dragged off to the pub by semi-random people. (Not that I would complain if dragged off to the pub by a Pretty Lady)

That World of Warcraft comment ?

The big reason I checked out World of Warcraft was the enthusiasm of a mate who was called Souleater in game. He was one of the founding fathers of the guild and definitely drove us on. He was in my team at work too, so that enthusiasm was grabbing me outside of work too.

From there, we join in with the organisation called Guildlink which brought voice comms into play too. And from that, the multiplayer aspect goes up a whole new level with the chance to do Stuff with 39 other people, most of whom would be chatting away over Teamspeak/Vent/Mumble.

At this time, my last major relationship broke up too, so I needed something to divert attention away from a major hole in my private life. Enter all those lovely Guildlink people, an Overqueen to worship, a Krinza to natter to, a guild to make me feel valued and welcome. Yeah, there were rocky times along the way but also some huge YEY moments. And that’s not forgetting the Violence Reborn peeps with their delightful chilled out craziness who rehabilitated me back into the game after the mad times.

That’s an All Good Things case though. The WoW addiction broke for me because of the resets that happen with each expansion. Not just that, it’s a pale shadow of what it once was. It’s ridiculously easy plus I’ve lost the link to the social scene that gave it that compelling factor.

So that’s :

Social – which I kinda skipped
Gaming – which I definitely didn’t skip on
Social gaming – which I was in for a while with the WoW

But … what I enjoyed way more than the computer stuff was the pen and paper gaming I used to do. Not done that for ages but it was pretty much an excuse to :

Nip round a mates house with a few friends
Chill out with pizza/nosh and munchies
Have a laugh with a game
Enjoy the company of others

And that’s actual company, not the shallow experience that Facebook and Twitter offer. Text is a very watered down form of interaction and it’s the way much of our interaction is going these days :

Facebook – it’s very easy to hit that “like” button and not interact any further
Twitter – is still a cesspit of idiots and that 140 character limit is …claustrophobic
A “lol” doesn’t have the impact of the smile that comes with the laugh
It’s easy to fake it over text and present a false picture of how you’re actually feeling
Similarly, you can’t see the pain that people need a little help to cope with
And it’s hard to lose yourself in a texty hug the way you can in an all enveloping real life proper hug

We’ve lost a lot with the descent into the electronic world.

It’s not just the text environment that’s far less expressive and expansive compared to the real world. We’ve gone away from looking for excuses to be out and around other people. It’s like that online environment is satisfying that social urge just enough.

That said though, my circle of friends is much wider now than before social media and online gaming came in. To mention a few :

Snow Queen ! A smile over communicator doesn’t have anywhere near the impact of one of your dazzling smiles when it’s delivered in person. (Cakes plz!)
Pixie – a wonderful friend who pulled me in to the PA support community
The old D&D group – I really miss this
The VR crowd – it’s a shame I lost interest in the game or I’d still be looking to be involved
The Eve mob – and a certain person who’s enthusiasm for this game isn’t quite infectious enough to draw me back in (but it’s close!)
The cricket mob – I spoke to the skipper today, they still want me to play – body willing
And the Crazie Mob, who connected through work social media while it still existed.

To close out – my Social -> Gaming -> Social Gaming circle has turned again. I’m no longer addicted to playing the games myself. I find something else to be way more fun. It started with a certain Totalbiscuit but now I watch a lot of the Yogscast.

Who are they ? TB is a Brit commentator on games, the Yogscast are a collection of people who have that genius ability to play the games to a high standard and at the same time, have a massive laugh over the commentary. Instead of it being a pen and paper session around a house with your mates, it’s listening to them having a laugh and feeling included with that.

I don’t watch all that they do, Hannah and Kim plus Duncan are my favourites with Rythian and Zoey coming in close behind.

But I’ll keep watching for a while. Cos when they laugh (or scream), it’s like they’re inviting you to laugh (or scream) along with them. It breaks through that wall that raw text puts up. It’s open, it’s natural. And it’s like being down the pub with your mates.

I gotta be honest, I’ve not been liking these posts. I do love my music posts but these ones ? They tend to be over long (massively) and rather too compressed at the same time.

That said though … I’m through the E’s ! Actual stats : 12500 tracks in the library, 4647 still to listen to. That’s since moving over to the Macbook in mid October. How about the E’s ?

First up – good one and bad one. David Bowie has done some amazing stuff but not everything he does is up to that standard. When he digs, it’s really awful. You can tell I’m not a fan of Earthling can’t you ? Haha.

The good one is the Edge Of Darkness soundtrack by Eric Clapton. That would be the proper Edge of Darkness made by BBC in 1985. The soundtrack is amazing and perfectly complements a moody, dark and compelling thriller about people doing naughty things with nuclear reprocessing.

We have an Edie Brickell album in here, “Edie Brickell – Ultimate Collection”. This was bought for me by a very good friend. It’s a bit more than the average Greatest Hits (she’s made I think 5 albums since and is still going), it has the best of her first 3 albums plus a bunch of fantastic bonus tracks too.

A little bit of Mansun comes in, courtesy of the sister’s cd singles. Hurrah for a group that does proper B-sides !

The White Stripes burst on to the scene a few years ago. You might recognise Seven Nation Army from Elephant. Best I have of their’s so far. I like ’em. Raw vocals fronting great work by the band.

A bit of classical from Elgar – I’ll always try and catch the Last Night Of The Proms and the Elgar variations are the highlight.

Cardigans ! With Emmerdale. This is a funny album, half of it is on their Life album as well. It’s a great start to their works and is in happier mode too. A lot of their later stuff is pretty dark.

A couple from Kasabian and Kaiser Chiefs. Empire and Employment have their moments but I’m not that big a fan of them. Good for an occasional listen but I’ll never line them up for a deliberate listen in the car.

I have some Lionel Richie … His Encore album has hits greatest hits mostly sung live. There’s some amazing stuff here, the reason I got it was to cheaply pick up a copy of Hello and All Night Long. Guaranteed smiley songs. Yes it’s cheesy. But that don’t matter if it makes you feel good.

My second Don Henley album is The End Of The Innocence. Again, not a favourite album but there’s the occasional highlight.

Soundtracks – can’t get away from them 😉
Endless Space was a very tedious game but the music was outstanding.
Eve ended up being tedious for different reasons but the atmospheric music was also amazing.
Escape From New York is John Carpenter’s best so far
And Jan Hammer’s Escape From TV has the highlights from Miami Vice

Duffy didn’t last long enough. She has a characteristic, distinctive voice that doesn’t really work with songs written for other people. But when something like My Boy comes along ? There’s me singing along too with the infectious rhythm. Just like Mercy 🙂

Gabrielle Aplin’s English Rain shows a lot of promise. Still a little work to do though and hopefully she’ll stay unique instead of polished into oblivion.

Jean Michel Jarre has always made amazing instrumental music, Equinoxe is no exception. See Track 5 for the highlight. There’s an “Essentials” aka Greatest Hits here too.

I have a couple of Bob Dylan albums, the other will come up really late (U for Ultimate). His Essential album slots in here. He’s good but doesn’t quite ring my bell in the same way as a Nina Persson or Natasha Khan.

Or even a Blondie ! Another “Essential” collection with some of their best.

I like heavier stuff too, with Evanescence’s third album slotting in here. Not as good as their first, see that “polished to oblivion” comment …

Last few ! The Bangles were amazing in their early days. Eternal Flame was a massive hit from their Everything album. There’s amazing song after amazing song here, Glitter Years is one of my highlights.

KT Tunstall also exploded on to the scene with Eye To The Telescope. Check out the wholly acoustic one woman band version of Black Horse and the Cherry Tree. Love it. Something special emerged on the stage on that day.

Last one for today. Possibly their best, it’s Eyes Open by Snow Patrol. (Can’t decided between this and Final Straw). It has the immortal Set The Fire To The Third Bar and a bunch of other great songs.

There’s another 450 tracks before I’m through F, that’ll take a while !

Be curious to see how good a race car I'd build, although my reactions aren't up to race driving these days. I've lost half a second or so.

Always good to have a dream. I want a house big enough for a proper library in it. [grin]