New Improved 30 Day Song Challenge... in 3 posts PART DEUX.

Liked or hated part one?  I'm flattered you had an opinion.  Coming at you, through the sky, the second batch.

Nothing but blue skies.

11. The Best Love Song You've Ever Heard - Why Should I Love You? by Kate Bush.  This track is not in fact my favourite long song, that could be the aforementioned A Case of You by Joni Mitchell or This Guy's In Love With You by Burt Bacharach (as performed by Faith No More).  But since those have appeared in my previous lists this song shares a similar frank and fresh sentiment.  I think it cuts to the root of matters - in a week where my studies have subjected me to total analytical disorientation perhaps I think we need to just accept things sometimes without looking for reasons.  For what it is worth, this song also comes Anne Graham approved!

12. A Song That Ends Too Quickly - Get It To Go by Ben Kenney.  I'm feeling the groove.  2.15 is too short for this level of neo-soulishness.

13. A Song With A Great Drum Rhythm - 777-9311 by The Time.  Say what you will about the rest of the song, Prince's drumming here is exemplary and Jellybean Johnson successfully matches it live without the use of drum machines (which I suspect are present on the album).  Slammin'.

14. A Song By Your Favourite Singer - Mirror of Venus by Brandon Boyd.  All around brilliant effort.  Love the ethereal feeling.

15. The Craziest Song You've Ever Heard - Batdance by Prince.  I don't even know what this is, and here we're only getting the shortened version. Apart from being a horrendous track (with a hell of a gaudy video) it is just so anarchistic in its samplings from Tim Burton's Batman movie and its tonal shifts.  As a medley of the album, I can totally see why this was such a mess.  Dischordant sound, crazy that it was made (and bought!).

16. A Good Song That Does Get A Little Repetitive - Robot Rock by Daft Punk.  Undeniably interesting but does repeat.  The whole album does.  But it is hard to hate it.

17. A Song From Your Childhood - If You Love Somebody Set Them Free by Sting.  Definitely heard this a lot of times in the car as a wee boy alongside, I'm not ashamed to say, my Spice Girls casette.  But we all love Sting more than them.  Even so, you can't understand how tempted I am to replace this with 2 Become 1 by Spice Girls.  There is a particular bit with some bass strings occupies a legendary moment in my personal soundscape. 

18. The Greatest Guitar Work You've Heard - Air Tap by Erik Mongrain.  Going against the grain here, this probably isn't my favourite use of the guitar but it is probably the moment where I lost my mind in amazement that a guitar could do that.  I posted a live video so you can appreciate the technique (and the acoustics on this one are streets ahead).

19. An Exceptionally Sad Song - Halfway Down The Stairs by Robin The Frog.  My goodness I am distraught just thinking about this song, and now I have played the first forty seconds I am straining to contain tears.  I can't think of anything more depressing.  It may not be sad to you, and I don't know why it is sad to me: is the fact a song by a frog is the saddest thing I've ever heard more distressing than the song itself?  Never in a million years.

20. A Song By An Artist No Longer Living -Ride On by AC/DC.  Obviously the majority of the band survive, but Bon Scott evidently rocked way too hard to remain alive (watch those nights out).  Ride on Bon.


Sombre note to this post I feel.  Don't worry I'm already getting amped for the catastrophic conclusion.

New Improved 30 Day Song Challenge... in 3 posts.

Before this happens again and tells me everything I didn't care about on facebook yet again, I'm going pre-empt and record some of my thoughts much as I did early last year. And in lazy fashion I shall break it into 3 posts.

Surprise or excitement?  Both, advertising man.

1. Your Current Favourite Song - Keep Together by The Brand New Heavies.  Not my favourite song, that doesn't really change, but definitely keep coming back to this one dailyish.  Solid message and the chorus backing vocals are just so good.

2. A Song That Can Always Calm You Down - Aqueous Transmission by Incubus. Definitely imagine a boatride staring up until night falls and I sleep.  Carefree.  Purity and healing.  Words.  Biscuit.

3. A Song You Like That No-One Else Seems To - Drinkin In LA by Bran Van 3000.  Just an amazing sound, would love to enact this one. Perhaps I won't wait until I'm 26.

4. A Song That Uses Weird Noises Well - Supersonic by Jamiroquai.  One of those strange tracks with the digeridoo sampled.

5. A Song You Believe Has Great Lyrics - A Case of You by Joni Mitchell.  I'm a lonely painter... heard the cover by Prince but it doesn't feature the whole thing, where do the lyrics come from.  I could drink a case of you and still be on my feet is one of the most amazing sentences I have ever heard.

6. A Song You Would Like Played At Your Funeral - Of Nature by Faunts.  Peaceful and uplifting.  One of the most beautiful things you can hear in my opinion.

7. A Song That Gets Your Heart Racing - Mein Land by Rammstein.  I enjoy the trumpet bit, it's quite unusual in Rammstein tracks and is frantic enough to fit.  Incredible video too.

8. The Song That Changed Your Mind About Music - Halo by Marty O'Donnell.  Theme tune made me interested in buying/listening to music again.  The game that launched a thousand obsessions.

9. A Song By A Band You Stopped Listening To, But Started Again - Long Is The Time, Hard Is The Road by Chris Rea.  Not really a band but an artist, this is a hell of a blues song.  Downer of an album though.

10. A "Classic" Song Everybody Seems To Like But You - Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.  Very well done to everyone for making this song be on everything.  Fair play, it is a unique sounding song but it is about nothing and you can't even read into it.  What kind of emotions does it seem to provide?  Does it set a mood?  Can you interpret some kind of identifiable feeling?  To me he's talking loud and saying nothing.


Go have a break, you earnt it.

See you further down the river.

Just fun, nothing ethereal: the best of 2011.

I felt inspired to write a few things I quite enjoyed about last year.  A lot of this has been covered before, so treat it as a greatest hits of my year and of this blog.  And what a(n ok) year it has been.

1. At one point during the year I managed to hold down decent grades, a fledgling relationship and gym going.  It has since become clear that this was a temporary, superhuman feat that I can't accomplish.  Nice to dare to try.  That was the zenith of my existence so far, normal person wise but also the bottom of my being 'myself'.

2. Crossed off another 2 of my top 5 artists first by attending Incubus as o2 Islington and within 2 weeks seeing Prince and the NPG over at Hop Farm Festival.  I must admit, it wasn't until halfway through my second Incubus experience back in November that I really got it, but to be part of such an early show and with such good company was a privilege. It totally turned me around on the new album though, promise. On the other hand I think Prince could have sat and played exclusively Gangsta Glam remixes and Graffiti Bridge filler songs and I would have trumpeted it as a top experience.  Not only was it a beautiful greatest hits trip but one of those life-affirming experiences, like the one I felt at Jamiroquai in the o2 Arena earlier in the year.

He's obviously never heard those Gangsta Glam remixes before.

3. Went to Kapow Comic Con, second convention ever and definitely the best one.  Felt good to be among common man and rekindle my geek cred after a period of disillusionment and rejection.  Got to meet some industry giants and saw some excellent things like James Gunn's Super.  Out of the 2 rape scenes I witnessed in 2011, Mini was quite right to say that Super was definitely the best and if that isn't a criterion for an excellent movie I don't know what is.

4.  Completed first year of university, of course very proud of that.  Not much more to say than 'onwards and upwards' and to wish readers the very best in whatever sort of job or studies they might be up to.  What the year to come holds is a terrifying mystery.

5. I flew in an aeroplane!  All the way across the sea to Edinburgh, which didn't make sense to me but I was asleep the entire time so wasn't able to use my keen pilot skills.  Without a doubt my new least favourite method of transit not because it is worrying (it was all painfully mundane) but because a 1.5 hour flight costs you about 5 hours of time.  Never-mind the plethora of 'we're doing business' taxes they try and attach to you. On the flip side, trains are now way up high on my list since I did my massive travelling splurge mid-term.  I got everywhere.

6. After my well publicized falling out with nightclubs due to some horror stories and some generally poor experiences and opinions, November saw me fall into a sort of love affair in which I would plead for company on a Thursday night.  I was shocked to the core that I could finally break that mental block, finally go by that addage 'if you don't like the music, love it', and all without as much as a hangover the next day.  Pretty excited for next Sunday, gonna be a stunner just you see York.

7. My stint on URY has been a pretty big success to me on certain levels.  Finally involved meaningfully in a society, finally got something to say apart from 'yeah history student' and also finally being able to express my love for music beyond just playing it to myself and saying it's great.  I also started a crusade to become knowledgable on Acid Jazz, difficult for a man who was a toddler during it's popularity.  I hope anyone who has listened to The Specialist will continue to do so this year, hopefully at a more 'I can play sweary songs' timeslot in the evening.

2012 has so far been a little confusing... magnificent unexpected rally on New Years Day, I may actually have a heart after all (suck on that, devil who I did a deal with), feeling woefully unprepared for my exams a week away.  But on the other hand I looked on my friends list and found out that there are so many nice people I have met, 2012 will be a decent year after all full of excitement and the universal age of majority if we speak our minds (tactfully) and share the warmth.  What have I become?  I'd better wrap up before the blog melts.

Stay c-o-o-l.

A collection of Christmas thoughts.

In my anual ice cold retreat to the North for Christmas, I did some work and I had some thoughts and I dossed around a bit.  I wrote down a few things I thought might be a decent basis to blog about, and some other things I just wanted to write down.  I'm gonna flesh them out a bit maybe but enjoy a little collection.

Distant family turmoil was going on, which paved a strange feeling of death into the 23rd of December and a general discussion of being ones own man and living for one's self.  It was a weird emotion that struck a chord.

I realise that I have become preoccupied with risks, not conscious of the rewards which I might reap from taking more.  I shall deal with this in the new year.  I feel it is time to take control of all manner of matters.

Damn I’m handsome this Christmas.

 

I have enjoyed this strange and dubiously ethical reality show called The Pickup Artist for a bit but on 24th of December it began to seem like they were teaching the aspiring master pickup artists to be liars.  I felt a bit disillusioned about that really, it's supposed to be about improving people skills and recognition of behavioural language.  Disappointing.

To Dos this holidays...

Make phone calls.

Thank Yous.

Revise more.

Sort New Years.

Design 2012's The Specialist playlists.

Buy a new satchel, a watch, a Kindle?

This section written whilst listening to Wham!

Well that worked out far worse than I expected.  But that's what happens when internet is severely limited and I can't be bothered to focus.  And this blog is what you get when I can't be bothered to focus, but have an unlimited internet.

In my opinion...

A minor entry right now about something I haven't really understood for a while now.  There seems to be a general call for people to append their opinions with the words 'I think' or 'in my opinion' in order to set them apart from facts.  I cannot comprehend a world like this for several reasons.

1.It is very easy to tell a fact from an opinion.

2. People misuse opinion and fact.

3.Language would be so boring and conversations so unwieldy.

It's a stupid idea.  Now what was that, a fact or an opinion?

1.  If I say 'elephants are a foot tall' you can probably tell me they're not with some certainty - perhaps you have looked at an elephant before, or have an unhealthy addiction to learning and an extensive encyclopedia collection.  You will go 'no they're not' because you know it isn't true.  On the other hand if I say 'My Chemical Romance is dross'  you will instinctively know, because I judged something on a scale of goodness in this example, that I am expressing an opinion and you will react (hopefully) in an 'I agree Harry' way.  It is our duty as thinking organisms to be able to detect through language what we mean.  Nobody is confusing the term 'MCR is shite' for fact unless they lack a critical mind, and we should build this sort of skill up.

No...

 2. I think I touched on this idea in my discussion of religion all those months back.  In a world where people's views can be expressed as fact I face a brick wall.  It is a fact that my opinion is that My Chemical Romance is not a fun band.  But that doesn't not make 'My Chemical Romance is not a fun band' a fact.  That's easy.  However we have certain religious groups claiming that God exists purely because they believe he exists - this exposes a problem in that facts can be disputed in the same way opinions can diverge and create conflict.  The major difference, as far I can tell, is information can be backed up with truths evident to anyone whereas a qualitative judgement along the lines of 'they are a great band' differs from individual to individual.  Of course to be mindful of this difference requires a reasonable and rational thinker, a type of person I hope is common but still can't rely on. 

NOPE

3. Wouldn't life be boring if our language was littered with arbitrary 'in my opinion' and 'the way I see it'?  We eliminate such extraneous phrases from our conversation because we don't need them.  I read a lot obviously for my degree, and a pleasing and easy reading piece of work sheds archaic ways and pairs down the fluff into a succinct and flowing work.  Opinion comes across as such, because it is signposted by structure and use of evidence, not by a prefacing phrase.

HELL NO.

Overall, it is stupid idea.  Now what was that, a fact or an opinion?

The most wonderful time of the year!

For discussion this time:

1. The obligatory post.
2. What is it about this time of year?
3. The joy of singlemas.

As the winter season approaches faster than that train in the creepy christmas train movie with computer Tom Hanks, it is high time I make my annual declaration of singleness (and disatisfaction about that) to the world.  Like the queen's speech, this annual address has echoed for years (mostly in my head before I had a blog, and possibly on my old blog which I can't find) but the story never changes. In a shocking return to personal life blogging, this christmas period truly is best served ice cold.

 

The stereotypes are true!  Everywhere, everybody is in a couple!  Not an exageration at all.  I've spent another year predominantly lone wolfing but without sheep to hunt.  Not to suggest I'm the butt of a welsh based sheep joke (please ignore the word butt).  In the past month everyone seems to be developing the need for a lady (or a man) and the topic of relationships or this person or that person comes up more and more regularly.  Though this can be difficult for me to detect, in the haze of my listenings to lusty and loving Prince tracks from 30 years, but its definitely on the rise.  In the warm months it all goes to shit, but apparently now is the time for cuddly warm rendez-vous.  Is that the only reason?  I don't know.  At the time of year I contemplate my achievements and future goals, I find myself wondering if I already met that special lady, but probably not because she's probably coupled up.

The power of beng single at Christmas has its advantages.  Certainly you have fewer obligations, but if you're a tight git like me you also have less spending to do!  Christmas is pretty silly if you think about it, I even considered abolishing gift giving in the family the other day (spend the money you would spend on others on yourself, and you will feel guilty).  But alas I shall continue to mainstream and enjoy the bounty of another year's existence.  You also get to spend all the time in the world hanging out with your single friends, many of whom I'm blessed with (for better or worse depending on their own worldview).  It's always a little simpler too, and your emotions can be focused on how maddening this family gathering is and how much you fucking hate Shrek.

An appropriate song I just discovered.  Sums it up quite well.  Have a great December, there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Clubs RELOADED

I was very impressed by the quality of written communication in the following blogs on the club scene.  Here Mini gives an informative analysis of the flyers, aluding to the culture Anne describes.  Dan takes the cake with a blow by blow account of why clubs so often blow.  I often find myself wondering why I'm not like other students running around town drunk as if its a social experience so good you'll risk the most godawful feeling the morning after, physically if not also emotionally.  But in a conversation with a friend, I think I hit the nail upon the head.  Thanks Dan, you have inspired me.  Edited for clarity, content hasn't been touched.

No Rihanna.... no....

You doing anything this weekend?

I think I'm writing an essay given lack of other options

Ohh dear

Not going out?

weekend is shit in York

Really?

yeah

I don't like anywhere enough to go there when it isn't a student night

Hmm

Don't meet anybody though...

you meet people in clubs?

Occasionally

no scope for conversation

Yeah, but your generally pissed as a fart and looking for something to hump at that point...

which is exactly not my m.o.

its a hollow place full of hollow people

drenched in hollow music

Thanks for that...

I don't mean people in clubs are hollow people all the time

but if as you say everyone is at that state of drunkenness they are only after sex

then you have totally eliminated the thing that makes them interesting and human

and you're left with a homogenised crowd of people

they are probably totally different in their day to day

Hmm

so if you're out to meet individuals

the club is not a place to do so

because you can't really meet the person

I have been out 1 time in York this term.  I guess I enjoy being fresh faced and enjoying a long day's work or relaxation more than the drunken, forgotten euphoria that night outs are supposed to entail. And while I can understand having drunken shenanigans with your buds, a club is not the place to expand your social circle in a meaningful way.  Not that I'm good at doing it teetotal.

Some vintage funk with an appropriately named Gil Scott Heron cover.