This week I have a great deal of spare time on my hands. Not only do I have a week off work, but Becky is also away for a week over in Ibiza. So with that in mind (or rather to occupy my mind) I hope to watch as many DVDs and listen to as much music as I can.
I've got a few films lined up that I've bought during the past couple years but have never got around to watching them. Amongst them are:
Trainspotting
JFK
Dr Strangelove
... and some film starring Mel Gibson about Jesus. I can't remember the name of that one.
In terms of music, I thought it is a great chance to listen to the CDs that never really clicked or never really had the chance to. That part of my week has got off to a good start. Already I've listened to the following albums:
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
James Yorkston - Moving Up Country
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East
There were a couple tracks that really stood out for me on the Mars Volta album (The Widows and L'Via L'Viaquez), but the most enjoyable album yet (and I thought it would be the least) is The Allman Brothers Band one. Really enjoyable background music complete with blues solos of all sorts.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Office Dares
Some of these appealed to my childish side. Thanks to James for these..
ONE-POINT DARES: (1)
ONE-POINT DARES: (1)
- Ignore the first five people who say 'good morning' to you.
- To signal the end of a conversation, clamp your hands over your ears and grimace.
- Leave your fly open for one hour. If anyone points it out, say, "Sorry, I really prefer it this way".
- Walk sideways to the photocopier.
- While going in an elevator, gasp dramatically each time the doors open.
- When in elevator with one other person, tap them on the shoulder and pretend it wasn't you.
- Finish all your sentences with "In accordance with the prophecy..."
- Don't use any punctuation.
- Use your highlighter pen on the computer screen.
- Say to your boss, "I like your style", wink, and shoot him with double-barrelled fingers while making a clicking sound with your tongue that resembles the sound of a revolver.
- Kneel in front of the water cooler and drink directly from the nozzle.
- Shout random numbers while someone is counting.
- Every time you get an email, shout ''e-mail''.
- Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone is over his or her caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
- Introduce yourself to a new colleague as "the office bicycle". Then wink and pout.
- Call I.T. help desk and tell them that you can't seem to access any pornography web-sites.
- At the end of a meeting, suggest that, for once, it would be nice to conclude with the singing of the national anthem (extra points if you actually launch into it yourself).
- Walk into a very busy person's office and while they watch you with growing irritation, turn the light switch on/off 10times.
- For an hour, refer to everyone you speak to as "Bob".
- Announce to everyone in a meeting that you "really have to go do a number two".
- In a meeting or crowded situation, slap your forehead repeatedly and mutter, "Shut up, damn it, all of you just shut up!"
- During the course of a meeting, slowly edge your chair towards the door.
- As often as possible, skip rather than walk.
- Ask people what sex they are. Laugh hysterically after they answer.
- Hump the photocopier. When someone spots you, stop and cough embarrassingly, then lean in to the machine and whisper loudly, "I'll call you tonight".
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Saving Face
In a bid to regain (if thats the appopriate word.. perhaps 'gain' is more apt) some credibitily following the previous Bon Jovi post, here are some songs by other bands I'm currently quite litterally addicted to..
The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour (I don't think I've played a tune so many times in one day before)
Modest Mouse - One Chance
Deerhoof - Believe ESP
Interpol - Mammoth (Didn't like it at first. Thats certainly changed)
The Fall - Bingo Masters Breakout
Wilco - You Are My Face (Just when you think they've gone completely easy listening they hit you with a twist)
Taken By Trees - Lost and Found
Cherry Ghost - Four Eyes (B-Side)
REM - Begin the Begin
Man Man - Enrish Bwudd (bonkers)
Lily Allen - Everything's Just Wonderful
The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour (I don't think I've played a tune so many times in one day before)
Modest Mouse - One Chance
Deerhoof - Believe ESP
Interpol - Mammoth (Didn't like it at first. Thats certainly changed)
The Fall - Bingo Masters Breakout
Wilco - You Are My Face (Just when you think they've gone completely easy listening they hit you with a twist)
Taken By Trees - Lost and Found
Cherry Ghost - Four Eyes (B-Side)
REM - Begin the Begin
Man Man - Enrish Bwudd (bonkers)
Lily Allen - Everything's Just Wonderful
Owning up to your hidden truths..
Before I go into the detail, I'll just get admission over and done with. Not only did I once think Bon Jovi were an 'ace' band when I was about 11, but to tell you the truth, when I look back at their earlier stuff now, it still sounds really good.
That's a bit of a general statement, so I should focus it a bit more. Their first two albums were flakey at best. Their third, Slippery When Wet certainly had its moments ("Wanted Dead or Alive" for instance). Their next album New Jersey has it's fair share of 80s poodle rock, but there are a couple cracking songs on it, the highlight probably being "I'll Be There For You".
It's their 5th album (Keep The Faith) that's stood the test of time though. One of my brothers popped round earlier to update his iPod, and whilst going through it we spotted Bon Jovi and made some derogatory remark. One of us then said "Yeah, but Dry County is a good song. No denying that!". So we had a look at the album its from (Keep The Faith) and went through each track commenting on whether its any good. To our surprise we were keen on the majority of them. Looking back its a good album thats overlooked when people take the mickey out of the band.
If for some reason you feel like delving back into the late 80s/early 90s, I'd suggest checking out these tracks (those in bold are well worth trying):
Band : Album : Song
Bon Jovi : New Jersey : I'll Be There For You
Bon Jovi : New Jersey : Wild Is The Wind
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : Keep The Faith
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : In These Arms
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : Bed Of Roses
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : If I Was Your Mother (Surprisingly heavy for them..)
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : Dry County (A 10 minute epic! Thats something you don't associate with the Jovi)
Jon Bon Jovi : Blaze of Glory : Blaze of Glory
Jon Bon Jovi : Blaze of Glory : Sante Fe (Cracking tune this. Seriously, try it)
Jon Bon Jovi : Blaze of Glory : Bang a Drum (Gospel singers n all)
That's a bit of a general statement, so I should focus it a bit more. Their first two albums were flakey at best. Their third, Slippery When Wet certainly had its moments ("Wanted Dead or Alive" for instance). Their next album New Jersey has it's fair share of 80s poodle rock, but there are a couple cracking songs on it, the highlight probably being "I'll Be There For You".
It's their 5th album (Keep The Faith) that's stood the test of time though. One of my brothers popped round earlier to update his iPod, and whilst going through it we spotted Bon Jovi and made some derogatory remark. One of us then said "Yeah, but Dry County is a good song. No denying that!". So we had a look at the album its from (Keep The Faith) and went through each track commenting on whether its any good. To our surprise we were keen on the majority of them. Looking back its a good album thats overlooked when people take the mickey out of the band.
If for some reason you feel like delving back into the late 80s/early 90s, I'd suggest checking out these tracks (those in bold are well worth trying):
Band : Album : Song
Bon Jovi : New Jersey : I'll Be There For You
Bon Jovi : New Jersey : Wild Is The Wind
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : Keep The Faith
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : In These Arms
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : Bed Of Roses
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : If I Was Your Mother (Surprisingly heavy for them..)
Bon Jovi : Keep The Faith : Dry County (A 10 minute epic! Thats something you don't associate with the Jovi)
Jon Bon Jovi : Blaze of Glory : Blaze of Glory
Jon Bon Jovi : Blaze of Glory : Sante Fe (Cracking tune this. Seriously, try it)
Jon Bon Jovi : Blaze of Glory : Bang a Drum (Gospel singers n all)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: My Stag Day Plans
Or 'Bucks Day' for all my Aussie readers...
Along with the rest of the wedding, plans are actually starting to take shape for my stag day - and I have to say, I like them.
The current plan (bare in mind that this is the first plan we've had and its now been in existence for 27 minutes at the time of writing - so it's subject to change) is to hire a coach for the day/night and at some point in the day set off on a mini tour of country pubs. So far, fairly standard stuff for a Bridgwater stag day. That doesn't make that part any less enjoyable though. Then, after that, the coach drops us off at... The Newt Beer Fest!! I have to say, brilliant idea by my Best Man James. He suggested maybe going to a beer fest and it just so happens that Newt is usually a couple weeks before July 19th (my, er, our big day!). I've never been to it before but for a few years running now I've been tempted - its just its always been an issue getting there. The coach takes care of that :-)
From what I gather the bands that play there are mainly local, but that's besides the point. Who cares about the music lineup when you have a beer lineup like this (the 2007 Beer List):
http://www.newtbeerfest.com/beerlist.asp
Along with the rest of the wedding, plans are actually starting to take shape for my stag day - and I have to say, I like them.
The current plan (bare in mind that this is the first plan we've had and its now been in existence for 27 minutes at the time of writing - so it's subject to change) is to hire a coach for the day/night and at some point in the day set off on a mini tour of country pubs. So far, fairly standard stuff for a Bridgwater stag day. That doesn't make that part any less enjoyable though. Then, after that, the coach drops us off at... The Newt Beer Fest!! I have to say, brilliant idea by my Best Man James. He suggested maybe going to a beer fest and it just so happens that Newt is usually a couple weeks before July 19th (my, er, our big day!). I've never been to it before but for a few years running now I've been tempted - its just its always been an issue getting there. The coach takes care of that :-)
From what I gather the bands that play there are mainly local, but that's besides the point. Who cares about the music lineup when you have a beer lineup like this (the 2007 Beer List):
http://www.newtbeerfest.com/beerlist.asp
The Power of Three
It's recently occurred to me that my web usage is all based around just the three sites. Very rarely do I access content without first going through these sites.
They all serve difference purposes but all ultimately help me find the content I find useful and/or interesting.
Google
http://www.google.com/
The most obvious of the three is Google. Rarely does a day go by that something doesn't crop up in my everyday life that I need to quickly look something up. It could be anything ranging from settling a bet, looking up some Korn Shell code through to finding out what the latest in the long line of obscure words used by my colleague Bob Quinton means (usually using the 'define:' feature).
Delicious
http://del.icio.us/greggannicott
I use del.icio.us (soon to be renamed Delicious) for storing my bookmarks. Its hard to describe to someone who doesn't use Delicious (or a similar service) just how handy it is to not only be able to access your bookmarks from any PC with net access, but to also be able to store, manage and view so many of them with ease. I would never dream of having 231 bookmarks stored within Internet Explorer, Opera or Firefox, let alone manage and replicate them both at home and in work. Thankfully another colleague of mine, Mark Williams was able to convince me of how handy it is.
Google Reader
http://www.google.com/reader/
Finally, the latest addition to my list of useful sites. Once again I have Mark to thank for introducing me to this and I've not looked back since. Google Reader enables you take a large number of RSS/Atom feeds and easily manage and read them. Thankfully almost every site I follow contains an RSS feed. Whether that is Tech Crunch, Dan Lawrence's blog or the JMS News Feed. Whenever a new addition is made to any of those, an entry appears in Google Reader. This is handled in date order so every day I can go through my list of items, flag up those that are of interest to me and then read them when I have the time. The glory of it being so easy to glance at the content and flag it for later is the fact it enables you to subscribe to even more feeds, whilst not taking up much of your time as a result yet still getting to read it all in the end!
They all serve difference purposes but all ultimately help me find the content I find useful and/or interesting.
http://www.google.com/
The most obvious of the three is Google. Rarely does a day go by that something doesn't crop up in my everyday life that I need to quickly look something up. It could be anything ranging from settling a bet, looking up some Korn Shell code through to finding out what the latest in the long line of obscure words used by my colleague Bob Quinton means (usually using the 'define:' feature).
Delicious
http://del.icio.us/greggannicott
I use del.icio.us (soon to be renamed Delicious) for storing my bookmarks. Its hard to describe to someone who doesn't use Delicious (or a similar service) just how handy it is to not only be able to access your bookmarks from any PC with net access, but to also be able to store, manage and view so many of them with ease. I would never dream of having 231 bookmarks stored within Internet Explorer, Opera or Firefox, let alone manage and replicate them both at home and in work. Thankfully another colleague of mine, Mark Williams was able to convince me of how handy it is.
Google Reader
http://www.google.com/reader/
Finally, the latest addition to my list of useful sites. Once again I have Mark to thank for introducing me to this and I've not looked back since. Google Reader enables you take a large number of RSS/Atom feeds and easily manage and read them. Thankfully almost every site I follow contains an RSS feed. Whether that is Tech Crunch, Dan Lawrence's blog or the JMS News Feed. Whenever a new addition is made to any of those, an entry appears in Google Reader. This is handled in date order so every day I can go through my list of items, flag up those that are of interest to me and then read them when I have the time. The glory of it being so easy to glance at the content and flag it for later is the fact it enables you to subscribe to even more feeds, whilst not taking up much of your time as a result yet still getting to read it all in the end!
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