Group hug!

Well I was intending to write this post yesterday but Monday’s for me are ridiculously busy. After work I play 5-a-side and then with no more than ten minutes back at home I’m off out to play darts and don’t get home till go 11pm. So less to say I wasn’t really up to blogging.

Anyway as most people should know that last couple of weeks have been taken up, sport wise, by the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Canada, the host nation, had never won any golds when they’ve previously held the event but this year they’ve made up for lost time. With winning the gold on Sunday for Mens Ice Hockey, they set a new record for the total number of golds won in a Winter Olympics (14). Now this has to be quantified by saying that in today’s Winter Olympics there are more events than there used to be but either way it’s an impressive achievement. I haven’t watched that much of the Olympics in all honesty though I have caught the odd event here and there but being a hockey fan I was always going to watch Sunday’s game and the fact that it was Canada vs USA just made it that much more interesting. The game didn’t disappoint as I was entertained for the full 60 minutes and the at-the-death equalizer by Zach Parise with twenty-four seconds to go was just almost too exciting. I was supporting Canada purely on the basis that my NHL team’s captain, Sidney Crosby, is Canadian. So it was fitting, then, that it was he who scored the winning goal in OT despite being quiet for most of the game. It was a thrilling end to an awesome game of hockey and I really wish I could’ve been there in Vancouver to celebrate the win as, having visited, I know the love of hockey runs deep there.

Earlier in the day also saw United play Aston Villa for the first piece of silverware this season, the League Cup. I can’t say I was entertained in this match as was to be for the hockey final but to see United lift the cup at the end was very satisfying. It must be said, however, United were lucky still to have 11 men on the pitch come the final whistle as, despite bringing down Agbonlahor and being final man, Vidic was not sent off nor carded. At the end of the day though I’d say United deserved the victory whether we’d have won with ten men though would be doubtful as I really rate Villa. They may have lost out on Sunday but I can definitely see them lifting some silverware soon make no mistake. What made United’s win bittersweet in some ways though was the unfortunate injury to Michael Owen. After scoring United’s equalizer with a glorious finish he had to go off with an hamstring injury but I guess what hurt more for Villa fans was his replacement; Rooney. It was probably fitting then that it was Rooney who scored United’s winner especially considering the rich vein of form he’s currently in. Right now I’d go as far to say Rooney is one of the most lethal strikers in the World game as he just cannot stop scoring; his header on Sunday was just superb. It wasn’t a great final but nor was it one-way traffic as Villa really pushed United and as I’ve already said they’ll win a trophy soon. As for United, with the League Cup now out-of-the-way, we can concentrate on pushing for the league title.

I present you this website through the medium of music!

I came across this website over at MandyMadrox.com and wondered what it would be like if I gave it the URL of my blog and my photography to see what they sounded like. My photography is a fairly chilled tune with a nice bit of synth in there for good measure my blog, however, is a completely different affair. I’ve thought of the best way to describe it but I really can’t other than it’s a mess of organ notes playing an odd scale.

The way Code Organ works is that it looks at the ‘body’ content of your page, ignores letters that isn’t a note, and from the rest it determines your most regularly used note. It also determines whether it’s a major or minor note if the number is even or odd. The next thing it does is to figure out what synth to use which is done based on the total amount characters used on that page and its percentage content. Finally it picks out a lovely drum loop by calculating the ratio of characters on the page versus the number of characters that are actually music notes.

It’s a pretty cool thing to mess around with and by putting in random URLs you can find some interesting tunes to listen to. If you want a rather long tune to listen to Wiki’s page on the Meaning of Life should do you just fine!

1984? Never heard of it!

In another twist of irony Apple has again proven that it’s more like ‘1984′ than it cares to admit. Before Apple would  just refuse apps for a silly reason like Tweetie. Now, however, they’ve decided to remove outright any app that is slightly racy. What’s odd is they don’t seem to have applied this new stance to all apps as just now I was able to search and find the Playboy app.

So yet again Apple is jumping headfirst into a situation without actually thinking it through. Not only that it’s another example of Apple exerting it’s totalitarian control over what you can and can’t have on its phone. What is equally as ironic as the Playboy app is that fact that, using Safari, you can browse as many adult based sites as you like so what’s the point in yanking all the adult apps? According to the Beeb’s report about this Phil Schiller put it down to complaints from women and parents alike about the nature of the applications that could be found on its App Store. However I feel that Apple’s approach is wholly mis-guided and while they should listen to complaints and act upon them, banning these apps outright wasn’t the way to go.

There are many different avenues they could’ve gone down. First and foremost as far as parents whose children own an iPhone some sort of parental control could have been added to the next version of the iPhone firmware. This would allow parents to control what their children can and can’t download as far as apps are concerned and as long as all apps are age rated appropriately there shouldn’t be much issue with that. Added to this you could even have a filter that hides any adult content so you’d never know it was even there. In respect to those apps deemed degrading by all means take it up with the developer but you shouldn’t tar everyone with the same brush. At the same time though just because some people think something is degrading to women there are others who disagree and I’m not talking about men either. This however is a long-standing argument that has been around probably as long as pornography has and that’s a long time. However this does feel like the app store is run by those too scared to accept diversity in its applications and are quick to respond with knee-jerk reactions.

I’m hoping that in the end Apple will realise that what they have done was not right and that they should adopt a different method. They have to accept the fact that a portion of their user base want these types of apps along with companies ready to develop for them. At the same time they know now that the current setup of the App Store is broken with respect to adult content and needs to be corrected. While you may or may not like this type of content it is unfair to remove it outright when there is clearly other, fairer ways, to deal with the situation.

Too ... much ... light!

Let me start this off by saying I know that it’s not most peoples fault that manufacturers are producing more powerful headlights. Today it’s all LED that or bi-xenon this, the downside is they’re too bright. Those who drive will know how annoying it is to have someone with ridiculously bright headlights behind you at night kinda hurts the ‘ol eyes. The downside is, of course, that the driver really can’t do much about it. The only thing I can think of is dipping the lights as you can change the dip with a control in the car. This however does reduce how much of the road gets lit up and so negates the wonderful powers of your fancy headlights.

So is there a way to cure this? In all honesty I have no idea, I’m not a car designer but there’s surely a way to get round this problem. Whether it’s toning down how bright they are or perhaps increasing the dip without reducing how much of the road gets lit up. I just feel that other drivers on the road can’t be ignored, I know you can flip the rear-view mirror to reduce the brightness but you can’t do this on wing-mirrors or your wind-shield for those that come the other way. In my own personal view this is the second worst light based annoyance on the road. The worst are those people who refuse to turn off full-beam or turn them on even though you’re still “within range” when following you. In the end though this can only be fixed by the manufacturers themselves and well it’s unlikely to change. Still if you do drive and use full-beam please, for everyone’s sake, don’t switch back on until you’re sure you can’t see the car in front at all!

Music Anyone?

To start this post off I’ve got to given credit for the inspiration to Drowned in Sound who produce a Spotify playlist every Friday. I doubt I’d follow the same schedule but it’s inspired me to share my musical favourites in a less than regular feature. Now I appreciate not everyone can get a hold of this playlist as Spotify isn’t available everywhere so I’ve created a mirror on last.fm. So without further ado I present to you, playlist #1:

#1 The Chemical Brothers – Where Do I Begin

If there’s one thing I’m a fan of when it comes to this genre of music is a tune where I can just sit back and just chill out. This is one of my favourite such tracks. It’s not completely mellow and it’s mostly down to the intro but despite the big beats that come into the track I really relax when listening to it.

#2 Orbital – Halcyon And On And On

Carrying on the chill out theme this is, in my opinion, one of the best tunes ever. I first heard it while watching the title sequence of Hackers which featured music of the time and once the movie was over watched all the credits to find the name. The intro is epic and it just gets better and better.

#3 Röyksopp – So Easy

One of the many songs I’ve discovered by Googling TV advert music this one was used for T-Mobile here in the UK. It’s a very recognizable tune now and it’s easy to listen to.

#4 Super Furry Animals – Ice Hockey Hair

Apparently ice hockey hair is another name for a mullet hairstyle but in this instance it’s the name of a song with a beautiful guitar intro.

#5 Fun Lovin’ Criminals – Running for Cover

The Fun Lovin’ Criminals are the unfortunate victims of their own success. After the release of the iconic song Scooby Snacks and début album the FLC suffered a perpetual 2nd album syndrome. I don’t buy into this and would say Welcome to Poppy’s is up there with Come Find Yourself

#6 Jack Johnson – Breakdown

Has to be my favourite track from his excellent Inbetween Dreams album.

#7 Chemical Brothers – The Private Psychedelic Reel

Another track from the Chemical Brothers album Dig Your Own Hole which made an appearance on Sony’s Gran Turismo.

#8 Feist – 1234

Another advert song but this time for Apple and their iPod but don’t let that detract you from a wonderfully simple song and an impressive album The Reminder.

#9 Nils Frahm – Ambre

Well as I mentioned above this playlist thing was inspired by Drowned in Sound and one playlist had this beautiful piano piece by Nils Frahm. Rest assured I’ll be listening to more of his music if this is anything to go by.

#10 Crowded House – Distant Sun

While I’m not a massive fan of Crowded House I do like this track a lot and would probably say it’s my favourite Crowded House track.

#11 Bob Marley – Three Little Birds

For the longest time I believed this track was title Don’t Worry, anyway, it’s a cheer up tune that I never tire of listening to.

#12 Feist – My Moon My Man

Feist’s second appearance and mostly because this track is one that just stays in your head a while once you’ve listened to it because it’s that catchy. Again it’s a simple tune with nothing overly complicated; probably why I like it so much.

#13 Counting Crows – Colorblind

Another song I first heard on a movie (Cruel Intentions) and got a hold of it as soon as I knew what it was. Simple lyrics that to me convey rather vivid scenes.

#14 Seasick Steve – Fallen Off a Rock

I first saw Seasick Steve perform on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny and instantly bought his album Dog House Music the next day. He’s one of the best guitarists I’ve heard and just love a bit of blues.

I just can't wait!

This Christmas gone I got a most wonderful present from my wife; a tour of the Auchentoshan distillery and tasting. I didn’t blog at the time as my Christmas post was post-dated but also felt it would be nice to blog about it nearer the time. I’m due to leave for Edinburgh later today and travel across to Glasgow with my brother for the tour tomorrow.

It has been a desire of mine for some time to visit a distillery in Scotland and Auchentoshan was one of them for it’s convenient location but also one of only a handful of Lowland distilleries. There are others I’d like to visit such as Laphroig, Glenfiddich and Tomintoul to name a few but that’ll be for a whisky tour I plan to do this or next year money depending. I can tell you though that it was a wonderful surprise Christmas morn to receive that as a present!

The only downside is that this Wednesday gone I had two teeth out at the dentist. I’m still suffering some pain and the dentist advised against drinking as early as Saturday. I’m going to ignore that advice for two reason the first being is that the only problem it’ll cause me is that it might promote some bleeding but more importantly I don’t want to miss out. I’ve been looking forward to this since I opened the card that the gift was in and I won’t let it get in the way and besides, alcohol sterilises things anyway so no harm no foul eh!

It's like Hoth out there!

Along with most of the UK I woke up to a very snowy scene this morning. One thing I love about snow is that it brings out the kid in most people. Unfortunately for me I had to go to work but on the upside it was decided we could leave at 3pm which was nice. What I find funny is how we as a nation grind to a halt when weather hits the extreme and ‘big freeze’, as this is being called, seems to cause more havoc than most weathers.

I understand why this happens as aside from perhaps northern Scotland most of England and Wales rarely see continuous snowfall. What’s disappointing however is that we never seem properly prepared. Many councils and local authorities are reporting grit shortages or in some cases that they’ve completely ran out. Before Christmas there was plenty of drama on the Eurostar caused by the weather which was fortunately resolved before we departed. The main issue for the roads is that the grit we use is no longer stock piled but also that the gritting lorries are rarely on standby as we choose to trust forecasting which while helps isn’t 100%. Bristol for example was caught out just before Christmas because as far as the forecast said, we were’nt due any snow.

I know that it’s expensive to keep lorries on standby and drivers out at the wee small hours but then again they get paid more as, like refuse workers, it’s not exactly a desirable job to some people. However with clear roads people can get to work, lorries can reach their destinations and the industries that drive Britain’s economy can keep ploughing on despite the weather. Now I appreciate that even with all the preparation it can still be dangerous and we can’t make every road clear but reading about people trapped/stranded on various roads is a sad thing to read. I feel lucky that I work so close to home that, even if I did have to abandon the car, I can still make it home within the hour. Schools also suffer when snowy weather comes around. When I was at school in North Yorkshire I can remember having several snow days as many of the schools’ pupils lived in the Moors and were completely cut off. Still as a kid having a day of to play in the snow is no bad thing!

I think we’re lucky to have snow as some people elsewhere in the world have never seen snow let alone mess around making snowmen or having snowball fights. I guess it’s just a shame that it causes so much havoc when it occurs and like many things we’re unlikely to learn from it. We’re not going to produce/import more salt or allow local authorities to stock pile it nor are we likely to stick drivers on standby 24/7 through a forecasted cold snap. We’ll cast it aside and think it won’t happen again but it will and we’ll be as unprepared as ever; oh well.

If Carlsberg took photographs..

As mentioned in my last post Cati and I travelled to Paris on New Year’s day for a 4 day holiday. It’s been several years since I’ve last visited, less for Cati, and to be honest I wasn’t quite sure what we’d do. When Cati lived here we did the major touristy things like going up the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and so on but very little after that. To be honest the main detractor from doing much was that her flat was up seven flights of stairs. At the time I was less fit than I am now and it was quite an effort so we mostly stayed in her little flat; sad I know.

Anyway the trip this time has been a little different. First of all our accommodation isn’t up lots of stairs, this time round we’re staying with a friend of Cati’s from her time here at Uni. It’s outside Paris in what is effectively the suburbs. It’s a lovely place to be and it’s kinda nice to be out of the craziness that is central Paris. This has helped a wee bit as when we went in to Paris yesterday it felt more like a day trip rather than a wander around your own back yard. I get the same feeling with Bristol now that we live in the suburbs. It’s made the trip feel that little bit more special and, as I’m more active these days, we got up to a lot of things in just one day. I shan’t go in to the particulars of what we did as that will appear on our holiday website and I don’t want to steal its thunder but less to say we’ve had a lot of fun.

We’re going home tomorrow and I am looking forward to being back at home. I always do miss home when I’m away but I’ve enjoyed Paris much more than I did than when Cati lived here which is also a sad thing. There are so many things to do in Paris that if I’d have been more energetic when Cati was living here I think I’d have had a greater appreciation for the city than I did till now. Whether we’ll make many more trips is another thing in light of our future plans but I think that I have a greater respect for Paris now than I did purely by getting out there and actually seeing Paris.

Big Bang Theory

Well thanks to the glory of post-dating blog updates this should appear not long after we in the UK pass in to 2010. I will safely assume that it goes without a hitch and nothing major happened. I will at this point be in London with a view to getting the Eurostar to Paris come New Years’ Day.

It’s been a fun holiday period. I’ve been home to spend Christmas with family, then North to Peebles to spend some time with my Mum & Dad but to also see my brother and sister-in-law and finally a quick stop off in Yorkshire to see Andy. I’m looking forward to Paris too. It’s been a while since I’ve been back there as I visited quite a few times when Catrin was living there. While not my most favourite city it’s a beautiful place to visit. Not quite sure what we’ll get up to but I’m sure that either way we’ll have a good time.

With that I’d like to wish you all a happy New Year.

When the Snowman brings the snow

Just a quick post to wish one and all a very merry Christmas. Like many I’m spending this Christmas with family which will no doubt encompass deep discussions over dinner. Either way it will be enjoyable and a good chance to catch up on recent events. I’m sure we’ll also play some Wii sports which was a new addition to the family traditions after I bought a Wii for Christmas a couple years back. As Mum & Dad have had a Wii for a while now I have no doubt the competition will be fierce.

In closing I would also like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2010.