Ramble and catch up

I can't believe it's been nearly 2 months since I last updated this Journal! So I'm working from home now, out of the corporate 9-5 and loving it, despite working harder then ever.

The latest happy client:


100% People

So it's nearly Halloween, tomorrow in fact. I really should think about having a proper party one year, clear out the house and do a proper American sitcom style scary party. Do those kinds of Halloween parties actually happen?

I'd love to have a costume party like the ones you see in 1960s films - something like the one "The Pink Panther" with everyone dressed up properly as gorillas, historical figures, zebras etc. I just need a slightly bigger house and a few months preparation - easy!

To round up, here's a great selection of fun little games if you get bored:

Casual Gameplay Design Competition

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The Motorcycle Diaries

I watched this film a few days ago and while I was watching I realised something... It's the best film I've seen for a long time! Definitely one of the best films I've seen this year. So, if you haven't heard of it before, or you haven't got around to watching it yet, check it out. It's definitely worth it.

The Motorcycle Diaries (Spanish: Diarios de motocicleta) is a 2004 biographical film.

It tells the story of a journey by motorcycle across South America in 1952 by young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado. Guevara later became the famous Marxist revolutionary better known as Che Guevara, and the film depicts the gradual development of his political outlook, but his revolutionary exploits are not mentioned except in a caption at the end.

The film is based on the books Diarios de motocicleta by Guevara, and Con el Che por America Latina by Alberto Granado. Guevara is played by Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, and Granado by the Argentine actor Rodrigo de la Serna.

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Ghosts

Now, I only got the album "The World Is Outside" a couple of weeks ago but I've been listening to it lots since then!

It's so good.

Ghosts official site

You can find music and info there but while you're here, check out a couple of their tracks from YouTube:





And as usual, here's the wikipedia info:

Ghosts are an indie/pop band from London and were 9th on the BBC's Sound Of 2007 poll.[1] Before signing with Atlantic Records in November 2006 they were previously known as Polanski. Their sound can be compared to the likes of Keane, Thirteen Senses, The Bluetones and even Radiohead.

On 22 February 2007, the members of Ghosts and five of their roadies were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage after a hotel in York found their tour manager's room flooded from a broken toilet. They were all subsequently released without charge.

Rock 'n' Roll! :-)

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another new website...

My blog rate has really slipped recently, mainly due to being extremely busy and not getting a chance to listen to much new music. I've been working on a new recruitment website called UK Temps. The name pretty much speaks for itself... UK wide local recruitment for temporary and part-time jobs.



If you like the logo, check out the blog:
UK Temps blog

Over the next couple of months you can expect to see a lot more of this site, if you're in the UK anyway!

Next time I'll go back to a music theme and lay off the self promotion for a while ;-)

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BT (no, not that BT)

Over the last few weeks I've been going back and listening to a whole load of old stuff that I've been ripping to mp3... and Movement In Still Life by BT has really caught my attention again. I don't know if anyone else even bought this album but it's just very good dancey, techoey fun.

I haven't heard much else by this guy so if anyone else has any suggestions I'd be happy to check them out.



OK a quick check on wikipedia and I find he's got 5 albums and is a bit of a trance guru mixing classical music and instruments in his newest albums.

BT has said of his musical background, "I'm not the traditional type of dance music artist. I'm not a DJ. I come from a classical music background. I attended the Berklee College of Music, and I played in punk bands."

BT's fifth studio album, This Binary Universe, released in 2006, is his second studio album released in 5.1 surround sound, the first being the soundtrack to the motion picture Monster.

The album features a mix of many genres, including jazz, breakbeats, and classical music. Three songs feature a full 110-piece orchestra. BT has said that the album has a lullaby-like quality, inspired by his daughter, Kaia, who sat on his lap throughout most of the song writing process. Animated videos were created to accompany each song [14]. The videos are included in a DVD packaged along with the CD.

Keyboard Magazine declared of the album, “In a hundred years, it could well be studied as the first major electronic work of the new millennium.”

So there you go. I think I'm going to have to find This Binary Universe!

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Overtones - Just Jack

Well, after a few listens to this album... I'm pleasantly surprised!



I had no idea this was his second album, the first has completely bypassed me, and I'm enjoying it. The single Stars in their eyes is fun and it's brightening up my workplace.

There's not much on Wikipedia and obviously I don't know much about Just Jack either so I'll include what there is:

According to the artist, his debut album, The Outer Marker is about modern life, relationships and the pressures of social situations. Originally released by the RGR Records, the album received favourable reviews from publications such as The Independent, Q , NME, The Big Issue, and others, despite some criticism of his lyrics. The Outer Marker was later re-released, with extra tracks.

Allsopp and his band have played his third gig to the Glastonbury Dance Tent, the Speak Easy Arena at Snowbombing in Mayrhofen, Austria, and plans to perform at the V Festivals in the summer of 2007.

Although his big break was in 2002, he didn't gain fame until 2007. Following his TV debut on BBC2's Later with Jools Holland, then on the Channel 4 show The Friday Night Project, where he performed the single "Starz In Their Eyes", this reached #2 in the UK charts.

His second album, Overtones, released in 2007, made #6 in the UK charts.

Official website: www.justjack.co.uk/

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The Crystal Maze - Star Wars style

Not too long ago, on Channel 4, there was a television programme called "The Adam & Joe show" and they made some very funny sketches with Star Wars toys. Here's one of my favourites:

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Nanaca crash

I'm sure everyone has played this little flash game to death...

Nanaca Crash

but I managed a score of over 10,000 yesterday! I'll put up a screen shot to prove it at some point but for now you'll just have to take my word for it.

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Lithium - Polyphonic Spree

Ok, now I love the The Polyphonic Spree and this video of sock puppets doing their version of Lithium is genius!

Unless you've been sitting in a hole over the last 2 or 3 years or perhaps you don't take any notice of new music or watched Scrubs you have probably seen these mad robe wearing musicians prancing around on a teletubbie-esque hill, waving arms around like a bunch of enthused children. And that's precisely why they're so good.

The music is uplifting, fun, jump around and shouty and makes you just want to join in. With the group currently comprising of over 4,500 members (maybe) you may even be able to slip into a concert unnoticed and get on the stage to jump around with them.



And I was planning on writing some kind of moaning rant after a busy day at work, watched a couple of Spree videos and this is what I've ended up with! Fantastic.

As usual with my posts I'll add in something from Wikipedia:

The group was founded by DeLaughter and has included 13 to 27 other members. It currently consists of 24 members ranging from vocals, to organ to tubular bells. The three original members, Tim DeLaughter, Mark Pirro and Bryan Wakeland were members of the band Tripping Daisy before their guitarist Wes Berggren died in 1999. After the end of Tripping Daisy, DeLaughter temporarily gave up music to run Good Records, a record shop in Dallas.

In 2000, DeLaughter, Pirro and Wakeland were asked to create a 30-minute album in support of Grandaddy. Rather than reforming Tripping Daisy, the three decided to explore a concept DeLaughter had of creating a modern symphonic rock band with a live choir. Inspired by operatic, experimental rock bands of the seventies such as Electric Light Orchestra that he loved as a child, DeLaughter sent the call out for a wide array of musicians and gradually built up contacts. A half-hour of music was written and rehearsed by 13 musicians that would become The Polyphonic Spree.

Read the rest of the article

Looks as though I've completely gone off the point of the original article. Anyway, the version of Lithium on Wait by The Polyphonic Spree is on their latest EP release and is making me itch to get my hands on their new album "The Fragile Army" - out in June.

And they're playing in New York on May 11th:

Get Polyphonic Spree tickets here

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The Aliens - Astronomy for Dogs

Buy this album! It might not be recognised on MyStrands yet so I can't give a link to it on here, grrrr. Three members from the The Beta Band decide to work together to form "The Aliens" and "Astronomy for Dogs" is their first album.



Anyway, don't worry about that, it's so good - the sound of the impending summer...

I'm no good at reviews so from The Guardian:

Gordon Anderson, Robin Jones and John McLean are hardly household names, but for a brief period at least the members of the Aliens could justifiably have claimed to be Britian's most influential musicians. In 1998, the Beta Band - the group the trio had formed with frontman Steve Mason - attained an almost hysterical pitch of critical acclaim and appeared to have the two biggest bands in the country under their spell. Noel Gallagher claimed to have been inspired to take Oasis in a more outré musical direction by the Beta Band's first three EPs, while Radiohead were reported to be indulging in Beta Band-influenced experimentation for their follow-up to OK Computer. You could see the attraction. By 1998, alt-rock had become constrained by Britpop's obsession with commercial success and limited frame of music reference. The Beta Band's esoteric melange of electronica, hip-hop, psychedelia and folk, on the other hand, suggested music could be a boundless world of possibilities.

rest the rest of the review

I've been listening to not much else this week and if that's not enough of a recommendation well... too bad, I think it's a great album!

I'm most annoyed because one of my friends' bands (Deco - see my last post) was playing support to one of their recent gigs and I didn't know about it. Damn!

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