Garrulous Geek - Music

It seems so frightening, time flashes by like lightning

nospam@example.com (Peter Urquhart) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:50:42 +0000

We're approaching the end of a decade, and it appears that the fashionable thing to do among those with an interest in music is to write about what we each perceive to be the best music of that decade. I'm somewhat cynical of the journalistic merits of endless list writing, but they provide a simple enough structure in which to place some opinions, and I'm lazy enough about writing as it is, so I think I'll allow myself a list every now and again. I also find it curious that lists like this are headed up as being "The best of..." when these things are clearly extremely subjective.

Anyway. That's enough preamble criticising the post I'm yet to make, so I'd best get stuck in. Here follows a run-down of my favourite albums of the past 10 years...

10 - Jay Z - The Black Album

I've only started listening to rap music in the past year or so, and Jay Z is pretty accessible as far as it goes. I find listening to rap music interesting, as the focus on words as opposed to music means that the style of "lyrics" is very different to the rock music that I usually listen to. With those genres you have to worry about the middle 8, the guitar solo... hell you have to worry about a tune. With rap you have a beat, and words... maybe a sample to go with it. The musical side is stripped down in favour of the words, so the vocabulary, the wordplay, the rhyme structure can be much more varied and inventive.

I also enjoy the different content in rap music. I've listened to a lot of rock and pop in my time - I've heard more than my fair share of love songs, for example. Rap tells different stories, and while they may be somewhat harsh to our white ears - bitches, niggaz, crack and Glocks - it is an alternative to the over familiar milieu of yet another mainstream guitar band. I even find the palpable hubris somewhat alluring - it's very different to hear someone like Jay Z rapping about being at the top of his game, the best in his field, in contrast to the overly modest shoegazing Britpop bands I grew up with.

The Black Album is not, I am told, Jay Z's finest work. The Blueprint is said to be a far better album, for example, and while I enjoy that too I'm just not drawn to it in the same way. Maybe it's that The Black Album is more in your face and more polished in it's production. And maybe it's just the fact that Dirt Off Your Shoulder and 99 Problems makes an almost unbeatable double A side.

9 - Semisonic - All About Chemistry

Ah, back in safe territory. Itunes pegs this as "power pop" and that's a fair assessment. Guitar, drums, keyboards... I know where I am with this. This album formed part of the soundtrack to a very happy time in my life, my last post-school summer before going to university. This choice is more about the memories of that time than it is anything to do with ground breaking music or particular lyrics, so maybe in that capacity it helps that here there is the familiar love and heartbreak that are such a big part of teenage years.

It is slightly bitter-sweet that an album I like so much was a commercial failure compared to it's predecessor. The band has been on hiatus for the 8 years since, and I'm not holding my breath for another album from them. Still, there's worse albums that you could go out on. This is thoroughly competent, well written and well produced pop. It also scores bonus points for high levels of innuendo, including an entire song about masturbation. And why not?

8 - Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around

This was the last album released while Cash was alive. It consists largely of covers, though the title track is of note as an original recording documenting Christ's return in a calm, foreboding manner that I find both horrifically threatening and wonderfully comforting in light of my faith. The music here is stripped down and minimal, with some songs featuring just an acoustic guitar alongside Cash's distinctive voice. His voice is absolutely captivating, and there's a brilliant selection of tracks on here in all manner of styles.

The standout track is generally held to be the cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt, which serves as a tragically beautiful epitaph to Cash's life, and the place he found himself as he approached his death. I also like the cover of Sting's I Hung My Head, a ballad about a young man on trial for an unintended shooting, and Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus. Elsewhere, moving from the sublime to the ridiculous there's an old folk song, Sam Hall, with it's refrain of "Damn your eyes!" being hurled at everyone who stands in the way of the protagonist.

I often struggle to listen to just vocals and a guitar (you could throw a million talented "singer-songwriters" at me and I'll struggle to retain interest) but the variety of music here and the voice doing the singing are just too much to resist.

7 - Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

I was introduced to Belle & Sebastian by my then girlfriend and now wife, who had been introduced to them by an ex of hers. She gave me Belle & Sebastian, and I gave her the Eels, and we spent a considerable amount of time listening to their music as the soundtrack to our early years together. The Life Pursuit was released in 2005, by which time we were married, and - to employ a tenuous metaphor - their music has grown and matured as our relationship has, while also getting rather weird around the edges.

This is a diverse album, employing a lot of styles and with some fairly eccentric lyrics, and some very casual use of "the f word" that I can't help but smile at given the way the female backing vocalist echoes the line. It's also very "full" music, which I like - there's always a lot of different things to listen to on a track at any given time, like a slightly tidier Radiohead.

6 - The White Stripes - Elephant

If Belle & Sebastian's music is full but tidy, then The White Stripes' is full but incredibly messy. This is lo-fi grungy, and desperately under-produced, like they recorded it in a week on a tape recorder in someone's bathroom, but somehow it works. Meg might be one of the world's most bizarre drummers (and by bizarre, I mean inconsistent - not a great quality in a drummer) but she serves as an excellent muse to Jack, the creative mind here. I couldn't even begin to tell you what Jack is singing about, but he definitely means it whatever it is, and the music is performed with a fervour that you don't really find much of these days. This is imprecise, and all the more exciting for it.

5 - Muse - Origin Of Symmetry

Ah, Muse. A band on an inexorable trajectory into Matt Bellamy's pretentious little world. Their albums have been steadily getting more and more ridiculous, with their latest offering tipping right over the edge with a song that ends up being sung in French with a clarinet solo to finish. Hmmm.

However, look back to 2001 and you find the high point of the band's musical output. This album is frenetic, driven by it's distorted guitars and falsetto vocals, the best example of which being the unstoppable Plug In Baby with its ba-rock guitar riff. Elsewhere, a piano dominates Space Dementia, in the face of the onslaught of drums and bass, and on Hyper Music the bass takes its turn to push the verse along with a definite sense of urgency. There is an air of musical competence about the album, suggesting that someone behind the mic actually knows a bit about musical theory, which is good to hear once in a while. Yes, that does mean that there are hints of the musical silliness to come, but here they act as inventive tweaks to already solid songs rather than choking things into submission.

This is Muse at their best, and makes for a very welcome listen after attempting to enjoy the latter half of The Resistance. It was nice knowing you guys.

4 - Radiohead - Hail To The Thief

Hail To The Thief is Radiohead's last "conventional" studio album, before they got fed up and decided to release In Rainbows on the web for no fixed fee, and thereafter gave up on releasing any albums at all. Radiohead find themselves in a similar position to Quentin Tarantino who, having made his name and his millions on Pulp Fiction, can now do whatever he likes. After the unprecedented success of OK Computer, Radiohead are in a position to do anything, and the risk here is that they will. Mercifully things haven't got quite as silly as they have for Muse, but they've certainly got quite weird, and I rather fear they won't be able to come back from where they've taken themselves.

After OK Computer, Radiohead released Kid A and Amnesiac, which are both very inventive and exploratory albums, if not necessarily enjoyable in the conventional sense. The experimentation was, however, absolutely necessary in bringing Radiohead to a point at which they were free to produce an album on the scale of Hail. This album returns to the rock band roots of guitars and drums, but is not constrained in any way by any sense of the nature of the band or the music they make. The music bringis in any number of other instruments and recording techniques picked up in their more experimental phase. The music is altogether surrounding, almost oppressive and at times exhausting; the lyrics are every bit as weird as you'd expect and more; Thom's vocals are as ragged as ever, except when he's screaming or, on the last track, almost rapping. This is definitely Radiohead, but more so than ever before.

Looking back on this album, maybe it's not a wonder that Radiohead have decided to stop recording conventional albums. It must have been a veritable ordeal to put together something as big as this.

3 - Eels - Souljacker

As I said earlier, as my wife introduced me to Belle & Sebastian, so I introduced her to Eels. Eels are a pretty weird band, and in keeping with a couple of other choices on here, the music wanders all over the place, the production is minimal and the vocals are pretty rough. Souljacker is very varied in tone, with some very dark songs about persecution, violence and murder, all of which stand in contrast to Fresh Feeling, one of the most beautiful love songs I know of. The two even collide at times, with World Of Shit taking it's place as one of the weirdest love songs I know of - a marriage proposal as being the best option in the otherwise awful world we live in. Funny how things work out.

2 - Green Day - American Idiot

American Idiot was a very welcome comeback album, coming after Warning, an album I found to very disappointing. Green Day seemed to be drifting into much more mainstream pop-punk territory, to have lost their way. I can't really say that they had "sold out", without being lynched by the hardcore punks who'll claim that they sold out as soon as they signed to a record label that didn't operate out of a trailer and sold more than 37 records, but it wouldn't be too wide of the mark. I feared that they'd be making safe records from thereon, and had rather lost interest.

In the face of this, came American Idiot, a surprisingly grown up political punk album. My father has, in the past, complained that no one makes political music any more. Where is today's Dylan, for example? Well, if you can accept that he might be using an electric guitar these days, and have started swearing a fair bit, then here is your modern political rock album. The album has a strong undercurrent of dissatisfaction with all things middle America, not least the Bush administration and the war on terror, as evidenced on the masterful Holiday, and takes no prisoners in criticising the various things that have attracted the band's ire. The album was billed as a "rock opera", which could be enough to get you worrying about things getting pretentious again. It works though, as a cohesive album following it's protagonist on his journey, set against the middle American backdrop, through youth, religion, politics, leaving home, war, death, love... The album covers a bit of everything, in it's own crunchy, shouty way, and really cemented Green Day's position as one of the great rock bands of modern times.

As an aside, there should also be an honourable mention for Dean Gray's (alias Party Ben) re-working of this album, into the mash-up album American Edit. Heartily recommended if you like mash-ups. Which leads us to...

1 - Girl Talk - Feed The Animals

Ah, here we are. This is my one chance to feel somewhat self satisfied in the face of people who know much more about music than me, because I can be pretty sure that next to no-one will have even heard of Girl Talk. For those of you with a better memory of the 80s than me, I am not referring to the teen duo who made a minor incursion into the charts with the backing of Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Rather, I refer to the stage name of an American DJ who specialises in mash up albums. For the uninitiated, mash ups combine samples from two or more songs to produce something new. For the Radio 4 listeners among us, One Song To The Tune Of Another could be seen as a primitive precursor to this...

Feed The Animals is just under 54 minutes in length, and is made up of somewhere in the region of 350 distinct samples from music sourced from the past 50 years. The album is a single, seamless track. The length of samples used ranges from fractions of a second to a minute or so. From a purely technical point of view, I cannot help but be absolutely amazed at the craftmanship involved here, in putting together so many pieces into a coherent whole that rolls from start to finish in this way. The degree of invention here is incredible. Busta Rhymes and the Police? Sure. Kelly Clarkson and Nine Inch Nails? Why not. The Carpenters next door to Metallica? Better than you might expect. Salt n' Pepa's Push It, Deee-Lite's Groove Is In The Heart and Nirvana's Lithium all at once? Hell. Yes. The album is beautifully eclectic, by it's very nature, drawing on music from all over the place, and making for a constantly surprising listen.

If Itunes is to be believed, I have listened to this album over 30 times in the 6 weeks since I got it. I love this. I really, really love it. It's a masterpiece.

Gather up your jackets, move it to the exits, I hope you have found a friend

nospam@example.com (Peter Urquhart) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:15:00 +0100

29 July 2008. 1 hour is spent in the basement of a Moroccan restaurant in London, just off Regent Street, watching a band I'd never heard of before and couldn't name now without Googling. Time passes unmeasured, as I stand in silence with a friend, watching the blonde at the microphone. She puts up a parasol, indoors, at night. This too is fine.

And it matters not whether the band sound like Bic Runga or Lene Marlin, or even Travis on one track; or that the beer costs a fiver a bottle, or that the place is full of incense. My mind is far from my CD collection, my bank account, and my wonderings the next morning as to whether the smoking ban even covers incense. Nothing really matters here, just 4 minutes of music at a time, applause, and more music. I could be anyone, anywhere, no-one, nowhere, unknown to almost everyone in the room. My mobile doesn't even get a signal. I am out of reach - far away.

I've not been to a gig in many years, and am out of touch with this environment. It's good to come back to it. If nothing else, it's wonderful to just take an hour out of my life and just be lost in the semi-acoustic anaesthesia created by these 3 people; far from my studies, my work, my worries.

The band finishes, and we part company. I return to my hotel room, alone, though not before I call in at a newsagents to buy a packet of chocolate covered Hobnobs, for some as yet undetermined reason. Before too long it's 5:08am and I'm waking up in my clothes with my laptop still on at my desk. I doze for 2 more hours, before getting up. The alcohol leaves my system, and my worries and paranoia creep back, and I'm fretting about discussions with my friend over our dinner and drinks prior to the gig, as if I will be judged for voicing my opinions on ebook readers, the changing music industry, whether films can ever be adequately adapted from books (with specific reference to Love in the Time of Cholera, High Fidelity and Bridget Jones), whether the message of American Psycho is lost in it's grotesquery, whether Rage Against The Machine's half-caste heritage makes their covers of violent black hip-pop more palatable to me as a white man, the relative merits of Christina Aguilera and Alphabeat, and my assertion that All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey could be the greatest pop song ever were it not for a single atrocious harmony in the middle eight. Well, maybe I should be judged for that last one, but nevertheless - I seem to spend so much of my life worrying about things I've said and done in the past, as though people are keeping score, tallying up all the stupid things I've said or done in the past, the rants, the swearing, the dirty jokes, waiting till I tip the balance before disowning me. I'm sure I'm not the only one to worry like this, but it doesn't really make it any easier, and I do find it concerning that it only seems to be alcohol that can adequately mask those fears.

In other news, Tuesday wasn't my only night of culture in London this week. I spent Monday night at the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. I went with three friends to see a couple of pieces by Beethoven (including his 5th symphony) and a concerto by a chap called Carter which none of us really rated, though we were impressed with the variety of primary school type percussion instruments it made use of. And if that sounds like damning with faint praise, that's because it is. The 5th symphony was brilliant, especially as I - being rather less cultured than my veneer might suggest - had not previously heard it in full, and was only familiar with the well known first movement. It was interesting to spend such long times listening to just music, with no lyrics, as I have obviously become accustomed to through listening to modern pop music and the like. It was quite surprising to find how quickly the 32 minutes of the 5th symphony could pass. A good time was had by all, and I enjoyed doing something different, taking advantage of being in London for these trips to do something I'd not normally have the chance to.

I've also had another night of culture tonight, albeit much more mainstream and popular. I went to the cinema (alone, which I don't think is as weird as some of my friends do) to see The Dark Knight. I'll not write about it at length, as there's enough credible reviews out there, but I will say I thought it was spectacular. Heath Ledger's Joker was terrifyingly psychotic and I found the film genuinely unnerving and edgy. It was gripping, exciting and intense. Definitely one to see.

In another life I'd be drenched in sweat with you

nospam@example.com (Peter Urquhart) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:48:57 +0000

I've been meaning to write for a while about some of the various media I have been consuming of late... books, films, games, etc... I shall start today with music.

First and foremost, the title of this post is a line from Get Over It, the new single by The Guillemots. It is, in my humble opinion, a masterpiece. You can watch the video at Youtube if the fancy so takes you. I have purchased the single via Itunes this very afternoon... I like being able to buy a single for less than a pound, and actually be involved in the charts again. I know the charts are horribly corporate and whatnot, but I think lowering the barrier to entry in terms of price (both for a band distributing singles and for the listener purchasing them) can only be a good thing. I'm hoping the charts will broaden out a bit more to include music that would otherwise not get in there, were it only being purchased by 14 year olds in Woolworths.

Talking of singles, I picked up The Mystery by Doug Walker as well. Chris Moyles had been banging on about it and how good it was, but also how no other DJ or station would touch it. The song was good, so I downloaded it, and after a few listens figured out why no one was interested in playing it... It's a Christian record. Sure, it doesn't mention God or Jesus, but it's pretty clear when you know what you're listening for. Shame that popular radio is so biased against anything remotely "edgy" in that sense.

Talking of things that are remotely edgy, I watched the Brit Awards last month. Dear goodness, what an embarrassment. It doesn't take too much cynicism to imagine that it was pre-arranged that all of a sudden once the 9pm watershed hit everyone would get drunk and start swearing. Sharon Osborne, Vic Reeves, The Arctic Monkeys... It's all just a bit cringeworthy. Very pretend rock 'n' roll. The awards themselves were predictably bland... Yes, I was pleased to see Mika, Mark Ronson and Kanye West pick up an award and yes - it's arguably fair that the Foo Fighters won a couple, though I think Dave Grohl's sarcastic acceptance speeches pretty much covered off the fact that they were pretty much token wins; the rest of the awards all seemed either ill deserving (Adele - more on that story later) or tediously predictable (Take That, Kylie). The performances were also pretty forgettable, with the exception of Amy Winehouse' hideous singing for Mark Ronson's version of Valerie that was memorable for all the wrong reason. All in all it was a bit of a waste of time.

Adele... How can she win a "critic's choice" award? In what world of paint-drying-and-peelingly boring music can she be seen to be even remotely interesting? Why the dragging vocals? Why the uninspired music? Why the obsession with pavements? Why the enormous record sales, for goodness' sake? I'll tell you why... It's the fault of middle aged, middle class folk buying any old CD for £7.97 in Asda to sit on their coffee table next to their copy of the Daily Mail. It is music for people who do not like music. It is the Ready Brek of the music world.

In other news, I've been buying second hand Placebo albums lately. Placebo are one of those bands that I've always known I should be listening to, but somehow never quite got into, with the exception of putting Without You I'm Nothing on a compilation tape about 10 years ago. The albums are all pretty much brilliant. The music is confident and capable - precise without sounding fake. The lyrics are poetic, in a way that surprisingly few songwriters achieve considering that songs are arguably just poetry with a backing track. I think the thing that surprises and impresses me most is that the music is almost effortless to listen to and appreciate - it's not like listening to a Radiohead or White Stripes record and having to give it time to be sure that it actually is good music and not just arty wank. The content is somewhat unsettling - spanning misery, modern life, drugs of every kind, bisexual sex - but strangely I find it less offensive than, say, the majority of R&B in the charts at any given time. Consider, for example, the lines:

Got a headrush, in her pocket
Two rubbers, two lubes and a silver rocket

from I Know by Placebo. Yes, it's very rude. However, let's compare that to the marvellous writing by Taio Cruz in his top 10 single Come on Girl, the bridge of which is worth writing out in full:

You wanna take a bite?
Come whet my appetite,
Put it in, do your thang, make my head spin,
So c'mon take me away,
You better take me away,
You better hit the spot,
If you want I can make you pop,
So let go, electro, take it nice and slow,
C'mon boy, c'mon boy, c'mon boy!

Maybe I'm using double standards here, or maybe I've got some idea that one of these artists is making grown up music for grown up listeners, while the other is making songs for immature sex crazed teenagers. Hmm. Either way, I'd much rather listen to Brian Molko's musings on his rather torrid lifestyle than yet another blinged up rapper banging on about all his bitches or whatever. Ugh.

Right. That's about all I've got to say about music for the time being... Films or games next, I think. See you then.

Everything is average nowadays

nospam@example.com (Peter Urquhart) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:11:27 +0100

I've probably mentioned it before, but I find it tough to buy CDs. I'm usually pretty short for cash, and I tend to buy everything second hand on ebay, but I still have to be really selective in what I pick up. I hate to feel like I'm wasting any money on non-essential things like music or games or whatever, because money isn't exactly abundant...

I get frustrated trying to pick CDs, because it's so hard to find anything that really grabs me - something really outstandingly different or inspired or inspiring or even just really impressively talented. I listen to the radio most days, and while I love the variety of music, there's just so little that I'd ever actually buy and listen to again once I got bored of hearing it on the radio. Sure, the Kaiser Chiefs are pretty good, and the lyrics are quite smart, but is the music really any more impressive than anything I've heard before? Yes, Flourescent Adolescent by the Arctic Monkeys is a great single now that you mention it, but I don't care about the rest of their work because it all just sounds deliberately grimy and underproduced, and apart from the drumming they don't sound wonderfully talented - more like they were just in the right place at the right time. Hey There Delilah by the Plain White Tees is a beautiful acoustic number, but wouldn't I be better just buying a Simon & Garfunkel best of? Hell, even that Kate Nash single is pretty catchy, but I hate Lily Allen so that probably wouldn't work out too well. There's even the odd dance track here and there that's good, but I can't listen to an album of that, God help me.

The only band that's really grabbed me of late are The White Stripes, and that's probably only because it's the first time I've been exposed to any blues music. Even then, though, I'll probably just buy up their back catalogue and won't venture further than that.

So, in a bid to widen my horizons, I turned to... Amazon. Perhaps their recommendations would be able to inspire me? So I sat and browsed the list, let it know I already owned a few things it was suggesting, and then had a look at what remained...

Well, as I like Electric Light Orchestra, I'm apparently supposed to want to buy something by Wizzard or Prefab Sprout. Hmm. This is not off to a flying start...

Ooh, here we go, something that got recommended because I like Belle & Sebastian, that might work. Oh, it's Isobel Campbell's solo album after she quit the band due to breaking up with the lead singer. Sorry, no sale, I don't think that's going to work. There's a slew of other bands from Glasgow, but again I'm not sure that's the best criteria on which to suggest CDs.

Ugh... Oasis albums, recommended because I like Blur. As someone who was around at the time, this seems quite ironic.

Pantera, because I like Rage Against The Machine; Keane and Kasabian because I like Muse; endless Ben Folds records; Enya records because I bought my dad one of her albums as a present years ago... It's probably just a mercy that Amazon doesn't know I like Green Day and Blink 182 or I'd be wading through NOFX albums and other "real" punk that I'm really not into. This isn't working for me.

Sure, a couple of albums turn up that I might look into, but there's far more that I definitely am not interested in.
It all seems to be borne out of people buying 3 albums that happened to be released in the same week, and people like me buying up a bands entire back catalogue such that everyone else is expected to own all their records on the basis that they bought one 10 years ago.

In the end I got fed up and bought a Kanye West album. Rap music. Not exactly home territory - certainly something different. And sure, the albums got some good singles and a couple of other good bits on there, and he's very talented in his field, but it's just not something I can access terribly easily. The swearing that I can handle on a Green Day record bugs me here, and every other word seems to be nigger, which will probably always be a bit weird for my white ears to listen to.

Time to crawl back to another damn guitar band...

I'm never gonna let you down

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 22:11:22 +0100

I'm all for weird, off the wall music. Just left of mainstream, you know? Things like the eels or Belle & Sebastian. Not right out there with the indie garage band chasers, but certainly not your run of the mill top 40 junk or even regular rock stuff... just a little bit unusual.

I've started getting into The White Stripes lately. I like the whole lo-fi, stripped down sound; the intensity and the proximity of the music. It's very raw, live on a record. It's offbeat and unusual and passionate... It's quite exciting.

Yet, I have to say that The Nurse, track 2 on their second-to-latest album, Get Behind Me Satan, is about the most self-indulgent masturbatory bit of rubbish I've ever heard on an album, and I speak as someone who enjoyed both Kid A and Amnesiac by Radiohead, pretty much in their entirety. What possessed them to put this track on their album is beyond me... There's a marimba, but it's clearly only there because Jack had bought a marimba and wanted to try it out, and there's a guitar, but it's so out of time, probably because Jack is trying to put down his marimba-bashers in time to get to the frets, and the drums are hideously off-kilter, but not in a clever, syncopated way or a wacky 7/8 time signature way, but in a quite-simply-hopelessly-out-of-time fashion.

It's offensive that a band would put such a crummy track on an album. I'm sure that the muso's will pick over how clever and unconventional it is, and how revolutionary this sort of thing is. It's not, it's just rubbish. It's like that dude who recorded an entire album of silence, or the track that was nothing but someone breathing, or the 9 minute track of guitar feedback that the Grateful dead once recorded, as I was today informed by a 50-something Beefheart/Zappa loving colleague at work.

It’s just pretentious. It’s the modern art of the music world.

Here endeth the rant.

Honey, it's been a long time coming

nospam@example.com (admin) — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:34:09 +0100

So... I've not written anything in ages... I've not really been using the web much of late, at least not in any way that requires any creative input. Blog and facebook have gone out of the window really. Let's try writing something and see if anyone comments, besides the usual clamouring crowd of spambots. No, sorry, no one wants your realty porn, whatever that may be. Anyway...

Work is pretty busy and interesting, which is good. I appear to have settled in rather well to being an accountant, which is something I swore I'd never do. It's not boring, honest. Training is going well, and the trips to London are looking like they'll get to be more fun come the summer. Frisbee in the park = good thing. That being said, sauna on the tube = bad thing... I think walking will be abundantly more tempting.

Beth is doing well. She seems to be permanently teething which makes for much wailing and gnashing of the relevant teeth. Apart from that she's getting the hang of lots of other stuff. Here's a quick list of newfound skills:

Saying "Dada" and "Mama" to us.

Standing up and cruising along stuff.

Pointing at stuff she wants.

Dropping stuff off her high chair. This is funnier for her than for us.

Putting things in our hands and laughing when we say thank you to her.

Starting to get the hang of her shape sorter.

Recognising the house when we come home from somewhere.

Crawling everywhere.

So, that's all good.

Things might be clearing up a bit God-wise, but I'm not sure. I'm sure the comparison between rich men (or more pertinently, those who put their faith in money) getting into heaven and camels getting through eyes of needles could just as well be applied to those with scientific knowledge... Not that science is a bad thing, or it can't co-exist with religion (which I'm sure it can) but it does make things a bit challenging when people use science to try to dismiss God. Still, I'll struggle on, through stubbornness if nothing else.

Music... I bought Elephant by The White Stripes the other day. A bit older, but pretty good so far. Quite an impressive variety of sound from what is mainly just two people. It achieves a raw, rough sound without resorting to mountains of producing it to make it sound that way. I'll have to give it a few more listens, but I think I'll be getting some more of their stuff.

Films... I want to see Spiderman 3. We're going to visit my parents in a few weeks, so we'll probably take advantage of being able to leave Beth one evening and go out to see it. I also want to see Pirates Of The Caribbean 3, but I might end up going to see that when I'm down in London without Alison. After the huge disappointment of the second one, I'm not exactly hoping for much, but I'd still like to see what happens. Maybe they will salvage things. I hope so. I'm also looking forward to Die Hard 4, though I'm sure it'll be little more than Bruce Willis blowing stuff up and coming up with one liners. Nothing wrong with that once in a while.

Right. I'll try to post something more constructive here sometime soon.

Your kitty in the middle

nospam@example.com (admin) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:58:23 +0100

I wonder if anyone responsible for getting The Sugababes and Girls Aloud to cover Walk This Way by Aerosmith for Comic Relief actually has any idea what the song is about.

Perhaps that's the comic bit, I don't know.

It's all about the Pentiums baby

nospam@example.com (admin) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 23:07:21 +0100

Ooh, look, another Weird Al Youtube linky... tres amusant if you're a computer geek like me.

I've just built a new computer. Dear goodness, it was a faff. I now have two very nice shiny PCs, one of which will hopefully soon be taking up it's station as my media center PC, sitting in pride of place in my living room to record TV shows, play DVDs and music, and generally be useful. I hope. The other is my general use and gaming rig, which proved to be quite an arse to get working for various reasons. Just about justifiable as I now have a pretty fast computer that should play just about any game that comes out this year (Bioshock... oooh!) and last a bit longer besides.

That being said, I think I'm tiring of PC gaming, not least because of the enormous hassle that building computers can be. It was all well and good when I was footloose and fancy free, with few commitments, and a reasonable chunk of disposable income. I could spend money on hardware, build my own computers, and it was actually quite fun to puzzle over why part X wouldn't work with part Y, and figure out a way to get everything working and have a wicked PC to play my games on. These days, I'm rather busier, and I'd rather spend my copious free time after work doing other things, not least the rather pressing issue of maintaining a family. I don't really have time to worry about why I can't get any VGA output from the PCI Express slot, or why that wireless card will work but the other won't, and just how much of this hardware will work in Linux anyway?

No... I don't really have time for this anymore. These days I want to sit down at a computer, read my e-mails, surf the net, then turn it off and play Mario on my DS. I suddenly understand the appeal of consoles... They. Just. Work. You put your game in, turn it on, play, then turn it off. No faffing about building your console from scratch, upgrading it every year, troubleshooting, fiddling with Windows trying to figure out what the hell it's playing it, or any of that hassle.

So, I think this might just be my last serious hardware upgrade. Next time I get a decent chunk of change, I think I'll be spending it on a Nintendo Wii, rather than putting myself through all this hassle again.

In other news, for those of you who care little for computers, here's an opinion of mine: American Idiot by Green Day is one of the greatest albums ever recorded.

I give up half my time just trying to think up words that rhyme

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:36:19 +0000

Righty ho... I'm at work, while simultaneously on holiday. I've taken some time off work to come and do some one off work at my dad's church on the computers. It's hard work... the joys of IT...

So, I'm taking a break to do a silly little quiz thing I saw on a friend's blog the other week. The idea is that you select all your music on your generic mp3 player, set it to play randomly, and it spits out songs which may or may not correlate in some way with a selection of events that might take place in a film of your life. Cheesy, huh? The hope is that fate will somehow choose a whole bunch of astutely apt songs. The reality is likely that chance conspires against you and you end up explaining why you have half a dozen Bryan Adams songs in your collection, which of course you understand I don't. Honest.

Anyway! I've managed to wrestle with my 4 year old Creative Jukebox (twice the size of an Ipod! Half as good!) to get it to select all the music I own... here goes...

SOUNDTRACK TO MY LIFE:

Opening Credits: Steps - Tragedy

Clearly my MP3 player hates me.

Waking Up: Across The Great Divide - Semisonic

First Day At School: The Model - Belle & Sebastian

Great song. Irrelevant, mind you.

Falling In Love: Stop, Look, Listen To Your Heart - Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye

Well, at least it's a love song.

Fight Song: Pressure On Julian - Blur

Breaking Up: Porno Creep - Korn

Obviously.

Prom: Its The Sun - Polyphonic Spree

Mental Breakdown: Tightrope (Instrumental) - Electric Light Orchestra

Driving: Be Mine - David Gray

Tooooooo slooooooow for driving.

Flashback: At My Most Beautiful - R.E.M.

Getting back together: Darkside Lightside - Ash

RAWK!! *moshes*

Wedding: On A Plain (Live) - Nirvana

"Love myself better than you". Not very appropriate.

Birth of Child: Praise You - Fatboy Slim

Yeah, that'll do. I think there was a fair measure of praising when that was all done with.

Final Battle: Stop Whispering - Radiohead

Death Scene: Get Back - The Beatles

Funeral Song: Losing Grip - Avril Lavigne

Oh dear.

End Credits: Perfect Day - Lou Reed

The only film soundtrack I've heard this on was Trainspotting, which isn't that encouraging.

So, there you go. At least Bryan Adams didn't show up.

It's my birthday. No one here day.

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 23:02:37 +0000

It was my birthday on Sunday. Alison and I had celebrated a bit on Saturday night by having a nice meal (toad in the hole - get in) and watching The Departed on DVD. The film was pretty good. I'm not sure it was Oscar good, but the Academy have passed Scorsese by so many times that I guess they had to give him best director sooner or later.

My actual birthday was less eventful, barring a trip to feed the ducks, marred only by a swan biting Alison and scaring little Beth. The only present I actually received was a nice new watch, all the rest was gifts of money which I'm now deciding how to spend... books, DVDs, CDs, games... so much to choose from! But I digress... Sunday night was spent travelling to London for another week of training, so I actually ended up spending the evening of my birthday in a hotel room on my own. Rubbish.

The week away has gone OK so far. The training has been pretty interesting, and it's good to see people. I went out last night and caught up with some friends from uni, which was fun. They nagged me to get signed up on Facebook, so I'll have to see about that at some point. I'm going out again tomorrow night for a little farewell do for some people who've quit the training course. It is quite fun, but it still pretty much sucks being stuck in a hotel on my own every evening. Boo.

I've just watched some of a TV programme about the infamous size zero, with the lovely Louise Redknapp crash dieting to slim down to that size. Pretty weird having been the typical teenager finding her very attractive, and having in fact seen her in person, every bit as beautiful as in any photograph; then seeing her trying desperately to lose weight and wind up looking utterly terrible for it. The program wasn't as hard hitting as I'd have liked - I find the whole thin women/anorexia/bulimia/dieting quite scary - but it was still pretty interesting. I don't see things changing any time soon though - I expect women will keep trying to be thin and winding up worse looking for it. Rubbish. It's not attractive, and for goodness sake, I think I speak for most men when I say we like having something to get hold of. Anyway.

I got the tube the other day, as you do in London, and there was a busker at Tottenham Court Road who was pretty damn good. Most buskers are fairly forgettable, but this woman was playing the guitar admirably and had a nice voice... she kinda reminded me of some kind of cross betwen Jewel and Lene Marlin or something. She was good enough to stop and listen to and indeed miss my train and have to wait for another one. I bought her CD, though I don't actually have a CD player here so I'll have to wait till I get home for that. She was called Dana Immanuel and she has a Myspace page over here, which I warn you will play the charmingly titled "Motherf*cking whore", so perhaps not one for work, eh? Anyway. That was interesting, and unusually impulsive for me, given that I normally don't buy anything without extensive research to insure I'm getting my money's worth.

So... that's about it for now. It's eleven at night, so I'm going to go to sleep I think. Good night.

I'll buy your nick-nack, just check my feedback.

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 21:27:22 +0000

I have given up buying and selling on ebay (click the link - it's funnay) for lent. Fairly easy so far, sure to get harder in a couple of days now that I've got my spending money for the month.

Alison has given up caffeine, which means no coffee or chocolate. I'm not sure I could do that, especially as I'm sleeping terribly at the moment, and need all the help I can get at the moment.

I've also given up drinking, for the second time in my life. Not one of those "Oh, I'm never drinking again" things that happen when you're brutally hungover, though I was brutally hungover when I decided to quit. I got hideously drunk last time I was in London, lost an hour or so of the evening (how did I get back to my hotel?), was sick, and woke up feeling ill as anything. So, I've given up again. This might be permanent. We'll see. I've kinda just got fed up of drinking... I don't think it makes me any funnier, and I get all loud and sweary and rude... It doesn't really help much. So, that's off the agenda for now. I'm not averse to going out for drinks with anyone who cares to go out sometime, but I'll be on the J2O's.

In other news...

I led worship at our cell group the other night. It's the first time I've done it in forever. I've not even played my guitar since we moved house and that was 6 months ago. It was good to do it again. I'd not forgotten how to play, so that was a good start! It was weird doing it again after so long, but it kinda felt right, like it's something I'm maybe meant to do. It felt... comfortable, in a way, and familiar, and I wasn't nervous about singing in front of a room of people or about how I was playing. It was like it was me and God, and the other people were a bit peripheral, sort of, though obviously they're pretty integral to it being actual worship leading. It was good, because I've been feeling really distant from God for I don't know how long, and like I'm not doing anything for him, and that while I believe, it doesn't really mean anything for how I live. It's hardly a huge step towards sorting stuff out, but it was good to at least feel like I was in the same room as God, doing something for him.

So, I'd quite like to do that again. Partly because it made me feel close to God, and partly because I'd like to actually be doing something for him again.

Right. That's enough for now. Catch you later.

I don't want a lot for Christmas...

nospam@example.com (admin) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:10:43 +0000

Tangent: All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carey is the best Christmas pop song, and pretty high on the list of bestest general pop songs ever.

Now, back to my life and what's happening in it...

I've been busy lately... I've also been ill. I've had a cold and sore throat and such like since I got back from London, which is pretty rubbish, but I'm managing. More rubbish is the fact that baby Beth is now ill, and is waking up in the night and hacking and coughing and generally not being very happy. Pretty naff really.

So... what's been happening? Well, we went to Leicester over the weekend. It was pretty tiring, given the non-sleeping nature of Beth, but it was good to see all our old friends and go to church there and such like. So while the trip felt kinda hard to justify when we were getting lost en route or being woken up at 4 in the morning (in someone else's house - even worse) it was worthwhile in the end. Pretty good on balance.

It's nearly Christmas. This is good for various reasons, not least because I really, really need a holiday. I'm tired in the extreme and need a break from work. I do like my job, but I am about ready for some time off. It's the training that's hardest to be honest - it's not easy doing a full day at work and then coming home and having to do homework on top of it. It's worse than school, I swear. It's certainly worse than university, hands down.

I've bought some CDs just lately. Here's my thoughts:

Sam's Town by The Killers

This is a pretty disappointing album really. The single, When You Were Young is about the only genuinely good thing on there. The new single, Bones, is a horrendous invitation to treat (if I may abuse the terminology of contract law for what might better be described as a blag for a shag) with an absurd horns section that makes the whole thing sound like it was produced by Andrew WK. There's a couple of good tracks, like Reasons Unknown and Read My Mind, but the rest of it is just bland and forgettable. It would appear that The Killers have a limited amount of quality per album, so while their debut had extreme highs in the singles that make up the first half of the album and extreme lows in the latter half, this follow up is just consistently middling. As an esteemed colleague of mine said, there is nothing remotely anthemic here - there's certainly no All These Things That I've Done, and the aforementioned When You Were Young is just barely as good as Somebody Told Me, which isn't the highest praise. I really cannot recommend this album in any way.

12 Stops And Home by The Feeling

This, I can wholeheartedly recommend. It's unabashedly poppy and bright, but is that a bad thing? Wikipedia cites the mighty ELO as one of their influences, which explains the full and exciting sound, and also goes some way to explaining why I like them. The album is quite varied, but it flows well from one thing to the next. Love It When You Call is probably the high point for me - joyous 80s hair rock that The Darkness never quite managed to deliver. Probably the best CD I've bought this year.

Black Holes And Revelations by Muse

Ah, Muse... I'm going to do a bad thing and compare them to Radiohead, simply because their musical path is somewhat reminiscent of Radiohead's route from The Bends and OK Computer (cf. Muse' Origin of Symmetry and Absolution) into the realms of weird experimentation on Kid A and Amnesiac. Black Holes seems transitional in the same way that Kid A and Amnesiac were. In and of themselves, these albums aren't all that much to listen to, but they led to the mighty Hail To The Thief (which, tangentially, some lady on the train was listening to this morning - pretty heavy for 8 in the morning. She also had it on random play, which I consider a crime) which is one of Radiohead's finest works. Will Muse follow up Black Holes with a similar masterpiece? I don't know, but I do know that I hope that this record is not the end of the journey. It's not that it's not musically accomplished or uninteresting... it's just... unsatisfying. There's too much stuff on there that feels out of place or out of character, as though it's a test of different styles. In the words of Roy Walker, it's good, but it's not right.

So, that's music for you. I also picked up High Fidelity on DVD, which we watched last night. It's a great film, and it's a rarity for a film to be different from the book that spawned it, while still being as good. I love both the book and the film - they paint such a good picture of a certain type of man, a man that is pretty much me. The lead character is a person I could have been, given various twists in history, and it all feels very close to home. I love it.

Talking of books I could have been in, or written, I've just finished reading a book called A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius. It's a sort of memoir about a guy's life after his parents died and how he looked after his little brother and so on. It's only loosely based on real life, and it certainly plays with the semi-fiction idea, being very self referential in an Adaptation sort of way. It's good, and funny, and quite clever, but... It just doesn't seem to deliver. I'll try to explain why. The premise of the book appears to be that the writer is writing with a view to experiencing some sort of catharsis from the death of his parents, as though by thrashing all his experiences out on paper he will somehow be liberated from them. Alas, by the end of the book it seems to become apparent that this is not occurring, and that for all his attempts to get over things this way, he just can't, and he will always carry them with him. The trouble with this is that to me, the reader, it then appears that the book is a failure - as though I have read something pointless. The writer sought closure by means of my reading about his tortuous experiences, but he doesn't get it - have I then wasted my time? The thing that bothers me further is that this failure is acknowledged by the writer, as though he knows the book can never help him to get over the deaths in this way. So does that make it OK that he failed? If he knows he failed, and he writes that into the book, does that make it OK? It's a bit confusing to be honest. There's a paragraph in the book which might serve to illustrate this a bit better. The writer is in the process of throwing his mother's ashes into a lake, but things aren't going quite right. I'll transcribe the section below...

I am doing something both beautiful but gruesome because I am destroying its beauty by knowing that it might be beautiful, know that if I know I am doing something beautiful, that it's no longer beautiful. I fear that even if it is beautiful in the abstract, that my doing it knowing that it's beautiful and worse, knowing that I will very soon be documenting it, that in my pocket is a tape recorder brought for just that purpose - that all this makes this act of potential beauty somehow gruesome.

And that, in some sort of way, is where the book suffers. It's good, but it's pointless, but if he knows it's pointless, is it good regardless? It's hard to say really, especially when you're finishing off this post after coming home from the work Christmas party. Anyway. I guess you get the idea.

My one other criticism of the book is that it appears to be somewhat over edited, to give it the impression of being very cavalier and off the cuff, in a comparable way to certain bands who apparently go out of their way to make their music sound as though it was recorded in someone's bathroom on a Fisher-Price tape recorder from a jumble sale... but I digress. I'm not sure quite where the middle ground on this is, as the style suits the book, but I'm slightly suspicious of it, as it's clearly been carefully edited to make it look like it was never edited, if you follow me. Ho hum.

So... that's about that. I have indeed recently returned from the office Christmas party, which was good fun. The meal was good, the drink was free, and it was good to talk to everyone about something other than accounting! So, a good night all in all.

More sometime soon... Happy Christmas, if I don't blog before then...

Our hopes and expectations...

nospam@example.com (admin) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:17:29 +0000

Right then. It's about time I blogged properly, so here goes. I'm going to waffle about what I'm up to at the moment, and then post pics of Beth at the end, so if you're just here for the baby pictures, skip ahead.

So... life then. Work is going well. It's really quite busy. I've got lots of work to be getting on with, which is pretty cool. It's at a pretty good pace which means I'm always under enough pressure to be motivated, without it feeling too overwhelming. This is a good thing. I've been hearing some horror stories of some of my fellow trainees in other offices not having anything to do. One guy told me he'd spent the afternoon practising how fast he could say "Peter Piper". He got it down to 5.2 seconds, apparently. Impressive, but not exactly what he's there for. I might be off to visit a client sometime this coming week, which would be my first, and I might have a business trip to London a week or so later to learn something complicated. Exciting stuff. I am, as tragic as it may seem, really enjoying this job. For all my concerns about spending my life as an accountant, it's actually pretty good so far. Good stuff.

I spent some of my hard earned cash on a Nintendo DS Lite. It's easily one of the best things I've ever bought. I picked it up on ebay and it came with Nintendogs and that Brain Training game that you've probably seen people playing on the train/bus/plane/helicopter to work. Those two are pretty cool, especially Nintendogs. The whole stylus and touch screen thing is cool, even if it is just a contrived way of getting a mouse onto a handheld console. It's pretty neat to be able to talk to the dog with the mic and teach it tricks, and stroke it to say well done. Nifty. I've since picked up a few more games, including Phoenix Wright, a mad little visual novel type game about a lawyer, which Marilyn Manson, of all people, loves. So there you go. I like it so much I sold a bunch of stuff and bought one for Alison as well. Admittedly there is the ulterior motive that I need someone to play Mario Kart against, but she's been getting into it for herself, especially this mad little game called Cooking Mama which is, as the name suggests, all about cooking. Cooking Japanese meals. As you do. So, that's pretty cool. Heartily recommended. Buy a DS Lite. Or buy me loads of games for mine. I'm not too fussed which.

I picked up the new Muse album too. It's taking a bit of a time to get into, as it's a bit more obscure than Absolution. It's good, just a bit crazy. I think it'll grow on me. It's certainly very musically accomplished, to say the least.

We watched Good Night And Good Luck last night, George Clooney's film about the news reporting on McCarthyism in the 50s. It was very good, well written and well acted. It was quite concise, which bothered me slightly, as I could have watched a lot more of it. The subject matter was certainly very interesting, and I like the sentiment that TV and journalism should be honest and challenging. I found the closing line of the film very strong:

"This instrument [television] can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire, but it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box."

I don't know if I mentioned it at the time, but I remember thinking that sort of thing when I watched Gunther von Hagens autopsy programmes on Channel 4. It was astounding to me that TV could be so educational, when primarily it's just utterly forgettable crap, if I can be frank. As sci fi author Sturgeon noted, 90% of everything is crud. Now, autopsies are certainly different to political awareness, but I think the point stands. It would be nice if TV could actually challenge us once in a while. Anyway. It was a good film.

Things with Ali and Beth are good. Beth has been a bit ill, which has been hard work for Ali. She had some kind of bug or something that was making her sick, which was pretty gross and fairly distressing for her. She's come through that now, and is back to being cheerful, which is good. Ali and Beth are having fun, so that's cool. Beth is getting pretty good at sitting up, as well as picking things up and holding them, and putting everything in her mouth! She's trying to feed herself when Ali gives her pureed fruit and veg, which is entertaining if extremely messy. So... here's some photos!

This is back when Ali first started giving Beth some solid food, nearly two months ago. She's just had some passion fruit and was very pleased with it!

Here's Ali holding Beth, who's wearing a little snowsuit that my sister bought for her. It's really cute. It has a giraffe on it, which you can't see in the photo, and it's really snuggly and warm.

Here's me with Beth who's in a little dress that Ali got for her for like £2 or something, thanks to a handy voucher. Nice.

Here's Beth in her door bouncer. It's a proper life saver - she loves bouncing up and down, and it can keep her entertained for quite a while, so you can get on with something in the meantime. It also helps with getting the burps out of her!

Here's Beth on a swing. She has to be kinda wedged in (hence the blanket) but she really likes it. She starts giggling and grinning. Very cute.

Ali has found that Beth can be quite easily entertained by giving her random items to play with and look at. So, here's Beth having a look at the whisk. Tasty...

Lastly, here's me and Beth out on a walk just this afternoon. We went out to a place called Pennington Flash, which is a nature reserve type place with a big lake, and saw all the ducks and geese and suchlike. I carried Beth round in a little harness on my front and she had a great time looking at everything.

So... there you go. That's about enough for now! See you again soon.

Everybody needs a little time away...

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 23:48:06 +0100

Some good friends of ours did us a big favour and took Beth off our hands for the afternoon, giving us some peace and letting Ali catch up on some sleep. Beth has thrush in her mouth and Ali is feeling none too well, so feeding has become something of an ordeal, and we were very much in need of a break! We had to take Beth to the emergency doctor on Saturday on account of it, but fortunately she was prescribed some medicine for the thrush and appears to be improving.

So, that's the naff side of parenting... On the groovy side, Beth is learning to smile which is really cute, and is also getting some more control over her arms and hands so she should start developing well on those lines in the near future. She's also growing, and we're having to put her in 0-3 clothes rather than newborn now. She's nearly 8 weeks old... It seems very quick, but at the same time life without her seems a world away (6th quote down).

We went up to see my parents last week. It was good to take Beth away from home for the night for the first time, and get a taste of travelling with her. My parents and sister were glad to see her. They even got to look after her for an afternoon while Ali and I went to the solicitors to talk about all the house moving stuff. Things seem to be moving along well. Contracts should be exchanged by the end of this week, and we're moving the following saturday. It's all happening now! We're making a good start on packing, though obviously it's a bit difficult as it has to be fitted in around looking after Beth. As I think I said last time - I don't really like seeing all my stuff packed into boxes. It kinda makes you think about how much of your life you base around possessions and so on, which can be a bit of a can of worms when you really start thinking about it... Ah, materialism. Anyway.

Besides that... We're enjoying Season 3 of 24 on DVD (purchased on ebay for but Â£14 - get in), which we'll hopefully finish before I head off for training for most of September. I'm also finding myself somewhat charmed by Will Young's new single and it's Blue Peter video. So there you go then.

Oh, and I'm off to my friends' Sophie and Max' wedding on Friday. It should be a good laugh, and I'm looking forward to caileighing in my kilt again... I'll try to get some photos up sometime after that, in what will probably be my last entry from this house. See you then.

I've been looking so long at these pictures of you

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:15:38 +0100

More pictures... I really want to blog something more substantial, but there's just not all that much to say at the moment. Things are crazily busy, but it's mostly stuff I've written about before. Being a parent is hard work - lack of sleep, lots to do, feeding, etc... House moving is going OK. We're off to sign contracts next week. It's freaking hot. Um... that's about it. Oh, and Ronan "arse" Keating has covered Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls. His version is near identical to the original, adding nothing, but sounding just different enough that you suspect it's a cover. Then you find out it's him and get cross because it's clearly just some absurd money grab and will probably sell more than the original! Anyway. Here's some photos...

It's Beth in a dress!

It's Ali and Beth at the dedication!

It's the cake my mum made for the dedication!

It's the extended family!

It's my brother (who was really taken with little Beth) and Bethany!

And now for something different... here's some pictures of butterfiles that I've been taking in my garden. We've got a couple of those big butterfly bushes and we've had loads of them turn up. I've seen about half a dozen different kinds, which is pretty cool. Here we go:

Peacock:

Red Admiral:

Tortoiseshell:

So, there we go. I'll blog more stuff sometime, I promise... Hope you enjoy the photos at least. Bye!