One for Frank

Click on the title above for some delightful MIDI Herbie Hancock. Also check out the musical work of my friend Chris (aka Frank), who I hope will appreciate the Herbie link, on his cool website at http://www.capricornmusic.co.uk/

Land of my Faaaaaaaaaaaathers

WTB_GB_15505_42652_L
Originally uploaded by ambroseneville.

I have been at home in Cardiff since Wednesday night, and boy is it good to be here (please do not inform any burglars you may know). I'd not realised how you sometimes take rudeness for granted in London until I got back here. Wales actually isn't so bad compared with other places in the UK (but you'll still never get me speaking Welsh or having any time for Welsh nationalism).

Finding Emo (the Irish petrol station)

pic_forecourt
Originally uploaded by ambroseneville.

When I grow up I want to work for this company. Thanks to Dave's parents for finding this one!

Mr and Mrs Hedley

Congratulations to Paul and Gail who got married today. Paul is an old friend of mine from Oxford.

I think my invitation must have got lost in the post, or something.

Epitonic.com

I really love Epitonic.com: it's such a good resource for finding out about unusual music because you can get a couple of mp3s from even the most obscure of bands. The link above will take you to a page bearing the site's mission statement, which I think is laudible. I'm always harping on about this, but I wish there were more people in this world who would take the trouble to try and consume decent culture rather than accepting the lowest common denominator in literature, film, music and so on. Epitonic I salute you.

Death Clock for Cutie

rotateskull
Originally uploaded by ambroseneville.

According to the delightful www.deathclock.com, I am due to expire on Wednesday, July 17th, 2052.

Why not delight yourself with the macabre practice of trying to figure out when you will die?

The Crem'

A discussion at work just prompted me to remember that I once tried to apply for a job to work the night shift at a crematorium. It's testament to the Job Centre (or Job Centre Plus, as they seem to have rebranded it now. Why did they do that?) that the night watchman's job was far and away the best thing they had to offer. Still, it would have been pretty cool to have actually done that job, just for wierdness' sake.

Under the affluence of incohol

Okay, so I've had quite a busy weekend, with the usual array of trips on the nightbus (three nights in a row, now I think about it!), waking up in strange bus stations at 5:30 in the morning, and so on, and I'm sure that affects my brain chemistry in some way, but I just feel so down this morning. There's an insurmountable level of work to deal with, and I'm generally pretty bloody fed-up with my life. I feel like I'm developing an Alan Partridge-style loathing for London also. Maybe I need to move to Norwich...

Goldie Lookin Chain

The GLC have launched a new version of their website along with an incredibly cool cracked-Amiga game-style interface. Run over and check it out, clart.

You knows it!

Fracture update!

I went to the Fracture Clinic this morning for my 10-day update on my wrist/arm, and it turns out that, as expected, I have broken my arm (radius bone). The consultant spotted it straight away, but explained that it might not have been picked up previously because it wasn't a great x-ray.

I am now sporting a new caste, and the old moth-eaten version has been binned. When it came to me getting a new one, the sarcastic South African bloke responsible for putting the caste on, who had just spent the last ten minutes winding-up the patient next to me asked me what colour I would like.

Me - What do you have
South African - Pink, yellow, blue, red...
Me - Red please
South African - why red?
Me - (deadpan) because I mostly wear black clothes.

...and a justification of illegal downloads of hip-hop based on conspicuous consumption...

"Internalizing the lyrics proves more damaging than the act of stealing it"

Interesting article on hip-hop and materialism

THE Future

As a break from flippant, fatuous posts, I thought I would write something that diarises my thoughts a little bit more. After all, I always wear my heart on my sleeve in the 'real' world, so it probably won't hurt to do it occasionally here. I've been thinking about being 25. It's a juncture, and I now have the choice to acquiesce and accept fate and not push myself to do something amazing with my life, or I could grab this world by the throat and really achieve something. I'm just not sure what it is that I want and need to achieve yet. I sure as hell don't want to look back on my life forty or fifty years hence (assuming I live out that long) and think to myself "damn, if only I'd escaped inertia and at least *tried* to do something important". By the time I hit 30, it'll be too late to think like this, so I have under 5 years to actually do something. Everything so far has been a prelude.

Fear my power

james harries
Originally uploaded by ambroseneville.

One day Lauren Charlotte will have a sex change to become James Harries all over again, and then Dickinson and his perma-tanned cronies had better watch out. Antiques programming will never be the same again. In the land of the blind, the perm-headed man is king.

Nicknames

I've found that having a job makes you much more likely to get given nicknames. I haven't ever really had any titles other than my real name in the past, owing to it being reasonably unusual.

However, these are the new ones I've picked up over the past few months:
-Manbrose (we used to have a workmate called Manvir. It was something of a variation on a theme)
-Brose (the truncated form)
-Bro (the band call me this)
-Broid (this one, which came from Giles [see link to his blog] is just wierd. I do find myself saying "these aren't the broids you're looking for" as a result)

I think I like being called Am best, but noone seems to do it!

subject: beans cont'd. music: Not For Anyone by Hot Water Music

you will notice that there are some quality baked bean links in the advert at the top of this page, should you wish to purchase your baked beans from John Lewis(!). By mentioning baked beans a few more times in this post, I'm hoping they'll stay there!

Singing?

I had a phone call from a promoter last night who has booked the band for a gig in September, but he was initially a little unsure as to whether it was a good idea to book us, based on his concern from hearing demo recordings with the kind of screamy shouting we occasionally do in the band. He said he thought we might be doing ourselves permanent damage, but that maybe that was just his age showing (from his voice he was in his 40s, probably). With a million and one screamo bands popping up here there and everywhere, it strikes me that you would have to be quite musically-isolated not to hear this happening in a lot of modern rock music (even Lostprophets, for instance). At least he said we could make some suggestions as to other bands that could go on the bill.... We'll see how this turns out.

Interweb is a leech on my time

algore
Originally uploaded by ambroseneville.

It's hard to get a lot of work done (as I have to over the next 2 weeks) when you have broadband. I think Mr Gore (the 'creator' of the interweb, in his own words) has it right.

Smashed wrist

Have just made it through my first day having probably broken something in my wrist (the scafoid bone was mentioned by a doctor; something in the thumb which doesn't show up in an x-ray). It hasn't been as bad as it could have been, but I guess I'm a bit concerned about my gigs later in the week, and that I won't be able to enjoy them as much as usual. Things go pretty slowly when you can only type with your left hand. At least it's been helping me break my addiction to MSN messenger during the working day, through non-realtime-ness being introduced into my typing speed.

First post (woot!)

so, i've finally cracked and started my own blog. I think I was inspired by

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4031

to finally get on and do one. After all, every other bugger seems to have one, so why shouldn't I have a canvass for my musings.

Here is the first of my blog-as-a-genre thoughts, and one that I've mentioned to a couple of people recently:
Isn't it strange that we take it for granted that baked beans should come in tomato sauce. After all, a tomato is a totally separate plant and there's no reason why the juice of a tomato should form the sauce for a bean. Which bright spark thought this up? He/she has defined how we see the baked bean in western society. Pretty impressive, I'd say.