Return to Goa

Back around 1995 / 1996, two albums ignited an interest in electronic music in me that opened up a whole new world of possibilities. One of these albums was Paul Oakenfold's Goa Mix. While not strictly an album, I had a couple of old bootlegged cassettes knocking around for a while of what I still think to this day was probably one of the greatest DJ mix albums of all time.

The mix was originally aired on Radio 1 during the Radio 1 Essential Mix programme and it was never actually released as a product due to copyright issues. Well, 15 years later and (with a few slight adjustments) the mix has been redone and is now available in iTunes (and I'm sure, all good record stores). This is truly a seminal mix album, taking the Indian influenced psychedelic Goa Trance sound of the mid 90s underground scene and mixing it up with a selection of classical and film pieces. The two key featured artists on the album are Vangelis, through heavy use of music (and samples) from Blade Runner, and Man With No Name, whose first album 'Moment of Truth' was the second of the albums I mentioned at the beginning of the post.

What makes this mix so eminently listenable, other than the obvious nostalgia trip, is that the mix of styles means that the music, although heavy at times, always feels part of a bigger piece and never drives on too long as many dance mixes can do, there's always a contrast which enhances each element, never clearer is that shown than in the transition between the Blade Runner main title (complete with Harrison Ford voiceover) and Man With No Name's classic 'Floor Essence'.

The package on offer here doesn't stop with the mix itself though, on top of the excellent mix each individual track is included in it's entirety. This not only gives you a running time around 7 hours but allows you to appreciate how the mix is constructed. I remember fondly, desperately trying to track down several of these tracks during my brief time spinning decks 5 years later. At around £7.99, this is an absolute bargain.

Back & Moved

I’ve been a faithful Apple boy for many years now but once in a while Apple do something that I, as a user, find monumentally stupid or personally immensely annoying. One of these things was the new Apple TV (which is cheap but sucks as you can’t sync music to it anymore - the sole purpose I bought the old one!) A second of these things is that in the new version of iLife there is no upgrade to iWeb. iWeb has many shortcomings; but it has advantages in ease of use; anyway it seems that it’s moving toward the end of it’s life. I assume that Apple will eventually replace it with some kind of online service to enable blogging from iPads and iPhones and stuff but, until then, I have moved this blog over to blogger.

If you’ve subscribed to my old RSS feed then that will stop working, so resubscribe using one of the links on this site! Welcome to the other side.

REDISCOVERED GEMS: Vibrator

Every now and then, something pops onto your iPod which prompts you to stop the track and play the whole album again. This happened to me today and I rediscovered a classic album, ‘Vibrator’, by Terrence Trent D’arby (He since converted and now goes by the name Sanada Maitreya).

This is, in my opinion, one of those few albums which is perfect; the quality of the instrumentation and production is simply second to none and the lyrics are of a quality that is very rarely seen (not just in modern music, but ever).

I’m very aware though that, when you rediscover little gems like these, that you are always affected by the associations that the music has for the time in your life that it represents; particularly when that music is from your teenage years when everything seems to have more significance and seems so new as you fight to gain your independence as a person in your own right. Music is an important part of this process but, with this association, comes perhaps a ‘rose-tinted’ view on the music. This particular album brings back memories of long hot summer days hanging around aimlessly with Bill, George and John H amongst others and preparing for John H’s legendary parties at his parents spare house.

With this in mind, when I find these gems I’m going to post them up here; please give them a listen and write back a comment to the blog - tell me what you think of the album. Are these albums really hidden gems or just a musical association to our formative years?

Spotify link

Exception(al)

In 1982 Ridley Scott made what has been since regarded as one of the best films ever made. Yesterday I saw a film that truly blew me away; the best science fiction movie that I have seen since the release of Blade Runner; Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’. It is rare in today’s media soaked world to find something like this, that both looks and feels completely unique.

I have been a fan of Christopher Nolan’s work ever since Memento hit our screens back in 2000 and I believe him to be one of the most imaginative writer / directors in cinema. He seems capable of delivering films that have everything, from deep emotional moments to intense drama, heavy action and involving mystery. Each time that Nolan puts together a movie he surpasses himself, growing beyond the expectation of the audience and that is true talent. What Nolan has delivered here is a movie that, I’m sure, will in future be regarded as one of the great movies of all time.

Inception has a fantastically involving and deep storyline that challenges you to watch again and again (already on my Amazon pre-order list!). The cast seems to be a mix of known stars and lesser lights, but they all have one thing in common; bite! Every single member of the cast gives a superb performance. I don’t want to go into the story in too much detail for fear of introducing spoilers, and it just wouldn’t be the same with spoilers, but suffice it to say that the basic plot revolves around a group of people tasked with planting an idea in someone’s head by invading their dream space. This opens up a whole world of possibilities where the normal laws of physics and ‘rightness’ just don’t have to apply anymore. This movie will have you glued to your seat for the duration and has so many layers that missing just one moment is not recommended. Even the last few minutes are an absolute stroke of brilliance. Only 1 very small thing stopped this film from being perfect (and it’s a really really small niggle); The score, while very good, was sometimes overpowering and unnecessary.

If there’s one movie you must see before you die (and you’ve already seen Blade Runner!); see Inception - If there’s another then see it twice!

Down in The Treme

Some of my readers may recognise the names of David Simon and Eric Overmeyer from The Wire. Tremé is their latest project, following from the culmination of The Wire in it’s fifth season. Tremé is a neighbourhood of New Orleans, which is where this series is set; six months after landfall of Hurricane Katrina. In much the same way that The Wire used different points of view from different social groups, expanding through each season, to highlight the social picture of Baltimore; Simon and Overmeyer use diverse groups of characters to highlight the plight of New Orleans residents and culture in the wake of a tragic natural disaster. Tremé treads a very thin line between exploring the difficulties that residents faced and the resulting exploitative tourism that follows without becoming a part of the problem itself.

Tremé is, quite possibly, the best TV drama that I’ve ever seen. It is extremely mature; more so even than the wire I think because of the massive range of different people and emotions that it deals with from episode to episode. The quality of writing, production and performance are nothing less than outstanding, ensuring that the audience really cares about every single character that they meet on screen. Fans of The Wire will notice some of their favourite actors are back on the cast list; Wendell Pierce, formerly Bunk in The Wire, returns to the screen as Antoine Batiste, a trombone player. Also returning is Clarke Peters, formerly Lester, takes up the part of the Chief of an Indian Tribe, desperately trying to bring his people back that have been evacuated out of state. My personal favourite characters are Batiste, Steve Zahn’s ‘Davis McAlary’, Jon Goodman’s character, ‘Creighton Bernette’ and ‘Annie’, played by Lucia Micarelli.

One of the best things about this series though is the constant random cameos by actual local musicians; people such as Kermit Earle and Elvis Costello appear several times as themselves; lends the drama a real sense of authenticity that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality even further. If you watch one TV show all year, make it this one. You shall be rewarded and, just to reassure you, it’s already been picked up for a second season.

The Show Must Go On

Jenni & I had the good fortune to attend the second night of the Bristol run of the Les Miserables tour at the Hippodrome on Wednesday. It was absolutely fabulous and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I knew some of the tunes before I went (who doesn’t, even if they don’t know it!) and Jenni had seen it before when she was quite young. I don’t think either of us were fully prepared for the quality of the production that we were treated to that night.

The tour running at the moment is the new production, put together by Cameron Mackintosh for the 25th anniversary. The set designs were wonderfully rustic and creepy with a real hand drawn feel to them. The production uses really clever techniques with digital backdrops, surround sound and lighting to give effects of movement far beyond what you normally expect to see on a theatre stage (I don’t want to give too much away because it’s a bit cooler if it takes you by surprise really!) The quality of acting, singing and orchestration was also very very good. Stand out performances on the acting front, in my opinion, were ‘Eponine’ (not sure who was playing her - answers on a postcard to...), John Owen-Jones as ‘Jean Valjean’ and Earl Carpenter as ‘Javert’. Gareth Gates was also very good in the role of ‘Marius’; theatre suits him far far better than Pop Idol ever did! For song performances, the standout moments for me were Eponine’s ‘On My Own’, John Owen-Jones’s ‘Bring Him Home’ and Gareth Gates’s ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’.

This is far and above the best piece of musical theatre I have ever had the delight to see and I recommend you catch it while you can - It closes on 7th August.

Other coolness: According to Wikipedia the new cast recording for the 25th anniversary tour went on sale tonight, premiering at the Hippodrome! If this is true it is both cool and rubbish at the same time because I was obviously a night early.

End of an Era

Michael Hirsts 4 year epic dramatisation of the life and wives of King Henry VIII has drawn it’s last breath! The Tudors has been criticised for many reasons such as historical inaccuracy and being overly racy (all of which is, to a point, fair). What these critics have failed to grasp here is that this is not a dry historical drama documentary, what we are presented with is a visual masterpiece drama that just happens to be set in one of the most interesting socio-political periods in English history.

With historical inaccuracies and such put to one side, the man behind both Elizabeth movies and his associated directors (some of whom have worked on other top grade TV dramas such as Rome and Dexter) produce a fluid, engaging storyline that always leaves you wanting more. The acting is superb. Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ Henry is fabulous; particularly as you follow him through each season and he gets older and wiser. His performance in the final episode is so powerful as to move anyone to tears and, in this episode alone, he would win my nomination for TV actor of the year for 2010. The supporting cast aren’t anything to sniff at either; as she grows up, Sarah Bolger’s character of the Princess Mary becomes ever more complex and twisted and, as a viewer, you can really feel the conflict of her nature and her religious convictions. Henry Cavill is truly fantastic as Henry’s long suffering best friend, Charles Brandon. If there’s one character you can never take a dislike to, it is this man; he is probably what most men would aspire to be. The characters of each of the wives are also very different and detailed, each attaching to the audience in a different way...

• Catherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy) - Henry’s first wife and loyal to a fault, you can’t help but feel for the Queen as Henry does all he can to get rid of her to allow him to marry Anne Boleyn. Kennedy portrays Catherine as a kind queen who’s thoughts are always of others and never herself. If Charles Brandon is the man that we all want to be, then Catherine of Aragon is probably the woman.

• Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) - You just have to hate this woman! Manipulating and controlling the King for her own religious / political ends; you know she’s got it coming and you are just waiting for the axe to fall. Dormers performance is faultless.

• Jane Seymour (Annabelle Wallis) - Despite what is probably the weakest acting performance of the six wives, Rhys Meyers’ performance carries the expression of their relationship to the audience so deeply that, when she dies, you know that a large part of the King dies with her.

• Anne of Cleaves (Joss Stone) - Stone’s performance was, to me, surprisingly good. She portrays Anne of Cleaves as a friendly Queen who wants to please her husband. As time goes on it is carefully hinted at that she would have made Henry a good wife had he been in a ‘better frame of mind’. The audience is always left feeling a bit sorry for her.

• Kathryn Howard (Tamzin Merchant) - Merchant’s performance here is, again, fantastic, creating a character that you just want to slap. Howard is portrayed as a petulant child that is in way over her head and, as with Boleyn, you are happy to see her die (perhaps even more so because she’s just so damned irritating!)

• Katherine Parr (Joely Richardson) - Richardson plays Parr as an, initially reluctant and quiet wife; the audience is made to really feel for her as she looks after Henry’s children and, as he ages, Henry himself.

The nature of the series has evolved through it’s run in the same way that Henry’s character has; starting as very young and racy. Through the third and fourth series a far more serious tone begins to develop as if the whole programme is directed as a mirror for Henry’s state of mind. I would recommend this series highly to anyone.

Coming next on TV Reviews... TREME!

My Doctors Surgery Sucks!

For your reading pleasure, I follow with a transcript of my complaint to the NHS about Fallodon Way Medical Centre in Henleaze. I complain with reservations, because I had many happy memories of this place from when I was a child...

What could be done better?

Firstly; Booking Appointments - It is near on impossible to get an appointment early or late (late is just after 6:00) and you can't book early or late appointments on the online system at all.

Secondly; The woman who is usually on reception is very very rude and should not be in any job where you have to deal with people. She treats the patients like something that's come up off her shoe.

Thirdly; Repeat Prescriptions - At my old surgery I could just phone up for a prescription - Now I have to take the slip in myself or use an online system that is utter trash!

Fourthly; No telephone appointments

Fifthly; No weekend appointments

Anything else to add?

My fiancee and I both work - I have fairly flexible hours so I can just make a late appointment if needs be, but having to go in to deliver slips by hand is haring back to the stone age and I have to take significant time off from work if I have an appointment; my previous surgery booked up to 8:00! My fiancee isn't so lucky, as she commutes into work each day and the surgery is never open when she's around; she is currently looking into transferring back to our old surgery - It's much further away, but at least she can see a doctor once in a while.

For comparison, I would like to stress that our previous surgery was The Family Practice in Cotham; a surgery I recommend most highly.

In Which charts go live

Following on from my mammoth review of albums I’ve now implemented an Albums chart - I will be adding a Singles chart and a Movies and TV chart to go alongside it in the future.

If you have anything you really like and want me to review, please leave a comment and I’ll give it a listen!

The charts can be found in the tabs at the top of the blog.

Oh God! Another Intermittent Fault

I have had a really good broadband service from BE Unlimited for a couple of years now. It’s been fast, reliable and consistent with no capping or slow downs or anything annoying like that. To top everything off the customer service is great. If you’re looking for a new provider I really couldn’t recommend them higher. Since I moved house however I have had a problem.

About a week after moving in we noticed that our internet connection would occasionally drop out, usually for a few minutes, sometimes for 10 or more. This tends to happen about three or four times a day.

BE were, as I expected, fantastic at helping me with this problem, they remotely checked connectivity, suggested swapping out elements, disconnecting phones etc. to no avail. Eventually, after doing various line tests we determined that there is intermittent noise on the phone line. Yavon, the ever helpful BE operator advised me to contact BT.

I picked up the phone and dialled 150 and explained the situation and that the engineer would need to come out and look at the problem (BT had sent someone round only two or three weeks prior to connect me). To my utter amazement I was then advised that if the engineer can’t find anything immediately wrong that they will then charge me over £100 for the privilege. Now, excuse me, but in my line of work you don’t charge for incompetence and if you provide a faulty service then you fix it. I explained, calmly to the BT rep that I as paying them to connect me and that they had obviously not done the job correctly. I was informed again that, should I be willing to pay for an engineer, that this would not be a problem. At this point the smoke began to pour from my ears.

I cannot fault the unfortunate woman who spoke to me from BT, she was very straight and advised me plainly that, as the fault is intermittent, it is highly unlikely that the engineer will find a problem and that it could cost me a lot of money. She then advised me to wait until the problem got worse!!

The incredulity of this situation was convincing me that I was actually in some kind of weird nightmare state; but no, BT is such a monopoly that it can actually operate in such a way. And the alternative would be Virgin. What can you do? I may hate watchdog, but I wonder what Mrs. Robinson would make of this one...

In Which I have far too many albums to review

It could be said that, at times, I can get a little obsessive. I’ve had this blog going for a few weeks now and, over the last six months I’ve built up a huge mental pile of stuff I would like to write about. Many of these things are album reviews so, in order to save myself any further mental anguish, I thought it easier just to go through them in one go. I’m also going to set up a ‘charts feed’ which I can update as I listen to new stuff.

So, this year I have listened to...

	BT - These Hopeful Machines: This is, in my opinion, the best album BT has put out yet, eclipsing even the classic ‘ESCM’ from ’97. It is presented as a 2 CD set, each of 6 tracks. Nobody seems to understand the capacity of sonic experience that you can achieve with modern music like this man does. If Mozart was alive today, I think he would sound like this. There is a very wide range of different styles of music, expertly woven together. The standout here is ‘Every Other Way’, a beautiful duet with Jes. This is my album of the year and a classic for many to come. This album is perfect. 10/10
	Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions: I’ve read many mixed reviews around this album from older fans but, as someone introduced to Biffy Clyro by this album, I find it both accessible and unique; it took a while to grow on me but now it’s one of my favourite records. Many Of Horror is the real stand out track for me. 8/10
	Ellie Goulding - Lights: This is, at the time of writing, my number three choice for the charts. I bought this album as a total shot in the dark and never looked back. This is a really great folk album with a really edgy production to it that turns tis girl from Hertford into a very promising artist. Diana Vickers can only look in awe and cry a lot. Talent like this is a rare gem and another classic. 9/10
	Hybrid - Disappear Here: I had been waiting for this album for many many months before it came out, ever since the ‘Formula of Fear’ single was released; the album did not disappoint. I don’t think there’s a bad track on the CD. Probably Hybrid’s best album to date, this manages to be packed full of hard floor fillers and deep emotional pieces that you have to listen to over and over again. 10/10
	The Chemical Brothers - Further: I bought this album because of the many reviews stating that this album was a ‘return to form’ and like the old style Chemical Brothers. This is utter codswalop! This album is dreary, repetitive and utterly dire. The only track that’s even mediocre is ‘Swoon’. If you want to listen to lo-fi influenced techno that makes you feel like you died last week and have started to smell then go right ahead, but this was by far my biggest disappointment of the year so far. 2/10
	Lissie - Catching A Tiger: Lissie has been around a while, providing vocals quite frequently for dance artist Morgan Page (Check out ‘The Longest Road’, one of my tracks of the year!). This is her debut album, containing the single ‘In Sleep’. I’ve only listened to this once so far and the album is unabashed Americana; I think it’s growing on me - I may report back on this one later. At the moment I think it’s OK, but I thought the same about ‘In Sleep’ until I listened to it a few times, now it’s one of my favourite tracks of the year. 7/10
	Pendulum - Immersion: This was a huge surprise. In their first album, ‘Hold Your Colour’, Pendulum made an album that had many great tracks on it, but lacked consistency. In their second album they made an album which was consistent, just consistently mediocre. Immersion takes the best elements of the previous two albums and winds them together. Standout tracks are ‘Watercolor’, ‘Self vs Self’ and ‘Set Me On Fire’. This is a great album and a huge step forward for Perth’s Drum & Bass Supremos. 8/10
	Sarah McLachlan - Laws Of Illusion: The brand new album from Sarah McLachlan is far far from a disappointment. This is silken honey and wondrous heartbreak wrapped together in a package of tears. Reminiscent of ‘Fumbling Towards Ecstasy’ and a huge improvement on ‘Afterglow’, this album was great on the first listen and will only grow on me further. 8/10
	Public Symphony - Inspire: This is not strictly a ‘new’ album, as Public Symphony have simply reworked their self titled 2008 album; the remixes are, all in all, huge improvements though on what was already a fantastic record. Sitting somewhere between Pink Floyd and Radiohead (read ‘The Bends’ era), Public Symphony are a couple of perfectionist producers who decided to make a record. This is what they came up with and it’s arguably one of the best records of the decade. It’s the kind of music you can see being lifted for adverts for years and years to come. 10/10

Batman is dead.. Long Live Batman!

There was a time when british comics were largely derided against their american counterparts. How amusing I find it now, looking at DC and Marvel comics productions today how they are so dominated by the writers and artists of those same british comics.

One such writer is Grant Morrison, a truly fantastic writer responsible for DC’s Animal Man & Doom Patrol and possibly one of the best X-Men runs in comics history. Over a year ago Grant Morrison took over writing Batman. He introduced us to young Damien Wayne, son of Batman and Talia Al Ghul (Daughter of Ra’s) and, eventually to the events of Batman RIP, shaking Bruce Wayne’s resolve to the core and lining him up for his demise at the hands of Darkseid in Final Crisis.

The death of Bruce Wayne left a gap and, following Tony Daniel’s Battle of the Cowl series, the new Batman was revealed as Dick Grayson, the first Robin. Dick took Damien Wayne as his Robin, with Tim Drake (the previous Robin) heading off elsewhere. The first book in the series, Reborn, is actually split into two stories. The first story introduces us to a new villain, Professor Pyg, a highly disturbed individual, in true Morrison style, who converts people into mind controlled dolls using chemical masks. One of these attempts fails, which leads to the creation of Scarlet, who appears as a major character in the second story; becoming the new sidekick of Jason Todd, The Red Hood.

Both of these stories are superbly well written, drawn and executed - The first drawn with care by Frank Quitely and the second by Phillip Tan. Frank Quitely’s work is always a joy and he seems to give expression to Morrisons fantasy like no other artist. Tan’s style reminds me of Jim Lee’s work, but far more grounded. The book’s central theme explores the dynamic between the new dynamic duo and Dick Grayson’s feelings on inadequacy as the new Batman.

The teaser at the end seems to lead nicely into Blackest Night, the next big DC crossover (I’m a massive Green Lantern fan, so I’m really looking forward to this one!). I’ll leave you with some words from the teaser...

“Zur-En-Arrh”

In Which I fell asleep and thought I saw the future...

Early this week I sat down and watched the final couple of episodes of FlashForward. I did this already well aware that the series had been cancelled by ABC in the states. Throughout the series though I have found the premise of the series very interesting and I really wanted to see how they left it. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself for those reading this article who may not have seen FlashForward.

FlashForward is a TV series, based upon a novel by Robert J. Sawyer, following a premise that at a given time everyone in the world passes out and sees the future (about six months on, I think - handy for a TV series). Of course, this passing out event also leads to lots of crashes, explosions, lanes falling out of the sky etc. After the event the series follows a group of FBI agents that set up a web site so that people can share information about their visions of the future or ‘FlashForwards’ as they become known. We are introduced to agents Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and Demetri Noh (John Cho - Sulu from the new Star Trek movie), who start investigating the dark, shadowy figures that seem to be behind the blackout.

It quickly becomes apparent that Agent Noh hasn’t had a FlashForward and, as such will die at some point before FlashForward day occurs. This starts many many weeks of listening to Noh winge on and on about how he’s going to die but repeatedly failing to do things to stop it, which gets tired very quickly. By about the fourth episode the characters are starting to tire us a bit and the plot is thinning slightly - this, I think, is where the audience started to drop off. It’s a shame because after the mid-season break, around episode 11, the series really started to pick up again (at this point I don’t want to say too much ‘cause I’ll give too much away). What I will say is that when we sat down to watch the last episode, knowing the series had been cancelled, I was hoping it would wrap up nicely, but no.

To summarise then, a good premise, and a generally enjoyable series, that, I think either needed a second season, or should have been wrapped up at the end of the first series. Worth watching? I would say yes; worth watching again? Nah, probably not.

In Which I get around to a Way Out West review

I first got my hands on the new Way Out West album, We Love Machine, about four or five months ago. This review comes after picking up the remixes album too, so I thought I’d get in a 2 for 1.

Way Out West are, in my opinion, a hugely overlooked group in the local music scene; consistently turning out extremely good breakbeat and trance music with a very distinctive edge to it that just never seems to get old. This latest endeavour, the fourth album from the local duo of Jody Wisternoff and Nick Warren, has more of an electro style flavour than some of their earlier works.

The album flows through a wonderfully constructed journey of ethereal yet pounding tracks, from the toe tapping title track to the haunting closing number of Tierra Del Fuego. Highlights for me include the extremely catchy single ‘Only Love’, the rhythms and pads of ‘Future Perfect’, with it’s echoes of Jeff Wayne’s War of The Worlds and ‘Ultra Violet’; a track with so many catch rhythms and trick beats that it just wants to drag you onto the dance floor, kicking and screaming if needs be.

This was an important album for me as a first review, as it opened the door to a string of great dance releases that followed over the first half of 2010 (some of which I hope to get around to reviewing) including BT’s ‘These Hopeful Machines’, Hybrid’s ‘Disappear Here’ and, even more recently, new releases from Faithless and Pendulum.

Onto ‘The Remixes’ which, by the way, you can pick up on iTunes for £6.99 including the original album (which is £7.99 - go figure). In the 90’s remix albums and collections like this were far less common and, some would say directly, the quality was much higher than you tend to find these days. I tend to treat collections like this with scepticism to say the least; I am reminded of the disaster that was the Hybrid ‘Re-Mixed’ album, which was atrocious. I find it a pleasure then to exult the success of this attempt. The remixes are quite varied in style and give interesting alternatives for some of the tracks. It would be good value for money even without the original album included. Highlights for me include the Seb Dhajje remix of ‘Bodymotion’, not a track that I enjoyed too much from the new album, this remix gives it a really nice spooky air that, for me, fits it far better than the original, which always seemed just a little camp to me. Following this is the equally excellent Tom Glass remix of ‘Surrender’. By far my favourite remix here though would have to be the Paul Keeley remix of ‘Tierra Del Fuego’. I love the original tune and Paul Keeley has taken a wonderfully haunting melody and made it a wonderful sun soaked floor filler.

To summarise - what can I say - for £6.99, pump up the stereo system and treat yourself to 3 hours of fantastic tunes.

And This was going to be a Way Out West review...

This was going to be a rather balanced review of the Way Out West album which came out about six months ago, as I’ve just been listening to the new ‘Remixes’ version. This will, however, have to wait as I ‘m now more than a little irate.

My fiance was unfortunately made redundant not too long ago and given pay in lieu of notice. After two weeks she phoned up the Jobseekers Allowance people to talk to them about signing on once her notice in lieu period had expired. Having been through the endless pain of enduring this most ridiculous of processes myself several times about 10 years ago, I truly feel her pain. I digress; anyway, she was informed that she could claim from the day she was made redundant and her claim was submitted. Today the claim letter has come back advising her that she can have Jobseekers from when she phoned them, but the backdated two weeks has been rejected because she didn’t give them a good enough reason. SInce when is ‘You just told me’ not a good reason!

This follows on from other conversations where, after advising them that she has now found a job, but doesn’t start for a few weeks yet, she has been told that she needs to continue to provide evidence that she is continuing to look for a job! Apparently, having now found one also does not count.

I would really like to know what these people think a good reason is - There is no clear information about what to do in these situations at all for most people. Why do we have a benefits system that has become so convoluted and complex that the only people that can actually use it properly are the people who deign to live off it and abuse it?

And I'm Changing it again already...

It seems to happen on a regular basis with me. I’m never satisfied with anything. I feel a bit better about it now though - If you saw this site before this post then you’ll have seen the hideous black monolith that I had created.

I felt that something a little lighter was in order, so I went for a more subtle theme. I’ve also re-uploaded my Bristol Cityscape photos from the old temporal-net site. I managed to convert my Mum & Dad from Google over to MobileMe this evening so the old temporal-net site has now been bought down. If (for some odd nostalgic reason) you want to check it out it’s still hanging around at http://old.temporal-net.co.uk.

In Which Introductions are Made

For well over a year I’ve been meaning to get around to writing a personal blog. I read a lot, I watch a lot of great TV and Movies and Jenni and I like to go to a lot of places.

We had a good friend of ours over to see our new place earlier in the week (thanks Rick!) and he mentioned another friend of ours, who’s a budding writer, who had started trying to write something every day; now I’m not quite that adventurous, but if I can post something up once a week I’ll be happy so expect a real eclectic mix of reviews, rants and comments over the next few weeks.