Last Minute As Per Usual

Today was slightly quieter than the last two days which was spent going to Wenzell's and then to the radio rooms where a few of the first years were completing and printing out their final essays of the year to hand in.
Spike in particular had only done about 1,100 words out of 2000 by 4pm with the essay due in within an hour and there were rumours that one of the other students had got his dad to write one of his essays and was being investigated for plagiarism.
Other than that things were looking pretty much OK.

I plan to spend tonight on Audio Surf which I've managed to get round to buying and should be good fun overall. It's taking quite a while to download however so I'm not sure if it will even be complete by tonight.

Beautifully Retro

That's how I'd sum up the latest Swing Out Sister LP "Beautiful Mess" which I've spent the last hour listening to. To be honest the album's actually less than an hour long and two of the tracks on their are rather poor remixes of ones that are already on there but that's not important.

The album itself definitley progresses throughout with the trademark SOS sound reminscent of Dusty, Bacharach and so on with album highlights for me including
"All I Say, I Do", "Seacret Love" which has shades of "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield,
"Out There", and "Butterfly Lullaby" which like the majority of SOS instrumentals comes up with the goods.

Whilst this album is just about worth the wait after their last release 4 years ago it's not as consistent and exciting as the latest Incognito release "Tales From The Beach" and that's from a band who within 4 years have released 4 albums and have continued to come up with the goods every time.

This Friday should definitely be an interesting show.

Messy Monday, Tiring Tuesday

It's been a rather busy and exhaustive 24 hours but I'm hoping it will be the first of many enjoyable experiences this semester. As planned I started off at Spoons in Kenton where Chris, Pete, Phil H and birthday girl Sam were present and I enjoyed a chilli that thankfully wasn't as lethal as the last one I had in there.
We then stopped off at Chris, Phil and Stoobie's new house which is just superb with a nice conservatory and a TV with Sky Digital on there. They've yet to sort out their internet but apart from that they've done well.

Housemate Danielle got us a taxi which took us to the Undercroft and as the night progressed there was quite a good turn out and people enjoying the enjoyable if at times bizarre DJ sets. My set at the end of the night went pretty well throughout with the dancefloor packed at most times and once I got all the usual stuff out of the way such as Hanson and the Jackson 5 I decided to try out a few of my own choices including the now infamous Incognito mash-up which went down well blending "Everyday" with "Hips Don't Lie" and "Baby One More Time" to name a few tunes. I finished off with "Bohemian Rhapsody" although Phil Harris decided to step behind the decks near the end of the song and play James Brown's "I Feel Good" which didn't go down too well with the bouncers.

By this time Sami was desperate for some grub, and trundled along back to Chris and Stoobie's house and I decided to tag along with them. Sam didn't stay for too long but Oli P had managed to wrangle his way over as well as a few other people who wanted to get in but weren't so succesfull. Especially as they had a long way to walk back.
I didn't really get any sleep during the night as it was spent watching the Vault, and old episodes of Family Fortunes and Catchphrase on Challenge. They kept me going until around 7am when I eventually crashed out.

The majority of today was spent as part of the recording for a scene of a BBC Three drama called "Freshers" where I was one of the extras at the Smoke Radio stall at a Freshers Fayre. Some of the others managed to get more bizarre roles courtesy of the props department of the drama society including Miles Blayden Ryall as a Judo instructor, Troy dressed as a giant whopee cushion and Spikey G dressed as a giant mushroom. The shooting took quite a long time as a drama shoot would with multiple takes recorded at different angles but we were eventually allowed to go when they started shooting from our angle in front of the Smoke Radio stall.

Tomorrow should be less exhaustive although I may go and kill a bit of time up in radio where Oli P will be doing his request show as normal. I also need to have a listen to the new Swing Out Sister album which I plan to play along with the new Incognito album on Friday's soul show, the latter of which is due out on Monday.
It's definitley looking hopeful.

"Let's Twist Again"

The plans for tonight have changed slightly as I've been promoted to the top slot at midnight for our Messy Monday where I'll be spinning the cheese to finish off the night. This is because Chris and Phil who normally have this slot want to get rat-arsed for a change and Sammy C who was meant to be in their place has dropped out.

Beforehand I'll be heading to Kenton Spoons for a few drinks and to see a certain Miss Impey will be celebrating her 23rd birthday. Everyone's hoping for a good turn out at the Undercroft at what looks set to be a really good night and an eclectic set of DJs including Oli P who's now doing my old slot, Mattie who's going to be providing visuals as part of his rather rocky set and Stevie McIntosh who'll be spinning his R'n'B gems.

It's going to be a good one.

"Down The Tubes"

It was rather hard yesterday trying to cope in halls without internet access but it meant I could have a few walks outside halls where it wasn't as wet as expected.

As planned I went to see "3 And Out" at the VUE in Harrow and it turned out to be quite a good film with Mackenzie Crook in the lead role of Paul, a tube driver and wannabe writer who had already run over two people within a month and needed to find a third person to be ran over in order to be let off with 10 years wages.
There were a few familiar faces including Imelda Staunton, Kerry Katona, and Annette Badland who once appeared as a nurse in Victor Lewis Smith's first TV series and more recently as one of the Slitheen in Doctor Who.

Tonight's going to be a good one hopefully as Smoke Radio will be taking over the Undercroft once again with our "Messy Monday". I've got a few good tunes in my set such as Matt Bianco's "Wap Bam Boogie", Marcos Valle's "Parabens" and a rather rare groover from Grey and Hanks called "Dancin'". I've also got another mash-up I've done with the rather original title "Jungle Boogie". Probably one I'll slip in near the end.

Slightly Cloudy

I was expecting it to be raining heavily today but as I'm writing, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. It's starting to get rather overcast however so it could turn bad later on.
I haven't really got anything planned for today apart from going to see Mackenzie Crook's film "3 And Out" at the VUE in Harrow later tonight which should be interesting.
I also need to sort out my setlist for tomorrow's Smoke Radio Messy Monday at the Undercroft but otherwise there's nothing really happening around here.

This lunchtime Radio 4 are broadcasting an edition of "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" in tribute to Humphrey Lyttleton which will incude Willie Rushton as one of the panelists. I'd reccomend anyone who has never heard the show before to buy volume 1 of the series from the BBC Radio Collection which contains some of the funniest moments such as the Modern Nursery Rhymes round, "Gargle Gargle" and an amusing round of "Cheddar Gorge" about exploding trousers.

"I've Been Playing A 'Bored Game' For Over 30 Years"

I found out on waking up this morning that Humphrey Lyttleton, the chairman of Radio 4's "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" had died.

Humph managed to make the programme entertaining by having a rather reluctant persona as host and could deliver some of the wittiest lines either about scorer Samantha searching for "7 inches" or about Lionel Blair having to "do 12 Angry Men".
Personally I think it would be impossible to continue the show as Humph managed to stay on as host for 50 series and nobody would be in a position to match the style he had alongside team members Barry, Graham, and Tim.

It could be seen as fitting that the last show broadcast with Humph was a special on Christmas Day last year called "Humph In Wonderland" where the host played the part of the lead character in an adaptation of the fairy tale, which included a "Queen Of Farts" although it was never referred to by name.

Overall it's a great loss to a brilliant broadcaster and possibly one of the funniest programmes on radio.

Done And Dusted

I finally managed to complete my Broadcasting essay and get it handed in at the Undergrad Office which means there are now no more assignments until next year. Well, October to be more precise and that is a long time.

Whilst on my way to handing it in I came across Phil H and Stoobie who were trying to take down the Smoke Radio banner that has been hanging on the metal bridge in the street for quite a while.
They need it for this programme that they're helping out on which will be transmitted on BBC 3 where it's meant to give an account of a Fresher's Week at a University.
Hopefully I'll be able to help out as an extra especially as I wasn't around for the majority of this year's actual Fresher's Week.

There's also the Messy Monday night at the Undercroft which the station is holding and I'll be DJing there again between 9 and 10pm. For the first time in quite a while however I won't be the first one on as Oli P has finally got the chance to do a set and will be spinning his selection of tunes. I'm hoping he won't try to impersonate Westwood which is what he's become known for doing especially by shouting "LEEETTS GOOOO!".

It will probably be a quiet weekend beforehand but at least I don't have any more pressures to worry about until the Autumn.

Home Cooking In Halls

There was a visit yesterday night from Michael's mother who had come over to stay the night in halls. Michael had made a roast lamb which was really good although I didn't have too much because I had already made a meal earlier.
They're planning to go back home later today to Mersea near Colchester although if Michael's paying rent for his room I reckon he'll be back sometime within the month.

The plan for today is to finally hand in my essay and then I'll be done with all my assignments for this year. Otherwise it will be another quiet one probably.

Enjoying The Outdoors

Last night went slightly different than planned as a few people decided to start a fire under a hill outside halls. They included Joe, a commercial music student who does a show on the station and George from the Bamboozle team. We were later joined by Oli P from first year radio and a few others who brought a few musical instruments with them including what looked like a tribal drum and a mini accordian as well as quite a few acoustic guitars.

It didn't last too long as the Chinese security guard came up and threw a bucket of water extinguishing the fire which according to Joe was the fourth one they've had in a row this week.
I then went back to the Kodak Court with Oli and someone else who lived there, where they decided to have a throwabout but I decided to head back to halls at that point as I didn't want to get any more injuries to my hand.

I'm in a bit of a reluctant mood this morning knowing that I need to get the assingment done but I can't be bothered to go to the library. I'm sure I'll get somewhere with it however and I'm aiming to get up to 2,500 words which shouldn't be too big a problem.

Puppets In Power

Once again nothing's really been happening today apart from my visit into Harrow as planned.
I did manage to find this rather amusing video of Rainbow dubbed with the voices of the candidates for the London Mayor elections due to take place on the 1st of May.
Personally I reckon there isn't really any difference between the voices of Zippy and Ken Livingstone

The plan for tonight is to hopefully get through tonight's episode of The Apprentice and tomorrow I'll be back in the library aiming to finish off my Broadcasting essay.
I'm really hoping things pick up once the assingments are done although when the loan arrives it may result in everyone being more outgoing.

Warm April Conditions

There's been an improvement in the weather today with a few of those living in halls making good use of the grass outside in the good weather. Hopefully when a few more people arrive back who I know I'll be able to enjoy it too but I did make a visit to Sainsbury's earlier today without needing to wear a coat as I went out.

Asides that I managed to get just under two thirds of the way through my Broadcasting Essay writing about what sort of content ITV had to offer and how the BBC initially responded. I also need to register for the modules I'll be doing next year although SRSweb doesn't seem to be working on the University website which may mean I have to choose the modules by writing them down if that method still works.

I'm not sure how I'll spend tomorrow, probably another visit to Wenzels although I may go a bit further just to get more exercise.

A Summer Without Radio Laughter?

That's what I've found out today via the Media Guardian website as it's revealed that there won't be a series of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue this Spring/Summer due to Humph being admitted to hospital. Basically it means my Monday nights are more or less empty for longer than normal until Nicholas Parsons and the team return around July time with Just A Minute, although it doesn't really have that many funny moments as often as ISIHAC mainly because one host is more irreverant than the other.

I'd planned to go and see the stage show of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue in Oxford last September but because of what had happened the month before it made things tricky. That's still going on however with Rob Brydon in place of Humph in the chair.

On a lighter side I managed to find this Album Chart rundown from the Chart Show as transmitted on the 15th of May 1987! My second birthday nonetheless.
I swear that the music in the sting for this rundown sounds very similar to Level 42, who are featured with their album "Running In The Family".
And rather fitting to find Swing Out Sister at Number 1 with their debut "It's Better To Travel" with the video for "Twilight World" being shown, complete with late 80s clothes and hairstyles.

Plenty of gems on that album overall including the hit "Breakout", "Blue Mood"
as mentioned halfway through the video (and I happen to have the video for that song somewhere) and "Fooled By A Smile" which was covered by Julie Dexter along with Incognito a couple of years ago.
I've yet to listen to the current SOS album which I'm keeping safe until I've got all my assignments done but I've seen plenty of good reviews on Amazon so it will hopefully be worth the wait.

Backspamming

I got quite a bit of stick from a few people on Facebook when my profile was hacked into and sent out links to a site advertising illegal drugs. I've no idea how it happened but I know that I'm not the only one to have been hacked on the site.
The rest of today has been pretty quiet as always, not much eventful going on apart from a visit to the library to work on my Broadcasting In the 20th Century essay where I'm now up to just under 1000 words out of 3000.

It's the BAFTA TV awards tonight which should cover my evening although I'm not expecting nothing too interesting to happen. There were a few surprises last year however such as Mitchell and Webb's sketch show winning the comedy award despite quite a few people critisizing compared to Peep Show which they don't write.
I've heard that the BBC have approached them to write their own sitcom pilot which I'm looking forward to seeing the results of.

I may make another visit to Wenzels tomorrow to get some bread as I'm pretty short of that at present and if I'm up for it I'll try and make the halfway mark with my Broadcasting essay. The deadlines not until next Monday anyway so I'll go about it steadily.

Messy May

Still a rather run of the mill day as always, just finished watching Doctor Who and waiting for Britain's Got Talent to start which should be enjoyable if last weeks was anything to go by.

It looks as if I've got quite a lot of diary dates as soon as the assignments are handed in as Sami's using the Smoke Radio Messy Monday night at the Undercroft as the destination for her 23rd birthday. Also on the 5th of May Incognito will be performing at the re-opened Fopp in Central London for a free 20 minute gig which I'll need to plan around as I'll be seeing Fertile Ground at the Jazz Cafe on the same night, provided the tickets turn up in time.

Then of course on the day after it's Dissertation Deadline Day so I reckon they'll be a few drinks and another journey into Central if we're lucky. Just a case of getting the assignments or should that be assignment done which is my broadcasting essay so I'll start on that tomorrow morning.

Armed In London

I managed to hand in my Advertising case study today which means I've only got the Broadcasting essay to get done before I'm done for the year.
Apart from that it's been rather quiet here although I'm looking forward to the current series of Have I Got News For You which starts tonight with Jack Dee as the guest host.
Hopefully if Boris Johnson isn't succesfull in his bid for London Mayor they'll get him back again although every series has it's fair share of strong and weak people hosting the show.

They showed Boris's campaign broadcast on television earlier and it appears that he wants to cut down on muggings that happen on public transport by putting police on buses. This reminds me of when I was in Venice and a few of us were on a bus when a load of policemen rushed on aiming there guns at what appeared to be a criminal which looked like a mugging itself. Hopefully it won't get as violent as this although from personal experiences Harrow's rather dangerous in itself at night time.

I need to do some shopping tomorrow as I'm running out of my usual wares although that should be good as I'm attempting to lose a bit of weight. It may be an idea to consider joining the gym next year.

Bow Of Bliss

Jamie Cullum used to be referred to as "the David Beckham of jazz" although I reckon the equivalent for classical music has to be Nigel Kennedy judging by his appearance on the One Show tonight. If anyone saw it they could probably tell judging by his voice sounding very similar to the football player, why he's better known for playing the violin although they did show a few clips of him in action. These included his arrangement of the Doctor Who theme, set to be performed at this years Proms.

I reckon his finest television moment however, had to be on Going Live! back in November 1989 when he made an appearance with Jason Donovan and the Singing Corner for a rather crazy rendition of "Hound Dog".

As for the rest of tonight I've reached the final episode of Skins series 1 which should provide me with entertainment. My favourite episode from that series would either be the first one or the one when they went on a trip to Russia which happened to be co-written by Simon Amstell.
Definitely one of the better dramas I've seen recently.

"Make Believe Not War"

Once again another empty day with not much worth doing apart from reading or should that be skimming through the books I've borrowed from the library for the advertising module.

As planned I went to see "Son Of Rambo" which turned out to be a very entertaining film about a young boy from a Plymouth Brethren family becoming the star in an amateur video from another boy at his school, with a good blend of funny and downbeat moments.
There weren't many well known actors in the film but there was an appearance from Adam Buxton as a science teacher who once again ended up in a rather painful scene. However this was nowhere near as violent as his role as a newspaper journalist in
"Hot Fuzz". Also appearing were Jessica Hynes from "Spaced" as the mother of the Plymouth Brethren family and Anna Wing as the grandmother, better known as Lou Beale from Eastenders.

There was good attention to detail with the time period of the film set in the early to mid 80s with not just the music from that era but a couple of Radio 1 JAM jingles were also used in one of the scenes.
They even mentioned the jingles in the credits with Jon Wolfert and composer
Chris Kershaw getting a mention which helped to make the film for me although overall it's definitely one of the best I've seen this year.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get my advertising case study completed which I hope isn't going to be too hard a task and I need to go and get some drinks as I've had to survive on water for the majority of today.

Settling Back In Speedily

I felt rather unsure about coming back from Canterbury this morning and have felt that I should have stayed for a bit longer but it's not too bad now as I've managed to get three quarters of my advertising case study done. It's rather quiet on campus however although the only place that's really full of students is the library where people have been working on assignments. I don't want to rush completing the case study so I may spend tomorrow looking at some of the books that I have got out to help me write the essay and try and have it completed by Thursday or Friday.

My aim is to stay here in London until they throw us out of halls at the beginning of June although I have to go back to Canterbury sometime in May to the Fracture Clinic at the hospital to check my finger and I'm hoping that it doesn't happen during Smoke Radio's final week of broadcasting.

The weather here looks set to be rather mixed as earlier today it was sunny but not really the sort of weather to be without a coat as the temperatures haven't really got higher since the snow just over a week ago.
Tomorrow evening however I may go to the VUE in Harrow to see "Son Of Rambo"
which I've been waiting to see for quite a while and is about some young boys who try to recreate the film Rambo to amusing results. I reckon it will be one of the highlights from our shores to hit the screens this year.

A Hopeful Return?

It's been my last full day in Canterbury and I spent part of it visiting Dad in hospital. He's starting to feel better than he did before although he's still having trouble moving one of his feet. I feel rather bad leaving at this time but Mum's still visiting him at least once a day so things should slowly progress even if it's rather difficult for Dad.

On a lighter note I've found out where we're going to be holding the annual Smoke Radio Awards and it's at this place called "Paradise" in Kensall Green which isn't too far from Harrow. I've had a look at the menu which I'm not 100 percent about as there are things that I like and things that I don't like on seperate dishes. That's not too good although on the plus side the awards themselves should be a good laugh and Chris and Phil will be DJing after all the gongs have been given out.

And it's taking place on my birthday of all days which should be fun and it means I can do my show live on the Friday although if that is the case it will be following the final show from our Smoke Radio stalwarts Goodlass and Marshall. Then again they've always given me the nerves and energy needed before a show that in the end, ends up going even better than it normally does.

We've also got another Undercroft night in two weeks in what's going to be called the "Messy Monday" which I hope to be DJing at. That will be on the day when I've got all the coursework for this year completed and this semesters loan will be in my bank account. Things should continue to be messy from there onwards.


RIP Mark Speight: 1965-2008
"If You're Glued To Art, Stick With SMart!"

Still Unsure But Coping

It's still been rather quiet in Canterbury as Mum's been at the hospital seeing how Dad's getting on. As for me I've only really been into Sainsbury's and through Canterbury on this rather mixed day as far as the weather is concerned.

Right now I've spent time playing Bejeweled and listening to the Soul Cellar on Time 106.6 which will be including some new stuff of the Incognito album which should be interesting. I may do a show in the first week of May playing my personal favourites off the latest album "Tales From The Beach" alongside stuff from the new Swing Out Sister album "Beautiful Mess" which I haven't listened to just yet but I'm hoping it will be worth the long wait since their last album "Where Our Love Grows" which brings back memories of Summer 2004 and Jonathan Ross playing it on his Radio 2 show.

They were going to get Andy and Corrine to come in to do a live session for them but they didn't end up coming in the end and on the day that they were scheduled they had Lisa Stansfield instead! There's someone who I've yet to see perform live in London although I've seen quite a few individual performances on her DVD.

Awkward Circumstances

It's been rather difficult for most of today as my dad's been taken to hospital because of breathing problems and pains in his leg. They're currently doing testing on his medication so I'm guessing that means he will have to stay there overnight so I hope nothing too serious happens.

I went to ASK in Canterbury at lunchtime with friend of family Concha where we both had a Penne Polo De La Casa although I thought my one was more creamier than hers and it was pretty hot as well meaning I had to have a few more drinks.
Non alcoholic obviously.
I'm still feeling rather uneased about the summer once the year has finally finished and my concerns about that were probably why I didn't really enjoy the visit into Canterbury as much as I should have done.

I've spent the evening watching the second episode of Doctor Who followed by the opening episode of Britain's Got Talent series 2. On the latter they had a rather embarassing 20 year old who gave a tuneless rendition of "Valerie" but the highlight had to be a contortionist who managed to keep herself up in mid air aided only by her mouth.
It maybe a good time to stop there I guess.

Still Dull In Canterbury

Haven't really had much of a day apart from a visit to Morrisons to do this week's shopping.
Whether this weekend will get any better I'm not too sure about as I just want to get the next few days out of the way before going back to London where I will want to get my essay assignments out of the way.

April's never really an easy time at University although I imagine next year will be even worse with the dissertation in full flow although the big date in everyone's diary is May the 7th when quite a lot of drinking will be going on after they are all handed in.

Honestly this does seem like the longest month at the moment although I'm sure it won't be anywhere near as bad when the summer arrives.

Unmendable?

I went as planned to the hospital where I hoped I would get my finger sorted out but it turns out I still have to have it bandaged. It's not as tight as it was before as they want me to "exercise it" in order for it to get better and I have another appointment in Canterbury due in 4 weeks.

Also, before I go back to London on Tuesday I've got another appointment at Laurel House with probably the 6th consultant I've seen since being put onto medication. I'm certain that what I'm on at the moment is doing it's job but I reckon I'm going to have to have a rather mundane summer to avoid what happened last year happen again.

Remains Of Winter

After seeing it on television on Monday I made a visit to Old Wives Lees where we went for a walk on a nearby footpath. There wasn't really anything there that stood out but we went past an Oast House that was having an extension built and there was still some snow that hadn't melted which included what appeared to be some snowmen without heads.
Dad told me about this place called "Womanswold" which as I understand is near Dover although I'm not sure whether I want to go there after todays visit. Or maybe it's because I'm starting to realise how dull things can get in Canterbury and am missing some of the comforts of Harrow, even if there are such things.

I've stumbled across a documentary celebrating the 25th anniversary of
County Sound Radio in Surrey and Hampshire which includes an item about 13 minutes in with Les Reed who composed the theme and jingles used by the station when it launched back in 1983.
The theme went on to be adapted by Alfasound a year later for the first of many jingle packages throughout the 80s including some stunning ones recorded in America.
County Sound happened to be one of the first radio stations in the UK to use a computer controlled record selection system back in 1986 athough Selector back then only sorted the playlists out as the records themselves were still played on turntables.

Definitely a testament to a station that in recent years has avoided being brought by larger companies.

Skins and Starvation

Haven't really had much of a day in all honesty. I made an appointment with the fracture department of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital for Thursday although it took a very long time to do so going through their automated phone system.

I've managed to spend the rest of my time discovering "Skins" on 4oD after seeing it at Ross Powell's house last week, where I've started on Series 1 with a guest appearance from Harry Enfield swearing his head off as one of the character's dads. I'll give the second episode a go tonight although like most dramas I'm not sure if I can last through a whole series.

I need to do some shopping tomorrow as we don't have any bread or apples which I've been finding it rather hard to manage without although I normally find myself to be more hungrier when I come back to Canterbury. However as I'm back in London in just under a week I'm sure things will be OK again soon.

Undiscovered Areas Of Canterbury

There was an item about a village near Canterbury called "Old Wives Lees" on The One Show earlier tonight which I've never come across before but it's near Chilham which is a nearby historical village.
It was part of a series of items about unusual place names and they found out that the place was nothing to do with old wives themselves but with old woods.

I went for one or two walks in Chilham whilst I was recovering last autumn although it didn't look as if there was a lot in this village from what was shown in the feature. But then again just because somewhere has an odd place name doesn't mean the place itself will be too exciting.

Tomorrow I need to sort out what I need to do about putting my finger into it's correct place as to whether I need to arrange an appointment at the hospital or if I just need to go in. As long as I can get it sorted out soon I'll be happy as I want to get these plasters off as soon as I can.

Uneventful Goings On and Lie Ins

I let anxieties get the better of me whilst I was in bed last night which meant I probably didn't get to sleep at all until about 1am. This resulted in another lie in despite being woken up by a mobile phone reminder I put in about a week ago to sort out an appointment at the clinic to get my dislocated finger sorted out.

When I finally got up I made my way into town to get my credit card bill paid and I'm not really sure how I'm going to spend the rest of today. It's definitley a lot brighter outside than yesterday and there doesn't appear to be any shades of winter at all now.
I'm guessing most days spent here in Canterbury until returning to London will be more or less the same.

"I Bet They Read Blammy's Blog"

Since my last post we've had a bit more snow in Canterbury to the point in which the rooftops are covered. I haven't really been out though apart from a visit to ASDA to buy some new trousers from George during which I've realised that I need to lose a bit of weight.

Aside that I've been working on my advertising case study looking at the John Smith's "No Nonsense" campaign featuring Peter Kay from 2002-2004 where I'm now up to around 600 words explaining why advertising was used.
I got distracted however whilst writing it however upon discovering several ads for another drink, in this case Carling Black Label and their "Best Bet" campaign used throughout the 80s into the 90s.
It's probably a good time to share a few of them so here as follows:

Airplane (with the full rendition of the jingle)

Popeye

Surfer

Sheepdog

Levis Pisstake

Mind Reader

Cowboy (One of the more memorable ones)

Treasure Hunt Pisstake

And my personal favourite,

If you consider the jingle it replaced from this earlier ad it's very similar to Invicta Radio's mid 80s strapline "You've Got It Right Across The County".

And speaking of similarities I'm sure anyone from London or at Uni who reads this will have seen these ads on the Underground or around London for an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.







Personally I think the "A" reminds me of the "V" in LWT's variant of the 1989 generic ITV logo as pictured below:











There's a logo I remember from many a happy weekend in London when the tall building on the South Bank provided them.

The Underwater Birthday Do At Buff

It was Charlotte's "Chunder The Sea" party last night and I arrived with Jane at the "House Of Buff" where among those their included Sarah wearing orange face paint as tan along with a few tentacles, Emma with a jellyfish umbrella, Tudor dressed very smartly as 007 because he was a "navy agent" and birthday girl Bracey wearing an orange nylon jacket covering a swimming costume which we eventually got her to reveal.
The house was decorated specially with netting made to look like water and we even had a bubble machine that made the floor slightly slippery allowing me to do one or two falls in the style of Peter Simon.

Fashion student Kat was also there with her boyfriend Rob off the Film course who chatted to Tudor about his idea for a dissertation analysing the Beatles films.
Pete, one of the other guests got a bit too queasy than the rest of us and ended up spending most of the night in the toilets although by midnight, about half the guests had gone home and I ended up sleeping on the couch in the front room.

By the time I woke up it was snowing outside and I made my way back to halls despite having to wait 15 minutes for a bus and another 15 minutes at Harrow on the Hill tube station, leaving me tired enough to have another sleep before heading back to Canterbury around 10am.
How I'm going to spend my time here I'm not too sure so expect these posts to quieten down over the next week or so.

A Tiny Bit Hungover

After everyone had got their podcasts completed we headed down the Undercroft for a few end of semester drinks with Matthew, and Dave Sharp joining us in the proceedings. We were later joined by Tudor as well at which by this point I was slightly tipsy and I thought it was the best way to be set to do a radio show which probably proves a point towards a few things.

The show went pretty well and it was nice to be back in the bigger studio once again although I accidentally played one of the tracks at the wrong pitch because someone had left the pitch control button at a lower tempo and I forgot to check it beforehand. After the show had finished and we had struggled to transfer the recording onto my hard drive due to the network being slow, myself and Tudor went to Sainsbury's to get some drinks and then went to Denis's for his leaving do and spent most of the night watching music videos on the Vault, and episodes of Family Guy.
It was during the videos that I was making a big deal about whether they were all
"Chart Show Teritory" i.e. released before late 1998 and I kept on going on about trying to stay around until 3pm this afternoon when they would be showing a classic countdown on the channel.

We were joined by Steven and Caroline, Ross and Jane and a few of the first years
including Lottie, Dean and Sophie at which point I was more or less wasted and had drunken just about all my bottles of Red Russian. It wasn't really a good state to be going home in especially as I was rather drunk to the point of being unable to open the door to my room in halls. I finally managed to get in so I didn't have to spend the night lying down in the corridor which I almost ended up doing.

There's another do going on tonight in the form of second year TV student Charlotte's "Chunder The Sea Party" for her 20th birthday which is going on all the way up in Harrow Weald of all places. Luckily the N18 starts near their house so if anything similar happens tonight I'll be covered.

Pop Without Fizz

There were a few visitors to the flat tonight in the form of Keeley and Joe, two first year radio students who along with their friend Fran who does TV had a meal prepared by flatmate Michael who's on the same course as Fran.
We had a chat about a few things concerning radio and our hopes for next year and it has to be said that Keeley and Joe have one of the best daytime shows on the station with highlights being interviews with people such as Mr Motivator, Dave Benson Phillips and Geoffrey from Rainbow.

Michael even brought out a bottle of Bucks Fizz for us which went down pretty well and while all this was going on we had one of the music channels on the television counting down the 20 Most Disastrous Bands which included such delights as B-Witched and "C'est La Vie", Adam Rickett's "I Breath Again" and One True Voice's debut "Sacred Trust".
I'm hoping to have a rather quiet night tonight, as it's been rather hectic for most of this week although I'm hoping the last day tomorrow will go down alright.

Uneventful But Hopeful

Barely anything's been happening today, I spent most of the afternoon asleep in bed as there wasn't really much going on. I did go to Sainsbury's to get a few things which I reckon will be my last visit there before coming back in two weeks to get my essays done.

It turns out that Grooveline will still be continuing on Blast but in a new timeslot on Saturdays between 12 and 2pm and with less emphasis on features, but what's more important is that the shows will be live! This will only be for a few months as Stephen's planning to move into Central London later in the year but I'm sure it will go out in style.

As for my last day in London tomorrow, I reckon it may involve a few drinks before the show as the plan is to drink the bar dry down at the Undercroft which I'm hoping most of the second years will be doing after uploading their podcasts which are due in.
And that's just about everything finished as far as Uni work goes for 6 months which this year really will seem like a long time due to the shortened semesters.

Bail For Ale

Just as I got in last night I got a call asking if I wanted to go down to Kenton Spoons again so I went down there and oh my, it was rather packed. This was because of the Arsenal V Liverpool game which was being shown but I managed to find Chris, Pete, Stoobie, Dean, Denis and Lottie amongst everyone in there. After the game had finished things got a bit quieter and Chris and Pete started to record or should that be fake vox pop interviews for their podcast based on the Ale Festival.

Pete left us at around 11pm to go back to Aylesbury and everyone started talking about things such as the origins of middle names and painful places to get hurt. After closing time we headed back to Chris and Stoobie's house where Stewart was playing on this rather amazing game called Audio Surf which involves racing across this track trying to match colours set to music that you have on your computer.
Some of the tunes that were played ranged from "Ghostbusters" to "Mars" from the Planets suite by Holst. The tune I chose when I had a go was "Walking On Sunshine" by Katrina and The Waves which went rather well without too many sharp turns.

I'll try and spend today being a bit more relaxed although I may go up to M-Block just to see what's happening.

Further Uncertainty

Nothing really eventful has happened today, there was the final advertising lecture which was just a few guidelines on writing the case study. Why it has to be handed in on the 21st of April is nonsense as it's during holiday time and not many people are going to be around.

I recieved an e-mail earlier mentioning that Grooveline on Blast 1386 has finally drawn to a close due to Stephen's hectic work schedule since switching jobs from Reading to London and the fact that listener interaction has virtually vanished since the show became permantley pre-recorded last September.
I almost got to sit in on one of the shows as a guest last August although I was unable to do so in the end because I was "recovering" in hospital. I was gutted about that especially as it was the final live show.

However this allows me to move on to something that has been concerning me for quite a while and it's whether I want to continue doing my own show on Smoke in my final year. It was the encouragement and constructive comments from fellow radio students that kept me going, especially in the first year but I really don't think that I'm regarded that well on the station now, especially with those in the year below.
Also, since moving to Fridays I haven't really enjoyed as much as I've used a smaller studio and the atmosphere in the radio rooms has been virtually dead. Hopefully I'll be able to move back to Wednesday's next year which would give me an excuse to bring back
an old promo for the show which I reckon was one of the strongest I've done.

What has also been bugging me is the amount of indie shows on the station and the constant backside licking around them from the comittee. Some of the shows aren't bad such as Mattie's show on Monday, but I think some of the others are going a bit too far getting rather big for their boots.

A few people in the Undercroft last night said that they'd heard my show which was rather surprising considering they're not radio students and I'm pretty confident about the music on offer in this weeks show such as Moses Mayes and that track from Neo which I ran out of time to play last week. I may even try and get back into Studio 6 as I'm bloody tired of using Studio 4 where it's so easy to cock up on any given occasion.

Tuesday Escapades and Uncertainty

Going into Central with a jacket on wasn't such a good idea as it was pretty warm and very good walking weather compared to what we've been having. I met up with dad to collect my tablets and we had a meal at Prezzo's near Victoria station before I headed back up to Uni and to M-Block where a few of the second years were working on their podcasts.

Some of us decided to go up to the Kenton Spoons to watch the Manchester United V Roma game and we were later joined by Sam, Kelly and Danielle, the latter two who would be leaving for the sports tour the next day.
After the game had finished the plan was to head up to the Undercroft where the CMP students were holding their April Fools fundraiser although we stopped off at Chris, Phil and Stoobie's to drop a few things off and Sam and Danielle waited for Kelly to drive up to Kenton station to pick them up, meaning only a few of us got there.

I really wasn't feeling it at all to be honest despite the special attractions such as jelly wrestling and the magic tricks. One of the doors back into the bar was specially decorated into a curtain made to look like something suggestive.
Luckily two members of the Beer Pong team arrived, my flatmate Tom, and James who judging by his iTunes playlist has a fantastic taste in music and we spoke a bit about Earth Wind and Fire and George Benson who he happened to be bought up upon.

The music that was played in the bar was more or less the same as last night with one of the DJs trying to mix a D&B beat over Tom Jones's "You Can Leave Your Hat On" whilst a number of third year CMP students were stripping, although they did play a rather good mash-up of the acappella of Lily Allen's LDN over Chad Jackson's
"Hear The Drummer Get Wicked".
We stayed until around 2:30am and I'm now feeling rather unsure about things as always that are mostly radio related but I'll save those thoughts for a later post.

After An Extended Lie In...

Yesterday evening consisted on sitting in on Ross and Paul's Live Variety Show, before heading back with them and Jane to Ross's house where we had a few home made pizzas. To be honest I thought they had a bit too much tomato sauce on them but Paul tended to find my reaction hilarious when I described it as "messy".

We then made our way up to the Undercroft where quite a lot of people were present including the members of Team Beer Pong UK with specially made t-shirts. Some of the CMP third years were DJing where they played a few odd choices such as Fatboy Slim's "F***ing In Heaven" and Mr Oizo's Flatbeat although it got really chaotic when at about 00:45 the music disapeared for a short while until they started playing Tom Jones'
"You Can Leave Your Hat On" and we managed to get someone to strip off completely with quite a big crowd amongst the goings on. Towards the end they played "Killing In The Name Of" which got a similar reaction and a D&B remix of "Ready Or Not" which resulted in everyone singing the chorus way after they faded the music out at closing time.

Most of us went to a flat party afterwards where the Beer Pong boys were attempting throws, only with a crushed ball and myself and Jane spent a bit of time with this fella who had been in the army and had a few scars on his hand to prove it. I left at around 3am although it's going to be quite odd without the usual Monday night carnage for the next few weeks. Hopefully I'll save a bit of money.