My tickets for Beverly Craven arrived for this coming Saturday which is timed rather nicely as Mum and Dad will be away in Colchester seeing Mum's friend Alison.
Her daughter happens to know my final year flatmate Suzette really well, although I'm hoping Suz manages to get through her second year on the CMP course alongside the demands, and late essays back from the theory lecturers.
Even now, they're not sticking to their sides of the bargain in spite of the shortened semesters.
As for tonight I shall be watching my first live MOBO Awards as broadcast on BBC Three where if last year was anything to go by, if you're not there to pick up your gong you will get a booing as Leona Lewis and Dizzee Rascal did at the 2008 awards.
Performance wise I'm not expecting anything special, JLS, N*Dubz,
oh bugger that.
Diversity have a set though, so that should be good even if they're not musicians as such.
On a lower note, former Hallam FM presenter Dave Kilner has died aged just 48 years old who in addition to his presenting was also the announcer at the Sheffield United home games.
The great station in the sky seems to be increasing it's on air line up, but when I think about it there's nothing more worth looking forward to listening to, even if it will be a long while until then.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Press Start
Tonight saw Charlie Brooker make a one off apearance on BBC Four with "Gameswipe" taking a swipe at video games past and present.
I liked how at the start it looked at how video games and computers seemed to be neglected on television in the 80s with the exception of shows such as the BBC's "Micro Live, until the early 90s when shows such as Gamesmaster became popular on Channel 4, whilst less than succesful was the virtual reality show "Cyberzone" on BBC 2 hosted by Craig Charles, and made by the same people behind "Knightmare".
There was a dissection into the various game genres with the one grabbing my interest being the first person shooters with a re-made version of Wolfenstein on the X Box.
I personally prefer the original release on the PC back in 1992 where as Brooker mentioned it was a lot more humorous and made the Nazi enemies look like something from "Allo Allo".
One of my favourite parts came from contributor Dara O'Briain who let off steam over games which contained impossible levels so early in the game such as unlocking songs from Rock Band, and travelling through slow traffic in GTA 4 where if you get caught by the police, you have to go through the whole ordeal again.
Definitely an interesting insight into one of Charlie's favourite subjects and one worth checking on iPlayer.
It's made me realise that I'm not really missing much gaming wise.
I liked how at the start it looked at how video games and computers seemed to be neglected on television in the 80s with the exception of shows such as the BBC's "Micro Live, until the early 90s when shows such as Gamesmaster became popular on Channel 4, whilst less than succesful was the virtual reality show "Cyberzone" on BBC 2 hosted by Craig Charles, and made by the same people behind "Knightmare".
There was a dissection into the various game genres with the one grabbing my interest being the first person shooters with a re-made version of Wolfenstein on the X Box.
I personally prefer the original release on the PC back in 1992 where as Brooker mentioned it was a lot more humorous and made the Nazi enemies look like something from "Allo Allo".
One of my favourite parts came from contributor Dara O'Briain who let off steam over games which contained impossible levels so early in the game such as unlocking songs from Rock Band, and travelling through slow traffic in GTA 4 where if you get caught by the police, you have to go through the whole ordeal again.
Definitely an interesting insight into one of Charlie's favourite subjects and one worth checking on iPlayer.
It's made me realise that I'm not really missing much gaming wise.
Monday, September 28, 2009
"Just Wonderin' What Time You Wanted To Get Together To Do The Horns"
Another otherwise empty day, visiting the Job Centre and so on.
I've got a meeting with one of the advisers in two weeks which I'm a bit nervous about in the usual dead end thought of mind, being forced into a job I don't want and so on.
The plan for tomorrow is to head over to University to submit my membership form for CSR, the radio station broadcasting from The University of Kent which is open to non University members.
The only problem is that I can't actually print my membership form out due to the shoddy half arsed way that Dad has set up the downstairs computer that needs me to log in, and a printer that won't work when you want it to.
To make things more complicated Dad's away in Europe this week so it may involve a visit to the nearest internet bar and hopefully they'll have printing facilities.
It's a bugger I tell you.
I'm sorting the cooking out tomorrow for both myself and Mum and I may attempt to try and do an experimental chicken stew with herbs that I haven't used before.
I may also make the effort to make some peas to go with the rice and it should be a rather filling result.
It's also a packed evening listening wise courtesy of X-Stream East starting off with Sarah Thompson's "Get Up" show and then Grooveline with Stephen Howie, albeit pre-recced as he's still on holiday in Cuba.
On returning however, Grooveline won't just be returning live on XStream East, but also as a two hour show on it's former home Blast 1386 in a pre-recced slot between 3 and 5pm on Fridays.
It really will be like the old days, although to be fair it's actually two years since the show was on Friday afternoons.
It seems like a long time though, and it was nice to listen to at that time, mainly during the first year when I didn't have any lectures on a Friday.
Both Stephen and the show will be getting a few mentions in my biog as despite not actually attending Westminster, we really did become "Soul Brothers" if that's the right way of putting it.
There's so many records he's introduced me to over the last 4 years and they're very powerful in terms of reminiscing.
Earth Wind And Fire's "Show Me The Way" featuring Raphael Saddiq being one such gem which grew on me quite a bit.
I'd be a right wreck if I hadn't discovered the soulful stuff 10 years ago.
I've got a meeting with one of the advisers in two weeks which I'm a bit nervous about in the usual dead end thought of mind, being forced into a job I don't want and so on.
The plan for tomorrow is to head over to University to submit my membership form for CSR, the radio station broadcasting from The University of Kent which is open to non University members.
The only problem is that I can't actually print my membership form out due to the shoddy half arsed way that Dad has set up the downstairs computer that needs me to log in, and a printer that won't work when you want it to.
To make things more complicated Dad's away in Europe this week so it may involve a visit to the nearest internet bar and hopefully they'll have printing facilities.
It's a bugger I tell you.
I'm sorting the cooking out tomorrow for both myself and Mum and I may attempt to try and do an experimental chicken stew with herbs that I haven't used before.
I may also make the effort to make some peas to go with the rice and it should be a rather filling result.
It's also a packed evening listening wise courtesy of X-Stream East starting off with Sarah Thompson's "Get Up" show and then Grooveline with Stephen Howie, albeit pre-recced as he's still on holiday in Cuba.
On returning however, Grooveline won't just be returning live on XStream East, but also as a two hour show on it's former home Blast 1386 in a pre-recced slot between 3 and 5pm on Fridays.
It really will be like the old days, although to be fair it's actually two years since the show was on Friday afternoons.
It seems like a long time though, and it was nice to listen to at that time, mainly during the first year when I didn't have any lectures on a Friday.
Both Stephen and the show will be getting a few mentions in my biog as despite not actually attending Westminster, we really did become "Soul Brothers" if that's the right way of putting it.
There's so many records he's introduced me to over the last 4 years and they're very powerful in terms of reminiscing.
Earth Wind And Fire's "Show Me The Way" featuring Raphael Saddiq being one such gem which grew on me quite a bit.
I'd be a right wreck if I hadn't discovered the soulful stuff 10 years ago.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Youthful Distractions
I'll start off with another impressive upload from Jon Bufton, this time of CiTV's 1998 relaunch in late May, with Danielle and Stephen making their on-air debut who were the first live in vision presenters for over 5 years.
The idents didn't last too long as they were replaced by a set of 3D graphics in the Autumn of that year with the same logo but with the familiar 8 note sting that lasted throughout the late 90s into the 00s.
It's worth noting the montage at the start of the first clip where amongst the "stars" wishing luck include two of Chumbawamba, and the lovely Imaani fresh from her near victory at the Eurovision Song Contest held not to far from the CiTV studios in Birmingham.
On a similar note but more recent, the first appearance for Ed & Oucho on CBBC in September 2007.
I was still recovering in hospital on the day the idents were introduced and have clear memories of seeing them for the first time whilst in there.
Still being used today, I think they're a strong set with the sung "#C-B-B-C" standing out and becoming very memorable.
Although nothing will beat the 2 Brave theme from the early 90s which I reckon you could also sing to that melody as heard here at 1.25.
I once used that instead of the usual end theme at the end of one of my soul shows towards the end of last year.
Moving onwards and tonight's X-Factor where many agreed that the really good acts may have peaked too soon.
Despite their hopefully temporary flaws, Stacey Solomon and Danyl Johnson managed to get through into the judges houses, although rather controversially the cocky Irish twins also got through.
Although I reckon they'll make the live shows more fun if they get that far.
For the first time in the series, the judges would be introduced to those who they would be mentoring instantly by meeting them.
Simon ended up with the over 25s, Cheryl got the boys, Louis got the boys for a second year running, and Dannii will be mentoring the girls.
It's worth mentioning Dannii as the preview for next week's shows proved the rumours to be true as her lovely superior sister Kylie will be assisting.
Actually having thought about it, I still quite like some of Dannii's early material such as "Love And Kisses", "Baby Love" (not a cover), and "This Is The Way".
I thought she lost her way with the trancey electro stuff later on
in her "Neon Nights" phase.
Early 90s dance was definitely my favourite period for music which so many try to replicate but never quite succeed.
I'm sure there's a lot more to discover and all.
The idents didn't last too long as they were replaced by a set of 3D graphics in the Autumn of that year with the same logo but with the familiar 8 note sting that lasted throughout the late 90s into the 00s.
It's worth noting the montage at the start of the first clip where amongst the "stars" wishing luck include two of Chumbawamba, and the lovely Imaani fresh from her near victory at the Eurovision Song Contest held not to far from the CiTV studios in Birmingham.
On a similar note but more recent, the first appearance for Ed & Oucho on CBBC in September 2007.
I was still recovering in hospital on the day the idents were introduced and have clear memories of seeing them for the first time whilst in there.
Still being used today, I think they're a strong set with the sung "#C-B-B-C" standing out and becoming very memorable.
Although nothing will beat the 2 Brave theme from the early 90s which I reckon you could also sing to that melody as heard here at 1.25.
I once used that instead of the usual end theme at the end of one of my soul shows towards the end of last year.
Moving onwards and tonight's X-Factor where many agreed that the really good acts may have peaked too soon.
Despite their hopefully temporary flaws, Stacey Solomon and Danyl Johnson managed to get through into the judges houses, although rather controversially the cocky Irish twins also got through.
Although I reckon they'll make the live shows more fun if they get that far.
For the first time in the series, the judges would be introduced to those who they would be mentoring instantly by meeting them.
Simon ended up with the over 25s, Cheryl got the boys, Louis got the boys for a second year running, and Dannii will be mentoring the girls.
It's worth mentioning Dannii as the preview for next week's shows proved the rumours to be true as her lovely superior sister Kylie will be assisting.
Actually having thought about it, I still quite like some of Dannii's early material such as "Love And Kisses", "Baby Love" (not a cover), and "This Is The Way".
I thought she lost her way with the trancey electro stuff later on
in her "Neon Nights" phase.
Early 90s dance was definitely my favourite period for music which so many try to replicate but never quite succeed.
I'm sure there's a lot more to discover and all.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
From Pant Swinging To Just Pants
I almost forgot that today's quite a significant day in terms of television, as one of the BBC's finest ever show's made it's debut 22 years ago on this day, that being Going Live!
It only sprang to mind after seeing today's opening episode of the inferior TMi now on it's fourth series still with Sam and Mark but without Caroline Flack who will be hosting the ITV2 show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here - Now! this year.
I'm surprised as to why CBBC are insistent on flogging such trash with a double act who piss about for sake of it, and in a 90 minute timeslot between 8:30 and 10am, it seems very anti climatic compared to the 3 hour length that Going Live! and Live and Kicking had.
Especially with almost half of the show taken up by cartoons and imports.
It probably shows the weakness of the duo's longevity as Ant & Dec had left SM:tv by the amount of time that TMi has reached now.
On a more positive note that same day in 1987 saw the first episode of Chucklevision which is still going today.
It was more of a studio based show than a sitcom in the first series, but to this day Paul and Barry could have me laughing a lot more than the failed chart double act.
Thank goodness for lie ins. And Fighting Talk on 5 Live.
It only sprang to mind after seeing today's opening episode of the inferior TMi now on it's fourth series still with Sam and Mark but without Caroline Flack who will be hosting the ITV2 show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here - Now! this year.
I'm surprised as to why CBBC are insistent on flogging such trash with a double act who piss about for sake of it, and in a 90 minute timeslot between 8:30 and 10am, it seems very anti climatic compared to the 3 hour length that Going Live! and Live and Kicking had.
Especially with almost half of the show taken up by cartoons and imports.
It probably shows the weakness of the duo's longevity as Ant & Dec had left SM:tv by the amount of time that TMi has reached now.
On a more positive note that same day in 1987 saw the first episode of Chucklevision which is still going today.
It was more of a studio based show than a sitcom in the first series, but to this day Paul and Barry could have me laughing a lot more than the failed chart double act.
Thank goodness for lie ins. And Fighting Talk on 5 Live.
Filling Winton's Hole
Tonight sees the return of one of the most infamous shows from last year, Hole In The Wall.
This time Anton DuBeke has been promoted as main host taking over from Dale Winton with Joe Swash and Austin Healy as the team captains, where the first show features Comedy Dave from The Chris Moyles Show as a contestant alongside other D-list celebrities including Anne Diamond, and John Altman from Eastenders.
I'll see if I can last 10 minutes without switching off.
The rest of tonight involves the first of this weekend's Boot Camps on the X Factor. I'm hoping that Stacey and Danyl get further to the judges houses although I'm really looking forward to hopefully seeing Phil Harris and Barry who were in the audience at the Apollo back in August.
As for Strictly Come Dancing did anyone take pity on Alesha in the same way as Bruce last night?
One constructive suggestion would be for her to not put so much make up on.
I swear she's been covered more than she was as a contestant and looks rather like Sharon Osbourne.
On that note it was a bit unfair of me to compare Natalie Cassidy
to Kelly Osbourne.
Waynetta Slob would be more apt.
This time Anton DuBeke has been promoted as main host taking over from Dale Winton with Joe Swash and Austin Healy as the team captains, where the first show features Comedy Dave from The Chris Moyles Show as a contestant alongside other D-list celebrities including Anne Diamond, and John Altman from Eastenders.
I'll see if I can last 10 minutes without switching off.
The rest of tonight involves the first of this weekend's Boot Camps on the X Factor. I'm hoping that Stacey and Danyl get further to the judges houses although I'm really looking forward to hopefully seeing Phil Harris and Barry who were in the audience at the Apollo back in August.
As for Strictly Come Dancing did anyone take pity on Alesha in the same way as Bruce last night?
One constructive suggestion would be for her to not put so much make up on.
I swear she's been covered more than she was as a contestant and looks rather like Sharon Osbourne.
On that note it was a bit unfair of me to compare Natalie Cassidy
to Kelly Osbourne.
Waynetta Slob would be more apt.
Friday, September 25, 2009
"You Light Up Another Cigarette"
Following from last night's Mock The Week, Dad mentioned that Milton Jones happens to be playing at the Gulbenkian in Canterbury this Autumn.
The only problem is that it's on the 6th of November which is the day after the Student Radio Awards and three days before graduation so I'll probably still be in London for that weekend.
However I have booked for another performance at the same venue a week tomorrow, with a vocalist and composer who's biggest success was the 1991 hit "Promise Me".
Yes, Beverly Craven's making her way to Canterbury and I decided to book tickets after reading a really nice interview she gave for the Canterbury AdScene of how she wrote a song for her children after being diagnosed with breast cancer, in case she didn't survive the ordeal.
I'm hoping she performs her follow up "Holding On".
Elsewhere, tonight's Peep Show was disappointing, less laughs, more awkward misunderstandings over the fuss over who was the father of Sophie's baby.
I'm hoping that it's a weak spot in the series as last week's episode had me in stitches.
Good Night.
The only problem is that it's on the 6th of November which is the day after the Student Radio Awards and three days before graduation so I'll probably still be in London for that weekend.
However I have booked for another performance at the same venue a week tomorrow, with a vocalist and composer who's biggest success was the 1991 hit "Promise Me".
Yes, Beverly Craven's making her way to Canterbury and I decided to book tickets after reading a really nice interview she gave for the Canterbury AdScene of how she wrote a song for her children after being diagnosed with breast cancer, in case she didn't survive the ordeal.
I'm hoping she performs her follow up "Holding On".
Elsewhere, tonight's Peep Show was disappointing, less laughs, more awkward misunderstandings over the fuss over who was the father of Sophie's baby.
I'm hoping that it's a weak spot in the series as last week's episode had me in stitches.
Good Night.
AS In Ashford
The final Mock The Week of the current series proved to be entertaining, even without Frankie Boyle's presence.
Milton Jones was a good contributor with his one liners in the stand up round although he's been around for quite a while with his Radio 4 series and even got into Bob Monkhouse's good books shortly before his death.
As for today I plan to head over to Ashford for another meeting with other people with Asperger's Syndrome where nothing is forced onto us and are allowed to leave at any time if things get too much.
I managed to cope OK last time although I felt I spoke too much at certain times because others brought up topics I had something to say about.
In spite of that and the long journey from Ashford International station, it should be productive.
Later tonight there's episode 2 of Peep Show and what should be an interesting encounter with Graham Norton guesting on Jonathan Ross to prove that there's nothing really nasty between the two.
Milton Jones was a good contributor with his one liners in the stand up round although he's been around for quite a while with his Radio 4 series and even got into Bob Monkhouse's good books shortly before his death.
As for today I plan to head over to Ashford for another meeting with other people with Asperger's Syndrome where nothing is forced onto us and are allowed to leave at any time if things get too much.
I managed to cope OK last time although I felt I spoke too much at certain times because others brought up topics I had something to say about.
In spite of that and the long journey from Ashford International station, it should be productive.
Later tonight there's episode 2 of Peep Show and what should be an interesting encounter with Graham Norton guesting on Jonathan Ross to prove that there's nothing really nasty between the two.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
A Gutting Absence
Not a good start to today on finding out that Frankie Boyle for the first time will be absent from Mock The Week as he had been taken to hospital just hours before they were due to start recording the episode on Tuesday.
According to this article from The Sun, warm up man Ben Norris is to step in his place, although those in the audience who have posted on Digital Spy have said that it was still an enjoyable show.
We'll just have to see how much actually gets in to the final show of the series which has been a long one but more consistent in terms of actually having me in stitches.
Prick Reeves and Nob Mortimer had a fucking nerve refer to the show as "stale" as opposed to their circus act.
Thankfully their series came to an end last night although it's not the worst they've done.
"Families At War" anyone?
A slightly more successful Saturday teatime pairing from the North East were on This Morning just minutes ago, them being Ant & Dec chatting about their autobiography.
It burst into mind that with Phillip and Holly interviewing them, there were four of my favourite people to have presented on Saturday mornings all in the same studio together.
I almost broke down when Ant talked about the lack of Saturday morning shows on television in the present day.
It has you thinking, who will be presenting This Morning in 20 years as I very much doubt that Sam & Mark would fit the bill.
According to this article from The Sun, warm up man Ben Norris is to step in his place, although those in the audience who have posted on Digital Spy have said that it was still an enjoyable show.
We'll just have to see how much actually gets in to the final show of the series which has been a long one but more consistent in terms of actually having me in stitches.
Prick Reeves and Nob Mortimer had a fucking nerve refer to the show as "stale" as opposed to their circus act.
Thankfully their series came to an end last night although it's not the worst they've done.
"Families At War" anyone?
A slightly more successful Saturday teatime pairing from the North East were on This Morning just minutes ago, them being Ant & Dec chatting about their autobiography.
It burst into mind that with Phillip and Holly interviewing them, there were four of my favourite people to have presented on Saturday mornings all in the same studio together.
I almost broke down when Ant talked about the lack of Saturday morning shows on television in the present day.
It has you thinking, who will be presenting This Morning in 20 years as I very much doubt that Sam & Mark would fit the bill.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
More Sober But Celebratory
I arrived at Clapham Junction just after 7pm yesterday evening meeting up with Phil Harris and Barry who now live in the area. Sami arrived shortly after and we headed over to the Bar Social on Lavender Hill not too far from the Battersea Arts Centre.
It was a lovely place where we even got a seating area specially reserved for us and I tried some cocktails I'd never tried before such as the "Woo Woo" if that's what it was called.
It was quite a fitting place to visit as this time four years ago I went to my first ever gig in London as a University student where the ever superb Atar and The Funkadrome were playing at the Clapham Grand.
There weren't too many familiar faces present last night but it went really well with one of the Irish lads Jason turning up and several of Barry's mates from Top Shop in Oxford Street who were just as delightful and good to chat to.
One in particular spent a lot of time chatting about music and revealed he was a big Enya fan and wanted me to lend him some of my albums of hers that I have. I also asked if he was into Clannad but surprisingly he didn't they were as good as Enya on her own.
Barry even had a birthday cake brought out but quite a lot of us weren't that hungry for it but I'm certain there's plenty of spare as I type.
Sami wasn't drinking as she had to travel back to Windsor pretty early but it was lovely to see her again and I'll probably be doing so in two weeks when the noms come up.
In fact both her and Phil H will be giving a talk to the first years starting in two weeks about what the industry is like after graduating and it should be interesting as they're both in productive but not necesarily stable jobs and have been made redundant once or twice.
Speaking of which, at one of Phil's old haunts, the man who didn't give me the work placement at Smooth Radio has departed as producer of Graham Dene's breakfast show.
I guess that means a possible opportunity to try again for a potential placement, even if the station still lives up to it's tag as "the poor man's Radio 2".
I've heard a few things about Graham Obscene off mic but I'll try and keep them under wraps at this time.
Here's a few photos of what took place at Bar Social.
Phil and the birthday boy.
Sami and Blammy swap roles. Why wasn't I smiling?
Barry and Jay.
It was a lot darker in there than the photo suggests.
One of the guests after a faceful of birthday cake.
I got a taxi from Lavender Hill to Clapham South where my hotel was and it was just as well because it was quite a long way there.
It was an odd place as the reception looked rather plush until I got shown through to a more derelict area through a back door and into a large room with three beds.
Definitely more than my money's worth.
I left at 7am and got the tube to Victoria where the train was due to leave at 8.
Whilst waiting I had a browse in WH Smith where Ant & Dec's autobiography was on the shelf although I tried to avoid looking inside as it's my main preference for a Christmas present this year.
That's fucking torture for you.
I'm back safely in Canters where I'm up to more rummaging and hopefully by the end of this week I will get past one of my worst experiences at Smoke Radio when I let myself go to far during the 2008 marathon.
It was from then that I realised that I should stick to just playing the music and stop trying to outdo Noel.
I stuck to that until the final show at least when I played the noise of his gunge tank at multiple times.
It was a lovely place where we even got a seating area specially reserved for us and I tried some cocktails I'd never tried before such as the "Woo Woo" if that's what it was called.
It was quite a fitting place to visit as this time four years ago I went to my first ever gig in London as a University student where the ever superb Atar and The Funkadrome were playing at the Clapham Grand.
There weren't too many familiar faces present last night but it went really well with one of the Irish lads Jason turning up and several of Barry's mates from Top Shop in Oxford Street who were just as delightful and good to chat to.
One in particular spent a lot of time chatting about music and revealed he was a big Enya fan and wanted me to lend him some of my albums of hers that I have. I also asked if he was into Clannad but surprisingly he didn't they were as good as Enya on her own.
Barry even had a birthday cake brought out but quite a lot of us weren't that hungry for it but I'm certain there's plenty of spare as I type.
Sami wasn't drinking as she had to travel back to Windsor pretty early but it was lovely to see her again and I'll probably be doing so in two weeks when the noms come up.
In fact both her and Phil H will be giving a talk to the first years starting in two weeks about what the industry is like after graduating and it should be interesting as they're both in productive but not necesarily stable jobs and have been made redundant once or twice.
Speaking of which, at one of Phil's old haunts, the man who didn't give me the work placement at Smooth Radio has departed as producer of Graham Dene's breakfast show.
I guess that means a possible opportunity to try again for a potential placement, even if the station still lives up to it's tag as "the poor man's Radio 2".
I've heard a few things about Graham Obscene off mic but I'll try and keep them under wraps at this time.
Here's a few photos of what took place at Bar Social.
Phil and the birthday boy.
Sami and Blammy swap roles. Why wasn't I smiling?
Barry and Jay.
It was a lot darker in there than the photo suggests.
One of the guests after a faceful of birthday cake.
I got a taxi from Lavender Hill to Clapham South where my hotel was and it was just as well because it was quite a long way there.
It was an odd place as the reception looked rather plush until I got shown through to a more derelict area through a back door and into a large room with three beds.
Definitely more than my money's worth.
I left at 7am and got the tube to Victoria where the train was due to leave at 8.
Whilst waiting I had a browse in WH Smith where Ant & Dec's autobiography was on the shelf although I tried to avoid looking inside as it's my main preference for a Christmas present this year.
That's fucking torture for you.
I'm back safely in Canters where I'm up to more rummaging and hopefully by the end of this week I will get past one of my worst experiences at Smoke Radio when I let myself go to far during the 2008 marathon.
It was from then that I realised that I should stick to just playing the music and stop trying to outdo Noel.
I stuck to that until the final show at least when I played the noise of his gunge tank at multiple times.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
More Than Just Uplifting
It is looking amazing outside and although it will be pretty dark by the time of my arrival it's got me in the right sort of mood for Barry's birthday do in Clapham where I will be getting the train in just under two hours.
I'll arrive early as the ticket machine's probably still fucked at Canterbury East station.
As for the rest of today, I've still been writing the rest of my "biog" where I'm still on Refreshers '08 and in terms of show content it wasn't too bad although at the time I was feeling like utter crap.
One particular highlight which will possibly end up on the Christmas tape was when Stoobie got "taken off air" for uttering one of the words that was vetoed from his show as part of a wind up from Chris and Pete.
These included "star", "wars" and "transformers".
On that same subject, the duo have been given an extra hour this Friday on their Hayes FM breakfast show so I may actually be up to listen this time round.
Provided I can stomach the awful cod-Asian pop tracks that are played, which would be like me going onto a station aimed at a West Indian community and playing them "Mysterious Girl" by Peter Andre.
Speaking of which there's tons of Trojan compilations I've yet to listen to although ultimately I'm planning to buy some of Joey Negro's earlier albums from Traxsource at Xmas, as having heard some of the samples, they are amazing and probably more so than his recent Sunburst Band album.
But then again, this was 1993.
Even Take That thought he was good enough when they got him to produce "Relight My Fire".
They were definitely working with the best people early on in their career including Ian Levine from the Motor City label who produced similar gems such as "Footsteps Following Me" by Frances Nero, and "All Over The World" by
Chuck Jackson.
That's the overall benchmark as far as the really good stuff goes.
I'll arrive early as the ticket machine's probably still fucked at Canterbury East station.
As for the rest of today, I've still been writing the rest of my "biog" where I'm still on Refreshers '08 and in terms of show content it wasn't too bad although at the time I was feeling like utter crap.
One particular highlight which will possibly end up on the Christmas tape was when Stoobie got "taken off air" for uttering one of the words that was vetoed from his show as part of a wind up from Chris and Pete.
These included "star", "wars" and "transformers".
On that same subject, the duo have been given an extra hour this Friday on their Hayes FM breakfast show so I may actually be up to listen this time round.
Provided I can stomach the awful cod-Asian pop tracks that are played, which would be like me going onto a station aimed at a West Indian community and playing them "Mysterious Girl" by Peter Andre.
Speaking of which there's tons of Trojan compilations I've yet to listen to although ultimately I'm planning to buy some of Joey Negro's earlier albums from Traxsource at Xmas, as having heard some of the samples, they are amazing and probably more so than his recent Sunburst Band album.
But then again, this was 1993.
Even Take That thought he was good enough when they got him to produce "Relight My Fire".
They were definitely working with the best people early on in their career including Ian Levine from the Motor City label who produced similar gems such as "Footsteps Following Me" by Frances Nero, and "All Over The World" by
Chuck Jackson.
That's the overall benchmark as far as the really good stuff goes.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Craic'd Up In Clapham
Last year's series of shorts shot at the Harrow Campus for BBC Switch has been turned into a series called "Off The Hook" currently airing on BBC Three and is two episodes in.
They can both be found on the BBC iPlayer and the first episode is basically all the original "Fresh" shorts made last year including the Freshers' Fayre scene where myself, Sophie and Eric can be seen as well as Troy Putland dressed as a toadstool.
I'm not too sure about the plot itself as most of the characters seem rather contrived, as do the plotlines but the way it's shot makes places such as Area 51 look a lot better than in real life.
The filming for the rest of the series took place last Spring although I didn't appear in any scenes this time round as I was working on my dissertation, and going out on general piss-ups.
In fact it's fair to say I did more of the latter.
Speaking of which, I'm heading back over to London again tomorrow evening, Clapham to be more specific where Barry's celebrating his 24th birthday along with Phil Harris, Annabel and a few more we're hoping to get along.
I've been asked to hassle a few people over, particularly Chris Chilvers although I bet he's tied up enough with his Odeon job and various shifts at Classic FM.
Phil was particularly exicited about my presence although I bet he's more keen to use the opportunity to make more jokes about Barry's antics towards me when he's had a lot to drink.
It's only a bit of fun though and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more people who I haven't seen for months.
I'm hoping that nearer the time of graduation we can get all of us reunited, and that includes Pete and Danielle as they did play a big part during the last three years.
Let the good times continue.
They can both be found on the BBC iPlayer and the first episode is basically all the original "Fresh" shorts made last year including the Freshers' Fayre scene where myself, Sophie and Eric can be seen as well as Troy Putland dressed as a toadstool.
I'm not too sure about the plot itself as most of the characters seem rather contrived, as do the plotlines but the way it's shot makes places such as Area 51 look a lot better than in real life.
The filming for the rest of the series took place last Spring although I didn't appear in any scenes this time round as I was working on my dissertation, and going out on general piss-ups.
In fact it's fair to say I did more of the latter.
Speaking of which, I'm heading back over to London again tomorrow evening, Clapham to be more specific where Barry's celebrating his 24th birthday along with Phil Harris, Annabel and a few more we're hoping to get along.
I've been asked to hassle a few people over, particularly Chris Chilvers although I bet he's tied up enough with his Odeon job and various shifts at Classic FM.
Phil was particularly exicited about my presence although I bet he's more keen to use the opportunity to make more jokes about Barry's antics towards me when he's had a lot to drink.
It's only a bit of fun though and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more people who I haven't seen for months.
I'm hoping that nearer the time of graduation we can get all of us reunited, and that includes Pete and Danielle as they did play a big part during the last three years.
Let the good times continue.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
The Booting Awaits
Mum and Dad will be arriving back late tonight after spending the afternoon in Yorkshire visiting Grandma.
As for me it's just been a normal Sunday starting off with Robbie Vincent's Essential Rhythms on Jazz FM where for the first time on the show, I got a mention after sending an e-mail to Robbie about the Matt Bianco gig at Ronnie Scott's which the host himself wished he was present at.
Tonight was spent watching the second of this week's X Factor outings where it was the last of the auditions where we finally saw the appearance of 21 year old Scott from Stockton On Tees who has Asperger's Syndrome.
Despite his song choice, his background did nothing to hide the fact that he had a stunning voice and that he has great potential to gain more confidence if he gets past boot camp.
My favourite bit had to be an auditionee who claimed that his brother once shot him by accident, and gave an out of tune falsetto rendition of Westlife's "Swear It Again".
I was cracking up when Simon Cowell asked if his brother shot him after hearing him sing.
Next weekend there's two more shows showing what happened at boot camp, although the one thing I'll be looking out for the most is a sighting of fellow Uni student Phil Harris, who happened to be one of those in the audience at the Hammersmith Apollo.
The main priority for tomorrow is to book a hair appointment as I really need to get it cut.
That aside, goodness knows what else is planned apart from further writing.
As for me it's just been a normal Sunday starting off with Robbie Vincent's Essential Rhythms on Jazz FM where for the first time on the show, I got a mention after sending an e-mail to Robbie about the Matt Bianco gig at Ronnie Scott's which the host himself wished he was present at.
Tonight was spent watching the second of this week's X Factor outings where it was the last of the auditions where we finally saw the appearance of 21 year old Scott from Stockton On Tees who has Asperger's Syndrome.
Despite his song choice, his background did nothing to hide the fact that he had a stunning voice and that he has great potential to gain more confidence if he gets past boot camp.
My favourite bit had to be an auditionee who claimed that his brother once shot him by accident, and gave an out of tune falsetto rendition of Westlife's "Swear It Again".
I was cracking up when Simon Cowell asked if his brother shot him after hearing him sing.
Next weekend there's two more shows showing what happened at boot camp, although the one thing I'll be looking out for the most is a sighting of fellow Uni student Phil Harris, who happened to be one of those in the audience at the Hammersmith Apollo.
The main priority for tomorrow is to book a hair appointment as I really need to get it cut.
That aside, goodness knows what else is planned apart from further writing.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Couldn't Give An X
Tonight was spent in front of the television enjoying a Peperroni Passion from Dominos and a few bottles of Pineapple Breezer switching between both Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor.
I just find it hard to warm to any of the contestants in the current series of SCD and just like the other shows you can predict what's about to happen next with the script in the dance off being exactly the same as the last series; "This, is the moment of truth".
Then again I don't seem to have a problem with Dara O'Briain doing the same when introducing the Scenes We'd Like To See round on Mock The Week;
"This round is for everyun so make your way to the performance area".
The X Factor was nothing special although tomorrow's the last of the auditions and hopefully things will start developing.
Although then again it will probably be anti-climatic as ever, but a few more Breezers will make things entertaining.
As for tomorrow I plan to listen to Robbie Vincent on Jazz FM and make start on reliving Refreshers Week 2008.
The output from Smoke Radio that is, not the beating I experienced near the end and made things fucking worse than they had already got.
I got through though, and from then on made sure I never went through Harrow alone at night.
I just find it hard to warm to any of the contestants in the current series of SCD and just like the other shows you can predict what's about to happen next with the script in the dance off being exactly the same as the last series; "This, is the moment of truth".
Then again I don't seem to have a problem with Dara O'Briain doing the same when introducing the Scenes We'd Like To See round on Mock The Week;
"This round is for everyun so make your way to the performance area".
The X Factor was nothing special although tomorrow's the last of the auditions and hopefully things will start developing.
Although then again it will probably be anti-climatic as ever, but a few more Breezers will make things entertaining.
As for tomorrow I plan to listen to Robbie Vincent on Jazz FM and make start on reliving Refreshers Week 2008.
The output from Smoke Radio that is, not the beating I experienced near the end and made things fucking worse than they had already got.
I got through though, and from then on made sure I never went through Harrow alone at night.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Hanging Up My Dancing Shoes?
It's an empty house this weekend apart from my presence as Mum and Dad have gone to take Kate and Olly towards the North where they're starting University. Olly in fact is starting his first year at Leeds on a Biomedical Science course.
The first episode of Strictly series 7 lived up to expectations. That being it was rather sub standard.
I know it was only the first show of the series and there's another one tomorrow, but I'm feeling as if I'm starting to tire of the show and that I doubt I'll be able to commit myself for the next 16 or so weeks.
Alesha Dixon barely added anything to the judges panel that was immensely distinctive and really think she'd have been better suited to the role of Tess Daly as she would be a superb presenter.
It's not the age that's the problem, it's an overall sign of the producers wanting so badly to compete with the X Factor when they're not doing that badly against them.
I also found myself yelling "who are ya!" at the TV screen in response to some of the contestants who I didn't know of, and almost thought Kelly Osbourne was taking part when seeing Natalie Cassidy.
There's just no one I can really warm to and some of the contestants will try too hard to do what John Seargant did last series with Phil Tufnell being a prime candidate, especially as he's also a reporter on The ONE Show.
It's going to be difficult tomorrow evening when SCD is up against the X Factor which even Brendan Cole is unhappy about in terms of them both deserving fairer airtime.
If they moved "Borelin" to a later time then the problem would almost be solved.
As for tonight's Peep Show, it was a strong start where Mark and the employees of JLB were made redundant and formed an alliance known as "The JLB Survivors" where they performed a comedy skit involving Mark dressed up as a Hitler caricature lampooning the company's head owner.
Only things started going pear shaped when the owner himself showed up.
I'll certainly be looking forward to the rest of the series.
The first episode of Strictly series 7 lived up to expectations. That being it was rather sub standard.
I know it was only the first show of the series and there's another one tomorrow, but I'm feeling as if I'm starting to tire of the show and that I doubt I'll be able to commit myself for the next 16 or so weeks.
Alesha Dixon barely added anything to the judges panel that was immensely distinctive and really think she'd have been better suited to the role of Tess Daly as she would be a superb presenter.
It's not the age that's the problem, it's an overall sign of the producers wanting so badly to compete with the X Factor when they're not doing that badly against them.
I also found myself yelling "who are ya!" at the TV screen in response to some of the contestants who I didn't know of, and almost thought Kelly Osbourne was taking part when seeing Natalie Cassidy.
There's just no one I can really warm to and some of the contestants will try too hard to do what John Seargant did last series with Phil Tufnell being a prime candidate, especially as he's also a reporter on The ONE Show.
It's going to be difficult tomorrow evening when SCD is up against the X Factor which even Brendan Cole is unhappy about in terms of them both deserving fairer airtime.
If they moved "Borelin" to a later time then the problem would almost be solved.
As for tonight's Peep Show, it was a strong start where Mark and the employees of JLB were made redundant and formed an alliance known as "The JLB Survivors" where they performed a comedy skit involving Mark dressed up as a Hitler caricature lampooning the company's head owner.
Only things started going pear shaped when the owner himself showed up.
I'll certainly be looking forward to the rest of the series.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
"All The People On The Right, Boogaloo!"
Last night's visit to Ronnie Scott's had to be my favourite gig of this year so far.
I arrived in time to see the house band with guest vocalist Natalie Williams and it made me realise that I'd never been to a jazz performance like this at all during University.
None of this freeform nonsense which could easily be replicated by pulling the ends of a balloon, just straight melodic vocal jazz consisting of Natalie performing swing versions of songs by Aretha and Ray Charles and she looked like a really nice woman too.
This was only the warm up to the main performance by Matt Bianco and they lived up to a lot more than what I expected.
Mark Reilly on vocals was on top form and really does have one of those voices that stands out in the same way as Green Gartside from Scritti Politti
or Donald Fagen from Steely Dan.
In fact Mark's own voice does have a hint of the latter within it.
Mark Fisher on keyboards was on top form even if one of them was quieter than the other, and the backing band were superb including Hazel the female vocalist who did a nice turn on "Half A Minute", the percussion section adding the latin influences, and there was also Tony Remy and his talking guitar who it was really good to see again having seen him live with Incognito and the Sunburst Band respectively.
The set list was superb with a good mixture of tunes from their latest album and old favourites such as "Don't Blame It On That Girl", "Yeh Yeh", "Cha Cha Cuba", and "A Day In Your Life".
I wasn't too impressed when during the break, the MC who appeared to have no idea about the act announced "Matt Bianco and his band are just taking a 15 minute break".
If I ran Ronnie Scotts, that would be worthy of a formal warning.
During the gig itself I was sat in front of the bar next to a rather drunk fan of the band who was really getting into it and knew most of the words to their tunes.
I also didn't realise until yesterday that keyboard player Mark Fisher used to perform with Wham! before joining forces with Mark Reilly after the orginal band went their seperate ways.
You can definitely hear the influence on tracks such as "Club Tropicana".
The highlight of the gig however came near the end, when one of the backing vocalists wanted all of us to get up and start dancing in what was a rather elegant venue with everyone sat on dining tables, and the band performed possibly my favourite, "Wap Bam Boogie".
It sounded so good played with real instruments and just about everyone was moving and joining in. Considering that there's not many words to it, it went down really well.
The band returned for an encore where they performed their debut hit "Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed" where people were still on their feet.
This really was a visit to London well spent as Matt Bianco very rarely perform in their home country, and although it wasn't to a large scale as the Incognito gig, their performance will take some beating as far as live ones go.
I arrived in time to see the house band with guest vocalist Natalie Williams and it made me realise that I'd never been to a jazz performance like this at all during University.
None of this freeform nonsense which could easily be replicated by pulling the ends of a balloon, just straight melodic vocal jazz consisting of Natalie performing swing versions of songs by Aretha and Ray Charles and she looked like a really nice woman too.
This was only the warm up to the main performance by Matt Bianco and they lived up to a lot more than what I expected.
Mark Reilly on vocals was on top form and really does have one of those voices that stands out in the same way as Green Gartside from Scritti Politti
or Donald Fagen from Steely Dan.
In fact Mark's own voice does have a hint of the latter within it.
Mark Fisher on keyboards was on top form even if one of them was quieter than the other, and the backing band were superb including Hazel the female vocalist who did a nice turn on "Half A Minute", the percussion section adding the latin influences, and there was also Tony Remy and his talking guitar who it was really good to see again having seen him live with Incognito and the Sunburst Band respectively.
The set list was superb with a good mixture of tunes from their latest album and old favourites such as "Don't Blame It On That Girl", "Yeh Yeh", "Cha Cha Cuba", and "A Day In Your Life".
I wasn't too impressed when during the break, the MC who appeared to have no idea about the act announced "Matt Bianco and his band are just taking a 15 minute break".
If I ran Ronnie Scotts, that would be worthy of a formal warning.
During the gig itself I was sat in front of the bar next to a rather drunk fan of the band who was really getting into it and knew most of the words to their tunes.
I also didn't realise until yesterday that keyboard player Mark Fisher used to perform with Wham! before joining forces with Mark Reilly after the orginal band went their seperate ways.
You can definitely hear the influence on tracks such as "Club Tropicana".
The highlight of the gig however came near the end, when one of the backing vocalists wanted all of us to get up and start dancing in what was a rather elegant venue with everyone sat on dining tables, and the band performed possibly my favourite, "Wap Bam Boogie".
It sounded so good played with real instruments and just about everyone was moving and joining in. Considering that there's not many words to it, it went down really well.
The band returned for an encore where they performed their debut hit "Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed" where people were still on their feet.
This really was a visit to London well spent as Matt Bianco very rarely perform in their home country, and although it wasn't to a large scale as the Incognito gig, their performance will take some beating as far as live ones go.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
"I Don't Care Anymore, You Can Sleep On The Floor"
Another visit to London takes place tonight, this time to see the duo
Matt Bianco at Ronnie Scotts.
It's likely they'll be performing material from their new "HiFi Bossa Nova" album which has been getting a lot of airplay on Jazz FM in the last month or so, but I'm hoping they'll do some of their older stuff as well, possibly their cover of Georgie Fame's "Yeh Yeh" if we're lucky.
I'm stopping over at a hotel near Kings Cross although I aim to leave pretty early tomorrow morning as there's still a lot of writing and rummaging to get done.
Quite a lot of visual stuff actually such as revisting Hell's Kitchen series 3 which I "almost watched" back in September 2007 bearing in mind I could barely sit still in front of the television for more than 10 seconds.
Don't worry though, I won't be giving detailed recaps on each episode this time although despite being very ill, I was gloating when Jim Davidson got thrown out for his homophobic comments towards Brian Dowling.
For me, the right wing comedian made Bernard Manning look like Tommy Cooper.
Matt Bianco at Ronnie Scotts.
It's likely they'll be performing material from their new "HiFi Bossa Nova" album which has been getting a lot of airplay on Jazz FM in the last month or so, but I'm hoping they'll do some of their older stuff as well, possibly their cover of Georgie Fame's "Yeh Yeh" if we're lucky.
I'm stopping over at a hotel near Kings Cross although I aim to leave pretty early tomorrow morning as there's still a lot of writing and rummaging to get done.
Quite a lot of visual stuff actually such as revisting Hell's Kitchen series 3 which I "almost watched" back in September 2007 bearing in mind I could barely sit still in front of the television for more than 10 seconds.
Don't worry though, I won't be giving detailed recaps on each episode this time although despite being very ill, I was gloating when Jim Davidson got thrown out for his homophobic comments towards Brian Dowling.
For me, the right wing comedian made Bernard Manning look like Tommy Cooper.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Green With Appreciation
Wicked the Musical definitely lived up to it's name with a well written plot based entirely around the sub story of the witches in The Wizard Of Oz with references to the musical given in a clever witty style throughout.
The set and the visual effects were really good but the score itself was superb and one of the best that I have heard in a stage show by quite a long way.
Lord Nobber's got quite a big obstacle to face, with following the news that he will indeed be auditioning for his adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz next year in his new BBC 1 series.
I'll do my best to avoid that like his predecessors.
Overall I'd definitely reccomend anyone who hasn't seen the stage show of Wicked to do so.
In terms of travelling, I did find it awkward and I am fully adamant that I will never go through the struggles of travelling from Canterbury to London and back within a day on a family visit.
I get easily agitated and I don't like what they seem to find amusing and Mum and Dad at least certainly don't like my ruder sense of humour.
I will be travelling into the city again tomorrow evening to see Matt Bianco at Ronnie Scotts although I'm stopping off overnight at a hotel near Kings Cross.
As for today, it will more or less be laid back.
The set and the visual effects were really good but the score itself was superb and one of the best that I have heard in a stage show by quite a long way.
Lord Nobber's got quite a big obstacle to face, with following the news that he will indeed be auditioning for his adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz next year in his new BBC 1 series.
I'll do my best to avoid that like his predecessors.
Overall I'd definitely reccomend anyone who hasn't seen the stage show of Wicked to do so.
In terms of travelling, I did find it awkward and I am fully adamant that I will never go through the struggles of travelling from Canterbury to London and back within a day on a family visit.
I get easily agitated and I don't like what they seem to find amusing and Mum and Dad at least certainly don't like my ruder sense of humour.
I will be travelling into the city again tomorrow evening to see Matt Bianco at Ronnie Scotts although I'm stopping off overnight at a hotel near Kings Cross.
As for today, it will more or less be laid back.
Monday, September 14, 2009
In The Safe Hands Of Holly
I made my way to the job centre this morning and I honestly think they're one of the worst institutions in the country, down to their over-zealousness.
Not answering the fucking phone when you ring them is bad enough, but one of the staff got very lippy with me when I answered my mobile in there, on going outside to speak to the person ringing me, he also had a go at a young child messing about with the door.
Something must have upset him really badly.
Despite that I managed to see quite a bit of Holly Willoughby's first full day presenting This Morning with Phillip and they are completely different to how they are on Dancing On Ice as the format of This Morning allows them to actually have a chemistry together.
It was brave of the show to start off with a serious item about a Liverpool fan who was wrongly jailed for four years and Holly was pretty good at dealing with it although she wasn't as compassionate as Fern was.
Thankfully, Holly was no Fiona Phillips.
It's early days anyway and I can see this doing no harm for the show as they only thing that's really changed is the new arrangement of the theme tune and opening titles introduced two weeks ago.
There are still some items I will switch off such as the soap review, but apart from that I reckon Holly is Phillip's best presenting partner since Sarah Greene full stop.
As for this afternoon it's going to be a bastard I tell you.
We're driving to Faversham station, then picking up Mum from Gilingham and then heading over to Victoria to see "Wicked".
I've heard good things about the show itself, but spending more hours travelling than at the show itself will be horrendous.
I refuse to wake up tomorrow as a result.
Having said that, Holly's on again at 10:30.
Not answering the fucking phone when you ring them is bad enough, but one of the staff got very lippy with me when I answered my mobile in there, on going outside to speak to the person ringing me, he also had a go at a young child messing about with the door.
Something must have upset him really badly.
Despite that I managed to see quite a bit of Holly Willoughby's first full day presenting This Morning with Phillip and they are completely different to how they are on Dancing On Ice as the format of This Morning allows them to actually have a chemistry together.
It was brave of the show to start off with a serious item about a Liverpool fan who was wrongly jailed for four years and Holly was pretty good at dealing with it although she wasn't as compassionate as Fern was.
Thankfully, Holly was no Fiona Phillips.
It's early days anyway and I can see this doing no harm for the show as they only thing that's really changed is the new arrangement of the theme tune and opening titles introduced two weeks ago.
There are still some items I will switch off such as the soap review, but apart from that I reckon Holly is Phillip's best presenting partner since Sarah Greene full stop.
As for this afternoon it's going to be a bastard I tell you.
We're driving to Faversham station, then picking up Mum from Gilingham and then heading over to Victoria to see "Wicked".
I've heard good things about the show itself, but spending more hours travelling than at the show itself will be horrendous.
I refuse to wake up tomorrow as a result.
Having said that, Holly's on again at 10:30.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
"#Hello People, Hello Tree, Hello Sky and Moonlight"
Last night's X Factor again wasn't that memorable and had me thinking when they were going to move on from the audtion stage.
Well, televised audition stage anyway.
Luckily next week it will be coming to an end with two shows on Saturday and Sunday respectively although I'm pretty much convinced that we have a some good contenders for the final 10 already if Stacy and Danyl are anything to go by.
This morning was spent listening to Robbie Vincent as usual where one of the highlights was by the George Benson esque Norman Brown and the title track of his "Celebration" album.
Not a Kool and The Gang cover thankfully but very reminiscent of Brenda Russell.
Listening to her records makes me think if it's even worth moaning about Leona, Adele and other such female vocalists but to be fair, I'm not in a position where I'm subjected to their music without the aid of an off switch.
Yet.
I don't care if they're from the 80s and if they sound dated, musicians were lot less lazier with keyboards in those days when it came to composing, with possibly my favourite from Brenda being "Hello People" from her 1983 album
"Two Eyes".
That's the ideal accompaniment to a simple meal involving either cherry bakewells, or even a rather filling chip butty if cravings got the worst of me and was in the "right place at the right time".
As for tonight Mum and Dad are away in London so I'll indulge in another chicken stew with expensive conchiglie pasta.
This has to ultimately be what I live for.
Well, televised audition stage anyway.
Luckily next week it will be coming to an end with two shows on Saturday and Sunday respectively although I'm pretty much convinced that we have a some good contenders for the final 10 already if Stacy and Danyl are anything to go by.
This morning was spent listening to Robbie Vincent as usual where one of the highlights was by the George Benson esque Norman Brown and the title track of his "Celebration" album.
Not a Kool and The Gang cover thankfully but very reminiscent of Brenda Russell.
Listening to her records makes me think if it's even worth moaning about Leona, Adele and other such female vocalists but to be fair, I'm not in a position where I'm subjected to their music without the aid of an off switch.
Yet.
I don't care if they're from the 80s and if they sound dated, musicians were lot less lazier with keyboards in those days when it came to composing, with possibly my favourite from Brenda being "Hello People" from her 1983 album
"Two Eyes".
That's the ideal accompaniment to a simple meal involving either cherry bakewells, or even a rather filling chip butty if cravings got the worst of me and was in the "right place at the right time".
As for tonight Mum and Dad are away in London so I'll indulge in another chicken stew with expensive conchiglie pasta.
This has to ultimately be what I live for.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
"I Get To Know Your Name"
I've owned this on VHS for years but I'm pleased that this has finally been posted on Youtube, Pete Burns appearing on Never Mind The Buzzcocks
in February 2002 four years before achieving further notoriety alongside
George Galloway in the Big Brother house.
This quite possibly has to be my favourite episode of the show from when Mark Lamarr hosted and until Donny Tourette's appearance 5 years later, it was one of the rare episodes to have me laughing right the way through mainly because of Pete's (if you'll excuse the pun) lippy persona.
Many people were more shocked by Pete's facial appearance when they saw the show and whilst it's not the most pleasant sight, his overall stubborness, starting from a question about an ice rink is pure comedy gold.
Sean Hughes in his final series as team captain is fantastic at dealing with him, especially in the intros round where I've never been able to listen to fellow Scouse band The Farm's "Groovy Train" in the same way again.
It's also worth watching to see Kerry Katona nee McFadden when she was in a lot better shape, and we all knew her marriage to Bryan wouldn't last.
With the new series minus Amstell approaching, it's going to be difficult to expect an episode of this sort of hilarity.
in February 2002 four years before achieving further notoriety alongside
George Galloway in the Big Brother house.
This quite possibly has to be my favourite episode of the show from when Mark Lamarr hosted and until Donny Tourette's appearance 5 years later, it was one of the rare episodes to have me laughing right the way through mainly because of Pete's (if you'll excuse the pun) lippy persona.
Many people were more shocked by Pete's facial appearance when they saw the show and whilst it's not the most pleasant sight, his overall stubborness, starting from a question about an ice rink is pure comedy gold.
Sean Hughes in his final series as team captain is fantastic at dealing with him, especially in the intros round where I've never been able to listen to fellow Scouse band The Farm's "Groovy Train" in the same way again.
It's also worth watching to see Kerry Katona nee McFadden when she was in a lot better shape, and we all knew her marriage to Bryan wouldn't last.
With the new series minus Amstell approaching, it's going to be difficult to expect an episode of this sort of hilarity.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Discontinuity Defined
This is probably the first time I've done this, but it would be more than appropriate to link to a video from Ross T enlightening those outside Northern Ireland to the legend that is UTV's in vision announcer Julian Simmonds.
Put the rubbish weather to one side, that is the number one reason for living in the Belfast area unless you're one of the lucky ones who can receive the different ITV regions on Sky Digital.
Following a few comments in response, including my own, Tilley has responded with his own take off and it's bloody brilliant.
Visually it looks almost similar to this example from Thames back in the early 80s, with another Irish announcer appropriately enough, Peter Marshall.
In vision continuity had been dropped in the TVS region as it was then by the time I arrived and whilst I was in London, you only saw the announcers overnight.
Definitely something that should be brought back and I know that Tilley's main goal was getting into television.
That would be the perfect job although possibly without the fake Irish accent.
Put the rubbish weather to one side, that is the number one reason for living in the Belfast area unless you're one of the lucky ones who can receive the different ITV regions on Sky Digital.
Following a few comments in response, including my own, Tilley has responded with his own take off and it's bloody brilliant.
Visually it looks almost similar to this example from Thames back in the early 80s, with another Irish announcer appropriately enough, Peter Marshall.
In vision continuity had been dropped in the TVS region as it was then by the time I arrived and whilst I was in London, you only saw the announcers overnight.
Definitely something that should be brought back and I know that Tilley's main goal was getting into television.
That would be the perfect job although possibly without the fake Irish accent.
Letting Others Down
I'm in a lot more of a sympathetic mood now although the reasons are still the same as about an hour ago.
I was asked if I wanted to go on a visit to Thursford this Christmas as I had suggested going last year and is a very popular place in Norfolk to visit.
However what I had in mind was visiting the Collection, which contains old mechanical fairground rides and sideshows, where what the Thompsons up in Norwich have actually booked is for their Christmas Spectacular stage show.
Which is essentially a very plush variety style show with big dance numbers, Christmas carols, and vaudeville style comedy and I've said that I don't want to go with them.
Again you would think that we're in a parallel universe, but it's a bit like the Brighton Pier and Palm Court Restaurant as I'd more than happily go there with people from University or a crush, but when with my own family I would feel really uncomfortable in their presence.
It would also have me feeling upset because it would make me realise I'm missing everyone in London and I know that this time round there's no reassurance that I'll be back there to see them again.
If we did this last year I would have been more than happy to go along, and we did do something very similar when we saw "It's A Wonderful Life" at a cinema in Norwich.
Everyone was right when saying that it would be September when things started to hit home, and they're sort of right, but that's because I'm already looking ahead to December.
Apart from possible autobiographies as presents, I'm not feeling like I'm anticipating it at all.
I was asked if I wanted to go on a visit to Thursford this Christmas as I had suggested going last year and is a very popular place in Norfolk to visit.
However what I had in mind was visiting the Collection, which contains old mechanical fairground rides and sideshows, where what the Thompsons up in Norwich have actually booked is for their Christmas Spectacular stage show.
Which is essentially a very plush variety style show with big dance numbers, Christmas carols, and vaudeville style comedy and I've said that I don't want to go with them.
Again you would think that we're in a parallel universe, but it's a bit like the Brighton Pier and Palm Court Restaurant as I'd more than happily go there with people from University or a crush, but when with my own family I would feel really uncomfortable in their presence.
It would also have me feeling upset because it would make me realise I'm missing everyone in London and I know that this time round there's no reassurance that I'll be back there to see them again.
If we did this last year I would have been more than happy to go along, and we did do something very similar when we saw "It's A Wonderful Life" at a cinema in Norwich.
Everyone was right when saying that it would be September when things started to hit home, and they're sort of right, but that's because I'm already looking ahead to December.
Apart from possible autobiographies as presents, I'm not feeling like I'm anticipating it at all.
To And... Oh F**k Off
We all have our days when we're absoutely fucking sick of stuff around us.
I'm in one of those moods now where I've had to go to and from Tesco to buy stuff to do my meal for tonight with, after not being able to take more than one mouthful of what everyone else had, made with the bastard of all utensils; a wok.
(No disrespect to Olly who put the effort into making it, I just don't like that sort of meal)
As soon as I get back, I'm asked if I want to go to see "Wicked" in London on Monday which fits in really nicely with my schedule because the Matt Bianco gig at Ronnie Scotts isn't until Wednesday, meaning I have to make two trips
to and from London within a week.
Not to mention that Dad has arranged this at the last minute and seems 50% sure that we may miss our booking due to him having an appointment less than two hours before we're meant to arrive.
Again, I've agreed to go as I don't want to upset Kate and Olly before they go to Uni, but if this had been arranged weeks earlier, I could have used the time to arrange a few possible booze-ups, I mean meet ups with people and spent 3 nights in London.
With so little time, what's the bleeding point?
Reality well and truly sucks balls.
I'm in one of those moods now where I've had to go to and from Tesco to buy stuff to do my meal for tonight with, after not being able to take more than one mouthful of what everyone else had, made with the bastard of all utensils; a wok.
(No disrespect to Olly who put the effort into making it, I just don't like that sort of meal)
As soon as I get back, I'm asked if I want to go to see "Wicked" in London on Monday which fits in really nicely with my schedule because the Matt Bianco gig at Ronnie Scotts isn't until Wednesday, meaning I have to make two trips
to and from London within a week.
Not to mention that Dad has arranged this at the last minute and seems 50% sure that we may miss our booking due to him having an appointment less than two hours before we're meant to arrive.
Again, I've agreed to go as I don't want to upset Kate and Olly before they go to Uni, but if this had been arranged weeks earlier, I could have used the time to arrange a few possible booze-ups, I mean meet ups with people and spent 3 nights in London.
With so little time, what's the bleeding point?
Reality well and truly sucks balls.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
"Rub Your Women And Drink Your Beer!"
I've only just found out that a remake of Alan Clarke's 1989 TV movie
"The Firm" is to be released in cinemas next week and from what I've seen of the trailer, I'm not sure what to make of it.
The plot is vaguely the same, although they've added an additional storyline of a young fella named Dominic who joins in with Bexy and the Intercity Crew.
I don't know many of those in the cast, apart from Camille Coduri who appeared in Nuns On The Run and is possibly best known as Jackie Tyler in Doctor Who.
Initial reception has been mixed although the best bit about it is possibly the soundtrack containing a lot of 80s music mainly from the disco genre with tracks such as "Get Down On It" by Kool and The Gang, "Poison Arrow" by ABC, and "Put Our Heads Together" by The O'Jays which I once used in a trail for my soul show on Smoke.
Anyone who plans on going to see the remake must see the original as it's a perfect example of British film from the 80s and looks a lot less polished and more genuine.
I posted a review of it on this site back in June although I won't give the link directly in case I spoil the plot.
They've released it on a special edition DVD which I may get my hands on pretty soon and contains an audio commentary from Lesley Manville who played Bexy's wife Sue, and Philip Davies who played rival leader Yeti.
With the recent incident at the match between West Ham and Fulham, the release has been coincidentally timed.
"The Firm" is to be released in cinemas next week and from what I've seen of the trailer, I'm not sure what to make of it.
The plot is vaguely the same, although they've added an additional storyline of a young fella named Dominic who joins in with Bexy and the Intercity Crew.
I don't know many of those in the cast, apart from Camille Coduri who appeared in Nuns On The Run and is possibly best known as Jackie Tyler in Doctor Who.
Initial reception has been mixed although the best bit about it is possibly the soundtrack containing a lot of 80s music mainly from the disco genre with tracks such as "Get Down On It" by Kool and The Gang, "Poison Arrow" by ABC, and "Put Our Heads Together" by The O'Jays which I once used in a trail for my soul show on Smoke.
Anyone who plans on going to see the remake must see the original as it's a perfect example of British film from the 80s and looks a lot less polished and more genuine.
I posted a review of it on this site back in June although I won't give the link directly in case I spoil the plot.
They've released it on a special edition DVD which I may get my hands on pretty soon and contains an audio commentary from Lesley Manville who played Bexy's wife Sue, and Philip Davies who played rival leader Yeti.
With the recent incident at the match between West Ham and Fulham, the release has been coincidentally timed.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Five To One
Tonight's been a good one with our revenge against Croatia guaranteeing us a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa following a superb 5-1 victory.
I didn't see a lot of the match itself as I was working on lots of other "slightly more important stuff" although I kept up to date via the ticker on the BBC Sport website.
Overall though it proved that Gerrard and Lampard had put the aggro to one side, and that Fabio Capello has turned round the fortunes of the England team in nearly two years.
To refer to what I've said on my Facebook status, it's our way of sticking our fingers up at not just Croatia but Steve McClaren who can fuck off and carry on putting on fake European accents.
As for tomorrow, more writing and rummaging and a late edition of
Mock The Week as it's on at 10 tomorrow night.
I didn't see a lot of the match itself as I was working on lots of other "slightly more important stuff" although I kept up to date via the ticker on the BBC Sport website.
Overall though it proved that Gerrard and Lampard had put the aggro to one side, and that Fabio Capello has turned round the fortunes of the England team in nearly two years.
To refer to what I've said on my Facebook status, it's our way of sticking our fingers up at not just Croatia but Steve McClaren who can fuck off and carry on putting on fake European accents.
As for tomorrow, more writing and rummaging and a late edition of
Mock The Week as it's on at 10 tomorrow night.
The Worst Sense Of Direction
I was driven to Ashford early this morning by Mum to get my head round the journey from the place I'm going to on Friday to Ashford International Station.
I thought it looked easy enough with the station visible from where the place was, but it ended up taking me about 45 minutes to walk there in the end and I'm really going to have to print out a map from online.
As for the rest of the day, I'll sort out a shell bol for later tonight and considering Kate and Olly are back I may have to boil quite a lot of them.
And later on England are facing Croatia in the latest World Cup qualifier so here's hoping there won't be a repeat of November 2007.
Luckily we're in a better position this time and it won't be as crucial.
I thought it looked easy enough with the station visible from where the place was, but it ended up taking me about 45 minutes to walk there in the end and I'm really going to have to print out a map from online.
As for the rest of the day, I'll sort out a shell bol for later tonight and considering Kate and Olly are back I may have to boil quite a lot of them.
And later on England are facing Croatia in the latest World Cup qualifier so here's hoping there won't be a repeat of November 2007.
Luckily we're in a better position this time and it won't be as crucial.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
High Temperatures=High Opinions!
What an amazing day it was outside.
It has had me longing for the walls on my bedroom to be replaced by larger windows so I could really apppreciate the lovely sunshine outside.
Having said that it's almost ten years to the day since I moved into this specially built bedroom in the top of the house after having to share a room with Olly for a long time, and I'm really grateful for the time and effort that was spent into building the room that has allowed me to be me.
Quite a lot has happened in here I'll give you that.
I've spent the evening listening to XStream East where Sarah presented a superb Get Up show with tracks by Calvin Harris and Peter Bjorn and John, and Stephen followed on with Grooveline and quite a lot of EWF this week.
One being a cover of "Can't Hide Love" by The Randy Watson Experience which for me is possibly the saving grace of what I'd consider to be one of the worst albums of the decade, "Interpretations: Celebrating The Music Of Earth Wind And Fire".
I'll save my opinions for a later post but Me'shell Ndegeocello's cover of "Fantasy" is fucking appalling.
Believe me, it will make you appreciate the Black Box cover from 1990 as the version on the album is a musical crime against nature.
Something similar which may be open to opinion is this inventive rendition of the Channel 4 News theme performed by Led Bib on the programme itself and can be seen here.
They're up for nomination at tonight's Mercury Music Prize ceremony although I'm backing Florence and The Machine to win.
As long as it's not La Roux I'll be happy.
Their lead singer claims to be in the same league as Adele which is fine with me as they're both ugly annoying c***s.
Having said that it's almost ten years to the day since I moved into this specially built bedroom in the top of the house after having to share a room with Olly for a long time, and I'm really grateful for the time and effort that was spent into building the room that has allowed me to be me.
Quite a lot has happened in here I'll give you that.
I've spent the evening listening to XStream East where Sarah presented a superb Get Up show with tracks by Calvin Harris and Peter Bjorn and John, and Stephen followed on with Grooveline and quite a lot of EWF this week.
One being a cover of "Can't Hide Love" by The Randy Watson Experience which for me is possibly the saving grace of what I'd consider to be one of the worst albums of the decade, "Interpretations: Celebrating The Music Of Earth Wind And Fire".
I'll save my opinions for a later post but Me'shell Ndegeocello's cover of "Fantasy" is fucking appalling.
Believe me, it will make you appreciate the Black Box cover from 1990 as the version on the album is a musical crime against nature.
Something similar which may be open to opinion is this inventive rendition of the Channel 4 News theme performed by Led Bib on the programme itself and can be seen here.
They're up for nomination at tonight's Mercury Music Prize ceremony although I'm backing Florence and The Machine to win.
As long as it's not La Roux I'll be happy.
Their lead singer claims to be in the same league as Adele which is fine with me as they're both ugly annoying c***s.
Monday, September 07, 2009
Possible Step Ups
With all the news about Wogan's departure, I forgot about the definitive highlight of this morning's Chris Moyles Show which was a great highlights package put together by Jaguar Skills from the Trevor Nelson show.
The best bit was when it blended in the "I Love Horses" song with "Lola's Theme" and the whole thing it did have quite an emotional effect listening which is very rare within radio.
If it's likely to happen anywhere it will definitely be on the Chris Moyles Show judging by the amount of heart put into the show from deep down.
I've only just realised now that it didn't contain any clips of Sima Kotecha yelling "Whoopiii!" but apart from that, it was brilliant.
To be fair it was on Greg James' show when the incident happened originally, Chris just took it to greater notoriety.
For those who missed the mash up, it can be downloaded here from the
Radio 1 website.
I had a visit from one of Mum's work colleagues Des, who runs a social group in Ashford where people with Asperger's Syndrome get to know each other within a two hour session.
I'll be attending my first on Friday and from what I've been told, there are no restrictions, people are allowed to leave when they want to, and aren't put on the spot against their will.
Hopefully this will see a few steps to positive progression.
From a personal level this visit itself was very similar to the many daily ones I had this time two years ago, when after coming out of St Martins I had a different consultant each day coming to visit by checking up on my medication and how I was getting on until I returned to University.
And ended up returning home again within 48 hours.
As for tomorrow, nothing's really planned apart from buying the Radio Times.
I may also get round to revisiting the late John Hughes' "The Breakfast Club" which has a brilliant soundtrack most memorable for Simple Minds "Don't You Forget About Me".
I love that record, possibly because I haven't heard it played as often as others from the 80s.
Then again Simple Minds were at their prime throughout the decade and I will potentially do something I will regret to anyone who talks during
"Belfast Child".
The best bit was when it blended in the "I Love Horses" song with "Lola's Theme" and the whole thing it did have quite an emotional effect listening which is very rare within radio.
If it's likely to happen anywhere it will definitely be on the Chris Moyles Show judging by the amount of heart put into the show from deep down.
I've only just realised now that it didn't contain any clips of Sima Kotecha yelling "Whoopiii!" but apart from that, it was brilliant.
To be fair it was on Greg James' show when the incident happened originally, Chris just took it to greater notoriety.
For those who missed the mash up, it can be downloaded here from the
Radio 1 website.
I had a visit from one of Mum's work colleagues Des, who runs a social group in Ashford where people with Asperger's Syndrome get to know each other within a two hour session.
I'll be attending my first on Friday and from what I've been told, there are no restrictions, people are allowed to leave when they want to, and aren't put on the spot against their will.
Hopefully this will see a few steps to positive progression.
From a personal level this visit itself was very similar to the many daily ones I had this time two years ago, when after coming out of St Martins I had a different consultant each day coming to visit by checking up on my medication and how I was getting on until I returned to University.
And ended up returning home again within 48 hours.
As for tomorrow, nothing's really planned apart from buying the Radio Times.
I may also get round to revisiting the late John Hughes' "The Breakfast Club" which has a brilliant soundtrack most memorable for Simple Minds "Don't You Forget About Me".
I love that record, possibly because I haven't heard it played as often as others from the 80s.
Then again Simple Minds were at their prime throughout the decade and I will potentially do something I will regret to anyone who talks during
"Belfast Child".
Unlucky 7
It was probably a bit unfair of me on an earlier post to give BBC 1's "National Lottery Big 7" such a slating having only seen bits of it during the X Factor ad breaks.
Having watched it back on iPlayer, I've now got more than a right to do so, as it represented everything I dislike about those sort of shows;
1: Dreadfully strung out over 90 minutes
2: Contestants consisting of D-list celebs/talent show judges.
Surely David Gest would give even the thickest skinned of people nightmares.
3: Nick Knowles continuing to prove that he's a jack of all trades...
and you know the rest.
It's probably unfair to criticise it as a one off but it ended up falling into the same trap as Barrowman and Norton's outings as I gave it at least 20 minutes and ended up clicking the back button on my browser.
I now understand why the X Factor increased its viewers on the same night although I thought this week's show was the weakest so far this series to the point that it wasn't really worth preserving from UKNova.
This sounds like a rather sick experiment, but the ideal thing would be to put a lot of people with hypomania together in an office, and they would be on fire with ideas for winning television formats.
That's how I felt in terms of what I wanted to do within radio two years ago before I went too far and lost it all as a result of the medication.
Because believe me, I was never tounge tied during that time and could always pick up and agree or disagree on any book or newspaper article I read.
Why did it all have to end?...
Having watched it back on iPlayer, I've now got more than a right to do so, as it represented everything I dislike about those sort of shows;
1: Dreadfully strung out over 90 minutes
2: Contestants consisting of D-list celebs/talent show judges.
Surely David Gest would give even the thickest skinned of people nightmares.
3: Nick Knowles continuing to prove that he's a jack of all trades...
and you know the rest.
It's probably unfair to criticise it as a one off but it ended up falling into the same trap as Barrowman and Norton's outings as I gave it at least 20 minutes and ended up clicking the back button on my browser.
I now understand why the X Factor increased its viewers on the same night although I thought this week's show was the weakest so far this series to the point that it wasn't really worth preserving from UKNova.
This sounds like a rather sick experiment, but the ideal thing would be to put a lot of people with hypomania together in an office, and they would be on fire with ideas for winning television formats.
That's how I felt in terms of what I wanted to do within radio two years ago before I went too far and lost it all as a result of the medication.
Because believe me, I was never tounge tied during that time and could always pick up and agree or disagree on any book or newspaper article I read.
Why did it all have to end?...
The High Dive Into The Shallow End
I've sensed stolen thunder this morning.
I'll go onto Wogan later, but this morning's Chris Moyles' show broke the records as Radio 1's longest running continuous breakfast show and started it off with a revised version of that landmark show opener from the first show in January 2004 albeit with a few new lyrics such as his love for curry, chips and beer.
The most notable change was at the end when instead of going "National Radio 1" it went "BBC Radio 1" which most of his newer jingles have followed suit in doing.
Some of the older beds such as the big band ones still have "National" or "International" on them which assures that the BBC aren't breaking the bank too far.
Highlights so far have included a guest apperance by "the leader" Tony Blackburn, and a special song by Alesha Dixon with lyrics written by Comedy Dave to the tune of "Breathe Slow".
90 minutes later, Terry Wogan has announced that he will be quitting his Radio 2 show at the end of the year with Chris Evans taking over.
I think this is a bit of a desperate publicity stunt and although I've nothing against Evans, this is bound to cause utter chaos and a very big risk of Radio 2 to take considering they're just ahead of Chris Moyles in the listening figures.
I suppose the only positive thing is that El Tel will be leaving whilst he's still doing well but believe me there will be an outcry and a lot worse than when Evans took over the drivetime slot from Johnnie Walker 3 years ago.
With only an 8 year age gap between Chris Moyles and Chris Evans, surely the BBC is taking the mickey.
And taking into account Shaun Keaveney on 6Music, there's not going to be much choice music/personality wise unless you're in favour of the slightly laddish stuff.
I'll go onto Wogan later, but this morning's Chris Moyles' show broke the records as Radio 1's longest running continuous breakfast show and started it off with a revised version of that landmark show opener from the first show in January 2004 albeit with a few new lyrics such as his love for curry, chips and beer.
The most notable change was at the end when instead of going "National Radio 1" it went "BBC Radio 1" which most of his newer jingles have followed suit in doing.
Some of the older beds such as the big band ones still have "National" or "International" on them which assures that the BBC aren't breaking the bank too far.
Highlights so far have included a guest apperance by "the leader" Tony Blackburn, and a special song by Alesha Dixon with lyrics written by Comedy Dave to the tune of "Breathe Slow".
90 minutes later, Terry Wogan has announced that he will be quitting his Radio 2 show at the end of the year with Chris Evans taking over.
I think this is a bit of a desperate publicity stunt and although I've nothing against Evans, this is bound to cause utter chaos and a very big risk of Radio 2 to take considering they're just ahead of Chris Moyles in the listening figures.
I suppose the only positive thing is that El Tel will be leaving whilst he's still doing well but believe me there will be an outcry and a lot worse than when Evans took over the drivetime slot from Johnnie Walker 3 years ago.
With only an 8 year age gap between Chris Moyles and Chris Evans, surely the BBC is taking the mickey.
And taking into account Shaun Keaveney on 6Music, there's not going to be much choice music/personality wise unless you're in favour of the slightly laddish stuff.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Barely Any Klass
Last night I had a nice chat on Facebook messenger with Sami about all sorts of things including the possible idea of travelling, should I get a job and start saving up the earnings.
I have not been abroad for nearly 5 years and it may be time to make the effort that Kate and Olly have made in going to far flung places.
I also got into a not exactly heated, but an exchange anyway with Steven by ripping the piss out of Big Brother, but even more questionable was his status about ITV's line-up yesterday evening consisting of the England friendly, The X Factor and The Cube exclaiming "thank Christ for the BBC's existence".
Now the BBC of course have more strengths than it's commercial competitors normally when it comes to television, but if ITV1's line up was that bad, I'd sooner have the television switched off if BBC 1's offering last night was anything to go by in comparison, with another "special" edition of The Weakest Link, a tedious 90 minute Lottery show with Nick Knowles and Myleene Klass, and The Pirates Of The Caribbean.
We'll leave the football and the Pirates of The Carribbean out of this as I'm not a huge fan of those films anyway as much as Steven would turn a blind eye to football.
But if given the choice of Nick Knowles' D-list celeb offering or The X Factor, it would be the X Factor any day as despite my initial dismissive thoughts, I'm actually enjoying the series more than ever and have got used to the over-staged nature of it all by just making cynical comments at the TV screen and yelling "fuck off" if a contestant says they're going to sing "I Will Always Love You".
It may also be because I'm not surrounded by sycophants (pardon the pun) who keep going on about how amazing the show is, although I seem to have become my own victim.
Having said that, I'm not exactly wanting to re-view performances on Youtube again and again and just the one (soon to be two) weekly helping of that and the Xtra Factor is enough.
As for Nick Knowles, I probably share as much dislike for him as a quiz show host as Frankie Boyle does for Adrian Chiles overall.
Not only is DIY what Nick is better suited to, but also a possible
description of his sex life.
The BBC really need to get their act together if the Saturday schedule is anything to go by and although SCD and Doctor Who will be returning soon, they need to stop relying on just getting any old fucker to present lame excuses for entertainment shows if Knowles, Norton and Barrowman are anything to go by.
Luckily Apollo should be returning later this autumn and hopefully they'll put that on Saturdays following the success of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.
It's not a family show as such, but it's one of the BBC's strongest, mainly because of its simple concept and that it was never hyped.
Overall, compared to at the start of the decade, television in general has never been better, if not exactly consistent night by night.
I have not been abroad for nearly 5 years and it may be time to make the effort that Kate and Olly have made in going to far flung places.
I also got into a not exactly heated, but an exchange anyway with Steven by ripping the piss out of Big Brother, but even more questionable was his status about ITV's line-up yesterday evening consisting of the England friendly, The X Factor and The Cube exclaiming "thank Christ for the BBC's existence".
Now the BBC of course have more strengths than it's commercial competitors normally when it comes to television, but if ITV1's line up was that bad, I'd sooner have the television switched off if BBC 1's offering last night was anything to go by in comparison, with another "special" edition of The Weakest Link, a tedious 90 minute Lottery show with Nick Knowles and Myleene Klass, and The Pirates Of The Caribbean.
We'll leave the football and the Pirates of The Carribbean out of this as I'm not a huge fan of those films anyway as much as Steven would turn a blind eye to football.
But if given the choice of Nick Knowles' D-list celeb offering or The X Factor, it would be the X Factor any day as despite my initial dismissive thoughts, I'm actually enjoying the series more than ever and have got used to the over-staged nature of it all by just making cynical comments at the TV screen and yelling "fuck off" if a contestant says they're going to sing "I Will Always Love You".
It may also be because I'm not surrounded by sycophants (pardon the pun) who keep going on about how amazing the show is, although I seem to have become my own victim.
Having said that, I'm not exactly wanting to re-view performances on Youtube again and again and just the one (soon to be two) weekly helping of that and the Xtra Factor is enough.
As for Nick Knowles, I probably share as much dislike for him as a quiz show host as Frankie Boyle does for Adrian Chiles overall.
Not only is DIY what Nick is better suited to, but also a possible
description of his sex life.
The BBC really need to get their act together if the Saturday schedule is anything to go by and although SCD and Doctor Who will be returning soon, they need to stop relying on just getting any old fucker to present lame excuses for entertainment shows if Knowles, Norton and Barrowman are anything to go by.
Luckily Apollo should be returning later this autumn and hopefully they'll put that on Saturdays following the success of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.
It's not a family show as such, but it's one of the BBC's strongest, mainly because of its simple concept and that it was never hyped.
Overall, compared to at the start of the decade, television in general has never been better, if not exactly consistent night by night.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
The Cube Of Courage
Another usual Saturday night, with The X Factor and The Cube providing the entertainment as always.
There weren't really any acts this week auditioning that I thought were amazing, although on the ugly side of things were "Combined Effort" a duo who had apparently broken up days before their audition and on my Twitter status labeled as "Contrived Embarrassment", which possibly sums up the whole show.
Not to mention this fella who had moved from France to the UK and achieved the impossible task of ruining a Mariah Carey song that was already bad when she performed it herself.
The Cube was enjoyable however with one of the contestants being Norman, a 65 year old bus driver who was quite a character.
It's possibly the first gameshow in a long while that actually has me cheering in the same way as when England would score a winning penalty when a task is completed.
Tomorrow will probably be an early start sorting the spuds out, which I haven't done for a while considering that the warm weather has discouraged Dad from making the really good roast meals on a Sunday.
With the nights getting darker and the weather not being warm enough to make a shambles of an outdoor meal, we should see more of the same.
I really need to actually observe Dad preparing the meal itself, the only distraction being Robbie Vincent on Jazz FM where if it wasn't for the music played, I'm not sure if it would be a regular date.
Here's hoping Jazz FM continues to survive in these tough times for radio and with successful RAJARs it will be around for quite a while yet.
There weren't really any acts this week auditioning that I thought were amazing, although on the ugly side of things were "Combined Effort" a duo who had apparently broken up days before their audition and on my Twitter status labeled as "Contrived Embarrassment", which possibly sums up the whole show.
Not to mention this fella who had moved from France to the UK and achieved the impossible task of ruining a Mariah Carey song that was already bad when she performed it herself.
The Cube was enjoyable however with one of the contestants being Norman, a 65 year old bus driver who was quite a character.
It's possibly the first gameshow in a long while that actually has me cheering in the same way as when England would score a winning penalty when a task is completed.
Tomorrow will probably be an early start sorting the spuds out, which I haven't done for a while considering that the warm weather has discouraged Dad from making the really good roast meals on a Sunday.
With the nights getting darker and the weather not being warm enough to make a shambles of an outdoor meal, we should see more of the same.
I really need to actually observe Dad preparing the meal itself, the only distraction being Robbie Vincent on Jazz FM where if it wasn't for the music played, I'm not sure if it would be a regular date.
Here's hoping Jazz FM continues to survive in these tough times for radio and with successful RAJARs it will be around for quite a while yet.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Home To Hilarity
Olly made his return to Canterbury this morning and showed us his slideshow of the things he got up to at Sunnyside holiday camp in America as a counsellor for the children who were staying over.
He'd also been travelling in Michigan, Chicago and New York where he met up with his friend Tony Hyde, and Kate who should be returning soon.
Olly's having a night out in Canterbury tonight with a few of his mates, but in his spare time he's been catching up on some of the comedy that's been on television over the summer, after I lent him the DVD-R I have with the episodes of "You Have Been Watching" on them.
As for tonight, I've still been rummaging and in writing my "biog" I've now got up to March '07 where we had our "Big Red One" broadcasting for 24 hours, and on a lower note I underwent my first recovery back in Canterbury that year when the various stresses around the podcast assignment and the sinking ship that was Studio 4 was getting too much for me to handle.
On returning I thought things had started getting better and better, but then they went a bit too far.
I'm not putting anyone to blame at all because I'm glad I got another year at University, but if Kelly had co-presented my final soul show in my second year as originally planned instead of Sami, things could have been a lot different.
I'd love to find out how Ms Gravells is getting on actually, definitely one of the nicest girls ever on the radio course who always gave me the time when needed.
In fact a lot more than those in the year I would have been graduating in, had I not gone bonkers.
I know I should move on, but those four years were really the most meaningful and a chance for me to be me without others getting in the way.
He'd also been travelling in Michigan, Chicago and New York where he met up with his friend Tony Hyde, and Kate who should be returning soon.
Olly's having a night out in Canterbury tonight with a few of his mates, but in his spare time he's been catching up on some of the comedy that's been on television over the summer, after I lent him the DVD-R I have with the episodes of "You Have Been Watching" on them.
As for tonight, I've still been rummaging and in writing my "biog" I've now got up to March '07 where we had our "Big Red One" broadcasting for 24 hours, and on a lower note I underwent my first recovery back in Canterbury that year when the various stresses around the podcast assignment and the sinking ship that was Studio 4 was getting too much for me to handle.
On returning I thought things had started getting better and better, but then they went a bit too far.
I'm not putting anyone to blame at all because I'm glad I got another year at University, but if Kelly had co-presented my final soul show in my second year as originally planned instead of Sami, things could have been a lot different.
I'd love to find out how Ms Gravells is getting on actually, definitely one of the nicest girls ever on the radio course who always gave me the time when needed.
In fact a lot more than those in the year I would have been graduating in, had I not gone bonkers.
I know I should move on, but those four years were really the most meaningful and a chance for me to be me without others getting in the way.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Putting The "Can't" Into Canterbury
Again nothing too special event wise, but Mock The Week as always was on good form despite Holly Walsh trying to compete with Frankie and falling flat on her backside.
The SWLTS round at the end featured the annual outing of Rejected Exam Questions where one of them was a gag about Willy Wonka which made me laugh, despite being a variation of a joke that Frankie told on the show this time 3 years ago.
There were yet more gags ripping the piss out of Adrian Chiles which also had me in hysterics, especially the one about Working Lunch towards the end.
I don't have anything against the West Bromwich Albion supporter but he's just a perfect target for such ribbing and almost any joke on that show directed at him will result in me being unable to control myself.
Tomorrow's quite a special day as Olly's returning from America after spending the last three months at one of the Summer camps and travelling to different states.
He won't be here for too long however, as he will be starting a BioMedical Science course at Leeds University soon and with Kate going back to Nottingham around the same time, it's going to be very awkward for me knowing that I won't be returning to London.
This blog is just going to end up as a daily moan longing to be back in the city, as I know that there are obstacles and certain things wanting me to stay in Canterbury against my will.
One reason of wanting to move back to London is so that I can finally make use of my DAB radio because oh my, it's been going down the toilet since my return to Canterbury.
The Heart takeover vandalising the garden of England and the removal of Chill from the Kent DAB transmitter.
Not to mention Hull's KCFM being taken over by the Lincs FM group and declining in quality on-air.
I'd be quite happy if Global would just fuck off from Kent's airwaves and either sell off Chill or vacate their slots on DAB and give one of them to Jazz FM.
There was something special about being able to switch on and listen whilst in London and listening online just isn't the same.
Maybe it's because I miss my room in halls, as apart from the pettiness from the halls staff, I felt as if I really was in my own space and had plenty of
"me time" without intrusion from others.
If only there was a profitable way of living in similar settings, only without the petty staff and being woken up in the night.
The SWLTS round at the end featured the annual outing of Rejected Exam Questions where one of them was a gag about Willy Wonka which made me laugh, despite being a variation of a joke that Frankie told on the show this time 3 years ago.
There were yet more gags ripping the piss out of Adrian Chiles which also had me in hysterics, especially the one about Working Lunch towards the end.
I don't have anything against the West Bromwich Albion supporter but he's just a perfect target for such ribbing and almost any joke on that show directed at him will result in me being unable to control myself.
Tomorrow's quite a special day as Olly's returning from America after spending the last three months at one of the Summer camps and travelling to different states.
He won't be here for too long however, as he will be starting a BioMedical Science course at Leeds University soon and with Kate going back to Nottingham around the same time, it's going to be very awkward for me knowing that I won't be returning to London.
This blog is just going to end up as a daily moan longing to be back in the city, as I know that there are obstacles and certain things wanting me to stay in Canterbury against my will.
One reason of wanting to move back to London is so that I can finally make use of my DAB radio because oh my, it's been going down the toilet since my return to Canterbury.
The Heart takeover vandalising the garden of England and the removal of Chill from the Kent DAB transmitter.
Not to mention Hull's KCFM being taken over by the Lincs FM group and declining in quality on-air.
I'd be quite happy if Global would just fuck off from Kent's airwaves and either sell off Chill or vacate their slots on DAB and give one of them to Jazz FM.
There was something special about being able to switch on and listen whilst in London and listening online just isn't the same.
Maybe it's because I miss my room in halls, as apart from the pettiness from the halls staff, I felt as if I really was in my own space and had plenty of
"me time" without intrusion from others.
If only there was a profitable way of living in similar settings, only without the petty staff and being woken up in the night.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Persistent Discouragement
I didn't write a blog post yesterday, what came over me?
It probably wouldn't have made a difference but I went to the Job Centre for an appointment with the woman who dealt with disabilities and illness.
I'm barely feeling hopeful at all and convinced that my unrealistic but provoking thoughts from last winter may be re-emerging.
If you replace the first vowel from Canterbury in the usual juvenile manner,
I wouldn't take offence as there are loads of them around and the way the meeting seemed to go, it seemed that a return to ASDA would be a possibility.
That's about the same sort of chance as Graham Norton getting a recommission for Totally Saturday as far as I'm concerned.
I know it brings in money, but does it do anything to sustain determination? Does it balls.
This time I know there's no second chances.
Possibly after graduation, and when I've finished writing my rather dire excuse for a "biog" I may feel a lot more determined having got my bugbears out of the way and onto a PDF document.
Not long to go.
It probably wouldn't have made a difference but I went to the Job Centre for an appointment with the woman who dealt with disabilities and illness.
I'm barely feeling hopeful at all and convinced that my unrealistic but provoking thoughts from last winter may be re-emerging.
If you replace the first vowel from Canterbury in the usual juvenile manner,
I wouldn't take offence as there are loads of them around and the way the meeting seemed to go, it seemed that a return to ASDA would be a possibility.
That's about the same sort of chance as Graham Norton getting a recommission for Totally Saturday as far as I'm concerned.
I know it brings in money, but does it do anything to sustain determination? Does it balls.
This time I know there's no second chances.
Possibly after graduation, and when I've finished writing my rather dire excuse for a "biog" I may feel a lot more determined having got my bugbears out of the way and onto a PDF document.
Not long to go.
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