Disappointment

It's late and I should be going to bed as I have to be in the office at 8:30. But, on the way home, something bugged me. And sharing 2 bottles of red wine with my sis didn't help. Live. Bitterly disappoint me on a regular basis. They're one of those eponymous bands – a huge part of my history. They provided *the song* that my 1st girlfriend and I got together over ("I Alone", from Throwing Copper). Throwing Copper is a brilliant, brilliant album (thankfully, Allmusic.com give it 4.5/5 stars so we agree there :) ). It starts with mysterious, ominous tones set by "Dam at Otter Creek", proceeds through heart-wrenching metaphorical pain ("Lightning Crashes"), then beautiful, honest romantic poetry ("I alone") and later through moral, life-assessing wranglings ("Pillars of Davidson", "white, discussion"). So just what the fuck happened? I own every album of theirs and this is the only one that hits it. Secret Samadhi gets slammed on allmusic.com. I don't think it's as bad as they make out but it's certainly no Throwing Copper. When I got hold of "V" a few years back I thought they'd at least rediscovered a sound. Shame the lyrics were awful. Mental Jewelry (sic) is precocious by nature but has always struck a chord with me. Granted, it sounds dated now – like a bad R.E.M. cover band but they've always stuck true to their guns (be them obsessions with Aldous Huxley and various religious beliefs, for better or worse). At the very least, I'm glad I like what I do of theirs. I've never been one for mainstream and I would have gone off them if they'd taken a ride on it. As it is, I just wish they'd been better overall and more consistent. I think production has a lot to do with it (they ditched their "Throwing Copper" producer), and this might be best proved by their latest album which is woeful (sorry boys). As people, they'd annoy the piss out of me. Since day 1, they've battled with a Christian upbringing, utilising their music to assess whether Eastern philosophies hold more water (no pun intended) for them. As such, they're often in danger of just preaching to all and sundry. And that's just not my bag. But, I do respect that they've always done it. It's not a giant bandwagon-jumping exercise. It's the most likely reason for them not being mainstream (at least in the UK) but they've done little to avoid it. So, if anything, they're honest and out to make a point over a dollar sign. Amazingly for me, they're most often compared to U2. The R.E.M. comparison I can get. But U2? Just a really bad choice for me as I pathalogically hate U2. Although, if the comparisons are for reasons of lyrical social conscience then at least there I can see a similarity. Bono's still a dick though :)

CSS is my friend

It just clicked in my head all of a sudden. So I made this website for some people at work. Took about 3 hours. Not bad in my opinion :) Pussy!Kitten!Bitch!

New DVD: The Black Crowes - Freak n Roll Into The Fog

Buy The Black Crowes - Freak n Roll Into The Fog Yep, bit of a theme here but this is a corking DVD too. Chris Robinson has one of the best rock voices I've ever heard.

New music: Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes

Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes - live at The Greek Easily one of the best match-ups ever, this double live album kicks some serious ass. If you like any kind of rock then get this. I'll post the live video montage from the CD as soon as it's uploaded. EDIT: Here it is!

Free to roam

I've had my wireless (bluetooth) ipod adapter for a week now and it's bloody brilliant. It means my ipod is now my stereo and I'm free to wander around the house with it, changing tracks, volume etc. The music is streamed via bluetooth to the the receiver plugged into my stereo. Granted, my house is only about 10 meters big ( :) ) but I've also found that it'll happily plug into my TV and Xbox meaning I can enjoy films and games through the stereo without recreating spaghetti junction with millions of wires. Niceness.

New Music: Psapp

Psapp - Tiger, my friend (Amazon link | Official band website | Allmusic.com page | Myspace…um…space) A great little album. Very chilled - similar to Morcheeba. Amuses me no end as they incorporate everyday objects, such as a squeeky pet toy, their pet cat's meow and a beercan :) )

Someone give me tickets to The Black Keys gig on the 23rd May

Preferably a fistful of them. Go on. Please. I'm very nice.

Tabs

I've developed an annoying habit of putting my card behind the bar and then leaving the pub without collecting it. Currentlt this means I'm going to have to trek across arsing West London to go to the sodding Cod and get my funking debit card. A nice round trip of 2 hours. Shitting shitty shit shit.

[Prediction] Computers to be more advanced than the human brain in 7.5 years

Energy lab to run petascale computer is an article describing Cray Inc's latest puppy that will be able to perform 1 quadrillion operations per second. It goes on to mention that the human brain can perform 10 quadrillion operations per second. Now, if we apply Moore's Law to this statistic, and if my maths isn't completely arse-about-tit, then it means that computers will be able to outperform the human brain in 7.5 years (October, 2013). Sentience, self-awareness, consciousness. We're all buggered. Have we learned nothing from SkyNet? Ah well. All hail our robot masters. I'm sure this cycle has happened before. Dinosaurs probably invented us from twigs and berries, then we overthrew them. Same old, same old.