"I Prefer the Drummer"

Never has a top been so perfect for me. So when I spotted a girl in this top, I went on a massive search to find it.

Little did I know that this search was not going to be easy.

I have this thing about certain material goods. I don't know if its my way of detaching myself from real life, and my real life problems, or I am just slightly strange (probably the latter). It goes as far back as me making my aunt traipse around Dallas when i was 12 years old to find a New Kids on The Block towel that I had spotted at the beginning of my holiday and not bought. We never found it that day, but I somehow did a couple of years later. I still have that towel, and i still love it to death. I jump from one material good to another.. once I get what I want, I move onto something else.. none of them too expensive and none of them out of my reach.. but most of  them quite difficult to get hold of. At the start of summer, it was two specific Tiffanys rings, around august it was a Pnut ring that said "Never again" (to replace my "true love" one, of course!), and now it is this top.

Being unemployed, and when I am not applying for jobs, I have a lot of time to dwell on bad things, so this has consumed me somewhat as a nice little distraction. Friends have gone into H&Ms for me.. As far as up in Newcastle. Apparently this shirt is sold out EVERYWHERE. I, myself, have phoned stores, and gone to around 7 so far.. I dont even look for the shirt anymore.. I just go up to shop assistants in the hope they will say "why YES! We have them in ALL sizes! Which one are you after".

This happened earlier on in the year with the MTV River Island tops. I ended up with 2. One still sits in my cupboard, as this was the one that EVERYONE has.

I predict I will get it, and it will join the MTV top, unworn. I will go to a festival and see about 20 other girls wearing it, and will scowl, because, in my head, I have convinced myself that this top was made for ME... and ME ALONE.

(If you happen to pop into an H&M and see one in a size 12, buy me it and i will be your best friend forever... well, until I become obsessed with something else haha)

Bridesmaids is not as good as everyone says it is.. and for folks who are “The IT Crowd” fans, be aware that Roy is in it, and it is practically impossible to disassociate character A from character B.

BUT firstly:

- RIP JZE Paperstaat, Essen: Rico 17 Stitches completely outdid himself this past weekend by putting on, what can only be described as, the biggest and best send off a venue has ever seen. Shipping in sand, erecting an outdoor stage and somehow bringing sunshine to the tiny town of Essen, the JZE was turned into the biggest party the city has ever seen. Highlights include No Redeeming Social Value playing to a crowd of people in animal costumes, Lifeless, the boys from By My Hands and bad german rock clubs. Bye Bye JZE.. good times were always had there! Which leads me to:

- Brotherhood festival tickets are now onsale in the UK.. so if you want to be witness to Shattered Realms 10th anniversary European show, Wisdom in Chains, Xibalba and a host of other amazing bands over a weekend in Essen, Germany, please dally on down to www.londoncalling.cjb.net to read up on how to purchase tickets now!

- Summer and loadsa bands coming over.. H2O, New Found Glory (now that merchgate is over, nothing but love for them again!), Social Distortion, Alpha Omega plus more.. Summer officially kicks off next week with Set Your Goals at the Underworld tonight!

- Descendents rescheduling the London shows- After waiting 14 years to see them again, the band played the most disappointing set at the end of last month (please read the post on my tumblr regarding the show: http://www.mayhemandmore.tumblr.com) an uproar ensued, with fans travelling from all over the world to attend the shows. The band have done the right thing and rescheduled the cancelled show and last week, an email was sent out to attendees of the first show stating that should they want to attend the rescheduled date at Brixton Academy on the 24th August, they were to reply and indicate that they are interested. If you have tickets for either shows, please go and check your emails now.

-Diet Pepsi > Coke Zero > Diet Coke > Pepsi Max. That's just the way things are.

Ninjafest 2012 is not happening at the moment. Apologies. Thats my official statement.

On a completely different note:

- Mayhem with May has moved its slot for a couple of months from the wonderful 12pm-3pm on a Saturday afternoon to 6pm-9pm on a Wednesday evening. Listen in at www.totalrock.com. Many thanks to Talita for letting me squat her slot and get my weekends back for a while. Basically, Facebook sucks, so i have had to set up a new page.. so please add it here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/May-Hem/185578808161758

- Xibalba- A great realisation occurred this past week : Checking out bands via YouTube simply does not do said band justice. When previously listened to this band via these means, i had completely written them off as a bad tough guy band. Upon being told by many people to give the band the proper attention they deserve, I check out “Madre Mia Gracias Por Los Dias” from start to finish and stating I was blown away would be an understatement. The music is reminiscent of mid-late 90s hardcore.. heavy, slow but still brutal. With a few elements that reminded me of 90s bands like Machine Head and early nu metal (one of my many great loves), I was completely sold on the band.. and for the past week, they have been on constant rotation. The band will be on tour in Europe in the summer.. check them out at Brotherhood Fest and Ieperfest.

- Blackberrys new products:

For the longest time, it has been a widely discussed topic amongst blackberry lovers. At what point were Research in Motion (RIM) going to give us the rumoured phone that was wanted.. a blackberry phone, that looks like the original bold 9000, QWERTY keyboard included, with a touchscreen. Apparently, blackberry fanatics wont have to wait very much longer, and this is happening soon.. The Blackberry Bold 9930/9900, although not yet released, is rumoured to be the phone that will bring blackberry customers that went over to the darkside (AKA got iphoens) back. But is it too late for blackberry? Should this have been created years ago, when the iphone began world domination? Blackberry messenger is no longer reason enough for people to stay, especially as so many “instant chat” applications have appeared, and Blackberrys bitter revolt against the KIK app lost the company a lot of support.

Saying that, i would kill for one of these phones.. and a Playbook (blackberrys tablet.. in my mind, far superior to the IPad).

- JZE Essen- Goodbye to one of the best live music venues in Europe. You will be missed greatly

- KNUCKLEDUST FOR BROTHERHOOD FEST!!!!

Movie of the year

Thor 3D. Its incredible... even if it does have that awful Portman in it.

Current loves:

- No cigarettes. Quitting is hard. Congratulations to all that have managed to make it through the cravings, the hunger, the sense of smell returning, the weight gain, the hacking up of lungs.. shall i go on?

- Summer.. London is not a nice place to be in, in summer. The whole of the UK is ill equipped for the hot weather. On the flipside, festival season begins the minute the sun appears. Death threat, No Redeeming Social Value, Merauder, Blood for Blood, to name a few, will be returning to Europe in the upcoming months.. Make the effort. Do not limit yourself to the UK as, if you know how, you can do 2 european festivals for the price of one Reading weekend ticket. May i suggest doing Brotherhood fest (formerly FWH Fest- Tix onsale in the uk in the next couple of weeks.. check London Calling) and Ieperfest.

- (Hed)Pe- Most of you will have bands or a genre of music that remind you of your mid teens.. bands that you listened to over and over till you knew every word, every note from every song released. Nu Metal was massive around the mid 90s, and one of the bands that stuck out for me was HedPe, and approaching what can only be described as a midlife crisis, rediscovering bands you loved in your teens makes edging towards 40 not so difficult.

- Return of the Descendents- 1997, Reading festival. On a warm afternoon, tens of thousands of people looked on as they bashed through their set, not missing a beat. Milo jumps down to the photographer pit.. bounces around, and then, suddenly plummets into a hole.. He gets back up onto the stage, and laughs to himself and cracks a joke about it (if my memory serves me correctly, something about nearly dying). The next day, the band play a sold out show at the Garage. Fast forward to over a decade later, and the band return, selling out two nights at the Shepherds Bush Empire. To this day, they remain one of the best live bands that ever existed. “Excited” is an understatement.

- The Vandals- More people should listen to this band. Summer band 2011, despite being around for over the past 2 decades.

- End of Spotify- When this service began, it was free to everyone.. with unlimited access to music, your playlist was your very own personal radio station. The company announced last week that they would be limiting free usage to 10 hours a month, and users would only be able to play the same song a maximum of five times. Alternatively, you could pay £5 a month, and basically get what you were getting in the first place. No thanks, Spotify. No longer free? No longer care.

- Bank holidays- Thanks, banker man, christianity and Will and Kate, for the time off.

and last but not least:

-TubeCrush: The other way around? Totally creepy. This way around? Totally acceptable. New favourite site for sure.

Baby, dont you know that I love you..

Summer 2011 is going to be all about Paula Abdul's greatest hits.. Especially this song:

2011 is MINE- Welcome spring!

I hope you all had a wonderful new year.. evidently, my attempts to update this every week have failed miserably, but as I have been stuck at home with the most awful flu this week, I thought that I would let you know what awesome right now..

1. Bringing Back The Glory.

Wisdom in Chains, Reign Supreme, and Most Precious Blood (all not playing the UK)amongst other awesome bands are playing the second edition of BBTG. Last year was mad fun, so i totally suggest that you go. Im selling tickets but only have a few left. Go HERE for more details!

2. Awesome bands returning to Europe in May:
- Death Threat at Break Down These Walls.. Its been nearly 2 years since we last saw them on these shores.. i cant put into words how excited I am

- Murphys Law- They are doing a full tour that is missing out the UK (boo).. so try and catch them on one of their mainland dates.

3. Summerfests being announced:

Winter is coming to an end.. and Bruno from Genet records tells us that the Ieperfest line is going to be announced next week.. Filled With Hate fest have also began announcing bands for their 2011 edition so check them out!

4. Crunchie obsession-

Apparently, 2011 is the year of the crunchie bar. Get involved

5. Konditor and Cook Cakes:

One of my favourite birthday presents this year was when someone i love turned up with a Konditor and Cook cake for me. Seriously. These are heaven. Check out their Boston Brownies. Heaven.

A few more things to check out:

- You know how I said I hated tumblr? I lied. I set up one for the radio show so add it up: http://MayhemAndMore.tumblr.com

- Instead of doing one here, I did a London Calling Best of 2010... over 500 views that i can track, which is pretty good for a blog that i thought noone read!

- Add up the London Calling Facebook Page and Twitter. The twitter is getting more updated now so check it out.

Social Media Fatigue part 2

I tried to get into Tumblr. 142 posts in (http://integritylieswithin.tumblr.com if you are bored and want to see what those posts were), and i realised that I cared as much about the pictures that I was posting as much as.. well.. that new hardcore band that everyone loves that you cant understand?

Speaking of which, in what world is it totally acceptable to have a HARDCORE band called "Touche Amore"? I am aware that most hardcore bands have the same name as other hardcore bands, and I imagine they wanted something original, (if there is some kind of reference I am missing, please, let me know), but really? Raybeez is spinning in his grave.

And finally, if you bored, you can make your own gif:

http://www.piterwilson-toys.com/wcsmt2/

O HAI!

I am going to endeavour to update this once a week at least, even if it is to rant about something stupid (but I promise to end the negative posts with happy thoughts or at least a video to make you smile).

This evenings topic:

Barbour Jackets.

I swear to God, I sometimes actually believe that the fashion world likes playing jokes on us mere mortals. "I have an idea, lets give Lily Allen and Peaches Geldof an ugly old farmers jacket, ask them to wear it at a couple of festivals, hope The Times style section picks it up, and then, let's just sit back and watch". Now, I don't understand hipster "fashion" at the best of times, but it seems that this trend has been picked up by at least 50% of londoners.. and it's hurting my eyes.

Please, stop.

In other news:

I wanted to open a shop called "Mayhem and Muffins" but apparently, I have been beaten to it:

http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/

and as promised, something to make you laugh (OBVIOUSLY its going to be a steve kardynal video. DUH)

Blue is the colour of dreams

Dear Men.

Every girl loves Tiffanys jewellery. If she says she doesn't, she is lying.

Thats my little tip for you all for Christmas.

Love, Me x

The Hype List- Autumn 2010


Summertime is over.. There is no more sun, no more festivals to look forward to, nothing. So, here is a list of awesome things that are out/coming up that you should get into:

1.Music:
Bitter End- Guilty as Charged (Deathwish Records).
There is no hardcore kid that I know that does not LOVE this record.. Completely flawless in every aspect.. I could tell you that it sounds like x with a dash of x thrown in, but I wont. All I will say is if you like your hardcore HARD, then you HAVE to pick this up. Clearly in the running for best release of 2010.

Madball- Empire (Good Fight Music)
I have listened to it. In full. Its good. Get it.

Terror- Keepers of the Faith EP (Reaper Records).
Blown away. Those are the only two words I can use to describe how I felt when I got this. Pick it up. The title track will stick in your head, and remain there for at least a month. I am not even joking. This has happened to me. I find myself walking to the beat, even though im not listening to the song. The EP is the current soundtrack to my life.. Shall I keep going?

2. 50Cents twitter: http://twitter.com/50cent
Dude is funny as fuck. Add him.

3. Nails are touring.. www.myspace.com/unsilentdeath
Nails are miles ahead in the “best new hardcore band” stakes. They are doing a tour in November with Rise and Fall. The London date is on the 24th November at the Islington Academy 2. The rest of the dates are on the link above. You cannot miss this show.

4. Blood for Blood and SOIA on the Persistence tour.
This is not hitting the UK. :/ You HAVE to make it out to one of these shows.

5. Nick Terror’s twitter: http://twitter.com/nickgodie
The videos on this account that Nick puts up are worth it. One of the funniest twitters I have seen in a long time. ADD ADD ADDDD!

6. Winter:
Embrace this. It means that Christmas is coming.. Time off and everything sparkly makes Christmas awesome.. no presents does not.. along with those, there is the hope of snow days. Wrap up warm and feel the love.. (ask me again if I love it in 2 months!)

7. Sheer Terror in Belgium:
Did someone say road trip? For tickets, go to: http://www.trixonline.be/site/content/programma.asp?dag=morgen&id=707

8. Spot the fake uggs.
Girls. Two things. If you can’t afford to spend over £100 on a pair of shoes, very much like myself, then do not buy the fake version. The reason that Uggs are so expensive are because they are well made. So I have two tips to spot the fake ones, and play “spot the fake” on public transport:
a. If the “G” in Ugg at the back isn’t bigger than the other letters, they are fake.
b. If they collapse to one side, they are fake. Real Uggs don’t do that.

If anyone is feeling flash, a pair of Ugg Kensington’s in black would totally be well appreciated.

9. H&M being better than Primark
Last summer/winter has slowly seen Primark hiking up their prices. The chain of stores, whilst still relatively cheap, has been doing this slowly and subtly for the last 2 years.. so slowly that the difference is hardly noticeable. Lets put this into context. Two years ago, I bought a pair of knee high boots for £12. I went into the store two days ago, and they were selling knee high boots for £18. £6 is NOT that much difference, I hear you cry, but this is not the point.. it’s the principal of the matter. I wanted a long jumper. Apparently I found out that the better quality H&M sells them for £5 less than Primark. My loyalty is shifting. Fast.

10. Awesome television..
Yay! Its “fall” which means that the awesomest (yes it’s a word in my world!) shows are back for another series. Grey’s is back.. as well as Dexter.. I love me some Dexter.

My favourits at the moment are the following, though:
Don’t Tell the Bride: Brilliant. Properly brilliant. For all you reading that don’t know what this, it is a program on BBC Three in the UK, where an engaged couple are given £12,000 to get married. A few catches included though.. the bride and groom are separated for three weeks. In these three weeks, the GROOM has to plan the whole wedding with no input from the bride. Usually, the grooms know their betrothed pretty well, but the odd occasion that they don’t makes for incredibly awkward, car crash tv.

An Idiot Abroad: Initially, from the teaser trailers, I thought I was going to hate this.
Oh yay! Ricky Gervais sends an unknown writer (Karl Pilkington) who is terribly moody to see the seven wonders of the world. My pretence was that this was going to be one of those shows where featured person just insults and offends the customs and cultures of another country because he is “so very english” (their words, not mine). Pilkington is surprisingly game for a lot of things, including eating toades in his first episode to riding a camel for 8 hours. Whilst there are many things that he does not want to do, and he IS quite verbal about this, he has, so far, done well to not be offensive to anyones culture and traditions. Hilarious viewing. Watch it.. Sky 1. Thursdays at 9pm

That’s about it.. till next time.

YOU... HUUURRRTTT... MMMYYY.. FRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEENNNNND

Whilst I am not one who likes to put someone down who is successful, there are a certain few that I tend to laugh at, as they were loser hardcore kids in a former life.

Frank Turner is one of these people. Over a decade ago, there was an incident involving Frank, the then singer of awful band, Kneejerk, and Pierre from Knuckledust. I could go into details but it’s a really old story and I have told it over a thousand times. But it leads to much hilarity when I spot him at a show, (and walk past girls whispering about him) and, as loud as I can, without shouting, say “YOU HURT MY FRIIIIEEENNNDDD”. I usually get a frown, but it provides me with hours of amusement. Good on him though.. he has done well for himself, and worked really hard promoting himself.. Last I heard, he was supporting Green Day on their arena tour. The only way I am ever going to stop teasing him, though, is for him to write one of his depressing “I feel sorry for myself way too much” songs with the above phrase as the words of the chorus.

Andrew O’Neill.…THIS GUY.. In the few years that I used to see him at hardcore shows, I don’t think I ever once saw him smile.. Now don’t get me wrong.. I did not know this guy at all.. he could have been the nicest guy on planet earth, but I knew him as the strange, miserable boy who would come to shows and do a funny “late 90s pointing and looking at the sky” hardcore move, and would often wear skirts. He disappeared around 3-4 years after I first got into hardcore, and the next thing I see, around a decade later, is that he is a comedian……… Wait.. WHAT?!?!?! A COMEDIAN? REALLY? Again, have not seen his stage show, nor, to be honest, do I care to.. but that’s a turnaround for the books!

Saying that, with the amount of people that have come and gone, I am actually surprised that I don’t see more of them on tv, the radio, etc etc etc.

The art of bitchiness. If you wouldn’t say the same thing to someone’s face, then it’s probably best to keep your mouth shut.

And moving on…

- The new Eminem record, Recovery- Not going to lie. Totally picked this record because of Steve’s video below. That song is terribly catchy. And the whole album is fantastic, and this is coming from someone who was never really a massive Eminem fan. Personal highlights- (other than his song with Rhianna of course).. him sampling both “What is love?” by Haddaway and “Changes”. Nice. Pick it up.. download it.. whatever.

- Donnybrook are touring at the end of this year. Currently only mainland dates have been announced but here’s hoping for UK dates.

- The hoards descending on Sonisphere festival began lunchtime today at Victoria station. If you are going, enjoy, be safe and take an umbrella as apparently its going to rain. And check out Sick of it all, as they are the best band on the planet.

- If I say your band sucks, it means I think your band sucks. If you cannot deal with a. criticism b.someone else opinion, you should not be in a band. Please also see this post.

- Pretty Little Liars. Get on this show. I have only watched the first episode, but so far so good.

- Toy Story 3. Am i going to cry?

Current Top 10- July 2010

10. Nails: I have said it about a billion times. Everything that Todd Jones touches turns to gold. He was in Carry On. My favourite Terror album, Lowest of The Low? He plays guitar and was the songwriter. He made Blacklisted that little bit MORE awesome for a while.. Betrayed? One of my favourite hardcore bands. GOLD. He now plays in a band called Nails, who are incredible. They have an album out on Six Feet Under Records called Unsilent Death (Check it out) and will be touring Europe and the UK at the end of the year, with Harms Way, and Rise and Fall. Apparently they have just signed to Southern Lord Records too.

9. Summer fest season finally being here: The best thing about summer.. A ton of hardcore bands play a ton of awesome fests and shows. Magical.

8. Laughing at people with IPads: Posey idiots.

7. Laughing at people with IPhone 4s: You have a faulty phone. What has always been the rule with Apple, people? You NEVER buy the first generation of anything! Yes, I know this is the 3rd generation IPhone, but it isnt really, now is it? You need to give Apple at least a year to iron out all the kinks. Alternatively, you can hold your phone in an abnormal way to make sure you dont lose all signal. HAH. Blackberry all the WAY.

6. Wedding Season: Nothing like seeing people you care about being all happy and lovey and stuff.. Congratulations to everyone getting married in 2010 :)

5. Flip Flop/Summer dress season: Flip flops rule. Summer dresses rule. Maxi dresses rule. Dont be haters.

4. Primark and TK Maxx: "Cheap" clothes are awesome. How can you have never ever bought anything from Primark. Do you know what you are missing!??!!? Just because your top cost double the price of mine (or even maybe triple), doesnt mean it looks better. Money cant buy you taste.

3. Blood for Blood "reunion": No white trash Rob? BUT, winter is looking up! Everyone email MAD and get Wisdom in Chains and Death Before Dishonor on this bill!!!!

2. REALLY wanting to cowtip people on bikes: You arent better than me because you cycle to work. You dont have the right to run a red light, and i WILL cross when i am supposed to, even if i see you coming. Hipster fucks. Public transport > being all hot, sweaty and stinky when i turn up to my destination.

1. Sick of it All doing a ton of shows: SOIA/Madball tour at the end of the year? Borderline? FUCK YEAH!

Every summer, a small, quiet town in Belgium gets invaded by just under 5000 punk and hardcore kids. The locals and tourists alike gaze bemused as the “kids” descend to Ieper for a weekend of loud music, new and old friends and good times.

Ieperfest has been going for 18 years. Organised by Bruno and the folk at Genet records, the fest has more heart and dedication put into it than any other hardcore/punk fest on planet earth. Over three days, on two stages, just over 100 bands play to fans from around the world. The atmosphere is electric, and you are pressed to find someone in the crowd that isn’t smiling.

The Ieper team have thought of everything.. Disabled access with a separate platform, a “More than music stage” for people who want to learn or just get away from the “noise” for a bit (Davin from Kingdoms talk last year was on of the highlights of the fest), an afterparty for the crowd goers that are simply not done (last year, apparently this lasted till 6am the first 2 nights), a pre show for all the travelling folk (this year its being held by a separate promotions team but the line up is still fantastic with Pound for Pound playing), and finally, the most green festival around. The fest has around a hundred volunteers that make sure that the site is kept clean and tidy, and that there is no unnecessary waste left behind.

This is a fest by hardcore fans for hardcore fans.. and will remain number one in Europe for many years to come. Long live Ieperfest!

Whilst many of you wont remember this, in the early 90s, this was a MASSIVE hit in the Middle East and Asia (and I imagine, the US). Featured on every mix tape of my teens, this song is definitely one of the most catchy from this era, regularly popping into my head every couple of months over a decade later..

The treat (other than being mesmorised by her amazing eyebrows) was to find that Rakim, who, in my limited hip hop understanding, is one of the most respected rappers on the planet (please correct me if im wrong!) was the “guest vocalist”. His rap is up there with John Barnes’ effort in “World In Motion”. OK maybe not that bad, but...

I wish it were the 90s again.

Incept.. *snore*

Not going to lie, but I love previews. And last week, I was “lucky” enough to go to one of the worst.. Nothing to do with the film, oh, no, not at all. The screen this preview was shown in, at the Empire, Leicester Square, was not made for people under 5’5. I couldn’t see the bottom quarter of the screen, and my view was highly impaired by a woman with quite a large head. Considering these previews are to spread word of mouth about how good a film is, the surroundings just put me off doing that.

Inception was ok, and not the masterpiece that all discussing it will make you believe. Maybe its because I only really like romcoms, or maybe because im not impressed with too much CGI. Leonardo DiCaprio, on the whole, irritates me, which I find amusing as I used to think he was cute when he was in Growing Pains and parenthood (I was 12). Unlike everyone else who has been talking about this film, I did not walk out after the film thinking “WTF” and I didn’t really care if the spinning top fell. Also, whilst I understand that it was vital to the story line to explain Leos, why did 10 mins of the film have to be dedicated to her making one? That’s 10 mins of my life I will not get back.

Best part of the film? Tom Hardy. I spent half the film trying to place him. Hes the Kleenex crying man!!!!

Sometimes

(OMG. Not a post about Steve? Holy heavens!).

Sometimes, this world seems like its so full of hate, jealousy, and contempt, that it gets me down. Sometimes, I think of all the people that have done me wrong, and all the people that have hurt me or my loved ones, and I wonder whats wrong with the human race.

On those days.. the days when nothing seems to cheer me up and its grey and gloomy outside? On days when I think that there is no love in this world.. what do i do those days?

I go here. You think im joking?

http://www.ourlaboroflove.com/

Yes, its essentially a wedding photos website, there are also baby pictures, birthday pictures and engagement pictures. My favourite photographer is Matt, a guy I used to know.. which was how i was alerted to the site.

Not only does the site have the most beautiful pictures i have ever seen, but they are full of happiness and joy and so much love.

This renews my faith in the human race.

"No we must not dwell, no not today, we can't. Not on Rex Manning day!"

Of the late, his videos have been my tool to cheer people up, and they always work.


Do you think that if i asked Steve to make me a video, he would? He totally should. Pref with something by the black eyed peas as that would simply be amazing. SIMPLY. AMAZING.

Anyhow, this is his latest offering.

I love you Steve.

Well

So I was going to post about how for the first time in my life, i have bought an England football top (they are basically white polo shirts), how excited I am about the World Cup starting, how excited I am about the FINAL Big Brother starting (WHAT WILL SHOW THAT SUMMER HAS BEGUN NOW!), the new Iphone and how nothing that has been added has made me want to get one, and Summer Fests, but Im not going to.. Apparently, all i want to do on this blog now is post Steve Kardynal videos.





Not all of them, from the screen captures, look as good, but this and the Lady Gaga one are class! (Maybe a proper, awesome, update later)

Oooh life

Im dedicating this video to Aussie Matt, who is a fucking awesome friend. Matt, if this doesn't make you laugh, nothing will.

RIP Eze

There are certain people that are always a pleasure to see. They "warm up" your life, filling it with happiness and laughter.

Iain Burns, AKA Eze, was one of these people.. always smiling, telling jokes and making people laugh.

Whilst I did not know him that well, it was always a pleasure to see him, sitting in the pub laughing about something.

He will be massively missed by many people. Rest in Peace, buddy xxx

The Tech Buzz

- Google Buzz: OH YAY! YAAAY! Another social media site that I can sign up to , and post everything that I am doing at all times of the day! Sadly, the latter portion of that statement is sort of true and whilst I have refrained somewhat in recent months, I am guilty of this, so here was another way of wasting my day away, not actually doing stuff, but posting about it.

I will admit that I was marginally shocked this morning when I opened up my Gmail account, and was greeted with a introduction screen, that basically said “O, HAI! Come see what you can do NOW with your Gmail account”. I was excited to some extent.. Facebook was being a pain, and had introduced many features that I really didn’t care for (privacy being jeopardized, and having to read every sodding comment by every single of my mutual 500 friends when they posted things directed to each other.. oh and by the way, Facebook, I don’t care how many of my friends like pickles) . The site had also changed its layout around 3 times in the past couple of months and was terribly terribly glitchy, sometimes not even working at all. This was the reason that I had basically abandoned many social networking sites from the past, since I started all those years ago, when MakeOutClub was still the best thing ever. Friendster came along, started acting up, so moved onto myspace and then facebook, everytime each site started getting too many error messages.

Google haven’t managed to get the Euro/US market in this area. They attempted a site with Orkut (yes, I have one of those too but its defunct much like my myspace and friendster profiles), that failed everywhere but India and South America, and GoogleWave, which was meant to take over everything but slightly fell flat on its, um, “face” as it was too “developer” based.

SO now, they are killing two birds with one stone. They do not need to build up another following.. they already have millions of users with GMail. They have already roped in both Flickr (one of the biggest photohosting sites on the internet) and Twitter (although slightly held back because you can post FROM Buzz to your Twitter but not the other way round). Will this take over Facebook? Dear God, I hope so.. then Zuckerberg or whatever his name is, can get of his high horse and realise that his site’s popularity wont last forever. And unfortunately, unlike the music side of MySpace, Facebook really has nothing to hold onto and will be a distant memory in the SNW like Friendster.

IPad- Are you a Mac or a PC? I, for one, am def a PC. I love Windows, and have been using the system for God knows how many years. My Apple love only goes as far as my Ipod, which, no matter how indifferent I am to Apple, is the best MP3 player that I have owned. I have neither bowed down to the IPhone (my loyalty lies with the other team, Blackberry, here, as well), think that the Touch is terribly overpriced for what you get, and wont even CONSIDER trading up a laptop with a Macbook that will cost more than 3 times the price.

I was slightly indifferent to the hype surrounding the IPad. I read up on it before the release and things that were being predicted sounded pretty cool.. and many of these features were not available. An awesome webcam? No. Not too big? No. Super thin and elegant? No.

When it was finally released, we were faced with, what essentially is, a massive Ipod Touch. Yay. I laughed. Considering I had been waiting to see if this was better than getting a Mini Laptop, I was bitterly disappointed. Not only did the tablet not have a webcam (something, according to tech sites today, is probably going to be changed in the near future), but the most memory you can get is 16GB, and the damn thing doesn’t even play flash sites, so no online streaming programmes for me. Save yourself a couple of hundred quid and go with a Dell Mini laptop.. far more functional, and better value for money.

Other PC companies, such as HP, are following suit soon though, with their own tablets, so maybe hold off till then.

Saying that, if Apple want to send me one to review fully, who am I to say no?

I love Etsy.

Current Top 10!

1. Social Media Fatigue:

Whilst I actually never thought I would say it, I am bored of everyone know what im doing 24 hours a day. And whilst I was interested before, I am not interested in what people are doing 24 hours a day either. I WANT people to text me to ask if I am going to a show. I WANT people to ask where I am when im not somewhere. Distancing yourself from sharing your every waking moment is the new tweeting. And maybe it’s a good thing, as apparently, spending too much time online can lead to depression as stated here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8493149.stm

2. Summer Fest Announcement time:

According to an oversized rat in Pennsylvania, there is still six more weeks of winter left.. so what better than being reminded that, REALLY, summer isn’t that far away. All fests, from the majors like Hellfest, Download, and imminently, Reading, to the smaller euro hardcore jaunts like Filled With Hate and Ieperfest, have began announcing their line ups. Whilst most of us will have to pick and choose, it just means that we will only have to brave the cold winter months for a tiny bit longer.

3. Being in your 30s.

Its apparently the new “20s” now. Heh.

4. Holiday Songs:

Ke$ha, Timbaland and Nelly Furtado, and of course the black eyed peas to remind you of good times.

5. Valentines day hate.

I have ever only had one good Valentines day which involved flowers in the morning from a stranger (RIP Chris BTN) and then seeing SOIA. To this day, I have not had a good one, and still hate it with a passion. Fuck you Valentines day. Fuck you to hell.

6. The return of awesome tv season.

Around this time of the year, everything is looking kind of slow. Christmas is gone, summer is seems like its an eternity away. Which makes the return of awesome tv shows all the more better.. especially since I was totally over Glee after the 5th episode. Grey's Anatomy, and Greek are my current favourites. But in the same breath, we bid a sad farewell to "jersey shore". FIST PUMP!

7. Spotify

I have been raving about this service for roughly about a year now. I have mentioned it HERE. Anyhow, I am still loving it as it means that i dont have to go out of my way to find shit that i cant be bothered to look for and download onto my ipod.

SO. Heres the fun part. I want to listen to some new stuff. Recently, all i have played on my spotify is Manic Street Preachers and various pop songs im obsessed with (that are probably about 10 years old because that is when I finally latch onto a popular song haha).

Help me fill up a spotify play list full of stuff to listen to before I go out.. This could be anything from hardcore to soul to the cheesiest pop (which is what i have started out with).

Link is here:

Help. May.

Knock yourselves out kids.

8. Lounging.

Going out is awesome. But really, I would rather stay in, and lie on the couch and watch tv. In 10 years, i will be going to my local Waitrose in my velor tracksuit and Ugg boots carrying my Chanel handbag.. you wait and see. Alternatively, when I win £85m on the lottery tomorrow, this will also happen.

9. The Excitement of New Awesome Bands.

One of the best feelings in the world is watching a UK band, thinking, "fuck.." and then getting excited about seeing their name on upcoming bills. It happens literally once in a blue moon, and as there was a blue moon a couple of weeks ago, the band in question are "Breaking Point". Literally, have seen them twice, and both times, they have blown me away. Check them out. One of the best new bands to come out of the UK:

http://www.myspace.com/thenotoriousbxp

10. PMA.

There are certain people that are simply mood hoovers. They suck all the life and good feelings out of a person. When I am around such people, and they begin to bring me down, I think of this. Rid yourself of this.