Nonstop to Tokyo [.co.uk]

Chinese new year

2010-02-23T23:01:00.000Z

Took this pic on Sunday while at the Chinese New Year celebrations in
Chinatown. Gong xi fa cai!

Miniature forest

2010-02-11T20:12:00.001Z

Another picture from my phone! Took this pic on a walk with Y last weekend. I like this because it reminds me of a miniature world, like a mini forest or rock garden or something.

Test post via email

2010-02-06T23:01:00.000Z

I took this picture on the way to work a couple of weeks ago when it snowed really hard. Well, ok, in central London it wasn't actually hard at all; but we so rarely get snow that when it settles at all, that means that it snowed HARD! This bench in a small park on my way to work caught my eye, and I had to take a picture of it.

They should have been big, part 3: Heavenly

2010-01-17T02:07:00.002Z

Well, it's about time I mentioned Heavenly in this series! Heavenly (1989-1996) are a group who I absolutely adore. They're normally tarred with the "twee" moniker, but to me they're just a great guitar band with gorgeous female vocals and funny/sad lyrics. Unfortunately I didn't hear their music until after they had already split up (after the death of band member Matthew Fletcher). If I had a time machine, Heavenly are one of the bands that I would make the effort to go back and see in their early years.

As a sidenote, Heavenly was the follow-on from seminal 80s "C86" band Talulah Gosh, who I also completely adore but who probably weren't quite ready for the big time. Heavenly, however, could have been huge, but they were on a small label and didn't get much exposure outside of the indie community which in those pre-Oasis and Blur days was a surprisingly niche market.

Anyway, because I love heavenly so much, I'm going to post links to 3 videos here, spanning the length of their career. The first is "Our Love Is Heavenly", an early single (1990) which represents their early distinctive youthful jangly sound.

Next up is "P.U.N.K. Girl", from a mid-career EP. Their sound has hardened by this time, as have the lyrics.

Finally, from their last album, is the single "Trophy Girlfriend". This album saw a more mainstream sound and they had a good chance at a break with this, but the band ended the Heavenly name after the death of Matthew Fletcher, and their follow-up band (Marine Research) had a different sound and the moment was already gone by then.

They should have been big, part 2: Strawberry Switchblade

2009-12-04T11:17:00.000Z

Now, first off, I can understand that Strawberry Switchblade might not be everyone's cup of tea. But, they tick all my boxes, so here they are, on my list of musical artistes who should have been big! Well, interestingly, they were big in Japan, and when I wanted to buy their album many years ago the only way I could buy it at the time was to order an imported Japanese copy! There is now a UK released "platinum collection" though. Anyway, the video which I've included below looks like it's from a Japanese TV Show performance; it's 'Let Her Go', one of their less well known songs (Since Yesterday and Jolene are probably their best known songs, by all means check them out on YouTube). Enjoy :-)

Diaries

2009-10-18T23:15:00.039+01:00

We've been doing some packing getting ready to move soon, and in the process I came across my old diaries from when I was a teenager, which I've kept despite how excruciatingly embarrassing they can be. For example, the entry from 17th May 1994 begins "The most important thing that happened today was Quantum Leap." I would have been 17 at the time. How sad is that?!?! It always amazes me that I never played Dungeons and Dragons when I was a kid .... I was certainly prime nerd material.

It's also reminded me that when I was in the final year of sixth form (ie: 17/18), I had a hopeless crush on a guy in the year below, and I wrote about it almost endlessly in my diary but without ever specifying his name or gender, in case my parents decided to read my diaries (which as it turns out, they did). The funny thing is, I was SOOOO amazingly obsessed by him at the time, and from reading my diaries it's reminded me that even walking past him in the corridor was enough to lift my spirits for the whole day; and yet now, I can't even remember his name. I'm pretty sure his first name was Darren, but I have no clue about his surname any more.

It's interesting reading through them, because I like to think that my life and personality has changed a lot since I left school. I like to think that I'm now a lot more confident and comfortable in my own skin. But reading some of those diary entries, it's almost like they were written yesterday. Time plays tricks on the memory though; if I was to meet my younger self now, I wonder whether I would feel that I had actually had changed. I think I would have. At the time I never dreamed that I would ever be 'out' to my family, friends, and work colleagues; and my expectations of life were not great as a result.

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure how to end this post, so I'll just end it. Ciao!

Blog Action Day

2009-10-15T00:47:00.000+01:00

Today is Blog Action Day. The theme this year is climate change. I'm actually a bit of a secret eco-warrier these days (well, kind of). Regardless of whether you believe in man-made climate change, there are some other very obvious environmental issues to be concerned about, including sustainability, waste, and destruction of forests and wildlife habitats. So, here are some 'green' links I would recommend:

The Green Party (UK) - They're actually not as radical as some people would have you believe, but in addition to the obvious environmental credentials, I like a lot of their policies about things like community and social justice etc etc.
Greenpeace - Whether or not you agree with some of their tactics, they are quite effective campaigners, and have a lot of very valid things to say about big business and the political process. I particularly like their recent 'manifesto' 12 policies to save the climate and our planet, which contains some really straightforward and sensible proposals for ending the complete mess we're making of the planet.
The Guardian's 10:10 campaign, which aims to get people reduce their carbon emissions by 10% by 2010, and thereby demonstrate that actually, it's pretty easy for any of us in the industrialised world to reduce our environmental impact. The focus is on carbon emissions, but many of the way to cut carbon have other environmental benefits - eg: reducing energy consumption, reducing waste and landfill, reducing usage of fossil fuels (flying, cars etc), and so on.
Friends of the Earth - a bit like Greenpeace, but less in-your-face ...
The Fairtrade Foundation - although this doesn't explicitly address environmental issues, it addresses social issues which in turn empowers people, and this can have a beneficial knock-on effect on their use of - and attitude towards - their environment.

So, maybe you could click on a link or two and have a read. I hope you find something interesting :-)

They should have been big: part one of a new occasional series!

2009-09-26T00:13:00.002+01:00

Yes, I'm back back back! I'm going to do a series highlighting bands I love who deserve to be huge but sadly never made it. Today: Mice.

Mice was the name of Julianne Regan's follow-up band 3 years after All About Eve disbanded. I bought their debut single, Mat's Prozac, in HMV as a complete impulse buy having never even heard of the band or Julianne before. Thankfully it proved to be my introduction to the world of Julianne Regan and her gorgeous voice, and helped to kick-start my obsession with female-fronted rock bands.

Sadly, Mice only lasted for one album, "Because I Can". Their record label went bust owing them tonnes of money which didn't help. Luckily, a few years later the album was re-released by another company as "New and Improved", containing bonus tracks from b-sides and other unreleased stuff. It's a fantastic album, 19 tracks and not a duff tune amongst them. Highly recommended.

Anyway, the video I have for you here is not Mat's Prozac, as sadly that doesn't seem to exist on YouTube. It is instead the follow-up single, The Milkman, which while being perhaps slightly lighter than the rest of their material is nonetheless a cracking tune. Here it is, please enjoy:

Sent from my iPhone

2009-08-06T00:00:00.003+01:00

I got myself a new toy .... A shiney new 3GS :-) It's the gadget I've wanted ever since watching Star Trek: The Next Generation when I was a kid. I've wanted a hand-held touch screen device for like EVER. And now I have one. Yay!! Don't worry, I won't bore you with loads of posts abou how cool it is. Suffice to say that me and iPhone are very happy together, thank you ^_^b

PS: I really do have no excuse for not blogging now ...

Chinese music video

2009-05-18T22:48:00.004+01:00

Y played this song for me earlier, and I really like it; it's called"I'm Not Afraid of Demons If I've Seen Hell and it's by a Taiwanese band called Tizzy Bac:

Enjoy :-)

It's Eurovision!

2009-05-16T21:14:00.000+01:00

Yes, it's that time of the year: Eurovision is with us again! Good luck to the UK, although I doubt we'll win :-(

London

2009-05-12T21:45:00.003+01:00

When I was young, my Mum used to take me and my sister to London several times a year; sometimes to stay with my cousins, and sometimes just for day trips. Being a country lad, it was always quite exciting, even when I got older and had to be a typical teenage boy and pretend not to care.

My earliest memories of London are bomb scares and police at all stations; grey concrete everywhere; beggars and homeless people; and Dr Who. We used to visit MOMI so that I could see the regular Dr Who exhibitions they held there. Whenever we went on the train there were always police around, and I remember several bomb scares and station closures (usually IRA-related). Plus there were homeless people EVERYWHERE (or so it seemed to me, the impressionable country boy!).

Now, my thoughts of London are food, music, art, and seemingly endless free exhibitions and festivals. Y and I don't go out drinking and clubbing much these days, but we do eat out a LOT, and I'd say we're fairly cultural; we'll see an exhibition or performance or something most weeks, as there's just so many free things available in London, and it's a fascinating place just to walk round as there's so much variety, in terms of both architecture and culture.

So, basically, 3 years on I'm still loving living in London :-)

6-month summary ....

2009-04-05T21:52:00.004+01:00

So, what have I been up to since I last posted properly in October? Well ....

Some travelling: Y and I have been on short breaks to Bruges (Belgium), Budapest (Hungary), Barcelona (Spain), and Krakow (Poland). It's quite ironic that until I met Y, I'd never actually taken a holiday in Europe, other than a school trip to Spain; I'm one of those people who never appreciates what they have on their doorstep; luckily Y has helped me to see that you don't have to go half way around the globe in order to see the world!!

Some reading: I've been quiet geeky recently, and I've been on this site Tech Radar a lot. I've also read The 39 Steps, by John Buchan (which is a very short book, so is no excuse for not blogging for 6 months!).

Some watching: Having complete all 7 seasons of Buffy and 5 seasons of Angel, Y and I are currently working our way through the X Files. We're now on the final season, season 9. Next up I think we're going to watch Family Guy; I've caught a few episodes on TV a while back, and although I hated Family Guy when it first came out, I really enjoyed them this time, so I'm looking forward to seeing the whole set.

New comments

2008-12-21T02:34:00.001Z

OK, so I'm hoping that I've successfully changed over to Blogger comments now ... testing testing, 1 2 3!

An update!

2008-10-16T21:07:00.005+01:00

Yes, I know, it does seem almost like I've given up on this blog doesn't it ... however, it's not intentional, I just got lazy (again). Anyway, I noticed today that my comments host, YACCS, is shutting down, so at some point in the not-too-distant-future I'm going to switch over to Blogger comments, which is probably a better option anyway as it's integrated.

Anyway, I'm fine, so is Y. There are two main reasons for my prolonged absence from the blogosphere (that's such a wanky word isn't it?) - firstly, Mario Kart on the Wii, and secondly, Final Fantasy Tactics on the Game Boy Advance (I know, I'm old school!). I've been quite heavily addicted to both of these games, and it's amazing how time-consuming video games can be, especially the Final-Fantasy type games, but I do love them so!

Pipe Wrench Fight

2008-10-16T20:56:00.004+01:00

Saw this today, which made me laugh - an altered version of A-Ha's Take On Me, with lyrics changed to exactly match what's happening in the video:

If this doesn't work, the direct link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLY9MWZVfiE (and yes, I did get this from Popbitch!).

Update 01/04/2009: I noticed that the original link had been pulled by YouTube due to "copyright infringement", so I've updated the link to a different version which is still available. Yay!

Cheer up sleepy Jean ...

2008-08-03T18:21:00.002+01:00

You know, despite loving Shonen Knife for years, I've somehow never seen their video to 'Daydream Believer' - it's so cute (^_^)b

Oops

2008-08-02T20:15:00.003+01:00

OK, so I've done it again haven't I; dropped off the face of the (blogging) earth for no good reason .... sorry :-(

If anybody is still reading this, I loved this short movie posted on YouTube by Future Shorts, it's beautifully animated and really quite touching:

Pizza Cut Five

2008-05-11T22:39:00.000+01:00

No, this isn't a typo, but the name of a clothes brand in Taipei. They've taken a visual cue from Pizzicato Five's styling (as well as a sizeable chunk of their name!), and morphed it into a pizza-delivery style clothes shop, with clothes in chiller cabinets and pizza boxes, and even a scooter delivery service .... See the following:

Main Page:
http://www.pizzacutfive.com/

Pizzicato Five designs:
http://www.pizzacutfive.com/web/index.php?target=series.php&c_sn=1&s_sn=1

Taipei Times newspaper article (in English):
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2008/01/31/2003399704

Domestic goddess

2008-04-27T16:47:00.003+01:00

Well, I'm trying to be a bit better with food these days .... when Y cooks he always makes stuff from scratch, whereas I've historically been quite a consumer of pre-prepared food. Nowadays I'm trying to eat a bit healthier, eg: organic food, no E-numbers, etc etc, so I thought that if I'm going to start getting fussy in my old age I should really try making the stuff myself sometimes.

One of my first attempts is to make muffins at home rather than buying them in the supermarket, as even the more expensive 'quality' muffins have preservatives and stuff in them. So, here is a picture of my first attempt, some choc-chip vanilla muffins I made a couple of weeks ago. They were slightly over-cooked, so they were a bit harder than I would I have liked, but they were still tasty, and I'm about to try another recipe this evening. Fingers crossed!

Another year ....

2008-04-22T23:57:00.003+01:00

Gosh. 31. Doesn't time fly?! I know I'm getting older because I'm getting fatter. I'm hoping that a Wii Fit will miraculously solve that, and return me to my previous slender form .... We shall see!

Suga suga ...

2008-03-28T00:01:00.003Z

The Sugababes are on a bit of a roll at the moment, I think - their last few singles have all been pretty fab, and their videos have all been quite pretty too .... Here's the most recent:

Meigui, megui, wo ai ni

2008-03-24T23:52:00.009Z

I've been obsessed with a song recently. Anyone who's watched the Peter Greenaway film The Pillow Book should remember this song, as it recurs several times throughout the film. It's 'Rose Rose, I Love You' (Or 'Meigui, Meigui, Wo Ai Ni' to give it its correct title), by Yao Lee from 1940.

I first downloaded this song years ago on the original Napster (RIP), but unfortunately I lost the file when my housemate's PC crashed. For years I intended to re-downloaded it but never got round to it - until now!

I don't know why exactly I'm so hooked on it ... I'm a sucker for a simple but catchy melody, and I guess the association with the film probably helps. Interestingly, I was talking to Y about this song, and just from me humming one line of it (with no words, because I didn't know what they were at the time) he guessed it straight away - apparently it's a very famous song if you're Chinese, and I did a bit of research and there were even a few Western versions of it apparently, notably by Frankie Lane and Petula Clark.

Anyway, here is the song, in all its mono glory: Rose, Rose, I Love You [M4A, 2.4MB]. Enjoy!

(PS: If it downloads as a .txt file, just delete the .txt part, which should leave the filename as rose.m4a. I'm not sure why it does this, it's a bit annoying ...)

Addicted!

2008-02-10T23:22:00.000Z

Yes, it's true, I do have an addiction: Special K! It's not because I'm trying to be healthy or anything, I just love it! My parents used to eat it when I was young, and I remember liking it as a boy, but then they stopped eating it and for some reason I never decided to try it again when I was older - until now, at the age of 30! .... My favourite flavour is the Purple Berries I think. It's just yummy!!

Mind you, apparently it has a much higher sugar content than it used to, which is a bit naughty, and although it's low in fat it does have a surprisingly high sugar content. I was eating some Coco Pops Mega Munchers earlier, as you do, and I was quite shocked to find that they have approximately 34g of sugar per 100g of product. No wonder kids are so fat these days! But even my beloved Special K isn't amazingly better; admittedly I'm not eating a very healthy variety at the moment - Special K Bliss (Creamy Berry Crunch), which has approx 23g sugar per 100g product. So despite the fact that it advertises itself as "Less than 3% fat," it still loads you up with sugars which will turn to fat unless you exercise like a maniac. Which I don't.

Another blast from the past I've been into recently is the first Buggles album, "The Age of Plastic." Yes, they really were more than just a one-hit-wonder with Video Killed The Radio Star; they actually had two whole albums as a group, of which I own the first. I bought it in the online-equivalent of a bargain bin, on the strength of that one song, but also because I'd read some very positive reviews about it, and I was really pleasantly surprised with it. It's by no means the best album ever, but it has some great 'tunes' on it, and it's quite creative. I love the deliberate retro-futurism of some of the tracks (a la Fritz Lang's classic film Metropolis), including one of my favourites, which I offer to you here: Johnny On The Monorail [AAC, 6.4MB]. Enjoy :-)

Blogger's block

2008-02-05T00:11:00.000Z

It's weird, throughout the day I think of tonnes of things that I'd like to blog about, but by the time I get home I don't have the mental energy necessary to blog, which sounds really dumb I know, but I just can't bring myself to do it. And then at weekends I'm normally doing stuff, and it's hard enough to keep on top of my emails sometimes yet alone do anything else on the computer. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in email, and it's so tempting to just leave it, but then you end up having to wade through even more emails when you do finally go back to it.

In some ways I'd like to cancel all of my email accounts and create a brand new one, and start again with all the gazillions of subscriptions and memberships and groups etc that one signs up to over the years ..... I kind of used to do this when I changed ISPs, back in the days of dial-up internet connections, but for years now I've have a Yahoo and a Hotmail account which are my joint main email accounts, and they'll never expire ....

I've been trying to have a bit of a purge, and unsubscribe from mailing lists that I don't read, or don't really value that much, but that's only the tip of iceberg ....