Today on twitter

• 23:23 Blur are tearing up Glastonbury. Tender was quite a thing to see. #

Today on twitter

• 13:00 I don't care if they say it's boring. The Monaco GP has something special about it, and is always one of the best in terms of spectacle. #F1 #
• 14:55 Title looking good for Button now. He's taken a lot of stick in the past but has blatant class. #F1 #

Today on twitter

• 14:03 Hype + Wolfram Alpha + not much good = disappointment. Much ado about nothing... #wolframalpha #
• 18:10 Star Trek was outstanding. They nailed it big-time, and I'll be surprised if I see a better film this year. Clever, very clever JJ #startrek #

Today on twitter

• 23:42 BOUGHT Tweetie as it's supposed to be so good. Doesn't even show tweets and replies in same view! Back. To Twitterfon for me. Free as well. #
• 23:44 And the icon is better.. #

Today on twitter

• 15:29 A standard F1 race today. Standard, not boring. Button starting to look good for the title. Webber just said "fuck" live on TV. Again. #f1 #

Today on twitter

• 13:53 Fascinating statisitcs on national identity which would be fun to discuss with a UKIP or BNP fan: bit.ly/WBGDl #

Today on twitter

• 19:10 Yes, I've been quiet. Yes, I have nothing interesting to say. #

Ben Linus reads a nursery rhyme

This is for the Lost people.

Today on twitter

• 19:58 A lovely evening in Stavanger twitpic.com/3s8jx #

Today on twitter

• 19:59 In Stavanger, eating £20 pizza and drinking £6 beer. At least the wifi is free... #

Uncomfortable plot summaries

Wasn't the F1 Grand Prix today good, and han't the start to the season been refreshing? It's great to see the order shaken up a bit and some unexpected names duelling it out at the front. The entitled likes of Ferrari deserve to have their pomposity pricked, even if we all know that it will all sort itself back to normal by the end of the season... Anyway, if like me you are having a quiet afternoon, this mega-list of uncomfortable plot summaries is an excellent way to waste some time. Spot on; some of my favourites are:

BATMAN: Wealthy man assaults the mentally ill.
BILLY ELLIOT: Union worker turns back on strikers for personal gain.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Deranged pedophile big-business industrialist tortures and mutilates young children.
DONNIE DARKO: Hallucinating teen crushed by airplane engine.
GHOSTBUSTERS: Unemployed college professors destroy hotel with nuclear weapons.
KING KONG: Endangered animal stolen, shot.
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST: Disruptive mental patients treated.
STAR TREK: Over-sexed officer routinely places crew in danger.
STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE: Religious extremist terrorists destroy government installation, killing thousands.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS: Critique of Catholicism upstaged by polar bear fight.
THERE WILL BE BLOOD: Kidnapper commits murder several times.
TOP GUN: Pilot routinely endangers Air Traffic Controllers.

Oops, I only intended to C+P a couple, but there are so many good ones...

And if you want to waste even more time, how about an exhaustive list of common misconceptions?. This is the kind of stuff that Wikipedia was made for. Napoleon was not short, snapping your knuckles does not cause arthritis, water looks blue because it is blue, Inuit do not have a lot of words for snow, and toilet waste is not dumped from aircraft during flight.

That'll do for today. I am off to Norway tomorrow for a few days of work. I will fly to Bergen first but am spending all 4 nights in lovely Stavanger. It's a compact city, is pretty, hospitable, and very pleasant when the sun shines. Which is about as often as in Aberdeen. I like going there with work because, like everywhere in Scandinavia, it is cripplingly expensive for a non-local to exist there without bankruptcy. They must get paid a fortune. Not sure what the internet access will be like, but they are very modern there so I expect it in my hotel room. This means that you may get the joy of some blather from me. Hurrah!

In Rainbows

I often mention music that I'm listening to when posting on here, and it is usually first thoughts on some release or another. I have never come back to anything once I've had a chance to mull over it. Well today I was listening to In Rainbows by Radiohead, and decided to break the habit.

I have made no secret of the fact that I think Radiohead are the greatest currently recording band in the world. Almost 15 years ago (!) I was pulled in by The Bends and from then on it was a joy to follow the path of progression laid out by OK Computer, Kid A, and Amnesiac. I loved them for the constantly evolving sound, the integration of new directions, and most importantly the world-class songwriting. Hail To The Thief was the first miss-step, in my mind, as it felt like they were almost treading water for the first time. That's not to say that there weren't a few class moments: come on, it's a Radiohead Album...

After a 4-year break came In Rainbows. Yes, it's the one that you could download from their website and pay whatever you wanted, including nothing. At the time it gathered a tremendous amount of coverage and generated serious debate on the future of the music industry, all of which threatened to overshadow the fact that there was actually an album being released. Looking back through the retrospectoscope, it was in fact a genius piece of marketing that gave them a load of money from downloads, thwarted the torrents, and priceless free advertising for the physical release. Which promptly went to number one in the UK and the US, selling a load of copies. Hooray! The industry is not dead!

Was it worth the wait and hype? Short answer: oh yes. Longer answer: ohhhhhhhh yes. This has become my favourite Radiohead album. Previously I had loved both OK Computer and Kid A, the former for any number of reasons which anyone who has heard it will know, and the latter for its almost shocking integration of "modern" music. In Rainbows eclipses both by taking the mood, aesthetic, feel, and attitude of OK Computer whilst retaining some of the innovations of Kid A and Amnesiac. Thom Yorke's Eraser album mitigated the need for too much of the down-tempo electronic songs; this is a rock band rocking. This is Radiohead, not Thom Yorke, Johnny Greenwood, and a laptop. I love this album, and it has become indispensable, slotting into my group of "best albums ever". If I could only take a handful of albums with me to a desert island, this would be one of the first on the list.

I'm not going to do a track-by-track review, but I will highlight a breathtaking sequence of 4 songs in the middle of the album: Nude, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, All I Need, and Faust Arp. This is a run of songs at least equal to the current champion of Sloop John B, God Only Knows, and I Know There's An Answer (from Pet Sounds). Nude kicks it off: this is Radiohead at their best, a haunting and beautiful song about extramarital affairs, wailed out by Thom Yorke over a penetrating bass-line. That song would be the highlight of the album, were it not followed by Weird Fishes/Arpeggi. I'll be honest here: I wasn't sure about this one on the first few listens, and didn't get why Niall was saying that this was the heart of the album. Boy, was I wrong, and I have no idea why it took a few listens to click. I have come to the conclusion that this is Radiohead's best song, and therefore by definition one of the greatest songs ever. It's difficult to do it justice by description: dueling guitars, angsty lyrics, amazing percussion and a shift of tone at the end. The build towards the middle of the song is exhilarating, the song is amazing. Just listen:


I know, Radiohead are marmite (like Bjork) but bands such as Coldplay, Keane, Athlete and the like must feel foolish when they hear music as good as that. How can you follow it up on an album? By a complete change of style, to All I Need. Both cold and heartfelt, this sounds like it could have been produced by Boards Of Canada, has arrestingly direct lyrics, and builds to a stunning and chaotic conclusion. Finishing off the quartet of songs is Faust Arp, a lovely 2-minute ballad that they would simply not have put on previous albums. Wonderful stuff.


So, In Rainbows: I like it. A lot. A quick scan of the internet seems to show that most other people did as well. This should be in your music collection.

Today on twitter

• 18:01 Bored #

Want to waste 2 hours?

Then click on this. Make sure your sound is on, and enjoy.

For some sample "tunes", try here.

Dis n dat

Hey hey, peeps. It's been a quiet weekend for me here, a little boring if truth be told. This does not lead to good blog fodder... It's chocolate bunny weekend, but Aberdeen does not follow the English bank holidays so it is our holiday next weekend. It's been an excellent couple of weekends for my friends, with one baby born, another confirmed to be on the way, and an engagement announced. You know who you are, so proper congratulations to you all.

Easter weekend had 2 much-hyped sci-fi TV events: Doctor Who and Red Dwarf. Who was, as usual, excellent Nice set-up at the end for the final Tennant episodes at the end of the year. Red Dwarf, on the other hand, has disappointed so far. I wasn't expecting very much, to be honest, but it has managed to under-deliver. A comedy without laughs is never a good thing. Actually, that's not quite true: there has been one laugh per episode so far, with the photo enhancement gag very well done. Pretty much everything else didn't work. The plot is weak (stolen from the League of Gentlemen film!), the writing poor, and the actors certainly look their age. The last episode, on tonight, is going to have to be very good indeed to rescue the mess.

The Somalian piracy stories have been big news recently, with a high-profile rescue just tonight. This article from the Independent is a fascinating read, comparing current events to olde piracy and suggesting that there may be a more complex story here, and that the pirates may not be the simple "evil guys" that they are being painted as.

Quick product review: Pepsi Raw. This is a new drink from Pepsi following the heartening recent trend for "real" ingredients in processed food. Sainsbury's have priced it temptingly cheaply, and tempt me they did. This drink is a big step up from the equally "natural" Red Bull Cola, which I was not too big a fan of. Pepsi Raw tastes nice: different but similar to the mainstream brands, with a very pleasant syrupy-liquorice finish. I'll certainly buy more.

Finally, Royksopp have a new album out. On first listen Im pretty impressed. They have moved back towards the sound of the first album, whilst maintaining the shiny production values of the second. I like. Here's the fun video for the lead single: