Could i HAVE any more free time?

Completed half of my development essay today, it was a poor standard of writing methinks, but unfortunately I left my notes in Leamington. Unsmooth. Attempting to finish the whole essay today, and maybe make a start on Macro. After that there is the Leviathan (aka Econometrics Assessment) which I'm sure will be as much of a heartbreaker as last time.

I can't believe the Man Utd match yesterday (they beat Roma 7-1 after losing the 1st leg 2-1). Ridiculous...

I think I'm going to have to mission back to Leamington a couple of days earlier than planned in order to sort out my work WITH MY NOTES.

Rampant downloading has been afoot since I got home - hopefully a lot of things will finish today, leaving me hours of viewing pleasure.

Invited out to Spoons today, but don't want to attend - on a detox, and my funds are limited.

My god, the exams are so close, and I'm fear.

Face Down.

Wow, a whole term without any updates. How bizarre. Well, not really, its fucking stupid to type into an online journal. A week ago I returned from Malaga after two weeks away from England - hitch-hiking to Morocco and then holidaying there for a few days. All in the name of charity (Link Community Development are a delicious organisation, dedicated to improving the education and general life of children in Africa). Back of the net. I will upload the photos of the trip onto Facebook as soon as i obtain access to them, however in the interim period, a short description, comprising of mere words will have to suffice. We paced down to Portsmouth on Day 1, reached Poitiers by Day 2, Bordeaux by Day 3, the Pyrenees and the subsequent snow storms on Day 4, Madrid on Day 5 and then the deliciousness of Algeciras the early morning ferry crossing to Tanger on Day 6. Well done us, we had made it to Morocco. Conciserous. Upon reaching the promised land, we paced to meet Springs in Tanger, then rolled to Chefchouen (aka the Blue City). This was delicious, and (in my opinion) was definitely the friendliest place we visited. From here we bussed it to Fez, which was an old school, traditional city. We stormed around the Medina with a guide desperate for commission from shady shop-keepers for a few hours in the company of Timo - a Warwick based first year engineer - then went to Marakech. We met Zebedee and Geoff a day later, then remained in a delicious hotel called the Toulousian for what i believe was four nights. This was a wise move as it allowed us a base from which to launch our activities, one of which was a ludicrously expensive mission to the Cascades near the Atlas mountains. They were most beautiful. The last full day and night in the country was spent in Essauwara (apologies for the spelling) which was a nice place, but overly tourist friendly, due to the long sweeping beaches and perfect wind-sailing conditions. Following our brief period here, we embarked upon a thirty or so hour voyage back to the UK, which comprised of a 4 hour bus journey, 12 hour train journey, a ferry, a bus, and a flight back from Malaga to Gatwick, and then finally a lift back to South London from James Hall's mother and Grandfather.

This description of the two weeks is brief and lazy, but there's no need to detail every happening of the trip. It will suffice to say that it was glorious and my only two regrets are not being able to remain in Morocco for any longer, and not being able to see the legendary goats in trees near Agadir. Alas. But one day I will catch a glimpse of the whiley beasts with my own eyes, and I will be truly happy.

Not much happened last term, standard fare really. It is now week four of the Easter holidays, I believe. I returned home to Newcastle a week ago and have been to visit the Whitely Bay grandparents (for a delicious feast on Easter Sunday). Tomorrow morning, im going to see the Scottish grandparents for a day visit, which requires setting off early. I love being back this holiday - I have done a lot of reading and the food is delicious. I also have time to watch my health by eating loads of salad and drinking vast quantities of water. No alcohol is good form as well. The books I have read so far are 1984, A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, Things Fall Apart and i'm currently on Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I hope to finish a tasty Penguin Classics set of 10 books which is lurking in the study at the moment. I wish I had read more when I was younger, its much more entertaining than generic TV.

Musically, however, the recent months have been most delicious. Last.fm is an invaluable resource, and my music habits have changed almost beyond belief in such a short time. Almost every day yields a new album which would have gone undiscovered were it not for the aforementioned website. There's no need to ramble about all the bands which I now consume on top of the incumbents, as its so easy to check my last.fm page - its mentioned elsewhere in this journal, and my user name is the same on both. How convienient.

So, to summarise: my spelling and grammar have clearly become unfathomably lazy, as have my attempts at utilising smooth words whenever possible. Alack.

I am now going to go to watch MOTD, where I assume I will watch "highlights" of Newcastle failing to defeat an Arsenal side on a poor run of results. We shall see no doubt.

Aye, well I know its been many moons since I wrote anything on here, but i've had better things to do with my time (oh please). Anyway, i'm back in Newcastle after the conclusion of the first term of second year at uni and for once i'm quite happy to be back. My health hit alarmingly poor levels towards the end of the stay in Leamington, as did my funds. Being back means an almost unlimited supply of fresh fruit and salad, and also means I drink much less and go to bed at reasonable hours. I'll hopefully return at the start of january in much better health, so I won't be permanently tired.
Saw Dom and Alex last night, got some banter and beverages on the scene at spoons, then strolled home with Alex. After he'd got home i smarmed to Asda (which is now 24 hours, hohoho) and collected the usual selection of fine ales. They were imbibed with the Guinness lurking in the garage with the Guardian late into the night. It was an amusing session.
Sorted out the internet at home as well, much pacier than the lazy NTL in Leamington. My christmas present has been purchased by the parents...a delicious 320gb external hard-drive, which means i'll actually be able to download the music I want (cant be done at the moment due to ridiculous lack of space). I guess i can also get way more films and actually keep the TV stuff I acquire.
Back to first term.... i guess overall it wasn't as amusing as last year. I think thats because I went into it expecting the ridiculousness of last year, where you don't know anyone, and everyone is rampantly drunk. Instead it was much more sitting about watching TV, and storming round campus on all day solo missions. I didn't like not being able to see people such as Dave and the girls as much as I wanted too. Even the Andy, Seb, Ivan, Raha, Mark house was a 10 minute walk away, which is poor form when you just want to talk for a few minutes. Dave and the girls live in South Leam which was a much longer walk, and not en-route to anything, so they could never be dropped in on for a quick spot of banter. I think I only saw Steph twice or something in the whole 1/3 of a year. Concerning the rest of the kitchen, most of the other girls (Luci, Amie and Lauren) live with Quoc and some experimental new girl right next door to the lads (and Poppy), so they were seen quite a lot. I saw Amie the most I guess, because she is going out with Andy, plus she works at the local pub, the Cask and Bottle. Vicky has stormed to Italy for a year, and Zoe lives in Coventry with unknowns, so never gets sniped. Steven is also in Coventry, but is sometimes sighted from afar storming round campus with a load of blunderboats. I have no knowledge about Umair, but Varun was seen a couple of times in the Learning Grid. Ah yeah, and Thea is living in North Leam with surf people, we went to their house party. Ocean is AWOL. Useless information, and a waste of my time, great.
Hmmm, storming to the dentists tomorrow, on a solo mission, and I guess i'm walking there, should take an hour each way. Once that has been completed i guess i'm off to town to purchase some xmas gifts for the family. No idea what i'm going to get, but I suppose I'll consider the problem when i'm partaking in the aforementioned parambulation to the dentist.

I saw Tool play in Nottingham, and they were amazing. Only downside was that they pretty much played the same set-list to the one at Download with Sober changed to Wings parts 1 & 2. Despite the predictability of the set, they were still absolutely unbelieveable, the sound quality was perfect, and not a note was missed. Mastodon were on ludicrously early though, so i missed everything except like 2 minutes of the last song, which really pissed me off. My fault though, for not going for when the doors opened. Elsewhere on the band front, the Supersuckers are arriving in Birmingham on the 3rd of January, which would be a treat, but maybe too early for me to attend.

For fucks sake, i just got a text from Zebedee saying that Tara and co think i haven't paid my rent for last term, which is a load of absolute bollocks, because my dad stormed in and paid online, he even says he has the bank details. Fucking unorganised bunch of cunts, they're meant to be a business, but can't even handle the simplest of transactions. I'm phoning them tomorrow to rant about their incompetance. Cunts.

Argh, i'm ramapantly tired, so its time for bed.

So, arrived at the new house a couple of weeks ago, but only got the internet on the scene a couple of days ago. The house is really nice...well, it will be once the lounge has been redecorated. The band room is running successfully in my room, and we're currently learning Unleash The Bastards by Municipal Waste, some Rush songs and a smarmy restyling of the Roots Manuva - Witness bassline. Its amusing. Failed to get a job, which is so lazy. My god. I've just come back from Tesco this morning, after making the purchase of several healthy foodstuffs (Pasta, vegetables and the like).

It was Andy's birthday on friday and even though I didn't partake in the late night "going out" shenanigans, I had a great time round his beforehand. Eight of us went together to buy him an outrageous 3-figure Port, the only one from the local whisky shop that was given the 6* rating. There were more expensive ones, which were priced at over £150, but they are meant to be laid down in a cellar for like 20 years. The whisky shop itself deserves praise as well - the people who run it are so banterous, always amused when you storm in and discuss whisky. We told them about our "Gentleman's tuesday" agreement, and proceeded to talk about appropriate whiskys for each meeting. Last time we questioned Bowmore, and the woman pulled out some Highland Park glasses and a bottle of said beverage and gave us all samples. It was delicious so we acquired a bottle. Good show. Already thinking about what to purchase for next weeks gathering - I'm thinking Caol Ila 12 year old, as its obesely recommended by all. We'll soon see.

Gonna flee to Bargain Hunt now methinks, its delicious daytime TV.




MENDEROSO!!

Man, i'm the most tired anyone has ever been. Saw Municipal Waste last night, at the Cumberland Arms in Byker, with Dom, Alex and Andy Taylor (Dom's amusing older brother). Walked there and back, which took close to 4 hours in total. My legs are refusing to co-operate today, which is mildly amusing. The Waste were totally class, it was a complete brawl, storming around the small upstairs venue beating people. Lost my hat, 2 badges on my bag and my Download festival wristband during the first song, which was Intro/Deathripper. I was in and out of the pit for the rest of the set, the best part being Unleash the Bastards. The Terror Shark was also hilarious, storming up to the mic and yelling "THE TERROR SHARK" along with the five other people in the pit who knew what was going on. Non-stop hilarity. Ryan Waste stormed into the pit for one song, when the mic was out, and was rampant. In another song, the mic was out again, and some random drunk guy went onstage and screamed in a really high pitched voice whilst continuously air-guitaring to the max. His screaming could still be heard over the rest of the instruments. He was a hero. All in all a humourous night.

Today has been the last day of my family's holiday in Berlin, and they're due to return in the next couple of hours. Haven't really done anything so the house is unsoiled. Stupid Tara & co estate agents are being disabled though. No contact exbibed, so in fear that the payment won't get to them in time. If it doesn't i'm gonna rage at them for their poor performance. It's their responsibility to tell customers that their payment method is unusual and retarded. I still don't see why we can't just pay in cash on the day. So much easier for all. Whatever.

I'm spending the next 2 days with the family, so won't be seeing any friends in Newcastle until like 2007. Ridiculous. I wish I could have seen the Wilkatron before leaving, but alas, his old lady had problems with her hip replcement. Gutter. Same with Nanda really, well not about the hip, but he couldn't roll last night either because he was in Wales at the annual "Nanda family reunion", where all the ridiculous members of said ridiculous family meet up in ridiculous fashion.

Hmmm, I really need an external hard drive for my computer. I sorted out all the files a couple of weeks ago and got like 1gb of free space. This has been filled with new music, and said music has been repeatedly consumed. I need more. Unlikely to acquire one unless I get the job in Leamington though.

Might start packing tomorrow. Drums and such will take ages to compactificate, allowing them to be transported.

Argh, there was a load of amusing stuff I found this week online that I was going to post on here, but I can't find it. Curses. Although... this video is amusing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnCVZozHTG8

The guy who made it is just some kid at university in Scotland, and he was offered numerous jobs to direct and produce films. Could make a respectable living from offers related to this 2 minute video. Crazy. I believe he rejected the offers though, and decided to concentrate on his education. Disgusting song somehow got to #3 in the Israeli music charts though.

I think i'm going to bed, can hardly move from tiredness.

OK, concise city needs to be constructed.

- Fuller's 1845 glass coasters arrived yesterday. Smooth. Great for the house.
- Arrive in said house in 6 days. Woohoo, yay etc etc.
- Saw a huge dog today. Fear.
- Got a bottle of Dalwhinnie whisky. Imbibed from matching glass. Aged for 15 years. Smooth.
- Exbibed Zeebad's rent cheque, along with some £6 one from ages ago from ebay.
- Went to Neighbour's house on friday, found out the guy there, Martin, who's one of the three partners that own the law firm Dickinson Dees, loves whisky and ale, so drank them with him til the early hours. Earned an invite for the whole family next week. Also, obese hangover yesterday, one of the worst ever.
- I'm hungry, but am fortunately in possession of a plethora of Tesco finest* meals. Amusing.



...Cue smooth exit through a velvet coated door. For no reason.

....I was strolling home from Asda, and went past this guy and his little kid walking a small dog. Ahead of the aforementioned trio and myself was a kind-looking old man, walking two golden retrievers towards us. The small dog ran towards these two larger canines, rolls over onto its back, and got what can only be descibed as simulultaneous oral sex from both of the other dogs. The old man, the dad and I all burst out laughing, the old man giving a classic "oooooooh dear" with great mirth. The small kid was TRAUMATISED. To the max! It was glorious. I couldn't stop laughing all the way home. Good times.

I got a couple of ales last night. Opened things up with a Honey Dew. It was delicious, as expected. However, I then proceeded to break out the London Pride. The usual aroma sampling commenced, and it smelled not unlike water mixed with vodka. I was confused. Tasting cofirmed that some unknown evil was afoot - where was the classic London Pride biscuity caramel taste? The answer was nowhere. I couldn't drink it, it was just too disgusting, didn't even taste vaguely nice. Therefore, because it cost like £1.60, I necked it and fled to a delicious, unsoiled ESB and then a Black Sheep Riggwelter. Whilst these were being consumed, I located the www.proudofyourpride.co.uk website, and registered my dissatisfaction with said beverage. I lodged the complaint in the form of a story, with me breaking into the London Pride as a reward for a hard day. I made sure to say I was an avid Fuller's fan and smoothly inserted a snippet of Vintage Ale knowledge and my Fine Ale Club Membership number. I then proceeded to express my concern that no one else should have the misfortune to encounter such a sub-standard variant of a normal gem of a beverage. I went to bed, not expecting to hear anything at all or maybe a polite email after a few days. However, I was awoken this morning by a phone call from Claire Morgan of the Fuller's customer service department, requesting the expiry date of the bottle I consumed, and delivering a sincere apology. A couple of hours later, she phoned back and got the batch number from me, printed next to the expiry date, and explained that Fuller's always keep samples of every batch they produce, so the batch from which my bottle came from would be checked and put through a vigorous analysis over the next couple of weeks, and I would be contacted once this processes has been completed. I quickly expressed my joy and admiration of their glorious consumer service, saying it matched the standard of one of their delicious beverages. She was amused, and I went for lunch, so amazed that any brewery could care so much about their customers.

Today the plan of action is checking new bands, which is going nicely. Animal Collective are an often recommended abnd that i'm sniping for the first time just now, and fucking hell, they're amazing. Broken Social Scene are a band which I downloaded at Warwick from DC++ last term, and just listened to them now... also very good. There are a couple of noise rock bands i've checked out, most notably Boredoms (not The Boredoms so i'm told). They're Japansese and insane - ten minute songs consisting of distortion and feedback, with loads of ridiculous effects put onto their instruments. Its so good. OXES are a humorous four piece being consumed, and some on my list to be sampled soon are Polvo, M83 and Prefuse 73. Maybe some more that i'm overlooking.

Move into the new house two weeks from today. Oh yeaaaaah boiiiiii, yeeeaaaaahhhhh.

I might go on a mission to do nothing until then. So far this holiday i've been out four times - yes, a mere four. Two visits were to the Robs' flat (Dave was there both times), one was to Dom's house and the other was to Miln's. I was asked to Linda P's barbeque last week, but couldn't be arsed. Its so easy to get a gathering into town but funding is too much of a mare for me to try. Also, I dislike most people round here, and would perhaps rather sit about watching scrubs than going out. Plus, the less I do round here, the better the move to Leamington will be.

This beverage needs to be located:

http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=1583



That is all.

You know, I spent a while thinking today. I also watched a ridiculous amount of Scrubs. The thing is, is that when the two crossed, the most intriguing stuff came to the forefront of my "cerebral nomadry". Oooh, i like that! Anyway, a Dr Cox special made me discard the superficial comic nature of the program and think in more depth about what he said. "We're just two egotistical peas in one gigantic narcissistic pod". I mean, on some level, doesn't this apply to everyone? Well, I certainly think so - there's always the underlying self pre-occupation to some extent....

Hmmmm, perhaps now isn't the time to chronicle my every thought. This is normally when i actually feel like jabbering away to an online journal - the words just flow, its fun, which is naturally why I do it. Alas, I don't feel like ranting just now, maybe a few sporadic comments on stuff in general. That sounds much more appealing. "Appealing" only has a single L in... right? Good, thats what I thought.

In Scrubs, and Friends, and any other sitcom, the scenes where a small group of people just chill out in their homes are starting to get to me more and more. I just want a few days to sit around in the house and do this, and talk absolute crap, whilst drinking appalling beverages. Nothing would amuse me more actually, than going into the new Leamington Spa house, buying a crate of lager in bottled form, chilling said beverages, then watching a familiar show, such as the aforementioned sitcoms, with drinks in hand. No thinking required, just the occasional witty remark about something totally random and ridiculous. No rationality required, just pure care-free happiness. Its been a while since i've had this. Yeah sure, I love a good argument as much as the next person - politics interests me more and more these days. I find myself reading the economist when it arrives for my Dad with almost...enthusiam.... But all of this builds a kind of burden on my spirit I guess. Its depressing reading about the almost complete disgrace that is humanity. The shameful performances witnessed every day by those that run the country. Not reading the paper means you're away from the deaths in Lebannon and Israel, but it makes you ignorant. Its a must to know whats going on in the world, but it sure gets depressing. In a way I miss my old, uncaring, pretty naive on the workings of the world self... So back to where i was before - just getting away from it, even for a day sounds so good. Therefore, this will happen in the new house.

Ahhhh now, thats better... that whole last paragraph was just rambling. I said some of the points I meant to poorly and at least 5 times each. Classic.

Back on the Scrubs front, the woman who plays Mrs Mclusky in Desperate Housewives and makes a couple of rare appearances in Scrubs as a patient went into renal failure and JD was intending to put her on a dialisis machine (no, this is right at the start of season 1, nothing is being revealed from newer ones)... however, the woman refuted the claim that "she didn't have a choice" and said that she was going to take the no treatment option, because she was ready to die. Naturally, the young Dr Dorien was traumatised, and pressed to find out why this was. The old lady replied that she had lived a full life, was elderly, and therefore ready to die. JD produced a list of things which he claimed everyone needs to accomplish in their life - he began to go through it - and then it cuts back later to show that the old lady had done everything on the list. So, to get to the point (which could have been done before that hilariously unrequired narration) - what would be on your "things to do before death" list? I thought it was a delicious question, so naturally I considered it. A few of mine, in no real order - they all have to be done eventually...

1. Get in the Guinness Book of World Records. It would probably be best if it was for something ridiculous, because the idea is to have fun. Eating 400 gazillion baked beans with a solar powered toothbrush in under seven seconds sounds like a breakable record, but may require training. Maybe something more original? The world's largest bedsore...no, wait.... the worlds most ridiculous building made entirely out of lost shoes. Yes... I like it.

2. Live a year in America. Judge the inequality and crippling ignorance of so many people there first hand. Check to see if Michael Moore and Super Size me are just. I guess i'd inevitably debate visiting the Bible Belt or the worst parts of Texas, but I think I would end up being killed for disputing their ways of life... I just wouldn't be able to handle the reality.

3. Ride a mile on a bopper hopper thing. That idea was stolen from Phoebe on Friends. It just makes sense. Maybe this could be replaced by the tale I heard about some hero who had the glorious idea of forward rolling for like ten miles. Such genius.

4. Play in a noise rock instrumental band called Zebedee.

5. Brew or distill my own beverage. So far i'm undecided whether it would be a whisky or an ale which would be produced. The whisky would most likely only require the construction of a replica metal creation vat, where the ingredients are mixed, and then adding the product into a used oak Bourbon cask. It would be filled, and then left in a cellar...until i'm close to death, when it would consumed with joy. The longer I live/earlier I make the whisky, the longer it will age, and the more flavours will be imbued into the whisky. The ale may have to be done on a large scale if it is to be even vaguely respectable, and I fear I won't have the resources to accomplish this behemoth of a task. Perhaps this idea could be interchangeable with owning and/or running my own brewery or distillery. Maybe even both.

6. Use the verb "to imbue" in a legitimate sentence. Oh no wait...I can cross this one off my list! Look, it's right there in the above point, mere lines above!!! YES!!!

7. Go experimental on the narcotics front. I really want to try most things once. Apart from heroin and its other forms (apart from morphine) really. LSD, coke, mushrooms etc.... The prospect of consuming these amuses me. I'd not become a regular user or anything, because these uber-drugs will fuck me up if i'm not extremely careful. LSD for example, I would only use once, because of the traumatic risk of flashbacks. I read about a guy who used this drug, and when in the street he went back to a trip and thought he was an orange... he ended up peeling all his skin off. Absolute mare.

8. Make a film. Or a film-umentary. Or mock-umentary. Or filmumockublahblahblah. They're all the same. I toyed with this idea back in the days of school. Supersize Me is such a great example of how to make an industry changing film on close to zero budget. It could effectively combine the desire to make a film and the second "resolution" into one uber-objective. Jackass the movie is also a more humorous example of the shoestring budget route which the film-mobile will inevitablly drive down. Maybe I could chart the progress of the noise rock band, Zebedee, in film form. Or maybe not.

9. Eat my height in subway sandwiches. Meatball subs to be precise. With extra cheese, all the salad and Southwestern sauce.... In one day.... Or if I fail this, eat my body weight in Pizza Hut pizza at their buffet. Maybe if i fail both of these, then i could just invent a foodstuff. Reminds me of a discussion with Rob Wilkie, involving the creation of a unique new sandwich. He told me Helman's mayonnaise were currently running a competition to award a large sum of money to the best idea for a new sandwich. This got me thinking, so I came up with a sandwich called "old faithful". The receipe, although vaguely time consuming, is relatively straightforward. Firstly, cook a side of fine beef - ensure it bathes in a sea of nothing but the finest juices. It has to come out tender, juicy, mouthwatering, DELICIOUS... Cut some generous slices, and use the juices exbibed by the meat to make a thick, tasty gravy. Allow the slices of beef to soak in the gravy as it heats. This adds flavour to both and ensures the meat remains warm. Whilst the gravy heats, cook three of four Yorkshire Puddings. They must be home made from scratch, as this ensures maximum quality, but is no difficult task. Acquire a foot long Subway style sub, and open it. Add a layer of the beef slices to the bottom of the sandwich. Then, remove the Yorkshires from the oven, and slice them in half. Carefully place the halved yorkshires over the first layer of beef, and then pour gravy onto the yorkshires. If correctly constructed, they should absorb maximum gravy. Next, place a second layer of beef over the Yorkshires, then spread ample English mustard over the top part of the bread. The close it up. It should be manageable, but delicious. This sort of takes me back to a gathering at Rob's house where we made a feast out of expired cans of ridiculous meat, and ate it. All of the food was expired by at least 2 years, but it was from cans, so whatever. We named the feast "the Travellator" in honour of Gladiators, but then later upgraded it to the "All You Can Meat". Good times. ....Accursed tangents...how I love them. Back to the list.

10. Visit all continents, in order to check out life in other cultures to the fullest possible extent. See as many world sights as possible, appreciate nature etc.

11. Find a mathematical reason why normally rational people believe strongly in God.

12. Send in a scam video to You've Been Framed, and slyly pocket the £250 return. This has also been considered in the past, but we never had a video camera. Alas.

13. Play at least 3 musical instruments to Grade 8. Hopefully the drums, piano and guitar or bass. I don't think i could handle my other favourites like the trumpet and saxophone.

14. Become fluent in hopefully at least one other language. Enochian is counted in this, although the vocabularly is somewhat limited.

15. Meet Arnold Schwarzeneggar, and ask him if he's going Commando and why he there hasn't been a Total Recall of his ludicrous views as Govenor of California, and why he doesn't believe in Terminating the death penalty. I could go on.

Fifteen, eh? That will suffice for now, methinks. I was quite amused before. Got an email from Mr Andrew J Waller, Esquire. Formaltastic. He was ranting on msn about horoscopes. I laughed for an obese amount of time when he said "they make he angry". Can imagine him opening up the paper and seeing the horoscopes section, written of course by Mystic Meg... "Virgo. You will have a great day today, Venus is in the twelth house, so you should be indifferent towards fire and small people". Cue him ripping up the paper, then punching the shreds into dust, then consuming the dust, whilst in a huge rage, screaming about his hatred for astrology, starology, futureology and all assosciated jibberish. I suppose he's right though... it is a load of crap. Why should everyone in the world be grouped into a few categories just because of when they were born. Why would the movement of a certain star determine the way each of these people live out their lives? Such rumours. I suppose its people with too much time on their hands trying to explain a sort of reverse Chaos Theory. The movement of something big slightly changing the insignificant actions of someone... Meh, I dunno, if it was true then it would be proveable.

God, i've had a long day... like two hours were spent on here rambling away, and the rest of the day consisted of listening to a vast amount of music. Which was great as always. I'm getting up obscenely early tomorrow to revise... I want to be up to scratch for next year.



Well, this was fun. We should do it again sometime.



Oh yeah, this site was of great interest to me - showed the beauty of both nature and purely mathematically generated structures. Check it out!

http://www.levitated.net/notes/AOC/



Now...Awaaaaaay, trusty steed!

Consume it.... it's a delicious use of time. Really... it records what you listen to, then makes all these charts. It then gives you friends and neighbours based on what you listen to and recommends other artists to you, as do the aforementioned friends and neighbours. You can also add your actual friends and see what they're listening to. Here's my recently listened chart deelie - it should change whenever i listen to other things. You can see my overall chart of what gets consumed if you SIGN UP TO IT!



That was fun wasn't it. Oh my yes. Elsewhere, its ludicrously early and i'm bored. Thats why i'm updating, see. I finished a crossword today - for no reason. To celebrate I did the sudoku as well. But, more importantly my 1997 Fuller's Vintage ale arrived today, cradled inside the most delicious packaging anyone has ever seen. Whereas all the other Vintages are contained inside a smooth enough purple thin cardboard box, with stuck on labels, this badboy (the first of the Vintage Ale series) features amusing thick white cardboard, with the info printed straight onto it. The back then opens like a door revealing the trophy hidden within.

This is the fourth Vintage Ale I have purchased this holiday. Three are going to the new house, so I have one spare. And by "have" I do of course mean "had". Imbibement of the 2002 special Golden Jubilee Vintage Ale took place last night. It was outrageous - almost sherry-like overtones, with a mouthfeel similar to melted butter. It wasn't as sweet as I was expecting, and thats meant in a good way - there was the usual depth of a good Vintage Ale, a slight citrus tang with the usual fruits, and what may have been liquorice...? I sat there and consumed it with total glee for almost two hours. It was a feast.

A mere two and a half weeks until the house arrives on the scene. Hohoho, can't wait. this may be partly because I do literally nothing around here, but its unlikely. The real reason is because the house will be awesome.

On the 8th Sept I'm going to this gathering in Coventry to meet some of the ridiculous drummers that live round there. Should be fun, all the jokers that are going are banterous. Josh will be there as well, so should hopefully be able to connect with them all and what not.

My brother's AS results come out on thursday, and he's in fear. Its mildly amusing, because i'm pretty sure he'll do well. He's doing history though, which seems foolish.

Oh yeah, back on the ale front, more merchandise is going to be acquired soon. Posted my 5 1845 bottle caps to the Fuller's brewery yesterday, and the set of etched class coasters with a chrome holder will be here within 28 days. Should be humorous when they arrive, because they are without doubt the most frivolous thing i've ever seen.

The last week or so has been a Scrubs mission of sorts. I watched seasons 4 and 5, for no apparant reason - I knew all episodes almost word for word, but whatever, it was still entertaining. Sent the 2nd half of season 5 to Zebedee, who was traumatised by the traumas of the trauma force trauma trauma trauma.... its too early to write. Bah. However, on a positive note, Tool are playing the last leg of their UK tour in Nottingham on December the 1st. So not only will term have ended, but its a friday too. Hohoho. Apparently Zeebad bought the tickets last night. A mere £30 each. Fuck. Added to the J5 tickets which the Zeebeese purchased, thats already another £50 used up. God, my funds are gonna have a mare next year unless i get that job in the Graduate.

I'm now fleeing to read more books. Something constructive...? Surely not....

Just watched Raw Deal for the first time in ages. It's a ridiculous Arnie film, filled with the expected rumours and hilariously poor acting. Provided ample entertainment as usual though. Before this, I watched the film that inspired a thousand suicides - Lake Placid. It was so bad that after a mere 6 minutes I was reaching for the razorblades. Fortunately, this temptation was kept at bay by the Dream Theater Live at Budokan DVD, which i watched for the first time since properly getting into Liquid Tension Experiment. Good choice too, the dvd is a seminal performance in recent prog rock.

Been so bored today, so located a couple of DJ Shawdow and Cut Chemist sessions, entitled Brain Freeze and Product Placement. Both are delicious so far, sort of remind me of the Mr Scruff presents Keep It Solid Steel record. Smooth beats and co are all on the scene. Need to acquire more stuff, current knowledge remains insufficient.

Drum practise getting respectable now. After teaching myself to read drum music to a reasonable standard, I can now play both Guildhall Grade 4 pieces pretty well. The first isn't hard at all, but the second is a little challenging - when broken down it's easy enough, but the crippler is putting it all together. I was using my brother's grade book, which only goes from 1 to 4 (he quit playing after a few months having only achieved like grade 2 or something)... but I want to acquire the 5-8 book, it should keep me busy for many months.

Entered the fantabulous world of myspace the other day with Zebedee. Seems decent enough, bit of a less formal Facebook I guess. You can add your favourite bands as your friends, so its cool when they add you back.

Been thinking about the house quite a lot recently, just how things are gonna work and what not. Should be smooth. Maybe we could get a little bin against the wall in the main room, with one of those small plastic basketball hoops and backboards just above it. Everytime you get something in the bin from afar, you get a point, and at the end of every week, whoever has the most snipings gets a beverage or something. Of course, proximity to said bin and the difficulty of object thrown will need to be taken into account, anf snipings could probably only be official if everyone was present. Meh, just thought it would be a classy little thing to have in the house.

Don't have much to say today, apart from the usual reiteration of my boredom. I must remember to bid on that silver plated 1845 bottle opener on ebay tomorrow as well, its still languishing at a mere £2 including postage, which is a deligulous baragin. I bet i forget as well. This beverage needs to be located and imbibed post haste:

http://www.rebellionbeer.co.uk/images/zebedee.jpg

I was thinking of applying for a job in the Graduate next term - i'll be there anyway, so might as well make some money out of it. I'd learn how to change the casks and stuff so that whenever i'm around, those disgusting days with no ales can be made a thing of the past. Learning to pour beverages properly would make it easier to get other short term jobs in the future too. If that fails then there's the Subway near our house and loads of other crappy small shops that could be sniped as well i guess. Should see nearer the time.


Ahhhhhhhhh, I can't be arsed to even stay awake.

Wellity wellity wellity, the end of another highly constructive day. Spent at least 3 hours researching well known left wing extremists, especially Fidel Castro and George Galloway. It amused me... Both seem to have the correct approach (man, i typed the "right approach" there and realised my humorous blunder)... it's just that they then go on about redistribution of wealth and nationalisation. Increased benefits spending pisses me off. It clearly reduces the incentive to work, so the economy will simply become less productive as more people choose to laze about at home with their ample state allowance, rather than actually contribute to society. Imbibe the replacement ratio. Nationalisation is disabled because it breeds corruption when everything is publicly funded. Privatisation gets my vote because of the profit maximisation nature of most firms. Smithian principles and all that. They won't tolerate lazy or incompetent workers, and everything should be built to a respectable standard to prevent costly blunders in the future. Yes, the British rail network is a joke, but this doesn't change the theory. If the corporate executives didn't arrogantly pocket so much, but invested a reasonable sum in training and maintenence then there would be no problem. I remember my old economics teacher telling me about his mate who worked for BT and only had to work 2 days a week, then had a 5 day weekend every week, whilst still getting paid for a full week's work. Classic nationalisation. Obese rage... its not like i'm properly right wing on this... laissez faire always leads to exploitation and ridiculous inequality (which of course can be justified, but only when there is no poverty - inequality is inevitable in the world of enterprise - if the aforementioned distribution of wealth was sufficient enough, where would entrepreneurs come from? Everything is driven by the pursuit of money, so why "push the envelope" and invent new things if you're not going to get anything out of it? The money you make would instantly be given to people less well off than you, and through doing nothing, they would have the same standard of living. Innovation would practically cease, and the long term growth potential of the economy would fall. Perhaps communism is the opposite of the so called "new economy" that has arisen since the birth of the internet. The "negative-paradigm" would be a nice new name for such left wing government. So, inequality can easily be justified, but not at the extreme poverty bottom of the scale.). Back to where i was pre-tangent... Being on the right to the extreme is ignorant. As previously stated, laissez faire is a foolish and inevitably crippling way to run the economy, and it seems that everyone on the left wing bases their ridiculously disabled arguments on the principles of laissez faire. Clearly, government intervention and regulation are always needed up to a certain point, to ensure exploitation and corruption do not arise. They should reward the innovators and productive thinkers with tax breaks and subsidies - but only to aid the long term gains available to the economy as a whole. When a GPT (general purpose technology) is invented, all sectors of the economy benefit, and therefore living standards will rise. If an environment that stimulates and promotes the development of new technologies is created, then everyone will see an improvement in their daily life. So you see, the balance should be set somewhere in the middle: too much intervention, no one does anything because they are guaranteed a reasonable living standard whatever happens - the economy will be sluggish, and rely on other, capitalist economies for perhaps the majority of their durable goods. Too little intervention and the inevitable exploitation and poverty contrasted with the obscene wealth of unethical corporation will ensue.
Perhaps this leads us back to the other side of the redistributional coin: pensions. The communist or even mildly left wing state will seek to raise state pensions for the retired. "Waaaay", proclaim the ignorant public, "more money huhuhuhuh". Retarded. If you're working a standard desk job say, and the basic state pension rises, what is the incentive for you to save now, and contribute to your company pension fund, when upon retiring, your years of hard saving will be almost matched by an identical person who spent the entirity of their income with no saving at all, thanks to the state pension. To receive this basic allowance, you of course have to have an income less than a set level at retirement. Therefore the intelligent guy who saved for his future gets nothing from a public fund, where as the foolish worker who spent everything receives the same amount from the state. How about throwing in the economy's pension crisis as well. The amount paid to the retired has reached such a level, what with the increasingly 60+ population demographic, that soon, even those who deserve a pension will not be able to be given one, or at least won't get a sufficient amount to live on. How about, to avoid this, the government sorts itself out and creates incentives for people who can save, to save. Although complex and controversial, perhaps a means tested pension would be appropriate. Or strongly encouraging anyone with an regular income flow to save as much as possible. Means testing was abandoned a few decades ago, because it reminded a large number of people about WWII when means testing was the most common way of ensuring people received the appropriate amount of rations etc. Now that a generation has effectively passed, perhaps it is time to retry this approach.
Back to Castro. One of the main things that irritates me so much is his hypocrisy. He claims to be a huge advocate of human rights, yet he has had thousands imprisoned indefintely or executed without trial. The abolition of political choice upon the Communisation of Cuba also seems to scream "infringement of basic human liberties" to me. Ridiculous. He is also a fan of vultures in public:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_castro

About three quarters of the way down on the right (maybe should be on the left - god i've already used that joke, the shame...!).
Anyway, it seems he is dying or dead (Cuban authorities are being very secretive apparently, refusing to give many details away) now that he has serious gastro-intestinitis. Power has been handed over to his younger brother, Raúl Castro, clearly indicating his demise. I'm not going far enough to mock him - he has said some great things, and has one of the greatest resolves of anyone i've ever heard of. Check out this quote: "Although we have been dogmatic, we have never preached cult of personality. You will not see a statue of me anywhere, nor a school with my name, nor a street, nor a little town, nor any type of personality cult because we have not taught our people to believe, but to think, to reason out." Modest to say the least, installing good virtues in his people, although done through extremist policies.

So, even though i didn't plan for this to be political at all, it was inevitably so. Whatever. The bottom line is that I guess i'm right wing, but realise that the state plays an important role in ensuring corruption and exploitation do not lead to inequality on a huge scale. I respect Castro, Galloway et al, for their devotion (my god, read the transcript of George Galloway whooping the senate a year ago over their invasion of Iraq, its genius!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1616578,00.html

Anyway, fleeing from such controversial issues, I am continuing to read a book by John Kay called "The Truth About Markets". A delicious read thus far, recommended to anyone who cares.

Fuck, i still haven't fled from such issues. OK, onto drumming. I am spending several hours a day practising on my practise pad and kit, dreaming of playing jam night in the graduate to a reasonable level. I also want to play around Leamington with a jazz quartet, like Josh, and earn some money and have fun. Improving the jazz side of my playing would also benefit my playing in other areas as well. Josh keeps asking me to join the Warwick big band. I am considering this very seriously, as it would be great fun and help my drumming to the max. I'm also thinking about gettng a couple of lessons from the legendary Paul Brooke who lives in Leamington - he writes for Rhythym, and co-runs Nufusions with the ridiculous Jason Bowld (Pitchshifter drummer). I have never been so committed to improving my drumming, and I am absolutely determined to get (much) better.

Elsewhere, i'm bored, and want to do something with people. Would be fun, and allow me to leave the house for once. If not i'm moving into the new house in Leamington in like 4 weeks anyway, so whatever. I look forward to it.

Now...to the batmobile!!

Sorry, I can't stop laughing at that hilarious bit from the Brass Eye Animals episode where that insane guy soils a farmer's cows with graffiti. Maybe i'm going insane. I'm certainly bored enough. I've literally spent the entire day sorting out the files on my computer so they are organised and correctly labelled. Also, my C drive has all my music (and ZERO space) and my D drive has all video and pictures. Woooo! Exciting. The upside of this hoohaa is that I have listened to a lot of new music that would have remained unconsumed in the foreseeable future otherwise, and there are some total classics. For one, my knowledge of The Cinematic Orchestra has stormed away, and I'm now pretty familiar with all their albums and not just Every Day. Motion and Horizon are almost pure jazz - my favourite style of said genre as well - but still retain the classic Cinematic Orchestra feel. I'd advise anyone to check out this band if you are yet to do so!

Continuing on the jazz front, I have been listening to a fair amount of Miles Davis, both Bitches Brew and Live Evil, from 1969 and 1970 respectively. The former was seen as a highly controversial offering from the great man, even a sell-out according the purists. It's easy to see why - the introduction of studio technology (perhaps the most debated part of this is the editing techniques applied after recording) and the use of non-traditional instruments, such as the electric piano, guitar and bass guitar. Moving away from the so called "traditional" formula was such a bold move that lost Miles many, many fans, and there is an ongoing argument as to why he recorded such an album... The two sides of said argument are that he was merely being progressive and pushing musical boundaries, or that he was trying to gain a new, younger audience. The new audience idea is backed up by the date of the recording - the day after Woodstock, and Miles told the guitarists he wanted Hendrix influenced playing, which is what he got. The standard of music certainly didn't decline from Kind of Blue at all (sample Miles Runs the Voodoo Down for the genius trumpet solo at the end). I was also intrigued to learn how the session was performed... the finest players around at the time were summoned by Miles himself, and he gave them a quick piece of info on the tempo of each tune and maybe a small hint as to the melody he wanted, and then they all improvised - impressive given the length of the tracks and the number of solos. On a few of the tunes you can actually hear Miles quietly handing out instructions or clicking his fingers to indicate changes in tempo. Old school diatonic styles were also discarded and more dissonant playing brought to the table. God, i love ranting..... So i'll continue. Even the name of the album, and it's release was somewhat groundbreaking at the time... I guess its hard to understand now, but the boldness of a major record label (Columbia) to release a huge album with "Bitch" in the title was through the roof. I also researched the artwork, which was done by a smarmy chappy called Mati Klarwein. Check it out here:

http://encyclopedia.quickseek.com/images/BitchesBrewGatefold.jpg

You can easily recognise the phsychadelic nature of the work, perhaps revealing the intended target audience, as previously mentioned. I heard tales of people claiming that this was Miles Davis' most narcotic influenced period, reflected by the music and artwork, although research proves the opposite to be true... it was earlier in his career when drug imbibement fuelled the music, and at this point, he was the cleanest of his whole musical career. Wey.
On the Live Evil album (recommended by Zebedee) there is a crazy tune called "what i say" which has the best drum solo i've ever heard on it - 5 minutes long, nothing has ever been more rhythmic or interesting. It's even more experimental than Bitches Brew, and I love it...

Outside of the small music bubble that seems to have formed around me, I am not up to much. I did discusse a weekly "gentleman's tuesday" with Andy and Mark, which would entail those of us who hung out at the graduate a lot last year coming round our house in Leamington on Tuesdays. A pot of money would be constructed, and a couple of FINE bottles of whiskies would be purchased and consumed slowly, whilst being discussed. Smooth music, most likely jazz, would play softly in the background, and it would be great. Afterwards we could maybe bring out some poker or something, or just chillax with the music and banter. The primarmy order of business would be the discussion and consumption of whisky (not really aiming to get beveraged) so whineatrons would be discouraged from attending. Plus its like my house so people that piss me off won't even get let in. Hohoho. Maybe there could be a limited guest list of 5 or 6 people who know their whisky or something, but we'll see.

Apparently Dave has gone to Spain for a month which amused me highly for no reason.

Man, i need to do something... the other day at Miln's was cool, hope something similar can happen again soon.

Ahhhhh, classic Zeebeese. Just returned from Miln's house, with Nand and Dom...It was somewhat humorous. Was in Cambridge/London friday to Monday as well, catching up with Zeebad and Mark, which was also good form. Dom smarmed round to mine yesterday, where we consumed London Pride and a bottle of 12 year old Highland single malt - viiiiiintage Taylor.

Not up to much today though, sitting around contemplating the inevitable Domino's... What to get? I'm thinking a small half and half with pepperoni + jalapenos and then hawiaan, with a box of chicken strippers. Fuck, i can almost taste the barbeque sauce storming from the chicken into my mouth, as i weep huge tears of joy into the accompanying beverage. Its too much....

Parents are away at the moment, consuming the delights of singapore for no apparant reason, so i'm spending as much time as possible working on my drumming, and listening to music at obscenely loud volumes. I wish i had a job though, as my funds are strained to say the least...my bank account is £460 overdrawn, which is a total mare. Whatever. Thinking of purchasing a new drum book, most likely jazz related, as that's what i've been attempting recently. Vast stretches of polyrhythms and syncopation improvement. Bah is what i say! Nah, rumours, its great, making some progress, especially using this dynamic independence online lesson from the nufusions.com site. Need to fulfill the aim of playing at jam night next year, hopefully something like Watermelon man. Reminds me of the version of Conspiracy Theory Josh sent me... its classy - University of Warwick Big Band playing live at the Montreaux Jazz Festival - it's scarily good, and is one of the best jazz tunes i have on my computer.

Blah blah blah blah so much free time blah blah blah....

Note to self.. acquire a job in subway next term.

"Image enhancement camp??? Spare me your patronising...it's fat camp for Daddy's chubby little secret..." Hehe, was amused at that the other day in the Simpsons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo - Classic Monty Python live sketch, cracked me up an obese amount of times.

Been on some ridigubaligulous cat sites online recently, laughed for days... like this http://www.stuffonmycat.com/ and http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/ .....total joy for no reason!

Fuck there's a bee in my room....i'm now fleeing.


At OBESE pace.

Its been an obounce amount of time since I was last arsed to update this badboy. Since then, the tables have turned slightly. Well not really, just improved whisky tastes and a greater variety of music being consumed. Oh, and i've been to the download festival. University is also over (well, it ended a huge 3 or 4 weeks ago), and so far these holidays I have done nothing. At all. Apart from sitting around, waiting to do something. On the plus side, I passed 1st year, with an average of 59.5% or something, which i'm gonna claim as a 2:1. I see this as somewhat of a trophyous achievement, because little to no work has been done over the last year, and a hilarious lack of effort was put into exam preparation. Enough of such jibberish anyway, its time to discuss the dream that was Download 2006.

...Said event took place from the 9-11th of June, at Donington Park, near Derby. No preparation was done, so tents and stuff were purchased by Zeebeese (Mark - oh yeah, this new naming system wasn't around when I wrote the last entry) - aka Zeebeast and Zeesloth, from Milton Keynes. The other missionaries of metal present for this music extravaganza were Zeebad (James) and Zebedee (Jimmy). Anyway, we got there on the thursday, smoked a few constructions, and fell asleep in the sun. It was nice. Unfortunately, however, we didn't have the sense to bring our own beverages, so the next morning we consumed the 3 or so mile walk to the nearest shop, where cans of our preffered beverages were acquired. We returned to our tents, which were, by the way, in the best place ever, and consumed a couple of said beverages. It was now time for the music to begin, with our expectations through the roof. Cue a kerrang style rating plus review of each band plus unrelated ramblings, each band gets a score out of ten.

Despite missing the Zebedee-recommended Amplifier, we were able to get to the main stage, which was where we aimed to stay for the whole day, due to the headlinerous nature of Tool - one of the main reasons why we came to this festival. At 2.40, the first band to show off their skills to the thousands of eager fans was Soil [6]. They played a pretty average set, although their expected finalé, Halo, was well received, despite the shouty nature of their new singer. Other songs were less appealing, pretty much all sounding the same, with no concept of dynamics from any of the band. Anyway, their unoriginality was soon forgotten when Devin Townsend's Strapping Young Lad [8] stormed onto the stage and released an onslaught of ridiculous heavy metal mayhem, which was, quite honestly a joy to behold. Streams of ranting and controversial banter passed from the legendary Devin's lips as the band paced through a plethora of blast-beat laden classics and unknown tunes from their new 5th album. They left the stage to an obese round of applause, and a swelling of the already large crowd, in anticipation of Soulfly. By this stage we were getting near the front, although had unfortunately become seperated which meant banter between bands was cut to almost zero, apart from the occasional humourous bystander. Max Cavalera strolled out at 4.30, dreadlocks everywhere, as the band ploughed through a pretty well known back catalogue of crushing metal rhythms and breakdowns, perhaps most notably they played Roots Bloody Roots and Seek and Destroy. I was expecting to be completely unamused by them, but after they left the stage, i was entertained sufficiently to investigate them further later. Overall, a thumbs up [7.5]. The fourth band to greet us on the main stage were Coheed & Cambria [4] who's singer was going for the Buzz Osbourne head of hair, although it must be said they had to make do with their Drum tech on said instrument as their regular skinsman was not able to attend. They didn't really play the music i like, at all, as the singer was just noodling away on a delicious guitar, but in a very unrewarding way. I don't think they should have been given a mainstage position certainly not this high up on the bill. The penultimate band of the friday were the Deftones [7] with Chino Moreno present and obese, to the max. They weren't bad, and played Around the Fur pretty well, despite constant rumours of them being unable to handle the pressure outside the studio. Max Cavalera joined them for a cameo 1/2 way through, and was definitely the highlight of their set. By this time i was right at the front, and like most of the people around me, was waiting for Chino and co to flee so that Tool could arrive. Anyway, by 19.55, the stage was again clear, and the real wait began. It was very poorly organised - it was so earaly that the sun was nowhere near setting, so i was in fear that the classy screens being brought out by the roadcrew wouldn't be able to their job, and the band seemed to think the same, as the expected 25 minute wait turned to 45. But, close to 9pm, the PA went silent and the crowd shivered with anticipation... smoke came from huge machines overhead, and Maynard James Keenan and Danny Carey were seen arriving from the right of the stage... and looking accross to the left, Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor were making their way out...the crowd went mad, as feedback sailed from the speakers, lights showing the band in all their glory. Take a look here for a crappy picture that does no justice whatsoever to the set - http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/download/2006/photos-Tool-Download-PB5.shtml and this one as well - http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/download/2006/photos-Tool-Download-PB1.shtml
The feedback suddenly transformed into the delicious intro to Rosetta Stoned, and the pure, unadulterated joy began. Eleven minutes later, a stunned crowd saluted the genius that is Tool, and listened expectantly to Maynard James Keenan's smarmy humour. After some quick banter the feedback slowly built again, but this time i knew what was coming - Stinkfist, played to absolute perfection. You could tangeably feel the tension rising before Danny Carey counted into the crushing riff. Here's a Youtube video of the song, somehow captured from right next to where i was. The picture quality is poor, as expected, but the sound is alright - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxtE4nKOiY4&mode=related&search=download%202006%20tool
After completing an extended version of the song, they quickly moved onto the delicious bass-driven dream of the Pot, followed by the twisting 46&2. Further banter with the crowd, then the crazy guitar intro of Jambi began, the classic breakdown riff in the middle again achieving perfection. After this ends, a technical lesson from Adam Jones acts as the build up to Sober, which is then played absolutely flawlessly, and Maynard James Keenan again thanks the crowd, whilst mocking people who have lost their shoes. Then, another 10 minutes of genius, as they play a Schism note for note until half way through when an insane 3 minute breakdown is smoothly inserted into the song, with the awesome riff near the final verse played in half time. Everyone was mesmerised, no one knew where the band would go next, it was unbelievable. I thought it was impossible for it to get any better, but was mistaken. The most recognisable intro to any song around, Lateralus, began, and my heart was feeling the pressure... before it became too much however, the riff stormed in, and an obscene amount of headbanging and singing resulted from everyone. Half way through, however, when the intro comes back in, the pressure actually became too much, and my heart was breaking, tears literally forming in my eyes at the perfection of what i'm seeing. Nothing has ever matched this... it's absolute heaven. Finally, the song draws to a close, and thousands weep with joy. There is little time to collect yourself though, as the amazing riff for Vicarious kicks off, and somehow yet another piece of perfection is dished out to the crowd, everyone singing every word, it was incredible. The final song, AEnema is then played, it's genius riffs ensnaring the onlookers, and as the final guitar line draws to a close, the band are saluted by all, and they reluctantly leave the stage, Danny Carey throwing signed drum heads into the crowd, and the others praising the traumatised crowd. Quite simply the best performance i'd ever seen in my life. Therefore, despite the relative shortness of the set, the sheer genius on display clearly warranted a ten out of ten rating. Stumbling back to the tent, random passers by talk to us about how amazing Tool were, and we can only utter mumbled concurrances... We finally get back to the tent to bust out an obese number of victory constructions and beverages, and discuss the band in the most depth ever. A delicious end to a glorious day.


We awaken early on Saturday, but excited. We know who the special guests are at 11am on the main stage. Oh my yes, they were Down [9], and the expectation is palpable. My Down shirt is put on, and after a quick snack, we flee back to the scene of Tool's triumph, the main stage. Tens of thousands of Pantera and Down fans are assembled already below the stage, confederate flags flying in the wind. Word has clearly spread quickly, and this is most likely the biggest crowd on record for an 11am band. We had seen Down a few weeks previous to the festival, so knew what to expect. So it was no surprise when a semi wasted Phil Anselmo strolls onto the stage, and the band break into the glorious Lysergik Funeral Procession. With a set-list including New Orleans Is A Dying Whore, Lifer, Ghosts Along the Mississippi and closer Bury Me In Smoke, the band ravage everyone lucky enough to be there with the most headbanging riffs known to man. Anselmo dedicates the set to Dimebag Darrell, and proceeds to rip in to anyone not in the pit, which by now is nearing the size it was last night - an incredible achievement. The only problem with them is that their allotted time on stage is too short, and Anselmo apologises for this. Still, for their first ever UK festival appearance (they formed in 1994!) and with no record label or advertising, they've done pretty goddamn well... We hang around a while to see Satyricon [5] take the stage, looking absolutely ridiculous in their full death metal outfits (all black head to toe, apart from white face masks), but sound respectable as they begin their sonic assault on the festival. They don't hit true form at all, until the last of their four lengthy songs, which ends up being a pounding tune, bringing smiles to the faces of hundreds. The huge crowd present for Down has long fled, but they still play to an ample audience. By the end, the band appear to have melted, as temperatures are hitting 34 degrees in the shade - a crippling hinderence for the entirity of the weekend. It's now 12.30 and we decide to take our first foray away from the main stage, and snipe the Snickers tent, which is a 10 minute walk away. We get there, and its bulging with a huge crowd, witnessing Sikth busting out their experimental prog metal. We're too far back to see anything apart from the huge spotlights on the stage, and decide to flee, as they don't sound too good. We weren't there long enough to give them a fair rating, so i won't. Anyway, we get back to the main stage, to catch the end of Arch Enemy [3] who suck. We see Casper from Warwick Band Soc stroll out of the pit, triumphantly draped in a Swedish flag. What a dick. How anyone can be a fan of their generic, lame, weak metal is beyond me. However, this sentiment is long gone by the time Alice in Chains [8] consume the stage, and bust out a few classics from their back catalogue, with stand in singer William Duval replacing the late Layne Staley and doing a decent job. Not knowing any of their songs, well any that they played, I can only say that what I did hear sounded classy, and certainly amused the now larger crowd.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, i meant to fnish this tonight, but i'm cripplingly tired AND its getting late, so i'll finish this ranting tomorrow... (and edit the time on it so it appears below this one to give a smoooth, easy read.....).

I have no idea where I wrote up to the other night but I guess it was to the end of Alice in Chains. Anyway, after they were done we fled back to the tent for a brief respite from the crippling heat and a couple of constructions/beverages. We returned to the festival area for crappy ice lollies and the DISGRACE that was the unholy run of Stone Sour [3], Avenged Sevenfold [5] and Trivium [5] on the main stage. They were viewed from afar with unamusement. Stone Sour were as expected, a shouty twat (step right up, Corey Taylor) playing generic metal... I was not amused. Then, on come Avenged Sevenfold. Also exactly as expected... respectable musicians, but god their singer is such an arrogant dick. They pulled out a note for note cover of "Walk" by the almighty Pantera, dedicating it to Dimebag. I was like.... well done for doing it so perfectly, but Dimebag stood for pushing musical boundaries, experimenting - i believe that bands need to put their own image onto a cover song, or else there's just nothing appealing there. Whatever. Cue Trivium, with "good ol'" Matt Heafy and their apparently amazing drummer. Yeah, fine he's good, but come on, he's not the prodigy that everyone seems to make him out to be. They were weak - third band in a row to be utterly predictable, pulling out whiny pisspoor emo-esque songs that are fortunate enough to have constant double bass drumming behind them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNLDLyeepVs - hehehe!!!
Now things were about to get interesting. One of my favourite bands were about to arrive on the Snickers Stage - the mighty Opeth [9]. It was a choice between them or Korn, who were without Jonathon Davis who has unfortunately been diagnosed with a rare blood disease. The band still played but with the vocals done by other bands. Anyway, Zeebedee, Zeebeese and I paced to the front of the Snicker's tent and got an excellent view of the delicious double bass drum kit being brought out - a Tama Starclassic Maple with a delicious red fade finish. Talking about Opeth and drums, a week before Download I was traumatised to learn that they had parted ways with their drummer...he was one of my favourites, his work on Ghost Revelries is stunning and he stays so cool on the Lamentations DVD. So, their new drummer was under the spot-light somewhat, and I didn't expect much. However, they came out on an absolute rampage, the new drummer being VASTLY superior to the old one, bringing much more technical stuff to the songs whilst retaining an awesome groove. I was impressed. They played Deliverance, and i was sated. To the max. We left the tent totally blown away, Zebedee saying they were the best band he'd ever seen. Oh how I laughed. Anyway only Metallica remained, and it was a mere 8pm. I will leave the rest of the evening's report until tomorrow, when i can actually stay awake.

Now i'm going to bed, to the max.

Onto Metallica, they were supposed to arrive at 8.15 on the main stage, but like Tool, they prolonged the wait, although to be fair this was pretty much due to them setting up this crazy set thing on stage, consisting of two levels, and a huge painting of all their album covers in a timeline layout - it was cool. In the build up, there was an obounce bottle fight which culminated in some dick getting his ass kicked, it was hilarious. Anyway, I'm not a big Metallica fan - well more like I wasn't a fan, so when they came onto the stage I wasn't among those 70,000 rampaging obsessives causing havok everywhere I looked, but they began with i song i didn't know and it was pretty good. Then James Hetfield bantered awesomely with the crowd and I was intrigued. My amusement increased when he introduced a new song which turned out to be completely delicious. Then there was another i didn't know, which was again very good, but I had no idea what was coming next. They went off stage, to the confusion of all, and a short film played over the movie screens around the stage, informing the waiting crowds that it had been exactly 20 years since the release of the legendary Master of Puppets record, and to celebrate this landmark, they were gonna play the whole thing in its entirity - everyone went absolutely mad, even me...the few Metallica songs i properly liked were from said release. The band re-appeared and I knew what was gonna start things off, and sure enough Battery came pacing from the stage, absolutely rampant. This was getting damn good. The next songs were previously unconsumed me, but my god, when i heard them i was fucking ensnared - Master of Puppets, the Thing That Should Not Be and Welcome Home (Sanitarium). They were so amazing. They were getting near to the end of the record, and as the instrumental Orion was beckoning, Rob Trujilo paced to the top of the second level, spot light on him, and the song was dedicated to Cliff Burton. It goes without saying that the song was a crushing blow. To finish it off, Damage Inc arrived, giving proof that Metallica show no signs of slowing their rampant pace after 20 years - it was crazy.

Now, normally this would be the end of any band's show. But nah, they thank everyone and the intro to Nothing Else Matters is constructed. It's a total heartbreaker, and I found myself still knowing all the words after experiences of yesteryear. Sure enough, the genius of the band exbibed sufficient passion for my heart to break for the second time in two days...further tears released, fuck, it was perfection. Then with minimal pause, apart from Hetfield being a total legend and bantering awesomely with the crowd, they broke into the delcious "one". It was getting too much, i couldn't handle it. Surely, it was all over now... they'd been playing for two hours, numerous classics, and left the stage. But the crowd were demanding more.... the band return triumphantly to the glee of all, but not alone. They are joined by Pepper Keenan (of Down and CoC) "disguised" in humerous glasses and beardstuffs, which are mocked by Hetfield...Trivium were also there and others i couldn't see. "Anyone heard of the Misfits" Roars Hefield, the entire crowd in the palm of his hand. Of course everyone knows The Misfits, and "Die, Die, Die My Darling" is begun so awesomely. They play it exactly as it should be covered - retaining the delicious rawness and punk feel but with a classic heavy metal thrash edge to it... the main stage has turned into a huge party, everyone is going insane, no one has ever put on such a show. The song ends, Metallica thank everyone for like ten minutes then flee the stage. Fuck, that was good... but everyone's still cheering for more... and yes, the band return to the stage again. Sad But True is brought out, on a silver platter and spoon fed to the crowd who are all in tears. I was too spellbound to move, perfection was being constantly achieved. The song draws to a close after a glorious 6 or so minutes, and riot almost breaks out. This is prevented by the ridiculously amusing intro to "Enter Sandman" rolling into Donington. As the main riff kicks in for the first time, fireworks sail high above the crowd from the top of the stage and in front of the band too, the power of Metallica is too much... the song builds and builds, energy rising, then again, after the dubbed part of the kid's voice, the fireworks storm out again for the final round of the riff. Jesus, it's a triumph for Metallica. But nooooo, somehow it's still not over...Hetfield and co take full advantage of the length of the stage and thank the fans....drumsticks etc thrown to all, at least five minutes of praise and clearly heartfelt "thanks yous" from them. Hetfield arrives at the mic, and proclaims, "so...this one is called....SEEK AND DESTROY!!!" It paces away into the distance, taking everyone with it. Such a rampant close to the set. After further waving and bantering with the crowd, they finally leave the stage for good. It's been a 3 hour set, the longest i've ever seen from any band, and more importantly, the band truly looked like they were loving every minute of it. You could see it on their faces... the unadulterated joy of just playing to entertain their fans...and entertain us they did. We went back to the tent stunned, it was too much. No one could have witnessed that, an actual landmark in music history, and left not loving Metallica. We somehow made it back to the tent, and celebrated their genius by consuming numerous constructions and beverages... it was amazing... a delicious end to a delicious day. No need to say that Metallica got maximum marks [10] and would still get the maximum mark whatever scale was used...they were literally perfection.

So.... it's been three days so far, two of music, but our hopes are not as high for the Sunday. Mainly because there wass no one truly legendary we wanted to see - other days have had their legends, but today it's a bastardised Guns N Roses, and a load of other crap. Anyway, we wake up early, and stroll casually to the main stage to catch the end of the poorness of Breed 77, who we didn't see enough to properly mark them out of ten. However, on next were the hilarity of Hatebreed [7]. Obscenely heavy, they were as expected, pounding, with pisspoor sound quality...although fun to watch. "I Will Be Heard" arrived, and did it's job. I was sated. Unfortunately, I was in fear of the next band, because of their sheer lack of musicality (not technical ability, that is through the roof)...Dragonforce [4]. They were so poorly mixed, you couldn't even hear the snare drum, and one of the guitars seemed like it was turned off. Bah, I was so unamused by them. Whatever, no surprise, it wasn't like I went there to seem them by any means. I don't even know what we did next, but I think we saw In Flames....yes actually, we definitly did...they were cripplingly forgettable though, and I can't remember anything about them apart from how generic their material was, so they can have a [3]. I was definitly there for Lacuna Coil next [5] because they were as generic and shit as the others on the main stage today, but their woman singer was doing the occasional death metal scream which was quite amusing. Their music had nothing. By now i had seen enough, so went back to the tent with Zebedee for constructions and beverages...Zeebeese and Zeebad remained. I don't know why, I think they saw Cradle of Filth, Funeral For A Friend and Bullet For My Valentine. Zebedee and I heard them all from afar and they were all ridiculously poor. We made the right choice fleeing. Anyway, evening was nigh, and Guns N Roses were to be on in about 20 minutes, assuming they were prompt...but no, in the horizon we hear Welcome To The Jungle starting far too early, so stroll at a reasonable pace to the stage. We got there and it was very average, almost a karioke...sure the musicians were good (drummer was Brian "Brain" Mantia of Primus fame) but there was no passion. Later suspicions of miming by the swine Axl Rose are confirmed in retrospect, it did sound identical to the album, and completely different to the second song, which was Mr Brownstone. This was abysmal, so Zebedee and I decided to utilise the backup plan and paced to the myspace tent to see Sick Of It All [9]. They were great, so much passion...which wasn't that much of a surprise given what they've done for the hardcore music scene, especially in New York. This was somehow the first time i've seen them, after numerous missed opportunities in the past, and I definitely made the right choice here. They played all my favourite tunes, at breakneck speed...including Scratch the Surface, Sanctuary, Step Down, Good Lookin' Out and closer Us Vs Them. They personified the ideals of the festival, promoting respect and the love of music. The crowd were cool, everyone beating each other, but helping each other out if they were feeling the pressure. Somehow the band sorted out a circle pit so big that it went outside the tent. Man, it was so good...a great way to end the festival.

However, the travesty of Guns N Roses [2] were still on. Zebedee and I watched from afar, and saw a few songs played, but the real highlight here were the two obese drunk guys running face first into the giant billboards near us. And then pissing on them. It was humorous. Anyway, we had seen enough and decided to flee... on the way back we heard them end with Paradise city, which was OK i guess, but it was relief to get back to the tent and find Zeebeese and Zeebad. We then traded stories and found out Axl Rose had a mare...stormed off stage a few times, made outrageous demands, such as making a security guard leave the venue. Also that one of the guitarists had a mare and threw his guitar, hitting a different guard... totally lame. Glad i didn't witnesss this hoohaa.

Anyway, after final constructions and the rest of the beverages, we went to bed....

Awoke monday morning at like 6, to find out there'd been some rioting, but to be fair, not that much - a few arrests and burnings but nothing too major (compared to Leeds Festival when i've been there). Anyway, we packed our stuff, and went to the bus. On the way, Mark was scammed out of £20 or so for a fake t-shirt, but we got on the bus smoothly, and returned. The driver was hilarious and insane, mocking everyone and everything, apart from his delicious bus, which he was so proud of...and rightly so...

Anyway, that's the end of the Download festival saga, so i'll put this on the end of the other 2 segments and then continue adding updates normally.

Ayeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, well, returning to uni tomorrow (FINALLY) after the longest, most abysmal holidays ever. Done fuck all work, which is hilarious really. Been sitting around for like 4 hours waiting for the mammoth 600MB entire scrubs soundtrack to download...on like 96% now, so not long left. Way, maybe i can get some sleep soon. Getting the accursed, son of a bitch train again tomorrow, which is absolutely revolting...its so boring, but forturnately i procured a copy of Rhythm magazine which can hopefully be imbibed on said journey. Hoping for an ale mission upon my return - may go to sainsburys just for Discovery and Honey Dew... Hmmm, have to get up at like 8.30 tomorrow because some bluboonboat (blunderboat and baboon thrown together to form some hound of a man) is coming to examine our windows at some ridiculous hour. Haven't a clue why, although double glazing or something might be involved. Anyway, ....8.30?!?!??! FUUUUUUUUUCK...in fear, its not gonna happen, i think i might just die in my sleep to avoid such a trauma. Oh well, we'll see.

Fuller's fine ale club magaizine stormed into my hands the other day, and I am now privey to some damn awesome and exclusive offers. For example, the "sold out" 2005 vintage ale is available to me at £25 per crate, the honey dew stemmed pint glasses are £4 and the discovery pint glass is £2. Theres also the generic Fullers branded pint glass for a mere £1.50. The magazine also directed me towards the current bottle top promotions, including the hand engraved glass 1845 coasters, complete with a chrome holder, and an opportunity of another ESB stemmed pint glass. Arg arg arggllghlglhlgh. Joyous, will purchase them all.

My god, packing today was blunderous... started at like 8pm, and was finished like 2 hours later....somehow managing to fit all my stuff into 3 bags and not 4, which should save an obus amount of space (literally, because im getting one of the cuntmobiles from coventry train station.

Annoyed at Lost, theres another fucking mid season break, and the next episode won't arrive until the 3rd of May, which I can't deal with...i'm obsessed with this show. Hmmm, on the OC front im lagging behind, still haven't acquired 321, although 320 was seen yesterday and it as an absolute crippler.

Quite looking forward to seeing the majority of people tomorrow, should be fun...yay! Not planning anything this term (i.e. pre meditated traumas like last time) i'm just gonna see how things go and rolllllllllll with it.

Argllllllllllllllllllh, i wish BitTorrent would hurry up with this download, i want to consume my bed(quite literally...... errrr, what?)



.....Oh no he didn't!!!! (Gonna bring that out constantly this term... Along with the new "beveraging" which is now referred to as getting "revved up". When someone has a mare they're said to be in 5th gear. 3rd gear is pretty revved up, and first gear is like one or two pints of a smooth session beer.) Joyous. Fuckin' joyous!

Recently...been to rob Ws and milns, imbibed drugs, been amused etc. Not much going on. Money sorted out again, back to like £50 before student loan comes in. Been consuming a vast amount of music and practising drums until my hands are crippled. Industrial essay finished, didn't take too long but was vaguely respectable i guess. Canny bored at the moment, wouldn't mind pacing back to warwick, but meh, seems i'm getting the train back on tuesday.

BORED

For any drummers out there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gekqb0FWSPc&search=steve%20gadd

Hmmmmm, nowt to say really.

Night....i'm fucking tired.

There are two guys who have been lost in the desert for weeks, and they're at death's door. As they stumble on, hoping for salvation in the form of an oasis or something similar, they suddenly spy, through the heat haze, a small tree off in the distance.
As they get closer, they can see that the tree is draped with rasher upon rasher of bacon. There's smoked bacon, crispy bacon, life-giving juicy nearly-raw bacon, all sorts. And the smell... oh, the glorious smell!"
"Look Pepe," says the first man. "It's a bacon tree!"
"You're right!" says Pepe, "We're saved!"
Pepe doesn't wait another second. He runs up to the tree salivating at the prospect of food. But just as he gets to within five feet of the tree, there's the sound of machine gun fire, and he is shot down in a hail of bullets.
His friend quickly drops down on the sand, and calls across to the dying Pepe.
"Pepe!! Pepe!! What on earth happened?"
And with his dying breath Pepe calls back: "Ugh, run, run!! It's not a Bacon Tree after all...its a ham bush"


Where's my coat? Ah, i see it...

If anyone wants to read the best blog ever, here it is: http://rrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnhhhh.blogspot.com/

Man i'm bored....

Well, since the last update, the J-team and Olivia have imbibed my house for the weekend, and i've gambled...a lot. I shall begin with the former. They arrived friday afternoon, Olivia having a mare after imbibing close to 700 pints of 45% Leffe - stories tell of her soiling herself on the coach and in the smarmy bathroom of the Royal Station Hotel. Oh dear. The trip began with a visit to Weatherspoons, where there was an immense selection of ales, including Killer Bee. We then moved to Gosforth and proceeded to consume every pub in the town - the ales i had were Landlord, Black Sheep, Mordue's, Theakston's best bitter, Bass and a Bombadier. Others consumed similar, although there were a few London Prides around and this disgusting mare of a drink called "Quaff". Abysmal. Anyhoooo, returned to my house, where pizzas were consumed, and then bed at an obesely early time. This prepared us for the "challenge" of the next day, which was a mission to the uber-Tesco in Kingston Park...we marvelled at its hugeness whilst purchasing some quality foodstuffs, then returned home to consume them. We left straight after lunch to meet Dave in town, then went round the city, going into the Baltic etc. The afternoon/evening was then spent bantering wih him, as further ales were consumed. I imbibed Courage Directors, a different Mordue's, an Abbot Ale (one of the best pints ever seen), Wylam's Rocket, Bass and a couple others i dont recall. We hit Weatherspoons again, where Nanda was sighted...he was met by all and approved which was amusing. Unfortunately some mares came along, like Graham Reed and Chris Handley, who tried to join the conversation, but were thankfully discarded. We then saw Blazey in Head of Steam, where he had a dream...there was also some banter in there. Next, we went to the Jazz café, which i thought was great but i'm not sure what the others opinions were. Nanda accompanied us the whole time, and his dream continued. Finally, we went back to Head of Steam to say goodnight to Dave, then went back to Nanda's for a while. After being suitably entertained, he kindly gave us a lift home in the Nandamobile, which was greatly appreciated. The rest of the pre-purchased ales from Asda were had, the Hobbits Are Going to Isengard video mocked for a few hours, then bed again. Woke up on Sunday, had the Tesco finest pizza, then removed the jokers from my property. Weekend finished. All in all it was great, very pleased they visited.

Well, that was poorly formatted....

On the gambling front, a website was delivered (www.fundmydegree.com) that explains how to take advantage of the bonuses online casinos give out. This was tried, and money made. After a run of good betting i was like £250 up, however i blundered most of this away with foolish bets. The next day i was convinced i could win it back, and lost £300....fucking stupid, but continued....won £300 back. Should have stayed where i was...like £80 up overall if i recall correctly. But no, i found £108 lurking on one of the sites that i hadnt deposited into my bank, so i bet it all on a couple of hands. Lost of course, which left me kicking myself. Disabled performance, totally stupid, regretted horribly. Hmmm anyhoooooo....

Going to see Mogwai tomorrow. Dom purchased me a ticket as my birthday gift. Looking hugely forward to it, should be great. A vaaaast amount of people from school are going to Stonelove at Digital afterwards, but i really can't be bothered - i mean i don't feel like drinking, and don't think i can afford it. Also i'm going to see my grandparents the morning after. Ah well. University is only like a week away, and i'm already expectant. Lying in wait for a storming return, starting to miss it now.

Sold another cymbal on ebay, getting £77 - it was posted today. Good form i guess.

Liver trauma continues to some extent, drank a couple of ales yesterday and felt like crap today....pretty poor form. Looks like i won't be drinking again this holiday. Should do me good.

It appears that Bird Flu has reached Britain (swan found dead with the disease in Fife this afternoon). 108 people have died of the disease since 2003, which worries me slightly seeing as it has spread worldwide in a matter of months. Also in fear for British farmers - they've had a tough few years (with the old foot and mouth etc) so this will be a total crippler. Really hope they don't suffer too badly. Apparently the area where the swan was found has been cordoned off and all produce from the area is being recalled. Not looking good methinks.

Was pissed off today when i saw this: http://www.nme.com/news/clash/22697 I mean come on, this is a perfect example of the climate of fear created by George Bush and the friend of his ass, Tony Blair. Absolutely disgusted...everyone worked up into a state of paranoia, so that even a non white guy listening to classic rock songs gets the police called on him. If i had my way, then the taxi driver who called the Police would be punished for wasting Police time and taxpayer's money. Bah!!

Still only done like 4 hours of work in almost 4 weeks holiday. Thats appalling, i dunno what i'm doing with my life. At least after the exams I have three weeks of nothing, where i can just hang about with people - that should be fun.

How rantarous, i'm going to bed.