scott, in brief

Leaving Blogger

2008-08-15T14:42:00.005+01:00

I am leaving blogger

ALl future blogs will be available at

http://www.schelp.co.uk/blog/

I will leave this up at the old blog for a while

thank you and good night
scott

...Listening to this stuff.

2008-08-09T22:22:00.005+01:00

These are most of the albums I have been listening to since i last blogged about music

1 Giant Leap 1 Giant Leap
Aimee Mann - Smilers
Alphabeat - This Is Alphabeat
Anathallo - Floating World
Architecture In Helsinki - Like It Or Not
Azure Ray - Azure Ray
Bear Vs. Shark - TerrorHawk

Beck - Modern Guilt
Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
British Sea Power - Do you Like Rock Music
Candy Chang - Detroit Detroit
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder
Cold War Kids - Loyalty To Loyalty
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
CSS - Donkey
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Doveman - Footloose (covers album)
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Elvis Costello - The Very Best of Elvis Costello

Flight of the Conchords - Flights of The Conchords
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence & Grace
Guillemots - Red
Jim Schoenfeld - Schony
King Curtis - Live At Filmore West
Kings Of Leon - Crawl
Kings Of Leon - Because Of The Times
Ladytron - Velocifero
Martha Wainwright - I Know You’re Married
Michael Andrews - Donnie Darko OST

Michael Quint - Michael Quint In Concert
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
The National - Liberation CD
Nirvana - In Utero
Over the Rhine - 2008-04-26 Canal Street Tavern (Bootleg)
Pete rodriguez - I Like It Like That
Peter Bjorn & John - Writer’s Block
Primal Scream - Beautiful Future
R.E.M. - Accelerate
Robert Plant & Alison Kruass - Raisin Sand
Ron Sexsmith - Exit Strategy Of The Soul
Saturday Looks Good To Me - Sound on Sound
She and Him - Volume One

Sigur Rós - með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Sly And The Family Stone - Stand!
Soko - Not Sokute
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Perishing
Sons and Daughters - This Gift
Sun Kil Moon - April
The Black Keys - Attack And Release
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
The Wombats - A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
Toby Mac - Portable Sounds
Tom Waits - Live in Akron (Bootleg)
Xiu Xiu - Women As Lovers

Guardian Glastonbury mp3 Album
Now 70
Tsururadio Best of the Year So Far (mp3 blog various album)
Urban Outfitters - LSTN #1 (Mp3 album)

plus various mp3's from
Beirut, Belle & Sebastian, Belle Stars, Bright Eyes, Chris Starling, Cassettes Won’t Listen, Colin Meloy, Compilations, Daft Punk, Daft Punk vs Bangers & Cash, Damien Jurado, Dean Manning, Fantastic Idea Project, Francis International Airport, Frightened Rabbit, Giorgio Moroder, Hall and Oates, Holidays On Ice, Ida Marie, Jeppe, John Mellencamp, Kermit the Frog, Kuryakin, Lambchop, Lisa Germano, Little Dragon, M.I.A., Matmos, Micah P Hinson And The Red Empire Orchestra, Mikkel Glasser, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Will Smith, Oneida, Parenthetical Girls, Pas_Cal, Jill Sobule, Muse, Portishead, Muse & The Streets, Richard Hawley, Rosie Thomas, Simone White, Team 9 mashups, Tape, Telephathic Boy, The Apples In Stereo, The Dixie Cups, The Dresden Dolls, The Explorers Club, The Social Services, The Ting Tings, The Watson Twins, Tricky, We Are Scientists, Brazilian Girls and Katie Perry who kissed a girl and apparently liked it so much she wrote a song about it!

I should really blog about music more.

Technorati Tags - music list & new music

listening to Rain

2008-08-02T09:26:00.002+01:00

in the new house i sometimes open the back door and listen to the rain hit the leanto/conservatory roof.

I like the sound of the rain.
somehow the world is right and everyone is equal when it rains.

if it is raining where you are... Listen

technorati tags - rain, small things i do & listening

Car ideas

2008-07-30T13:25:00.004+01:00

Nuff said then.

Technorati Tags - cars & Purchasing Decisions

Linksys - WRT160N - Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Broadband Router

2008-07-21T23:05:00.003+01:00

my old wireless modem, network router broke.

it died
it was quick and painless but it was very dead.

I had to get a new one
(it is quite shiney!)

technorati tags - Purchase-d, connectivity

olympus u1010 camera

2008-07-21T23:04:00.004+01:00

we have a new camera

the olympus u1010 camera.
it does take nice photo's.
more later

technorati tags - photography & Purchase-d

You are a dinosaur

2008-07-21T22:46:00.003+01:00

quote from possibly the funniest radio comedy currently being broadcast.

(Son to father)
"You are such a dinosaur!"
"That's right. I am both Colossal and popular with people of all ages.

technorati tags - bbc radio 4 & fags mags and bags

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhh - Pirates

2008-07-21T22:19:00.004+01:00

with a Yo-ho-ho
and a Yo-ho-ho
Jolly roger and a cannon gun
Terrors of the ocean everyone...

technorati tags - pirates

dreaming of Greenbelt....

2008-07-21T21:08:00.005+01:00

so music wise it sounds quite cool

Friday - Micheal Franti & Spearhead, Emmanuel Jal.
Saturday - José González, Seth Lakeman
Sunday - 1Giant Leap, Roll Jordan Roll - with Abram Wilson & The Delta Blues Project,
feat. Kingdom Choir, Matthew Herbert Big Band
Monday - Fightstar.
with indoor gigs from the excellent Iain Archer and Martyn Joseph. And a new venue, Ethel's Tent, which seems to have booked a wide range of world music, it looks fun.

The speakers look good with in particular,
- Brian MacLaren
- Robert Beckford
- David Dark

Other highlights for me will be the Stewart Henderson, Paul Cookson and Ian MacMillan family poetry triple header.
Ian Macmillan.
yes him off the radio.

it all seems quite good.

the only thing I am unsure about is fightstar really. charlie from busted's band. the greenbelt website reports that the band split from their last record label after the label asked them to make their last album "more pop". I am not sure asking for a bands new album to be more popular is really that offensive.

anyway perhaps i am missing the point!

technorati tags - greenbelt 2008

Testing Switchabit

2008-07-15T15:10:00.002+01:00

Hey
this is a test e-mail checking if theservice from switchabit is really as good as they claim.
If so you will see this on my blog - scottinbrief and on my facebook account.

If not this won't appear there. hope that makes sense.

Technorati Tags: coolness, webstuff, test, switchabit

Kung Fu Panda

2008-07-14T16:49:00.001+01:00

Kung Fu Panda is great.

We hit a 10 am showing of the film at the Vue cinema at Hamilton. Quite good fun.
The story is the a group of kung fu masters have to protect the valley from an enemy who is better than they are. The olod kung fu master says he will pick the next "dragon warrior", but instead of picking the masters asembled picks a panda who has never trained in kung fu.

The film is basically the story of how the outsider comes into save the day, or does he??

Loved it.
I hadn't heard anything about the film before hand. I laughed out loud several times and thought the twist was nice. The film does kinda signpost the way the story will delevop and you can guess the way the eding will go. so storywise it's not "memento".

it was fun, enjoyable and good. I would say go see it.
My son who's almost 3(!) has it now as one of his favourite films which is nice.

go see it. it's fun. see the trailer here

Technorati Tags: films, kung fu panda, cool

Alphabeat at Oran Mor, Glasgow, july 9th 2007

2008-07-10T12:18:00.004+01:00

Alphabeat were totally on form yesterday.

What a gig!
They played a short (ish) set, about 1hour 15mins. but managed to get through the whole of "This is Alphabeat" album and also a deliciously awesome cover version of Sugababes, "Push the button".

anyway the review...

The Alphabeat gig has been posponed since June. We turned up with some wonder about the gig. Upon turning up to the door we were age checked. I am 31 and the bouncer did ask me if I was over 18. This was unexpected but delightful. I was worried that this would be an omen for the age of the concert goers inside but I need not have worried. Inside the venue was filled with a variety of ages and was about half to three quarters full.

As I have previously noted Oran Mor suffers from two main issues, an 11pm strict curfew, and conversation noise. The crowd can be made of people wanting to chat through a concert to their friends rather than listening to music. using this knowledge positioning within the venue is key to enjoyment of the gig. We got a good position, next to a piller about 5m. from the stage and waited.

The Support band
Alto Elite were okay.
They had a good pop/rock vibe but ultimately were lacking something to take it beyond a decend to a memorable. Lacking real hooks, strong melody. The problem was I cannot remeber anything about their set with two notable exceptions.
The drummer was a lefty playing a right handed drum set up and was clearly the best inividual player with the band.
The keyboard player felt a bit like an add on. At one point he was playing possibly the worst keyboard solo every. He felt like an add on to the band, so lose the keyboard player (or get him lessons). In short, write some memorable and catchy pop songs and make sure everyone can see the drummer then you guys have a reciepe to go places.

The crowd swelled to be about three quaters full. The toilets were still remarkably clean. lots of boys with modern straightened hair!

Alphabeat
The band came out and blasted us into a pop universe. No really it is quite unreal, Anders SG (vocals), Stine (vocals), are the main focus of the gig, by virtue of being up front really. The energy from these two is quite remarkable. Anders is all over the stage dancing, (kinda reminicent of Ian Curtis and Tim Booth mixed with Bez). Meanwhile Stine has this kinda fifties dress sense and dance thing going on, kinda cute, cool and sorted.

As for the band, as a whole they groove in an excellent pop way - Anders B (guitar), Rasmus (keyboard), Anders R (bass), and Troels (drums), are a remarkably solid unit with a groove. Alphabeat didn't stray to far from the album versions, but they added a few twists and turns to move from a pop show to a rock show. Firstsong they played has become my favourite song - Fantastic 6, check it out. The album version builds but live it is totally transformed to a song of euphoric proportions.

notable things from the gig include
+ That Anders B (guitars) plays a three quarter length guitar. wow haven't seen any band use one of them for a while as a primary instrument. (perhaps that is the secret of alphabeats pop sound?)
+ This was probably the loudest gig i have been at, in oran mor. it was blasting.
+ Rasmus on keyboards hair is worth a mention as well (Flock of seagulls anybody).
+ Free badges on the way in. Nice one!
+ Lots of camera but nothing on flickr yet?

I would like to know why no encore? I know they had played the entire album and one cover version but it did seem quite weird. I noted the tour van had left the venue sharpish so i wonder if they had to catch the last plane for the airport and had to leave, but it did seem weird exspecially as the lights and music came up before the band had fully left the stage?

Anyway the gig was great. It makes you smile, sing, dance and generally have a swell time. just a quality evening of music, again! (This is becoming a habit)

Technorati Tags: alphabeat, live music, reviews

David, Iain and Me, fixing our broken society!

2008-07-07T13:21:00.003+01:00

I spent some of this morning at a Scottish Conservatives event in the East End of Glasgow.
Due to our late arrival I ended up with front row seats for the event as we sat next to Annabel Goldie. (leader of the Conservatives in the Scottish parliament).

The room hosting the event was a small medium size hall. with 12 chairs. (this is glasgow and this is the conservatives. but at the end it was standing room only with journalists, camera men, tripods and invited guests all over the room. We were twenty minutes late in starting.

First up was the candidate for the Glasgow east byelection, Davena Rankin, She was very brief but spoke well. just a few cameras going off at this point.

Second up was Iain Duncan Smith, bringing us reflections on what ha had done with the centre for social policy. theere was quite alot of Photgraphy at this point but he spoke on. quite short. but spoke about broken families and a broken society.
His main point was brokenness exists, what we need to hold on to though is the Hope that also exists in areas for Glasgow east. (The big obama thing in the states is "Hope" perhaps thats what they were playing on.)
Mr Iain Duncan Smith had nice shoes and blue tie with red specles. he aslo had 4 buttons on the sleeve of his suit and was wearing clufflinks not a button sleves shirt. (I did mention i was front row didn't I)

Third up was Conservative Party Leader David Cameron,His speach was much longer 8 pages of a4 or so, he spoke well, particlarly on the problem of knife crime and the problem of a broken society.

He said two thing i was unsure about. His stance that if you are convicted of knife crime then you should assume you are going to jail. I am aware that the knife crime sentancing legislation is beeing considered by the justice department. Hence the policy statement. I was just unclear about what he actually said about it. It sounded to me like he said anyone carrying a knife would go to jail. Now thats a whole different ball game! (having checked the footage on the BBc website i can confirm he did say convicted)

The second thing he said was that even though context is important, their was no stuctural reason which would affect people in there lives. So if you are born into an area of mass unemployemnt. there would be nothing which could stop you from finding employment. Yet context is important. I an not sure how those things go together.

Anyway
He as wearing a blue tie and had five buttons on his suit sleeve. (I wondered if it was a ranking system like the pips in star trek). Anyway he had nice shoes and seemed slightly older and less sharp that when i have seen him on the TV.

He handled the questions well, in particular dodging the one his voting record, (Not as bad as Tony Blair, not as good as Dennis Skinner.) Told a very bad joke about Newsnight which didn't really get a laugh.

All in all quite a bizzarre experience. The amount of distractions to be dealt with was substantial.(cameras going off, people writing, people moving about.

Yet despite being on the front seat there was no eye contact.

anyway expect to see me in the front row listening intently! (aparently i missed out on the news programmes but i haven't checked this mornings papers

Technorati Tags: Iain Duncan Smith, David Cameron, Glasgow East By-election, fixing our broken society

Woman Bishops, Gay Bishops and the Anglican church

2008-07-04T22:51:00.004+01:00

Some Anglicans don't think homosexuals can be bishops.
Some Anglicans don't think woman can be bishops.

I think sinners are us all.
I also think we all sin.

Interestingly Jesus seemed to have quite an interesting attitude to those who came to him and said (and i paraphrase)
- those people are not good enough, lets deal with them. (Stoning, shunning and in general, dismissal from Jesus's prescence.)
Jesus response is generally, when you stop sinning come back and complain about they are doing. This is met with much silence and sheepish walking away.

I know the argument is much more nuanced than my portrayal. I know it centers upon a bible verse which says woman should not be in leadership over men (my guess at the reasons) and also on some verses which talk about homosexuality, (generally one old- and one new-testament). I also know lumping these two issues together is not wholly reflective of the Anglican issues.

That said I guess the most relevant story was the story of Zacchaeus.
The story where Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus but the people didn't want him to see Jesus. (He had kinda pee'd them off previously.)
He climbed a tree.
Jesus walks along and says hey can you host me tonight?
So Zacchaeus host's Jesus, and his entourage. The result of hosting Jesus and his people was that Zacchaeus resolves to change.

I gues the point i would draw out of the story and this whole situation is that it doesn't really matter who you are or what you do. You can host the people of God.

Feed the people.
Provide space for people to hear Jesus
Allow for Jesus to meet people.

On the trip to Tanzania I learned several things.
1 - never allow the Archbishop to sit in the front row of the cathedral and fluff your lines. He will heckle.
2 - Chickens and mobile phones should be turned off before the service begins.
3 - Priests will outbid people in an after church auction.

I also learned from speaking to an experienced anglican preist and theology student, that there are only two types of theology. Right theology and Wrong theology. fortunately he was learning the Right theology.

i dunno where this will end.
I dunno what good can come of this discussion or attitude which is we are right and you are wrong.

I do know that conservative and liberal have lost meaning. perhaps i need to start a lib dem church or would the church of scotland claim that.

I guess the most appropriate words to be said are the words or warning given at the end of a TV program I saw years ago

Don't let your Dogma eat your Karma.

I find the article from walter wink on the homosexualtiy issue quite interesting and well worth reading. Homosexuality and the Bible by Walter Wink

Techorati Tags - woman bishops, gay bishops & anglican church

eudora 6.0.2 v eudrora 1.0.0.b3 (yeah geeky stuff)

2008-07-04T22:19:00.003+01:00

my old eudora screen

recently I have changed my email program from eudora 6.2 as shown above to the new shiny eudora 1.0.0b3 as shown below!

the new shiny, thunderbird, penelope build eudora 1.0.0b3

Well the first change is the design page.
it is all in on screen unlike the multiple screens which populated eudora 6.2. To be honest the penelope thunderbird build is very nice. it is friendly and welocming. Having used thunderbird before I was familiar with the layout

the best thing about the build is the way that it allows you to use the pop3 filter features on your gmail accounts. (I have two, one for junk, one for my youthwork.) the new eudora allows me to download and send email from both accounts from one central point. with seperate signatures for each account and everything!

the migration has been quite easy and was done within a hour from deciding to upgrade to dwonload and e-mails being sent. I am quite impresed to be honest!

if you have a mac and can use eudora then you should try it.
if you have a windows based machine then mozilla thunderbird is actually quite good.

technorati tags - eudora & mac e-mail

Specsavers, lumberjack video

2008-07-03T13:51:00.001+01:00

dunno how I missed this first time around but hilarious!

Agency: Specsavers in house
Creative Director: Graham Daldry
Agency Producer: Sam Lock
Creatives: Simon Bougourd, Neil Brush
Production Company: Rattling Stick
Director: Daniel Kleinman
Producer: Johnnie Frankel
DP: Carl Nilsson
Post Production: Framestore CFC, London
Offline Editor: Steve Gandolfi @ Cut and Run
Production Service Company: Treehouse North
www.rattlingstick.com

technorati tags - specsavers, lumberjack & advert

Never Say Goodbye...Carberry Finale/celebration weekend

2008-06-25T18:01:00.004+01:00

"Leaving new york, never easy" sang R.E.M.

Leaving Carberry was not easy. I wanted to leave well but I am not sure I have achieved it.

I wanted to say goodbye
I wanted to leave well
I wanted to be right.

In the end I just left. quietly. without goodbyes. without waving.
I walked up the dinner hall smiled, walked back down and out the door.
I looked back. at the scene I wanted to remember.

the dinner hall being busy, noisy, people queuing, eating, laughing, talking.
not about me.

My arrival at carberry was quiet and late.

On a July Friday evening in 1998 my brother said Eddie Williamson was doing a 2 week festival. I could possibly go and do sound stuff. I called he said yes. I couldn't make it until the sunday morning. Not a problem I said, be there at 9.30 he said.

So i headed for a place near edinburgh called carberry.
I hadn't looked at a map, i only knew it was near edinburgh.
I drove to edinburgh and stopped at several petrol stations onn the bypass. going in and looking at the road maps checking where i was going.

Eventually I got there.
11am, tea break. I was sent to get the tea and cakes for being late.
I only knew one person who greeted me.

I left quiet and early
Only Chris knew I was going
I thought I had made my peace with things ending.
sadness was around me.

i left.
the ipod played.

I thought about everything I should have said and everything i should have done.
All i wanted to do all i wanted.
I thought.

Leaving was hard.
saying goodbye. never

see you soon.
Hopeful and good. i like hopeful and good.

thank you sarah, thank you amy, thank you andrew, for contact since. it means alot.
If you wish, reach out, touch virtual fingers.

speak to you later?

exit -shuffle stage right.... Carberry Finale/celebration weekend

2008-06-23T11:13:00.004+01:00

the shuffle function on the Ipod may be the subject of rumours and questioning, but sometimes it gets the results so right.

we drove away quietly.
as we sat in the car i plugged in my non-generic mp3 player selected music, songs and pressed shuffle.

When I was born,
my daddy said i was broken
the beginning of the end of a life i hadn't chosen.
he taught me how to give up, taught me how to work the system
but i never had the time.
i never had the luxury.

life's hard i've always known that,
I've never been handed no welcome mat
When i die, please don't cry,
cause heaven's my home anyhow.

shining my shoes
seems like time for wasting
cause this bright sun
is the only shine i need
they say you only live once
and lot you gets for keeping
but glory's gonna come
and make a new man out of me.

life's hard i've always known that,
I've never been handed no welcome mat
When i die, please don't cry,
cause heaven's my home anyhow.

When I was born,
my face was like the angels
i took my father by the hand,
and said life won't be hard now.

life's hard i've always known that,
I've never been handed no welcome mat
When i die, please don't cry,
cause heaven's my home anyhow.

Heavens my home anyhow
Heavens my home anyhow
Heavens my home anyhow

life's hard i've always known that,
I've never been handed no welcome mat
When i die, please don't cry,
cause heaven's my home anyhow.

Heavens my home by The Duhks from the album Migrations

followed by

I wanna know if it would be alright
To be with you tonight
I am undone

Wait, don't go
Don't let my heart turn to stone
Fear, it has no home
When you are near

Cause I need you now
More than then
I need you to let your rain
Down on me
Let it fall
All around me

Wait, don't hide
Please shelter me in your side
From there my strength is derived
I am done

So, is that the way the story goes?
In your arms, I know
It's alright

I can hear the sound
Of rain coming down

Undone by the Violet Burning from the album I am a stranger in this place

It just seemed to make a bunch of sense!
one song about the desire of someone who will be leaving soon to be remembered happily. one song about being undone and how safety strength and rain comes from God not a place or an event.

sometimes the shuffle gets it so right...

technorati tags - ipod, carberry finale, finishing

The years we have been through.... Carberry Finale/celebration weekend

2008-06-19T23:35:00.001+01:00

The years we have been through have buried the world’s innocence for ever.
I promised you not to forget.
I’ve kept you safe in my memory.
I want to recall everything, right from the beginning, the details, chance, the flow of events. Before distance obscures my backward glance, muffling the hubbub of voices, of weapons, armies, laughter, shouts. And at the same time only distance allows us to go back to a likely beginning.

From the novel Q by Luther Blissett (currently known as Wu Ming)

technorati tags - wu ming, Luther Blissett, Q & Quotes

Look Sharp

2008-06-17T15:54:00.004+01:00

1-3 Jesus responded by telling still more stories. "God's kingdom," he said, "is like a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son. He sent out servants to call in all the invited guests. And they wouldn't come!

4"He sent out another round of servants, instructing them to tell the guests, 'Look, everything is on the table, the prime rib is ready for carving. Come to the feast!'

5-7"They only shrugged their shoulders and went off, one to weed his garden, another to work in his shop. The rest, with nothing better to do, beat up on the messengers and then killed them. The king was outraged and sent his soldiers to destroy those thugs and level their city.

8-10"Then he told his servants, 'We have a wedding banquet all prepared but no guests. The ones I invited weren't up to it. Go out into the busiest intersections in town and invite anyone you find to the banquet.' The servants went out on the streets and rounded up everyone they laid eyes on, good and bad, regardless. And so the banquet was on—every place filled.

11-13"When the king entered and looked over the scene, he spotted a man who wasn't properly dressed. He said to him, 'Friend, how dare you come in here looking like that!' The man was speechless. Then the king told his servants, 'Get him out of here—fast. Tie him up and ship him to hell. And make sure he doesn't get back in.'

14"That's what I mean when I say, 'Many get invited; only a few make it.'

I am not sure i remeber the violence and destruction as part of this story.
Dead = the servants and those who ignored the king,
Violence = guests on servants, armies on guests, servants on badly dressed man

somehow this seems appropriate

Clean shirt, new shoes
And I dont know where I am goin to.
Silk suit, black tie,
I dont need a reason why.
They come runnin just as fast as they can
Coz every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed man.

Gold watch, diamond ring,
I aint missin a single thing.
And cufflinks, stick pin,
When I step out Im gonna do you in.
They come runnin just as fast as they can
Coz every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed man.

Top coat, top hat,
I dont worry coz my wallets fat.
Black shades, white gloves,
Lookin sharp and lookin for love.
They come runnin just as fast as they can
Coz every girl grazy bout a sharp dressed man.

mp3- zz top sharp dressed man

Technorati Tags: jesus stories, weird stuff, work

jacob's pictures from nursery

2008-06-17T15:22:00.003+01:00

yes Jacob Ferguson Paget has had his pictures taken at nursery. again the results are quite cool

see for yourself....

Technorati Tags: jacob ferguson paget, coolness

fathers day gift - a story in pictures

2008-06-16T22:59:00.006+01:00

i am very excited by this.

open the white posh cardboard box

to reveal the very posh wooden box

look a rather nice draw string bag. I wonder what could be in it?

OOHHHHH. shiny but what is it.
Is that really platinum?

Is that really an eraser on the end of that piece of wood?
it could look kinda like a....
no is it?

is that really a pencil?

Yip!

for fathers day I got a pencil.
not just any pencil though, possibly the best pencil i have ever seen or held.

due to the price of it i haven't yet sharpened the wood pencil bit. but hey it may happen tonight!

a huge thank you to my wife and son for such a cool present.

technorati tags: pencil & Graf von Faber-Castell

Which Apprentice finalist are you?

2008-06-11T13:56:00.002+01:00

Your results: Mostly Cs: Commiserations! You are HELENE! You're quite nice, and people don't find you offensive, but you've had a terrible life, poor love. Still, you've managed to get this far, and it's a testament to your professionalism and Global Pricing Leadership that you have, so well done you. You prove to the world that if you put your mind to it, anything is possible (except possibly knowing what 'Global Pricing Leader' actually means)

take the test [[which Apprentice Finalist Are You Quiz on the Guardian unlimited website]]

Technorati Tags - The Apprentice & the Guardian

website development

2008-06-10T22:17:00.002+01:00

Hey sorry about the lack of blogs. Currently I am trying to put my domain in order so a work in progrss some links work

(Blog, Links)

the others don't currently. anyway check it out

http://www.schelp.co.uk

Technorati Tags: website development, schelp.co.uk, scott paget

Kilberry

2008-06-09T11:46:00.005+01:00

Had a great time with some young people up at port ban camp site again. This time we were looking at the theme of what do we believe and using various methods and ideas we considered this in relation to life, to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit

In contrast to last years weather we had a fantastic sunny filled days and gorgeous blue seas.

if you were there HI!
If you weren't also HI!

and are interested the Kilberry Bebo page will get all the materials we used up loaded to it as soon as i can do it.

technorati tags - kilberry, Merge/XT & youth work

Youthwork - What is it?

2008-05-28T12:12:00.008+01:00

last week I was at a training day. It was led by a high heid yin of Youthlink, (the agency which acts as the main link between the youth work sector and the government within Scotland.

The training was around the concept of Outcome focused practice. The idea is that any youth work should be focussed on the outcomes from the youth work practice, (the what happens because of youth work), rather than the more traditional position held by the sector, of work being measured or focused on outputs (the things we do as youth work)

This is being driven by funders looking for more detailed outcome information, the HMIe's assessment of youth work practice and evaluation methods, and by the Scottish Governments current policy drive towards a skills based agenda for Scotland.
My reflections

I smiled at the concept. As a youth worker for a church, i am paid and judged on outcomes of my engagement with young people. But if had met with the loca heads of The local Youth Network and I had said I had an outcome focused practice i would have been portrayed as an unethical youth worker. Just out to save the young people, not interested in good work. (I know that is stretching it a bit but hey, thats sarcasm for you.)

As part of the process during the day we split into groups and completed a Weavers triangle planning/monitoring/evaluation tool.

As the group wrote on the triangle the things we would plan to do and make happen as essential youthwork stuff they fell into three main categories

provision of
- opportunities, learning, training, volunteering opps, support, activities
indentifing and securing
- funding, partners, service level agreements
Monitoring and evaluating
- the above

The thing that jarred with me is that I believe youth work to be about relationships, yet there was nothing there about relationships. Yeah there was methods to build or maintain relationships, space for shared experience and glimpsing into the work of the other, but there was nothing about relationship, the voluntary nature of the work. it was all be stealth, that having a relationship wit a young person wasn't a valid thing to be admitted to.

I think though that this is what the outcome focused evaluation is all about.

I meet with young people to be with them and work. My aim and outcome is to do good youth work.
If I do that then I have done a good job and I am happy.
If I have done that then the young person i have worked with has changed through a process or openness, weakness, equality, and reflection. This gives space for decision to be made and changes will follow.
If I do the above then as a result of good youth work a change will happen.
Outcome evaluation asks what the changes are. and are they the ones we expected or suspected at the start of the process.

One of the year out guys who have worked with me once asked me
"if you could only work with the same 20 young people for the rest of your life would you be satisfied"
I answered if if did good work then yes.

If as part of my work, i do good work and twenty people change their lives through engaging and undergoing youth work with me then I would be satisfied with that. didn't Jesus work with twelve people or something?

so any thoughts?

technorati tags - evaluation, youthlink & youth work

The apprentice

2008-05-27T23:32:00.004+01:00

andrew collins always entertains and informs

his verdict on the tissue advert edition of the appentice is quality.

you should read it here

technorati tags - andrew collins & The Apprentice

ical and google calender synconisation - for free!

2008-05-25T09:20:00.005+01:00

So the age old issue is that Ical can transmit to Google calender. Google calender can transmit to Ical but there is no syncronisation. The data flows one way only. That mean you need to enter the data twice.

Enter spanning sync. a program free to try for 15 days with full syncronisation of google calender and Ical. nice GUI. it is not bad. the downside is it is kinda annoyingly noticeable as you use it and as it updates. the real downside though is the $25 per month fee for the program. I used the free trial to get both calenders linked and updated to each other but after the free trial ended then i made the decision i would rather typw everything twice, and pay myself the $25 per month.

Enter the GCAlDaemon. (yeah catchy title right). the GCAlDaemon is a small program which runs in the background of your computer. It makes gcal and ical syncronise for free!

the instructiuons are pretty cool and you get to enter dos commands to the terminal. something i had never done on the mac. fortunately my hacking skills arn't to bad.

the only thing i warnign i would give is
the dos commands can get complicated. at one point it asks you to open a file. you type in the dos location and the terminal tell you that yes, that is a folder. The instructions actually wants you to open the folder in my documents type folder system. that had me confused for a wee while.

but to be honest it really is easy and fun to do and works like a treat.

ease of use - 10 out of 10
instillation (on the mAc but available for most OS) - 7 out of ten.

if you use Ical (or Mozilla Sunbird/Lightning, Rainlendar or Evolution) and Googlemail and owned a computer before windows, you have no excuse not to be using this system.

technorati tags - google cal ical syncronisation & GCALDaemon

Church without Walls National Gathering part 3

2008-05-20T11:45:00.004+01:00

The question which has stayed with me from Johnny Bakers talk at the National Gathering is quite key it think.

"can new types of church come from the established church"

this question has two roots. first the histry of church change is littered with new denominations being formed as a reaction to and from something else. new expressions of church seem to be primarily reactions against established church or another church. Martin Luther didn't set out to divide the catholic church. (or form catholics and prodestants) The Salvation Army's early development was financed by backers who supported William Booth, after having an arguement with the methodists over wether to have an organ in church or not.

secondly this article at adbusters speaks of the way the art work deals with the new and the powerful types of art by adopting and absorbing them to the point where the lose their power and ability to be different.

It’s a cycle that has become all too familiar. Anything subversive, anything meant to disrupt the status quo and challenge traditional models of thought and behavior is eventually adopted into the mainstream it is swimming against. Once caught in the currents of convention, it becomes powerless. Just another commodity to be traded in the system.

The Church of Scotland has reportedly started a 1.5million pound fund to invest and allow for new types of ministry and mission I wonder if this money would be better spent challenging artists, anarchists, creative people, homeless, and heretics to react to the church and see where that could take us. (perhaps a kind of Dragons den spin off.)

but that wouldn't be very presbyterian would it?

technorati tags - church of scotland, church without walls, national gathering, adbusters & Johnny Baker

interesting....

2008-05-20T11:32:00.002+01:00

(just a class John Cusack picture)

one of the blogs i read using bloglines carried this quote from John Cusack.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Let’s go with Jesus. Not the gay-hating, war-making political tool of the right, but the outcast, subversive, supreme adept who preferred the freaks and lepers and despised and doomed to the rich and powerful. The man Garry Wills describes “with the future in his eyes … paradoxically calming and provoking,” and whom Flannery O’Connor saw as “the ragged figure who moves from tree to tree in the back of [one’s] mind.”

that jesus sounds quite good really.

to be honest it is not a bad interview vanity fair have done. the problem with these small (i guess) phone interviews are that you cannot see person or what the res of them is communicating.

anyway

Technorati Tags - John Cusack & Vanity Fair

test

2008-05-13T16:29:00.001+01:00

After a recommendation from Stewart Cutler on his blog Scream Without Raising Your Voices
I am now testing Scibefire to see how it goes. (hopefully better than Flock which was good but somewhat incomplete as ideas for new browers go) Scibefire is a firefox add on and as such is not a new browser.

Anyway on with the testing

technorati tags - <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/scribefire" rel="tag">scribefire</a> & <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/testing" rel="tag">testing</a>

Church without Walls National Gathering part 2

2008-05-09T16:34:00.003+01:00

The Good
- meeting up with people i hadn't seen for ages. It was nice to see so many people
- morning worship with John Bell and Archbishop John Sentamu
- Catching the end of Johnny Bakers Talk - Grace for a Mosaic Generation
- Hearing Alistair McGrath (only slightly disappointed that he was wearing a cord jacket rather than the assumed oxford uniform of a tweed one.)
- catching myself talking about how and who could change church, only to think do i really think this and answer, yes i do.
- parking the lack of a traffic jam there and back.
- agreeing to write a letter to someone i think is great
- getting recognised from my bebo picture. (yeah really)
- having the planes take off in the background as Edinburgh airport was right next door. not much noise but a cool view.

The Bad
- Food provision - come on guys, could try harder i think
- the art exhibition - not extensive or varied
- taking your shoes off in the prayer tent. - understandable but I hade large 18 eyelit boots and didn't want to spend too long there. Hmmmm. my fault but still bad.
- the sunday afternoon outdoor love, worship, feast, stuff. no really it was attrotious to be honest. kinda had a bad family service feel to it. not impressed.

The needing attention
stage 2 - what was that all about. putting a spoken word stage next to the come and try an organ stand?

youth zone - needs alot of work. a bad use of space and had no flow or rythmn to it.

site layout - the tents were a good idea but the layout of the site meant they were external to the main walk ways to the other venues rather than intergral to the natural flow of foot traffic.

Morning worship was good but evening worship provided less incentive to stay. I did want to see Johnny Baker but in a double header with stuart Townhead I decided to give it a miss

Under 5's provision - none, where was the creche or creche space. (Kids zone being for p1-p7's) The main baby change facility in the main hall was terrible and only in the female toilets. C'mon we can do better than that surely.

Tents - The idea was great but to many were similar and not enticing to stop at. very little interactivity for those walking by.

Tents - Some bizzarre opening and closing times from Tent holders.

in conculsion, overall it felt good, but with some big room for inprovements

technorati tags - church of scotland, church without walls & national gathering

The search for cool

2008-05-09T09:54:00.003+01:00

liked this wee TV program this morning on Channel4

The Search For Cool

********Update*******
You can watch this at channel 4 on demand, only if you are running windows and internet explorer. As such I willnot be watching it again online. Bummer channel4.

Get it sorted. NOW.

(or read Mark Berry's take on it here)

technorati Tags - channel4 & The Search For Cool

Church without Walls National Gathering

2008-05-09T09:35:00.004+01:00

we spent last weekend at the Church of Scotland Church Without Walls National Gathering

further posts to follow but in general had a decent time
we got to see people we hadn't seen for a while. One old friend we saw greeted us with the statement

"hi there, this is just like heaven isn't it. Everyone you have every known in one space at one time."

I put this to a minister friend of mine, his response was

"Heaven, Hell, at the moment it's kinda similar!"

anyway it was strange seeing people you haven't seen for years or people who know you but couldn't remember who you are. What was really strange was how many people I know without being "church of scotland" yeah I have dabbled but never joined so it was quite weird.

anyway I think it achieved what it was trying to do. It got me thinking about church, carberry, mission, youthwork and how to do big events. Like I don't get enough of that at work. Anyway I will put some more thoughts up soon.

technorati tags - church of scotland, church without walls & national gathering

Dawkins, Belief and the life I live.

2008-05-09T08:55:00.003+01:00

on radio 4's today this morning I woke up to the sound of Richard Dawkins chatting to John Humphries.

nice way to wake up.

Anyway they were discussing the comments of Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor who has warned that public life in Britain must not become a "God free" zone. The basis of the conversation turned to Dawkins belief that there is True and False. Belief is not true because it cannot be proved. believing something is not enough to justify it being true.

you can listen again to the show here. (the interview was around 7:17am.)

In my dozing slumber i wondered about all the things we did believe.

Money - he bank promises to pay an amount in sterling? like how many promises of sterling are in circulation and how much sterling is in the world? (besides, i don't want five pounds of a furniture store. talk about free publicity!)

The Justice system - what is the burdon of proof. If three people who don't know me all say they saw me commit a crime would i be able to avoid being convicted. depends what the jury believes i guess

Science - that is a scientific theory and whats the difference between a theory and fact. what is a scientific Law and when are they ever broken? Has science changed it's mind on something that was fact?

So i ask what do we believe and what is fact. If one day the bus doesn't come as scheduled does that mean the timetable is a matter of belief or fact?

without belief, our monetary system crashes, or system of order and justice crashes and (i guess about) 50% of science is crashed with all the implications those three things mean. thats before we get into the crumbling of modernity, the experience of post modernity and where we are today.

Me I believe.
It's better that way.

technorati Tags - richard dawkins, belief & life

Howies summer Catalogue

2008-05-09T08:32:00.004+01:00

The new Howies Catalogue for summer hit our doorstep yesterday.
it is full of lovely things which i could buy and seem to be calling me to buy. but perhaps when i get a pay rise it will be my playground

In the mean time two things to draw your attention to.

1 - the joy image
as displayed above and downloadable as a desktop image.

2 - the DO lectures
these are basically a small gathering of around 75 invited guests to get together with the guys from Howies. During it some people will lecture, and ways to change will be planned. Plus there is a forest to explore.

The lectures are free but to be selected you need to apply in handwriting. Explaining what it is you plan to do. I have an idea what my application will include so we will see what happens.

technorati tag - howies & joy

Fantasy Greenbelt

2008-05-06T15:18:00.002+01:00

So almost every year we head off to greenbelt.
it is somehow a busy, special and restful place for us.
we go buy the program and try and do one thing from each of the sections of the program, music, visual arts, talks etc.

anyway they are being slightly slow at confirming the bands for the music section as such here is my opportunity to create a fantasy, unlimited budget, for four nights. To be honest though i have taken out the lots of the guys who i suspect may be to expensive before i started this list. (I mean U2 would be great right but slightly expensive.)

here we go then

confirmed, so far. Micheal Franti & Spearhead, Martyn Joseph.

I would pick
headliners
friday - micheal franti & spearhead

MXPX - Their last couple of albums, one a more accoustic take on their back catalougue and one new full force punk album is well worth a booking on the friday or saturday (although you may have to work around their reading and leeds booking.

James Yorkston - love his stuff

saturday - Natasha Bedingfield - her brother daniel did main stage two years ago.

MuteMath - What a band, what a song although made by the backwards video. loving it

At The Close Of Everyday - dutch but their last album was in english and very good actually. main stage on saturday.

Salvador - Well my brother likes them and they are already at Flevo the week before.

sunday - Three Girls And Their Buddy Tour. (Featuring Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller) now that would be pretty good.

Tonex loving a bit of gospel

Lost Dogs love their stuff they are v. cool

monday
Headliners
(usually something more leftfield and not your normal headliner) possibly Connor Oberst (Bright Eyes) or Belle & Sebastian or Steve Earle Or for a real left field choice how about Mark Knofler
(or how about Was Not Was)

I would really like to see Viva Voce at greenbelt.

and the wonderful grey de lisle

also stage 2 or just in general
Bill Mallonee
Danielson
Derek Webb

to be honest i need to say probably none of these will happen, but it would certainly be a music line up i would like, and possibly not impossible, (although if i was one the music commitee i may have a slightly different perspective on that last statement!)

for the offical Greenbelt line up ::[[click here]]::

technorati tags - greenbelt 2008 & Fantasy festival

small news update

2008-05-06T14:30:00.004+01:00

some news before i start work in depth

*we have almost got to grips with the ground elder and ivy on the garden.

*we now have a kitchen table and chairs and are enjoying sitting round it to eat.(from a company without a website.)

*next job is the roof

*we now have a hose

*we have gooseberry bushes, a pear tree and nettles in the garden. I have a recipe for nettle soup but nothing for gooseberries? anyone?

*My wireless, draft-n modem router is haveing trouble sending the signal round the 2 foot thick walls.

*Jacob's toilet training is going well

*we need a see through blue fish toilet seat if you see one!

*we are good.

technorati tags - home & small news

Record breakers

2008-05-06T13:55:00.003+01:00

Hi

Over 12000 visits have been made to this blog.

WooHoo

to celebrate here is a picture of a Yamaha EF12000De OHV V-Twin Engine, Oil Warning Generator.

consider yourself thanked!

thechnorati tags - 12000, scottinbrief.

Walk The Dinosaur - Was Not Was

2008-04-23T23:15:00.005+01:00

did anyone else see them on Later with Jools holland on Tuesday

They did Walk the dinosaur. (pictured above actually doing the dinosaur)

Pure class. Altogether now

title - Walk the dinosaur
artist - Was (not Was)
Album - What up, dog? 1988

Boom boom acka-lacka lacka boom
Boom boom acka-lacka boom boom

It was a night like this forty million years ago
I lit a cigarette, picked up a monkey skull to go
The sun was spitting fire, the sky was blue as ice
I felt a little tired, so I watched Miami Vice

And Walked the dinosaur, I walked the dinosaur

CHORUS:

Open the door, get on the floor
Everybody walk the dinosaur

I met you in a cave, you were painting buffalo
I said I'd be your slave, follow you wherever you go
That night we split a rattlesnake and danced beneath the stars
You fell asleep, I stayed awake and watched the passing cars

And walked the dinosaur, I walked the dinosaur

CHORUS

One night I dreamed of New York
You and I roasting blue pork
In the Statue of Liberty's torch
Elvis landed in a rocket ship
Healed a couple of lepers and disappeared
But where was his beard

A shadow from the sky much too big to be a bird
A screaming crashing noise louder than I've ever heard
It looked like two big silver trees that somehow learned to soar
Suddenly a summer breeze and a mighty lion's roar

I killed the dinosaur, I killed the dinosaur

CHORUS"

tachnorati tags - Was (Not Was) & Lyrics

presentation @ google

2008-04-23T20:43:00.002+01:00

Garr Reynaulds, the guy from presentation zen, was asked recently to give a presentation at Google.

(Yeah thanks for the info about something we missed.) I hear ya but stick with it.

The cool part of the story is that you can watch the man who's mission it is to save the world from bad powerpoint, actually do a stand up, in front of someone presentation. yeah nice. but the cool thing is the video is from google who have no real interest in editing down to make Garr look good. so it is probably the best view of a presentation.

Now to be honest it is pretty good as presentations go. I can remember most of what the salient point were and even took notes as i went along. the style used is simple, clear and resonably concise.

I particularly liked the way he advises on using persentations and images.
- don't be afraid of empty spaces.
- if you were gonna use bullet points put them from the slide onto the notes bit of the powerpoint and think about how to say it perhaps assigning one or two slides per point.
- simple is cool
- do not ever be scared of thinking how to creatively communicate a complex thing. either through cool visual or just a plain hand out.
- don't ever read the screen. (okay, I knew this before i watched the video, but it doesn't hurt to have this reemphasised at any point.)

the best part of the experience is that Google regularly have authors and important people, (thinkers, leaders & in to talk about things to their staff. like this one all the talks are videoed and put up on youtube meaning google is giving some cool content to the internet, not just finding and cataloging it.

watch the talk here. (I did this at work while designing the publicity for the last third sunday event.) just in a small window in the screen. it was really useful.

the rest of the @google talks can be found at youtube here

tehnorati tags - presentation zen & atgoogle talks

ponoka - a dutch band

2008-04-23T19:15:00.005+01:00

After my love affair with At The Close Of Every Day, whose excellent album The Silja Symphony is still one of my top 10 listens, ever. And obviously my pleasurable addiction to I'm From Barcelona, and various swedish detours including Hello Saferide I have recently found a new dutch band to become excited about

Ponoka

Okay I haven't heard much of their music. but what i have heard i like quite alot. The band are a indie rock band from, Utrecht, with a male/female singing group and a number of good songs. They claim Lemmonheads, Sparklehorse, Eels and Pavement as influences. (I must get that eels best of album.) They are signed to Volkoren the dutch independant label.

Their latest album is called Hindsight and in english. The whole thing is being streamed live on Last.fm it sounds quite pleasent.

but the joy is perhaps more lavish on their Youtube channel. where they have some songs from the album and a new one, the exquisite Disconnected.

The band just strike me as a really cool band who have a good sound that could one day conquer the world!

anyway check them out

technorati Tags - ponoka & volkoren

Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me!

2008-04-14T09:41:00.005+01:00

(warning. The link contained in the next sentence takes you directly to a topless picture of Britney Spears.(on her own website front page) As per usual we take no responsibility for the content of external links) (that should see the web figures jump up!)
Britney Spears is she famous of infamous now?

I dunno
I heard on the radio this morning that she crashed her car today and has ended up causing a 2 car pile up (excluding her own)

My wife wisely pointed out that the difference is if you hear the name "Britney spears" your initial thought reveals if she is famous or infamous. If you think of her music or acting career then she is famous. If you think of her life incidents then she is infamous.

While changing my son this morning we had the channel 4 show "Freshly Squeezed" on the TV. and they showed some of Britney's new video. It's all animated and looks superhero ish. so when I heard Britney Spears my immediate thought was her new video is actually good. So to me Britney is still famous.

so the question for you all is, Britney Spears, famous or infamous? when you hear the words Britney Spears, what do you think of?

technorati tags - Famous, Infamous & Britney Spears

The Apprentice - Your Fired

2008-04-10T10:45:00.005+01:00

Andrew Collins is always the first blog reviewer of the apprentice which i turn to after each episode. read him here

The apprentice season 3 is on the BBC. and the pre-series publicity contained a quote from Sir Alan which went something along the lines of "the candidates are getting better. we have been done this twice before and the selection process is providing a higher level of people on the program."

No
They are not.
If they were we would all stop watching.

For me the joy of watching the apprentice is watching people who are area sales managers, or a risk manager trying to sell modern art or like last night trying to put a brand new food menu into two pubs which normally don't serve food.

It was a farce.
The girls spent little and had a shoddy evening cobbled together around a bollywood theme.
Their team is called alpha. Frankly i thought Alpha males were bad in these metrosexual days, so the prospect of 8 alpha females running the food in a pub is scary. no wonder the dancer started to strip instead of dancing.

The boys were incompetent. couldn't cook, could cost, couldn't budget. (Hint to all future contestants: It is all about the money. do the sums and you will survive.) `had no management. it was a mess.

The outcome was correct adn the right person (team leader Ian) was fired. although I don't see Kevin Shaw (24, Bank manager, 11 GCSE's, 2 ALevels, Food Hygene qualification) lasting long. (I am better qualified than Him for the apprentice) If only because he does look like the guy from little britain and has an annoying accent.
Although mention has to go to Jenny Celerier whos accent is both fantastic and horrible

Anyway my favourite is Lucinda Ledgerwood for three reasons.
1- she wears just fabulously out of place clothing for the group shots.
2- she appears to try and be funny when with the girls and they all just seem to take offense at the fact she exists let along talks, and jump on her from a great height.
3- she kind looks like the nasty one from the last series and i keep on thinking at any moment she is gonna turn nasty and do real damage to someone.

so
next week then

Technorati Tags - The Apprentice & BBC

The Co-Operative - Good For Everyone

2008-04-10T10:24:00.005+01:00

I have joined the Co-Operative.

I like the idea of a business you join which then you can hold to account. The shares issues to me is very weird.

Shares are a financial gamble. The idea that you buy a share and then you own a part of something which you can then trade with others to make money? apart from money their is no commitment towards the company you have the shares in. no partnership.

Membership is a force for Good and change. It is also a commitment of intent in someway. A seeking to engage, be led and influenced while leading and influencing the organisation back.

The Co-Operative have several campaigning strands to how they operate. I am not sure i agree with all of them, I am not familiar enough with them to say I support them all, but I do agree with the idea and principle of a business actually campaigning for something out with their own self interest.

The benefits of membership are explained here

You should join. Go on it's literally free.

Technorati Tags - The Co-Operative & Joining

Are you unsure who or what to worship?

2008-04-10T10:05:00.005+01:00

I previously blogged about Tom Gauld on this blog. He is a cartoonist who as part of his job provides cartoons for the Letters page of the Literary review section of The Guardian on Saturdays.

I don't read the letters in the section but i do always read his cartoons. they make me laugh and occasionally provide me with some Level 5 thinking.

anyway this was the cartton in the paper 3 weeks ago. I cut it out and scanned it so you can all see it to!

I almost contacted tom to use this image for the publicity for third sunday this month. I do think I perhaps need to save up £200 quid for the cartoon in the previous post and this one. (using his website, if you contact Tom he will send you the original version for around £100).

This could become quite expensive!

Technorati Tags - Cartoons & Tom Gauld

Third Sunday Promo 20th April 2008

2008-04-10T09:57:00.003+01:00

I really like this one

simple but has a strong visual message.
the before and after words are necessary but i wish i could have thought of a way around that text.

anyway looks simple and I like it.

Tecnorati Tags - Third Sunday & Promo

I Can Confirm...

2008-04-08T14:28:00.003+01:00

I can confirm, as per our exclusive picture above, the

The Baptist Church, (Easterhouse), rocks your socks.

technorati tags:- rock, your & Socks

Film Review - Nancy Drew

2008-04-06T10:14:00.004+01:00

What a film.
I didn't expect much to be honest, but it was actually fun.

The background was that We were doing a club for 9-12 year olds which currently is exclusively attended by girls. All our staff and volunteered called off due to lots of stuff. valid but stuff. so we decided without a program to have a video night!

we went off to the local rental shop and looked at all the videos. there was nothing was was good, except shark vs eagle which as a 15 but did look quality.

we hummed and awed. two 30+ year old men trying to pick a film to interest and keep the attention of a group of 9-12 year old girls.

Then I saw it. Nancy Drew. The film.

i picked it. I had to convince my boss that it would work. but we got it.

we went back and waited for the girls. 11 turned up.
we went through to the room and sat down to watch the movie.

I was nervous. I had never seen the film, I had never heard of any reviews. It looked like it could go one of two ways. great of absolutely terrible.

It wasn't terrible. the girls were excited. I laughed out loud at least seven times.

The thing that really got me was how similar nancy was to one of the girls who comes to the club. I really was stunned by the similarities.

anyway
not the worse film in the world.
not the best film in the world but one i think i would watch again.

anyway fromthe soundtrack Flunk and there version of "Blue Monday"

simple by andrew motion

2008-04-02T13:41:00.004+01:00

While doing some work I came across this poem by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion.
It makes sense in a simple kind of way.

SIMPLE BY ANDREW MOTION
Men came from the sea
with their unusual catch -
one hundred and fifty three.
A fire burned on the beach.

They had expected nothing,
now there was a glut,
and also this man waiting.
The charcoal was white hot.

But was the man there?
One moment it seemed so,
the next he was not.
Master, they said, don't go.

Like thin air shimmering
when powerful heat bakes it,
he continued his waiting.
Indefinite. Definite.

The fire burned on the beach
with their unusual catch.
They had expected nothing.
Now there was too much.
Andrew Motion, 2004

on the BBC website here
technorati tags - andrew motion, poetry & BBCt

New Bjork Video

2008-04-01T20:52:00.004+01:00

The fantastic Stereogum, point to the new Bjork video - Wanderlust.

it is really good.
I can't wait to see it on like full screen. (suddenly MTv and sattelite Tv becomes a need rather than a luxuary. but hey give it a day or two and we will see how it goes.
click to see - New Björk Video - "Wanderlust"

I also really like Volta. it's cool.

technorati tags - bjork & stereogum

Flock Test

2008-03-26T14:46:00.001Z

I downloaded flock. it's a new browser with built in tools for web 2.0 applications, or summit

so just testing the blog editor on it

laters

Blogged with the Flock Browser

New sins

2008-03-11T22:20:00.004Z

The Vatican Has brought out some new modern moral sins.

Environmental pollution
Genetic manipulation
Accumulating excessive wealth
Inflicting poverty
Drug trafficking and consumption
Morally debatable experiments
Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

hands up if you have broken any of these?

anyway this is all to do with a drop in the amount of attendants to confession or the Sacrament of Penance! So rather than convince people that they need to work on what they are aware off the system would seek to intorduce new sins, you may not have been aware you were committing, and asking you to confess them.

It would be an interesting study to find out if this brings in new confessors or if this means those who do go to confession, now go for twice the sin!

I kinda prefer the old ones.
it is good to see the vatican so concerned with these issues, the environment, injustice, poverty, power, moral issues and human rights.
Although I cannot see Brad Pitt and Morgan freeman making seven two around this new set of sins.

Maggie dawn pointed out this helpful diagram for those unsure on the original rules.

well thats that cleared up.

technorati tags - vatican, new moral sins & Jessica Hagy

Third Sunday Promo

2008-03-10T15:05:00.004Z

Just if you are free this sunday and interested.

(the theme is Were you there? (when they crucified My lord?)
I am not sure I have actually pulled that out enough.
The Jesus picture comes from a set of the stations of the cross I downloaded from Jon Birch. He was giving the whole collection away for use as the user saw fit.I as an image it conveys quite alot of sadness and pain in a very simple way.

The text is all different colours except of the Were you there line.

The Oh! is so large baecuase it seeemed to define the space well and draw emphasis to the tremble line, thereby rooting the thoughts about the questions in the songwriters response.

I really like the third sunday block and the font used for the tagline.

anyway
i just think it is quite clears and easy to see what we are doing and when.

technorati tags - third sunday, Jon Birch

Le tourne-disque casse

2008-03-06T23:12:00.004Z

Tom Gauld does a weekly cartoon in the Guardian Book review section on a saturday.
I really like this cartoon

but his website is pretty cool with some excellent laugh out loud moments.
I particularly like the way for about £100 he will send you an orgininal in paper & pen. I think thats a nice touch. so check out his website and buy his stuff. that's kinda cool.

Tom Gauld's website

small news update

2008-03-06T22:32:00.002Z

we are back on the broadband tonight
we got our first internet shopping delivery tonight
we are happy
our house is coldish
our house is warming up though.

small news update over.

Live TV blogging - Jool Hollands 200th - BBC1 - 01 feb 08

2008-02-02T00:01:00.000Z

Live event blogging - Jool Hollands 200th

Cat Power

Feist

My program review

Headlining Radiohead - very good. three songs and another one on the website, good news really for all.
mary J bilge. - she did a wee lecture at the beginning of her record so we know exactly what she thought of the song

the main attraction from the undercard of the program was the 2 round bout between two cute, indie cred filled, heavily fringed, female vocalist's Feist and Cat Power.

Round one
(back to back performances at opposite ends of the studio)
Feist - my mooon my man - pretty good rendition, sounded live with rough edges and a heavier guitar part which gave it an edge.
cat power - new york new york - her band sounds tight and very good. Ms Marshall though, sounded a bit to much like she was trying to be good rather than being good?
round one to Feist.

Round two
Feist plays 1-2-3-4 but also plays a joker with her entire band making a brass section supporting an acoustic version of the song.
Cat Power plays "Lost Someone" musically the band are awesome and sound great. but Cat's Performance again lets down the side.
Round two to Feist

Victory to Feist two - love

Victory thrid song goes to Feist with Sealion. A Live favourite (of mine)and it pretty much rocks the room. It just sounds very good and a well deserved victory.

so in a live tv battle, radiohead beats them all and Feist beats Cat Power.

Quite how she will deal with Zooey Deschanel and her link up with M Ward as "She and Him" is anyones guess.

(Zooey Deschanel, with the cute indie cred background and heavy fringe)

Later with Jools website with radiohead performance not shown on the TV ::[[click here]]::

technorati tags - Feist, Radiohead& Cat Power

From the radiohead blog

2008-02-01T23:46:00.000Z

click this link

made me laugh out loud. i probably shouldn't have.
thank you Radiohead

tachnorati tag - radiohead, tinyvices

birthday

2008-01-29T21:11:00.000Z

Had a good time on my birthday.
I was surprised by cards and presents from people.
But with my laid back way people had asked me for suggestions about what nice things i like.
I was slow in getting back to people.

anyway
nice things I got included
the roku soundbridge m1001 (as shown above.)
I would say how good it sounds but it came with a european plug and as such I will not be able to get it going until tomorrow. bummer

a cool animal zip up hooded to which is nice.

A cool pair of Howies Woody Canvas trousers from the Howies Sale

Also from Howies the 6AM 100per cent lambswool hat in brown, which is just afbulous.
it really is nice.

The birthday joy is continuing with
- A new mouse for my laptop coming soon
- A Large Wok coming soon
- and hopefully a cool accessory for my ipod. more on that later!

A big thank you to all involved.

technorati tags - birthday presents

Steve Earle - live at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall - 17.01.2008

2008-01-28T10:39:00.000Z

Steve Earle
Live Thoughts

reviews
from the guardian
from the times
from the scotsman
from the Herald
from scotland on sunday

My comments thoughts
Generally i enjoyed it. The first half was mostly older songs and the second half mostly newer songs.

The older songs seemed to go down very well with the crowd.

The newer stuff was less popular. I know mostly his work from 2004's jerusalem album forward. and i like the sound and feel of it. I think alot of fans from the earlier period haven't heard these albums or rate them. In term of atmosphere this meant the first half of set had a good feeling but the second half of the set seemed somehow more tolerated by the audience.
(Heckler 1 - Play something we know. Heckler 2 - Go buy the new album)

Lots of Heckling. at the Royal Concert Hall? Why?

Good views form the back of the hall.

The place was packed standing tickets for upstairs were unexpected and and interesting addition to the evening.

The DJ bit seemed to play havoc witht he sound for a while? the mixing of a drum and bass track with a banjo and live voice surely can not be that hard, can it?

Really like the song, "Sparkle and Shine" & "tennesee blues"

anyway it is fair to say it divided the reviews from 4 to 2 star reviews. I guess it boils down to how well you know the music, what music you know, and your perceptions on the night.

Me I thought for about 2 hours he basically sang songs and i enjoyed and engaged with it. i think thats all you can ask for really.

Technorati tags -steve earle, celtic connections & Live music

New house

2008-01-20T00:52:00.000Z

We have bought a new place to become home.

it could be good

technorati tags - home & small news

Old house

2008-01-20T00:47:00.000Z

we appear to have sold our home.

technorati tags - home & small news

New TV

2008-01-20T00:38:00.000Z

We kinda also got a new TV

Its a Sony KDL-32D3000
(due to the sales and various things we didn't pay the price on the sony website and amanaged to get a 5 year garruntee as well.)
nice.

technorati Tags - sony KDL 32D3000 & TV's

New Suite

2008-01-20T00:28:00.000Z

we have a new sofa

It's from Collins and Hayes

Technorati Tags - collins and Hayes & furniture

2007 (in boxes) part two

2008-01-02T23:35:00.000Z

Things I Enjoyed (reviewed expertly by others)

Greenbelt 2007 - flickr list and greenbelt website
, class as usual, the jacob danced to over the rhine, i spoke to stuart henderson. seemed like a nice weekend really.

Qualifying from the PGCE program - (search the blog tags for dissertation)

Playing Bowls in the park at Kelvingrove for free! details here

spending time with my wife and son.

concerts with rich

being santa at nursary. their are some cool children there and it was good fun.

2007 (in boxes) part one

2008-01-01T23:03:00.000Z

2007 (in boxes)

music (reviewed expertly by others)

I liked
Fiest - live in concert (reviewed by Rich) and on record with "The Reminder"
The Decemberists - - Live in concert (reviewed by Vinyl Villan) and on record with "The Crane Wife"
Guillemots - on record with "Through The Window Pane"

also i enjoyed
radiohead's in windows, (reviewed by Pitchfork website),, over the rhine's the trumpet child, (reviewed by Paste magazine), and hem's funnel cloud, (reviewed by glide magazine)..

special mention goes to The Innocence Mission album - We Walked in Song (reviewed by the Guardian). Possible one of hte most fragile and beuatiful peices of music i have heard in a long time.

God's Eye View

2007-12-20T22:07:00.000Z

I love this image,
It is part of a collection called God's eye view. an attempt to give a Google earth type view of four happenings in the bible. the four are the crucification as shown above, moses crossing the red sea, Noah and Adam and Eve.

The images were created by an Australian collective called The Glue Society who look like they get to have some good fun during their work.

the blog at creative review has the images and links to artists and the art exhibition it was commissioned for.

nice so here's another one.

Creative Review, the world’s leading monthly magazine for visual communications

technorati tags - The Glue Society, Creative Review & God's Eye View

I am Undone

2007-12-07T14:40:00.000Z

The Violet Burning - Undone

I wanna know if it would be alright
To be with you tonight
I am undone

Wait, don't go
Don't let my heart turn to stone
Fear, it has no home
When you are near

Cause I need you now
More than then
I need you to let your rain
Down on me
Let it fall
All around me

Wait, don't hide
Please shelter me in your side
From there my strength is derived
I am done

So, is that the way the story goes?
In your arms, I know
It's alright

I can hear the sound
Of rain coming down

technorati Tags - The Violet Burning & Undone

rating the Album of the Year

2007-12-04T23:19:00.000Z

various magazines have decided to anounce their top music albums of the year.
I like to go through the list, count how many albums i have on each list to see how in tune i am with each magazine.

Q magazine top 50 list

Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
The National - Boxer
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
Björk - Volta
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Paste magazine top 100 list (minus those above)

Stars – In Our Bedroom After The War
The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Do Make Say Think - You, You're A History In Rust
The New Pornographers - Challengers
Okkervil River - The Stage Names
St. Vincent - Marry Me
Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
The Broken West - I Can't Go On I'll Go On
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child
Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin

uncut magazine top 50 list (minus those above)

Maps - We Can Create
Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade
Feist - The Reminder
Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!
Battles - Mirrored
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

having all this music does make me question if i have actually heard it all.
I currently am most in tune with paste magazine. but they are the only ones so far to have Over the rhine in the top 100 so no doubt they would be my favourites.

The other issue is how to list or rate all this music.
do you go for a simple top 10
or top 50

I am toying with the idea of using the system used at the International Mathematical Olympiad, and awarding albums nothing, bronze, silver or Gold awards.
but unsure about the critera for this type of marking system.

Any thoughts?

Technorati Tags -
end of year list, rating system & music

Ambitious

2007-11-26T22:56:00.000Z

I would like to finish one of the five books I have started this year.

ambitious?
probably.

tachnorati tag - Ambitious

Nothing Is Innocent by Over The Rhine

2007-11-26T22:47:00.000Z

Nothing Is Innocent
by Over The Rhine
album The Trumpet Child

--

We’d wake the dead
With voices in our head
We’ve gotten used to ignoring the truth

We close our eyes
And breathe and eat the lies
That tell us we’re so much better than you

Silence is loud
Humility is so proud
Nothing is innocent now

All the king’s men
Will serve scrambled eggs again
When white-washed walls come crashing down

We’ll blink and nod
And say, How odd
And wonder why old friends don’t come around

Silence is loud
Humility is so proud
Nothing is innocent now

The acid rain
We fear the pain
Will blister and burn the skin

But what is more
The fear we bore
Will eat us alive from within

Silence is loud
Humility is so proud
Nothing is innocent now

For you and me
In the land of the free
Is anything innocent now?

Technorati Tag - over the rhine, lyrics & nothing is innocent

Wonderin (random stream of thoughts.)

2007-11-26T21:48:00.000Z

This may take a while so settle back and enjoy the ride-

i haven't blogged for a while.

I have my reasons. Work has been mostly terrible. feel like i am being kicked around by everyone just now.

in amongst this i have intense moments o clarity and self doubt and loathing. I don't think i am great.
I don't think i am terrible.
I think i mostly reach normal.
maybe even over achieve and reach normal.

I guess their is a part of me which always seeks the unachievable.

brilliance, the desolation complete of failure.
I haven't been punished enough for the crimes i have committed, yet i am not in a good place.

I dunno exactly what can and cannot be said. so I try.
I speak
I listen
I try and be silent.
yet reticence has proved to be no friend.

sometimes i worry.
sometimes i don't

subconsciously though my mind works, considers and thinks.

I fell over today. my own fault. my knee now hurts.
Yet my reaction was to laugh walk away and ignore the offers of help.
I sometimes people don't hear me.
my vocabulary becomes prohibitive to people.

should i speak differently to aid communication?
would that even be me?

JD says "change doesn't mean bad, it just means different."
Leaving certainty. it makes me sad.

Fight is needed.
A desire to work from all.
Yet how can it be that a desire to work can lead to such frustration and disappointment.

i love this song
Over The Rhine, constantly speak my language.

I hate how things are
I have the suspicion, the disappointment, the crushing feeling of failure, the lack of support.

the kitchen is disappearing. stuff is everywhere.
the house is cold and draughty.

i want so much, more that we have, can ever hope for. more than i deserve.

I need so much.
to exercise
to feel good
to move

this week is good
holiday resting
tearing apart the kitchen - tiring- in a different way.

me
dunno

i need to read more

I want to do better, I want to try Harder. I want to believe, down to the letter.

perhaps I should change.
perhaps that would make life better
perhaps i should be different.

more like those who seem annoyed i am not different.

i seek to be more like those i know i cannot be like.

more like Helen.
as vivacious as Louise
as cool as Sarah b
as comfortable as Carolann
as fit as rich
as friendly as Fraser.
as funny as Jackie
as excitable as Sarah z.
alot like other people i like, peter, nick, Susan, Sarah c, Denise, Simon, Alice, Jenn, Cat, Alison.

perhaps i should realise i am who i am.
i know who i am.
distracted. i wander.
trying to concentrate and failing miserably.

perhaps I need a rest.
perhaps.

Technorati Tag - random stream of thoughts and reflections

Guy Fawkes & Rememberence Day

2007-11-07T23:00:00.001Z

At a school club i attended on tuesday (6th nov 2007) i was asked several questions,
- is there a God
- How can you prove God
- How can the bible be true if it has contradictions
the usual stuff, you know. This was expected and good, but not what got me thinking.
The club was based around guy fawkes or that was what i was expecting, it didn't actually deal with the issue in any detail. In the ened to guy fawkes part leader made two points about guy fawkes. it was the first of these which I thought about.

Guy fawkes was brave to be killed for what he believed in.

really?
is that bravery?
My potted memory of the guy fawkes saga was that he was watching the gunpowder and got caught there. no bravery really, just getting caughtery. (it make me chuckle)

But is being killed for what you believe in really that good?
While i thought about this more I considered the converse. Is it good to kill for what you believe in. Guy Fawkes was there to kill people. make no mistake. His aim was the end of the government in england. As a Catholic the governemtn were oppressing the people of his belief. the way they came up with to deal with the issue was to destroy the government.

He was prepared to kill and destroy something that threatened what he believed in.
i don't know about that.
This was the first time i had considered this angle to the story.

If there is an object which is causing a structural sinning against a group of people is it justified to sin against them to stop the sinning.

I wondered about this as a catholic Guy and his mates would have known killing is a sin, but is sin ever justified due to the nature of the larger sin it is stopping?

I can't get my head around the fact sin is sin.
jesus said something about turning the other cheek, about going the extra mile, about suffering to follow him. He was a guy who was decisive and and deliberate. but he never used violenece to acheieve his aims. He opposed violence, oppresion, injustice, and inequality, several times in the stories choosing to expose the hypocrisy and self satisfing nature of these pursuits.

This kinda puts me in a pickle though in regards to sundays Remberence service. I know people have died to shape the world we live in. People have literally died for what they believed in and because of that I my life is as it is.

But i can't believe killing those who disagree with us is ever justified, as at a basic level, killing is sin, therefore wrong.

so what do you do.

people killed so i can be who i am.
because of who I am, I can now object to the killing that allows me to ojbect.

I don't know.

technorati tags - theology, killing and i don't know

twenty

2007-11-07T21:32:00.000Z

Recently i was challeneged as to a theoretical.

If i was to retire as a youth worker,in 35 years time, and i have only worked with one group of 20 young people. would I be satisfied.

my response was yes, if I had done good work with the young people.

my questioner told me that they found my attitude disgusting. how could I be satisfied when there are so many other young people to work with.

I guess my attitude is based on an understanding of youth work being relational, challenging and life changing. If I can affect the lives of twenty young people in a good and positive way encouraging reflections, critical analysis of themselves, the bricks to enable the young person to construct their own world vew, and how to change and build a new view when the world breaks down their pervious viewpoint. then yeah I will be happy with twenty young people.

This doesn't mean I only ever want to work with twenty people. but if I look back and I only have done good work with twenty then I am happy.

My attitude also reflects a belief in the other.

God in my understanding is different to the boxes, conceptions or understandings I seek often to put God in. He works within me, outwith me, inspite of me, without me, in mysterious ways. If i don't work with someone, on behalf of the church. I have to trust that God can work with those people without my help. Perhaps using someone from another church, perhaps using a voluntry agency, perhaps through a council service.

Perhaps an angel will visit. I don't understand God fully. I never will, thankfully, if i did my head may just explode.

I work with young people who want to engage with me. for what ever reason there may only be a few people want to deal with me. Youth work is voluntry. If young people don't want to engage or work with me, that is there right and decision.

If twenty young people want to come, work with me and be in a relationship, and thats all i get in all my life, in 35 years, I will be satisfied.

technorati tags - Theology, youth work

I'm really trying to shine here, I'm really trying

2007-11-05T23:36:00.001Z

Youth work has caused me to think.

why
- would you not want to engage with young people?
- would you not change?
- not be more passionate?
- would you not take care of your staff?
- would you not take care of the young people you work with?
- would you be unsafe when you can avoid it?
- would you show a lack of commitment?

questions i ask myself in the stillness.
answers on a postcard.

I wanna do better,
I wanna try harder,
I want to believe down to the letter.
(Long Lost brother, from the album Ohio by Over the Rhine,)

technorati tags - youthwork, questions

Karen by The National

2007-11-03T23:25:00.000Z

(Karen National eyeglasses, thank you google image search.)

Karen
from the album Alligator by The National.

Karen, I'm not taking sides
I don't think I'll ever do that again
I'll end up winning and I won't know why
I'm really trying to shine here, I'm really trying
You're changing clothes and closing windows on me all the time

Well, whatever you do, listen, you better wait for me
No, I wouldn't go out alone into America
Whatever you do
Listen, you better wait for me
No, I wouldn't go out alone

Karen, we should call your father, maybe it's just a phase
He'll know the trick to get a wayward soul to change his ways
It's a common fetish for a doting man
to ballerina on the coffee table cock in hand

Well, whatever you do
Listen, you better wait for me
No, I wouldn't go out alone into America
Whatever you do
Listen, you better wait for me
No, I wouldn't go out alone

Without warm water in my head
All I see is black and white and red
I feel mechanical and thin
Hear me play my violin again
I'm living in the target's shoes
All I see is black and white and blue.
Idle, idle, idle, idle, protect the nest
Protect the title

Karen, put me in a chair, fuck me and make me a drink
I've lost direction, and I'm past my peak
I'm telling you this isn't me
No, this isn't me
Karen, believe me, you just haven't seen my good side yet

Well, whatever you do
Listen. you better wait for me
No, I wouldn't go out alone into America
Whatever you do
Listen, you better wait for me
No, I wouldn't go out alone

Without warm water in my head
All I see is black and white and red
I feel mechanical and thin
Hear me play my violin again
I'm living in the target's shoes
All I see is black and white and blue
Idle, idle, idle, idle, protect the nest
Protect the title

I must be me, I'm in my head
Black birds are circling my bed
I must be me, I must be me
Black feathers are falling on my feet
Idle, idle, idle, idle, protect the nest
Protect the title
[repeat]

technorati Tags - the national, karen, lyrics

Home Improvement

2007-11-03T22:47:00.000Z

in te last week or two slowly improvements have been happening.

The hall, living room and kitchen have received big cleans.

The bathroom, now has a lock on it. Yippee.

The living room fire is being redone. (see above)

The moving prep work is underway.

technorati tag - home improvement

New haircut

2007-11-03T21:39:00.000Z

Its quite short now.

technorati tag - small news, hair cut

KNTV - I love it.

2007-10-18T02:10:00.002+01:00

I have a new Favourite Tv program.
It is on during the day. (thats right, daytime TV)
It is hosted by two cool, cool teenagers. (they are pretty cool)
It deals with the big issues of life (no really its a philosophy show)
It is hilarious. (funny no end.)

the show is called KNTV and its on channel4 in the mornings. Hosted by two teenagers Kierkegaard and Nietzsche they make pirate broadcasts onto the normal state broadcasting of Slabovia, which is the last remaining communist state in Europe. As they say themselves, “when the Iron Curtain fell, Slabovia was under it”.

The show is similar to The Steel lectures on bbc2/bbc4 in so much as they both have taken and informal approach to education. they are both deliberately taking a big subject, in terms of philosophy, steel has covered descartes and darwin, KNTV has covered Newton and Darwin.

to be honest i learn, I am entertained. I love TV this good!

also if you visit slabovia.tv you can downlad the poster below and pledge your allegence should you feel the communist need!

technorati tag - KNTV, Mark Steel Lectures & Slabovia

St Vincent

2007-10-06T09:57:00.000+01:00

Yes I am going to see the goodness of St Vincent.

No Not the island but the great singer-songwriter type woman. St Vincent. She has played with Sufjan Stevens, and sounds vocally a bit like Annie Lennox. The music is similar to pop indie sound of Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond and Feist.

I got the album "Marry Me" in the sumer after the american release. It bears repeated listening and is a real good album.

Should be a good night.

Especially as she is actually the support. Headliners are The National. Now theres a band I am quite keen on seeing.

if you are free you may enjoy an evening of music with The National supported by St Vincent, at Glasgow's ABC1 upon the evening of the 2nd November.

it will be great.I will be there. what more could you ask for.

what's that you say? The night would only be made better if rich was there as well.
Ok then, he will be. It really will be a complete night where all your wildest dreams will come true!

technorati tags - st vincent, The National, live music

Feist - Live at Oran Mor - 26/09/07

2007-10-04T22:02:00.000+01:00

Feist
a concert review

Hopes for the gig were high.
Rich looked tired and sort like he couldn't be bothered. to be honest. I was up for going out but to be honest i was tired and couldn't really be bothered.

Feist is a singer songwriter. Rich suggested we go before the summer. I said yes just on the name. I had no real idea what she sounded like. I got the album during the summer. but didn't really listen to it as I didn't really think the silhouette style cover really was that exciting.

With the gig coming up I made the effort to listen to the album two or three times.
I noticed her name on radio two. at Graeme's blog. I knew she was interesting. but I kept on getting interrupted when i tried to listen to the album. In the ended after a week I managed to listen through twice, but at low volume indeed.so i kinda knew some of the songs but not many.

The gig was at Oran Mor in the heart of glasgow's trendy west end! OOOHHHH. two problems with this. Oran Mor is a Noisy venue. Stand too near the bar and you cannot hear the band. As Rich and (I found out at the Sufjan Stevens gig which was awesome but noisy.The other problem with Oran Mor is trying to park anywhere in the west end I ended up in the pay and display. (£1 all night would you believe)

We got into the venue. It was busy. There were also many signs up informing us that the show was going to be recorded for the BBC. The culture show. nice i like that show. Lauren Lavern, Mark Kermode, the guy who goes round art galleries. class

anyway the support act was a kind of novelty accordion black and white film guy. not particularly pleasant. especially as the all his subtitles and words were at the bottom of the screen and out of sight.

at the change over, rich and i went for the usual position. Around the middle of the stage, around 10-15 rows of people from the front of the stage. Usually we find being reasonably tall that there is a small gap behind us. at Feist some really tall guys stood behind us.

The gig started 5 minutes late. but frankly I didnt's care. The sound was decent. Although there was the same ringing feedback around Feists vocal all night. (sort it sound technical man. it's your job to fix it)

considering this and the fact her monitors were really bothering her all gig. it was truely fabulous. we were forward enough to be at the back of the people at the front and with the tall guys behind us couldn't really hear the noise of the people at the bar chatting all gig.

My one gripe is with people using their cameras to video the gig.
This in itself isn't to bad. (see youtube for reasons why.)
The problem i have is with small people holding their camera's above their head to the point they can see the stage which is just in line with my eye line. The small guy in front of me periodically would block half the stage but i could see it all in front of me on a small 2 inch by 2 inch screen. lovely. if only i could see people in real size. wouldn't it be good?

to be honest.
Great Gig. loved every minute of it.
The reminder is a great about and feist is great fun live. beautiful voice on record and seemingly up for a full dancing video. (see below)
as gigs go it had it all
rough sound, great songs, Unbelievably good lights and a brilliant sense of fun.

technorati tags feist, Live Music, Oran Mor

Nobody Number One

2007-10-02T00:24:00.000+01:00

Kinda how I feel about things...

I’m afraid I’ve lost the piece of me
I need the most you see
This puzzle is really just about the need
To be somebody
I’m afraid I’m not all that you see
All along the coast of me
I’m camouflaged, a desert mirage
A nobody

But you came so close and I assumed
You were looking
For the piece of yourself that’s lost
It is the hiding place inside everybody
And though we love to numb the pain
We come to learn that it’s in vain
Pain is our mother
She makes us recognize each other

C’mon now child don’t cry
C’mon now child don’t cry
Let’s give it one more try
C’mon now child don’t cry

Sometimes I feel so all alone
Here in this city I call my home
They say, Hey, you’re one of us
Funny, I should feel so anonymous
But I’m drawn to you
And that still small voice is talking too
And that’s the voice that so seldom can get through

You can’t put no bandaid on this cancer
Like a twenty-dollar bill
For a topless dancer
You need questions
Forget about the answers
Do you really wanna die this way

That’s the trouble with you and me
We always hit the bottom ‘fore we get set free
I’m so far down
I’m beginning to breathe

C’mon now child don’t cry
C’mon now child don’t cry
Let’s give it one more try
C’mon now child don’t cry
Cuz we’re just too young to die

Nobody Number one
Over The Rhine
form the album Ohio

Technorati Tags - over the rhine, nobody number one, kinda how i feel

greenbelt 07 two - If Jesus Drove A Motorhome

2007-09-24T00:09:00.000+01:00

At Greenbelt this year we hired a motorhome to drive down, and live in. also to drive bak. we didn't know which one we had booked. Frankly when we got it it was massive. nice but massive. (auto trail cheyenne 840s with the double rear wheel chassis). I felt kinda bad about how big it was. Fortunately Jim White as part of a great album, wrote a song about what would happen if Jesus drove a motorhome.

"If Jesus Drove A Motorhome" By Jim White
from the album "Drill A Hole In That Substrate And Tell Me What You See"

If Jesus drove a motor home,
I wonder would he
drive pedal to the metal,
or real slow? Checking out the stereo.
Cassette playing Bob Dylan,
motivation tapes.
Tricked up Winnebago,
with the tie-dye drapes.

If Jesus drove a motor home…
If Jesus drove a motor home…

If Jesus drove a motor home,
and he come to your town,
would you try to talk to him?
Would you follow him around?
Honking horns at the drive thru.
Double-parking at the mall.
Midnight at the Waffle House — Jesus eating eggs with ya’ll.

If Jesus drove a motor home…
If Jesus drove a motor home…

Buddha on a motorcycle, Mohammed in a train.
Here come Jesus in the passing lane…
but everybody smile, ‘cause everybody’s grooving.
Ain’t nothing like the feeling of moving with a bona fide motorized savior.

Now if we all drove motor homes,
well maybe in the end,
with no country to die for,
we could just be friends.
One world as our highway.
Ain’t no yours or my way.
We’d be cool wherever we roam — if Jesus drove a motor home.

Click to See the video on Youtube

Technorati Tags - greenbelt 07, Jim White, If Jesus drove a motorhome

Greenbelt 07 three - The cool list

2007-09-23T23:01:00.000+01:00

Cool things included

Over The Rhine what an awesome performance and band. The band were very good, the music was great and carried beautifully over the evening air. They also had the first main stage encore I had seen at Greenbelt for several years.

Watching main stage acts from where we had parked the motorhome. V-cool to watch from bed! (billy bragg isn't much to look at. I was out saturday evening, ColdCut has nice lights as did delirious.)

The anti-capitalist circus. frankly quite, quite entertaining.

The new stage two. nice feel to the place. congrats.

The hanging piece of art in the literature venue. Very cool indeed. (picture above.)

indoor toilets that are clean and work.

Mark Yaconnelli

relaxing. nice

Ric Hordinski. great gig slightly marred by being slightly too loud so having to turn down. Eh? whats all that about.

Shaun the sheep on the big screen every day. ("he's shaun the sheep, he's shaun the sheep, even mucks about wit those who cannot bleat")

Duke Special on the mainstage. awesome show, great music, nice.

Just very cool time with my wife and Jacob.

technorati tags - greenbelt 07, cool list

scottish executive/government

2007-09-11T22:41:00.000+01:00

Spot the difference compo...

Before...

After...

The Scottish Executive have decided to change it's name to the Scottish Government.
Apparently most people don't understand the term executive.

In order to make this happen, The executive/government are spending £100000, changing the name of the executive/government.

This is strange,

Possibly, it would have been better to have worked on extending the nations understanding of the work executive instead of deciding to change name instead.

Perhaps this is particularly politically motivated and justification is used t support and overtly political goal.

Nice to see how the tax money it spent. (The bbc report above maintains the cost is nothing compared to the £50 million savings the SNP has identified to be made.)

In future though government, if your listening, could you get a better font for your website header. honestly, it's shocking. Also what is that flag all about. it's wrong somehow, but i can't work out how?

technorati tags - scottish executive, scottish government, vocabulary.

sad news

2007-09-05T22:47:00.000+01:00

On Sunday evening, my granny, Jacob's great granny passed away.

Ellen Wallace Paget had been ill for the passed months and the family had been informed it was only a matter of time. She had rallied several times in the hospital and subsequently in the home. One day she would be lucid and the next nothing. On sunday we got a phone call to go and see her. around 5 pm she quietly stopped breathing.

The funeral is on Friday and I am delivering the Eulogy.

You need to know the past. Jacob will probably not have any memories of his great granny. Strange as she has been a reasonably large figure on myself and his wider family.

Loss can be numbing. I won't see the open casket, or even the coffin until the service. I don't want to. Grief is greedy and self centred. I am OK (I think).

Thanks to work for some time off to reflect and prepare in the middle of a busy hectic time.

technorati tags - great granny death, bereavement, ellen wallace paget

greenbelt 07 one - general stuff

2007-09-04T22:46:00.000+01:00

greenbelt was awesome.

we had a great time hanging out
kicking back as a family.
sleeping on a bed. (Well we are getting on a bit.)

The down points were the queueing. (2 and a half hours for the circus. WHAT The ...)

This years festival was the year of the badges and i have a small collection which i have brought home with me. nice

it was good to meet up and have a chat with Ken from ICC. helped to chat some stuff out.

All in all a good relaxing festival and time for the family.

You should really try it.

technorati Tags - greenbelt 07

The Party drink of choice.

2007-09-04T21:45:00.000+01:00

upon visiting a party it is tradition to take something, be it something to eat, drink or a present for the person hosting the do.

I was on the bus and as such took something to drink. some cask strength (55.7% ABV) 10 year old Laphroaig for Sarah who was hosting.

for the table though was a new whisky i had never tasted. Curiositas. I was told it was a speyside malt, 10 year old, The helpful man in the wee whisky specialist shop gave me a brief taste.

on ifrst impressions, it tastes very similar to a Islay malt, peaty type taste. Quite a full drink. It reminded me of Talisker only without the bitter after taste i got from the talisker.

as the night went on it tasted fine. I would event be tempted to buy this again. although Islay still remains my love.

anyway 7 out of 10. good sharing whisky.

apparently if you write for whisky magazine it tastes like this.

Technorati Tag - curiositas, ben riach whisky, the party

Dissertation woes concluded.

2007-09-04T21:31:00.000+01:00

looks like it might be alright

technorati tags - dissertation woes concluded

the Party

2007-09-02T01:47:00.000+01:00

Had a great night recently with several vagabonds, waifs, strays and beautiful human people.

thanks go to Sarah for hosting us.
Carolann, Jacqueline, Peter, Andie, Heather, Lauren, and Susan for a lovely night.

it was really good to sit around and discuss issues of
faith,
belief,
spirituality,
understanding,
and the stuff which makes life worth living.

It was a wide ranging and good open discussion.

I had felt slightly like that my belief structure was an mystery/blocakage to various people on the coure, peraps it was the whisky, but this discussion, perhaps showed how aware, or undersatnding of spiritual issues we all are and can be.

good fun.
plans are afoot to do this with more regularity. if your interested. leave a comment

technorati tags - sarah's party, stuff of life

brand name conscious

2007-08-12T21:53:00.000+01:00

today it struck my i was wearing brand names head to toe.
- dark blue Duffs trainers (£20)
- dark blue Fenchurch Jeans (£20)
- light blue Airwalk T-Shirt (present)
- dark brown Superdry Jacket (£30)

Although I haven't paid full price for any of my stuff, Nike trainers, Carhartt jacket, Airwalk trousers, my Camel shoes or shirt, my YSL shirts, Airwalk shoes, Howies jacket or my fabulous new Quicksilver trousers, I do kinda feel annoyed by owning them.

By buying the brand names even at sales prices i am supporting and building their brands and companies. But I doubt I am conscious of what i think of the companies and their policies.

Of all the stuff listed above only the Howies Jacket is something i would say I agree with the stuff which the brand tells me it believes in. Finding out what other brands believe in and stand for is tricky at best and non existent at worst.

perhaps I don't really care.

I choose the think even at a conscious level I do care. I should spend my money to back up my beliefs. Perhaps I should only buy american Apparel (no slave labour) or Howies (organic materials) then perhaps my conscience would be clear. perhspa it will never be clear unless I grow my own cotton, spin it and make my own clothes.

perhaps.

technorati tag - fashion conscious, brand names, clothing myself

2007-08-12T21:51:00.000+01:00

I have bought a new pair of trousers and jeans.

nice

technorati tag - clothing myself

2007-08-12T21:31:00.001+01:00

I am Awaiting for adobe CS3 master Edition to arrive.

should be here tomorrow.
or the day afterwords hopefully

technorati tag - adobe CS3, small news

Dissertation Woes Continued - Extension

2007-08-10T22:15:00.000+01:00

should have been in on the 3rd of August, all 8000 words.
Great granny paget is ill though so I had done about 4500 words.by the thursday when a week long extension was granted.

It was a struggle, but I managed to double the bibliography. completely rewrite the literature review, completely rewrite the methodolyg section, completely rewrite the findings section, completely rewrite the introduction and completely rewrite the conclusion. (Plue a brand new abstract and one new appendix)
Infact the only old thing was the Acknowledgments. I still like those people.

anyway i managed to edit it down to under 8800 words which was the target.
I submitted it on thursday morning before 10.30 am, a whole day early!!!

I think it's much better
I await to find out what the results will be? I should know in a month or so.

Today I deleted the short cut to the PGCE folder from my quick access sidebar.

here's to the absence of pressure.

technorati tags - dissertation woes continued

dilbert management

2007-08-10T22:10:00.000+01:00

ha

I am currently reading the Harvard Buisness review.
I kid you not.

Technorati Tag - dilbert, current reading, management

The Decemberists Live on NPR

2007-08-10T21:57:00.000+01:00

NPR had a cool website with lots of concerts for live streaming.
I use Waveedit for the online equivalent of recording from the radio onto cassette tapes.

The Decemberists concert to promote The Crane Wife album in washington, december 06.

done.

Technorati Tag - small news

carberry

2007-08-10T21:44:00.000+01:00

Carberry festival 2007, Free to Live. secondary3-6 youthwork.

Done.

technorati tag - small news

small news

2007-08-10T21:35:00.000+01:00

i have decided in order to blog properly i need to blog more often and more personally. yip more things about me. But i realise there is a small issue of the interest of others.

as such i have decided to institute a new category of small news blogs.
small
light
personal
news (worthy?)

but allowing more freedom in blogging

you can tell the small news by the small news picture as shown below there....

technorati tag - small news

new boss

2007-08-10T21:21:00.000+01:00

as of sunday the 5th august i have a new boss.
his name is Ian and he seems nice.
Technorati Tag - small news

Stat Counter

2007-07-17T22:16:00.000+01:00

Recently Andie asked in a comment about how do you find out the stats for your blog. well, this is how.

Stat Counter is what I use to keep track of who and how many people are looking at the blogs I operate.

to get an account go to - http://www.statcounter.com/

you register, and you go on decide what you want and t takes you through the whole process (Andie)

Tip one, before you do anything, go to your blogger account log in and click on layout.
Check you can add and arrange page elements, as your counter will go in a widget. This makes the process easier. If you cannot do it then upgrade your template to a new xml one and then you can do it.

stat counter is very handy and it really does know the people searching you blog. for my blog i was searched four times today for Akwugo Emejulu, one of my lecturers from Strathclyde University and a fine woman as well.

Stat counter guide you through the process. Also showing how to put it into a blogger widget.

I use the hidden, W3c compliant stat counter. and it is hidden in a widget on the right of your screen.

Anyway statcounter your world.