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Friday, January 2nd, 2009
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5:08 pm - 2009
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Hello all.
Hope you're all well, and enjoying 2009 so far.
Just a quick one. I still read, even if I don't post or comment much any more.
I have been keeping up with my writing blog, Wild Tyme. In the last few months, I've been posting content pretty much every day.
Yesterday, I posted an overview of 2008; probably the closest thing to an old school livejournal post I've written in a while. I've never been comfortable writing about the mundanities of my personal life, as I think it always reads quite boringly. Nevertheless, it's a good update about where I am at the moment, and what I'm up to.
Check it out here if you're interested!
current music: Paul McCartney - Promise to You Girl
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| Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
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7:24 pm
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I'm going to apologise for not posting on this livejournal any more.
I've started a blog at http://wildtyme.blogspot.com. I've not given up on livejournal - I still read my friends list and enjoy keeping up with people, I just don't have much in the way of personal stuff to relate at the moment. The blogspot gives me a little bit of a clean break, as well as a place to post up needlessly pretentious stuff like rough dissertation chapters, and rambly reviews of albums, films and other stuff.
I've been making a lot of short movies, and I've uploaded some of them to youtube - http://www.youtube/NevskyP
Please check these places out if you're interested in what I'm up to. I've also been writing for CC2K a lot more often; I submitted an article/review of the latest Nine Inch Nails' release (Ghosts I-IV), which got a link on the ninhotline, and is currently zooming up in hits; I've also been contributing and helping shape the Weekly Guide to Gaming, a new column. It's giving me some experience and I'm finding it quite rewarding having a structure.
In other news, I had my final seminar and lecture yesterday. I have a meeting with a tutor tomorrow, and that's it for my course in terms of contact hours. I put a lot of effort into experiencing new things and meeting new people over the last 6 months. Some things paid off, some didn't. I suppose I'm ready to move on. I'm still the same as I was when I started this lj, but I'm getting more self-aware as I go along. I'm coming back to Manchester on Saturday, for about a week and a half / two weeks, I'll try to see some people while I'm around.
I'll end this post here. I hope everyone is well, see you soon.
current music: Alice in Chains - Dirt
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| Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
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11:10 pm
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I'm generally at a low ebb.
But here's the finished Earthsea article. Earthsea redux! Longer, more bloated, extra bits that flesh out the characters and context.
I sent it to CC2K guys on Sunday and they've not got back to me. I think I fucked up, taking 2-3 weeks to write it, then sending in this nearly 3000 word behemoth. Oh well.
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| Thursday, August 9th, 2007
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7:52 pm
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Hello everyone.
Here's a review I wrote of the new Studio Ghibli movie (which I saw with Rosalind). I submitted it to a film/pop-culture community that I've been a part of and read for over a year now. I was very happy to get a positive and enthusiastic reply, but I need to 'geek it up a bit'. I see their point, I've written this review as if I were writing for Sight and Sound... but I have no touchstone for mainstream, non-pretentious movie criticism. Hm. This will require a lot of thinking on my part. (IT'S UNDER THE CUT)
Please comment if you feel like it.
In other news I'm playing on my DS AND IT IS GREAT. I'm home alone, but I've been busy with reading 100 years of solitude and watching lots of dvds. I'm going to my uncle's house very soon. I'd better duck out now to be honest. Ta-ta.
( Tales From Earthsea Review )
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| Monday, May 28th, 2007
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10:01 am - TROJANS
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Trojans. Great, eh? Norton says it's been deleted. But there's still something disrupting my normal startup (it just hangs after log in). Using myriad of spyware/antivirus scanners which are picking up bits and pieces of malware, but it's still persisting. Also every now and then there's a popup in internet explorer, but nothing going wrong in Firefox.
Checked the registry and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious in the task manager.
I'm confused, any help?
(at the moment I've used Norton, PC Tools, AVG and Spyware Begone)
*************
Also, yadda yadda university, 2 exams done, 1 left, finding it hard to get back up to speed with revision. Not much else happening at the moment.
I'm playing Wind Waker again and it's great. Looking forward to Mario Strikers Charged turning up in a couple of days.
Over and out.
current music: miles davis - nefertiti, a tribe called quest, velvet underground
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| Sunday, March 11th, 2007
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4:38 pm
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So this week I got free tickets in order to review Lily Allen in concert.
Here's the review, I'm a bit disappointed with it, as it took me so long to write. 200 word limit, I could have easily written 500. No one will read it anyway so it doesn't matter. And those that do will just underestimate and dismiss anyway. Oh and it's 5 words over. Oops.
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If you believe the NME-machine, Lily Allen appeals to everyone from the pink hoodie wearing teenybopper to the mature vinyl-stroking connoisseur. OK, fair enough, but the gig at Wolves last Wednesday was mostly attended by the former… with their parents. The support group, The Bird and the Bee, come and go, their inoffensive retro pop granted polite applause. The place erupts when Lily walks on stage, backed by a tight, slick backing band and an obscene wattage of lights. From the strong opener ‘LDN’, the concert sags as lesser album tracks and b-sides get a look in, but a triumphant final run of ‘Friday Night’, ‘Knock ‘em Out’ and ‘Smile’ ends the concert on a high. The switch from samples to live arrangement smoothes out the album’s rough edges, and Lily’s voice has improved noticeably. On the surface, it all points to a concert experience not unlike Kylie Minogue or Madonna. However, there is an uncompromising relish in the line ‘girl on the guestlist dressed like a cunt’, which suggests the subversion in Allen’s erstwhile pop, and covers of The Specials and Blondie recall a time when the mainstream could have integrity. Drop the cynicism, and there is a wealth of enjoyment in Lily’s world.
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In other news. Not much happened this week. Went to the Yardbird last night, new funk/jazz/soul club. There was breakdancing. And a good live band from Brighton. And good dj-ing.
current mood: far too erratic nowadays
current music: parliament/funkadelic
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| Monday, March 5th, 2007
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11:23 am
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Last night I went to see Nine Inch Nails! I wasn't really expecting to, but friends had friends with extra tickets so I went along. Very good show, probably better performance than last time, but not as good a setlist: nearly all of Broken, most of Downward Spiral, then 3 off Fragile and just 2 off With Teeth (Only and Hand That Feeds, which are so much better live). Survivalism is still a rubbish song, but it was good live. LADYTRON supporting, which was a nice surprise - although only saw their last 3 songs thanks to delayed trains.
No USB drive in the toilets, though.
I also went to see Field Music on Tuesday. It was ace. I'm not in a descriptive mood, can you tell.
In other news, the past. Well, I got a text off old mate Hutch the other day.
And here's a shameless plug - Nadia-and-Kate are still going strong (now called The Sleep and the Dream) and they have a youtube video. I can't be bothered making it pretty or doing markup so here's a raw url - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzsWJKn1sSg .
I like The Good Soldier. I'm learning Finnish, albeit slowly. I'm recording people speaking. I'm looking into Intertextuality in Modern Drama. I'm listening to early solo Peter Gabriel, Soft Machine, Au Pairs, Reds, the 8-bit Kraftwerk tribute album.... And Louis Sclavis' L'imparfait des Langues is easily my favourite music from this year so far. Hot Fuzz was good, Babel wasn't.
I've been having strange dreams, and apparently I've been sleepwalking/screaming about being covered in blood.
I now have a pointless meeting to go to.
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| Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
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6:42 pm
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Quick note:
Are people following the latest viral marketing campaign for the new Nine Inch Nails concept album? It's the same people who did stuff for Halo 2 and A.I., it's pretty intense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_%28album%29#Viral_marketing_websites
Pretty funky. A track leaked today, apparently found on a memory stick in a bathroom at the Lisbon concert: I must say, it's a pretty good song. Certainly sonically more intriguing than stuff off With Teeth. Apparently there's some spectography right at the end of the track which links in with the hand-of-god storyline. Must say it's bloody intriguing and I'm hooked. Although can't fight the niggling that well, Trent isn't the best lyricist so how can he make an album that does justice to the wealth of imagination used for the ARG.
It's marketing, it's advertising, it's all made up just to drum up hype for the new album, to reignite interest in an artist who hasn't recorded something really great in a while.
But it's fucking better than the Mitchell and Webb Apple ads.
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| Sunday, January 28th, 2007
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3:28 pm
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Hello all.
Thought I'd post up the review of the new Chimaira album I've just written for the university newspaper. Sadly I only had 130-140 words so I couldn't go into any detail at all! Anyway:
This new effort from Chimaira is more frustrating than promising. Over the 60-minute runtime, the Ohio sextet shows some ambition, but they obviously feel more at home in their tired metalcore comfort-zone. ‘Six’ has a lengthy, progressive structure and ‘Empire’ is indebted to such Black Metal bands as Dimmu Borgir; the use of keyboards on both, however sparse, does add depth to the somewhat canned production. These are undisputed standouts, but such moments of genre transcendence are brief. The vocals, likewise, show some attempt at variation: however, moments of Opeth-like clean harmony, or Black Metal rasping, quickly revert back to generic yelping or Phil Anselmo grunts. It’s easy to say the lyrics kill any claim to integrity – scores of typically maladjusted, alienated lines litter the album (‘No Reason to Live’, ‘Worthless’). Not likely to convert the masses. 4/10.
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Other news. Not much. This term is quite annoying so far because I have loads of work. Averaging a (sizeable) novel a week to read, as well as 2 independent study projects to do that I've not really started on yet. I'm also trying to get into writing for the paper, so I'm biting my tongue, smiling at the irritating scenester editors and writing reviews for horrible albums.
I've barely played on the Wii, really. Thursday past 11.30 is where I get most of it done, because the new virtual console games are up. Recently been hammering the Mario Kart 64. Wario Ware Wii is very good as well. But I'm probably one of the people who play it least in the house. Damn.
I'd talk more but I have to read some Wollstonecraft, re-read most of Mary Hays' The Victim of Prejudice, as well as appendices, then get on with some Renoir notes. La Regle De Jeu - very good film.
Oh, the new Field Music album is pretty good as well, although I've not given it much of a chance since I bought it on Friday. I've been listening to mostly Pulp, Tom Waits and Big Star otherwise. Or Petrushka.
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| Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
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10:47 am
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Hello everyone, I hope you've had a great Christmas and New Year.
To cut to the chase, I had my laptop stolen this morning at around 6.15am as we were packing my uni stuff into the car. My dad also had his stolen. Er, well, as a side point this puts me in a pickle with having lost pretty much all the work on the DAVE language essay the work for which, an astute satirist would say, has been endless. Ugh fucking cunts and so forth.
But the more relevant matter is that I've lost all my photos since around March-May 2005 (the last time I made a proper backup) and all the music, written work and so forth. So I'm hoping that all you lovely people out there who have received written pieces, pieces of music or photos from me, could you please send them along to either my gmail (michael.leader(hat)gmail.com)or my btinternet emails (michael.leader(hat)btinternet.com). Also if there's anything that you know you've sent me that is quite important or you think was quite important to me (i.e., again, photos etc etc) do likewise.
I'm sure Menezes would empathise when I reveal that my Arvo Part Tabula Rasa cd was in the disc drive.
[x-posted]
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| Tuesday, November 14th, 2006
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4:43 pm
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| Sunday, September 17th, 2006
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11:07 am
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Off to Birmingham.
Thanks for cool summer.
See you soon.
current music: yo la tengo/bat for lashes
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| Friday, September 15th, 2006
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10:40 am
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Tech help.
Basically I need a spyware remover to supplement adaware and spybot, because I've got some module at the moment that doesn't show up on spybot, but reboots the system when picked up by adaware.
Any recommendations?
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| Sunday, September 10th, 2006
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12:14 am
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I'm going back to Birmingham a week tomorrow. To be frank I'm looking forward to it. But I'd like to see people before I go.
Life's been pretty slow for the last fortnight or so. I've watched a lot of DVDs, and I've been ploughing through my reading, I'm currently clued up until the end of October. Paradise Lost is pretty genius in parts, quite enjoying it. And I started Joyce's Portrait... today for the third or fourth time and I'm chewng away.
Since I got back from Edinburgh:
Sabrina visited and constantly remarked about how clean Manchester was. I did the tourguide routine. We watched Shaun of the Dead and Pirates of the Caribbean and it was an all-round lovely affair. Indebted to her for visiting.
Then Polly visited, which was equally as nice. Especially so because we watched A Scanner Darkly which was fantastic. Cured me of my jaded summer cinema woes.
I had a lovely civilised drink in... Wetherspoons with Nick and Rosalind. And a strange singing man.
There was a crawl.
And I met up with Rory the other day for a drink, and then Dave and Maija turned up and there was electricity in the air.
I've just returned from a drink with Loder and various people including his girlfriend and Chris and Liz and two quiet Durham friends. Most of my time with them was spent walking to and from Victoria station. Great. I also spent an hour and a half sitting in the sun in Albert square reading.
I've recently rediscovered the Notwist's album Neon Golden. I remember ordering off some Amazon marketplace seller sometime ages ago, but it there was a stock error so I didn't get it in the end. And then I changed computer so lost the mp3s. Fantastic album. I've also taken to listening to the album, 'string' and 'piano' mixes of Paris 1919 by John Cale over and over. Brilliant song and I'm coming round to thinking the album is great as opposed to merely good. I've been underwhelmed by the new Sonic Youth (some good songs, some weak songs) and Bob Dylan albums, although I'm listening to Espers and lot.
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| Monday, September 4th, 2006
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10:38 am
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| Sunday, August 20th, 2006
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12:29 am
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You know, I think I'll make a livejournal post. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'll make a big, god-damn livejournal post. Gee, swell.
So I'm in Manchester and I'm loving the beautiful downpours (no sarcasm). I went to town today and bought my cousin's birthday present. ('Here Come the Drums' by Rogue Traders...)... And not much else has been happening over the last couple of days. I've had a cold, which has manifested in being quite randomly tired at moments throughout the day. It meant that I slept for about 16-17 hours a couple of days ago. I might have been tired after Edinburgh also, but I don't know. Who really cares. I'm feeling better now.
Edinburgh was, indeed, amazing. And going for a few days extra meant that I could see more plays (of course), but I managed to chill with the people there and also see/hear of things I wouldn't have otherwise. Saw some really fucking great productions: Beckett Double Bill - Rockaby and Krapp's Last Tape, C-90 (brilliant one man show about mixtapes but not about mixtapes - simply the best written play/narrative/monologue I've ever seen), and some amazing stand up by Natalie Haynes. Saw Steve Hughes again - but his more political set was half hilarious (when he was telling jokes) and half preachy (when he doled out the drunk/hobo/boho political philosophy) - I understand that it's important that standup comics are highlighting these things, but when it's as a sacrifice for the comic's humour, then....
Some great stuff for free - Cambridge-based sketch comedy that was so funny you'd see past the 'oh they're students, they must like black books and peep show and brass eye' cynicism factor because they forged something quite unique. Unlike some of the bad things I saw. JESUS CHRIST how did I let Nick convince me to see Candide. TERRIBLE TERRIBLE. Ok, I'm not one for musicals - but musicals done by high schools - done by *fucking twee american high schools who consider adding references to West Side Story (lol, leonard), Donald Trump (it took me ages to get the reference) and THE WAR ON FUCKING TERROR (lol let's absolve ourselves by trivialising dire international relations) to 'ADD THE GIGGLES'* to an overly ZANY-to-the-point-of-WTF production (the line 'she got RAPED' was greeted by the victim GIGGLING), a production whose ORCHESTRA was A FUCKING KORG - equals NOT MY CUP OF STRYCHNINE LACED T-......... wait. Nick bought me a Subway after - and in his words 'oopsie'. That was a damn good sandwich. What was I talking about? (Christ, that was quite vitriolic for me, even if it was exaggerated...)
There was also a production of The Government Inspector in a bawdy 'Commedia Del'arte' style. They cut out a lot of the play and replaced it with incomprehensible dance sequences, slow motion fight scenes, and lots of loud screaming!
Other plays of note - One man Star Wars, Haha Yum (two very cute southern Irish sisters - one did standup, the other baked cakes for the audience!), Lunch with the Hamiltons: which was something like a strange disgraceful midpoint between shooting stars and richard and judy - you haven't lived until Christine Hamilton gives you half a glass-full of straight 60% whiskey (they had a rep from the whiskey assocation as a guest).... or heard Neil Hamilton make horrendous references to blow jobs and 'oh, when I was convicted of rape'. Bizarre. And with free whiskey, pretty great. Saw some great Film Shorts - including a Grime/Streets pastiche called 'What Goes Up Must Come Down', and a really funny French animation short called 'Le Grand Sommeil'.
Rory was good in his strange 'tongue in cheek musical' Batboy. He did a rap. And the MGS production of Black Comedy managed to be pretty good - considering it had only one returning cast member (in a different role) from the GTJ-directed (really really good) version from a couple of years back.
Amazing trip then. Indebted to Maija and Nick for their company. Was really good. Especially alcoholising with them a couple of times. Then Nick letting me stay in his adequate business style lodgings. Nice to see and catch up with Matt. Ace.
Since then I've been watching films (La Jetee, Pather Panchali, The Pink Panther) and I've started Midnight's Children (moving out of my Salinger period). I've been listening to John Cale's cover of 'Heartbreak Hotel' and Warren Zevon's 'Werewolves of London' a heck of a lot. Also made a journal post on last.fm about my favourite albums of the year so far.
I'm getting bored of me now - I had more things to say, like about the great book and music shops in Edinburgh, and general emotional lonely nonsense. Or how I'm addicted to old photos (both personal and of notable people). I suppose I'll leave that stuff on the shelf.
And by the way there are photos from Edinburgh over on this lovely website - http://ubrm.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13957&l=e7e88&id=223400415
current music: espers, bob dylan (love and theft), ravi shankar (pather panchali), keith, nathan fake
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| Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
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3:04 pm
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Oh. Change of plans chaps. I'm now going to Edinburgh on Sunday for 7 nights. Means I'm coming back on the 13th.
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12:01 am
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I should make a post I suppose. (how many of my livejournal posts nowadays start with this sentiment).
I'm back from Spain. I have been for a couple of days. It wasn't as bad as I'd feared. However, it was a vastly different kind of holiday from what I'm used to or prefer, so it didn't feel like much of a holiday. It was in the Costa del Sol (Costa del Golf - lol, fucking, lol), so I'm pretty sure I heard more English accents than Spanish. It got to the point where it was no use even attempting a Spanish greeting because all of the people working in the shops and cafes were Irish or Scottish. One guy was from Manchester. We went out in the evenings - I had no problem with this because I hated how hot it was. I wasn't impressed by Puerta Benuse, probably because I don't find big yachts impressive.
I'll stop moaning - it was nice because we stayed in a friend of my father's summer house - which was a huge, fully furnished palace in its own private complex (no need to worry about the natives)... I sat in the living room all day, reading mostly. I read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I also managed to somehow get my cousin to really like Dragonforce.
I'm currently reading The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. I promise I won't read another alternate history fantasy/sci-fi novel next. I promise. Music-wise... TV on the Radio (up there). I managed to get hold of some of my favourite albums the other day - Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers, Slint's Spiderland and The Go-Between's 16 Lovers Lane.
Oh. The Mercury Prize. Have people seen the nominations? Underwhelming. Nothing I particularly want to win. Not as strong as last year. It's hard to see any other eventuality than the Arctic Monkeys winning. I've lost respect for them when I read in an interview that their definition of 'indie' is 'what came about after the strokes and the libertines'.
Or Muse. Or maybe the Guillemots will win. I think they're good, but they're having more praise than they're due heaped on them because they're playing in a straight ahead, pocket symphony style that hasn't been exploited in the last couple of years. Thom Yorke in recognition? I need to give the album some more time. Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan is definitely a good album, but its very American - very americana, country... and the dual-nationality of the record makes it a bit suspicious as a winner (how could they follow the tenuous nomination of Antony with an album half written by an American)....
I wouldn't begrudge Richard Hawley the award - he occupies the same space as Antony did last year, if not as leftfield: a solid album, with some amazing tracks.
I picked up the Zoe Rahman album, the obligatory jazz nomineee. It's a good album, very developed and sometimes interesting piano trio jazz. Although again it's stuck in a very 50s, early 60s free jazz retro-sounding style that's really disappointing. The fact that she covers a bollywood soundtrack song at the end is kind of negated by the fact that it's played in the same sound, removing any distinction - except for the tabla percussion.
I watched To Catch a Thief and Lolita today. Two good films by directors who have done better. But they're good anyway! Damn. I've run out of 'arrogant bastard pretension' steam. I'm finding it hard to write. I'm just not imaginitive enough.
I'm going to Edinburgh on Sunday for over a week. Is anyone going to be there?
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| Friday, July 21st, 2006
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11:41 pm
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http://ubrm.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11774&l=e26a1&id=223400415
there are some photos from finland here. (apparently it's meant to work even if you're not a facebook user? interesting. tell me if it doesn't work. not that anyone's bothered)
finland was fucking brilliant. the best holiday experience i've ever had. time for punctuation. I wish I was still there. Instead I'm going to Spain with my family for a week. This could either be nice, relaxing, fun - or dictatorial, oppressive, and enforced. My cousins will be there. I'll try to entertain myself by writing mock-Salinger prose (called something stupid like 'Finland - an introduction'), reading Malcolm X's Autobiography and listening to Sebadoh. Or Fujiya and Miyagi which is one of my favourite albums of the year so far - behind Scott Walker and tied/just ahead of Camera Obscura, Serena Maneesh (counting UK release date) and the Longcut.
I've recently read Pollen by Jeff Noon, and I've almost finished The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick (oh there was some Salinger in the middle). Superman Returns is by no means a perfect movie, but it's probably the best 12a blockbuster I've seen since Lord of the Rings. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was ok, way too long, trying too hard to be better than the first, and not worth a 10 euro ticket fee.
Today I went to town to maybe see Claire but she couldn't come out so I sat in Parsonage Gardens reading next to some guy with quite dirty shoes. There was a wedding party having their photos taken.
Finland was beautiful, I know I said that. I need to make a proper post about it. Maybe I'll write up the diary entry when I get round to it. It'll start in Copenhagen airport, with me having missed my flight to Turku, my wisdom tooth throbbing, being presented with 100 kroner and wondering what to do with 6 hours. I spent almost 12 hours in Copenhagen airport in total.
We went to Moominland and Helsinki and walked around her little town in the rain and it was all fantastic. The weather was warm and sunny (almost sunburned on Suomenlinna) but there was a fantastic cool breeze all time time. I met her family who were very friendly and nice and her friends were cool.
Spain tomorrow. Armed with old mixtapes and a couple of pens. See you all in a week.
current music: the earth died screaming
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| Friday, July 14th, 2006
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8:05 pm
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Hey all, I'm in Finland. And it's great! Although there's not much to do...
Going to visit MOOMINLAND and also planning a trip to Helsinki.
I've met a few of Emmi's family members, including 4 small children. My way of breaking the language barrier with kids is to have them stroke my beard. PAEDOPHILE ALERT. Oh fucking dear.
But yes, fun fun.
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cptngreyhound's journal