Went shopping to one of my favourite shops today - the Oxfam records store. I absolutely adore that place, I firmly believe that the future of music is in digital downloads and vinyl. I can't justify spending £10 on a new CD that I may or may not like, thus downloads - and then for albums or singles I really like buying the vinyl so that I can listen to them properly.

Today's Purchases:

U2 - Rattle and Hum - £2.99
My favourite U2 album, felt like it was worth owning on vinyl. The sleeve is a bit battered but the record is fine.

U2 - The Joshua Tree - £2.99
I don't actually own a copy of this album, but it's highly spoken of and contains a couple of songs I love, so I figured it was worth a shot.

John Lennon - The John Lennon Collection - £0.50
That's right, 50p for Lennon's greatest hits. Totally worth it. The record's a bit crackly but perfectly listenable.


Coming soon:
New podcast episodes!

Well then, I'm back from Milton Keynes and back at Glasgow. Classes start back from tomorrow, Earth Science essay is due in a week on thursday so I'm going to be returning to psycho student mode pulling all nighters of typing and research - should be fun.

I cleaned my entire room today, untangling cables and clearing my desk to get my printer up and running, it's a monster of a thing - but it's got a flatbed scanner built in which is grand. Anyhoo, the next couple of weeks also herald the start of flat/jobhunt '08 - A grand scheme involving dropping CVs from helicopters, planting CVs on executives pillows and begging a shop to take me on. Sadly only one of these statements is true, hopefully I'll get a weekend job in some shop (hopefully not matalan again; been there, done that - literally got the t-shirt [and a very cosy fleece which is sadly missed]).

Jono is coming over tomorrow afternoon to podcast. With whiskey, so it should be fairly entertaining. We've also received a review copy of Game Night by jonnynexus, which I've just about finished and will hand on to Jono tomorrow. Look for a review of this in a couple of weeks. So far I'm loving it, the book is practically mirroring a game of WFRP I ran a few years ago. The characters are shades of people I once knew, it's a fantastic trip down memory lane for lapsed and active Gamesmasters and players alike. There's a free chapter on the website, I highly encourage you to check it out.

It's been a few days since my last post, sorry about that. I'm down in Milton Keynes with Liz so I haven't had the free time I usually have to faff around on the interwebs. Over the last few days we've played about 40 games of Arkham Horror with the Dunwich and King in Yellow expansions which has been great. We're still pretty bad at it, and it's still ridiculously hard so we lose often, but it's become more fun than ever before.

I finally managed to get the Garmin Etrex to play nice with OSX; the hardest part was finding the right drivers for the serial adaptor. Once I managed to track them down the Garmin software didn't work, but through a combination of GPSBabel+ and MacCaching I've managed to get the functionality I require - letting me load waypoints to and fro the device.

The other thing I've spent the week doing is reading the entire archives of yet another comic - Scary Go Round. It's awesome, and for once is set in the UK so I get all the references to products and pop culture that are exclusively British.



I've also been repeatedly attacked by a certain ginger cat by the name of Ginny, not so much of the fun. At least my alergies aren't bothering me too much.

I only just now spotted how fitting yesterdays song was.

Lots of deliveries arrived for me today. Including my GPS and assorted cables, as well as The King in Yellow expansion for Arkham horror. Tomorrow I'll post about some of my difficulties with getting the GPS to play nice with OS X. And sometime next week I'll fire on a post about how awesome the new expansion(s) [stay tuned for news on Dunwich Horror] are.

Until tomorrow, goodnight internets.

As promised, today I decided to go climb the Eildon hills. Unfortunately I didn't count on this (from BBC news)

Friday 21 March WEATHER WARNING Strong to gale force winds and heavy snow will affect northeast England overnight. Gusts of 70mph will make travelling hazardous. In addition, heavy snow will affect ground over 150m in both northern Scotland and the Borders. 15cms accumulations are possible. Valid until 0900GMT.

Yeah, I got caught in a near gale force hailstorm on top of the Eildons today. It was grand. Some Photos after the jump.

Photos are from my Flickr Page

I spent most of today catching up on the telly that I've missed lately. Namely the last 4 episodes of Stargate: Atlantis and the last 3 episodes of Torchwood.

Stargate was very enjoyable, the lead up to the Beckett reveal was well handled - even knowing in advance that it was going to happen it was great seeing the clues dropped through the episode. The finale was... explosive. I'm a sucker for time travel stories and McKay and Shepherd heavy episodes.

Torchwood is so much better than it was last year, it still has moments of shittiness but certain episodes work particularly well. "Something Borrowed" is probably the highlight of the season so far.

Tomorrow I'm going to climb the Eildons.

Just for kicks.

P.S: Hot Chip are awesome

I'm back home with the parents for a couple of days, and I have to say: it doesn't feel like going home anymore. I live in Glasgow now, that's my home. I... I miss murano, as unbelievable as that sounds. Although, even more than that: I miss Elizabeth.

...but you'll never know! *cackle*

Oh, maybe you will then.

'Today' was good fun, I was helping out at the University of Glasgow open day for the Earth Science department, giving tours of the building and answering questions from applicants about the course and university. This was good fun, and afterwards a bunch of us went out for a few drinks then came back to mine for a lot more drinks, gamecube and a movie marathon. Good times...

Chris came up for the applicants day and slept on my floor, which was nice. Good to catch up on the goings on back home, plus he restrung my guitar for me. Tomorrow I'm heading home for a week.

Broadband! yay!

Happy St. Patrick's day to anyone who cares, I really should do given the preponderance of Northern Irishmen living in my flat. That and one of  my middle names is Patrick.
 Despite my resolution to post daily very little happened today. I waved Liz goodbye as she got on the train at central and then came home to bum around the flat all day. Should've started work on my essay... didn't though. About all I accomplished was a slight tidying of my room and a lot of tea drinking. Tomorrow is the applicants day, guitar restringing and drinking sesh with Chris... Don't expect a post tomorrow.

I can see myself spending far too much money on comics. Generally I try and avoid this, buying only graphic novels and trade paperbacks of ongoing series. But then these two happened. And they're awesome. I'm buying AatF every month, and seriously considering picking up Season 8. Especially given the latest news...


In other comic reading news, Captain America continues to be fantastic.

I really need some more money :/

Late post (albeit back-dated) tonight, due to the fact that I slept all day and just finished a 4 hour arkham horror marathon with Liz. I love that game, and that girl.

The party last night was good, ended around 2am. Peter and Jono got on like a house on fire, as I knew they would. I had a nice time - big improvement on the previous two days. Also got a really nice present from Ruthie - a framed photo of Liz and I, as well as a photo of me and Ruth. Today is gonna be a day of tidying and sorting out washing, so I'll almost certainly have time for a quick post. That's it for now.

Yes, that's right. My resolution to post daily failed after the very first day. But to be fair I was pretty busy yesterday.

The Geological Society lecture was pretty good. More entertaining, but less interesting than the last one. I'm not sure which of the two I preferred. It seems to be official that i am in fact the only member of the society under 40, which is a bit weird.

Today is my big birthday shindig. Jono's coming over, Liz is baking cake and... well everyone else is still asleep to be perfectly honest. The rampant drinking begins in an hour or two. This possibly means no posts tomorrow morning due to hangovers.


In other news I've decided that I'm going to try and get out as much as possible over the Easter holidays. Visiting the fossil beds at Scremerston and Dob's Linn. As well as clambering up the Eildons. This is of course time, weather and transportation permitting. Expect photos and stories over the next week and a half or so.

It's been a while so I thought I'd fire a post up here, I'm sort of at loose ends right now. I was up all night finishing off my Environmental Science lab book and organising my notes for an essay about continental rifting and the formation of the North Atlantic. I now have just under 4 hours until my first lecture of the day, so clearly no sleep now.

Speaking of plans for today, I'm sort of celebrating. It's my birthday tomorrow so my parents are taking me out to a meal. And Shopping :)


Over the next month I've got a lot on; guest lectures, nights out, travelling etc. So I'm going to try and do daily posts for as long as I can manage.

That's about it for now, I'll possibly post again later tonight.

Tuesday 6 March 2007
Turisas + (Deathstars, Breed77 and The Zico Chain) - Hammersmith Palais, London

Turisas were awesome, wish I could get a copy of this on DVD - I only have the crappy MetalHammer magazine free one. Loved the track selection, One More was particularly well played live - and it was nice to be one of the first people in Britain to hear To Holmgard and Beyond.

Wednesday 25 July 2007
Steve Vai - Carling Academy, Glasgow

Loved every minute of this gig, he played pretty much all of my favourite songs, only thing really missing was his excellent Little Wing cover. Unfortunately Steve Vai's voice was beginning to go. The addition of two violinists to the line up worked fantastically.

Saturday 15 September 2007
Zane Lowe - Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow

Quite possibly the best gig ever, 500 people wasted and raving, and then Ruth KO'ed over the barrier at the front. Mr. Brightside was certainly a highlight.

Thursday 20 September 2007
Kill Hannah, I Was a Cub Scout and Saving Aimee - King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow

Saving Aimee were pretty awful, I Was a Cub Scout played what was probably their worst live performance ever (according to a friend I was with - I just thought they seemed shit anyway). Kill Hannah were brilliant, tonnes of energy and played all of my favourite songs.

Sunday 23 September 2007
Jack Savoretti, Lily Fraser - King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow

This was me and Liz's first official date, a fantastic gig. Went to see Jack Savoretti - he was truly fantastic. Also a surprise was how good the support act, Lily Fraser, was. She even signed a couple of CDs for us.

Wednesday 26 September 2007
New Young Pony Club, The Ting Tings and some other band who were crap and aren't listed here - Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow

Another gig I went to with Liz, New Young Pony Club are great live, Tahita Bulmer crowdsurfed right over our heads. A surprise of this gig was once again the quality of the support band. The Ting Tings are awesome.

Saturday 27 October 2007
Hell Is for Heroes, My Awesome Compilation, Meet Me In St. Louis - King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow

Went to this with Jono. We were introduced to Hell is for Heroes when the Captains of Industry record label released one of their free Liberation Music albums, we liked it, so we went to see them live. In my mind this is how the music industry should work. My awesome compilation were decent live, but since then I've bought their CD... which sucked. ...and I can't even remember Meet me in St. Louis - so they can't have been that good.

Thursday 8 November 2007
Bill Bailey - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow

Another fantastic date with Liz. Bailey was good, although not quite as good as his live DVDs.

Wednesday 28 November 2007
Queens of the Stone Age, The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Carling Academy, Glasgow

We missed the support, but they sounded shite anyway. QOTSA on the other hand... wow. Now they're a fantastic live band. Great set list as well.

Thursday 29 November 2007
Patrick Wolf, Lightspeed Champion - Oran Mor, Glasgow

Completely missed Lightspeed Champion, not to bothered - I'm not really a fan. Patrick Wolf is a great musician, but a complete Diva. I prefer his studio albums to him live.

Crossposted from Last.fm Journal here

In no particular order...


Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Fantastic album featuring some great tracks, the first three in particular. I'm glad Veronica Mars introduced me to this band. (Now if only I could find a good recording of Britt singing Veronica)

Battles - Mirrored

Possibly the strangest album I've ever heard. At first listen it doesn't even seem all that great, but then something clicks halfway through Atlas and then it becomes my default driving CD.

Avantasia - Lost in Space EPs

Finally, that's all I'm saying. This follow up was long overdue

The White Stripes - Icky Thump

Not as good as it could have been, but enjoyable Stripey goodness nevertheless

Jack Savoretti - Between The Minds

This is probably my number one, ever track is listenable, catchy and singalong-able. This singing and acoustic guitar work is great - and the guy's fantastic live.

Lily Fraser - Shadow Walking

Fantastic album, fantastic live. And she signed it! Woo.

Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight

What can I say? They haven't been this good since The Initial Friend.

Daft Punk - Alive 2007

This is the best Daft Punk CD ever made. Even the tracks from Human After All (which frankly I thought was a bit shit) sound really good remixed live by the duo. Face to Face with H, B, F, S as the beat is sheer genius.

Turisas - The Varangian Way

Again, about time. Excellent follow up to Battle Metal. Far better technically, even if I personally find it a little less fun.

Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight

First impression: I hated it. I got this album expecting Linkin Park - it isn't really. Once you get over your expectations this is actually an excellent album, it's just a completely different band.

Honorable Mentions:

Radiohead - In Rainbows

It takes skill to make me feel guilty for not paying for an album, a truly excellent composition from a band I previously hadn't spent that much time listening to.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

What can I say? what light? is an awesome track.

Sigur Rós - Hvarf/Heim

A beautiful couple of CDs, but the nature of Sigur Rós means that it's only a band I listen to when I'm in a specific kind of mood.

Bear McCreary - Battlestar Season 3 Soundtrack

Just for that cover of All Along The Watchtower

Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace

To be honest this probably deserves a place in the top 10, several fantastic tracks - particularly Let it Die

Sarah McLeod - Live & Acoustic

This is probably number 11, it was the highlight of my listening at the start of the year, but since then my tastes have moved away a bit from the acoustic singer songwriter thing. Still love this album though - acoustic is better than the normal album.

Disappointment of the Year:

KT Tunstall, I honestly expected better than Drastic Fantastic.

This is copied and pasted from my Last.Fm Journal here.

I'm currently writing CVs to apply for a new job, it speaks to how much I hate trying to sell myself that I'm taking a break to blog. As you may have noticed of late I've been rather lazy when it comes to blogging (and for that matter podcasting) lately. Speaking of the podcast, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to record in the coming months, since I'm moving it'll be a bit more complicated to arrange times when Jono and I can meet to record, I'll see how it goes. There's also a possibility of finding a new co-host at some point so I'll see how that goes.

So! I'm moving to Glasgow this Friday! I believe the technical term is W00t! City life, boozing, new job (I'm applying to the apple store, scotsys and every starbucks I can find). Hopefully gonna be neighbours with Frat and JP. Dunno how that'll go, I can see Frat ditching me moments after we arrive, and JP never stopping talking :).

(I kid, just in case you're reading)

Also, I have a new guitar. It's an Electro-Acoustic, the Ibanez TCM50. And it sounds crisp. I'm bringing both of them up to Glasgow with me, in a moving project which is rapidly turning into a logistical nightmare, since I'll need 2 cars and don't even know exactly where I'm living yet (it's complicated).

What else? I'm currently re-reading The System of the World by Neal Stephenson for like the thousandth time. I'm constantly staggered by how much research the guy has done for his books.

Oh, and Enoch Root is totally an alien

Well let's see, what's been happening?

Well, I have another new job. It's pretty dull, and all my workmates are female. Now normally, this wouldn't be a problem - quite possibly It might even be preferred. However, in this case it isn't. Why you ask? Because all they ever talk about is being pregnant, what it was like to be pregnant and who they know is pregnant. I'm the only guy in the office, it's awful.

Let's see... oooh! Last Wednesday I went to see Steve Vai live in Glasgow. It was quite possibly the best concert I've ever been to. Vai was amazing, the band were amazing, there were even violinists! The support act was awful of course, but that's to be expected, although it has to be said that in other company he might have seemed pretty good. It can't be easy going on before the guy that everyone's paid to see and the sounding like a pale (and high as a kite) imitation.

On the music front there's some other news, I've ordered tickets to see Kill Hannah in September, should be pretty good. For a band which verges on screamo I'm somewhat surprised that I like their music as much as I do. Perhaps it's a reflection on my recent mopiness... Nah.

Speaking of recent mopiness, and by extension laziness. We've finally got around to recording another podcast episode. I'll edit it together this week and put it up next Sunday. I'll try and fit in some editing time between now and then. Which could be tricky given that I have an action packed week of work (and pregnancy discussion), brewery tours and nights out in Edinburgh.

Which is a handy segue onto my next piece of news: the Edinburgh film festival. Jono and I will be going to see Day Watch and possibly some other stuff. We planned to see Stardust but unfortunately it was sold out when we tried to order the tickets. Can't win 'em all I guess.

I hesitate to make promises about what's coming soon on this blog (due to my incorrigible laziness of late) but you can look forward to an overview of my recent iTunes purchases and perhaps if I can be bothered some political commentary.

Which basically means me ranting about the sheer idiocy of humanity - when a serious news story is capable of putting me into hysterics you know something's wrong with the world.

So I log on as usual this morning.

And Every. Single. Preference. Setting. Library File. View Option. Saved Password. And fuck knows what else on my laptop has spontaneously reset itself.

I've lost all my feeds (and I can't remember what they all were), all my saved e-mails, all my iTunes library data, all my little shortcuts and workarounds. I'm gutted.

But here's a shout out to the FoxMarks extension, at least my bookmarks were backed up. And a shoutout to googlemail, knowing that in an emergency I can go back and recover those e-mails from the server.

Next step, blame. I'm going to go with either Western Digital, or Mozilla. And they'll be needing some divine intervention if I can track down the responsible code.

Work, work, work. Party, clean, tidy.

Collapse.

Podcast next weekend, sworn on my secrets.

Piccies after the cut so I don't spam everyone's pages