Some batteries I bought from Sainsbury's had an interesting message on the back...


I wouldn't normally microwave batteries, but now i'm confused.

My Mac is Self-Aware

A while ago my favourite bit torrent client 'Azureus' rebranded itself as 'Vuze', changing from a simple client to a full blown media 'experience'. Presumably the changes were made to try and make the author some money, which is fair enough. Unfortunately as a result of adding these 'features' the software became a bloated pile of crap. So I thought I'd leave some feedback. Fortunately, the captcha did the work for me.

That went quick...

2008 seems to have gone really quick and despite my best intentions i've managed to avoid blogging about a lot of the stuff I've done this year. The whole point of the blog was to try and persist some of the more transient memories so that in years to come I can reminisce about the mundane events of 2008. (I blame EJB3 for my odd usage of 'persist' and 'transient' in this sentence).

Unfortunately, if Will Smith was to zap me with his Men In Black style memory be gone ^TM sonic screwdriver, wiping my memories of the last year, reading this blog would only tell me; my iPod lasted longer than expected, video game covers are misleading, I like flowers, my tomatoes didn't work out very well, my best man's speech was acceptable and that I can't kill a rabbit.

50 year old Dave might read that stuff, but to be honest I think i'd remember a fair bit of it (damn the gaze of that dying bunny, it will haunt my soul forever ... sob). So, one of my many new year's resolutions is to blog more, even if I don't have anything that interesting to say, making this more of a diary then a blog.

So, in the spirit of the above ramble, here's some thoughts on 2008 that unless you're 50 year old Dave will probably want to skip...

Music - I've not bought as many CDs as I'd like this year, with my major obsession being Midlake & Sigur Ros despite that fact that the former haven't released anything this year and the latter released a good but slightly below par album this year (Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust). Notable mention should go to the eponymous Ladyhawke album, which I've really enjoyed, but sure I will stop listening to soon, never to listen to again. It's a fun album, but a bit throw away. I've discovered TV on the Radio as well (late to the party as usual), whos album 'Dear Science...' is great.

Haven't been to many gigs. Early in the year was Radiohead at Manchester LCC with Neil and Corrine, which was good but lacking in intimacy. Support was from Bats for Lashes (never did get into her much) and MGMT (who i thought was boring at the time, but actually now really like the first half of their album Oracular Spectacular). The only other 'proper' gig was Sigur Ros at Alexandra Palace just before christmas which was fantastic. There was alot of slow stuff, but the light show made the ambience electric, culminating a full water fall across the front of the stage, rear projection onto the water fall and glitter cannons. Apparently it's being released on DVD this year, woo!

Seen a bit of comedy, Boosch at NIA (funny, but bloody awful visibility) and Mitch Benn and Luff Town Hall (well worth the £13)

On a semi-related note, I start to learn keyboard/piano earlier this year on a slightly knackered casio I bought from Christine. Unfortunately the sticky keys meant that I had to turn touch-sensitivity off, which meant I couldn't put any expression into the music. In 2009 I'm planning to buy a full length keyboard with the proceeds from whoelsewriteslike.com.

Film - My favourite two films of the year have to be 'There Will be Blood' (actually late 2007) and 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'. It sounds stupid but they're both real films, beautifully shot, amazingly acted and sticking with me long after viewing.

Games - It was the year of making music on plastic instruments. Jen got me Guitar Hero III (wii) at christmas which I was hooked to for months. Then in summer I got rock band (xbox) which I must of spent hours drumming on, convincing myself that I'm a semi proficient drummer, which is bollocks because I can't drum unless I have a tv screen in front of me saying what to hit.

Interweb - It's all about podcasts, highlights being Collings and Herring, Adam & Joe, Mark Kermode, Phil & Phil's perfect 10, Stephen Fry (infrequent but brilliant) and Russell Brand (fun whilst it lasted).

Holidays - Went to Barcelona for the second time in two years with Becky & Matt, followed by a cosy few days in the parent's Caravan in Wales.

Phew, that's enough rambling for now, told you to skip it!