http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress John's all-purpose blog, with Debbie's name in the title too! Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:41:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My friend Chris once introduced me to the music of THRONES, saying "It's impossible to walk and listen to THRONES at the same time". I can well believe it, since many THRONES tracks have either a really strange time signature, or syncopation so extreme that it may as well be ... http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/08/20/my-cds-7-battles/ (Apologies for the break - I didn't know whether I'd find time for CD blogging while on holiday. I didn't.) I fondly remember hearing Ash's 'Kung Fu' playing on the radio in our university accommodation, and thinking it was the most exciting thing ever. I also fondly remember running around at ... http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/08/13/my-cds-6-ash/ This won't make it into the CD blogs, because I only own this on Vinyl (and MP3 copied from Vinyl). The other night I put on 808 State's 1990 album 90. I've owned it since it was new, and hence it's 18 years since I've really, properly, listened to it. It was ... http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/07/11/bonus-music-blog-808-state/ We're off again: Western Canada and Alaska this time. I'm very excited. The trip will be blogged here. http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/07/11/holibobs/ OK, I've been remiss and missed a week. I think I'll be missing more weeks in future. It always seemed to me that within 20 seconds of the start of the first track on The Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not, you know whether it's for ... http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/07/09/my-cds-4-the-arctic-monkeys/ (Well, Wednesday flew by without my noticing: the first slip up. I blame Grand Theft Auto IV.) The thing with CDs is, I buy them, I rip them to MP3, I look at the packaging a bit, then I put them on the shelf where they stay. A nice thing about ... http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/06/27/my-cds-4-arcade-fire/ Leamington has an awful lot of pizza places. What it really needs now is: Mexican (Chico's doesn't count because it's useless) Noodles (a Wagamama would do nicely) Sushi Hooray! Sushi is struck off the list, because Sushiya has opened on Holly Walk. Debbie and I were so eager that we strode in shortly after noon, ... http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/06/22/sushiya/ Google has an informal company motto, 'Don't be evil'. I wonder how that's going, when there's pressure from governments and shareholders. Privacy advocates are already doubting. But enough of Google. Has O'Reilly Media ever done anything evil? They always seem squeaky clean, virtuous even. Having published PDF and HTML versions of many ... http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/06/19/oreilly-ebooks/ Sooo, number three. My first exposure to The Apples in Stereo was on the rather wonderful compilation Heroes and Villains - in which acts like Bis, Devo and Frank Black sing their way through a Powerpuff Girls storyline. The Apples in Stereo explain how the mayor contacts the girls in Signal ... http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/06/18/my-cds-3-the-apples-in-stereo/ Last Wednesday, I told you that the credibility of the artist in this weekly alphabetical look at my CD collection would rise sharply this week, then plunge next week. Actually that was based on a mis-sorted CD shelf. Next week's plunge was to be Bryan Adams' Waking Up The Neighbours. ... http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2008/06/11/my-cds-2-paul-anka/