It's been bugging me for a week.....

Last week I watched a re-run of the Frank Skinner chat show, Graham Coxon was guest - ex of Blur, he spoke about his time with Blur & meeting up with the band members & it feeling a bit like meeting 3 ex wives!? Now, I quite like Blur & watched with interest this geeky (just look at the picture) looking bloke who is clearly a very fine songwriter & was interested to hear his solo single "Freakin' Out", two things became instantly apparent.....

1. Mr Coxon was the musical force behind Blur & as such I would probably like what I was about to hear.

2. I had heard the intro before somewhere.

Having searched through my fairly large CD collection, along with iTunes, I have now found what I think is the similar intro.... "Into The Valley" by The Skids, the links take you to iTunes. I can recommend "Freakin' Out" - have a go at comparing them, it's not a sample, just a bit similar & it reminded me of a record from my youth.

Anything Apple can do.....

Microsoft & Yahoo! do as well, I'm talking Widgets. Those little (mostly useless) apps that sit on your desktop.

I was first introduced to these when I upgraded my iMac to OS/X. Some of them are really clever & neat & interesting (clocks, stock market quotes, reminders, WiFi signal strength, CPU usage, weather reports & newsfeeds etc.), but others are just complete shite - a hexidecimal clock is merely one inane example!

Have a look here for Windows Widgets..... http://www.konfabulator.com/

Modem Update

A few weeks ago I bought the D-Link DSL-G604T Wireless ADSL Router, the problem is in the product description - ADSL.

My ISP is ntl: & they provide a Cable Modem Service not ADSL, so the cable is terminated not with a standard telco ADSL cable, but a screw thread connection. Doh!

I haven't returned the useless (to me) bit of kit, as I am considering a switch to BT ADSL. (I am waiting to see what ntl: are going to do in terms of pricing as they just announced their intention of getting their entire network capable of 10Mbps!)

I have since purchased a D-Link DI-624+ Wireless Router to replace my Belkin one which was a bit long in the tooth. The D-Link also allows me to use a high gain antenna & hopefully boost the signal, I can also now use 802.11g everywhere giving better connection speeds.

The end of the world is nigh.... in Croatia

From Yahoo! News...

Lone priest defends Manson ahead of Croatia gig

ZAGREB (Reuters) - Religious groups in Croatia are up in arms over the imminent arrival of shock-rocker Marilyn Manson for a concert.

But rallying to the banner of free speech and perhaps a little shock-value of his own, Manson has found one unlikely defender -- a Catholic priest.

"How could Manson turn young people into satanists and drug-addicts in the two hours of his act," daily newspaper Vjesnik quoted priest Anton Bobas as saying.

Bobas, who leads a heavy-metal band of his own called Glasnici Nade (Messengers of Hope), says most of Manson's critics have never heard his songs or seen him perform.

The lone priest finds himself fighting a rearguard action against Christian groups from the Istrian peninsula ahead of the concert on August 22 in the northern Adriatic town of Pula.

Protestant organisation Oaza wants the concert banned, while seven Catholic priests offered to pay damages to the organisers if the concert was cancelled, arguing the band's lyrics and image promote satanism, drug-use and violence.

Bobas said the best concert he ever attended was seeing Manson live in Hamburg, Germany, three years ago.

But even Bobas tempers his support.

Despite the music, Manson was a rather dark persona and he would not recommend anyone -- especially young people -- to attend the concert, he said.

Jammy Aussie's, piss poor England

After a few days of such expectation, a f**king draw!?

It's all very well celebrating getting Gilchrist out Mr Flintoff, but what about bowling out the last few Aussie's rather than complaining that you're turning your ankle on a bit of dodgy wicket?

A bowler of your calibre should be able to get shot of Shane Warne pretty quickly, was it Shane Warne or John Daly filling in for him whilst he was down at the local pub? Sorry, it wouldn't happen like that, Daly would be at the pub as well. Shit! there must be another Warne\Daly lookalike around????

I'm on holiday (again!)

Yes, it's time to take another couple of weeks away from work, they pay me to do it, so I must obey!

No plans, loads of chores to catch up on & I'm having a wall repaired, so am sure I'll end up being the labourer.

Everything is going OK, didn't win the £77m EuroMillions, but I'm over it now. I do have to ask myself, what would I do with all that money anyway!? Feck, I'll bloody spend it like that!!!! Aston Martin, Rolex, Taittinger et al would all benefit from my outlandish spending, oh and I would also build a hospital as well (honest!)