Television thinking

A good weekend to all and sundry that are partaking of this epistle.

Here I am at a quarter past three on a Sunday morning, a few hours away from the end of another of those that are known as night shifts.

It has been a particularly long drawn out affair if truth be told, with virtually nothing to speak of happening, which is good because I really couldn't discuss if anything were to occur anyway.  That's something that I am sure a lot of people have the same problem with.  Even if you could discuss work though, it may in fact get you into trouble because your bosses might happen upon your Facebook or Twitter account (or any number of other social network sites, all of which have another social network on as a member too, so they are sort of interlinked nowadays anyway.  It's a little like the television industry over here in the UK in a sense, because they used to not have anything to do with each other.

Frequently in interviews back then you would find some celebrity on a chat show and the host would have to say, "oh, you can't mentioned the other side".  It was ridiculous and petty I felt even back then.  Now it isn't even a problem because the BBC make money from their programmes being repeated on television stations that advertise and, if truth be told, they must earn a quite sizeable amount of money from the programmes being repeated.  Next we'll find them having repeats of 1960's episodes of Blue Peter or something because it is obvious that they don't make anywhere near enough money from the license fee that we have to pay by law so that they can provide programming and the like.

I was one of those people that was really looking forward to the digital switch over - more channels to choose from, so hopefully something to watch when I want to forget the day and just settle down to some escapism.  Do you now what though?  I switch the television on and realise that I have been duped yet again.

Now I know that I am going to give away my age here, but I remember Channel Four coming into being, and that was expected to be so big.  There were a few things at first that grabbed the attention, not least of which was the amazing television programme The Tube, which to me as a music lover was absolute gold dust.  There were some absolutely unforgettable moments on there that I still remember, even if those memories are hazy.  I think that is the programme where I first caught sight of INXS, and also saw other acts on there such as The Style Council, Big Country (always an incredible live band anyway, since I have seen them live), Magnum, Motorhead, and so many more (you realise I am making up this blog as I go along and haven't got anything written down, otherwise it would be much more organised and make more sense).

I could have sworn that I actually caught Ozzy Osbourne on The Tube, and I always thought that the band Living Color played on the show, but I could be mistaken.  You know how the haze of time can make you wonder about some really silly things?

Anyway, Channel Four came about and eventually so did Channel 5 (after a lot of messing about because their signal was on the same wavelength as my video recorder, so had to change the tuning of that - daft sods who decided to place it there, no problem with that now).  Now that was one of those strange things.  I even remember waiting for that channel to start and occasionally putting the channel on before it's official start date to see what they were going to be advertising on there as tasters of programmes.  That indeed turned into not much at all.  To open the channel up they had the Spice Girls doing a special recording of a song for the station.  For a long while after that it was made up of a few programmes that were shown during about a four hour period, and then just repeated over and over.  It took a while for them to find their feet, and that came about (in my opinion) really when they started getting the crime drama's from the US, and the television movies that were also from America.  This was something new and, if truth be told, the foreign made programming had been made on far better budgets that British television.  Gone were the days of us providing television that was absolutely classic such as the Gerry Anderson series, and the old ITC programming such as The Saint, The Persuaders, and the likes.  The television now that took over was most definitely American, and over the years the CSI's, Law & Order's, NCIS would all become staples of Channel 5's empire as it is now.

We had frequently dipped our interest into other programming from other countries, such as the Star Trek's, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and all those other shows, but now we were starting to be flooded with all of this programming which really isn't such a bad thing is it?  In some ways it gives us a glimpse of another culture - I know that's sort of stretching things, but also not.  Anyone who has seen Law & Order UK will see first hand what I mean (I have probably caught one episode in it's entirety and snippets from others) - there they have for the most part based the episodes on the American episode, and they even credit it as such, and these just show the difference between the two justice systems, and the cultural differences too.

Let's face it, all television is in truth is pure escapism.  We turn on the television to get ourselves away from everyday lives, which is why I freely admit to being a science fiction nerd, and I also have a habit of getting lost in whatever I am watching as well.  I don't wear the uniforms and all of that stuff, although sometimes I've been tempted to suggest the mini-skirts from Star Trek for Louise, but she hates most Sci-Fi, so that would never be a suggestion that I could ever suggest anyway.  Well, a man can have these thoughts can't he?

A pair of night time socks

Thanks to a present the other year though, I do have actual Star Trek socks that are my "night time socks", but am "always looking" around when I wear the red socks, for obvious reasons.

Anyway, eventually after the initial wow of changes to television services, you get to a point where you'll switch the telly on and inevitably say, "I can't find anything interesting on to watch."  Well, that's the way it goes.

Oh, and don't even get me started on satellite and cable television because I believe that they should include your television license as part of the deal because they cost an absolute fortune.

Oh, and quickly back to digital television.  We have switched over where I live and the signal is no better than it was before to be perfectly honest, yet we were told that when the terrestrial signal was switched off that they would boost the digital signal.  Yeah, like that has really made a difference to occasional pixelation and all that.

Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope that what I have written has some semblance of order.  Please take care.

April 1st 2012 (41 years, 4 months, and 6 days old)

PS - I have not placed an April fool's joke on here because I couldn't be bothered.  The joke is that my shift finishes in time for me to get home for seven in the morning, and noise will start to ensue very much around that time, which is enough of a joke to me thank you very much.

Links -
INXS on The Tube (not so bothered about the interview, but the performance is amazing)
Big Country - Fields of Fire live on The Tube
The Style Council - Shout To The Top live on The Tube
Ozzy Osbourne - Shot In The Dark live on The Tube
Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, & The Furious Five live on The Tube

It's All About The Music

Hello everybody, it has been a long time since I last chatted with you, and that is because I was taking a bit of a breather from it all.

While I have been on this rest period so to speak, I have been thinking about my own music and working on it. As mentioned before I have already organised getting the Special Edition version of A New World Order up onto the internet, but am still waiting for it to show up anywhere.  I know that it will, but I am just itching to see what people think of those songs from all that time ago (ten years ago now), and of the ten bonus tracks that I have put on there which weren't featured initially.

Unfortunately the follow up to that set, Colours, is no longer available, but I am seriously getting more material out soon I promise.  I am looking at a single release at the moment, and am just looking at the possibilities that way.  I am receiving assistance in this from my unbiased friend Rob Huskinson, who has had the fortunate/unfortunate role of listening to the songs I have sent his way to listen to.  Already his suggestions have been invaluable, and I look forward to more help from him.  As soon as a decision is made, I will let you know.  It will most probably not be the only single song release this year, and the first song is a taster for the set I have been working on for so bloody long now - my friend Paul B Edwards always said that I take ages to come out with stuff, and he isn't wrong.  Not that I purposely make it that way but, as the great Chris Dowd (ex-Fishbone) said to me, it is an expensive business to record.

You can do it in your bedroom now I suppose, but there is something about using a proper studio that is set up for that very purpose which is unreachable in any other way.

In the recording studio I have so many great memories and can't think of any bad moments off hand.  I will admit that these things don't always work out on a first take basis, but that is why it is so exciting to record.  You can be there with your instrument putting something down and the realise that it just isn't right.  There are moments when you can be there and suddenly have inspiration and put down something.  You don't always have the musical "hook" every time you go into the studio, and those are the times when that comes whilst you're in the studio recording the song.

I have decided to not issue songs before because of the fact that there just isn't that something there.  This issuing of A New World Order isn't everything that was recording during that time in the studio.  Most musicians/songwriters or what have you record multiple songs and then whittle them down, that is where a lot of their released material is based from.  They go through what they have recorded, and then basically compile a "best of" so to speak.  You can't always write your best.

For the first time since the two different versions of the song The Little Man from Colours, I am looking at different mixes of songs, which should hopefully make things more interesting.  The fact that I have the individual instrument and vocal tracks for most of the songs means that I can play around with them at my own leisure.

I'll admit that I have been thinking about making Colours available again on the internet (iTunes. Amazon, etc), but at present my thoughts are with the set I am working on finishing now, and the one that I have started  on already as a follow up to that.  When I do look at making Colours available again, that too will be a Special Edition of sorts because there are all sorts of extra bits and pieces around that as well such as demo's that I recorded, an alternative mix of another one of the songs, and a few songs that were recorded then, but not included for some reason or another.  That is a project in the future though.

As I said, my mind at the moment is on getting other music sorted, as well as the imminent return to my music blog, which will be soon.

I'm sorry, I didn't know I was going to discuss this until I started typing, and I apologise if it's not what you were expecting.  Needless to say that to some people it is information that will be of interest, because I know that some people (friends) have been wondering how I am getting on musically.  This then answers that to a point.

Thank you for reading, please take care.

March 27 2012 (41 years, 4 months, and 1 day old)

A Mammoth Saturday Blog

So here we are then on another Saturday morning.  I can't believe that it has been so long since I last blogged, but then I am taking it easier blog wise at the moment.  Not only are some people possibly getting irritated at the amount of posts they were getting on Twitter and Facebook (and that Google Plus thing now as well), but I suppose that the easing of for a little while was something that I need to do.

Anyway, what to chat about then?

Firstly my younger brother has now made it to Japan, although I will be happier when he has a place of his own rather than staying in hotel rooms.  The question is this though - will he lose the place where he lives while he is back over here in the UK during his long break next year?  Probably not, because everyone deserves a good holiday.

I found out recently that I had enough points on my mobile phone rewards scheme that I could get a Blackberry Curve for under £27 including postage and packing.  What did I do then?  I got one.  It was a difficult decision between that and the Galaxy Y, but the Blackberry won out in the end.  For those asking why I didn't go for the iPhone, my answers are thus;

1.  My network doesn't have the iPhone apparently (and I won't change network because they have never let me down for signal yet).

2. I can't really afford one on my wage because, as with everything Apple related, it is expensive.

And finally -

3. I have an iPod that has a significant memory that I am sure they will never issue an iPhone with the same amount of memory.  If they did, then I would happily get that and actually then replace both my phone and iPod at the same time, which would free up an inside pocket.

Work has had me working basically night shifts consistently now for a good while, but luckily they have been keeping me local, and the finishing times are better so I can still sleep relatively well - much better than when I was finishing at nine in the morning I can tell you.  That is the moan about work out of the way.

Anyway, back to the Blackberry.  I had teething problems with it to start with, but have started to get used to it.  The only thing is that there isn't much room for app's on the thing and that is after I have bought a memory card for it as well because it won't save app's and games onto the memory card (calling them app's already hey).  That is an irritating thing I will admit about the app's and games, but I will carry on and get used to it, even with the foibles.  Nobody's perfect after all.

I've not tried writing my blog with it yet, but am very tempted to.  It should do a better job than my previous phone did, which I still own and think is a great little phone.  I'm sure that someone will spot me sometime blogging on it in the future rather than carrying the laptop around.

I have already made it so that I can get onto Facebook (thank you Dawn), Twitter, and one of my e-mail accounts (must sort the other out).  The only thing there is that every time I get an e-mail, my phone beeps at me, and I don't know until I look if it's an e-mail or a text message.  Again a minor gripe.

Someone suggested that I just send the phone back and ask for them to replace it with the Galaxy.  I don't really know.  I know there is a monthly charge for the Blackberry on top of the pay as you go business, but I think I have become addicted to it already.  It's really bad in some ways.

When I go to the toilet or to make a drink at work now I will quickly go to the phone and switch on my Google Talk account when I have been chatting to people, whereas before I used to just type "brb", which for those who don't know is the way that lazy people say "be right back".  Yes, I have become one of those too in some things.  I draw the line at these people who say these things in public though damn it - that is so irritating!  "BRB BFF KK" - shut up!!!!!!!  Haven't you learnt how to speak at school, or are they trying to make it easier for people to come into this country because there will be no language for them to learn eventually?

Oops, got carried away there again.  Typical of me that.

So, George Clooney and his father Nick got arrested then outside a Sudanese embassy for protesting against attacks on civilians in the Sudan.  Others arrested included Virginia congressman Jim Moran and civil rights leader Ben Jealous (no puns on his name, even if it is tempting).  He didn't have to do it to promote a film or anything, or he would probably be protesting at the Syrian embassy to promote the DVD and Bluray version of Syriana instead?

I know one of those links is the Daily Telegraph webpage, but it was the first site that came up.

Anyway, to finish off I will do my own bit of promotion.  I have removed some songs that are on my album A New World Order from my Soundcloud site and am about to go to Myspace and remove them from there as well because I have just made it available on iTunes, Amazon, and a few other places in a lot of countries in the world as an album download.  As a bonus for an incredibly good value price that I don't know yet because it's not shown up on there yet, there are now 32 songs on there instead of the original 22 songs that were available originally on the CD.  That makes 10 bonus tracks people.  I know it's sort of an old set (ten years old now believe it or not), but I thought that it was something that could maybe interest some people, so I put it out there for people to check out.

I blogged about all of the songs a good few months back, and only now have saved the money to pay to get it up for sale as downloads.  I hope that people get something from it.  My own personal favourites are probably Slave Song and When I Was With You (although the latter would make a good cover version by someone so much better than me I feel).

Anyway, that is a long blog for me, and it's the weekend so everyone have a lovely weekend.  Even I have the weekend off, which is incredible to say the least!  Unfortunately there is housework to be done though, and it is Mother's Day on Sunday (or Mothering Sunday as some people call it - probably posh people).

Take care.  I'm off to watch that Nobody's Perfect link and check out my farm on Farmville, as well as get rid of those songs from Myspace (still probably the best Social Networking site for bands and music related stuff, even if the navigation is screwed up now, and I only show up to look every few months).

March 17 2012 (41 years, 3 months, and 20 days old)

So many thoughts

Good morning everyone.  I hope that this weekend finds you well, and that no matter what, you will some how or another find some fun during it.

Today I have things on my mind, but have no idea how I am going to write it all down.  I know, I am saying "write it all down," but truthfully it is typing.  Hey what can I say, I'm old fashioned.

I got something during Friday for my Nintendo DS that I swore I would never get involved with in any way.  I'm not a fan of this e-book business.  I love the feel and everything there is about an actual physical book, but today at Gamestation I found a copy of 100 Classic Books for sale at the price of 99 pence and couldn't resist it.  "What the hell," I thought, "it's only ninety eight pence and there is bound to be something on there that I would probably enjoy reading."  There is an awful lot on there I have to admit, but I am still not happy that I have purchased it.  It will make a change from all the brain training and golf that I play on there.  I never have the money (or skill) to be able to go and play the real game of golf.

The Nintendo DS is something that my younger (half) brother James introduced me to many moons ago, and I am very glad that he did.  I have tons of games for it, and it does give me a lot of fun, probably too much if truth  to be told.  I will be honest and admit that I am one of those people that can't just sit and do nothing.  I have tried, but I just can't do it.  Even my sleep is irritated by my thinking of things, and then I get headaches, and well I am probably going too far with this already.  Needless to say that I am very much a restless person that needs to be doing something all of the time.  I would guess that that has always been the case.

James is very much on my mind at the moment because he is moving to Japan over the next week to become a teacher, and I know that the whole family is immensely proud of him but, I am sure, that like me every member of the family will miss him so very much.  As well as being my younger brother (I never refer to him as my half brother because that half business doesn't exist in my mind), he is also one of my best friends in the world, and that is why I will miss him.  We will be in touch over the internet of course, but that is still not the same.

His father (my step father) died a few years ago it is now, and I thought that since he had no actual physical photographs of his dad, that it would be a good idea for me to buy him a photo album and get some photographs of his dad that I will fill the album with, and it can be something that he takes with him.  I know that if John (his dad) were around today, that he would be proud as well of James as we all are.

So, that is basically where my head is at the moment, all those thoughts around my head, plus thoughts of John (James' dad), because those photographs have brought back memories, a lot of them really good ones.

Thank you for reading.  Please take care.

10 March 2012 (41 years, 3 months, and 13 days old)

Sleepy Sunday

Happy Sunday everybody.  No matter what time zone you are in, I am sure that it will be Sunday for you at some point.

I know, the blogging that I am doing has become very infrequent, but let me assure you that it doesn't meant that I forgotten to do so, but just that I haven't gotten around to it.  There is also the fact that I like to have something to talk about, and therefore I have to have something happen for there to be one or more subjects in that discussion, although calling it a discussion isn't particularly appropriate, as it just seems to be me talking, and a discussion would require more than one person be involved.

Here I am then on one of those night shifts again, this one starting on the Saturday evening, and finishing on Sunday morning.  No Sunday morning newspaper, cup of tea, and breakfast in bed for me again then.  It's the simple things in life isn't it?

I guess what I miss with my job the most is the fact that it gets in the way of having a life with people.  I read something on a website that was talking about the fact that to get a decent sleep people should be in bed before ten at night, and I sort of found article offensive.  It presumed, like most, that all people were like them - work nine to five every day, maybe with the occasional bit of overtime, and every weekend off.  If only that were the case.  In honesty, for most of my working life I have almost always worked far more than that each day, such as now where I am working a 12 hour shift, and that is a night shift.  Again night shifts are something that I have gotten used to.

It is well known that a lot of shift workers have sleeping disorders, but that is because their system has trouble getting used to differing sleep patterns.  This article was only useless to those in that catchment group, whereas it was absolutely of no use whatsoever to everyone.

Now a lot of people reading this will think that I am maybe exaggerating the case, but let me put it this way.  For a period of three months I was getting home three times a week at ten o'clock in the morning after finishing work at 9 in the morning.  This meant that I would not get into bed until around half past ten in the morning.  The rest of the week when I was either getting in from work at 1 in the morning from a midnight finish the two shifts I did that pattern, or the two days I had off, it was nigh on impossible to get to sleep much before six or seven in the morning, and then that would entail me waking frequently.  That is because my system was used to getting to bed at 10.30 in the morning.  Trying to then force myself to get to bed even at midnight or later was still difficult, because by then my system was basically equal to everyone else's late afternoon.

Now looking at that, I can understand what I have put, but I'm not sure if everyone else would understand.  That is just the job that I am in, and it's my lot in life.  It's not a great job by any stretch of the imagination, but it just about pays the bills, which any other job I could go far wouldn't be able to afford.  The hours maketh the total income.

I basically think that if people really wanted to write something that would apply to everybody, then they ought to put more time into it, and look at how they study it from every angle, which would mean looking at people who work all of these different shifts, and then making suggestions for their way of life as well.

Now I'm not sure if that does make sense.  I'm sorry, I am tired.  I had more than two week's holiday and, after the first six days, my body clock was ready for sleeping at night again, and now here I am tired.

Thank you for reading, please have a lovely Sunday.  I will see the day at about 2 in the afternoon when I wake up after six hours sleep, and start to prepare myself for another long 12 hour night shift.

March 4 2012 (41 years, 3 months, and 7 days old)