The C90 Challenge

Been playing the Desert Island C90 challenge from Scott's blog. This harks back to the teenage(ish) days of creating C90 compilations of appropriate songs for the Walkman. The Challenge - one C90 to take to your desert island. The "A List" selection was:

Side 1              45:00

The Verve - Bittersuite Symphony - 5:58      

Obeys rule 1 of my own 1980's C90s, namely that track1 / side 1 has to start slow with a growing tempo. Great, great song and a shit-cool video

Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness - 6:09

Would have been easy to go for A Design For Life by this lot, but this has always been my favourite, with some top lines trying to sound like they fit together to make a song. Original video unavailable for embedding, but this is from their Millennium Stadium bash on 31/12/99 - this was the last song of the "Old Millenium"

David Lee Roth - Just A Gigolo - 4:39

Always a top, top entertainer. You'd want something like this to bring a smile to your face on your desert island. Outrageous video...

The Darkness - Friday Night - 2:55

More "smile on your face" stuff. They should probably have stopped after this album, but what's not to like about the teenage-crush sentiments about doing stuff you hate just to be with the one you love...  

 

Rainy Day - I'll Keep It With Mine - 3:24

One of my favourite albums, a collection of luminaries from the likes of the Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade and The Bangles. Susanna Hoffs' voice never sounded better than on this Dylan cover.

Pet Shop Boys - Liberation - 3:24

Another less than obvious choice - Always on my Mind or Go West would get more play, and It's A Sin nearly made the cut, but I love the feel and lyrics of this one

The Waterboys - The Whole Of The Moon - 5:01

Never really been a huge Mike Scott fan, but this is epic. The music, the sentiment, the everything

Michael Schenker Group - Into The Arena - 4:14

Rule 2 of the Thomas C90's was "there must be an instrumental on each side". And this is the best.

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir - 8:34

Never a doubt as to which Zep song would make it. One of my great life-moments was driving through the Draa in Morocco with this blaring - perfect accompaniment. Also complies with Rule 3 - last track on side 1 must be an epic

                  

Side 2              44:59

Michael Schenker Group - Looking For Love - 4:06

Rule 4 - first track on side 2 must be a genuine hard rocker. Am breaching the "one track per artist" law, but a little-known subclause allows you to duplicate where the other track is an instrumental. Schenker was always my favourite guitarist and this is his purest rock (albeit without one of his trademark solos). No really decent videos kicking around, so audio only.

Rush - The Spirit Of Radio - 4:59

Long-time favourite band, and a disappointingly obvious choice. They've done much, much better, but in this context it had to be this one...

 

Fish - Internal Exile - 4:41

The Dalkeith woodcutter at his best. Could have gone for a Marillion effort, but I like the observation and anger in this. The official video had a "no embed" tag on YouTube, so here's the audio version only - search for the official one if you want a prime piece of mid-80's fashion gone horribly wrong.

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run - 4:30

Probably the best album of the 70's, and a perfectly crafted piece of music. Possibly the best driving song ever, too. Another one where the preferred video had a "no embed" tag, so here's a couple of minutes taken from almost exactly where I was standing at The Emirates in May.

The Coral - Dreaming of You - 2:21

Chirpy scousers are not particularly high on my like-list, but this 2.21 of superb pop almost perfectly filled a 2.22 hole in the playlist

The Music - Guide - 4:14

An utterly brilliant rock / dance band from Leeds who put on a superb set at Edinburgh this year. Just love this song - "I love this mess" - but I have no idea where the Manga video came from! It is, however, just about the only link around for this...

Runrig - Tuireadh Iain Ruaidh (Instrumental) - 2:42

Sadly, not a link to be found anywhere to this Instrumental from Heartland. Just a haunting and beautiful piece of music.

Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul - Out Of The Darkness - 3:54

Broooooce's partner in crime, and Silvio Dante from the Sopranos. Love this, although the video's horrific - more Whitesnake in blond-dye days than Little Steven

 

The Killers - All These Things That I've Done - 5:02

Time for the current fave band, and brilliant though this song is in any guise, it works best in a festival context

 
Headway - Finish What We Started - 4:41

Favourite new band of 2008, this comes from their 5-track EP - an item last seen when C90s were still on the shelves. Not many videos around, this being a short viral release by the record company

Radiohead - No Surprises - 3:49

The last of the Thomas rules is "last track is a quiet one". Just before they lost the plot, this is just about the perfect end to 90 minutes of music.

Had loads of fun putting this together - even though less that half of the songs on here are my favourite by the artist in question, they still seemed to be the right ones in the compromise of what to include and what to exclude. There's also 2 more 89 minute lists of options being saved for next year...

And so that was Christmas

A quiet family affair, with the now traditional pesto-stuffed mushrooms followed by the always traditional roast turkey avec tout les trimmings. 

This year Amy was working from 12-5 at the Golf Club and MA had been working on Xmas eve and was in bed, so Matthew and I went out for a 6 mile walk over the top of town. As always, when it's just the two of us, there's plenty of Top Gear-esque dicking around and taking the piss, which seems to vanish in female oversight. Listen: boys (and men) just love to arse around and think that Growin' Up is a decent Springsteen song, but not a lifestyle aspiration.

Boxing Day was going to be a "go and enjoy the leisure club at Cameron House day"; gym for me and Amy and lounging for Matthew and MA, but little sign of life by 1100, so I decide that I'm bored and a run is in order

Through the woods, along to Cross Keys, turn left into Glen Fruin and loop back round to Helensburgh and home. 8 miles and about 500ft elevation change made it officially "a challenge". But rewarding and on a still, cold day, almost enjoyable.

God, it really has been a while

I guess, like new year's resolutions and the dodgy cappuccinos in the new deli at work, blogs are better started and not finished. This notwithstanding, it's time to get this road back on the show with a brief run through the highlights of 2008. And yes, despite the earlier concerns, there have been some...

Main amonst which is fitness / weight. A year of pretty intensive gym and running has left me leaving 2008 over a stone lighter than I entered it, and running 4-5 miles at 7.10 to 7.30 pace. Which for a man of my age is respectable. My gym, at Cameron House hotel on Loch Lomondside, has just reopened and is looking good value for the pile of money spent on the refit.

Work has been surprisingly OK; periods of underutilisation interspersed with some interesting and challenging new stuff. As always the best thing is the people. Some good ones left, some good ones joined, but they're what makes it tolerable. Special vote of thanks as ever at this time of year to the customers who think it's big and clever to issue tenders with submission dates in early January. It's not big OR clever to feck up the Christmas of the people who work for your potential supplies, you wankers.

Sporting highlight was taking in Barcelona v Valencia at the Camp Nou - 4-0 and a Henri hat-trick. On my wife's 40th birthday. I know how to show a girl a good time, and no mistake...

Some good musical stuff as well; albums by The Music, Headway, Kings of Leon and OneRepublic deserve mention, but Day & Age by The Killers stands out miles above anything else. Derivative, yes, but clever, lively, challenging and occasionally beautiful. The Glasvegas album was a delight (if that's the right word) too - difficult themes set against an amazing sound; I remain to be convinced how much is them and how much is manufactured, but the basic songwriting seems sound enough to make you hope it's mainly them. 

The Music in Edinburgh was an awesome gig, full of energy and quality, and would have been gig of the year any other year - but seeing Springsteen from 8 rows back at the Emirates, with all the enthusiasm, craft and setlist opportunites that he still brings was awesome. And with the full E-Street set-up (less, sadly, Danny Federici who passed away this year) it was a highlight of the decade. Until The Killers in March, of course...

The real highlight of the year, of course was team General Ignorance's Sucata Run extravaganza, three men in an aging Volvo having a hoot raising a decent pile of dosh for a deserving charity. Read all about it on the blog, and prepare for next year's multi-media extravaganza on Sucata Split. Note the Justgiving widget on this page - you know what you need to do...

There have been some downsides, but I won't dwell, because who knows what's around the corner. I hereby resolve to blog more next year, even if this year's blank has probably made more sense and been a more entertaining read...

It's been a while...

Almost forgot about this place until we were setting up the sites for our madcap attempt to comlete the Sucata Run - a 2000km run from Normandy to Lisbon over 4 days in cars that we have to buy for no more then £250. Money is being raised for gemin-i.org (http://www.gemin-i.org/), an innovative charity trying to use web technology to bring educational organisations in the developed and developing worlds together.

At last, something interesting to write about. Team General Ignorance (http://www.generalignorance.org/) have the benefit of been named after both QI and Blackadder, and with a heritage like that, laughter should be guaranteed.

The widget on the right takes you to our page at justgiving.com, where you can give painlessly and make Gordon and Alastair give us 28% of your donation back in Gift Aid. Ha!

What's to tell

Been a while since I posted, but that's becasue there's not been much to say. Seems to be that end of January air of gloom that's been talked about in the papers. It's widely held to be the most depressing time of the year, what with the post-Christmas credit card bills hitting the mat, the weather being so gloomy, and it being ages until any hint of a holiday. Nothing exciting or comment-worthy happening in the news - if you've seen one stock market crash, you've seen them all.

Plus, work's quiet - apart from the incessant stream of leaving do's, which makes you start to wonder whether it's not time to start the process of planning your own.

Summer holiday's booked, but that's not 'til July so nothing to get excited about there - even if there was actually something to get excited about when you're going for a week to a villa so everyone can lie around doing nothing.

The return of King Kev has hardly been overwhelming, although I'm glad that he resisted the urge to go mad in the transfer window and restricted himself to binning Rozenhal, who added his name to the long list of supposedly classy defenders who crumbled at the Toon.

The good news, though, is that 44 is apparently the most depressing age. So, just when you think that last year was crap and this one's shaping up to be the same, comes the news that next year looks like being even worse. Bugger.

Will post again when there's something worth saying...

The Return of the King

Well, that was unexpected. For all of us who thought that Kev was happy running his soccer school in Braehead and enjoying a complete absence of pressure, his return to the cauldron of expectation that is St. James' Park is something of a surprise (Caution: This sentence may contain understatement).

I know you should never go back, and previous performance under pressure is a bit of a worry, but in the short term the gloom has been lifted, and the touchpaper of expectation of the Toon Army has been lit.

Reality might bite soon, with the looming relegation battle piling the pressure on, but for now, let's just worry about Stoke.

Later: Well, 5 goals, red card, great entertainment...Normal service has been resumed

Saturday 19th: Dire 0-0 with Bolton, no class, inventiveness or spark. Current service has been resumed...

The Beckoning Silence

Now, I've kind of lost track of what Joe Simpson was up to since the film of "Touching The Void" was released - which was a brave attempt to film a virtually unfilmable book. One of those books that you read from cover to cover in one sitting, ending with a knot in your stomach.

Imagine my surprise (as they say) when, browsing Amazon, I came across this DVD - Joe's take on the story of Tony Kurz and his ill-fated attempt with Hinterstoisser, Angerer and Rainer to be the first up the Eiger Nordwand. Loosely adapted from his book of the same name, the film neatly juxtaposed Simpson's views on mountains and why they attract us with a re-enactment of the 1936 climb, showing the desperate retreat of the party after Angerer's injury and Kurz's tragic death within 50ft of the rescue party - 50ft that may as well have been 50 miles.

Simpson gets out on the face and shows us how difficult - even today - what was achieved is, and just how fatal the decision to pull the rope across the traverse was. No matter how many books you read about the route, seeing his desperate scrabble for grip - even with crampons - against a sheer, glassy 80 degree slope was worth 1000 words.

My only mild criticism was the need to hark back to "Touching The Void" at regular intervals; although it made an interesting comparison, it was overdone. That, however, is about all that could be said against a thoughtful film that brought new insight to an oft-repeated story.

The highest praise I can find is that A - my 15-year old and completely disinterested in anything mountainous - daughter sat through the whole thing transfixed. It told a classic story of endeavour, courage and tragedy that inspired and horrified in equal measure.

Big Sam?

Gone so soon. Wasn't sure about his appointment in the first place, and results and performances have been significantly less than whelming, but to sack a manager half way through his first season is ridiculous. It's all well and good Ashley sitting with the fans and picking up their vibes, but he gave him the money to spend on some less than inspiring players. Ashley seems to have learnt pretty damn quick the Fat Freddie philosophy that the best way to divert heat from the owners is to sack the manager.

What big name manager, in his right mind, is going to take the job now. Jose?

UPDATE: Thank God 'Arry turned us down. That Ashley thought he was a suitable manager for Newcastle is very worrying.

Change?

We're often told that the pace of change in our lives is faster now than at any time in history. Is this true? How much has really changed in the last 100 years. How much NEW has been created, as opposed to refinements of things that already existed at the turn of the last century?

Much as I love cars, they are still pretty well the same design as they were 100 years ago. Internal combustion engine, loud pedal on the right and stop pedal to its left. Sure, we've got better at design and build, and Henry Ford never fitted iPod compatibility to the Model-T, but the basic design is unchanged. The personal hover-car remains the sole purview of George Jetson. Mr Logie-Baird of this vicinity invented a clever way of beaming pictures to a box in the corner of your living room, and Sky now do the same thing at 1080i from near space, but it's still a big box in the corner of the room (Sony Bravia, since you're asking, nice piece of kit). Surely if technology was moving so quickly, we'd have corneal implants and something actually worth watching.

As for society, we still seem to follow the established pattern of the family unit (despite what The Daily Mail may suggest) that goes back for hundreds of years. OK, it tends to break down and re-form a bit more often, but the desire TO re-form still remains. Our sense of community may have actually gone backwards, being more insular and less neighbourly, but then again who really wants Mrs. Miggins at #42 round every day to root through the bins and check whether you're dusting properly. We're still, as we were 100 years ago, drifting gradually from rural to urban, but at least we're not doing 18 hour shifts at t'mill any more. Well, not unless we're an illegal immigrant from the newly expanded EU.

Parliamentary democracy still flourishes as it did at the start of the 1900's - banal, corrupt and autocratic.

Genuine step change has only really been made in a few fields - medicine, where huge steps at combatting killer disease have been made; computing, which has pretty well been invented and become all pervading in 50 years. But I'm still sitting here with a QWERTY and a flattened CRT, despite wireless internet and blogging by mobile.

The field of warfare and destruction of life, however, is our greatest area of progress. 100 years ago, the machine gun was a new invention, augmenting gunpowder as the only way man could kill on a one-to-many basis (bio-terrorism was still in its infancy in 1908). Now we can guide missiles to their target by video-game, kill millions from the comfort of an armchair, and maim any population unfortunate enough to live somewhere near a battlefield for years after "peace" by leaving mines scattered around the place. Oh yes, in the last century we've invented more that's new, innovative and (literally) bleeding-edge in this field than in all the rest of human achievement. Fair brings a lump to the throat, doesn't it.

From the "You couldn't make it up" section

Helensburgh Advertiser, Thu 3rd January 2008

"A Peace Camper has been charged with attempted armed robbery at a Helensburgh Post Office.

Richard Pollock is alleged to have entered the East Princes Street branch at 11.20am on Saturday December 22 and threatened staff with a weapon before demanding cash."

Peace Camper. Armed Robbery. ???!!!

The real laugh is that he was granted bail with an address at the Peace Camp. So, no risk of him absconding from there, then.

Of course, what we all must do...

...are the 7 words that are the most likely to have me spluttering into my Assam. Usually heard on breakfast TV eminating from some earnest, concerned individual who's trying to ram their way of thinking down our throats and tell us that we must all change for the good of something or other.

Global warming, eating the Right foods, no more flying, watching what we drink, television advertising, having a healthier lifestyle, breast versus bottle feeding, childhood obesity - the possibilities are endless.

The TV seems to be full of people who pop up and lecture us on what is the "right" way to live. Presented as fact, not opinion and ALWAYS, at some point, including the immortal phrase "Of course, what we all must do...". Note the patronising "Of course" - this is all self-evident when you're intellectually superior, but we must make it clear for the little people. Then "what we all must..." - no argument here, this isn't just an opinion, I'm damn well right and you MUST all do as I say. Or you'll die, or your children will be fat, or you'll become a burden on the state, or you'll be personally responsible for flooding Vanuatu.

The new and worrying trend, though, is that these individuals are starting to represent official bodies and influence government policy - usually demanding new or more stringent legislation, taxes, or both. So, we have the Police telling us what the law should be, the BMA demanding more tax on alcohol and the enviromentalists telling us that we can't buy Fairtrade coffee any more, because it has to be transported to us and as a result the polar bears are dying.

We seem to have arrived at a society where the legislative and tax systems are used, not to go about the legitimate business of government, but to define and enforce an "approved" lifestyle. It strikes me, for example, as morally questionable for the state to dictate what type of lightbulbs we MUST use on the grounds of "saving" the planet.

As the boy Peart once said;

"Quiet in conscience, calm in their right, confident their ways are best...those who know what's best for us, must rise and save us from ourselves".

So, this blogging lark...

I suppose that the start of a new year is as good a time as any to commit your thoughts to the ether for the first time. Looking forward as well as back, hope that this year will be better than last and all that malarkey. Thing is, when you get to a certain age, you don't always believe that this is going to be the case.

I wouldn't call it a midlife crisis, and I don't know if it's unique to middle-aged men, but I've reached the well-documented point where you think "what am I going to do with the rest of my life". Career ambitions are all well and good, but a different job is just a variation on the same theme. This year? Major milestones for the rest of the family - teenage status for M, 16 for A and the big four-0 for MA. Me? Meetings, telecons, PDFs and spreadsheets. More hours, more frustration and more of the same as last year. Which was crap.

I wonder when I'm next going to do something for the first time - everything seems to be things I've been doing day after day for the last 20 years.

Even the holidays don't hold out much hope - when you've seen Kilimanjaro and the Sahara, the Pyramids and Mont Blanc, after you've spent 4 weeks freewheeling through Yellowstone, the Rockies, Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon and Big Sur, you start to wonder what you can do to top it. Perhaps you should just go "Sod it" and book the 3 week trek to Concordia anyway.

So, what's the answer? Do something about it or sit down, shut up and get on with it, I suppose. Make a change, or accept that this is your life. It's not that it's bad, or anything, just that there's the vague sensation that somehow there's more to it than sleep, work, football and golf.

Anyway, none of this answers the big question about what 2008 will bring - can the Toon eventually lift a trophy? The answer, I suspect, will be as disappointing as the rest of the year threatens to be.