Pantone 292

2005-11-04T23:44:00.000Z

Most of the photographs in my flickr collection were taken on my phone, which is why the quality has gradually got worse as the dust and crap from my pockets has covered the lens. Two weeks ago I bought a new camera, which I now love dearly. I chose it because it was so small, and fits nicely in my pocket so I can carry it around everywhere. I did some snapping last week in the lovely park behind my offices, when summer gave us a little encore here in England. It was strange to feel the warm sun, and then see it so low in the sky through all the orange leaves. Hopefully there will be some better photography on here from now one, although we'll have to see if the camera is good enough to compensate for my lack of skill! One of us will die inside these arms. x

2005-11-03T14:38:00.000Z

Scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope say they have detected light that may be from the earliest objects in the universe. This is ultraviolet light from the very first stars, red-shifted by the universe's expansion into faint background infrared radiation. They didn't hang around for very long (only a few million years) but burned brightly and it is believed that their fusion process created lots of the metals we have in the universe today. Several weeks ago I saw Katie Melua singing her latest song on Popworld -- this is related, so stay with me. Now, I can't usually stomach her dull, vacant, colourless music, but this was worse than usual. On hearing the song I was immediately upset by the lyrics of one verse:

We are 12 billion light-years from the edge, That's a guess No one can ever say it's true, But I know that I will always be with you.

My distress was not really appreciated by those I was watching with, I felt, even after I explained my complaint. Firstly, the best observations indicate that the universe is about 13.7 billion years old, not 12. Secondly -- and this is the real crime -- is the line "That's a guess". I'm sorry Melua, did I hear you correctly? You're calling the result of the hard work and brilliance of all those astronomers and cosmologists over the decades a guess? It's possible that I'm just glad of another reason to despise her, but it's seems I'm not the only person who was annoyed by her ignorance: Simon Singh has written an article about it in The Guardian. Here he explains the problem with the perpetuation of such disregard for the scientific method:

...the role of the scientist is slowly being undermined with a growing belief that scientific results are merely subjective guesses that go in and out of fashion. In fact, scientific results are a careful attempt to objectively measure reality, and although they may be refined over time, they are always our best hope of getting at the truth.

I also love his re-written lyrics:

We are 13.7 billion light-years from the edge of the observable universe, That's a good estimate with well-defined error bars, Scientists say it's true, but acknowledge that it may be refined, And with the available information, I predict that I will always be with you.

The Elephant In The Room

2005-11-03T11:28:00.000Z

I recently watched Gus Van Sant's film Elephant, a brilliant, detached film about high school shootings in America. I had wondered about the title of the film and, after reading a review the following day, discovered that it was named after Alan Clarke's 1989 television film about violence in Northern Ireland, the unmentioned Elephant In The Room. The interesting thing for me is that since I saw the film, just over a week ago, I've read this article in The Register,

The elusive beastie called "Collective Intelligence" slips from sight, while the Elephant In The Room called "Quality" just gave us another swish of its tail.

and, on Tuesday, this article in The Independent.

The elephant in the room at the world climate talks.

Now, what I want to know is: is this an idiom that is used regularly (in which case I suppose I must previously have just been reading over it, ignorant of its meaning), or is it just coincidence that I have read two stories employing it in the short time since I discovered what it actually means?

2005-11-02T09:53:00.000Z

New Scientist reports of a patent filed by Nestlé to make a "fermented cofee beverage". Beer is nice. Coffee is okay. Beer Coffee? I'm not sure about that one.

On Intelligent Design.

2005-11-01T16:50:00.000Z

In the past few days, the controversy over the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools in the US has appeared in the news again. Thankfully I live in the UK, where in science classrooms I was taught, believe it or not, scientific theories, so this shouldn't really concern me too much; however, having been brought up in a religion that fooled me into believing creationism for years, it does frustrate me to see superstition getting near children and their learning of science. I don't think I've ever read an article promoting Intelligent Design as a scientific theory that hasn't almost entirely been an attempt to put doubt on evolutionary theory. I won't go into the masses of evidence for evolution, as I don't think it is important when discussing Intelligent Design. It should be able to stand up on it's own without reference to evolution, as a seperate theory. The constant disparagement of evolution seems to have the purpose of trying to obscure the only relevant issue: Intelligent Design is not a scientific theory. There is no body of evidence to support it. Is is not testable or falsifiable. The theory does not lead to any more knowledge of the workings of the universe. It does nothing. Intelligent Design can go in a class on religion if it must be taught, or if its followers simply don't agree with evolution they should attempt to form an alternative scientific theory, and then look for some evidence. Just keep superstition away from science, please.

Tinkle

2005-10-21T11:19:00.000Z

Shift over on that stool, Chopin: I've decided to take up the piano again. I had lessons for a few years when I was younger and went through several grades, but I remember that for the last couple of years my interest followed something of a diminuendo (see what I did there?) and I stopped playing classical pieces, preferring to learn how to play pop songs that I could sing along to, which at that time basically meant learning lots of my adored Beatles and Bacharach tunes. When I left for University, I only played when I was back for the holidays, and then eventually our old piano became impossible to tune any more and had to be thrown away. Sad really, as it was a lovely old thing; even though the wood had been battered quite a bit -- my grandfather had made use of it as a makeshift toolbox for years before we rescued it. So, on Sunday my parents bought a new digital piano, mainly for my brother who has just started a music course at college, and as I was up there for the weekend I dug out some of my old pieces to see how much I'd forgotten and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was picking it up quite quickly. I've determined that I'm going to start practicing again when I'm up there, and that I'm going to aim to learn the pieces and scales for the Grade 5 Associated Board exam again, and maybe continue upwards. I think I actually might have the concentration and appreciation to be able to put the required effort in now I'm a bit older. Maybe next I'll have to find my old violin, although I imagine it's a bit too small for me now. I'd love to be able to play that well again. If a boy has the choice of practicing the violin or kicking a football around there's only going to be one winner, sadly. At least I got to be such a fantastic footballer ay? Anyways, I'm off to London later for HDIF tonight. Lovely!

A year without Peel.

2005-10-13T11:11:00.000Z

So there's lots going on in the house of The Empties. We don't actually have an Empty Set house, as we all live in different cities, but if we did have a house it would be getting quite busy. Maybe the website should have a house...THE WEBSITE, yes, that's what I was going to tell you about. This weekend there should be a website up at emptyset.co.uk. I will try really hard to not spend the whole weekend in a state of drunkenness, hungoverness, drunkenness, hungoverness (which seems to be the reason that I haven't got much done at the weekends recently) and actually sit down and make this damn thing. I've been doing lots of planning with paper and a pencil and bought a new book to make sure my skills are up-to-date ("You know, like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills."), so I think I know what I'm going to be doing. I hope it will be an interesting place to visit when it's done. I will move this page to its own new domain I think. In other Empty Set news, the gig at Offbeat on Saturday was fun, if a little shambolic, and Warwick SU's sound people performed their usual atrocious service, but not to worry. Bearsuit were great again and I chatted with them and they were lovely too. Dan and I had spent the day on Saturday making some CDs to sell. We managed to make 30 in the end, in little packages with lots of photos of things, and numbered them individually. We sold about half of them, so there aren't many left if you want to get hold of one! Our next scheduled gig is supporting the legendary Luke Haines (of The Auters, Black Box Recorder) at The Tin Angel on Wednesday 23rd of November. Come along, and get your tickets soon as I'm sure lots of people will want to come to see Luke Haines and it's only a tiny place. After that gig, I will be flying the very next day to Barcelona for the weekend, which I'm really looking forward to now. I loved that city when I went for Primevera in May, and I'm glad I've got the chance to go back again so soon. Then, ATP is the weekend after that, so that fortnight should be fun, fun, fun. Closer to the present, this coming weekend I shall be going back to Manchester, and the week after that I'll be going down to London to see Caspar, who is coming back from Paris for How Does It Feel?, which will have David Gedge (of The Wedding Present, Cinerama) as the guest DJ that week. I haven't been to HDIF for far too long, so that will be cool. It's the first Peel Day today, and nearly a year since Saint John Peel died. I can't believe a whole year has gone by -- I remember when I found out, I was wandering around Coventry looking for a job when a friend texted me. I sulked my way straight home. That was a sad day. Y'know, when Liverpool won the Champions' League in May I thought, "what a shame that John Peel didn't get to see this." Anyways, I'll be remembering him fondly today.

Seaside. Offbeat. Moonbase.

2005-10-07T11:41:00.000Z

I went to the seaside on Wednesday. I had been inland for far too long -- years, it seemed -- so once I'd finished my work I drove to the beach at Sheringham in north Norfolk, and found a small cafe to have some fish'n'chips and a pot of tea. The Empty Set will be playing at Offbeat tomorrow night, and hopefully I can sit down and finish the words for my new song tonight so we can practice it in time. We might even have some demo CDs to sell if people like us, and Dan has drawn a lovely picture to put on the front, so hopefully we can sort that out tomorrow in between the practicing. Dave and I went to see Bearsuit at The Roadhouse in Manchester on Sunday, and they were a whole lotta fun, so I'm looking forward to seeing them again and, as it's at Offbeat, maybe I'll have a dance around this time. I think I forgot to mention that we'd been to The Moonbase and recorded our songs, but we did y'know. Not all by ourselves mind, we had lots of help from John, whose moonbase it is. We sang and played five songs into his machines, and we're just working out what to do with them now. It was hard work, and once we'd finished I hated all the songs because I'd heard them so many times, but I'm getting a bit more perspective on them now. I like some of them more than others, and strangely it's the ones I liked less before which I now think are the best. Now's the time to write some new stuff I suppose, and I think I can do better. You made me forget my dreams. I was building a spacerocket.

The Empty Set are getting excited.

2005-09-21T10:57:00.000Z

We are excited because on Saturday and Sunday we shall take our thoughts and our instruments down to The Moonbase studio to record some of our little songs. Hopefully not too long after, we shall be thinking of some ways of letting people listen to them. In fact, the thinking has already started, but I'm not going to let you know the ideas just yet, except to say that they're not my ideas, and that I like them. We are also excited because we shall be playing at Offbeat's 20th Birthday Party on the 8th of October, supporting the quite wonderful Bearsuit. It would be lovely to see you there.

In the first moment of waking up she knows she's losing it.

2005-09-13T16:22:00.000Z

I hate early mornings, so I've started getting up earlier. There is some reasoning to this, which goes as follows. If there's anything more horrid than having to get up early, it's having to get up early and rush around. It just makes me cross. Thus, I now get up at 06.15; that way I can dawdle around for a while, go for a swim, dawdle around for a while, read the newspaper and have a cup of tea, (I've recently discovered that the hotel will have a paper delivered to my door if I ask, which is great), dawdle around for a while, eat a decent breakfast, drink more tea and then walk to work. Once I've got over my inital self-pity, jumped in the swimming pool and woken up, the early morning is probably my favourite part of the day. If I get up at 08.00 I have to rush into the shower, scramble down for some cereal and then race my car around the corner to work. I get more sleep but then I feel rubbish and tired all day. I may try this principle on other things I don't like, though I'm not sure it will have such success. The hotel is especially full of vile businessmen this week. The worst ones are usually Northern. I see them in the evening in the bar trying to chat up the Thomas Cook girls; I think maybe they are air hostesses on a course or something. Or they try to out-business each other with their laptops and phone calls and breakfast meetings. Get out of my hotel! (The square is mine!) in the first moment of waking up She knows she's losing it, yeah she's losing it When the first cup of coffee tastes like washing up She knows she's losing it, yeah she's losing it She goes to the mirror to put on her stuff She knows she's losing it, oh yeah she's losing it When she doesn't speak to anyone till four 0' clock She knows she's losing it, yeah she's losing it

Mm, del.icio.us.

2005-09-07T15:36:00.000Z

I've added a link over on the right to my del.icio.us, and a display of the latest 10 items I've bookmarked. I should, at this point, probably fix the problem that coming through the emptyset.co.uk front page means that one gets stuck in a hidden frame, but I'll get to that later. I could also remove the writing on that page ("Bullshit", observes Dave), which is starting to irritate me.

Bungee

2005-09-04T15:56:00.000Z

I've been listening to some children playing cricket on the grass over the road. Sitting out in the garden, starting For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway and listening to records; the neighbouring game brought a warm summer context of shouts and cheers. I can think of few better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. One of these may be watching The Mighty Boosh on BBC Web TV. The Empty Set will be turning our sound waves into lots of little ones and zeros on the 24th and 25th of this month, our first studio recording. It's all very exciting. she went bungee jumping, one fine day. off the cliffs of our friendship, and at the bottom she stayed.

The Prince's Bed

2005-09-02T19:20:00.000Z

I'm sitting back up in Manchester. I'm just deciding whether to go out to a party, or to stay in and look for stars through my telescope. I'm not sure if the sky is clear enough for either. Everyone's talking about Jesus. Everyone's fucking my princess. I drove through an amazing thunderstorm on Wednesday night on my way back from the cinema in Peterborough. It's so flat there, you can see the flashes all around you for miles. I got lost as I couldn't see where I was going through the rain, and I was scared for quite a while. It was better than the film, Unleashed. I bought Friends Of Mine by Adam Green last week, along with several other CDs in a sale. I love that one the most though, he's so funny. Hey princess over there, why are you sitting over there, when there's a nice warm spot to share in the prince's bed?

Good and Bad Reasons for Believing

2005-08-24T12:46:00.000Z

Browsing around earlier, I found a letter written by Richard Dawkins to his ten-year-old daughter, titled "Good and Bad Reasons for Believing". "Dear Juliet, Now that you are ten, I want to write to you about something that is important to me. Have you ever wondered how we know the things that we know?" It is brilliant, and should probably be given to every child on their tenth birthday, if not earlier. If you haven't got time to read it, though I really would recommend it, it can be summarised thus. Bad reasons: Tradition, Authority, Revelation. Good reason: Evidence.

Friday Night, Sunday Morning

2005-08-23T13:11:00.000Z

I spent the weekend in Coventry, as I hadn't been for a while and it was also Ralph's birthday. Once I'd driven across from Peterborough on Friday evening I helped cook and eat Chili with friends followed by drinks at The Albany. I got a haircut on Saturday morning and did a bit of shopping. Apart from the boring stuff (clothes etc.) I picked up the Nouvelle Vague album (I had a copy of this already) and the new Joy Zipper. I then sat in the Tin Angel and drank tea while reading my newspaper, and waited for some old workmates to finish work so we could go for lunch at The Gatehouse. I started the crossword with Laura but she started drawing on the paper to annoy me so we stopped. My first meal of the day here (I was quite hungry by that point) was followed soon by the second, as we had a BBQ at our house and sang Happy Birthday to Ralph in the style of Suicide. After a quick game of Fire Cricket, we headed off to the Colesseum for dancing. On Sunday Rick and I went to The Aardvark to watch Arsenal v Chelsea, and then we met up with people to have a picnic on Hearsall Common, and Dave got back from his trip around Eastern Europe. I ripped my jeans making a daring full-length diving catch of the frisbee. I've moved to a new hotel in Peterborough. I needed a change of scenery, and this one has better facilities, including a gym and swimming pool, so I'll have more to do in the evenings. I will also start playing 5-a-side football again with work next week and I'm even contemplating joining the rowing club. Exercise and all that. I'm going to ATP in December, and I'm looking forward to it very much. The other day I found out that Sylvia Plath is buried in Heptonstall, West Yorkshire, which is not far at all from where my parents live. I now intend to visit; I'm sure there will be nice places to walk over there.

2005-08-17T15:54:00.000Z

A wasp came into my room last night. In he buzzed through the window. Well, that wouldn't do. It was too much of a distraction from my book, and he certainly had to leave before I went to sleep. I waited patiently for him to work his way back out of the window, before deciding that he was obviously never going to find it refusing, as he was, to stray from the copper light-fitting. I was angry that he had spoiled my concentration. I killed him with my copy of The Selfish Gene. I considered it most appropriate of the books I had with me. This would promote the gene which guides wasps to fly back out of windows, I thought. He whistled as he went for want of thought. - Dryden.

2005-08-07T16:45:00.000Z

Why does my profile show Astrological Sign and Zodiac Year by default? I have no interest, let alone belief, in astrology -- so why can't I remove it? I don't see this kind of propogation of pseudo-science bullshit as 'just a bit of fun'.

I watch the TV; forget what I'm told

2005-08-07T13:14:00.000Z

Luke is getting better. I was with him yesterday afternoon, and I'll go to see him later. I can't stand being in that hospital though. I've been trying to think about some important things today, but it seems whenever I do try the ideas just spiral out of control in my head and I have to stop thinking. Thus nothing comes of it and I end up without a plan again, just sitting watching the television in a torpid daze. I need to think about what I'm doing, othewise I'll end up being someone I don't want to be. I say the right things but act the wrong way. I like it right here but I cannot stay. I watch the TV; forget what I'm told. Well, I am too young, and they are too old.

I hate hospitals

2005-08-05T22:40:00.000Z

While I wrote that last cheery message, my brother was being carried in an ambulance. It feels wrong to write about this but there's no point in writing at all if I'm not going to be open. Last night, my brother decided he wanted to kill himself and so wandered into the woods and took a whole bottle of painkillers. Thankfully, someone found him this morning. He's still alive, but he's going to be in hospital for a while. In a room full of dying old people. I'm not happy about that. It won't help him. Someone call the older brother. Oh God, he has no fucking clue what he's supposed to do. He's Numb Useless Tired. I hate hospitals.

I smell like a lime.

2005-08-05T08:23:00.000Z

Well I'm feeling a lot more cheerful today, especially for the fact that it's Friday and I'll be driving back up north later for the weekend. Thai food is good. As is aerosol-foam Original Source shower gel. I smell like a lime. The simple things you ask to make a young boy sigh

2005-08-04T11:38:00.000Z

I read this article this morning, and found it extremely depressing. It's related to the unprovoked stabbing of a man on a bus on Monday evening. For some reason, I took notice of that story when I heard it briefly mentioned on BBC Breakfast News on Tuesday morning. When I got to work, doing my usual early trawl of news sites, I couldn't find it. Eventually I did, in the BBC London local news site. Why wasn't this on any main UK news front pages? I didn't understand. Why are all the news sources now constantly full of mostly trivial news about a bombing that happened 4 weeks ago, but hardly mention a terrible murder that happened the previous night? Isn't it news? I guess it happens every day, sadly. Personally, I'm not worried about terrorist attacks: what worries me is the unprovoked violence issued daily by a seemingly significant number of the population. Whenever I read about attacks like this, those stories seem to be the ones that stick with me for the day. I'm not sure if that's healthy, but it worries me a lot that attacks like this happen so regularly. I'm also aware that as a young man, I'm in the most likely group to be attacked in this country. In fact, the beginning of this tragic event was the attacker throwing food at the victim and his girlfriend on the bus, and I've had simliar experiences twice before myself. In my case I just moved seats, and in one instance I got off the bus and walked, but each time it made me extremely angry and stole my concentration and confidence for days. I also felt like a coward, but at least I'm still in one piece I suppose. I never feel safe on buses, especially in the violent areas of the north. The above article also demonstates my other fear -- that unless one of the few brave citizens among us was there, noone would help if I was attacked. Moreover, I don't believe I would be brave enough to help others. The media can suggest that Londoners, or Brits in general, showed their bravery by carrying on after the London attacks, but I don't believe that's true. Most of us are selfish cowards when it comes to the real test. Someone falls in love and someone's beaten up; and the senses being dulled are mine.

2005-08-03T16:47:00.000Z

According to this news article, one weblog is started every second. That's a lot. That's 86,400 a day. 31,536,000 a year. A quick search says that there are 593,085,000 computer users in the world. So approximitely 1 in 19 of us will make one of these this year (falsely assumimg each person makes just one). I imagine most of these sites will be geeks like me writing complete rubbish, but it is interesting to note the scale of this thing.

Now all I need is a longer kettle lead...

2005-08-03T15:10:00.000Z

As you can see, I've applied a shiny new template so I thought it only right to give a little update. Let's start with the weekend. I went back to Coventry for a couple of days. On Saturday, we drove to Leamington to do some shopping. I bought a smart new shirt and tie, a book, a DVD and a few CDs. In the evening we went to the Tin Angel back in Coventry to see Thomas Truax, a New York songwriter, who was delightful. He builds his own instruments with a different setup for each song, including the rather splendid 'Sister Spinster' (a kind of drum machine of belts and wheels who enjoys a cigarette). Think David Byrne crossed with Caracatus Potts. I especially enjoyed the moment when he went on a wander mid-song (still singing into 'The Hornicator') visiting the bar, the toilet, and finally out onto the street to buy a bag of chips from the kebab shop opposite, which he kindly brought back for us to share before finishing his song. After this we walked to The Colleseum to see my good friends The Sequins play, and I even got to be a backing singer for their final song. Then I danced around like a drunk butterfly until it was time to go. I made the tragic mistake of forgetting the bar closes at 2, meaning that I had an hour with nothing to drink. Well, I'm sure I was better for it on Sunday. I'm back now in the hotel in Peterborough for the week. The teabags in my room have changed from Tetley to PG Tips, which is a definite improvement. I was supposed to be going to London this coming weekend, primarily for How Does It Feel..., but I don't think that's going to happen now. I think I shall be going walking instead, possibly in the Lakes, which would be a nice substitute. I love you, what's your name?

2005-07-24T00:00:00.000Z

I've realised that it is entirely impossible to overstate the brilliance of The Magnetic Fields. They are quite simply the greatest thing. I'm positively certain that my life would be at least a few degrees less enjoyable without Stephin Merritt sharing my planet. I have a mandolin. I play it all night long. It makes me want to kill myself. I also have a dobro made in some mountain range sounds like a mountain range in love but when I turn up the tone on my electric guitar I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me. I went out to the forest and caught A hundred thousand fireflies. As they ricochet round the room they remind me of your starry eyes. Someone else's might not have made me so sad but this is the worst night I ever had, 'cause I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me. You won't be happy with me, but give me one more chance you won't be happy anyway. Why do we still live here in this repulsive town? All our friends are in New York. Why do we keep shrieking, when we mean soft things? We should be whispering all the time... Oh my, tears again? How obvious.

Alice and Bob

2005-07-23T11:44:00.000Z

Oh, my head hurts. Not much has changed. I'm writing a love song about two entangled photons, Alice and Bob. They miss each other dearly.

Spending Warm Summer Days Indoors

2005-07-10T12:47:00.000Z

Despite liberally sploshing UV protective cream over myself, my day sat out in the sun yesterday has resulted in rosy warm sun-burn. Specifically, on the one part of my body which I overtly neglected to cover: my nose. Thus, although it is hot -- seemingly hotter than yesterday -- I intend to stay safely indoors today. I am living in Peterborough during the week now, making the long drive down early on Monday mornings and returning on Friday afternoons. It was a pleasant surprise to find this Friday that the roadworks plugging up the A1 have been removed, enabling me to get back up to Rochdale in about two and a half hours, which is much less testing than the usual four. I actually don't mind living in a hotel at the moment, and in fact it's quite pleasant; I had thought I would dislike it. This week has certainly been eventful, what with bombs in London and all. I shan't talk about that, except this mention for future reference. I'm reading Moab Is My Washpot, the autobiography of Stephen Fry. The more I read the more I'm endeared. He is a truly funny man. "There is simply no limit to the tyrannical snobbery that otherwise decent people can descend into when it comes to music."

I've seen you shine. You always make me laugh.

2005-06-26T02:06:00.000Z

Here is the myspace of a fantastic band called Mawda. I'm very happy this now exists as I did not have any recordings of their songs up here. ...you taught me everything I know.

Co-op bank bars Christian Voice.

2005-06-26T01:38:00.000Z

This was on North West Tonight last night; I'm not sure if it appeared in the national news. Co-op bank have asked Christian Voice to close their account due to their extreme views on homosexuality. The Christian Voice spokesman claimed it was religious discrimination. I took a look at the Christian Voice website to see exactly how extreme their views are, and found this Homosexuality and the Police Newsletter (.pdf) that they have distributed, arguing that gay people shouldn't be allowed to be police officers. It's shocking stuff. [quote] 􀂊 Homosexual police are involved in some of the most disgusting perversions imaginable; how can they bring clean hands to any police investigation? 􀂊 Homosexual police are corrupted by what they do; how can they investigate cases of corruption? 􀂊 Their whole life is lived in denial; how can they be expected to tell the truth in Court? 􀂊 Homosexual police are likely to seek sexual encounters in public conveniences and in the open (most homosexual men do); are they going to take part in exercises against ‘cottaging’ and ‘cruising’? 􀂊 Their sexual behaviour is deviant and indecent; how can they uphold public decency and morality? 􀂊 The police are supposed to be impartial; does the deliberate recruitment of shamelessly homosexual men and women explain the recent explosion of cases brought against Gospel preachers and pro-life campaigners? 􀂊 Many homosexual men will have been interfered with at a young age, and be sexually attracted to boys of around that age as a result; are homosexual police going to be exempted from investigations into paedophile activities? 􀂊 The police serve the monarch of a constitutionally Christian country; how does the police force square that fact with the recruitment of officers who commit acts which are an abomination in the eyes of Almighty God? [/quote] Yikes. More good work by the Co-op. :)

I made some science.

2005-06-25T13:41:00.000Z

I'm learning to hunt for you...

2005-06-21T19:32:00.000Z

Summer appears to be here! At the weekend it was about 30°C apparently, which was fantastic, if not a little stifling, especially in the car driving down to Coventry on Saturday. Not that I'm complaining, sunshine always makes me feel healthier and happier. I had a great weekend. Having met lots of my friends back up here at the pub on Friday, I went back down to collect the rest of my things on Saturday. We had a little BBQ on campus (I always forget how lovely Warwick campus is in Summer) before the Offbeat disco, which was fairly quiet but still lots of fun. I played football last night for the first time in ages, and was quite terrible. I don't think the heat helped -- I felt awful! I should be playing a lot more regularly up here anyway, so I should get fitter. I finished The Line Of Beauty, which I really liked. It's joyfully witty and stylish. It's set in London, 1983 to '87, and tackles Thatcherism, AIDS, Coke and a gay coming-of-age quite explicitly, but the prose is so good that it's never difficult. I'm currently reading The Aeneid by Virgil. I've only read the first book so far but the story is interesting. I'm going to try to get through a few Classical books in the next few months. I'm off to visit Peterborough with work on Thursday and Friday -- I'm quite enthusiastic about that. ...Say that you'll never run too far away.

Photographs and Socks

2005-06-16T18:51:00.000Z

I've spent an hour or so copying pictures I've taken on my telephone onto a laptop computer with infra-red, and putting some of them onto my flickr account. I'm quite pleased with the way they've come out; I'll have to do this regularly. There's some from Barcelona and Madrid, some from London and a couple of fairly unconnected ones. This one of beautiful Coventry is my favourite I think: A lovely Bank Holiday morning a few months ago, I was walking around the War Memorial Park. It was about 7 o'clock in the morning and there was no-one around except a few disciplined joggers and the odd over-friendly dog with owner. I just sat here and read my book for a few tranquil hours. In other news: My cat, Socrates, got himself in to bit of a scrap it seems and had to go to see the cat-doctor who, in the course of repairs, shaved all the fur off the back half of his body. He looks quite ridiculous. I should probably get a photo of that, but I wouldn't want to embarass the poor thing.

The Empty Set at The Royal Party

2005-06-14T20:15:00.000Z

This is a photo Vicky took of us on Saturday.

Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

2005-06-14T18:33:00.000Z

I'm back up in Rochdale; I took the train home on Sunday (and was so hungover that I vomited twice on the train, a traumatic experience which has motivated me to stop drinking for a few days) and started work on Monday morning. It's going well, and it's nice to have a job where I know I'm going to have to think a bit more, and start making some use of my degree. It's also nice to be back with my family. We had a big party on Saturday, for my leaving and for Dan and Neil's birthdays. Lots of people came along and I think most of them enjoyed it from what I've heard. We set up equipment and had our bands playing in the garden, like we did last year; The Empty Set, Mawda, Tawt, The Sequins and The Bad Radiators all played. We also had a battle of the bands for people who couldn't play instruments, which went as well as it should have. The sound in general was terrible, but it made it more fun I think. If I find pictures I will try to get them up here. I think there were more people than last year -- the garden was full of folk from hedge to hedge and all the way to the back wall. Someone even managed to get a shopping trolley in there, which defies all reason. I didn't say anything about the weekend before, but I had a great time then too. I went down to London with some people from my old workplace, and I had a wonderful time wandering around with my friend Laura. We went to the Portabello market and saw lots of beautiful old things, but I had no money; I intend to go back when I get some. We walked across Kensington Gardens, and I thought I'd lost my satchel on the bus, which I hadn't, and then we went to the Science Museum. My favourite things there were the Apollo 10 lander and Crick & Watson's Double Helix model -- it looked like they'd just picked up the nearest objects around the lab to build it with. There was also an amazing old machine which claimed to be able to work out solutions to differential equations mechanically. Sadly, there was nothing to explain how it calculated, just some signs saying "this bit turns that bit", and so on. Not very helpful. Anyway, later, when the coach was going to take everyone home, I decided to stay in London and got on a bus to go and see Ben, Casper and Laura. Dan and Dave got a train from Coventry and met up with us and we went to AfterSkool at the LSE Union and danced away for a few hours. Just as we left we heard that they were playing Arcade Fire so we dived back under the barriers for one last song. Oh, The Empty Set played at The Tin Angel on Thurdsay too! I've had enough of writing now though, suffice to say I thought it went well. I think we're going to record songs now, in case we don't get to play together any more. ...as we would lay and learn what each other's bodies were for.

2005-06-03T17:17:00.000Z

All the unbrellas in London couldn't stop this rain. All the dope in New York couldn't kill this pain.

Primavera Sound! Liverpool! Yes!

2005-06-02T14:07:00.000Z

Bah, it's nearly a month since I've written anything here. That is poor. I got back from Madrid yesterday, after a wonderful week in Spain. We headed out to Barcelona last Wednesday for the Primavera Sound festival from Thrusday to Saturday, and saw lots of awesome bands (Sonic Youth, The Arcade Fire, Polysics, The Dirtbombs, Mercury Rev, Iggy & The Stooges, The Wedding Present, Art Brut, Broken Social Scene, Francoiz Breut, Erase Errata, New Order, Gang Of Four, They Might Be Giants, The Go! Team, Maximo Park...) as well as experiencing the beautiful city of Barcelona. My friends had somehow managed to find us a great apartment literally next door to the Sagrada Familia -- the amazing not-yet-finished cathedral designed by Gaudi. We spent the days sightseeing and the nights seeing bands, so it was fairly exhausting for a few days. On Monday I took a bus to Madrid and spent a couple of days there before returning yesterday. We only really had one full day to look around, but we saw lots of great stuff. Hopefully I will fill in some details later, as there's lots of interesting stuff to tell about, but I can't be bothered now. I'd probably just start rambling on anyway. Oh, it seems I forgot to mention I have a new job, go Tom! I shall soon be an EICA Engineer (the EICA stands for Electrical, Instumentation, Control, Automation) for a water-industry engineering company. I start on the 13th of June in Manchester, but it looks likely that I will soon move to work at their offices in Peterborough. This is a bit scary as I don't know anyone in Peterborough, and I'm not sure it's a great place for entertainment, but I think it will be better for me to move to a new place. Oh yeah, Liverpool FC are Champions of Europe. You can't imagine how happy that thought makes me :-) You gotta be the one, you gotta be the way, your name is the only word I can say

Sometimes elections depend on the absentees

2005-05-05T11:40:00.000Z

I've got the day off so I can vote, and Lib Dem is the one for me. From the final polls it seems that Labour are going to be in again, which I wouldn't be unhappy with, but hopefully they'll get the message that they need to sort some of their ideas out. I think Blair is a good leader, even if I do disagree with some of his decisions (ie. removing a government without a UN resolution, allowing innocent people to be put under house arrest or in detention centres), and Gordon Brown has taken good care of the economy so far (although I have heard it might go a bit wrong at the end of this year). Just imagine how terrifying it would be if Howard, Letwin & Co were in charge. *shudder* I did go to see HHGTTG on Monday, and laughed a lot. The movie got nearly everything right, even though a few bits were inevitably lost from the book. The new radio show started this week too -- I think I'll listen to it this afternoon. Liverpool are in the Champions League Final! I can't believe it. Watching the game on Tusday was scary stuff; we could easily have lost it. It was great to finally beat Chelsea (having been beaten three times by them so far this season) in the most important game. It's strange that we can beat Juventus and Chelsea in Europe, but can't beat teams like Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough in the Premiership. My Dad was there, and he's probably going to Istanbul to watch the final. I will be just a little jealous if he gets a ticket! I've a horrible feeling I will be on a plane to Barcelona during the final, and end up missing it all. Still it would be nice to get off the plane to find that Liverpool are European champions. Yesterday I got the afternoon off work as all the systems were down, so I spent the afternoon in the pub and got a bit drunk. Last night I went to see a film called The Edukators at The Arts Centre. Tomorrow night I shall be going to watch the Arcade Fire at Birmingham Academy. The album is amazing, so I'm hoping for a good live show. Tonight I think I'll be going to The Tin Angel, and will probably come back to watch the election coverage on the BBC. Bring it on. I was going to transfer to LiveJournal but I don't think I will now, it would be hassle, and I'm not sure if I could keep this stuff. Although, Kimya Dawson has a LiveJournal, and she's the coolest. "...but you can't see electrons without machines and you can't tell from my inflection if I'm being mean and I don't know if I can take you seriously sometimes elections depend on the absentees."

2005-05-01T20:03:00.000Z

I've just been for a run around the park. It's a lovely evening -- I think this summer could be a great one. It's strange not to have lists of exams to revise for at this time of year. I do worry that I'm forgetting all that I learned over the past three years. I should pick up my textbooks again... I just realised that I forgot to mention my birthday last week. I'm a whole 22 years old now. Proper grown up. I know it's ridiculous to worry about it now, but getting older does scare me quite a bit. I'll have to stop messing around soon. Some big things are going to change in a few weeks -- I don't really know if I want them to or not -- but I've surrendered to the fact that they are changing. Anyways, I got some new books to read so I better get started.

Staring at the sun

2005-05-01T18:25:00.000Z

Bank Holiday weekends are amazing. Having only been in full-time permanent work for around five months, I've really begun to appreciate little breaks like this. I'm really tired today, which may be something to do with staying up for most of the night playing Poker -- I'm still not quite sure how this happened as I had every intention of getting an early night in. I won, which I suppose makes it worthwhile. Yesterday we went to Leamington for a bit of shopping and to walk around in the sunshine. I bought CDs by The Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes and Smog. I had a copy of the Arcade Fire album, but I like it so much I had to buy it. We had a couple of beers in one of the trendy bars that spoil the town, and stopped by an Indian restaurant before coming home. We watched Lilya 4 Ever on DVD -- not the most cheerful of films but compelling viewing. Remember The Empty Set had a gig last week? Joe took a photograph:
Don't we look good? The batteries in the guitar ran out, and it was a shame Olivia couldn't be here to sing but apart from that I think it went well. That's me in the middle by the way. Tomorrow I shall be going to Birmingham to see The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy movie -- I'm very excited about that. The general election is this Thursday, so it should be an interesting week. Having forgotten to update my address on the register, or to sign up for a postal vote (duh), I'm going to have to travel back up north for the day to make my cross. My vote will be more useful in Rochdale anyway, as the seat is more marginal and there's a shitbag BNP candidate to counteract. Coventry South is fairly safe Labour. I had made my mind up to vote Lib Dem but I'm not as certain now. I think I'll take a look at the manifestos again.

Nothing to convey

2005-04-17T19:44:00.000Z

Yesterday I went further north to visit my cousin and his newborn baby in Lancaster. I got a train back to Coventry in time to go to the Colleseum, but I'm not sure it was worth it. We waited hours to dance in the sideroom while craptastic local bands strummed around, and finally got the same DJing that we get every week. The same songs played from the same scratched, skipping CDs. They're good songs, but every week? Can't he buy some new CDs -- CDs that actually play? I think I may be getting nearly as bored of it as the DJ is. I don't know why I haven't thought of this before, but maybe it's time to go somewhere else on a Saturday night. I played football in the park this afternoon and managed to run into someone's knee, which has resulted in a dead leg that seems to be taking an awful long time to wake up. I should go out to Brown's to see some bands but I can't really walk very well at the moment, and staying in will save me money. Everyone has gone to Birmingham this evening so I'm basking in solitude. I'm not exactly sure why but recently I have been enjoying my own company quite a lot more than I usually do. This afternoon I watched Rebel Without A Cause on DVD. Jim Stark reminded me of my brother. I will probably try to get through some more of my book this evening and get an early night ready for work tomorrow. This is the dullest thing so far; I certainly wouldn't read it. I swear I had some original ideas. I suppose we'll just have to be patient. My band, The Empty Set, have a gig in Leamington Spa this Thursday (I forget the name of the place) which I'm quite excited about. I have to finish up some lyrics before then though, or else I shall be humming verses to songs I haven't actually finished yet. I'm going to make a cup of tea. This world is full of crashing bores -- and I must be one.

Charlie don't surf!

2005-04-15T19:46:00.000Z

Two posts in one day? I know: it's crazy. I just thought I'd draw attention to the Audioscrobbler link over there on the right. I'd downloaded the plug-in for this already but it didn't seem to be working that day. Now my glorious taste is there for the world to see. Since I last posted I've watched the extended version of Apocalypse Now on DVD (Redux, I think, is its extended title). I hadn't noticed prior to pressing play that the running-time was three and a half hours. Very enjoyable, although I did decide a half-time interval was required! Are you crazy God damnit? Don't you think its a little risky for some R&R? Kilgore: If I say its safe to surf this beach Captain, then its safe to surf this beach. I mean I'm not afraid to surf this place, I'll surf this whole fucking place!

Boo to the business world

2005-04-15T08:58:00.000Z

I have spent a couple of hours this morning looking at web design sites, and I've decided it's high time I put some effort into catching up a little. I have a couple of projects to start: a site for The Empty Set and an Offbeat Indie Club Guide. The Club Guide was something I was supposed to do months ago, but not having regular access to a PC I never got around to it. I should, hopefully, have a computer to work on soon, so maybe these ideas will eventually make it into real sites. I've just been listening to the second lecture of The Reith Lectures 2005, "The Triumph of Technology" by Lord Broers, on BBC Radio 4. The subject was collaboration. My feeling is that although it's obvious that globalised collaboration in the development of technologies is what makes them develop at such a fantastic rate in this age, I think it's a shame that cutting-edge technological inventions can no longer really arise from the 'Eureka' moments of a lone genius. It's just not really possible anymore, plus he or she wouldn't get funding anyway. What to mention? Um, I'm currently reading On The Road by Jack Kerouac, which was bought for me nearly a year ago. It's such an exciting book to read; I think I'll fly though this one. I'm going to the Primavera festival in Barcelona at the end of May, which I'm now looking forward to very much. Will you check out that band line up: 50 Foot Wave, Echo & The Bunnymen, Gang Of Four, Iggy & The Stooges, Mercury Rev, New Order, Radio 4, the Wedding Present, Sonic Youth, The Dirtbombs...!!! All in the Iberian sun -- It's going to be fantastic. Last week at work I earned a decent bonus which should pay for the flights. I'm going with three of my housemates along with some other friends, and I will also be spending a couple of days in Madrid before coming home. In other news, I've hit my overdraft limit already and it's two weeks before I get paid. D'oh. Major said, 'Sam, I don't like that fairy at the bar,' in a loud voice. 'Yeah, Jake?' I said. 'Sam,' he said, 'I think I'll get up and conk him.' 'No Jake,' I said, carrying on with the Hemingway imitation. 'Just aim from here and see what happens.'

Still Ill

2005-04-03T14:42:00.000Z

It's been a nice weekend, although I haven't actually left the house yet today. I didn't get up until after noon, which I justify by it being a Sunday. I'm also still suffering a little from a cold I've had since Wednesday. Last night I didn't go out, apart from popping down to The Cottage for a quick drink. I watched The Virgin Suicides on a DVD I bought weeks ago but hadn't got around to watching. Yesterday was sunny and warm. We went down to see the French market which has set up this week in town, walked around the new cathedral, climbed up the old spire and had a beer in the garden of Inspire. The first few days of warm weather always seem strange to me -- like I'm on holiday or something. March just sneaked by, I can't believe I'll be 22 years old this month. Eek. Pope John Paul II died last night. Not being Catholic, I wasn't really bothered, but I've read a lot of things about him that I was unaware of before; my only image was of a frail old man who happened to be the religious leader of a billion people, and who had some dangerously conservative views on divorce, contraception and abortion. I have more respect for him after reading about his earlier life in Poland, living through Nazi and Communist oppression. It's a bit late to take any interest now though. Oh well, I hear there'll be a new one. I'm going to see if anyone wants to go to the pub, Hatful Of Hollow has finished. "When you cycled by it began all my dreams; the saddest thing I've ever seen."

Days like these keep me warm

2005-03-29T12:00:00.000Z

I have a feeling this isn't really going to happen until I buy a computer. I just don't get opportunity to write at the moment. Never mind, right now I'm borrowing my housemates' while he is at work -- I booked today and Wednesday off. Cash back. I may as well write a little about what I've been up to recently. I can't remember too far back so I'll start from Thursday night, when I popped down to the Tin Angel for Daydream Nation and then danced around at the Collesseum. I do this every Thursday, so not really that exciting except for the fact that Good Friday was a bank holiday so I was able to drink a bellyful of wine and not worry about work the next day. On Friday, my housemates and I went on a little trip to Birmingham for the day. We wandered around the Museum & Art Gallery for a few hours, had a couple of drinks outside a bar and got some pizza in Brindley Place, saw The Life Aquatic at The Electric Cinema and finished up at The Sunflower Lounge. The Electric Cinema is a fantastic little place I hadn't visited before; It's the oldest working cinema in the UK apparently. On Saturday, after helping to clean up the house a bit, I got a train down to see my girlfriend in Wiltshire. She lives in a lovely little town called Marlborough (more of a village really, it's quite small). We went out to a couple of pubs later on, but unfortunately the only club they have was already full: it's small. I had a great night anyway. On Sunday, we went to a place nearby called Avebury, where they have a Henge: a load of rocks some people set in a big circle 6,000 years ago. It's a really impressive site, and the village inside the circle is charming. We bought cakes and tea. I think it did me good to get some country air. I got a train back to Coventry in the evening, just in time to meet the boys to go to Whitefriars for a pint of ale. When they stopped serving, we went to the Oak Inn and were treated to some wonderfully bad kareoke singing, which we sang along to rather loudly. Yesterday (Bank Holiday again for Easter Monday -- I suppose Jesus is useful for something) the sun was out, so we went to Twycross Zoo. We saw Lions and Leopards, Penguins and Giraffes, Elephants and Monkeys. We ate brie baguettes, plums, oranges and ice cream on the grass. I haven't been to a Zoo for ages; I'd forgotten how much fun it can be. I'm quite aware that so far all I've written is an empty diary of events, without saying anything interesting about, er, anything. It's quite hard when I'm playing catch up all the time. Hopefully I'll write something worth reading soon.

Blue & White Shite

2005-03-20T21:47:00.000Z

Well, it turned out to be an interesting weekend after all. I have just returned from watching my beloved Liverpool beat Everton by two goals to one in the derby at Anfield so I'm feeling somewhat elated right now. The Belle & Sebastian night was just lovely; the DJ played songs by most of my favourite bands, as well as lots of B&S of course. I did other things this weekend too, but I have to get a train back at 0620 in the morning so there isn't time to write any more -- I must sleep.

Pro(b)logue

2005-03-18T15:03:00.000Z

That's right: I'm starting a weblog. Why today? Well, I've taken the day off work, you see, and I have a PC here all to myself. There's only so many games of Premiership Volley one can play -- ridiculously high as that figure seems to be -- before resorting to something (slightly) constructive. I boarded a train to Manchester yesterday evening after work, and I'm currently at my parents' house. I don't have a PC of my own at home in Coventry, so I'm making use of this one while they work. I really should buy a computer, or else this thing could be very sparse. Tonight, I intend to visit a Belle & Sebastian-dedicated night at The Star & Garter, which should be lots of indie fun. I have other exciting things planned for this weekend, but if I write about them now I will have little to say tomorrow or Sunday, so let's just leave it there.