Entertainment For Lively Minds
grac's blog
A fool and his money...
Just received an email from Sony alerting me to this:
http://www.boxofvision.com/products/106701-bob-dylan-archive?utm_source=...
As a man of a certain age I'm already tempted. Any other takers?
A tip for would be subscribers.
To the right of this page is panel which tells you that if you subscribe today you will receive the new Decemberists CD. Its probably the best free gift you'll ever get so if for no other reason subscribe NOW. That is all.
Men Of A Certain Age
David Hepworth mentions this US programme in the current issues Home Service section. As he says it really should be picked up by a British broadcaster but as its now into its second season its probably missed that boat. I'm not sure if its been shown on cable or satellite as I only have Freeview and have had to download it from the US iTunes Store. Yes, it really is worth that amount of effort, the best new series I've watched in a long time.
I will defend the BBC till my dying day but
whoever it is that keeps giving money to Enfield & Whitehouse needs shooting! The Beatles sketch that just closed tonights episode was probably the least funny thing I've ever seen in a comedy programme although the rest of their material ran it bloody close!
First impressions of my new Sonos system
Well, thanks to help from the Massive (particularly JohnW) I took the plunge and invested in a Sonos system. Set up was largely a breeze although it took me a little while to correctly get my NAS up and running but I can't blame Sonos for that (I'm a little thick when it comes to networks!). Anyway, its running smoothly now so heres what I think about it.
IT'S BLOODY MARVELLOUS! The sound quality is everything I hoped it would be and as for the controller (I'm using the iPhone & iPad apps), its probably the best remote I've ever used. Very simple & straightforward, I especially like the ability to queue and sequence your music which seems to work flawlessly. Spotify was the kicker for me getting the Sonos and its simply fantastic! The ability to have the Spotify catalogue at ones fingertips AND streaming all around my flat has had me smiling all week! The radio feature works great too and the fact that BBC 'Listen Again' shows are available is just the icing on the cake.
The only problem I've had is getting some of the album artwork to display but thats because I've scanned my CD covers at too high a res I think, once I've corrected that it should be ok.
Overall though, very happy and I can certainly see why someone on here mentioned that its almost impossible to find a bad review of Sonos!
Sonos query
Apologies if this has been discussed previously but as Spotify is now available on Sonos I've decided to jump in but I'm a little confused as to what I'd need so any help would be appreciated. I have a my hi fi (standard issue amp, speakers, etc) located in the lounge near my BT Broadband router. My flat isn't particularly big so would I be correct in thinking a ZonePlayer 90 connected to my router & Hi Fi and a ZonePlayer S5 - all controlled by the iPhone/iPad app - be enough to get me going? Another thing that is puzzling me is how I then stream my music from my computer (Mac running iTunes) which would have to be wirelessly as the Mac is in the spare room. Is this even possible? All help gratefully received. Cheers!
Kershaw returns!
This cheered me up no end! Glad he's turned his life around and it'll be great to hear his voice on the radio again. Well done that lad!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/23/andy-kershaw-radio-3-music-p...
Occasionally a music related story can really cheer you up...
I come to praise him...
Morrissey that is! Had the great pleasure to see him in Hull last night (although the less said about the venue the better). Was my eighth time I think and, by a country mile, the best. I don't wish to debate his worth or why his band are not a patch on his previous combo - a point I strongly disagree with by the way (and I LOVE the Smiths). No, I wish to praise the mans voice. After all the stick Dylan gets for his failing pipes on this blog I wanted to say what a wondrous thing Moz's voice has become. Simply amazing and it just seems to be getting better and better. Am afraid the poster some way down here who sold his tickets has made a terrible mistake, Moz is as good as he's ever been and you owe it to yourself to see him in his (and the bands) current pomp.
Spotify's dilemma in a nutshell!
"The problem is what's proven to be the successful part is the free bit."
I LOVE Spotify but the free option is really all you need so how can they keep going? Does anyone think this will work?
Bill Hicks
Am ashamed to say I don't own any CD's despite admiring the guy for years. As he's come up in the Duffy thread below, which has SO incensed me tonight (jesus, she needs to cut that crap out right away before those pricks ruin her career), where should I start with Bill's stuff? iTunes is open and ready to go so please point me in the right direction. Cheers!
For no other reason...
than this is STILL ****ing marvellous!
Apologies if this has been reported here already.
I've only just seen that yet another of rocks forgotten foot soldiers has passed away.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-dewey-martin6-2009feb06,0,7...
Spotify link here:
http://open.spotify.com/artist/3eskO5m0H4yiF64vRySBjr
Great band, great drummer.








