Entertainment For Lively Minds
Your Christmas Presents
Posted by David Wright on 28 December 2008 - 12:08pm.
Hope one and all had a good Christmas, here are a few of the items I received, sadly my stylus broke, so I can't listen to any of the vinyl I received just yet. My gifts included:
1) Bob Dylan Greatest Hits (Vinyl)
2) "Mexican Pizza"-Pepe Jaramillo and his Latin American Rhythm (Vinyl)
3) "Stranger On The Shore"-Steve Stannard & His Orchestra (7 inch)
4) "Durham Town"-Roger Whittaker (7 inch)
5) "Born To Run"-Bruce Springsteen (CD)
6) "Songs In A & E"-Spiritualized (CD)
7) One Electric Facial Hair Trimmer
8) Pink Floyd Calender
9) Small Digital Radio
10)"The Man In The Picture" Susan Hill novel.
11) Christmas Tree Candle
- More from David Wright.
- Login or register to post comments
-
You win
1) A set of "mullet power" Top Trumps
2) A subscription to Olive magazine
3) A cat-shaped door stop
4) A copy of The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea by Charles Robert Jenkins
5) A basketful of root vegetables.
That's it.
The book
Did you ask for that one, Fraser or did someone, somehow pick it up on a whim?
I'd never heard of it and just had a look at the synopsis on Amazon where I note it is ranked 192,742 in their book sales.
Admission
It was on my Amazon wishlist - I read books on North Korea in the same way that others follow Harry Potter. If you're interested, Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty by Bradley K. Martin is the daddy.
No? Just me then?
N Korea
It's a society that I can imagine reading about, if only to uncover more of the absurdities that arise for its citiizens. I went to see a recording of the News Quiz a couple of years ago where Francis Wheen reminisced about a visit to North Korea (most of which was edited out because it was quite long) which told of Kim Il Yong's visit to a bowling alley where he played a frame and never having played before still managed a strike with every ball.
Wheenie Whopper
That story is a made-up Chinese newspaper story, just like the one regarding Kim going round a golf course 38 under par. DPRK propaganda about 'The Dear Leader' is often far-fetched, but it's not usually completely daft. The Chinese, however, delight in attributing ridiculous sporting feats to him, stories which everyone else delights in repeating. And if you ask a North Korean about the stories, they'll probably confirm them - anything else would be seen as a slight on Kim's character.
Que?
But aren't the Chinese the only ally that DPRK have in the whole world? Or is it a big brother / dopey little brother relationship? I think the golf course was another part of Wheen's anecdote.
Yes, kind of.
And yes, kind of.
No, me too...
I went to Pyongyang about 10 years ago now - via Beijing - and it was a 'memorable' trip (for want of a better word). About 15 years previously I'd worked in Seoul and travelled up to the DMZ at Panmunjom.
Aha! A fellow traveller!
Did you stay at the Yanggakdo or the Koryo?
Olive magazine - well done
Olive magazine - well done sir! (There's a brilliant one-pager on Michelin meals for under thirty quid coming up in the March edition btw - just thought I'd mention it).
Nice one
1. Haynes Fender Stratocaster manual
2. "All the rest is noise" - Alex Ross
3. Christmas Tree socks
3. Music score printed mug mats, post it notes and pencils from Twang Jr
4. Grumpy Old Men book (David Quantick)
5. 2 jumpers
6. Scarf
Didn't get any vinyl - in fact no music at all! I did, however, watch "Jazz Britannia 3" which reminded me of a splendid thread from a few months ago where someone extolled the delights of John Surman, so I took myself off to iTunes and treated myself to "Private City" which is as perfect a soundtrack for a post Christmas come down as you could wish for.
Ahh, 'Private City'
Such a gorgeous album.
I didn't get any jazz (or much other music) this Christmas, as I think people are scared (possibly rightly so) that I'd have already bought what they're thinking of getting.
(This can lead to some nice surprises, though - like the Bill Bailey 'Tinselworm' DVD. Result!)
I did get the Abba albums boxset, though. (Fantastic, although I'm still not sure I could watch 'Mamma Mia'.) And some money - which I think will go on the Move Anthology box.
Dear God
A Strat modder walks among us.
Now...about my truss rod....
There's a Haynes for the Strat?????
Jeeze, I wish I'd known that when I decided to change the pickup on my copy. I have never given myself more soldering iron burns in one sitting than I did that day.
Indeed there is
...helps having a brother in law that works at Waterstones. He is on constant red alert for stuff to do with music around Christmas/birthday time. It is a splendid read actually even though my Strat is in irritatingly good health - but the truss rod on my old copy is trembling with anticipation...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-Stratocaster-Manual-Maintain-Electric/dp/...
My top tip is the series wiring mod which isn't in the Haynes but is on the net. Fab!
Nowt (sob!)
Well, I'm away in Italy, so that's fair enough. Bought myself a present after my I-Pod wiped every single song off itself and I was left musicless. What was it, you're probably not wondering? It was the very wonderful 'The Royal Scam' by Steely Dan, which is my one album here in Florence.
Noticing your newly-acquired 'Electric Facial Hair Trimmer'...
has reminded me of the trauma I suffered when my mum bought me a nasal hair trimmer for my 15th birthday. The shame haunts me to this day...
Nasal Passages
Have tried it once, but it tickles, not that I have a nasal hair problem, but like dusting stereo separates, one has to keep on top on it before it gets out of hand. Italy in Christmas, sounds delightful!
15?
You were precocious.
I didn't get around to buying mine until way past my 30th birthday, after I couldn't fail to notice that visits to the barber now included a quick inner ear trim.
I bought some for my Dad's birthday that same year, and he was absolutely delighted with them. I think it's the most successful gift I've ever given him.
Me:
A couple of bottles of wine, some books, some sweet things, a set of chilli sauces, a jumper. A decent haul, and, unusually, nothing which made me think, 'Has the person giving this ever met me?'
Yes...
Couldn't grow a beard but there were bastard hairs aplenty protruding from the old conk.
A Casualty Of Christmas
I had a nose bleed at work this morning and suspect it may be overuse of the facial trimmer on the right nostril. Will have to curb my enthusiasm for this new electronic wonder of the modern age. Mind you, I have suffered from nose bleeds for years, so the trimmer may not be to blame. It killed quarter of an hour at work though.
mmmmm.....pressies
Kubrick box set - Lolita thru to Eyes Wide Shut.
David Simon Book- Homicide; a year on the killing streets.
Zidane - DVD
Paul Heaton - Cross eyed Rambler
Roxy Music - Country Life
Al green - greatest hits
Nico - Chelsea girls
Book - Occult London
Book - Richard Pryor- pryor convictions.
Christmas presents
Rolling Stones "Shine A Light' DVD
Neil Young recent live acoustic CD
A voucher to design & build your own Monopoly set
Aimee Mann Christmas CD
Bottle of Jack Daniels
QI Book of Quotations ("No sane man will dance " Cicero - so you are in good company Patrick!)
And, best of all, it's my birthday tomorrow so I get to do it all over again ...
It was my birthday recently too, so...
Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977 - oh yes
Tell Mama: The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions - Etta James
It's Too Late To Stop Now - Van Morrison
25 All Time Greatest Hits - Joe Tex
Dirty Laundry: The Soul Of Black Country
More Dirty Laundry: The Soul Of Black Country
Warren Zevon - the remaster of his first album
I'm Not There - the Todd Haynes film
The Wire, Series 5
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life And Times Of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon
Scarf
Pants
Socks
Happy Man here....
I got a Drobo (for those who don't know it's an external storage with RAID 5 expandable storage) which now has a couple of 1.5TB drives in and is holding my iTunes library, which links into another pressie - an Airport Express which is now streaming my complete library to the amp in the main room from my iMac.
Other than that, an Amazon voucher, which the kids seem to have decided should be used for Dr Who series 4.
For a moment there
I thought you'd received a Dobro for Christmas, which would have made me very jealous.
I was so relieved to read on and discover that that you'd actually got some thingamajig for storing tunes.
A nice thought.....
A nice thought, but as my musical talents extend to pressing play on the old CD machine (or now on iTunes) and I don't believe there are many resonator guitars with built in MP3 storage (yet ??), I'll stick withe my spelling.......
Farewell to CDs
Chris
Being a smart Mac fan an' all, you probably know this already. But for the benefit of anyone else considering taking the leap into a similar set-up, may I suggest the following:
* Import CDs losslessly (I use Apple Lossless), not as MP3s. The difference is enormous, especially over extended listening sessions. You ears will thank you. It does take up more capacity on the external hard drive, but you'll still get about 3,000 albums on 1TB.
* Consider a DAC between your Airport Express and your preamp. I have a Benchmark DAC1, but I'm told the Beresford TC-7510 is excellent, and at 100 quid, it's a steal.
* If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can use it as a remote control in your listening room.
* Check out Rogue Amoeba Airfoil, a cool program that lets you stream audio to your hifi through your Airport Express without having to use iTunes. Mucho fun, if you're into treasure troves like Wolfgang's Vault.
All the best,
Davie H.
Thanks
I am starting to use the Apple Lossless codec instead of MP#, but with >20 thousand tracks already imported (took me almost a year !) I fear its too big a job to redo them all.
I have hooked up the airtunes via the optical connection (the Apple Stereo connection kit is worth the money for the optical cable alone) and that goes into an old external DAC that I had been using with the CD player - an Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine.
Using the iPhone as a remote is very cool - especially as the app is free from Apple !!
I'll check out the Rogue kit....
A bike
A feisty 21-speed, dual-suspension jobby - i.e. twenty speeds and two smooth bounces more than I expect I'm actually going to need.
Something terrible seems to have happened to the design of bicycles since my last one - a Raleigh Roustabout (check actual model name) - some forty years ago. When I took the streamlined new beast out for its inaugural run yesterday, it took me fifteen minutes just to get my leg over the crossbar. I'm considering taking the matter to the consumer-protection people, because groin strain and acute embarrassment are two features I had no intention of investing in.
Perhaps an oven glove wouldn't have been so bad after all.
or an ice pack
Presumably by now, Archie, you will also have discovered that saddle technology has moved on in the last 40 years, in ways that don't particularly benefit the middle-aged male undercarriage.
Do you mean the gel-filled thong?
I assumed that was just the support for the real saddle, which is hidden among all the other apparently essential accessories that the Sleek Beast came with and I haven't got round to unpacking yet.
And why do all cycling helmets make you look like a sperm in an old Woody Allen film?
A month's worth of fencing lessons
plus a direct debit for future classes from Mrs Madrid, plus a fair amount of kit from the in-laws...
I expressed a vague interest a few weeks ago and now rather a lot of money has been spent on me, so I feel a certain sense of not entirely welcome obligation... The long-lost teeneager in me was of course hoping for lots DVDs and music but my current adult incarnation is hoping this will get me off my arse and approaching something like fitness and health again.
My daughters (4 and 2 years old) got me a box set of John Ford DVDs (how did they know?) Obviously very advanced for their ages...
Didn't He Do Well
Forgot to mention I also received "The Five Doctors" DVD. My brother did extremely well; a ticket to see Franz Ferdinand in London in March and a meal at Fifteen. Looks like I will be accompanying him.
Finally one cannot forget the memorable gift from my employer; one Terrys Chocolate Orange.
A woolies gift voucher...
the south african woolies thankfully. Loads of good red wine, super boggle and undies.
Neil Young's
1968 Sugar Mountain CD. Very good it is too. Now bring on those archives!
Guitar Hero
World tour including microphone and drum kit. Really cool - now i can really live my fantasy axe hero dreams.
We dreamed America - Dvd - continues my new obsession with Alabama 3.
Best of the Two Ronnies Dvd.
Some People are crazy - The John Martyn story (Book)
We dontknow what we're doing - Adrian Chiles (Book)
No music but usually treat myself - best of Pulp is cheap on Amazon and I quite fancy the Peter Green Anthology.
The Chiles
book is excellent. The best in that vein since Fever Pitch.
** SPOILER **
As I was reading it I was thinking "doesn't his wife put up with a lot?". It didn't come as much of a surprise when I heard that they had separated.
Not surprising
Adrian Chiles has that something that would lead one to imagine the Divorce Courts looming... ie a fairly average-looking man in his 30s, who probably never had great success with women, quite suddenly becoming famous and wealthy and well connected. Seperates from wife soon after. Hmmm, funny that.
My pressies...
An owl-flying day
The complete Ronnie Barker DVD box set - Porridge, Going Straight, Open All hours, Clarence, etc
A minimoog
A Japanese 'puchi-puchi' bubble-wrap popping simulator
Some socks
It's a time for giving
Me - a pair of shorts
2 books - Stephen Fry's America and Gladwell's Outliers.
One of my 7 year-old son's presents was a NZ version of Monopoly, which was great fun to play again after all these years. The young 'un was reckless with his money and not at all tactical. I was a bit careful and tactical but didn't get the breaks, whereas Grandad turned into Donald Trump.
Just as Grandad was ruthlessly demanding a bankruptcy-inducing $21m in rent from my son (whose bottom lip was quivering by now), his mother insisted that she needed the table for Christmas Dinner. So an honourable draw was declared.
'The young 'un was reckless with his money...
and not at all tactical.' I wouldn't worry, sounds like he has just the qualities necessary for a career in banking.
Is it an exchange thing
or is NZ on the verge of property crash $ 21 million in rent, what happened to £60 for old kent road?
Move with the times, Daddio!
It was the 2008 NZ "Here and Now" edition. You get $2m just for passing GO in this version!
Check the box
have not got the version for another country with Z in the name Zimb....
lack of coordination
santa wasn't talking to his elves I fear.
the smiths best of x 2
2 x wallender novels
next the I am 12 section:
a big of book of pictures and diagrams of spitfires
a big book of 2000 ad reprints
a cricket bat and a catapult (well maybe not the last 2)
we are DIY familly so homemade pickles, marmalade and biscuits.
oh and a new thick duvet (our joint present)
all of which where gratefully recieved.
Looks like amazon might be sourcing the music this year.
Mine included.....
A jumper
Socks
2 Waterstones Vouchers
Voucher for Eason (Irish book, and mag, shop)
Shaving stuff
Wine
Elvis Sun Sessions CD (Which I have on very scratchy vinyl!)
From my GLW two of the best!
The Wire Complete Series Boxset
FIFA 09 for PSP (which I have played far too much, and as a result my hands no longer work!)
From myself!
An octave pedal for my bass, so that I can make every band that I play with sound like Paul Young did in 1984!
You *are* Pino Palladino
..and I claim my 5 pounds
And he...
rarely uses it, or the fretless, nowadays! I'm sure that I'll find some cover band that will oblige me!!
Now, that Sun Sessions CD...
Can I ask a question? Is there a truly satisfying CD release out there which sounds as good as those lovely, reverb-drenched vinyl recordings? I grew up with my parents' record, which was this one:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ELVIS-PRESLEY-sun-collection-lp-vinyl-uk-rca-1979-...
But the same album on CD has had all the reverb taken off. The same with this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Rock-Roll-Complete-Masters/dp/B001I8V61U/re...
And this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunrise/dp/B001HC0A96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusi...
And, I'm guessing, this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elvis-At-Sun/dp/B001HACYPG/ref=sr_f3_1?ie=UTF8&s...
Now, I know that it's probably more historically accurate this way - actually, it may not be - but I miss the reverb. That's how those songs were introduced to me, and to hear That's All Right or Good Rockin' Tonight without that hair-raising Sun echo just doesn't quite cut it.
So, are you happy with your Sun CD, Humphrey? Do you know what I mean or am I talking the most inane and pedantic amount of bollocks?
I do know...
what you mean,and the songs don't have as much reverb (I think it's called 'slap back echo' but I could be wrong!) on them. I don't know why they do this, as the echo was put on to give the music an edgier sound. I had a listen today, but it just doesn't stand up to the vinyl version. Neither do any of the others you mention, I have them all! The vinyl copy you mention was my first proper album, bought for me by my grandmother. I still listen to it today, and, this probably sounds stupid, but I'm even used to the scratches on it!!
Thanks
Good to know it's not just me.
Close Shave
I also received some shaving stuff and some shaving cream from the Body Shop. Still cut myself Christmas Morning mind.
Don't laugh!
The only music on my "list" this year* was Hucknalls trib to Bobby Blue Bland, and so it was duly received. I already have the dble best of BBB and wished to hear Mr H's pipes see if they could do justice. I have reached an age where I can forgive a twat if the content is OK. Answer: a yes. Slightly dodgy arrangements, with an especially oblique "Stormy Monday" but the boy can sing like a dream and I am well pleased. "I pity the fool" is as good a version as I have ever heard.
Otherwise? Shirts, chilli sauce (me too!), a bottle of the Macallan, "The man who ate the world" by Jay Rayner, an updated Roger Melly profanisaurus (the Magna Farter, as it is satirically entitled) and an electronic picture frame.
*Having bought the entire weight of Fatty Arbuckle in CDs this year, I felt it somehow too much of a busmans holiday to ask for more......)
Most of my hints paid off
The Police - Certifiable Live DVD. Never got to see them last year on their reunion tour. This is a really rather good record of a live show in Buenos Aires. Great sound. Good direction. Copeland remains a fantastic drummer. Sting sounds marvellous but will allow himself to be interviewed sitting in the lotus position holding a lute much too often.
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes. Praised to the limit everywhere. Will start it soon.
Sonic Unleashed. For the Wii. I haven't played Sonic for at least 15 years. Pleased to report he makes all the same noises he did on the Megadrive. (I'm not much of a gamer to be honest but it's nice to dabble)
Will be spending the monies kindly given on 'Shine a Light' and Richard Price's 'Lush Life'
You wrote...
"Sting sounds marvellous but will allow himself to be interviewed sitting in the lotus position holding a lute much too often."
I chortled.
I try
My only wish is to serve you all.
I like his voice and The Police stuff lit my candle. What was not to like? Guitar, bass and drums all being soundly handled.
But he's from Wallsend. Not that anyone's place of birth should dictate their choice of instrument or sitting position of course.
Very satisfied with my goodies from Santa...
"Return of The Dancing Master" Swedish crime novel by Henning Mankell
"The Fallen" Dave Simpson tracks down ex-members of The Fall, must have taken him years...and years...
"Bounder!" The Terry Thomas biography by Graham McCann
"Minder" Series 6 DVD, nearly got the lot now (not counting the awful series after Dennis Waterman left).
Electric Facial Hair Trimmer
Their second album is my all time favourite...
/coat
got some great pressies this
got some great pressies this year, a set of penguin great ideas books (very cool) , loads of boots anti ageing stuff which is handy as i'm 28 and still get asked for id in tesco, socks and pants useful as all mine have got holes in, sadly no jumpers but i did get a subscription to word
Subscription to Word - ditto
The gift that keeps on giving!
Also
Matachin - new Cd from the mighty Bellowhead
preview bottle for the next release of 10yr Bowmore (no I didn't know they did those either)
Books (Revelation by CJ Sansom and the new Bernard Cornwell) and socks from the kids
Thanks to recommendations from the massive box sets of Battlestar Galactica and Band of Brothers
Bottle of Ardbeg
Bottles of wine
1001 albums to hear before you die - so should be filling in the bits of the eighties and nineties I seem to have missed!
Santa got my Amazon wishlist....
....so no surprises for me.
Joe Jackson - Rain(cd/dvd)
Randy Newman - Songbook Vol 1(cd)
Barenaked Ladies - Stunt(cd)
Neil Young - Sugar Mountain(cd)
Don Winslow - The Winter of Frankie Machine(book)
and a voucher for Waterstones which I will spend in Stirling later this afternoon. Zavvi is next door to Waterstones so I'll probably drop in there and see what they are giving away.
Lower back trauma
caused by dropping ill-advisedly and way too forcefully to my knees mid-solo while playing my nephew's Guitar Hero.
It was Hotel California, the bit where the second guitar joins in. Try it: you'll do the same.
Always find me in the kitchen...
I got quite a lot of cookery books including Heston Blumenthal's The Big Fat Duck Cookbook from the Mr. Snail Porridge all round!
Cook books
Are you going to risk it in the kitchen? You can always tell which cookbooks get used in out house from the spatter marks etc.
While I appreciate it is a cookbook and something to be used rather than admired, at the price your loved one paid the thought of a splash of a ragout over it is a bit disconcerting.
The Kitchen
A mate of mine once met Jonah Lewie in the kitchen at a party. Apparently Mr L didn't see the funny side.
In among the usual socks and ties from well-meaning children, I received (from my wife) thought-provoking books of a musical angle. Besides Philip Norman's Lennon job, which I'll either get round to reading or hollow out into a shed (it's bigger than my head), a couple of theorems: This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin (former producer turned neuroscientist) and Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. They're certainly informing the recording of the new Howl Griff album, which continues apace...
the news that
my partner and our unborn son are going to be ok - they were allowed home after 2 weeks in hospital. The rest is tinsel.
Pleased to hear it
That's the sort of news you want and it puts everything else in perspective. I hope they prosper in the New Year and the birth goes smoothly.
cheers Carl
all the best to you and yours for the New Year.
My pressies included
- CDs - both reveiwed in Word recently
- The new Move Anthology
- A surf, drag and garage instrumental compilation
- Village Green Preservation Society - but I asked for Arthur, so now have 2 copies
- DVDs - Takin over the Asylum, Our friends in the North (hope its as good as I remember !), Green Wing Xmas special
- An ipod docking station, that I didn't realise I wanted until I started to use it...
- Sweeties and calenders
- And to satisfy my girly side jewellry, perfume and gift cards (TKMaxx and M&S)!
PS - good news for the poster above me !
Thanks Janice
OFitN - I remember that being ace, too.
Tosca!
OFitN is magical. Ideal series for word to do a piece on. Would love to read an interview with Ecclestone, Mckee and the Bond fella about their memories and feeling for the show now
Found by my beloved on ebay
Oven gloves with "Joy Division" embroidered on them. I grin everytime I use them.
A good year for socks and biscuits
I retired to my sickbed on Christmas afternoon and, as a result, only opened my presents a couple of hours ago. This year I received:
Nine pairs of socks (Every year my parents buy me socks in the hope that I will stop wearing the old ones where my toes stick out).
A packet of 15 Tung Ting Oolong Tea temples
A packet of 15 Spiced Winter Red Tea temples
(These are both manufactured by a company called Teapigs. My brother chose to illustrate the gift tag with his terrifying vision of what it will be like if pigs ever develop a taste for tea.)
A pair of pants, modelled on the box by a perfectly-toned specimen of masculinity. Worn by me, they are likely to look less impressive.
A pair of trousers with numerous pockets.
The kind of heavy woollen jumper that might drag a fisherman to his watery grave and thereafter become a habitat for corals and sponges.
A loofah
A Cadbury’s selection box (This is the only thing I ask for)
A £20 HMV gift card
A tin of Quality Street
A tin of M&S Biscuits
A T-shirt
The Ice Wanderer and other stories by Jiro Taniguchi
A manga anthology titled: Japan
A box of Zum Fest biscuits
Your brother...
is a nifty little artist.
Some really highbrow stuff above here isn`t there?
I`m much more mainstream though.
Extras DVD boxset. Johnnie Walker autobiography. Julie Walters autobiography. After shave x 4. Clinique stuff. Bottle of port. Bottle of JD. Panasonic Lumix camera. Bendicks mints. Socks. Scarf. Professional cork screw. Robert Mondavi Zinfandel (thats been sank already, obviously). Darts for the Wii. I`m a happy guy. Happy New Year y`all.
Let me see . . .
A-Z map of London
Blue jumper
A towel
Toothbrush holder
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
A vintage year then.
no Joy Division oven gloves for me (i'm jealous), but i got..
The Fallen (finished last night & thoroughly enjoyed) - i've started re-listening to the cds in order - currently Bend Sinister. top stuff
Goodbye 20th Century - Sonic Youth book
The Danned Utd
At Swim-Two-Birds book (after it being mentioned in 33 1/3 Swordfishtrombones)
The American Friend & Flight of the Red Balloon DVDs - enjoyed both in the cinema this year
Trost cd (thanks to Word)
a Gene Vincent collection
a pair of pants
...a good year. Hope everyone enjoys tonight. Take care
I got for Christmas a new sign of early dementia
I gave my old man the same book I gave him 3 years ago.... I now realise why it looked so perfect.
are you Karl Burns,
kb?
I was so good this year..
.... I got the entire Frasier box set, all 11 seasons
A spanking new Digital Camera
A rather fetching new coat
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
John Lennon: A Life by Phillip Norman
and a partidge in a pear tree
Hmmm does this say anything about Christmas and I?
Christmas:
1 x Amazon voucher (dividing it between books, CDs and DVDs)
1 x HMV voucher
1 x bottle of Pimms
1 x bottle of lemonade
1 x box of chocolates
2 x pair of gloves
2 x hats
2 x pair of Eeyore socks
2 x pair of pyjamas
Birthday three days after:
1 x LUSH voucher
1 x big box of chocolates from Hotel du Chocolat
1 x Eeyore from Clintons
1 x Eeyore keyring
1 x TARDIS keyring
1 x bag of bath bombs
1 x handbag
Loads-a-good-books...
Without A Glimmer Of Remourse - Pino Cacucci
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - Steven Jay Schneider
The Adventures Of Arthur Conan Doyle - Russell Miller
the little black book of MOVIES
Hollywood Foto-Rhetoric - Bob Dylan/Barry Feinstein
The Clash - The Clash
And a pair of nice suede gloves from me Mam.
Happy Birthday to the baby Jeebus
AC/DC - Black Ice (CD)
Metallica - Death Magnetic (CD)
Both of these were on my list more out of a sense of duty than a genuine desire to hear the albums. Both these groups now fall into the "I feel obliged to have their new album" category rather than "I want to have their new album". I have yet to listen to them.
David Sedaris - When you are engulfed in flames (Book)- this guy is new to me. I heard him interviewed on Jonathan Ross's radio show a few months ago and thought he sounded interesting. My first impression is that he makes me want to write because he makes it look so easy.
Michael Parkinson's autobiography - something out of left field from my parents.
A new shoulder bag for carting my lap top and sandwiches about.
A selection of fillums on Blu-ray:
Wall E
The Dark Knight
The Matrix Trilogy
A Waterstones voucher - since traded in for the Alan Coren collection.
Old Harry's Game Volume 1 (CD)
Sedaris
I too am in the thrall of the man and netted Naked and Me Talk Pretty Some Day. His New Yorker articles are also worth a browse - http://www.newyorker.com/search/query?bylquery=David%20Sedaris&sort=publ...
You'll enjoy Wall-E, that was my 'stumble upon' fillum of the year, I wasn't expecting much from it and found it an absolute joy.
Only CD was 801 Live, one of my all time fave albums now with extras, sadly it has still to arrive from pdotc.
That Amazon wish list paid off
The Wire (Season 5)
Homicide - David Simon
Tokyo Year Zero - David Peace
I Shot a Man in Reno - Graeme Thompson
The Clangers (Series 2)
44 disc box set of the West Wing
xmas 08
Happy with my lot
Doctor Who Series 4 Box set
Wall E
Vouchers for local department store
2 * Malt whisky (Talisker 6 Glen Livet)
The Wii + Wii Fit I bought for the wife
But I did order the West Wing box set and Elbow - Seldom Seem Kid from Amazon to see what the fuss is about in the Amazon sales
My Pressies
I too got the Move Anthology and the two Trickster albums on Jap Import (Guilty Pleasure but thatnk you to the mate who thought of those).
I'd put loads of effort into buying presents and got back I Tunes Vouchers.
Am I interested in Watching "Yes Man".
No.
Good Night.
Guitar Hero 3 - Christmas Present
Bloody Hell !!!
What do I do with this???
It's a weird one, isn't it?
Naively, I thought this a tool for budding air guitarists, being quite disappointed that is is no more than a computer game along the lines of most others: rather than duplicating your car around a race track quicker and with fewer bumps than your opponent, you have to mimic the licks quicker and more accurately than your opponent, by pressing buttons on the guitar or drum consoles. Where's the joy in that, even if it paid for the Word staff Xmas lunch, courtesy the much maligned advertorial of some months back?
Much maligned advertorial?
I must have missed the maligning. I thought it was easily one of the better examples of its type, although I can imagine next time they try to sell one in there'll be some wazzock from Lucozade demanding pics of every staffer enthusiastically guzzling said pop. ("Well, you did it for them...")
As below
"I don't like the advertising feature
and noticed one for the first time in Word with the Guitar Hero piece. These are designed to appear as an article and yet they are an ad. Q used to do about 5 or 6 per edition (I say used to as I no longer subscribe and this was part of the reason).
Ads are fine with me - I know what they are and can process the information. And if an ad has 4 q stars, Mojo saying its good and then I read the Word review, I do feel that it gives me more info. Release dates are also useful as they are rarely mentioned as part of a review.
But please stop the ad that pretends to be an article. Its just not what I expect from Word.
reply
Lee Rimmer | 18 June 2008 - 1:46pm"
3rd response in the below, leading to a lot of hear hearing.
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/adverts-music-mags
Thanks
Thanks for the link, RP2. Must say I agree that it would be better if the Advertising Promotion didn't exist but that's a naive thing to wish for.
My experience chimes with Fraser's – that editorial don't like it half as much as the advertisers do – but everybody *knows* it's a game (literally, in this case). And as I say I've read much much worse.
Agree also that there's too many in Q but they have to prop up the dear struggling old thing somehow, and not just by hiring everyone with a keyboard as Associate Editor. Enough of them, though: for an ad promo, the Guitar Hero piece was more entertaining, imaginative and thoughtful than the vast majority I've read. Fitting for Word, then.
A holiday!
Mrs Diz and I decided to pass on pressies this year and instead went away to France for a few days for some good walking, good food and wine and warm sunshine!
Happy New Year to all.