Everything's Swirling » idle nonsense

It makes me feel better #1 – Can’t Be Sure by The Sundays

Andy — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:34:26 +0000

ACDC vs Iron Man II

Andy — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:17:24 +0000

This is just utterly awesome – and don't ignore it because it's AC/DC – it's worth watching even if you can't stand them – and you may even love them at the end of it!

http://bit.ly/aeV2bJ

Posted via email from Supplemental

The Eagle has landed

Andy — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:01:43 +0000

Adam and I have been fascinated by the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. I have vague memories of watching it first time around – although those memories could easily have been of later missions. We’ve spent a lot of time listening to the “as live” broadcasts played on the We Choose the Moon website (although some “as live” telly would have been nicer). An hour or so (+40 years) back the Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility… I was thrilled!

Over the last few days I’ve been randomly using Blip.fm (and The Hype Machine) to post vaguely related songs to Twitter… for no one’s enjoyment of my own and for the same reason I’ll repost here. I was going to create a Spotify playlist but it failed at the first hurdle (ballboy) so I shan’t bother…

1:39 PM Jul 16th: Getting ready for the moon launch by listening to the few space related songs I have – Essential Wear for Future Trips to Space by ballboy ♫ http://blip.fm/~a11ub
4:12 PM Jul 16th: Two hours to launch ~ psycho helmets on ~ Silver Rocket by Sonic Youth ♫ http://blip.fm/~a15of
4:47 PM Jul 16th: Just over an hour to launch – time to load up the Spacemen 3 (sorry!) #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~a16tp
5:31 PM Jul 16th: 30 minutes to launch ~ Space is Deep by Hawkwind #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~a18fv
6:08 PM Jul 16th: Off into outer-space you go my friends, we wish you bon voyage. #apollo11 ~ Galaxie 500 – Moonshot ♫ http://blip.fm/~a1a6k
6:33 PM Jul 16th: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~a1bik
about 10 hours ago from Blip.fm: “Just to be in space would be the important thing” ~ ballboy – A Day in Space #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~a9r38
about 9 hours ago: “It’s time to fly… into life’s mystery” Jonathan Richman http://hypem.com/track/577181 #apollo11 #hypem
about 7 hours ago: The colours of the moon #1 – Pink – Nick Drake – #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~a9xl1
about 7 hours ago: The colours of the moon #[2] – Blue – Big Star – #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~a9xoj
about 7 hours ago: The colours of the moon #3 – Red (and Low) – Belly – #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~a9xuv
about 7 hours ago: “It’s time to go somewhere we’ve never seen” - Luna‘s cover of Jojo’s Fly Into the Mystery http://bit.ly/RX7TB #apollo11
about 6 hours ago: The colours of the moon #4 – White (and Trash) - Kristin Hersh – #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~aa3ct
about 6 hours ago: The colours of the moon #5 – Blue (revisited) – Cowboy Junkies – #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~aa3im
about 1 hour ago: Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed (REM) #apollo11 ♫ http://blip.fm/~aaslv

On reaching 45…

Andy — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:41:16 +0000

Me @ 45 (rpm)

Everything I wrote when I reached 40 still applies – I don’t feel older, maybe a bit more lethargic… or comfortable… but still happy.

Adam bought me an Xbox game that he’s not allowed to play (Left4Dead), Hazel bought me a couple of lovely prints from Etsy. Elaine & Kiek got me a couple of good looking books. Breakfast was Hot + Buns and chocolate fridge cake. Off for a curry later… today I will put on all the weight I’ve lost in the last six months.

Quite looking forward to 50 now…

Nothing to see here

Andy — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:49:16 +0000

Nothing to see here
originally uploaded by grange85

I’ve been rather neglectful of my blog of late – to be honest it’s never been cared for as much as it should be – instead I’ve dipped my toe into the world of Facebook notes, enjoying some of the gratification of knowing that occasionally someone might read my idle ramblings…and possibly even pass comment. If you haven’t and would like to then you can…

20 albums that changed my life

20 Musical Questions

Lost in Space

20 Songs

20 Random Things About Me

I’m done with that now – I’ve come home and will try and get back into the swing of writing things that no one reads.

Ring out the old, ring in the new…ring-a-ding-ding

Andy — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:08:31 +0000

Ever since the Internet gave me the opportunity to pretend that my opinions counted for anything I’ve put together an end of year list that almost no one read. In the years before blogging it was the poor souls of the Galaxie 500 Mailing List who had my idle ramblings delivered to their inbox and on to the recycle bin but the last few years they’ve appeared on my blog where they trouble nobody.

I’d habitually reel off my years fave albums and gigs and ponder on what the next 12 months might bring…but this year I couldn’t be bothered. Maybe it’s because there’s been nothing that truly blew me away – certainly not on album anyway – there’s been lots of albums I’ve liked but I’m not sure there’s been an On Fire or a Penthouse or an Ys that can take my breath away. Or maybe because I can count the gigs I’ve been to using my fingers (although Nina Nastasia in Brighton was breathtaking and most of the other gigs didn’t disappoint). Or maybe I’m just a little tired of trying to ‘rate’ music.

My last.fm charts offer lists of the usual suspects but just so I have an end of year list here are the top 12 abums that last.fm thinks I listened to last year…

…hmm not one of those was released in 2008.

I read a bit more fiction this year (not a great deal but some) and, off the top of my head, my faves were…

And of course there was one outstanding non-fiction book but I’m expecting the paperback version of Dean Wareham‘s Black Postcards to be even better (without that mistake!)

That’ll do – maybe 09 will be a bit more inspiring.

Wordle-ing away my Friday afternoon

Andy — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:18:24 +0000

I’ve been having a scary amount of fun with the lovely Wordle -here’s the last month of A Head Full of Wishes as a beautiful tag cloud…

More of my idlings.

Wikipedia > Britannica because…#1

Andy — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:43:39 +0000

Royal Albert Hall – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia…

Depictions in popular culture
One version of the lewd song “Hitler Has Only Got One Ball” places the dictator’s missing testicle “in the Albert Hall”.

Your search – “hitler has only got one ball” site:britannica.com – did not match any documents.

I’m just leaving work…I hope it isn’t too windy…

Andy — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:45:47 +0000

I’ve resisted Twitter for so long…I joined up a few months ago after succumbing to the barrage of online pressure but never got beyond the registration phase. There are so many problems I have with it…the prime one being “who really gives a chuff what I’m up to?” – maybe Hazel (but I see her every day) but that really is probably about it. That does throw into doubt why I should have this blog but there is a whole difference between speaking your mind (and no one caring) and making 140 character posts about being on the bus or listening to the radio…my life is just not interesting enough.

But anyway – here I am – making those 140 character yawns that no one will care about and wondering if I’ll have a Damascus moment…and it’ll all make sense…

(It aditionally doesn’t help that I almost always forget to have my phone with me)

How sad am I? #1

Andy — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:27:38 +0000

By default WordPress installs a silly little plug-in called “Hello Dolly” that…

…symbolizes the hope and enthusiasm of an entire generation summed up in two words sung most famously by Louis Armstrong: Hello, Dolly. When activated you will randomly see a lyric from Hello, Dolly in the upper right of your admin screen on every page

I dived in and changed the code a little…

How sad am I? The answer is “very”.