Addendum

Ok, well I thought more about the issues that I was blogging about the other day, and I just wanted to add a few points. I wasn't in a very good mood so my arguments weren't very balanced. Also my dad sent me an email which made some good points I agree with so I thought Id add them.

Basically, I know the majority of pop has always been lame, with a minority of some listenable bands there (Dad mentioned the Arctic Monkeys and I mentioned Amy Whinehouse)
and all music is a question of taste (beauty in the eye of the beholder etc.). Think back to the 60s, I mean I don't really like the Beatles, but compared to the old crooners who were around when they started out, they were miles ahead in terms of talented song writing and making enjoyable music. So there has always been crap pop and reasonably listenable pop in my eyes. But I still think I want to know why all the music that has really changed my life, that has really helped me express my emotions, is so unknown and unrecognised when compared to the Crazy Frog.

I mean some people argue that for something to be liked by a lot of people, it has to be really bland and formulaic. Maybe the reason I like the music I do, and it expresses my emotions so well, is that I've felt the emotions the people who made the music felt, and with great skill they've managed to put these feelings into music. And so when I hear the music, I recognise the emotions, were as other people just don't, it just sounds like noise. And because a limited number of people can relate to that music, it has a niche following. This is one theory. Another, is that most people just don't like emotional music... everyone has something they want from their music, and some people don't want to release emotions through music, they just simply want something that is happy or something with a good beat to dance too. Or with Hip hop, maybe they just want something with intelligent lyrics that make them think or laugh. I suppose there are a lot of different layers to this, since people like the same music for different reasons, there is no one reason why we do or don't like something. And different people like to be challenged on different levels.

So, in hindsight, I really just want to know why most people don't seem to like challenging music. That is what I felt when I heard what was in the charts, I felt it was unchallenging, Id heard it all before done better. Maybe some people manage to find something in it, but right now, I don't, and I wonder why. As I said before, my conclusion is either I'm out of touch with what most people find challenging in music, or good challenging music isn't making it into the charts anymore. Ok, well I hope that has made things a bit clearer.

Now, back to Apple.... basically, my beef isn't just to do with the MacBook Air, but just the whole company's general attitude, which I believe I sort of touched on, but didn't really explore last time. Their just becoming even worse then Microsoft in terms of monopoly... their stupid iPhones and iPods that only work with iTunes, and iTunes music that has DRM so you can't do whatever you want with it. The iPhone only works on one mobile operator and the contract has to be for at least 18 months. If I remember correctly, the Germans threw a fit when the iPhone was released, and Apple were forced to reduce the contract and consider letting people unlock the phones to let people use them on other networks to escape the wrath of German anti-monopoly laws. And last I heard you can't get the iTunes service in France at all, because the French government said: if you pay for music, you should be able to do whatever you want with it, and put it on rival mp3 players. Apple didn't like that, so they just never released a French iTunes.

If Microsoft released stuff that was equally incompatible, people would be up in arms. I mean people bang on about how rubbish Vista is, but it still runs more software then Macs. Apple has used Microsoft-style tactics to completely buy up the smartphone and mp3 player markets, and people still get excited about their next release and journalist's eat out of the palms of their hands, unlike Microsoft who if you ask me, have received an unfair amount of criticism. I've used Vista, its installed on Jamie's PC (also note it is also the 64 bit version, which has less compatibility then the normal 32bit version) and we've never had any problems with it. Apart from it didn't like his old USB wireless dongle, but oh well, they only cost 20 quid for a new one. I bet no third party wireless dongles work with Macs...

Blarg

Ok my blogs are very ranty today, sorry. Probably in a really bad mood. Not sure why. I wish I had something more positive and enlightening to write, but very little has happened in my life recently, I've just been sat around at home with Hazel, or at lectures. I've been avoiding the outside world because of half term and valentines day, both of which just seem to spawn lots of annoying people doing annoying things in my face when I walk around outside. Also there is starting to be some mothers day stuff in the shops and I don't know how to feel about it. Memories from this time last year are starting to come back to me and it makes me withdraw. I'm managing to go to lectures and get some work done and look after myself. I get quite angry sometimes and just like to be alone, other times i just become all needy and need company. Just depends what sort of day I've had really. Jamie going back to London this week has made me quite down this week as well. I know its whats best for him, and he needs to be with his family for now (because his granddad has just died of throat cancer FYI) and now he is not at uni any more he needs a job. But I still miss him a lot because he was probably one of the main people I talked to, and he was always in, so I felt like i needed to talk to someone, he was always there. I should be OK though, normally one of the girls is in, its just one less person to talk to.

Apple sux

Apple's new MacBook Air sounds like complete wank. Its got: an aluminium case that apparently causes interference with its WiFi, and by the way, the WiFi is the only networking its got. No ethernet, cos ethernet isn't cool enough for Jobby anymore. And 1 USB port, because having lots of things plugged into it makes it look ugly and usable. We don't want that, thats not the Apple way.

No DVD/CD drive, so no films or music, unless you buy and download them from Apple over its shitty WiFi using iTunes. Only you can't do that, because its only got an 80gb hard disk. It has a 2 and a half our battery life, and thats without any external things plugged into it, which you'll obviously need because its so under-featured. And the screen looks small.
And you get all this joy and more for £1,200. Go look on Dell's website and see what that gets you.

Unless Apple suddenly completely changes overnight, I don't honestly think I will ever buy one of their products. For the amount they charge, it just simply isn't worth it.

Music

Urgh the music most people listen too sucks.

I just took one look at the top 40 and was like "I wouldn't listen to any of this." I get exposed to more pop then normal these days because of Hazel, but she played me the top 3 singles and their all awful. I can barely stand to listen to them, let alone buy them. Did you know the biggest selling single of 2007 was Arvil Lavigne's "Girlfriend"? Ok, maybe the singles charts have never been a bastion of good taste, but seriously: the decline of modern music in the last few years is just shocking. No wonder record sales are down 10% in 2007, its not cos of the piracy, its because there is no good pop music to buy.

Fortunately, I'm fine with my own music for now, I currently have a long list of metal I'm interested in and about 10gbs of music that needs to be listened to for the first time. Ok, it might not all be good, but some of it should be. And a lot of it is new, so there are clearly still a lot of good metal bands around making good metal. The question that really begs to be answered, is why does most of Jo Public like such crap music? I honestly don't get how people can listen to most of it. Ok, Amy Whinehouse and Kate Nash, although aren't my taste, I understand why someone would like them. Same way I can understand when women say a guy is hot, I can normally see what they mean. But with the current top 40... I can't see why anyone would fork out any money for it at all.

I honestly don't know whats to blame with pops decline, maybe its the Crazy frog, I mean if that hell spawn can be number one for 17 weeks (or however long it actually was), maybe that just opened the gates of hell and let all this shit infest the charts. I'm even disgusted at the most liked bands on the Aber network on facebook.... 1. Muse and like Oasis at 3... i mean their listenable... but I wouldn't buy it.... Clearly I'm just out of touch with most pop listeners and mainstream radio friendly music, but I'm not the only one. The last CD I got with Terroriser CD was fucking amazing, got me into so many new British bands, I got it back in December and I was listening to it earlier today.

So clearly there are other people who have similar taste to me, but maybe we're just minority nowadays. Also I don't know if id like my music to get mainstream coverage... but all I'm saying is: I wish people would stop watching boring reality TV, absurd soap operas and looking for Madeline McCann, and stop listening to mindless boring repetitive music. Wake the fuck up, pull your head out your arse, use your brain, open your eyes and ears, there is so much better music with so much more passion and skill involved then fucking Avril Lavigne. Everyone who bought that fucking CD should be shot.

Back in Black (part deux): Future Con-man?

So this is part 2 of my 2008 comeback blog, its going to be about computers, so if you don't like that, read the other part, which is about Christmas and Aberystwyth instead.

So a few days ago, my mate John's PC blew up, so guess who he called. I haven't actually seen it yet, but I gather the power supply blew up, chucks of metal came out the back of the fan, and unsurprisingly, John freaked out, and it hasn't booted since. This PC and me have quite a history already, since it was Jamie's PC a few months ago, until I built him a new one, so he gave his old one to John. Its about 4 years old, AMD Athlon, 1GB Ram, that is about all I can remember. So I'm not sure if its just the power supply, or weather he'll need a new motherboard as well. But we figured, it would probably just be cheaper and quicker to find another second hand computer, rather then try to find parts for this old one. So we wandered around Aber for a while, looked in several shops. John had seen one he liked, for about 35 quid, but that had been sold, and all that were left were really old ones. So we tried another shop, where the man offered to either sell us a Pentium 2 300MHz for 50 quid (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) or get us a new power supply and fix John's blown up PC, also for 50 quid (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

This conversation left me ranting for the rest of the day. I couldn't believe what a complete rip off this guy was trying to pull on us. I remember about 3 years ago, me and Dad threw away a similar spec'ed machine, a Pentium 2, because we thought it was worthless... but now, 3 years later, I'm being sold the same thing back for 50 quid? This guy had to be off his rocker. It was like someone stealing my poo 3 years ago and then trying to sell it back to me now for 50 quid. I was that insulted. I should have known when we approached his stall, and the PC just had "Broadband ready PC, 3 month warranty, £49" stuck on it, no specifications, that it was a con. I can't believe this guy gets away with it. I suppose he lures newbs into buying it with the 3 month warranty, but I'm pretty sure even the worst, oldest PC would last about 3 months. And that warranty doesn't mean it won't go wrong, it just means if it does, he'll gladly give you another one just as crappy as a replacement. I bet he will, hes probably got a skip full of them he got 4 years ago when some company was replacing its PCs and just threw them away. He claimed this PC was perfect for work and browsing the web, but Id love to see it in action, with its 300MHz, 128MB of RAM and 6GB Hard disk. I bet it runs Windows 98 perfectly... it must be at least 10 years old. And fifty quid to change an old power supply? I fixed the power supply on dad's PC about six months ago, the power supply cost me £3.99 and it took me about 30 mins to plug it in, and that is all.

Made me think, back in Winchester, Fred's old PC is still sat in our hallway, and its about twice as powerful as that one he was selling for 50 quid... all i can say is, I'm not throwing out another old PC, I'm going to stick an advert somewhere up at uni and offer it for 50 quid. Do that four times, and you can build a rubbish new PC, or buy yet another new graphics card for my gaming rig. Morally, I'm not sure if this is right, but so long as I'm up front about the specs and the condition of the machine, and don't offer any warranty, I think there is nothing wrong with that. And it seems people are clearly prepared to pay that price, so I'm not ripping them off if that's how much they want to give people for it. Ill just have to try and keep a straight face while I'm doing it, and forget to mention they could build a nice new one for four times the price, but that would last four times as long. I'm considering a career change...

Back in Black (part 1)

Ive decided I have a lot to write at the moment so I'm going to be like Tarantino (Big Kahona Burger anyone?) and split my masterpiece into two parts. I think this part will be able me and life and stuff. The other part will just be my rambles about technology.

Well, I haven't written for a very long time, since December 6th. I don't really know why, I think its because the end of term was really busy: I had major pieces of work due in, then a lot of partying to do, and then packing and getting ready for Christmas. I might have had a cold as well, I think. Oh, and I was busy being dressed as Lara Croft for a fancy dress pub crawl. I looked awesome but that is how I got the cold, the shorts weren't warm. My more recent costume, a Jedi, proved better at keeping the cold out, but I can see why Lara goes for the skimpier, tighter get-up. As a Jedi (Qui Gone Gin?) the wind kept blowing my robes off, and I couldn't find my hands most the time under them, and I knocked a pint glass off a table because it got caught up in them while I was exiting the Cambrian. And it had nothing to do with drinking one too many "Deathstars" (cocktail), honest. I was accompanied by an LOTR Elf and Hitch hiker's Arthur Dent who had a few "Pan-galactic Gargle Blasters" so I wasn't out of place and I think the pub staff forgave me. They clearly knew it was in the best interests of the galaxy not to mess.

Anyway, back to more mundane things. Christmas and New Years was good, some parts of the holiday were pretty amazing, and other parts sucked, but all in all, I feel good about how things went. I think everyone got presents and no one got left out, and considering what a huge part of Christmas mum was, I think we pulled it off well. I think maybe things will get harder as time goes on, as more things change, and people will probably start being less considerate about our situation. I think if we (the Gray tribe) forgot to send someone a card this year, people sort of
forgave it, but perhaps later they won't. And everyone sort of made a lot of effort to see us. Also I feel the family is quite together at the moment, and we're all making quite a lot of effort to make things work and be supportive, but I'm not sure how things will be once the situation develops.

Ive thought about it, and I think it was great mainly because of the people I got to spend time with. I couldn't have been happier then when we all sat down for our first Christmas meal together. I almost cried with joy. However, this all posed one dilemma in my mind... if, over Christmas, I saw pretty much everyone I care about in Winchester and London, and enjoyed myself thoroughly... do I really enjoy being in Aberystwyth? Is there anyone worth coming back here for? I wasn't missing anyone. Occasionally, I missed my room, having my own quiet space with a lock on the door, to be alone in and keep my things away from other people in. But, if my room had been in London, that would be the same, the room can be anywhere, just so long as there is one. So, basically, to sum up my rambling... I think I'm getting sick of Aberystwyth. Sure, its got a lot of pubs, take aways, and students, but are these the things I want now? I really miss London. Everyday I think it, at least once, and I wish I was still there. When I visited over the holiday, I felt better as soon as I got there, I immediately felt much more relaxed and calm (which is odd considering how busy London is, it always used to get me worked up). But suddenly, I just felt like I was home, where I was meant to be, where I belonged. And, so, this is what leads me to basically the only plan I have for the future, I simply plan to follow my heart, and go back to where I feel comfortable and happy. I think everyone knows why that isn't Winchester anymore, and Aberystwyth I'm not really sure why Ive suddenly grown to dislike it. Perhaps its just because I'm comparing it to London, and before Id lived in London, I didn't know better. This is also why I totally understood my dad when he said he was thinking about moving to the Greater London area.

I think, the thing that has really driven me away from liking Aberystwyth, is that for a long time, and mum often used to say this, it was "my place". It wasn't that I felt like I belonged to Aberystwyth, like how I currently feel about London, but more I felt it belonged to me. I'm not really sure why Ive lost this feeling, perhaps its just because so many people I knew have now left, and the town seems to have changed. It feels more like a ghost town, full of my trapped memories of old friends who've now buggered off. I walk around it now, not thinking about all the friends I need to see, things I need to do, but its all in the past now, friends I saw, places I went. In my mind, it feels like Ive already moved on. Which is good I guess, it means once I get my degree I can just get out of here and get on with my life, rather then just wondering around talking to the ghosts in my head. I suppose, however, if I wasn't here right now, I would be missing my housemates. But once they are gone, that is it pretty much. I don't go out nearly as much as I used to, because of how disillusioned Ive become with most the pubs, and I keep running into people I don't really want to see anymore. The other night, in the Bae, I was literally in a room full of people I knew, and all of which Id rather avoid. I was tempted to run out screaming, but then they'd all know that I did, and it would just make my paranoia's grip on my social life stronger.

Plus, then I would lose the Aberystwyth Game. Its very simple, you come here, and slowly drink yourself to death, every night in the Bae, with a room full of people who you know don't think your fit to breathe, and you know they aren't. And you all sit and stare and drink, and occasionally make awequad conversation and sleep with each others friends. The last one to go insane, buy a plastic guitar from B Wise, a nurse outfit from Stars, a chicken and mayo sandwich from 24hr Spa and throw themselves off constitution hill wins. If you get a degree, arrested, or a good pizza on the way, that's bonus points.

Fatlip

My dad recently name dropped the Chemical Brothers in an attempt to be cool in his blog. I retaliate with this; a much cooler Chemical Brothers song, so I am now cooler. pwnzed.

Anyway, enough of being cool for this evening, back to moaning endlessly. Well, its now December, the shops are now in their full Christmas fixation, the weather has got even rainier and windier, if that is possible. But at least our internets fixed, so I don't have to care about any of that... Hahaha... This spellchecker gets annoyed when I type internet without a capital I.... and also doesn't have Aberystwyth in it, so every time I write it, I'm corrected, and told I live in Abreast. And also when I write Hahaha it tries to correct it to "heehaw"... fucking American pig dogs.

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a graphics card. An EVGA 8800GT 512MB KO Edition, to be precise. Please, no fan mail telling me its wank, Ive already paid for it. And from what Ive read, it should be the shit. So that's good. Although slightly worried its not on Ebuyer's website anymore... It said they only had 3 in stock when I ordered it, so maybe they took it off when they ran out. Its a very new card, and most websites said you may have trouble getting one for Christmas since they haven't made many yet. But, I have one, Ive had an email saying its been sent home, so that's good. I won't be able to plug it in until I get back to Wales after Christmas, but I can sit around stroking it and waiting for better driver support, so I'm happy anyway.

In my spending binge, I also bought myself a Western Digital MyBook II 500GB external hard disk, very pretty. It arrived on Tuesday I think. Its an external hard disk, so its not very exciting, but means I can backup everything which is always good. I mainly wanted it before Christmas, since I'm not taking my PC home, I wanted some mass storage to take my stuff home with me and bring stuff back to Wales in the New Year. The only problem Ive had so far with the thing, was when I first plugged it in, it automatically, without asking, installed a TON on crap on my PC. Google Toolbar, Google Picasa, whatever that is, Google Desktop, and some other 30 day trail backup applications, along with WD's drivers. I was fucking livid. I nearly smashed the thing during the installation, I'm extremely careful what I install. I uninstalled all the software straight away, but this thing had now stuffed loads of DLLs and subfolders all over my PC which I now can't find to delete... GRRR. I spent 30mins going through Program Files and My Docs deleting stupid folders, even after uninstalling... makes me wonder how much it left hidden in my registry... Oh well, I haven't noticed any long term effects on my PC, so I'm hoping I got rid of most of it. But it wasn't a good start to my relationship with my new device.

Oh, and another stage in my saga of ordering the Matrix on DVD off the web... for those who didn't read it before, basically I ordered the Matrix on DVD off PlayTrade, and they sent me some shitty 2nd hand computer game, so I emailed them and told them, and they said "oh fine keep it, we'll send you the Matrix, incredibility sorry". So fair enough I thought, Ive only paid 4 quid, Ive got to expect screw ups if I'm a cheapskate. So... 8 days later, I receive yet another DVD, but once again, its not the one I want. Ill admit, they've got closer... this time they've sent me The Matrix Revolutions. I'm beginning to wonder if the people in their dispatch department, which they assured me last time had "very strict quality control checks" is in fact run by people who can't read. Or, as my housemates theorised, monkeys. I sent them a very angry email, and they now once again assure me they will sent me another DVD. If you give enough monkeys a DVD dispatch department full of DVDs that start with the letter M, how many more times will it take before they send me the Matrix...

Its funny, I was reading my dad's blog about the "Teddy bear called Mohammad" thing, and one point he made was that although the whole thing may seem very barbaric to Daily Mail readers, is it not right that a culture should have sacred words that can't be used for things? Things that cannot be said because they are too holy? Well, I retort that: Daily Mail readers do have scared things, holy, special things which we aren't allowed to poke fun at.... Ive only just finished reading an article about some outrage that Jonathon Ross poked fun at the Madelaine Mccanne investigation at some comedy awards ceremony, saying the voting was investigated by Portuguese Forensic teams or something. How we look down on other countries, saying "How dare they get offended, its only a god's name, for god's sake" and then you read the Daily Mail's front page the next day.... Its like they can't remember what they said the day before... and people still take it seriously? I do agree with my dad, we lost the plot along time ago... this truly shows how hypocritical we are. And if you want my crazy "left wing" opinion: we are no different to them, because we are the same: humans. True human nature always shines through, in every culture and society..... and then I remember why I don't leave the house anymore.