More Top Ten iPod

Don't You Want Me ~ The Human League
Apply Some Pressure ~ Maximo Park
Darling Don't Cry ~ Buffy Sainte-Marie
Graffiti ~ Maximo Park
Ace of Spades ~ Motorhead
Trouble ~ Pink
You Boyz Make Big Noize ~ SLADE
Big Scary Animal ~ Belinda Carlisle
Shoulda Woulda Coulda ~ Beverley Knight
You Can Cry On My Shoulder ~ Brenda Holloway

Not sure how Motorhead crept in there ... it's the only Motorhead track on the iPod. Honest.

Life 2 [Squared]

I visited the Microsoft Life Squared 'environment' (Life2) this afternoon (I can't do a mathematical 2 representing 'squared' on here so please accept the number instead). It's a little virtual village in the depths of Fulham/Chelsea that's kitted out as the future in terms of technology. And prety impressive it is until you stand back and think.

We had a nice tour of the site, based around an old Victorian school due to be demolished in the next few weeks, looking at technology injected into a small business (Marsh Marine), linked to the school, the home and remote working. They were lovely people one and all, obviously chosen carefully to represent MS. I liked it, it made me think, it made me question what I was doing in terms of work (focusing on ICT in schools).

But with reflection it makes me wonder, 'so what?'. Ok, so there's a thin client computer in every room (or several in every room) all linked up to a wireless broadband connection; you can watch DVDs anywhere in the house, communicate with anyone in the 'village', download music anywhere and watch TV on a range of platforms. And? So? This is now, not the future - it's just not necessarily a 'now' we recognise.

All of this technology is already available, just not necessarily configured in that way with that kind of connection. Is it looking to the future or to what is already possible with a bit of thought? I suppose the latter really. It was certainly thought-provoking but I'm not sure it took us anywhere. Other than to illustrate the future of the so-called "digital divide". I need to mull it over.

The future is fine in small packages.

SLADE ALIVE!

The new SLADE DVD was released today so I dutifully trotted up to HMV on Oxford Street to pay homage and had an awful shock - the Ordinary Boys (or whatever Preston off CBB's band is called) were playing live... aaarrggghhhhh! Really spoilt the vibe, man. They only did 1 song when I arrived and it instantly made me think it sounded like The Beat from yesteryear.

Fighting my way through the throng of young girls and boys with odd haircuts, I descended on the DVD rack and scooped up my prize! Mine all mine!!!! A new SLADE DVD - cor!

It's titled, 'The World's Greatest Albums - The Ultimate Critical Review' and, of course, it's not authorised and the band aren't on it. It's a bit odd that it doesn't have the album cover as the DVD cover but that's probably why. I hope they're at least getting a goodly share of the royalties.

Basically, it's a load of middle aged men talking about the album (introduced by "Krusher"), all feigning knowledgability and speculating on why the singles weren't on the album, etc - you know the score. But I don't care. One of them even talks about seeing SLADE at Newcastle City Hall in 1973 - that was the scene and year of my baptism of glitter at a SLADE gig! There's some great black n white footage of the band from around 1972-73 that I haven't seen before, so that's fab. And lots of still photos. The quality isn't the best but it's an addition to the collection and gives me some stuff I haven't seen before. I still want more, of course!

The ultimate Buffy sweatshirt

I got dressed up right proper for work this morning and wore me Buffy Sainte-Marie sweatshirt! The world needs more Buffy and I thought I'd do my bit to spread the word. I haven't worn it often since I don't want the graphic to wash out and you never can tell with American stuff. But today, I thought 'why not?'....

And here's the photo it's based on - the photo on the front of Buffy's Creative Native website.

Pray up your medicine song, Buffy!

Corkscrew hair and a leopard skin jumpsuit

Well, it must be the bopping elf himself, Marc Bolan (you all knew that of course).

I got the new DVD this evening, his bits from his series in '77 called simply 'Marc'. This was clearly his attempt to get back into the groove and start having hits again, lots of posing and pouting, tossing his corkscrew hair and playing the guitar hero for all it's worth. It's great to see him again and it's a shame his 'comeback' was so short - it would've been interesting to see how he would have fared in the 'punk wars' that were to come.

When he first played 'Celebrate Summer' (it's on the DVD several times as his latest release at the time) I exclaimed out loud when he sings the refrain, 'Summer is heaven in '77'. I've got no doubt that he's looking well cool up there right now!

>flicks non-existant hair out of my eyes<

Balderdash

I find this a fascinating programme, Balderdash and Piffle, on BBC2 on a Monday night, about the history of words. I did linguistics and the history of language at college two decades ago and always found it interesting. The great vowel shift that travelled across Europe that change 'a' to 'ay' in some circumstances across all European languages around the 1650s or thereabouts, softening vowels (except for Geordies and Celts, of course) - loads of interesting stuff.

Tonight we have Germaine Greer looking at 'cunt' and Courtney Pine considering the history of the word 'cool'.

English is such a vibrant language, adapting and growing as needed, from Chaucer to Shakespeare to Woolf to Viz, all using English to send the exact message they want to deliver. English is made up of so many other tongues, with French derived words dominating the legal system as a hang-over from the Normans who imposed the bones of our legal system, the Vikings who gave us many of our place names in the north east and north west of the country from their invasions, from the empire in the 19th century, particularly from India (ever wondered where 'pyjamas' comes from?).

It grows, it evolves, it changes meanings. Perhaps that's why it's (currently) the dominant language on the planet. More people speak various forms of Chinese (mainly Mandarin) and Spanish, but everyone learns English because it's the standard language of trade and entertainment in so many countries around the world.

Of course, I still don't always understand 'American English' but that's another matter ...

More Top Ten iPod

It's changed again:

Apply Some Pressure ~ Maximo Park
Big Scary Animal ~ Belinda Carlisle
Darling Don't Cry ~ Buffy Sainte-Marie
Don't You Want Me? ~ The Human League
Lily ~ Kate Bush
American Pie ~ Madonna
Grafitti ~ Maximo Park
Trouble ~ Pink
Holidays In The Sun ~ The Sex Pistols
Mama Weer All Creazee Now ~ S L A D E

That's a nice spread - isn't the shuffle facility fab?

I'm not too sure how 'Lily' got into the Top Ten though, that's a bit of a surprise.

Till Deaf Do Us Part - The Lords of Noize

Just been listening to 'Till Deaf Do Us Part' by SLADE from 1981 and it sounds surprisingly fresh and new. I'm telling you this, mysterious reader, since you'll probably never hear it (and the less mysterious readers would probably run a mile if they saw me even reaching for one of my precious SLADE CDs - philistines!).

It sounds full of life, full of robust (and slighty rude in places) joy, brash and loud. I did, of course, play it LOUD (as is always best with SLADE music). SLADE went through a number of different phases but they were always an excellent rock band, not just Glam gods for a few years.

Ruby Red, Till Deaf Do Us Part, Rock and Roll Preacher, A Night to Remember, It's Your Body Not Your Mind, these and more are all excellent rock songs, guitars wailing and thrashing, drums pounding and Noddy's voice soaring above it all.

To repeat the closing words of Noddy's autobiography (and the sign off de jour on the SLADE mailing list), keep on rockin'!

Let it snow...

What a delightful walk home from the station in the snow, floating down out of a dark sky, swirling in the breeze and being caught in the car lights and street lights. And landing on my nose. I hope it lies on the ground...

And (joy of joys) the tree at the Green is still lit up! I can't believe it - 3 days and counting!

Dontcha just lurve Streatham?

Retail Therapy

I've been for some retail therapy this evening and it feels good. My new possessions are:

The Best of Kid Creole and The Coconuts - I already have a 'best of' but this is a different one with some songs on that I don't have so it's a good addition to the CD collection.

Missing Songs by Maximo Park (aka me Geordie lads) - this is a new CD of 'B' sides and demos. The awkward thing is that I downloaded 5 of the songs from iTunes the other day before I knew this album was availbale - drat! But it's excellent of course! Other than the CD case which was broken inside...

Some Time in New York City by John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory - a very mixed album, this one, some killer tracks and some, um, not quite so killer! I got the vinyl in the mid-'70s and downloaded most of the tracks from various sources last year since it wasn't available on CD. Now it is available, so I got it! Oddly enough, I also noticed Lennon's 'Live Peace in Toronto' that I didn't realise was available on CD (I've got the vinyl of this as well).

The Motown Anthology by Kim Weston (aka Wor Kimmy) - a lost Motown goddess who had her double retrospective CD issued last year and I finally got it this evening. She generally turns up on Motown compilations but it's nice having 48 of her bestest tracks on one CD. Hoping to see her at the Jazz Cafe in 3 weeks time (not got tickets yet...).

Till Deaf Do Us Part by SLADE (aka The Lords of Noize) - an important addition to my collection, this CD is supposed to be discontinued and I haven't seen it in HMV (or anywhere) before so I snapped up the single copy on the shelves. I only have the album on download from iTunes so it's nice to have the 'proper' album. Unfortunately, the cover insert is a bit crap, but that's not the point.

Whenever I go to record shops I always try to check for SLADE and Buffy Sainte-Marie CDs - I popped down to the basement in HMV this evening to see whether there were any new Buffy's available (there are still 3 albums from the '70s not released on CD yet so you never know...). Sadly, there weren't any new 'uns.

I also got the Teenage Kicks DVD, a collection of videos from punk and related bands in the late '70s/early '80s - ah, memories!

I've been very good in controlling my credit card so far this year so it's nice to have a little splurge at last. Now, of course, I've got to listen/watch them all. I'm starting with Kid Creole with the volume turned up - what a class act!