something's missing

it was with certain pride that i took up my mantle as 'music columnist ' in The Enfield Advertiser

ok, so it was hardly the Observer or NME

but it was stilla column that i had been reading for years, a column that i had applied to write for a number of years previously, and through the local music scene that (for a little while at least) thrived i had got to know the guy that pipped me to the post when they were last looking for new blood


but now it was my time to shine

heck, it wasn't always easy going

there were a fair number of articles that were published long after i had submitted them, and also a considerable few  that were never published at all

i toiled on tho

and i think i done Enfield a great service, introducing Flamboyant Bella and Die Antwoord to a wider audience, musing on the influence and insight of Mike Skinner, popping along to gigs by Deadmau5 and Frank Turner and plenty more besides

most importantly, i gave a lion's share of my columns over to covering and discovering the exploits of Enfield based bands and grass-roots events that gave them a chance to shine


and even despite a blip when the future was uncertain, my columns returned and it looked as if the centre section of the paper known as 'The Weekender' that dedicated itself to culture and entertainment, may have been given a reprieve from the extinction it had been threatened with

those that follow my blog already may already be familiar with what happened next tho, as strike action was taken in the face of a once-great paper being run by an over-stretched skeleton staff as journalists were leaving and not being replaced.

these were the death knolls of the quality paper that people had come to expect

and things were only going to go from bad to worse when The Weekender editor and stern campaigner for improvement at the paper, Jonathon Lovett, left the Advertiser in September.

he contacted each of the journalists that contributed to his section, informing us that despite his departure, no decisions had yet been made on the future of The Weekender, we were breifed to 'keep calm and carry on' as it were and given a new contact for submissions


it is just such a shame that my submissions since seem to have been ruthlessly ignored.


it is yet another devastating blow to Enfield's music scene that suffers continuous setbacks, it is a shame that The Enfield Advertiser now offers less content than ever before, and it is a shame that i have had a platform that i used to shine a light on others, taken away from me.



music articles and opinions will still continue to appear on my music blog, Desperately Seeking Susan Boyle

Female Superheriocs in the DCnU and the quest for more boobs

i may not have had time to write about it yet, but i have been making time to catch up on the brand spanking new DC universe that has been ruffling feathers since September '11.

ok, so nothing is further than the second issue as we speak, and i've been working my way through a handfull of the #1s after reading Flashpoint and making the decision to completely bypass Blackest Night and Brightest Day since they haven't even happened now anyway, oh wait, hang on, or have they, bloody hell, all this confusion needs to be saved up for a DC confusion specific post

what i wanna focus on here briefly is the role of females in the new DCnU

forget stuffing them in fridges and depowering them, the females characters that i have read so far have all basically been sex on legs, prancing around in underwear for the titillation of presumably teenage boys and lonely geek men as if they were some kind of 2D stripper, oh, have you read Voodoo?! that one actually is a 2D stripper....

again, i think i'll touch on the bigger problems elsewhere, but lets take a closer look at Catwoman shall we

how close do you want to get....

ok, so that is just the first page.

and since this is the DCnU, this is your introduction to Catwoman.

no wonder people are up in arms about this, we're being flashed more boob than we're seeing face and it kind of sets the precedent for what follows, until things get even more full on...

one thing i don't usually believe in is spoilers, yet i'm unsure if this spoils anything since the issue is low on story and high on the boob count...

so, what happens next, well, she escapes from her apartment, yet still hasn't managed to dress herself properly,   she goes about her business tracking someone down, in disguise, but with her boobs hanging out, and by the end she is humping Batman... seriously, check out this blog for proof

and if you don't mind the prospect of having to burn your own eyes out, stick with me

c'mon, stay with me...

you ready...

aaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhh!!!

don't you just love simpsons fan-art inspired by overly sexualised comics.

i know that i don't.

sorry.

paint it black

oh yes, the black paint is out.

and i am back in the attic.

way back when we first moved in we were painting practically everything white, but after a visit to a mate's flat, we saw how well darker colours could look in certain situations and locations.

whilst the aim is to keep most of the house bright and breezy, the attic is a different prospect entirely, it will be my sanctuary, and possibly the boldest decorated room in the house since my girlfriend keeps nixing my proposed murals for other rooms.

yet it does feel slightly odd bringing darkness into what was a rather unbelievably spacious looking attic space, but it will be worth it once all the ideas are in place and come together properly.

my toy collection is growing steadily with occasional additions thanks to charity shops and car boot sales.

and now we are raising questions over what will be done with the fireplace in the front room, i suggested the exposed brickwork should be painted white.... my girlfriend suggested we paint it black.

and i think she may be right

Paint it Black (Paradigm Remix)

'God bless you'

i have lived most of my adult life as an agnostic theist

and it is alright with me

i don't need to attend church, or fast for religious festivals, or study scriptures or sacrifice my first born or anything like that

i'm quite content to live my life and believe that if i strive to be the best person that i can possibly be then these efforts will not go unnoticed by the universe and whatever higher powers there may or may not be

i certainly have my own personal values that gravitate around the principle of karma, and i do wonder if there isn't really something in afew of these religions that are knocking around, i'll certainly take into consideration anything anyone believes and my even borrow from these beliefs if it suits me, i also went to a Baptist church sunday school when i was younger, and i definitely think it gave me a good grounding in life.


all this is getting away from the point, but may be useful background.


my work has recently involved more and more unreasonable stress, unreasonable customers, a pathetically faltering computer that doesn't make getting anything done any easier, a boss that expects too much and expects it now and a whole host of myriad factors that have made these last few weeks rather depressing.  but i'll live with it, i'll keep going in the hope that things will improve, and most importantly, i need to pay bills.

today was no different at all, worse even, throw in a fax machine that is ever-jamming and in my own personal life, a credit card company that is almost certainly retarded, and it was hardly a thrilling time working 9 til 5.

except one customer kinda made things better towards the end of the day.

i'd helped her out, shown her around a few bits and pieces and told her any information she wanted to know and that i though may of been helpful to her.  she said that she would let her nephew, her daughter and her grandsons know.  i made sure she had our contact details and also handed over a few 10% off leaflets.

i was only doing my job, and i take pride in actually being able to help people when they need it.

she seemed overjoyed at the discount flyers, and thanked me, and said

'God bless you'



now, let me clarify, this wasn't a habitual kind of 'Bless you' that follows a sneeze or anything, i could tell that she was grateful for any effort that i had made for her, and the way that she spoke made it obvious that she had a real belief in God

and it felt good, it felt like being touched by something

i could almost feel a glowing inside of me, as if through some brief verbal communication i had truly been blessed by a deity that i can't even honestly say that i have solid convictions in

this isn't my turning point, this isn't my announcement that i have seen the light.

but it was a beautiful moment that i wanted to share.


credit where it is due:


accompanying artwork, Angel by ~UnKnOwns

Geronimo watch 4

and so, for the second time this year, Doctor Who has finished.

despite early misgivings, i think that Matt Smith has truly made the role his own and it seems that we have lived with the cast of the 11th Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory for far longer than the two seasons and a crimbo special.

perhaps this is down to the odd splitting of season 6, which meant that after being here for a little while, it went away again, and then came back for just a short while longer and then went away yet again, it perhaps this is down to just another timey-wimey thing, where it goes all wibbly.

and i think that i only actually counted one 'geronimo' that i can remember, uttered in the season finale and nowhere near offensive as when it had been shoe-horned in multiple times in order to give the 11th
incarnation a bloody catchphrase.

so, this season, and the season finale (and even the silly mid-season finale), i must admit that i was rather impressed yet again, it may be true that not every episode was a stone cold classic, but i believe it definitely had more hits than misses, and even the misses were near misses in my opinion, hitting not very far off the mark, just a little bit wider of a usual high standard, but c'mon, nobody's perfect.

and i'm surprised at some of the negativity towards ' The Wedding Of River Song', i infact think that this has been one of the most satisfying finales in quite a long time, there seems to be an unwritten rule that the season should close with an epic story, that the stakes should always be higher and the action more, erm, actioner.

praise Ja, that this time they bucked the trend, look, didn't you get enough action and suspense and dramatic reveal in the mid-season finale, how much do you want from a fractured season that has already finale'd once?! i loved the more subtle sense of drama and soft glaze of confusion that surrounded this last episode, and the fact that the Doctor even took the time to revisit James Corden in the penultimate episode instead of crafting a high-octane two-parter was perfect pacing.

(spoilers ahead here people, look away now, or go watch BBC i-player of something)

we all knew the Doctor was not gonna die, and even tho we knew he wouldn't, he does anyway, there was no getting out of it this time, which makes a change, except of course he did get out of it, but we all expected that anyway, but they let you think otherwise even tho you knew otherwise, and i commend them for that!!

bloody hell, i'm rather bored of faux-danger being faced in each closing chapter of a series, if this version of the Doctor was likely to cop it, it never stays much of a secret that the current actor has chosen to make this series their last.

now with any luck, the Beeb will refrain from any urges to split the next series down any further into tantalising micro-series that will have three micro-series finales and another final end of season finale all spread out across the year, i haven't had any Doctor Who since Christmas, and i'm quite capable of finishing a whole one, thank you very much.

the best jobs in the world...

like most of my days off, i did not have the telly on this morning

i simply got up and got on with things

i fixed myself a bit of toast, fetched my bike out of the shed and grabbed my i-pod off the dock in the kitchen.

i scrolled through, and stuck on Dizzee Rascal's Boy In Da Corner to listen to whilst i cycled to my Dad's.

when i got there, he stuck on the kettle, and i told my brother about a website he might be interested in.

we fired up my Dad's apple mac and i proceeded to retrieve the link from twitter.

it was only then that i saw the trending news

RIPSteveJobs

i was shocked

in a strange way

i knew he had health complications

but Steve Jobs just seemed to be a constant in this world


i don't know if i can truly say that i am deeply saddened by the news, not personally, but in some way, i do know that this existence has just lost someone that changed so much about our modern lives

with no thought about it at all i had already used two of Steve Jobs apple products that very morning, almost by instinct, they are so ingrained in our lifestyle

all those people walking around with their i-phones, all the music i keep on i-tunes, and my plans to pick up an i-pad in the not too distant future

all these measurable technological stepping stones that have transcended the realm of 'gadget' to become thoroughly mainstream and unquestionably accepted

and we have lost the man that made this happen

and if that weren't a startling enough thought, here is another

without Steve Jobs, we would never have had Toy Story.

Batmeme

i love Batman

and the internets love Batman

he has provided some classic moments rife for internet riffing


and since it is still on topic if you've been following recent blogs, here is a classic for you to enjoy