Fran's Blog

I have decided to try and revive 4pm tea in a personal revolution. Today has been no exception so I dutifully made my way to the kitchen to boil the kettle. On the way back I noticed a few biscuits so decided to grab a couple for the full English effect. Oh how stupid. I managed to drop a piece in the tea. I didn’t notice at first, but the crumbs told the tale. It pains me everytime this happens. But no one says it like Peter Kay, so in memory of my ruined tea (do I go for the full cup, or just go till I reach the sunken dough?) here is the legendary clip:

I’ve started turning my musical tasting sights to the blues. There is so much out there though, do I wade right in with the obvious? Or go straight underground? I don’t know.

I saw a guy called Seasick Steve at The Big Chill festival this year (when people introduce him, it sounds like C-16, beware). He’s played there before, but this year was my first time there. An old guy came on stage and played some seriously good blues, hobo style, and was very funny. In fact, part of his set he played with a 3 string guitar, and still sounded great, he even brought out a 1 string instrument he made (diddley bow) and played that. For his drum, he had a box with a microphone in it (Mississippi drum machine) and yes, it sounded like a drum. Excellent stuff.

His album “Dog house music” is great, but it doesn’t come close to his live act.

Ok, try this, if you’re a techy anyway. Try and type microphone without thinking about it. Every time I type that I start with Micros, then have to delete the s and then type phone. Not good!

This is a popular one, and kind of follows from my last post about tech hype. But I have to rant about this one.

Will Gillette ever stop adding more blades? Wilkinson sword, you’re no better. Ok, ok, I know, grooming products have to move on so you can sell more new products. But you got a good deal with the old 1950s style razor which would cut a face to shreds, make a man out of boys of 16-18. That lasted for, well, probably 20 years or so. That was made safe by putting the blades “behind bars”. Thanks Wilkinson, a fine next step.

“XOHM is official, is coming, is already overrated” is what I read this morning. “the internet is on the verge of another revolution” is what marketing people are saying. XOHM is Sprint’s (a mobile provider in the States) WiMax service, which has had its fair share of hype.

I’m actually not hugely interested in this though, what I am interested in is the refusal to just accept new technology and wait for it to grow before telling people we’re about to reach new heights of being human. So, in memory of tech that has been overhyped, here is my top 5.

I’ve just read something beautiful. Carlsberg have had a great advertising campaign since starting to do “Carlsberg don’t do [insert here], but if they did, they would probably be the best in the world”. If you aren’t familiar, here is a clip

Today they have taken it a step further and into the real world by dropping money (a total of £5000 in £10 and £20 notes) in the streets of London with a label like in this photo attached.

Fantastic idea, crack heads over London are probably on the hunt though.

In the last few years, as I go from being a man to a grumpy old man. I’ve realised my tastes are changing rapidly. I’ve never really cared for beer that much. Wine, I have to admit, is ok. But it’s never been the drink of the Gods that a lot of people claim, “it’s so fruity”, “it goes so well with steak” I’ve never been convinced.

Anyway, I’ve now discovered ale. Over the last few years it has dawned on me that there are so many out there, with excellent names like “Tanglefoot” and “Spitfire”, there are even flavours. Each with subtle tastes, it’s not really for binge drinking, you can do it, similar to wine. I enjoy a bottle (a bottle isn’t large like wine where you’ll end up telling everyone in the room you love them) every now and again. And certainly a very British drink. We don’t do wine, but with ale and cider, we rule the world. Belgium still does the best beer in general though.

You’ve probably heard of Pandora by now. At one point I’d get multiple emails from different people with a link to the site

I’ve been quite impressed by it, the one thing I thought would be good is if it could be independent of the browser. Well, after being told by a colleague, I have found a nice little app which does this, Open Pandora.

I saw this street sign the other day as I walked from Brick Lane the other day. I love practical street names, but this made me smile. Code Street? If I could now find “Programmer Avenue” or “Javacsript way” even “Developer Pass” I’d have a collection.

I’m in a bit of a decision rut at the moment. I’ve been a member of emusic.com for about 6 months now and every 4th of the month I get 40 track points so I can download to my heart’s content.

While I am a fan of the service, one of the best there is, especially for discovering new music from independent labels, I have a problem. I have found that music I download is devalued in my mind. Not for the fact it is cheaper than a CD or LP, but the fact it isn’t actually anything but a file.