8.1.10

musics

after the lovely wateracre (of whom more when the next tom:foolery gigs start!) and further to my last music post, i don't really have an album of the year for oh nine. so i've decided, like him, to look at the stats. not as simple as it appears, really, as there is not really a huge amount of data. but, according to my iTunes most played AND released in oh nine, here is a list:
  1. bruises - chairlift
  2. one night in october - little comets
  3. always like this - bombay bicycle club
  4. jiggery pokery - the duckworth lewis method
  5. you're not coming home tonight - first aid kit
now, in terms of albums of the year... only one qualifies. i haven't listened to the chairlift album, but humphrey dreadful says it is poor. neither have i listened to the first aid kit or bombay bicycle club albums. i don't know why. and i haven't listened to the little comets album because it doesn't exist yet. (i am SO ahead of some curves). so by default, my album of the year is the duckworth lewis method.

but. i didn't listen to it that much. if we have a look at my stats for top five listened to tracks since we got this computer (in oh nine), none of them were released last year...
  1. the world's greatest - an incredible cover of an r kelly song (who incidentally has just come on my spotify... eerie) by the god that is bonnie 'prince' billy.
  2. hook - blues traveler
  3. let's dance - david bowie
  4. only wanna be with you - hootie and the blowfish (shut up!)
  5. alone again or - love
all wonderful songs. so, in search of more data, i went to my last.fm profile page. this includes music that i've listened to on spotify:
  1. dancing in the dark - bruce springsteen
  2. standing in the way of control - the gossip
  3. hook - blues traveler
  4. does this ean you're moving on? - the airborne toxic event
  5. frankie and albert - taj mahal
once again, not many of them were released in oh nine. in fact, only one: the airborne toxic event (which was released in the uk in january, but in america before that). it is, though, a phenomenal album. a lot of critics were super sniffy about it, saying they'd learnt the lessons of the strokes and arcade fire too well. well, give a fuck. it's a good record. and easily my favourite of the year. it's just odd that not a single album in the eleven months after january made an impact. here's a video of them performing one of the tracks acoustically. weirdly, it sounds a lot like this bob seger track to me. and if you've never heard bob seger, get a grip.

3.1.10

대역폭

so. this is the second part of my essay. part one is here. i have no doubt that this is confusing and probably unsound thinking, but i want to write a book in the end. so i best get some sentences down.

i'd like to have a crack at the concept of bandwidth: not as in computers and the internet specifically, although that is a useful example. what i mean when i say bandwidth (and it's not my terminology, but i can't remember whose it is - which is ironic if you know the direction this essay eventually goes in) is the quality of information transfer...

it is about systems. and transfer of information in between. if you think of morse code it's likely to be among the simpler forms of communication we've got: a set of beeps stands for a word. on either end of the wire there is, hopefully, a person. inside this person is a veritable swirl of information: thoughts, memories and hopes. so... we have two systems connected via a very simple connection. this is two high bandwidth systems with a low bandwidth connection. it is my contention that interesting things occur, that is, we can learn most about systems, where the bandwidth is restricted.

2.1.10

blood

certain photographs of yourself can set up camp in your brain. they stand for moments, thoughts and images.

while at university, i was heavily involved in the bedlam theatre. it's a fantastic place. due to a series of coincidences and contingencies, i was only really cast in comic roles. i wasn't unduly stressed by this, as i enjoy being funny. but, i did (and do) harbour ambitions as a real actor. my opportunity came about when an ex-girlfriend cast me as jesus. which isn't as twisted as it sounds. cj is (and always was) an artist and the show was an (overlong in retrospect) version of the york cycle of the mystery plays.
eli, eli lema sabacthani
the show was good, and the crucifixion exceptionally bloody. i released four different bodily fluids onto the stage every performance (sweat, spit, tears and vomit). one day, i came offstage after being up on the cross and was snapped by david. i think it was the last night of the show and we had used all the blood we had left.when i look back at the photo, i smile. it stands for the moment i was allowed to do a bit of acting at last, and for the six years i spent in edinburgh in general. but most of all, i think i look cool.

em em ex

just a quick one. not really together enough to write a full post. apologies! first thing in the morning, though.