Showing posts with label geeky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geeky. Show all posts

14 November 2007

Top Telly

Channel hopping tonight I came across the funniest thing I have seen on the telly in ages...

Channel 376 on Sky - Bedroom TV.

No, its not a dodgy amateur romping channel full of over made up wenches getting down some tatooed skinheads.

No. Instead it is a bunch of saddos who have videoed themselves miming to various popular music combos...

Absolute quality. It's the saddest bits of YouTube all on your telly!

Watch and cringe!

Alphabetically Speaking

In that quasi autistic way that men like listing and ordering things I set myself a bizarre little project recently.

I decided to go through my iPod and listen to the first album title under each letter from A to Z.

The way this musical journey panned out was as follows:

A Return To Kings : Rush
Excellent prog metal from the Canadian power trio. Geddy Lee's screechy vocals are a bit of an acquired taste.

Back In Black : AC/DC
The triumphant return by the Oz rockers following Bon Scott's untimely death. Prompted a fantastic quote from Brian Johnstone, his flat capped Geordie replacement, along the lines of "One week I'm on the dole, the next I'm doing this gorgeous bird up the arse!"

Cantaloupe Island : Herbie Hancock
Joyous jazz from the keyboard master.

Damage : David Sylvian and Robert Fripp
A live recording that mixes Sylvian's rich vocals with interludes of frantic guitar Frippertronics.

Early Gold : Simple Minds
All the good, bass heavy, early stuff from before the stadium gigs suckered them into trying to be U2.

Fab Four Suture : Stereolab
Last track is very good, a bit like Phillip Glass with a backbeat.

GP / Grievous Angel : Gram Parsons
Gorgeous tunes from the man who invented country rock.

Hall Of The Mountain Grill : Hawkwind
More of the usual from the space rockers who only have two gears : the mid to fast paced chugger and the slow keyboard driven stuff.

I'm Wide Awake It's Morning : Bright Eyes
A great collection of tunes from the singer songwriter.

Jackinabox : Turin Brakes
Disappointingly lacklustre compared to the previous album.

Kasabian : Kasabian
Triumphant dance beat laced Indie.

L.A. Woman : The Doors
Riders On The Storm et al. Class.

Macalla : Clannad
Yes, its the one with Bono on it. Not quite as New Agey as their sister Enya but it ain't Slipknotl either.

Never Turn Your Back On A Friend : Budgie
Another power trio featuring lead vocals from a long haired bass player, this time they are from Wales, and haven't sold as many records...

O : Damien Rice
Bright and breezy singalong pop from the eternal optimist, or not. Keith Richards helped him get his pilot's licence you know...

Pablo Honey : Radiohead
Featuring the brilliant Creep this is tuneful angsty stuff with only the angular guitar solos hinting at what was to come.

Quadrophenia : The Who
Modtastic masterpiece. Nuff said.

Rage Against The Machine : Rage Against The Machine
Crunching riffs coupled with raw anger tinged vocals make this a visceral listening experience - great for the gym! Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!!!

SAHB Stories : The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Probably SAHB's most polished album features the brilliant Amos Moses and The Boston Tea Party - "The king has said he's gonna put a tax on tea, and that's the reason y'all Americans drink coffee..."

Taking The Long Way : Dixie Chicks
A triumphant return from the female trio of country rockers who were castigated in their US homeland for their anti Iraq war statements.

Ugly Custard : Ugly Custard
Instrumental stuff from a bunch of 60's session musicians.

Van Halen : Van Halen
A debut album to kill for.

Waterloo To Anywhere : Dirty Pretty Things
Clattery indie stuff from the one who used to be in The Libertines but has managed to avoid the fortnightly court appearances favoured by his pasty faced ex bandmate.

X&Y : Coldplay
Low key, miserablist moaning. Strangely uplifting though.

Z : My Morning Jacket
Tuneful, atmospheric, alt countryish stuff.

1 : The Beatles
Quality from start to finish...

An interesting journey I'm sure you'll agree!

Now to do it all again in reverse...

17 August 2007

Breaking The Speed Limit

Found an intriguing article in The Telegraph which I have reproduced below.

'We have broken speed of light'

By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 12:01am BST 16/08/2007

A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.

According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second.

However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.

The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.

Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences.

For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.

The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws.

Dr Nimtz told New Scientist magazine: "For the time being, this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of."

Wow - does this mean that time travel is going to be possible?

Grab your things Marty, I'll get the DeLorean...