Well, I was away, but now I'm back. If anyone remembers me, please say hello.

Some links:

Facebook

NaNoWriMo

More to follow, honest...

American Tourist Girl: No, but he was the god of the sea...

American Tourist Guy: Yeah, but was he such a giant retard that he couldn't drag an iceberg down from Antarctica?

--in the shadow of the Parthenon

Best bit of last night's Blondie documentary on the BBC was when they said something along the lines of "then an incredible thing happened in Dunstable" - you probably have to have some experience of Bedfordshire to be tickled by this.

I'll actually be nearby, briefly, tomorrow (this is me doing my best continuity announcer link) as I'm flying out to Athens from Luton airport. From Athens I'll be heading down the coast to the island of Hydra, which is where Leonard Cohen lived in the early to mid 60s when before he went to New York to become a musician. So, I've filled up my ipod with his songs and I'll be taking a copy of "Beautiful Losers" with me. I won't be bothering with the Internet while I'm there, so there'll be a report and photos sometime after I get back (on the 3rd of August).

I came to Leeds as a student in 1989 and I've haven't really left since (I got as far away as Ilkley for a year). So, it'll be 17 years in one place this October.

Come October, though, I'll be in New York - for at least 3 months. It should be longer as I'm hoping that I'll manage to sort out a Networking (as in Internet Routing, Cisco style) job. But if it doesn't work out, I'll be heading to London in the new year. So, either way, it'll be goodbye to Leeds.

So, I'm planning a series of walks around Leeds, and will record them in photographs. It's a way of marking my time in Leeds and winding things down towards a new beginning. I'm not sure if it'll mean much to anybody other than me, but the first walk is on Flickr here.

Also, I spent far too much time last night, mapping the locations of the walk onto Google Earth; you can download them here or here, if you love scrutinising maps as much as I do.

It's easy to characterise the religious right in the US as, well, a bit crazy and stupid; but I still find myself assuming that there must be some logical reason that I'm not aware of that leads them to taking a particular stance..

For example, this is how I see the whole stem-cell research thing:

1. The US has IVF treatment programmes

2. IVF treatment requires the fertilization of a batch of eggs which leads to a number of embryos, which are frozen

3. The embryos are implanted in the mother's womb one at a time until a successful implantation (the success rate isn't especially high)

4. Once a child has been born, there are probably other embryos left over that are no longer needed

5. The embryos that are no longer needed are destroyed

6. Scientists would like to be able to use stem cells from the embryos that are to be destroyed for research

As far as I'm aware, nobody is talking about fertilizing an egg especially to create an embryo (though I wouldn't have any issues if they were) so what, exactly, is changing here in terms of the supposed right to life of these embryos? What am I missing?

I was going to leave the post at that and see if anybody could explain, but I had a look at Bush's veto speech (on the BBC site) and I think I have it now:

The embryos should be kept frozen indefinitely just in case somebody decides they want to adopt them.

In fact, the children that surrounded Bush when he made his speech had been adopted in this way.

Which leave me thinking that the religious right in the US are, well, a bit crazy and stupid.

A couple of other thoughts:

The dramatic manner in which he made the announcement suggests that he's trying to galavanise (or, possibly, shore up) the religious right support ahead of the mid-terms without having to roll back any legislation (I'm sure they're disappointed that he hasn't outlawed IVF yet and that Roe v Wade still stands).

It's interesting to hear Bush talking passionately about the "dignity" of human life in relation to a few human cells that have absolutely no self awareness and no great significance to anybody yet (in other words cells that are not that far away from being eggs and sperm) and yet, not hear this same passion when it comes to fully grown human beings (you can provide your own examples).

Evening all.

Back to blogging, possibly regularly.

-------------------

For now, I'm just stopping by to record some daytodayesque news reporting on the BBC 10 o'clock news just now. As part of the "isn't it an incredible heatwave, how are we coping?" feature (much to the bafflement of various Europeans and Americans, I should think); they reported on a London kitchen where the staff were working in 55C temperatures. With apparent sense of shame, the narration went as follows:

"They can't stand the heat...



...and they can't get out of the kitchen,"

Well, I plugged the radio show in the last post, but:

( Here's most of what we played in those 4 shows, in pictures )

I've stayed up far too late doing that - and I'm sure I'm behind the times with this posting album covers stuff, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Off to bed now.

"I was fretting in my job and then I lost my job and heaven knows I'm quite jolly now."

I got made redundant from Cable and Wireless (nee Energis nee Planet Online) about a month ago.

Because I was there for 6 years, I'm fine for money for a while.

My plan (not disclosed here earlier than this) was to move to New York in September, anyway. It's still my plan: I'll be there for 3 months, longer if I sort out a job (which I'm hoping to).

In the meantime I'm studying for Cisco qualifications (and that's the only time I'll mention them) and rediscovering creative pursuits.

The next few months should see the fruits of my endeavours appearing on my website, I'll post details here.

Also hoping to post here more often, anyway.

I don't usually use this journal to post about how I'm feeling; but, if anyone's curious, I'm pretty happy at the moment.

----------------------

Since late last year, I've been a semi-regular co-DJ on Chapel Allerton Hospital Radio with the_space_eater the show is called "A Mixed Bag" (I'm not sure if the_space_eater knows that this implies that some of it is rubbish, but hey...). It's a little rough and ready sometimes and we are pretty much making it up as we go along; but there is some entertaining wibbling, I think.

There are MP3s and playlists of four of the shows here:

http://www.maccy.org.uk/radio/

if anybody fancies a listen.

Further shows will be added, as and when.

That's all for now.

Bono has launched a global brand called Product Red at the Davos economic summit. The idea is that companies who sign up to produce Product Red branded goods will donate approximately 40% of their profits to the UN Global Fund that is funding treatment for HIV/AIDs and other serious diseases. This is the email that I've sent to the Product Red people:

From: Matthew McIntyre
To: info@joinred.com
Date: 26-Jan-2006 18:48
Subject: Some Questions About Product Red

Hello,

I am wondering how you weighed up the ethical issues of working with two companies know for their extensive use of sweatshop labour (Nike - though their Converse brand - and GAP)?

Obviously you are looking to use high-profile brands to raise awareness of the AIDS issue (particularly in Africa) and to raise funds for treatment. However, I am aware that this initiative is coordinated by Bono's anti-poverty organisation, Data, and also that poverty and AIDS are inextricably linked. For this reason there are serious ethical issues with working with companies whose business practices are based around paying poverty wages and resisting both trade union organisation and workers' rights.

In the BBC News Article about Product Red (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4650024.stm) Bono is quoted as saying "We are not endorsing their products, these products endorse us," does that mean that you (or Data) would be willing to criticise GAP and Nike for their activities at the same time as allowing them to sell Red branded products? Also, under what conditions will the GAP t-shirts be made?

I understand that you may well think that the benefits of this programme outweigh the problems of working with these particular brands - and also that doing something imperfect is better than doing nothing at all. But I would still like to know what your reasoning on the matter is.

I'm looking forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Matthew McIntyre
Leeds. UK.

----------------------------

More details in the BBC News Article

I resisted the temptation to ask what the hell Bono meant when he said this:

"Philanthropy is like hippy music, holding hands. Red is more like punk rock, hip hop, this should feel like hard commerce."

I've been comenting on a few entries, but this is my first post for a while (6 months or so). Couldn't really be bothered with the whole bloggin thing for the 2nd half of last year but it's a new year now and I'm in the mood, for the time being.

So, exciting posts to come - but I'll do some more work first.

I'm bobbing in and out of the Live8 coverage on the bbc. Apart from the fact that it's musically pretty dire, pop musician have to be the shallowest, most self-obsessed and politically naive people on the planet - except perhaps for TV personalities. Seeing people fresh from their performance blathering at Jo Wiley or Fearn Cotton about how amazing the atmosphere is just makes me gnash my teeth with frustration. Watching Jonathon Ross chatting with Jeremy Clarkson in what looks like a pod from the London Eye doesn't help much either.

Nobody seems to have much of a clue about the issues involved or, if they do, no interest in trying to get the across to the audience. I'm in general agreement with what this is trying to achieve - but I worry that the fudge* that the G8 will come up with will fool people into thinking that having a concert made people change their minds. I'm hoping that Bob Geldof keeps the pressure up, but I'm worried that he's sold out to the vested interests too much (i.e. he will compromise principle to retain influence - seeing him introduce Bill Gates was a bit odd, to say the least).

Actually more than that it's the sheer vacuity of the performers - it's all this "if we wish hard enough it'll all be sorted" bullsh1t. I mean, does Mariah Carey think that the US should scrap its cotton subsidies? Would Elton John like to pay a bit more tax to sort out poverty here and abroad? Have they thought about anything at all? It really doesn't seem so.

(Actually, they have been showing films between the acts - but the bbc haven't been showing them, so there may have been some information but it hasn't made it past Hyde Park if so.)

Most cogent argument, from Chris Martin from Coldplay "We think the people who are being cynical are stupid".

And now David Beckham is on, talking about inspiration and how privileged he is to be introducing Robbie Williams.

Jesus F#cking Christ

I'm being grumpy, I know, and I still think this is better than nothing at all. I can just see another 20 years going by and people wondering again why nothing has changed. It seems like a wasted opportunity to provide some information.

And the exception to all this has been Andrew Marr who's gone through the basic issues concisely and explained that there isn't going to be a deal on trade any time soon. The rest is pretty much a banal desert, intellectual.

In fact, the more I think about this the odder the whole thing seems: "If you like these little tunes we're playing then add your name to a list and we'll ask those 8 powerful men to make Africa better - but don't worry too much about how they are going to do this, just listen to another song."

Right, enough moaning. I've still signed the petition thing and I still want to keep doing what I can with real political campaigns. Maybe it is encumbent on those of us who know it is going to be a long haul to do our best to keep the momentum going. To turn the anger into campaigning.

One last thing, has anyone spotted any tax-dodgers on the bill (apart from U2, whose government deliberately don't tax musicians**)? That would really would take the biscuit.

*for details of how they've undermined the Debt Relief promises already have a look at this article by George Monbiot in The Guardian.

**EDIT: maybe Bono should offer to make a voluntary tax donation to Ireland's aid budget?

"I remember being a kid growing up and hearing about the HG Wells radio play and the effect that that had on society."

Tom Cruise, talking about War of the Worlds

Some time ago Morrison's bought Safeway and then immediately sold some of the smaller stores to Somerfield. This means that Chapel Allerton now has two Somerfields in close proximity and no other supermarkets (unless you count a petrol station that is also a Tesco). Anyway, I never went to the old Somerfield so the Somerfield that was Morrison's very briefly after having been Safeway for ages (before that it was Presto, fact fans) was a whole new experience for me. Not that Somerfield is a marvellous experience, as it is a bit sh!t.

The best thing about them is their slightly wonky use of English in promotions and suchlike. I think this must be because they are behind all the other supermarkets in everything, all the best words have already been used. So, if you wander around a Somerfield (please don't make a special visit to do this), you'll see lots of signs that say "Sliced Prices". All their own-brand diet products are labelled "Good Intentions" (as in "The path to hell is paved with..."); the budget stuff is called "Makes Sense"; and the extra-special expensive things are called "So Good". It just makes you want to go there and buy things, doesn't it?

You may not be aware of this, wrapped in your cotton-candy politically-correct complacency, but these already overcrowded islands are under threat from a continuous tidal wave of arrival. In most cases, these interlopers are a drain on the system for at least 16 years, claiming benefits and refusing to pay their own way. And when they do (finally) get jobs they are taking work away from those who were here first!

Yes, friends, these so called "babies" and "children" are arriving in Britain every day via an obscure people-smuggling technique known as "birth". We all know there aren't many jobs to go around - but it always the "young" who are getting them, taking them away from people who have been here for several more years! The finite and fixed wealth of this country is being constantly diluted by this persistent fecundity! Put a stop to all this birthing and the rightfully belonging adults will have a greater and greater share in the employment and wealth of this once-great nation!

Join us now and march to a new tomorrow!

I'm disproportionately annoyed by failed attempts at cleverness, especially in adverts and song lyrics. I can't think of a song lyric example at the moment, but surely some of the best lyrics ever are those to "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks*:

( Here, in all their simple repetitive glory )

Anyway, the thing that riled me today was an advert on the side of a bus for some kind of low sugar blackberry drink. It said something like "So Full of Blackberriness There's Only Room For 12 Calories" (I may have misquoted, I didn't write it down or take a photo or anything).

[Begin imaginary conversation with adland w#nker]

"What? You mean to suggest there's a direct correspondence between the amount of 'blackberriness' and the number of calories and that by putting more blackberries in you push calories out of the other side? No? I'm just being pedantic? What it means is that it's a diet blackberry drink? Why not say that then? Because it's not clever and eye-catching? Well I suggest you try being clever by not being stupid. Oh, and while we're at it, what the f#ck is volcanicity? And has it been scientifically proven in a rigourous double-blind study?"

[End imaginary conversation with adland w#nker]

I think we can agree that I won that argument.


*[edit] Although they don't have the same level of minimalistic genius as the lyrics to "No Limits" by 2 Unlimited, which Smash Hits apparently reproduced verbatim.

Oh dear. I really am a bit rubbish at this Livejournal stuff. I don't suppose anybody on my friends list is feeling particularly slighted that I haven't commented for ages, or that anybody's day has been ruined by my not posting; but, if anyone has been missing me a little, I'm sorry I've been away. Oh and I have been reading and enjoying your journals - I just haven't felt like commenting.

The brief version of the last few months is that I've been overworked and (as a result) ill. The good thing is that I've taken the time to sort a load of dull but useful things out and now have more eveness of keel than previously.

And that's all I'm going to say as I'm still trying to keep this journal one of musings and digressions, rather than personal stuff (angsty or otherwise).

So, musings and digressions ahead!

The Observer currently has 3 Monthly Magazines: Food, Sport and Music. As I'm on the mailing list for the Music one, they sent me a questionaire link, asking for my views on two proposals for a 4th magazine (either Business or Fashion). Both ideas are rubbish. What follows are the mockups, some blurb and my responses:

( this isn't a pastiche )

I got to witness some of The Wedding while I was eating dinner and I was wrong about it passing off without a hitch! There was all kinds kerfuffle and somebody apparently ended up dead!

From a distance it seemed very hammy and shouty (it got me thinking about the things people end up doing in pursuit of a "pure" and "artistic" career - something for a less sleepy post, perhaps) but the participants seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Here's an appetising item from this evening's menu:

Guinness poached fillet of beef, carrot spaghetti, Galette potato and a Guinness jus

And, omitted from the last post, needing a haircut and spending all day in a very air-conditioned server room means that I can waste time in my hotel room doing Eraserhead impersonations:



Goodnight.

"I'm back on the DLR yeah, back on the DLR"

(not quite enough syllables to scan, but never mind).

Yes, such is my Trainsetting Lifestyle™ that I'm once more in deepest darkest Docklands building bits of t'interweb.

This is the final week of having to do this and I'm pretty sick of the whole thing. I've working pretty much flat-out since the beginning of last year and it's all catching up with me a bit. Anyway, various work things have sorted themselves out in the meantime, so the future is looking better and I'm going to take the next two weeks off and write the great British novel record a heartrendingly beautiful album put up a few shelves, perhaps.

-----------------------

The thing that's nice about having so much work to do, though, is that the Winter has pretty much flown past without my having time to get annoyed by it. Also, I haven't had much time to consider ludicrous arbitrary love day. I think I can say without too much of a trace of bitter singledom that the whole thing is more than a bit silly: apart from the timing (in the middle of the most miserable month of the year), it just seeks to impose a needless formality on all that chaotic, beautiful messy stuff. Pah, I say, pah!

I think you should mark the occasion by surrendering to the compelling beauty of melancholy (from a site originally found by the inestimable mzdt).

The hotel I'm staying in, on the other hand, is holding a 'Murder Mystery' called "I Love You To Death", here is the blurb:

Shaun Wells has known many women in his time & no one believed that he would ever settle down. Then he met Natalie Lovegrove and his life changed.

After a whirlwind romance Shaun Wells & Natalie Lovegrove are getting married, & you have been invited to their wedding reception.

Will the wedding go off without a hitch? Or will everything unravel as murderous emotions rise to the surface?

I think the wedding will go off without a hitch, personally.

I'm too late, but for £49.95 I could have joined in (that does include a three course buffet dinner and a disco until midnight).

-------------------

So, anyway, if any London types are interested, I'm around until Thursday. My plan for tomorrow is to and see rhodri play at The Water Rats (brief info here).

For Wednesday, I'm open to suggestions - but if you're all too cool (or if someone's interested) I think I'd like to see some theatre.

------------------

Last off, can anyone remember the name of the obscure Leeds indie band that put a record out called "The Road to Roundhay Pier"? I think I've just remembered it, but it'd be good to see if anyone can guess. Also, has Leeds ever had what you could call a music scene? The Gang of Four and the Mekons hanging out in The Faversham, perhaps? Goth? The current DIY thing? Also (and this is tough) can you think of a Leeds band who were actually from Leeds (and not just students there)?

I wonder how many people, like me, have glanced at the poster-ads for the Wasp T12 Speechtool and assumed they were genuine. In fact it was only my morbid fascination with style-w#nk that led me stop and read the thing, spot the name Nathan Barley and realise what it was.

This makes me wonder how effective this promotion for the new Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker series will be (by the way, it starts this Friday at 10pm on Channel 4, if you hadn't noticed). Most of the people who stop to read the ads will be exactly the people they are satirising - but perhaps that's the point, I suspect that there already Barley-types loudly proclaiming themselves as "the new Chris Morris" in bars across the fashionable parts of London.

---------------

The only thing a know about the series is the name of the coffee bar that Nathan drinks is called "Grind Zero" (I was going to put this behind an lj-cut as it's a bit of a spoiler, but I can't seem to do it from the web interface; and I have firewall issues that stop me from using a client).

In a similar vein, there's a sushi bar on Notting Hill Gate called "Feng Sushi".

Hmmm.