This was a wonderful day just over a week ago. It was so much fun to be a part of and to see so many children have a great time just making sounds and experimenting.
Festival of the Imagination with School of Noise
Month: February 2016
Fennesz Box Set
I couldn’t help but get this new limited edition box set by Fennesz. Even though it’s live I really wanted it, and got it, and it’s beautiful. 2 x LPs, 2 x DVDs and a CD too, plus a very beautiful overall package.
Can’t fault it really.
So Now I’ve listened to Torchwood, More Than This
Whilst broadly speaking I’ve enjoyed the latest series of Torchwood on audio I haven’t been blown away by it. However, having said that I think that this episode is by far the best so far. It’s touching, funny, and action packed, and probably best of all it has Gwen in it, which is never a bad thing. I think it’s only fair to say that I’ve enjoyed this much more than any of the other episodes to date. I hope that they do more like this.
Seeing Louis Andriessen at the Barbican
I’ve liked the music of Louis Andriessen for some time. Years probably, and I haven’t heard any of his music performed in a very long time, so when the opportunity came to get tickets to this at the Barbican, and at an amazingly reasonable price too (thanks Sound and Music) then it was to be jumped at. Two of the pieces were premieres too, which was was of course great to hear.
Overall it was a really good concert.
And now there’s the RandomBus
I’ve mentioned this on PalmSounds just now but, as I’ve already made a bot called the Wisdom of Pullo and talked about it here a number of times, I thought I’d mention my new one, the RandomBus, which I’ve just launched. It was fun to make and hopefully it’ll be fun for anyone who wants to follow it too.
The next installment of the War Doctor is coming on Monday
It’s come around a lot quicker than I expected actually. I did enjoy the first one, although not as much as the BBC’s take on the War Doctor, and that didn’t even have John Hurt in it. So I’m expecting more, a lot more, from this next Big Finish installment. It should be good. There’s no new set up or intro to do, it should be straight into story and that’s that.
Hopefully they’ll deliver.
Listening to the new Blancmange Album
I’ve been listening to Jack Knife, and Last Night I dreamt I had a Job, both interesting. I’m looking forward hearing the whole album when it comes out, but sadly I won’t make the live shows this year. That’s a shame really.
These are just brilliant
I got these from Kickstarter, and they are great fun. I think that over the years I’d owned about 4 or 5 of these machines (sadly no more though), and used a great deal more than that at friends houses etc. It’s fun to remember them and look at the specs in wonderment!
A signed copy of Steve Jansen’s ‘Slope’
I already have this album, I got it when it first came out, but when I heard that Steve Jansen was selling off the last remaining stock and signing them I thought I ought to buy it again. It’s always lovely to have a signed copy of things and this album especially so.
I hope he releases some more stuff from Bandcamp in the not too distant future.
Going back to Day One (Classic) because Day One 2 just doesn’t work
After a few days of using the latest version of Day One (the journal app), I’ve decided that I just doing like the big update. Version 2.0 just doesn’t work for me at all. I was really looking forward to the new version of this app, but it really hasn’t worked out for me. As far as I can tell there isn’t enough in the new version that actually worth me using to make it worth switching over completely.
I’m not using multiple journals, I thought I might but in the end couldn’t think of a use for it. The only other thing I thought would be really good was the ability to add multiple photos. Well even that isn’t big enough to put up with all the down sides from version 2.0.
I thought I’d be impressed, but sadly I haven’t been at all. The worst thing was the widget, which was completely ruined. Version 2 had a widget that was just pointless and boring.
All I can say is how disappointed I’ve been with this whole thing. It was built up to be an amazing update, a new app, and I paid for it again only to find out I’d spent money on something that was a massive backward step. Perhaps it will change. Perhaps it will get better, but until I see some evidence of that I’m going back to Classic even though I know that won’t get updated and will very quickly become abandonware.
It is nothing but a very sad state of affairs that a developer makes you pay for something that is this poor.
I am Ashley Elsdon 