okay, it’s up and running now.

Any comments or critical-words are very much appreciated (so if u hate it.. say so, if u don’t hate it say so, if u want me to jump round like a mad-man.. say so)

On a side note.. stumbled upon this site a week or so back, thought it was GREAT!!!.. Some of the comp-winners are really amazing lil animations… 10secondclub.org

Another interesting site which i came across (thanks mike :) ).. is googlefight.. the hall of fame has some Really funny fights in it.

Lastly, i must tell all who have the spare bandwidth to go to OCAU and download the Matrix:Reloaded Trailer ASAP!!!!

(ps: ignore empty pages.. it’ll finish up the tiny things later on.. maybe tomorrow..i’m exhausted :) )

URL: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Dobyns%2C%20Stephen/002-2158602-4723223

Blurb: Jim Hawthorne, the new head of this failing school for troubled teenagers, is determined to save it from closure. Partly because he believes in it – despite his friends’ warnings. And partly to exorcize his guilt from a terrible tragedy in his past. But he finds his problems are far greater than controlling disruptive pupils. The staff are secretive, watchful – as if they are frightened of something. He becomes the victim of malicious rumours and cruel, increasingly macabre practical jokes. And then a young boy is found dead, floating face down in the swimming pool. As winter draws in around the academy, Jim discovers the real, terrifying danger inside its ivy-clad walls…

Why: Just about to leave for a holiday i wanted something light to read, my sister recommended this.

Thoughts so far: It is a very light read. Nothing spectacular, not as outrageous as some other stuff i’ve read, not as boring as some other stuff i’ve read. It’s a very movie-style-book. Classic thriller, who-dunnit. Kinda keeps you guessing throughout the book, but then the last quarter you know and it’s just trying to work on this suspence. Eventually i was thoroughly disappointed because one of the questions of the novel which i believe should’ve been answered (even in epilogue) wasn’t… Ahh well. U can’t win them all.

URL: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Keneally%2C%20Thomas/002-4996617-3124053

Blurb: In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German industrialist grew into a living legend to the Jews of Cracow. He was a womaniser and heavy drinker who enjoyed the good life, yet to them he became a saviour.

Why: Once again.. after putting back my last book, i needed something to read didn’t i? I’ve seen the movie a long time ago, and partly because i think Emily would be proud to see me taking an interest in some ww2-esque stuff. :P

Thoughts so far: Good book. Sometimes getting slightly to biographical+historical for me, but then other times touching me in ways which i’m sure all historians (and ppl interested in history, and the shocking things ppl do) are interested in.

Blurb: One moment joseph Schwartz was a happily retired tailer in Chicago, 1949. The next he was a helpless stranger on the Earth during the heyday of the Galactic Empire. Earth, as he soon learned, was a backwater, despised by all the other 200 million planets of the Empire because its people dared to claim it was the original home of man. And earth was poor, with great areas of radioactivity ruining much of its soil – so poor that everyone was sentanced to death at the age of sixty. And Schwartz was sixty-two!

Why: .. i’ve run out of stuff to read.. it was one of the first i pulled off the shelf in our back-room!

Thoughts so far: Wow.. Asimov sure can do it. I mean, for a book written in the 50′s i think, it’s out there. What i found most interesting was the afterword, where he discusses how he (and others) believed that the earth was generally radioactive, and that most humans could survive in such an environment (as were the earth-people in the novel).. he understand that not to be true in the afterword (’82) .. but unfortunately couldn’t change the story as it is a key in the plot. Great book :)

URL: http://www.philipglass.com/

Tracks:
1. Koyaanisqatsi
2. Vessels
3. Cloudscape
4. Pruit Igoe
5. The Grid
6. Prophecies

Why: Been getting back into my “Art Music” playlist, and somewhere in there was some fairly minimilist john-cage. This brought back memories of when i saw a visual-peice accompanied by Glass himself and about 12 other keyboardists and an orchestra. It was amazing. Just these visuals of movement and growth. Time-lapse photography. So .. i got the album

Thoughts so far: Great. It’s music that u don’t have to concentrate, but when u do it’s delicious. It makes u want to chant, but usually i just hum, and because most of the music is flowing over + over itself in these minimil looped patterns, the humming sound nice. It’s relaxing and enchanting and questioning. Simple and beautiful. .. It’s not bloated at all.. Great!

URL: http://lambstar.net/

Tracks:
1. What Sound
2. One
3. Sweet
4. I Cry
5. Scratch Bass
6. Heaven
7. Small
8. Written
9. Gabriel
10. Sweetheart
11. Just Is

Why: I’ve had a large, soft, squishy cavern in my heart which, for a while, lamb’s gorecki + gabriel have filled. Those two songs got away with murder in this heavenly spot in my chest, bringing tears + goosebumps + emotions to my whole being. So when recently i had a taste of the “What Sound” album thanks to tany i had to quench my desire for the album. SO now i have it, and i have it on repeat. It’s adorning my winamp and it makes me feel good. It’s like rediscovering Portishead and the more ambient d&b from ed rush (maybe even a touch of jamiroquai funk thrown in for good measure) combined.

Thoughts so far: Ahh!!..Great. The two songs that got me hooked (excluding gabriel obviously) written and i cry are great, and now that i’m listening closely to “Sweet” i also recognise this from somewhere (maybe JJJ?).. ahh. Great. I love a good splash of trip-hop in the morning. (Or afternoon.. whatever)

URL: http://www.korn.com/

Tracks:
1. Twist
2. Chi
3. Lost
4. Swallow
5. Porno Creep
6. Good God
7. Mr Rogers
8. K@$%
9. No Place To Hide
10. Wicked
11. ADIDAS
12. Low Rider
13. Ass Itch
14. Kill You

Why: I just woke up and.. had a korn-need. So i grabbed this album (i think i grabbed this before their self-titled first release because i would’ve heard that album the most recent of all their albums.. and this one the least.. so i was going to try and regrow my korn love with this album (which i so nastily ignored all those years))

Thoughts so far: Hahaha.. For a 2nd album.. this is such a “dirty” first-sounding album. Talking to a friend about this, he told me that they (korn) were in such a rush to make some quick-cash they released it quite quickly. I mean, compared to self-titled, it’s obviously more refined, but it also sounds like they haven’t really added a whole lot of $$ to their studio-esque sound. It still sounds very raw and .. well. Real. Great tracks.. well. All of them really. Twist reminds me of when i was young and the first time i heard the album.. used to laugh my tits off at his evil-ass skatting. Chi is great (It certainly shows where david silveria went right on the drums IMHO), Good God is also a very good track. I mean.. like all of them, it basically entails all of what Korn is, and what their dirty ass sound is. The following track, Mr Rogers, is also a killer of a song. I really liked the arrangement of this song, and they do these lil quirkie things in there which just make me love it even more. (The stereo left-right clicks.. in the pauses for eg).. it’s great!.. how could i not mention A.D.I.D.A.S… the song that i would have most likely heard first from Korn. (Naturally not really KNOWING about the first album til after this one)..Great song, too short i felt, but. Maybe there was nothing more they could add. Lastly is Kill You.. wow. I’m not sure about the last couple of albums. But i’m quite sure on the 1st 3.. Korn always end their albums on the same emotional High. .. smooth .. almost relaxing, breathing melodies etc.. added with jonathon davis crying.. like all the time. .. Fucking great song.. great. (SO aggressive.. that boy sure did/does have issues ;P)

URL: http://www.djshadow.com/

Tracks:
1. Letter From Home
2. Fixed Income
3. Un Autre Introduction
4. Walkie Talkie
5. Giving up the Ghost
6. Six Days
7. Mongrel..
8. ..Meets his Maker
9. Right Thing
10. Monosylabik
11. Mashing On The Motorway
12. Blood on The Motorway
13. You Can’t Go Home Again
14. Letter From Home

Why: In the past from exceptional recommendations from Mike i’ve downloaded various DJ Shadow Tunes. One of my favourites is obviously the Thom Yorke + DJ Shadow “Rabbit In Your Headlights”.. which is an exceptional song! (Must hear!!) Also because TripleJ have been playing “Six Days” for quite a while also had an impact.

Thoughts so far: Great album. Amongst my millions i found the old U.N.K.L.E. Album Psyence Fiction (which has DJ Shadow as the DJ), it’s a great groovy album, and obviously Shadow acting by himself is also a massive groove force not to be mistaken. He is definately one of the more smooth dj’s out there, and his tunes are definately unique. (And apart from their sound, from what i gathered of his song-titles he also takes pleasure in making them not quite.. well.. lets say *dull!*) .. Remarkable tracks? Most of them are great, i found the real glowey-numbers to be “Six Days” (amazing vocals which initially pissed me off, but then later really got me going.. combined with .. some of the smoothest sounding sample-esque dj-drum-loop.. well. Ever!. it really floats my boat), the Mongrel tunes.. (Great, spooky melody that seems to grow on you..) and also Blood On The Motorway ..especially the end (when the drumming kicks in at around 5m44s .. it’s like. fucking amazing. This is what DJ Shadow does that makes me really enjoy his music!)

Tracks:
. Chan Chan
2. De Camino a la Vereda
3. El Cuarto De Tula
4. Pueblo Nuevo
5. Dos Gardenias
6. Y Tu Que Has Hecho?
7. Veinte Anos
8. El Carretoero
9. Candela
10. Amor De Loca Juventud
11. Orgullecida
12. Murmullo
13. Buena Vista Social Club
14. La Bayamesa

Why: .. i love this album. I don’t own it myself (like ALL my freakin’ albums), but usually whilst at Em’s, if we put on a cd it’ll be this lil number. Great latin/cuban-esque album.

Thoughts so far: Haha. I’m not sure how many peoples would have seen this movie, but i (unfortunately) wasn’t that impressed. Their were funny bits here and there, and the whole “culture” vibe was just brilliant. .. hrms. Actually, maybe i did enjoy this movie. (I suppose it’s hard for me to break out of my typical action flick-crap). I think also this was the first movie that i saw with my dad post-parents.(split). It is a wonderful album, great for bbq’s and sunny, sunday afternoons with cheap red-wine + cigerettes.

Tracks:
1. The Universe
2. The First Breath
3. Humanity
4. Multiplies
5. Fever (Or a Flame)
6. Could you Understand
7. Alien Report
8. Glow
9. Beaches & Deserts
10. Final Call
11. I Make It
12. Universal Spirit
13. Hurry to Go Easy
14. Scale Circle
15. Landed

Why: When my eldest sibling was in town a whilst back, she brought her new toy with her. AKA: her iBook, and upon plugging her into my home-LAN i found.. plenty o’ mp3′s. Many in full-albums. So, being the leecher i am, i downloaded them.. and amongst all those mp3′s (not all sorted yet) i stumbled upon this album. And wow. Ambient Drum & Bass with a touch of sexy, fem-a-la-vox. I found this album to be amazing for when i’m studying. And, god i love my d&b, and i especially love my ambient d&b (I love the aggressive, moving stuff too.. ).. ahh. Great album.

Thoughts so far: hrms.. i accidently filled in this information in the “tracks” bit :P Favourite track? Would have to be “Humanity” (Definately worth a download IMHO).. but if you choose any of the tracks with the sexy fem-vocals.. they’ll be good too :)