Kirsty Almeida – If You Can’t Make Me Happy

Here’s a photo of Kirsty Almeida on stage that I got at Godiva.

I’ve enjoyed my time with my current host 34sp.com, I’ve been with them since 2003, when I graduated from University and needed a hosting account. In those 7 years I have made many progressions with my site, from static HTML files to Wordpress through Mambo and the podcasts were even run from this server with 34sp.com. These progressions are set to continue long into this decade too! The reason for the move is simply to consolidate all my domains around a central hosting account. I’m looking forward to providing lightning fast load times and PHP 5 functionality.

I’m also in the process of setting up a number of domains too, so there’s plenty going on in the ideas factory back here at HQ, it’s just gonna take a while to get everything web that I do (possibly your website, if you are thinking of employing me), consolidated onto one server. It’s a very exciting time for me and I’m keen to keep you at my side as I start this journey :)

“After a significant petition from the listening public, the BBC’s online radio station, 6 Music, has been reprieved from closure”

Excellent, so pleased to hear this news, perhaps Digital Radio does have a future in the UK afterall. All we need now is DAB+ and we can begin the task of saving the whole of Digital Radio :)

Kina Grannis – Valentine (Official Music Video)

Awwwwh, how sweet is that video!
Anyway here are some of her amazing covers

Kina Grannis – First Train Home (Imogen Heap Cover)

I love how in the bridge Kina, taps her guitar for purcussion. Play those do waveforms Kina, she’s even got the vocal layers spot on and says the obvious, that Ellipse is just awesome! Plus she has done a cover of the song that really broke Feist (who I adore), mainstream proper.

Kina Grannis – 1,2,3,4 (Feist Cover)

I’ve just got back from the Godiva Festival in Coventry, so expect more on that soon!

This week marks, my last week at work, quite fittingly this blog post is written on Independance day! I’ve been in my current employment for a tad over 3 years now and have worked on some pretty interesting projects as well as been a major light in the web team. I’ve learned a lot, met some fantastic people and had some good laughs, but there comes a time when you see that life is too short to stagnate and progression must be kept on track.

When I began this current period of employment, I was unemployed, living with my parents and had to start again and I had to pick myself up from some pretty devestating circumstances, in which I didn’t expect to see much past my 30th birthday, but I kept going regardless. I’m confident that I had the resolve to do it once and so I shall keep on doing it, rising to fall, knowing the next rise will be higher, knowing each kick in the nards only serves to make me fight back harder. Plus I’m nearly 30 now and far from being depressed, even reaching 30 years old is for me a major two finger salute to cancer. So have it! Let’s get on with the show, just in case.

“Sucess [it was once said] is the ability to go from one failure to another without loosing enthusiasim”. — Winston Churchill

The past three years have been awesome, forgeting the bad and focusing on the good, I honestly can say it has been the ride of my life, but I’m exhusted. The train though kinda got derailed in 2009, when things just became a stressball and I have become ill as a result. It’s not just myself going through hard times, many of us will be facing our own tough challenges right now at ths start of this decade, we’ll be rethinking and taking stock during this post downturn phase. It’s something I’m used to doing. What do we want to be when the good times return? I’m greatful that through the downturn we had enough stability to press on, a little bit sheltered but none the less aware and so I could emerge as a butterfly, gaining my own home and increasingly building my life, following my bliss. Though it was a suprise that most of my best progressions came outside of my working environment, but every day builds the future you want and things certainly went back to my roots and that’s where the real foundations of my future are.

“The future hasn’t been written yet, so make it a good one!” — E.L.B

That progression doesn’t end here, far from it, although it will be tough, I have enough resources, friends and contacts here where I’m settled to push forward with the next chapter of my life, which hopefully will see me gain the experience I need to manage my own business. I couldn’t choose a better place for it, you’d be suprised at how well connected Walsall is in the information age, loads of talented people live or work here or very close to here and we’re all cracking on with some pretty amazing things.

So rather than be fearful that I’m leaping into the unknown here, I’m pretty darn excited and itching to get on with it! A flood of emotions, a mixture of life admin and hard graft to secure the future but what I’m fighting for is happiness and your own happiness is priceless and worth more than anything else. My train is departing this station, which was a half way house get fed and watered on the route to someplace even better, I’ve also picked up passengers on the way and there’s plenty more room to jump on board this flying train!

I think that’s enough of the Back to The Future in-jokes!
I promise I’ll be back on the blog in August with some actual creative updates.

It was on the way back we decided to make the most of the day, although exhusted we waited for the sun to start setting. Ian found the best spot via GPS on his new iPhone and we found ourselves on the edge of the river mouth looking out over to Wales (after walking past a field of yet more cows, a water treatment plant and an electricity substation), it was a proper adventure, trying to figure out the angles and playing with filters. I have to say we do have the world’s greatest hobby in photography, it takes you places you wouldn’t have thought about going.

While in Weston Super Mare, we saw the crew setting up for T4 on the beach, we got off the beaten track and got some great shots from nearby Uphill, which was up a hill, strangely enough! I guess to get the best shots, you have to be prepared to wonder into fields of cows, attempt to walk on quicksand (some kids did, a sticky situation for sure) and wait in a service station for the day to die so you can get the sunset over the bridge.

Over the years my tastes have varied a lot and back in the day as I was coming out of my teen years, I became entranced with the sound of Ibiza 99 (having never been there). I’ve always had a thing for deep house / ambient / stripped back and downtempo tracks which feature lush female vocals.

Jean Jacques Smoothie – Two People

Jean Jacques Smoothie’s hit Two People then, joins my collection alongside the greats of the time, such as Fragma (also feat. women’s sport) Roger Sanchez, The Avalanches, Milky, even Robert Miles and Chicane. Although this version of the track doesn’t do it justice really, you need the full length version. The vocals are sampled from a soul classic, Minnie Riperton’s – Inside My Love, which is a lot slower, the samples seem to have been sped up for this tune. The genre reminds me of the adventures of leaving college and starting University and still influences my tastes today.

He is of course on twitter @jjsmoothie. But this is such a tune and perfect for the summer weather we are currently seeing! And yes I do have a thing for both Tennis and Kirsten Dunst. Forget the Football World Cup, ladies tennis is where it’s at!

The indie four peice, rocked out to a local crowd at the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham recently and so I thought, well why not get a few photos while I was there supporting our anthemic locals! As luck would have it I teamed up with friendly reviewer Matt Elton, who has posted a bostin review of the gig on his excellent music review blog, Rocket Falls. The gig was awesome but Matt will tell it like I can’t, in his Rogue States review :)

You can follow Rogue States on Twitter @roguestates and check out their website.

The Red Balloon – By John Dalkin (Uploaded July 18, 2006)

John explains in his description of the photo that it was the result of a little girl letting go of a balloon in a shopping centre in Coventry. He adds “All you need is a little imagination………..”. I love his composition and the way the sun has been caught reflecting off the balloon. Quite a capture for a spontaneous moment!