January 2006 Archives

Pardon the Boomtown Rats pun, but you may recall that I make music with a few friends of mine - Kevin and Jason. Collectively we are ARC. Its been a while since we have done anything - mostly due to Jason having moved out of state. Over Xmas Jason and family returned to sunny Sydney to visit. Not letting an opportunity pass we dragged out the old guitars for an quick jam.

Jason writes about it on his website - the family van. And I have to agree with him.. considering we havent played together for years.. it all came together so naturally and it even felt good. For those interested there is a small video download on the - the family van.

Coopers Pale ale dont like to be laid down on their sides.

After quite some resistance, I fallen into line and installed i-Tunes. Not to purchase or download music - although I may - but mostly as a means of getting all of my music and other media into some sort of library and order.

And I must admit its quite good.

First of all I have added a slide show/photo album - in case you didnt notice. Its via Bubbleshare I suggest you check them out.. it works seemlessly with blogs of all kinds.

At the moment, Im simply displaying some images I have captured whilst flying around the country and globe - didnt know I was taking flying lessons hey? I will shortly start sharing some of the thousands of pictures that have been taken on various holidays to Europe and NZ over the last few years. I may even throw in some goldern oldies too..

The other neato thing I have discovered lately is Pandora - the Music Genome Project. Its really quite interesting. The idea is that 30 or so professional musicians have looked at the 'genes' that make up a song. Then based upon the genes of the songs that you like - it is then possible to predict what other songs or music you will like - well thats the theory of it anyway.

Go ahead, venture over to the website.. enter an artist or song that you like and then sit back on listen to the other songs that Pandora recommends to you based upon the genes of the first song you entered! Its cool!

Over this summer I have really been getting into The Long Way Round . If you are not familiar with it - then as they say.. take two men, two motor bikes and 20,000 miles. One of those men just happens to be Ewen McGregor also.

I must admit that I have always been a bit of a Ewen fan.. but watching this fly on the wall documenary of Ewen and his mate Charley Boorman (who is a talented actor in his own right - but someone who I really didnt know alot about) - has had me hooked! So much so that a special request was made to Santa for the DVD for Xmas.

If you havent seen it yet.. then I would highly recommend that you tune into the Life Style Channel on Pay TV (Australia) or go out and buy the DVD. Fantastic!

And just for the record.. 2005 was indeed the hottest year on record in Australia (since recordings commenced in 1910). For specific details see here. Wow.. look at the changes since the 1980's - do we need any more evidence about glbal warming?

I can honestly say I have never been hotter. What a way to welcome in the new year. Today was the second hottest day on record in Sydney - and the hottest day of my life (with the hottest day on record in sydney being recorded before I was born). It was 47c in Sydney town and 48c at Sydney Airport. Ouch!

Needless to say I spent most of the day in front of the TV with the Air Con on.