..and the coastline is quiet..

Not much going on in Weston Super Mare right now. I really feel like rambling right now. I'm sat on the computer and I don't really know what to do, all emails are checked, all reviews written and now I'm just sat listening to music and drinking tea.

I'm getting my new laptop tomorrow! I'm so excited to have a laptop with a proper keyboard that doesn't have keys missing. I went into Comet on Monday and bought it but they didn't have it in stock so I've got to go back tomorrow. It took me weeks and weeks to save up for it, I could have waited only a few weeks and let my wages build up and then just withdraw a big wedge of it but I decided to save £50 every week since the beginning of summer and the £100 from the old house deposit really helped too! Sometimes I'm rubbish at saving, most of the time I think 'who cares?! it's only money,' and I'll go on a shopping trip but then when I get back, I look at my account and it hurts, but it's soon forgotten about. Sometimes, if I really want something, like a laptop, then I can do well at saving. I put the money under one of mums ornaments so I wasn't looking at it all the time, being tempted to spend it. Out of sight, out of mind is really a true saying!



I've recieved an email from a lecturer (as I'm sure many of you have aswell) at Uni talking about a new lifestyle magazine that is being put together by our course, but I don't really fancy it?! I don't know why, but I just don't feel like getting involved. Maybe it's because a few of our course members are unreliable and it will feel like Magazine Design lessons again or maybe it's because my own Magazine Design submission was so aweful, I don't want to do it. Plus I'm already doing Advanced Magazine Design aswell as my dissertation. Maybe I'll change my mind, but I have other things that I'd prefer to write for, for now anyway.



Things with our new house have been damn annoying over the past two days! Letters from bailiffs for previous tenants, emails about deposits, mouse droppings and all sorts. It really doesn't help that Polygon Properties don't answer their phones or emails and I'm 100 miles away. Really annoying times.



So..on Saturday Vince is playing the Unsigned Music Festival 09 in Grove Park! He is opening the show with his band Statement Code, so they are all going to be travelling down on Friday. It did look like they weren't going to play because they don't own any amps but they've managed to borrow some so it should all be going ahead. It will probably rain which will mean less people will turn up but I'll be watching. :P

Not Advised - Fight For This E.P

Not Advised - Fight For This E.P
Released 14th September 2009

The last time I from Not Advised, it was way back in 2008 when the band had just released their single ‘You’re The Designers, We’re The Deciders,’ and we loved it, so we were very excited on the morning that the band’s new EP ‘Fight For This,’ dropped through our letter box.

Based in Southampton, Not Advised are already a part of the explosive music scene and they will be playing a headline show at the established Joiners music venue to celebrate the release of ‘Fight For This.’


The band have certainly made progress since I last reviewed their material. Opening track ‘Red Light Situation,’ is a pop punk storm of a track that showcases the bands happy go lucky outlook on life. The band claim that the song is about a red light warning that often appears on the dashboard of their tour van and usually ends up with them breaking down on the motorway.

Track number two, ‘Right Now,’ retains a harder sound than the previous but it still holds the bands signature sound that is apparent from the very start of the EP. Infectious crowd chanting and impossibly catchy breakdowns and choruses make this song become a pop punk fans dream.

‘Jane Says Left,’ bursts through the speakers with a standard pop punk ‘woah!’ and continues on to be a rock monster of a track, taking the listener on a roller coaster of a journey through the smooth and calm bridge before the bursting chorus and the short but sweet, almost metal sounding instrumental.

Closing track ‘The World’s Not Ready,’ is not as hard as previous tracks which makes it the perfect wind down song. Still full of pop punk goodness, it has a crowd pleasing chorus and satisfying melodies. Front man Jim Thomas’ vocals are steady and strong throughout the EP and he is regularly joined by the rest of the crew to provide the ever popular chanting.


‘Fight For This,’ is a feelgood piece of pop punk music that will be hugely successful amongst the masses. The band will be touring throughout August, with their final show being their EP launch at the Joiners, which is bound to send their EP out with a bang.

Aha!

I think I blog way too much. Anyway, this past few days at work have been utter rubbish! It's times like these when I despise this job and REALLY want to quit, though I know I wouldn't survive the summer without this job and I certainly wouldn't beable to find another job that can fit around my Uni terms. Thankfully, tomorrow I have two days off.

I will be going to Southampton tomorrow and I'm going to watch Vince play a gig at the Joiners! I can't wait, the Joiner's is such an established venue in Southampton, one day I hope they will be playing a headlining show! I'm going to do a live review for the show aswell!

On Friday we are going to Thorpe Park! Which, I also cannot wait for. I've never been to a theme park with Vincey so it should be fun. Last time I went, I went with my sister Holly and the Samuri ride broke down while we were hanging upside down so after that she didn't want to go on anymore rides. I want to go on EVERYTHING and hopefully none of the rides will close due to rain! I'm sure there will be plenty of pics to put up when I come back!


I'm currently planning the film section of issue 1 of Sonar magazine! We're having 4 pages dedicated to films and I just can't wait to see how they turn out. I'm hoping that when I get back to Uni, I can also help design the pages aswell as be editor for them. I'm also hoping to write some bits for other sections! I should probably be working on ideas for my dissertation. I currently have a small list of ideas in my notebook but nothing that really stands out. I need to speak with my tutor I think. I also want to show her the interview with Aiden that I wrote out to see if she thinks it's strong enough to be used in my dissertation. If not, I'll have to use it elsewhere. I have recieved a few CDs over the past two days. This morning I received the new Kerrang CD (£15 in the shops, free for me!) and the new Dinosaur Pile EP and yesterday I recieved the new Haunts and Not Advised EP's, all which need reviewing asap!

Just one more night left at work and I'm really not looking forward to it. I felt aweful last night, mainly due to the swine flu tablets I am taking. Not that I have swine flu, though my mum does and as I have asthma I have to take the medication to prevent me from getting it! Oink oink.

I recently got a nice cheque through the post, although not all of it was mine. It was the deposit back from our previous house. I'm putting some towards my little holiday in TWO WEEKS! and some towards my new laptop. I've done quite well saving these past few weeks and after this Friday I will have enough to buy it! Though I don't know which one I want yet, I'm gonna have to wait for my dad to have a day off so he can come with me!

So that's it for now, more updates at the weekend probably. :P

Top album growers of 2009 so far..

Now I know some people won't agree and will think my musical tastes suck but..I don't care!? This is the music I enjoy so ner :P

Taking Back Sunday - New Again


I've loved TBS for years now, I've seen them live twice and was really looking forward to their new album. I wouldn't say Louder Now was a complete disappointment, but it's not up there with the previous two albums.
Their new album, New Again has really grown on me. I love albums that grow on me because everytime I listen, I hear something new and my favourite tracks change about a million times!

I was a bit sceptical about the new TBS album because of Fred's despartue, would it be the same TBS? Well, yes it is, but better. The album has everything that the band is known for yet they seem to have grown up loads since previous albums and are producing much better songs because of it. I would say Fred's departure has done the band a favour if anything!



Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown


I have been waiting for literally years for a new album from Green Day and when I heard 'Know Your Enemy,' I was quietly disappointed if I'm honest. It didn't sound half as epic as American Idiot did but I bought the album regardless (and also tickets to see them live!) and although it took a few listens, I love the album. It's has lots of similarities and differences to American Idiot and although most people say that they could never top American Idiot, I think they have done so.



A Day To Remember - Homesick


Now, A Day To Remember. I wasn't keen on them to start off with and I can't even remember how I got onto listening to them but I wasn't too impressed. I'm pretty sure I downloaded the album, deleted it and then downloaded it again after I had heard a few more songs. This album has taken a long time to grow on me and I have this weird thing where I have to like at least 4 or 5 songs on an album before I buy it and although I like more than 5 songs there was still something stopping me from buying it, but now I can't stop listening to it when I open ITunes so I've bought the album ready to blast in the car. :D


So that's my top 3 album growers of 2009, so far. There are still a few albums to come this year, Paramore, Brand New, The Used and plenty more I hope!

Pass - proceed

So today, or rather at 1:30am this morning, I logged on to view my results for my second year of University and I passed. I was quietly confident that I would but I didn't want to 'curse' it by saying anything. I got 2:1's in all the subjects apart from What's The Story, which, unsurprisingly, I found the most difficult subject this year. Though I want to be a journalist, I find writing long articles/features extremely difficult, mainly because I lack the imagination and inspiration for subjects which ends up with me sitting there and getting into a strop. It's probably an issue I should raise with my tutor as it's something I really want to conquer and succeed at. I'm in the midsts of trying to write an interview/feature but as usual I'm being lazy and not getting on with it. So that will be my goal for year three, to conquer feature writing, which will hopefully cause me to enjoy it more!

I have yet to think about my dissertation. I know what I want to do, but feature ideas and contents for the magazine are difficult to think of. I've been given the choice of having either my usual tutor or my music journalism lecturer as my main go-to person for the dissertation and I can't decide who I should chose. My tutor is great for advice on feature writing and my music lecturer is great on music journalism but he doesn't have his own office and is difficult to track down, he also has a tendancy to ignore emails, so do I really want that in my third year? (Suggestions on a postcard please, or alternatively, in comment form) I really want to do well in my dissertation and graduate with a good grade. Looking at my second year results, it looks like I'm heading in the right direction, I just need to sort out this feature writing malarky!

I'm taking up shorthand again this year so I really need to practise! I'm also continuing writing for RE:SUS magazine and am now the film editor, which is going to be a huge challenge! I'll also be carrying on writing for the Joiners, which I've just remembered is due tomorrow!! Lucky I have a day off to do it, then!! So it will be a pretty busy third year, roll on September, not.

What am I doing blogging at 1:30am?

..I don't really know. I just had the sudden urge to blog! I've been without the internet all day and it just drives me crazy! I installed the latest woop-di-doo version of Internet Explorer 8 and it completely messed up my laptop. The internet wouldn't work so I had to re-install the wireless which then wouldn't work. I sat here for 3 hours this morning system restoring and trying to re-install the wireless, it drove me mental! That was until dad came to the rescue and spent many hours fiddling around and eventually fixed the problem! It feels strange without the internet, it's a daily source for everything, mainly world news, music news, social networking and emailing and I am lost without it!

I've just finished work and I usually go straight to bed but I wanted to come online and view the pictures that were taken at recently of me and my friends. About a month ago, an old friend from college randomly decided that he would come and visit this past Thursday and Friday and it got closer and closer to the time so everyone was looking forward to it and planning the whole two days until we got a text message saying he wasn't coming anymore. Which I'll be honest about, didn't come as a huge shock. What did come as quite a shock was that he did end up coming down on Thursday evening and although everything we planned, was scrapped, it was still a good two days. At first, of course, it was a bit awkward but eventually it seemed like we had gone back in time to the first year of college. We just had time to relax and hear the latest gossip as well as reminisce about old times. By the way, the pictures we took are really funny. It was about 1am and we balanced the camera on the wall so we could use the self timer and we just ended up being silly. =]

So thats the end of a rather shabby blog, but I felt like writing everything down and now I have. I better get to bed. Goodnight.

P.S, well done Vince for getting through the first year of Uni and working towards your second! You are the best performer in your class and one day you'll be a famous rockstar! Hehe =]

Sleep forever

It's July 6th already, I don't even know where this past week has gone! Moving into my new house went well and it's actually a great house, I love my bedroom! Theres so much storage for my CDs and DVDs and God knows I need a lot for them!! Theres also a comfy armchair in the corner which will be great for curling up on when I don't want to watch TV from my bed or desk. Holly and her boyfriend want to come and stay in September and theres plenty of room on the floor for them! Haha! I couldn't believe how much stuff the previous tenants left though, TVs, guitars, plates, cups, cuterly..there was loads.

I started back at work on Thursday, but it was Friday, Saturday and Sunday that killed me. There was a special event on - The Hepcat's Holiday - which is an event where all the people are dressed in old 40s and 50s rock and roll clothes and dance all night long to songs that all sound the same! They kept on dancing until 4am on all three nights so I'm absolutely knackered now and I think my feet are about to fall off! I wouldn't complain if I got more than 20 minutes break in 12 hours, thats the only thing that really annoys me and theres no point in going to the managers about it because everything they do at work is pretty much breaking the law and they don't care. It's back to normal tonight though, bring on the bingo!

Surprisingly, I got paid holiday pay this week so I can carry on saving for my laptop when I remember to take the money out for this week. I'm doing really well actually, saving £50 every week! Putting it away in a place I don't see often makes it a lot easier because I forget about it and I'm not tempted to borrow from it. Though it doesn't stop other people borrowing from it and leaving little IOU notes. =] As long as I'm payed back, I don't mind.

Thursday and Friday are my days off and an old college 'friend' is supposed to be coming to visit us, though I'm pretty much 80% sure he won't show so I'm not sure what I'll be doing on my days off. I don't have much to look forward to until August now when we go away to Devon, which I just realised is next month! Wow, I'm excited now. =] It's also Vince's birthday in August and I don't know what to get him!!!!! He reads this so I can't discuss any ideas for presents, so for now, that's it. Ciao!

The Joiners Listings July 2009 - Previews

The following was created for the Joiners music venue listings magazine for July 2009
You can read the full magazine at: http://issuu.com/the.joiners/docs/july2009