I thought it was about time I posted on my trip to Spain (ok, I know a little late, but my other website has been very busy). Perhaps the greatest highlight was a trip to Donana Park (a World Heritage Site) near Seville.
The trip came about because some friends of the in-laws own a company producing olive oil (so we get loads for free which is very useful!!) and just so happen to know the director of the park. They very kindly arranged for us to have a VIP trip around the park with the director for free. However, we were told that if any politicians wanted to visit the park, he would be unable to guide us around the park and the whole trip would be cancelled. Luckily, no-one else did ask to visit, so we got out exclusive tour. Apparently, he normally takes world leaders on the tour he gave us, including Blair and Aznar, so we were incredibly fortunate to see parts of the park that the public don't normally see.
Sadly, I was feeling like utter shit on the day as I was suffering from chronic hayfever (bloody great timing) and I kept falling asleep in the back of the jeep (I know, very embarrassing) as a result of the medication. There I am getting a very exclusive tour of one of Europe's most important parks, and I fall asleep!! Idiot!! Still, it was an amazing experience, right down to going inside the house that Blair stayed in when his family went on holiday with the Aznars in the park. Sadly, I didn't get a photo of the house, but I got plenty of the park itself.
Wow, what a weekend. I have broken my previous record for hits countless times over. According to my stat counter, I have had over 330 unique visitors since Saturday (229 on Saturday and 100 on Sunday - so far). The reason?? I seem to have upset one of the most popular bloggers in Australia, ooopps!! If you wanna find out more about the ongoing war between this particular David and Goliath, click here, here, here and here (in that order!).
ps apologies for the lack of comments on your blogs (and the story of my recent trips), I have been rather busy dealing with my inbox!!!
So, I was going to blog about this album a few days ago, and then Wes beat me to it. Despite an overwhelming sense to shout 'what's the point' and embark on some crazy spree of mindless vandalism, I have decided to blog on it anyway. That's just the kind of guy I am. So anyway, I guess I had better share my thoughts on this album with my fellow leaves.......
Now, I know that some of you will be shocked that I have an album by a band that doesn't have it's origins in the early nineties, but I like to surprise people every now and then (and the odd badger, but that's another story.....). I picked up Silent Alarm a little while back and I have to admit I kinda liked it, although I have to admit I preferred the remix version. They had a very Londonesque sound, and sounded a little different from the clones that dominate the music scene at the moment. When I saw that they had released a new album, I thought I would give it a try. It wasn't the kind of release that I would rush out and buy, but I would give it a little bit of my time. After all, man cannot survive on avocado alone, right?
So, what do I think? Well, although it hasn't blown me away, one track does stand out as being particularly good. Song for Clay is based on the work of one of the finest contemporary writers in the English language. As I guess that title might suggest, it refers to Clay from the superb novel Less Than Zero, by Bret Easton Ellis. The song plays on many of the same themes as Ellis' debut work, quoting several passages from the book, including:
"People are afraid to merge on the freeways,"
and
"disappear here."
Now, that might be a superficial reason for liking a song, but personally I love Ellis' work. American Psycho is, in my opinion, one of the finest works of fiction of the past twenty years. Yeah, it is pretty stomach churning, but see through the violence and you see a pretty savage attack on consumer culture. As an aside, the film is also very good as it does a great job of playing down the violence and playing up the black humour of the book. In short, any work that references Ellis gets my vote.
As for the rest of the album, there are some notable stand out songs like Hunting for Witches, The Prayer, Uniform, Where is Home? and Kreuzberg. All good songs, but nothing that is really ground breaking in my opinion. It does, however, have the distinction of being far superior to some of their peers on the UK music scene. However, it has managed to displace Incubus' Light Grenades at the moment, which is some achievement (that is a superb album, Incubus back on form after the dodgy A Crow Left....). Overall, a worthwhile purchase with songs that really grow on you over time.
Sorry for the lack of posts, been away in Spain for the past week, will give some detail later. In the meantime, the following clip was developed by Ten Percent and (in a very small way) myself. Watch it. Share it.
Is a bit disturbing to buy a fish sandwich at the airport, only to discover that the best before date is 17th March?? How many chemicals must be pumped into the food to enable it to stay 'fresh' that long?????
