no8

Orange P900

I'm trying to get hold of a Sony Ericsson P900. Some phone company said they could supply one, but yesterday told me that the phone has failed in Orange networks testing.
Release dates for products are really annoying if you're keen to get the item. I generally have a basic rule - never buy first generation products (like the P800) for example, and never expect / try to get a new product within three months of its 'release' date, as it probably hasn't been released or distributed fully!

Don't buy cheap

I bought some scales (kitchen) from Argos for £6.99. RUBBISH. There is generally very little point buying cheap stuff in an effort to save money as the device is either useless at doing its job, or breaks quickly. Spend to save. Its better (often) to spend more (and research your products). See Kag in a Bag, Beaton.

Roller Coaster Summer 2

This felt like a busy summer - here are the trips I've done.

- American West Coast - LA, Vegas, Tahoe, San Francisco. Including Six Flags Magic Mountain (Goliath, Jokers Revenge)
- Various weekends learning to Paraglide
- Caravan in Wales, walking up Snowdon
- Cycling trip from Wales to Birmingham
- Lowlands Festival Holland, including Six Flags Holland (Goliath, Via Volta, Superman)
- Thorpe Park, Surrey (Colussus, Nemesis)
- Blackpool Pleasure Beach (Big One, Revolution, Valhalla)
- Spain, Gibraltar and Morroco at end of December

Now the summer is over (although the tripathon above goes way later) and winter has decended on me and I try not to go outside, I'm turning my attention to next summer. Theres a few things to pack in:

- Vancouver in March including skiing at Whistler
- another trip to caravan in Wales (last year of opportunity)
- Drayton Manor theme park, nr Tamworth
- Alton Towers
- Benicassim Music Festival in Spain and / or Lowlands again
- Big Ohio Roller Coaster Trip - visit three theme parks in Ohio, including Cedar Point
- Amsterdam and Brussels trip
- Reccy to Chamonix

Hmmm, I thought there was more... Comment if you think of any good trips.

Sun Kil Moon

I missed this - Mark Kozelek, who used to be the main man in the fantastic Red House Painters, has a new band called Sun Kil Moon. What is annoying is that I can't find ANY mp3 sample tracks of their release. By all accounts, this record is fantastic, but as always, I like to hear before I buy. Limewire time...

River Thames Panoramas

Some fantastic panoramas of the River Thames in the Pool of London area.

This was a work project, and one of the most enjoyable we've done. Louise, our designer, spent many, many hours stitching these photos together in photoshop.

Some people are real artists with photoshop.

My Naming Muse

Preston School of Industry have revamped their website, announced the release date of their new record and given us a preview mp3.

I'm off to listen to it.

www.prestonschoolofindustry.com

The 'Studio'...

A couple of days this week I set up to record drums on 5 songs which will make up an EP (hey, I dunno what it should be called. Its a set of mp3's intended to go together - not an album, not really an EP, perhaps an IP - internet player...? who cares...).
I played with sticks rather than the quieter brushes, and received no complaints from neighbours. It is trully one of the most enjoyable things to do, to record drums onto multitrack. The only downer is that the bass drum mic is crap - a £10 job from Tandys.
I have to redo some vocals, add some guitars and mix mix mix, and then eventually it'll be finished. I may have an aversion to finishing things, it seems to take so long. But I do have an EP/IP cover photo!

This is the drum kits I'm using - my first ever proper kit, and I'm kinda proud to own it (a wierd sentiment - you pay yr money, big deal). Its a Mapex kit, with Sabian Solar cymbals, which I understand are the cheapest,most rubbish cymbals you can get. They are, however, a step up from the cymbals that come with a Thunder drum kit. Sound ok to me.
Anyway, I like my red Mapex kit, and I just need to get an attachment so I can mount a cow bell and a woodblock that my parents gave to me - these are *excellent* fun to have on a kit. Alright, enough nerdy drum talk.

Hoof Blog

Kev has launched a blog, 'the way of the hoof'. I'm very much looking forward to reading it, and hoping for good quality comment on, amongst other things, the telly. (kev used to write a column for the Uni Magazine called Kev on the Box. fantastic!)

The Pepsi Max Alright (ish) One

So this is the Pepsi Max Big One. It looks huge and seems to fly around the track pretty fast. But actually it wasn't such a great thrill. We much preferred the Goliath at Six Flags NL. So thats an Arrow Dynamics against Intamin contest.
There seemed to be some confusion about the height of this ride - UltimateRollerCoaster.com says it is lower and slower than claimed by Blackpool Please Beach. So who knows. It doesn't take height, drop or angle to make a decent coaster, as any self respecting coaster rider knows, but its good to know...

End of Coaster Summer

Two weekends ago we went to Thorpe Park in Surrey, and last weekend we went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Both were excellent days out, but Thorpe Parks rides (the nemesis and colosus (pictured) in particular were better. The Pepsi Max Big One, while a formiable coaster, failed to give any real feeling of weighlessness, and we fel that the first drop is compromised by the twist to the right.