PAYTV - #AnimalAugust #12

I've been binge watching TV again , this time "The Rook" on Virgin . When I first started watching it was on Virgin's UHD channel , but when I hit episode three it said I had to upgrade to continue. Needless to say I didn't though apparently it's STARZ production , though "Ash vs The Evil Dead" was included in the package.

Amazon Prime is similar , you pay for the Prime package , and you see some programs advertised and when you select you have to take out another subscription to another provider. It's like charity and lottery adverts, there are more and more spring up and if it keeps on like this we may have to go back to buying DVDs.

I also get annoyed that pay channels carry advertisements on th elive feeds, I don't mind advertisements on say All 4 as I see that as my price of admission, same with all commercial channels.

I am grateful for the plethora and cornucopia and good television programs available, this is from someone who grew up with a choice of two TV channels. Also when you watch recorded items you can fast forward through adverts , and when you watch Sky or Amazon Prime Streams you have no adverts so to speak (possibly some short ones) .

To be quite honest I do watch very little live TV which means , apart from All 4 and other commercial streamers I am not usually troubled by adverts so generally things are good , although you do get some very good adverts.

So what should we go for #AnimalAugust ? Well "Toad" by Cream is playing , essentially a Ginger Baker drum solo bookended by a solid simple heavy riff , the live version has a bit more guitar work in it , but Ginger Baker's drumming is the star here.

Timefolder - #AnimalAugust #10

I've had an idea for a short story or even a book called "Timefolder" , obviously I can't say any more as the concept is fairly nebulous and cloudy and I do need some time to flesh it out. Whether this will happen or it will just be forgotten about , I don't know , and given my  previous track record it will probably just be left.

We are well into August and today's weather is as grey as ever. I have been trying to set up a subdomain to no effect (ie using the proper channels nothing actually works).

This is a very short insubstantial post and had a few things I wanted to say but like many times before everything has trained from my mind, leaving me with very little to share with you.

The thing is I think my posts average about 250 words and even though I feel there is absolutely nothing in this post this has hit that word count so it's not like my early posts which were about a sentence long, but also I suppose there is a lot of word fluff in this that is waffle to expand the post.

I have finished "The End of The F**king World" this week , which I found rather good if challenging and you do laugh but sometimes feel you shouldn't because of what has happened. You can watch for free on All 4 . I keep getting adverts to subscribe and go advert free , but I am fine if adverts are the price I pay to watch the series.

I actually pay Virgin to watch Sky and Sky carry adverts even though I am paying to watch them anyway.


For #AnimalAugust I've gone for a Christmas record from Alan White and Chris Squire when they were with Yes , "Run With The Fox" , possibly a bit trte but I've always liked it . I'm surprised it doesn't seem to be available for digital download but is on the Yesyears boxed set which is available art a reasonable price through Amazon.

Keep On Keeping On

Last week was very grey then yesterday was actually looking sunny for a while before slipping back into the greyness of the last week and today looking out, I can see all the cars are frosted up. Not the most inviting of Monday mornings, but another week of work is waiting for us.

I had intended to take a walk out to Cow Hill on the Town Moor to take some photographs but was not feeling up to it. Also there's various house related things I need to sort out, and then noticed that my Virgin TIVO box had decided it wasn't recording the first two episodes of the next half season of The Walking Dead but was going to record from episode 3 (well 10 actually cos of the mid season break) onwards, then they seem to have moved The Blacklist onto Sky1 for the next half season and it wasn't going to record that either.

So all that is in hand, but I really need to get some positive uplift into my life, as currently loads of my time is taken by apparent mundanities, the problem being , I think my complete withdrawal from social interaction may be part of the contribution to this because people do inspire me and  give me a lift, even meeting for the odd coffee is good.

The thing is as people get older they seem to almost ossify in their views, what they want to do, and where they want to go. Sometimes an evening in a warm house with a good book or film is more inviting than trying to engineer a social occasion.

I've also not been to any gigs, as I have mentioned previously, and need to get out to see more bands , and there are opportunities to see lots around Newcastle, with venues such as Trillians, The Black Bull and Think Tank? and bigger venues such as The Riverside, The O2, The Tyne Theatre, The Sage, and Wylam Brewery, so it's not as though there's nowhere to go.

In fact I've just checked and Wilko Johnson is playing The Wylam Brewery in April and there are quite a few gigs on before then.

I really must apologise for the down nature of this post I promise to put a smile on my face and do something positive this week and will leave you with Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner" just cos it's brilliant , and music is always uplifting and this makes me feel better.

Palms Awakening and Two World Class Goals From Preston North End - #ALifeInNumbers #29

What do you do when it's 3:19 am and you feel wide awake. I've had five hours sleep so I am not exactly sleep deprived, but really it's two hours before I need to get up and three and a half hours before I can get into work. Yesterday I was working on a problem and kept running into brick walls but by the time I shot everything down I had the answer and had discovered something I could do with our data warehouse system (actually more like a data garden shed system but that's another story) which isn't documented and  may prove to be useless, but may also prove to be very useful.

It's great when you have days like that where you were looking for an answer and when you get it, you have several other pieces of beneficial information. That's what happens when you work in a supportive environment with great people, and most of my working life I've been able to do that. So I suppose one of the things keeping me awake is the fact that I can present these answers and move on to the next goal.

Anyway it's now 3:29 so it took me ten minutes to write those two paragraphs. I certainly didn't know what I was going to be writing about apart from the fact that it would be part of the #ALifeInNumbers sequence.

 Last night Newcastle United went top fo the Championship, tonight Preston North End play Huddersfield who were top on Saturday morning , on Saturday we play Norwisch, followed by Newcastle in the EFL Cup, followed by Newcastle in the League so starting last Saturday (when we drew 2-2 with Brighton although Sky are insistent Brighton threw away a commanding 2-1 lead, conveniently forgetting Preston scored the first goal and were in the lead in the match for longer than Brighton were). I won't be surprised if we lose our next four matches, but I won't be surprised if we win them either. I'm not a pessimist and I do expect the unexpected from Preston, under Simon Grayson we have been promoted via the play offs for the first time ever, seen our first Wembley victory since 1938, won a playoff final by the highest margin ever, and in two playoff semi finals at Deepdale seen two of the greatest goals you will ever see period. And thanks to Youtube  I can include them below.

It's now 3:41 am, so here's number 29 and what else but the wonderful "29 Palms" by Robert Plant. I've always loved this song and love Percy's solo work, and was amazed when a couple of years back he managed a double CD retrospective called "Sixty Six to Timbuktu"  and that came out thirteen years ago in 2003 so he has not been idle since Led Zeppelin released their last album.

So it's now 3:52 so I'm going to go back to bed and get a few more hours sleep. Hopefully you will be reading this after a good nights sleep.

Joe Garner's Goal:



Jermaine Beckford's Goal:

Why Jeff Stelling Might Not Like Preston North End

Last night Preston North End hosted Hartlepool United in the latest incarnation of the League Cup, first round at Deepdale. I use an app called Fotmob and discovered that since 2010 Hartlepool had not scored a goal against Preston and had lost every match by the odd goal apart from one 5-0 defeat. Jeff Stelling is the world number one Hartlepool supporter.

Poor Jeff

Last night they defended heroically until the 94th minute when Eoin Doyle scored for us as extra time, and a draw loomed. That mus hurt, it would hurt me definitely.

It is good to see partisan , knowledgeable sports presenters , and lets face it I don't like all the 'B' clubs near Preston (Bolton , Burnley , Blackpool, Blackburn) and everyone hates Leeds and Millwall, but it adds to the interest of the program.








So cheer Jeff up and buy his book. I 've included my favourite football song because this is a vaguely football related post so you can enjoy England's Irie by Black Grape.

Have a wonderful day everybody.

TV IS KING!

Well it is and it isnt. I'm old enough to remember only two channels, being really annoyed when Kennedy got shot because ITV took all their programs off and just had some woman playing piano and I missed my weekly episode of Bonanza. I saw the transition from black and white to colour, the moon landings and England winning the World Cup..

I remember getting BBC2 and that was a 50% increase in available TV , then we got Channel 4 and Brookside and Channel 5 was a relatively recent terrestrial addition , plus there was the proliferation of satellite , Sky's money managing to make and sterilize football in one fell swoop.

When we had limited channels , audiences could be huge , but people complained like hell about repeats. We now have digital channels that are completely repeats. People complain about the TV License but happily shell out five times as much for subscription TV that STILL is full of advertisements.

The switch to digital came and gave most people loads of effectively free content funded by adverts. Plus these days we can have catch up TV and recording boxes that allow you to skip adverts, enabling you to watch what you want when you want.

It's very seldom these days that you need to get home for a TV program unless it's a televised live event, but we now probably watch more TV than ever before. It#s ubiquitous. We have TV on Mobile devices and there's a TV screen visible wherever you sit at work.

TV IS KING!

And my point is people still say "There's nothing on television" , apart from the off switch you have all the options above. My TIVO box is 90% full and Netflix and Amazon Prime don't even touch my radar. There are times when you channel hopand cant find anything you want but there are so many catch up and record options you should always be able to find something.

And if not, why not read a book or call a friend , that's even better than TV!

Though the Tubes song was appropriate as it gave the  post it's title.

Still Feeling Great

The Sugared Butterfly

Today I had the best Hot Chocolate I've ever had at Sugared Butterfly in Helmsley. It used to be The Old Police Station, but is absolutely lovely and, as I say, brilliant Hot Chocolate, and I just had the basic one. Chances are I'm going back tomorrow , the people were really pleasant, and it is the sort of place you can feel totally relaxed in and get a choice of both traditional and unusual food. This place is just one of many in Helmsley which is just such a pleasant village. My only criticism of the place is that they have space for an Edinburgh Woolen Mill shop , but still no Chemist! I've been holidaying in the area for about five years and still can't believe that situation still exists.



The holiday is continuing on in a relaxing fashion, not going very far, watching Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire, both extremely worthy series. It's amazing these days how much advertising you can dodge with catch up TV options. I'm surprised they let you fast forward through the adverts, although if you use 4OD you don't get that option. This is why I don't mind paying my TV License, I'm amazed at the number of people who complain about the £130 a year TV License while forking out £100 a month for a Sky Movies and Sport package without batting an eyelid.

Anyway another problem I had today was my phone not connecting to the Holiday Cottage Wifi. I tried lots of solutions on the web and finally solved it by switching the router off and on, nice simple solution, though I wish I'd done it this morning.

Today we've had blue skies, although it's been very cold, but still an excellent day, just good to be well away from the rat race.Thought I would leave you with a bit of Faust , sort of relevant to the holiday, not your average Krautrock , but then I don't think ant Krautrock is average, and if you don't enjoy this then listen to it until you do. It is very good.

So again I've managed to link up a relaxing holiday with some extreme music, but that's just the nature of things, everything is connected if you look for the threads

Pain and Being Positive

Today I had to make a doctors appointment, however a lot of things were thrown in my way which seemed to be making me miss it. First of all my bus was late followed by trains. But while I was thinking this may go wrong , I thought as long as it's not too late I can do it.

I got into Newcastle and walked across town to catch a bus which I jumped on, but as I was walking to my seat a car pulled out in front of the bus, causing him to slam on. I was thrown backwards , but managed to catch a hold of a pole and steady myself with a my right leg , rather too hard resulting in a jarring pain in my right leg, I informed the driver and said I'd report the incident just in case , and told him to do the same. It wasn't his fauldt and it could have been much worse.

Next off we got to Byker Bridge and there was a major accident requiring the bridge to be closed off and the bus to be redirected. I phoned the surgery and told them the situation that I may be late. Amazingly the redirection only added ten minutes to the journey and the doctor's surgery was running ten minutes late so it all worked out OK, and I need to go back in two weeks to have some minor surgery.

So basically I kept thinking positively throughout this and eventually in all worked out. So even when things seem to conspire against you , keep going and the chances are you will get a good result. Although after an early start I'm going to go to bed early tonight. So have a good evening everybody and keep being positive.

Oh and I watched the first two episodes of Yonderland, and it is very good. Made me laugh several times.

There's Always Something On TV

I'm sort of worried about my TV viewing habits , well not really , but I am a creature of convenience. Despite having a few hundred DVDs I very seldom actually but one into my player to watch. Also , despite how cheap they are re , I very seldom buy any these days because 1) I've no room to put them and 2) most of the time I might not actually get round to watching the damned thing.

The problem is they have so much competition now from the likes of Youtube , On Demand TV such as iPlayer , 4OD  , and my Virgin hard drive and catch up TV box,  pay rental sites such as Blinkbox and Netflix. So unless it's a specialist music DVD I very rarely buy the things these days.

I want everything at the touch of my remote control , becoming the not so mythical "homo sedens" , not wishing to move from his chair , while wanting permanent tailored entertainment. You can even pause live TV while you answer the door or go to the toilet.

It still amauses me to hear people say there's nothing on TV when between BBC4 and Film4 I have intelligent viewing on tap , that's before dipping into the other 160 channels I have. Sky viewers have similar options. Watch what you want , when you want , where you want.

How good is that?

Repetition

In the seventies ,I remember ahving three channels and people complaining about the license fee mainly because of all the repeats on TV. Then we got Channel 4 and Channel 5 and people still complainesd about the lack of choice.

Then came satellite and people who complained about the license fee happily subscribed to Sky and pay TV  and still complained . Now we have Freeview and it's ironic that some of the most watched channels are crammed with repeats. Gold , Dave , Comedy Central all just contain repeats.

We also now have PVRs and people still complain there's nothing on TV , while happily watching re runs of "Only Fools And Horses" or "Two And A Half Men" (on my TV at the moment).

Boxed sets  of the DVDs sell like hot cakes , even "On The Buses" which must be one of the worst programs ever . Did you know Reg Varney was the first person in Britain to use an ATM ? YOu would have though they's have got somebody good to do it.

And then those Carry On Films , how come Sid James , Kenneth Cope and Bernard Bresslaw always got the girls ?

Anyway thats my thoughts on the subject and the Carry On Films did at least have some classics among their number (Screaming , Cleo and Up The Khyber).

The New Football Season Starts Here .... Well

..actually it started last night with Cardiff City easing past Huddersfield. Most of the media have focussed their attention on the Premier League despite this only being 20 clubs , and Sky especially doing their usually fawning brown nosing over whoever they think has money , so this season it's Manchester City , with Arsenal , Liverpool , Manchester United and the rest rest are therir to make up the numbers.

Last season they were soooo disappointed that Newcastle United did not implode as they had continued to do under Freddie Shepherd , Mike Ashley despite his continual publicity gaffs managing to get it right where it matters earning the grudging respect of most of the Newcastle fans.

After the plummetting fortunes of Preston , for the first time on Monday night Graham Westley got a standing ovation as his totally rebuilt team beat Huddersfield in the Captal One Cup.

So looking forward to another roller coaster season and who knows what may happen. Theres bound to be the odd controversy so we have to have a Half Man Half Biscuit Song to finish. Full lyrics here:

Crimbo Limbo

A phrase I heard today on BBC Radio to by the excellent Craig Charles standing (or sitting) in for the entirely not excellent Steve Wright (as opposed to the very excellent Stephen Wright). Well Christmas day has gone , as has Boxing Day , present have been opened and we're now into that space where we are waiting to see what the New Year will bring .

Are you working (I am) , are you on Holidaday , will you get to a party , who knows.

Did you do the sales  (I didn't) ,

Any hope everyone had a great Christmas , and hope the "crimbo Limbo" has kept you on a high.

I nearly filled up my hard drive with films , and we still have Sky 1's Treasure Island to come!!

Motion Blur

In this modern age where things get superceded almost before you buy them , I was suprised (or maybe not surprised ) that HD TVs suffer from something called motion blur , a shadow following something that moves across the screen. Apparentlly the new LED TV sets dont have it. I've always been worried about the HDTV situation which advertises it's product by shoeing and in focus forecound item (such as Wayne Rooney) against a blurred background. I don't want a picture with a blurred background , especially if I'm paying a lot for it.

Incidentally the version of True Colours in the Sky advert is by Ane Brun , available here.

About 5 years back I bought a Beko 32" CRT Television that is still going striong and gives a decent picture. Think I may wait untoil these flat TVs have themseves sorted out.

Last week we had another storming General Fiasco gig , album due in January , at the O2 Academy in Newcastle. This band is so good it's not true. When they introduce a new song you're actually looking forward to it because it's more genius from Owen (bass + vox) , Enda (Geetar) and Leaky (Drumz). They're back in September , I'll be deffo there..

Also next week Blur play the academy in preparation for their O2 Arena Gig. I'll be going for a curry at the Spice Cube.

What's The Meaning Of Free?

After Carphone Warehouse's re-imagining (see Orange Goldspots ad below) of the word "unlimited" in relation to mobile downloads (250 Mb a month se article here) we now have Sky offering free broadband, calls and Sky+ Box as the main thrust of their advertising campaign. In the small porint it does mention that you have to pay a minimum of about £16 a month to get these "free" services.

A similar thrust is 3s "never pay for another phone call" advert , the condition being that you make Skype to Skype phone calls using VOIP and incur the related internet access data charges . Yes, you dont pay for the calls , but you DO pay for being able to make them!!

The Orange Goldspot that uses THAT word: