Snow Patrol - Eyes Open....starting to get excited

Snow Patrol new album Eyes Open hits the shops in UK on 1st May and it's a pretty rare event for me. I'm excited about a CD before it's release. To be honest I don't think I've looked forward to a release since X&Y from Coldplay, generally I just find music that's already out but for a band I already like to release is kinda special. So anyway, special bond with SP as they were my first concert...I still get a kinda tingly feeling when I think back to Dec '04, jumping up and down, singing at the top of my voice to Run.

I don't enthusuastically follow SP as a do for a certain other band (cough-the-national-cough) but I've bought You're All I Have from iTunes from the new album and listened to previews on Snow Patrol's website. They seem to have moved their sound on a bit, doesn't quite seem as reflective as Final Straw was. Much more guitar and upbeat stuff, hopefully there should be some slower stuff too or I'll be disappointed. One of my favourite songs is Fifteen Minutes Old from their Songs for Polar Bears album...such a simple song but very good.

I guess I can't really say much more untill I get the whole album...but rest assured I will then!

Set Yourself On Fire by Stars

A couple of weeks agao I signed up to Last.fm and installed the audiscrobbler plug-in. For those not familiar Last.fm/Audioscrobbler makes a note of every song you play on your computer on then sends it to the last.fm database so as to create your own music profile. You can then get stats about the music you listen to such as favourite songs etc. OK not that interesting really but it gets cool as it finds your music neighbours who listen to the same artists as you, and then it makes recommendations based on what they listen too. So for example you listen to The National and Wolf Parade, somebody else listens to The National, Wolf Parade and Stars it's a pretty good bet that you may like Stars too. So it comes up with a whole list of recommended artists and then you can stream their tracks in full as part of you "My Recommended Music Radio"!

So I was doing listening to the recommended radio, it was really nice to be able to listen to new music that was acctually pretty close to what you normally listen to. OK there was still some rubbish music but I felt there was a chance I could have liked it. Anyway a track came on that stood out I've forgotten the name but it was by a group called Stars. I previewed a few other tracks and then paid my £7.99 to download their latest album (Set Yourself On Fire) from iTunes. My impression...

I like it. There's a kinda kitch, cheesy feel about it which I think will always prevent it from becoming one of my classic albums but having said that there are some songs that have some stunning parts. But that always the problem, they're just parts. I've listened through a couple of times now and I haven't found a song I can enjoy all the way through.

The last song Calender Girl has a stunning verse but OMG never has a song been wrecked so much by the chorus. I nearly fell off my seat on the bus the first time I heard it, I was so shocked by how a band could ruin a whole song in 15 seconds. Stars have two main vocalists, a man and a woman which gives their stuff some really good variety. Calender Girl starts off with the woman singing a very heart-felt ballad... "Well out on the landing a friend I forgot to send home who waits up for me all through the night" and then along comes the man and in the cheesiest voice possible that sounds like a TV advert jingle sings "Calenndeeeer giiiiirl" - I mean really what were they thinking?

There are similar moments in every single song, just as I'm thinking something has potential they put in a really bad bass line that I just can't forget about. I can't help but shake the feeling it's a very little bit formulaic either, yes good for one song, but a whole album with the same equation? Maybe I'm not spotting the subtlties

An enjoyable album? yes. A classic? Nope. But my congrats to Last.fm for suggesting it to me.

75 Bands

I stumbled into this pretty cool picture yesterday on the net, I think it begun as a promotion for Virgin but it's pretty cool. Basically there are references to 75 bands in the picture below, all you've got to do is name them.


You'll probably want to click on the picture to get the full size version. The references describe the band's name exactly so it should be pretty obvious when you work one out, for example Guns n Roses is represented by the guns and the roses on the left. Others are a bit more cryptic but you can still be fairly sure you got it right. As an example of getting it wrong, the rat doesn't represent the Boomtown Rats.

There are lots of places on the net that tell you all the answers but thats not really any fun. Very cool picture that I keep looking back at.

Quick Update...

Well I received I reply from my Ofcom complaint this afternoon, seeing as I had the number I was advised to contact my telecom provider's (BT) Nuisance Call Bureau.  They didn't really say what they'd do about the problem, I presume it would be nothing more than block the number from contacting me.  Ofcom is, I beleive, the independant regulator thingie and the only people who can stop the company making these calls, not just to me but everyone.  They say they will continue to monitor complaint levels on this subject.  So there we go...

0870 7210 445

0870 7210445 - 0870 7210 445 - 08707210445 - 0870 721 0445

Continuing with the general trend of posting about random things that have absolutly no connection...today...cold calling! Over the last week or so we've had a couple of silent calls where you pick up and the line goes dead. Generally the sign of a crummy call centre where the computer dials too many numbers and there are no operators to take the calls - but damn annoying as you have to get up from the sofa. Not once have I had to get up...but twice, and that my friends is too much! So now action...

Hoping it was work phoning to offer me an extra shift on a double-pay bank holiday, I did 1471 and instead of the typical "the caller witheld their number" I get "you were called today...by 0870 7210445" which sounded remarkably familiar to the number that rang me last week. So I go to Google and type in the number, I have to vary the position of the spaces before I eventually hit upon Andrew's blog and he and a lot of people in the comments are having the same problem from the same number. So this is happening a lot to a lot of other people, assuming of course that the people commenting on the blog are the small minority who bothered to get the number and Google it.

So now we start the very first Big Fish Thoughts consumer sting with good ol' Ofcom...it's simple, everytime I get a silent call from that number I fill in Ofcom's Silent Call complaint form. By their own admission they only act if you complain lots - "We do not investigate individual consumer complaints. However, we record and monitor complaint levels. If we identify an area of concern we may raise the matter with the management of the company directly." So I figure they ony way to get them to act...is to complain lots.

Now you're probably wondering what the point is, I get nuisance calls all the time and I never bother about them. This however is different...they lacked the sense to withold their number.

Equatorial Ramblings

Well following on from my post a couple of weeks ago I took a pretty big plunge and applied for a conservation project, so I can somewhat nervously announce that come October I'll be travelling to Uganda to spend 2 months assisting the Ugandan Wildlife Authority with predator conservation in a national park.

I decided I was going to apply well over a week ago but spent the time finding excuses why I would leave it untill tomorrow, eventually on Friday I filled out the online form (for the second time having not sent it the first) and then sat for 10-15 minutes with the cursor over the send button trying to pluck up the courage. Eventually I decided I couldn't do it, I had no reason why I shouldn't put in my application but instead I'd do it tomorrow. Just as I moved my mouse towards the big cross in the corner of the window I had a fleeting feeling of confidence and found the cursor move very quickly back towards the 'send' button...more worringly I clicked it. Before I knew it I was staring at the confirmation screen saying someone would be in touch shortly. I walked round and round the house for 10 minutes in shocked kinda fashion trying to get my head round what I'd just let myself in for. Finally spoke to them on the phone this morning and confirmed stuff and most importantly they said my application was accepted. Yay!

Broke the news it was going ahead to my mum this afternoon and she started to get worried about absolutely everything. I scared myself yesterday by searching BBC News for Uganda.

Conversation soon moved from Idi Amin to the fact the equator ran through Uganda and how water would swirl the other way in different hemispheres and go straight down if I stood on the equator. I mean everybody knows that? Yeh? Well I found out it's absolute rubbish! The Coriolis Force exists but compared to all the other forces in play it's pretty negligable, the direction of rotation if determined by how the sink fills up or how you move your hands about the water. You set up rotations in the water by moving your hands in it then when the plug is pulled that results in the vortex down the plug. What more I made water drain out of my kitchen sink in both directions just by changing how the tap filled it up.

Last Train To Clarksville

Making the most of fantastically-summery weather we've had these last few days I decide a day out is in order and in preparation for a forthcoming trip to Africa (more on that in few days) where else could you go but a Safari Park. Obviously with this being Britain I couldn't just go to Kruger National Park but instead Longleat! Yay! For those not familiar Longleat Safari Park is kinda like a zoo with big enclosures that you can drive your car through! Very cool as you don't have to look at animals through bars or cages....but also not cool as there's not very much between you and them....

Days starts fantastically with some very cute giraffes...


Before we quickly find ourselves heading towards Monkey Country, there are signs all over the park and warnings on every leaflet saying how you enter the monkey enclosure at you own risk and any damage sustained to your car is entirely your fault and you can't sue them or anything. Now like with most disclaimers I didn't take much notice, I figured somebody had lost their BMW logo a couple of years back and they'd put all these signs up to cover themselves. So I happily drive my Mum's car into and enclosure full of monkeys very excited by the prospect they might sit on my roof. Halfway through and after a few monkeys came near and turned away again, one jumps on the back window!

But the excitement was short lived as I realized he'd taken an interest in my radio aerial and I quickly became concerned for the well being of my car. Now how do you get a monkey off your car? Obviously have to stay in the car, so I decide to try stopping quite quickly. Doesn't work, nor does kangaroo hopping. (I knew I did that for a reason!)

Nevermind he's probably not doing any damage, I told myself.

But then I started to wonder why the people in the car behind we all laughing and the people in the car infront were all turned round in the seats, laughing. The answer soon came to me and the monkey walked down my windscreen, sat on my bonnet and tried to eat my rear washer jet nozzle!

Was another hour untill I could get out of my car and inspect the damage, he pulled the nozzle right off leaving a nice gap in the roof that rain could get through, bitten right through the washer hose and left two monkey foot-prints on my rear window that I could see all the way home.

Of course when I got home I had to tell my Mum, she wasn't too mad as long as I found, paid for and fitted the new one (which I did today) - I tried to convince her it wasn't really my fault "How is it not your fault? You took the car to a place where it can get attacked by bloody monkeys."

Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary

I joined last.fm yesterday that uses AudioScrobbler (or something) to collect data about the music you listen to and then gives you Charts of your favourite songs and artists and makes suggestions on other artists based on what other people who like the stuff you like also like. I havn't listened to enough music yet so it's refusing to tell me anything, but I had a good look around at what other poeple listen to. One group that kept cropping up was Wolf Parade - I previewed some of their stuff, got very excited and rushed out and bought an album for £7.99 in HMV.

Ermm...it's interesting and to be honest not exactly the sort of thing I typically listen to. I'm on the CD's first play through so I'll have to see what tracks stand out. I tend to go for alternative-rock and wolf party seem to be alternative-alt-rock, there's a little bit of Franz Ferdinand in them and I can't help but imagine them in very tight black jeans which really isn't what I want!

Another band I recently discovered but am having a trouble tracking down a copy of is The Devastations...by having trouble I mean it was in any of the shops I looked for it in today but it is on Amazon. I heard they're supporting The National in London this May and from the little previews of their songs that I've heard they sound thoroughly depressed about it! (personally I'd be pretty pleased)