I'm still missing some of y'all over on my new site!
If you haven't updated your feed reader yet, now is the time to do so. In fact, you can do it from this blogspot blog. All the subscribe buttons are set up for the FeedBurner feed, which gets all the posts from WordPress and delivers them to you like any RSS feed does. ;)
There's some good stuff you're missing out on...
Note: This post is a sponsored post.
If you've watched any kind of home improvement programming, then you've probably heard the line "Buy it for looks, buy it for life." You'll probably immediately recognize that this is the tagline for Moen Faucets.
Faucet.com have a wide range of Moen faucets available at their site, and they have a convenient guide for buying both kitchen faucets and bathroom faucets. In these guides, they describe the different types of faucets that you can purchase, from basic models that require just one hole be made in your sink's exterior, to ones that may suit your needs if you have an especially wide sink.
I know that it can be confusing to figure out what kind of faucet to purchase, but faucet.com makes it easy to compare different faucets. Their prices are fairly competitive with other stores, and they provide free shipping on all orders over $50. Also, unless you're in New York, the price you see is the price you pay - there's no sales tax charged on sales outside of New York.
You can also save an additional $10 on your first purchase from them if you subscribe to their email newsletter. If you're concerned about your privacy, simply use a throwaway email, or create a new address on your own. ;)
If you're looking for a place to buy your next (or first) Moen faucet, give faucet.com a look. I know Moen is a name that you can trust and they have styles and fittings for any amount you want to spend from simple two handle, traditional, faucets to faucets in copper and bronze that include a spray attachment for the faucet.
You can even buy a complete two-wall shower system with pretty much all the bells and whistles.
Hey y'all!
If you're reading this post, then you are probably wondering where I've been since Wednesday. Well, I haven't gone anywhere. Well, that is, except over to a WordPress-powered blog. That means that the updates on this site will become less frequent, but I will be having the odd review posted here from time to time.
If you are reading this in a feed reader, then you should use this link and resubscribe to my feed. You'll get all the posts I've made over the last couple of days. Also, if you haven't already, you'll be able to check out my new look site; it looks really good and if you haven't seen it already, then you don't know what you're missing!
Here's the blog for you. Thanks for reading! ;)
...then you've got the old feed of my site. I have now moved my site over to WordPress, with 39 flavors of header images! ;)
The FeedBurner feed isn't quite working perfectly, because it can't find the RSS feed for my site, and if I try the alternative, it tells me something about "White spaces are required between publicId and systemId". I have no clue what that means.
Anyway, I'm no longer publishing on this version of Sephy's Platzish. As always, I am available at http://www.sephyroth.net - if you've got that bookmarked, you're probably not seeing this, and you are seeing the WordPress site already. However, if you have my old Blogger feed in your reader still, then you should change the link, ok? ;)
Thanks!
When I woke up this morning, I got a slight hint as to something that I was being, well, told to do (it wasn't on my to-do list, but I am getting the stuff that is on there done, so it's not impacting my time too badly).
Here is the hint that I had - 
That's a pretty blatant way to get the message across, I have to say. The hint, of course, was to make chocolate chip cookies, and I've obliged by making them. The only difference between the recipe I was suggested to make and the one I did wind up making was that I used a different brand of chips to the one that is in the picture. The recipe on the package I used is the exact same one as on the other one.
I don't know about you, but I think that Toll House should consider suing Hershey's for stealing their recipe. ;)
Anyway, it went together in the usual fashion - cream 2 sticks of butter with 3/4 cup each of white and brown sugars and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, then adding 2 eggs and mixing that until it's combined. Next is beating in 2¼ cups of flour, ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking soda (mixed together in a separate bowl), then adding in the package of chocolate chips.
Here's what the bowl looked like when I was mixing it all together -
One thing that we've always done when making chocolate chip cookies is to mix the chips in using a wooden spoon, and it always comes out good. Here are the cookies before they went into the 375°F oven for 10-11 minutes -
Just a note about this pan, it is one of those "air cushion" pans - we've used it for many, many years now, and we have not burnt a single thing on it. They're relatively inexpensive and I heartily recommend you using it. :)
It took a little over an hour to get all the cookies done; even after having some of the dough (bad, I know! ;)), the final yield was 49 cookies, because there were four batches of 9 and a batch of 13; here they all are on the cooling rack -
So, I got the hint and came through with it, and there won't be any complaints about not doing what I wasn't asked to do, just what I was hinted at doing. ;)
I admit that I'm not the greatest at time management; considering that I often find myself "distracted by shiny objects" - usually at the worst time, but one thing that I've always loved using are online calendars. In fact, I started to use a computer-based calendar back around 2000, using Microsoft Outlook to list the various activities that I was in.
Even when I was in college, I'd kept using Outlook to keep track of where I was and what I was going to be doing during the day. I even had a Palm Pilot (which disappeared one day on me, unfortunately) where I'd sync the contents of my Outlook calendar with the organizer. However, I went away from using Outlook's calendar when I left college and fell into the routine workday habit.
Now, I've rediscovered using calendars, and have started to use Google's calendar, aptly named Google Calendar. If you haven't used it before, there isn't a lot to learn to get to use it like a pro. You can have your own private calendar, make a calendar that you can share with your friends, have any variety of public calendars listed, and even make a public calendar for yourself.
Obviously, when you start to use it, you will be asked to give some basic information - your name (just put in whatever you want; it's what's used for the name of your main calendar), location, and timezone (if you want to use a timezone without changing your country, simply check the display all timezones box). Click Continue to proceed.
The first thing that you will see is this week's calendar, with each day split into its 24 hours. You have a variety of views that you can choose from - Today, This Week, This Month, the Next x Days (you can change this in the settings), and the Agenda. At the left, you have this month's calendar laid out for you to have a glance at - if you have an event on a certain day, it will be marked in bold. However, since we've not made any events (in this calendar, at least), you won't see any dates in bold.
Creating events couldn't be any easier than Google have made it - to make an all day event, simply click in the gray bar below the date, or if you are in month view, click on that day. When you're in Day, Week or Next x Days mode, you can also click and drag to make an event that has a set time. Just as an example, I'm going to make an event for Tuesday 9th October from 6.30-10.30AM. I simply click and drag from 6.30 to 10.30, and up pops up this little bubble - 
If you want to add details to the event right away, you can simply click edit event details » and you can add information about the item like location, a description, and have control over the guest list; however, more on that later. When you make an event in the calendar view, if you words such as "at" or "in", the calendar will recognize the next portion of your entry as the location. Since I'm not creative in any sort, I'm just going to use Google's example of Breakfast at Tiffany's, and click Create Event to book the event, which makes it pop up in the calendar, like this - 
Has the event changed dates or times? All you need to do is, instead of manually changing the date and time, just drag the box to the new time, or if the event got longer or shorter, just drag the bottom of the event's box up or down to change the length of the event.
Calendar Settings
There are a number of settings you can change with regards to your calendar. From the front page, you can change the color of the calendar's display, and have access to the full settings for that calendar. All you have to do is click the little down-arrow next to your calendar's name, which brings up this menu - 
In the Calendar Settings page, you can change a number of settings for your calendar, including making a description, changing its name, setting a location and customizing the timezone. At the bottom are two sets of addresses which you can use in order to view your calendar in another program that accepts xml or ical calendars, or view your calendar in html.
The other page I will cover right here is the Notifications page. Here you can adjust the settings for how you want to be notified about events, or remove default reminders. You can also set notifications for invitations you send or receive, and if you wish to be notified on your mobile, have the notifications sent directly to you. It's all fairly straightforward, and here is what it looks like -
There are also the overall settings that you can change by clicking on the Settings link in the upper right. Here, you have options to change the look of your calendars, set the formats of times, dates, and the week. There are a couple of interesting items on this page - first is the Location field - that doesn't set your location in your calendar, but allows you to view the weather for your area. This is only available if you are in the US.
The Calendars tab allows you to change calendars that you have, and calendars that you are viewing, along with being able to add public calendars to your view. The Mobile Setup tab is where you can input your phone details if you wish to have notifications sent to you via SMS; normal rates apply. Click here for a list of supported carriers.
Sharing Calendars
If you want to share your calendar with a friend, it's down right simple. All you have to is click on Share this Calendar in the drop down on the front page, which takes you to the Share this calendar page.
All you have to do to share the calendar with a friend is put in their email address under person, set their permission and then Add them. They'll receive an email inviting them to add your calendar to theirs. Here you can also set the public sharing options. If you share your calendar publicly, then it can be searched out by all people and visible by anyone out there.
Adding Public Calendars
While sharing your calendar might be an unwise move, there are a lot of useful calendars that you can add to your calendar for reminders of TV Shows, Holidays, sport schedules, just search for it and you'll likely find it. Google have put together a list of some of the most common calendars, and you can access them by clicking on the Add link on the left hand side and clicking on Add a public calendar, which brings up the "top pick" calendars:
Of course, there are quicker ways to do things than just clicking. ;)
Keyboard Shortcuts
Like most Google products, calendar has its own set of keyboard shortcuts that make the service easier to navigate. Here is a handy table for you cut out and keep (note that there is no help key to make a list appear)
| Key | Function |
|---|---|
| c | Create Event |
| q | Quick Add |
| d | Daily View |
| w | Weekly View |
| m | Monthy View |
| x | Custom View |
| a | Agenda View |
| p or j | Go to Previous Timeframe |
| n or k | Go to Next Timeframe |
| t | Go to Today (in current view) |
| s | Calendar Settings |
| / | Search |
I've had a busy week working on my new WordPress blog; I'll be moving over hopefully sometime this week. I still have some tweaking to do on it and some kinks to work out; however, I have a bit of a preview of the new look down below. It really looks stunning, I think. ;)
Posts I liked -
I'm making some changes to my walking routine; while the long walks are nice and very good exercise, they take too much time out of my day, and I always seem to be quite unproductive after I go for my walk. So, from this week, I'm going to do a combination of long and short walks, depending on how I'm doing with the work I've got slated for the day.
Monday, 1st October - Long Walk
A very interesting, and different, mushroom seen along one of the paths...
I went out walking between rain showers; I started with the sun out, but not long afterwards, the clouds started to gather. While I was walking, I wound up chatting to someone who lives not that far away and who takes his dog walking in the park during the winter. I know I won't be alone then. ;)
Total Distance - 10304 steps 8.24km
Tuesday, 2nd October - Short Walk
Some nice red leaves in the park, right along the edge of the path.
It's been a while since I've done a walk this short, but after thinking about how I can improve my time management, I realized that it wouldn't be the end of the world if i cut back to a one-hour walk, with the occasional long walk thrown in. It was a cloudy day, but not too bad for walking. Interestingly, the train that was there when I went out was still there when I came back.
Total distance - 5021 steps, 4.01km
Wednesday, 3rd October - Short Walk
Fallen leaves cover the path through the park; they're really loud when you walk on them. ;)
The sun was out today and the weather wasn't too bad. I took some time to try to eradicate some more weeds from the trees, but wasn't totally successful. I also tried walking off of the road for a bit as the sides were nicely mowed by my town earlier in the day.
Total Distance - 5433 steps, 4.34km
Thursday, 4th October - Short Walk
A hint of color appears above some still-green leaves.
If someone came here and you told them it was October after witnessing the weather, you could excuse them for thinking that it was a nice spring day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was quite warm. It made for a nice walk.
Total distance - 5383 steps, 4.30km
Friday, 5th October - All-day counting
Leaves of all sorts look gold during the "golden hour" - sunset. :)
Admittedly, I got lazy with the counting today, and just counted at two points - before my walk, and then at the end of the day. Also, I'm not sure that all my steps were counted as I was wearing different pants and wasn't hearing the clicking of the pedometer as I was walking. I got done with volunteering a little bit early, so I walked the long way around to my ride; it was really windy there. The walk was shortly after getting home, and it was quite warm, so I got very sweaty...
Distances - before walk - 4288 steps, 3.43km
end of day - 10357 steps, 8.28km
Saturday, 6th October - Short Night Walk
I've mentioned where I walk in the past; anyone wanna guess what this interesting contraption is for? ;)
It was quite warm today; you could have confused the weather for the middle of summer. By the time I went to walk at 6pm or so, the temperature had only gotten down to 28°C (82°F), with a dew point of 21°C (70°F). It was not a fun walk, especially when I was getting disoriented (that's because of the white light, not because of some kind of heat stroke or anything.
Total Distance - 5327 steps, 4.26km
Sunday, 7th October
I'm delaying the walk again until a little bit later when it begins to cool off a bit; as I write this, the temperature is currently 29°C (84°F). I'm thinking that it might be better off if I change the week in walks to Sunday-Saturday (still posting it on Sunday), so that way I can focus on just walking on Sunday, with all the rest of the photos done. Let me know what y'all think in the comments. :)
In other news, my little assignment notebook experiment has been going quite well. I've actually made to-do lists for each day over the last week (even though yesterday's just had one thing on it - "f--k with template"). I'm also managing my time better, and actually finding that, with the to-do list and focusing on what I should focus on, I feel like I have more time in my day.
This week, I'm continuing work on the new version of my blog, on WordPress; I've been playing around with the template. It's starting to look really slick, and I feel that I'm only a couple of changes away from it being perfect (for now). :)
Also, my goal for the week is to get in at least 2 long walks; it's supposed to be cooler, so the conditions will be much better for walking.
In the past, I've mentioned that I created a set of blogs designed to aggregate scam emails. One of the things that I have on there is the ability to send an email to me on an email account that is only for those particular blogs.
This means that I get all kinds of scam emails - from your normal "I have 15.3 million US dollars only in a trunk box somewhere in Africa" scam, to advertisements for sugar sales in the Middle East, to all forms (and then some) of phishing emails.
Generally, the point of a phishing mail is to trick you into believing that the mail comes from the company that they are trying to fake. Depending on how good the mail is depends, unfortunately, on how successful the scammers are at getting people's information. Something tells me that this person isn't going to be very successful.
Below is the email, which has a Subject line of "Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account before two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently" and comes from "lawman shawn 
Not too pretty, is it? However, you have to give some props to these scammers for creativity. Only they would have the forethought to tell you that Google were closing "all unused hotmail account" for more Gmail accounts (by the way, Hotmail actually has more storage than Gmail now, but are still fairly crap if you ask me ;)). the Security Center image comes from eBay, the "Security Image" is actually from Yahoo Mail.
Last, but not least, to verify "yuor identity", you have to give them your Yahoo ID.
Fortunately, they've nicely sent me two further warnings, both from different addresses; funny that; asking for the Gmail! ID, however they're still deleting hotmail account.
As always, the best thing you can do when you receive a mail like this is to simply delete it. However, and this isn't normal for me, I've been tempted to give them some completely bogus information (because you have to reply to the email instead of going to a web page), just to see what the reply was. Don't do that either. ;)
Last week, I promised that I wouldn't discuss an album this week, but rather a show about music. This is a show that I would not have ever heard of if it was not for the power of the Internet.
I first found "Lloyd Cole Knew My Father" in the binaries section of Usenet not long after getting broadband at home in 2003. Before I talk about the actual show, a little bit about the state of radio programming.
Most folks my age in the US are not familiar with the genre of proper radio comedy. That type of radio went away here in the US around the time that TV started to take over from radio in terms of attention received from the public. Now, most of our radio is focused on maintaining a good rating in the latest Arbitron statistics, and making money from advertisers - mostly to stay afloat.
This has led, of course, to most AM stations relying upon a cadre of talk (or if you an Aussie, talkback) shows which, for the most part, cater to an audience to the right side of the political spectrum. I have no problem with this personally, as I like to listen to the local talkers in my area, but the national shows aren't much to my taste anymore.
In fact, if you were to go through the AM dial at night, when all the clear channel (not to be confused with the company) stations are broadcasting at full strength, and the local candles are out for the night, this is a general representation of what you'll find:
- many stations carrying the Art Bell show (or whomever is hosting it nowadays)
- re-airs of talk shows which had aired earlier that day
- "trucker" shows
- all-news stations giving you the news that you've heard ten times already and traffic and weather for someplace hundreds of miles away
- foreign language stations, generally French or Spanish
- sports talk
- the rare live local talk show, featuring either a dyed-in-the-wool veteran or a complete neophyte to the radio
- music - from country to Frank Sinatra to 60s music to current music on Radio Disney
- a few preachers condemning you to Hell for listening to said music
On the FM side, apart from public broadcasters (which are allocated 88-91 MHz) you'll generally hear a variety of music, from modern country, to hard rock, to the all easy-listening music featuring a song about a monkey that cried.
Certainly, you could say almost the same thing about the state of radio in other countries like the UK, however there is a key difference. There, you have a major public broadcaster which is ingrained in the lives of the people of that country from the beginning to the end of their lives (including at tax time thanks to the licencing fees which are compulsory).
The image of a public broadcaster here in the States is one which has mostly talk shows, some variety programs (like Car Talk, Prairie Home Companion and Whaddya Know?), also the occasional classical music station. However in the UK, the BBC has radio services running the gamut from local radio stations, to national stations with such diverse missions as playing R&B and hip hop (Radio 1) to classical music (Radio 3), talkback and live sport (Radio 5 Live), comedy (Radio 7) and even an Asian Network.
In the first weeks of 2003, the BBC commissioned a program for the country's most popular radio station - Radio 2 - called "Lloyd Cole Knew My Father". The show originated as a stage performance put on by the show's hosts - Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie and David Quantick - at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2001, adapted into a six-part radio series featuring "real-life actress" Amelia Bullmore and a special musical guest to provide a song each week.
Here, then, is a somewhat short synopsis of each of the episodes:
Episode 1
Episode 1 covers the story of early rock, including the story of how each of them wound up working at the New Musical Express (alternatively, New Morrissey Express or Not Much Erasure). Quantick goes on to ask why people would be enticed into a world of "sex, drugs, travel and free records"; simple - sex, drugs, travel and free records.
We then get a glimpse into a skit where early blues musician Robert Johnson (who is tagged as not having a fruit nickname or a disability) is tempted by the devil to sell his soul so that he can have the ability to improve his musical skills. After a musical interlude by Edwyn Collins, we then move the story along from US rock over to Liverpool, which was, according to them, was Britain's only port at the time, home of the Titanic, which sank as a result of the lookout laughing at a droll wisecrack by the purser. Anyway, the story of the Beatles is told, including about a performance in Germany, who are out of the story until reunification.
The episode concludes with the story of the NME, including a period where it incorporated "Accordion Times", followed by why music jounalists are important - they tell you what you should like, otherwise people would all be going around saying "Oh, I like a little bit of everything really".
Episode 2
Episode 2 covers the world of live music, taking a Picasso-style look at the genre. The discussion starts with a discussion of the NME's Gig Guide, which was always wrong, but the only thing people bought the magazine for. Included is a story about how in 1986, the news editor inserted a fake listing into the guide, which led to a thousand fans of two very different bands - The Pogues (with fans who wanted blood) and Everything But the Girl (whose fans wanted cappucino and Espidril).
We then catalog the world of a novice, or tyro, journalist's first reviews - the first review they go at it whole hog, including headlamp and large notepad; the second, a cigarette pack and some scribbling, to David recounting how he reviewed 3 concerts in one week having only listened to three songs - all by Elton John. Stuart then mentions his review of Jefferson Starship in 1989 at the Reading Festival, where he attended the festival but left before the band actually came on stage, made a comment in the magazine about Grace Slyck (who had left the band 2-1/2 years prior), but kept his job because the editor didn't bother to read the result.
After a discussion of passes and being on the guest list (which, surprisingly, is not like you would expect), we have the first of two I-Spy guides, this to the dressing room of a headline band. Included on the list of items you may find are aggressive student posters advising that you should not flush the toilet, the brother of a band member who has a demo, here ya go mate, and a slim girl with a poster.
Edwyn Collins performs Graciously and then we're led into a discussion of roadies and their language; here is a quick guide to their language:
All the following mean "unload": load out, load in, tear down, derig. However, de rigeur means "compulsory".
Now, we go onto the tour bus (which sounds like a Robin Reliant), and another I-Spy guide, featuring 2 18-year-old girls who aren't dressed for Chicago in November and a video collection featuring "This is Spinal Tap", the scariest pr0n film you've ever seen and a film about a boy's sexual awakening in Canada in fall.
The last important thing to take from this episode is the difference between US and British live albums - US live albums have some moron whooping during the quiet parts.
Episode 3
Episode 3 takes a look at the one item, which if it did not exist, we would have a music industry. Drugs. Songs.
After a segment where a game of "musical genre joke tennis" is played, we then have a discussion of what is and what is not allowed in the blues. Good places to have the blues include the porch and a southbound train; bad places include wine and cheese parties and Guildford. The true origins of Rock 'n' Roll are then revealed as just the blues having been stolen from Unwell Cantaloupe Jackson's porch when he went to answer the phone in rural Tennessee. Unfortunately for him, his woman who done gone left him on the southbound train wasn't calling. It was Staybrite Windows, who were in the area offering free, no-obligation estimates.
The musical interlude is provided by Roddy Frame, who is courageous enough to sing in his own accent - something you never see happening with British rockstars, who all aim to sound as American as possible. However, we do hear what famous songs might sound like if Sting and Robert Palmer actually sung in their native dialects. It's not pretty ;)
There are a couple of other types of songs that deserve mention - instrumentals and rap. Instrumentals are just songs which have had the desperately poor lyrics removed, for example Telstar by the Tornadoes which had an unknown B-side featuring the famous lyrics "Telstar / Telstar / Telstar / Telstaaaar", and Popcorn by Hot Butter, where the lyrics are, not surprisingly, "popcorn popcorn popcorn pop...popcorn popcorn popcorn pop .. corn". It is one of the best moments in the series, if you ask me.
As far as rap songs are concerned, if it is a rapper crossing over to traditional music, that works out well, but as dramatized by Amelia, if it were the other way around, i.e. Dido doing a rap song, it wouldn't turn out as well. Just an aside, Robbie Williams' "Rock DJ" is labeled as "bloody awful" by David.
Episode 4
In Episode 4, we take a look at the world of the rock star and the pop star. It is said that a pop star, dressed by a "mad gay man called a stylist" and a village idiot or simpleton might be easy to confuse. Luckily for us, a cut-out-and-keep guide to separating them. Two key elements:
Interview technique: The popstar says "I love being in a pop group, dancin' singin' and rehearsin'" while the village idiot just says "I drink the rainwater off of rose bushes".
Fashion: The popstar comments - "I have these Nikes which aren't even out in the UK yet, and my dress is a custom Versace" and the village idiot observes that "my smock says potatoes on it. Only backwards".
We then have a discussion of the rock star - including the ultimate star, Keith (or Keif, as if using all 5 letters would take away from valuable illusionist time) Richards, who annoys Mick Jagger to no end. Mick's nightmare, according to them, is to wake up one day to find an overweight Mrs. Jagger next to him complaining that he has to get up and get breakfast ready for their guests.
The last type of star is the Diva. Diva is, apparently, Italian for "crazy" (actually I think it's just the feminine version of Divo, which I believe stands for god, but don't quote me on that). Divas make outrageous demands and then balk at them when someone comes to fulfill those demands; the example given is Mariah Carey being delivered a parcel of 1003 puppies; she begrudgingly signs the package, then exclaims "1003! Get them out of here!"
After the musical interlude, once again by Roddy Frame, we finish with a guide on how not to interview Lou Reed, a right curmudgeon. Some tips - don't correct him, get the names of his famous mates wrong, treat the interview as an interlude in a TV game show (where Lou loses out on a lovely speedboat), take advantage of his hotel room, including using his toilet and ask questions whilst using it; have only one question and keep going back to it, or end the interview with a large bearhug of Lou.
Episode 5
With Episode 5, we take a look at the music industry, including the story of over-manicured and, surprisingly, gay pop singer George Michael's wish to remove himself from his contract with CBS when they were purchased by Sony, along with how Prince, when he was known as that strange symbol, put "SLAVE" on his forehead.
We then have the history of the record industry (or, as we Americans say it "recerd"), which apparently started in a backwater general store in Kentucky which sold wax cylinders out the back, to the modern era with the mega-conglomerates such as Time Warner, Pew Pew & Barney McGrew and Sony (Japanese for "Remember Pearl Harbor?" - not really ;)).
The next subject of discussion was the Crayola payola scandal and how Alan Freed was made an example, or pastie patsy when he was brought down for being the recipient of payola.
Music in this episode comes from Ian McNabb. After that, we have a glimpse into the growth (and death) of a band, including all the courses they take at various universities, books they read and how they proclaim that they will not be taken advantage of by some unscrupulous manager.
Nevertheless, they get a manager and follows this general "family tree" (with no thanks to Google incidentally) - Alan Olderbloke (who gets them gigs in Dullich, but nothing else because he can't cross rivers); Jimmy Tourjacket (the first proper manager who gets them demo tapes, and a record deal); Leon C. Yankbastard III (a fat American who's managed everyone, who then goes on to take the band's money); The Band (who are bad at managing even after five albums and many tours, getting dropped by their record company); Reg Death (the band's drug dealer who doesn't get the band any gigs); and, lastly, the break-up (out of money and cursed with the can't-cross-rivers disease).
In another skit, we take a glimpse into a meeting between Hitler and Goebbels, where Goebbels advises Hitler to go onto some reality TV shows, such as "I'm a Dictator, Get Me Out of Here".
The episode ends with how a band gets into a support role on tour. It's not the dream of Thom Yorke calling you up and saying that they'll pay you £1,000,000, pick you up and make full arrangements. The reality is that support bands usually have to pay the headliner to be a part of the tour, featuring a phone call from the manager of Mr. Big Band and the Headliners, who has to cut the call short because Hitler's on What Not to Wear.
Episode 6
In the final episode, number 6, we take a final look at the world of music, including a discussion of the life of the pop group. According to the trio, although Take That were the hottest thing going a few years before, nobody can remember anyone from the band - Alan something (Amelia does name all the members though); they've been replaced twice over by Boyzone and Westlife.
Pop groups are not real groups - they're just manufactured, ordinary people who need to take advantage of their fame now - do the drugs, have fun with the "night-ladies" and buy fast cars before you go down a road that ends in death.
Next is a look at the band on tour, including the tour manager who speaks a variety of languages, all at once, the per diem (the one piece of Latin any group will know), and the difference between a truck stop and a Motorway Service Station (truck stops have hats that say "Keep America Free! Kill a Liberal", Motorway Service Stations have barley sugars in a tin with a west country terrier on the front.
Another skit takes us into the world of Kraftwerk, imagining our wold as wild dreams; it's a very funny bit, trust me. Ian McNabb performs as the special musical guest, including doing an imitation of Bob Dylan. That is followed by a look at festivals including a clip about an Acid brownout that went around at Woodstock, and how David and Andrew reviewed the 1991 Glastonbury Festival, on their own. It would have worked well, if it weren't for one of them drinking a lot of alcohol...
The series ends like any music magazine - with a generalization of the letters page. There are 5 types of letters - 1) Optimistic and Lazy Student, 2) Mad Person, 3) Lonely Hearts, 4) Cheery Foreigner, 5) The Letter of Complaint (most popular).
Why you should listen to it
If you're a music fan, you will love this irreverent look at the world of music, with stories about many main figures over the history of the genre (all of which are true, but the lawyers have advised them to say that none of them are true).
The show was taped in front of a live audience, so you have the unscripted moments, such as whenever U2 is referred to as "80s band U2" leading to a laugh in the audience. There are also a lot of skits that are performed by the crew, some of which I've detailed above, but there are some true gems out there that I haven't.
I rediscovered this series when I was going through items to listen to while walking, and I have listened to it quite a few times and find it quite addicting to listen to, so much so that I can recite bits of the show, a la Monty Python.
