Category — Music

I’ve been thinking about it for a while. It’s been weighing heavily on me. I was one of those people lucky enough to have been at the original Macworld show in London when Apple unveiled the original 5gb iPod, and I was instantly hooked. There was something about the way it looked, the way it sounded, and how easy it was to use. I just couldn’t resist buying an iPhone. I’m just surprised it was so low-ley event.

But anyway, the iPhone. What can I say that hasn’t already been said? Nothing really. Everyone’s talked about how easy to use they are. How intuitive the interface is. What a joy it is to use, and it’s problems. Well, I hate to sound boring, but I’ve come to the same conclusion.

It does have some problems. Like I can no longer type a text message while I walk - nothing major, just takes me 30 seconds of standing still. There’s the fact that the headphone socket is recessed so you can only use Apple headphones - got an adaptor for that. The polished good looks that you’re worried will get scratched - got a case. The GPRS was slow, did a bit of reading and found that Vodafone have 2 networks - one’s fast! And I did manage to get it to crash once - hold down 2 buttons and it restarts just fine. But that’s it really. Nothing else really lets it down.

So, the good stuff… Well, the most obvious thing is the interface. There’s just not enough you can say about it. Everything just flows. The way if you flick your finger list keep going, but if you slide it, the list stays with your finger. Each touch somehow does what you expect. A flick side-to-side takes you through the applications. Browse a web page, use two fingers, spread them and the page zooms in. Feels like that seen in Minority Report.

Then you start using the applications - all through touch. They all have that brilliant Apple simplicity. Your SMS’ keep track of each other - well near enough - like a conversation in iChat. The keyboard is very good, and even with my fat fingers, it manages to correct most mistyped words, but does miss some. Just slide your finger back over the text and a magnifying glass appears showing you which point in the text you’re over. Easy.

Emails, calls, you name it, all easy. OK, so I did like the feature on my Nokia where I could start typing a name and it would move to that point in the list, but I’m getting better at the flick and the jump to feature. Call reception is excellent, and I can now make calls anywhere in the flat now.

Wifi works well - although I did have to reconfigure my Wireless network to get it to work at home. Now it’s setup, it works perfectly at home. And now I have a network sniffer on it, I can pretty much get fast access anywhere. But now, after a little reading, I now have faster GPRS too - fast enough for Google maps. On that note, it shouldn’t but does work most of the time, and can tell you where you are - although sometimes only to within 100m, but better than nothing!

Oh, and it has the iPod functionality. That works as well as iPods always have. Only this time I get full screen video. Videos off the web play perfectly - not looked into playing other formats yet. And as everyone knows, when you turn the iPhone on it’s side, you get the video full screen - same with the web browser.

iTunes integration is as ever seamless, and my contacts are now much better organised through the use of Apple’s Contact application groups - not tried Exchange synchronisation. My calender is back on there courtesy of iCal - something that didn’t worked so well with my Nokia 6500 Classic. Podcasts, music, et al go on very easily.

With the iPhone Apple’s not really made anything new, all they’ve done is take some good things and made them great! And I love it! I just wish I’d got one sooner - and no, I’m not bothered by the 3G iPhone rumours as my Tariff won’t expire for a while yet, and I still think it’ll be 6 months till the new ones are out.

What I am really looking forward to is the iPhone version 2 software that makes your phone into a bit more of a mobile office through support for Cisco VPN and Microsoft Exchange. Having those on your iPhone will be interesting. Lets see what happens. I think Apple’s only just begun waking up the mobile industry from it’s sleep!

Ok, I will confess to being slightly geeky at times. Ok, very geeky at times. But I’m also a big music fan, so games with top-notch soundtracks are naturally appealing to me. One of my favourite pieces of music is from the game Halo, written and composed my Martin O’Donnell. For those that have never heard it, you should try and check it out. It’s epic music for an epic game, eclipsing a lot of movie music, and is backed by a choir.

So, when I heard about Play, a Video Game Symphony was coming to Sydney Opera House, and would feature Halo, I jumped at the chance to hear such an amazing piece performed by one of the best Symphony Orchestras, the Sydney Symphony. It was conducted by Arnie Roth, who is also the director of the performances.

When the performance started, the first piece was Super Mario Bros. Now, you can imagine the laugh that went up when that famous tune started up. But the laughter was quickly replaced by awe as you realise what an amazing sound it was when performed this way.

It moved on through the pieces, many of which were great. But two pieces that really blew me away were from the Final Fantasy games, written by Nobuo Uematsu. One featured the entire Orchestra, a backing choir and the Grand Organ. The sound was just staggering. You were just pounded by the most powerful, wonderful music. The hair’s on the back of your neck standing on end. The organ player’s hands were a blur as he tried to keep up with the frantic pace of the music.

When Silent Hill was performed, the composer, Akira Yamaoka, came on stage with his Electric Guitar. Having already been treated to the Final Fantasy sound, we were then pummelled by this feast of auditory pleasure. That’s the only way I can describe it. It was so unexpected and so wonderful to hear this modern instrument played in perfect synergy with the Orchestra!

And then on to what was probably my favourite piece of the night. A suite of music from Castlevania - I’ve been trying to find out if it’s an actual piece, or one the conductor had put together for the show. Again, the Organ came into play, and again, the organ player was amazing. I only wish there’d been more pieces for him to have delighted our ears with!

I will however confess to being ever so slightly disappointed with the Halo performance. It was performed amazingly, apart from one key instrument. near the beginning there’s some bongo’s that are played softly, but in the performance, they were just too strong and over-powered the subtle sound that should have been there. But it was as good as I hoped other than that.

There were other classic songs, such as Sonic, and Zelda was kept until very near the end. Again raising chuckles from the crowd.

It was a simply awesome experience. And anyone who’s into their epic computer games, or thinks that hearing some of their childhood favourite games played live on stage would be something to behold, then go. If anyone else wants to hear something truly epic, and worthy of more attention, then go. I promise you will not regret it!

I’m writing this in some what of a daze. I just can’t believe it’s been a year already! I arrived in Sydney in mid April 2006, and was only meant to stay for 3 months. That just goes to show what a wonderful place this is and how easy it is to get stuck here.

In fact, it was just the other day that an Australian friend asked me why so many English want to come here, when so many Australians want to go to London. That’s a tough question to answer in all honesty, and I still find myself trying to come up with an answer. It’s not just Sydney that draws us with it’s amazing Harbour, Bridge and beaches. We seem to be drawn to other parts of the country too - on that note, I’ve decided Australia should be a continent, and the states countries, as they all do their own thing anyway and find it hard to talk. I think it’s a combination of the lifestyle, the weather and, well, as much as it pains me to say it, and as much as I’m proud of my country, it’s not the UK I was starting to get fed-up with. I won’t talk about that, but there’s a feeling I’m getting from a lot of people that they feel the same way as me.

But, I digress… I’ve been here a year. Why? Well, to be honest, life’s been pretty good to me in a lot of ways. My original plan was to work for 3 months, then carry on my trip around the world. But, thanks to my friend Martin, I got a great job at Wiliam, which has seen me rise from the html guy, to a team leader, to Technical Director.

There’s also been the people I’ve met! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the most amazing, wonderful people, from all walks of life. The house I currently live in is very transient, and as a result I’ve lived with 14 different people in that time. 14 people! That’s a lot by any stretch of the imagination! But, as I say, some of them will be friends for life I think.

As I write those last paragraphs, it makes me wonder what else there is. Obviously friends and a job you enjoy are really important to you, but there’s got to more hasn’t there? I mean, what else is honestly keeping me here? My friends back home all miss me - although they seem to have forgotten how to write more than 3 lines in an email. What else do I have here that’s not back in England?

The culture here is a mish-mash of those that have emigrated here. The national food is Kangaroo I think, although most Australians don’t eat it. Drinking is quite prolific - and as everyone who knows me, knows that I’m a sucker for going out and drinking. It’s sunny here a lot - although not as much as you’d be led to believe by the brochures. It’s also beautiful here! That’s a vague comment worthy of a little justification. I live 20mins from the beach, or 1 hours walk. And the coast here is amazing!

And there’s other things to do. Most weekends there’s something cultural going on. And there’s the golf, although I fear that it’s lost some of it’s appeal due to people not knowing basic rules - such as playing in 4 balls and shouting “FORE” if a balls going flying towards someone! Instead they stand there looking stupid to the point where you almost feel sorry for them as they have no comprehension of what they’re meant to do in that situation.

But, I’ll say it again. I do love it here. The lifestyle is undeniably great, as is the weather and most of the people. There are a few things that were getting to me, but they’re now forgotten. So, come and live here, it’s not too expensive, but you’ll have a tought time stretching your dollars back in England - although the Dollar is getting stronger.

It’s always been a dream of mine to see U2 live in concert. And, when they announced they were playing an extra night at Sydney’s Telstra Stadium, I managed to get hold of some tickets. My dream was coming true.

So, accompanied by my friend Heather, we went and saw the most amazing show I’ve ever seen! Kanye West was the supporting act - I will confess, Heather had to tell me who he was… But when he started singing, I instantly recognized the songs. I did think that he was a slightly odd artist to start the performance, but he a big supporter of the make poverty history movement.

And then U2 came on… Wow! They lived up to all my expectations! And the light show was simply phenomenal. Well, if you can call it a light show. It was more like a giant TV screen, dancing to the music, showing the band members and other imagery.

But the highlight was the music. The new stuff was great, but when the all time classics such as “Where the streets have no name” and “With or without you came on”, you just felt a tingle run through your body! It was a night neither of use will forget in a hurry!

If you ever get the chance to see U2 live, do not turn it down!

Links
Make Poverty History
Official U2 Website

Klass was really keen to see Melbourne before he left Australia, and I’d been itching to go for a long time. So, when he suggested going there for the long weekend, I couldn’t really say no could I.

Arriving at 8 in the morning - I’d been out the night before with the Duke (Chris to those who don’t know that nickname) - so arising at 5am was quite a shock. Thankfully, my friend June had offered to take me to the airport at stupid o’clock for my flight - thank you June. Whisking through the airport, and onto the Skybus I was soon in the heart of the city, and greeted by the sound of an emergency siren going off, telling us to abandon the bus station. Just what I needed in my sleepy state.

But, soon I was with Klass at our hostel, and heading out onto the streets of Melbourne. The first thing that hits you is how wide and open the streets are, and then how little traffic there is, and then how clean it all is. It’s like something out of one of those movies with a near perfect vision of a city of the future. It immediately felt alien compared to Sydney, with trams trundling by, people and cars seem to be in much less of hurry to get to wherever they’re going. I was hoping this could be a much needed relaxing few days.

I’m going to start by summing up how I felt about Melbourne. It was really, really nice! Compared to Sydney, it’s much slower, much more relaxed. Much cleaner, and there aren’t crazy people on every other corner. But, it was almost too slow, too nice and too quiet for me. Coming from London, and living in Sydney now, I need that not stop pace and those bits of urban decay that come with larger cities. It’s strange, as I was almost certain that I’d be tempted by Melbourne.

Wandering the streets, as everyone who reads my blog knows I like to do, you get to see some wonderful architecture and wonderful open streets. Occasionally the ground will shake slightly as one of Melbourne’s fleet of trams trundles past. The Melbourne Central shopping mall is built around and under an old building.

The city is seperated on one side by the Yarra River, which is a hive of activity with rowers, tour boats and helicopter tours buzzing around. To the South you have the simply breathtaking Eureka tower, which is a residential apartment block, under which my friend Nicole works.

As for nightlife, well, Klass was recovering from the flu, and I’d been out almost everynight for the previous 2 weeks, on top of working late, so we weren’t on best form for sampling the nightlife. One thing that did catch us off guard was leaving a park to be greated by the Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles, who were both in town for the AFL finals.

But, the biggest highlight of our trip was driving along The Great Ocean Road. Hiring a car for the day, we set out bright and early (ok, possibly not so bright, but it definately early!). Getting to the coast is dull… Really dull… But once you’re there, wow, is it a beautiful site. Vast, fierce oceans swirls set against the mainland. Driving the road is easy, and taking in the vast coastline, with it’s lighthouses, and gently sweeping road etched into the side of the cliffs is something that has to be seen to be believed.

I did love Melbourne, and we were blessed with some of the best weather for seeing it. I can’t wait to go back in the near future. Hopefully with slightly more energy, and an enthusiasm for tracking down the music that I’ve heard so much about.

Links
City of Melbourne
The Great Ocean Road
Melbourne Central
Skybus
Yarra River
Eureka tower
AFL

Ok, so this is actually talking about the last few months since arriving in Sydney, I’ve had quite a few of visits. Friends I’ve met travelling, my friend Pete, most importantly my mum (sorry Pete). As well as Dan and Dai being here for the first month.

I’ll start with them. When we parted, they were still staying in the Sydney Central YHA centre. In their words, staying there was ‘killing them’ as they basically spent the nights partying and the days resting in preparation for the next evening - from a few of the backpackers I’ve met, this seems to be fairly common for travellers. Not my cup of tea.

So, they moved out and after a few days of frantic searching, they found a place on Oxford St, near to Hyde Park. Now, that particular part of Oxford St is known for it’s somewhat ‘colourful’ occupants, especially fond of rainbows if you catch my drift. But, this didn’t seem to bother them, and to be honest, I walk past them everyday - how people can still be drinking at 7 in the morning is a mystery. But, their apartment was very nice, with a fantastic few of the city from the 14th floor (I think). I was slightly put off by the knee high balcony though - really made mine go wobbly!

Oddly, I didn’t see them that much as I was busy at work and was trying to craft a new life for myself. That, and I had some great housemates who I spent a lot of time with. But we did go out more than was healthy, although I think their plan to move out didn’t work as originally planned, and they were still killing themselves. In one way, I think they were sad to leave, and in another, I think I heard their livers cheering! It was great seeing them here, I just wish they still spoke to me, and I didn’t have to rely on other people to tell me what they’re doing - subtle hint there guys!

So, my next visitor was mum. Hi mum. It was really quite odd having her come to visit me in my home on the other side of the planet. But, in another way, it felt so normal. It was a very strange, and very nice experience. Most nights we went out somewhere for dinner, including one of my favourites, Ripples Cafe, next to Lunar park overlooking the whole harbour - wonderful at night!

We also did several other things, including the Sydney Sky Tower, Holst’s Stars And Planets at the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney BridgeClimb (Photos).

Seeing mum was great, my only wish is that dad could have come too. We did have a great time, and I know mum enjoyed seeing every little bit we could. She took also took a tour to the Blue Mountains, which was so well organised, that if anyone wants to do a daytrip there, let me know, and I’ll give you the details. My accomodation and housemates also met with high approval on both sides - they think mum’s really cool.

So, onto the last of the visitors from the UK, Pete. Pete’s visits to Sydney were fleeting and spaced out. He arrived for a few days, then jetted off to Melbourne, before coming back to Sydney, having been via Hong Kong - all his travels can be seen on nomadpete.com.

It was like I’d never left home to be honest. We were back to our old tricks of straight to the pub after work, and then drinking till the early hours. In a few of the restaurants, we managed to scare the staff by ordering more food than it should be physically possible to eat, and then almost eating it - note the ‘almost’ bit. My one regret of Pete’s visit was that I was only able to see him in the evenings as I was working all the time.

So, what else happened. Well, the main event had to be getting a dose of Pneumonia. Nobody knows how or why I got it, but I did. Very odd as I only found out I had it when I had an x-ray for my Business working visa - which got approved today after more than 2 months of waiting! I then went to a doctor, looking fit as a fiddle other than the odd cough, and he was shocked to say the least. What made it worse was that the test they did on me came back to say that I was very healthy. One of life’s annoying mysteries. Thank fully it’s gone now.

That’s all for now, there’s more to come, but looking at the amount I’ve already written I should probably stop. But I am getting better at putting content on my site more often, even if it is a bit late in coming…

Wow! They were good! For 2 people, there’s one hell of a lot of talent there, and their relentless onslaught of music was just superb! Naturally, all the favourites were in there, with the classic Seven Nation Army leading the encore. My only wish is that it had lasted longer! Which is my one criticism. The whole lot seemed to be too merge into one long song with the occasional break. They also gave out a free printed blank CDR for people to use after they’ve downloaded one of the songs from the night’s entertainment (at a small download cost).

And the venue was amazing! The inside of the Alexander Palace concert hall is enormous and so well finished it almost seemed a shame to let the likes of us in! Naturally, the facilities were plentiful (for the guys), and the bar huge. But the decoration that greeted you inside was, to be honest far more than I was expecting!

Of course, I can’t write this without mentioning the apres-concert atmosphere, spent in the Goose near Wood Green station, where 4 pints and a Jack Daniels came to a tad over £6. You can no doubt guess that caused certain problems later… Alcohol, concerts and rude people barging their way to the front. Gotta love that combination - although at a fair way over 6 foot, most people seem to give up and change their mind when shoved back by me. As seems to be the usual case, we didn’t see the support band, which is a shame as I’ve so often found myself finding out more about them, and often buying their album.

Getting home also proved challenging… Going from Alexander Palace to Essex at 11.30 in the evening proved a good test of our ability to improvise - no doubt a valuable skill for Dan and I when we’re on the road. Also a great way of getting used to buses for travelling. Watching Dan and Dai do Sumo wrestling was also very good value for money!

All in all, it was a great night, and I’d recommend going to see the White Stripes, and seeing a gig in Alexander Palace!

Links
http://www.whitestripes.com/