mp3 CD

And this, the first of the catchup. The title I have written is mp3 CD. And so this is what I thought, then.

Wires have been bought and tried, old technologies (iRiver) have been tried and found to conflict with idiocy of driver. So mp3 CDs have been made.

Oh wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Once upon a very long time ago, I was given my first tape recorder. The mix tape became a reality/obsession for me.
Then I discovered CDs, once they were available and stuff.
Music listening was fantabulouso, mostly because random was now a feature of my life.

yes, I do know it's immensely annoying. and yes, some albums have to be played in order. mostly - random. I like the surprise/guess/predict element.

Then. CD burning. On my very own computer.
Mix tape. On CDs. Faint.
I still have my very first compilation CD, cunningly entitled "Compilation 20.07.00". It is remarkably good. It took me an entire evening with a large pile of CDs and painstakingly copying the track that I wanted off each CD.

Then. mp3.

yes, I know the quality isn't the same. I'm not that discerning and I certainly don't listen to music on that sophisticated equipment.

Playlists are a joy. Playlists are easy. Playlists are in fact everything the compilation random taste free music-murderess ever dreamed of.

In these days of children having, I mostly listen to music in the car. And a CD is disturbingly limited.
The new car has an mp3 CD player.

Many, many, many songs on one CD. I have no idea how many, but it's something like 200. The display tells me the song. And it does random. And I can "next" it - my singular most annoying and perpetual habit, or so I have been led to believe - from the steering wheel.

iTunes does it all nicely. Unless of course I want to use any of the songs I have purchased from iTunes because they wouldn't play.

Do Apple do a car music player that's built in? I don't think so. Steve Jobs probably thinks people don't listen to music in the car. Yes, I know Jobs invented iPod; iPod has wires and I have never yet got over my love for CDs, even if I break them by filling them with nasty inferior mp3s. Still, it'd be nice if they did.

My collection of bought-from-iTunes is regrettably ok to be missed off. Things I would never share my love for. It's a nostalgia thing, and when you genuinely only like one song off an album, generally the rest of it isn't all that great.
Whatever. I'm sure other people have recently bought songs by the Christians and Runrig.

Shh.

Anyway.

CD joy, in the car, steering wheel controls, 100s of tracks on one CD = one happy camper.

And if it's raining? cup overfloweth.

Genius simplicity

Assuming you can, do a Genius playlist on Sloop John B by the Beach Boys.

You will rewarded with 25 of the best known, most overplayed songs in your music selection. The ones that you used to like, but got sick of once they were in a film, or an advert, or just generally played to a painful, drawn out, miserable death, but still can't help but sing along to.

If any of the following scenarios apply, then I'm sorry, I can't help you.

1) you don't have Sloop John B
2) you don't have iTunes
3) you don't use Genius
4) Genius tells you there aren't enough similar songs.

What? No, seriously: what? Like I care?

Moments

I've had a few moments today, little snatches of niceness amid the mundanity of day to day drudgery.

Steve Wright's Golden Oldies sometimes are marvellous (for those of us who like old stuff better). Today in the car I heard the following:

"Waterloo Sunset" by the Kinks. I love the Kinks, Ray Davies is a god and this is one of their best.

"Tin Soldier" by the Small Faces. I love the Small Faces, Steve Marriott was a god and this isn't one of their best but it's still them, it's still better than most songs.

"Baba O Reilly" by the Who. Jeremy Clarkson and I, and presumably some other people but noone I've met, like the Who and this is probably their best song. That or "Behind Blue Eyes", but Limp Bizkit actually did that better.

"With a Little Help from My Friends" by Joe Cocker. This isn't great, but it has a superb intro.

"Ride a White Swan" by Marc Bolan and T Rex. Or that's what Shazam told me. I like this, I had no idea of its title.

and then

"Man of the World" by Fleetwood Mac which is one of the greatest songs on earth.

Liam whoever you are from wherever you're from, I love you.

Followed by watching the sun almost set on the beach. I'm having a hippy moment, the stuff that's really, really nice is just there.

Gratuitous picture as I'm appreciating the aesthetic and feel like being giggly again:

Favourites

I seem to have an addiction to these quizzes you get on myspace etc and many of them seem to ask the same questions. The ones that remain on my mind refer to favourites: favourite film, favourite book, favourite TV programme and so on. I don't have an answer to these, I really don't. I wish I did.

Film...
Now, I haven't seen a LOT of films, but I tend not to like films. I'm not sure what it is that I do like about films, but there are so many I don't like that I'm "supposed" to. I don't get Woody Allen, I simply can't watch him, and I watched Match Point, thinking that maybe I'd get it if I didn't have to actually watch him on screen. Nope, didn't like it at all. I finally saw Citizen Kane, didn't care for that much either.

The film that had the biggest effect on me when I saw it at the cinema would be Twelve Monkeys. We went to that during the day and came out into daylight and somehow everything seemed weird, as if you couldn't trust anything to be as it seemed. Which is strange because that's not what the film's about. Film that I most loved at the time and watched most times would be Pretty Woman, because I was 15 when it came out and it really is what every girl dreams of... But that's not a "good" film.

The Usual Suspects is fabulous; I adore that and it is one film I wish I hadn't seen just so I could see it for the first time. Shrek always makes me smile, it's got so much in it to smile over. Shrek would be the film I chose if I had to pick just one, but it isn't my favourite film ever.

I have a favourite director: Luc Besson and maybe I'd have to take Leon or The Big Blue as a favourite. Too hard. Can't pick favourite actor, Steve McQueen was the coolest though.


Book...
This is even worse. I really don't like any of the books that people go on and on about. I tried to read Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Memoirs of a Geisha, Birdsong, The Time Traveler's Wife (which I itch to correct the spelling of...) along with many other highly regarded books, and although I have finished some, I didn't enjoy them much. I am currently reading The Secret History which every single person on the planet thinks is wonderful and, so far, I can't be bothered continuing past page 48.

I can't wait for the last Harry Potter to come out, I have enjoyed all of those so far. I also loved The Da Vinci Code. So it's not that I have the sort of brain that doesn't "do" fiction, I can read and enjoy things that are quite definitely fiction, and not very well written fiction at that.

I liked Pride and Prejudice mostly because I studied it at school and managed not to be put off by the in depth analysis. Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux and The Christmas Books by Charles Dickens are two of my favourite books, they are both superbly written and thoroughly enjoyable despite both being extremely well known and much dramatised.

I love the Magical Maze by Ian Stewart - about mathematics - and Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss - about punctuation. If I could only take one book off on a desert island, I think it would probably be Ian Stewart's... which is a bit sad. That's not my favourite book either, I immediately feel bereft at the thought of not having the others.

My favourite author is Jasper Fforde because he's bonkers and shares my birthday.


TV programme...
Now, based on most effort put into watching and anticipating and guttedness that it ended, that would be Friends. But that's mindless comedy... The funniest thing ever on TV was Fawlty Towers, closely followed by a number of other comedies: Blackadder, Alan Partridge, Bottom, Father Ted, Black Books. I adored Ally McBeal, I fall over myself to watch Top Gear, I sit on the edge of my seat throughout 24 and I really enjoyed Life on Mars (apart from the TERRIBLE ending - but I'm not sure what would have pleased me). Picking just one? It would have to be Fawlty Towers - the same age as me.

Album...
I don't have a favourite album. I don't. I have a favourite song - it is Hallelujah by John Cale - but I simply don't have a favourite album. I never listen to them, I have been making compilations since I got my first tape deck. If I was forced to choose one, it would be The Velvet Underground and Nico, People Move On by Bernard Butler, Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space by Spiritualized or The Division Bell by Pink Floyd. (I think, I change my mind sometimes) But none of those have Hallelujah on it and I couldn't have I'm Your Fan as The One, so I need my compilations.

Why aren't there easier questions? I have many things I know for sure what my favourites are:

coffee: java
tea: chai
soft drink: Coke
freshly made juice: carrot, apple and ginger
wine: M & S Oudinot Champagne (cuvee, medium dry)
red wine: Georges Duboeuf Fleurie
liqueur: Drambuie
beer: if I must, Hoegaarden
cider: Addlestones
day: Thursday
bit of road: Junction 2a on the M90
artist: Claude Monet
place: the rock garden, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh
shop: Valvona and Crolla, Edinburgh
perfume: Chanel Coco
aftershave: Higher Energy by Dior
bread: ptira
ice cream: pistachio from B. Valletta in St Andrews
property on Monopoly: Oxford St
board game: Trivial Pursuit
card game: Aces to Kings
seat on the train: on the left, the third one in, window seat, front carriage
boss: Mark
museum: Musee d'Orsay, Paris
shoes: black wedge mules from Clarks
boots: brown suede knee highs
city: Paris
country: Italy
continent: Europe
language: French
accent: Australian
instrument: bass guitar
means of communication: text message
winter sport: skiing
console game(s): Super Mario...

I just need different questions.