My NES-style bedroom

I finally got round to taking some pictures of my new bedroom at my parents' house which I mentioned here. When they moved house recently I decided to have my room decorated using the colour scheme of the Nintendo Entertainment System; grey walls, dark red skirting boards and black carpet. It's probably the nerdiest thing I've ever done and I'm pleased with the result. It's not really obvious - most people wouldn't walk in and realise the inspiration - but it's pretty cool to tell people my room is the same colour as a NES.

So here are a couple of pictures I took. Not the best photos, but they give you an idea. One bigger shot (with my MMPR duvet cover) and a comparison with an actual NES.

Why popstars are going it alone

Why popstars are going it alone

This article doesn't really say that much that we don't already know, but it does say that Radiohead's recent move (see this post) has prompted others such as Nine Inch Nails and Oasis "to leave their record labels in search of greater commercial success through live performances, merchandise sales, and other online innovation that may include free distribution of their music." Not sure how accurate that is, but it sounds promising. Anything to break big companies' stranglehold on music is a good thing.

Popcorn

I made some popcorn today. It's a really good food 'cos it's cheap to buy, fun to make, and pretty healthy.

Talking of food, I just did my food shopping online for the first time. I've been going to the local Tesco quite a bit recently, but it's a long way from my house - once I bought too much and it was a real struggle to get it all home. So for about £6 you can get it delivered to your house using Tesco's website.

I don't really make a list when I go shopping, I usually just go round the whole supermarket and pick up what I need when I see it, so it's quite weird choosing all the items from a webpage. The delivery comes tomorrow during the afternoon, so we'll see if it works.

This Is England

I went to see the film This Is England last Friday. I'd been wanting to see it ever since it came out, and as they were showing it at my university union for only £1.80 I decided to go along. It was one of the best films I've seen in a while; probably the best British film I've ever seen.

The film was set in the 80s, and as well as using 80s fashion, housing, cars etc. there was a slight grain to the film, which made it feel authenticly 20 years old. The acting was realistic too - something I really enjoy in film. I love films like this, or TV programs like The Office, where it just feels like things aren't scripted - it really helps immerse you. I also enjoyed the elements of ska music and the exploration of the skinhead movement. I find it interesting how this culture is split so markedly over issues like nationalism and immigration. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

While checking out my web stats I came across a site called Technorati. I'd heard about it before but never visited. It basically indexes blogs, allowing you to search through them and see responses and popularity for certain blogs. This blog is on there, and it's always nicely narcissistic/strange to find sites like this that hold information about you.

The other day I read about Radiohead and their new album. Radiohead are one of those bands that a lot of people seem to like, but that I've never really checked out properly, and the stuff I have heard isn't that interesting. They've set up a site though where you can download their new album In Rainbows before it's released as a CD, and the twist is that you can set the price of the download, even download it for free. It's quite a novel concept, and I doubt that Radiohead will end up making much money through this venture, but it's great to see such a massive band circumventing the music industry in this way (I didn't actually download the album, as you had to sign up for an account or something).

Neville Staple

I went to see Neville Staple at the weekend at Corporation.

Staple was one of the vocalists for The Specials back in the 70s and 80s but now he performs Specials songs with his own backing band. The audience were mostly old skinheads who were obviously into The Specials over 20 years ago. It was cool to see all these guys there, as the two-tone ska movement is one of my favourite parts of British history/culture.

I really enjoyed Gangsters and Ghost Town, and most of the songs were played at a faster tempo than the originals, which I think makes them even better.

I've been really into ska/reggae stuff recently. I just love the feeling and the raw funkiness you find in that type of music.

Couple of fun websites

Here are a couple of cool websites that allow you to interact with the world whilst sitting at your PC. I love stuff like this.

The first can be found here. All you do is type a message and some other info into a form and the message is then placed in a bottle and thrown out to sea on the Southern coast of England. I've been trying really hard to think of a good message, but I still haven't come up with one yet.

The second site lets you upload an audio sample which is then played inside a massive tank and sent back to you in order to achieve an awesome natural reverb effect. I tried this a couple of times and it's great fun. It's really cool to think that your voice or whatever is actually being played through an 11m tank somewhere in Germany.

Animations

I read this week that a new Wallace and Gromit animation is currently in progress, which is great news.

Their first appearance was A Grand Day Out in 1989 but I think I first saw Wallace and Gromit when A Close Shave was released in 1995. My favourite W&G animation is their most recent - Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. This was a feature length film which had a really good, at times dark, storyline and some great scenes. I'm looking forward to this new one, which should be released in about a year's time.

This morning I actually caught an episode of Postman Pat while I was eating breakfast. It's obviously been updated since I was a kid, but there are no major changes and I enjoyed it. Also, as a child I never noticed how well made the whole environment is. All the different textures and things used make it quite interesting to watch.

One program which has been changed quite a bit since I was younger though is Fireman Sam (which, I think, used to be my favourite program). I saw a newer episode of it the other week, and it was pretty dire. Well, mainly the new theme tune, but the program seemed to have lost a lot of it's regional Welsh feel and just wasn't the same as before. Maybe kids want something different from their TV programs these days .