The erratic adventures of shay & jax
No-one can deny Feely - he's too damned alpha. Anyway, your hero and mine has instructed me to write a new blog, which is to contain man-faced skanks and steamshit. And who am I to argue? I hope you all had a pleasant Christmas (apart from those of you like Bobs/Dave who lives in some kinda crazy, made up country, and doesn't celebrate it for another day) and, of course, a Merry New Year! Our village pub's fancy dress theme this year was the 1970s, which was annoyingly specific, because if it had just been the 70s, I would have done some 1870s shit. Instead I went as a Jawa. Utinni! I had an enjoyable break, the traditional Christmas cold aside, which I mostly spent watching the darts (big ups to Garry Anderson - Bagel must be very proud) and caning Arrow and The Flash. Utter cheesy nonsense, but fun nevertheless. The final season of The Newroom is up next, then Gomorra. Back to work now, and it's much less horrific than I feared. What's that, you say? Albums of the year? Well, I've been proper crap at listening to new music this year, but the following (IMHO) were all good'uns: Royal Blood by Royal Blood: Big, driving riffs and slightly effeminate vocals. Me likey. Bestiary by Hail Mary Mallon: Classic Def Jux-type Hip Hop which you either love or hate. Needless to say, me likey. The little 50 sample in this track makes me happy. That's Not How You Do That by Jean Grae: A novelty album, yes, but it's had me smiling since the summer. NehruvianDOOM by NehruvianDOOM: MF Doom's name got me to try this one, as I'd never heard of Bishop Nehru. I will be looking out for him in the future, though. Seaside Resort to Violence by Rash Decision: I went to see Monolithian play live, with a bunch of support bands I'd never heard of, and ended up seeing these guys (who have the bass player and vocalist from Monolithian on guitar and backing vocals) play this album, which is an eardrum-melting belter. Drenge by Drenge: Pretty sure this came out at the tail end of last year. So why is it on this list? Because fuck you, that's why! (And also because I didn't hear it until this summer. :P)
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The other day I posted someone a 2000 character PM. Well, nearly - I think I had about 8 characters left on the limit. Proof, if proof is needed, that I talk too much! In fairness, Shay only really did two things and said one line of dialogue; the rest of it was fleshing out the scene/off topic whittering [delete as applicable]. Perhaps I should interview for Test Match Special; I'd be great at talking about cake, and birds, and hanging baskets, and passing buses rather than just dealing with the cricket. :D It's the Boss' birthday today. It was twitchy bum time for a bit as to whether her prezzie would turn up in time - the perils of being a disorganised fuck, I suppose. This tends to filter through all aspects of my home life (I'm surprisingly together at work) which means that V and Shay are still to pull their thumbs out of their bums and get back on the road. Other than that, I don't think there's any real in-game news to report. I am currently being slightly intrigued by this image that has worked its way onto my FB feed: Why is 50 Cent doing a camp double-teapot? Why is Remy Ma wearing day-glo briefs over her jeans? Is it some sort of superhero thing? Who is going to look into the camera viewfinder that is pointed straight up? Is it for a giant cameraman, or are these miniature versions of everyone's favourite mumbling oaf and attempted murderess? So may questions... England's defeat last night means that the majority of pre-tournament predictions that we wouldn't get out of the group stage should prove to be true. It's actually been interesting to see a tournament lead-up without images of Stevie G leering from the front pages of the tabloids alongside the words "WE CAN WIN THIS!" reaching saturation point. Yeah, there was some tub-thumping in the lead up, and there'll be some moping and reactionary nonsense about sacking the lot of 'em today, but unreasonable optimism beforehand and end-of-the-world disappointment after defeats are a part of football. I wanted England to win, but I'm not a slavering fan by any means. My slightly detached view is therefore that we've lost two close games by the odd goal. We are what we are - a top 15-20 side with a bunch of decent pros, no world class player, and Phil Jagielka. I few of my celtic friends and family are enjoying themselves, but it's all good fun. Opportunities to sneer at Scottish, Welsh and Irish defeat come around so much more often but I don't bother - I think the fact that I don't actually give a toss infuriates them even more. Okay, I have a wife to attend to, so I'll leave you with an image from the first decent FB page recommendation I've had in forever, the extraordinarily cute Liz Katz: And a track from the new(ish) Glitch Mob album Love Death Immortality, which has been improving my productivity at work no end. They've come a long way from being the glitch-hop group I fell in love with back in 2008. Their new album is more a collection of festival crowdpleasers than their more introspective (and better) 2010 debut album. I'm not convinced the album is as good as some of the praise I've seen lavished upon it, or as bad as Sputnik Music made out - then again, rules for Sputnik reviews seem to be 'if anyone has ever heard of them they must be rubbish' - but it's a solid 3/3.5* effort. The first single Can't Kill Us is closer to the sound they had when I first got into them and is maybe my favourite track on the album, but I think I'll annoy you all with something a bit more hectic: So 2013 ended with a bit of a whimper, Weebly-wise. I blame Rice. And Butters. Yep, totally their fault. Anyway, I resolve to try and keep this page a little more active this year. Admittedly that may require me to just post random nonsense about life in the real world that none of you care about, but that's what 2/3 of this blog has been anyway! Ok, so 2013 saw Vera have her longest period of musical success under the guidance of Overlord Nails. Now I know that she still wasn't all that successful, but that just proves how much I suck at this game. Thanks to Neil's typist, and apologies for dragging him down. :P She also had her first proper job, teaching at universities in both London and LA, wrote a few songs that I was happy with, struck out on a largely theoretical solo career, and married Fay. Looking back, it's been a more eventful year than I thought, as I was of the view that she'd kinda coasted the last 12 months. The plan for the coming year is to finally achieve concept album greatness. Shay pretty much coasted in terms of the musical side of the game, but he did meet Madi, get together and break up with Joni, and just generally stagger along in his social life with no real plan. Not that that's a bad thing - I'm not sure I want to plan whole life arcs for my characters - too damn lazy. Plans for this year? Dunno. I am still toying with having him quit music and be Vera's minion full time. To be confirmed though. Lastly (on the Popo-front) I'm thinking about bringing Dean back. I dunno if I have enough money to de-age him sufficiently though. What credit items go for the most cash (other than EdP. obviously?) Personally speaking it's been a fun year. Busy professionally, and very busy socially. Weddings will do that. This does mean that works to the cottage have slipped, as has my desire to get a better understanding of quantum physics. Oh well, they will just have to roll over into 2014. Bread's Top 10 Tracks of 2013: (In no particular order...) Musician by Homeboy Sandman - an intelligent, eloquent defence of what it means to be an MC, and part of a culture that is widely derided as overly-commercialised and shallow. All over a sick, sick beat. Definition of a Rap Flow by RA the Rugged Man - Insanity. Absolute fucking insanity. And putting his voice over that happy, bouncy beat should not work - but it does. As Darkness Falls by Zomby - I'm more of a dabbler in the dubstep and chiptune scenes than a fully fledged fan, but this album is a belter, full of old skool rave flashes, and has, at times, massively increased my productivity at work. Sea of Trees by Monolithian - I promise you, I'm not putting in a track by a tiny, unsigned band just to be some sort of Indier-than-thou hipster cunt. The Cornish doomsters' track is ear drum-crushingly heavy, and actually pretty damn funky, as the lead guitar parts are played on bass, not electric guitar. Plus it's an amp-killing belter live! Molotov by Reks - I've put this video up on here before, but fuck it, it deserves to be posted twice. Incredible lyricism over a nasty beat. The Unholy Hand by The Bronx - Man, I love the Bronx. Everything from their refusal to give their albums anything but numbers, to how seriously they take their mariachi music. The Bronx IV is another strong album, the opening track being my personal fave. Wall-E by CES Cru - Apparently CES have been around forever, they've just been unknowns playing clubs in Kansas. Maybe that's why their first full length effort on a bigger label gets a little obsessed with the grinding and hustling themes, but it's a solid hip hop album, with occasional gems like this that shows that not every rapper is interested only in money and ladydogs. City Dump by The Melvins - If that riff doesn't make you want to throw the horns, then I'm sorry, but you suck. :P Warn a Brotha by the White Mandingos - a punk band fronted by underground rap legend Murs performing a concept album about a fictional black rock band's rise to fame? Oh you know I'm gonna like that kind of oddness! :D The theme to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - Ok, so it didn't come out in 2013, but it was the song that my wife and I walked out to after our wedding ceremony. :) And finally, a special mention to: 1UP by Just Blaze x Mysto & Pizzi - I think, technically, this was released on January 1st, but fuck it, it's been drilled into my brain ever since the lady behind the Foulquiers introduced me to it.
Apologies for the teal dear. You could always go read Rice's blog - she's good at not writing much. Not much that makes sense, anyway... (Oh no he di'n't! :P) Went to a Halloween horror double bill last night, and watched Tucker and Dale vs Evil and the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I hadn't seen T&DvE before, and it was brilliant. I watched TCM many moons ago, and have forgotten how annoying the film is. I mean, it has some great scenes, cinematography, and score, and it's a seminal slasher flick. Even so, between the character of Franklin (intentionally annoying), the shockingly hammy acting from pretty much everyone that isn't playing Leatherface, and Sally screaming and pulling her hair for the entire second half of the movie (probably not intentional, but still fucking annoying) it kinda grates. Blasphemy? Yeah maybe, but fuck'em. Chooooooooooon! Also, why have none of you shitbags nominated songs in the festival lyrics competition?! I swear, I'm un-friending you all...
Is pretty much what writing V and Shay's entry for the NYC lyric competition was like. Ah well, 'tis done now. Plans for the immediate future of V and Shay? Fucknose. I'm taking suggestions. For the last couple of days, I've been blaring out an old (2006) album from a local Hip Hop crew who've since gone their separate ways. Milo is still releasing top quality stuff, but DJ Locktite and the rest seem to have disappeared. Shame. You know it's a good album when you get to track 6 before you even think about skipping. There's plenty of belters on there, but probably my favourite features two MCs who also seem to have vanished - Probe Mantis and Turrock/Steve Gough, who has the best Bristolian accent you will ever hear! :) So, I'm back from honeymoon. Marrakesh was amazing, even if it was too damn hot for whiteboy Englishmen. I think the missus found it a little overwhelming (here in England we say no good deed goes unpunished, in Marrakesh it seems that no good deed goes unpaid) but we generally had a great time, and we mixed exploring with chilling out at the beautiful Riad Nafis. Seriously, I can't recommend that place enough to anyone wanting to visit Marrakesh - great rooms, great food, and the staff were as good as gold.
Between the flights and the relaxation time, I caught up on a few back issues of Science News (I'd subscribe to the New Scientist by preference if, y'know, that important science and innovation magazine did crazy, way-out, futuristic things like have a fucking Kindle version! [/rant]) and caned three books. The first was Blackjack by Andrew Vachss, which had got a favourable review in Sci-fi and Fantasy Digest. They had described it as 'hard-boiled', but I think they confused hard-boiled with bullshit. It's full of utterly unlikeable stereotypes (but, hey, that seems to work for Banshee, right?) and some of the clunkiest metaphors you'll ever read ("His face was a blackboard, immune to the blond man's chalk...") On top of that, it manages to piss away the fairly intriguing central premise, never really explaining or expanding on it, and lose one of the more interesting characters without explanation about 4/5ths of the way through. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it at all - it's good, brainless fun, and if you like bad action movies (guilty as charged) you should maybe give it a shuftie. The other two books were from Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim series, which were much better. Ok, so it's still not exactly high art, but these books are a great example of how to write fun, frothy, page-turning supernatural action and still keep the writing smart and slick. I recommend to any and all nerds; and let's face it: if you're reading this, you fit that particular bill. So now I'm back I plan to polish off the character pages, and pick up any typos (if you spot one, let me know). I also want to get some songs written for both V and Shay. For Shay I have the beginnings of something worked out, but I don't have a Scooby for V, so hopefully inspiration will strike. In fact, hopefully it will strike for V as a character, as I've been largely ignoring her in favour of Shay. Based on her character history, now V and Fay are apart she should probably either mope about like a teenage Smiths fan, or start fucking anything with a pulse. As I don't really want her to do either, I'm doing what all uncreative idiots do: ignoring the problem in the hopes that it will go away. :P I finished Shay's song based loosely on his and Joni's Friend Zone tribulations, adding another 16 bars to the ones I'd previously blogged, and it turned out to be utter dogshit, ratings-wise. Oh well, I'll brush that one under the carpet and recycle the lyrics. I wish they'd let us tinker with song titles after we finish, but before, say, adding to the repertoire, because it's a pain to put lyrics you're personally fairly happy with on a song that the game engine says is a stinker. Ho-hum. And finally, to no-one's surprise, Joni becomes the latest girl that Shay has been interested in to descend into 'Busy/Off' hell. Seriously ladies, if this guy starts flirting with you, you better run a mile because you're about to get buried under a tonne of RL stuff!* * Assuming, of course, that they aren't all just saying their busy to get Shay and I to fuck off. :D |
WTF?!This site contains out-of-character information for characters and events in the MMO Popmundo, as well as general navel-gazing and apologies for never updating. "If you are offended by words like: Shit! Bitch! Fuck! Dick! Ass! Whore! Cum!" Ice-T
Who the Hell?!
The author is a professional person in his mid-30s, old-school Hip Hop head, Punk Rock fan, Plymouth Argyle supporter, comic book reader, and general lo-fi nerd. He lives in the countryside with two cats and newly-wed wife, all of whom seem to be above him in the pecking order. He is a big fan of tea, fig rolls, H.P. Lovecraft, facial hair and quiffs. While MPB robbed him of his quiff-rocking dreams, he does sport a dope handlebar moustache. Categories
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