Day two in the big blogger hoose…
Oh, joy. Today didn’t get much better than yesterday. Work again, so it’s been a case of getting up, going to work, coming home, blogging, then bed. Er, at least the taxi ride home had good music. The driver had Century on. I entered the taxi, just as “London Nights” by the London Boys was finishing, next up was Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough”. another quality song, but the rest of the journey had one of the greatest songs ever… “Though the Barricades” by Spandau Ballet. I love that track.
On the subject of music, I actually bought a copy of an obscure record I’ve been looking for since I was about 13. It’s the Loading Bay Records version of Ankie Bagger’s “Where Were You Last Night”, a song I know nobody on this entire planet will know. (but I’m sure it’ll start picking up search results in the near future).
I first heard this song some time in about 1993. Daddykins was in the washhouse experimenting with packet radio. I was in the front room listening to a temporary radio station somewhere in Middlesbrough, when they began to play “Rofo’s Theme”, a song I will always remember from childhood holidays at the world famous Sandy Bay. I slapped in a cheap cassette tape in order to record this excellent tune. At the end, they mixed it with this song, which was unknown to me at the time. Luckily, the DJ did indeed announce both tracks’ names and artists.
Packet radio is a method of transmitting computer data via radio, and was (occasionally still is) used by ham radio enthusiasts to transmit text through the airwaves at a moderately acceptable baud rate. Unfortunately, Daddykins transmitting these data packets affected my recording, and every 30 seconds or so, there is a loud squeal, totally wiping out both songs for a second or so.
Sadly, the tape has long gone. At some point in the last few years, I recalled this song, and after weeks of searching, tracked down an awful copy of it. Unfortunately, this copy was taken from the 7″ version of the song, and was scratched up in places. Oh well.
Every so often, I went onto ebay, looking for it, and I kept getting sick of seeing “0 items found for
ankie bagger”. There were CD versions appearing occasionally, going for extortionate amounts, and none of those were the Loading Bay version. I was on ebay the other day, and just did a search for a bit of fun… the result?
“Ankie Bagger Where Were You Last Night Loading Bay Rec”… oh my.
Again, it was a few quid more than I’d normally pay for vinyl, but I couldn’t really give up this opportunity. As shown in the picture, I bid for, and bought this vinyl delight… yay, go me. So, I’ve been belting that down my ears ever since. Wahey!
On the subject of music, the Middlesbrough “Music Live” thing is on again, which I attended back in 2004. If it was anything like last time, it’s definitely worth going. I know a load of people from work are going, so I think it’s going to be a good day, as long as the weather holds up. If the weather the last few days is anything to go by, that’ll be a no. We’ll see.
Right, let’s move onto the normal comments on here…
Chad: Good move on not buying the “rubbers,” I doubt you’d have ever used them, ever[1].
The “whos is the bigger idiot debate” for writing this blog or reading it could go on forever and ever. Even though the comments were harsh[2], they are something to think about.
I myself have limited my email/etc time to 40 minutes a day in an effort to get out, see people, exercise and so on[3]. Technology’s great as long as it doesn’t take over.
I mean, how many of us message people who live within walking distance, spend time typing emails, etc but then spend whole days not having a face to face conversation with anyone[4].
Have a nice weekend[5].
1. Regarding the rubbers, you know, you’re actually right. I’m strange in the fact that I insist in writing with a pen as opposed to a pencil. I could have a drawer full of pencils, but I would still dig through it all the way to the bottom to see if there’s a pen in there. I think it went back to my old school days, and the fact we were forced to used pencils, yet the bigger kids were allowed to use biros, etc. That was when the decision was made that the 4th year and the 3rd year were merged into two clas… waaait! Rubbers! I get it now! You meant condoms! Hahaha! That’s so funny! No, truly, my sides are creasing here… bwahaha. God, it’ll take me years to recover from that hilarious use of Americo-English.
Hmmm. I need to emphasise sarcasm more.
2. Nah, the comments weren’t harsh, just misguided. You’re basing me on what I write in here and short 6 minute video clips on an external website. This is what I was referring to in the previous posting with the phrase “It’s fair to say that my outlook on blogging has completely changed in the last few months”. I thought you might have picked up on that. I think I’ve also mentioned somehwere that I never “kiss and tell”, probably in another one of your “get a life” comments. As a side note to this, I also have an active social life, which I also refrain about taking about in here. I think I just like the “image” of being a loner when this is not the case.
3. Congratulations for the 40 mins, though nights like this where I finish my shift at midnight, this limits my opportunities to get out, meet people, exercise, and so on. Running around this estate at 2AM will either mean I’d get mugged, or shot into the back of a police van. I tend to wind down on this shift by doing blogs. We’re all different.
4. Yes, this is a bit of a bastard – it does happen occasionally. I do have the excuse of shiftwork, which you never have to deal with, as far as I know. You may be surprised to know that all of my close friends do not have easy access to email, SMS, MSN, etc. so yes, wherever possible, I do speak to them directly. When at work, I try my best to never use internal email, etc. If I have a query or an issue with someone, I say it to their face instead of hiding behind an email. I wish more poeple would do this. It would prevent a lot of animousity.
5. Thanks. I’ll try my best. The Saturday is a write-off, though.
Wow, I didn’t plan to go off on that rant when I started on the comments section, and I don’t think I’ve ever gave any background information into who “Chad” is. He grew up on the last house in our street, and he is wholly responsible for some of the best, and the worst, moments in my childhood. I am genuinely delighted, despite his comments and my ramblings that he still remembers, and even dreams about the past years. About 9 or 10 (correction: 7) years ago, he moved to Japan to become an English Teacher, and we lost touch. During the early years of my blog, when I had an external forum, he posted some stuff on there which I seem to remember taking offense to, at the time.
Since then, he has never gone away.
I just hope and pray that one day we will meet up again, face-to-face, to discuss everything that has happened in our lives.
Right, after that marathon, onto the Outtake vlog… this one’s a bit of a mess… this one’s supposed to be the one everyone hated. It sort of backfired on me.
Noscere: What? your supposed to keep the out takes?… Bugger
Well, I did, and this was the result! when I record a vlog, I do it in one go. It saves fucking about each time I get something wrong, I don’t stop the recording in between, as that just complicates things. Instead, I just edit the crap bits out with Movie Maker, which doesn’t actually affect the original file. This means I end up with the final version, but still have the original source video. Sometimes I do delete them after I upload them… the “washhouse” master is long gone – there were plenty of outtakes in that, it was about 15 minutes overall.
Unfortunately, this was the most popular one I’ve ever done…
Daniel H: Fucking love this.
Aidey: That was fab! More please
c64glen: This is my favorite one so far!
Owen: (3 comments)
I think you should do a Numa Numa video.
These should also never have been cut !!! they are great!!!
Hahaha SHUT UP SQUEEKY CHAIR !! That’s so my new message tone…
The whole reason I posted this blog in the first place was to get negative comments from it, to see whether it was worth filming any more. Not one negative comment. Everyone loved to see me making a prick of myself… how does that work?? Either way: Owen, I’m not making a Numa Numa video. ever. Thanks for emailing those modules, these will be featured in some way in the next vlog, though I’m not sure if they’re suitable as a permanent new theme tune… of course, the question is, has the recent feedback made me rethink the whole vlog business? the answer: of course it fucking hasn’t…
Oh, nad just an explanation on one of the outtakes…
big bad mick: im curious to see what outtakes didnt make the outtake real…
This is where the confusion lies… YOU (the comment poster) aren’t “big bad mick”. Which is why that was an outtake, I got you mixed up with “bigbadmick”, who was the webmaster of Curried Books – a now defunct (as far as I know) blog. It was just the ultimate in brainfarts where I got you two mixed up. I laughed at the time, and my “fuck” reaction. Uh, I hope I’ve explained that well enough. I probably haven’t.
As for your question, there’s lots of material that didn’t make it, mainly due to the fact I didn’t sift through it. I’ve recorded quite a few vlogs which I wasn’t happy with, or had technical issues such as bad sound. I did one on the light of Liverpool’s defeat in the Uefa cup final. I really wasn’t happy with it. Despite the outtakes, I do have some quality control.
Roght, that’s it for now. Consider me wound down. I shall attempt to post at some point tomorrow.
