The website is now back online, but you will notice that all of the content except this posting is unavailable. This is because something major has happened, and it is going to take me some time to put into words exactly what has happened since the site closure on Thursday morning.

It’s not my usual “splot”, but I felt that what is on this website now holds very little relevance.

In a vain attempt to rid myself once again of the feeling of shite, I have decided to go back on some ideas I had a few months ago, yet never actually got around to carrying them out. This time, it’s to do with music.

You may remember back in September 2008, I came across an idea where I’d review an album, picked by random, out of the weeks’ Top 40. Sounded like a pretty good idea at the time. However, obtaining the record legally wouldn’t really be cost effective, and although I could probably dispose ofthe CD on ebay if I really didn’t like it, it wouldn’t have been worth the chew.

But, that was September 2008. We’re all a year older. Unfortunately, I’ve picked a bad couple of weeks to start this again. The charts are still dominated by Michael Jackson. Sigh. You’d think he’d died or something.

Therefore, I’ll start this whole debacle with a “randomly” picked album. I say randomly, I actually mean “I wanted to see if all of the tracks are similar to the first. For you see, the album in question is…

La Roux – La Roux

Great. Nothing like a self-titled album to get us underway. I wonder if they named themselves after the late Danny La Roux? (You know that’s not how you spell his/her name – Ed) Oh, shut up…

(presses play)

01. In For the Kill

Played heavily on the radio. I never listen to the radio for more than 15 minutes per day, so if I think it’s heavily played, I can’t begin to imagine how many other times it’s played. I quite like this one, and it’s the only one of theirs I know. The vocals are particularly annoying, but distinctive. The “OoooooOoooooooooOOooOOOOooOoo” bit near the end has just made my ears bleed.

02. Tigerlily

The vocals aren’t as annoying as the first song, I’ll give it that. Near the end, there’ some bloke who sounds like the bloke out of “Barbie Girl” by Aqua.

03. Quicksand

I’ve decided that, even after 2 songs that I’m not going to be overly keen on this album. I’m sure I knocked up something similar to this track back when I was 15 on OctaMED. Actually, I didn’t think this track was too bad until the OoooooooOOoooooooOoo’s kicked in again.

04. Bulletproof

Intro reminds me of “Breath of Life” by Erasure. Chorus reminds of the same song. And it’s not bad. I’d probably play that one again.

05. Colourless Colour

According to Wikipedia, the singer is the daughter of that woman off The Bill, Trudie Goodwin. You know the one. The one that was in it for ever. Oh, right, back to the song. Er, I’m not overly keen on this one. Next!

06. I’m not your Toy

Oh, now I definitely did the introduction for this one in OctaMED. Actually, on closer inspection, it sounds more like SID music, something a C64 would produce. According to Wikipedia again, this is going to be the next song from the album.

07. Cover Your Eyes

The longest song on the album, and the slowest so far. Reminds me of something that Yazoo would have done back in the day. this is definitely on the “Play again” list. I’ve noticed that the majority of the songs have poor endings. And, although I quite liked this one, the ending suffered the same fate.

08. As If By Magic

Once again, a very 80s sound. Sounds a bit like a song I can’t think of. Possibly “King in a Catholic Style” by China Crisis. I’ve just head a line that would have made me laugh beer though my nose, assuming I was drinking beer at the time… “It’s not so tragic if I don’t look down”. Story of my life, that.

09. Fascination

That intro couldn’t be any more Erasure if it tried. A bit repetitive, but at least it (sort of) finished properly.

10. Reflections Are Protection

Remember “The Lowdown”, some type of documentary show for kids that was on the telly as I was growing up? No? well, you probably won’t care that this song reminds me of the theme tune from that. Slightly. It’s certainly “heavier” than the rest of them.

11. Armour Love

Hmm. Another slowish one, but not in a good way. This one is particularly dire, and certainly the weakest one on the album. It’s a bit of a crap way to end an otherwise acceptable collection of songs. Oh, and the ending on this one is diabolical. It sounds as if they just press stop on the synths, but keep one going for just a few seconds longer after that. A poor end.

And that’s your lot, minus the bonus tracks which I can’t be arsed playing. Overall, it’s not bad. Couple of good tracks, plenty of tracks which would set the “meh” meter off, and one stinker. I’d much rather just stick the radio on and listen to the good tracks which have all been released as singles anyway.

One of the things that frustrates me more than anything as a blogger is the things you can and can’t say. And, I know as a reader, it can’t be much fun reading vague descriptions of the things that are currently on my mind. Yes, I’m aware that there’s the freedom of speech, and I’d love to be able to log in here and spend the next two hours about how I think a certain pack of people are an absolutely stunning bunch of c__ts, but me typing the whole of that C word, and the rant that would follow would serve no purpose than to cause more trouble.

And, for once, I’m NOT actually talking about work. I’m talking about an organisation which I have belonged to for the past 11 years, and Daddykins has belonged to for much longer. In fact, there’s been a running joke about how my birth disrupted a meeting of such organization.

I’m sure i’ll secretly write a blog post, yet never publish it, with my full feelings on this matter, and I assure you, I will be using the C word many more times.

Unfortunately, this whole situation means that I will more than likely lose touch with quite a few people who I count as friends, and disappear even further into my cold, lonely, introverted shell.

I got even worse news later on in the night. FML, as all the cool kids say.

Oddly, it seems that a few people who know me have once again initiated an interest on online chess site “Red Hot Pawn”.

It is a site that has, for me, remained unvisited since about 2006. I think I mentioned it a lot in here, even going so far as to having a little link to my profile.

Richard “Don’t Go there” Rice started a game off with me, seemingly out of the blue, shortly followed by Dan. This also allowed me to find an old game I’d started with JT, and had totally forgotten about. This particular game started in 2006, and I’d hazard a guess to say that at three years old, it’s one of the longest chess games to actually take place on that site.

I can’t find any way of ordering the current games by start date or ID number, so I can’t say whether it is or not.

I also challenged Coatesy to a game (he’s winning 3-0 in the series), but all of his details including date of birth and blood group have probably changed since I last spoke to him…

In my best “tabloid newspaper” headline pun, I shall start this with the announcement that Hartlepool (or at least part of it) residents will be waking up to the prospect of filthy water emerging from their taps.

I first learned of the development thanks to Twitter, and a post by Noscere, which I shall copy and paste here in its entirety without due regard for any of the copyright laws…

“Water pump has failed. 99% of hartlepool has no water.”

Nasty. Now, I have no idea how sweeping the outage was, but the locality of Employment Place was unaffected, and the water ran smoothly all night. Note, however that I have always been a bit dubious of the water supply there, after hearing rumours when I first started that the water in that area wasn’t safe to drink.

Mercuryvapour Towers, however, was affected, and I returned home, only to find that any plans I have of actually doing some washing this morning, have quite literally, gone down the drain.

And the water from the taps doesn’t look too appetising…

It DOES clear up if you leave it to stand, but the last time I had water this low quality, I was in London.

Oddly, over the last couple of days, when I’ve been in Asda, I’ve been buying bottled water. Yes, I know it’s a bit poncy, but since I’ve just been drinking water and a small amount of pop, I’ve felt better for it.

I would normally get 2 bottles, as they’re 2 for £1.00. One of them would get taken home, and stored in the fridge, which meant luckily, I have a couple of bottles already in the fridge ready to drink! What are the chances of that? There should be more than enough to last me until the clean water pulls through. And if it doesn’t pull through in time, I’ll just start on the beer. Everyone’s a winner!

More on this breaking news story when I wake up. Or before I go to bed. One of the two.