Challenge Monday

For anyone interested here are the answers to last week's Challenge Monday Science and Nature Quiz.
1. c) - Sirius (The Dog Star)
2. d) - Green Jadeite
3. a) - The Yew tree
4. d) - The Whale Shark
5. b) - Carbon
6. c) - 1TB Terabyte
7. a) - Kestrel
8. d) - Permafrost
9. c) - Blue
10. c) - Donkey

Hope you all enjoyed it and got the answers. My mum isn't the best at general knowledge but she got 100% on this quiz so obviously knows her Science and Nature.

This Week I thought I'd do another tricky one and do a

MUSIC TRIVIA QUIZ

1.) Name the lead singer of the English band "The Clash" ?
a.) Paul Weller
b.) Joe Strummer
c.) Simon Le Bon
d.) Sting

2.) Name Kings of Leon's first studio album ?
a.) Only By The Night
b.) Aha Shake-Heartbreak
c.) Youth And Young Manhood
d.) Because Of The Times

3.) What year was Arctic Monkeys debut "Whatever people say I am, that's what I'm Not" released ?
a.) 2006
b.) 2007
c.) 2004
d.) 2005

4.) What is the biggest selling single of all time ?
a.) Wham                                      - Last Christmas
b.) Bill Haley and His Comets      - Rock Around The Clock
c.) Band Aid                                 - Do the know Its Christmas
d.) Elton John                               - Something about the way you look tonight/Candle in the wind '97.

5.) Who is the most successful song writer of all time ?
a.) John Lennon
b.) Elvis Presley
c.) Cliff Richard
d.) Paul McCartney

6.) How many members are there in the band Arcade Fire ?
a.) 7
b.) 8
c.) 9
d.) 10

7.) As of today, what is the most downloaded song in history ?
a.) Gotye ft. Kimbra                          - Somebody that I used to know
b.) Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera    - Moves like Jagger
c.) Adele                                            - Someone like you.
d.) Black Eyed Peas                          - I gotta feeling

8.) How long did Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's single "One Sweet Day" (YUCK!) stay at number one on the US Billboard 100 ?
a.) 16 Weeks
b.) 17 Weeks
c.) 15 weeks
d.) 18 weeks

9.) Name the lead guitarist of the rock band Led Zeppelin ?
a.) John Paul Jones
b.) Jimmy Page
c.) John Bonham
d.) Robert Plant

10.) Name the biggest selling album in chart history ?
a.) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
b.) Shania Twain - Come on over
c.) Michael Jackson - Thriller
d.) Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of The Moon

As ever good luck. Post your answers, comments or suggestions for future quizzes in the comments section at the bottom. Somehow I doubt my mum will do as well on this one. Answers with next Monday's post.

Savages FILM REVIEW

Savages Review


RATING
4/5 ; A good blend of action, violence and disturbed characters. Overall a fun watch with a good plot and only minor irritations along the way.

INFO
2012 film from director Oliver Stone (Natural Born Killers, Platoon), starring among others; John Travolta, Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Blake Lively and Taylor Kitsch.

Set in sunny California, the film blends the hippie peace and love stoner side of drugs with the extreme violence, deals gone badly, hijacking and kidnapping well in the form of two main characters. The two leads Ben (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch) are two friends joined in their love for good marijuana and for the beautiful Ophelia “O” (Blake Lively).

The pair’s drug enterprise is one of the best in the business and so is rapidly attracting attention for the “savage” criminal underworld, which is looking to muscle their way into a good thing. The film centers around the lengths Chon and Ben will go to protect what they have and get out alive.

CAST & CREW
Director
Oliver Stone
Writers
Shane Salerno, Don Winslow, Oliver Stone
Cast
Aaron Taylor Johnson, Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, John Travolta, Salma Hayek, Benicio Del Toro, Emile Hirsch
For more info go to IMDB

REVIEW
The film, narrated by Ophelia “O”, is for some parts clever and others slightly frustrating. The plot is generally very good and there are some excellent action scenes. For the purpose of this review I will start with what I didn’t like and finish with the good stuff.

The film opens with some beautiful shots of the California coast and the waves crashing in, which is very nice but the script narrated over the shots, whilst setting the scene, is very wishy washy (yes pun intended). There must have been a better way to tell the back-story of how Ben and Chon met and dreamt up their marijuana growing and distributing business. Even if the script was changed, that alone would have improved the film.

Another thing I dislike with this film is towards the end. As with previous reviews, trying desperately to review rather than spoil, there is a sequence towards the end of the film where the story is rewound with “O” narrating something along the lines of that could have been the way it happened but…. YUCK is what I have to say about that. Could the director and writers not decide how they wanted it all to play out? I have no idea why this made the final cut, but I can say it doesn’t work. They should have brought the story to its conclusion and included the alternate ending in special features if they felt it was relevant or made a decision one way or another.

Ok so on to the good parts. Despite the silly rewind section the ending isn’t spoiled. I hate watching a film that has an ending which frustrates me, it ruins the whole film. See the film “Knowing” from 2009 if you want a prime example of an average to good film spoiled by an awful ending.

Other plus points are the action scenes. With cars exploding, drugs stolen, people set on fire and shot point blank by “cops” this film will not disappoint and also shows some truly SAVAGE deeds, living up to its name.

Aaron Taylor Johnson and Taylor Kitsch are good leads and work well in the story as two sides of the same coin. The love interest Blake Lively comes away with some credibility. I haven’t seen her in much so won’t comment in general, but she does a reasonable job of playing her role.

With the younger three out of the way, the real good performances come from the older cast members. Salma Hayek as Elena is menacing but vulnerable as the head of the enemy drug cartel. She plays a strong woman running a ruthless business but is also conflicted due to her family relationships. John Travolta plays her almost the same character on the opposite side of the law. An agency man with a sick wife and kids out for himself but also trying to not get drowned in the river of shit the agency asks him to wade through. He does the whole slightly wired crazy man well and I have like most of his recent performances, this one included.

By far the best in this film is Benicio Del Toro. He plays a merciless bastard of a character called Lado. He is sick and evil and the most savage and lifelike of all the characters in this film.

There are various conversations that take place throughout the film in the form of an internet video call. The ringtone for these calls is brilliant. It is also used as a ringtone by some of the characters and on a weird sub note seems to be ominous as well as sounding child like. Although my fiancée will not thank me for saying it, it sounds like a ringtone for an evil clown calling. I don’t know why but it is a good addition.
Savages Ringtone

I also like the sugar skull type masks used in the film which I think fit with the how the film shows the more shocking scenes. I warn you there are people set on fire and decapitated. As shocking as these scenes could be to some, I don’t think the film goes over the top, or shows something, which could be disturbing, in a way which isn’t necessary. It’s not nice but fits.

Overall I’d recommend this film. Watch it for yourself and let me know in the comments below what you thought of it.
I will be doing another film review for next Friday so keep an eye out if you enjoy reading them. Also feel free to subscribe to this blog and comment with your opinions.

Thanks for reading!

Challenge Monday

So just before I set my next Challenge Monday puzzle/quiz/mind teaser I will run through last weeks answers (16/09/13)

1.   c) Matt Damon

2.   d) Disney

3.   a) Michael Fassbender

4.   b) A Place Beyond The Pines

5.   b) Samuel L Jackson

6.   a) Tony Montana

7.   d) 1989

8.   a) Chloe Grace Moretz

9.   b) Jason Segal

10. d) Christopher Nolan

And now on to this weeks Challenge...

SCIENCE & NATURE QUIZ

Tough one this week so good luck people.

1.) What is the brightest star in the night sky ?

a.) Canopus

b.) Polaris (The North Star)

c.) Sirius (The Dog Star)

d.) Alpha Centauri

2.) What is the colour of the most prized variety of jade or jadeite ?

a.) White

b.) Blue

c.) Pink

d.) Green

3.) What type of tree is often found in churchyards ?

a.) The Yew

b.) The Asa

c.) The Silver Birch

d.) The Willow

4.) What is the largest fish in the world ?

a.) Tuna

b.) Beluga

c.) Catfish

d.) The Whale Shark

5.) Diamonds are made from what chemical element ?

a.) Magnesium

b.) Carbon

c.) Iron

d.) Lead

6.) What do 1000 gigabytes make ?

a.) 1 kilobyte

b.) 1 megabyte

c.) 1 terabyte

d.) 1 nanobyte

7.) What bird of prey is also known as the "Windhover" ?

a.) Kestrel

b.) Peregrine Falcon

c.) Red Kite

d.) Harris Hawk

8.) What is defined as "Any rock or soil material that has remained below 0 degrees Celsius continuously for two or more years ?

a.) Iceberg

b.) Tundra

c.) Arctic

d.) Permafrost

9.) What colour tongue does a Chow Chow dog have ?

a.) Pink

b.) Red

c.) Blue 

d.) Grey

10.) A "Jenny" is a female what ?

a.) Kangaroo

b.) Elk

c.) Donkey

d.) Otter

Post your answers in the comments section.  I look forward to reading them and will post the answers next Monday.

Oblivion FILM REVIEW

Oblivion Review

RATING

5/5 ; Great film. Takes a well known post apocalypse idea and twists it beautifully. I was lucky enough to go to Iceland back in February this year, which is where a lot of this film was shot. The sweeping landscapes are breathtaking.

INFO
Joseph Kosinski's first outing in the director's chair since the very well received Tron Legacy back in 2010, sees Tom Cruise as one of Earth's few remaining inhabitants, albeit one who lives in a sky platform.

Cruise's character is tasked in maintaining protection droids and energy harnessing equipment which is all that remains on earth's surface after a nuclear war, "which we won", decimated the planet's surface.

The war with the alien scabs has taken its toll, but it won't be long before Jack (Cruise) and Victoria (Riseborough) his partner/eye in the sky, can finish their mission and move to Saturn's moon Titan, to join what's left of the human race.


CAST & CREW
Director
Joseph Kosinski
Writers
Karl Gajdusek; Michael Arnolt; (Joseph Kosinski)
Cast
Tom Cruise; Morgan Freeman; Olga Kurylenko; Andrea Riseborough; Nikolaj Coster-Waldau; Melissa Leo

For more info go to IMDB

REVIEW
As I said at the top great film.

For me the whole, after the end of the world film idea is abit overused, and although there are some brilliant ideas and plot lines in films such as "I am Legend", "Resident Evil", "Dredd", "The Book of Eli", "Waterworld" and "The Day After Tomorrow", for every one good film, there are several which are awful. Just to clarify I'm talking about "Zombieland", "Watchmen", "The Happening", "Knowing", etc etc.
It seems to me directors/writers looked at the success films like “Armageddon”, “Deep Impact” and “Independence Day” had, and having the imagination and thirst for brilliant new film ideas they have, thought I know we’ll reinvent this. We’ll make it slightly different, put some popular actors in it and change the name and no-one will know. It’s the lazy go to idea with infinite possibilities which doesn’t even have to be done on a massive budget with cgi galore. Hey people steal and develop ideas from everything. Nod to every film review, piece of music and blog ever made.

All that being said Oblivion is pretty awesome. As I said in the intro I have been to Iceland and the scenery in this film is real and not computer generated. I meet the guys who drove film crews and equipment up the glaciers to do the shooting for the film, and was lucky enough to see the landscape first hand. It’s like another planet and I’d recommend it to anyone. Iceland is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Of course if you’re Tom Cruise hire a helicopter and fly over it all.

The storyline is a post apocalypse one, but (yes everything before the but is … well you know the saying), BUT, it is well thought out and clever. At this stage I will say no more as I don’t want to give the whole plot away and ruin it for anyone reading who hasn’t seen it.

Cruise, who I can take or leave as an actor, is very good, and is backed up by an excellent support cast, if it is fair to call them that, who embody what I imagine the survivors of a world ending disaster to be like. Freeman is brilliant as ever and Riseborough, Kurylenko and Coster-Waldau (yes Jamie Lannister from HBO’s Game of Thrones) play their respective roles very well.

There is cgi incorporated into this film but it is not overdone in anyway. The scenery is as you may imagine it, barren, charred and bleak with some almost recognizable monuments.

I gave this film a 5/5 because it is one I’d recommend you watch. It has good actors, good plot, good locations, good acting (not guaranteed from good actors) and action/suspense sequences. I don’t see a sequel either which some will also see as a plus point (don’t take that for gospel), so I really struggle to see a bad point on this one. I hope you all enjoy it and have enjoyed reading what I think about it. Look out for more Film reviews each week.

GTA 5 and why I'm trying to wait to buy it

Ok so yesterday Grand Theft Auto V came out on PS3 (my console of choice, until I eventually swap it in for a PS4), and I am holding out and so haven't got it yet.

Sort it out AverageJoe I hear you say, why did you not get to the local superstore (Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, Asda, whatever, they're usually the cheapest but sell out fast) first thing yesterday morning, stay up all night and call in sick to work today so you can play it all day.

There are a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly although I am excited to play it and I'm sure it will not disappoint, currently my week is full and my funds are low. I'm house sitting with my fiancée, at her and her parent's house while they're off sunning themselves somewhere in the Indian ocean (alright for some!). Parts of our house sitting duties include walking their lovely cocker spaniel Ruby (Pictured below). Other parts involve catching up on season 3 of Game of Thrones, season 5 of Sons of Anarchy (I have read all of the books from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R R Martin and would strongly recommend you get into reading them, as I would also recommend watching the two TV series I have just mentioned) and also testing out some new recipes which we have been waiting for the opportunity to try.

So with TV, Dog and cooking, there aren't many hours left in the evening for Playstation (which, incidentally lives at my house anyway).

Secondly when a new game comes out, I always find myself in the same dilemma. I really want to go out and buy it and start playing and enjoy it and get caught up in the hype, but I always try and hold back for a few weeks. Sometimes because they release games on ridiculous dates like September 17th, instead of something sensible like the 2nd/3rd when everyone has been paid. Sometimes because I think if I wait I have something to look forward to and I can appreciate and enjoy what is going on at the moment, and sometimes because everywhere you go the damn things are sold out (advantage of the two week wait stores have restocked and brought in greater numbers, abit like the sand people).

Believe me (whether I sound silly or not) it's a struggle. I have been a fan of the GTA series all the way through, owning GTA, GTA 2 and GTA London ("Your Brown Bread!") on the PS1.

The way games are progressing through the years is also amazing. When I think back to V Rally on the PS1, which at the time was pretty brilliant and Crash Team Racing (nostalgia alert !), which I loved, and compare them (although possibly not a fair comparison) to Gran Turismo 5 and games like The Last of US (which I did download on release day from the PSNetwork. SLOWWWWWWW!), I think it is great how much things have moved on and also terrible. Terrible, for my fiancée punKimi at least. Her blog is well worth a look funlovingkiminal and watch out for future posts on how frustrating it is to have a bloke who hasn't grown up and is still into games and is like a big child etc. Fact is I'm actually lucky in this case, because although she doesn't share my enthusiasm for games like Call of Duty and Fifa, she grew up playing GTA with her brother and so loves the franchise too.

The other amazing thing I suppose is we both turned out to be normal people, who aren't tempted to go on a killing spree in a school, or hold up a store because when we were younger, we played video games. I suppose we have our parents to thank for that.

So now you know why I am writing a blog post on my lunch break at work rather than growing my facial hair and becoming malnourished because I cannot stop playing that game. All of that plus if I bunked off every time a new awesome game came out, my pay at the end of every month would be noticeably lower as I don’t think I’d go in at all.
Any people reading this who are involved in the video games industry if you need someone to test your game, I know it’s a long shot, but bear me in mind. I can contribute with the aid of semi complex vocabulary and with an air of sleep deprived articulation to the success of your product as well as sporting a massive beard. Just some of my talents !

Watch out for future posts where I will review GTA 5, as well as A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, Sons of Anarchy and whatever else I have mentioned whilst going off on a tangent within this post.

Challenge Monday

So as abit of fun for Mondays (I know you're all bored at work) I thought I'd post a trivia quiz. Currently I can't award a prize for the winner but watch this space as it is something I am looking to do in the future.

I watch alot of films and find it a great way to relax. Because of this, I also take an interest in the actors starring, director, writers etc. Therefore, I thought a fun way to start this section of my blog was with a Film Quiz.

Submit your answers in the comments box below and leave a nickname. I'll give you until Friday to complete this quiz but the winner will be the first to submit the correct answers. I will announce the correct answers Saturday, then look out for the next Challenge Monday post.

FILM QUIZ

So to the quiz. Good Luck people.
1. Who plays Jason Bourne in the Bourne Trilogy ?
a.) Ben Affleck
b.) Joseph Gordon Levitt
c.) Matt Damon
d.) Jeremy Renner

2. Name the studio that will produce the new installments of the star wars franchise, episodes VII, VIII and XI ?
a.) Warner Brothers
b.) Lucas Film
c.) New Line Cinema
d.) Walt Disney Pictures

3. Name the actor who starred in the films 300, Prometheus and X-Men; First Class ?
a.) Michael Fassbender
b.) James McAvoy
c.) Idris Elba
d.) Hugh Jackman

4. Name the 2012 film starring Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes and Bradley Cooper ?
a.) The Ides of March
b.) A Place beyond the pines
c.) Avengers Assemble
d.) The Hunger Games

5. Name the actor who has appeared in many of Quentin Tarantino's films, in parts ranging from strange supporting character, to full guns blazing epilogue delivering lead character ?
a.) Morgan Freeman
b.) Samuel L Jackson
c.) Michael Madson
d.) George Clooney

6. Name the character played by Al Pacino in the 1983 film Scarface ?
a.) Tony Montana
b.) Manny Ribera
c.) Frank Lopez
d.) Omar Suarez

7. What year did the classic film Indiana Jones and the last crusade, starring Harrison Ford come out ?
a.) 1987
b.) 1985
c.) 1982
d.) 1989

8. Name the actress who plays the awesome Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl in the Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2 films ?
a.) Chloe Grace Moretz
b.) Emily Blunt
c.) Emma Stone
d.) Ellen Page

9. Along with Steve Carell (Gru), Russell Brand (Dr. Nefario) and Julie Andrews (Gru's Mum), who stars in the 2010 animated comedy, Despicable Me ? Clue "Vector"
a.) Jonah Hill
b.) Jason Segal
c.) Seth Rogan
d.) Seth Macfarlane

10. Name the director who worked on the following films; Memento, The Dark Knight Rises and Inception ?
a.) Martin Scorsese
b.) Guillermo Del Toro
c.) Joseph Kosinski
d.) Christopher Nolan

Star Trek: Into Darkness FILM REVIEW

Star Trek: Into the Darkness review

RATING
 4/5 ; Fun film with lots of good action sequences and very good performance from Cumberbatch as the villain.

INFO
J.J.Abrams follow up to 2009 Star Trek, this film was released in cinemas in the UK back in May and has recently been released on DVD and Blu-Ray, costing £10-15 depending on where you buy and which of the two formats you go for. There is also a box set of the first two films available for around £20.

Buy the DVD/Blu-Ray

I went for the single film (as I had the first one) on Blu-Ray and let me mention I won’t be reviewing the special features for this film. There are some on the disc but let’s be honest there is not many occasions when you buy a film in order to see the deleted scenes and gag reel. For me at least I delve into what else is in on the disc after I have watched, and hopefully enjoyed the film.

CAST & CREW
Director
J J Abrams
Writters
Robert Orci; Alex Kurtzman; Damon Lindelof; (Gene Roddenberry)
Cast
Chris Pine; Zachary Quinto; Zoë Saldana; Karl Urban; Simon Pegg; Benedict Cumberbatch; John Cho; Anton Yelchin; Noel Clarke
For more info goto IMDB

REVIEW
Whilst this wasn’t the best film I have even seen, but it was far from the worst. The action and fight sequences are good and detail in the locations from CGI makes for some beautiful shots.

Benedict Cumberbatch made an excellent villain and I could see him being cast in other films on the strength of his performance here. That being said I feel the writers could have made the struggle against him and his ability to be one step ahead of the heroes more prominent.

Pine and Quinto seem to be perfectly cast for their respective roles putting their own mark on characters that Leonard Nemoy and William Shatner have made prominent in my mind. I’m sure devoted Star Trek fans will find holes and be frustrated at times but if you take the film as a reworking on the theme and don’t draw too many comparisons I believe it works well.

The only other short fall I feel the film has is the relationship development. It seemed to me in the first film, to make Uhura Spooks love interest was a cheat instead of working hard to develop a complex dynamic with Kirk. She kind of bridges the gap. I suppose this reflects how Hollywood makes films to the same subscript when relationships heroes and herions are concerned. I also would have liked to see the struggle Kirk has between right and wrong emphasized more. It seems the writers made him a rogue/maverick hero in the first film and beginning of this one, then instead of making this film into a transition they flipped a switch and he suddenly knew what he had to do.

Simon Pegg was humorous as ever and brings a lighter side to the film which is made even more amusing by Karl Urban who’s one liners are delivered excellently.

Overall it was worth buying and a good film, with some tricks missed but building towards what will likely continue to be a big Hollywood franchise. With the senses set and relationship with the crew of the Enterprise established I feel that the next installment really has to step up its game in order for it to live up to the potential that Star Trek has.

Songs i would choose if stranded...

With a nod to the popular BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Disc (which I have never listened to incidentally) I thought I'd try to pick 10 (I believe they pick 8) songs and a luxury item that I would hope to have with me when stranded alone on a desert island.

I'm a big music fan I have been to gigs all over the UK including Reading festival twice, V festival and Isle of Wight festival. I'd definitely recommend experiencing one of these festivals. The atmosphere is brilliant and despite the usually terrible weather I have never failed to have a good time. That being said I'm getting off point. I'll start with my first song and follow it with my luxury item as the two are linked.

Song 1. Song 1
I would choose, Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Not because it's my favourite song but I do love it. Having listened to this song and being a big fan of most (not all) of the band's stuff, I decided to pick up a guitar and teach myself how to play. I'll talk about this more in future posts but the beautiful guitar line in this song is still one of my favourite pieces of music.

Luxury Item. The astute readers among you may have guessed from the previous paragraph my luxury item would be a guitar. I own several but the one I'd take with me is a black Epiphone Sheraton II. This is a semi acoustic electric guitar. It has fantastic sustain and I get a lot of enjoyment out of playing it and learning new songs. I have been playing for around 6 years now so am fairly proficient. Most of all playing guitar is a great creative release and I find it calms me down when I'm playing. Almost like my own form of meditation. Overall the best way to get lost in music, forget about the troubles of the day and therefore the perfect item to have on a desert island when things are looking grim.

Song 2. Song 2
No I’m not going to choose the Blur song of the same name although it is one I like. I’ll have to go for Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones. I think this song is epic. That is not a word I band around on a regular basis but there is no other way to describe it.

Song 3. Song 3
Next I’d go for a melancholy, eerie and tragic song which I believe would suit the mood of hopelessness that may be difficult to overcome at times alone on some island. My choice is, Is There Anybody Out There by Pink Floyd. Syd Barrett was clearly depressed as hell when he wrote this and while as Pink Floyd goes I love the Waters and especially Gilmour years, to this day it remains my favourite song of theirs.

Song 4. Song 4
One of my favourite current bands is Biffy Clyro. They’re not for everyone but I love the way they blend what I’d call the light and dark in music. Their songs always mix beautiful melodies and moshpit inspiring heavy rock section. This is no more obvious than in a song called As Dust Dances 2/15th from their album Puzzle. They have become more and more mainstream as is the unfortunate occurrence with any band that gain critical acclaim, but with these guys you really feel like they’re getting better and better with it. The albums Puzzle, Only Revolutions and Opposites are very worth a listen and there are stand out earlier tracks from the three albums they released before that to find and love also.

Song 5. Song 5
A cover song done well is something that doesn’t happen very often. Even with Radio 1’s live lounge where popular bands perform a cover, which has admittedly produced a few gems. Usually the original is better, sometimes purer, sometimes you love it and hate a band or artist you dislike for taking it and ruining it (cough Matt Cardle cough cough), in fact I can’t stand x factor or pop idol or any of the reality TV shows which pollute the radios and charts with shit music. I won’t get into all of the reasons why I dislike those shows but instead I’ll tell you about one of the best covers of all time. Just before Kurt Cobain committed suicide/was killed (whatever you believe happened) in 1994 Nirvana did an unplugged gig for MTV. The whole gig is brilliant, Nirvana were a great band but the cover they did of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World was awesome.

Song 6. Song 6
Mumford and Sons are a current band I am also a big fan of. Their music is lighthearted but powerful in some ways. The folk rock thing done well and being popular in the charts is a concept that despite seeming weird is completely understandable considering forms of folk music are played all over the world with one instrument or another. They have two great albums and although I struggle to pick one song from them I’ll go for Little Lion Man. Folk pop fun with swearing, a mix of controversy and a bouncy tune. Who’d have thunk it!

Song 7. Song 7
I realize the details I have been listing with each song makes this post abit long winded but I hope some of the reasons I like songs will resonate (music term) with why some of you reading this like them. So Kings of Leon are great. I personally like all of their music. To risk sounding cliché I prefer the original stuff (Youth and Young Manhood, Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because of the Times). I have seen this band 6 times now and they are great live. The problem I have is I have been to see them twice in Hyde Park in London and both times people attending the concerts pushing to the front displacing true (cringe) fans have been to see them in order to hear two songs. If you know little or nothing of the Kings you will have heard Sex on Fire and Use Somebody. I think it is great they can now sell out huge venues and have become really successfully I just wish people would listen to their full discography and really appreciate them and not stand in front of me when they play songs like Taper Jean Girl, Molly’s Chambers, Red Morning Light, Charmer, The Bucket, Pistols of Fire etc etc and ask if this is one of their new songs. GRRRR. So I will pick On Call as my track to listen to from the King’s and hope that if you are reading you are inspired to go listen to this or any of the songs I have mentioned in this post.

Song 8. Song 8
Whilst on a southern US theme a band who KOL introduced me two in the form of one of their support acts are The Black Keys. Wow these guys are great. Blues rock at its best. Awesome riffs, interesting drum beats (far from the standard), some of the fuzziest fuzz tones you will hear. What is not the like about this band? Not a lot is the answer. They had been establishing themselves for years before I discovered their music and I’m glad I did. Listen to Brother and El Camino in full but I’ll pick Little Black Submarines for my desert island collection.

Song 9. Song 9
To stick with blues rock Jack White (along with Jimmy Page, Dan Auerbach and John Frusciante) is an idol for me when it comes to music. I love learning white stripes songs on the guitar, partly because they’re usually simple and partly because of how raw they are. My favourite Jack White song however is one he wrote as part of The Raconteurs. The track is called Carolina Drama. The story the song tells is extremely clever. It fits the music perfectly which both builds the tension in the story of the song as well as adding space between what is going on.

Song 10. Song 10
Ok last one. I will just say it is one of the hardest things to try and limit yourself to pick a few of your favourite songs, hence why I picked 10 instead of 8 or 5. So I’ll go for The Foo Fighters track Everlong. There are also a lot of tracks from this band which I love. I have been lucky enough to witness them play live at Wembley stadium. Dave Grohl is a very good front man and knows exactly how to get the crowd going as well as writing some classic and brilliant songs.

So just to recap.
1) Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
2) Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
3) Is there anybody out there - Pink Floyd
4) As dust dances 2/15ths - Biffy Clyro
5) Man who sold the world - Nirvana
6) Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons
7) On Call - Kings of Leon
8) Little black submarines - The Black Keys
9) Carolina Drama - The Raconteurs
10) Everlong - Foo Fighters

So that concludes my list of songs I’d have if stranded on a desert island. I have included YouTube links to the songs which are some of my favourite of all time. I hope if you haven’t heard them you have a listen and if you already know them you enjoy listening to them as much as I do. Feel free to respond with a list of a few of yours favourites. I challenge you to list as few as possible. Trust me it’s a dilemma, even if a light hearted one.

Breaking the ice...

Ok so…..

This is my first ever blog post. There are lots of things I plan to talk about on here that interest me, I love, I hate, annoy me, inspire me and that I’m passionate about. Those things will become apparent in the subsequent postings.

For the mean time though I thought it would be mildly amusing (that’s what I’m going for at least) to tell you about a run in I had with the law. Now I am a law abiding citizen of this country so this was a first for me and I surprised myself with how I handled it.

So to paint the picture that is this story. I was driving home from one side of the town I live in to the other. It was a dark cold winter’s night (an owl hooted somewhere as I passed a small wooded area, ha). So cold my rear window had fogged up and the visibility wasn’t great. Being late I decided the roads were clear and for me to push my luck and break the speed limit wouldn’t hurt.

Let me just say by break the speed limit, I don’t mean I was doing 100 in a 30mph zone, more like 50 in a 40.

Suddenly behind me sirens ring out and blue lights begin flashing. My initial reaction is they must want me to get out of their way. Oh no I was being pulled over. Panic sets in.

I pull over and don’t know what to do. Do I get out do I stay in the car? The officer approaches my window which I roll down and asks me to step out of my vehicle. I move to the path where he asks me if I had consumed alcohol that evening and whether I was aware of the speed I was going. I had a bottle of beer with my dinner I explained. The office then asked me to do a breathalyzer test. The level was predictably low. As I mentioned I had had one and when driving limit myself to one only and never exceed the drink drive limit.

At this point his female co-worker stepped out of the car to question me further whilst he checked the details I had given. Insurance, was it my vehicle, did I have any previous convictions.

All that I could think was I’m stuffed here. This is three points how silly am I !

Then out of nowhere I decided told the female officer that I knew I was speeding as I had just had an argument with my girlfriend (I was single) and was in a rush to get home. I knew I shouldn’t have been driving in that manor but the circumstances where exceptional and I promise I will never speed again. By some miracle, perhaps I looked upset, I likely looked tired; the female officer took pity on me and my fabricated story. She let me off with a warning as I hadn’t “lied” and she believed it was a one off and I was sorry for it. I could not believe my luck.

I drove away slowly after getting back in my 1.1litre saxo (young man’s cheap runaround) and after a mile or so the police pulled off. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for the remainder of the evening. Bear in mind in every situation, if I do something wrong, it always backfires on me. If I lie about anything, break one rule or other, I get found out. I’m a terrible liar and couldn’t act whilst at school. This for me was a victory. I have never tried to get away with it the same way since as I haven’t been pulled over. I also don’t recommend you try it. The fact is I got away with the situation perhaps because I had no previous convictions, perhaps because the officer had had an argument with her partner or perhaps because it was late and they didn’t want to deal with the paperwork. Whatever the reason, I escaped the points and a fine and played the lottery the next day. I didn’t win of course or learn anything from it. I try to be a responsible driver all of the time and try to tell this story to people. Not to inspire them to flaunt the laws of the road, not to brag about my apparent temporal gift of the gab, but to break the ice, this, is hopefully what I have done.

Ps I hear if you are caught in the same situation claiming you have the runs and are desperate for the loo works, or apparently it did for Sir Alex Ferguson once, so the pub gossip goes.