The Album

A friend of mine compiled a CD of music and challenged me to do the same without including any heavy metal or rock (no Maiden? Gasp!). So I accepted the challenge and started selecting songs I wanted to include. As I was doing this it was clear I was choosing songs that meant something to me, so the final product contains all the songs that have meant something to me at some point or other in my life. It also includes a few modern tracks and a couple that I just like. Over the next few entries I will detail what is on there.

The rules were a) No heavy metal or rock, b) Had to fit on one CD, c) A maximum of one track per artist.

Here are tracks 1 through 5….

1. Led Zeppelin – Bron-Yr-Aur

From the Physical Graffiti album, it’s a shame I couldn’t include the next track Down By The Seaside as well as these two belong together. This album always reminds me of being a teenager listening to this with my best mate and just chilling. Thought it works well as an album opener.

2. Cake – It’s Coming Down

One of two bluesy tracks included on The Album. I like Cake and this is one of my favourite tracks by them.

3. Mike Park – Kiss Me Baby, I’m Always Here For You

My wife and I saw him support Alkaline Trio last year. A self supporting artist, he didn’t get a great reception from the crowd, but he put on a great performance. We bought his CD after the gig, one of 9 he sold that evening. A nice track.

4. Procol Harum – Homburg

Before my wife and I married she lived in a house share. We had a load of 7” vinyl singles that we would play, this track was on the B-Side to A Whiter Shade Of Pale, it always reminds me of those happy times.

5. Cat Stevens – Father And Son

This song was somewhat ruined for me by recent cover versions but I still find the lyrics touching and makes me think of my father and I and my son and I.

Winner: Animated Feature

Just watched Happy Feet on HD-DVD winner of this year’s animated feature Oscar. Hmm, don’t get me wrong this looks absolutely amazing, especially in HiDef, totally gorgeous. Did they forget to put a story in here though? It’s a bit like Finding Nemo without the charm. A bit like Cars without the emotion. I couldn’t empathise with the main character called Mumble (eh?) especially as he refused to lose his baby plumage for the entire film, yet he till gets the girl and mates (eh?). And let’s crowbar an environmental message in there in the last ten minutes of the film (eh?). I’m just surprised they didn’t utter the dreaded GW words, gah.

Oscar? What? Eh?

The Buttons of My Mind

I think I have a name for the site. I’ve wanted to call it something other than jochta.com for a while and wasn’t sure what to use. In the end the answer was staring me in the face. I’ve always quoted the lyrics from The Scaffold’s song Buttons Of Your Mind as my all time favourite (this song was on the B-Side to the single Lily the Pink which was #1 in the charts on the day I was born).

The buttons of your mind were difficult to find and my fingers far too clumsy.

And this site is about my buttons.

Fame at Last

I had a stunning view of the lunar eclipse on Saturday night and I reeled off around 150 pictures most of which I’ve yet to look at properly. I’ve posted a few here and a few videos I took. But my most pleasing achievement was to get some of my pictures published at SpaceWeather.com. I’ve sent pictures to them and the BBC before but this is the first time any of them have got onto the site. You can find my contribution at the bottom of http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_03mar07_page5.htm – note the deliberate mistake? It should read afocal projection as the photographic method and not prime focus!

Improvements?

I’ve spent some time altering the layout of the site to get some more consistency. I’ve also added the Flash slideshow at the top of the main page and a Flash lightbox in the photo section.

Valentine’s Day

Rant mode. Why are Valentine’s Day cards so crap? If they haven’t got some mushy poem in them then they have bullshit on the front…

To my wife….

“All the love I have I give to you” – none left over for the children then?

“I love you more and more each day” – I hated you when we got married, but each day I’ve learnt to love you a little bit more. Now I can just about tolerate you.

“YOU (in 2” high letters) are the one I love” – and not the girl from accounts I’ve been shagging for the last six months.

Next year I’ll make my own and say something I mean and the wife doesn’t automatically think is nonsense.

More Photos

Added some more photos of recent visits to London.

Photos

I’ve upped a load of new photos, all astronomical. After the delight of Comet McNaught I dug out some old photos I had of Comet Hale-Bopp. I also took another opportunity this week to get some photos of Mercury whilst it was in conjunction with Venus.

Rainbow Six: Vegas

I actually completed a Tom Clancy game! My first one ever despite having bought loads of them in the past. I really loved this, glad I played it on normal difficulty as I know I would have got frustrated at the harder level and given up. Ending is OK if a bit lame.

Cracking multiplayer game too.

Wii

Quite a few things to catch up on, let’s start with the Nintendo Wii.

Got my preordered Wii on release day (8th December) and haven’t stopped playing since! What an excellent little bit of kit. Wii Sports (especially bowling) is excellent fun, Baseball is good too especially when my Stevie Wonder Mii drops catches! Zelda: Twilight Princess is absolutely stonking, one of the best games I have ever played. Played a lot of Super Mario 64, an old N64 title which you can buy from the online store. Everything looks crisp and sharp in 480p and it breathes new life into old Gamecube games.

Best purchase ever? Maybe. Let’s see what the longevity is like.