Sunday Update

Hey blogger-fans, it's time for another update, I've had a very lazy day today as it had been a busy few days! It's been good to chillax & play a little guitar, eat a little food & kick back. The guitar is going pretty good, got my 4 basic chords sorted & now got a full chord book do am starting to get to grips with the ways of the force...oh wait no ways of making chords!!



We continue............slowly!

Hmmmmm

OK now this is aimed at nobody in particular, but check out the trailer for this forthcoming film called The Proud American. I saw the trailer to this upcoming through the great Dave's Trailer Page website & was frankly appalled at what we being presented. Needless to say that I found the self-congratulatory elements almost arrogant. Check it out & see for yourselves.

Freeland Bio

If you want more of Adam Freeland's actual biography [rather than some random musings] check this out

The Man...Freeland...Part 2

Next in this most bizarre of history lessons is the good old GU32.

OK so by this stage I was now hooked on Freeland's style of mixing & choice of top choons! Saw this in HMV in Woking town & it's through this that I got plugged into my band of the year - the Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye!! It's a stonking mix & has some classics like Nowhere Girl, Half an Edit, Floating, Phantom & Paris 400.

My last part of the tale is the last mix I heard from him - his [now legendary] essential mix on BBC Radio 1. It's 2 hours of pure joy - there's stuff from his new album & unreleased stuff & some band called Autolux - which is awesome as it's sprung in a grunge revival for me - excellent!!

So if you've not heard this mix, then you really do need to. Here's the track-listing from Radio 1:

Billy Nayer - Ship Alarm (BSG Records)
Siriusmo - Girls Rock (Bungalow)
Unkle – Restless [loop] (Surrender All)
Evil Nine – They Live (Marine Parade)
Rogerseventytwo – Imagination (Tiger Trax)
Grinderman - No Pussy Blues [Adam Freeland Edit] (CDR)
Adam Freeland – Glowstix (Marine Parade)
Boys Noize - Let's Buy Happiness (Boys Noize Records)
Autolux – Blanket [Adam Freeland Mix] (Full Time Hobby)
Junkie XL - Cities in Dust [Glimmers Mix] (Artwerk)
Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor [Soulwax Mix (EMI)
Shadow Dancer - End Hit (Boys Noize Records)
Alan Braxe – Addicted (Vulture)
U.N.K.L.E. – Restless (Surrender All)
Blake Baxter/Mark Romboy - House Ya [Bootleg] (CDR)
Alex Metric – Pins (Marine Parade)
Crookers - Love To Edit (Crack Crack Records)
Bloody Beetroots – Butter (Crack Crack Records)
DJ Shadow - Right thing/Ztrip - Set off the party (Island)
Freeland – Do Ya (Marine Parade)
Map Of Africa - Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys (Whatever We Want)
Black Strobe - Shining Brightstar [Phones Mix] (Playlouder / Beggars France)
Sebasien Tellier - Sexual Sportswear [SebastiAn Mix] (Record Makers)
Breakbot – Happy Rabbit (Moshi Moshi)
Tepr - Midniut Jacuzzi [Data Mix] (Wall of Sound)
Soulwax – Krack [Nite Version] (Play It Again Sam)
Midnight Juggernaughts - Road to Discovery (Siberia Records)
Adam Freeland – Hate (Marine Parade)
Freeland - How To Fake Your Life (Marine Parade)
Splitter - All Alone [Alex Metric Mix] (Eye Industries)
Can – Mothersky (United Artists Records)
Swayzak - Smile & Receive [Apparat Mix] (K7!)
Simple Minds - Theme for Great Cities (Sanctuary)
Caribou – Niobe [Adam Freeland Edit] (CDR)

All in all - he's a legend & I'm awaiting his next album with baited breath!!!

The Man...Freeland

OK this is a random musical shout-outs, for my favourite DJ's of the past few months/year: Mr Adam Freeland!

He's a DJ & producer who I'd link strongly & usually with the breaks scene. When I started to get into Breaks back in 2006/7 [thanks to Oli Long & First Contact, aka Ed Steele & Kostas from Fresh out the Box for that] one of my immediate favourite's was Freeland's "We Want Your Soul". For me this epitomizes the breaks scene & began to really get me into the whole genre. I then heard his Now & Them album. Check out one of the wicked tracks from it: Mind Killer [choon!]:



Next comes the most bizarre crossovers - I got given a CD, called "Back to Mine" mixed by Adam Freeland. Now this is my most listened to of all the music I own - no word of a lie - over 400 plays on some of the tracks. Now the reason for this really floating my boat is due to the chilled nature of the mix. Also it turned me onto a number of bands, such as Interpol, Autolux, And You Will Know us by the Trail of the Dead, TV on the Radio, Jape, Elliott Smith & Boards of Canada. Some of which I heard of but don't own & some which I was totally unfamiliar with.



To be continued!!

Failing, you have to love it sometimes - it's really funny!!

& one of my all time favourites [stick with it to the end]:

Guitar plea's!!

Oh & I now even have a list of stuff I need for my guitar so if you're getting rid of an amp, pedals, stand, case or even your old electric guitar - let me know!!! ;o)

Guitar Hero?

Don't worry not really succumbed to that fad of playing along with hero's on the 360 [phew!], no in actual fact I have begun to....learn to play the guitar!!

I came across a little electric guitar with no strings & in desperate need of some love, & I asked my good buddy Nate to fix it for me....well he didn't so last Monday me & Hobbit went to go get it, restring it & have a play & check it's all still in working order!

We went on a little jaunt to PMT [no seriously!] on the Cowley Road, just near where I've been having lectures for 3 years! Here I was advised to get some Ernie Ball strings & Hobbit suggested some Jim Dunlop plecks & then we say la piece de resistance a really, really, REALLY small, amplifier:

This is made by VOX [duh!] & is intended for personal practice, without disturbing your room-mates, neighbours, parents, siblings, pets, badgers, etc. & I have to say [even though I truthfully am a total n00b at this] that I was astounded as to how good it was - even through reasonably cheap & nasty headphones. The cool thing is I can practice without people wanting to garrote me with my shiny new strings & it actually sounds like an amp! IT runs with 2 batteries & lasts for like 15 hours [apparently].

Anyways, I've also got a tuner [as I can't tune properly yet - so will have to cheat for now!] & found [literally] a phono cable & dug out my old Absolute Beginner's Guitar book & have learned 4 chords now [so far]. Also Hobbit has been kind enough to chuck me his old guitar strap & has loaned me his beloved Marshall practice amp & a magical effects pedal - so it's a good start - I'll update this bit when I get reasonably reasonable & when I have a little money, but for now this, as it were, rocks!!

P.S. I have to mention my prime coercer into this - dearest Maddie - it's your fault methinks!!

D'oh well!!

Hey blog-peeps, it's been some time so it seems another update is required. You know I don;t think this would be so sparse if I spent any considerable time in Oxford or near my house!! Anyway I digress [meh!]...on with the blog:

OK didn't get the WinVin job, the feedback I got was that I did everything right, checking out the church before the interview, meeting the appropriate people, being communicative with the young people, having a sharing my vision for youthwork & working in Winchester, but in the end there were 3 really strong candidates [including me] but they went with one of the other 2.

I was a little disappointed, as you can imagine, but not terribly so, because like they said there's nothing I did wrong. I take this as meaning that it was down to a simple choice of personalities. When I am being interviewed & throughout this whole process, I've tried to remain as honest, as open & as 'myself', as possible & I don't believe this should change.

However, the issue is not just that I didn't get this one, it;s that it's now coming to the end of rather a long list of places that I have applied for. I now have just one egg left in my youthworker basket - St Alban's.

Or to be more specific St Paul's in St Alban's. This was a big challenge both the application form & the interview are simply huge - the app form was just under 3500 words & the interview is a 3 day affair. All-in-all a big deal. I will keep you posted as to what happens, but I'll also send round more prayer requests.

Chin up...as they say!!

Spore(k)

Ahhh Spore - the new game from the producers of the vastly successful Sim City & the Sims series of games. It's new & it's awesome - got a copy at the slightly reasonable £33 from Morrison's & it works of PC & Mac - shiny.

Basically you create a race of infinitely customizable creatures, from single celled organisms, all the way through to exploring space - it's a vast game, with large elements of individuality - I've not been able to recreate the same creature twice!! It's highly, highly addictive & my buddies over at X-Play have described it as the game of the year - probably the decade. I'm not 100% sure about that but it's definitely one of the best I've played recently. So go check it out!

Job Update

Hey all you bloggerites - here's an update on my job situation.

Went for an interview at Winchester Vineyard Church [WinVin] on Wednesday & it went really well, will hear about it after the weekend, but if you read this pray for me - as I'm really stoked about this one - it appears the best yet!!! It's a spirit-filled place & the crew seem great, as do the facilities & most importantly; the youth seem friendly & fun!!

We continue

Ministry Vision

Check it people!!

I would like to work with various young people from any cultural background & by the process of listening, get to know & understand their individual cultures. Then from a place of relevance & understanding, bring these young people to the knowledge & love of God, actively seeking Him & wanting to be saved.

If they already know & love God – fantastic! I want God’s grace to shine through my ministry & have a real impact on the lives of other young people, encouraging them to pray for their friends & begin their own ministries to the wider world.

Over a period of months & years, I want to grow in my own spiritual life, fulfilling my calling to Youth Ministry. I believe, wholeheartedly, that I can do some really good Kingdom work in this place.

EVEN moar update

KO moar updating - this time it's teh job hunting scenario!

Riiiight this is what's happening in the world of [or waldorf] me trying to find my first post-grad job in the field of youthwork.

So far...how shall I put this - I've looked at a great many with no success so far. I have a long old list of interview places, applied to & yet to be applied to places - predominantly from that old classic - Youthwork Magazine.

It all gets a little depressing if I look to see how many times I have 'failed'. However, as some very wise people [Maddie, Val, Phil, Jane, Julia & Matthew - you know who you are ;o)] have pointed out - each of these places are unique in that they are looking for an very specific type of person to be their youthworker - just because I'm not necessarily it should not dishearten me.

To be continued....

JNC Winning

I can haz JNC now k thnx bi?!

Moar Updates

OK bloggerites, here's some more updates as to what's going on with me right at this second!!

Diss/Uni/CYM update:

After the panic of my Diss, I managed [with a little help from Lego (nods appreciatively)] to resubmit my dissertation, & then last week rang Linda at CYM to confirm if I'd passed it - the most exciting news is I PASSED w00t w00t.....W00T!!!

This means that I ge tot graduatify on 8th October - now all I've got to do is to send off me forms, & books some robes & a silly hat - will post pix when I can.

Another excitement with this is that I'm going to finally have all my fambily behind me for getting my papers - both parentals, my baby bruv, my grandfather & the Maddie all supporting me in this last great hurrah of my degree! But for now.....


....mischief managed!!

FailTube??

This is a quick shout to say that I'm finally coming round to the idea of YouTube [oh snap!] it's still annoying & it's still a waste of my energy & low res. for the fail, but I've signed up & have added fav's etc. so check me out if you want to. Also more on other silly things coming up in teh not too distant future!!

Monday Update

OK here's what's going on; it's Monday & 10:10am & I'm in Woking & sorting out some applications for some more youthwork jobs - I'm still unemployed & searching for my first post-graduate youthwork job. So far I've sent in many applications & got nowhere - had interviews but still nowhere. What I've done is to go back to the drawing board with what I'm trying to achieve - let's wipe the slate clean & start again.

After much discussion & advice gleaning from wise & learned people I believe I've struck up on the answer to why I've not any further than the interview stage. The problem is a lack of vision - not of knowing where to go - but of what I'm going to do when I get there. This was present in my first interview [Morden Parish, London] but perhaps missing ever since [with the definite exception of St Luke's, Brighton].

I now believe that I'm going to need to do some serious thought & contemplation before getting more interviews!!

Now to waaaar!!

Lord of the Catapults

OK this had me actually crying with laughter - it's highly inappropriate & may well contain swearing so if you're easily offended - don't click it, but for everyone else [especially if you've seen Lord of teh Rings] it's a classic!!

Much happier stuffs!!

It was my girlfriend's birthday on Friday 18th July [yaaaaaay!!] & we had some great times, including seeing a little film which I've been banging on about for months - Wall-E. Here's what I thought about this film.

OK firstly this is an animated movie from the always-reliable Pixar & according to Empire it's a 5 star movie [check out full review here] which is normally a good recommendation but I digress!

The first thing that struck me was before the film even began - Pixar have a great habit of making a short [only a few minutes] animation before the feature presentation & this one was called Presto. This was definitely the funniest animated short I've seen as well as cleverly put together & perfectly animated. I won't spoil the plot but it had me & our party in stitches even before Wall-E had been seen!!

OK the main event - overall it had great comedy, moving moments, brilliant characters, as well as a distinct [& rather dark] message about technology. What I liked heartily was that the key characters only had a very limited vocabulary - Wall-E could not talk to begin with, then learned new words including his own name! This meant that with limited dialogue all the story-telling needed to be done with actions & gestures but this was done superbly & it was a memorable story - definitely one for the DVD collection when it arrives!!

One final thing to say was about one character called M-O [his entire vocabulary = MO] he was a robot with a cleaning obsession [well it was his job/life!] he was really funny & reminded me of many people who like to clean like they were obsessed [no names mentioned at all!!] Here is a pic because of the cuteness!!

Diss Update!

AKA Frustration 1 over.......Frustration 2 just beginning!!

Had a meeting with Si Davis [Oxford CYM Centre] & went through my dissertation resubmission 'issue' on Monday & I basically have to do a total redraft for the diss, in the next 2 weeks w00t fricking woot!! The key issue is that I went from an empirical to library-based & back again & as such my overall style seems really sketchy.

The bad news is that I have little drive or desire to do all this work for effectively getting 2 marks to bring my where I was originally marked at [twice grrrr!]. Also it looks like a massive battle, as I need to add in a methodology & some deeper & more specific definitions, as well as shift the entire diss to be more empirical. Seems a lot of work & I need to get it done before MWCC [2nd August].

The good news is that I've come up to see Maddie for a while, so I can make a constructive start [I'm currently sat on her lounge floor lolz!] & she's had a flick through & has given me a good start & now I can sit in my preferred working place [Starbucks lol] to try to get this darn thing done. Also I've managed to get some funding to keep me caffeinated for a couple of weeks [thanks mon grand-pere]

Expect a couple more blogs as things develop oh & if anyone wants to proof this bad boy - let me know ;o)