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Dave 9:04 pm on December 28, 2008 Permalink
Tags: 2008 (7), Music (25), playlist

Most listened to music in 2008

I looked at my last.fm chart for the most played tracks during the last 12 months and created this playlist using the 8tracks web site. Where an artist appeared more than once I omitted it so that the 8 tracks are different artists to give it a bit more variety.

I’m really in to the Bluebob album at the moment – which is by David Lynch and John Neff. This has been around a few years but I only got my hands on it this year. There was one track on the Mullholland Drive soundtrack album by them that I loved. The album is better so I’m glad I managed to track it down.

The rest of this playlist is a mixed bag – I’m not sure I could describe it as being a certain type of music at all – just stuff I’ve listened to a lot this year.

If you can’t see the embedded player in your feed reader, you can click straight through to the 8tracks page here.

Dave 10:16 am on December 25, 2008 Permalink
Tags: 2008 (7), Retrospective (9)

2008 Photo Review (PT4 – October to December)

October

I was having a week off work and I decided to visit West Midlands Safari Park. It was really enjoyable, even if a camel did try and give me a kiss – and, although many animals try and lick my camera when I’m using the fisheye lens, the camel is the first one that I thought could have eaten it! This fellow above was just too cute and lovely really.

The giraffe were very good at analysing the cars to work out if they were going to get any food or not and wouldn’t even bend down to the window to check cars that they thought wouldn’t yield results.

I remember these cows near Curbar Edge in the Peak District – they were initially quite cautious then just thought sod it, and came over to investigate what I was doing at the wall. I’m glad the front of the fisheye lens is reinforced and coated (because you can’t really get filters on it due to the extreme wide angle). It seems to have coped with multiple cow lickings over the last few years! I’ve just got visions of a future repair sheet with ‘cause of fault: cow spit corrosion’ written on it.

“I have a problem with my camera – sometimes when taking landscape shots a donkey appears in shot”

I went for a walk near Chrome Hill in the Peak District and one of the nice things about that area is that you can hear the occasional donkey braying which according to wikipedia can be heard over 3km away from it. It is funny walking for hours, hearing them but not seeing them until much later or not at all.

The shot above was difficult to take because this one was in a field next to a road with a steep incline next to the wall on my side, so I had to position myself in an awkward spot where I wouldn’t fall. The focus on this shot is on the landscape in the background which led to the title.

November

I took very few photos in November. I think the combination of short days and foul weather were the main factors in that. The shot above looks blurry because it was raining and I couldn’t keep the lens clean enough for long enough to avoid it. The photo was taken at Alport Castles in the Peak District. The people are from the Nottingham Flickr group. By now, we have got in to a routine of having a group walk day out once a month, and the weather doesn’t seem to be putting them off – which is good.

December

The photo above shows the trig point at Kinder Low in the centre. The walk from Hayfield up here and back was long, difficult, but fun. It was difficult because everything had frozen so extra concentration was required with footing to make sure you stayed upright – and it wasn’t just at the higher levels either – the roads around Hayfield had multiple ice patches when we got back just as it was getting dark. Despite the extra difficulty, I love the Peak District in the snow.

On a trip to Howath in Yorkshire which is famous for the Bronte Sisters, this donkey ornament pulled me towards it when I spotted it in a shop window. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, I just knew that I had to have it. I suspect that it will crop up in the odd photo here and there!
Dave 9:38 pm on December 23, 2008 Permalink
Tags: 2008 (7), Retrospective (9)

2008 Photo Review (PT3 – July to September)

July

July seemed to be a quiet month for me as far as taking photos went. If I recall correctly, we were having a typical British summer – so it was horrible. That may go some way to explaining the shot above.. but only some way. In my defence the biscuits were a gift – actually – I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse. Next…

August

I toyed with the idea of using that cow as my new Flickr icon. It was just too detailed really and didn’t look that good small. The icon that I’ve used since I started using Flickr is nice and clear so I think it’s there for good really. I do like that cow though!

Torside Reservoir in the Peak District. This is the overflow at the dam which just looked like it had been made to do the job with style rather than cheaply and functionally. The fisheye came in handy for accentuating the curves.

Gordale Scar near Malham in Yorkshire. I’ve been here twice and both times I’ve been unable to use the footpath that goes through the waterfall. This time there was just that much water after all the rain that it was just a non-starter.

The main thing I remember about that walk though was the clock they had in the cafe at Malham. It “chimed” just as we got to the counter. I didn’t get a photo of it, but my cow-obsessed walking companion bought one a few days later and has a very good photo of it.

Horses figure in my photos a lot for the rest of August. The photo above was taken near Crowden in the Peak District. The horse looks part demonic and part very happy. Somebody left me a comment on Flickr to say that horses point their ears forward when happy. I did a quick check of my older horse photos and sure enough, lots of ears in that position. I suspect the horses find it funny that I get in to low positions with the fisheye and just think to themselves “what on earth is he doing down there”.

Another walk and another horse. This one couldn’t get enough stroking and fussing over. When I stroked it’s nose it looked like it was happy and could have gone to sleep – which is when it yawned. When I did leave it and walked down my path, I could see the horse on the other side of a tall hedge tracking me. I arrived at the next gate to find it waiting – so I had to stroke it again – it would have been rude not to after it made the journey specially!

September

This calf and his friends were very cute and had lots of admirers in the cow shed fussing over them and taking a few photos. Taken at the same dairy farm as the shot in the last retrospective post.

I’m not sure if this is the same calf or a different one. It’s definitely the same place and position. I didn’t crop this because without the outer detail you can’t really tell that the calf is really leaning over to see what the camera is doing down there. That’s me on the right and I was holding the camera (with the fisheye lens attached).

At Masham Sheep Fair they had a lot of sheep! – They also had sheep racing – flat and hurdles. They sheep were all to willing to run like the clappers because they were chasing a man holding a bucket of some very tasty sheep food!

I went to Birmingham and saw the Selfridge’s building and it felt like I’d seen it before because of all the photos I’d seen of it on Flickr. There are some lovely photos of it, but I just thought I’d try something different.

This photo was taken near Solomon’s Temple (which is that little block just to the right of the cow). The sun was bright and low in the sky so I positioned myself so that the sun went behind this one and just waited until it stopped munching on the grass and looked up. I think the contrails give it that extra magical glow effect which is why it was titled “Blessed are the Cheese Makers”.
Dave 1:25 pm on December 23, 2008 Permalink
Tags: 2008 (7), Retrospective (9)

2008 Photo Review (PT2 – April to June)

April

This was taken at the tram stop near the railway station in Nottingham. It looks surprisingly modern and fresh compared to everything else in that area.

First animal nose shot in the retrospective of my 2008 photos. I didn’t really expect to see a llama when I went for a walk around Rufford Abbey Country Park, but apparrently that have occaisonal llama walks where you can accompany them around the park on a nice walk.

This calf was in the cow shed on a dairy farm in Yorkshire. We had stopped off after a walk there because they also sell quite spectacularly tasty ice cream! Photographing the cows is a bonus. Getting your camera or hands licked is a hazard you have to deal with.

Flickr had introduced video by now – which initially upset a lot of people who thought Flickr would turn in to YouTube. It didn’t. This video remains one of the few videos I have posted but I like it!

May

May saw my first capture of a cow blowing a raspberry. The shot isn’t that sharp, but really, it’s a cow blowing a raspberry – that’s enough!

May was turning out to be cow month – and it doesn’t stop either! I had a week off work and went for several walks in a little heat wave. It was some of the nicest weather I’d seen in a long time. The cow above was in a field next to the Chesterfield Canal between Worksop and Retford. I hadn’t walked along that stretch before and it was very nice and peaceful – apart from going under the A1 at one point!

And another one from the same place.

This last one was taken at the start of the same walk. The cows were in a field on the opposite side of the canal and as I walked along the tow path, they came over to the fence to see what I was doing. This was mid-week and there is probably very little action out. I flipped the photo because I liked their silhouette reflections so much.

June

This was taken on a walk in the Dove Dale area of the Peak District. I don’t really know what posessed me to edit this. I’m glad I did though!

This photo was taken by somebody else capturing me using my fisheye lens for what it likes doing best. I remember the white cow licked my elbow just as I was taking my shot.

I don’t think this is one of my best cow shots, but it’s the one that’s being taken in the preceding shot – just to give you a full picture.

An owl.

A Flickr trip to Skegness. The weather was pretty grim, as was Skegness really.

The photo above was taken in a bar in Veenendaal. There’s something I like about it, despite it’s obvious technical nastyness. I don’t really drink alcohol – the odd one here and there, but my proper going out for a drink and having a lot days are over. I do remember being a little worse for wear here though!

Finally, a reflection in a vending machine – “You are what you eat”.
Dave 11:29 pm on December 22, 2008 Permalink
Tags: 2008 (7), Retrospective (9)

2008 Photo Review (PT1 – January to March)

Last year I posted my review of my 2007 photos in 3 parts. You can find them here:

2007 – January to April, May to August and September to December.

I’ve not gone back to review them myself yet because I want to see what 2008 looks like in review before going back to compare with previous years!

January

It was so nice to walk up Kinder Scout and find it snow covered and at the same time see the green hills below where the sun had managed to work it’s way through. I like it up there anyway, but it is special when it’s like this.

A friend kindly gave me access to Bestwood Winding House before work started to renovate it.

I’ve never seen a 2CV look so bad-ass – thanks entirely to sticking a fisheye lens right up to it.

February

“I look up to him because he is upper-class”
When I saw this I immediately thought of the Frost Report sketch about class.

A big wheel was installed temporarily at the Market Square in Nottingham. I chose to have a go on a really cold foggy day (not that there were many sunny clear days to choose from). There was ice inside my cubicle (which wasn’t enclosed). The fisheye came in handy for this.

I took quite a lot of photos in February. This was probably because I’d bought a Ricoh GX100. It’s and odd camera but I love it. It’s wide angle (24mm by default, 19mm with an add-on) was a clinching factor. Shots like this burnt out car above wouldn’t have been possible with any of the small cameras I’d had previously which are typically 35mm equivalent.

I programmed one of the custom modes on the Ricoh to be black and white square JPGs. Some days, I choose that and stick to it for a change. It may be the influence of the Holga that has made me like black and white squares so much. The photo above was taken on Bamford Edge in the Peak District. It was the first time I’d been up there and it was really nice. I’ll have to go back in 2009.

The photo above was taken at the end of a day walking on Kinder Scout. We were just heading back to Edale after coming down Grindsbrook Clough. The sun was very low in the sky and the shadows were impressively long. This shot was a reflex shot to get the sheep in as it passed by. The very excessive vignette was added later – I thought the shot was silly/odd enough as it was, may as well go for it completely.

March

In March I used Blurb to publish a book of photos. It was nice to see it out and about afterwards. The photo above was taken by the very nice emdot.

There was some more snow in March – this time on Derwent Edge. The photo above was taken just as, after spending hours in a snow producing cloud, in very cold temperatures and bitter wind, the whole thing blew past to reveal sunshine and warmth. This happened very quickly. The shot above is of the cloud whizzing away from us.

One of my friends got a better shot at 90 degrees to this…

Finally, on a visit to Holmfirth in Yorkshire, we reached a field containing some of the friendliest sheep I have ever encountered. They behaved more like family dogs than normal sheep and just wanted fussing over and stroking!

Pab Assci Artness is discussing. Toggle Comments
- Pab Assci Artness 12:17 pm on December 23, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  
  Dave – a photoDog sos I mean a Holy Cow and Sheep photoGod
  Go photo Dave
Dave 10:01 pm on December 12, 2008 Permalink
Tags: christmas (2), donkey (3), nativity

Nativity

Roger B. is discussing. Toggle Comments
- Roger B. 4:50 am on December 22, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  
  Little donkey, little donkey… er… perhaps not!
Dave 11:46 pm on December 8, 2008 Permalink
Tags: free, momus (2), mp3 (4)

Momus – Creation Advent Calendar

If you care to look at my last.fm profile, you will see that my most played artist is Momus – by quite a margin. During December, he is releasing the six albums that were released on the now defunct Creation label for free on his blog. The first one, Poison Boyfriend is available now.

I bought all of these albums and I would say that these Creation albums are among my favourite Momus albums, and some of them are some of my favourite albums by anyone. I think they’re quite varied musically from one to the next but the style and stamp of the artist remains.

So, if you’ve never heard any of these albums before, I’d say download a few tracks from each one as they get posted, just to get a good mix of the contents. I don’t think any track can be downloaded to give you that ‘oh, he’s that kind of artist’ summary – all of these albums are different to each other, and that continues throughout all of the albums that followed these soon to be free Creation ones. I personally think that these albums got better and better as they were released, and this first one is probably the one I have listened to the least – so it’s a good opportunity for me to listen again to appreciate it – probably with new insights having listened to so much of the later stuff.

My favourite albums out of the bunch: Hippopotamomus, Don’t Stop The Night, Voyager and Timelord – but really, I can quite happily listen to all of them and enjoy them. Hippopotamomus has a special place in my heart though – so be sure to have a go at that when it appears

Creation Advent Calendar 1:The Poison Boyfriend
http://imomus.livejournal.com/419757.html
Dave 11:00 pm on December 7, 2008 Permalink
Tags: hayfield, ice, kinderscout (8), peakdistrict (50), snow (3), trigpoint, Walking (29)

Hayfield to Kinder

I went on a walk today from the village of Hayfield to Kinder Scout and back. It was a beautiful day really. Cold and wintery certainly, but crisp and sunny as well.

The most difficult part of the walk was the sheer amout of ice that covered a lot of the higher areas of Kinder Scout. The ascent up there was relatively ice free until we got to the last part of William Clough. The ascent up Kinder Scout from the western side was also more difficult than usual due to large amounts of frozen snow.

Arriving back in Hayfield just before darkness fell, the roads there had become icy as well (It was icy again in the exact same place where I fell of my bike about 3 years ago). All of the extra concentration and effort to stay upright on all of this ice during the day definitely took it’s toll. It felt like a much harder walk and I think I’ll sleep especially soundly tonight.
Dave 7:54 am on December 5, 2008 Permalink
Tags: civilliberties (2), government, politics (2), privacy

1984

My favourite quote from a trawl though my RSS feeds this morning:

Christ that Jacqui Smith is a piece of work. Remember, come the next election: a vote for Labour is a vote for the party that thinks 1984 is a manual for statecraft.

More on Boing Boing.

jup is discussing. Toggle Comments
- jup 8:31 pm on December 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  
  look at the alternative though, do you really think they will make things better?
  curse on anyone who helps that lot in.
- Dave Wild 10:58 pm on December 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  
  No, I like the alternative less. Sad state of affairs really.
Dave 7:28 pm on December 1, 2008 Permalink
Tags: broadband (5), internet (4), Technology (21)

BT I-Plate

A few weeks ago, I fitted a BT I-Plate to the phone socket that my ADSL router is plugged in to.

This little plastic gizmo is supposed to, well, I’ll knick this bit of text :

The I-Plate (also known as IPLATE) is a special ADSL filter that can be easily installed to improve the speed and stability of your connection. It works by filtering electrical interference created by TVs, lights, extension wiring and other everyday electrical equipment in the home.

This interference is usually caused by phone extension wiring as it acts like a giant antennae picking up interference. Some lines have seen up to 4 Mbps increases in speed although improvements of 1.5 Mbps were found to be more typical in a benchmark survey of 36,000 filtered lines. This I-Plate can also help with poor performing long lines.

I completely forgot that I’d fitted it after a day or two of checking that I’d not made things worse. I’ve been doing some checking though, and my connection used to reach a maximum download speed of 670Kb/sec – it now maxes out at about 830Kb/sec.

This is almost a year after I was getting 15Kb/sec when using Virgin Media! Since I left Virgin Media, I’ve been using ADSL24 and I’ve not had a single issue in the 12 months I’ve used them.

So, hooray for the BT IPlate giving me a near 25% speed boost and hooray for ADSL24 for doing a perfect job invisibly.

I bought my Iplate from ADSL24 for a tenner.