Same but different

I've posted this before, but I'd quite like to point it out again as I continue to find it bizarre. My blog address is http://www.dawnofthedave.blogspot.com yes?
Take out the S' of blogpsot and you get http://www.dawnofthedave.blogpot.com which is some kind of Jesus Loves You bible site... what kind of address is that for Christian worship?

Spammed

Of all my posts it would seem that this one is the most popular among spammers. Not too sure why... maybe all spammers are big Low Lows fans, or perhaps they have a thing for beards... hell, it could even be that they do keyword searches for Prunella Scales before choosing which blogs to spam. It remains a mystery to me, but 10 spam comments on 1 post doesn't lie.

UPDATE: This is nothing compared to the 177 spam comments that I've just found on this 65dos post. Jeez. Those boys really are popular.

Media Lounge Top 30

This being Christmas Eve, and a Sunday, it is the ideal time to unveil the Media Lounge Christmas Chart (as compiled by YouTube) and find our Xmas Number One for the year 2006.

The Top 30 rundown looks like this:

# 30: Sunshine: Science of the Sun (332 views)

# 29: Media Lounge at Dedbeat Festival (367 views)

# 28: Aqualibrium (369 views)

# 27: The Low Lows - Dear Flies love Spider (371 views)

# 26: Black Cloud (403 views)

# 25: Citizens for Fox News (418 views)

# 24: Plan B - No More Eatin' (Bennig Brooks remix) (432 views)

# 23: Sunshine: Spacesuit (670 views)

# 22: Plan B - No More Eatin' (Hadouken radio edit) (676 views)

# 21: Warren Zevon (And On) (694 views)

# 20: Katrina (1,152 views)

# 19: Straight Outta Compton (1,576 views)

# 18: Death From Above 1979 - Black History Month (1,653 views)

# 17: Clarence Killer (1,773 views)

# 16: Sunshine: Danny Boyle Introduction (1,775 views)

# 15: Can't Get Kylie Out of Dawn Shadforths Head (1924 views)

# 14: Military Uniforms (2,159 views)

# 13: Jacks Beatnik Storytime (2,331 views)

# 12: Kylie: Portals Through Time (2,383 views)

# 11: 28 Hours Later (2,744 views)

# 10: Steven Seagal in Half Past Caring (2,840 views)

# 9: Daniel O'Donnell Goes Wrong (3,260 views)

# 8: I'm Dreaming of a White Noise Christmas (4,110 views)

# 7: Darths Ark (4,326 views)

# 6: Picard Sings (4,404 views)

# 5: Six Days (4,842 views)

# 4: Eeeeeeastenders (5,019 views)

# 3: 2 Stuart 2 Little (5,851 views)

# 2: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (9,570 views)

# 1: Rachel Stevens' Foot Fetish (11,687 views)


I guess that just goes to show that you're guaranteed a hit if your title includes the name of a celebrity and an unusual sexual preference. Duely noted.

Two Things

I have this really vivid memory from when I was about 4 or 5. It was 1982 and the occasion of Charles and Dianas wedding, and the whole street came out to have a street party. There were paste tables down the road, streamers strewn between the lamposts, balloons tied to every tree and food as far as the eye can see. I also remember that the colours of the time were much akin to the washed-out hues that you get in cinefilm from 25 years ago. Strange that.

Anyway. I was very young so there's a good chance that my memory is slightly distorted and, allowing for the child perspective inflation, there's also a good chance that it wasn't as exciting as I recall... but what I'm sure of was the atmosphere. The whole street had come out to celebrate, as was the style at the time, and I really felt like part of a community.

I think that's what's missing from Christmas these days... the sense that it's voluntary. There was no law that insisted we have a street party to celebrate a royal wedding, we just did because we wanted to. Nowadays Christmas feels so much like an obligation I find it very hard to believe that any sane adult over 20 would want to continue it. We're bashed so mercilessly over the head with 3 months of crimbo advertising and seasonal enforcement that when the day comes you just want it to be over with so we can go back to feeling normal again.

--------------

I got this email from my Dad the other day in reference to the trouble I was having buying my sister a present:

"Just a thought if you're stuck for a prezzie for Kerry.
Use Tesco cos they're cheapest. How about something for the kitchen as she likes cooking - perhaps a bottle or two of exotic cooking oils or a utensil or cool apron or summat like that?"

The next day I get a phone call from my sister asking me if I'd like some nice cooking oils, or perhaps a nice utensil for the kitchen as I'm "into cooking now."

Oh father, never let it be said you're not practical.

Cause for Concern

Definition of out-of-date:
"Seeing an old photograph of yourself and realising you're wearing the exact same outfit as you are now."

I see by the writing on the wall that it's time for the bi-annual trip to TK Max.

Poppies for Sale

Don't see this very often:

Sabbatical

It's been almost two weeks since I last wrote anything here. I was getting a bit sick of the sound of my own typing... the clicks and the clacks began to have an echo of pompousness about them, mocking me and my self importance. Plus the sojourn in Japan had left me way more exhausted than I expected and threw my judgement off... I discovered meaning in everything and wanted to blog about the minute details. This, I decided was a bad idea. Finally I considered it an act of sacrifice to write nothing immediately after my readership increased threefold... what it was a sacrifice to I have no idea, but in my mind I think I imagined it to be the equivilent of doing a freeform jazz album after a rock and roll hit.

Told you I was tired.



So, we flew back from Tokyo on Friday morning on an inexplicably longer 12 and a half hour flight. Being the best part of 6'3" it's rare I fit anywhere anyway, but planes just aren't built for people of my size so I feel justified in saying I suffered for most of the journey. The taxi ride back up to Sheffield was nigh on impossible to survive concious and when we finally got home I blundered my way out the vehicle, muttered cursory goodbyes and had staggered down the street within 5 minutes.

Next day was Dza and Nicki's wedding down in High Wycombe. Dza is one of my business partners in Medlo and Nicki is his beautiful bride - an endlessly patient lady who has more than suffered for the efforts of the Media Lounge over the years. How Dza ever convinced her to marry him is beyond me... the wedding was just how weddings should be - sweet, short, and with drunk teenage celebrities running around. It was a highly stressful day for me, tiredness and jet-lag were at their most prominent and I found all the talking to people in a hot room to be very overwhelming. It didn't help that night when Is and I slept in the worlds smallest bed in the worlds smallest bed and breakfast...

Suffering from extreme fatigue by now, Tza drove us all back to Sheffield via a great Peaks pub called the Three Merry Lads. Here I hilariously bought Isobel a Sunday carvery despite the fact she is a vegetarian. Nice move.

And the so the week continued with a degree of unabashed tired until I found myself sleeping for 16 hours straight on Thursday. The thing is, I thought I was fine... I thought I'd escaped the return jet-lag and was doing just peachy, until Thursday happened. I awoke with just 30 minutes to go until I had to meet Isobel at the station and somehow, including a shower and sandwiche, I made it... we tootled off to Nottingham and watched Rodriguo e Gabriella at Rock City who were better than when I saw them at the Big Chill, and they were really good then.

And so the week turned into two and I still couldn't face writing on this very blog. We had a night at 65s to eat, drink and be merry and say goodbye as they are now holed up in Scotland recording that difficult third album. That very night was also the night of the work Xmas party which I avoided due to my being horribly drunk last year, and so got horribly drunk at 65s instead. Fate had it in for me and my liver that night. Was great to see Andy Digitonal again, even though we only had the briefest of brief chats, and I've learnt that we're off to Poland in May to perform the Shining - that was great news...

This is an old Media Lounge video we made to honour our fallen hero, Warren Zevon:



A few days ago we received an email through YouTube from Crystal Zevon, Warrens ex-wife, thanking us for the tribute. That's about the coolest damn thing that's ever happened to me...

So that's that. This blog is erring dangerously close to an all-purpose email so I'm going to keep an eye on that in the future. More obscure opinions, more hate-filled rants, less day-to-day bullshit... that's the way forward.

Oh, and cats. Mooch (the black one) now thinks he's a dog and loves nothing more than playing fetch with his favourite piece of screwed up foil and Hobbes (the ginger one) has entered a period of depression now that autumn has properly kicked in and he can't go outside as much.

Bless.

Sayonara Japan

Playing Catch-up...

For a city as hi-tech as Tokyo it's surprisingly hard to find a reliable internet connection... the hotel room cables don't work on my laptop and there's very few wireless networks floating around. You kind of have to grab it when you can, like last night when Paul slept or right now when he's out shopping...

So. Where were we? Yesterday was the last gig of the mini-tour and we played a crazy downstairs venue that must have been 5 or 6 stories below ground level... it was a really early start as there was a club night afterwards. Today is a national holiday - if I'm right it's a National Pride day - so they were all having big parties into the night. We were finished by 8pm and out of the venue by half past, narrowly avoiding the uber fans outside but inadvertedly missing our stage manager Ace in the process... I never got to say thanks to him which was a terrible shame as he was such a great guy.

All afternoon we had been utterly bushwacked, and while gigs can usually be relied on to wake you up this one failed in that respect. My legs were shaking so violently on stage that I had to use the bass cabs to hold me up... I didn't even have the energy to dance during the second half and when it was finished I almost fell down the stairs in search of alcohol. All that aside, the gig was a good one - great crowd, nice set-up and I don't think I fucked anything up, although Simon did manage to accidentally rip out my video cable in the middle of 65 Doesn't Understand You, but that happens occasionally.

The night was a struggle I have to admit. Mr Kono and Takeshi from Zinkyo records took us out to a traditional Japanese restaurant (shoes off and everything!) and I kind of wigged out again... but as always a great meal and hearty round of drinks managed to stave off the collapse for another couple of hours. Takeshi took us on a guided tour of his club, rehearsal studio and office and then joined us in the hotel for another few hours as we drank and chatted the night away.

Slept in this morning, which was much needed, and then embarked on our day off with gusto. We first called in at HMV and Tower Records so the boys could sign some things and thank the purchasers for their support... it was all very odd, big cardboard standees of their faces resting next to the promo items for Tom Waits' new album, when did this happen to my friends? The Black Spider, our tour manager, has been immortalised recently by having a Mogwai track named him and that was on the next shelf over from 65. It all seems so... bizarre.

And then we shopped. Shopped with all that we could muster. Presents, treats, junk, curios... it all fell into hands after a while. I spent much of the day looking for something inherently Japanese but the Tokyo shops kind of resemble the London shops, or New York shops. I found some exciting stuff, though, when we made it into the Harajuku district and then later an extremely cool market area - all under the expert directions of Mr Kono.

We also made it to the Shubuya Shrine where two former Emperors are entombed - that was amazing, but again very odd as you leave the absolute pandamonium of the Tokyo streets and step into a tranquil and near empty section of the city. We saw a traditional wedding, made donantions and received wisdom... and then went back into the world where Harajuku girls walk around dressed as schoolgirls or babies offering comfort to lonely men.

Tonight we're doing a nice meal out to commemorate the trip, and then it's an 11 hour flight tomorrow morning. I think I'm prepared for the trip - the idea of it isn't freaking me out or anything - but I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to it. Now I have a basic knowledge of the city I would love to come back with Isobel or friends and explore and discover it properly... I think it's fair to say that I have fallen in love with this country, but I have yet to consumate that love. I NEED MORE TIME!

Third and final night..

Well, we're done... that's the last 65 show in Japan and probably the last for the year. After my initially optimistic post earlier today I slipped into extreme fatigue mode and spent the whole afternoon and evening shaking and feeling ill. Dinner at another excellent Japanese restaurant and a few beers helped, mind... our guide for the evening was Takeshi from Zinkyo Records who guided us through the meal, a short visit to his club (where we watched a really rather good Japanese nu-metal band) and then back to the hotel for drinks and a little bit of ferverent conversation.

Takeshi is 31 and had his first taste of Jack Daniels tonight. We toasted the occasion appropriatey...


I's 4am, Paul is sleeping... I have to go to bed.

Post 100!

I am the tallest person in Osaka - a literal and figurative head and shoulders above everyone else. I've got used to people staring at me now, although it is a bit strange to find yourself walking next to a handful of schoolgirls who keep glancing my way and giggling... it happens a couple of times a day, but not once have I felt that I'm being mocked. Maybe I should be.

Osaka is what I imagined Japan to be like. A huge, sprawling cityscape with neon as far as the eye can see, a wealth of consumer options and more people than I'd be able to count even if they stood still. Paul and I crashed for an hour or so when we arrived and then, under great physical duress, forced ourselves to get up and go exploring. I think I may have moved too quickly... going from exhausted slumber to the center of Osaka in five minutes was overwhelming and I kind of wigged out. I was determined to do some shopping and find some presents, but I found myself just standing in shoe shops blinking and not knowing where I was. Luckily we bumped into Carl, Pauls friend from university, so he had someone to talk to while I staggered around and mumbled in tongues. It was even weirder when we realised we were being stalked by an uber 65 fan...

The show was excellent - I totally owned the visuals this time round. Paul and I realigned the Midi triggers and everything fell into place, I even nailed New Song No.1 which is rarely exactly right. The crowd responded really really well, especially when we dropped all the lights out during Robs drum solo in Arabic and just had the flashing video screen. The roar from the crowd at that moment made pretty much everything we've done up to this point worthwhile... it was extremely satisfying, and much appreciated!

After the struggle to get past the autograph hunters at the end we made our way to the famous Rock-Rock bar where we hung out with a whole bunch of people including Ace, our resident tech manager who is the very definition of the word ROCK. Things turned messy, as they always do, and when I realised Ozzy was competing with a professional air guitarist to the strains of Motorhead I decided to head home. On the way Joe and I managed to get lost on the side streets... but we found our way eventually thanks to a very helpful golden Buddha.


Slept. Woke. Taxi. Bullet train. Tokyo again. Feel brilliant. Huzzah.

Speedy sleeplessness

Greetings from the Bullet Train! As I write this we are speeding at 130mph through the Japanese countryside... well, I say countryside but it's more aptly described as occasional punctuations of mountains in-between settlements. The two cities of Tokyo and Osaka sprawl out to almost meet each other, and if the Japanese could find a way to build on the mountain, then they would.

The gig last night was difficult. Power transformers surged on our equipment, the 65 super-brain computer refused to boot and I had problems with the timing of the videos. The visuals are triggered at the beginning of each track by a Midi hookup to 65 but over time they appear to have slipped. Drove Through Ghosts was a good 10 seconds out of synch, as was the always problematic 65 Doesn't Understand You. I can pull these problems back and get them back in synch with relative ease, but the fact that it is happening at all is very worrying. When we get to Osaka Paul and I will need to go through all the triggers and realign them. Fun.

The gig, actually, already seems like a distant memory... we had about an hour of downtime as the kit was packed up and we were speeded, stinking and sweating as we were, to a 14th floor Japanese restaurant for dinner with the promotions company. With a view over nighttime Tokyo we dined on shrimp dumplings, skewered chicken, fresh tofu, deep fried prawns, insane fried rice, incredible sushi, anchovy salad and pitches and pitches of domestic beer. It was probably the finest meal I have eaten since Robs birthday in Italy earlier this year, and it was a pleasure to finally have proper Japanese cuisine.

The classic line of "a quick beer before bed" ended up, predictably, with us staying in a local bullet riddled bar until 3am, and then continuing the party in kimonos in the hotel room with the remnants of the Jack Daniels rider. We met the local rich bling kids in the lift, all diamond encrusted teeth and Scarface paraphenalia. "Japanese weedu" they yelled to us as we staggered out at our floor "best in the world!" Bed at 5. Up at 9. Train. Incredible.

Japan is rushing past me at high speeds. Shanty towns, expensive cityscapes, industrial complexes, power stations, mountain dwellings, wide rivers... this country is amazing, and the width and breadth of diversity in the landscape is breathtaking. The mountains tower over everything, hazy and distant and appearing out of the mist like a looming bully. Everyone else is asleep. They've seen it all before... not me.

Stiletto

I'm writing this from the spacious dressing room of the Tokyo Liquid Room where we've just spent the last three hours setting up. If only all gigs were like this... we have a veritable army of people helping us, from light manouvering and PC repairs to my own personal gaggle of assistants moving screens around and wiring up projectors. I spent most of my time walking around with my hands behind my back directing people to do my bidding. Well, kind of... they know what they're doing and so there's very little for me to actually approve, I just waited for them to be finished really.

I'm so hungover. So so so so hungover. Tht was always the plan, mind, as Rob pointed out it's better to have a hangover than jet-lag but I feel I may have goe above and beyond the calling. The Tokyo label took us ut for dinner last night to an incredible Brazilian restaurant with a great salad bar and a large number of waiters circling with skewers of meat. Many many free beers later and we made our way to a tiny little punk-rock bar where we more than over indulged on Stilettos (straight JD nd Amaretto) into the wee hours. We staggered back in the pouring rain, reeling from a combination of exhaustion, alcohol and excitement and kept going in the hotel rooms until about 3am. The last I saw of Ozzy, the guitar tech, was him going down in the glass elevator to try and find some McDonalds.

LATER

Well, after 2 hours of watching the tech guys set up the projector and some very big probems with power surges and broken computers we've just done the sound check. The gig tonight is sold out, the venue is awesome, the staff lovely and expectations are high... really looking forward to it! Best of all, though, the car park next to us is one of those crazy car-stacking places that has all their vehicles on rotating levels. This country is wicked!

Made it...

So... we're in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. This is the view from our hotel room. Not bad, eh? I've seen these crossroads in so many movies that it seems utterly bizarre to me that we're now towering above it as we sleep.



The flight was long and arduous, although not as long and arduous as I was prepared for. The strangest thing was flying into the night, watching darkness take hold and trying very hard to sleep even though my body knew it was really about 4pm. The steady flow of Gin and Tonics helped matters, as did the ample movie selection (I plumped for Taladega Nights and Severence, if you're interested) but there's no denying that when we hit the 11th hour it all started getting a little bit too much.

So we've now been up for well over 24 hours, although I appear to have tricked my body into not believing that by taking off my watch and refusing to contemplate UK time. We're off out for dinner at 7 so we're all just hanging onto conciousness until after then...

Tokyo is insane. It's like they just plonked buildings down in every available space and then built up from there. The first 5 floors of this building is a shopping center, then 14 more floors of hotel, then 5 floors of private apartments, then a restaurant... the whole city is piled on top of itself. Shops are within shops, bars are in doorways, TVs on sticks, speakers on crossings... getting down the street is like a scrum but everyone is so damned nice.

There is obviously lots more to report but, frankly, I need to get a shower and lay down for a few minutes before going out. Paul is writing postcards, Joe is asleep, Rob is bored and Simon is jet-lagged... just an hour and a half to go before food and then we can sleep. In the venue at 11 tomorrow to set everything up - the tour crew over here seem really nice so we shouldn't have too many problems...

Food
Sleep
Food
Sleep

More photos at Day of the Dave.

Food
Sleep

Out.
xxx

General Matters

Well.
We're off.
Tomorrow morning. Taxi at 7am. Flight at 1pm. 10 hour flight. Arrive at 9am Sunday. That's already messing with my head.

Japan, baby!

It's a little hard to get my head around, truth be told. I remember I started out with 65 because no-one else was old enough to drive their van... now I'm being flown half way round the world on someone elses dollar to do what I love, with my friends... it seems too good to be true. I'm riding the curtails of their success, no doubt, but I can cope with that - I'm just happy that we get to take the Media Lounge with them.

I'll be updating from there as often as I can, and I'll be posting photos on Day of the Dave as well. There's a chance, although this isn't confirmed, that this blog will be being published on the BBC South Yorkshire Raw Talent page as well. Check for updates.

Our plan B remixes have made their way online. Here they are:





See you in the next world, brother.

Japanified

5 days until we leave.

20th: JAPAN. Tokyo, Liquid Room.
21st: JAPAN. Osaka, Club Quattro
22nd: JAPAN. Tokyo, Unit.

Very excited.

Heroic cross-platform marketing

Series 1, episode 7 of the new hit NBC show Heroes

Claire is an invincible cheerleader who cannot die, her brother has just stolen a tape that proves her aformentioned invincibility and has locked himself in a car so she can't get it back. With her friend Zack she tries to coax him out the car.

Claire: Give it me back.
Brother: No! I'm gonna put this on YouTube and make like a million bucks.
Zack: YouTube is free you idiot!

I don't know if you know much about Heroes, but much of its success has been attributed to the teaser trailer they put on, you've guessed it, YouTube.

Nice to see them returning the favour, and mentioning that it's free as well...

Updated Dead

There's a new updated version of Night of the Living Dead being released... this time in 3D. You can view the trailer here.

Want to know just how updated it is...? Check out the screen grab below and tell me that's not incredible for all the wrong reasons

UPDATED: As Matt pointed out in the comments section, there's also a brilliant disclaimer at the end that I didn't notice on the first view. If ever something screamed 'legal obligation' it's this:

Caroline Hustings... where are you?????

I have a little service run by a website called Blog Patrol that lets me know how many visitors I have, what countries they come from, what pages refer them, what their IP addresses are, what brand of shoe they're wearing - that sort of innocent thing. Most stuff is pretty innocuous and helps me see how certain links like MySpace, YouTube and 65dos help get me readers.

Every now and then it throws up some interesting facts. The phrase "Swearing in German" is my number one linked from google search, I get more readers from Israel than I do Ireland, a link to my blog appears, inexplicably, when you search for "you tube video feet sniffing sandal" (here's the weird thing, I actually have made a video about feet sniffing and put it on YouTube, but I've never mentioned it here... weird!).

Anyway, I got a link this evening from someone searches Google for "Caroline Hustings" and they went to an old blog I wrote about Friends Reunited in which I talked about a girl who I went to school with called Caroline Hustings. Now, I have no idea if it was the Caroline Husting I went to school with who was Googling herself or a different Caroline Hustings. Most likely is wasn't my Caroline, but what if it was? I never thought about using blogs and the vain act of Googling to try to find people before, so I'd like to try it.

Here is a list of a few people that I'd like to get back in touch with, I've chosen people from school so as to tie this in with Caroline.

David Hughes
Matthew Lilley
Helen Whitrow
Elizabeth (Liz) Morrell
Andrew Bastock

Right, five people - nice and simple. Here are a few keywords to shake the whole thing up a little:

Nottingham Bramcote Hills Comprehensive School Chilwell Beeston Parkview Sixth Form Centre Sherwin Arms Field Moor Lane

If any of these people end up swinging their way here then I'd love for them to leave a comment and say hi. I tried Googling all these people and couldn't find a thing, then I tried Googling the name of every school friend I could remember but still to no avail. In fact the only lead I got was this man: Rizwan Ahmed. He looks alot like my friend Rizwan Ahmed, and his name is the same but his website has no mention at all of every being in the UK and when we were meant to be doing Sociology together he was reputedly a Student Facility Member at a university in New Dehli. Unlikely to be the same guy.

The only person who I successfully found was me. According to Blog Patrol no-one has ever come to this blog by searching for 'Dave Holloway' which I guess is part of the problem of calling yourself Dave Medlo online (another problem is realising it sounds like a surname and thus everyone thinks you've named the business after yourself).

I'm now going to do another search for Caroline Hustings and I'll be damned if I don't get pole position.

Our man in Qatar

This is Mr Heap.

Mr Heap has been a spiritual guide of the Media Lounge for quite some time now. He could always be found gently pulling the strings at the Vibe Bar nights and the Big Chill shows when not busy running the highly important VJs.net. A few months ago Mr Heap took a job at the Al Jazeera English network in Doha, the State of Qatar in the Middle East.

Mr Heap has started a blog called A Man in the Desert and it's a very interesting read, I urge you to check it out. He's far from harm but close to the action.

Meet the Moustache...

...and then wave goodbye as it vanished about 10 minutes later.






Lesson learnt.

Art vs Commerce...

...or how to sell a difficult subject to the Americans.

Death of a President US Trailer

Conceived as a fictional TV documentary broadcast in 2008, reflecting on another monstrously despicable and cataclysmic event: the assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19th, 2007. The “documentary” combines archival footage and carefully composed interviews, presented in a respectful and dignified manner.



I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it - hurrah for getting a theatrical release - it's just interesting to note the language used.

New Music Video

"New music video for the Low Lows. 'Dear Flies Love Spider' is from the album 'Fire on the Bright Sky' released by Monotreme Records. Video produced by Medlo, directed by Dave Holloway."

YouTube link.

Daemons

Isobel and I went to a discussion of Philip Pullmans His Dark Materials trilogy last night, as part of the Sheffield Off The Shelf Literary Festival. It was hosted by the Dean of Sheffield in a United Reformed Church and we were expecting a certain amount of criticism of Pullman and "his picture of a corrupt church and a powerless and dying God" but we got a very balanced, very illuminating discussion.

One of my biggest issues with organised religion is the acceptance of classic texts as proof of God, but the Reverend Peter Bradley was quite happy to discuss the varying ways in which text can be interpreted to explain meaning, and that no-one point of view is correct. He was also very happy to admit that Pullmans view of 'The Church' (in these books the Church is an amalgamation of many of our organised religions) is somewhat fair, certainly in lieu of religious history.

Overall it was a very interesting, very intriguing event that ran on slightly too long but was hosted by a very personable, very humourous, very well read and very well educated man who I would not have thought a member of the clergy if it were not for the dog collar.

One of the issues under debate was Pullmans use of daemons. In classical literature sense the Daemon is an extension of the soul, and that it is used to Pullmans work. In this world each person is born with an daemon, a physical manifestation of their soul that takes many animal forms in childhood and becomes fixed as they enter adulthood. Your daemon is by your side thoughout all of your life - they are your conscience and your confidant and you cannot be separated without tragic consequences.

We were asked to consider what our daemon would be, and I half jokingly said that Hobbes, our slightly restless ginger cat, was the closest thing I had to a daemon. You've met Hobbes, right? He looks like this:

When we got home last night Hobbes was dutifully waiting outside the house, and then tripped over my feet as I popped upstairs to do a spot of internet uploading stuff. When I went out to get some food he followed me all the way to the take away, miaowing as he went. He then sat outside the take away while I collected the pizza, and followed me home all the way... running ahead and scouting for trouble.

I think Hobbes is my daemon. He was there outside the bedroom when we got up, he follows me into the bathroom to check for danger and he's been sniffing and sleeping on the pillow that Isobel uses since. Yup, that cat is part of my soul.

Apologies to Rob for turning this into a cat blog.

A little gossip, a few thoughts and a handful of concerns...

Dum de dum. Waiting for a video to upload to YouTube. It may not work so I kind of need to hang on until it processes, and it's taking aaaaaaages. Check the YouTube page in the morning and see if it's there.

Just finished a music video for the Low Lows which is what I'm uploading, plus we're in the middle of doing two video remixes for Plan B. I'm doing the hardcore Bennigbrooks drum n bass mix which is proving to be easier than I first thought... it is a painfully annoying track that, in all senses of the term, rings in your ears for hours after. I have developed a new found appreciation for the drum n bass artist though, and the simplicity of their form. These days I wouldn't be able to afford the drugs required to dance to this music. Sad, but true.

Had a lovely weekend - fun, productive and appropriately bizarre. Friday night and Saturday was spent down in Nottingham with Isobel. We just hung out, met some odd people, ate some nice food and watched Green Wing (a programme I have previously derided but now have an utmost appreciation for). She starts a job in Sheffield in a couple of weeks which is extremely exciting - it means I get to see my girl more often!

Damn. The video failed. Ok, here's another new one that you may like:


Saturday night was intriguing - just another night at work, except I got to meet* Timothy West, Prunella Scales and Alicia Witt, who played the Zoe in Cybil. She was an adolescant fantasy of mine, especially as the Darlene replacement on Cybil, and it was great to see she's as stunning in real life.

I've learnt a new phrase; "are you gonna shut up or I have to put my dick in your mouth?" Problem is I can't find anybody to say it to without causing mass offence or misconceptions about my sexuality.

They call me MR Beard.


Dave Out.

----------------------------------------------


*By meet, I mean serve popcorn to, direct to the toilet and say 'thank you' when they leave.

I've met somebody

His name is Dennis. He's 48 years old and lives in the United States. I met Dennis when I left a comment on this video on YouTube:

The comment I left said this:

• "Robert Greenwald is a great man. Check out his work on 'Outfoxed: Rupert Murdochs War on Journalism.' We need more filmmakers like him..."
  

Almost instantly Dennis replied with this touching message:

• "Looks like we have a parade of USEFUL IDIOTS in here who will believe anything the left spits out. Joseph Goebbels will be proud."

I didn't reply to this, but when Dennis made this remark:

• I wish some right wing filmaker would make a documentary on how Clinton, Albright, and meddler-in-chief, Jimmy Carter, appeased North Korea in 1994 and gave the despot, fuel, food, and nuclear technology (with a condition not to use it for weapons, yeah right!) Way to go Clinton! Kim Il Jung is grateful !

I felt compelled to reply:

• You do know that Haliburton have been selling nuclear enrichment technology to Iran for the last 7 years, don't you?
  
  Don't tell me you made that comment without knowing that, because that'd be stupid.

Ok, I admit it. I was a bit drunk and slightly argumentative. Dennis replied promptly with a fair and balanced comment.

• With all the biased major networks in cahoots with the liberal Democrats, who equally hates Haliburton, that will be the top headline news by now. Howcome the liberal media is not pursuing this scoop of a story that you claim? Is it because it's not credible and cannot be verified or substantiated? In other words, it's a lie. I guess you lack the common sense to ask these intelligent questions. Like all Michael Moore groupies, who'll believe everything, I'm not surprised.

By this point I had done a little research on Dennis and discovered that he had quite a penchant for arguing, throwing insults and making wild claims. Much like myself - I thought I had found a a friend! Here a few highlights of Dennis' other comments:

• What's really amusing (and simply amazing) is you lefties have a cabal of propagandists like Michael Moore, Robert Greenwald, Al Franken and his bankrupt Air america, Davis Guggenheim, clueless Clooney, the Hollywood elite, NBC, CBS, ABC et al, to make fakecumentaries, movies or editorials (disguised as news) to drive the lefties/socialist agenda. The irony is, it doesn't work. And those who think for themselves, and will not absorb sound bites and talking points, don't need these tripe.

• You have absolutely no moral clarity and a sufficient brain matter to make you think sensibly. Typical Lefty.

• The inconsistency of the liberals is staggering. They don't want us to fight the war on terrorism anywhere else or Iraq--yet they want us in Darfur! And their silly bleeding heart notion that a behavior problem can be stopped with money. (But Bush gave Africa 8.6 billion in aid anyway).

• There will be no government or country if you don't wake up to the reality that we have an enemy that wants to annihilate us and impose Islam on our throats. If you want to wear the Burkha, then I guess you just sit around on your sorry ass and wait for them to succeed.

• I can picture it now....dredlocks that stinks, nose rings, perhaps on the tongue, tatoo of Che Guevarra on the shoulder, awfully unkemp clothes, long strapped bag with 'peace'sign sticker, in between the 'Free Tibet" and rainbow stickers, Sandals, an old model VW with anti-Bush rhetorics plastered all over, and most of all, a Kerry--Edward campaign bumper sticker

• Aha! another Dixie Chicks clone! Take my advice, Don't make a big mistake of politicizing your show! People pay to hear you perform and not some gobledygook diatribe against Republicans. So shut up and sing! Leave your DDH4B(Demented,Deranged Hatred for Bush) syndrome at home.

• With all your incoherrent drivel against Democracy,
  conservatives, capitalism, Christians, oil companies, military, America and its ideals or mocking patriotism, and your preoccupation with those rich, white men, Who are you fooling? You're as a Leftist as the next Stalin. Perhaps your college professor is reeling with pride for you.

• And here's another fact, we are facing an evil, ruthless, barbaric enemy, unprecendented in human history, who will stop at nothing to annihilate us and shove down their 16th century religion on our throats. You are more concerned with Haliburton than our survival as a civilization and a free society. You're all consumed with hatred with one man and made it your mission in life to destroy this man. By the looks of it, you consider your own country as the enemy!

Anyway. He was jumping down everyones throats and being very entertaining, so I wrote:

• I'd hate to see things the way you you do. I've been reading all your posts and you're just so angry at everybody. You call people names and accuse them of all manner of things. You've leapt on every person who's left a comment that doesn't directly agree with you, that's pretty dark.

And then the fireside chats began:

• Better look in the mirror before you judge me. You people on the left are nothing but vile and vicious hate filled bunch. How many on your side have called for the assasination of the President? From columnists to liberal blogs & talkshow hosts. You even have a movie about President Bush's assasination. Remember Alec Baldwin's tirade calling for the stoning to death of a Republican legislator? I could list alot more of your hatefests to show your hypocrasy-but space is limited.

• What happened to your claim about Haliburton? You didn't (or afraid?) to respond about the Liberal media's reluctance to follow up your story. Your silence means only one thing..I am Right.

• Here's a good read for you: Overturning Liberalism with Common sense Thinking by Kevin McCullough. This has been my strategy all along, Common sense! your Haliburton claim is just an example. One would have the common sense to think that the liberal media will not let your allegations pass, if it were true and will be headline news for weeks--but where is it? I haven't seen it on CNN, your official liberal gazzette. I will be reading this soon to get more ammunition.

• Another 'holier than thou' liberal trying to triangulate and lecturing me about decorum and decency. And even attempting to psycho-analyse moi. while you're at it, why don't you include Cindy Sheehan, Al Franken, sewermouth Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Howard Dean, the left's darling, Hugo Chavez! Too bad space is limited.

So that's Dennis. He's my new buddy. I hope you'll welcome him as one of your own.

Here are a couple more of Dennis' wonderful comment postings. You can read the whole comments page here.

• This is not about Saudi Arabia, This is about the Muslims Jihadists/Islamo fascists scatered all over the world, coniving, scheming, planning executing to kill us! Zawahiri and Atta are Egyptians, Zarqawi is Jordanian, then there's Adam Gadahn, A (Jewish) AMERICAN traitor. There are no boundaries among Jihadists, they have one mission: they all want us dead! Here's a suggested bumper sticker that's ideal for you--"It's about our survival, stupid!"

• How about ULTIMATE VICTORY as a plan? A concept foreign to you Libs. What's worse, you liberals are tying our hands to achieve this goal. You're against detaining the enemy combatants, giving them all kinds of rights, you're against intelligence to monitor their plans and funding schemes, You're against everything that could fight them effectively! To me that's aiding and abetting the enemy.

• Folks! This is what happens when the left is cornered and loses the argument, they will attack you and avoid the issue.

The circle is complete

To complete the trilogy I have started up a Night of the Dave blog as well. So far it's my own personal news splurge with stories I find interesting and, when I have the time, my thoughts on them.

Below is the first item I posted on there, my response to the '25 Questions That Undermine the 9/11 Truth Movement.' This is the first and only time I'll cross post, but this response took me ages to write so I figured it's ok to repeat.

---------------------------------------
25 Questions That Undermine the 9/11 Truth Movement

This list of questions was recently posted on NeoAetheism.com and was addressed to those naysayers who don't believe the official US administrations explanation after investigations into 9/11. Most recently these naysayers have started using film as a medium to convey their doubts - as witnessed in such productions as Loose Change and Press For Truth.

My responses are in white.

---------------------------------------

Question #1. If the government was willing to slaughter 3,000 people for a political agenda, why haven’t inconveniences like Dylan Avery and Steven Earl Jones been silenced?

Conspiracy theorists will always exist, and they can always be painted as extremists and lunatics by the powers that be. Silencing them would have no purpose when they can just be discredited. Hell, look what happens to someone who has a legitimate complaint when they take on the right-wing media...

Question #2. Why was not one of the plane hijackers from Afghanistan or Iraq? Why were most of them from Saudi Arabia? Doesn’t that place the U.S. in a negative light?

It's not like the US administration personally hired these hi-jackers - they didn't take out help wanted ads in local papers. Osama Bin Laden, once an employee of the US, was exactly the right person to do the job. A quick word in his ear would be all that would be required to instigate this plan. When people say the US government was behind it, they don't mean they did all the planning, phone calls and photocopying - it means they were aware of the machinations in place and willfully chose to ignore them so as to create a war of distraction and create an unified, utopian, Christian country.

And as for the Saudi thing - yes it make them look bad, but they probably thought they could cover up the truth and succeed on the basis of their propaganda. They believed themselves to be the bastion of truth and that people would trust in them whatever they said. Alas, it was same theory for Scooter Libby, Ken Lay, Haliburton and, oh, the Iraq invasion.

Question #3. Why has as leftists claim no WMD been found in Iraq? Couldn’t the Bush administration easily plant them there?

That doesn't matter. What matters is they got to invade Iraq, got to invade Afghanistan, got to topple both governments and replace them with their own puppet presidents and, most importantly, seize control of their oil. Like they're trying to do with Iran right now. The ends justify the means. WMD? Yesterdays news and they know it.

Question #4. When Bush was told about the 9/11 attack in that classroom on that morning, why did he sit there for seven minutes? Why didn’t he in an act, display himself as a hero that was going to counteract the wrong that was done against our nation?

This isn't about the US administration planning the attacks. It's about instigating a chain of events that they can control and use to their benefit. It's doubtful Bush ever knew this was going to happen... he couldn't, it's way too risky. But Cheney and Rumsfeld, for example, could.

The overall idea behind all this was to provide an enemy for the Amercian public so, trembling in fear, they would align themselves behind their president and give carte blanche to the administration to do whatever was neccessary. This of course would provide cover for any foreign policy changes and any invasions that may need to be done to cover the enormous dependancy the US has on foreign, and mostly middle-eastern, oil. Problem is, the president wigged out and froze and didn't display himself to be the hero that he should have been - he did exactly the opposite. Much like in Iraq where they didn't embrace the US invasion and started fighting back.

Question #5. How is it that the Bush administration executed the most cleverly orchestrated conspiracy of all time but was not able to cover up a minor hunting incident involving Dick Cheney?

You need to lose the idea of a conspiracy - it's not like 24 with President Logan taking secret phone calls in the Oval Office, it's about a chain of events being triggered that play, ultimately, to Western interest. There's nothing to cover up, except almost a willful desire to ignore any advance warning.

Question #6. Why is it that Arabs across the Middle East danced in the streets with joy over 9/11? Were they paid off by the C.I.A.? You can view the Middle East response by text or check out a documentary showcasing it here.

Jeez. These questions are written by a guy who's read the Da Vinci Code one too many times. You think that the whole Arab response was orchestrated? Stupid question.

Question #7. Now Bush devised 9/11 with the intention to blame Muslims right? Why pray tell did he allow the granting of a visa to terrorist sponsor Mohammad Khatami? The former dictator of Iran? At the Islamic Society of North America, he had this to say,” As America claims to be fighting terrorism, it implements policies that cause the intensification of terrorism and institutionalized violence… Public opinion can be rescued from the grips of ignorance and blunder and the domination of arrogant, warmongering and violence-triggering policies will end.” During the Israel-Lebanon conflict he described Hezbollah as a “shining sun that illuminates and warms the hearts of all Muslims and supporters of freedom in the world.” Wouldn’t Bush do whatever it took to maintain his credibility and thus not let him in?

All these question utterly miss the point of the 9/11 Truth Movement. It's not about absolute control - you're imagining a fascistic society from the 1940s - it's about a political landscape that allows for the dominance of one ideology over another. Dissidence is good. Opinion is good. It creates the impression of a free society. Why would the Administraion (I'm not saying President here as it's stupid to imply that he was the mastermind) orchestrate such events and then become fascistic in nature immediately afterwards? Again, stupid question.

Question #8. Why did the draft that the likes of John Kerry kept parroting never come into occurrence?

The military draft is a subject that's brought up whenever America enters a conflict. It has no relevance here.

Question #9. If George W. Bush invaded Iraq for oil, why did it take three years for the oil production there to rise above pre-war levels?

Again, what do you imagine? They invade Iraq and the first step is the oilfields? That would be an acknowledgment of their real intentions. The Iraq oil production has stayed out of the headlines and allowed to slowly build. Who cares about that when there's American soldiers dying? That is such a naive question.

The more interesting points to note are the speed with which the Taliban government were ousted and given an ex-Oil lobbyist as a president instead, and the fact that US Peak Oil Production occured sometime in the early 1970s. The three largest untapped oil reserves in the world are in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Kazikstan. Invaded one, tried to invade another and courting the last with promises of investment.

Question #10. Why has there been not a single structural engineering expert that has come forward saying 9/11 was done by the government?

Who says they haven't? Who said they tried and were discredited by the Administration and ignored by the media.

Question #11. There are allegations that a missile hit the pentagon. As shown by the pictures in this computer simulation showing light poles sliced in two, how could a missile do this? The "9/11 Truth Movement" still has yet to explain the enormous eyewitness accounts found here and here.

I'd still like to know how a plane vaporised on impact when that's proven to be physically impossible. Seriously. Missile or no missle, where's the remains on the fucking plane?

Question #12. There’s no dispute that two planes hit the world trade centers. Were men of the C.I.A. willing to die for the Bush administration by flying the planes?

Good god! These really are stupid questions. They were real Arabs, with a real willingness to die. They weren't CIA men browned up and putting on silly accents.

Question #13. What is the difference when the religious can not explain an event and say “God did it!” and conspiracy theorists who can not explain an event and say “Bush did it!”?

Those planes really hit those towers, and somewhere down the line someone really allowed this to happen. God did not throw the planes. Is this question meant to be philisophical or rhetorical? Either way, the two are incomparable.

It's these sort of opinions that contribute directly to idea that anyone who questions the official line is a conspiracy nut. It's irresponsable and it's naive. I don't agree with everything in Loose Change - in fact I thing much of it is pretty flimsy - but, good grief, they're valid questions and we deserve answers.

Question #14. How come Bill Clinton isn't said to be part of the conspiracy? Didn't he let Osama Bin Laden go numerous times?

Yeah, all you have to do is check the signatures on all those pardons that Osama received. I could go on about Clinton being terrorised to distraction by Republican hitmen over a sexual misdemeanor and use Bosnia as an example but that would give further weight to the validity of these questions. I will say, though, that Cheney and Rumsfeld have been in the Administration since before Reagan (who, lest we forget, employed Bin Laden in the first place and gave him the funding and training he needed). Presidents are puppets, it's the people controlling the strings you need to worry about.

Question #15. Applying Occam's razor, don't we come to the conclusion that human incompetence would be the most reasonable explanation for the 9/11 tragedy?

Greed, my friend, is the most reasonable explanation for the 9/11 tragedy. That and a near divine belief that you, and only you, are right.

Question #16. Seeing as how most of the war conspiracies have to do with oil endeavors, why has the United States placed an oil embargo on Iran for quite some time now?

Two reasons; The first is to keep the world oil production at a steady level - an influx of the stuff would be as bad for the economy as a shortage. These people aren't stupid - they're ex-oil men for Christs sake. It's not about having all the oil in the world NOW, it's about controlling the supply in the future.
The second has to do with alliance - Iran famously sold their oil in Euros, not dollars, which undermined the US currency. That was when the 'Iran could make a bomb' stories first emerged (incidentally, Halliburton have been selling nuclear enrichment technology to Iran since 2000 - which was when Bush and Cheney dismantled the 'selling nuclear materials to rogue nations' law - arguing it was against the free speech rights of corporations to restrict who they can do business with). Iran, also incidentally, was a friend of the US during the initial war on terror but found their offers of negotiation flatly ignored once Afghanistan was conquored. They then appeared as one of the 'axis of evil' which gave fuel to the anti-US sentiment that was brewing.

Anyway. Iran is with China. China is the new world superpower and has unprecidented control over the US because of their overwhelming import / export ratio. Obviously you can't fuck with the Chinese, but you can fuck with their major oil supplier.

Question #17. What fascist government in history has butchered thousands of people only then to let people openly protest it across the country?


Heh. France. It's also worth noting that the US aren't (at least openly) a fascistic government. To paraphrase Noam Chomsky, why bother controlling people when you can make them think they're free?

Question #18. Taking the conspiracy at face value, why aren't aren't the "9/11 Truthers" getting the hell out of the United States? Wouldn't they be gravely afraid from a government that just menacingly slaughtered three thousand of its own citizens?

Dude, that's a stupid fucking question.

Question #19. Wouldn't a 9/11 conspiracy demonstrate the horrific consequence of big government? So why are "9/11 Truthers" still consistently for government based solutions (Medicare, Social Security, welfare, etc., and even government education)?

Ignoring how loaded and inaccurately phrased your question is (there's that suggestion that you're either one or the other again - how people love to polarise an issue) it is still retarded. Asking questions about the most significant event of our generation and believing in the basic requirements of government to provide services and aid for its population are utterly unconnected.

Question #20. How can it be that the "9/11 Truthers" believe in such a sinister government and at the same time want to deprive the common man the tools to stop it (being for gun control)?

Once again you have stopped picking holes in the arguments and started alluding to the 'un-American' attitude of anybody who dares raise these issues. Your question is another example of the slow form of socialisation that occurs to convince the public at large that not following the official party line is unpatriotic.

With this question your are directly suggesting that these '9/11 Truthers' are working against the people of the United States. Where does the assumption that people who don't believe the official explanation of 9/11 want to suppress your basic freedoms come from? In the wake of this terrible event you have seen far more suppression of human rights by your own government than by the people who question them.

As for your example of gun control. Are you fucking serious? How are the two connected? Although I'd say that the events of the last week are enough to suggest that, I dunno, automatic weapons shouldn't be available to the general public or, oh lets see, the NRA fight against banning weapons on school property wasn't their greatest move. While you're at it why not claim that abortions rob America of good patriots, or that the death penalty is good old Western justice, or that they hate Bush because they won't accept Jesus as their personal saviour?

Dude. You're a tool.

Question #21. Why wasn't the conspiracy done at night so that it has a lesser chance of being exposed?

Great question. I have no answer to that. Exactly how does one do a "conspiracy at night"?

Question #22. Why didn't the goverment just exclusively use the bombs (that allegedly brought down the towers) instead of involving the planes in the WTC attacks? Doesn't that just needlessly overcomplicate things and create a greater chance of being discovered as a government plot?

Again, another great question. Well done. You were having a real brain day there. What's more suspicious; two building essential to the world economy suddenly blow up for no reason and the government say it was terrorists. Or actual terrorists really attack a building and the government get to exploit world favour and do what they want.

Question #23. Why did the conspiracy arrangers crash a plane in the middle of nowhere instead of using it to kill even more people?

I think we can all agree that the passengers of the Flight 93 really did bring that plane down before it hit its target.

Question #24. Why crash a plane into the pentagon? Doesn't just hamper the efforts toward the wars to come?

Because that'd be like robbing every house on a street except yours. Want another cliche? You can't make an omlette without breaking some eggs.

Question #25. George W. Bush claims that the terrorists hate us because of our freedoms. So why wasn't the Statue of Liberty attacked to demonstrate this?

Firstly they don't hate us because of our freedoms. That's rhetocial nonsense that means nothing. They hate us because our freedoms are secured by oppressing, bullying and controlling the rest of the world and - above all else - them. It ain't hard to work out.

The Statue of Liberty is just a statue (given to you, lest we forget, by those cheese eating surrender monkeys the French) with only a couple of hundred people inside and would have little effect. The Twin Towers is vital to the economy of the Whole Western World and destroying them is an attack on our way of living - aggressive capitalism - and not just some half baked notion of freedom. This question demonstrates your absolute lack of understanding of this subject - the geopolitcial, historical, ethical and governmental influences are completely ignored in favour of rhetorical jingoism.

---------------------------------

I'm happy to argue these points. Truth be told I enjoy it. What worries me is that this list of questions received relatively mainstream media attention. Questioning the questioners is always a good idea, but this list is presented as a valid argument when in truth all it is is another attempt to discredit anyone who doesn't swallow the 'truth.' The questions are loaded, speculative and based on little or no evidence - infact they read a little like a list of charges that must be defended.

I'm not sure what happened that day. No-one is. I don't buy anything the Administration says, but I also find it hard to believe that they swapped planes, changed serial numbers and murdered citizens. I think that there are a staggering amount of questions that need to answered and these so called '9/11 Truthers' are the only people asking them. Publicity like this does not help the learned person achieve any form of understanding in this world, it just helps to undermine them.

We Need Your Help

Go Sheffo are a local fanzine that I occasionally write for. A couple of years ago they had an incredible idea to convert the now defunct cooling towers on the outskirts of Sheffield into giant works of art. Designs were submitted from people all over the world and the idea really caught the imagination of the local people.

Then they went and won the Channel 4 Public Art competition and the idea looked like it might just actually happen - especially when Antony Gormley, the artist behind the Angel of the North, backed them. This could be an amazing thing to happen to Sheffield, one that could cement our reputation as a leading artistic city and help shift the public impression of us beyond just Meadowhall and a dead steel industry.


But now they've hit a problem. Eon, the company who owns the Towers, have suddenly decided that they want to destroy them - something not even considered before this idea was mooted - and the Sheffield City Council, in another act of selling out the populace, have stated that the area is prime for retail regeneration. The last thing Sheffield needs is another large Meadowhall to squeeze more soul out of this city.

We need your help.

Please read the email below and help us out in anyway you can. It's desperately important that you sign the petition.

Thanks.

-----------------------------------

This is Sheffield calling. Our city needs your help.

We've had an idea to change the way the world sees Sheffield. To make our city better. It's a project called Cooling The Towers. But it's all under threat. Please take five minutes to read this email. Then forward it to everyone else.

This is the best idea Sheffield ever had.

-----------------------

Cooling the Towers

There are two cooling towers on the edge of Sheffield, next to Meadowhall and the M1.

Currently they mean grey, industrial, Full Monty. Sheffield is over.

We want to turn them into massive works of public art that mean what Sheffield is now: green, creative and different. And amazing.

We've been working on this for two years and from running an initial competition for ideas in our fanzine GO ( www.dontgo.co.uk ), we're now working with Channel 4 as one of the winners of their Big Art Project ( www.channel4.com/bigart). Channel 4 love the idea, and have applied for funding to make it a reality. This is possible. We're almost there.

BUT there's a baddy in the story. They're a big baddy. The owners of the site are called Eon. They own Powergen. After four months of negotiations, and all our arguments for why this is a good idea (which you can find on our website) they've decided to knock the towers down and build another industrial shed.

Sheffield wins again.

We think this is too good an idea and too good a chance for Sheffield to just give up, and let them have their way. Knocking these towers down will be a tragedy.

So we need your help.

-------------------------------

What if you're not from Sheffield? This still affects you. It's just another example of A Big Corporation with no brains doing what they want and ignoring people like you and me. We're not luddites and we're not revolutionaries. We've just got a good idea and they're not interested in listening. Who decides how our cities develop, what they mean? Us or them?

----------------------------

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:

SIGN THE PETITION
Someone's already set a petition up. You can see how strongly people feel. Sign it here http://www.petitiononline.com/tct2/petition.html

GO TO MYSPACE
We're working on a proper website, but for now this is the digital HQ. This is where you'll information and updates. Be our friend. Get your friends to be our friends. www.myspace.com/coolingthetowers

EMAIL EON
Tell them why they're wrong. For some sample text, click here. Email the chief exec here: paul.golby@eon-uk.com That's Dr Paul Golby to you. Evidently he's not got a doctorate in Doing The Right Thing. It only takes five minutes. Do it now.

TURN EON OFF
If you're a customer, tell them you'll change power suppliers if the towers are knocked down. In fact, just do it now. Why not go a bit greener? Eon produce more CO2 every year than the whole of Croatia. Change to Ecotricity www.ecotricity.co.uk/switch

SHOW YOUR FACE
We're going to create a photographic petition. As well as a list of names, we want to actually show the world how many people support these towers and this project. So if you do, take a picture of yourself, or the towers, or of you holding the phrase 'THE TOWERS ARE OURS' and send it to us with your name and location. We'll put it on the website. And tell your friends to do it too. Send it here go.sheffield@gmail.com

-----------------------

We love this city so much. We're not going to sit back and watch it lose out again. We're tired of Sheffield being the loser. We want people across the world to know what this city means, realise how brilliant it is.

We don't want another toys r us.

Please help us.

Love from

GO X

Photoshopped propaganda

Not much going on in my head these last few days, so instead enjoy these amusing photoshopped versions of classic propaganda posters. More here, or even more original ones here.

Outstanding levels of hypocrisy

I love Bill O'Reilly. He's amazing. I love him. Truly madly deeply.

This is a man who cannot be sued for liable or defamation of character because you would have to prove he knew he was lying, and with O'Reilly it verges on pathological.

If you don't know who he is, his website is here and he looks like this:

This is a good clip of him, right here, right now:

The references to Jeremy Glick can be understood by watching this. Also amazing.

I've been a subscriber to his weekly e-letter for several years now, and it's brilliant. It's not only informed about American news, it's also an insight into the ravings of an ultra right-wing loudmouth and a great example of how to hide the fact you're an ultra right-wing loudmouth. I've resisted posting his emails before, but this new personal message is too good not to share.

I'd like you to read it, consider the argument, then read it again. Then consider he's the highest-rated broadcaster on Fox News. Then read it again. It's amazing!

-----------------------

The Attack of the
Hyper-Partisans
Nothing stands in the way of their belief system. Not facts, not provable truth.

By Bill O'Reilly.

Are you a hyper-partisan? If so, stop it right now. These people are damaging America and I'm calling them out.

First, a definition: A hyper-partisan is a person who does not seek the truth; rather, he or she tailors information to fit a preconceived political viewpoint. What is actually happening in the world is not important to these ideological zombies; it's all about reinforcing their core beliefs.

Thus, no matter what President Bush does for example, he's wrong. There is absolutely nothing the man can do that would please the hyper-partisans who oppose him. On the opposite ideological page, Bill and Hillary Clinton are Satan's spawn. They are evil all day, every day.

How boring is this? If it were just a few Kool-Aid drinking nuts, no one would care. But now you have entire media outlets that have gone hyper-partisan. Newspapers like The Boston Globe and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution are just about entirely left wing. Yes, their circulations are in a freefall, but no journalistic enterprise should be hyper-partisan.

----------------------------

Brilliant! And this in the week that Fox launch their new religious brand, FoxFaith.
The world is going insane. Doublespeak doublespeak doublespeak.

--------------------------

UPDATE: Bill O'Reilly lies about being on an Al Qaeda 'deathlist'

I love this fucking guy...!

Relative

Everytime I think about the state of the world, I think we're fucked. Can't help it. It's the way my mind works. I don't think the human race are evil, I just think we're stupid. I read the headlines and a picture of doomsday is painted in my mind.
For example, the headlines on Yahoo right now are:

• Annan Warns of Civil War as Iraq bombs kill scores.
• UN Commander says troops won't disarm Hezbollah.
• Lawyers go to Court for Guantanamo Detainee.
  
• Violence Erupts at Protests in Hungary.
• Stubborn California Wildfire Doubles in Size.

Ignoring, for a second, any issue of press bias, political motivation, corporate agenda, financial interest or any other form of partisan journalism, lets just look at the headlines. It doesn't paint a pretty picture. Foreign wars, religious ideologies, errosion of civil liberties, political strife and natural disasters... and thats just an example.

(What I actually find most terrifying is that I have to suggest a waivering of thoughts about "press bias, political motivation, corporate agenda, financial interest or any other form of partisan journalism" before even talking about this, but thats another subject).

And lest we forget the stories that largely go unreported; the AIDS crisis in Africa, the grossly disproportional profits of Western corporations, the global threat of climate change. There is no mistaking that this is a fragile time for civilisation. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only person who thinks we're fucked... I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who longs for the return of reason and charity to this world... I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who thinks we're fucked.

But are we fucked? This is the first time of global crisis that I have lived through, the first period of civil and political unrest that I've experienced. The world is changing, and not in our favour (be that as either a western civilisation, or as a global populace), and although I have read about such times before, I've never lived through one. That also means I have no frame of reference.

Did it feel this dramatic during the Cuban Missile Crisis? The world truly teeted on the edge of destruction for a few days... or did it? I don't know, I wasn't there, and how do I know that history hasn't exaggerated it? How do I know that the arms race really was that threatening? Should I believe that documentary instead, the one that explained the arms race was just a construct designed to financially cripple an otherwise defunct communist system? I don't know. I wasn't there.

I only have history to use as a reference, and history has taught me that most modern day conflicts are politically motivated and are instigated and controlled by Western governments. Usually in the pursuit of oil. And we always win.

So what's up with the world? Are we really fucked? Are we really going to destroy ourselves this time? Is the earth going to do it for us instead? Have we cried wolf for the last time? Or is this just another period in human history where it's all suggested and implied, and in 20 years we'll look back and laugh? I don't know anymore.

The more I learn, the more I discover it's all a lie... but the more I see, the more I believe it's true. Is this time period just the same as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Arms Race and just another example of our willingness to cocktease the idea of destruction, or is it the real deal?

Either way, I can't shake the feeling that we're being fucked with...

OK, Go...!

I'd never seen this before, although obviously many other people have, but I think it's brilliant. OK Go on the treadmills.

9/11 Remembered

I'd just like to go on record saying that I thought the daytime coverage by ITN news of the September 11th anniversary was stunning. In no way was it sensationalist, in no way did they revel in gory details, in no way did they gleefully overuse words like "carnage" and "massacre" and in no way did they flippantly cover the aftermath in the style of the Day Today. I thought their glorious close-ups of grieving children waving aloft pictures of lost parents was wonderfully subtle and not at all exploitative, and their interviews with family members did not patronise a single sole.

In short, bravo to our broadcaster of choice for a sensitive, balanced and entirely appropriate news item. It is nice to know that we can rely on your entirely professional broadcasts no matter what the news story, and at the same time be thankful that you will never explore a single subject that we, the audience, may find confusing or goes against the status-quo.

You're a credit to your profession.

Top 25 stories ignored by the media in the past year

Taken directly from BoingBoing.net
-------------------------------------
Each year, Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25 socially significant news stories of social significance said to have been missed, underreported or self-censored by mainstream press in the US. Here are some of this year's picks:

#1 Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media
#2 Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran
#3 Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger
#4 Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in the US
#5 High-Tech Genocide in Congo
#6 Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy
# 7 US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq
#8 Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of Information Act
#9 The World Bank Funds Israel-Palestine Wall
#10 Expanded Air War in Iraq Kills More Civilians

Here's the complete list, and here's the details on each.

-------------------------------------

Missing

update: FOUND!

Came home. All is forgiven...

Plug

Have you been to the Watch With Mothers review blog recently...?
It's really rather good.

Thank you, by the way, to all the people (3! Fuck me, I'm a hit aren't I) who posted comments on the functionality and viewability of the blog. Cheeers, nice to know it's viewable.

Also, there's some new photos up at Day of the Dave.

New Design

I've made a few minor changes to the design, or rather template choice, of this blog and its sister site Day of the Dave. I've checked it with Internet Explorer and Firefox and, frankly, it looks weird and different on both. If you, my loyal 7 readers, could let me know how it looks to you, via the comments page, then that'd be great.

Right now I have a combination of either tiny links, no background, huge font size and no imagination. If you have any of those problems, none of those problems or a whole new bunch of problems then let me know.

The normal programming of angry ranting, bad theory and an over inflated sense of my own self importance will resume shortly.

Thank you.

Crocodile Tears

As quoted on the Showroomers blog:

"how could one stingray pierce so many hearts?"

Steve Irwin. RIP.

---

currently listening to: Bachelorette - Bjork

---