Monday 26 October 2015

Lawn mowers of the world, unite and take over

Don't judge me but, when I'm cutting the grass and have to flick the mower's power lead out of the way with a sinusoidal ripple, I sometimes imagine I am Morrissey, doing this:

Morrissey flicks mic cable - photo credit: Dave Bullock, davebullock.com

I like to think I probably have the same facial expression as I do it too.

If you can think of a good Moz-related lawn pun, you know where the comments box is.

Thursday 1 October 2015

So long, and thanks for all the jams ...

This Is My Jam is no more. The music micro-blogging site (no, I can't think of a better way of describing it either) closed its virtual doors to new jams last week. I had been a regular jammer since mid-2012; I loved its simplicity and the avowed intent, allowing me to share tracks that I think are excellent with the world, with the reasons why, accruing followers on that basis, and then discovering the tracks jammed by those that I chose to follow. It was a bit like being back at school and someone lending you a ratty old C90 and saying, "You've got to hear this." But much bigger, much more immediate and with no tape hiss.

If you're interested, TIMJ have archived all the content, so you can browse through the 200 tracks I endorsed over the years right here. You can skim the highlights, peruse a year at a time, or play the whole lot in Spotify, if that's your bag. Me, I still like the way they mashed together a year's posts into a medley in 2012 and 2013.

We TIMJ disciples were given over a month's notice that the end was coming, and the community starting looking for alternatives. The most popular one, initially at least, was Let's Loop. I duly signed up but have since deleted my account - the site was just too busy, too hectic, trying to do too many things at once, and all with a decidedly Fisher Price design. However, you can currently find me on both God's Jukebox (TIMJ-like in its simplicity but still in beta) and Nusiki (more polished, and with a working TIMJ-import). Whether I will continue to post jams on both remains to be seen (ha, "jams" indeed - see how hard habits die). Who knows, I might even bin both, and just get back to blogging clandestine classics on this very site (for both my readers). In the meantime, I'll leave you with the very first song I posted on TIMJ, back on the 9th of May 2012; now, as then, I'm in the mood for crooning, even if only stone and steel accept my love ...

P.S. Whenever I post this song, I feel duty-bound to link to Harry Hill's version too. Enjoy