They get Milliontown by Frost tomorrow, 6 days before it's realased here on the 24th.

Bastards! :)

1. Why is life so bleeding complicated?
2. Why is it so difficult to get things to go right?
3. Why is it so easy to get them to go wrong?

No. I'm not about to elaborate, but I expect most people have their own spurs for asking the exact same questions.

Tagged: life, reflection

MySpace is fucked and unresponsive again.

I know that doesn't constitute news, but I have a great talent for stating the bleedin' obvious. And with MySpace in teh state it has been the last 2 months it's all too easy...

I've just lost a friend. I received a call about 9 hours ago telling me that a friend died of lung cancer 24 hours earlier. I then shared the taks of breaking the news to other friends. She was a close friend's wife, a friend in her own right, and I was their Best Man. Not surprisingly I'm feeling more than a little morose, and wrapped up in doom and death.

It reminded me of something I was discussing with Twang a short while back, whcih kind of links in with the Prog show last Friday with Jem Godfrey. Many bands - usually very proggy, but not always - have made concept albums based on or strongly influenced by works of classical fiction or drama (most obviously the Alan Parsons Project who made about 8 based on various things from Edgar Allen Poe - my favourite author - to Isaac Asimov - on my list of other favourites). Why is it no-one's ever tackled (to my knowledge, at least) Shakespeare's Macbeth? Surely that's ripe for the picking? Or is it just so iconic that no-one has the balls to try?

Just a thought.

No, this isn't a stock fraud gone haywire.

The Answer, Rise is out today. If you like old school blues rock, this is a must. These boys should go far. in 20 years time this could well be one of the classics od the decade we talk about.

Another one to look out for, if you're at all proggy in your tastes, but particularly if you like your Hackett-era Genesis and/or Dream Theater, or indeed last year's Kino release Picture, is Frost's Milliontown. It should be out in 4 weeks time. Prog Rock is back, but without the gaudy paisley shirts. This is a true renaissance - not just revisiting themes of the 70s, but bringing it bang up to date. These are just the first of what looks to be a bumper crop of prog releases due over the next couple of years.

All about tightening up safety and privacy, in particular making it difficult for adults to contact minors. Hmm - yeah - that's really gonna work. How many adults already pretend to be 14 years old to keep their profiles private, already? What's to stop a predator doing the same to keep within the age group. Masquerading as the same age as their prey is what they do initially, anyway...

Sometimes I wonder if these people really think things through. Still, something's better than nothing, I guess.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5101942.stm

MySpace is back to being properly international. No more of this UK/AU/DE crap.

For once I'm pleasantly surprised.

Actually, you already have been, and it's been exploited to some extent. Now it's going feel the true corporate touch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5078290.stm

Two articles in one day. Well...

Someone please explain to me why someone goes all out to get attention on MySpace, and then when you give them a little supportive encouragement when they're down they tell you to bugger off. How does that work, exactly. I'm just a tad confused. There really are some very oddly balanced people in this world.

Got my first MySpace porn spam today.

"Hi I'm new to MySpace, and I thought I'd send a few random messages to see what it's like." Yeah, right - account number 33 million and something and she's new. Ba-duh! "I like to prance around in front of my web cam." and some link to some porn site somewhere. Yeah, yeah. Like I'm really that wet behind the ears.

So impressed. Not.