Category Archives: Other Writing

Record Store Day

Today is/has been Record Store Day, an international event that started in America to promote independent record shops. In these days of large corporations/chain stores, online shops and downloads, record shops are becoming rarer. It seems like a sensible idea to have a promotional day to help these small businesses.

I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never been in to one. I have three fairly good reasons for this.
a) I only developed an interest in music 18 months ago so I completely missed the stage most normal people seem to go through in their teens where they discover music and all that surrounds it, b) I’m painfully shy so even if I knew where there was a decent music shop locally I would be too scared to go in, and
c) I live as far from the centre of culture and civilisation as it’s possible to get, metaphorically speaking, while still being on Earth. I’m exaggerating, it only feels like I live in a wasteland of chavs and ignorance.

I had a look on the Record Store Day website, thinking I’d use today to get over one of my fears (or at least reduce it a bit), maybe see if there was anything I liked, and found the nearest record shops are 30+ miles away (less if I were prepared to go to Hull *shudder*). That’s either a fair bit of petrol or a bus or train fare depending on where I’m going. I may have mentioned this already, but I’m a bit skint at the minute. So not happening. Drat.

Maybe next year.

Completely separate from my main nonsense tonight; I haven’t been able to post the entry I was going to put up about the random bands that follow my Twitter, because I was at a party at my sister’s and she banned me from using her wifi as I was meant to be being sociable. I don’t see why I can’t be sociably antisocial?

I got my manky feet out and scared people with them as revenge and also told my little sister I was planning to get a massive tattoo on my back and dye my hair multicoloured for Download.

As soon as I get to a wifi connection I’ll post the blog entry I wrote yesterday. It’s really frustrating not having the internet at home right now.

Rose

What I spent my afternoon doing…

I have Twitter, you may or may not know this, but I do. Occasionally I get new followers, can’t imagine why, and sometimes they are bands drumming up support. Usually I don’t take much notice, which is very rude of me, I know, but I’m still a bit weird about the whole concept. However I was at a loose end this afternoon and started looking through my list of Twitter followers at the bands on there.

I started looking them up, listening to a few songs and looking at their websites, social network pages, YouTube channels etc. The blog post I have written with my summaries is too long to do on my phone, so I’m going to type it up on the laptop and when I get to a wifi connection tomorrow I’ll post it.

Bye, have a good weekend,

Rose

[Edit: I was banned from using the internet at my sister’s house as it was a party. Apparently that means I have to be sociable *sigh* As a result I can’t get the planned blog post up just yet. Normal service will be resumed just as soon as I can persuade someone to let me use their wifi connection. 20/4/2013]

Question…

I’m currently reading a book I’m reviewing for Book Hub Inc, and it’s sending me batty. I’ve never reviewed books for other people before; I generally read something because it’s taken my interest and then write about it. But I thought I’d give it a go.

I chose a non-fiction book that the title and blurb suggested was scientific in nature. I’m about a third of the way through it, and I want to slap the author. No, really I do. My question is, when I write my review how blunt am I allowed to be? Is, say, a variation on ‘the author is ignorant and talking out of their arse’ too much? My ‘I don’t like misinformation’ sense is screaming, thus the itchy palms.

I might be forced to write two reviews, the polite version for the company I’m reviewing for, and the blunt version for here. They’ll both say the same thing, just with different words.

Right, back to it.

Rose

The frustrations of being broke

I really like my Spotify account. All that music, just waiting to be played. And all completely legally as well. It’s great.

Well, except for the slight problem that when I’m waiting for new albums to drop I have to wait just a bit longer. If I could afford it I’d buy hard copies of most of the albums I would like; but I can’t and Spotify gets me round that problem. I buy very few physical copies of albums, which is usually fine, an arrangement I’m happy with because I don’t have a huge amount of space and some stuff is difficult to get hold of.

But not right now, right now I really want to hear the new Fall Out Boy and Sacred Mother Tongue albums.

And I can’t.

Because Spotify doesn’t have them yet. They’re on iTunes already, and it’s not long past midnight. I shall check again later today, but it’s very frustrating all this waiting.

Rose

[Edit: I’ve just thought of something else that frustrates me about being broke; I have no internet connection, which leaves me relying on friends and family for the use of their wifi, which I hate. 20/04/2013]

Short story competition

http://www.britishfantasysociety.co.uk/news/the-bfs-short-story-competition-is-back-2/

I saw this on Twitter about a minute ago and I’m already cursing the fact that I don’t have internet at home. The website is too big to open on my BlackBerry. I’m actually considering entering the competition, but I want to read more of the details.

Going now, I still haven’t had breakfast and I have more music to listen too and write about.

Rose

In none writing related news…well, actually…

I have a job interview next week.

If I get the job I’ll probably be working twelve hour shifts, which means I’ll have less time for writing, but more money to do the things I like to write about. It’ll work out somehow. I’m not going to stop writing just because I finally get a decent lab job.

That’s it, that’s all I was going to say.

Hang on, no it’s not.

I was reading ‘The shifting price of prey’ by Suzanne McLeod, but I couldn’t get into it, despite enjoying the earlier books in the ‘Spellcrackers.com’ series. It’s going back to the library. I might take it out again in the future.

Books I’m looking forward to reading this year include:

The Science of Discworld IV by Terry Pratchett, Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart
Published 11th April 2013

The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Published 20th June 2013

Albums I am looking forward to hearing this year:

Fall Out Boy
‘Save Rock and Roll’
15th April 2013

Sacred Mother Tongue
‘Out Of The Darkness’
15th April 2013

HIM
‘Tears on Tape’
29th April 2013

30 Seconds to Mars
‘Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams’
21st May 2013

I intend to review them all.
And now I must go, I’ve got a computer booked at the library in ten minutes.

Bye Bye

Rose

Just as soon as I get my laptop to a wifi connection…

Good afternoon,

Having a bit of a lazy day today since my back is bad again. But I have managed to get a bit of writing done. I went out yesterday afternoon to a place that does children’s parties. Not because I’m weird, mostly groups of children irritate me, no, it was my godson’s birthday party. And since the venue is in a tourist town I thought I’d review it, for anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in Cleethorpes on a wet day. I shall probably post my review on Saturday.

Other than that I’ve been for a walk, did some of my computer course work and finished reading ‘The Black Butterfly’ by Mark Gatiss. And eaten six Cadbury’s Creme Eggs – which is not something I recommend anyone doing. I feel quite unwell now 😦

Bye,

Rose

My Chemical Romance split

During my early morning Facebook and Twitter check yesterday (yeah, yeah, I know, but I couldn’t sleep) I heard that MCR had split up. Now these sort of rumours appear all the time about various bands so my first thought was ‘hoax’, but then I checked their website for news and the Kerrang! blog.

‘Tis a great shame, and rather unexpected, since I’d heard they were working on some new songs. I’d hoped to see them live next year. It’s no secret that until mid-2011 I had no interest whatsoever in music, it had just never been a part of my world, but now it is. MCR was/is one of my favourites. I like everything they’ve done.

I know people who have been fans for years, who say MCR saved them and who have their own preferred eras; it’s quite interesting that some people seem to prefer the album they heard first. I feel that in coming to them late, after they put out Danger Days, it means that rather than comparing an album to the one before, or a favourite, I’ve been able to see each album as the distinct entities they are, rather than having an expectation of more of the same. I can hear the transition between ‘Black Parade’ and ‘Danger Days’ in ‘Conventional Weapons’, and the increased polish between ‘Bullets’ and ‘Revenge’. Each album is enjoyable in it’s own right, yet all have the same message of hope to those in pain.

Decried as dangerous by tabloids and insulted as ’emo’, this band paired introspection and emotional lyrics with an almost punk aggression in their style of performing. They started out quite dark in song content and band imagery but changed and, importantly the music continually evolved as the Way’s and their friends grew up and changed themselves.

In the last twelve years MCR have made some memorable music. I personally love ‘Thank you for the venom’, ‘I’m not okay’ and ‘Boy Division’ as well as ‘Na, Na, Na (Na, Na, Na)’ and ‘Welcome to The Black Parade’. The lyrics are powerful and occasionally make me cry, for the pain the writer must have gone through to write something so beautiful, and for those who have been brought back from the brink by the music. For all that the videos for ‘Danger Days’ are in the same melancholic vein as their earlier work, the songs themselves never fail to make me smile. I love the graphic nature of the songs and the strong imagery they evoke.

But my opinion on My Chemical Romance’s musical style and image is not important right now; what I want to say is My Chemical Romance were one of the first bands I was ever a fan of, one of the first bands in who’s members I ever took an interest beyond ‘that sounds good, I suppose’. The music they made means a lot to me, and has been a great help to me at times. The band and their music also mean a great deal to some of my closest friends (including my 5 year old godson who, when I went to visit, announced before I had my coat off, ‘Rosie, we have bad news; MCR have split’; apparently he wailed when he was told by his mum. He’d wanted to go to see them next time they toured, his favourite song is ‘Sing’ and he adores the videos for ‘Danger Days’).

So, I’d like to thank them for the music.
And MCRmy/Killjoys; ‘You get a lifetime’, make the best of it. Keep going; they’re still living and creating so we will hear from them again, just maybe not as MCR.

Bye

Rose