Thursday 5 February 2009

Brenda’s Tag

Well I finally got around to this Brenda, apologies for the delay.

This is what to do:

Share six random things about yourself

  1. Tag six people and let them know they are tagged on their own blog
  2. Feel free to play the way you want.

Well I'm not going to tag anyone, I already feel I've tagged enough so just feel free to go for this if you want to.

I found it hard, trying to find six things I hadn’t already rambled on about and things I hadn’t included in the last tag.

1. I have a strange attitude to holidays. I spend ages planning them, checking the places out, organising clothes etc. I’ve already started to get out my maps, phrase book etc for our next holiday in May. The anticipation of the holiday is a major part of it. However, once it gets near the date, I don’t want to go. I start wishing I hadn’t booked it. I think of all the things that might go wrong.

~ Something might happen to one of the cats while I’m away, well they’re both about twenty so it could but I have a great pet nanny who looks after them.
~ What if one of us is ill? Well it could happen and we are in a strange country and we’d have to cope.
~ We could be burgled. Yes we could, but that could happen anyway even I we’re at home.
~ The house could catch fire and we'd come back to nowhere to live, just like Victor Meldrew. Well as long as the cats were OK, we're insured and everything apart from the cats could be replaced. Oh my photographs couldn't, I should find a fireproof safe to keep them in.

This happens to me every time now, I should be used to it. However once I get in the car to go to the airport I’m fine. Needless to say it doesn’t stop me booking another once we get back

2. I’m a coffee snob. Well my daughter says I am. I don’t think I am that bad. I have to admit I don’t like instant or filter coffee and only like my latte and cappuchino made from proper espresso coffee machines. I have been known to peer into a cafĂ©/coffee shop to see what kind of a coffee machine they have. I’m too embarrassed to go in and ask, just in case it’s not suitable because then I’d have to come out again.

3. I used to play the violin. My granddad bought me my own violin and I started to learn to play it at school. The main reason for doing this was because you could get out of playing sport and going to PE lessons by going to violin lessons and practising. I hated hockey, netball and anything like that. I was too small and I haven’t an ounce of competitive spirit in me. I also hated school, so when I left at 16, I stopped playing my violin. It’s one of my greatest regrets, I really liked it but wanted to get away from all things associated with school. I love to hear Yehudi Menuhin playing, the sound is so sweet not the horrible screeching I probably made.

4. I don’t lose my temper easily. I haven’t lost it a lot in my life because when I do I’m really horrible. One problem is I know I let things build up and don’t speak out when I should, usually because I’m trying to keep everybody happy. The rare occasions when I lose my temper leave me drained, I can’t forget about it, I cry and can’t sleep. What a wimp! Why am I not a bit more assertive then it wouldn’t get to the losing my temper stage?

5. I’m a very patient driver. People seem to be very impatient and use the horn a lot these days. I rarely use it because I don’t like it when people start beeping and you jump wondering are they beeping at you.

6. I like telly much more than I used to. I suppose I didn’t have as much time to watch it when I worked.
I love:
~ Good comedies like Jeeves and Wooster, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Last of the Summer Wine, Blackadder, The Royle Family, One Foot in the Grave, Dad’s Army, Only Fools and Horses, and anything with Victoria Wood and Julie Walters in it.
~ Dramas like Kingdom, Wild at Heart, The Royal and Heartbeat.
~ Costume dramas like Pride and Prejudice, Cranford and Larkrise to Candleford.
~ Police and detective shows as long as the violence isn’t too graphic. My favourites include Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Pie in the Sky, Foyle’s War, Life on Mars, The Rockford Files, Harry O, Monk and for a touch of humour, Diagnosis Murder.

What I really dislike are:
~ Most sport programmes especially the noisy ones.
~ “Reality” TV programmes like Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here.
~ Talent programmes like X Factor and Pop Idol.
~ Confession type talk shows, I can’t stand them, they make me cringe.

Now Brenda did ask me to find a You Tube video on hyenas. Well I looked for a clip from Lady and The Tramp where they go to the zoo and the hyenas are laughing. It's my favourite part of the film! Well I couldn't find it. I also looked for something from the Lion KIng which I like too but I didn't pick one of those clips.

This video clip is of real hyenas and I'm sure your laugh doesn't sound anything like this Brenda.


Tuesday 3 February 2009

Shedding Some Light on Podcasts!

Apologies to everyone who didn’t know what I was wittering on about in my Thank You Cloody and Frank posting, so here’s a little bit of information to clarify things.

Podcasts


Now I may be teaching my grannie to suck eggs as they say so, apologies if that’s the case, but here’s some information on podcasts.

Podcasts are shows on radio or TV which you can download to your computer, iPod or iPhone or Apple TV. If you have one!

You can see a huge list of podcasts and download them from the iTunes store.

Alternatively you can download specific programmes from other websites such as the BBC or ITV. I listen to Radio 2 a lot but often miss Wake Up to Wogan so I download the podcast from the Radio 2 webpage to the computer to listen to it, when I get time!

You could then transfer them to an iPod if you want to listen at other times and in other places. To be honest I haven’t bothered doing that yet, I just use the laptop.

There’s a tutorial here on the iTunes website just click on the Get Free Podcasts at the bottom of the page to load the video.


I found it quite useful.

Monday 2 February 2009

Buddy Holly 7 September 1936 - 2 February 1959

Anyone out there remember this LP?

Well this was one of my all time favourite singers, I got the record for Christmas and I just about played it to death when I was fifteen. I absolutely loved it.

I was listening to a programme about Buddy Holly the other night, it was commemorating the fact it’s fifty years today since he was killed in that plane crash with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Good grief it just seems like yesterday!

He was a fantastic singer and songwriter and although he was only successful for 18 months during his lifetime, his music was a massive influence on singers and songwriters. He paved the way for the Beatles and lots of other artists. I’ve always thought there was a lot of similarity between the Beatles and Buddy Holly’s music and also the way the songs were arranged. They were always brilliant songs, fresh and sparkling, wonderful catchy tunes with very simple arrangements, just like the early Beatles records.

Apparently when Buddy Holly toured Britain in 1958 John Lennon and Paul McCartney went to see him. They also credited him as being a big influence on their music, so if it hadn’t been for Buddy Holly there probably wouldn’t have been any Beatles.

According to the programme and I found this hard to believe, is that after he was killed, his music virtually died out in the USA. However he had a cult following in Britain and with his family, they helped continue to have his recordings published. Unfortunately one thing that happened was that the recording studios added a lot of extra background music to some of his songs, so they lost their simplicity. It was Don McLean’s recording of American Pie that set the ball rolling and renewed interest in Buddy Holly’s music in the USA.

Well not too long ago I bought a CD of Buddy Holly’s greatest hits and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself reliving the music of my teenage years. However it’s just not the same is it having a little plastic case. Nothing like those great big LPs with their wonderful photos or amazing artwork, you really felt you were getting a lot for your pocket money!

Well if you’re a Buddy Holly fan too, here’s a couple of You Tube clips to enjoy. There aren’t many original ones available. The first is an original recording with a very patronising introduction. The second is just photos and the song True Love Ways. One of the songs they added background music to.





Saturday 31 January 2009

Thank You Cloody and Frank!

Note my new speakers! (lovely Christmas present from my daughter)

Just wanted to say a big thank you to Cloody and Frank who pointed me in the direction of using the iPod to listen to podcasts with their Mighty iPod Shuffle posting.

I hadn't bothered at all with the iTunes shop after my horrendous problems with iTunes. However I took Frank's word for it and did a bit of a reccie. I found absolutely loads of podcasts there that as Frank said are free to download. All kinds of topics, arts, comedy, music, education and so on.

My favourites? From the Education section I've downloaded a whole Spanish course, Coffee Break Spanish. There's French, German, Italian, Japanese and loads more types of language courses.

My other choice picks are Wake up to Wogan and Stephen Fry's podcasts.

It's absolutely amazing! I'm going to spend some more time researching what's available.


Now there has to be a downside for me, there always is somehow. I can't get any podcast to download to my laptop, only my husband's. So I can't download to my iPod as I use my laptop for that. Not clever enough to figure out how or whether you can use the iPod with two laptops. Not to worry I'll just use his laptop to listen to them.

So a million thanks to you Cloody and Frank, happy podcasting.

Hope the weather is better for you. Take care of yourselves.

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