Thunderstorms

I'm not even joking, if there isn't one soon, I'm going to be severely displeased.

There's been a 10 instances since I've been back from Sunderland, where I've said to myself, or someone I've been with "Those look like thunder clouds... Awesome"

Then it only goes and bloody clears up doesn't it!?

There's something about Thunderstorms that makes me smile. It could be because I remember as a mini Simon looking out the window, and trying to gauge how far away the 'epicentre' was by counting the time between the flash of lightning and the rumble of thunder.

On the other hand it could just be because I enjoy watching it absolutely bucket down, but the fact that there's a hell of a lot of electricity and noise makes it all the more exciting.

I've heard that in Florida at about this time of year, they get at least one a day, without fail.

This makes me jealous.

In other news: Michael Jackson died yesterday.

I'm not as big a fan as some people may be. Thriller and Off the Wall are kick ass albums, but other than that, I don't really know much more of his stuff.

Combine this with the fact that I don't particularly like the guy, based on what the media's had to say and you'd think i'd be glad to see the back of him.

You'd be wrong though. I feel weird today, like, a little bit empty. It's impossible for me to shake this feeling that the world has lost the greatest entertainer it'll ever see.

The first thing my Mum said to me this morning was "Have you heard the news?" Obviously, I knew what she was talking about, despite the fact that we'd never listened to his music together, or spoken to each other about him, it was like, for that first minute or so that we communicated today, that was the only thing that mattered.

Jacko's one of those people who had been around your whole life. Whether old or young, EVERYONE knew who he was. These people just aren't meant to die, they're meant to live forever. But when they do, it hits you like a tonne of bricks.

It's weird, I can't imagine a world without him, but if you'd asked me on Sunday, I would probably claim that I couldn't care less.

Funny really, isn't it?

Anyway, Love him or hate him, the guy was a legend, he'll be sadly missed.

R.I.P Jacko.

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Ar ey, it's all gone a bit serious now =/

I've been back in the good ol' North West for nearly a month now, and already, I've done so much more than I thought I would. I'm glad to say that the amount of time I've spent out of the house doing enlightening and rewarding activites, greatly outweighs the time i've spent being a sad act refreshing facebook.

I've taken part in a (so far) very succesful 7 a side league with my team 'Channel 4 News Team' winning both games 2-1. Skinning Left Backs all over the show, but, more humourously Skinning my hands even more by falling off the pitch, earning my place in the team's history books as the biggest tit to don the red of the news team.

I've done a 25 mile bike ride... That was knackering and brought on a 2 day dose of scrot rot, but i'm all good now, I felt a lot healthier as a result of it, even if it was only for a day or so afterwards.

Despite calling it my city for 19 years, I've been a tourist in Liverpool for a day, and even took a cheeky ferry trip to Seacombe. That was ace too, Despite it being an absolute dive.

Nosebleeds on Mathew Street aren't that good really though, I don't recommend it. I don't really know why that happened. Maybe it was the pint at 2 in the afternoon that did it... Who knows?

Anyway, I'm struggling to be funny, and I'm running out of things to say. So...

Bye.

Black Clouds and Silver Linings

Dream Theater's new album came out yesterday, so i've spent most of my free time digesting it. At the moment, I feel a little bit ill, so instead of going outside and topping up my tan, I'm going to do a quick song by song review of the album.

A Nightmare to Remember - This is probably gonna be a good one live, it's got a killer heavy riff to begin with, combined some awesome drumming. The lyrics are about a car crash or something, a bit amateurish considering how long they've been at it, but they're not bad.

Then for the middle section, they go all 'Raise the Knife' on yo' ass. It's a great little part, very mellow, with really nice vocal melodies and harmonies. It only last 2 minutes or so of the 14 minute song, but it's a nice change of pace.

I'll give this one a 7/10.

A Rite of Passage - Probably the most boring Dream Theater song ever. The single edit's good, the album version isn't. It's far too long and samey. 4.5 /10

Wither - Boybands take note. This is how to write a ballad. Pretty much everything in this song is perfect to me. Jordan Rudess' use of orchestral patches is very tasteful, and they serve the song really well.

Petrucci's solo is great, very Brian May-esque. James LaBrie is brilliant in the vocal department. 10/10 fo' shizzle.

The Shattered Fortress - Portnoy wraps up his 12 step, Alcoholics Anonymous in this 'mash up' of sorts. I feel a bit a cheated out of a song with this one, because essentially, it's just riffs and themes from the previous 4 songs from the saga. Despite this, it's grown on me pretty quickly, and seems to keep my attention longer than say 'This Dying Soul' and definitely 'Repentance'

This one can have 7/10.

The Best of Times - This one's Portnoy's tribute to his late father. It's very Rush-esque, and I like it quite a lot. Although, despite the personal subject, you'd think MP would have worked a bit harder on the lyrics. Sure, they do the job, but when you look at 'A Change of Seasons' (also about the death of a parent) it makes you wonder why he couldn't have written the way he has done in the past.

The final guitar solo makes the song for me, and should I ever need reminding why John Petrucci is my favourite guitarist, I'll stick this song on.

8/10

The Count of Tuscany - Ok, first thing's first; the lyrics are awful.

Musically though, the first 3 and a half minutes or so, are absolutely awesome, there's some really nice work on the keys by Rudess, creating a somewhat dreamy atmosphere. After 5 minutes-ish, the vocals come in, over a heavy riff, which remains the main theme for the song.

The last 10 minutes is where the song really shines for me. There's a nice ambient section where Petrucci makes good use of volume swells over some atmospheric sounds, courtesy of Rudess.

The song's finale is amazing. A simple, but effective chord sequence, followed by a tasty solo gives me goosebumps everytime. A perfect ending to a great album.

9/10.

Overall, I'ma give the album 8/10. I wasn't a huge fan to begin with, but it's definitely grown on me, and I can safely say it's one of their best of the decade.

8/10 Yo!

Hi.

So yeah, if you're looking at this, you'll probably have guessed that I've joined this hip and trendy blogging website where all the cool, profound types hang out when facebook isn't giving them any notifications to inform them of new booze items being unlocked.

Anyway, this is probably just going to be somewhere that I can write random thoughts, questions and general gear grindery stuff. Don't expect anything overly articulate or educated to bounce off the page at you. But then again, don't expect "Lol, I WnT owt b4, I gt smasht," because let's face it, a carrot could do better than that.

Well there's my introduction, now onto a musing I had last Tuesday whilst waiting for a ferry to take me across the Mersey.

What do animals do all day?

Seriously, with humans there seems to have a purpose. Just look at my Mum for example. On Thursdays and Fridays when she's not in work, she'll (probably) think to herself "I'll do these things today" Sometimes she'll go and do the weekly shop. Other times she'll go to the gym, or tidy the house etc etc.

Do animals think in the same way?

Does Harry the pigeon wake up in the morning and go "Right, I need to fly over there for a bit, then when I've done that, I'll probably eat some stuff off the floor and pooh on a toddler... It'll be boss." Or does he literally just fly around all day with no purpose? Does he have mates that he'll go and see for a cheeky game of Fifa? (Which, to be fair would be difficult with only 3 toes)

It properly boggles my mind.

I have no idea how to wrap this up now, So, I'll just inform everybody that in the rowing that apparently happened today, the Czech pair managed 38 Strokes in one minute, however, the strokes where a bit out of time, so they where wonky.

This tickled me and my childish, innuendo fuelled mind.

Over and Out.