17 Years to make the emperors new clothes

So Chinese Democracy is finally coming out and it's arriving before the advent of Chinese democracy (which most never said it would!), 17 years since the last G'n'R originals album, 15 years after a contractual fillers album of cover versions and there's nobody left from the original line up in the band, save Axl Rose. It's obviously been a labour of love/ego *delete where appropriate. Various tracks that were alledgedly recorded for the album have been leaked over the last few years, in fact when the recording for this started, there wasn't really an "online" and the only way to get hold of unreleased songs from a band was tape trading! Back in the day, this band could do no wrong at all, they were hailed as the embodyment of "Rock and Roll", but in these more "enlightened" times, does this still hold true? Is there still a place for a band that trashes dressing rooms if the Evian isn't chilled to 1.5 degrees and a brown M&M sneaks its way in to the backstage bowl? I think there is... In this age of reality show created celebrity, it's refreshing that someone like Axl comes back to haunt the kingmakers of the music industry by reminding them of the way things used to be when bands were signed on the quality of their songs and musicianship (as well as some marketability admittedly). Kind of Marleys Ghost for the remaining shreds of the record industry.

Question is though musically, is it a valid product for the 21st century? It's not a question of whether this album is any good, it's more of a case of is it worth the wait, has Axl and his crack team of studio musicians and occasional live band hired hands been able to make something that is listenable? The issue of whether it's a progression from the Use Your Illusion albums is plainly moot, too much water has passed under the bridge since then for one, but the main reason is that it's a completely different band since those albums were recorded.

Back in the days of Appitite' I used to be a big fan, but does the older me still connect with what the 18 year old me enjoyed? Sadly on hearing this, the answer is a resounding meh! It's not that it's a bad album, it's just not a memorable one. There's nothing that I've heard that really make me sit up and take notice. It's not even a case of saying "17 years and this is all they did?" it's more a question of what was he doing for 16 years and 9 months and then chucked this out since this summer?

I'm not going to go into the merits of individual songs here as there's a variety of disparate styles (while still being in the same genre) and some of these might sit easier with some than others, but objectivity ends up being chucked out of the window when you're dealing with something like this. I really wanted to like it, I wanted this album to be the masterpiece that itwas threatened to be and thats where the problem lies. It's been too long in the making and too hyped to be just another album and sadly that's all it is

Titanic - shaping maritime future

At 12 noon on April 10th 1912 the most luxurious and ambitious ship in engineering design built for it's time set sail from the dock of Southampton bound for New York. It never reached New York. Instead it found itself confound to the History books for all time. The Titanic whom the press had dubbed "unsinkable" struck an iceberg and sank into the icy depths of the Atlantic at 2.20am on April 15th 1912 claiming the lives of 1,517 passengers and crew. Many theories have been given as to why this great Ship came to such a short, tragic end. Vast shortage of lifeboats, no binoculars on the crows nest, ice-berg warnings going amiss, no lifeboat drill training on the morning prior to the collision with the iceberg, the ship carrying on full speed ahead in spite of iceberg warnings being received from other liners, no ships coming to Titanic's aid, to name but a few. My belief is that it was simply a disastrous recipe of all the above ingredients. A cross between man made errors and pure fate if you believe in that. Going back to Maritime law of the day, it was standard practice to retain speed (which in Titanic's case was around a quick 22-23 knots) even when iceberg reports came through - hard to imagine I know, and it was no coincidence that any sailing post-Titanic would be guilty of negligence if they did the same thing.

So what other changes did the Titanic disaster bring about? First and I suppose obviously, in the future there would be enough lifeboats per craft for those on board. Also implemented on Ships therafter would be mandated lifeboat drills, 24 Hour ship radio with back up systems, red flares were to be officially recognised as distress signals (a famous rumour on Titanic was that their red distress flares were taken as celebratory firworks by nearby ships, therefore delaying any rescues.) In addition to these changes, the International Ice Patrol was founded which to this day still patrol the Atlantic for potential hazardous ice-bergs, sheet ice, etc.

So from one great ship came a set of new rules and standards that make todays nautical journeys all the more safer and secure. It's just unfortunate that, like so many things, mankind learns the important lessons needed for progress from a tragedy, in this case a tragedy that took the souls of so many innocent people and such dedicated crew....the ultimate price to pay for shaping our maritime future.

Can't actually see the difference

I got a surprise today when I switched my PC on, it turns out that the ADSL speed has been upgraded by our switched on monopolistic ISP. Trouble is that there is absolutely no difference in the speed of pages/downloads/connections whatsoever. Now I do know that there is a contention rate of 50:1 on the local exchange and that the download speed relies on the upload speed of the machine that I'm connecting to, but to see absolutely no change whatsoever is still a little bit puzzling. After doing a little research I've found that while the actual connection speed is now 3 times the previous amount, ISP's can still throttle the amount of traffic for certain services and types of connection. So while they are still claiming to offer speeds of up to 8Mbps, they can (and do) only let you have access to a certain percentage of these. What is the point of this? The only one that I can think of is that they want to pay lip service to the fact that they can offer the same service that companies (including themselves under a different name) in the UK have available, but don't actually have to provide the same end result. What can we do about this? At the moment next to sod all if you've not been with them for the requisite amount of time to change your contract and move to an alternative provider (that they are supplying wholesale to, so it probably makes no odds anyway)

Boss, drop that champagne and just come and have a look at this...

Lewis Hamilton may be a sane young man but unless you are Ferrari, Brazilian or both, no one begrudged him going round the bend today to clinch an amazing and historic World Championship title in what had to be the tightest title deciders in F1 ever. From the moment the rain lashed down on the starting grid, the race ebbed and flowed for 71 long laps as the racers fought hard, their biggest enemy being the elements. As pit crews nipped up and down checking for drops of rain, Massa led the way with Lewis driving the most conservative race of his life (no doubt due to a dear lesson learned on the same circuit last year when his aggression cost him the crown) - this race had every twist and turn in the F1 handbook - even more than the track itself! With 5 laps remaining, rain deciding to make a further appearance to up the heart rate with the leaders back in the pits getting tyres changed quicker than a Russell Brand insult. The scene was set for a dramatic finale. Hamilton came out of the pits in 6th place knowing that with Massa leading, he had to finish at least 5th to clinch the title. As the race entered it's final rain soaked lap, Hamilton seemed to buckle and with Massa cruising over the line to win the race the Brazilians were going wild. Then came the final twist (or turn, depending on what side you're on) - with two corners remaining and with Glock in that all important 5th place, Hamilton made his move and sneaked through to clamber over the line as World Champion. However it did take some time for the news to filter through, Hamilton himself didn't know if he'd done enough. The Ferrari team likewise had just opened the champagne cabinet as they started to celebrate the title, only for the pit monitors to break their hearts in cruel fashion. A pulsating end to a great season and a momentous moment for Lewis Hamilton. Eh Mr Ferrari, do you still have that champagne?

I don't like cricket (well not right now anyway)

When they said "20/20 for 20" they didn't mean that was the score to beat in the final, can someone pass that on to KP & crowd please?