Bloc Party at London Olympia. April 11, 2009

It has been awhile so I have no idea where to start. Actually, I somewhat knew what I was going to say until I saw the setlist for Sunday’s show. It had Two More Years. Oh well, we had Sunday.

So here goes.

Last Saturday, I saw Bloc Party at London Olympia Grand Hall. This was the second time I’ve seen the band live with the first being last September at The Forum and if you know me at all, you would know that they are among my favorite bands, if not, the top band.

The build up to this gig was not as emotional nor problematic as the first time, but I was still looking forward to seeing them again as they know how to put on an epic show. Plus, they are Bloc Party with Foals supporting.

The venue was quite accessible as it was right next to a tube station, one end of the District Line, and included links to Overground and National Rail services. After checking with Google Maps Streetview, you really would not get lost.

The gates opened around 6 in the afternoon and the winding queue slowly subsided at this point. It is quite amusing how such a long queue from the outside seems like nothing once you get in.

As mentioned, the venue was at the London Olympia Grand Hall. They weren’t kidding by calling the place “grand” as it was pretty massive. I think it was bigger than Earl’s Court though The O2 can hold more people because it is a stadium and not a “flat” venue unlike Olympia and Earl’s Court.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

The structure was a mass of steel and glass which allowed quite a bit of natural light to enter the venue which during spring is up to almost 8 in the evening.

The first order of business was to buy a shirt which was pretty easy since I was among the first in (first 200). Once this was dealt with, it was time to grab some food. Similar to Earl’s Court, they had several food establishments inside including a Pizza Express. Went for a Sloppy Guiseppe again.

Sadly, like Earl’s Court, they mostly served Carlsberg apart from cider but I needed a drink. Carlsberg is always a last resort choice for me. It was time to then sit down, enjoy the pint and wait until the support acts start.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

At around 7:30, Wet Paint started playing. I have not heard them before but they had a pretty good show going which was certainly better than Esser, the support band last time. Also, watching a band in natural light and not in complete darkness was quite nice.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

Next up was Foals. Now this is a band I wanted to see live the moment I first saw their video performance at Reading last year whilst at work. When I checked for upcoming gigs last year, their only London show at Brixton was already sold out.

When I learned they were to support Bloc Party, I was ecstatic. Seeing Bloc Party alone was enough but catching a glimpse of Foals was even more amazing. It is safe to say that I was looking forward to see them at the same level as of Bloc Party.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

They started off their set with a long intro slowly dwindling into The French Open which is the first song I really liked from them even though I couldn’t understand it as it is French. They also played other great songs like Balloons, Cassius, Two Steps Twice, and Red Sock Pugie.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

As a support band, they were limited to a very short set but it was a really great one. A nice glimpse on how energetic they are. Apparently, they are working on a new album so I’ll be eagerly awaiting that and the time they’ll be on tour again.

At around 9 in the evening, Bloc Party came up on stage and kicked off the show with One Month Off quickly followed up by Trojan Horse which really got the crowd going. From the moment I heard Intimacy, I loved the energy of these two songs as well as the guitar riffs towards the end of Trojan Horse. I hoped they’d play one during the September show, but they didn’t.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

They then continued the energy levels set by the first two songs with Hunting For Witches and the classic Positive Tension. Bloc Party finally decided to slow things down with Biko but slowly built up pace yet again with Waiting For the 7.18 with Gordon on the gloc. This eventually let to the epic duo of Songs For Clay (Disappear Here) leading non-stop into Banquet.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

At this point, the place was going mental so it was time to slow things down a bit with Where Is Home? and Ion Square. This “calmness” was suddenly blasted with Mercury.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

Up next was a duo of lovely songs with This Modern Love and The Prayer. I was going to say favorites, but aren’t they all. This Modern Love always sounds so epic even on CD/MP3 but more so live. I am pretty sure it brought a tear to my eye. The Prayer actually closed out the first set of Bloc Party’s show.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

After a few minutes, they came back on stage and started off with the dramatic and highly emotional, Sunday which had me all giddy inside as I am currently loving the song more at the moment. “I will love you in the morning, when you’re still hung over.”

The rest of the 2nd set was a trifecta of high energy anthems with Intimacy favorite Halo, Like Eating Glass and the ever popular crowd favorite Helicopter (fave Guitar Hero 2 song). This meant non-stop dancing and screaming along.

At the end of the 2nd set, the band disappeared again and most people thought this was it and started leaving. I knew it wasn’t as they did the same last time, one long set then a shorter second set and then the encore. Also, I remember Kele saying “this is our 2nd set.” Lastly, they have yet to play Ares, a song which they promoted on the Intertubes for fans to watch out and record video of and submit to then.

Sure enough, they came back up, Ares fired up and everyone started dancing to the sounds of sirens. I remember their one song encore last time, so expected this to be it. Thankfully, they had one more song left for the night. To a glorious array of lasers, they played Flux to end the night in such a high note.

From Bloc Party at Olympia

It was a spectacular evening seeing Bloc Party again. They pulled off quite a show at such a massive venue though I still prefer smaller venues. This actually continued the following night with quite a different setlist which included Talons, Signs, Blue Light, Uniform and Two More Years, a song I need to see live someday. This sort of makes me regret why I didn’t just go to both venues.

Looking back, the setlist on April 12 looks almost identical to their show last September.

Funeral For A Friend at ULU

Last Saturday, I saw Funeral For A Friend live for the 3rd time. They are the first band I saw when I moved back to London in 2007. I saw them again in Astoria during the last month of December 2007, a day before my birthday.

This time around, I saw them at University of London Union (ULU), a venue I have not been to before but thanks to the massive queue outside, was quite easy to spot even from a block away.

The venue was quite nice although a bit smaller than Astoria and was quite packed since the gig soldout. There was only one bar though which meant long queues.

Support bands were People In Planes and We Are The Ocean, bands which I haven’t heard of prior to the gig.

People In Planes started playing while I was still in the queue outside and only caught a few songs when I got inside and had a pint in my hand. They were pretty ok, nothing too special about them. They were kind enough to hand out cards as we were leaving the venue for downloading two of their singles.

We Are The Ocean was fun with a lead vocalist who was quite into screaming. The back up vocalist had quite a good voice which was more in line with big old school rock bands than screamo. Check out their song Nothing Has Happened Yet on their Myspace to hear what I mean.

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Both support bands played pretty long sets which is always good. We Are The Ocean finished at almost 9 in the evening.

This meant around 30 minutes for techs to get Funeral For A Friend up and ready. A few minutes after 9:30, Funeral For A Friend finally came up on stage and rocked the house.

They kicked off the show with All The Rage which really surprised me as I expected them to open with a song from their latest album, Memory and Humanity. Of course, I was more familiar with the old songs so I was all giddy about this.

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This turned out to be the theme of the night, more old songs than new ones. Since they had their album tour around November of last year, they used this gig as an opportunity to blast out their old songs and fan favorites which was a real delight for me.

I would have tried and mentioned each song as far as I can remember but I already cheated by googling for the setlist. It would not be fair to pretend. Apparently, there is a website dedicated to setlists.

• All The Rage
• She Drove Me To Daytime Television
• Rookie Of The Year
• Rules and Games
• The End of Nothing
• To Die Like Mouchette
• Juneau
• Constant Illuminations
• Red is the New Black
• History
• Ghosts
• Into Oblivion (Reunion)
• Roses for the Dead

Juneau and History were crowd favorites and brought back good memories.

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Of course, the night did not end with Roses for the Dead. As expected, there was an encore which was composed of Streetcar, Maybe I am? and Escape Artists Never Die. Looking back to my first FFAF gig, this is exactly the same encore minus Maybe I Am?.

All in all, it was an amazing set which highlights the best songs they have, songs they really enjoy playing even if they are more than half a decade old. This made the gig more special.

So what’s next? This April, I will be seeing Bloc Party and Taking Back Sunday for the second time as well as Thursday, Foals, Innerpartysystem and Underoath for the very first time. Thursday!

Lights Action at O2 Islington Academy

I first heard of Lights Action by accident when I went to watch Saosin back in June ‘07 at the now demolished Mean Fiddler (later known as Astoria 2). First impression of them was pretty good and looking back at the entry just shows how surprised I was back then.

They didn’t have an EP or album back then but I remember listening to their songs on Myspace quite a bit.

Forward to 2009. As I was stumbling across Last.fm looking for recommended events, I noticed one for Lights Action. Purchased tickets and researched about the band to check what they have been up to. Apparently, they already have an EP released, All Eyes To The Morning Sun, and a full studio album, Welcome To The New Cold World (which was released just 2 weeks ago).

As they weren’t available on the torrents, I downloaded both from Amazon which is a rarity in itself. Aside from Bloc Party’s Intimacy, these are the only albums I have purchased and downloaded.

Enough history and on to the gig.

The gig was last Friday, March 13 at O2 Islington Academy. This was formerly known as Carling Academy Islington until all the Carling venues changed to O2. Not real sure and a bit lazy a the moment to get into the specifics.

I’ve been to Carling Academy Islington in the past to watch The Used (with Mute Math) and Coheed and Cambria. It was a venue I fell in love with right away because of it’s adequate size and reasonable sound.

So when I arrived, I expected the place to be the same one I fell in love with. Apparently, a lot more than the name changed. The venue has been drastically scaled down in size. The entrance used to be at the ground floor with the box office and the cloakroom and a large venue on the 1st floor with more seats in a small mezzanine area.

Now the entrance is on the 1st floor with no cloak room (or I didn’t see one) with a small stage which was slightly bigger than Mayric’s and a much smaller floor area than before. At the least, there were a few places to sits and one long bar.

As it was smaller, I immediately felt awkward being the only person by himself with everyone else in a group, chatting up. It was time for a pint of Strongbow.

The gig started quite early with the first support band, Young Guns, on stage before 19:30. They sounded ok and quite lively, but didn’t really reel me in. I am pretty sure I’d give them a second try sometime.

Up next was SaidMike which was surprisingly good and I even enjoyed a few songs such as Perfect Mistakes and Antics. It was also nice of them to hand out CD samplers after the gig. Most probably another new band I’ll be seeing in the future.

Of course, this night was not really about them but about Lights Action. The band started before 21:00 which is unheard of in my book.

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They started out with Moscow, as I predicted since it was the kind of song which simply build things up. Most songs were obviously from their new album. The songs I can remember they played are Battle of Lovers, Signals To Radar, Passions Of The Lonely, Young Scarlett Young, Travellin’ Man, and The Bottom Of The Sea. They may have sung two more songs but I can’t remember which exactly.

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A slow version of Satellites from their EP was also played although I would have preferred the original version instead. Hearing Signals To Radar back to back with Passions Of The Lonely was quite lovely as they are my favourite tracks from the new album.

From random

Sadly, the gig ended before 22:00 which was really disappointing as I’ve never been to a gig in London which finished before 22:00. I was expecting to hear a few more songs hoping for something from the EP. There was some sort of club night after so they wanted us out early. Boo!

Overall, it was a pretty good albeit short gig of good music from bands which are just starting out. I’ve mostly watched the bigger and more popular ones so this is sort of getting my right foot into seeing smaller more indie acts in and around London. Camden Crawl anyone?

There is a whole other aspect to this evening which is worthy of a separate post.

Asobi Seksu at ICA

Last week would have been huge had I been able to see Black Kids on Wednesday at KOKO. Additionally, it would have been the first time I’ve been to back-to-back gigs at two separate venues. Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to go.

At the least, I was able to see Asobi Seksu the following day.

Asobi Seksu would have been a band I’ve seen last year but for some reason I gave second thoughts as to buying tickets and let the event pass by. This became a decision I really regretted everytime a track from their two albums came up on my playlist.

Last week’s event was to be held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) which is smack in the middle of London right along The Mall. It is a museum with exhibition halls, a few cinemas and a theatre for live music.

Like always, I was early but unlike other events, I did not have to queue outside the venue to get in which is a welcome surprise. After claiming my tickets, I roamed around the open exhibits and watched a few videos upstairs.

At exactly 7:30, the doors to the theatre opened and I leisurely walked in surrendering my ticket at the entrance. Yes. Surrendered and all I got was a stamp on the hand.

From Asobi Seksu at ICA

At other venues, they usually tore off a portion of the ticket and then let you in with no stamps. Then again, most venues did not allow readmission as everything you need, food, drinks, and toilets are within the concert hall as well.

With ICA, the bar and toilets were outside the theatre. Sadly, this means I do not have anything from Asobi Seksu to pin to my wall.

When I got in, there was still hardly anyone around so I found my own corner and sat down. A random guy did start a random conversation to burn the time while waiting for the support band. This guy was able to Asobi Seksu last year.

Grabbed a pint (they had Becks on tap!) and when I got back, the lights finally dimmed and the support band, Sennen, came up on stage.

Sennen is an English indie band with shoegaze roots. They sounded pretty good and are one of the best support bands I’ve seen. The played an interesting set which kept the crowd on our feet.

Once they were done, band techs started clearing things up on stage and finished around 9:00. At around 9:10, Asobi Seksu finally came on stage.

From Asobi Seksu at ICA

First of, Yuki is quite short but had high platform boots which gave her an extra boost on stage. I was quite close to the stage but close to the right side with the right subs blasting straight into my ear.

From Asobi Seksu at ICA

Since it has been a week since the event, I can hardly remember what the first song was. It was most likely a new one which would explain why. As such, I am grabbing the setlist from their Last.fm event page as posted by schmeep.

• Sing Tomorrow’s Praise
• Strawberries
• Me & Mary
• Meh no Mae
• In the Sky
• Thursday
• Gliss
• Transparence
• Familiar Light
• Blind Little Rain
• Pink Cloud Tracing Paper
• Red Sea (encore)
• New Years (encore)

At first glance, I would have hated this setlist as it contains 8 songs from the new album which came out a few days before this gig. However, the band played with such intensity that the new songs really made an impression and of course, they started sounding real familiar.

From Asobi Seksu at ICA

Of course, what really rocked my socks off were the old songs. Strawberries set the mood for the evening which they played after a new song for their opening. Thursday, which is one of my favourites, brought a smile and tear to my eye. Then there’s the encore, which had Red Sea and New Years which was quite epic especially with the part were Yuki went manic with the drums on stage.

I was hoping there would have been more old songs as I am more familiar with them. Also, a bit more singing from James Hanna would have been nice.

From Asobi Seksu at ICA

Still, it was a very enjoyable and fun gig at a venue which is not so crowded as other dedicated music halls.

As for band merch, I run out of the shirt I fancied because I waited until the end of the show to buy one so I settled for an acoustic recording of the band.

Normally, this is where my blog post on a gig night would end, but the walk back to the Piccadilly Station needs to be mentioned.

From Asobi Seksu at ICA

It has been ages since I’ve been in Central London and longer still since it was at night. The walk from ICA to Lower Regent Street to Piccadilly Station was quite a delight with all the lights making the old buildings glow. Walking past them made me feel great about being in London and how I haven’t appreciated living here much. I will now try to explore London as much as I can and not only go into Central London when there is a gig.

From Asobi Seksu at ICA

Amanda Palmer at the Electric Ballroom

It has been awhile since I’ve been to a music gig in London. The last was Enter Shikari at the now gone London Astoria 2 way back in November.

Last Wednesday,  I was able to watch Amanda Palmer at the Electric Ballroom. I’ve been looking forward to this gig ever since I got my tickets and I knew I would be in for a different experience than the previous gigs I’ve seen.

Left work early thanks to the benefits of booking half-day leaves which is pretty new for me. Previously, I’ve been booking a whole day whenever I wanted to watch a gig which normally starts around 7 in the evening. At this rate, I’d be able to watch twice as much gigs as I can and wouldn’t have to think twice about buying tickets for a gig.

The venue was at Electric Ballroom which is right in Camden, a place I have never been to before. It wasn’t hard to find though as it was right outside the tube station.

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When I arrived, the queue was pretty massive which is typical of a London gig. After finding something nice to eat (ham, chicken and mozarella panini), I decided to queue up.

The place looked tiny from the outside which was just a typical storefront, but the inside was pretty big with two separate bars which is always good to avoid queueing up again just to get a pint.

After a few minutes of standing around sipping beer, the show started with a stand-up comedian, Andrew O’Neal. He was pretty ok. I’ve never seen a stand-up comedian open a gig before so this was a welcome surprise.

Detektivbyrån, a Swedish instrumental/electronica band, was support for the evening and come from Sweden. Their performances were pretty lively and their music pretty cool, fun and different. They have an accordion player! On the last song, the drummer whipped out a pair of scissors. Surprising stuff. Do check out their myspace page and listen to the second song, E18.

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Once they finished their set, it was time to wait for another 30 minutes. Grabbed another beer and waited.

Eventually, Amanda Palmer came up on stage in a black shirt and burlesque suspenders and played a good mix of songs from Who Killed Amanda Palmer and from The Dresden Dolls.

As far as I can remember, there was Backstabber, Guitar Hero, Oasis, Coin-operated Boy, The Kill, Astronaut, Runs In The Family, Ampersand, and Leeds United. I’m pretty sure there are others, but I can hardly recall them now.

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It was quite an amazing performance. As a solo artist, she plays with much intensity and her in-between rants although lengthy, were quite witty and entertaining. Also, having to look at one place on stage (Amanda) is definitely better than trying to watch each member in a band do something crazy.

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Highlights of the night would be Leeds United as the encore (yes, just one encore) and the slow version of Oasis as a reaction to the BBC. She eventually stopped and played the more upbeat one. Oh, and I forgot a couple more, Amanda locking tongues with a female member of the Danger Ensemble and a guy proposing to his partner on stage.

As amazing as the show was, there were some disappointments. The Danger Ensemble is basically a dance troupe but only showed up for a few short moments on stage during some of Amanda’s songs. I slightly expected more from them. Then, there is the part wherein too much time was spent on some theatrics, such as auctioning a painting for the benefit of the Danger Ensemble which eventually sold for 400 quid and the photoshoot at the end. I would personally have wanted to see and hear more of Amanda Palmer.

All in all, it was an excellent way to start the year when it comes to gigs. I now have one ticket up on my wall.

The Year That Was 2008

I know it is a few days late already but I’ve been extremely lazy and wanted a nice picture to accompany this post.

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Besides, my similar post from last year was on the same day, January 7, although it was purely for gigs. I had plans to make others but was again, lazy.

Another reason for delaying, would be having to take down all of these items from my wall and start a new. With nothing to place until February 19, I don’t like the idea of having a blank wall just above my desk. Then again, the New Year is considered by some as a blank slate.

So what can we say about 2008? (Let’s use bullets.)

• First full calendar year since moving back to the UK. I can say that I have now fully settled in. It wasn’t any different really if all the people you know outside of work a Filipinos.
• Experience his first earthquake in the UK.
• Moved to a new house which was significantly bigger but has ridiculously poor insulation.
• Completed one year of work for Rackspace. No promotions but did reach Level 1 status.
• Finally added another certification, CompTIA’s Network +. Seriously though, there should have been more.
• The gadgets. Got myself the following: Sony Bravia 32″ HDTV, Xbox 360, Canon Powershot A650 IS, WD MyPassport 250GB, Sony Ericsson W960i, and a Samsung DVD player. The last of which was the worse item I purchased.
• Gigs. Of course, highlights would be Bloc Party, The Mars Volta, Death Cab for Cutie and Give It A Name Festival.
• The holidays. This year’s summer holiday at Cornwall was much more pleasant than last year’s as we had almost 6 days of sunshine. Also had the chance for a holiday back in the Philippines. Oh, and Puerto Galera of course. This deserves a separate post as well.
• The friends I met in the Philippines most especially the new ones, you made the holiday so much better.
• Dumped Twitter and discovered Plurk. The best thing to happen to my social life. (rock)
• Learned to drink so much more than he used to. Now has a list of what brand of beer to order at a pub. On tap, 1664, Stella Artois, Carling, and if all else fails, Carlsberg. Throw in a pint of Guinness once in a while. Also, if only Beck’s was more commonly available on tap, it would be on the top of my list.

I think that is pretty much it. If you take another look at the list, you will notice that money can buy happiness.

In summary, 2008 was a pretty simple year. Nothing really significant happened to my personal life nor career especially when compared to how big 2007 was. 2008 was a good year but not great.

Bloc Party at The Forum

Best. Show. Ever!

After almost a year and a half since moving back to London, I finally saw Bloc Party last Tuesday, September 30, when they performed a one-off gig in part of Q Radio’s Q Awards.

I missed two opportunities in the past to see them. One was during Live Earth 2007. I had tickets but Glassjaw announced their one-off 7.7.7. gig so I picked GJ over a possibly sort and more crowded set by Bloc Party at Wembley Stadium. The second time was in December at Alexandra Palace and I am not really sure what happened but I somehow missed buying tickets.

So when they announced the Q Awards a month before the gig, I made sure I had tickets and this turned out to be a crazy story in itself as evident in my last blog post.

I arrived pretty early as I had to meet up with a girl who purchased my extra ticket. After selling the ticket, I queued up outside the venue, at this point there were less than 10 people in the queue.

Gates opened around 6:30 and I could have rushed right in front but didn’t feel like doing it all alone. So got me some band merch instead

The support band Esser started playing at 8. There is nothing much to say about them.

From Bloc Party at The Forum

After hours of patiently waiting, Bloc Party finally came up on stage at 15 minutes pass 9, which is almost a 4 hour wait since I queued up.

From Bloc Party at The Forum

The setlist is as follows which I found on Kele Okereke.net

First Set:
Halo
Hunting For Witches
Positive Tension
Talons
Signs
Song For Clay
Banquet
Better Than Heaven
Mercury
This Modern Love
The Prayer
So Here We Are
Like Eating Glass

From Bloc Party at The Forum

Second Set:
Ares
Price Of Gasoline
Flux
Helicopter

Encore:
Skeleton

It was a really great setlist and I really enjoyed every song they played and how they squeeze the slower more relaxed songs in between the heavier more energetic ones. Actually, I am pretty sure they played The Pioneers as well. It was a great mix of new and old songs which was expected since this was not an Intimacy tour yet.

From Bloc Party at The Forum

Some highlights would be Halo as it is one of my favorite songs from Intimacy and I was quite surprised they started with it instead of Ares. Another would be how they string Song For Clay straight into Banquet without stopping, it was crazy. The extended intro for Flux was also real amazing since I’ve been listening to this version for more than a week until it was pulled from the BBC Reading and Leeds website. Of course, the biggest highlight would be their encore song, Skeleton which they rarely play live.

From Bloc Party at The Forum

I wish they played Two More Years though as well as One Month Off and Trojan Horse. Now that I think about it, I am glad they didn’t as the last two are new songs and they need to hold some for their Intimacy tour next year.

Nonetheless, even though I was alone (I just had to squeeze this bit of information ), it was the best night of my life. Easily trumps The Mars Volta Brixton gig and Glassjaw’s 7.7.7.

I am so looking forward to seeing them again in April 11.

So that’s Bloc Party crossed off the list of bands I’d die to see. What’s left? I’d say Thursday and Muse.

For more pictures checked them at Picasa.

Roller Coaster of a Day

What a roller coaster of a day this was.

Wait a minute. How does this thing work again? I haven’t posted a proper blog since July.

Anyway, I woke up early so I could grab my hands (order online really) on some Bloc Party tickets. This time I came in prepared since I signed up for Pioneer member access over the official Bloc Party site which provides exclusive content and most importantly tickets. Or so I though.

The moment the tickets went on sale (09:00 BST), I could not find the ticket link on the exclusive ticketing site so I quickly went to the Ticket Master sponsored site to get my tickets. Guess what, there were no more standing tickets. So I settled for 1 seating ticket. At this point, I was not too happy.

For the unacquainted, think of standing and seating as the old Deluxe versus Premier seats in cinemas, with one major difference, they are priced exactly the same most of the time.

Since I secured a ticket, I went back to the exclusive link and found the link for the ticket. It had to verify you first as a Pioneer member, so I keyed in my information and poof, access denied (or something along those lines). I tried it again, no go. I requested for the password to be sent to my email add and it contained the exact password I was trying. Thought it was a browser problem so switched from Firefox to Safari, still nothing. Maybe it was OS thing so moved from Mac OSX to Windows XP, same freaking issue. At this point, I was already furious.

To add fuel to the flames, I was baby sitting 2 nieces and a nephew aged 1, 2, and 3.

I posted a message on the forums and apparently, I was not alone which helped me calm down a bit.

And I do mean just a tiny bit as I still had to prepare myself to go out and take my Network + certification exam. I still had a few items I had to review which I just whisked through. I was real worried that the whole ruckus with Bloc Party tickets may have eliminated whatever I have reviewed in the past weeks.

So without taking breakfast and lunch, I traveled to the testing center, sat through the exam and looked away after I clicked the “End Test” button. There were a number of items and concept which I completely knew nothing about yet there in the middle of the screen was the word “Congratulations.” I passed the certification exam getting a scaled score of 780 with the passing being 554. Things are starting to get better.

Straight home it was for me, but tried to stop by for some chips which I could munch on while walking home, but the store was closed. I was starved and regretted not buying anything to eat while in town. Ended up eating Krispy Kreme donuts instead when I got home.

At this point, I decided to try the exclusive link again thinking if everyone had problems earlier, surely the tickets would still be available at some point.

Lo and behold it worked! I purchased my standing ticket but not without a celebratory shriek and dance in my room. Headed over to Last.fm (uname=stingeyes) and mentioned the spare seats ticket. A few minutes later, this Slovanian girl messaged me about it.

It went down again from there though as we decided to watch The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Anyway, I passed my certification exam and would be seeing Bloc Party.

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Now playing: Bloc Party – Banquet
http://foxytunes.com/artist/bloc+party/track/banquet

I <3 Packages

When most of your shopping is done online, you really look forward to packages arriving in the post.

Amazon is one of my favorite stores because they are quite reliable, fairly cheaper, and have super fast delivery. For FREE delivery, you could expect items the next day. Pre-ordered items actually arrive the day the item is released. I can’t imagine how faster their super-fast delivery is which one can avail for a few additional quid.

Anyway, after months of waiting Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core finally came out in Europe. The game was released last year in Japan and around 3 months ago in the US. Damn these multi-regional translations.

To try and mend the wounds a little, people who pre-ordered get a special edition version which includes a book of art from the game which is quite lovely.

I have yet to play the game as I have not finished God Of War: Chains of Olympus, but I am quite excited as it arrived just in time for my holiday, something to burn during the 5 hour trip down to Cornwall.

I was about to throw away the packaging when I noticed this,

Coldplay is just so big now, they are practically everywhere!

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Now playing: Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict A Riot
http://foxytunes.com/artist/kaiser+chiefs/track/i+predict+a+riot

Camera Dilemma

With a Cornwall holiday planned for the end of June and a newly approved credit card, I am in the market for a new camera.

My old camera is really old. It’s a Canon Powershot A80 which I got in January of 2004. Yes, four years ago. Back then, it was real easy to choose a camera since there weren’t much variations and the Canon Powershot A80 was quite greatly rated online. The moment I saw it, I was sold. It’s a great camera and has shared a number of great adventures and a decent amount of travel.

It hasn’t really died yet but the CCD died last year before I went to Boracay. This was a factory flaw with the sensor and was replaced by Canon. It worked for quite a bit, snapping up Dubai and capturing Cornwall before dying again at Stonehenge. Now it would intermittently work when photos are snapped through the optical viewfinder.

Anyway, after four years, it is definitely time for an upgrade.

Problem is , the choices are so many and widespread. There does not seem to be one camera to rule them all. Well, if there was, companies wouldn’t make money out of the 10 different ranges they have.

DSLRs are awesome and all, but I do not consider myself a professional photographer. In my opinion, a casual photographers could be clever enough with a point-and-shoot compact. For me, DSLRs are strictly for professionals or those who have the time to attempt to be one. I could go for one, but it would be a complete waste of money as I wouldn’t have the time to explore and learn it to it’s utmost potential.

A simple point-and-shoot is out of the question simply because I am a geek. I need at least some settings to play with. Something which threads the water between DSLR and point-and-shoot.

I also can’t seem to veer too far away from Canon due to previous experience (yes, the one camera). The Lumix TZ line looks impressive but a bit too simple.

Ultimately, the choice has seemed to boil down to two cameras; the Canon Powershot G9 and the Canon Powershot A650 IS.

They are almost identical cameras 12.1 MP, 6x optical zoom, IS, etc but do have a few distinct differences which sway me from one side to the other.

The Powershot G9. If you have seen it, you know that it is the prettiest piece of meat on the “compact” range. The design is just brilliant, retro and professional. If looks were everything, I’d get this one. I am pretty sure if I ask anyone, they vouch for the G9.

On the other hand, we have the Powershot A650 IS, a descendant of my A80. This camera is just big, heavy and bulky but does have a vari-angle TFT LCD and uses AA batteries which means you would never run out of batteries.

With these two features alone, the Powershot A650 IS has won me over. Add to this, it is far more cheaper than the G9 which just happens to be outside my credit limit. The G9 is also heavier even though it is slightly smaller, this is due to its metal body.

It is quite hard to be a geek, to dig into every little detail until making a final decision. I am quite excited as well. This would be my first gadget purchase in months. Oh, wait. I just got myself a LCD TV and a Xbox two months ago.