Let them eat Cake

Low, one of my most favouritist bands ever in the history of time have released a new album, 'Drums and Guns'. Here is the semi-nauseating video for their first single Breaker.

Low - Breaker

Catastrophe and the Cure

And so on to more exciting non-work related things.

El musico. I have taken up playing guitar again after an absence, but after bashing out a few covers and playing the same old tired chords I realise that I need to put in a serious amount of effort to create anything that I am remotely satisfied with, get disheartened and stop. I know this is a sad picture to present, but only because I hope to improve on it in future.


Listening wise, I am taking in the new Explosions in the Sky record (and its interesting remix second disk) but not listened to it enough to decide whether it is as good as the last two albums. Also my brother, Stephen sent us 'Wincing the Night Away' by the Shins, which is great as expected. The Shins are one of those bands that inspire me to create music; reasonably simple songs with great melodies and interesting instrumentation [inspiration is one thing, however].

I don't think I've mentioned that we now have a Nintendo Wii, which has been enormous fun. Interestingly Wii Tennis and Golf and Rayman Raving Rabbits have been our most played games, although I have got stuck into Zelda: Twilight Princess [just past Goron Mines, Zelda kids, in about 12 hours of play - think I'm a bit of a Zelda delinquent] when I was off on annual leave. It's great to see people playing the sports and laughing - although I have more than once accidently thumped the wife whilst taking a vigorous swing at the tennis ball. We also picked up Tiger Woods Golf, which sounds a bit sad - I'm not more than an annual pitch and putter in real life - but it has been pretty enjoyable to hit a round using the wii remote. So anyone who's in the vicinity and fancies a game, feel free to pop in.

Chimpy chompy. Till next time.

I still owe you for the hole in the floor

Another week passed, just 6 days left of my current job; it has had its ups and downs and in betweens.

At times I feel I've regressed into that medical student who didn't care about things and just wanted to get home as soon as possible, but when I'm in a more positive mood I've learnt about continuity of care, having had some patients on the ward almost throughout the whole time I've been there. I don't like sitting about doing nothing, but I don't feel there's very much wriggle room for initiative within the department, hence it is only noticed when you make an omission. It's probably just a clash of personalities with the all controlling Reg.

Anyway that was a bit depressing, sorry. On to the next post.

Thanks to the warning sign generator

Miss Happy Sunshine Face

Not quite the return you had all hoped for but nevertheless better than nothing. Perhaps. Maybe I will regain my portion of the internaudience, all 3 of you.

Enjoy other 'failed' Japanese inventions here: Ueba. Monster.

I'm melting.

It is very warm. Is Dundee always this warm in late July (in the middle of the night, no less)?

(I am merely posting this so that in December when it is 'baltico' I can look back and see how I complained about the warmth - self indulgent, I know but bear with me).

This ain't no holiday...But it always turns out this way.

Well Mr Black it has indeed been my holiday, the holiday that has been the first 23 years of my life; sadly now it is coming to a fitful close, with the impending beginning of my working life. Being a student has never seemed like so little work. After over 18 years of learning (allegedly) I now have to put some of it into practice, with the side effect of earning some money.

Graduation gone, summer weddings passed, trip abroad over, it's enough to make anyone feel down. The rusty wheel of life trundles ever onward downward down the mist enveloped bumpy road of life. I hope there's a cold snap next week as being baked alive in some old semi-converted wartime pre-fab (think the old Wellington for you Belfasters) does not fill me with the joys of summer. Hmm. It's not all bad though - I will have a role, a function, a reason to be hanging around - the least important person but yet have some responsibility [good/bad?]. Oh, if only they didn't keep changing things, but everything comes together for good.

Trying to put together a Mix CD to remind me of this period in time, but still trying to finalise the tracklist.

Later tater.

The same place...some time later

Bon soir mes amis.

Events:
I passed my exams and am currently a 'graduand', a strange state of limbo between finding out that I've passed my exams and getting bopped on the head by the bonnet of Dundee during graduation on the 11th of July.
Helen graduated yesterday with a 1st in her degree, which is impressive, cue champagne and tasty meals.
We had a short holiday in Greece last week, on the Ionian island of Zakynthos...pictures to follow, perhaps....
We also moved residence to a nice shiny new flat, which has been good to us thus far.
On Wednesday we were at the wedding of our friend Claire (née Woolsey) Trumper, which was great - the first wedding I had been to since my own - it seemed much more relaxing.

Life still seems inordinately busy but perhaps it will slow down a bit for a while now that some of the above have been done [but maybe that's just wishful thinking].

Added a couple of new links to friends' blogs - the blogosphere is seemingly alive and well, but I'm left feeling less and less unique by the day.

Enjoy.

We don't need oxygen...

Not only are JJ72 wrong about not needing oxygen (QED by D. Blaine), a Japanese Spar-a-like chain of shops suggests that a measly 21% isn't enough by planning to sell compressed 95% oxygen in cans. One can will apparently last about 70 seconds (or 35 x 2s bursts as they are marketing it).




Hmm. I think I'll stick with the free stuff for now.

On a mat o' poetry

Want an interesting comparative study in language or just a way to waste ten minutes listening to kids make animal and vehicle noises? Try onomatopoeic library Bzzzpeek [needs sound]. The British ones are quite amusing ('giddy up' from a Princess Anne sound-a-like) and some of the foreign ones are baffling - do goats in Hungary really say 'Mars Bar'?

Port-foiled

Hello
Last Friday saw the hand in of my portfolio, the sum total of my 5 years of medical school. It was a momentous occasion, but one that passed with a great deal of not-sleeping. I blame the weekend of vomiting and diarrhoea that I had enjoyed the Saturday and Sunday before, but others might blame my lack of foresight and laziness. Unfortunately it isn't as simple as writing a lot of guff, I now have to justify the guff in an oral exam next week.

Of course in the midst of this we found out that the rent on our current flat does not end at the end of July (as we expected after we wrote a very polite letter much earlier in the year asking for this extension) but rather in 3 weeks time - scrabbling around for flats has never been so much fun. We may well have found one, but justifying earnings when all I have to prove that I will have a job in August is a rather vague letter of acceptance. Well, we shall see, we shall see (anyone got any nice watertight cardboard boxes?)


Musically, I've acquired a nice shiny pile of CDs including the lovely 'The Swell Season' from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (who I saw live in Lisburn last summer) and a couple which I've been meaning to get for a while including Elbow 'Leaders of the Free World', Sparklehorse, 'It's A Wonderful Life' (thanks Stephen), and the Flaming Lips 'At War with the Mystics' and very recently, Grandaddy's departing album 'Just Like the Fambly Cat' all of which are proving great in a similar vocal style, save for Elbow.

For the next week I shall be attempting to prepare for my oral exam, but who knows what form that preparation will take? If only my favourite bands would sing about something more useful...hmm but I guess that would be pretty dull.

Bleep bleep.

Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands

Hello Innernet Kids

The most exciting thing from last week was getting my thrice yearly hair cut....aah the time saved in the morning by having less hair to wash....and the feeling of the wind on my ears, the sun burning the back of my neck...ok, maybe that last one was a bit of wishful thinking.

In musical news...
I found a nice Elliott Smith website with lots of demos and b-sides, most of which I hadn't heard before....www.elliottsmithbsides.com

Fun.

Like a pig in a cage on antibiotics

Hello

That much forgotten centre piece of Radiohead's OK Computer has been brought out of the shadows and into the flash light....
Fitter Happier

Have a good weekend. Mine will be spent writing my last 2 formal case reports....'fnu' as goats once uttered.

What's taters precious?

Normally these kinds of things are rubbish but I found this quite amusing (well for the first 30s):


http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/taters

Hm. Should really get back to work now.

Welcome to winners

Hello

After a moderately successful week, visiting the radiology department of a small hospital half way to Aberdeen, yesterday I travelled to Glasgow primarly to pick up Helen from the airport, but secondly to visit with Pete. The evening started, as all evenings should, with a trip to the pub to watch Ireland play some rugby.

It was a great game with a large number of ex-pats, Scots and French cheering on the men in green. After an initial clumsy mistake which lead to an English try Ireland dominated the first half, scoring a try themselves and should have scored a few more points, but lead by a single penalty at the half. As in all games against England the second half was a tense affair; England hitting back soon after the break with a period of sustained pressure, which eventually lead to an easy try, before Ireland responded off a poorly thrown line-out with a superb piece of individual skill from Leamy, the No. 8, to get his hand to the throw and then to force it to the ground for the score. The atmosphere in 'Bar Budda' was far from Zen-like, with nervous faces all round. After a sin binning for one of the Ireland players, England took the lead again with a couple of penalty kicks, leaving the score at 24-21 with less than 5 minutes to go. Our adopted Irish friend in the bar, whose name I never actually found out, declared that he'd "had a feeling all day" that Ireland were going to win, and despite my disbelief at this prediction, I wanted him to be right.



And he was. One Ireland rush forward lead to a huge cheer, a second made people leap to their feet and by the time the winning try was scored people were shouting as loud as I've heard in a long while. It was a great game. [Why are the English always such bad losers? See 'England blame luck of the Irish' It's not like they haven't had enough experience of it recently].

After a pizza at the legendary Dino's on Sauchiehall St, we crossed the road to the tallest cinema in Europe to see George Clooney's much praised directorial debut, 'Good Night and Good Luck'. It was certainly an enjoyable film, with quite a leisurely feel, probably due to the excellent understated acting of David Strathairn, and despite its weighty topic. I enjoyed the black and white cinematography, full of shadows and boxed-in architectural claustrophia, adding to the tension. I didn't feel it was a pro-communist film, as I imagine dissenters would accuse, but more a rallying against trial by prejudice - this reminded me of the current controversies surrounding the detainments in Guantanamo Bay. And the musical interludes from Jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves were very pleasant as well. So, all in all, one to check out if you're in the mood for a quietly spoken film that will lull you in and subtlely make you think.

I think I've written enough now. Rock on.

Dave.

Science vs. Romance

"Sometimes you see beautiful people with no brains. Sometimes you have ugly people who are intelligent, like scientists" - Jose Mourinho.

I'm not sure why scientists are singled out as being ugly (or in fact intelligent) but nevertheless the self-appointed 'Special One' has spoken.

Also Science vs. Romance is a song by Rilo Kiley, which I like; you could check out at the Hype Machine, a web page that lists all the songs from recent music blog posting; it's also got a good search facility for sampling those bands whose names you've only heard.

Thanks.

Cheesy Circle

Today is Friday.

Another week has passed in my soon to end undergraduate career. It has been fairly quiet aside from a couple of tutorials and anaesthetic observances, which has given me a chance to laze about after my shadowing block.

A few selected tunes from this week (and if I was cooler and had web space I'd put up links):

• Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead. Despite the title and some of the lyrics this quite an uplifting tune, reminds me of indie popsters the Delgados, probably mainly because of the alternating boy/girl vocals.


• Gregor Samsa - Young & Old. The start is similar to Explosions in the Sky or Sigur Rós then fades into a Kings of Convenience-esque harmony for the vocals before heading out with something that sounds like Hope of States (recognising that they themselves are rather similar to EITS or SR). Not sure whether a whole album would be good but this is, as all the best 'post-rock' songs are, invigorating but always threatening collapse.


• Aimee Mann - Wise Up. Always going to remind me of Magnolia and William H Macy, but is a good song in its own right.


• Andrew Bird - Tables & Chairs. The Andrew Bird album gets better with each listen but this track is one of my favourites as it is quite subtle.
  
• Belle and Sebastian - The Blues are Still Blue. From their new album The Life Pursuit. This song is the one that has stood out thus far with its Marc Bolan esque vocals and chunky guitar riff and a catchy chorus to boot. Never underestimate the power of a catchy chorus.

So there you are. Check them out if you care.

Have a good weekend.

Can you guess what it is yet?

Without cheating and looking up the name, anyone have any guesses as to who this fresh faced troubadour is? Amusing example of 80s album covers nevertheless.

Also on an unrelated note - towering over Dictionary.com is my new favourite dictionary, 'the free dictionary'. Ah the wonders of having a favourite dictionary.

2 months and 1 Christmas Later

...hello?...

The blogging return of both Pete and Stephen has encouraged me to type a little. I think attempting to recap on the whole Christmas and New Year period would be a little overwhelming, so it's almost suffice to say that it was relaxing, amusing and unique.

So back to January. We've been back in Dundee for 3 and a half weeks and, despite a blip of a few days towards the end of last week when I had an odd stomach flu and had to take a couple of days off, things have been going well. I am currently on a 'shadowing' block which means I basically follow round one of the junior doctors on the ward trying to pick up what I'm supposed to be doing in August(!) when I start working for real.

I have been attempting to compile a CD (as unfashionable as having music on those shiny things is becoming) of my favourite tunes from last year. I think the three genres (as unsatisfying/satisfying as classifying music is) from last year were instrumental, pseudo-folk and Sufjan Stevens. Concentrating on one task at a time is proving difficult as usual.

Yesterday we headed down to Edinburgh to see our good friend Tim who is now living in Hong Kong, teaching English to rowdy kids, but who returned to the UK to pave the way for his (second) wedding (within a week) during the summer. It was good to see yon Tim as well as some of other good friends...hm, should've taken my camera in hindsight as we went for a very pleasant walk in the Pentlands as dusk descended.

Back to the rock'n'roll lifestyle tomorrow as another week of early starts and as it is the last week of the block frantic computerising. Rock and roll indeed.

Out.

400? I'm coming over

Ah well, another year, another bird-day.

Thank you to everyone who wished me well in the many various forms, cards, phone calls, text messages and personal visits (Pete....bringing multiple presents and Powerball excitement and Stephen's Stouffer present...(upload your Stouffer video please)). I ended up with a large pile of shiny new CDs, which will entertain me over the dark winter months and possibly comment upon. On the day Helen and I took a pleasant trip down the coast of Fife, eating Fish and Chips in the acclaimed Anstruther Fish Bar (patrons include Tom Hanks and Prince Willy) and walking several piers, dreaming of visiting the Isle of May with its three lighthouses, and watching the old men slowly pull their car into the harbour.

Elsewhere I played Frisbee in Glagow (8th...a bit below par) and in Dundee at the Inter-Medics tournament (losing heavily to Aberdeen in the final, unsurprisingly) as well as on the infamous Magdalen green. I have started a new block on 'Improving Prescribing', which involves learning to think like a manager (hmm) and not understanding various jargon terms (Defined Daily Dose (DDD) for starters) but doesn't seem too taxing. Best be getting on with the other stuff then.

Thanks.

Yawn! Sleepy sunsets.

Ah hibernation, what a good idea.

So apart from randomly deciding the course of my future (by applying for a real job) last week (although I will have to wait some 4 weeks for the results of my actions) I have been well. Two beginners ultimate weekends in the last two, one which won (woohoo) and last weekend's Edinburgh beginners in which we came 12th/32, which was still a good result.



Two weeks now till the most important autumn tournament, indoor regionals in Glasgow, for the frisbee of course, but also for the party (or more the party theme). Dundee are the 6 times reigning party prize winners at Glasgow, due to our themes. The 2 others years I have been we were Hillbillies and Old People (walking down Sauciehall street dressed as a Granny was an experience) and this year's is still to be decided. Thus far we have had the ideas of cheerleaders (guess where Helen stole that idea from, Sufjan fans?), commandos (doesn't sound too good) and pirates (my own personal favourite).

Otherwise things are well in the Maconachie household. The view from the window was bathed in blurring autumn sun. Unfortunately it now gets dark (thanks to those pesky farmers) at about 5 and will continue to get earlier and earlier (I think it levels off around 3.30pm by December). An example:


Will try and update this a bit more regularly, but don't hold your breath.
Hope you are well.