Michael J. Shepherd

What America Needs Now...

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:29:00 +0000

Following the assassination attempt of US Senator Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday, the US needs to wake up to the danger of allowing free access to guns to almost all citizens without stringent checks, and needs to tone down the violent rhetoric in it's political debate.

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution allows all citizens "to keep and bear arms", this has lead to a situation where a majority of Americans believe it is within their rights to own a firearm. Currently, for every 100 US citizens there are 90 legally owned guns.

Whenever there is a major shooting in the UK, the debate that follows is almost always on the control of guns and of the environment in which the shooting occurred, as seen with last years Cumbria Shootings and Northumbria Manhunt. But, because of the Second Amendment in the US the control of guns portion of debate is always missing, no politician will go near it, suggesting Americans should give up their guns is political kryptonite.

So, what should be done, I believe the senate needs to have an open and honest debate about the place of guns in society, with the aim of implementing Canadian-style gun control.

In Canada citizens are legally allowed to own guns but there are 4 steps to go through before being allowed a licence:
1. Pass a gun safety course
2. Provide three character references
3. Provide information on your marital status and financial affairs
4. Post this off and receive your licence within 4-6 weeks.

One other difference between the US and Canadian law is that in Canada self-defence is not a valid reason to hold a gun. This means that in Canada a much more reasonable proportion (22%) of households hold guns.

Now the other half of this debate is about the environment and glorification of guns, especially in politics. The Republicans (but to some degree Democrats too) have allowed a culture of violence to appear in their politics, instead of disagreeing in an open debate, senators have (literally) been making targets of those they disagree with, this simply has to end.

And no matter how you defend it, if your response to the shooting of someone you disagree with is to scrub your website of any inappropriate messages, then you have a guilty conscience, and for good reason.

Sarah Plain's map of senators who voted for a health care bill she disagreed with...

Glenn Beck being his usual opportunistic, hypocritical self:

Anyway, i'll leave you with this impassioned speech by Keith Olbermann on the shooting:

Shep

A Small Change...

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 02:43:00 +0000

On May 5th, The Coalition government will hold a referendum on replacing the current First Past the Post voting system with that of the Alternative Vote. This is an issue I am passionate about and will attempt to explain here the differences between the two systems, why there is such a debate going on about it, and hopefully convince you to vote Yes to AV.

So, what is First Past The Post.
First Past The Post (FPTP) is our current voting system, voting itself is simple, for each constituency there are a list of candidates, we mark an X onto the candidate we most want to win in our constituency, from there all the votes are counted and the candidate with the most votes wins the seat, seems simple enough. Only it's not an entirely fair system, if there are say 5 candidates in a constituency, it is feasible that the winning candidate could win with only 21% of the vote, meaning 79% of votes cast are wasted, leading to scenarios like this in 2005...

Because of this the system creates safe seats, where one party can keep control of a particular seat because of an above average number of their voters in that area meaning the rest of the population in that area have little chance of changing their MPs and can theoretically be ignored, not very democratic.

Other issues include the fact that smaller parties are excluded, especially if they have a support all over the country (rather than isolated pockets of support), in last years elections UKIP received roughly 1 million votes, compared to the Conservatives 10 million, but because the support they had was not enough in any one seat to get them an MP those votes are wasted, whereas the Conservatives currently have 306 MPs.

Tactical voting is widely used under FPTP, this occurs where voters vote for a party which they do not fully support in order to keep out a party they don't want to win, (I myself tactically voted Labour in an attempt to prevent the Conservatives taking my constituency), this blurs voting intentions and means many thousands of people in swing seats give up their preferred vote in order to give another party a boost.

The final issue with FPTP is that it only really works in a 2-party political system (such as that of the US), but in britain we're increasingly becoming a three or multi-party system. In 1951 only 3.2% of votes cast were for someone other than the Conservatives or Labour, skip forward to 2010 and that figure stands at 34.9%.

So, if First Past The Post is broken, what is the Alternative Vote, and why is it better?
The Alternative Vote (AV) (Also known as Instant-Runoff Voting), is similar to FPTP but improves upon its weaknesses, so instead of marking an X next to the candidate they want to win, the voter instead ranks the candidates in order of preference (if you only want to choose one you're still free to do so), from there all first choice votes are counted and if the winner doesn't have the vote of 50% of the electorate the candidate ranking last is eliminated and the second preference votes for that candidate are then counted and added to the totals of the remaining candidates. This process is continued until one candidate has over 50% of the electorates support.

Some benefits of this system are that it means MPs have to work harder to gain and keep their constituents support, the need for tactical voting is removed as voters can put an undesirable choice as their last preference (or not vote for them at all) under AV, removing the need to vote for a second favourite party in order to keep another out.

It also removes safe seats, so that all MPs have to work hard to get the support of the electorate. Another benefit is obvious, it gives the voter a greater choice to choose between candidates.

One of the nicer changes AV would bring is a drop in negative campaigning, a candidate is less likely to attack another candidate if they feel they may well end up receiving some of their second choice votes.

Many people who oppose the introduction of AV claim that it doesn't result in 'strong government' and leads to more hung parliaments, this simply isn't true, since 1910 Australia (which uses AV) has had two hung parliaments, whereas in the UK, we've had 4. If anything AV will help our electoral system as we move away from a two-party system and help prevent future Hung Parliaments.

Also remember AV is already used in the UK, Labour, The Liberal Democrats, and (yes) The Conservatives all use AV to elect their leaders, isn't it time the public got the same choice?).

I think i've laid out the facts here for you to make up your own mind (hopefully, like me you'll agree AV is better), but before I go i'd like to make one more point. This is not a referendum on either the Coalition or the Liberal Democrats, voting no to spite Nick Clegg may seem like a good idea, but it would delight the Tories and mean we lose out on this once in a generation opportunity to change the way our democracy is run,. as always, others say it better, so here's this weeks editorial for The Independent:

AV is a good change on its own terms. It ensures that voters have an equal chance to influence the outcome in their constituency, and to express their preferences honestly so that they can be counted, even if they do not support the winning candidate.

The alternative vote is not perfection, or a magic solution to the problem of disillusionment with politics. Yet it is an important step towards a better democracy that empowers the voter, and so deserves our wholehearted support.

Shep

Vote Yes on May 5th

2010 in Music...

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:10:00 +0000

I'm not a fan of nostalgia, but at the end of a year it's become something of a tradition to look back and self-indulge in a best of / worst of list, to that extent this is a play list of my favourite new songs of the year:

EDIT: If the above player isn't working please find the play list here

please note, if you know me you'll know I'm not exactly a conventional pop fan, so please don't expect to find the latest Take That song on here, this play list is self-indulgent and only reflects my most played songs of the last year.
If you have a similar taste in music to me I hope you'll enjoy it, if not I hope you'll find something you haven't heard before which you enjoy (if not there's always the skip button)

Shep

2011 New Year's Resolutions

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 12:11:00 +0000

So, with 2011 looming over us like that spaceship from district 9, here are my top ten aims for the coming year.

Find a job
Get more exercise
Attempt a real relationship
Get out of my overdraft
Take more pictures
Travel somewhere spontaneous
Climb in the Lakes more regularly
Learn to cook something new from scratch
Spend time more efficiently, (less TV and Internet, more reading)
Spend more time with Family & Friends

Happy New Year, Shep.

Ridiculous

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 02:05:00 +0000

It is rare something annoys me to the extent that I feel the need to blog about it, but this is going to be one of those blogs.

You see, I have just finished reading two articles about the (thoroughly enjoyable) Top Gear Boxing Day special written by everybody's favourite hate-fest literature dump. In case you missed it the aim of the special was for Clarkson, Hammond and May to retrace the steps of the three wise men in the nativity and get from Iraq to Bethlehem in sports cars, sounds pretty simple, only, with it being Top Gear, it is something of a tradition for them to offend somebody, so in typical fashion, they did.

During a scene in which they are trying to travel through Syria and maintain a low profile so that they can get into Israel, Clarkson decides it would be a good idea for them to wear niqabs (the Muslim robes worn by women in which only the eyes can be seen). Seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to me, it's amusing in it's absurdity, and would work reasonably well in a Muslim country where they are worn by a large percentage of the population.

Well, of course not, you see they were specifically attacking muslims to cause "religious outrage", as you will see this article is full of hilarious quotes from enraged Muslims, such as:

Islamic extremist Anjem Choudary, said: 'The burka is a symbol of our religion and people should not make jokes about it in any way'.

Wait, what? this guy is a self professed extremist, of course he's not gonna like it, his primitive views probably make him think stoning homosexuals is acceptable. and yes, you SHOULD make jokes about it, I refuse to be fed into this idea that religion deserves some form of respect and defence from ridicule, after all, it is one of the most ridiculous things in existence, nobody should be allowed to censor free speech.

So anyway, read further down and the next quote the Daily Fail has managed to find is from a reputable news and opinion source:

On the Yahoo! forum, someone wrote, 'Death to America'.

Dear god, what!?
Death threats for making light entertainment out of something is never cool and doesn't exactly give you the respect you demand.

But America? why? what? who? How are you so ignorant?!, Top Gear is British, they made several references on the show to the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), fucking hell knowledge must scare you, if you couldn't even be bothered to google that! It also shows that you haven't even watched the show, but are prepared to make death threats over what you've been told about it. FUCK. OFF.

Fair play to the Daily mail as the next few comments they've dragged off the internet are from people who think (like me) that this is a whole lot of fuss over nothing.

That is of course until I found the next article, yeah that’s right, Christians are also complaining over insults to their religion over a scene in the same programme in which a manger is shown to contain a baby Stig.

Tony Stephens, 61, from London panned the show's treatment of the Muslim and Christian faiths: 'I can see Muslims have a right to complain about the light-hearted treatment of burkas, but what about Jeremy Clarkson pretending to be Jesus Christ and having a nativity scene with The Stig as the baby Jesus?

To be honest, The Stig is much better than Jesus ever was (he’s also more believable).

Long live Top Gear, and long may it avoid being censored by a minority of people who are afraid that if their beliefs are opened to ridicule, then they will truly be seen for what they are; ridiculous

Happy New Year,

Shep.

Blair Vs. Hitchens

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:49:00 +0000

A few days ago Tony Blair took on Christopher Hitchens debating the premise "Religion is a force for good in the world". Roman Catholic, and UN envoy to the Middle East Blair was in favour of the motion, Militant Atheist (Anti-theist?) Hitchens was against. Here it is in it's entirety... enjoy.

It Get's Better.

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 17:06:00 +0000

If I could make every teenager watch this, I would...

No Pressure

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:47:00 +0000

Richard Curtis has made a few viral ads for the climate campaign group 10:10.

Not Safe Viewing For Children...

Shep.

MpFREE #4.

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:15:00 +0000

I have 6 new songs for you today...

65daysofstatic - 'PX3'
Post-rock heroes 65daysofstatic today announced the release of a new EP ('Heavy Sky'), and gave away a free song from it.
download it here:

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network Sampler
Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor and long-time studio collaborator Atticus Ross have spent the last few months creating the score to the new David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club) film 'The Social Network' (yeah, the facebook one).
Today they announced the details of the score and are giving away a free 5-track sampler from it.
(if this is anything to go by it could well be the best score of the year, (yeah, even better than 'Inception')).

Download it HERE.

1. Pieces Form The Whole
2. Eventually We Find Our Way
3. On We March
4. The Gentle Hum Of Anxiety
5. Soft Trees Break The Fall

Enjoy,
Shep.

The Unholy See

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:56:00 +0000

I am an Atheist, I don't believe in any deity or the self-claimed authority of any organised religion, sect or cult. I would even go so far as to call myself an antitheist.

From such a position I automatically have an issue with the head of any religion visiting a secular country and it being called a 'state visit', and yet this is exactly what will be happening in a few days as Britain braces itself for a vastly unpopular papal visit.

[WARNING: this post has the potential to quickly breakdown into a disjointed rant, carry on at your own peril]

So, what exactly are my grievances with his visit?

Well, firstly that it's being classed by the government as a state visit, which means that the British tax payer is funding it, this simply should not be the case because, contrary to popular belief, the Vatican is NOT a state.

The US State Department is required by congress to compile an annual report on the human rights record of every government with which it has diplomatic relations. There is no such record for The Vatican, Vatican City or The Holy See, the reason for this? Official’s state that for human rights purposes the Vatican is not a state (If it was it would have some of the worst discrimination policies of any state on the planet, including Iran and North Korea).

At the UN the Vatican is not granted statehood and was only granted ‘observer’ status until 2004, when it was granted admission as a non-member state (but only because the US blocked it from becoming a full member) meaning that they have the same rights as member states except voting, meaning they have very little to no impact upon policy (Although that didn’t stop them from preventing a declaration on ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’ being passed to all member states).

The Vatican has also essentially admitted that is it not a state, after a (you guessed it) molestation charge in Oregon the plaintiffs asked that the priest in question be treated as an employee of the Vatican (mainly due to the fact the priest had been moved to the Oregon after similar charges had been made against him in Ireland and Chicago), the Vatican’s response was that the pope exercises ‘spiritual authority’ and not ‘managerial control’. This pretty much abolishes the Vatican’s claim to be a political and accountable state. Interestingly, the church was more than happy to move a holocaust-denying bishop back to the Vatican from Argentina. Had the Oregon priest been in the employ of any multi-national corporation that had moved him on after a molestation case against him, only for him to do exactly the same again, twice, that company would be held to account in a court of law, and rightly so.

Add to this that the Vatican has no police force meaning Italy carries out any legal proceedings and criminal trials that happen within The Vatican.

In 2005 The Vatican had 557 ‘citizens’ living in its whole 0.17 of a square mile, 74% of which are clergy, 18% were members of the Papal Swiss guard leaving a total of 46 lay people who are citizens of the Vatican.

To summarise, the Vatican is not a state, it has no authority to call itself a state, and yet does so on a regular basis, but only when it suits it. For the British taxpayer to be wasting millions of pounds hosting this self-righteous prick in a time of severe economic deficit, when we can’t even afford to build new schools, is an insult.

The Pope wants to visit Britain, a country that only has an 8% population of Catholics, that’s fine, but let the Catholics and the Holy See pay for it, not me, I’ll have some school buildings instead please.

And this is only half of my problem with his visit, I haven’t even touched upon the moral beliefs of the pope and the Catholic church yet. In fact, there’s so many things they believe and teach which I disagree with that I’m just going to list them:

Pope Pius XII stood idly by during the Holocaust, never taking sides or condemning the killing of millions.

Granted, this happened a long time before Ratzinger held any power in the church, so here are some more modern examples…

Priests took an active role of violence during the Rwandan Genocide; the Vatican did not condemn this.

The church promotes segregated education.

They deny abortion to even the most vulnerable of women.

Even stating that rape victims should not be allowed abortions.

They oppose equal rights for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people.

Ratzinger himself called gay sex “Evil”.

Ratzinger has failed to anywhere near adequately address, and even covers up the many cases of abuse of children within the church.

10,000 victims have come forward from around the globe, The church (with Ratzinger in charge of the issue) insisted all cases be kept from the police and dealt with by their own ‘canon’ law – which can only ‘punish’ child-rapists to prayer or penitence or, on rare occasions, defrocking.
As a result only a tiny percentage of the victims of this horrific cover up have seen any form of justice.

The church opposes the distribution of contraceptives, which increases large families in poor countries and exacerbates the spread of HIV/AIDs.

The Pope told Africans that condoms “increase the problem” of HIV/AIDs, and African priests preach that the “westerners put tiny holes in them”.

And this list could continue for much longer, for an organisation that claims to be benevolent and kind, it sure has a funny way of showing it.

Now I’m not saying that all Catholics are anywhere near as deluded, corrupt, self-righteous and evil as the pope, far from it, to those British Catholics considering turning out to see the pope in the next few days I would like to finish up by quoting Johann Hari’s fantastic article on the matter.

“I know that for many British Catholics, their faith makes them think of something warm and good and kind – a beloved grandmother, or the gentler sayings of Jesus. That is not what Ratzinger stands for. If you turn out to celebrate him, you will be understood as endorsing his crimes and his cruelties. If your faith pulls you towards him rather than his victims, shouldn’t that make you think again about your faith? Doesn’t it suggest that faith in fact distorts your moral faculties?

I know it may cause you pain to acknowledge this. But it is nothing compared to the pain of a child raped by his priest, or a woman infected with HIV because Ratzinger said condoms makes AIDS worse, or a gay person stripped of basic legal protections. You have a choice during this state visit: stand with Ratzinger, or stand with his Catholic victims. Which side, do you think, would that be chosen by the Nazarene carpenter you find on your crucifixes? I suspect he would want Ratzinger to be greeted with an empty repulsed silence, broken only by cries for justice – and the low approaching wail of a police siren”.

Shep.

Here's To The Crazy Ones...

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers. The round

pegs in the square holes - the

ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules and
they have no respect for
the status quo. You can praise
them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them,
glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you
can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

- Apple Computer Ad, 1997

Life Hacks

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I recently found this floating around on the internets and thought i'd bring it to your attention.
Unfortunately I can take absolutely no credit for creating it...

Shep

Review: Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:26:00 +0000

Linkin Park
A Thousand Suns
Released 13th September.

After the dull, limp and soulless 'Minutes to Midnight' and the electro-generica of 'New Divide' (which my friends will know I like to refer to as Linkin Park minus effort), one could have forgiven Linkin Park for returning to former glories and making a carbon copy of debut album 'Hybrid Theory', they haven't.

Instead they went into the studio and created an album that feels lost; it's full of ideas that go nowhere, there's little to no flow between tracks, lots of interludes, and some massive duds of songs (Wretches and Kings, The Catalyst).
But what they have achieved is to create an experimental album that is overflowing with ideas, doesn't tread on old ground and when it's good, it's great.

Choice highlights include 'Burning in the Skies' which may be one of the most upbeat songs Linkin Park have ever created. 'When They Come For Me' feels like it belongs somewhere between the Meteora and Minutes eras, but it's a pretty unique song. Second single 'Waiting For The End' feels a bit generic but somehow manages to get away with opening with Mike Shinoda rapping in a Jamaican accent for no apparent reason.
The vocal style on next song 'Blackout' feels like Bennington is getting advice from Mindless Self Indulgence, in fact the songs breakdown could fit happily on any Mindless album. And finally 'Iridescence' at song 12 out of the 15 tracks provides the last good song of the album, it starts off quietly with just Bennington singing over a slow piano track but builds into a pretty solid song.

As a fan of old LP this album came as something of a pleasant surprise to me, however I cannot help but feel that those people who got into LP through radio singles 'What I've Done', 'New Divide' and 'The Catalyst' are likely to dislike the album as a whole.

A Thousands Suns, for all it's flaws, feels like a band revitalised, making the music they want to make and not caring what the fans/critics say, something that always appeals to me.

Check Out:
Burning In The Skies
When They Come For Me
Blackout
Iridescent

Avoid:
Wretches And Kings
The Catalyst

Upcoming Films

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 12:47:00 +0000

With the traditional summer lull of films nearly at an end, here are some upcoming films i'm looking forward to seeing:

Never Let Me Go
15th September

The Social Network
1st October
Ok, yeah it's a movie about the creation of Facebook. But being directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club), and being scored by Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor it should be a suitably dark film and critics are already raving about it.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
19th November 2010 - Part 1
15th July 2011 - Part 2

Tron: Legacy
17th December
Staring Olivia Wilde and with a score composed by Daft Punk, this looks set to be awesome.

Black Swan
11th February 2011
The new film from Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem For A Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler) and starring Natalie Portman & Mila Kunis.

MpFREE #3.

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:17:00 +0000

The National - You Were A Kindness

After the success of new album 'High Violet' earlier this year, The National played this brand new piano-lead song live on Minnesota radio.

The National - 'You Were A Kindness' by nmemagazine

Download it HERE (right-click, save as...)

Shep

MpFREE #2.

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:11:00 +0000

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - We Are The Dead.
DIOYY are back, This free song is from their upcoming 2011 album 'Don't Say We Didn't Warn You'.

Check it out:

and download it HERE (right click, save as)

and for those of you who like remixing music, they've also posted the multi-tracks HERE

Shep.

Sonisphere 2010 Review

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:58:00 +0000

I figured it's about time I actually wrote something on here, rather than just posted links and gave away free music.
So, to get the ball rolling i'm going to review the UK leg of Sonisphere Festival which I attended at the end of July.

Thursday 29th July:
where to start?
Well me and two friends set off at 7am to make the 6 hour drive to the historic Knebworth House, sleepy and excited. After literally months of waiting (the first bands were announced and tickets went on sale last december) we were finally making our way there. The journey itself was fun but pretty uneventful (as you'd expect) and one slight de-tour onto the M25 and a stop for essentials (cider) at the Stevenage branch of Asda later we were finally at the site. We'd even managed to make it with an hour to spare, so we went and joined the queue.
At just gone 3pm the gates finally opened, what followed was an hour of standing up carrying heavy gear and moving at about an inch a minute but mercifully we finally made it through the gates and were off to set up camp. We had all bought our tents from the green tent company in advance which meant we could pick them up on site, they were reasonably priced and fully recyclable, so my friends went to find a site to camp while I went and got the tents. After the tents had been put up we relaxed with a cider and waited for a couple more friends to show up.

Damned Canadians

Two Hours later our friends had joined us and we're camped up so we decided to go and check out the arena and get some food. The arena itself was almost identical to last year, except the Saturn stage had had an upgrade and the Bohemia stage had moved. In Bohemia there was a rock/metal karaoke on which was pretty fun, especially one guy who got up and did an amazing rendition of Europe's 'The Final Countdown', complete with screams and growls.

After we had had a wonder round the stages, stall and got some Pizza we headed back to our camp-site for the night. Although before we could get any sleep we would have to bet with a mohicaned Canadian guy that he couldn't down two cans of larger without pausing in exchange for our Canadian flag, regrettably we lost.

Friday 30th July:

After stirring from sleep at about 8.30am due to chants, shouts and yells we decided to get some breakfast and 4 of us would head to Asda to pick up more essentials before that day's arrivals came and made it difficult for us to get back onto the site. Lucky we did, as when we left we heard one of the stages open into life with Rage Against The Machines 'Killing In The Name Of', when we got back about an hour later it was still playing and I was informed they'd had it on repeat the entire time.

We spent the rest of the day up until 5pm playing poker, listening to music and drinking heavily. At 5pm it was time to head to the arena for the first of the bands to start, but not before taking part in a world-record attempt time warp to open the festival.

The first band to play was Delain, prior to the festival I had only heard 3 of their songs, and frankly classed them as a poor mans Nightwish, but they did a great job of opening the festival, playing with energy and enthusiasm, they may have been the first band of the festival, but you got a real sense from them that they were just happy to be there.

Next up were Turisas, again another band I knew little about other than that they were in the same 'battle metal' genre as Blind Guardian, they wear face paint (Though if I hadn't already known this I could soon have figured it out from the crowd) and that they do a cover of Boney M's 'Rasputin'. I wasn't exactly won over by Turisas, they seemed a band that we're playing for the fans, and refused to play more than the opening chord of their most famous (cover) song.

Following Turisas were Europe, yeah the 70's euro-rock band that wrote 'The Final Countdown'. They played a surprisingly good set, proving that they're much more than a one-hit wonder, although in saying that, it was of course, The Final Countdown which got the crowd jumping up and down and singing along the loudest.

Gary Numan

Next up was Electro/Industrial pioneer Gary Numan, who again refused to be shoeboxed by hit greatest hits, playing new and old material with energy and vigour he was one of the most surprising artists of the weekend. It was when he played ‘Cars’ and ‘Are Friends Electric?’ that it became obvious how much his music has changed over the years, not that that mattered as everyone in the crowd sang along in unison.

Alice Cooper

The day’s final act was Alice Cooper, who brought his ‘Theatre of Death’ with him. My knowledge of Coopers music is basically ‘Poison’ and ‘Schools Out’, this didn’t matter at all. His stage show included a noose, guillotine, a straight jacket and all the awesomeness needed to prevent anyone getting bored, sure some of it may have been a bit cheese but everyone was so entertained they didn’t care.

Saturday 31st July:

Saturdays acts were off to a mediocre start due to Family Force 5, Sonisphere's answer to Download booking Hollywood Undead, regrettably Family Force 5 were bad, there's no way around it. We tried to start off with an open mind but either by the time the song about radiators was played or the lead singer had brought out giant foam hulk hands, we were laughing at how bad they were. Sorry Sonisphere, you got this one wrong, they're for kids. On the bright side we knew the sound was working for the awesomeness to come.

Awesomeness that was regrettably delayed by Lacuna Coil, a band I used to like who now seem happy to play a boring set, the only highlight was the last song 'Our Truth'.

Shortly after this a much needed dose of fun arrived in the form of Anthrax, after seeing them at Sonisphere last year I did my research so I would actually know some songs this time around, although they're now back with their original vocalist they were just as good as I remember them, opening with 'Caught In A Mosh', was a highlight along with 'Antisocial' and 'Indians', they also played part of Heaven & Hells 'Bible Black' as a tribute to Dio. an effortlessly good live act and one so deserving to be here.

Papa Roach

Next up was Nu-Metal heroes Papa Roach, These were another highlight of my weekend, playing a set of mixed up old material and new almost every song was a sing-a-long, even brand new song 'Kick in the teeth' went down really well. Though, of course they saved the best for last and left the stage to the final notes of 'Last Resort'.

Shame then that Good Charlotte, despite their longer history and being a bigger act couldn't match them. They instead relied mainly on songs from their breakthrough album 'The Young and the Hopeless', making them feel like a cringe-worthy nostalgia act. That said their cover of Blink 182's 'Dammit' was fun, but with Blink around again it served as a metaphor for Good Charlotte themselves, redundant.

Placebo

Placebo came next, this was my third time seeing Placebo, and set-list wise this was easily the best. Opening with the rarely-played 'Nancy Boy' the set included 'Scared of Girls', heavy new track 'Trigger Happy Hand's' and a cover of Nirvana's 'All Apologies' as well as hits 'Every You Every Me', 'The Bitter End' and 'Infra-Red'. It seems that Placebo can adapt their style to suit any environment, whether it be at an indie festival, or sub-headlining a metal festival. My friend who hates them even had to admit she enjoyed their live show.

The final act of the day was of course, Rammstein. WOW!, I still can hardly find words to describe their show, other than "Go and see it!". I've seen plenty of bands over the last few years, but Rammstein blew them all out of the water. And now I know what 21 tonnes of pyrotechnics looks like.

Rammstein

Sunday 1st August:

The final day was opened by Australian prog-rockers Karnivool, Their set was good but I'm not sure how it went over to the shrunken (Henry Rollins was on at the same time) hungover audience.

After Karnivool, over on the Saturn stage were cKy who played a fun set and got the crowd going. a memorable moment came from their guitarist who caught a can of lager that was flying towards him and downed it in one to cheers and applause from the audience.

Back over on the Apollo stage Madina Lake played another good set, Having seen them play an awful set at Leeds Festival last year I wasn't expecting anything much from them, but I was wrong. Given the incident their bassist was in they were a man down, not that you could tell, they played with soul and enthusiasm. I'm not sure how they came across to the rest of the crowd but I know I was mildly impressed.

Skindred

The 4th act of the day came from Reggae-metal act Skindred, sure their songs may get a bit samey after a while, but they were easily one of the best acts of the weekend, frontman Benji was cracking jokes and making fun of the audience, and we loved it.

Next up was the 2nd 'Big 4' Act of the weekend... Slayer. Their stage set up was literally a wall of amps, and God was it loud!. I don't know alot of slayer apart from the obvious 'Raining Blood', 'Angel of Death' and 'South of Heaven', so to me it did start to get a bit repetitive, but 'Raining Blood' was simply awesome, and 'Mandatory Suicide' provided a much wanted Bill Bailey moment.

The next act was more suited to my taste, Alice In Chains. I personally thought they played a rather lacklustre set-list, but this was negated by the power of the vocalist and the acoustic rendition of 'Your Decision' provided a real sing along moment.

Pendulum

Pendulum were probably the act least suited to a metal festival like Sonisphere, but they were booked at the request of Iron Maiden to have some contemporary music on before them. and they killed it, playing all their hits they had the crowd holding on to their every movement, they even brought on the lead singer of In Flames to perform their collaboration song 'Self vs. Self', which really got the metal crowd on their side.

The final act of the weekend, and the one everyone had been waiting for was next, Iron Maiden. We all knew they'd struggle to top Rammstein's performance, and most of us didn't believe it was possible. unfortunately we were right, but nonetheless they played a great (if controversial) set. this was due to their choice not to simply play a greatest hits set, instead the majority of the songs played were recorded in the last ten years. Personally I preferred this, It didn't seem like a nostalgia act. If i'd wanted 80's hits i'd have gone to download and seen AC/DC or Aerosmith, instead we got a band that are at the top of their game and still producing relevant music to a constantly renewing audience. Also as a nice touch they played 'Blood Brothers' and dedicated it to Dio.

Iron Maiden

Anyway, all in all a fantastic weekend!, I didn't know if the Sonisphere crew would be able to top last years festival, they blew me away this year, lets hope they can do it again in 2011.

Shep

MpFREE #1.

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:23:00 +0000

Hey, I figured i'd start giving something back to the people (person?) that read this drivel, so i'm going to start throwing free songs your way.

seeing as it's the first MpFREE post, i'll throw you three this time.

1. Manic Street Preachers - 'I'm Leaving You For Solitude'
A new song from the Manics in preparation for their new album 'Postcards From A Young Man, although the song doesn't actually feature on the album, so get it now.

(Click the arrow to download.)
Manic Street Preachers // I'm Leaving You For Solitude by Stayloose

2. Mumford And Sons - 'Unfinished Business (White Lies Cover)'
This acoustic cover was performed live by Mumford And Sons on an Australian radio show.
I think it works particularly well with a banjo...

Download Here (right-click, save link as...)

3. The New Regime - 'Remission Of Guilt'
Like the Manics song, this has been made available ahead of a (as yet unnamed) new album, but doens't appear on the album, check it out now..

Hope you enjoy listening, more next week.
Shep

Ambient Bieber

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:37:00 +0000

Fact.
35 minutes of Justin Bieber IS better than 4 minutes!
This is his song 'U Smile' played 800x times slower than the original.

Slowing it down seems to morph it from a shitty pop song into a hauntingly Sigur Rós-esque ambient track.

check it out...

J. BIEBZ - U SMILE 800% SLOWER by Shamantis

Shep.

Awesome,

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This is:

forked from: 重力マウス（ちょっぴり軽量化してみた） - wonderfl build flash online

Shep

Meatless Monday

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Tue, 25 May 2010 22:47:00 +0000

Some Facts:

one burger a day increases your risk of dying young by a 1/3.
10 billion animals are raised per year for meat.
most of which are farmed industrially with poor welfare.
compared to vegetables, beef takes 100x more water for the same weight.
cattle currently take up 30% of the worlds land surface,
and release more co2 than all of the worlds transport put together.
people today eat twice as much meat as we did in the 1950's.

So, with this in mind I'm going to be joining the movement known as M eatless monday.

Meatless monday is a US campaign to help raise awareness of the issues surrounding meat production, nutrition and food awareness, and it's a damn good, simple idea.

One day a week, you cut meat out of your diet completely, Simple as that.
Where possible I will also be avoiding beef and pork altogether and instead having a more environmentally friendly meats (sustainable fish or poultry).

For more on this issue, watch this 4min talk on weekday vegetarianism...

I will, of course keep you updated with how this is going, if it goes well (and I can't see why it wouldn't) I hope to expand it to more days, and perhaps eliminating milk and animal products from my diet as well.

Shep .

Eyjafjallajökull

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Tue, 18 May 2010 01:55:00 +0000

This time-lapse video was shot by Sean Stiegemeiser:

So I saw all of these mediocre pictures of that volcano in Iceland nobody can pronounce the name of, so I figured I should go and do better. But the flights to get over took forever as expected (somewhat). 4 days after leaving I finally made it, but the weather was terrible for another 4. Just before leaving it got pretty good for about a day and a half and this is what I managed to get

Shep.

The Intelligence² Debate

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Sun, 16 May 2010 23:23:00 +0000

Below is Stephen Frys argument that 'The Catholic Church is NOT a force for good in the world', I highly advise you watch it.

Shep

The Wedding Bride

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Sun, 16 May 2010 05:01:00 +0000

I'm not normally one for romantic films, but this looks pretty damn good.

The Spaces In Between.

michael.shepherd@hotmail.co.uk (Michael Shepherd) — Sat, 15 May 2010 00:01:00 +0000

How To Destroy Angels - The Spaces In Between.

Those of you who read this blog regularly, (or actually know me), will know i'm a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails.

The above video is the second song to be made available from Trents new band (How To Destroy Angels) self-titled EP due out in July. The first single 'A Drowning' is available to download from Amazon and iTunes, or just listen to here:

[Shep]