Those that do cite a few key deficiencies in the iPhone’s armour. The usual suspects being:

• No MMS
• No Cut and Paste
• Bluetooth is poorly implemented
• Crappy camera

Most of these issues come down to software and firmware oddities. For what ever reason Apple doesn’t seem to want us to have these features. The device has the power, just no way to utilise it (legitimately). We can all hope that one day Apple will deign us worthy of an update that will address our needs.

One issue really sticks out from that list, and that is the camera. It is a crappy camera. There is no denying that it falls way behind the offerings from most of the other mobile manufacturers. Unfortunately this wee beastie is hard wired into the device, and there is nothing we can do about it. From a purely technical point of view it is a crap camera.

Crap camera, however, does not mean bad photographs. You only have to look at the likes of Lomo, Holga and even the venerable Polaroid. These are camera devices that hardly give Canon and Nikon sleepless nights… yet the images they produce can be every bit as glorious as a 5D Mark II, and they have a following of fans to match.

Unfortunately the iPhone camera doesn’t really offer much in the way of lovable glory. Not in it’s raw state, any how. Given decent sunny conditions it can snap a decent shot, and seeing as it goes everywhere with you it’s always handy to capture a moment or scene. Apart from that it’s images a bit cold, and lacking that spark of loveliness.

Although the camera is hard wired into the device it’s output is modifiable by applications from the App Store. Thankfully there are many, many talented developers out there who have found ways to add a smidgen of loveliness factor X to the camera.

I’m developing a mild addiction to these cool apps, so I think it’s only right that I share that addiction with you. So I’m going to start reviewing them here. Let’s face it, I don’t write much else these days!

I will start with Pano…

Pano – Narrow name, wide photos

Pano is a little app from the App Store which you can pick up for just £1.79.

As the name suggests it allows you to take a series of snaps to produce a really wide panoramic image of the scene – and it does in a beautifully simple and clever way.

You look at the scene and take a snap of the far left. Pano will display the picture and ask if you are happy with it, or would like to try again. When you are happy the scene changes. The right edge of the image you have just taken is ghosted on the left of the new image – this allows you to line the next one up perfectly.

You can do this for up to six images. When you have reached the end Pano will start to merge all of your images together. This can take a little time, but that’s becuase it’s doing quite a few clever things.

It’s rotating and cropping. It’s merging and layering. And best of all it’s doing it’s best to level out the exposure of all of the images to make everything as seamless as possible.

It’s dead simple, and the results can be very impressive…

Overall it’s a great little app that turns the iPhone’s crappy camera, into something that is actually quite stunning, and for £1.79 that can’t be bad.

Get Pano from the App Store.

It wouldn’t really be Christmas without a round up of the years musical output, so here I am to give my jaded views on some of this years best (and mediocre) collections of tuneage.

Seeing as Twitter has taken up my blogging life so much this year it feels only right that I approach this task slightly differently this time around. So I am going to attempt each album review in the style of a Tweet – i.e. in 140 characters or less (not including the artist and title).

If you are familiar with my rambling stylings you will know that this will be a bit of a challenge for me…

The Reviews

Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

Out for 12 months and still one of the go to albums of the year. Every song is play it loud good. Still sounds fresh despite overexposure.

Buy Vampire Weekend at Amazon for £6.87.

Pete and the Pirates – Little Death

People say they are nothing new. Does it matter when the tunes are this full of joy and soaring peaks? I think not! Glorious stuff!

Quantic – Presenta Flowering Inferno: Death of the Revolution

The Personification of Prolific releases another gem. This time it’s dubbed up salsa from Cuba via Jamaica. Your head will nod excessively!

Buy Death of the Revolution from Amazon for £9.97.

The Streets – Everything is Borrowed

I misjudged Skinner and his faux chavish ways. He’s grown up. I admire his poetry. This album makes me want to reassess his discography.

Buy Everything Is Borrowed from Amazon for £8.98.

David Holmes – The Holy Pictures

The master of the cool soundtrack soundtracks his own life. Awesomeness ensues. A quite brilliant album that even his singing can’t ruin.

But The Holy Pictures for £5.98 from Amazon.

Q-Tip – The Renaissance

There really isn’t enough hip hop like this. A proper groove and a rich seem of soul running through it. Pinned with chunky beats. Quality.

Buy The Renaissance from Amazon for £8.98.

TV on the Radio – Dear Science

Under my radar, I’ve been slow to react, but everyone else bangs on about it. Honestly not yet lured by it’s charms, but will perservere!

Buy Dear Science for £7.98 from Amazon.

Herbaliser – Same as it Never Was

Ever dependable, ever funky. A big album from Teba and the crew. Big in all senses of the word. Big, round, warm and lovely. Like Santa.

Buy Same As It Never Was from Amazon for £5.98.

Kaiser Chiefs – Off With Their Heads

I know I shouldn’t like the Kaisers, but I have soft spot for their shoutiness. This album is quite shouty. I hoped Ronson would add more.

Buy Off With Their Heads from Amazon for £7.97.

Mr Scruff – Ninja Tuna

Ahh Scruff, king of the beefy (fishy?) beat! A good solid album with top wobbly bass action. I have bought it on CD, download and USB stick.

Buy Ninja Tuna for £10.88 from Amazon.

Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul

Unavoidable. I’ve been force fed so much over the years it’s impossible to hate them. Its musical Stockholm Syndrome. The album is… OK.

Buy Dig Out Your Soul from Amazon for £6.98.

Portico Quartet – Knee-Deep in the North Sea

My only gripe with this jazzy nugget is that I only discovered it via their Mercury nomination. If only more jazz was this open.

Buy Knee-Deep in the North Sea from Amazon for £10.98

Laura Marling – Alas I cannot Swim

Again via the bleeding Mercurys. (I did give Burial my top album award LAST year!). This is a sweet album delivered by an evocative voice.

Buy Alas I Cannot Swim from Amazon for just £4.98

Kings of Leon – Only by the Night

The Kings’ sound used to be aged in oak bourbon barrels. Despite now seemingly coming from steel vats they still do a cracking album.

Buy Only By The Night for £8.98 from Amazon.

Roots Manuva – Slime & Reason

Oh Roots, how I yearn to like your music. Alas your flow and witty rhymes too often get stuck in a mud of Saying Something. Cut loose man!

Buy Slime and Reason for £7.98 from Amazon

Monkey: Journey to the West

I’d love to see the show. I really like the music, but it’s hard to know how to fit it in to everyday life.

Buy Monkey: Journey to the West from Amazon for £8.98

Noah and the Whale – Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down

Annoying? Slightly… but it’s forgivable. Completely harmless stuff that is so inherently happy it’s almost impossible not to enjoy.

Buy Peaceful The World Lays Me Down from Amazon for just £4.98

Weezer – Weezer (The Red Album)

It’s all about the Pork & Beans really innit? Turn it up to 11 and enjoy what is probablly, maybe, the single of the year.

Buy Weezer (The Red Album) from Amazon for only £5.98

Late of the Pier – Fantasy Black Channel

I was waiting for this for months. Erol Alkan helps produce the best of these dancey-cum-indie band albums to date. Klaxons take note.

Buy Fantasy Black Channel for just £4,97 from Amazon.

The Fratellis – Here We Stand

I’m an unashamed Fartellis fan. They’re raw and fun. Up yours musicistas! Having said that, this album has kinda sunk with all souls lost…

Buy Here We Stand from Amazon for £5.87

The Zutons – You Can Do Anything

I’m also a massive Zutons fan. All though not their best they still haven’t released anything I don’t like. This one gets better with age.

Buy You Can Do Anything from Amazon for just £4.97

The Ting Tings – We Started Nothig

A sound that’s been around for months, compounded by a total radio onslaught that has made a lot of tracks grating… yet still pretty OK.

Buy We Started Nothing for £4.98 from Amazon

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip – Angels

I looked forward to this, I love what they do. Alas there is too much preaching and not enough dancing. When they’re good they’re brilliant.

Buy Angles for £9.98 from Amazon

Last Shadow Puppets – The Age of Understatement

In theory I like this album. Catchy tunes by two great singers. But the production gets in the way and leaves me cold. Recorded in a tunnel?

Buy The Age of the Understatement for £6.87 from Amazon

The Shortwave Set – Replica Sun Machine

Came out of nowhere and continues to suprise me when I look at the iPod to see what the tune is. An aptly named album.

Buy Replica Sun Machine for £6.98 from Amazon

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Yeah, you all know this. It has some great tunes, but as an album it hasn’t really grabbed me by the gonads and screamed LISTEN TO MEEEE!

Buy Oracular Spectacular for just £4.98 from Amazon

Does It Offend You, Yeah? – You Have No Idea What You Are Getting Yourself Into

Flattered to decieve and, ultimately, shuffled away looking embarrased by the bands stupidly brazen name.

Buy You Have No Idea What Youre Getting Yourself Into for £4.98 from Amazon

Young Knives – Superabundance

Underrated. Sums up everything about this band. This album is every bit as weird and wonderful as their first. A modern day Kinks?

Buy Superabundance from Amazon for £8.98

The Long Blondes – Couples

The Long Blondes’ ‘Rumour’. The band’s couples split up, so they sing about it. Pretty solid all round, but not a classic by any means.

Buy Couples from Amazon for £9.98

Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha

It’s hard not to like Supergrass. They are Brit Pop royalty who are sadly often overlooked. I prefer Road to Rouen, but this ain’t shabby.

Buy Diamond Hoo Ha for £11.98 from Amazon

These New Puritans – Beat Pyramid

See below…

Foals – Antidotes

Foals and These New Puritans. Both very similar sounding pieces of work. Both very good. Both not quite as enjoyable as Late of the Pier.

Buy Beat Pyramid for £6.98 and Antidotes for £5.98 from Amazon

Hot Chip – Made in the Dark

I have a general feeling of meh-ness to the album, which is perhaps a little unfair. I think with more time invested it could be better.

Buy Made In The Dark from Amazon for £11.98

Sons & Daughters – This Gift

They produced on of my favourite tunes in Johnny Cash. This album doesn’t have that, but it’s still a good solid indie workout.

Buy This Gift for £7.98 from Amazon

Blood Red Shoes – Box of Secrets

Boy girl duo producing raw stipped down rock music. The British White Stipes? No. (But it still quite a good listen).

Buy Box of Secrets from Amazon for £6.37

British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?

I’ve forgotten what this album sounds like it was released so early. From what I remember it was really good, but I rarely go back for more.

Buy Do You Like Rock Music? fro £8.98 from Amazon

There You Go

So that’s thirty six of 2008’s albums given a once over. It’s not a complete list. In fact it’s just a list of the albums I have got on my MacBook Pro’s iTunes library. I have probably missed some good ones, so I might do an update post… I’m also tempted to put them in some sort of order too.

Now there’s something to look forward too!

I’m sure most of you are aware of the Sleeveface phenomena.

What started out as a joke behind the decks of a DJ gig has gone on to be one of the biggest internet crazes of the year. Admittedly calling it an ‘internet craze’ makes it sound like a pile of hyped up rubbish… but this craze has the right ingredients to be awesome.

• Humour – check
• Vinyl geekery – check
• Photography geekery with Flickr support – double check
• Fun times – check

Like most of the best ideas, Sleevefacing is incredibly simple. Take a 12″ sleeve from a piece of vinyl that has a big face on it. Hold that sleeve in front of your own real face. Get someone to take a photo of it so it looks like that vinyl sleeve face is yours in an amusing and surreal fashion.

The very first Sleevface in the Flickr Sleeveface group (uploaded January 18 2008 by co-founder John Rostron) perfectly demonstrates the basics of Sleevefacing in it’s purest form.

From there the bar was constantly raised as the Internet took the basic techniques and gradually perfected the art of Sleevefacing. New inventive holds were introduced, better camera work, extra helpers, props, costumes, scenery and – most of all – a perfection of the lining up of body parts all resulted in some incredibly funny and interesting images.

Geronimo!

Never one to miss a good bandwagon when I see one, I jumped on the Sleeveface one sharpish. With help from the good lady wife and my lil sis.

Despite having a reasonable haul of vinyl from my DJing youth we found it incredibly hard to find good Sleevefacing material. It seems that minimal techno, happy hardcore and house records do not present a rich seem of Sleeveface gold.

Thankfully my happy days of charity shop digging did help us pull out a few we could do something with.

Solitude

The most obvious one was Suzanne Vega’s Solitude Standing…

After a lot of failed attempts it ended up with me behind the sleeve becoming Miss Vega. Note the subtle addition of a black sock on my right hand to mimic the gloves.

It turned out very nicely. The shoulder matching is spot on, and the happy accident of the background colours matching our wall adds very nicely to the overall image!

Body Rocking

This one was a bit different, what with it being a floating skull and all!

This one wasn’t so technically difficult, but was certainly fun. All it required was a jaunty Fonz style double thumbs up! (And a natty Threadless tee)

I remember there being much laughter during the process!

Less than a year later

I uploaded our efforts on February 4 2008.

In just less than twelve months there are now over 2,500 Sleevefaces in the Flickr group. There is the official website. There are links and articles from all the many dark corners of the worlds media… and now there is an official Sleeveface book.

The book contains 192 full colour pages of over 200 different Sleevefaces.

On page 16 (I think) you will find a really good one…

How cool is that!? That’s me that is! In a proper book!

So I suggest you go and buy a copy. It’s a great little coffee table book that would be a great stocking filler for any fan of music… or photographs… or books… or me!

Seriously it only costs like £5.84 with free delivery from Amazon.

Seriously by a copy. Or two.

Today sees the turning off of the beta Game World that KC Milan have been ploughing the trade of football in for the past six months.

In that time the club have been dragged up from a team made up of random no hopers to becoming one of the top ranked teams in Game World 7.

You may remember my post a few month ago about the clubs none-to auspicious start. I let the system automatically select my squad… and I found myself in control of ‘talent’ such as Richie Wellens and Mark Tinkler.

I had a slow start.

Picking it up

In the first qualifying league I came 19th out of 20 – finishing only just above someone who never logged on after signing up. I won just five games and conceded 101 goals. The only way was up.

Slowly over the next few seasons (which last 28 days) I started to gather together the kind of squad I needed. I also invested heavily in youth and set about learning the skills to maximise the untapped potential of the youngsters the game produces.

With a mixture of youth, experience and a bit of tactical know I dragged the club up from a lowly senior rank of 556 all the way to a peak of 24. We picked up the All Evening Division 1A title in Season 5. Also along the way we picked up bits of silver ware – not least the Millionaire Cup which netted prize money of £2.05m!

I also have to give due props to the Under 21s who were runners up in the All Evening Youth league three years running. My Youth ranking has always been good – rarely being out of the top 10. It would be my tip for securing long term success in the FML universe…

The Final Eleven

As a final honour here are the main members of final GW7 KC Milan squad…

Goalkeeper – Artur Boruc

The Holy Goalie himself.

Blessed with many qualities, including a hugely important 20 rating for reflexes, the big Pole in our goal has fully justified his ridiculous £33k a day wages. He was brought into the club for just £900k – a bargain price that reflected his salary…

Right Back – Aleksander Babic

One of the stars of the KC Milan Youth Academy. Aleksander was brought into the club in Season 3 for the princely sum of £26,600. After just 3 seasons in the Academy the talented defender was already on the fringe of the 1st team. At the tender age of just 20 he was first choice.

Now at 22 his tackling, pace and intelligence have made him a solid part of the back four. His corner taking ability is almost indispensable.

That £26,600 investment would now recoup at least 100 times more…

Left Back – Andrew Taylor

Left Back has always been a tricky position for me to fill. Andrew is the latest attempt to fulfil that role. At £1.2m he is actually one of my most expensive buys. I would say he has done adequately. He doesn’t do much wrong, but doesn’t do anything spectacular either. Had the GW not been ending Andy would have been looking at the exit door.

Centre Back – Carlos Tordaya

Carlos has never really fulfilled his potential. I bought him young and cheap at £75k way back in season 2. He slotted easily into the first team despite his young age and performed well.

He has great pace, great heading, great tackling… yet some how he has never really kicked on. He has never really responded to my training.

I have soft spot for Carlos, but this was shaping up to be his last season as a first team regular.

Centre Back – Heiko Westermann

Heiko has been a great success. Brought in at the end of season 5 on a wage auction transfer he set straight our leaky defence and made sure the team didn’t get embarrased in their first year in the Premier League.

Even at 31 he still justifies his massive salary.

Defensive Midfielder – Lorik Cana

Lorik is probably one of my favourite acquisitions. He cost me £1.5m but he instantly bolstered the team by providing fantastic cover for the back four. He has stats in every department, he’s a tenacious tackler, a silky passer and has the vision to play killer balls.

Ultimately though it’s his heading abilities from corners that have made him a true KC Milan legend. He’s netted 76 goals in his time – not bad for a man in his position.

In real life he is the Marseille captain who scored against Liverpool earlier this month. He’s lucky we won…

Attacking Midfielder – César Villaluz

César has been playing for KC Milan for just over 3 seasons. He takes home the highest daily wage – £36,001 per day.

He is totally worth it.

His average match rating has not dropped under 7. He has scored 60 goals and notched up around 80 assists. He is pacy, composed and technical.

Not bad for someone who is 5 feet 5.

Left Wing – Arjan Wisse

I have only just switched back to using wingers this season. The 4-4-2 diamond served me most successfully for many, many season. However it was becoming increasingly exploited by teams playing wide.

Arjan was brought in to plug the gap in my squad the new formation created. I had seen him in action a few times against me, and I knew he could cause teams problems with his pace and crossing.

I managed to pick him up as a free agent, and despite not being paid (or valued) as much as some of the others in the squad he has acquitted himself very well.

Right Winger – Juan Meneses

I will never get to see Juan meet his potential.

He has just turned 20. Last season in the under 21s he played as a striker and notched up 101 goals in just 177 appearances.

He has a huge amount of pace, great crossing ability and, obviously, a deadly finish. It’s a shame I won’t be to see him fully develop.

Striker – Roger Beerens

The exact same can be said for Roger. A bit further down the line at 23, Roger has just cemented his place as first choice striker.

So far this season he has played 17 senior games, and scored 16 goals.

Roger is more of a creative force, and has been given the important task of team playmaker.

A superstar in the making.

Striker – Gabriel Rodriguez

Talking of superstars – Gabby is the shining example of my youth policy.

I picked him up for the paultry sum of £100k at the age of 19 towards the end of season 2. He spent a couple of years in the Under 21s before becoming the striking understudy.

From there he has gotten better and better every season. He has scored 217 goals for the club. He has the reputation rating of ‘World Class’. He has a Market Value of nearly £6m and I’ve turned down offers of over £8m.

That is what you can achieve with a youth policy – and I think it’s the most rewarding part of the game.

Honourable Mentions

Other players from KC Milan folklore that demand a mention are:

Marc Stein

Marc is the only played left in my squad that was there from the very beginning.

Admittedly that is mostly due to the fact he can play at Left Back. He’s not the most gifted player, but he dependable and for that reason he is a legend – he has 829 appearances for the club!

Daniel Halfar

Daniel is a great striker. Had it not been for a broken nose, followed by a broken leg, he would probably be still first choice. Alas Roger Beerens has stepped up and stolen his spot.

But Daniel is the clubs leading ever goal scorer having notched up an impressive 233.

Random Stats

Now to finish, some random club stats.

• Highest Transfer fee paid: £2.5m for Óscar (a quality spanish playmaker.)
• Highest transfer fee received: £1.8m for Wilfredo Caballero (a great ‘keeper who made way for the Holy Goalie)
• Biggest Win: 7-1 Vs River Park FC
• Biggest Defeat: 4-10 Vs Corfball with a KFC (In my first season, and down to 9 men…)
• Most games won in a row: 10
• Most games without losing: 20
• Most games without scoring: 4
• Most games without conceding: 6

I would write more – but the Game World has literally just blinked out of existence and I’ll never be able to see them again. *sniff*.

It’s quite sad really.

Not to worry – the fun all restarts from scratch in just a few short hours. It’s not the end, just the start of a new beginning. Or something.

If you’re not one of my Twitter followers, you may have missed a wee bit of news… Claire is now 17 weeks pregnant and fatherhood is very much impending! So that has been on both of our minds recently!

Despite this good news I have got a few things queued up to talk about, but really I’ve been waiting for something juicy to tempt me into writing a block of text over 140 characters! Recently Jack (who has has been making me jealous with his post a day regime) gave me something that tickled my blogging fancy.

Random Choice

Simply he posted a list of ten songs that mean something to him. Not necessarily his favourite songs, but songs that mean something.

A good idea.

So I’m going to have a bash. My only problem is coming up with just ten. I consume a lot of music, and lots of different genres – I, in all honesty, probably don’t do enough actual listening these days. There are lots of tracks that mean lots of the things to me, in loads of different ways, but plucking out ten has been interesting.

In the end the ten I’ve come up with are really just a list of 10 tracks that I can pin memories to at this moment. If you asked me the same question tomorrow I would almost certainly come up with a different list.

So in no particular order – here we go…

I Melt with You – Nouvelle Vague

I’ll kick off with an easy one. This was the song that me and Claire had for our first dance. It’s a pretty little ditty that most of you will have heard because it had been used extensively by T-Mobile. I would like to say I was dead cool and discovered it way before… but no. I heard it on the ad like everyone else.

It has really nice lyrics though. “I stop the world and melt with you” etc etc.

Nouvelle Vague are a cover band. Like with a lot of their stuff their Frechified Bossa Nova stylings actually improve the Modern English original no end!

Listen to Nouvelle Vague – I Melt With You on Last.FM

Valley of the Shadows – Origin Unknown

Now, as they say, for something completely different.

This is an old school Jungle (Drum ‘n’ Bass as the kids call it) classic that has lot to answer for. Back in the early 90s, when I was still a young sprat of a lad, I discovered pirate radio. I’ve talked about Zee 100 before, and how it shaped my musical tastes, and this one track that really stands out from that time.

It’s an eerie tune, with a wobbly, jangly, and instantly recognisable intro. It throws in some spoken word samples from a documentary about near death experiences (”It was like a long, dark tunnel…”) then, after proclaiming “31 seconds!”, it clips you around the ear with a bag full of bass.

Norman Jay dropped it in a set when I was in a club in Manchester – totally out of the blue – it gave me proper goosebumps.

Considering it’s 15 years old the tune still sounds pretty fresh. As does a lot of the early hardcore, jungley stuff. It was pretty forward thinking stuff, which is why I liked it so much.

Origin Unknown – Valley of the Shadows on YouTube

Passion – Gat Decor

Another tune from my pirate based musical education. If you had to, I suppose you could describe it as Balearic. Really it’s just a club classic, with one hell of a piano riff and sprinkling of good old acid bass.

Now this is included, not only because it’s a great tune, but because it’s one of those that has constantly been released and re-released with the addition of completely unnecessary and often shonky vocals plonked on top.

It stirs lots of memories of me harping on to anyone that will listen that it’s musical sacrilege, that there is no point in meddling with a classic, and wondering where has all the originality gone these days… etc etc.

Passion – Gat Decor on Last.fm

Walk this Way – Run DMC ft. Aerosmith

Really this could be any Aerosmith track, but I chose this one because at least Run DMC are in it.

Aerosmith are Claire’s favourite band, so pretty much any of their tracks make me think of her.

So it’s not all bad ;o)

Walk This Way – Run DMC ft. Aerosmith on YouTube

Foxy Lady – Jimi Hendrix

Obviously there is the Wayne’s World connection, but it’s a song for me and Claire too. Always brings a smile to our faces, and memories of drunken dancing to mind…

You can’t go wrong with a bit of Hendrix.

Foxy Lady – Jimi Hendrix on YouTube

Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand

I’m not sure why this one sprung to mind quite so readily, but it does hold a pivotal role in my musical history.

You might have guessed from what I’ve written so far that I’m a big fan of bleepy electronic music. Up until about the time this record was released I didn’t really do music with guitars. Well apart from going to indie nights in Liverpool due to lack of competition. OK I didn’t really buy indie music…

It was about this time that indie music started to do thing slightly differently than it did in most of 90s – for one it embraced the dance floor and kicked in touch a lot of the mopeyness that had been prevalent for quite a while.

After hearing this on Soccer AM it was the first guitary track that really had me interested in a long, long time… and from then on I took more and more interest.

Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand on YouTube

Woman – Wolfmother

This track sums up that change more than any other, and it makes Claire chuckle every time it comes on. When Claire met me I was still DJing Dance Boy, now I’m someone who cranks up Wolfmother to 11 when coming home from Scotland.

A lot of that is down to her.

It also has a lot to do with a lot of things. Wolfmother have come from my liking of the White Stripes (damn forgot them for the list…) and hearing them on Project Gotham Racing 4… and firmly cemented by my love of Guitar Hero.

Woman – Wolfmother on YouTube

Say Kids What Time Is It? – Coldcut

This could actually be a lot of Coldcut’s early work because it all quite interchangeable really.

The memory is really linked to one section of this classic piece of cut-n-paste magic.

It was at Creamfields (the first one that was actually in Liverpool) that I witnessed Coldcut performing live in a massive tent at some stupid hour like 3am. We’d been there since 1pm, my mate was basically having a kip at the back of the tent. I wandered off just soaking up the audio visual onslaught that the duo put out… then they dropped the section of the the tune which mixes ‘I’m the King of the Swingers’ from the Jungle Book over the Funky Drummer break – complete with video – and the place went mental.

I should go and see them again.

Coldcut Live on YouTube – go to about 6min 30seconds for the Jungle Book!

As – Stevie Wonder

Some of Stevie Wonder’s music is unbelievably good. As much as it shames me, I have to confess that the first time I heard this tune is when it was when it was being butchered by bloody George Michael.

That aside this gorgeous slab of soul was played at the fantastically sweaty Electric Chair in Manchester by the Unabombers one night… it was just one of those times where everything was just right.

It’s a class tune, but at that moment in time it was perfection.

The Electric Chair produced a unique atmosphere, and the Luke and Justin (the Unabombers) where the creators of it. We used to travel the 80 mile round trip regularly to sample it, mainly to just see the Unabombers play. It wasn’t only ‘As’, there were loads of tunes they played that just worked – New Order, Aretha Franklin, Kool and the Gang, The Clash all interspersed with more standard electronic house, funk, hip hop.

Good times. ‘As’ always brings those memories back as it soars to it’s crescendo…

As – Stevie Wonder on Last.fm

Jayou – Jurassic 5

Finally, we have one of my favourite hip hop tracks.

The memory that this brings to mind is playing pool in the student union bar… something that was done very regularly.

Despite looking like a heavy metal reject, with my shoulder length hair, I was well into my DJing and danceable music. The jukebox didn’t offer me an awful lot, but the J5 LP offered an oasis of respite.

Jayou is a jaunty little number, and is one of the few hip hop records I know all the words to. The Cut Chemist produced beats are worth the entry fee alone.

Jayou – Jurassic 5 on Last.fm

There You Have It

There you go, ten songs that mean something.

I could have added loads more… Hotel Yorba by the White Stripes comes to mind, Les Fleur by Minnie Ripperton, Get a Move On by Mr Scruff, and millions and millions of others…

but I hope you’ve enjoyed the ten I came up with. It was certainly a good way to come out of my hibernation.

I could go on about how busy things have been for us recently – they have! We seem to have been constantly on the go for the last couple of months – stag weekends, car buying, playing Rock Band etc, etc, etc…

Of course these are excuses. Good excuses, but excuses none the less.

It’s not been a lack of material to post about. There are plenty of things I’ve wanted to flex my fingers for… but a lot of these things have either been too big or to small for me to contemplate.

I’m aware I am that, even though we are six months into the year, I am yet to blog about any music! It’s not because there haven’t been any good albums – far from it – it’s just I seem to have constantly been waiting for that ‘just one more’ to appear over the horizon so I can blog about that too.

Of course I have waited so long that I’ve got a list of about 35… which I just can’t face tackling.

It’s the same for games. I’ve been meaning to blog about GTAIV. I’ve also been meaning to write about why my spare room has become a shrine to plastic guitar controllers… and drums.

Embracing my Inner Twit

So to ease the situation I have finally decided to start using Twitter properly.

I signed up years ago, when the Twitter was a mere whisper. I used it a couple of times, thought “meh!”, and went on about my business. (I’m sure I’m not alone with that.)

The months ticked on and the whisper grew louder.

I tried again. “OK”, I thought, “there must be something to this???”. So I bashed out another bunch of half hearted tweets. I promptly lost interest.

Another few months flipped over the calender. The noise had developed into a constant, un-ingnorable rumble. I knew I must be missing something, but I couldn’t be bothered. I had decided that Twitter just wasn’t for me – I simply didn’t see the point.

Things Change

Do you know what started to change my mind? Bloody Facebook. I’m ashamed to say that it took the Status Message to show me the power of writing a few characters of simple text – and how much information can be conveyed in such a restrictive medium.

It still took a long time from then, but I’ve finally got into the right mind-set to use Twitter. I’ve been using it solidly or the last four or five days… and I can finally see how you can get addicted to it. I can see the point.

It’s that quick gratification of extracting the crap from your brain and instantly projecting into the open public domain. There’s no planning, no graft, no fuss. You’re just 140 keystrokes away from unleashing your thoughts. It’s so powerful in it’s simplicity.

Of course you all knew that already.

HMS Twitter has long left the dock. If you’re already a believer you can come and follow my Tweets at http://twitter.com/anthony_casey.

If you are like the old me, I would urge you to revisit Twitter, you might find it to be a revelation.

OK, that’s rubbish. I’m always quiet, and never post anywhere near enough.

However, this time I have been busy beavering away on something.

Claire’s been blogging for over a year now. She actually posts three to four times more often than I do – and she actually has people that comment regularly! She was using Blogger, which was fine to begin with, but it was obvious she deserved something better.

So for Christmas I gave her one of the geekiest gifts possible – I bought her www.clairescakebake.co.uk, some web space… and the promise of a spangly design courtesy of the Web Brewery.

Producing work for my wife was an interesting experience. It certainly gave her something else to nag about – other than playing on the 360 too much… and washing the dishes… and my driving… etc etc etc.

So after four months of “have you done anything on my blog today?”, I’ve finally got the Cake Bake up and running.

Cupcake

Now I had been giving this present a bit of though for a while. A month, or so, before Christmas I started playing around with ideas for a logo. Just to make sure there would be something to show for it come Christmas day.

It started out as some doodles on a notepad. I liked the way the ‘i’ in Claire is dead centre so I started playing with ideas to make a feature of the dot. I worked out it could be a cherry… then *ding* the idea of making styling the type to look like a cupcake fell into place.

Originally it was supposed to be a cherry… but it didn’t quite work. I thought the heart looked a lot better. It also worked as a nice feature to pull out into the rest of the design later on.

I didn’t want to think too much about the design of the actual site too much, I wanted Claire to have as much input as possible… so after the logo was done it wasn’t until after Christmas that things Moved again.

Sketchy

Claire was actually quite reluctant to offer any ideas about what she wanted. It took me about a month before I could coax out a rough sketch on a piece of A4. Armed with that, a vague idea of “something modern, but not” and (hopefully) knowing Claire quite well I started knocking some ideas together.

I first tried to go with the logo as the main focal point. As I’ve found in the past, I found this a difficult way to ‘get into’ the design. The logo was fine for defining a colour scheme… but it didn’t offer much else in the way of inspiration.

So I started browsing through Flickr and the Google Images search for something to kick the imagination into gear. I initially hit on the idea of incorporating some classic gingham patternage beloved of cafes throughout the world. However, Claire wasn’t too fussed. “Chintzy” was mentioned.

Fine.

But the fabrics idea got me thinking so I set about finding a variety of different styles to please my client.

There were quite a few….

… Claire settled on a couple and I was away.

After that the rest of the design kind of fell into place on the 960 pixel grid.

I comped together a few bits of kitchenalia to make the header links, and produced a recipe book using some of Claire in action, and that was that.

There’s no earth shattering design leaps or revolution, but I like to think it does the job quite nicely.

Claire seems happy enough, which is the main thing.

Overall she’s been a good client.

Well, apart from the “round font” incident…

Fooooood

Anyway go and check out her new home, subscribe to the RSS feed etc.

You can have it on good authority from me – as a great eater – that Claire is a great cook and the recipes will be more than worth trying.

You can also drool at our amateur food photography.

Wow I almost missed it again.

But unlike last year I’ve noticed just in time – thanks to Jem.

So bask in my naked glory.

Wonder at my lovely bare HTML.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

If I remember to uncomment my CSS link…

When Football Manager Live was first announced I felt a number of emotions. Excitement, scepticism, anticipation, and hope were just a few of those that tickled through my nervous system when I heard the news.

Of course that doesn’t cover the main feeling that was sure to follow. The one that was more powerful than any other, the one that grew every time I heard news or read a preview.

That feeling was dread.

The dread that this game beast was inevitably going to come into my life and stomp all over it like a some sort of discarded after thought.

That dread came to a wonderful reality a couple of weeks ago when I was invited into the ongoing beta test…

We Go Way Back

Champ Manager has been a part of my life since… well forever. I say Champ Manager because that’s what the franchise was classically known as – before leaving the naming right with Eidos, while taking all the talent a knowledge to the more creative Sega.

It was on the Amiga I first encountered the game. It must have been Championship Manager ‘93 that was my first taste. I remember wasting more than a few hours on it, even though I was only 13 or 14. Printing and sharing stats with mates was a favourite way to past time. It looked fairly rubbish, even by 1993 standards, but it sill gave a unique sense of actually controlling a team of professional footballers. That was despite never seeing a player (or even the fan dangled graphical representations that you dont-even-know-you’re-born kids get these days) this was purely text based.

In fact I’ve always seen that as a strength of the series. It’s text based approach is like a very good book. It gives your mind a pointer and then lets the frustrated manager that’s in your imagination fill in the gaps. Other management sims try and take the movie route… movies are rarely as good as the book.

It had a big part to play in my football education. My love of both the game, and the game, grew hand-in-hand. It should be on the Nation Curriculum.

Anyway I could go on for hours, but to sum it up quickly here a few uggets of info.

I’ve played pretty much every version of the game since 1993.

I remember Championship Manager 3 being a massive event. It was the first beta test thing/leak/demo to hit the internet that was really relevant to me. I remember trying for hours to get my modem to stay connected long enough to download the huge 20MB file (or whatever). I think I succeeded around 5am. Ahh student days!

Football Manager 2006 is the most played game on my Xbox 360 with 115 playing days (it’s probably more – the game pre-dates the blog) logged on my Xbox’s 360Voice blog. It’s closest rival is just 55 days. The 2007 version of FM sits at 6th on the list with 28 days (I only bought it late because I still had unfinished business on 2006).

The 2008 version was released for the Xbox on Firday. I would have bought it already… but Football Manager Live came along first.

Then There Was Live

So back to the point of the post…

On Feb 29th I got a very nice (and surprising) email welcoming me to the beta of FMLive. Even though I was on holiday in Scotland celebrating our anniversary I still managed to sign in and found the ‘mighty’ KC Milan.

You get to design a kit (I love that bit, even if it could allow you to be a bit more creative), give your stadium a name, choose your pitch dimensions, select a squad of real life players, and join a federation to suit your playing style.

Once you’re done you are then left to roam wild in a fully real time, on-going, massively multiplayer game of Football Manager (2007 engine apparently). It’s a simple as that really.

I’ve never, ever, had dreams of slipping into a fantasy virtual world of orcs and wizards. Nor have I had any real ambition to have a Second Life where I can go to virtual strip bars to look at 3D ‘women’ that look like Kryten in drag.

I have, however, always found the dream of managing a struggling, penniliess, Rymans League standard team of also-rans and has-beens really, really, appealing!

Bunch of No Marks

I was in a bit of a hurry when I first started the game, and I made the huge mistake of letting the game automatically pick my squad for me. This was partly because I was rushing, partly because I didn’t read things properly, and partly because the ‘wizard’ things it starts you with kind of gave me the impression that it was the only way you could do things…

So my initial rag tag bunch of players were, to put things bluntly (but correctly), properly shite. To give you an indication of the level of crapness involved the only players I had remotely heard of were:

• Mark Tinkler: a journey man who started at Leeds, went to York City, via Hartlepool… now at Livingston)
• Richie Wellens: Doncaster Rovers ‘legend’
• Nathan Eccleston: Actually Nathan is a Liverpool reserves striker… who, to be fair, does have potential

These weren’t the worst players… just the ones I vaguely recognised!

To be fair, there were a few gems hidden amongst them who, although not household names, have proved very handy.

• Marc Stein: A very promising young German wing back who plies his trade at Hansa Rotock apparently. My player potential skills rate him as a 5 star Potential Superstar – he’s well on the way
• Ronald Raldes: a Bolivian international centre back who plays for Rosaria Central in the Argentine Premiership
• Marcel Silva Andrade: A very useful Brazilian attacking midfielder who actually holds the number 11 shirt at Corinthians, which is not bad going really

That was it really. The other members of the 22 man squad were completely unworthy of comment, and I had to start rebuilding the squad from scratch.

I didn’t actually start playing properly until the very evening of the first day of the All Evening Qualifier 3 league season.

Faltering campaign

So I stumbled into battle with my team… very quickly it was apparent that most other managers didn’t quite have my problems.

I needed to completely rebuild my team, while fighting a long 38 game season… it didn’t really work.

Over the course of the season I brought in no less than 18 new players. Some have been good… some have been shocking.

The thing is that you have a tight budget. A very tight budget. A budget that no only covers acquisition fees, but also wages. A budget that the bank keep a keen eye on.

Games can come along very regularly during a day, so you need to act fast. You can scour the World Player lists looking for free agents, you can do transfers between clubs… but everyone is looking for the same things. You have to act fast, some times that means you can miss things.

My main example would be in the goalkeeper department. I have actually bought in three keepers, the first two were really, really bad. My biggest mistake was Calvin Marlin.

Calvin, in real life, is a South African international – he played at the 2002 world cup. His stats in the game are impressive

• Handling: 17
• Anticipation: 16
• Positioning: 16
• Reflexes: 15

Great stuff, and much better than my current keeper. So I played him for something like 40 games, and to be fair he did have some great matches… but plenty more shockers.

The I noticed something I’d missed in his initial stats.

Agility: 4

That’s four out of 20. I had been playing a keeper who, essentially, needed a zimmer frame to move across the goal. He was dropped instantly, and eventually off loaded for £1.

I was so desperate to get someone, anyone, I made that rash decision. I’ve made others too.

There have been some good buys… if not some great business. My biggest star – I say biggest, he’s really my only International class player – is Lionel Scaloni. He’s actually played seven times for Argentina! He cost me £140k, he’s now 30 so his acquisition fee (the games RRP) has dropped to £60k… but even still he’s been a good buy.

Anyway, despite trying frantically to paper over the considerable cracks in the squad, my transfer dabblings failed to make any difference. I finished 19th out of 20. Played 38, Won 5, Drew 6, Lost 27. I also let in 101 goals. The worst result being a 10-4 mauling (in my ‘defence’ I was down to 9 men).

I did however have a decent run in the Cup, picking up a last 16 berth and some much needed cash!

The Future’s Bright

After the first season concluded last week I’ve been on a mission to restructure the side. Having leaked over 100 goals it was obvious the defence needed tightening up.

I ditched my 4-4-2 and headed to the murky depths of 5-3-2 (well 5-2-1-2 if you’re being pedantic). I’ve always hated this formation since Roy Evans introduced it to Liverpool… but it really suits my personnel. Having Scaloni and Stein as the lynch pin wingbacks really works well.

I’m also heavily investing in youth. It might not make any difference now, but long term I think it’s a great way to make cash in the game.

Since introducing the new formation my fortunes have really turned around. Goals leak in a lot less, and I’m actually winning games.

Poor old Calvin’s replacement is really helping.

Marcin Cabaj his name is, a Polish keeper who plays for Polish side Cracovia Kraków. With an agility rating of 15 he certainly doesn’t need his zimmer frame.

All I need now is someone who can consistently stick one in the old onion bag. And a classy central defender. Or two. Or three. And a better, more creative supporting AMC. And DM. And maybe one or two others.

The Life it Sucketh

Normal every day Football Manager was bad enough.

But add in other real people, with a real-time world of teams, leagues, federations, transfers and wheeling and dealings and you have a potent mix.

I wasn’t sure they could pull off the same feeling in this MMO style… but they have. They have great mods keeping everyone in check, so far all of the other players managers have been very friendly, there is a good atmosphere about the place. It works really, really well.

I’ve only really scratched the surface here. I haven’t even mentioned the skill levelling-up you can do to make scouting, training, physio and other bits easier.

Or the fact that the software is merely a client. I can have a version installed on my PC, a version on my Mac (yes, a native Mac version!) and log into them anywhere and the game just carries on, remembering all your preferences etc. so you can slip straight into it.

I’ve only been playing for about 3 weeks.

When was my last post before this?

This game sucks you in.

When it’s out of beta I will be happily paying my “couple of pints worth” subs to carry on.

I’m sure Claire will be over the moon!

We spent our honeymoon on Antigua, so to celebrate our first year together we did the obvious thing.

We went up to the Highlands for a week.

It is definitely one of our favourite places, especially the area around Aviemore, and it was a great opportunity to see the Cairngorm range in a more wintery setting. It’s our third trip up there in two and a half years, but it certainly doesn’t lose any of it’s appeal. In fact, we already have an eye on going back up later in the year.

As it was our anniversary we did add a few extras to make the week a little more special.

Drop Top

First there was our mode of transport. We have been saving Tesco Clubcard vouchers for ages. When we started they used to let you convert them into money off at MFI – to the tune of four times their face value! Alas, that offer was withdrawn a while a go. However, what was MFI’s loss was Avis‘ gain…

So we hired ourself a swanky car for the week (well, 11 days in all) to give our little workhorse C2 a bit of a rest…

I’ve never really liked the Renault Megane CC before, but after spending some quality time with one I have to say it left me very impressed.

It was certainly more suited to Grande Touring than our supermini. It was certainly a lot easier on my mind and body after nine hours of motorway driving!

Despite being February in Scotland we did manage to get the roof down quite a few times – and every time was brilliant fun. driving with the wind in your hair just puts a smile on your face! I can certainly see the attraction of owning one…

Top House

For our accommodation we stayed in a new detached house on one of the new estates on the edge of Aviemore.

Named Avonglen it was one of the best self catering experiences we’ve ever had – and we thought we’d done really well last time!

Not only was the house itself lovely, but the provisions, amenities and little extras that were thrown in were absolutely top notch. We were left a good range of cupboard essentials, a bottle of milk, two packs of biscuits, tea bags, two types of coffee, homemade jam and marmalade, two bottles of nice wine, a sponge cake, etc, etc…

Another nice touch were the Avonglen postcards – with stamps already attached!

This was on top of the full Sky package (inc. Setanta), Large LCD telly, DVD/HDD player recorder, DVD library, LCD TV/DVD combos in all three bedrooms, WiFi, fully loaded kitchen, sledges, gas BBQ, etc, etc…

It was frankly brilliant.

Less Words, More Piccies

Any way I could go on about how good it all was, but that’s far too much effort. Instead here’s a bit of a pictorial run through…

Looking Like A Wazzock…

…and I don’t care!

Cairngorm Panorama

Stunning, but still doesn’t come close to doing the place justice. I like doing these, but I haven’t quite mastered it yet. I’ve got to remember to ‘manualise’ everything!

Barrel of Fun

We stumbled on this massive yard of whisky barrels when the SatNav took us on an alternative route. I should have stayed longer to take more photos.

What on Earth is This?

What is this vaguely disgusting bag of goo carefully zip tied to the tree? Someone please let me know!

Claire Portrait

Polarizing filter FTW!

Look at the Ankle!

Ouchy…

Sums it Up

That’ll do you

So there you go, another brilliant holiday in Scotland. If you’re a proper masochist there’s plenty more photees in the official Set.

I also have to mention the lovely meal we had a The Cross at Kingussie. Top notch locally sourced quality food and great service. It was expensive, but worth every single penny. See Claire’s post for a bit more detail.