Sunday, November 30, 2008

This Time It's Personal

Hey, you remember that Attic Lights song "Wendy", dontcha? Y'know, that song you couldn't get out of your head for a fortnight. Imagine how much more infectious that would have been if your name actually was Wendy.

Well, quit imagining, because they've helpfully recorded 60 alternate versions of the song with 60 different names, so (almost) everyone can get a piece of the action. Anyone whose name is Adam, Alex, Amy, Andy, Becky, Ben, Billy, Boogie (?), Bowie, Charlotte, Cheryl, Chris, Claire, Danny, Davey, Emily, Emma, Gary, Gemma, Hannah, Helen, Ian, James, Jay, Jessica, Joey, John, Julie, Karen, Katie, Kevin, Laura, Lauren, Lee, Lisa, Louise, Lucy, Mark, Marky, Martin, Matthew, Michelle, Mikey, Natalie, Neil, Nicola, Paul, Peter, Plu-ey (?), Rachel, Ritchie, Robert, Romeo, Sammy, Sarah, Simon, Sophie, Stevie, Teddy or Tommy, that is.

Would it have killed them to record a Big Al version? Tsk.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Huh?

Last night was the BBC's annual fundraiser for Children in Need. Remarkably, on the night they topped last years £19 million by a further £2 million. Quite spectacular, considering that apparently no-one in the whole world has two beans to rub together.

Anyways, this year continued the tradition of giving a teaser of the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special. Which this year turns out to be quite baffling.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Ambiance

Here's a handy little app for the iPod Touch/iPhone. It's perfect for sleepyheads like me who like to get a bit of shut-eye on the train to work. It's not easy getting to sleep on the train - too damn noisy for one thing. I'd like to meet the genius who thought it was a good idea to make mobile phones that can play music through a speaker, thereby giving people yet another new way to be annoying.

The obvious solution is to plug the earphones in and stick a bit of music on. While his usually succeeds in drowning out the outside noise, it aint easy dropping off to sleep when AC/DC are beating your eardrums to a pulp.

What you need is something that plays nice soothing sounds, something to shut out the noise around you, but not so distracting as to keep you awake. That's where Ambiance comes in. I've been using it for a while now, and have found the Stream and Waterfall settings to be particularly effective. In fact, the first time I tried Stream, i slept almost all the way to Glasgow.

Just one thing. I wouldn't recommend using it on a full bladder.