tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613932011-04-22T02:15:14.195ZBirmingham BloggerAn internet diary by a member of the colourful and active Birmingham community.Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-1154636098265548472006-08-03T20:04:00.000Z2006-08-11T17:53:57.183ZI have just been listening to two new cds by Dutch band Within Temptation. They are a cross between Evanescence and All About Eve. Great vocals and a dramatic delivery. I have also got a DVD which includes some of their videos. The one for Angel is absolutely brilliant. We tend to think we are at the centre of the musical world in this country but there is a whole scene going on in Northern Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-1153173641827097172006-07-17T21:46:00.000Z2006-07-17T22:00:41.890ZSyd Barrett, the former lead singer of Pink Floyd died on Thursday 6/7/2006 aged 60. He was a madcap genius who experimented with drugs and paid the ultimate price. He cracked up, got kicked out of the band and became a recluse. His music will last forever. His iinfluence on the later Pink Floyd albums is undeniable. You can check out all Pink Floyd lyrics.I am in the process of putting together Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-1151869420630538832006-07-02T19:20:00.000Z2006-07-02T19:47:35.876ZI have just got back from watching Roger Waters play Dark Side of the Moon at Hyde Park Calling. It was the first time I had seen any member of Pink Floyd in the flesh. I went with my brother. We stayed at the Quality Hotel at Paddington. The first priority was to find a place to watch the football. Lots of budweiser and tears at the end. I don't think England will ever win at penalties. DecisionNigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-1140265384017809762006-02-18T12:13:00.000Z2006-02-18T12:23:04.026ZI have just been watching Fast Track on BBC News 24. It was about the environmental cost of air travel. It is a complex problem and somewhat of a dilemna for many of us. We all want to travel the world and experience different cultures but at what cost. With all the cheap airlines such as Easy Jet and Ryanair and MyTravelLite growing all the time and increasing the number of destinations the Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-1137946998549560722006-01-22T16:11:00.000Z2006-08-03T20:16:00.736ZSo yesterday the whale that came swimming up the Thames finally died after great efforts to save its life. Hopefully, the death will not be in vain. Such a sight cannot help but inspire the imagination and raise the profil of these magnificent creatures. How many children will be encouraged to take an interest in marine biology as a result?How many new members and donations will the environmentalNigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-1136663831730280652006-01-07T19:45:00.000Z2006-01-08T19:44:38.680ZI recently heard a report on the radio about a Woman in West Bromwich who fell to her death falling from a loft while trying to get the Christmas presents for her children. It is quite a distressing story. At such a happy time how xould xomething like this happen? The truth of it is probably that we control our own actions and random events happen. I hope her children will not be permananently Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-1083848668081509822004-05-06T13:04:00.000Z2004-05-06T13:11:16.123ZOn Wednesday I went to Oxford to watch American band Explosions in the Sky. They are absolutely excellent. All the music is instrumental with thrashing guitars and drums, the sould rises and falls like a tidal wave of emotion. The concert was at the Zodiac which I had never been to before. I checked the location on the internet and printed off a map. I knew I had to get off at junction 8. So I Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-869040402003-01-04T03:01:00.000Z2003-01-04T03:07:05.000ZI have recently come across what is possibly going to be the best song and video of the year. The group is called Tatu and their song is called All The Things She Said. I think they will probably get to number one. They are already top of the charts on The Box. The video is a little shocking at first but the passion and energy come shining through. The two girls are from Russia, Yulia is 17 and Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-861989002002-12-18T03:02:00.000Z2002-12-18T03:02:54.720ZMy friend Andrew has written and recorded some songs which are now available on mp3.com. Unfortunately, not too many people know that his music is available on the net so I have produced a website to help publicise his music in the hope that this will encourage him to write more songs and consider doing live performances. The website is called Birmingham Music Online and his basically a list of Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-837354042002-10-29T21:32:00.000Z2002-10-29T21:32:19.083ZI have just finished watching Allies At War on BBC2 which tells the story of the relationships between De Gaulle, Churchill and Franklin T Roosevelt during the Second World War. The programme made fascinating watching and revealed some interesting facts. It turned out that Roosevelt disliked De Gaulle intensely and tried to prevent him from becoming President preferring to side with contacts who Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-836809812002-10-28T21:24:00.000Z2002-10-28T21:24:33.000ZI have mentioned before that I have found a number of programmes on radio four of interest. One Such programme is In Business. A recent edition covered success stories on the internet which seem to be few and far between. One such company is Tesco.com which is perhaps not surprising. I have already ordered a case of Rosemount wine at quite a reasonable price, they are always doing discount deals Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-822760732002-09-29T18:00:00.000Z2002-09-29T18:02:13.000ZSo Europe won the Ryder Cup with Paul McGinley holding a putt on the last green. It was getting a little bit close and pretty damn tense until the Irishman put us out of our misery. I went to the Belfry with my brother, watched all the players on the 3rd green, heading for the International Pavillion for a quick bottle of Budweiser and then headed home to watch the conclusion on TV.
Other news Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-821554792002-09-26T18:17:00.000Z2002-09-26T18:17:53.970ZThis week Tony Blair published the Dossier on Iraq which highlights their intentions to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. It will be interesting to see whether the UN inspectors will be allowed full access to the relevent sites or whether George Bush will send in the military to overthrow the regime.
For a more relaxing time you should rune into Holiday You Call The Shots which Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-810028872002-09-01T20:27:00.000Z2002-09-01T20:27:24.630ZThe BBC do produce some excellent programmes. Today I watched Correspondent which told the story of the deforestation of Brazil. The growth in transport, the sale of mahogany and the growth in the producction of soya beans have all left their mark on the rainforest. Over a third of the amazon rainforest is at risk of a catastrohic fire which could wipe out wide chunks of the forest which could Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-792291322002-07-21T21:17:00.000Z2002-07-21T21:17:18.306ZJust finished watching The Open Championship golf which was won by Ernie Els in a playoff. A great tournament. My favourite player Justin Rose was in contention at one stage but had a poor last round.
The weekend is always good for radio programmes on radio four. My two favourites are From Our Own Correspondent and Letter From America with Alistair Cooke. When I was young I quite fancied being aNigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-777840702002-06-15T19:14:00.000Z2002-06-15T19:14:06.240ZOn Thursday I watched Big Brother and then logged onto the Big Brother website to watch an interview with Alison who was the second evictee and who had broken most of the furniture in the house by the time she had left. There were about 2000 people online. It took sometime to get going but proved quite interesting. Alison seemed to be quite genuine but somebody had to go. I was pleased that Alex,Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-112105762002-03-28T13:59:00.000Z2002-03-28T14:00:56.000ZOn Friday Andy and myself went to Varsity for a drink. They now have two big screens so you can watch the football and rugby. They also show the Grand Prix. I had a look at the menu and on the back discovered that The Varsity belongs to a chain of pubs . There are about 20 of them all over the country all situated near local universities. The music is great - The Verve, U2, Travis - a pub with Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-110475232002-03-23T22:20:00.000Z2002-07-29T22:55:27.000ZI have just returned from Cyprus having spent two weeks in Cyprus at my mum's home in Argaka near Polis. I had a very nice time and visited many interesting places and ate out at some very nice restaurants. I arrived on the Wednesday and had Lounza (smoked ham) and salad at Mousikali's in Polis. On Thursday we went upto Aphrodite's Baths near the Argama peninsula. We had coffee at a restaurant inNigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-57963562001-09-20T04:01:00.000Z2001-09-20T04:01:47.276ZThe bombing of the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington has been in all our minds in the last week and more. The scenes we witnessed on our TV were devastating and shocking. Osama Bin Laden is the prime suspect. Panorama broadcast a programme covering the event and looked into the background of Bin Laden. As usual, the programme was informative and penetrating. The Panorama Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-55540342001-09-08T05:57:00.000Z2001-09-08T05:57:26.326ZAnd now for some local news, very local and extremely grim. A gunman was involved in a police siege in a 7th floor flat in Chelmsley Wood for 4 days before blowing his brains out, 50 policeman had surrounded the building waiting and hoping the man would give himself up, earlier in the day he had been seen drinking a bottle of champagne. The incident took place less than 10 minutes from where I Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-54065452001-08-31T15:52:00.000Z2001-09-08T05:58:51.000ZToday I did my weekly shopping. Locally, I am known as the Micorwave Kid bacause everything I buy is cooked in the microwave. I eneded up buying two curries - tandoori chicken and lamb rogan josh, two baltis - one refrigerated for early in the week and one frozen for later in the week, two sweet and sour chicken, an one salmon pie which I will have on Sunday. It is a kind of tradition to have Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-53726332001-08-29T23:04:00.000Z2001-08-29T23:04:40.923ZToday is the last episode of Time Team Live 2001 on C4. The series started on Tuesday but I missed the first episode, however, I did watch yesterday's edition. They are excavating an old Saxon cemetery in Hampshire and they have also found remains of a bronze age community that was living on the site hundreds of years before the Saxons. I find this kind of programme fascintating. It is amazing Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-53515192001-08-28T23:35:00.000Z2001-08-28T23:35:44.300ZOne of the things I like most of all is Modern Art, especially Surreal Art. My favourite painters are Frida Kahlo, a Mexican surrealist who had an affair with Leon Trotsky, and Salvador Dali, the eccentric Spanish surrealist, but I also like Marc Chagall and Edward Munch, plus the expressionist painter Egon Schiele. A great site to see all these painters is artchive which lists and displays over Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-53303862001-08-28T00:08:00.000Z2001-08-28T00:08:45.526ZI just watched The Matrix for the second time on Sky - great movie, when you get psychotic you think you can do strange things, that you have superhuman powers, then reality kicks in and its a shock to the system. I like Keannu Reeves, he was also in another of my favourite recent movies Point Break also starring Patrick Swayze about some surf-riding guys who rob banks wearing masks of the four Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-53221252001-08-27T16:36:00.000Z2001-08-27T16:36:13.453ZBlogger who supply the software for this internet diary have just celebrated their second birthday. There is an interesting article on the website Write The Web which tells the story of Blogger past, present, and future. It is suprising that such a creative company can have financial problems but if you read the article you will see that they had to layoff all the employees save the founder Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-52962952001-08-25T23:30:00.000Z2001-08-25T23:30:31.786ZI bought a copy of The Lion,The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis this week. I had been planning to buy the book for a long time but never got around to it. When I was 17 I studied A Level Religious Education for about five weeks before I gave it up and we studied some of the religious philosophy books written by CS Lewis. He seemed to write a lot of sense from what I can remember. I was also Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-52871712001-08-25T06:44:00.000Z2001-08-25T06:44:15.856ZWith Tim Burton's release of the film Planet of the Apes my mind turns to all things gothic. I loved Tim Burton's earlier films such as Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, they were like modern fairytales, and with the inclusion of Winona Ryder in both films they could not fail to be smash hits. I think Tim Burton was in his twenties when he made those films, that seems so incrdibly young to be Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-52613232001-08-23T23:10:00.000Z2001-08-23T23:10:45.486ZYesterday I watched Time Team Classic, a series on C4 about archeology presented by Tony Robinson who played Baldrick in Blackadder (which incidentally is one of my favourite comedy series). I love this programme, I find it so fascintating. It is amazing how they can piece together so much information based on so little material. It must be great to be able to touch a part of our history. It is Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-52504272001-08-23T12:25:00.000Z2001-08-23T12:25:34.900ZAnother internet company that has been having difficulties is teveo.com, they specialize in supplying webcams and recently went offline before being bought out by another company. On their site you can view over 250 different cameras. It is a strange sensation looking into somebody else's world, if only for a few minutes.
With so many cameras around it is a bit like watching the Truman Show Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-52207102001-08-21T23:26:00.000Z2001-08-21T23:26:26.860ZUpdate: I just checked out music 365 only to get a message to say the service had closed down. Another casualty of the internet crash. The link now hooks up to the Top of the Pops site. I cannot work out whether or not the 365 corporation is running the service for the beeb or not. Who will be the next casualty of the internet crash? Will anyone survive?Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-52205662001-08-21T23:16:00.000Z2001-08-21T23:16:05.540ZI think everyone interested in the internet is fascinated by the crash in share prices that has taken place. There are some good companies out there that were simply overvalued. I think in time a number of companies will start to make healthy profits. Use of the internet is still in its ealry stages over here. One such company is the 365 Corporation which run such popular services as Football 365Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-52000662001-08-20T23:24:00.000Z2001-08-20T23:24:45.986ZI recently came across a gruesome flash game site called Sadistic Boxing. It is quite addictive to start off as you choose your fighter's characteristics such as strength and agility, attack or defence. Unfortunately, the fights can drag on so it is recommended that you choose an attacking fighter so that the fights end quickly. You may lose but you can always train another boxer. The exciting Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-51816252001-08-19T23:27:00.000Z2001-08-19T23:27:16.153ZI am a bit of a chess fan, I have played over 900 games on the net. Earlier in the year, Kramnik beat Gary Kasparov for the World Championship. The match was shown live on Kasparov Chess with commentary by Grandmaster experts. On 4th September, Kramnik will play several blitz matches against a few select amateurs who will be chosen at random. You will have to join the Champion's Club at Kasparov Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-51669462001-08-18T23:18:00.000Z2001-08-18T23:18:17.896ZToday's recommended website is 4th Order, a digital art and photography site. Some of the images are really stunning.
I have just finised watching the first episode of I Love 1990's. A truly brilliant series. I loved the first series I Love 1970's with features on glam rock and bubblegum pop with such bands as Slade, Sweet, T-Rex and Gary Glitter and teenage heart throbs Donny Osmond and David Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-51525592001-08-17T23:15:00.000Z2001-08-17T23:15:53.096ZThis Sunday sees the last episode of The Future Just Happened, a tv series about the internet on BBC2. Last week they ran a feature about a 3D chatroom called Alphaworld. I logged on after the programme finished and the room was packed full. Over 200 people had logged on after watching the show. The moderater was overwhelmed by all the requests to explain how the place worked. The chatroom was Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-51341262001-08-16T23:31:00.000Z2001-08-16T23:31:27.290ZToday I was searching the web for Birmingham sites and I cam across IC Birmingham which is the site which belongs to the Birmingham Evening Mail. By coincidence, there is another site I came across while looking for blogs ( which also stands for bi-sexual, lesbian, and gay society) called IC: Birmingham which is an adult bondage site, the ic standing for informed consent. I can see some Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-51129632001-08-15T23:09:00.000Z2001-08-15T23:09:57.700ZI recently read an article about the downfall of Stan Lee Media, the creator of Spiderman in the Marvel comics. Stan Lee Media turned their talents to website design and featured their cartoons on SCIFI.COM and Shockwave.com. The cartoon series were really excellent, one series called the 7th Portal won great acclaim. The company was quoted on Nasdaq and was worth $300 million at its height, whenNigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-50937722001-08-15T00:25:00.000Z2001-08-15T00:25:52.056ZI have been off air for nearly 12 months now. But I have decided to start up this diary again because I am trying to promote Birmingham Bloggers which is a website I have just launched. I don't really do much these days. I have been out of work for more than 5 years now due to illness. I feel isolated at times but things get better as time goes by. I spend a lot of time watching The Box on cable.Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-8658142000-09-18T07:34:00.000Z2000-09-18T07:34:03.326ZPresently reading Hannibal, the book about the serial killer Hannibal Lecter. I find his character fascinating but somewhat unrealistic. Most serial killers I am aware of were apparently quite mundane characters - check out Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nielsen. They dressed quite shabbily and had very ordinary jobs. For more info on serial killers check out serialkillers.net, it also has a Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861393.post-8614282000-09-17T18:50:00.000Z2000-09-17T18:50:25.390ZPresently watching Pandora's Box on video, one of my favourites. A silent movie with the beautiful Louise Brooks. I also bought at the same time from Amazon.co.uk another video, Gold Rush, starring Charlie Chaplin. There are some great scenes in the movie.Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13186020745110527641noreply@blogger.com