aidanparr.co.uk

A blog about music, sport, film, TV, radio and what ever else I can think of…

Category Archives: Diary

Onions, and other things

I never really liked onion. I used to pick it out of everything. Hated the stuff.

I like onion now.

Its amazing how people change, or how your attitude towards something or someone can change. Granted the above example isn’t exactly the greatest, people eat onion all the time, its not anything for me to be particularly proud of, but its nice not to have to go through a bowl of spag bol with a fine tooth come to get rid of every last bit of diced onion.

There’s other things that have changed too. When I was younger, I could never sit through the first half of a game of football. Now ninety minutes just fly by.

I didn’t like beer, yet I’m drinking one as I write.

I studied a book at school, The Great Gatsby, I hated it then, yet recently I’ve been drawn back to reading it, spurred on in part, I’m sure, by the imminent film adaption. I’ve not had the time to read too much recently, but this book has taken preference over the others on my list; I’m still not sure I completely get the fuss about it, but I think I’m closer to working it out.

The thing is, you never notice these changes. There wasn’t a day when I woke up and thought “Hmm, I’ve been wrong about onion,” but these changes do happen. They are supposed to. They are a fact of life.

These changes are for the best. They are a part of the process of getting older, or more importantly, maturing.

Now, most people mature between the ages of say 14 and 18. Now, I probably started to mature earlier than most due to various circumstances (I definitely put more faith in nurture over nature), and I probably gravitated more towards the more mature people in my age group, yet circumstances have once again conspired against me, and I find myself frequently having to deal with people less mature than myself.

Ranting about onions, it seemed only natural for a picture of Shrek

I’m all for a bit of sillyness, right place, right time and its great. I’ve got a very close friend with whom I have an almost identical sense of humour, and a fairly similar personality. The great thing is that we can have the most serious of conversations on all the big issues of the day, or we can have silly conversations, and we can switch between them with ease. This, I love.

When people are constantly immature, however, I hate it. There are several situations where I am confronted with immaturity in situations where it is just not warranted, in both a professional and personal setting.

There is no real point to this blog. Its more a cathartic exercise, not to mention the fact that I haven’t written for a little while. I’ve had a couple of half baked ideas rattling around, but I don’t want them to end up like this, where I rabbit on but don’t achieve anything. But sometimes you just need a bit of a rant.

The Great British Beer Festival

This weekend I fulfilled one of the ambitions I’ve been nursing for a few years. Yes, I went to The Great British Beer festival.

Myself and a friend from uni went down to the London Olympia for an afternoon of great beer, the odd cider and a fantastic auction.

To quote another friend, via twitter: “Yeah they have Auctions throughout the day, selling crap they’ve obviously cleared out of somebody’s loft.”

Now I’ll admit, this doesn’t sound incredible, but incredible it was. I came close to buying ’50 miscellaneous bar mats’ for £5, but instead, plumped for a £12 mug with a whistle on the top, and my friend BP (pictured below) bought a bar towel.

More details to come, but check out a few of the photos below.

 To be honest, this post is mostly to allow me to try out the gallery tool. 
Let me know what you think.

Culture Snobbery and an awakening

I am something of a culture snob. I have an opinion on books, and movies, and music, and I know that other people will believe that my opinions on these things are wrong, and that is their right – but it is also my right to judge people, to look down my nose at those who watch the likes of Towie, who enjoy the Twilight franchise in all its forms, the Beiber fans and the like.

As mentioned, it is your right to enjoy those things, but I will judge you, and judge you I do.

I have always been slightly ahead of the curve (at least amongst my friends) in the books I read. When I was younger, I read like there was no tomorrow, but I especially read books that were aimed at an older audience than myself at the time.

Sure I read the Harry Potter series, and others of that ilk (Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series was another favourite), but there were also books written by the likes of Tom Clancy, which, although hardly classic literature, are clearly aimed at an adult audience.

I have recently, however, entered into the world of ‘Young Adult’ fiction. I had always known about the YA genre, but always looked down my nose at it. I was reading the adult books, I didn’t need YA, I was too good for it. Too clever.

Well, I wasn’t. Over the past year or two, I’ve read the likes of the Hunger Games series and Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses series. These were good books, and if I’d read them or similar sooner, I would have loved them.

Last weekend, I discovered the books of John Green. I’d been a fan of John Green since I discovered his youtube channel, that he runs alongside his brother Hank, the Vlogbrothers – but I finally took the plunge and read on of his books: Looking for Alaska.

The vlogbrothers

Its been a long time since I devoured a book, I read quickly, naturally, but this book was gone within a couple of days – and I don’t have time nowadays to do a whole lot of reading. This book is instantly one of my favourites, and I’m sure I will read it again, and again, and again, and I urge you to do the same.

This is a book, from a genre I previously thought was beneath me, has opened my eyes to a whole world of literature that I probably should have been reading already. Series such as Harry Potter have shown me how books written towards a younger audience can still be enjoyed by adults, but I thought this was just a one off – an anomaly, that J. K. Rowling had done something that no one else could. I have learnt that no matter who the book is written for, if the story is enticing, the characters interesting, and the author writes well, any book can be a master piece. Just as I was able to read and enjoy, and indeed love, the Tom Clancy books as young as  I was, I can now read these books, and love them just the same, no matter how old I get.

Take That – The Greatest Day?

Last Wednesday I did something that would probably cause half the people I know to judge me, and half to be jealous of me; I went to see Take That at Wembley stadium.

Having bought the the tickets just two days previously, I didn’t have long to wait to see arguably Britain’s biggest pop act, and stood, with a capacity crowd of 85,000, to see one of the most talked about shows of the year.

The concert started with a set from the multiple Brit and Grammy award winners the Pet Shop Boys who warmed up the crowd nicely. The duo played a selection from their new album and their energetic performance had even those who wouldn’t have been born during the band’s pomp dancing to their big hits.

The ubiquitous Its A Sin and West End Girls were accompanied by a psychedelic light show and four well rehearsed dancers, as well as exciting the audience by turning the cameras and flashing (sometimes literally) them up on the big screen.

It was then not at all long until the main event, and, after a synchronised countdown, Take That emerged.

Take That Entry (video)

Progress started with a bit of a Circus reprise with Gary, Howard, Jason and Mark performing a variety of the hits from the circus tour; starting with Rule the World and ending with Shine. The boys took the time to have a little chat with the crowd, thanking them for coming and promising a great show. As it was Wembley, Mark led the crowd with a rendition of God Save The Queen before Shine, with the band disappearing through the big screen, before Robbie Williams leapt out.

Immediately the pace and the temperature rose (literally) with flames leaping out of the stage in front of the seventeen time Brit Award winner.

Williams started with Let Me Entertain You before launching into a collection of his solo hits – including my personal favourite, Come Undone. Williams gave a vertiable tour de force, showcasing all the key assets that a performer should – often appearing more rock star than pop star. Indeed he mimicked one of the best rock stars of all time, copying Freddie Mercury’s famous Live Aid catcalls, as well as paying tribute to Galsto hit Beyonce.

Williams possess great skill with the microphone, not only while singing, but also in conversation with his audience. When he speaks, you often feel like he’s looking directly at you. That said, with no other men within a couple of metres from me, I was head and shoulders taller than those in my immediate vicinity, so you never know, maybe he was looking at me.

His solo set finished with his immortal hit Angels before he was joined onstage with the other four. The five blended some of the songs of their latest album with those from their early years – almost seamlessly switching from a very stripped down performance (the five, a piano and a guitar) to a far grander spectacle.

Once again Take That’s army of backing dancers took to the stage – army is a fitting word here as the dancers paraded across the stage dressed as militarised chess pieces. Captained by Howard and Jason, the two sides squared up to one another before the captains proceeded to have a dance off – to Robbie’s experimental, Rudebox.

Although this all sounds breathtaking, the best was yet to come – the boys released their pet monster (apparently nicknamed Om) into the fray, using him to build up to the grand finale.

Om

The entire experience was extraordinary. Not only was it weird effectively standing on the pitch at Wembley stadium, but I was in the presence of one of the most successful boy bands ever, and all though they are not my usual tipple, they were fantastic. Overall, my third favourite live act – after Macca and Jay-Z, and it is no great shame to come in just behind those two.

Unfortunately the tour has finished now, but should they ever tour again, I implore you to do what ever it takes to go – and take me with you!!

The Samsung Mobilers

A while ago I applied to be one of the Samsung Mobilers class of 2011. I thought nothing of it until a few weeks ago, then, I received an email, inviting me to visit Samsung’s UK head quarters.

The Samsung Mobilers are a group of young(ish) technology addicts from all over the country (and indeed, the world) recruited by Samsung to help promote all of their impressive range of mobile products.

Last year a good friend of mine, Matt Green, was a member of the very first batch of Mobilers. He had a great time doing the ‘missions‘ and got given some great gadgets – so when given to chance to apply, I didn’t have to think twice!

So, last Thursday evening, Matt, myself and two of our friends pitched up at Samsung HQ (a little late) honestly no knowing what to expect.

We entered during a presentation of some of Samsung’s latest projects, including the very impressive Samsung Galaxy Pro – one of which we were then given!! Granted, there was one very agreeable string attached – we had to use our new handsets to complete this year’s missions. Something I think I can safely say we were all looking forward to.

A little chat later and it was time to head home, after checking out some of Samsung’s delightfully futuristic fridges, and some 3DTV, oh, and getting caught in the rain…

The very next day the mobilers recieved their mission – and it will be appearing on these pages very soon.

Thanks to Samsung for this great opportunity, and good luck to all the Mobilers!!

Referendum?

On the 5th May, there will be a vote. A pretty important vote. Indeed, a vote that could change the way this country is run. The vote is for a referendum on how we vote MPs into the House of Commons.

Currently, we use a first past the post system where the candidate with the highest number of votes wins – even if its just by one vote!

The main reason for the first past the post system is the fact that it generally means the constituency will have strong links with its MP, as one party will usually get a majority. However, this system also means that a party can win an election even if they get a minority of votes, as seats in the commons are based on constituencies rather than the total number of votes.

This is the Referendum broadcast in support of the First Past the Post system, No For AV.

The Alternative Vote is being billed as a fairer vote – where a candidate needs to secure 50% of the votes in order to win an election. Each voter gets to rank candidates in order of preference, then, if no candidate gets 50%, then the second and third choices are taken into consideration. The votes for the least popular candidate are removed from the election. Then, the second choice votes of the people who voted for the lowest placed candidates are taken into account.

This process is repeated until one party has 50% of the vote.

The voters don’t have to rank all candidates, only those that they support.

This will mean that candidates will have to work harder to get the votes as they’ll have to work harder to get to that all important 50%. Although the criticisms are that it could mean the second choice votes could swing the votes, meaning that those who got the majority of the first round of votes won’t necessarily win.

This is the Referendum broadcast in support of the Alternative Vote, Yes For AV.

Personally, I will be voting Yes for AV – it’ll make our votes stronger, and more important – democracy is based on freedom of speech, and this is our chance to make our voices louder.

You can find out more on YES TO AV, NO TO AV and The Electoral Commission.