and.radio.wires

Code sample of the day

var openOrClose:Boolean = new Boolean();
if (_listM.listState)
{
    openOrClose = false;
}
else
{
    openOrClose = true;
}
_listM.setListState(openOrClose);

Posted in work on Thursday 15th of September 2011 by Mike | 0 comments

Labels: code sample

Old Communion Cups

Posted in play on Tuesday 25th of January 2011 by Mike | 0 comments

Labels: Iron and Wine, music, cover

Our First Gig

...was on the 11th December. I'm very proud of all of us for pulling it off under tight timescales. Below are some recordings from that night.

Posted in play on Tuesday 4th of January 2011 by Mike | 0 comments

Labels: band, music

The end of this year is nearly upon us and I can't help but reflect on the events of the last 12 months, nor can I believe it's gone so quickly... it genuinely seems like the other day that I was writing a post for this site, listing my top ten albums of the 00's. But, I guess it's not that surprising, a lot has happened this year to make the time fly by.

When reminiscing over the last year I looked through the posts on this site to help me remember the key events, but what I found was that I chiefly use this blog as a medium to broadcast utter nonsense. If anyone thought this to be an accurate portrayal of my life they would probably conclude that my biggest achievement of 2010 was growing a moustache... don't get me wrong, it's up there but hopefully there's a little more along side it.

I don't want to go into it too much because no-one really cares but here is my 2010 in a nutshell:

Having an amazing last 2 terms at uni - academic and otherwise
Completing my degree
Saying goodbye to another tier of uni friends (the only genuinely big sad event)
Getting a job I enjoy
Plenty of summer antics including; wild swimming, boating, and festival-going
Being giving the opportunity to do a lot of things that I thought would've been a long way off at work - like giving a lecture at the uni
Finally playing a gig with Elli, Rache and Steve

I'm immensely looking forward to what 2011 has in store.

Posted in play on Sunday 26th of December 2010 by Mike | 0 comments

Sodom, South Georgia

Here's another one.

Posted in play on Saturday 23rd of October 2010 by Mike | 0 comments

The Penalty

I just got my ukulele back after I left it at Frances' house for a little while so in celebration I thought I'd record a video of me playing The Penalty by Beirut. This is the first of this kind of video I've made. I won a Flip a little while ago and I want to make good use of it so there we go.

Posted in play on Monday 11th of October 2010 by Mike | 1 comment

Labels: The Penalty, Beirut, ukulele, music

Finding the time to blog

...like the perfect sundae or the ability to lie about how crap I think a film like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is, eludes me. Sam seems to find the time from somewhere. Perhaps when he gets a real job he will be less prolific, blog-wise. He has come up with some interesting posts recently, none of which have gone un-read and some of which will not go without an accompanying post on this site. But he and you will have to wait.

Posted in work on Thursday 30th of September 2010 by Mike | 2 comments

Love, Music, Wine and Revolution

Well, not so much 'revolution' as 'mud' and lots of it - in Abergavenny at Green Man Festival last month. And, despite the bad weather, I had a fantastic time. Most of the performances were great and the company even more so. The thing I enjoyed most about the festival was the general atmosphere - I don't recall seeing anyone that I would describe as a moron, which I can't imagine happening at somewhere like Reading festival. And It was very family-oriented which was really cool, although I think that bringing a baby to a muddy field in Wales for 5 days is a little more than I could personally handle.

The best act I saw was Beirut by a long way - in fact they were pretty much the sole reason I wanted to go, everything else was just a bonus. They came on playing Nantes and left playing The Gulag Orkestra with a few goosebump moments in between. Other acts I particularly enjoyed were; The Unthanks, Billy Bragg, and The Flaming Lips.

I also saw Mumford and Sons on the last evening and their performance confirmed a suspicion I've had for a while now... that I am well and truly over them. I think it would be a lie to say that the fact that they've become so big so quickly wasn't anything to do with it, but I think it's more a case of that they were around at that right place at the right time for me last summer - they just seemed to fit. And I've got into a lot more bands with more substance since then. So there we go, that's probably the last time you'll read their name on this blog.

One last point about Green Man that I thought was really cool - they had a cordoned off area known as Einstein's Garden which was full of fun science type stuff like giant models of the molecular structure of festival-related things like sun cream, which massively appealed to the geek in me. Unfortunately we didn't spend loads of time there because there was no cover from the weather.

The organisers behind Green Man seemed to get a lot of things right and I fully expect to be going back next year.

If you're feeling low.

Photo courtesy of Elli Bottrall.

Posted in play on Monday 20th of September 2010 by Mike | 0 comments

Labels: green man, music