Remembrance

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month has just passed, and it continually baffles me how people can be against such an event. Whenever I passed a Poppy Scotland tin, my change went in. The replacement of the pin with a plastic stem annoys me as I can't wear a poppy all the time, but I do it when I can. A small wad of change and a few minutes out of my day is nothing compared to people who gave up their lives to give us the freedom we have today, something that people should never forget!

Shape-cutting Sundays!

Another entertaining evening on Sunday, seemed to fly by at times and visits to the table were fleeting! Here's what I played:

Street Fighting Man - Rolling Stones
The Jean Genie - David Bowie
Karmastition - Alicia Keys feat. Stevie Wonder (White Label)
There Goes the Fear - Doves
Can't Stand Losing You - Feeder
Out of Space - Prodigy
Kelly Watch the Stars - Air
Ready For the Floor - Hot Chip
Summer's Gone - Aberfeldy
Eastbound and Down - Jerry Reed
A Town Called Malice - The Jam
Here Come the Girls - Ernie K. Doe
Around the World - Daft Punk
Girls and Boys - Blur
When You Touch Me - Freemasons feat. Katherine Ellis
Pjanoo - Eric Prydz
See You at the Lights - 1990's
American Boy - Estelle feat. Kanye West
Paper Planes - M.I.A.
Friday I'm in Love - The Cure
D.O.A. - Foo Fighters
Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
And She Was - Talking Heads
This Modern Love - Bloc Party.

Playlist, packing and offski!

We've decided to consolidate our Sunday playlists from the tams in one special blog...you can find it here http://nickytamsquiz.blogspot.com/ incase you need to know or just wonder what gets played!

Other than that, equipment for Iceland is packed; 20 Kubiena tins, 120 sampling bags, 2 measuring tapes, 2 trowels, a spirit level, a Munsell chart, a GPS and two boxes of batteries, first aid kit and waterproof tracing paper amongst other things. It is predicted to be rather wet in Iceland so i'll pack a raincoat too! The site is Skalavik, a 12th century fishing booth which apparently was specialising in commercial fishing from its earliest years. It'll be good to get this site surveyed, meaning all sites for my PhD will be complete and all work from then will be done in Scotland! I predict a lot of peace and serenity in quite simply one of the most breathtaking locations in the world, the northwest peninsula of Iceland!

Sunday's Playlist

Here's a list of the songs I played on Sunday 17th August. Brilliant night, place was rammed and good fun had by all!

Kelly Watch the Stars - Air
Handclapping Song - The Meters
The Boy With a Thorn in His Side - The Smiths
More Than This - Roxy Music
The Liquidator - Harry J. Allstars
Drive My Car - The Beatles
Hate to Say I Told You So - The Hives
Get Innocuous! - LCD Soundsystem
Here Come the Girls - Ernie K. Doe
Union City Blues - Blondie
It Hurts to See You Dance So Well - The Pipettes
A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
DARE - Gorillaz
Tiny Little Fractures - Snow Patrol
A Certain Romance - Arctic Monkeys
Graffiti - Maximo Park
So Here We Are - Bloc Party
There's No Other Way - Blur
Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above - CSS
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Waterfall - The Stone Roses
Happy - Travis

Good intentions...

This blog got started about a year ago, I had time on my hands. With a decent 'blogspot' name I set out with the best of intentions...then stopped! However, wheel forward a year, a lot has happened, and it might be interesting to document the thoughts of what I will now bracket as 'crunch time'. The thesis is ongoing, nearly 40% of it has been written up. One more fieldtrip to freezing cold Iceland and the fieldwork will be done; a month or two in the lab and the micromorphology will be done; the labwork is complete (apart from what i'm about to bring back). As I slowly piece the ends of this everlasting project together, I set myself the target of finishing it before summer 2009, exactly the same time it took me to obtain an undergraduate degree; three years and nine months.

So, as I set off with good intentions, I will visit this blog every now and again to see that I do have good intentions, and also to write down how it's going. All good I hope!

Playlist-tastic

It has to be said that over the past two years, my DJing style and content has changed drastically. Less and less we are relying on the 'Tams Guns' and the 'Top 100 Played' playlist, and instead searching for some fresh content, pop gems and hidden classics. It has been a while since i've had a "fuck sakes, yer no playin' that" from Dave, the anti-mainstream-music champion. So, when I remember (to all those people who accidentally stumble across this blog) I will post the Sunday playlist. It may not be 100 accurate, it all depends on whether we've let the song finish and iPod has taken a play count. This is just my list and not Dave or JC's (when he isn't being a grown up)...

Sunday 10/08/2008

Rapture - Blondie
Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
Ladyflash - The Go! Team
Made of Stone - The Stone Roses
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before - The Smiths
When You Touch Me - Freemasons feat. Katherine Ellis
Dance Wiv Me - Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris feat. Chrome
Road to Nowhere - Talking Heads
I Wanna Be Your Dog - The Stooges
Heartbeat - Annie
It's Not Over Yet - The Klaxons
All These Things That I've Done - Killers
Chewing Gum - Annie
Jammin' - Bob Marley
Fantastic Day - Haircut 100
Blinded By The Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Time To Get Away - LCD Soundsystem
I Am The Resurrection - The Stone Roses
Sex - The Pipettes
This Charming Man - The Smiths
This Modern Love - Bloc Party
Girls & Boys - Blur
Sexx Laws - Beck
White Lines (Don't Do It) - Grandmaster Flash & The Sugarhill Gang

Developments and changes...

This time of year is always weird for me; it is the time of year I look forward to the most but when it is here, it's all downhill as the nights are drawing in! It'll be winter soon!

Everything lately seems to be going at a million miles an hour. New job, progress with my PhD amongst other things. I seem a bit more settled being who I am now, a couple of months back things were all over the place; off work, uni work going slow, women, all the important things. It seems to have ironed itself out now, but it took its time. Gone are the Sunday morning bouts of philosophy wondering "what it's all about", and in its place are notions to get up off my arse and do something. I feel rejuvinated after my visit to T in the Park, wanting for a few moments to start a band...it seems like a cool thing to do, just got to learn to play instruments as I think I could manage the lyrics bit!

Work's sweet as well, i'm getting paid to be creative, go away to remote places and read books and journals. My labwork is complete and I can crack on with writing up my thesis. I'm plodding along looking to the weekend when I can waste time with those people who I enjoy being out with. I'm sure there's something else that could complete things, but for the moment i'm content!