Tuesday, June 22, 2004

50 Years of Smoking

Interesting findings into a 50 year survey of 32,000+ smokers. Encouraging stuff for those of us who've quit.

Posted by Dio Bach at 10:17 | 0 comments | links to this post

Friday, June 18, 2004

Shouldn't Be That Hard To Find?

Missing meteor the [DEAD LINK] size of a house. Imagine that had landed in a city!

Posted by Dio Bach at 10:46 | 0 comments | links to this post

Saturday, June 12, 2004

Glorious Gardens

We took a trek down the road to St Fagan's this afternoon to get Elis out of the house. It was a very pleasant afternoon - warm without being hot and a nice cool breeze. Took some nice photos as well, but of course…

Firstly at the Castle end of St Fagan's, a few shots around the gardens and terraces.

I finally got to see the recently restored Italian Garden - it has been inaccessible for ages - I've fancied seeing it since we watched the BBC 2 show Hidden Gardens - which followed the unearthing and reconstruction of the small walled garden.

We spent a bit of time watching a Punch and Judy show which was fun - Elis didn't seem that impressed, he was more interested in the kids and other people's toys…

And here's a few more general shots I took around the place.

All in all a refreshing treat - I don't mind going out so much when the sun isn't as blistering as it was last weekend.

Posted by Dio Bach at 22:41 | 0 comments | links to this post

Friday, June 11, 2004

Jamie Says...

Those of you with a long memory may remember my start of the year run down on my favourite music from 2003 may also remember the name Jamie Says, one of the records I was raving about. Well, I heard from Kyle (the man behind the record) the other week that a new demo was in the offing, not only that - he had been into the studio and recorded a single which would shortly be available.

With great excitement I ordered the single - could he do it, could he bring the same spiky fire off the 4 track, into the studio and on to vinyl? Damn right he could!

Side 1, Down to the Debauchuary features one of the slippiest, slidiest, sharpest guitar parts I've heard in a while. Sure the production values are a lot higher, but once that chugging wall of bass jumps a whole block south in homage to Peter Hook, you know this is a winner. You can hear parts from all over the place, the energy is infectious and without a doubt reminds you why you love music in the first place - its that good.

The B Side, Rebecca starts off sounding very post New York mainstream punk, but builds to some venom spitting finale that blows and blows harder leaving you in need of a reprise when all you get is a jumping needle - no finer example of always leave them wanting more springs to mind!

An assured debut - the brief excerpts on the site don't do full justice to the energy of this record. Order a copy now and say blimey Dio, you told me so...

Better still, Kyle now has a Jamie Says website up which means his superb first demo album, The Silver Screen and the Stanley Blade once again has a web presence, as does his new demo album which I hope he will send me a copy soon.

Posted by Dio Bach at 22:35 | 0 comments | links to this post

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Elis and Mrs Dio Be Warned

The perfect punishment for naughty people... [DEAD LINK] eBay Selling Son's Beloved Play Station 2 For Punishment!

Posted by Dio Bach at 14:56 | 0 comments | links to this post

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Fun Quiz

Slightly badly laid out but none the less eye opening quix centering around current affairs. Just How Bizarre Have Things Become? Take This Quiz and Find Out - Maureen Farrell at BuzzFlash.com

Posted by Dio Bach at 11:52 | 0 comments | links to this post

Monday, June 07, 2004

What A Year!

From this:

To this:

Today was Elis' first birthday - I took the shot of him with the pram today as he and Mrs Dio came to Llandaff for a lunchtime wander.

We actually had his Birthday do on Saturday afternoon - Loads of family went to the Plymouth Arms at St Fagans to get sunburnt and enjoy a glorious Welsh summer's day - Mrs Dio took this well framed shot - every person in it is family (including the background...)

And there are still a lot more members not in frame. He enjoyed it - but it took him a while to come too and get used to everyone in the same place! The look on his face says it all really.

Posted by Dio Bach at 22:31 | 0 comments | links to this post

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Look To The Skies!

I haven't updated the big old Meltwater site for must be a year. I've had some photos sitting around annoying me and finally got around to scanning a few of them in for the Weird Skies section.

They are quite smashing, every time I've looked at them in the last few months I've thought I need to scan 'em. Its kind of sad, because by my estimation, that's the last film I will ever get developed. Digital has taken over. I don't have time for B&W and to be frank, I now find my digital snaps of a better quality than the usual colour photos. It's cheaper too!

Anyway - here they are for you to enjoy. I really like the first couple, its almost like fractal patterns. Beautiful!