SimonWaldman.net

So in an attempt to get rid of a couple of bugs on my previous incarnation (comments not working/ para breaks not showing) I thought it would be a good idea to upgrade to the latest version of Wordpress.

I did this - the par breaks came back, the comments remained broken, and somehow I’ve lost all the admin functionality as well…hence my (latest) bout of silence. Oh, and please dont’ tell me I should have backed everything up - because I sort of did, but obviously not quite well enough.

So, I’ve done a new install of WP here, and then made my archives still linkable here (and obviously through google)

I could spend the next X months flapping - or, more likely, I’m just going to build a new blog at sw.net/blog or something like that, which will probably be quicker…I could just delete everything here, but you know what I feel about permanence.

On a more domestic front, we went to our house-to-be on Saturday. I can’t actually believe I’m going to be living there. It’s one thing looking at places, another going through the stressful hell of a sale/ purchase. And even now, staying at our in-laws in Surrey, it still doesn’t feel like we’ve left London - but standing in what will be our garden, hearing how the Aga and the Oil tank (no gas) work,I suddenly realise this is a long way from life in (much loved) Stoke Newington.

Music? I mentioned Hot Chip’s The Warning [iTunes] in passing - which got pretty good reviews everywhere, but I don’t really know how it’s done in the charts. It’s a great, great album. Everyone should own it for the summer. They’re very smart and talented - but let’s be honest, they don’t look very good - and haven’t managed to dress it up into a geek chic thing. This is why you always seem them photo’d in moody lighting. But the album is a belter - perfect accompaniment to a barbeque.

Nouvelle Vague are back with their bossa-nova versions of new wave/punk classics (this time more the former) [iTunes]. This remains a dinner party classic. Everyone is sitting there chomping away on their linguine thinking you’ve finally given up on music by playing some easy listening pap when someone suddenly goes: ‘is this Too Drunk to Fuck?’ etc etc. Anyway,

The Feeling? [iTunes] Well, you have to really. Primal Scream? Ditto - although you could just get your old Rolling Stones albums out to recreate the same affect. (Incidentally, did I tell you I saw Bobbie Gillespie at the childrens playground in Clissold Park? Very early on a Sunday morning. I can pretty confidently say there will be no gangly Scottish rock gods in Surrey).

Also on music - Martathonpacks has done a mix of his best songs from 2006. Even if he’s no longer offering a download, by them all up and copy it as a playlist- IMHO he does the best compilations on the net.

M Craft, Silver and Fire? [iTunes] It’s a nice album, but there isn’t a song on it as beautiful as, oh god, what was it called? Dragonfly?What took him so long, I ask? Was it label problems? Or is he playing the tortured genius? Have you noticed how singer songwriters these days are banging out album after album: Sufjan Stevens, Ryan Adams, Ed Harcourt , Devandra Banhardt- it’s rather like Michael Owen’s caps. One minute they’re fresh faced new boys, the next they’re veterans. Let’s hear it for musical productivity, I say.

Oh, and finally, on a completely disconnected front - I’ve been having huge fun Lomo-ising photos in photoshop (tutorial here - and elsewhere). I don’t think I’ve quite got it right - as it makes nice clean snaps look like grubby old postcards, but it means I’ve learned to do a little bit more with this program than tweak levels.