Freeview

I have just bout a Miglia TV Mini device for my Mac. This is a great device that enables me to get digital terrestrial tv on my Mac. It comes complete with EyeTV software which is great software for watching tv, recording tv and has a built in program guide so you can choose what to watch. The device is nice and small, no bigger than a USB memory stick, and has an input for a standard coxial ariel cable so an ariel can be plugged in to it. The box also has a remote control so you can control the EyeTV software and also an ariel, although this does not provide a good enough signal to the device unless you are in a very good signal area.

Freeview, which is the UK’s digital terrestrial tv service is good, and provides all the standard features you need when using it, such as a now and next bar on the channels etc. However the major complaint I have with Freeview is with some of the channels they show. I personally do not think that they should be showing 4 shopping channels, or plus 1 channels when there is limited bandwidth. Freeview gives you the following channels :- BBC1, 2, 3, 4, News 24, Parliament, CBBC & CBeebies
ITV 1, 2, 3, 4, Citv & Play,
Channel 4, E4, E4+1, More 4, Film 4, Film 4+1,
Five, Five Life & Five US,
Sky Three, Sky News, Sky Sports News,
uktv History & Bright Ideas,
Ftn Full On Television, abc1, Smile tv,
The Hits, TMF The Music Factory, Community Channel,
teachers tv, Ideal World, QVC, price-drop tv and bid tv

There is also a subscription service available on Freeview called Top-Up TV, costing £9.99 a month, once you have bought a new Freeview Box for £180 and paid a £30 connnection fee. offering premium channels, and an overnight recording service, downloading the best programs of your choice from a range of channels, for you to watch the next day. They also plan to start showing Setanta Sports from the summer for an additional fee. For more info see www.topuptv.com

In order to make Freeview better, here is what I think the Government should do, to make Freeview better for everyone:

Firstly I would make it illegal for Freeview to show +1 channels, due to limited bandwidth available, thus removing E4+1, and Film 4+1 from Freeview.

Secondly I would make it illegal for Freeview to show more than 1 shopping channel, thus I would remove Ideal World, price-drop tv and bid tv from the lineup.

Thirdly I would remove Top-Up TV.

Once this is done, I think the following channel changes should be implemented:
1) abc1 should have its broadcast hours increased to 24hrs a day in line with cable and satellite, using the space given up by E4+1.

2) The program hours used by Film 4+1 should be given over to Discovery, so they can make a Freeview channel showing the best of their programming from their cable/satellite channels.

3) New channels should be created by uktv - uktv 1 showing programs from uktv Gold, G2 & Drama, replacing Ideal World. uktv 2 showing programs from uktv History, People and Documentary, replacing uktv History and uktv 3 showing programs from uktv Food, Style and Style Gardens, replacing uktv Bright Ideas, and itv Play

4) Having removed Top-Up TV, I would use the channel bandwidth to make a new pay tv service, perhaps called Freeview + whereby viewers whose set-top box can take a viewing card, can pay additional fee for sports and movies, probably £7.50 a month for Setanta Sports, £7.50 a month for a film service such as Picture Box from Universal, showing the latest blockbuster movies (like Sky Movies) and maybe a fee £12.00 for both packages.

All in all Freeview is a good service, and if the changes mentioned above were implemented it would be a fantastic service.

Russian MP3 Download Services

I have discovered on the internet some new online MP3 download stores. These are based in Russia and are very cheap for tracks and cd’s - about $0.20 a track and $2 an album, and have a wide ranging catalogue containing releases from most major recording artist. The site also contains hard to find releases from some artists along with bootlegs. You can also download from this site most of their files in the file format of your choice, such as MP3, MP4, WMA etc.

Many of the record industry bodies are saying this site is illegal, yet apparently under Russian law it is perfectly legal as long as the owners pay a percentage of the profit made per track / album to the Russian copyright federation (ROMS). I suspect that the record industry bodies don’t like the fact that a) the prices are cheap per track and b) that the record labels / artists are not making any money out of the site

I myself have not yet used this site, as I am unsure whether as a British Citizen I am able to do so legally under British law. Once I have an answer to this, and the answer says I am allowed to then I will start using this site to buy music online, and I will post my findings on my blog.

This site I hope will shake up music download services as I feel if they can charge $0.20 a track, then why do services such as iTunes have to charge £0.79 a track? I guess they are trying to make as much money as possible.

Music Pirates

I read an interesting article recently, where according to the CEO of Universal Music Group (UMG), the iPod and Zune music players are repositories for stolen music. UMG have recently brokered a deal with Microsoft so that for every Zune sold, Microsoft will pay UMG $1 as compensation (this was the only way Microsoft could get UMG’s catalogue on the Zune store) for all the music that UMG believes Zune users will steal. It is claimed by UMG that 50% of the money will go directly to the artist. Interesting idea, but what about artists signed to labels other than UMG, do they get a cut? I would suspect not, since I see this as UMG feathering their own nest trying to make money wherever they can, and ensuring that the MP3 hardware makers are under their control.

What I do not like about this deal is that UMG does not care if you bought all your music legitimately you still owe them money, as they believe if you own an MP3 player then you download illegal music, and are labeled by them a thief, as you are denying them of money. I believe this deal amounts to theft, because it is not right to penalise someone who has bought all their music legitimately. One of the reasons I think UMG is doing this, is to try and persuade people to purchase it’s CD’s rather than download MP3’s as they makes money for them that way. Paying 79p to download a track from iTunes I suspect doesn’t make a lot of money for the artist, or record label, once the cost of providing the download is taken off.

I hope that when Microsoft starts to sell the Zune in Europe it does not broker a deal with UMG or any other music label, as it is not right. People have the right to purchase the music they want to, be that MP3, CD etc, and listen to it either on a CD player or MP3 player.

Apparently this is not the first time that Universal have tried to make things go their way, apparently in 1984 they sued Sony because they felt the Betamax video player infringed their copyright (it didn’t and they lost). Also in 1999 they got fined £91 million after being accused of CD price fixing.

There is a campaign on the internet at http://boycottumg.com/ suggesting that people boycott purchasing music by a UMG artist, to make UMG aware that not all MP3 player owners are thief's / pirates.

Funny Indian Boney M Karaoke

This is a funny video of some Indians dancing / Miming to Boney M. I love it when an Indian lady does "Freeze I'm Ma Baker..." in an Indian voice, sounds real strange. Have a watch, and you will see what I mean

More Christians and the Cross

The row over the BA check in worker who is not allowed to wear her cross is still going on, recently I read on the internet that this women has lost her appeal against being allowed to wear it, and is going to appeal a second time.

It is amazing, reading on the internet, the number of prominent people who support this women and feel she should be allowed to wear this cross - several MP’s, The Archbishop of York to name but a few.

She is quite right to point out that BA allow Muslims and Sikhs to wear their religious dress when working, so what is the problem with wearing a cross. I believe that companies have to make it fair for everyone, and not stop people of one religion wearing a religious symbol, just because it doesn't fit in with their uniform policy. Therefore BA should allow this women to wear her cross, or ban it’s Muslim employees from wearing a hijab, and it’s Sikh employees from wearing a turban and bangles. I suspect, however, if BA banned a Muslim from wearing a hijab they would be accused of being racists.

It is definitely the time for Christians to stand up for what they believe in, before it is too late.

IM Interoperability

One of the things that really annoys me on the internet is the lack of interoperability between instant messaging programs. I wish it was easy to chat to my friends on their various chat networks, yet it isn’t, because I have to load one program for some friends, another for other friends etc.

I think the time has come when the internet should agree on one standard for instant messaging, so that like e-mail it is easy to instant message anyone you know. The good news is that there is a standard instant messaging technology approved and that is Jabber, yet the major players in IM technology - AOL, Yahoo! anad Microsoft have not yet adopted this technology, only Google has in their Google Talk software.

If instant messaging is to become as widespread in use as e-mail then I think its time that one standard system is used, and I hope that Jabber is the one chosen, as it has all the features you need, such as voice chat, video chat etc, and has a wide range of software clients, so you are not tied to one piece of software that you don’t like. For more on Jabber see www.jabbber.org

Christians and the Cross

I read today at the BBC News website that a female employee of British Airways has been asked to conceal her wearing of a cross, which to a Christian is an outward expression of faith. I myself wear one when I am not working. This lady has effectively been forced to take unpaid leave, because she refuses to wear the cross under her uniform as British Airways require.

I think what British Airways are asking this women to do is disgusting because they allow their employees who wear turbans, or hijabs etc to continue wearing them. In the UK we are supposedly a Christian nation, so if this individual wishes to wear a cross on the outside of her clothing, like a Muslim women wears a hijab etc, it should be allowed without question., after all article 9 of the Human Rights law states “that people may manifest their religion unless their is a law preventing this in the interests of preserving public order “ therefore I cannot see how this lady can be banned from wearing a cross on the outside of her uniform as it would appear that the Human Rights law gives her the right to do so, unless it would affect public order.

It is interesting reading comments about this on the web, one person said that if we ban the cross we should think about banning the hijab and the turban, then realised that if we banned the hijab and the turban we would be being racist!

Perhaps it is time that we Christians should stand up for what we believe in!

Friendships

I have been thinking recently about my friends, and realised that I have some great mates, who are around to offer me help and support in my life as needed. If you are one of these mates, then a big thank you, for being there when I needed you, and for sharing in my life and just being you!

I think it is essential in life to have friends that you can rely on to be there for you when you need them, to offer support etc as needed. I know that without my friends my life would be very boring, and not the same as it is now. Take time to value your important friendships in life, as you never know when you may need them.

Also while I am writing this, I would also like to thank those friends who take the time to read and comment on my blog, listen to my podcast, take a look at my websites and let me know what they thought - its appreciated.

The Great James Last

This is a brilliant James Last performance of Brazil & Una Paloma Blanca, showcasing how good his band really is. The audience certainly seem to be having a great time - this is not suprising since James Last does great party music!

Blog & PodCast Changes

I have made some improvements to my blog, so that readers who access my blog while on the move, get even easier access to it. If you are using a recent SonyEricsson mobile phone with the RSS Reader option in the messaging menu you can add my blog as a feed in the reader. Simply press More then select New Feed and enter the following address: http://my.opera.com/jonzo247/xml/rss/blog/ Once your phone has found the feed, press More and select Update Now. Your phone will go away and download the latest entries from my blog, for you to read at your leisure. You can also schedule an update as well on the phone, so that you always have the latest entries available.

I have also change the service I use to send out my blog via e-mail, so that HTML e-mails can be sent out, automatically to subscribers, containing any images, videos etc I add to my blog entries. If you are reading my blog via my Google Group, then you will still be able to read my blog this way for the foreseeable future, but I would advise you go to my blog on the internet either at jonzo247.blogspot.com and sign up for the new style e-mails.

My podcast is also changing. Rather than being an extension of this blog, it is now a podcast featuring News, Reviews, QandAs and other interesting information from the world of the Apple Macintosh. As a result of this, I have rename my podcast to Jonzos MacCast, change the music I use in the podcast and given it a fresh new logo


I plan to update my podcast every 2 weeks or so, and if you have any questions you would like answered in the QandA section, or have any suggestions for topics I can cover in the podcast send me an e-mail to johnnyrit@bigfoot.com or leave me a comment in my blog. If you haven’t subscribed to my podcast and you wish to do so, the easiest way is to load up iTunes, access the iTunes store and search for Jonzos and the store will locate my podcast and enable you to subscribe to it.

Apple & WebcCams

The only thing I hate about Apple Macs is the lack of Webcams for them. When I had my PC, I could plug in my Logitech QuickCam Express and chat to others using Skype, or Yahoo! Messenger, without too many hitches. Yet when I changed to a Mac I discovered that my webcam would not work with the Mac as there are no Apple Mac drivers for it, from Logitech, thus preventing me from having video chats with my mates.

This I think is a shame, as more and more people are buying Apple machines, partly due to the success of the iPod - people see how good they are, and think if an iPod is good, then I bet their computers are.

It would seem that if you want to purchase a webcam for use on a Mac, there is only one option available, and that is to purchase Apple’s iSight webcam, however this webcam can no longer be sold in Europe as it contains lead, a substance that the EU has banned from being used in consumer goods, and at £99 is an expensive camera. Apparently Logitech’s QuickCam Pro 4000, QuickCam Zoom, QuickCam Orbit/Sphere, QuickCam for Notebooks Pro and Philips SPC900NC are Mac compatible, but I have not seen these models on sale anywhere.

I think it’s time that webcam manufacturers started to make Mac drivers for their webcams, especially now that Skype has released a beta of version 2 for Mac, that includes video support, so that us Apple Mac users can video chat with people, whether they use an Apple, PC or Linux box.

Thankfully there is an open source project called MacCam that is in the process of writing a driver that will support as many webcams as possible, and this can be found
at http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/ however this is not the ideal solution for getting a webcam Apple compatible as the webcam manufacturer should be making Apple drivers that work with all the webcams it makes / has made.

Count Your Blessings

I came across this hymn recently at a friends wedding, it was sung before we started the evening banquet It spoke to me in that it reminded me to count my blessings, and see how God has been working in my life, even if I feel sometimes that he hasn’t.

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Chorus:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

I know who holds the future

I know who holds the future
And I know He holds my hand;
With God things don’t just happen
Everything by Him is planned.
So as I face tomorrow with its
problems large and small
I’ll trust the God of miracles, Give to him my all.

Rivers of Babylon - Lenny Henry Parody

This is a fantastic parody of Boney M singing Rivers of Babylon on Top Of The Pops in 1978. Lenny Henry mimicks Bobby's dance routine almost perfectly, and the 3 female singers are great. Even the costumes look exactly as Boney M wore them on Top Of The Pops.

New Site Design

Today I finished work on the re-design of my personal website. It is a radical departure from the 3 column layout I was using recently. I have also renamed it from Watch Out, Weirdo About to Jonzos Cyberplace. You will still find all the features of my old design on the site, but some of the pages have been merged with others, for example you will find details of my mates in the More About Me page.

This re-design has been done in iWeb a fantastic program from Apple for building personal websites, as it enables you to simply add your photos, podcast, blog and other pages with ease, as well as customise pages to suit your site. Microsoft have a lot to learn from Apples iLife software suite, as it provides everything a user needs to embrace a digital world.

As part of my new site design, you can now read my blog direct on my site. You will still be able to read it here at Blogspot, MSN Spaces, or at My Opera Community as well as reading in your e-mail through subscribing to my blog, through the subscribe box.

To visit my improved site, surf to http://www.jonzosplace.co.uk

Wireless Music

Got a fantastic piece of kit for use with my Mac - AirPort Express. It enables me to stream my music wirelessly to my HiFi through iTunes, and have a wireless network as well. it never ceases to amaze me that the Mac can do so much, and much more elegantly that a PC. When I plugged in my AirPort express, and set it up with my broadband internet access, it was so easy to set it up on the Mac - All I had to do was turn on was the AirPort card and my Mac found the wireless network straight away!

I wish PC's were this simple, though I guess when Bill Gates was designing Windows he didn't think that it needed to be this simple. It's about time that a Windows machine was made easy - for example why do you have to use drive letters? I can't see the use of those, since it's easier to use names. On my Mac my internal hard drive is known as Macintosh HD and my external drive as USB Files. Simple and elegant. If I plug in my Disgo 256mb USB key it appears as Jon Disgo - very easy to remember.

Be Yourself

Just be yourself
The person you are meant to be
Let the world know who you are

Some people only see the outside
Some people see the inside
show them the real you

Just be yourself
The person you are meant to be
Let the world know who you are

Your comments are welcome!

Camino Web Browser

I have been using a new browser on my Apple Mac - Camino. It is much faster than Firefox, yet runs the same rendering engine - Gecko, that powers several browsers including Netscape 8, SeaMonkey, yet unlike Firefox has been designed from the ground up to be an application that has tight Mac integration, so that features available to Mac users such as Spotlight, Keychain & The Address Book work with the browser.

It is interesting to see the Gecko rendering engine, being used in different browsers on different operating systems. This is a good thing as it ensures that no matter what operating system you are using, a website will look the same, work in the same way and be designed to work with the current internet standards.

If you have an Apple Mac then give Camino a go - it is much better than Firefox on the Mac. The only thing you will miss is having a sidebar, which is no great loss because it gives you maximum screen width for when you are browsing very wide sites.

More Mac Mini

Having used my Mac Mini for almost 4 weeks I have noticed some failings with it, but these are simple issues that Apple can easily address.

Firstly the Mac does not come with a full blown word processing application - on a PC you either get Microsoft Works, Word or Office. Apple provide you with a 30 day trial of Office Mac and iWork.

Secondly you cannot change the look and feel - you are stuck with a white background with black text, and either grey or blue highlighting. On a PC, you get a choice of colour schemes - Blue, Olive Green and Silver

Thirdly the inbuilt chat software - iChat does not work with a USB webcam and needs you to use an Apple iSight camera, which at £99 is expensive.

Finally there is no way of playing Windows Media Audio or Video files on an Intel Mac easily - Microsoft have not released Windows Media Player for an Intel Mac, and have made Windows Media Player 9 the final one for the Mac, so while Windows PC users have Windows Media Player 11 the Mac won't see that. Luckily Microsoft have allowed a software house Flip4Mac to create plugins for Quick Time so that can play Windows Media Files - which they have done for PowerPC Macs

All of these are simple issues that Apple can address to make the Mac even better. I can understand not providing an Office Suite with the Mac as that brings the cost down - after all not everyone wants to spend £329 on Office Mac, and I suspect that the Windows Media Player problem will be fixed ASAP. I think the reason that only the iSight camera works with iChat is probably because many of their machines have an iSight camera built in, and many other WebCam makers do not provide MAC drivers. Customisation of the OS look is not so important, but would be nice to have.

I still think the Apple Mac is a fantastic machine, and I wouldn't go back to PC's at all, I certainly don't miss the crashes, the constant updates, just to keep the machine secure etc. Apple are on to a winner, and I think they will increase their market share.

Podcast

I have started my own online podcast, as having a Mac makes it so easy to record a podcast, using the built in Garage Band software. You can hear my podcast at my website www.jonzosplace.co.uk or subscribe to it in iTunes at http://jonzosplace.downingsnet.co.uk/podcast.xml If you hear the blog via my website you will need a software package capable of playing m4a files, such as iTunes.

I have planned for my podcast to be an audio version of my blog, but also adding exclusive entries that you won't find on my blog.

Mac Mini part 1

I have upgraded from a PC to a Mac Mini, and I think it is fantastic. It may only be a small computer but it is very powerful. What attracted me to the Mac is the fact that it "just works" out of the box, and provides a host of useful software. Also it has wireless networking and Bluetooth built in, something that many Windows desktop PC's do not feature, as I suspect that PC makers do not think that users need these on anything but a laptop.

What I like about the Mac Mini is that can bring your existing keyboard, mouse and monitor with you to your Mini from your PC, thus keeping the cost down, and I think because of this many Windows PC owners might consider switching to a Mac, because a Mac is more stable than a PC due to being built on a UNIX operating system environment.

Microsoft and other PC makes have a lot to learn from the Mini, mainly due to the shape as it is much smaller than a PC, looks elegant, and would not be out of place sitting in a living room. Also the amount of software built in to it is fantastic as well, and includes iLife 06 the fantastic suit of programs that can edit movies, photos, make a website and more. iSync for syncing with a mobile phone, PDA or .mac account on the web, the excellent Safari web browser, and Mail, iCal and Address Book.

As I learn more about my Mac there will be more to say in my blog, so stay tuned.

Spam Spam Spam

Recently I joined a fantastic Spam reducing service - Blue Frog at http://www.bluesecurity.com They run a Do Not Intrude Registry, and work towards reducing the amount of spam their members get in there inbox. The biggest problem when getting spam is that there is no point opting out of future spam from that email address, but by being a Blue Frog member, Blue Frog counts the number of people that have received spam from that email address and sends a complaint on their behalf meaning that Blue Frog may well be complaining on behalf of over a thousand people. The best thing is that spammers never find out your e-mail address, as that is kept in secure encryption by Blue Frog and not revealed to anyone

This has worked out great, I have had less Spam emails in my inbox as a result, which means im not spending time removing them from my inbox. However in the last week, Blue Frog has been attacked by a major internet spammer who has brought the service to its knees, meaning that I have had 40+ spam messages in 1 email account alone per day. This major internet spammer has been quoted as saying that if he cant spam people then there will be no internet. See this article for more information. I don't think that this is right, and I hope that this spammer is arrested and imprisoned for a long time, and banned from owning or using computers as spamming is illegal and so is trying to control the internet.

I hope that in years to come spam will be a thing of the past

More Life

I have been doing some thinking recently and I'm beginning to see that my life is improving! I have recently applied for promotion at my place of work, and am hoping that I get it. I have had 2 interviews and will have an answer by the end of the week. It would be brilliant to get the job as it would give me extra responsibility at my place of work.

I have also realised that when it comes to having a girlfriend etc my time will come, and it's not for me to demand one right there and then, something that I wrote in an earlier blog entry. I mentioned in an earlier blog posting the turmoil inside myself and I feel that that is no longer within me.

Stay tuned for more updates from me in my blog!

Get Firefox

I have been reading some interesting articles on the internet, suggesting that Microsoft is trying to define the way forward for internet sites, through people using Internet Explorer. This is not good, as on any non Windows based computer, you cannot run Internet Explorer and could therefore miss out viewing your favourite website just because you can't run Internet Explorer, and the designer of that website has not made it compatible with your favourite browser.

What people need to start doing is downloading and using Firefox (or Opera, Safari etc) to browse the internet. Once people start doing this they will join the growing number of internet users, who want to have a say in how they view the internet, rather than follow the Microsoft way of doing things.

I recently found a good website www.explorerdestroyer.com/ that has a great script that can be added to webpages, telling Internet Explorer users they should install Firefox. I have decided that this is a good idea, and am now getting serious about persuading users to switch to Firefox, or another browser, for a better internet experience. This means that when you visit my site in Internet Explorer, you get a screen coming up that tells you that Internet Explorer is not fully compatible with this website, and that you should switch to Firefox, giving a download link. I do not go as far as some users, who stop Internet Explorer users viewing their site, as this is not fair on the user, especially if there PC is only allowed to run Internet Explorer.

If you have not installed Firefox, visit www.mozilla.com and install Firefox today. Alternatively install another alternative to Internet Explorer such as www.opera.com

Skype

I downloaded and installed Skype recently, and have become so impressed with it, I think it's gonna become one of my most useful internet tools.

The idea behind Skype is to be a service for people to "call" each other over the internet using a pair of speakers and a microphone (and a webcam if you or they have one), Simple, and it costs nothing at all, all you need for it to work well is a broadband connection. However what sets Skype apart is their SkypeOut, SkypeIn and Voicemail services. SkypeOut enables you to call a normal phone or landline, at a cost per minute of Euro€0.017, and to use the service you buy credit, just like you would on a pay as you go mobile phone. SkypeIn is a brilliant idea, as it give people without Skype the chance to call you on Skype from a normal landline or mobile, to your SkypeIn number which works like a normal phone line, and gives you voicemail. Also their voicemail service is useful as well - it works just like a phone voicemail, takes messages when you are busy, and is free with a SkypeIn Number.

All in all if you have not got Skype, get it, as it will change the way you speak to friends, and will save you money on phone calls,especiallyy if you have friends in other countries!

Support Denmark

The image says it all. The Danish Prime Minister is right to say that he can't censor the press for publishing those cartoons, as we live in a free western society, as do the Danes, and that gives the press the right to publish what they want.

A Song of Changes

This new song, talks about the fact I need to make changes in my life to be a better person.

Changes

well I must change
be the person i'm meant to be
the person God intended me to be

changes I must face
hurts I must fix
life must change

fun must be found
love I must find
life must change

I must change my life
I cannot stay this way
I must change my life
I cannot stay this way

boring I wont be
silly cannot stay
life must change

seriousness goes away
mocking disappears
life must change

well I will change
be the person i'm meant to be
the person God intended me to be

New Hair Style part 2

Just a short update on my new hair style. Today I saw my hair stylist and talked about my hair growing long. He has tidied up my hair, and my next appointment is in 10 weeks time at which point we will discuss styling it. So longer hair here I come!

Another song

Here is another new song, any comments are welcome

Asking

did you hear me asking
to come save from despair
my life is falling around me
and i need your help

ive stumbled from the way
i need your help
to solve the hurting deep inside

ive been stupid and ran away
help me face my problems
and get me back on track

ive not been me lately
help me back to being me
so i can be the person i am

ive wanted to leave
help me stay to face up
to resolving my problems

did you hear me asking
to come save from despair
my life is falling around me
and i need your help

New Songs

Recently I have written 2 new songs- Life and Stupidity. These songs give an indication of how I am feeling at the present time. Both songs can be read on my blog as recent posts. Neither song is a really good one, but that's not the intention of them, they are simply a tool to vent my feelings.

Life explains my desire to find a girlfriend - something that after 30 years of life I think I deserve, while Stupidity explains that sometimes I run away from things, when I shouldn't, and that I should sort my life out.

Enjoy reading my songs, and feel free to comment on them.

Life

Will anybody love me
Anybody at all?

Life
Don't let me down
Help find the women of my dreams

Will anybody love me
Anybody at all?

Life
Don't let me suffer
Find a caring women for me

Will anybody love me
Anybody at all?

Life
Don't keep me single
Find me someone to love

Will anybody love me
Anybody at all?

Stupidity

Running away is all I do
Life seems so much better that way
This turmoil inside is hard to bear
Will it ever end

Living on the edge from day to day
Is life better that way?
Do I go or should I stay
Will I ever know

I can be me
I know I may loose the way
But I am me and I love me
And that's how I want it to stay

I'm hurting deep inside
Have I stumbled from the way?
The hurting I must solve
Or it will be the end

Running away seems to easy
Life is not better that way
I must sort this turmoil inside
So I can be better

Banishing the hurt will be hard
It's going to be the only way
The way to get my life on track
On track to a better me

iPod Nano

Just bought myself an iPod Nano by Apple. Having used it for a few days I can see why it the iPod is the best MP3 player in the business. Apple have pulled out all the stops with the Nano. Not only is it a small player, but it has a large amount of storage on it either 2gb or 4gb and a colour screen.

It is amazing what you can do with the iPod. Not only can I download my favourite MP3s to it, I can also download Podcasts as well which is brilliant. A Podcast, as I see it, is rather like a radio / tv program in that there are episodes that come out on a regular basis. At the moment I am subscribed to 4 Podcasts - Statler & Waldorf from the Balcony reviewing the latest movie releases, Bubba Bohacks joke of the day, Bible reading of the day and the UK DVD Review - good if you want to know what's good and bad in the latest DVD releases.

Digital music is fast becoming one of the ways to listen to your music, and I think it's brilliant idea, as on your digital music player, you have the tracks you want to listen to, and have your favourite tracks from a CD without having to listen to all the tracks on that album.

New Hair Style part 1

As you will have seen if you look at the photos on my personal web site, I have had short hair for a while, in fact for all my life as far as I remember. Now I have taken a big decision and decided to grow my hair to a medium length, in the style of the picture to the left. I felt, when I made the decision that it would be nice to have a different look, as my hairstyle at the moment is a bit boring. Growing my hair will take a while, because it is short, but I hope that in the future I will have the style that I want for my hair. Who knows, I might even bring back some facial hair around my mouth to complement my new hair style!, Hopefully sometime within the next few months I will be able to give you an update, and show you a picture with my new look hair!

Hopefully when I next visit my hair stylist, he will be able to help me achieve the look I want, I'm sure he will since he is a brilliant stylist, and is worth every penny.

Stay tuned for further updates on my hair.

Early Form of Karaoke Discovered

The other day I was given the chance to listen to some of Boney M's music being performed by the Cliff Carpenter Orchestra. From what I was told, Cliff Carpenter was another German band leader in the James Last style. However when I played the MP3's I had been given, they sounded so much like the original recordings by Boney M. I later found out that Hansa Records, the label that Boney M were assigned to, also had Cliff Carpenter signed on their books, and that they allowed Cliff Carpenter to use the backing tracks from the artist he wish to use on his recordings.

From doing some research, on Cliff Carpenter, I believe Cliff Carpenter's music is an early form of karaoke, because all he did to make the recordings his own, was replace the vocals with an instrument such as a trumpet, saxophone or strings, making the songs ideal to sing karaoke to, as you have the original backing track to help you along, as in so many karaoke tracks the track doesn't sound like the original, making it harder to sinng to. I also found out, during my research, that in Germany Cliff was known as the poor man's James Last, which probably means that his records were sold at a cheap price, which probably explains the use of original backing tracks.

MSN Messenger Problems

MSN Messenger is a great chat program, but just recently I had discovered that when you use it transfer files to someone on your contact list, Windows XP denies access to the file once it is downloaded if for example it is an MP'3 file. I'm annoyed by this, as normally I use Google Talk to chat over instant messaging and MSN Messenger to send files (Google Talk does not yet have file transfers built in to it's client) Microsoft's actions are unfair and disgusting as it is stopping users from sending legitimate files - Microsoft will probably say they are doing this for security reasons. If this continues then I'm going to have look at another way of sharing files with my friends over instant messaging, which will probably mean a switch to the open source system Jabber, since that does not block access to files.

Do you think Microsoft have the right to do this, or should we be able to share whatever files we like? Let me know what you think!

New Layout

I decided to re design my blog and personal website layout today, thought it was time for a spruce up. As you will see, (if you are reading on my main blog page, at Blogger accessible via http://jonzosplace.co.uk) I have moved the main navigation to the left side, while keeping the links on the right, catagorised in sections.

I have also added a Tag Board, so now its even easier to write comments on my blog, along with an online status indicator so that you can see when I'm online and chat to me using your Jabber Instant Messaging client. Enjoy the new design, and reading my continually expanding blog.

Now Ulla Dance

Just seen a really good film - The Producers. This film is based on the Broadway/ West End Musical of the same name.

Set in New York, in the year 1959. Max Bialystock was once the king of Broadway, but now all his shows close on opening night. His luck changes when he's visited by the neurotic accountant Leo Bloom, who proposes a scheme tailor-made for producers who can only make flops: raise far more money than you need, then make sure the show is despised. No one will want to see it, so you can pocket the excess cash. To make their money, they produce a musical called Springtime for Hitler written by an escaped Nazi called Franz Liebken. Then they get the flamboyant rubbish director Roger De Bris (who is gay) and his production crew, to direct. Finally, they hire as a lead actress the loopy Swedish bombshell Ulla played by Uma Thurman who has a great voice). As opening night draws near, what can go wrong? Well, there's no accounting for peoples taste...

I really enjoyed watching the movie, it featured loads of laughs, great musical numbers, and the storyline was very believable and well acted. All in all one of the best films I have seen in a while, so good I felt I had to write about it here, and persuade my readers to go see!

Reminder

While in Church yesterday, at the start of the service, I got a reminder from God - "I know what I am doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for."

Interesting this, as this verse in the bible - Jeremiah 29v11 has been given to me before by others, to confirm that God has my future in his hands. This is exciting, as hopefully it means that a better paid job is on the way or that my business takes off (something that I really want to happen). Watch this space for more news!

Narrow Parking Spaces

Recently in a local underground car park, I had my car damaged, the parking spaces in this car park were too narrow to park safely in especially in a busy period, which it was when my car was damaged. Luckily the damage was not too bad, just a big dent in the rear left hand passenger door and some scratched paintwork, and i'm hoping the repair bill will not be too much, as the driver who caused the damage didn't leave his insurance details - something all too common these days as people don't want to loose their no claims bonus on their car insurance, so that they can keep their insurance cost down.

However my gripe is - that too many car parks these days are designed for getting the maximum number of spaces in, without thinking about how wide spaces should be in order for safe parking. There are a growing number of car parks in this country where I feel I have to try and find a part of the car park that is not so full, in order to park safely. Also I get annoyed when in a car park with tight spaces, I see idiots who have parked too close to one side of the space, making it harder for the empty space next to the them to be parked in correctly.

This reminds me of a another multi-story car park I have been in, all the spaces where on a slope, which was even worse for parking as the slope was at right angles to where you parked. It's time that designers of car parks designed them for safety as well as getting the most they can in the car park.

I guess I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, when I had my car damaged, however that's life and I have to hope that it won't be too much to repair, as I don't want to make a claim on my insurance as it is not my fault, and do not want a bigger bill just because of some other drivers stupidity.