CIA World Fact Book - a bedtime read! (view comments)

If you have ever tried to find out any physical, economic or geographic data on a  country, you will know how difficult it can be.  What if you want to know the infant mortality rate of Sierra Leone? (154/1000 births) or the population of Sweden (9,059,691), or perhaps the life expectancy of the Sudan (51 years).  Well this little online book The CIA World Fact Book is just what you need.  Every imaginable (and some quite unimaginable) fact you could ever want from, the percent of literacy to how many people use the internet, from the highest point to life expectancy.

It may not be something you will need on a daily basis (unless you find it hard to get to sleep) but I bet it will make you a wiser person in relation to the state of your nation as it relates to the other nations of the world!

Frank Worthington cheeky goal for Bolton (view comments)

I was having my lunch the other day whilst watching the Big Match revisited, a digital TV re-run of some 1970's and 80's football games.

The game that was playing was Bolton V Ipswich from the then 1st Division, I'm not sure of the year but I think it was 1979, as the comentator seemed to suggest it was the year after Ipswich won the FA Cup.

Sufice it to say I nearly spat my lunch out when I saw the nerve of Frank Worthington.  This is a brilliant goal that shows that flair and entertainment were alive in the 70's, even if the Ipswich defending was a little woeful!

The Bees - Chicken Payback (view comments)

Hell, I just needed cheering up, it was a lovely sunny day, which helped and then I thought what goes along with a beautiful sunny day?  Chicken Payback of course!?  So here is a youtube offering of the Bees and Chicken Payback.

The video is a tad wierd but I defy you not to sing along!

Sumo Paint - Online Image Editor/Creator (view comments)

This is seriously the best online image editor I have ever seen ....... and it's free!!  The things that you can do with this appplication are quite unbelievable.  The amount of features is staggering, especially as it is a Flash based application (I really must improve my knowledge of Flash!)

Here is the Sumo website: http://www.sumopaint.com/web/

And the real winner about this application is it's ease of use, anyone can use it and produce quality art and graphics.

You have so many different brushes, pens, shapes, effects that this on its own would be impressive but no, it does not stop there, you can add new layers and blend them with such effects as multiply, screen, overlay, etc, etc!

You can also open images from your pc and save back to your pc.

There are not many packaged image editing products out there to match this.  I have not taken a full look but I am pretty sure it will only save as a raster image and I think as soon as you have drawn your shapes they are just part of the layers raster properties ( I apologise to Sumo if this is wrong, I may have to do some investigation to find out) but even so as a graphic editor and creating tool it is second to none on the web.

Here is a walkthrough on youtube:

Superb evening at Wembley watching Elbow (view comments)

What a great night it was!  I was about 8 rows back, so didn't feel anything like an Arena gig, some of that is down to Guy Garvey though, he is a natural for connecting with the crowd.

He had the crowd eating out of his hand, some real crowd involvement.  'One Day Like This' not surprisingly had the entire auditorium singing but there were many opportunities to get the vocal chords vibrating!!

The sound was excellent and the playing was superb. They played nearly the entireity of the latest album, 'the Seldom seen Kid' and quite a few from the previous offering 'Leaders of the Free World'.

It would have been nice to hear a few more of the first two albums but I can't really complain as what they did serve up was top.  Including a little impromtu number around the piano,  where they all put down there instruments, paused for a little drink, said 'Cheers Wembley' and did an 'unplugged' if you will, version of 'Weather to Fly'!

Though for me I think the best moment may well have been the rendition of 'Newborn' from the album 'Asleep in the Back'.  It started off gently, with Guy and an acoustic guitar but built and built, to a cacophony of sound, with the crowd anticipating the entrance of some wild Guy vocals.  The song just kept building and swept you up in its all consuming power and then............. silence, immediate silence, just a perfect finish.

Here is 'One Day Like This' form the night, that someone has posted on youtube to hopefully give you a feel of what it was like.

Beware Brother Beware (view comments)

Now don't get me wrong, I've been happily married for nearly 15 years but you have got to admit Louis Jordan has a point.  This is a great version from some film I'm not sure of the title.  There are a few other Loius Jordan numbers that I love, such as Saturday Night Fish Fry, GI Jive, There Aint No Body Here But US Chickens,  Reet Petite and Gone, loads but his cutting wit is really evident here.

I don't think he gets the recognition he deserves.

I'm Off to See Elbow at Wembley (view comments)

I'm off to see Elbow very soon, at Wembley Arena, to be honest I wish it was a smaller venue but I can't begrudge them the success that has led to the bigger venue.  They are definitely a band that deserve all the plaudits.

I am realy, really looking forward to it.  I have been a fan for many years now and I could say they keep getting better but I think they were superb in the first place! 

So to celebrate the impending night out, here is my cover of Fugitive Motel by Elbow.  If you like it you can find more videos of me and some of my favourite songs at my channel sonicanansi