Wolfmother

So last night i seen Wolfmother and damn it was epic!

It was further away than i usually go for gigs so my dad drove me and two friends there: guy called Steve, and Louis whose first gig it was.

My dad wasn't sure what to do while we were there but in the end he decided to get a ticket at the doors and watch from the seats so that was cool.

However, since i received my tickets back in April, i was suspicious of them. They were badly printed and also lacking a bar code whilst others around us in the queue generally had tickets with bar codes on them so going up to the door to get in i was quite apprehensive.

In the end, we did get in but obviously the venue knew that some tickets were badly printed so had back-ups for those that had them. It was rather irksome though because if we had just went straight in without waiting around to get in, we would have got on the barrier, like i did last time i seen Wolfmother, but this time that didn't happen.

Damn you, Ticketmaster!

Anyway, we were pretty much down the front so i was happy enough.

The support band were nothing special. Band called Turbogeist, just really a wall of noise. Think they should work on their live act coz their stuido stuff sounds decent.

Wolfmother came on not long after them and it was intense!

Coz it was such a small gig, you get to look at the lead singer in the eyes while he looks at you playing one of your favourite songs. Words. Can't. Describe.

I imagined Louis didn't quite know what to expect as it was his first gig so i wasn't surprised to find out later that he retreated further back from the front :P

Steve's a bit of a madman at gigs tho and tends to be in the moshpits etc. He was even crowdsurfing at one point! Loony.

I was all over the place to be honest. I started right in the middle down the front, then i was slowly shifted over to the left about halfway through and when Colossal ended the main set and it was all-out fucking brawl. The whole place was just a pit. Nearly fell on my arse as well but managed to grab onto someone :P

Got myself out of there for the encore and ended up over towards the right hand side of the stage somehow :S

Like last time, i'd say Colossal was the best song. Everyone just goes mental!

Was annoyed that security didn't hand out cups of water though coz i was dying in there: crushed, no air, no space. Trickle of water woulda done me fine but nah, not a sausage.

Also, coz i wasn't on the barrier, i didn't really have an opportunity to get my camera out without fear of dropping it, so i don't really have any pictures to show.


Compared to the last Wolfmother gig, id say this one wasn't as good.
The support band were average here, plus i didn't get their setlist like i did last time.
Didn't get on the barrier like i had planned.
Security didn't give out drinks.
Wolfmother's set wasn't brilliant.

It wasn't amazing last time either, and in general they don't play great sets. The reason is that they tend to go into really long on-stage jams which are cool but i'd much rather see more songs to be honest. They played 14 songs last time and 12 here. However, they did briefly cover The Beatles' "Dear Prudence" and The Doors, "Riders on the Storm".

However, for a band with 2 studio albums and over 25 songs, id have hoped for more than 12.
The only song they played here they didn't last time was Mind's Eye.

I'll stop moaning coz it still was an awesome night, just could have been better but certainly worth 20 pounds.

Then again Biffy was 20 pounds and played 25 songs... right, i'll stop, i'll stop! ;D

I enjoyed my night and that's whats important!


Rowan <3


P.S There is a new blogger in the midst around here and his name is Thomas. He's 16, from Germany (his English is good don't worry :P) and i'm sure he'd love to here from you all. He's had his blog for around a week now and here it is: http://a-little-refuge.blogspot.com/

Music Exam

Today's music exam was always going to be hit and miss coz im honestly not brilliant at that side of things. More relying on a good mark from my performing.

Anyhoo, i got into school nice and early and went over some concepts with a people. Bryan put his ipod in my locker again, but did remember it afterwards this time :P

For the exam itself, i was lucky enough to be sat in seat 1, right at the front of the class. Oh joy.
The paper seemed quite difficult whilst sitting it. The literacy question was disastrous and there were a few other dodgy bits. However, "Ghost Town" by The Specials was featured as an excerpt which brought some joy, even if i didnt answer the questions on it that well, but one excerpt in particular made my day - Ballett, specifically the song i posted not too long ago (Now is the Month of Maying)

Me and the guy i sit next to in class have had this running fixation with the ballett all year and i joked if it came up in the exam i might just scream and well... i almost actually did. I sat there in silent fits of giggles. And afterwards i said to the guy, "It was great, a little bit of wee almost came out"
Okay, it didn't really :P
But it made my day and thats a certain 1 mark in the bag!

As i said, the rest of the paper was come and go but i felt a lot better about it afterwards. My teacher was giving pupils what she put as answers for the paper and it would seem i did better than i had originally thought. I took note of her answers coz i knew my mum was bringing the paper back (she invigilates at another school) and i would be able to check my answers.
Well, after doing that i'd say my mark was about average. Between 24-28 out of 40 at an estimate. However, there were 4 or 5 careless mistakes i made which could have bumped me over 28 and into the A category. But who knows, this paper combined with my practical might still bloody well get me an A!
I hope so. I'd be disappointed with a B in music of all subjects.

After the exam was quite fun. I went back to Rob's house with another friend and we played Rock Band 3. He has pro drums i.e an electronic drum kit that can be used to play the game so it's insanely realistic but also insanely difficult.
And insanely fun.
I don't even have the game let alone an electronic drum kit but it has persuaded me that i must get the game. I've been delaying on it for too long.
But that's another issue: money. I've been saving up for a laptop for my birthday and will have to put about 200 quid towards it. That's all fine. I can afford that.

However, i've also made noise to Bryan about going to the Saturday at Leeds Festival and perhaps the Sunday at Reading which he seems quite keen on. It's mostly coz im afraid Muse will play a poor set at Leeds, and then a great one at Reading. But even if they dont, i could get to see one of my favourite albums played live twice, and spend a whole weekend with Bryan instead of just s a day or two ;)
Anyhoo, that would be an extra 100 odd quid (tickets on Viagogo are surprisingly cheap!) and would mean that i cant really spend much on anything else. So im afraid Rock Band 3 might need to be put on the backburner, as well as my desire for a new xbox...

Agh, i hate managing finances! It's so stressful. But most things i spend my money on anyway is to do with music so it's all for a good cause :D

I've strayed from the music exam... Well i don't have much else to say about it actually. It went ok. I have my grumbles but i also have positives to take out of it, like the ballett and at least im quite certain i passed the thing which is something at least!


Oh, lastly. Its seems Dave the Rave has sadly departed Blogger. I never got to read his final post, just a preview of what it said, "Honest someone pointed out to me that most of the people who comment on my blog declare themselves as older wiser and trustworthy they are anything but they spend all day tracking our posts."


Woulda been interested to read all of that one... 



Rowan <3





The ballett that was in the exam ^



This was also in one of my favourite films ever - Shaun of the Dead. Completely forgot about it!

Queens of the Stone Age

So you might remember a while back i posted about Queens and how my mum didnt help me out and get a ticket to go see them.

Well, last night, i still did!

I couldn't just sit in my room while such a legendary band were playing not 5 miles away. I had to at least attempt to get in.

Just took the train down to the arena and scouted for touts, of which there were a few. I will admit i was quite scared. I remember at MCR Bryan's friend managed to get a ticket at the doors for face value (somehow) but i've never had to approach a tout for a ticket. I could have been mugged for all i know! There were certainly a few dodgy looking characters around...

But i know one things for sure: i am never going to a tout again. Fucking robbing bastards. I did manage to haggle a better price however. They first all offered me a ticket for 80 quid when the face value was 30, so i was having none of it.

I knew if i held off for an hour or two i could get better and eventually i got a balcony/booth ticket for 55 pounds, which tbh is still quite disgraceful. Touts! Should be strung up by the balls. However, the balcony/booth is better than unreserved seating. It's a little area along the side of the arena, elevated and to the side giving you a completely unrestricted view of the band so it wasn't all bad (although it was excruciating looking down at the mosh pit)

Anyway. I probably wouldn't have bought the ticket if i knew what the setlist was going to be beforehand. QotSA have just re-released their debut album and are touring it in full. It's an album i'm not too familiar with but nonetheless, it all sounded great. After playing that in full they played some of their bigger hits so there were at least a few songs i could sing along to - Little Sister, Battery Acid, A Song for the Dead, No One Knows which is a song im really happy to have seen live.

So yeh, it was a great gig (certainly better than MCR) Queens have fantastic energy on stage. They're one of those bands i'd say are better live than in the studio but only just coz Songs for the Deaf, Era Vulgaris and Lullabies to Paralyse are brilliant albums.

In the end, i did get ripped off and it probably wasn't worth 55 quid, especially with the fact that i could have had a standing ticket for 30 (thanks mum)
T'was also the first gig i've ever went to alone which is something i'd rather not repeat but at least im now completely in the mood for seeing Wolfmother next week!

Queens are apparently going to be working on a new album soon which would suggest a tour sometime next year. Hopefully i can get a standing ticket for that :)


Rowan <3

French Exam

So my French exam was today and i would love to say it passed without incident but it didnt.

The first part was grand. Reading a passage and answering questions went well. The directed writing is usually where im a bit iffy. Basically, you're given a situation and you have to write about it. That went well, too, however.

We had a break and the second part - the listening and short essay - is where things went a bit skiwif.

We were given a pink sheet of paper with the questions on and a white sheet (presumably) for the answers.
You see, i wasn't sure whether the answers went on the white sheet or not and by the time i'd tried to figure it out, the first playthrough of the cd has finished, leaving me having jotted down a few bare points.

I checked the front of the page and it says answers went on the pink sheet which was confusing as others around me seemed to be writing on the white sheet and it honestly would have made more sense to do it there.

Anyhoo, that meant i only got one playthrough to gather all my answers and the previous kerfuffle just threw me so i couldn't concentrate properly. If i get half marks for the thing i'll be a lucky boy. The short essay afterwards seemed ok.

But the confusion surrounding the listening was enough to through me and im not good at listening most of the time so that was rather unfortunate. Others said it was tough which made me feel a bit better but at least they could hear it twice.

On reflection, it shouldn't matter greatly coz the listening is only 20% of the full thing. The reading and directed writing is 45 which im confident i got a high score in. The short essay is another ten marks so id say at least 8 there. The oral exam back in March is 15 and i already know i got full marks. I might lose 10/15 from the listening but an A is about 70% so odds are i can still get it. But we'll see. Still annoyed at the listening today.


But here's the juicy news: i'm currently sitting in my room, unattended, with Bryan's ipod.
The reason i've got it because he put it in my locker with my ipod and phone before the exam so there was no chance of it going off in the classroom and potentially getting disqualified. After the exam he went home without remembering and he was gone by the time i went back to my locker.
Obviously i've trawled and trawled it (coz i'm such an awful human being) but the truth lies in plain sight and it's the truth i've known for a few months now.

There was a suggestion after my sneak preview a few months ago that maybe Bryan had deleted anything incriminating, knowing in advance he'd be at my house. Well, there was no way he could know he would leave it in my locker today and his history etc. is pretty much what it was last time.

The only hints at anything else are a few stupid Omegle chats but lets be honest; anyone who goes on that site just does it to fuck around when they're bored as hell. The word "gay" doesn't even return any results on a full ipod scan and "bi" just directs to pointless Omegle conversations.

I've even looked through photos and everything i wasn't able to last time. I know its wrong, i know its his privacy i've invaded, i know its dishonest and i know i wouldn't like it if anyone looked through my ipod. I feel like a terrible friend :(
I just hope he isn't too suspicious of me when i give it back to him, but naturally im sure he will be. Anyone would.
Anyway, i guess you've probably had enough of me rattling on about Bryan so i'll leave it there - trust me, i could go on.

Depressing post is depressing, but at least French will probably be ok.


Rowan <3

English Exam

Overall, it went well.

I said i wasn't worried in my last post but of course, if everyone around you is nervous then it has an effect on you as well, which it did.
Was kinda edgy going into the exam room but after i started answering questions on the close reading paper, i was fine, the nerves were gone.

Close Reading is pretty much what it says on the tin - read two passages and answer questions on literacy techniques etc.
The passages were good as they were something i could actually relate to - video games.

http://www.boris-johnson.com/2006/12/28/computer-games/

That was the second passage (i can't find the first) which was slightly edited down, and penned by Boris Johnson no less. Fool. I dislike him and the passage only reinforced this.

He sounds like a crazy old man.

In the big evaluation question i even said something along the lines of "I find Boris Johnson's view of video gamers as uneducated frankly offensive - i am a gamer myself and i am sitting here analysing literacy techniques from a piece of his work which shows his clearly biased opinion"

Why not try to humour the marker? You don't get marks taken off :P

So yeh, that was all ok. No harder than other passages i've tried in the past so i'm hoping for a decent mark from that.


The double essay is always much harder and strenuous.

We've been analysing Romeo and Juliet for Drama and The Great Gatsby for Prose.

I opened the paper and immediately thought "YES!" There was a question on a character who feels insecure about his position - made for Gatsby. But wait, that's under the drama section -_-

The other four possible questions were difficult to adapt Romeo and Juliet for but i eventually answered on a ending involving tension. It wasn't something i'd have wished for and after writing it i can't say im 100% sure it is relevant to what the question is asking :/

The prose question was a no-brainer however.
A central character who is flawed but remains an admirable figure. Go Jay Gatsby!
Such an easy question, pure gold.
As my first essay was a little shorter i had longer for this essay and i wrote screeds upon screeds. Perhaps one of the best essays i've wrote all year, in my opinion. No doubt about it's relevance.

We also had a funny little game going on to see who could include the word "beast" in their essays. R+J was easy because there is a quote "O what a beast i was to chide at him" which is useful in most essays and one i used.
Gatsby was a bit harder but seeing as i had time i went for it - "The Buchanans beastly behaviour"
Just came out of nowhere and its awesome alliteration... (i'll see who gets that one)

So yeh, im half and half over the essays. The Great Gatsby was no problem but after talking to other people in my class i felt more relaxed that the drama questions were difficult and most people wrote along the same lines as i did which is at least something. I didn't manage to catch my teacher to talk about it but i'll endeavour to find her Tuesday when i have French.

Anyhoo, just thought you might've liked to know how the exam went :)


Rowan <3


Here's my English Exam theme song ;)




P.S Can you let me know if my last post is displaying the comments? I read them all and accepted what i received but i don't see them there :S
Cheers

Exams

So the holida... i mean, the exam period has started xD

I genuinely don't feel too worried. The only thing that concerns me in complacency. I got 5 A's in my prelims so i have reason to feel quite confident but then everyone says, "Don't count your chickens" or whatever.

And i'm not. Just because i'm not worried doesn't mean i'm not working. This morning and yesterday morning i completed two close reading passages (for English) which are nearly 2 hours each and to be honest, i found them a daudle. Of course, marking yourself isn't a true reflection of the final score but the passages were no more difficult than what we've done in class this year and im finishing them with fair ease and rather quickly as well.
I guess it's just because i've done so many of them that the exam tomorrow is more "Ugh" instead of "AAAAAGH!"
The essays are the difficult part but i know most of my quotes, paragraph structures etc. Just gotta hope nothing goes disastrously wrong.

So yes, English is tomorrow, Friday the 13th May.
DUH, DUH, DUH, DUH!
So that consists of Close Reading for an hour and 45 minutes, a break then 2 essays in 1 hour 30 minutes.

Then it's:

French on the 17th - Reading paper and a listening paper
Music on the 23rd - Listening. Simply listening, which i've improved greatly in over the past few weeks.

For a lot of people, that's their last or penultimate exam. Not for this guy, whose exams go into June!

Spanish on the 2nd of June - Reading and listening.

But the biggest joke of them all is Media Studies on the 7th June. Study leave is over by that time, we go back on the 6th of June!
I've been allowed the 6th off but i want to go in to get acquainted with my new classes etc - and hopefully get a cheeky seat beside Bryan ;D
So yeh, media is a total bitch. Everyone else can stop stressing around May 24th/25th but we, the damned, are on the go until June 7th.
What's more is that there's an 11 day break between Music and Spanish. An absolute pisstake. You think i'm going to be revising for 11 days? Yeh, right.

End of the day, im going into these exams with confidence. I'll try not to get complacent but no way do i feel the need to be revising 6-8 hours a day as recommended by nearly every teacher. Especially, not when i am now the proud owner of the Alien Quadrilogy :P
Great timing, eh?
Stupid. But i love the franchise so much. Alien is easily one of my favourite films of all time, and the best movie in the franchise, but only just. 2 is magnificent as well.
It's such a shame; a local cinema was showing both films late at night recently and i would have *loved* to have seen them on the big screen. Alas, im not 18 so i couldn't :(
But i now have them all at my disposal - although 3 and Resurrection will probably get viewed once and never again. Ugh, terrible films. Well, 3 is. Resurrection is ok.

Dunno where that came from. Exams ---> Alien. I don't quite see the connection. Anyhoo...



Rowan <3



Thought you might enjoy this. A lovely, little ballett entitled, "Now is the Month of Maying". Magnifico \m/