Minarets Nein Danke

Monday, November 30, 2009

So the Swiss citizenry has voted quite decisively to outlaw the building of minarets in their country. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the underlying issue are (for the record, I don’t find minarets any more offensive than church towers) what is interesting is the outrage from politicos around the world, especially those that habitually bang on about democracy.

What we have hear is pure, unadulterated democracy in action. Democracy actual implies that the will of the majority (with, possibly, some degree of weighting) carries the day. This isn’t at all what the common perception is. When people say something is “undemocratic”, they usually mean “it’s NOT FAIR!” or it is “contrary to the policies of the US of America”. Now they have a clear illustration that democracy doesn’t necessarily produce the result they believe should have happened, or they want. Another example is the fair, democratic election of Hamas in the Palestinian State.

So, yes, it probably isn’t fair to deny Muslims in Switzerland the outward expression of their faith. But it is democratic. Very democratic.

“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” - Winston Churchill.

iContact show us how not to do it

Monday, October 26, 2009

No further comment really necessary. This sort of thing is simply unacceptable in 2009. Especially from a company that purports to promote responsible, permission-based email marketing.

“I am trying to cancel my account, as we no longer need it for this specific purpose. However, since discovering that I cannot in fact cancel online, I must inform you that I will never use your service again, nor will I recommend it to anybody else.

This is fundamentally unethical: if I can sign up online, there is no reason why I should not be able to cancel online.

This is not the hallmark of a trustworthy online business, or one I would wish to do business with.”

Here Come the Vikings

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I’ve been a big fan of Astrid Williamson for a long time now. First, in her incarnation as the leader of the dark, gothic, romantic band Goya Dress. Next, as her first solo persona, “Astrid”, and finally as the fully fledged “Astrid Williamson”.

I thought her 2006 CD, “Day of the Lone Wolf” had to be her masterpiece. Songs like “True Romance” and “Heaven Only Knows” could hardly be surpassed, and if it lacked the commercial edges of her first two releases, well as far as I’m concerned, so much the better.

But earlier this year, she released “Here come the Vikings”, the title maybe alluding to her Orkney background. And, well, I think it might actually be better than “Lone Wolf”, albeit quite different. This latest collection of songs has a much more upbeat feel, and a more commercial sound, but what it gains over her earlier works is a really strong coherence and consistency. It manages to combine the more pop-oriented (well, relatively speaking) approach of “Boy For You” and “Astrid” with the deeply personal feel of “Lone Wolf”, and the results are outstanding. Astrid’s song writing just keeps getting better - I understand she participates in song writing workshops, which should be quite an experience. It kicks off with the very strong, upbeat “Store” (a complete reversal from Lone Wolf’s “Siamese”) and just keeps going.  Highlights, for me, include “Crashing Minis” and “Eve”, and the closing track, “The Stars Are Beautiful”, which vaguely reminds me of the Goya Dress song “The Maritime Waltz”

Sadly, there’s no way that “Here come the Vikings” is going to be heard by anywhere near as many people as it should be, but if you’re one of those that do, prepare to be captivated.

iTunes link

I’m on Facebook

Yes, I’m on Facebook.

No, I don’t usually accept friends requests. And I’ve actually turned off almost all visibilty settings now.

I’m on Facebook because I need to be purely from a professional point of view, as my job includes specifying how our application interfaces with sites and services like Facebook. However this doesn’t mean that I like Facebook. In fact I find it a trivial, trite and ultimately very depressing way of wasting time.

To be brutally frank (and with some exceptions), if I didn’t stay in touch with somebody, it is because I (or they) had no further interest in doing so. If I didn’t have much to do with you 27 million years ago at University, or if we we just casually connected, why would I want to catch up with you now ? I don’t, and probably you don’t, really, either. So let’s just get on with our real world lives and let the past be the past.

Facebook is in any case just a noise generating mess. I mean really, do I look like I care if you’ve just eaten a virtual cake or ploughed an imaginary field (from somebody else’s imagination, at that). Well i’m sorry, but I don’t.

If anybody wants to get in touch with me, then Google will find me here easily enough. If I’m not worth the effort a few lines of email, then don’t bother. But if I am, then I’ll be happy to answer.

The only social networks I actively participate in are Linked In, for what it’s worth, and Flickr. Oh, and the real world. Which includes email.

Isole che Parlano & Dodó

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Sometimes in life you just strike gold when least expecting it.  This last happened to me last week in Palau, Sardinia, where I was on vacation.  Palau is a small port town mainly given over to the tourist trade, and hosting the ferry link to the beautiful La Madalenna archipelago. It really isn’t the sort of place you expect to stumble across a free festival of radical, inventive, wonderful music. But the Isole che Parlano (“islands which speak”) arts festival is just that.

One of several acts which really knocked me sideways was Dodó. Dodó is a trio, composed of Ewa Wikström from Sweden, and Ivo Saint and Maru Di Pace from Argentina, and based in Barcelona.  It’s easy to say, but their music honestly sounds like practically nothing else I’ve ever heard. Billed as “immaginary folk music suspended between the warm nostalgia of South America and the introversion of Swedish winters” , their songs are bursts intricately arranged of melody, sudden lush orchestration, and as many unexpected twists and turns as old Barcelona. Tying all this together is Eva Wikström’s gorgeous voice, singing sometimes in English, sometimes Swedish, sometimes (I think) Catalan.  The only other artist I can think of who Dodó sort of remind me of is Emma Townshend, who released one, solitary, weird and wonderful CD back in the 90s. But that’s just me.

They’ve recently released their first, self-titled CD. And it’s on iTunes. The amazing thing is that live (with two guest musicians) they manage to recreate the same magic as in the recordings.

Dodó deserve to be huge. Or at the very least a cult hit.

I should also add that the fact that such a festival can work, and work very well, in a tourist seaside town in summer, speaks volumes of the open mindedness towards music so often shown by the Italian people. The atmosphere was just magical.