Spotify, Spearmint and the Stones

So, I've recently been increasing my usage of Spotify. In the past it was somewhere I might pop in to listen to some more tracks by an artist a friend had mentioned or recommended. Being decisive in these things usually four or five tracks would be enough for me to add an album to the wish list, buy it immediately, or scrub the name from the depths of my amnesia.

But since the Mac investment the sound quality on my laptop is very good, not up to the quality of my hifi, but it's clear, works well for me. Not sure when this happened, but Spotify claim they now pay the artist for every track played. I'd hate to estimate the infinitesimal amount of this but, ok, fair play. For most of the day I pick one of my beloved faves - Spearmint, And Also The Trees, Belasco, the passage, the Beloved - and turn the volume down and just let it cycle through their Spotify selection. When I listen to them I'll listen 'properly'.

I have the download version of Spearmint's new album, 'News From Nowhere'. You'd be shocked if I was loving it, every single second, every line, note, all that stuff. And I do. But I'm looking forward to the CD arriving, I have a feeling it will sound better through the hi-fi. As often as I've doubted my ears they do appreciate my beautiful set up. Or maybe iTunes I'm listening to the download on isn't quite up to it.

Recommendation One. Get yourself a copy of this album.

Once in a blue moon a new band comes along and falling in love with them is the most wonderful thing. To say that this is rare would be an understatement, but it happens. Fortune favoured a strange link recently and drove me in the direction of the Stones, Angus and Julia. One of my favourite authors of the last decade is Jojo Moyes. She's built a reputation based on 'Me Before You' and rightly so. I was lucky enough to be attracted by the title of her 'The Last Letter From Your Lover' and delved into her six or so previous novels thoroughy enjoying all of them. Anyway, she tweeted that someone, a German lady, had put together at 8tracks.

On that compilation are the wonderful Daughter, xx, Birdy, and the Stones, Angus & Julia. I have to say I'm very disappointed that no-one pointed them out to me earlier, they've sold out their impending shows in London and I would have loved to have seen them, maybe next time... Or did someone point them out and me, in my stubbornness towards trying new music, didn't bother. Oh, what an idiot!

Anyway, I've ordered what I can, bizarrely an album less than eight years old seems impossible to buy on cd for less than £30. Don't get that, literally too. But my Spotify habit in the last few weeks has been to open them up and listen over and over. Bliss, complete, utter unrefined joy. As someone once wrote, 'it's the music that I love'.

Election Hysteria

Election hysteria, mmm. So I decided to vote Green this time, both locally and EU. Having read through everyone, I promise you, everyone else's marketing blurb, they were by far the most closely aligned to my present raison d'être. And so you have to go with it. I'm not political enough for a tactical vote.

My overriding feeling about the elections was one of horror. I am severely frightened about the thinking of my compatriots, the level of their understanding, motivations and gullibility. My conclusion is that the power of the media must be peaking. Surely it must? There must come a time when being told how think reaches the ridiculous and something clicks inside and we decide, 'hold on, do I really have that much hate for a fellow human being?'

After a recent slight dig at Facebook friends not advising me how to be positive in my political outlook I have been impressed that social media is at least trying to be bold. These three links particularly hit home for me, and if only one of you has the time the take a glimpse into the articles then I feel I may have done my bit for once;

For more...

But what to do about the media hysteria. How do we change the journalists who 'perform', to me, like a good number of barristers, rather than think about what they are actually doing? Yesterday's mid-day news had someone interviewing a Labour MP and his questioning was interrogatory to say the least. He would not let the man answer. I had no idea whether he had anything to say or not, he wasn't given a chance. So presumably some would say that as a politician he should be able to influence a discussion, but I don't agree with that. If you're going to interview someone try to LISTEN to what they may to say and then ask the questions I would want asked... please.

I've tried to find the interview online but two hours have passed and although I'm sure it was Chuka Umunna being interviewed I can't find it. I can picture the BBC reporter too, but can't find a photo to discover his name... in this day and age too!

I don't know. I'm sure I'll find a poetic response but give me some better ideas and maybe it'll provoke the present 'Horatude'...

A great day to age

Yesterday was a very good day. Remembered to get to swimming early to avoid the children and was finishing my 64th length as the cacophony began. Then late morning met up with two lovely people I met on a writing course in Richmond. We wandered down to the Tide Tables Cafe by the river and yapped on for  a good couple of hours. They both write really well in my eyes and yet aren't the most prolific of writers which is such a shame. Hopefully we will encourage each other and become more productive!

In the afternoon it was the final 'intro to apple mac' course, must sign up for the intermediate one after half term. I've great at turning this one on now after all the practice I've had recently. From there it was the H37 from Richmond station to South Street, Isleworth and a short walk to the London Apprentice for games night. Miraculously I won two of the three games I played - coming a distant last in the other although I scored my highest score by miles. Each week we write a blog about the evening. Here's my submission for the game 'Stone Age', slightly adapted for the non-gamers amongst you.

'Our ancestors worked with their legs and backs straining... in Stone Age, players live in this time, just as our ancestors did. They collect wood, break stone and wash their gold from the river. They trade freely, expand their village, and so achieve new levels of civilisation. This is exciting and interesting.'

Now, as part of my recent teaching to some creative writing undergrads I asked them to become more away of literal and figurative speech. To be careful around the use of cliches, to try and consider each and every word they chose to use. So let's have a closer look at the game of Stone Age through the marketing spiel as Philip, Andy and I played it last night...

First off, I have to admit that we hardly 'lived in the time as our ancestors did'. Philip and I had our glasses on for starters. What would those ancestors have made of them? With Philip on hol at the mo' only Andy had done some hard work during the day and yet, it is fair to say, he looked pretty refreshed upon his arrival. Our ancestors would have been proud of Philip's venison and black pudding dinner, maybe less so about my house salad and pint of 4% lager.

Secondly, 'collect wood'. Now this is something we did do. In abundance. We collect timber shaped pieces of wood, meeple shaped pieces of wood, brick shaped pieces of wood... you get the picture. Each one weighs 5 grams as a guess. Was it 'just like our ancestors did'? Mm, not exactly. You know. Andy and I collected a lot of wood early on, indeed I also hoarded brick shaped wood and meeple shaped wood too, but the energy expended was, frankly, embarrassing when compared to the stone age days.

'Break stone'. Can't say we did any of that. Me dropping a couple of pieces on the floor was the nearest we came to that. But they both wooden bits. It might have been whilst the others were scrabbling around trying to find those bits that I rearranged the huts and cards but I couldn't possibly admit to such a thing!

'Washing gold from the river'. Nope, the Thames wasn't laden last night and never has been as far as I know, so, we didn't do that either. One of the dropped bits undoubtedly resurfaced covered in a mashed chip but we just wiped it on the green blaze, sorted.

'Free trade'. If only. Every trade costs you know. Bits of wood, precious bits of wood that we'd been working hard to collect. And competitive it was too. The huts were in demand from early doors and although I picked up six of them it was tough let me tell you. The cards trade was even more intense. Those other boys were there collecting cardboard like it was the precious gold mentioned above. And then there was the 'free' element of the dice rolls. Always a gamble. Philip didn't get the rolls that Andy and I did it's true. His technique undoubtedly accounting for this, the determined use of the stone-age-dead-animal-smell dice cup turned swiftly upside down and planted firmly on the table. That was the most energy any of us consumed throughout this hard time; legs and backs decidedly unstrained.Expanding our village. The player boards are difficult to expand. On occasion they got a little lumpy with bits of wood and cardboard on them. And my sixth hut had to be crammed in with my nine workers struggling for space amongst the food. Greenbelt expansion? Not exactly.

'Achieve new levels of civilisation'. Now, this is where we did meet the job description. We were magnanimous in our skill sets, impressive in our competency range and unyielding in our capacities to collect all that wood and cardboard. 'Exciting and interesting', we flooded the whole room with our infectious, life-affirming qualities; did you feel it Isleworth??

I love box descriptions. I was recently asked to write one for a Spanish designer. I carefully selected every word, thought through every phrase and sentence. He liked it... wonder if any potential publishers will? 

Some say this character looks familiar...

Whilst Philip and Andy moved further up the food track, and collected all of the green civi cards between them, they didn't quite match my number of huts and points scored from those, as well as my great hoard of workers scoring at 5 points each. A close contest, all could have won or lost with one more item. But they didn't. I did, yippeeeeeee!!

Final Scores; Neil - 157, Andy - 149, Philip 145 (or thereabouts)

Sometimes you just have too many thoughts in one day

And, it would appear, that today is just one such. Hurrah!

The Germans announced one of their most important things today, nothing to do with their World Cup Squad either, oh no. They announced the 'biggest' board game prize nominees for the year. This is the time when everyone suddenly has an opinion on what they left out, what they included, and well, that obviously covers it!

So, the German nation are backing one German game - unusually low - one French - quite brave for the Germans - and one Belgium game, bloody hell! I back the French entry, Splendor. You may remember it comes in a huge box... but it plays wonderfully, is colourful, quick and Mrs Hora just got thrashed in quick succession twice this evening.

The, there are the 'Gamers' Games' award. With people seeming to dare the committee to nominate Russian Railroads, one of the few games I've played that has left me completely underwhelmed, they gave it a nod only. The three games to have are apparently Istanbul, Concordia and Rococo. And it just so happens that I have them. Playing them is a different matter. Only Concordia has been played and after it's brilliant reception at Essen last year I didn't rush to buy it. But playing it was great, I enjoyed it a lot. I cannot really say then that one deserves it above another. At least most of the reaction has been funny!

Could be yours for a small fortune.

The other gaming related news is my latest escapades on ebay. If you're after a rare Subbuteo Zombie Team then now's the time to pick one up... Rochdale, Dumbarton, you're out to make me my fortune this week. We shall see. The initial reaction has been promising and with a load more to go on next week, more European, plus American - North and South - and National teams then who knows. The overdraft could be cleared once again.

Elections, Voting...

Thursday, another round of elections. What to do? Who to vote for? To say I'm not much of a political animal would be an understatement. I avoid politics more than any other topic I can think of, would much rather chat about ballet shoes, birds native to Peru and the latest soap tv drama in Sri Lanka.

However, it's an important right. A huge number of people strived for my right to vote for people to represent me, locally, regionally, nationally and so on and so forth. At home we've duly collected a couple of articles about our voting options, have kept the myriad of flyers posted through our letterbox. Even keeping the one that told us to stick it in the window so that others didn't have to post any more through our letterbox, democracy at work presumably? Gosh, that was the UKIP one, who'd have thunk it???

So, I start reading through the A5 pieces of brightly coloured paper. And they all say the same. Brilliant! Whoever I vote for is going to reduce crime, improve the education of my children, make the Health Service more efficient and cut my council tax bill. How wonderful is that? Now I just have to gauge which will do to the greatest extent I guess. Can't be too difficult can it?

The recycling of ideas, of marketing lines, of change for the sake of change and then a return to the older ways brought up to date a little and well, it gets me down. When I was quite a bit younger it annoyed me that every four years the conservatives and labour would trade places and reverse half of what the other had been doing. I decided that continuity would be good, it didn't matter which one it was as long as they had the chance to get stuck in. And then Margaret was elected. So much for that idea!

A good few friends comment politically and I'm pleased that they do, they give me an opportunity to understand some of the issues. They highlight a lot of the inconsistencies, provide me with some of the facts. The majority of this, however good the information is, is negative. And I could well be missing it through lethargy but I don't recall being advised who I should be voting for... who the good guys and gals are. And we even vote with a 'X', why not a nice tick, positivity is good.

Okay, so less of the facetiousness. I don't trust many people. I know everyone deserves a chance, and I like to think that I can certainly offer everyone that, even after my first impressions have been filed for later consideration. This is so unfair of me. I know there are some genuine politicians out there who will do whatever it may take to make a difference. I love those people, admire their incredible persistence and dedication, feel guilty that I am not one of them. It's just most politicians I have met - not a vast number it's true - or even those I think I might have some understanding of through the media I equally irresponsibly loathe, not a single one would I wish to have represent my views. I should go with the one who will get as close as they can to my view obviously, and yet I just don't trust them. I should try to get to know them better, then I could confidently vote. Oh what am I going to do come Thursday? I have two decisions to make, up to four votes to cast. You know what I'm going to do? Absolutely nothing. That's it!

Kickstarter: Copper Country and more Thalatta

Well, another busy week - by my pretty laid back standards - has seen me tidying through papers, chucking out lots of it and feeling good about that. Went to the first Spearmint gig in aeons and it was straight back into a lovely evening, some great new songs, a few surprises that I love, The Whole Summer Long and Your Southern Skies, the latter providing fond memories of my first driving tour with Shirl, Si and Little Jim in Jan 2005. Anyway, you'd be shocked if I hadn't enjoyed it. It was wonderful seeing them all again plus all those other people that go to Spearmint gigs too. A real treat.

Most of the rest of the week has had me writing out the rules for Thalatta as well as a little bit of marketing spiel too;

The designer has been great to work with. He's let me ask the daftest questions, and lots of 'big' questions that I should have got straight a lot sooner! Never mind. I think we're there, he's whizzing the files around the world this weekend to play-testers he's lined up. All very exciting.

And after a couple of kick-starters finished last weekend I had a bit of a gap in the future production line-up and thankfully it was easy, very easy to choose something to slot in. Copper Country has been a game of interest for a while. There's been a growing swell of information about the game from the two designers for some time. They made some excellent videos, posted some enticing photos and brilliant artwork.

They sent an email through announcing the start of the campaign this week and so I duly signed up immediately. They sent a personal 'thanks' message straight away, always a good sign. And then replied to my response too... I find if you try and engage with the project a bit at the start you'll soon find out about how keen, enthusiastic, serious, the project leaders are. I recently backed out of a kickstarter for the first time. No reply to my mail, and no answers to a few questions raised. It looked interesting, some great art, but never mind.

Copper Country is all about mining in Michigan. I like mining games, this one seems to have quite a bit of depth - no pun intended. Here are a few Copper Country pieces to whet the appetite;

Take a look on the Geek

Spearmint - News From Nowhere - Buffalo Bar

This week is very very special for me. Of all the things I love in life there is nothing that gets close to my love of music. Within that love are a myriad of bands and artists that I adore passionately, they mean everything to me. I can't imagine life without their songs being around me, without gigs to go to. Never let me go deaf, that's all I ask.

And then there's the top of the tree, the star upon that Norwegian spruce in Trafalgar Square. It seems almost inappropriate to choose just one band. If you ask me what my top 10 albums are I'd have to rattle off a list of at least thirty, impossible to pick only ten... but, sorry, that should be, BUT, this band are the specialest, the most perfect, I have ever heard. I understand they might not do it for everyone but there's nothing but wonderful about them for me. They are quirky, funny, catchy, melodic, they really are purrfect. There's not a single song of theirs I have ever felt lukewarm about, and every single time I play their music it does it to me over and over again, that hairs thing, on the back of my neck. What a great invention that sensation is.

Stumbling across them back in July 1997 at the Water Rats Mrs Hora and I were blown away by this fun-packed live performance, handclaps, swirling harmonies, choppy, edgy guitar and pulsating beats and bass. We tracked them down again, and again, and eventually plucked up courage to thank them for the pleasure they were giving us, and eventually we got to know them little by little. Band-stalking is quite a profession for many and we didn't want to get too caught up! And then I was asked to drive three of them around Germany for seven acoustic gigs in January 2005 and my tour driving began. Imagine sitting in a Renault Scenic with three of your heroes for a whole week. It's a wonder we arrived anywhere, especially in the snowfall that winter.

Get it here!

Over the years the albums have come out, what a selection. I hosted a lyrics website for a few years, must dust those files off sometime perhaps, I packed them full of photos and useless/useful info on hidden pages, why did I hide them I wonder now? Never mind. I love that they run their own label, and always have done. A true Indie indie band. And the man Shirl, the main songwriter, well, he's a gem. Hell, they all are. Some of the loveliest people you could ever hope to meet.

There's a new album coming out, on the 26th May, News From Nowhere. I haven't heard a single song on it yet. I will love it. Simple.

Wednesday evening, they play the Buffolo Bar in Upper Street, by Highbury and Islington tube station. It's their first gig in a couple of years. It will be the 106th time I have seen them live... I can't wait. I really can't!

Thalatta!

It's Ancient Greek for sea they tell me, or more to the point the Spanish designer of a board game - called Thalatta - tells me. Somehow, he struck gold in choosing me to help with the English rules translation of his latest design! I know, unbelievable.

Anyway, in the week he sent through the files and I printed off a very pretty map, a bunch of cards and dug out some spare tokens. Friday was my first run through; how can I write the rules up if I haven't played the game? I played the maximum four players and it took me quite some time as I got to grips with the rules and tried to play as fairly as possible for each colour. Thankfully, the game is good, it is interesting, very interesting and the more I got into the game the deeper it became.

At first, it's a set collection exercise to get enough ships to build routes around the Med. There are 'demand cards' which will provide income and thus victory points. The strategic bits are around the time element of the game. It takes ships some time to travel and so they need to 'collect' this as well. And you can't possibly build complete routes that often so you have to interact with the other players to claim trades. It's been well thought through. Yesterday, I played it again as a three player game and once more it worked really well. Today was the two player run through and whilst I preferred it with three or four it certainly handles two fine.

The emails that Jose and I have been trading have been very open and that's made the whole process so easy. I will read up some rule sets I think are well written this evening and then start my work in earnest tomorrow. Great to be involved in this.

Swimming Into Trouble

Another few more lengths this week, but some turmoil in the pool too. My timing was out, to say the least. Let me explain;

Wednesdays, never forget, you need to be in the pool to ensure an early finish. From 9:00 the Blue School arrive and take up three of the six lanes, as well as the training and lagoon pools. With two more lanes being combined for general swim this leaves only one lane for those of us keen to do lengths. I foot this, arriving in the water at quarter to nine. The lane was empty for my first four lengths, sixty to go, when I was joined by an nice old fellow who swims breast stroke like me, a fraction quicker he is, and then alternates with back stroke - he has a bad neck he once explained - when I catch up and a little more. We share a lane well, efficiently.

I was in the early twenties when the children and their high pitched frivolity joined the fray. Into 'our' lane came an Asian lady who's quite fast going forwards, but on her back, very slow. Lane swimming is all about the slowest swimmer, tricky. As the attendants combined the other two lanes another lady joined us too and the sensible maximum of three per lane was over. As it was, after a couple of lanes we'd all sorted out our rhythms and were working well as a small community. I felt proud in the human ability to all get along.
Until, the testosterone macho-man dived in. He had as much right as the rest of us of course, I would never deprive him of that freedom. He proceeded to impress with his pacey front crawl, probably twice the speed of any of the rest of us. And those fancy forward-roll turns too. Not being able to swim past us with the frequency required he opted for turning before a lane end, quite a good solution, until he was suddenly spinning as we all limited the middle ground. Time for a blistering strike through the crowd he decided. Gulping the water, not my favourite pastime, damn. None of us where going to submit. I wonder what the attendants made of it all, and what my comrades were thinking too. The Asian lady decided to relax on her back more often. I lost count of my lengths, or did I?

The microcosm of the world had fallen apart. My relaxing swim, when I sort out my brain, calming gently into the day, became a whirl of frustration, misunderstanding, doubt, conflict. Somehow, I managed to reach fifty lengths before giving up. That five individuals, all keen to swim, weren't able to do so with an amount of consideration, cooperation and thought. Is it any wonder we have a world we have?

Just wow!

So, been working hard - couldn't believe it myself - on the PGCert final assignment and a big slug of marking too, but it's all done now so I can get back to explaining my brain for all and none...

Find the Moose on facebook

There are a few topics to catch up on but today's going to be a visual feast. First up is a wonderful creation by Chill, the drummer man in And Also The Trees, the joker in the pack, the entertainer when all else fails. I love his paintings, drawings, doodles and this is a real gem;

The secondly the artwork for the box for Waggle Dance has been uploaded to the Geek and I simply had to share it. Look at how colourful and detailed this is. Blown away is not a phrase I use lightly, or often, but maybe this did it;

Full details can be found on boardgamegeek

Kickstarter Value: In Security

Three kickstarter projects caught my eye over the last week and they're all a little different from my usual games fare. Firstly, I plunged in a bit blindly to back NGo, New Global Order. It had been on ks previously and taken down, clearly not going to reach its target. The new campaign came in at such a low threshold that I doubted the project leader quite a lot. My due diligence was warning me off I have to say.

But when you look at the enthusiasm, the quality of the presentation, I was a bit keener. Half of the issues seemed to be around language with the project leader speaking Spanish. Once other backers got involved the rule book translation took off and this again encouraged me to back. I love the look of the map, but then you'd do well to design a map I didn't like! The components look interesting too. Anyway, I'm fully committed and I hope they manage to produce the game in due course. 

Second up was the wonderful art of Black Forest. I'm not that into the gothic vibe despite visiting the Plage Noir festival in Northern Germany the year before last. However, this looks to me quite 'vicious': scary, angry, and that appeals. With worker placement, card drafting and a hidden traitor as the main mechanics I was hooked. Both of these are slightly on the high side budget wise but both need support to get two well-thought through games to market. That's what ks is all about and I'm happy to help where possible.

My third punt was a little easier. Based in England, designer Koen is another full of enthusiasm. He won a game design contest on BGG with his 'micro-game' In Security. Value for money wise this project couldn't be cheaper, £2. Wow!

Although it's a dice game a lot of gamers will have some dice they can use and so for your £2 you get the rules which come on the back of players' mats. Playing 2-6 over 20 mins it sounds a lovely little filler. Koen also had a rather low threshold of £250. Another wow from me. Needless to say he's picking up backers pretty easily.