Going digital

I've finally taken the first step in moving from analogue to digital music production and my faithful old Tascam 424 MkII 4-track recorder is on eBay and looking for a new home.

The Genius of Edward Monkton

This is simply the funniest card I have seen in a very, very, very long time.



With all the thanks in the world to Edward Monkton, a.k.a. Giles Andreae.

Please take a look at the complete range of Edward Monkton products from CampusGifts.co.uk - if you're anything like me then it will make you smile.

How friendly is Facebook?

The Register has a post from last week under the headline 'Facebook Fatigue' kicks in as people tire of social networks.

In a comparison with the usage trend witnessed on Friends Reunited, where users appeared to sign-up, log in a dozen times to catch up on a few ex class mates, then forget about the service, Chris Williams suggests;

On Facebook behaviour seems much the same; join, accumulate dozens of semi-friends, spy on a few exes for a bit, play some Scrabulous, get bored, then get on with your life, occasionally dropping in to respond to a message or see some photos that have been posted.

I've certainly got plenty of un-finished games of Scrabulous on my Facebook profile and it's been a very long time since I accepted an invitation to join any vampire slaying, monster poking, quiz testing or comparison rating.

An interesting test took place just over 2 weeks ago when, completely out of the blue, I split up with my girlfriend and Facebook announced this to all my friends in typically impassionate style.

Facebook claims, amongst other things, that "Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends... ...People use Facebook to keep up with friends..."

So how many of my 173 friends, all of whom have access to my status update so that we can remain 'connected' and 'keep up' with each other, contacted me to ask what was going on or offer support.

The current total amounts to no more than 5 individuals who made the effort to get in touch (generally via sms or standard email rather than Facebook's own message system) to ask what was going on and another 5 people who, when I have met them in person in the last few weeks, have been prompted to ask what's going on because they had seen the update on Facebook.

All of these, when belatedly enquiring about my relationship status, suggested that they didn't get in touch directly because they assumed it was either a Facebook error or some kind of joke on my part.

That still leaves 163 people who either don't care, haven't noticed, or think it's still some kind of weird joke.

Is this evidence of Facebook Fatigue and a downward trend in the use of social networks?
Or is it simply a more realistic view of how people have always used social networks on the web?

Maybe all it tells me is that I have 168 lazy friends (I'll give some credit to the 5 who got in touch!) who aren't that interested in my personal life?

Regardless of the wider implication, this experience has reminded me once again that however clever a website might be in allowing me to 'keep up with friends', if I really want to connect with those I care about then we're better off heading down the pub.

Band Photos

Blimey, it's been a while and there's plenty been happening.

However, more of that very soon. In the meantime, check out The 20 Worst Band Photos from Spinner.com.

My particular favourite is the Freedom Fighters at number 19 (left).

"First we form a band, then we get a dented van ... then we'll get the girls."

Maybe we can use this as inspiration for our new set of Satchel Blue band images? Answers on a postcard please.