Hello, Again it's been a very long time since the last post. I've been away and done an awful lot, so I'm gunna blame it on that. I'm also moving this blog, I want to move away from such an awful name! So I'll be copying the old blogs across and trying to add a few new ones as well. If you'd like to continue following (all 1 of you?) head over to versesmusic.wordpress.com I'm also writing travel related blogs over at versestravel.wordpress.com so have a look at that one as well

3D printing - now we can pirate everything!

So I've been getting a little excited by the whole 3D printing thing, I doubt I'm the only one. Need a cover for your phone? Copy your old one, and when it breaks, print a new one! Need some cheap promo products, want to build your own custom gaming army, run out of clothes pegs? All can easily be fixed with the magic replicator of 3D printing. We've already seen people trying to print snowboards (not great...) but as the technology improves and the materials we can use get more versatile there will be almost no limit to what we can make. Then today, I had a quick look on pirate bay (not to do anything illegal I swear) and I notice their new category. Physibles... The blueprints for 3D printable products, and it got me thinking. If I can make a copy of a clothes peg to re-produce as many as I need great, but who's copyright am I using there? And am I allowed to copy it? Surely I would still have to buy new ones instead of copying someone else's design? And then, I could upload the scanned data, and allow other people to use that data to create their own clothes pegs, virtually for free. Now I doubt we have to worry about pegs too much, but what about specific designs, products that manufacturers put hours into, only to have the first buyer upload them and boom, everyones got the latest gadget or gizmo. Sure we can't do metal (yet) but there's plenty of plastic stuff out there. The first that comes to my mind is snowboard bindings, expensive and complex bits of kit, that could effectively be reproduce for a fraction of the cost - but most importantly, with no payment to the original designers. Remember that these sorts of products are not just drawn and made, but years of development go into them, teams of designers and testers making sure they actually work, and do the best possible job. Ok, so with plastics compounds and blah blah, a copied pair won't be the same but I'm sure they'll fix that soon enough too. Models as well, Games Workshop in the UK charges a tonne for little plastic figures for its games, and now we're going to be able to make our own? Those guys are screwed! So what's going to happen if we can download our new shoes without paying for them? Seems like the winners here are going to be the people with the printers and the people making the raw material... How much is one of the those printers? Perhaps it will be a step towards a less capitalist world? If you can't charge us for things, then we can be free to work together?

I want these shoes!

I have a pair already, but they're knackered!
No idea what this was referring to. But now it can refer to my Macbeth Eliots in Black and cream, which they don't make anymore :( EDIT: I threw them away, they started to make my feet bleed...

I AM CLONES

And another... So, my good friend Rob has a solo project

I Have Clones

and because he's cool, he's got me playing bass and screaming for him. Which is fun.

and we're playing the first gig tomorrow night at Aston University. It's still early days (I'm learning lyrics now...) so we probably won't be as good tomorrow as we will be soon but fuck it.

A draft post from 2008....

Listen to Flogging Molly!

Seriously, go do it. Now.

Australia East Coast Guide 2

Something I wrote for some friends I met in Asia that were heading to Aus, probably a fair bit different from the last one I wrote, but this is rather influenced by peterpans! CAIRNS Things to do: Great Barrier Reef - this is the big one, have to do it. Currently a special with Ocean Free that'll do you a dive for $20 and it's a sweet boat. Bungy Jumping here, only place in Aus. Don't bother with Cape Tribulation (Cape Trib) it's a bit shit, but the Atherton Tablelands tour is good. Uncle Brians is the best tour, but Captain Mattys is good too (and a bit cheaper) White Water Rafting, this is great, but a bit of a drive away from Cairns, you can use this to transfer down to Mission Beach though, which is a nice spot, and it'll knock about 2 hours off the journey down to your next stop Places to see: The lagoon, lots of girls, sometimes topless. There's another one at Gilligans which is smaller, but less kids/old people so better for the boobies. Where to go out: Gilligans is king here, it's got a massive nightclub in the complex, during the week it's quiet and they do some stupid backpacker things, including wet tee-shirt comps and other retarded shit. At the weekends it packs out with Aussie locals, the atmosphere take a bit of a dive, but altogether it's still good, and it's a good time to meet some aussie chicks too Woolshed has a similar vibe, and allows people to dance on the tables, which people like. It seems to be the main competitor of Gilligans, nowhere near as big, but still a god party, and cheaper than gillis. Worth a night. Everywhere else... not a clue! Cairns - mission = 2 hours MISSION BEACH White Water Rafting - same as above Sky Diving - a great place to skydive onto the beach. This place is really small and chilled out, a nice rest from Cairns, and some really friendly people in the hostels, but you'll get bored after a day or so, not much going on here at all. mission - townsville = 3 hours TOWNSVILLE/MAGNETIC ISLAND Townsville is an Aussie tourist hotspot, but very few backpackers here, it's only used as the port to get over to Maggie Island. This is a place that wants to by thailand! They have a full moon party, but people have said it's a bit shit, so don't bother with that, but you can check it out for a day or two. Seems to be highly recommended by the Irish, so maybe head over and check it out. You can get deals that include your ferry ticket, accom and some meals at the Base hostel if you go to Peterpans. Again, it's small and chilled, but I've been told it's really good.. so... up to you guys! townsville - airlie = 10 hours (overnight!) AIRLIE BEACH/WHITSUNDAYS The Whitsunday islands are beautiful, and you'll want to be on the Clipper to have the best time, it's the biggest boat, it's got the best vibe and the biggest party atmos. Slide, diving board and hot tub on board, it's for getting loose and having fun. But you'll still get plenty of time to see Whitehaven beach and do plenty of snorkelling and see the fish! Just don't get too drunk and a hangover on a boat is no fun. Airlie: Stay somewhere cheap, that's not shit (Beaches is shit, everywhere else is pretty ok) Party... Anywhere you want, there's one road in Airlie, and it's pretty short. You can wander up and down fine and you'll see where is busy and where's not. Beaches is pretty good and Mambos(??) in the middle is pretty cool. Mama Africa is the only club and stays open pretty late. Just keep it easy, and when you meet a chick who's game, take her home quick! It's such a short walk, you can bang and bail in half an hour wink Airlie - Agnes = 10 hours 1770/AGNES WATER This place has two names, it's confusing as fuck! This is a good place to stop for a night or two, they really want to bring more people in here, so you can usually get a free surf trip or something while you're there. Most of the hostels have free wifi, so make sure you get one of those. The best thing here is that it breaks up your journey to Rainbow beach, saves a long stop over at a shitty bus stop in Hervey Bay, which you don't want! Agnes - Rainbow = 8 hours RAINBOW BEACH/FRASER ISLAND Rainbow is a cool little town, good place to chill, but with enough backpackers coming through to keep it fun. Most people just rush through though, so it might not be a great place to spend too much time. The best thing here is the DINGOS tour of Fraser Island. This is rad, driving a 4x4 around on the beach and down sand/dirt roads, then jumping out to see some cool shit, or go for a swim in some really nice lakes. It's on of the best things I did in Oz, so do it! it's 3day 2 nights, camping next to the beach, and pretty high chances of a lay. Rainbow - Noosa - 2 hours NOOSA this place is cool, and crawling with Canadian chicks, definitely worth a stop over, and possibly a good place to stop for a while, work for accomm get into things a bit more. A good place for surfing as well, so give it a shot. Don't stay in Dolphins! It's also near Australia Zoo, which is the biggest and best, so hit that up on your way down to Brisbane Noosa - Brisbane - 2 hours BRISBANE Boring. Good botanical gardens, great modern art museum, not much else. Some people love it, I was bored. Brisbane - Surfers = 2 hours SURFERS PARADISE Not my cup of tea at all! But, very good night life, a little more dressy than other places (no flip-flops and vests!) and lots of Aussies on the pull. A good place to meet Aussie chicks though, especially if you get out of the backpacker bars. Has Wet n Wild and Dreamworld, the biggest theme parks in Aus, so give them a blast, but not in the school hols! Surfers - Byron = 2 hours BYRON BAY 3 places to stay in Byron 1) Backpackers Inn - the cheapest place, about 10 mins from the town, not great though 2) nomads - right in the middle, big party hostel, but one of the most expensive 3) Arts Factory - funky place, lots of people love it, but it's about 20mins from the town Very cool place, very hippy, loads of people love it, and it's rad. Great for surfing, and even free board hire if you find the right place, but the board are made of dick. EXPENSIVE though, so popular, and expensive to match. you have to go to Nimbin! it's fun and cool. Byron - Spot x - 6 hours SPOT X It's a surf camp, nothing else there! Just surf, chill, shag, and eat. All food provided, and it's good food! Spot x - Syd SYDNEY.... I'll finish this later...

Romantic or Creepy?

I got to thinking about this when a girl I met in Thailand told me about a guy who had been following her across borders and around islands. My first thoughts were how romantic, that he was willing to change his plans just to be with her, but she thought it was creepy. So I did a bit of research, and there's a few articles online on the subject, (one totally stolen from another, bad reporter!) each listing some examples of what was romantic and what was creepy, and yeah, when phrased with bias it's easy to make a possibly romantic gesture seem creepy and vice versa. For example: Tony meets Gemma in a hostel in Bangkok and after a night out together she leaves, without having exchanged any details. Tony asks around at the hostel and finds out where Gemma has gone and decides to catch her up. He finds the hostel she's staying in at the next town and surprises her. Now it's easy to spin this either way, mostly based on how the night out was, good or bad, and how he finds out where Gemma has gone, asking others who she knew, or everyone at the hostel. But at the end of the day, the defining difference between romantic and creepy is... Whether she likes him! Simple as that, if they hadn't exchanged details because they forgot, and she wanted to see him again and he magically appears at the next hostel as well, well then ain't that just grand. But if she deliberately didn't give him her details, then he turns up to see her, well that sure is creepy! Well fair enough, makes sense to me... but wait. Isn't romance supposed to be about wooing the lady? Making a girl that's not into you get into you with romantic gestures. Yeah that sounds right, but wait. If she doesn't already like you then those big romantic gestures (and the bigger they are, the worse it is) are just seen as creepy and push her further away from you. So, thanks creeps and stalkers for ruining romance for everyone, and thanks girls for assuming anyone trying to be romantic is being a creep. Romance is dead, long live awkward honesty.