RICKSPACE – Rick Clark’s Blog and Photo Gallery

After pondering for about a year, thinking whether to upgrade my Canon 300D to a 30D I decided to bite the bullet and go for the new Canon 40D. The decision came after a days shooting with Stav along the Southbank, even though we got some great shots the old 300D felt a little slow also the plasticy feel and look has been getting me down for a while now.

So I found a bargain on eBay, £599 for the body only (as I have a few lenses that cover the range of the kit lens). The build quality is the first thing you notice about this camera, its a beast, tank-like. I’ve only really managed to take it out once over the two days I’ve had it, but I did snap a fairly nice shot of the Camden Fire damage, the speed of the 40D is stunning, the buffer blows my 300D out the water. The new raw (CR2) format seems nice, and theres only one file to store now so I think I’m going to stop shooting in JPEG format from now on even if my hard-drve complains about it.

I’ve also had a good play with the higher ISO, even when you set it to 3200 (H) you get very little noise, I’ve got a few gigs coming up to test that out with.

Anyway, I’ll post more once I’ve lived with it for a few weeks, I certainly think I’ve made a good choice judging from what I’ve seen and read about it.

Something I’ve felt that always defined me was my taste in music, looking back at my time at school I think I actively seeked out music no one else knew or liked; strange as most children use music to bond and conform.

When you work with music everyday its fairly easy to become complacent about it, for a good number of years I was extremely cynical and unenthusiastic about the “music scene” – sticking only to music I loved, mostly film music and classical. Its understandable when at the time (early 2000’s) music, especially popular music, was a nonsense. Lighthouse Family, Robbie Williams, Gabrielle, Nelly Furtado all totally devoid of anything that music means, an expression. Of course thats not to say this bracket of artist doesn’t exist today, but I feel people are more able to embrace something slightly more off the norm, but that’s possible because I am more open now.

A few years ago somehow and I’m not sure how, I discovered last.fm, the self confirmed “social music revolution”. Install the software and if you listen to most your music on your PC, as I do, it will track your listening habits until it has enough info to start recommending artists. You can then tune into your own personal radio, last.fm will throw in recommended tracks and if you like what you hear you can tag them. So then, no peer pressure, no constant radio plays to ingrain a song into your mind then make you buy it, no image and marketing spend to influence your judgement.

Its here I discovered the super talents of Andrew Bird, I think this is where my enthusiasm for new music was rekindled. The man is a rare genius, impossible to define and genrealize (is that a word?), I cant recommend enough to go and see this guy live – mesmerizing. Soon the discovering was followed by Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, Beirut, DeVotchKa, The Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene and a whole load of others.

The “Event” function on last.fm has told me about local gigs, I think I’ve been to at least 6 over the last few months and I dont intend to slow down, as I think live music give you a greater understanding of an artist, I always come out feeling immensively impressed.

On Saturday night we was Beirut at the Roundhouse… From the first listen I disliked Beirut’s first album Gulag Orkestar, but it was so unusual that I gave it a few “go’s” until I was absolutely hooked, the textures and from both the vast array of unusual instruments and vocals impressed me, but when I read that they are all produced by a 21 year old American called Zach Condon I was blown away. And it was still a shock to see this scwarney kid come out last night and sing the way he does. His song writing is like nothing else I’ve heard, his lyrics are captivating. It was a joy to see music like this sell out the roundhouse and create such a buzz in the venue. Amazing.

It was only the Night before that 6 of us had gone to see Andrew Bird at Koko, I had rounded up a good crowd this time as I was so impressed with the performance I went to of his earlier this year. I cant describe how amazing he is live, so I wont – but watch this video and it’ll give you at least SOME idea how fucking great (sorry it had to be said!) he is

The week before I dragged Tara along to the Albert Hall to watch a band I’ve been in-love with for about 6 years, The Cinematic Orchestra .How is this underground ambient jazz band going to fill the Albert Hall I was thinking, sold out. Apparently this was the big one for them, they had a large orchestra and numerous vocal soloists all used brilliantly, this still sounded like The Cinematic Orchestra. Their performances were so slick, watching these guys play live gives you a realization how talented and skilled they are, you could be forgiven for thinking their albums are heavy on the samples but they can play, especially Luke Flowers on the drums – Wow.

Anyway, music is back in life and this time I hope I keep discovering. Have a listen to some of my fav tracks by using this radio player –

Last night, Tara was performing in the BBC Electric Proms at the roundhouse, it was a Ray Davies gig (the chap from the Kinks) and the Crouch End Festival crew were backing him up on a few numbers.

I have to say I was watching Bloc Party’s attempt on BBC4 during the same day and was appalled by a) how crap the choir was, b) how pointless the choir was (and I’m a big fan of their previous album). Anyway, it turns out that Rays music was far more suited to a choir, plus the CEFC, and trying not to be biased were far more enthusiastic, and frankly sounded 100 times better.

Anyway, I’ve uploaded the last section of the gig for your viewing pleasure, count the amount of times Tara is featured, and to make it worse look here! We’re guessing the camera man(men?!) had a thing for TC.

[flashvideo width="400" height="244" filename="http://www.rickspace.net/media/raydavies.flv" returnpage="http://www.rickspace.net/?p=77" /]

One for Tara really

[flashvideo width="440" height="366" filename="http://www.rickspace.net/media/wake-up.flv" returnpage="http://www.rickspace.net/?p=76" /]

Well, I’ve caved in and done it, I’ve pre-ordered a US import of Rock Band for my EU PS3. I’ve no idea if its going to work or not, and 168 quid on ebay is a bit of gamble but I simply cannot wait till God knows when for it to be released in the UK. I’ve heard rumours of a Q4 2008 release in the UK, end of Q1 I suspect is more likely and even that’s a piss-take; not that I’m blaming anyone as I’m sure its a manufacturing nightmare.

I’ll be hopefully bashing my drumkit and strumming my guitar (I’ll leave the singing to Tara) on the 23rd of November! I’ll update this post once I’ve seen it it actually works…

UPDATE 19/01/08

Well, its been working like a dream since I got it… No issues at all as far as I can tell. My Sharona on the drums is too great for words…

Also heres a tip for you UK peeps trying to download US content (new songs) buy a IDT Prime card (I got mine from the local cornershop), this is a Mastercard with no address check, so you can make out you’re in the US. Heres some chaps post I’ve stolen from a forum:

1: I purchased a ‘IDT Prime card – pre-paid mastercard’ (see idtprime.com/)
from a local shop (no ID needed but you should be over 18) and put £20 on it for a total cost of £23, some places that do ‘paypoint’ sell them including some Londis shops, but probably best to phone idt customer service for a list of shops in your postcode area especialy if you don’t live in a major city as there were only 3 newsagents selling them in my local area (Southend,Essex)

2: ‘Activate’ your card by phoning the number on the card (it’s an easy automated service).

3: DO NOT ‘register’ your card online etc so that no name or address is linked to the activated card, there are no real benefits to registering and it’s not compulsary ( you can’t register using a usa address).

4:Boot up your ps3 and login to your usa playstation username and go to ‘account management’ then ‘manage wallet’ then ‘add funds’ then select ‘credit card’ and use the details on the prime card and your usa name and address that you registered the usa playstation account with.

5: IMPORTANT – Then add $5 dollars only and then keep adding just $5 dollars each time till you have added the amount you want (IDT charge your card approx 50c to $1.50 for each foreign transaction- see their website for full details, so my £20 card added funds to my account and then purchased games to the value of approx $30 before my card used up all it’s money and was finished,and it’s not reloadable).

I tried adding $20 in one go but then sony check the usa address against the credit card number and it comes up invalid.

6: You can then go to the store and purchase and download any items you desire.

THE International Monetary Fund last night issued its starkest warning yet that British dinner parties were vastly overvalued and on the brink of a devastating collapse.

Being invited to dinner by someone you would not speak to if their kids were not at school with yours is not fun and will result in you being force fed Chicken Kiev with blood in it, and a crème brulee that smells of cat sick, the IMF said.

Meanwhile, listening to a drunk man who claims to be a socialist pretend he is embarrassed his house is worth half a million pounds before staring at your wife’s tits during dessert is a tremendously shit way to spend a Saturday night.

Bill McKay, chief economist at the IMF, said: “Why should I care if you get your beef from that amazing organic butcher your chiropracter told you about?

“All I know is you bought your starter from Waitrose, your kids are foul, and your taste in music is totally fucked-up .

“Have you ever thought of talking about something other than how hard you work, how much you are worth, and how fucking great you are? Especially as we all know your alcoholic wife is at it with the Polish au pair.

“Why should I have to waste ten minutes of my life listening to a twat in plastic glasses tell me how you discovered this cheese on a walking holiday in the Spanish Pryenees when all I want is to eat something that doesn’t stink like a goat’s end?”

Mr McKay said the only glimmer of hope was next year’s total wipe-out in the British property market which would, “shut-up all those smug bastards who’ve spent the last five years boasting about their property investments, and hopefully drive most of them into bankruptcy”.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: “I really must stop shitting myself.”

Continuing the slightly more highbrow slant on my recent posts, I want to write (read “rant”) about how I am feeling toward my country currently.

I think it sparked off arriving back from France the other month, as soon as you get back onto the UK’s roads you wonder where you road tax goes, even the most rural French National Roads are far superior to ours and when you take into account that the French don’t pay road tax you begin to think. Take this simple idea of roads a one step further, the French government simply tax petrol, the more you drive the more you pay – simple no? I guess our government don’t think so as they still insist on pushing forward with the hugely costly and unpopular road taxing scheme where you are tracked and pay on the miles you cover… Utter madness.

The cost of living – House prices are now basically 10 times an average works wage (I put myself in this bracket), inflation is rising quicker than my wage, foods on its way up, my income tax is disturbingly high, council tax is up – recent figures suggest that 25% of Londoners are totally dependant on the government (not including pensioners) it almost makes me want to give up and die until I realize that inheritance tax would take another 40%!

This brings us neatly onto the Welfare State – of course this is an essential part of our society, and I wouldn’t for one moment wish to scrap it. BUT, its way out of hand, its got to the point where the middle earners such as myself are almost forced to pack it in and sponge. How many young mothers are there on the streets of London shopping during the week? Say if Tara and I wanted children, we would have to live off my wage alone or pay ALL of Tara’s wage on child care. With today’s cost if living this simply couldn’t happen, certainly not in London. I cant afford to buy a home and start a family – if I wasn’t working I could (if I wasn’t a lowlife scumbag) do it all on Gordon (chin,chin).

National personal debt is for the first time in history higher than the yearly GDP, PERSONAL DEBT. Why? Cost of living is simply too high, and Mr. Browns miracle economy is driving by housing and spending – so we are encouraged to get into further debt and buy things we cant afford. Over the past few years I’ve tried to curb my spending and only buy what I can afford, I’m still not great but I’m glad I’ve made a start as borrowing is about to get a whole lot more expensive (but that’s another story).

This county is on borrowed time in my opinion, the “good” people are being downtrodden and at some point we’ll snap and give up and move away – and for the first time in my life I’m considering it. One day, if we’re not careful, the UK will be a little Island ram-packed of scroungers and villains and I intend not to be here to live with them.

We’ll, I’ve been saying it (if not willing it) for the past 3 years now but I really have a feeling that the UK housing market is about to take a fall. Why? Well I’m no financial expert by any means but there are a few key reasons that could lead to a drop, maybe even a crash at this point.

1 – Rising Cost of Borrowing: Interest Rates are going up, of course low interest rates are the main reason house prices became over-inflated. At 3% even a large mortgage seems easy enough to pay for. Now they are over 5% more people are thinking twice about over stretching themselves, meaning buyers are more aware about the cost of a home. They are more likely to rise even more at this point too.

2 – The Credit Crunch: this has swept through the US forcing sales of peoples houses who have over stretched themselves, mostly due to the Sub-Prime loans (basically credit given to people who cant afford it). In the UK its the same story, in fact there are currently investigations about some mortgage lenders actively asking the borrower to lie about their income. In essence most people cant actually afford the property they are living in. When we start to see more repossessions there will be more cheap properties on the market.

3 – Buy to Let: There’s an increasing amount of BTL landlords that are making a loss each month on their properties. Now the market has looked like its peaked these people will be the first to sell up, and there is already evidence that this is happening, and in large numbers. As a side note the amount of properties for sale on www.rightmove.com has flown up from around 700,000 to 900,000 in the past few weeks… Who said there was a lack of housing in the UK (most peoples argument for why the market could never crash)?

4 – Turbulent Stock Markets: Although this should not directly effect the HPI the recent ups and (but mostly) downs in the markets have caused unease in the economy. Again people are generally being more cautious about how much they spend on anything, mostly the cost of their home. Some feel a recession is on its way to the US – this of course would ripple across the pond and effect us in the UK.

Not that I want to wish negative equity on anybody but….How people can sleep at night borrowing up to 10 times their income I don’t know – I truly believe that Mortgage Lenders & Estate Agents have royally taken the UK home buyers for a ride and over inflated the cost of our homes (and their percentages) by 30-40%. The playing ground needs levelling, as modest earners such as myself and my wife cant even consider buying a home at this stage.

Lets see what happens over the next few months, I’ll be rather chuffed if I called it right

Over the last few months I’ve been thinking about saving up for a PS3, but decided it fairly unjustifiable atm because of its 450 quid price tag… But the lovely Tara organised my family to all chip in toward one for my birthday, lovely!

Everything looks rather nice displayed on my recent purchase – a 37” HD LCD, particularly BluRay films.

The only real problem with the PS3 is the distinct lack of good games avalible… But then again we are soon to have Rock Band, Gran Turismo 5 & Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots – life will be complete then.

Smelly armpits, garlic & surrendering… somehow we managed to avoid all of these things on our 1600 mile / 10 day road trip around France.

You can see the photos now in the gallery.