dredblog

its the final countdown….

dredmann — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:08:42 +0000

Things are moving really fast now as it is only five days before we head out over the sea to Gothenburg yet again. I am this time a little more organised but the last minute packing will still leave me in a full panic.
So why the second trip to this beautiful Swedish city? Simple! To see what I consider to be the best rock band on the planet play in their home town, In Flames. Also as an added bonus another chance to visit the world famous Sticky Fingers and see a band called All Ends on the Friday, a nice bonus I add, which will make that day quite a rush as we only land in the evening at 9pm. So it will be a rush to get to the hotel, dump our suitcases and head over the other side of the city, probably getting lost along the way and catching most of the set.
The Saturday will also be packed with lots to do, first the most important thing to pick up our tickets for the night’s concert from the venue, then hopefully meet up with a few friends before heading over to a signing by In Flames.
Then its the waiting game for the concert to start! I am really can’t wait for it to happen now and hope its not one that seems over in a flash but to see my favourite band for the 21st time in their back garden seems like it will be over too quickly. I’ll wait and see. After the concert and all being well, we will try and get over to Restaurant 2112, which has announced on their Facebook page, the aftershow party.
Sunday will be very much a chill out day, lots more sightseeing, hopefully meet a very special friend and trying to recover from the previous night’s fun before making our way back to the airport for the evening flight home.
Seems like I have already mapped what we are going to do but plans can change so we’ll just go with the flow, so to speak!
I will be updating the weekend on Google+ Twitter @dredzombie and Facebook dredmann666 so keep your eyes open!

nihongo woes

dredmann — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:00:47 +0000

I never realised after three years of learning Japanese that there would be so much involvement to it. Not only have I got to get my head around the kana and kanji scripts like when to use katakana and when to use hiragana, which I am remembering a little better than before. Now I find there are actually two ways you can speak the language, the more formal way as taught in books, using verb endings like “masu” or “mashita” etc. and the informal way as if you are talking to friends using verb endings like “”nai” “ta” and “nakatta”. Well this is just the ticket, I don’t want to come over all “posh” with people once I get to know them better.

Also at the moment I am finding the sentence structure a little difficult to follow. Am I aiming too high too soon? When I ask Japanese friends about it, they can’t really answer because when you actually speak the language, you don’t think how it’s said you just say it! Maybe I shouldn’t think too hard, just learn a few more useful words and just make it up as I go along. I am sure they will be corrected once I try them out in Japan, which coincidently I’ll be going in October.

I’m on the train!

dredmann — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:36:54 +0000

I never gave it much thought considering how much I use the train in conjunction with my job but as a pleasurable way of travel, I don’t think so.
First of all is that mandatory mad rush that every individual takes to claim a table just for themselves and strategically placing personal items around them to further support the claim. of “all this is mine.” If anyone tries to sit there they have to be as strong as the owner, else the frosty look across the table would frighten any lesser person away.
When you finally find a free seat you are inundated with the longest speech of your life from the conductor or as they like to be called these days train managers about whether you can actually travel on your train without needing to re mortgage your house just to afford the penalty of paying for a full price ticket on top of what you originally paid.
Once the journey starts the tannoy is soon in its element as this time we get those catering announcements telling you all about the “lovely” food which is on offer by either some aged thespian. who just loves the sound of their own voice or someone who wished they were somewhere else and you can’t hear a word they are saying. If you decide to venture down for a snack make sure you have been to the ATM. as the prices are there to shock you into immediate dieting.
After fighting your way back to your seat because of the speed and swaying of the train, you find the fold down table in front of you is never going to hold everything you bought. Now starts the juggling!
When you look out of the window all the see is a blur, the train is travelling that fast! This is definitely only a means of getting from A to B as quickly as possible,which to those who want to get there before they leave is a thing. During the journey there’s a plethora of sounds from the tap-tap of laptop keyboards, the tinny bass lines from an overly loud I pod or just incessant chit chat of a mobile phone user with that old standard of “I’m on the train.” Yeah we know you are your voice can be heard in first class! If you thought about relaxing, forget it! This is the road to hell.
Once reaching your destination there’s what seems to be the biggest delay between the door open button and the door actually opening. Come on hurry up I just wanna get off!

chained to the chair

dredmann — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:35:52 +0000

Over the last five years the dependency to modern technology especially computing and internet has steadily worsened. From the the “I’ll never have or need the use of computer” attitude to being a fully fledged geek!!! OMG I’ve even gone against the grain and chosen linux as my chosen Operating system. Well I like the “free” part about it

It all started out so innocently in the early years, a browse here a browse there. Then I discovered I could get to know things a lot quicker than other media sources. As my main interests are music based it. meant tour dates record releases of my favourite bands were at my fingertips. Then inevitably band forums raised their ugly head and their tentacles had me trapped to their bosom, pressurising me to contribute more and more.
As friendships developed, I needed to find more ways to communicate. This networking phenomenon had me hooked. My first venture into this craze was Myspace, it has the tools to tell the world of my loves, hates and other plights. This has snowballed into more and more options to make myself more available to the world, although not really knowing or caring if anyone out there actually bothered, it was a “me” thing going on.
Now five years down the line I frequent more band forums some even paid subscriptions too, internet messengers. are a must and now the final nail in the coffin I have just subscribed to Facebook This means everything has stopped until I have completed the rigmarole of networking. It really is getting out of hand I am truly chained to the pc chair!! Now to make it worse, I can even do it on the move. My recent aquisition of an internet phone means I can network 24/7!
You know the real scary thing about it, is I actually have started to enjoy it

is there a better way?

dredmann — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:33:42 +0000

Is it hard to be yourself these days? Everywhere we go all we see is negativity, greed, selfishness and egotism! Is there no good at all any more. Is there anyone else out there that tries to see an alternative view of things not just a tabloid perception fed down our throats day in day out? Please tell me! All I see is the all consuming greed forced down our throats by worldwide corporate powers, making the gullible public believe in something they might not even want but making sure they definitely do need it and once they have it, they never want to lose it. Everybody needs their fix every single minute of the day. That’s the pull these global colossi have on our everyday lives.
Modern technology like the internet should not be used to turn all our lives into insularity, the safe cocoon of the keyboard and screen. The ever powerful screen name we give ourselves acts like the shield of invincibility… we say what we like because we think no one knows our true self and as a result hold sway over our little but fast increasing world. The world is getting smaller and smaller ever day, we need to come to terms with it, embrace new things not push them away just because it doesn’t fit in with what we’ve been led to believe in. Are we all that shallow not to see the bigger picture

panic over sweden

dredmann — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:31:38 +0000

Got a lot to do over the next few days to make sure everything goes to plan for next weekend’s stay in Gothenburg. Yeah I am finally going after all the putting off I’ve been doing over the last ten years. Now the procrastination is over the little details like packing, money exchange, passports, having all the documentation to hand, you know, the usual stuff that should have been done as soon as the trip was arranged. Well it hasn’t and now there’s a panic setting in!
Things won’t get any better when I actually start the day off! 5am cab rides for 7.30am flights don’t do me any good at all especially when the day will probably last well into the early hours of the following day. As the reason for going to Sweden is to go to a concert for one of my top bands, The Haunted, so when I get there I have to check into the hotel, find a Ticnet Ombud (Ticnet Outlet) to actually pick up my tickets for the concert which will be happening that same night. Also as I am trying to arrange a photo pass to take some good shots of the band to upload to my site dredpix I have to find the venue before 5pm to see someone about this. Fingers crossed on that one!

…and the meek shall inherit the earth…

dredmann — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:30:11 +0000

If you have been living in a box, then you may not know there is a bar restaurant opened up in Gothenburg dedicated to the Canadian prog rock band Rush, called 2112. It is part owned and run by Peter Iwers and Bjorn Gelotte, two members of the Swedish melodeath band In Flames along with close friends. Last weekend was the grand opening and I was lucky enough to be there last Saturday.

I was in Gothenburg over the weekend to watch The Haunted at Brew House on the Friday, you can read about that here but on the Saturday, me and my wife had a free day to go sightseeing during which we decided to try and find 2112 to give us a rough idea how to get there from our hotel later that evening. We found it relatively easy and when we found it Peter Iwers noticed us looking in and invited us to have a quick tour round. I asked if it would be ok to come back later as it being the opening weekend, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be guests only but we were reassured there would not be a problem.

We got there around 8pm to find the place full of people enjoying the atmosphere. After buying drinks and looking for a place to sit and enjoy the night. There sat with friends and realtives was Bjorn Gelotte who waved and said hello, later coming over to make us feel very welcome.

As this bar is run by members of In Flames and is dedicated to Rush, I was surprised to find the only “rock element” were the few photos of In Flames and of Rush. The only music being played just at a nice ambient level, no loud rock blaring through huge speakers! We decided to leave around 10.30pm so as we left I approached Bjorn to thank him for such a great evening. He asked if we knew if Sonic Syndicate were playing at Sticky Fingers and did we want to go, obviously we said yes of course. He spoke to a friend who agreed to take us round. At the club, Bjorn’s friend had a word with the door man and we were allowed in. Sonic Syndicate had already started their set but we still managed to see a good 40 minutes of it. Sticky Fingers itself is one of the dream places me and my wife had always wanted to visit but to go on such a night was the icing on a perfectly baked cake!

I must point out that we were very lucky to be in Gothenburg over the weekend and the fact that being members of Jesterhead.com allowed me and my wife to get to know members of In Flames after various meet and greets arranged through the Jesterhead.