Resolution

Posted on Friday, 23. January 2009 by hmvh

While the final days of each year are the traditional time to make resolutions for the next one, it’s equally customary around this time in that new year that they get broken or neglected.

Bad habits are hard to kick. People tend to fall back into a previous routine.

Nothing much changes from the previous year just because we hang up a different calendar to remind us that Planet Earth has completed another revolution in its orbit around the little star we call “the Sun”.

That’s why I don’t make resolutions; I make a new list of things to do.

I call them “projects”.

The house is littered with post-it notes. Every post-it note is something “to do”, each and every one a part of some bigger plan that’s important to nobody else but yourself.

They bug me.

Which is good. Like pain, it reminds you that you’re still alive.

And have a purpose.

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Cyberia 17: Luna

Posted on Wednesday, 31. December 2008 by hmvh

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Progressive and traditional trance. Classics. Ageless brilliance. Perfect for the trip off the planet. The existing format and layout is perfect. This is a negative thereof. Black. Beautiful. Lunacy. In Orbit. Off-world.

Salutation: “Gratitude and salutations are extended to all citizens of Planet Earth, fans, followers, listeners, and absent fans. LEAVE THE PLANET!”

Originally written December 31st, 2008. Revised and updated March 2015. See background story here.

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Cyberia 16: Terra

Posted on Wednesday, 31. December 2008 by hmvh

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Cyberia 16 gathered together what had not been gathered together and collected into a collection. It assembled rough and loose debris and spiced it up with new material as provided by our partner-in-crime and sometime collaborator and his connections on the other side of this planet Earth. Terra.

Terror. Ramshackle. Bottom of the barrel. We are leaving. The end is nigh.

Salutation: “Gratitude and salutations are extended to all citizens of Planet Earth, fans, followers, listeners, and absent fans. SAVE THE PLANET!”

Originally written December 31st, 2008. Revised and updated March 2015. See background story here.

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Rewind: 2008

Posted on Sunday, 28. December 2008 by hmvh

With 2009 just a few days away, now would be a good time to reflect on the year that was.

Myself? Plenty of time on discogs… too much perhaps, despite it having gone to the dogs.

The mix of music and data still holds a strange fascination, though.

Everyone else? Google have revealed that “Sarah Palin” was 2008’s hottest search item, while Yahoo users pushed “Britney Spears” to the top of their respective list, and, in a peculiar twist of irony, the term “Goggel” was yahoo.de’s #4 typo of the year (“Tschibo” took top honours) — all of which speaks volumes about the acuity of those allowed online nowadays.

WTF? The masses have spoken. LOL!

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A dog is for life, not just for Christmas

Posted on Thursday, 25. December 2008 by hmvh

Lots of unwanted dogs turn up at the doorstep of Britain’s biggest dog welfare charity, along with some odd excuses from the people who bring them in.

“Dogs are not fashion accessories or disposable items that can be upgraded or discarded after just a few months. Having a dog is a long-term commitment,” said Dogs Trust chief executive Clarissa Baldwin, who coined the charity’s slogan 30 years ago this year.

Thus, just in time for the festive season, here are the Top Ten dubious and irresponsible reasons its staff has heard over the past year for dumping Fido at one of its shelters:

  1. “My dog doesn’t match the sofa.”
  2. “The dog looks evil and has different coloured eyes, just like David Bowie.”
  3. “My black dog doesn’t match new white carpet, can we swap him for a white dog?”
  4. “My current dog is too old, can we swap for a puppy or younger model?”
  5. “My dog ate the Christmas turkey cooling on the worktop.”
  6. “My pet guinea pig got worried with a dog in the house.”
  7. “The dog opened all the presents on Christmas Eve.”
  8. The owner accidentally knelt in dog wee [piss] while cleaning it up and so brought the dog in the very next day.
  9. The puppy was bought as a present for an elderly couple with dementia.
  10. The owner was paranoid about recent bad press on Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and the dog was given up through no fault of its own.

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Music, mayhem, and more memories

Posted on Monday, 22. December 2008 by hmvh

Little else evokes memories in the way that sound recordings do.

Currently tied up with adding the finishing touches to the mayhem that is the Cyberia selection of electronica and dance music, the Tape2MP3 project is on pause until next year.

During 2009 we’ll also have to figure out what to do with that whole back catalogue of mixes and pictures and sound bytes that DJ Rufus has collected over the last decade, now that he’s decided to hand over the “trademark” of material of questionable legal status. Ironically, thanks to his generosity and me still poking around discogs, there are some grand ideas of strange and weird compilations forming, consisting mostly of net-label material that I’ve taken a keen interest in lately.

Yes, people, there’s plenty of good stuff to be found on the interwebs… we are not stealing records, much of it is for free!

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Yuletide and mix CDs

Posted on Saturday, 13. December 2008 by hmvh

Returned on Monday from a snowy weekend getaway to find a huge batch of sound files in my in-box, all waiting to be completed and mastered into a final and processed product.

Three, in fact. Three CDs worth of mixes. Rufus has completed his part of the mixing, now it’s up to me to complete the third disc and assemble the lot into some sort of coherent structure. Seems that he’s fed up with the whole “CeeJay Cyborgasm” gig and wants to hand over the reigns of his imaginary and illegal empire.

Rufus even sent me a batch of pictures and stuff to use for the artwork but I’m not entirely sure if Kylie will make a good cover (pun intended).

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New Dickhead of State

Posted on Thursday, 6. November 2008 by hmvh

Well, well! So Obama’s the new head of state.

The erection election circus is finally over; MILF Palin will be packing her bags and knocked-up teenage daughter and heading back home, close to the frigid border of Siberia. It’ll also be business as usual for McCain, except he’s returning to a far drier state.

Whatever the outcome of the election would’ve been, it was certainly going to be different — and “different” is a synonym for “change”.

Whether bad or good, only time will tell. A new era, they say, virgin territory — and at least Bush will be gone, and that alone is a pretty slick improvement.

The big O!

And I believe there’s a goat with big testicles (a sign of virility) being slaughtered in Kenya in Obama’s honour, too.

Image credits: headostate.com

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