Firemind

Click Clack by Ralf Mackenbach !4 year old Ralph is from The...

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:11:47 -0800

Click Clack by Ralf Mackenbach

!4 year old Ralph is from The Netherlands and he’s the winner of the 2009 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. I have been following the competition and Ralph was one of my favourites.

Video: Ralf from The Netherlands won The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009

(Ralph’s coach made a comment about east vs west - see this post for more information.)

Just Like John Lennon - Al-Bus “If you want to become so...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:20:00 -0800

Just Like John Lennon - Al-Bus

“If you want to become so famous,
If you tired of these walls,
Before you grab the guitar,
Remember how John Lennon finished.”

Al-Bus plays dark metal music. I find them creative and refreshing.

Making of the video.

Website, English (translated)

Who Says (by John Mayer) - Luc Schouten I couldn’t resist...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:38:18 -0800

Who Says (by John Mayer) - Luc Schouten

I couldn’t resist adding another song. Enjoy.

Hallelujah - Luc Schouten Luc is a young guitarist/singer from...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:33:20 -0800

Hallelujah - Luc Schouten

Luc is a young guitarist/singer from The Netherlands. I’ve been following his channel for a while and it’s nice to see him continually improving. Check out his other videos.

Teletubby robs London woman at gunpoint

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:26:25 -0800

Teletubby robs London woman at gunpoint:

If it happened to me I would probably die laughing.

Under the bed.. (2006) by Supermac18

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:36:50 -0700

Under the bed.. (2006) by Supermac18

Im Geisterhaus (In the Haunted House) - Marco Konegger

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:12:47 -0700

Im Geisterhaus (In the Haunted House) - Marco Konegger

Meh Halloween

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:36:00 -0700

I don’t get too excited about Halloween anymore. It’s not quite an inconvenience but it can be annoying.

I used to love ‘trick or treating’ as a kid and going to Halloween dances as a young adult. Eventually age and circumstances dulled my enthusiasm.

Looking back I can see the two points where I stopped both going out and supplying candy. The first point was fairly obvious but the latter was more subtle.

When I moved back to Victoria I went to the clubs with friends and partners. Getting dressed up on Halloween was fun and I tried to get time off of work. When I got into security getting time off got harder but sometimes it worked out.

When my partner and I split up I found it easier to avoid the clubs. I also didn’t like running into people I dealt with in my job too. I got tired of drunks and crowds and stayed away from them on my own time.

Years have passed and I still avoid the drunks and crowds - and thus most party events.

Giving out candy was a big thing for one of my partners. Some kids came to the door but we seemed to eat most of what we bought. When we split I moved into a place with a controlled entrance. That and working Halloween put a damper on supplying candy.

When I moved into my current place I thought I would get into the spirit again. The year I moved in I was still unpacking on Halloween. When kids came to the door I said I was sorry and had I just moved in. One of the kids was rude and I felt glad I didn’t have candy to give.

Over the years I found myself avoiding the time the kids went door to door. it started by “accident” and became a plan. Unlike the fundraisers and preachers the TOT-ing kids were an intrusion I could avoid.

So my Halloweens are pretty mellow. I may blog about it and get into online events but that’s about it.

The pup knows what he wants!

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:42:00 -0700

The pup knows what he wants!

Homo Katticus

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:22:29 -0700

Homo Katticus

YouTube Cookie Fiasco

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:14:00 -0700

When YouTube introduced the new channels I thought they were okay but preferred the old style. I never changed my channel but YouTube forced all users to change to the new system.

I have cookies turned off by default and would allow YouTube when I signed into the site. I did this because I think marketers and others track Internet users too much. Furthermore, YouTube has a wide variety of videos and I don’t like the idea of clicking on a link and seeing something offensive or illegal - and then “carrying a sign” saying I saw that video.

You may think this is being nitpicky but its part of my comfort zone.

For the moist part I have been able to keep my cookies off when visiting YouTube. Since I didn’t change my channel I could view my favourite music videos when I wanted to. All that changed recently when the last of the old-style channels were forcibly changed by YouTube.

YouTube uses a “VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE” cookie that changes with each user-site visited. If the cookie is deleted or a new version can’t be created (as when YouTube cookies are blocked) a user-site is inaccessible and the visitor is asked to sign into YouTube. This is what YouTube and other sites do to protect visitors from adult content!

YouTube has it’s reasons for forcing this annoyance on users and visitors. I just wish they would treat everyone the same and not make exceptions for Google. Google’s Privacy Channel can be visited without accepting cookies.

Most websites don’t require cookies for casual visitors. Those that do are often bypassed and considered amateurish. YouTube’s old system worked and the site should consider reverting to it. Keep the new channel styles but get rid of the cookie requirement.

(I use Firefox).

The Eve Of The War - by Jeff Wayne - War Of The Worlds...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:02:00 -0700

The Eve Of The War - by Jeff Wayne - War Of The Worlds (Live)

The opening song from from Jeff Wayne’s musical adaptation of “The War Of The Worlds”.

I remember when this album came out. I bought it and played it a lot. The music is engaging and pulls you into the story.

Taco - Puttin’ on the Ritz (Original Uncensored...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:47:00 -0700

Taco - Puttin’ on the Ritz (Original Uncensored Version)

An old disco favourite.

Still Around

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:13:25 -0700

It’s time for me to start posting again. Nothing exciting is happening but my list of videos to post is getting too large. :)

Videos and (possibly commentary) include

Some vids of songs I used to listen to and new ones.
The 2009 Junior Eurovision Song Contest and several of the participants.
Short films with a “young talent” theme.

Go Home - Basti Basti (Sebastian Schmidt) is a fifteen year old...

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:09:54 -0700

Go Home - Basti

Basti (Sebastian Schmidt) is a fifteen year old singer from Germany. He has sung in several talent festivals and on TV. I wish he had more videos like this.

Website

YouTube

Straalen - Wonderful World Straalen McCallum is a talented ten...

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:34:58 -0700

Straalen - Wonderful World

Straalen McCallum is a talented ten year old singer from Australia. I discovered him recently and like his singing. Check out his YouTube channel and the interview with Celestial Voices.

The Magic Rabbit by Yura Demidovich This is one of the...

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:26:32 -0700

The Magic Rabbit by Yura Demidovich

This is one of the semi-finalists for the Belarusian JuniorEurovision competition. It’s an interesting song written by the 12 year old singer. It may be too strange and adult for Jesc but I hope it makes it to the finals in Kiev.

“Belarus Reloaded” has an interesting article about it called Belarusian Rabbits Rock.

Vrienden voor het leven (Friends for life) by Jan Smit

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 07:23:37 -0700

Vrienden voor het leven (Friends for life) by Jan Smit

Mother Earth by Jantje Smit This is a nice song sung by a young...

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 07:03:05 -0700

Mother Earth by Jantje Smit

This is a nice song sung by a young Jan Smit. I like a number of his songs and added several to my Dutch playlist on Youtube.

Ice Breaker

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:07:14 -0700

Ice Breaker:

This game is addictive.