A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free

Breathtaking, painful, heartfelt, optimistic, melodic and brilliant are just some of the superlatives I use to describe one of my favourite singer/songwriters, Elliott Smith. I first discovered his work when I was sitting in my friends bedroom listening to music in the early hours of a Saturday morning. I wasn't so sure at first but my friend convinced me to take a copy of the album Figure 8, and I was hooked.

Last year he would have been 40, the age that some say life begins at. But here was a man who had already lived, seen and achieved so much that even some men double this age will never achieve his heights. Had he not have taken his own life at the tender age of 34 then maybe this world would have been blessed with more of his nuggets of gold.

Elliott Smith was not a flawed genius. He had experienced such an intense array of emotions and as an idol to so many music fans across the world. This only enhanced his humanity and made him the gentle yet troubled voice that still whispers in the ears of millions of fans, most, like me, never heard while he was still with us. He went to the edge and never came back, while some of his peers steered away from the verge before falling into the abyss just Elliott did.

On his work, I would have to say that Either/Or is by far my favourite album. The last album Elliott recorded before his work went global (Miss Misery was nominated for an Oscar for it's inclusion in Good Will Hunting'), it captured a fertile moment in Elliott's songwriting with most of the songs which were not included on it making up the posthumorous 'New Moon'.

'Ballad of Big Nothing' is a lovely optimistic musing while 'Rose Parade' is a chilled out number but the real big hitters are 'Between the Bars' and 'Say Yes' which are both sentimental and touching in equal measure as Elliott opens his heart to the listener and doesnt let them go.

The void left in music left by his passing is epitomised in a lyric from 'Miss Misery', Do you miss me, Miss Misery like you say you do'. The answer for so many young people who are equally as troubled as he was, is sadly yes. XO

Things That Go Bump In The Ad Breaks

Hello again bloggers, I thought I might restrict myself to one blog a week as to not exhaust both you and I with a wealth of words and useless shite that I spout about. This week, its CREEPY ADVERTS...WOOOO!!! Whoops sorry for that.

On a break I had from work last year I stumbled upon (joke for the cybergeeks out there) a blackhole that pulls you in and doesn't let go, a Youtube trip! In my immensely bored state of mind, I started searching for clips of things I remembered from my childhood, but as what frequently happens in this quicksand of the world wide web, I kept searching until I stumbledupon (there it is again) on an advert of Kinder Surpise that was shown (and apparently banned) in the mid 1980's.

Now first let me say that I am not normally frightened by horror films or similar programmes set out to shock or scare you. But the next three commercials I am going to talk about are just too weird and far too fake to make me want to eat chocolate or popcorn or even buy myself a dolly of a laughing child, this was probably Gary Glitter's shopping list before the day he got caught.

The 30 second clip consists of an all too convincing Humpty Dumpty character enticing the viewer into buying his chocolatey treats. Humpty's possibly far to realistic to come across as a cuddly child's character and this was probably one of the reasons it scared littl-ans shitless back in the day. It manuarisms are far too chilling and real which gives it a slightly sinister edge.

Which brings me to my next commercial. In 2007, American popcorn tycoon Orville Redenbacher appeared in an advert promoting his number one selling product. I watched this advert in a compilation of these clips and straight away noticed that something was not right with our host. It was only when a caption appeared on the screen saying that this man was dead, that I genuinely had to turn it off. Redenbacher had indeed been dead for the last 13 years when the commercial was released and this was a sort of weird CGI zombie telling the viewer about what he likes to pop in his mouth! The only thing that could be creepier is to share a sleeping bag with a hologram of Michael Jackson.

And thats the trouble with these both of these adverts. They both revolve around a man-made central character or figure which has been made to look convincing but looks far too synthetic and flawed to come across as being genuine. And for that reason it sends a shiver down your spine because you know that although they both are not real, the quirkiness is what makes them slightly un-nerving.

The third and possibly most frightening advert I watched was a commercial for the American doll Baby Laugh A Lot from 1971, which when you pressed its stomach, laughed hysterically for about a minute. One clip I found suggests that the voice mechanism used was of a man's laughter and not that of a small girl as used in the advert. Whichever way you look at it, the creators of Child's Play and Bride of Chucky must have been taking notes. Im seriously convinced that Tony Soprano and other mafia types should have used use this product on squealers by tying them down to a chair, turning the lights off and shining a torch on it as it laughs its victims into a state of utter horror to get the information they needed. It would have worked.

In conclusion, I am pleased I am not an LSD casualty or these would have probably been the kind of nightmares I would be subjected to all the time. All the more reason to channel hop during the commercial breaks I think.

Kinder Suprise Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGxWxjEr6F8
Orville Redenbacher Creepy Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcn4p213Zg8
Baby Laugh A Lot Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44e-Y08_B-0

TV Shows I Bloody Love Part 2

A brief guide into my favourite programmes and the reasons why the shelf with my DVDs on it is at breaking point.

Life On Mars - There is a recurring theme throughout this list of programmes which is they have hit their peak somewhere in middle of their lifespan and slowly the quality has gone down hill as rapidly as John Leslie's career. Life On Mars, however, is the exception. Funny, hard-hitting, The Sweeney and Quantum Leap all rolled into one big ball of nostalgia. The double act between time-traveller Sam Tyler and his old school show stopper superior Gene Hunt was electric and theere wasn't a single duff episode in the shows two series run. I hope that in 10 years Life On Mars is celebrated as much as some of the other names in this list, in some cases it derserves more praise than a few of them. It rode a crestwave of magic that never came back.

Blackadder - The most cunning character in British sitcom history, Blackadder ran for 4 series, three specials, and 400 years (pretty impressive eh?) Undoubtfully one of the best comedies we as a country have ever produced, it stills makes you laugh even after being shown for decades, one of the reasons being the fantastic performances of (support!) cast Hugh Laurie (House) and Stephen Fry (Quizmaster). The show definetly peaked at Blackadder the Third, but the melancholic Blackadder Goes Forth, set in the trenches in Flanders in 1917, is equally funny and melancholic in the same line as Blackadder bemoans the doomed destiny of he and his comrades while displaying the stiff upper lip of Britshness, especially in the last 10 minutes of the final episode. The whole series is a case study into the pointlessness and madness of war, and surely every viewer heart sank during THAT final scene. When is a comedy not a comedy? When it tuggs on your heart strings in a way not even some drama's can.

Only Fools and Horses - For my money the best comedy in this list, It went out on a high in 1996, when over 20 million viewers watched as Del Boy, Rodney and Uncle Albert walked off into the sunset as 'millionaires' after years of ducking and diving, whealing and dealing, then it came back for three christmas specials and then limped off again. But it was in the late 80's that the show really hit it's peak and no matter how many times you've seen Del fall through the bar or the bus blow up, there always just as many brilliant one liners and moments that keep you laughing, seven years after the show was finally laid to rest. OFNH also had the power to make you cry to with moment such as Grandad's funeral and Rodney getting married certain to make your eyes moist in the right mood.

Scrubs - Remember what I said earlier about Life On Mars staying constant throughout? Well sadly the same can't be said for Scrubs, which just refuses to die and go to TV Heaven. The first five seasons were definetly the best, as the daily life of a hospital intern seen through the eyes of (originally) likable dweeb J.D and his and his best friends rise up the ranks in the Sacred Heart Hospital and dealt with both the extreme highs and lows of the responsibilites of their jobs. The problem was that by season 6, J.D had become an unlikable teenage buffoon who seemed to base his whole personality on the running joke of his mentor Dr Cox (best character by far) calling him girls names which just made him more and more irritiating like the attention seeker in class at school who annoys you so much you just want to shut his dick in his lunch box just to shut him up. Then he leaves, then he comes back, then leaves, then comes back again (arrgg make your mind up Zach Braff!) Ah the memories of a once great sitcom.....

TV Shows I Bloody Love Part 1

A brief guide into my favourite programmes and the reasons why the shelf with my DVDs on it is at breaking point.


Doctor Who - Simply the most inventive, inspirational and amazing thing I have ever seen on Television. Even the old episodes from the classic series still stand up story-wise to anything US imports have tried to eclipse in recent years, although seeing Jon Pertwee chased by a piece of tinfoil with a face like George Galloway is not a scary as it used to be...or is it? Best episode in recent years was Blink, which barely featured the Doctor and managed to be scary and engaging for all ages throughout.

The Simpsons - Okay, so the last six seasons or so have been as funny as watching England crash out of the World Cup on penalties, but even daily never ending repeats on Channel 4 are still ten times better than anything else being shown that night. Best Episode is Season 4's 'Last Exit to Springfield' in which Lisa needs braces and Homer becomes Union Leader in a bid to keep the 'dental plan'. Simply brilliant.

Top Gear - Picture the pitch, three middle aged men shouting at each other about cars for an hour then invite a celebrity to drive around their test track really fast and challenge each other in tasks that most of the time involves 7% about actual bloody cars. Why does it work? God knows, but the banter between Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May is reminisent of any debate we've all had in a pub about who is the greatest band of all time. The challenges are the best part of the programme and then of course there is the Stig, some say that he excretes toast through his pancreas...

Red Dwarf - A cult comedy series for some, it took influences from films as diverse as Casablanca, The Odd Couple, Alien and even Pride and Prejudice and stuck it all in a spaceship 3 million years from Earth. One minute the crew (populated by the last human, a hologram of his dead bunkmate, a creature that evolved from cats, a domestic droid without a penis and a floating head) would be running away from a curry monster, the next stuck in a cowboy video game fighting for their lives then erased from time altogether. Their adventures were silly and fun, something wihch is missing from all sitcoms today. Plus it gave us the word 'Smeghead' a word so funny it had the power to blow snot from the nose of an eight year old whenever they mentioned it.

Family Guy - Cancelled twice by Fox, the laugh out loud adult version of The Simpsons (come on, look at the similarities, a dunse of a father, an outcast for a daughter and secondary characters who are just as funny if not funnier than the main family) Family Guy doesn't care who it offends with cut away jokes which poke fun at any Hollywood celebrity or politician worth ridiculing and loving spoofs of cult movies from the 80's, comic genius and anarchist Peter Cook would have loved it. It can be as abstract and outrageous as it likes and the storylines can still be plausible within the Family Guy universe, someting maybe only South Park can do as convincingly.

Pills, Thrills and Headaches

So here it is, the weeks most anticipated and long awaited moment since Pingu 4: Lets Get Flappy - its my weekly review! I have just returned from a lovely weekend staying around my girlfriend's house to a world of job searching and daytime TV which poisons my last tatters of independent thought.
I had been so bored last Thursday afternoon that I decided to borrow my sisters DVD of Skins series 3 that I bought her for Christmas and was determined to sit through all 10 drug full, sex fueled angst ridden episodes. I had deliberately missed this series when it was originally shown on Channel 4 last year on the grounds that I was then hurtling towards the Thrilling Twenties and out of my Turbulent Teens and no longer thought the programme was aimed at people like me - and for once I was right.
The first two series were funny, thought provoking, entertaining and dark, but was always over dramatic to keep the viewers attention, and to do this they stuff the hour long episodes full of bright mesmeric colours, annoyingly repetitive electronic music (although to be fair most of the melancholic accoustic soundtrack is fantastic) and mindless destructive behaviour that would have been easily remanisant of an anarchic edition of Playdays, in which Why Bird takes an E, shags Peggy Patch silly as Dave Benson Phillips voyeurs through a crack in the cupboard while injecting heroin into his penis. That or a youth amateur dramatic society performing Platoon.
I am sure that most young people watching can see similatities in themselves and one or more of the characters, but this series is choca block full of the most repulsive and irritating characters, it is difficult to pick out a single character to even remotely like. The most likable character is the asperger sufferer, airfix enthusiast JJ, who comes across like how James May would have been in his teens if his parent had taken acid daily throughout the sixties. He is on so many prescription pills to kerb his problems his probably amazed that the world he lives in exists at all.
The main narrative focus is a love triangle involving JJ's best friends, the lanky reserved Freddie and his destructive, volatile mate Cook who are battling it out for the affections of Effy, the younger sister to Nicholas Hoult's character in Series One and Two.
The young actor playing Cook seems to be playing his way thorugh a biopic called Shane McGowan: The Early Years, is the most unlikable TV character I have seen in years, excluding anybody from Eastenders who are forever trapped in a bubble of their own doom preying fro the apocalypse to come. Each of the central characters play mainyl to conventional sterotypes, the ditsy blonde (Pandora), the shit (Cook), the no nonsense activist lesbian (Naomi), the bitcht slapper and her doormat of a twin (Katie and Emily).
Maybe I've missed the point, I don't know, but one things for certain - BRING BACK FUN HOUSE!

Madness Live at Cliffs Pavilion Review

Madness Live at Cliffs Pavillion, Southend 5th December 2009

As we set off for Southend on a cold and dreary December morning, I could not wait to see Madness, a band I have admired for years and surely one of the most consistent and best singles bands in the history of British Music.

Hundreds of fans, some from the original ‘nutty boys’ era, were clutching onto their pork pie hats and fezzes as they queued in the South Coast wind, while some fans were enjoying there first gig experience dressed to impress in attire their fathers would probably of worn back in the bands hey-day.

The bands latest album, The Liberty of Norton Folgate, has been widely acclaimed as their best since their debut LP 30 years ago, and this Christmas UK Tour is bearing the fruits of a long and productive career, and something we needed to warm us up in the winter chills.

Madness have always come across to me as cool wacky Uncles and this was the first time I was seeing them live, and I wasn’t disappointed.

As the crowd waited in anticipation for the gig to start, we were treated to a short film ‘15 Steps to Making It in the Music Business’, which charted the bands formation and how they rose to fame.

The band arrived on stage a little later than billed the magic flowed through the packed venue and Suggs lowered his sunglasses revealing the twinkling eyes that sparks mayhem in the crowd as the band launch into they’re trademark hit ‘One Step Beyond’.

One notable absentee on stage was bassist Mark Bedford who is taking a break from the band for the foreseeable future, and he was missed on tracks like ‘One Step Beyond’ and ‘Bed and Breakfast Man’, otherwise the ‘full’ line-up was on top form with saxophonist Lee Thompson doing his best to put his band mates off.

After classic hits came a slow building version of ‘My Girl’, Madness continued their strong set, and they could even afford to leave out hits such as ‘Driving in my Car’, ‘Cardiac Arrest’, ‘Tomorrows Just Another Day’ and ‘Grey Day’.

During the performance the band played 5 songs from the new album, which went down well with the crowd but lacked the punch of the classics and Suggs dedicated the new single ‘Forever Young’ to: “All the young people everywhere” and to his daughter who was in the audience.

The single, like all of the songs on the set list, were accompanied by short films on the giant screen projected behind the band and for ‘Forever Young’, images and clips of Madness in they’re youth portrayed a poignant scene to the dads in the crowd.

‘House of Fun’ was greeted by a huge roar from the crowd who were kicked into life all around the venue, including everybody on the balcony who didn’t stop dancing until the end of the gig.

Suggs made another dedication to the fans and thanked them for supporting them throughout the years before the 1981 single ‘It Must Be Love’.

The Band returned to the stage for a two song encore, ‘Madness’ and ‘Night Boat To Cairo’ before leaving the crowd with a sunny disposition as we left Cliffs Pavillion in the pouring rain with smiles on our faces.

Madness have indeed kept the sense of fun in the songs that fans have been chanting like football anthems for so long now, and long may they continue.

Set List

One Step Beyond

Embarrassment

The Prince

NW5

My Girl

Dust Devil

The Sun and the Rain

Sugar and Spice

Clerkenwell Polka

Bed and Breakfast Man

Shut Up

Forever Young

House of Fun

Wings of a Dove

Baggy Trousers

Our House

It Must Be Love

Madness

Night Boat to Cairo

NEW MATERIAL UPLOADED ON YOUTUBE

Hi there, I have uploaded two brand new demo songs from my next demo album onto Youtube, plus one of my favourite songs from my back catalogue called 'Fall'. Search 'Same Specied Aliens' on Youtube and you will find the songs.

Love and Peace

Hayden

Wibbley Wobbly Timey-Whiney

Im assuming most of you watched Doctor Who over Christmas didnt you? I am also assuming that most of you thought it was both a heartbreaking and epic way to end David Tennant's tenth doctor? As i sat there watching the last half hour of 'The End of Time part two' It dawned on me that this had been one of the most overhyped, self indulgant and inconsistent episodes of Doctor Who ever made.

Don't get me wrong, I have been a fan ever since the tv movie aired in 1996 and I am also a proud member of the 'lost' generation of Doctor Who, who were deprived of the programme during its hiatus in the nineties, but I really felt that these last few specials, except for the brilliant 'The Waters of Mars' were very cheesy, overblown and not to the standard we have been blessed with since the shows return in 2005.

There were, however, some very strong aspects to the two part climax, John Simm's brilliant portrayal of The Master left me wanting the character to stay instead of perishing back into the Time War with the Time Lords, who's return was both anti-climatic and grand, Bernard Cribbin's as the Doctor's best companion from all these specials and then of course David Tennant himself.

The Tenth Doctor has over the last four and a half years displayed the full range of emotions and highs and lows , leading to many fans saying that Tennant has been the best Doctor so far. I personally still think that Partick Troughton and Tom Baker take some beating but he is definetely up there. It was fitting that his era should have been celebrated with a final half hour which became both heartwarming as the Doctor went back to meet his old friends (Sarah-Jane, Wilf and Donna and Captain Jack) but the moment when we meet Martha Jones and Mickey Smith as a freelance married team just shit all over what had been previously written about Martha's back story with her and 'fiance' Tom Milligan from series 3's 'Last of the Timelords'.

Then there is the regeneration. Once again the balance between sublime and soppy went hand in hand as the Ood kind sang the Doctor to sleep, and uttering the line which somes up everything about Doctor Who and its long, proud yet sometimes chequered 47 year history. "This story is ending, but the story never ends".

The regeneration itself was brilliant, apart from The Doctor sobbing, "I don't want to go" as he exploded into flames of Timelord energy. This was a complete contrast of Christopher Eccleston's demise in 2005 and was sure to have most new fans in tears, while others like myself were sitting there thinking "William Hartnell would never have said that!". It was however a fitting finale to Russell T Davie's reign as head writer which i also think has been commercially successful but i havent been a big fan of his stories. Within seconds Matt Smith was standing where his predessor once stood, brimming with humour, energy and the optimism of yet another golden age of Doctor Who. Roll on spring and the new series!

Music ( Should be a more imaginative title than that!)

One of my main passions in life is the music I have been listening to for as long as i can remember. I was introduced to two very different musical tastes through my parents as a toddler. My dad would be listening to bands such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, Supertramp, Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin, while my mother prefered Michael Jackson and other Motown artists, The Jam, Simon and Garfunkel, Kate Bush and T-Rex. Listening to these diverse artists and to the brilliance of Britpop as a small child, shaped my enthusiasm for music as an art form, and inspired me to write my own songs as i found my own musical heroes as i hurtled through my teens.

Its hard to say which moment in my own history got me hooked. I have a excellent long term memory and distinctly remember watching Guns N Roses performing at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992. I know that sounds stupid considering that I was only 3 at the time, but it's weird how that has stuck. The first record i ever brought was Parklife by Blur from my 5th brithday money and I had an unhealthy obsession for Queen around the age of 10. I must have been the only eleven year old sitting on my school bus listening to The Who's 'Who's Better Who's Best!' Maybe its all four of these reasons rolled into one?

Perhaps one of the most inspirational moments for me was being a student in Cambridge around the time that former Pink Floyd genius Syd Barrett died. He had cut an enigmatic figure since he turned his back on the limelight in the early seventies, and as an impressionable 17 year old i revelled in hanging out in places where he would have once been, and listening to the first Pink Floyd album thinking it was one of the best things I have ever heard. 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn', was definetly one of the reasons I began writing songs and poems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIEsmGzo2UE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G3TS-nqhyk

Greetings

Hello World

This is my first blog, crikey what to say. Its a lovely crisp Friday afternoon and im cowering behind the living room curtain to stop the winter sun from burning my eyes, which would ruin my afternoon. I have had a very contemplating day, thinking what to do and wondering what the future may bring. Today was the last day i was going to see most of my friends in college, but bad luck has struck and im laying low with sickness :( bugger it! Currently i have hopes and dreams to become a sports journalist and to also write and record my own music which i have written over the last four years. I was in a band called The Exploding Plastic Guitar which lasted for a glorious year before disbanding in a puff of smoke. I now write my own material under the name Same Specied Aliens and record the songs in my front room. I kind of like being under the radar while im working at my art so thats why i haven't used my own name. I even once called myself Pringle Martinez and have no idea why! I hope as time goes by and as we get better aquainted to add some of my songs up on here so watch this space!

Love and Peace

Hayden



Songs Ive Listened To Today

Teenage Lament 74- Alice Cooper
Passing Afternoon- Iron and Wine
By The Light Of The Magical Moon- T-Rex
Time To Pretend- MGMT
Hey- Pixies