There ain't no motive for this crime

Singles promote artists. Radios play a hot single over and over again...6...8 times a day is not too many. Singles generate a lot of money for the artist and their respective music companies but it also makes sure that the artists are constantly in the music charts.

With the digital age came the ability to buy/download a single and only a single (rather than buying a whole album or even a singles "tape/disk" which came with b-sides) which came (possible) unforeseen consequences.

Good: Music is more easily accessible

Bad: There are less album sales

Good: Those reduced sales are offset by increased single sales

Bad: Artists' non-single songs are not being listened to

That last consequence is what lead me to write this article. I love listening to albums. You get so much more from listening to albums. Don't get me wrong, singles are great but there are many hidden gems in albums. If you never listen to albums then you never get to listen to a 'Concept album'. These albums have songs that are unified by a theme. The band that put concept albums to the forefront were The Beatles with St. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Wall by Pink Floyd and more recently The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. These albums show you a lot about the bands as artists.

By listening to only singles, you lose so much artistic impression. However I may be barking up the wrong tree. Perhaps what I've said in this post is only true of Pop music where concept albums are pretty much non-existent so those that buy only singles lose nothing.

Thats probably why I don't listen to pop music (not really true, I don't like pop music for many more reasons).

To show my appreciation of the bands I like and non-singles. Here is my top 10 (no repeated bands) list of non-singles.

1) Mayonaise by Smashing Pumpkins

2) What Sarah Said by Death Cab for Cutie

3) Jenny was a Friend of Mine by The Killers

4) Skyline and Turnstiles by My Chemical Romance

5) A Certain Romance by Arctic Monkeys

6) Under Control by The Strokes

7) Showbiz by Muse

8) Soft Shock by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

9) Burn by The Cure

10) Holiday by Weezer

Honourable mentions: Airbag by Radiohead, She's Electric by Oasis, I Could Have Lied by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hey Johnny Park! by Foo Fighters, Relapse by Little Birdy

Can you come up with a list of non-single songs that you really like? It is harder than you think.

Digital Window Shopper

I've been looking at buying a lot of things on the internet lately without actually buying anything.

I've always wanted a cool phone since the first every iphone came on the market but could never justify the money to buy one, especially being a poor student at the time of its release. Lately I've been having a few other ideas and have been wanting the HTC - Hero which looks sexy as.

My friend James Farrier is also a big phone fan and we've been swapping url links to different sites. With him being in Australia, the phones are cheaper and they get the latest models. However there is a new HTC that will come out soon and I think I might get it. I recently got a $500usd windfall so that can help take a big chunk of that.

This is supposedly a leaked picture of the HTC - Dragon.

1GHZ Snapdragon processor

Android v2.0

4.3inch screen with 800x600 resolution

Undie 500

The Undie 500 is an annual event that starts off in Christchurch (NZ) and ends in Dunedin. It is an event held by students who travel in cars worth under $500. Sounds fun? Yeah it does. However, every year police have arrested many people because of riotous behaviour. This year was no exception with 20 people being arrested but it was a drop from last years number of 50 so that is a positive.

Well that's what police thought...

Last night another 60 people were arrested after police faced a mob of 600 people. They used so much pepper spray that they had to call for more.

I understand mob mentality but what I don't get is why people would want to join the Undie 500 knowing that it ends in riots. What I really don't get it why people would want a second night of it. These people who start the riots are not known criminals (well I don't think so) but university students who are supposedly semi-intelligent.

There must be something seriously wrong down there in the South Island because this isn't an isolated incident but happens year after year. Police have said that any arrested don't get diversion because of the no-diversion policy for the Undie 500.

I hope they all get convictions. Idiots.

10 things we hate to pay for....Yeah Right

Read an article about your top 10 things you hate to pay for. I agreed with some while others I think is just a big meh. Here is the top 10 with a few random comments thrown in.

1 ATM fees

Using your ATM (Eftpos card) at a machine different from your regular Bank will cost you something from 75 cents to 1 dollar every time you use it. Banks make a lot of money this way because we are unsuspecting. However this has never really affected me as I have always been on a student account which means I don't have to pay those ATM fees. To other people who care...well you should planned to get money out before it was too late!

2 Movie tickets and refreshments

Totally agree with this one. I worked for Cirque du Soleil once selling popcorn etc and got abused by the customers because it was so expensive. $6 for a coke? $8 for Lion Red? Get out of town!

Carparking

The article talking about carpark parking (tournament parking) rather than street parking, which I think is WAY more annoying. When do you have coins? Sure you can use a credit card but they charge you 50cents just so you can pay them! Ludicrous

4 BYO at restaurants

Look, restaurants lose money when you bring in your own wine because they don't sell you any. They provide you with not only opening the wine (the only thing the article stated) but they have to provide you with wine glasses and that also involves cleaning them. So if they charge you a few dollars...why should you care?

5 Bottled water

Look your a sucker for buying it, and an idiot for complaining that you have to pay so much for it. Go buy yourself a sports bottle and fill it up from those metal thingee's in your house. I think they're called taps.

6 Holiday surcharges

"It doesn't change the fact it's annoying," said student Sara Blair, 22. "Why does French toast cost 15 per cent more? You're better off making it yourself at home."

The people who complain are the people who have a) never worked in the food industry or b) never thought about it. If a place makes $2000 a day. then 15% is only $300 extra. That place/cafe has about 5-7 staff that need to be paid 50% on top of whatever they already earn. Let's say they are all on minimum wage (unlikely because chef's aren't) then 6 (use the avg) staff; times 8 hours; times $12.50; equals 600. half of that is $300...the exact total of what they "make" extra. But remember kids I calculated everyone at minimum wage.

And anyways, wouldn't you kick up a fuss if every food place was closed on public holidays? Where would you eat?

7 Online ticketing

Buying an event ticket online is supposed to be a stress-free, comfortable way to gain access to an event. But is spending an extra $8 for a delivery fee or $5 for a "service fee" - even when you print your ticket at home - really worth it?

This one I totally agree with. There are so many expenses that these events don't have to spend on (printing, paper, staff, location), yet you have to pay MORE money when you take out those factors. What a joke.

8 Expensive dental fees

I'm surprised that this isn't higher in the list. They are only ever expensive because most of us don't go and get regular check ups.

9 Wedding surcharges

I have no idea because I don't have any experience in this area, but mention the word "wedding" to a florist, photographer or anyone and the price instantly jumps 4 fold.

10 Commodity price rises

Just about every time you head to the supermarket or petrol station, you're faced with a higher price. According to Statistics New Zealand, food prices increased 2.8 per cent in June - the largest monthly increase since a 3.8 per cent increase in July 1989, when GST was increased from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent.

Electricity rates rose by 60 cents between February last year and June this year while petrol prices reached a peak of $2.11 a litre in June last year. And from October 1, we will be forced to pay an additional 3c petrol tax when we fill up.

Have these people not heard of inflation? It's been happening for quite a few years now...someone didn't get the memo.

What the?

The government have recently said they can't afford $2.5 million dollars to fund therapy services for children with disabilities. Yet not too long ago the government (the same one) spent large sums of money bailing out Fisher & Paykel.

I don't get it...

Everyone should get a fair shot at life and those kids have got the short end of the stick so far and now the government want to poke them with it.

Sigh.

Herald article about funding cut.

Guess Who's Back

I haven't had the internet for about 7 days now so I'm slowly catching up on things.

Started my new job on Monday and it was full on. It is such a difference to my last job. 9 kids becomes 34. A teaching staff of 1.5 becomes 40.

I'm waking up earlier 30 minutes before reasonable and going to bed much earlier than I'd like.

More work + earlier bed time = less time to do other stuff.

But it's good to have my own classroom again and have a routine.

Movement

A movement is a motion, a change in position. To judge if you are moving or not you have to have something to compare to, a constant.

You have the perception of moving...are you moving or not? I'll choose a tree as my constant. Now am I moving away from the tree or is the tree moving away from me? Dumb question, of course I am. Therefore I am moving.

Age is like movement, a very slow movement, very much like when you are in a revolving restaurant. You know you are moving but you can't feel it. The only way you know you are moving is because the scenary outside is going around in circles. However how can you judge your age moving? The crows feet by your eyes? The protuding belly? Is it really down to physical appearance?

Many people say that you are as old as you feel, appearance has nothing to do with it. A great example of this is ageing sports stars that continue to show the young fellas how it is done.

The other day, I didn't feel old but I did realise that I was getting old. I had spent two days in a year 2 class and the children had gotten to like me very much in a very short amount of time. They respected me, adhered to me and liked me for the way I teach and how I interact with them. They gave me lots of hugs at the end of the day.

What I felt at that moment was, that they looked up to me, I am there to protect them, to teach them and to have fun with them. All of those things combined gave me a feeling of feeling old because I had a responsibility to them even if it was only for 2 days. I've had friend's children that love me and I spend as much time as I can with them but to them I probably don't protect them or teach them because they have mum or dad to do that. Attaching the teacher tag adds another dimension to myself and because of that the children respond differently.

I am sure that at different times in people's lives they will feel old. Different situations will make you feel old and you might not feel that way until you cannot sit down without groaning.

As to, did I like feeling older?

I very much liked the attention and the feelings that the children emitted to me. I don't mind feeling older as long as I can wake up in the morning without complaining.

Being around children gives you a lot of different perspectives but that is not to say children themselves are a good constant to gauge your age. I