joe,

i guess you're probably thinking vaguely what you might be doign for your next album. I'd just like to encourage you to play more experimental stuff. Rock/Blues/Classical, whatever, but don't be afraid to use those stretchy chords and pitch axis stuff. I'm not alone in thinking that your creativity in these areas is one of your strongest points... stuff like ITLIS (the track), most of engines of creation, the really early stuff...

bahduh- i was unable to watch the match so I can't comment on whether or not Trescothic was lucky, but we still had serious batting to come anyway. Flintoff would have been more relied upon and probably played more sensibly. We had Jones to come who is an excellent batter...

maybe we were a bit lucky but you don't hear the Aussies complaining about lbws... they admit that they were beaten on the day.

No way am I sugegesting we're better than Australia... but look at our recent series- undefeated against West indies away, undefeated against New Zealand, whitewash of West Indies - i think we've already proved we've got a bit of consistency there...

hmmm

just been shredding it up on a borrowed guitar- am remembering how much fun it is....

shred is good....

I've got two legs from my hips to the ground, and
When I move them they walk around, and
When I lift them they climb the stairs, and
When I shave them they ain't got hairs.

bahduh - now i've read your last post :)

Zen, Clarky DT are phenomenal musicians, I'd agree that they're not a bunch of genuises...

but I would say that Jordan Rudess, keyboardist is. Admittedly I haven't been paying much attention to your debate on these things yet, but I think the most helpful term in defining geniuses is "polymath".

Zappa was a polymath, skilled in musical terms, excellent on the technical side of things, incredibly witty, yet found it hard to relate to normal people. I guess spending 20 hours a day in a studio does that to you.

These are the hallmarks of the great musical geniuses of the past (like Wagner) Let's have a look at Mr Rudess...

No-one reasonable would doubt his technical talent, and if people pay attention to his musical output then they'd also notice that he's no sloucher on the creative side either. His last album was fully composed and recorded within 14 days, and it contains a huge amount of music... (not just long jams...)

Anyway, in addition to this, he programs synths (used to do it for a living) he controls the onstage visuals (whilst playing the music)... there is something about him that speaks of genius to me there.

Clarky- yeah, you're thinking overture from six degrees of inner turbulence... i wouldn't call that the most successful attempt at mixing rock band and orchestra, but nor would i call it Rudess' best work. I would say that he's starting to break new ground with his latest solo album, Rhythm of Time which is definitely worth checking out. It's certainly unique anyway.

clarky- been thinking a lot about the genius thing and have decided that there are genius attributes, genius achievements and then there are geniuses themselves. Rudess has attributes but not the rest.... though they may come in time.

I'm going to now define genius as someone who is so on another planet that they almost don't understand people who are "normal". Bobby Fischer (chess player), Zappa, Wagner, guys like these...

bahduh- - i've obviously missed your post on pain of salvation (just noticed do the stu mentioning it...

clarky - you'd be suprised about Hawking actually. I know someone who lives down the road from him and almost ran him over (on her bicycle) in his wheelchair *twice* as a result of his slightly agressive wheelchair riding... true story...

962 - a few facts for you...

It's 6 years in November since Half-life came out...

Valve have already submitted a release candidate to Vivendi and reviews are appearing very soon in computer mags. This means it is going gold soon, and therefore to be released soon.

The engine was started on 6 years or so ago but it's far from being dated. Its physics and certain parts of its graphics system are beyond any other game (particularly dealing with large areas - Doom 3 can be beautiful, but is restricted to small areas and the designers used a fairly easy to render idea all the way through anyway- black.

stu clone - i'm sure, and from what i've heard doom 3 is pretty good, but more than half of the people i've talked to say it relies purely on darkness for it's mood. you're not allowed to carry a torch and a gun at the same time, and it plays tricks on you where you turn round, and when you turn back there's all of a sudden a monster there, etc.

Guildford-ites...

I saw the bearded lady in Sainsbury's today... she's cut her hair! (I think she cut it, it looked a real mess...) She was buying, amongst other things a raspberry (or possibly strawberry) tarte. Just thought you'd like to know...

General sane people- welcome to the cheerful insanity of jellyman, jellyman and a local person. Points and gold stars to those who get the reference. This is the area in which at 01.53 I start rambling on about any given topic. Tonight's topic? Tomato Ketchup manufacturers of the United Kingdom.

Heinz Tomato Ketchup is the well established king of tommy Ks in Great Britain. With a trademark red and white label, this is a well-balanced ketchup- if the most expensive. Daddy's is the only other well-known brand ketchup available, although I have not tried it for years.

Supermarket own-brands are usually the cheapest way obtaining decent quality ketchup. in fact, Sainsbury's came joint first in a food magazine taste-test (higher tomato content, a nice fruity flavour- my personal favourite).

Notable is the price difference between squeezy and non-squeezy containers. Whilst the traditional glass bottle is cheaper than the plastic alternative, the plastic is less likely to break when poorly juggled with, and is easier to get the final bits out of. All things considered, there is very little difference in price between the two, and the choice comes down to personal preference. My choice is for the squezzy bottle, due to the amusing farting noises that can be made with it.

Yes I have!

how come 92.1% of T2J newcomers who have a request for Joe do it as a double post?

michelle - not paint chips but there's definitely something funny in the air... I am in a student house so it wouldn't surprise me...

962 - yeah, i probably snapped at you a bit there... totally unnecessary- it's probably cause i spend time on other forums having to inject common sense/facts into people...

Half-Life 2 will be out by March 15 (my birthday). Mark my words. And I believe it'll be out before Christmas, but that *could* slip.

delfino pie- i seem to remember it was sometime around then that x-box came out, but that wasn't my reason... Valve submitted a release candidate to vivendi universal games on september 15th. this has to go through some tests, which if it passes, vug are contractually obliged to release it wihtin 6 months.