Reason To Fake; My Reading Festival post

Again, the title has nothing whatsoever to do with the post. Its a song by Ten After Two, pretty sure ive promoted them enough times on here but lets do it again anyway; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afx0XCJ3SAk&feature=relmfu

Well, the reading festival line up was released yesterday (well, when you read this it might not have been yesterday, but it is right now while im writing it) and theres been plenty of comments either way about it. A lot of people are disappointed, but i think its not too bad. Ive crudely painted all over the poster to illustrate my feelings.

My feelings in a nutshell (emphasised in some places for comic affect)

In all seriousness, i think its not too shabby. The heavy mainstage day is creeping back, which im pleased with (if you read my blog, youll know roughly my music tastes) and theres more than enough bands i like to make it worth my money right now. And theres still lock up to be announced, which in 09 i spent most of my time at, and festival republic normally has a couple good bands i want to watch. Hopefully dance tent will have someone i want to watch as well. So really for me its not at all a band line up.

My top 3 that im looking forward to at the moment, ascending order, starts with Architects. Some tasty metal, although the newest albums a little easier on the ears it still should be hectic live, and ide expect them to pull a decent crowd. The its BMTH. Im not as big a fan of the new album as Suicide Season, but its still good, and lets face it theyre going to be brutal live. Then, top of the list is easily Death From Above 1979. They are such an amazingly unique band, when i discovered them i was so disappointed they had broken up, but now a reunion and theyre supposed to be something special live, so im pretty excited. I didnt include bands ive already seen, otherwise Enter Shikari and Rise Against would be there instead of BMTH and Architects.

I don't really understand most of the criticism. Most people i know who genuinely appreciate the genres reading festival tends to, have at the very least found the line up acceptable, most finding it good. Its not as good as previous years (in most peoples opinion) no, but some years are bound to be better than others. What winds me up is people who whine because its not as mainstream as they were expecting. I understand people might expect a range of different genres, which reading provides every year (including this year, quite obviously) but because its not as mainstream as they were expecting they dub it as 'shit'. First and foremost, reading is a rock festival. They say so themselves. You can't grab a ticket every year if your expecting to see artists like Dizzie Rascal playing regularly. Its been getting more and more mainstream throughout the years, it just now seems to be swinging back the other way. If you really don't like it, don't go. And before anyone gets on my back, i'm not criticising anyone for thinking its shit, its their opinion, i'm simply pointing out people shouldnt expect mainstream, and shouldnt criticise the fact heavier bands get booked.

Anyway, some bands ide like to see for lock up and festival republic. For lock up ide like to see Set Your Goals, they were so good 09 and have a new album out in spring. Four Year Strong, haven't ever been (to my knowledge) and the new album is pretty good. Blackhole, a heavier, better gallows (with gallows vocalist and guitarists younger brother being the front man) [SCRATCH THEM just found out they broke up. Damn, they were good as well.] The Ghost of a Thousand, seen them twice and theyre easily one of the best live bands ive seen, so good 09. Your Demise, solid hardcore punk and the lead singer knows how to mix some dubstep too. If I Die Today, theyre album is so good, really edgy stuff. Bayside, im not sure if theyd fit the demographic, but ide love to see them again. Thats about all i can think of right now, ill probably think of more later. As for festival republic, ide like to see a few post-hardcore bands, maybe: Escape the fate; Memphis May Fire; Pierce the Veil; Chiodos, to name a few ide like.

Just realised this turned into a festival post. Oh well, shit happens. Ill add it into the name.

Cheers for reading guys, if i offended anyone in particular, go man up. Only joking, sorry if i did.

AJ 

I never know what to call these

I always struggle with what i should call my blog posts. Usually i talk about a bucket load of different things within them, so i cant really title them based on what theyre about. Might just start using lyrics or song titles. 

Anyways ive fallen behind on the 30 day song challenge, so time to catch up.

Your least favorite song. It was hard to choose this, because obviously if you dont like a song your not going to listen to it, so i couldnt really think of any. I decided to pick a couple from my favorite albums, that have been let down by one or two songs.

Rise Against - Roadside : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdKaKpLtt3Y

The Sufferer and the Witness is probably my second favorite punk album of all time, but this song is really poor. The melody is really odd, it just doesnt sound quite right, the song trundles along, never picking up and never going anywhere, and it honestly sounds like the token softer song because they felt they had to put one on the record.

Enter Shikari - No Sleep Tonight : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehzmr79ZCoE

I dont think i need to say anything about this. Really, really, really poor attempt at writing a mainstream song.

A song that makes me happy. I can only really think of one, i tend to find songs more uplifting rather than happy

Set Your Goals - Summer Jam : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcvHZBTiG5k

A song that talks about summer, being on tour, and having fun with friends. Who wouldnt find this happy? Always makes me think of reading festival, which always makes me look forward to summer.

A sad song. 

Never Shout Never! - Losing It : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T351xhw0m1o

Enough said.

A song that reminds me of someone. I associate plenty of songs with plenty of people, but this song definitely does it the most.

Miserable At Best - Mayday Parade : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqM3Dr7agjY

I think this is the last one, a song that reminds me of somewhere. Well, Summer Jam reminds me of Reading Festival but ive already put that for something else, so after that its this one.

Counting Crows - Accidentally In Love : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUypt2nvorM&feature=fvwrel

My dad bought the shrek 2 soundtrack when we were on holiday in Florida, and this was the families favorite track. Therefore we played it over and over, and now everytime i listen to it i get a massive wave of nostalgia remembering all my past holidays, and a pining to be back in Florida. I cant listen because of it. 

Okay i cant be bothered right now, but i did have a couple things to talk about, ill definitely write again tomorrow. If i have time. Bleh this blogs been a bit neglected recently, im going to have to make a point of writing more regularly.

Thanks for reading guys, follow me on twitter if you dont already.

Peace, AJ

Music again; 30 day song challenge

I cant think of anything to write about, so to start myself off imma write about music. 


Ive decided to do that 30 song challenge on facebook, seems like a fun idea. Although the first song, supposed to be my favorite song, stumped me. I actually dont know my favorite song of all time, so i decided to do my song of the moment. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmUcQM0jmqQ 


Too Little, Too Late - A Skylit Drive


That song makes my hairs stand on end. A combination of the lyrics and the epic feel of that opening really get me, and i love the subtle synths, such a good melody, if anything they should be a little louder.


I cant stick to one song, too many good songs out there, so im going to do 2 or 3 for each day. Just to keep things fun and interesting.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iImrkunXTq8

Danger: Wildman - The Devil Wears Prada


I dislike religious bands intensely, but i absolutely adore this song. The screaming is so insane, the cleans are good if a bit auto tuned, and the use of the orchestral strings is brilliant. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t0ysBeGIhc

Plot To Bomb The Panhandle - A Day To Remember


I havent really given these guys a proper listen in a while, probably my favorite band of all time. I really do love this song, its got a real drive that makes you want to get up and mosh. The vocals are brilliant all round, the cleans are a little soft sounding compared to their later efforts, but in my opinion the production on the screams is far better on this album, giving the songs a much harder edge.


I can't think of anything else to listen to, probably because im too tired. I really need to start trying to get to sleep earlier, but i always seem to get distracted. I tell myself every single day that ill be in bed by ten, but that turns into quarter past eleven at best. Oh well. Im not helping right now, am I?


Thanks for reading, ill try blog something a bit more meaningful tomorrow. Hopefuly the 30 day song challenge will give me a prompt. 


Follow me on twitter if you ain't already, cheers.


AJ 

Been a while

I havent blogged in like a week, for a couple reasons, i was away with my girlfriend for a few days with no internet and back at school after half term so i havent had the time, so i thought it was time to do one. Gotta keep the world (the 70 or so people that read this) informed. 

Decided i have a fair bit to talk about so ill do it in sections, skip through to whatever takes your fancy, or skip past anything that doesnt.

1 - Holiday

2 - Back to school

3 - More music

1 - I had been looking forward to this for an absolute age. It was my first ever holiday with my girlfriend, so it was a special thing for us. The weather was pretty bad the whole weekend, but i had   a really great time, and me and Lily (my girlfriend) didnt have any fall outs or anything, so yeah all in all a good holiday. 

First day we got there about 2, and went out for lunch before going to the villa. The villa itself was pretty nice, it had a tv so we could watch dvds when we werent out. Okay im not feeling the dairy format, so ill just tell you the parts that i particularly enjoyed. The pool (centre parcs called in the very imaginatively named 'subtropical swimming paradise) was pretty awesome, they had a wave pool which is always good, a bunch of slides, and a really awesome set of rapids. Not the kind of rapids youve probably seen in pools before, where its a little dribble of current gently drifting you around in a circle, it was actually really fast. There was this one straight bit where you could go like a decent running sort of pace. Which is quick going headfirst in water. Paintball was good, but thats pretty self explanatory. Adrenaline high ropes (another brilliant centre parcs name) was also good. First off we did a Jacobs Ladder [http://www.elitetraining.co.uk/images/TeamAdventure_Files/Sussex/Jacobs%20Ladder%200355.jpg] which is that sort of thing. Me and Lily were teamed up with this little kid. The only reason he got to the top is because ide climb up first, then pull him up, bless him. Then we did this thing where we climbed up ontop of a platform atop a big pole with three other people (the platform was no more than a metre across, probably less) and balance up there, then do 'bum wars' where you had to knock the other two off with your bum. We were paired up with this old guy for this, so me and Lily teamed up to knock him off. Then, i knocked Lily off. Which was a bit mean, but they always say nice guys finish last (im joking by the way, i didnt care about winning. Much.). Eating out was also good, got to have a couple nice chats with Lily's parents, which doesnt really happen often. We also did bowling and table tennis, im sure you dont need me to explain whats involved there. If ive missed anything out i think of later, ill probably edit this. 

2 - School is such a drag. I hate getting up in the morning so much i cant describe it. My family and Lily can both testify that im really not a morning person, it doesnt really help that i go to bed late, but theres just not enough time in the day to do everything i want to do. Ide rather lose an hours sleep so i can relax watching tv or playing world of warcraft than miss out, and end up spending my whole day sleeping, eating, or being at school. Also GCSE's are only 10 weeks away. I cant believe theyre so close now, it feels a bit weird. I quite want to get them over with to be honest, im pretty hopeful ill do well with some revision and night before cramming. 

3 - A couple music related things i want to talk about. A Skylit Drives album Identity on Fire has grown on me, i was a bit harsh about it. Ide recommend it to be honest, its very melodic and easy on the ears for people not that into screaming and heavy breakdowns, so check out a couple songs on youtube or whatever. Im surprised i didnt think to write about Memphis May Fire's ep Between The Lies earlier. Its bloody fantastic. For those of you who have heard the previous ep and album, its heavier, more in your face, and the screams are vastly improved, but it still retains that southern swagger and the catchy hooks which made the first album very listenable. Far more chugging metal guitars, more breakdowns, but so riffy and with plenty of impressive guitar work to make it stand out from the crowd. I really would recommend that ep.

Action/Adventure for the stand out track.

I was going to write about world of warcraft as well, but i dont really feel like it right now. I probably will at a later date though (dont say you werent warned)

Thanks for reading guys, follow me on twitter if you would, and any feedbacks welcome.

Let me know if the new fonts any easier to read by the way.

Much love, AJ

Never back down

Ive gotten back into world of warcraft again. Yup, not ashamed in the slightest to admit it. I really enjoy it, so, for lack of a better phrase, fuck the haters.


I wish less people in the world cared so much about what other people thought. The reason im not afraid to say yeah i play wow, or yeah i play minecraft and love it, is because i dont actually give a shit what people say about it. Too many people arent willing to really be who they are, because of the stigma surrounding certain aspects of what they may or may not do. It winds me up that if you go against the grain, you are often ridiculed and laughed at for being your own person. I wish some people would grow up.


Although you can go to far one way. Some times caring what people think is a very desirable character trait. You tend to be a people pleaser, you dont often upset people, and you can make a lot of friends. But then again it can put plenty of strain on you, trying to do too much just to please others. Meh, its a vicious circle. Better to not care what anyone thinks at all and enjoy life, than too care more than anything about what everyone says and have hell for it. 


Haven't done much over the past couple days, nothing worthy of mention anyway. I cant wait for centre parcs over the weekend, ive been looking forward to it for ages.


Cheers for reading guys. Be your own person, and fuck whoever laughs or tells you to do anything different. AJ.


You crowd around me on the floor
Staring and observing
Seeing what I'm fighting for
Its not in you, not like this


It's so like you, indiscretion is all you can be
Screaming to see what is in between
I've been to Hell and back, the quiet never lasts
It's not like you to take a risk

Im in a funny mood

I just died on minecraft. Yes, that frustrated me.

Oh well, just a game. 

Anyways, ive resisted so far, but i have to comment on whats going on in the middle east. All i can say is if Karl Marx was still alive, he'd be sitting here saying 'I told you so'.

And i just got an error message. It said something like 'java runtime has detected a fatal error'. Well im still alive, so unless java knows something i dont, it wasnt fatal.

Im pretty tired as you can tell by the disjointed writing style, sorry about that. I cant think of much else of note to tell you to be honest. My day wasnt too bad, had a nice morning with my girlfriend, then went out for a haircut and a bit of shopping. Didnt get enough off, im too timid to ask for any more when they show you in the mirror, obviously proud of their work. Ah well, imma need another in like a month just before a drama performance anyway (ill probably blog more about that closer to the time) so im not too bothered.

I also bought a hoody (score). Im quite pleased with it. It made me laugh trying them on, because its a shop called Madhouse (i think theres one in basingstoke too, so some of you might know it), so all of the stuff in there is basically a huge mix of well known brands and brands ive never heard of, all really cheap. Its a bit like an outlet store really. Anyways, i was looking at these rip off super dry hoodies, and they looked quite nice, so i thought ide try one on. I grab a medium because thats usually my size in most places. I put it on and i can just about stretch it over my nipples. Im not joking it was absoloutely tiny. I tried the large, and it was a tiny bit bigger but not much. I had to buy the extra large. XL. Jesus, i knew japenese people were tiny, but i didnt think they were that tiny. Its like all the hoodies were designed for, at the biggest, a 5'10 skinny japenese dude. (Sorry if i offend). It made me laugh anyway.

Football training was tiring. But still enjoyable. Dont know why i bothered writing that.

Okay i think ive just about run out of stamina for tonight. Thanks for reading the blog, add me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/ArronDempers if you havent already, and if you want to feed back on what you read just fb or twitter me.

Oh, and watch this, shes good http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m7l1OMppQM

Peace, AJ

A bitta music

I thought ide promote a few albums ive been listening to lately, a couple are smaller bands who need the support, so go buy the cd if you listen and like (i know, im such a nice guy)

Ill start off with the song im listening to right now, Too Little Too Late - A Skylit Drive. The album, Identity On Fire, isnt actually that great overall, but that song and Fuck The System are two absolute beasts, for those who dont know A Skylit Drive are post hardcore, and this album has a tinge of synths. Nothing drastic, but it i actually think it really adds something to both those songs. The vocalists cleans might be a little high pitched / whiney for some, but the screams are very good (if you like screaming).

Close To Home's latest effort Never Back Down is one of the few albums in recent memory i can listen to without skipping any songs. Their sounds very versatile, but the basic formula tends to be very A Day To Remember, mixing heavy breakdowns, guttural growls and screams with soaring pop punk style chorus. At times the vocals take a very early Comeback Kid sound, a sort of half sing half shout, which i rather like. The stand out moments for me are the two opening tracks (not including the intro) Days of Our Lives and Count the Ways. Days of Our Lives is very Downfall of Us All (sorry for another A Day To Remember comparison) with a very uplifting chug-a-chug riff to open, before breaking into a more conventional pop punk sound, albeit with a slightly more frantic drum work. Count the Ways is my favourite track off the album, and where i feel they strike the balance between the heavy and pop punk best. The verses are filled with hate, growls, screams and shouts all over, with a catchy melodic chorus, backing woooaaahhs in abundance. The two contrasting points on the album (where they get heaviest and poppy-est) are All We Know, crunching, chugging metal guitars going toe to toe with the impressive range of screamed vocals, and Sink or Swim, instead showing off upbeat piano keys, beautiful soaring melodies and, of course, the gang 'woooaaahhhss' for the chorus. All in all a very impressive album, and definitely an accessible sound, the production softening the heaviness enough for less hardened ears (most of the time).

The last band imma write about for now is Ten After Two. Their 5 track ep If You Don't First massively impressed me. They lie on the heavier side of post hardcore, the clean/scream mix lying 60:40 in the favour of screams ide say, the guitar production heavy and crunching, and a point made of the (rather impressive) drum work. The first song, Behind Locked Doors, opens with a very hard, simple metal riff, deep from the bottom of your chest growls giving it a real punch. This contrasts wonderfully to the melodies of later in the song, which switches seamlessly from scream vocals to clean to a mixture of both, and honestly its all in all an extremely impressive song. Even the break downs don't sound like the same recycled break downs you've heard before, because they aren't. I'll be honest im not sure what it is, but they somehow manage to sound fresh and different in a genre which is awash with a sea of average bands, or unoriginal bands who recycle the same mix of melodies riffs and breakdowns over and over, in an attempt to rehash that full of promise first album feel three or four times. Honestly if your going to check out any of these bands, check out these, they are very very good.

Anyways, thanks for reading the blog as always, add me on twitter if you haven't already.

AJ (my nickname for those who dont know)

From the mobile, hopefully it works

Hey people,

Well I didn't post yesterday, so I'd feel like my blog was getting neglected if I didn't today. I'm at my girlfriends, and shes asleep next door where my laptop also happens to be, so I'm going to see if this app on my phone works. Fingers crossed.

Can't think of much to say tbh. Yesterday was a bit of a poo, had a boooring morning yesterday reffing three matches, but for the money I'm getting I'm not really complaining. 12 quid for 50 minutes at a jog (which in reality descends to a spirited walk) is pretty damn good, especially since I can squeeze three in and walk away with 36 quid for a mornings.... I would say work but it doesn't even resemble work in all actuality.

Then went to the reading game, and, to use a phrase a mate and me coined, we were more dyer than keiron. We lacked any kind of bite in the final third, no one seemed to want to take their man on, it really just didn't work. To watfords credit they were pretty well organised, but it was still frustrating.

Then I had a pretty chilled evening, watched Ali g in da house (seen it twice and it still makes me chuckle) and chatting to Ben white on Skype. Probably wasn't a good idea to talk until something like 1 in the morning, as I woke up at 12 30 the following afternoon, but I suppose that's what half terms for.

Gah my blogs boring, but oh well. Maybe if I talk more about minecraft.....

Well goodnight, thanks for reading this, add me on fb and twitter if you don't already have me, and recommend the blog to your friends, if you think its okay.

Night

Tired, but happy.

Evening, hope everyones had a good one.

Well its Friday, and not just that its the Friday of a half term. I am looking forward immensely to catching up on sleep, my first ever holiday with my girlfriend, and catching up on a lot of spending time doing useless things.

I just thought that im quite a simple creature; I dont need an awful lot of achievement to keep me happy. Obviously i enjoy my achievements when they do come, but i spend a lot of time doing fuck all, and i really enjoy doing it. Watching top gear, for example. I get nothing at the end of it, but its just mindless, relaxing, funny television. Minecraft. Pointless beyond belief for me as im not anywhere near talented enough to build anything worth mentioning. But, again, i enjoy the release from expectation. Its nice to just be able to experience pure, no strings attached emotion. Even the frustration that came from burning my own house down (which was heartbreaking by the way) on Minecraft came with a hint of sweetness - It didnt matter.

Anyway, thought ide start with a couple shout outs, a few friends also write blogs and these two are definately worth reading

http://benjaminjameswhite.blogspot.com - Ben White

http://interestedyeahiam.blogspot.com/ - Harry Davidson

Okay, ones worth reading, but Harry's band are worth a listen if you like that kind of music so i thought ide pop him here.

Anyway, my weeks been pretty good, if a bit tiring. Got my exam results all back bar a few and im pretty chuffed, A / A* in everything apart from class civ, which was a B (still got to get the rest of my marks back for German, so thatll probably end up being two B's, oh joy of joys). The grade boundaries are stupid anyway, i get 70%, which in most subjects is an A, and in class civ its scraping a B. The rest of the class civ taking population must be freaks getting 100%, dragging the grade boundaries up for us normal folk. Ah well, should probably just work harder.

I have to rant about the ridiculousness of the P.E. department at my school. In the past the sport offered to the better athletes who wish to play at a competitive level for the school (known as 'match div') has been extremely well run, coached and played. My year is pretty decent at the three major sports (cricket, rugby and football) and so we won a fair few games at a decent level. Recently however the quality of the coaching and the way the sports are run has declined significantly.

Rugby was quite frankly a joke. I dont need to name names, for those of you who attend my school you will know to whom i refer, but the level of coaching we received was at best questionable. A person who believes playing a forwards game against a team three times your size needs to think about if hes really in the right sport. Anyone with even a vague sense of what Rugby actually is will know thats a bad idea. The drills done during actual training sessions were either A; Shit. Or B; So complicated and baffling it was beyond comprehension. We literally took five huge steps backward as a team. In the end i decided refereeing youth football for a bit of money was a more productive use of my time (I referee youth football by the way, in case you didnt realise).

Now football, which is personally my favourite sport, seems to be veering dangerously in that direction. The beginning of the year seemed promising, the coaching was good and enthusiastic, and a promise to trim the numbers so as to receive more focused training, tailored to a higher quality player. What we have now is every session has degenerated to a friendly kick around, and our coach cant even be bothered to do after school sessions anymore. I might as well go do rolly-pollys in a field for an hour. Wait, the session wasnt even that long yesterday, we had a 40 minute presentation on a football tour no one wants to go on.

Normally if you offered me a chance to go on a football tour, i would say yes. Without hesitation. But when i explain you will see why this is a little bit different. There is nothing wrong with the tour itself. Five days in Frankfurt, Germany (not the most exotic place in the world, but better than Scotland or something) with three matches, and a range of sightseeing and team building activities, all for around 600 pounds. Sounds pretty good. Apart from the fact half the team cant go, because it has been sprung upon us a few months before the tour. Why was it sprung upon us. Because its not even our tour, it was meant for the year above, but they couldnt get even one person willing to go. Well, since half the team cant go, we decide it would be better not to go, since its supposed to be for the best team we can put together. But no, in their ultimate wisdom the P.E. dept have decided that its impossible to cancel a tour, which hasnt even been paid for, and simply rearrange it for us in a year, or even two. Its either this or nothing. Ive reached the point where i feel like our P.E. dept are either too lazy to do anything properly, or dont care enough. Whichever it is, i feel like punching someone in the face.

Anyway, rant over, i probably should end this soon as its getting a bit long.

A couple quick final things.

I wish i was in a band. I went to a very small local gig during the week, with maybe 10 people watching the bands, but i still wished i was up there, singing / screaming my heart out. It looks like it would be immensely fun, but i cant play an instrument, and ive always assumed that ruled you out of being in a band. Oh well, not all ambitions in life are realised.

And im so glad its half term. I need the rest.

Anyway, thank you for reading, follow me on twitter if you have it: http://twitter.com/ArronDempers. I try retweet interesting stuff, and ill tweet whenever i write a new blog, so yeah, an easy way to recommend my blog to your friends. If you think its worth that. Please do.

Cheers guys, Arron.

Right, lets actually blog about something - First Minescapade.

Okay, first proper post on this bad boy, lets see how it goes

I changed the title; 'Arrons life' sounds a litttlle bit gay to me. This title is obviously a massive improvement

Anyways imma make this first proper blog about the easiest thing i can think; minecraft. Yes, i know the game is gay, but i fucking love it.

So imma go for this whole 'If you die on minecraft, delete the world' thing and see if it actually makes the game any different (or at least the way i play it). For those not interested, you should probably stop reading and wait for the next post.

Can i put pictures up on this thing? Ill google it, and you can get some lovely screenshots of my minecraft escapades. Minescapades. Yes, thats the title for all posts minecraft related. Minescapades.

Okay ive figured out how to do pictures, ill try embed a couple.

I generate the world, and the first thing i see is a scary cave. For those of you not acquainted with minecraft, the basic jist is you collect resources during the day, and at night bad things come out and try and kill you. Bad things can also spawn in any darkness, so dark caves are bad and scary. First order of business is to try get some wood, so i can make a pickaxe. And other wood things.

I punch some trees, get some wood, make a crafting table, make a pickaxe, get some stone and make a better, stone pickaxe, and i luckily find some coal. I need coal to make torches, and torches give light and stop bad things spawning. And killing me.

Some poor sheep trapped in a little pond, little legs not quite kicking hard enough to lift it out. It made me laugh anyway.

Crap. I got all excited because i saw a vein of coal a bit away from my base, and in my enthusiasm i didnt pay attention to the time and its getting dark. D:

I risk it, and quickly mine the vein, swim back home and even have time to towel off.

Anyways, not an awful lot interesting has happened. Setting up your base is always the slightly more boring of tasks, but it has to be done. The plan is to set up my base, and then find some obsidian, mine it, go to the nether, and set up camp in the nether and see what damage i can do. I may set myself other tasks along the way, but thats the overall plan for this world. Unless i die before then. Which would annoy me.

Since i need an early night, ill quickly show you the front of my homely little hidey hole. I think it looks rather quaint. The insides just a big hole at the moment so i decided not to screenshot it, bit boring. I havent even heard any monsters about yet, so im feeling i picked a pretty good spot. Desirable location. < That was supposed to be a joke, i really need to buck up my ideas if this blogs not going to be boring.

Thanks for reading this if you managed to get all the way through, if you thought it was crap, i wont be writing about minecraft all the time dont worry, just skip the posts titled 'Minescapade'. Im genuinely proud of that, i think the minecraft developers need to pick up on that.

Anyways, goodnight all, Arron.

Blog 1; First ever blog

Well, its my first ever blog. I might as well start with why i decided it was a good idea to write this.

Firstly, I saw a few friends writing blogs, that sorta gave me the original idea

Secondly, I do alot of stuff in my life i quite like telling people about. Im quite a proud guy i guess, and whether you think thats a good thing or not, rather than go round telling people what ive done, i thought ide post it somewhere and they can read it if they want.

Finally, the thing that gave me that final push to actually do this was actually an article i read on pc gamers website. The article chronicled one players ordeals on the 8 bit, 3D indie developed game minecraft (i highly recommend the article and the game, http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/11/20/the-minecraft-experiment-day-1-chasing-waterfalls/ for the article and im sure you can use your initiative if your interested in the game). It might seem a bit odd, but it made me think; Theres plenty of stuff of minecraft thats made me laugh, or that i think would probably be of interest to some people. In fact, theres plenty in my life it'd be nice to talk about, just get stuff off my mind.

So yeah, thats the why. If thats bored you a bit dont worry, from now on ill try to keep it (relatively) interesting, and i try to look at the world with a pinch of humor, so hopefully ill make you laugh (after this blog ofc)

Anyways, i think im done with this opening blog, thanks for reading it, ill post on my facebook every time i write a new one, and fb mail me if you have any feedback, preferably constructive. It would be very welcome.

Cheers, Arron.