Grufff

Jon Hopkins is great. Definitely check out his albums before Immunity. I'd recommend checking out the film soundtracks he did as well (The Lovely Bones, Monsters & How I Live Now). I'm getting quite excited for the release of Slow Magic's new album next month and hoping to see him on tour:

Probably too late to make a difference, but definitely check out Daniel Avery if you want to kill some time between Thundercat & Blood to Spill. Also, there's Tycho in the gap between Todd Terje & Grimes.

It seems like Olly Moss & Duncan Fyfe (Campo Santo Ombudsman) have become friends recently. Maybe try becoming Duncan's friend first, and then using him to get to Olly?

Why not draw some Firewatch fan art and send it to Olly? That might attract his attention. Maybe see if Jake or Sean can put in a good word for you?

Black on black should definitely make a comeback. For now though, I chose purple.

Any thoughts on the new DFA1979 track? I'm not entirely sure, but I still bought tickets to go see them live.

If it's any use, I know Olly Moss also went to Birmingham University. You could try talking to him about the landmarks of Birmingham?

It's all available through bandcamp. The album with "Retired" on is called 'Coming Soon', and it's free/name-your-own-price.

So after hearing them on their track "Kiyoko" on end credits of the Akira Project trailer, I'm really enjoying Le Matos. Everyone loves a Vangelis Blade Runner sample.

I've been listening to SPEAK recently in preparation for their new album: One of their recent videos was also a game: Be Reasonable, Diane (Sadly, they wrote 'video game' as a single word)

This thread introduced me to Tobacco (courtesy of Snooglebum - wherever he is now). He has a new album out next month. NSFW

Having watched it again the other day, I still really like A History of Violence for examples of comic book adaptations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lYFQ36jg3E

Babe: Pig in the City?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2597705/The-new-robot-mannequin-tests-armed-forces-chemical-biological-suits-revealed.html

The Telegraph is reporting that Alex Salmond will replace the Queen on new pound coins in Scotland.

Yeh, I'll be there on Sunday.

Also, after 8 years, the follow-up album from 'Jackson and His Computer Band' is being released in September: People in the UK would know him from the sample of Utopia used on the O2 "bubbles" adverts:

Sourdough is easy to do but takes a bit of time to get started. I've got a starter that's about 3 weeks old but it's producing some lovely bread! The basics for getting a starter going are as follows: 1kg strong white bread flour 360ml tepid water 1 organic apple (grated, with skin, avoiding the core) Mix 500g of the flour with the water and apple. Tip into an airtight container and mark the level on the outside (so you can tell if it's risen or not). Cover and leave for 3 days. After 3 days, the mix should smell sweet, look darker in colour and have started to rise. Discard half of this mix and add another 250g flour & 170ml water. Mix it thoroughly. Tip back into the container, seal and leave for a further 2 days. After 2 days, check the dough. There should now be plenty of activity and lots of bubbles in it. Check to see if the dough has risen & fallen - you'll be able to see smearing on the side of the container. If it's risen & fallen, it is active. If the dough is active, discard half of it again, and mix in another 250g flour and enough water to return it to a sloppy consistency. Tip back into the container, seal and leave for 24 hours. If the starter begins to bubble during this time, then it is ready to use. Ideally, when you come to use it, you want your starter to be thick and bubbly. Tips for using the starter - If you're using it regularly, you can keep it at room temperature, feeding it at least every 3 days and whenever you make some bread. If you're using it less regularly, then keep the starter, covered, in the fridge. It will preserve it almost indefinitely, but bring it back up to room temperature before using it. As for a recipe, this is the oneI use. It makes 2 'cob' loaves but you can shape them however you want. 750g strong white bread flour 500g sourdough starter 15g salt 350-450ml tepid water Combine flour, starter and salt in a mixing bowl. Add 350ml water and begin mixing, adding more water if necessary, until you have a soft, rough dough and have picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. Coat a work surfade with a little olive oil, then tip the dough onto it and begin kneading. Knead the dough for about 5-10mins. The dough will seem quite wet initially but work through this until it starts to form a soft, smooth skin. Once it feel smooth and silky, place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rise for 5 hours or until it's doubled in size. Tip the risen dough on a lightly floured work surface and fold inwards repeatedly until you've knocked all the air out and the dough is smooth. Divide the dough in half and shape each piece into a smooth ball. Place each ball onto a tray that's been covered with a heavily floured cloth (or into a proving basket). Put each tray inside a clean plastic bag and leave to rise for approx 10-12 hours (or until they've at least doubled in size and spring back when lightly prodded) Turn the dough upside down onto a baking tray and cut a heavy slash in the top. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 30-40 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and the base sound hollow when tapped. At step 4/5, you can add different ingredients to turn them into flavoured sourdough loaves. I'm quite fond of adding apple & cheddar and doing it as a flat loaf. If you do any other ingredients, it may take a bit longer to rise the second time though (12-14hrs).

There's two versions of the film on that disc - The main feature, which is a digitally re-mastered and CGI-enhanced version, and the original version, which has no CGI in it but has a remastered for the blu-ray release. E: I've just read this - "The included original version of Ghost in the Shell is not the HD master from Japan. It is a laserdisc master, upconverted to 1080i. Also, they've fixed the back cover in later prints to have the correct features on the back. I still recommend this if you're a fan." so maybe that's what TheYoungCato meant?

Huh? Ghost in the Shell 2.0 - Ignore the main feature and just watch the digitially re-mastered original version found in the 'Extras' menu.

I thought the same thing with the new album, not what I was expecting after Apocalypso. Ghosts has definitely grown on me though. The new Van She album is worth a listen though. Modular really goes sign some good artists. Also, new DFA1979!! - https://vimeo.com/49899874 EDIT - Oh, and I also seem to be listening to this a few too many times. Can't get enough of it!

Awesome stuff! Cheers for heads-up! Speaking of John Peel, this may be of interest if you've not seen it: http://thespace.org/items/s000004u It's an archive of loads of John Peel "stuff" such as his record collection, various sessions, photos and radio shows.

There's the Top Gun t-shirt as well.

If anybody fancies meeting up and giving me a blood transfusion, that'd be greatly appreciated.