Week In Review 27/10/09 (L4D-2 & 2009 Collection Suggestions)

I must say this is kind of relaxing, I’m sitting at the back of an empty bus on my way to do some shopping, whilst listening to the oceanlab album and writing up a blog post on my iPod. For some reason it’s making time fly by really quickly. I’m so shocked at how quickly this year went by. It feels like I was in Alaska only yesterday. My brother even pointed out to me the other day that my dad has been in the hospital for almost two months now. For some reason that really surprises me, it feels like he’s been in there for days, not months. I guess it’s a good thing that the clocks went back the other day, maybe now it wont feel like the days are super short. Although I really don’t know if that really is a good thing or not. It’s good because it wont feel like the days are going by so quickly, but it’s bad because I want the end of the year to come quicker so I can move and so my Dad can come out of hospital. I have no idea, oh well. On the subject of time going quickly, I am starting to draft up ideas for what I should do to end the “2009 Collection” mix series. There will be 10 mixes in the series altogether, and Volume 8 will be coming out this week hopefully. I’m hoping to finish it by the end of the week, probably around Thursday or Friday at this rate. I’m giving myself time to test drive it properly before I release it. Volume 9 will follow in early December or late November and then the final “2009 Collection” mix, Volume 10 will be released at the end of December. Perhaps for Christmas, or New Years? Thats where you come in. I’m looking for some good ideas on how to end the series with a bang. I have had ideas from people who have suggested an extended mix. Or a “best of 2009″ mix, where I mix everything that I really liked from 2009 in a two hour mix. Another idea I have had is having a double mix release for the final one with a special guest mix from someone? At any rate, I would like some help with deciding so if you have any good ideas at all please feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment below. Also don’t forget to check out my live guestmix on DJ Bluecores show on the 4th of November. I will be 100% this time around!

If you read last weeks blog post you will of noticed that I complained a lot about the lack of games to play. Well to my surprise I started Steam up on Friday and saw that everyone who pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 will receive early access aka the demo. It is supposed to be released at around 20:00 pm GMT time, but knowing Steam it will be delayed and unplayable until tomorrow. I wasn’t very hyped about Left 4 Dead 2 before, mainly because you have to buy a whole new game and the original one seems unfinished. They promised a bunch of updates but there have been very few, and the content just seems to get stale after a while. But I got over the need to pay, and after viewing the new trailer I am quite excited for it. I still think it is a bad idea, and the idea for a second game is completely retarded. But nothing will change, it is coming out no matter what and I might as well embrace it, right? Hopefully all of the problems with the first game are fixed this time around, I have high expectations for it seeing as it is a Valve game, so lets just wait and see. Forza 3 was also released last Friday, and everyone who has been playing it is saying it is the dogs bollox. Andrew was going on a rampage yesterday saying that it’s the best game he has ever played. I guess I’ll have to go over and play it sometime, because I’m dying to try it. Check out the new Left 4 Dead 2 trailer below, it’s awesome.

Last night I went out to dinner with John, Andrew, Lisa and my Mum for my Mums birthday. It was a lot of fun, we went to a curry house which we have never been to before. I think I had a bit to much to drink though, I ended up having 4 pints of Cobra and I turned a bit silly, if you catch my drift. Overall the meal was fantastic and it was a really good night out. Perhaps I should go there for my birthday which is coming up in December? Who knows. The only thing that was missing at dinner last night was Megan, who couldn’t be there for obvious reasons :(  This week I’ve got to go to a Job Fair because the Job Centre told me I should go, so that’s what I’m going to do. I have no idea what good will come out of it, if any at all but I will keep my fingers crossed and see what happens. Anyway, I must get back to work on Volume 8. I hope everyone has had a great week, leave me a comment below and tell me how your weekend went. And don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Talking of which I have new sub-domains setup for both, my new Facebook URL is http://Facebook.Jimo.co.uk and my new Twitter URL is http://twitter.Jimo.co.uk – Have a great week everyone and I’ll see you next with the release of Volume 8!

Digitally Imported Radio – The Swedish Candy Show Guestmix (DJ Bluecore & Jimo LIVE @ 7PM GMT – 04/11/09)

Show Date:  4th November 2009

I will be 100% live on Digitally Imported Radio aka Happy Hardcore Radio (http://www.happyhardcore.com) on Wednesday the 4th of November 2009. I will be playing a guest mix on the second hour of DJ Bluecores show, The Swedish Candy show! If you would like to listen in head on over to http://www.di.fm/hardcore and tune into the Hardcore channel at the times below. I will be playing a Happy Hardcore set with loads of new tunes and promos with some Gabber to top it all off, it’s definitely a show you don’t want to miss!

Show Times (Hour 1: DJ Bluecore – Hour 2: Jimo)
England: Wed: 7:00pm – 9:00pm – The Swedish Candy Show
Sydney: Thurs: 4:00am – 6:00am – The Swedish Candy Show
Los Angeles: Wed: 11:00am – 1:00pm – The Swedish Candy Show
New York: Wed: 2:00pm – 4:00pm – The Swedish Candy Show
Tokyo: Thurs: 3:00am – 5:00am – The Swedish Candy Show
Alaska: Wed: 10:00am – 12:00pm – The Swedish Candy Show

Stream Links |  Di.fm Calender Page |  Facebook Events Page

Week In Review 19/10/09 (Mega64 & Games)

I’m going to kick this post off with some of the most important things first before I begin ranting like an idiot. This Wednesday on the 21st of October I will have a guestmix spot on DJ Bluecores Swedish Candy show on Happy Hardcore & Digitally Imported Hardcore Radio. It’s something you really don’t want to miss. Check out the blog post for the event here and RSVP to the facebook events page there. If you haven’t used the Facebook events page interface before click “Invite more people to come” and select people from the list to invite your friends to listen in as well. The more people we can get to listen the better. Other then my guestmix I have been working silently on “2009 Collection” Volume 8. I’m preparing the set now because I would like to get it absolutely perfect in time for November. Hint Hint, Digitally Digital Stuff (November Edition) perhaps? So far the tracks I have chosen for it are really good. I’m still researching though so if you have any requests or an idea of what might sound good in it let me know. I’ve also been cracking down on a few of my work in progress tracks as well. I’ve been following the tutorials of someone named Kev Willows which have really helped some of my tracks take form. I hope to show off some previews in the next few weeks, but I’m not promising anything just yet, only time will tell.

Now that I’m done talking about my music production I can get to ranting. I usually like to write these blog posts to let off some steam, so I apologise for my ridiculous attitude most of the time. I have decided this week that I need a new game to play. I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I was playing GRID for the PC which I bought from Steam. Seeing as I’ve now completed the game I’m finally getting bored of it. The main problem with GRID is the lack of cars. The most recognisable car in the game is probably the Lamborghini Murcielago which is a bit of a disappointment seeing as other games like Forza 2 and 3 have Ferraris, Bugatti Veyrons, Audis, Mercedes etc. Talking of Forza, Forza 3 comes out on Friday. It’s to bad I don’t have an Xbox 360 because I would of found my new game in an instant. My brother Andrew is getting the game though, and he has a racing wheel as well so maybe I could borrow it from him when hes done playing it. I even tried installing Need for Speed Shift, however it ran like total shit on my computer. I’m pretty much stuck on what to do for games. Either games will not run on my computer or I just have no interest in them. If you have any suggestions for me, please feel free to let me know, they would be greatly appreciated. I might re-install Counter-Strike 1.6 and try and get back into the good old Half-Life fps games and go back to my roots. Or on the other hand I might just wait until Left 4 Dead 2 is released next month and just play the shit out of that with my friends. I’m sure I could find a game like Final Fantasy or something to hold me over. Talking of Left 4 Dead I am always blamed for everything that goes wrong in that game, it’s always a good laugh though. I can’t wait to play the next one. I got money off the game by doing the package deal with everyone from Team Gabe, so I’m pretty happy about that. Talking of Team Gabe it would appear that our Ventrilo information has been put on the “Ventrilo Harassment Blog“. If only they knew what we knew, they wouldn’t even bother.  Below is a picture of the ridiculously awesome looking Forza 3, which I just can’t have :(

I finally got myself a Mega64 t-shirt this week as well! Well, I ordered one. After watching the Game Days video they did I decided that it was about time that I finally got myself one. The shirt I bought is the one at the top of this page titled “Game Days”. If you read the description you will see that it says it comes with a super mystery gift. I’ll obviously let you know what it is when it arrives in a later blog post. If you haven’t seen any of the Mega64 videos I highly suggest you check them out. I’ve been a fan of them for a really long time now, there whole show is based on cos-playing as video game characters in public. Some of the videos they do are hilarious, like this one about captain basch from Final Fantasy 12. If you want to check out all of there videos click here. I really don’t have much else to talk about this week, things have been quite uneventful sadly. My Dad is still in hospital and progress is happening, but things are still quite slow. We wont know much else until the end of the month really. Oh I almost forgot to mention that my Alton Brown book arrived! I haven’t had a chance to properly read it yet, but I’m going to the hospital tomorrow so I’ll bring it with me then and have a good proper read of it. My catbus plush also arrived the same week as well, check out the picture of Jib and the catbus together! There is still no word on where my flight of the conchords DVD is though, perhaps I shall make some enquiries about that this week. But thats about all I have time for today. It’s 1:15am and I really need to get to bed. I hope you guys had a good week, let me know yours went by leaving a comment! Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter as well. Below is the Mega64 Game Days video that I was talking about. Also keep checking my website later this week, I’m going to be making a few seasonal changes for Halloween. Have a good one!

Digitally Imported Radio – The Swedish Candy Show Guestmix (DJ Bluecore & Jimo @ 7PM GMT – 21/10/09)

This show is now OVER – Thank you very much for tuning in! Let me know what you thought of the set by leaving a comment!

Show Date:  21st of October 2009

I will be live on Digitally Imported Radio aka Happy Hardcore Radio (http://www.happyhardcore.com) on Wednesday the 21st of October 2009. I will be playing a guest mix on the second hour of DJ Bluecores show, The Swedish Candy show! If you would like to listen in head on over to http://www.di.fm/hardcore and tune into the Hardcore channel at the times below. I will be playing a Happy Hardcore set with loads of new tunes and promos with some Freeform to top it all off, it’s definitely a show you don’t want to miss!

Show Times (Hour 1: DJ Bluecore – Hour 2: Jimo)
England: Wed: 7:00pm – 9:00pm – The Swedish Candy Show
Sydney: Thurs: 4:00am – 6:00am – The Swedish Candy Show
Los Angeles: Wed: 11:00am – 1:00pm – The Swedish Candy Show
New York: Wed: 2:00pm – 4:00pm – The Swedish Candy Show
Tokyo: Thurs: 3:00am – 5:00am – The Swedish Candy Show
Alaska: Wed: 10:00am – 12:00pm – The Swedish Candy Show

Stream Links |  Di.fm Calender Page |  Facebook Events Page

Week In Review 12/10/09 (The Market & New Hospital)

I felt like writing today because I’m sick and I have nothing else to do, so here we go. This past week has been quite stressful. My Dad was transferred to a new hospital in London earlier this week which me and my mum find to be quite inadequate. The level of care compared to where he was before is substantially low. In the old hospital my Dad was treated excellently. He had the privilege of being moved to the Coombe wing which is a privately owned section of the hospital, exclusively for those with private health insurance. In the Coombe wing he was given the luxury of his own room, properly cooked meals, his own TV and a lot more attention and care. After the transfer he has been put on a public ward because the hospital considers itself to be a hospital of “excellence” and therefore they don’t have private facilities. The main problem I have with this new hospital are the contracted staff who work for a company called SGP. The pig rude attitude of the SGP auxiliary workers there is disgusting. They blatantly ignore the patients and pay no attention to the strict diet rules that have been imposed by the NHS workers. When it says specificity on the board “NO STRAWS” and they then give the person a cup with a straw in it, you then have to wonder if they can actually read or if they care at all. I could go on and on about the problems with SGP and the NHS staff we encounter on that ward. I will say though that not all of the staff are bad, there are a few NHS nurses who are quite nice but most of them are incredibly grumpy and rude. I would love to explain the problems we encounter in more detail but because I’m not the one in care I shall respect other peoples privacy. And I know a lot of people will give me the “It’s free, suck it up” response but when someone has worked hard all of their life for the privilege of private health care, and they don’t have the facility’s for it because they think they are a “hospital of excellence”, at least make sure that it truly is excellent and not like every other NHS hospital. Being dehumanized is not the road to recovery, one day the NHS will learn that. I will leave it there.

If you read my blog post last week you will know that I have been learning how to cook properly. I mentioned that I would be making something called Mini Man Burgers from Food TV Networks show, Good Eats by Alton Brown. Unfortunately the burgers did not come out quite as well as I had hoped. I spent quite a long time searching around for the Onion Powder and I managed to get Onion Granules which I don’t believe is the same thing, correct me If I’m wrong though please! The burgers just tasted a bit flat, they didn’t really have any flavour to them other then the mayonnaise on the buns (Did I mention I love Mayonnaise?). I will admit though, I got a bit frustrated and I didn’t manage to cook it the same way he did. In his video he cut the burgers into squares and cooked them for slightly less time than I did. I cut my burgers into circles and cooked them for slightly more time. I believe it had something to do with the difference of Griddles. In his video he had a flat electric griddle which he was able to set the temperature for. I used a rigid griddle which went over a hob, which could be why they didn’t turn out quite as well. I even managed to set the fire alarm of because of the amount of smoke I was producing from the griddle, which gave Andrew and Lisa a good laugh. Even though I pretty much ruined my burgers I’m not put off by my incompetence. I bought Alton Browns brand new book yesterday “Good Eats – The Early Years” after listening to the NPR radio interview with him, which Megan’s brother, Mathew linked to me. If you are interested in listening to the radio broadcast click here, It’s well worth the listen! I have been cooking all week and I made a pretty awesome spaghetti bolognaise yesterday. Hopefully I will have more cooking stuff to share with you guys next week, I bought a pumpkin as it is close to Halloween so I hope to do something with that tomorrow. I’m determined to keep it up in preparation for when I move. Nobody wants to live with someone who can’t cook after all! My book arrives next week a long with my Flight of the Conchords DVD.

Talking of cooking and that sort of thing, when I was on my way to the hospital the other day I stopped off in Kingston to look at the vegetarian market. I’m not a vegetarian, or anywhere close but some of the things they had there were great. There was a cake table with all sorts of different cakes on them, I had a piece of a Carrot cake and my god it was good. It bought every other carrot cake I’ve had before to shame. It was moist and awesome, just how it should be. After several Carrot Cake samples I moved over to the Montezumas tent. I’ve had Montezumas chocolate before with Megan, where we bought some truffles and white chocolate. I went in with high expectations for this Dark Chocolate they were trialling. And let me tell you, they were met. It was Dark & Orange chocolate which uses no dairy products at all. It tasted better then there milk chocolate if you ask me. Check out there website here and buy some chocolate! Another great thing I had at the market was the new Stilton and Steak pasty from the West Cornwall Pasty Company. It Tasted fantastic, I highly recommend it if you go near one. Anyway, I’ve talked about food for far to long, it’s time to move on I think. But before we do here is a picture of a slightly strange Volkswagen Beetle with a big Tic Tac box sticking out of the back of it. They had a Tic Tac promotional day at the market, for those who are wondering.

Things have been slightly quiet on the music front this week. I’ve been juggling so many things it has been hard to sit down and work on some of my projects. With the added fact that I’m feeling sick as well, which really doesn’t help. But fear not, you will be hearing some new stuff very soon. “2009 Collection” Volume 8 is well under way and is set for an early November release. I’m hoping Volume 8 gets selected for the new mix header on the Digitally Imported Trance channel in November, but time will tell. The Global Hardcore Alliance 11 mix is still on It’s way. I’m still waiting for the cover to be finished before I can share it with you guys. It shall be done within the week I hope, but at this point I don’t know. Once I feel better I’m going to get a few guest mixes out there for you all to tune into aswell, so keep an eye out for those on my Facebook or Twitter. Progress on my super secret project is going a bit slow right now, and I’m dying to announce the details but I can’t right now. I promise the wait will be worth it, I just need to wait until everything is set in stone. Also be on the look out for a few brand new mixes to the Digitally Imported Hardcore channel. As soon as it updates that is, I don’t know when that will be unfortunately. After all, I’m still waiting for Jimocore v3 to be put onto the streams. Talking of Digitally Imported radio the 2009 Halloween forum contest has started, make sure you listen to all of the sets before voting! If you are familiar with the Digitally Imported forum boards you will know where to find it. The last thing I wanted to say is, I will be adding a mix preview section to the individual mix pages. I will be using the Soundcloud API and implementing something like this. The full quality versions of the mixes will of course still be available, and I’ll be making sure that when you click “download” it actually downloads it instead of playing in your browser. The player will be a feature for people who can’t download it, for example work computers, schools etc. Another good feature about this new system is that I’ll be able to track how many people download the mixes in more detail.

Thats about all I wanted to talk about this week, just a random fact: this has taken me about 4 hours of on and off writing to finish this. Too bad that a very small amount of people will read this but oh well, writing is stimulating and good for the brain! Let me know how your week has been by leaving a comment. As for me, next week is filled with hospital visits, job searching, Google Wave (More on that next week) and mixing. I will leave you with an old, but incredibly awesome video on how to ghost ride your whip. Have a good one!