My annual season ticket is one of those that is 'more', at 9.9%.From January next year Southeastern's regulated fares (e.g. season tickets, standard returns) will increase by an average of eight per cent.
This is based on the Retail Price Index (RPI) + three per cent formula set out in our franchise agreement with the Department for Transport (DfT), awarded in April 2006.
It is an average increase, so some fares will rise by less, others by more.
From the Evening Standard:A rail company which is increasing regulated fares by an average of 8% next year - 2% more than the national average - is promising value for money.
Southeastern said the rise was in line with government policy for passengers to pay more and taxpayers to pay less.
The firm was given a different fare calculation because of high-speed services to be launched next year.
AN MP today warned of riots by rail passengers after fares were increased by more than twice the rate of inflation.For anyone who has a 'question' for Southeastern's managers, they will be at Cannon Street station on 4 December, from 8am.
On Metal Hammer there is news that Black Sabbath Converse Trainers will be on sale in time for Christmas. In the States.The three different designed trainers are expected to be on shelves in time for Christmas in the States, though no details have been announced for a UK release.
Since 'That's Life' with Esther Rantzen is no longer on TV, where I could have sent this vaguely amusing photo of one of our home grown tomatoes, I've put it on my Flickr page instead.
That Was Just Your LifeJust waiting for the download to become available now, a much better souvenir of the night than a 20GBP t-shirt.
The End Of The Line
The Thing That Should Not Be
Of Wolf And Man
One
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Frantic
Until It Sleeps
Wherever I May Roam
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Blackened
- - - - - - - -
Stone Cold Crazy
Jump In The Fire
Seek and Destroy
Now back to reality. As you may know from my web site and lyrics, I am pro all life, not just unborn fetuses. I don't understand people who say they are pro-life, but then support unnecessary wars and the disgusting slaughter of animals for sport. I respect people's freedom of religion, but I absolutely abhor hypocrites. Which brings me to this horrific video [see below] of cowardly bastards in airplanes, shooting wolves for so-called 'sport,' and the hypocritical politician [referring to Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin] [she's supposed to be pro-life, remember], who allows this cowardly act to take place in her state.
It's midnight here at HQ and we are incredibly proud to present you with the debut of "The Day That Never Comes" ...not so much the standard video fare, but what we like to think of as a short film.The video can be viewed at Metallica.com. The song is fantastic (the band are back to their old form, in my opinion) and video has a pretty tense ending.
I was going to give the generator a sophisticated grammar for more varied sentences, until I realised the Mail’s grammar is nearly always the same.Why not also try the David Blunkett policy maker, Michael Howard Sings The Smiths, or Alastair Campbell’s Wheel of Retribution?
Maybe, who knows, I could race someone at the egg and spoon race as that was my particular area of expertise.
Another tough decision of whether to use the smiley face or not.There is also a recreation of Martin Elliott's 1976 Tennis Girl.
Is it St Anger? No.There are no individual song titles for the ten track, 75 minute album, but it is being referred to as 'nine epics and one song'.Does it suck? Fuck no!
Are the solos back? Fuck yes!
The kids don't understand us,
They think we're full of sh*te
But we are The Dads,
AND THE DADS ARE ALRIGHT!
On our travels we met up with other street skiffle acts like the terrific Railroad Bill, sharing tips on how to play the kazoo, and swapping carnival huckster spiel for working a busking crowd…
…'The real thing is on our site,' wrote Dan from Railroad Bill, and indeed it is. If you go to skiffle.co.uk you can see Railroad Bill ('Lonnie Donegan on speed') leaping around with tea-chest, washboard, saw, ukulele, kazoo and (in one instance) a ripping roll of Sellotape. They're really good. And they're really skiffle…Check out their myspace page for tour dates and music.
Two years ago, Dio, Iommi and Butler and drummer Vinny Appice reunited to record a trio of new songs for Rhino’s Black Sabbath: The Dio Years before launching a highly anticipated and greatly acclaimed world tour under their new moniker Heaven & Hell. Revitalized by the reunion, the lineup is back in the studio now recording the first ever full-length studio album from Heaven & Hell, set to be released by Rhino in early 2009.
Last year's winners were Russell Brand and Fiona Phillips, and this year, they compete again with other celebrity favourites like actor and vegan shoe designer Natalie Portman, Celebrity Big Brother contestant Traci Bingham, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and Spiderman cutie Tobey Maguire.I don't know about any of them, but Natalie Portman and Geezer Butler are getting my vote.
What, no testimonial from Dave Brock?Director/producers Greg Oliver and Wes Orshoski have revealed that they plan to make a movie of Lemmy's life.
The movie will be a documentary entitled, wait for it, Lemmy: The Movie and will feature testimonials from Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper, Steve Vai and WWE Superstar Triple H. A 2009 release date is expected.
Samwise GamgeeI am quite happy with that, as it happens.
A brave and loyal associate full of optimism, you remain true to your friends and their efforts, to whatever end.But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Samwise is a character in the Middle-Earth universe. You can read more about him at TheOneRing.net.
Similarly, in order to promote the feigned existence of the Welsh language, whenever an Englishman walks into a pub in Wales, the Welsh stop speaking English and make up words instead. To try and appeal to the English speaking masses a new Welsh Dictonary was released in 2006 under the title How To Cheat in Big Brother.
You can here Let's Go on Crudo's MySpace page.Mike Patton has bared the first fruits of his labour with Dan The Automater online.
The versatile duo has been working on the collaboration for some time and this is the first taster of the project that they've called Crudo.
Design with a conscience…
A house in Staplehurst, Kent that rejects the faceless vanity of contemporary architecture borne of a relentless lifestyle industry in place of design that explores the uniqueness of 'place'..
Crossway demonstrates how contemporary design can celebrate local materials and crafts to produce a highly efficient building that sits lightly on the Earth
Amazon.com is currently listing an October 28, 2008 release date for the new METALLICA album. It should be noted, however, that this information has not yet been corroborated by the band or the group's record label, Warner Bros. Music.
"We're looking at how we can embrace everything," Ulrich told Rolling Stone. "We want to be as free players as possible. We've been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in 27 years or however long it takes for the next record, we'll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the internet."
Don't tell anyone, but another tour announcement is coming Monday. Stay tuned!
You know what, if it happens, it happens, if it don't, it don't," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "They're [saying], 'I'll be able to do it', then a week after, you get a phone call, 'it's off'.
I'm glad at the end of the day we all made friends again.
Apple executives claim customers would be willing to pay $100 (around £50) extra for their iPod or iPhone if it gave them "all you can eat" access to the iTunes library for the "lifetime of the device", according to a report in the Financial Times.
who could have a $8 (£4) fee added to their monthly phone bill. Subscription customers would be allowed to keep "40 or 50" tracks per year, even after their subscription has lapsed.
The Open University is committed to supporting Mac users and also users of other platforms such as Linux in all future activity.
The newly-disclosed patent application waas filed in the US in September 2006. It shows a device that’s around half the size of current generation iPhones, featuring a transparent dual-sihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifded touch sensitive trackpad cover. The patent says both sides of the cover can be controlled at once.
According to Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, psychedelic drugs formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times.
Speaking about his article on Israeli public radio, he added: "As far as Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either. Or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics."
We're just finishing up a record, we've got six weeks left and it should be out in September, that's the idea right now.
I like it and I'm one of METALLICA's harshest critics. So far it feels pretty good but there's still plenty of time to fuck it up, so let's see what happens.
While we're finishing up the new album, we told the dudes at the record company we thought it might be cool to dust off the old tapes and get all retro with some vinyl re-releases...
There will be two versions...one like the original on a single disc spinning at 33 1/3, the other a two disc, 180 gram vinyl, 45 rpm package all in a double gatefold. The music was half speed mastered from the original analog tapes at Mobile Fidelity to bring you audiophile quality.
There's no talk of SYSTEM doing anything," Malakian told MTV.com. "We're not planning on doing anything. If anyone's holding their breath for a SYSTEM record, they're going to turn blue and pass out. It's a long ways away, if it ever even happens. We don't even talk about it — none of us. This is my band right now.The Scars On Broadway album is due for release after the summer.
Apple and the BBC have declined to comment on a report that claims that BBC TV programmes will be available from next week on the iTunes Store.It would certainly get around iPlayer's limitations on the download service being Windows only.
…to represent publishing best practice on a wide range of green and ethical standards. The books will have no jackets, instead featuring unbleached board covers that are 100% recycled.Okay, unless you work in publishing, you may not find this as interesting as I do.
They will be printed on FSC-certified paper, use vegetable inks and environmentally friendly glues, and be bound using energy-saving "in-line binding".
Some men buy motor bikes, some have unfortunate dalliances with younger women; Chris and Dan form a punk band.
Serves 8-10
For the base
100 g/31/2 oz/ generous 1/2 cup vegan plain chocolate (bittersweet chocolate)
175 g/6 oz/2 cups vegan digestive biscuits (Graham crackers)
For the top layer
200 g/7 oz generous cup vegan plain chocolate (bitter-sweet chocolate)
2x125-ml/4-fl oz packets soya cream (Elmlea works well too, helps it set better too)
1 tablespoon rum
chocolate curls and/or icing sugar (confectioner's sugar), to decorate, optional
- First, make the base. Break the chocolate into pieces and put them into a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, the bottom of the bowl above the surface of the water, and leave for a few minutes, until the chocolate has melted.
- Meanwhile put the digestive biscuits (Graham crackers) into a polythene bag and crush with a rolling pin to make crumbs. Put these into a bowl and add the melted chocolate. Mix well, then press into the base of a 21-cm/81/2 inch loose-bottomed cake tin (cake pan). Chill in the fridge while you make the top layer.
- Break the remaining chocolate into the bowl in which you melted the chocolate for the, base and melt over simmering water as before.
- Add the soya cream and rum to the chocolate, then whisk thoroughly until the mixture has cooled and thickened a little. Pour on top of the base and smooth the top.
- Cover the top of the tin with foil or a plate then chill for at least 3 hours. It must chill thoroughly – 12-24 hours is not too long – and make sure it is well covered so that it doesn't pick up any flavours from the fridge.
- When you are ready to serve, remove the sides of the tin (pan), leaving the Torte on the base, then slide it – still on its base for safety – onto a serving dish. Decorate with chocolate curls and/or a sifting of icing sugar (confectioner's sugar), if using.
I've just made a pan of veggie chilli for our dinner tomorrow. I've started using a couple of varieties of beans instead of brown lentils and kidney beans, or VeggieMince and kidney beans.1 tbs olive oilYou can use as many varieties of beans as you like, really.
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp hot chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red pepper, diced
250g mushrooms, quartered
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Tomato puree
1 tin kidney beans
1 tin pinto beans
200ml vegetable stock, mixed with large tsp of Marmite
- Fry the onion until soft, add the garlic, spices and herbs and cook for 1 minute
- Add the diced pepper and stir fry for a couple of minutes before adding the mushrooms and continue to stir fry for a few minutes
- Add the tomatoes, puree, beans and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Serve with some rice or whatever else takes your fancy…tortillas, jacket potato…
reports that the release of METALLICA's new album has been delayed again, according to the band's record label. The band's ninth studio CD is now expected to hit the stores in September. Originally METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich said it would be out in February, then the release was pushed back to April.Good grief!
Update (1.23.08): In response to Stereo Warning's previous news bite, Metallica management told The Pulse of Radio that the disc has not been "delayed" since there "has never been an actual release date." As for when the record was likely to surface, the representative said, "It will be out when it's ready."Many are saying that the last time the band spent this long in the studio, they released the Black album. I was hoping for something more like Master of Puppets myself.
I went to see Stephen Fry's production of Cinderella at the Old Vic last night. It was very, very funny and had a large helping of double entendres and innuendo, some very camp moments, a couple of very ugly sisters and lots of singing and dancing. Just what panto is all about.Take your seats for the perfect evening of family Christmas fun in this sparkling tale of magic, midnight and mischief: jam-packed with laughter, cross-dressing, singing, shoes, envy, dancing and cake. And of course love, the truest purest love you could ever wish for.The only problem was, I had to leave early and miss the last twenty minutes, thanks to Southeastern trains. Network Rail were doing late night engineering work, which meant that if I had stayed until the end of the show, it would have taken me two hours to get home instead of the usual hour. The last hour of the journey would have been by replacement bus service, which didn't really appeal.
Brit Death Metal outfit Bolt Thrower are currently writing material for a new album:If you're wondering why there hasn't been a lot of BT news for a while, that's because we are still in writing mode for the new album, which we plan to record in the summer. And during the break between the recording and mixing of the album, we will play our only festival of the year.Unfortunately, the festival happens to be Party.San Metal Open Air Festival in Bad Berka, Germany on 7-9th August. Hopefully, they'll a few UK dates to promote the album.
Here are some rumours we've heard with regards to who might be playing the Reading/Leeds festivals this year.
Reading Festival - Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th August 2008
Main Stage >> Friday 22 August >> Rage Against The Machine - strong rumour
Metallica - strong rumour >> unknown day
My Chemical Romance - rumour >> unknown stage >> unknown day
NoFX - strong rumour
At the Macworld Expo in San Francisco today, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled some new goodies from Apple.There's a lot of light and shade in these songs. There's heavy, fast, nutty stuff, and then there's some slowdowns and musical interludes. It's pretty different from 'St. Anger', and it's pretty different from the 'Load' stuff. This stuff is not the one-dimensional punch in the face that 'St. Anger' was.Okay, let's have less talking about it, and get the damn thing out!
Those guys are, like, I mean it doesn't get much heavier than playing with Tony and Geezer," he said. "Tony on this side and Geezer on this side, it's just a wall of sound. And then you got Dio, who manages to sing over all that, it's just totally incredible. I'm in heaven...and hell.
Metal at 40 - Tells the story of the loudest and darkest form of rock.BBC Radio 4 documentary broadcast this week, available on Listen Again.
