Where's all the Good Music?

Sometimes I get a little disillusioned with new music. Or, rather sometimes I find it difficult to muster up the enthusiasm to seek out new music. It may be an age thing. When I was but a wee lad (well, probably about 16) I lived for music. I read every music mag going, I spent hours in WH Smiths or John Menzies looking at rows and rows of tapes and flicking through endless plastic covered record sleeves looking for that new undiscovered album which would become my world for the next week or so. I'd scour all those specialist dusty record shops looking at dog eared second hand records looking for a bargain or that album discarded before its time.

But I don't do that anymore. In fact, I don't think those shops exist anymore. No, the extent of my musical journey of discovery encompasses looking at Amazon and Itunes' top 100. Big, underwhelming wow. But is it that the music has become more uninteresting or that the ways of discovering it has become a more clinical, bland process?

Probably the latter, unfortunately. Because the music is out there. It just take a little more effort to find it and less reliance on an actual physical feeling of joy at discovering it. So. what do I mean by that? Well, you have to forget about the actual physical joy of holding that scarcely listened to album in your hand. No, discovering new music revolves around finding a new web address or downloading an album some obscure bloke in the Times has recommended (when did I start truting anything the Times says?). Its not enough anymore to simply look at the top 20 albums in HMV and buy every other one because, chances are, you will be completely underwhelmed by the majority.Most modern bands unfortunately seem to currently have that "one album fits all" mentality and therefore, chances are, if you discover a band or artist you like, their second or third albums will sound exactly like their first (see Dido, Amy McDonald, Snow Patrol etc etc). Such artists clog the charts.

No to discover something new and exciting, you have to work a little harder than the modern day equivalent of flicking through records in alphabetical order. It can be disconcerting for the reasons mentioned above. It can even be actually a little depressing because it leaves one with the sense that, actually, modern music has nothing new to say. It's all to easy to revisit ones past and buy a best of Eagles CD or that copy of the Joshua Tree you never actually got around to purchasing. Unfortunately, thats called taking the easy option.

No, hit that internet thing you've been threatening to get a handle on. And, you know what, you might find something interesting. You might even find something that excites you in the way that the first time you listened to a copy of Pet Sounds all the way through did. I promise, they are out there.....Tara London (an old school soul/ blues singer who kicks Amy Winehouse well into touch), Leddra Chapman (a folky, poppy singer songwriter with a penchant for clever lyrics), Eli "Paper Boy" Reed (chanelling "Sam and Dave" in the best possible way). These are just three amazing people I've discovered in the last few weeks with a little help from modern technology. Who knows what the next few weeks will bring! Happy hunting!

No Reply

After sending off another splurge of e mails today to law firms I don't know, for jobs they probably don't have, I was left wondering "When does this all start to look a bit desperate?". In other words, when does looking pro-active turn into pestering? And, in fact, does it really actually matter at all?

There's one firm in particular whose e mail inbox probably starts flashing red if an e mail from me arrives. In fact I'd like to think that they have some sort of warning siren named after me in the event of undesirable e mails arriving on their system. I've interviewed with them twice (turned a perfectly good job offer down from them once, but that's another story) and since the last of those interviews have probably e mailed them 3 times. And, actually, I think its their fault.

You see, they dangled a very small baby carrot in front of me the last time we spoke. Apparently, I wasn't at all suitable for the job they were advertising (the clue was in the fact that the job title said "corporate" lawyer and not "real estate" lawyer) but they did want to speak to me to keep me "on the radar" as far as future real estate roles went. In fact, they even anticipated they may well have a suitable role in the "upcoming months". Perfect. A chink of light maybe.

So, a few months go by and me, looking to stay pro-active, decides to e mail them to "re-affirm my interest" (this is HR speak for "I'm still unemployed....give me a bloody job"). Nothing. Not even a courteous sorry, still no suitable vacancies. A few more months pass by and in a last ditch attempt to show that I am still keen to "return to the workplace (ie "I am now completely bloody broke and could really do with that job you sort of maybe slightly hinted might be on offer"). Nothing. And I was polite (again). But nothing. No response. I re-read the e mail to check for anything that might have sounded a bit desperate or impolite or, worse still, even for typos! Nope. Did I call him Edna instead of Edward? Paula instead of Paul? Definitely not.

So what was I doing wrong? Why has this person (who I've spoken to at length on several occasions over the course of various telephone interviews) decided to completely and blatantly ignore several polite, well meaning and well worded e mails? And today it hit me. Because he has a job to do. He's the manager of a large law firm. He actually has people he needs to manage. His job doesn't involve massaging my ego simply because he may have indicated over 12 months ago that he quite liked me and thought I might be suitable for a job if one came up in the future. This is a man who actually has work to do, whose day does not revolve around wondering what happened to that bloke he spoke to over 12 months ago and pondering on why he doesn't call any more. Because, although finding a job is pretty much the centre of my universe right now, finding me a job is not the centre of his.

So, does it matter that I e mailed him again today? No, I don't think so. So does my pro-activity start to look a bit like the actions of a stalker? Again, no, I dont think so. Its all about reminding people at reasonable regular intervals that you are still keen and still want to work for them. They may not have a job for you. Hell, they may not even reply (and why should they?). But if you don't swear at them, sound eager (but not too eager) and don't get their gender wrong, then there's nothing wrong in just checking in once in a while, just to see if things have changed. Because, lets be honest, although its tough finding a job at the moment, things can't stay this shit forever. And regular, reasonable, civilised law firm stalking could pay off.

Make me a Sequel Hollywood!

Sequels. Everyone seems to hate them. Or at least, everyone is prepared to hate them.

I have today spent a couple of hours of my life (which I will never get back) watching Transformers 2. And, I would love them back, because it was awful. Dreadful. So bad, that I wished I didn't even know that the film existed in the first place. I want to watch Citizen Kane just to cleanse my soul.

But is there anything wrong with sequels? Probably not. There is a whole lot wrong with lazy film making, but nothing wrong with seconds, or thirds or even more. And here's why. 10 sequels or films additional to the original that make us go out into the street to shout "hurrah":

1. Aliens- works because it takes the nasty from the first film (which is essentially a
horror film) and places it in the context of an action movie. Thus, we have a whole different movie to the first and one which feels as fresh as the first. Unfortunately it was all downhill after this.

2. Rocky Balboa- ooh we hated Rocky V! Why? because he didn't get to fight in a ring and crucially the human element of the story seemed to have gone AWOL...BINGO! the sequel that we should have had after that daft film with Bridget Neilsen.

3. Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull- why is this film here? Because its the sequel with the most to lose. It wasn't needed. The main actor was too old, it was a perfect trilogy as it was and it had the unenviable task of bringing an old fasioned Saturday matinee romp to the CGI generartion. And yet, it worked...it did exactly what an Indy film should do, Harrison Ford rolled back the years and it was replete with snappy one liners. Score!

4. Psycho II- OK, I'll admit that nothing can top the Hitchcock original. And yet, the second Psycho did everything that could have been expected of it, and more...it was scary, it yielded an excellent performance from Anthony Perkins and it provided an insight into the mind of a killer which was unnerving yet interesting (Rob Zombie take note with your Halloween remakes/ sequels).

5. The Empire Strikes Back-a predictable choice, but warranted nonetheless....it built on the Star Wars mythos and exploded it! Snappy dialogue, massive plot revelations and big special effect sequences. This was the sequel that created a franchise.

6. Godfather Part II- again an obvious choice in the context of this list. Yet, the reason for its inclusion comes from the inspired decision to add a back story to Marlon Brando's character and in addition to get Bob De Niro to play that part. Genius!

7. The Daleks Invasion of Earth 2150AD- slightly obscure I know! But, this sequel to Doctor Who and the Daleks is superior to the original Peter Cushing film in every way. It brought the enemy to Earth, created a believable post apocalyptic London setting and boasted some seriously way ahead of its time special effects. And Bernard Cribbins.

8. The Color Of Money- a totally different film to the original and all the better for it....Paul Newman and Tom Cruise together are dynamite!

9. Return To Oz- this was a massively brave sequel. To take everyone's favourite family film and turn it into a Terry Gilliam-esque fantasy takes guts. And though, underrated, this film achieves it in spades.

10. Speed 2- Jason Patric...on a very slow ocean liner......ok, now, I'm joking.

Money for Old Rope Mr Cameron!

Apparently, James Cameron is to re-issue the behemoth that is Avatar back onto the big screen as a Special Edition. Now, this is nothing new for Mr Cameron...the same treatment has been given to his previous sci-fi offerings Aliens, the Abyss and Terminator 2. And on the whole, its been a worthwhile exercise. The backstory added to Aliens gives the story a much greater depth and emotional punch, the tidal wave in the Abyss is worth the addition and the reinstatement of the Michael Biehn scenes into T2 is a given. In the case of Aliens, we get almost 25 mins worth of additional material which is substantial and worth shelling out for another copy of the film.

So what do we get in terms of extra Avatar-ness? 8 minutes. 8 minutes!! That's one maybe two extra scenes at the most. And, with a film that is arguably already a little flabby around the middle in terms of running time, its hard to see how this extra material will enhance what we have already. So what's the real point of this exercise?

Money. Nothing more and nothing less. Avatar has already grossed a staggering amount of money from both box office and DVD sales, but clearly enough is not in fact enough. No, all us suckers out there are expected to pay a further £10 to don those glasses again in the cinema and no doubt another £15 for the inevitable Special Edition DVD release. Although actually, Mr Cameron not this time. Now, I'm all for directors re-visiting their back catalogue with aspirations of improving upon what they perceive as an initially flawed product (see Blade Runner). And the key here is that these are often projects done with the benefit of the passage of time and some hindsight. There's nothing wrong with looking back at something you made 5-10 years ago and thinking "you know what, I could have done that slightly differently and slightly better". But 5 months later? Leave it out!

No, this to me is a cynical ploy to pray on that unfortunate section of the film going/ buying public that feels compelled to invest in every Special Edition, Directors Cut, Ultimate Edition, Special 10th Anniversary Edition that gets released. And this is without taking into account every copy of every film we own on video which we have had to replace with a DVD and now a Blu-Ray copy.

But this isn't an attack on James Cameron. Its just a symptom of the Hollywood film industry as a whole (undoubtedly in the fullness of time to be termed the "George Lucas Factor"). No-one is immune....Peter Jackson and his interminably long Lord of the Rings special editions, the aforementioned George Lucas and his endless tinkering and bastardisation of his Star Wars films. Rule of thumb nowadays...if a DVD is released with little or no special features, then you can guarantee that 6 months later a special edition will be hitting the shelves.

And enough is enough. I won't be going to see 8 extra minutes of Avatar, I won't be buying another copy on DVD and I wont be marking a date in my diary for the 20th Anniversary reissue with a new commentary track by the director, his cat and the cat's mother. I'll pay for a good dose of cinema, but I wont be getting any more repeat prescriptions.

Thumbs Up or Down

Ok, enough with the Legal orientated doom and gloom. Its Friday, so here's three things to make your life more fluffy and three things to avoid like a bagpipe recital:

Thumbs Up

1. Iplayer on the Wii. Oh no, I missed this weeks Shooting Stars and Victorian Pharmacy, what can I do? Watch it on my teeny tiny PC screen? Hell no, fire up the Wii and watch it on a big screen just like you were watching it off of the Telly live! The best thing since Mr Hovis took a large lump of cooked dough and decided to cut it into smaller bits of cooked dough.

2. Leddra Chapman- Telling Tales. Buy it! On CD..or on Itunes...its folky (but not too folky), its poppy (but not too poppy) and its like summertime encapsulated in one shiny musical disc.

3. Cold Case. People drone on and on about how great The Wire is, how brilliant CSI is blah blah blah (usually the same people who insist Skiing holidays are the only holidays worth going on). But everyone seems to overlook this fantastic US crime series. Sadly now finished but there are constant repeats on Sky 1, 2, 3.

Thumbs Down

1. Sick. Or rather the increasing number of people who use the word to mean "great" or "wicked". It doesn't sound very nice. Stop it.

2. 3D. Everything is in 3D now. The cricket's in 3D. A film isn't complete if it isn't in 3D. Really? Ok, well I better never watch the Godfather again until someone makes Marlon Brando jump out of the screen. Conversely, go and get me a copy of Jaws 3D because that was such a fantastic film. It's all James Cameron's fault.

3. Budget Airlines. Wow, my flight is only £2.00!! All I've got to pay now is £25 for my case, £20 to check in, £18 for using my credit card and £20 so I can actually sit next to the person I'm travelling with. And worst of all, £6.00 for a sweaty Ginsters sandwich. No thanks.

Climb every Mountain

There are so many ups and downs when you're job hunting. Mostly, long drawn out chasm like downs, but the occasional upward hillock gives us the motivation to trudge onward. Yesterday was the perfect example. News reached me that a local firm were in the market for a commercial property lawyer. Perfect, you would think and enough of a chink of light to spur me on to contact said firm. But, and here's where the uppy downy metaphor comes into play, don't get fooled into thinking that the prospect of a small up will materialise into you reaching the summit.

The job in question has been floating around for several months and, for whatever reason, I don't appear to be in the running (Jersey can be a strange place if you're not "local"). Nevertheless, if I decided to just sulk at base camp, then I may as well pack up and go home. So I e-mailed them. reiterated my interest in the job and dropped in a line about being persistent (or a pest depending on your perspective). So now the waiting starts. The endless agonising wait to even see whether you may or may not stand a chance of being interviewed. And, in this instance, I don't think I do. I don't know why and I probably never will (feedback seems to be something you only find nowadays when you put your guitar too close to the amp). But then, that doesn't matter. You see, even if you think you've more chance of winning the X Factor than actually getting the job in question, that shouldn't deter you from trying. You keep on trying and eventually you succeed.

So, it may only be a small hillock or it may be a great big mountain with my name on it, but unless you start the climb, you will never know. So seize every opportunity that comes your way, but don't get carried away by it. With the almost complete absence of property jobs at the moment its very easy to cling onto every half chance of a job that crosses your path. But, one of these days, one of those half chances will turn into a job. So, as Julie Andrews said "climb every mountain" and eventually one of those mountains will be yours to plant your flag in!

To Apply or not to Apply- Recession depression

Times are difficult. In fact, that's being polite. Times are god awful. So, after countless unsuccessful job applications and little or no feedback, where does one go from here?

It may be stating the obvious, but the primary thought to remain focused on is to "not lose heart". There are thousands and thousands of people out there who are in exactly the same predicament as you and competition for jobs is fierce. It simply isn't practical anymore for employers (and for that matter recruitment agencies) to give feedback on each and every job application. Invariably this can lead to individuals feeling discouraged (and I would count myself among those individuals). But rejection should not be taken personally. The shear number of people out there fighting over an increasingly limited number of job opportunities simply means that it will take you longer and take a larger amount of applications before you see some success.

So how best to stay positive and keep up the momentum for that job hunt? A more positive and effective use of your time is to pro-actively and regularly undertake a self review. Ask yourself after each rejection, how best can I improve my chances of success next time around? Can I improve upon or add to my CV? Am I using the same covering letter time and time again or am I pro actively making sure that each time I apply, I tailor that letter to the job in question? Now more than ever it is imperative that you stand out from the crowd. It is simply no longer sufficient to rely on a one CV and one letter fits all approach. In a market flooded with applicants, you cannot assume that your experience, your qualifications and your idenitity will stand out from all the rest. The onus is on YOU to tell a recruiter why YOU should be the one for the job.

Finally, be patient. The break will come. It probably won't come if you are happy to sit back and wait for the job to fall into your lap, but if you are proactive, stay positive and are your own best constructive critic, you will find work. Now go find that job!