Train of Thought

There, I’ve confessed. Last night I went to see the London Gay Men’s Chorus “Small Group” perform at the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. This was the third time I’ve seen them this year, and I’m likely to see them at least once more - for the Christmas show. Together with my own lack of musical talent, I think that qualifies me as a groupie!

I’d never been to the venue before, and you enter through a museum gallery with artefacts from London’s theatre scene. If I go again, I’ll plan on arriving a bit before the performance, and stop to read a few of the display cases. That being said, nothing jumped out and said ‘Read Me Now’.

Every time I plan to see the LGMC I’m a little nervous that I’ve seen them before, and well, isn’t it never quite the same as the first time? Every time, they blow me away. Go see them perform!

There is an obvious passion behind the performances, and quality touches throughout. Whether they sell out or respectably fill their chosen venue seems to be a bit of a lottery, which I don’t understand, as the shows are consistently good.

Last night was the “Small Group”, which must be about 15 strong (The full chorus puts around 100 men on stage), performing with a pianist to accompany them. There are quite a few solos and duets, and they always seem incredibly accomplished. I liked, in no particular order, All Girl Band, Rhythm of Life (the chorus has taught me different words for that, and they’re much more fun), Marry me a Little and Natural Woman. Seasons of Love is another favourite of mine that they perform well.

Thanks to Liam and Brett for suggesting the evening - I would probably not have seen the small group until later in the year otherwise. The rest of the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it - the group next to me started laughing at one of the jokes, and then couldn’t stifle ongoing giggles for several pieces afterward. A great atmosphere!

I’ve just installed iTunes v7, and I have a big smile on my face.

After installing (I didn’t think I’d notice any new features), I decided to take Apple up on their offer of downloading all the album art for my MP3 collection. I was mildly annoyed I had to give my credit card details (I’ve never shopped at the iTunes store, and never plan to), but I bit the bullet.

Half an hour later, the new Cover Flow browser mode was making me smile as I saw images I recognised from my long stored CD collection! A few surprises too - I bought a large chunk of the collection in the US, so some images are not the same in the UK.

Flipping through the images is smooth and slick on my old iMac, and really brought a smile to my face, as another dimension to my collection became apparent.

Now I have a new problem - several of my recent purchases have no image. They’re from bands without record deals, so now I want to figure out how to get suitable graphics for them. Tips gratefully received!

My last blog entry was a fairly impersonal affair - most of the listings are for sites with many thousands of readers.

I’ve often come across pages of friends on other people’s websites, but I don’t understand how those work. When do you edit a public page? As people come and go in your life, become more or less significant, does the internet need an update? What about all the people without websites?

So here, as a blog post, a moment in time, is a list of people I know who are also on the web:

Ade, Alistair, Andy, Dan, Dave, Jimbo, Jon, Liam, Rich, Sean, Simon & Susie and Stephen

The caveat of being on the web is significant. Whilst most people I know seem to have an email address these days, a blog or a website is a much rarer thing. I’ve also skipped over people who only have profiles on social websites like outeverywhere.com, gaydar.co.uk or linkedin.com, since those seem to be ’semi public’ by convention, and not particularly intended for linking from places google might find. My own profiles are detailed separately.

I still haven’t figured out what to use the sidebar/blogroll for - Liam’s looking quite lonely there. Is it something for my convenience, or is it for the audience of this blog? Who is that audience?

Anyway, while I figure that one out, here’s a few things I read regularly. The order is not significant:

• Edward Tufte - Ask ET: Discussions about information display and design.
• Slashdot: Geeks at work and play.
• Dan Bricklin: Blogger on software
• Joel On Software: Blogger on software.
• Andrew Sullivan: Blogging from a conservative gay Catholic in NY.
• The Old New Thing: Something interesting about Win32 every day.
• Dilbert: The cartoon.
• Madam and Eve: A cartoon from South Africa my brother introduced me to.
• Adam and Andy: Cartoon about a couple somewhere in the US.
• Doonesbury: A habit from my stint in the US.
• Rands In Repose: Thoughts on software management, and Vegas!
• Scripting News: Blogging on tech stuff. The first one I started reading!
• Schneier on Security: Readable thoughts on security (usually of computers).
• Steve Miller’s CultureWatch: A survey of thoughts and essays from the libertarian wing of gay culture.
• The Cycling feed from the BBC

A mixed bunch, but a few themes and stereotypes are there to be observed :-)