I'm not sure what we were doing but it was fun.

Last night I was lucky enough to see the Japanese punk band Secret 7 Line at one of the few live music venues in Shanghai, YuYinTang.

They were super special.

Seriously.

It could have just been that I was quite drunk but I doubt it.  Secret 7 Line rocked.  Their songs were all in English and they did a couple of excellent punk covers.  Tubthumping was good but I loved their cover of ‘Had a bad day’ by Gavin Degraw.  The guys in the band were friendly and their English was much better than my Japanese so my advice is check them out.

As for Yu Yin Tang as a venue I liked it.  It was small, dark and drinks were cheap (for Shanghai bar prices).  There were quite a few foreigners there but I guess Chinese people just don’t like this music very much (someone let me know if I’m way off) ?  The Chinese that were there were really into the music and I discovered that moshing and mosh pits seem to transcend language barriers (I have a couple of odd bruises today that back that up).

So, in short, I’m definitely going back sometime soon…

No no this isn’t a lame reference to a previous post on the excellent movie Eagle vs Shark.

Anyone that knows me knows my family has had pet dogs since I was born (the latest new canine Shove is Daisy).

Anyone that knows me well will know I’m a fan of our primate friends.

Anyone that knows me very well will know I regularly read Monkeys In The News to keep up to date (seriously, there is primate research/news often publicized there that sheds light or perhaps familiar shadows on the human condition. Oh, and there are funny monkey pictures too).

But never did I expect these interests to collide on youtube under the title ‘Dog Vs Monkey.

I’m not sure why I think its interesting or funny. Is it the way the monkeys toy with the dogs as though they know they’re in charge? Is it the way the dogs seem to play with the monkeys the same way they would play with humans? Is it just nice to see two species managing to get along well?

Is it big or funny? or am I just a wrong’un?  you decide.

Last Friday night I was lucky enough to get a free ticket and my name on the guest list (thanks Tony!) to see The Mars Volta. It was a good night, I got to see parts of the Brixton Academy new to me even though I’ve been there a fair number of times in the last decade. However, the gig itself was decidedly odd…I should confess up front that I’d never listened to any of Mars Volta’s music before so its probably my own fault. They were loud, which is fine. They were loud and had a guy playing brass and often switched instruments with often 3 people playing percussion. However they were loud and they just wouldn’t stop.

Honestly they wouldn’t which was the strange thing. There was no support act, the tracks meandered on longer than any other band I’ve seen, often one bleeding into the next and at no point did they stop to speak to or even acknowledge the audience. If no audience had been there at all I fully expect they’d have got on stage and performed their 3 hour set (yes Three!) with the same energy and enthusiasm.

Maybe that counts as cool… but that accompanied with the vocals being less audible than the guy playing the maraccas makes me think it isn’t.

If any Mars Volta fans (Pete?) stumble upon this post please let me know what it is about them that I wasn’t getting and I’ll try and look out for it next time….

Films (movies to any Americans reading) in which nothing dramatic or world changing happens but this nothing happens in a hilarious and often believably poignant and awkward way are increasing in popularity.Napolean Dynamite, Superbad and most recently (for me) Eagle versus Shark for example. I just finished watching the later and its probably my favourite. With painfully funny dry humour typical of antipdeans and excellent acting it beats the american-pieish Superbad and trounces Napoleon Dynamite as it is more consistently funny. But please, don’t take my word for it, watch it and let me know what you think.ok, I told myself I wouldn’t…. but just one more quote;Man on phone: D’you want to leave a message?Jarrod: Tell him that justice is waiting for him.Man on phone: OK Justin. Thank you. Bye bye.[hangs up]Jarrod: No, justice. Justice.

This post has no interesting content for anyone other than myself. I shall endeavor to re-read it from as many different computers as possible to improve my wordpress stats though….I’m currently a bit more excited about the holiday I’m going on next week than a fully grown human (no jokes about my height please) should be.  Next week I and 3 of my oldest long suffering friends are away in (hopefully) snowy Courchevel in the french Alps. 2 Of the guys haven’t snowboarded before and by the looks of the weather are in for a treat. It snowed yesterday and is forecast to snow today and tomorrow just in time for the holiday to start.As long as I don’t do this again I’m sure we’ll have a great time.

I recently heard of the yellow bird project , a nice simple idea which allows the people running the company to make money for charity whilst interacting with and supporting the musicians they like.

T-shirts designed by Wolfmother, Clap your hands say yeah and The Shins are available along with many more.

If you, like me, like quasi-unique T-shirts, music and doing your bit for charity I’d recommend you check them out.

I’ll be purchasing Wolfmother’s design to help release gnomes from the shackles of human opression (and make some money for the Teenage Cancer Trust on the side)

Attribution to the Pythons for the title.

I need to finally come out. I’m a big fan of Stephen Fry’s work.

Mostly this is due to watching epiode after episode of QI and it making me feel as though it makes me cleverer.

However I recently stumbled upon his blog here and found he too is a big fat geek. If you like words, technology or just, you know, fun I’d recommend reading it.

A recent post which stood out to me though is this one. Its a little rambly (no bad thing) but its central point is Heated debate is good. We need not take it personally, and someone might just learn something.

As an argumentative short person with a napoleon complex I agree but don’t want to sound too much like a Daily Mail Reader (sorry Daily Mail readers, I’m sure the sports coverage is great but you know the stereotype) and be-moan the state of the country today, the education system and how policemen are looking younger these days.

Reasoned debate is good. Listening to and hearing other peoples’ side of the argument is great and learning from someone who knows more on a subject than you is like finding gold.

Last night I saw the Foo Fighters at the O2 arena and as venues go it was as good as you can expect from any huge stadium gig, easy access in and out, mildly overpriced drinks and food but still a decent view even from the nosebleed seats we found ourselves in.

The Foos were, of course, great. I say ‘of course’ because having seen them 3 times in the last nine years every time I have they’ve been different, sounded excellent and entertained the crowd immensely. If you could buy stock in bands (hmm… would that be a new business model… since record labels are going the way of the dodo?) an investment in the Foos 12 years ago would have been worth it.

In an attempt to be overly analytical I think their gig success (other than obvious musical talent) comes from;

1. Back catalog – Being able to pick from any of 20+ hit singles that everyone in the audience will sing along to must make it sooooo easy.
2. New material – To compliment a great back catalog having several good songs on your latest album is like cheating in some way. The Foo Fighters therefore are big fat cheats.
3. Longevity – Foo fighters are old in modern band terms. About half a generation old and that was evident when you looked around and saw the diversity in the crowd. There were people that were middle aged, younger trendy people and kids there with their parents.
4. Variety – Each gig is different, which is a big deal for a band thats been performing together for this long. I love Greenday, but having seen them a few times you get to see them repeating themselves to the point where they repeat certain lines and some of the magic (and part of the 18 year old that bought their album) dies inside. Last night Brian May performed a song with the band, there was a separate accoustic stage ( that descended from above in a very cool way) for several songs and a solo by a guy playing a triangle and I’m certain tonights gig will be different.
5. Loving it – I know the gig was a performance in the true sense with people performing their roles but you got a sense that these people were enjoying it because they weren’t doing the same thing every night which meant they were stretching themselves musically and having fun.
6. The Grohl - Unofficially claimed to be the nicest guy in rock Dave Grohl brings all the above together. He simply is annoyingly likable as throughout the gig he swore incessantly (but noone would ever mind because ‘its Dave, and hes nice’), constantly gave credit to the other band members but still was rocky and dark just enough when everyone expected him to be.

I fully expect the Foo Fighters to be the Rolling Stones of my generation touring for the next 100 years (or however long we’re expected to live for if the planet doesn’t freeze over). Although… saying that what are the odds they’ll now break up at the end of this tour?

This is yet another non investment banking related post I know (really, I will post some more. Just as soon as I get time away from my investment banking related job….)

I’m always interested in how we work and in particular our brains. Another example of our brains trying to do something clever with the information they receive is this optical illusion :- http://www.johnsadowski.com/big_spanish_castle.php

I’m assuming its related to the way our neurons effectively ignore a continuous input after a while (that being why the magic is broken as you move your eyes). Though I have no idea how the overlaying of colours works.

Anyone (who am I kidding, hi Pete) who reads this please feel free to shed some light on it.

I was quite upset to find out which super vilain I am most like. I’d have much rather been Dr. Doom or Doomsday. Oh well….

Your results:
You are Riddler

Riddler 68% Dr. Doom 56% The Joker 52% Lex Luthor 51% Juggernaut 48% Poison Ivy 47% Mr. Freeze 47% Dark Phoenix 46% Venom 45% Green Goblin 44% Magneto 44% Apocalypse 42% Mystique 40% Catwoman 33% Two-Face 32% Kingpin 30%

Riddle me that, riddle me this, who is obsessed with having a battle of wits??

Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test