The Future of Music?

 So here is my take on the future of music.. its probably been spouted out before by someone, but I just wanted to get it out there. 

I own an Xbox 360. I am on my second one now, after the original ones optical drive failed. Oh well.. anyway thats beside the point. I own a few games. I like first person shooters a lot - Call of Duty 4, Far Cry 2, etc etc. I also own two music games.. 

1. Lips - pretty much a Karaoke game


2. Guitar Hero - playing Air Guitar to famous tracks.. 

Why do I own these games?? The social aspect.. I can actually get my girlfriend interested in the Xbox if we are playing these games. Also if I have a party, its a great way for some fun to be happening!

Everyone has heard of iTunes. Its the #1 place to get your digital music online. Amazon MP3 is a new service (to the UK) that allows you to download any DRM-free music tracks. Apart from illegally downloading your music, its one of the most popular ways today to get hold of your favourite tracks. Oh, don't forget you can also buy a physical copy!!

Since October 2007, the Official Charts company has allowed these digital downloads to count towards the official number one single. So whats going to be the future?

Let me download the new releases on to my Xbox / Wii / PS3 into Guitar Hero, Rockband or Lips / SingStar and make them count towards the number one single! Simple! 

Also if I am a musician, I want to get my tracks on to these games ASAP. Let me do that! Make it simple.. 

The future of Music.. Its all about being part of it! Let me sing it.. Let me play it.. I don't want to just listen to it anymore..

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Losing this big fat belly

I have just spent ten days with my parents and family back home. Do you want to know what every single friend and relative said to me? 

"When you expecting?"

They were'nt talking about children. They were talking about me having a big belly. Now, I have been out the forces now for eight years. I have been to University, and I have been travelling. I now work for the largest IT company in the world as a Technical Consultant. I spend a lot of my time talking on my phone, and sat behind my laptop. On a day to day basis, I generally don't do a lot of exercise. However, I have been saying for the previous three years that I need to Get Fit and Stay Fit. 

I always thought my Body Fat was over 30%. After all if you take the standard test which is:

1. Work out your height in metres and multiply the figure by itself


2. Measure your weight in kilograms


3. Divide the weight by the height squared (the answer to Q1)

For example, you might be 1.6m (5ft 3in) tall and weigh 65kg (10st 3lb). The calculation would then be: 1.6 x 1.6 = 2.56. BMI would be 65 divided by 2.56 = 25.39.

If I followed this example, I am 1.8m tall, and weigh 100kg. This would currently mean 1.8 x 1.8 = 3.24. 100 / 3.24 = 30.9 . As the BMI Categories are:

• Normal weight = 18.5-24.9


• Overweight = 25-29.9


• Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

I would be classed as Obese. ME?? OBESE! :(

However, I discovered a different site today. The CholestorolNetwork . Here you enter in your height, weight and sex. You then enter in your waist size and hips size. Finally you enter in your forearm and wrist size. After I entered my results in, it comes back with 24% body fat. "You have 52.7 Pounds of fat and 167.3 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water)"

Anyway, I know I have this belly. I have to do something about it. As such, from today and for the next two months, I am on a diet.

I will not drink any fizzy drinks. Eat any chocolate. Drink any alcohol. I will do exercise every day. 

I will let you know how I have done at the end of February..

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Happy New Year 2009

 Welcome to 2009.. Its traditional to have some New Year Resolutions set on the 1st day, and keep them... well try anyway!

I have published my New Year Resolutions here before - 2006 and 2007 - but I didn't do it last year! I also had some thirtieth birthday resolutions. They were all the same:

1. No More Smoking! 


2. Get Fit & Stay Fit 


3. Manage my cash 


4. Keep a life journal - keep it simple. The book How to Make a Journal of your Life is useful here.

In 2007 I added to #3 that I wanted to also manage my life better, with a little Getting Things Done, and added to #4 that I was going to keep a photo journal. 

So what am I doing this year? I reckon I'm going to stick to this list.. These are resolutions, and even though I have been attempting to do this for the past three years I think it will soon all come together!

Also going to start the Photo Journal again, but instead of doing it with Vox or Flickr I will do it over at Daily Mugshot instead. Using my phone, I can take a picture of myself daily and send it on over..

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