macacd

Friday, Jun 26, 2009

So yesterday was one of those "Where were you when ..." kind of days.

As I was celebrating my 27th birthday with my parents enjoying a nice bottle of red wine the news broke that Michael Jackson had been rushed into hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest. I was once a huge Jackson fan, the Bad album was one of my first album purchases and is still today the only vinyl album I own.

It is true, that like most Jackson fans, my interest waned as the years went on and the whole Jackson circus grew and morphed into Wacco Jacco territory. The music was always great, it's just a pity that it became an entrée to everything else that surrounded the troubled music legend.

My interest had something of a resurgence recently with my numerous unsuccessful attempts to get tickets to see Michael Jackson at the O2 Arena. Seeing a superstar the likes of Jackson perform is something that only happens once or twice in a lifetime, it is just a pity that generations of Jackson fans never got to see him perform.

RIP Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009

To celebrate my Birthday I have produced 9 individual top 3s in various categories.

(All personal opinion)

Top 3 -

1. Michael Jackson songs

1. Dirty Diana

2. Billie Jean
3. Man in the mirror

2. Albums purchased

1. The Strokes - Is this it

2. Queens of the Stoneage - Songs for the deaf
3. Oasis - Definitely Maybe

3. Regrettable films seen in cinema

1. Alien vs. Predator 2 (Just how cool does the Japanese poster look, pity the film isn't half this cool)

2. Across the universe
3. The Hangover

4. Films seen in the cinema

1. Nightmare before Christmas

2. Bambi
3. Casino Royal

5. Films ever seen

1. Fight Club

2. A L I E N S
3. Wall E

6. Games consoles owned

1. PS2
2. Mega Drive
3. Xbox 360

7. Games owned

1. Half Life - PC
2. Sensible Soccer - Aminga
3. Resident Evil 2 - PS2

8. Regrettable games purchased

1. Alien Hominid HD - XBLA
2. Sensible Soccer - PS1
3. Championship Manager 4 - PC

9. Sporting event attended

1. Wales 2 - Italy 1 ( 2002 )

2. Swansea City 0 - Liverpool 0 ( 1989 )
3. Swansea City 2 - Portsmouth 0 ( 2008 )

Category: Opinion

Posted by macacd, 9:51am

6 Comments | Post a Comment

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Death

So Death is one of the only inevitabilities in life. Well the same can be said for Microsofts X-Box 360. On Thursday my 4th 360 decided to give up its fight for live and autopsy results say it died to the E74 general hardware error. Now i'm not going to b*** and moan about the failure rate of the 360 as it has already been done by people far more eloquent and respectable than me.

So i'm going off on a tangent, this past week my 360 isn't the only death I have experienced. A colleague died last weekend, now i didn't know him particularly well but he always made time to talk and would always buy me a coffee.

The funeral was on Wednesday and it was huge, if i hazard a guess i would say there were easily 150/200 people in the crematorium and almost as many outside watching on the screens.

Now seeing such technology at the crematorium was weird. There was two 38 - 42" flat screens mounted to the left and right of the main doors. One screen was a fairly close view of the lectern while the other was a more panoramic view of the service.

Well the service got me thinking about my funeral. Now don't worry, I'm not planning on having one anytime soon and anyway only under certain circumstance to people ever get to plan their own funeral.

It got me thinking more about the actual people who will turn up, how will the speak of me? Would i have a congregation in excess of the space available? Or am I more likely to have a lonely service with a priest and a few shadowy figures?

I suppose no one ever really knows who will turn up to their funeral or how people really feel and think of you.

Another dimension this day and age is how would my "digital" friends find out about my death?