chrisp65

can you read the music at all? get yourself a couple of music books with CD's, one as a basic 'learn drums' book, one with some music you like even the basic 'official' grade 1 / 2 / 3 books will have enough stuff in there to keep you learning and keep you interested after that, a basic CD close enough to keep pressing replay and you'll get there in the end unfortunately, there's no substitute for hours on the chair (my kids are officially grade 3 on the grade books but in reality can bang along to most music once they've heard it a few times) Just bought a set of bongos and a stand - I had no concept how expensive they could be. I really really try and buy from local music shops (Cranes. Drum Depot), but I just couldn't this time. Cheapest full size decent bongos I could find in an actual shop were £70 plus another £52 for a stand. Amazon got me what appear to be decent full size bongos and a stand for £44. They haven't arrived yet, we'll see if it was the right thing to do.

Anyway, back to the map, is that inches or centimetres? It's making quite a difference to my self esteem.

ha! small.

I may be way off here, but if poverty is seen as 60% of the average wage.....is lifting the minimum wage actually going to theoretically 'solve' poverty or simply push the median higher? I'm not suggesting we keep people poor. But whilst the formula for poverty is ok for now, if we actually genuinely tried to abolish it using that formula could that ever actually be done?

I know that! I guess our only reference is 8pints, but I ain't asking. Anyway, what ever the average is, I usually enhance mine with glitter glue, a little top hat I got from Hobbycraft and a spinning bow tie.

I'm really only quoting this so you can't erase it when you awake from your daydream of big african statistics.....

What Wainy said. Chin up mate. Chin up indeed, but if you do, make sure you can still breathe.

It's a matter of opinion. Judging one against the other seems silly, when you sit and think about it. It's just a matter of taste. From a personal point of view, I find the Roses to be quite derivative, where as the Pixies were not without their influences, but seemed to create something different and fresh. Plus I find Pixies influenced bands to be a whole lot more tolerable, than Stone Roses influenced bands. Again, that's just down to personal taste though. I wasn't comparing the two bands though. I was just using them as two examples to actually back up your first sentence in bold. Never heard them described as 'derivative' though, that's a new one! Wasn't actually saying you compared the two. It was just a statement, and if anything I was agreeing with you. Happy to put it down as a misunderstanding though. As for them being derivative, I would say they totally are. They were heavily influenced by 60s bands, and on more than one occasion, I've heard their debut album described as sounding like, "The Best of The Byrds." I happen to like them by the way. I've seen Ian Brown live, and he was excellent (shock horror!). I sang along to the Roses songs at the top of my voice like everyone else. personally, and it's all about personal taste. I'd say the Stone Roses are one of the most derivative bands ever. But luckily, they are also superb. They've taken some pretty standard tunes and somehow added that undefinable magic. Don't worry about what other people think about the music you like. Unless you like heavy metal, in which case if your older than 13 have a serious word with yourself.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32674615&postcount=300 Stef, All you can do is be yourself, be a nice guy. Understand that there are people of both sexes that are exceptionally pre occupied with 'winning'. Be that proving women are no more than servants and sex objects or women proving all men are rapists and titty ogglers. Yeah, all sorts of everyone exist in this world. You can protect and / or apologise for everyone. So do your bit and be nice. But don't be a door mat. Be yourself, if the women around you don't like that and you're happy that who you are is decent, then move on to different people until you find women or friends or work colleagues that are cool enough to be strong independent individuals that might also occassionally fancy you. Put it this way, if you had teenage daughters what would your advice be? Distrust all rapist murdering men? Get out there and do what you're told and flash your money maker? Try and be careful and not get cornered by the bad guys on the way to meeting a bloke you want to be with or the job you want to do? Relax. Be nice. If you're cool, then they don't mean you.

They missed the chance to get Alan Johnson in, they'll stick with Ed and hope that first past the post means that UKIP splits the right vote and 4 or 5 Lib Dems survive to help Labour limp over the line. Right now, I don't see that plan / hope / strategy working. But it's pretty much all they've got.

so, in very very round numbers, for every 9 UK voters: 1 voted UKIP 1 voted Conservative 1 voted Labour 6 didn't vote the people have indeed spoken

ah, a return to the good old days for the Mail

yeah they're having a pig bet they wish they were lib dems

Grant Shapps canvassing him as we speak, 'will you come and help the UKIPS'

Lib Dems finishing in 6th place locally here with 3% of the vote. Lib Dems couldn't even get a seat in the South West. Does Nick Clegg survive the bank holiday?

On the plus side for Nick Griffin, now he's bankrupt and unemployed that Indian guy from the credit card debt collectors now has to stop phoning him.

Grant Shapps on the BBC with a Freudian slip 'we want legislation on an in out referendum and we hope the other parties, Conservatives and Lib Dems back us'

well, euro results should start coming through just after 10 with only a third of the electorate bothering to vote and no one party gaining more than a third of that vote, it'll be interesting to see how much the media can describe this as a victory for anybody, having gained the endorsement of 1 in 9 voters

I'VE JUST REMEMBERED IT'S A BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA oh, that was nice a nice feeling. I'm gonna have some cake.

hmmm, I had unexpected sexuals at, from memory, about 7:30 / 8pm yesterday. but don't worry, I have never worked as Domino's delivery (did you want salami on that one love?)

16.5 / 20

I worked for 3 years in Malta doing a job a Maltese person could have learnt in a couple of months. Whilst I was there I hogged a 3 bedroom beach front apartment all to myself because the company could afford it.

But I suspect it's aimed at a market of females wanting to look different and 'kookie' and unthreatening that will never drive further than their parents' house and the pet shop. I doubt it's ever been sold to somebody that needed a car to eat motorway miles or drop a 5 seconds burn off the lights.

Are there any genuinely poor cars that can't do the job they are designed for, anymore? I know some people don't like muscle cars or don't like city cars and all that. But is the Panda by Fiat a bad car? I suspect not. Is the Nissan Cube a bad car?........no idea. But what I do know, is that reviews are usually biased by the writer for the reader. A car that took a regular kicking from reveiwers and from there took criticism from punters that had never been anywhere near driving one was the first iteration of the Mercedes A Class. I pick that one, because I had one as my first ever 'new' new car. It was just plain excellent for what I needed at the time. It did 50mpg, the back seats dropped turning it into a van, it did 100mph with ease. At no point did I need it to swerve around elks. But that was what people obsessed on, they fall over. No, they didn't. My missus drives a Nissan people carrier thing, she's had it for ever it has been utterly reliable, incredibly cheap to run and totally flexible for camping / surfing / transporting vast quantities of horse shit. But yeah, who wants a Nissan? Drive what you can afford that suits your purpose and remember it's no more an extension of your personality or global standing than your washing machine (incidentally, I have a Bosch).

yep, pretty much spot on Blandy. I've recently switched to the Guardian as it's free in Waitrose (could I be more middle class?). But it's just not the same, it's a bit limp and apologetic. Enjoyed yesterday's article by Will Self on Rod Liddle. Then remembered I liked Self when he wrote for the Independent.