I'm a huge Madonna fan and managed to catch her HMV performance promoting American Life last year as well as Drowned World. I'm going to see her in London this year, and can't wait for August to come! Other acts I love include Bjork, Sinead O'Connor (please come out of retirement!), Peter Gabriel, Eddi Reader, Cher, PJ Harvey, Amy Winehouse, Tori Amos, Damien Rice, Kate Bush, Depeche Mode, as well whole genre's such as Bulgarian Choir, dance music, African vocal and some classical. Top 5 albums of the moment:
- Madonna - American Life
- Damian Rice - O
- Feist - Let it Die
- PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her
- Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
I've been fortunate enough to see most of my favourite artists in concert, and even forgive Bjork for the terrible opening act she had last year which sounded like cat giving birth in a building site. TV isn't so important, but the shows I've loved (and sometimes lost) are Will & Grace, Six Feet Under, Xena, Married with Children, Samurai Jack, Family Guy, Sex and the City, Alias, Buffy, Angel, Dark Angel (no relation to Angel!) and Little Britain. Vicky Pollard from Little Britain is a national treasure, and should be worshipped daily.
Computer games are also a fun pastime, with many great games filling a few hours over the years. The best of the completed bunch have been Diablo II, Unreal, Homeworld (1 & 2), XIII and Morrowind. Currently I'm on month 11 of trying to complete No One Lives Forever 2 (I don't do stealth!) . Like the rest of the universe, I'm looking forward to Doom III and Half Life 2, if only cause my video card has an easy life just now. The Gamecube has a copy of P.N.03 calling out to me, and when I get over the fact I can't use the controller (left, right, no THAT RIGHT!) I'm sure I'll get into it.
Reading used to be a passion but with the distractions of the PC, I've not been as prolific as I once was. My all time favourite is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, which I've reread many times over the years. I've enjoyed much of Dickens, especially David Copperfield, and Terry Pratchett's work has been essential. For political insight, no one matches Noam Chomsky who can be verbose at times and sometimes jumps to conclusions, but for a vision of how the system isn't by the people or for the people he's hard to match. Recent books I've read and loved include Jarhead, by Anthony Swofford and Dude Where's My Country by Michael Moore. I saw Michael Moore on stage recently and thought "why are you so late", but after that "man, you're so right".
I support many organisations which seek to change the way the world works including the World Development Movement, Greenpeace, Stonewall, Survival International, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Global Witness. To find out about the work of any of these organisations, click their names and you'll go to their website. I see myself as politically aware and keep up to date with the latest developments in the world through BBC News, The Guardian, The Independent, ZNet and Oneworld. There are always causes and effects in this life, and the causes of poverty, oppression, violence and war are the same as they have ever been - someone somewhere is benefiting from them. The world could be a better place as the song goes, and it's up to each of us to make the change.
Some Recent Events....
PJ Harvey You can find her perfectly normal looking website at www.pjharvey.net, and check out some of the videos from her new album there too. "Who the fuck" is just class! |
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Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
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Elaine Paige Elaine has appeared in many of the greatest shows in the West End and Broadway, including Evita, Cats, Chess, Anything Goes, Sunset Boulevard and Sweeny Todd (I get to miss out the less illustrious bits!). Her version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" wasn't as good as Madonna's (and that's not as good as Sinead O'Conner's), but her "Memories" from Cats still has the power to move. |
| Miriam Makeba Seeing a living legend in concert is a special thing, and Miriam Makeba didn't disappoint tonight. She was in fine voice, dancing around stage and making jokes with the audience, utterly mesmerising. The audience lapped it up, dancing in their seats as she sang her way through the decades, ending with a beautiful acappela song dedicated to mothers everywhere. For those who aren't familiar with her work or her life, look her up and learn how the woman called Mama Africa stayed strong and raised her voice throughout the oppression of apartheid, exposing the corrupt and ugly racism in her homeland even as she was banished from it by a government too cowardly to acknowledge her powerful voice. A small clip (well, short, maybe not small!) will load eventually.. |
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Cher Seeing the worlds supply of rhinestone in one place is a dazzling enough experience, but to add Cher to this site was stunning! She mentioned Christina and Britney and passing, only to add "follow this you bitches". I get the feeling they have a long way to catch up as this woman has spanned generations, adopting every passing style and making her mark on it. Older hits became medleys, some newer ones got the full works and Believe was simply too good to believe (I couldn't resist it!). Fabulous! Was dancing around too much to focus on much, but did manage one shot of her on the big screens which was quite nice. |
Alanis Morissette |
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Amy Winehouse You can find out more about Amy at her official homepage, amywinehouse.com. Check out the album and singles at record stores now! |
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Updated 22 July 2004 | Contact Me | ©2004 Daniel Finnie