Panda Strong

Or il Divo.

He's awfully picky, isn't he?

Fraid so But i mean, you know, take a listen for yourself and stuff. A lot of people are literally crying about how good it is on last.fm, but i get the impression if he shat in a bucket through his guitar people would praise it. I think the album is neato, but incredible amount of hype = incredible amount of expectation for following releases. YES! I really need to get my hands on this. So many great re issues this year. '**OUT OF STOCK - Back Soon Hopefully!*' though ! I'm maybe see if Andy is getting it on.

What did you get? --- Not too burst anyone's bubble but the new Bon Iver is a massive disappointment! Most of it sounds like half arsed stuff that wasn't good enough for Emma, and for the last song he used that auto tuner thing on the voice. Ghastly.

(didn't see this first time round!) Aye! Evans on the snare (and everything else apart from the bass drum). Sounds totally mint as! ...Although recent bashing has require a little retuning, it still gives a decent thuuuummp.

If only we were! Are you getting the single series thang?

i might try and come down for this. would be nice to have a chat with alan!

^^^ this hi hat, snare, kick, floor tom, i wish i could just use one cymbal but i really need two. one with a good bell so i can get them braid 'TINGS', and the other with a decent crash. i have a gretsch catalina club mini mod spread between home and aberdeen.

hmmmm. seems most of the internet are arguing about it. adobe slabs appears to be winning though. "Adobe bricks have particularly good acoustic qualities - dry but bright. Albini used them when he built Electrical Studios, I remember him talking about them to "Mixing It" as some of them were badly damaged in transit. So 4 walls and adobe slabs sounds a bit like Albini's place..." who knows.

...adobe slabs for my girls, WOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHH!

the fun years - baby it's cold inside koen holtkamp - field rituals sylvain chauveau - the black book of capitalism the tallest man on earth - shallow grave tim hecker - haunt me haunt me do it again still not picked up a real copy of the new animal collective. i fancy it on vinyl but i nipped into one up at the weekend and it's bloody 15.

http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/music-discussion/53279-animal-collective-merriweather-post-pavillion.html get rad.

it seems Skins uses some pretty great/interesting/diverse music. Four tet, Mogwai, The Decemberists, A Hawk And A Hacksaw, Colleen, Grizzly Bear, Micah P Hinson, Wolf Eyes (LOL), Architecture In Helsinki, Gravenhurst, Beach House, Animal Collective, Battles, Eluvium, Stars of the Lid, Low, Born Ruffians, had a google and you can read more about the ideas/thoughts behind the tracks here. "We originally wanted to use the legendary Stars of the lid for this scene but they didn't answer my emails for weeks and weeks so instead the Butcher and myself spent a stressful friday night searching for library music as a replacement." (although it seems they eventually used Requiem for Dying Mother Pt. 1). Gotta give it to them.

Yes it can, but obviously anything i say, and anything most of the international community is saying, won't be able to alter your opinion. The numbers, and the scale of brutality just don't add up. Guantanamo Bay is a tricky one. Along with the land being rented from Cuba and the prisoners being labeled as enemy combatants, the US have found loopholes in international law. I've already mentioned the reaction in the international community to this. Bush and Blair failed to convince them, and the public of an immediate threat. In general, post 9/11 has seen the curbing civil liberties in the name of security with the growing expression of issues as existential threats. But any checks and balances on actions by states is always going to be hard. International organisation's control in such an anarchical system as ours is never going to be easy. I could never consider the act of mindlessly blowing yourself up in a market as terrorism. That isn't the definition. There are seen to be 6 major elements to the idea of terrorism, and that isn't one of them. ...But Israel continuously reject offers of lasting peace with Hamas. I don't see how anyone could see it being as clear cut as that, especially based on Israels behavior towards Palestine in war and in suppose peaceful times. But yeah.

I'm sorry, this wikipedia like spiel of information is great, but just exactly why does this mean it was ok for Israel to illegally continue to control and manipulate all Gaza access points? -- I'll come back to your disregard for international law when i have more time. But just quickly, the war in Afghanistan was a 'legal' war. There was a UN security council resolution, no? Unlike the Iraq war of course. There was limited international support for that. Bush and Blair tried for a resolution, but failed. Under international law, use of force can only be used in three cases; in self defense, under humanitarian aid, through the security council. The Iraq war is continuously scrutinised within international law for being illegal. Some scholars are even calling for Blair and Bush to be tried! Of course it'll never happen, but it shows that international law does matter, even if it is vague at the best of times. You cannot simple disregard it. You're right about terrorism though. Well, you're wrong that terrorism is "random acts of violence against civilians", terrorists almost always pick targets very carefully in order to influence a certain audience. BUT yes, international law is very much state based while terrorism is a concept. You can't fight a concept. Remember Gordon Brown said that 75% of all UK terrorist threats come from Pakistan? Why don't we just launch a pre-preemptive attack against them? It's because it's not the state, its certain cells inside. It's when the two begin to merge (like in Afghanistan), that things can be taken further. Terrorism is such a difficult thing to deal with. In my studies efforts to deal with terrorism are considered within the idea of terrorism as warfare, as crime, and as a disease. Treating it as a war means that there is an end in sight through the use of brute force - pretty much what the US and allies have done in response to al-Qaeda, AND Israels approach to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It is only when terrorism is percieved as a disease, and therefore dealing with underlying causes, that any progress can be made. But anyway. There was a article in yesterdays Guardian that would have been worth a read. UN representatives are now saying there is a strong case that the initial attacks on Gaza and the tactics being used by Israel are serious violations of the UN charter, Geneva convention, international law and international humanitarian law. FULL HOUSE.

And yeah, HMV ain't bad. They have a decent range or UK stuff like Hot Club, Rolo Tomassi, cpwk etc.. Still really $$$, but at least they're trying.

If they get rid of the carpet floor....

What? Israel have shown constant Zionist colonial projects. They have consistently aimed to establish a 'greater' Israel through at times permanent, and at others covert, political, economic and military control over the Palestinian territories. It has been a consistent occupation. There is no infrastructure or development in Gaza. The civilians are a cheap source of labour for Israeli industry. There are also illegal Jewish territories within the occupied territories. In Gaza in 2005 there were only 8,000 Jewish settlers (compared to 1.4 million locals), yet they controlled 25% of the territory and as near as 40% of the water resources. Even when these 8,000 were finally removed in 2005, 12,000 Israeli's settled into the West Bank with the purpose to redraw Israeli borders. And even with the settlers withdrawn, Israeli soldiers still functioned in areas, controlling all the access points, incomings and outgoings into and out of Gaza. You can't simultaneously land grab and propose to make peace. It's simple not compatible. Israel will continue to fiddle with goings on in Palestinian politics, supporting/condemning certain factions which fit a certain criteria on a certain day. Israel supported Hamas through most of the 80's to weaken Fatah for bleedin' sake. Coupled with continued suppression of any forms of Palestinian nationalism and not recognising the results from free and fair Palestinian elections, i'd say it was pretty obvious. Israel's propaganda machine go on and on about how Palestinian nationalism is just short of antisemitism and that Hamas are religious fanatics. Yes, Hamas are a terrorist organisation in that they use violence or the threat of violence to achieve political objectives. But the bulk of the Palestinian people are as normal as us. They have no interest in the destruction of Israel, and all they want is some land that they can call Palestine in which they no longer have to fear the threat from Israel. The extent of this (unfortunately) is clear through Hamas. But the launching of Hamas rockets have produced minimal damage. Under international law Israel has the right to a proportionate response to Hamas attacks and this where your supposed "irrelevant" factor comes into play. 11 compared to 1,290 really isn't proportionate. But even if we disregard the whole number difference, the killing of civilians is just plain rotten. Also, it's probably a good point to say that Israel broke the ceasefire in November of last year. The IDF took part in an illegal raid into Gaza territory to kill Hamas members. So...these are the actions from a state that apparently only has the defense of their population as their objective? Ok. Reuters reported rumours that the rockets were fired by IDF on targets of limited destruction to give reasons for their 'coercive diplomacy'. LOL! It's not just the bombing in which Israel have shown unbridled savageness. Even after the 2005 accord, Israel kept the blockade in place halting all exports from Gaza. Nothing to sell, no jobs = 49.1% unemployment. Israel also limited food, fuel and medical trucks into Gaza. Israels indiscriminate bombing and 3 year blockade really shows how much they care about civilian casualties. Oooh, also, the bombing of clearly marked UN hospitals? Under international law hospitals, schools etc..., are protected. The coordinates of both schools were given to the Israels well in advance to shelling. But hey, i guess there could have been dangerous Hamas militants hiding some massiveeee weapons in there, so best to bomb the shit out of it just in case. What, do you think the Israel's have just been failing to watch the telly or something? You don't think they know they've been causing this humanitarian crisis for it's entirety? Ayeeee, how about you 'get a grip'. 'Security' is such a subjective idea. Unfortunately Israel don't appear to be open to cooperation, or allow for the security of others. They don't kneel to concessions or compromise. Hamas have been ready to negotiate a ceasefire with Israel for 20 years but Israel remain locked into their narrow and undeniably realist vision.

The Cavern is terriible for that. There's stuff still in print and available on the Dischord website for $8 that they sell for 15. I don't get it.

such a great record! do one up stock it, like?

I saw Slumdog Millionaire last night at the Belmont. Oh, what a brilliant film!

So this guy likes to describe pretty much EVERYTHING is what is almost unnecessary detail. Pretty good so far, but he described how a guy winked for a page and half. Bit hard going...

"keep it locked!"

so picking up a really copy of this tomorrow. sooooo good.

Oh boy is the new Tim Hecker good.