Is The Voice Ageist?

I love the concept of the voice. 4 judges who choose people solely on their voice and not their looks to go forward to be chosen as THE VOICE with a recording contract etc.


It was great to see who they chose, all sorts of ages shapes and sizes but one thing they had in common a voice good enough to make the judges sit up and listen.

Well, the teams have been chosen and now it's into the arena, pitting one against one to whittle the forty hopefuls down but, oh dear, I would never have believed that the selections are being made based on ageism. What a pity, some great voices among the older contestants but it was mostly the young ones chosen.


Barbara Bryceland was sensational, Deniece Pearson was the consummate professional with a great voice, J Marie Cooper slaughtered rival Sophie Griffin.


Will i. Am said, I am giving it to the 19 year old as I remember what it was like at 19. OMG what about the voice Will! J Marie Cooper is only 27, on the scrap heap at 27 FFS!


Jessie J said, J Marie Cooper had nothing more to give ! Again, at 27 FFS!


Tom Jones gave it to the guy with the curly hair, cause he (Tom Jones) started out with curly hair. David Julian was slaughtered vocally by John James Newman but of course John is just that little bit older at 33 than 23 year old Davey Wavey.


Look Producers, if you want just young people then go the way of American Idol and audition only young things and not try to be politically correct when it comes to age, which has now backfired on you.


Incidentally I can remember about three years back when Jessie J was supporting Cindi Lauper, on stage with one guitarist and backing tracks. Me thinks you are getting just a little bit too big for your boots which is a pity as I had you pegged for stardom back then. To say that at 27yrs of age a person has nothing more to give,  smacks of a catty remark from a chavvy teenager.


I shant be watching anymore of The Voice and the only one I'll miss is Will i.Am, a very sensible and modest person with a wicked grin.

Samsung Galaxy Note "phablet"

Now I am a bit of an Apple freak. At home we have an iMac, two Macbooks, iPod Touch, Apple time capsule and my other half has an iPhone 4. You could say we are sold on Apple and it's aesthetic appeal, its lovely to look at and actually product performance is not bad although Apple tend to rush products out too soon and recalls are becoming a bit regular.

Anyway, I have to confess that my personal phone was a blackberry, until yesterday that is. I went to look at a replacement as an up grade at the end of my contract and have plumped for the amazing Samsung Galaxy Note which frankly puts the iPhone 4 to shame. It is a "phablet" therefore bridges the gap between a phone and a tablet. Its performance is astonishing, the screen clarity superb and I love the larger screen with its electronic stylus which means that you don't have to deal with tons of greasy fingermarks, which is the main reason I have steered away from ever owning an iPad.

I am sold on this Samsung product, it is just what I want to support the small business I am setting up where I can access my web site whilst on the move. It has so many features which I have yet to get to grips with but look forward to exploring the potential of this amazing gadget.

We now have conflict in our household. My other half is so jealous and now keeps his iPhone 4 hidden because quite frankly it looks terribly old fashioned when compared to the Galaxy Note. He cannot wait for his upgrade notification to arrive from his phone supplier.

I have to say to Apple, watch out as your hold on this end of the market might just start to disappear and you'll get left behind.

Josh Groban

I love rock music as you know but there are always exceptions to the rule and that exception in my case is Josh Groban. Josh is one of those singers whose perfect voice fills you with bucket loads of emotion. I have been known to say that "his voice makes the hairs stand up on my neck" and yes unashamedly I have tears in my eyes when he sings "remember when it rains", the song I want played at my funeral (sorry to be morbid).

Josh is an extraordinary singer and as quirky as it sounds, I have his music alongside the likes of Kings X, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Dio, Opeth to name a few.

If you don't know Josh's music (hard to believe as that may be) here is a link. Dare you not to be moved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfxqW9QwOSI

Absolutely Fabulous Christmas 2012, 20 year anniversary and the Kardashians

I cannot believe that Ab Fab has been away for so long. I watched it over Christmas and the amazing thing was it seemed so fresh and of course incredibly funny. My high light? When Patsy and Eddy ripped that dysfunctional American Kardashian family to shreds:
 Referring to nobody's in magazines, Eddy said . . .
There is a new disease called the Kardashians darling 
They sorta spread said Eddy,  Like herpes and head lice said Patsy.
Look at this fat one at the end said Eddy pointing to the magazine, soon she will split like an amoeba and become two Kardashians.
Patsy points to the magazine and says, that looks like a boob but in fact it's another Kardashian.
Talk about take no prisoners . . . .  I laughed so much the tears run down my legs.
What a brilliant piece of comedy . .  we want more and soon!
I'm still laughing :o)

Apple Customer Service

Do you want to know why you pay a bit more for an Apple computer?

One of my Macbook laptops is about four years old and the keyboard had become less sensitive and a little bit of the beading on the top had broken. There was not much to this, the laptop was still completely functional but I took it in to the Apple store in Exeter and without any fuss or bother they ordered a new top keyboard unit which came in three days and they fitted it while I waited and all free of charge.

And that's why you pay that little bit more for quality and the high level of customer service that comes with it. Thank you guys, you were fantastic!

Dream Theater

Dream Theater's new album "A Dramatic Turn Of Events" is fabulous, but then I am a great fan of their music. The only missing ingredient is the absence of Mike Portnoy on drums which you can definitely feel. You can hear so many influences in DT's music, early Genesis, Emmerson Lake and Palmer and jam packed full of Gentle Giant. There is even an unashamed rip off of a dance rift aka Riverdance  on one track. .  pure genius.

When it comes to instrumental and vocal technical ability, there has never been a band which, in my opinion, could get anywhere close to the incredible Gentle Giant, particularly as Giant did not have the benefit of today's technology being a band of the 70s / 80's. I have to say though that Dream Theater, vocals apart, are very very close on the instrumental side.

Cost Of Living

Is it me or is the cost of food now getting to the point where we will have to stop eating soon as we will be unable to afford to! To go to the supermarket nowadays you almost need a bank loan. Meat prices are extortionate (4 small lamb chops in my local supermarket over £8). It seems to me that price increases are being applied in a stealthy fashion and from a personal point of view I have changed my eating habits recently and started to eat more simply. No wonder there are more and more buy two get one free offers on the shelves as supermarkets must be feeling the pinch if the change in consumer habits falls in line with mine. I expect Tesco will be o.k. though with their iron like grip on the food market!

Menno Gootjes - Focus

Last night I went to watch one of my all time favourite bands The Crazy World of Arthur Brown who were on the bill with Dutch prog rock band Focus. Arthur was as usual brilliant and his voice was spot on despite his advancing years. His energy seems undiminished too and he kept up with the stage presence of Czech keyboard player Lucie Rejchrtova who was dynamic and quite fantastic.

Yet, what really blew me away during the whole evening was the guitarist with Focus Menno Gootjes. He was awesome and his playing left me feeling pretty well stunned. Who is this guy? where did he come from?

As a band Focus were never one of my faves during the 70's but last night they delivered the prog rock goods. As for Menno . . . OMG bloody ding dong!

First Direct Bank - Rip Off Charges

I know I have said it before but once again First Direct Bank are ripping off their customers big big time.

I have again stupidly gone overdrawn for a matter of hours over a weekend on two occasions in one month by the princely sums of £1.95 and £5.00 respectively. First Direct deducted £50.00 from my account (which is a second account) and at the same time made me overdrawn again so that . . guess what? Yep they can now cane me for another £25.00 charge !

Of course when you phone up you get a rather nice Scottish lady who explains when I accuse them of gross extortion that she has sympathy for me but they are unable to refund charges unless it is their mistake. Hmmmm, unlikely they will make mistakes with so many potential customer charges at stake !

Of course, they are not there to help me are they as I am only a customer after all and it was foolish of me to make such an error. However, I still maintain that charging £25.00 is not fair and this level of charging was considered by the banking Ombudsman to be a gross overcharge. £12.00 was considered to be a much more realistic figure. First Direct are obviously smug enough to stick a middle finger in the air to their customers but I am realistic enough to think "what goes around , comes around" and I eagerly look forward to that day.