David Peach

Blog

  • 100 Albums #1 – Kiddo by Tove Styrke

    My very first album write up goes to Tove Styrke’s Kiddo. I had never heard of her before tonight – she was a recommendation by Google Play Music, based on my interest in ‘Say Lou Lou’.

    As soon as the first song started, I was hooked. Hooked enough to take advantage of my Android 6.0 update’s new context awareness by demanding – “Google! Play me her first album”* – that one is also great.

    The first song sounded to be very Prince-esque – purple rain Prince – which can only be a good thing. Then there were other songs that had the sort of catchy hooks and beats you can’t help but move your body to. I had been getting nowhere with what I was building tonight, which was annoying, but this album soon got me feeling on top of the world.

    Stand out songs: Borderline, Even If I’m Loud It Doesn’t Mean I’m Talking To You, Walking a Line.

    *I am since trying to rid my life of Google Inc. as much as I can.

  • All in all – thoughts of Roger Waters The Wall

    A slow, winding blade of green weaves across the ever-growing familiar white brickwork from the left side of the stage. Then another from the right. They wind slowly across the length of the wall – both to the centre and up – until they blend seamlessly into one of the most iconic animations from The Wall – the flower scene over Empty Spaces.There are a few albums that have moved me in ways I can still feel: Radiohead’s The Bends, Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence. But the one that has had the greatest effect on me – and still continues to do so – is Pink Floyd’s The Wall.Tonight I went to see the one-off showing of the new film by Waters which was about 80% concert show and 20% pilgrimage by Waters to visit the resting places of his father and grandfather. The thing as a whole went together beautifully.One of the songs that continues to get me each time I hear it is Vera – and this time was no exception. I was suprised to hear, in the discussion that followed, that this was Waters’ favourite song off the album.The songs I were looking forward to the most were Comfortably Numb, The Trial and Empty Spaces. I love how the full version of Empty Spaces gets used when performed live.The usage of some of the animations from the 1980s film of the wall were a nice touch too.All in all it was a great performance of The Wall.

  • Facebook is a cancer on the web

    I commute into Birmingham each day to work and see people on there phones and tablets passing the time.

    I’m a bit of a nosy git, so I can’t help but take a glance at what they’re looking at.

    I’m always disheartened when I see — most of the time — it ends up being Facebook.

    It is sad to see that a lot of people’s only experience of the web is through the guarded corridor that is Facebook.

  • 100 days 2015 – 10 days in

    For the past ten days I have been doing the 100 day challenge.

    I decided to have a go at building my own e-commerce CMS.

    I don’t have a big passion for e-commerce. In fact most of the time I work with e-commerce it frustrates me. But then I always remember hearing the old saying:

    “The best way of complaining about something is to try and build something better”.

    I won’t say which e-commerce CMS has me often cursing. Those who know me will know by the curses and moaning directed at it.

    It feels good to be 10 days in. It’s also the longest commit streak ever on my github account.

    I think the biggest thing I am taking away from my 100 day project is the learning I’m doing along the way. The outcome is kind of irrelevant at this point in time — although it would be nice to have something to show for it at the end.

  • Malabar Tree Nymph

  • Leaf Butterfly

  • I’m very delicate, please don’t touch me

  • Whatchya looking at?

  • Amur Leopards

    Very active these things were.

  • Elephants at lunch time

  • Tapirs

  • Variegated spider monkey