Today saw the arrival of my new toy – my brand new Mac Mini.  I am going to be using this to store much of my media content (videos and music) so that I can connect it to the sound system downstairs and we can have music around the downstairs of the house.

I am going to blog about the setup that I am using shortly, probably over on my techy blog (equalmark.net) when I finally get a design on the go.  But essentially what this means is that all the computers in the house are sharing one music library (the same files) and therefore when you add or change something with one computer it reflects on all the others.  Looking forward to see how this is going to work.

At the moment my son seems rather obsessed with musical instruments.  It is the Xylophone at Granddad’s and the keyboard at Granddad Al’s.

In this instance it was the Xylophone.  He was well into it, copying is granddad good and proper.  Maybe he is going to be a future musician?  Who knows!

Well on Saturday evening it was time for the age old competition, the Eurovision song contest. Is is me or is this just a complete and utter waste of time?

Back in the late 70s and 80s the Eurovision contest was watched each year by a lot of people. People also used to talk of it in a positive way. Maybe it was because there were some Brits that actually won. There was Boom Bang a Bang from Lulu in 1969, Save all Your Kisses from Me by the Brotherhood of Man in 1976 and Making Your Mind Up by Mucks Fizz in 1981.

Nowadays though it is rubbish and no-one seems interested in the slightest. 99% of the comments people make are negative. The UK produces some quality song writers and performers that make it big on the international scene. So therefore if it was a true Euro contest then you would expect us to do well. So who do we send as a representative? Robbie Williams, James Blunt, James Morrison or Girls Aloud? No we send Scooch. Who? Exactly. Not disrespect but surely shouldn’t they be proven talent before entering this contest?

I say sack it off as it is a waste of time. When does the Eurovision winning song every get used? Does it represent Europe and world leaders meetings? I think not.

Well it has happened again. Take That announce that they are doing more tour dates and low and be hold the tickets have sold out within hours. Why is this? Am I missing something and they are seriously that good?

Don’t get me wrong I think that take that are pretty good. When they were around 10 years ago I was a teenager (those were the days!!) and all our female friends were into them but not me. They do bring out some good songs and when they played with Leona Lewis on xFactor before Christmas I though they were very good. It is the lengths that people go to for tickets that bewilders me.

People become obsessed with getting tickets and to be honest no matter how much they cost they seem to want to buy them. People at work yesterday where willing to spend hours on the phone and hours sat at the internet trying to buy these tickets. The tactics were mainly to get a group that wanted to go and watch them and then everyone in the group tries to buy a ticket. I said to one person “well what if you are all successful and you all get four tickets?”. The reply was “it doesn’t matter do you know how much they sell for on eBay?”

This brings me along to the next point that I wanted to raise. Take That tickets have been on sale on eBay minutes after they were purchased and are now selling for literally thousands of pounds. Who on earth buys these things? They must have more money than sense! Even if it was a band that I desperately wanted to see there would be no way I would pay thousands for the tickets. The organizers could easily put a stop to this, by adding names to the tickets when they are sold and then you need ID to enter to concert which must of course match the ticket.