Record Reconstructor

Dashboard! So, Monster Hunter:Wilds launched today and it's the long awaited sequel to one of my favourite games of all time (which came out over eight years ago and there's nothing else that even comes close to the same style of game), so the fact that there are words on this page today is frankly a miracle of self control and a testament to me taking this slightly seriously even though only a handful of people are actually reading this.  You are my people, I will not let you down. I've known this was coming for some time, obviously, and I did have a contingency plan to make this slightly easier on myself today, so no grand theme, no unifying narrative or personal backstory to tell here.  Well, maybe a very short one.   I met Lottie, and her partner, through our long-time friend Andrew.  As part of my whole belief that the thing I do well is meet interesting people, Lottie definitely qualifies - small business owner, talented singer/bass player/drummer, excelle...

Dashboard! Sometime around 1993 was when I read Neuromancer  for the first time.  I came to it, and the works of William Gibson, in something of a roundabout way.  It started with Dungeons & Dragons, and playing tabletop RPGs long before actual plays and celebrity podcasts made it mainstream.  I'd been doing some form of tabletop gaming since I was 12 or 13 I guess, and by the time I was 17, we'd moved long past the confines of the dungeons and started looking for other games and other settings to explore.  Modern noir, and the White Wolf studios Vampire:The Masquerade games took center stage in our play time, but before that, and as an undercurrent always around it, was our groups mutual delight in cyberpunk settings. We played Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun (first edition) a whole bunch; and I owned both books, which came with extensive bibliographies of related media works the games had drawn on for inspiration.  Neuromancer  was at the top of bot...

Dashboard! Not quite through February yet, and already over a quarter of the way done.  If I am honest, I'm surprised quite how easy this has been now I've established the habits that make it possible - I've got a good supply of recommendations, some concepts for stuff I can listen too in the next two weeks and write about, I'm feeling generally positive about the momentum I've managed to pick up here.  When I started this, I thought getting to a thousand was going to be a struggle;  more recently, I have gained some confidence to the point where I am starting to wonder at what point I start deploying the musical ripcords I had in reserve not because I need them, but because I want to listen to them and write about them before this is over. Pride goeth before the fall, however, so I am still just taking this one week at a time and not counting my chickens.  This week also saw my lowest volume album listening day, where I only managed two new records, both during my ...

Dashboard! People who have been reading this blog in sequence might have noticed a certain level of reluctance for me to engage with the music streaming services which ultimately are powering this entire project;  obviously, I would much rather the musical artists I love get paid well for their artistic contributions instead of what modern distribution allows them.  Gone are the days when musical acts toured in order to promote the album, sales of which was the primary revenue stream for them and their label (and in fact, many tours lost money).  Now, where getting 30,000 plays on Spotify pays less to an artist than a single sale of a £30 vinyl from their direct storefront, live music tours, and their associated merchandise have become the primary source of income for anyone trying to really make a living as a professional musician. Also, if you've been paying attention, you will be aware there were long sections of my life when I have been very financially disadvantaged;...

Dashboard! Once upon a time, I spent a few years doing amateur theatre in my home town as a young man.  I wasn't particularly serious, or good at it;  I got talked into doing it because a girl I liked did it and she suggested I should come along;  I did, went to some table reads, some auditions.  There were essentially no men in the theatre company younger than 40 at the time, so roles which required a young male lead were mine for the asking.  I got cast in a play, said yes, then found out that the girl I liked had dropped out.  I felt compelled to carry on because I'd already said yes, despite my initial motivation disappearing off to the pub instead of hanging out in a draughty community hall with me.   If I make an effort, I've got a pretty good memory (a statement which would make Catherine roll her eyes were she to read it).  It is true, I promise - I'm admittedly scatterbrained and inattentive and I say yes with my mouth to things whil...