The Patent Dragon's Zone of Soul Retraction

Shelling out for a "Hot Ticket" package, I found myself with a pretty sweet seat, (18 rows from) front and centre. The band hit the stage pretty close to the official curtain-up, with Subdivisions, but it took Limelight to get the first big crowd response of the night, and for the SECC to find full voice. It was good to get to hear The Pass live for the first time - for this correspondant - and the songs I didn't recognise, due to niggling gaps in the collection, are already having me on the hunt - Grand Design, Territories - where are you, now...?

As far as more recent albums go - that's Vapour Trails and Snakes And Arrows to the uninitiated - there was little to be heard, just a quite explosive (literally) Far Cry from the latter, and no Workin Them Angels (a personal favourite), but you can't please everybody every time. Not that I'm complaining, for the best was yet to come...

After the now customary mid-set break, it was time to roll out the new material - almost all of the Clockwork Angels album. The previous two tours have been done along similar lines, with much of Snakes And Arrows dotted around that set, and the full anniversary performance of Moving Pictures on the Time Machine tour. Caravan got a strong welcome, but that was easily surpassed by the reaction to Clockwork Angels, with the multiple video screens "flying" in the light-rig, and present throughout the new material. This part of the set, featuring the "Clockwork Angels String Ensemble" as the first performers to share the stage with the band for an extended period, was the most spectacular I'd seen from them in the four shows I've attended - the end of Carnies came very close to surpassing Kiss for pyros! Even so, the real highlight of this set-within-a-set had to be the anthemic Headlong Flight - surely this will feature in sets to come for quite some time!

Next, a return to the classics and semi-classics: Dreamline, with a nice video-screen tribute to Neil Armstrong; a pleasant surprise in the form of Red Sector A, the now almost obligatory YYZ - and no Rush show can truly be complete without The Spirit Of Radio. For encore material, another standard - the glorious Tom Sawyer - and a bit more of 2112 than usual: Overture, Temples Of Syrinx and the highly appropriate Grand Finale to conclude the evening... and a good time had very much been had by all!

Messers Lee, Lifeson and Peart have been in the business for decades, but they were on top form on Thursday night, and show little sign of flagging. It may be something of a challenge to match the recent studio material, but their shows continue to impress. A job well done, gentlemen, and I salute you!

The Final Verdict... An excellent show, maybe just slightly lacking in older and newer material, but showcasing the band's first true concept album in fine style. 8.5/10

Oh, and there was a fantastic surprise in my special package goodie-bag...





Just one more concert, and my "Gap Year" Task 90 can be crossed off the list - B52's, anyone...?

That's me "back on the horse", after the post-exams break - ow, shouldn't have said "back", 'cause mine has chosen NOW to bother me for the first time in ages...

I think I'll be recording games videos straight to external hard drive from now on. I've been testing the technology this evening, and all seems to have gone well - I'd rather not keep on thrashing the laptop's drive, filling it with raw footage then copying it over to external storage when the "disk space left" gauge goes red. When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, I'd prefer (but still much rather avoid completely) to trash an £85 peripheral than a near-£700 main machine.

In other news... I'm "clearing the decks", pre-Rush. Appointments have been made, comic orders sent in - hmmm, I have a Minecraft video to upload...

...there is NO news. This hasn't been much of weekend, with the outstanding exception of the Doctor Who finale - oh, and maybe the hot-off-the-presses news that STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS has opened very strongly in the States.

The only personal headline is that my second Minecraft video has just this day gone live!



So, maybe not such a bad "weekend" after all - just truncated.

Next weekend will be back to normal. Either side of that, we have Spiritwalk to observe on Wednesday, and the Rush show the following Thursday as my proper celebration. Should be good...

Operation Haphazard Update... Well, fuck me - the one event left on my list for my holiday has been buggered up splendidly. For almost the entire duration of the trip, the "in the round" show of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe is doing a "kids week", and all their performances are mid-afternoon - all except for Thursday evening, and d'y'know what? There's something already booked for that slot (War Horse)!

Well, that's it. I'm screwed. I officially have NOTHING of my own to do, except go to the zoo - and probably find that their aardvarks have moved to Brighton or something (and so long, completing Mission 101 Task 72)...

Two weeks to go, and I'm wondering if it's worth it. I'm considering grabbing an opportunity that's come to my attention for next year - a fancy Rush concert package. Yeah, note to self: if you're going anywhere, book it all yourself, and go solo.

In Today's Episode... PIRATES OF FREEPORT continues, and Mane-of-Night can kiss her new "quiet life" goodbye, as our heroine is called into action to recover the mystery artefact - but she and Marishanna very soon find they have competition...

Release Notes... Just gettin' the job done. I should be able to complete the story in time for posting, with a little effort...

In The Post... the new Rush album, Clockwork Angels - aaaaah yes, something to listen to over lunch tomorrow!

Annoying Stuff... today, the phrase "get a life". Sorry, but everyone has one - you get them by being born, and surviving the experience...

Now this is more like it. Yes, there have been one or two household jobs to attend to, but I managed to deal with those, and extract another hard drive, this time from a dead computer. Data recovery was a complete success, and there are now two "gutted" machines beside my desk - getting closer to counting Mission 101 Task 59

59 - Learn to upgrade PCs

as a *SCORE* - I know what a graphics card looks like now. However, completing this Task will require me to install a new component into a functioning machine, and return that PC to fully functioning condition, and that's the scary part. Right now, I'm running out of operational computers - they're actually outnumbered by the Game Boys and DSes in my possession (monochrome Game Boy, DS Lite, DSi XL)...

More Mission 101 News... My first "prop" (or more rightly pair of props) for Task 88

88 - Create usable stage/screen/cosplay props of three pieces of costume or equipment from my own projects

are coming along nicely, after a mid-week complete about-turn in design. The main components are ready - just about - and all that's needed now are suitable fastenings, which may require some more knotting research.

Operation Funplex News... Gonna have a look at some potential costume options, after one spectacularly fell through last weekend (and I still have no go-ahead to send the offending item back and get my refund). Hmmm...

And Finally... They've done it again - the Rush song "Face Up" on "Roll The Bones" has "Brighthawk soundtrack" potential!

But first, Move News... The sale looks to be another step closer to being a done deal, and so the momentum for shifting stuff to Site B is gearing up a bunch. It would, however, help if I wasn't WORKING RIGHT NOW, which some people seem to forget...

Now, about that title... We appeared to have a "ringer" today - someone sitting an exam for someone else, or so the department rep quite firmly believed. However, the opinions in general were a) "what are we supposed to do about it?" and b) "does the subject really look that unlike their ID photo that we can question that person's validity?"

Towards the end of the exam, we had all the "big guns" out...

...and no further action was taken. A whole bunch of worry for no real purpose, in the end, but at least it kept the day interesting. If it hadn't, you, dear reader, would be stuck with crap like this...

Examination Trivia... Only five people were wearing checked or "plaid" shirts in this afternoon's session, and they were all doing Earth Sciences - geology, basically. Do they get extra marks for turning up "in uniform"?

Of Greater Interest... A major website find, namely setlist.fm! I was thinking how this Saturday's Rush set compared to the other two times I'd seen them, so I searched for the relevant information, and found the most excellent resource imaginable!

Operation Rush Hour is go.

I'll be catching up with the rest of the world again on Sunday...

Move News... Well, that's another "stop and drop" carried out, as things step up a gear. There are still concerns about total storage space at Site B, but with some juggling, it may just work out - expect some photo-essays on the "recompression" effort as things get crazy(-er)!

Heh heh - Moving Pictures. How oddly appropriate.

Talking of which... The ear-wax thing is a work in progress, which I am very much hoping will be dealt with by, at the latest, Friday night. I seem to have a bit of a history with medical problems almost "the night before" big events - a dose of the "squirties" before my first pre-Christmas London trip, a problem I can't properly recall before a festival, a dodgy knee on the eve of the last time I saw Rush...

And then there's... the next REIGNFALL chapter. Don't panic, dear reader - that gets its own post.

Keeping me out of trouble... some more Ultima Online as Thrax continues the push to Grandmastering Bushido. 98.5 and counting - thinking the Ogre Lords in Despise Dungeon will be quaking in their loin-cloths for at least one night more. 1.5 worth of skill gains is achieveable...

Also, I'm thinking of pushing ahead with my "craft project to finish", and there's the matter of a "wish list" for what needs upgraded/replaced from a Move perspective. Mmmmm - big(ish) TV... aaaaah.

Yay! New Family Guy! (Followed by the "classic" episode (AKA repeat) with James Woods and "Oooh, piece of candy!") Unfortunately, that's about it, apart from another dose of Ultima Online, and an F1 Grand Prix that failed to capture my attention - sorry, but missing the end of the qualifying somehow sucked the excitement out of it. Guess I'm starting to get a buzz for next weekend...

Holy crap - it's a freaking Family Guy vs James Woods marathon...!