Skip navigation.

exploreopera

| Help

Sign up | Help

photo

coxy's profile

coxy's blog doesn't work with webkit browsers. sorry?

Posts tagged with "myspace"

Rock Band Demos

, , , ...

Encyclopedia (logo) by Cazz Buckley

Encyclopedia have some new demos up on their MySpace. They are worth blogging about. I've had a sneak peak of a few additional demos that you won't find online, and they are utterly brilliant. I can't remember being so excited about any other songs before, ever.

Tea Time Tango Too!!

, , , ...

Sad Shields and Vile Vile Creatures logos

Around this time last year, I posted about Tea Time Tango!! - an event at Manchester's Castle Hotel featuring Vile Vile Creatures, Party Wierdo and Fake Tan. I went along and it was fun, they even had their own indoor waterfall.

This year, Tea Time Tango!! returns to mark the start of a UK tour for Sad Shields and Vile Vile Creatures and I urge anyone in the vicinity of Manchester to attend.

Details are sketchy, but it will most likely kick off at 4pm in the Castle Hotel. Entrance is free, but you can donate money to the bands or buy their merchendise on the day if you're so inclinded. RSVP on Upcoming or Last.fm

If you can't make it to Manchester, check out the MySpace of either Vile Vile Creatures or Sad Shields for all the latest UK tour info, door times and entry fees. Be sure to make it along to one of the dates for your fill of noise.

Related Links
Tea Time Tango Too!! on Upcoming
Tea Time Tango Too!! on Last.fm
Sad Shields on MySpace
Vile Vile Creatures on MySpace
Tea Time Tango!! photoset on Flickr

Luke Leighfield

, , , ...

Luke Leighfield (front and center) and Friends (surrounding)

I'm pretty sure I've posted a bunch of stuff about pop-princess Luke Leighfield before, but what better reason to post again than to promote the release of his new single, a music video tie-in, his upcoming tour of Europe, some spiffing t-shirts that he's selling (though not as good as the limited run of Prince Charles ones I have) and an opportunity for me to give you track of his to download for free.

As you can see, Luke Leighfield is keeping himself busy on his path to potential future pop-stardom - it won't be long before you see him on Top of the Pops. But, before that can happen, you'll need to purchase his single as either a digital download, or a limited edition 7" vinyl disc - preferably both.

The single 'If You Haven't Got Anything To Say' is set to be released on 16th June 2008 via Banquet Records and Luke's own label Got Got Need Records. The 7" comes with an exclusive new demo which hasn't and won't be on any future releases, online or off, and can be pre-ordered / purchased at Banquet Records for just £1.99. Did I happen to mention that the limited pressing is only 500 copies? BUY IT!

For those that want to try before they buy, you can check out the music video for the single at Luke Leighfield's YouTube Channel. It sounds the same as the single, but has motion pictures for you to marvel at. It's in colour and has stereo sound. WATCH IT!

If you're not one for buying singles or haven't got a record player, you can support Luke Leighfield by going to see him play live in person at a venue near you. He's playing all around the UK and Europe at normal gig venues, festivals and people's living rooms - he may even play at your house if you send him a nice message on MySpace - which is also where you can find a comprehensive list of tour dates. LIVE IT!

Where it's not often you'll find me posting about a band's collection of t-shirts (except for maybe Encyclopedia - kings of merchandise), but there are some spiffing tees available with a Luke Leighfield logo on the front. What's more, they verify Luke as being 'pop music' and have a 'Got Got Need Records' logo on the back - there is truely no better way you can look good this summer. WEAR IT!

If you're still reading this shameless act of promotional guff, I thank you and present you with your reward; an MP3 of 'If I Try' - the second track taken from Luke's latest album - which you can buy together with his debut album for just ten of your Great British Pounds. DOWNLOAD IT!

Related Links:
Luke Leighfield on MySpace
Luke Leighfield on Facebook
Luke Leighfield on Virb
Luke Leighfield on Last.fm
Luke Leighfield Official Store
Got Got Need Records Official Store

Chores, Trees, Stats and Duck

, , , ...

After been off work since last Thursday, today is the last day of my official 'holidays' - I'm in work tomorrow and Friday before finishing for the Christmas period! Yay!

Where most days have been spent going out to gigs, meeting up with people in the day or doing nice things, I spent today tidying the house - hoovering, polishing things, washing up, etc. I pretended I was a shoe-shine boy and polished all mine and Vikki's shoes - she won't notice - but next time you see her, compliment her on having shiny shoes. I rewarded myself by cooking myself a nice hoi-sin duck stir fry. Mmm.

I'm quite excited for Christmas now; we have a tree that Vikki and I decorated, it'll be good to have even more time off work and I know what one of my presents is - and can't wait to use it.

Konica Auto S2 Konica Auto S2

Konica Auto S2 (Camerapedia)

...I've got some film sat here waiting to go in it! Cor!

With the end of the year looming, I've noticed that some people are posting blog statistics and thought it'd be something I could join in on - you know, be part of the Opera Community gang. Besides, I like seeing pointless facts like "Because it's Christmas, and the advert is probably being shown on TV again, lots of people are finding last year's blog post about the Iron Bru Snowman Advert." So, I present...


coxy's 2007 statistical listical

  • 39,337 unique people visited this blog between 11 Feb 2007 and 18 Dec 2007
  • August 2007 was the most popular month with 4,353 unique visitors
  • 2,519 people have visited my blog more than once
  • Most visitors found their way here via Google Search Results
  • A bookmark or 'direct link' secured 2,350 visitors. Wildly inaccurate?
  • 'Facebook Phishing Scam' was the most popular blog post during Q4 2007
  • 'Sexy Pictures and Acid Girls' has most visits for December 07 and is popular with folk searching for combinations of 'sexy', 'girls' and 'pictures'. One person found this blog by searching for 'pictures of sexy girls on acid'.
  • Most visitors originate from the USA, followed by United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Norway (in that order)
  • 11 people live in 'Other'.

Stats provided by HitsLink and Opera Community. Get free stats on MySpace with HitsLink.


Subscribe to coxy's blog:
Add to Google | Add to My Yahoo! | Add to Netvibes | Generic RSS Feed | widgetize!

Bonfire Night and Facebook Woes

, , , ...

Urgh, each day and with everything I read I've found myself disagreeing with Facebook's practises; what's more, the site is now riddled with idiots and has been on a downward spiral in terms of enjoyment since they've brought the applications in.

I like Virb°, though - Virb°2 is coming soon. Today I've been contemplating de-activating my Facebook account and moving over to Virb° full-time... but I realised I need to keep it open because I'm hosting Facebook Applications myself. I'd close my MySpace account too if I didn't use it for keeping in touch with bands. Argh! Socially trapped.

Anyways, all join Virb°. Good times.

In other news, we hosted a bonfire at our place the other night. A few mates came round and we did bonfire-like stuff. It was fun. Then we all went inside and watched Blood Diamond - getting to bed at about 1.30am - on a school night too! Shocking!

Bonfire Night: The Flames!

Bonfire Night: Tom Pulling Shapes

Add to Google Reader or Homepage Add to netvibes  Subscribe in a reader

Disenchanted.

, , , ...

I was hoping to return home and be able to post an exciting new blog post about two of my favourite companies around; Pixar and Yahoo!, but as the title suggests, the tone is a little different.

Pixar Logo

For those that don't know already, I was really excited all day today - right from the moment Vikki told me that I had mail from Pixar. Being at work, I couldn't wait to get home, and all day the excitement was building as to what they could've sent me. I was expecting a response to a letter that I'd sent to them, you see. I wrote it little under a month ago and had only sent it off around two weeks back. I don't really want to detail of what was in the letter, because it was quite lengthy and I can't remember, to be honest.

Anyway, so today I got the response. It was described to me as an A4-sized envelope which read 'Please Do Not Bend' on the front. Oh, how I was excited to hear that... which made it all worse when it was a total disappointment. I opened it up as soon as I got home to find a letter inside. Rather than quote it, here's a scan of the letter:

Letter from Pixar

As you can see, it's just a really generic auto-response; this is so offensive and impersonal that it makes me want to get in touch with them and have a rant at them some more. I understand that such a big company like Pixar must receive so much mail each day; but I'd prefer someone to read it and respond with something relevant ten years down the line than be just another crappy letter that's probably just tossed to one side.

Thank you for your letter to Pixar! We apologise for the delayed response, but we have been very busy working on our next feature animation film, "Wall.e", due out next summer.

First of all, I doubt the people in the mail room have been working hard on making the film. If someone's hired to do the mail, they're obviously sat replying to letters like mine all day, not just printing off auto-responders whilst waiting for their 3D model to render! Plus, one of the things I'd queried was why movie releases in the UK are months and months after US releases; and since they could clearly see from my address that I'm not from the US - this means their next feature animation film won't be released Summer 2008, but more like Winter 2008.

We love hearing all the great things you had to say, and we always appreciate any support and feedback we get from our fans.

As a simple token of our appreciation, we hope you like the enclosed photo of "The Incredibles".

What? I said one sentence of praise - the rest was questions I wanted answering about release dates, hi-definition movie releases and other matters I wanted to discuss. And your photo print is alright - I guess it's better than nothing - but I would've preferred a proper response and no silly print-out!! Maybe Pixar should save money in printing out all these photos and use the money they save to hire someone who will write back to fans properly!

Bah, it makes me sick. I took the time to write them a letter, hand-written on decent paper and everything; and their response made me dislike the company's way of handling things like this?! I would've preferred no response and then could pretend that someone has read my letter and taken in what I'd said, but is actually too busy to reply because they're busy on improving the product.

Yahoo! Mash Logo Yahoo! Mash Profile

Anyway, rant over - on my blog, at least.

Today I got invited to Yahoo! Mash - this is the new social network from Yahoo! - who previously maintained Yahoo! 360 (nobody seems to really know what's happening with 360 at the minute; whether it's to be scrapped, merged or to be continued). Y! Mash is currently in it's beta stages and somewhat closed off to the general public (an invite-only beta) and I didn't quite know what to expect after hearing very mixed feedback from sources on the web.

Signing up is easy; getting an invite doesn't just send you an invite, it creates a profile page for you to 'claim' should you want to join. Of course, if you decline, you don't get your page and it's deleted - but I think it's nice that it's done this way because you feel that you're already part of the network and it would be rude not to claim and start editing (or 'Mashing').

Editing your profile is also simple, and within seconds I had my page looking different from the default theme by changing a few colours and adding background images in the 'basic' mode of the Profile Editor and whilst I've not looked into more advanced CSS editing, I'm sure the profiles are quite easy to transform should you know CSS.

Your profile consists of modules which are also easy to add, move around (click and drag), edit, remove and steal (add to your profile, from a friends page). Unfortunately, most of the modules are very basic, rss-based modules, or silly 'fun' activities. Upon installing the Last.fm module I admit that I was expecting a bit more than it just to fetch the information and display it as an uninteresting and unformatted list. It would've been nice to see some colour, or even the flash music player available in the Facebook app. However, Yahoo! are set to release a developer API to allow people to create their own modules (akin to that of Facebook's Applications) in future.

One thing that is instantly noticeable (and also very annoying from both a Yahoo! supporter and a Yahoo! user's point of view) is that there is little integration with current Yahoo! services, and what is there is poorly implemented. Bearing in mind that login to Mash is accomplished via your standard Yahoo! ID, a good example of this is the Flickr photos module. Once you add the Flickr photos module, you see a box to enter the URL of your Flickr Photostream appear on your profile. My immediate reaction to this was "hang on, I log into my Flickr account using my Yahoo! ID too; why isn't this automatically linked up?!" I guess in the case of the Flickr module, this is for if you wanted to add the photostream of a particular tag, or a friend's photostream instead? But if that is the case why isn't there a nicely implemented user interface, as if it were a Yahoo! Widget?!

Other good examples of bad (or non-existent) implementation is MyBlogLog which has been dubbed MyMashLog and only shows recent visitors from within the Mash Community as a list of profile names, as opposed to any MyBlogLog member (no account linking, again) regardless of Mash membership and a nice profile picture thumbnail, an absence of an Upcoming or del.icio.us module and also the presence of Google-owned YouTube video modules as opposed to Yahoo! Video or Jumpcut.

Personally, I'd be quite happy to use it as my primary social networking site if they can give me greater and accurate localisation options, it became fully integrated with relevant Yahoo! services (sometimes I wonder if Yahoo! even know what services they own) and also that I can convince a good circle of friends to join. As a social network, I think it has potential - it's also relatively ad-free, which is a bonus. However, it does seem to be missing any sense of evolution over what we've witnessed from sites like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo - the ability to customise a friend's profile for them isn't enough; and then there's also the question of whether the time's right for yet another social networking site.

http://mash.yahoo.com/mattcoxonline

Fresh.

, , , ...

So, most of tonight was spent putting Ubuntu back on my machine. If you remember, my Hard Drive failed towards the end of last week and I lost my Operating Systems - rendering me partially operational. I am back in the swing of things and fully operational again, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know. It is nice to have a clean installation on my machine again - sometimes its good to start over. You learn from past mistakes and learn how to organise things better.

The first thing I did after installing Ubuntu on my machine was to install Opera. I'm now using as my default web browser, RSS reader, Email client and for IRC. Because I had a few quibbles with how Opera handled certain things, I previously used Evolution for email, Liferea for RSS and X-Chat for IRC - but that was until Ramunas shared a few of his own tips and tricks. Props to Vikki for buying me a new hard drive... even it was a selfish act; she just wanted to play Oblivion.

Anyway, geekiness aside, I've got a job prospects to mention.

So, Monday evening I went to Flame Digital for an interview, or a 'chat' as they seem to be referred to in the web design industry. I wasn't too sure of what to expect, but it was quite the pleasant experience; the company is a nice size and the office is a nice space. The overall atmosphere and vibe was a lot better than the other companies I've seen so far, and they seem like a fairly competent team.

Between the nerves and the questions about the salary, the usual questions were batted too-and-throw and I think it all went quite well. I may have chatted on a bit too much, but that can be put down to my nerves too. My options now are to sit back and wait; this is the part I hate most. I know I'm up to the task, and would like to work for this company - the ball's in their court now.

In the meantime, I've found a few things to occupy my time; punk-pop rockers Pickled Dick have asked me to head up their Street Team. I love these guys, and when I was at their Manchester gig the other night, Jhon asked me if I could help them out. Since then I've given their street team a face-lift (it's such a chore to style MySpace profiles!) and am well up for helping them spread the word.

I've also a gig scheduled for next Thursday. Hot Club de Paris are playing on a ferry 'cross the Mersey, supported by goFASTER>> and SSS. It's all being filmed for Channel 4, will be broadcast as part of their 'Secret Gigs' schedule and it's the first time I've ever been to a gig on a boat. I'm quite looking forward to it. I'll take my camera and see what pictures I can grab - but I don't suppose it'll be much, what with an official film crew being there to capture it themselves.

Before I sign off for the day, I'd just like to tell those that are subscribing to this feed via Feedburner (and please do), you'll start seeing links from my Ma.gnolia account. Hopefully this will result in being a good thing, as opposed to bad. Let me know what you think though, because the change is easily reversible.

Add to Technorati Favorites

Gamestyle on the Web

, , ,

So, I just thought I'd keep you Opera Community kids up-to-date with Gamestyle stuff, because now we're on Wikipedia and MySpace.

You folk who wanted to know just what the hell Gamestyle was, where it came from, what it's shoe size is and all that jazz, we have Wikipedia. Okay, so I wrote most of it, so its come from a reliable source. Some might say biased, but this is probably the least biased thing I've ever wrote in my entire life.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamestyle

For all you kids who are on the MySpaces, you should check out Gamestyle on there. Add us as your friend - we won't bite. In fact, quite the opposite. There'll be reviews going up in the bulletin section along with any important emergency news, there's a Featured Forum Post every once in a while so you can find out what gamers are talking about, and there'll be give-a-ways exclusive to MySpace - so watch out for any games going for free.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/ourwordyourguide

Tell your friends.

What is it good for?

, , , ...


Well, since I've got a lovely Creative Zen V Plus MP3 player; I've been listening to loads of music. I've set aside iTunes for Cog (and Max) - which also means I've set aside my Last.fm profile. Now it only logs stuff I listen to in work. Which sucks.

So, I thought I'd update you personally with my recent listening habits. I hope you like music.

Jamie T - [non-album tracks]
Of course, there isn't an album yet. I have a few singles and the B sides; and then a few exclusive tracks from his site. Tracks include; 'Sheila' 'Oh My Girl' 'Northern Line' || MySpace

Larrikin Love - [non-album tracks]
As with Jamie T, they have no album out yet, so have fulfilled my listening pleasure with random 7" single material and whatever I'd managed to ripp off video footage. Tracks include 'Happy As Annie' 'Felix Como O Annie' 'Dead Long Dead' 'Downing Street Kindling' and 'Six Queens'. || MySpace

Hot Club de Paris - [non-album tracks]
Yes, there's a theme here; none of these bands have albums out. Single track include: 'sometimesitsbetternottostickbitsofeachotherineachotherforeachother' and the B-side 'Your Face Looks All Wrong' and of course, the track from Moshi-Moshi compilation 'Ship Wreck'. Oh, also been seeing these live. || MySpace

Lo-Fi Fnk - Change Channel
A random song (non-album, again) from Lo-Fi Fnk. I have no idea who they are. This song made its way onto my mac from somewhere and it's highly addictive. || MySpace

Tilly & The Wall - Nights of the Living Dead
Another individual track and non-album. 'Well, the high school kids are all fucked up; touching each other, oh my gosh! ... God, put down your guns, can't you see we're dead?' || MySpace

The Answering Machine - Demo
Some local Manc band. But one with potential. They have a great on-stage vibe, and sound brilliant. If anyone wants any music by these; go to the Sainsburys in town opposite Oxford Road station and ask for 'that girl out of The Answering Machine'. || MySpace

That Fucking Tank
Hurrah! An album... a full... album. It was £6 on 12". However, I dont have ANY digital versions. TFT were a band that played at Munkyfest and I'm sure they have a MySpace somewhere (as do all bands nowadays). || MySpace


You should look up these artists on Yahoo!, MySpace and Last.fm. And not Google.

I'd Appreciate Your Input

, , , ...

Howdy boys and girls,

Its been a good week since I last posted to my blog. I thought I'd give you all a chance to take note of my message from Little Man Tate. Oh how it excited me. The novelty has worn off, now - and so we move on...

So, what have we learnt this week? We've seen my blog and photo album here on Opera Community pass the 35,000 milestone. I'm quite impressed by this and am overjoyed by the number of visitors. I suspect that the large majority of these are through my photo albums, and not my blog. Its strange to see that I've got so many visitors, but little comments in comparison. Maybe you could help out with that and say hello?

Other things that have happened in recent days; I re-designed and made my website at orangemapped.co.uk. I used to use this site for my design portfolio - but since I'm working and don't really want to get involved in freelance design work, I decided I'll use it to distribute some music. Each week I'll be uploading a new track for you to download. There'll be a link so you can buy the full album, and you'll also get to see my Top Ten most listened to artists for that week. Click here to get the first track.

Speaking of re-designs; I've also re-designed my MySpace. There's a lot of folk in the world that use MySpace - and I'm one of them. However, I'm not a fan of MySpace. I hate it. I'm just addicted to it. So, if you go to this page you will see my new look page and you can view the video on there, and take a look at all the various crap on the page. If you wish, you can add me - but you're likely to get deleted if you don't keep in touch.

Well, today I've been in work and after work went for a drink with Hairy Dave. I'm not sure if he knows that people call him Hairy Dave, but they do. He's been at our workplace for a while now on a freelance basis - but I think someone's actually given him a part-time contract because now he's hanging about the Manchester branch of With quite frequently. So, after work we went and hung out in Night And Day Cafe for a bit. I love that place. Oh, and you can check out Hairy Dave's site by clicking here.

That's all for this time around, more to come soon.

Peas Out.