Matt’s Journal

I Just Know That Something Good Is Gonna Happen

Posted by Matt under Music, Videos

I found this courtesy of Kottke and it’s posted by the very well known Kanye West.

It was the freshest move I have ever seen, it was like he was floating on air.

The song is called Something Good and is by Utah Saints for those who are interested.

Beverley Knight

Posted by Matt under Music

Saturday, myself and Katie ventured upto Oxford Street to do a spot of Christmas shopping with the intention of attending the Beverley Knight concert at the Royal Albert Hall in the evening. Apon arriving, we grabbed a spot of lunch (for some reason everytime we visit London we always end up eating at Pizza Hut) and set to shopping our little hearts out.

It didnt quite happen. I was on a mission to get a new phone and visited the number of different shops along the street, finally settling for a Carphone Warehouse and targeting a poor employee who ended up probably getting the sack because of me. I managed to get him to credit £70 to my account for my existing contract, give me a nice new Nokia N81 and a pretty decent price plan too.

Walking out of the shop with a smile on my face, Katie treated us to a belgian waffle from one of the shops on Oxford Street, we both had melted chocolate on them and they were lip smackingly good.

It was then about time for us to head to the Albert Hall. We jumped in a cab and got to the venue about an hour early. After supping a few diet coke’s, we were finally allowed in and took our seats in the Upper Circle. The seats had a good vantage point but I could only imagine how good the view was from the seating just infront of the stage. The first two acts were average, we were treated to a band called Cherry Black Stone and a very effeminate solo singer named David Jordan.

The main event was spectacular, Beverley walked on to a standing ovation and there was me thinking am I/arent I going to like it? As she started, the sheer power of her voice was immense, it shook the foundations of the old hall it was so strong. She started with a few songs I couldnt recognise but as the event unfolded, she had the 5000 or so people dancing away, some with more effort than others (a bald guy dancing on the stairs for instance).

Finishing around half past ten, she ended with my favourite song of hers; Gold. The whole place was singing away, leaving us smiling as we left the venue after her final bow.

I sincerely suggest you go see her, she was fantastic (and this comes from someone who didn’t know quite what to expect).

Using TVersity to stream to your Xbox 360

Posted by Matt under Film, Gaming, Music, Tech

Following on from my previous post on the 360 and Conor’s suggestion, I thought that I would write a short post on how-to setup streaming of DivX etc onto your Xbox using TVersity. The guide is written for users running Windows XP.

Step 1
Make sure you have your Xbox 360 connected to your home/office network. Point your browser over to TVersity’s website and download the latest edition of TVersity. Whilst that is downloading, if you dont already have Windows Media Player 11, download the new install from here.

Step 2
Install both TVersity and WMP11. Run TVersity. Once installed, configure your personal firewall so that the Media Server component of this software can accept incoming connections from external software. To do this add a rule for MediaServer.exe (C:\Program Files\TVersity\Media Server) which uses port 41952. For Windows Firewall add the same file under Control Panel -> Windows Firewall -> Exceptions.

Step 3
If you already had your Xbox connected to your other computers you will need to disable sharing in Windows Media Player 11. If TVersity is running, point your browser to http://localhost:41952/ to use the GUI, you can also use the executable in your taskbar to open the same GUI.

Step 4
The next step is to share your media. Click the Green Plus button in the TVersity GUI to open a list of options to add media. Choose “Add Folder” and browse to the folder you wish to share. TVersity will then pause while it adds your media to your “Library” tab. Click into the Library tab and select your media type, the videos/pictures/music you added should be there.

Step 5
The final step is to get your Xbox to connect to your computer. On your Xbox, make sure you disconnect any previous computers in the System blade. Once this is done, navigate to the “Media” blade and select video. This will prompt for Console or Computer, choose Computer. The 360 should search and then find the TVersity server, add this and it should load your local library you shared on your computer.

That should be it, here are some extra tips:

• If you cant connect your 360 to your computer, try turning off your Windows Firewall.
• To increase the picture quality, in your TVersity GUI, click Settings and then Transcoder. Change your Connection Speed and Quality to Wired and Quality to Excellent if you are on a Wired LAN and change your Video Resolution to 1024×768 or higher (mine is 1600×1200). This will stop the picture from being pixelated.

Hopefully that helps, if it doesnt, head over to the TVersity Support Page and their Forums.

Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?

Posted by Matt under Music, Spendage, Update

This is more of a multimedia update, I bring to you suggestions and purchases I have made over the last weekend.

1. A new Mobile Phone
For 6 months I have put up with the god awful Samsung E900. The touchscreen was too sensitive so that when you tried to show a text message or a photo to a friend, it would cancel what you had at that time and take you back to the main screen without any warning. The ringtones were tinny, you couldnt customize much and basically it was only a matter of time until I got a new one.

The mission on Saturday on morning was to get a new Sony Ericsson phone, I had money from selling a few bits on Ebay so I could afford to get something I wanted. I searched around the main dealers in the high street when my girlfriends mother suggested I use her upgrade to shave some money off the phone I wanted. I managed to secure a Sony Ericsson w850i which came with a 1GB memory card and lots of useful features like 3G calling, complete customization and very good battery life. I went home a happy chappy!

2. Download these Albums
Just Jack - Overtones (if not the album, make sure you get the song “Starz in their eyez”.)
Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion (the best way to describe this is Freddy Mercury meets Scissor Sisters)
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City (download the song “The Prayer” for a taster.)
The Feeling - Twelve Stops and Home

There are just a few im listening to on my iPod at the moment, hit me up if you wish me to recommend any more.

Ciao for now!

Oh! Im going to Ibiza!

Posted by Matt under General, Happy, Music

Yes, the title is correct, I am off to Ibiza.

I have gone a bit mental and spent about £300 on clothing just for the holiday, perhaps I have a weakness. I spent £15 on suntan lotion alone, the chemist managed to mug me out of a few hard earned dinero’s there. The euro’s are changed up, the bags are packed and I am sitting in work for my last day for a whole 10/11 days.

There are seven of us in total going, its going to be messy. There will be four in one room and three in the other, it will be funny to see who gets put with who.

On the first night, we are off to a place called Judgement Sunday. It’s a night at the Eden nightclub that is run by Radio1 (one of our national radio stations from the BBC) and will feature loads of cool DJ’s and funky music.

After that, who knows? I expect there to be many sleepless nights, fights, malarks and much more. Stay tuned for pictures and a report on it all!

Current music tastes…

Posted by Matt under Music

I thought I would share some [tag]albums[/tag] and songs that I have been enjoying lately, if you like some of my suggestions, feel free to point me in the direction of the [tag]music[/tag] you like.

The Feeling - Twelve Stops and Home
The Kooks - Inside In Inside Out
Keane - Under The Iron Sea
Fort Minor - The Rising Tied

I will add to this later..