Buckle Up PSA

I thought this was an effective public service announcement about buckling your seat belt (click the link above. The picture actually has nothing to do with the video, I was just trying to lure you in. Pervert). I fucks with this type of PSA — mix it up a little bit, I feel ya. It’s a lot better than that one about the stroke stand-up comedian. Oh really, strokes aren’t a joke? Thanks, cockhead. Out of every issue that needs attention, that’s the one you chose. Apparently we’ve heard enough about drunk driving, drug abuse, littering, domestic violence, piracy, internet danger and Mel Gibson.  I think most reasonable people would call 911 if a loved one was lying on the floor dizzy and limped face. What, do you think Americans are that oblivious/insensitive? Whatever, I don’t have time for worrying about this now because I have to go to the taxidermist and pickup my groundhog coat. Peace out.

sabe quem ta em estudio preparando o seu quarto disco ?? Os Strokes !! finalmente. As gravaçoes começaram nessa semana em NY, segundo a NME, e tem como produtor, Joe Chicarelli. Foi ele quem descobriu a Tori Amos e gravou com Frank Zappa, U2,White Stripes, Bjork e Beck, entre outros. I can’t wait to listen it !

The Strokes are currently working on a new album.  This is the best news I’ve heard for a while and I can’t wait to see how they do since about half the band went solo.  Anyways, they’re scheduled to play a few festivals in Europe in the spring so hopefully that can translate to Sasquatch or Bumbershoot or a U.S. tour?  Either way, I’m stoked.

In the past few years Converse has crossed over a bit.

In 2008 they put together a decent song with Pharell, Santogold, and Julian Casablancas (Strokes lead man).

Then in 2009, Converse hosted the first annual Band of Ballers event in New York City.

For the day, they brought in NY’s Top Hip Hop radio station HOT 97, and their personalities like Miss Info and Cipha Sounds. The hottest hunnies were in town…i.e. Rosa Acosta

Teams were led by hip hop stars like Jim Jones, Diplo, Pac Div, and Asher Roth.

Converse has used these platforms, like music, video, and events to successfully promote their products to a broader audience. For the Band of Baller tournament, they introduced their new sneaker, Weapon Evo. The Evo, an updated version of the 1986-’87 Converse Weapon, introduces Cons’ Balls Technology. “Balls” are polyurethane bladders embedded in the shoe’s heel that compress and rebound during play.

With $10,000 cash sitting on top of the backboards, teams competed in half court 3-on-3 games. Jim Jones’ team, Jones Family, defeated Pac Div for the championship

Also, check out this funny promo video done by the Roth Boys

Digital downloading and file sharing, the rise and spread of hip hop culture into mainstream music, the popularity of American Idol and its artists – the years 2000-2009 saw many trends occur in the music industry.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane with a list of just some of the albums that received widespread critical acclaim during the past decade and left an imprint on the music world:

Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective

Funeral by Arcade Fire

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips

Funeral by Arcade Fire

Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady

Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol

The Blueprint by Jay-Z

Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem

Stankonia by OutKast

Mass Romantic and Twin Cinema by The New Pornographers

Stankonia by OutKast

Person Pitch by Panda Bear

Kid A and In Rainbows by Radiohead

Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Kill the Moonlight by Spoon

Illinois by Sufjan Stevens

Is This It? by The Strokes

Illinois by Sufjan Stevens

Dear Science and Return to Cookie Mountain by TV on the Radio

The College Dropout and Late Registration by Kanye West

Elephant and White Blood Cells by The White Stripes

White Blood Cells by The White Stripes

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco

Fever to Tell by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I’ve always wanted to do nothing else than to sit, think and stroke brush to the canvas. But as the time flees, so as my love. For the more than ten years of doing what i love to do this is my most laid back, my most sober moment and now I forgot what my former dreams were. I don’t even know if could still hold a piece of imagination. But I do hope so. Because I believe that in whatever I do, I will always be for the one that i love. Now let’s do it old school…

Don't you?

Hey hey, here we go. I hope you spent the entire weekend evaluating the picks from the previous post. This has been quite the metaphorical trip down memory lane for me; I was 14 when the naughties began, and I’m 24 on the way out. Most of my music-listening life happened in the last ten years, and every single one of these albums was important to me in some way during the past decade. I had so many “blasts from the past” while compiling this list, and it’s just barely scratching the surface of the music I’ve listened to in the past decade. This is the second part of my list; for part I (#100-51), click here.

Without further ado…

CK’S TOP 100 ALBUMS OF THE DECADE: PART II

50    Brave Saint Saturn – So Far From Home* (2000)
49    Girl Talk – Night Ripper (2006)
48    Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (2008)
47    Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam (2007)
46    The Decemberists – The Crane Wife (2006)
45    Joy Electric – Legacy: The White Songbook (2001)
44    Lindsey Pool – All My Stories (2007)
43    Girl Talk – Feed the Animals (2008)
42    Taking Back Sunday – Louder Now (2006)
41    M83 – Saturdays = Youth (2008)
40    Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)
39    Sufjan Stevens – Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State (2003)
38    Death Cab for Cutie – The Photo Album (2001)
37    The Mars Volta – De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003)
36    AFI – decemberunderground (2006)
35    Junior Senior – Hey Hey My My Yo Yo (2005)
34    Blink 182 – Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)
33    Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (2007)
32    The Juliana Theory – Emotion is Dead (2000)
31    The White Stripes – Elephant (2003)
30    Annuals – Such Fun (2008)
29    Muse – Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
28    fun. – Aim and Ignite (2009)
27    The Killers – Sam’s Town (2006)
26    Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere (2006)
25    The White Stripes – White Blood Cells (2001)
24    The Format – Dog Problems (2006)
23    Yeasayer – All Hour Cymbals (2007)
22    Panda Bear – Person Pitch (2007)
21    U.S.E. – LOVEWORLD (2009)
20    The Strokes – Is This It? (2001)
19    The Format – Interventions & Lullabies (2003)
18    AFI – Sing the Sorrow (2003)
17    The Knife – Silent Shout (2006)
16    Alkaline Trio – Crimson (2005)
15    Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
14    The Hives – Veni Vidi Vicious (2000)
13    Shout Out Louds – Our Ill Wills (2007)
12    The Antlers – Hospice (2009)
11    Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)

*When you listen to So Far From Home, do me a favor. Don’t listen to “Shadow of Def”. Just skip right over it. Seriously. It might be the worst song of the decade.

Here’s a very important – maybe paradigm shifting - press release on a study that challenges the current, broad-based recommendations for people to lower their cholesterol. My highlights. – Ilene

Treat the Risk, Not the Cholesterol: Study Challenges Current Cholesterol Recommendations

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A new study by the University of Michigan Medical School and VA Ann Arbor Health System challenges the medical thinking that the lower the cholesterol, the better.

Tailoring treatment to a patient’s overall heart attack risk, by considering all their risk factors, such as age, family history, and smoking status, was more effective, and used fewer high-dose statins, than current strategies to drive down cholesterol to a certain target, according to the U-M study.

While study authors support the use of cholesterol-lowering statins, they conclude that patients and their doctors should consider all the factors that put them at risk for heart attack and strokes.

The findings will be released online Monday ahead of print in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"We’ve been worrying too much about people’s cholesterol level and not enough about their overall risk of heart disease," says Rodney A. Hayward, M.D., director of the Veterans Affairs Center for Health Services Research and Development and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends harmful LDL cholesterol levels should be less than 130 for most people. High risk patients should be pushed even lower — to less than 70.

The U-M study took a different approach, called tailored treatment, which uses a person’s risk factors and mathematical models to calculate the expected benefit of treatment, by considering:

  –  A person’s risk of a heart attack or stroke without treatment;
  –  How much a statin decreases the risk; and
  –  Potential harms from the treatment

"These are the three factors that determine the net benefit of a treatment. Our fixation on just one factor, LDL cholesterol, is leading us to often treat the wrong people," Hayward says.

In the recent study, U-M physicians who worked with Yale University School of Medicine used data from statin trials that included Americans ages 30-75 with no history of heart attack.

Study authors evaluated the benefit of five years of treatment that was tailored, on coronary artery disease risk factors such as age, family history, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking status, and recently CRP, C-reactive protein.

The tailored approach was more efficient (more benefit per person treated) and prevented substantially more heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths than the currently recommended treat-to-target approaches.

The tailored strategy treated fewer individuals with high-dose statins and saved 500,000 more quality-adjusted life years.

"The bottom line message — knowing your overall heart attack risk is more important than knowing your cholesterol level," Hayward says. "If your overall risk is elevated, you should probably be on a statin regardless of what your cholesterol is and if your risk is very high, should probably be on a high dose of statin," the U-M physician says.

"However, if your LDL cholesterol is high, but your overall cardiac risk is low, taking a statin does not make sense for you," Hayward says. "If your cholesterol is your only risk factor and you’re younger, you should work on diet and exercise." 

Research has increasingly emerged questioning the value of cholesterol targets and which of statins mechanisms is most important to preventing cardiac events. Cholesterol-lowering drugs work by blocking a key enzyme linked with LDL cholesterol production, but they initiate other changes in the body.

"Statins also affect inflammation on the inside of our blood vessels which is often what causes heart attacks and strokes — it’s not just a matter of cholesterol alone," he says.  

Additional authors: Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D., Yale University School of Medicine, and Donna M. Zulman, M.D., Justin W. Timbie, Ph.D., and Sandeep Vijan, M.D, all of the VA Center for Health Services Research and Development, VA Ann Arbor Health Care System.

Funding: VA Health Services Research and Development Service’s Quality Enhancement Research Initiative and the Measurement Core of the Michigan Diabetes Research & Training Center of the National Institutes of Health.
 

  Resources:
  University of Michigan Medical School
  http://www.med.umich.edu/medschool/

  VA Center for Health Services Research and Development
  http://www.annarbor.hsrd.research.va.gov/

  VA Ann Arbor Health System
  http://www.annarbor.va.gov/

  National Cholesterol Education Program
  http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/ncep/index.htm

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise(TM). For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com/.  

Source: University of Michigan Health System

(NaturalNews) A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is suddenly blocked by a blood clot or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, driving blood into the spaces surrounding brain cells, or neurons. The result can be brain damage that leaves stroke survivors with disabilities ranging from one-sided paralysis or weakness to problems with thinking, attention, memory and learning. But new research by Ohio State University scientists set for publication in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Neurochemistry concludes a specific type of vitamin E known as tocotrienol (TCT) could prevent brain cells from dying after a stroke.

Tocopherols are the best-known form of vitamin E and the kind usually found in supplements. However, the vitamin occurs naturally in seven other different forms, including TCT. Although not widely found in the typical American diet, it is common in foods that comprise a typical Southeast Asian diet. Food sources of TCT include rice bran oil, barley, wheat germ and oats.

“Our research suggests that the different forms of natural vitamin E have distinct functions. The relatively poorly studied tocotrienol form of natural vitamin E targets specific pathways to protect against neural cell death and rescues the brain after stroke injury,” Chandan Sen, professor and vice chair for research in Ohio State’s Department of Surgery and senior author of the study, said in a statement to the media.

Over the past decade, the Ohio State University research team has studied how this form of vitamin E protects the brain in animal and cell models. But according to Dr. Sen, their new study provides specific details about how that protection works. Bottom line: they’ve identified an enzyme called cystolic calcium-dependent phospholipase A2 (cPLA2, for short) that tocotrienol targets to protect neurons after a stroke.

“We have studied an enzyme that is present all the time, but one that is activated after a stroke in a way that causes neurodegeneration. We found that it can be put in check by very low levels of tocotrienol,” Dr. Sen said. “So what we have here is a naturally derived nutrient, rather than a drug, that provides this beneficial impact.”

The researchers explained that the blocked blood flow to the brain associated with a stroke causes an excess of the neurotransmitter glutamate to be released. In normal amounts, glutamate is beneficial and important for memory and learning. But when produced in large amounts due to the brain trauma of a stroke, it triggers a cascade of reactions that leads to the death of neurons and causes the most serious stroke damage.

For their study, Dr. Sen and colleagues took cells from the hippocampus region of developing mouse brains and added excess glutamate to produce the type of changes seen in the brain after a stroke. In the presence of excess glutamate, the cPLA2 enzyme released a fatty acid called arachidonic acid which normally helps maintain the stability of health cell membranes. Under stroke conditions, however, with high levels of glutamate present, arachidonic acid undergoes an enzymatic chemical reaction that makes it toxic — then brain cells are poisoned and start to die.

But when the researchers added tocotrienol to the cells that had been exposed to excess glutamate, the vitamin E decreased the release of fatty acids by 60 percent when compared to cells exposed to glutamate alone. What’s more, the brain cells treated with the TCT form of vitamin E were about four times more likely to survive than brain cells exposed to glutamate alone.

In the press statement, Dr. Sen noted that the amount of TCT needed to achieve these brain cell protecting effects is quite small — a concentration about 10 times lower than the average amount of tocotrienol circulating in humans who consume this form of vitamin E regularly. The Ohio State University researchers intend to continue their research to see if TCT can successfully prevent and treat strokes in humans.

Editor’s note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present these findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired.

For more information:
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive…
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/…
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocent…

In an article in today’s New York Times, there is an article about a 7 year old boy who had a stroke and his family’s ordeal. One of the interesting quotes in this article is “It turns out that stroke, by some estimates, is the sixth leading cause of death in infants and children. And experts say doctors and hospitals need to be far more aggressive in detecting and treating it.”

The article is quite long and very detailed. To read it, and I would recommend that you do, please click here.

As the Twitter bar to the right of this post should amply tell you, I’m a little under-the-weather at the moment. As a) my health is not a very interesting topic for a blog and b) it is somewhat preventing me from posting something more productive, my entire post shall today consist of this:

I have a very dear friend called Laurena. Laurena has a new blog called Racy Haze. Already boasting fans like Sky Ferreira and the Postelles, if you don’t read this blog now, you will end up pretending that you read it by this time next year. You can also follow Laurena on Twitter or on her Strokes fanpage. Do it.

What are arrhythmias?

Arrhythmias (or dysrhythmias) are problems that affect the electrical system of the heart muscle, producing abnormal heart rhythms. They can cause the heart to pump less effectively.

The heart has four chambers. The top two are the atria, and the lower two are the ventricles. Normally the heartbeat starts in the right atrium when a special group of cells sends an electrical signal. (These cells are called the sinoatrial or SA node, the sinus node or the heart’s “pacemaker.”) This signal spreads throughout the atria and to the atrioventricular (A-V) node. The A-V node connects to a group of fibers in the ventricles that conduct the electrical signal. The impulse travels down these specialized fibers (the His-Purkinje system) to all parts of the ventricles. The electrical signal must follow this exact route for the heart to pump properly.

Under some conditions almost all heart tissue can start a heartbeat. In other words, another part of the heart can become the pacemaker. An arrhythmia occurs…

• when the heart’s natural pacemaker develops an abnormal rate or rhythm.
• when the normal conduction pathway is interrupted.
• when another part of the heart takes over as pacemaker.

What is a normal heart rate or pulse?

The heart contracts (beats) as the electrical impulse moves through it. This normally occurs 60 to 80 times a minute when a person is at rest. The atria contract a split-second before the ventricles. This lets the atria empty their blood into the ventricles before the ventricles contract.

What causes arrhythmias?

Many arrhythmias have no known cause. However, a number of factors can contribute to arrhythmias. They include coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, excessive use of alcohol or caffeine, drug abuse and stress. Certain substances, including some over-the-counter and prescription medications, dietary supplements and herbal remedies are known to cause arrhythmias in some people.

What are the symptoms and treatments for a slow heartbeat?

A heart rate of less than 60 beats per minute is called bradycardia. Physically active people often have a resting heart rate slower than 60 beats per minute. For them, this isn’t abnormally slow. Bradycardia doesn’t usually require treatment unless there are prolonged or repeated symptoms such as fatigue, dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting or near-fainting spells. These symptoms are usually due to insufficient blood flow to the brain. Elderly people are more prone to problems with a slow heart rate. These symptoms can be treated and, in certain cases, can be corrected by implanting an electronic pacemaker under the skin to speed up the heart rhythm, when the heart rate becomes too slow.

What are the symptoms and treatments for rapid heart beating?

Rapid heart beating, called tachycardia or tachyarrhythmia, can produce palpitations, rapid heart action, chest pain, dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting or near fainting if the heart beats too fast to circulate blood effectively. Heartbeats may be either regular or irregular in rhythm.

When rapid heart beating starts in the ventricles — called ventricular tachycardia — it can interfere with the heart’s ability to pump enough blood to the brain and other vital organs. This dangerous arrhythmia can change without warning into the most serious heart rhythm disturbance — ventricular fibrillation. In this, the lower chambers quiver and the heart can’t pump any blood. Collapse and sudden cardiac death follow unless medical help is provided immediately.

If treated in time, ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation can be converted into normal rhythm with electrical shock. Rapid heart beating can be controlled with medications or by identifying and destroying the focus of rhythm disturbances. One effective way to correct these life-threatening rhythms is by using an electronic device called an implantable cardioverter / defibrillator.

Blood clots can form during atrial fibrillation, a disorder found in 2.2 million Americans. In atrial fibrillation the atria quiver instead of beating effectively. Blood isn’t pumped completely out of them when the heart beats, so the blood pools and clots.

If part of a blood clot in the atria leaves the heart and lodges in an artery in the brain (or leading to it), a stroke results. About 15 percent of strokes occur in people with atrial fibrillation.

Source:American Heart Association.

This story was contributed by a reader who wishes to remain anonymous. It addresses the importance of hydration in our parents’ overall health & safety. 

On several occasions my sister and I noticed that my Mom’s dementia would get worse. We worried that this was the “beginning of the end” of her mental competency. I recall when she started holding a terrible grudge against one of our favorite caregivers at her Assisted Living Home. The caregiver’s name was Jane, but she insisted on calling her Alice! She would relay to me that “Alice” would take showers, try on her clothes and entertain men in her apartment when she went to bed. We tried to convince her that she would never do these things, but she stuck to her story and accused us of being very naïve when we didn’t believe her!

When we took my Mom to her primary care physician, we’d routinely review all that was going on at the time, which often included falls and the worsening dementia. The doctor would check her urine and come back with the report that she had a UTI (urinary tract infection). We learned that the infection was the result of dehydration, which in turn caused her dementia to get worse.  She told us that it could also be a contributing factor to her frequent falls.

We were happy that an antibiotic would clear the infection and therefore her dementia and we had struggled to find ways to minimize her falls, so this was an important discovery.  Her doctor indicated that the juices, sodas, coffee and Ensure my mother liked weren’t anywhere near as good as “plain ole’ water,” for staying hydrated. She suggested we try putting Crystal Lite in it to make it taste better. It took time, but eventually grew to like it and drinks it all the time now. We buy 8oz bottles of water and pour the small packs of lemonade-flavored Crystal Lite into them and shake it up well. She likes to drink it with a straw. We make sure there is always a bottle by her side, but don’t have to remind her to drink it as much as we used to. 

Dehydration can have debilitating consequences in the elderly. Watch for signs like confusion, irritability, low urine output, dry skin, constipation, dizziness, hypotension or infection. They could be indicators of dehydration, which can lead to falls, stroke and renal failure. Better yet, do whatever you can to get your parents into the water habit right now!

It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this. Actually, it’s been a while since I blogged. I remember back when I was an angry blogger I used to bitch about a lot of things I hated. I’ve been blogging about things I like or even love for so long now that I thought I may have forgotten how to write angrily. That was until a mega text conversation with HazMat on Tuesday, followed up by a ridiculously aggressive email debate with some WANARBers reminded me of what an angry bitter person I can be. Which put me in exactly the right frame of mind to write this list.

It wasn’t difficult to pull this list together, there are so many terrible acts out there, the tough thing was whittling it down to ten. My choice was made slightly easier by making it about ‘overrated’ acts, rather than just god damn awful ones. I had to ignore so many terrible acts, which is a shame, as they all deserve my anger and scorn.

I must say that although the number one spot has been filled for the entire decade by the same band, the rest has changed over time, some acts I maybe even used to like, but one bad single, one bad album, too much hype and bam! They’re eligible for the list.

Just one last thing, before I start the list, I thought I should include some dishonourable mentions, acts that nearly made it onto the list, but just didn’t make the cut. I’m talking about Leona Lewis, Coldplay, The Horrors, Nickleback, Limp Bizkit, Kooks, Fall Out Boy, The Feeling, Linkin Park, Haduoken! and The Strokes. Criminally overrated, all of them. But not as bad as this bunch.

10. The Klaxons

Charlie Brooker & Chris Morris. Psychics.

The golden boys of NME Editor Connor McNicholas assault on teens tiny little impressionable minds with his ‘Nu Rave’ bullshit. They single handedly coined the phrase ‘MDMAzing’, were poster boys for a movement that didn’t actually exist, and were, in my humble opinion, the manifestation of a Nathan Barley joke.

It took me seeing them perform live for my hatred to fully manifest, they couldn’t play their instruments, they couldn’t sing, they couldn’t do fuck all. It was just a fucking mess.

Remember the Test Icicles? No? Well, they were like The Klaxons, but better. ‘Circle, Square, Triangle’ shitted over ‘Atlantis to Interzone’ from a great height, and that’s really saying something.

Thing is, these jokers wouldn’t have made the list if it hadn’t been for one fact. They won the Mercury Music Prize. What a joke. If you had thought that it was a ridiculous award before hand, these prancing Nu Rave pretenders made it a laughing stock, and having Speech Debelle as the most recent winner just goes to show, it really is a fucking bullshit award. But I won’t start hating on the Mercury’s here; it’s about acts, not how much I hate that award, or how much I despise Jo Whiley.

9. Gossip

No comment.

HazMat probably put it best by saying “One good song in 12 years, and that was a Soulwax remix”, when commenting on why Gossip, or The Gossip should make the list. I couldn’t agree more. I would love to write more, bitch about how their sexuality seems to be more important than their tat music, complain that fatness shouldn’t be something to aspire to, cry that somehow Beth Ditto can be a ‘model’ who ‘inspires’ other women. I won’t, this small paragraph is enough, you can discuss it more in the comments if you like, but all of us at WANARB agree they 100% deserve their place on this list.

8. The Darkness

Words fail me.

Sold out arena shows? Check.

Headline festival performance? Check

Coke addictions? Check.

Christmas #1? Check.

Support of a North London Indian Restaurant? Check?

That’s pretty much it. They were fun, really fun, for a short period of time, a very short period of time. I mean they went from industry darlings to a laughing stock within 18 months. They had less staying power than the GLC for Christ sake, what’s even worse is they burnt out, and still managed to fade away. It takes a certain kind of act to manage to do both at the same time. It also riles me up when English folk pretend to be American and hold American flags, and do ‘thumbs up’, and wear cat suits, and sing “get your hands off of my woman mother fucker” in falsetto. Two words that best sum up The Darkness, and they’re “oh dear”.

7. The Killers

The 'eyeliner and dior' days. Apparently.

I have to admit, The Killers were one of my favourite bands back in the early aughts, only to turn to shit very quickly. I saw them at the Fez Club in Reading before Mr Brightside was released, and I loved every minute of the gig, I lapped up ‘Hot Fuss’ when I got my hands on a copy. Then came the second album, oh the terrible second album. I remember reading a review in NME, which said

“Eyeliner and Dior make way for leather and facial hair as Brandon and his gang prepare to take over the world”

It almost made me cry, and that was just because they used the words ‘gang’ and it reminded me of Gary Glitter. Then the NME said they’d gone ‘Springsteen’ on us, which was apparently a good thing (?!). It stopped the tear forming, and just made me laugh and laugh. The review, which can be found here hails the second album as an amazing rock n roll album whilst simultaneously trashing their debut. Wrong wrong wrong NME, you have massively overrated the Killers whilst adding fuel to my fire of hatred for you and your writers (Tim Jonze and Connor McNicholas I’m looking at you). I seem to have spent half of my time here bitching about NME, but when you think of a band highly rated, The Killers were highly rated by one of the most influential music entities in the country, when in fact they were terrible. #7 with a bullet.

6. Razorlight

"hey, new drummer guy who's not as good as original drummer guy, why don't you get a haircut like mine, then I might let you take some of the credit for that awesome song 'America' that you wrote but I'm gonna steal, because thats just the kind of guy I am"

God, another one which I’ll use an NME review to complain about a band. Again, another band I once loved, I saw live a few times during their first album tour, and then began to despise. It isn’t just musically I despised them either, lead singer, songwriter (or so he tells us) and general douchebag Johnny Borrell is the reason they’re above The Killers, his one man assault on your ears and eyes continuously telling us he is ‘better than Dylan or McCartney’ and the arrogance of this conviction jumped Razorlight into #6 on the list.

When I reviewed their second album back in 2006 I wrote this

“The album starts with a dreadful drum fill, pedestrian guitars, lazy lyrics and lacklustre singing, and continues in the same vein for the next 42minutes. If their first offering was punchy, poppy, rocky and vibrant, a great night out followed by a great shag, this album is the equivalent of waking up the next morning in the gutter with your trousers around your ankles with a fat old woman spooning you whilst the used condom lies inches away from your face”

Compare this to the NME’s review:

“It’s Borrell’s bid for Bono-stature. Except it’s actually good”

“Andy Burrows’ drums pounding through the album like voodoo maracas”

“With a poetic simplicity …..it could only have been penned by a true romantic.”

“It’s difficult to imagine anything rawer captured on record”

God I hate the NME, and I hate Razorlight, that’s got me all riled up again. Fuck you Paul Stokes.

5. Snow Patrol

Hey guys, look confused, or smug, or a cross between both. Thats the badger! Brillaint, I'm gonna make you all staaars.

I stand by my belief that Gary Lightbody is a decent songwriter and musician. The first two Snow Patrol albums and his work with Reindeer Section are testament to that. I also believe he’s probably a decent person, and after reading an interview with him back in 2003, I reckon he’s probably a fucking great laugh and back in the day, you could have a great time getting smashed with him.

The first Snow Patrol album was back in 99, so that’s out of the equation. That leaves one good album in the aughts, against three bad ones.

Good one, ‘When its all over we still have to clear up’ only peaked at 129 in the album charts, and has only shifted 100,000 copies. When you compare that to the other three albums they released in the aughts which sold in excess of 3million copies, i think thats the definition of wrongness, especially as the public who bought their useless later albums were too lazy to pick up a fantastic album which was on sale everywhere for a £5 after ‘Eyes Open’ was released. I hate the general public.

I don’t want to hate too much though, as after years of slogging away, they sold out, and sold out exceptionally well. I’d probably do exactly the same, and so would you.

4. Stereophonics

Sunglasses Indoors? Prick.

How are they still making albums? Who wants a ‘Best of’? Is there in fact, anything ‘best’ about anything they released past ‘Performance and Cocktails’? Definitely not.

All FIVE studio albums they released in the aughts were mediocre at best. When you realise that four of those five albums were #1 albums you will probably cry a bit. Then when you realise you can add the best of ON TOP of that, which got to #2, you may want to hang yourselves.

They deserve their place at #4 on my list, five shit albums vs Snow Patrol’s three gives them that status. Thankfully though, it seems other people have cottoned onto the fact they’re overrated and shit. Their latest album only managed #11 in the charts, and their singles have been slipping down and down and down the charts for the last few years, no more #1’s for you Mr Jones, oh no, fuck off back to obscurity please.

On another note, whilst searching for a photo to post, there are many with the ‘new’ drummer, who just has a face you want to smack, and then I found photos that looked like there were now 4 ‘phonics. When the hell did they get a fourth member? Why do I care?

3. Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Bringing Sexy Back.

Oh RHCP, what the hell went wrong? Blood Sugar Sex Magic was brilliant, Californication was pretty damn good and then boom! They hit us with massive amounts of mediocre crap, and decided that they’d even release a double CD album.

I’ve spent soo much time writing angry comments against the other bands I can’t about RHCP, they’ve had a fantastic career, but in the last ten years, they’ve just become a by numbers band, playing live a hell of a lot and generally boring crowds. I’ve run out of anger, it’s just sad what happened to them, they should have stopped but they didn’t. In ten years time if the Foo Fighters are still around, I’m sure they will be on my next decade’s list. I’d like to have placed them lower, but as the other bands on the list so far are only big in the UK or Europe, RHCP are a massive, huge global band. I won’t moan, I’ll just mourn.

2. Oasis

Ten pound for a tug, twenty for oral, if you choose Guigsy he'll stick a finger up your arse for an extra fiver.

Done. Finished. Thank Fuck. There is only so much flogging a dead horse anyone can really take. There are only so many “the best album since definitely maybe” reviews I can read. Only so many festivals I can go to and have to put up with stupid Oasis fans (they’re the third worst kind of music fans). The mid 90’s were Oasis’s, and they were glorious, the late 90’s and entirety of the aughts weren’t. It’s as simple as that.

They were constantly striving or pretending to be the best band in the world and telling everyone they were, the thing is, they weren’t. They were never ever really a proper band either, just a collection of individuals centred around the Gallagher brothers, as their various line ups have proved. This didn’t stop them garnishing awards and selling albums like hotcakes though, Wikipedia has informed me that

“As of June 2009, Oasis had sold over 70 million records worldwide.[2] They have had eight UK number-one singles, seven UK number-one albums, fifteen NME Awards, nine Q Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards and five BRIT Awards, including one in 2007 for outstanding contribution to music.”

For this, I give them second place in my list of overrated acts of the aughts. Only one act I can think of deserve the topspot and they’ve sold double the amount of albums Oasis have (albeit over a longer period of time).

1. U2

All. Hell. Can't stop us now

If I had a ticket to Glastonbury this year, I’d be very disappointed. The supposedly ‘biggest band in the world’ will be headlining, and I fucking despise them. Most over rated band of the last ten years? Definitely. Most overrated band in the history of time? Probably. Especially when you consider they’ve sold over 145million albums. If I started to write about why these chumps are #1 on my list I’d be here all day and all night, such is my conviction in their inadequacies and my hatred towards them. So I’ll save myself the sore fingers and raging anger and leave you with my final thoughts on who’s actually been any good over the last ten years. Its even tougher, and I can’t list it but here goes.

I’d be hard pushed to say who I think has been the greatest. In my humble opinion, Death Cab for Cutie have had a fantastic ten years, and are still going strong, whilst Kings of Leon have gone from strength to strength to be one of the biggest bands around, and fully deserved, which makes a change. The ‘sleeper hit’ has to be Phoenix, from little known English singing French band, to sold out tours and album of the year accolades. Two bands who should certainly be up there as well are Mogwai, who continue to be far better than anyone has the right to be and A.F.I who slogged it out for 12 years before any mainstream success came their way (courtesy of ‘Sing the Sorrow’ reaching #5 in the US charts in 2003). So, who makes your list? Answers in the comments section please!

AK47

Vitamin ‘D’ deficiency has now been linked to heart disease and strokes; they are cardiovascular diseases, the number 1 killer globally.

The study found that those with low vitamin ‘D’ levels  were:

•  77% more likely to die early
• 45% more likely to develop coronary artery disease
• Twice as likely to develop heart failure

According to those findings vitamin ‘D’ can be effective in the treatment and prevention of  heart attacks and strokes.

This could be a major medical breakthrough for millions who are already at risk. 

 For healthy eating, it is recommended that people over 50 include vitamin ‘D’ supplements in their diet.

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