For those who don’t know Eddie Izzard, this is definitely a worthy introduction:

If you like that, here are a few of his other priceless tid-bits:

• Covered in Bees
• Bilingual
• God and the Dinosaurs

Or:

There's no Church of England fundamentalism. We can't have Church of England fundamentalism. You know, like they have Islamic fundamentalism. Jihad! … Ah ha …Church of England fundamentalism is impossible because you can't have: "You must have tea and cake with the vicar... or you die!" Tea and cake or death! Students with beards, "Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cookbook! Little Red Cookbook!" Ca – you know, 'cause, "Cake or death?" That's a pretty easy question. Everyone, – anyone could answer that. "Cake or death?" "Uhh, cake please." "Very well! Give him cake!" "Oh, thanks very much. It's very nice!" [points] "You! Cake or death?" "Uh, cake for me, too, please!" "Very well! Give him cake, too! We're gonna run out of cake at this rate. [points] You! Cake or death?" "Uh, death, please. No, cake! Cake! Cake, sorry. …" "You said death first, ahaaa, ahaaaa, death first!" "Well, I meant cake!" "Oh, all right. You're lucky I'm Church of England! Cake or death?" "Uh, cake please." "Well, we're out of cake! We only had three bits and we didn't expect such a rush! So what do you want?" "What, so my choice is 'or death?' Well, then I'll have the chicken, please." "Tastes of human, sir. Would you like a white wine? There we go thank you very much. Thank you for flying Church of England, Cake or Death? Cake or Death? Ah, Mr. Hitler, here's the vegetarian plate for you...”

And in case you really like that, he’s on tour at the moment: http://www.eddieizzard.com/

Tags: Personal, Humor, Eddie Izzard

UPDATE: They're back up Their servers seemed to have died under the load for now - guess they're having teething problems

The absolutely brilliant, FREE, Mercedes-Benz mixed tape 19 is out! The team took a few months off as they re-designed what they were going to do with the mixed-tape concept, and they've definitely come up with a winning combo. Where the old mixed-tape was simply a free downloadable album of new music, with a website available for online listening, the new format is an entire video music magazine show AS WELL AS the free downloadable album. There are videos from famous, as well as up-and-coming artists, all tied together by an overarching theme (Soul this month) and a brilliant presenter adding background info to the music.

I was very worried, when these albums stopped coming out, that Mercedes had simply stopped funding the project and it was going to die. However, I'm now more than ecstatic to see it back in this new, much improved format.

A small taste below:

Tags: Music, Personal, Free, mixed-tape

Radiohead started the trend, with In Rainbows, of sidestepping the usual music distribution model and releasing their album online first. The added twist was that customers were given the choice of how much they wanted to pay for the album. This sort of distribution model is likely where most of the industry will turn as the ever-greedy record labels continue to alienate their customers with DRM'ed tracks and RIAA sponsored lawsuits against file-sharers.

Nine Inch Nails has taken the model one step further by only making their new album (Ghosts I-IV) available through their website - Radiohead, on the other hand, shifted to a standard distribution model after a few months. This new model allows money to flow directly to the artists who produce the work. However, more than being a simple example of where music distribution seems to be going, this new album is actually fantastic. It is unlike anything NIN has ever released, and should garner them fans from demographics they've never touched before.

I'd definitely recommend giving it a try - there's a free 9 track download (essentially the full first disc.) The entire 36 track album can be had for $5 as a download in ridiculously high quality 320kbps (un-DRM'ed) MP3, FLAC lossless, or Apple Lossless formats.

It's only through progressive thinking like this by Trent Reznor that the music industry is going to be able to survive the catastrophic changes that have been affecting it so adversely. Other artists seem to be following suit, with such big names as Madonna ditching their labels. Now, if only those bloody record company execs would catch on!

Either way, I'd recommend giving the free download a test-listen - you've got nothing to lose.

Tags: Personal, Music

Sometimes there are pics I take, am given, or come across on the web that don't really fit into any particular event or album. What is one to do with them? My solution is my Random Photo Stream (http://gallery.mac.com/greg.smithies#100156) It's an album where I post random things that amuse me. Currently, there are pics of the new dog my family is getting - chocolate lab from the SPCA. I'll only get to meet her in December, but I can't wait! As with all albums in my gallery (http://gallery.mac.com/greg.smithies#gallery) you can subscribe to it's RSS feed so you know when it's updated at http://photocast.mac.com/greg.smithies/100156/rss

Tags: Personal, Photos, .Mac

I've finally caved and paid for .Mac Thus I now have a much more elegant photo sharing solution. When you click on the link for Photo Gallery on the right side of the page, you'll now be taken to that page. Of course, older photos are still available, but have been moved to the Photo Archive section.

The new gallery has lots of great features. If you're on a mac, you can subscribe to any one of the albums and have them automatically added to your iPhoto. That way, if I add photos to the album, they will automatically show up in your library the next time you open iPhoto. Pretty slick! If you're more old school, and want to download the photos, you now have a link to download either individual images, or the entire album as a zip file.

Finally, on some albums that are group related, I'll set it up so that others can add photos. The way it works is that I'll send you an email address. Any photos you send to that address will automatically be added to the album and show up in my iPhoto library, as well as the libraries of anyone else subscribed to the feed. Not too shabby!

Here's to slick technology to make our lives easier!

The gallery can be accessed directly at http://gallery.mac.com/greg.smithies#gallery

Tags: Personal, Photos, .Mac

I had an absolutely incredibly trip to Indonesia for a month for work. I loved every second of it - eating crazy food (getting food poisoning,) sitting in traffic jams, clubbing, shopping...It's a great country, and the people are definitely some of the friendliest I've ever met. A selection of photos from the trip are available at http://www.gregsmithies.us/photoalbum/jakarta/index.php

After far too long, my site is finally back up - running on a new server, and hopefully loads of other updates to follow - mainly to Jajah Dialer. Many a user, as well as the people over at Jajah have been hounding me to get going with some more development, so hopefully I'll keep them all happy! More news to follow...

Yes indeed. Photos from my birthday and the senior formal that followed it are up and available at http://www.gregsmithies.us/photoalbum/mybirthday/index.php There are definitely some keepers!

Today I was given the news that someone I grew up with, from just down my street, was brutally gunned down in an attempted robbery only hours after his wedding. See http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20070508042256527C468092 for the full story. A few months ago, myself, my school community, Prince Charles, and the world historical community at large were stunned with the gratuitous execution of David Rattray (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=431880&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770&expand=true) during another botched robbery.

Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I am one of the largest advocates for South Africa and the wonderful things that have happened in that country. I see a bright future for it and firmly plan on returning to have a productive life there one day. But one has to draw the line at a certain point and lose some of the love one has for a country when the crime seems to have spiraled completely out of control. All I ask is, how many more must die before president Mbeki decides to make crime a number one priority in South Africa. Further, how many more of my friends and acquaintances have to lay down their lives in this hidden war before the glimmer of the rough diamond that is South Africa wears off completely and even the people like me, the ones who really do see a future there, are driven away, never to return?

I am shocked, disgusted and losing my optimism very quickly.

More Stories:
Bride mourns as robbers kill man at resort
Honeymoon ends in tragedy
Rattray's death was a hit - report
In cold blood at Rourke's Drift
Finally, the media gets angry about crime

Photos from formal are up and avaliable here. Get 'em while they're hot!

I have 2 more days of class left as an Undergraduate. I can't believe how quickly it's gone, but it's seriously been a blast!

New photos of St Patrick's Day and the House's Tragos party are up. Check the Photos section.

Continuing their ongoing fine tradition of free downloadable CD's, Mercedes-Benz just released Mixed-Tape 15. Every 6 to 8 weeks they make a new CD available for download on their website, and, whilst I am still in the process of downloading this one, if their past albums are anything to go by, this should be fantastic. From their site:

"No matter whether you prefer classical, jazz, pop or electronic - all that matters in our selection is quality and uniqueness."

I'm not entirely sure what Merc gets out of this deal, but who am I to complain for getting free great music?

UPDATE: After downloading and giving it a bit of a listen I have worked out why the G-Class is on the cover of this edition - it's a little heavy on the R&B side. It's still relatively good, but not up to their usual standard. Oh well!

Tags: mixed-tape

As noted in my previous post, I've got two main job offers. I received both offers about two months ago and both of them have been sitting on my desk since then, screaming at me to make a decision every time I looked at them. I, not being able to really make up my mind between Private Banking and Global Transaction Services, have tried my hardest to ignore them whilst I churned over the two options in the back of my mind. Well, the bell has tolled and I now have until the 1st December to decide what to do (yes, that's four days and I have to courier the letter.) The main issue is that neither of them have any significant black marks against them that would place the other ahead. There's also all of the pressure - feeling like I'm defining the rest of my life with a simple signature. All together it doesn't make for a simple task.

Well, that's my little rant on that topic. I'm going to probably have to make my decision by about 3pm tomorrow in order to make sure that my letter reaches New York on time, so it should be an interesting few hours. Especially considering the two exams I'm currently attempting to study for. Why oh why can't senior year be over?

So, many people have had the inkling to think that I'm a massive nerd (as have I on many occasions) well, now I have proof. According to nerdtest.com I rank in the 90th percentile of nerdiness. And yes, taking the test probably qualifies me as a nerd of extraordinary proportions in any case!

I just put up the photos from Cape Town over the summer. Here they are:

1. First Cape Town Photos
2. Betty's Bay and Hermanus
3. Last Days in Cape Town

Mercedes Benz just released the 14th mix tape in their free album collection. As with all of them, this one is great (I'm listening to it for the first time now, and loving every song!) Give it a download - as noted, it's FREE, and you can't beat that for a price! Get it here:
http://www.mercedes-benz.com/mixedtape

Tags: mixed-tape

I'm back in Philly, ready to go wild again. Got to do recruiting and hopefully get a job! More info soon to come. Ciao.

It's 8am, I've been up since 6, I got 3 hours of sleep last night. I've had an average of 3 every night since Sunday (it's Friday now.) I've got enough caffeine coursing through my veins to choke a donkey. I'm shaking and paranoid, Have to finish this paper soon or I might actually die. I may die in any case. I have that healthy sense of paranoia in my eyes. How did I get myself into this? GREEK…VASES…ARE…THE…DEVIL'S…WORK

Seriously, we had a petting zoo in our lounge! Check out the Photos!

Well, I'd forgotten for a while that the Mercedes Mixed Tape actually existed, and hence hadn't been downloading it. What a tragedy - I missed a BUNCH of them. They're up to mixed tape 11 not, so I'm pretty sad that I missed out on so man. After all, this is FREE music that's actually GOOD! For those of you not in the know, the Mercedes Benz Mixed Tape is an album compilation put out every 6 to 9 weeks by Merc specifically designed to show off new talent in music. They give it way free, which you can't complain about, and generally, even if you haven't heard of the artists, the music is incredible. It's mainly Acid Jazz style chilled out or even trip-hop type stuff, but it's easy listening enough that even if you don't like those genres of music, chances are you'll enjoy this.

Well, I haven't given the new album a proper listen yet, but I definitely look forward to doing so sometime over the next week. Speaking of new music though, two new discoveries in the easy listening category, both of them with their own takes on the "story telling female vocalist" genre pioneered by Aimee Man and Tori Amos - Rachael Yamagata and Brandi Carlyle - have both been in heavy rotation on my iPod somewhere between all of the tech podcasts I listen to, such as TWIT, Engadget, Security Now and Digg Nation.

Tags: mixed-tape

More photos are up from Candice's Farewell party/dinner and our most recent PES dinner. Enjoy.

As many of you know, Candice came to visit me, arriving on the 6th of December last year. Since then We've had a wild time (and we have the photos to prove it) with trips to Boston and New York as well as her doing a whole tour of much of California. I dropped her off at JFK today to fly home, her University year will be starting shortly and she has tons of work to do before then which she's been neglecting for the past two months (which was my fault.) Now I'm left with a strange empty feeling - something very important is missing all of a sudden, but at least I have the work from 7 courses to keep me busy enough to keep my mind off her.

Photos from Elena's 21st are up, and seeing as I probably won't be able to speak to many of you before then, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let's hope 2006 is as crazy as 2005 was.

Photos from our Christmas eve dinner and the few days after that are up, and yes, those are squash goggles!

The always fantastic Mercedes Benz Mixed Tape is out again. Released every 6 weeks, the mixed tape is a completely free downloadable CD of new funk and acid jazz tracks from upcoming artists. This one, once again, is fantastic. Check it out: http://www.mixed-tape.com

Tags: mixed-tape

I had a wonderful time at our annual Christmas Formal, held, as per usual, at the house. Colleen, once again, did a fantastically brilliant job of cooking. Dinner was splendid. The champagne flowed freely and we danced the night away to our usual jazz ensemble, this time doing some soulful Christmas carols for us. Photos here.

I was lucky enough to go to attend an Ice Hockey game for the first time today. It was the Boston Bruins Vs The Philadelphia Flyers played in Boston. We sat in a fantastic suite right in the center of the ice with people such as the goalie coach of the flyers and ate ourselves to death (good clam chowder and hot dogs) whilst we experienced one of the most exciting sporting games I have ever seen. I was on the edge of my seat right to the last minute. I officially have found a sport that I can love to watch, I will now proceed to become obsessed! Of course, photos will be posted as soon as I'm back in Philly.

I am currently in a turkey induced coma after possibly one of the largest dinners I have ever had in my life. Jon's mom deep fried a turkey AND cooked another turkey normally in the oven: SOOOO good! I'll be sure to post photos and videos as soon as I get back to Penn on Sunday evening. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!

Photos from the cocktail party on the 19 Nov are up, as you can see it was a CRAZY night!

You'll also note that I've maded a few changes here with how everything looks. I prefer this to the old look which I think was getting a little on the dull and dreary side. The light brown in the background now livens things up a bit I would say. Hope you like the chages too. However, because these changes have been made using a CSS (cascading style sheet) they may not show up properly on your browser. In fact, your browser may still be showing the old verion of the site. An easy way to remedy this is to clear you cache (history) in your internet preferences pane (on a mac click Safari>Empty Cache in the top menu bar) or, alternatively, just reload the page until it looks new. Feel free to let me know what you think about the changes in the comments below.

Just added some new photos into the photo index section. I finally put up the photos from the crazy halloween party and from our Sushi and Sake Bombing dinner. More photos, this time from homecoming, to be available soon.

Yes, It's actually true, I've been going to gym, AND playing squash on a regular basis. Thus far I've managed to get through this week going to gym every second day, and playing an hour of squash every other day. Let's hope I keep it up. What can I say - I got a little tired of looking so much like an American! So here's to me looking buff when I get to sit on the beach over Christmas!

This last Saturday night we were lucky enough to have a grammy award winning musician perform at our house for a party. His name is John Cruz and he was incredible. Not many people have heard of him, and hence I don't really know how he won the grammy, cause usually they only go to people who are already famous, but it would appear that for a change a grammy was actually awarded to someone for their musical abilities and not the amount of skin that they show on TV. He got the whole place going crazy - not because his music was wild (it was actually really chilled out, sort of Jack Johnson type stuff) but because he was just so fantastic. The vibe downstairs in the lounge was overwhelmingly good.

Later, after he had finished playing, Jon Stott and I threw a rock star after party in our lounge up stairs which everyone also thought was really great. What a fantastic weekend! Photos available here.

I've added all of the old funnies to the funnies section and two crazy videos of the Ariel Atom to the files section, check them out!

Welcome to the new site. I hope that you all like what I've done. If truth be told, I've actually done a whole lot less than I normally would have to make this page possible. I'm using an application known as Rapidweaver to control the layout of the whole thing, with a few tweaks from myself. This is, in theory, going to make it a hell of a lot easier for me to update my site, and hence, the chances of me keeping the site up to date are much greater. I'm still wondering what to do with the photo album sections, and what the best format for hosting the thousands of photos will be, but I should have them up and running shortly.

A quick note of the main new features that I'm going to be putting in, or that are already available:

RSS feeds on most pages, meaning that you can tune in to my news and other such items through your favorite news reader.

A file sharing section where I will place programs and other files that I find of interest.

I'm sure I'll think of a whole lot of other things to add in here all in good time.

Hope the new site is up to scratch. Cheers