Does What It Says On The App

 
A few days ago I watched a video from The SoundTestRoom about an app called Genius Songwriter.
 

I was suitably impressed as it seemed to me to sort the age old problem of being stuck in a rut and churning out the same chords. I thought I'd challenge myself today and see if it really would work so here's what I did.
Firstly I wrote down a simple twelve bar blues sequence in Chordbot. Then I added the root notes of those chords to Genius Sonwriter and let it do it's thing with a couple of minor adjustments from myself. Then I wrote the new chord progression back into Chordbot and made a couple of changes until it all sounded right.
I have to say that I would never have got to that chord sequence on my own and what I ended up with I really liked. What's more is that once the sequence is in Chordbot you can mess with the feel until you're close to something you'd use.
Genius Songwriter is an app I'll use a lot. Thanks to TheSoundTestRoom for bringing it to my attention.
 

 
Here's what I ended up with.
 

My Idle Life List

 
My constant companion starting this year is a book.
"The Book Of Idle Pleasures" by Dan Kieran and Tom Hodgkinson is an inspirational guide for the modern Flaneur. It gives one ideas for spending time doing not very much at all. All the activities are free and easy to complete. Rather than merely reading the book and imagining myself indulging in the tasks I've decided to get out there, at a moderate pace, and see if I can tick off all the pleasures before slipping off this mortal coil.
I'm not going to try to do this in a year or two, there's no rush.
The idea is to create an audio recording with a few details of how I've worked through each task and post the podcasts here. As I've said, there's no timeline. I'm looking forward to trying to complete all of the pleasures.
Slowly.
 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Idle-Pleasures-Tom-Hodgkinson/dp/0091923328

 

Contemplating

 
This year is going to be different.
This isn't an idle statement but it certainly is a fact. A lot has happened and this directly influences what will happen in the future. The latter part of that sentence isn't ruled by a strict timeline and the result of future events are planned but yet unknown.
At this point you may well wonder what I'm going on about and if what I'm saying is a good or bad thing.
To reassure you, it's good and this year, with a lot of effort, will work out just fine and cover over the misery of years past.
Something to aim for and smile about I think.
 

Good Deed

 
I was walking back from the shop along the dark terraced streets where I live this evening and I spotted a purse on the floor.
I picked it up and scanned inside for an address but the only one I could find was out of town on a driving licence. I knocked on the door of the house outside which I found the purse but there was no reply so I took the purse home.
Inside is over twenty pounds in cash, the driving licence, a couple of bank cards and a couple of loyalty cards and other bits and bobs. The best information I have is the driving licence so I rang directory enquiries for a phone number for that address. It's ex-directory. Next I tried the internet. A dead end for social media except a Google+ profile to which nothing had been added. I sent a message but I guessed that this mystery person didn't have much interest in keeping a high online profile and wouldn't receive the message anyway.
Undeterred I went back to the street and tried a few of the neighbours houses without any luck. A delivery man in the area suggested I take the cash and hand it in to the police. That's not nice. I don't want to hand it to anyone that doesn't own it or I fear the cash will go missing.
I returned home and decided the only thing to do was to write a letter to the address I have and wait. That's how things used to work and work they did albeit at a slower pace than these days. I wrote my letter and posted it. In a couple of days there should hopefully be a very happy young lady giving me a call and getting her purse back.
I'll let you know how it goes.
 

Scribs

 
Welcome to the newest and greatest non-social media sensation.
Do you worry about your online privacy? Do you randomly type stuff just for the sake of it? Ever wished you hadn't posted something online?
SCRIBS is the answer to all your prayers!
 
Features:
 
Just requires a pencil and a piece of paper.
Write what the f*#k you want without having to add squiggles.
Can't be downloaded by NSA or GCHQ.
Can't be sold to people who want to sell you rubbish.
Never crashes.
Never needs updating.
Has been beta tested for hundreds of years.
Easily add pictures by drawing them.
Add photos by sticking them on a pages.
No in app purchases ever. None.
 
This special non app can't be downloaded from any store (shop in the UK) right now.
Free your imagination.
Get scribbling with SCRIBS now.