the background noise

Been listening to way back episodes of Coast to Coast AM lately, wherever your favourite podcasts are found. Now I'm neither American, a habitual listener of late night radio or a fierce devotee of belief in the New World Order but I can't deny this is entertaining stuff. Presented without irony is a selection of material so out there it loops back in on itself before heading back out again. Conspiracy culture has long been an interest of mine. Not individual conspiracy theories as such although some of them do have their moments. Mix one part creativity to three parts paranoia, stir gently and phone in if you will, lines are open. Or at least they were, the show is still going of course but in this respect it's very much the late 90's heyday I have in mind. This period seemingly seen as a definitive one for the show in many respects. It was a different time to be sure. Dial-up internet, Batman Forever, the first PlayStation, phones that could fell a man wit...

Incidentally, Happy Birthday to me! Now on with the show... I don't know when it happened exactly. 2015 or 2016 maybe? The exact point of origin is unclear. At some point around this time the rate at which I was playing and completing games was overtaken by the rate of new releases that I simply had to play. Free time was at a premium, the games industry itself was shifting into the live service online-only time sink model we see everywhere now and indie development was producing some soon to be big-names. Between reviews, articles, tweets and streams, the intrigue for established titles and new names swiftly took shape. All channeled through online sales and price-cuts which combined to form a hulking hybrid hell bent on eating up my free time.

A book review why not? Have been reading William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. No particular reason why this and now other than curiosity really. The name casts a large shadow in the sci-fi genre of course. Neuromancer, cyberpunk, skies the colour and texture of white noise, the kind of good stuff that shapes genres and other writers long after its publication. So what is Pattern Recognition? It's bleeding edge human trend detectors. It's the niche within a niche subcultures of the web. It's also copious amounts of interior design lovingly described throughout. Also 9/11. This is an early noughties book and those horrific events loomed large over everything. Truly it has it all! More truly, for me at least it was a sprawling, at times quite interesting but often quite tiresome tale told with variable levels of success.

Could it be? Could it be happening? Could I be wiping the dust off this place? I could be, in fact I am. The relaunch of the former Background Noise begins here, starting with the kind of rebrand I'm told is very fashionable these days. Yes the new name is an awful pun, yes it's sticking around, no I don't really know who I'm talking to just yet. It was, is and remains a work in progress. It's all an attempt to leave what's behind me firmly in the rear view and press forward into a shiny new future of possibility. The stops, starts and intermittent spaces between them are past tense and there they must stay. Tally ho, farewell and goodbye. But also hello!

... ... ... Silence in the dark. Standby. ... ***Xg0-b;nyb?2&5$-5*** ... Perpetual low power mode lifts, a forgotten corner of the internet stirs. ***Gh"&•¥¢what?*** ... Standby.

Greetings to the interwebs! New year, new beginning and a new crash landing as we arrive at the sunny shores of 2015! Let me welcome you to my dusty little corner of the internet once more. So what's been happening at casa Dave in the long interim between the last post and this one. The big news is that its finally happened. After much in the way of procrastination, false starts, delayed beginnings and vast trepidation I have finally purchased a gaming PC and man does it feel good.

Well if you guys got a nickel for every time I've said 'I'm back now' shortly followed by 'No really, I am back now' then you guys would have some serious currency on your hands. Not going to fall into that trap today. The only promises being made here are that there are no promises when it comes to my schedule lately. Been steam-rollering through my to-play list though, the one I may have referred to before . The one I'm currently clearing through at the cost of most of my free time.