Flickr highlights - 2012

Here's a (relatively) small selection of some of my most popular and best things I've put up this year - some Doctor Who related, some of where I live and other places. For more photos, here's a link to my page on Flickr.

The War of the Worlds - The New Generation: review

Back in 1978, a musical was released, a strange, electronic, cutting edge musical of one of the first science fiction novels - War of the Worlds. Odd choice - but thanks to a resurgance in apocalyptic fiction, victoriana, electronic music, recent film adaptations, new reissues and stage productions, or simply because it's bloody brilliant... it's still very much going strong. But what's this? A remake?


It's a bit of an odd listen, especially for someone who's listened to the original a lot. It's not a remix - it's far more sympathetic than that, and hardly deviates from the original tracklisting, album length, songs or story. Because the original album has been remastered over the years, and slavishly recreated and rehearsed for the stage show - in order to sound exactly like what fans expect - you won't be surprised to know there's hardly any major changes in this new recording. Instead, there's dozens of new bells and whistles to back up the main tune, modern dancey eye-catching (ear-catching?) effects, echoes and whooshes. And, naturally, a new cast.

 

Two processes are going through my mind, simultaneously, when I listen to it. The first, is recalling the seemingly perfect, gospel text of the original edition. The second, is a sort of distancing effect, because the extra drumbeats and new synths modernise it and give the whole thing quite a different sound. I also thought it sounded more like a soundtrack to an adventure than before - as if we're just not seeing the visuals that no doubt flash up on large screens on stage; certainly they are conjured by your brain as you listen to it. Whether this was down to the performances, the depth of adding the new instruments, or simply me getting really into it, I'm not sure.

I've no problems with the new musical effects - there's some quite cool gimmicks (I loved the modern underwater bit), extra flourishes that might have been missed out on first recording, so let's look at the cast. Liam Neeson has a terrific voice for the Narrator figure, which helps carry the whole thing along as marvellously as Richard Burton did, and in a similar tone.
Of the singers, Gary Barlow does a good stab at a Justin Haywood impression - but, should he? The version of Forever Autumn is still very good, but is it a bit too faithful? And, dare I say it, is there a whiff of Autotune about his vocals? With Joss Stone, I have the opposite reaction - she's too different. Her voice is good, but it's oversung - there's the annoying habit of adding in far more notes than should be required, giving it a ridiculously overdone feeling to one of the better songs on the original album.
Alex Clare and Maverick Sabre (great name, up there with Lex Shrapnel) don't quite shrug off the original performances, but are well chosen certainly. I was impressed, though, with Ricky Wilson's Artilleryman - not just in singing capability (even if the vocals are a bit overlayered), but in acting. A very natural tone, and makes Brave New World one of the highlights of this.

So, overall - it's different, and certainly interesting, but notably faithful to the original. The cast are, on the whole, great, the new instruments sympathetic, and I'm sure this nuanced version will sell bucketloads for the shiny new up-to-date stage show. And they haven't messed about with Dead London too much, so that made me happy.

It certainly proves this musical has a lot of life left in it. I think this second album will date as the first - something that oozes quality, but is definitely of its time. Whether a third album comes out in years to come, remixed to oblivion, or ground to a pulp under folky cover versions, who knows?

Do you want to do a Maths Degree?

Well, do you? Here are five criteria from me that, ultimately, might help the decision process:

1: Do you like mathematics?

Or rather, do you really like mathematics? And I don't strictly mean if you're good at it or not. Probably, you won't realise if you enjoy maths or not, until about halfway through the degree. Because there's nothing like ten weeks of solid problems to stimulate or shut down the mental processes.

2: Do you like learning?

You'd better. So far, maths lessons for you will have been, ultimately, building on what you did the previous module, or term, or year of study - with the odd exception, such as when you first discovered trigonometry, or calculus, or anything else that would send a normal person running and screaming. But then you find yourself at university, and the first lecture chucks everything you knew out the window. In my first few weeks, I was eagerly clinging on to the bits of differentiation and integration that I recognised amidst the sea of greek letters and set theory. Don't worry - it becomes much easier with time. But you will have to learn a lot of bizarre new things, and fast.

3: Are you terribly precise?

I'm presuming so, as you've got this far. I'm not talking about handwriting - some students I've seen have appalling handwriting, especially in maths. Rather, in copying down symbols and words and phrases from the board. One thing you can't do is just copy down any old rubbish, and copying down blindly means you can't always get the gist either. Mathematics requires precision, almost to the point of pedantry, when it comes to notation. Count your brackets! Swot up on Greek letters! Learn some logic!

4: Are you good at exams?

Compared to other university courses, mathematics particularly seems like a breeze. You won't have a report to hand in every week. There's no compulsory books to read up on. No essays, really. In fact, during the term time, you'll only have one or two pieces of coursework to hand in, three if you're very unlucky.

But then you come to the exams. The exams - which, by the way, are worth about 95% of your grade for this term - requiring you to basically do fifteen questions in ten hours. All crammed into about two weeks. Let's face it, if you're better at coursework than in examinations, I'd probably advise a different subject.

Of course, during the weeks leading up to the exam, you have lectures, you have problem sheets, you have a mounting pile of work that you really should do if you want to pass the exam. So whilst it's by no means a breeze, it does mean you can work at your own pace. Or rather, you can skip a few weeks of work, nobody will notice, until you have to stay up all night before the exam.

5: Do you know what you want to do afterwards?

The choice is simple. Do you want to be an engineer or something practical? Do an engineering course. Or something with computing? Step forward Computer Sciences. Most jobs have a course attached to them - aeronautics, finance, law, even media, ultimately... Mathematics? Well, most of it is theoretical. So, tough luck. But the good news is, maths degrees fit into every kind of job. (Actually - I'll get back to you on that one...) The sort of degree that tells people you've got the brains to do really complicated stuff. Because at the end of the day, it's not the really complex processes you learn in the final year... but learning the way of thinking that you need in order to implement them.

Unless you're one of these people who wants to go on to do a PHD in the subject. Shortly followed by a trip to an asylum, I presume. (joking, joking...)

So... that's my personal advice to any wannabee maths graduates. Oh, and also - it's a great subject - highly engrossing, entertaining, challenging, baffling and rewarding, if you want it to be.