I think William Orbit takes a lot of credit for it. I don’t think I can forgive Katie enough for ’9 Million Bicycles’ and ‘If I Were A Sailboat’ enough to buy this though. I like to think I am a man of principles!!

(Frisky and Mannish via Dont Stop The Pop)

The song itself has a good energy to it, and is immediately catchy. I don’t particularly like songs with one-note melodies though, and I can’t make out all the words. Not amazing but not bad.

However there is a distinct lack of attitude and fierceness in the video! I know the lyrics seem to be about silent strength but seriously they’re singing it on a wall or up against a fence looking coquettish. I don’t think it’s a bad video per se, it just looks like it’s for a different song! The most dramatic moment is when a guy throws a strop over a bad croquet shot!!

6/10 for the song, 4/10 with the video.

The unreleased Silhouettes version sounds a bit more soloish (especially with the end adlibs) and underproduced, but this reveals a bit more feistiness (generic girlband feistiness, though) (via It’s Pop!). Their version uses the words ‘how hard he hits’ so may be a bit more directly about domestic abuse. Wouldn’t necessarily say it’s better, as the vocals haven’t yet been autotuned to perfection, and it’s no Luka in any case.

This is probably the first album I’ve bought in the week of release! Couldn’t find it in HMV for some reason so I had to go to WHSmiths (I should have used my HMV gift card from Carine and Kevin on the Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix album, but I’m going to have a preview gander first). Much hyped but with a disappointing performance from the lead single New In Town, the debut album Hands from Little Boots nevertheless comes with big expectations.

Overall I love the album. I will probably play it to death. I had heard three of the tracks before, although in different mixes. New In Town is a solid opener, but as many people have opined perhaps a bit misleading as to the tone of the album (much like Girls Aloud’s The Promise). Stuck On Repeat (previously a free iTunes track) rather cunningly repeats the verse and chorus with exactly the same words, so it’s just as well they’re a fantastic verse and chorus. Meddle is completely different from the Tenori-On mix on a previous EP but none the worse for it – the extra production means Little Boots’ voice sits a bit lower in the mix and consequently the song is even more melancholic (common to the rest of the album,  I think).

Of the tracks new to me, the best are Earthquake and Mathematics in my opinion, the former quite perky in comparision with the other songs but with a sinister, masochistic edge to the lyrics, and the latter taking the ‘maths’ metaphor quite far. In fact quite a few of the songs are metaphors going almost too far. I thought my statistics-based song Error was bad enough, but here we have Tune Into My Heart’s radio communications theme, Remedy’s medical theme (but not quite as contrived as JLS’s Beat Again) and the car-scenario No Brakes (again, on the near side of the fine line that Michelle Williams’ edged over with Stop This Car).

Hearts Collide is a bit Kylie-ish, it sounds like a cover actually. Doesn’t really matter, it’s a good song, but not very unique. I like the military beat of Ghost, it stands out because of that. Roy Kerr’s guest vocals on Symmetry are solid, and perhaps a bit too solid as Little Boots sounds a bit weak in comparison – a good song but the vocal blending not quite there! Remedy is the next single, a dance-a-holic affair with an uplifting double chorus.

Overall, the metaphors and endless synths does get a bit tiring all in one album, although the latter point is what I signed up for when I bought it so it’s not a complaint so much as surprise at how I missed real instruments! Considering all the tracks are completely synth, there is enough variety to stop the songs melting into one another – they all have their distinct identities. There are some spectacular choruses on the album but few of the verses have stuck in my head after a couple of listens (except for Symmetry which is the other way round). Filler tracks? In my opinion Click, and perhaps Tune Into My Heart. And don’t get me started about the hidden track Hands tacked on at the end which is an acoustic piano pile of shit – I’m going to forget it exists as it breaks my heart that it’s on there!

Altogether a 9/10 (excluding the hidden track)  – despite some misgivings I would be happy to listen to a lot of the tracks again and again, and the album coheres as a whole.

Last Wednesday I took advantage of an offer sent straight to my inbox regarding 50% off La Tasca’s ‘Tapas to Share’ menu (basically, the tapas menu), on Sunday to Thursdays. Drove there with my mum. She had the beer! I’m so used to being ferried around I was a little bit heartbroken at not having alcohol. They got my Fruitiser order wrong as well, although what I had was nice enough.

Empty restaurant meant brisk service, but with non-pushy waitresses who allowed us to take our time. We ordered chicken and seafood paella, deep-fried calamari, mushroom croquettes, chorizo in red wine, king prawns and a mixed salad (again, they got the salad wrong, but again we let it slide. It was probably my dodgy attempt at Spanish).

• Calamari – not quite as crispy on the outside as we would have liked but excellent taste and definitely non-chewy.
• King prawns – big and suspiciously sweet – my mum loved these (I’m a bit too lazy about peeling prawns to totally enjoy them LOL).
• Salad – lovely refreshing  mix of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pine nuts (I think) and avocado. Good and not overpowering dressing.
• Mushroom croquettes – nice. Not whole mushrooms, but a creamy mushroom filling inside a crunchy breaded outside.
• Chorizo – Good, but not the most flavoursome chorizo I’ve ever had. My mum was a bit scathing about the portion size, but I thought it was OK.
• Paella – Will make a mental note never to order the paella from the tapas menu at La Tasca, they’re never that good. Worst thing was the lack of chicken and seafood! Two mussels and a shrimp do not constitute enough seafood and the chicken was in absolutely tiny and few pieces. I’ve had the main course paella before and it was much much better (but not in the offer of course!)

Total bill for two – above dishes with a large Peroni and a Fruitiser came to £18.20 including discount but not service. Good value with the discount, edging on expensive for what you get without. Overall 8/10 taking into account the discount (bearing in mind we wouldn’t have gone there if it weren’t for that!).

So I went down to the Spitalfields area last Saturday to meet up with a few of my fellow college ex-coursemates, where Laurence is living in a nice flat ridiculously close to the action as it were, the intention being to head to Brick Lane for a curry. After he looked on his iPhone for suitable reviews (and discounting any that looked too cheap, which apparently excluded any bring-your-own-boozes) to a bit of eye-rolling, he pulled out a couple of names, The Monsoon being one of them. I can’t remember the other ones. They were probably on an equal par.

Reaching the street we were accosted by one restaurant tout; after fending off that enthusiastic attack a right turn took us directly in front of The Monsoon where we were offered some kind of deal for the five of us. I can’t quite remember what it was, I wasn’t listening – something like one free drink for each person and 30% off the total bill. Being hungry (Sarah took ages to finish off her pre-dinner glass of wine!) and not particularly wanting to browse the rest of Brick Lane with absolutely no idea of what we were looking for – we went in. Décor is OK, pretty dark and cluttered inside. There is an upstairs where some rowdy party was (a bottle of wine came crashing down the stairs at one point!) but no idea of what it was like. Toilets were adequate, no complaints. Service was fast.

Poppadums and sambals were generally good. I’m not a big fan of mango chutney in any case, but it was more like jam; raita was made with coriander, rather than mint, but not too overpoweringly obvious; pickled chillies were excellent to a non-connoisseur like me, and the onion was definitely freshly chopped. Ate a bit too much poppadum as usual!

Starters for us included onion bhaji, cauliflower pakora, chicken tikka (I think this was basically a big bit of chicken! Looked huge for a starter). My pakora was a bit disappointing: bland and batter was a bit soggy. Cauliflower inside was very crunchy; I don’t know if this is how it’s supposed to be or not. Sarah’s bhaji was lovely though, a good bite to the texture and well spiced.  I didn’t hear any complaints about the rest of the starters.

Main for me was some kind of vaguely-described ‘Chicken Azran’ or something like that. In retrospect I don’t know why I went for something with ‘special sauce’ in the description. It wasn’t as hot I thought it was going to be, but then ‘fairly hot’ is difficult to gauge in this country. Are they toning it down for Westerners, or are they over-compensating in the authenticity stakes by going one further with the chillies? I usually get the extra hot sauce at Nando’s (the one for those with ‘reckless bravado’, which is in fact no hotter than the sauce a step down). This had a nice heat, but I expected some kind of cooling yoghurt from the description, so everything must have been mixed in together. Chicken was a bit dry but it tasted good. Pilau rice was OK, not spectacular, peshwari naan looked OK, but I was too full to eat any!

I can’t remember what the other mains we ordered were – Laurence had chicken tikka I think, which came in a thick, uniform orange sauce. I personally wouldn’t have been impressed by appearance but I think it tasted nice. Everything came on heated dishes and the plates were warm as well, so presumably they’ve taken something from one review I read which complained about cold food.

Altogether the meal for 5 including poppadums, one starter and main each, and two alcoholic drinks each came to about £73 including the discounts but not service charge. I enjoyed my meal, but next time I visit Brick Lane I’ll try somewhere else, or go to the superior-tasting and less formal Balti Hut in Wembley. Without the deal I don’t think it would have been worth it. 6/10

I think Sheridan’s a great actress, I love her as Lucie Miller in the Doctor Who audios. She opens as the star of Legally Blonde, The Musical in December 2009 opposite Duncan James. I haven’t actually seen the film but I’m sure she’ll be fantastic.

I’m still waiting for 9 to 5 to come over to the West End though!

Now it’s even worse because I don’t have journal access – so even when I find the paper I can’t view it!

Anyway the BBC News article is here and the paper is here, abstract:

Mechanoenzymatic Cleavage of the Ultralarge Vascular Protein von Willebrand Factor
Xiaohui Zhang, Kenneth Halvorsen, Cheng-Zhong Zhang, Wesley P. Wong,  Timothy A. Springer

Von Willebrand factor (VWF) is secreted as ultralarge multimers that are cleaved in the A2 domain by the metalloprotease ADAMTS13 to give smaller multimers. Cleaved VWF is activated by hydrodynamic forces found in arteriolar bleeding to promote hemostasis, whereas uncleaved VWF is activated at lower, physiologic shear stresses and causes thrombosis. Single-molecule experiments demonstrate that elongational forces in the range experienced by VWF in the vasculature unfold the A2 domain, and only the unfolded A2 domain is cleaved by ADAMTS13. In shear flow, tensile force on a VWF multimer increases with the square of multimer length and is highest at the middle, providing an efficient mechanism for homeostatic regulation of VWF size distribution by force-induced A2 unfolding and cleavage by ADAMTS13, as well as providing a counterbalance for VWF-mediated platelet aggregation.

So basically, the flow of blood pushes the multimeric VWF protein into an open conformation where the protease can get to the cleavage site.  The bigger the VWF protein and the greater the blood pressure at that particular point, the more the protein structure unfolds and the easier it is for cleavage to occur, regulating the size of the VWF protein.

I find blood clotting an interesting topic as I have Von Willebrand’s Syndrome, although I can’t remember what type and it doesn’t rear its head very often. I’m currently prescribed tranexamic acid for when I’ve been bleeding – it’s more usually given for heavy periods so I sometimes get asked questions at new GPs and the pharmacist!

Vladimir Spivakov

I went to see this string orchestra under Vladimir Spivakov at the Barbican on Wednesday. Programme was Shostakovich, Britten and Tchaikowsky. As well as the encores – all four of them! Very good playing. Sections sounded like one player and individual soloists were good as well.

Shostakovich Chamber Symphony – well, I love playing Shostakovich. Such wonderful shifting harmony and dissonance, with beautiful melodic lines reaching out in angst. Unfortunately I fell asleep during this one and don’t remember it much.

Britten Les Illuminations – they brought out tenor Toby Spence for this one. It was good and I didn’t fall asleep. Spence was animated without compromising musicianship and the balance between strings and singer was just right. Had no idea what the words were about though.

Shostakovich Prelude and Scherzo – this was a bit livelier than the Chamber Symphony so I didn’t fall asleep. Very angry! But still not his best and I think this would have worked better as the intended octet.

Tchaikowsky Serenade for String Orchestra – fantastic. Captured the moods of the movements perfectly without any rough edges. I think I played this at a rehearsal with West Herts Strings once, but it was too hard to contemplate performing.

So the concert programme itself was quite good. They then did FOUR encores. Now it wasn’t like the audience was screaming for more although we were of course appreciative. They brought a random oboist out – don’t know the name, and my mum and I are in disagreement as to if it was a woman or a man! – mid-length blond hair with a hairband. I thought it was a bloke but my mum said he and Spivakov did the hug-kiss thing. Anyway – he/she was very good, I didn’t catch the name of the two pieces. The first was beautiful and the second was fast with a lot of double-tonguing! Impressive and I don’t listen to enough oboe solo music. Played well it is a thing of beauty.

The orchestra then played Piazzolla’s Libertango excellently – good rhythm and harmony came through. Would have been a good way to finish off. But no they had to do Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 5 as a crowd pleaser. Which it most definitely was but I think the clapping lowered the class of the occasion a little! The arrangement gave the seconds and violas a bit more to do in the main sections, but the major section was taken a bit too aggressive for my liking.

We left to get the last fast train home as he was proceeding to shake the hands of all 21 players. There could have been more encores for all we know!

Good – excellent playing. Faultless to my ears.

Bad – was a bit put off at the three-to-a-stand set up in the violins. Maybe that’s just me! Too many encores.

8/10