Migrating from an FTP custom domain to blogspot.com and maintaining Google links

So you may have noticed that the web address of this blog has changed yet again. I think this is now the site's third URL since I started the blog three and a half years ago, and I try to maintain some kind of continuity and functionality each time something here changes.

This change was forced upon me by Blogger, who have decided in their infinite wisdom to depreciate the option to publish your blog by FTP. This meant I could still use Blogger software, but had to switch the address the blog was at from http://jephso.spheresofchaos.co.uk/blog/ to a different, custom sub-domain or to using Blogger's free blogspot.com service. At first I wanted to switch services to Tumblr, but that had no feature to import my past posts from Blogger. Next I tried Wordpress, but their import feature didn't work, only importing about 5 of my posts. Also, you can't use custom templates on Wordpress very easily, so, as you can see, in the end I stayed with Blogger and went with a new URL of http://jephso.blogspot.com/.

But many of my pages get a lot of hits from Google, and so I wanted to make sure I didn't lose my recognition from Google in the switch. I also wanted to redirect my feed, so that anyone subscribed to the old feed (http://jephso.spheresofchaos.co.uk/blog/rss.xml) would be directed to the new one (http://jephso.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss).

Accurate redirects would mean that users would actually reach the content they were looking for, and apparently having accurate redirects helps Google update itself with your new page locations - one of the annoying things about having to switch is that Google no longer knows where your pages are until it has crawled them, which can take a while, and so the custom Google search tool on the right of my blog no longer works. This should become useful again once Google has crawled all my pages though.

Apparently Blogger will unveil a tool to migrate everything automatically for you soon, but it's not available yet. So in the hope that this info may be of benefit to others who are making the switch, here's what I did:

At first I redirected the feed by placing a .htaccess file in the jephso.spheresofchaos.co.uk directory which simply said:

Redirect 301 /rss.xml http://jephso.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

I then placed another .htaccess file in the jephso.spheresofchaos.co.uk/blog directory which said:

Redirect 301 / http://jephso.blogspot.com/

That directed all traffic from from my old posts to the new homepage. But I wanted to maintain page-to-page links, so that someone clicking on a Google link to one of my posts would go to the exact post they clicked on, rather than just the blog homepage. After playing around with .htaccess files for a while I found that simply placing the following .htaccess file in the jephso.spheresofchaos.co.uk directory did the trick:

Redirect 301 /blog/ http://jephso.blogspot.com/

Now when a user clicked on one of my old posts from Google they would be directed to the same post, but at its new location. One more problem though. At some point Blogger must have changed the way URLs for labels are formed. On my old blog a list of posts under one label, for example, books, would be listed at http://jephso.spheresofchaos.co.uk/blog/labels/books.html. But on my new blogspot.com blog it's listed under http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/books/. There didn't seem to be a quick-fix solution to solve this, so I created manual redirects for each label, resulting in a big .htaccess file that looks like this:

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/art.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/art/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/blogging.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/blogging/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/books.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/books/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/driving.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/driving/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/drums.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/drums/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/film.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/film/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/food.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/food/

Redirect 301 "/blog/labels/gamewave podcast.html" http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/gamewave%20podcast/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/gigs.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/gigs/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/internet.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/internet/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/japan.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/japan/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/japanese.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/japanese/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/job.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/job/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/music.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/music/

Redirect 301 "/blog/labels/pterodactyl squad.html" http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/pterodactyl%20squad/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/reaction__review.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/reaction%2Freview/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/sheffield.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/sheffield/

Redirect 301 "/blog/labels/spheres of chaos.html" http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/spheres%20of%20chaos/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/sport.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/sport/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/t-shirts.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/t-shirts/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/technology.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/technology/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/travel.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/travel/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/tv.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/tv/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/university.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/university/

Redirect 301 "/blog/labels/video games.html" http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20games/

Redirect 301 /blog/labels/weather.html http://jephso.blogspot.com/search/label/weather/

Redirect 301 /blog/ http://jephso.blogspot.com/

Redirect 301 /rss.xml http://jephso.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Note that the order of the redirects is important. As browsers check the top entry first, you want specific redirects towards the top, then more general ones towards the bottom. Also note that if you have spaces or other punctuation in your webpages, you may need to add equivalent code or put speech marks around the addresses, or else they won't be read properly.

I then went to Google and searched site:jephso.spheresofchaos.co.uk/blog/ to find all the links Google has to my old site. When doing this for yourself, remember to clear your browser's cache every time you make changes to the .htaccess file for the changes to be picked up.

Now all the old links run through to my new blog, and the new links should be picked up by Google soon. To be honest, this whole palaver has got me back into regular blogging again. I just hope Blogger don't decide to change anything again anytime soon, as this blog is now in its third incarnation. Classic templates (which I use for this blog) could be the next thing to go, but everything's sorted for now. And if you haven't subscribed to the new feed yet, make sure you do at http://jephso.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss.

The Virtual Revolution: Homo Interneticus?

I just watched a fascinating program on BBC iplayer called The Virtual Revolution: Homo Interneticus?. The program discussed how Facebook, the internet and hyperlinks are altering the way the human brain works, feeding humankind's natural short attention span, and fulfilling our desire to be constantly connected with each other. There are interviews with Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee, and other important internet people, and also a professor who came up with the recognised theory that humans can have no more than 150 people in their circle of friends. There's insight from Korea as well, where it is suggested that the internet is making Korean kids the smartest in the world, but also creating internet addictions for others. Thoroughly interesting, and echoes many of my thoughts and theories on the internet and human interactivity. Check it out.

Rage Against The Machine at Christmas no. 1 2009

Rage Against The Machine taking the Christmas no. 1 spot with their track Killing In The Name this year is one of the greatest news stories ever written. A cover of a Disney-approved slow ballad, sung by the winner of a TV talent show vs. a profanity-ridden manifesto on anti-authoritarianism written by a political rap metal band in the slums of LA. I've been watching this campaign and the buzz surrounding it intently since first hearing about it, and I jumped out of my chair and air guitar-ed around the room this evening when we found out that the band had reached number 1.

I'm a big fan of RATM. I've written about them a few times on this blog before, and I got to see the band perform last year at Leeds Festival. RATM's drummer, Brad Wilk, has been quite an influence on my personal drumming style, and the band's self-titled album, which contains Killing In The Name is one of my all-time favourite albums (so I already own the track in question on CD, but I bought the track through iTunes to participate and contribute to this great campaign). I wouldn't call myself political, but listening to RATM definitely made me more aware of the social and political issues our generation has grown up with and is still facing now. And musically, the band were, at their peak, highly original and innovative.

I think there are three levels of positives we can take from RATM's chart success. First of all, it's highly novel and quite hilarious that 1992's Killing In The Name, possibly one of the most offensive and un-mainstream songs every recorded, has reached the top of the charts in the UK at Christmas. And that the band who recorded this song is Rage Against The Machine, an openly anti-establishment band who sound nothing like the other 39 songs in the top 40 right now. This is a song that all fans of rock music know, due to its use of the F-word 17 times and its strong anti-authoritarian message. It embodies RATM's message in 5 minutes of rap, metal and funk.

One of the most interesting aspects of this whole campaign has been RATM being covered by the media over the past week. For most UK citizens these four guys are just some rock band who have spoilt the party this week by preventing X Factor winner, Joe McElderry from reaching the top spot at Christmas. But I've been getting quite a kick out of seeing one of my favourite bands covered and handled by the British media, as their success has become the main talking point of the week throughout the nation. One of the highlights of my week was RATM's appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live on Thursday morning when they were invited to perform via live link on the breakfast show. I would have never expected 5 Live to allow the band on their show - for one, 5 Live isn't a music radio station, and they should have known better than to ask a band as rebellious and unpredictable as RATM to perform for their listeners. The band had been asked to perform a censored version of their track, but went ahead with the album version, repeating the infamous F-word line four times before the transmission was cut. I've been pleased though that the BBC haven't avoided the band because of their political nature, as some big corporations might (although some might say the BBC were glad that RATM displaced a product of a very successful ITV show).

The second level of positives I'm taking from this relates to the musical nature of RATM. I'm a big fan of rock music, but pop music not so much. I mean, some pop music is musically OK, but the issues here run a bit deeper than that. Rock music has typically always been a rebellious, explosive form of music and has never been truly mainstream during recent times. Pop music represents the music of the mainstream and so there's a big dichotomy between the two. I don't listen to the charts or watch X Factor, or even take an interest in such things because they are so far removed from what I feel music is, and how it's a part of my life. So this is the first time I and many others all over the UK will have taken an interest in the charts in years, because, usually, it just doesn't represent us. And so it feels great to "take over" something as mainstream as the pop charts with a rebellious rock song and triumph over expectations, even if it's just for one week. In fact, I wouldn't want bands like RATM to become mainstream, because that would take away the alternative and subversive aesthetic attached to rock music.

(RATM broke two records with this week's success (first single ever to reach the top of the charts on download sales alone, and biggest download sales total in a first week ever), and it's interesting to note that these records were broken by a rock band, rather than the usual acts who make up the top 40 every Sunday)

The third, and possibly most important, set of positives to take from this experience relates to the way that this whole effort was so grassroots and anti-authority, but gathered a group of music fans together to topple the product of a TV show which had attracted close to 20 million viewers. This campaign really embodied the spirit of RATM, and I wonder if it would have been possible had it been any other band. This whole affair could be the most important legacy the band leaves, and is a concrete example of the power of the people, as it has really stirred a rebel passion within the UK, and the belief that large groups of people can make a difference. If our generation can do something as trivial as get RATM to the Christmas no. 1, what power do we have to make other kinds of political and social changes in our society?

Rage Against The Machine aren't a perfect band. I do have my own questions about some of their choices in the past, such as their decision to sign to the major label Sony, but I think they have helped create one of the most interesting news stories of recent times, and certainly something I'll never forget. I'm looking forward to hearing about details of the band fulfilling their promise of coming to play a show in the UK, now that they've reached number 1. A whole tour would be better, as I imagine it would be extremely hard to get tickets for just one show, now that the band have had a resurgence in popularity, and gained many new fans no doubt. I found it interesting though when Tom Morello said in an interview that the UK was the first place that RATM really started to "gain friction" as a band. Maybe the British people do have a natural rebellious nature - I can't imagine too many other nations where an upset like this might happen. The widespread popularity of punk in the 1970s also springs to mind, and this whole campaign has given me positivity and hope in some way for the future of the UK.

The end?

I've been writing this blog for two years now, and after thinking about it for a while I've decided I'm going to take a break for a bit.

One of the main purposes of this blog has been to keep a diary of sorts for myself, but recently I've been wanting to write something a bit more in-depth and personal. So I think I'm gonna switch over to a writing an actual journal, Doug Funnie style, and see how that goes.

I know people might want to keep up to date with how I'm doing over in Japan, but my hope is that we'll still keep in touch via other means. And although there's not much there at the moment, I'm going to try and take lots of photos and upload them to my Flickr account while I'm over there.

Thanks to everyone who's read and commented on here, and don't forget about this blog/me completely. I've moved the blog homepage, but I'm keeping the feeds in the same locations, so stay subscribed, and I might be back at some point.

Chiptune Alliance Tour 2008

Last night, my band, Spheres of Chaos played at the Sheffield date of the Chiptune Alliance Tour 2008, and it was so much fun, probably the best gig we've played thus far as a band. The other artists on the bill were Firebrand Boy, syphus, Random and Sabrepulse, all of whom were top guys.

We had loads of people turn up, and it was just great to see so many quality chiptune acts in one place. Everyone was so into the music and there was such a great vibe going on. Things are really taking off with VGM and chiptune in the UK, changing from something that was just a load of people on the internet into awesome events like this. There were a couple of people filming the whole thing too, with one guy planning to put a documentary of the tour together, so I'm gonna try and put some video footage up in the Gamewave Podcast feed at some point.

Anamanaguchi were meant to be playing on the night too, but they ended up getting deported again! I hear their new album's nearly ready for release though, which should be very cool.

Again, I've uploaded some photos of the night (mainly SoC) up onto Facebook.

Neuromancer film

I just came across this piece of news about a film adaptation of William Gibson's cyberpunk novel Neuromancer. I recently read Neuromancer for the first time and it was quite unlike any other book I've ever read, largely due to its unique narrative style, which I found really hard to follow. Gibson doesn't paint a full picture of what's happening in his story, rather he prefers to give you bits and pieces, and expects the reader to fill in the blanks. And while this makes the story quite exciting and fast-paced at times, I found it frustrating for the most part, especially when I'd leave a few days in between reading, so the story and situations weren't always fresh in my mind. It'd be interesting to hear what anyone else who's read the story has to say about this.

Saying all that though, the story itself and all the technological implications of the book were intriguing, and to say it was written in 1984 the book was quite a visionary work in regard to computers and 'cyberspace'. So I found myself wishing that the story was a film, as then I wouldn't have had any difficultly understanding and visualising what was going on. I'll be on the lookout for this film.

Old photos

I spent much of today looking at family photos as my dad had brought down 3 boxes full of old photo albums from the loft. Photos are so crazy, and really cool, capturing a moment forever and all that.

There were photos of me from being a baby all the way up until a few years ago, and I had so much fun looking back at the places I've been and the things I've done, as well as all the different hairstyles and fashions I've sported. There were some photos of my parents and relatives before I was born too, and that was interesting, seeing what my parents were like in the 80s, and then how my grandparents were in the 70s.

Photos are really important. I mean, you shouldn't get stuck in the past or anything, but I think it's good to look back to the past and remember how things were, as the past is always a massive part of who we are now.

There were no photos in our albums from the last 4 years though, and that must be because of digital cameras. Digital photos don't tend to get printed out, and I think that's a shame in a way, as photos are now less physical, which can be part of their charm. Plus, I find photos which have been taken by non-digital means often just look better.

Saying that though, digital cameras are good because they're so easy to use, and cost-effective, and so encourage us to take more pictures. And although it is easy to get obsessed with photos these days (especially with things like Facebook and MySpace), I think taking lots of photos and being able to look back on them is a good thing.

Weird weather

The weather's been crazy recently. It's warm and sunny one moment, then raining really heavily the next. I think it even hailed yesterday. I do hope we start to get some prolonged sunshine sometime soon, but the forecast for the next few days doesn't look too promising. When we do get some nice weather though there's this massive area of hills and fields near my parents' house that I'd like to explore. I meant to do it last summer, but never got round to it. Maybe this year.

I got my phone back again the other day. Dial-a-Phone said they'd send us a new one, but they haven't - it's just my old one repaired. But as long as it doesn't break again I'll be happy, and it seems to be OK so far.

I got an email from StarWars.com today telling me that they've just redesigned their website, partly in preparation for the new TV series and movie based around the Clone Wars.

I used to be really, really into Star Wars, and I especially remember one summer only 3 years ago when I spent a lot of time on the message boards, debating about everything Star Wars related. I remember I knew so much about Star Wars, but I bet I've forgotten it all now 'cos I just haven't been paying attention to it recently. I suppose not that much has been happening, but I was surprised to see that The Clone Wars movie comes out in just over a month's time. I knew they were making a TV series about the Clone Wars, but I didn't know they were making a film. I'm not excited for it or anything though. I find the whole Clone Wars storyline pretty boring - just a load of politics. And they already made a cartoon series about it all. That was OK actually, but wasn't that enough? Also, the new TV series and movie are both fully computer animated, which isn't very fun, and then combine that with the fact that Lucas hasn't really produced anything that decent since 1983. I am looking forward to the live-action TV series they're making though. That should be good, although we're gonna have to wait at least a couple years more for that.

Finally, I just released the newest Gamewave Podcast episode. We recorded it using a Talkboy, and I'm guessing we're the first people to ever do that. Check it out at gamewavepodcast.com.

FutureMe.org

My friend told me about this site where you can send emails to your future self, which is a pretty cool idea. I just sent two emails - one to myself in a year, and one to myself in five years. I just hope I still have the same email address by then.

As well as sending emails to yourself you can also read anonymous emails that people have sent. There's some really interesting ones.

Phone and camera

So my new phone broke a couple of weeks ago now. Some of the buttons stopped working and then it turned itself off. It's been really hard to do anything about it, especially as it was my dad that bought it and not me. But in the end I took it to The Carphone Warehouse at Meadowhall yesterday, as they can send it off to Nokia for a repair under warranty, and it'll take 8-9 days they said.

It's been kinda liberating not having a phone, but mostly just annoying, having to use Facebook all the time to arrange stuff with people.

The main reason I'd actually gone to Meadowhall was to buy a new camera from Jessops, where my mate works. I'd been wanting to get a decent digital camera before I go to Japan, and upon recommendation I decided on the Nikon Coolpix S210. I'm just charging the battery up now and haven't had a chance to use it yet, but it's meant to be pretty good.

I think photos are becoming more and more important these days. Maybe it's because of things like Flickr and Facebook. People seem to want to take them all the time. They are a good idea though - you'll probably see a few more pictures on here from now on.

Housekeeping

The more observant of you may have noticed a few changes to the sidebar on the right recently. There's now a link to ジョーのブルーシート, which is a blog I've made for my Japanese language classes at uni. It's just a place to upload my weekly homeworks for others to read, and the teacher encourages everyone in our class to do it. If you don't read Japanese it's probably not that interesting, but if you do you might wanna take a look.

Also, I removed the Spottt thing that used to be there. It didn't really bring much traffic to the blog at all, and some of the images that were appearing didn't look too nice, so I took it down. But my hits have been increasing quite a lot recently - not quite sure why. I've found that every site I've created tends to constantly grow though, and last month's hits reached a record high. I think a lot of people come here through obscure Google searches, and it's quite interesting to look through my stats at the keyphrases. For example, if you search "sonic duvet cover" I'm currently second in the whole of Google, and third for "sumo wrestling cymbals"!

２学期

The second semester of my second year at university has been pretty decent so far. I'm taking modules in Japanese language, Japanese society and one called Web Journalism and the workload has been much lighter than last semester. This means I'm finding myself with free time, which feels quite weird after not having any for about a year and a half. I've realised that I actually find it quite hard to relax when I have nothing to do now, 'cos I'm just so used to constantly working.

I think one of the reasons for the decrease in the amount of work this term has been due to me taking Web Journalism. The course seems to be intended for journalists who wish to learn something about working with the internet, and so far has involved a general study of the 'net as well as some basic web design. As I spend so much time on the internet it all comes fairly easy to me, and even the journalistic side shouldn't be too hard, as with things like the podcast I've already been creating some form of journalistic content.

Also, for the language part of my degree our teachers are encouraging the class to start writing a blog. So instead of writing out our weekly compositions on a sheet and handing it in, we'll all have our own blog where we write weekly posts for the teachers and everyone else to read. The idea is that we'll continue writing while we're out in Japan too. I think it's pretty cool that our teachers are embracing the web in this way.

Spottt

You might have noticed a new addition to the sidebar on the right of this page. After finding out about Spottt through another blog I decided to sign up. There have been a few services of this type springing up over the past few weeks; here's how Spottt works:

"If you have a website, blog, or MySpace profile, you can use Spottt to get people to your page without paying for advertising. Spottts are 125 x 125 pixel graphics that link from your web page to another, and vice-versa. For every two times a Spottt is shown on your site, your Spottt will appear once on another site."

Quite a useful thing to be involved in, it's fairly simple to implement and you can view stats on things like how many times your ad has been shown and how many times it's been clicked on. Also, adds a nice dynamic to your page I think.

Using the BBC iPlayer service I recently watched a documentary called Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays. It's a film about the independent record label Factory Records which began in Manchester in the late 1970s, releasing music from acts such as Joy Division and New Order. I was familiar with what happened with Factory and the people involved as I'd seen the film 24 Hour Party People, a retelling of the whole story starring Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson, the guy behind Factory. And it is a really great story, very interesting and entertaining. It's no longer available through BBC iPlayer, but if you're interested in the history of British music then definitely check out either of these films.

Also, the Beets t-shirt I mentioned here came in the post the other day. My t-shirt addiction continues...

My Sonic duvet cover on UK:RESISTANCE

I'm very pleased to say that my Sonic duvet set was recently featured on popular all-things-Sega blog UK:RESISTANCE. I've been reading the blog now for a while now as I enjoy the humour and nostalgic remembrance of Sega in 90s Britain. And a couple of months ago I decided to take some pictures of my duvet cover and pillow and send them in, and finally they were published on the blog. You can read the post for some background on the set, and judging by the comments it seems that this duvet was quite a popular item.

THE AMAZING SONIC DUVET AND PILLOW CASE!

100

I've just finished cleaning up the HTML and CSS on this site. There are no massive differences, just a few things here and there that I've been meaning to change for a while. The site works better in Firefox than Internet Explorer, but that's no surprise. I've tried to keep the HTML and CSS valid too, but that's really hard when Blogger code is very broken. Maybe that's a job for another rainy day.

I've been coding a lot lately as I've been working on the site for a new netlabel I decided to create - Pterodactyl Squad. It should be launching this month, if everything goes to plan (but when does that ever happen?)

By the way, this is my 100th post on this blog. Here's to many more.

Football in the snow

I've just got back from playing football at 10am on a Saturday morning in the snow! I'm finding it a little hard to type as my fingers still aren't moving properly. The match was between the Japan Societies of Sheffield University and Nottingham University, and the score in the end was 3-3, despite us leading 3-0 at one point. It was an 11-a-side game, and was more fun than the 6-a-side football I usually play.

Nintendo have recently been re-designing their websites around the world, and the UK version just launched this past week. Due to the success of the Wii and DS Nintendo seem to be taking everything a bit more seriously these days, and the new website looks nice, and is much more functional and efficient than the old one, although it is all white and doesn't have so much of that old Nintendo charm.

My account from the old site has been carried over, so I still have my balance of Stars, which are points earned by purchasing Nintendo systems and games. The Stars Catalogue has some nice collectables available - a while back I ordered a limited edition Mario Gamecube controller through the catalogue, which is pretty neat. There's also the opportunity to link your web account to your Wii and exchange Stars for Wii Points to use on things like the Virtual Console. But everything's quite expensive in terms of Stars. For example, I have just about enough for a t-shirt from the catalogue, although I've registered ten different products including two systems over the last two years.

Ah well, it's better than nothing I suppose.

Shopping online

I recently received a t-shirt and CD in the post from American metal band He Is Legend. I was on MySpace when I saw a bulletin from the band about some new t-shirt designs or something, so I clicked through to their online store. The store is part of a system called Big Cartel, which I was really impressed with. You don't need to sign up for an account to order (which I hate doing), and payment could be made through PayPal. Due to this, and the fact that the pound/dollar exchange rate works out in my favour right now, I ordered a t-shirt and a CD, all within about 5 minutes of first seeing the bulletin on MySpace. I wish all online commerce was this easy, and I also prefer buying music direct from the artist this way.

I think I'm gonna buy Christmas presents online, but I'd better hurry to make sure they don't all get stuck in the Christmas post.

Essays

Been writing an essay on Japanese history recently. It's not too hard once you get started, in fact, I'm finding it very hard to stay under the word limit at the moment, but it just requires so much time, and I don't really know whether I'm arguing along the right lines. We'll see. Then I also have another one to write on the Japanese economy.

The Week in Photos is a feature put together every week by Yahoo!. It reports the week's top news stories as well as some more obscure ones using several high quality photographs. It's always an interesting view at the end of the week, especially if you don't like reading lots of text.

Why popstars are going it alone

Why popstars are going it alone

This article doesn't really say that much that we don't already know, but it does say that Radiohead's recent move (see this post) has prompted others such as Nine Inch Nails and Oasis "to leave their record labels in search of greater commercial success through live performances, merchandise sales, and other online innovation that may include free distribution of their music." Not sure how accurate that is, but it sounds promising. Anything to break big companies' stranglehold on music is a good thing.

Popcorn

I made some popcorn today. It's a really good food 'cos it's cheap to buy, fun to make, and pretty healthy.

Talking of food, I just did my food shopping online for the first time. I've been going to the local Tesco quite a bit recently, but it's a long way from my house - once I bought too much and it was a real struggle to get it all home. So for about £6 you can get it delivered to your house using Tesco's website.

I don't really make a list when I go shopping, I usually just go round the whole supermarket and pick up what I need when I see it, so it's quite weird choosing all the items from a webpage. The delivery comes tomorrow during the afternoon, so we'll see if it works.