Cool Services of 2006!

In 2006, a friend of mine convinced me that viral marketing is more important than any endorsement from Jonathan Ross, if you are trying to sell your product or promote your business to the masses. The theory is that if you heard something for the first time on the radio or on TV today, chances are that the same information is already half way around the world on the internet, decisions have already been made as to whether it's "good" or "bad" and as such, the same information is probably now just "old news".

As far as I'm concerned though, Jonathan Ross can sleep easy and feel free earn every part of his £18 million contract from the BBC. I will always need someone to sift through the crap and present a single dose of "what's new" preferably on a Friday night when I can wash it down with a bucket of ice cold Kriek. For me, the internet will always be a service provider, a way to save time or an educational resource. Here are some of the best sites discovered in 2006:

1. Shoot, the on-line gardening resource and care calendar (courtesy of a great Christmas present from Lando C). Based in the UK too, which is super helpful.

2. allTunes. Legal? Illegal? Who knows? Great value? Absolutely.

3. In-the-spirit - a decent cocktail recipe website, at long last.

4. del.icio.us - a social bookmarks manager for all those cool websites you want to go back to.

5. LOVEFiLM - the UK's no.1 on-line DVD rental company. Great if you are on the hunt of films of yesteryear. So far we've enjoyed some real classics - Breakfast at Tiffany's, Easy Rider, Man on the Moon, as well as movies I missed because our old local village video store only stocked the big names. At last I was able to see Rushmore, Beyond the Sea, The Libertine, etc.

Cool Stuff of 2006!

With the fireworks that brought in 2007 still ringing in my ears, it's a reminder to update this thing with all the best bits of 2006.

In 2006, I discovered:

1. Belle-Vue Kriek



2. The New Sushi Aisle at Tescos stocking Yutaka products




3. BlueQ, with heaps of groovy cool stuff. For Christmas, I was lucky enough to receive the cutest and tastiest lip-balm ever.



4. Family Guy




With the business really going nuts this year, both Lando C and I fell way off the music scene this year, only making one or two gigs and barely getting five minutes to tune into BBC 6 music. Nevertheless, I still made time for:

1. Rodrigo y Gabriela - the best gig of the year, nay! Decade!!!
2. The Raconteurs - a unthinkable but workable collaboration.
3. The Beatles new Love Album
4. Leicester's finest - Kasabian
5. The Vines, live at the Rescue Rooms, Nottingham.
6. Vetiver
7. Dan Sartain
8. Richard Hawley

Lando C cried like a little boy when he heard:

1. Wolfmother

There, there boy. Rock is back!