Sprung.

Now officially we seem to be in Spring. Weirdly i thought it was decided the 1st March was the first day of spring this year but i must've heard wrongly, the 20th March is the officially the first day of spring. Or is it.. as next Saturday is the time when the clocks are put forward so surely then on the 27th or 28th it's the first day of Spring? It's all very confusing, we seriously need to sort out our time zone issues. But lovingly Google have marked this day, and very nicely too as here in Loughborough it's been sunny and warm all day (shorts time!).

Quite a lot has happened this week in the news, and quite a bit revolving around the frisky Joseph Fritzel (hopefully the good behaviour lately won't entail him being released in 15 years time for behaving well), and the late Natasha Richardson. Here are a couple though that've caught my attention:

1) Idiots! The length that some people will go to to collect money, after two suspected californian drugdealers released thousands of dollars in the middle of a motorway mid-chase to cause trouble for following police. Many people as seen in the video just stop driving and pick up the many bills floating about.

2) Duran Duran to record next album with Mark Ronson, the highly ass kissed recording artist and producer the last few years. I'm not excited that Ronson is onboard i couldn't care less to be honest even though he's produced a few good songs (damn that Valerie..), but the fact the DD boys are still going is again a testament to British music.

3) Facebook sucks, the new layout is now subject to national news with reports that nearly a millino users hate the 'twitter style' looks. Personally i also do too as the system does not seem to update enough as it should, commenting people is now pretty confusing and when reading other peoples comments left on pages, and i don't actually want to know "what's on my mind" as it will be different to what i'm doing! Please change it back Facebook, or at least make an option for 'classic' to be used.

4) U2 - Don Valley Stadium Sheffield - 20th August - i'm going to try and get tickets. I know they've done many a tour and they're getting on a bit but if this will be the only time i ever see U2 at least then i can say i've seen them and judged them accordingly.

5) The Apprentice is back on BBC One! From next Wednesday i can laugh at Sir Alans wise words once again. But looking at people for this series, half of them look as if they're from another planet or have just emerged into society from a test laboratory due to their freakishly abnormal faces. I know i can't say they look strange or ugly because to myself i think i look a fairly odd (can you trust a man with slanted ears and eyes?), however i think i'm right in saying they could probably kill a small child if they smiled directly at them.

Other than work this week i've been listening once again to quite a few tunes. Particularly i'm interested in getting some big band ensemble arrangements or if need be i'll have a go at transcribing these myself:

Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra - Fat Fred/L.O.V.E

Dizzy Gillespie - Salt Peanuts (bum ba dum, bum ba dum)

Jimmy Giuffre - Four Brothers

Stevie Wonder - Superstition

Charles Mingus - Haitian Fight Song