Attending Supercars events and doing videos on them

Hey guys,

I attended the OTR Supersprint at The Bend Motorsport Park on the 31st of July. I decided to film a bunch of it to show off and talk about the experience. I want to make this a regular thing, and will attend the VALO Adelaide 500 in December as well. 

The video comes out tomorrow, so maybe I will slap it here tomorrow as well. 

I made a bunch of different thumbnails before settling on one that maybe best represents what the video is like.

The first one may look more appealing, but it's far closer to the car than I ever got, so I didn't want to misrepresent the video. The final one was a modification of the third one. Obviously it was important to show a Supercar, the track, and an honest view of the event. As a fan you never get that close to the cars when they're on track and moving. The word "Attending" was a thought of what the series might be called, but I thought that it was unnecessary when you can see that the image isn't a professional shot. I added "The Bend" because the logo for the event was small and hard to read from a distance. It also sets a good template for the Adelaide 500 and hopefully other events that I will probably have to fly to.

I had fun making the video, and I'm sure that there's a lot to improve on for the next one.

See Ya!

Motorsport Manager - My short-lived 2027 season

 The off-season between 2026 and 2027 was big in my Motorsport Manager journey. Cindi Stefanowski was obviously not interested in signing for my team again. So I needed a new reserve driver. What shocked me was that Nassor Lorensen, who I had moved up to be a main driver after I demoted Stef late-season, had a patience level of 1. If I didn't offer him a dream deal, he wouldn't talk to me again. And that was my big mistake. I offered him a good amount, but not what he wanted, and so he left. Then I couldn't find a driver for the second car, 2025 champion Nick Chu being my car 1 driver. I was sure that Nassor would stay, and he didn't. So I had no backups and ended up signing a driver just before the first round. I really didn't want to run a pay driver of no talent in the second car next to a series champion. So I luckily found Josh Bourne at the eleventh hour. He was talented and while not huge in potential he would do a solid job for the team. The new face of Archer BMR was found. After that, I only had to find a better reserve driver and make sure that they were happy.

It was a solid start for the new look team. Josh impressed to qualify 10th at Black Sea. Nick was 14th. Now I didn't have huge expectations for Josh. Heck, if he stayed with the team I was happy. Nevertheless, I was excited by his solid stats and hoped that at some stage he would start to deliver points. In the race, which was dry, Nick moved up to 6th, and Josh dropped back to 12th. I think he was held up in the pits, so it might not have been all his fault.Anyway, the old veteran of Nick scored for us like always, and the young charger had an okay start to his career. The reserve driver was a pay driver with no talent, and who I had no interest in using in practice sessions. 

At Munich, Josh showed himself to be something of a qualifying star. He was 5th, ahead of Nick way down in 15th. Both drivers did a great job in the race, and Josh finished 7th, with Nick 10th. Again, Josh's race pace wasn't flash but I was happy that he was showing something from his talents. You can see in the screenshot above that his cornering was shocking, but for a 19 year old his improvement was rapid and so I was more than happy to wait patiently.

Anyway, when at Munich I rocked up with our new reserve driver, who I was extremely excited about! Joelle Mellor was even younger than Josh, but was ultra talented. My driver lineup was now complete. I had the old 29 year old legend Nick Chu (the champion!), with 19 year old cowboy Josh Bourne learning the ropes in car 2, and 5 star protege Joelle Mellor on a big money deal. Even if Nick peaked out and faded away, I'd just drop him into the reserve role and wave goodbye, then launch the new-look sexy Archer BMR team with their young chargers full of enthusiasm and talent!

Milan was nothing to get excited about. Nick qualified 14th, and Josh 16th. Nick was amazing as always, moving up to 5th in the race, and Josh shuffled up to 12th in another solid performance. I forgot to mention or even check, and you can see that the chairman's expectations dropped down after 2026 and now I could enjoy myself so long as we did better than 7th in the teams championship.

Tondela was fun. Qualifying sucked with Nick 16th and Josh 20th. But Josh showed the critics what he's made of in the race and finished 8th, with Nick just behind in 10th. 

Then we went to Ardennes. We lucked out again with half wet qualifying, putting Nick 2nd and Josh 3rd. It was a wet-dry-wet race, and of course Nick smashed them all and won the race. 🏆 Josh did a good job finishing 7th.

I also took a screenshot of the Asia Pacific Cup standings after Espirit GP (my old team) scored a double podium with Johnny Navarro (my old star) leading the way in 2nd.

We returned to Munich, where Josh started 16th and Nick 19th. Nick charged up to 7th, and Josh moved up to 15th. Archer faced critics from all angles, but I think that things were very positive for all involved.

Then we went to Vancouver, where it was all kinds of wet and dry. The half wet qualifying session saw us stick Nick in 2nd and Josh in 3rd again. Then it was a dry race and our pace was solid. Nick finished 4th and Josh 10th. Oh well. Can't say we're surprised. Then Nick got bumped up to 3rd and scored his second trophy of the year when one of the Team Kirov cars was penalised. 🏆

Then we went back to Tondela. Practice was fine, Josh being run on softs and I assume something similar for Nick, and then we went out for qualifying. The pictures shows that Nick Chu is in the car, but then the information on the bottom shows that L Holtz is in BOTH cars. I've never used that guy ever, and it's glitched out. I tried restarting the game, the computer, and I couldn't find anybody else with my problem online. So unfortunately I will have to start over again in Motorsport Manager. At least I think that's what I'll have to do. It has been almost a year since I played, after all.

Nevertheless, the Motorsport Manager experience perhaps puts me in good stead for F1 Manager 2022, which I have pre-ordered and expect to play heaps of when it comes out at the end of August.

Motorsport Manager - My 2026 season

 Okay, after winning the drivers championship in 2025, I was excited to go back to back, but I had to be reasonable. I was unfortunately just lucky to win. It probably wouldn't happen again, but I was of course going to try.

I don't know why we had a rough car, but Nick was 10th in pre-season testing and Stef was 19th. Apparently the engine wasn't delivering full power for her. 

At Black Sea, Nick qualified 8th and Stef 10th. This was a good start, as I feared the worst when I read those pre-season results. Nick squeezed a result out of the car, and Stef bombed with her shocking tyre wear. The 2025 and 2026 seasons made it clear to me that she was going to get replaced with Nassor if she didn't improve somehow. Nick was 9th and Stef 18th.The lowest target I had for teams results was 4th, and that made it a very concerning time.

At Munich, Stef qualified 17th and Nick 14th. It was an intermediate race, and we simply lacked race pace. Nick finished 9th, and Stef 13th. 

At Milan, we got lucky with a half wet qualifying session. Nick was 2nd and Stef 7th. It was a half wet race, and Nick crashed out on lap 6. I did my best and got Stef to finish 9th. 

At Tondela, Nick qualified 15th and Stef 19th. It was a shocking race. So bad that I only have a handful of screenshots. My rule about screenshots is that I only make them when my team or drivers are mentioned, and in this one I didn't bother to screenshot the results. Maybe there were mixed conditions or tyre failures, but Stef finished 16th and Nick 18th. The team chairman's happiness was now at 10%, compared to 32% after the previous race. I was so sure that I was going to lose my job and have to find another team. 

We went to Ardennes, where Nick qualified 5th in the dry. Stef started from 19th. By some GOD DAMNED MIRACLE, Nick won the race!!! 🏆 I have no idea how it happened, but he did it! Stef finished 16th of course... I was so relieved by Nick's win, and how the chairman's happiness was back out of the danger zone, at 32%.

We went back to Munich, and in a half wet qualifying session Nick was 7th and Stef 10th. Then in a dry-wet-dry race, Nick wins again!!! 🏆 You've always got to back yourself in strategy and go with what you know, but we went from heaven to hell and back again in the space of 8 months. Champions to losers to geniuses!!! The team shot from last in the teams championship to 4th in 2 races!!! Nick went from 9th to 3rd in the drivers championship, Stef's 7th place helping the team heaps even though she was now 19th in the championship. 

Stef rewarded our hard work with qualifying 4th at Vancouver. Nick was 17th. Stef's pace was insane and she scored her first podium in ages with 2nd place! 🏆 Nick crashed out on lap 5!

At Tondela 2, Stef led Nick in qualifying and they started 6th and 9th respectively. Then Stef pulled another one out of the hat and finished 3rd, 🏆 with Nick 10th! I must have stuffed up Nick's strategy because he wasn't doing that badly. I just pitted him 4 laps from the end, so maybe that did it. It's crazy how we went from nowhere to podiums every race!!!

I scored in another half wet qualifying session at Milan. Nick was 2nd and Stef 5th. The strategy was really weird in the race. Nick started on softs while most of the field started on inters. Nobody had to pit in the first lap to make up for any error. I pitted Nick and Stef after 3 laps as the track got wetter. I don't know what Stef's tyre strategy was, but Nick switched to inters at his first stop. We dropped a heap of positions after the 2nd lap and so pitted immediately. Then it was luck of the draw and luckily Nick came out 2nd! 🏆 Stef was 15th. Stef's pace gains after her last stop weren't good enough to get her in the top ten. The chairman's happiness was now at 100%.

At Black Sea 2, Nick qualified 11th and Stef 13th. Our advantage had disappeared. Our race pace was gone too. Nick finished 14th and Stef 18th.

Pheonix happened. Nick started 10th and Stef 13th. Somehow our race pace there wasn't bad. Nick finished 7th and Stef 12th. We focused on the medium tyres to aim for long race runs. 

At Doha, Nick started 9th and Stef 19th, and they finished 8th and 13th respectively. The team was now 7th in the standings.

Cape Town was us qualify well in another intermediate session. Nick was 5th and Stef 9th. Nick held position throughout the dry race, while Stef dropped out of the sky like a ton of bricks and finished 16th. Her tyre wear continued to be her biggest downfall, and it could end up being the thing that loses me my job.

So I dropped her to reserve driver and she hated me for it. Nassor was now in her seat, his incredible stats now hopefully going to push the team up to a good position. I ran he and Stef in Sydney practice for the boosts that her stats gave to car setups. Nick qualified 7th in the dry session, and Nassor was unfortunately 12th. They both ended up holding position, Nassor disappointing me a lot with those results. I thought that he was going to mix it with Nick, but apparently not. I even had to switch Nassor to softs from super softs to try and keep him in the hunt.

At Beijing, some clever strategy in another intermediate qualifying session put Nick in Pole Position, with Nassor 4th. I thought for sure Nassor would be mixing with Nick during the race. It was an intermediate race, and maybe there was a bad pit stop or I made a bad pit stop call for Nassor, but when Nick won the race Nassor finished 7th. 🏆 I couldn't believe it. It wasn't the first time that a reserve driver had disappointed me, but this one had won a race from Pole in his last race for my team.

At the final race in Dubai, Nick qualified 10th and Nassor a shocking 19th in dry conditions. Nick ran a strong race and finished 5th, with Nassor 14th. It could be that his Adaptability of 3 was the big issue, but isn't jumping into a car you aren't 100% confident in the ultimate adaptability challenge? He won a one-off race! It's beyond me.

So Nick finished the championship in 3rd, Stef in 14th, and Nassor way down in last place. The team finished in 5th place. Not terrible, but we were supposed to get 4th, so I was worried that it was over for me.

Motorsport Manager - My 2025 season

Nick Chu won the drivers championship in my 2025 season and I'm very proud of it. He did a great job and it didn't come easily. If our rivals were more consistent, they would have won.

Let's look at how it happened.

Pre-season testing went solidly, both cars in the top ten with Nick 5th and Stef 9th with an oil leak.

Round one was at Black Sea. It was a shocking start to the year with Nick 12th and Stef 19th in qualifying. The only change at the end of the race was Nick finished 15th.

We made a spectacular comeback to put Nick on Pole at Munich with Stef 2nd making it a front row lockout. It was a partly wet qualifying, but most of the field did do dry laps! Nearest rival was 3 seconds of Nick though. I started both drivers on medium tyres, Nick had an awful start to the race and dropped to last place. Stef stayed up around the front. Then it started to rain and I pitted them at the right time. Stef won with Nick 4th! 🏆 That put Stef 2nd in the standings, with Nick 8th. The team shot to the lead of the championship! I honestly didn't expect that to happen!

At Milan, Nick led Stef 8th and 9th in qualifying. Then we had really good race pace, and Nick finished 3rd and Stef 5th! 🏆 Nick shot to 2nd behind Stef in the drivers championship! We now led by 14 points in the teams championship! 

At Tondela, we had both cars qualify up the front again with Nick 5th and Stef 7th. They had great race pace, but I guess Stef's tyre wear ruined her race. Nick finished 2nd! 🏆 Stef was 11th. 

In between rounds, something happened to Nick and I was forced to sub Nassor Lorensen in. I was both excited to run Nassor but sad at the thought of risking the championship. Still, I needed Nick in peak physical condition. Ardennes was interesting for sure! Nassor led a front row lockout for the team! It was a partly wet qualifying session, but most people ran dry laps. Then would you freaking believe Nassor won the race!!! 🏆 Stef's tyre wear probably screwed her over as she finished 5th. Still, an amazing weekend for the team!It wasn't even a dry race! Nassor had got himself in the top ten of the championship, but of course it's always easy to do that at the start of the season. Still, 3 drivers in the top ten, and now we led the teams championship by 44 points! Weirdly, on a concerning front, Nassor's morale dropped after his domination as a reserve driver. Perhaps this was because of his status as a substitute and if I didn't sign him for next year or even immediately I was possibly going to lose him before the year was over!

 

Nick was back in the car for Munich 2. Stef was on Pole with Nick 3rd! This was fairly lucky due to clever strategy as half the field did dry laps in a half wet qualifying session. The race was dry and we had great race pace again! Nick led a double podium from 2nd with Stef 3rd! 🏆 We were now 1-2 in the championship with Nick in the lead, and leading the teams championships by 79 points!

At this point I should stress how we were not legitimately beating everyone, they seemed to be tripping over their own feet! At Guildford, Nick started from 13th and Stef 14th. Still, apparently we had insane race pace with Nick finishing 6th, Stef 16th. Nick continued to lead Stef 1-2 in the championship!

We returned to Tondela, Stef leading Nick 12th and 13th in qualifying. It was a tough race, Nick finished 9th and Stef 14th. Stef's tyre wear was really letting her down. Nick dropped to 2nd in the championship, Stef to 5th. Octane took a chunk out of our championship lead and we now led the teams championship by 49 points.

At the return to Milan, we had another half wet qualifying session and Nick got Pole Position with Stef 6th! The game also played it's hilarious social media glitches where it thinks that my reserve driver is going to win and always wins. We didn't have the race pace to win this one, and Nick stuffed up the first lap. Nick finished 7th and Stef 9th. Not a bad run. Nick dropped to 3rd in the championship, Stef now 6th. We retained our 49-point lead in the teams championship.

At Black Sea 2, we qualified 2nd and 3rd in another half wet session, Nick leading Stef. It was a wet to dry race. Stef's tyre wear again let her down as she finished 13th, but Nick finished 5th. Stef dropped to 8th in the drivers championship, Nick remaining in 3rd. Our teams championship lead was now 19 points. 

Pheonix wasn't all bad. Nick qualified 9th, but Stef was 19th. Nick finished 10th in a typically hot race in America, and god knows what happened to Stef but she was way down the order in 18th. Nick dropped to 4th in the championship, Stef still in 8th, and our teams points lead at 12.

At Doha, we didn't meet our sponsor objective to qualify 13th or higher. Nick started 15th and Stef 20th. But then Nick managed to fly up to 6th in the race, Stef 17th. Again it must be Stef's tyre wear versus Nick's consistency. Stef dropped to 11th in the standings, Nick in 4th. We still led the teams championship by 12 points.

Cape Town was another shocking qualifying session. We didn't meet the new sponsor objective of 10th or higher. Nick leading Stef 11th and 12th. Then the race was dry-wet-dry, and I think I screwed up the strategy. The pace was okay. Stef finished 11th, Nick 13th. I pitted Nick bang on time when it started to rain, Stef a lap earlier, and then put her on dries just before it was the right move, so Nick ended up in the lead of the race until a few laps from the end his tyres dropped off and Stef ended up passing him. Tough luck. Zampelli Engineering took the teams championship lead, us down to 2nd by 9 points. Stef's morale, which had dropped a lot over the last few races, shot back up to decent levels. 

Sydney was great. I don't know if I put a bunch of new parts on the cars, but suddenly we were as fast as anyone! Stef led Nick 3rd and 4th in an intermediate qualifying session. The media again thought Nassor was driving! The race started dry, the rain started around lap 2 or 3. At the second wet tyre pit stop, I might have timed it slightly off for Stef, so she ended up 4th while Nick did an amazing job to win the race! 🏆 He got a penalty for some reason. No idea what it would be as I always stay away from risky parts. Nick was now equal with Zampelli's Elisa Kahl in the championship lead. Stef was 11th, and we now led the teams championship by 9 points! Stef's morale was back to 100%.

At Beijing we had a shocking qualifying session. This was getting a little stressful for me when it came to the title fights. Even with a 100% setup on Nick's car, the best he could get was 16th in a dry session. Stef was 18th in qualifying. Stef had a bad time, while Nick was his consistent self and snagged 6th in the race. Stef was dead last. Nick was then bumped up to 5th after Ivanaldo Severo of Octane got a penalty. Nick was now the championship leader, Stef 11th. We led Zampelli by 7 points now! Stef's morale dropped down to 70-odd%. Elisa Kahl had a shocker and scored no points.

At Dubai, we weren't anything to write about in practice, and Nick qualified 9th. Stef was 17th. Our race pace was bad as well, Nick finished 12th and Stef 13th. We didn't get the sponsor objective for the race, and Nick didn't score any points. His 10 point lead was now... 4 POINTS!!! Stef dropped to 13th, but NICK CHU FOR ARCHER BMR WAS NOW THE 2025 EUROPEAN RACING SERIES CHAMPION!!! Zampelli beat us to the teams title by 26 points. 

I still can't believe it, and it was almost a year ago. I forgot how close the fight was. I remember not having full confidence in our competitiveness. Obviously there were great boosts for our team and driver stats, and I was wondering if we would move up to the Asia Pacific Cup, but that was only if we won the teams title. Still, the future looked so exciting! What a year!

Motorsport Manager - My 2024 season

Hey it's been a long time since I wrote about Motorsport Manager, so it's a walk down memory lane now.

Testing went brilliantly for 2024, with Stef in 5th and Nick 6th.

The first race was Black Sea. Nick started 7th and Stef 14th. I guess we didn't have great race pace, and Nick finished 8th with Stef 11th.

We started Munich from 11th with Nick and 16th with Stef. Nick finished 7th and Stef 14th. Looks like there were issues with Stef's strategy. I had to pit her early and maybe to get her back in the mix ran her long in the end. Rough one.

Next was Milan where Nick started 13th and Stef 14th. It was a dry-wet-dry race and we nailed the strategy. Nick was 2nd and Stef 4th! 🏆That put Nick up to 3rd in the championship, Stef in 8th.

Tondela was okay too. I bit of a personal favourite for me next to Milan. Nick started 4th and Stef 11th. They both dropped back slightly, Nick 6th and Stef 13th. I had a reserve driver called Andreana Foddi. Don't remember her, so it must have been a fill-in until I found somebody who I wanted to sign. 

At Ardennes I quickly shot my drivers out on dry tyres in an intermediate qualifying session to put them 4th and 5th led by Nick. We didn't have good race pace, in the dry or wet, and I probably made bad calls to pit lane. They finished 14th and 15th led by Stef.

We bounced back with Pole Position by Nick at Munich 2, with Stef 4th. Again it was a clever intermediate qualifying strategy by me. I stuffed up Nick's race strategy by pitting for dries just as it started to rain. Stef pitted one lap earlier than her rivals on mediums, and due to her sucking at tyre wear ended up behind them. Stef was 10th, Nick 11th.

At Guildford, Nick started from 10th and Stef 12th. We had good race pace and Nick led Stef 8th and 9th.

At Tondela 2, we qualified well with Stef 7th and Nick 8th. It was wet to dry race and we had good race pace. Stef finished 6th and Nick 9th. Nick was now 5th in the championship and Stef 10th. The team was 4th.

At Milan 2, Stef out-qualified Nick 12th and 13th. God knows what happened, but Nick won with the one stop strategy! Stef finished 12th. Nick up to 4th in the championship, Stef 10th and the team 4th still. We also now had a reserve driver in Nassor Lorensen. Boy do I remember that guy. Lots of potential with 4 stars outlined. 🏆

At Black Sea 2, Stef started from 7th after a wet qualifying. Nick was 15th. Stef's tyre wear was terrible, so I had to stop her twice. Soft-medium-soft. Nick ran softs all the way and finished 5th, Stef in 9th. Not a bad race.

I always really struggle at Pheonix. We started 14th and 17th led by Nick, and finished 11th and 19th also led by Nick.

Doha was okay. Stef started 11th and Nick 14th. Got both cars in the top ten with Nick 8th and Stef 10th.

We had really good setups at Cape Town. Stef qualified 3rd and Nick 8th, but the tyres weren't lasting. We ran super softs, when maybe we should have ran ultras to stay with the front runners. I probably thought harder tyres would be the smarter move and have us up the front at the end, but who knows. Stef finished 9th and Nick 11th.

We got another Pole Position at Sydney in a wet qualifying session. Would be nice to get Pole in a dry session. Stef got this one, Nick 2nd to make it a front row lockout for our team. I ran them on inters at the first opportunity and got lucky I guess. The dry was bad. Super softs didn't do it for us. Nick finished 10th and Stef 14th. I think both drivers had terrible starts so it was lucky either of them finished. 

Beijing is always an optimistic race for me. We didn't qualify that well, Stef 10th and Nick 15th. I always focus on race pace in practice, so we ended up doing well. Nick started on the softs, Stef on super softs. Nick finished 4th and Stef 7th. The team remained in 4th place in the championship.

Dubai was rough. Stef started 11th and Nick 14th. Stef finished 7th and Nick 12th. Very much an up and down season. 

I don't know what the end of season standings were, but obviously we didn't win. Funnily enough, Espirit GP (my old team) were going back into the World Championship for 2025.

The last Pickle-Shaped Peanuts recording session

 

Austral Thylacine album review

 

Thylacine is the debut album by Austral, which according to their bandcamp page:

is a lively four-piece Australian Celtic band combining cracking uilleann pipe tunes, fiery fiddles, earthy didgeridoo sounds and energetic foot percussion.

My friend Connor Hoy, who I have known for now 11 years plays the uilleann pipes, flute, and whistle. I helped crowdfund the album’s production by contributing $250 in early 2020. I can’t remember how I found out about the project, and to be honest it wasn’t because he told me in person over a few drinks. I wish that was the case.

The album, except for the four cover songs, is entirely music and no lyrics. Because of this, and the tone of the music, I find it very peaceful to listen to even though it is often very fast paced. The songs are also quite short.

Throwdown Hoedown is the opening song and starts with sweeping pace of the violin, and then the whole band kicks in. The tune often changes and I suppose that’s because there aren’t any lyrics.

Thunderberg is a great song that sounds like an adventure. First I imagine a Lord of the Rings hike through mountains and hills, then through the wilderness in China, then the outback when you hear the didgeridoo. It’s very fast and has a great beat. The pace and tone drops later on, and then gets loud and slow. Its only downfall might be that it’s too long at 5 minutes 11 seconds.

Pound A Week Rise is the first cover song, a predominantly guitar-driven song. It tells the story of miners working hard to get a raise after moving to Adani with the promise of better pay, but finding that they’d been lied to. Angus Barbary sings, and his voice is brilliant. I sing this and Beeswing at work sometimes.

No Frills starts in a similar way to Throwdown Hoedown, but is perhaps a bit more repetitive. It is very fast, and when driving home from work it’s a fun song to listen to.

Edgy in Zurich is a nice change from the last three originals, with a slower, beat-heavy tune, except of course when the violin is playing. It is a bit repetitive.

Beeswing is another great cover song with Angus Barbary’s wonderful voice. It tells the story of a young man falling in love with a woman who cannot be tied down. As I said before, I like to sing this one while working. It is a bouncy sort of song, with all of the instruments played purposefully. But I don’t know, I’m not a musician.

Woodford Nights is a slow starting song. It is very delicate and slow, but then the violin starts and it slowly gets faster. The other instruments slowly join. Then it stops and kicks back in with the whole band playing at full speed.  Then it changes tune to be more adventure-esque with didgeridoo and low sounds. The next tune is a rushing sound like you’re running downhill. Then it starts to feel like it’s getting a bit long, but it’s at the 6 minute mark so go figure.

Thylacine is obviously the title song, and is a quiet tune with guitar. Then slowly the rest of the band joins. When I first heard it, I imagined the life story of the little Thylacine on the album art. Sometimes its life is good and sometimes bad, but overall good. The tune sometimes goes lower, and other times higher. It could be seen as being repetitive.

Bok Choy is a slow starting song, with a gentle tune of flute, guitar, and violin. Then the didgeridoo kicks in and the band gets into full pace, the beat starts hitting, so this would be another foot stamping hands clapping song to enjoy live in concert. It does start to feel a bit long, but again it could be because I’ve listened to it so much recently.

Billy Gray is a spoken word cover song with no music. Beth Knight sings, and while she has a great voice, I think that another attempt at recording it might have worked well if they had plenty of time. Sometimes it sounds like she doesn’t know what the next word is. Meanwhile, the story of Billy Gray is quite interesting. It’s the story of a woman being in love with the outlaw Billy Gray and his story.

Henry Bloods is the last song on the album, and additionally a cover song. It is slow, quiet, and I imagine scenery of isolation in the outback. The didgeridoo is more prominent, as are the uilleann pipes I believe.

 

Dream Widow album review

Dream Widow is apparently supposed to be a death metal project by Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters. It came out the day before Taylor Hawkins died, so while I downloaded it that day I didn’t listen until a few days later. It rocks!

Death metal isn’t my favourite metal genre. I’m a bit old school and prefer Motley Crue, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, and Ozzy Osbourne. I do have an Austrian death metal album downloaded, but mainly for the first song. I’ve listened to various Slipknot songs, but I don’t like them overall. I don’t know if Slipknot is supposed to be death metal.

I have listened to most of the album several times.

Choosing my favourite song wasn’t easy, as I like all of them, but undoubtedly Come All Ye Unfaithful is it. It has a great start, epic powerchords, and while death metal lyrics are not easy to hear most of the time, the rolling chorus and screaming main line of “COME!!! All Ye Unfaithful!” is great to me. Then at the end it finishes and there’s this empty corridor sound and then a creepy musical zip.

Cold is the song that I first heard when I read that Dream Widow was a thing on the Foo Fighters Twitter account. The teaser clip for the album plays the part where Dave sings “I don’t wanna wake up.” Thinking about that in the context of Taylor’s death weighed heavily on my early listens to the album. You can easily understand the lyrics, it has a strong start-stop beat, this zombie-like low voice, the rolling chorus of whatever thing is cold.

The Sweet Abyss is a fast-slow song with sharp creepy voices, with my favourite line “How has it come to this? Falling into the Sweet Abyss.” The verses are fast, and then the chorus slow.

Some of the songs feel repetitive and long, but that probably comes from listening to them too much. When you’re excited about listening to it, it’s too short.

March of the Insane is faster than The Sweet Abyss, has a great rolling heavy-sounding part that I love, and the song reminds me a lot of Black Sabbath, especially Children of the Grave with the high-sounding stop. Afterwards is a creepy breathing sound.

Angel With Severed Wings is fast, but maybe not as fast as March of the Insane. You can hear the lyrics better with that zombie-like voice, and when Dave sings the phrase that is the title of the song it coincides with him screaming it and that makes for an awesome sound.

The songs that I specifically choose to listen to are Cold and Come All Ye Unfaithful.

Becoming is a slow starting song with a slowly changing guitar riff and creepy voices that you can’t hear clearly. Then there’s this screaming and rapid strumming (or whatever you would call it). Then there’s a rolling hard beat of drums. Then the lyrics start. “Feel your wrath pulsing through. Life and death becoming you.” Then a heavy rapid strumming, then the song really starts with zombie-like singing. It’s probably one of those songs that grows on you. It is the second longest song, and I just noticed that the songs get longer as the album goes on, the only exception being Cold which is second in order.

Lacrimus dei Ebrius is an even slower starting song. It starts with white noise like a guitar has been left on the ground. It gets louder with occasional chords. Then the song starts and primarily features a back and forth from rapid riffs and beats to slow heavy power chords and beats. It also has this repetitive heavy rock beat that I love. Then the back and forth some more, some quiet acoustic guitar, and finishing with some back and forth again.

My least favourite song is Encino. It is very death metal with rapid chords, beats, and screaming. Then rising powerchords, beats, and screaming. It doesn’t do it for me, so good thing it is very short.

Overall, I loved the album and I don’t dislike any particular song. In the wake of Taylor Hawkins’ death and my multiple playthroughs of this album, I have wondered if there could be more Dream Widow albums. It is hard to say. Dave Grohl loves metal, and this band could be his outlet for it. Whether he imagines a future where Foo Fighters play Dream Widow without Taylor Hawkins, and imagines that future as being a positive experience would be the key influence in its future.

 

My 2022 YouTube plan and my thoughts on it.

For 2022 I decided to make a few changes to my 3 personal YouTube channels: Supercars Mabeanie, Mabeanie Games, and Mabeanie Talks. 

Supercars Mabeanie

The plan was to use my new Rode Podcaster microphone to make weekly (or at least semi-consistent) Supercars videos for the channel. This has worked fairly well. I have posted four videos so far. The videos are opinions based on research and data, the predictions video might be surprisingly different to other peoples predictions. What is proving difficult is coming up with video ideas. I don't spend enough time coming up with ideas or preparing them so that I can make a video. A lot of my ideas are loose concepts that need developing, so I can't just whip it up in a day. Nevertheless, I hope to make many more videos this year. It is disappointing that I can't manage to produce a new video every week.

Mabeanie Games

The plan was to combat some of the big issues with this channel by making less videos and turning Friday Night Funs into podcast-style videos with clips uploaded later. The problem is finding or spending time making the clips. It's hard to be sure what to do at this stage, but I typically go with what I feel like doing.

Mabeanie Talks

Yes, I have started doing vlogs on Mabeanie Talks. The plan was to make vlogs, but I didn't know how they would look until I started making them. The first two videos were a little uncomfortable to make because suddenly I was vlogging for the outside world to see rather than my own personal enjoyment. Content for this channel is easier to come up with and easy to edit compared to Supercars Mabeanie. At the moment the problem isn't coming up with ideas, but knowing where to put my efforts channel-wise. Talks' video for next week is already scheduled, so I'm not concerned about the next video yet. I don't want to schedule a video and then come up with another idea and have old videos scheduled for the future to the point where the video becomes obsolete because I don't feel the same about the subject when the video eventually comes out. It's almost a topic for Talks in itself. Sigh...

Overall, my channels are very close to what I've wanted them to be since I relaunched them in 2019 with their current names. Supercars Mabeanie is close to a drawing of a hypothetical screenshot that I made in 2018. Mabeanie Talks is what I've wanted my YouTube career to be since I started in 2010. Gaming videos is the only real difficulty at the moment.