Summer summer summer-time!

Okay so admittedly it has been AGES since I last posted (or attempted to post more like). Been insanely busy with university work and exams and just general life things. Thankfully it's all over and I managed to finish up my second year with a few bruises and scratches, a couple of nervous breakdowns, and an incredible internship in London, so all in all life is pretty damn good right now.

Also leaving for home in a few days which I'm super excited for, despite the fact that yet another BA strike has left me stranded here for a little longer than I originally planned for. But honestly, when exams/uni is over and the weather is as hot as it is right now I can't be that annoyed.

So I usually put together a playlist of my SOTM (songs of the moment :) ) right before I have to travel, and this year is no exception. So without further ado I give you some picks from my official Summer 2010 mix:

• 11th Dimension - Julian Casablancas - Great vocals from Strokes frontman as per usual, but with a funky 60s/retro-inspired vibe. Very driving-around-with-the-top-down.  
• California Gurrls - Katy Perry Ft. Snoop Dogg - Bound to be overplayed on beaches/clubs everywhere this summer, but a good song nonetheless.
• Miami - Foals - I have this on repeat at the moment, mellow but great melody, good bus/car/train/plane song.
• NYC Moves to the Sound of LA - Funeral Party - Very energetic, raw vocals and super catchy. Good packing/rocking out in your room song.
• Animal - Miike Snow - Funky electro pop gone alternative style music. Fun happy mellowish, also a good travel song.
• Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince - The post's namesake. The Fresh Prince needs no justification.
• Not Following You - Ellie Goulding - Very folkish song, pretty sweet melody and adorable lyrics that remind me of summer crushes. She sort of sounds like acoustic Feist here, if Leslie Feist were British.
• Closer - Corinne Bailey Rae - Love love love this. Soulful as ever, kind of sassy (yes I just used that word) and coy lyrics and just a great listen. My favourite track off of her new album by far.
• Tenderoni - Kele - Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke's first single off his upcoming album. Very up-tempo and high energy, good raving-at-club-somewhere-in-spain song. He's definitely established his own unique style which is great since it doesn't just sound like Bloc Party 2.0.
• 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton - I put this on there in the spirit of what I'll be doing this summer, but such a fun song either way. Makes me want to break out in song like I'm on an episode of Glee. But I won't :).
• Fixed - Stars - Courtesy of BIRP! May 2010. A little more upbeat and intense than their older stuff but still really good.
• Fields of Gold (Acoustic Version) - Sting - A little random (and old obviously) but kind of reminds me of lying down in a field/on a beach and staring up at the stars. Beautiful song.

And a few more notable summer-ish/just plain good songs:

• A Pencil Full of Lead - Paolo Nutini
• Holiday - Vampire Weekend
• Crystallised - The xx
• Guns + Horses - Ellie Goulding
• Watercolour - Pendulum
• Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons

I would post the entire tracklist but I'd never stop talking so I'll leave it at that for now :)

In other news, the WWDC was held today during which Steve Jobs had an "I told you so" moment gloating over how epicly succesful the iPad has become, and more importantly, unveiled the heavenly piece of technology that is the iPhone 4 (as well as iOS4). But more on that in another post.

Happy summer people!

Sore Throat + Dreamweaver = Temporary Insanity. Steve Jobs's latest brainchild = Epic.

So I'm pretty sure I'm about to set the world record for "crappiest immune system ever". Okay that sounds stupid and is probably a little insensetive given all the pain and suffering people with serious ilnesses actually go through so I retract my former statement.Point is, having a flu/throat infection for the third time in under a month is not normal. I mean, technically speaking it's probably the same infection that's been plaguing me all along but the fact that it insists on deceptively disappearing for a few days and then resurfacing once I think I'm home free, is annoying.

Anyways. Spent most of today pulling my hair out working on a website for my course that's making me like Dreamweaver less and less. I've also developed a strong dislike for Internet Explorer as a result of CSS compatibility issues and would like to take a moment to say how wonderful it is that Mozilla Firefox exists.

In other news, Apple has finally released the coveted tablet! (Check out Gizmodo's live coverage of the event here.) As expected it's basically an iPhone on crack, which, lets face it, is freaking awesome. Observe:

It's actually pretty impressive. Multi-touch screen, custom apps like iWork and the iBook e-reader which you can now fuel from the brand new iBookstore :). Also, if you're an iPhone user, you can sync all your existing apps to it without paying a dime. Wi-fi and 3G models, your basic MacBook capabilities, e-mail, Safari, calendar, contacts and the sort.

Oh and have I mentioned, prices start at499 USD? Steve Jobs is calling it "Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price."

Unbelievable is right. I honestly do think it's a revolutionary product. It's not a MacBook, but it's no netbook either. It's in a class of its own which is oddly unsettling but still undeniably impressive. Needless to say, I'm a fan.

My only contentions however, are with the name. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the iPad.

Yep. I mean out of ALL the possible names out there, the iSlate, the iTablet, even freaking iPhone XXL would have been better than iPad.

I mean I don't necessarily want to be thinking of female hygiene products when meandering around an Apple store but with a name like that I don't possibly see how not to.

Think I'm making too big a deal out of this?

All I can say is, MadTV had it right back in '06: