Things I have learned today about the (or my) violin:

• The tuning is very sensitive, far moreso than a ukulele or guitar. This is not unexpected, but it’s not the most high quality of violins, and it does tend to detune itself with regularity.
• I’ve always held the bow slightly wrong.
• My E string was fucked, and has now snapped during said tuning. Years of barely any use have left the E string a brittle, corroded shred of wire, and that has taken its toll.

Luckily I have a spare, and by a spare, I mean a much higher quality instrument. It’s electric though, which means setting up the practise amp. And, er, finding it in the first place. I might have some spare strings with it. I know I bought some a while back but whether I kept them safe is another matter. Later I shall go and look.

I know the Saw films aren’t popular. I can understand why, as well. Six entries into the series (with a seventh due out this Halloween – THE FINAL CHAPTER or something, I think they’re saying. Which I think they also said about 4, 5 and 6) and there’s an air of fatigue to the proceedings; [spoilers] Jigsaw, the main villain, died in part 3, and they’ve somehow managed to spin him out as the villain for another three films, and probably the next one as well. Yeah, there’s Hoffman too, but he’s a bit of a dick.

Pretty Famous In Michigan is dead. The blog served me well, to an extent, by which I mean barely at all. This was, of course, my fault for rarely updating it but right now I feel that’s besides the point. It was time for a change; something more sedate, more professional, a nice portfolio piece that summarised who I am and what I’m about. Pretty Famous In Michigan started life as part of the ‘One A Day’ network, originally set up by Andy Kelly in which a bunch of bloggers would post one entry a day, every day for 365 days. As you can see from PFIM, I lasted about a week before I started breaking the rules (accidentally, I might add, I was never aware of these rules) and eventually stopped altogether. Sure, I updated sporadically after that, but it was mostly nonsense and a fresh start was needed. So here we are.