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My Mum has just asked me, “…how can I print to PDF?”

One answer is to buy Adobe Acrobat. Depending on your requirements, this could be a very good option.

If you’re like my mother, in the sense that you need to only convert basic word documents to PDF format, with no editing ability, then perhaps a good option for you is CutePDF Writer. I use it, and like it. The big reason I like it is that it is free and legal for both personal and commercial use.

It does have a couple of minor things I don’t like about the interface when ‘printing’ to PDF, but all in all it is pretty good.

If you know of another PDF Writer that you think is better, please let me know in the comments below.

Okay, so to state the bleeding obvious, MashUp’s are already a super-popular form of (re)creating and listening to music. If you don’t know what I’m on about, see this Wikipedia entry on Bastard Pop (aka Musical MashUps).

I’ve gotten some laughs out of Beatallica, a mashup of sorts that combines the Beatles and Metallica. I really dug DJ BC’s effort The Beastles, a more typical form of MashUp which forged the Beatles with the Beastie Boys. Some of the Beastles tracks have been on high rotation in my iTunes playlist over the last 9 months or so.

However, I’ve been super impressed with an outfit from the UK called The Kleptones who seem to be pretty diverse with their sources of music. I’ve just downloaded, and am listening to ‘A Night At The Hip Hopera’, which you can download for free here. You can also download their other work, of which ‘From Detroit To J.A.’ has been a stayer on my player. (Yes, I am the Scarlet Pimpernel)

Anyway, if you’re keen to listen to some new music that is very cool and definitely danceable, check out the Kleptones. Now!

My older brother Ben had a nervous breakdown a few years ago. He was very sick for a long time, and had even contemplated suicide. He has decided to share his experiences at his new website, FormerlySuicidal.com.

Ben isn’t trained as a mental health expert, but his first-hand experiences of suffering from poor mental health, and his subsequent and continuing road to recovery, perhaps offer some value to people in similar circumstances. So if you, or someone you know may find this useful, please have a look. I’m sure if you wish to share some experiences or thoughts, Ben would welcome the input to the conversation.

I read an interesting post recently on Zan Rowe’s blog which, to a degree, mirrored some of my own thoughts in relation to how technology affects the way in which I, and the larger community, listen to and enjoy music. She talks about how it is so easy to get hold of so much new music, thanks to technology like the internet, MP3’s and MP3 players.

Although being able to access new music is a great thing, can it result in ‘overload’? Can this perhaps devalue the worth of the music? Are we likely to become less-discerning listeners, focusing more heavily on songs we like, as opposed to albums we like? (This last questions really plays on my mind - I’m a big fan of albums, and the journey they can provide for a listener).

Zan makes two points which really resonate with me. The first is the how music that is meaningful to us is often more than just a particular progression of notes and lyrics. As Zan says, “Music is about human experience.”

How so?

For instance, a particular song can evoke memories of moments of great personal, emotional importance to us. Even though they aren’t exactly my favourite band, I’ll always have fond memories pop into my head when I hear Coldplay’s song, Yellow.

It may be the manner in which we discovered a band or an album. I love the fact that I saw Blink-182 the first time they toured Australia, supporting their Cheshire Cat album. There was only about 50 people in the joint, and none of them were 14 year old girls in love with Travis (in fact, Travis wasn’t even in the band then!). Although they subsequently became a joke (and I don’t mean in a good, Ramones kind of a way), I remember that gig and regard that album very highly. My sister, Abbey, has opened my eyes to some great bands, such as the Shins and Snow Patrol, over the last couple of years. This personal recommendation from someone whose opinion of music I trust adds to the value of the music for me.

Some of the people commenting on Zan’s blog also make a strong argument for the benefit of album cover art, and I have to agree. I have purchased albums before on little more than the strength of the cover art, and some of those purchases are my favourite albums. Jebediah’s Braxton Hicks album falls into this category for me. To even draw a longer bow, I bought Guttermouth’s Covered With Ants album largely based on the fact that the guitarist played a Gibson Les Paul with a huge Victoria Bitter sticker over it in the film clip to She’s Got The Look, a song from that album. I just thought that was cool, you know?

The second point Zan makes is to do with how we are supposed to make time for all this new music in out lives. I’ve been guilty of buying new music, but not really giving it more than a cursory listen. This is usually a time issue with me, but I can only see it getting worse, not better. I left the following comment on Zan’s blog:

I’ve been thinking about this myself recently. I’ve recently completed the task of converting my entire CD collection into my iTunes Library. When that was finished, I found I wanted to add more, and more! Somewhere along the line, it became some weird kind of competition with myself. It took me a little while to realise this is strange behaviour, and to re-embrace my belief that quality of the music is important, not quantity.

This issue of quality being more important to me than quantity is a big one. Some of my favourite albums needed many listens before I really developed an appreciation for them (I’m thinking in particular about Billy Bragg’s Talking With The Taxman About Poetry album). I’m not sure that I would invest that same time into a new album these days, and it really concerns me that I’m going to miss some gems.

I think there is a larger issue here, which is what I think Zan was getting at, and that is technology isn’t necessarily improving our lifestyle. More doesn’t always equal better, because the one thing we can’t change is how much time we have. Even if you’re not a huge fan of music, or not as obsessive about it, you’ve got to agree that the issue of remaining time-poor is something that affects everyone.

Technology can’t help that, and probably just makes it worse most of the time.

Last night, I hit the town.

I went to see the Brisbane Broncos beat up on the South Sydney Rabbitohs, to the tune of 30 - 12. To be honest, the Broncos looked like they were slacking off for long periods of the game, but that sadly highlights just how lousy the Rabbitohs are right now - I mean they stink! One piece of bad news for Brisbane is that Michael Ennis is likely to miss the rest of the season because of a knee injury he suffered in this match.

After that, we headed off to see Sydney band Faker play a bunch of songs, mostly from their new album Addicted Romantic. But before they hit the stage, we got to see a bunch of other bands.

The first band was an all-girl three piece, who I think were called the Fondelles (can anyone confirm this?). I really liked them - they had some great harmonies over sixties garage rock inspired tunes. I’d go see them again - I think they were from Brisbane (can anyone confirm this - in fact can anyone tell me anything about them, because I really don’t know anything about them!).

The next band was the Valentinos, who were brilliant one minute, then annoyingly indulgent the next. I mean, any guitar hack can make their axe sound like an F1-11. Hopefully they’ll work out it is a fine line between putting on a great show and playing like a bunch of wankers. But I think they were just trying to get into the reckless enjoyment and anarchy that rock ‘n’ roll can be, so I can’t fault them too much. A big hurrah must go to their drummer. This guy is seriously one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen. He kicked butt, and added so much energy to their music, but importantly so much of the bands structure. He is the real deal.

Van She was the next band on. For the first half of their set the only thing I was impressed with was the Joy Division/Unknown Pleasures t-shirt the singer/guitarist was wearing. Cool shirt indeed, but they were struggling to keep my interest. However, they must have been leaving their better songs to the end, and I was actually starting to get into them by the time they finished up. I am kind of reluctant to draw comparisons between new and upcoming bands and better known bands, but I would guess that the Joy Division influence goes beyond their choice of t-shirts. I sensed a fair bit of New Order (they were a bit more upbeat than Joy Division) and Depeche Mode in there also.

Faker hit the stage, and straight away I could sense that frontman Nathan Hudson was a born entertainer. He had every set of eyeballs in the place on him, and he really showed that he is more than just a singer - he drives the band and commands the crowd. The rest of the band were pretty impressive. Nothing stood out in terms of individual talent, but they are obviously damn good at what they do, and they were locked together all night. I thoroughly recommend this band to anyone who appreciates melodic rock music. Nothing too fancy here, but it is as catchy as herpes and apparently a whole lot more fun.