The new Muse Album - The 2nd Law

Just thought I'd get a few thoughts down about what I think (at the moment) about the new, hotly anticipated (as it always is), Muse album.

Well it's different.
 And at the moment I'm not sure if I can confidently say 'good' different or 'bad' different.

Muse The 2nd Law album cover

I've had it since 1st October and have listened to it a fair few times. But I still can't make up my mind.

There are some good tracks (some deep bassy and have an unavoidable toe-tapping beats, like Survival) and some okay tracks. Nothing blew me away.

There's one song, Panic Room, which makes me think, Queen: Hot Space (which is one of their poorer albums) and I think Chris Young* would understand why I think this. If I'm making this comparison - am I tarring the album with the same brush?

I wanted a truly great album and I got something that I can't fully explain how I feel about it.
The last album, Resistance, had some really banging sounds and their beautiful symphony 3-parter piece at the end was beautiful.

But this new album isn't really doing it for me, there's some Pendulum-esque tracks, a James Bond theme in there, some odd fillers in the middle (what's with the slap guitar sound?, or whatever you call it).

Today I've had to catch a listen of Knights of Cydonia to remind me that they have done some good heavy rocky stuff (that I like). It's been like visiting an old friend.

At the moment it's not quite done it for me, It must be a slow burner' - might need to revisit or reblog when I know how I feel about it.

So here's Knights of Cydonia from YouTueb, to remind me that they've done some really good stuff...

*Chris Young a colleague, and also a massive Queen fan

Lookalikes: A man on metro and bloke from Emmerdale

There's a man who commutes on the metro from West Monkseaton who looks like that lovable old rogue and Antique Dealer, Eric Pollard, from Emmerdale Farm.

Normally when I do a lookalike posting I'll add a pic of the person and the celebrity, but in this case I'm not taking a pic of Eric Pollard, because I don't want to appear to stalk him

On the bandwagon...Alternate Day Fasting aka 5:2

I've been interested in this for a while, ready some of the 'info' googled some of the blogs, and researched 'what can i eat for 500 calories' and '5:2' and 'Alternate Day Fasting' and talked to my boss (he's currently doing it), before deciding that this eating style can actually work with my lifestyle.

I also needed to convince Mr Lisa that it's not a fad and that it wouln't interfere whatsoever with what he ate either (he doesn't want to do it) and it wouldn't take over our lives 'I can't eat that, I've eaten all my points/sins/naughty-foods today'

It's not a diet. I'm not seeing it as a diet. It's an eating habit, like regular exercise should be.
It seems like it will fit into my working week; I'll often get stuck into a project at work and before I know it it's about 2.30pm and I'll think oh I've not stopped for lunch I won't be hungry, I'll just eat something because I think I should.  So, for me it's going to work for me during the week.

How does it work in practice:

For 5 days in the week you'll be eating what you normally eat and for 2 days you'll eat 500 calories each day.  There's lots of research about it having long term health benefits.  But for me, I want to lose some weight but without it taking over my life.  I can survive 2 days a week, and I'm sure I can find (or come up with) some really nice low calories meals to eat.

When did I start: Monday 1st October 2012 (first fast day Tuesday 2nd)

Ladies don't reveal their weight in public, so next week I'll reveal the weight-loss (if any).  That way I can celebrate (success) without giving too much away.

Preparation:

1. Download an app for recording calories: My Fitness Pal - good for checking calorie content and making sure I keep to my 500 calories.  It also scans barcodes too. And I only use this on fasting days.
2. Decide in advance which days will work for you: Mondays and Thursdays are good for me (some weeks it might be Tuesdays and Thursdays)
3. Don't do 2 consecutive days - It'll kill you (it would me)
4. Don't do your fasting days when you've got exercise classes (see above)
5. Plan your meals on 'fasting' days
6. Work out when your really hungry points are during the day and adjust your eating to suit.  For some reason it's 4pm for me.

Resources: 

There will probably be a surge in websites/blogs/books which offer 5:2 menu plans, but for now I'm googling and reading blogs, I might even put some recipes in here, but for now it's just a few links to a few recipes I've found:

• The Daily Telegraph: 5:2 Healthy Recipes 250 calories or less
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/9483381/52-diet-healthy-recipes-250-calories-or-less.html
• Tinned Tomatoes (blog), 5:2 Diet - 230 Calorie Fridge Salad (plus there's other food ideas)
• http://www.tinnedtomatoes.com/2012/08/52-diet-230-calorie-fridge-salad.html#.UHKqn1GByEQ 
• All blog posts from Tinned Tomatoes tagged with 5:2
• Easy Living, 100 Snacks Under 100 calories

Keep going: 

To form a habit you need to keep doing it for 21days (or thereafbouts).
So I'm going to use this free online tool to help me: http://21habit.com/