Well, not quite.

You see, I have photos on Flickr. I can upload them direct from my Mac using Aperture. Used to be able to upload them using Echofon, my Twitter app, from my iPhone and iPad. But that feature has now stopped being supported.

I also have photos on FaceBook. Again, can upload them from my Mac and iOS devices.

Oh yeah, I have some on Lockerz. Echofon stopped supporting Flickr, so Lockerz was the next best thing. Remembers your full history, the in-app support lets you view people’s back catalogue. Very handy.

Except… I know also use Twitter pictures. Because, when you use the native Twitter app on iOS, or the native built-in share to Twitter options in iOS 5, it ignores your settings to use either Lockerz, Yfrog or Twitpic, and always defaults to Twitter. Annoying.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot one. Tumblr. Don’t get me started, that’s a serious procrastination tool right there. Lots of interesting stuff on Tumblr.

And of course, if you want you can upload directly inline on blogs such as this, using WordPress.

So, what was that about being easy? Yeah, very easy. But how about organisation? Nope. Not good at all.

What I’d like is to be able to take my picture, and upload it to one place, one time, and for it to be available everywhere. No work around found yet. Anyone, any ideas? What do you use for your photo blogging ?

10 (Joint) Still Got Legs – Chameleon Circuit and Stark (EP) – Cherri Bomb

I couldn’t decide which of these two to include, so they both snuck in. A bit of Trock (TARDIS rock for the uninitiated) from the CC guys, including Alex Day and Charlie McConnell. The songs are all based on Doctor Who, and are an exercise in cheesy brilliance. Stark is the debut EP from Cherri Bomb, a four-piece of girls from the US with ages of only 13 (Rena), 14 (Nia and Julia) and 15 (Miranda). These girls have a fantastically polished sound for their ages, and have already supported Foo Fighters. Expect great things from this band with their first full album, out next year.

9 Relentless, Reckless Forever – Children of Bodom

You don’t get much heavier than this, and with tongue firmly in cheek, CoB tear it up.

8 Maniacal Miscreation – Cerebral Bore

Some girls you fancy because they look fit/cute/attractive/sexy/sassy/beautiful/any-combination-of-the-previous. Som Pluijmers I fancy because she can make the most unearthly sounds with her throat, and because I’m fairly certain she could kill you with one metal scream. Seriously. Add the Scottish brogues of the rest of the band, and you have a formidable stage presence that commands as easily on a large stage to hundreds as it does in the tiny back room of the Parish in Huddersfield. If you like your death metal heavy, crunching and ear-splitting, these guys are for you.

7 Pressure & Time – Rival Sons

They rock. They roll. They’re all over the road, as one songs says. You could easily stick this album on in the car for a long road trip, and not notice until the police are flashing you down for swerving round Ainley Top at 100 plus. And if you keep playing this as they talk to you, they might easily get distracted and leave you alone. (Probably not.)

6 Affective Arousal – Trendkill Method

I first heard song Questions Unanswered on a freebie CD with Terrorizer mag. I love it. The Latvian rockers formerly known as Gust of Anger are a screaming powerhouse of prog-tinged thrash. Goes down well on a rainy afternoon.

5 Replaced – Kate McGill

“I like Kate McGill. Awkward.” So pronounces the tee-shirt I picked up at her live show early last year. Kate began her recent musical career push on YouTube. I’m lucky enough to say I was an early subscriber, and gladly contributed to the financial backing of her album. She is lovely, with a vocal talent that can bring shivers to the spine and remind you of the heart breaking, and heart warming, moments of love, life, and everything.

4 Unto The Locust – Machine Head

On September 26, three amazing bands released three stonking albums. They are all on this list. The first: Machine Head. With The Blackening such a hard act to follow, Unto The Locust was going to be in for some flack, even before it rocketed up the iTunes charts. It swatted away the flack like locusts, and proved Rob Flynn’s mob are still pushing the boundaries of the heavy metal album.

3 The Hunter – Mastodon

The second album released September 26, Mastodon’s new work had a slightly new direction for them, with a range of vocal styles and sounds throughout. A belter of an album, well worth a listen for new fans as well as old.

2 Edge of the Earth – Sylosis

For most of the year, this was my number one favourite. The rockers from Reading were in a strange state at the end of 2010. Having lost their lead singer, they were still a tight, professional musical act. But when I saw them live in October 2010, they seemed to have lost their sense of direction. What they were missing was this: the right material. This album is incredible, filled with catchy riffs, screaming vocals, harmonics you can’t shake. This was my soundtrack for the summer, brilliantly done record.

1 Five Serpent’s Teeth – Evile

Which brings me to my number one album of the year. On September 26, it knocked Sylosis off the top spot of my list ( and I’m so glad it did.) When Mike died, and Joel joined the band, there was a wonder among the fans as to how the band would bounce back, what direction they would take. Thankfully, Benni and the boys new exactly what to do. Keep the definitive Evile thrash sound, but calm the technical side down a little. Play professionally, but don’t get bogged down in the hard-and-fast feel of Infected Nations. Add in a couple of tracks friendly to newer, more mainstream fans, and voila. An album to really sink your teeth into.

So that’s been my best albums of the year. Of course, there were many other albums out, all of which got a a good playing on my iPhone. But these are the ones that were played the most, and provided my escape from the world.

New Year’s Eve, me and the parents went to Marsden Liberal Club to see JB Goode play live for the evening. It’s always a brilliant gig, and, as I’d been hoping, Ben Carter from Evile was there. (If you haven’t gathered that Evile and HIM are my two favourite bands by now, you haven’t been paying attention, have you?)

I am ludicrously lucky to be able to say that I am on first-name terms with the drummer of my favourite band. I am deeply honoured to be able to talk to him, Ben if you read this: sorry if I bend your ear off too much! To spend New Year drinking and talking with him for most of the evening was just totally awesome.

Asking him about the upcoming Third Album was met with a response along the lines of “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you!” Given that Ben is built like a brick outhouse and kicks ten bells of shit out of a drum kit the size of the New York city skyline for a living, you’d be forgiven for wondering if he is actually joking.

He did, however, give a few little hints about the coming year for Evile, and his excitement quietly palpable. I wish him and Evile every success this year. For it to go without a hitch would be extremely wishful thinking, but they have good scope for strong achievements in 2011.

This pic pretty much sums up the evening for me:

That’s Steffy-Lou, Ben’s elder sister and the bassist/co-vocalist of JB Goode. This was close on midnight, everyone was well gone, so she hoiked herself, and the double bass, up on the bench. Yes, it is scraping the ceiling. Yes, it is bigger than she is. Yes, this picture is awesome.

As for achievements, what am I intending to get under my belt this year? Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve hit the ground running, though, enrolling on Jeremy C Shipp’s Yard Gnome Army Writing Bootcamp for the first 8 weeks of the year. I have the first big assignment, a 3000 word short story in first draft due in tomorrow, and am already getting good (more importantly, useful!) feedback from him on the smaller assignments. This is turning into a fresh, invigorating way to start the year.

My resolution of blogging at least once a week has already failed, but at least for good reason this time. Hopefully, as I learn to time-manage better over the next few weeks, I’ll blog a lot more often.

For now, know that I am writing, enjoying myself, and looking forward to another really good year. 2010 had way more ups than downs, I’m glad to say, I hope this year will be the same.

Also, if you haven’t yet bought the soundtrack album from Series 5 of Doctor Who, composed by Murray Gold, why not? It is amazing, gives a good feel for the overall series. You don’t always appreciate the music in a TV series, this album might open your ears a little.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,900 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 29 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 117 posts. There were 21 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 3mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was March 10th with 278 views. The most popular post that day was RIP Jonny Havron.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, twitter.com, let-the-right-one-in.com, digg.com, and iphone5g.net.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for jonny havron, synthetic dreads, johnny havron, coloured hair, and multi coloured hair.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

RIP Jonny Havron March 2010

Multi coloured hair July 2008
2 comments

Jonny Havron March 2010

Contact March 2008
2 comments

My Work May 2008

March
The sad death of fellow LitDenner Johnny Havron in York
Meeting Claire “Rocket Rabbit” Hack, at:
HIM at Manchester Academy 2, with Dommin supporting
World Horror Convention 2010, Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton, which included meeting several amazing people, especially Stephen Jones and Neil Gaiman.

May
Big fire at Grosvenor Chemical works in Linthwaite
Trigger The Bloodshed @ The Parish, Huddersfield

July
It’s A Knockout competition for Kirkwood Hospice
Rebranding myself as AW Marsden

August
Getting an iPad
Bloodstock Open Air, Catton Park, including meeting all the current members of Evile (I see Ben on occasion, but had not met Matt, Ol or Joel before). Also seeing Stone Circle play live for the first time, and meeting Rambo and Joe from the band later that afternoon.

September
Holiday in Scarborough.
MammothFest in Brighton, including Stone Circle, Orange Goblin, Sylosis, and loads more bands.

October
My 30th Birthday

November
Paramore, Sheffield Arena

December
Taste of Chaos Tour, Manchester Central (Disturbed, Papa Roach, BuckCherry and Halestorm)

I’ve really enjoyed this 2010, despite the slow start for the first few months. Packed a lot of good stuff in, made several new friends, got some decent writing done, and started making progress in general. It has definitely been a better year than most recent ones, so I’m hoping 2011 follows the trend.

Happy New Year all!