Friday, October 27, 2006

Strange Statues Around the world



Saw this article on Digg.com today and had to share it with everyone! It's a collection of photos of strange statues around the world. Some of them are a bit racy and made me think "how the hell did they get away with putting this on public display?" Click the link below to see the article. Enjoy

read more | digg story

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Torchwood


I watched Torchwood on Sunday! It was great!!

For those of you that don't know, it's a Dr Who spin-off series. It's a lot more adult that the usual Dr Who series so don't let your kids watch it. Within the first 15 mins I counted 2 fucks, one bugger, 3 bloodys and a shit! It's also pretty darn gorey, has nudity, scenes of masterbation and sex with aliens. Defo not for the kids. But these aren't reasons alone why you should watch it. You should watch it because it so bloomin' good. I will be watching it every Sunday, 10pm, BBC3... repeated Wednesdays on BBC2.

Anniversary

Last Wednesday was mine and my girlfriend's 1 year anniversary! I can't belive that one year has gone by already! It's amazing how time flies when you're in love and more so everyday (I know, I know... a bit sickly sweet for some of you to read.... if anyone ever does!!)

Anyway, we went for a lovely Italian meal at Ask in Lansdowne. We both had some Salmony pasta thing with a side order that I can't spell and scrummy afters (which I also can't spell) washed up with some Pinot Grigio (I've got no problems spelling that - it's booze!) Then for a couple of pints Caffery's in O'Neills just across the road. O'Neills was the place we had our first date.... sorry, I'm getting all lovey-dovey again! ... It was weird in there though cos they'd moved everything around and it was pretty empty. We only stayed for one beer cos we were so stuffed after our meal and was starting to feel sleepy.

Here's to another wicked year with my soul one.

Dad's Birthday


Happy 60th to my dad! His birthday was on the 19th October. I know it's a bit late to post this but I've been extremely busy with the Blind Voyeurs filming and editing. Me and Lisa went up to Wimborne to see him over the weekend to wish him a happy birthday and to give him some presents. We got him a DVD about some classic cricket match with Ian Botham (I'm not to hot on my cricket - I think it was a 1981 match! Not sure) and a CD of The Best Of Bread. My dad is an all out Shadows fan. He owns everything they have on vinyl, cassette, CD AND DVD! Even some CDs of Shadows tribute acts! That's pretty much all he listens to. But I do remember when I was very young he used to have some Bread records so instead of looking for some Shads artifact that he wouldn't already own I got him this Bread CD. Thanksfully he was really chuffed with it. Phew!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Gig Preparations Underway...

After finalising a slot for Blind Voyeurs' first gig with Conrad of Solid Air preparations began straight away and now things are really starting to take shape. Up until now we were just jamming and writing new tunes constantly and now have, like, a million tunes and ideas just floating around in the ether. Now that we've actually got a date to work towards we're all a lot more focused of making a set number of tunes gig-able.

Word on the street is that Conrad is planning a new regular event for 2007 and beyond. The event will be more arty than the previous Solid Air with local talent showcasing not only music but other forms of art, such as films, photography, poetry, maybe performance art too. We've been booked for the first night and other acts are yet to confirm (wishlist: Sancho, Brenda, A&E Line) Scott and James from Blind Voyeurs are also going to be DJ'ing before and between acts.

On Friday 13th October, 2006 Blind Voyeurs got together to have a thorough think through (how many words beginning with 'th'??) about what we're gonna play. Although it wasn't intended we jammed a new tune for the intro to our set and then decided on what songs we should string together. We're gonna steer away from the 'play a tune then audience claps then play a tune then audience claps' approach. We're going to tie all tunes together in, what classical composers call, movements.

On Sunday Scott, Lisa and myself have started shooting for a short film which we're going to project behind the band. Ideas have been coming thick and fast since then and, after a couple of late nights, already have a good 5 minutes of film editted together nicely. We're going to edit the film to roughly fit the mood of the songs of our set. More news of this when it arrives.. in the meantime here are a few stills from the shoot...





Thursday, October 12, 2006

Last couple of days...

I can't belive it's Thursday ALREADY!!! Time just flies tooo quickly! Especially when I work all day and am too busy in the evening to make a blog post. I'm having to squeeze some of thi sis during work. I'll make it brief!

Friday was mufti day at work... Jeans for Genes day. Everyone had to pay £2 to charity. We met Kirsty in the Bell at lunch for a pint and chips. Me and Lisa totally convinced her that we couldn't make her party on Saturday night. Mwahaha.

Saturday morning mum was a bit ill so I didn't get my usual 10:00 wake-up call so I slept in til about 11!! Rang my mum, she was ok... she just fell back to sleep. So Me and Lisa went into Bournemouth to see if we could get her a birthday present. Couldn't find anything (she wanted a cardigan) but we bought ourselves some stuff. We also bumped into Kim and Paul (and Kim's parents) in Debenhams. Went back home and had some food before Kim and Paul came round ready to go out. Scott wanted to come cos of White Rose Movement were doing a DJ set at 60 Million Postcards but couldn't when he heard that Fran was going to be there! He was gutted. So me, Lisa, Kim and Paul head off - Lisa was driving and had to leave early cos she had a family commitment the next day. It was a pretty damn phenominal night. After that we headed for the Consortium to continue the drinking and dancing with some pretty old school alternative music (think Pixies, think Charlatans, think Beastie Boys). It's all good fun. Staggered home at 4.30 in the morning and was completely sparko til the next morning

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Then on Sunday I had a Mezzotints come round to practice for an acoustic gig tonight. I was acting as sound engineer/producer and recorded everything for them. After that we WERE gonna go back to 60 Million Postcards cos Hot Chip were doing a DJ set before playing at the Old Firestation. We were gonna head there for a sunday roast and check out their set (maybe slip them a CD of some of my band's stuff) but the recording went on for too long and I was too knackered! I hadn't eaten all day (couldn't face food) so by now I was starving. We ordered a take away curry and watched Clerks on DVD.

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Monday was 'struggle at work' day. The weekend was starting to catch up with me but by the evening I was fine. Completely forgot about Lee's solo gig at The Portman until he texted me during my lunch break. Told Lisa and we HAD to go to that. Lisa had an interview for a new job. Lee's gig was cool - pretty empty but that's kinda better cos people actually listen to the music instead of chatting all over it.
Other acts included Si Genero's final gig EVER (I think he said he's going to America next week apparently). I missed the last act (Stuart O'Connor) cos I was knackered and wanted to go home.

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On Tuesday night was the acoustic Mezzotints gig at Centre Stage. Other acts playing that night were Steven W Lake from A & E Line, and Stuart O'Connor once again. Stuart played first this time so I actually got a chance to hear him. Pretty darn good I thought. Utilising loop pedals to great effect. After him Steven W Lake played what I think he said was his first solo gig and he said he was "shitting himself". He had nothing to worry about cos his usual quirky creative genius saw him through. His short films were being projected onto the screen behind him while he sang randomly and experimentally over his piano playing. Cool. After him was the Mezzo's with their set of 7 songs. They too were nervous. Their usual front-man, Ben, sat out of the first 5 songs and then was beckoned onto stage by Mooro for the last two. Considering they only had 4 hours practice (at my place) they sounded alright I thought! After the set Me, Scott, James and Lee were discussing what actions to take with Blind Voyeurs and decided to book our first gig!! Woohoo!! Now we have something to work towards. We set the date for January 4th 2007 so put it in your diary folks! We've got something special lined-up for you!

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And last night I spent most of my evening experiment with video footage and creating test demo's with Premier Pro. I also had a wicked Chinese take-away with Lisa!... and now I'm knackered! Not going out tonight that's for sure!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Yesterday sucked!



Man, I had the shittest day yesterday. Everything went wrong! Ok fair enough it wasn't anything major like getting run over (although I almost did!) or getting blown up or anything like that. It was just all the little annoying things. I can handle one or two annoying thinges but it was pretty much everything.

I didn't sleep well the night before - it took me ages to fall asleep and I kept waking up.

Work bugged me - everytime I tried to attempt a solution to a problem I'd get a phone call or email about another problem. I was working my arse off and getting nothing done. I even put my phone on Do Not Disturb at one point and then people started ringing the phone on the desk next to me - when I picked it up the person on the other end would say "Do you know you're phone was on Do Not Disturb?" NO SHIT!!!

I was farting like fuck! Well, I would've been but I have a social morality issue about farting in the office so I hold it in. This causes me to have tummy ache! I had to either wait until I went to the loo or until I got home. It's cos I've been eating healthily - Oats for breakfast, Wholemeal bread etc. When I got home and finally deflated it was embarressing. I mean, sure everyone loves a home brew but when you find even YOURSELF offended you know you're in trouble.

There was also a weird atmosphere between me and Lisa (no, it wasn't the farting!) I dunno what it was but I just felt like I couldn't relax or crack jokes like usual. There wasn't any arguments but I just felt distant. She was cool though - we just needed the evening to ourselves. Everything's fine now though.

There was even niggly little things. Like everytime I had a cup of tea and dunked some biscuits at least one biscuit per cuppa would break off and land in my tea! How annoying?!?

I'm putting it down to SAD (or Seasonal Affective Disorder) I think we all get it to a certain extent but yesterday it kicked my ass.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Mezzotints Last Thursday

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...at the Portman pub. It was good!

There was also True Swamp Neglect and Shyhawks.. pics of that up as soon as I've stopped getting problems with the Flickr uploader!!

Read a review of it HERE on bhone.co.uk.

Bogey the Glasshopper



I was just here at work seeing if it had stopped raining and I spotted this little fella on our window. We named him Bogey because he's green! I don't know how he got up here cos this is on a first floor window... and there's no grass outside - it's a carpark!

Ten minutes after this shot was taken it started chucking it down and he was washed off the window and was hanging onto the window sill for dear life! He survived the torential downpour and gailforce winds until it died down and then he chilled out until he dried and then hopped off.

FIRE!! ... well, next door anyway!




Last Wednesday there was a fire in one of the flats in the house next door to Lisa's! We heard the alarm going off but it sounded like a car alarm. We only knew it was a fire when we walked out of the garden to go to the shop and saw the people living next door stood outside on the phone and trying to turn the alarm off. When we got to the corner of our road we saw 2 fire engines rushing to the scene!! We were like wtf?!? Anyway, we casually carried on to get some wine and when we came back they were still there.

Apparently it was a frying pan fire. The guy who lived in the flat fell asleep (He was obviously stoned - being an ex-kaner I know what people look like kaned!) and all he was concerned about was how did they get in cos he was sure he locked his door. He was trying to find out who kicked his door open and seemed more pissed off about that than the fact that his life was saved!! Geez, some people!!!