goings on in the land of spoon

Er......

2011-12-28T18:30:00.000Z

Nothing posted since May! This must be rectified.

Cartman's New ipad.

2011-05-01T22:15:00.000+01:00

Peter Gabriel & The New Blood Orchestra - Hammersmith Apollo 23/24 March 2011

2011-03-30T21:18:00.003+01:00

What a wonderful, wonderful night. The best PG gig I've seen. Now the long wait for the 3D Blu ray that was filmed that night.

The Brigadier. R.I.P Nicholas Courtney.

2011-02-23T22:44:00.002Z

Family Guy - Getting along without religion

2011-02-21T19:49:00.001Z

The Tom Baker Doctor Who Prime Computer Ads...

2011-02-21T16:26:00.001Z

Fast and Loose - David Armand - Queen - 'Don't Stop Me Now'

2011-02-20T23:35:00.001Z

How the sun get there? Where does it go at night?

2011-02-12T19:22:00.002Z

David Armand - Love Is All Around (Interpretative Dance)

2011-02-11T23:18:00.001Z

Global Warming

2011-02-11T01:02:00.001Z

Uncontacted Tribes

2011-02-10T23:32:00.000Z

The Reason Project: Bible Contradictions

2011-02-05T13:54:00.000Z

Cannon Films Logo

2011-02-05T02:44:00.003Z

Blimey. This brings back memories. Cannon was a film production company that was bought by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus in 1979. During the 80's the company was responsible for some of the best "worst" films ever made. Check out this list of notable efforts....

Death Wish 1 to... whatever
Masters Of The Universe
King Solomon's Mines
Cobra
Lifeforce
Over The Top
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Bolero
The Delta Force

And.... I kid you not, Puss In Boots, a 1988 musical version of the story starring Christopher Walken as "Puss" and Jason Connery. However, the logo resonates with me because there was a 3 screen Cannon Cinema near where I grew up, and they'd play it before the start of each film.

Happy days.

I also remember that (for what seemed like an age) they only ever played the same 5 or 6 adverts before each film.

"If you're drinking Bacardi".

You had to be there.

Oh..... and for a while they would slip in the video for the Kate Bush song "Sensual World".

Cinema in the 80's was awesome.

P.S. BLOODY HELL!! Found this on youtube! This was the add that seemed to run in the cinema forever. All those happy memories of seeing both good and (really) bad films at the Cannon Cinema Tunbridge Wells come flooding back.

John Barry (3 November 1933 – 30 January 2011)

2011-01-31T22:41:00.000Z

Composer John Barry, famous for his work on the James Bond films, Born Free and Out of Africa has died aged 77 of a heart attack.

One of the most celebrated film composers of his generation, Barry scored more than 90 movies over the course of his career.

But it is for his work on a dozen Bond films that Barry will be widely remembered. One of his best-known theme songs was Goldfinger, belted out by Shirley Bassey in 1964.

His Oscars were from other films: Born Free, which earned him two statuettes, The Lion in Winter, Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves.

He was honoured with an OBE in 1999 for his services to music, and was awarded a Bafta Fellowship in 2005.

Cinema childhood

John Barry Prendergast was born in York in 1933. His father ran a chain of cinemas and his mother was a pianist.

In a Guardian interview in 1999, Barry described how he fell in love with film as a toddler.

"My father had eight theatres in the north of England. I remember him picking me up, age three and a half, and taking me through these swing doors to the back of the stalls and holding me up over the barrier at the back. And I remember seeing this mouse, this big black and white mouse."

Barry trained as a classical pianist but turned his attention to jazz. He played the trumpet in the army, and in the late 1950s formed jazz-rock group the John Barry Seven.

"I didn't love [pop] music, I wasn't passionate about it. But I did want to be a professional musician," said Barry in a 1994 interview.

"So we literally listened to all that was coming out of America at that time, whether it was Bill Haley or Freddy Bell and the Bellboys, and the first concerts we did, we just copied all their stuff and did it."

The group teamed up with singer Adam Faith, and had hits in the UK with What Do You Want? and Poor Me.

Barry worked on television series and commercials, and broke into movie work in 1960's Beat Girl.

His work brought him to the attention of producers of the first Bond movie Dr No.

"The James Bond movies came because we were successful in the pop music world, with a couple of big instrumental hits. They thought I knew how to write instrumental hit music," Barry said in an interview with The Associated Press in 1991.

His arrangement of Monty Norman's James Bond theme led to him composing scores for 11 films in the series, among them Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice.

Barry's work on the Bond theme led to a court case in the late 1990s when Norman successfully asserted his authorship of the tune.

But Barry's Bond scores showcased his diverse range: big bands, guitar riffs, sweeping strings and jazz and Latin beats.

He worked with Duran Duran and A-ha during the 1980s, on Bond themes for A View To A Kill and The Living Daylights.

He also made innovative use of a synthesiser in music for On Her Majesty's Secret Service and his theme for TV's The Persuaders.

His first Oscars came in 1967 for his Born Free score and its iconic title theme.

More Academy Awards followed for the soundtracks he wrote for The Lion in Winter, Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves.

Barry also won four Grammys, a Bafta for The Lion in Winter and a Golden Globe for Out of Africa.

His many other film scores included Walkabout, The Deep, Somewhere in Time, Body Heat, Jagged Edge, Peggy Sue Got Married, Chaplin and Cry, the Beloved Country. His most recent film score featured in the 2001 war thriller Enigma.

In 2002, Barry was named an Honorary Freeman of the City of York, an honour he received at a venue in the city where he once used to play trumpet in the 1950s.

Barry was divorced three times - his second wife was the actress Jane Birkin. He is survived by his wife Laurie, his four children and five grandchildren.

He once recalled, surveying his vast body of work: "When I look back on it, I think, how the hell did I do all this?"

CLASSIC JOHN BARRY SCORES

From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
Zulu
Born Free
You Only Live Twice
The Lion in Winter
Midnight Cowboy
Diamonds are Forever
Out of Africa
Dances with Wolves
Chaplin

Golden Globes 2011 - Ricky Gervais Opening Monologue

2011-01-19T22:55:00.001Z

Just about the funniest thing I have ever seen. Hollywood must be FUMING!

Brilliant.

When will people LEARN!

2011-01-05T23:13:00.000Z

Another great passes away. R.I.P Gerry.

2011-01-04T22:59:00.000Z

Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty has died at the age of 63 after suffering a long illness.

His career high came in the 1970s and included the anthemic Baker Street and Stuck in the Middle with You, recorded with his band Stealers Wheel.

Rafferty had battled a drink problem and spent time in hospital in Bournemouth with liver failure.

He was born in Paisley and began his musical career as a busker on the London Underground.

Rafferty died peacefully at home, with his daughter Martha at his bedside.

He had recorded and toured with Billy Connolly as part of the Humblebums, before forming Stealers Wheel with his friend Joe Egan in 1972.

Stuck in the Middle with You was a hit in the early 70s and also appeared on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's debut film Reservoir Dogs in 1992.

Baker Street charted in the UK and US in 1978 after Rafferty began his solo career and still achieves airplay on radio stations around the world.

It is understood his funeral will be held in Paisley later this month.

QI - Vatican City Has the Lowest Age of Consent and the Highest Crime Rate in Europe

2010-12-21T13:12:00.002Z

Captain Beefheart. Another Great Passes Away.

2010-12-19T23:06:00.001Z

Don Van Vliet, dies aged 69

American musician and painter Don Van Vliet, best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart, has died aged 69.

Van Vliet's death in California, from complications from multiple sclerosis, was announced by the Michael Werner Gallery in New York.

Van Vliet was "one of the most original recording artists of his time", the gallery said in a statement.

He rose to fame in the 1960s with a unique style of blues-inspired rock & roll, later devoting himself to art.

Artists including Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Franz Ferdinand, Oasis, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The White Stripes are among those who have cited him as an influence.

'Experimental rock & roll'

"Don Van Vliet was a complex and influential figure in the visual and performing arts," the gallery said in a statement.

"He is perhaps best known as the incomparable Captain Beefheart who, together with his Magic Band, rose to prominence in the 1960s with a totally unique style of blues-inspired, experimental rock & roll."

"This would ultimately secure Van Vliet's place in music history as one of the most original recording artists of his time. After two decades in the spotlight as an avant-garde composer and performer, Van Vliet retired from performing to devote himself wholeheartedly to painting and drawing."

"Like his music, Van Vliet's lush paintings are the product of a truly rare and unique vision."

Van Vliet combined peculiar tones with music that drew on blues, jazz, psychedelia and a barrage of other genres.

The musician recorded under the name of Captain Beefheart with members of the Magic Band through 1982.

Captain Beefheart's first two releases with the Magic Band received positive reviews from music connoisseurs but did not connect with the wider public.

But he soon began a close creative relationship with Frank Zappa, a former high school classmate, who helped him forge his way toward redefining popular music.

In recent years, Van Vliet devoted himself to painting and drawing.

A painting by the musician was on sale at the Michael Werner Gallery earlier this month at a price of $40,000 (£26,000).

Van Vliet is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, Jan Van Vliet.

December 2nd 2010 - Trying to get to work (and failing)

2010-12-02T12:36:00.000Z

Paxman Meets Hitchens: A Newsnight Special (2/2)

2010-11-29T23:45:00.002Z

Paxman Meets Hitchens: A Newsnight Special (1/2)

2010-11-29T23:29:00.000Z

R.I.P Leslie Nielsen.

2010-11-29T22:09:00.000Z

Godalming Christmas Lights 2010

2010-11-28T14:00:00.000Z

The Hole 3D

2010-11-28T01:57:00.000Z

This is the "Den Of Geek" review of "The Hole." I'm presenting it here because having just seen it, I pretty much agree with the reviewer.

Joe Dante

The Hole review

Luke Savage

Director Joe Dante returns with a new feature, The Hole, which returns to the family horror themes of his 80s classic, Gremlins. But does it have that film’s bite? Luke finds out...

Published on Sep 20, 2010

For anyone who a) grew up in the 80s, b) watched movies, and c) liked watching great movies, The Hole in 3D is more than just a film. Seven years after his last cinematic outing, 2003's Looney Tunes: Back In Action, Joe Dante is back. To some, that may not mean much. In the last two decades, only three other films, Small Soldiers (1998), Matinee(1993) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), can lay claim to bearing Dante's cinematic fingerprints. Hardly a prolific output.

But in the 80s, Dante was king. He made Gremlins (I could end it there, really, but I won't), sent River Phoenix into space (Explorers), put a miniature Dennis Quaid inside Martin Short (Innerspace), and had Tom Hanks, before he went all serious, star in what may be the most hard-to-categorise film of his career (The 'burbs). That's not even mentioning The Howling, which seems to have lost a bit of its shine with the near endless stream of inferior sequels it's since spawned.

All of which might be lost on the target audience of The Hole, which flicks between feeling like a stretched out episode of Eerie Indiana (no bad thing) and Flatliners for kids (ditto). Although Disturbia may be a closer match in terms of plot.

Screenwriter Mark L. Smith takes that film's structure of three kids bored in the suburbs and simply replaces the serial killer living opposite with a really big hole. So, instead of asking themselves if David Morse really is a bad guy, The Hole's young trio must investigate what lies beneath their garage.

It's familiar territory for Dante, who's always enjoyed exploring the darkness and quirkiness that lies beneath the facade of banal suburbia. Here, it's simply writ large and a little less subversive. Instead of suspected cannibalism or rampaging homeowners, we get killer clowns and hobbling ghosts wreaking havoc amidst the picket fences.

But this being, you know, for kids, it's never that scary. Save for a terrifically creepy bathroom scene, it's horror wrapped in cotton wool. Even the kids don't feel that worried by their plight. "You've got a gateway to Hell under your house," one says, "and that is really cool". Gone are the terrified inhabitants of Gremlins' snow-lined streets. In their place we have blasé, precocious teens who oscillate between curious and nonchalant.

In that sense, it lacks the Dante bite of old. Where Small Soldiers was a kids movie for adults, The Hole is just a kids movie. But it's a pretty good one, at that. If it misses the madcap energy of Gremlins, it makes up for that with enough reminders of Dante's eye for a great set piece. A hermit's den of hanging lights dazzles, literally, a swimming pool scene feels like a childhood nightmare come to life, and the climax recalls the off-kilter excess of his segment in The Twilight Zone: The Movie.

They're made even better by 3D too. The Hole was shot in 3D, making it a cut above the glut of recent pretenders who've tried to cash in on the craze after the fact. As with most films, it takes a few minutes for the eyes to adjust (a pizza eating scene in the opening few minutes was so vivid I thought I'd walked into an advert for a well known pizza establishment by mistake), but when they do the film's low key charms shine a little brighter.

And, of course, it's always good to see Dick Miller, even if he does now look like Eli Wallach in The Holiday. He doesn't get a line, but he still nabs the film's biggest laugh, narrowly beating an Eric Cartman talking doll.

That's the biggest appeal of The Hole. It may be Dante-lite, but it's still Dante. And it's great to have him back.

I liked it. An entertaining, if flawed, throwback to the family "horror" films of the 80's. It's also just good to see Joe Dante's name on the screen again. Let's hope we don't have to wait an age for his next film.

Tunes I Like Right Now....Update

2010-11-27T00:33:00.002Z

Updated the "Tunes I Like Right Now" section.

Peter Gabriel - "Après Moi" from the album "Scratch My Back"

Porcupine Tree - "Blackest Eyes" from the album "In Absentia." They're one of the greatest bands that nobodies ever heard of.

Rodrigo Y Gabriela - "Orion" from the album "Rodrigo Y Gabriela"

Yello - "Tiger Dust" from the album "The Eye". You either love Yello or hate 'em.

Intruder

2010-11-26T23:51:00.000Z

A little taste of Intruder. The New Blood Orchestra recorded versions of Peter's songs for a forthcoming album at Air Studios in June.

I'm really looking forward to this release. I loved the "Scratch My Back" album, but a whole record of Peter's songs re-recorded with an orchestra has me salivating.

White Wine in the Sun - Kate Miller-Heidke (by Tim Minchin)

2010-11-25T23:22:00.000Z

Bill Bailey 'Part Troll' Live - Love Song

2010-11-25T22:17:00.002Z

(2/2) Part Two. Christopher Hitchens on ABC1 Lateline

2010-11-20T20:18:00.000Z

(1/2) Part Two. Christopher Hitchens on ABC1 Lateline

2010-11-20T20:16:00.002Z

Christopher Hitchens on ABC Lateline Part 2

2010-11-20T20:12:00.002Z

Christopher Hitchens on ABC Lateline Part 1

2010-11-20T20:07:00.000Z

Mr. Deity and the Science Advisor

2010-11-19T16:09:00.001Z

Mr. Deity and the Promised Land

2010-11-19T16:02:00.003Z

Michio Kaku on Life After Death, Creationism and Scientific Evidence of Geological Time

2010-11-16T23:39:00.002Z

Steve Martin - Atheist Song - First hymnal for Atheists

2010-11-16T23:31:00.002Z

New Age Con.

2010-11-15T08:11:00.002Z

How Can Theists Claim To Know? - Christopher Hitchens

2010-11-13T00:31:00.001Z

Stephen Fry on God & Gods.

2010-11-13T00:24:00.004Z

Christopher Hitchens on The Ten Commandments

2010-11-06T23:41:00.004Z

Peter Gabriel Covers “In the Neighborhood” by Tom Waits

2010-11-06T19:40:00.000Z

Peter Gabriel » Tom Waits from The Voice Project on Vimeo.

Tron Legacy.

2010-11-03T19:57:00.001Z

The young Jeff Bridges looks naff, hopefully they're going to be working on it right up to the release date so it doesn't look so....... funky.

Still, I can't help but feel excited by this!

The First Men In The Moon

2010-11-01T20:19:00.000Z

Watched this the night it was broadcast. Mark Gatiss is always worth the price of admission, even more so when he's written the screenplay. This wonderful take on the novel by H.G Wells is slightly hampered by a tiny BBC4 budget, but it more than makes up for it in pure tongue in cheek entertainment.

Gatiss is wonderful as Dr Cavor, giving us a glimpse of what he may have done if he'd ever had the chance to play that other Doctor so loved of Sci-Fi fans.

The DVD is out now, but no Blu-ray!! What's that about? It was broadcast on BBC HD as well as BBC4. Come on chaps, sort it out!

Jon Stewart's Speech from Rally to Restore Sanity

2010-10-31T11:58:00.000Z

The Social Network

2010-10-30T13:53:00.002+01:00

Finally saw this last night. It took a bit of persuading to get my wife to come as the subject matter held no interest for her. However, the twin pull of David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, Panic Room ect) and Aaron Sorkin (West Wing, Studio 60, Charlie Wilson's War) was enough to get her into the cinema.

It was a blissful mix of Fincher's energetic visual flare and ability to extract amazing performances from his actors and Sorkin's witty, snappy dialogue.

As for the truth of the story, I assume like most films of this nature that the broad strokes are probably as near to the mark as they can get, but the smaller details are poetic licence. The soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is also excellent and will be finding it's way into my ever expanding collection.

Well worth a look.

And I still think that Fincher's Alien 3 is a lost masterpiece.

Metallic Spheres

2010-10-27T22:56:00.000+01:00

Listening to this right now......

Ohhhh this is bliss!

Currys & PC World Megastores TV Ad Director's Cut

2010-10-27T19:20:00.000+01:00

Squeeee!!!

Peter Gabriel "Here Comes the Flood" on Guitar Center Sessions

2010-10-26T13:32:00.000+01:00

Links..

2010-10-25T23:09:00.001+01:00

All the diveshare links are back.

Lets see how long it lasts.

Peter Gabriel - New Blood: Rhythm Of The Heat

2010-10-25T18:01:00.000+01:00

Peter Gabriel Album Art.

2010-10-25T17:59:00.000+01:00

divshare....AAAAAAAHHH!!

2010-10-25T01:01:00.002+01:00

Have removed all the divshare links until I can sort all this out or find a replacement.

The Divshare Saga Continues....... Oh, and some photos.

2010-10-24T11:14:00.009+01:00

Ok,

Deep breath.

I was looking around my divshare account trying to figure out why some files worked and others didn't when I came across the "privacy" setting.

This was new to me, it wasn't there when I joined. Now that I've set all the relevant files to "public" they should all work.

(pinch of salt)

It's worth pointing out that I'm a free member of the site so I have a monthly download limit. If you try to download something and it says that the account has reached it's limit wait until around the end of the month and try again. The National Theatre Of Brent stuff is the main culprit, it seems to be the most popular.

Now a few pics from our recent family trip to Mortehoe in Devon.

Divshare Doldrums Part 2.

2010-10-24T10:56:00.003+01:00

Seems that diveshare is still causing problems. It used to be reliable but seems to be quite flakey these days.

I think it's gonna be so long diveshare!

I'll have a hunt around for an alternative.

Cashback

2010-10-23T15:57:00.000+01:00

Cashback
Uploaded by momog. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Solved.

2010-10-22T23:30:00.006+01:00

All the diveshare links now work. I've also updated the "Tunes I Like Right Now" section. The new tracks are....

1 - Theme from Mousehunt - Alan Silvestri - I'm a huge soundtracks collector and this album is a new addition.

2 - Windolicker - Aphex Twin - The more I listen to it the more amazing it gets.

3 - Ashes To Ashes - David Bowie - It's Bowie! What else is there to say?

4 - Sugalumps - Flight Of The Concords - Brilliant pastiche of the Black Eyed Peas track "My Humps".

Diveshare doldrums..

2010-10-22T18:22:00.001+01:00

Seems that quite a few of the files that I posted on diveshare are corrupted. I'll spend some time tonight uploading new copies to replace them.

Life The Universe & Everything

2010-10-22T17:10:00.008+01:00

It's been an age since I posted anything about myself, life has managed to consistently get in the way.

New job, (now OLD job as I've moved on) baby, (now screaming toddler) outside projects, (not enough of them) have all meant that time is at a premium.

I'm in the process of doing what all men of a certain age do, taking stock. It's NOT a mid life crisis (yet) but it IS a concerted effort to look at things in my life and decide whether I should..

a) Hunker down, settle on a career while letting some ideas and dreams go in an attempt to be the responsible earner.

or

b) Keep trying to move towards what I always wanted to do, stop worrying about being "grown up" and enjoy life more.

On the surface it seems like an easy decision, but it ain't. My brain is all about a, but my heart is all about b.

Anyway, in an effort to focus me a little and not waste so much time on BLOODY FACEBOOK, I've decided to pay more attention to my blog. To use it as a portal for jotting down little doodles from my life, from my favourite music, films and books, to stuff I've been up to. You know, the usual stuff.

Here we go.

The Book Of Love and Washing Of The Water

2010-10-22T14:34:00.002+01:00

Mr G is still easily my favourite male recording artist. Long may he continue.

Dead again?

2010-05-03T14:13:00.002+01:00

I have, of late, been very tardy in keeping this blog up to date. I am resolved to alter this unsatisfactory situation.

Blame work, child, facebook ect. They all take up way to much time.

I'll get my act together and start posting again soon!

Yello -Touch

2009-12-06T22:51:00.002Z

A new album! WooHoo!

What if Earth had rings like Saturn?

2009-12-04T20:42:00.001Z

The view from afar would be somewhat familiar, after all, we know Saturn. Now, can you picture how the rings would appear viewed from Earth’s surface: Paris, Rio, somewhere near Greenland? What would be its appearance at day, by night? You can check it above, and wonder what myths of creations, what religions would it inspire.

A fabulous work of imagination by Roy Prol. Imagination, but not pure fantasy! We don’t have rings around our planet, but we could have. The rings rendered by Prol respect the Roche limit, and the most curious thing is, we may have had rings not that different from those.

With not very pleasant consequences.

Astronomer John O’Keefe speculated that the planet may have formed “a ring system like that of Saturn” at the end of the Eocene, which lasted “between one and several million years”. As can be seen on Prol’s animation, the rings, despite their beauty, would block part of the Sun’s radiation, causing a global cooling.

In the end of the Eocene it may have caused global extinction, but could this be the most beautiful fix for global warming?

LAURIER TIERNAN - "You Will Die as You Have Lived" music video

2009-11-11T23:55:00.003Z

A short music video that I directed with my good friend Tee L for Laurier Tiernan and Prograde Records (Tokyo). It took much longer to complete than anticipated, the shoot alone took 9 hours thanks to bad weather. We hope you like it even though it's a little strange. Thanks for making all my ideas work Tee!

Knights Of The U.S.S Enterprise.

2009-10-13T22:41:00.003+01:00

Holly's Text The Nation.

2009-10-05T23:49:00.000+01:00

H.

2009-10-04T22:18:00.004+01:00

A year ago today our world turned upside down. In a GOOD way. Happy Birthday H. We love you more than words can say.

Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' ft Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed)

2009-09-30T23:18:00.002+01:00

Weird but cool.

Mr Dennett again . . .

2009-09-12T19:10:00.002+01:00

Just another chance to hear the wonderful Dan Dennett speak again. I had the chance to hear this talk earlier in the year in London.

Daniel Dennett - Breaking the Spell from Leslie A. Zukor on Vimeo.

Still here but busy ...

2009-09-09T18:51:00.004+01:00

That says it all really. I've just started a new job and it's eating up the hours. Plus my daughter's rapidly approaching 1 year of age so most of my weekends are spent chasing her around the house making sure she doesn't destroy anything.

Which she then destroys during the week.

Sigh ...

I'll update as soon as I can.

Or when they invent the 5 day weekend.

One more thing....

2009-08-16T01:16:00.004+01:00

One more thing before I go. I stumbled on the trailer for what looks like the most INSANE film ever.

I doubt I'll see it in the cinema (along with most people I suspect) but one evening I'll get the drinks in, load up on pizza and enjoy what will no doubt be an appalling bit of hokum!

I wonder why it's so quiet?

2009-08-15T12:56:00.007+01:00

Well... It's been quiet because my daughter's teething. Which means it's been anything but quiet for us.

She's developed this new scream that we've dubbed "The Velociraptor". She's now officially louder than "Disaster Area".

We're all off on holiday today! WooHoo! Two weeks in Devon to wind down and MAYBE get some reading done. I've been meaning to finish volume 3 of Stephen Donaldson's "The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" for yonks. Now's my chance.

In the meantime here's a short vid.

It was a lovely day last Sunday so we went for a walk in the local park. While we were there we saw this guy doing somersaults n' stuff. "Yay!" I thought, "Time to play around with the slo mo setting on my camera!"

HOLZILLA!!

2009-08-05T13:33:00.005+01:00

LOOK OUT! SHE'S ON THE LOOSE!!

Ghost Busters (1954) Trailer

2009-07-30T14:41:00.001+01:00

A good mate just sent me this.
It's a work of genius!

NTB Iconic Icons - Bob Dylan

2009-07-29T23:29:00.006+01:00

I've posted the new National Theatre of Brent's Iconic Icons episode in the NTOB section on the right hand side of the page.

It's the box at the bottom that looks like it's empty, it's not, just hit play or follow the divshare link. This weeks icon.... Bob Dylan.

The BBC website labels this as 1 of 3 episodes and also mentions that it's an occasional series. I'm guessing that means it's not on every week. I'll keep my eyes open for the next one.

SOEXCITEDSOEXCITEDSOEXCITED!!!!

2009-07-29T02:57:00.007+01:00

Just some more pics...

2009-07-27T01:20:00.004+01:00

The National Theatre of Brent's Iconic Icons!

2009-07-24T02:37:00.005+01:00

Iconic Icons Wed 29 Jul 2009 18:30 BBC Radio 4!

I was in the audience! It was a boiling hot day and VERY uncomfortable in the venue. The show was fab though! Very interesting to see a radio comedy recorded, it all seemed very low rent. I guess you don't really need that much, just a room with good acoustics and a couple of microphones!

Just some pics....

2009-07-21T20:56:00.010+01:00

Tunes I Like Right Now...New!

2009-07-20T23:19:00.003+01:00

I've cleared out all the old tracks from the "Tunes I Like Right Now" player and posted some new ones.

They are.....

Films - Gary Numan (you can never get enough of the Numanoid!)

An Ending (ascent) - Brian Eno

A Duck Is One Mean Machine - Cassetteboy

I Lived On The Moon - Kwoon

In For The Kill - La Roux (the 80's are back!)

The Front Fell Off!!

2009-07-16T23:27:00.001+01:00

Blimey.... I laughed and laughed. Monty Python would have been proud of this sketch.

That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic A&E

2009-07-14T20:45:00.011+01:00

Mitchell & Webb have really hit the ground running this season. This sketch sums up everything that winds me up about "Alternative Medicine". It's called "Alternative" because there's no, repeat NO evidence that it works. And yet it's huge business especially in the UK and U.S.A.

This sums up why I hate football....

2009-07-06T14:08:00.001+01:00

Funny cos it's true!

When the rock & roll nightmare comes, the devil's gonna make me eat my drums!

2009-07-06T12:19:00.013+01:00

They came, they saw, they went to 11. Spinal Tap played their 1 date World Tour at Wembley Arena on Tuesday night and my ears are still ringing!

I was impressed they didn't do any schtick, they just played an awesome gig and relied on the fact that the songs were strong enough (and funny enough) to stand on their own. So apart from dwarfs dancing around an inflatable Stonehenge the "jokes" were kept to a minimum, with just little bits of banter between songs.

I soon realised that these guys can really play! They sounded very assured and tight, making a noise that Metallica would envy. Chris.... sorry, Nigel Tufnel's guitar solo (though overlong) was masterful. Dave St Hubbins voice has lost none of it's power over the years and Derek Smalls proffered lukewarm support on base.

A wonderful night was had by all.

But there's more. During the first few songs official looking women with clipboards were roaming the arena. It transpired that they were looking for women to go up on stage and dance with the band during the song "Big Bottom". They picked my wife!!! Luckily people took along camera phones so the moment has been recorded for posterity. Or posterior.

If you know her, she makes her first appearance around the 1:47 mark.

Stonehenge!!

And just for the hell of it, the video for The Magesty Of Rock!

Tap were supported by The Folksmen. Brilliant!

Downloads

2009-07-06T00:16:00.002+01:00

The divshare downloads will be up and running again on the 8th of July. You all hit the download limit for the month!

The Baloney Detection Kit

2009-06-24T23:42:00.002+01:00

Hmmmm I want one. I wonder where they sell them?

Galactic Center

2009-06-22T13:03:00.004+01:00

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

How small do you feel now?

Christopher Hitchens

2009-06-22T12:39:00.004+01:00

Love him or hate him, Mr Hitchens is always fun to watch. I don't always agree with him (his views on Iraq for instance) but you can't say that he pulls his punches. He's ruthlessly honest about his opinions and happy to stand up for them. Enjoy.

Earthrise.

2009-06-15T11:12:00.003+01:00

JAXA and NHK videos from the high-definition television camera aboard the Kaguya Lunar orbiter.

Stunning.

Eyes . . .

2009-06-15T10:35:00.006+01:00

Nativity. . .

2009-06-12T15:45:00.006+01:00

I took this picture years ago. It's a nativity scene outside a department store in Madrid.
WTF? Flipper was present at the birth of Jesus?

How come SpongeBob SquarePants didn't get an invite?

Gold, Frankincense & Tuna.

Once

2009-06-12T13:56:00.006+01:00

It was a slow morning at work so I decided to bung my copy of "Once" into my laptop and leave it playing in the background.

I ended up watching it all the way through. I love this film.

I saw it for the first time last year. My sister-in-law had given it to me as a present and, I have to say, at the time I was a little disappointed (don't tell her that!). However, she's got excellent taste and I'd heard some great reviews, but I'd also heard the negative ones so approached it with caution.

It's a Marmite film. You will either love it or hate it.

It's, and I shudder to use the word, sweet. Really, really sweet. Not in a vomit inducing way, but a warm, fuzzy, sad, funny, uplifting kind of way. A really touching tale of two ships that pass in the night. It got labeled as a musical on it's release, it's not. The music is integral but it's not a musical in the "Chicago" sense.

The plot focuses on a busker with dreams of making it as a successful musician, he's also dealing with the breakup of a long term relationship. He meets a young Czech immigrant and together they realise that they share a love of music and are both in similar emotional situations. The actors wrote and performed the songs in the film and are so talented it makes me ill.

Give it a chance. Go on.

Schrödinger's cat.

2009-06-12T11:48:00.001+01:00

The Window Hope Has Opened . . . .

2009-06-05T00:09:00.003+01:00

then gets hit with the brick that rationalism threw and lands on the pavement that reality provided.

Daniel Dennett Lecture "A Darwinian Perspective on Religions: Past, Present and Future"

2009-06-04T23:05:00.008+01:00

Dan Dennett is a towering figure in the world of philosophy, this is a video of a lecture that I was lucky enough to attend a few months ago.

Richard Dawkins says in the introduction that he's the kind of philosopher that scientists like. That's because he's spent his entire career keeping pace with what the scientific community are doing.

It was a fantastic evening.

I highly recommend his book:

Voice Over . . .

2009-06-02T09:22:00.007+01:00

Last night I was up quite late finishing a Voice Over I've been doing for a video game. At least with all the advances in home studios I don't always have to travel up to London to do this sort of thing in a professional studio. A decent mixer and microphone and you can do it from home.

However..... This is an example of some of the dialogue.

"The purpose the game is to position the orange ball in the large circle so that it matches the one in the smaller circle.
This can be achieved by using your controls to click on any ball which is surrounded on all sides.
This action will cause the rotation of all the balls around the one that has been clicked to rotate anti-clockwise which will move the orange ball in the direction that is required"

Now... try reading it aloud so that it sounds interesting and makes sense.

It's not as easy as it looks! For some reason the phrase "This action will cause the rotation of all the balls" caused me to corpse repeatedly. In the end I got it done and mailed off the wav files to the client.

However, because it had taken me so long to get the above section right, and because I hated the way it was written, I included 1 extra file in the folder. I present it to you below.

New songs......

2009-06-02T00:48:00.007+01:00

I've added 3 new songs to the "Tunes I Like Right Now..." section.

In The Name Of Love by The Thompson Twins

Magic by Mick Smiley

Savin' The Day by Alessi

As you may have guessed these are all from the "Ghostbusters" soundtrack and are therefore brilliant. I'm getting all excited because the Blu Ray is out this month!

Who you gonna call?

Saturday morning ritual....

2009-06-01T15:50:00.003+01:00

The one thing I HAVE to do on Saturday mornings is have the radio tuned to BBC 6. Actually, the word radio is inaccurate as it's a digital channel that I get through my Sky box.

Saturday, BBC 6, 9:00am = Adam & Joe.

They've been sounding the horn for geeks like me for quite a while now and have had a small but loyal following since their TV show on C4 years ago.

Radio is a great fit for them. The music is usually great but you listen because you want to know what they thought of the new "Star Trek" movie and the like.

Nerd Nirvana.

Here's a video by one half of the team, Adam Buxton, that he made for the Spoon song "Don't make me a target." This wasn't the official video. But it should have been. Check out his YouTube channel here.

Snuff Box.

2009-06-01T01:19:00.003+01:00

A short clip from the very underrated TV show "Snuff Box" that starred Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher.

It was, and is, genius. Shame nobody tuned in.

Don't watch this if bad language offends you. Because you WILL be offended. When I saw this sketch for the first time I didn't stop laughing for twenty minutes.

Long weekend. . .

2009-05-31T22:52:00.014+01:00

It's been a long sunny weekend. Saturday was a loss to me as I was working, but today has been a wonderful day spent with my family and a few friends.

Beyond that I've been rejoicing in my new desk! Yes, I AM that sad.

We've spent what seems like years getting our basement done. Actually, that's because it DID take years. Our first builder (note the use of the word "first") didn't do anything for a year, so we gave him the boot.

But in the end we went from this......

To this....

A great little nook where I can put my ever increasing collection of books n' stuff.

Oh.... AND use it as an office.

The books now need alphabetising. I'll get around to it one day. The desk went in last weekend as the one we had before was in danger of collapse. I'm pretty sure that only good will was keeping it together.

On the way home from our friends house today I took some pictures of the river that runs past the bottom of our garden. Hmmmmm.... What a great day.