franz reichelt jumps off the eiffel tower

It's always good to have the courage of your convictions, but sometimes it can all go a bit pear shaped.
This is Franz Reichelt, a man who invented a new form of parachute that could be worn as a jacket.  To demonstrate how it would work, in 1912 he jumped off the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Sadly for him, the parachute/jacket combination must have come from the same Acme Corporation store that Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons uses, and he plummeted to his death.
He might have been barmy to leap off the tower in the first place, but that still took a hell of a lot of courage.
The video of the jump is below, and you will see him hesitating before jumping, with, as it turned out, good reason.

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scaring parents with adverts

A great marketing idea!  Scare the crap out of parents to make them buy your product.

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the lads from catterick

Various lads from the Colburn and Catterick Garrison area back in the day.  Not all of them are alive now, and there are some seriously bad fashions on display, but Coley looks cool rocking his long haired Shaun Ryder look.
They were the days.....van trips to festivals and gigs, drugs, drink and girls a plenty, Manchester United were just about to dominate English football, and The Scorpion (The Walkie) was still open.
These were a generation below me, but we certainly had some good times together.

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charles dickens looks old

I know that people used to dress differently in the old days, and therefore looked older, but come on!!
This is the late and great Charles Dickens, a man known to everybody due to his classic books.
Like lots of other famous men over the years, he ditched his wife (that bore him 10 children) for an 18 year old girl, even though he looked like the above picture. Fame and fortune go a long way.
Sadly though, there is no holding back age, and when he died, Dickens was 58 years old.
I'll repeat that.
He was 58.
Now look at the picture again - he looks about 70 or 80.
Suddenly, the image staring back at me in my mirror doesn't seem so bad after all.

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a dinosaur in the shopping centre

This looks fantastic, but would have been a whole lot better if the controllers legs had been covered up.  As l've stated before, the little things like that make all the difference.
Still excellent though.

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the dandy warhols artwork and spanish elvis

I always think if you are going to do something like be in a band, you should do it properly and take care of the minor details, as it enhances your appeal and attraction.  As a case in point, l will refer you to The Dandy Warhols, who's artwork and media presentation has been paid loving attention to, with superb results.



Also, I recently saw a Spanish Elvis Presley impersonator in Menorca, and was disappointed straight away, as he never came on to Elvis' theme music ( 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' ) and didn't do the old 'Elvis has now left the building' routine at the end.  Little things like that matter. Especially to me.
The clip below is the real Elvis, complete with the opening theme. Spanish Elvis was not the same.



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charles saatchi and the nigella lawson row

Charles Saatchi has apparently said today that his argument and throat grabbing with Nigella Lawson that was in the Sunday People yesterday was a playful tiff.  What a lying, full of crap bastard.
The camera can lie, but if he is prepared to treat her like that in public, leaving her in an obviously distressed state afterwards, and then deny it, rather than accepting responsibility and issuing an grovelling apology, what is he prepared to act like when they are alone at home together.
Sadly, l wouldn't be at all surprised if she defends him and stays with him, only to admit to the abusiveness when they eventually split up. She has admitted in the past  that he has a bad temper, and she goes quiet when he 'explodes', but even a multi millionaire can't act like a twat forever and get away with it without some kind of comeback, even if it is only in the form of bad publicity.

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the yellow duck sinks in liverpool

No doubt there will be calls for these tours to be banned after the Yellow Duck went down in Liverpool yesterday, but part of the attraction of these tours is the danger involved, and doing something that is exciting and different from everyday humdrum experiences.  Obviously the tours have to be safe, and the vehicles maintained, checked and serviced, but there have been numerous tours of this kind, in Liverpool, on the Thames and elsewhere,  with no fatalities (as far as l know).   There is always going to be some risk, but to ban them completely would be foolish.  There are plenty of other activities that involve risk which aren't banned, and as long as people want to do this kind of activity, they should be allowed to.  However, why they don't have easily accessible life jackets on the roof, plus some kind of external buoyancy to prevent this from happening, beats me.

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the red bastard

I thought my brother lived in Leeds.
One of the most surreal comedians l have ever seen - the  wild and wacky Eric Davis as Red Bastard.  Only in America at the moment, but l will be keeping an eye out in case he tours the UK, as it would be great to see him in a small club. His website is here.
Comedy gold.

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stormin' norman whiteside photograph from the arc

It's only taken me since July of last year to work out how to get the Norman Whiteside photograph off my mobile and onto the computer, but here it (and he) is.  From the excellent 'gentlemens' night at the Arc.
It's about time Hammy got off his arse and arranged another one.

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the bloody grass and the lawnmower

The downside of having a decent garden is having to cut the grass, especially the first cut of the summer.  I actually did this a few weeks ago (and cut the vines from the rabbit run), but the next time l went to cut the grass, the petrol lawnmower started spluttering  a bit, so l put in some oil.  Maybe the wrong oil, maybe too much oil.  Either way, it then stopped working, despite the vigorous and prolonged curses and kickings l administered (the vicious bastard, it's always had it in for me).  I have tried getting the oil out and also had a mate looking at it, but to no avail.  Since my return from Menorca though, l have dropped it off in the hands of Stan the Man, the lawnmower repairer extraordinaire.  He asked me to phone him today to see how he was getting on with it, and he said he has had it up and running, repaired the leaks, got rid of the oil and water, and l should be able to collect it on Tuesday.  Hurrah!!
The bad side of that is, l will then have to crack on with the garden again.

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get lucky - daft punk (the peter serafinowicz video)

Still my favourite video of Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky'.
There's not a lot of stuff by Peter Serafinowicz that l like, as he always comes across as too smug and self satisfied to me (although he may well be an incredibly nice guy), but the video for this is spot on.  Arched and subtle.

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miami university's underwater photography competition winner

This is the photograph that has won the 2013 Underwater Photography Competition at the University of Miami.  Taken by Kyle McBuurnie.
It's not bad, not bad at all (and rather spooky looking).

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the rolling stones rehearsal sheets

The Rolling Stones sure know how to do things in style.  These are a couple of rehearsal sheets for the current tour, which l got from Ronnie Wood's twitter feed.  I don't know if all the sheets are the same design, or these have been adapted by Ronnie himself, but l like them, and it's the sort of crap l would frame and stick on the wall.
It's a shame the band sound crap most of the time nowadays.

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I'm back!! (again) - this time from menorca

Well, at long last, l'm back again.  It's been a strange old time and l have just returned from Menorca (through work), but should be back in sunny Catterick until at least September, so the blog is now back on.
I'm really brown, I've now got two cars, and l have seen the Spanish Elvis (who was so bad, it was excellent).  Stone me - what a life.

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2nd line jazz - the roots of rock and roll

The birth of Rock and Roll - Second Line, the precursor to Rock around the Clock and many others.

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a pretty big gob

Now that is what l call a big gob.
From here

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give a fuck o meter

Something l can relate to and something else for a t shirt

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the helicopter fan

A genius idea

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some very drunk people

Glad to know l'm not alone in falling over.
From here

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more spiders from hell

Both of these are so, so wrong, and freak me out, although l will admit they are both clever, especially the hairstyle.
As if l haven't got enough to worry about without the fear of encountering spider type creations like these when l least expect it.
Both pictures are from here.

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andrew collins on the government cuts

There's a great article by Andrew Collins about the governments cutback programmes that l have just read (full article is here), and as he can express himself a lot better than l can, l thought l would repeat some of it, as he echos my views 100%.

Attacks on benefit claimants, the poor, the out of work, the disabled, the sick, are easy to tot up as net gains. But – and here’s where every single one of these cuts affects us all, even people who live in gated communities and have second homes in the country – I don’t personally want to live in a society where the worst-off are treated with corner-cutting contempt. This is the seventh richest nation in the world. In the world. And yet a report commissioned by the TUC predicted that by 2015, almost 7.1m of the nation’s 13m youngsters will be in “homes with incomes judged to be less than the minimum necessary for a decent standard of living”

 Either you believe in society or you do not. Either you link the experience of the poor to the experience of everybody else, or you do not. If you do not live in one of the 3.7 million low-income households whose council tax benefit is cut as of today, then you do indeed seem to be alright, Jack. And if you can step back from the bigger picture – from “breadline Britain” as it’s been branded – and still not care, as it doesn’t affect you directly, then you are a better person than I am. 

This government is run by people who do not think about or care about how other people are getting on. They truly believe, as if it were a religious creed, that if you fall by the wayside, it’s your own, lazy fault. If you’re not an “entrepreneur”, if you don’t do three jobs, if you haven’t saved, then you’re a shirker, or a sponger, or a waste of space. If you agree with this creed, sleep well. If you don’t, then you’re alright by me, Jack.

maurice williamson on gay mariage

A great speech here by Maurice Williamson, the New Zealand member of parliament, giving his views on gay marriage (which they have just legalised).   I'm not so keen on him being a member of The National Party, but his views on the gay marriage debate are more than liberated.

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piff the magic dragon on penn and teller

Not the greatest trick, but the guy in the dragon outfit has a natural talent for comedy.  Very funny and dry.

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richie havens is dead

I have just got up and discovered that Richie Havens has died.  Always best known for his Freedom / Motherless Child appearance at Woodstock in 1969 (thanxs to the film), the last time l heard him was during Django Unchained in the above clip (which sounded magnificent with cinema sound).
The Woodstock appearance is below.
By all accounts a lovely man with time for everybody, he had a great raspy voice, and man, he could sure thumb a guitar.
The flower power generation is dying off brothers and sisters - make the most of it while you can.



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