last day off before work .. spring is here...

The remaining idiot rabbit in the garden yesterday

The remaining idiot of a cat

The food for Ken's (sick boys) birthday at Stockton

The back of Dazzer's pants - they look a bit suspicious

Rather sadly, this is my last day off before heading back into work tomorrow, no doubt to a shed load of work and problems to be solved.

I have been off since last Tuesday afternoon (last Wednesday was my first day off), and it seems like ages ago, although (of course) it also seems to have flown by and l now have work entering my tiny little mind again.

Myself and the FPO have been out and about (to visit the family for a birthday do, off to watch a post grunge band at JT's, round Richmond castle etc), but most of the time we have been at home relaxing and generally chilling out.

She was back to work on Tuesday, so l have had some time by myself to read, play music, watch TV and doss about (the usual stuff).

I have managed to cut the bloody grass again (two bin fulls packed tight), but no decorating has been done (what a surprise!).

It's my last night of freedom tonight before the toil continues, but at least l have just had a phone call to meet old Joe down the pub at 4.45pm, so l suppose that will top off the holiday (to go with Manchester United's reserves beating Shalke 04 last night).

Ah well, forget about tomorrow and enjoy the rest of today while l can. The sun is shining, the weather is sweet (but windy).

As Tom Lahrer would say..

Spring is here, a-suh-puh-ring is here.

Life is skittles and life is beer.

I think the loveliest time of the year

Is the spring! I do - Don't you? 'Course you do.

but there's one thing that makes spring complete for me

and makes every Sunday a treat for me

All the world seems in tune

On a spring afternoon

When we're poisoning pigeons in the park

toodle pip.

the queens hall in leeds

This place was a right fucking dump. The walls and ceiling used to drip with condensation and the floor was always wet (which ruined your shoes/boots or trainers). The floor was also solid concrete and there were pillars that obstructed the view of the band if you were unlucky enough to be in shoved into the wrong place (it was standing room only).

It is now a car park which is meant to be getting developed, but keeps getting put off.

You would think l would have no problem with this place closing, but it was one of the few places (back in the day) near Catterick that had famous bands on and was easily accessible, as it was straight down the A1.

I never saw The Rolling Stones there (unfortunately), but l did see Adam and the Ants, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, Rainbow and Culture Club amongst many others.

Another good thing about the venue was you could sneak in or pay the guys on the door to let you in, so most of the shows l went to l never bothered getting a ticket to in advance. Those where the days my friends...

I can't remember what concert it was, but l travelled down one evening to see a band and there was a note on the door saying it had been cancelled (luckily l had not spent money in advance on a ticket). I then went to the pictures in Leeds to see the new Dirty Harry film, which l think was Sudden Impact. Not as good as the band would have been but at least l got something out of the trip.

Used to spend ages cleaning my footwear when l got home though.

toodle pip

osama bin laden - operation geronimo

The operation to capture/kill (depending on your viewpoint - mine is further down) was named Geronimo. This is all to do with the USA's love of the wild west and limited history. Identifying an operation like this helps to drive some kind of wedge between the good guys/bad guys cowboys/indians. They want to be carefull about that kind of talk. The above is a picture of Geronimo from 1887, a very angry man, and with good reason. The Indians when l was growing up were the baddies, now they have (pretty much) world-wide sympathy for the way their way of life and land was decimated. The USA should ensure history does not repeat itself.

As the rather fabulous Aswad said...

"Without a knowledge of history, you're like a vegetable in this society"

toodle pip

the fforde grene in leeds harehills

Another great venue for seeing bands in Leeds. Many was the evening when l used to hitch-hike from Catterick to see up and coming bands there (Def Leppard being one). They also used to have on people from larger bands that had split up (Alex Harvey/Ian Gillan). It was also a handy stopping off point before going to see bands at Roundhay park (U2,Springsteen,Madonna etc). It was known as a bit of a dodgy pub, but l never experienced any trouble in there, but l suppose l was one of the people that may be considered dodgy. After a few too many drug raids, it closed down and is now a supermarket. The area it is in is really multicultural with loads of food shops (known as the curry mile), and the supermarket itself is meant to be really good, selling all kinds of foodstuffs, which l have no problem with. It's just a shame the pub had to close for it to exist. Now does anybody want a Dedringer 'Sunday drivers' single l had autographed by the band in there? No? DAMN!!

toodle pip

closing down of pubs - the duchess in leeds

Starting this off with some Leeds venues. I used to go to the Duchess in Leeds quite often when l where but a lad. It was a great little pub by the centre of town that had some great acts on in their early days (Oasis and Nirvana to name two). Now it's a bloody clothes shop. It makes me SOOOOOOOOOOOO ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

toodle pip

the hottest chilli on earth

I have just been reading about the bhut jolokia, the hottest chilli on earth. It is 1,041,427 on the Scoville Heat Unit scale, more than double the score of the previous world record-holder (the red savina habanero). That means it is 200 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. And yet, when you bite into a bhut jolokia, there is no pain at first, only a smoky flavour with an intense, apple-like sweetness. Then, after about 20 seconds, all hell breaks loose. Sounds great.

I will have to put some of that into someones pizza if l ever get around to going to India.

toodle pip

recycling time after the bank holiday

The bin men come around today for the recycling bottles. They will be in luck at our house. You can tell it's been a Bank holiday weekend.

toodle pip

some photographs of the milky way galaxy

Who are we? Why are we here? What's the point?

It's a good job l am enjoying it, or someone would be getting a stern letter of complaint.

A very small part of the Universe in the night sky

toodle pip

some amazing sand sculptures

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more bob gruen photography

" Great rock photography is about capturing the attitude " Bob Gruen

toodle pip

bob gruen photography

There was a great programme on Sky Arts about Bob Gruen, which made me so very jealous of the man. I was caught up with the rock and roll mythology and music, especially from the early 1960's to the present, and Bob Gruen was pretty much there to capture a load of the stuff l loved (and still do) with his photographs.

He has loads of iconic ones, such as John Lennon in a New York City t-shirt, but one of my favourites is the shot he took of Tina Turner with a one second delay. That one really captures the energy and passion of a great show.

He admits himself that he is not that great at capturing the moment in focus, but he was more concerned with the spark that sometimes shows itself, after all, who cares about being too precise if the energy and enthusiasm is there. He also had a cool looking apartment/workplace, with a wall of CD's.

I should have tried photography when l was younger, because l certainly can't write, sing, or play anything, and it may have granted me access to all the rock and roll shenanigans that went on. Mind you, with that kind of involvement,l would have been dead by now.

http://www.bobgruen.com/

toodle pip

obamas speech in full

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osama bin laden dead

So, Osama Bin Laden has been found, killed, identified and then buried at sea. I can understand the USA not wanting his grave to become some kind of terrorist shrine, but l have a lot of reservations about all of this.

It seems as though the Pakistani government knew he was hiding in Pakistan, and would have probably advised him to move again if the USA told then they were going to attack. But it is only going to add to the dislike of the States that they have gone into a foreign country , killed a foreign suspect (what happened to innocent before being proved guilty ) and then taken away the body to dispose of. This smacks of American imperialism and will only fuel further terrorist activity, create more martyrs and conspiracy theories about whether it was actually him they killed, whether they actually disposed of the body or have it stored somewhere, whether the money recently given to Pakistan was so they could kill Osama etc etc.

It also does not look too good to the rest of the world when images of USA show the gleeful crowd chanting "USA, USA!" and celebrating, although l do understand that it will be a form of closure for people involved with 9/11.

This is not going to end well.

‎"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
--Martin Luther King, Jr

toodle pip

some cool optical illusions

Pass the drugs maaaaan

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those crazy japanese part 583

The crazy marshmallows game - who thinks of all of this stuff?

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me (the blonde god) at richmond castle today

All the info is in the title

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vintage trouble - blues hand me down on later with jools holland

By jimminy, these were great. One of the moments when you think 'YEEEESSSSS!!!!!! -GET IN MY SON!!!'

toodle pip

avatar

I must be one of the last people left who had not seen Avatar, but l rectified that anomaly a couple of days ago. l had been putting it off as it was just soooo long, and it turned out that it was too long for my liking. l feel as though a lot of it was padded out just to show off the 3D effects in the cinema, and l do regret not going to see it at the cinema in all it's 3D glory, but even so. At one stage, l thought it was about to finish, checked the Sky+ box and discovered there was still an hour left. DAMN!!!!!!!

Otherwise, it was OK, but too obvious from the start. It came as no surprise that the avatar decided to fight for the forest people, fall in love, gain acceptance, fight the baddie military man in his robotic fighting suit etc. I also disliked the robotic fighting suit at the end , as it reminded me of the one at the end of District 9 (and l thought that spoiled the end of that film). If l want to watch large robotic fights, l will go and watch something like Transformers, but l am not twelve and a half (despite all evidence to the contrary)

Still, glad l have eventually seen it so l can now participate when other people rave on about it, even if it is only to argue with them and slag it off.

toodle pip

movie poster trends - write over the picture

I guess this is now fashionable and trend setting in the world of movie promotion. Yawn.

toodle pip

let the right one in (2008)

This was a pretty decent film, even if it did contain young kids and vampires (never mix the two). It is a Swedish film from 2008 by Tomas Alfredson. Based on the book of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist. It is slow moving, pretty dark, and also has subtitles, so it's A1 in my like list.

A young boy being bullied in school inadvertently befriends a vampire who has moved in the adjoining apartment to his own. Bloodshed occurs, but it is not too horrific, just a bit strange, which also appealed to me. I suppose l should give the FPO some credit for ordering it, it makes a change when l like one of her horror films, she normally watches crap or cookery programmes.

toodle pip

wanted film (2008)

This is a shoot em up superhero kind of film that was recommended to me by someone (hello Karen) at work. The FPO watched it and thought it was great, so watched it again with me when l eventually got round to it last night. l did enjoy it, but l was not that bothered about it really. In fact when l did watch it, l remembered some parts from when l must have been flicking through TV channels at some time, but it obviously did not capture my imagination or attention enough to keep watching at the time.

It is loosely based on the comics by Mark Millar, and it stars James McAvoy as the trainee killer, and Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman as his trainers. It was to do with revenging a fathers death and learning how to bend bullets around objects, but l won't give the plot away. OK to watch, but l would rather see something else.

toodle pip

sir bobby charlton and united busby babes documentaries

I have had a great week of watching the footie while off work, and also having the pleasure of watching these two documentaries on Manchester United, the Munich air disaster, and Sir Bobby Charlton.

The United Busby Babes documentary focused on Bobby Charlton and Jimmy Murphy, played by Jack O'Connell and David Tennant. I thought there were the odd innacuracies during it, such as how far out of the aeroplane the aircraft chair contaning Bobby Charlton was, but the main thing that bugged me was Sir Matt Busby (played by Dougray Scott) coming across like a Scottish gangster, losing most of his warmth.

The Sir Bobby Charlton documenmtary that was shown tonight was really good, it was emotional with him talking about Munich and Duncan Edwards, but Sir Alex Ferguson and Franz Beckenbauer both said Bobby was the best player in the world at one time (1966 ish).

This was all topped off with the great win against Shalke 04 - what a superb week (although it certainly helps when l am not at work).

toodle pip

david bowie on lift off with ayshea 1972

And as a follow on to the last photo, here's Bowie on Lift Off With Ayshea, a weekly programme starring Ayshea Brough that featured current hits (l remember seeing The Rolling Stones doing 'It's Only Rock and Roll' on it when l where but a nipper). Bowie is performing Starman (not the Whistle Test clip usually shown) when this photo was taken and stardom was directly in front of him.

Happy days.

toodle pip

david bowie at an los angeles party 1971

This is when he was still trying to make it after slogging away for years. Then lo and behold, the next year he was a massive star with the Ziggy look. Then it was a roller coaster ride to cocaine oblivion (before getting better).

toodle pip

amazing spider-man new franchise film

I have been on a site tonight where they have been discussing the new Thor film, and Marvel Comics films in general (I know, l am a sad git).

One of the many things that bugs me about the first Spider-man film is the fact Gwen Stacy does not get killed by the Green Goblin, like she does in the comic books 121 and 122, two of the greatest comics known to man (OK, l am very sad and l will get my coat in a minute).

According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Spider-Man_(2012_film), there is a new film about to come out which will re-boot the franchise, with a different Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson etc. I am really looking forward to this as l am hoping it will be done properly, and as a bonus, it will be in 3D. Hurrah!! Fetch my 3D glasses!!! (and I will get my coat now)

toodle pip

messi does it again real madrid 0 barcelona 2

What a second goal that was. I have been saying it for a long time, Messi is easily the best player in the world. Ronaldo is great, but Messi is a genius with that football at his feet. Unless there are some major fuck ups, it looks like it's going to be a Manchester United v Barcelona final again. This will be the second time in three years and they both lost in the semi finals last year - what a record.

thelma and loise

Take a look at the sight that was outside my front door on Sunday night - Thelma and Louise. No wonder l have issues.

toodle pip