quality South African driving

hey everyone

well, here in Johannesburg we have some of the busiest roads in the world. in fact, i seem to recall, the highway i travel on each day is officially the "busiest highway or road in Africa". i am not sure who takes the time and trouble to work that out, but there you go.

anyway, other than the usual peak time traffic build ups, every now and then you get a motorist having a rather good idea. like, for instance, the driver of a "bendy bus" deciding that actually they want to go south instead of north, and having no problem with trying a u-turn.





needless to say, the bus got stuck, causing delays in both directions. nice one bus driver, well done. you can't really see in the pic, but what makes this all the more interesting is that the bus driver was no more than 100 meters away from an intersection with traffic lights, at which they could have turned right, followed the road around and rejoined in the direction they wished. go figure.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!! try and obey the rules of the road, they are normally there for good reason!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the biggest band in the world? perhaps not....

hey everyone

there's an episode of Men Behaving Badly called "Cardigan". in order to pretend that they are not getting old, Gary and Tony head off to a rave. the rave very much gets the better of them, and in the end you see the two of the huddled in front of the TV, asking "what's wrong with just staying in and having a nice cup of tea?". i believe, sadly or happily, that i am now at that stage of life, as spending a day in a field drinking too much to see Oasis has certainly got the better of me.


sorry to anyone hoping for a review of Snow Patrol or Panic! At The Disco from this years' Zero Coke Fest, i kind of dozed off and missed them. i was, however, awake in time for the self-proclaimed biggest band in the world, Oasis. well, they were the reason we went along to the day out anyway, so it's just as well Michele got me up for them!





and how ace it was to see them, too! Liam Gallagher is all that you have seen and heard of, an arrogant little so and so, who loves nothing more than just standing there, basking in the praise, hysteria and adulation. Noel, perhaps the real star of the band since it's all his work, is the one that smiles and chats to you. i am not at all sure, however, that his little snippets of conversation are as wise as they could be. telling a South African crowd that they "all sound like Australians" is up there with, with reference to Noel's world, doing a gig in Manchester and telling them they all sound like they're from Liverpool. yeah, bet he wouldn't do that in his home town, i dare say he wouldn't have done it here if he didn't have a large security presence around him. the "incident" where someone got on stage and had a go at him in Canada makes sense now, perhaps he decided they all sounded French or American....





as for the music, well, it was perfect. note perfect. and that's the problem, really. don't get me wrong, there was no miming involved, but Oasis live is Oasis doing a recital as if they were working from sheet music, not daring to variate from what one hears on a cd or album. i mean, we were all going mental, were "mad for it" to use their term and well into it at the time, but after the event there's a little bit of a hollow feeling. Liam might as well have just stood and stared for 90 minutes whilst Noel changed discs, really.

make no mistake, i am delighted to have seen them, they are a phenomenon and one of the few last interesting bands still interested in making music. it's a shame that they see gigs, going on my experience, as a requirement rather than a passion. i can't imagine many but the most ardent and dedicated fan goes to see them more than once, and this is a great shame. it's all very well them thinking they are the biggest in the world, but unless they start acting the part, it's never going to happen. yes, they are "better" than us in the sense that they are up there on stage doing their thing, but it's fans like us that put them there, spending a fortune on albums and tickets. a quick "good to see you", "how you doin'?" or "thanks for coming" in between the abusive comments directed at the crowd wouldn't have gone amiss. they really could do with going and seeing U2, Metallica, The Rolling Stones or any of the other actual biggest bands in the world to see how you treat the fans that made you the star you are.


ho hum, perhaps i am just getting old, but i don't see how at any age you're going to be thrilled with one of your idols hurling abuse.





musically, other than the methodical means by which they ran through the songs, there was some great offerings. a nice change was certainly a full-band Wonderwall with Liam singing it as he should; all too often this track is wasted on Noel's solo acoustic spot. Don't Look Back In Anger remains a firm fan favourite, with everyone singing along full heart despite Noel saying "look, we're really not a singalong band so please don't join in". for an encore, really just a final number, they revisited their sensational take on I Am The Walrus, a rare moment where some passion in their playing came to the fore.

perhaps the biggest surprise in the set was that they didn't do Live Forever. that's the one that put them on the map, and the one that the fans perhaps hold the fondest. erm, yeah, ok boys, i imagine you get tired of playing it, but think a U2 gig with nothing from The Joshua Tree, a Stones gig without Jumpin' Jack Flash or at leastSatisfaction, or a Metallica gig without Enter Sandman.

i really am sorry not to give them a perfect, ace review. i'm glad to have seen them, as now i can just get on with enjoying the albums and not worry about having to see them, if that makes sense. going on something like MTV Unplugged, as and when Noel goes it alone i imagine that will be a gig worth seeing. in the mean time, if you live in a part of the world where Oasis are unlikely to play, don't get too disappointed. if you are fortunate enough to be somewhere that you can see them, well, go for it, but don't let how they behave on stage ever distract from just how good the music on the albums is.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

post one thousand?

hey everyone


well, according to some sort of counter on the login page for this site, this would be post number 1000 for me! i am not going to sit and count them, i think i will rather just take their word for it.

thank you, then, to everyone who has visited this internetwebpage thingie of mine and has read so much as one post. it really is appreciated. to anyone insane or bored enough to have read every post i have made, i admire your resilience and willpower!

as one thousand is presumably some sort of landmark, allow me then to take another walk down memory lane with some pics i scanned today. kindly indulge a few tales here and there, and my apologies if any of them bore you!

i have taken the time to put these pics in chronological order this time, i think. let's start off, then, with a picture of me and my good friend Norman B*****d (or David Gutteridge, if you will) at the age of 13, sat at Headingley enjoying England teach, oddly, New Zealand a lesson whilst enjoying the sort of refreshments we probably shouldn't have been at age 13....





that was a grand day out, that was! a fine display by England, and for good measure someone had a blow up doll that was thrown around the ground. a number of our fellow schoolmates needed exactly what the blow up doll was, thanks to Norman's fine library of Scandinavian published educational pamphlets, we were well aware of what it was!

i do not honestly recall ever owning a pair of binoculars, i suspect i may have swiped them from someone at the ground. oh, and given his way, Norman would still, to this day, be wearing his Maverick Top Gun sunglasses.

skip forward three years and here's Norman and i heading to our last day at Nunthorpe School. it's at the threshold of summer 1989, and it must be on the way to school because by the end of the day our shirts were covered in all sorts of messages from each other.








this pic is unmistakably taken by "The Avvy shops" on The Avenue, Nunthorpe. i lived off somewhere down to the left of it. i don't recall Norman ever not wearing the jacket he has on in this pic, really.

Norman has been a dear friend for many a year, and if i am lucky, shall continue to be so for, well, as many years as we have on this planet, really. he probably won't be if i keep finding pictures like this and posting them here. and a special message for Norman to finish off if and when he reads this, "la....................."

still at the last day of us all being at Nunthorpe School, and here i am with what remains some of the most talented, gifted people i have ever been lucky enough to meet. if you can, for the moment, gaze away from the sixteen year old schoolgirls' legs (Norman yes, this is directly partially at you), from the left you have Justin Mills, Alex Adams (i think at least, sorry chap), Adrian McMahon, the irrepressible Steven Legget and of course your humble narrator.





i could go on about this bunch for a while, but will try to be controlled. Justin introduced me to some ace films (Evil Dead II being one) and class authors (Clive Barker, for instance). Alex had probably the first satellite dish in the whole of Middlesbrough (this was years before Sky), and introduced us all to the magic of MTV and shows like Sledge Hammer!. Adi McMahon is easily one of the funniest, wittiest people on the planet. as for Mr Legget, well, a gifted artist, a connoisseur of only the finest music and an all around interesting and outstanding individual. to know him is to love him, i guess. as for your humble narrator, no idea what my part in it all was or is - probably just to remember it all. which makes me a bit of a Bill Wyman character. moving on.....

....and indeed i lied about the chronological bit. here we are back in the glory year of 1987, up on a hill in the Lake District during one of the ace holidays we enjoyed at Bassenfell Manor, courtesy of our dear headmaster, Sir John Rowling. it should be straightforward enough to spot me, i am the only one in a Frankie Goes To Hollywood tour jumper.





i have nothing but great and fond memories of Bassenfell Manor. it was a great time with a great bunch of people. somewhere i have the tape of the gig of the band that Steven Legget, Adi McMahon and i formed (Bob, Bob & Vim in that order) and performed as there. with some luck one day it shall be "digitally remastered" and given as a gift of great music to the world.

jumping forward in time, and indeed to another continent, is a picture of me, Gillian and Richard on the day of my graduation ceremony for my first degree (yes, as in i have more than one, clever git, wasting life not using them, etc, etc). it will be, i think, in early 1997. or it might have been 1996. well, the degrees are in literature, not mathematics or calendar studies.....





Gran and Gramps were here for this graduation ceremony - somewhere i have a pic of Gramps dressed in my gown & mortar, giving my backside a right good caning! oh, and if i recall correctly, this is one of two occasions on which Richard has pinched a suit that my Dad intended to wear for a function involving me, the other being my wedding!

i do quite miss those chunky, NHS style glasses i have on in that picture. with them on and my head shaved i could usually do a very good impression of Adrian Edmondson in his Bottom days! for a closer look at those Morrissey-ish frames, here's a pic i found of me from my time in Cape Town!





this picture is probably from 1996, and is most likely one that should be before the graduation one, such is my grasp of these chronological matters. anyway, it shows me sat in my flat, sat at my beloved typewriter. i really, really miss sitting and writing at the typewriter. this writing on a computer business has always felt rather impersonal and cold, but i try my best. i would be pretty sure that my ace JVC stereo, currently being used at verk, is on here, with either The Stone Roses or Frankie Goes To Hollywood playing away.

ah, now, in terms of family suitability, maturity and good taste, i fear the tone of the pictures is about to drop considerably now, as i bring you some insights into the weekend of Rohan Smith's wedding in glamorous Felixstowe, 1998. here i am with the very wonderful one and only John "Boyley" O'Boyle





i haven't had much contact with either John O'Boyle or indeed the groom of the day, Mr Rohan Smith, since the wedding. quite a shame, really. well, the weekend did sort of turn from being Rohan's wedding and a get together into a 72 hour drinking binge (hence the hand gestures, always blame the alcohol) and wedding. Mr O'Boyle secured us access into Felixstowe's best and presumably only nightclub by introducing me as "the son of Brian Nash out of Frankie Goes To Hollywood". and my, was that worth it! the stories i could tell about the ladies in that club. that, erm, all the single chaps were interested in. i was single then too, but i was of course saving myself for my dear wife Michele. who will be reading this. and probably won't believe the last few bits.


the wedding itself was fascinating, too. not only did i manage to survive the ceremony thanks to a large quantity of water, showers and medication being pumped into me by a concerned chambermaid and my good friend Michael Llewellyn, but myself and Mr Llewellyn were rather impressed with the church that was selected for the ceremony, as the latest edition of their parish magazine featured an image of Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator on the cover.

and finally, speaking of that weekend and the modestly great Mr Michael Llewellyn.....





now then, Mike's look in the picture above is partly "[at the time] 16 years on and you still want us all to flick the V's at the camera, Lee?", partly "we've been on a diet of ale, vodka, croissants, headache tablets and hymns for the last 24 hours, where's this camera you want me to look at?". i think this particular drinking binge was only outdone a few years later in a legendary session at The Blueberry Grill in Kylamai, where i ran up a bar bill on Mike's business expenses that i believe is framed and hanging in an office in downtown Melbourne right now.

much like Norman, the last star would have to fall from the skies before i lost contact with Mike. he too has been an exceptional friend over the years, long may it continue.

anyway, thank you very much indeed for reading this and the previous 999 posts. i will have a go at doing another thousand or so, just hope that i can keep them entertaining and interesting. that's if they have been up to now!



be very excellent to each other, at least 1000 times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Art by James

hi everyone


well, James rather liked the sound of this "scanner" business, and was very keen indeed to pit some of his own artwork on the scanner so Daddy could press the buttons and make it appear on the computer monitor!

behold, then, for your viewing pleasure, the pictures he selected to share with you! this first one was, apparently, dedicated to me, but i see Mummy has added her name, too!





now, i am not certain that i have all these pictures all the right way around. it doesn't really matter, it's fun to watch him do these paintings anyway!





now, when i said that James had selected three pictures to put on the computer, that wasn't the most honest comment i have ever made. he had in fact decided that i was going to scan every picture that he had ever drawn or painted, i told him that he could only do 3!





well, hope you have enjoyed this exhibition of a very post-post-post-postmodernist aspiring artist!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holly Johnson

hey everyone

well, this really wasn't meant to be a post, i just wanted to put these pics up on the web for my friends at the Frankie Goes To Hollywood forum. happy reading, anyway!

first off, here's a letter from Wolfgang, Holly's partner, 20 years and 1 day ago from today!





and secondly, here's one of my most prized possessions, my signed copy of Holly Johnson's Blast CD!!





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all things workprint

OK, before you read any further, please note these two points :

* There are NO LINKS TO FILMS IN THIS POST OR ON THIS SITE. sorry, Google again.

* There are going to be *** BIG HUGE MASSIVE SPOILERS *** for a number of films in the words and pictures included here.

right, got that? on with the article which i am of a mind to write, then....

**********************************************************************

for those not in the know, and this would be difficult to be with the major film news story of the last week, a "workprint" is a rough, unfinished version of a film, assembled mostly to let the film maker see how his (or her) vision is looking and to see what still needs to be done and what needs to be removed before the "finished" version is released. there are many cases of these being seen as "better" that the final release version, as is or was the case with Alien 3 and the cause of much debate around American History X.

however, up until midnight on March 31 2009, the two most famous, or if you will infamous, workprints of movies known to exist were Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner. in the case of the latter, the only "bootleg" copy was off a video camera at the back of a cinema which happened to be showing it on one of the three occasions it had been seen in public. Ridley Scott was finally in a position to release this version on the magnificent 5 disc Blade Runner box set, but rather undermined the point of the workprint idea by cleaning up the print and editing the music before releasing it!

the legendary 5 odd hour workprint cut of Apocalypse Now remains the most infamous of them all. Francis Ford Coppola still denies it exists, no matter how many bootlegs surface of it. sadly, i've never been able to find one, but the screenshots below substantiate the fact that it is out there somewhere....








why on earth, even in the "ultimate dossier" version of Apocalypse Now, he insists on not letting the world see Scott Glenn's part in the film or Dennis Hopper's much fabled death scene is beyond me and most film fans. it would be great if he would make this footage legally available; failing that i guess the quest for this holy grail of bootlegs shall continue.

anyway, as of the time and date quoted above, the most famous / infamous workprint of a film was all of a sudden Wolverine or, if you will, X-Men Origins : Wolverine. as i am sure you are aware by now, somehow the workprint version of this film has leaked far and wide over the internet, a full month before the cinema release.

exactly how this happened remains a mystery. some say it was a disgruntled employee of the film maker, Fox. others, and this is rather bizarre to say the least, claim that it has been leaked as an "act of revenge" because Fox Films tried to disrupt the release of some other comic book film, Watchmen. the former is likely, the latter impossible, as it implies that the internet junkie geeks who were all excited about the dull three hours of Watchmen actually have enough of a life to go out and do something.

a third theory is that Fox have leaked this rough version of the film themselves in order to generate some publicity for a film that, for no apparent reason, was getting a bad word of mouth before anyone has seen it.

in that regard, it should go without saying that Fox Films are furious about the leak, threatening everyone and anyone with all sorts of things if they are in any way linked to this mysterious leak. if you leaked it or downloaded it, apparently the FBI will hunt you down, you will get a virus all over your PC, etc, etc. this is perfectly understandable, since they have invested many millions of dollars into this product, but by the same margin it's somewhat less understandable to see how Fox News could then run a review of this workprint, written by a regular journalist for them who made no secret of the fact that he had downloaded it.

the point of this post is not how justifiably angry Fox are, however. it's rather to look at the "workprint" concept, and ponder on whether or not this or any workprint are worth laying your eyes on. the short answer would be yes in general, no in the case of Wolverine.

let's go back to the two infamous workprints i mentioned. in the case of Blade Runner, the workprint was valuable as it was the intended vision of the film. the released version had slight changes which made a huge impact - a narration was added and a happy ending was tagged on it. the presence of the narration made it clear that Harrison Ford's character was a straightforward, human detective chasing down the replicants in the film. the workprint was ambiguous in this regard; there was a sense of doubt as to if Ford was just a human hunting or if he was too a replicant; seeking and destroying his own. the "director's cut", released in the early 90s, at last brought this vision to the screen. i would suggest that all fans of Blade Runner should try and see the workprint at some point, but in all fairness if one has seen the director's cut, you've seen the best version of it out there.

a very different story, of course, is the case of Apocalypse Now. this film must surely be seen as the one with the most controversial, soul destroying and demanding making of story behind it (do try and find Hearts Of Darkness : A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, it's brilliant), and so anything linked to the delivery of this Conrad epic is going to cause interest. if you have any interest in Apocalypse Now, well, i imagine the images above and the description of what footage still hasn't been seen in any official sense has got you wanting to look for it anyway. i've been looking for some 15 or so years now, and haven't had a sniff - hope you get better luck than me!


the workprint of Wolverine, however, is a different case. is it really worth spending hours downloading it, irrespective of how seriously you take the threats from Fox? my answer would be no, not really. and this has nothing to do with it being "illegal" or any great anti-piracy crusade.

whereas Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner were bold, ambiguous artistic statements of great merit, the whole intention of Wolverine would appear to be to entertain an audience for 90-odd minutes with a good dose of action and special effects. whereas there is reason and logic within wishing to see missing or alternative footage from the other two films, exactly what is there to gain from watching a special effects, science fiction fantasy film with the majority of the special effects apparently missing?

and the special effects are, apparently, not even "normal" effects. i haven't seen this leaked workprint, but NY MAG has, and have obtained some pictures of it to show the problem with watching this leaked version. as NY Mag ran these pictures, i can only assume there's no problem with me posting them here to prove this point. Behold, a film free of effects :













erm, yeah, does anyone really wish to sit and watch a version of this film with the footage looking like it does above? if you do, then rather get a copy of the script and a video camera and then make your own version, it would be the same difference. i can only imagine that Fox somehow "allowed" the above screenshots to prove how pointless this leaked version is.

one could argue that hopeful or potential filmmakers might have an interest in this version to help them learn their craft. that said, this is the DVD era, and films released on DVD are often so filled with extensive documentaries on how the film was made that it's difficult to understand how anyone could learn anything from this.

at best, this leaked version has to go down as a mild curiosity. it's along the lines of the alternate ending from something like Fatal Attraction, really - interesting, but not something one should really go out of their way for. with all the news and fuss of this leak, i dare say that the DVD release of the film later in this year will include the workprint, just for the added publicity.

my advice, then - buy the workprint of Blade Runner. (ahem) find the workprint of Apocalypse Now. ignore the workprint of Wolverine. if i am wrong and in 20 or so years time Wolverine is regarded as one of the greatest artistic endeavours of the 21st Century then i will post some sort of apology here. barring that, if a film is intended as being a special effects loaded bit of entertaining fun, one would then suggest that waiting until they have added the special effects might be a jolly good idea.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to show from where i came

hi everyone

well, as part of his trip, my Dad was able to go and see our good and dear friend Tony in Brisbane. Tony hasn't been too well of late; if you are reading this we all hope that you are feeling better, and certainly trust that my Dad popping in for a bit was a good and welcome surprise!

whilst in Brisbane, Dad decided to take his camera along and get some pictures of the two places we lived whilst living in this magnificent city. first up, then, was a drive along Dargie street to go and snap away at the beautiful house we lived in there.





this looks exactly like i remember it some 27 or so years later! although, truth be told, i don't remember there being two garages, but i am sure Dad would have mentioned it if one had only been built recently!

ah, now this next one is ace...





that swimming pool was ace! i remember that on one April 1 we decided to wake Dad up at 6am to tell him that it was on fire. he kind of staggered out of bed (in his pyjamas, of course), and looked at a pool that wasn't on fire whilst we stood their laughing. i also recall that Richard and i re-enacted the opening credits of the ace Aussie TV children show Boris The Bear around the pool. erm, this more or less just involved falling into the pool, but it was still fun! at least i think that was the name of the show - help, Richard & Gillian?

you may be pleased to know that Dad sought the permission of the current owner of this fine house before taking the pictures. this is a rather good thing, since that last one involved climbing on their perimeter wall to take!

sadly, no such permission was required to be granted when my Dad visited Springfield Crescent to take pics of our last home in Brisbane......





for some reason (my Dad didn't have that much time and thus couldn't really find any information) our old house, number 62, and the two that were either side of it, have been removed from the face of Brisbane! you can at least see the driveway (there's a pic somewhere on this site of us stood on it) and guess where the house was, but otherwise, nothing!





this is actually rather sad to look at, really. there's nothing but fond memories of our home there from me, and it's a shame that there is not another family there right now, enjoying a beautiful home in a fantastic area of the world.





oh well, what can i say? if by some miracle you are reading this and know why the three houses on Springfield Crescent were destroyed or demolished, please leave a comment!


right then, let me sift through the thousands of other pictures and see what i can find to post here! yes, Gillian, some will feature you lot! and sheep!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pyjamas on tour.....

hi everyone

well, a very warm welcome is due. two actually. first, welcome home Dad, glad to hear you had a good time away and delighted to see you home, even though they tried to lose some of your luggage! secondly, and perhaps most importantly for the enthusiasts of this site, it's a welcome back to this page of pictures of my Dad in his pyjamas...





as you can see, New Zealand offered my Dad the perfect platform to perform his preferred ways of relaxation, which these days seem to involve wearing an ace hat and having a nice cup of tea whilst hanging around in his pyjamas.

Gillian, Grant, Katie and Daniel were also kind enough to let Dad bother certain appliances in the kitchen whilst he was over there, much as he did in the Harland kitchen on his relatively recent trip to glorious Middlesbrough....





are there any more pictures of my Dad's trip to follow these? the answer, readers, is oh yes indeedy! today i was presented with a folder on his laptop that contained over 9 (nine) GB of pictures from his trip. Dad is wondering if that is "a lot". well, let me give you a clue, Dad - a DVD of Apocalypse Now or Where Eagles Dare, or any other 3 or so hour film you could name, would usually take up about 7 (seven) GB of space......


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!

Terminator Timelines explained....

....well, sort of





yeah, that makes sense now. for more, go and visit this site for a full rundown of all ten alternate timelines for this magnificent film series!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!

art in a time of laryngitis

hey everyone

well, not the best start to a weekend we have ever had! to start things off, those irrepressible retards at Johannesburg Water somehow managed to cut a major power cable whilst fixing (yet another) burst pipe, so we can look forward to a "random factor" being applied to electricity supplies this weekend. does anyone know the best place to get a few bucket loads of electricity to help tide us over?

on a far more serious note, James had developed a bit of a temperature over the last two days, which in turn served as a platform for a croaky voice and a bit of a cough. the doctor confirmed that the young Master has a bout of laryngitis. oh dear, that means a weekend at home with some treats and some Star Wars films.

James is becoming quite the committed artist, and he was not going to allow a bout of laryngitis stop him making an artistic statement whilst at the doctor today. behold, for James performed his art on the chalk board whilst waiting for the doctor.....





now, i appreciate that this is a little abstract, but James assures us that this is a picture of a Stormtrooper out of Star Wars. erm, when you look at it, yes, i suppose it is! i am not sure exactly what the heart on the helmet is for, but no great artistic masterpiece can ever be truly and fully understood i guess.

and, just so that you can see that being a little bit poorly isn't going to stop Master James being a happy young fellow, here's the artist stood proudly next to his work!





righty-ho, posts this weekend are dependent on me doing nursing duties (Michele is not too well either; no i do not wear a nurse outfit) and how Johannesburg Water get on with working out that water pipes invariably have water in them, and should thus leave any non-water carrying pipes alone.


be excellent to each other, unless you are stood next to a complete and utter doilham that is employed by a certain outfit mentioned above.

my mate Nassie and his interesting new look direction

hey everyone


well, i simply could not share this with you. my good friend Nassie, he of interesting conversation, exceptional stereo installation skills and "ambiguous" lifestyle choices, proudly unveiled his new hairstyle today. see what you think of it...





i am not certain that it will catch on, but who knows? Nassie sees himself a bit like "the Elton John of the Southern Hemisphere", so it may well become rather popular. at the moment we don't have a full name for the style, but calling it "the gay sumo" seems rather popular.





the important thing is that Nassie is very happy with this look indeed!





many thanks to Michelle for taking up valuable space on her phone camera thingie to help bring these pictures to an audience as wide as those who read this site!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Journal For Plague Lovers

hey everyone


well, after the somewhat disappointing Send Away The Tigers, let's hope that the upcoming Manics album is the kind of event it should be! the story behind it is certainly interesting enough!






Recorded in Rockfield studio in Wales with Steve Albini, all 13 songs on 'Journal For Plague Lovers' feature lyrics left to the band by Richey Edwards covering topics that include The Grande Odalisque by Ingres, Marlon Brando, Giant Haystacks, celebrity, consumerism and dysmorphia.

Tracklisting

1. Peeled Apples
2. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
3. Me and Stephen Hawking
4. This Joke Sport Severed
5. Journal For Plague Lovers
6. She Bathed Herself In A Bath Of Bleach
7. Facing Page: Top Left
8. Marlon J.D.
9. Doors Closing Slowly
10. All Is Vanity
11. Pretension/Repulsion
12. Virginia State Epileptic Colony
13. William’s Last Words



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Damned United

hey everyone

well, at last, something other than Terminator Salvation to get excited about at the cinema this year!

The Damned United will feature less intimidating cyborg robot things that Terminator Salvation presumably, but will feature someone considerably more scarier than any machine from the future - Brian Clough.





Brian Clough left behind a fantastic and large visual record - the amount of interviews and recordings of him could fill any library. it's brave of any film to try and capture the legend of the man, but i wish them luck. at least they are focusing on the most notorious 44 days of his career!

Dad, no i don't have it, it's only released on March 27. don't worry, i will be ordering it as soon as it's available!

for those of you unfamiliar with Cloughie, i suggest you google away, or seek out any book or documentary about the man!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

happy birthday Neeharika!

hey everyone

well, there have been quite a few birthday parties this month for James. not to put too fine a point on it, June is a rather cold month in our part of the world (do the math), and the season has just finished then!

anyway, moving along from your pondering of the above, on Saturday i took James along to Neeharkia's third birthday party. it was at the place we went to a party last year, i think it's called "Little Wonder" or something. whatever the name of the place, it really is great fun!

and didn't the birthday girl just look adorable? here's one of the few pics that i was able to take - sorry for the low quality, only had my phone to snap away with!





Neeharika is truly one of the most adorable children you could ever wish to meet. she has such an infectious smile and personality that you just can't but help smile yourself whenever you see her!

although she is a fragile, delicate little child in appearance, she's always keen to get into the rough and tumble of playing with James! for the most part she was kept away from playing too much, lest she make a mess of her elegant dress before pictures and what have you, but she was mostly having none of it and charged after James, Aryan and all the other play friends!

with a massive jungle gym, bouncy castle and lots of sand, James was of course in his element!





the above picture shows exactly how James manages to pick up little bumps and bruises on his way through life. he approaches most new toys and play areas with a sense of caution, but once he has done something once safely, he starts to work out how to inflict damage with them. trying to run down slides, or going down them backwards head first, is a perennial favourite!

the same would apply to climbing frames or jungle gyms too. he doesn't really fall off them as such, and thankfully he also doesn't get stuck in or on them like his Dad used to!




believe it or not, James didn't want to go across this next one at all, as his arms didn't reach to hold both sides. i showed him how to walk along it sideways and then there was no getting him off it!





well, we had a very busy and very fun afternoon! thank you very much indeed to Neeharika and her wonderful parents for the exceedingly generous hospitality and good time!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

memories can't wait

hey everyone

well, for those of you unsettled by seeing worrying images, you may wish to check out the fine album by Talking Heads that the title of this post is taken from instead of looking at these pictures!

for those of you brave enough to have a look, let me take you on a trip down memory lane! sorry, i suppose i should have put these in chronological order, but i am rather tired after a rather involved weekend and thus they appear here exactly how blogger decided to upload them!

first up, Christmas in Australia, i think 1982 but it could also have been 1981. not sure, i am sure someone in the family will correct me! i do remember it being rather strange having Christmas in summer!





aah, that was the life! Richard and i happily playing the greatest ever video game machine, the Atari 2600, whilst Dad gets busy making my ace Millennium Falcon for me! how James would have loved that one! note too the state of the art VHS machine on top of the big sized TV; having 3 (three!) videos back then was to be considered to be having a rather extensive library!


from the same Christmas is a picture Richard rather likes of him with an ace new bmx bike!





i rather like how all he felt he needed to go off riding was a pair of very 80's shorts and some gloves!

next up is Uncle Colin from his school days, heading home to the old School House!





he looks like a bit of a lad, as it were, in this picture, doesn't he? erm, Andrew and Christopher, if you are reading, Colin was always, always, always a very well behaved, modest and polite young man right throughout school, and of course you should follow suit! no doubt Colin has "Cliff Richard" written in big letters on that school bag!

back to Richard, and here we are at Scotta House farm celebrating his 3rd birthday!





on the left is the unmistakable baby Elizabeth sat on the knee of her Mummy, our dearly loved Aunt Susan. i suspect Susan was just coming to terms with her "liking" of Slade being a full blown addiction; a rather healthy one which prevails to today. to the right is my dear Mum making sure that baby Gillian doesn't fall over, and it looks like i am going to have a go at blowing the candles out for Richard whilst he is busy staring and smiling somewhere other than at the camera!

taking a leap forward, and here is a picture of me that i can say with certainty was taken on May 16 1990. it was our Dad's 40th birthday party. i was given the task of barman, which i did wearing my Alex out of A Clockwork Orange bowler hat from an earlier fancy dress party. whilst it was my job to serve drinks, as you can see Richard appeared to have taken on the task of drinking that which i served!





there's not a great deal of pics featuring me in the 90's for some reason. i do not recall, for a start, taking any for the three years i lived down in Cape Town. and we were far too busy studying / drinking to take any at college or University. ho hum!

back to the great 1980's, and here's me and Dad bombing down a waterslide somewhere in Portugal!





i think we were in Portugal in 1987, i must confess i do not recall the exact year. i do remember going to the cinema to see The Karate Kid Part II about four times whilst there, if that narrows the date down? i rather like the approach the water slide place took to safety - there's no way that parks these days would let two people go down at the same time, and i do fondly recall overtaking a lady on one of the slides!

now then, here's possibly the greatest picture ever take of me. it is, at the least, in the top ten!




no idea where or when this was. it looks like an airport going on the tell tale orange-yellow sign in the background, but whether it's too or from Malta or Portugal i couldn't say! i would hazard a guess at 85, and i was clearly dressed, set and ready to go if Michael Mann decided that Don Johnson wasn't doing the business in Miami Vice and felt that i could make the show better!

this one is easy enough to place - Oxford, 1986. we watched a certain event being held in Mexico on a black and white tv on the canal barrage (boat?), and i picked up Madonna's True Blue album - on fancy, la-dee-daah cassette - at one of the stops as we navigated the canals.





here you can see me and Richard opening up one of the many locks, lochs, waterways, keys, keyes or whatever the correct term may be for getting the boat from one part of the canal to another! i do recall this holiday being tremendous fun. i remember Mum kept a "captain's log" type journal on the holiday, i wonder whereabouts it is?

backwards in time, but forwards to Rhyl, Wales! erm, "between 78 - 80" would be the best answer i can give you as to when this pic is from. that estimate is based partly on Gillian being in the picture, but mostly on the ace Star Wars shirts we were wearing!





the majority of memories prior to us moving to Australia in 1981 are sketchy at best. i don't think it's Australia's fault, and i certainly don't have any bad memories of Rhyl! as it was by the coast, i shall wager there was an arcade there somewhere that Richard and your humble narrator wished to go and play at all the time!

now, here's an absolute gem of a picture of Richard, Gillian and me!





looking at Gillian, i would have to guess that this is mid-to-late 1977, possibly around the time that The King went into his rather extensive time of hiding. is it me, or does Richard have something of a cheeky Rod Stewart look in this picture?

now then, for years i have believed that the below picture was of me in Spain in 1974. i do remember my Dad telling me that it was not in Spain, but i do not recall exactly where he said it was taken! i do hope that i have remembered that it is indeed me, it doesn't really look like Richard!





no matter when or where the picture was taken, you have to admit i looked rather dapper in that gown and improvised hat!

now then, Dad does get rather quizzical when i do a picture update and he doesn't feature as much as he could in it. well, then, as the final picture, let me hand you over to a very class picture of my Dad at his stylish best!





it is little wonder that my Dad often gains more respect and admiration amongst my friends than i do if he can look as cool as this! my good friend John "Payney" Payne recently commented that he looks like he should have been managing the king of bands Cream in this picture. i disagree - he looks like he should have been in Cream!!

the pic is taken in the courtyard of Scotta House Farm, and that car probably took my Dad, my Mum and various chums to go and see the likes of the Stones, Hendrix, The Who, Cream and just about any other band from the 60's you can name. the only band my Dad said he never saw that he wished he had was The Beatles; that pretty much tells you he saw many of the great groups around in the days when music still mattered!


right then, i think that will do for now! i have a few more pics here that i might add at a later stage, and Mum & Dad have thousands more that i hope to get the chance to scan and preserve eventually!!!

hope you have had as much fun with these pics as i have!!!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!