obligatory we had some snow post

greetings

pretty much does what it says on the box, this post does. or states in the title, look you see, for those keen to be specific and note no box is involved here. we, as in the UK (not that i speak on behalf of the nation), had some snow this january (2026). such would be "the norm" or expected, yet of course it does take one or two by surprise. like, for example, how the Post Office / Royal Mail (split into two so one can simply blame the other when things go wrong) get a shock when christmas rolls around and all of a sudden lots of people use their services to send cards. 

we, as in here in the (somewhat lower reaches of) the north east, didn't get all that much snow. certainly not compared to other areas, and at least not so (or "thus") far. as would be standard Scotland got quite battered, and somewhat unusually down south took a pasting. in terms of the latter normally the higher level of humidity there (i think) means that they generally don't get as much as we do. but, still the snow came and still, thus (or "so) far, we have survived it. 

many things that would be usual (or the standard) happened with the imminent arrival of snow. by that i do of course mean that the press (or what remains of it) went ape, having a brain melt, all in anticipation of it. reports were that temperatures would fall to around minus one thousand of whatever measurement you care to use, that the country would be destroyed by the snow and we could all, with some confidence, expect to be dead. once this (decidedly) did not happen they of course just casually moved on to stories about Americans shooting each other, Americans having ambitions (or designs) to invade some place i am quietly confident most cannot find on a map and people in Iran (country, not the song off of A Flock Of Seagulls) being quite cross about something or other. 

indeed i have probably put far too many images and videos (yes, we have a video) on here for this post, so expect waffle and what have you around them. still, this might be interesting for people that for whatever reason quite like looking at pictures of snow. certainly it is, even if just a light sprinkling of the stuff, better to experience it as something to look at rather than live with. 

the above image, which isn't all that bad compared to the usual quality i opt to share, was taken on my usual strolls from the village train station to go and see the boys. which means yes, despite the easiest of excuses for them not to actually run the trains actually ran at a time of not perfect weather conditions. well done you, train people, for just doing the job you exist to do and get paid a lot to every now and then actually do. glad, of course, that they did. 

effort was made (as you can see in the picture) to clear the road, so that cars would have a reasonable chance of being driven safely. not so the footpath, as i have every confidence that you can see. the paths not being cleared has become "a bit of an issue" for some, especially near my lodgings in this era of exile, with complaints being posted all over social media stuff. apparently, in terms of responses to this, it is so that councils "would like" to clear paths too, but "cannot" due to how doing such would somehow make them "legally liable" if someone fell and hurt themselves on paths they had cleared. oh. well, would they not be liable for such anyway? 

usual disclaimer for the above video, then, in as far as smoking is quite bad for you and you should not smoke, or if you do you should seek to quit. fascinating how society has been quietly conditioned over the last quarter of a century to believe the cigarettes are the cause of all flaws and folly in the world. anyway, no i was not going to include this video, showing as it does my plight in trying to have a cigarette (sorry) in the snow. however, my brother was quite taken by how a snowflake (actual, and not a reference to someone overtly sensitive) landed on the lens as i filmed. if for some reason you actively seek out videos of snowflakes landing on lenses unexpectedly, you are very welcome. 

from a train that actually ran during the snow is, of course, the answer to where that image above was taken from. if you were inclined to ask. quite a famous, celebrated or well known landmark that is, or for the sake of google and other search engines Roseberry Topping. certainly not a bad picture, that, but i dare say many others will have flocked to the place with tripods and much more better cameras to go and take a million pictures. 

one thing that has always kind of puzzled me is how come photographers, be it of a professional (as in they do it for a living) or keen amateur status, always insist on having themselves holding a camera up on profile pictures for social media accounts. i cannot think of any other profession where one insists on including the tools of their trade in their "avatar" or what have you. were i to hold up items relating to what i consider to be my hobbies on such social media profiles i wouldn't be at all surprised if i ended up getting banned off of most of them. yes, other things puzzle me too. 

a bit more video above, and indeed what might be of interest to some. consider it a kind of "reward" for making it this far into this particular post. for clarification, yes, that is the River Tees (reasonably close to my lodgings in this era of exile) and it is very much frozen over. likely not "deeply" or otherwise substantially frozen over, but frozen over all the same. 

the point of interest, or if you will focus, of the above is of course the plight of swans in their all of a sudden now frozen natural environment. mostly, going on what i could see, they managed to cope with it rather well. almost as if they were aware that such things could and (probably) would happen and were able to manage. often it is so that we humans can learn from nature, but we do not. should it be that for some reason you wished to see swans on a frozen river but as an image rather than a video, well, below is an image that kind of meets such a wish. 

something you can usually expect (or count on) is, as and when snow comes to us here, people asking why we are "not prepared" for it. recently one of the radio presenters i quite like addressed this, especially when what was "on the table" (metaphorically, i believe) was the usual argument about how is it that Norway "deals with the snow" in a much more better way than us. normally this radio presenter would be all "why oh why" (with an exasperated voice) about anything, but in this instance it was all just good sense. realistically each year we in the UK rarely get more than a week or so of snow, and so it would not be practical or viable to have the resources stored away for dealing with it. sure, it is very much true that Scotland gets it more than that, hence them having a decent amount more resources for it than the rest of the UK. over in Norway they get a load more snow for a lot longer, and so it would make sense for all their infrastructure and resources to be set to deal with that. 

generally the idea for dealing with snow here in the UK is that everyone just "uses common sense", as in doesn't go off making unnecessary journeys, are slow, steady and careful when they do and accept that it all will (pretty soon) pass. mostly this actually (sort of) works, especially on the roads. one would reasonably expect carnage whilst driving, but usually the majority behave. 

one more video, then, of the swans doing their thing. i am not sure it's stretching things to say, rather than simply suggest, that this will be one of the more interesting parts of this post. 

righty-ho, i do believe that that's (more or less) as far as i can stretch some writing around all of this. by the time this "hits" the internet either the snow shall have gone or we will have been covered with yet more of it. truth be told i would prefer the former, but if the latter i am sure we shall deal with it. 

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

quite a few of them fancy videos

heya

it was so that, as has become quasi-customary (or at least kind of, look you see) i spent some time over Christmas and New Year watching a few of the videos (discs) what i had picked up over the last year or so. for a "bit" of a change it was so that i only watched what one may well elect (or opt) to call the fanciest of fancy videos (discs) what i have, which are them "blu ray" ones. 

despite having a blu ray player it seems, or at least feels like, i still tend to watch just regular DVDs on it. mostly, or for the most part. this is likely due to DVDs being somewhat cheaper and a widespread availability of them exceptionally cheap down the market and at charity shops. still, i do (somewhat obviously) purchase blu ray discs, whilst finding it odd that i rarely watch (or play) them. 

above, then, in the form of a not quite so high definition VHS image, is/are the fancy tapes (discs) what i watched lately. mostly lately, as one or two i "forgot" to write of here so have just thrown them in here, for what difference does it make. of course i am going to (vaguely) comment on them all here, in what shall likely be a long, laborious post. 

rather likely you reign in too many (or any) expectations about "technical" aspects of the blu ray format being on the go here. yes, blu ray is (even on my relatively basic player and tele) discernibly a step up in quality from "standard" DVD, but you have to bear in mind that the only reason i elected to upgrade to this format was because it was the only way in the modern world to get your hands on the proper, uncut and as the world intended version of Mad Max 2, with mid 80s onwards video and DVDs featuring the hideously badly edited (censored) variation called The Road Warrior. 

no particular order is used to show them here, but first off (as shown above) is the class film that is The Return Of The Living Dead. i would argue that this cheaply made, mono sound gem didn't really need any sort of "upgrade", but then i thought that one excellent scene of nudies would be smart in high definition (it is) and this two disc collectors set looked like it was loaded with smart extras. 

whereas i thoroughly enjoyed watching the whole film again (not just the famous nudies bit, but yes that proved a highlight) the extras were somewhat baffling. the idea of "alternative and deleted scenes" was intriguing, but oddly peculiar. rather than usual extra scenes it seemed they had just thrown on an edited version of a "workprint". about twenty or thirty minutes into this had me wondering why on earth they had not just put the entire workprint on the disc, as that would have been an even more better, attractive reason to buy it. 

i think this set cost me somewhere north of £20, maybe £25. have to say yes, it does feel like pretty decent value, for it is the "definitive" edition of a much loved film, allowing for the fact that i am very unlikely ever to upgrade to whatever "4K Ultra HD" is. how often i shall sit and watch it all again is reasonably debatable with the conversation leaning towards possibly not at all, yet i am rather happy to have it in the collection. 

on the off chance that superstition, or precedent, or whatever, is an actual thing i elected to be very careful with my choice of "first film" watched this year (2026). so of course i went with the blu ray of a much treasured Bond film, A View To A Kill. believe i bought this, a fancy "steelbook" edition, a year or so ago, when i saw it on sale on some web thing or another for if not £10 then south of it. 

much maligned, this one is, with some considering it the "worst" Bond film. immediately to that i would suggest you try and watch, say, Die Another Day. true, Sir Roger (by his own admission) was likely a bit too old, but all the same he felt obliged to give it a go. never understood people taking apart the plot, which is more relevant today that it was then. unless you think a tech billionaire with some extreme political views trying to take control of the world via technology is somehow outlandish. 

with regards to the "blu ray" upgrade here, mostly this tape (disc) feels like it is just the two discs of the DVD "ultimate edition" shoved onto one. that said, the crystal clear picture does neither the film nor the audience any favours, as you are all too aware that mostly you are watching the stunt double of Sir Roger Moore than you are Sir Roger. still, an enjoyable film, and with it comes fond memories of seeing it at the Odeon multiple times in 1985. 

brief comment on the oddities of British censors for these first two tapes (discs). whereas Return Of The Living Dead has been "downgraded" from an 18 to a 15 (despite no cuts), i note with interest that A View To A Kill is now a 12 rather than a PG. this despite a rather clumsy and obvious censorship edit when the (agreeably) naked Grace Jones climbs into bed so as to pulverise Sir Roger in a way i can only dream of ever happening to me. 

purchasing Satyricon was very much an impulse thing. i had a few moments to spare and was browsing the "world cinema" section of HMV. mostly this was because i have clocked the just mentioned censors at the BBFC have an odd thing where "foreign language films on blu ray" are clearly "art" and so usually lots of nudies get left uncensored. every now and then you see a decent film too, but that's secondary to nudies being on offer, thanks. £10, or a penny short, i think, was the cost. 

this was a film i had (vaguely) heard of in passing, and was aware that the maker of it, Fellini, is one who(m) is celebrated and revered. plus there was a line in Class Of Nuke Em High which suggested that Fellini films were ones that featured nudies. it thus struck me that i would have little to lose, bar £10 and two hours, giving this a go. 

indeed i do have a kind of "what the f*** did i just watch" sense with Satyricon. really don't like to do this kind of comment but i would suggest "at the time" this must have been regarded as highly subversive. filled, mostly, with curious vignettes that are sometimes interesting rather than being a linear story, i am glad i (eventually) saw it. but, overall, probably a bit too artsy for moi. 

arguably at the other end of the artistic spectrum is Spies Like Us, which i picked up down the market. yes it is a "double bill" disc, with something called Funny Farm on the same video (disc), but it was this film i was curious about watching again. not 100% sure why, and it was months after i picked it up that i watched it. the reason for giving it a go (again) was the internet becoming littered with comments in some way celebrating the 40th anniversary of its release. which felt strange, as my memory of it was that it was a disappointing bore. 

maybe time really does mean memories fade, for i can't recall exactly if i went to the cinema (it would indeed have been the Odeon) to see this or just rented the video (actual). i think it was at the cinema, back when it was 99p for a ticket and it was a forever lasting summer. still, int my 1985 mind, it was a coming together of the dude out of Ghostbusters and Trading Places with the dude out of National Lampoon's Vacation, so it was bound to be really funny. except it wasn't really. 

on watching again it did, unexpectedly and pleasantly, turn out to be a good deal better than i recalled, with some genuinely funny moments. no spoilers here, but that "impact training" scene is class. to suggest or state it is a "lost" or "forgotten" comedy classic is going a bit too far, but still it's really decent. 

exactly how i came to watch a three hour French film is partially covered in the comments above (or if you will earlier) about the BBFC and how they give "world cinema" a free pass. mostly, though, i was reading something on the internet about "most explicit that sort of thing scenes in mainstream cinema" and Blue Is The Warmest Colour featured quite a bit. with the promise of (admittedly French but still) nudies i ordered it off of the internet, think the cost was south of £10. 

hmn. on a base, or purely honest, level, this is 20 (or so) minutes of agreeable nudies, plus two hours and forty minutes of melodrama that borders on soap opera. it's as good as it can be for what is essentially the plight of middle to upper class, well to do French people growing up amidst wrestling with their sexual identity, but the audience of such feels fairly niche. oddly, and unexpectedly, i was rather taken by some of the social commentary, in particular the different ways in which the parents of the ostensible two main lady characters were treated. mostly, though, i rather doubt this film would have had rather high levels of praise, critical acclaim and awards thrust upon it were it not for the somewhat graphic (if not really all that explicit) moments of "intimacy". 

for the second (of two) films what feature both Sir Roger Moore and Patrick Macnee in this post it's the U certificate (!) Sherlock Holmes In New York. see, not everything i elect (or opt) to watch has to come with the promise of nudies and/or violence (but mostly nudies). didn't even know this film existed until i saw it on offer for sale on some website or other, with me being of the view that seeing Sir Roger have a go at playing Sherlock Holmes was well worth £5 of anyone's money. 

this one i watched over that "where and when am i in time and space" weekend between Christmas and New Year, for such felt like a period which exists purely to indulge a Sir Roger Moore film. yes there is a precedent for this here on this blog. believe last year was when they showed the Sir Roger Moore documentary on home videos over Christmas. 

one of the more striking aspects of Sherlock Holmes In New York, which appears to be a made for television movie, is just how frequently other, more celebrated films have borrowed from it. i am reluctant to give any spoilers, but for a start there's a significant chunk of the plot of Die Hard With A Vengeance lifted from this one. overall there's a certain charm to it, and it certainly wasn't "bad". that said, for an accurate review, Sir Roger Moore has a wonderful hairstyle and does some class eyebrow action but his uneven sideburns are distracting, Patrick Macnee appears to think it is all just a rehearsal going on him fashioning a slightly different accent in each scene, John Huston seems to not know he is in a film and Charlotte Rampling appears keen to break down in tears and apologise for the film every moment she is on screen. 

as it happens (or actually) i procured this rather (admittedly blurry image but all the same) fancy edition of The Sword & The Sorcerer all the way back in 2024, but somehow neglected to do an obligatory post for (or about) it. weird, as at £35 i think this is the most i have paid for a video (discs). much like was the case with Return Of The Living Dead, it kind of felt appropriate to procure a lavish if not definitive edition of a film what means a great deal to me. plus, truth me told, my brother insisted i get it. 

to the best of my knowledge is this is the first and only one of them "4K Ultra High Definition" discs i have, although no, not having either a player or tele capable of handling it thus far it remains unplayed. from what i could tell it was the only way to get the set with a book, a poster, some cards and all the extras, plus the film is also on a regular blu ray. indeed there was a cheaper "blu ray only" copy, but it just made sense to get the fancy one. 

what of the film? somehow we ended up with a copy of this on video (actual) in the early to mid 80s, and my brother and i watched it frequently. quite class it was, and kind of still is. part of a wave of "swords and barbarians" films that never took off, but all the same it features an agreeable level of nudies, some boss fighting and is, overall, well paced, funny and entertaining. once again i am somewhat surprised to see this has been "downgraded" to a 15, but such is the conventions of our present day society, i would presume to assume. 

don't actually recall purchasing Bad Biology, but going on the price sticker (which had it less, or "fewer", than the regular price) it was off of Fopp down in that there London (innit). rather likely that i was browsing, saw the warnings (or promise, if we are honest) of explicit nudies in advising why it had been awarded an 18 certificate and went, well, why not. 

so no, i had no idea what it was that i bought, and pretty much (as in more or less) went into it in a kind of blind way, unsure of any sort of "plot" or what have you when i watched it. having now seen it, well, i find it (somewhat) difficult to give you a rundown on the plot as it feels impossible to do so whilst maintaining a general idea of refraining from the use of "offensive" or upsetting language. certainly it would be true to say this is most decidedly for adults only. 

quite funny, really. a bit of a "throwback" to the type of 80s sex horror comedy kind of thing that used to get made, only unlike most 2000 onwards efforts of this nature it "gets it". possibly due to the film being made by someone who made such films in the 80s. an agreeable level of nudies, which oddly is plot relevant, and a decent watch. that said, if i sat down to re-watch a film for humour, nudies some comedy horror, this would be behind Return Of The Living Dead and Class Of Nuke 'Em High. not all that far behind, but still. 

kind of makes sense to have the above together since they are thematically (and indeed theologically) linked, plus i got them both at the same time. for provenance, i was browsing the "world cinema", also arthouse, section of HMV in (why aye man) Newcastle the morning after the Holly Johnson gig. some dude what works there started putting "2 for £15" stickers on select discs as i was browsing, and so i got the two most likely to feature nuns doing nudies. this indeed remains a staunch favourite of mine. 

neither of them, as it turned out, was all that good. with respect to the main motivation for purchasing and watching either, which would be (in case you missed it) seeing nuns do nudies, Story Of A Cloistered Nun is superior, as it has more of it and a lot earlier in the film. there are a few bits of nudies in the misleadingly named The Nun And The Devil, but only really towards the end of a quite dull film, and even then the lighting used is rather poor. 

for those of you considering watching either and inexplicably have an interest in the plot, well, i can sort of vaguely recall them. i think The Nun And The Devil was all about the "politics" of the church, all the climbing up into positions of power and what have you. pretty sure Story Of A Cloistered Nun was about a young lady being sent off to a convent so as to get out of a deal for an arranged marriage, and if truth be told it was a quite decent story. honestly though the only thing (outside) of nudies i recall was a scene where some young nuns discussed how a visiting Monsignor seemed only interested in knowing whereabouts they touched themselves, which suggested i had missed my ideal vocation in life. 

usually i wouldn't bother with any sort of "biker" movie. even the greatest of the genre, Easy Rider, is more of an outstanding soundtrack and a few iconic images than it is a particularly good film. but this one, Angels Hard As They Come, was cheap on sale (same place i got Sherlock Holmes In New York from), kind of had the promise of nudies and had an interesting cast and crew. with respect to the latter, if the first two explain themselves, it is billed as starring Scott Glenn (or Scot Glen) and has as a producer or something Jonathan Demme. seemed worth a go. 

strange that the box, or the website i got it off, makes no mention of the fact that a young Gary Busey is also in it. he also, like to be fair most of the cast here, does a good job in it too. i mean yes, this is a low budget exploitation thing (with some nudies, which helps) but it turned out to be pretty decent. no masterpiece, for sure, and certainly not fun for all the family viewing, but all the same an above average take on the standard stuff for "biker" films, which rarely amounts to more than some nasty bikers taking on some slightly more nasty bikers. 

regular readers here will (of course) not be surprised to learn that my mate Spiros was once part of that whole "biker" lifestyle. briefly, as it turned out. he assumed that the key components of their lifestyle - men only gangs, men that were quite large and hairy, men wearing leather, men fretting over things like lubricant - was a perfect match for certain passions of his. similar but different, as it turns out. 

i took a bit of a chance on something called Horror Hospital at one of my preferred charity shops, with this second hand copy being on sale for £4.99. quite steep for a charity donation, but for all i know it's maybe rare or "worth more". yes, the main motivation to give it a go was the presence of Confessions star Robin Askwith. his presence in a film generally if not usually means that there shall be some nudies of some description in it. yes, there is in the film, albeit brief. one gets to see rather more of Robin doing nudies than the female cast, but that was the gamble. 

leaving aside the plot and the wonders of this disc are all in the bonus material. quite revelatory. a fascinating thing is an interview with Robin Askwith, in which he is asked his opinion on the acting skills and talents of the rest of the cast in the film. yeah, let me leave that there with no further comment. 

best of all on the extras is a "making of" documentary, which explains how the entire project is as demented as it is insane. for a start they appear rather proud of the fact that the film was written and budgeted with Robin Askwith in mind. no, it's not that they hired him as he was cheap or no one else was available, they actually wanted to showcase his talents (or whatever he does) and built this around him. then there's all sorts on the making of it which just proved more compelling that the actual film. i would suggest it is worth finding a copy purely to endure the movie and then be thoroughly entertained by the disclosures in the documentaries. 

finally, and my this has been a long post, there is Smokin' Aces. had never ever heard of this one, and now i can't remember how, exactly, i did learn of it. probably something or other cropped up online about it. likely i was intrigued enough to read up, discovered it had a quite class cast and then decided to look for the video (disc) of it. as it turned out the fancy "steelbook" of it was south of £10. 

plot? somewhat Pinteresque with a twist of what has come to be known as the Tarantinoesque. basically what is believed to be a high value assassination contract is on offer, with the money apparently being front being enough to attract several killers to go and have a go. action all takes place in one location (which is the Pinter bit) and it all goes violent, but not as you are expecting or anticipating (Tarantino). 

quite good, really. surprised that no one had suggested it to me in the 20 (or so) years it had existed by the time i heard of it, but then maybe someone had. yes it does indeed have one bit of nudies, but it is brief and not really a focal point. overall a good example of a film one would enjoy watching, a lot, but would be unlikely to watch a second time (or more), so i am not sure it needs the prestige of the rather fancy "steelbook" edition, but hey i have it now. 

phew. i am reasonably sure that when i have done a post of this length before (so to speak) i suggested that i wouldn't do such a lengthy one again, only to do it. well, done now. on the off chance that someone has found something of interest or use (if not value) here about any of the movies, well then that's boss. 

yes, it possibly would be an appropriate, apt or what have you job for me to do in regards of reviewing films based entirely on nudies rating alone. that, however, has already been done by someone. forgive me if my mind betrays but i am quite sure the bloke what gone done it was Joe Bob Briggs, reviewing films only at drive-ins ("as God intended" i think he said) and his accounts of films watched were rarely more than a list of nudies in them. class, that. 

righty-ho, that shall do until i find something else to waffle on about.

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

it's cold outside, but brightly lit

hello there

for the most part (or indeed mostly, look you see) this will just be one of them posts where i seem to insist on showcasing a purchase made. not to be flash, or to flaunt or otherwise show off. perhaps it is all from a sense of needing validation, if not affirmation. or just that i feel compelled to keep writing here, and can only write of that which i know. 

no, alas the title doesn't give all that much of a clue as to what this is all about. unless, of course, you somehow worked out the rather oblique reference to appropriate footwear. so yes, then, i have gone done bought a brand new pair of shoes. they are indeed trainers, or if American "sneakers", and by chance are of the same lineage as the previous pair purchased. such was not by choice, but a happy incident.

and there above are my new shoes of choice. well, not that much of a choice, as they appeared to be the only ones my size available to purchase. this is a frequent predicament of mine, with my size being one that (very) few stores carry a significant level of stock of. indeed i am aware of that "you can just order whatever you need online" thing, but the aggravation which comes with returning size importance things is somewhat easily avoided by simply going to a shop and trying them first. 

indeed, as was my last (or most recent) pair, they are more of them Air Max ones. different style though, as these are called "alpha" ones. this name of them was something i was unaware of until i got them home. whereas i did not specifically go looking for more (or further) (or "non-fewer") Air Max i feel obliged to confess that i was delighted to get them, as that pair i had were most agreeable. to give you another link in this particular paragraph, certain medical concerns mean that i really do need to both do regular exercise (which i limit to walking) and make sure i have comfortable, supportive footwear as i go about my travels in this world. 

size thirteen (13), if you were wondering. or 14, apparently, in US (American) sizing. as for what the European equivalent is, well, clearly that' all French influenced, as "continental European" shoe sizing seems very much to be an instance of them just making up random numbers. most shoe shop type of places tend to cease extensive stock at size 12 in my experience. instances where a shop has more than one pair of my size, this giving me a theoretical chance of choice, are quite rare. to get the obvious, if not really overt, joke out of the way, yes indeed it is true what they say about men with big feet, which is that we need (quite) big socks.

provenance and cost? as has become usual Sports Direct, with the notional cost being a flat and kind of straight £60. for a real term (or actual) cost, that would be £62, for i had to purchase a bag to carry them back to lodgings in, and wouldn't you know they had "run out" of the big stock of cheaper plastic bags they had hidden under the counter, forcing me to purchase one of their more prestige priced "bag for life" things. maybe next time i shall attempt (if not endeavour) to take my own bag with me so as to avoid this extra cost, but to be fair it was a "spur of the moment" decision to get them when i did. 

why is it that walking is the only form of exercise i am prepared to indulge, being aware of the medical suggestion (or direction) that i need to do some form of such? i would have thought that the answer, at least as far as specific to moi, would be obvious. but if not, well, it is the only form of exercise i can think of which does not need you to spend money on equipment and (very much) does allow one to smoke (sorry) whilst they do it. 

doubtful that these ones shall last quite so long as the previous pair. this is no slight or criticism, however, just simply an awareness of a reality in which i need to make sure i walk a good few miles each and every day. which might be tricky with snow imminent if not here. perhaps i shall go and pick up a sturdy pair of (comfortable) boots too for such. 

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

enjoy it or get out the game

welcome

yes, to dispense early doors with the usual, i do indeed mutter every year that "maybe" i should cease honouring the anniversary of certain concerts (gigs, if you will). just about every year, perhaps, would be a more accurate account, look you see. so there should be little surprise, either across those what know me in the "real" world and them what regularly visit this blog, that once more today i celebrate the cherished memory of seeing Frankie Goes To Hollywood live.

it is now, as of today (or the date this "went live"), a mere 39 years since Uncle Colin drew the fortunate but all the same in regards of the grown ups in the family view of the band short straw to take me off to the Manchester G-Mex to see them. despite caution being offered (it was my first gig proper) that the support bands were "generally no good" we got Berlin as the support, and yes they did indeed do the song off of Top Gun (the one that was the second love theme after Playing With The Boys) as well as selections from their other songs what didn't sound like that massive hit at all.

above, in some sort of neon filter thing (yes VHS mode) is an image of my denim jacket what Gran sewed the remnants of my much worn tour jumper on the back of. on a whim, when i took this jacket out of the closet (so to speak) so as to take a picture, i thought to try it on. strangely and unexpectedly it does fit me these days. well, kind of. one is not supposed to button up a denim jacket, after all. perhaps, at some stage, i shall go for a stroll wearing it, see if it inspires (or inflames) any conversations the way in which my Bowie bag does. from memory the only vague form of "conversation" i can recall this jacket ever inspiring was some wit shouting "Frankie Goes To Leningrad" at me. 

once more i have probably added too many pictures here for all that i have to say, but also i have again delved into the bootleg tape (which was an actual tape at some stage) from the gig i was at which someone exceptionally kindly furnished me with a copy of. here, resplendent with some "that will do" artwork i knocked up in MS Paint, is the second song they (Frankie) played at the gig. 

rather likely, between the sound quality and my handwriting, that you shall indeed need me to say which song that was, although i would think the more devout ("real" or "proper") Frankie Fans clocked it from the title of this post. so as to clarify, it is indeed The Only Star In Heaven, being from their much vaunted debut, or if you like first album (of two), also appearing as a strangely agreeable instrumental on one of the Power Of Love 12" singles. 

easily, no matter how much life has "happened" since (and there has been a lot), i remember my joy, or indeed my excitement, at them doing it. having no real concept of what bands "do" at gigs i didn't, for some reason, expect them to play an "album track" as such. silly in retrospect, i know, for if all they had done was the singles, well, at that point the gig would have been six songs long. but my experience of gigs by then was videos (actual) of the likes of Queen and the Stones, and all that got shown in such was them doing the big hits. 

joy, excitement or what have you was mine for this has always been a favourite tune by them. think it's more the "wobble" or fun sounding music, in particular the bass, but the lyrics are fun too. 

for anyone who has happened on this hoping for a (somewhat) decent sounding live recording of the band, well, sorry. very few decent ones do, except bootlegs from the radio broadcast of the Wembley gigs on the same tour. still, it is a modern marvel that someone decided to keep hold of their tape of this bootleg, despite the quality, then make the effort to "digitise" it, and then had the kindness to share it with moi. not (entirely) everything in this century i really don't particularly understand is all that bad. 

since you are here, and have made it that far, a slight bonus above, in the form of a Smash Hits readers poll from 1986, which is now 40 (!) years ago. this probably would have made more sense to post at the end of this year, for it will have come out (so to speak) at the end of 1986, but it is here now. how would i have voted? quite likely Frankie as the best group, followed by Sigue Sigue Sputnik and then, trying to remain true to what i would have liked at the time, Queen or Simple Minds. lovely that some of the ones who(m) were voted "worst" elected to comment on it all, and Holly is absolutely not wrong in respect of his take on the Warriors Of The Wasteland video. 

going for the usual sort of conclusion, or (if you will) ending, here and i will ponder if anyone else out there remembers the gig, or has a fascination with commemorating the anniversary of it like i do. probably not, i suppose. dare say there's one or two if you mentioned it to them would go "oh yeah i went to that". unlikely that the members of the band (themselves) are wandering around today being mindful that they played a gig at the Manchester G-Mex on this day. but, well, i remember. 

to be stolen or bought. 

notes from another laundry visit

greetings

it would be incorrect, or if you prefer inaccurate, to say that this post is of my first laundry visit of the year that is this year. which is 2026, look you see. rather this is all from the final week of the previous year to this, which of course was known as 2025. but, also, it is  true that this is the first post of this year (see previous comments for confirmation of year) on the subject of going to the laundry. 

no, i am not sure that this post required such an elaborate, convoluted level of clarification. there are those, however, who like such things i suppose. anyway, to remove the last vestiges of doubt, yes, i went off to go and do some laundry at a laundry once more. 

my original, of if you will provisional, plan was to go to the laundry on the monday before the final monday of the year. i think by that i mean the "penultimate" monday, but rather let me leave the use of such sophisticated, comprehensive words to much more clever people than me. as it turned out, knowing from previous guidance that such a visit would be wiser to do early in the day, i had to postpone. this was due to Royal Mail delivering a parcel to me, one which turned out to be a gift as kind as it was impressive from a friend. 

regular readers here shall be (all too) aware of this, but for the interest of those new to my blog i go to the laundry every now and then so as to wash and, of most significance, dry bedding. as things stand it is simply not practical or viable to dry duvet covers and what have you within my lodgings in my place of exile. off i go, then, with the laundry that needs to be washed (and dried) in a splendid red back which was ostensibly given to me for a "winter kit", to get it done. 

above is some video, of course in VHS mode, in which you can see the said red bag. it is there to the left (unless you are looking at it upside down), sat on top of the machine i made use of. the "filter" used for this particular video is that one called "poster size". from what i can tell it doesn't make the video a poster as such or change the size, but all the same it looks slightly interesting. 

was it so that an early version of Going To California off of Led Zeppelin had a working title of Going To The Laundry? i don't believe so, no. nothing of the lyrics, or the musical structure, give much of anything in the way of a suggestion it might be. completely different rhyme would be required. but that shouldn't be an indication (or accusation) that Led Zeppelin never gone done laundry. even by their legendary standards it wasn't sex and drugs and rock and roll all the time. sometimes they probably went and did things what "regular" people did, such as laundry. 

this post is possibly (or potentially) more "video heavy" than the norm, if such phrasing means to say it contains a few more "clips" that usual. short videos would appear to be all the rage these days. above is one done in that "video wall" mode (filter) which you probably don't need me to tell you if you have already pressed play on it. quite likely i have said this before but this format (video wall) was really popular with them what used to make Top Of The Pops. for a while it was, at least. 

due to some poor (if not spectacularly bad) planning when filming you can, oddly, get a glimpse of one of my celebrated Air Max shoes. yes, i have two, or if you will a complete pair. well, what exactly would one call an incomplete pair? surely a single? for those with an interest in this sort of thing it is rather likely this is the last time this pair are seen on a post here. i do indeed have a new pair all ready to go, but that can be done in another post. 

someone somewhere will have had their (possibly odd sense of) interest piqued by the suggestion of a potentially final use of these trainers. for those of you who(m) this is true, there you go. above is a video wall style picture to go with the video, where you can quite clearly see some of the shoe. or trainer. looks like it is my right foot, not that the other is wrong. in retrospect, yes, i would agree that i missed out on an opportunity there to pay homage to Daniel Day Lewis. doubly so, for as well as being in a film called My Left Foot i am quite sure he was also in My Beautiful Laundrette. which has me wondering if i should be referring to "going to the laundrette" rather than "the laundry". 

getting to the laundrette early on in the day was a piece of advice i got from one of the elders of the laundry community. in an unsolicited bout of conversation it was so that, once, when i went closer to mid day (possibly afternoon) a fellow patron said that later in the day saw all sorts of arguments come about with regards to using the tumble dryers. whereas i am one of the ones that does washing and drying there, some turn up with already washed laundry, being there simply to use the tumble dryers. quite strict rules are in place that people what have gone done washing there have priority use of the tumble dryers (which has an agreeable VIP feel to it), but as with all aspects of society there are some who will knowingly disregard such rules. such is why our society falls apart. 

as it turned out (yes that is the "split screen" filter on the VHS video above) i arrived not all that long after the opening time, yet already a few people were in. from what i could tell all but one person was there to use the tumble dryers alone. there was a decidedly palpable sense of fear of confrontation in the air when i started using the washing machine, for those making use of the tumble dryers alone knew that such would mean i had priority use. one of the many aspects of the English way of doing things is a fear, or dread, of being told off; of getting shouted at for doing a naughty. 

whilst being mindful of the if not need then the benefit of respecting and observing the rules and the accepted way of doing things in society any need to wait for a tumble dryer was not going to be all that much of an issue for me. other than having no particular pressing plans for the remainder of that day, which i think i have established as being a monday quite comprehensively, i had with me a significant number of cigarettes (sorry) and the book which i was currently reading. for the latter, i had some 200 or so pages to go in (or with) it. had it come to me needing to wait a bit for a tumble dryer, it very much would have been me just smoking and reading for a bit as i did so. 

curiously it was so that, like the gods somehow decreed it, one patron using the tumble dryer alone had finished within moments of my washing cycle being complete. there was no argument or fuss then, not that i had intended or anticipated it. sure, if one of the other patrons had been of a somewhat more aggressive disposition, and had waited until the "click" of my washing machine cycle to finish so as to unleash a tirade of how i could "f*** off" or "go f*** myself" and that i would need to wait for them to be done, then i would have most probably remonstrated. no such incident happened and you cannot prove otherwise, although there are security cameras in the laundrette. why? because we are in a world where for some reason we have cameras everywhere. things are no longer allowed to just happen, it all needs to be documented. 

don't rightly know if the "filter" for the VHS "app" thing showed above, and below, has appeared on this blog before. it is called "negative" and would seem to do what it says, as in inverts all colours or what have you so that it looks like a bit of film negative. 

in respect of costs (for those interested) i used the smaller washing machine, which was £5.50, and then used a tumble dryer for 40 minutes, with the fee being £1 per ten (10) minutes, so £4. in total then, the price paid was 50p south of £10, or should you prefer straight dice £9.50. over on my first post about going to the laundry (rather than California) there's a look at the economic considerations about making use of a laundrette. 

yes, usually a sort of "rotation" thing would have been on the go, where i alternate such sentimental hygiene posts as this of the laundry with one about going to a car wash. of late, however, i simply cannot be bothered with a car wash. the vehicle what verk have given me to use is frankly awful, with it being such a basket case of needing repairs that i have to check and make absolutely sure it is not actually french. getting it washed seems excessive. my expectation is that the thing will, one of these days, catch fire whilst i am driving it around. purely for the novelty factor i may well go and use a car wash when it does do this, see if that addresses the situation in a satisfactory way. 

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

choosing the hard and soft option

now then

just further commitment to me presenting the more abstract and mundane aspects of life. or, specifically, one would suppose, my life. look you see. so yes, this is really little more than me declaring to the world, or the aspects of the world which elect to spend time looking at this, that i have as point of fact procured a new toothbrush. 

well, to be (somewhat) specific, toothbrushes, for i determined it to be wise to get two (2) whilst i was out and about. and out and about i was in a general sense. so no, i didn't set off on a crusade to get a new toothbrush (or multiples thereof); buying them was a kind of spontaneous, live for the moment, YOLO kind of thing. that, as they say, is how i roll. 

no, of course i am not quite the wild man that suggests. as it happens i was aware that i, most probably, did need to get a new toothbrush and it was that i remembered (or recalled) this as i passed a shop that sold such. well, not passed it, near it. 

my choices, showcased here in some filter or other on that VHS camera "app" thing i have, were of a firm brush and a soft brush. what, precisely, is the difference? no idea. my guess is that one of them has a softer, delicate feel, where the other is somewhat no nonsense. as to which would best suit my needs in respect of brushing teeth, i don't rightly know. the plan i have, although using the word "plan" feels quite the exaggeration, is to have both on the go (in my perfectly serviceable toothbrush holder) at the same time, using whichever one i grab. let the dice fall as they may. 

speaking of choice (well writing of it) i did spent what felt (in retrospect) a disproportionate amount of time deliberating which "colour" brush of each to get. ultimately i selected a black one for the soft and a purple one for the firm. after selecting them i did pass comment to one of the staff in the shop, offering up as a sort of conversation started that i wasn't at all sure why i spent so much time on choice of colour for i could not see what difference to the toothbrush it would make, which elicited a kind of polite laugh or agreeable chortle. such exchanges allow one (moi) to pretend that i have some sort of social life, no matter how vague or oblique. 

yes, i think it would be (considerably) better if the "firm" ones were called "hard". soft and hard go together as a sort of ying-yang (or whatever) sort of thing. presumably they don't do this so as not to attract the wrong kind of image. it would be terrible if society all of a sudden became littered with people who liked to style themselves as a "hard man", and do things like show off the fact that they only use a "hard" toothbrush because that's how hard they are. maybe i am overthinking this. 

exactly how often should one (or you) change or otherwise replace their toothbrush? this is something which can be added to the (fairly) extensive list of things that i simply have no idea on. or about. possibly more frequently than i have, although as far as i can tell no harm has befallen me for using the ones what i had for maybe longer than i should. the bristles or whatever they are called (the brush bit) were starting to look most distressed, so i figured new ones were required. 

provenance fans will wish to know some more details. i think the shop what i got them off is called Savers or something like that, and they were £1 each. the latter does not strike me as an unreasonable cost at all, really. especially as i quite like the "feel" of the handle on this type of toothbrush. what, exactly, would be the "usual" price for such an item is again something i am not aware of. 

right, i think that just about (or more or less) covers anything i could say about this particular subject. there is indeed a distinct possibility that i wrote far too much, but if reading it all gave you something to do (possibly even was slightly, or accidentally, interesting) there is that.

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

we need new dreams tonight

howdy pop pickers

and so another year, look you see, with this one being 2026. well, this being the first post of that year i suppose, for goodness knows when in the future (rather than the past) you, or anyone, is actually reading it. either reading it or just looking at the pictures, yes. 

perhaps the more better, or correct, title for this post would be notes on playing a thirtieth anniversary edition of a tape (disc) around nine or so years after it was released, but that's a bit extensive. as to which album, or if you like tape (disc) i speak of, it's The Joshua Tree off of U2. 

yes, i am indeed (quite) aware that in the present day one is "meant" to slate, slag off or be disparaging of the band U2. rather peculiar. i have had a little think and tried to trace the origins of the backlash, or what you would call it. don't think it was down to them releasing a really, really poor album in the form of No Line On The Horizon, back in, what, 2005 or thereabouts? from memory around the time they played Glastonbury (was in 2012?) a small yet vocal group demanded that U2 "pay taxes", like everyone (and i am sure those demanding the group do this did) goes about seeing how they can pay as much as possible over to governments. of course there was the (in)famous giving an album away for free to all Apple customers, which upset the former (or ex) Mr Kim Kardassian (or whatever) who was inexplicably popular around then and so lots of people kicked off about being given (what turned out to be a fairly decent) album for free. 

let me invite you to set aside whatever (or however) it is that the "trendy" or popular way to view U2 is for this post. should you decline that invitation, well, that's absolutely fine, but rather likely you may wish to skip the rest of this. unless you get entertained by reading stuff you are knowingly going to probably disagree with and just wish to pour scorn over it. go for it. 

not all that much of this (if that makes sense) is written with any sense of being "definitive fact" or a reliable account of the record. it's more just how i hear it, how i remember the time of its release, how the album has followed me for what is close to four complete decades. odd thing, our love of the decimal for anniversaries or significant things. maybe that is the lasting legacy of the Romans. bits and bobs of trivia shall come, true. as in the next paragraph. 

what one has to do is try and imagine a time when U2 were (most decidedly) not one of the biggest bands in the world. yes, this is the album that made them such. for a brief history, and entirely from my perspective as i experienced it rather than fact, they were a band that had one hit (Pride) yet seemed to get a lot of attention, in particular a BBC documentary around The Unforgettable Fire. despite an array of considerably bigger pop stars available Bono was handed what i consider the single most powerful, devastating and poignant line ever included in a pop song. they were given longer than, say, Adam Ant and The Style Council at Live Aid, with Bono nearly causing the band to split by opting to hug someone instead of doing another song. it felt like they more or less disappeared after Live Aid, to be honest, with no new record within a year or so of that event. 

but they returned, of course, with The Joshua Tree. pretty sure that it was With Or Without You they released as the first single, and i can recall going to buy it off of HMV. but i shall get to that. for now it kind of makes sense to sort of do a "track by track" of the album. sorry if this is as disjointed as, well, everything else i have ever written, here and beyond. 

WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME is an epic opening to the album. the slow build up, with the song itself (in)famously taking up about half of all the time spent on the whole record, feels like a cinematic fade in on a classical work of art. fair to say they knew what they were doing when they insisted on this being the opening song. to me this has always been an anthem of release. it captures that sense of freedom which comes from being in a dark place, walled in mentally or physically (or both), the glorious feeling of that weight being lifted reverberating through the song. plus the video, a rooftop concert which caused mayhem, is awesome.

I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR remains to this day one of the most jaw dropping, daring total exposures of the soul i have ever experienced an artist doing. ostensibly, in sound a structure, a gospel song, and one can interpret it that way. the song speaks of desire fulfilled leaving one still unfulfilled. in terms of my initial comment it's that lyric "you broke the bonds and loosed the chains, carried the cross of my shame" which comes to mind. perhaps it's one of them "just me" things, but the bravery and courage required to stand and say something like that is what makes an artist of any nature celebrated. if you ever wondered why painters paint yet seem reluctant to let others see their work it is because they fear they are going to see just how much of them is laid bare in the work. 

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU is, to perhaps my ears only, one of those "classically misunderstood" songs. like, you know, Every Breath You Take off of The Police. don't really see how one can interpret the line "i can't live with or without you" as meaning anything but a despondent, defeated and down declaration of simply "i cannot live". generally i think it gets interpreted "lighter" as being of the frustrations with any relationship. however one interprets it doesn't take away from its brilliance. 

BULLET THE BLUE SKY has been a song i have "wrestled" with. over the years i have gone from skipping it to playing it (and singing/shouting along) with enthusiasm. perhaps i should have noted what my mood, or state of mind was, or what was going on in the world, at those different times. yes, the song is famously (ostensibly) about a very specific bit of shady interference by the Americans in a particular conflict, yet the essence of it resonates with just about every conflict since. the more i think about it the more i wonder why they didn't call this album Outside. as much as that may have gone on to change the history of David Bowie. 

RUNNING TO STAND STILL a brooding masterpiece specifically about a couple of doomed heroin addicts but with a far greater, wider reach. vivid, unforgiving and haunting imagery gets catapulted into the mind via lyrics breathtakingly inspired in their genius. you are better off just listening to it instead of having me throw some random examples here. 

just why, exactly, did i go ahead and buy another copy of The Joshua Tree? i think i was kind of curious about the "bonus" live tape (disc) and the set was at the right price when doing some random browsing. the above image are just the copies i had within reach. whereas no, i am not adverse to purchasing multiple copies of (essentially) the same record, it seems to happen quite often with this one. 

RED HILL MINING TOWN gives an unusual, odd instance of Bono getting accused of not being political enough. the roots of the song are in the UK Miner's Strike of 1984, with some (i think it was mostly Bob Geldof) saying that he didn't "go far enough" as there was no scathing attack in the song about the government of the day. he argued that the only aspect he felt qualified to write about was of the devastation on a personal level, which he does brilliantly. rare is it that i have ever been quite so touched, or affected, by a lyric in the way i am by the way "i'm hanging on.....you're all that's left to hold on to" is delivered, no matter how many times i hear the song. utter, utter, utter genius.

IN GOD'S COUNTRY has the illusion of being a bit of a "throwaway" song. it eventually got released as a single after the band opted not to release Red Hill Mining Town as one (Bono felt he could never do it live, also the video they made for it was awful), and even then they released One Tree Hill in Australia and (obviously) New Zealand as the single (with same artwork) instead of this. deceptively short yet full to the brim of outstanding lyrics (hence me borrowing one for the title). pretty much like the overwhelming majority of things i could write of the song here it really is better to just go and listen to it, especially if (for some reason) you have not heard it before. just make sure you have it at the correct volume. 

TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES is f*****g rubbish. seriously. a dull, monotonous, misguided attempt at fusing all sorts of "bluegrass", "roots", "country" and whatever else came to mind so as to, you would think, in some way "honour" the American influence across the record. before writing this i forced myself to listen to this as part of the album entire, where normally i would skip it straight away. nope, not getting why it is here. basically any song from the b-sides (except perhaps the overt politics of Silver & Gold) would have been a better choice for the album. actually just leaving this out and not replacing it would have made the album more better. 

ONE TREE HILL was born of the anger at the sudden death of a long term friend. if you want an example of a singer throwing all that they have into a song, of a band playing like they will take on the world if for no reason than sheer defiance, here it is. yes, i did indeed eventually make it there. rather foolishly i, on the flight back from New Zealand, decided to play this song and promptly became so overwhelmed with emotions i bawled my eyes out. which i am sure the passenger next to me was absolutely thrilled about. beyond stating the obvious of this being a quite important song for me i am not sure there is much else i can say. except yes, go and play it. loud. 

EXIT is really, really dark, man. so dark that the lyrics are hidden, if not buried, under some serious layers of music. it's either that they are hiding what they are saying or forcing us, the audience to hear it. contradictions like that are a bit part of their song structures. whereas it generally gets described as being about a "psychotic killer", to me it sounds like straying into the darkness of psychosis, something anyone could / would be susceptible to. to borrow some of the lyrics, it talks of how the hands that build can also destroy. a foil, if you will, to the reference of Jara's "hands of love" in One Tree Hill, a bit like, maybe, how With Or Without You is the unrequited version of the requited but seeking further of I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For. someone cleverer than me can probably say that more better. 

MOTHERS OF THE DISAPPEARED for all the bluster, the shouting, the anger, the "play war through the speakers" of the album, it is in this deceptively soft sounding song that complete anguishing heartbreak comes.  ostensibly referencing the nightmare of the military removing children in South America, this is far more universal, speaking of the horror of a lost child. it doesn't get angry, it doesn't preach, it doesn't shout, it doesn't demand justice. the songs speaks only of unrelenting, perpetual heartbreak, casually holding a mirror up for us to see what a f*****g stupid species we are, what a damned f*****g horrible place we have let our world be. 

going back to the many, many copies of The Joshua Tree i have and i would suggest you try and seek out the big box one, the 20th anniversary edition. pirate it, if needs be. other than a set of b-sides, all of which would have been (considerably) more better to be on the album than Trip Through Your Wires, is perhaps the most fascinating video (disc) of U2 to exist. it's a Joshua Tree tour gig, live in Paris. even allowing for the usual disinterest of the French, it really does capture the moment the band went from popular and having "a bit of a following" to being, well, one of the biggest bands, ever. 

could one argue that The Joshua Tree has a case for being that impossible to name "greatest album of all time"? no, and i refer you to the comments above concerning the including of one song in particular that rules it out of the debate. many argue that this isn't even U2's best album, and there is a compelling case to agree with those that claim that is Achtung Baby. but i am not writing about that here. 

the short version of this post is, was (hang on - tl;dr?) that The Joshua Tree is a remarkable album, and it would be a worthy use of your time to listen to it or listen to it again, cutting away the "noise" or what have you what comes with the name U2 in the present day. so. let me leave you to maybe do that. 

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