zut alors

hi there

i was browing the iTwat store recently when a 4 track ep caught my eye. it was a four track ep by David "Derek" Bowie, simply entitled Heroes, or to give the correct title "heroes".

of the four tracks, three are the brilliant English/German mix done for the  Christiane F. film, the truly amazing, if you will uber amazing German version called "helden" and the live take on it from the 1978 live album Stage.

on the subject of Stage, i should stress two things. first, more than once i have seen this particular live album referred to as the "celebrated" live album. hereby consider this album celebrated by your humble narrator. secondly, this live album reflects one of the few times that Bowie did the full blow album version of the song live, rather than the (still very good) single edit. the only other time i am aware of him doing the full version of the song was on his magnificent Bridge School benefit performance. he might have done it on the Glass Spider tour too, but let us just pretend that there was no such tour.

the fourth version? that would be "héros", the French language version. as in the one version that i had not ever heard before, and to my knowledge a version that has never appeared on CD. so yes i bought it.

i had often wondered why exactly it was never released on a CD, either as part of one of the variants of the Sound&Vision box set or as an extra track on one of the "heroes" album reissues. i had just written it off as being probably due to French things, like being obnoxious, reluctant to help, berets, unimaginative flag, general French disdain for the superior English and onions.

it had, not once, occurred to me that it has never (as far as i know) made it to CD because it is really, really, really awful.

here's a sample i filmed off of my iTwat with my blueberry. rather just accept these few seconds as evidence, do not punish yourself (if you have not heard it) by seeking the full version.

wow, that's bad. yes, the quality of my recording and the song itself.

that a song so beautiful, so universal and so unifying can be ruthlessly shredded like it was a document that WikiLeaks wanted probably tells you all that you need to know of the French language. i shall, however, make a few more observations.

if this is what the French language does to a song like "heroes" then it is little wonder that the French Government frequently feels a requirement to pass laws that protect and enforce the use of this language. people in places like Calais or similar must look around the world, see how other languages work, and lament the cursed luck they apparently have for what they ended up with. i am still struggling to understand exactly why France feels it needs a special language anyway, to be honest. for the most part, as pointed out to me by a learned friend, the predominat method of communication in France is a simplistic, somewhat basic sequence of shrugs to show their feelings on matter. beyond that, the only time the French language seems to get any relevant use is either when they are saying how great France is, or composing statements of defeat, surrender or other similar sentiments of resignation.

i do appreciate and respect that using the terms "French" and "Government" in the way i have is something of a slap in the face to the established ideas of what a Government should and should not do as has evolved over the centuries. oh sure, it's all "je suis un homme des harde" now, isn't it, saying how they will back the US in a war with Syria (or somewhere), quite confident that any such war is unikely but if it did happen they could always quickly make some new rules in Belgium that prevents them from doing anything. except composing statements of a nature previously outlined.

if this is what happens when a great artist like David Bowie agrees to allow one of his songs to be performed in French then it is no surprise that the only songs from France to have been of any consequence to the rest of the world are them ones that had all the sex noises on them, and of course little or no singing in French.

the only decent French musician i can think of is JJ Burnel out of The Stranglers. and he was born in London (innit). for heaven's sake, even Austria had a halfway decent go at a proper pop star with Falco. i can only imagine the kids of France, when they heard that Bowie was going to do "heroes" in French, started off what they consider to be one of their riots, begging him not to as they like the song and do not wish to see it tarnished by inferior language.

when asked if he would ever write an autobiography, Bowie's response was "look, just go and look at all the different biographies of me out there, find one you like or consider amusing and just take that as it". he's really not interested in the subject. which means we shall never know why on Earth he did this version of the song. i'd like to think it was as a consequence of a bet or a dare from Iggy Pop or Brian Eno, to be honest. or perhaps he just agrees with the sentiments expressed here and was prepared to sacrifice his fine work to prove the point.

i am unlikely to play "héros" too often in the future, then. but the other three versions are ace.




être excellent à l'autre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the do it yourself test for cancer?

hi there

an unusual post this, as in it's somewhat serious and i really don't know what to make of it. all i know is that this advert caught my eye earlier today.

i do know that the lovely ladies of this earth going for a Pap Smear test is important, and should be done once a year if possible. i don't know how wise it is to have the test done by yourself at home and posted or picked up. this is a service that someone is offering here.

hmn. the website says that this all costs R699, which is very roughly either US$70 or £43. that seems like a good price if you are in the US or the UK i suppose, but then you have decent wages and considerably better employment than here. and a regular water supply, a regular electricity supply, a political system in which more often than not one sees the corrupt and the incompetent hounded out of office not promoted and other trivial things like that. 

the chaps reading this need not feel left out. apparently, also on their website, they also offer tests for the gentry, mostly for diseases you may have contracted in a most interesting way. no idea on the cost of them. 

i can't say much else about this service as i do not know anything else. any comment i made would be based on the assumption that i am surprised to see that one could do this at home, and thus i would in all likelihood attract, rightly, one of them cease and desist notices or worse. 

all i do know is that the importance of these Pap Smear tests does need to be circulated out there, hence this post. if the service offered by those who took this advert work for you, great. 

and if you are wondering about if i took a picture of the advert in Commodore 64 mode......

....of course i did.





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

more Commodre 64 Camera Mode action

hi there

yep, that's right. the title of this post tells you what you need to know; indeed there will be little or nothing of any particular relevance to the world at large here. there will, however, be yet more class pictures taken with my iTwat with the Camera 64 thing switched on.

i would have thought that the novelty factor would have worn off by now too, since that is probably what you are thinking. i am afraid it has not, and indeed i am considering purchasing another version of this camera trick thingie to give a bit of life to the novelty factor. i would say i will keep you posted but surely you know that i will.

the iTwat was in the car this morning, since the boys rather like playing what few games we can get from the iTwat store here on it as we head to school. instead of doing the sensible thing and either taking pictures of them or allowing them to take pictures of each other, i opted for a view of my dashboard.

i think that is the bit of the car that is called the dashboard, it's the part, as you can see, where all the dials and indicator things are. yes, that is a scan lines picture above, the non-scan lines one to follow.

it is quite exciting times, for i am only a few thousand kms away from having clocked up 250,000 in the machine. that would equal driving around the world about 10 times in total, or if you like 65.1% of the way to the Moon, if there was a road to the Moon.

that last bit is, now that i think, rather informative. sorry about that, since i promised a post of little actual relevance. hey ho, let me make amends with that other view of the dashboard / bit where the control dials and numbers are on the car behind the steering wheel.

proving that the Camera 64 "app" for my iTwat is the best thing ever is something that i seek to do. it's not always easy to convince people that everything looks cool in Commodore 64 mode, but this next picture should in many ways do just that.

doesn't that look awesome? and yes, you are right, that is Phil Collins, doing Turn It On Again with his band Genesis. i have no idea what the original song, presumably called Turn It On, sounds like. i do know, however, on the basis of the above, that the Camera 64 thing instantly makes everything and everyone look a good deal cooler than they are.

speaking of cool, it baffles me as to why when the laptop (laptwat, more like, i hate the things) makers of the world met in secret to launch the wretched things on the world did they not insist that it resemble a Commodore 64 as closely as possible?

i mean, how cool would a laptop be if it had the picture power of a Commodre 64? this cool.

i had the laptwat on as i had business with the iTwat store. by some sort of clerical error or minor miracle, the new Manic Street Preachers single, Show Me The Wonder, is actually available to purchase on the limited iTwat store here. a download is not a proper single as such, but that's the way of the world. i am just glad that i could purchase it, since sadly the band are signed to Sony and as we know Sony do all that they can to take the power of the global nature of the internet and try to limit the countries you can buy things from them.

Show Me The Wonder is a cracking song, by the way. that and the title track offer great promise for the album Rewind The Film, released next week i believe. the "b-side" of the download is OK, i just cannot remember what it is called. Something that starts with an M. oh hang on the iTwat is sat here with me, it's called Melancholyme - no wonder i could not remember it. the third track, a live recording of Tsunami, is a bit oh dear really. it's from a massive singles gig they did a few years ago. it is, frankly, an awful recording of a barely average performance of a halfway decent song.

here's hoping that the extra tracks that come with the iTwat download of the album, also recordings from that gig, are better. i am somewhat resigned to the fact that i will be going the way of an iTwat download for their new album, which makes me sad. the exchange rate presently makes buying it from overseas not viable, and going on how the Beady Eye and Primal Scream albums released earlier this year are still not available here in CD form there is no chance of the Manics one pitching up. not with the Sony approach.

anyway, whilst i was waiting for the single to download, i decided to take one of them "selfie" pics. it was in doing so that i noticed something rather peculiar.

no, not me. i am just regular peculiar, not rather peculiar. look at the writing on the ace Star Wars poster behind me. it seems in its infinite wisdom that the Commodore 64 camera app thingie decides to deliver a "negative" or if you will mirror image when you use it with the touch bit of the iTwat facing you. strange.

is it just me that gets bugged, if not irked, when on a science fiction show or film someone mentions that they "need to reverse the polarity of the neutrons"? just what polarity is this that they speak of, exactly? neutrons are neutral, there is a bit of a clue in the name.

it's a bit like, i suppose, when them that do the weather and that on the radio or the tele say that there's a "50% chance of rain". oh, really, 50%? that to me is "we do not know, toss a coin and see".

anyway, if the iTwat thing had existed when the Commodore 64 ruled the earth, it would have been even cooler, although i am not sure how long it would have taken to download tracks. probably quite quick, though, going on the way those two chaps were able to build a girl and indeed a rocket so quick in Weird Science. this is probably, then, how the download screen thing would look.

and, erm, that's it for this update on what i have been doing with the sensational Camera 64 thing on my iTwat device. i can only hope that you have enjoyed looking at these images nearly as much as i rather liked taking them.

i have little doubt that more images like the above will follow in the near future!




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

like/totally/not/random

hi there

it is i doing my giving someone a plug thing. in fairness i only promote or suggest you check out things that i have the geniune view that others will like and appreciate, which is very much the case here.

 dear readers, i invite you to give a try to the blog known as Like/Totally/Not/Random. it is a blog written by someone i know reasonably well; for the purposes of giving someone a name let us call him Nick. over on his blog you will find a number of interesting things to read; or at least i find them most fascinating. give it a try!

Nick is probably a better writer than i am and is almost certainly better at wearing clothes than me. these two reasons alone should be motivation enough for you to click here.



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

posted love bead toothpaste

hi there

i just got a mail from my Dad featuring the below picture. it was a rather enthusiastic mail, as you can well imagine when i tell you that it related to his joy at the arrival of a parcel today.

yes indeed, those wise to the ways of my Dad, this means that his package, or if you will "fix" of this love bead toothpaste stuff arrived.

on a practical level, since i struggled to find information on this myself, it seems that it is perfectly legal and indeed fine to send toothpaste vial the mail. one just has to make sure it remains sealed in the original packaging from purchase, and it would be wise, i suppose, to do what i did and wrap the packets up in cling film.

no, i do not have any idea what's so great or possibly addictive about toothpaste that has love beads in it. my intention would be to never, ever find out to be honest, but you never know. it's probably, dear me, genetic, and when i reach some sort of mid-life crisis stage like my Dad apparently has who knows, perhaps i will be arranging for James or William to send me items that have love beads in them.

many thanks indeed again to Tesco, who were kind enough to have this apparently much sought after love bead toothpaste on sale at half price when i frequented their premises. it was admirable that the staff at Tesco raised no eyebrow and solicited no clarification when they were presented with a basket full of the stuff by your humble narrator.

Dad, i hope you have lots of fun with whatever you do with this love bead toothpaste, and i never, ever want to learn of anything beyond that it is just put to the conventional use of cleaning teeth.



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

self-shot personification

hi there

the self-shot portrait, increasingly known as the "selfie" in a world adopting rather bordello-like parlance as something normal, is quite the phenomenon on the internets. it seems that all users are obliged to "up" at least one "selfie" in their internet life or otherwise be cast aside. there are of course variations of success in this.

a number of people have, rather unwisely, decided that the "selfie" should be blessed with a distinguishable lack of clothes from how they would usually be seen. following that, others have opted to include one or more others in their selfie, adapting and adopting to some rather unusual positions which makes wandering the internet something of a nostalgic trip along the roads of the darker areas of Soho in the 70s and 80s.

easily the most popular "selfie" shot is the celebrated "duck face" pose, taken by a number of the lovely ladies of the world and shared extensively across social networks. for those unaware of what this pose is, basically a young lady, normally ready for an evening of joviality and merriment, imagines that she has just sucked upon a slice of lemon that a duck or other form of quasi-aquatic like dwelling creature has recently urinated on. the facial reaction to such a suck is considered to be the perfect pose, and thus the picture is taken when thoughts of the presumably wet lemon are removed from the mouth are at a premium.

a chap called Fernando Alonso, some sort of Spanish chap who i believe is quite the enthusiast of motor cars, would appear to have taken a different approach to the world of the "selfie". no ducks, imagined or real, no visible thoughts of urine and a rather conventional amount of clothing would appear to mark out his approach to this genre in ways that are different from the above.

one would imagine that the above would inspire many to try and mimic this "selfie" for their next portrait, although off hand i am not sure how many people, "duck" faced ladies in particular, will be able to summon quite so many fellow motor enthusiasts to be in the background.

i can only presume that by the end of today someone will have done that photoshop thing and the above image will feature 'honest' John "winner" Terry, subsequently to be spread across the internet.

many thanks indeed to Mr Norman Bastard, my friend and pilot of choice, for providing this picture. i am happy to credit him, but i have no idea at all where he stole it from. probably off this Spanish chap himself, to be honest.

we can only hope that by the next time Mr Alonso does a "selfie" he or one of his people have discovered the Camera 64 "app" and thus he presents himself in the class ways of a Commodore 64 like image. with scan lines.



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

the big lebowski kit

hi there

well, if this item were to be packed away without some pictures and comments being made i suspect one or two would not, as it were, abide. i am not sure why i have not posted this here before, really - laziness, perhaps, or just a reluctance to attract fellow fans of the Lebowski, for they might not find the rest of this blog to their liking. if they, indeed you, like this, then nice one.

how is it that i ended up with a Big Lebowski kit? a combination of things, really, but in truth it stems from none other than my Dad. i had better explain that one.

when Jeff Bridges did that film where he played that guy, right, my Dad all of a sudden considered Jeff Bridges to be the greatest thing ever. to that end, he demanded of me "every film" that Mr Bridges had appeared in. my brother and i were really quite excited about this, as it gave us an opportunity to have Dad willingly watch The Big Lebowski, a film we were sure would upset him.

why would this film, considered by many (rightly) to be a masterpiece and perhaps the greatest triumph of the Cohen brothers (which is quite a statement), offend him? the language. foul and obscene language in films tends to offend Dad a great deal. as in his review of Casino was "why did they have to swear so much in it, it ruined the film".  seeing people getting stabbed in the neck with a pen, or beaten senseless with baseball bats and then buried alive, didn't bother him too much.

anyway, i arranged a copy of the film for Dad, and waited for the call to ask me what the hell i was playing at, giving it to him. it was a call that never came. to my surprise, and delight, he loved every minute of the film, with reports from Mum suggesting he has never laughed to so much at a movie.

yeah, that's a C64 style image of the kit for you. fear not, there is a mix of C64 and "proper" pictures for your enjoyment, i just prefer the C64 ones.

anyway, as Dad was now well into The Big Lebowski, i decided to browse and see if i could find him a suitable gift to reflect his love of the film. it was then that i discovered this kit on sale on amazon. as at the time amazon offered free shipping on anything you like, so long as the order was over £25, it became viable for me to buy him one and indeed get one for myself. 

sadly amazon stopped that special on the shipping, which has helped my bank account a great deal, but i do wish they would do it again. in the mean time, at my time of writing at least, amazon still have this item for sale - here is the link to it for you if you have a wish to purchase. 

if for some reason you have never seen The Big Lebowski yet have somehow managed to read this far, you may want to stop around about now, for a look at the contents of this kit will give some spoilers.

how to describe this film? well, the best i can do is, and i chose the wording here very carefully, to say that at face value The Big Lebowski is a complex, post-modernist reimagination of key works by Homer. on further study, however, it reveals itself to be a simple, surprisingly linear straightforward work of comic genius. yes, i have double checked, and that is intended to be that way around.

onwards with the contents (or most of it) of this kit, and where better to start than with a coffee mug? it has a most excellent picture on it, shown here in class C64 style to make it look even better.

no is the answer. the question is "do i use this mug". there is zero chance of it ever being used, why on earth would i risk damaging it?

the quote on the other side of the mug is an impressive, important and relevant one from Walter.

wise words indeed.

which is the front and the back of the mug, you ask? well that would depend on if you are naturally right or left handed, and indeed which way you hold a coffee mug, no matter which hand you are more inclined to use anyway.

never mind that, though, what's this, in full on C64 mode glory, inside the mug?

it is, frankly, a toe. this makes perfect sense if you happen to have seen the film.

i would imagine that a few of you would be interested in a clearer image of both the mug and indeed the toe, so here you go!

i am probably not going to be at all popular for revealing this, but please be warned - if you ever attend a Big Lebowski screening at the invitation of my Dad, be prepared for the toe from his kit to be launched at you at some point after watching the film.

a further clearer view of the two above is shown below, along with a quick look at the book that comes with it too. although i like the C64 look.

what else is there inside the box? well, how about a Dude bowling jacket patch and a Dude Abides fridge magnet? yeah? yes.

one of the interesting, so obvious you miss it facts about the film The Big Lebowski is that whilst bowling takes a central position in the movie, at no point do you ever see Jeff Bridges actually bowl. go watch the film again if you don't believe me!

as for the Dude Abides quote, it is interesting that it has lingered as the most frequently quoted line from the film over the last, what, 15 years or so. it's a line that is only used once in the movie, yet this seems to be the phrase all remember. and why not, it's a class philosophy.

and yes, the fridge magnet looks splendid in C64 mode. here is the proof.

for a final look at the contents of this box, well, here's something that really ties the box together. and, indeed, would tie your desk together.

yes, that's right, a rug mousepad.

nope, i don't use this either. i keep the kit packed up safe, sorry. although taking it out now to take a picture of it, in C64 mode of course, i could see it being used at some point. it's a rather smart and practical one.

is this kit worth getting, and is it decent value for money? this blog is not really the place for such questions to be posed or greeted with an answer. if you or someone you know is a fan of The Big Lebowski, then the pretty obvious answer is "oh, hell yes", no matter what the cost is.

i would be pretty sure that you have worked this out all by yourself, but yes indeed the above shows the back of the box, should you want further information on it all.

and that's it really. as a sort of novelty item, i am rather pleased to have it. it has no practical purpose, but then so what. it's a very nice way of showing off some love for a truly great film!


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

a sunny day out

hi there

well, perhaps at last considering how time seems to grow in distance with all things internet updates, a pretty hefty update here!

yesterday our area had it's second, presumably now annual, community day. i am pretty sure i posted pictures from it in September of last year if you are concerned enough to go and re-read - have a look at the menu thingie on the side, i am not doing a link, sorry!

this year it seemed to double in size and about triple in amount of people attending, which is a very good thing indeed. there were a number of presentations from essential services and similar organizations, all designed to be as much fun as they were educational for the kids. we were even blessed with the presence of someone from (i think) the Mayor's office - an MEC or MMC or something he called himself. we could all have done without his arrival disrupting one of the shows that the kids were doing for everyone, but no matter - of course politicians are always more important than children, or anyone else.  yeah.

on with some pictures, then, and one of two things that James was really excited about was that he could show off his most excellent official England cricket shirt.

i was happy to find that one for him, and am delighted to see he takes a lot of pride in wearing it. i have noticed that when he has it on it doesn't get quite as bashed around and damaged as all his other clothes! you may note that there's some dried grass all over his pants in the above, but the shirt has remained spotless!

William was most eager to have a go on the cycling and driving course once again. last year William really took a shine to it, in particular when he worked out that if he crashed (in particular into James) a police officer would come running over to investigate. yes, William, that just remains incredible fun when you are all grown up and it happens on the highways.

this year, though, William took a shine to having a go at doing it mostly properly, hardly crashing at all. in fact rather than ramming in to anyone that got in his way he just made a car horn "beep" sound until they moved.

William trying to do the course properly translated as for the most part me pushing him around the course, since he has not quite mastered the art of the pedals yet. this did allow for some wonderful opportunites for pictures of me with the boys.

and where are such pictures? in the mind, for better or worse, of my (considerably) better half. she thought that she'd taken some really good pictures, but alas wrestled a bit with the ways of our newish camera. what my (considerably) better half considered to be the sound of a picture taking was in fact only the sound of it saying that it was really quite happy with the focus elements and that she should continue. this was a continuation that she was unaware of, and thus did not continue.

whoops. oh well, i am reasonably certain that you all have a good (perhaps far too good) idea of what i look like, and no i am probably not getting any better in a looks sense. no real loss, then, in having no further pictures of your humble narrator, and there are plenty of good ones of the boys unblemished by my presence!

as my wrestles with the newish camera tend to see me emerge as the victor, i had no such troubles, and was thus able to get some great pics of my (considerably) better half, much like the one below.

lovely. my, that is one foxy, musky, stoaty hat.

a quick look at the larger area of the driving course that the boys took quite a shine too, then. well, a larger area, but a smaller picture - blogger does not particularly care for expanding landscape style pictures to a further width than this; at least not unless you want to have to scroll and muck around for the images.

we watched a few of the presentations, with the dog training and tricks in particular keeping both boys interested. i suspect the message of the lady dog trainer, one of how you should always sterlize your dog or else they will be responsible for about ten million puppies or something, kind of went over the heads of the young audience a bit. no matter, it was ace when they rolled around, jumped through hoops and that.

onwards to more playing, then, and a regular favourite of a climbing frame or if you will jungle gym. William is nothing short of reckless on these, loving to reach a great a height as possible on them and tending, if left unguarded, to get down in the rather fast manner of jumping. so yes we do keep a very keen eye and a quick set of hands at the ready as and when he tackles one of these!

yes, they are portable lavatories in the background. sorry about that. actually, no, not sorry - where is it that you expect people to go and do bodily functions? these things exist, and so whilst not particularly celebrated here, their presence in a picture shouldn't cause too much offence.

moving onwards, you may be delighted to learn, and i trust that what's coming across in these pictures is what a magnificent day it was. sunny, warm (borderline hot) and generally pleasant on the weather front. all this and it is only in theory the first moments of Spring here. i believe a long hot Summer is coming our way, and isn't going to pass us by.

and since i've just quoted the one band that Paul Weller was in that doesn't get anywhere near enough attention or praise, i am wondering just what it is that Mr Mick Talbot is doing. the last i head he had hooked back up with that Kevin fellow in Dexy's. good luck to him, i say. and you should check out some of The Style Council too, by the way. any singles or greatest hits would do, but you could do a lot worse than pick up the Our Favourite Shop album.

back on the point, or if you will the whole point of no return to throw out a rather obscure reference to The Council of Style, the presence of a roundabout really thrilled both the boys and a number of other children there. i tried to push them around on it a bit, but James really took a shine to doing that.

William also took quite a shine to sticking his feet of of it as it went around, taking a spinning tumble more than once. oh sure, there were some tears and regret when he tumbled in such a way that a combination of dried grass and sand hit his eyes, but that didn't stop him from simply having another go at it.

that chap i mentioned earlier, the Mayor or the Mayor's office MEC or MMC (that latter one having other connotations for some of us, but no matter), joined in with the children on the roundabout. happily he did it without much of an entourage and certainly no photographers, suggesting that he's a decent enough bloke and that the somewhat dick-like nature of his arrival was more related to the hosts than the guess himself.

i didn't get a picture of me doing so, but i did indeed push the chap around on the roundabout with the kids for a bit. he is probably, then, the most senior politician i have assisted on a roundabout to date.

if my Aunt Susan had her way, she or i would be doing something reasonably similar to one William Hague, although i suspect any negative side of that should rather be directed at Theresa May, for she seems to be, if we are to remain in the business of honesty here, the particular arsepiece that has put certain highly arsepiece things in place causing us one or two headaches at present. headaches go away, though, and sometimes it really is in the best interest of the headache to go away all by itself, for it will not like what comes along to remove it.

erm, moving back to the point once again, and what's a sunny, fun day without some bouncy castle action? well, probably just as much fun, to be honest, but a bouncy castle tends to enhance things a great deal. they are super amazing things!

the boys, every now and then, used the bouncy castles pretty much as they were intended to be. for the most part, however, they rather saw them more as "challenging climbing frames" rather than something one is supposed to simply jump on. William in particular is rather fond of climbing up the "bouncy slide" parts rather than just riding down them!

but, when the mood takes them to just bounce on a bouncy castle, you can every now and then get a picture of the two of them almost looking towards the camera. i use the word almost with the broadest possible definition, of course. well, see for yourself!

and finally, the other thing that James was really excited about. that would be football.

with their being no Premier League this weekend, what with England having to bravely tackle the powerhose of Moldova in order to qualify for an embarassing group stage exit at the World Cup next year, James was missing football a bit.

hang on a minute, wasn't Moldova where some Prince came from that married one of them in Dynasty or the spin-off The Colbys? i think they called it "Moldovia" or something, which is perhaps what it is anyway. if i remember it right, there was a class wedding that took place, with a sort of massacre-like scenario with someone angry with the Prince. i think further and Game Of Thrones appears to have ripped the idea off of that episode, although the ripped off idea featured a rather stronger emphasis on the massacre elements.

erm, anyway, James remembered from last year that there was a sand-like "beach football" pitch at the park where the event was held, and was very much looking forward to playing on it. indeed it was there, and yes James had a right good go on it.

in fact i think we ended up staying some 45 minutes longer than we had intended just to let James play away for a bit. no problem, it was a lovely day and both he and William were having too much fun to wish to rush off anyhow!

blimey, this post is rather large, is it not?

overall, what a wonderful day out, and what a brilliant, mostly well organized community event. as to if we shall be at the third annual one, presumably in September 2014, i would suspect the answer is most likely not, if you read the comments around May correctly. no doubt we shall find something of equal if not greater interest at that time, though!

more of the kind of thing you would expect to find here on my blog in the not too distant future, i sort of promise!

many thanks for reading!



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

stags

hi there

whoops, what can i say, sorry for a lack of anything here of late. in truth it's not so much lack of time as it has been simply that not all that much of interest has "popped in there" to write here. i am not too sure that it has now, but i thought i'd better do something to let the people know i am reasonably alive and somewhat well.

i was browsing some store recently when i saw some class stags for sale in Musica. a stag is what i would call a stereo unit, and have done ever since Vim Fuego called his a "stag" in one of the Bad News films or records. actually, he could have been saying "stack", but stag just sounds like a class name for a stereo.

for the chap or lady who want to take their turntable with them wherever they go, and who would not, this is a very smart looking portable stag.

that price tag of R2000 translates as roughly US$200 or £128 if you are interested in such converstions of currency. with no research, i would suggest that's a pretty decent price for it. 

whereas i have not actually used either of the ones on display here, i do have a Crosley unit at home, a wonderful Christmas gift once upon a time from my (considerably) better half. it does the job really, really well. 

for the person who wants the best of proper music on a turntable and the ease of use of "flash" things for inferior downloads, this looks like a smart system indeed. 

i quite like how there's something of a half-hearted effort by Musica to get interest in vinyl on the go here. i mean, it's great that they are selling this equipment, but they are not exactly going out of their way to sell records. only a few stores carry lps, and even then they have about 6 different ones. better than nothing, i suppose, but then again it's not like they are pushing the boat out to have people who love music in their stores.

to date one still cannot buy either the recent Primal Scream or Beady Eye CDs at Musica or anywhere else. oh, sure, they can do a "special order" for you, but then again you can do a "normal order" off of your own amazon account and not pay them a premium to import the disc for you and "test" it on your behalf.

let me avoid any further rant by showing you a picture of a place where you can buy them nice shawarma things from.

i will try my best to do some interesting updates in the not too distant future!


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

Camel special edition things

hi there

well, this is awkward. i am convinced that i took some "proper" pictures of this carton of Camel centenary (or however you spell 100 years all fancy) edition cigarettes, but all i can find are the ones i took in Commodore 64 mode. hey ho, a pity as they have rather more detail than the Marlboro Black boxes, but never mind.

i am not really known for smoking Camel cigarettes, not with Marlboro on the market. that said, my Uncle Peter informs me that all cigarettes i prefer smell and taste of a certain byproduct of camels. and no, he does not word it quite like that.

in the past i certainly had no problem with them, mind, in particular when Marlboro were not available on the market here. they were not too bad at all, insofar as cigarettes can be good, and thus i thought it would be quite OK to get this celebratory carton whilst mooching around the duty free areas of Dubai.

yeah, these C64 style pictures are not really showing off the fancy, colourful artwork on the packets. this is something of a shame, since the majority of the packets pictured now reside in the bin. hey ho.

from a review perspective, as pretty as the boxes are, i will be glad to be rid of them. i have not really enjoyed them at all, they certainly do not taste like the Camel i recall.

from what i remember, Camel do mess around with the blends of tobacco in the cigarettes for different markets around the world, which is somewhat annoying for the chap in duty free.

i have in my time had a good deal worse, i suppose, but these were just not worth having, bar the elaborate packaging.

and, nope, can't think of anything else to say of them, except of course to point out that actually they do look fantastic in C64 mode.


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

boots

hi there

last week i had reason to peruse the morning newspaper. in amongst the usual tales of power, corruption and lies and advert, as indeed adverts are designed for the most part to do, caught my attention. it was a rather flamboyant, full page affair for a shoe store. indeed it was the kind of thing i would usually skip over, except that it contained information that said this time i should not skip it. what would that be? that the store proudly carried sizes 13 - 17.

being a size 13 means that usually i struggle to find quality footwear. as you are aware, you more regular readers, my supplier of usual choice has switched to dark brown boots only, which has in turn led to a sort of quasi-cowboy look being developed to accomodate them. it was quite exciting, then, to think i might find some of the black shaded boots for which i have a preference for. off i went, then.

the store did indeed have a formidable range of the larger sizes. my, those 17 size ones look like something else, believe me. i did not take any pictures of the size 17 boots, since i wasn't really there for them. i did, however, take a picture of a pair of size 13s that caught my eye.

well, when i say "caught my eye" i mean something along the lines of "love at first sight", of course. just how excellent do they look? well, good enough to buy is the straightforward answer there.

they are called something along the lines of "workboots" for whatever reason, and a good deal of fuss is made over the fact that they feature something called a YKK zip down the side. does it make any difference what sort of zipper is used as and when one of the things is required?

if the answer to the above is yes, for some reason, well then here's a picture of the zip thing in action.

whereas i am not one for giving names to everything as such, i do believe that these boots shall now be known as my 4Q boots. it just strikes me as the best way to introduce them to people. i am in particular looking forward to making a visit and introducing Zama to these 4Q boots; i suspect he will be most impressed with them.

more views of the boots, you crave? very well.

and of course, fellow Commodre 64 enthusiasts, i have not forgotten about you. whilst the above pictures were all taken with the blueberry, i did take the time to go and fetch that iTwat thing from it's docking station that does not charge an iTwat touch thanks to the genius of Apple design changes and took some C64 style pictures.

here you go, one of my boots (the left, if you must know) in the glory of Commodore 64 camera mode.

of course the iTwat is not quite clever enough to have a flash or anything like that when one is taking pictures, but never mind, i think these have come out reasonably well. it's ace to see the 4Q boots in Commodore 64 glory, something in which state lighting probably doesn't matter too much.

another shot of the left boot for your pleasure, this time with the "scan lines" setting on.

i still do not know if i prefer the pictures with or without the scan lines, so i guess i will just have to keep taking both.

for those of you less than excited about the Commodore 64 mode but nonetheless think that regular iTwat pictures are the way to go, here you are then, a plain, simple portrait of the left 4Q boot taken on the normal camera setting on the machine.

well, there isn't a great deal else i can say about these splendid 4Q boots. they are the right size and are rather comfy. what more could you want?



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