A Hobbit's Journal

Bills

2012-01-20T00:03:00.002Z

Like most people I pay bills, and I mostly think the ones I get are reasonable or I have some hand in them such as choosing the service provider or deal etc. On the heating and electric front my bills are relatively low in the summer time but come winter, even though I am often reluctant to put the heating on they are quite shocking. I tend to stick to something like 2 hours of heating a day really, I live alone and so I can layer up clothing wise. These days though because I have an arthritic problem and can be in pain I sometimes have it on more, though its done manually and once my place is warm off it goes.

Having just had by heating and electric bill for the last quarter I have to say I find what they charge pretty criminal. I can pay it, that's not the problem but my feelings go out to the elderly and unemployed or low income with young families, they must really struggle. Of course here in Britain the corporate hierarchy of these firms are clueless because why should they worry when they get a fat bonus and are on their luxury yacht in Barbados basking in warmth?

Ten years ago my heating bills for gas seemed considerably lower, nowadays they've easily trebled and will probably carry on rising. As a nation we need to be investing in affordable heating like many other countries are. The big companies need to stop with all the advertising bullshit and comparison web sites they influence and just give a solid value for money service. Where will it all end? I dread to think.

Disgaea 4

2012-01-17T15:03:00.006Z

I walked into my local game store yesterday and noticed the new Disgaea 4 on the shelf. Now, I am quite sycophantic about the whole series and this is the only title I don't yet have. I reached tentatively for it and saw the price was slashed in half, result as games are way expensive these days. It was pre-owned but pretty much new and the guy at the counter said someone had purchased it and traded it in a couple of days later. Their loss my gain, and it was the only one they'd had in the store, as the Disgaea series isn't really mainstream, a fact I'm glad of.

So it's back to Disgaea madness, prinnies, demons, anti-heroes, quirky Japanese anime and a game that will devour hours of my time. Geek heaven awaits! Oh and the video reviewer gets it wrong when he states sometimes you can't see what's happening, you can, you just rotate the screen with the shoulder buttons, it's amazing how they can review stuff seemingly having not played it fully.

Creationist Propaganda Of The Worst Kind

2012-01-13T16:18:00.005Z

Whilst collecting and sorting my mail from a basket that catches it at the main door at the bottom of the stairwell this morning I noticed a neighbour had mail from a christian creation church named 'Creation Ministries International'. It was bound in transparent cellophane and thus easy to see and read. I couldn't help but notice that it had a picture of Charles Darwin overlaid with a no entry sign.

The Article was written by a Gary Bates who heads it with 'Pressing on with questioning evolution'. Ok, so it's not really my mail to read, though as neighbours the first one to the mail tends to sort through it and leave peoples letters in respective piles. I quickly perused the article for a moment and the content was contradictory from the beginning. The author opens with 'Can we imagine living in a world devoid of christian influence (well I can actually), where compassion is regarded as a weakness and abortion is acceptable because babies aren't wanted or just the wrong sex?'

We then get some biased paraphrased world war two history lesson of sorts, Hitler's regime killing millions of Jews and around 70,000 handicapped German people. We get mentions of German people being duped by propaganda, eugenics programmes all culminating in the fact it was social Darwinism to blame. Near the foot of the page it states 'Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it'. I didn't read on, as I've stated though it was clear to view it wasn't my mail and what I was reading was only making me feel angry.

It's almost like creationists have created an alternate christian reality for themselves, a different world with their own take on history, so let's address a few facts mentioned in the article I briefly read.

Let's begin with the holocaust Gary mentions and I will refer him to letter wrote to the Pope Pius XII during the war by Ukrainian metropolitan Andrej Septyckyj referring to the German government as a regime of terror and corruption, more diabolical than that of the Bolsheviks. The Pope replied by quoting verses from Psalms and advising Septyckyj to 'bear adversity with serene patience.'

Wladislaw Raczkiewicz, president of the Polish government-in-exile, appealed to the Pope in January 1943 to publicly denounce Nazi violence. Bishop Preysing of Berlin did the same, at least twice. Pius XII refused.

And lastly when advised by his own clergy such as Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, who wrote to him and said, 'The massacres of the Jews reach frightening proportions and forms.' Pope Pious simply said there wasn't enough evidence to verify the rumours. Though to be fair there is examples the pope did covertly intervene on some occasions such as the deportations in Hungry though the vatican largely remained silent throughout the war to the atrocities when it could have raised its voice and made a difference.

Let's also mention his predecessor Pope Pius XI who said 'Mussolini is a wonderful man. Do you hear me? A wonderful man'. This was the same pope that blessed Italian bombers as they went to bomb Ethiopian villages in Mussolini's war of Imperial conquest.

I want to end this little segment on the holocaust and Gary's alleged Darwinian influenced eugenics programme by quoting Hitler himself;

'I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the almighty creator; by defending myself against the Jews, I am fighting for the Lord. I would like to thank providence and the almighty for choosing me of all people.'

Of course looking back in ancient history and events in the bible you soon find it in spades, Moses ordering his people to kill all of the Midians, in Numbers 1:7 in the bible it states;

'They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man. 8 Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. 9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. 10 They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.'

But it gets better, not content with the above, when women, children and other captives were taken along with the war booty Moses says in part 15 'Have you allowed all the women to live?' he asked them. 16 They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man." Notice how they keep the dames for themselves?

There's many other such examples in the bible, god it seems doesn't really have a problem with ethnic cleansing at all, in fact he actively encourages it. So, Hitler from his above quote would seem to be acting on divine inspiration, of course we also know he did want a pure Aryan race but his theory and take on it wasn't about the many in Germany, it was about the whim of the few in power that facilitated it.

And before we move on let's not forget Noah's Ark and gods own mass genocide and ethnic cleansing of the world, it don't get any bigger or better than that!

If we look at the closing line I read and quoted above 'Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it' then we only have to look at later regimes in Cambodia and Serbia or the Kurds in Iraq to know that people who DID know history DID in fact repeat it. Mankind has always been a tribal creature and sadly through history has always fought amongst itself being the Red Indian tribes of American, to the Aztec tribes among countless others. Add religion into this mix and mans desire for control and power becomes heightened and atrocities become justified because they become a God's or Allah's will and command. Religion has been used to justify many wars and slaughter throughout history as we all know.

Let's move onto the disabled and abortion bit he mentions. Well with the above we can only conclude pregnant women of opposing tribes in biblical areas were killed but there's more specifics in the bible too. The Book of Leviticus, Chapter 21, says that if you are a disabled person you can’t be a priest or take communion; in the New Testament, it says renounce sin and you can ‘take up thy bed and walk' (Luke, Chapter 5); and disability is seen as a punishment from God, ‘be cured if you sin no more,’ in John, Chapter 9.

Or we could move onto Leviticus 21:17-23 which states 'Whosoever ... hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or anything superfluous, a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Or crookbacked, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken; No man that hath a blemish of the seed'.... it goes on some more but I'll spare you.

As with the other stuff there's more examples I could quote, religious apologists I'm sure could add their own 'nicer' biblical quotes to the debate but this only serves to demonstrate how the bible is a contradictory fractured affair, rewrote and badly edited over the ages.

As for abortion, well it's not nice but sometimes necessary in the world of today, if I was told an unborn child a partner was expecting was deaf, blind and dumb then what would be the point of them being in a world they couldn't interact with, see or hear? Taking the religious drivel above into account there'd be no point them being here anyway because if there was a heaven they'd not be welcome.

I really don't know why it comes to Darwin or natural selection what creationists are afraid of, or why they seek to disprove it or eliminate it from enquiring rational minds? There's more resounding evidence and proof for it than there ever has been for creationism. Francis Collins, the American physicist/geneticist who was the leader of the human genome project and is also a christian puts the mankind's age at around 100,000 years old, other scientists differ on it being older or younger but many say older. That said, when we look at the creationist side of things happening about 6 or 7 thousand years ago we could say over a timeline and on what Collin's says that mankind was here for 99% of the time regardless. During that duration he had to forge his way in the world enduring war, famine, resettlement and natural disasters. It's only in the last percent of Collin's time frame that god actually gets interested in mankind and sets up shop in a hot arid backwater of the world and his created crew get busy doing his work (Adam and Eve rubbish to one side here). We all know though through archaeology and recorded history that civilizations had risen and fallen, people such as Alexander the great had crossed most of the known world and the ancient Greeks had been talking some degree of sense about democracy and philosophy. Gods of course had been created in abundance before the alleged main dude entered the fray to explain of course what mankind couldn't explain back then.

I find it sad to see that organisations such as the Creation Ministries International would post such blinkered one sided rubbish to people. To refer to your own article Gary, you and the organisation you are in are duping people with propaganda of worst kind.

Future Proof

2012-01-12T15:03:00.003Z

There's a lot of talk among the tech media, websites and press regarding the next generation of consoles to be showcased at the next E3 Expo this coming June. Sony have said they won't be announcing the Playstation 4 at the Expo and are looking at possible partnerships regarding a cloud based system. As for the Microsoft and future Xbox's, there's talk of a possible new machine that comes with a tablet, possibly a challenger for the new Nintendo system expected soon, though industry experts say a new Xbox will be doubtful.

Samsung have recently announced future proof televisions that you can upgrade without buying a new set and most new televisions now are internet enabled giving you the ability to browse or download films with subscription services such as Netflix.

It doesn't really take a genius to see where it's all going and that is 'cloud' based. I would imagine the industry will find it much cheaper to have games available to either play or download from the cloud, it'll obviously replace the need (eventually) to purchase hard copies of games on disks I should imagine and it's probably a better way to combat piracy both with games and movies.

I can see consoles getting much smaller as their main jobs will be just to run the games via the cloud, they'll just be a small device with a wireless controller, though I suspect still able to play blu-ray and such for a good few years yet but inevitably films on demand and internet tv's will be the new thing. You'll be able to purchase films on the cloud and stream them whenever you want. In all honesty I don't think these changes are too far off, my reasoning being when you look how far technology has jumped over the last 20 years.

I think we are ideally looking at the living room containing a voice recognition tablet device (as the processing power is rapidly growing on these) as the main but portable focus. Combined with this will be a voice recognition tv (they're already here) and a wireless controller for games, that will be all you need. Should you want to relax in bed you'll be able to stream things to your tablet, or maybe a family will have multiple tablets all streamed to via a central hub of sorts, parents being in control of a master tablet to control settings and content for their kids.

Having an ipad I can already see how the cloud is working and the benefit of it it breaks or you lose it, then all your downloaded software and files are still there indefinitely.

Whatever happens, exciting times are ahead.

Immigration - My Thoughts.

2012-01-11T12:37:00.004Z

Before I begin, I feel with this blog I am about to type that I need to put some form of disclaimer beforehand that I'm not racist, fascist or member of the BNP or EDL etc. My godfather (though I wasn't christened I must add) is an Afro-Caribbean gentleman and I grew up in a family that embraced foreign people and the multicultural society we've had for decades. However sadly it's not the done thing to talk about foreign people or immigration these days, people get uneasy or angry about it and most generally want to avoid such conversations, unless it is something that suddenly affects them of course. We've become a 'bite your lip' nation mostly when it comes to talking about such matters, even the political aspects of it.

It occurred to me this morning whilst paying my last council tax instalment 'Do we really know how many Eastern Europeans are actually here in the UK?'. The notion was instigated by an Eastern European man in the queue asking in broken English 'Please, give me form for council house?'.

I must confess I felt uneasy at this because I believe (and I hope) that preferential treatment should always be given to British nationals for that sort of accommodation. Usually such schemes go on points and rightly so but it left me wondering just how easy it actually is for foreign people to get into British council housing? Only today reports have been released that indicate immigrants do take British jobs. I'm sure the report is valid, though I don't read the actual paper the headline was in. Migration Watch the none political website also ran an article on the 9th of this month saying youth unemployment and immigration are more than a coincidence. All said and done I'd hope British people are always put before foreign applicants, even if they are unemployed. Recent reports have said there is a real shortage of council accommodation and unfortunately we always have a supply of single mums or old people here needing it despite peoples opinions on it and we should look after our own first.

Most British people actually feel there are too many foreign people here, especially Eastern European and they'll quietly say so. This doesn't mean they are racist because most of those people will actually know Indian or Afro Caribbean people either as friends or in the work place or even just to exchange small talk with down the local curry house or takeaway.

Before I go into where I actually stand on it politically and personally, I think a paraphrased history lesson is in order to better understand my viewpoint and understanding of our British multicultural society.

Post world war two we welcomed many Free Polish people that had gallantly fought either in the British army or as part of the free Polish forces. These Polish people settled into British life, in some cases married British partners and worked in industry, in my area it was the coal mines they worked in mostly. They integrated into British life and became British citizens whilst still retaining their culture. Over the next few decades that Polish population grew slightly as some escaped the Iron curtain and made their way to Britain. You'd see Polish working mens clubs back when I was young or even Ukrainian clubs of the same nature but that generation of Eastern European very much settled into the English way of life and culture, were hard working and an asset to the country and more importantly 'integrated'.

In the 1950s Britain of course there was a post war man power shortage and people were invited from within the commonwealth to come and work here, especially in the cities where there was a shortage of labour. Many did come, they settled and they became proud citizens, adopting their new country but also bringing their culture with them, in time multicultural Britain flourished and was welcomed by most of the native population. I love the fact this country has a fusion of different cultures, that we have our Indian and Chinese cuisine, fantastic foreign doctors and health workers and many others too numerous to mention.

Its with some irony that generations down the line immigrants that settled here long ago and integrated are also against the mass influx of Eastern Europeans.

Coming back to the present day influx. Are East Europeans actually to blame? Of course not, they want better pay and gainful employment and most of course have a strong work ethic.

So what are my objections and problems with it?

Firstly the new wave of incoming Eastern Europeans don't mix very well like past generations did. They open Polish food shops and generally stick to their own, I don't see how such shops benefit our economy, they only import food stuff to serve the local Eastern Europeans. You rarely see Eastern European people mixing in our communal society, it's become a 'them and us' mentality, they should ideally take heed from those that settled here generations ago. This brings me to the point the new influx are kind of here in a mercenary capacity if you'll excuse the phrase. This is because they are getting used to the system here and it's benefits, especially health care, welfare and housing. That said we have mercenaries of our own, landlords that charge high rents for small houses that many are forced to share. This of course has led to a shortfall in our own private housing and increased rents before of greedy British landlords, so our own suffer as well as foreigners being ripped off in many cases.

It all boils down to the money at the end of the day, that's the sad thing. They come here, earn money and many send it home or go back home with some, which again isn't putting into our economy. The fact many have come here and will work for low wages has undercut British workers and tradesmen, that's why wages have fell and living standards dropped. Nobody bothers with local green grocers anymore, they go to 'poundstretchers' or supermarkets instead but I'm not blaming that on migrants (though they do like their Poundstretchers). Our own Employment agencies actively work with representatives in countries such as Poland to bring foreign work in, locally here its in warehouse, factory or farm work. Again, this is a political issue that should be addressed because the government should be monitoring this more and be actively involved with placing our own people, especially youngsters in such employment whether they moan about it or not because back in the day you worked regardless, you never really could pick and choose unless you were well educated or from a privileged background.

My view is really simple. I think the government knows there are real problems facing communities and services due to the influx of Eastern Europeans. Mr Cameron if you don't believe me try getting an appointment at a local doctors surgery then when you manage it take not on how many immigrants are there when you're sat waiting. Smaller provincial towns such as my own are awash with Eastern Europeans, whilst in a mobile phone shop the other day I was (beside the staff) the only English speaking person in there. This does of course feel odd at times, oddly enough had there been Afro-Caribbean or Indian people sat near me speaking English I wouldn't have given it a second thought. A friend recently once told me her town of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire has been nicknamed 'Wizbeckistan' by the locals, you don't need to muse why.

In the past I worked with homeless people in Nottingham, many of which were Eastern Europeans. Most of them had come to England to avoid problems back home for reasons mostly known to themselves though we did know many were on the run from authorities and were now leading life's of petty crime and begging on the streets of the city. Some of course had come expecting a better life, it wasn't so and so they lapsed into drinking and again, petty crime. The benefit system here doesn't usually pay out until Eastern Europeans have worked for a year and paid in, so things can often go wrong if they suddenly end up without employment. The sad thing was that most of the men I dealt with were 40+ years of age, spoke almost no English and had come here expecting to walk into a job regardless, the reality was different, this country has its own problems and people of their age weren't as employable, so began a descent into drink and desperation rather than go back and face the authorities or tell their family they had failed, such is the social stigma in Poland I am led to believe. So the above said, I can speak with some knowledge of how immigration doesn't work and needs to be monitored more because bluntly speaking we have many that simply shouldn't be here or our responsibility. It was only a few weeks ago that someone I once worked with, an elderly Polish gentlemen dropped dead outside McDonalds in Nottingham, friendless, cold, bereft of money and made to beg for others by his own countrymen. A thoroughly sad end to a life.

So, do I think there are too many Eastern Europeans here? Well that's a resounding yes, it's not their fault but the governments fault for letting too many in and buying into European dictated legislation etc. That said it's almost like the new wave of them don't actually give a damn for Great Britain as a nation and what it's about, they want to earn cash, keep to themselves and that's as far as their minds go. I for one on going abroad at least like to absorb as much of their culture as I can. I've seen Eastern Europeans get aggressive in a few instances in the past, once I was pushed away from an ATM machine in town by two Eastern European gents and couldn't do anything about it, though to be fair English people could have done the same but some immigrants do have a belligerent nature, possibly because they aren't at home so don't have to worry so much but maybe some is down to apprehension, cultural differences and the whole being 'en guard' in a strange place. I dunno really but it's there to be seen.

Am I racist? Well those who know me can see the answer to that or read it within this blog. I love the fact we have a multicultural society and generally are a very tolerant country compared to others. It's amazing that due to foreign doctors and specialists that the national health is so good and helps so many. I think it's great foreign students come here to study and take back a little bit of Great Britain with them and I feel proud of our multicultural heritage over the last few decades though some would argue it's a legacy brought upon us by our grand imperial days of the empire. There's some irony to the fact that most third world or Indian countries still see Britain as a mythical land of greatness and want to become 'British', you see them talking about it on tv, especially fleeing migrants or impoverished people with dreams of a better life. The same I feel cannot be said for many of the new wave of Eastern Europeans because if that was the case they'd be making more effort.

When I walk through the cities and towns of England now and hear so many foreign accents I wonder if we are losing our own 'British culture', have we sunk into an apathy of not fighting for our own, or our own jobs? Have we become more materialistic and less hard working (probably) and thus more immigrants coming here was inevitable? I can't help seeing stark contrasts between say 15 years ago and the present day and come to the conclusion the government has let us down and we've lost our initiative work wise. The new thing in the high street seems to be lots of salons full of Chinese people painting fingernails cheaply, why didn't we think of this or would we even want to do it? You really can't fault immigrants for being industrious in some ways but the bottom line is, with rising population and unemployment the government should be looking inwards towards our own, finding new employment initiatives and even encouraging apprenticeships that once was. If it all goes wrong then we only have ourselves to blame. Sadly the phrase 'Britain, the workshop of the world' will never be commonplace again, probably because immigration aside we readily give contracts out to foreign companies.

Anything in moderation is good but I honestly feel there are too many immigrants in this country now, and as I have said above, some without purpose and a good few taking jobs we should be making our own people do. Instead of a Polish lads doing a cheap car wash down the road it should be our own youngsters taking the initiative but I doubt that will happen because it again goes back to a sense of national apathy to a degree that we seem to have cultivated. I'm not leaning towards slating benefits here because many of us have used state benefits in the past either between jobs or because of ill health. It just seems to me the government and indeed past governments are largely out of touch with the changing social landscape and problems of this country, problems which I think that unchecked immigration are only compounding.

I sincerely hope that the foreign friends I have and cherish that work and reside here see my points above and think along the lines of their own nationalistic thoughts, own government faults or personal viewpoints and respect mine.

Let The Adventures Begin!

2012-01-01T15:16:00.005Z

2011 went out with a lacklustre fizzle, I was going to stay home but being a social creature I went out to socialise with friends. My local although busy at first emptied later and was probably going to shut soon after midnight, it was sad to see really as past new years have been far better in there. A few of us wandered down to another local that was at least busy. I did quickly pop down the Castle pub but decided to head back to my friends after I had a 'What are you doing foolish hobbit?' epiphany.

The company was good but I don't think New Years have the impact they once had, as I've said before the millenium killed it with pubs charging to get in, everyone hit the supermarkets for booze and stayed home as a social en masse. I think my body was telling me I'd drank enough last night, I felt a headache encroaching and felt absurdly hot (though the heating did hit you when you left the pub and came back in) and people weren't getting my quirky humour, ok so I do aim to shock a little at times but that's me.

So 2012 is here and very much a blank canvas, it'll be interesting to see what I and others around me do. January is my nominated month off the beer and more than ever I feel I need it, there's been lots of hedonistic nights lately and my body needs the break.

Plan for 2012? Well continue with my writing, I have another blog site planned but need to sort the domain name and set it up. It will be based on my secular humanism/atheist thinking so those that choose to read it can, it will be business as usual on this blog. Hopefully I'll get the new blog up and running in the near future. I have got two other writing projects under way but I'm not sure when they'll reach fruition though one is coming on nicely, both are works of fiction.

Hopefully in March I'll be off to Malta for a holiday and the China holiday with Gary has been moved from February to late summer now, he's got a lot on this year so we have to work around that but hopefully it will still happen.

I've trimmed my Facebook, I had far too many people on there that I didn't really know and added through those silly games on there I no longer play. So a good few have gone, some were also those I pass in the street and just nod and say hello to, others that I maybe once knew but never will see again and some just irritated me, so it was clear out time. Sure there's still people on there I've not met and may never do but they still remain as they are genuinely interesting and I like the cultural element. These days I spend less time on Facebook than ever but I still find it useful all said and done.

As for the rest of the year? Well hopefully get a little fitter, continue with de-cluttering old stuff, more writing, more travelling, building better friendships and fighting for causes I believe in. Oh and more video games!

Let the adventures begin!

So That Was 2011

2011-12-30T15:25:00.004Z

The only real thing I can say about 2011 is that not much really happened, it was just a steady year in which I generally kept my head down and got on with life. Of course like any year there have been highs and lows but its not been a bad year all said and done, though it could have been much better too but much of that is down to me and what I made of it.

I think it was the year I discovered more about who I really am, explored the inner me and contemplated quite a bit. It was the year I came to terms with aspects of the past and made decisions about the future. In the early part of the year I found myself crossing swords with people yet building stronger friendships with some of those people in the process. I had to fight my corner several times regarding all sorts of things in the first half of the year and no doubt the coming year will offer challenges, such is life.

My dear Grandmother passed away and it was a heavy blow indeed, in some respects more so than my mother, I know that may sound strange to some but my Grandmother was a kindly soul who never judged me, she was very precious to me and her passing left a void within. She lived to be a respectable age and despite her diminutive stature was one of life's hard working fighters, a truly remarkable woman. Her funeral was a sad and rainy affair but it made me think I should try and forge stronger family links with some and totally forget others, I'm not family orientated but some of my family are nice people, others I don't really care for and can forget about now.

2011 was the year I read more books than ever really, mostly humanism and philosophy and the odd bit of fiction. I also started writing some long term fiction that I hope to carry on with this coming year. The knowledge gained from reading will be of valuable use in the coming year as I intend to become more involved in secular humanism movement and atheism. The recent passing of author and journalist Christopher Hitchens has spurred me on even more and given me renewed purpose.

Romance? 2011 will be probably remembered as the year romance went on strike! There were a couple of interludes, one person I was very fond of and was having lots of fun with but she stepped back, seemingly unsure, nothing was resolved and I do feel quite sad about it if I am being honest. Maybe 2012 will bring involvement my way, just as I am happy alone I sometimes feel that I should be looking more, after all who wants to grow old alone? Romance is a desire but not a necessity, I'm not superstitious but as regards love I shall sail the winds of fate and see where they put me ashore.

Much of this year I pondered, watched and philosophised as the world spun by. I went to London alone and had a fantastic day just shopping around Camden, eating, drinking and people watching, it didn't bother me that I just had myself for company where once it would have. I'm rarely bereft of confidence these days but I still have occasions where it abandons me. Later in the year I went to London with a friend and had a fab time over a couple of days which involved exploring, laughing and meeting other friends, it was a really good catharsis after months of not much happening.

Friends have come and gone this year, as in the fact some have left where I live or settled down, the social dynamic has changed quite a lot but thankfully contact has always been maintained. There's been much baby talk among friends this year, it does get a bit exhausting when you have no interest in having them, that said, my attitude towards that subject has softened. Gary my friend in China has a lovely kid whose antics and developments interest me and some friends locally are expecting a child in May next year, listening to them and knowing them I have no doubt at all they will make fantastic parents.

I've spent a lot of time online gaming this year and it's only fair that I must say that I've met some amazing people world wide, it's been great for discovering other cultural differences and quirks. New Zealanders, Americans, Germans and a certain crazy Dutchman spring to mind, as well as genuinely nice people here in the UK. Long may it continue.

Pain has been a constant companion this year, I suffer with a rare condition that I generally don't talk about but have learned to live with. There have been some days that music, painkillers and coffee have dragged me through but there are still battles to be had. Light of sorts may be at the end of the tunnel though. I'm coping better than ever with pain and plan to resolve some things next year, so hopefully a better future.

So as 2011 staggers to a close I feel a better person than ever, like all of you reading I have hopes, dreams and aspirations - let's hope its a good year for us all, to all that read my blog, a hearty hobbit thank you and all the best for 2012.

Have A Good Holiday !

2011-12-24T12:20:00.003Z

As regular readers will not I'm not the Christmas type, being a rabid atheist and all that, but regardless, I wish all to have a good time over the holiday period, as you can see from the photo below, I was last night!

The Hobbit Teaser Trailer Arrives

2011-12-21T18:35:00.009Z

So here it is, after a few production video blogs from Peter Jackson we now have the teaser trailer to 'The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey'.

I watched it this morning at around 6:30am, I was tempted to wait up for it last night but though ostensibly I may seem a bit sycophantic about it I do need my sleep and sleep makes things pass quicker. Come the morning the PC was switched on immediately and ablutions out of the way I googled it, found it and watched it several times as I came around fully with a steaming cup of earl grey tea.

I thought it was fairly long for a teaser trailer, though I'm pretty sure the first 20 seconds is actually old footage from the Lord of the Rings trilogy that maybe wasn't used. So what do we see? Well, I little intro of how Bilbo Baggins actually is, and it made me smile, especially the 'I'm a Baggin's of Bag End' bit with a dismissive wave of the finger against any suggestion of adventure. I must say Martin Freeman looks awesome as Bilbo. We then get a tiny glimpse of all the dwarven characters before Thorin Oakenshield begins to sing some kind of gloomy monastic type dirge of the their heritage and past (see I knew that just from the words of the song *wink*).

The some great music cuts in and we get the briefest flashes of what is in store in the first of the two movies, no trace of the dragon 'Smaug' though which surprised me, I'm sure that'll come in time or later trailers though. The only irony for me is that I feel the trailer has come a little too early to be honest, yes it's great to see it but I could have waited, April time would have been better I think, less waiting as we practically still have a whole year to go still.

To conclude, well what I saw I really liked, it wasn't kind of 'in your face leaving you shocked feeling' that I had, just a nod and smile of approval that the characters seem right and a reassuringly warm fuzzy glow that all looks well with it.

And here's the first poster release below.

The Trouble With Tarot

2011-12-20T14:32:00.004Z

I lounged on my sofa in the early hours of this morning, unable to sleep I flicked through several channels and watched snippets of several programs. Feeling agitated and restless at not being able to sleep I kept hitting the up channel button on my remote until I reached Freeview channel 31. It was the 'Psychic tv channel'. I decided to watch for a while and what I witnessed was a money making machine designed to rob the vulnerable, insecure and not so clever of society of their money. I've never seen such a cringe worthy piece of rubbish on my tv screen before.

People ringing up in the early hours of the day asking the same stupid questions and being repeatedly told the same vague predictable answers from psychics that are allegedly gifted with things like 'remote viewing' and 'subtle energy'. The only thing subtle is their ability to get you to part with your cash, though anyone with a modicum of brain power can see straight through the ruses on show. Nobody who turns a pretty pictured card over for you can determine what tomorrow or indeed the future holds, it's just total bullshit.

Tarot cards originate from 14/15th century Italy, possibly before in Mamluk ran Egypt and were originally used for card games and depicted various regions in Europe, they later evolved somewhat and were used my mystics and occultism but generally not till the 18th century. It seems there were lots of different types of cards back depicting many things from gods, regions to animal types and indeed today there are many types of tarot cards.

They have no magical qualities, they cannot predict the future, they are just a card with a picture that is turned over by a person that has a gift to talk about the picture revealed and make sweeping generalisations regarding the image and how it supposedly relates to you. When you watch such programmes as psychic tv you almost never see bad predictions being made, it's always good ones as bad stuff wouldn't be a wise business model. What you do see is statements such as 'You'll have a fling when autumn leaves are falling'. Things like this are usually said when a few facts have been determined about the person, as in they in a relationship etc and of course with generalisations like that made there's the fortuitous window that it will happen. What psychics, mediums and clairvoyants do is practice the art of 'chance' by saying gambit orientated stuff that people identify or relate to, such as recent illness, the passing of an elderly relative and other such regular life events that happen to us all, if one person doesn't respond then there's a good chance another in the audience will and then they can begin to build on that with other like 'your grandmother was quite frail in the end wasn't she?' - well most elderly people are!

Emblazoned across the television screen is all the various ways in which you can pay for this nonsense, credit card, pay by phone, pay by mobile, no way to pay is left out and people will pay good money to be told good things. It all runs like a well oiled money making machine as people text or call in with the usual social dilemma's but mostly its love or happiness and they all are told the same but with different words. Credit where it is due, the psychics and tarot readers can talk, they are truly gifted and talking about finding love in a 1001 different ways. One woman called in and remained anonymous and asked 'Does my male neighbour like my Christmas card and will we find love in the new year?' The answer was of course he did love the card but was unsure of his own mind, he was lacking in confidence and perhaps the lady needed to give him a bit of a nudge to instigate something. Therefore the psychic is using the power of suggestion, urging the woman into action and thus making things happen but on the psychics part its all remained vague and no good or bad outcome is mentioned, it's all very clever and its all done with no information on the caller at all.

Sadly there's a lot of vulnerable, gullible and lonely people out there in society, money too is a scarce commodity at present and this compounds how people feel, increasing isolation. It's human nature to want to love or be loved and the producers of the show and their motley bunch of greedy psychics know this very well as they charge upwards of £1.50p a minute to make you feel good, it's television and lies of the worst kind. The fact they can give people a reading knowing nothing at all about them defies logic and when some do reveal their star sign or date of birth we get even more vague information that signifies or means nothing 'Oh Jupiter is in alignment with whatever and this means love for you'. Yeah of course it does.

Tarot cards are meaningless occultist mumbo jumbo, nobody can talk to the dead and nobody can predict the future otherwise we'd have some people in society that could just take over and run the whole show because they'd know everything.

It is odious deception of the worst possible kind. I'll bet they didn't see this blog coming !!!

Beers, Celebrations and Goodbyes

2011-12-18T13:42:00.009Z

Last night was a night of celebration and goodbyes. Simon, manager of my local the Fox & Crown left for pastures new down south and it was Lee's Birthday, the manager of the Wheatsheaf, another fairly local pub of mine. Simon has been the manager of the Fox for 4 years, I remember his arrival and I recall him being fairly quiet and shy initially. Over the last four years there's been some epic nights in the Fox with revelry, carnage, song and dance, and those memories shall stay with me. I have to hand it to Simon that the Fox at times isn't an easy gig, he lived on site so pretty much lived and breathed the Fox for his duration, I think that would have stifled anyone in the end. He's moving down south to live with his girlfriend and I wish him well for the future, I expect he'll always know he has friends and a warm welcome if he returns. There have been times when I (and others) have been a handful in there but he never moaned, though I suspect he gritted his teeth at some of our antics (and maybe laughed a little as well!)

Also it was Lee's birthday over in the Wheatsheaf, another great fella and a man that loves his job and his home town and indeed he is a credit to it.

So as you can see from the photos below, much beer and revelry took place last night and good fun it was too!

Hitchens

2011-12-16T10:19:00.007Z

It is with profound sadness that I write this blog. Christopher Hitchens, one of the greatest minds of our time has passed away only hours ago in Texas of pneumonia brought on by his fight with cancer, he was 62.

I'm sat staring at my monitor wondering how I can do this great man any justice with what I now write, he after all was a man of words, a remarkable journalist, author and orator, a man as someone frankly quoted today that 'dared to stand alone'.

Only this week I was watching him on YouTube in debates, such was my interest in what he had to say, especially on the evils of organised religion. Hitchens was a shining light of reason in a world that is increasingly blinded by faith. To me he was a champion, a man of acerbic wit, stalwart debater and a great modern day thinker.

Here are some of the current Twitter tributes;

Richard Dawkins, scientist and author wrote 'Christopher Hitchens, finest orator of our time, fellow horseman, valiant fighter against all tyrants including God.'

Author and friend Salman Rushdie tweeted 'Goodbye, my beloved friend. A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops.'

Actor, author and friend Stephen Fry said 'You were envied, feared, adored, reviled and loved. Never ignored. Never bested. A great and marvellous man.'

Dennis McShane MP and friend wrote 'He could throw words up into the sky, they fell down in a marvellous pattern.'

Friends and journalist colleagues have done tributes on the New Yorker and Vanity Fair websites.

Christopher Hitchens through his books has inspired me to write and speak out against organised religion, his literary style, his pitch and prose and his words of reasoning and pragmatism will ever resound within me. Reading his books and watching him orate have often given me the strength of will to write with my own convictions against what I perceive to be wrong and how I see the world.

I've had to write some difficult emotional blogs in the past, and this rates up there with them, such was his influence in my thinking. He was a maverick, a freethinker and a man that feared nothing, not even cancer. He among others raised the banner of freethinking, he was a great champion of it and I will go on fighting for that cause with the same passion Hitchens had.

Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011

“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”

And click 'here' for a fantastic little resume of the great man the BBC news site added later.

Articles in today's The Independent news paper can 'here' and 'here'

Britain Will Prevail

2011-12-09T18:19:00.003Z

So the latest Euro summit is over and the media say Britain stands alone. I'll admit I'm not into financial and monetary stuff, I try to follow it as best I can and grasp its complexities but I do know this, from what I read and see - the Euro seemingly isn't working. When ever I've been abroad the locals always seem disenfranchised with the Euro, it has raised prices and the cost of living they say.

I'll also say I'm not a Conservative but I'm just happy Cameron said No and used his vet o at the summit to hopefully protect our interests. I don't want the Euro, I want my bank notes and coins with the Queens head on it, why? Because I'm a patriot and I love my country, for all its rich history, for its beautiful places but most of all for the British people who despite their odd faults and quirks are genuinely warm, caring and accepting.

We stood alone a few decades ago when shadows over Europe loomed, we were alone then and by great valour, courage and determination Great Britain prevailed !

Night Out

2011-12-07T16:05:00.004Z

It's that time of the year when crazy nights out occur. Friday and Saturday of the weekend just gone by were pretty mad indeed but laced with lashings of fun and utter nonsense. Both nights were mainly in Nottingham with late returns home. I really need to get out of town more and have nights out in different places, I just wish there was a later train back from Nottingham on Saturdays.

A Hobbit London Weekend

2011-11-30T15:41:00.005Z

Last Friday saw me heading to London to meet up with friends for a weekend of retail pleasure and generally getting away for a couple of days for a change of scenery. As I boarded the train in my sleepy town I noticed the carriage was almost empty, this made for a peaceful journey. The train sped through the English countryside only stopping at a couple of towns and in no time we were pulling into Kings Cross.

Heaving throngs deftly sidestepped I ducked into the underground and headed for Waterloo, the 1990's football anthem of 'Vindaloo' stuck in my head and a nostalgic smile on my face.

On arriving at the huge Waterloo station I munched on a pretty tasteless chicken burger from Burger King and chided myself after for not noticing a decent cheap sandwich stall selling French stick sandwiches for a mere £2.

There was some confusion on meeting my friend at the station as Waterloo has many exits and we basically had to head indoors to find one another under the central large hanging clock. Then there was yet more confusion after we exited onto an overpass and got slightly lost. We soon sorted things and found the nearby Travelodge hotel we were staying at which was near the Old Vic theatre. There's not much to say about the hotel, all Travelodge's seem the alike though this one seemed to have more facilities than most, having a bar, internet cafe and restaurant of sorts. After a bit of rest that was rudely interrupted by a foreign maid who pointed out there was no quilt cover and then never came back it was soon evening and time to head out.

Off to Camden we headed via the northern tube line and then hit the bars in a very busy Camden. The Worlds End pub is one of the busiest I know yet it was rammed with people. Drinking in London isn't cheap, not that anywhere is these days but the first round came to £7.50 for a pint and a half of lager, ouch! We left after the first drinks and header deeper into Camden proper but in doing so was accosted by a Big Issue vendor plying his wares. As I'm involved with Big Issue I noticed they were indeed old wares, a 2 week old magazine for starters plus he didn't have any identification number. This was pointed out to him and he scuttled off into the night, which was amusing as I couldn't have done anything anyway and had no intention to either, being on a weekend break.

Next up was the Elephants Head which is a great little pub on the main road through Camden. At this point I was on pints with whiskey chasers and really getting into the eclectic music being played within. After a few drinks in the Elephant we headed to the Good Mixer on Inverness Street which again is another no frills street corner pub with a good atmosphere and earthy crowd.

The night quickly flashed by and I was very impressed by Camden at night, we then headed back to Waterloo on a late tube and got off at Embankment before crossing a very cold Waterloo bridge and trying to find our way back, by this time I was quite merry and carefree and after a brief escapade in a very expensive London taxi which cost £10 for what seemed like 300-400 meters in the congested traffic we noticed a landmark near our hotel and jumped out to try and find something to eat. Not being aware of the local places we stumbled upon an Italian restaurant. Without going into detail the food wasn't fantastic or in large amounts and it was quite pricey. With a half full stomachs we headed for the hotel to sleep off the first night.

Sleeping in central London isn't easy unless you sleep heavy, I awoke after an initial deep alcohol induced slumber to sounds of planes going over, police sirens and random shouts in the night. Until the morning it was a very patchy sleep but enough to get by on.

Day two promised to be action packed but early on we became aware the northern tube line was disrupted (among others) because of works being done. This seems to happen every time I am in the capital, only the night before a line had gone down after it was announced someone had jumped in front of a tube train, living in London I can possibly see reasons why they might do such a thing.

The day began with a brisk stroll across the Thames, then along the embankment to Big Ben and Westminster before catching the tube again.

We took a different line to Oxford street before indulging in some browsing of shops before heading into a quieter Soho and catching our breath in Soho Square. I'd called my friend Drew at this point and sought advice on buses to Camden as we wanted to shop there later. After a brief rest and coffee at Starbucks we headed deeper into Soho as I'm quite familiar with it and first went to the Vintage Magazine shop on Brewer street. As we headed there cutting through the lovely little Meard Street I noticed that the little Newsagents called 'The Hobbit' around the corner from it had sadly closed.

Seeking solace in Vintage Magazines we soaked up all the retro film goodness and memorabilia, they really do have some great stuff in there, from posters, masks, key rings, coasters, postcards and badges. I purchased a rather spiffy Groucho Marx tea mug and coaster so was a very happy little hobbit. After that we headed up Berwick Street and popped into Sister Ray which is an independent music store, very akin to what Selectadisc was in Nottingham before it closed, it may even be the same company/people running it. I purchased the excellent 'A Universe Between Us' compact disc by Nick Marsh and withdrew after that before I was tempted to buy any more.

I paused on what to do next, we skirted the bottom of Soho and could smell the aroma's coming from Leicester Square and China town but we resolved to head to Tottenham Court road and try and get a bus to Camden. After chatting to a couple of locals, the latter being disenfranchised with the local buses and ticket machines we boarded a packed bus to Camden and I soon recognised the local surroundings though couldn't help feeling sad when a young mother get off the bus and headed to some very dour looking flats with her two kids, I really can't imagine bringing kids up in such a busy built up area. When you become more familiar with London you realise it really isn't as massive as you first think and Camden isn't really too far up Tottenham court road with a couple of slight twists and turns, en route I notice Warren Street tube station where we may be meeting more friends later. And so to Camden, we disembarked the bus and headed into the bohemian crowds in search of avant garde retail goodness.

Several market areas followed in Camden and money started to empty out my pockets at an alarming rate, such is the Camden effect and great range of clothes and accessory stuff, its all in one place. Some may call Camden cliché but they aren't really delving deep in what it has to offer, yes there's some cheap tat rubbish to be sure but there's also some very good clothing to be had that is unusual or hand crafted that goes for other items or artwork too.

We then headed over the road to the Chalk farm stables market and headed on inside through the partially covered Blade runner-esque style myriad of stalls and units. It was there I saw a lovely jacket but held back as I was yet to enter my beloved Cyberdog at the bottom end of the market. Suddenly I was stunned, they were actually queuing to get inside! The coat playing on my mind, and not wanting to queue up we decided to head out the bottom exit and across the road to a rather nice pub called the Monarch and lick our financial wounds and ponder what to do next, in my case ponder if I was going to buy the jacket I'd seen. Being reflective here I suspect not being able to get into Cyberdog was a blessing in disguise as I'd been in there earlier this year and spent loads but on the positive side they do have a website to order from.

Deliberations over the coat complete we headed back to haggle and the woman at the shop in Stables market called Psylo wouldn't budge after offering me £10 off the asking price, I tried to get her to lower it but my efforts were in vain. I caved in, it was a nice coat to be fair and I did fall in love with it at first site, the fit was excellent too. There were a few other bits and bobs purchased by my friend and I before we grabbed a quick pizza slice and headed to Warren street tube station to meet friends Drew and Sophie then retiring to a nearby pub called The Prince of Wales Feathers. It was indeed a cozy traditional pub with friendly staff and a good selection of drinks. Time soon passed and much Geeky talk between myself and Drew was to be had but we all chatted along merrily before noticing it was getting late, by this time I was indeed feeling the exertions of the day and feeling quite tired.

A swift tube journey back to Waterloo via a zig-zag route and with more awareness of our surroundings we noticed a rather good Greek style chip shop near the Old Vic. We bagged hefty portions of fish and chips before heading back to the hotel and collapsing wearily and eating our food and examining our days booty.

Another night of not so great sleep followed (my friend snored!) and it was morning and time to pack our bags and head home, it had all gone so quick. The journey home at lunchtime was uneventful and the tube works going on didn't affect my journey to a very busy Kings Cross. Yet again I succumbed to a quick and tasteless Burger King before boarding the train home, the designated quiet carriage wasn't so quiet as babies where shrieking but I blotted it out with music and dozed in and out of sleep until I arrived home, one hour and 20 minutes later, the contrast between town and city is amazing, and quite reassuring when you get home as the madness of London is left behind.

I think some of my perceptions of London have changed really over the years and many visits. Once upon a time I quite fancied living there but now I'd not even consider it unless I was rich. London is a city of contrasts, some being quite stark but then most cities are. The transport system in London isn't cheap, both for its inhabitants and visitors alike. For example a single journey on the tube from Waterloo to Kings Cross is £5 for a relatively short journey yet an all day travel card for zones 1-2 is £6.80p and you can travel freely all day in those zones after 9am on the tube or bus. A woman that helped me regarding the buses moaned about ticket machines not working and bus prices, as I used my all day travel card I wasn't sure of bus tariff's but they seemed to be £2 upwards, though I may be wrong, not being a native of the city. Buses are indeed a packed soulless affair but good for people watching, there's no interaction with the driver, you show your ticket, board them get off and it does seem open to exploitation really. London transport be it tube or bus is a hap-hazard expensive affair and the tube system compared to other cities is positive antiquated but I guess unalterable in some respects or at least practical ones. It does make me think that the sheer volume of people in London would make the transport systems cheaper though I guess such a massive transport system is very costly to run - if only it was better, and better value for money.

Do I still like London? Yes, because I've not really scratched it's massive surface but in truth there's only odd areas I'm really interested in to be honest. London does have character yet other areas of it seem grey and bland but such is the nature of cities the world over, London in summertime is a much nicer experience. Come the 2012 Olympics next year it'll be a very crowded expensive place and even more multicultural than it already is. I'll always be happy to make flying visits but unless I win the lottery and could buy something secluded with in some nice inner area of it then I'd never live there, it'd be too depressing and even if I did have millions in order to buy such a place then there are much nicer places around the world.

London is a love/hate place for me. Some of the marvellous buildings and structures appeal to my sense of national identity but other aspects of it repel me to some degree. It'll always intrigue me but I'll always want to keep it at arms length, it's great to visit but even better knowing you can leave and come home.

Déjà Vu

2011-11-24T14:38:00.006Z

It's been a quiet month blog wise, I know you all want more but I've been in video game heaven and doing other stuff, and there's no point in blogging unless I have something worth saying really. So get a cup of tea, settle down and get ready for a humanistic rant. I'm actually in the process of setting up another blog based on my atheist/humanistic ideals but haven't got around to the finer details yet, so until then I have to use my trusty old hobbit blog to get things of my chest and rant with my usual vitriol against all things organised religion orientated.

It almost seemed like a Déjà vu instance as I perused my local paper the Newark Advertiser today. As usual I read the 'Credo' column to see what my religious local friends are up to and who should be featured but the person from my last rant, none other than Lesley Marshall from the church of promise (see the earlier 'You're In Control' blog).

So what proverbial and intellectual gems does Lesley have to offer this time around? Well she's been to the cinema to see Tin Tin and she mentions the senses being bombarded by technology on a daily basis, and at this point I am indeed nodding and concurring. Then we move on to meaningful silence and having studied psychotherapy in the past I am aware how much meaningful silence can be important in some circumstances and situations be it counselling or within a relationship.

Then like the last entry Lesley made we move swiftly into God territory with wildly delusional claims of 'God is the Lord of eternity. He is the creator of time. His timing is perfect and he is never late or rushed.' I lean into my cup of coffee and breathe in, the pungent aroma filling my nostrils and I ponder 'Will Lesley wake up and smell the coffee one day?'

These certainly are fantastical claims Lesley makes and I muse if the so called god of eternity is so pre-occupied with time as to look earthwards and see women being gang raped in the Congo, people being slain by a dictator in Syria or children foraging for scraps of food in the ghetto's of Buenos Aires?

Lesley then goes on to ironically mention how much attention god makes to the smallest details by saying 'It's not just the big crises that god wants to be involved in, but he is concerned with all the small details too.' Well evidently not Lesley because just take a casual look at the news on a daily basis, it's not good is it?

She goes on to add 'Already I can hear some of you hyperventilating in thinking how far behind you'd get in your day if you just sat down in silence and did nothing but chat with god.'

Well firstly I'd tell god what an awful mess things are down here and to come and live as a mortal for a day, feel pain and suffering, feel sadness and despair and get a dose of reality. Unfortunately I can't do this because the phone is swinging aimlessly off the hook because god isn't there, he doesn't exist.

I pity people like Lesley, in their comfy little alternate reality bubble, their twee little world of godly goodness, their world of 'it's gods will' when you point out the calamities of today.

She goes on to suggest that we should try and talk to god and see a quality of life beyond our wildest imagination. Grand and deluded claims indeed, you only have to read the bible to see what a celestial dictator/gangster character god really was. I have to hand it to Lesley she is the queen of wild boasts and extremely knowledgeable when it comes to making sweeping assumptions.

There's a great little book called 'Being Good' by Simon Blackburn which is basically about ethics and in it he quotes;

'All in all, then, the bible can be read as giving us carte blanche for harsh attitudes to children, the mentally handicapped, animals, the environment, the divorced, unbelievers, people with various sexual habits and elderly women. It encourages harsh attitudes to ourselves as fallen creatures endlessly polluted by sin, and hatred of ourselves inevitably brings hatred of others.'

That kind of puts it better than I could really and sums things up perfectly, I could add to the statement with passages from the bible but why bore you with that rubbish. As the philosopher Nietzsche puts it;

'Christianity is the hatred of the intellect, of pride, of courage and intellectual libertinage'

These are tough times the world is in, we need level heads and pragmatism to see us through, not some flights of celestial fantasy from such as Lesley Marshall and other christians. The reality is we have to sort our own problems out using common sense and often personal courage and determination. Mankind needs to put faith in itself and not sit around pathetically thinking some higher conscience is running it all. We're the real architects of this planet, we built everything from bridges to hospitals of our own volition and because of our own needs and ultimately we are the architects of our own destiny be it good or bad. If we sat around praying for new hospitals or bridges would they appear?

Religion in my view is very much like a cigarette, if you've never had one then you don't need it. Should you try one and get past the uncertain coughing stage you become addicted, you come to rely on it at all costs and when problems surface you reach for the packet in order to cope just like christians reach for a god as their coping mechanism. Christianity to some is just like a drug, the opium of the masses as Marx once said, thankfully more people these days aren't as reliant on religion.

Personally if religion didn't exist or wasn't created and human kind had no knowledge of it then the world wouldn't need it. Just like if tobacco hadn't been found we wouldn't be smoking. I don't have religion but then I don't need it because I still have the capacity to love my fellow human beings, to smile, to extend my arms and hug someone and to marvel at how beautiful the world can be. I don't need the invisible and pointless crutches that is religion.

Hopefully in the upcoming weeks I'll be launching my humanist blog and hopefully I can use it as a common sense platform and maybe even start up a local humanist discussion group. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading.

Skyrim

2011-11-11T18:16:00.004Z

So 11.11.11 saw this little hobbit make a dash with reckless abandon to Nottingham this morning to buy the legendary new game from Bethesda that is Elder Scrolls - Skyrim. I've loved their past games starting with Daggerfall in the early 90s, then onto Morrowind, then prior to today's release I enjoyed Oblivion.

The reason I went to Nottingham to bag it was that my local Gamestation store couldn't confirm if they were stocking it on the Pc format. On a very crowded train I sped towards Nottingham early this morning, I pondered if there'd be release problems, as when I bought Oblivion on the Xbox 360 some years back there were some initial teething problems with it.

I was fortunate today, Game in Nottingham were open at 8:45am when I arrived there and after a swift purchase and some fending the assistants efforts off at trying to make me buy a strategy guide for it I headed home. He was persistent for sure, but I explained should I need help and advice there's the whole of the internet to look on for free, his retort was the guide 'looked good'.

Grabbing a quick coffee at the train station I was catching the train back earlier than expected with a smile but also fearing the game I've lusted after so long for would have some kind of problem.

It didn't. Loading took about 6 minutes under the 'Steam' platform and about a minute for a small update then after the program detected my settings and set them automatically to a favourable 'high' the game began and my jaw hit the deck.

For a short while I thought the intro sequence was just for show, characters sat trussed up on a cart, obviously criminals of some sort being led to an execution but then I moved the mouse pointer and realised I could look around, it wasn't an intro, I was actually part of it!

After a cracking opening and a character designing sequence I was on the run from a marauding dragon and escaping through dungeons before emerging onto a mountain path surrounded by trees, it looked so real I almost felt I could reach out and touch them. Within no time my character guided by the one she had escaped with was introduced to the first small town of Riverwood and then the adventures really begin.

All I can say is thank you Bethesda for delivering such an awesome game, I am genuinely lost for words how amazing it is and the fantastic attention to detail. In some ways Bethesda has kept neat little touches from past games yet vastly improved other areas and the graphics and gritty realism is to die for! On first impressions I am literally blown away and believe me, I've seen some games over the years.

Below is the first screen shot I took on escaping the first opening scenes and salvaging some equipment.

And here is the game trailer.

You're In Control

2011-11-05T13:07:00.005Z

Most Fridays I pop into my local and grab a coffee, it's cheap, decent coffee and I either chat to another customer (most of us know each other) or read the local paper. My local paper the Newark Advertiser has more than its fair share of articles about faith, along the lines of 'new vicar installed at church' etc. Every week it has a regular small column called 'Credo' in which a local narrow minded vicar or pastor does their bit to promote the alleged big guy upstairs. The articles range different subjects, some are light on the religion aspect of things whilst others are plain stupid, the latest Credo being no exception. This weeks literary gem is called 'Let God be in control', yep it's scary just from the headline. The article writer this week, a very deluded Lesley Marshall opens with the subject of school holidays and wholesome family stuff, all good so far until we delve several paragraphs in and she hits us with the god smackdown. She writes (I assume the writer is female);

'We need to be ready for gods touch, wherever we are and whatever we are doing. God wants us to have good quality holiday times.' Hhhmm didn't god just want us to have the sabbath off and how does she specifically know the above fact, has he told her this?

She goes on to say 'He loves us to have relaxation and be unburdened. But he especially loves us to be in a relationship and communication with him everyday so that he can guide us and help us in our busy stressful lifestyles.' Now the article is leaning into an Orwellian slant, you can relax my loyal subjects but don't forget, I'm watching and judging and need constant worship and contact.

The article gets unnerving still, totally moving from the school holidays and family bit to saying 'What's the catch, you may be asking? You need to commit your life to god, talking to him in prayer and listening for his answers, reading his word, the bible, and accepting that god is in control and not you.' I beg to differ, last time I looked I wasn't attached to strings.

Now that's pretty deluded if you ask me, and grossly stupid, I myself am in control of my daily life, not any god, I make the decisions, I have my own moral code and ethics, I influence the days events by my actions and it is also influenced by those around me, god doesn't have a look in. I don't have to tell a god how good he is and I don't have to cower in praise and wish for a life after this in what would be if it existed a kind of celestial North Korea. Yep, to quote Christopher Hitchens here, imagine that every day of your life from the first day you were born until the day you die is scrutinised and judged by some omnipotent being above. Then when you die and if you've passed all the stupid tests he's set (forget being a fallible human!) and ascend to heaven you actually pass into a celestial dictatorship where the big brother scrutiny continues - would you really want that? I imagine if heaven existed it suspect it would be some kind of dour holiday camp with rows of identical wooden huts where you have to live with family, some of which you never liked in the first place for eternity and then daily like a sycophant turn up to a church to tell god how amazing he is, erm... no thanks.

It's really simple folks, you can be a perfectly decent human being without religion, being intelligent creatures we all know between right and wrong and yes we all make mistakes, it's called being human. Catholics of course use confession as a get out of hell free card but seemingly with the amount of child abuse constantly being revealed about the catholic church confession isn't really working very well from either side of the wooden partition.

So back to the 'let god be in control' bit, lets take Lesley's words as the possible truth for a second and ponder the fact that god is in actual total control? All I can say is if that is the case then what an awful mess he is making of it all. Starvation, disasters, cruelty, fear and a list of endless bad stuff, oh yes, as a religious person would respond 'it's gods will'. They'll always play that card over a rational sensible explanation as its a christian universal side step without thinking too much.

It's people like Lesley that actually make the world a blinkered place, the classic christian approach in which they believe praying is the be all and end all about everything, it's a laissez-faire look at life, in the fact I'm a christian, I pray therefore I don't have to worry, and if I slip up I just have to say sorry to some invisible deity and its all good again. All I have to do is subscribe to the bible, a book written and constantly edited by ignorant old men long ago that contains very little historical fact. A book written by individuals that sought control and thought the earth was in fact flat as they lived within their small sphere of influence on the earth.

If I told you that your partner was having an affair or that green paint made you invisible readers, then you'd want proof wouldn't you? Yet christians take the bible as proof without any tangible evidence because its far more easier to be ignorant, christian ignorance after all - is bliss.

Christianity today is a folly on a massive scale where people cling to relics and fables of the past and use it to control and deceive the weak minded or vulnerable, it's a comfort cushion in which we delude ourselves some heavenly big brother or uncle is looking out for us when in fact we are alone in a universe that doesn't give a damn what we do, it's not worried about us so why should we worry about it? As for death, well its simple in my mind, I can't change the fact I'm going to die, I have no control over it so why should I again worry about it? I imagine death to be like a hospital anaesthetic, a void, a blackness where you feel nothing and think nothing but are in no discomfort either. When I had my hip replacement and woke to reality and pain I wished I was back there to avoid the agony I was in so in that respect I didn't find it scary at all. When you talk to most old people these days many seem to crave that eternal not knowing and pain free bliss, they feel they've lived their life best they can and now its time for an eternal slumber of sorts. Yep it may be disconcerting to you reading this, that I think that's what happens but having the option of that or debasing myself in front of a god whose alleged book is filled with cruelty, war and hatred everyday then I know which option I'd prefer. (Yep the bad bits of the bible, of which there are countless many get excluded by christians, we just get the so called nice stuff)

So to close, you're in control of your own life and destiny, things may happen beyond your control to change that but the universe has been nothing if random throughout known time. So forget all the christian control stuff, be true to yourself and others, live life as you see fit, be good to one another and realise you don't need the fetters of religion to live a good, moral and decent life - you, not a god (or any of the over 10,000 listed gods) are in control so enjoy life !

'Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.' Anon.

Song Of The Month

2011-10-31T14:58:00.001Z

Here's my song of the month, a very topical one at that. The song is 'Jesus was a zombie' by the amazing Zombie Girl !

Halloween Hobbit

2011-10-31T13:07:00.003Z

It's only fair I should give you all a bit of a scare on Halloween !

Halloween Beers

2011-10-31T12:58:00.004Z

Here are a selection of Halloween beers I've sampled over the weekend from the Wychwood brewery, I'd have to say Hobgoblin is my personal favourite though.

Jerry Sadowitz: A Tank Of Pirhana's !

2011-10-30T13:43:00.004Z

On Friday I went to see comedian, magician and psychopath that is Jerry Sadowitz, I've seen him a few times so knew what to expect, it's fair to say I was looking forward to it immensely as I find the vitriolic Mr Sadowitz a bizarre form of catharsis. The venue was the Lincoln performing arts centre or the 'LPAC' as it's popularly known. So on arriving, my friends Luke, Ryan and myself were swiftly seated in the small venue and awaited the verbal onslaught of the very mad, bad and dangerous to know Sadowitz.

I'd say there were probably 50-60 or so people there, to be honest I was expecting more but then Lincoln is hardly a massive metropolis. Sadowitz soon entered the fray and was ranting at break neck speed, his rapacious way with words is quite staggering on the auditory senses. As he rapidly shifts through topics nothing is safe, he revels in disasters, he rants at other comedians in the spotlight, women, racism, Jews, paedophiles and immigrants are all fair game - and then he produces a fish tank full of piranha's! Not a real fish tank but as he points out fairly, how often do you see someone produce such a thing?

The audience apart from a few comedy aware stalwarts and my friends seem strangely muted, one couple ups and leaves 20 mins into the act, if they'd heard of him, done their homework or even read his tour poster then they should have been aware of the content that would be aggressively spat their way. Sadowitz is definitely for the broadminded, the very broadminded. He feeds on the fact he offends people, so anyone leaving is just adding to his fire of hatred burning within but as I've said in past blogs, people often miss some of his more clever observations.

There was some old material mixed with some new stuff, and the odd magic trick thrown in for good measure and when he can actually stop ranting. I did feel though that the venue wasn't suited to Jerry on the night, when I've seen him in Nottingham the atmosphere has been a lot better and now I've seen him several times I can see how audiences perhaps dictate things to some degree. I suspect a fair few didn't 'get' him in Lincoln and he picked up on it.

The first half closed and I could almost sense Sadowitz wanted to be somewhere else. We managed a swift beer before going back in for the second half. The latter stint contained more classic Sadowitz, we had some character stuff (which Luke liked as that's his thing), rants about the Chinese and a ten minute rant on tv and radio personality Jimmy Savile who bizarrely and more than a bit ironically died the next day! I wonder what Sadowitz thought to that and indeed what he said in his next show as Savile has long been a target of his hatred and jokes. Not long into the second act another couple left which we all thought was odd as by then they really should have known what was coming. Jerry ended the show fairly abruptly, I felt he'd hurried the second half somewhat as I've seen him much more relaxed at other venues in closing things. Quite amusingly on leaving I held the door open for a Chinese fella that had obviously sat through the anti Chinese rant and seemed unaffected by it.

We headed back into Lincoln for a beer and discussed what we'd witnessed, I'd certainly enjoyed Sadowitz as I always do, my friends made interesting observations on the performance as well. I certainly didn't think it was him at his best but he was by no means at his worst either but it wasn't vintage Sadowitz. He was probably more close to the bone and topical than I've ever actually seen him and this shows how observational he actually is and embraces current subjects albeit in his own twisted and evil way.

I'm tempted to go see him at Nottingham next month just to see what he says about Jimmy Savile but every time Jerry does come around I want to go and see him regardless as nobody makes me laugh like he does and I seriously think the man is a genius.

Beer & Me

2011-10-28T14:21:00.004+01:00

From as far back as I can really remember, beer has always been a constant in my life, not the fact I've always drank it, just the fact it's always been in there in some form or another either in good ways or bad ways. My earliest memories are going down to the pub with my grandparents on my mothers side, they held forth in a pub down the road called the 'Brown Cow' in the town where I used to live. They used to babysit me at weekends so my parents could have some time on their own, my grandparents would take me along to the pub with them. It was never late night stuff and neither at that point in their lives did they consume large quantities of alcohol but they were hard working people that liked to socialise, smoke and have a beer. This would be back in the mid 1970s and I'd be about 7 years old for a rough guess.

It was at that tender age, sat in the passage way of the pub (as kids weren't allowed in the pub proper) that I caught my first glimpses of pub life and thus began unwittingly my education in the arts of being sociable and the myriad of skills that came with it. Peeking into the pub from the passageway I got to study adults imbibing beer and the resulting behaviour, I witnessed jest and heated debates, I soaked up many things. When the pub was quiet I was even let into the back room and had my own tiny glass that would have a drop of beer in it, I felt like an adult, and more importantly among the throng of people I felt accepted into group dynamics, that's what makes socialising an important thing I guess.

Years dropped off the calendar, my grandparents decamped to another nearby pub for some reason or another and of course they took me along. In summer my parents would take me to a pub called the Ravensdale and we'd sit outside as a family, usually with friends and I'd drink fizzy cola and eat too many packets of crisp than was probably wise. My parents never let me touch any beer really, that was mine and my grandparents little secret.

Early teenage years passed and I recall being indifferent about beer, there were more exciting things to do and it was the dawn of computers in the early 80s, this was the era I transcended into Geekdom! My dad did home brew from time to time and on occasion I'd be allowed a small glass and of course at weekends I'd be at my grandparents, though not as much and by this stage they often had a drink at home, of course I was in on the act.

Around this time I fell ill, I nearly lost my sight aged 12 and it was a very traumatic time for my parents. They were working class, dad worked shifts and my mum often travelled with me to hospitals whilst I had numerous operations to save my sight. I recall one time they were due to operate and needed her to sign forms but couldn't find her. A nurse told me she was in the hospital accommodation block, they could see her lay on the bed through the keyhole but even after hard knocking at the door couldn't rouse her. I had to sign the forms myself as I recall and then the operation took place, I had eye patches on and spent several days in darkness wondering if I'd be able to see the world again. Unbeknown to me, my mum had begun her descent into alcoholism and when the nurses had tried to wake her she'd actually been unconscious from drink, I never realised back then but I see it clearly now.

I recall going on weekend trips with my mum and gran and often my mum would remain in the hotel room in the evenings whilst me and gran would go and do something, again my mother would have passed out when we returned, usually to some strong bottle of spirits she had stashed away and consumed. At a young age I never really had any conception of being that drunk or what alcoholism was.

As the later teen years crept in and I left school, I'd try beer with friends, usually on parks or other secluded adult free places, I never really took to it, sure I felt a rebel doing it but I never drank that much that I got drunk, I just wasn't crazy about the taste, it was the same with cigarettes too. On reaching 17 I probably had the odd can of beer in the house with my dad, though he never drank much at all, mainly after work or at weekends, though on occasion he did make a very heady home brew that made you feel drunk after a pint, I remember the beer kit being called 'Blockbuster' and it was a totally leveller, a barley wine kind of beer but souped up, you knew you'd had it, and a headache would follow the next day. I still called in to see my grandparents at their local, I'd have the odd beer and we'd catch up on gossip, I loved to go and see them in the pub.

On reaching 18, my brother (not real brother but a boy my parents had informally adopted when I was 6 and he was 7) took me on my first night out on the town. He was a year older than me and I marvelled at his stories of night life and girls. I recall when we did weekends away with the charity my mother was involved with we'd share a room in the hotel with some older lads that would go out into places like Blackpool and return drunk wearing silly straw 'kiss me quick' hats singing songs by the Human League. On seeing what fun they had when we were say 15/16 we decided we'd have some of that when we reached 18. That time came and my brother took me out on my first night out. My first pint was 'Mansfield Mild' and was 68p, my brother deemed this was the safest introductory session beer for me to have. It didn't really matter, I got so drunk he carried me home and I was sick down his back, an old man gave us a handkerchief as I remember and my mother was fuming at him. I was beguiled by pretty girls, fashions, the music and the bright lights, it was infectious but the next day hangover ensured I didn't rush back to going out in a hurry. Of course I did go back out again and began to really enjoy it, I was a social creature after all. It was in these early years I learned the real art of socialising and of course chatting the opposite sex up with varying results ranging from disaster to the odd success. They were halcyon years filled with beer and laughter and lots of fun but also on occasion tinged with sadness as beer could make me emotional too, I was very naive then and still trying to come to terms with my place in the big wide world and work out who I really was or what I wanted. These were the 80s, the town where I lived seemed almost magical at weekends, they were good times indeed.

Holidays abroad came and went, so did girlfriends and many adventures were had. On the home front my mothers drinking had manifested itself more and my parents argued quite a lot, in some ways for them it was the beginning of the end as my mothers problem began to spiral out of control. It had a knock on effect and things could often be uncomfortable at home but come the weekend, and despite my brother and I being in fairly low paid jobs we'd escape to the bright lights in town every weekend to forget things I guess.

It was one cold rainy night, not long after splitting with a girlfriend that I returned once again to the Ravensdale pub as an adult this time, alone and feeling sad at my loss, I went to escape problems at home and drown my sorrows but the lesson is drinking never really solves anything. In a bizarre turn of events instead of sitting there staring into a pint and feeling bad I was welcome by the locals, in no time I was shooting pool with them and had made new friends, from that day on I became a regular there and so began the Ravensdale years. I went into town less and went to my new found local more (I still did town though). I made lots of new friends, some of them were legends and are no longer with us and some thankfully still are. I can't describe what an amazing social time it was, year filled with laughter, outings to other pubs with the pool team, after hours lock ins and general moments of pure unplanned hilarious chaos. When things became so bad at home I always had the Ravensdale pub and friends there as a retreat, and would often stay at friends houses after. I also worked at the towns brewery too, great working years and fond memories there but I was perhaps drinking more than was good for me, both at work, and out of it!

By this time my drinking was considerably more, I wouldn't say out of control by any means but I could certainly down a few pints. I was a character and never short of a joke or story but sometimes when things were bad at home beer and emotions weren't a good combination, there's times I deeply regret due to making silly mistakes through drinking beer. My parents divorced due to my mums alcoholism and both moved on with new partners, though my mums condition steadily got worse regardless. My brother and I moved out, I spent some time out of work which is just as well because if I'd had money then it would have been spent on beer. Eventually I went back to live with my mum after a really unhappy couple of years but by then she was really beyond help despite efforts to seek it.

The Ravensdale closed for a refurbishment on 13th May 2002, it was a sad day to an epic era and when it opened later that year it just didn't feel the same anymore and many of the locals moved on.

Years passed by, I had a stint in Hong Kong, holidays to Thailand etc and my eyes opened (perhaps too late) to a big wide world out there. I still loved socialising and often went out but I guess when my mother finally succumbed to her alcohol addiction and died it changed my perspective on alcohol somewhat and I think in some respects I passed my bell curve on drinking. My health began to fail dramatically at this time and moved to the town where I live now, underwent surgery and began to recover slowly.

Fate smiled upon me, at the top of the road I discovered a new local, the Fox & Crown and made a whole set of great new friends (that's not to say I forget the old friends and still miss them). So began a new love affair with the Fox & Crown, it's dangerously close to my place and many great nights have been had in there, as well as other locals nearby. I had my 40th birthday bash in the Fox & Crown and it was a memorable night with friends and family.

So, here we are in the present. To be honest though I still love to socialise though I'm pretty rubbish when it comes to drinking these days. I invariably suffer with hangovers the next day, and not good ones either, and the recovery time takes just too long. In my 20's I was never a great drinker, I probably peaked around 30 in the capacity I could take and then it all went downhill apart from odd nights thereafter. Last year on my friends stag night was one I recall drinking lots and handling it pretty well (though I was still very drunk!). Nowadays I drink less than I ever did and feel better for it. Beer is expensive now, it's not an easily social commodity it once was, pubs are dying a death as people buy copious amounts of beer from supermarkets very cheaply. The truth is, if takeaway beer was more expensive and beer in pubs was cheaper it would be regulated better, because people wouldn't drink silly amounts at home or on street corners. My own local seemingly has gone into decline of late, there seems less people in there than ever. I could say this is endemic of the town but some pubs seem to be flourishing whilst other fall by the wayside. I'm not sure what the problem is at my local, it feels tired in there of late, despite recent efforts there's certainly some apathy in there on the management part and I suspect the senior management are blissfully unaware that the pub as a whole needs changes in order to move forward.

I guess these days with what I do I see first hand the detrimental effects of what alcohol can do and it's not pretty, although that would never influence the fact I love to socialise it is a great leveller in many ways. I'm never going to stop socialising or enjoying a drink but these days apart from the odd blow out I'm guessing moderation is the way forward for me personally. The good old days of pubs may be passing by and the new era of pubs seem uncertain, many breweries have closed and the new super breweries have no character, it's all geared to evident profits now, perhaps it always was but never so apparently as it is nowadays.

I'll always be partial to a good beer but in the here and now it will never be a constant as it perhaps once was.

Scotland Alone?

2011-10-24T16:05:00.005+01:00

Alex Salmond the first Scottish minister and leader of the SNP keeps banging on about Scottish independence in the news. Whilst I admire his patriotism I can also see his evident stupidity. Both our countries have been intertwined for hundreds of years now both culturally and financially and whilst I respect the Scot's for being a traditional folk, probably more so than us English my feeling is they'd have a hard time on their own. Mr Salmond bangs the patriotic drum about power being at Westminster but as we all know Scotland makes many decisions alone and has its own parliament. Whilst he points to the fact we are cutting Scottish spending and creaming north sea oil revenue he negates such facts as massive benefit and health subsidies for Scotland that they receive.

If Scotland went solo it'd soon feel the pinch, you don't have to be a wizard to do the maths, less people thus less tax and a whole myriad of other problems they'd come up against not being in a union. Personally I'm indifferent, if Scotland went it alone I'm sure the government would have less to worry about and more money to hand. Most people see Scotland as some picture postcard country with idyllic vistas and quaint villages, well let me tell you I've seen some parts of Glasgow that I'd never want to see again for health and personal safety reasons. On visiting my ex girlfriends village a few years back I'd not want to ever go there again, kids riding around on roofs of cars and rampant alcoholism, Scotland like anywhere else is not without it's own problems.

I like the Scots, in my experience they are warm genuine and very proud people but they are part of this island too and I genuinely think our futures lay together for obvious mutual benefit.

Africa

2011-10-24T15:31:00.003+01:00

I seriously can't think of any reasons why I would want to visit the continent of Africa although at a push if I was in Spain I'd do a day trip to Morocco to say I'd been, that's it, and then at a push if at all.

Where do I start with this one? Well every time I look at the news it ain't good about Africa. Tourists kidnapped regularly, Somali pirates, bogus emails from alleged Nigerian businessmen, famine, civil war, mass rape, drought, lawless, disease, religion, gun crime and the list could go on. Whilst I have to acknowledge its the cradle of mankind's evolution and has some genuine wonders and places of amazing beauty it's really not on my to do list.

Books have been written describing Africa as a future Mad Max-esque wasteland and it seriously wouldn't surprise me if it becomes that in the not too distant future.

In some areas of Africa it seems like every second person is a christian pastor of some kind. They revel in old witch craft traditions combined with christianity and persecute gay people or non conformists - it almost sounds like England in the middle ages.

The recent Libya conflict is now resolved but will it all end quietly, I mean they can't even decide on how to bury Gaddafi's body, so how are they going to agree on running a new state? There's still unrest in Egypt and Algeria according to news reports. My guess is the west will of course try to set up lucrative oil contracts with Libya with generous payments for those that facilitate it. China is already colonizing large tracts of Africa for industrial exploitation. They may be building infrastructure but this is at small cost considering the current massive untapped resources and local cheap labour. What will happen when it all runs out I wonder?

I have a friend from South Africa, an elderly woman that does my clothes alterations on occasion, she moved from the country a few years ago citing the growing crime rate as being a major incentive.

You have all these countries within Africa that have received billions in aid during famine yet guess what? Yep it's still happening because all they do is sit around and procreate all day but then again the catholic church tells them not to use condoms in some countries. As the worlds population reaches a landmark 7 Billion Africans keep making babies despite being in poverty.

I could type on and on about Africa but I'm sure you get the message, some may find it distasteful, offensive and wrong but you cannot deny my very valid points. I'd like to be optimistic about the place but I can't.

The Cult Of Celebrity

2011-10-14T13:45:00.002+01:00

Every time you switch your Tv on these days there is a reality show on, its nothing new, we seemed to have embraced reality programmes with a passion over the last decade or so. I can't deny that I've watched reality shows and enjoyed them in the past but these days I think they are cliché to the extreme. The current crop of shows gracing our screens at the moment has contorted the word 'celebrity', it has changed the meaning to 'someone that may have been on a programme once in the past'. Of course real stars avoid celebrity programmes like the plague, why tarnish a good career? It's the desperado's that we are left with, the ones that will do anything for exposure that could lead to other things or bring a few quid in. Then of course we have to address the fact they are clearly deluded and their overblown self belief is evident.

What I find amusing on celebrity programmes these days, such as celeb big brother or celeb coach trip et al is when the celebs first meet they regularly don't even know who the other is! The reason generally being for that is that they really aren't well known at all. There seems to be a collision on such programmes of celebs that have crashed and burned such as Michael Barrymore meeting celebs (I use the word loosely here) who have been on some minor cable channel decorating rooms or something.

It seems all you have to do these days is appear on a reality tv programme, albeit even once and you have transcended normal everyday life and are now a celebrity. An article that recently amused me was two X-Factor contestants called '2 Shoes' (yes from Essex, where else!) announced after being booted out of the show on the first week that they wanted to do their own chat show. Here lies the problem with the whole cult of celebrity these days, in the fact after minimum exposure people assume they've hit the big time and deserve something without any effort at all. The tragedy is that the world of minor celebrity is a cut-throat one, they have to hustle for such shows to pay their way, however demeaning they might be or you swiftly fall from grace and into debt, I quote Jade Goody for instance who died leaving sizeable debts and other celebs such as the loathsome Kerry Katona that has reported of being in considerable debt before.

What we seem to have these days is the regular circuit celebs, looking at the current crop of celeb programmes it seems to be the ones that have been on Big Brother in the past or as I stated above are fallen stars or minor channel wannabe's.

I guess in the past I used to enjoy such shows to a degree, I never took them seriously they were just something I watched whimsically. I guess the likes of Big Brother started out as something experimental and new but rapidly declined into the same old crap year in, year out. The by-product being people that probably enjoy a 5 mins of fame before lapsing into the unknown abyss and then being unable to come to terms with it.

The bad news is though the media will keep churning it out and of course there is a market for it on tv and the tabloids which is probably the reason I don't read such newspapers any more or watch that much television, unless I want to vent my spleen at such drivel for therapy.

Jobs

2011-10-07T16:50:00.002+01:00

I'm not really an Apple person but nobody can deny the passing of Steve Jobs of Apple is a loss to the technology industry, particularly as he was one if its great pioneers. I first came into contact with an Apple computer on leaving school when I got to use an Apple Lisa computer where I once worked and it was ahead of its time. I also used to read the gaming/computer press back then and look in envy at some of the Apple games. I'm not really into the latest Apple stuff but I see how visionary some of it is and of course Steve Jobs is responsible for some of that.

This video clip of him talking about life and death is particularly inspirational.

Song Of The Month

2011-09-30T20:58:00.002+01:00

I've been having an eclectic month musically but I stumbled across an old album by 'Tangerine Dream' which brought back fuzzy warm memories of my 20's. This song is pretty synth and quite blissfully trippy!

The official Tangerine Dream website is here.

Sunny September

2011-09-30T20:46:00.012+01:00

Well the closing days of September have been lovely indeed, so here's some photos taken locally in Newark and Bottesford down the road. Enjoy!

Essex, Give It A Rest!

2011-09-24T18:33:00.002+01:00

What is the British media's obsession with Essex at the moment?

We have programs like 'The only way is Essex', 'Educating Essex' and Essex people featuring in many other shows gracing our Tv screens. When and why has Essex become a big deal? At

At first I thought it's just the media having some fun in the way they depict Essex people and are just inflating stereotypes for entertainment but of late I am not so sure. Recent programs such as 'Come dine with me' and 'Three in a bed' featured people from Essex who just added to the stereotype even more. I can only assume that there is an endless supply of people from Essex who do in fact fit the profile the media is projecting and are in fact materialist egoists that revel in bling, vajazzle and generally being flash. Suddenly Essex is a big deal, it's a great place and it's people are über-cool if seemingly the butt of the nations jokes and laced with superficiality.

The sad thing is, many in Essex (the not so intelligent) have bought into Essex mania and so I guess the normal people in Essex (yes I suspect there are a few!) have to suffer it. Personally my experience of Essex people hasn't been too positive but I won't let that cloud the issue here. The reality is Essex isn't a big deal and in my opinion there's far greater counties of beauty within Britain whose people have countless more charm.

The Ridicule Factor

2011-09-21T16:14:00.010+01:00

Ok I confess, I watch the X Factor, not avidly nor do I worry if I miss the programme but I watch it if I'm at home on a Saturday. The show I feel is pretty irreverent about music and has always been irreverent in the way it portrays people. I'm guilty as charged for laughing at the misguided souls trying to impress. Of all the thousands auditioning the ones deemed to have genuine talent progress and so the process goes on. I guess with most it's just a punt at making the showbiz life and there's nothing wrong in that. Others have been told they can sing by friends (who lied) and have wholly bought into it. A minority have unashamed arrogance in their capabilities or lack of them and some to be blunt are just plainly deluded, there's no easy way of saying it.

There's many different tiers of talent on the show from the raw yet to be moulded talent, the entertaining pub/club types that can belt out a half decent tune, the unusual or bizarre and as I have mentioned the above the wishful thinking or deluded types. One last type remain though and that's the vulnerable, the sort the show will shameless showcase for the entertainment of the rabid British tv viewing proletariats. The nation must echo with laughter as we watch couples such as the Sinclairs or individuals like Ceri Rees attempt to sing and fail dismally.

Let's be honest here though, such people however nice clearly aren't as intelligent or astute as the majority, I think there's a line between delusional and perhaps not the sharpest tool in the toolbox to coin a phrase. That is in no way intended as disrespectful, the flat fact here is that some of us are more intelligent and perceptive than others in society and that's how it will probably always be, the intelligent and the not so.

What angers me about the show is that they know this too yet the sensationalist producers will still lead the vulnerable lambs out to the slaughter because it's good for ratings, like jesters of old they entertain the kings of the living room armchair thrones and its all very sad if you ask me. I've got to the point where laughter now eludes me, I just shake my head in pity and question why the producers of the program would (a) readily make fools of people knowing they have no musical ability (b) air something that doesn't have the alleged X factor or is remotely musical and (c) create a cause and lasting effect scenario for unfortunate people.

Now you could argue that regardless of any intelligence, ability or skill you have a right to audition and in essence I concur however I do think there is a small percentage as recently demonstrated that could be clearly regarding as vulnerable in some respects. According to reports the Welsh woman Ceri Rees shown on the last audition show has been in tears ever since and the producers were contacted by a singing teacher who had befriended her and pleaded with them not to show the footage. If Ceri Rees had failed four times to progress in the show why build her up again only to destroy her hopes and dreams all over again? It's even disconcerting for die hard fans of the show. As for the Sinclairs, they seemed a lovely couple who probably now will receive ridicule and humiliation in the high street resulting from their footage. Unless the show vets people better before allowing them a very public demise on stage I suspect one day it may end in tears with something very real happening on a reality show that really isn't very nice at all.

Usually mature adults in this country make allowances for people who perhaps aren't the brightest or who may have mental health issues and morally look out for them in many respects so that they retain their dignity, yet a national family show has no such disposition or concern. The irony is that a contestant before who did have mental health issues was pulled from the show after progressing which can only have been a massive blow to the persons morale. People with low intelligence or indeed mental health suffer enough as it is in society without national media portraying them as buffoons. I'm not saying those people can't be gifted in many ways because they can but the reality often is that they don't see things as we do and that's the simple fact of it, if they were to progress the trappings of fame and publicity would only end up confusing them more and doing real psychological damage.

In closing I think the X factor needs to concentrate more on the potential talent than highlighting no talent at all. Everyone deserves the right to apply but everyone needs to be treated with respect and moral understanding of the implications of being on the show. I don't like what Simon Cowell stands for basically, the X Factor is all about finding potential talent for financial gain, the contestants also gain short term but when they fall out of the brief attention span of the public they are released from (as I understand) a very stringent contract and then who knows what will become of them, remember Steve Brookstein? In March 2010 Mr Brookstein was performing in a pub in Cornwall where punters paid £2.50p to hear him sing, if you bought a pie and a pint that was then waived, his two albums were on sale for £3 each. Despite his 5 minutes of fame he's a very bitter man.

Musically the X Factor has and never will give us anything other than commercial produced pulp pop tunes where the contestants are propelled to fame without any real maturing. There's lots of genuine talent out there in this country, the sensible ones probably opt not to appear on the X Factor because they have a love for 'real' music. We may live in an age in where things move a little faster and singers or bands become popular overnight due to the media unlike the greats who have had to perform long and hard over the years to gain recognition and deserved fame but like a wine or cheese that matures over time - they're always better.

Graphics Card

2011-09-12T11:26:00.007+01:00

My old graphics card died recently, not sure why, probably over use! So after some consultation I switched from an Nvidia type to a new Radeon HD 6750 which I was more than a little sceptical about. It's been installed a while now and is running really well, The old Nvidia had served me well during the two years since my pc was custom built but pc stuff always moves at a fast pace. The new graphics card has more options I can tick on games and some of the results are quite stunning, here's a couple of screen shots of my character in Lord of the Rings online with the settings ramped up.

I Never Thought ...

2011-09-12T00:40:00.003+01:00

I never thought preparing a new blog site would have so much work attached to it. It's still very much work in progress but I feel I'm getting there. After the recent period of feeling de-motivated I've done quite a bit of typing this weekend. I've finished one article I intend to post on the new blog but with that said it was completed after several re-types. I'm struggling with the intro bit at present and keep typing stuff, leaving it and then coming back to it in a re-appraising kind of way.

I still have to create another mail account for the blog and another twitter account which should be straight forward, it's the actual content I need to do more work on before I go live with it. I really don't want the new blog website to just sit there and not have much going on, so I'm going to have to get in the habit of being more pro-active. Ideally I should be more active with this blog but of late I feel if I have nothing to say or not much is happening so it's best to not to blog for the sake of it. I mean really, who wants to read my mundane day to day stuff? I'm warming more to Twitter of late for daily thoughts etc, Facebook doesn't really work for me these days and Google+ is excellent but slow in getting off the ground, though I'm sure it will.

I'm still going to keep this as my primary blog, the new blog will hopefully go live soon though still needs more work and planning. That leaves my creative writing blog that I haven't used for probably over a year which is a bit sad, though I have done some creative stuff but it's largely unfinished. Lastly I'd like to do a techno/games blog for all those fuzzy warming retro memories I have but that's more of a thought at present and I don't know when or if it will happen.

Lack Of Motivation

2011-09-05T14:16:00.003+01:00

I've been melancholy and de-motivated of late. I think the passing of my gran has had bigger effect than I though but it's over now and I'm moving on in my usual matter of fact kind of way. The fact is that people do come and go through life, be it family or friends. I'm just at that age where the balance has tipped and more people have passed away than are here. Death isn't something that scares me purely for the fact I can't do anything about it but I can't help feeling sad that each new loss hurts just that bit more.

I guess I feel somewhat at a crossroads right now, people seem to be coming and going and life and the big wide world stops neither for man nor beast. I just commented to a friend that 'People come and go like the tide ebbs and flows' and moving death to one side for a minute that's how life is, people enter your life for certain portions then move on, or you do of course. Let's not be negative here as there's always friends that are constants throughout. Locally I think the dynamics have changed, especially socially. Some people are settling down, some are moving on to new places and the wheel of life turns over on. Changes never really bother me too much, I'm adaptable, I have a good core of friends and new friends can always be made. I think the problem with me is that I have become complacent and I've been in a comfort bubble of sorts. Now I realise that changes do need to be made and that I need to vary my routine or places I hangout. This weekend just gone I deliberately avoided my local and visited other bars in town, I broke my usual mould so to speak and enjoyed it, new people and faces are always good. I had a very frank chat with the guy I was out drinking with and I think that helped immensely, the power of communication is always a great therapy I find.

Now that I've had this period of feeling de-motivated I need to stride into future months with more purpose, I've yet to begin my new blog platform but on the upside ideas have been gathering and I've made some notes already for it. There's other things I need to do also, some being mundane things like sorting my cd collection out into alphabetical order, clearing out some of my old gaming consoles and finishing some writing projects. I'm sure they'll all get done when the my usual motivation picks up.

Song Of The Month (Early)

2011-09-05T13:31:00.005+01:00

Today looking at the internet there's a lot of coverage surrounding Freddie Mercury, this would have been his 65th year. Since childhood I have fond memories of Queen and their iconic frontman, probably the greatest showman of all time in my opinion and truly amazing vocalist - Freddie Mercury. I recall as a family in the 1970s when we'd all sit in Sunday night and listen to the charts on the radio, Queen was always a favourite amongst us all. I grew up with their music and never ever tired of it, unlike most bands Queen always adapted, always innovated and always could hold an audience. As Brian May put it in a one off Google blog today ' Freddie made the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected'.

I remember the amazing soundtracks they did for Flash and Highlander, the breathtaking performance at Live Aid and a continued release of one great album after another. The irony is you'll never get a band of this quality again. I'll always love Queen and Freddie Mercury's voice with a passion, I grew up listening to them, they are an part of who I am.

Thinking back to the time of his death, I'm sure it was announced in the Sunday papers he had aids, then that Monday I recall waking for work, going down stairs and finding my mum in tears watching the morning news - Freddie Mercury had died. We both shed a tear together, I'm not sure as a family ever got upset over a celebrity before but such was Freddie Mercury's appeal to the normal British public it's no surprise really that his passing affected so many world wide.

So here is my early 'Song Of The Month' dedicated to Freddie Mercury and all the memories.

My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies, Fairy tales of yesterday, will grow but never die,
I can fly, my friends! The show must go on !

So ... That Was August

2011-08-31T19:26:00.009+01:00

August has been a bitter sweet symphony of a month by no mistake. Gran was cremated last Friday, it was a nice ceremony that highlighted that despite her diminutive stature she was a strong woman, hard working and devoted to family. The only downside to the service was my grans involvement with religion was embellished by the vicar and described as a 'quiet faith' but it was so quiet I never heard her mention it ever. My grans famous catch phrase was 'Charity begins at home' and that was very much how she thought, family was paramount.

I don't often do the family thing but I must confess I did enjoy seeing some of my family after the service for a drink and a bite to eat and I shall try and make more of an effort to keep in touch with some of then in the future. I'll miss my gran, she was a good woman and very kind and loving towards me, she is an irreplaceable woman in my life.

Onto lighter things now! Gary came back early in the month for nearly two weeks, he didn't bring his usual sunshine days but on the days we did stuff I couldn't really complain. We headed to the coast one day to visit Bridlington, Hornsea and Spurn head. Bridlington seems to have lost its childhood magic for me and now is much like many other English seaside towns in the fact it has lost much of its former glory and appeal. It now feels like a run down town by the side of the sea with a very unremarkable harbour. There's tacky bars adorning the sea front and expensive children's rides and amusements. I won't be in a hurry to visit again, though we did find a very good retro shop that sold excellent t-shirts and memorabilia.

Hornsea was a small affair but quite nice if you have a family and want the benefits of a small quiet seaside resort which also has quite a quaint village tucked behind the more contemporary sea front area.

Spurn head was pretty amazing, £2 to get in with the car and lots of lots of quiet beach overlooked by what I think to be an unused light house. The whole place has a kind of majestic beauty of sorts, super long swathes of quiet beach stretching out on a delicate thin finger of land in the North sea. It was a memorable day and we drove over the Humber bridge home.

August has been a strange month for sure, highs and low emotionally, the graphics card on the computer blew up and a good friend moved over to Lincoln to live, and good luck to him. To be fair its not that far away and will probably open up new social avenues for him and his partner, and of course me if they invite me over!

Tv Of The Month

2011-08-30T20:42:00.004+01:00

In all honesty it's not been a bad month on Tv. Shooting Stars with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer returned with much hilarity on BBC2, Monday 9pm or there abouts. This long running comedy quiz show (I say that loosely) just gets better with age and still manages to be fresh after all these years, it's surreal, it's bizarre and more importantly it's a bit of irreverent fun.

Reality show Big Brother entered the fray in resurrected sense on Channel 5 (daily 10pm) after it was dropped by Channel 4 some time ago. First up is the celebrity version before the long running public one begins proper. There was much hype surrounding it but to be honest a B-list celebrities are all that entered the recreated opulent house and I turned off after just two episodes, according to viewing figures over 5 million viewers dumped it after the first night too.

Dragon's Den is also in full swing on BBC2 (Sunday 9pm usually) but I really feel the format is looking tired now despite the entrance of new down to earth female dragon 'Hilary Devey'. I'll still stick with it as there's new innovations of interest but generally it's much of the same.

Cheesy reality talent show 'The X-Factor' also reprised on UK screens this month (ITV Saturday 8pm) but even though all the judges are new despite Louis Walsh it still feels very 'Simon Cowell'. Mr Cowell is already ruffling feathers by replacing chart singer Adele with Sinitta for the boot camp stages at the alleged judges houses. Though I must confess to watching the early shows its just purely for laughs as deluded hopefuls try and prove they have what it takes to be the next manufactured robotic pop act that is ultimately launched by Cowell's label 'Syco'. Fair play to Mr Cowell, he plays a shrewd game and why scout for new talent when you can get it to come to you via a televised format? Sadly a large amount of the younger British public buy into the whole thing because of the show and thus we have groomed manufactured mundane pop acts all over the UK charts.

You can't blame some people for trying but sadly a good majority think they are recording artists after getting through the first audition. The fact is the finalists are fast tracked to fame and don't really have to work hard at proving themselves like aspiring acts did years ago, it's all too easy via the X-Factor, the result is generic rubbish that end up doing an album of cover versions until they are dropped back into obscurity they were once plucked from, none will have longevity of the likes of the Rolling Stones or Bowie.

Next up was the excellent 'Seven wonders of the Buddhist world' (BBC2 24th Aug) presented by the very gorgeous Bettany Hughes. What a refreshing hour and 15 mins of great television as Bettany guided us around the world to view shrines and temples of the Buddhist world from Thailand to Cambodia, from Nepal to the USA. Regular readers know I'm not a faith orientated person but buddhism does interest me as it is one of the few faiths in the world with a lot of common sense attached to it. I'd been to the Buddha shrine on Lantau Island in Hong Kong several years ago and I found it to be an amazing place and I smiled broadly in fond memory when Bettany visited it on the show.

Lastly we have 'Francesco's Italy tip to toe' on BBC4 Tuesday 8pm) in which eternally smiling elfin Italian Francesco da Mosta travels from his native Venice to the toe end of Italy whilst criss-crossing this beautiful and historic country. I blogged about him a few years ago when he did another travelogue style program sailing from Venice in search of the old Venetian empire around the Adriatic coast, Greece and Istanbul. Francesco is a proud Italian historian/traveller with plenty of character and deserves wider recognition for his great shows and books.

Below is the Buddha shrine at Lantau island, Hong Kong, featured on Bettany Hughes's 'Seven wonders of the Buddhist world' . I took this photo when I visited some years back.

Song Of The Month

2011-08-30T20:37:00.002+01:00

Well this month has been a tester to be sure, it's whizzed past and a lot has happened. On the eve on my Gran's funeral I decided to post a song on my Facebook page that reflected her life and one we'd both probably like and I came up with Jethro Tull's 'Life is a long song'. The video consists of the singer of the band Ian Anderson and a small classical ensemble of musicians, it all works beautifully. Hope you enjoy!

A Personal Goodbye

2011-08-25T16:41:00.003+01:00

Today I went to see Gran in the chapel of rest in the town where I grew up. Initially I had decided I wanted to remember her as she was but then I thought to myself if she could ever come back and chastise us then she'd almost certainly have something to say about nobody turning up to see her. I'm not superstitious by any means but I just imagined in my head what she'd say so I decided I owed it to her to go along and say my own personal goodbye and more importantly I felt passionate about doing it.

Dad took me over in his car and parked outside as I went into the chapel. I waited briefly in a comfortable reception area before being shown into a small room that was lit with soft deep rose coloured lights and there she lay. The man asked if I wanted to be left alone and I nodded, the door shut behind me.

I looked down at gran, she looked peaceful, her face was smooth and bereft of wrinkles, her delicate hands lay over each other across her stomach, her hair looked lovely. I didn't feel uneasy seeing her lay there dead, I've seen dead people before in the past. Feeling lost for words I muttered a few things, I greeted her the way she used to affectionately greet me which was 'Hey up Bod' (local slang/dialect).

My voice began to falter and my throat felt raw, what I said next was a few disjointed sentences that I shall omit from my blog, as you'll understand, they were personal but I will share that I thanked her for all she had done for me over the years and that of course that I loved her.

Gingerly I stroked her hair and said my final farewell and left. I thanked the staff and stepped outside blinking into the sun light and I don't mind confessing for a few moments tears coursed down my cheeks and sobs welled up within. Quickly gaining control I headed to dad around the corner and he drove me home. It was some time before we spoke, he gave me a little space and reflection time and I felt warm within knowing I had said what I needed to say to a lovely dear woman, my beautiful grandmother 'Doris'.

A Surreal Day

2011-08-24T22:35:00.004+01:00

A surreal day in Nottingham. It began with a Jehovahs witness trying to thrust a pamphlet into my hand as I waited for the office to open. This was met by a sharp verbal rebuke. Shortly after I caught up with gossip over a coffee.

Then entered a black guy with one lens missing from his sunglasses.

Then after a entered a guy with a dog called 'sausage'.

Then I called the chapel of rest to see about visiting my recently deceased grand mother, though this isn't surreal as such but the context of talking about dead people on the phone isn't really the norm for an average day.

Even the train journey home felt strange.

I've felt a bit detached for a while though, Gary visit is over and has gone too fast combined with the death of someone I loved dearly. I've not felt great health wise either, my body being very random indeed.

Tomorrow I am going to say a few final words of farewell and thanks to my grandmother in the chapel of rest and Friday is the funeral. Perhaps then I can focus on the days ahead, my plans and life in general.

Hopefully normal blogging will resume soon.

Gone

2011-08-14T13:35:00.002+01:00

I knew when the phone kept ringing at 8am this morning something must be wrong. At first I just ignored the home phone but then my mobile lit up beside me on the pillow and my aunts name popped up on screen. I knew it was bad news so didn't answer it.

She could only be ringing for one reason, and that was my dear grandmother had passed away.

I rang her back and my worst fears were confirmed, my grandmother Doris had died in her sleep this morning, she'd been ill for some time so it wasn't a complete shock but the news still smashed into me like a freight train. She was my last remaining grandparent and without doubt the one I loved the most too, I loved all the others but Doris was really special, she had a big part in my life over the years. In a few more days she would have been 89 years old. In her in final years she lived with my aunt who has done a remarkable job in caring for her but she remained hale and with all her faculties till the last, sadly the last few weeks she had been in much pain.

I cannot describe the loss I feel today, I want to type a longer blog but I just can't because I hurt too much. I will do a blog that will do her memory proud in the future.

She was a remarkable woman who gave me so much love - I'm utterly devastated.

Mr Sunshine Returns

2011-08-08T19:50:00.002+01:00

I'm guessing my good friend Gary will be headed this way from Hong Kong as I type for a holiday and to see his parents... and see me of course!

I nicknamed him Mr Sunshine some time ago as when he visits the sun always seems to grace us with its presence. He's over with his wife and son so not much chance of a social drink, no bad thing as they sometimes get messy! I'm looking forward to seeing them all and hopefully going to the coast with them for the day. Safe Journey Gary and bring the sun as Britain hasn't really had a summer this year yet!

A Long Lost Love

2011-08-07T15:05:00.004+01:00

I was sorting through my old cd's searching for one in particular. It seemingly took an age to find but isn't that always the case when you are searching for something? Today a mood came upon me to listen to some Jethro Tull, it's been a while since I've had them grace my ears. I've been a fan of Jethro Tull since the early 80s when a neighbour introduced me to them. I went to see them live at Manchester Apollo and then began to collect them on vinyl before cd's came along shortly after. Listening to them today has brought back fond memories, hours sitting listening to them in my bedroom as a teenager singing along (badly) to their lyrics. My passion for them has never abated but with life being hectic its rare that I actually sit and listen to music these days, a sad fact indeed. Still after rediscovering my long lost love for them this afternoon I shall have to put them on ipod or phone and take Tull with me.

I discovered this video, which seemed relevant as I've been playing Lord of the Rings online this morning, don't you just love lazy Sundays? Anyway, this video cleverly combines Jethro Tull and Lord of the Rings movie clips, I may have posted this before, it's certainly familiar but here it is to the very apt Broadsword track for Tull's album titled 'Broadsword and the Beast'.

Tv Of The Month - Small Teen, Bigger World.

2011-07-31T20:12:00.005+01:00

I've not really watched much television this month, no bad thing really. The Apprentice ended with a good conclusion I thought and the right person won for a welcome change.

One program that did touch personal heart strings was 'Small Teen, Big World' which started as a four part documentary on BBC3 on July 11th. It opened with 3'8" (Hope I got that right) teenager called Jasmine (she prefers Jazz) saying 'I don't have a problem with my height but other people often do' or words very similar. All I can say is that being of hobbit like stature myself I empathised with Jazz immediately and each episode has evoked plenty of emotion within me. The series deals with certain aspects of Jazz's life in each episode, including the reunion with her estranged father, social life, holidays and relationships with those around her including her amazing grandparents and hysterical mum called 'Bev' who is a little gem in her own right.

The BBC needs to be commended for documentaries like this but I really wish it had made prime time BBC1 viewing to bring awareness of us small folks to the masses so we aren't people that are ridiculed in the street or just in films - we are a part of society. I'm a little taller than Jazz but I still face the same prejudices and obstacles at times and I can painfully recall what it was like growing up with the inner battles of trying to be who you are and sometimes wanting to be someone else. Age of course eases things but Jazz is probably coping in many ways better than I did, she really is very articulate, lovely and above all remarkable - a real heroine of our times.

Jasmine I just want to say thank you for sharing your life on the tv and say that you're an inspiration, your family is awesome and your mum has me giggling like a loon -what you both have is very special.

Nowadays when people ask me how I handle being short I reply 'I wear it, I wear it like an armour' - they never see that one coming but these days its true, I am proud of who I am and like you - never let it hold me back!

The Hobbit Goes South

2011-07-28T14:29:00.010+01:00

So the day came, my planned trip to London and a day in the Camden area. I boarded the train and gazed out of the window musing what the day may yield. I soon get chatting to the guy next to me, we talk music and other things, he's a city boy, suited and booted but very likeable with it and in no time I am pulling into King Cross station. We joke to each other about the hustle and bustle to come and how unpleasant the London underground can be before bidding each other farewell.

I navigate through the hordes of bodies at Kings Cross and descend to the underground, as usual its hot and busy but I know its only two stops to Camden town so I can bear it. I hit Camden around noon and the sights and sounds instantly assault my senses as I leave the station. It's busy, very busy in fact and the flow of people is almost at a crawl. I head for one of the many markets in Camden and bag a couple of T-Shirts that Gary and I had seen at Christmas in Lincoln but couldn't get because the shop was closed, and when I returned later the shop was vacant. So the first purchase is definitely for the win, Gary will be happy when he comes over from China next month.

Then I am inexorably drawn to the Stables market across the road and my favourite clothing shop ever... Cyberdog. Like a sycophantic disciple I enter and head down the escalator. A large LED lights up the back wall and a DJ is playing bouncy electro vibes as I survey the panoply of clothing around me. To use a phrase my mate Tom once said 'I am dancing in my head' and there I stood with a little hobbit inside my head busting moves on a revolving dance floor in my mind, for a moment it really is overload as I just don't know what to do first. I randomly begin looking at clothing and its ker-ching as the cash register in my mind begins to turn over, I stand there salivating over awesome clothes 'want, want, must have, need, don't need but it looks cool' are what I am thinking. It takes little time to have my hands full, 3 t-shirts, a hat, a sweat band, socks and I realise I need to pay and get out before the credit card comes out and I do myself some real damage. It's a wrench but I pay and head back into the daylight feeling uber content.

The aroma of the many food stalls surrounds me and I decide I need to sit and eat and plan my next move. I soon crash down at a Chinese food stall having been charmed there with a free food sample by a pretty oriental girl. As I perch on my stool it feels like I am on the set of some Blade Runner-esque movie, the noodles I eat are excellent and I people watch constantly.

Then I head to the shops but with food inside me I feel lethargic and just want to sit down again and let the feeling pass. I head down Inverness street to a bar called 'The Good Mixer' which kind of reminds me of my local and it also allegedly has celebrities drink there on occasion, though no such luck for me this time. Sitting outside with a beer I recline and soak things in, Inverness street is somewhat quieter than Camden High street so I collect my senses and decide on my next move. I watch a Londoner stand nearby swearing repeatedly into his phone whilst breaking off sporadically to shout and sell his fruit and veg wares. In truth he is one of the few English voices I have heard so far as Camden is full of foreign people, it's very much a cultural melting pot. Suddenly a woman stands before me, she's adorned in a beret, silken scarf and tacky blue plastic sun shades. I'd say she was about mid forties but looked mid fifties, alcohol and drugs had obviously taken their toll. She asks for forty pence politely and I feel inclined to help and dig into my pocket producing a pound and forty pence, she ignores the forty pence and asks for the pound cheekily stating she needs it to get to an appointment. I look at her with knowing doubt and she caves in and says she actually needs a drink. Admiring her blunt honesty I give her the pound coin and she thanks me before heading off. Two minutes later a man stands before me and almost demands money and at this point I am beginning to think I should have sat inside. I point out I've just given money to someone and should I keep giving money to people I'll need money myself, he grumbles and walks off, at least the first woman had manners and a certain jaded style.

It's decision time, I ponder on a lengthy walk to Camden square to see the late Amy Winehouse tributes but feel hypocritical as I'm not really a fan and neither do I think she is a great star of our times. Regent's park pops into my head, I know it's nearby and roughly north of where I am, so I set off albeit a bit blindly plus I need a break from the shops and mass of people. Only a street away from Camden high street and I step into a surreal suburbia, large period houses on small crescent streets. It is hard to imagine that the cacophony of Camden High street is so close by. Stumbling through a few roads I see a sign for Regents park and soon arrive. Heading into the place I see it is indeed vast, I walk and walk yet feel I am getting nowhere. I sit on a park bench, survey the lush greenery around me and spy Telecom tower through the trees and saunter over to take a photo before sitting again and sorting my rucksack contents.

Checking my watch I see the afternoon is getting on, my friend Pat has just texted and he can meet for a coffee after work so I head back into Camden or so I think - yup I get lost! I know I'm not far off the beaten track and I curse myself as I thought I had mentally mapped things in my head. I spy a newsagents and pop in to buy some gum and ask for directions from the Indian shopkeeper. His directions are concise and excellent as the route back takes me along the canal and gets me back into Camden quickly and by a scenic route to boot, so I take some photos and send mental thanks to the shopkeeper for doing me a favour.

It's almost 5pm, I snatch a quick phone call with Pat and we agree to meet at Euston and I do some last minute shopping. Calling in a shop I've bought boots in before I'm greeted by a turkish looking old guy, he has savvy and he knows his sales patter. He looks down at my well worn Gordon Jack ankle boots and asks where did I get them from? We are soon locked in conversation and he shows me his wares, it is a good shop and I know you can haggle but the only thing he shows me are New Rock boots which I already have, in fact from the very same shop last year. I tell him I want something similar to what I am wearing, as they aren't as heavy as New Rocks. He offers me some pastel shaded boots that really aren't to my liking and it is looking like I am out of luck, he shrugs but a split second later has a eureka moment and dives off to the end of some racking and produces a pair of lightweight black New Rocks with velcro straps that look similar to what I am wearing. To add to my excitement they are in my size too, I try them on, they look awesome and we begin to haggle. They come down from £120 to £90 and we reach deadlock, as I know New Rocks are quality we agree on a deal and I head off to meet Pat feeling a very lucky hobbit.

In no time I am disembarking at Euston, it seems quite a lot has changed since I was there some years ago. Many years ago I had to get off the tube at Euston due to some bomb threat or something similar and run from there to Kings Cross to catch my train, it was a close call but I made it and in truth Euston and Kings Cross are quite close to each other, a ten minute stroll. I slump down on a wooden seat outside in a forecourt surrounded by coffee bars and restaurants. Soon Pat arrives, it's been about a year since I've seen him and he's looking well. His trademark beard and long hair surround his smiling face, we chat and he tells me about his new job over a strong coffee. We sit outside and the sun streams down though it is approaching early evening. It's good to see Pat again and he always has plenty to say and never fails to make me smile.

All to soon it is time for goodbyes, we take a steady walk to Kings Cross and continue to chat merrily away. There are huge throngs of people at Kings Cross and they seem to announce trains at the last possible minute, its a hasty goodbye and handshake and I am on the train leaving London behind and suburbia gives way to rolling fields.

I review the day, after spending more time in Camden I have to say it has lost some of its lustre for me, why I hear you say? Well, friends know I love the place but this time it felt too busy and though there are some amazingly good shops there are lots more selling the same touristy rubbish and cheap t-shirts. I still love Camden and its avant-garde bohemian vibe and I'll always return for buying clothes but this time I felt the good shops seem overwhelmed by touristy ones and this is a real shame. Camden is a special place but it is also very commercial these days too.

One final thing, my 'Boblbee' rucksack was amazing on the day, so comfortable to wear and its amazing how much you can get in it to say it is not overly big, it really did the business on the day. On the downside, my Sony Ericsson X8 phone was an epic fail. The battery ran down quick even though I used it maybe 5 times for different tasks of no great length. I need to get rid of it soon and also change networks as Orange is a pretty dire service provider these days.

43

2011-07-26T20:58:00.004+01:00

So today I chalk 43 years on the board of life. Its been a quiet day, lunch with my dad and then a couple of drinks and good conversation with a friend. I've done some reading and watched some clips of my favourite films. I'm really taken back with the amount of birthday messages on the internet, surely birthday cards will one day be a thing of the past!?

Tomorrow I'm off to Camden for some retail therapy and a good few hours in a place I usually have little time to myself when I visit. So hopefully a good chance to browse the quirky shops there and also check out places I've not done so before. I've really enjoyed the fact today has been low key, restful and though another year has dropped off the calender I'm a content hobbit.

Hair

2011-07-20T18:34:00.004+01:00

Hair is a funny thing, we groom it, comb it, toy with it, wash it and style it. We don't realise it but it's quite a big thing in our lives as we tend to use hair to make statements about ourselves or project our personalities, we usually spend a fair bit on hair vanity and upkeep, especially women, and rightly so as it looks good. Our hair makes us stand out or look individual, it can reflect who we are in many different ways.

For many years now I've had long hair, truth be known I love long hair and there's been protracted periods in my life where my hair has been a fair old length. Up until recently its always looked good despite the fact I have fine hair but lately the hair brush and the mirror have indicated my hair was getting thinner in a couple of areas, not vastly so but noticeable on scrutiny. The fact I have fine hair highlighted it more. Instead of letting my hair hang down and free I seemed to have in more in a pony tail over the last few months or would use voluminous type sprays or gels to sweep it in directions etc.

I very much wanted to keep my hair as I did like it long but age catches up with men's hair in many cases and although I wasn't rapidly balding by any means I still didn't want to look silly or be over proud in the face of nature taking its course. Baldness doesn't run in the family and the crown of my head is fine, the front though was receding quite a bit and it just didn't suit my long hair - it was time to take reluctant action and face certain facts (and listen to what some folk have been telling me).

I pondered things for a few days, procrastinated and my heart and head swung like pendulums on what course of action to take. The reality is I knew I had to let it go, as long hair weighs heavy on the scalp and shows things up even more, shorter hair wouldn't be so bad. I've never been one for mid style haircuts though, not since my twenties so the only real solution was a really short style that was graded.

This morning as I looked in the mirror I knew it was time to say goodbye to my hair. I knew of a barbers in Nottingham that is open around 8:30am, as I regularly see the guy washing down the steps of the place at that time. I had a hunch he'd be empty as I walked past and he was. So I went in and asked for frank advice. At first he didn't realise I had long hair until I whisked the pony tail before him and then I sat in the chair and it was down to business. He commented it was a real shame as my hair was thick for fine type hair and was only let down by the front a little but agreed with me on my thoughts. He fired the clippers up and dug into my mass of brown hair, as it cascaded to the floor I felt sad to see it go but happy of a new beginning in some respects. He graded it to a 3 and then down to 2 on my orders before rinsing it and checking for odd stray longer hairs and performing some cosmetic titivation. Then it was done. I looked down and saw my hair there and thought it looked tired and a little bedraggled - I'd done the right thing I mused.

Walking out I donned my black beany hat as my scalp felt cold being bereft of hair, I sighed yet felt relieved and to be honest now its shorter it just looks like short hair and nothing like balding hair at all, so it's all good.

Booked !

2011-07-15T19:59:00.003+01:00

The ticket is booked, Camden town here I come! Instead of a drunken escapade or such like I've elected to have some 'me' time this year and go off and do something I want to do. Camden has always been a perennial favourite of mine yet I always spend little time there, so this time when I alight at Kings Cross I am just heading to Camden. I'm going to do the shops in depth and then when they close a few beers before heading home, maybe some other possible things planned. Lets hope the weather is fair and the gods of retail therapy are with me .... and that coming from an atheist! :-p

Trouble Ahead?

2011-07-07T13:41:00.005+01:00

I popped into my local pub this morning for a coffee and to see if my letter had been published in the area newspaper (see blog below). In no time the staff pointed out an article about a newly formed local wing of the EDL (English Defence League for those reading overseas). The EDL is a right wing nationalist organisation that is gaining some degree of popularity so I guess it was only a matter of time before my sleepy little town had its own collection of motley bigots.

The staff also told me that a shopkeeper in the convenience store on the next road to me had been attacked the previous evening after a group of EDL supporters had been in my local beforehand, what a coincidence! The owners of the shop are probably of Iranian or Turkish origin, or from that part of the world and when I pop in they've always been very polite and helpful, they speak excellent English and the shop is well stocked and set out.

In the local paper the newly formed local EDL are stating the aren't against multiculturalism but don't want sharia law or islam rising within the town. To my knowledge there are virtually almost no Muslims within my small town population wise. Whilst I am no fan of Islam in a religious context I've nothing against people who come from Islamic regions of the world as long as they aren't fanatical about their beliefs. If we have a large group of foreign people within the town then it is East Europeans and though I personally do think there are too many over here again I have nothing against them as people, I just think it is a political issue and past and present governments have let us down on immigration and the numbers let into Britain. I love the fact we are a multicultural nation and we have cultures that have influenced us over generations, after all where would we be without a good curry house or Chinese takeaway?

In the article it mentions an EDL march of some sort in the near future but no date is given, in fact it's all very vague on their part, I wonder why? Perhaps they don't want any opposition when they parade. I hope it remains vague and they never really get organised. Nearly all of the local population here would agree with me and say this sort of thing isn't wanted here and my own view is if you have strong nationalistic views then be legitimate with them and follow a political route with relevant dialogue, not that it really did the British National Party any good in the past election. My own view is that there are problems within society and multiculturalism, especially in some areas of the country and its only recently David Cameron has commented upon this contentious subject. There's nothing wrong in being proud of your country and having opinions especially in these problematic days but lets be quintessentially British here and show that we can be calm and sensible about such matters without resorting to violence and racism, there's positive patriotism and negative and we certainly don't need the latter.

No Surprise

2011-07-07T13:15:00.005+01:00

It came as no surprise that a letter I sent to my local paper wasn't published. I suspect they thought it was controversial and didn't want to rock the boat with their christian readership. I certainly didn't pull any punches with it because I wanted to be as direct as possible, so here's the letter below.

'Editor

I write this email in regard to last week’s Newark Advertiser dated 30^th June which had an article on page 32 called ‘Credo’ written by Pastor Carl Meachem of the Newark Evangelical Church.

The article states the church ‘plays a vital role’ but very speedily launches into religious rhetoric and quotations from a book that is ambiguous in factual content at best. I fail to see how any article littered with biblical quotes and comparisons for example ‘the church is the body of Christ’ really conveys to a reader of a ‘news’ paper. Personally in a secular society I do not think we need to see this kind of article within a local publication, should anyone want to read or hear religious ramblings then they can of course go to church.

Mr Meachem closes with the point of ‘around the world we hear of Christianity’s rapid growth’. All I can say to this is that here in Europe it is in fact on the decline as people adopt a more sensible, pragmatic and humanistic way of life. I would also like to mention that people don’t want to hear Mr Meachem’s religious rants in public, I refer to his occasional appearances on the corner of Bridge Street/Market place in which we are force fed words written by ignorant old men long ago. Modern society needs optimism and common sense and not someone wailing to us as we shop that we are ‘doomed sinners’ etc. '

Yours .......

Again in this weeks edition we have more christian fervour and rhetoric, christ is coming back etc, this time by a baptist minister. We have so many different types of believers locally all trying to sell their own take on the bible but none in my view are more odious than the local Jehovah's Witnesses or the fanatical Evangelicals. These are the sort I am vehemently against as they are committed to bringing biblical bullshit to the streets and doorsteps and if they had their way we would all be thrall's to their misguided beliefs.

In closing if you are reading this Pastor Carl Meachem I'd just like to point out to you that its been in the news this week that christian bookshops around the UK are closing rapidly which totally contradicts your claim that christianity is booming once more - religion is hopefully in permanent recession.

Stupidity And Revelation

2011-07-06T18:17:00.004+01:00

A depressing day today. Stomach ache to begin with and a muted morning filled with thoughts of apathy and futility - it's not me at all really. Nonchalant grey clouds hung in the sky above Nottingham and I felt detached from the city as I made for home, it all felt like some very pallid pointless dream. Not even listening to Infected Mushroom and the nubile multicultural amazons of Nottingham can lift me.

It was a day of stupidity and revelation. The stupidity coming from an oldish woman letting her precious pet dogs pee between the automatic doors opening in the entrance to the train station to reading revelations on Sartre and existentialism on the sojourn home.

It's about time the state got tough on dogs and dog owners, reintroduce high dog licence fee's I say and you'd see a lot less of this kind of thing. You wouldn't get the whimsical crowd having dogs to appease inane urges of vanity.

I get back home and feel totally craven about the day, my book read being the highlight. Its on days like this when you loathe everything that death and nothingness seems an appealing promise ahead of you, a silence and darkness which are the perfect escape, nothing can succour today for me, I just want to be alone till this cloud passes.

Drew

2011-06-30T18:48:00.004+01:00

Last night I went to my local pub for drinks as Drew, a good friend of mine is leaving for pastures new, Pinner in Middlesex to be precise, it's within the M25 but more on the fringe of London.

I can't recall when I met Drew exactly on coming to Newark, he was just there and was very much a presence and personality. He's a charismatic individual with a great enthusiasm for life, we've always had fantastic banter and I guess I've always been the Moriarty to his Sherlock Holmes!

Drew is a fantastically articulate lad and has so many hobbies and interests at times I've lost count or just not listened to the less interesting ones! That said, I wish I was as gifted as he is at a lot of things and his versatility and skills are to be commended, oh and he did build me a cracking PC!

Instant likeability is something many strive for or crave but Drew has it in spades, he's a good all rounder, has a great way with words (though he can't match my wit) and he's definitely a great character that will be greatly missed here. It was good to see the local pub packed with so many friends and family there to say goodbye, though I'm pretty sure we'll see plenty of him in the future. I wish him well and I've no doubt that with his capabilities he'll get on with future adventures with his usual aplomb. It's great that he's doing this, life is all about going off and doing things and and having new experiences.

Drew, I'll miss our banter, I'll fondly remember the whole 'Nooch' escapades and I'll miss the odd coffees and meaningful chats we used to have but you can be sure I'll be coming to see you. All that remains to be said is good luck to you and your lovely partner!

And here is the man himself!

So... What's New?

2011-06-30T18:27:00.004+01:00

It's been a month of conflicting emotions combined with highs and lows health wise. Time spent in Nottingham continues to bring issues within society to the forefront of my mind. It's very much an ongoing bitter-sweet experience really.

It's been a fairly quiet month with lots of thinking going on and a fair few weekends staying at home over going out. I've decided to overhaul my often self indulgent diet a bit and go for more fish, pasta, rice and veg and leave bread and other fatty things alone, not easy as I love a good sandwich and like things like cheese.

At the beginning of the month I thought I may have been into something with someone but alas after a period of being really happy and with a spring in my step I don't think it's something that is going to happen. Probably, well mainly because of inflexible stuff, shadows from the past (not on my part) and the fact some people find it hard to compromise really, myself included yet I was really willing to on this one. It's hard when someone comes into your life again and suddenly beams sunshine into it then silly things become issues, issues become silence and silence becomes a wedge that is hard to overcome. I am not without faults of course but I do think when someone special comes along these days it's worth the extra effort. Though I am content being single at times I worry I may become stuck in my ways and when I ask myself do I want to grow old and alone? the resounding answer is no, though I don't fear it either. We've all been hurt in the past but nowadays I don't want to let my past dictate my future, I know others struggle with memories but when you look at good and bad memories which should be the easiest to put in the trash can?

On the plus front I've been planning my new blog site which has a specific subject matter in mind and I've been reading a lot, humanism stuff, existentialism and a generous dollop of fiction too! I've rediscovered what a great little resource my local library really is.

Tv Of The Month

2011-06-30T17:58:00.005+01:00

It's not been a bad month for tv really. The Apprentice has been in full swing on BBC1, Wednesday 9pm. The thing is, I feel the Apprentice is becoming tired and formulaic. There's only so many times panoramic camera views of London (especially the Gherkin building) can have appeal. The tasks on the show remain the same with little change. The contestants are as usual mostly loathsome ego maniacs yet I still watch the show, mainly because I love Sir Alan's aide 'Nick Hewer' who has me rolling with laughter with his facial gesticulations and quips. Karen Brady is also a great asset to the team and I really like her blunt honesty. The show does need some changes though, maybe longer tasks or more trips abroad BBC?

Second up is the back to back programs of Four In A Bed and Come Dine With Me on Channel 4 5-6pm respectively. Great irreverent virtual reality shows with plenty of typical Brit humour, I never take the shows seriously but then that is the general idea - an ideal bit of teatime nonsense with laughs.

Lastly my favourite program of the month. This was a documentary presented by the award winning fantasy author Terry Pratchett, a thoroughly lovely man. The documentary called 'Choosing to Die' was aired on BBC2 on June 13th an was about assisted suicide. I really find words hard to find to describe the impact this program had on me. It was a reminder of my mother that died several years ago when I consented to her life support machine being switched off. All the memories came flooding back but the way Terry Pratchett presented this sensitive subject was objective in general context (not subjectively about Mr Pratchett), balanced and very touching. As he rightly quotes in my opinion 'The timing of his death should be his choice and not the governments'. Of course Terry Pratchett's thoughts and feelings were evident but I felt as a viewer the program looked beyond his personal views and looked at the subject matter from different perspectives.

It was a compelling piece of powerful television and I haven't seen anything that has evoked that much raw emotion in me for some time. I feel strongly for assisted suicide if of course there is no doubt in peoples minds that because of disease, pain and declining health issues that their quality of life is no longer there. It's a contentious subject for sure but one I feel the government needs to address and the church needs to stay out of. Great television from the BBC. You can find a review of the program here.

Song Of The Month

2011-06-30T16:48:00.003+01:00

I've been quite eclectic with my listening this month though I've generally been listening favourite stuff whilst out and about. I did hear this track on the radio last week and loved it straight away so I will put it down as this months song even though I don't know much about the artist (but intend to!). So here it is with Lykke Li and 'Rich Kid Blues'.

Primal Scream At Glastonbury

2011-06-25T12:08:00.004+01:00

Just watched the Primal Scream set at Glastonbury and was blown away. In comparison I thought U2 were a bit bland. Don't get me wrong I like quite a bit of U2 stuff but they just didn't work for me this time. On the other hand Primal Scream totally rocked, probably about the only band I'd want to see live there in this years poor line up. I'll admit to being a bit cynical about Glastonbury, maybe because I'm older and feel festival stuff is behind me, I need my creature comforts and to be honest my arthritic pain would just flare up with the damp and rain. So for me, I get a front of stage seat in my living room and enjoy it that way, plus I don't have to queue up at a porta-loo either! I'm sure the Glastonbury experience is amazing and maybe one day I might suffer the pain and go especially as the Arcadia area looks amazing with all the electro and psytrance stuff going on.

To see the BBC highlights of Primal Scream click 'Here'

Crazy Day

2011-06-21T16:41:00.003+01:00

I should have known today was going to be a crazy day when a pigeon tried getting through the curtains into my bedroom at 6am. I was startled by its warbling noises and movements and it was evidently trying to get in somehow, well I am three floors up, and I shouldn't complain as I don't get many birds in my bedroom these days! Some shouting and arm waving saw it on its way and it was time to rise. Time for a brew of earl grey tea, choccy biscuit and a quick chat with my friend Gary on Msn who is over in China.

Off to Nottingham on the train and I find myself sat opposite a largish framed woman with a pretty face dressed in a suit. I think to myself she probably works in an office at a building site and ironically at that moment she pulls out a construction magazine from her rucksack. I duck behind my free copy of the Metro newspaper and grin broadly.

The morning passes without real event. I do a pitch run out of the office to see if vendors want a top up of magazines whilst listening to Infected Mushroom and admiring the multitudes of eye candy Nottingham has to offer. Popping into to Forbidden Planet I bag something for a friends birthday and head back to the office to talk Game of Thrones with Holly.

As I head home there's a brooding air about Nottingham as the clouds hang darkly in the air, threatening to rain at any moment. 'Come on rain' I think as I really want the people at the Glastonbury festival to get wet this coming week. Coming to the crossing at Lower Parliament street I notice black guy acting erratically, talking to himself, sudden head movements and a restless demeanor. Nearby an old couple are looking nervously around, the clouds go dimmer and as we cross they take a sudden change of direction. It's obvious to me the coloured guy has mental health problems, I'd say he was approaching his late 20's dressed smart yet casual with a smallish affro haircut. He trails his finger along a window of a restaurant as we approach Cranbrook Street crossing then BOOM! He violently kicks the window of a restaurant and I'm shocked it didn't go through. Next he brings the flat of his hand down on a dustbin lid, water sprays off it and hits an oncoming young woman in the face and chest, the black guy seems oblivious to this and walks on shouting with pumped up vitriol at imaginary people. Having worked with mental health people I say to myself this man is off the scale and almost definitely dangerous, possibly exacerbated by drugs. I look at the young girl and shrug and she complains to me at what he's done. Before I can say 'Leave it, he is off his head or has serious mental stuff going on' she turns and shouts abuse.

An odd surreal pause moment follows and he turns around and begins to follow her, I avoid eye contact as he again smacks the window and sends the dustbin hurtling over with a kick. I ask myself 'Do I want to die?' and the answer 'Not today' spills out of my mind. He walks after her quickly shouting incoherently and I figure as she is walking towards lots of burly builders doing roadworks she should be safe (as they could floor him better than a hobbit like me could). I pause momentarily and wander what to do but as I promised myself I'd buy the Game of Thrones book 2 today and want to read it I consider walking on the best course of action! The best thing the young girl should do is walk on swiftly and say nothing more as I know how unpredictable and dangerous people with mental health issues can be. I'm no coward by any means but the mantra of the mental health place I used to work out kicks in and that was basically if they ever kick off - get out of there fast'.

Climbing the hill into Hockley I soon see two female community police officers (not really much bigger than me) and swiftly tell them what just transpired. Before I can really mention too much they are off to investigate and that's really the end of things from my perspective.

Walking into Waterstones books I'm engulfed by the calmness of the place, I find my book with ease and peruse it. Suddenly a book drops down from above me and clatters on the floor making me jump slightly, especially I my nerves are jangling a little after previous events. Book purchased I head towards the train station and berate myself as I was going to get the book online for £5 and this is £3 more but as I have a Waterstones card its not all bad as my credit goes up.

Skittering through the Broadmarsh centre I notice a guy walking towards me, his eyes narrow and he stares fixedly at me. 'Here we go again' I say to myself as I turn my head to still see him looking at me but then an instant feeling of recognition kicks in and I remember him from a pub I frequented long ago. 'Simon isn't it?' I enquire and he smiles and nods as I breathe a sigh of relief. We stop and chat discussing old times and how we've both done over the years, it's good to see him again.

Slumping into a seat and breathing hard as I nearly missed the train I open my bag and get the book out, it's called 'A Clash of Kings' by George R.R Martin. The train speeds home back to my quiet town and I hope to myself the crazy stuff is over for one day.

Following On

2011-06-13T18:59:00.005+01:00

Following on from my recent 'Atheist Junction' blog and the feedback I got from it I've had a think and decided on which direction I want to go. People messaged me on Facebook, email or spoke to me on the phone and the resounding feeling is they think I should carry on with the blog as it is. I don't think people mind blogs on my feelings regarding religious issues but felt I was doing exactly the same as my pro-religious counterparts in putting my opinions forth.

There's no doubt I totally see this angle and I personally felt my staunch viewpoints were taking over a bit and detracting a little to what my blog is generally all about. On a frank note though, my opinions and views are something I feel passionate about, most people have a cause out there they feel strongly about from poverty to politics or even just supporting their local hospital or chosen research group - the list is endless.

I think the best route for me to go down is to do another blog, maybe on a different website with a new format, after all there's so many websites out there these days designed for blogging so it'll be good to try a new one. There's still going to be blogs on here about my thoughts on Atheism, Humanist stuff and religion but they'll be markedly less.

Thanks to everyone that took time to give me some feedback be it on Facebook, email, the phone or in person.

Thoughts On E3 Expo 2011

2011-06-13T11:29:00.006+01:00

So, the latest E3 Expo show in Los Angeles has been and gone. I've watched a fair few videos from the event and as always it's exciting to see new technology showcased. I have to confess this year though for the first time instead of my usual fervour I have actually questioned certain announcements or pieces of tech, mainly gaming tech.

First up is the new Nintendo Wii U announced at the E3 to great excitement. I've always loved Nintendo stuff and have much of their back catalogue myself. With Nintendo there ought to be the kind of mission statement along the lines of 'with great risks there are great gains' which mostly is very true on their part as they are a company that pioneer innovation. The new Wii U however left me asking lots of questions and instead of my usual excitement I felt quite vexed and a little let down. It's supposed to be a controller and a console but also seems to have an identity crisis going on too! Now, this said I may be wrong when the actual Wii U comes into play but until then I can only go on the concept videos, 'concept' being the important word here at the moment.

So what is the Wii U? I really don't know, Nintendo state it's not a handheld yet it clearly resembles one and is gripped very much like a large portable console. Nostalgia filled my mind when I saw it of the old Sega Gamegear and Atari Lynx, both portable consoles but quite large! Back to subject, so watching the concept video, though impressed I was left with lots of questions such as to its connectivity, the media it will use and how it generally interacts with the other piece of kit. After pondering these questions yet more questions arose, and the next day some of the media seemed sceptical as one critic remarked Nintendo had invented something for problems that didn't exist. In some respects he was right, the video of the Wii U opens with someone wanting to use the Tv and the other person switching his game from the Tv to the Wii U. A great idea for sure but look at how many kids of today have Tv's in their own room!? It struck me that the new Wii is being vaunted as a kind of jack of all trades for the home but master of none. You can surf the web, it has a touch screen, you can make video calls on it and so on, very versatile but seeing as people already use laptops and touch tablets for this kind of stuff already then is there really a need for more of the same?

Whilst I am sceptical about the Wii I am not going to dismiss it just yet, it would be silly to do so but I do feel the whole idea at present seems blurred as to what exactly it is and as I stated to a friend, not all new ideas have to be good ones (the new Nintendo 3D has had problems). I do really want it to be good but it just seems to be much of what everyone else is doing at present with the whole motion sensor / touch screen thing. I guess I was hoping Nintendo would do a high end gamers console going back to their roots a little and also a new high spec portable console though we seem to have an odd combination of both that is also integral to Nintendo's existing Wii kit (allegedly).

Next up is the new Sony Portable called the 'Vita' though I gather it had a couple of different names before it was unveiled at the E3. I'm really not keen on the 'Vita' tag, it just conjures up images of breakfast cereal or slimming products for some reason. What I see with the Sony's new offering, like Nintendo is very much in line with what has been released so far, it looks very Sony as the new Wii U looks Nintendo. I guess both companies have a brand and style and feel safe with the product and imagery and neither want to upset the consumers by doing something that looks too different. The Vita looks like the existing psp range, on a glance you could be mistaken for thinking its just a new Psp, after all we've had a few of them so far. Sony seem to have gone for touch screen technology as well, after all its very 'en vogue' at the moment. On the positive side both Sony and Nintendo machines have buttons and controllers beside touch screen capability unlike Apple who try and fool us that their stuff is also ideal for ardent gamers out there, trust me it isn't. My problem with touch screen stuff on the Apple range is fun games aside, that your hand always seems to be in the field of vision and touching a screen is never as responsive as a button. Gary my friend in Hong Kong always tries to sell the idea of an ipod/ipad as a gaming console of sorts and it never washes with me, whilst they are fun and look aesthetically good, gaming dedicated gaming devices they'll never be. Anyway, I digress, back to Sony. So their new Vita is all singing and dancing, front and back camera's, rear touch pad (not screen) and front fascia adorned with buttons and again a touch screen. I'm pretty much a Sony fan boy make no mistake but after a range of Psps including the Psp light, 3000 and Psp Go the new Vita just seems like much of the same with added bells and whistles. The new Sony/Ericsson phone/console isn't doing too well I hear and is very expensive so I wonder how Sony will fare with the new Vita?

Maybe it's just me these days that feels a little de-sensitised to the new stuff when back in the day things seem to have had a more wow factor. I recall getting really excited about the Game Boy Advance clam shell handheld and I wasn't disappointed, I still cherish it now. We seem to be in a period now where things seem slightly static and the next big things are yet to come, you only have to watch programs like the Gadget Show to see that devices that replicate true 3D or are controlled by thought are on the horizon. I saw some head gadget at the E3 that gave each eye a different perspective on a driving simulator to make you feel like everything was real and 3D around you and you could turn your head 360 degrees too. Voice recognition also seems to be vastly improving these days so I expect we'll see more of that in the future. The fact is with the new stuff these days is that I am a little bit old school in some respects, whilst I love new stuff I do like my buttons on things, especially when playing games as repeatedly touching a screen with a thumb doesn't feel that convincing to me. I don't think being old school is a bad thing, on the contrary it shows a healthy respect for the past and games that got us here today yet whilst I will always embrace future good ideas I will always remember good solid gaming experiences from the old days.

So that's a few thoughts on things, and in fairness regarding the new stuff a lot remains to be seen and I've no doubt what is coming our way in future months will be good.

For a link to E3 preview stuff including the new Sony and Nintendo items click 'here'.

At An Atheists Junction

2011-06-08T19:08:00.006+01:00

Lately several blogs have been about religion and my feelings on the subject. I'm starting to feel my blogs on religious issues are taking over slightly and when I started my blog all those years ago I'd no idea my feelings on such a subject matter would grow so strong and defined. The last thing I want is people to look in and think 'Oh he's ranting about religion again ... I'll move on'. Religion of course is a contentious subject at best, most people tend to avoid it if possible and the old adage of never discuss religion and politics if you want to avoid crossing swords with someone is still very relevant.

The thing is I feel strongly about it, I feel compelled to blog about the evils of organised religion and my feelings on it. If anything over the last couple of years has been my calling or indeed cause I feel it's to actively take the fight back to the 'God-botherers' out there and make them see common practical sense.

Realistically speaking I am no Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett or Stephen Hawking, I'm just a little fella who is probably passable at writing and has the odd articulate written or verbal flourish. To move forward with my whole heartfelt feelings on it I probably need to take it another step and perhaps start a more dedicated blog on such subject matter. I've been musing over the idea for a while, perhaps even doing a blog that is also a forum for others to contribute of the same mind as I know you can adjust the settings on here for mulitple people to post.

I have lots of ideas and much to say but I also realise that sometimes things are better debated to see it from different viewpoints before perhaps taking it forward. More reading is needed for sure and more verbal debating though I do realise that by verbal debating I may well lose a few before I get better. When it comes to debating I can be very good albeit it on a day when I feel 'up for it' shall we say, there's some days I just don't feel eloquent at all. Life gives you many skills that aren't always evident at the time but learned wisdom from experience can often be a clincher I've found. Rushing in and attempting to sound good can often backfire especially if you don't know your stuff or think about your wording. I'm more measured these days, though of course still make plenty of mistakes, though not as many as I did in my impetuous youth. Successive past jobs have furnished me with quite a bit even if I didn't realise it. I like to think I appraise things more fully these days and feel more tempered in many areas. I'm not feeling super confident here as I know there is an infinite amount of stuff to absorb in life and should I want to take my feelings about religion further then I need to read more, understand more and try and hone myself mentally, verbally and ensure my written stuff improves too. A fair bit of credit must go to my Psychology diploma studies a few years back as some of the content of that experience was personal development as well as learning the academic side. Life has shaped who I am now and despite past troubles I've always fought through. Reflecting back to my younger days I can see how naive and blinkered I was yet I can also credit myself that at an early age, despite my physical stature I'd promised myself I would never be a silent wall flower.

I know my limitations but I really want to try and get the man in the streets opinion across and show that it can be sensible and pragmatic. Oxford professor I'll never ever be because I'm just not that intelligent but I hope in my heart that I can take these strong feelings I have forward and get my pragmatic points across.

Moving ahead with this is something I feel really passionate or I wouldn't be here blogging about it. I want to unfurl a banner of sorts, I want to take it to the overbearing organised religious types that want to convert, brainwash and control that times are changing and that we can be perfectly moral without words uttered, written and re-written by ignorant men long ago that are still used to stop our growth as free thinking beings today.

So, a new different blog may well in the making as I kind of want the Hobbit's Journal to go back to what it once was which is mainly irrelevant musings and happenings often badly written by an ageing day dreaming generally happy hobbit (who is sometimes cynical and often pragmatic!).

I will now slip into a state of Che Guevarra/Winston Chruchil type reverie !

Lotro: The Journey Goes Ever On

2011-06-07T19:57:00.008+01:00

A good few months have dropped off the calendar since I started playing Lord of the Rings online, abbreviated in the gaming community to 'Lotro'. Its been a great experience and lots of fun and I've met some fantastic new people, mostly American but the group or kinship as it's known that I hang out with has members in it from all around the world, so no bad thing.

Content is always being added to the game, much of it is free to play and when you do purchase something you feel you are getting value for money. I've a feeling I'll still be engrossed in the online version of Middle Earth come Christmas and beyond. Anyway, here are some screen shots from the game of late (geek alert!).

Good To See

2011-06-06T18:22:00.002+01:00

Last week I was walking for my train when ahead I saw two men holding hands. I was behind them for a good while and I'm pleased to say nobody in Nottingham gave them a second glance. Had it been a smaller provincial town then I'm sure the reaction would have been much different. I mentioned it to my friend Adam who has recently moved to Nottingham and we both came to the conclusion that despite evident problems Nottingham is a very cool multicultural tolerant place. Whilst I am not gay myself I can never get my head around the fact that gay people should be mocked or discriminated at for being who they are, it is wrong on every level. I've always found gay or lesbian people to be warm, genuine, witty, strong in character and never without opinion.

I smiled inside when I saw the two young guys holding hands and its great to see such things in today's society, though sadly not everywhere yet, one day hopefully.

Well Voted Malta

2011-06-06T18:11:00.006+01:00

Malta is a place I like, the people are lovely, it's steeped history and it has a certain charm that is hard to explain. I've only been to Malta twice, last year in fact, yet I want to return and understand the people and the place even more. I noticed last week in the news that through a referendum the people had voted in favour of divorce, being one of a handful of countries left where divorce wasn't yet legal, though a legal separation could be granted after some time I believe.

I realise Malta is a staunchly catholic country but its good to see them moving forward and making decisions for a more secular future and not fettered by past religious chains.

Oh The Irony

2011-06-04T15:16:00.003+01:00

I was up bright and early this morning, my mobile phone that acts as alarm had died on me battery wise yet my body clock told me it was time to rise. On retiring in the early hours I suspected a restless night because of the heat but had slept soundly for a few hours and was only 20 minutes later getting out of bed after the alarm was set for. The reason I wanted to be up fairly early was to catch the post, usually the postman comes between 9am and 11am, rings the intercom but doesn't generally hang around so you have to be nimble.

Having ordered a book online a few days ago entitled 'The Portable Atheist' by Christopher Hitchens I was eager to get my hands on it and have some quality reading time. Come 9:45am the buzzer on the intercom startles me into action, I'm sat at the PC with a cup of Twinnings tea and trot along to answer the intercom before descending the stairs to collect my book, however it doesn't turn out to be the postman!

A polite female voice answers my greeting with 'I have some leaflets I'd like you to read regarding how mankind is destroying the planet'. Well as Mankind is allegedly created by god, then by default I'd say god is culpable to a fair degree.

I pause and think to myself, is this the Green party or is it as my gut feeling is telling me - something far more sinister.

Following the brief pause she adds 'The leaflets detail a meeting next week in Nottingham to discuss how we can look to god to save us from all of this'.

At this point there's a a chagrin expression on my face as I really wanted the postman to be at the other end and not some religious fanatic. My mind at this point splits into two post disappointment thoughts. The first is to invite her in, debate with her and get my own back for it not being the posty. The second is I'm glad I have an intercom because should I feel so inclined, I don't have to engage in verbal battle. I decide to take a polite route and tell her to post the stuff through the letterbox and pretty much close the conversation at that.

Later I venture downstairs and my hunch is proved very much correct as I note the literature, it was the Jehovah's Witnesses, it was either them or the towns Methodists but the latter stick to rhetoric on the market place whilst the Witnesses of course have no qualms on doorstep brain washing. Their sienna shaded leaflets all look the same really, artwork of a perfect family walking in a Utopian world with biblical quotes. I cast my eyes over the text 'Gods kingdom will come and we will show you how it will be transformed into paradise - and how you can qualify to live there'.

Notice the catch right at the end of the sentence? The bit where you have to qualify? This of course seems odd as all the Jehovah's Witnesses allocation slots to gods big holiday camp in the alleged afterlife (or after-lie?) have been in the past touted as a first come-first served basis with strictly limited numbers (144,000 and as there are a reported 7 million or so members worldwide its not going to be easy for a ticket!).

So, ironically no 'Portable Atheist' book today but a visit from a cultist, oh well!

Tv Of The Month

2011-05-31T21:30:00.005+01:00

This month for me has been dominated by the amazing Game of Thrones on Sky. Each episode gets better, not just by a little bit but by huge leaps all the time, a great cast and a captivating story of family power struggles, personal feuds and political intrigues. It really is amazing stuff.

Secondly I've also been watching the ever hysterical 'Have I Got News For You' weekly on BBC1 though I usually watch the extended version on the very excellent BBC iplayer which I can access through my tv. It's been going for years but the format never gets tired with the very witty Paul Merton and Ian Hislop helped along by funny guests and iconic hosts.

Below is a picture of the Throne they are all making a play for in the awesome 'Game of Thrones'.

Song Of The Month

2011-05-31T21:21:00.003+01:00

The song of the month for May is Primal Scream's 'Higher Than The Sun'. I watched a great documentary about the band earlier this month on BBC3 and I've always loved their seminal album 'Screamadelica'. It's one of those albums that puts things into perspective for me and contains some awesome musical styles mixed together. Enjoy!

The Hobbit Movie Titles Announced

2011-05-31T13:28:00.006+01:00

The titles and dates for the new Hobbit movies (yes, plural... movies) has been announced today. I've know for a while that Peter Jackson had planned to make the book into two movies though I am not really sure why, the Guardian it seems, thinks the same. The Hobbit book isn't a long read, I would say it can be covered by an adult reader steadily in an afternoon and reading it to a child as an ideal bedtime story you could comfortably do it in a week.

The Hobbit 'An Unexpected Journey' is slated for December 2012 whilst the second movie is called 'There And Back Again' and is set to follow the twelve months later. Both films are being shot back to back right now.

My concern for the new movies as with the Lord of the Rings trilogy is not the amount of time they run for but the content they contain. I do love the Rings trilogy but I feel in my heart that Peter Jackson omitted content he should really have put in. There's no Tom Bombadil or Barrow Downs for a start and crucially one of the last chapters of the books 'The Scouring of the Shire' is left out. Instead we get a lot of boring stuff about the Elves that don't really add anything to the films. The whole point of the 'Scouring of the Shire' chapter is that the four hobbits finally come of age and after all their adventures have to deal with a very big problem (Saruman) at the end without any help at all from the fellowship. It very much illustrates at the book closure what compassion, bravery and capabilities hobbits are capable of and is a fitting end to their tale.

There's shortcuts and liberties taken within the three films, things that don't happen added to it and vice versa and whilst I can see why Jackson has done it on occasions on others it just doesn't sit well with me. I guess Jackson has to make movies that will appeal to the masses and to his credit he's done a marvellous job of making the whole Tolkien world of Middle Earth come to life and be seen by the world.

The reality is, I hold the Hobbit as a very special book indeed. I read it first aged about fourteen when I wasn't doing too well at school with little interest in anything academic at all. I think someone recommended it or I stumbled on it in the school library, I can't really recall but what I can remember is the book introduced me to a love or reading and creative writing ever since. I devoured the book pretty quick and moved onto the Lord of the Rings which I took on holiday to Scarborough and read it in rustic surroundings on a farm holiday home a few miles away in the hills overlooking the coast. The surrounding valley's, woods and distant sea views of the area inspired me to absorb the trilogy and imagine the amazing adventures within its many pages.

So, I guess I am hoping for many things from the hobbit movies mainly because it's a booked etched in my mind from childhood to this present day, it is also a book I hold dear.

On the positive side Peter Jackson has assembled a great cast, Martin Freeman will make a great Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage I'm sure, will make a dour yet purposeful Thorin Oakenshield. Andy Serkis returns as Gollum, the enigmatic Hugo Weaving is back as Elrond and of course it would never ever be complete without the amazing Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Some other actors are reprising roles from the trilogy, it's recently been confirmed Orlando Bloom is back as the elf lord Thranduil's son 'Legolas'. It's these reprisal roles that do concern me and I'm sure Jackson will add in many backstory appendices from the Rings trilogy (Dwarven and Orc wars etc) that apply to the Hobbit book, I just hope he doesn't go too far with things in this respect but something inside tells me they will be epic movies and to be fair Peter Jackson does seem very passionate about what he does. If I ever wanted to be in a movie with my real life hobbit stature it would have been as an extra in this one, alas the modelling thing last year never really came to fruition and I heard nothing from the agency, all I can hope now is that my favourite book becomes reality on the big screen and brings my childhood wonderment to life.

Martin Freeman (above) surely is the perfect casting for Bilbo Baggins

Step Down Mr Blatter

2011-05-31T12:51:00.004+01:00

Fifa supremo Sepp Blatter is 75 years old and still wants to run unopposed for another term as president for another term. This is amid allegations of corruption and bribes currently circulating in the news. Mr Blatter has been the president since 1998 and worked at Fifa for 36 years, and he probably thinks he has ascended to his rightful position after years of hard work. I think at his age he should ideally step down and let someone else take the helm, then again power and money aren't easy things to give up - ask any dictator.

Beer Festival Fun

2011-05-28T15:27:00.003+01:00

Here's a photo my friend Danni took, usually I don't take a good photo but I like this one, it was taken last night at the Newark Beer Festival and a cracking night it was too! From Left to right as you look at it are Dominic, Ryan and me!

Newark Beer Festival

2011-05-27T17:53:00.008+01:00

I'm off to the Newark 16th annual beer festival shortly, it's an event I look forward to every year. There's always good beer and good entertainment, it's a cracking weekend and the organisers are to be commended for all the hard work they put in. I just hope the weather stays dry and they don't run out of beer too early this year!

Also the local Camra guys have put together a very novel beer guide to Newark pubs based on the London underground tube map. The actual map hasn't been uploaded to the website that creates them yet, so here is a scanned version of it. There's other pub runs on the site linked too, go take a look. If you click on the image below is does become larger. Please note, the Prince Rupert is what I'd term 'the end of the line' for several reasons.

Life Of Course - Goes On!

2011-05-22T15:11:00.002+01:00

The 21st of May came and went like any other day for everyone worldwide. Harold Camping's prediction that the world would end and a 'Rapture' would take place, basically saving all believers and killing all non-believers with natural disasters.

Of course Mr Camping represents a minority that believed in all this hocus-pocus so it's not fair to blame all christians though I do honestly feel I can blame all christians for believing in the bibles silly stories in the first place. The end of the world was supposed to be 7000 years or so after Noah's ark first set out, and how ridiculous is that story anyway? All the worlds animal species on a giant wooden ship after a flood, it goes beyond logical comprehension. This alone should show Mr Campings theory was baseless to anyone with common sense.

What kind of god would wipe out everyone except chosen christians, I ask, is this a benevolent god, a god that cares about humanity and the planet he allegedly created? Obviously if there was a god then he'd be the most brutal kind of dicatator - worship me or die! And after creating mankind wouldn't wiping most of it out be an exercise in futility?

This is what religion is all about though, it's cogs and wheels are fear, wish thinking and control and such is its power it easily influences weak minds. Ironically Mr Camping hasn't been seen since the alleged end of the world and his followers are vexed and upset (and probably feeling profoundly stupid!). With all fanatical christians there's excuses though and Mr Camping error is seen as a test of some sort according to some reports.

The world will turn and turn again until mankind screws it up (likely) or the sun burns itself out in due course (likely but hopefully not for some time!). Rest assured it won't be a god that destroys it because gods are created by man and inevitably until the sun does burn out or some natural global disaster does happen then we are the architects of our own destiny.

I'm pleased atheists and sane people are having parties about this whole business, it does go to show that we are beginning to shake off the shackles of religion and believe in what is most important - ourselves.

Only A Few Hours Left (again)!

2011-05-20T17:52:00.002+01:00

Only a few hours left on the planet according to this > article. I linked it on Facebook earlier this week, more religious madness! What is he going to say tomorrow I wonder? Oh well make the most of your last few hours as the world ends on Saturday allegedly (again).

Street Pastors - No Thanks.

2011-05-20T15:47:00.006+01:00

I was in my local earlier, having a coffee and reading the local paper. I noticed an article called 'Pastors out on patrol' which on reading didn't sit well with me. Readers of my blog have probably cottoned on that organised religion does not sit well with me at all.

For people unaware of what 'Street Pastors' are all about then I'll explain. They are basically narrow minded interfering do-gooders acting in the name of the alleged big man upstairs. Other towns and cities have them, and they are on the rise seemingly, patrolling and helping people in distress or in need of help, handing out water or flip flops to drunken people who may have lost shoes etc.

On the surface of course this all looks good and helpful but beneath the patronising veneer as with anything in organised religion there's always an ulterior motive.

Firstly though, lets look at the reasoning behind my blog. My first point I will raise is that is Newark really big enough to warrant having street pastors? The simple answer is no, we don't have many pubs and bars, we only have one nightclub that of late has been heavily policed at weekends. With this in mind, go back to my point of ulterior motive, they in a practical basis aren't needed, so why are they here? They are here of course to patronise, to preach in subtle ways and to condescend.

Britain has had a drinking culture for hundreds of years, people get drunk, people get into difficulties and we have something called the 'police' to deal with incidents. More importantly we also have something even bigger group to take responsibility for drunken people in trouble, it's called the general public who can help or call an ambulance should they wish or have a moral inclination to do so. The Tories probably embrace street pastors as they can cut police on the beat and let their flawed big society idea take shape with blinkered christian busy bodies making people feel that what they are doing is of course morally wrong and if they need help they should find god. Basically street pastors in effect is a covert recruiting system, simple as. You only have to look at other christian based organisations (and I can name some) that help people with drink and drugs problems, the end goal is always the same - find god, join us, get brainwashed into believing a load of fictional rubbish.

People should be able to go out on the streets without seeing a presence of religion, if you have faith or want to worship - go to church. The majority of drinking adults are quite responsible when out drinking, of course people get drunk, have accidents or end up in trouble but that of course is part of the perils of alcohol but most of us can take responsibility for friends without any need for help. For more serious instances then we have the police, so why do we need street pastors?

What The Hobbit Found.

2011-05-09T17:52:00.004+01:00

Today I threw myself into cleaning my flat, it was certainly well overdue. Washing, dusting, hoovering and generally moving things out of the way to clean behind etc. Whilst in the bedroom I discovered my old Sony cassette walkman in a box and it evoked fond memories. It was then I decided to seek out my original Nintendo Gameboy and conceived a plan to pair the two together on a future commuting jaunt to Nottingham.

I'm going to need batteries and I guess a little patience but I suspect it'll be an interesting retro experiment and something to blog about. I'll no doubt get some interesting looks on the train. Stay tuned!

What A Week!

2011-05-08T20:08:00.002+01:00

This week started with strange mobile phone goings on, with my credit vanishing mysteriously and other odd things I couldn't fathom. It's funny how you feel lost these days when you can't actually use your mobile and it makes you wonder how we got by without them! (though we did fine at the time). The phone has been an ongoing episode all week and actually getting plain answers from Orange who are my provider has been less than easy, as their call centres all seem to be in India.

No disrespect to the Indian people on the phone but they are largely reading from scripts on their monitors and there always seems to be a language barrier as not all English sound like we are reading the news on the BBC ! The trouble with call centres is they know they have you at a disadvantage, (I know I once worked in one) and as soon as the phone goes down you are out of their hair and someone else will have to deal with you when you call back and explain it all over again. Certain promises from Orange have yet to materialise, but time will tell. It's the second time this year I've had problems with Orange, their staff in my local shop being particularly unhelpful a while ago. I'm probably going to switch to O2 network/provider in the near future, their coverage seems better locally anyway and deals look good.

This morning around 10am I got an unidentified phone call, well an 0845 number so I declined to answer it. It left a message which turned out to be my bank's fraud team wanting to talk to me. It turned out my card has been cloned somehow and there had been several attempts to draw cash from my account in Cairo and Bangkok! Thankfully all requests had been declined and they got nothing, fair play to my bank on this one, and their vigilant system. Still the whole episode makes you think about how secure things really are, especially in light of several million identity thefts happening on the Sony online network recently.

Alternative Vote

2011-05-08T20:01:00.004+01:00

Well the alternative vote referendum and local elections are over. As predicted the Lib Dems lost heavily in local elections and to add salt to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg's gaping political wounds the Alternative vote system was rejected. I personally was in favour of an alternative voting system instead of our current first past the post system but it seems many weren't, or were actually in fact ignorant to it, just putting a no down as they didn't really understand it. We are very much a nation that doesn't embrace change well at times.

Clegg, once a king maker now seems unhappy with his lot, so does Vince Cable who attacked the Tories bitterly this week. So could Clegg & Co have a hand in future Tory policy blocking or even demise or will the Tories remain in power with subservient coalition partners?

Ostentatious Drivel

2011-05-01T14:22:00.003+01:00

Miracles, sainthoods, pomp, deluded heads of state, unsavoury dictators like Robert Mugabe in attendance, yep it can only mean one thing - a catholic 'beatification'. We seem to be having a lot of them of late. Sure evidence the dark age catholic powers that now be are raising their profile even more after recent revelations. Seriously, in my eyes today's events are just nothing but complete rubbish, a chance for the corrupt controlling catholic church to don its ostentatious hat and beguile gullible people with yet more superstitious drivel. Rant over!

Song Of The Month

2011-04-30T18:28:00.007+01:00

I've been listening to this pretty much most days since I saw the excellent 'Sucker Punch' movie a while back. This song from the film is called 'White Rabbit' by Emiliana Torrini who has an amazing voice. There's other slower versions of this song and I really want to get my hands on them. The whole of the Sucker Punch soundtrack is amazing though with contributing artists such as Skunk Anansie and Bjork. So here it is, my song of the month - White Rabbit.

Tv Of The Month

2011-04-30T17:49:00.003+01:00

It's been a cracking month tv wise. The month kicked with the excellent Louis Theroux going back to visit the vitriolic biblical buffoons known as the Phelps family on BBc2, April 3rd. The family headed by failed lawyer and misguided ranter Fred Phelps are of course more of a cult than a real church. In his second jaunt to see them called 'America's most hated family in crisis' we learn several members have left to start what I'd call real lives. Louis has such a style and approach that he manages to get the cult members to unwittingly reveal perhaps more than they'd want to, great and insightful tv.

Neil Oliver has also made a return to BBC2 (Tuesday's 9pm) with his new mini series called 'History of Celtic Britain'. Mr Oliver is always good to watch and I love his enthusiasm though during this series I found myself being critical on several points as I felt he quickly brushed past some key areas of interest, Queen Boudica not really getting the coverage she deserved really, still, another great offering from the enthusiastic Caledonian.

Next up, and keeping with the theme of history was Dan Snow and 'Filthy Cities' (BBC 2, 9pm) covering the history of London, Paris and New York in their most grimy and disgusting periods. Dan really got stuck into doing some of the horrid jobs they had to do back in the day, such as carving up animals in a back alleyway and washing their entrails into the street as well as generally shovelling raw excrement onto backs of carts. He deserves a medal for it and it provided a vivid look into how filthy our great cities used to be.

Zombies made a welcome return to our screens this month with 'Walking Dead' coming to Channel 5 (Sunday 9pm). Although only a short six or seven part series adaption of the comic I feel its very much a thinking man's zombie series with some great characterisation and acting with Andrew Lincoln playing embattled cop 'Rick Grimes' with a great supporting cast.

At last the much vaunted 'Game of Thrones' has come to Sky Atlantic (Monday 9pm). All I can say after seeing the first two episodes is a resounding wow! It's too early days to write too much about it but I suspect it is really going to be epic, HBO can certainly turn out some quality stuff and I don't think this will disappoint. Amazing cast, great actors, deep and twisty plot and the promise of lots of things to come, I can't wait.

So all in all, a great month of television.

A Bit Of A Pause

2011-04-27T10:31:00.002+01:00

Well hopefully I'll get around to blogging after a fairly quiet period. There's been no real reason for this apart from lack of blogging mojo and other preoccupations. I've been working on a writing project a fair bit this month which I may get around to posting it on my long forgotten creative writing blog 'Tenebrous Tales' at some point.

I'll try and post a few blogs over the coming bank holiday period because I won't be watching the royal wedding or celebrating it. It's not because I'm anti-royalist, I'm just fairly indifferent towards them but do feel they are out of touch with many real issues.

Sucker Punch

2011-04-04T21:06:00.011+01:00

After seeing the rather unremarkable 'The Eagle' I was looking forward to seeing Sucker Punch last Friday. I'd read a fair bit on it and most of the movie review sites weren't impressed but as I like Zack Snyder stuff I had a feeling I would like it regardless.

I wasn't disappointed, sure the movie felt very Snyder but hot babes in sexy combat outfits fighting with robots, dragons or steam punk nazi's is a win/win in my book. Visually it looked stunning and I can imagine it will look gorgeous on blu-ray on release. Story wise, well much of it I thought was ambiguous and open to interpretation. There's no doubt it can be perceived from different perspectives but I liked that aspect. I shan't spoil or try and dissect the movie here, I just sat back and enjoyed amazing visuals, cute chicks and a truly awesome soundtrack. When the Beatles cover of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' cut in by Carla Azar I was blown away as they descended onto the runaway train guarded by robots.

I'll confess the ending wasn't what I had hoped for but there was a message there to be picked up by diligent watching of the movie. Zack Snyder has given me my fave movie of the year so far and I hope he isn't discouraged by the bad press it received because frankly I loved every minute.

And here is the trailer;

The Eagle

2011-03-31T14:54:00.005+01:00

I went to the local cinema last night to watch 'The Eagle' with my friend Luke, we both tend to like sword and sandals stuff so I sat down hoping it was going to be a winner. Although I can't say its a bad film I can say it really didn't work for me either.

The film stars Channing Tatum who Luke had warned me several months ago wasn't the best of actors, he was right, although looking the hero part he did come across as very wooden and certainly lacked any charisma, so from the outset I really didn't warm to his character or root for him. There was some interesting opening action though the first set of characters just didn't feel very Roman, sorry but in my view Brits make more convincing Romans than American actors, John Hannah in the recent Spartacus series for example, Brits just seem to convey that Roman aloof character much better me thinks!

So after an initial skirmish in the Hadrians wall area our hero is transported 200 miles back to Calleva which was a Roman town west of London in now what is Berkshire. Except if we take say a suggested journey from the Hadrians wall area say Carlisle to Calleva (modern day Silchester) then we are talking a journey of 310 miles. Back in the day such a journey with a wagon would have taken a fair old time of which our hero Marcus Aquila seems to have been out of it the whole journey. I knew from being a history buff Calleva had been probably sacked about 60AD by Boudica's rampaging army at the time, though the settlement did get back on its feet in later years. The film makes Calleva look picturesque but I suspect it would have looked more military camp than idyllic backwater.

Anyway, back on with the blog. Our hero acquires a slave by the name of 'Esca' acted very well by Jamie Bell I might add, who acts Mr Tatum under the table, not that it was hard or Bell acted out of his skin either. The pair from an unlikely 'Master & slave' duo and head north to recapture the Eagle standard of the 9th Legion which was lost in Caledonia (Scotland) by Aquila's father in the film. Donald Sutherland plays an elderly relative of Aquila and is just there for a quiet interlude in the film and an easy pay check, shame as he is an awesome actor and none of the other characters really stand out. The movie lacks character building on all accounts, good and bad guys included and in the end I didn't really care if Tatum who miraculously comes back from deaths door gets the eagle home or not.

Last years Centurion movie did the same style of story better with good casting, characters, tension and visuals. If you wanted to watch a similar movie with plenty of action I'd go for Colin Firth in 'The Last Legion'.

As we walked home my friend Luke raised a very good point which was 'if you are going to do this type of movie, you have to do it right' and I think that statement summed this movie up for me.

Tv Of The Month

2011-03-31T14:29:00.004+01:00

I've not watched a great deal of television this month but one programme that really fascinated was 'The Bibles Hidden Secrets' on BBC2 on Tuesday nights at 9pm. Don't get me wrong I've not gone all religious, that I'll never do but this programme presented by the very beautiful Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou a biblical scholar and lecturer from Exeter university was fascinating and raised some real questions regarding faith.

I liked her non-confrontational approach when dealing with members of the Jewish and Christian faith, she posed her questions, let them have their say and then after gave her interpretation and perceptions. Of course hers where based on evidence from archeology, conflicting biblical texts (of which there is many) and historical evidence. The three programmes challenged the story of David and Goliath, If ancient people of that era indulged in polytheism and the garden of Eden.

The set of programmes went on to illustrate how things in the bible have been covered up, rewrote and how Israel as a state has probably been economical with the truth regarding certain historical sites in the interest of their own national identity. It was compelling watching, and Dr Stavrakopoulou's arguments and observations backed by solid evidence certainly made sense. Jewish and Christian people on the programme of course stuck to their blinded by faith script and wouldn't contemplate observations and arguments put to them, no shocks there then?

The programme was all down to earth stuff, was there a biblical garden of Eden, nope but kings of that time did build lavish gardens and if it was to get destroyed then why not write the whole episode up differently? Did people from that period and area worship other gods? Almost definitely, earlier scripts mention it, later scripts cover it up and there's hard archaeological evidence to back it up. Personally I hope the very captivating Dr Stavrakopoulou releases a book to accompany the series, and even better does a signing at my local Waterstones!

Blogging: A Cautionary Tale

2011-03-30T15:28:00.005+01:00

I was reading on the BBC News website this morning that a group of MPs are trying to get reforms passed against so called cyber stalking, and possibly make it more of a criminal offence. Personally I am skeptical how they will define stalking when there is so much seemingly about all of us out there in cyberspace these days, my blog being an example and Facebook etc. Yet this said, I feel due to recent events I have actually been monitored for a purpose to a certain degree. I can't accuse the person of stalking as this blog is open to all but without doubt its definately been kept tabs on.

On the 22nd of this month I had to go to court locally for a car accident I was involved in May of last year. The case being basically who was responsible for the collision, his claim differed to mine of course, and after some months we'd arrived at court. On arriving at court and meeting my barrister we perused the evidence that had been set out against me. In that evidence was a printed copy of a blog I did last year briefly regarding said accident. I really felt quite surprised my opponent had gone to lengths to trace me on the internet and keep regular watch on my blog and indeed use the blog in which I mention the accident against me. In some respects it wasn't a total shock, I do have regular readers and of course randoms ones but I know where people are viewing from because I have tracker software integrated into the blog, so when someone keeps popping up, like my opponent did from the same part of the country then a pattern builds.

The evidence in my blog was used against me with little effect, sure I had mentioned the accident but the blog related to a programme I'd watched involving karma etc. His barrister of course used selective tracts of that blog from last May against me. I always knew from websites, chat rooms, chat programs etc how typed words could be misconstrued, have double meanings and lose a lot of effect as there is no tone or voice or body language, hence misreading of intentions can occur. Not that I had anything to worry about in court, my personal typed musings were not considered as evidence and as my most excellent barrister pointed out, there was no admission of guilt or liability anyway and no mention from his barrister my line where I state I felt my driving had improved.

The whole episode though has left me wary of the content I may put in future blogs. I've always blogged openly and honestly about feelings, and to have my own personal blog used against me in court has been an eye opener to say the least. The fact someone would stoop so low to attempt to use my own words against me after blogging all these years saddens me. On a positive note the case was dismissed against me, he lacked conviction, tried to use furtive and innacurate means via my blog and had the most repetitive barrister. All the judge rightly wanted to know was who had hit who and who had seen it. My evidence rested on a witness who had seen the car clearly reverse into me on the day. He seemed to be a reluctant witness but his statement proved my recollection of events from the day, confirming as I has said the car had reversed into me and whoever he is he felt it right to come to court that day and say what he'd seen. There's nothing more to say on the matter really, the case against me was duly dismissed by the judge.

I'm not sure how the above incident will affect future blogs, I'd like to think I will go on blogging openly and keep The Hobbit's Journal public domain for all to read because it's something I really want to carry on with after all these years, it has always been a therapy of sorts, creative and basically I just love writing when the mood takes me.

This is however a cautionary tale, as the title states and I have already taken steps to improve security of the blog and install off site software that gives me info on web traffic. I'll go on blogging but this whole episode has made me more aware for the future, how accessible things can be on the internet and who is looking in.

And lastly I want you to all keep reading because I'm not going to give me little space on the internet up anytime soon!

Song Of The Month

2011-03-29T22:03:00.008+01:00

The song of the month for March is again ... Infected Mushroom and another track from the Legend of the Black Shawarma album called 'Smashing the Opponent'. Not only does it have special significance for this month personally to me but it's a great song and video too.

As Days Go

2011-03-15T19:32:00.002Z

As days go today wasn't a bad one. The morning started with the walk to the train station, the castle was shrouded in a misty haze of sorts but it wasn't cold. I'd anticipated sun so switched to a hooded body warmer graced by my 'mini' ruck sack as I call attached to my back.

I'd discovered my Sony psp in a draw last night and decided to take it with me today to kill those boring travel moments. Imagine my glee on the train when I realised there were some episodes of Babylon 5 in mp4 format on the memory stick! To add to the good start to the day was an appearance of the 'Chocolate' (no she's no brown!) girl as I call her waiting on the platform, as usual we exchange looks, smile a little and flirt a bit with eye contact until the train arrives.

The mood in the homeless centre is muted but not pessimistic, most of the service users seem to have come to terms with its closure even if they deservedly aren't happy about it. The other staff seemed jovial today and there's talk of going for drinks on Friday when it closes, an emotional time for certain I suspect.

Nottingham seems to be a city in a transitional phase, almost like everyone is waiting with baited breath to see what happens in the future. Shops seem to be closing, facilities are closing, council cuts are certain and I think people are seeing what comes through the other side.

I head for the train station mid afternoon, it's not been a bad day at all I muse to myself, made better by some drop dead gorgeous women that Nottingham seems to have an abundance of. After a subdued couple of weeks my morale is rising slightly even though I know testing times lay shortly ahead. I think of my friend that's having a tough time of late through bereavement and hope all is going as well as can be expected for him.

But the positive day doesn't end there, I find an old external hard drive that I no longer have cables for but suspect may have some interesting stuff on. Then I realise I live about 4 doors from a computer shop so pop it around there. The man inside has suitable adapter and cable. We haggle and agree a price and then I go home to see whats on it, and my suspicions are right, it does indeed have some good stuff stored on it.

So there you go, a bit of a blog about nothing in particular apart from what a hobbit does on an average day.

Emotional Leverage

2011-03-15T19:12:00.003Z

Today I got into a debate with a christian, a slightly smug one at that. After some time exchanging our very different views we agreed to disagree and a mutual and polite stand off was obtained - or so I thought!

The basis of our debate was proving if god existed or not. He claimed I couldn't prove it, which of course I cannot and of course my counter verbal parry was that he couldn't prove god existed either, a point that after some uncomfortable smiling he gave in to. Of course I wasn't convinced, as he'd just been extolling the virtues of the great being allegedly upstairs. To which I said god must be some kind of sick brutal dictator if he is letting stuff like this happen to Japan and Libya etc.

The point is in such arguments with people of faith is that despite reasoning with them using scientific backed information they will also maintain their faith regardless, admirable really but in my opinion sheer folly and wish thinking.

So after coming to a compromise of sorts we smile, all is amicable and differing viewpoints are respected. Then he begins to walk away and fires a last parting shot 'You'll see in the end, you'll see!'

Yep its the old christian emotional leverage move of trying to induce you to dwell on fear, fear of judgement and what could happen if you don't play their way.

I'm comfortable with the fact that at the end the only thing I am likely to see is a long period of restful darkness, and if I am wrong and the big fella is sat there ready to pass judgement then I'll have plenty to say to him before I go elsewhere.

ZX81

2011-03-11T23:58:00.003Z

Just saw this on the BBC News website and went all funny inside. I recall when the Sinclair ZX81 came out and boy did I desire one. Posh friends had one but my parents being working class didn't buy into my constant pleadings for one. I was 13, the ZX81 seemed revolutionary and so futuristic its hard to convey nowadays. I remember going into WH Smiths and remembering the whole code to a game called '1k Ski' which literally ran on 1k of memory. When you ran the game it was guiding a line of full stops cascading down the screen between square blocks. It ran for a few seconds then ended, if you hit a block it ended immediately. Games in time did of course get better and then extra memory came out in the form of a 16k plug in ram pack which was a dubious connection at best. I had to wait a while before the ZX Spectrum came out before I managed to get my first computer and I so wish I still had it. I'm feeling all nostalgic and fuzzy warbles inside now!

Japan Tsunami

2011-03-11T23:41:00.004Z

Truly surreal and sad scenes today as Japan fell victim to the biggest earthquake in its recorded history followed by a tsunami. The death toll is not yet confirmed but running into the hundreds thus far. I'd like to take time out to ask people of faith what they think?

Is your god being a dicatator here and swinging his mighty arm as Japan though being tolerant of all religions is one of the least religious countries on the planet? Is your god so oblique that he gets kicks from this? One thing is for sure, science again proves the answers to the castastrophe in the form of tectonic plates in the earths crust clashing, as they have recently in New Zealand. Unfortunately scientists have little time to warn us of the after effects and of course our christians friends 'god' gives us no warning at all. So is it tectonic plates clashing in what could be gods imperfect creation or god just being malevolent as usual? Discuss!

John Shuttleworth

2011-03-11T15:22:00.005Z

After years of being a fan I finally got to see the legendary John Shuttleworth last night at the lovely little venue that is the Drill Hall in Lincoln. For those of you who aren't familiar with Mr Shuttleworth or indeed the Shuttleworth family, they are the creation of actor/singer/comedian Graham Fellows who had a one hit wonder punk hit back in 1978 with 'Jilted John'.

The character John Shuttleworth first caught my eye back in the late 90s with his mini series 500 Bus Stops in which unemployed John from Sheffield and his manager and sole agent (who you never see) Ken Worthington embark on a 'Rock Tour of the UK'. The tour never really gets off the ground as Johns Austin Ambassador Y Reg soon breaks down forcing Ken to make a decision to carry on the tour by public transport bus. The duo then continue to have minor adventures locally in Yorkshire and Derbyshire etc in which John gets chance to showcase his dubious keyboard skills on his Yamaha portable organ.

Anyway, back to last nights Shuttleworth gig. To be truthful it was well worth the wait to see him, despite being sat behind a rather rotund lady with a large permed haircut. As soon as John Shuttleworth comes on stage you feel like you already have a personal rapport with him, he's very much the bloke next door with lots of deadpan and at times very subtle clever comedy. The crowd loved it and there really seemed to be a warm glow to the place.

John Shuttleworth stands on stage with only his Yamaha decorated with a bit of tinsel as props, thats it, but his personality and good humour make for everything else. He muses on types of bread, the fact that you can see yourself approaching silver kitchen pedal bins and confronts the dilemma is one cup of tea enough or is two literally too many? Johns beauty is that he talks about everyday stuff and reflects on past adventures and his relationship with eccentric manager Ken Worthington (also voiced by Fellows). He recalls the time when he thought Ken had booked him to play with Billy Joel only to find out it was in fact a village hall, of course both said fast they sound quite similar and this had the crowd in hysterics. My home town of Newark gets a mention as John points out the Brough rest stop on the A46 isn't really a very good rest stop at all, though it does have two green wheely bins. Mr Shuttleworth's local knowledge does indeed seem endless at times as does his savvy with past chart bands that have since died a death.

Interlaced with his unique style of observational humour is the songs for which he is known and loved for and we are graced with such classics as 'Can't go back to savoury now', 'Eggs & Gammon' and 'Austin ambassador Y Reg' which has the enthusiastic crowd punching the air with glee.

There's also a brief song about the above mention 'Brough rest area' to my own delight.

I left the gig feeling fulfilled at seeing the living legend at last, both my friend and I enjoyed it immensely and thought it was £15 well spent and we both purchased some iconic Shuttleworth merchandise to boot. John Shuttleworths tour ends in Orkney of all places which just goes to show how far he is willing to travel and how widespread his fanbase is. Mr Shuttleworth come back soon, or even better come to my home town of Newark but be sure to take a rest at the Brough rest area on the way!

For the Shuttleworth's website click here.

And here is John Shuttleworth in his recent Yorkshire Tea advert.

The Balcony Overlooking The Worlds End

2011-03-07T19:15:00.003Z

So there I sat on the balcony of my hotel room in Malta, almost Christmas 2010. Sipping a bottle of cold water and peering down into the street below. The bars had mostly all shut and odd souls of the night were sauntering around or heading back to their hotels or homes. If I looked to my left in the day time the sea was visible, below me was an Irish themed bar and an Elvis tribute bar, tacky indeed! The Irish bar was ok, I'd been in a few times, though I'd given the Elvis one a very wide berth. Nestled between them was a hairdressers who was opened about 9am in the daytime by a very foxy Maltese lady.

Now though it was dark, probably actually about 2am in the morning as I sat there thinking I was going to lose my sight, and pondering the grim realities of it.

A couple of weeks earlier I'd been to eye casualty at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and had been diagnosed with an eye pressure of 30, which is unusually high as I was told normal eye pressure is usually 21. They seemed concerned and I was given eye drops to lower the pressure which I had to take at night before I slept. To be honest I'd been in a fair degree of pain with it, and having a history of eye problems I was expecting glaucoma to manifest itself in my right eye, and I really didn't want that agony after once having it in my left eye years back.

The only thing I could really do was carry on, take the drops, pop painkillers or sleep when the pain was too much to bear. The downside was my eyes were tiring quickly on holiday and the pain was a constant throb. Pain killers and alcohol were a temporary relief but probably not helping either as they'd raise the general blood pressure for sure within me.

Sitting there I mused quite matter of factly what it would be like to lose my sight, I'd resigned myself to the reality of something bad happening so it seemed apt to face things head on. I came to the conclusion I wouldn't really handle it well at all, after all you use your eyes for so much, they are so vital you never really realise the impact of blindness till it's squaring up to you and threatening to throw its dark impenetrable veil over you. I thought about the silly to the serious things I'd miss about 'seeing'. It's moments like this when you realise it is often the simple things you see that keep you ticking over in life, seeing a friends smile or seeing my grans face light up when I take her chocolates over - the stuff that gives you an inner glow and being robbed of that would make me wither and die inside.

As I don't believe in gods there was nobody really to turn to that night, I felt empty and quite alone, and very helpless with it all.

Time passed and the pressure over the next few weeks did drop in my eye, and the pain subsided. I go to the hospital this week for a check up that I really should have had weeks ago but organisation in hospitals these days seems lacking (I blame the Tories!).

So I guess I was given a fortunate break, it was caught in time before it became harmful but I'll never forget that night, alone with my thoughts on the balcony overlooking the worlds end. How lucky we are sometimes.

Song Of The Month

2011-02-28T18:33:00.004Z

Since I got my new Sony Ericsson phone last month it's replaced my ipod touch for jaunts to Nottingham and general music listening. The trouble is it only came with a 2gb SD card so I need to get either an 8gb or 16gb which are surprisingly cheap. Being limited to a measly 2gb I really had to pick and choose my fave albums carefully till I bag a bigger memory card. Enter seemingly my perpetual favourites 'Infected Mushroom'. So, my song of this month is their cover of the Doors 'Riders on the Storm' from their Legends of the Black Shawarma album.

Tv Of The Month

2011-02-28T18:08:00.004Z

It's not been a great month for tv really, in fact I haven't watched a great deal at all. The lure of my 42" screen tends to happen around tea time whilst preparing or eating food. I've got a back log of dvd's to watch, as well as several recorded programs too. Anyway, on to the titled subject. My favourire program this month has been 'One man and his campervan' which ran on BBC2 for ten days earlier this month. It chartered the culinary road trip of Volkswagon campervan owner Martin Dorey from Devon on his journey around Britain. I'm guessing it was filmed last summer. I loved Martins laid back attitude to life, his appreciation of people and places and very likeable demeanor. To be fair I think I would have preferred more of a travelogue type program as I feel there's too many cooking programs on these days but this was cooking with a difference - from a VW camper with its limitations. I love VW caravettes, probably as my dad had one several years ago, alongside the mini they are probably my favourite motor vehicle and I'd love to own one and explore this lovely isle we love on because lets be honest in our life times how much do we actually see of our own countries?

Second up program wise is (ok you can groan) is Channel 4's 'Coachtrip'. I concede some may say it's irreverent reality tv but I like it. Coach trip has that common touch and is a great idea. Host and tour guide Brendan Sheerin often provides comic interludes and witticism's as seven couples basically compete to stay on the coach trip holiday the longest. There's laughter, skullduggery and tears which provides great early evening light hearted entertainment.

Jerry Sadowitz Returns

2011-02-22T18:03:00.007Z

There I was again, in a queue waiting to see Jerry Sadowitz, billed as Britains most offensive comic on posters outside. My friend and I waited patiently in the cold whilst I took time to admire a Vauxhall Astra much like mine parked across from the venue, which this time was Just The Tonic again but in its new home just around from the Cornerhouse in Nottingham. There was a slight technical hitch before going in, some PA problem but the staff kept us informed and we were inside and seated pretty quickly all said and done. Pint in hand, seat near the back I waited and before long and after an announcement of 'No flash photography, please turn mobiles off and can all Jews go to the showers' he was there before me - and on a mission to shock and offend on a James Bond villain style scale.

Jerry Sadowitz is an artisan verbal assassin, his blitzkrieg style delivery is rapacious on the senses, he literally takes no prisoners. He cuts through taboo subjects in laconic style, he says what he means and means what he says, that's his approach, and for me it totally works. I blogged about Jerry Sadowitz some time ago but this time around he certainly had more rancour to his rants. I suspect he was on stage for about an hour and half and he seemed to have a renewed vigour about him since the last time I saw him. This time there was very little magic and more malevolence to his vitriolic assaults on various groups, factions and individuals.

But let's examine things more closely, is Mr Sadowitz being nasty for the sake of it or really just having the balls to say what a lot of people think? It's not just that, if you listen to things he says instead of laughing at the obvious words that stick out then you realise he isn't always bigging up the bad guys. When he mentioned child sex he questioned why would people do it as kids aren't at all sexual but most of the audience are laughing at key words and not sentance content or subtle points. There's no denying Sadowitz does intend to shock but much of what he says is often relevant and indeed current. As I mentioned earlier, he says what we often think but makes clever points about monkeys being more intelligent than men in some respects and in other points he clearly identifies mankinds baser urges.

I left the gig wanting more, much more but then he fascinates me because he's such a clandestine character, I'd love to know the real Sadowitz and what he really thinks on issues but then the obvious answer is he has just told me and hundreds of others on stage. He ended the sensual onslaught of a show by showing how versatile he is being able to comment on any subject with his usual caustic irony then has a pasqinade pop at American sit com-comic Seinfeld (and rightly so).

We drive home and my neck and sides actually ache from laughing. I'm trying to remember his act as much as I can but some is already slipping away because of the pace of it all. Later I'm buzzing whilst sat at home reflecting because recently I've been fairly quiet and Mr Sadowitz has unwittingly made me realise I've lost that bit of edge I once had at times. The next day people mention it on twitter, Sadowitz fans totally get the man, the stupid few who didn't absorb the posters warnings or consider things like I have above - don't.

Comedy therapy? Who knows but what I do know is I'll never tire of seeing him. Come back to Nottingham soon!

The Big Society?

2011-02-14T20:57:00.007Z

Do many people know what David Camerons 'Big Society' is about, do the public at large actually care? Will Cameron do himself any favours for a big society by saying things like state multiculturalism has failed ? Already some cities such as Liverpool and Manchester who are suffering from severe council funding cuts are distancing themselves from Mr Camerons big society pilot schemes. I've seen at first hand how government cut backs are destroying inner cities charities and projects topple and fall after many years of hard work, as the Tories put the squeeze on local government spending the big society only looks like it can ever implode. Mr Cameron of course still champions this empty grand scheme. Even people that want to volunteer cannot because the charities or projects they volunteer for are going to the wall.

The victim as I see it in Mr Cameron's big society is indeed us - the society because his scheme is clearly stumbling before it can walk. If projects and charities cannot help those that need it then society on all tiers begins to suffer, from the homeless to the mentally ill, from disabled to elderly, from blind to beaten women. The only way a big society can succeed is by supporting sections of the population that need it most and by cutting spending to these Mr Camerons big society is a contradiction in the broadest sense.

Tv Of The Month

2011-01-31T15:25:00.007Z

I've not watched a great deal of television this month. Bruce Parry has been back on our screens with a documentary series on the Arctic. It's been fascinating stuff and I love Mr Parry purely for the empathy and interest he shows in what he is doing, he's such a top bloke and whilst some of his programs are bitter-sweet in content he manages to be objective at all times.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena is now showing on Starz, it's a prequel series to last years Spartacus: Blood and Sand. It's minus Andy Whitfield (Spartacus) who has been ill over the last year (odd it still carries the Spartacus label though). It's more about John Hannah's character and his wife Lucy Lawless as they rise through the Roman socialite ranks with their gladiator school and so far it's shaping up very well indeed. Check out a trailer below.

Next up is the Tudors (season 4 - and final one), is back on BBC2, 9pm Saturdays. Ok so it's a history 'light' version of Henry the eighth but it's still compelling tv. I'm hoping they follow it up with a series about Elizabeth the 1st in coming years. Here's the new season trailer.

Song Of The Month

2011-01-31T15:18:00.003Z

A new regular feature on the Journal, a song of the month, there's also going to be Tv or movies of the month too. I stumbled across this song in another video form but dug out the original, it's called 'Sunshine, buttercups and rainbows' by Lesley Gore (famous in the 50/6os) and to be honest it just makes me smile and think of warmer months whilst we are in this cold period.

One Down

2011-01-31T14:50:00.003Z

January has passed rapidly by, seemingly in the blink of an eye. I stayed off the beer as per usual until a couple of days ago but with Gary being back from Hong Kong it was inevitable I'd be back on it. I'm going to try for most of February now and deep down I am feeling the future holds less beer in it for me, I'm just not that fussed about it so much anymore.

The month has gone pretty much to plan, there's been some up and downs but generally its been the month I wanted it to be, relatively quiet. On the downside it looks like the day centre in Nottingham is getting the chop, there's also been continued problems with my eye, the boiler hasn't been properly fixed yet and my car issue isn't yet resolved.

It's also been a month of bills but I'd rather get them out of the way now whilst things are quiet.

On the good side Gary is back over briefly, I saw an old friend from Mansfield last week and had a good catch up and the local is getting some new beers in! (what did I just say about beer... erm).

The locals have been setting up this years charity fund raiser in memory of big Russ and despite some initial frustrations things are starting to bear fruit. I genuinely think many of them will get alot out of the process and organisation. It does need more work and structure but its gaining momentum and I feel the building blocks are well in place for it to be a well run regular event. I'm happy to sit on the sidelines and offer the odd nugget of advice because I think once its more for other people to be involved in and benefit from.

We also have a Nintendo Wii bowling team being formed, and being a geek I'm involved with that, we plan to play other pubs and it should be a good alternative night out.

This month has also showed me you never stop learning and I find as I get older my resolve on certain things is stronger. A recent problem with a mobile phone shop in town demonstrated this to me and I reversed a situation to my favour. I can't help feeling though that companies like car insurance and mobile phone companies are really there to rip you off to a certain extent, how else do they pay for pointless adverts on tv?

February looks to be very similar to January, quiet and restful, lots of dvds to catch up on and of course lots to do in Lord of the Rings online!

Lady Hobbit In Waterstones

2011-01-18T18:40:00.003Z

So there I was, walking up through Hockley headed for the centre of Nottingham. The sun cascading down and the cold air invigorating. It felt like I had come out of the dark christmas coma and all was well with the world. For a start I'd just eaten some pasta bake at the day centre and the codeine from the painkillers was kicking in giving me a comforting buzz. The morning has passed uneventfully apart from lots of banter, which is good considering the recent closure news at the day centre. They're a great bunch down there, real people and genuine personalities and today I definitely left with a spring in my step despite recent painful episodes with arthritic pain in my neck. Strolling up the hill I feel content, the sun was out, it was mild, I was day dreaming about all sorts of things such as getting around to writing the story I have head in my head for months.

I crossed the brow of the hill, checked my watch and realised I was a little early for the afternoon session in the Music Exchange. Knowing I had ten minutes to kill I headed for Waterstones to peruse some books. I go to the Science fiction/fantasy section and soak in some titles, all look interesting, then I head further into the back of the store and a collection of books by Mark Gatiss catch my eye, they're about an Edwardian detective called Lucifer Box, a bit of a character by the splurge summary on the back cover.

I pause, look up, and there she is, a Waterstones wonder! One of the female staff stands feet from me and it's a .... lady hobbit ! I get that rare almost forgotten stomach twinge and I stand there blinking like some stunned fool. She stands helping another customer, shoulder length blonde hair, spectacles, jeans and a Waterstones sweater. It most be obvious that I am looking over, even though I am pretending not to do so. I'm pretty sure I have a wistful look about me so I come to my senses and head up the escalator as a colleague at the day centre has told me there's a sale on the top floor. As I begin to ascend I turn for a last look and she looks back, I'm smiling a big smile inside but trying to look nonchalant about things, and probably failing dismally. Oh well, a good day just got better!

Population Explosion

2011-01-16T17:06:00.002Z

A report last week from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers estimated that by 2075 the Population will have risen from 6.9 Billion to 9.5 Billion. Unless drastic changes are made and resource management for cities better organised it is said we are facing a population disaster of epic scale. Climate change will add to the woes as up to 1 billion people will move from inhospitable or jobless areas to cities thus increasing the resources a city will need.

The report called 'One Planet, Too Many People' hopes that engineering initiatives in the future will avert disaster by reducing energy usage, improving storage and extracting water from underground as well as civil engineering improvements etc.

But will all this stop people having children? I think not.