New Toy

Well today I went and got myself a laptop/notebook. I've been looking for one for sometime and keep pricing them up and comparing them. A shop very close to me had one in the window and after seeing the same model online I'd thought I'd go in and ask the spec, see if it was the same as the one I'd been viewing online of late. It was and according to the guy the display model was the only one left. Haggling time and at first the guy seemed reluctant. I persisted, found a cosmetic scratch, told him I could get it cheaper online but ideally preferred to stimulate the local economy and small local businesses that needed trade! He started to cave in and rang his manager, and then came back with a further £20 reduction - result! off to the bank I popped to get the cash and now I have it, an acer aspire one. Not the best ever laptop but it's tiny, very portable and has a 120gb hard drive, dual core atom processor and 512mb ram, it'll be great for work and surfing whilst out and about.

Dairy Milk Commercial

I'm really love the new Dairy Milk commercial, great commercial in what is seemingly a sea of bland car insurance commercials these days. If you're wondering who the song is it's by Freestyle and the title is 'Don't stop the rock'.

Charlie Chuck

If there was one day last month that made me laugh so hard it was the night I saw veteran comedian and surrealist Charlie Chuck at ‘Just the Tonic’ at the Approach pub in Nottingham. I’ve long been a fan of Charlie from his stints on the James Whale show and later with Vic and Bob on the Smell of Reeves and Mortimer as ‘Uncle Peter’. I pretty much knew what I was letting myself in for as Charlie’s act is very tried and trusted but if it’s not broken, why fix it?

It’s the whole Charlie Chuck experience that makes you laugh, the facial gesticulations, the coughing, the wiping of his curly framed brow; it is pure comedy escapism of the surreal kind. I must also mention that the support act of Gary Delaney was also hilarious with some very topical and truly evil one liners.

Below is the 2001 commercial Charlie did for Cadbury’s Double Decker chocolate bar. Totally bonkers!

Iceland's New PM

I was reading this article earlier about the new Icelandic prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir who is open about her lesbian sexuality. Icelander's don't really think it's a big deal, yet I'm sure if it happened here........ hang on I doubt it would happen here, anyway if it ever did it would be a big deal and sensationalised to the maximum. Lets not go into how mental the religious fringe would go but I've never listened to their righteous deluded ramblings. The point is, in this day and age sexual orientation shouldn't be an issue, neither should we be judgemental about it.

Busy Month

Well after vowing to make January a quiet month it has in fact been totally the opposite. I've taken in a fair few movies, the latest two being Valkyrie and the Underworld prequel and seemingly I've been to lots of places. Gary, my friend who works over in Hong Kong came over last week, for just under a week's stay, it always passes too quickly but we fitted quite a lot in including shopping jaunts to Nottingham and London. Socially it's been hectic too with a fair few unplanned drinks with friends. I also went along to see Charlie Chuck at 'Just the Tonic' a couple of weeks ago, it was hilarious and deserves a blog of it's own, probably this week at some point. So as February creeps in I wonder what it has in store for me!

The Good & Bad

Of the two movies I've seen this month, one was really good, the other was shockingly bad. Earlier this month I saw Frank Miller's 'The Spirit' and being a Miller fan I was looking forward to it only to feel let down by a weak Sin City clone with over long dialogue, seemingly sloppy editing and a general lacklustre feel. I really wanted to try and like it but it just didn’t grab me though Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johanssen in Nazi outfits looked very cool! But outfits don’t make a movie and despite the odd grin nothing really moved me about the movie. Try harder next time Mr Miller!

Last night I saw ‘The Wrestler’ with Mickey Rourke, a wrestling fan I am not, but a Rourke fan I am. I went expecting it to be cheesy but was pleasantly surprised by a great movie that had me hooked a couple of minutes in. It wasn’t cliché or emotionally over the top, it was just damn good and Marisa Tomei is damn hot too!

I found myself identifying with Rourke’s character on a couple of different levels, especially regarding his private life depicted in the film. It’s a powerful piece of cinema, and in some ways a very noire fly on the wall docu-movie.

The Bad...

... and the good !

Winter Scenes

Winter views from Hartsholme Park in Lincoln taken last week, on my mobile phone. A lovely fresh invigorating winters day. Must check the park out in summer.

Tony Hart

Tony Hart the children’s Tv presenter and artist died yesterday aged 83. I grew up watching television watching shows such as ‘Vision On’ and ‘Take Hart’ almost daily as he created something out of nothing as quick as a flash, it was magical to watch. I guess I was a creative kid and watching Tony work always enthralled me, then later came along his hilarious animated clay character called ‘Morph’. I was just reading his mailbag often attracted between 6 and 8 thousand letters a week.

Goodbye Tony, and thanks for the childhood memories and I’ll never forget the 'Vision On' gallery music !

Well That Was 2008

Well that’s it, 2008 nearly over, it wasn’t as good as 2007 but it certainly wasn’t the worst year in my life either. I’ve lost my momentum a bit over the course of 2008, my own doing entirely and I need to rectify it in 2009.

It’s been a year of trials and tribulations, very much a mixed affair really. I still feel like I’m very much an evolving person in many ways. I’ve let myself down a couple of times this year yet there’s been moments where I’ve found self discipline and inner strength. Life is certainly a challenge and 2008 has certainly been a mixed bag of events, happenings, feelings and revelations.

Here’s to 2009, hopefully a better year for me, and I hope all my friends and family prosper in it too.

Right time for a beer and to beckon the new year in and give 2008 a large hobbit footed kick goodbye !!!

Never Forgotten

The young girl with the rabbit in the photo is my mum ‘Ann’. Today would have been her birthday; I think she would have been 62. On the rear of the photo it says ‘Ann and Butch, Ann aged 13 and a half, Butch aged 4’ - 1961. Happier times for my mum in the flower of her youth, with her trusty pet rabbit Butch who she always spoke of with great affection.

Today I visited the family grave with my uncle where her ashes are scattered, we laid some flowers and my uncle did most of the talking, I just looked on in quiet reflection, keeping my thoughts to myself. It was a cloudy cold day as rain poured down relentlessly but I’m glad I went, if only for a short while.

MRSA

My dad is in hospital at the moment with an 'MRSA' infection resulting from a seemingly routine hernia operation a couple of weeks back. On Wednesday he looked very drawn and not his usual self and was losing a fair amount of blood from the hernia op wound. He was taken to Newark Hospital and then transferred to Kings Mill hospital in Mansfield about 20 miles away which is larger and has better facilities.

I saw him in hospital today and he looks a little lighter in weight but is in good spirits, he's coping really well and hopefully will respond to the treatment and be home in the near future. The best Christmas present I could have would be to have him home safe and sound and back to his normal self.

Jerry Sadowitz

Last night I went with friends to see the veteran comedian and magician Jerry Sadowitz play a secret warm up gig at the Approach pub in Nottingham situated on Friar Lane. The Sunday night comedy slot is called ‘Just the Tonic’ and hosts a variety of upcoming and established comedians, though I suspect they’d never had anyone of Sadowitz’s outlandish character there before.

I’ve been a fan of Jerry Sadowitz since the 80s but this was the first time I’d seen him live, and I wasn’t disappointed, in fact I left the venue on a right buzz. Sadowitz style isn’t for the faint hearted or moral upstanding, his style is a tour de force of noire hatred vented with a 100% proof vitriol. His topics encompass almost everything as his relentless pace charges forward with sardonic abandonment, no subject is taboo, no person is safe – that for me is the beauty of it as political correctness bollocks goes straight out of the window. Sadowitz says the things we all think and want to say but never do.

I’ve a feeling some of the younger audience didn’t know what they’d let themselves in for as the juggernaut of hatred humour rumbled on at break neck speed, so fast at times it was hard to keep up, but then again I was laughing hysterically. I have some of his previous stuff stashed away so I can watch it, I knew what to expect and I knew I was going to get my moneys worth, and I did, in spades.

I passed Jerry on the way to the gents, he seemed a quiet man, those huge orbs of eyes looked out thoughtfully from under his worn top hat, I wanted to go over and shake his hand but he was already talking to others in the venue, hopefully another time maybe. I expected him to be taller really but he was a short arse like me, it’s funny how television can often give other illusions of people. Where I wear platform goth boots to make me taller Jerry goes for the top hat effect!

It was a great comedy gig, marred only by the dire warm up comic called Joe Ball, a cockney of no repute who barely raised a laugh, but then again his style was very Lenny Henry, who I’ve never found funny anyway.

It was a great comedy gig, marred only by the dire warm up comic called Joe Ball, a cockney of no repute who barely raised a laugh, but then again his style was very Lenny Henry, who I’ve never found funny anyway.

Lastly, I have to mention the amazing magic performed, Jerry had a camera mounted above the table with the tricks being relayed on a large screen to the audience, the man moves with such devilishly fast adroitness that you never see things coming, but then again my vision was blurred by tears of laughter anyway!

Jerry's sparse website can be found here

A Video of some of Jerry's older material can be found here (warning, not for the easily offended)