Ting a Ling

Bloc Party

2009-10-11T14:31:25+02:00

My first gig at the O2 arena. I turned up without a ticket hoping that on the off chance I would be able to pick one from a tout. On approaching the entrance a bloke chatting to some lads, stopped, turned walked straight towards me and ushered the words 'you want ticket?' almost as if it had been a prearranged meeting. A period of intense negociation ensued, 'How much?', 'Forty!!' 'ok how about thirty' 'No I don't have that amount' 'ok how much will you pay?' 'urgh... twenty?' 'Ok meet you half way 25' 'urgh don't really have, that much, 'twenty is all I have got' 'ok twenty then' 'done'. A fair price for the gig but what I discovered at the entrance was the ticket was for the balcony viewing. Now the balcony viewing was fine by me, I was no mood for a night of mad raving, so settling for an appreciative, nod the head and occasional handclap viewing was fine by me. The problem with the balcony though is been able to see the spectable. I am relatively tall so getting a good view has never been an issue at concerts, however my height is negated by the balcony where even a person of half my size can be a distinct pain in the eyes if stood in front. I managed to set myself up with a decent enough view eventually peering through a tunnel of heads an shoulders and did enjoy the gig.

Grammatics supported, not really my cup tea but there were occasional glimpses of some interesting ideas. The celloist sported a very sleek, hollow, cello which I comment on only for not having seen one before. Definitely a trend setter.

Bloc Party were just as epected really, Kelly's usual random musings between songs, Russel's stoney faced unflustered pragmatic persona more akin with a male form of a Stepford wife, matt the drummer playing like the cookie monster and Gordon witty and understated throughout. Will add the setlist at some point. Good gig, and the first time I have experienced first hand the rivalry between the balcony and the floor. I think the balcony started it.

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Am I screwed for eternity?

2009-06-24T16:06:13+02:00

I recently stumbled on upon a world of webcams where woman of all ages and descriptions await trying to allure their watchers into 'going private' a pleasure for which cash must be splashed. Its a horribly morbid affair and one sadly that I have become entangled in through my own obsession with the female form. Unhealthy, healthy or just natural,I don't know, I keep thinking I escaped the grasp of such thoughts only for the internet and the morbid side of my brain to pull me back into this dank and shallow world- or thats what the morally just side of brain says. Thing is I don't know if its wrong, if I'm damaged mentally as a result, I seem to follow continous cicles of conflict in my head and to be homest I think this is doing more damage then anything else. Perhaps in these few words I have realised the source of my pains, I should not even try and justify something that ultimately leaves me feeling outcast, the stereotype of single bloke living on his own and a basic cunt but ignoring nature continously is difficult. At the end of the day it must be sheer will power that is required because nature's urges cannot be switched off. Depressingly I cant garuentee anything but I'm going to give it a go.

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Salvation

2009-06-07T20:02:07+02:00

Terminator Salavation the fourth film of the series is an entertaining but ridiciculous movie. Following on from Termintator 3 the rise of the machines the story picks up John Connor (Christian Bale)survivor of Judgment Day, now a senior commander of the resistance plotting the downfall of the 'self aware' SkyNet. An almost too good to be true solution is immediately detirmined through the discovery of a radio frequency which when transmitted paralyses any machine within its range. The subsequent plot follows the testing of the new weapon against machines of varying sizes, each time sucessful, and this leads to the verge of a full scale attatck by the resistance against Skynet. I can't be arsed to carry on completing a description of the entire story - a bit like I suspect happened in writing of the script for this film. How was the solution detirmined by the resistance? and how did John Connor single handly infiltrate SkyNet? to name but a couple. The bit that annoyed me though was the use of the female pilot who must be an offense to any femminest watching. She is introduced with all the attitude and protense of a gutsy, tough, respectable member of the resistance. This is immediatley dispenced in a fight scene, against a bunch of sex hungry thugs, where her attempt to escape is an emulation of an enclosed fly defending itself against a million fly swats beating at a 1000 beats a second. Saved by her mysterious newly found companion she falls in love with him to such an extent that she later is willing to potentially sacrifice the entire resistance on the basis of a strong heartbeat. Shes know this guy not even 24 hrs! Her character was a joke and her impossible to take seriously. The film was entertaining but it could have been mcuh much more and the attack of this blog lays on the writers door. Will I be back for the next one? maybe.

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FA Cup final 2009

2009-06-02T17:43:46+02:00

Chelsea Vs Everton

Everton ahead after 25 seconds the earliest goal in FA cup history beating Bob Chatt of Aston Villa who scored after 30 seconds in the 1895 final. Louis Saha scores it with a sweetly struck left foot half volley, from about 16 yards out after a headed knock down by the iconic Felaini. Felaini infamous in the premiership for his afro haircut and 6ft4 wiry frame is adored by his team’s fans who wear ridiculous mock up wigs in his honor (earlier in the season Felaini braided his hair there was uproar from fans and merchandisers alike, the new style did not last long). To be fair he is more than an Afro and was clearly the only player in the Everton side capable of competing against Chelsea in terms technical quality. Everton had reached the final through the sheer industrious and dogged attitudes of their players, installed and embodied by the steely David Moyes but it was obvious, particularly after the equalizer that Chelsea were a step to far. The transformed Florent Malouda who had terrified Tony Hibbert to the point at which he might as well not have been on the pitch, placed a perfect floated cross onto the onrushing head of enigmatic Drogba who powered the ball in to the bottom corner. From this point Chelsea dominated much of the game with the exception of a brief spell of Everton pressure at the beginning of the second half. It was no surprise when Lampard powered home a left footed drive from 25 yards on 65 mins to seal the win for Chelsea. The margin of victory could have been higher but the officials did not recognize a screaming 30 yard punt from Malouda, that thudded against the crossbar, bounced behind the goal line, and sharply span back into play had crossed the line. So Chelsea win, Hiddink leaves Chelsea with god-like status and Everton are left to rue the lack of a billionaire owner.

3-1 Chelsea

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Snow Week

2009-02-09T00:12:23+01:00

Little Fields at the Harley, Monday 2nd February 2009. Really, really good! Memorable songs included the obvious Costa Nova Loves You and It Starts At Sea.

Catchy guitar riffs, up tempo beats, purring delicate bass, climatic backing vocals in Costa Nova which make for a brilliant track to hear live.

It Starts At Sea, includes the same, but with the noticable prominance of sympths and guitar looping, that mommentary transport you to an Ibiza nightclub (in good way)and a hands in the air, were going to explode moment.

One other song with a lyric about hot and cold which I also remember as being a great track.

Thursday Night Fuzz Club The Brakes

No way that I was going to miss this. Eamon , once of British Sea Power fame, dressed in a golden (lights) American spacesuit, leading his band thorough the labyrinth of boozy university gigs. The set itself was fantastic, the range of styles, whakiness, lengths, and lyrics; enough to convert even the most pompous bellends, who initially exchanged glances of indignation, looking for a shared consensus. Fortunatley these people are easily swayed and with the mention of a porcupine and pineapple they had been turned. I'd like to say it was also because the Brakes had a strong setlist (as you might expect from a band about to release their third album) but I fear this was not the case. Comma, comma, fullstop 'a lesson in punctuation' as Eamon described and the Chainy protest song also helped to endear, in their comical, if slightly gimmicky way. Having said that the Chaining protest song that furiously chants 'Chainy' for fourteen seconds before ending with 'goodbye' is a very effective in passionately conveying the message intended. Overall a great gig, which ticked all the boxes of this part-time fan.

Dead Mans Shoes quote:
Your fucking there mate, so get in that car and fuck off.

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Superbowl

2009-02-08T00:58:01+01:00

Superbowl 43

Another Superbowl done and dusted. This was the Sixth successive superbowl that I indulged in watching. Was it better than last year's superbowl? I think judging that in the immediate aftermath is difficult, emotions are still pumping, and it will take time before a fair conclusion can be made. That said, I suspect in a month or two I'll still be none the wiser as to which was better.

Last year the 18-0 Patriots, lost their perfection to one (if not) the greatest 4th quarter comeback drives in Superbowl history. Yesterday saw Pittsburgh, a team that have dominated most of the NFL's stats tables Vs the lowly ranked, pinch yourelf how are we here? Arizona Cardinals. From the begining a Pittsburgh victory looked ominous. Moving the ball easily on offence and restricting the Cardinals to 4 and outs, and you were left feeling that Goliath was going to sprinkle David on his toast and eat him for breakfast. This was compounded by James Harrison who returned a Kurt Warner interception (longest in Superbowl history) just before half time to leave the Steelers 17-7. At this point I wasn't particulary bored of the game because I had a two pound bet on Harrison for MVP at 18-1 and had Pittsburgh down to win by more than twelve points. I wasn't revelling in my over inflated sense of genius for long. Arizona mounted a spetatcular comeback and led with just over two minutes remaining. After an extremely composed drive from Pittsburgh, capped by a perfect throw from Ben to Holmes, hope of Cardinal victory had dissipitated along with my bets. Should Arizona have gone for two points? big gamble but I think they should have done.

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Good Night and Good Luck

2009-01-26T01:50:55+01:00

So has human being transended on earth in the last week? not quite but you could be excused for thinking he/she might have done based on the coverage of the anauguration of the 44th American President. In case you havn't noticed, the etheral Barack Obama was sworn in on Tuesday, albeit for slight cockup which meant it had to be repeated the next day; though according to a pupil I teach, it was an intentional cockup to show after all he is still a squalid human being. Now I've nothing against Barack Obama he cannot control the hysteria that has swamped his campaign and currently crowns him as saviour of America and the world. In times of darkness/economies going tits up and wars with semi-visible enemies, a ray of light offers hope and promise. But as Nietzsche desrcibes "Hope is the most evil of evils, because it prolongs man's torment." For the sake of millions of people I hope not but to place the responability out of sheer desperation on the shoulders of one person surely is too much.

"We will not walk in fear of one another" Quote of the day, the title of this piece is the film.

CBS news caster Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) questions Joseph McCarthy on his campaign to purg communists in the the USA. The film highlights the pressures that were placed on Murrow to stop documenting evidence that suggested McCarthy's policy was based on fear and paranoia. Milo Radulovich a Air Force Lieutenant accused of being a communist had been tried without his lawyer ever seeing the brown envolope containing the prosecutors evidence. Murrow documented this and continued to amass and transmit more shows despite mounting pressure from CBS management and sponsers. After a show that directly targeted McCarthy backed up with the trial of Annie Lee Moss (a commuication worker at the Pentagon tried based on a FBI infiltrator seeing her name on the memebers list of the American Communist Party) and response from McCarthy portraying Murrow as a communist is prooved false, McCarthy is brought in front of the senate to explain his policy.

The film is framed by performance of the speech given by Murrow to the Radio and Television News Directors Association in 1958, in which Murrow harshly admonishes his audience not to squander the potential of television to inform and educate the public.

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All by myself

2009-01-18T23:48:20+01:00

Bullshit warning!

I am person confused. I live alone in a self contained flat, which is fine by me most of the time. Isolation is good right? to an extent I agree. No commitment to anybody, the chance to live life without restriction,no regarbling of past week's trivialities on the weekend jolly to get shitfaced and time to focus on the things I enjoy.

Couple of months ago I experienced the alternative, beared with it out of curiosity and eventually ran screaming an echoing silence, which promptly was interpreted by my then girlfriend as the end of the relationship. Am I misanthrope? no I'm not but I'm begining to believe I have some age related form of misanthropy. The young people of my own age in their early twenties. A mass wondering army of trendy, top men and woman, whom gormously comform to what is expected. I myself have been exposed and now suffer the indeciency of feeling the need to splutter out a justification for my existing life style choice.

Is it so wrong to be alone? being sensitive to the public's views I feel like it is, the pressure to join is immense but I can't blame them for it I have the same embedded instincts to- they are continous thorn in my side.Trisha?

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First weekend 2009.

2009-01-05T00:18:03+01:00

New Jonathon Creek episode on the box.Not much to say about it other than Jenna Harrison - Wow! Just amazingly beautiful. Interesting story as usual, especially Alec and his venture in the world of three dimentional porn movies. Hope to see more new episodes in the future.

Mighty Halifax Town on Sat against Wakefield. Match Report: Sending Off - Goal keeper handball, Free kick off the post, 0-0 Half Time, Freedie Fox throwing sweets into crowd, Jemson scores 1-0 Halifax- acrobatic kick, 2-0 a screamer from Mascherano look alike, Wakefield pull a goal back immediately - low skimmer of the post, Big bust up Wakefield captain subsituted - really pissed off - throws armband at manager, Halifax score third, Jemson nods in, Wakefield score near post header from corner, end of game.

True football game, pure heart and passion. Halifax crowd poor as usual. Old cronies arguing about message board posts and megaphone used to shout general abuse, you bellend. Really claassy directors box.

The Dark Knight on DVD. Brilliant movie and defining quote- "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villian".

Miami out of NFL: back of the net!

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Bargain Hunting at Meadow Hall

2009-01-02T19:01:49+01:00

Don't really have the money to afford what I have spent over the last couple of days. Oh well, I see it as doing my bit for national service; helping fight off the western world apocalypse that currently engulfs us. It was n't just me either, I was one agmonst thousands of commerades all bravely taking up positions along the front line to do battle with the great enemy. Sadley we arrived too late to save the Officer's Club, a cheap discount shop that had already been ravaged by the brute. Buying from their closing down sale would have felt like taking the pistol, with two bullets left in the barrel from a fatally injured neighbour - probably. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Like every other sale in bleedin history, there was a distinct lack of any sale price jeans in size 34L. Despite the lack of good equipment available, I still managed to rack up some solid hits and even a couple of headshots. All stuff that in a weeks time will be of little use or value. I guess in the heat of battle bad descisons are made, at this time I don't yet if I will come to regret them. The fact I am now the proud owner of a dinosaur rug is worrying though- Ah well, For Queen and Country hey!

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Activ8.

2008-09-23T23:54:34+02:00

Quotes from my time doing some volunteering with school leavers that were not going onto further education.

- "that would be right car to twok"

- Favourite attraction at the Royal Armoury Mueseum Leeds - the transparent donations box in the entrance.

- "I shagged to guys last night, I was off my head"

- During anal sex if she farts, it gets blown out!

- "were going to get a few tinnies and then go batter someone"

- thats the brick wall I built for my community service, theres the car I smashed up to get it.

- Were going to Bradley Park Driving range,friend to his mate: isn't that the one were banned from.

-On a trip to some caves: will my (electronic)tag be picked up in there?

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Your No Bonekicker!

2008-08-12T22:29:56+02:00

'Come on! Give up your secrets!'

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Earthquake

2008-08-08T02:26:38+02:00

1:20am Friday 08/08/08
I am currently watching Earthquake a 1972 film starring Charlie Heston. Not really been concentrating hence the missing detailed plot summary, surfice to say I have seen enough to fill me with a genuine craving for an experience of a real 9.9 Richter Scale earthquake. Why?

1) it looks like alot fun - free thinking, strategy based, team building opportunities
2) shatter mundane life
3) a real sense of achievement if survival is attained

Whilst writing the above, a Panorama episode documenting an investigation of the Chinese right to free speech in lead up to the Olympics has started. The program features a segment about the recent Sichuan earthquake that killed nearly seventy thousand people and ruined the lives of thousands of survivors.

Dam reality. Dam fiction.

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