Quote Of The Day

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake - Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)"

Friday, July 29, 2011

Where Do You Go To My Lovely?...

A couple of months ago I used a bit of freely available software to scan through one of my iPhone backups to find out where I'd been in the last year. Up until that point Apple had set all iPhones to collect information about the 3G and Wi-Fi connections my phone had been making. And storing them indefinitely on the phone. This information was then being backed up and could be read. By anyone with access to the computer. A fix to the iPhone's IOS software now doesn't keep the info for quite so long (it was indefinite) or back it up to an open file - it's not locked away safely. But in the meantime I had fun plotting my whereabouts.


Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Welwyn...

I went out to see my folks on Saturday morning. I was grabbing some old photos to borrow so I could scan them in. Jo and Charlie were there too. And so was Mittens. Nice.


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Stu the Chef...

In preparation for a picnic we went to on Sunday Stu decided to do some cooking on Saturday afternoon. He cooked empanadas. Mmm. lovely.

Monday, July 25, 2011

The Triplets...

I went over to see Ben, Sarah and the triplets last Friday. We had a great time mucking about with games on our phones and a bit of horseplay. Bless them, they are so sweet now they are five.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Lovebox...



It was a bit wet but a lot of fun at Lovebox last Sunday. Marc Almond, Blondie, Scissor Sisters... and lots of quuens milling about in the mud. Slideshow here.

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Duckie's Lullaby...

On Saturday night Stuart and I went to sleep with fifty other people. All in the name theatre you understand.

Duckie was putting on it's Lullaby show at the Barbican Pit. We turned up at 10pm; got into our new M&S jim-jams, grabbed our teddy bears and settled down into our double bed waiting for things to start. Other had singles and triples to relax in.

The lights were dimmed at about 10:30pm and the show started. It was quite infantile in that we had child-like (as apposed to childish) bedtime stories, songs (lullabys naturally) and little dances. All the performers were dressed up in funny oversized costumes like octopuses or strange cloudy shapes like houses or elephants. They wafted around the space and between the beds coaxing us to sleep.

The show went on for about two hours and with the dimmed lights most people were soon asleep.

In the morning we were awoke to birdsong, little chicks chirping in a pen and breakfast of boiled eggs and soldiers.

All in all another Duckie winner. Mainly for being weird rather than wonderful and pretty reasonably priced at £42 a head.

More pictures here.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Melanie...

Last Friday I took Stuart to see one of this favourites as a birthday present. We went to see Melanie (yes, her of 'Brand New Key' fame) at the Union Chapel in London's glitzy Islington.

As Stu said as we were waiting for the show to start, "Loving the pensioners, tie-dye and Joni Mitchell mash ups playing through the PA!" We were the youngest people there. By far.

Folk fans can be a bit weird, can't they? Ageing floral shirts on the men, flowing flowery dresses on the women, an over familiar demeanour, clusters of extended families that are all just a little too close and a distinct look of being unwashed. We were in for a 'fun' night, right?

Well, actually we were. Melanie and her son - playing guitar and a number of other weirder stringed instruments at her side - were really quite charming. The anecdotes and stories were perhaps a little too rehearsed at times but she did make us laugh. Her songs were all pretty cool too. The voice is still pretty much intact and you could hear every words as clear as a bell. Although as Stu mentioned she has lost her mid-range somewhat.

Large parts of the set were given over to we the audience to shout out what songs we wanted her to perform. This she duly did - I imagined her saying, "I'm not some bloody folksy jukebox you know!" But she didn't of course. She was very sweet.

As the song suggestions dried up I shouted out "Combine-harvester!" (referencing the Scrumpy and Western act The Wurzels who covered Brand New Key in 1976) which got a snigger or two. Still, we got all the hits and more by the end so we were very happy.

So that's another one off Stu's "bands-to-see-before-they-peg-it" list then.




Monday, July 18, 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2...

Last Saturday Dean and I went to the IMAX to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. It was a suitably spectacular ending to the series of films. Not too sure about the 3D but we loved it.

And hey, I got to pose with a 'Harry' and 'Wizard' courtesy of Warner Bros too.

Friday, July 15, 2011

More Songs about Buildings and Food...

I've been thinking about Talking Heads today. Don't know why. Just reminiscing I guess. Fear Of Music, Remain In Light and More Songs About Buildings and Food are three of my favourite albums. After buying each one I played them to death. At the time they were a soundtrack to my life. Shame that Talking Heads kind of fizzled artistically after that. The other related album that never left my record player of that era was David Byrne and Brian Eno's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. Unparalleled to this day. Exorcism to a disco beat. Where have all the good albums gone I wonder?

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Justin Vivian Bond...

Justin Bond was utterly fabulous on Saturday night at the Soho Theatre in London's glitzy West End. Flashes of Kiki of off of Kiki and Herb, but it was V's show in the end. Brilliant stories. Very good songs. He just has a way of hypnotising the audience. Spellbound we hung on every word. Go see.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Summer Rites...

On Sunday Summer Rites was relaunched in Shoreditch Park. Dilwyn invited us round to his place for drinks before hand which was nice. The festival itself was fairly quiet at first but got busier as the day went on. Short walk home too!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Ghost The Musical...

On Friday night I took Stu to see Ghost The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

Based on the Patrick Swayze / Demi Moore / Whoopi Goldberg 1990 film, the show started rather tepidly. But as the evening rolled on it got better and (and somewhat camper). As might be expected the Oda Mae Brown character rather stole the show.

And blimey modern special effects have come on - the entire set was a virtual creation with subway trains, windows, rain, dancers, all created on split-level video walls. The 'ghost' magic was good too; walking through doors, grabbing objects et al..

The acting was good, the singing too, but the songs were fairly forgettable. We paid £65 a ticket - maybe wait for the £20 tickets though IMHO.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Pride July 2011...

Last Saturday was London Gay Pride. Stu and I went down to watch the parade and then popped into Soho for a beer or two. Nice day out.

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Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Stuart's 38th Birthday Drinks...

On Sunday we went down to The Duke of Wellington in Soho for a few jars to help Stuart ce;ebrate his 38th birthday. A good time was had by all.


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