My nus

2006-06-16T21:56:00.000+01:00

The boys are back in town again

2006-03-31T19:33:00.000+01:00

Last night I went to see Thin Lizzy at Hammersmith Apollo. Now I know that some people will say that without Phil Lynott there is no Thin Lizzy, and that is true to an extent, but his songs live on and this was meant to be a celebration of his songs 20 years after his death.

Phil Lynott's death was one of the first things that I remember after realising that I liked that sort of music, mostly in the form of buying Kerrang or Metal Hammer or both, so I never had the chance to see him or his band play live. My first real experience of his music beyond the odd song here or there was when I borrowed a load of LPs from Simon at Ventures. I borrowed Led Zep 2, Thin Lizzy's Shades of a Blue Orphanage and Thunder and Lightning and a few others. Most of it I listened to once and didn't really get, but before you curse my name for my idiocy, this is a good sign. Initially I hated the first thing I heard by Metallica, Slayer and King Diamond to name but three and went on to fall in love with them later. What I did get was an instant and immediate love of Thunder and Lightning. While some call it a weak Lizzy album, I disagree. John Sykes is an amazing guitarist and he has something in common with most of the players I like, Mike Amott, Dave Murray, Gary Holt, though it would be a bit unfair to single him out and not mention Scott Gorham. I have always loved the trademark Thin Lizzy guitar harmonies for their simplicity and beauty and that album was very close to the sound of albums I was already familiar with such as Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet.

Acquisitive beast as I am, I soon made it my business to get to know all of Thin Lizzy's back catalogue and it was this knowledge which made me so keen to buy a ticket as soon as I heard that they were playing again. The gig was in the holidays so I knew I could safely mosey over to London and stay with friends after the gig with no worries about lessons the next day, something which has scuppered any hopes of seeing a few bands I would have liked to see this year. I got to the show in ages of time and wandered about a bit. Hammersmith seems a nice area. I headed to the Apollo and found out that there were no support so I had even more time to kill but less to worry about in getting back to Willesden Green than I thought I might. I really enjoyed the gig, though I found the sound a little disappointing as it did not allow the guitar harmonies to come through as well as say Arch Enemy did in December, but this is only a minor moan. It was great to see John Sykes, Scott Gorham, Marco Mendoza and the brilliant Michael Lee on drums. I was hoping for more than one song from Thunder and Lightning but the gig revolved around the Jailbreak album, but that did not stop the gig being fantastic because I love that one too. What a songwriter Phil Lynott was! I raised a Guinness to his memory afterwards.

Memoirs of a Geisha

2006-02-24T13:17:00.000+01:00

Last night we went to see Memoirs of a Geisha. I was a little reluctant initially because I wanted to see Walk the Line instead, but it turned out to be another decision which worked out really well in spite of all my plans.

I have been interested in different cultures for a long time, especially the Japanese. When I was a child, my dad was mugged, so he decided to learn Karate, so there was always a bit of counting in Japanese going on in the traditional washing-up discussions we had and a bit of Dad explaining the complicated names of the moves he was learning. Dad was also really into the Shogun books, something which I may now go away and read.

All of this resurfaced in my life in my second year at Edinburgh university, when I did Japanese as an outside subject for a year. I found it hard at first, being a Classical fish in an Oriental pond, but I did really get to grips with it in the end, in spite of losing lots of time because I was directing Aristophanes Lysistrata and then was really ill for a month. Actually being ill helped in some ways because I really had to fight to catch up and that gave me lots of momentum with my learning, perhaps more than if I had just studied evenly all the way through.

So the thing I learned from the film was about the nature and the ideal of beauty. We both felt that Hatsumomo was the most attractive geisha there precisely because she looked dishevelled and not made up. The other geisha each had a beautiful kimono and were heavily made up, which led me to realise that the Japanese ideal of beauty is pale skin because it is unusual. I then thought that the same was probably true of English girls dying their hair red or blond and how this puts the ideal of beauty above the individual. Should it be this way? Perhaps people would find it easier to be comfortable with themselves if these ideals of beauty were not being sold in every advert you see.

I wasn't expecting Memoirs of a Geisha to take me on such a journey. I am glad it did.

The Legion are sick

2006-02-09T09:40:00.000+01:00

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck. I am so pissed off. I organised a Classics day for our prep school to show the kids there the wonders of Classics. There was going to be a presentation on Roman domestic life, involving people being dressed up in roman clothes and make-up. There was going to be a session on the Roman army in which the kids were given orders for drill in Latin and there would have been a demonstration of Roman artillery on the field. I had seen the group do a Classics day in Birkenhead before and knew they were good. We spent ages organising when it would be and who would do what. I even brought the digital camera into school so I could take a load of pictures of it. Then, having not spoken to them for a while, I thought I'd better give them a call. It was hard getting through but it turns out that they all have flu, had got part of the way up the motorway and turned back. When were they going to let me know? I know it's not their fault but I hope we are not going to lose kids for Classics next year because they were all excited about the Classics day and now they will be disappointed. I feel like such a twat.

BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD!

Four

2006-02-06T13:06:00.000+01:00

Four jobs that I've had

Classics teacher in Taunton, Bexley and Birkenhead. My job rules! I am so glad I chose Greek in the Third form. Where would I be now without it?

EFL teaching in Bratislava for two years. I loved that place. Would have stayed if I could. Exchange rates and student debts, eh?

Drone in a factory bakery in Trafford Park. Very close to the Theatre of Dreams in distance yet so very far away in reality. 8 hours a day stacking trays of sausage rolls or putting clean trays onto the line. People at school said it was a sausage factory. I felt like I was dying in there. I was so desperate for something to do that I wrote quotes from Greek lyric poetry in the dirt on old trays between production bouts. Grim-ola!

Two weeks' work experience with the guy who built my Mum's extension. I helped him put a new roof on a house in Davyhulme. I still find myself thinking "I built that" as I go past.

Four movies I can watch over and over

Star Wars, any one of the six films, I just don't buy the so-called unbiased media backlash against Lucas.

Lord of The Rings - I never thought I would see a film which did it justice. All hail Peter Jackson!

Peter's Friends. I loved the ambience of post University what happens next-ness and the eighties soundtrack.

Pulp fiction. There's no particular reason why I have chosen this one. I love films. I like to step out of my world and into someone else's.

Four places I have lived

Flixton, Manchester. Half way to Warrington. It worked for me.

Edinburgh. A top city!

Bratislava. It all happened by accident in October of 1996. I didn't know what I was doing. It was great!

Taunton.

Four TV shows I like to watch

My name is Earl - I love the Karma thing.

X-Files - it seems a long time ago. I suppose it is a sign of my genuine love of any kind of mystery, though I did get frustrated when we never got any proper answers.

Twin Peaks - David Lynch is a genius but I hated the ending.

Farscape

Four foods that I like

Everything, everything, everything and everything, especially all at the same time.

Or:
Takeaways, especially fish and chips, chinese, especially with prawns, and curry, especially with lamb or prawns, but not too hot.

Anything Witho cooks but especially Leek and Bacon pasta.

Fry-ups, especially with black pudding!

Smoothies - I am prepared to give any form of fruit, and some things which aren't, a go.

Four websites I visit on a regular basis

Either of my fantasy football teams, Guardian or Telegraph

Gmail

This one - only from home, though

Football 365 and/or Cricinfo, depending what is on.

Four things I want to do before I die

Go to Old Trafford again.

Go to some nice places.

Get over the fact that our neighbours are evil, selfish, money-grubbing bastards to the point that I can see or hear them without wanting to implode in an mushroom cloud of righteous indignation.

Get another cat and a house which will allow us to have one.

Four places I would rather be right now

On holiday, which I see as a state of mind, rather than necessarily a place.

In the garden

With friends anywhere

On a beach

I am not going to tag people. Do you want to have a go at this?

2006-02-02T14:12:00.000+01:00

Gorgeous George

2006-02-02T14:02:00.000+01:00

Once there was a ginger cat. He was very silly. He used to enjoy snuggling with anyone warm who would sit still long enough. He had odd tastes in food. Chocolate, water from an empty plant pot, nothing was beyond him. He got confused when his evil owners moved house to the house next door. He surprised the people who bought the house where he used to live by climbing in through an open window in the middle of the night. He did not like staying out at night and would often sit outside, crying at night, hoping to be let into somewhere warm. Sometimes he would even climb onto his neighbours' extension and further onto their window sill. He was even known to force his way in through a part-open window by pulling himself up with his paws.

We loved George. We think he died yesterday. We are sad.

Pandora's Box

2006-01-26T23:30:00.000+01:00

What a discovery! I was told about this site and just had to give it a go. What does it do? You type in a song and/or artist name and the site gives you a load of soundalikes. It costs nothing to register if you don't mind ads and are prepared to fill in a false American zip code eg 90210. I hope I won't be arrested.

After recent mutterings, I am sure you guessed that I decided to choose Arch Enemy's Nemesis as the first song I sought to clone through the medium of Pandora. Best of all it came up with a load of Frankensteins, as well as playing three songs from the Doomsday Machine album. Here are the other ones:
Lowest common denominator - Napalm Death

A visit from dread by Deceased

Death lasts a lifetime by Mental care foundation

Beg for life by Out to win

The god I would be by Sinai beach

United nations by Ektomorf

Parasitic Flesh Resection by Aborted

Sadistic Lullabye by Soilwork

Mummified in Barb wire by Cannibal Corpse

I think I can see a lot of money pouring out of my bank account on this in the very near future....

Sven Gordon Eriksson and the FA

2006-01-24T11:05:00.000+01:00

Right, now I am really angry. I don’t have much time for journalists at the best of times but this is just ridiculous. I don’t know what the reasons are for Sven’s sacking after the World Cup, maybe he would have left anyway. It seems to me that this is largely a result of the Nowt, (Northern for nothing or worthless), or should that be NotW, arranging a sting operation specifically to stir up trouble with the England team before the World Cup. What is wrong with them? Are they secretly Scottish or something? How can we hope to get a good replacement when the pressure on the England manager is getting unmanageable? I don’t think he has done much wrong and I think that the Nowt has done a whole lot wrong, yet it is allowed to carry on damaging our chances of success. What can I say? I hate the way that football news is dominated by lies, gossip and hearsay and the fact that the redtops are basically allowed to get away with it. People of England, unite! Stand up to the false prophets! Vote with your feet like I have done and stop buying this rubbish!

I also hate the way that the game seems to take greater pleasure in stamping on enjoyment and truth than crushing corruption. Mike Newell, Ian Holloway and Sven all seem to have commented on the bung culture they see in the game yet they are the ones being requested to visit the FA compliance department. However much I wanted it to happen, Arjen Robben should not have got a second yellow card a few weeks ago for jumping into the crowd – he had just scored at a crucial time, why should he be denied? Equally I feel that the rumpus over Gary Neville’s celebrations the other day is a joke. We are not living in the 80s any more – enjoying a goal, even provocatively, will not cause a riot, not even between United and Liverpool, the fiercest of rivals. Have they not learned from the Cantona incident at Crystal Palace? When did the FA last try to do anything about fans hurling abuse at players, except in a racist context? This is so wrong! People go to matches to shout and scream at the players, and that is as it should be, but I think it is disgraceful to expect the players to not get caught up in the moment which they are responsible for. For me there is a danger that the FA will be going down the same road as the over-officious UEFA, inspired by the most odious man in football, Sepp Blatter.

2006-01-23T20:04:00.000+01:00

2006-01-23T20:03:00.000+01:00

These boots

2006-01-23T10:36:00.000+01:00

I take a football option at school on Mondays and Wednesdays and have just worn out a pair of Adidas boots. I tried replacing the studs but I had worn them for just long enough that it was not physically possible. I chucked the boots out and decided to get a new pair as soon as possible because the plastic moulded studs on my Nikes were not giving me enough grip on the field. I went arse over tit the other day and that was the last straw. So this weekend GF and I went to Exeter and I planned to purchase a replacement then. More fool me. I went to a shop in Exeter where I had successfully bought things before. Little did I realise the difference between purchasing a United shirt that requires no effort on the part of the 'sales assistants' and a pair of boots which require them to actually go and get the things out of the store in the right size. So I asked an assistant to get me a pair of Adidas boots in a size 11, nothing too fancy, just kind of old school boots. Red, white and black. Five minutes later I am still standing in the same spot and I see him somewhere else talking to another customer. In the end I have to go over to him to ask him whether they had any. He said no. Why did he not come and tell me? How was he assisting their sales, the gormless twat? In a bit of a temper I flounced out of the shop. How difficult can it be to buy a pair of fucking football boots? Err, quite difficult, it would seem. And there's more...

We then went to another place to get the boots. I went and looked at them and saw some that I liked. then I had to wait ages for the arsistant to come and talk to me and again before she came back to say they didn't have them in an 11. Then we did exactly the same thing again. In frustration I decided then to ask what size 11s they did have so I could choose from them and she brought me back three pairs of boots in a size 11. Three in the whole shop! One did not fit and the ones that did fit I hated the colour of. I want functioning boots. I know I am not good enough to wear the silver boots I now have. I am not Christiano Ronaldo - John Smith might give me a run for my money!. The thing that really pissed me off was that these boots did not even take screw in studs, so when they do wear out I will have to buy a whole new pair. Why? Is it because the boot manufacturers have realised that they can make more money this way? It would not surprise me. Wankers!!!!
I will be putting a photo here. Decide for yourself.

2006-01-20T23:48:00.000+01:00

2006-01-20T23:47:00.000+01:00

Decoration, decoration, that's what you need...

2006-01-18T13:08:00.000+01:00

...if you want to be the best...etc...
*Roy Castle and various McWhirters start spinning in their graves*
Apologies to those of you who aren't familiar with Record Breakers!

We are getting some decorating done. We finally got the guarantee that our nice exposed floorboards will not simply fall apart because of the actions of wood-boring insects just before the holidays. Now we are getting all the walls painted and the floor protected to last and the whole of our front two rooms made to look nice. At last we will be able to sit in our front room and not be confronted by the shambles of our accursed vendors' decisions.

Of the two of us, my girlfriend has clearer ideas on what she wants from a house in terms of decor. I am happy as long as it functions okay, ie has the required number of walls, ceilings etc, is not too cold or damp.

At this point in the writing of this post I was not quite sure how to end it. However events last night have changed that. I woke up at 7 like normal today and went downstairs only to find that a large patch of plaster had grown tired of life and decided to try to impale itself on our nice new sofa. I will put a picture here later. I was completely discombobulated, to say the least. It just seems that every time we think we are making progress with this house there is suddenly some new reason for the devil to fart in our faces again. Bunch of arse!

Top Five favourite artists and songs

2006-01-18T11:06:00.000+01:00

I suppose this is really Mosher's fault because he got me thinking. I suppose I am in danger of going a bit High Fidelity, but I know at least one blogger who will be delighted to reminisce happily about John Cusack!

My top five artists at the moment are:
1 Arch Enemy, favourite song Nemesis
I loved that song so much I downloaded the guitar tab to learn the melody and was disappointed that it took me about a minute and a half.
2 Iron Maiden, favourite song Hallowed be thy name.
I still remember singing along to the guitar parts, along with another 70000 people at various Maiden gigs with particularly fond memories
3 Vicious Rumors, favourite song anything from Digital Dictator
My friends all hated them and I have still not seen them live after a very frustrating experience at the Camden Underworld
4 Metallica, Fade to Black
5 Slayer, Angel of Death
Slayer are one of the most powerful bands I have ever seen live. Crushing!

Feel free to add yours below. I will not mock you if it is not heavy metal. Duran Duran still feature heavily on my iPod!

Sacrifice unto Sebek

2006-01-16T13:51:00.000+01:00

It was early. I was just getting ready for school. We were expecting the decorator to arrive. I was just finishing my shave in front of the TV when the first chords of evil ground out. A scatophagous grin crept across my face. This song was special. Depraved, brutal but special. They were only a three-piece and there was no bassist. They didn't need one. The noise they made was enough to wake the dead. Insane double bass drumming pounded out. I felt a pressing need to hit things until they made loud noises. 7.15 am rarely seems like the time or place for this. A semi-balding countenance, long, curling hair where the follicles allowed, an unshaven jaw and a cherry sunburst Explorer copy. On the other side a head of very pale blond hair banged away above a Flying V with a strange headstock. The obscure images of Egyptian hieroglyphics scattered throughout the video made me wonder what the song was about. It sounded nasty. I smiled again.

Arch Enemy

2005-12-15T14:01:00.000+01:00

So it has been a while. Last time I wrote I had been to a gig and again that has stirred the limited creative juices I do possess. This summer I heard the song Nemesis by Arch Enemy and just had to buy the album. I loved it and had to see them live. I knew Mike Amott from Carcass, who I had seen live once, and knew they had the guitar harmonies I crave. Since I arranged the tickets I have bought every album they have done and have just got to the point where I know what is coming next in most songs before I get to it. I went to see them in Manc with my old mate D on Tuesday at Academy 2, which is in the University Student Union. I wondered why they were not playing at the Apollo, because I thought they could have sold that out too, but the atmosphere at the Academy was fantastic, so I am glad they did. As you can see from the pics I took with my camera phone, although we were two thirds of the way back, we could still see fairly well, though the detail has not come out in the pictures.

Arch Enemy played with Throwdown, who I did not know but played a great cover of Pantera's A New Level, and Strapping Young Lad, who I had heard of but did not know too well. Without knowing the songs, they were absolutely brutal. It also meant that Gene Hoglan had been at both of the gigs I had seen Mike Amott play, as I bumped into him in the crowd at that Carcass gig at Bradford on the Heartwork tour. He drums like a demon!

I wondered whether Arch Enemy would be a bit of a letdown after them but they were awesome. This was one of those rare occasions when a metal band turns down the volume but it was a key factor in hearing those harmonies. Well done them! Arch Enemy are also one of the few extreme metal bands to have a female singer, not that you could tell from any of her work, even if such a monstrous voice is truly unlikely from a woman of her size and appearance. Mike Amott was the star of the show for me, but they all did well. The drummer, who I thought might have been eclipsed by Gene Hoglan, played really well. Talking of being eclipsed, many small planets would have been eclipsed by Sharlee D'Angelo, a Giant Haystacks of a bassist, at least in height if not build. The new guitarist, Fredrik Akesson, was note perfect, which is a real feat for a band which is as intricate and involved. What an awesome gig!

2005-12-15T13:23:00.002+01:00

2005-12-15T13:23:00.001+01:00

2005-12-15T13:23:00.000+01:00

2005-12-15T13:22:00.000+01:00

18 years was worth the wait...

2005-06-20T23:06:00.000+01:00

It finally happened. 18 years after my penpal Monika turned me on to Motley Crue, I finally got to see them on Saturday night in Cardiff. I had seen them before at Donington but that's never a real reflection of what a band's own show is unless they are headlining. Crue ruled - I couldn't believe the energy of the show. They played all the old classics which I loved so much. I suppose nobody will see this post or reply to it because I am such a one-off blogger these days, but I am telling you, this was a real moment for me. Ever since I persuaded my Mum to get me tickets for the Crue show in January 1987 (I think) and then didn't manage to get through, only to find out that the gig was cancelled because of 'snow on the roof' or some other unlikely excuse, I have been waiting for this. It was worth it!

2005-06-20T23:05:00.002+01:00

2005-06-20T23:05:00.001+01:00