Things to do in England...
Hey the sun is shining!
First sun I've seen since leaving Orlando like last Thursday. Am stuck on a PC in a cold bedroom in darkest Staffordshire trying to keep this blog thing up to date.
So, you may ask, what have I been up to?
Well seeing a lot of the kids which is very nice - I think Art has missed me on my transatlantic jaunt and so I am doing my best to try and keep him entertained - John however - while he probably has missed me is in that Im 18 and up to my neck in exams and am too tired to do anything but sleep phase of his life. However we have had some fun moments.
John bought some movies that we have sat and watched. Monday night we watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang which was rated 15. Now this movie has caught my attention. It opened in the UK about 5-6 months ago to rave reviews in all the press and then actually made it into likee 4 cinemas. Certainly nothing within driving distance of the-house-where-we-lived. It was written and direted by Shane Black a Holiwood hot-shot responsible for some fantastic scripts. The original Lethal Weapon movie and another great but underated movie The Long Kiss Goodnight - actually checking IMDB he appears to have credits for all the Lethal Weapon movies and The Last Boy Scout.
But I digress. It also had the slight hurdle of have not only Robert Downey Jr but also Val Kilmer - who haven't exactly shone in movies recently - but they were fantastic. The script is great and the plot twists and turns like a twisty turny thing. I won't say anything else as I don't want to spoil it for anyone but it is a GREAT movie.
I have things to do - book flights back to the US - is one. But I also have to liase with the crew over at the Sondheim Society as I have voluntered to set the magazine for them. This I am doing and then sending over the finished PDF or putting it up on our server for them to download. I think this is what the meeting is about - to decide how we accomplish this.
I also have to see my accountant. Sign things and things. So that's on the list.
Want to go visit my sister and go see Rog and Caroline. And have to arrange a visit with David Morley to give him some of his stuff I have been keeping for him and there are a pile of 8 inch disks for his Fairlight that he needs to gather up at some point too.
OK gonna go rock...
Sunday, Sunday
Had a really cool Sunday. Dropped damon off at the rehearsal and then drove up to see the kids. Art insisted on giving me a breakfast bagel - with Bacon - which was naughty but very nice and then we goofed around for a bit before trying to get the CD John had purchased on Friday replaced. I don't know who it is but basically the last two tracks were damaged and couldn't be imported into itunes. Disk replaced but a similar but different problem with the replacement.
We then sat and watched John's latest DVD purchase - something I've been wanting to watch for a while but it kinda fell through the gap. It was on top of the list of things John wanted me to bring back from the States but as it is kind of an obscure DVD and came out last May in the US the places that sell dvds in southwest Florida had long since run out / maybe never stocked it in the first place.
The movie was Primer a small movie made by some guys in the US. It was very good. Will have to watch it a couple more times to work out exactly what happened butI thought the end was kind of scary. Think he was trying to assemble a BIG version in somewhere French speaking - not gonna say anything more - just watch it and enjoy.
John had seen it before and enjoyed watching it a second time. I also made a good call by watching it with subtitles turned on - which meant John and I caught a lot more than John did first time through.
On the Sufjan Stevens front - it is nice to see that HMV are now stocking him in decent quantities - In the Hanley store there is now a section for each of the Albums, well Michigan, Illinoise and Seven Swans. Enjoy Your Rabbit seems to have fallen through the gap at the mo - but it does require a bit more dedication than the other three. I now have an American iTunes account and have purchased the additional tracks which don't seem to be available anywhere else in iTunes - i wish that Apple could synchronise their stores a bit. I am quite a fan of dutch band Kayak and they don't seem to be available anywhere except the Dutch iTunes store. I thought with Euro harmonisation that all music should be available through all European stores. Hey ho.
Talking of which Jim Moray is due to release a new album shortly which I can't wait to get my hands on although the photographs appear a little strange... Jim, what were you thinking? - But as I haven't heard it yet the images might make more sense in context.
Catch you later.
What Time Is It?
Well kinda had a busy coupla days of late. Arrived back in the UK at around 7:30 yesterday morning. Managed to meet the taxi we had booked via Skype and trucked back to Stoke in slight intermittent snow. Unloaded the car and then chilled. Carol and Damon have a new familial addition which currently goes by the name of peanut. I will explain. It is Carols Great Grandson (3rd) and Damon's great nephew. He was nicknamed Peanut when he was first scanned - coz that's what his parents reckoned he looked like - however when he arrived he didn't look like his chosen name and therefore the nickname is sticking around until the dithering parents duly devise a suitable nomenclature.
Have no fixed abode at the moment and are crashing with friends while Damon prepares two weeks of performances. I am preparing to visit the doctor and then drive all over the UK seeing people.
Have made two trips to see the kids - the blogging one and the drumming one and they are in fine shape. We had a bonding session yesterday they bonded with what little money I had and then bounded off. Actually it was I who had to go - difficult to stay with people if you don't actually put in effort to see them.
Will keep you posted.
Sunday Morning 11:30am
Don't quite know what happened but I appear to have clobbered my blog. It was pointed out that I had a mat who had a computer and not a mate who had so I went back to the blog and edited my previous post. Unfortunately by editing it I seem to have taken it out. I am somewhat hoping by editing this entry it will miraculously repair the blog.
I have just been informed that I am 2d in hexadecimal which could explain why life is a bit flat at the moment. Next big one will be 30 which makes me feel younger again.
Had a great breakfast this morning at First Watch - a breakfast scramble with some fruit and fresh orange juice and unfortunately my main vice - coffee. A great way to start the day.
Now I'm going to hit Publish Post and see if this blog is resurrected.
Back
It appears I had spectacularly clobbered my template file so I've had to load a new one. To those that have been following these posts welcome to the new color scheme - it had the word tequila in it so it was an obvious choice for me.
Things have been kinda busy...
It's gonna be one of those blog entries where I apologise for not writing sooner. Everyone who knows me understands that I don't write. Don't expect birthday cards or christmas cards - I never could fathom when was the best date to send them and hey by the time they start talking about it on the radio it is already too late.
So we spent the weekend driving round - spotted a great McDonalds that was advertising a hundred dollar burger - if I get a chance I'll photograph it for ya! I bought some books and got enrolled into the great Borders book club thingy - so at least I'm now getting emails from my bookstore!
On Monday picked up my new machine an iMac G5 - I have way too much legacy stuff stlll to rely on Rosetta - I have a mate who has the core duo and it is fab - but I thought I'd save a few bucks and look backward for a bit.
MY is it easier to use than the 12inch G3 iBook I have neen stuck with since giving away my old G4 Tower.
Little John has now started blogging - which is a little scary - I say "little" he's actually two inches taller than me now - so there you go - he is also 18 now which as he is my eldest son is scary for a whole other set of reasons. His younger brother Art is gonna be 16 this year which is old enough to drive in America. NOW that is scary.
