Rubbing the Gecko

Cooking with Bruce: Murgh Khubani

2012-01-02T19:47:00.001Z

And for the last blog of the day - I know, nothing for weeks, then three in a day. like buses, or mammoth genomes.

Murgh Khubani
In theory this should have apricots, however I had none, so this is my take on one. It's probably called something else. The original recipe uses chicken - which I've included here - but I used quorn.

500gm chicken, chopped
1/2c dates [original had apricots]
1/2 sultanas
1/3c hot water
2/3c natural yoghurt
2t coriander powder
1t cumin powder
1/2t tumeric
1t salt
1/2t ground black pepper
1/2t chopped chilli
1t garam masala
2T ghee
cinnamon stick
3 bruised cardamon pods
2 finely sliced medium onions
2t grated fresh ginger
1t minced garlic
1/2t saffron threads steeped for 10min in 1T hot milk
1T chopped coriander
2T cream

Steep dates, sultanas in hot water for mins. Mix yoghurt with spices (down to garam masala), add chicken pieces and marinate for 2 hours.
Heat ghee, add cinnamon stick and cardamon pods and cook until it's aromatic, add onions, ginger and garlic and cook until clear. Add chicken and marinade, simmer 10 mins. Add date/sultanas and some liquid if it needs it - mine didn't.
Mix in saffron/milk and the chopped coriander, simmer 5 mins. Remove cinnamon and cardamon, stir through the cream. serve.

Must be time for a rest now. Too much blogging...

Cooking with Bruce: Tortilla's

2012-01-02T19:29:00.001Z

A couple of recipes will follow. I think one them may have been stolen from cuisine, originally, but I can't find on their website so meh.

Piquillo Pepper and Potato Tortillas with smoked paprika aioli
4 medium potatoes, peeled, diced 2cm
olive oil for frying
1-2 red onions, finely chopped
salt and ground pepper to taste
6-8 piquillo peppers, chopped
5-6 medium eggs
2-3 T milk

(obviously these are largely guesswork)
Boil spuds in salted water for 5 mins, drain and cool.
Heat oil in frying pan to cover the base, fry onion gently until soft/clear and add some salt. Add spuds and peppers, fry 1 min, season with black pepper.
Whisk eggs with milk, and pour over spud mixture, lower heat and try to spread the egg mixture around the pan. This (in theory) helps it cook evenly. Your mileage will vary on that.

turn out onto plate, and either grill to finish, or place in low oven to finish. Serve with aioli

Aioli
3 egg yolks
1T white vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1t smoked paprika (use good stuff, otherwise it's just not worth it)
200ml olive oil (or slightly less)
1/2 lemon

Whisk yolks, vinegar until light and fluffy and increased in size. Then while whisking add the oil until it's nice and thick. mix through the paprika and garlic, then a squeeze of lemon.

B

Bike ride

2012-01-02T13:54:00.000Z

The weather here is stupid. It's winter, and it's been 10-12 C over the Xmas/New Year period. No snow, just lots of rain interrupted by lovely sunshine. I don't think I'm complaining, but I am confused.

Anyway, that's meant I can go bike riding and so I pottered off today, heading to Breedon on the Hill. It's not much of a misnomer, there are hills involved getting there (for any NZ'ers reading this, ok more a rise or small undulation...). And it's main feature, a priory, is up on a hill which I couldn't be bothered heading up to. The village itself is pretty, couple of nice looking pubs (which I managed to avoid). I was a little grumpy that google maps said it was about 8mile from home, and that only took 20-25 mins. which seemed a little short to me. I didn't think I was pushing it, as it was a bit greasy - hell, I even used my brakes. Both of them. Sometimes at the same time.
I took a nice scenic way home, through Worthington (very pretty) along a bike trail called the Cloud Trail - not sure why, but it was. Then back through Osgathorpe.

I've decided to make use of my Tracks app on the phone more, and so here's a map of the ride:

View 1/2/12 11:51 AM in a larger map

Other trivia:
Moving time: 1h18min
Distance: 25km
Ave Speed: 17.34km/h
Max speed: 43 km/h (I'm not convinced on this)

Exciting stuff!

Quick roundup of exhibitions

2012-01-01T14:16:00.001Z

I've made it to a fair number of exhibitions this year, in fact looking at the Guardians top10 for the year, I'd hit 7 or 8 of them. go me. I'm all about kulture. The only one we missed that we wanted to get to was the daVinci, tho we did consider turning up and queuing one morning in the vague hope of getting tix. But didn't.

John Martin 'Apocalypse'
I caught this in Sheffield after the bikeride, having decided to wander along to an art gallery. Martin was a favourite of the people and disliked by the art snobs. And this was the first major retrospective in over 30 years (yes I am stealing from the blurb there). It's had rave reviews from a number of papers since it's turned up at the Tate. I didn't like it.
I think Martin sums up, to me, everything I don't like about the Victorian style of painting. It's overtly romanticised, it's hyper-nature, and especially in Martin's work, there's a 'don't fuck with god' theme rocking it's way through everything. The paintings are big, bold, and thematically huge. But left me cold. I could see how his imagery influenced fantasy art, although given his limited popularity after his lifetime, whether it actually did or not is another question.

That's from the Tate, one of the prints you can buy - click here.

L.S.Lowry - Nottingham Uni

I like Lowry, and it was certainly one goal while over here to see more of his paintings in the flesh. We caught a fair number in Manchester while we there, but then an exhibition just up the road kinda fell in our lap. We came across it thanks to the local BBC news. Generally a waste of time, it redeemed itself. Once.

Nottingham Uni have an art gallery (news to me too!) which had a major exhibition of Lowry's work. Go see it.

Brief review that one. Um yeah, had everything I wanted and more. His delicate portrayal of northern life kinda sucks you in, and makes me wonder how much influence he had on the eastern european animated cartoonists. There's a lot more to Lowry than his working class painting, there's collections of caricatures. I particularly enjoyed the increasing sense of isolation and separation in his later works - after his mother died - helped no end as I was playing Kate Bush's 50 words for snow, which fitted perfectly the desolate landscapes dotted through the exhibition - something I didn't realise he did, no people at all in these.

A large number of cartoons I thought emphasised the affection Lowry seems to have had for his subjects, and they demonstrate the weirdness he does with perspective occurred in the drafts for the paintings. Cool.

More importantly, I got to see one of my favourite Lowry's, not one of his industrials, rather it's of a graveyard. I dunno why I like it, possibly the influence on Tim Burton? Who knows, anyway here it is:

That's from the Abacus Gallery who do prints of it.

This reminds me, I was going to go back again. Hmmm must sort that out (yeah, that's how much I liked the exhibition, oh and it's free. WTF?)

Gerhard Richter - Tate

I like him. And since we were down in London before I went to a Marillion gig, and then to Belgium, hell why not take in an exhibition. And it's a rather major exhibition. There seemed to be something for everyone in this, history (confronting the nazi heritage, 9/11, baader meinhof), isolation, comedy, landscapes to lose yourself in. Some of it's confrontational, some comforting. Pretty much everything you want in an exhibtion. And even better, it wasn't packed. Something to be said for early Weds afternoon viewings... I liked that he wasnt stuck in one medium, he seemed to dabble in everything. There's links to many prominent 20th C painters (Rothko, Twombly etc), which probably explains why I like Richter. Hard to pick favourites, but I did enjoy the grey series.

Rather than picking one picture, here's a link to pretty much everything.

Ford Maddox Brown - Manchester Art Gallery

We enjoyed our trip to Manchester - we decided to make a long weekend of it with Tori Amos being the Friday night, then wandering around pubs and art galleries on the Sat/Sun. Oh and music shops. Yeah, Manc seems to tick the boxes for us, good food, beer, music and art.

Ford Maddox Brown was a pre-Raph painter. I prefer slightly more obscure or later stuff, but I enjoyed this exhibition. He'd come up recently on Antiques Roadshow as they showed the murals in the Manc Town Hall, which is probably what prompted us to head in.

There's other exhibitions I've pottered along to, but those ones I wanted to comment on.

Next up, possibly gigs, or food.

me.

Whisky tasting

2011-12-29T19:26:00.000Z

Just a small localised one this time, with me.

Glengoyne Port Finish 13yo 46%
Nose: bourbon, fresh cut wood (pine), cut grass, spikey, hint of vanilla, cloves?
palate: green apple, sweet orange, tingly,
Finish: medium

I don't get much port on this finish, but it's quite a refreshing dram. One you'd drink more of, especially during the afternoon. Not a complex evening malt.
6.5/10

Connoisseurs Choice Caol Ila d.1997 b.?? G and M, 43%
Nose: peat, phenol, rubber,
Palate: warm, weak, salt, honey, bacon,
Finish: medium-long, pepper/salt comes thru

I wonder if this is a whisky that suffers from being diluted to43%? Would it have been more interesting at cask, or 50%? Lack of age statement makes me wonder if it's a young Caol Ila too, there's an absence of complexity - although it's not fiery, so 10-12yo??
It sticks in the mouth as a finish for sometime, with more honey appearing (ie sweeter) which is encouraging, shame the palate doesn't live up to the Nose and Finish.
5.5/10

Me.

Cooking with Bruce : Bits of Xmas dinner; Pavlova, turkey, scallops

2011-12-26T19:04:00.001Z

Although there was an intention to cook lots of different stuff over Xmas, realism kicked in and I ended up splitting them over a few days. Mainly as we had enough food for Xmas/Boxing day.

Dessert involved two different ones - pavlova and xmas pud. At least that was the plan, in the end we stuck with pavlova and the xmas puddings are lying in the fridge awaiting another day, another dinner.

Pavlova
3x egg whites
3/4c caster sugar
1t vinegar
1T cornflour
1t vanilla essence

Beat egg whites until very stiff, add sugar in 3-4 lots, beat until very very stiff and glossy. Add everything else, and beat more. yes, there's lots of beating. It's like childcare.

Turn out onto greaseproof paper (or whatever you're using), cook 30min 150C then 30min 125C.

Xmas Pudding - has already featured in Cooking with Bruce. See here.
although this year I used lagavulin 16yo to add a hint of smoke and pepper.

Xmas dinner
Pancetta wrapped turkey with herb lemon and pinenut stuffing.
From the BBC Good Food webpage.

Scallops with corn salsa
This was supposed to be served in pastry, tbh that seemed pointless to me, so I gave up. And I hate making pastry. Yes, I know. I did try, but I got bored and didnt like it. Not sure where I stole this from.

Dressing
1T lime juice
1T red wine vinegar (or in my case, sherry vinegar)
1/3c olive oil

Beat.

Spiced Scallops
1c corn kernels
3 spring onions, chopped
1 small avocado, chopped
Combine, and add two tablespoons of dressing.

1/4c flour
1T sesame seeds
1t tumeric
1t cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
12 large scallops
1 egg, beaten
olive oil for frying

Put all dry ingredients together, mix, dip scallops in egg, then toss in dry. Fry 30s each side until golden.

Mix through 1T dill, parley, coriander into the corn mixture. Put on plate, place scallops on top, drizzle remainder of dressing over it.

B. Somewhat full.

Whisky Cabal Meeting 6

2011-12-22T16:10:00.000Z

We gathered together, one doctor short, for the final Cabal meeting of 2011. As usual there was a diverse collection of drams, although oddly a predominance of standard releases. I've been a little slack, and away on holiday, hence the delay in getting the vital bits of info to you all. As usual links are to our favourite whisky shop Loch Fyne Whiskies, except for the Port Ellen.

Port Ellen 26yo Old Malt Cask

A ghost Islay distillery, Port Ellen closed in 1983 and bottlings are becoming rare, and very expensive. I picked this up quite a few years ago after an Islay tasting, as I'd enjoyed it, and I think it's a criminal shame that most Islay whisky is bottled so young. There's no reason why they have to be ball sack rippingly vicious, try an old one and feel the power and complexity...

I can't find a link for this particular bottling, so here's a general Port Ellen one.

Nose: salt, peat, new leather, fireworks

Palate: subtle, spicy, sulphur, fireworks

Finish: med-long, throaty, salt, warm, mulled wine.

7.5-8 /10

Glendronach Allardice 18yo 46%

Nose: Sherry, sweet, honey, furniture polish, cake

Palate: tasty, sweet, toffee, honey, fudge, xmas cake

Finish: long, xmas cake

7-7.5 /10

The Cabal seems to be liking the Glendronach's, certainly a sherry monster, but very yummy.

Glengoyne 17yo 43%

Nose: old socks, chopped nuts, dairy milk chocolate, ozone

Palate: chocolate, bit watery, oranges, raisins, sherry, green apple

Finish: medium, chocolate, sweet

7/10

Glengoyne pops up quite frequently here. I like it, which can be traced directly to Neil. As can Edradour. The 17yo is very quaffable, and comes highly recommended from our professional quaffers.

Jura Diurachs own 16yo 40%

Nose: sweet, chocolate, oranges

Palate: chocolate, sweet, seaweed/sushi, xmas,

Finish: med-short

7-7.5 /10 "Very quaffable"

Bit of a surprise this one. I know everyone raves about Jura, but I've never been a huge fan. Always seemed to be missing something, possibly they'd been built up too much. So we went into this one not expecting much, but really enjoyed it. Interesting whisky, and worth trying. Usefully Jura are selling it in smaller bottles (not sure what size, I guess 375ml?) so won't kick the wallet too hard.

Benriach Tawny Port 15yo 46%

Nose: fighty, salt, sweet, acetone/acridine, antiseptic

Palate: salt, port, bad red wine but not in a bad sense,

Finish: salt, med-long, warm character

7.5-8 /10

To quote the previously mentioned Neil, we'd describe this as 'bats-arse mental'.

We like Benriach, their whiskies have huge character, are very different, and even though they throw up a lot of unexpected flavours, are brilliantly balanced.

Port Charlotte 9 59.2% Bottle 2950/6000

Nose: salt, bacon, iodine, medicinal wipes, phenol (industrial!)

Palate: chocolate, sweet, raisins, salty, fighting

Finish: long, spikey, chocolate high cocoa, raisins

Addition of water chilled it down a bit, but increased the chocolate and sweetness, less fighty nose but more bacon. Called "bandage compress" by one of us.

8.5-9 /10

I like the PC's, and I like how the flavour profile has changed over the years. If you like your Islay's, and like them complex, go for the PC.

SMWS 127.3 8yo Refill bourbon 67%

Having said there's complexity in the PCs, we threw this one in as a PC where subtlety is not the main focus of the booze.

Nose: light, salt, bacon, "cold medicine", iodine, wood chips

Palate: very drinkable, leather, burger rings, sweet, bourbon

"what a way to go"

Addition of water gave:

Nose: medicinal, phenol, floor polish

Palate: warm, rubbery, chocolate, gin n tonic, sweet, honey

Finish: warm, big, long

8-8.5 /10

We finished the evening with the SMWS 121.39 'Easy Drinking Dram' which we've reviewed a few times before.

We have a few lined up for the next tasting, so I guess we should get on with planning that....

Of cuts, scrapes and gigs

2011-12-11T18:03:00.001Z

I see winter has decided to arrive. This time last year the UK was dying in a unexpected arrival of snow. In winter. Yes, surprise all around. The rest of Europe seemed to cope OK, a situation reflected in recent Eurozone discussions. Britain on the outer, everyone else banding together to sort stuff out. Maybe.

Managed to slice my thumb while washing dishes. For I am that talented. While rinsing dishes, a plate broke and sliced through to the bone. Brilliant. Sacrificing a tea towel for blood soaking, we contacted NHS direct, ending up at the walkin center to collect some sutures.
What I learnt from this experience:
* I'm a crap patient, preferring to ignore everything (this came as a surprise to no-one)
* use disposable plates
* Tues evening is a great time to injure yourself in Lboro, the cemetary would have exhibited more life than the NHS walk-in.

It seems reasonable now (following infection, woohoo), just waiting for the numbness to clear. Stupid nerves.

Went down to Birmingham this weekend, loved the art gallery, hated the crowds. But yes, definitely recommend the gallery/museum. the Xmas markets were nice, but too crowded - didn't seem that bad last year, but then I realised I went during the week. and it was much much colder. But I had some mulled wine, so things were improved.

There's a small monthly classical gig scene at the University here in Lboro, which for the last few months I've missed - due to other gigs. But finally made it for the December gig. This was a duet between Maxim Rysanov (viola) and Ashley Wass (piano). Thoroughly enjoyed this, neither performer had huge stage presence, but the music was superb. Dominated by Faure and Debussy, the programme could have been quite boring. It started with Bach (Suite #2) as a solo performance by Maxim, brilliant. To the point where I picked up a CD of him playing three Bach cello suites after the gig. Two Faure pieces (Romance and Pavane); Debussy (claire de lune); and Faure (Elegie). So yes, lots of stuff you'd recognise. But sounded good, and some very good performances.

The second half kicked off Dubugnon (Incantatio for viola and piano). I'd never heard of the composer, but this was superb. Reminded me of Can, which may have something to do with listening to Tago Mago before hand. But it was great. Definitely recommend those of you who like more interesting music (classical or rock) to give him a spin.
Here's part 1 (part 2 is also availble on youtube)

Then back to Faure (Apres un reve); Dubugnon (lied); Debussy (Prelude: la fille aux cheveux de lin); Ravel (Pavane).

So yes, civilised evening. Following by a ball numbing bike ride home. See, it's early Dec and no snow, so still biking.

Gig next week is Marillion on Wednesday. So we're heading down to the Gerhard Richter Exhibition at the Tate before hand, check in at hotel, gig, then head to Namur for Belgium beer for a few days. Mmm beer. Ironic really, it was easier to get Belgium beer in Wellington than it is in the UK. FFS. And yes, I know I could use beers of europe website, but it doesn't seem to have a consistent selection.

Annoyingly I seem to have lost all my notes from my bikeride holiday, so it's just going to be distances and photos. Bollox.

me.

Recent gigs, briefly

2011-11-27T19:43:00.001Z

Awhile go we headed up to Manchester to see Tori Amos, courtesy of tickets Paul had to unload before his departure to mooseland.
I lost track of Tori after Boys for Pele, although iTunes reveals I've got Venus and back lying around somewhere. Even if I have no idea what it sounds like.
Tori is, well, idiosyncratic. This tour had her and a string quartet, playing, from what I could tell, all new-ish stuff. Certainly post when she and I departed. I enjoyed it, the strings added quite a bit to what could have been a pretty boring concert. I'm glad I went, but won't be buying any CDs and unlikely to see her again. It got a bit 'samey' for me. Her piano playing is stunning, as you'd expect, and the use of piano/synth worked well.
I really enjoyed Manchester, lots of good food, excellent music shops, lots of vinyl, good coffee, beer. Yup ticked all the boxes for me. And it only pissed down when we headed to the gig. recommend this pub btw.

Jim Lauderdale
Wasn't sure if I'd seen him before, discovered I hadn't, but I had heard some of his stuff before. I turned down a Fish gig in Nottingham, preferring to randomly hear some country/bluegrass dude in Leicester. I think I made the right decision. It wasn't rivetting, unlike other country stuff I've been to recently, but certainly enjoyable enough to pick up an album. Bluegrass and more pure country than I normally listen to, so something different.
The gig was just him and a guitar, so raw-er than this would suggest:

Pure Reason Revolution
Somewhat bittersweet, this being the bands final tour, as they will split after the London gig. Their debut album, the Dark Third, is a brilliant mix of choral, prog, electronic, beach boys. I love it.
Album 2 never clicked for me, but Album 3 'Hammer and Anvil' was a great mix of electro (Depeche Mode) and the prog side. Really rated that one.
The gig was good, with the feature being a full performance of the Dark Third. The support band, Long Dead Signal, were worth keeping an eye on too.
PRR were enjoyable, if odd. There's a lot of sampling, which caused a feeling of soulless-ness for some tracks. Although given it's electro, it kinda works. The Hammer & Anvil tracks were excellent live by the three piece.
The second half was the Dark Third (Euro version?) which is far more guitar based. Great to hear that live.
So yep, enjoyable gig, glad I went. Musically very good and great to hear them live, finally. Also good collection of hip young things, is prog cool?

that's from The Dark Third
and now one of my favourites from Hammer and Anvil

Dimmu Borgir
Shouldn't be a surprise that I went. Although did knock me a bit, two late nights! However this was an evening with Dimmu Borgir, so a 2 hour gig, with a complete performance of Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. Very early album from 1997, and not one of my favourites.
I prefer the newer stuff, but still good album. Nice to hear effectively old school Norwegian black metal.
There was enough of the newer stuff in the second half which was good. Excellent crowd in, as I've mentioned before, I like metal crowds - there for the music, not to be seen. And oddly, some hot babes, not many tho.
I've linked to this before, but it is everything I like about the band.

DANFest (progfest)
Hey a progfest in Leicester, I kinda had to wander along.
The Moscow Riley, not really prog. More an odd combo of Nirvana and Sabbath. Did not grab me.
Grey Lady Down, I remember these guys getting wraps many years ago on mailing lists. Then they disappeared. Apparently they've come back. Very 80s neo-prog, but the new stuff (they're working on a new album) is heavier, although as they admitted at the gig, needs polishing. I enjoyed them. May keep an ear out for the new album.
Guy Manning: I keep getting suggestions to listen to him. And I'd heard a couple of tracks on an old compilation album from a mailing list. This was an acoustic gig, and TBH was a bit dull. His music was folk-prog, and at least one of the backing singers annoyed me. At times he reminded me of Jethro Tull and Willard Grant Conspiracy. But not as good as either. I've been spinning some tracks from his website, and they aren't too bad. A bit of Fairport there too.

And that was halftime, I wandered to a cafe read the paper, and promptly smacked my hand while doing up my bag. That hurt quite a bit.

Alan Reed he of ex-Pallas. He's now recording an new album, his voice is incredibly strong. The new stuff sounds good, there's an acoustic EP available while he's working on the album. Really enjoyed the new stuff, and his version of Who's to blame? was excellent, and his guitar playing is very good.

Paul Menel knew I recognised the name, the ex-IQ singer. Fantastic live performer, charismatic, energetic, good material. Not very prog, outside of the IQ track, far more rock. Hugely fun live band, definitely recommend seeing them.

Sadly at this point my thumb got too much so I came home, missing IO Earth (who I saw at SummersEnd and was bored by) and The Tangent, who I really wanted to see. but with the gigs running late, i probably would only have had 30 mins of the Tangent before running off for a train.

B

Cooking with Bruce : Curries with B

2011-11-27T18:02:00.001Z

Been awhile since I blogged, but that's about to change, music, injuries, trips, food. Or rather, that's the intention.
Anyway, tonights dinner:

Carrot, lentils, spinach daal
1x tin of lentils (cos I can't be arsed soaking and cooking for hours)
1x chopped carrot
1c chopped spinach (I used frozen)
1t hot chilli
3cm grated fresh ginger
2t coriander powder
3 cloves garlic
0.5t cinnamon (in retrospect, I'd leave this out)
1t cardamon powder
half a tin of tomatos
--
50ml cream

Mix all in a sauce, except cream, in a saucepan and cook gently until the carrot is soft. Add cream, simmer for 5min.

Tandoori mushrooms
Remove stems from mushrooms, grind a little salt and lemon juice. leave.

Stuffing
vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1cm grated ginger
1t tumeric
0.5t chilli
half tin of tomatos

Heat oil, gently cook onion until soft, then add ginger, tumeric and chilli. Mix, then add tomato. Divide filling between mushrooms.

Marinade
3T yoghurt
1 clove garlic, chopped
1cm grated ginger
0.5t paprika
1t coriander powder
1t garam masala

mix, then pour over mushrooms. bake at 180C for 8-10 minutes.

Serve on rice.

Scrotum!

2011-11-12T10:23:00.001Z

Yes really, a woman has been given a suspended jail sentence for biting a hole in her boyfriends scrotum, after a bit of a session.

Judge's summary: "This relationship is over, I think both of you accept that."

me

PC9 Whisky

2011-11-10T19:45:00.001Z

Bruichladdich make Port Charlotte as their big cask strength monster. It's been brilliant over the years, watching it mature - I've had the PC 6,7,8 and now 9.
Apparently they weren't going to bottle a 9, and instead wait for the 10yo expression. On the strength of the PC9, I'm glad they did bottle. It's a wee bit special. I've dug up reviews for the PC8 and PC7 and can't find one of the 6.

n: salt, medicinal, phenol, washing house soap

p: salty, raisins, warming, chocolate,

f: long, complex, warming, salty sultanas.

add water

n: more smoky, sweeter, phenol dominating, hint of oak barrels?

p: more spiky and prickly, sweeter, but loses chic

f: more pepper than neat

this is something special. my notes may not do it justice, but this is a superb whisky. complex, interesting, weird things happening.

for those of you after an investment, the older expressions are worth a bit now - so may be worth picking up two bottles.

All of the others I've tasted had ratings around 9, which seems about right for this baby. Oh yeah LFW link.

must be time for a cooking with bruce blog...

Movies for Halloween

2011-10-30T16:11:00.001Z

We've decided to go for cheesy pulp comedy. Or classy bgrade coolness, depending on perspective.

Therefore the line-up will be selected from:
Army of Darkness
My Name is Bruce
which, as a double-feature, works nicely

and bonus cheese brilliant of Van Helsing (which was superb at the Embassy theatre).

BOO!

A day to myself, and technology

2011-10-29T16:04:00.004+01:00

So, I've got the day and house to myself. What to do? Movies, coffee, music, and beer. Simple.

Movie watch (so far): My Little Eye (alright thriller); Badlands (really enjoyed this)
Music (so far): Opeth-Heritage; Dream Theater-A Dramatic Turn of Events

Both albums were loud, as they're supposed to be. And were used as a backdrop to my cooking of some piccalilli. Yes, that's the kind of radical behaviour I get up to when left alone. The house smells of white wine vinegar, mustard and ginger. Works for me. And co-incidently goes well with the Crabbies Black Ginger Beer (6%, aged, and includes other spices - very very tasty - tho not as quaffable as their standard).

I've got left-overs from last night for tea, as I can't be bothered moving.

Technology
usually it pisses me off, but in this case - win. I've got a ReadyNAS duo where I store all my music and stuff that's not in the google cloud. It has 2x1.5TG drives in there, set up for full redundancy, so if one fails, everything is backup on drive2. Mainly as I don't think it would be good for my sanity to lose my music collection...sure I could import it from CD again, but the purchased mp3s and vinyl<->mp3 conversions, not quite so easy to replace.

Anyway, I recently upgraded to the new firmware and noticed it supported MacOS Time Machine backup. I thought, that's kinda useful. And didn't do anything about it. Last week I enabled it, set aside 300GB of NAS space for it (to back up both Mac's, it's done on MAC address, so both machines can share that 300GB), and kicked things off. It's much slower than my firewire800 external drive - taking many hours to do the initial 65GB backup. I'd configured it to not backup the dropbox directory, and may yet remove the Applications directory. But once it had done the first backup, it's been very quick, and runs happily in the background every few hours.
this means at some point soon, I'll have a few external harddrives to dispose of (2x 250gb USB, a 1TB internal loose, and a 750GB firewire800) which will be nice to tidy the electronics up a bit.
Here's the info from ReadyNas.

Right, onto the next movie and some beer. Piccalilli is now bottled.

B

The Trews

2011-10-28T09:25:00.001+01:00

Wandered to a gig last night, a Canadian band called 'The Trews'. I hadn't heard anything by them, but the ad had name-checked the Tragically Hip. I figured that was simply a desperate ploy to find a Canuck band someone had heard of.
But no, the Hip influences were quite definitely there, slightly more punky (?spikey) and heavier in places, so more the missing link between the Tragically Hip and the late Tea Party. Apparently they are quite big in Canada.
Great stuff, very small crowd which was unfortunate, but excellent show. It's great when you randomly turn up to a gig, with no expectations, and come away buying CDs. 8 quid well spent!

Here's a couple of vids, but I'd definitely recommend checking them out. UK tour schedule here

B

Whisky show 4 : the final slide into depravity

2011-10-20T20:28:00.000+01:00

Our heroes had been left enjoying an unknown blend. The vertical compass sliding, hours ticking by, the water bottle rapidly emptying. Had we thought of it, songs would have been sung; sea shanty's, obscure prog, ditties concerning ladies from tipperary (or this from Alec), strangers hugged. Instead, we found....

Benriach Pedro Ximinez 58.3%
Apparently I liked this, it got two ticks.
Yes, that's the end of the review.

Benriach 1972 40yo
Tasting notes appear to have gone out the window by this point, but:
Very sweet, vanilla and white chocolate, pineapple.
This was whole new levels of perfection. Someone should buy me a bottle. Please.

LFW Link

Old Malt Cask Clyneish
Having graced as many stands with our presence as we felt deserved us, we went back to some of our favourites.
Vanilla, white choc, pineapple, very prickly on tongue.
Clyneish seem to consistently disappoint. Located across the road from the old Brora (*swoon*) distillery, they've singuarly managed to miss the greatness of Brora. Oh well, maybe with time...
LFW Link

Glenglassaugh 43yo
Nose: lime, parmesan, pineapple, kiwifruit
Palate: spikey, sweet, butterscotch
Finish: long, pineapple
I have a comment from Alec, which if I take the letters individually, looks like: Surhi. I don't know either.
9/10. Probably 10/10.

Glenglassaugh 45%
Nose: sweet smoke, salmon
rating: 10/10 (me); 9/10 (Alec)

Longrow - Oloroso sherry 14yo
Tomatin 15yo
Tomatin - Decades
Tomatin 1973 (not as good as I hoped)

LFW Link

We left then, before we were thrown out. There is discussion ongoing as to whether we had a coffee from Monmouth. I say we did. But no evidence to support this. Train ride home was quiet. A lesson from Alec, do not buy a large packet of crisps.

A brilliant day, and although crashing out when I got home, I felt good the next morning when I got up at 630 for rugby, and then Freshers Fair. See, I told you it was responsible drinking.

B

Whisky Show Pt III

2011-10-19T15:46:00.001+01:00

Last time we heard from our still standing heroes, they'd run off for a spot of luncheon. With water. Coffee was looked for, but discovered to be of the instant variety. We passed on this and sauntered back to the battle zone.
Before heading to the battle proper, we stopped off at the whisky and food matching session. These were very small drams, but with food. No reviews, but I've tried to list what they were with.

Cragganmore 12yo can't remember what this was with
Caol Ila 12yo with cheese (either cheddar or blue, notes just say cheese)
Dalmore 15yo with olives. This worked very very well. My extensive notes say 'lots yum'
Jura Prophecy not a huge fan of Jura, but this with dark chocolate worked well

And so, further fortified we found a new stand to lean on...

Balvenie 15yo #908 single cask
Nose: vanilla, fruit, honey, salt
Palate: pear, fruit, honey
Finiah: medium, fruity, sweet
7.5/10 hmm, notes appear a little more legible, although some of it looks more like 'rubbed fish'

Balvenie Port Finish 21yo 40%
Nose: rich, complex, burnt sugar
Palate: port, burnt sugar, complex
Finish: medium, peated, prickly which changes to mellow
8/10

Balvenie Peated 17yo
Nose: light, salt
Palate: smokey
Finish: medium
6/10 didn't work for me

About this point we had a longer talk to a German we'd met on quite a few stands and he suggested we head to a whisky fair in Limburg, Germany. My notes were good enough to work this out. Brilliant.

Kilchoman 5yo 60%
Kilchoman promised a lot, and then bottled their 3yo at 43% and kinda ruined it. So I was interested in trying the 5yo at cask...
Nose: very peaty, salt, burn
Palate: peat, smoke, phenol
Finish: long, massive
9/10 This is what I wanted. Ok, so there's no tact or subtlety, but then again sometimes you just want a big fuck off Islay. This qualifies.

Benromach 2001 Cask
Nose: oil, salt, Islay +H20 - increases floral notes
Palate: peat - warm, floral
Finish: medium - medium
No rating on this one! LFW link

Longmorn 30yo Gordon and MacPhail
Nose: apple, demerra sugar, rich
Palate: long toffee, apple, sweet, syrupy mouth feel
Finish: medium-long
9/10 I don't think I want to know how much this one cost. But I do like Longmorn.

Strathisla 1963 43% Gordon and MacPhail
Nose: apples, pears
Palate: pears, brilliant, cream
Finish: medium, sweetness, ?fudge?
9/10 Very good chance these two are in fact 10s, if we'd had them on a clean palate.

Another whisky tasting we got told about, George Hill Whisky Tasting at the Loughborough Town Hall. Damn my notes are working their cute little ass magic.

Glen Grant 25yo Gordon and MacPhail
Not sure which one it was tho (G and M have a lot of their website)
Nose: Green apples
Palate: smooth, apples, fruit, tasty
Finish: medium, very nice, spicy fruit

Caol Ila - 1997 - Private Collection G/M
Nose: sweet, smokey Ila !!
Palate: fruit, smokey
Finish: med-long
8/10

I think it's fair to say things had degenerated by this point. But notes continue...

Glengoyne 1972
Nose: fudge, apples
Palate: fruity, rhubarb (maybe?!!)
Finish: sweet, rhubarb custard
8-9/10

Glengoyne 21yo
Nose: yummy!!! fudge, sweet, complex, pears {maybe}
Palate: sherry, complex sex!, pears, sweet
Finish: long, yummy
8-9/10
LFW Link

Great Cop???? B??? [I'm pretty sure this was a blend, and I have no f'ing clue what it was called...]
Nose: very ???, grass
Palate: fruity, unbalanced
Finish:

It's fair to say, looking at the last couple of pages of notes, things do not improve significantly. But for some of the better drams we threw back a lot of water, just so you lot can be wowed by our ability.
Vertical update: still standing.
Glass update: some acquired

And so, for another break we leave our heroes, both trying hard to focus and find somewhere they hadn't been before. And to avoid crap blends. But never fear, BenRiach beckons in Part 4 in Sphen's Glorious World of Whisky.

B

Whisky Show Pt II

2011-10-19T14:50:00.000+01:00

In the continuing story of a cabal whose liver has gone to the dogs...

Glenlossie 1975 49.7% from BBR
Nose: green apples, perfume
Palate: tang, sherry, apples
Finish: medium, tasty
7/10
Like this a lot, but can't find it on their website, damnit.

One of our finds last year was Berry Bros. and Rudd, and their superb selection of whiskies. And so we found their table again, found the same guy we spoke to last year, and let him lead us astray. *Result*

Bunnahabhain 1979 32yo 54.7% BBR
Nose: light, delicate
Palate: massive, rich, sherry, full, utterly unlike the nose!
Finish: fantastic, meaty, full, long
9/10
Appears I liked this one, a lot. Shame I can't find it on their website. Grumble. Again.

Glenrothes 1995
Nose: coffee, chocolate
Palate: mocha, sweet, butterscotch, round [is round a real description? meh...]
Finish: medium-long
8/10
I got hooked on Glenrothes when I picked up a bottle duty free, quite cheap (£30) and was blown away by it, as were my usual whisky partners in crime. Although the cabal missed out. Poor cabal. Since then we've had more of them, including some SMWS, all of which were uniformly great and interesting.

Glenrothes 1988
Nose: sweet, light, sherry
Palate: chewy, sherry, candied citrus
Finish: long, sherry, massive
8/10
I want some. I really really want some.

Glenrothes John Ramsey
Nose: floral, xmas cake
Palate: sherry, xmas cake, chewy, smokey
Finish: medium, sherry
9/10 a beautifully balanced whisky

You can buy Glenrothes from BBR, or LFW. I think it's fair to say, you won't regret it.

GlenGarioch Founders Reserve
Nose: toffee, old socks (and not in a good way)
Palate: very bourbon, strong
Finish: short
5/10
Did not like this. Won't offer a purchase link, because I care.

GlenGarioch 12yo
Nose: complex, bourbon, grass
Palate: light
Finish: short-medium
4-5/10
Again, avoid.

Old Pulteney 17yo
We escaped GlenGarioch to the Old Pulteney stand and asked to be saved as we were feeling unhappy from our recent tasting experience. thankfully the nice man took us under his wing...
Nose: chardonnay oak, green apples
Palate: tasty, peppery [I think it's fair to say by this point notes are arbitrary...]
Finish: medium [aside from arbitrary, they are also lacking in details]
7/10
I'm beginning to get over my aversion to OP, having had some quite nice ones recently.

Balblair 1987 or 1977 51.4%
There is some ambiguity as to which vintage this actually was. Apparently this was around £150.
Nose: pineapple, apple toffee, [and another word which looks like mayo...]
Palate: balanced, fruity, rich
Finish: medium, not hugely interesting
7.5/10
(Balblair was on the same stand as the OP)

Old Pulteney 23yo
Nose: Green apples
Nose: fiery, prickly pears,
Finish: short, tangy, prickly [may have needed water, a concept that didn't occur to us]
7.5-8/10
I think I'll be hunting down more OP. Cabal...go forth and, err, acquire !
LFW OP Link
LFW Balblair Link

We headed off to find some food at this point, although in our usual style we got sidetracked by the SMWS stand.
35.39 Arabian Nights 31yo 40.9%
Nose: old socks (but good), rhubard custard sweets (I think Alec may have contributed that one...)
Palate: spiky but boring
Finish: medium-short
6/10 too rough
And an epic fail for SMWS. I'm prepared to concede it may not have been SMWS's fault, it may have been us.

We will leave our intrepid journeys (pt2) for a time, while the victims go forth and enjoy some food. And a lot of water.

B.

and in other news, battle metal

2011-10-19T08:26:00.000+01:00

After a ridiculously hot week, the English weather has crashed back into the more expected damp and cold early winter. Cold enough that I've dug out the polypro's and a jacket. That being said, even at high speed on the bike this morning I was still warm, so it may have been overkill.
Currently in denial over a cold, I blame freshers flu. But it's more annoying than debilitating (again, I have crap man-flu), and it's not like I can get any more grumpy at work.

Wandered down to London last week to meet up with Mr S for our yearly dose of battle/folk metal. A mini-fest called Heidenfest, with 6 bands on the card.
First up were Skalmold, an Icelandic bunch of crazed viking metal. Great stuff and great start to the evening. In keeping with battle/folk/viking metal, all very tongue in cheek and OTT. It's a bit hard to describe them, so instead have a 10min video....

Is it just me or is Icelandic quite amusing to listen to? Although the song itself is ace.

Next up were Trollfest who are, apparently, some form of super group for folk/black metal.
Again more fun than a packet full of wobbly jelly. Great stage presence - if you flick through their website, you'll find their singer wearing t-shirt with "fat people are hard to kidnap", which seems to sum up their approach to music.
Oh and big win for Trollfest? Use of particularly non-metal instruments, such as accordions. The world of metal needs more accordions, oh and balilika's, which they also seemed to have.

Here's a video, ostensibly about the making of the new album, but realistically it's a homage to drinking. A lot. Whisky, jagameister, beer ... and heartfelt sentiments such as "if Jesus comes back, we'll kill him again"

SAdly band 3 weren't able to attend, a Russian group called Arkona, who were stuck in France for some reason.
And so to Band 4, Alestorm. We'd seen these guys before supporting Sabaton. Scottish Pirate Metal. Three words that work really well. No really. Lots of pirate shirts and blow up cutlasses present in the audience - always good to see. As expected, they put on a great show. More rum and beer. In fact i like them so much, you're getting two videos.
Mainly as the second one uses a keytar. And much like accordions, metal needs more keytars. Mmm KeyTar.

Finntroll were up next, and with that kind of name, we had high hopes. Sadly the band appeared to take themselves seriously, and we weren't too hooked on them. Oh well. One duffer out of 5 wasn't too bad.
Actually this song seems ok, wonder why we didn't like them. They did, from memory have a banjo which was a good sign...

And finally, the mighty Turisas which Mr S had dragged me to last year. Great stuff. Lots of make-ups bags in the mens toilet by this point, all red and black, in preparation for Turisas. They are a great live band, their leadsinger has brilliant stage presence, and they are the kings of battle metal. Indeed their main song is: Battle Metal. As headliners, I'm giving you two tracks:

Fans were fantastic, lots of dressing up, and lots of chicks. Ahhh metal gigs - if more people made the effort they'd see how much more fun metal is than any other genre. Even black metal (Dimmu Borgir) was a really good atmosphere.

Shortly I'll be heading back to whisky reviews. But I thought a music interlude would be appropriate.

B

Whisky Show 2011 Part 1

2011-10-17T15:18:00.000+01:00

We enjoyed last years Whisky Show so much that it really was a no-brainer to attend this years. The big win we noticed last year was the limited number of tickets available meant it wasn't packed, indeed it was quite comfortable moving around the stands. And the food they provided was good.

This year, due to a falling out (?) between the organisers, the venue had changed to Vinopolis, which also hosts Whisky Exchange in London. This is next to the Borough Market, so gave us an opportunity to wander around it. Sadly I couldn't get any Monmouth Coffee as the queue was rather long. But the cafe down the road is also very good, and not nearly as packed.

Reviews will start out with some detail, and, as expected, begin to decrease in both detail and in the original, legibility. But somehow I'll cope. This may stretch to more than one post, it was that sort of day.
We definitely noticed the absence of Islay whiskies, the independent bottlers had some, but the majors (Bruichladdich, Caol Ila, Lagavulin etc) were absent. Ardbeg were present, sort-of, consisting of hot chicks pushing a very large bottle around and offering nips (of whisky). Which we turned down. In keeping with last year, we aimed to acquire 1 or 2 glasses to share with the cabal. This was successful, and so a career in espionage beckons.
I suspect this blog may break the record for most links I've done in a post...and where possible, I've linked to Loch Fyne Whiskys for purchasing.

Btw: this will read as a large number of drams, but bear in mind each isn't a full measure, most are not even half measure.

Adelphi - Linkwood 26yo 53.2%
I like Adelphi as an independent bottler, and I love Linkwood for the big sherry complexity. So this seemed an ideal opening dram.
Nose: sherry, raisins
Palate: sherry, raisins, xmas cake, massive
Finish: medium-long, raisins, very very tasty

This is their new 26yo Linkwood, and on tasting, it's a winner. 8/10

Tomintoul 16yo
Nose: floral, light
Palate: chewy, hint citrus?, fresh, raisins - hint of
Finish: short, but very nice

7/10. I liked this, very delicate whisky, but well balanced. LFW link

Tomintoul 14yo unchill filtered
Nose: light, floral, citrus, fennel !
Palate: very light
Finish: hint of pepper
6/10
didn't like this one as much as the 16yo, LFW link

Glencadam 12yo 46% Portwood finish
Nose: light port
Palate: very sweet
Finish: peppery, medium length
lovely balanced whisky, delivered far more than I thought it would. 7/10

Glencadam 14yo Oloroso finish
Nose: tasteless -ish
Palate: bland
Finish: short, maybe pepper?
Didn't think much of this one 5/10

LFW link for Glencadam

Old Malt Cask - Little Mill 19yo 50%
Old Malt Cask are a wonderfully diverse independent bottler. I've had a number of theirs, including a sublime Port Ellen 26yo. Little Mill were a lowland distillery, until they closed a number of years ago. Lowland drams get a bad rep, admittedly a large part of the rep is deserved. But after trying a SMWS little mill some time ago, I've become more interested in them.
Nose: grass, citrus
Palate: tasty, warm, honey sweet, cloves
Finish: medium, sweet

8/10
I enjoyed this, it's about £50 from memory, and probably worth it. Interesting, complex, and unexpectedly tasty.

Clan Denny Port Dundas 33yo 54.2% grain

Nose: port, mocha, coffee, shoe polish
Palate: vanilla, bitter, creamy
Finish: coffee, med-long
7.5/10
Ok, we were surprised by this. The OMC guy said we should try it, as it was 33yo old, and a grain whisky, so something different. That worked for us. It's around £75, but for a 33yo whisky, that ain't too bad. And tastewise, it's a surprise and very good. Worth a punt.

Tobermory 15yo (note no website yet)
Nose: sweet, odd
Palate: smoky, sherry sweet, 'hairy' [at least I think that's what it reads] EDIT: feedback from the PsychoChicken suggests this could be 'fudge' which does make some sense.
Finish: very short, pepper, salt
6/10
Nothing special, although better than I remembered, so I may track down other Tobermory's to try.
LFW link

Glenglassaugh 26yo 46%
This was our find of 2010, and so a visit to their stand seemed entirely reasonable. I was hoping they'd have their brand new whisky to try, but sadly no. And at £100 a bottle for a 3yo, I don't think I'll be getting any. In their defence, they are only bottling one cask to celebrate their coming of age.

Nose: sherry, grass, huge
Palate: big, full, tangy, pepper, cloves, lovely
Finihs: medium-long, sherry, wood, warm
7.5/10
I like this whisky a lot, although if I had the money I'd go for their older ones - which are divine.

LFW link

And that, I think, will do for Part 1 of our tasting.

B

Photos, film, and their death

2011-10-14T15:43:00.001+01:00

There's been a lot of coverage in the press here about the forthcoming death of film. This has, in particular been prompted by the latest exhibition at the Tate Modern main hall where Tacita Dean has an exhibition shot on 35mm film.
Sort of a last homage to physical film.
Dean even ran into problems getting the film cut properly, as the Dutch lab being used to process the film couldn't manage it - and another specialist had to be called in.
Article on this.

It is an area I've got a bit of experience in. And generally, I'm fine with film dying. When I was taking pictures of chromosomes, the quality of digital photographs wasn't good enough - and the heath robinson approach to attaching a camera to a microscope didn't help. For that reason I took most of my early-mid period chromosome pictures using B/W film. That also meant I could develop each negative to focus on specific aspects of the picture.
After developing the negative, I'd scan it in at 1500dpi and work in photoshop to karyotype or whatever. This did seem to be duplication of work, but the system worked ok for me.

As digital cameras, and attachments for microscopes, improved, I switched to taking the pictures on an 8-10MP camera which seemed to do the job to a reasonable standard.

So from that perspective I can completely understand why film would die. Sure it's sad, but in terms of resolution, cost, speed etc surely digital wins out.

The downside is storage. As it is with most digital formats. Film, although it degrades and gets scratches etc exists for a long time, in the same format (however format shifting film could be a great b-grade movie). Digital however, can be saved in a multitude of formats, and there's no standard on how to change the format as they change. For example, I've got very old images stored as JPG, which although readable, are of poor quality compared to my more recent hi-res TIFF, but what happens if I'd left this on floppy disk, or other pointless media? Could I still read them? Most of mine are on DVD or sitting on the server. But at some point I'm confident they'll reach a stage where I can no longer read them.

Blogs will soon follow concerning my bike ride (promise!) and our whisky show, which involved um extensive tasting. Brilliant!

me

Gigs and stuff

2011-10-02T18:59:00.001+01:00

It's currently hell at work, freshers have arrived and there are too many I have to deal with. Sigh. Dead giveaways to their arrival: discarded items of clothing including mismatched socks, underwear; empty 2L bottles of stonebow; and piles of carrot containing 'stuff'.

Loving the walk in.

Gigs: we headed up to Derby to see Denys Baptiste the other week. Having been told to listen to his album, Let Freedom Ring, by the PsychoChicken, I'd been hooked for sometime. So with him playing a few minutes up the road, seemed churlish not to go. I dragged S along, figuring he's pretty approachable jazz. Finding food in Derby city centre wasn't too good, but I've got tips from a local for the next visit. Didn't help that the pub we liked, the Brewery Tap, was full - hence the wander around the centre. It seems dead after 6pm on a Friday.
Gig was great. Hard to describe him, but let's given it a bash: elements of be-bop, calypso, african. I think using 1950s/60s jazz (US) and 60s (UK) maybe a good place to start? Meh, it's not a genre I'm that good with. I picked a fair amount of Coltrane (understandable), and possibly some Brubeck and JJ Johnson/K Winding. Was that just me? who knows!

Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed it and finally picked up Let Freedom Ring and his new album, Identity by Subtraction. I'm enjoying the new one, but will give it a few weeks or so to sink through.

Went to a beerfest on the Saturday down at the Great Central Railway which was brilliant. About 40 ales, and half a dozen ciders/perrys. Really lovely venue, and great vibe - definitely going back next year. And for 2 quid keeping the glass seemed a win too. I now have two pint glasses. I may have some photos at some point. Possibly not. Cant remember if I took any :)

Decided to not go to the Unthanks on the Sunday as was feeling a little tired.

But went to a country/folk gig on the Wednesday in Leicester, Slaid Cleaves. It's fair to say that Cleaves is not from the Dolly Parton country pop school. If there's not at least one death, it's just not worth singing.
I'd heard a couple of tracks, but nothing really. Basically he sounded kinda interesting, and with a name like that, I couldn't not go.
He was great. Really engaging between songs, and excellent song writing. Funny and more than happy to sign stuff and chat to the fans. Another intimate gig at the Musician, seated, loved it.
I picked up his new 2CD live album, which from the track listing seems a good reflection of what I heard. Also comes with two beer coasters. Almost reason enough..
Lyrically, driven by characters, so very personal lyrics, and very emotional in places. To the point where he had the audience eating out of his hand. Not sure how many of them had heard him before (I hadn't) but there were a lot of CDs flying off his stall.

and a song written about his now drowned village

Love, B

Whisky Cabal Meeting 5

2011-09-28T15:06:00.000+01:00

Assembling the cabal for another foray into the whisky world proved quite easy, it's Freshers week and we decided drink was the best way to cope.

We adopted a highly technical approach to tasting, left to right. Although in the spirit of reasonableness, we did edit that slightly to put the lower percentage drams first.
As usual, all links go to our favourite whisky retailer, Loch Fyne Whisky.

Glendronach Revival 15yo 46% Oloroso cask
Nose: sultanas, raisins, treacle, toffee, old leather, sweet
Palate: sticky toffee, fudge, sultanas, sweet, honey, brandy (but good)
Finish: warm, long, subtle, fireside dram

8/10. We loved this, and were pathetically grateful that it's owner had managed to save some for the cabal. Basically, you cannot go wrong for £40 with this one.

Glen Moray 16yo 40%
Nose: Fragrant, caramalised sugar, sweet, root ginger, marshmallows,
Palate: weak, sweet, hint of christmas cake, warm
Finish: citrus, oak, short

6/10
Regular readers will know we're fans of Glen Moray, but sadly this one is a good 'diet whisky' (not my description, but wholeheartedly endorsed by all of us). Light, very quaffable, and probably ideal on brekkie cereal.

Scapa 43% dist 2000, b 2011.
Nose: parmesan cheese, sweaty sock, salt, sweet, vanilla, light
Palate: drinkable, salt, seaweed, sweet pancake
Finish: medium, warm
6/10
Generally I like Scapa, and this was very quaffable. Indeed, it was labelled as such by the group.

Oban 14yo 43%
Nose: battenburg cake, sweet, honey
Palate: sweet, salty
Finish: tangy, short
7/10
Oban is good stuff, but difficult to get. The group said this was very drinkable, but not before 11am. So more a followup whisky to numbers 2 and 3. If you see this in a pub, get it. In fact we are thinking of creating a guide to whisky in pubs.

Glenrothes 1994 46% Signatory bottling
Nose: cut grass, ozone, sweet, light malted, teacakes
Palate: sweet, smokey,
Finish: salt, med-long, sweet honey, pepper
7.5/10
We like this, and at less than £35, you will too. I'm getting very addicted to Glenrothes, and this signatory bottling is brilliant value for money and taste.

SMWS "A tropical rainforest"35.43 1/229 bottles, 20yo, ex-bourbon, 1st fill barrell
Nose: cut grass, burnt sugar, bourbon, sweet smell
Palate: green banans [and some other word I can't read]
Finish: fish, more spikey with additional water, complex
7.5/10
Another Glen Moray, as we are making a habit of collecting them. More is less in our world. Very drinkable, although seemed more 'fighty' than you'd expect from a 20yo.

SMWS "Complex and joyous" 35.32 1/183 bottles, 34yo, refill hogshead, ex bourbon, 55.1%
Nose: god, LHC, higgs boson, smooth, complex, Prof Cox, chocolate
Palate: sweet, complex, christmas cake, salt, raisins, smooth, chocolate
Finish: huge, long, mohaaassiive, honey,
10/10 (Alec: 9.9/10)
This was a retaste to confirm our only 10. It's definitely a 10. Except for Alec, who refuses on principle to give one. So he gets his own special rating.
It is a perfect whisky. Everything works, but then at the price it is, and it's rarity, you'd bloody well hope it was good. Oh yeah, another Glen Moray.

SMWS "An Artists Retreat" 4.131 1/542 bottles, 60%, 20yo, 1st fill sherry butt
Nose: Clears the tubes, sherry, salt, peat, honey, sweet
Palate: Salt, sweet, chocolate, big flavour
Finish: medium-short, sweet, more peppery with additional water
9/10
Another retaste as we wanted to balance it against 35.32. It isn't as good, but it is bloody drinkable. This is a Highland Park whisky, I'm still in two minds over HP but hey when it's in front of me...

Another excellent tasting. Definite quality drams there. Our cunning idea to start a pub drams review section deserves further discussion. And at some stage I'll collate what we've already had, and we can work from there...

Slainte!
B

hear me roar!

2011-09-06T14:53:00.002+01:00

I'll put some stuff up soon about my attempts to permanently damage myself biking. But today has been a day of manly things.

S had managed to lose the nut that held her pedal onto her bike. Her bike is stupidly put together and I couldn't attach the nut without a ratchet/socket thingy. So I now own one. A big step in my testosterone stimulation. It's got lots of sockety bits, and a couple of extendery bits, all in an ugly black plastic container. Brilliant.

Oh and I even fixed the bike.

I came away thinking I'd earned a beer. Couldn't find one, ended up with a hibiscus tea instead.

Oh well, small steps.

B

The Book of Job

2011-08-28T11:30:00.000+01:00

Time for something different

2011-08-22T19:44:00.000+01:00

I need a holiday. Mainly for sanity reasons before anger spills out onto people who probably deserve it. So for something different, I've decided to go on a bike ride for a week.
I'm not convinced this is a good idea, well OK in theory it's a great idea, but I have the feeling I'm going to come back highly damaged.

The plan, such as it is, is to bike from Derby up to Sheffield, with a number of side trips so I'm guessing it'll be 100+ miles, over 4-5 days. This is well beyond anything I've done before. If I'm being honest, I'm kinda worried at how my knees will stand up.

But on the plus side, there's a number of breweries and decent ale pubs that just co-incidently line my (vaguely) proposed route. Brilliant.
I'd like to thank Garry and CAMRA for their assistance in this. Since I'll have the evenings to recover in, I may even write up notes and photos and stuff as I imagine there will be internet webz around the place. Oh hang on, I won't have a laptop, ok you'll have to wait.

So any bikers out there? any recommendations for things I should take? Currently my repair kit consists of: spare inner, puncture repair kit, adjustable spanner, screwdriver, hex (allen) key. Oh and a knee brace :)

B

Cooking with Bruce: Sushi salad

2011-08-18T17:39:00.000+01:00

Origins of this one are, again, vague. But it works really well.

Mix: 2T rice vinegar, 3t caster sugar, 1/4t salt until dissolved, then leave.

Rinse 1c rice a few times (until clear) then leave damp for 30mins or so to soften the rice, although you can ignore this step and just cook the bugger if you're in a hurry.

Heat oven to 200C.
Mix: 4T miso paste (or sesame and oyster sauce, which works just as well), 2T sugar, 2T mirin, 1T peanut oil.
Chop: 250gm tofu/quorn; 2c pumpkin chopped 1-2cm squares; 1c courgette chopped 2cm; 2c mushrooms roughly chopped.
Mix the sauce through the chopped veges, then place in a roasting pan and roast for 20-25 minutes.

Place rice in saucepan, add 1.25c of water, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 mins. Remove from heat (leave lid on). Add the rice vinegar mix. combine with the roast veges.

Serve with some pickled ginger, chopped spring onions and sesame seeds scattered over the top - with soy sauce and wasabi paste. Works well cold too.

Love, B

Self-harm, it appears I'm good at it

2011-08-08T13:48:00.000+01:00

I don't mean in a Richie Edwards kinda way, but this weekend has demonstrated I've got what it takes.

Initially I focussed on my fingers, so peripheral damage. I set out with good intentions to make a nice brekkie, using very tasty sourdough I'd had delivered the night before. The problem came when I started cutting the bread, that breadknife is possessed. It's bitten me before, and by the time I'd finished chopping, I had another two plasters on my fingers.
I'm not a quitter, and so when slicing the bagels for Sun brunch, I did the same. My fingers by this point resembled a cloth covered, blood stained, demon hand.

Saturday saw us head into town, and I wandered off to find some 8mm hex keys (allen keys), so I could dismantle parts of my bike. This proved difficult, Homebase had up to 6mm (which I had too), BnQ had 6mm, but suggest ScrewFit who had what I needed. That wander had taken around 80-90 minutes, and then I meandered home, another 90 mins as I was, by this point, down the far end of the industrial estate. My knee for some reason took this all very personally and got grumpy. I ignored this.

Fixed my bike, replaced the back tyre, so it no longer skids around corners as it was missing tread, replaced the inner tube (as I'd patched it a number of times already), and repaired the front brakes. So obviously I'd be going out riding on Sunday. All went well for the first 10miles, then on the way back the knee decided it really hated me. Especially on the hills I'd found. Yes hills, in Leicestershire. Not big ones, but enough that I was feeling them.

And that's why I spent the rest of the day lying on the couch looking grumpy. I'm in the usual denial mood, and will be walking home this evening, as there is nothing wrong with me.

Nothing.

Ow. I really shouldn't have stamped my foot then.

I did discover the village of East Leake is quite picturesque (in places) and found some orchards that sell to the public, so I sense a return trip shortly. I'm also thinking very seriously about a 5 day bike holiday in the UK somewhere, I desperately need a break from work before I start screaming, so figure a few days hard exercise maybe a good plan.

B.

Gardening update

2011-07-26T12:44:00.000+01:00

The dedicated fanbase out there will recall my replanting of a herb garden a couple of months ago. I did promise some updates, and promptly forgot. So...

Parsley
1st batch: died
2nd batch: dying
Seeds: died

Coriander
1st batch: died
Seeds: died
Seeds 2: sprouting

Basil
1st batch: died
2nd batch: hanging on, but probably terminal
Seeds: died
Seeds 2: sprouting

The trays have been moved downstairs, avoiding the direct sunlight, so we'll see how that goes. Of course this means, if they do grow, I have to move further to get the herbs. Meh.

B

David Cameron, Britain's greatest politician?

2011-07-17T14:51:00.000+01:00

These thoughts have been bubbling around for a couple of weeks now. However the current Murdoch phone hacking drama has thrown them some focus. Although I dare say I'll break that by the end ...

For anyone living in a box, Murdoch, or more accurately his organisation, News International (NI), have been hacking phones. The Guardian has been prattling on about this for at least two years now, with varying degrees of buy-in from the authorities, and other news businesses. A lot of it was dismissed as harassment by NI and the police.
Vindication has come in the last fortnight when it was revealed the News of the World (UK tabloid, owned by NI) had hacked phones of: celebrities (meh); families of 9/11 victims; politicians; and the clincher, the phone of Milly Dowler who was murdered a few years ago - what got the public's attention was the NotW deleted off messages as her mailbox was full. Thereby giving her parents hope she was still alive. Ahhh all class. Finally the other non-Murdoch papers have caught on, and the politicians decided that public opinion was strong enough to challenge Murdoch.
that last point is important, as the political class in the UK were in thrall to newspaper editors, and in particular NI. NI owns the biggest selling daily paper (the Sun - and no, I'm not linking to it), NotW (biggest selling Sunday paper, until it was axed last week), The Times and the Sunday Times. Murdoch and his various editors were frequently seen courting the politicians, so no politician was prepared to speak out.
It wasn't just a Tory thing either, Blair and Brown also kept NI close, although Brown's relationship with them seemed more fraught. Which, if nothing else, is a point in favour of Brown. Oh and NI possibly hacked Brown's phone or blagged info from the hospital, before running a story of his newborn son having cystic fibrosis. Class.

So how does this fit with Davey-boy? Well, as mentioned Cameron has a close relationship with NI, the (now ex) editor of NotW Rebekah Brooks hung out with him, he had a number of dinners with high ranking NI people, and possibly of greatest concern, hired Andy Coulson - the editor of NotW, during the main period of hacking, as his Director of Communications. Brilliant!

I'll get back to that, and how Cameron has dealt with the phone hacking allegations.
He's been in government since May 2010, and has managed to piss off pretty much everyone when he's tried to change policies or funding. Now, I'm not against all of his proposed changes, there is a hell of a lot of bureaucracy here, and as one example, the NHS does need reforming as opposed to tinkering - as most governments seem to do. He also seems keen to break the monopolies of Union's in the UK, and I suspect that's not necessarily a bad thing. The conflicts inherent in both of those examples relate to change, something the UK doesn't take to very well (in my experience). This conflict over change, has led to a number of protests and development of the Met's kettling techniques.

What I've found interesting is that in each case, the mud, which should have stuck and caused massive political embarrassment, has slid off Cameron. He's been prepared to sacrifice Ministers when public opinion reaches a level he's uncomfortable with, and is prepared to perform U-turns on policies. These are described as indicating a listening Government, one that has enough confidence to change its policies on the basis of consultation and feedback.
In effect, this means that critics of the Government, and there are many, find it difficult to hook into an issue and critique it properly as the boundaries keep changing. The Government is also introducing a large number of policy changes, so creating a large number of fronts of conflict. thus splitting critics, and the public. I imagine for a large majority of people, and I count myself in that number, the sheer number of protests concerning policy change begins to meld into one amorphous blob.
It is this flexibility and shape-shifting that is keeping Cameron afloat.

What has really struck me is that nothing has stuck to him, sure he's been canny and used the LibDem's to front a number of unpopular proposals, and their ratings have plummeted. But Cameron seems to be pottering along nicely. I have to hand it to him, and the Tories, their policy introductions have been brilliantly managed.

So what has changed in the last fortnight? Well for one, Ed Milliband has found his voice. He decided early on in the debacle, to risk NI's wrath, and go after them. He didn't really have an option there, as his leadership has been, thus far, a little weak. So credit to him. Cameron vacillated, defending NI, Coulson, and anyone else, until it became obvious that public opinion has reached whatever threshold he uses to gauge issues, and then he came out all but saying that Brooks should go. Which, eventually, she did. So the Government, led by Milliband, suddenly decided that NI was fair game and started digging into them. Launching inquiries, criticising their behaviour etc. All the stuff you'd expect leaders of a country to be doing as a matter of course.

And yet, so far, Cameron appears to have escaped unscathed, again. He's managed this by his standard method of sacrifice, in this case using NI. What remains to be seen is when the inquiry reports back, how much did Coulson know, and how (or if) he lied to Cameron. Cameron's judgement in hiring Coulson looks doubtful at best, and his defence that the Met had vetted him will need to be examined. If only as there is now evidence that NI was paying off police officers, and that a top police officer left the force to write for NI (Andy Hayman, described as a dodgy geezer -by politicians no less!), others had frequent meals with them, and another ex-editor worked for the police. Hmmm.
Given Cameron's ability to shift, removing the target from critics, I don't think this will bring him down either. The inquiry will take some time, by which time the public will have moved on. However, it will be interesting to see if this is the making of Ed Milliband as a decent opposition leader. He's been on form so far, and staked his claim early.

Back to the question, is he Britain's greatest politician? From a best for the country perspective, too early to say - depends very much on his reforms and what eventually happens with them. From a politically savvy approach, oh yeah - he makes Tony Blair seem positively static. And he had a huge majority to work with. This slippery approach makes it very hard to see what his end-game really is, unless it's politics and power itself. Which, as a career politician, makes sense.
Depending on how the phone hacking goes, as it does have the potential to bring down the government, depending on what revelations come out,and how well Cameron does at distancing himself from NI, I'm going for a qualified, yes.
You get what you deserve.

Most of the links are to the Guardian, but theirs has been the most indepth coverage, and well, I do read them by choice.

B (oohh a serious post, wow)

sponsered ads

2011-07-14T21:11:00.000+01:00

Sometimes they don't work. This is from my last.fm page.

And in other news, my daily average number of tracks has increased from 39 to 40. That may have something to do with the amount of music being played over the last couple of weeks...

Of various musical endeavours

2011-07-14T18:51:00.000+01:00

There's been a number of gigs and music related events recently, so briefly:

Pallas - Glasgow
After significant peer pressure by the rest of the caped crusaders, my trusty gold cape was packed and I headed up to Glasgow for the prog-gods Pallas. Beer was consumed, an additional caped crusader was acquired (the cape maker no-less, resplendent in purple), and we headed to the gig. Bear in mind this was Friday night, in Glasgow. The neds were most confused. Arriving at the venue we found yet another cape crusader, our number are growing. Today, the prog, tomorrow, the world. Caught up with the band, who seem quite keen on the cape-age.
Gig was good, seemed to be a warm-up for High Voltage, and everything flowed well. The new material sounds very rocky, and is quite different from the 'old' Pallas. Not worse, just different. I've found it a bit tricky to get used to that, but live, it works well.

Due to time pressures with a nightclub afterwards, the caped crusaders were turned into caped roadies.

Roger Waters - London
The next day saw me flying back to London for the Roger Waters gig. I was always a bit nervous about this, given how much the Waters tickets were, and how much I wanted to see him. The plane I was booked on was 2 hours late leaving the airport, meaning I got into London at 6, just in time to head straight out to the gig (at the O2).
Crickey, that was a gig and a half. A performance of The Wall, with a full multimedia show. I think that's pushing to be best gig I've been to. Sure, there were a couple of mawkish moments, but over-all, emotionally draining.

The Weakerthans - London
One of my favourite bands, so really pleased I got to see them. Quirky Canadian indie-rock. Very relaxed band onstage, similar to Tragically Hip or the Phoenix lads - well ok, possibly not that relaxed. One of those gig you come out of going, yeah that was exactly why I love the band.

Had a quick trip up to Nottingham last weekend to share a pint or two with the Glaswegian contingent down visiting the Nottingham posse. We may have met up in a vinyl shop. I may have bought some cheese, and also Japan 'Oil on canvas' to try and recover some credibility. Europe Final Countdown (12" mix) and The Firm Star Trekkin (12" mix) were the cheese...
And I believe I have a rock gig next week, Queensryche and Judas Priest. Brilliant!

me

UK banks

2011-07-11T20:40:00.000+01:00

I've decided to change my bank. I am currently with santander, who have managed to screw up every action I've asked them to do. They were good, but the monkeys who now inhabit the Loughborough Uni branch are, honestly, down-syndrome simians. They lie, due to ignorance, they don't do what they've said, their communication is atrocious, and the concept of customer service -jeez, just don't go there.

So for the last couple of days I've been going through what options I've got to move to. Basically, there's bugger all. With the banking crisis squeezing many out, the options are as limited as high street shopping. Cutting Santander, I've got NatWest; Barclays; HSBC (who don't seem to like general people); Lloyds and RBS. There's a few other smaller ones, but not many.
Savings accounts are more varied, as there's more of a win in them for the bank.

Annoying.

B

Cooking with Bruce: Zucchini cakes

2011-07-07T18:27:00.000+01:00

I do like this recipe, it's very simple, it tastes nice, and goes well with lots of things.

3 zucchini (grated)
salt
3-5 spring onions chopped
2T chopped dill
2T chopped parsley (probably more, or add some coriander leaves)
2T grated onion
1/3c grated kasseri cheese (med-hard cheese, I've also used parmesan or, weirdly, ricotta)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3T flour (poss more)
fresh ground pepper

Grate zucchini, sprinkle salt over it, then leave in a colander for at least 30mins. Squeeze out moisture, then add everything, mix. Season with salt and pepper. You may need extra flour if it seems extra sloppy.

Heat oil in fry pan, dump tablespoon full in - kinda press down to spread, cook until golden brown. Serve hot or cold.

Serving
The world is your oyster. I had it tonight with a caesar salad, and two of the cakes as 'burgers' with tomato, mustard + chilli sauce, lettuce etc.

Oh, I've also made the same recipe with leeks and feta, which works well too.

B

Gay teaching in California

2011-07-07T12:06:00.000+01:00

it's looking probable that California will make teaching of positive contributions to society by gay and lesbian people mandatory in public schools. this is similar to the enforced positive impact teaching for mexicans, native americans, women, etc.

That's all fine and dandy (hehhehe) but what struck me was one of the dissenting Republican voices who said:
"Our founding fathers are turning over in their graves."
(Tim Donnelly)

now what way up are bodies buried...oh yeah turn over, get some baby

Call me, call me anything

2011-06-30T10:22:00.000+01:00

I think I need a new phone. My now very elderly iPhone 3G is beginning to die. And the mute function has stopped working. Sadly it's stopped working on the noise, rather than mute, side. I can turn the ringer down, but it's just not the same as having a nicely vibrating phone in the pants. So to speak.

So my options.
iPhone 4: although it's getting old in terms of hardware, it does integrate nicely with my existing mac platform and I won't lose the (few) applications I've paid for.

Samsung Galaxy S2: quite keen on this one, would be swopping to Android, but it's a pretty phone. It's also had great reviews. And from a quick look all of the apps I've been using on the iphone are replicated on Android.

HTC Sensation: I think it's that one anyway, has had reasonable revie3ws, but seems to be second to the Galaxy S2.

Anything else I should be considering? Any comments on the three above?

Oh more info: I'm likely to be buying the phone outright, and stick with pay as you go, mainly as I don't use the phone/text function enough to really need a contract - it's pretty much emails and web for me sonny jim.

So, any suggestions?

b

Cooking with Bruce: Date and feta salad

2011-06-26T19:37:00.000+01:00

I usually stick to the recipe, mostly, for this one. I do add some green pepper and chopped celery.
This from Cuisine, Date and Feta Salad.

It's been very hot today, I wandered into town as had to do a couple of things at work (sigh), all sweaty, goddamn a sexy mofo. Had to pick up some brekkie stuff for S, may have ended up with a couple of beers too. Odd. Oh well.
Then I've had my feet up, trying to keep cool. Cooked dinner, and now watching the rather cool series Horrible Histories with Stephen Fry, now Fake or Fortune, then new Top Gear shortly.

still trying to cool down tho'.

me

MiH and remasters

2011-06-26T19:16:00.000+01:00

1991: Queen had a problem, two excellent albums in three years (The Miracle, 1989 and Innuendo, 1991), and a lead singer taking a permanent performance vacation. Generally death isn't too much of an impediment, without bothering to check, I think 2pac and Notorious BIG have released more while dead, than during their eventful lives.

Wot to do? After a tribute concert, of dubious quality, 75% of the band headed back to the studio to put together a new album. Freddie, before ambling off, had recorded as much as he could, and in the recent BBC doco Brian saying he'd hand Freddie lines, FM would sing them three times, and that allowed the band to work up tracks once he'd gone.

So how does Made in Heaven stack up? At the time I felt it could have been a brilliant EP, and I don't think I've changed from that. Possibly two EPs (new and re-imagined tracks).

FM's voice was still crystal clear and tone-perfect, although the power is absent from some of the later tracks. It's evident on some tracks of Innuendo, and is more evident on MiH. I think his lung power had gone too, the length of phrases in MiH is reduced compared to Innuendo. And in places, Innuendo has shorter lines/phrases than earlier Queen albums.

Opening with It's a beautiful day; it's good, but not great. There's a lack of passion or balls, in the track. I suspect it's been emasculated by Brian as the reprise is better, so why did they cut it for the opening? Odd.
MiH is an old FM solo track that had the accompaniment rewritten. Vocally it's great, but as FM recorded the solo album as a distinct break from Queen, it's a pop song that doesn't work too well within the rock band context.
LML, one of the vocal fragments. I like the track, it's new, and works well. Not upto Innuendo levels, but solid. Obviously one of the fragments, as verses are shared between FM, BM and RT. FM's love of gospel is carried through on this track (see Somebody to Love etc.).
Mother Love, really like this. Quite a change for Queen but works. Downbeat, but interesting. Until the end where their mixing of old sound samples, which could have been good, gets messy and even petty.
My Life Has Been Saved, was a bside to the miracle track 'Scandal'. The track was reworked, and lost a little with the retouches, but isn't too bad - although on any other album, it would have stayed a b-side.
I Was Born to Love You again from FM solo album. And again, not really fitting the Queen style. But the new backing track significantly improves the original.
Heaven for Everyone was originally a track from RT's 'other' band, The Cross. The US release featured a RT vocal, but in an effort to appeal to Queen fans in the UK, the UK release had the FM vocal. It is that vocal that was used here. The backing track has, again, been improved. Good, but not essential.
TMLWKY - originally recorded during the Miracle sessions, the song was rejected by the band, instead BM released it on his solo album. Not good. Although this version has more passion than the BM solo one, which suffers, as most his album does, of being over-produced.
You Don't Fool Me - good stuff, nice groove laid down, and good vocal track. Not sure when this dates from, but from the quality of the performance it may have been earlier in the Innuendo sessions.
A Winter's Tale - lovely sweet song, which fits as a companion piece to Bijou. Musically, lyrically, and guitar sound are all similar. Very much a looking back track, and, I suspect, one of the later tracks to be recorded.

It's a Beautiful Day (reprise) - is all the opening track should have been. Much better, ballsier, and a fitting end to the album.
Which begs the question, why wasn't it the end of the album? The ambient piece is nice, certainly not Queen, and certainly non-essential. Would have made a great bonus EP track.

I still stand by my initial comment that the album works better as two EPs, new and 're-imagined'. As an album, it's a poor end to a great career. The band should have finished with Innuendo, which was, ironically (given the circumstances), probably their best album since Jazz or News of the World. Go on,argue that one...

So the remasters, how are they going? It's not the first time the back catalogue has had a refresh, when Q signed with Hollywood Records (in the US) everything was remastered and released with bonus tracks, or remixes. Some of the these were good, I liked the Rick Rubin mixes, unlike everyone else...
there were the remastered tracks for the CD singles from MiH, and the Japanese remasters...etc etc. These new remasters are just that, new. Having not had any of the other remasters (I stuck to vinyl, aside from the bonus tracks) these are new to me. And they sound great.
I've got QI, II, Sheer Heart Attack so far, and they sound brilliant. Crystal clear, but without too much 'CD-ness', the warmth of the original vinyl has been kept.
The bonus tracks are good, also very clean, nothing essential so far, but some good live versions of tracks.
Yeah, just buy them. The first 10 albums (not live albums) have been released. If you don't want the 2CD version, they are also available as singles. It's definitely the sympathetic treatment the albums have been crying out for, and I'm hoping they release something special for b-sides etc later.

B

Scientists face reducing kudos

2011-06-12T16:17:00.000+01:00

We're watching War of the Worlds - the 1953 version, and in keeping with the sci-fi movies of the 50s and 60s, scientists are portrayed as the heroes, the ones in control, the ones who know what's happening.
Generally, and there are exceptions, they are men with dark hair, tall, jutting jawlines, aged late 30s to early 40s, are confident, and everyone defers to them. Scientists in the movies reflect 'Science' as a whole, not an individual, or an institution.
This reflects the optimism of the era, science was making huge strides (nuclear power, space exploration, cheap cars, fridges, vaccines etc), and the hope was that most of the worlds ills could be solved, given time and science. In particular America was going through a period of relative prosperity (compared to everyone else anyway), and Hollywood reflected both the optimism, and the love of science in many movies.

It's struck me that over the years the optimism of science has been eroded. Now you'll either find scientists as the bad guys (for example, Bond), or as loners, fighting against the army/government. Frequently portrayed as doomsayers, the optimism of the 50s has been replaced with a grim realism. Science maybe able to defer (or cause) the danger, but it will struggle to eradicate it. Now it's left to loners, mavericks, unlikely outcasts, to save the planet. they seize control of the available resources, and save us on their own. They don't need the resources of 'Science' they need their own self-belief, and everyone else be damned.
No longer are scientists called 'Dr' or 'Prof' as in the 50/60s sci-fi, they are now Jim, Brian, or David. And usually in sneering tones.

I think we've lost something.

B

Syd

2011-06-12T15:34:00.000+01:00

I've just listened to this.

Interesting documentary about Syd Barrett and his degeneration during the early Floyd years. Including excerpts from one of the last interviews with Rick Wright. The 30 minute documentation looks at how Barrett, the inspiration behind Floyd, broke down due to drugs, fame, and pressure.
Truely one of the greatest lyricists and artists to come out of the early English whimsical psychedelia, and one of the greatest victims of LSD. Sad story by Nick and Dave about how Syd turned up during recording of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and no-one recognised him.

So a couple of videos, firstly from a solo album:

and now, the superb See Emily Play.

This has reminded me that I don't actually have any solo Barrett any more...must rectify that.

B

Cooking with Bruce: Paneer tikka

2011-06-11T18:10:00.001+01:00

And for tonights dinner, a nice warming tikka, hmmmmm tasty.

1 Large block of Paneer

1 onion

1 Capsicum

chopped spinach

mushrooms

Finely chopped Coriander leaves

To Marinade:

1/2 cup Curd (plain yogurt)

1 tsp Garlic paste

1 tsp Ginger Paste

2 tsp Tandoori powder

1 tsp cumin (jeera) powder

2 tsp Chaat powder

Salt to taste

Red chili Powder to taste

Cut Paneer into long 1/2" thick cubes.

Cut all vegetables into cubes.

Mix all ingredients for marinade and keep aside.

Add the left marinade to the vegetables and paneer.

Heat oil and fry marinated paneer and veges until cooked.

In a plate arrange fried vegetables and paneer on rice.

Garnish with coriander and lemon slices

Serve tandoori paneer tikka hot with hari chutney.

me.

Piccolo trumpet

2011-06-09T18:59:00.001+01:00

Yes, you have at least heard the piccolo trumpet, even if you've never heard of it.

David Mason died recently. He's the piccolo trumpet player on Penny Lane. More known as a jazz player, he also did a number of orchestral works including flugalhorn in the premiere of Vaughan Williams 9th symphony.

Damn that's a great song.

B

Whisky Cabal Meeting 4

2011-06-07T10:29:00.000+01:00

Most of the cabal assembled last night to taste more drams, down one doctor, we knew our chances of coming through the tasting were slim, but bravely ploughed on.

First up was a trinity of Mortlach drams. Known for being massive sherry speyside monsters ...

Mortlach 21yo 40%

N: hay, grassy, salt, and most memorably : drying nicely cut grass, not festering grass. (remember, this was the first of the night...)

P: light, toffee, pepper, and salt

F: medium length and salty.

As you can see, not your usual speyside sherry monster. And the salt is quite prevalent. However it is a very very drinkable dram, and so scored 7/10. I just flicked through my tasting notes when I bought it, and I'd given it a 7.5/10 so good consistency there.

SMWS 76.71 20yo 60.1% "Tasty pastry and mellow morello" 1/606 bottles

N: manly, sherry, christmas cake, toffee

P: christmas cake, very sweet finish, marzipan

F: very long, more sweetness, coffee and chocolate

+water: more mellow, more cherry and leather.

Ahhh there's the Mortlach. I think it's fair to say this dram was popular. Complex, full bodied, and ideal for those cold winter nights. 8.5/10

SMWS 76.77 "Hansel and Gretel" 16yo 58.6% 1/604 bottles, 1st fill sherry butt

N: sherry, christmas cake (but less than 76.71), vanilla (hint of), marmalade

P: prickly, sweet, orange, strawberries, cloves,

F: medium length

+water: opens up, loses the prickliness, cinnamon/raisin toast came through.

This one certainly struck you more than the 76.71, which seemed to creep up with its promises of christmas in a bottle. But we all agreed this was still a damn fine bottle, and one of those whiskies which needed the water to open it properly, as such we gave it two scores: 8/10 (neat); 8.5/10 (water)

Aberfeldy "Rich's mystery malt" 43% Connoisseurs Choice d1990 b2010 20yo

N: grassy, fresh, sweet

P: light, smooth, apples, smokey, lemon meringue pie

F: med-short

A very drinkable dram for Rich's mystery malt, we were impressed with how it cut through two cask strength whiskies as well. Aberfeldy distillery usually gets ignored, given its vistor centre is the Dewar's World of Whisky themepark bollox.

General impression was very drinkable, and good quaffing, and so: 7/10

SMWS 64.29 "White chocolate coated lemons and limes" 9yo 58.8% 1st fill barrel, ex-bourbon, 1/225

N: chlorine, sweet, recently cut grass, love hearts (that's from the English tasters)

P: salty, sweet, watermelon, white chocolate, citrus, dry

F: bitterness (limes), and long

addition of water made the dram smoother, but didn't change the flavour.

The whisky hails from Mannochmore, another Speyside, I don't think we've had a Mannochmore before, but on the strength of this one, I won't say no to another. It impressed us for complexity for such a young speyside.

8/10

SMWS 73.41 "Sweet and citric counterpoints" 1/286 bottles, 2nd fille hogshead ex-bourbon 13yo 58.8%

N: hint of salt, fresh cut pine, bitter lime, subtle nose

P: spiky, huge, bitter citrus, hot and spicy jalapeno, very fighty!, WTF?!

F: big finish

addition of water made it quite quaffable, less interesting but more drinkable, certainly less acidic but more subtlety to the lime. Another Speyside too, this time Aultmore, which we'd tasted another SMWS of (73.34) back in our inaugural cabal meeting.

This one divided us, mainly as it is a huge whisky, without water our scoring ranged from 6.5-7.5/10, with water we agreed on 7.5/10. I think we may need to revisit this one.

SMWS 9.55 "Gourmet icecream at the movies" 25yo 52.6% 1/249 bottles, refill hogshead, ex-bourbon

N: PVA glue, cheap new car smell, sweet, nuts

P: complex, sweet, honey (?manuka), lime (bitter citrus), thick

F: hot, pepper - but very short, more manuka honey after a bit

Addition of water brought out more fudge and caramel flavours.

We liked this one a lot, we'd had it before - around Christmas, when Alec got a bottle - although I don't think we made notes. It's a Glen Grant, which we've had a few of in the past, but this one was a wee bit good: 8.5-9/10

And at that point we closed business for the fourth cabal meeting. We are still looking at a field trip (SMWS in London is most likely), and there is radical talk of branching out to beer and cheese.

I haven't heard from the other two this morning, but then again, there's been no messages sent saying XX won't be in, as they've died. So I guess that's another win for the cabal.

My weekend does not lack for excitement

2011-06-05T16:31:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to Leicester, a city I don't like much, to drop off my DVD player to get fixed. It's been a tough week or so with no DVD player, but somehow we've coped. Headed back to Lboro and did some food shopping, and as usual got frustrated with the lack of things I wanted - although to be fair, it's much easier to find black treacle here than in NZ. And I needed that for the whisky cake.
Headed to the pub, our newly adopted 'local', the Generous Britain which has recently been taken over by ex-members of our previous 'local', the Swan in the Rushes.
Watched the Barbarians v Wales game there, which was nice - good beer, nice crowd, and another member of the cabal was there, then headed home.

Today, oh today, peaking of excitement. I've done writing. I've made a whisky cake to use up my Glenfiddich Solera (not a huge fan of 'fiddich), made some choc and blueberry muffins, roasted some veges for lunch, and about to kick off a vege green thai curry for dinner. A lot of this has been to procrastinate between writing bursts, but it's worked out.

Oh in sad news: the basil plants mentioned earlier in my herb growing efforts, have died. The parsley and coriander are growing like the weeds they are, but basil has passed on. Your thoughts at a difficult time are much appreciated.
If anyone has any tips for keeping basil alive, they'd be very welcome... the only time I had a healthy basil plant was in Queen St (Wgtn) and then the feckin' mouse ate it. No really, Mt Victoria vermin infestations are of a better class...

B

Whats in the news this week

2011-06-02T21:26:00.000+01:00

yes I know I said I'd mention the second round of gigs from the great week, but in the meantime, here's a couple of articles that have caught my eye.

The Pope has closed a Cistercian monastery. The monks (an ecclesiastical term referring to orders whose life is bound by vows of chastity, poverty and obedience) have been closed down due to 'loose living'. In particular, running a 24hr hotel with a limousine service, and possibly of more interest, concerts starring a lap-dancer-turned-nun.
I'm sure I've seen that b-grade...

One more serious article, that I may try and check out more of the science behind, is claiming that the home-test market for genetic diseases is a load of crock. In principle I'd agree with them, there's too many variables for most of these tests. But what was interesting is that they used a variety of kits, and all gave wildly different results. That's very concerning as most other variables were controlled for. What does this mean? well if you were home-testing for heart disease, and got a 'bad' result, what effect would that have? Possible implications for insurance policies?
As a brush-stroke criticism, most of these diseases are polygenic, or at least are heavily influenced by the environment - so one of the genes predisposing you to a disease, does not equal having the disease. A good example of this interaction is alcoholism, you may have the genes that predispose you to being an alcoholic, but remember a) you'll never become one if you don't drink, and b) if you can show some will-power and control your drinking, then again, you won't be classed as an alcoholic.

The papers appear to have returned to normal, Obama isn't featuring on every bloody news article. It's been like a media wet-dream recently.

Oh yeah the other thing, the arsenic lifeforms reported late last year have been seriously questioned in Science this week. to recap, the entirely unexpected finding of some bacteria that appeared to be able to live using arsenic as a substrate shocked (mild understatement) a lot of scientists. Some of them have now published a critique of the research. We await developments...
(me: I think it woudl be cool, but it's not an area I know much about, so for a change, I'm sitting on the fence)

right, back to music and Springback 100 proof.

me

Cooking with Bruce: bow-tie pasta

2011-05-22T16:34:00.000+01:00

This is one of my favourite recipes, I'm not sure where I grabbed it, but it's quite versatile although I do stick to the recipe reasonably closely (it maybe one of Dave Burton's from the DomPost some years ago...).

Bow-tie pasta salad

225gm bow tie shaped pasta

1 small zucchini thinly sliced

1/2 red onion peeled and thinly sliced

1c pitted black olives chopped

1c crumbled feta cheese

1 large tomato chopped

1/2 c sun-dried tomatoes in oil thinly chopped

2c baby spinach washed and chopped

1 1/4c italian herb vinaigrette (see below)

Cook pasta

Combine everything into a large bowl and mix gently.

Italian Vinaigrette

usual 3:1 mix of olive oil and balsamic vinegar

some rosemary leaves

2t chopped basil

2t chopped parsley

1/2t ground black pepper

1/4t chilli flakes

1/2t sea salt

mix.

Me.

Music week part 1

2011-05-12T07:47:00.000+01:00

This week has lots of gigs in it. I like that.

On Sunday we wandered down to what's rapidly becoming a favourite venue in Leicester, The Musician see Mary Gauthier. I first heard her a few years ago when I got lent Between Daylight and Dark. She's that rare thing, a singer-songwriter who manages to hold your attention for an entire album. Her lyrics don't deal with the usual subjects, rather they remind me of Tom Waits. Very character driven, exploration of problems, lives, etc. For those of you who like Tom's music, but are put off by his voice, I'd recommend trying Gauthier. This is pronounced Go-Shay, according to her website.

The songs characters include Waitsian motifs such as the Hobo, given both Waits and Gauthier have well recorded histories of substance abuse, there does seem a strong empathy with the down and out.
The gig was just her and a fiddler, Tania Elizabeth, who was rather good (and hot). So good I've included a youtube of her as well.

Tuesday night was Greg Trooper who I came across thanks to a review inthe DomPost for Make It Through This World in 2005. Again singer-songwriter, although that albums veers a little too much into Eagles territory in places. Thankfully live he doesn't, and he's quite funny on stage. The songs are, as Trooper described them, generally focussed on depressed women. And they are great live.

Also enjoyed the layout of the Musician for these two intimate gigs, seats and tables. Great stuff. And they have great ale on tap. Even had Otley for the Trooper gig. Woohoo.

I've been listening to Anna Calvi quite a bit after her appearance on Jools the other week, picked up her album on vinyl (came with mp3 download). Good stuff. She reminds me of early Scott Walker (Scott 1-4) stuff, big voice, spacious production, and although initially standard sounding pop songs, the lyrics are a bit subversive.

Tomorrow I have the mighty caped-prog-gods Pallas, and Saturday has Andrew and I rocking along to Roger Waters.

If I'm still awake, we're thinking of going to Hayseed Dixie on Monday, as they are rather fun live.

Me.

gogo armadillo's or lay off the roadkill

2011-05-05T20:15:00.000+01:00

Leprosy, I caught it when I was only three,
Bits and pieces keep fallin' off a me

(to the tune of Yesterday)

Armadillo's are transmitting a new strain of leprosy to people in the southern US. I guess this is another case when if you're not with us, you're with the, um, Armadillo's. Although apparently 95% of humans areimmune to it, so I guess the report card will read 'must try harder'.
Although I still think it's uber cool that Armadillo's are the only reservoir for leprosy that transmits to humans.
Article here.

So lay off the roadkill.

This has been a public service announcement from me, and Benriach Solstice.

gigs approaching!

2011-05-04T19:23:00.000+01:00

May is looking good!!!

Mary Gauthier on Sunday 8th

Greg Trooper on Tuesday 10th

the uber mighty cape gods Pallas Friday 13th

and the mighty Lord Rog Waters Sat 14th

I had P.F.M for the 20th, but the buggers just went and cancelled. Nevermind, I have my best investigative researcher finding a new gig (hear that Mr A, you're my best researcher...).

me

Referendum, Safa, and epic guitar awesomeness

2011-05-04T18:19:00.000+01:00

It appears that there are local body elections here at the same time as the referendum. I've found that out thanks to flyers, LibDem's have sent three (desperate), Labour one (pleading), Conservatives none (unsurprising given public feeling, and the area) and sadly none from the BNP. The BNP flyer provided the highlight of the last election, inbred cross-eyed freaks, on a garish background. Brilliant.

In a change from being an Aussie, I was accused by a bus driver of being a South African yesterday.

Currently having annoying times at work. i'm considering blogging about it, but may hold off for a couple of days.

For Thurs night music night, I've flicked through the iTunes library and created a Epic Guitar Awesomenesss playlist, feel free to suggest those I've missed. BTW not a huge led zep fan, so none of them, and kinda held off the extreme metal stuff.

AC/DC	Hells Bells [Live]
Alan Parsons	Return to Tunguska
Amplifier	Minion's Song
Arthur Brown	Fire (Mono Version)
Arthur Brown	Fanfare-Fire Poem (Mono Version)
Arthur Brown	Prelude-Nightmare (Mono Version)
Blue Oyster Cult	(Don't Fear) The Reaper
Brian May	Blues Breaker
Bruce Springsteen	The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Deep Purple	Child In Time
Deep Purple	Smoke On the Water
Def Leppard	Pour Some Sugar On Me
Derek & The Dominos	Layla
Dimmu Borgir	Dimmu Borgir
Dire Straits	Telegraph Road
Dire Straits	Brothers In Arms
Dream Theater	Pull Me Under (2007 Remix)
Fleetwood Mac	Everyday I Have The Blues
Gary Moore	Still Got The Blues
Genesis	Blood On The Rooftops
Guns N' Roses	November Rain
IQ	Shooting Angels
Iron Maiden	Infinite Dreams
Jeff Buckley	Hallelujah
Jethro Tull	Locomotive Breath
Manic Street Preachers	Everything Must Go
Marillion	Easter
Marillion	Born To Run
Meat Loaf	Bat out of Hell
Michael Jackson	Dirty Diana
Muse	Supermassive Black Hole
Neu!	Hallogallo
Oasis	Hello
Pallas	Ghostdancers
Paradise Lost	So Much Is Lost
Pendragon	Eraserhead
Peter Gabriel	Sledgehammer
Pink Floyd	Sorrow
Pixies	Wave Of Mutilation
Porcupine Tree	Arriving Somewhere But Not Here
Prince & the Revolution	Purple Rain
Queen	I Want It All
Queen	Tie Your Mother Down
Queensrÿche	Empire
Roger Waters	Comfortably Numb
Rush	Test For Echo
Scott Walker	Psioratic
Shihad	Deb's Night Out (Live)
Slayer	Bloodline
Steve Earle	Copperhead Road
The Black Keys	Thickfreakness
The Chills	I Love My Leather Jacket
The Rolling Stones	Sympathy For The Devil
The Tragically Hip	Fully Completely
The Who	Who Are You
Warren Zevon	Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner
Willard Grant Conspiracy	The Suffering Song

So I dub thee...sad but true

2011-04-25T20:07:00.001+01:00

Yes ok, the title is a bit obvious. Or will become so.

We wandered down to Loughborough today as there was an English food fair on. We went with a certain trepidation, having been very disappointed by the French fair last year. Anyway, this was much better, good food, surprisingly good coffee, although sadly, no cheese. I felt like some stilton, but 'twas not to be.

Anyway, S decided to catch the bus home (whcih could have worked out better), and being the good boy scout, I'd thrown my ipod+headphones in the backpack for such an eventuality. For the first time in years, possibly 10 or more, I listened to Metallica 'Metallica' (that's the black album). It stood up reasonably well.

As a young 'un, I well remember this release. It was huge. Metal had been on the rise for awhile, even if it had devolved into a plethora of power ballads. I was, of course, aware of Metallica - and in the Hutt and Wanga's, it was assumed everyone had knowledge of the back catalogue, and the argument over '...and justice for all' or 'master of puppets' was similar to the F v H Marillion argument.
I was more in the justice camp, based on 'One' whcih demonstrated interesting musicianship. And lyrics that, at that age, seemed deep.
None of this prepared us for how big the black album became.

So looking back, how does the black album stand up? firstly, it sounds like a Bob Rock album. Which it is. There's a massiveness to the drums that seemed common to Bob Rock albums of the period. BTW Bob Rock even looks like you'd expect a Bob Rock to look like. What struck me today was what a boring drummer Lars is. There's very little in the way of creativity, a lack of fills, just thump the buggery out of them. Lars, and I believe me I never thought I'd say this, makes Niko McBrain (Iron Maiden) look good.
Lyrically, it's bad. But given the music, it works, and there's certainly less clangers than most prog albums. But it's Kurt who shines through the album, there's some wonderful touches in there, and the variety seen in teh album, seems to come from him. I'm presuming the eastern touches are his btw.

No matter what Metallica said about Rock, and a lot of it wasn't very pleasant, he did wonders for James' voice. there's a maturity and power that was only hinted at int he earlier albums. Lyrically, it's also better than some of the earlier stuff. Sometimes.

What really set the album apart from other metal albums, were the singles. Six of them. They kicked things off with Enter Sandman, which still rocks the big one, and is a superb album opener. But who-ever had the idea to release Nothing Else Matters as a single, earned their money. Although in retrospect, releasing it as single#4 seems a bit silly. It's an interesting power ballad, and what really sets it apart is that it's in 6/8 time. That's very odd for a single, even more so for a metal single. Try counting along to it, most singles are in 4/4 time, that doesn't fit for 'Matters. Oh yeah, and Michael Kamen did the arranging. No surprise there either.

The album is still loud, and needs to be played loud. But there are elements of 'samey' especially on 'sd2' in the tape/vinyl parlance. This harks back to the more thrash approach of the earlier albums. What really surprised me was that I still know most of the words, and it still rocked along. So yep, really enjoyed this relisten. Certainly a very good rock album, and at the time one of the heavier ones I owned. My tastes have changed since then, and in the metal stakes, have gotten much heavier. But this still stands up nicely, even if it does push (occasionally) too much into thrash for my liking.

At the time, I may have given it a 9/10, I think that's scaled back to 7/10 now. And Lars' drumming did annoy me...

B

UK voting

2011-04-22T22:42:00.000+01:00

On the 5th of May the UK is voting on reform of their electoral system. This resulted from an agreement the Conservatives had when forming the coalition with the LibDems. Back when we all sang 'i'm with nick'.

Currently UK MPs are elected using first-past-the-post, a situation common to a lot of democracies, even if it results in:

* a two-party system

* election of MPs who may not have 'won' (earned?) a majority of the vote.

It's the latter that the LibDems have emphasised and used to demand the referendum, obviously it's impossible to know how many seats would have changed under a different system at the last election. Some press reports have suggested 35 seats (mainly to libdems or labour), but it's still guesswork. But to explain this, lets assume there's 100 votes in an electorate, and 10 candidates. 8 of those candidates get 10 votes each, one gets 9, and the winner has 11. That's 11% of the vote, and they are now an MP, simplistic yes, but it happens that way. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me either.

So what are the options? Obviously the status quo, and a form of proportional representation termed 'AV', or Altenative Vote. This system allows voters to rank the candidates (but no party vote as in NZ MMP) in order of preference. When counted, if no candidate gets above 50% of the votes cast, then the lowest polling candidate is dropped off, and the votes for them reallocated on the basis of second choices. This continues until one candidate achieves 50% of the votes.

One thing to note, and it's something that hasn't been made too obvious, is that you are under no obligation to provide alternatives, if you only like one candidate, just vote for that one.

The campaigns, both yes (to AV) and no (to change), has been hampered by some nuptials next Friday.

Unusually there's no campaigning under party lines, leading to some interesting meetings on the campaign trail. Although the toxicity of Clegg means he's been effectively banned, which is somewhat ironic.

The No campaigners point to hung parliaments, unstable coalitions (more irony!), a lengthy parliamentary tradition, and generally appealing to the inherent conservatism of most people.

The Yes campaigners point to the unfairness to smaller parties of FPP, and how AV will help engage the voting public, and provide a more balanced and open electoral process.

My concerns are that:

* voter turnout will be low, as it's not linked with anything, not even (in most cases) local elections. Optimistic estimates are saying 20% of the enrolled voters, I'm not sure it'll reach 15%. That means that the electoral system change will be decided on by those who are passionately for/against (which is fine), and old people. Sadly old people are more likely to vote conservatively.

* even at this late stage there is a huge level of ignorance within the populace. Not only concerning the subject of the referendum, but also, incredibly, when it's being held.

Most people agree that AV isn't the best option, but then again when referenda are held, when is the best option ever selected? I seem to remember, that MMP wasn't the best option either...

So my views? I think AV is a better option that FPP, if only as it should focus politics back, slightly, on the electorate. That maybe slightly optimistic, but the current system where you've effectively got two parties, local interests are often subsumed into party views.

That doesn't always hold, and I'm well aware of the blanket nature of my comment. The libdems came from no-where in the last election, based largely on disgust of the other two, and that Clegg came across very well in the debates. But even at the time, knowledge of who the rest of the libdems were was low. Cult of personality?

I have problems with AV,MMP etc that although they encourage more involvement in political awareness (sometimes) - at least initially - I don't think they're sustainable. NZ, with MMP, has been held to ransom by petty grandstanding politicians (ahhh Winnie, you idiot), although it has brought more of a voice to smaller niche views (eg. Green's).

But when I've flicked through results in electoral systems that have some form of proportional representation, the impression I'm left with is after a period, the system reverts to a two party race.

That makes sense from a systems viewpoint, where you'd expect things to move back to a normal distribution. I dare say there's some study out there demonstrating this in political systems. I might even try and find one later.

It's fair to say I'll be turning up to vote, and will probably go for AV. I have no time for people who a) do not enrol to vote, and b) do not exercise their democratic right, so if I'm going to be all wankerish about that, I do have to make the effort myself :)

Will it change things? I don't think it will get through, there's more money in the No team, and conservatism is the default english approach (from what I've seen). And any momentum the Yes team had after the election, has been nullified by the public perception of Clegg, and the number of competing interests at this time of year (Easter, wedding, even FA cup finals).

A lot of this is my thinking, so those of you who have Pols degrees...go forth and rip !

A recap of the last few days

2011-04-17T14:59:00.000+01:00

Before I start, there are no guarantees this is, in any way, interesting. But it is, generally, true.

Just been for a nice bike ride, down through Belton, Diseworth (a cockney query?), and back around via Long Whatton and Hathern to home. Lots of hills, sun, nice views, etc. Those four villages are all pretty (Diseworth and Long Whatton in particular), showing up the dilapidated village we're in. Sigh. There were more small hills than I expected, whcih was good. For those playing at home...

View Larger Map

My pot plant (basil, coriander, parsley, not actual pot) exercise is causing daily excitement, after an initially disappointing start. What do you mean they aren't visible after a day, rubbish! Anyway, I now have all three herbs poking their little shoots through the dirt. The two almost dead plants I had (basil and parsley) are now resuscitated. It's all go in my world.

We went for a walk down to Belton (you'll see it onthe map above) yesterday as I was being dragged around gardens. WTF? In S's defence, she turned out to be not quite so keen, so we wandered around three (owners in Belton were opening their gardens to the public), then hit the pub for lunch. We quite like the Queen's Head for food, although I'd recommend their restaurant food over their pub counter stuff. The pub counter food is a bit pricey for what you get, and wasn't that good. They usually have a couple of local ales on, sadly the Belvoir Brewery ale had finished, so I was stuck with Pedigree. Somehow I coped.

Highlight of the news watch this week: courtesy of the Observer, "An 'unfortunate juxtaposition; has caused a few red faces at Clear Channel, the billboard company which placed an advert for the zombie TV show [The Walking Dead] on the side of a funeral parlour in Consett, Country Durham. It has now been removed'.

We've been watching a number of movies too,but they may get their own blog later.

me

Terrorism isn't always a bad thing

2011-04-14T13:05:00.000+01:00

From a music list I'm on:
Good Charlotte have cancelled their show for Kuta in Bali next week due to a terrorist alert issued by the Australian Government.

Hard to argue with the terrorists there.

Scotch report: Cabal meeting 3 (I think)

2011-04-12T09:17:00.000+01:00

The cabal assembled, minus one - he'd decided a network conference, which didn't start until today, was more important than whisky.
In unrelated news, there may be a vacancy opening up in the cabal, usual bottle based bribes for entry.

For the first time we had more distillery releases than SMWS releases. And in an effort to look like we knew what we were doing, we'd focussed the SMWS releases on distillery 35 (Glen Moray). So let's take an increasingly disjointed stagger through last nights tastings.

SMWS Complex and Joyous - 35.32; refill hogshead, ex-bourbon, 1/183 bottles, 34yo 55.1%
Nose: christmas cake, sherry, ethanol (from the other doctor, nothing, i repeat, nothing, gets past him), cherry, marzipan, cloves
Palate: salt, massive mouth feel, chewy, liquorice, complex, christmas cake
Finish: massive, went on for hours, ale (weird ale aftertaste), honey, happy.

Addition of water produced on the nose, tea, parmesan and salt. And on the palate, more cloves and leaves.

Initially we gave this 9.5/10, but on reflection there was nothing wrong with this whisky, and so it's now a 10/10.

SMWS Explosive with tremors - 35.29; refill hogshead, ex-bourbon, 1/216 bottles, 22yo 61%
Nose: parmesan, wood, cherries, toffee, weaker christmas cake
Palate: salt/pepper, manuka honey, toffee, chewy
Finish: long, peppery and heat

Addition of water increased the salt taste and killed everything.

There were obvious similarities between these two, and in some respects the .29 suffered following the .32, but it's cemented the position of distillery 35 in our 'must try more' list.
7.5-8 / 10 for this one.

SMWS Ticklish and Dreaming - 35.49 refill barrique, ex-chardonnay, 1/273 bottles, 10yo, 59.5%
Nose: dark chocolate, ginger, cut grass
Palate: salt/pepper, honey (sweet), crystallised ginger, chocolate
Finish: medium, sweet

Additional of water caused the nose to decrease the chocolate, and the palate to become smoother but with increased chocolate.

We gave this one a 7/10. Again, distillery 35 is our friend.

And so concludes our SMWS vertical tasting.

English Whisky Co. Chapter 6 - 3yo, 46%, bourbon
I'd been wanting to try the English whisky for some time as it's had good reviews.
This bottling was very pale in colour, but then it's only had 3 years in the cask.
Nose: gingernut, vanilla, soap (I picked this, no-one else agreed, but I'm writing the notes), hint of pine, ouzo
Palate: salt, vanilla
Finish: pepper, short

there's not a huge amount happening, but there's big potential there, so we gave it 6.5/10 and 'could go far'.

Benriach Solstice 15yo port finish heavily peated. 50%
Nose: peat, iodine
Palate: peat, sea, salt, "drinkable laphroig", sweet
Finish: salt, port, sweet
And no change with water.

It's not just me. This is a very weird whisky. It seems wrong and yet it's very very drinkable. Nothing marries up, and yet, it works. Brilliantly.
We gave this a 9/10.
as I've said before, go buy a bottle. It's great. And buy it from Loch Fyne Whisky.

Stronachie (Benrinnes) 18yo 46%
Nose: peat, sap, woody
Palate: salt, peat
Finish: pepper, med-short

Not a stunning whisky, but very drinkable which is why it had been purchased (level in the bottle supported this), we gave it a 5/10, but would be more than happy quaffing it.

Tomintoul 12yo Portwood finish 46%.
Nose: peaty but light, watery
Palate: sweet, salty, port
Finish: short, sweet

Very light, again quaffable, and again 5/10.

Another superb tasting, lots of excellent whisky, indeed not a duff one there. All of the general releases are available from Loch Fyne, who should be your indie whisky retailer of choice. And no, I don't get any kickbacks, sadly.

Love, B

Of plants and stuff

2011-04-12T08:17:00.000+01:00

Of the lush green herb garden I have been promised by the seed companies, I have nothing. Nothing at all. Not even a cheeky hint of green shoot.

But on the plus side, it's been a lovely few days, sunshine. Yup, sunshine. It tried to confused me yesterday by getting cold and dribbling, but we're back to sun today.

Next, a whisky review.

B

Discussions on coffee

2011-04-07T08:37:00.002+01:00

Me: Hello coffee
Coffee: Hello Bruce
Coffee: Do you swallow?
Me: for you, yes.

And thus does my day begin.

An evening of domesticity

2011-04-06T11:05:00.000+01:00

I'm procrastinating while writing a policy document. And so I thought I'd regale you lot with how exciting my evening was last night.

S had decided she wanted boring vegetables, effectively steamed and then served. WTF? What's the point to that? Anyway, being the accepting, generous chap that I am, I did this.

For mine, I added a very very hot goan curry paste I'd made sometime ago and stored in the freezer, a bit of coconut milk, rice, then served. Superb. And very hot.

Then, for my life knows no bounds, I planted some herbs in my planter. The last lot died, cos the soil I had wasn't sterilised or something and everything was infected. So I got new soil, and they were offering buy 2 and get 3 on seeds, so I succumbed to that too. I was going to use plants I'd bought to strip, but hey lets go the whole hog in plant growing. I did have a parsley plant lying around so that's in there too.
So, presuming something grows, I'll have parsley, coriander and basil. Will keep you all informed.

Before you get too excited, the likelihood is that they'll all die.

And then I pulled the sink apart as it had stopped draining. I felt quite manly. It even worked after I put it back together. Nothing to this plumbing malarky.

In further plumbing news: our dishwasher is leaking badly. That one I might throw at the landlord.

B

Scotch report : Glenrothes 1994

2011-04-02T20:40:00.000+01:00

Wandering through Schipol airport it occurred to me that a wee dram over the weekend, with good friends and good music, could be a good plan.

A nice chap was offering samples of Macallan, not my favourite dram, but thought I'd give it a try since he was persistent. If I bought a bottle, I got a free glass. Temptation. Thankfully I've got *a few* glasses at home, and the whisky was digustingly sweet. Avoid the 1824 Macallan Select Oak, it's only available duty free and should be left to those who don't know any better.
I did feel sorry for him when someone walked past wanting to know where the Bushmills was. Awesome.

Wandering across the aisle to World of Whisky, I had a few more tastings, and quite liked the 1995 Glenrothes, although still a little sweet. So I went for the 1994, around 30 quid duty free, and it was most excellent.

Glenrothes 1994 16yo
43% 700ml

Nose: grass, sweet toffee, sherry, very sweet
Palate: sweet, tasty, citrus, sherry, toffee, kinda chewy
Finish: med length, tingly, sweet, hint of pepper in finish

7/10 very nice, superb 30 quid actually !

Those of you wanting a bottle, it's available through Berry Bros

I've never had much Glenrothes before, but on the strength of this one (and the other tasting) I'll be hunting out more.

B

Comms strategy

2011-04-01T10:05:00.000+01:00

I'm trying to write a Communications strategy, as we apparently don't have one - other than the usual high-level pointless fluffy one. Y'know, we intend will be the bestest, yes we will !!! rah rah team.

I'm don't intend to reinvent the wheel and am browsing the web to steal from others, and came across this - the opening statement in a Comm Policy.
FFS.

‘Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.’Chinese Proverb

I mean really. It's from a Uni whose name includes a place where ships berth, and the area where one shovels food in.

Hathern, not quite a google

2011-03-29T15:00:00.000+01:00

I decided a bike ride was in order, having had a reasonably intense beer and music weekend. I'd been intending to visit Hathern, a village that GoogleMaps assured me was 2.7 miles away, so figured it'd be a nice quiet bike ride.
Turned out it's about 5-10 mins bike ride. Pah. Stupid googlemaps.

On the way I discovered that the pissant village of Shepshed has had a plethora of new businesses opening up. We now have a new bakery which looks quite good, we may wander down there in the weekend.
And to keep the BNP (or who-ever) happy, a guns 'n' ammo shop. Yes, I know. It's what I've been missing too.

Hathern, differs from Shepshed, in that's it's pretty. It's smaller than Shepshed, but has (at least) three decent looking pubs. Including one that advertised a 'fine collection on malt whiskies'.
the three I found that looked good were, the Three Crowns, Dewdrop Inn (with whiskies), and The Anchor Inn.
There's not much else to Hathern, a few farm shops, lots of dirt tracks with potholes (woohoo), and a church. I even took a picture of the church, just to excite you lot, and demonstrate that we currently have weather that almost approaches summery. The second pic is my dislike of power lines sorted, and putting a sunset spin on things. Without the actual trouble of taking one at sunset. Heh.

Love, roving biker B

Movie: Route Irish

2011-03-24T19:12:00.000Z

The new movie by Ken Loach, Route Irish examines the effects of war on both the local populace, and those involved in the fighting. The main characters are all from Liverpool, and in keeping with most Loach movies, accents are to the fore - and probably the most prolific use of the word 'fuck' that I've heard for sometime. the main character, Fergus, is a hard-man, ex-SAS and now ex-private security in Iraq - and the movie opens at a funeral for his best friend Frankie. Nice touches of homoeroticism in there too. The only character I identified who didn't have a regional accent (remember, this is Loach), is the very PR savvy commander of the private security firm. He pisses Fergus off, and so Fergus embarks on a quest to find out what happened.
This revolves around a cellphone.
The script is, as you'd expect, extrememly tight, and the cinematography flits between Liverpool and Iraq seamlessly (same DoP as 'Kes' apparently). It's a thriller, but not in the Hollywood style, everyone has failings, some more obvious than others, there are agendas hidden within agendas, but by god was it engrossing.

I'll admit I'm a Ken Loach fanboy. But this one, far more of a thriller than we're used to from Loach, is superb. It doesn't rock along, but it sucks you in from empathy with apparently sympathetic characters to almost understanding why you'd do the incomprehensible. Brilliant.

Frankie, who is, generally, a likeable, genial chap (while alive anyway), is played by John Bishop, the Liverpudlian comedian. It may seem overly-calculated to engage with the viewer, but it works nicely, making his flaws more real.

Go see this, one of the best movies I've seen for some time.

Those of you in the UK, Curzon Cinema's are offering it on the OnDemand service. I used this, I had some initial problems which, after looking at data logs, suggested our exchange here (at 7pm) was getting overloaded - although download speeds were floating around 3-6kbps, and according to Curzon all they require is a 1kbps connection. Anyway, we filled in a couple of hours then watched it later when things seemed more stable.
In Curzon's defence, when I emailed them to say this - they responded within 12 hours with useful info, and asked me to run frame analysis script for them. So kudos to them.

B

Strike!!

2011-03-22T09:40:00.000Z

Unions at my current workplace are a little odd. There's a number of them, and they don't seem very co-ordinated, so those on certain grades are represented by one, and those on other grades by another. Today those in one of the unions (?UCU?) are on strike, complaining about various things, mainly retirement age increases and changes to the pension scheme.
I'm not a member of the union, and, afaik only one of my team is a member of this one. So it's not affecting me much, although it's very quiet in the office since everyone else (aside from another member of my team) is off. Either on strike, or working from home, or holidays.

My issue with all this is that I don't think the union is being very realistic here. Higher Education has very generous provision of pensions, leave etc, so some realism in the current climate is required. I'm also unimpressed with the multiple union approach, makes collective bargaining difficult, and it seems very unfair for those in the other union. My team member, the one who is in today, pointed out what her conditions are which are not as good as mine, surely more unified employment conditions would be a better idea?

I do find some union members attitude amusing, many of them are taking the day off, but are just pottering around at home - or taking holidays for the day - if you do believe in the strike, why aren't you supporting people on the picket lines. Reports from the picket line suggest there are around 10 people on it. Devastating!!!

Since coming over here, my political positioning has changed. Back in NZ I'd certainly be comfortable as being described as left, or centre-left. Over in the UK, the work culture appears highly inefficient - well in HE anyway - and my leftie (NZ) tendencies are more centre. Which makes me slightly confused as to what's happening. Hell I even agree with some of the Tory plans. waahhh, this is really screwing with my head.

On the plus side, we've got the music on and having a productive day. Huzzah! thanks strikers!

me

Metal - and one of the worst songs ever...

2011-03-20T15:25:00.000Z

Catching up on some metal listening, and came across this gem. It may, well ok is, one of the worst songs ever:

there ya go, suffer.

6 nations - final round pt3

2011-03-19T21:19:00.000Z

France v Wales
If Wales win by 28 points they win the 6 nations. Just to add a little spice. And that's in addition to marc livremont's continuing feud with the French rugby public.

Fifteen minutes in, and it's become clear that random France have turned up. Wales are playing with structure and purpose, France are doing 'stuff'. Most of which isn't coming off for them. However they do look good in broken play, probably the only team in the 6 nations who has. Especially the pairing of Parra and Trinh-Duc, who for my money, have been the best half/fly combo.
Very scrappy game so far, and the French 'plan' of broken play meets 7 a-side is throwing the Welsh who are showing poor ball control.
So a very scrappy loose first half, with the French in the lead, probably deservedly, but still all over the place.

Second half, and the French are playing more as a team, and certainly look better than the Welsh. Again, a French side that could have won the 6 nations. Had they turned up more often. Some empathy as a Wgtn supporter there !
Basically the Welsh had no clue what they were doing. Is it time for a cleanout of coaching staff? they may have won games this season, but have never looked convincing doing it.

Overall, not a good 6nations. My picks weren't good, but in retrospect, I'd probably have chosen them anyway. I think the French could be very good, or indifferent at the World Cup, England will be overrated, Ireland a darkhorse, Wales should stay home, Italy could be OK, and Scotland may surprise. Maybe, although I'll admit it's unlikely, but there is a good team in there somewhere.

Ciao!

6 nations - final round pt2

2011-03-19T18:54:00.000Z

England v Ireland
The Irish anthem seems designed for drunk people. I respect that. As near as I can make out it consists of mumble mumble Ireland Ireland mumble mumble Ireland Ireland .
Hmmm the ref in this game is policing the 10m rule. Would be nice to see that continue. Ireland have definitely come to play, and are rattling the English.
My beer appears to be evaporating too, probably something to do with the weird brightness outside. it's something the bible never warned me about, acts of god include beer evaporation, guess that was in the lost 5 commandments...(bible committee wanted it on one side of a4, something had to give).

Ok, that was a great game. Thoroughly enjoyable, fast, Ireland were very committed and deserved to win - it's the game ireland have been threatening but never quite delivered. England finally met an opponent who took it to them. This is what I've been looking for, and I'm now reasonably convinced that England are not half as good as the press have been making them out to be. Lack of leadership and focus was evident in the team. Something Keith Wood put his finger on after the match.
O'D had a blinder, but standout, and deserving Man ofthe Match, was Sexton. Certainly played himself into first choice 1/5 for Ireland.
England looked a lot better when Wilkinson came on, he provided more structure, something Flood was missing.

Have to admit, I'm very happy with that result :)

B

6 nations - final round pt1

2011-03-19T16:12:00.000Z

I watched the 'Canes v Blues game this morning (stupid 630am kickoff on a Saturday) which I had the feeling would be the best of the four games I had planned. Sadly the 'Canes didn't manage a win, but the game was fast, flowed well etc.

Scotland v Italy
the 6 nations is a much slower game. There's a massive reliance on one off the ruck and short passes, which seems to be caused by a very loose interpretation of the 10m rule, meaning the defence is up very quick and flat. All sides are using floating defence well so even if they threw it out quickly, it may not actually open any gaps.
What isn't happening are runners hitting the line at pace, or using alternative lines to attack the line. This means a floating/drifting defence will always get across. Watching the Super15 this morning really emphasised the differences here.
First half; Scotland's lineout has looked good, although they've been unable to get over the tryline. Italy have had shown a well organised defence, and some flair on attack. The 8-6 lead to Italy seems about right.
Second Half; a more focussed performance by Scotland produced two tries. Particularly good performances by Lamont and Gray seemed to lift the team. Having said that, the last quarter has fizzled out. Both teams seem out on their feet, with neither having a lot of structure.
Scotland, eventually, deserved the win.

more soon.

Owsley Stanley and anal accidents

2011-03-16T09:23:00.000Z

Items in the news that have attracted my attention today:

an obituary of Owsley Stanley, LSD producer for, in particular, the Grateful Dead (also their sound man). Details here

Wondering where your parsnips went? Need more vegetables for the roast? Just like a magician, you can pull them out of your arse. Sadly true.

B

6 nations - penultimate round

2011-03-16T09:18:00.000Z

Ok, so it's a few days late.
This round, on paper, promised little. Unfortunately illness had struck the house, so alternative options were limited.

Italy v France
Spirited defence, and better ball control by the Italians kept them in the game. Not really sure what happened to the French, there were flashes of brilliance, but overall the forwards never really delivered a platform for Parra et al to attack from. Nothing very flashy by the Italians, but as mentioned, holding onto the ball makes a huge difference.
The Italians deserved to win, and without a recognised kicker, probably made it harder for themselves. Yay Nick Mallett.

Wales v Ireland
Dull game. Very very dull. Neither team looked good, with the Welsh being sneaky enough to get away with blatant cheating (Richie would be proud). Neither will be a threat at world cup, the Irish are getting too old, and the Welsh have no organisation. Far too much kicking the ball away in the hope that the opposition will make a mistake. Again, you can't score with the ball. No, that's not a euphemism.

England v Scotland
I've well and truely given up on my, now over optimistic, support of Scotland. One of the commentators put their finger on it, a good team playing badly. But today, they played with more cohesion, and were equal to the increasingly well organised English team. Good commitment by the Scots forwards, including ball retention, meant that although they were starved of possession they weren't wasting it.
England are still confusing me, sure they are winning, and winning ugly - which is the sign of a good team, one who can change their style and still grind out victories. But they don't appear to have come across a good team playing well (France came close). They maybe a threat come world cup, but I'm not sure. I'd watched the 'Canes game on Sat morning, and what struck me was the hand speed, something that's still missing from the Northern Hemisphere game.

B

How should we judge?

2011-03-13T19:38:00.000Z

The music press, the tabloid press, the quality press, so yes, pretty much all media, has been up in arms against dear Gwyneth turning up on Glee. Initially I thought this would be based on some deficiency in performance, nope, she covered a Gary Glitter song.
Gary, you'll remember, has a conviction for paedophilia.

So Gwyneth was being judged on her choice of song. Or rather composer.

Now I'm not defending Glitter. But it strikes me that at some point we need to think about how we approach art, and the artist. They are two different things. It's not a new problem, off the top of my head:
Wagner - anti-semitism
Polanski - under age rape (tho this was dropped during plea bargains)
Vikernes - murder
Spector - murder
Meek - murder/suicide
Lennon - IRA support

The world of music/art would be a poorer place without their output.

Stephen Fry presented an interesting exploration of his love of Wagner while trying to come to terms with Wagners anti-semitism.
That's the crux, can you separate the artist and the art? Should you?

I think yes, you can separate the two. I listen to a lot of black/death metal, does that make me a Satanist? well no, as an atheist, I can't very well go on and believe in Satan.
I like Wagner, and find the emotional power in his music sublime. I challenge anyone to hear Pilgrim's chorus and not be moved. But do I find this inspires me to hate a group of people (can't bring myself to say 'race')? Nope.

So rather than judge Gwyneth and Glee on, as the media are doing, promoting paedophilia, judge her on the song.
Absolute wankers can be utterly sublime artists.
Here, have some Wagner:

B

Paper

2011-03-13T19:37:00.001Z

It's been one year. And to celebrate S and I had a romantic virus, using tissues for the paper anniversary. We had to turn down invites to another wedding anniversary, and lie in bed. Feeling poorly, rather than any other more sordid actions.
The wedding was lovely, the S buggering off for 6 months wasn't, so in practice we've been here in the same house for 6 months. And we're still talking!
As I type that, I have headphones on listening to Deerhunter, and S is watching some dire crud on Channel 4 with ugly twats attempting to cook. but it's a peaceful, if mucousy, evening.

smoochies to S!

me.

Cooking with Bruce : Salad of grilled squid and vegetables

2011-03-11T08:21:00.000Z

It's been awhile since we had a cooking with Bruce, so hopefully you haven't all starved....it's looking like you'll get three recipes over the next few days as I've been quite taken with stuff I've cooked recently.

Oh and a shoutout to tomato based readers :)

Salad of grilled squid and vegetables

3 squid, cleaned, tentacles reserved [it's bloody impossible getting good quality squid here in the midlands, so I used fish]
2T olive oil
lemon juice
1 red chilli chopped [I leave the seeds in as the ones around here aren't hot enough]
dark sugar
sea salt

Split the hood, score the squid, then chop into bit sized pieces. Place in a bowl with the rest of the stuff for at least 30 mins.

Vegetables
courgette
fennel bulb
sun-dried tomatoes
pumpkin (not really supposed to be there, but I needed to use some up)
olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

Chop the vege's very fine, then cook on a very hot griddle pan (or grill, which is what I did). Place in a dish with tomatoes, drizzle with oil and season.

Rocket Salad
4 handfuls of rocket leaves, washed
good balsamic vinegar
olive oil
ground black pepper

Mix the balsamic and olive oil in a 1:2 ratio with some black pepper.

Cook the squid, get a very hot frying pan, add squid (or fish!) for 15-30s (slightly longer for fish) then remove.

Serving
rocket salad in the middle, veges and squid around the side, drizzle with olive oil and parmesan shavings.

Love, B

Enter me sexually

2011-03-06T20:17:00.000Z

I was registering for some stuff, and was pointedly ignoring the sexual orientation question (listing them as single options implies mendelian genetics, fools) and religious belief (don't get me started).

This sensible approach, leaving them as 'unspecified', caused the following error:

Phoenix Foundation and Fairport Convention

2011-03-03T14:35:00.000Z

Live gigs this week. We wandered down for the Phoenix Foundation's album release party at Borderline. I've followed TPF for years, thanks mainly to Andrew L telling me I had to, and I've rabbited on to all and sundry how good they are live, so hopefully some of that has sunk through...
What's been interesting is since the success of Pegasus is the professionalism of the band. Previously there was a genuine level of excitement concerning: a) would the band all start on the same track and b) how many would make it to the end. Now, however, everyone seems pretty focussed on the music. There's probably a secondary reason for this, but I would never suggest TPF had had a bit before gigs....

What has always set them apart for me, is the banter onstage, largely between Sam and Luke. Thankfully with increasing sales/popularity they've kept a pretty downhome approach to live performances. Having more than one songwriter in the band (Sam, Luke, Conrad and Will have all released solo albums) keeps them fresh, and the pull between Sam's krautrock/prog leanings and Luke's Americana provides an interesting middle ground.

I've raved about the new album Buffalo before. Suffice to say the songs work well live, and the audience was very much into the gig. Usual complaints about f<>ng London audiences, but I'm really pleased I saw them, and also pleased Neil finally got to see them. His leaving do in Wellington coincided with a gig, which I went to. I may have rubbed that in a bit.

So that was Saturday, Sunday was spent easing through the day. Once again time spent with Alex S required a quieter day.

Tuesday night I caught up with another of TPF gig go-ers, and we headed to Fairport Convention since they were playing in Loughborough. I managed to struggle down to town, ending up at the Swan for a pint and dinner.
Gig started bang on 8pm with a nice fiddle/guitar duo. Lyrics seemed a bit trite, but the guitarist was very good - nice use of percussive effects.
Fairport Convention are one of those bands I've been aware of, intended to listen to, and have never really managed it. So when Paul mentioned they were playing here, it seemed to solve all those problems in one. I'd heard some of the stuff when Richard Thompson was in them, thanks to Amanda, but little else.

I really enjoyed it. they've been going since the late 60s, and from the appearance of the audience, so had most of them. Paul and I didn't think our (relatively) young ages brought down average much.
The band opened with their 1971 album 'John Babbacombe Lee', a folk-rock (folk-prog?) album that I really enjoyed. Interesting harmonies throughout, which were quite reminiscent of CSN, as were some of the song structures. Really enjoyed this, it's not an easy album but I'll be keeping an eye for it.
Including a number of tracks from the new album, the second half showcased more variety, and the superb musicianship in that band.
I'd definitely go see them again, and I'll probably grab an album or two.

Here's some youtube of John Lee, although the sound is more tinny than what we heard.

B

I cannot judge this man

2011-02-24T19:46:00.000Z

The amount of times I've got fucked off by twats in movie theatres means I have to respect this guys approach.

b

Live rugby!!!

2011-02-19T22:10:00.000Z

For a change of scene, I went to a live match as I'd reached a point where I desperately needed to see some live sport. And so I found myself at the Leicester Tigers v London Wasps game at the Tigers home ground. The ground itself is very tight (few metres from stand to pitch), so it's quite intimate. There's a new stand, which is nice, but the others remind me of smaller stadiums in NZ, I would guess 20,000 capacity? But the ground was full, and apparently that's common for the Tigers. So no complaints there. Audience was into it, although slightly weird from what I was used to. Total (and I mean total) silence during kicks, even the opposition. And very polite.

So the game, first half was good. Leicester were lucky in the first quarter to get an intercept try, the ball was thrown around a bit, and good retention at ruck and maul time. The first-five's traded penalties, and the one further try meant the Tigers went to the break with a reasonably deserved lead.
Second half was dire. Poor retention, and no imagination by either team. The backline moves were telegraphed, and simply involved shovelling it along and running sideways, so the sliding defence by both sides quashed all attacks. There was a desperate need for someone to run the angles, and someone needs to smack the northern hemisphere around the head for the continuing use of badly done 'chip' kicks. I don't think any came off today, so they simply gave the ball away. Kicks within play were poor by both teams.

I enjoyed the first half, but got increasingly frustrated in the second. This struck me as funny given we had (from NZ and/or Samoa) the following players:
Tigers Scott Hamilton; the many Tuilagi's; Thomas Waldrom; Craig Newby
Wasps Riki Flutey;
there may have been a couple of others, oh and Steve Kefu (from Aussie).

Felt like a bad Div1 (NZ) or reasonable Div2 game. This wasn't helped by the colours, Wasps wear Wellington (although hoops), and Tigers wear something similar to Manawatu

Love, your roving rugger reporter.

amusing

2011-02-17T19:47:00.000Z

apparently around a quarter of non-primate genomes have large chunks of human DNA in them.

for those of you playing at home, that's contamination.

i never came across that, but i did see reptilian cross contamination, a distinctly squamate sequence in with some testudines. I also knew that particular lab was working on squamates and testudines.

me

6 nations round 2pt2

2011-02-16T18:34:00.000Z

The French get a bad rap for many things. And so, with a sense of surprise (as an atheist) I have to say 'Thank God for the French'.

the France/Ireland game was excellent. both sides were evenly matched and prepared to throw the ball around, and keep hold of it in tackles. I know, shocking. Interestingly there were far fewer scrums than in other matches, which certainly helped the speed of the game. The French first five/halfback combination is excellent, very fast, and because of that getting the ball out wide worked well. But to their credit, the Irish combo did the same. Ryan O'Gara is an excellent sub for the last few minutes, but shouldn't be their first choice.
What was interesting, and from a WorldCup perspective, worrying, is the ability of the French to weather the storm, hang in, and then start building an attack from scratch. Their response when they got the ball was reminiscent of the All Blacks in speed - the first half, where Ireland had the greater percentage of possession and territory reminded me of the Tri-Nations. The French seemed to be able to score from anywhere.

I'm not convinced that England are the team to beat. I stand by the French winning the 6 nations.

6 nations - round 2pt1

2011-02-12T18:40:00.000Z

England v Italy
Italy didn't front up, unlike last week when they pushed Ireland. This means one of: England are very good, Ireland are very bad, or Italy are erratic. So complete was the Italian collapse, that it was difficult to tell how good the English performance was. The platform provided by the forwards was solid, and the backs, Chris Ashton in particular, were slick. There were too many holes in the Italian defence, which meant the English one of the ruck approach worked. Commentators were all over the English, claiming the continuing renaissance of English rugby. I'm still not convinced. And I don't think they have grand slam potential.

Scotland v Wales
Wales started strongly, with reasonably quick turnover at ruck time, even if they didn't use width. The Welsh changed their first-five, a decision that has seemingly rejuvenated what has looked a very poor team. Scotland are not doing themselves any favours with poor ball retention during rucks and mauls, which is not the way to dominate a game.
The second half was scrappy, and I think a lot of Scotland's woes came from their very slow halfback. Admittedly he didn't get a decent platform from the forwards, but his decision making was far too slow. That meant he had to use one of the ruck, anything wider and it would be begging for an intercept. It's not pretty to watch, and they are really missing the injured chris cusitor.
The game was crap, poor control by both teams and neither forward pack stood up. Neither team deserved to win.
On this performance, Scotland don't look like they are progressing from last years development. Wales, scratching out the win, may take heart - but really, they shouldn't.

I want to reiterate my confusion concerning the cross-field kick. Why? For every 10 attempts, it comes off once. Sure it looks great when it does, but every other time, all you're doing is kicking away possession. And yet, it's so prevalent in Northern Hemisphere rugby. Again, why?

The only winner of the day? beer. It promised much and delivered.

Last FM update, linkarama

2011-02-08T08:48:00.000Z

I'm sure I've got something else I could rabbit on about, but at the moment the brain isn't firing, so a simple, mindless blog is the way to go.

Currently listening to a bunch of early hip hop tracks, which is good.

I've hit 60,000 last.fm tracks, which is averages out around 38/day. That seems about right to me. track 60,000 was James Dean Bradfield 'Still a long way to go', which I do rather like.

good innit!? That's from his solo album 'The great western' which you should be able to pick up dirt cheap - I got mine for NZ$5. Which I felt slightly guilty about, so bought the vinyl later.

Most played tracks over the past 3 months include Marillion (from live albums I'm guessing as I haven't spun Clutching at Straws much recently), and Midlake.

top Artists do reflect recent purchases with Midlake, Decemberists, Pallas and The National all popping up in the last 3 months list. I'm expecting Gazpacho to pop up higher next month, although with their albums having only 5-8 tracks, it's a bit unfair for them.

top Albums (3 months): Midlake, some Verdi (mainly as there's a lot of tracks on an opera album), Pallas XXV (heehee). Actually I don't like these stats, bit pointless due to track differences, for examples I've played one Smiths album (Best Of), but it has 24 tracks, so ranks as my 15th most played album.

Here's some Midlake:

And some Pallas. As they need as much publicity as possible, great fun band, and they wore our capes, and so have our undying devotion.
Even if it is crap audio.

And what I'm actually listening to while I write this:

6 Nations: round 1

2011-02-07T18:52:00.000Z

Continuing my unbiased reporting of the 6 nations...

Wales v England yawnfest. England deserved to win, kinda. Very boring game, and the Welsh looked directionless throughout. Toby Flood is developing well as the English 1/5. and cements my placing of England as third. I think they've slipped from any development they showed over the Winter series. Wales won't trouble the semi-finals, and possibly the quarters in the RWC.

Ireland v Italy Ireland looked crap, Italy played well and deserved to win - was just the experience of the Irish (O'Gara and O'D in particular) that kept them in the game.

Scotland v France After the French debacle against Aussie last year, expectations were not high. But by god they came out to play. Excellent performance, in particular the French forward pack blew the fancied Scots pack off the field. The French backrow, through to center, are playing brilliantly. Should be a real handful, if the 'good' team turns up, at the RWC. Pick for first in the 6 nations.
The Scots didn't play poorly, but with that performance the French would have pushed Aus/NZ/SAF.

me

6 nations 2011 - predictions

2011-02-03T20:06:00.000Z

It's 6 nations time again, and given this is the only rugby I get on free to air, I kinda have to watch it.

Also it's a good warm up for the Super14.

So predictions for this year? Hell, why not.

England: did look good in the Winter series, but are missing a few key players through injury. Could struggle up front, backline looks good.

Ireland: I don't think they can be counted as contenders. As much as O'D is a legend and still brilliant, I think their forwards will struggle with the pace - as they did against the ABs.

Scotland: My pick as the dark horses. Aside from the massacre by the ABs they've looked good, and play as a team. I really like the vision shown by their first-five.

Wales: Wins on the wind-up every stakes, go Warren G !!! You da man. Aside from that, not much that I can see to get excited about.

France: have looked crap. really crap. Directionless leadership from the coach hasn't helped. But for all that, France were the form side last year, and that should count for something. Does it?

Italy: they make good pasta, and the fans are hot.

So picks? 6-Italy, 5-Ireland, 4-Wales. Scotland I'm picking as 1 or 2. England and France can fight out 1 and 3. Bit of bet hedging there, but I'll sort out my picks after the first round, once I've seen the teams.

B.

Movie: Black Swan

2011-01-29T13:56:00.000Z

I like Aronofsky, I remember when Martin and I wandered along to Pi - stunningly inventive and original. Since then, I've enjoyed his movies, even if I was beginning to think the themes were becoming well mined. Even his flawed movie (the Fountain) was excellent and affecting. So I've been looking forward to Black Swan for sometime.
I came out disappointed. sure the acting is superb, Vincent Cassel (Mesrine) was an inspired casting move - even Portman seemed good, unfortunately for her, her two main expressions, confusion or terror, brought to mind that prequel that should never have happened.
Although well acted, and a great soundtrack by Clint Mansell, it was territory well mined by other Aronofsky movies, and it was difficult to emphathesise with anyone - aside from Mila Kunis (and that has a lot to do with remembering her from the70s show...mmm...).
I came out feeling much the same as I did after Inception.
I'd like to think it was snubbed at the oscars, but have a feeling it will do reasonably well.

Rating: 7/10 could, and has, done better.

More movies: morris dancing and art fraud

2011-01-27T17:25:00.000Z

Following the crap movie day, I moved onto a couple of better quality flicks.

first up was Morris : A life with bells on. Go watch this, imagine Spinal Tap, but dealing with Morris dancing rather than rock music. It's that good. Absolutely smurfly hilarious.

We followed this with the Banksy documentary (?) Exit through the Gift Shop. Fascinating indepth look at mental instability, art, graffiti art, film making, and eventually crass derisive consumerism. As Smackers has said, it's a very good doco, interesting, engaging and some of the art work is brilliant. It's also an indictment on the stupidity of those who follow in the art world.

Cooking with Bruce: Feta, Dill and Spinach Pide (or Calzone)

2011-01-23T18:36:00.000Z

We had this earlier in the week, and it was a bit of a winner. Quite time consuming, but I was in the mood to cook from scratch, including the dough.

I don't know the difference between calzone and pide, so given this pide looks/tastes the same as calzone's I've had, I'm going to say, with no backing what-so-ever, they are the same thing.

Pide dough
4t active dry yeast
1/2t sugar
1/2c warm water
1/2c flour

Pt II
3 1/2c flour
1t salt
3T olive oil
1c + 1T lukewarm water

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water for 10minutes, until frothy. Add flour, cover with wrap and rise for 30 mins.
Put flour in large bowl, work in the risen stuff, olive oil, salt and 1c water. Work to make a sticky dough, then turn out onto a floured board and knead it until not it's sticky.
Put it all in buttered bowl, cover with wrap, rise 1 hour.
Form into 8 pieces, roll up tight and leave to rest 30 mins.

Feta, Dill, Spinach filling
250gm feta, crumbled
3 eggs, lightly beaten
200gm chopped, cooked, spinach (I think)
1/3c chopped dill
shake of nutmeg

Mix all of these together (yes, tricky).

Rollout the pide balls, add some of the filling, then fold over and seal.
Cook in a hot oven for 6-10 minutes, until brown basically.

Very nice cold too.

The filling can be changed...many plans are afoot :)

Cooking with Bruce: Chicken and bok choy

2011-01-23T18:17:00.000Z

I did promise a couple of cooking with Bruce episodes this weekend, so here's the first. This pretty much follows a Cuisine recipe, although I've trimmed some of the timings and style.

2 chicken breasts, chopped reasonably small (1-2cm squares)

Stock
150ml light soy sauce
150ml dark soy sauce
200ml rice wine
3 spring onions chopped quite fine
5cm piece of ginger peeled and grated fine
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
bit of grated mandarin peel
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick (or 1tsp ground)
150gm rock sugar/brown sugar

Bok Choy
2 bok choy
2T oyster sauce
1T peanut oil

Put all Stock ingredients in large frypan with some water (I didn't use much, as I wanted a thick sticky sauce), bring to the boil and simmer for 15mins.
Dump the chicken pieces in and top up with water to cover the chicken. Simmer for 20-30mins, I used a reasonable hot simmer (if that makes sense) to keep it thick and cooked properly.

While that's cooking, cook some rice and as it's finishing (I use the 1c rice, 2c + water, bring to boil, turn off heat and leave covered for 10 mins method), add the chopped bok choy. Heat the oyster sauce, peanut oil so they mix, then add some coriander and chilli in there and dribble over the rice/bok choy mix on a plate.
Serve chicken over the rice and dribble any remaining juice over it (after removing the cinnamon stick and star anise).

As you'll see, its a quicker recipe than Cuisine, and probably lacks a bit of their subtlety. However it can be cooked in 40-45mins, works well with fish.

B

I'm under appreciated

2011-01-23T17:42:00.000Z

Conversation this afternoon:
Songs of Praise playing before the news
S: there's a priest playing sax

me: that'll be thelonious monk.

and nothing.

Sheesh.

What I've learnt today

2011-01-22T14:03:00.000Z

* A third of Zimbabwe's 5.5million voters are dead.
* Others are 120 years old

Movie day!!!

2011-01-22T13:56:00.000Z

Opening with the classic Roger Corman, Big Bad Mama.

Roger Corman movies are usually described with words such as 'bad', 'shocking' etc. This one is set in depression era dustbowl America. So far (10mins) there has been a shotgun wedding - hijacked, a car chase, a gun fight, and cleavage. Corman FTW ! Mama, and Barney, hook their daughters up for weddings, take the gifts of money, then run at the alter. Tragedy has struck, and not just to the script, but praise god, mama has a plan! Bootleg liquor, whiskey n wine. And breasts. And a gun.
It's quite well shot, and the plot (so far) is making sense. There may have money for this movie, which makes for odd viewing for a Corman.
Wow, mama is *really* resourceful. And everyman is a sleazy bastard, Corman as feminist icon, now there's a concept that needs exploring more.
More car chases, Bonnie n Clyde, but cool, money changing hands faster than a bankers bonus, sleazy sax solos, and it doesn't outstay it's welcome. A good 8/10 for this one.

Oh yeah and it has William Shatner. Shatner is, emoting, ohyeah.

"Get ya hand off ma' tit Barney"
"Ya hired girls, take a few bucks outta the kitty, get yaself something you can strip outta quicker"
"I never felt the titties of a millionaire before"

And now, Andy Milligan 'Seeds of Sin', a man who makes Corman look like an auteur. It takes a special kind of person to watch Milligan, there is no plot, storylines are entirely arbitrary, lighting/directing/acting are, ideally, done by the same person. Voices speak off camera, then pan across to see their lips move (after the voices have stopped).
The movie includes sex scenes. These have nothing to do with the story. Indeed, the actors in the sex scenes don't appear in the story. That alone should give you an idea how structured Milligan movies are.
I'm 15mins in, and it's going to be tough lasting the full 78mins. Help!

Ohhh it would be superb if the Bad Seeds were named after this movie.

Everyone is dying. Not those who are shagging, obviously, but everyone else. Their acting improves at that point. This appears to be orchestrated by the wheelchair bound mother, and a man with an eyepatch. The mother looks like the mother in BrainDead, wouldn't it be superb if Jackson had been inspired by Milligan? Maybe The Mad Monk was a direct inspiration for the filming of LotR? Yes, I think we'll take that one as fact. Tell your friends, update Wikipedia, someone tell Jackson. Let's launch a global awareness programme.

I'm not even going to try to rate this.

From Something Weird video:
The good news: we've found an early, formerly lost, sex-filled horror film by ANDY MILLIGAN. The bad news: we've found an early, formerly lost, sex-filled horror film by Andy Milligan.

the american right

2011-01-21T20:47:00.000Z

A couple of Cooking with Bruce episodes coming this weekend, but while watching the Daily Show I was struck by the hypocrisy of the US right.
The twat from Alaska, Palin, is currently complaining at the media for it's coverage and critique of her following the recent massacre. Largely this seems to be an effort to keep her name in the news.
But what really struck me was how, eight weeks ago, the right, including Palin, were calling for the arrest and murder of Assange.

B

Whisky : Bruichladdich 16yo Cuvee A

2011-01-13T20:03:00.000Z

Bruichladdich released a batch known as 'The Sixteens' (link goes to a PDF) which, as you'd expect, are 16 year old whiskies. Each of the releases was finished in a French Oak cask from one of the big wine producers. The one I'm tasting was matured in Bourbon casks, then finished in Chateau Lafite Rothschild, or in 'laddich terminology it had "additional cask evolution".

Bruichladdich Cuvee 'A' Paulliac 16yo 46%

Nose:

musty wine, red wine, turps, sawdust (colour was a weird reddish gold)

Palate:

raspberries, warm, wine,

Finish:

short, little prickly

6.5/10

It's good, but I'm not sure it's whisky, if that makes sense. There's very little typical 'laddich in it, but it's certainly complex and it would be fascinating to see what was happening at cask strength. the fruit overtones are huge, nullifying any whisky smoke you'd expect. It's got an interesting mouth feel/taste, but ultimately dies away too quickly.

It does go down very easily, so aside from the price, around 50 quid, it's a good quaffing whisky that won't offend anyone.

But it's not what I want from a whisky.

Stupid reporters and equally stupid Equality and Diversity

2011-01-10T19:23:00.000Z

Two major complaints about idiots today.

First up, really stupid media beat-ups concerning pregnancy resulting from 'failures' of an inserted contraceptive device.

All of the news outlets that I flicked through carried this story, with equally ridiculously stupid comments. I haven't read the Daily Mail's one, but dare say the Pope is behind this failure. Anyway here's the Guardian's one.

Let's look at the data:
584 failures, leading to pregnancy last year
99% safe, according to the manufacturer
82000 fitted last year
1,000,000 sold in the UK.

Now I'm not a professional statistician but if we look at 584 / 82000 * 100 = 0.7%

The worst possible number to use (82000) is massive underestimate as it only counts newly inserted devices, not any of those already working their sperm-busting magic, has a failure rate LESS than that suggested by the manufacturer.

To rephrase, in case dumb-ass reporters are reading: there are less pregnancies than you'd expect.
--
And from an equality and diversity monitoring form I saw today:

Apparently I do have a religion.

FFS. How f'ing stupid do you have to be to list Atheism as a religion?!

Rant, B

Monday Links!!

2011-01-03T12:05:00.000Z

This is supposed to be the slow news time, when we get bombarded with what some twat I've never heard of was supposedly reading. Since most of these twats are, apparently, from X-factor where dX=level of care=0, it's pretty easy to skim over the paper.

But the following two articles caught my eye.

Firstly, the decaying of old building in Detroit, along with some heartbreaking photos.

A Greek dialect which is very similar to ancient greek, including the infinitive !! which those silly greeks lost years ago.

And with thanks to my roving 'net reporters, toys for the bgrade movie fans....

Giant Cockroach

Terrified victims!

Album pt II 2010

2011-01-02T18:34:00.000Z

There's been excitement, grumbles, upheld complaints, and that's with the less interesting half of the list....

On to the top5, to be honest 6-10 were pretty arbitrarily decided. Firstly a quick diversion into others I liked:
Most Fun album 2010 : Sabaton 'Coat of Arms' what can I say, great live, great fun. War-metal!

Best reissues: Nick Cave ptII; Frankie goes to Hollywood; Modern Jazz Quartet

5 Dimmu Borgir 'Abrahadabra'. More symphonic than metal, Dimmu Borgir went the whole hog for this album. Admittedly they had a bit to prove having kicked out two band members, but this album is a monster. There's a very large orchestra, choirs, the works. And live, it was brilliant. A band where each album is better than the last.

4 Pure Reason Revolution 'Hammer and Anvil'. This is the controversial choice, the band polarises people. Their first album is a perfect piece of cheesy prog, the second is a dire piece of crap, and this one sort-of continues the more Depeche Mode feel they've been moving to. But with a bit of prog. It does seem to polarise people, but it really clicked with me.

3 The National 'High Violet'. A band who can't do anything wrong. Just buy it. And their back catalogue. Throughly enjoyed the gig in December too.

2 Karnataka 'The Gathering Light' I first caught them premiering tracks from this at a festival in 2009. And we were blown away. If anything the album improved on the live tracks. So of course the band splits, and ruins any chance of it selling in the quantities it deserved. Oh and no merchandise either. Bloody hell. However I have it good authority there's more new stuff in the offing this year, and the tracks they've released on the website (demo's) sound good.

1 John Grant 'Queen of Denmark' I have raved to everyone about this album. I don't care how annoying I've been. It is that good. I caught him in a small pub in Leicester doing an absolute blinder of a set. Since then I see he's been selling out much larger venues. Rave reviews from everyone. Direct lyrics, lovely arrangements, and backing by most of Midlake on the CD.

There ya go.

B

Albums 2010

2011-01-02T17:01:00.002Z

Another good music year, one where The Pineapple Thief grew a pair and rocked out, yet missed the cut for my top10. Post-rock came through in a big way (Oceansize, Amplifier), prog became more mainstream (whats up with the mainstream press reporting on prog?!). And I like pricing of CDs in the UK, particulary through Amazon...even if the debit card doesn't.

PS: following an upheld complaint, The Mountain Goats have been kicked off for Peter Gabriel.

Albums that didn't make the cut, but probably should have
The Pineapple Thief 'Someone here is missing'; Anathema 'We're here because we're here'; The Enid 'Journey's End'

10 Peter Gabriel 'Scratch my back'. A covers album? well yeah. But it's worth it alone for the Radiohead and Elbow covers. It's superb.
9 The Phoenix Foundation 'Buffalo'. The best album by the lads, and with the UK signing/tour and release party, maybe their year to break Europe. the Independent already has them as a band to watch.
8 Oceansize 'Self-preserved while the bodies float up'. Their best album, and a brilliant example of post-rock. I was tempted to put the new Amplifier (Octopus) in, but that should make next years list. It's heavy, the songs breath and have space, and the centrepiece, Oscar Acceptance Speech, is superb. And maybe my track of the year.
7 Jon Lord 'To Notice Such Things'. Yes, ex-Deep Purple Jon Lord. He's carved out an excellent career as a classical composer, and this album is dedicated to, and inspired by the late John Mortimer (of Rumpole fame). The music is lyrical, sweet, emotional, and very tuneful.
6 Spock's Beard 'X'. Ya wouldn't guess it's their 10th album? It's good, prog-rock. Everything just works on the album, even the slightly forced tribute to all those who paid to get a namecheck. Recent albums have felt a little long, but this time (and we're talking 1.3 hours) it flows and holds the interest. Great stuff.

Top 5 in the next post.

Me

Yeasayer- (free) Live Album

2010-12-31T16:37:00.000Z

I like Yeasayer, brilliant live band, and the albums are good too (prefer the first to the second). The band are offering a live album for a 'how much doyou want to pay' (including free) from their website.

Click Here.

Love, B

Movies of the past week

2010-12-31T12:22:00.000Z

Nothing like variety eh? And so a brief summary of the rubbish, deplorable, and quite good flicks that have graced our TV recently.

House 1977 Japanese
This movie was odd, and beautiful. The lead character, Gorgeous, sets off with her friends to her Aunt's house in the country, with her cat. And that's the simple easy to follow plot summary.
the cat becomes important, there are special effects with bright lights, people die. Actually most of the girls die. There is screaming. And most importantly, a piano eats someone.
I loved it. It's funny, it's surreal, and is definitely worth seeing.
Definite parallels with some of the studio ghibli work, for some reason certain scenes and development reminded me of howl's moving castle.

Dr Tarr's Torture Chamber (aka The Mansion of Madness) 1973

Oh dear god this was bad. For badly explained family reasons a journalist wants to find out about some therapy being done in a mental hospital. Things turn bad immediately, and a number of surreal hokey bolloxy episodes drag you through the 90 minutes. Painful. The mental hospital had been taken over by the inmates, which doesn't become clear until about halfway in. At which point the strangeness goes up several notches.
I kinda enjoyed it, but for those of you who like bgrade rubbish, it's a 6-7/10. the oddness is very odd.
For the rest of you, 2/10.

Inception I rewatched it, to see if I'd change my opinion that's its overblown rubbish. Nope. Still think that. Concept is great, but everything is so hamfisted and over-explained. I still think that an indie movie, with a smaller budget, may have achieved a more cohesive story than this.
I've seen a review recently which summed Inception up as 'a movie to make stupid people feel smart'.

Hour of the Wolf 1968.
Touted as Bergman's only horror movie, I'd originally bought this for Halloween, but we ended up not watching it.
I really enjoyed this. It seemed very typical Bergman, moody lighting, slow pans, low action quotient. The main character, an artist, suffers from insomnia and thinks a lot of the weirdo's he's seeing are imaginary. These appear to be representations of his insecurities, which makes the death of the young boy either homosexuality or paedophilia?
The other inhabitants of the island are upper-class party-goers, who invite the artist and his wife for dinner. The group explore ownership of people by purchasing their art, mainly to rile the artists wife.
Told from the wife's perspective, in a pseudo-documentry fashion, the movie seems to be a long rant against consumer driven art.
It's slow, and at times violent, but worth watching.

Rewatched Monty Python's Life of Brian, Captain Blood and Godfather II, and I may spin Gainsbourg this afternoon.

Albums ofthe year is coming along nicely.

Springsteen

2010-12-27T19:12:00.000Z

There's other stuff coming up - I guess I'll rip a top10 albums or something like that together at some stage. Without thinking about it there's Americana, Classical and Symphonic Metal in there somewhere. And maybe some movie reviews, since that's all I've been doing the last few days.

I've just finished catching up on the winter season of Imagine. Pick of which was the Ray Davies (the Kinks) interview, fascinating stuff about a very underrated songwriter. Back in highschool when we were discovering the Kinks, Beatles, Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones, there was something about Davies' lyrics that painted better pictures, for me at least.

There was also a doco on Springsteen and the making of Darkness on the Edge of Town. I think playing these two back to back clarified my problems with Springsteen. He's a very direct songwriter, as much as he claims there are layers in his songs, I can't find them. This could be just be me. Darkness is a great classic rock album, but it's not one I'd keep in my collection if forced to downsize. The songs are uniformly excellent, but they lack lyrical interest. Sure, they are honest stories of the usual people populating Springsteen songs, and the characters are believable, but they don't seem to go anywhere.
But what I found interesting was Springsteen saying they were going for more a stripped back, open, panoramic sound. Compared to Born to Run, yes they achieved that. But oddly it's one of my complaints with the album, it's too claustrophobic. The songs don't breath, and more importantly they don't have the dusty Americana sound that Springsteen says they have. This may just be a lack of experience in the production booth, and Springsteen said as much in the doco, but my pick is that it's the E Street Band. I think they ruin what potentially could have been another brilliant Springsteen solo album. If asked to list my favourite albums of his, I'd go with Ghost of Tom Joad; Nebraska; Dust and Devils. In that order. All of them are sparse, ghostly, tumbleweeds of albums. And for that reason are far more affecting, personally speaking, than BtR or Darkness. For me they manage to imbue the lyrics with the dusty space his characters need to exist.

So watching the two documentaries did, I think, help clarify why Springsteen seems to leave me cold. Davies managed to keep things interesting, no matter what he was writing about, and the topics were similar - local people living small lives. But Davies' kept that unique English style of whimsy in the background (I'm not sure whimsy describes Lola, but otherwise it seems an ok choice of word). Springsteen, I think, tries to engage too much, too autobiographical?, and I think I prefer the more observational style of song writing. I do think Springsteen does manage a more stand-offish approach in the acoustic solo albums.

Is this just me? I know I'm in the minority for not liking Springsteen much :)
Just to ruin any image that I was thinking about this post, I've got Def Lep's extended mixes blasting in the cans at the mo'.

Here's Racing in the Streets covered by Roger Taylor (Queen) from his album 'Strange Frontier'.

And Ghost of Tom Joad

me

More stats and other stuff

2010-12-11T20:26:00.002Z

It's been an oddly productive day, I've gone for a nice long walk, got some stuff organised, cooked a (quite frankly) superb dinner, acquired a nice headache, and now watching 500 days of summer. Which is quite enjoyable. Thinking about movie number two for the evening, may be Pt 2 of Mesrine, or an Errol Flynn. Such are the problems of my life.

I've also configured a lot of stuff on my linux laptop, so I can sync back to last.fm from my apple formatted ipod. This was a lot easier than I remember it, which is good. This has been forced on my as the mac is in need of some repairs, that I haven't gotten around to doing yet. Anyway, it's now synching up against last.fm and things will be back to normal, well until I fix the mac then I'll have to go through it all again.

Currently pondering the Xmas movie line-up. We've got a few candidates.
Inception - I didn't like it, but S hasn't seen it. And it may improve on re-watching.
Hausu (House) 1977

And the possibles:
Dr Tarr's Torture Dungeon

Season of the Witch

Although I don't think that's out yet here. But it looks really bad. Really really bad.

or maybe, Rare Exports A Christmas Tale

B

Statistics and why news paper reports are a load of shite

2010-12-10T17:55:00.000Z

A pet peeve, and believe me, there are plenty, is the use of statistics in newspaper journalism. Basically if you see the word 'increase' or 'percentage' written anywhere, it's generally safe to assume the paper has it wrong. You'd expect this in the tabloid papers, but this report comes from the Guardian.
So yes, I'm ranting against the Guardian.

Titled, on the website, Sharp Rise in Number of Women Killed by Violent Partners (paper version: Murders of partners by men rise sharply), the article claims that there has been a dramatic rise in deaths by partners. Reading the article provides the following:
2009 - 101 deaths
2008 - 72 deaths
As a raw percentage increase, this is, on the face of it, shocking: a 40% increase over one year. Which is obviously how the refuge charity 'Refuge' was trying to sell this.

However, let's put this in context, looking at the UK population figures (reference here):
2009 - 61,792,000
2008 - 61,398,000
Putting the death figures as a percentage of the total population:
2009 - 0.000163452 %
2008 - 0.000117268 %
I realise I shouldn't be using percentages here, but without the raw data to work from, it should do to make my point.
There is very little difference between these two figures, In fact, if I round to 3 decimal places, they are identical. This is due to the total UK population being so large that a number of 101 becomes insignificant from 72.

Indeed, run any statistical analysis of those numbers and you'll find there is no statistical difference between the two years.
there has been no dramatic rise in murders by partners when put into context of both population. What has happened is that there has been an increase in absolute numbers.
What might be more interesting would be to analyse the increase over a longer time period, as the data, as presented, can be interpreted as ' a 0.6% population increase appears to lead (but not cause?) to a greater increase in partner murders', or you could interpret the data as 'a 0.6% population increase leads to a 0.00004 (rounded)% increase in partner murders'. What you cannot say is that there has been a dramatic rise in murders.

B