My left knee and I have had a bad relationship for years. My expectations that it will do stuff when I want goes contrary to the knee's personality. It's hard to get angry with it, since I recognise that attitude...
Anyhoo, when biking I'd be fine for about 60-90 minutes then pain, and no power in the left knee. This made the return journey home slow, painful, and annoying. Three words I don't cope well with. So I sat down and thought about where the pain was, and what could be causing it. The pain was localised inside the knee, which meant it wasn't the position of the saddle (either too far back or too far forward), or height. There's a good summary here.
Looking at a the knee joint, and assessing where the pain was, my thought was that my foot was turning out on the pedal. As the pain didn't show up during my shorter rides to work (upto 30mins with some large hills) I suspected it was cumulative, or kicked off after I'd been going for awhile.
Rather than rushing out and buying clip-on's which, in theory, shoudl force my feet to keep straight. I thought it would be worthwhile trying alternatives. So I grabbed some orthotics (as I said, my knee's and I have a long history...) and went cycling with those, while paying more attention to my foot position on the pedal. This helped a lot, but I still got some twinges which I put down to laziness and letting my foot turn. The next three longer rides I strapped the knee quite heavily, and aside from sweat and some rubbing, all was good.
(some of this was done on a stand for my bike, which proved useful to keep more of an eye on my cycling style)
So I'm quite confident it's postural. Next step is getting some SPDs and shoes...
It's fun when you get to experiment on yourself. Although if any of you want me to practise some surgery, I'm totally up for that too...
b
23 June 2014
19 June 2014
Solving the Genesis Question : Gabriel or Collins
In a fit of research I believe I've solved the Genesis Question.
Collins does not appear in Genesis
Gabriel does not appear in Genesis
Peter does not appear in Genesis
Phil does appear in Genesis, a total of 8 times. In relation to 'Philistines'.
Further research:
No Anthony / Ants / Tony
No Hackett
No Steve
No Rutherford
No Mike
1x banks [of river Nile]
Obviously, this prompted queries about how many Fish are in the Silmarillion:
1x Fish [as in fisher-folk that dwelt by the River.]
You can all thank me later.
Collins does not appear in Genesis
Gabriel does not appear in Genesis
Peter does not appear in Genesis
Phil does appear in Genesis, a total of 8 times. In relation to 'Philistines'.
Further research:
No Anthony / Ants / Tony
No Hackett
No Steve
No Rutherford
No Mike
1x banks [of river Nile]
Obviously, this prompted queries about how many Fish are in the Silmarillion:
1x Fish [as in fisher-folk that dwelt by the River.]
You can all thank me later.
10 June 2014
Contender for worst [music] video, ever
Yes I know it's a big call, especially with the dross I've inflicted over the years. But this is completely, utterly, brilliantly OTT and so Bad it's Good. See what I did there eh?
9 June 2014
Cooking with Bruce : curried fish and pasta
It's been awhile since the last recipe, no real reason, I had a few I was going to put up, but for some reason (yeah ok, apathy) didn't.
This one is apparently from Antonio Carluccio - originally. I took one look at it, and decided it was unlikely to have enough flavour for me - it appeared to have been 'Englished'. So this is my version.
Curried Fish and Pasta
olive oil (large slug)
1x medium onion (chopped)
3x cloves garlic (chopped)
2 fish fillets
1 hot red chilli
150ml white wine (I was using a Pinot grigio, mainly as it was to hand)
400gm tomato passata
2T med-hot curry powder [I made my own]
2t cumin (freshly ground)
2t garam marsala
2 bay leaves
pasta
This one is apparently from Antonio Carluccio - originally. I took one look at it, and decided it was unlikely to have enough flavour for me - it appeared to have been 'Englished'. So this is my version.
Curried Fish and Pasta
olive oil (large slug)
1x medium onion (chopped)
3x cloves garlic (chopped)
2 fish fillets
1 hot red chilli
150ml white wine (I was using a Pinot grigio, mainly as it was to hand)
400gm tomato passata
2T med-hot curry powder [I made my own]
2t cumin (freshly ground)
2t garam marsala
2 bay leaves
pasta
- Heat olive oil in a frypan on medium heat, add onion, garlic, chilli, and fish. Cook gently for 10 mins, and add the wine. Continue cooking until the fish is cooked, I was breaking it up while I was cooking.
- Remove the fish, onions, chilli and garlic leaving the liquid in the frypan. Add the passata, bay leaves and spices. Cook gently to reduce.
- While the sauce reduces, cook the pasta to al dente
- Combine all, and heat the fish through. Serve.
I thought it worked well, I'd rather spice it myself than use curry powder (pretentious, moi?) but that'd work too.
b
5 June 2014
gigs - swans and classical
I've had a couple of gigs in the last couple of weeks, both quite different to each other in style and result.
First up was the Swans in Manchester. They're on the road promoting their new album 'To Be Kind' which Buzz'n'Hum has reviewed here. Swans are not a background music kind of band, words such as relentless, uncompromising, scary, brutal, direct etc are the usual starting point for their reviews. Interestingly the new album, the followup to the stunning The Seer, has a strong krautrock vibe kicking along in the background. And it's that krautrock vibe that really came to the fore live, there's an (almost) danceable groove kicking along, which was unexpected. Imagine Can meets Tool meets [modern] Scott Walker. Sort-of.
The band don't interact with the audience much, but Gira is quite mesmerising as a frontman. His vocals range from throaty menace to high pitched screams, all of which suck the audience into their highly dysfunctional world (mirror?).
Speaking of the audience, great cross section of ages at the gig, even if it was, largely, a sausage fest. Swans appear to approach winning audiences over but figuring brutally sonically assaulting them is probably the best approach. It seemed to work. But it was also refreshing to have an audience there for the gig unlike most London concerts... but I did cherish my earplugs.
If you like your music challenging, at times nightmarish, try either The Seer or To Be Kind. The latter has more groove and is probably the more approachable of the two. And yes, approachable is entirely the wrong word. But they're both very very rewarding.
Last night I went to the Chamber Ensemble of London who were playing here as part of the LU Arts programme. An interesting programme on paper of British composers, many of whom I'd never heard of.
Kicked off with Purcell's Overture and Rondeau from Abdalazer which is one of my favourite pieces of music. Things didn't start well. The violins (more precisely the 1st violins) were slightly out of tune to each other. Entries were tentative, leading to a jagged start to themes as the instruments came in. I felt the balance was out too, I was sitting in the middle of a row about 3/4 back in the auditorium and the sound was dominated by the lead violins, which was a shame as the viola/cello/bass performances were excellent - when you could hear them. Personally, I thought they massacred Abdalazer which put me in a bad mood to start with. The same ragged performances and slipped notes occurred in the next piece, things improved when they played English pastoral, probably as the shimmering style of pastoral music covers more out of tune and entry issues.
I quite enjoyed the Harold Darke (of 'in the bleak midwinter' fame) piece (Fantasy in E major) which their composer in residence had orchestrated from an organ piece.
The Ensemble can play very well, as I'd heard a few tracks from their new album on ClassicFM, but something was very amiss for this performance. It was so bad that I left at halftime, I put on John K Samson's Provincial which restored my humour somewhat.
Here's a version of the Rondeau which has more attack (and is in tune) than what I heard last night:
and here's some John K Samson.
me
21 May 2014
Whisky Cabal XIV
A quorate cabal assembled to damage bottles, and in a shocker the review is posted the next day. Wonders, they never cease.
All of us had one or two bottles for tasting, and unusually, no SMWS featured. We did think about grabbing some while raiding Alec's cabinet, but decided no, not this time.
Links are to the Good Spirits Co. in Glasgow, who we've adopted after the debacle of Loch Fyne Whiskies. So far they've been helpful, funny, and get the booze to us the next day. Withnail would approve.
Glen Grant 1974 Cask #7646 49.3% 37yo bottled 2012 Berry Bros Rudd
Nose: sherry, oak, old house, raising, figs, xmas cake
Palate: xmas cake, sherry, 'raisin glove' 'hulk smash'
Finish: medium-long, dry, Pinocchio finish, sweet, warm
A bottle for Rich's birthday, this was a sherry monster of superb quality. And yet, for a 37yo whisky, it had attitude, there's fight left in the old bugger yet [makes you wonder what it tasted like 20 years ago...]. Absolutely superb example of an old, classy, sherried Glen Grant.
9/10
Adnams Single Malt #1 43% 3yo matured in french oak
N: rubbery, burnt caramel, musty
P: neck it, honey, weird, rubbery
F: medium, warm
It's only just whisky (3years 1 day), and there's something about it that we thought tasted wrong. It's not bad, it's just not good. There's also an absence of complexity (and aggression) that suggests more ageing won't improve it either. We all agreed that if you saw it at the pub, we'd drink it in preference to a number of other pub-type whiskies, but over all - not a big win.
4-5 /10
Kilchoman Loch Gorm II 2014 release, 46%
N: salt, rubber, creosote, cream
P: warm, salt, sherry, spiky, smooth, peaty, quaffable
F: warm, med-long
In the interests of disclosure, I love both Loch Gorm releases. It's a beautifully balanced whisky with the Islay flavours perfectly married to a creamy sherry background. I do wonder if it missed a bit in the tasting as it's more subtle than you'd expect, so could have been killed by residual glen grant ? Anyway, it was liked, but did split the cabal with ratings of 6,7,7,8, averaging out at: 7/10
Arran 17yo 46%
N: subtle, bourbon, caramelised demerara sugar
P: grapefruit, fruity, tangy, spritzic, apples
F: medium-long
Arran have been quite interesting to follow over the last few years, their 10 and 12yo releases promised much, but had the feeling they were still too young. But every so often an independent bottler (SMWS usually) released an absolutely stunner - our group reviewed their ginger release way back at Cabal 2 - with all of us picking up a bottle, apparently Dr Death still has some and has promised to bring it to the next meeting (huzzah!!).
I've picked up Arran's every so often and liked them, and what we've noticed is that their house style has settled to a light, floral and fruity whisky with an interesting background of ginger. Obviously their sherry finish loses the ginger, but still we like those too.
We liked this one, a lot, it's quite surprising with the nose and palate not really matching up, but in a good way. Arran are releasing an 18yo next year, and will continue with an 18yo in their standard range.
Very recommended.
8-8.5 /10
Springbank Gaja Barolo 9yo 54.7%
N: ginger, apple, pear drops, oak, rubber
P: crystallised ginger, 'eric type drink', mental
F: short
+H2O: warmer, smooth, honey 'cream not crunch'
Alec picked this up as we all like Springbank, and it's an interesting wee dram. Very fighty (eric) neat, but quite warming and pleasant with water.
6/10 (neat)
7/10 (water)
Glendronach 21yo 48%
N: sherry, xmas cake, monster, bandages
P: sherry, oak, monster, honey
F: warm, long, so very very long
Good Spirits Co describe this as "Christmas pudding in a glass". We can't improve on that description - it's damn near perfect as a sherry monster. With the Glengoyne teapot dram increasing in price every year we think it's worthwhile keeping an eye on the Glendronach range - we've never had a bad one, in fact we've had some very very good ones. Like this. Go forth, buy it.
(the second birthday whisky for Rich, sadly he turned selfish and took the bottles away from us...pout...foot stomp...)
9.5-10 /10
Laphroaig PX
N: TCP, salt, peat, bacon
P: wrong crazy, dry, salt, 'mmm whisky', sherry
F: long, smokey, spiky
Only available in duty free (hence link to Laphroaig's homepage, not Good Spirits Co.) we've tried this before, but as Alec wasn't at that tasting I dragged it along again. We do like it. And none of us are fans of Laphroaig - aside from the very expensive old ones [me] and the Quarter-cask [also me], most Laphraoig is too vicious and not very complex.
So if you see the PX in duty free, pick up a bottle, it's everything Laphraoig isn't.
8.5-9.5 /10
So, another good tasting with a wide range of flavours - and scores. I'm also going on record to say I'll produce a Pub Whisky summary within the next month. There, happy now? eh? bastards.
Love, B
All of us had one or two bottles for tasting, and unusually, no SMWS featured. We did think about grabbing some while raiding Alec's cabinet, but decided no, not this time.
Links are to the Good Spirits Co. in Glasgow, who we've adopted after the debacle of Loch Fyne Whiskies. So far they've been helpful, funny, and get the booze to us the next day. Withnail would approve.
Glen Grant 1974 Cask #7646 49.3% 37yo bottled 2012 Berry Bros Rudd
Nose: sherry, oak, old house, raising, figs, xmas cake
Palate: xmas cake, sherry, 'raisin glove' 'hulk smash'
Finish: medium-long, dry, Pinocchio finish, sweet, warm
A bottle for Rich's birthday, this was a sherry monster of superb quality. And yet, for a 37yo whisky, it had attitude, there's fight left in the old bugger yet [makes you wonder what it tasted like 20 years ago...]. Absolutely superb example of an old, classy, sherried Glen Grant.
9/10
Adnams Single Malt #1 43% 3yo matured in french oak
N: rubbery, burnt caramel, musty
P: neck it, honey, weird, rubbery
F: medium, warm
It's only just whisky (3years 1 day), and there's something about it that we thought tasted wrong. It's not bad, it's just not good. There's also an absence of complexity (and aggression) that suggests more ageing won't improve it either. We all agreed that if you saw it at the pub, we'd drink it in preference to a number of other pub-type whiskies, but over all - not a big win.
4-5 /10
Kilchoman Loch Gorm II 2014 release, 46%
N: salt, rubber, creosote, cream
P: warm, salt, sherry, spiky, smooth, peaty, quaffable
F: warm, med-long
In the interests of disclosure, I love both Loch Gorm releases. It's a beautifully balanced whisky with the Islay flavours perfectly married to a creamy sherry background. I do wonder if it missed a bit in the tasting as it's more subtle than you'd expect, so could have been killed by residual glen grant ? Anyway, it was liked, but did split the cabal with ratings of 6,7,7,8, averaging out at: 7/10
Arran 17yo 46%
N: subtle, bourbon, caramelised demerara sugar
P: grapefruit, fruity, tangy, spritzic, apples
F: medium-long
Arran have been quite interesting to follow over the last few years, their 10 and 12yo releases promised much, but had the feeling they were still too young. But every so often an independent bottler (SMWS usually) released an absolutely stunner - our group reviewed their ginger release way back at Cabal 2 - with all of us picking up a bottle, apparently Dr Death still has some and has promised to bring it to the next meeting (huzzah!!).
I've picked up Arran's every so often and liked them, and what we've noticed is that their house style has settled to a light, floral and fruity whisky with an interesting background of ginger. Obviously their sherry finish loses the ginger, but still we like those too.
We liked this one, a lot, it's quite surprising with the nose and palate not really matching up, but in a good way. Arran are releasing an 18yo next year, and will continue with an 18yo in their standard range.
Very recommended.
8-8.5 /10
Springbank Gaja Barolo 9yo 54.7%
N: ginger, apple, pear drops, oak, rubber
P: crystallised ginger, 'eric type drink', mental
F: short
+H2O: warmer, smooth, honey 'cream not crunch'
Alec picked this up as we all like Springbank, and it's an interesting wee dram. Very fighty (eric) neat, but quite warming and pleasant with water.
6/10 (neat)
7/10 (water)
Glendronach 21yo 48%
N: sherry, xmas cake, monster, bandages
P: sherry, oak, monster, honey
F: warm, long, so very very long
Good Spirits Co describe this as "Christmas pudding in a glass". We can't improve on that description - it's damn near perfect as a sherry monster. With the Glengoyne teapot dram increasing in price every year we think it's worthwhile keeping an eye on the Glendronach range - we've never had a bad one, in fact we've had some very very good ones. Like this. Go forth, buy it.
(the second birthday whisky for Rich, sadly he turned selfish and took the bottles away from us...pout...foot stomp...)
9.5-10 /10
Laphroaig PX
N: TCP, salt, peat, bacon
P: wrong crazy, dry, salt, 'mmm whisky', sherry
F: long, smokey, spiky
Only available in duty free (hence link to Laphroaig's homepage, not Good Spirits Co.) we've tried this before, but as Alec wasn't at that tasting I dragged it along again. We do like it. And none of us are fans of Laphroaig - aside from the very expensive old ones [me] and the Quarter-cask [also me], most Laphraoig is too vicious and not very complex.
So if you see the PX in duty free, pick up a bottle, it's everything Laphraoig isn't.
8.5-9.5 /10
So, another good tasting with a wide range of flavours - and scores. I'm also going on record to say I'll produce a Pub Whisky summary within the next month. There, happy now? eh? bastards.
Love, B
20 May 2014
more metal from the netherworld
Today I've been spinning new music on Spotify. This started out reasonably well with a swedish metal band 'Astrakhan', sort of Symphony X but more under control, and yeah hints of Pain of Salvation. I liked it, possibly not enough to buy the album, but I'll spin them again and if/when a new album comes out will give it a go.
Next up was Sean Kuti + Egypt80's new album 'a long way to the beginning' which is brilliant. He's quite pissed off, and that's a good thing (musically).
And then things took off on a tangent. Actually tangent maybe being too kind, I found Troll Bends Fir. A folk-metal / beer-folk band from Russia, where most lyrics, songs, albums appear to focus on beer and brewing. This I can both cope, and get onboard, with. Wikipedia. There's a lot of tin whistle/flute, and violin, and one song appeared to consist of singing 'slainte' over a metal beat and fiddle accompaniment. Ideal drinking music.
Album titles reflect their central premise: Hopheart, Brothers in drinks, 1516/Order of the Holy Hop.
A clear magnificent manifesto.
Can't seem to find a band camp link for them, and kinda refuse to link to myspace or facebook. so have a youtube video instead.
Next up was Sean Kuti + Egypt80's new album 'a long way to the beginning' which is brilliant. He's quite pissed off, and that's a good thing (musically).
And then things took off on a tangent. Actually tangent maybe being too kind, I found Troll Bends Fir. A folk-metal / beer-folk band from Russia, where most lyrics, songs, albums appear to focus on beer and brewing. This I can both cope, and get onboard, with. Wikipedia. There's a lot of tin whistle/flute, and violin, and one song appeared to consist of singing 'slainte' over a metal beat and fiddle accompaniment. Ideal drinking music.
Album titles reflect their central premise: Hopheart, Brothers in drinks, 1516/Order of the Holy Hop.
A clear magnificent manifesto.
Can't seem to find a band camp link for them, and kinda refuse to link to myspace or facebook. so have a youtube video instead.
13 March 2014
Customer Service and Loch Fyne Whisky
Yes I know LFW have been idolised in these pages. Their customer service was second to none, delivery was brilliantly quick, and any queries were dealt with. For that reason our cabal's non SMWS purchases went through LFW if at all possible.
Last year LFW were bought out by one the bigger boys, the Whisky Shop. Article here.
Things didn't seem too bad, but a recent experience means I won't be ordering from them.
So we placed an order for four bottles, one very nice old Glen Grant, a Springbank and a couple of the Hazelburn Rundlets and Kilderkins release.
I had to email twice before getting a reply - asking if they had the R & K.
As the R & K wasn't on the website yet, I had to call through the order.
We realised pretty quick that the price we'd been charged wasn't what was advertised on the website. So I email back and pointed this out, got a reply saying sure we'll sort that out.
Yeah about that.
There were over 12 emails, 8 phone calls, and two weeks before the difference was refunded. Sure it wasn't a significant amount, but really - getting assured every time that 'yes, that'll be refunded today' - effectively a repeating lie - doesn't make it likely that I'll think happy thoughts about the company, or want to spend more money there.
So LFW are off our xmas card list, and our whisky ordering list. I think we'll add Whisky Shop onto that blanket ban too.
So who does that leave? I'm quite happy to order from the distilleries themselves, unfortunately not all of them have online ordering (Benriach, Glenglassaugh are you reading this?!) so I'm open to suggestions. I've used Royal Mile Whiskies and Whisky Exchange a few times, and aside from WEx being a little pricey I've been happy with them.
But we'd rather support a small company, so suggest away....
I'd say we'd order 4-6 bottles about 4-6 times a year, obviously slightly more at Xmas :)
B
Last year LFW were bought out by one the bigger boys, the Whisky Shop. Article here.
Things didn't seem too bad, but a recent experience means I won't be ordering from them.
So we placed an order for four bottles, one very nice old Glen Grant, a Springbank and a couple of the Hazelburn Rundlets and Kilderkins release.
I had to email twice before getting a reply - asking if they had the R & K.
As the R & K wasn't on the website yet, I had to call through the order.
We realised pretty quick that the price we'd been charged wasn't what was advertised on the website. So I email back and pointed this out, got a reply saying sure we'll sort that out.
Yeah about that.
There were over 12 emails, 8 phone calls, and two weeks before the difference was refunded. Sure it wasn't a significant amount, but really - getting assured every time that 'yes, that'll be refunded today' - effectively a repeating lie - doesn't make it likely that I'll think happy thoughts about the company, or want to spend more money there.
So LFW are off our xmas card list, and our whisky ordering list. I think we'll add Whisky Shop onto that blanket ban too.
So who does that leave? I'm quite happy to order from the distilleries themselves, unfortunately not all of them have online ordering (Benriach, Glenglassaugh are you reading this?!) so I'm open to suggestions. I've used Royal Mile Whiskies and Whisky Exchange a few times, and aside from WEx being a little pricey I've been happy with them.
But we'd rather support a small company, so suggest away....
I'd say we'd order 4-6 bottles about 4-6 times a year, obviously slightly more at Xmas :)
B
5 March 2014
Stupid ignorant surveys
I'm pissed off.
I have had to fill in some forms tonight. For a place in Ulster. I am seriously pissed off at the pig ignorant questions for the HR side.
These included:
Religion - where they listed a number of god-bothering twats, then had none, and other.
Now, religion is a choice. Therefore the null position is always nothing, but not 'none', anything else is the alternative hypothesis (it's kinda similar to smoking, we're all non-smokers until we start).
so I'm going to guess that the correct response is other and something else - however you define the null hypothesis.
the next question had sexual orientation, which had 'decline to answer' as an option. now surely sexual orientation is genetically determined (or at least influenced), so why does that have decline to answer - and the god *choice* doesn't?
ignorance.
and stupidity.
I may have pointed this out on the survey feedback.
I have had to fill in some forms tonight. For a place in Ulster. I am seriously pissed off at the pig ignorant questions for the HR side.
These included:
Religion - where they listed a number of god-bothering twats, then had none, and other.
Now, religion is a choice. Therefore the null position is always nothing, but not 'none', anything else is the alternative hypothesis (it's kinda similar to smoking, we're all non-smokers until we start).
so I'm going to guess that the correct response is other and something else - however you define the null hypothesis.
the next question had sexual orientation, which had 'decline to answer' as an option. now surely sexual orientation is genetically determined (or at least influenced), so why does that have decline to answer - and the god *choice* doesn't?
ignorance.
and stupidity.
I may have pointed this out on the survey feedback.
27 February 2014
Metal
Just a couple of videos today, but quite brilliant ones.
First up, Amon Amarth. Yes, named after a Lord of the Rings location. I think AA have popped up before, but this video from 2013 makes everything else they've done seem a little small minded. Let's see, we have a 4 minute song, what could possibly make it better? How about a full backstory which takes longer than the song itself? Yeah, that could work. Anything we base this on? Well y'know, there's that LotR thing, that George RR Martin malarky, and well pretty much all other fantasy stuff. Hey, yeah, that'll do us. I present to you, Father of the Wolf.
Next up, the new single from Polish metal lads, Behemoth. Safe to say, NSFW, it's also brutal but rifftastic and suspect it may not find a lot of love from my usual readers.
But hey, I like them, and the new album is a lot of win.
BEHEMOTH "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" Official Video Uncensored from Behemoth Official on Vimeo.
me
First up, Amon Amarth. Yes, named after a Lord of the Rings location. I think AA have popped up before, but this video from 2013 makes everything else they've done seem a little small minded. Let's see, we have a 4 minute song, what could possibly make it better? How about a full backstory which takes longer than the song itself? Yeah, that could work. Anything we base this on? Well y'know, there's that LotR thing, that George RR Martin malarky, and well pretty much all other fantasy stuff. Hey, yeah, that'll do us. I present to you, Father of the Wolf.
Next up, the new single from Polish metal lads, Behemoth. Safe to say, NSFW, it's also brutal but rifftastic and suspect it may not find a lot of love from my usual readers.
But hey, I like them, and the new album is a lot of win.
BEHEMOTH "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" Official Video Uncensored from Behemoth Official on Vimeo.
me
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)