Incantation at White rabbit in Plymouth

I felt the need for live music on Tuesday night. I was that the White Rabbit venue in Plymouth was hosting an American death metal band called Incantation. everyone needs a bit of death metal in their lives.

I went to the venue after work. The doors opened at 19:30 and I got there just after 20:00. The place was dark and gloomy. I couldn't see a thing as I walked into the venue. The smoke machine was puffing smoke out and everyone was dressed in black. There was a grinding sound from the sage. The first band: Carcinoma were playing. I started having a panic attack, so I went to the bar for a beer to help me calm down. I liked the sound, hopefully the video below is of the correct band.
The next band up were Warcrab. They wanted more energy from the audience. But it was an older crowd and their energy level was low. By the magic of the internet I see that Warcrab are baed in Plymouth. Next up were the band called Supreme lord. My eyes were used to the gloom.

Finally Incantation started their set. I liked their sound, but I only managed to listen to 4 songs, because my legs were getting tired from standing up.

Taking the bus home

I occasionally for a couple of beers after work. I can get the 23 or 24 bus back to a street close to my flat. The bus leaves every 30 minutes from the Royal Parade in Plymouth. I don't regularly go on the bus, so I don't recognize the passengers -- apart from one woman.

She has short black hair and is very slim. Today she had a bag of goods, no doubt for her family. In the past she has worn high heels with considerable skill and style. I would guess her age as just above 30. Perhaps I should try talking to her, but she doesn't look like a woman who would be impressed by a broken man stinking of whisky and beer.  Even worse, if I had managed to seduce with beer and liqueurs, there would be two people full of beer on the bus. Her children would be waiting for the treats in her plastic bag, but I would have someone to hold hands with.

Pietr the Latvian:

I am going through a phase of reading and hearing on the radio stories about Inspector Maigret. I liked the shows on the radio, so much that I tried reading one of the books. The character was written by Georges Simenon. Inspector Maigret works in the French flying squad in Paris. I have only listened to maybe 6 plays on the radio and read two novels. There was a series on radio 4 about detectives in Europe. A lot of the writers mentioned the work of Simenon as an influence. Although I enjoyed what I had read, I didn't see why it was so highly rated. Simenon did write a lot of books Pietr the Latvian: was the first book in the series. I just finished reading it today, rather than watching the England game I am ashamed to say.  It is a really great book. I liked the play off of the solid character of Maigret and the strange Pietr. Perhaps I just liked the excessive drinking.

Dreams and nakedness

I had some vivid dreams last night night. I was searching for a person at various computer centres in the country. I was in the scene or watching it. At both centres I ended up naked and ended up walking by a big crowd of people as I walked to the lift to go to my private apartment (or just to find my clothes).

I was using fake ID to enter the computer centres.

The dream was a lot more fun when I was having it.

Too extreme for the freakzone

I was listening to the Freazkier zone this morning, where I heard that Stuart Maconie claimed that the track: Patty Waters - Black Is The Colour Of My True Loves Hair was too extreme for the freakzone radio show. Is that possible, given that the freakzone plays some fairly weird stuff? I think that Mr Maconie's brain has been addled by listening too to much prog music.

I did find on Amazon the album by Patty Waters, but you can't download the track in question. You have to buy the physical CD. It was starting to look like a conspiracy! Luckily, the people at google
have not deleted the uploaded track from youtube (not yet anyway).

On listening to "Black is the color of my true love",  I can sort of see Stuart's point.





One of my ambitions was to get a requested song banned by the DJ on the freakzone. The only thing I could thing of was:
David Koresh__ Mad Man In Waco. I own a CD with this on, but I am never sure whether it is a real or not.

A touch of zen

Last night I finished off watching a "touch of zen". This was a really great martial arts film from the early 70s.

Being a slob, I kept waiting for the fighting to start at the beginning, but once the action starts it is great!
I liked the spider webs and atmosphere at the start.

There is one scene with a lot of laughing, which totally freaked me out.



I now totally get why they use flexible swords -- they are the ultimate in concealed weapons. As I get older my toleration for Eastern mysticism gets lower, but I really loved the way zen was used in this film. I always found what Bruce Lee was saying to be naive (outside how to beat someone up.)

I was watching while drinking sake and beer, but I think I would have enjoyed the film more, if I had been sober. The plot of the film was a bit of a complicated.

It is good to see a woman who knows how to use a blade.

bloodfight

This week I watched the film Bloodfight via Netflix. This was the kind of martial film, I used to watch in the 90s. By any standard it was pretty dumb, with a tournament and a student getting killed. In the twenty first century there are films such as the Raid II.

There was even a strange part of the film which had "drunken Kung Fu" in it.

Friday night in Plymouth

I went out for a couple of beers on Friday night. When I went shopping on Wednesday night I found a couple of new pubs. So I had saved Friday night to visit these new places. Unfortunately I didn't write down the name of the first pub. It was a standard pub.

The second pub was called the New Market Pub . The pub was fairly empty, but I got my lager with a smile. Some of my relatives used to live in New Market, and although I liked the relative who lived there, I don't have great memories of New Market (and even feel repulsed.)

After three beers I got the bus home. I was ready to go for more beer at a place in Mutley, but then I calmed down a bit after a cup of tea. I ended the evening watching A touch of Zen while drinking Sake.

I am going to have to go out again to find the name of the first pub.

Friday night excitement

You will not be surprised to find out that I went for a couple of beers after work on Friday. The most exciting thing that happened was that I found a place where I could buy Duvel beer,. This was at a Tesco in the city centre. I like Belgium beer, but even I know that one or two per night is enough.

I know need to get a proper Duvel glass, but 16 pounds seems a bit expensive for what you get.

Look at my classy world cooking ingredients.

A Crime in Holland: Inspector Maigret #7

While I travelled to Liverpool and Burnley I read "A crime in Holland" , an Inspector Maigret novel. I love the character of Maigret, his essential slowness. I don't remember watching any of the TV program adaptions when I was growing up. The books used to be out of print, but by the magic of kindle, the books are now available again.

Odd Thomas

Netflix persuaded me to watch a film called "Odd Thomas". The story was based on a chef who could see dead people. I found the film slightly annoying, with all the small town vibes. The monologue of the main character was a bit annoying, but still I enjoyed the film.

Now that I look at Amazon I see that the film was based on a book by Dean Koontz. Perhaps I will try reading volume 2 of the series.

Hardwired

Am I wasting my life? Last night I finished off watching the film Hardwired. Some guy gets knocked over and gets an implant. This implant then shows adverts directly into his mind. He then finds some guys who can hack into his implant. He is being chased, by the people who inserted the implant.

It was a straight to DVD release. I can see that they wanted to make a sequel, but the film was not strong enough to merit another film.

The tower of glass

During the last week I managed to read "The tower of glass" by Robert Silverberg. What a great book! An industrialist is building a big tower to communicate to maybe aliens . He is using androids to build the tower, little knowing that they worship him as a god. There is plenty of sex with androids, but no aliens come to the party.

Oblivion

I watched the Tom Cruise film Oblivion over the weekend. It was an interesting spectacle of film, but many of the ideas didn't really hold up. Given how crap the plots of the films usually are, it is amazing that the lead character is always obsessed with reading great literature. It is a pity that the writers don't read them. OK, perhaps a better idea would be that the writers read more Philip K. Dick. That is what I missed, was the paranoia of a Dick vision.

From Dusk to Dawn (TV series)

Netflix have remade and extended the film: "From Dusk to Dawn" as a TV series. I enjoyed the original film, when it came out, but I don't view it as a really great film. It was fun, but still a little bit
pointless.

So now there is a TV series. Given that I managed to watch all ten episodes, it is clear that I enjoyed it, because I normally give up, if a TV series is crap. It was strange to watch the early parts of the TV series, because they just expanded the film. The later episodes were essentially all new material, but these required some of the expanded earlier sections. So I guess I agree with the earlier review in the guardian.

One advantage of the film is that Tarentino is not in it. so the acting is a lot better.
The crazy brother is more sane from a crazy point of view.

Mexican night ruined by memories of drinking in a pub in Liverpool.

I have meaning to have a Mexican night. I got some Corona beer, Tequila and some kit to make Mexican food. In the end last night, I was too tired to do anything, but drink a few beers. The bottle of Tequila was at the bottom of a cupboard, so I couldn't even raise the effort to get it.

I am not a total slob. I did manage to cut a few limes to have with the Corona, well you have to make the effort sometimes. When I started drinking, I actually remembered waiting for the bus in Liverpool, rather than the old holiday I had in Mexico city. I used to order a Corona, while I waited for the bus. The tangy taste of lime open up memories.

Who would have thought that I would be writing about what beer I was drinking while I watching TV, when I started writing this blog, nearly ten years ago. Ok, nearly everyone.

The Stochastic man

Last night I finished reading The Stochastic man by Robert Silverberg. I really enjoyed this book. The ideas are so clever, but the prose is so sharp, simple and clean.  There were issues of free will. A marriage fell apart because the woman wanted chaos and the man wanted to be able to predict the future.

I have read the "dice man", but it wasn't for me. After reading this book, I now renounce randomness. 

Sleaford mods

I used to buy a lot f music, but since I started to listen to radio 6, I mostly just stream stuff. I did recently but two albums by the Sleaford mods. They were recommended by a writer in the Guardian. I really the sound. Also they have a really great video below.

On the importance of voting

Why the f*ck was Farage on the Today program this morning. He is always on, but why? I thought he was on three days ago.

Another pointless pub crawl in PLymouth

I was late out of work, but I felt the need for a quick crawl around Plymouth. Now that most of the students are gone, I thought I could try a few student bars, because they are now half empty. I first tried "The Professor and the fresher" . The place was empty, but then most people wanted to drink outside. They had a choice of absinthe for shooters. These students are spoilt. They also had something called a sake bomb. Really rice wine and red bull. Really?

I next went for a beer at the Tika bar and diner. I liked the feel of the bar, but I made the mistake of ordering a real ale. This was almost undrinkable and tasted of vinegar. I only drank half the beer., but really if I feel like shit tomorrow, I will play the "bad pint defence". There is a venue under the bar, so next time I will stick to the bottled larger any maybe hear some bands.

Next I went to the roundabout pub. This seemed like a weird mixture of students and  locals.  The magic of the Internet tells me it is a scream pub. It seemed a lot bigger on the inside than the outside.

Somehow at work it is some kind of vegetarian week, so I fell hungry all the time. So I went to MacDonald's for a hamburger. Then I had a quick drink at Noah's bar before I caught the bus home.

How "A bullet to the head" sold me a bottle of Bulleit Bourbon.

The last two evenings I watched Bullet to the head, a film staring Stallone. It is kind of a strange film. there are bits which are gritty, but there are parts which are really cheesy. From the amazon site I see that the same guy who directed the warriors was the director.

The person who wrote the dialogue should have been shot. It was so wooden.  Of course what did I expect.

I am now going to have to try Bulleit Bourbon. F*ck I can get it from Amazon.

Bigger stronger faster

I just watched: the documentary called: Bigger stronger faster. This was an interesting documentary about body building and steroids. The narrator focuses on his two brothers who are heavily into lifting and wrestling. They both take steroids, but the narrator doesn't. There are also a lot interviews with people for or against the use of steroids.

There is one great bit where he goes to interview Arnold Schwarenzengger , but Arnold uses the meeting  as a photo opportunity. All the guys friends are jealous, because he got to pose with the big man.

I liked the way he folded all this up with the American dream.

The man in the maze

I had planned to spend an evening doing something profitable, but in the end I just read The Man in the Maze by Robert Silverberg.   This was a great book about meeting aliens and feeling very bitter. I now want to live in an alien maze -- it is the thing to do. It reminded me a bit about Gulliver's travels, where after one final voyage, he can no longer stand human beings.

The prose was crisp and simple, but I liked the big ideas.

The Expatriate

I watched "the expatriate" on netflix last night. It was sort of an enjoyable thriller, but as usual it was also kind of annoying. The central emotional thread of the film is the father trying to mend his relationship with his estranged daughter. This would be fine, but the problem is that in action movie, a lot of people end up dead. Somehow he is vindicated as a person, because he is trying to wins his daughter's love, even though everyone around him ends up dead, and he doesn't care or even notice.

As the comments on the Amazon page for the film state: the film is very similar to "Taken."

Why I would study the dark side of the force.

While I ate my dinner I watched a bit of the third Star Wars movie. I enjoyed the Star Wars films when I was going up, but I am not some weird freak, who worships them. The lead actor in the third film pisses me off a lot, because he such a brat. Anyway I didn't mean to complain about him again.

If I was studying the force, I would try and study both good and dark side of the force. Of course when I study the dark side I would not go crazy and kill a bunch of kids (like some mad f*cks I could mention. ) So I would have been impressed to hear the Chancellor's speech on the dark side. I would do this for strategy reasons. It is always good to understand what the opposition is thinking.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” 
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Of course this may be a bit deep for George Lucas.

Who is chasing the chasers ?

Do I even understand the words I use? In the last post, I mentioned the word "chaser". An online dictionary, has many definitions of chaser.  These all involve spirits with another drink, but sometimes the spirit is the chaser and some times it is the other drink.

As part of my research for this post i found this useful information.  I had this horror that I would be regarded as uncultured, because I ordered a beer with whisky chaser, but really I should have ordered a whisky with a beer chaser. You may not thing this matters, but the upper class worry which direction the bottle of port is passed.

Absinthe not gyms for Craig last Friday night.

Ah the pleasures of an empty page. Oh the irony I went to my gym yesterday to pick up my ID. I didn't have my training gear, because I was worried that they would force to do an induction. Some fitness instructor wold learn how weak and flabby I was. In fact, the induction consisted of the woman telling me where the fire escapes were.

I then went for a couple of beers around the Royal Parade in Plymouth. Kind of a pointless, after work session. I did find that I can order absinthe in the Plymouth Walkabout . I saw the green bottle tempting me, while the slow barmaid flirted with some young guys. I just got a small shot, but it trashed my mind, as a chaser with a pint of Heineken drunk out of a plastic glass. The bar is vast, dark and cold. It was also mostly empty, but it was a bit early for the night time party time.

There was music outside in a square, but I went home around 20:30, full of beer and emptiness.

Can fried bread talk?

I think fried bread can talk. I heard it talking to me while I drank a beer in the pub last night. The cafe near my office sell a reasonable 5 item breakfast. I hear your command. I hear the words "eat me."

A few pointless beers in the early evening in Plymouth

I went shopping after work. So after some chores, I felt I deserved a few beers. There is a weird feel to drinking beer in the early evening. I first went to the voodoo lounge, because it is close to the University. It was fairly empty at 18:30. I did start reading a bit more of the man in the maze. I next moved to the Brass Monkey -- a Wetherspoon pub. The place was full of old guys starting at their drinks . I had given up reading at this stage. I stood by the bar, but I left after a nice smelling woman stood by me as she waited with her man to be served.

The final pub I went to was close to my bus stop to get me home. A least that was my excuse. The pub was the Noah's Ark pub. This is not a student pub, so does tend to collect harden drinkers. I was just there to wait for my bus. When I went it there were two women at the bar. After a while, they left, as one woman pulled out a smoke. This just left us dad guy drinkers. After a while the  chick came back and she ordered a pint of beer. She looked as dejected as us beer staring classes. The woman serving started cleaning the menus in front of me in an aggressive manner.

I had enough, so I blasted the rest of my pint and went to the bus stop. The driver was smoking. When he had finished I got on the bus and we were away. At the first stop, an attractive woman with black hair got on the bus and sat close to me. The woman was perhaps late 30s or early 40s. I was planning our future together, before she got off. A few stops later, I got off and I walked home.

If I had not drunk the beer I would have read more of the man in the maze.

The flaw

This weekend I manged to finish watching the Flaw via a streaming service. This was a documentary about the 2008 mortgage crisis. the name of film: the flaw comes from a quote by Alan Greenspan, which he used when he was trying to explain how he messed up the world economy to a committee .

The film contained interviews with economists, as well as real people who had lost, or where in the process of losing their house. There was an important point about wealth inequality. In the 50s and 60s wages went up, but in the 70s and beyond, people started getting payed in being allowed to go into debt.  It is much like the guys who built the railways in the us getting paid with credit at the local store.

Dylan Thomas

When I was around 18, I was  very much under the spell of Dylan Thomas. I liked his prose work best, perhaps because of the tales of drunken fun. I still remember the line "he still loved her, but he didn't like anything she said or did." I am not a great reader of poetry.

In my early 20s I got some tapes of him reading poetry. I liked his rich powerful voice.

I think we studied "Under Milk Wood" at school, but that didn't put me off.

Still I am not sure I am so interested now everyone is getting ready for 100 years after
his birth.

The mystery of the moving toilet roll

If there are any regular readers of this blog, who have not been turned to the dark side, then they will notice a gradual decline in my adventures. Where once I travelled to Egypt or Cuba, now I sit in my room and watch Netflix. Well once you have a 42 inch TV, there is not much point in leaving my flat.

Anyone who drinks a few beers in the evening, often worries about what happened the night before.  Did I send a bad email. Two days ago, I noticed that a toilet roll had moved from close to the toilet, to the entrance of the bathroom. Why would I have done that?  I think someone moved it while I slept. Well I said, someone but maybe I meant something. F*cking aliens!

Love, hate and charmed on TV.

If you want to watch TV on Saturday or Sunday morning, there is not much choice in viewing. Apart from the news, there is usually a lot of teleshopping. The show that I can just about stomach is "charmed".  Given it is about supernatural stuff and their is a bit of fighting, I can't actually manage to watch a full episode.

Part of the problem is that although the main three characters are witches, they are also American chicks, with a mall fondness. Normally I view the the ability of a woman  to punch and explode things with their minds, as a bit of a turn on. But some how, their typical American girl net door vibe gets on my nerves.

Some kind of thwarted sexual desire of course. Anyway in my flat I control the TV remote, if nothing else.

How travelling from Plymouth to Exeter by train nearly drove me insane

On Thursday I had to go to Exeter for a quick meeting. I decided to go for a train around 8:10. I walked to the station, with a reasonable amount of time to spare. I had planned on eating a bacon roll, but there was not enough time, so I went straight to the platform. The screen then showed that the train was late by about 15 minutes. There was another train at 8:20 but that was late as well.

The announcements started. They first said the first train was late by 16 minutes. Then they announced that the second train was late by 18 minutes. Then it was time to say that the first train was late by 17 minutes, followed by an announcement about a slight change of the lateness of the second train. All the time more and more people were filling up the platform. And can you guess what happened next. Yes the first train was now 20 minutes late, so they told us about that, followed by an update on the second train. This announcement war of sound continued for another 5 minutes, when for a change they started to announce that a third train was now 5 minutes late, because the other two train were late. It was so fu*cking loud. I thought my head was  going to explode

But the train did come and all was quiet in the carriage. I just could stare out the window at the nice coast line and dream of the train falling into the sea.

When I took the train back from Exeter to Plymouth. I was stopped and asked o join a focus group about the trains. A figure of 30 pounds  was mentioned. Payback time mother f*ckers.

The dreams are gone

I awoke confused this morning. The last dream of last  night involved a virtual reality room. I was very confused in the dream, but it made sense when I awoke. Later today, I am full of beer and the morning  moment has gone. The dream is over.

John Carter

I just watched John Carter on Netfix. The film didn't make any money when it was released. Somehow it confused audiences, mostly because the film never mentioned Mars, but the name of the planet was hidden in the film.

I have recently read A Princess of Mars: John Carter of Mars by  Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was an exciting story, but not great literature. The plot of book was different to the film. The book was mostly about fighting, if I remember. There wasn't a subplot about some mysterious race who controlled Mars in the book.

The clown service

Yesterday rather than drinking another beer in the pub I went home and finished reading The Clown Service by Guy Adams. This was an amusing urban fantasy and time travel mash up.

Raid II

I have finally managed to watch the Raid II at my local cinema. I have tried to find the cinema a couple of times. When I lived in Glasgow I used to go to the cinema nearly once a week, but after I lived in Germany, I essentially stopped going.  Now that I know where the cinema is, I can start going again.

Anyway the raid II is a great action film. I am in love with hammer girl. I thought the first 1/2 hour was a bit slow, but they had to set the plot up. by mostly killing everyone, except one person who survived the first film. It rapidly speeds up at the beginning, into a lot of fights and gun battles. And there are a lot of fight scenes!

At the moment it is the highest grossing foreign film this year at this time.

I particularly enjoyed the review
The reaction of the reviewers is great when they listen to the sound track.

Expendables II

I read somewhere that Stallone was pissed that Bruce Willis was lazy on the  expendables II film. After watching it on a streaming site, I thought Bruce was one of the better actors.

Why I watch these things is sometimes beyond me. Most of the action movies for Asia are way better than any Hollywood action movie. But sometimes late at night, I don't want to concentrate on the subtitles.

Although the film is really a carton. I was amazed at how crap they were at being soldiers. No one posted any "look outs" at night. They only saw that they were being attacked, when someone went out for a coffee.

I liked Dolph Lundgren as well. Anyway it was good to see Einstein's theory of general relativity in one scene.

The authority fractured worlds

Plymouth city library provided me with the book: Fractured Worlds (Authority). This is a graphic novel about a set of super heroes who actually rule the world. The book was mid-story, so I was a bit confused as the beginning. There was a new religion run by a crazy superhero guy. Someone's daughter tried to destroy the multiverse (yeah).

I am happy that I started to look at this book rather than of the Marvel standards.

A wee drink of Buckfast

While I lived in Glasgow I never heard of Buckfast wine, but recently I have been reading about this demon drink.  So I thought I would give it a try. Although this is meant to be a badass drink, it is also fucking expensive. I ordered my bottle from Amazon for about 12 pounds.

I liked the taste, but is not something I would want to drink more than three glasses in a session. I also felt wired from caffeine, so also not  great drink at the end of the day.

The abby where they make this drink is close to Plymouth, so perhaps a day trip should be planned.

The search for bar oasis has ended in failure

A couple of times I have been out for a walk, the purpose of which was to find the legendary bar Oasis in Plymouth. The main purpose of this quest was to find the nearest pub to my home. Anyway it looked as though the pub had been converted into either a Muslim centre or Doctor's surgery. I studied google maps and the street view, but I could see no bar.

Just by chance I saw the Bar Oasis close to some supermarkets I normally use. According to google Beaumont Rd is linear, but the road curves and that is where the bar was hidden. So I couldn't find the bar, because of the confused geometry of Plymouth.

Like the quest of the holy grail, the bar was shutdown. Given my career problems this week, perhaps fate is telling me to buy and then open this bar.

Gabriel García Márquez and writer's block

A long time ago I read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Márquez. I enjoyed the magic realism, but the book cursed me. When I lived Liverpool, my flat was close to the ruins of an old church, once used as a base for one of my ancestors. There was a time capsule from this ancestor, which turned up when a school was digging to make a new school gym. If I had not read the book, I would have tried to imagine a story that this ancestor was trying to communicate with me. But  Márquez was there first. He blocked my creativity. 

Going postal

After a bad week at work (even though I had have only been in two days), I needed something to cheer me up. So I thought it was time to reading "going postal" by Terry Pratchett. This was a great discworld novel. It was really a satire on finance, and the kinds of deals that allowed Man United to be taken over by using the assets of Manchester United. It was very funny and I really liked the main character. So the day was well spent.

The best part of the film:G.I. Joe: Retaliation

I watched the film G.I. Joe: Retaliation on a popular streaming film site. It was a dumb film, but I knew that before I clicked the button to play. I was drinking beer while I watched it, but I am pretty sure that at one point in the film, the centre of London was blown up. The satellite weapon was ready to destroy London straight away, but they had to wait to destroy other cites around the world.

So that is the "special relationship", the US will destroy London first. Thanks guys.
There was a ceremony at the end, where the president was happy that he and the world was safe, but they never mentioned the destruction of London at all.

A night out at White Rabbit

When I lived in Liverpool I used to go out to gigs about 2 or 3 times a week. When I moved to Glasgow I used to go out once or twice a months to see live music. When I moved to Germany, I used to go out to see live music perhaps once or twice every year. You can see the pattern emerge.

Last night I went out to see some bands play at the White Rabbit venue in Plymouth.
The bands playing were:

• RANDOM HAND 
• DUST BOWL JOKIES 
•  SOUNDS OF SWAMI 
•  THESE CREEPS

I got to the venue about 21:00. I think that the sounds of Swami band were playing. This band was a great hard core band. I usually stand at the back of the crowd at venues. One guy pushed his way to the front,  threw a full glass of beer over another guy and started "slam dancing" at the front. I thought that a fight would break out, but it didn't. When I used to regularly go to gigs, this was totally normal.

The next band was the "Dust bowl jokies". I wasn't really in the mood for this type of American rock, even if the band was from Sweden. At another time, with a different audience, I would have been  more into it.

At the end was "Random Hand" a punk/ska band played. I liked their energy and interaction with the audience.

I am getting too old to stand up for an entire gig.

Strontium Dog #2: Prophet Margin

As part of my stacation I have been trying to read a little. This week I read the amusing: Strontium Dog #2 by Simon Spurrier. There was a plot based on a very strange religion. The investigation and search for a super criminal spanned  across the Universe.

I am going to have to get into the original 2000AD comic.

The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership: A Critical Perspective

I think a writer for the Guardian recommend the book: The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership: A Critical Perspective by Dennis Tourish. I managed to finish off reading it a couple of days ago. this was an interesting book about the cult of leadership in business. One of the reasons that many CEOs get huge salaries is because people claim that the CEO is the most important person  in a company. There are claims that the CEO can fundamentally change an organisation.

The book shows that many of the ideas of "leadership" are not just wrong, but dangerous. No one wants to tell the boss bad news, so only good information is passed to them. The book contrasts the idea of a supremo leader with the leader of a cult. A cult is a more extreme than a business, but there are enough parallels to make the comparison interesting, in for example the collapse of Enron.

As usual the business schools are also part of the problem.

A meal at Nandos in Plymouth

There is a Nandos restaurant in the centre of Plymouth. I was tempted to try it, particularly after I heard on the radio, that Micky Flannagan's opera loving wife was pissed at him for offering to take her on a date to a Nandos in London.

Anyway as part of my stacation I decided I should try something new every day. So Tuesday's new thing was a meal at Nando's. I had only eaten soup and bread at lunch time, but I wasn't that hungry. so I just ordered garlic bread and chicken and a bottle of Brazilian beer. When the food turned up, I thought this must be the starter. At some stage I will get this big chicken dish. The dish had two pieces of bread and some weird small orange thing. After a while I tasted the orange things. Fu*ck man this is the chicken. The food was fine and the staff were helpful, but I doubt I will go there again.

The other people in the restaurant were very enthusiastic and excited. There were big groups of young and older women. Perhaps I am being a bit snobby about the experience. I am so stressed at the moment that my mind is not fully in reality.

Dublin under water and the heat of a woman.

Last night I dreamed I was waiting to go to a funeral. I walked out by the sea side to go to the church. At first the water is normal, but then the waves get bigger and bigger. I was behind some rocks on a cliff, but the water started to thrash and the waves got BIGGER. The water almost soaked me and I decided to move in land. The next thing I saw was a big tidal wave and I decided to RUN.

Later I am with a woman and a gun travelling through Dublin. The water is rising and it looks as though the city may be destroyed, but the woman is warm against my body as I walk streets, so I felt mighty fine.

So I was really annoyed to hear the alarm wake me to drab reality of failed exams.

A new idea for Tuesday

I had meant to take a trip today to Newquay. But it takes over 1 hour to get there from Plymouth and there are no late trains back. I am really taking this staycation thing seriously.

I saw my landlady yesterday, doing a bit of gardening. She complained to me, that it was a nice sunny day and I was inside my flat.

It will not be a totally wasted day, because I have learned about a new concept: Cognitive Dissonance.
I like the idea of working with two opposite ideas in my mind at the same time. It is very similar to thinking about classical and quantum mechanics.

A knock on the door

Yesterday I was in a fitfull waking state. I thought I heard a knock on the door. But was it real? It sounded like a dream knock, not from the doors of hell itself, but still not a real sound. But I got out of bed, stinking of hangover and last night's excess, put some shorts on, and went to the door. I opened it, and saw the void. I staggered back to bed and tried to sleep again.

A (short) night out in Plymouth

I used to go out a lot when I lived in Liverpool, mostly to see live bands play. But I went out less in Glasgow and even less in Wuppertal. Now when I go out for a beer, it is just after work. There is a different vibe to the drinkers at 18:00, than at 22:00. I normally watch TV after 22:30.

This Easter I am on a mission to de-stress, so I thought I would go out at 22:00 last night and leave the TV at home. It is quieter at the moment, because most of the students are away. Still as I walked to an area called Mutley, there were a number of groups of guys shouting at each other on the street. The optimal route to the pub involved walking through a well lit park. The park seemed safe enough.

The first pub I went to , had about 10 people in it. I drank a beer while groups of guys walked by. I went to the next bar with sawdust on the floor.  There were more people in this bar, but not nearly enough to say the bar was half full. It was a slightly crazy bar, with some guys shouting at each other in a friendly way. I drank a beer and a Pernod. One young woman was dancing and talking with guys she didn't know in a wasted way. All the bar staff were beautiful in a tattooed kind of way. The manager was a huge solid guy, not fit, but solid.

Anyway I went home, turned on the TV and opened a beer. I am not sure I am missing anything, but not going out.

Bowmore single malt whisky

I was given a bottle of Bowmore single malt whisky for my birthday. I was trying to think of a way of recording my experiences of exploring the smoky world of whisky.  I have not been writing so many blog posts, since I moved to Plymouth, mostly because of physical exhaustion.

Now would be a good place for a review, but I am drinking a cup of tea before I go out  to visit a few pubs.

Last nights religous experience

I love meat, but I know very little about it. I don't eat steak that much in restaurants, mostly because I prefer to eat ethnic food. There is always that awkward question when you order meat: "how do you want it done?" Last night the question was phrased different. I was eating at the River Cottage Bistro in Plymouth. I was told, the steak comes "medium rare",  but do you want it cooked any other way?

Long ago I moved from ordering steak "well done" to "medium", but eating steak cooked "rare" was almost a religious experience, because it was so tasty. I hope I am not changing into a gourmet.

The Door into Summer

I have finished reading the novel "the door into summer" by Robert A Heinlein. This was a great time travel novel, with an engineer with lots of ideas for novel for robotics. But what haunts m the most was the starting story. In the winter, a cat is going round the house trying all the different doors. The cat is hoping to find the door into the summer.

Of course there is a strange "love" affair in the novel, that looks wrong.

Stolen - a crap Cage film

This week I watched the film Stolen with Nicholas Cage in it. What the fu*k happened to Nicholas Cage. I could see the plot was like a mis-mash of his earlier action films, but done in a very unconvincing way. Still it was OK for late night viewing stretched over two nights. It looked as though the film was a straight to video.

I now want to watch Vampire's kiss, when Cage was more insane and committed.

I borrowed from Plymouth library:

Ex Machina TP Vol 07 Ex Cathedra 

a great graphics novel.

I was a bit confused at the start of the book, because it didn't make much sense.  There were a number of sub-threads of the plot. About 20% of the way through the book I realized what was going on. However, it was volume 7 of the series. There was a superhero and the mayor of New York, who was visiting the pope. Good stuff. The Mayor could talk to machines.

Dr Who on Netflix

This week I watched Resurrection of he Daleks on Netflix this week. I don't think I have ever watched this Dr Who episode before. I didn't remember how violent these late classic shows were. There was a lot of chemical warfare in the show. The body count was high

The Black Eyed Blonde

I have just spent a short break in Torquay. While there I read The Black Eyed Blonde by Benjamin Black. The angle for this book is that is about Philip Marlowe. I just loved the mixture of hope and jaded cynicism. There was booze drugs and shootings and dames.

Pointless quest for Bar Oasis

I have been using google services to look for stuff to do close to my flat. Google tells me that the nearest bar is Bar Oasis on Beaumont Rd, But I have searched and searched for it, but I have not found any cozy bar at all. It looks as though the bar has been closed and then converted into a doctor's surgery.  Grr. People are taking this fitness and health thing too far...

Artemis Fowl

I picked up in Plymouth library the graphic novel: Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel. Although this is clearly a children's book, I enjoyed it. It was a battle between a young boy genius and armed fairies. I want to read more of the stories now...

Roy Kane: TV Detective

I picked a couple of graphics novel from Plymouth public library. One of which was: Roy Kane: TV Detective. I have been fairly brain dead for the last 6 months. So I was happy my mind could focus on this book. However it is clearly a children's book. Still words ...

The avengers assemble

I have wanted to watch "the avengers assemble" for sometime, but Itunes didn't rent it. Luckily netfix is now streaming it. So I watched it over the last of couple of nights. I particularly like the hulk character. Hulk had less angst and he was more funny, but he still managed to smash stuff

Mouse dreams

Last night I had a dream about time travel. I was trying with someone else to break into a hospital. There was some important reason for the break in, but in the end I just remember we were after upper and downer and pills. At the end the police came after us. We escaped prison by  better understanding of functions.

At the end of the dream I was trying to stop a mouse following my friend. I electrocuted the mouse. It stopped following my friend through the earth, but at some stage it just ignored the electricity and started to burrow through the earth. Then I woke up in fear of the mouse coming out out of the bed.

Theory of illness

I have had a cold for about three weeks. I thought I was getting better on Friday, but in the afternoon I started to feel really bad. It was a real struggle to get home. I did think of going for a beer, but my stomach was messed up that I couldn't face it. Yes I was that ill I couldn't drink a beer.
I went to bed as soon as I got in and slept until the next day.

On Saturday I planed to get chips, gravy and a pie, but again I couldn't face it. (I did manage to drink a beer later, so I knew I was getting better.)

Of course the ultimate test of illness is not being able to drink tea. If I can't drink tea, then I must be dead.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Last week I watched the film: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. It was OK, but it didn't do a lot for me. It was a typical Hollywood film, with two of the main characters wearing leather and talking sassy to each other.  There is a great deconstruction of the trailer of the film from the guardian.

As Peter Bradshaw says in the Guardian

These are dark days. The Oscars are over, and now morale doesn't get any lower, as the very worst films are dumped ignominiously into cinemas like a vanload of cook-chill equine lasagnes delivered to schools and hospitals. This movie is a case in point. It's a film which is so demeaningly bad, so utterly without merit, that there is a kind of purity in its awfulness. There is a Zen mastery in producing a film which nullifies the concept of pleasure.

I agree with Kermode's review.

Interestingly enough Netflix have just sent me an email to say that the TV series Grimm is available. I was surprised, because it was a personal email, but then I did a web search a couple of weeks ago.

Why I joined netflix (well because I wanted to watch archer)

I saw that Channel 5 had a series called archer, but their online player wouldn't let me actually watch it. I was going to buy the box set, but it was on netflix, so I signed up.

In the past I have watched a lot of America Dad episodes, I liked archer much better. The familyness of the America Dad and Family Guy get on my nerves, because of all the family stuff.

The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 and Part 2

On Amazon's love film I watched Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 and Part 2. This was the animated version of the great comic by Frank Miller. I liked the darkness of the original comic. I felt the rage of Bruce Wayne, as he sits alone drinking. I liked this film too. This is an old batman, not too sure of himself, but kept alive by rage.

 I never did trust that Superman guy.

Talk in a Plymouth chip shop

I was in my local chippie just before closing time. There was a woman who claimed to be a producer of some local TV program, but who was doing a chip run. She had slightly strange body language, but was basically OK. It seemed a bit weird to be boasting about her job, but the guys serving the food were in good spirits. I had drunk a couple of beers, so I was mellow. They know about the North gravy connection.

Iron man 2

By the magic of netflix I watched iron man 2 this week. I enjoyed the film, but I just liked iron man 3 so much more. There was more a level of insanity in the third film, which was missing in the second film.

Dreams of the evil dead

I had a dream last night, where I had some very evil book. I had to get rid of it. I had to give to a person. I knew a satanist, but he was a bit of a dick, so I didn't want to send him to hell. I was worried the book was starting to control me I was scared, but it was a happy dream.

Anyway I recently watched on of the evil dead films, so I think that explains a lot.

On being a regular

I went for a beer after work yesterday to a pub I swear I only go to once a fortnight. The woman serving knew my order. This freaked me out a bit, but she said it is a bit of unusual order: staroparen beer and a shot of Plymouth gin. There is a very good chip shop close to me. I only go in once a week, but the guy knows I like steak and kidney pie, chips and gravy.

I have only been in the UK for 6 months and I am already a regular.

Valentines day and flu

I have been suffering with a cold/flu the last week. I have not been so ill that I have to take time off work, but I have felt like shit and everything is even harder work than normal. I worked from home yesterday, but around 18:00 I went for quick beer and to pick up some chips and a pie. The wind was blowing hard and as I limped through freedom fields park, I was the staggering of the trees. I felt cut off from reality in my flu like state.

Below is the remains of my meal on Valentines day.

Guardians of the Galaxy Earth Shall Overcome

I also borrowed the book Guardians of the Galaxy Earth Shall Overcome from Plymouth library. This was a collection of old school comics. A thousand years in the future, some lizard like race has enslaved the human race. Four defenders fight back in a way that involves a lot of time travel and heroes from other parts of the DC universe.

The stories were simpler than more modern comic stories. There was not the same angst about whether they were doing the right thing.

Batman: The Black Mirror

I borrowed Batman: The Black Mirror from the Plymouth library. This was an amazing and scary graphic novel. The original batman is no longer in Gotham city, but Robin has taken over the bat costume. The son of commissioner Gordon finally shows he is insane. A killer whale is found in a bank with a dead woman inside it. Everyone is on edge and wandering what they are doing in Gotham. The only happy people are insane or evil. The daughter of a minor criminal has gone straight or has she.

The graphics reminded me of the sin city movie.

kiss me deadly on new years eve

It was coming up to New Years eve. I did think of trying to go to the pub for a hour or so, but it seemed more pleasant to watch films at home. The pubs are normally full and many places have cover charges. Of course last year I went to to techno festival until 4:00 in the morning, so all the wildness may not  be fully out of my system.

I decided to watch kiss me deadly on New Years Eve. This was an amazing black and white film. A private detective picks up a girl on the road. Shortly after she is murdered and the detective trys to find out who had done it, partly because he thinks there might be some money in it.

The film ends with a small nuclear explosion on a beach!

In praise of the professionals

I was sad to hear about the death of Lewis Collins last month. When I was growing up I really loved the TV series: "The Professionals". Two cool guys, plenty of guns, and a harsh Scotsman boss. I loved  the car chases as well. It was always pretty dumb stuff. One episode seemed to be just Bodie and Doyle being chased around with people firing automatic weapons at them.

I remember one episode, where Doyle was searching for someone by sitting on a regular double decker bus, while it went around its regular route.

Anyway these were my role models when I was growing up.

Repo man versus Repo men

I was excited to see that Film4 was showing the film "repo man" last night. When I turned on the TV it turned the actual film was Repo Men.

I really loved the film "Repo man". I saw it on a rented video perhaps in the 90s. I was not cool enough to have seen it when it came out in the 80s. You have to love a film with a sound track which includes "when the shit hits the fan."





I did enjoy watching the first half of the film "Repo men". There was a lot of blood and even though some of the film had a bit too much family values for my taste. I wonder what happened at the end.
(I should say that the film repo men is not a remake of repo man -- just so that we are clear.)

I feel safe at last.

While travelling I saw something I have not seen for a long time. Yes a bin in a UK train station. A long time ago, there were concerns that terrorists would plan bombs in the bins of railway stations. For over a decade, there was no place to put a coffee cup or burger wrapper at a UK train station.

This picture is from Exeter St Davids station.

We must be safer now that bins are reappearing on UK stations. Perhaps I should map out where I find bins in UK stations. I will be a new type of "train spotter."

Strontium Dog #1: Bad Timing

Ring the bells! Put out the bunting for I have read another book! While traveling back from Burnley to Plymouth, I started and finished off reading: Strontium Dog #1: Bad Timing by  Rebecca Levene.
This was a  good science fiction tale involving robots, time bombs and mutants. There were some great plot twists.

Now that I look on the web I see that Strontium dog was a character in the 2000AD comic. This story just used the characters, rather than retell a comic.

Anyway I need volume 2.

Homunculus

I have just finished reading Homunculus by James P Blaclock , The author was an important writer in the development of steam punk writing. I wanted to like the book, but it took a struggle to finish the book. The plot involved alien space ships golems and various boxes. There was a strange cast of characters.

I read the book in stages over about 6 months, so that was no ideal for a book with a complicated plot.

No nasty X-mas jumper for me

Yeah it is the end of Christmas today and I have survived the holiday. Currently the fashion is for X-mas jumpers. I was worried that I would be given one as a present, but thankfully no.

Dada art and b*shit

A couple of weeks ago I was reading the Guardian newspaper which was complaining about Damien Hurst, or some other superstar modern UK artist. The writer recommended reading the writings of the critic calledJulian Stallabrass. So I downloaded the book Art Incorporated: The Story of Contemporary Art

The book was an interesting look at the economics and politics of art. He looked at shows around the word and the influence of company sponsorship of art. I now have a better understanding of why art departments at Universities like theory and art installations, rather than actual paintings.

I was amused to see the ever rising number of art graduates.

See this essay for a short summary of his views.

I want a swagger stick

I have just been listening to an audio book version of a Dr Who novel: The ambassadors of death.
At the end of the story, a disgraced general picks up a his swagger stick and is arrested by the military police.

I thought I have no idea what a swagger stick is for. By the magic of the Internet I know now and my life can go on. I assume it is no longer used to beat squaddies. I would rather have a sword or machete.

Captain America : The death of Captain America

There is a small collection of graphics novel in Plymouth public library. I have just read
Captain America: The Death Of Captain America. This was the first graphics novel set in the DC universe which I have read, so I didn't know all the characters. I knew a bit about shield from the recent crap TV series.

I liked the grimy feel to the book and the sense of moral greyness. To be honest I should read it again to make sure I fully understood what was going on.

sleep (or lack of)

I have been sleeping very badly since I moved to Plymouth. The new job has been very stressful and often woke up at 4:00 in the morning worrying about the things I should have done. I know that I should not have done  this, but my body refuses to listen to reason.

Last night I went to bed at 21:00, but I woke late feeling tired. (I did feel awake at 4:00, so I watched the first part of the professionals on TV).

Superman: Red Son

One thing I noticed when I came back to the UK was that there were no longer many cartoons shown on TV on Saturday morning. With the magic of "love film" I can stream as many cartoons as I want.

One film I really liked was: Superman: Red Son. The idea was that superman was actually found in Soviet Russia. He was the right hand man of Stalin until he died. After Stalin died he took over Russia. Batman was a terrorist working for freedom.

I liked this a lot more than the standard superman stories. There is more information about the original comic book.

The world's end

Two days OK I watched the world's end via Itunes. I enjoyed the film, but the central idea of a 40 year old, harking back to his past was a similar idea to "Shaun of the dead" and "hot fuzz". The film was a lot darker then the two earlier films in the trilogy. I would have let the guy drink his pint at the end of the film.

Mark Thomas

Two weeks ago I went to see the comedian Mark Thomas at the Calstock Arts  I had heard him on the BBC radio shows. He is very political, but it wasn't clear that the show would be funny. However, he was funny and he did have good stage craft. The set was still political. He is spending the year doing 100 acts of minor dissent.

I liked the idea of book heckling, where he would put slips of paper into books in book stores.

The venue was an old chapel by the river. Although it was so dark, I had to take the existence of the river on faith.

In praise of Jason Molina

The days are long past where I would buy two or three CDs per week. Now I just stream music from radio 6 or listen to play on radio4extra. Having said that I just got from amazon, an album by The Magnolia Electric Co, after hearing a track on the Marc Riley show.

I just like the quiet despair of the singing. I was sad to hear that the main guy: Jason Molina was dead -- killed by the bottle.  He wanted to be in a heavy metal band, but frankly you can't tell from
the song below.

Iron man III

Even now that I live in the UK again, I have not managed to go the cinema. I am behind on all the superhero news. What happened in New York with the Avengers? By the magic of Itunes, I did manage to rent Iron Man III, even though I havge not seen Iron Man II.

I thought it was a great film. Probably one of the best superhero movies I have ever seen. I just liked the way his suit was almost his friend. Also he was obsessed with making new suits.

Blood work

I joined Plymouth libraty close to the University campus. There is a small section with graphics novels.I just finished off reading Blood work by Kim Harrison. Thee story was about a vampire and witch team. Yeah what ever next.

Storm troopers in the Independent quarter of Pymouth

There is shopping area in Plymouth which is called the independent quarter. I went there today, partly to find the market. There were a lot of small shops. While I walked back I walked past a comic book store. There were 4 guys standing around in various storm trooper like costumes outside the shop.

I looked away and I tried to ignore them.

As it happens I have spent the day reading the graphic novel lucifer, which I borrowed from the local library at Plymouth.

Well I will still end up visiting the comic store, for I feel the need for more graphics novels.

Falling over

It was raining hard today. I went out of my flat to put some stuff into he recycling bin. I wasn't paying attention. I slipped on a wet stone. I slipped very hard on my back. Luckily my back pack saved my back.

My first thought was that my laptop was destroyed, then my ipad was broken.

All the recycling stuff which turned out to be beer cans fell onto the pavement. I was a bit ashamed to be lying in the rain by a heap of beer cans. I shakily got to my feet and limped into work.

All was well, no computer stuff was broken when I got into work. My bum hurt for two days.

bacon and hearts

I was walking close to some shops in Plymouth. Suddenly I felt that my heart tighten. Oh my God, I thought this is it, I am having a heart attack. After some deep breathing, and burping I started to feel OK again. I should have not eaten that bacon and chips lunch so quickly.

watching martial arts movies

Last night I watched the Capitol Conspiracy (also known as the prophet) from an online streamer of films. It featured Don (The Dragon) Wilson. There was some plot, but basically like everyone else I watch this film for the fights. It was old fashioned in the sense that there was a lot of high kicking, which has gone out of fashion, because after the Bourne films. Now people want to see more realistic fighting.

Maybe 10 years ago I would only watch this type of movie on video, but now with the internet and streaming, there is more choice. Still a person needs a little dumbness in their life.