March 29, 2006

And all you see is where else you could be…..

Hmmmm..... I don’t know what I’ ve got today....


I’ m listening to Smashing Pumpkins ”1979” at the moment - reminds me riding around high in my friends car - sticking my hand out the window and pretending it was a dolphin as I let it dip and dive against the wind.
Always laughed at how my brother looked like that little long haired hippy kid fighting his way through the crowded party in the classic video.


Death Cab follows and a track that has a line about every love that could’ve been If i’d only thought of something charming to say.


I went past the place I used to work when I was 18 today - clothing mail order company - gaggle of worn down women sniping behind each others backs as soon as one left the room - taking phone orders for ill fitting cardigans and tweed jackets for the elderly and misguided.


In the middle of it all, Kirsty and I used to conjure cheque cashing scams and quietly sloped off for Mari-jo and munchies at lunchtimes - only to return in a dub daze haze and spend the rest of the time dodging the fierce Chinese Gestapo style whip-cracker who managed the office.


Kirsty always did take her smoke better than me - perhaps she spent so much more of her time stoned that no one really saw any other side of her. I would go all panda eyed and red-Chinese and have to go and hide in the warehouse.


We bought our first ever big batch of Mari-jo together - she put up the cash (and smoked her profit) while I took care of sales and distribution - started out badly when I stored 11 ounces in my parents loft and the weight dropped due to the bags sweating around all that insulation - schoolboy error - in the end we blagged our way to success though - an entertaining entrepreneurial relationship was born that would become the cornerstone of local quality for years to come.


Then the Cheques - she handled the double refunds and I the fake orders - we seriously abused that no questions asked returns policy.


I’ d hang on her calls and drop everything whenever she turned up - close friends could see it wasn’ t going where I hoped and I’ d resent them for their advice - sure, I wasn’ t stupid, but I was choosing to see more of what I wanted than what was really there - lying in wheat fields getting high all afternoon together, talking about life on the moon and how we’ d travel to India and go get us some of that fine chariss they like smoking so much of - eventually I would tell her I thought loved her and that would be the end of that.


Over the weekend during a no doubt drunken moment I don’ t recall - I sent Hanh a message - she’ s with family on maternity leave staying out by the sea a while - baby boy is doing fine - couple of months old now - I began by saying I wanted them both here with me - when ever she wanted to I’ d be ready - that I loved her - she replied saying how happy that made her - that she knew that’ s a big word for me - that we had a really special time that cannot be forgotten.


One that I remember for all the right reasons - and perhaps choose to forget the wrong ones.


And all you see is where else you could be
When you’re at home

Spo | March 29, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK | Personal

March 28, 2006

Seeing as it’s you….

The weekend up in London was much needed - drinks and catching up with folk in Wimbledon was all well and good, but getting back to Anna & Phil’s later on and just slipping into a groove with someone you know so well and haven’t seen for a while - it counts for a helluva lot when life is grinding you down and you just enjoy the good company.
We got back round 11ish and Phil crashed early on leaving Anna and I to destroy bottles of red wine, smoke too many Marlboro’s, raid the fridge and go head to head on some genius PS2 quiz game called Buzz - music quiz show that comes four special controllers and is absolutely feckin genius in so many ways - music plays - questions come up - like song title, year of release, artists name or anything else connected - you’ve got four answers to choose - few themed rounds to go through - sounds standard stuff right? but add alcohol, years of friendly rivalry, smug bragging rites and some sort of forfeit to the loser and it is the best game I’ve played since Halo 2.
Well it’s the only game I’ve played since Halo 2 actually - but still - quality times were had - until some sort of 3am looking hour of the morning.
I also discovered that I may need expensive glasses due to the ”it’s a whole new world” effect of wearing Anna’s for a bit.
However that could of been the wine and the time.
Next morning I took my bedraggled-still-fuzzy-drunk self back early doors - I was intending to put on a number one good-son-angel-boy performance for mothers day - the train back from Big Smoke to the village was broken up 3/4 of the way at Basingstoke, where the train company laid on buses to take folk the rest of the way due to track repairs - bus driver explained to a grand total of five of us that he was only going to the stations listed as part of the train route - although he’d make an allowance for the village before mine due to the station being a mile out of the way in the sticks - I politely asked if it was cool for him to drop me in the next village centre along the road some where (like for example, an actual bus stop) - old man jobsworth bureaucrat from hell said NO!
As he explained in one of the most dumfounding statements I’ve ever heard “you see I only stop at the train station - this isn’t a bus - it’s a train”
....and I just let that hang there for a while.....

.....as I looked around on the bus he was driving and I was travelling on.....

I could of protested that it wasn’t a train - it was in fact a bus - as it blatantly was - I could of protested that he was proposing to drive past the bus stop more or less next to my house, through the centre, all the way up the hill and then deposit me at a train station I would then have to walk all the way back from in the rain - I could of protested that whether he was allowed (you see, he is driving a “train”) to stop at an official bus stop or not was irrelevant as what kind of person would report a bus driver for dropping a passenger off? and if such a person existed what is the likelihood of such a person being at that exact spot he drops me off at during the 2 seconds it would take?
I could of said all these things - but then I would be challenging his authority and right or wrong, I wouldn’t win - I’d just make him angry and then it would be all the more satisfying to take me a mile and a half up to the train station and laugh to himself knowing I was walking all the way back in the rain - no, he was the driver and, by then, I was the only passenger - the only thing to do was keep quiet and hope he’d realise the stupidity all on his own.
I let it brew a while and then we passed a traffic jam caused by Sunday tractors (a fairly large procession of jolly looking farmer types who get their kicks driving at 5mph while a queue to angry motorists fills up behind them on impossible to pass country roads) - aha - suddenly we had a common bond - hatred of the tractor people - now we were no longer driver and passenger at odds - we were brothers against tractors - a unifying force of agreed denunciation for the tractor types:
“Tractors - I might have known”
“They’re going to hell, you know”
“Driving like they’d take a long time getting there”
“Reckon one of those motorists is going to speed up the process soon with a bit of road rage”
“Tractors - I fucking hate tractors”
“And the fat jolly farmer bastards that drive them”
“Aye lad, aye - well said”
Job done - as we entered my village and my house approached I did my best meek and resigned to my fate impression and sure enough he pulled in and opened the doors.



“go on then - jump out quick - seeing as it’s you”

Spo | March 28, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK

March 27, 2006

Dooley is back…..

When I woke I decided that If I had to put a price to how much I would pay to have the day off work and spend it in bed then I reckoned 50qiud would be about right.

After walking into the wind and rain and catching an overcrowded train with spirit crushing headache, that price rose to a cool 100.

But bed won’t get me anywhere - even though it is smashingly comfortable - and recent ructions at work mean that ringing up sounding bedraggled and battered, begging for a day off on a Monday morning would not paint shiny happy pictures of me for my boss to pin upon his fridge door - it would only etch another line upon his anguished frown in my general direction - and lordy knows the craggy old bastard has enough of those already.

To be fair to him the last two weeks have not been that bad - I can see he is making attempts to improve the atmosphere by not screaming and shouting the moment he senses opposing views and I am doing my very best impression of a meek and spindly orphan child who just wants to find a warm doorway to sleep in over Christmas - this situation will continue for a few more weeks and he’ll eventually have thawed enough to have a sensible conversation about the fact that I don’t have very much work to do and would quite like to be given something to get my teeth into - other than clock watching and trying to understand how it is possible for lunch time to seem like five minutes, yet three in the afternoon lasts for around about fifty three thousand four hundred and thirty two minutes.

Again - another worthwhile area of investigation for those pesky scientists to get their note pad and stylo out and have a gander at - rather than puzzling about buttered bread landing buttered side down and why it is people don’t like the idea of blue food.

Talking of pesky scientists I remember Beverley sent me a story that conjured recollections of two posts I wrote many moons ago - they concerned how meddling with nature ended up making Sharks into evil megalomaniacal genius’s who are even more dangerous and powerful than ever before, when all the scientists were trying to do was cure Alzheimers (the actual plot behind the Deep Blue Sea) - and how this kind of thinking always ends up creating sublime Z-movie disaster such as the Glass Trap and Frakenfish.

You see real life pesky scientists are actually planning to turn sharks into “stealth spies” capable of tracking vessels undetected - They want to control the sharks by implanting electrodes in their brains and steering them via remote control - the research is apparently being funded by the Pentagon’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),


You can see it now - after a sudden increase in Shark Attacks around the beaches of a small American coastal town, hard bitten maverick local cop Chad Lowery is staring open mouthed in disbelief at protesting pesky scientist Dennis Penickity who exclaims -We never wanted this to happen! We were just trying to create super shark spies to protect America! We didn’t realise they’d turn and bite not only the hand that feeds them but any other hand in the surrounding 100km area!!

And Chad says - God damn scientists! when will you realise that if you meddle with nature - nature meddles back

(Suggestions as to whereabouts the use of the word motherfucker would be best placed in the aforementioned quote are very much welcome)

Spo | March 27, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK | Kaneheads Kompanion | News

March 26, 2006

Bet that’s trouble brewing….

Liverpool crushed Everton and this was the third game of recent weeks were I’ ve been justifiably positive of the winner before the game - not fairly sure - not a hunch - I knew - I knew Portsmouth were going to batter West-Ham away the other week, I knew Liverpool were going to batter Birmingham last Tuesday - betting on the outcome of the winner doesn’ t really pay out great odds - however, if you put enough money on then you can get a decent pay out should all go to plan


1000 on Liverpool to win vs Everton would of paid out 500 quid plus your money back - now if you’ re fairly positive they are going to win that’ s an easy 500quid - the rule is never bet what you can’ t afford to lose - 1000quid would certainly put me in the hurt locker - and after moving in to my place I’ d never consider doing it - but during this transitional period while the flat is being built, I could pay it off over a few months if the worst happened ....... hmmmm

I think the problem with this picture is that the attraction for me isn’ t really the 500 quid - it’ s the risk of doing something so stupid and the rush while watching the game.

Explaining the above to Anna she quite obviously pointed out how truly ridiculous this whole idea is and berated me for even considering it.

I pointed out how if I’ d put the bet on I’ d of taken 1000quid - moved it around a bit during 90mins - put it back and found 500quid out of nowhere which we could then of gone and spent on tickets to New York for the weekend - just like that.

She paused for a few seconds before reiterating that I was an idiot.

You see I also think it’ s not the most sensible thing that my mind has ever conjured up - but my pauses last a lot longer than a few seconds.

All I’ m saying is that it’ s a good thing the Portsmouth vs Arsenal game was called off this weekend.

Spo | March 26, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK

March 25, 2006

This moment could last forever….

The Week has flown by on fast forward - apart from the days spent recovering from the nights before - wasted on Tuesday - Wednesday could have been a week unto itself - wasted on Thursday - Friday felt like it would never end.

I hope there are scientists looking into the correlation between the manipulation of time and hangovers.

Heading to London in an hour or so - It’s going to be a long lasting weekend......

Spo | March 25, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK

March 22, 2006

Double Take x 20….

Guy got on the train this morning and seemed to clock me reading the paper - he seemed nervous and tried to find a seat on the next carriage down with no luck - then I realised - this “guy” was in fact some random girl I went to school with - who now, thanks to hormone replacement therapy on the NHS, is called Danny, has a full on Goatie beard, broad shoulders and is apparently sleeping with the hefty girl from the local supermarket checkout.

There’s a “no fucking way” to start your day if ever there was one.

Spo | March 22, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK | Kaneheads Kompanion

March 21, 2006

Grumph…

A typical St Patricks day ended with me arguing about the loch ness monster and passing out on my friends floor. Next morning I awoke with a piece of jam toast stuck to my head gasping for water - I tried to cancel the rest of the day and settled in watching Soccer Am and betting money I don’t have on the afternoon footie.

Sure enough I was lured out again that evening to waste more money in the megatouch machine, witness appalling mixing at the local pub dance music extravaganza and observe how chavvy, loud, bug-eyed blokes excel at making this village the last place on earth that single women with an ounce of sense would go anywhere near. The evening ends with bad take-away munch and too much vodka at a mates place.

UK small town village life pretty much plays out to this tune on a weekly basis and it doesn’t really take you anywhere outside the comfort zone that’s so easy to slip into - before I know it I’ll be 29 heading to 30 getting fatter and duller by the day - I need to get myself down the gym, save some money, get my flat sorted and start trying to do more than grin inanely at the opposite sex.

Spo | March 21, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK | Personal

March 17, 2006

You don’t say…..

So the circus was passing Loch Ness and they stopped for a rest - the ringmaster streteched his legs, yawned and thought to let the Elephants go for a swim while having a smoke. Then some random Scotsman fishing by the loch thought he saw a monster - clicked a camera - and a tourist industry was born.
Makes sense to me - this is a theory that can hold a persons attention for a few minutes (so is a good subject for a post, especially when I’ve only got a few minutes myself) and it also amuses mildly drunk people enough to earn a free pint.


Unfortunately it is not one that impresses women sufficiently enough to encourage them to sleep with you based on the eyebrow raising quality of this story alone.

Spo | March 17, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Kaneheads Kompanion | News

March 16, 2006

The Path of Chuck….

Spo | March 16, 2006 | Comments
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March 15, 2006

It’s 4.20 - lets watch Star Wars again…

Pass the J
Look at those Storm-troopers, where do you think they're going?
Dunno - they keep cropping up in the background all the way through this film
D'ya think it' s the same six troopers all the time?
Yeah - You always see six guys legging it around in formation - I think they might be doing laps of the Death Star
Eh?
Like they got in trouble with Darth
And he gave them laps?
Yeah - he's a harsh but fair leader
What are they in the doghouse for? Drunk on duty?
Well I think there must be like a Storm-troopers Union Bar or something - you gotta let employees let off steam - cooped in all the way up there
They're hardly cooped in - it's the size of a small moon
That's no moon - it's a space station
Right - there must be bars all over the shop
I don't think so - they're drones - hell bent on domination
Yeah, guess your right
Think they're tokers?
Nah - if they got high they'd end up seeing that the darkside is definitely not the way forward - the whole urge to blow shit up and take over the galaxy would leave them and they'd end up baking cakes and running a Squirrel farm on Endor
So what is the Storm-troopers vice of choice? Cocaine?
You couldn't get a note into those helmuts - I think the stormtroopers drink pretty hard - through straws - then they get angry - go out and kick the fuck out some Jawa's and break some poor droids arms off
Picking on those weaker than themselves - fuckin fucky fucks
Good insult
So what have the Storm-troopers done to end up doing laps?
Well I think they got wasted down the Union and then started stun gunning one another for a laugh - after all - as you can see from Leia - there's no side effectsv lets get wasted and stun the shit out of Bravo company
Exactly - then Darth turns up and finds his squad is out of commission
Hungover & Stunover
Hands out laps
Harsh but fair
Yeah - the Darkside isn't so bad....

Spo | March 15, 2006 | Comments
Film / TV / Music | Kaneheads Kompanion

March 14, 2006

Exam time: Gold Star Award

Seems fair enough to me
Explain the shape of the Graph: "It's curvy with a higher bit at the end and a rather asethetically pleasing slope towards a pretty flat starit bit. the actual graph itself consits of 2 strait lines meeting at the long left hand corner of the graph and moving away at a 90' degree angle. Each line has an arrow head on the end."

Justify your answer: "Guess"

They may not have got the exam questions right, but something tells me that this kid probably turned out alright.

Spo | March 14, 2006 | Comments
Kaneheads Kompanion | Ojeni

March 14, 2006

See the pattern doofus….

Last two days back at work have been fairly punishing - not because of the pain in my side but more because of my boss - I’ ve tried to find a way to wrangle a move elsewhere and it hasn’ t come off - really should start working on a CV and keep my head down I guess.

I’ ve responded in written form to the letter he sent me and will hand it to him tomorrow - crux of it is to politely point out the injustices and inaccuracies he lists and also to state that he hasn’ t given me a clear idea of what he is expecting in terms of success and achievement - because I have no idea and it seems there was no real job here apart from that of admin monkey - I wrote it out a few times - the first attempt was fairly anger fuelled in tone - the more I refined, the less angry I got.

You see, in the end, it’ s my fault - not that my boss is asshole - but that I thought he wouldn’ t be - especially after working for him years ago - and in the end, plenty of folk told me it wasn’t a good idea to come back - and I should of put more thought into the offer and worked the money out a little better before I hastily accepted and signed the contract - plus I should of asked for a clearer description of the responsibilities of the role.

So what was I thinking? Well I wasn’ t happy in Jakarta - in so far as the city was a shithole and the job was going nowhere and I was drinking too much - the options thereafter were probably either Holland or the UK - the UK had family and friends and my bosses false promises - Holland had a dull grey cloud of unknown and I’ d been away for three years. I should of fought to stay in Vietnam longer I suppose - hindsight - is a bitch - but tell the truth I thought I wanted out of there as well towards the end...seeing a pattern here - i never end up anywhere I want to be for any longer than a year.....

Ah well - I didn’ t think it out and now with the option of Holland no longer available I only really have myself to blame - best stop bitching about it - consider it’ s a better situation than most have and figure out my next move - at the end of the day my boss may indeed be a complete and utter arse but I do taste tea for a living, so I have a bit of a cheek complaining don’t I?

Hang in there, keep my head down, get the flat set up in a few months - job may not stimulate or take me anywhere fast, but it will continue to pay as long as I keep my emotions in check - I join the legions of people on this earth that hate their boss - rare fucking bird - and in the meantime I’ ll do my best to get drunk, get laid and not worry so much.

Although the getting laid part is tricky when you are out of shape, living with your parents and have no car.

And the drunk all the time part doesn’ t really help anything in the end apart from ultimately making me fat, angry and poor.

Apart from Whisky - for that makes me wise beyond all others it seems.

Of course I could protest that all will change in six months or so - once I’ ve recovered from the sharkbite I’ ll get back to the gym again and with a flat in the city means no need for a car and no awkward morning after situations such as by the way - mind out on your way down to get a cuppa - you’ ll likely bump into my entire family

Hmmmm..... Pause button for life would be good - I could press it and then go have a cup of tea and think about the next step instead of making bad choices too hastily.

Spo | March 14, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK

March 10, 2006

King of the Cameo….

How did Tony Scott - the man who made truly classic True Romance and the underrated Man on Fire, Spy Game and Last Boy Scout - end up making the truly atrocious Domino? he has way too many camera tricks on show - jump cuts, slow mo, fade out, rewinds, filters - noise noise noise noise - you feel queasy and confused watching this movie - guess it’s what happens when he isn’t reigned in and allowed to go crazy in the editing room - plus he’ll usually have great actors (Redford, Willis, Washington, Pitt) or writers (Shane Black, Tarantino) to back him up. In Domino he ends up with Knightly looking good but acting ridiculous and writer Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame really suggesting he had a lucky break with his parallel universe superhero tale of teen angst and that he may not be the genius Darko suggested.

After Cursed, Domino is probably one of the worst main-stream movies I’ve ever seen in my life - the supposedly true life story of a model turned bounty hunter - one who can burst into a room of hostile shot gun wielding drug dealing Mexicans and appease the situation by giving them a lapdance - really - one who practices nunchuck and knife throwing whilst an angry teenager so therefore qualifies for the role of bounty hunter after she throws a knife through Mickey Rourkes windshield - the whole plot made no sense what so ever, the camera could not sit still, soundtrack was atrocious - it was all so desperately trying to impress like a school girl in too much make up wearing a scarf as a skirt winking at the local club bouncer.

Worst of all it had these two fecking ass-munches from Beverley Hills 90210 running around for no discernable reason - sure it’s good to see cult TV stars of the crappy past turn up every once in a while - like the Hoff in Dodgeball - but 90210 should never be held in such comedic reverence - it was way too far up it’s own ass - there was never anything worth remembering from 90210 - apart from when Luke Perry tried a come back and turned up in Oz - the psycho prisoners ended up sealing him inside the concrete walls of the prison.


(spoiler warning if you’ve never seen Out of Sight - which you really should of by now)

Quality Cameo’s can always add that classic scene to a films running time - True Romance, whilst being possibly top of my all time greatest movie list, is probably also king of the scene stealers - like Christopher Walken as mafia emissary Vincenzo Coccotti going head to head with Dennis Hopper as Clarence’s dad, Clifford, in my one of cinemas true classic moments - then there’s Brad Pitt as true stoner Floyd, James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) as a ruthless hitman, Gary Oldman as gangster pimp Drexl, Chris Penn & Tom Sizemore as gun happy cops - there were also smaller roles including Val Kilmer as Elvis, Sam Jackson as Big Don - but they are all mentioned in the credits - true cameos are when you have no idea they are about to pitch up and steal the show for a few minutes - like they were just calling past the movie set and someone blagged them into doing a scene.

From the simple touches like Sean Connery popping up as King Richard in Robin Hood, to Will Ferrels turns in Wedding Crashers and Starsky and Hutch - the way Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider always appear out of nowhere saying you can do it!! in each others films - the entire Anchorman battle in Legend of Ron Burgundy along with Jack Black’s dog kicking biker in the same - Samuel L Jackson as Rufus the piano player in Kill Bill Vol.2 - Brad Pitt and Matt Damon on the dating show in Confessions of a Dangerous mind - Chuck Norris in Dodgeball - Steve Buscemi (also a Sandler regular) as the Buddy Holly waiter in Pulp Fiction - Alice Cooper in Waynes World (-MillyWockay-) - Bruce Willis crops up in Charlies Angels 2 & Oceans 12 - Danny Glover in Maverick - Anthony Hopkins in Mission Impossible 2 - the Austin Powers Mix with Cruise, Spielberg, Paltrow and Devito - Micheal Keatons FBI character Ray Nicollete from Jackie Brown turning up in Out of Sight - Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher in Jay and Silent Bob.

In Euro-Trip, Matt Damons uncredited rocker singing Scotty Doesn’t know about sleeping with the main characters girl was world class. But the greatest cameo of all time has to be Samuel L Jackson in Out of Sight - it’s not just a sly nod so folk can say Shit! that’s Sam Jackson!- it’s an integral scene right at the end of the film letting you know that although Jack Foley (Clooney) may have been caught by Karen Sisco (Lopez), she still sets him along the path to another escape by delaying his jail transfer - this allows him to sit with one of the most notorious prison breakers to have ever ended up in the American justice system - Jackson’s Hejira Henry - thus finishing off the movie perfectly as they realise their coming together was no coincidence....

Jack Foley: What kind of name is Hejira?
Hejira: It’s Islamic.
What’s it mean?
The Hejira was Mohammed’s flight from Mecca in 632. Brothers in Leavenworth gave me that name.
You were in Leavenworth?
For a time.
What’s that mean?
Means, when the time came, I left.
You broke out?
I prefer to think of it as an exodus from an undesirable place.
How long before they caught up with you?
That time?
There were others?
Yeah. That was the ninth.
The ninth?
Well, ten if you count that prison hospital in Ohio I walked away from.
You done a lot of walkin’, Henry.
Hijirah.
Hijirah....Now we’re off to Glades.
Yeah, it looks that way.
I was supposed to leave last night with the lady marshal, but for some reason she wanted to wait.
She did, huh?
Guess it’s cheaper taking two of us down in one van.
Could be.... Maybe she thought we had a lot to talk about.
Really? Like what?
I don’t know.....Long ride to Florida.
Sam Jackson is always stealing scenes - and this was his best - because this one you had no idea he was even coming.

Spo | March 10, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Film / TV / Music | Kaneheads Kompanion | Ojeni | Personal

March 10, 2006

Your plane will be leaving…. one day….

When you have one of those world is against me kind of days - listen to Moby - God moving over the face of the waters from the Heat soundtrack.

Well as far as the future goes, the plan to escape across the water is in stasis - best not to talk too much about work I guess - but overall it looks as though I’ m making an up to date CV and will be keeping my head down and saying “ yes sir” a lot once I go back next week - I could go out with a blaze of glory - but that would be kind of giving the guy what he wants in a way - best to bide my time and see what the next few months bring - at the moment the powers that be across in Holland think it can still be worked out here and say there isn’ t a trading post available with them at present - in the end I’ ve got to go careful with no obvious escape route - that whole Malawi bar & Hammock thing is looking distant - although my friend over there said to send my CV to him;

Who knows? a change of career and fly off to Africa? hmmmm…


Things always seemed planned out and now are suddenly up in the air with no direction.


On the plus side I went and checked up on the progress of my flat today and things are looking sweet and moving along towards an end of summer moving in date - I was getting worried as I’ d not heard anything for a while and wasn’t sure if they were playing things straight - but my uncle is a property developer and talked shop with the site manager - he came away impressed with how things are going and said that the place will have gone up in value once finished, probably September.


All I want is to get in my first place and feel like I’m going somewhere instead of the departure lounge for months on end.


Which applies to pretty much every aspect of life at the moment - work women and money - it’s all on the far off horizon that sometimes never seeems to get any closer - and while I can be thankful that there is at least a possibility of a flight - life time is of the escence and should not be unduly wasted.

Spo | March 10, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK

March 8, 2006

Truly Super Mario….

This will appeal to anyone who ever picked up a Nintendo pad - which is most of us - Super Mario on the NES - two guys racing on separate screens - start to finish.

Click Here

Spo | March 8, 2006 | Comments
Film / TV / Music | Kaneheads Kompanion | Videos & Links

March 7, 2006

Roll the dice and let the game begin…

I drank too much wine whilst watching the Matador last night - the sort of film that came about on the back of the idea of James Bond being a gruff, sarcastic, hard drinking, perverted hitman who just doesn’t give a shit and having him make friends with some geeky tourist - sort of film that needs a lot more going on than this to make you watch it all.

Now, if they were on a plane and someone released a crate of snakes in the middle of the flight, I would’ve been hooked all the way to the end.

I woke this morning feeling pretty sickly and that feeling hasn’t left me all day - especially when I tried watching Domino which seems to have been filmed by a man on rollerskates.

When you are feeling like this contemplating your future isn’t advisable - the letter arrived around 9.30am and after reading it I think it’s safe to say that the best thing to do is engineer a move outta here and over to Holland.

My boss outlines a few incidents that have angered him, talks of how he is not impressed with my attitude or work so far and makes clear there’ll be no salary review until 2007 - that when he retires in 5 or 10 years time he cannot foresee passing the business into my care unless my attitude changes - he asks to wipe the slate clean and start again upon my return.

Don’t be fooled by that last sentence - the slate never gets wiped clean with this guy - he holds a grudge like no one I’ve ever met before - I could take him to task on every point he makes, however, I figure that the intention of much of what he says is set out to achieve two things:

First is to anger me - to get me to answer back point by point - get into another argument from which there can be no retreat - make it easy to bring about the termination of my contract

Second is to silence me - that I accept his words and outlook and return to the fold and play the sheep and don’t open my mouth for 5 to 10 years until he retires.

It seems you can’t win in situations like these - harsh words and confrontation with will just set up a scenario of being enemies against each other working for the same company - doing nothing consigns me to being a drone for ever more.

So you must plan you’re exit carefully - the only way to any move across the water has to seem like it was his idea all along - main thing I learned working in Asia - get the keys to what you want by getting those in possesion to think it was their idea to give them to you in the first place.

The dice rolls...

Spo | March 7, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK | Personal

March 6, 2006

Lets see what Tomorrow brings….

I thought I’d be Ok for work again today - but walking around or sitting up for any kind of extended amount of time kicks in on the pain front - in the end the doctors signed me off, everyone is telling me to take the week and that insurance doesn’t cover you if you go back to work against doctors orders.

All makes sense - but still, I suppose the reason I’m not at work at the moment is because I don’t really want to be there.

This isn’t an unusual state of mind for many folk - I appreciate - but then again I’ve been lucky enough to end up in a profession where a lot of the places I’ve ended up I’d of gladly gone to without the need for paying - working here in the UK office again - it wasn’t supposed to be a step back - but everything so far has made it seem that way.

The last day I was there - Friday 17th - my boss and I had a huge falling out - an argument that kind of set out our current states of play - one that, before I worked over in Vietnam 3 years ago, I would of backed down from and done as told - but now feel as though I’ve done enough on my own to have a voice worth listening to and to be treated with a little bit more respect.

Paradoxically I am at this stage in my career thanks to the initial backing and training from the man I was arguing with.

I don’t think I said anything out of order or over the top - grand scheme of life it could of perhaps been a subject that I could of let go - bigger battles to be fought and all that - however, to have let it go would of said more than actually having the argument in the end - and the silent words unspoken would of echoed for a lot longer - and they wouldn’t be speaking for me.

So to today - as our actual spoken conversations are always strained what ever the time of year, I emailed my boss to tell him that I’d be off another week as the doctor had instructed - that the scar was still in a bad way and I can only do so much, thanked him for his understanding so far - he replied saying that was fine and take the time - that there was also a letter waiting for me upon my return - that perhaps it would be better to send it now and let me mull it over - give it some thought - surely not a sacking as so much an acknowledgement that things are not working

So now there is a letter in the mail - what it says could very well determine my future - a very possible ”So now what?” situation....

Spo | March 6, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK

March 3, 2006

Films you may not have seen but should part 3:

Switchblade Romance is without a doubt the most fuck assed vicious evil nasty bastard piece of slasher heaven I’ve ever witnessed in my 28 and a halfshell years.

Two girls, a country house and a burly guy with mental problems and a chainsaw.

This film rocked the fuck out of crack town - it was outfuckingstandinglycalifragilistic from start to motherfucking finish - I’m not big on cursing for the sake of it - use it to add meaning were relevant - and by Jesus of the fuckmunch ponies is it fucking relevant here - I have never witnessed such sheer out right eyeball terror as I have while watching this movie.

If madmen chasing their kills before doing godforsaken evil Christ on a bike almighty freaky shit is up your street then this film is for you.

The new wave of horror surfed by the likes of Cabin Fever, Saw and it’s predecessor, The Texas remake, House of 1000 corpses, The Devil’s Rejects and the upcoming Hostel and Tarantino & Rodriguez’s Grind-house - they should all be judged before this movie rather than the aged, crusty, splatterhouse efforts of the seventies which, while constantly paid homage to and held in some sort of mystical reverence, are actually looking rather dated and comical in the eyes of today’s audiences.


I watched the original Texas Chainsaw and Dawn of the Dead recently and both don’t hold up too well against what we’ve become accustomed to - sure, they may have kicked things off and inspired many a movie maker - but that doesn’t mean they’ll stand the test of time - Dawn of the Dead’s uncut version is a soulless extended shopping centre commercial, while Texas Chainsaw comes across as a badly acted Benny Hill Skit these days.
This guy, Alexandre Aja, he’s remade Wes Craven’s the Hills Have Eyes? A movie about a family stranded out in the desert attacked a bunch of insane nuclear overspill hillbilly’s? Fucking A that will be a kick-ass ride into the darkness of the soul - he show’s here that he’s got the cojunes to carry off what ever he wants.

All the elements that need to come together for you to be terrified & tansfixed with tension are mixed to maximum effect in this movie - it’s not just the claret drenched gruesomeness blood curdling brutality - it’s the eyeball wide fear, knuckle whitening knife edge moments and eerie ominous soundtrack - it may not be original, but it sure as hell works when it’s all pulled off with perfection.

It’s a flat out fucking psychotic film of Tyrannosaurial proportions.

Spo | March 3, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Film / TV / Music | Kaneheads Kompanion | Personal

March 2, 2006

Lounge Sounds….

I awoke with a mini hangover - slight head of death and seemingly no water in my body - still took me a time to persuade myself to get up and go sort myself out - a running conversation in my head along the lines of I’m uncomfortable and water would be nice - but it’s so.... far..... away.....

Anyways Via Soul Rebel and on to Molly G I found a link to download the tune from the Zane Low Radio 1 Tv ad called “Crazy" by Gnarls Barkly.

I’m looking at you in particular here when I say Right click and save target as this it really is califragafuckinglistic.

Out on April 10th here in the UK it will probably be the sound of the summer.

But definitely good enough to warrant the airtime.

Spo | March 2, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK | Film / TV / Music | Kaneheads Kompanion | Videos & Links

March 2, 2006

Let the good times roll….

Chelsea vs Colchester in the FA cup - Loomis and I discussed, decided 3-1 was the score, got on toTotalbet.com - Joe Cole scored in 93rd minute and brought it all to come true - 3-1 to Chelsea and 100quid to us.


England vs Uruguay - Loomis and I discussed, decided 2-1 was the score - Joe Cole scored in 93rd minute and brought it all to come true - 2-1 to England and 75quid to us.


After these wins and the champions league chair, Totalbet.com hates us at the mo - I’m thinking of a career change.


As long as I can stop buying rounds of drinks for people in celebration.

Spo | March 2, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK | Kaneheads Kompanion | Personal

March 1, 2006

And on a lighter note…

Spo | March 1, 2006 | Comments
Film / TV / Music | Videos & Links

March 1, 2006

Damaged goods…

More 4 are showing a weeks worth of the extraordinarily talented Nick Broomfields documentary films to celebrate the screening of last nights His Big White Self - the 2006 follow up to the 1991 The Leader, The Driver and the Drivers Wife - focusing on the South African Tyrannosaurial Fuck Nut Eugene Terre-blanche - leader of the AWB and all round boil on the face of humanity - before and after his imprisonment.

Sometimes you don’t want to believe that people like Terre-Blanche and members of the AWB exist - that it is possible for someone to be that deluded - it makes you wonder if you could sit in the same room and try to talk reason & sense to them - try and fathom what on earth could be behind their beliefs and then slowly take it all apart piece by piece and leave no other explanation in front of them other than they’ve been wrong all this time - an epiphany comes a calling - a holy shit I’m an idiot moment.

Yeah right.

Education would usually be the answer - but when you see Eugene Terra Blanche - you realise there are people beyond the call of reason - and unfortunately all the intelligence, common sense and decency there is in the world doesn’t stop them from attaining positions of great influence and power until it is far too late.

In the end I go back to what one was my mothers greatest ever jewels of wisdom “Simon, you will be amazed at how many truly stupid people there are in the world"

And how dangerous they can become.

Spo | March 1, 2006 | Comments
Blogging | Daily Life - UK | Film / TV / Music | News | Personal

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Location:Gecko Lounge, Cape Maclear, Malawi.

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