Merry Christmas

I haven't written anything since August :(
So . . . this usually means I end up doing a complete re-design of my useless website.
I probably will

First ride since last August . . .

Steph asked me to go on a bike ride cos she needs to do a bit of training for her charity ride in November.
I agreed, even though I haven't been on my bike for more than half an hour since last August.

We decided to start from Fiddlers Ferry and follow the Trans Penine Trail east. but before we had left the car-park Steph had two punctures. We finally got going at about half 10.
I used my whizzy new cycling app thingy on my iPhone. It records every mile of your journey via GPS and posts it live via Google Maps to Facebook.
It also relies on you to remember to pause and unpause the app every time you stop and start your journey. . . I forgot!
So we ended up doing a load of unrecorded miles which sort of defeated the object really. Our fifth mile turned out to be FIVE miles long and our 7th mile was about THREE MILES long. So we seem to have teleported about 8 miles of the journey. Here's a link to our route CLICK ME.

The weather was changeable. (Well that's what the weather man said anyway, and for once, he got it right.) It was cloudy and a bit breezy then the sun made an appearance followed by wind and rain. . . . And that was pretty much the way it stayed all day.
We took a lunch break at The Star Inn in Lymm which consisted of Coors light and Monster Munch. This is a cosy little pub and was a welcome refuge from the pissing down rain.

After about 40 minutes we set off again, following the old railway cutting towards Altrincham. This is a nice flat path that is broken up by gates every mile or so. Steph hates these gates. They're the type that are made narrow at the top to keep motorbikes off the path, and with in minutes of leaving the pub she had popped the stays off her front mud-gaurd (while trying to traverse the gate) The stays then tried to wrap themselves around the front wheel.
Talking of mud-gaurds, I think i might invest in a set. After we had ridden another couple of miles through mud and puddles. I seemed to be covered in shite from head to toe. And it wasn't smelling too good either. Whereas Steph and her bike were still immaculately clean and her fleece was "PURE"*** white. I had a line of horse shit six inches wide running right up my back and over my head :( . We made it to Altrincham for half 1 in the afternoon. Which wasn't bad considering we had stopped at Morrisons (for water), The Star Inn for lunch and a little sit down somewhere along the trail. We hid in the woods when the rain started and then made our way back half an hour later. We were making quite good speed until Steph got another puncture. We repaired it and while it was drying I fixed the busted mudguard. We were about to set off again when we discovered that the tyre had gone flat again . . .Meh! We ended up stopped for an hour. . .

The rest didn't do us any good and we both were really saddle sore and had to ride the next mile standing up. We picked up the pace again and made really good time considering. . . Anyway I rode through more shit and ended up smelling like a wild stallion for the last 5 miles or so. We were happy to arrive back at The Ferry Tavern only five and a half hours after we set off. It seemed like days. The iPhone App had worked out our average speed to be about 4 miles an hour. But that didn't include the lost 8 miles or our 2 hours of stoppages. . . . Well that's our excuse anyway.

*** Always say "PURE" in a really broad scally Scouse accent, followed by "Lad" or "Mate".

The Swell Season

One of my favourite bands ever ever ever . . . .

The Swell Season from The Room Live on Vimeo.

11/19/09 The Swell Season holds a special private performance in The Room Live with special guests Matthew Perry and Sheryl Crow.

Clatterbridge Rocks

My friends Steph Lewin & Ashley O'Malley are raising money for Clatterbridge Cancer Research. They are joining a group of registered fundraisers for a sponsored bike ride across Taiwan in November. They've collected money for Clatterbridge whilst packing shopping bags in ASDA, collecting cash in various fetes and fairs.

On Friday 20th of August they are putting on a rock concert at the O2 Academy in Liverpool with the help of Paul Bromsgrove. The O2 are kindly donating the venue for free and all the bands playing are also performing for free. All proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to Clatterbridge Cancer Research.
Bands who are performing include Bunny Munro, The Little Secrets & We//Are//Animal and tickets are only £5.00 and are available from the O2 Academy Box Office CLICK HERE
http://www.justgiving.com/Steph-Ashley-Cycle
Steph and Ashley have also set up a fund raising page on JustGiving.com you can donate any amount you would like to, and also leave them a message of support.

Token posting

I thought I'd write this because I haven't posted anything here for over two months.
I've been doing a few more paintings, but mostly I've been working :(

The massive project is now officially over, and my bonus for doing all those extra hours turns out to be about five times less than what I could've earned if I was getting paid overtime :( . Now I don't have a clue what my job will be. Maybe I should go back to the factory? Maybe I don't have the choice??

I've put all my weight back on, that I lost and I'm officially a fatty again. . . Meh!

Paintings

I spent most of the weekend putting the

finishing touches my big painting ('UNTITLED' 1.5m x 1.0m) for the Short Spring Open @ The Egg. I was up at 6 am this morning painting the edge of the canvas

and screwing on some hanging plates. Then I just about squeezed it into the back of the car with my other two canvases ('Yer Ma!' 0.5m x 1.0m & 'My Arse' 0.5m x 1.0m) and spent an hour

crawling down the M62 into Liverpool.

I parked on the double yellow lines outside of The Egg and miraculously I didn't get a parking ticket.

But there's still over a week until the launch night, so something else is bound to come up by then. Someting that'll cost me at least sixty odd quid :). Anyway that's it. I've actually got my first paintings in a gallery. No doubt I'll be on the front cover of Art World next month and I'll be wearing a wide brimmed hat and carrying a gold topped cane. This time next year I'll be minted and the toast of the art world. . . I just know it. It's bound to happen. I've also priced them ridiculously low. So get down to the Egg and buy one or two . .. It'll be an investment.

Movie or Book

Why is it, that when they make the movie based on the book, nine times out of ten they are crap? Or if they're not really crap, they just have one or two scenes that are so significantly different from the book, that they make you shout out "That doesn't happen!' or "WTF - Who's he/she??? - They weren't in the book???" and "Why have they missed out my favourite part?". Worst of all is when they leave out a complete character and give his lines and actions to another character, which ruins everything.
Last night I watched the movie adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's 'The Time Travellers Wife". If you haven't read the book you'll either enjoy this movie or be confused by the plot and then get into it just before it ends. But if you have read the book, you'll be screaming at the screen within seconds of the opening titles. I'm not saying this movie is crap, I actually did enjoy it, but it just can't compare to the book.



Another movie, based on one of my favourite books is 'The Golden Compass' - Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights (I should have realised it was going to be crap, when they used the dumbed down American book title for the movie version.).
Why doesn't Hollywood put all that money into making epic TV series from great novels? After all, the majority of the population watch movies on their massive HD LCD tellies. Instead they keep pumping out endless series' of shite, Lost, 24 and CSI. It's impossible to fit a book that can take up to 30 hours to read, into a screenplay of 3 hours or less.
The only exceptions to the rule is when a movie is made from a short story, one that you could read in the same time it takes to watch the movie. Or when the screenplay is so good it brings the movie up to the books standard ( Stand By Me). It's like a cover version of your favourite song. You imagine you'll hate it but somehow it grows on you and you end up liking it just as much or even liking it more. Although Madonna's cover of American Pie will never be in the same league as Don McLean's original tribute to Buddy Holly...
So my conclusion is this - If you enjoyed reading book, don't ever expect the movie to be anything like it. You'll always be disappointed. The best movies are written directly for the screen or are adaptations of plays.