In My Ears and In My Eyes

Samwise had a school project to go on a short journey and take photos en-route. Since we had to visit to a local Barber Shop this morning we decided to make this the journey and walked there - took the final photo at the sign of a popular song.

John Cooper Clarke Night

Burns Night tonight so we've had a pleasant meal of Haggis, 'neeps, tatties and Black Grouse Whisky. Should have followed up with Manchester Tart for dessert, as I've just discovered that it's also John Cooper Clarke night tonight too :) I'll remember that next year.

Cow Pie

Made a cracking "cow pie" yesterday, the sort that Aunt Aggie would have made for her nephew. Topped it with a bovine pastry decoration. No time to wait for a photo before tucking in :)

My Portable HiFi

My igrado headphones developed a break in the wiring after about 2 years of use, so I've recently recabled them using these instructions as a guide.

Took the opportunity to take some photos of my current portable HiFi rig.
"Phenomenal cosmic sound in an itty-bitty living space!" :)



Kit List: igrado headphones (recabled). Graham Slee Voyager Portable Headphone Amplifier. Apple iPod Classic 120G housed in a clear fronted plastic case whose brand I've forgotten. Sendstation Pocket Dock AV. Audio Elevation i-lead. Berghaus E-case (large).

My choice of the iPod Classic is because it has the capacity to store digitised music in a lossless format. I tend to buy CD's and rip them up to the iPod in Apple Lossless format, rather than downloading those lossy MP3 thingummies.



Velcro sticky "coins" are used to fix the ipod onto the top of the headphone amp. These then both fit snugly into the Berghaus E-case (although I did have to snip out the elasticated securing band that's inside the case, as it wasn't needed, and was getting in the way).



The Berghaus E-case has belt loops and/or a buckle to fix it to your belt. The size is about that of an '80's Sony Walkman.



I just wear the headphones around my neck when not in use, although they do fit nicely onto the E-case.



The E-case also has a built in waterproof cover that can be pulled out and stretched over everything to create a package that can be packed neatly away.

Birthday Cake / Fire Hazard

It's Novelist Supermum's Birthday today, so I tried putting the correct number of candles on her cake (I'll leave you to count them). Lighting them proved to be a risky business - the heat given off was tremendous. She managed to blow them out in one go, leaving a smoke signal behind that a Native American would have been proud of, and a strong smell of hot candle wax.

After the babysitter arrived I took her out to our very local Thai Restaurant Chaba Chaba for a few Thai beers and a rather excellent meal - could hardly move afterwards, had to walk it off, then popped into Pod for a last beer before home.

A Few Christmas Photos

Megamind

If you find yourself at your local cinema and having to choose between TRON: Legacy and Megamind then go see Megamind.

Took the boys to see Megamind as a holiday treat today, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a CGI animated comedy, sending up the superman films, from an evil villain's point of view, and explored the relationship between villain, hero, damsel in distress and villain's sidekick.

The humour was working on several levels, as all good family films should. As with all good comedies it was tinged with a little sadness and home truths, which made the humour all the funnier when it came.

The soundtrack was right up my street. Appropriate use of 2 AC/DC tracks (as was done in Iron Man 2). What bad guy shouldn't make an entrance to "Highway to Hell" and return to "Back in Black"? Ozzy Ozbourne's "Crazy Train" featured and the finale was to the tune of Guns 'n Roses "Welcome to the Jungle".
Don't get me wrong though, it's not all Heavy Metal - the last song in the film was Michael Jackson's "Bad".

Great film - go see it for yourself.

Happy New Year 2011!

Happy New Year Everybody!

We've been out this New Year, for a change! First we went to see Tron: Legacy, and for a treat we saw it at the IMAX in 3D, sitting in the Premier seats.
To be honest the film wasn't that brilliant - too much hype about how good it is possibly?, but not bad, particular with the extra sensory enhancements.

Afterwards we wandered up the hill to Catherine Street, and spent the rest of the night in the Blackburne Arms. There was some excellent live music and singing from an acoustic guitarist (although he did favour the "extended mix" for almost every song).

3 people wandered in wearing '70's fancy dress, claiming that they always dressed that way. Told them that they couldn't top the Willy Wonka with 11 Oompah Loompah's who I saw out and about on Xmas eve. Beer was good (Black Sheep), as was the atmosphere so we stayed for "the bongs" at midnight. - Spotted one of the teachers from the boys school in there too.

Caught a taxi home, and saw the end of this years "Hootenanny" with Jools Holland and guests (OMG! look at Alison Moyet - she's a shadow of her former self).

Go-Kart

I'm driving a Peugot 107 courtesy car, whilst the paint damage caused by some dickhead with an envious streak and a key is being repaired on our VW Touran. I've had a couple of small cars in my time, but this one's a real roller-skate. Feeling every bump in the road as it rattles along.

Christmas Aftermath

Rest of family arrived on Boxing Day, so I put together a follow up meal - roasted a few more vegetables in goose fat and served up the remainder of the meat. The roast spuds really turned out well this time. Christmas pudding & brandy sauce, or chocolate cake and cream for afters, then coffee and an exchange of presents.
Spent a cosy evening together, serving up Christmas drinks and nibbling on snacks.

Bacon butties for breakfast this morning and then goodbyes to those who had stayed overnight.

Having a lazy day today, just watched Spy Kids 2 on TV. Now generally chilling out and spending a little time at the virtual/online January Sales.

Christmas Day

The Christmas meal was a success - the Roast Goose was excellent, even if I do say so myself. Half of it left (along with a cooked ham) to go round the rest of the family who are visiting tomorrow. Now relaxing with a glass of Whisky and chocolates.
Boys are very happy with their main presents - Nintendo DSi XL's. Can expect them both to be suffering from repetitive strain syndrome soon :) The plastic insects that I bought for a quid in the bargain shop have gone down a storm too!

Dr Who Christmas Special

This one should have "Jumped the Shark" for me, but I did quite enjoy it. I also have a new found interest in Opera singing ;-)

Merry Christmas Everyone! - Here comes Santa.

A very Merry Christmas, to all of my Friends, Followers and Lurkers. Hope you all have a Super Smashing Christmas Holiday.
Santa is on his way. NORAD have spotted him leaving the North Pole, and are tracking his progress using the latest technology.
You can follow him too here
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html
He's left Russia as I type, then onto the Bikini Islands and has now reached Fiji.

Pan Pipes

There's nothing like a good bit of traditional Christmas music - certainly nothing like it on Lord Street this afternoon, when I walked past a Peruvian/Aztec pan pipe band playing what sounded to me like a Scottish or Irish folk song?!

Sleeping Beauty - Liverpool Everyman Panto 2010

The Everyman Pantomime Sleeping Beauty turned up trumps again this afternoon. We'd managed to get good seats for a Matinee performance (having booked earlier in the year), which of course meant that we got a soaking when the water squirters came out!

As always it's a Rock 'n Roll Panto, so lots covers of rock songs throughout, including Aerosmith (Don't want to miss a thing), Golden Earring (Radar Love), Queen (I want it all) and inevitably Journey (Don't Stop Believing).

A great fun production, and a good time was had by all. The usual classic panto gags, a few new ones, a few local jokes and a cheeky dig at Pamela Anderson, who is performing at the Empire down the road. A guest appearance from Dr Who (or somebody who looked a bit like him). A victim was selected from the front row for the Dame to flirt with, and then get up on stage later. Our family favourite was the 'slow motion' fight scenes, and the boys loved all of the popping up and disappearing through trapdoors that went on.

Ice creams in the interval - I was told to leg it as soon as Sleeping Beauty passed out, and got there first in the queue.

I'd phoned the box office this morning with a request, so after "the audience participation bit" the boys names were read out in a greeting from the stage - just to give them a surprise.

A great Christmas treat, that's become a family tradition for us. Not sure where we're going to go next year, whilst the theatre's being remodelled/refurbished, as I don't think that the other panto's can top this one?

Lights Out

Went out to finish off the Christmas food shopping tonight and spotted a car parked on our street with it's headlights on. 2 hours later when I came back it's lights were still on - that battery wasn't going to last long in subzero temperatures. I didn't recognise it as being one of the neighbours cars, so I tried the flat over the road - not theirs either.
The next door neighbour reckoned the car probably belonged to somebody at one of the restaurants we live near to. I tried the Indian restaurant first - only 4 couples dining in there, so a quick word with the owner and he checked around the customers - didn't belong to anyone in there.
The Thai restaurant next door immediately recognised my description of the car - it belonged to the Chef - so good deed done.
We've got a table booked in the Thai restaurant in a couple of weeks time - the manager of the restaurant said that he'd look out for us.

Snow Photos

Took the sledge out to the park first thing this morning - absolutely knackered myself dragging 2 boys up to the park on it, having said that the exertion didn't half warm me up. Lost my car keys when pushing the boys down the slope, but a fellow tobogganist found them for me.
Samwise was feeling the cold (i.e. snivelling and bawling), so we headed home. Picked up a camera when I took Frodo out for his riding lesson, and took a few photos on the way, and via the park on the way back. The statue is the figure of winter herself, at four seasons gate (one of these days I'll take a shot of the other three statues at the appropriate time of year).

Snow Report

We have about 2 or 3 inches of snow, thick soggy snow. Started snowing at about 19:30 tonight and stopped around 22:00.
Novelist Supermum was out at a Christmas do in a Restaurant on Allerton Road - a 10 minute walk away, so I went out to meet her when it finished and then walk back home.
Absolute chaos - snow missiles hurtling around everywhere and lots of drunk people slipping over in the middle of the road.

Certified

Passed an Oracle Certification exam yesterday morning, which means I'm now an Oracle Certified Associate Database Administrator :)
Got to put the theory into practice when I was called back in about 15 minutes after leaving work last night :(

Trampoline Club

Frodo got his Grade 3 and Grade 4 certificates at the Trampoline Club today.
I had a go too, and managed a seat drop, tuck jump, pike and half twist - no certificate for me though, just some aching limbs :)

Productive Day

Day off work today. Xmas Shopping just about all complete in one morning. Attended Samwise's school Nativity play in the afternoon. Also managed to restart our central heating boiler, which has been out of action for for three very, very cold days, with no chance of getting anyone out to fix it until Monday - we've been huddled in the front room wrapped up in blankets and duvet's with a couple of emergency portable radiators and fan heaters. Feeling warm again now.

Liverpool Santa Dash 2010

Ho! Ho! Ho! It's that time of year again for a bit of Christmas fun. 8000 Santa's running through the streets of Liverpool on a wintry Sunday morning. Gangs of Santa's roaming around town for the rest of the day, long after the run was over.
Our gang of Santas all finished the run, collected a medal, then straight to a Santa bar (at least that's what it seemed like) for a pint of Rosey Nosey.

UFO - O2 Academy Liverpool 5th Dec 2010

Back from tonight's UFO gig and still buzzing after a superb performance by one of THE definitive heavy rock bands.

Arrived at 8pm to find the support band Voodo Six cranking up. They were a bit 'metaltastic' (cha0tic would probably describe them as a "noisy waste of electricity"), but I thought they were worth a listen, as they were pretty good at what they were doing.

The gig was being played in the smaller of the 2 venues in the building, which gave it a great atmosphere. I was having a laugh with a few people round about me, and talking about favourite songs that we wanted to hear.

We weren't disappointed. UFO took to the stage and gave us 2 hours of solid rock!

Songs from the new album were performed before the band settled into a run of the best stuff from the Phenomenon, Obsession and Lights Out albums.

Vinnie Moore adds his own style of melodic/shred guitar, and does a fine job of it too, without detracting from the original numbers.

Barry Sparks was filling in for Pete Way (who is currently ill), and is a superb bass player in his own right. Thundering riffs in all the right places.

Phil Mogg seemed to be amazed that there were a couple of 14 year olds in the crowd - he asked them if they're Dad had brought them, reminisced about his first gigs, and kept reminding himself to mind his language. Andy Parker gave the lads his drumsticks as a souvenir at the end.

They performed the best rendition of "Love To Love" that I've heard to date. Encores were "Rock Bottom" and what seemed like half an hour later (if you know the song you'll know why) the inevitable "Doctor Doctor". It was also great to hear "Only You Can Rock Me" performed properly i.e. not be me and my mates :)

We Have Snow!

Not a lot of it, but snow all the same. About 1cm fell last night. Enough for a snowball fight with the Hobbits before taking them to school this morning.
Not deep enough for the new sledge yet, however Frodo had a sledge like experience at his adventure playground, when I went to pick him up he was enjoying sliding down an icy hill on a large tarpaulin.

Back to the '80's RUSH - Time Machine

Back to the '80's in more than one way today.

Nipped out at lunchtime to purchase a Clarinet 'sling' for Samwise, who is starting his first lessons on this instrument at school, and needs a little support when playing.
Found the city centre literally overrun by police - I counted 10 police vans in Victoria square, blue lights flashing roadblocks at every major junction around the city centre, the town hall surrounded by uniformed police, large groups of police patrolling the streets and a helicopter buzzing overhead.
I could hear the chanting of what looked like a thousand or more students demonstrating against the cuts as they marched down Lord street. All very orderly, no doubt due to the heavy police presence, although they kept sitting down every so often as part of the protest.
Reminded me of a similar experience I had down the shops in Wolverhampton in the '80's, - no riot helmets, shields and batons in evidence this time though.

I've just ordered my ticket for RUSH at the Manchester Evening News Arena next May.
They're doing their entire 1980 album "Moving Pictures" live on stage. Looking forward to going back to this with them.

Flag Bearer

Remembrance Sunday, and therefore a Church Parade for the local Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. Samwise didn't want to go to a "boring old Church Parade", however I felt that he should attend, since they are a church funded group, so I went along with him.

He's glad he went now, because he got to carry the flag for his Beaver Colony. Felt quite proud of him as I watched him march up the aisle.

Felt sorry for the nervous bugle player, hitting a few bum notes when playing 'The Last Post'.

Bouncing Boy

Boing!! Samwise passed his Stage 4 Trampoline Award today. Boing!!

Week Off

Had a busy week off work, sourcing a new bathroom and sorting various things out for the boys. I was meant to be doing some work around the house, and tidying/sorting but that went by the wayside, as usual.

Frodo had a speech therapy review, and he's made some great progress. We also went to investigate a future high school for him (a couple of years off yet, but we have to make a choice soon). We had a tour of one that seems to fit the bill, and have an appointment with the headmaster in a couple of weeks.

A good report for Samwise from a parents evening for his class. "A polite, hard-working little boy who is a credit to you". We think that he may have been replaced by a pod-person on the way to school :)

Frodo had his first riding lesson today, at our local stables/riding school.
This went extremely well, so he's now booked in for regular weekly sessions.

Also swimming lessons booked for both boys on Sunday, to help improve Frodo's swimming ability, and to give Samwise some structured practice.

Remember Remember...

Looked like it was going to be a washout, but at the last minute the rain stopped, so I ventured out with Frodo and Samwise last night to the firework display at Sefton Park, which was better than ever.

This year they'd flown the sound system from 2 cranes, so the music was a lot louder than I've heard it in previous years. Frodo jumped about 6 feet when the D.J. opened up.

We took torches, wore a glow-stick each around our necks and the boys had high visibility waistcoats on. We were commended on our 'sensible attire' by a motorcycle policeman as we left the park. I'm not so sure as I'm sure one or two motorists were blinded by a strobing LED torch in the hands of a small boy.

Doctor Who Live

Spoilers!...



Told the boys that we were going for a ride in the new car on Tuesday night.
We parked up and went for a short walk in the rain - into the Echo Arena. They started to twig when they saw the merchandise on sale. Bought a program and a couple of souvenirs, showed the tickets that I'd hidden away 6 months ago and then went to our seats on the floor of the Arena.

Samwise was absolutely gobsmacked. His mouth was wide open from start to finish. Frodo was a little put out that we'd tricked him, but perked up when he saw his favourite monsters.

The theme of the show was based on an old Jon Pertwee episode that I first saw on TV when I was 9 years old - Carnival of Monsters (and here I am taking my 9 year old son to see the sequel!).

Nigel Planar (Vorgenson) played the son of the chap (Vorg) who was shrinking creatures and putting them inside a machine for entertainment purposes. Vorgenson was up to much the same thing, giving an excuse to have several different creatures from the last series in one place.

Matt Smith wasn't there, but played his part from 'inside the Tardis' on a video screen, with the characters on stage interacting with the projection.

The monsters came thick and fast, entering from all sides of the arena and moving amongst the audience. We were in the back row, and most of them marched in right behind us. Ood, Silurians, Judoon, Clockwork Robots, Weeping Angels, Scarecrows, Vampires of Venice, Winders, Smilers, Cybermen and of course Daleks. Everyone was twisting and turning in their seats to see what was coming next and where from.

The Judoon scanned members of the audience to see if they were 'Hu-man'. Winston Churchill marvelled at a mobile phone, and asked the children of the future if they all had 'internets' at home. Queen Liz ran around the crowd firing her pistol. The Scarecrows shuffled around during the interval, posing for pictures, and staring at small children (most of whom' fended them off with the latest sonic screwdriver they'd brought with them).

The Weeping Angels (Frodo's favourite) were superbly presented. The Doctor told everyone 'Whatever you do Don't Blink!' and two Angel statues appeared. 3 'policemen' came in to investigate. The audience was then blinded with white light. When the light faded the Angels had moved, and a policeman had disappeared. This went on until the last policeman had gone and the image of a giant menacing Angel was over the audience.

Samwise loved the Cybermen, who marched in step right beside us, dragged an 'unsuspecting parent' out of the audience and deleted him, and then battled with the new Daleks onstage. We were treated to one of each of the new Dalek types. Samwise pointed that the white one hadn't appeared, then it did, flying overhead.

All of this was played out to the musical accompaniment of an orchestra conducted by Murray Gold - who was dressed like Matt Smith, but with David Tennant's hairstyle.
Speaking of which, when a montage of all the Doctor's was shown, there was a huge cheer for David Tennant's image!

More info at Doctor Who Live

In all, a superb family show, mind you there were plenty of adults there who hadn't brought any children along. Just wish we'd brought a sofa with us to hide behind.

Hallowe'en

Traditional Hallowe'en fun last night...