Waynster

I thought as the website has not been updated for some time I should post something. Whilst my life is on the verge of a major change which I hope to post about once things are confirmed, I thought I would post up about where I am with the cycling.

I have had the bike just over 3 months now and covered quite some distance – the Odometer reads just short of 1600km although I know I have covered more (days when I have forgotten to switch on or mount the computer) and I have cycled to work every day I have been on shift – thankfully the weather has been kind this summer. Fitness-wise there has been a marked improvement – my weight is under 10 stone for the first time in years, and whilst I can now cover the 13km to work in 30 minutes, averaging around 25km/h, I usually arrive at work with a heightened heart rate but not out of breath. On warmer days especially, or when I decide to lug the cumbersome backpack for storing all the locks I do tend to end up sweating somewhat, but again that can only be good for you. My legs have been built up a bit and I have even noticed a bit of moob reduction which is ace!

The bike sadly is in a little worse wear – back breaks have gone and the front ones judder horrendously – could be a wheel balancing issue, so as soon as my employers relinquish my salary this month I’ll be dropping her off at the shop for a much needed maintenance session.

The good thing is I still enjoy it and am reaping the rewards from having it. Obviously I am saving a lot of money on transportation, as well as enjoying extra time at home just because I can leave later/arrive home earlier from work. Also just the ease of getting about is much improved. I have also taken to getting adventurous about route finding to work and now have several choices on which way to head in, the preffered method being through the lovely Amsterdamse Bos, although for night shifts it can’t be done simply as you can’t see diddly even with the lights on.

So still loving it, and looking forward to a few more months before the weather turns and she has to go in for the winter, but for now, I’ll keep peddling on

I’ve been feeling unfit and unwell for ages – pains in places you don’t want pains, feeling sick and tired of being sick and tired and basically and knowing that at 41 years old, I can’t go on living the way I do.  The changes are the obvious – knock the fags on the head, cut down the boozing, start eating better and get fit. All sounds like a nightmare’s nightmare.

Fags I can do well without – I don’t enjoy smoking and often feel unwell after smoking one, plus lately I have been smoking too much – fag first thing in the morning, fag between buses when going or returning from work (three buses each way) – just not good at all. Booze, well I have already cut down the going out simply to save money what with all the debts from last year. Eating better is kind of a fad thing with me, mainly due to appetite (mainly due to the smoking) but the getting fit is the one that fills me with dread, and I will tell you why.

I despise gymnasiums seeing them no more as torture chambers – sure the idea of eyeing up lots of very firm and fit young ladies in leotards sounds wonderful, but going in as a slightly overweight, horrendously unfit and with the sporting ability of your average garden shed is hardly likely to win favour with the fairer sex. Plus with all the male contenders it will just be like being back at school again and I imagine like those perennial cartoons of the wimp having sand kicked in his face on the beach. No. Thank. You.

So I could go out and jog, but again that’s something of a chore and after a day at work the last thing I want to do is go running – trouble is after a few clicks if you get bored, you are stuffed and still have to run home. Again, apathy rules this one out, and taking up some competitive active sport again thanks to the shed syndrome fills me with dread. But there is a perfectly good answer, one I did before and one that not only ticks all the boxes but is the perfect solution to the problem –  Cycling

You see the thing is here in Holland you could not want a better place to ride – not only is there a fantastic infrastructure of cycling paths but the government even have schemes to get you a new bike for next to nothing, so through this very scheme last week I picked up my €700 27 speed cross bike. I had ordered it the week before with paperwork handled by my employer, and a couple of days earlier in preparation used the night shift to read the Allen Carr easyway method of stopping smoking, which I promptly did on Tuesday of last week (if you have not used this book I could not recommend it high enough) and have to date not wanted a smoke nor indeed indulged even when surrounded by smokers. Then Thursday I get the message the bike is ready and Thursday night rode it for the first time to work, somewhat full of trepidation having not ridden a bicycle for a couple of years and especially not of any distance. The program had started.

It’s now just over a week later and I have cycled to and from work for every shift and have cycled approximately 200 kilometres in that time (the odometer reads a bit less but I have forgotten to switch the thing on every now and again). I have forgotten how much I truly enjoy riding a bike and it cuts out so much boredom – no waiting around for public transport, I can lie in a bit longer of a morning and get to work invigorated. My general mental health has much improved and even with current problems at home I have been feeling generally much happier – the combination with giving up the smokes and the improved feeling of fitness (although still early days) really has made a huge difference. Sleeping is still a bit hit and miss – some days I can sleep for hours, others its a bit intermittent but that will pass (I put that down to the nicotine withdrawal although I have no real feelings of this any more whilst awake)

But one of the nicest things? Finishing a night shift like this morning, discovering a lovely route home on a glorious spring morning  and getting home in around 40 minutes feeling truly alive, chuffed at having another proper workout and knowing that there will be lots more days like this for cycling and having all this fun is actually good for me.  The cheeky 9am beer before bed is just the icing on a perfect end to the start of everyone else’s day.

Life is an amazing thing and its only truly enhanced by the people you meet. Some people are just fleeting aquaintances, some are the people you befriend, and some are the people that make an impact on your life, even shaping your own existence. The latter are the rarer of course, but once in a while you are truly blessed by these encounters.

I met John through his brother, my dear and close friend Alan and it became immediately apparent through this meeting why I liked Alan so much as there was a lot of John in him. It was an innocent evening where we just went for a curry but I cannot remember ever meeting someone who made me laugh so much about the most daftest of things. I was a lot younger then and tales of grandkids would not have been on my top ten list of things of an evening banter, yet John had me in tears of laughter of tales of bedwetting – boy he could spin a yarn and I remember leaving the restaurant in genuine pain in my sides.

But John was a selective man and chose his friends wisely. It was a long process for him to accept you into his bosom – he was a careful man who relied on trust probably more than anyone I knew and he was incredibly selective about who he let into his life. I saw him though on and off for years before I could finally be accepted into his inner circle of aquatintanceship and then friends, and whilst some would see this as hard work, I for one was glad of this effort to become acknowledged, and once in my life was seriously blessed by his friendship.

John was the definition of cynical – he spoke so strongly of his mistrust of those in power (he had his reasons) yet talked so passionately of the things so important to him – namely his family. Of course he moaned about how much of a pain in the arse they all were but with such passion and made it so obvious how much he loved them all.  He could wax lyrical about politics, current affairs and allsorts and it was always a genuine pleasure to spy him in the pub of a night as you knew you were in for a genuinely interesting evening. With John, it was  never ever a boring night.

But John was sadly afflicted with an illness that was not his fault but that of the British Government and he was infected with something that took him away from us far too soon. He was ill for a long time and whilst always critical of those responsible, his bloody mindedness ensured he lived well beyond the life expectancy the medical people said he should. He drank, smoked, but what is more – he truly lived – and defied everyone who put his life expectancy far lower than he achieved – always the man to stick a two-fingered salute to anyone who told him different.

Yet it was this day, a year ago that he finally succumbed to what had been afflicting him and he sadly passed from this world. It was quick (which is what he always wanted) and he was with friends and doing something not only he was a genius at but something he had passion for. I think he went, if our last proper conversation was a guide, of how he wanted to leave this place – not a real burden and in a peaceful environment – sure he could have been surrounded by those he really loved but he didn’t want them to see him like that – better the memory of the man who lived, not the man who died. And that is how I shall always remember him – someone who truly lived and spent their short time on this planet and made the absolute best of it.

Today those who loved him met for a Sunday roast at O”Reillys in Amsterdam, much like he would have done on any given Sunday and just had a damn good lunch, just like he would have done. There were no real moments of sadness, but it how he I think would have wanted it  - friends together, a roast, a pint of guinness and people being around those who are special to them, and nothing could be more befitting for a memory of such a great friend that we all miss so much.

One final word – Vinnie, a dear mutual friend and I were outside having a cigarette with a few other members in attendance and I got to meet his outspoken, cocky and likeable daughter and I commented on how she was so much her fathers daughter. Julia, daughter of John asked me the same of her, and never had I meant it so much when I said she was.  And not just her but in everyone he left behind, I see him and smile. A man who truly left behind a legacy.

John, like many I miss you so much and I feel truly honoured that I knew you – my life can only be better for having known you and on this day of your passing a year ago, all I can say is thank you for blessing me with your presence and letting me in. It certainly is an emptier place without you.

RIP, my friend, and like so many I miss you so much. But above all, thank you for just being my friend.

So since the news has broken about the planned closure of 6 music, this undiscovered little gem of a station has suddenly been thrust into the media on a huge scale.  Public outcry and response has been amazing – a facebook group with just shy of 130,000 members, many of whom seem active and vocal and are busy complaining to anyone with an ear (myself included) which I am sure simply reflects the type of listener to 6 – a station hosted by people who genuinely love music (see how many are actually musicians themselves – Lauren Laverne, Guy Garvey, Huey Morgan, Bruce Dickinson, Tom Robinson and Jarvis Cocker for starters) and who play to people who are genuinely passionate about music.

In a way, this whole debarcle has brought out something wonderful – I am reminded of a rather daft film called airheads where the lead guy from the bands outs himself as a nerd in front of a baying crowd, whereupon many also admit to their geekiness (including a wonderful cameo from Lemmy who admits to ‘editing his school yearbook’) and thus a unity is discovered and being different is cool. 6 Music is just like that – we are all the musical geeks with more CDs and Vinyl than sense should permit, we hurl abuse at ‘chart shows’ on the TV (I once threw my Pizza at the TV as I was so disgusted with the banality of acts on Top of the Pops) and we tend to go to ‘gigs’ and not ‘concerts’. We are the uncool kids who could quote lyrics ad-infinitum, who study every album sleeve on purchase and the people who can love a piece of music so much it hurts. And 6 Music is our home – a place we are accepted and a place we can unite – and that makes us – and it – cool.

Whilst it is unjust to place judgement on the listeners of Radios 1 & 2, I do get the impression that surely a large percentage of their audiences are the more unenthusiastic and surely less discerning. Certainly with radio 1 to an extent, it is a station akin a canteen where you are fed whatever is on the menu that day – aka the playlist – not of course ignoring that 6 has a playlist also but the difference is 1 abides by its playlist, almost depends on it, whereas 6 has a more relaxed policy – just a few tunes played sporadically throughout the day and virtually no repetition. So thus we can maybe deduce that listeners to 6 are likely to be more radical, free thinking, adventrurous and enthusiastic whereas possibly your radio 1 listener is more happy to accept what is given, more obedient perhaps?

In light of this talk of a public demonstration are rife with many offering to attend. Many are also spending their time making logos, planning action, spreading the word which is all good stuff and I am quietly confident should a planned demo go ahead, just by the nature of the average 6 music listener (if indeed one should exist!) that a strong turnout could be achieved. I guess the passion the listeners have for music they have for the things they hold dear so could be the very thing that makes this campaign successful – I certainly hope so.

Anyway so far so good – just be interesting to see how strong the support is after the weekend, though I hope it remains as strong as ever. Also great is that this publicity is suddenly bringing in a boat load of new listeners which can only do good!

Just a last observation of 6 music listeners – passionate, adventurous, loyal, enthusiastic – I guess that makes us better lovers too!

It has been well publicised that Mark Thompson of the BBC has proposed as part of their cutbacks to close down BBC 6 Music. Now for any of you out there that understand even the slightest bit about my love for real music and haven’t come accross 6 Music before you are missing out on probably the most perfect station there is and something that is part of my daily life. I’ll not go into one of my passionate monologues about why this should not happen, but instead will attempt to offer something for the many people out there who are against this travesty to do something constructive.

Now what I will not do is claim credit for any of the first ideas but just iterate them to maybe a new audience – most of this information has been gathered from the facebook page dedicated to the cause set up by Tracy and Jon Morter, so credit to them for starting it and the 100,000 + members who have contributed.

1. State your views to the BBC Strategy Review Comittee or mail them directly
2. Sign the Petition
3. Get all your facebook friends to join the facebook group - visibility of numbers will count a lot and is being reported all the time in the media at the moment
4. Especially if you have never listened before, tune in using your computer to 6 music –  the more people listening, the more the BBC will realise the popularity of the station – plus I hope you will discover this little gem and thank me!
5. Complain to the BBC directly
6. Support the early day motion in parliament

All the above is well and good and will do a lot to help the cause, but I also believe a more visual and well planned demonstration would certainly get excellent media coverage,  gain further support and show how strong we believe that this heinous crime to culture is not permissable. Several people on the facebook group have mentioned this and I believe a couple are planning to demonstrate as early as today, but to make this effective it needs thought and proper planning with the authorities.

Things that need to be considered

1. Timing – We need to pick a day – people have mentioned 6th of June (6th of the 6th) – significant to the cause, but too late – the decision will be made by the trust on the 25th of May. To allow time to plan properly and gain enough participants I suggest the 15th of May – a Saturday and 10 days before the decision is made. Also allows enough people to plan to get there (like me as I have to fly back to the UK for this!)
2. Location – a march to BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Square makes obvious sense, but a small route to march would be better for gaining support. However all considerations should be made for avoiding problems with traffic – we want to win support, not gain enemies
3. Although we are effectively supporting the establishment we need their support too so full cooperation with the Metropolitan Police is obligatory. A form 3175 needs to be filled out and more information can be found at the dedicated page on the Metropolitan Police Site
4. Make placards, banners – there are plenty of resources and pictures available again at the Facebook group for this
5. Absolutely this must be a peaceful protest – any aggro and the station will be dropped and lose valuable support. But I am sure we are all too nice for that!
6. Get Support of musicians and other high profile people – if we can get them to participate, we’ll get more media interest

What else can be done?

1. Your favourite band forum – if you discuss anything musical on the net, post to gain support – especially if its a band you have ever heard on 6 and would never hear anywhere else (and by my reckoning, that’s a shedload of bands).
2. Mail your favourite band members and ask for their support – I wonder if we could even organise a benefit gig to tie in with the demonstration?
3. Flyers – if you have access to print flyers, go hand them out on a Saturday and gather support
4. Badger your local MP to address this in parliament
5. Get all your mates and relatives to sign the online petition – it’s my birthday later in the week and I’ll be asking people to do this instead of buying presents for me – best birthday present I could wish for anyway is 6 music not dissapearing

- and I am sure there are many more things that can be done, but for now I hope this sparks some inspirations in people. This obviously needs discussion and a focal point for it all, and the facebook discussion place is great but may alienate non-facebook members, so maybe an independant discssion forum could be suggested?

Feel free to comment on this page if you think its a good idea, and thanks for reading. And Save 6 Music!!!

Been meaning to post something up about the best movie of the last year – for me personally the year was rather shite with one thing and another, but I do find escape in Cinema – that couple of hours or so can take you away from all the crap in life and while there were some strong contenders, one film shines so brightly from all of them as a piece of cinematic genius which very rapidly has stormed into my top 10, probably top 5 movies of all time. Directed by one of the worlds most renown directors, this latest outing of his kind of slipped under my radar on its release – however upon viewing this epic, it was quickly revisited two or three times within days and has become a firm favourite which I have been singing the praises to all and sundry since viewing it.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Waynster award for greatest film of 2009 goes to - Inglourious Basterds

Everything about this film goes against all the rules in my book – a fictitious war movie, a blatant bastardization (if you will excuse the pun) of historical events, hammed up acting,  often ludicrous plotlines and twists – yet somehow Quentin Tarantino, a man I have had the pleasure of meeting once, has made something so utterly wonderful that within seconds of starting this post I find it once more on the television.

It is a film I cannot tire of watching – I know full well probably next week I shall have some friends round who I hope to convert to this masterpiece and yet I shall not switch this off.  The actors are outstanding – many stars of German cinema (of which I am a fan) and the fantasticChristoph Waltz (who I only saw previously in Ordinary Decent Criminal) who plays perfectly the most detestable yet utterly adorable SS Officer. Brad Pitt playing a role so hammed up its ridiculous yet it could not be more perfect for the role. And the gorgeous Mélanie Laurent if only for the most perfect piece of Cinema I have ever seen, of all things an homage to an 80′s pop video in a world war II film – completely out of place yet absolute cinematic perfection for me – I could watch piece of film until the end of time if no other were allowed to me until my dying day – sheer brilliance. Just every little detail has been so perfectly thought out that I could almost weep at the genius of the man behind it all.

So if you haven’t seen this utter gem, I implore you to do so. We sometimes get complacent at the quality of films being produced and it is all to often that we bandy the word ‘classic’ when we see such a film – but this two and a half hours of film is one of those examples which genuinely defines the word classic. Film of the year – without a doubt, possibly even of the decade. It certainly is QT’s greatest outing in my eyes and although I totally respected Pulp Fiction, perhaps not revering it as others did preferring his other works (Dusk til Dawn, True Romance) and not worshipping the Kill Bill films, I may have sometimes even questioned his genius. Watching this film, I can only say that I was so wrong – Inglourious Basterds is the nearest thing to cinematic perfection I could ever comprehend. Sheer. Fucking. Genius.

So to Mr Tarantino, I met you once – I hope one day to meet you again to say thank you for making something so special, so perfect and so just utterly enjoyable no matter how many times I watch it I just end up loving it more and more. And above all, to thank you for this wonderful piece of cinema which reminds me why I love the motion picture so much. In fact thank you for during what was a very bad year for me, you gave me something to remind me of 2009 as a good year after all.

So whilst I dream of having the dosh to splash out on Nikon’s latest range of semi-pro D-SLRs, I am thinking seriously about buying a new compact as frankly the Canon Ixus I have currently is nothing short of crap. Was thinking of maybe a Panasonic Ixus but would welcome any suggestions – must take good photos, especially when under the influence, be packed with features and at a good price – any suggestions as I am a bit out of the loop with what’s hot and what’s not compact wise.

So finally got myself a google wave addy today. Think I can see the logic behind it but practice will indeed make perfect. Guess I need some friends to play with so if any one of you wants to add me up – it’s unsuprisingly, unoriginally but perhaps unforgettably waynster at googlewave.com.

I noticed my laptop, my cheap but value for money Toshiba Satellite has for the last few days has been running like a dog, even after just a few weeks of a complete fresh install of Vista Business – I’m using it a lot now for various design projects so this morning, it occurred to me I have Windows 7 lying around which I still haven’t properly tested, so I went ahead and installed it for shits and giggles, but this isn’t no laughing matter – what we have (so far anyway) is a vast improvement on Vista – first impresssions are really quite positive.

Aesthetically, it’s not that much different – there are a few pretty graphical tweaks (the regional changing wallpaper dependant on your location is quite trick), and apart from the start up and some graphical improvements to Icons, it is not that much different. I am running the ultimate version, and there doesn’t seem to be that much packaged in it – maybe its part of Microsofts legal wranglings with the EU that what you are getting is in fact a bareback OS without too many gizmos (although IE8 is in the pre-release)

What is impressive is how bloody fast it is – reboot times, and especially internet access is lightning quick. Compatibility wise, so far, again no problems. Several adobe products, Avast antivirus, MS Office and Visio have all installed without any issue – the only snag so far, is that MS SQL (which I need for MS Visual Express) needs a fix, and post the software installs I now have a whopping 476 meg of updates to install, but if its all for compatibility and continues this so far enjoyable ride with the OS, I’ll not be miffed.

I am sure there are those out there who will spit and curse for the use of Microsoft products when perfectly good alternatives can be had for nothing – I’ve used them (I continue to at work for some applications) but I genuinely like the feel of this, and having been a slave to their products for years proffesionally, it’s what you are used to, and this is like getting a pair of new slippers – more or less the same as your old ones, certainly as comfortable, but with those improvements that make you not miss your old favourites after a short while.

Incidentally, due to a long running issue with multiple video cards we have dropped XP at work on one of our production systems to be replaced by Vista – it’s funny what a difference it makes there too.

Whilst sitting here tonight watching TV I saw a bit of Gary Moore playing “Shapes of Things” and it got me thinking about my favourite covers done by the bands I love, and in some respects, the honour paid by other bands to their influences, and it got me thinking – the top 100 covers ever – that’s a hell of a list, but there really are some magical versions of peoples songs out there that really I hope justify and in some cases, blow the original out of the water.

So I got thinking, what would make the list – I made this first draft of 25 from memory, although I know I must have missed a few and hope to start something serious about defining *the* list of covers. Here’s my initial entry but I would welcome input to define a true 100 :

1. Shapes of Things – Gary Moore (The yardbirds)
2. Safety Dance – The Donnas (Men without hats)
3. Isolation – Therapy? (Joy Division)
4. Women In Uniform – Iron Maiden (The Skyhooks)
5. Got the time – Anthrax (Joe Jackson)
6. Blitzkrieg Bop – Rob Zombie (The Ramones)
7. Metallica – So What? (Anti-knowhere league)
8. Just Like Paradise – A (Van Halen)
9. I don’t know what to do with myself – The White Stripes (Burt Bacharach)
10. How soon is now? – Snake River Conspiracy (The Smiths)
11. Orgasmatron – Sepultura (Motorhead)
12. Comfortably Numb – Kittie (pink Floyd)
13. Police and Thieves – The Clash (Junior Murvin)
14. All along the watchtower – Jimi Hendrix (Bob Dylan)
15. Kentucky Woman – Deep Purple (Neil Diamond)
16. Louie Louie – Motorhead (Richard Berry and the Pharoahs)
17. Thin Lizzy – Rosalie (Bob Seger)
18. Surfin Bird – The Ramones (The Trashmen)
19. Street Fighting Man – Rage against the machine (The Rolling Stones)
20. Up the junction – Lawnmower Deth (Squeeze)
21. Heroin – The Wildhearts (Dogs D’amour)
22. Word Up – Gun (Cameo)
23. Terrorvision – Land Down Under (Men at work)
24. Knights in white satin – The Dickies (The Moody Blues)
25. Lovin you – Electric Eel Shock (Mini Ripperton)

So any thoughts? What have I missed?