Month: March 2010

March 26, 2010
I mentioned on Wednesday that I saw Shutter Island, but I thought I would write a little more about it.

I didn’t know a lot about the movie, except for the trailer, which showed Leonardo Dicaprio in what seemed to be in some kind of standard horror/shocker. However, I was looking for a film to see, and was surprised when I saw from the poster that it was directed by Martin Scorcese. I thought “this must be more than a simple horror/shocker”, and I was right.

March 24, 2010
March 18, 2010
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Pub Prop"][/caption]Picked up this interesting little gadget on eBay. The idea is that you clamp it to a table, in lieu of a proper guitar stand – ideal when playing in pubs and folk clubs, where there isn’t much space. It packs flat into a pocketable bag, and all parts of the clamp are soft rubber, so it is not going to damage table or instrument. It comes with adapters to make it suitable for smaller instruments.

March 16, 2010
March 15, 2010
Those of you who know me personally will know that over the last 10 years I have had a serious weight problem.
A couple of years ago, I attacked this with a sensible (but not brutal) diet and exercise regime. Things went fairly well, and I started shedding the weight.
However, I have only just faced up to the fact that last year, when I was living in London and visiting mum in hospital, the diet went right out of the window – that is now over 9 months ago, and I still haven’t got back into my good habits. Although I keep resolving to start again, I haven’t put in the effort.

March 13, 2010
As it has been blogged by , I guess it is now ok to reveal that I have been asked to be the International Guest at Consonance 2011, the San Francisco Bay Area filk convention.

I’ve been sitting on the news for a month, and fit to burst. Needless to say, I am thrilled to bits.

March 5, 2010
I saw Avatar on Tuesday, to get me out of a cold house.

I enjoyed the movie, but mostly because of the 3D, which I admit was very good. I thought the story was pretty thin and predictable, the characters stereotypes and I became irritated by the preachy nature of the script, which I felt was kind of insulting to the viewer – it was hard to miss the environmental message in the story, so I thought it was totally unnecessary to go on about it in the dialog as well.

March 3, 2010
So here I am, once again in a warm house. My new boiler is working away in the loft, and my kitchen now has a empty wall that will eventually take 3 more much needed cupboards.

It wasn’t just a case of the old boiler taking up a bit of space on the wall – the boxing in of the pipes either side of it took up almost the entire wall, except for about 2 feet of shelves in a corner. With that all ripped out, the free space looks quite remarkable, although I now have to have my kitchen ceiling patched for the second time in just 12 months!

March 2, 2010
When Skins first appeared on TV, I ignored it, figuring it to be a trashy teenie drama that I wouldn’t be interested in.

Then, because of a friend staying with me at the time, I happened to catch the last two episodes of series 2, and I actually quite liked it.

March 2, 2010
When Skins first appeared on TV, I ignored it, figuring it to be a trashy teenie drama that I wouldn’t be interested in.
Then, because of a friend staying with me at the time, I happened to catch the last two episodes of series 2, and I actually quite liked it.
So, a few years later, now, I noticed that all 4 series (series 4 is part the way through) are now available on the web with 4OD (4 on demand), so I thought I would see what I missed.

March 2, 2010
I’m having a new boiler fitted, and although the work is going well, it meant I was without central heating and hot water overnight.

This was not a great problem, as I have a gas fire in the lounge (although it is soon to be removed), and no lack of small electric fires/radiators in the house; and my shower – which I prefer to baths – is electric.

March 1, 2010