tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8045335797497960912024-03-06T02:36:57.765+00:00DomBlogGeneral thoughts and happeningsDominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-36328668642855754662008-07-09T17:10:00.006+00:002008-08-25T16:39:40.529+00:00Glasto 2008It may have been a couple of months since I got back, but here's my post-Glasto roundup.<br /><br />I think I arrived earlier than I have before. First weren't running the bus from Bath this year (boo!), so I got a train to Temple Meads and the shuttle bus from there. It all went pretty smoothly, and even though it started pouring with rain just after I got on the bus, it was sunny by the time we arrived on-site about 40 minutes later. They've sorted-out the traffic this year, so only buses could go through Pilton. I don't know where the cars were sent, but it made the bus a lot quicker not having to sit in all the plebby car traffic. Hurrah!<br /><br />I'd sent my tent up and had a cup of tea by about 1:30pm, so I headed off to find some music. I spent a lot of time at the <a href="http://www.smallworldsolarstage.org/smallworld/">Small World Solar Stage</a> where I caught Crystal Masters (sort of bluesy/country stuff), <a href="http://www.myspace.com/celestelovick">Celeste Lovick</a> (who I thought was excellent - I bought one of the CDs she was selling), and Cornelius. I spent the rest of my Wednesday poking around the Green Fields and enjoying the site in its pre-mud state. Shrek III was inexplicably cancelled in the evening, but hey ho.<br /><br />On Thursday there was a big fire at a scrap-yard outside the site, but the huge amounts of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653468767/">black smoke that hung around</a> in the sky all day provoked some debate. I had discussions with random people about everything from 'terrorist attacks on music' to 'Street is on fire', but thankfully all were false. I spent most of the day catching the bands playing on the Bandstand, including <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654296086/">The Doubtful Guest</a>, who were as good as ever.<br /><br />Friday kicked-off with breakfast at Henry's Beard, then <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654296650/">Kate Nash on the Pyramid stage</a>. I don't really know much about her, but she was ok. I stuck around for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653472935/">The Subways</a> (who were unimpressive) and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654297694/">Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly</a>, who were ok. I then trundled off to the Other stage to catch <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653473893/">Vampire Weekend</a>, mainly thanks to people going on about how good they are. They were ok, but I think they suffered from the immediate downer that my brain adds to any Other Stage performance. I wandered-off to the Green Futures field to watch <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653474473/">Caroline Lucas</a> wipe the floor with some Tory in a debate entitled 'Can the Tories Deliver A Green Agenda?', one of a number of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653475251/">interesting events</a> in that tent. I then strolled over to the Avalon stage to catch Hazel O'Conner, which was suprisingly good. I then caught a strange act called 'Dancing On Your Grave' by <a href="http://www.thecholmondeleys.org/">'The Cholmondleys and the Featherstonehaughs'</a>, followed by a cute singer/songwriter called Hera from Iceland/New Zealand (another set I liked enough to buy the CD afterwards). There then followed a few hours of managing not to meet-up with some friends, but I did catch the surprise Franz Ferdinand set on The Park stage.<br /><br />Saturday morning saw the site beginning to dry-up a bit after the rain on Friday, with the Pyramid Stage <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653478487/">not looking too bad</a>. First up was <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653479131/">Shakin' Stevens</a>, who was pretty poor actually. For some reason he now refuses to sing 'Green Door', which leaves 'This Old House' as the only song anyone cares about. Martha Wainwright was up next, and she was suitably barmy. I didn't catch her whole set though as I had to be at the Leftfield for 12:30 to catch <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653479497/">Seize The Day</a>, who were as excellent as ever. Immediately after them came the mighty <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654304430/">Flipron</a>, who I've probably seen almost as many times now as I've seen anyone. Then it was back to the Pyramid to see the ever excellent <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654304794/">Crowded House</a>, followed by a bit of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654305066/">James Blunt</a> (who really isn't that objectionable - I don't know why he gets so much stick). It was then time for a comedy break, so I went to the Cabaret tent to see Simon Munnery, Jeremy Hardy and Mitch Benn - all excellent as usual. Jeremy Hardy just doesn't do enough stand-up. Then it was off to the Jazz World stage to see <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654305682/">Imagined Village</a>, who had Billy Bragg on for a bit. I can't really remember the rest of the evening thanks to cider overload, but I think I saw Massive Attack. I definitely ignored Jay-Z.<br /><br />Sunday morning brought another very pleasant breakfast at Henry's Beard in the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653482169/">Green Fields</a>, then on to the Pyramid stage to see <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653482687/">Marina Topley-Bird</a>. I also caught <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654307772/">Scouting For Girls</a> on the Other Stage, before heading to the Pyramid Stage to get a spot for Leonard Cohen. I caught the end of the unimpressive <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654308116/">Neil Diamond</a> and the better than expected <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653484479/">Goldfrapp</a>, before the highlight of the festival, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2653484883/">Leonard Cohen</a>. He was blinding, as expected... and I've managed to see him live! I never thought I would. All is well with the world.<br /><br />Monday was lovely and sunny. I spent a good few hours strolling around and poking at the (now much quieter) markets. It really was a lovely, sunny day. After the nightmare of last year's departure (thanks to See Tickets awful bus planning, the weather, early starts, and other rubbish), this year was about a million times better. Just look at the lovely, sunny and mud-free <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/2654316616/">bus station!</a>. The mud came over the top of my boots there last year, and we were all close to being hypothermic. Good times.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-56072235688493324372008-04-08T20:57:00.003+00:002008-04-08T21:27:58.700+00:00GlastoIt has been an exciting old weekend. On Saturday Ally celebrated her 30th birthday. It was an excellent party, and photos will be appearing on Facebook very soon, I'm sure. I'm ashamed to say that I was the only person there not in fancy dress. I have an excuse though - before the party I went to see the always funny <a href="http://www.stewartlee.co.uk/">Stewart Lee</a> doing his show '41st Best Stand Up Ever' at the <a href="http://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/ustinov">Ustiniv</a>. Support came from the also brilliant <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/people/kevin_eldon_person_page.shtml">Kevin Eldon</a> in the form of some amusing poetry. Stewart Lee's set was great as always - perhaps a little less confrontational than previous ones, but very entertaining none the less. Hopefully he will be at Glastonbury again this year... not that I'm sure that the naked man and Jesus with crucifix 'heckles' could ever be beaten. They were proper Glasto moments indeed.<br /><br />Ah yes, Glastonbury! I was up for 9am on Sunday morning, ready for the annual madness that is clicking on refresh and redialing the phone for three hours until I get through. Sure enough, with three of us doing that constantly I finally got through and bought tickets at about half eleven. It's always a joyous moment, and I didn't even have to get the inconvenient coach tickets this time (although I'll still go by bus, of course). As the day went on though the tickets still didn't sell out, and they were still there by the end of the day. It was most bizarre, and obviously in hindsight I wouldn't have got up early and gone through the pain of watching timeout messages for hours. Tickets are, in fact, still there now. It's funny - last year I was hoping that the rain would put off some of the fair-weather fans (see what I did there?) this year, and it turns out that may have happened. However awful Jay-Z is, there are always so many artists for every taste that the lineup really doesn't make much difference, so I don't buy that line of reasoning. I really don't think that the weather and mud could be any worse, and even if it is, it will still all be brilliant. Can't wait.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-17716405630632276912008-03-31T23:02:00.003+00:002008-03-31T23:40:48.777+00:002008Of course it has been 2008 for some time... in fact, we're now in 'Q2' as sales types like to say in an effort to sound important. It has been a while since my last entry, and for that I apologise. Life has been busy, etc etc. However, I will fill you in on what has been going on as best I can.<br /><br />My last entry was about mince pies if I recall correctly. You may be pleased to know that they were very nice. I have decided that the single most dull part of pie making is pastry, and lack of pastry is something that cakes have over the whole pie world. Actually, not just cakes - any sort of non-pastry topped dessert or sweet. Is a crumble a pie that just has a crust made of something other than pastry though? Hmm... I'll have to think about that.<br /><br />So anyway, after the pies, Christmas and so on I went to France for a spot of skiing. There was a big group of us and we headed down in three cars to the alps for a week of snowy fun. French roads eh? Driving on them loses its novelty value after about ten hours, but we get there without incident. The chalet itself was very nice, and only a mile or so from the lift. We were also blessed with excellent weather for the time of year and fresh snow for most of the time. It was my first time skiing and although I showed all the aptitude of a blind bull on crack, I really enjoyed it. The downside was breaking a couple of ribs just over halfway through the holiday, which put me in too much pain to actually move much. Sport eh? Dangerous business if you ask me.<br /><br />I've started a philosophy course with the OU. It has been very interesting so far, and despite going straight into my usual last-minute essay writing mode I seem to be doing ok at it. The tutorials are probably the most interesting ones of any course I've done for some time, and the reading is the sort of thing I like reading anyway. I may feel differently come exam time, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.<br /><br />A few weeks ago I went to Minehead and found it to be much nicer than I remembered it to be. I suppose that being off-season adds a lot to it, but I was most pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure why tourism usually does horrible things to towns, but Minehead has a good selection of independent shops and a bustling high street, as well as decently priced housing, and the sea of course. It was one of those places I could see myself living in... just not quite yet. Good place to bring-up a family though.<br /><br />This year will feature several 30th birthdays for friends, plus a couple of weddings. Big events, and as we all know, big events involve lots of tomfoolery and tipsy shenanigans. I'm sure there will be a few amusing photos posted to various Facebook profiles as a result. I'm looking forward to it all.<br /><br />The Glastonbury Festival will feature none other than Leonard Cohen this year! I can't wait. Well, I may not get a ticket of course - I've been lucky so far. I've pre-registered for the usual rush (which will happen on the 8th), so fingers crossed. The lineup is excellent (not sure about JayZ or whoever he is.. one for the kids I suppose), and the weather can't actually be any worse, right? I'm also off to the Two Thousand Trees festival (featuring the brilliant Flipron), plus a few others I'm sure. Oh, and Billy Bragg later this month. In fact he's just released a new album (Mr Love and Justice) which you should obviously go and buy.<br /><br />Life is generally pretty much the same as it was 2007 in most ways though. Kate Winslet still hasn't come to her senses and married me, and to be honest she'd better get her skates on before I tire of her coyness. 2007 did seem to feature some big swings from high to low with that sort of thing actually - hopefully this year will be more stable. Generally the last few months have been pretty cool but they sort of fade into a blur when trying to remember them in bed at gone midnight, as I am now. I will try to keep the blog postings a bit more regular from now on... there's a lot to spout off about generally, and it sort of loses its appeal after months have passed. One of the reasons I have forgotten stuff is because I haven't blogged it - you know you're old when you keep a blog as a memory aid.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-91688752835275252482007-12-16T11:06:00.001+00:002008-12-09T14:49:51.855+00:00Festive FoodChristmas is rapidly approaching and mince pies take a minimum of a week to make properly, so yesterday I made this year's mincemeat. Some people seem to think that this is harder than it is, so I thought I'd stick the recipe down here to prove that it's probably as easy as buying the stuff in jars.<br /><br />You will need the following things:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnPRW05dQzkeRZXRmTRFgZcRCkOmZrfxZtmlE7N6Si9AKd-CW9rGEH1QK2Pug3v8olVvLO-Wk0SlkiQLsNFYvkXBx-rwYanPtTAUv2kdxbwtzvwizWJSOYCCCl7GiWUnh3RtIRttioASo/s1600-h/mincemeat236.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnPRW05dQzkeRZXRmTRFgZcRCkOmZrfxZtmlE7N6Si9AKd-CW9rGEH1QK2Pug3v8olVvLO-Wk0SlkiQLsNFYvkXBx-rwYanPtTAUv2kdxbwtzvwizWJSOYCCCl7GiWUnh3RtIRttioASo/s320/mincemeat236.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144526691659850626" /></a><br /><br />Now quantities are always vague, but I work on a ratio system. I think that a lot of recipes care a bit too much about exactly how much to use, and I usually go on this sort of vague 'one of these for two of those' system. It seems to work! Anyway, going through the photo from top left we have:<br /><ul><br /><li>2 x good quality minced beef.</li><br /><li>Small pot of mixed glace peel.. about 'half' in our ratios</li><br /><li>1 x (by weight) rum, brandy or a mixture of both</li><br /><li>Ginger in syrup, about the same weight as the peel</li><br /><li>1 x beef suet. Your local butcher will have this</li><br /><li>4 x single eating apple</li><br /><li>1.5 x ground almonds</li><br /><li>1 x single grated nutmeg</li><br /><li>Mixed spice, about twice as much as the grated nutmeg</li><br /><li>2 x dried fruit. I've used half currants and half raisins here.</li><br /><li>1 x single lemon</li><br /><li>1 x single orange</li><br /><li>1 x soft brown sugar</li><br /></ul><br /><br />Making the mincemeat is easy - just chop everything that needs chopping into small pieces and mix together! You'll probably want to peel and core the apples, and the skin of the lemon and orange needs to be grated into the mixture and the remaining fruit squeezed.<br /><br />You should end-up with something like this:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcO5D3BwOpGfYtxTE9b0evWHt4iHwciHh-mkGuNyxM9HcKUv579yls0QQXjedMOoePrS-R1AagNh6R-R9AdEnriml_TUwUkyr1UQ2_-h_oQKpQUQkYW85PLn6y-n3stoPTM-Ro6oGozJE/s1600-h/mincemeat237.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcO5D3BwOpGfYtxTE9b0evWHt4iHwciHh-mkGuNyxM9HcKUv579yls0QQXjedMOoePrS-R1AagNh6R-R9AdEnriml_TUwUkyr1UQ2_-h_oQKpQUQkYW85PLn6y-n3stoPTM-Ro6oGozJE/s320/mincemeat237.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144529680957088658" /></a><br /><br />Whack it into some old jars and keep it for at least a week. It will then be ready to fill some pies. Yum!Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-3080670185164035452007-12-04T21:27:00.000+00:002007-12-05T12:40:27.900+00:00Green ChristmasSo December is upon us... so soon! Winter is a challenging time to stay green, and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to make it through all of 2007 while remaining carbon neutral. With this in mind I've started thinking about Christmas, and how I can green it up a bit.<br /><br />Firstly, trees. A few years back I read a vaguely convincing article about how the greenest choice of tree is an artificial one. This is based an several assumptions, the most important being that the tree is reused for several years and recycled at the end of its life. If this is done then the benefits supposedly outweigh the fact that it is made of petrochemicals in China. However, is this true? Having looking into it a bit it seems that artificial trees are very hard to recycle since they are mostly made of steel and PVC. PVC can't easily be burned due to the emissions given off, while it's difficult to remove the steel without doing this since most trees are made by twisting the steel and PVC strands very tightly. One must also be realistic about how long trees are kept. My parents are probably reasonably unusual in that we had the same (aluminium) tree for about twenty years and it never seemed to get more scrappy, but how many people lose bits, buy a different size, or whatever? The sheer amount of artificial trees sold before Christmas at DIY centres suggests that people don't keep them forever.<br /><br />So what about real trees? Some of the bad press they have received about their green credentials has been based on historical figures of imports. There was a time when the majority of trees were imported, but most are now British-grown, thus reducing the fuel used in transport. However, fuel is still used - there are the carbon costs of preparing the fields, planting the trees, the pesticides/herbicides used for growing, then transporting the trees afterwards. If the trees are grown in place of an older wood then there's also the impact of destroying the existing trees, which as a worst case could be an ancient oak forest. Plantations of Christmas trees do not lend themselves well to biodiversity, although of course they provide more cover for animals than bare ground.<br /><br />So the best choice for a new tree is still not clear. I think that in the worst case for the real tree, such as one that is imported, grown on cleared deciduous woodland, heavily sprayed, and so on, an artificial tree may still be the best option. This is even more true if you can find a PVC-free, easy to recycle tree that is made locally. That is if those exist, of course.<br /><br />It goes without saying that the greenest option is not to get a new tree at all. Use a living tree, or just buy a second-hand artificial tree (an easy way to recycle them!). You could also consider one of the cute <a href="http://www.tree2mydoor.com/gifts/celebration_days/christmas_gifts.asp">'grow your own' kits</a>. These are all zero-carbon options, and you end-up with a tree that's just as fine. It's also a little reduction on the mad consumerism of the season of course, which is something we should all take some time to think about.<br /><br />Now as for when to put the tree up... well, that's another kettle of fish!Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-18697899832972672862007-11-30T17:54:00.000+00:002007-11-30T19:49:22.764+00:00The Future of GenomicsOn Thursday evening I was in Bristol for a public debate on <a href="http://www.at-bristol.org.uk/explore/InsideDNA.htm">The Future of Genomics</a> at Expore@Bristol. It was a special event to mark the opening of the new 'Inside DNA' exhibition they have there, and since I've always been interested in genetics I thought I'd go along.<br /><br />Sir John Sulston kicked-off with a half hour or so talk about the state of play in genetics research, then the floor was opened. The lovely <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/Anatomy/about/staff/roberts.htm">Alice Roberts</a> (yes, her from off the telly) handled the session. The audience was filled with several experts on genetics and the ethics behind it, and some of the questions were quite good considering that it was a public event. Given current events there was some interest in biometrics and ID cards (which are all pointless as well as scary) and databases, plus genuinely interesting tidbits.<br /><br />Interesting tidbit example - they think they now know why we're seeing a rise in peanut allergies, something that concerns me as I have one. It's possibly because creams containing peanut oil were used to treat eczema in the 70's and 80's, and the proteins being absorbed through the broken skin provoked the intolerance. This explains a lot - I had eczema as a child, so it all fits. They discovered this through the 'child of the 90's' study which is taking place in Bristol. It's the most detailed study of its kind in the world and has provided a lot of information so far, so yay for Bristol.<br /><br />The exhibition is well worth checking out, as it all of @Bristol, of course. It's a shame that they closed the iMax though - hopefully it will reopen one day.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-66580854901977219072007-11-04T22:20:00.000+00:002008-12-09T14:49:51.911+00:00Routemasters and Shibboleth<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPdqP3tO7O3brY9OMhJ_cGT1YRC16Vy4dcNN56_DOBMZryg2DZ3QoTZR2qKOuCiulr5bbfcUava-TBYSPUTTvGoWD93vNcHNK6lXluOiaXClaQt3C1EzYaJJxdKMGWzlqW-D4pMkBJU4/s1600-h/salcedo.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPdqP3tO7O3brY9OMhJ_cGT1YRC16Vy4dcNN56_DOBMZryg2DZ3QoTZR2qKOuCiulr5bbfcUava-TBYSPUTTvGoWD93vNcHNK6lXluOiaXClaQt3C1EzYaJJxdKMGWzlqW-D4pMkBJU4/s200/salcedo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129115392545066290" /></a><br />I was in London over the weekend for a birthday party. A friend was 30 and hired a Routemaster bus to take us (along with a large amount of champagne) to watch the fireworks at Blackheath, then back to Victoria again for a slap-up feed at a Mexican restaurant. Much fun was had, and I don't think I've had quite so much champagne for some time!<br /><br />Thankfully champagne doesn't seem to give me much of a hangover, so I didn't feel too bad on Sunday. I took the opportunity to catch-up with some friends while at the same time check out <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/dorissalcedo/default.shtm">Shibboleth</a> by Doris Salcedo at the Tate Modern. I must say that we were slightly underwhelmed - I expected something a bit wider and deeper I suppose, and while it was certainly long and looked strange in such a large space, it was less impressive than I thought it might be. Still, it was pretty busy so lots of people were obviously interested. In fact the whole place was probably about the busiest I've seen it.<br /><br /><br />After looking around at a few other things that were new since I was last there we headed off for lunch at Tas at The Cut. It's the second time that we've tried to get in to <a href="http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Nightlife/The_Anchor__Hope/be11/">The Anchor And Hope</a> (which is meant to be one of the best gastropubs in London) but had to go to Tas instead, but hopefully I'll get to try it one day...Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-8563160445280629092007-11-01T14:38:00.000+00:002007-11-01T14:39:43.511+00:00Bath Film FestivalToday is the start of the <a href="http://www.bathfilmfestival.org.uk/">2007 Bath Film Festival</a>, and for the next eleven days there are some quality films. Some caught my eye.<br /><br /><a href="http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/sep-dec07/bbc/index.html">Beautiful Young Minds</a>, an interesting looking documentary about a maths competition (well, <em>I</em> think it sounds interesting!) on Saturday. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462504/">Rescue Dawn</a> is another film about Vietnam, but most importantly it has Christian Bale in it. Has he ever been in a bad film? I don't think so. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425321/">The Yacoubian Building</a> is a film about life in central Cairo that looks good and is being shown on Sunday. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401383/">The Diving Bell and the Butterfly</a> (Monday) is the story of a man who suffers a stroke - sad, but it looks quite inspiring. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410730/">Taxidermia</a> appeals to my surreal side (just look at plot outline!) and is on Monday. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0881934/">The Killing Of John Lennon</a> looks interesting, as do <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032856/">The Band's Visit</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420509/">The Aura</a>. I'd also like to catch <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071604/">Hearts and Minds</a>, an Oscar-winning documentary about the Vietnam war which is still pretty relevant. There's also an evening of locally made short films on the 11th which looks good.<br /><br />So, lots of films to see, or potentially see anyway. There are some others that I wanted to list but I don't want to just reel-off films as much as bring attention to the festival. It's all good!Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-1615041152099597772007-10-29T22:51:00.000+00:002007-10-29T22:52:37.552+00:00Running madnessSo I might well have gone a bit mad, but I have entered the next <a href="http://www.runninghigh.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ho0">Bath Half Marathon</a>. Considering that I haven't really run around much since school (where, let's face it, I was forced to.. usually by a rather insistent Brother James) this might seem like a slightly foolhardy step. However, I do have until the 16th of March next year to get ready for it, so it's not insurmountable.<br /><br />Where there's a difficult looking task, there's a gadget to help. In my case I plumped for a GPS watch that I can plug into the computer to see my route and stats on Google Maps. This is sufficiently geeky to inspire me to actually do some exercise, so while some may say it's a bit pointless, if the end result is that I run 13 miles I reckon it's pretty good value for money.<br /><br />So why run the race anyway? Well, I guess everyone has their reasons. I could certainly do with being fitter, and I could certainly be slimmer. In the end though, I think running a vaguely serious distance is something that I've always felt I should do at some point. Now seems a good time, and charity will even benefit a bit with sponsorship and so on. However, I am weak! I know this, so I need all the incentive I can get to see this through. Registering for the race was a start, but I intend to <a href="http://www.dominictristram.com/training/">put my progress up on my web site</a>. This way, any improvement (or lack of it) will be visible for all to see, which will in turn spur me on a bit. Hopefully.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-37519741774763792382007-08-15T17:04:00.000+00:002007-08-15T17:06:03.340+00:00Festivals AhoyOn Saturday I was in London for the <a href="http://www.fielddayfestivals.com/">Field Day Festival</a>. The weather was perfect, and after a slightly delayed train journey I was still in London in good time. We met up and made our way to Bethnal Green, the nearest tube for Victoria Park.<br /><br />None of us had been to Victoria Park before. It's actually quite nice and seems to be divided into two by a road. One part has a nice lake with plenty of birdlife hanging around on it, and is quite nicely landscaped. Over the road is the part of the park where the festival was being held, which was a much more straightforward green space with a few trees, along with some big monument thing. The festival was close to this, enclosed in a 7 foot fence.<br /><br />The queue to get in was minimal, although for some reason that was never quite clear they divided people into male and female queues. I assumed that this was something to do with searches, but nobody was being searched anyway. Weird. All that it meant was that there was a lot of people hanging around just in the site waiting for their opposite-sexed friends. The rather overly-keen security staff were also taking food and drink, including water, away from people. This seemed a bit mean on such a hot day.<br /><br />The site itself was quite small - apparently the capacity was 10,000, although I don't think that it got close to that while we were there. We grabbed some food (no queues for that) and had a wander around. This was fairly on in the day and the queues for beer were quite large, so we thought we'd wait and go later. That was our main mistake! As the day went on, beer queues grew and grew. There were only two bars for all 10,000 people, and it was taking literally hours to get served! Needless to say, we didn't bother. We stick with the rather strange cider-based 'Sungria', which we manged to get without much queuing early on. That was about the only alcohol we got all day though, thanks to the mad queues (which were nothing, compared to the toilets!). The lack of thought that had gone into bars and toilets was fairly amazing, and there were many disgruntled people. The music was pretty cool though, if hampered by a weedy sound system, so the day was still good overall. I just hope that next time the organisers try to decide how many toilets 10,000 people need when drinking they come-up with a number greater than 30.<br /><br />After the festival we went to the pub for a few drinks, then onto a new sushi place in (I think) Kensington High Street, that was pretty good. After another few pints in the pub we called it a day.<br /><br />On Sunday we went to see <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783608/">The Walker</a>, which was actually very good. Woody Harrelson is a great actor - has he ever been in a bad film? Anyway, he was very good in this as a gay 'society walker' in Washington. I must admit that it's a career I have never really thought about, but it makes for an interesting film, and it's interesting how his 'society ladies' react to the events. Worth a go anyway. Now I just need to catch The Simpsons!<br /><br />V Festival this weekend - I hope it stops raining! I've had enough of muddy festivals this year!Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-47105674121181561522007-06-25T20:26:00.000+00:002008-12-09T14:49:55.678+00:00Glastonbury Roundup<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYLzyAr596YHZLgO9jU5bG8CW1sD3YKFnaecC6LMwgv9JRxq1h-Wuzk4QJGJvNfORYaEsgzouK-5zHpYqNBfsj3b_SrIFlmIli7Zgb8xAHjRowchpT75ArUa0fW0nKNkGRHRG7aD8NmU/s1600-h/boots.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYLzyAr596YHZLgO9jU5bG8CW1sD3YKFnaecC6LMwgv9JRxq1h-Wuzk4QJGJvNfORYaEsgzouK-5zHpYqNBfsj3b_SrIFlmIli7Zgb8xAHjRowchpT75ArUa0fW0nKNkGRHRG7aD8NmU/s200/boots.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080101486472320818" /></a><br /><br />Well, I'm back from Glastonbury in one piece! You may have heard that it was a bit wet this year, and it was. Wetter than 2005 I'd say, but the new drainage stopped the flooding. It didn't stop the mud though! Anyway, more on that in a bit.<br /><br />Our bus was due to go at 8:45 on Wednesday morning, but I got a text on Tuesday evening saying that it had been changed to 2pm. Slightly irritating, but that would mean getting on-site by 3pm or so, which isn't bad. We got to Bath coach station around 1:20 and settled in to the short wait, only to discover that the buses were rather disorganised. Our bus got gradually later, as did everyone else's. There was one guy from See Tickets (who were running everything, supposedly) and he was being mobbed by the 200 or so people waiting, but didn't know what was going on. He did have all of the tickets in a carrier bag though, and the first few people who asked got their tickets and made their own way. This got the guy a telling-off from his bosses though, so he soon stopped that. Time ticked on and the police turned-up as they didn't like 200 increasingly-annoyed people hanging around the coach station. There wasn't much they could do though (apart from telling people off for drinking), so everyone sat around getting frustrated for a few hours. Some <a href="http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=163061&command=displayContent&sourceNode=163044&contentPK=17623917&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch">reporters from the local paper</a> turned up, but the only real story was See Tickets being inept.<br /><br />Anyway, our coach finally left at around 6pm, and we were on-site by 7. Despite my earlier lofty plans to head for Dragons Field, we set-up in Woodsies as usual - it's a good spot, especially when rain is expected as it doesn't get too muddy. Even better, it's right next to gate A where we came in. Having set-up the tents we headed into the markets to look about. Foolishly we thought that the solstice was on Thursday night, not Thursday morning, so we missed all of the celebrations at the stone circle. Bah! Still, we grabbed some food from the excellent Garlic Kitchen (<a href="http://glastonbury2007.blogspot.com/2007/06/garlic-kitchen.html">this guy</a> is also a fan), then after a bit of wandering around went up to the cinema tent to watch Serenity. After that it was back down into the markets for a bimble about, then back to the tent for a relatively early one. Little did we know that it was the last time we'd see much on the ground other than mud.<br /><br />It rained on Thursday, quite a lot. However, when it finished the ground didn't seem too bad. We did some things, but also drank quite a lot so I don't remember much about it. We spent some time in <a href="http://www.chaiwallahs.co.uk/">Chai Wallahs</a> drinking their rather excellent chai, doing some wheatgrass shots, and listening to some of the guys from <a href="http://www.onetaste.co.uk/">One Taste</a>, including the really, really good <a href="http://www.myspace.com/jamiewoon">Jamie Woon</a>. Not only is he a great singer/guitarist, but he does a very impressive local loop one man band thing. You really have to see it. I can't remember anything else we did, but we were in the Leftfield drinking quite a lot.<br /><br />On Friday the ground had got pretty muddy, but it was still just about ok in the morning. The bands had started of course, and we all had timetables in mind. First on my list were <a href="http://www.flipron.co.uk">Flipron</a> on the Avalon stage. I'd convinced Nicole that they were worth seeing, and I think she was convinced. They're always great and it's just a shame that the set wasn't longer. It was getting muddier all the time though, and after Flipron it was getting to the point where moving between stages had to be carefully considered as it took so flippin' long. More beer seemed to help my balance though. I caught Rory Motion and '4 in a Field' in the cabaret tent, although I only really laughed at a couple of the comedians (Sean Hughes was good, and Ed Byrne was a good compere). We caught Rufus Wainwright and Arcade Fire on the Other stage. I didn't bother with the Arctic Monkeys, but I probably heard most of Bjork as I was stuck in the human traffic jam heading towards the Pyramid stage.<br /><br />Saturday was even wetter. The rain not stopping had got less funny, but it wasn't going to stop us! The mud gave it a good go though. We poked around the Green Fields, then spent a very enjoyable (and dry) afternoon in the cabaret tent watching Nina Conti, Simon Munnery, Paul Nathan, Murray Lachlan-Young, Jeremy Hardy, Rhythm Wave, Marcus Brigstocke, Phil Kay and Mitch Benn. The highlights were Jeremy Hardy and Marcus Brigstocke, but it was pretty much all good. I'm not sure what it says about me that the main thing I wanted to see on the day was comedy though! Anyway, after that it was off to the John Peel stage to catch 'Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly', then back to the cinema tent to catch Hot Fuzz, although we gave up before the end (it was cold, and I've seen it before... it's good though!). Oh, and we got into the <a href="http://music.guardian.co.uk/slideshow/0,,2109761,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront">Guardian photo montage thing</a>, around about the 1:20 remaining mark. That's us, in yellow ponchos!<br /><br />My main objective for Sunday was the Leftfield. We saw <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/">George Monbiot</a> talk about his environmental ideas which are always very insightful. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Faulkner">Eric Faulkner</a> (yes him, from the Bay City Rollers) then played two guitars at once, which was very impressive. Then there was a debate called 'Another World is Possible' with Tony Benn, George Monbiot, and some union people. George Monbiot got very angry about the Iraq war and made some very good points <em>again</em>. The next act was Marcus Brigstocke again, with a reduced (but slightly different) version of his set from the day before. Still funny. Then Ed Byrne did a really funny set, Tony Benn talked about nuclear weapons and Trident, Shazia Mirza did her 'angry feminist Muslim' thing, then <a href="http://www.markthomasinfo.com/">Mark Thomas</a> did his funny (yet alarming) mass lone protest thing, ending with the good news that Gordon Brown has suggested that he'll scrap the restrictions on protesting near parliament. After that we hoofed-it up to the Avalon stage to catch <a href="http://www.billybragg.co.uk/">Billy Bragg</a>, in great form as ever. Sadly, far too many other people wanted to see him too, so we were stood some way outside the tent. Still a good gig though - he's always great to watch. After that we went back to the Pyramid stage and caught a bit of the Manics, but then gave up and went to Chai Wallah's again instead to drink chai and catch more Jamie Woon.<br /><br />And today.... dear God, the organisation! Or lack of it. Our bus was due to go at 8am, so we were up early putting our tents away in the rain (it had rained all night), and trudged over to the site bus station. Of course, none of the buses were working and nobody knew what was going on. The mud was the deepest at the festival, and it actually came over the top of my boots for the first time all weekend. We gave-up waiting where we were meant to as it clearly wasn't going anyway, and went and stood near where the buses were coming in. It was very wet and windy, and some people were clearly very cold, despite the foil heat blanket things that were handed out. A bus for Bath eventually turned up at around 10, and about five coach loads of people tried to get on. We were lucky and made it in, but a lot of people didn't. I dread to think how long they had to wait. Urgh. So I got home just before midday, cold and wet, but overall happy.<br /><br />It has easily been the wettest and coldest Glasto so far - even the floods of last time went away by Sunday, and it was sunny then too. This time the rain was just relentless, and the mud. I won't forget that in hurry. As for my highlight... Jeremy Hardy? Not very rock'n'roll, but there you go. And Billy Bragg from a musical perspective I suppose, but then I know all of his songs and agree with his views, so I probably got more out of it than the other guys. Jaime Woon was good too, and I intend to check him out...Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-62118228036056305472007-06-11T00:19:00.001+00:002007-06-11T00:20:33.287+00:00Hot Vegans, AlmostThis weekend was really hot. I was in Bristol on Saturday, and when I left my house in the morning it was a bit overcast so I put some jeans on. Big mistake - by the time the train got to Bristol the sun was out and I was already overheating. Still, you have to make the most of these things, so buy combining the powers of ice cream and beer, I got through the day.<br /><br />We went to the Glass Arcade in <a href="http://www.stnicholasmarketbristol.co.uk/">St Nicholas Markets</a> for lunch where I tried some Caribbean 'Ackee and Salt Fish'. Tasty, although the women running the stall did her best to warn me that I wouldn't like it (nobody there, including her, liked it). I thought it was pretty good though - it sort of melts in your mouth. In a nice way.<br /><br />We checked-out <a href="http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/exhibition.php?id=32">'Encounters'</a>, a Manuel Vason exhibition at the <a href="http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/">Arnolfini</a>. Despite the clever walk-activated lighting stuff, it rather suffered from a lack of context, but hey, it was suitably disturbing in parts to tick the right 'art' boxes! The Arnolfini do struggle to run their bar very efficiently when it's busy though, and it does get pretty busy on summer days.<br /><br />During the afternoon we went to Brandon Hill and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Tower_(Bristol)">Cabot Tower</a>. I don't know why I haven't been up it before, but I did this time. A great view is to be had from the top of it, and we had fun squeezing past the fat people on the thin spiral staircase. The tower is nice and cool when it's hot and sunny outside, so it was a bit of a welcome respite.<br /><br />There was an intention to catch <a href="http://www.puressence.co.uk/">Puressence</a> at the <a href="http://www.bristolveganfayre.co.uk/home.htm">Vegan Fayre</a> (the worlds biggest, no less), but a few drinks in the sun sort of messed-up our schedule. Still, we sort of heard the end of the set from the other side of the fence!<br /><br />As I type this I'm watching Mick Jagger prancing about on stage singing Sympathy for the Devil at the Isle of Wight festival. He's not doing too badly for a pensioner! A few of my friends were there, and with the great weather and lineup, I'm sure they had an excellent time. My own festival excitement is for Glastonbury of course, but it has been ever so slightly tempered by the awkward Wednesday morning coach we are forced to get. Not so much a problem for me as a couple of the guys I'm going with, so hopefully it will turn out for the best.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-77708881963699457052007-05-17T17:26:00.000+00:002007-05-17T17:27:34.908+00:00Spiderman, Goya and Leaves of GlassIt has been a busy few weeks since my last post. Sadly my trusty Mazda 323 badly failed its MOT and had to be scrapped. It was a good old workhorse, so it's a bit sad. Still, everything dies in the end, so we should not mourn!<br /><br />Over the Bank Holiday weekend we went to Dizzy's birthday party. It was nice to catch-up with people again, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. There were lots of familiar faces, and it's always nice to meet new unfamiliar ones. Photos <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/sets/72157600183837505/">on Flickr</a>, as usual.<br /><br />Last week we went to see <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413300/">Spider-Man 3</a>. It was... ok. Much too long, and not nearly as good as the last two. In retrospect I'm not sure it's worth seeing, although it did have its moments. <br /><br />Last weekend I was in London to visit Dave, and we managed to fit quite a lot in despite the Circle and District lines rather irritatingly taking the weekend off. On Saturday afternoon we caught <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463854/">28 Weeks Later</a> at the Odeon on Tottenham Court Road. It was pretty good, although not as great as the first one. We had a few pints in random Soho pubs, then met-up with Helen for dinner at an 'smokehouse' place called <a href="http://www.restaurant-guide.com/bodeans-bbq-soho.htm">Bodean's</a> on Poland Street, Soho. They do some great barbecue-style food, including 'pulled pork', which is a bit like how you get duck when you order duck and pancakes at the Chinese. It's really good, and the prices are pretty good too. After that we went to see <a href="http://www.sohotheatre.com/pl1276.html">Leaves of Glass</a> at the Soho Theatre. Not really an uplifting play, but it was well done. To cheer ourselves up we headed off to Sloane Square for Gerry's sister's 21st, which was good fun - lots of drinking and dancing, and everyone had a great time.<br /><br />On Sunday the rain was appalling, so we sat it out and had a leisurely start watching DVDs and recovering from hangovers. After that we headed to the Science Museum, and we actually got to see quite a lot of it! In fact I don't think I've managed to see quite so much of the place in one day before - I usually get there only to find it's about to close! We met Frances for some cake in the cafe and then wandered around looking at science-y things. When we'd had enough of that we walked back through Hyde Park and grabbed a bit of food at <a href="http://www.london-eating.co.uk/5224.htm">Gourmet Burger</a> in Bayswater before I headed home on the train. A rather busy weekend, all in!<br /><br />On Monday I was hosting a <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.com/">CouchSurfer</a> called Chris from California. We met in the pub after work and went for some food at <a hef="http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/15/15190/Salamander/Bath">The Salamander</a> before heading back to mine for some geeky gaming on the PS3. On Tuesday I was hosting again, this time a student from Indiana called Emma. She 'enjoyed' a rather random evening of helping to push-start cars and going on a random trip to the cinema to see <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455957/">Goya's Ghosts</a>, which was pretty good. The cinema was almost empty, but then it was a late showing and a bit of an 'arthouse' film. It was well done, but don't expect a happy story!Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-36496188693763976562007-04-29T22:14:00.000+00:002007-04-29T22:28:51.385+00:00SlackademicIt has been a busy week. Foolishly I have been doing two modules of my OU course at once (hey, they were 'short courses' and looked easy!) and the two main pieces of coursework were both due in on midday Thursday. This meant that, thanks to having to work and earn a living, they had to be in by Wednesday night. After a weekend and every evening I got them in. They could have been better, but hey, in the end I was just happy to submit them. I don't think it matters how old I get - when it comes to academic coursework I will always leave it until the last minute. When I'm sat there typing drivel in the small hours it brings back memories of undergrad days... all of us sat in the computer science labs, hacking away all night for a 10am deadline. Happy days! We always got it done though, and that makes you feel a bit invincible.<br /><br />Anyway, the course has taken all of my free time for ages, but I did manage to get into London on Thursday to record the <a href="http://girlygeekdom.blogspot.com/2007/04/london-girl-geek-dinner-11-round-up.html">Girl Geek Dinner</a>. More about that <a href="http://technodom.blogspot.com/2007/04/geeking-out.html">here on my 'tech' blog</a>.<br /><br />I've just been in the cinema to see <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446755/">The Painted Veil</a>, based on the Somerset Maugham novel, at the <a href="http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema_home_date.aspx?venueId=bath">Little Theatre</a>. It was really good... slightly sad, but then aren't all the best dramas? I can't think of a bad film with <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001570/">Edward Norton</a> in it, and this doesn't disappoint. Check it out.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-76162685175941499172007-04-18T22:37:00.001+00:002007-05-07T21:34:06.562+00:00New JobOn Monday I started a new job. It's still programming - I haven't decided to become a stuntman or something - but it's in quite a different area. No more telco stuff for me, at least for a while, as I'm now in the exciting world of Internet startups and fun things. I'm also programming on a Mac so I don't have to suffer Windows on a regular basis again. Huzzah! I've now got a shiny quad-core Mac Pro under my desk, which is pretty darn nippy.<br /><br />So all is good on the work front. The weather has also been exceptional recently of course, so that has been nice. My new job is a bit further from home (about 45 minutes walk rather than 30) so I've decided to cycle in. Since there is nowhere to put a bike in my new office I decided to get a folding one. Not only can this be left under my desk and out of the way, but I can sling it into the back of the car for weekends away and so on. After looking at various makes and models I went for a <a href="http://www.chwhite.btinternet.co.uk/html/dahon_speed_tr.html">Dahon Speed TR</a>. This was a tough choice as I really wanted to buy a British bike (support local industry and all that), but although the Brompton folds much smaller it just doesn't have the gear range I need for Bath. The new bike arrived quickly and I've been cycling into work fine on it. The smaller wheels make it look slightly girly I suppose, but that's something I have to live with if I want the folding! The rolling resistance of smaller wheels also make it slightly harder to move - I feel that on the hill on the way home! Good exercise though, I suppose.<br /><br />I bought a PS3 - much nicer to look at than the XBox 360, and nicer firmware too. It also doesn't sound like a aeroplane taking off! I've just got 'Resistance' for it at the moment, but there are some more games on my list from ScreenSelect, so I'll get those at some point. The rental system works really well for games actually as I don't have to shell-out 50 quid for something I lose interest in pretty quickly. If only they carried Wii games they would be perfect. Anyway, if you want to 'friend' me then my handle is 'DominicUK'.<br /><br />One final thing that I've been appreciating is the new Nine Inch Nails album, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Year-Zero-Nine-Inch-Nails/dp/B000OMD254/">Year Zero</a>. It's really good, but you don't have to take my word for it since you can listen to it on the NIN web site. The CD itself is pretty funky as it is heat sensitive. When you put it in the CD player it's black, but when it comes out it's white (with 'hidden' text). Cool! It goes black again when it cools down. It's a nice touch, and it makes me happier that I still buy CDs rather than downloading dodgy copies like skanky cheapskate pirates.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-57954695430505381012007-03-20T09:33:00.000+00:002007-03-20T09:35:32.033+00:00Crowded HouseLast night we went to the <a href="http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/news/article/0,,4020998,00.html">first Crowded House gig for years</a> at the Thekla in Bristol. It was really very good. They played some stuff of their new album that is being released in June, but there were enough old favourites there to keep everyone more than happy, and they played for 2.5 hours so it was a good long set. The tickets sold out pretty quickly and the 15 quid original price went up to about 400 quid on eBay, which was a bit mad.<br /><br />Crowded House are one of those bands that are a bit like the Beautiful South - I know I like them but I don't realise how many songs I know until I'm at a gig! I guess I've got three Crowded House albums and I listen to them reasonably often, so that might explain it. It was a pleasant surprise to find myself able to sing along to most of the tracks though. The band themselves seemed to enjoy it although there were some rough edges, but that isn't completely surprising seeing as it has been so long since they've played together in public, and this is a new line-up. Anyway, top stuff - catch them on their new tour if you can...Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-18353843667383091582007-03-14T20:11:00.000+00:002007-03-14T20:12:08.836+00:00BackWell I got back from Tokyo in one piece, despite a slightly unnerving landing at Heathrow where we pulled away sharply after almost touching down - it turned out that an Emirates 'plane was rather unexpectedly on the runway we wanted to land on. What fun. Still, once more around London and we landed 15 minutes later.<br /><br />My final week in Tokyo wasn't bad. On Thursday evening we went to a sushi place in the big shopping centre by Kawasaki station and shared big sashimi and sushi platters. The sashimi was very fresh - the fish was caught and prepared in front of us, and most of it was still quite intact when it arrived on the plate. That wasn't a problem, but a few minutes after we started eating it started to move around in a rather energetic way. I'm pretty sure that they were post-mortem twitches, but it was vaguely unsettling (and went on for about 20 minutes!). Still, it sure was fresh fish!<br /><br />My plane on the way back was fairly empty so I had a chance to stretch-out a bit for the 12 hours. I also caught 'The Departed' which was pretty good, as well as another couple of films that I was clearly too tired to remember. I remember them being good though. After the efficiency of Tokyo's Narita airport I was expecting the worst from Heathrow, but my baggage was out quickly and the trip back to Bath was really painless. Mind you, travel makes you appreciate things more - I don't think any airport baggage handling can be quite as inefficient as San Francisco when we flew there from Vegas. That involved more than half an hour of waiting by the conveyor belt and was pretty painful. Airports eh? You would have thought that they could have got them right by now...Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-84950760066381979032007-03-06T02:29:00.000+00:002007-03-06T02:30:24.106+00:00It Is Considered Disgusting To Blow Your Nose In PublicI had a weekend of poking around slightly less cultural sights. On Saturday I went and had a poke around <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara">Akihabara</a> to see the shops etc. It certainly has a good range of electronics and manga porn. Being unable to appreciate Manga porn I stuck to the electronics shops though. There are some great gadgets and the Japanese seem to have a large number of options for really lightweight laptops which I liked the look of, but they're not cheap. I also looked at buying a camera since they are a bit cheaper here, but the Japan-only warranty didn't sound like a good idea, plus the possible duty to pay if I keep hold of the box. VAT in Japan is only 5% so even being a tourist doesn't save you much money.<br /><br />Akihabara is of course teeming with thousands of people looking for a bargain. They also have large numbers of women hanging around outside the station in strange French maid outfits handing out stuff. Not sure what they're advertising, but the Japanese don't bat an eyelid at such things. Most odd. Other than that, and the strange placing of sex shops between computer shops, it's all quite tame really. For shopping it's great as you don't get pushy salesmen grabbing you as soon as you stop to look at something. They do stand around and shout stuff, but it's to no-one in particular.<br /><br />After Akihabara I had a quick kip before heading out to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roppongi">Roppongi</a>, an area known for its nightlife. I went there early evening as I wanted to just have a look around before it got too crowded. There's certainly lots to do though, even at that time of day - a lot of the bars seem to optimistically open all day. I went for a drink in some 'British pub' to check out the local take on what British pubs are like, and from all of the St Patricks Day flags it felt a bit more Irish than British, but never mind! I then had a drink at the <a href="http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2764370-gaspanic_cafe_tokyo-i">Gaspanic Cafe</a>, which was empty, then a burger at the <a href="http://www.travelcafe.co.jp/e/store/index.shtml">New Zealand Centre</a> (oddly), which promised many NZ beers but only had one. After that I headed to <a href="http://geronimoshotbar.com/">Geronimo's</a> which was highly recommended in my Lonely Planet. There I met a bunch of expats and went for a Chinese with them, which was all highly random and entertaining, but I was back in time for the last train home!<br /><br />On Sunday I went for a drink and a bite to eat with someone from CouchSurfing not far from Roppongi again. We chatted and watched the water from the pier and had a most pleasant evening. I caught the last train back to the hotel and arrived there to find all of the electricity off. The hotel had decided to rewire something, so I had an entertaining time preparing for bed and generally getting around the hotel. It's easy to forget how much you depend on electricity. It's not so bad at home, but believe me, it has its uses when you're staying on the 22nd floor of a hotel!Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-22870166773300494182007-03-02T09:10:00.000+00:002007-03-02T09:11:42.427+00:00Woo - another weekend!Made it through another week of working in Japan and negotiating the transport system! Actually, until today it wasn't too bad - we've been heading out of Ikebukuro away from town so the metro is really quiet. However, my colleague from the UK left today and I started on a week of a new journey to an office in Kawasaki. This new route on the train (rather than the Metro) takes me right around Tokyo so I've now experienced crowded trains! To be honest they're not that bad though - they go every few minutes, so if the current one is a bit of a crush you can just wait for the next one. This doesn't seem to occur to the locals though who are clearly in a rush to get everywhere, and they happily cram on until the train is about to burst. Madness. Mind you, they give me odd looks while I just stand aside to let them on.<br /><br />The train I get takes me on the Yamanote line, and I don't know if this is unique, but all of the stations have their own little tune when you arrive. It's quite cute and I guess pretty useful when you get to know your tune, but some of the choices are a bit odd. One of them plays the tune from Goodfellas (or some other gangster film - I can't remember which)... you know, the guitar-y<br />Italian sounding one. Anyway, the trains are pretty smart and there are screens showing where<br />you are going, where you are, and so on. Also, Japanese railway stations seem to be much less<br />confusing than their Metro stations! All of the lines are clearly marked along with their<br />destinations, unlike places like our previous local Metro station Negatacho, where you <em>know</em> that there's a connection to the Ginza line, but the signs don't tell you that<br />you have to head for the Yurakucho line, walk all the way along the platform and up stairs<br />the other end, and then along corridors for another 10 minutes. They're huge.<br /><br />The Japanese themselves are almost model users of public transport. Most people (bar the odd rebellious teenager) queue for the trains on the handy painted lines on the platform, wait for people to get off when the train arrives, and then get on (although they never stop doing this, of course!). People tend to either sleep or stare at their feet, but if you do make eye contact they seem friendly. I have to say though, the women seem to be much chirpier. I'm not deluded enough to think this is because they all fancy me... rather, there seems to be a bit of a macho thing with the men where they're not allowed to have facial expressions or something. The women, in comparison, giggle away at pretty much anything. The difference is quite noticeable... much more so than the UK. I can't begin to guess why this is. Perhaps it has something to do with a lot of the men openly reading porno comics on the way to work? It's an odd thing to see men in suits doing at 8 in the morning. You can't tell what most people are reading though since they tend to put their books into little covers so you can't see the title. Perhaps they're all reading porn?! Can't see why they would want to cover the book otherwise, but then there are many bits of Japanese culture that I haven't got to grips with yet.<br /><br />Anyway, work went ok today and I'm now trying to plan what to do this weekend. It might be<br />my last weekend in Japan for a while, so I have to make it count!Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-78522307364052452802007-02-25T12:30:00.000+00:002007-02-25T12:31:43.495+00:00First Weekend in TokyoIt's Sunday evening here now, almost a whole week since I arrived. Since my last post I've mostly been working. Days here are long and it doesn't leave much time for anything else, but we've been eating well! Food and drink is possibly more expensive here than anywhere else. It doesn't help that we get back from work too late to eat in most of the restaurants, so we have to resort to the bar at the top of the hotel (where a couple of beers and some fried chicken each is 60 quid - urgh).<br /><br />Anyway, on Saturday we had a chance to see some sights. We went to the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/401725542/">temple at Senso-Ji</a> as we'd heard it was one of the best, and indeed it was. There are many tourist-tat shops that <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/401721950/">line the street</a> (Nakamise-dori) between Asakusa Metro station and the temple compound and are interesting to poke about in. The temple itself is interesting but we were unlucky that when we visited there was some <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/401722479/">restoration going on</a>, but there was still plenty to see.<br /><br />After the temple we decided to take the Sumida-Gawa river cruise to see the city from a different aspect. Unfortunately the boat was completely enclosed with no deck to walk about on, so it was hard to see much! What we did see was mostly bridges and skyscrapers, so it was a lot less interesting than something like a cruise on the Thames. I wouldn't recommend it unless you manage to get an open boat anyway.<br /><br />The boat took us to a commercial district near the Tokyo Tower. Everything was closed and nobody was around - it was a bit bizarre really. There was a McDonalds in the bottom of one of the office buildings where we reluctantly bought lunch before heading into whatever bit of Tokyo we were in, in an attempt to find a Metro station to get home. We walked under a monorail, which is an excitingly futuristic thing to have, and we saw a bullet train too. Very Japanese! Eventually we randomly found Mita station and got the metro back to the hotel.<br /><br />On Sunday we had to move hotels. We're now in the Crowne Plaza Metropolitan, and I have another <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/401730010/">decent view from my room</a>. The hotel is in a much busier area than the Akasaka Prince, so it looks like there will be more to do. We're right by Ikebukuro station which, like many Japanese stations, is absolutely massive. Still, it's a bit closer to the office so we'll shave half an hour off each leg of the commute from tomorrow.<br /><br />In the afternoon we went to the Meiji-Jingu shrine. To get there you have to walk through an interesting bit of Japanese culture - Cos-play-zoku, or the 'costume play gang'. These are teenagers who dress up in goth and punk dress and then hang around every weekend, while tourists come and pose with them for photos. It's very bizarre. We had to walk though them to get to the shrine so it was an interesting diversion, although I didn't take any photos as it felt a bit 'wrong' to take photos of scantily-clad 14 year olds. Anyway, the shrine itself is in a massive (by Tokyo standards) site full of trees and 'countryside', which is very pleasant. I think I saw more tourists there than anywhere else in Tokyo. Most days you don't see any Westerners, but the shrine was crawling with them. It was an impressive site, and we saw a couple of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/401728666/">traditional Japanese weddings</a> taking place. It must have been a bit weird for the people getting married as they had loads of tourists taking photos, but I suppose they wouldn't have done it there if they had minded. Odd though.<br /><br />After the shrine we went back to the area of the hotel and poked around <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.biccamera.com/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbic%2Bcamera%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX">BIC Camera</a>, which is a bit like Richer Sounds. I don't think things are really that much cheaper in Japan though so I haven't succumbed to any impulse purchases yet. From BIC it was a short stroll back to the hotel where we had a rather nice meal. Hurrah! Bizarrely, an English sixth form college and a ballet company are staying at the hotel at the moment, so there's an interesting mix of people. It's a lively hotel so I'm happier about staying two weeks here than I would have been in the Akasaka Prince...Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-77342854761398554422007-02-21T14:51:00.000+00:002007-02-21T14:55:00.184+00:00Big In JapanSo here I am again in yet another country with difficult to read signs. I don't know what it is about countries that use different alphabets that makes my company send me there, but I'm not complaining. Actually Tokyo isn't too bad as most signs have the English on them as well, which is rather more user-friendly than China was.<br /><br />The flight over here was ok. I caught Babel (not great), Flags Of Our Fathers (better than I thought it would be), and The Illusionist (really good), which took my mind off my increasingly cramped legs during the 12 hours. Tokyo airport is a model of efficiency and we were out of there literally 20 minutes after landing, and straight onto a bus that stopped at our hotel. The hotel itself (the <a href="http://www.princehotelsjapan.com/akasakaprincehotel/">Akasaka Prince</a>) is nice enough - I've got a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic_tristram/396559982/">great view</a> and a large amount of sofa space. The many restaurants in the hotel do seem to close bizarrely early though, which is inconvenient when we get back late from work. For example, on Monday night we went to the office after checking into the hotel around 2pm and ended-up getting back at 11. No food being available when you've not slept for 36 hours just makes you feel annoyed!<br /><br />Getting around Tokyo is pretty easy using their rather good underground system. It's not particularly cheap but it runs on time and is very clean. The famously crowded trains certainly exist but are very directional, so our train (heading out of the centre in the morning) is going against the main flow and is practically empty, while trains going on the same line the other way are absolutely rammed. A fair number of people (about 10% I'd guess) seem to wear surgical masks for some reason best known to themselves. There are also 'women only' carriages for the trains at busy times thanks (I assume) to groping men. On the outside everyone looks like they wouldn't step out of line at all, so the idea of this seems odd. I don't doubt it happens though.<br /><br />Japanese people seem very friendly and quite genuine about it. On the way back to the tube station today a girl bumped into me and apologised far more than she needed to. A few minutes later at the tube station she came up and apologised again before starting a conversation about where I'm from, her plans to visit Britain to improve her English, and so on. It says something about Britain that when she started talking to me I assumed she was after something or trying to con me or wind me up in some way. It's little things like that which give you a good impression of a place.<br /><br />The work is hard and the hours long, but I'm looking forward to the weekend when I should be able to actually go out and see something. Even at this early stage I can forsee it being difficult not to automatically bow to people on returning to the UK. Not a bad thing though - I think all of this mutual respect thing is pretty great.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-87241326916119854902007-02-13T00:40:00.001+00:002007-02-06T23:46:01.120+00:00Billie is a TreatLast Thursday we went to the theatre to see Christopher Hampton’s <a href="http://www.billie-piper.net/id192.html">Treats</a>, starring the lovely Billie Piper, that guy from 'My Family' and the BT adverts (Kris Marshall), and Laurence Fox. It was an odd play really - you know the film 'Closer' with Clive Owen? Well, it was a bit like that in that you didn't really feel for any of the characters. It was well acted and produced, but at the end there was a general feeling of 'ah right, so is that it?' in the theatre. Some random bloke said "Well that was a load of old rubbish wasn't it?" to me on the way out, which I've never had before! I didn't think it was rubbish, but then it wasn't brilliant either. After the performance there was a brief (and well attended) Q&A session with the actors. They all seemed quite nice and their answers were pretty interesting, but I can't remember any of them well enough to repeat here. <br /><br />We were a bit peckish when we left the theatre so we nipped into the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/food/story/0,,1814003,00.html">Garrick's Head</a> for a bite to eat. I had the excellent Devilled Kidneys, but everyone else's food looked great too, plus the beer was good. A top end to the evening!Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-39900905400737647162007-02-06T23:45:00.000+00:002007-02-06T23:46:01.273+00:00Hot FuzzLast night I was at a preview showing of <a href="http://workingtitlefilms.com/film.php?filmID=99">Hot Fuzz</a>, the new comedy from Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. Yes, that's right, the guys behind the brilliant <a href="http://www.spaced-out.org.uk/about-spaced/whatisspaced.shtml">Spaced</a> and <a href="http://www.shaunofthedeadmovie.com/">Shaun of the Dead</a>. So, apart from the excitement of seeing a film a week or two before general release and getting a bag full of goodies, what can I say? Basically it's very good - starts off a bit slowly and you wonder where they are going with it, but it soon turns into the highly amusing nonsense that you expect. It's vaguely interesting from a local perspective for me as well since it's filmed in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells%2C_Somerset">Wells</a>, just down the road. While I enjoyed the film, I did think that the cinema had the volume cranked-up a bit too much. Perhaps I'm getting old but some of the load bits hurt my ears... I thought age was meant to make you deaf!Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-11182934752225762752007-02-02T19:03:00.000+00:002007-02-02T19:04:17.441+00:00The Most Fantastic Alarm Clock EverThis has to be the <a href="http://www.voco.uk.com/">most fantastic thing I've seen all week</a>. Completely brilliant! The <a href="http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/simon_carr/article1957042.ece">story behind its creation</a> is also very interesting, especially for budding entrepreneurs.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804533579749796091.post-74265833873401484192007-01-25T19:56:00.001+00:002007-01-25T19:56:53.753+00:00Labyrinthine PleasuresAt the weekend we were at an engagement party in Wimbledon. Now Wimbledon is a part of London that I don't think about much since it is south of the river, and I have memories of trying to get a night bus back from there after a party once. Urgh. However, this time I saw a nicer side of it. Not only can you get to it without changing lines from Paddington, but you can also drive back from there to Bath in less than two hours when the traffic is good. That's pretty cool. I was already slightly impressed then when we went for lunch at <a href="http://www.timeout.com/london/bars/reviews/7630.html">The Fire Stables</a>, a gastropub near 'Wimbledon Village' that is pretty good (it won Time Out's best gastropub award in 2001). We only had a light lunch, but the food was good. The beer front was slightly disappointing though, since it's a Youngs pub. They only had one bitter on tap (Youngs, funnily enough), but it was nice enough. Certainly worth popping-in if you're after a bite to eat anyway.<br /><br />On Tuesday we went to see <a href="http://www.panslabyrinth.com/">Pan's Labyrinth</a>, which is really, really good. Catch it while you can at the cinema - you won't regret it. I'd say it's possibly the best film of 2006. It's pretty freaky though - the white thing with the food?? My God. You'll know what I mean if you've seen it.Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03248280484472154722noreply@blogger.com0