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THE BLOGGY BIT...

This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular, in the hope that something may strike a chord with you, whether it be graphic design, football or real ale.












Wednesday 30th September 2009 08:49

Ever since Saturday, there has been a song milling around in my head... it's from the latest Talk Talk advert which also accompanies the sponsorship for 'The X Factor'. It didn't take long for me to hunt down the name of the artist and song name; that's one of the many great things about the internet.
For more information about Talk Talk or to have a go at doing your very own 'brightdancing' via a webcam or using your mouse, please click on the logo below.

talk talk

"The city lights, the pretty lights, they can warm the coldest nights
all the people going places, smiling with electric faces
what they find the glow erases, what they lose the glow replaces, and life is love."

boxtops neon rainbow

The song is 'Neon Rainbow' by The Boxtops, written by Wayne Carson Thompson and released in 1967. It failed to chart in the UK and managed to reach No.24 in the US Hot 100. At the time of the single, the band members were Alex Chilton (guitar, lead vocals), Gary Talley (lead guitar, vocals), Bill Cunningham (bass, vocals), Danny Smythe (drums, vocals) and John Evans (keyboards, vocals). Throughout the band's history, all but the keyboardists have remained the same.
To watch some of the Talk Talk advert featuring the song, please click on the Boxtops' single sleeve artwork above.

Tuesday 29th September 2009 21:56

"I don't believe it! I just don't bloody believe it!" said in the most Victor Meldrew-esque way possible. Why oh why did we bother to rejoin Camera Club... what a waste of time! Tanya and I both chose to enter prints of a relatively high standard into tonight's first league competition.
We both basically took one hell of a crash landing.

Now then, I want to make one thing clear, if someone dislikes my work, fair enough, everyone has different tastes and I'm more than happy with that. I also have no problem with constructive criticism either for it helps you learn from your mistakes. What I do have a problem with though, is inconsistency - I detest it. Tonight's judge, for me and many others, lost the plot. She was giving unbelievably inconsistent marks and I seriously felt that she just wasn't qualified enough to be judging within the Southern Photographic Federation.

poppy seed head grandad

As you can see, I've included thumbnails of each one of the images that both Tanya and I entered, hers are the first two - 'Poppy Seed Head' and 'Grandad' (a fantastic portrait of my Dad). She had good things to say about all four shots, obviously I made a mental note of the comments she made about mine...

auto curves

'Auto Curves' - Yes, this is a very striking graphic image of either part of a car or a bike (trust me to get a female judge, no disrespect to women, just Sod's Law it was part of a car). Yes, that is very striking indeed and I love the curves and the lights, works really well. 7½.

the arachnid catastrophe

'The Arachnid Catastrophe' - I just love it, I really love this, so much work and creativity. Yes, I can see how the cheese grater looks like a climbing wall. Brilliant. I'll never look at a cheese grater in the same way! 8.

Personally, I'd rather someone say something's shit than praise it and then shit on it. Absolutely dreadful in my opinion and I really hope she's not invited back!

Monday 28th September 2009 07:39

Well, it was Tanya's 45th birthday today... only five more years and she's... 21 again! It's hard to think that both of our next milestones will be half a century. Where does the time go and do we use it to its full advantage? What's even more depressing is when you have to work on your birthday - I think that everyone should be allowed a fully paid day and have their birthday as a holiday.

vestry

Anyway, presents-wise, she received some money, a bottle of wine, some chocolates and a Cyclamen flower (they're beautiful). Abbi and I went halves and bought Tanya some vouchers to be used at the Vestry, a hair and beauty salon in Havant. The salon is in a converted chapel in the heart of Havant and now has fifteen trained, enthusiastic and experienced sylists and beauticians, offering the latest services.
To find out more, please click on the logo above, just mind you don't break your nails.

result

I'd also bought her a lovely slimline La Femme showerproof soft shell jacket in black, embroidered with her website's logo and address (in a very stylish way, I hasten to add). The jacket is made from 345g soft shell 3 layer 8,000mm waterproof bonded fabric and the inner layer has microfleece for extra warmth.
For more information, please click on the logo above to view the product and to navigate the site in more detail.

As well as that, I'd bought her an Advent USB hub (not exciting, yet essential) and, even though I say so myself, an absolutely gorgeous bouquet of flowers, a mixture of whites, creams and lemons, which I am very much hoping she'll take a photograph of.

Sunday 27th September 2009 11:20

Stupidly, I agreed to cut down the hedge outside our lounge window. It's not particularly big, yet by the time I'd finished, I realised just how bad the injuries were that I had sustained during Friday's car incident. I should have known better really because I felt fine yesterday morning, and it was only until early afternoon that I realised how much pain I was in.
Nevertheless, the job was obviously made easier by using some Flymo electric hedge trimmers. The job was done within 15 minutes, although I won't be doing anything like that in a hurry until my aches and pains go. To find out more about Christopher Cockerell's Hovercraft invention, please click on the Flymo logo below.

flymo

Early evening, we had a nice relaxing walk around Emsworth Mill Pond and enjoyed the late September sun. It really was incredibly warm, regardless of it being around 5pm. We sat on one of the many benches around the pond and looked out on to Emsworth Harbour... you really can't beat the feeling you get when in Emsworth, it's just so beautiful.

Saturday 26th September 2009 13:24

It was our weekly visit with Damien, Tanya's brother, to the supermarket for he's still in immense pain. We mixed it a bit by going to Tesco for a change, particularly as Sainsbury's is just ridiculously expensive. We're quite fortunate where we live because there are a good deal (and mix) of supermarkets within the area, and once the new Tesco opens in Havant, I'm sure most locals will choose to do their shopping there.
I hate shopping on a Saturday, you end up wanting to kill the majority of people there, just because the majority of them are clueless. When I say clueless, I mean the ones that block whole aisles whilst they go to the previous aisle because they've forgotten something. Then there are the people who see someone they know and have a casual chat whilst causing complete mayhem. Don't even get me on a rant about the parents who take their kids there, or the ones that choose to take their elderly parents there either. Personally, I think supermarkets should have child-free times.

portsmouth v everton

Anyway, we did manage to get back in time to watch the Premiership clash between struggling Portsmouth and Everton. Both teams haven't started their seasons very well, although if Portsmouth were to lose today, it would be seven games on the bounce without accumulating a single point.
I'm afraid that's what happened, a seventh straight defeat. Somehow, Everton managed to win 0-1 at Fratton Park. For me, Pompey deserved at least a point, and their team morale and commitment was second to none. They had at least two shots saved off the line, one of which was a Tal Ben-Haim header, spectacularly 'shouldered' over the bar by Tim Howard.
Despite the Everton goalmouth being peppered by Pompey in the second half, the game was decided by Louis Saha's goal just before the interval.

Friday 25th September 2009 16:03

It's my third bollocks within eight days... they say bad luck comes in threes, so it's a triple bollocks. On my way home from my graphic design consultancy today, a young, and dare I say it, attractive girl crashed full pelt into the back of me. If my car isn't a write-off, I'll plait shit (good old Northern saying). Since then, although I'm now on my third bottle of real ale, I'm in a great deal of pain... the impact of the crash has thrown the whole of my boot (trunk to you Americans) out of alignment.

swiftcover.com

As soon as I arrived home, I was straight on to my insurance company, reporting the incident and I've had to 'phone them since then, because of the pain I'm in. The beers just don't seem to be alleviating the pain at all (maybe painkillers are the best way to kill pain). A trip to the doctors is now a necessity! What's worrying me is whether I should have complained about that fucking meerkat... it's almost like he's had his revenge!
Anyway, the insurance cover I took was with SwiftCover Insurance, and so far, they've acted quite well on my behalf, although I still have a good deal of apprehension and waiting around.
For more information about the online insurance company, please click on the logo above.

Thursday 24th September 2009 08:36

I suppose the majority of the male population doesn't have a problem with swear words or swearing, although I choose what I write on here, very carefully. When on a subjective rant, I'll tone it down to what I may say in front of mates in the pub. Television, for instance, has largely made the work 'fuck' and all its tenses, generally acceptable, particularly if it's used with a cynical or sarcastic sprinkling of mixed profanity.

There is a word that's still very much taboo, and that's the word cunt. In this instance I'm not going to asterisk the 'u' or the 'un' out, I've a similar mindset to The Guardian editorial team, if it was said, print it. I've just never understood the asterisk way of thinking, it's not like kids can't work out the word these days... they probably know more than me! Anyway, I'm rambling on like an idiot now (you nearly said the 'c' word then - Ed), so today, I want to share a website with you that you're either going to love or hate. Personally, I think it's by one of the funniest sites I've ever seen, by far, but then again, this sort of humour is fantastically puerile.

society of cunts

The website is called Society of Cunts, stating that there have always been cunts, with the first use of it being recorded in 44BC, when a dying Julius Caesar said, "Et tu, Brute, you cunt". Early editions of the Bible give Jesus Christ's final words as "Father, forgive them. They know not what they're doing, the cunts".
It then goes on to say that as we move into the 21st century, the Society has noted that the world seems not only full of cunts, but run by them as well (noted here too - Ed). The site gives you the opportunity to nominate your cunt of the week (COTW) and then cast a deciding vote. There's also a forum you can join and special Society of Cunts products, such as mugs, ties and t-shirts. The sizes of garments come in the standard, small cunt, medium cunt, fat cunt and fucking fat cunt. Genius!
To find out more, please click on the logo above.

Wednesday 23rd September 2009 19:25

Before I start today's blog... Happy Birthday, Mum!
Over two months ago, I was invited to exhibit some of my work within an online gallery and since it was a good friend of mine who'd spent time designing a 3D gallery, it was obviously a positive response.
Due to my pathetically bad time management with certain things, it meant I missed my allocated month, so I knew I had to prepare my images, gallery title, image titles, bio and mugshot ready for October's gallery; there are five guest galleries from different photographers plus the gallery owner changes his own gallery each month. Anyway, more about the whole gallery when mine goes live at the beginning of October.

filezilla

Large image files of the eight I submitted needed to be uploaded via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and Tanya suggested I downloaded a free FTP application program called FileZilla. The program, developed by Tim Kosse, et al, is a free, open source, cross-platform FTP client with binaries available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. FileZilla Server is a sister product of FileZilla Client, an FTP server supported by the same project, featuring support for FTP and FTP over SSL/TLS. As of 5 March 2009, it was the 5th most popular download of all time from SourceForge.net.
To find out more, or to download a free copy for yourself, please click on the logo above.

Tuesday 22nd September 2009 14:38

Well well well, having been sent two prints First Class Mail on Friday, I was doubting whether they'd arrive in time for me to mount, ready for Havant Camera Club's first League Competition hand-in of the season. I wouldn't ordinarily worry, it's just there's a pesky postal strike on at the moment.

auto curves the arachnid catastrophe

So, having a year's-worth of new work to sift through, it gave me a surprisingly vast choice of images to choose from. It may be a good idea to take a year out every other year... who knows?! Rather than just go for my most recent work, I decided to pick one that was taken around the time we'd decided to take a year out, and then one that I'd literally taken last week.
Anyway, I've included clickable thumbnail links of both images, if you're interested in seeing what I entered. Full results next Tuesday!

Monday 21st September 2009 19:43

It's a while since I talked about adverts isn't it? There's a particular one that annoys the hell out of me, yet those are the ones that usually become ingrained in your grey matter. None more so than the one I'm about to share with you. Everything about it is cringeworthy, the character (although another one has been introduced lately), the accent, the idea, the jingle... I could go on and on.

The character is a Russian meerkat (because that's the first place you think of when someone asks, "where are meerkats most common?") called Aleksandr Orlov who lives in Moscow where many generations of his family have thrived (seriously). Aleksandr's greatest grandfather, Mikhail, fought in the Meerkat Mongoose War of 1728 and his grandparents survived the Furry Terror of 1921.
Could this be any cheesier if it tried? Yes. It could. There's the really shite catchphrase of "Simples".

compare the meerkat

So, what's it all about? It's a 'brilliant' play on words, because the website is actually called 'compare the market.com', a site where you're able to find the cheapest car insurance around by simply 'comparing the market'. Just in case you're still not with the cleverness of all this, meerkat sounds like market and that's the advertising ploy. Brilliant eh? (No, it's wank - Ed)
To find out more about Aleksandr and all the other shit that goes with him, please click on the logo above.

Sunday 20th September 2009 17:32

Well, other than work virtually all day today, we did manage to get ourselves to Emsworth for a brisk walk in the morning. This also meant that I could post our card for my Mum's birthday, in the hope that it would arrive there by Wednesday (there's a postal strike on at the moment so it was touch and go). Although it was overcast this morning, it was still really muggy and I'm glad I chose to put my shorts on... wearing jeans in such heat just isn't advisable.

Once home, we both knuckled down to some serious work. By early evening, I decided to reward myself with a couple of bottles of real ale, one of which was Bays Brewery 'Breaker'. I have been meaning to write about this ale since July (when I first tried it) and just haven't had the opportunity until now.

bays breaker

Bays Brewery began in March 2007 when Will Freeland, Mark Salmon and Peter Salmon joined forces and signed a lease on an old 5000 square foot steel fabrication unit in Paignton and, in a nutshell, that's pretty much how the brewery started. Bays Best, Gold and Breaker Ale are their three main beers, however they brew many seasonal and experimental ales as well and welcome visitors to their brewery for tasting sessions.
So, what's Bays 'Breaker' like? Well, I think it's superb and would be welcomed as a summer session ale. At 4.7%, I guess it's fairly strong as a session ale, yet the fruitiness and maltiness of this chestnut coloured ale makes it very moreish. Available as a bottled ale since November 2007, the warmth and flavour of this ale comes from the crystal and chocolate malts combined with traditional English hops.
Please click on the pump clip image to find out more about the Devonshire-based brewery.

Saturday 19th September 2009 14:20

Damien, Tanya's brother, still isn't 100% yet so we went and picked him up and then headed for Sainsbury's at Farlington. Just like me, he needs food inside of him before contemplating any sort of route down aisles, whilst avoiding mowing down toddlers and old people in the process. Naturally, we both spent some time analysing the real ale section.

We had asked if he fancied coming to Petersfield with us afterwards, but time was of the essence and he'd made plans with one of his mates, so Tanya and I drove up there instead. I'd been given a flyer, advertising a photographic exhibition by Swedish-born Rolf Soderlind. Now living in Liss, Hampshire, he is a former foreign correspondent for Reuters and now works as an events photographer. I'm sure that most people who visited it would have found his work good, and I could pinpoint around three or four shots that were very well composed and executed, yet the advertising he'd put into the exhibition didn't really reflect the quality of work on display.

caffè nero

Since we'd paid two hour's parking, we thought we may as well make good use of our time in the historic market town, so we chose to have a coffee at Caffè Nero in The Square.
Caffè Nero group was founded in 1997 by Gerry Ford, where he wanted to bring a premium, continental-style Cafè to Great Britain. His vision was for it to be authentically Italian, serving very high quality Italian coffee along with fresh, deli style food in a friendly, relaxing atmosphere.
In October 2005, Caffè Nero was named the 20th fastest growing company in Europe by Business Week magazine, and that same year, Caffè Nero retained the number one position in the UK coffee rankings among coffee house brands, marking its fifth consecutive win.
To find out more, please click on the logo above.

petersfield museum

Once we'd had our fill of cake and milkshake, we had a good look inside the main church and then had a look to see if the Flora Twort Museum was open. Last time we were there with my parents the whole place was shut, much to our disappointment, so we were delighted to see that it was open this time around.
So, who is Flora Twort? Well, I cannot help but share the fact that her name sounds like a medical condition, yet she was a painter, and started at the age of four. Born in 1893, Twort was educated at South Hampstead High School, the London School of Art, the London Polytechnic and the Slade School of Art. At the end of the First World War she moved to Petersfield, where she opened a bookshop at Numbers 1 and 2 The Square, in partnership with two other young women.
Her studio was the top floor of this shop until 1948, when she moved to a new studio in the nearby Church Path. Her work was exhibited in the Royal Academy and other London galleries, and she continued to paint until she was 81.
For more information, please click on the logo above.

hobbycraft

On the way back from Petersfield, we stopped off at Hobbycraft in Havant to buy some mount card in preparation for the prints that we'll be submitting into the first league competition at Havant Camera Club - yes, we've joined again.
HobbyCraft is Europe's first and the UK's largest chain of dedicated Arts and Crafts Superstores. In a market traditionally serviced by small specialist shops, HobbyCraft is the first national retailer to cater for more than 250 different activities all under one roof.
With over 35,000 arts and crafts products in a typical HobbyCraft store it’s a real Aladdin's Cave. You'll find crafty things you'd normally have to hunt for high and low, as well as a whole host of exciting ideas, products and kits for more than 250 different arts and crafts activities.
Please click on the logo above to find out much more, or shop on online.

Friday 18th September 2009 18:34

Double bollocks. I needed to sort out a panel of eight images for an online gallery where I've been invited to showcase some of my work. Rather than have all eight the same, I thought a split of four landscape shots and four of my mentally disturbed shots would give the viewers an idea of what I could do.

bollocks

As I collated the files, I noticed I could locate the original file for one of them, yet when I tried to open it, the error message (pictured above) kept showing. When copying all my images from my old G3, it appears as if it's split this folder in two, leaving one called 'FINDER.DAT' (not a single bastard program will open it) and a separate folder, entitled 'RESOURCE.FRK' (I can think of a more apt file extension, tee-hee - Ed). I can 'see' the image names in there, only they've now adopted a slightly different look, for example, 'papercut.jpg' has now become 'PAPERC~1.JPG'.
I have tried endless ways of opening them, and have visited numerous forums and have Googled the night away. It really is a big heap of steaming shitty scrotums.

Thursday 17th September 2009 08:43

Bollocks. Just when you think you're above water in a monetary sense, you car decides to become ill and fuck up everything. I love my car but it is a pain in the neck.
I noticed its 'symptoms' last night, a dreadful noise that appeared to be coming from underneath the car, at the front end, slightly off-centre. It also sounded very metallic, almost as if it was fighting to be lubricated. I had my diagnosis and have learnt to describe a symptom to a mechanic, but not my diagnosis.

motaquip

2 U Tyres in Petersfield is the best place to go for me, so after a precarious 14-mile journey, I stopped off at the garage, explained the problem and one of the mechanics got in the car with me whilst I drove it around so he could determine what the problem was. Sure enough, it was as a thought (very pleased I was right), the wheel bearings had gone, it was now a case of determining which side. The noise is very deceiving, you can sit in one side and it sounds as if it's the opposite. Anyway, luckily for me, they managed to fit the job in to their very hectic schedule and I picked the car up later in the afternoon.
For more information about the exciting world of wheel bearings, please click on the Motaquip logo above.

Wednesday 16th September 2009 11:20

Now then, politics and politicians bore me to death - a good enough reason to avoid bringing the subject up in any way, shape or form... nevertheless, I do occasionally watch the news, in the hope that I keep abreast of current affairs.

I know that Gordon Brown is Prime Minister and I know that he's particularly unpopular. This week, he's been talking about cuts and there was some lengthy footage on last night's news where I recall the word, 'cuts' being used as frequently as a drunkard using a swear word, every other word.

what a load of cu*ts

As to what else he said, I'm unsure. It sounded like, "Blah, blah, blah blah, cuts, blah, cuts, blah blah, cuts", so much so, it was ringing around in my head today... "Cuts, cuts, cuts..." and then it dawned on me... create a vector artwork of Gordon Brown and have the word, "CUTS" underneath, only make it "CU*TS", in fact it was suggested to have, "What a load of cu*ts". I'm sure I needn't explain as to what it's meant to imply!

Tuesday 15th September 2009 18:45

Clive Rowley founded the justmomo.com website in September 2003, a site devoted to monochrome photography. He asked two friends to join him, Alan Brown and Brian Tompkins. It shortly became Amateur Photographer website of the week, and was also featured in Black & White Magazine and Practical Photography. The website reached worldwide viewers and quickly made its mark in the photographic world.

At the start of 2006, they were joined by a fourth photographer from the AP forum, Tanya Lowe who was new to photography but was showing immense talent with the medium.

justmono

By 2009, Clive thought the old website was looking somewhat tired, even after ¼ million visitors to the site, and a new Justmono was envisaged. Brian did not wish to carry on, and Clive, Alan and Tanya were joined by Peter Clark and Jason Walker with whom Clive had exhibited in Anglesey, North Wales.

In June 2009 Clive was asked to judge a Monochrome Competition on the Photoportal website and was so impressed by the standard of Black and White images that he decided a PP Guest Gallery would enrich the Justmono site, introducing more talented photographers to the world of Justmono and I'd delighted to say that I was one of them.
To access the Justmono site, please click on the logo above.

Monday 14th September 2009 14:27

On the way home today, I needed to stop off at Morrisons to buy some bread rolls for our lunches. I parked up and walked through the store, noticing the bananas and thinking we could do with some of them. Further on down the aisle, I then noticed the nicely packaged puddings and bought a fruit flan cake and two strawberry tarts. Whilst there, I thought I'd see if they'd stocked any new real ales... no - never mind... off I went and queued at the till. I paid for the food and walked back to the car, only to realise I'd forgotten the bread rolls. The story doesn't end there...

Off I walked back to the store, down the aisle to the bread rolls... picked two packets up and made my way to the till. I felt a bit of an idiot so rather than queue at the same till, I decided to save time by scanning the goods and paying for them in the self service area. Two packets meant a saving of 50p so I put two pound coins in and then the machine started making appallingly weird noises... I'd only put the coins in the notes slot!!

Along came a gentleman and had to free the coins out with two knives! Took him ages and he repeated the word, "bollocks" a few times. Thought I'd broken it!!

What I found remarkable was how he produced the two knives so quickly... at first, I thought he was going to stab me. My guessing is that there are a plethora of men who are clueless to how these devices work and they have 'the two knives man' on standby...

Sunday 13th September 2009 14:53

Rather than fester in front of our computers today, we thought we'd better make our way outdoors somewhere... just hadn't decided where until Tanya came up with the suggestion of visiting Gilbert White and The Oates Museum in Selborne, East Hampshire. We'd often driven past the turn-off for it whilst travelling along the A3, so now was our chance to explore.

Funny thing was, we were visiting a museum dedicated to some geezer who we knew absolutely nothing about... all part of the fun I guess. Even when we arrived there, we were looking for clues about him. I determined that he was some sort of writer, yet the gift shop, where you paid your admission fee hardly sold anything to suggest he was a writer. Ah well, a guidebook would soon put an end to all of that speculation. By the way, it seems that if you wanted to be known back then, Gilbert White was the name to have... take a look on Wikipedia and you'll see what I mean!

gilbert white

Anyway, this particular Gilbert White was a pioneering naturalist and ornithologist and was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne on the 18 July 1720. Educated by a private tutor, he then went on to Oriel College in Oxford and obtained his deacon's orders in 1746. White is best known for his compilation of letters to Thomas Pennant, the leading British zoologist of his day which then became published in 1789 as 'The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne'. The letters included White's discoveries about local birds, animals and plants and was one of the first people to distinguish birds by behaviour and song rather than collecting specimens, as was common in those days.
To find out much more about him, the museum and its stunningly beautiful gardens, please click on the image above.

the selborne arms

After our fill of history, fresh air and a bit of a walk, we chose to have a Sunday lunch at one of the pubs in the centre of Selborne, this particular one was aptly named, 'The Selborne Arms'. We'd just about scraped our order in with two minutes to go before the two o'clock order deadline set in... we both opted for the Sunday Roast... you have to, don't you?
Although the food was on the sparse side (may have something to do with the fact that we may well have been the last people to order) and the fact that the service wasn't the best (again, the staff did appear to be rushed off their feet), what was served up was absolutely excellent, the beef was as succulent as you would like it, the roasties were spot on and the vegetables were cooked to perfection. With it, we enjoyed a nice pint of 'Bloomfields' by local brewery Suthwyk Ales.
For more information about the pub and its mouthwatering menu, please click on the logo above.

Saturday 12th September 2009 15:00

I was hoping to join Tanya's brother, Damien and his mate, Jamie, to go and watch the Premiership clash between Portsmouth and Bolton at Fratton Park. Unfortunately, Damien's knee is still playing him up and there wouldn't have been any chance of him making the journey there and sitting in an uncomfortable position for near on two hours.

After some considerable hunting around, we managed to find a free stream of the match, albeit fairly poor quality along with an incredibly annoying picture lag. Tuning into a local radio station for live coverage helped drown out the foreign commentators so all was not lost.

pompey v bolton

Although rooted firmly to the bottom of the Premiership, both teams knew they had to win so it soon became apparent that this was going to be a feisty affair.
From the minute both teams kicked off, it was inevitable that it would be an end to end game with plenty of goals and sure enough, in the 13th minute, Tamir Cohen fired an unstoppable shot past the flailing arms of David James.

It then appeared as if Bolton decided to sit back, a bad move away from home, and playing against a team who were as desperate as Bolton to gain their first points of the season... sure enough, Younes Kaboul headed in a corner leaving Jaaskelainen no chance of saving it.
From then on, it was all Pompey and it looked like Bolton were being totally out-played, that was until the 34th minute when Matt Taylor fired home a penalty after a debatable decision by referee, Chris Foy.

The game remained 1-2 in Bolton's favour right up until the 63rd minute when Kevin-Prince Boateng slotted home a great goal, somehow finding its way through various players' legs and into the bottom right hand corner of the net. It then stayed at 2-2 right up until the last minute of the match when Gary Cahill managed to head his own header and netted a fairly controversial winner to seal a win and Bolton's first three points of the season.

Friday 11th September 2009 11:26

For well over two weeks now, I've been involved with utilising some promotional graphics on behalf of an agency in London who Twix collaborated with. I know this sounds like my best mate's mum's half cousin's best mate sort of story, but I hope you're with me so far.

free tea twix bike

Anyway, this company in London (I'm avoiding naming them because I'd class them as competition) contacted Swiss Bike UK and asked that we modify a bike as part of a new Twix promotion. This involved respraying a top tube gold and then working out some graphics to be stuck either side of it. On top of that, banners for baskets, both front and back, needed to be measured up and designed as well.
Between Jim (owner of Swiss Bike UK) and I, with great sources of outside help, we managed to meet the deadline of today and a courier came and picked up the bike to take it over to London where, apparently, Melinda Messenger of all people would be involved with the promotion.
Click on the photograph I took of the bike to find out more.

Thursday 10th September 2009 23:43

This morning, I had an idea for a photograph... a cheese grater, of all things, inspired me, for I imagined it be large scale, almost like a false rock climbing wall.
I took several individual images of myself in different poses (all on self-timer) and then scaled them down, as if each 'person' was climbing the 'wall'.

the arachnid catastrophe

Trouble was, it wasn't enough, because I knew 'the people' would need to be escaping, but from what?
Spiders! Most people hate spiders (not too keen on them myself).
A trip to the garden shed with a glass and piece of card in hand... caught one almost immediately... flung the bugger in the bath and took several shots of it.

Eight hours later, I completed the final shot - click on any of the composite images to view it.

Wednesday 9th September 2009 20:00

There had been a break of Premiership fixtures last weekend, to make way for a couple of England matches, tonight's being a Group Six top of the table clash against Croatia at Wembley. A win tonight would see England qualify for the World Cup to be held in South Africa next year.

Pre-match banter included Croatia's coach, Slaven Bilic, saying that the Three Lions lacked Englishness under the reign of Fabio Capello. Is that the best he could do... and let's face it, it's not like England haven't had a foreign boss before.
Capello had chosen a strong squad in the hope that he would make it eight wins in eight matches, although I did have to question why Heskey was a first team choice. He'd also chosen Rob Green as goalkeeper, Glenn Johnson, Matthew Upson, John Terry and Ashley Cole in defence with Aaron Lennon, Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard and Stephen Gerrard being his midfield. Up front were Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey.

england v croatia

England started off incredibly lively and looked determined to win, sure enough Simunic brought Lennon down in the seventh minute whilst he was on one of his signatory runs down the wing and into the box. Penalty to England, calmly taken by Lampard. 1-0.
Croatia just couldn't settle and sure enough, Lennon played a superb cross towards the back post with Gerrard finishing with a superb 18th minute header. The scoreline stayed at 2-0 until the teams came out for the second half.

The scoreline stayed at 2-0 until the 59th minute when Lennon sprints down the left flank, Gerrard then takes over, working the ball out towards Glenn Johnson who plucks out an amazing reverse cross for Lampard to convert his second goal. Some eight minutes earlier Gerrard added a second goal to the tally, making it 4-0 to England. In the 72nd minute, Eduardo scored what was a consolation goal for Croatia before Rooney took advantage of a major defensive blunder and completed the 5-1 rout.

Tuesday 8th September 2009 07:42

I'm sure the majority of us have fond childhood memories whether it be remembering the first time you were able to ride a bike without stabilisers or your first day at school. One memory that has stuck there for me is the cartoon, 'Tom and Jerry'... I just thought it was brilliant, and still do.

Two men, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were the brains behind most of it, for it was directed and written by them, and for 18 shorts, they also produced it. The first short was produced by Rudolf Ising, whilst Fred Quimby produced the largest total of 95 shorts. All in all, over a period of 18 years, 114 shorts were released, I say the term 'short' because that's how long each episode lasted with a running time of anything between six and ten minutes.

tom and jerry

The shorts were a series of animated theatre, centering on a never-ending rivalry between Tom, a house cat and Jerry, a mouse, usually with chases and battles that involved comic violence. I say comic violence because most of the battles should have been fatal, yet cartoon characters have an infinite life!

Unfortunately, in 1957, the animation unit was closed down even though the original series won the Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (cartoons) on seven occasions, tying it with Walt Disney's 'Silly Symphonies' as the theatrical animated series with the most Oscars.
To find out more, please click on the ever-familiar logo above.

Monday 7th September 2009 20:24

For those of you who know me well, you have a good idea about my views on the Royal Family. I'm by no means a Royalist and never ever will be, having said that though, I'm passionate and patriotic about my country so that sounds slightly contradictory! Anyway, I won't elaborate any further, for fear of having my head chopped off.
The reason I'm talking about them is because they have the financial foundation and a certain amount of prowess to make themselves and their views heard. None more so than The Queen and Prince Charles. The Prince's Charities Trust has had unequaled attention in many of its quests and I wish his Rainforests Project the same success.

the prince's charities

As you know, rainforests wrap around the equator of the earth like a green belt. After millions of years of evolution, they are the most biologically rich ecosystems on our planet. Tropical rainforests contain a hugely rich diversity of species of plants and animals and are also home to many different indigenous people, who have unique and treasured cultures. This can be backed up with the breaking news today of an extinct volcano in Papua, New Guinea that has 'unearthed' a new species of rat, a frog with fangs amongst the 40 or so species that have been discovered.
To find out more and add your support to the trust, please click on the logo above.

Sunday 6th September 2009 10:38

Surprisingly, it turned out to be quite a warm day today, so much so, we decided to go out for a walk. Tanya asked if we'd ever had a good look around Chidham, a peninsula that sits between Thorney Island (west) and Bosham Hoe (east). I thought we had, yet it turned out we hadn't and she then recalled that she'd only ever been there once, and that was some time ago.

Apart from a loop road from the A259, the rest of Chidham's roads are private, although they do have a multitude of public footpaths, one of which takes you along the coastline and that's the one we took. There are fantastic views of Bosham, West Itchenor and Chichester Harbour as you walk down the west side of the peninsula. It was a very enjoyable walk and we rewarded ourselves by having Sunday lunch out in a local pub called 'The Old House at Home'.
The 17th century pub is very quaint and homely looking with a garden terrace at the front and a garden at the rear. It certainly felt like we were out of our depth eating there for it seemed quite apparent that the clientele were well-to-do, with many wearing local sailing club jumpers.
It niggles me to say it but the staff there were some way off being welcoming and, for a moment, we were unsure if we'd be able to eat there because we hadn't booked. It turned out that there was a free table for two, right next to the main door - not a problem since it was a pleasant day.

the old house at home

Anyway, whilst deciding what food to order, we both enjoyed some Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter which is a fantastically refreshing pint, particularly after a four mile walk. In the end, Tanya opted for Chicken and Bacon Pie with chips and seasonal vegetables and I had a Steak and Ale Pie with new potatoes - tell you what, I've never tasted steak so good and succulent... Tanya sang praises about her food too so it totally made up for the distinct lack of friendliness from the staff. Usually staff thank you for eating in their establishments - nothing, not a word.
Nevertheless, I'd still recommend eating there.
Please click on the pub sign above.

thwaites flying shuttle

Later on in the day, I thoroughly enjoyed a real ale from Blackburn-based Thwaites Brewery, this one being, 'Flying Shuttle'. It's a chestnut-coloured beer and is named after the invention that revolutionised cotton making from being labour intensive to becoming an efficient industry. At 4.6% ABV, it's a premium ale, lightly hopped, has a fruity aroma and a rich nutty flavour with hints of spices and caramel. An absolutely superb ale and will definitely become a firm favourite with me.
To find out more about the ale that has been named the Official Beer of Lancashire Day, to be celebrated on November 27th, please click on the pump clip above.

Saturday 5th September 2009 15:11

This morning we picked up Damien, Tanya's brother, and all went and did our weekly shop at Sainsbury's in Chichester. Ordinarily, we'd do our shopping separately only Damien bust his knee at the U2 concert last month, so much so, he's been in absolute agony and is unable to drive, let alone work. He just about managed to hobble around the supermarket and buy his essentials before agonising pain set in again. We'd finished ours at the same time he had so it all worked out well and we'd done a very good deed at the same time. Spotted several new real ales in there which I hadn't tried so it made the trip even more worthwhile!

PC world

Once home, we didn't fancy vegetating in front of our computers so we headed off to PC World for Tanya wanted to take a look at the vast array of laptops that the store offers, as well as a mandatory visit to the other electrical goods retailers, of which were on Ocean Retail Park, just off the Eastern Road in Portsmouth.
It was as far back as 1991 when the first PC World opened in Croydon, with the Dixons Group plc purchasing the whole chain some two years later. In 2006, it went through some major rebranding yet some stores still brandish the old logo, whilst other stores have the new logo, yet it appears that they scrapped that logo and have another new one as well! The store receives numerous criticisms on a regular basis, particularly poor attitudes from staff.
Nevertheless, please click on the logo above to find out more.

iomega

I'd also visited the store for my own reasons - I desperately needed a large external hard drive that could cope with a substantial amount of files that I so desperately needed to back up. Luckily, there were a good deal to look at and choose from. There was one make in particular that caught my eye, mainly because I used to have (actually I still own, come to think of it) an Iomega Zip Drive and I knew full well that the brand was completely compatible with Apple.
My only dilemma now was, 500GB or 1TB hard drive? At £70.00, I couldn't possibly turn down the 1TB (terrabyte = 1000 gigabytes) so the purchase was made. Once we arrived back home, it was a simple case of transferring all the files I needed to and then, since the drive is so huge, I opted to actually use the disk as my Time Machine back-ups (I'll go into much more detail about what they are later this week).
To visit the Iomega website, please click on the logo above.

Friday 4th September 2009 23:07

There are very few jobs these days that don't involve sitting in front of a computer at least once a day. Before that, there were the word processors, electronic typewriters, manual typewriters and those things called pens and you used to draw letters of the alphabet up and make words from them. I believe this phenomenon was called writing.
Top and bottom of it, we spend seamless hours sat on our arses, with little or no motion, apart from raising alternative cheeks to break wind whilst we slowly become clinically obese and eat unhealthy meals. So, isn't it time that we at least made ourselves comfortable whilst being in a semi-motionless state? Yes, I, and probably millions of others, would agree.

Now then, looks like some incredible brainbox company has already thought of how to make things comfortable for the likes of you and me. That company realised that sitting is bad for you whilst you move nothing but your fingers, so much so, they developed, created and manufactured a chair that keeps both your brain and body limber all day.
Two particular people, Jeff Weber and the late Bill Stumpf decided to sit down (shit pun - Ed) and design a chair that could do more than just minimise the negative effects of sitting, they wanted one that could actually have positive effects on the body. The Embody chair was born.

herman miller

I could go on and on about how brilliant it is and Lee my mate in North Carolina has actually bought one. Why? Well, even with the physique of a top athlete, he crippled himself for days and ended up lying in bed for the duration. It was that bad, he couldn't even sit up and watch television and was in no position whatsoever to even contemplate a half marathon or a 100m sprint. I was surprised (nay, flabbergasted) to hear that he hadn't done it climbing a mountain and wrestling an alligator... no, he was just bending over the sink, whilst washing his face.
For more information, please click on the logo above.

Thursday 3rd September 2009 20:09

Considering I'm a graphic artist, I very rarely talk about artists who inspire me, although I do recall praising Dali and I may have mentioned Picasso along the way. So today, I think it's about time I mentioned a particular artist who is not only incredibly talented, his artwork is amongst the most sought after in the UK today. I am of course, talking about Middlesbrough-born Mackenzie Thorpe.

Born in 1956, he's the eldest of his seven siblings and his family fought through financial hardships and a very tough working class life in the post war city. The memories he holds from his childhood are that of affection and a strong community spirit yet he also experienced solitude and loneliness, many of these emotions are conveyed in his work, even to this day.
Despite these feelings, he did manage to be transfixed with a certain talent during his childhood, none other than Rolf Harris. He used this inspiration to start drawing and painting and it wasn't long before his raw talent was recognised however, he had undiagnosed dyslexia and was unlikely to achieve any academic qualifications and, at the age of 15, he started work on the shipyards.

Due to a distinct lack of money within his family, he continually struggled to find an outlet to sell his art until one day, his uncle, Lawrence, encouraged him to apply to the Middlesbrough College of Art. He was accepted on the basis of his obvious talent and enthusiasm in the subject for he just didn't have the qualifications to be accepted through the usual channels. After two years, he was transferred to the Byam Shaw School of Art in London where he went on to complete a degree.

mackenzie thorpe

In 1989 he and his family moved to Richmond, North Yorkshire where he set up a shop selling art materials and although he was totally unprepared for the reality of running a small retail outlet, Mackenzie started creating pieces of art from the materials he was selling.
For the first time in his life, the general public had the opportunity to view his work and even though initial reactions were not entirely complementary, he continued and people gradually started to see the uniqueness of his art, particularly the family-orientated ones, the oversized child-like heads of people and animals, square sheep and totally surreal colours in his landscapes.

Since then, Mackenzie has become one the world's most collectable and best-loved artists. Recent accolades have included a 'Best published Artist Award' from the Fine Art Trade Guild; an Honorary Master of Arts Degree from the University of Teeside and being chosen to produce five official Christmas cards for conservative politician William Hague.

I was fortunate enough to meet the quiet and incredibly modest man in 2002, at his shop in Richmond and that folks, is one of my biggest claims to fame!
To see his work, please click on the logo above.

Wednesday 2nd September 2009 22:00

You either love them or hate them. I'd say it was an age thing but that's far from true, some people my age hate them, yet my parents love them. Their humour could be described as puerile and sophomoric, whereas I'd say it's cleverly silly and, at times, ridiculously surreal.
I am, of course, talking about Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer.

shooting stars

Last week, 'Shooting Stars' returned to BBC2 for a sixth series, tonight's being the second one shown so far. It's similar to a conventional panel game, yet the answers to the questions, even when answered correctly, might not necessarily be the 'correct' answer. There's a familiar format to the show which some may find utterly stupid, to me, it's predictably funny. The show is proving to be very difficult to explain, so rather than me go on and on, I'll share a few funnies from the 'True or False' round.
True or False: Niagara Falls is turned off at night?
True or False: Shoes from Dundee can be moved by the power of the mind?
True or False: Jeremy Irons.
I really wanna see those fingers clicking on the logo above...

Tuesday 1st September 2009 16:33

There are some great free downloads on the internet, Adobe AIR is one of them. It's a cross-platform runtime environment for building rich Internet applications using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML or Ajax, that can then be used as a desktop application.
Originally called Apollo, its name was changed to AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) on June 10, 2007 and the first public beta release was launched. Since then, a further two beta versions were released until version 1.0 became available in February 2008.

adobe air

With the launch of its new name came the launch of its new logo, along with some fairly heavy criticism aimed at its designer, Mike Chambers, from fellow designers and suchlike. Apollo originally had a rocket logo, with a cursor arrow cleverly making up the top part of it.
I rather like the new logo, it says what it needs to, particularly as it's built on top of three core web technologies, HTML, Flash and PDF, therefore each section of the logo represents one of those core technologies.
To download your free copy of Adobe Air, please click on the logo above.

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