[Cycling] June's final ride.

Another month of cycling done, and I have not gone nearly as far as I should have done. Only covered 60 miles in total, that's my previous weekly total during May! Next month, with no business trips or holidays planned, I should get some more serious mileage under my belt.

Anyway, so today's ride was the first dry road bike ride since 3rd June and the first time on the road bike since I got soaked in the middle of June; so I thought I might be a bit rusty. It seems not. Wasn't sure which route to take, but I decided on a nice jaunt round the local back-roads and a blast down the A128 home. All good, managed to keep some decent pace, only really slowed on 1 hill when I hit a wall. Not, not a physical wall... my legs started to remind me that they hadn't cycled this far in a while!  Maximum speed of 34mph, total of 15miles, 52 mins and 594' of elevation gain.  Good times.

So, yeah decent ride. Apart from almost being knocked off my some old dear in a Rover Metro. I was turning off the A128 (turning left) to head back home and she was turning across to go down the same road, but coming from the opposite direction. She either didn't look or thought I was going much slower than I was (I was doing about 20) and pulled right into the spot I was in. She missed my front wheel by 7 inches or so. No doubt that had I been heading straight and not turning, she would have hit me, and the combined speeds of 25 and 25 would have seen me damaged in a major way. As it was, she missed me so I shouted a loud warning but she couldn't hear me. I dropped a gear, paced it after her and when she had parked up, calmly (I know, I couldn't believe it either) explained that she almost knocked me off. She apologised profusely and explained she hadn't seen me, but that she always looks for cyclists. To be honest, I'm not sure she could see that well and could hardly get out of the car. Bah... but I didn't let it spoil my ride. Just wish my helmet camera had been charged and I had taken it with me so I could show you footage!

June's Cycling Totals:

• Total Duration = 4h 26m 53s
• Total Distance = 59.88 mi
• kCal burned = 4239
• Average Speed = 13.43 mi/h
• Average Pace = 4m 45s/mi
• Elevation Gain = 3133 ft
• Elevation Loss = 2979 ft
• Avtivities = 6 (3 Road, 3 Dad's MTB)

[Music] The Faces documentary.

Just seen this after it was posted on twitter. A short 8 minute documentary on The Faces, looks to be from 69/70 judging from the way each member is introduced. Interesting stuff, nice footage of them playing/jamming too.

[Books] Frederick Forsyth - The Avenger.

I've been a reader of Frederick Forsyth books since I stole borrowed a copy of "The Dogs Of War" from my Dad last summer.  I always assumed this style of crime/spy/thriller novel wouldn't be my cup of tea at all, but his novels have a flow, feeling and style that really work for me.  I find them very readable.  After devouring "The Dogs Of War" [which, by the way is excellent and ranks up there amongst the best books I've read. Classic] I quickly read "The Day Of The Jackal", another cracker of a read and usually rated as his best book.  The atmosphere he presented was awesome.  The last book I read of his was "Icon" in October last year, one of his more modern novels [1996] which also provided some good reading too and from a work meeting in Leeds.

Anyway, so I got a triple-pack of his books for Christmas but I've been rather slow at reading them - so I grabbed "The Avenger" when packing my stuff for Mallorca in the hope that I would get some downtime to read.  In the end, it turned out the DVD player in the villa was broken, so gave us plenty of time to read in the evening once the boys had gone to bed.

"The Avenger" is typical Forsyth, in so much as it contains his trademark system of interweaving stories, reaches back to history, mixing fact and fiction and a hero who is ex or current military or secret service.  In "Avenger", the eponymous protagonist is ex-US Military and the story managed to link various world conflicts including World War 2, Vietnam, The Balkans Wars, the Soviet Afghan invasion and the current 'War on Terror'; using characters from each to paint different points of view and have them all combine in the finale. I wont write any spoilers here as I don't like reviews that do that, so I also don't recommend reading the information on this book on Wikipedia as it does spoil some of the plot twists somewhat.  

The basic premise of the book, without spoiling it, is that a young American is killed whilst employed as an aide working in the Balkans.  Through a series of linked stories, the boy's Grandfather manages to call in some help from old friends and recruits the title character to help "render" the killer to American soil where he can be tried for his crime.  What hinders this is the facts the killer is already known to both the FBI and the CIA and is currently missing from all intelligence databases.

Despite good opening few chapters, the books does slow down a bit in the middle section, and FF does get himself too muddied in his endless lists of real life facts used to back up his fantasy at some points, which tends to dull the reading a tad.  The start and finish are good though; the character introductions are nicely paced and you don't get lost trying to remember which group of people you are reading about. The finale of the book works well and the speed picks up at the right time.  It's annoying that a couple of new characters are thrown into the mix in the final few chapters, meaning that you don't have a character background on them, very odd bearing in mind there would have been no reason for one of the other characters to take the place of them without altering the story at all.  I had guess the final plot twist about three quarters into the novel, but that doesn't spoil the ending at all.

The book leaves you with a poser of sorts, leaving you asking yourself the great dichotomy about whether it is allowable to let the actions of a few go unpunished, no matter how abhorrent those actions, if the perceived benefit is the betterment of society and the hopeful saved lives of thousands.

[Art] Kernow Sunset.

Kernow Sunset.

A watercolour I did a year ago whilst in Cornwall on a wet day, playing with my Dad's painting gear.  Had this hanging on my study wall since then, but not picked up a brush to do any more.  Will have to remedy that.

[Photography] Suburban Sunrise.

A mini-project I undertook last winter. 33 shots between October 10th and December 26th of the sunrise from the back of my house. All the shots were taken on a BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone and all were edited on an iPod Touch using combinations of PhotoshopExpress, SwankoLab and LoMob.

My "Suburban Sunrise" set on Flickr.

I was impressed with the diversity of the sunrises I saw. There were plenty of eye-grabbing reds, oranges and yellows, but even the subtlest hint of colour in the sky led to a pleasing picture. The days when it was too wet, foggy, snowy or dull I tried to do different things with foreground of shapes to convey the mood.

I've always had a thing about hard black silhouettes against a coloured sky and this project gave me plenty of scope for that.  There was something about special about the cold, dark rooftops jutting into the warm colours.  I tried to vary the skyline as much as I could by using different views from windows, doors, the garden... in order to create some variety; but as you cant help where the sun rises, the long-view was nearly always the same.

The photos from the BlackBerry and the various editing tools worked well for this. There was a kind of relief not to have to work with a DSLR, a film camera or even Polaroid as the BlackBerry lent itself to an easy "point and shoot" style, knowing that the more lo-fi the better with this project.  Might have to do another camera-phone based project at some point, when I finally finished my Polaroid book and my [on hold] 50/50.

The original photos from the project can be viewed on my Flickr stream within this set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tobymarsh/sets/72157625286704872/

[Music] The Wildhearts - Inner City Overture.

A clip made by Gav McCaughey, erstwhile Wildhearts manager, Round Records head honcho and all round nice chap. So says the man himself on Twitter: "@gavmccaughey: A rough little @TheWildhearts video I made for fun back in 2007. Enjoy"

Lovely stuff from the 2007 tour, with "ICO" dubbed over the top.

[Stuff] The Shoze Blog: Browser Wars.

Via: The Shoze Blog: "Browser Wars"  Found this after it was retweeted on Twitter, made me chuckle.

[Photography] Surface To Air.

A shot of Palma taken as we were coming in to land at the airport.  You can see the rain and storms hitting the mountains on the left hand-side, with the sun beating down on the bay and the sea.  Drove through the storm to get to the villa after getting the hire car.

Taken on my Canon 400D with the Tamron 18-250 lens attached.  Shot in RAW and edited in ACR/Photoshop.  I shot more film than digital in Mallorca [on a cheap 135 'panoramic' camera with no frills], looking forward to getting the rolls developed - mono, colour neg and xpro chrome!

[Music] The Chemical Brothers - Escape Velocity.

Today's song of the day, been playing this a lot this morning - its the right kind of weather for it. A slow builder, but well worth it for when it kicks in. Reminds me of an electronica [showing my age there] version of "Baba O'Reilly" by The Who. Taken from the Chem's current album 'Futher'.

[Beer] Aurum Pilsner Lager.

Mmmm, cheap beer.

So, out in Mallorca I was on the hunt for a cheap lager to drink in the evening.  You could buy the usual name brands - Stella, Fosters, Carling, John Smiths, Guinness - but these cost a fortune.  Luckily, the local supermarket, Eroski, came to the rescue with these excellent little cans - Aurum beer.  It's described as a "premium Pilsner lager", seems to be brewed in Spain and, yeah, that covers the basics well enough.  The beer is a nice light golden colour, with a small white head when poured.  Aroma of hops, sweetness and a light malt.  Taste is what you would expect; sweet, mildly hoppy with a small bitterness creeping in to the aster taste, and quite watery overall - surprisingly not too fizzy, nice light bubbles.  It's rated at 4.5& ABV, putting it over the stuff you get in the UK at a small price point.  Tried it in small 'stubby' bottles the first time, then moved on to the 330ml sized cans they had at 25c [yes, twenty five Euro cents, around 25p Sterling then] each.  I think they had the larger 500ml cans for 49c or so, cant remember.

Overall, I would have this again when out in Mallorca/Spain but I'm not sure I would seek it out back home as 'holiday' beers don't normally translate well to pub drinking.  And it's certainly not going to tempt be back from ales...

[Cycling] Some Cornish Cycling.

The Beast Of Bude.

Managed to get 3 cycling rides in whilst staying at my parents in Bude, Cornwall.  Didnt take either of my bikes with me, and with my Dad using his new front sus/disc brake MTB, I was relegated to his old [and I mean old, 20+ year] Raleigh Mustang 'ATB' [love it].  Samuel called it the 'Strawberry Bike' because of the faded reddish colours, I called it the "Beast of Bude" due to its substantial bulk.  Dad had had it serviced by the local bike shop and it was actually OK to ride.  I hadnt ridden a non-sus mountain bike in years, and although it was heavy it was nice to be able to get some power down on the uphill without the wobble you get from the suspension on my usual off-roader.  A few things took a while to get used to; the brakes we a bit soft to say the least and the non-indexed gears were a throw-back too.  I fittied on my saddle-bag, bottle cage and mini-pump and took it out.

Ride 1: Wet, short trip.

It was raining a fair bit, so I took the bike out for a quick blast to see how she handled, just down the Stratton Road hill into Bude and out along Kings Hill to the Marhamchurch turning, then along the tracks by my aunts house to Stratton and back to my parents.  Bike held up, even though one of the tracks was basically a river of mud and rain, and I was trying to cycle up it following a lost sheep at the same time.  First time I had been out on a bike since before Mallorca, so my legs felt it after. Only 4.15 Miles in 22mins, including that long up hill off-road section.

Ride 2: Sunny amble with Dad.

Sunnier this time so Dad joined me for a ride out, which was handy as he showed me some new routes, cut throughs and the cycle path by the Canal/River I didn't know about. Was good. Down the road to Bude and meet up at the Crescent car park [I shot down the hill, he coasted], then along the cycle path beside the canal and river to Hele. From there we took the hills up into Marhamchurch and then along to Stratton and up from Stratton back to my parents house. A decent ride, nice and sunny too which helped. A total of 6.38 miles in 40mins, not bad for my Dad at all (was the longest distance he had covered on his bike).

Ride 3: Ride with Dad then quick blast.

Another nice afternoon so Dad and I went out again, this time a different route. Started off up in to Stratton and along a few lanes to get to Poughill without using the main roads, which was good to know for future reference. From Poughill we headed off towards Northcott, turning back towards Flexbury/Crookletts half way along. Then through Bude town centre and then along the canal cycle way to Kings Hills. Through the Kings Hills industrial estate and across the A39 to the lanes, and from there back to Statton. Dad then headed home and I took off for a blast. Down the Atlantic Highway (A39) to Hele, along the cycle route until Lower Upton. Up the hill from the canal to Upton and then along Marine Drive back to Bude. Managed to get up to 30mph down past Upton Meadows, no mean feat on that bike!  Back home up Stratton Road wasn't the best way to round it off, but a very satisfying ride of 11.51 miles in 1hour 5mins, the longest I had done in weeks. Good stuff.

Some nice riding down there, I've got to take my road bike next time as I really fancy a long ride up to Kilkhampton, then down following the A39 to Widemouth and back. Have to see how I can get it on the car...

[Photography] Another Four Polaroids.

A new batch of my latest four Polaroids from my series of shots from in and around Thorndon Country Park in Essex.  At least 2 of these (if not all four) will make it into my final project/book.  These were taken on a mixture of TheImpossibleProject PX680 beta film released in April this year, and PX70 ColorShade FirstFlush from last October.  Both sets of pictures were taken on a Polaroid SX70, the PX70 shots on a standard SX70 Alpha; and the PX680 shots on an SX70 Alpha that has had the ND filter over the electronic eye removed to part compensate for the difference in the standard ISO levels.

Both sets of shots were sheilded from the light upon ejection from the camera using the "darkslide between rollers" method as recomended by TIP, which I have found does produce the best results.

[Music] Perfect Partners: Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds - Eponymous | Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth - Eponymous.

My second installation in an occasional series where I link two albums by two different artists that just go together well. 

Izzy Stradklin' & The Ju Ju Hounds - Eponymous [1992] | Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth - Eponymous [2010]

I'll start with the older of the 2 albums on offer here, the eponymous début by Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds.  After Izzy left Guns N' Roses, he formed the JJH as an outlet for the more classical blues rock based songs he had been writing that didn't fit in his previous band.  The album was recorded by the band comprising of erstwhile Georgia Satellite Rick Richards on guitar, future Buckcherry member Jimmy Ashhurst on bass and drummer Charlie Quintana from Plugz; and released in October 1992, less than a year after Stradlin left GNR.  Pretty obvious to say that I came to this album because of Stradlin's work in GNR, and more specifically his 3 'solo' songs on the Use Your Illusion albums - "14 Years", "Double Talkin' Jive" and "Dust N' Bones" -  all of which being favourites of mine.  His solo album follows those in a similar path, it's a very simple rock album that harks back to the sounds of the Rolling Stones, vintage Aerosmith and The Faces - it comes as no surprise that Izzy gets Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood to write and play on a track on this album.  Also included is a homage to 2 more of Stradlin's roots in one song.  "Pressure Drop" was originally recorded by Toots & The Maytalls and is considered to be a roots reggae classic.  It was, however covered by The Clash, another band who's spirit looms large over Stradlin's work.

The guitar and organ driven first single "Shuffle It All" with it's soulful vibe and sorrowful lyrics is one of the standout tracks and gives the album a real focus point. An album split between straight up rockers ("Somebody Knockin'", "Train Tracks", and "Take A Look At That Guy" with Wood) and more mellow ballads ("Time Gone By", "Come On Now Inside"), it doesn't break any moulds or push any boundaries, but what it does do is prove that Stradlin is more than accomplished in penning an opus of good ol' classic rock as well as the next man... 

...especially if the next man is Steve Conte.  Conte is most well known for being the man that had the unenviable task to being the "new" Johnny Thunders in the reformed New York Dolls, and more recently of being one of the twin guitar attack (alongside Ginger of The Wildhearts) in ex-Hanoi Rocks front-man Michael Monroe's solo band.  So, he must have something about him them.  I first came across Conte and his music via the 'Dolls appearance on the TV show 'Later... with Jools Holland' on which they played new song "Cause I Sez So" and the classic "Trash".  Conte was, and I know this sounds sad, a freakin' cool looking guitarist on that show and I made note of him when I obtained the 'Dolls latest album.  A week or so later I think, one of his tweets on Twitter was re-tweeted by previously mentioned Ginger (who I followed) and I picked up on the name and followed Steve.  This album, the debut from his power trio The Crazy Truth is not the first Steve Conte album - he has released albums under various names with various people such as The Contes (with his brother John) and Company of Wolves.  Like Stradlin's album, this is a showcase for Steve's song-writing, singing and guitar playing.  Kicking off with the classic formula of an upbeat rocker in "This Is The End", the album is a combo of blues licks, punk kicks and glam flicks.

A very New York album, there are hints of the city's famous sons littered all over the album.  The swagger and sneer of the Ramones on "Junk Planet" to the 'Dolls pouting campness on "Strumpet-hearted Monkey Girl" (which, incidently wins the battle for most awesome song title), the album is as much a homage to NYC as it is to rock n' roll.  A nice addition to the normal guitar/bass/drums formula is the inclusion of sax on most songs, giving them a more bluesy, sleazy edge.  The albums highlight for me is "The Truth Aint Pretty", a near perfect classic rock track if ever there was one.

So, why do these work so well together then? Well, just like the last installation of the series [The Distillers | Sorry & The Sinatras], both albums try to capture a period of music that is a golden age to the songwriters.  Both Stradlin and Conte have made albums that would not seem out of place if they had been released in the middle to latter half of the seventies, anachronisms aside.  Both albums give off a feel of good times, decadent rock n roll party and also that hazy next-day feeling that comes with it.

Check them both out: Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds on Spotify | Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth on Spotify

[Photography] The Holga [or the joys of plastic and 120 film].

My Holga 120N

I have had and used my Holga 120n for about 18 months now.  I first discovered the Holga via Flickr after I started to play round with film again.  The results I saw on Flickr instantly grabbed me and I knew I had to try one of these cameras out.

The Holga is basically the most basic camera type there is barring of course a pinhole. Formed from a simple plastic box front by a cheap plastic lens.  The early models featured 2 different aperture settings, although it is widely acknowledged that switching between these didn't actually change the aperture due to the way the camera was manufactured.  This mistake has been corrected on the more modern version including the one I have. The Holga also produces a pronounced vignette when shot at the smallest aperture setting. The focus is by the "zone focus" method, and the viewfinder is a simple view-finder type with no parallax helper lines - the viewfinder also shows a much wider view than is captured via the lens.  This combination of plastic body (which is prone to gorgeous lightleaks due to the lack of seals), zone focusing and plastic lens lends a dreamlike or vintage feel to the images produced on the film.

Another bit of interest on the Holga is the odd shutter switch, which is located on the side of the lens housing - pretty standard in the olden, golden days; but confuses the modern shooter no end.  The shutter itself isnt linked to the wind-on, meaning that double, triple or however-many exposures are available, be that planned or not.  Other non-planned effects are gained from the "bulb" setting which can easily be knocked on by mistake, changing the set 1/60 second shutter speed to "however long the shutter switch is held for", resulting in many a blurry, movement filled image.... and of course there is the problem of leaving the lens cap on - you are not a Holga shooter until you have got a roll of film back and realised the 6 black images are "lens cap on" moments.

The Holga takes 120 film, a format refereed to as "Medium Format" due to positioning between 8x10 "large format" and 35mm standard or "small format".  The 120 film is paper backed, and on the paper is marked frame number for the different aspect ratios that can be generated on the emulsion.  The Holga can be setup to produce 6x6 square images, or 6x4.5 portrait orientation images.  I choose to shoot my Holga exclusively at 6x6 as I find the square formatting give me something different to work with.  When used like this, you get 12 images on each roll of 120 film, with 6x4.5 yielding 16.

Getting 120 film developed and processed is still, despite what many believe, easy to achieve.  There are many online labs that allow postal orders of film, usually offering 2-3 turn around.  And of course there is always the option to develop at home if you are that way inclined.  I have my 120 developed by either Peak Imaging or Whole Picture Online, both of which also scan to CD at the time of processing as my aged Epson scanner doesnt take the larger negatives this film produces.

Ive shot both colour negative and black & white negative in my Holga.  I havent yet tried chrome (slide) film yet, either straight or cross-processed.  I have found that Fujifilm Colour Pro400 gives me the right blend of film speed, grain and colour rendering and is my film of choice when shooting "toy" cameras such as my Holga or Lubitel TLR.

For me at least, the Holga produces lovely evocative images and gives me a more freeform shooting methodology compared to shooting digital, instant ot even "normal" film.  The ease of use combined with the fact that you dont know exactly what will appear on the final image leads to a more creative shooting experience that it lacking in todays world of megapixels and ultra-zoom lenses.  Plus the camera is so cheap you don't mind taking more risks with it, putting it in situations you would dream of putting a DSLR.

I actually have a 2nd Holga 120N which I kind of won in  photo competition, and it set-up with a 135 adapter to take spooled 35mm film and exposure the image on the film and sprocket holes.  As yet, I havent had a chance to use it...

Some online Holga Resources:

• Holga on Camerapedia: http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Holga
• Holga on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holga
• Holgarama, UK Holga suppliers: http://www.holgarama.com/
• Squarefrog, Holga fan-site: http://www.squarefrog.co.uk/
• Holga Group on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/86881528@N00/

Some of my favourite Holga shooters on Flickr:

• FitzhughFella: http://www.flickr.com/photos/duncanholley/
• abdukted1456: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abdukted1456/
• Donnie Vendetta: http://www.flickr.com/photos/donnievendetta
• Skissen: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skiss1/
• Katworks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bzphoto/
• nefoto...: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nefotografas/

[Music] Funeral For A Friend - Broken Foundation.

My latest current favourite tune. Heard it for the first time on ScuzzTV whilst flicking around the music channels on Sky.  Heard of FFaF before but not really liked their stuff.  This, on the other hand, I really like. Currently sync-ing their latest album on Spotify and the iPod.

[Music] Kerrang! turns 30.

Kerrang! Issue 1

The onomatopoeic sound that comes when a finely gripped pick is powered against 6 tense, steel strings, picked up by an electromagnetic coil and amplified to an ear splitting volume.  Kerrang....

That sound epitomised my life for a few years. Kerrang magazine was read from cover to cover rabidly in my teen years, right up 'til I was at Uni. It was a bible to me and some of my friends. The most important moment of the week was getting the new issue.

This week, K! reaches the grand old age of 30. Thirty years of filling the minds and ears of youth with metallic goodness. The first stand-alone issue was put to press and sold on June 6th (or 7th?) 1981. On that cover was Angus Young of AC/DC (see image left), a man who's guitar playing style epitomises the sound that titles the magazine.

This weeks cover stars are Metallica, probably the biggest band that K! have had on their radar; but usually I don't have a clue who the band on the cover are any more.  You see, me and the metal scene moved in different ways just over a decade ago when I found indie, techno, hip hop, hardcore, jazz, blues, country, punk, pop... classical! I matured, my tastes broadened. Metal is still there, but now surrounded by a lot of other sounds. A genre-specific magazine like K! just didn't fit with me any more, and to be fair the latest crop of bands they started to feature meant nothing to me - bands I couldn't relate to, bands that were not 'real' metal or rock to me. Odd, but true. In the last few years I have found myself drifting back into more metal sounds, and more modern metal too.  Hell, I follow Kerrang on Twitter (along with a load of other music magazines). But that's not to say I can't offer a salute to something that meant to much to me and my friends.

Kerrang! 30 Years

The first issue back in 1981 was overseen by editor Geoff Barton, and was a spin-off from the established 'Sounds' music magazine. There is an excellent interview with Mr Barton here, in which he details those early years and later dates. Some choice quotes:

On the birth of K!: "It was Sounds Editor Alan Lewis's idea to launch Kerrang! Along with the likes of Garry "Cockney Rejects" Bushell and Dave "Pink Military Stand Alone" McCullough, I guess my rock/metal ramblings were one of the mainstays of Sounds--but the tabloid newspaper format hampered the scope of our coverage. We needed glossy paper and we needed garish full colour! I remember.....He finally thought he'd got the go-ahead in 1979 or 1980 (can't remember the exact year) and asked me to write/commission/collate the first edition, which I did from a small, damp cupboard adjacent to his desk. But then management got cold feet and we had to divert everything into a pullout section within Sounds itself. (I think the pullout was called something like Kerrrrr-annnggg!!!!--later shortened to Kerrang! so the title would actually fit onto an A4 page!) Kerrang! was finally launched in 1981 as a stand-alone one-shot with Angus Young of AC/DC on the cover. It was an instant hot-seller and monthly frequency was established shortly afterward."

On K! staff writer Mick Wall : "I used to work with Mick Wall on Sounds and I always thought he was at his best when he wrote long, in-depth, atmospheric, rambling pieces. Mick was a typical money-hungry freelancer insofar as he would always come back from an exotic foreign trip and say, "I can't possibly write just 1,000 words. So much happened, this has got to be a two- or three-part epic!" But invariably he was right and the results were riveting--although Axl Rose might not think so."

Kerrang! KC Issue

The period I can relate to K was edited by the excellent Geoff Barton and then by current Mojo editor Phil Alexander. The days of Jason Arnopp, Xavier Russell, Ray Zell, Paul Elliott, Malcom Dome... So many important albums from my formative years were read about in K! either before buying them or whilst listening to them.  The Wildhearts 'p.h.u.q.'; Pantera 'Far Beyond Driven'; Rage Against The Machine's debut; Green Day 'Dookie'; The Offspring 'Smash'; the list is endless. I've still got some old Kerrang!s in the loft. Some choice issues. The Kurt Cobain memorial issue (see left), some with Wildhearts articles, maybe a special edition I think (maybe a 10 year special, not sure)

30 years is a long time for a magazine dedicated to a subset of a subset of society to last. It's seen off many a competitor - RAW, Terrorizor... A few like Metal Hammer have stayed on and are still alive now. So congratulations, K!, on 30 years of metal mayhem.

Here's to another 30. \m/

I might just pop down the newsy and pick up the latest 30th anniversary issue...apparently it comes with a free 15 track CD of choice metal cuts. 

[Cycling] Wet Sunday Blast.

First proper wet ride today, a very quick 9 miles out to Bulphan and looped back as I was soaking.  I only went out in my lycra gear and a cotton tee underneath.  2 notes: 1 my saddle-toolbag isn't waterproof at all; 2. put your BlackBerry in a ZipLock bag next time Toby.

The road bike was OK in the wet.  Lots of spray off the wheels and the front was a bit skittish round some of the bends.  Amazed at how much faster you want to go when you are dripping wet, I even took a tractor towing a trailer or hay at one point by putting it in top gear and grinding up to 25mph on a rough road.  Was pretty cool, but needed some peddling to keep ahead afterwards.

[Cycling] Lunchtime Figure-of-eight 15.

Went out for a quick ride at lunch today as the sun was out and I'm in need of getting some mileage under my belt before Im on holiday and sans velo for over a week.  Had to be the road bike as I fancied some speed/pace rather than woodland.  Couldnt decide which route to take so I decided to just get on the bike and ride.  Ended up going on a figure-of-eight loop around Bulphan and North Ockendon.

Ended up being a very decent lunch hour route.  14.58 miles, 53 minutes, 360odd foot of climb.  Nice, will have to bank this one for more lunch rides to check for improvements of pace and speed.  The last 2mile leg on the A128 was a bit so-so with all the HGVs and delivery vans; and there was A LOT of headwind when heading east...

The sun also seemed to bring out the SMIDYs ("Sorry mate, I didnt see you").  Had a few, managed to catch a couple on the helmet camera:

The first was 1 minute into the ride, she just wasnt looking for a cyclist when she started to pull out of her drive, but I could see that from a long way back so I pull out and slowed down.  Thankfully she did stop and smiled an apologetic smile.  2nd one was stupid, the camera shot doesnt show how close I actually was to her; either she didnt look up the road she was entering or she assumed I was going a lot slower than I was.  She did the classic if-I-look-dead-ahead-maybe-they-wont-see-me and sped off down the road.  A few close passes (1 plonker on the phone in his aged Renault Escape whilst close passing), lack of indication and some engine rev'ers to get by you after you have filtered... never mind, I enjoyed the sun and the ride.

[Photography] The Gruffalo.

We found this guy in Thorndon Country Park, hidden away in a clearing in the trees.  I had seen the wooden sculpture sitting in the rangers garden as I cycled by it a few weeks ago so we on the look out for it.  He was a fullsize (6 and a bit foot) Gruffalo, carved out of a single bit of wood (form what I could tell), very impressive and really like the images in the book.

Only had my 2 Polaroid SX70's on me and I had just finished a pack of PX680 in the Tan SX, but had the Red SX loaded with PX70ColorShade FirstFlush that I purchased last October.  The middle pod as started to degrade, but the film is still great.  Last pack of it.  Sad times.

Anyway, Samuel loves the Gruffalo stories but was a bit freaked being confronted by a 6' version, he wanted us to make sure it wasn't a real one before he would go near it.  After Daddy & Mummy has shaken the Gruffalo's hand, he was more happy with touching it.  Lauren shot the boys (Samuel still in his cycling helmet) on her camera here.

[Photography] Four PX680 Polaroids.

The latest four ImpossibleProject PX680 Beta Polaroids I've put on Flickr.  More of my stuff around Thorndon Country Park to be added to my project/book - I've now got over half the 70 images I need, hopefully I'll have it sorted by late autumn this year and the book sorted not long after that.

[via my photo blog: http://imlosingfocus.blogspot.com/2011/06/four-px680-polaroids.html]

[Music] Happy 10th Birthday Weezer's 'Green Album'

Late May, early June 2001.  Remember it well.  23 years old, I was working in Southwark, 1 year into my first full time job.  I had just started my first blog (using Microsoft FrontPage, those were the days), and discovered the joy of Starbucks Frappuccinos.  I remember reviewing this, the then new album from Weezer on that blog, but although I still have the bones of the site it seems an over-jealous PC clean has removed the actual html pages from the archives.  Shame.

This was meant to be Weezer's return to form (form being the eponymous 1994 début), after their 4 year lay-off since 'Pinkerton'.  In that time they had lost original bassist Matt Sharp and replaced him with Mikey Welsh.  The fact the band decided to not give the album a name again, just like the début, also built expectations of a return to upbeat pop influenced alt. rock.  On that score, the album doesn't disappoint at all.  Rivers Cuomo song writing was happier, poppy and full of the strange laid-back/geek combo that served them so well 7 years earlier.

Album opener "Don't Let Go" is as fine a away to start an album as you could ask for.  If Rivers' hope was to blast the fact that the band are back into your ears, then a 4-count drum leading into a multi-layers wall of guitar pretty much achieves his goal.  A steady rocker that stays at the same beat led power for the full 3 minutes, I remember this quickly became a favourite driving song of mine on my commute to the station each morning.  Looking back now, the guitar "solo" is a bit lazy and derivative, but that doesn't take away from the song too much.

The pop mood is enhanced even more my the sun-drenched "Photograph", all Beach Boys melodies, high-pitched backing vocals and hand-claps.  It comes off as a happier "Un-done" from their début.  "Photograph" is followed by lead single "Hash Pipe", which has the meatiest (and unhappiest) riff on the album, and a melody/song line stolen from The Beatles "You Cant Do That".  I remember this video being everywhere, from MTV to those huge screens in shops - hell, they even performed it on that bastion of British music TV Top Of The Pops; admittedly slightly altered to be to "Half Pipe" to satisfy the censors... ho hum.

"Islands In The Sun", "Crab" and "Knock-down, Drag-out" form a little trio mid album that just flow together well.  Again, very poppy, very happy and very summery. "Islands..." gives the album it's first taste of non distorted and constant guitars, relying more on a chilled out, acoustic-influenced 4 chord pattern to drive it along.  "Crab" exhibits some of the best harmonies on the albums.  "Knock-down" is another driving power-pop song in the vein of opener "Don't Let Go", and again I found this to be an excellent song for putting on in the car.

"Smile" slows the pace down to almost power-ballad speed and is, apart from some nice chord progressions, basically average.

The albums rounds off with another little trio.  "Simple Pages" is another mid-paced wall-of-guitar rocker that fits well with "Don't Let Go" and "Knock-down...".  A simplistic, but well used, repetitive lyrical delivery and sweet harmonies mine the classic Weezer sound.  "Glorious Day" follows on well from "...Pages" but it is kind of overshadowed by the fact you want to press 'back' and play the previous track again - which is a shame as the chorus of "Glorious Day" is rather good and just as addictive given the chance.  Album closer "Oh Girlfriend", I have to say, isn't a song I've given that much time too.  Its an OK song, all plaintive lyrics about love lost over a strummed 4 chord progression.  The spirit of Roy Orbison seems to be channelled in the chorus.

And that's it.  Well, the UK version does have the bonus track "I Do" - 2 minutes of Rivers singing over a keyboard (?).  Very throw-away.

Has the album stood the test of time?  Well, 10 years is a loooong time in music.  Tastes change, styles change.   Weezer's brand of geeky power-pop-punk may have had it's day, but this album has such a timeless pop-quality to it that it seems to stand up well in 2011.  The crisp, clean production helps a lot, proving that Weezer didn't feel the need to chase trends back then and incorporate the off-kilter tom-based drum sound that was prevalent in the alt. scene back then.  Cuomo's lyrics still stand up too, tales of a love-lorn man are of course as old as time itself.

So Happy 10th Birthday Green Album.  The last great Weezer album?  Probably, but that only gives them a hit rate of 2 out of 9.  Ouch.  I guess the "Red" (also eponymous) album was OK...ish...