[Movies] Time Out: 50 Most Controversial Movies.

The 50 most controviersial movies of all time, as told by Time Out New York.

http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/725761/the-50-most-controversial-movies-ever?page=0,0

Not a bad list.  Some are there as they "rocked" the industry, some challenged the morals of the time, just just outright offended and some simply stirred up their own trouble.  Not seen them all, but a fair few.

[Photography] Grass | Lensbaby.

Grass.

Bude Cornwall | June 2011 | Canon 400D | Lensbaby Muse Plastic Optic

[Books] Frederick Forsyth - The Devil's Alternative.

Another week, another Freddy book finished. Becoming a bit of a habit, this. This was one of the books I liberated from my parent whilst down there in June, along with another FF book, a Ludlum, a Deighton and some others. They were having a clear out and the books were off the charity shop - so I had a selection away. So this copy is another "classic" Corgi one, looks to be produced in 1980 (when I was 2, ha ha). There is something about old books.

I started reading this straight after I had finished "The Odessa File", which probably wast a good idea. Why wasn't it a good idea? Well, I still had that book swimming in my head and that confused the first few bits of this book. I've noticed this before with Forsyth books. "The Devil's Alternative" is a lengthier book that "Odessa", about twice as thick; which was a good sign as despite being a decent read, I found "The Odessa File" a bit short and quick.

Plot wise, well where to start. I'm used to the typical "multi-plot" device used by Forsyth, but this one was something else. This was the authors fourth novel proper, and it seems he fancied building more and more sub-plot then before. The three previous books ("Day Of The Jackal", "The Dogs Of War" and "Odessa") all had a maximum 2 or 3 plot lines to follow which combined at the 3/4s mark and then flowed to the end. "The Devil's Alternative" didn't. It had about 7 I think, which could get confusing at some points - especially when you think you have all the plots sorted and he throws a new one in! Saying that, the way he works them together is excellent. At no point did I think that any of the sub plots were superfluous and there purely for filler. Even with FF's penchant for endless reams of facts and figures, real-life historical information and technical gubbings; the many fractures of the world fitted well. I think it helped that everything was happening at the same time; unlike some of his other novels when you had to remember that at some point you were reading what happened years prior to the part just before it.

Do you want a plot outline and spoiler? Well, I guess the book is so old it's not going to make much difference. Concentrating on the main plot; a group of Ukrainian dissidents want to strike a blow to the heart of the Soviet Empire and free the people of their homeland from years of suffering and persecution. To do this, they plan a act that will, if known to the outside world, shake the Kremlim to it's core and bring down the secretive and totalitarian government. Unfortunately, this dont go exactly as planned, so a second act is needed to help the first complete in full. Alongside this, Russia is suffering from a problem with it's annual grain harvest. The US learn of this and use it as a bargaining tool to force the Soviets to agree to lower there military power - but the acts of the Ukrainians threatens to blow the deal out of the water and bring Europe, if not the World, to war. Inside this there is story of love lost and re-found; a story of pride and achievement; a murder plot in the West by factions of the East; and a story of political subterfuge and cover ups.

A pretty enjoyable book. I found it hard to get my teeth in to at the start, but by the end I was lapping the words up, willing for the plot to reach its boiling point. It's well written, well paced (no odd drop out, such as I found in "Odesaa" and "Avenger") and the character development with pretty good too - at no point do you think "hold on, that's a bit out of character for him/her" - and that really helps you differentiate between the plot lines. I'm actually amazed that this hasn't been scripted for a film yet. I could see this working as a retro-thriller, still basing it in 1982 during the Cold War. It would need to be a long film, but I would go and see it...

Maybe I need to write a script? Errrrr..... no. I'll leave that to someone else.

Oh, as an aside this will probably be the last paper-back I read for a while.  I've gone and got myself a Kindle. :)

[Stuff] Edited Signs.

More at http://www.happyplace.com/4286/brilliantly-sarcastic-responses-to-completely-well-meaning-signs

Shame the most classic of Internet images wasnt included:

[via Happy Place]

[Beer] Guinness.

A classic drink. The Black Stuff. I've never really drank it before. Sure, I've purchased the odd pint of it in my youth to try it, but I don't think I've ever drunk a whole pint. But now I'm more into my proper beers I thought I would give it ago again.

Fortune smiled on me as my wife was make a Guinness & Chocolate cake (yup, as good as it sounds...mmmmmm) and so there were a few left over from the 4 pack of bottled Guinness.

Wow. This stuff is great. Different, I assume, to draft of canned, but so dark and tasty. Very 'porter' like, but more of a slow caramel burn.  No fix - as flat as a pancake - but the depth of flavour makes up for any lost texture.

I'm converted.

[TV] "The Walking Dead" Season 2 Trailer.

yes. Yes. YES!!! Cannot wait for this, season 1 was epic.

[Music] Helmet - Biscuist For Smut.

Video for the song from their 1994 album "Betty". Super cool guitar riff from Page Hamilton, and John Stainer's snare-drum work is lovely.

[Photography] My 50/50 Project.... Lives Again!

"Life" [50/50-027]

The 50/50 project is back up and running now that I have replaced my Canon 50mm f1.8 lens that got broken in Southend back in April. So nice to have the shallow DoF and limited field of view again. Love it.

The full 50/50 set so far is here. It's a pretty random affair, no links between the images apart from the lens used. 27 images so far, 23 to go.

[Photography] 'Roid Week Summer 2011 Out-takes.

Four Polaroid that were out-takes from my 'Roid Week shoot. 2 on Polaroid ATZ; 2 on ImpossibleProject PX600SilverShade FirstFlush. I liked 'em enough to share, just not enough to use for 'Roid Week.

[Stuff] Final Shuttle Landing.

STS-135: The Last Shuttle Mission.  Space Shuttle Atlantis touching down for the very last time.  End of a space exploration era. Screen grab (cleaned up) from the NASA live stream of the landing.

[Music] Wugazi.

Wu Tang Clan + Fugazi = Awesome.

Not so much your usual mashup, this is more a painstaking remix project. The vocal tracks are direct lifts from various Wu songs; the backing tracks are finely pieced together from chunks of Fugazi songs; a riff from here, a drum track from there.  The result is one of the best mashups out there, alongside the ubiquitous "Grey Album" Metallica/Jay-Z one by DangerMouse and "The Beastles" project Beatles/Beasties by dj BC.

The album opener "Sleep Rules Everything Around Me" sets the style straight away.  The fine piano riff from Fugazi's "I'm So Tired" and the vocals from "C.R.E.A.M."  The tracks are worked together so well that if you were hearing them for the first time you would assume it was how the track was meant to be.  The album continues in a similar vein; the flows of the various Wu emcee's fed over mashed, chopped and mixed versions of Fugazi songs.  The whole thing is genius, but there are some moments when the already broad grin on your face explodes - the moment 2.18 minutes into "Nowhere to Wait" when the guitar riff from "Waiting Room" breaks the beat-driven song is a thing of beauty.  Equally sweet is the chorus of "Forensic Shimmy".  Brilliant.  The only track I cant really get in to is "Sweet Release" as it seems the sung vocal sample just does match with the backing track.  A minor thing though.

Playing "spot the Fugazi sample" and "name the Wu vocals" is excellent fun. Not worked out them all yet...

Download the album from the Wugazi site now before it gets taken down. http://wugazi.com/

[via: Justin Craigen]

[Music] Mother Love Bone - This Is Shangri-la.

Mother Love Bone were a hard rock proto-grunge band fronted by Andrew Wood.   Wood died of a heroin overdose before MLB released the début album in 1990, 21 years ago. MLB had the chance to be big, very big. They could have been Seattle's biggest stars, pre-grunge. It wasnt to be, with Woods death on March 19th 1990 signalling the end of their career.

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament of Mother Love Bone, along with Wood's friend and roommate, Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden fame) recorded the album "Temple Of The Dog" as a tribute to Wood. Also on the Temple album was Eddie Vedder, who subsequently teamed up with again Gossard and Ament to form Pearl Jam.

Yesterday finally saw the release on DVD of "Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story", 5 years after it had its premiers on the independent film circuit (Sundance, Toronto etc). See the website for information on the DVD release http://www.malfunkshun.com/. Malfunkshun was the band that Wood fronted prior to MLB.

Play the song, check out the film. Buy the "Mother Love Bone" compilation album (it contains the "Apple" début album plus their EPs).

[Music] Fugazi - Waiting Room [Live].

Some rather fine footage of Fugazi in their early days performing "Waiting Room" off their debut eponymous 1988 EP. An excellent performance, the band are tight and the crowd are excellent

[Photography] Overreach.

Overreach.

Apple iPhone 4 | Edited in the Instagram app.  Grabbed this on the iPhone whilst out taking Polaroid for 'RoidWeek.  The scene was too dark for a Polaroid to work, but came out nicely on the iPhone, even better when run through a "vintage" filter in Instagram.

[Movies] The Dark Knight Rises teaser poster synergy.

A "mash up" of the 3 Nolan era Batman "Teaser Posters". Design synergy working well.

[via: Rob Sheridan]

[Music] Shed 7 - Bully Boy.

A classic indie-pop tune from 1996. You have to select "240p" from the video size for it to work with sound for some odd reason.

[Stuff] Flashed Face Distortion Effect

Just do what it says in the video. Amazing.

[Photography] 'Roid Week Summer 2011 Day Five.

I Can't Remember.

Dam That River.

My final two Polaroids for Roid Week Summer 2011. These were the last of decent shots I had left over from my trip out on Monday, and even still Im not 100% sure about one of them.  First is on SX70 with Polaroid ATZ film; second on the modified SX70 using TIP PX600SSFF.  Alice In Chains songs to round the week off.

Go and have a look at the Group on Flickr [link above] and give yourself an hour or so of looking through the photo pool. some truly amazing stuff in there.

[Music] blink-182 "Up All Night"

First new music from blink-182 since the self-titled album in 2003. I likes a lot. Got a VERY Wildhearts-like riff at the end.

[Stuff] "Buttery Biscuit Base"

"Base, base, biscuit base. I like a buttery biscuit base"

Say no more. Swede Mason is a genius.

[Photography] 'Roid Week Summer 2011 Day Four.

In From The Storm.

You Got Me Floatin'

Day Three of Roid Week Summer 2001 is here. I shot these two at the same time as the others Ive used for Roid Week so far, but I left them a few days before I scanned them to allow the TheImpossibleProject PX70 ColorShade FirstFlush to "cook" properly and for more of the image to come out. It worked!  Both of these are flawed images.  The right hand side [In From the Storm] is too dark and has a poor chemical pod in the middle, but the details was retained in the sky; and the other one [You Got Me Floatin'] has some weird thing going on.  No idea what it is, but it pops up on a few on my 'roids over the last year.  I like it.  Both named after Hendrix songs.

[Books] Frederick Frosyth - The Odessa File.

Been after this book for a while. It's the second novel that Forsyth had published and one of his most well known after The Day of The Jackal. It's a short book, only clocking in at about 300 pages in paperback form. The copy I have is form the mid 70s (the book was originally published in 72); I picked it up at the local school fayre for the grand total of 10p. Awesome.

It's an odd book I think. The story revolves around one man's hunt for the Nazi SS commander Eduard Roschmann. The ODESSA it the title refers to the secret organisation that was allegedly formed to help ferret members of the SS out of Germany in the months prior to, and after, the end of World War II. Whilst most of the character in the book are fictional, Roschmann, ODESSA and a host of others are based on real life, albeit altered for artistic reason. Another real life person that makes the book is infamous "Nazi Hunter" Simon Wiesenthal, who also acted as a 'document historian' for Forsyth whilst the book was being produced. The novel was also made in to a film 2 years later.

The hero of the story is a young German newspaper reporter called Peter Miller, who lives in the Western side of the divided Germany. On the day of the assassination of American President John F Kennedy, Miller finds himself at the home of an old, poor Jewish man who has killed himself. A friend in the police force gives Miller the old man's diary as he believes it would make a good story. The diary contains the details of the man's life in the Jewish camps during the war where he was under the control of Rocshmann. Miller is so affected by the story that he starts a crusade to bring Rocshmann to justice. Linked in to this, the death of JFK is worrying Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. They are hot on the trail of a plot by Egypt to produce biological and nuclear missiles, which they plan to launch on Israel. Egypt is being aided by ex-Nazi scientists, given new lives by ODESSA. The two plot lines intertwine and loop all over the place before the final showdown. I wont spoil that with detail though.

As usual with FF, there is a lot of historic background on the subjects; be that ODESSA, Mossad, Rocshamnn, the Nazi party. It does help to blur the lines between the real (Rocshmann was in command in Riga and did escape by the means in the novel) and the fictional (Millers personal crusade, the finer details of the Egyptian rocket plot). Its a enjoyable book, but being so based on real life, you feel that there isnt enough time for the (fictional) character to develop. Also, the middle section, whilst blessed with glorious details and accuracies, does tend to plod a bit.

One interesting thing about the book is the part that the afore mentioned Wiesenthal played in forming the plot. In the mid 70s, fact mirrored fiction and the real Rocshmann was located in South America after the interest in him was stirred up by the book and film. Wiesenthal has admitted to bending the truth a bit in the facts he told Forsyth about Rocshmann to do just that; stir up interest and bring about the capture and trail of Rocshmann. Ultimately he fled from Argentina to Paraguay and died in 1977 (well maybe, maybe not according to Wiesenthal). So an interesting footnote to the story there.

Worth reading?  Yeah I would say so.  Despite its short length and the slow middle section it's a rewarding enough book.  The detail of the camps in Riga, the escape by the SS and the twist (which, annoyingly I didn't see coming) should keep you on your toes (no pun intended - don't worry, you'll get that when you read it)

[Photography] 'Roid Week Summer 2011 Day Three.

Last Caress.

Come Back.

Offerings for Day Three of Roid Week Summer 2011. Again I went for the Time Zero Artisting [Edge Cut] for the first shot, falling back on some PX600FF from TheImpossibleProject for the second. Both named, this time, after Misfits songs.

[Music] Silver Ginger 5 - Sonic Shake.

"All Aboard the Super Sonic Shake!" First time I had seen the official video for this. Cant believe this album is now 11 years old...  NSFW due to some swears.

[Photography] 'Roid Week Summer 2011 Day Two.

Burn It Up.

Gone Away.

My two Polaroids for Roid Week Summer 2011 Day Two. The first was on an SX70 using Polaroid Time Zero Artistic film.  The second was on my modified SX70 and ImpossibleProject PX600 SilverShade FirstFlush.  Both named after songs by The Offspring.

[Photography] 'Roid Week Summer 2011 Day One.

Soul To Squeeze.

This Is The Place.

My two Polaroids for Roid Week Summer 2011. Both were taken today, both on my modified SX70, both on ImpossibleProject PX600 SilverShade FirstFlush [dated May 2010]. Both named after Red Hot Chili Pepper songs.

[Beer] Wells' Bombardier & Wychwood's Hobgoblin.

Two more ales from my adventures.  Been drinking Hobgoblin for a couple of years now, since me and my Dad "discovered" it.  Wells' Bombardier (bom-bar-deer, like the WWII chaps rather than the French name) is a new one to me, picked a 4-pack up for a BBQ at a friends house the other week and kept one back.

Both are full bodied and full flavoured.  Hobgoblin, from the Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire (owned by Marstons, see my post about Oxford Gold) has a wonderful red glowing colour - it is, after all, reffered to as a "legendary ruby beer". Bombardier is a more classical brown coloured ale, typically British, and has a nice tinted head.

The 4.3ABV rated Bombardier has, again, a classic taste.  Malty, with a slight sweet toffee undertone that gives way to a crisp aftertaste on the tongue.  A pleasing sip, no bubbling in the mouth.

Hobgoblin, at 5.2ABV in a bottle, is a more robust drink.  A stronger flavour of hops I think, less earthy more malty.  Slightly acidic and citrus sensation on the initial sip, but mellows afterwards and a bodied but easy taste. There is an overall chocolate ting to the ale.

I'll continue to drink Hobgoblin, and I'll definitely buy Bombardier again.

[Beer] Fuller's London Pride.

Been drinking a lot of London Pride Recently.  Had a few bottles in Cornwall, got some at home and the local had it on tap last night as a guest ale.  Excellent.  I do like a nice Pride.

Nice amber-red colouring with a nice firm head that floats and stays if poured correctly.  Excellently crisp malty aroma, oddly got me thinking of fresh bread and meadows (sounding a bit like Oz Clarke for my own good there).  It's a very easy ale to drink, as I found out last night.  No lingering bitterness in the aftertaste, which draws you into another sip quickly.  Nice buttery, smooth texture.

Pride, if it's on tap, would be my "go to" beer in a pub for sure. 4.1 on tap and 4.7 bottled.  Lovely.

[Music] Kyuss - Gardenia [live].

Awesome song, awesome performance. Homme's guitar work is spot on. Man... [just a shame they censor/dont sing the lyrics at the end]

[Photography] iPhone-ography.

Been playing about the camera and the various editing apps on the iPhone.  The camera is very nice, much better than on any previous phone I've used.  The apps are great.  I've used most of them before on the iPod, but there were some such as Hipstamatic that you can only sue with a device with a camera, so those are new to me.  The photos here are on either Hipstamatic, Instagram or Lo-Mob.

Also, the iPhone 4 camera has a built in "HDR" function, that seem to take multiple exposures when you fire the trigger, and blends them to obtain a more range within the highlights and shadows - much in the same way proper HDR tools do it, but with less benefit and control.  The output from the HDR function is a bit hit and miss.  Sometimes it really gives a nice lift to the shadows or the sky, but sometimes it just makes it look like the contrast is all wrong.  Luckily it saves the "neutral" version too.

[Books] Anthony Kiedis - Scar Tissue.

"Scar tissue that I wish you saw | Sarcastic Mr Know-it-all" - Red Hot Chili Peppers, 'Scar Tissue'

I love rock biographies.  I went through a period of reading nothing but, but I haven't read one for a few years now, so when by boys gave me this for a Fathers Day present I was looking forward to getting my teeth into it.

As is the way, Kiedis' autobiography is ghost written.  The ghost writer is Larry Sloman, most well known for co-penning US "shock jock" Howard Stern's two autobiographies, as well as his book "On The Road With Bob Dylan", the story of the Rolling Thunder Revue.  From what I can tell, although the book is written as "I did this, then I did that, then this happened to me", the book was written by Sloman from various interviews with Kiedis and the other main players in the book.  Not that you should let that distract you from the book itself.

Ian Drury coined the classic phrase "Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll" which has since become the rasion d'etre for many and most rock-stars since.  Kiedis ticks these off with aplomb during the course of the book, starting from his early teen years. The tale starts in earnest when he moved to Hollywood from Michigan to love with his Dad, John "Blackie Dammett" "Spider" Kiedis, a full time drug user, pat time drug dealer, part time scenester, part time actor.  Kiedis jr is thrown into his Dad's world and laps it up.  He is, by his own accounts a Grade A student during the week at school, but some the weekend he goes with his Dad to the LA clubs and starts his journey.  When you read the opening chapters, it's hard to like Kiedis.  He revels in the drug taking, the fights, sleeping with his Dads girlfriend (under the guidance of his Dad), the law breaking and risk taking.  You read it and you start to think "what a cock", here is this kid living the life that later one leads to addiction and problems, yet he seems almost boastful of it.   It's not until you get near the end of the book that you realise that the writing has shifted style as the book had gone on, with the over exuberance of youth replaced with a steady thinking style; which makes you realise that the early chapters are meant to sound like he is being boastful as he is writing as his 14 year old self, after all what 14 year old would love to boast about a life like that?  It's a clever way of pacing he book, but I'm left wondering how many have started to read but got put off by the opening style - maybe an opening chapter at the present day would have helped "set the scene" more, I don't know.

It's hard to review this book without basically writing a synopsis of it.  Of course, there is no conventional plot or character development, so unless you know the Red Hot Chili Peppers and other associated 80s/90s American alt. rock stars you will be relying on Google a lot.  But that is not to say that this is a RHCP book.  Its not, its a book about Kiedis.  Even at the heigh of the Peppers' fame, he writes more about his failed love life and his drugs that the experiences of writing, recording and playing.  Of course, those things are covered off; from the recording sessions with George Clinton to headlining Woodstock (no, not the 60s one).  His relationships within the band are talked about in detail too.  You see how he met Flea and Hillel Slovak at school; how Slovaks death from drugs shock him up; his relationship with John Frusciante and the pain he felt with Frusciante fell in to the drug hell that Kiedis was battling with.  Every Chili Peppers' member and album is talked about, usually in glowing terms - even Dave Navarro!  The love he shows for his band mates, past and present gives one of the only insights to a nicer side of his personality, alongside his descriptions of the various girls that he has loved over his life.

One thing that does strike you through the book is the lucidity of the tales.  From this teenage years, Kiedis claims he was getting higher and higher, snorting cocaine, shooting heroin, acid tripping, drinking, smoking... and yet he remembers, sometimes in graphic detail, all the important points, discussions and decisions in his life.  That's amazing and to be honest, a tiny bit unbelievable.  But if you take the exact-ness of the tales of the ex-drug addict rock and roll star with a pinch of salt, then it's a bit easier to swallow.

The books is let down by the ending as much as it is by the start.  The last few chapters that deal with the period from the release of "Californication" onwards start to drag.  Kiedis' life seemed to be a never ending cycle of 'get sober, music, love girlfriend, slip and get high, rehab in Mexico, hate girlfriend, get sober, music, love girlfriend' etc etc.  It all gets a bit too much, and by the time he has either gone to rehabilitate himself back at his mothers in Michigan or at a hotel in Mexico for the 20th time you start to think that maybe, even after all his bravado about how he is now sober, that he never really will be and that one day he will binge one last time and die.  He claims he is now sober entirely, regaling us with a tale of the last time he had the itch for a fix but he didn't go through with it, but based on the previous 400 pages of addiction and lying about it, it seems unlikely.

Kiedis and Sloman turn out an overall enjoyable, well paced and decently written book that does his life justice and certainly paints a picture of his journey through the afore mentioned holy rock trinity of sex, drugs and rock & roll. Does it make you like him?  No.  Does it make you envy him?  Again, probably no.  Now that could just be me and my age, but I feel its not and that is a shame - you should be able, even at 30+ years, to look at rockstars and be jealous...

[Music] Red Hot Chili Peppers - Knock Me Down.

A classic from the "Mothers Milk" album with Kiedis on vocals and Flea on bass; with new-comers John Frusciante on guitar and Chad Smith on drums. The song is a homage to ex-guitarist Hillel Slovak who died of a heroin OD prior to the recording of the album, which also led to drummer Jack Irons quitting; as well as being a paean to soberness.

"It's so lonely when you don't even know yourself"

[Stuff] New phone...iPhone 4.

iPhone 4, taken with the Bold.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 has gone, and in it's place is a shiny new black iPhone 4.  I was sure I was going to get an Android phone, probably an HTC or Samsung, but when I was in the o2 shop upgrading, the iPhone made perfect sense to me.  Having owned an iPod Touch 32GB for 2 years, I know iOS.  I know iTunes, and although I have a love/hate relationship with it does what it needs to do and is easy to do it with.  Plus I love the photography apps on iOS, and now I have a device with a camera, Im going to use them a LOT.  So get used to seeing a few iPhone pictures on here from Instagram, Half-Tone, Lo-Mob, Hipstamatic etc...

The iPhone is lovely.  The size and weight a spot on and the screen is gorgeous after using the BB and the Touch.  The Bold has served me well over the last 18 months, being a very good phone, great for text input.  In fact, I really will miss the hard-key QWERTY of the Bold, it was great and quick to use.  But the iPhone just beats is so easily on every level apart from that.  The touch screen, the resolution, the camera, the messaging apps, the net access, easy of use.  Joyful.

[Books] Jeff Abbott - Fear.

Heard of the author?  Nope, me neither.  This book was liberated from the holiday villa in Mallorca.  I had finished the only book I had taken with me, so started on one of the many they had stashed on the shelves that had been left by previous visitors. Amongst the usual chit-lit there was this, the only one that took my fancy.  The "Tesco Value" sticker should be a pointer as the quality...  I didnt have time to finish it before we had to leave, so took it with me, on the assumption that no-one would miss it, and the fact we were leaving a football and a swimming pool inflatable in exchange. 

So.... well, its an odd one.  Not concerning myself with spoilers with this one.  The basic story is that the main character is on witness protection as killing his best friend during an FBI sting on the mob (how he got involved in the mob is a drawn out affair that I cant be bothered full in, and adds nothing to the story), and he is also seeing a shrink as he is having trouble dealing with his roll in his friends death and his dead mate is haunting him.  Yep, you read the correctly.  His shrink is an expert in PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder, knows he in protection but doesnt know the ins and outs.  She, the shrink, also has other patients all with different PTSD afflictions.  The novel progresses and unravels a story of human drug testing, double agents, rival companies, killings and a cross country chase.  After seeing what he thinks is the shrink blown to bits in a bombing, the "hero" Miles is determined to find out who and why.  This leads him to 2 other PTSD sufferers, the first being a soldier fresh back from Afghanistan and the second being a female reality TV show winner who's boyfriend was killed by a crazed fan whilst she watched.  These 3, along with a cast of others including an ex-FBI killer for hire who's daughter suffers from PTSD, various agents from the rival buyers/pharmaceutical firms and the dead shrinks husband try to find the truth and also help themselves out by getting the drug on trial a proper trail and release.

It's not a bad read by any stretch, but it's hardly up there with the great books of our time.  If it were a film, it would be a Van Damme thriller that stalled in the cinema, was released on DVD and is now shown on repeat on Channel 5.  Good enough to keep you entertained for a few hours, but wont change your life.  The writing is good, the pace nice; but the characters are flat and the ending so trite it makes you feel a little uneasy (the hero and the girl get together on the last page.... original!)  In fact, you dont actually like the characters you are meant to like, and at one point you actually want Miles to be put out of his misery!

If you see it cheap and have a long haul flight, then by all means get it and read it.  Or go for one of the many other books in this mould.

[Photography] Palma in monochrome.

Some photography from Palma, Mallorca, Spain. Top image is the Cathedral of Sanata Maria of Palma, more commonly known as "La Seu". An impressive building, the reflection was impossible not to take a photo of.

The 2nd shot is of a side street up by the main shopping/eating area of the town. The washing hanging from the window made the shot for me. The 3rd and final shot was of one of the water front palms that line the main road that runs along the coast.

All shots were taken on the Canon 400D with my Tamron 18-250 lens attached.  All shot RAW and edited in ACR before being converted to monochrome in Photoshop.  Mono worked so well for the Cathedral shot that I tried it out on some other shots and decided to stick to it.

[Photography] Countach.

Lamborghini Countach, captured at the Haynes Motor Museum in Sparkford, Somerset; a great place to visit, especially for the "Red Room".  I think they are about to undergo a massive renovation of the place.  Canon 400D + Tamron 18-250 lens.  Some editing in ACR and Photoshop to remove distractions and clean up.

[Beer] Brakspear Oxford Gold.

Some fine ale for you.   Got this as part of a multi-pack of different UK ales from the boys for my birthday.  4.6% abv in a standard 500mlglass bottle.  Brewed in Oxfordshire (duh), specifically Witney just to the west of Oxford itself; at the place as Wychwood's Hobgoblin and the Ducthy Organic range from Prince Charles. [Brakspear was owned by Refresh who owned Wychwood et al. They are all now owned by Martsons]

Apparently Brakspear use a special "double drop" brewing method which leaves a butterscotch-like taste in all their beers.

Oxford Gold is labelled as an organic beer with a "zesty aroma and fruity flavour", you can certainly taste the zest element. It has an almost bitter lemon-esque aftertaste that tickles the back of the mouth in a nice way.  The malty taste gives a good and warm feeling in the mouth.  Not sure I got the butterscotch, but there are some sweet notes on the middle of the tongue.  The first bottle I had, I didnt rate the ale at all, but preserved with it for the second and was more impressed with the flavours.

It gives off a wonderfully mellow, sweet smell that doesn't give away the malty taste you get at all.  Not much 'fizz', and a small head even when poured from height. Soft amber colour, very clear and smooth. Summer in a glass.