peck72

Originally posted by peck25 at DITL 12/07/12

A pretty regular day, some work, some rest and some play.( Read more... )

The layout works (pity the dvd doesn't) and I've had a few people through and asking questions. Not bad for an 'Oh, this might work' idea :)

Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.

Films, Books, & Events of 2010

Films

Avatar                                                                                     7.5/10

Sherlock Holmes                                                                8.5/10

The Wolfman                                                                        5.5/10

Kick Ass                                                                                 8/10

Clash of the Titans (in 3D)                                                 4/10

Iron Man 2                                                                              7/10

Robin Hood                                                                           7.5/10

Toy Story 3                                                                             8/10

Inception                                                                                8/10

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World                                                8.5/10

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One)          7.5/10

 

Books

William Wilberforce: A hero for humanity by Kevin Belmonte

The Red Tree by Caitlin R Kiernan

Dune by Frank Herbert

The men who stare at goats by Jon Ronson

The stars my destination by Alfred Bester

The Tears of my Soul by Sokreaksa S. Himm

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar

I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett

Hemingways Chair by Michael Palin

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Events

Magical Mystery Tour in Liverpool

Plays

Anthony and Cleopatra at The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon

Much Ado about Nothing in the Open Air in Chester Grosvenor Park

Concerts

None

Trips Abroad

Iceland -  Reykjavik – March

Italy, Lebanon & Syria – July/August

Belgium - Brussels& Bruges – September/October


I've been meaning to post his for about the last week and am finally getting round to it tonight. Each year I try and keep a track of the films, books, etc I read/watch just for my own curiosity and over the last couple of years I've been pretty consistent with the numbers.
Sherlock Holmes and Scott Pilgrim get joint top score for this years films but I think that Scott Pilgrim comes out just ahead because it really was a wonderfully quirky and fun film (not that Sherlock wasn't quirky and fun, just not quite as much and it didn't have Mary Elizabeth Winstead either)
I have to say though that I am disappointed with the number of books I read each year, I really ought to be reading more. I think though that I can lay the blame firmly at the door of the amount of tv I watch instead and until I'm prepared to cull some shows from the 'must watch' list I'm going to be sticking at just breaking double figures. I could say I'll try harder this year but it would be hollow words.
The Magical Mystery Tour was with my sister in law for her birthday weekend and was good fun in spite of seeing some of the heaviest rain in ages which curtailed some of the getting on and off the coach.
I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't get to see any live music this year. I came close to going to see the Kodo drummers at the Phil in Liverpool but it somehow never quite happened.

I did very well travel wise this year, visiting 5 capital cities that I've never been to before (Reykjavik, Rome, Beirut, Damascus and Brussels). I've wanted to go to Iceland for as long as I can remember and it was as wonderful and beautiful as I'd hoped with some incredibly breathtaking scenery. My favourite place that we visited was Thingvellir, the ancient site of the Icelandic parliament and where you can see the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates slowly pulling away from each other (by about 2cm a year). We didn't have time to travel and see a glacier so we'll have to go back again. We nearly got to stay longer though as two weeks after we came home the volcano erupted and the ash cloud brought all air traffic to a halt. So close, so close . . .
At the height of summer I got to travel around Lebanon and Syria taking photo's for the OM workers based out there for them to use in publicity for their work. It was a great time, meeting a number of great people and getting to travel around a beautiful country and take photo's (my favourite pass time). It also meant that I was able to experience the hottest temperature of my life with 42 degrees C in Damascus. Which means that, with the extreme cold here in the UK last month, I've probably experienced a temperature range of over 50 degrees in the last year.

Away from the lists, 2010 was always going to be an up and down year. On the upside, I gained a beautiful little nephew who is now 11 months old and is a hairsbreadth away from walking. On the downside we lost my wife's mother to cancer in May and her loss is going to cast shadows through the family for some time to come. My last memory of her is always going to be her smiling and waving her arms wildly in the air when Anna and I arrived at the family farm, as she was being wheeled around the garden by her husband. Within 24 hours of this, she had gone.

Looking forward to 2011, there is something coming in March (probably) that could be a really big thing this year and I will bring more news as and when I can. As to the rest of the year, I really don't know what's going to happen, so I'll just have to wait and see.

Hopefully you can see these pictures if I post this link, if not, then comment here and I'll play around with it to see if I can get it to work.

Our long weekend in Brussels and Bruges was a much needed time away and even though it was only a few days we were able to see quite a lot as well as having time just to relax and read. I managed to start and finish Terry Pratchett's 'I shall wear Midnight' while we were away. It's an excellent book and, if it is the last Tiffany Aching book, a good way to conclude the series. Anna read Phillippa Gregory's 'The Red Queen' and also enjoyed it a great deal. She's read quite a few of her historical novels and seems to have enjoyed them pretty consistently.

It's late now so I may talk more about Belgium another time or I may not (I'm still feeling my way back into this blogging lark), but if you do want to know more about what we did, then please ask and I'll tell you.

It's been so long since I posted anything here I almost wasn't sure that it would let me still.

Just a quick something to show a little of what I got up to this summer. Hope you enjoy, if your still listening that is.

So then, what have I been up to since I was last here?

Well, I went to Dublin to see Amanda Palmer performing at the Sugar Club on 16/02/09 which was incredible. Standing in the queue beforehand I was almost having second thoughts since when I looked up and down the line I was pretty much a decade older than anyone else waiting to go in. I don't often feel my age (in my head I'll always be 14) but this was one of those moments. The club is only a small venue with rows of tables and and fixed chairs running down an incline to the stage so the fact you had several hundred people packed in like sardines added to the atmosphere (and the heat). I can't really describe the concert (these guys can though) except to say that I loved it and to show you a couple of selected clips (caution, may contain swearing), here, here, and here. That last one was her encore and was just wonderful.
So that was the 16th and than on the 17th Amanda was doing a signing at Chapters Bookstore in Dublin which is massive and has the best graphic novel section I've ever seen in a mainstream bookshop. But not only her, the signing was with Neil Gaiman as well. Nominally it was for their book 'Who Killed Amanda Palmer' (which is still awaiting publishing, I think) but was a combination of readings from the book by Neil and songs on the ukelele from Amanda finishing off with a signing for all the people there (500+ by official estimates). For more details, pictures and video footage of the event go here, as they've been much more complete than I could ever be.
All told it was a really good weekend and a treat I felt in need of having worked much too many hours over christmas and new year (and am still working now although an end is in sight).

Now I had planned to mention other stuff in catch up but it's late and I want to try and get some sleep before I'm back in work tomorrow later today.

Anyway here is the thing that got me to begin this post in the first place, a Meme from trixie_chick 

people who have been tagged must write their answers in their blog and replace any question that they dislike with a new, original question
tag 8 people, don't refuse to do that, don't tag the one who tagged you

1 What are you listening to right now?
All Day and All Of the Night by the Kinks

2 How do you style your hair?
It's kept short now since last years big cut although I do seem to have developed a pair of lambchop sideburns, somehow.

3 What are you wearing right now?
Jeans and shirt

4 What are you currently reading?
Jules Vernes 'Journey to the centre of the Earth'

5 Dumbest thing you've done this week?
not set my alarm yesterday and then not wake up till 11.40

6 Have you named your computer? If so what's its name?
HAL, I'm a sci-fi nerd so what did you expect?

7 Theme song playing in the background as you die?
Monty Pythons 'Always look on the bright side of Life'

8 What have you ever wanted to do in your life but never had the guts to do it?
try and make a career from photography

9 What is your all time favorite movie?
This is liable to change on any given day but for today it's going to be Akira Kurosawa's 'Seven Samurai'

10 What is your weirdest habit?
probably the one I don't realise I'm doing

11 What is your favorite color?
blue

12 How much money do you think you are worth?
priceless but if I got a pricelist from work I could probably give you a breakdown for salvage

13 What's the weirdest thing you say in RL?
most of it, I don't do conversations well

14 Which languages do you wish you spoke fluently?
welsh, to keep in better contact with mums side of the family

15 What is your biggest pet peeve?
people that turn and walk away from me while they are talking to me

16 What's your ideal weapon?
Klingon bat'leth or samurai sword

17 Who was your childhood idol?
Didn't really have many but Monkey from the tv show of the same name might come close

18 Funniest movie quote you've ever heard?
From Serenity:
The Operative: That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: [to Inara] Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint.

19 If you were in a band, what kind of music would you play and what instrument would you want to play?
If I were in a band I'd probably be the roadie as I have the ability to play even a triangle out of tune so there is no way I'd be let near real instruments

20 Tell me something you love about the person who tagged you.
She waves her geek flag high and proud (and she's a generally cool and caring person who sends wonderful christmas cards)

Maybe more posts coming, or I may pull the plug on this LJ completely since Facebook seems to have taken over by din't of not having to write whole paragraphs there. Either way, notification will be made. Till then, lets be carefull out there.

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

At the going down of the sun
And in the morning
We will remember them.
-- Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

Well, last Sunday morning I looked something like this,

( Before . . . )
But then at about 12.20, this happened . . .

( The Big Shave )
Which wound up with me looking like this.

( After . . . )
As you can probably tell, it was a very traumatic time for me. I think I'm actually still in shock over what I look like without the aid of hair or beard.

But it was for a good cause, building schools for the Dalit people in India (as I detailed here).

I must say a great thank you to every one who has sponsored me in this, I've succeeded in raising in excess of £1000 which is a great deal more than I had anticipated. I must also thank Chantal and Donna for doing the deed and actually cutting off my hair for me, and for relishing the task so much. Thanks also go to my wife for her continued support and the fact that she took quite a risk in encouraging me in this since she had never seen me without my beard, so didn't know what lay beneath.