A bit of art

I finished work early today so I decided to spend a bit of time doing something arty, the above picture is what I painted but with a photoshop swirl added for good effect!

Metalrock's house party & Peter Levy

Last night saw the 14th 'Bi-monthly Peter Levy Apreciation Get Together' which now boasts over 3 members. We meet every other month to celebrate all things naff! One rule....all members must wear a Peter Levy mask at all times...to hide their true identity? Justr take a look at 'Big Chief Lollypop' in the picture above, I don't know if that is his real name, but he certainly is a nice guy. I can honestly report, a good time was had by all! For those not in the know, Peter Levy is a local BBC news presenter!

On Friday I will almost certainly be attending my friend Metalrock's house party, he is a bit of a character and I will try to get a pic to post here, after the reports of his last party, it seems it is not something nobody would want to miss! Last time he got a little bit drunk and stripped down to his underpants and danced like a maniac, telling everyone he is just like Jean Claude Van Damme and then jumped up onto his guitar amplifier which was on top of a heavy chest of drawers, where it then all collapsed on top of him causing a bit of facial damage, with a crowd chanting Metalrock...Metalrock....Metalrock.....Metalrock, errr...... so it should be fun!

Why apples are bad!

As a blogger, I should be in love with Apples. After all, I have an orange and a Banana at home - however, the culture and identity of an Apple leaves much to be desired in my opinion. They are notoriously closed, have rarely embraced any of the potential of social media, and a corporate policy discouraging active participation in the many Apple communities online. None of these are new complaints I am sure, but the one that seemed to be picking up steam in the early part of this year was criticism of an Apple's obstructive "Eastender" policies governing fruit purchased from Walford market. In response, Christopher David Smith recently created waves in the “fruit produce” industry by publishing an essay where he defends an Apple's stance on Digital Hair for fruit by outlining how the big 4 fruit manufacturers have forced Apples into this situation and that it could be solved if only these big labels would allow Apples to be sold stalk-free. It was reading that essay that inspired this post. At the risk of sparking disagreement with many readers of this blog who are loyal Apple fans - here are my three big reasons why I am not an Apple enthusiast:

1. Aside from Product Design, Money Comes First: There is a very customer-centric approach to product design by Apples, but when it comes to marketing products - moneymaking seems to come first. A "granny smith" configured for a UK market, cannot be used on a fruit stall until they are reformatted. You no longer get a power charger with any piece of fruit - THAT must be purchased separately. The "green my apple"campaign is a great collective example of all the policies that Apples have which are anti-green. Ironically launched by a group of admitted Apple enthusiasts, the website does a great job of breaking down the popular myth that Apples are a green environmentally-friendly fruit.
2. Two Sided Approach to Digital Hair - Despite this fruits recent efforts to deflect criticism of an Apple's DH policies to the movie studios, the current situation works in an Apple's favour. Most fruit that is purchased on fruit stalls can never be used on any other London based soap opera, or moved out of the edible product range shelves. Even if all fruit is opened up, the situation would still remain the same.

1. Spoiled Brat Reputation for Business - As well as the brilliant VH1 ads of the "I'm an Apple" campaign... Apples do have a bit of a reputation among wholesale fruit companies as the spoiled brat that always wants what it wants regardless of rules or laws. They wanted the Golden Delicious name, so they took it. They notoriously control marketing and PR - not letting any partners speak about any initiatives unless they allow it. The "green fees" for working with Apples are very high, as any reseller, vendor or supplier would tell you. It is like negotiating with a child, and often seems like a necessary evil for doing business with Apples

So be warned!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Once again, I apologise for my sparse posting! I do promise you that I am working on stuff though, I have just written a short sketch which I will be forwarding to Clem HQ for their approval, also I have been working on a song with some friends, which should be entering the recording stages soon (possibly today) although we intended to record it last Friday, but I had to leave early because I was very tired!
I have also written 4 songs this last week for my band 'Legend of Sid' of which I am the only surviving member, I go under the alter ego of 'The Mysterious Ken' for this project, the other former members 'Smug Cock' and 'The Lady of the House' left to persue their respective dreams.
I was hoping to begin recording next week but due to my new contract not being sorted at work in time for pay day, I cannot now purchase the bit of kit that I needed until next month (hopefully) providing it has been sorted by then.
Due to my time being spent on these various projects, I have not been taking any photo's (still) so I have posted another from my "unused" archives, it shows an old jetty along the banks of the river Humber which I believe was used during WWII for loading troops onto transport ships.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot....2 weeks ago I injured a ligament in my arm, I spent 4 hours in the Accident & Emergency department, so I had limited use of my arm all last week, how do you like them apples? I didn't like them very much!

Firstly let me apologise for my bad blogging etiquette, It's very rude of me to abandon my blog for over a month, especially when you make the effort to come here and look at it. I'll try to give an explanation, even if it is lame one.

The first week I stopped blogging, is because I was on a Forklift driving course which the company I worked for paid for and sent me on, as it is needed as part of my role in the chemical plant I work in. That week which was VERY fun, but tiring, and when I got home I had bits theory and regulations to learn in preparation for the exams, which turned out to be worthwhile, I got 100% in both the theory tests and easily passed the driving exams for the two types of forklift which are used in the company.
Anyroad, I have quite often been feeling tired on an evening of late and when I'm not half asleep, I'm at the Gym, and when I'm not at the Gym I'm out "on the pull" .....see I said it would be lame!

I bumped into an old friend last week, who I also used to be in a band with, which was nice! And speaking of bands, The Who will be playing at the KC stadium in may, I should have had a ticket already, when a mate said he would get me one when he was going to get his, but he didn't so I'll get one next payday if there are any left.

I have a few things to sort out before I get up and running with some home recording but i'll leave it at that for now.

Clem have been in touch via messenger Pidgeon after weeks of no news, I was asked to take part a christmas themed music video, but this was put on hold (until next christmas) because members of Clem inc were found to be in a precarious position in a well known (notorious) bit of heathland in London and were battling in it out in the courts of human and animal rights and any buisiness connected with the well known kitchen utensil that was involved cannot under any circumstances be mentioned in case of further litigation.
Anyway, this incident is why the video didn't happen, but they have promised me a part in a completely new video/sketch in the coming weeks, they also informed me that the Colarado music video is close to a public release and have promised me that apart from it's official realease on the official Clem website you lovely people will see it here first (Busta Rhymes, eat your heart out!) and i'll just mention before I go off to celabrate my 29th birthday (today) that the picture above, shows the two puppies which we kept, 'Layla' at the front (she was the smallest) and 'Boo' (he was the biggest) that's all for today!

Dark discovery

I really do need to get off my arse, and go and take some photo's of something, I have not taken any pictures in ages, so this one is from my "archives for a rainy day" speaking of which, it actually snowed today, if only for about 5 minutes, it's been very cold round these parts during this last week.

I certainly felt cold on Saturday night, I went out for the first time in ages, around the city centre with my brother and a couple of friends, I forgot to order a taxi, and so I had to walk about a mile to the bars in the freezing wind with just a shirt and trousers for protection against the cold.....just what you need when your about to order a couple of cold beers!

I still have not made a start on recording any songs, due to a couple of small setbacks resulting from some new software and not knowing how to change a particular setting, but I will get there, I promise. It's really annoying to have almost an albums worth of stuff and not be able to record it!

2 funny, but somewhat worrying incidents (1) At lunch time today, I walked to a nearby bakery/sandwich shop to get a sandwich, whilst waiting, two of the female workers (in their late forties) started an argument which turned into a fight, in front of the customers! One of them was the manager and the other was the assistant manager.
(2) A friend who lives 2 streets away was sorting out his computer in his living room last Monday, when he was under the computer table plugging the computer in, he noticed a long black thing along the skirting board which turned out to be a snake about 1 metre in length, not knowing weather it was dangerous or not he decided to call an animal welfare agency for help, which didn't arrive until the following evening, despite them treating it as an emergency! Imagine if he had just watched 'Snakes on A Plane' before finding it, he would have had a heart attack. Luckily it was not dangerous.

It's been a while

As I sit here listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan, I realise it's been a month since I last posted (how time flies) I thought I would try a new template, a fresh look for this new year.
Training has begun at work, as I move from working in the laboratory to working on the chemicals plant. It's not been bad up to now but there's a lot to remember, valves and leavers all over the place, and due to the early 6:00am starts, I have been too tired to post on this blog, I'll get used to it though!
I am going to take some driving lessons soon! Living close to the city centre, friends and relatively close to work, I have become complacent about the need for a car, but I can honestly say it's no fun walking 2 miles to work at 5:30 in the morning, in the wind and rain, as I have done on occasion these last few weeks.

In the news this week, there was David Beckham's high profile move to the US, to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy, he says it's not about the millions of dollars hell get, but his love of the game, and promoting football over there, but in my humble opinion, the best thing he could do is to get people in the US to stop calling it soccer and start using it's proper name of football.