Mojito Dreams

Been experimenting with Mojito recipes. I thought this one would be a dead cert but it didn't work out. After the first attempt, I swapped out the white sugar for brown sugar, added more mint leaves and it bit more rum but it still wasn't quite hitting the mark. I have made this drink really well before but can't remember how I did it.

Just Jotting...

Feeling melancholy today for obvious reasons. Lando C has headed into Derby to watch a couple of local bands but I'm not feeling up for public displays of affection right now.

The night before last we went to see Brendan Benson at the Rescue Rooms. So here's a guy with talent, who writes beautifully crafted songs and genuine lyrics. But did he ever lack presence on stage? I was hoping for him to rock out in a Ben Folds or Ben Kweller type manner but there was nothing. No smiling, no laughing and certainly no engagement with the crowd. Just vacant possession.

Came across this wonderful creative piece about Intelligent Design in the The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs section (courtesy of blimp).

On Sunday we went to see Serenity. It was everything Star Wars Episode I and II should have been. I love Sci-Fi.

Last Thursday, I saw a motorcyclist go over the handle-bars of his moving bike after his wheel hit a grease-patch on the road. He was coming the other way and landed a few metres from my car door, head first. Luckily he got up after a few seconds and then upchucked a couple of times. Close one.

Slinky-Spring in The Sky

I wanted to remember why I hate flying but somehow it's OK. On the way back into Stansted from Pisa, we were held up in a queue circling above North London for what seemed like 20 minutes.

What made it all seem worth losing your life over was that I could see about 5 other planes in the queue, above and below us. They were following the same circular route, decending in a cork-screw pattern cleary visable by the light grey aeroplane fuel trails against a dark of the night. It was like we were all travelling down the coil of a giant slinky-spring in the sky.

Converse All Star Kills Zombie

A dream. It was some time ago but didn't frighten me like it could have. I dreamt that there had been some world-wide catastrophe on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, but just everywhere. It must have been some time in the future because we had built robots to collect all of the dead bodies and bury them in giant holes in the ground.

The creepiness of this dream reached the next level when the robots, having the benefit of artificial intelligence realised that they could gain an independent energy source from processing the limbs of the dead bodies. The problem was all the dead bodies had been buried, so they captured some of the living and implanted them with a micro-chip that turned them into zombies. It was the job of the zombies to hijack the rest of us and turn us over to the robots, so they could swipe our limbs and steal our energy.

I went to my brothers house to hide from the zombies and be with my family. I managed to avoid several zombies on the way, as luckily it was night time and very dark outside. I also seemed to have in my possession two silver pistols with just a few bullets although I couldn't tell you where they had come from. We boarded up the house, although we knew they were coming. We were all very scared.

Eventually, the zombies descended on the house, prizing open doors and windows. We managed to back ourselves into one room, trying to survive but really knowing deep down the game was up. As one entered the room, I dived out in front with my two silver pistols blazing. I am not sure what happened next, but one of the bullets seemed to ricochet off the zombie and headed right back at me at speed. Quickly kicking my leg up, I kung fu'd my foot at the bullet and it rebounded off the sole of my Converse All Stars and hit the zombie right in the head.

And then I woke up.

Summer 2005 Highlights

I have had absolutely no inclination to post over the summer whatsoever. I think I suffered a case of flickeritis. The soundtrack to my summer was pictures and not words. Maybe that's how the season's work? In the winter, it's dark and cold - not great conditions for taking photographs so my only other creative output is this. And in the summer, I don't want to be chained to a computer with my thoughts. Quicker to snap, upload and then head back outside into the sunshine for some more.

Best briefly summarise the summer though - for the benefit of my long-term memory or lack there of. Here are July-September 2005 Highlights:

tunes to remember summer '05

Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel The Illinois

This has been my album of the summer for sure. I won it on the Gideon Coe show on BBC 6 Music in the daily Paint Box Jury competition. I guessed correctly a Jesus Jones album cover and was rewarded with the Sufjan Stevens CD above along with The Subways - Young For Eternity (Q Magazine says "crackles with the cocky, hormonal exuberance of youth" - that quote made me laugh) and Joseph Arthur - Our Shadows Will Remain ("ooo. er. weird" - Me). I think I need to give Joseph Arthur's another go.

Back to Sufjan though - this album is magical and creepy all at the same time. One of the tracks is about a renown serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr ("the clown that killed"), but you can't help adore it. So good, I wrote a review on emusic.

Little Barrie - We Are Little Barrie

Another download from emusic. Really fun to listen to, full of grooves. Sounds like it was recorded in my kitchen.

Foo Fighters - In Your Honor

I bought this for Lando C's birthday. Had me dreaming about Dave Grohl for weeks though. Like it.

flicks to remember summer '05

With Lando C working in London for the best part of two and a half months I've not been to the movies or seen many DVD's or films. I think watching films is an experience I enjoy sharing with someone else. Here's what I managed though:

• The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Quite possibly my favourite film of the year)
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Shall We Dance? (Japanese Original)
• Summer of Sam
• Batman Begins

books to remember summer '05

Julian Baggini - The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: And Ninety Nine Other Thought Experiments

It's taking me a while to churn through this. Sometimes I don't have the state of mind to question the world.

Gayla Trail - The You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening

Inspiration!!!

Douglas Coupland - Eleanor Rigby

It took me a matter of days to read this book whilst traveling around Tuscany. It touched me (in a totally good way).

During the summer, I was also into

Growing things, taking cuttings of other things and ooooo - I bought a Holga on ebay. I also learned how to make Guacamole. This is the best recipe ever. It was like a summer of discovery.

I also had some old disposable cameras developed, some of which had been draw-bound for 5 years! Here is one of my favourites from a black and white disposable Kodak. This was taken nearly 3 years ago now and features Lando C and our old buddy Milos on the bed in a rather swanky London hotel. It was Milos' last night in the UK before heading back to Canada. The day before this his father had passed away unexpectedly.



About this picture - as ex-wife, Ange Bowie once said ""I never said they were having sex. They were just passed out drunk on the bed."

And finally, during summer '05 I visited



200 tourist points to me.