New Years Resolution

We're more than a week into the New Year and no doubt resolution have been made and broken. There's bad things happened and the media would have us believe that Armageddon is nigh in one form or another.

My own resolution is the one I live every day tho be happy and positive and there for my friends and family if I can. There's a lot of things I have planned and that's the great fun of life, to enjoy the now, your memories and look forward to the good things that are going to happen.

My Dad

Ali

One thing that really made my New Year is finding this photo of my dad who is 80 at the end of the month.So with the boxing theme I'm goona put in Nils Lofgren's "No Mercy" . My dad was a huge fan of Muhammad Ali and boxed for the army and though he won his fights he couldn't continue as he cut too easily, but I've always been proud of him.

My friend Lynn reckons he has a look of Jake La Motta (the subject of Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull featuring Robert De Niro) , and she knows and loves her boxing.




Today we've had sun , rain , wind and snow. That's the nature of weather. On Tuesday I'm getting my roof fixed and having physiotherapy on my left hand that they had sort of forgotten to sort out for me originally but I'm doing my own physiotherapy anyway and things are working out fine.

This week is unfeasibly busy , when it really shouldn't be but it will be great doing something different and not having to get up at 5:30 am. Also I will be a bit more proactive with posting and will let you know any good news as it happens.

Have a great weekend everyone and have a happy new year again.

Twelve Hours Into 2015

Well it's now 2015, after a great New Year's Eve Party at Mark and Helen's managing to catch up with lots of friends and people I haven't seen in ages, talking about all sorts before a round of Auld Lang Syne to ring in the New Year.

Built On Glass

The first album I've put on this year is Built on Glass by Chet Faker recommended by a great friend, which reminds me of Brian Eno and Van Der Graaf / Peter Hamill smoothed down , just wondering if the name is a nod to the great Chet Baker , that's a lot of musical references I wasn't expecting to make in my first post of 2015. They are all worth following up as well as the excellent Chet Faker album.

I'm sure this year will find me liking lots of new music, just like last year and every year before that. There will be books to read, films and plays to see, people to meet, songs to write , my book to finish , which is now two months overdue, this blog to keep going , songs to write, and to try and get Garageband to work properly with the Alesis connection deck on the iPad.

So it is going to be a busy and brilliant 2015, I am so looking forward to it. It's my dad's 80th Birthday in January so there's a surprise party for him and I will have to think of a suitable present to get him. So without further ado I'm going to wish you all a Happy New Year and going to enjoy the rest of my day.

I've include some fireworks from Newcastle / Gateshead last night . Happy New Year again.

Nearly New Year

Happy New Year - spelt out in CDs

Well it's the last day of 2014, and I've been working today, but will glad to be finished. 2014 has been very good with lots of great things happening. I've posted in various blogs the ups and downs of the year and really there have been a lot more ups than downs.

Have met and socialised with lots of wonderful people, been up and down the country on various premises , had some great holidays , seen some great places and done some great things. I read books and listened to music, been to gigs , been dead on my feet from various things and always bounced back.

It's a big thanks you to all my friends and family all over the world and close to home, and I think 2015 is going to be just amazing for me and I hope for all of you. Life is often what you make it although there are times when it tries to knock you off your feet , or so it seems, but often it's how you approach situations that determines what you make of it.

I find joy in lots of things and seeing and talking with a friend means so much to me, better than any physical possession. Was talking with a guy from the car hire place and was saying that since they were kids my girls have had £30 spent on them , and they have always appreciated that, and I do feel for families who need to top last year's £400 iPad for their 6 year old.   It's people , hugs , love and fun that make life good. Possessions are are only good if they make sharing better.

   

Anyway this is just a short Happy New Year to you all. I'm including my "Happy New Year in CDs" picture , and possibly my favourite single of the year , "What" by Broncho.

Happy New Year to all of you!!

Frozen But No Snow But Some Otway

Well woke up this morning to a frozen landscape, frosted rooves and cars, footpaths like a skating rink but still no sigh on snow. I was quite surprised to see someone saying "Right that's Christmas Over" around mid day on Christmas Day, well not in our house , there#s twelve days of Christmas I seem to remember, and I will keep the spirit of Christmas going all year round , caring and helping where I can , friends family and those less fortunate than myself, and let's face it , I am fortunate.

Grainger Market

I'm still suffering from a cough , cold , runny nose, sneezing etc etc but am coming out of it and tomorrow will be a day back at work, clearing all the stuff I've not looked at over the past four days.

I managed to get out for a couple of hours yesterday and get some food at the Grainger Market and some CDs at Reflex.







I suppose my only disappointment was that John Otway didn't hit number one (you can buy it here) , instead some faceless X-Factor contestant hit number one. I do feel sorry for the contestants because who even remembers who won last year's on the years before. The only talk is of the the judges and Simon Cowell, which is all that matters really, anyone can be a contestant.

Anyway , it's Sunday Morning, the sun is shining and I am looking forward to another relaxing day as I sip on my nettle tea and sign off this post. Have a most excellent day everybody.

The Day After Christmas Day

Edge

Well it's the day after Christmas , and I'm "Still Ill" to quote The Smiths, although it's essentially nose cold , running into my throat causing and tickly cough which then can go on for quite a bit. Dealing with it with , paracetamol . drink and chocolate.

Seen and talked with family over Christmas , exchanged presents, great to see people getting perfume they want , no chocolate , I got some clothes including a Kelly's Heroes T-Shirt, a totally not over the top Christmas.




Manage a few films and the Christmas Doctor Who and even caught a bit of the Queen's Speech which focused on the 1914 Truce when the French and German soldiers stopped fighting and played football in a brief interlude before going back to slaughtering each other and the behest of the paymasters safely enjoying a drink and mince pie back in London or Berlin. These days David Cameron, Ian Duncan Smith and George Osborne would have had them shot while Nick Clegg, Ed Milliband and Nigel Farage gave their backing. Remember it was your "working man" who called that truce, not the officers and it does make me sick to hear it romanticised as it is now. We should remember for the right reasons, as a beacon for peace , not a glorification of war.

Oops don't know where that came from, but it's how I feel.

Anyway, I've had and am still having a brilliant Christmas, and I hope you all are too. This Christmas we have four days of being off before having to go to work and clear up the mess on Monday. Have another brilliant day my friends.

Now That's What I Call Christmas Entertainment.

Christmas is certainly upon us and there's a media tradition of Christmas films. I'm still quite amazed that the atrocious tripe served up that is Home Alone is presented as an acceptable example of the genre. I know we all have different tastes and it would be wrong to stop other people from enjoy what they want to watch , especially if the children love it. So stuff like Polar Express , Arthur Christmas , Elf and many others leave me cold and unmoved like a modern Ebenezer Scrooge . They're just corporate tripe to me and my time would be spent better doing something much more interesting.

This year  the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle put on a showing of "It's A Wonderful Life" along with a performance by The Cornshed Sisters, now that's what I call Christmas Entertainment. Tonight they're showing Die Hard which unfeasibly I do associate with Christmas along with The Great Escape. Steve McQueen trying to clear a barbed wire fence on his motorcycle , how much more Christmassy does it get.

Then I love Bill Murray in Scrooged featuring ex New York Doll David Johannesson as his most excellent taxi driver,  and really I thing that Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol really is for me the perfect Christmas Story that all others can only hope to aspire to, with it's lessons , horrors and story of redemption. There have been lots of adaptations over the years and I am yet to see the Jim Carrey version, but think when I do it will score well.

If push comes to shove I'll go for The Muppets Christmas Carol as my all time favourite, I never tire of watching it and has a brilliant balance of humour and sentimentality with a cracking turn from Michael Caine, although my favourite Scrooge or all time is Alistair Sim

I also enjoyed the remake of Miracle on 34th Street with Richard Attenborough which is very sweet.

So everyone enjoy your Christmas , find someone to have fun with ,  whether you are in Newcastle, Sunderland , Darlington , New Zealand , Australia, The USA, Tanzania, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, just have a totally brilliant , brilliant Christmas.

THe Dangers of Decent Music Ring Tones

Sunderland

It's 2am on the Saturday before Christmas, and I'm still suffering from the current UK novovirus, but after going to bed at seven , woke up at eleven, managed to do most of my online Christmas Card sending from Moonpig , plus a few Christmas Presents which means that tomorrow will be a little less physically stressful. Sunday will not be a good idea for a shopping perambulation as it's the Newcastle vs Sunderland derby, so Sunday will be stay at home.

Anyway I'd been meaning to write this post for a while , but due to being laid low, have not really been up to writing it, but here goes. I like many other people assign favourite songs as ringtones for friends and colleagues. One of the benefits of this is that you immediately know who is trying to contact you and you can answer or ignore as is your predilection:



Here's a few that I have set up:

• Dad - Sabre Dance
• Fiona - Game Of Thrones
• Juliet - Bat Out Of Hell
• Kirsty - Hysteria
• Nick B - April Skies
• Carol H - Carol
• Lee - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
• Andy - Oh Yeah
• Sue - We Care A Lot
• Chris - Arnold Layne

You can click through to listen to the samples if you so desire, but all of these are excellent pieces of music, not sure why I chose Andy's but he's got it anyway. So the thing is if someone rings you when you're in work or out and about , that's absolutely fine and it serves it's purpose, but and here's the punch.......

...when I work from home I usually have Radio 6 or a CD on, which generally means good music while I work, but when one of these people call I just think it's the Radio, so a couple of weeks back Sue was wondering why I was out of breath as a suddenly sprinted across the room realising Faith No More were coming from my phone and not my radio. Earlier in the week it was the Smiths.

So something to be aware of if you have music ring tones and work from home while listening to music.

Right I'm now going to listen to some classical music music and hopefully drop off into a deep sleep.