Christmas Lights

Some quick photos of London's Christmas Lights

One of the Selfridge's window fronts.

Debenhams looked OK, plenty of lights anyway...

A similar display at House of Fraser

The Oxford Street lights were pretty similar to previous years, quite minimal but alright.

Regent street had these big lit webs, which were OK but still better than the movie-sponsored lights seen in previous years.

Another shot of Oxford Street.

Selfridges shop front, plenty of Christmas trees!

My favourite Christmas display was again in Carnaby Street with these large inflatable snowmen running its length.

PS3 Home

Sony finally released Home, their social networking application for the PS3. Initial overloading of the app prevented people from getting onto it for the first week, but once that was sorted it seems to be a whole lot more stable.

But there's not a great deal to do to keep people there. The US one has game specific locations such as a Red Bull Air Race game. However in the UK all we have is one mall, a bowling alley, a cinema and a communal park type area. I'm sure we'll get similar once the commercials are sorted.

The only thing that has given me a reason to revisit Home is the running man record breaking attempt. I've managed to lead a group of 10. As stupid as it is it seems to be the one activity that can bring a group of disparate people together.

Lack of beard aside I think the likeness is there :D

No Traffic Day

As part of the pre-Christmas rush the 2 busiest streets, Regent and Oxford are closed to traffic and the pedestrians get streets to themselves. 

It's not every day you get the chance to sit and unwind here!

Decorated trains in Japan

Decorated trains in Japan ::: Pink Tentacle

Some really cool paint jobs here. Hopefully they'll still be there when I go out there next year.

Florida 2008

I was last there 4 years ago and quite a lot has happened since I was last there, so it was great to receive an email back in March asking if I'd like to go back. Of course I said yes and for a week in November it was time to go enjoy some of the best theme parks in the US.

The full photoset can be found here.
But here's the pick of the bunch (mostly new stuff)





Sheikra is a superb ride, especially in the front and totally dominates Busch Gardens in Tampa.





Over in Disney's Animal Kingdom Expedition Everest is another great ride with a couple of surprise hidden within the really impressive mountain structure. It was just a shame we didn't get the main yeti animatronic inside. It is rather a complex beast and prone to downtime.





Most popular attraction was the new Toy Story Midway Mania dark ride in Disney Studio park. Its a rather cute 4d shoot em up game as you drive through several shooting games and aim to amass as many points as possible. Just a shame you had to queue for an hour to ride it. Even the fast pass queue was half an hour long, a sign of its popularity!

Whilst out there I also knocked up another Cirque de Soleil show, catching La Nouba at Downtown Disney. I also saw the Blue Man show for the fourth time, joining London, Vegas and Berlin. It was particularly great to have the KLF finale as opposed to the Donna Summer one.

Overall I had a great time, thanks to James for doing the majority of the organising and both James and Tom for driving me around.

Wykahmix #2 - Descent

I've been tinkering with Ableton some more and here's the second mix.

Link

Tracklisting
1. Let Go - Kandi & Neumann - Anjunabeats
2. Nailed - Paul Webster - Armada
3. The Last Pluck (Fluffy Mix) - Marcus Schossow - Tone Diary
4. Ipanema - John Miller - Vision Soundcarriers
5. Edward Carnby (Tiesto Vocal Mix) - Tiesto presents Alone In The Dark - Kontor Records
6. Ways and Means (PVD Remix) - Jon O'Bir - Dance4Life
7. Dream Way (Arctic Moon Remix) - Dereck Recay - (Redux Recordings)
8. Don't Wake Me Up (San Antonio Harbour Mix) - DJ Shah ft Inger Hansen - Armada
9. Upgrade - Will B - Vision Soundcarriers
10. Pandora (Daniel Kandi's Emotional Mix) - Rapha - Armada

Winter Wonderland

Pictures from this year's Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. With a decent sized coaster, which wasn't a spinning mouse, and a fairly decent Christmas market the event was the best yet. Even better I got to ride for free when I gatecrashed a pre-opening private function. At £4 a go on just the coaster a family day out here would be expensive. It just needed some snow to give it that wintery feeling.

My first mix

Over the last few weeks I've been dabbling with Ableton and have put together a 70 minute trance mix. You can get it here

Tracklisting

1. Spring Breeze (Martin Roth SummerStyle Remix) - DJ Tatana - Armada
2. No More Alone - Giuseppe Ottaviani ft Stephen Pickup - Vandit
3. Redemption - Sophie Sugar - Vision Soundcarriers
4. Ocean Drive (ft Phillipa Joy) - DJ Shah - Armada
5. Lost (Club Mix Edit) - Sunlounger & Zara - Armada
6. World Gone Mad - Mannix vs Kaymak - A State of Trance
7. Hide & Seek (Tiesto's in Search of Sunrise Remix) - Imogen Heap & DJ Tiesto - Black Hole Recordings
8. The Way It Should Be - 4 Strings vs DJ Shaine - Liquid Recordings
9. Hyper Intelligence (Ian Betts Remix) - K90 - Dataless Recordings
10. Fake Awake (Original Mix) - Andy Moor - Anjunabeats
11. Brazil (2nd Edit) - Deadmau5 - MOS
12. Not A Lot Left - Myon & Shane 54 - Anjunabeats

Enjoy!!

Chimp on a Segway

Splatter

After an attempt visiting the Splatter exhibition only to find it closed, even though when I phoned they said they'd be opened I eventually was able to find an occasion when it was open.

For those that aren't aware the Splatter exhibition has been put together by one of the former members of the KLF, Jimmy Cauty, and his son. Its simply adding the gore into cartoons whilst naming each piece after military actions that have taken place in Iraq and Afghanistan. A simple way to make a statement about the lunacy of an unnecessary war.

The main floor of the gallery is mostly prints but there are sculpture models too (although very pricey) and lots of minor themed items (mouse mats, keyrings etc). I bought the DVD, which whilst short was quite amusing. Downstairs has been put together to look like a workshop complete with Acme crates.

Certainly worth a look. It's at the Aquarium L-13 Gallery on Farringdon Road.

Sony Ericsson B-Boy Championships 2008

My annual October pilgrimage took place last weekend as I once again headed off to Brixton for the B-Boy Championships, which is THE hip-hop event of the year for me. Having been to everyone so far since the early days at Shepherds Bush its been good to see the event grow in popularity and presentation and this year didn't disappoint.


In the team battles we had a rematch of last year as reigning champs T.I.P. from Korea defended their title against Top 9 from Russia. This year however new champs were crowned as the Russians rose to the challenge and beat the usually unstoppable Koreans. For me though the best contest of the night was Korea vs Trinity Crew from the UK, one of the quarter-final matches which was entertaining from start to finish. I'm a sucker for props and the Brits used a rucksack to good effect.


The event was shown live in Korea, in case you're wondering why there is foreign commentary. A sign of the growing success the champs are having.

Last year's popper winner Salah, who has become pretty famous in his homeland of France did a one-off performance, which was perhaps the highlight of the night.

Just how does he do that with his arms?





In the individual battles Kosto from Top 9 made it a 1-2 win for Russia beating Mouse from the UK


This year's popping champ was Guchon from Japan, who has been in the contest for a few years now but never won.


and in the locking championships Korean girlies Lock and Lol took the title.


All in all a great night out as ever, and I will be there again next year.

Thanks to those people who went along and watched the show through their mobile phone screens so that they could upload the clips to youtube and I hope I didn't upset the kid who tried doing it in front of me too much :D

D*Face at Black Rat Press

Some photos from the new D*Face exhibition currently taking place at The Black Rat Press behind Cargo in Shoreditch.