Farewell Jack

Picture courtesy of European Coaster Club

Found out today that the oldest member of the coaster club died earlier this week after being diagnosed with cancer. Jack Holmes was well into his 80s and loved travelling to Europe to visit the parks with the club.

He'd emailed us the news himself, earlier in the week, to say he had been given less than a week to live and wasn't downhearted but looking forward to his next big adventure, he was saying his goodbye to us all. That alone showed the strength of his character. I don't believe I could be so bold as to do that, and share that moment with others that weren't in my immediate family.

The subsequent outpouring of emotion, thankyous and farewells from the other members of the club showed me that this is much more than a group of people who share an interest in coasters; it's way beyond that. I'm proud to be around such great people.

Jack was from New York and had some great stories about the Coney Island Cyclone, his favourite coaster and one that he had ridden thousands of times in his lifetime. I think those that were honoured to know him will be sure to remember him whenever they ride it. I for one will think of that ride as Jack's Coaster.

Goodbye Jack, and here's to you enjoying your latest ride, one greater than any built to date, and one we'll one day get to join you on.

Working overnight tonight

2 cans of redbull down, 4 to go. I've eaten all my fruit and have some chicken for later.

As I only consume redbull when I'm working overnight, I thought I'd bring enough to see me through the night. We have some changes to our website happening tonight so myself and another are in to see it goes in OK. I am going to be knackered tomorrow as I didn't get the lie in I wanted; The postman woke me up at 9 to deliver a promotional leaflet for Mother's Day.

On the way in I thought I'd pop into the record shops on Oxford Street. Came out with the new Mash Up CD from the Ministry of Sound. I'm loving the bootleg mixes from Party Ben amongst others and so felt a bit guilty about buying what is obviously a commercial attempt to cash in on the market. So to keep my conscience clear I also bought the Go Team album which has had rave reviews but not something I'd got round to getting. Both are good CDs, the latter a nice mix of Avalanches and Wee Papa Girl Rappers (whatever happened to them).

Oh, and as I got off the underground I found myself in a small snowstorm. Unfortunately it wasn't settling. If it's going to snow I wish it would do it properly.

Club night...

I was invited to a workmate's birthday bash on Saturday night, taking place at a small club in Central London. The last time I was in a proper club was during the short run of Home at Leicester Square which was a long time ago, and the night was so bad that I vowed never to go to a club again. People kicking their empties down the stairwells and having to avoid raining glass was enough to break this camel's back.

Anyhow, anywho, anywoohaa (got ya all in check) I turned up and found the venue pretty good with the party in full swing. Even though it only had a solitary light and laser projector the night was really good fun and much better than my last clubbing experience. I think it being a private party made it a little better.

I stayed there until 2, when the party started to unwind and people made their way home. On the way to the bus stop I thought I'd go for a piss at the toilets in Leicester Square and was followed in by a very drunk lad who proceeded to drop his trousers and boxers at the urinal. He was out of it. I laughed at the state of him, and quickly left. I think he was trying to speak to me but it made no sense whatsoever and as I made my way out I saw him still speaking at where I was standing, so maybe he was just wrecked.

Anyway, got to close to the bus stop to see my bus departing and there was no way I was going to run to the next stop to catch it. I have a rule that the only train or bus worth running for is the last of the day, something that rarely happens in London where we have round the clock travel, on the buses at least. I eventually got home at 4a.m.

Good night though, and yes I did dance, and no I didn't take anything. I didn't need to!

Petals Around the Rose

Came across this tonight and after a few minutes I eventually figured it out. See how you get on.

Petals Around the Rose

Ocean's 12.

Yet another movie and yet another review. I'm glad I don't do this for a living, although with the amount of rubbish I see, I probably could.

It was alright, but tried to be too smart. I didn't like the idea of having Julia Roberts trying to play herself, Bruce Willis' character wasn't necessary and the twist wasn't clever because the background to it wasn't shown to us until being revealed. It's this latter point that disappointed me most. The first film definitely had a clever twist. I don't think the writers tried this time round. And the film also sets itself up for another sequel with Catherine Zeta Jones joining them. I only hope 13 isn't an unlucky number.

The high point of this particular evening, wasn't the film but the Thai meal that came before it.

Unseen Fatboy Slim Video

It would appear that Fatboy Slim had 2 videos made for his "Slash Dot Com" track. The one you've probably seen is the man and woman with marker pens writing on the walls in the metallic room.

This, however, is the other, slightly more risque video.

The real slash dot com video

AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

I've lost my GTA San Andreas save game. All the effort I put in over Christmas has disappeared. Curse you Sony Memory Card.

So I've started over and am flying through it, it's a lot easier second time around especially as you know the layout of all the roads, which helps.

Parents not well..

Got a call from Dad this morning, saying that mum had spent the night in hospital following some food poisoning. He sounded terrible, and was really cut up. She was discharged after an overnight stay but whilst she was alright, Dad wouldn't keep his eyes off her and wasn't sleeping. I'd never seen him like this, a very sweet gesture but also pretty damaging for him. Even when I insisted he sleep and I'll keep an eye on her, he'd refused. My brother had tried too but to no avail. Eventually we got him to sleep when she went to bed which he did. The next day they were both a whole lot better.

It turns out my mother had taken medicine she'd reacted to in the past, but nowhere near as bad as this. Needless to say that bottle is in the bin. There is no way she's going to be taking that again.

Wet Ride

What am I giving up for Lent?

Well I'm supposed to give up something I love, and the most obvious candidate was...

Pizza!

Wish me luck, it's not going to be easy.

Chilled Weekend

Didn't really do too much this weekend, Saturday was spent wasting the hours replaying Half Life 2. The game is too short so I need to get my money's worth from it. On Sunday I went to see The Umbilical Brothers. It's 2 aussie mimes who incorporate sound effects and just put on a very entertaining show.

They've been on Leno and Letterman so you may have heard of them through that. Definitely worth seeing!

Happy Birthday to me

drunk drunk drunk I am
and it's my birthday too
but I don't care for I am old
and I'll have nowt' to do

thirty three is what I'll be
and that is fairly old
I had some cake and truffles
and then drunk cider all evening

yes I know it doesn't rhyme
but I don't really care
for at the weekend I had my head shaved
and now I have no hair

Closer

I really didn't want to see this film as it contains nothing that interests me. I've never seen a Jude Law movie, and I tend to stay away from adaptations of plays, unless there's explosions and crap like that.

However when I got to the cinema, this was the only film about to start and I didn't want to wait an hour for "Assault on Precinct 13", which would have contained explosions-a-plenty! A friend at work had also really enjoyed the film and recommended it.

So I've now broken my Jude Law duck but to be honest he wasn't that good, and I don't see what the fuss was about. For me Natalie Portman stole this movie, her acting is getting better and better.

The fact she plays a stripper who does the splits whilst wearing a thong has nothing to do with it. Honest!

This film also has the coolest movie poster.

New Haircut

Over the last few years, my hair has been increasingly leaving me, am I really that hard to get along with? Rather than trying to cover it up I've gone with just keeping it short. I'd like to shave it all off but never have the confidence to go that far.

Today I went to a number 1 which is a new record!

Now my head is bloody cold when I go out, time to buy a hat, although if I do that it looks like I'm covering it up.

I can't win!

Lord of Rings Marathon

Well I've had the Lord of the Rings trilogy box sets for a while but hadn't watched them so I decided today to do all 3 back to back.

08:50 Fellowship of the Ring begins.
10:35 Swap to disk 2.
12:07 Fellowship ends and The Two Towers begins.
13:50 Swap to disk 2.
15:40 Enough of the towers, time to watch The Return of the King.
17:45 Swap to disk 2.
19:32 "The End" is displayed. The marathon is over.
19:53 The credits finally end.

So it took me the best part of 11 hours (10 hours and 40 minutes if you exclude the credits) but at least I can say I've done it. The pacing of the trilogy is perfect and the ending, which seemed too long at the cinema, is just right when the trilogy is viewed all at once.

Now, I need to sit through the director commentaries, but that can wait for another day.

: Flip The Switch - Chemical Brothers Remixed

One for the bootleg fans. This is the same thing that happened to The Prodigy album a few months back. Give each track from the album to a different bootlegger and get them to remix it. Then bring them altogether on a single website and release them on the same day as the album's release. Fully endorsed by The Chemicals themselves, enjoy!

: Flip The Switch - Chemical Brothers Remixed :

Burns Night

Well I thought I'd celebrate Burns Night tonight and cook the meal.
So one haggis, and a bowl of mashed neeps and tatties later, I'm bloated. There was no way I could finish it, but then it was a meal for 4 I was attempting to devour.

I'm such a fat pig, but it was a one-off!!

I might be going to Japan!!

Over the weekend I received a bunch of trip invites from the coaster club and I think I'm going to do the whole lot!

In May there's a trip to Holland, just a weekend, but to 3 parks I've never been to.
In July there's another trip to Hungary, Austria and Italy, which again I've never been to.

Finally, there's the biggy! A 2 week tour of Japan. I had been undecided about this trip as Japan is my dream destination and I wasn't sure I wanted to do it just for coasters. But the club have some sight seeing opportunities and it's come in less than I thought it would be, just £2300. I only hope I get picked, if the club gets over subscribed.

With the good news on the flat, assuming it goes ahead, I can afford all 3.

WOOHOOO!!!!!

Good News from the Bank!

I went to see my mortgage advisor today and he found me a new mortgage. The bonus is that I will end up paying £100 a month less than if the last purchase had gone through.

I really was destined not to get that flat.

Elektra

Had nothing to do today so I thought I'd go and see another film today, the third this week. The link to Daredevil is pretty weak and there is no Ben Affleck (hurrah!!). The story is OK, with Elektra, an assassin, sent to kill some people who she then ends up protecting.

The effects are pretty good, especially with the character Tattoo who has animals tattooed on his body coming to life. Good to see Bob Sapp typecast as a muscular strongman, given that he's a 340lb Mixed Martial Arts Fighter I doubt he'd get much else. One lame character though was a guy who's ability seem to being able to balance a large coin on his hand. I'm sure if I read the comics I might have known more about him.

Overall its OK, not outstanding but then doesn't try to be.