 ( 3:00 PM ) Matt |
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Went to see IV PLAY, play at bar med last night. Top gig. Rock and roll.There's a review of the night with photo's here.
I've just got back from soundchecking and setting up for a big gig at Bar Med tonight - me and dan and trumpet. Should be a good one - pop in if you are in town and say hello!
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| ( 12:50 PM ) Matt |
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Lat night Eirene and I went to the VIP preview of Harrogates newest club : Bar Med Harrogate. Superb new laser and lights and the new sound system, although nowhere near 'full tilt' was impressive - It's s very rare to get stereo in a club - they seem that have managed it in a massive sweet spot across half the dancefloor where it sounds v.cool. Wasn't really my kind of music last night but had a good laff with a load of mates who turned up non the less.
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| ( 6:33 PM ) Matt |
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"seasonal/topical fun (well for about 30 seconds)" - err... thanks (?) to Carl for this link.
YELLOW SNOW FROM PANLOGIC
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| ( 10:51 AM ) Matt |
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This arrived today:
It's a "Fantastic Instant Fireplace DVD". I quite agree. It's quite nice to have a real fire flickering and crackling away in the corner of the room. It may be getting some air time at FIREIII. Chuck another logo on the fire.
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| ( 10:43 AM ) Matt |
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VIRUS ALERT
This new worm virus gets into your system, then sends out loads of bogus emails to random people containing the virus. It's worse when you run a domain (eg dragondrop.org) because one of the things the virus softare does is generate random prefixes - eg "ray@....", "dave@....", mary@...." and so on.
So - if anyone I know, or even don't know gets an email form me and it has a zip file with a file called 'test' in there, or a pif file - don't open it !
The Virus is called W32.Novarg.A@mm and was discovered on Jan the 26th.Further info here
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| ( 11:01 PM ) Eirene |
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Hello, I thought tonight would be the perfect excuse to restart my blogg relationship. My reason being that this evening I have been to my first rehearsal for a musical I am taking part in. Don’t ask me the name all I know is that it is a gangster musical set in the 20’s on a boat. I am playing an angel one of four that play back up to Reno a cabaret singer. Well it is all very interesting and tonight I discovered that although singing alto suits my voice it is very difficult to maintain as the tune you can hear being sung is soprano and not even close to the notes I should be using. But I am sure it will all become easier as time progress’s. How I became part of this step from my normal life is simply I spotted an advert in the Harrogate advertiser requesting parties interested in acting to come along to an audition which happened to be last Monday. As the masochistic part of me forces me to do things that really scare me I went along to find that not only was it musical but I also had to audition properly in front of three adjudicators (one of who looks like Simon off pop idol which threw me even further). Because I had no idea of the score or the cast they made me do scales (evil evil) then a dance sequence (not so bad I thank my days of clubbing for nimble footery). Then I left into the dark winter’s night never expecting to hear another word except their laughter ringing. So imagine my surprise when I got a phone call the next day to inform me I had a part and rehearsals started next week. And I am also going to learn to tap dance. Maybe I can incorporate into my fire poi routine ;) I am sure I will keep you all informed on how it is going or at least Matt will. On a more normal note am taking Jaygo swimming tomorrow. His speech is coming on really well but he hasn’t quite mastered the intricacies of swimming pool. To him it is the weee poooo and he goes on a toooosday…. bless.
Ciao
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| ( 1:22 PM ) Matt |
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This video is beautiful. (not so good for non broadband viewers.) Would you believe a guy is using an over head projector as his chosen medium. He sketches out scenes in sand on his OHP. Superb score as well - click the link below, turn the volume up, right click and choose full screen mode, sit back and enjoy.OHP Art - Sicaf Seoul
Thanks to Dan for sending me that link.
Top night last night. Played at spent hello to those that were there!
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| ( 12:41 PM ) Matt |
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Cor - it's a nice day today. I've just been outside and the sun is actually quite warm. Stroll on spring.
T-Minus one week on our next FIRE party (FIRE III).
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| ( 10:03 AM ) Matt |
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Kung Hei Fat Choi ! It's the Chinese New Year. 2004 is the year of the Monkey.
Some interesting stuff about it all here : South China Morning Post - Chinese New Year 2004
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| ( 3:31 PM ) Matt |
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Just had a follow up, in the shape of an email sent to me, for the Agnes / dream thing I mentioned on here a couple of days ago....
In answer - I have no idea!
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| ( 10:52 PM ) Matt |
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Jaygo made this today.
Captured my imagination. Is it a portrait of Felix Mama and Dada ? Is he a Jackson Pollock prodigy ? Is it a happy smiley face ? What ever it is - I think it's great. :)
Eirene tells me it was St. Agnes day yesterday. Apparently, if you had a dream last night (or so the tale goes...) it's the dream of what the future beholds. Having done a bit of a search on the net to find some further info, I found perhaps the strangest bit of writing I've ever seen on the internet (Apart from perhaps DragonDrop.org at times.)
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| ( 6:09 PM ) Matt |
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I've been working in the exhibition center today installing some plasma screen for some exhibition stands. I made an observation that StarWars fans (of which I know that out of the DragonDrop readership, there are a few) that know Harrogate may find interesting....
The main part of the Harrogate International Centre is it's auditorium. It looks like this (snapped with my 7650):
I saw a plan of the same building and was blown away by it's similarity to that of the Millennium Falcon:
Would you agree ??
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| ( 12:55 AM ) Matt |
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Just been watching this program about the Dutch with Jeremy Clarkson (he was presenting it, not sharing the sofa with me you understand). He's been speaking to this guy who's got a fantastic hobby website. The main jist of it is recording speed cams. Their location, and a record of some of the abuse they receive. Not only are they set on fire (and photographed, and sent to this website) but painted, filled with insulation foam - sprayed and even wrapped in wrapping paper :
One of the other things this guy does is to hunt the hunters! - His car is rigged up with a stack of radar detection devices. First, he tracks down the radar cops hidey hole or rigged unmanned car (cloggy cops can be very sneaky.). Next, he puts a cardboard sign upstream of the traffic, warning coming motorists of the radar risk, then he drives up to the radar police and photographs them into a submission (guess where these photo's end up). Nice work! Here's a link.
Tuf-tuf Club (English Version) Check out the "Killed Gasto's" link. Also check out this page - look at the photo at the top before scrolling down.. "This lady is really panicing. But what for Christ sake happened that made her so upset?
" Then scroll down. Notice anything unusual ? Yes - David Blaine is an 'innocent onlooker'. Shazaam.
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| ( 7:55 PM ) Matt |
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GRRR! I'm vexed. I've just tried to repair my camcorder, a JVC GR DVL 150 with a spare part called a zoom unit that took me ages to track down and cost me £30. I broke the new piece in exactly the same place as the original piece broke. There is a flimsy join on the unit, about 1mm² (that takes the strain every time twist the mode dial from off to on) that snapped again as I was putting it back together. Admittedly it was a budget range digital camcorder but this seems a major design floor. Is it one of those things that they design in on purpose to ensure a limited life span of said electrical "goods" or just a design oversight? At the moment, I'm favoring the former. On top of that, I had to spend £7 on a precision screwdriver set to work on the camcorder. I was really hoping to get into some abstract filming to be played on monitors and projectors etc. at gigs. That inspiration will have to wait a while now, or be re-thunk.
Swimming Prior to my GRRR incident, we had a great day. Started out at the Blues bar with a full on Blues English breakfast. This has got to be the best breakfast in town at the moment. (Please let me know if you know better!) Popped into bar med to collect something then went to Water World at Monks Cross near York. This place was ace! They have this think called a lazy river that is a circular route round the superbly designed pool complex that has a current. You can just float and the current takes you on a trip round the main pools. As well as that, they have a wave machine and 3 flumes. Felix and I climed the stairs to the top then poor wee man froze with fear when we got to the top and refused to go down. I was not allowed to go down with him due to safety reasons so we sheepishly had to go down the passages and steps to ground level again. Maybe next time. After that we went for a happy meal and drove home.
Last night Eirene and I went out with some old mates for some drinks. Crabtrees, which is almost identical to Franks bar was about 10 years ago was the starting station. After this we went to revolution for some coctails (Rasputins - very nice) then Bar Med. DJ Trev was rocking the floor upstairs and Girl Alix was grooving the VIP lounge downstairs. Cracking venue this place is shaping up to be. Bar Med is poised for a re-launch. On the menu will be new lights, sound, deco and even a state-of-the-art laser is on the cards for the re-opening (30th Jan). The venue seems to be finally shaking it's 'towny' image and in my opinion is set to be the best big venue in town. I can't wait to see the laser.... Speaking of Bar Med, DragonDrop's FIRE III party will be on Feb 1st 2004 at said place. Bring it on!
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| ( 4:56 PM ) Matt |
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It's a real shame that America got their lander working before Beagle II (the Brit attempt.) This latest picture reveals why...
Thanks to Chris for that submission
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| ( 11:58 AM ) Matt |
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Last night I finished reading one of best books I have ever read in my life. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Eirene has also read it. It's a book that you never want to finish. The fact that it is a true story makes the otherwise implausable plot adictive reading. I learned so much from that book - highly detaied accounts of animals habits and psyche make up the other part of the book that I loved - the book version of a nature programme, discovery channel and an incredible story rolled into one. Have a read of the first chapter Click here
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| ( 9:35 PM ) Matt |
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I've just sorted out the photo's from the Hughes family reunion that took place this weekend. dragondrop.org/hughes
(These photo's do not include the 'spent' photo's from Sunday - they will appear shortly.ish.)
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| ( 10:10 AM ) Matt |
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A busy weekend has just been had. On Friday, we had Mel and Tim, Eirene's cousins) staying with us all the way from Queensland Australia - it was great to catch up with them. On Saturday, we went to a huge Hughes family re-union (photo's to follow) near Manchester. We stayed in a rather nice hotel so swimming, steaming and saunaring were the order of the day followed by eating talking and drinking. It was really nice to see everyone and I think we all felt privileged to be part of such a wonderful family.
Sunday - Went for a quick beer with some friends at Bar Med, followed by doing a gig (Spent - Photo's to follow.)
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| ( 12:04 PM ) Matt |
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I've seen it all now - the iGrill - a USB desktop grill. Yes - never move from your desk again. Except if you need a wee. I'm sure someone will think of a solution for that soon... ThinkGeek :: George Foreman USB iGrill
Thanks to Simon for that one.
Last night I had one of them out of the blue moments. My old mate Gerd (who I worked with at Cisco Amsterdam) got in touch. He was working in Leeds and treked up to Harrogate to say hello! Have not seen him for about 6 years so it was a good chin wag session (Hello Gerd!). It's nice when stuff like that happens. Today we have got some relatives of Eirene's from Australia coming to visit.
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| ( 10:09 AM ) Matt |
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Just got some amazing DragonDrop Adventure shirt shots mailed to me from Tory and Alicia. Here we see the winner of the Indian mustache competition with Alicia.
Click here for more pics from this mission and click here for more DragonDrop Adventure shirt shots.
Big thanks to Tory and Alicia for sending these in. Have fun :o)
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| ( 8:38 PM ) Matt |
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Not much happening round these parts. Been getting back into the swing of things - had loads of work flooding in - nice start to the new year :)
Started planning for FIRE III (what's fire? - it's a DragonDrop party - see here for photo's of fire II). Got a meeting with the relevant tomorrow to discuss dates etc.
I've recently discovered a new (internet available) radio station. Resonance FM. It's an off the wall mish mash of stuff "London's first radio art station" is how they bill it - worth a listen. - with a few interesting interviews and comments to boot. I'm listening now - the DJ John Wynne just announced his first set of the new year and said about his show "It's the kind of dance music that makes you want to sit down." I like that.
The whole station reminds me of one of my all time favorites Radio 100 - a Amsterdam based station that we got into when we lived out there. Even more mashed up. I love it. Right. Back to doing something else.. Now where was I ?... .
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| ( 7:25 PM ) Matt |
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NASA TV is one of my favorite sites on the web. In fact I've got a permanent link on this very page "Live TV from Space. Now that's what the internet was made for!". I've been watching live space missions via this for years now. Today it has gone to a new level - "Live TV from Mars." Thanks to the recently landed (NASA) Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MERM)
Images like this:
from the NASA MERM site are being fed, via the internet to anyone who wants them. Shame about beagle 2 not connecting - but at least someone has got something working out there.
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| ( 5:52 PM ) Matt |
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Just been to see The Return of the King (The final part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy).
What an amazing film. The review on wigg.net (17th Dec 200 post) says it all - Go and see it if you have not done so. Now it's a chill night in me thinks.
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| ( 12:58 PM ) Matt |
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So I forgot to mention the fantastic photo taking gadget I got for Christmas..
The story of Photos/DragonDrop so far... First - there was the black and white watchcam(b/w gallery), then the colour watchcam (what is a watchcam?). (Colour gallery 1,2)
Then, the phonecams followed by the hi end digital Nikon 5700.
So now - I've got a set of these thanks to Eirene at Christmas :
A Magpix B350 Digital camera binoculars.
They do VGA (640x480) images at the click of a button when you are looking at something through the bino's.
EG:
So - we are going to watch the latest Lord of the Rings film this afternoon.. May take a few sneaky screen shots (shh!)
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| ( 1:57 PM ) Matt |
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Happy New Year!May this year be full of happiness and adventure.
Still feeling rather flat after a superb NYE. A great night indeed. Went to a few bars - BRB was cool - Paul Quinlan and his friends were throwing a party upstairs with 20/20 sound, Tom Taylor, and a few others. Good deco - my fish tank DVD got some more air-time there. Next we went to Blues Bar - in past years this has been one of the best and most hedonistic venues in Harrogate but not this year - it was quite.. well.. Radio 2 ? - perhaps we just picked the wrong time. A quick pint in Crabtrees - this place is like a time warp at the moment - it's like the Arms, or Franks was a few years ago - same faces. By this point in the evening it was snowing heavily. We decided upon a mission of getting to a party by midnight. A cry for help went out because the amp that was powering the decks and speakers had blown. (It was the second of the evening!) A half hour trek through the blizzard across the stray and we were there. A load of the nicest people in town were there and we had a super nice time until we left around 06:00 to get home in time for the boys getting up.
So - New Years resolutions ? nope - I was not inspired. I think I'll de-tox for a bit though. Been burning the candle at both ends a bit much so I think we will hibernate through January. Our new telly should help with that cause.
I was looking through the blogs I made last year - interesting to see the highlights I made of 2002. I think the main highlights for 2003 were:
* Borrowing Daves S3 for a few weeks
* Lord of the Rings
* Eirene's ever changing hair (this time last year she had blond dreads!)
* DragonDrop's 1st birthday party
* Loads of camping in humbrum
* Simon's stag weekend
* Garden Parties at Mark and Vicks
* Gran Tourismo 3
* Phonecams
* Adventure to Turkey (more pics)
* Starting my own company
* The Sunday Sessions
* New hall carpet
* The day Felix learned how to ride a bike
* Second Life
* Adventure to India
* Fire and
Fire II
* Christmas and NYE
* Countless nice people, parties and gigs.
All in all - a top year - right - what's next then ?
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me photos...
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possibly the best website in the world
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Live TV from Space. Now that's what the internet was made for!
Internet Movie Database
Unrivaled film info resource
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