fingers and thumb

Funny Thought

2008-04-15T15:28:00.001+01:00

I love the comedian Bill Bailey and his sketches and this sketch raises a very good question. What if something went wrong at a U2 gig?? Sit back and enjoy!

Crazy Time

2008-04-11T23:04:00.002+01:00

So much has been happening these past few days it has been mad. A dear friend of ours, Bertie, lost his wife Sandra to cancer earlier this week. Now a friend of mine, her dad is in hospital very ill with cancer also. From what i have heard from Sarah her Dad has only been given days to live, and we are all praying that the doctors may have got it wrong. Please remember David in your prayers and thoughts.

Blast From The Past

2008-04-04T21:00:00.004+01:00

I am currently listening to Kula Shaker, this album brings back so many memories for me as it was released around the time i started to play the guitar, 1996, wow seems so long ago!! I remember being glued to every track on this album as it mixed rock with an Indian/ Eastern sound and it blew me away, and that sound still does to this day. I love anything with that eastern flavor to it. I remember relentlessly listening to every track wishing i could play guitar like Krispian Mills, the lead singer and guitarist, and now that i have the album on again I can see why. The album is still fresh after its release 12 years ago, and his playing is so full of heart and soul that it makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

Kula Shaker were around when the whole Brit Pop thing kicked off in the mid 90's and so many great British bands appeared on the scene, and this is when i started to sit up and take notice of music in a big way. It was a really cool scene and hearing this music again brings it all back to me.

A Moment Of Genius Captured

2008-04-03T12:18:00.004+01:00

We all hate it when we are out somewhere and a drunk comes in and ruins the atmosphere of your evening out. Several years of observing their drunken antics leads you to categorize them into different types of drunk, the beer drunk, the brandy drunk, the martini drunk and so on. This has never been portrayed better on stage by anyone, apart from Mr Bill Cosby who has them all to a tee!! I hope you laugh at this video as much as i did because I have heard the following statements from so many people!!:0)

Stephen's Caption Contest

2008-03-29T17:48:00.003Z

As you may or may not know Heathrow Airport just outside London opened its new £4.3 billion T5 terminal this week and it has been a disaster. There were glitches in baggage reclaim and the checking in service which led to many people missing connecting flights and outbound flights! The confusion continues today as one fifth of British Airways flights have been scrapped at the new terminal. This has resulted in over 15,000 pieces of luggage being stranded at the terminal and some sources say that figure is closer to 20,000. The baggage is pictured above and i want to see who can come up with the best and most amusing caption to go with the picture. No prize or money is involved, it is purely for fun. Get your thinking caps on!

Annoying Day

2008-03-27T17:47:00.003Z

I have had one of those days were i have just gradually wanted to yell. But I think what is getting me the most is the work I have put into music and the emails that i have sent out to people in the industry with no response at all. It is rather disheartening and makes me doubt any ability I may have and doubt the people who I have sent emails to. Maybe I just think too simply, but in my head you get an email from someone, you reply to it, to me that is common sense, and the mannerly thing to do. I am a person who appreciates honesty from people, if something doesn't sound good I take that on board and try to build on it, but to ignore an email all together,,,, well that is just rude. I think its about time some people change their attitudes as someone took the time to give them a chance many moons ago.

Das Boot

2008-03-22T23:46:00.002Z

So i am watching one of my favorite films of all time "Das Boot" or The Boat (in English). It started at 11 and its a two hour marathon of viewing. But sure its Easter and I am off for a few days and plus I would quite like to brush up on some German. It is a language that I would always like to have some kind of knowledge of, even if it is very little!! Let the viewing continue!!

St Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T11:36:00.002Z

So today is St Patrick's Day. I have always found it amusing in a way, and sad in another, that the day is probably celebrated more in other parts of the World than it is here. Ok I admit that Dublin has a large parade through its streets but everywhere else celebrations are scattered and the majority of shops are open for the day, the only places that close are banks. I just ask why can't we have a national holiday for our patron saint? I just think that senses of pride and national identity have been over run by the corporate band wagon that would open their stores 24 hours a day 365 days a year just to make an extra penny. There are also other sectarian reasons for it here, but i won't go into all that.

Since the new Government was formed here in Northern Ireland there have been calls for St Patrick's to be made a national holiday and I totally back that plan. I really hope they follow through on this. The political world here has moved more in the past year than it has over the past 35 years and hopefully they will look favorably on a national holiday plan. What made me think this was signing into facebook and seeing how the status of people in America was more enthusiastic towards the day than my own or that of my Irish friends. They are more excited about the day and they live thousands of miles away, and i am right in the heart of the country where the hype should be. Something isn't right there. Maybe I am just being stupid and over reacting to it all. But I just hope that we take this day back as our own for a sense of identity as a country and enjoy it the way everyone else in the US and other countries are.

Top Gear World Tour

2008-03-14T11:09:00.002Z

I have just read on the BBC's website that the TV show Top Gear is to on a World tour of 15 countries, how cool!! I am a huge fan of the show, not because I am a huge petrol head car freak or anything, I am a fan because of the silly things the guys on the show get up to. The clip below has to be the one of the funniest things ever to happen on the show.

The pretext to this scene is that they have been set a challenge to race across the North Pole, two of them will race in a 4x4 pick up truck specially adapted to travel in the arctic, and the remaining presenter will race them on a sled pulled by dogs! The scene below is during their training for the expedition, when an ex commando is drafted in to help them deal with the freezing conditions they will face. He is telling them to jump into the icy water and then pull themselves out so they will know what to do incase someone falls in water on the trip, all 3 of them are rather reluctant to do so, but 1 of them is not so lucky!! lol

American Gangster

2008-03-13T14:36:00.002Z

American Gangster was released on DVD this week and with my almost obsessive disorder to buy movies I had to buy it! I had heard all the hype about it and several people i know had been to the cinema to see it when it was released and told me it was a must see. Well they were right. I was a little bit apprehensive to buy it because I didn't think Denzel Washington, although he is great actor, could play the role of a gangster. I always thought he was a bit of a Morgan Freeman, a very wholesome, never step on anyone's toes type of actor, but he played the role perfectly.

If you havn't seen the movie i suggest you go out and buy it or rent it. It is based on the true story of drug lord Frank Lucas (Washington) in the 1970's who rises to power as the main supplier of drugs to the New York/ New Jersey area. I won't give the story away but I have to say it was a great film!!

Dave Dobbyn

2008-03-10T12:51:00.002Z

A good friend of mine who has travelled to Australia and New Zealand several times has put me onto this Kiwi singer Dave Dobbyn and I can't get this one particular song out of my head! The song is called "Welcome Home" and has a very profound message in it, makes me wonder what Dave Dobbyn's views are because it has some fantastic lines.

The video was put together by a guy as an English project and i think it works beautifully with the song.

Bum Patting On The Way Out In Italy I Guess

2008-03-09T11:29:00.003Z

We have all seen movies set in Italy were the men whistle and shout at beautiful woman walking by in the street, we all know that Italian men have a bit of reputation as "ladies men", whether that is a deserved rep or not I don't know! But I saw an article on BBC's web page that made me laugh so much, and may spell the end of those days of harassment for woman in Italy.

An Italian court has given a 14 month suspended sentence to a man for patting a woman's bum as she made a phone call at a public call box. From what i can tell the case has been rather drawn out, the incident took place in 2001 and it has taken the court 7 years to decide that the act in question constituted as sexual violence. The man was given a suspended sentence as he had no previous criminal record.

This doesn't appear to an isolated incident either, in 2003 a 58 year old man was jailed for patting a girl's behind as she worked in her parent's ice cream parlor. But it is ok because one court decided in 2001 that a single or "sudden" slap or pat was not classed as harassment provided it was an isolated incident.

I guess the Italian gropers may have to start looking for a new pastime.

Little Britain Star Completes Charity Swim

2008-03-08T22:30:00.002Z

I just thought that i would post a sequel to my previous post on David Walliams' charity swim. Walliams and Cracknell completed the 12 mile swim across the Gibraltar strait in four and a half hours. News reports say that Walliams was sick in the water at one stage of the swim, probably down to the fact that before Cracknell and him set off they had a high protein meal of baked potatoes and chicken etc. Walliams said after the swim "Swimming and throwing up... it shouldn't really go together"

But all I can say is congratulations to the pair for completing their task, its great to see celebrities using their fame for those who are in need!

Favorite Commercial

2008-03-07T13:00:00.002Z

This has to be my favorite commercial on TV at the minute. The ad is for Volkswagen's Polo car and it just makes me laugh every time i see it. The advertising gurus behind this are genius!!!

Little Britain Star Charity Swim

2008-03-07T12:42:00.003Z

Little Britain star David Walliams has begun his "swim to Africa" campaign in order to raise money for the BBC's Sport Relief fund! Walliams will be joined by Olympic rower James Cracknell as they swim 12 miles across the Gibraltar Strait. It is expected to take the pair about 5 hours to complete their journey.

In 2006 Walliams raised over £1 million pounds when he swam the English Channel, which is about 21 miles. The swim took him 10 hours 34 minutes, swimming through shoals of Jellyfish and water temperatures as low as 15 degrees celsius. Cracknell has rowed the English Channel and cycled 1385 miles as part of this current challenge. The stretch of water they will swim across is a major shipping lane, so they have to look out for more than sharks!

Once the challenge is finished the pair will be picked up by Dragon's Den millionaire Theo Paphitis on his yacht and then flown back to UK!

Gerry Reed

2008-03-06T18:29:00.003Z

In response to supersimbo's guitar heroes I have to raise this unsung hero, Gerry Reed. His stuff can be incredibly "country" which i don't really go in for, but he was some player. Here is a video of him and the great Chet Atkins dueling it out. Hope you enjoy.

Favorite Scene

2008-03-06T11:57:00.003Z

You guys probably don't know that I am a huge fan of the TV series "The Sopranos". Its started when i bought the 2nd season box set in a sale and I just loved it so much that i gradually built up the entire collection. Although I havn't got the final season yet!! I love the series because it shows just how these mafia type guys live in a completely different world to you or me. Killing, theft, extortion, bribing etc are second nature to them, but yet throughout the entire show you get glimpses inside the characters and how their victims haunt them. But as real life police testaments state, these guys could have you laughing until you were sore, have you charmed senseless, and the next day you would hear them on tape ordering the murder of someone. The Sopranos captured this perfectly, because even though nearly every main, male character in the show is a murderer you can't help but laugh at them and dare I say like them at times, hence the genius of the writer David Chase to capture this. I found this funny clip on youtube and thought i would add it to the post.

Lufthansa Flight

2008-03-04T22:15:00.002Z

I don't know if any of you guys have seen this clip or not. This clip was played on the national news of an airbus landing at Hamburg in Germany in extreme crosswinds! How scary would this have been being on board!!

How Converse All Stars Nearly Wrecked My Guitar Playing

2008-03-03T16:15:00.000Z

As you may or may not know, at the end of January I had a tiny car accident. A guy drove into the back of me at a roundabout and damaged a small section of my back bumper. Anyway, I had to wait until today to get my car fixed, so it meant i had to get up early this morning, my Dad would follow me to the repair centre, i would drop the car off and he would give me a lift back. I got up this morning and it was snowing, i made the mistake of pulling on the nearest pair of shoes i had, my converse!! I came out the back door of the house and didn't notice a patch of ice on the back step and slipped. I cracked my head and right arm off the step. My folks saw the whole thing and their immediate reaction was that i had concussion or gave myself some sort of head injury. My Mum kept getting me to do all these tests, like, closing my eyes and if I felt dizzy while doing this apparently i would be in trouble, but i was fine. She also held fingers up in front of my face to check i wasn't getting double vision. The only thing i felt was a horrible sickness in my stomach at this point, apparently this can be caused by shock and it did pass after a few minutes. But as the day has progressed on bruising on my arm is starting to appear, and a bump has rose up on my head were i fell. I count myself incredibly fortunate that i didn't break my arm or crack my skull open with this, and the first thing i reached for when i felt well enough was my guitar. I was getting a pain running down my arm into my fingers and i thought if this interferes with my playing i am screwed, but everything was working ok, plus my hand eye coordination seemed to be fighting fit too!! So a narrow escape!!

Nice Thought

2008-03-03T15:50:00.000Z

On Saturday past I was teaching guitar all day, as usual. It came to about 4pm and a lady who i am teaching came in to the room, and started to get her guitar out of the case and get her coat off etc. As she was doing all this i just started playing around on the guitar with an idea i have had for the past week or so. I still don't know what to call the song as of yet, several titles are in the running, but i keep getting more and more ideas of ways to add to the song.

Anyway i was playing my "nameless' song and the lady turned round and said to me, "Stephen do you play for a living?" My reply was short and to the point "No, i don't really, my main living comes from teaching guitar". She then replied " Well i think you should, because i have watched you every week since i started coming and when you play you just look like you absolutely love playing music. It is all over your face, it just shines out of you". I didn't know what to say, I was left speechless, I thanked her for her kind words and we got on with the lesson. But, that thought stayed with me the rest of that afternoon and right through the evening, because i felt i had achieved my goal, albeit with only one person. but someone saw what i was trying to do!! If people can see that in me when i play, i hope it leads them to ask where my joy comes from, and who knows where that may lead them! I appreciate people's kind words towards my playing, i really do, but i want people to look beyond me to something far greater.