Lazy day

After a weekend of fun and excitement it was time for a lazy day before I go back to work tomorrow.

We got up late, we went to Ziyafet for lunch and then just chilled out for the rest of the day. It was great to just relax and unwind.

Pack up and go home day

It's always sad when Dolmen Grove camps come to an end. We got quite early, packed the car and said our goodbyes to Pinkie and then headed to the site to get Zoe and Tara and to pack up their tent and gear. When we arrived Tara was up but there were still FIVE teenagers crashed out in the tent.

It took them a while to get their backsides into gear so Toni and mooched around and chatted to the last remaining campers. Thankfully we managed to get everything put away before the rains came down. A quick snack and coffee was downed before we reluctantly said our goodbyes and then hit the road for the journey back.

Thankfully the weather was kind and the roads kinder as we made it back in good time and then it was time to just relax and and start to come down from what has been a great weekend.

Tribal Dreams wash out

Today was a wash out. It was piddling down all morning. We arrived at the site and it was just chucking it down and the wind was really howling. Everything looked a bit like this

The weather didn't improve at all but we were at least spared the storm that had been promised. We stayed for a few hours but unfortunately Pinkie was feeling under the weather and as a lot of the activities had been cancelled we decided to take her back home again so that she didn't take a turn for the worse.

When we got back we all went for quick siesta which turned out to be a LONG one. We woke up around 10pm and so our dinner plans were also out the window. Instead we ordered Chinese and chatted until midnight when it was definitely time to crash out.

Dolmen Grove Tribal Dreams

We woke up to beautiful weather and headed out with Pinkie to go and collect Mark Vine and Kerry Morris to head off to Winterborne Stickland for day two of Dolmen Grove Tribal Dreams. The view was lovely.

Hyttis were out just jamming in the sun

The weather wasn't our friend all day though as the skies turned grey and the rain came down.

The sun broke out again and we had our first rainbow of the day

More rain and sunshine gave us an even better rainbow

After the weather shenanigans things settled down for a while and preparations began for the main ritual. The Dolmen Grove Drummers started the warm up accompanied by Hyttis.

For obvious reasons I did not film or photograph the ritual but it was a very powerful one.

After the ritual it as inside the club house for live music. Kicking off proceedings were Dutch folk band Pyrolysis.

There guys were great fun and really got every warmed up and in the mood to party when The Dolmen hit the stage. As usual they put on a top notch upbeat show that had everyone dancing around like crazy. A brilliant way to top off a fantastic day.

Crow Dancers @ Tribal Dreams

Crow Dancers turned in a great performance at Dolmen Grove Tribal Dreams held in Winterborne Stickland.

It was a hot night and we wove our tribal spiritual magick much to the delight of the crowd. We were also accompanied by Lee and Angie on their thunder drum.

Once again this manifestation took on a life of its own and was unlike any of our previous sets. I love the organic nature of what we do and how the music just takes on a life of its own.

Iron Sky The Coming Race Official Teaser 2

For those that can remember that far back I was a big fan of the indie film Iron Sky. Well now the sequel has a confirmed release date for January 2019.

I was involved in the initial crowdfunding for this little beauty and I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

This is the latest trailer:

Here is the original promo:

All revved up.....

....with no place to go! (we know a song about that)

It was a disappointing day. I'd packed my bag with audio accessories and lugged my bass to work all set for the first Missy Jean And The Mystery Machine rehearsal. I was really excited for this and couldn't wait to see how things started to take shape. Sadly, we had to cancel late in the afternoon due to some illness.

I was gutted and so now it looks like the next chance we have won't be for a couple of weeks.I have no doubt that we are all going to make magic in the studio together and it is frustrating to have this delay.

Drumming circle

Tonight Toni and I went round to Giselle's for out monthly drum circle.

The group is really starting to gel now. The drumming rhythms are all flowing around each other and the addition of flute and rattle made the perfect backdrop for some meditative thought. It was mainly personal and self reflective type stuff tonight whereas last time it was quick deep environmental stuff.

I love the way things ebb and flow with this group and we all head in roughly the same direction without any prompting.

Bass guitar practice

I was up stupidly early for a Sunday to do some bass guitar practice in preparation for the first Missy Jean.

I polished up a couple of my babies in preparation and sorted out the first three tracks that we will be rehearsing. One of the songs is in drop D which I could never quite get the hang of and so I turned to the five string to solve that problem. Ah the joys of flexibility :)

I'm really looking forward to our very first band rehearsal on Tuesday so we can see how well we all gel as musicians and start to get things prepared :)

Progress in the garage

We made more progress in the garage today. More boxes moved and more storage space put up and filled.

It's lovely seeing it all coming together and it will be an amazing space once we have finished it. Probably another weekend to go and we'll be finished although not this coming weekend as we are away.

Trailers.....

everybody needs good trailers............. (sorry!)

A few good trailers have been appearing recently so I thought it was time for a quick catch up.

GLASS
M Night Shyamalan merges the stories from Unbreakable and Split to bring us a whole new encounter! I loved Unbreakable but need to watch Split before I see this!



AQUAMAN
DC are still trying to prove that they can match Marvel with their DCEU movie universe. They've struggled so far so is Aquaan the film to finally give them a break? The visuals look really impressive, I'll give it that!


SHAZAM
Another DC offering bringing another comic book character to life. This will be the next in the DCEU series of movies. Looks like they might be taking the Marvel route of injecting some hunout into this one.


TITANS
More DC content but this time it's a new TV series called Titans. We'll be seeing Robin, Starphire, Raven and Beast Bot come to life in this one.Titans is going to air on DC's own streaming service DC Universe. I like the look of this. Gotham was a great DC TV show so hopefully this will be just as good.


ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
As it's about to hit the cinemas and I love a bit of MCU I thought I'd drop in a trailer for this.


Enjoy.....................

Star Wars: The Clone Wars to return!

In Star Wars news it was announced today that The Clone Wars is being brought back to life. The show began in 2008 and was killed off in 2013.

Disney have now decided to bring it back in 2019 on their new streaming service. The show was absolutely brilliant and everyone was shocked when it got cancelled so we can now all rejoice that it still has legs and will continue. What's better than Star Wars? More Star Wars!

The first trailer is already available:

Hell's Kitchen

It was a busy old day today but thankfully not too stressful. We spent the evening starting to rewatch Season 1 of Hell's Kitchen a preparation for the new season.

It's quite amusing watching it all back again. Things have changed a lot now that the series is up to Season 17. Even the little things like watching something not in HD, not even in 16:9 but in 4:3 format. Oh how times have changed.

In the unlikely event that you've never had the Hell's Kitchen experience before here are some highlights:

WWE Extreme Rules

It was WWE pay per view time tonight as I caught up with the latest Extreme Rules show.

Sadly the title of the show is a bit of a misnomer as it wasn't really that extreme. Overall it was decidedly average!

Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Deleters of Worlds vs. The B-Team
This was a disappointing start t the show. I've seen Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt perform much better than this. The match was unspectacular with the surprise being that Hardy and Wyatt lost the match and their titles to Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas.

Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin
This match wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. Corbin looks much better with his image change and there is some good chemistry between him and Balor from their time spent together in NXT. Corbin went all out but Balor managed to grab the win with a small package roll up (one of my least favourite ways to finish a match).

SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Asuka vs. Carmella
I didn't enjoy this match at all. It was a tacky novelty match with a screwy ending that lacked the spectacle that a championship match should have. Asuka has been brilliant in NXT and WWE and its a shame to see her lose and miss out on another title rain in such a way.

United States Championship Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
This one was short but sweet. One low blow before the bell and then Nakamura hit the Kinshasa for the win and was the new champion. Hardy is injured so I guess this made sense as it meant he didn't have to risk further injury and the WWE can continue to build Nakamura as a heel. Randy Orton crashed the party and also took a low blow on Hardy after the match so I guess they are rubber stamping his heel status too!

Steel Cage Match: Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens
This wasn't the most spectacular steel cage match ever but it was certainly pretty brutal with some real heavyweight blows being chucked around. Owens won the match after Strowman threw him off the top of the cage and through an announcers table. He might have been the victor but there was no celebration as he was escorted away on a gurney by the medical team.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: Team Hell No vs. The Bludgeon Brothers
Another meh match that lacked aby excitement.

Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley
WWE are still trying to get the fans to accept Roman Reigns as a face. This match is presumably the start of the road to him defeating Brock Lesnar for the title. I didn't really care much about this match but I was happy to see Reigns lose to Lashley.

Raw Women's Championship Street Fight: Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss
This match did at least have some substance to it. There were a few nice shots with foreign objects and some great intervention from Ronda Rousey. Ultimately steel chairs proved to be too much for Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss retained her belt.

WWE Championship Match: AJ Styles vs. Rusev
Matches with AJ Styles rarely disappoint. He can bring out the best in any competitor and Rusev turned up with his A game resulting in a great match. It was a match with some great moves but in the end Styles showed why he is called Phenomenal and retained.

Iron Man Match for the Intercontinental Title: Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler
This had the potential to be a great match but instead was only a good one. Ziggler is a great wrestler and can easily match Rollins so it was sad that so much of the match relied on the intervention of Drew McIntyre for Ziggler to win. When the match ended tied 4 - 4 I thought, fair enough but then when it went to sudden death it was disappointing for Ziggler to win only after more interference from McIntyre when he should have just won it on his own. Entertaining but could have been better.

Overall this was a mediocre show with more filler than killer matches. Hopefully WWE will get this brains together and book some better matches for the next one!

Role Models and Hot Ones

Work was busy but light on chaos and stress. Another interview is out of the way and things are good.  Tonight we enjoyed the majesty that is Role Models.

I love this film so much. It's witty, has a serious undertone, jerks the old tears (well for me anyway) and has some wonderful LARP scenes with a healthy backdrop of KISS!


Sam then introduced us to a fun show called Hot Ones that features on the First We Feast Youtube channel. The show with hot questions and even hotter wings. Watch Sean interview celebrities as they burn their tastebuds. We watched two episodes, one with the Gabriel 'Fluffy' Eglisias and the other with Neil Degrasse Tyson. It's well worth a watch for a brief interlude.

Suits

The plan had been to carry on with the garage today. It was MUCH hotter than yesterday.We decided to carry on later when it had cooled down a bit. We had some breakfast and started watching some Suits.

We ended up watching Suits all day, we decided the garage could wait. That's a lot of Suits. The story lines into Season Six have become very good after a bit of a lull just after the start of Season Four. Big thumbs up to the writers foe being able to keep things fresh and interesting from season to season.

You should definitely check it out if you haven't yet seen it.

Clearing out the garage

So we finally got to working on clearing out the garage today. Time to ditch loads of stuff that has been in there since we moved that is no longer needed and just taking up space.

It was a long hot day but we got so much accomplished which gave us all a great feeling.It won't be long before it is all nicely organised and it will become a functional multi-use space.

I didn't want to adult today!

Today was an I don't want to get up day. I didn't want o adult! Sadly I had to and headed to work as usual.

It was a busy old day with meetings for 99% of it. It wasn't all bad though as I did manage to get lots done. Half way through I was gutted to find that I had accepted an invite to do an interview at 5pm. Clearly I wasn't paying attention when the invite came in. I was tired and wanted to go home but a late night beckoned.

Sadly the candidate was delayed by 35 minutes (but did at least phone ahead to let us know) and so the interview didn't end until 18:50 and I didn't leave until 19:10.  Oh well, such is life in my position.

It was so lovely to get home, kick my shoes off and relax. Indian food was accompanied by Anchorman and the live action Beauty And The Beast. Two great films to take my mind off of the working day :) Beauty And The Beast reminded me of when Sophie was little and watched it for the first time and muttered, "Don't die Beast", nearly brought a tear to my eye!

Interview in progress, WOW!

Well it's not every day that you meet someone who is classed as a hero. It was interview time once again today and out candidate arrived promptly and was immediately tasked with a logic test. When time was up I went in to mark it and do my initial interview.

Most of the interview was completely routine, the usual questions, the usual banter; I'm sure you all know how this stuff goes. I have one question that I always ask, "What has been the greatest achievement in your life". I've had some cracking answers from winning cage fights to Brighton bike rides but today I got a response that will be hard to top. As I asked the question he reached into his pocket and brought up a web page to show me. WOW is all I could say! This isn't the page he showed me but it is the same story....

Wow indeed you might say. He understands why people called him a hero now even though he didn't see it at the time. I was just amazed, it was so unexpected. So whatever happens next I was honoured to have met this man!

Early shift and new nails

Today was an ugh early start day! I agreed to cover the early shift which meant being in the office for 07:30. As well as the indignity of having to get up early the first two trains were cancelled. Thankfully this didn't stop being in when I needed to.

Today there was a visiting pamper company in the office so I booked in for a new set of gel nails as a treat. They now look bloody fabulous!

Apparently they are regulars to the building so hopefully I will be having fabulous nails on a more regular basis :)

The reason I'd been in early was to give support for a new go-live but thankfully we had very little support today with everything going very well. More projects like this please!

Sick, work, broken heels and Interview With The Vampire

I had a bit of a rough night some of which involved me spending some time hugging the toilet bowl. Have to say I was most unimpressed. I did manage to drag myself into work though.

Thankfully the day wasn't too busy although I think the heat must have addled some brains given some of the stuff I had to deal with LOL. I made the mistake of wearing a pair of shoes to work that hadn't been broken in properly yet. It wasn't long before my heels were screaming at me and bleeding nicely. Thank heavens for plasters!

We spent the evening watching Interview With The Vampire. I spent years hating this film but over time it had started to grow on me. Now I actually really enjoy it. There, I said it, I like Interview With The Vampire!

GLOW, lawns and Suits

It was another bloody hot day and not doing much was the plan. It could be dangerous out there LOL.

Breakfast was accompanied by the second season of GLOW - Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling. Season one was good but they really upped the ante with this season with a great story and growth for the characters. The 80s retro is still beautifully done. As I've said before if you like wrestling you'll love this show but it still stands up as good watch even if you don't like the old grappling!

I had to bite the bullet and brave the heat in the afternoon as the grass was really in need of a good trim and I didn't want to leave it too much longer before it started to become unmanageable. It didn't take that long to mow the lawn but it was most unpleasant working out in the blazing sun.

Chore complete we then indulged in another binge of Suits

Punk night at Leytonstone Festival

Despite the heat I trekked over to Leyton to see some old friends and some bands perform at the Leytonstone Festival. Tonight's shindig was at Sinbin at The Plough & Harrow.

I was here to meet up with two chaps that I was in a band with over 25 years ago. Here we have Gerry Lyons and Dave Veal who I shared a stage with as Dangerous Toys. It was great to see them both after so many years.

First up for the night was Fenzyx serving up old school punk rock n roll.

Next up we had Kissinger Effect serving some socially aware punk rock.

We had a slight change of pace with the glorious Sarah Pink's Gravediggers serving up some gait-punk. Very clever witty lyrics with a punk rock and roll backdrop.

Finishing off the night was Chaos UK (the 1978 London punk band rather than the one formed in 1979 in Portishead). The set was a mix of Chaos UK and Gerry & The Toyz (the band renamed from Dangerous Toys) material some of which I was very familiar with. Part of me just wanted to get up on stage and join them!

It was a brilliant night with some great bands and it was wonderful to meet up with Gerry and Dave once again.