New year update

I'm back at work after the New Years weekend. Just went to Jo's folks in Torquay, spent most of the weekend seeing her family. Though I did meet up with Danny in Exeter for lunch & a few drinks.

New years we didn't get up to anything particularly exciting, we saw the London fireworks on TV - they looked amazing. But when we drove back home yesterday we heard on the radio Fatboy Slim's set from Brighton beach (exclusive gig he was doing - but I think the poor revellers got quite wet from all the rain).

The Christmas weekend I spent at my parents in London. It was nice to see the family, especially my niece who is nearly 2 and her words are really coming along. I got a couple of photobook presents - they are basically photo albums but you do them online, using their templates, arranging your photos the way you want them, then they are printed really nicely in a hard-bound book. I did one for Jo of our holidays abroad & honeymoon, and one for my sister of my photos of my niece's first 2 years.

Unfortunately I had a runny nose all weekend - I recon an allergy to the massive tree they had sitting in the living room.

What else have I been up to? Well up until the end of November we were busy studying for our exams. If we pass those, we sit our finals in May. So more studying soon. Boo hoo.

The Brighton Comedy festival was on recently, we saw Russ Noble (didn't really like him, his random tangent style of humour is a bit passé), Russell Brand (who Jo likes, a big figure on British TV this last year), and Mitchell & Webb (who have a new sketch show on TV and also did "Peep Show").

I went to the "burning of the clocks" in Brighton city centre recently, which is a thing they do for Winter Solstice. They make all of these paper lanterns, and then parade through the town down onto the beach, where they put them all on a big bonfire, and light them, setting off lots of fireworks.

It was quite funny, there were some teenagers sitting behind us who kept on shouting to burn stuff. "Burn the lantern", "burn the fireworks", "burn the drummers". They said a few funny ones - "burn the arsonists", "burn the loneliness that echoes in my heart" - that kind of thing. I like the idea of burning metaphysical conceits.

Music-wise, don't see so much these days, but did see Basement Jaxx when they came down to Brighton on a tour to promote their new album "Crazy Itch Radio". They were very good, and bloomin loud.
On CD, I've recently got an interesting one - Rythms Del Mundo by the Buena Vista guys. Its cover versions and remixes of western songs with a Cuban vibe. Like it.

Filmwise, I've recently been impressed by some smaller Hollywood films - "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", "Life Aquatic" and "Slither". I also really enjoyed "The Descent" from earlier on in the year. I've mostly been hooked by Battlestar Galactica on DVD though.

Our car was getting a bit worn out, so we recently started looking for a new one. Jo sped up the process by driving into the back of someone and writing it off. (She was okay). So now we have a new (ish) Skoda Fabia - basically a VW Golf, but with a cheaper badge. Some people still think the Skoda name is a bit tainted, but its a good little car.

lip up fatty

Mark

some more cool links

>> Swearing Sparklers <<
some sparklers and camera on a long exposure
http://johnyboy.googlepages.com/

>> Scare your Gran this Xmas <<
sick jokes to print out and put in crackers
http://www.robmanuel.com/category/sick-joke- book/

>> 248 ways to annoy people <<
http://www.dbooth.net/internerd/annoy.cfm

Costume dogs - your new favourite site.
http://www.costumedogs.com/tag/hat/

Carfeul, you never know when a homosexual is about
http://www.glumbert.com/media/fifties

Surprise big winners at the Latin Grammys were Calle 13. Probably the most sophisticated exponents of Reggaeton, this Puerto Rican duo splice political lyrics with hip-shaking melodies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLHuDDdo-90
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12_CZ7jP01Q

Amazon shipping - Delivery's only free at Amazon if you spend over £15, so it can sometimes be cheaper to buy something extra to avoid paying extra. This site is useful for finding cheap items to bump your order up to £15:
http://www.filleritem.com/uk.html

And finally
http://www.sayagain.co.uk/b3tapix/images/RAPPPIST.JPG

Cats are sneaky
http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/cats/cats.htm

Michael Hughes buys kitschy souvenirs that depict tourist attractions; then he brings them to the attractions they depict and photographs them superimposed over the bit of the attraction they depict. It's hard to explain, but it is sheer photography comedy gold.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_hughes/sets/346406/

Simpsons movie trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/thesimpsonsmovie/trailer/

Green Eggs & Ham - rock style


Fat Wonder-Woman, This is hilarious
http://fatwonderwoman.blogspot.com/

My best man, Sumit has just recently launched a myspace site with lots of his images on it. www.myspace.com/kriksix

Mentos + Coke = Fun
What happens when you add a packet of sweets to a popular soft drink? You get a 5m (16ft) high fizzy-drink fountain, of course.
http://www.eepybird.com/exp214.html

The real life inspiration for borat
http://www.istanbul.tc/mahir/mahir/

donald duck exposes christina - how odd
http://wwtdd.com/photo.phtml?post_key=1511&photo_key=1087

Tim Westwood soundboard - Now you can, essentially, recreate his entire show with this simple compilation of stock phrases and SFX.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/westwood/soundboard.shtml

>> X-rated Harry Potter <<
Enjoyable cut-up of Stephen Fry's Harry Potter audio books for pornographic
effect.
http://www.luckykazoo.com/media/2006/10/harry-potter-and-underage-blow-job.html

Transformers Halloween costumes
Best ever! http://www.jesterpictures.com/transformers/halloween.html

Metro letter

Today's Metro newspaper:



Holy crap! Killer mice!



Oh, they kill cancer. that's okay then.

But look, they printed my mail in response to the etiquette of accidentally offering your seat on the train to fat people, thinking they're actually pregnant.



I'm practically a journalist now.

Some fun links

www.wherethehellismatt.com some guy called Matt who has been sponsored to go around the world doing a little jig and has assembled an awesome montage.

Seen the new trailer for Frank miller adaption 300? looks pretty damn cool, and faithfull to Miller's work as seen here. This director is supposed to be working on Watchmen next. woo!

I love looking at Cosplay pictures, people at conventions dressing up as their favourite characters, often with unintentional hilarious results. i discovered a brand new niche - the transformers cosplayers. Love the optimus prime vs megatron.

I love this site that looks at how films should have ended. They're all great, including this superman one .

Want a massive Alias bargin - series 1-4 for £36 here.

Collage of lost scenes set to Bohemian Rhapsody. Really funny.