It's been a great run-up to Christmas what with the Christmoustache Party AND the Xmas Covers.
We'll post some pics from the HT Party soon to show the kind of furry fun that ensued. In short though, we were treated to a We Show Up On Radar set that was short but very sweet and a wonderful version of Blue Christmas from Andy (sporting an equally wonderful moustache). Then Fists rampaged all over the stage. They'd been in the studio all day and drinking for at least a few hours so were considerably looser than usual - but all to the good as they tore into their ever-brilliant set (with a couple of new tunes in the shape of Angi's 50s-style swoon, Endlessly and Pete's Cramps-like Squeek Squirl - I'm completely guessing at the titles). James' onstage banter was AWESOME and Dave's rock stances (foot on bass drum, groin uncomfortably close to Tez's eyeline!) was the shizness.
Finally Hot Horizons took to the stage. I was taken aback by just how HUGE and ANTHEMIC they were. This was stadium pop. Bloody brilliant it was too!
After that, me and Bex got on the decks and caused a bit of a commotion to the likes of Passion Pit and Jay Z by way of Ace of Spades and Killing In The Name Of*
It was a great way for Hello Thor to round off a great year.
Even that though couldn't hold a candle to the institution that is the Damn You Christmas Covers Party. Now in its 6th Year (seems like more than that, no?) this is an opportunity for bands to do unlikely and thoroughly entertaining covers in the name of Mr Claus. My brother came along one year and even though Our Gaz doesn't often attend gigs once the Hellset Orchestra got stuck into Eye Of The Tiger he was loving it!
Some of my highlights from this year's Xmas Covers have to include: Wander Phantom's version of ODB's I Got Your Money, Fists' Breaking The Law & Kids In America, Din Din's whole set (gimp-masked electro!) and Burly Nagasaki's Winds Of Change of course
x Anders
* Christmas Number 1 - HELL YEAH!
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Friday, 11 December 2009
Amazing news
A-maz-ing...
BOTH of Hello Thor's single releases in 09 have made the Artrocker Top 100 singles of the year list. Well done guys!!
Check out the full list here:
Artrocker.com
There's lots of new music to get for free on the list, enjoy!
Bex
x
BOTH of Hello Thor's single releases in 09 have made the Artrocker Top 100 singles of the year list. Well done guys!!
Check out the full list here:
Artrocker.com
There's lots of new music to get for free on the list, enjoy!
Bex
x
Friday, 4 December 2009
Hello Thor's Christmoustache Party!
On the 12th December Hello Thor are holding their Christmoustache Party at the Chameleon. Here's the poster:
Hot Horizons will be playing (people in Seattle like them) alongside Fists, We Show Up On RadaR and probably the (whisper it) Tom Tomas Club... oh dear. Latest news is that Super Fun Team Go! will also be joining this line-up! Amazing!
Brilliant. It's £3 to get in, £2 if you are wearing a moustache. The bigger the better.
Oh, and Me & Anders will be DJing too. When I say I will be, I mean I'll be selecting songs and demanding that Anders plays them.
See you there!
Bex
x
Hot Horizons will be playing (people in Seattle like them) alongside Fists, We Show Up On RadaR and probably the (whisper it) Tom Tomas Club... oh dear. Latest news is that Super Fun Team Go! will also be joining this line-up! Amazing!
Brilliant. It's £3 to get in, £2 if you are wearing a moustache. The bigger the better.
Oh, and Me & Anders will be DJing too. When I say I will be, I mean I'll be selecting songs and demanding that Anders plays them.
See you there!
Bex
x
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
ZINE ENTRIES WANTED!
Anders is busy putting together the next Hello Thor Zine. The first was on the theme "The Secret of My Success" and was brilliant.
The theme for this one is:
"Live Long & Prosper"
We've already got some amazing entries in but we'd like more so please send us something. We're looking for doodles, illustrations, photos, scribbles etc etc. It will be lo-fi production so greyscale only please. All contributors will of course get a copy.
Email them to hellothorrecords@gmail.com
Thanks
Becky
The theme for this one is:
"Live Long & Prosper"
We've already got some amazing entries in but we'd like more so please send us something. We're looking for doodles, illustrations, photos, scribbles etc etc. It will be lo-fi production so greyscale only please. All contributors will of course get a copy.
Email them to hellothorrecords@gmail.com
Thanks
Becky
Friday, 20 November 2009
Friday, 13 November 2009
The Sun
Now, just to explain before I start... The Sun isn't my daily newspaper of choice. To be absolutely clear about it... I think The Sun is pretty vile, a waste of many intelligent minds, many resources and a vehicle to promote some pretty horrible opinions in a mainstream way.
Anyway, there are a couple of things I want to pop up on here relating to The Sun:
Firstly, check this out for a pretty clear cut example of how hypocritical and self-serving The Sun is. How can they piggyback their anti-PM campaign onto a mother's grief and then blithely blunder on when they make the same mistake they lambasted him for?
Secondly, Ever noticed how Page 3 is used to shoehorn right-wing propaganda into people's brains via the medium of tits? Read this.
Check out Joey Chickenskin's Live Journal (link also on the side of the page) for a pretty funny example... I hope he's put it up there. (Note to Joey: Please tell the full story of how you came about this page of The Sun! Pretty please?!)
So, there we have two pretty plain, basic examples of why it's such a horror that The Sun is one of our most widely-read "newspapers".
Becky
x
Anyway, there are a couple of things I want to pop up on here relating to The Sun:
Firstly, check this out for a pretty clear cut example of how hypocritical and self-serving The Sun is. How can they piggyback their anti-PM campaign onto a mother's grief and then blithely blunder on when they make the same mistake they lambasted him for?
Secondly, Ever noticed how Page 3 is used to shoehorn right-wing propaganda into people's brains via the medium of tits? Read this.
Check out Joey Chickenskin's Live Journal (link also on the side of the page) for a pretty funny example... I hope he's put it up there. (Note to Joey: Please tell the full story of how you came about this page of The Sun! Pretty please?!)
So, there we have two pretty plain, basic examples of why it's such a horror that The Sun is one of our most widely-read "newspapers".
Becky
x
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Tate Modern, Zombies & Stuff
Me and Anders went down to London at the weekend for a couple of reasons:
- Some of our ACE friends live there and we don't get to see them enough
- I arranged it as a birthday present for Anders and got him tickets to see Daniel Johnston at the Union Chapel
- Fun
We drove down late on Friday and arrived in Dalston just late enough to chat a small amount with Jamie & Chloe (some of the afore-mentioned ace friends who we were staying with) before sleepytime.
Saturday we had big plans. Anders had a list of about 20 record shops he wanted to go to and I wanted to buy nice things that you can't buy in Nottingham. However, we also wanted to stay in our PJs and hang out with j and Chloe while eating bacon sandwiches, so we didn't actually make it out to start the big plan til about 1pm. We headed straight to Brick Lane and Rough Trade which is pretty exciting. It's a big warehouse-y type shop, all painted white and a bit scruffy with tons of records & cd's and lots of things on listening posts. This is pretty much the most exciting thing in the world to Anders, so he was off and lost to me for the next 3 hours. Whilst in there I saw something pretty cool:
In case it just looks like a record shop this is the Fists single in Rough Trade! As Tez said... "British European..F.....". Indeed.
Anyway, after Anders' mammoth record binge we trundled off to Wahaca. It's the Mexican restaurant set up by the funny posh lady who won MasterChef - Thomasina.
It was GREAT. I don't think I've ever eaten Mexican food before... not like that anyway. I had a mole (as well as about 12 other things, we rather over-ordered), which was rich and chocolatey and really well-spiced and just amazing. I also had Pork Scratchings, which were like huge quavers and not at all like the things you get in the pub. Mmmm delicious.
Saturday night was Halloween party night, which in London doesn't mean hopping in a cab for five mins to get into town. It means traipsing for an hour and a half on bus, train and foot to get to your friend's house. We had much fun dressing up and knew our costumes had succeeded when a small child on the street said "you guys are scary". The most fun part though was the train journey. Lemoncello zombies are the coolest:
At the party there was a Queen of Darkness, a mad doctor, 2 spiders/octopi, various generic halloween-y creations, Cruella De Ville and, of course, Boris Johnson.
Looking good Boris.
Sunday was a lovely day of relaxing, croissants for breakfast and catching up with the X-Factor. A trip to the 3 Crowns in Stoke Newington and dinner with all our lovely friends. I really miss everyone who lives down there and it was so lovely to get time to sit and catch up properly with Mark & Emma and Lewis and everyone. After we hung out with John for a bit laughing at clips on YouTube of Flight of the Conchords and Demetri Martin then after he left we went proper Sunday, snuggled down with cups of tea and watched Strictly Come Dancing and the X Factor results. Brilliant.
Monday we visited Tate Modern. London on Mondays is lovely, I'd recommend it. We saw the Pop Life exhibition which features Warhol and artists since and kind of focuses on art & money as it's theme. It was an exhibition which all four of us had mixed feelings about. There was some interesting stuff there, but a lot of it I didn't like or just couldn't really respond to as art. I touched this:
and set off an alarm. Oops. There was more Jeff Koons stuff there too, but a lot of it was just horrible graphic sexual images of him and his porn star wife. I can't really repsond to that. I really found the recreation of Keith Haring's pop-up shop intersting, particularly as I normally hate Haring's work and find it a bit trite and dull. Somehow seeing a room covered in it blasting out 80's hiphop made it suddenly feel relevant and fresh again. I also enjoyed seeing the Warhol stuff in the flesh and seeing two twins sat in front of Damien Hirst's Dot paintings - despite the fact that the exhibition made me dislike Damien Hirst overall. There were interesting ideas, but a lot of it left me a bit cold.
The best thing we saw was actually in the Turbine Hall.
"Miroslaw Balka's black hole at Tate Modern is terrifying, awe-inspiring and throught-provoking. It embraces you with a velvet chill." The Guardian
This is a really great summary of the black hole currently in the Turbine hall. You walk into a big construction, a bit like walking into the back of a lorry and inside it is blacker than night, blacker than anything I've ever seen. It's so dark it's almost a feeling rather than a sight. It's physically affecting and a bit scary. Read more here.
Anyway, this is turning into the longest post in the world ever. Basically, London was lovely, we saw some art, Anders heard some music, we caught up with friends and ate lovely food and were very well looked after by our wonderful hosts Jamie & Chloe. Five stars!
x bex
- Some of our ACE friends live there and we don't get to see them enough
- I arranged it as a birthday present for Anders and got him tickets to see Daniel Johnston at the Union Chapel
- Fun
We drove down late on Friday and arrived in Dalston just late enough to chat a small amount with Jamie & Chloe (some of the afore-mentioned ace friends who we were staying with) before sleepytime.
Saturday we had big plans. Anders had a list of about 20 record shops he wanted to go to and I wanted to buy nice things that you can't buy in Nottingham. However, we also wanted to stay in our PJs and hang out with j and Chloe while eating bacon sandwiches, so we didn't actually make it out to start the big plan til about 1pm. We headed straight to Brick Lane and Rough Trade which is pretty exciting. It's a big warehouse-y type shop, all painted white and a bit scruffy with tons of records & cd's and lots of things on listening posts. This is pretty much the most exciting thing in the world to Anders, so he was off and lost to me for the next 3 hours. Whilst in there I saw something pretty cool:
In case it just looks like a record shop this is the Fists single in Rough Trade! As Tez said... "British European..F.....". Indeed.
Anyway, after Anders' mammoth record binge we trundled off to Wahaca. It's the Mexican restaurant set up by the funny posh lady who won MasterChef - Thomasina.
It was GREAT. I don't think I've ever eaten Mexican food before... not like that anyway. I had a mole (as well as about 12 other things, we rather over-ordered), which was rich and chocolatey and really well-spiced and just amazing. I also had Pork Scratchings, which were like huge quavers and not at all like the things you get in the pub. Mmmm delicious.
Saturday night was Halloween party night, which in London doesn't mean hopping in a cab for five mins to get into town. It means traipsing for an hour and a half on bus, train and foot to get to your friend's house. We had much fun dressing up and knew our costumes had succeeded when a small child on the street said "you guys are scary". The most fun part though was the train journey. Lemoncello zombies are the coolest:
At the party there was a Queen of Darkness, a mad doctor, 2 spiders/octopi, various generic halloween-y creations, Cruella De Ville and, of course, Boris Johnson.
Looking good Boris.
Sunday was a lovely day of relaxing, croissants for breakfast and catching up with the X-Factor. A trip to the 3 Crowns in Stoke Newington and dinner with all our lovely friends. I really miss everyone who lives down there and it was so lovely to get time to sit and catch up properly with Mark & Emma and Lewis and everyone. After we hung out with John for a bit laughing at clips on YouTube of Flight of the Conchords and Demetri Martin then after he left we went proper Sunday, snuggled down with cups of tea and watched Strictly Come Dancing and the X Factor results. Brilliant.
Monday we visited Tate Modern. London on Mondays is lovely, I'd recommend it. We saw the Pop Life exhibition which features Warhol and artists since and kind of focuses on art & money as it's theme. It was an exhibition which all four of us had mixed feelings about. There was some interesting stuff there, but a lot of it I didn't like or just couldn't really respond to as art. I touched this:
and set off an alarm. Oops. There was more Jeff Koons stuff there too, but a lot of it was just horrible graphic sexual images of him and his porn star wife. I can't really repsond to that. I really found the recreation of Keith Haring's pop-up shop intersting, particularly as I normally hate Haring's work and find it a bit trite and dull. Somehow seeing a room covered in it blasting out 80's hiphop made it suddenly feel relevant and fresh again. I also enjoyed seeing the Warhol stuff in the flesh and seeing two twins sat in front of Damien Hirst's Dot paintings - despite the fact that the exhibition made me dislike Damien Hirst overall. There were interesting ideas, but a lot of it left me a bit cold.
The best thing we saw was actually in the Turbine Hall.
"Miroslaw Balka's black hole at Tate Modern is terrifying, awe-inspiring and throught-provoking. It embraces you with a velvet chill." The Guardian
This is a really great summary of the black hole currently in the Turbine hall. You walk into a big construction, a bit like walking into the back of a lorry and inside it is blacker than night, blacker than anything I've ever seen. It's so dark it's almost a feeling rather than a sight. It's physically affecting and a bit scary. Read more here.
Anyway, this is turning into the longest post in the world ever. Basically, London was lovely, we saw some art, Anders heard some music, we caught up with friends and ate lovely food and were very well looked after by our wonderful hosts Jamie & Chloe. Five stars!
x bex
Good gig tonight
I've been so busy I've not had time to think about what gigs are coming up. Or to shout about them. I'm definitely going to this though. SHOULD BE A BELTER!
It's tonight @ The Chameleon and will feature dreamy anthemic indie-pop, synth fun n' games and tweecore treats
x Anders
It's tonight @ The Chameleon and will feature dreamy anthemic indie-pop, synth fun n' games and tweecore treats
x Anders
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Hockley Hustle pics!
Hello All,
The Hockley Hustle was a real cracker on Sunday... not that I saw much besides the inside of the Jam Cafe! The Hello Thor boys did an amazing job with their line-up and the place was packed out all day as a result. I'll pop a few pics up below and will give Anders the rest to put on facebook/the HT website etc (including the Hello Thor speech bubble pics - there are some classics).
Also saw the Subism live art/illustration going on at Nash. Some really nice stuff was produced and it's a great setting for a gallery...
Everyone was great, but the highlight for me was definitely Fists. It feels a bit like I'm cheating by picking them, seeing as how they are my friends, but they were just incredible. It helped that the place was packed out after Red Shoe Diaries' set (we were having to move tables & chairs to squeeze more people in), the atmosphere was great. Friendly, happy, fun. Fists played a brilliant set, one of the best I've seen in a while, where every tune punched its weight and each one brought something new. You can read some of my tweets live from the event here.
Pics here:
(Sorry no pic of the wonderful Twenty Year Hurricane - camera problems early on!)
Ali - Bonsai Projects
Joey & Tez - a.k.a. Burly Nagasaki - trying to bring it back by playing the saw after their very questionable pre-song banter with the crowd. I heard Tez isn't allowed to talk in future.
The delightfully well-pressed Rory McCarthy
What's wrong Ash? - Red Shoe Diaries seconds before their first tune to a full house
Fists finishing things off in style
Thanks to everyone who came along and all the bands and everyone who made it SUCH a fun day. I had a brilliant time, hope you did too and hope we all raised a bundle for charity! Well done Hockley Hustle!
Love Bex
x
The Hockley Hustle was a real cracker on Sunday... not that I saw much besides the inside of the Jam Cafe! The Hello Thor boys did an amazing job with their line-up and the place was packed out all day as a result. I'll pop a few pics up below and will give Anders the rest to put on facebook/the HT website etc (including the Hello Thor speech bubble pics - there are some classics).
Also saw the Subism live art/illustration going on at Nash. Some really nice stuff was produced and it's a great setting for a gallery...
Everyone was great, but the highlight for me was definitely Fists. It feels a bit like I'm cheating by picking them, seeing as how they are my friends, but they were just incredible. It helped that the place was packed out after Red Shoe Diaries' set (we were having to move tables & chairs to squeeze more people in), the atmosphere was great. Friendly, happy, fun. Fists played a brilliant set, one of the best I've seen in a while, where every tune punched its weight and each one brought something new. You can read some of my tweets live from the event here.
Pics here:
(Sorry no pic of the wonderful Twenty Year Hurricane - camera problems early on!)
Ali - Bonsai Projects
Joey & Tez - a.k.a. Burly Nagasaki - trying to bring it back by playing the saw after their very questionable pre-song banter with the crowd. I heard Tez isn't allowed to talk in future.
The delightfully well-pressed Rory McCarthy 
What's wrong Ash? - Red Shoe Diaries seconds before their first tune to a full house
Fists finishing things off in styleThanks to everyone who came along and all the bands and everyone who made it SUCH a fun day. I had a brilliant time, hope you did too and hope we all raised a bundle for charity! Well done Hockley Hustle!
Love Bex
x
Friday, 23 October 2009
HOCKLEY HUSTLE!
Yay!
It's the Hockley Hustle this Sunday!
There are loads of venues in and around Hockley hosting gigs to raise money for charity. Now, of course I'm biased, but I do reckon the Hello Thor venue looks like one of the best. Come down to the Jam Cafe on Sunday to see:
4:45pm Twenty Year Hurricane
5:30pm Vom Vorton
6:15pm Burly Nagasaki
7:00pm Bonsai Projects
8:00pm Mexican Kids At Home
9:00pm Red Shoe Diaries
10:00pm Fists
What a brilliant line-up. I'd especially recommend looking out for Burly Nagasaki in only their 2nd ever live performance. They are brilliant, and you might get to sing along too.
You can still get advance £5 tickets, or just turn up on the day and pay £7.50 on the door. The money will go to Oxfam and local NSPCC causes. It would be rude not to.
Bex
x
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
nottdance
It's nottdance time again!
nottdance is my favourite arts festival of the whole year. If you think you're not into dance, just ignore that small voice and book to see some stuff anyway. Some of the best cultural moments of my whole life have been part of the nottdance festival and I would urge everyone to see at least one thing.
Bex x
p.s. we saw the New Art Club last Thursday... amazing, check them out!
nottdance is my favourite arts festival of the whole year. If you think you're not into dance, just ignore that small voice and book to see some stuff anyway. Some of the best cultural moments of my whole life have been part of the nottdance festival and I would urge everyone to see at least one thing.
nottdance09 from Dance4 on Vimeo.
Bex x
p.s. we saw the New Art Club last Thursday... amazing, check them out!
Friday, 9 October 2009
Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee
Hello!
Went to see a preview screening of "Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee" at the Broadway last week. There was a Q&A afterwards with Shane Meadows, the producer , Paddy Considine and Scor-zay-zee. It was ace. I've read a couple of snotty reviews since (take a bow, The Times) which say "why make a film in 5 days for £48k when you could make it in 7 for £55k and it would be better?". I think it's a great idea and what they are essentially doing is trying to democratise the film-making process a bit.
It helps that the film is really good too. Paddy Considine is amazing as Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee is a natural comedic actor.
It's a mock documentary about a guy who's a roadie, landlord, plumber, manages some musicians and probably more stuff too. Shane Meadows said it's a character Paddy has been doing for years, based on loads of guys they met in the "music industry" (loosely speaking) when they were in a band when they were younger. Le Donk is a bit of a loser, and he sort of knows it and sort of doesn't. He manages Scor-zay-zee (a real-life rapper, not just a character for the film) and tries to get him a support slot when he goes to be a roadie at a big Arctic Monkeys gig.
Contrary to The Times I think the low cost, low time approach has made this feel really real, fresh and fun. Plus when you heard the guys talking at the Q&A you realised that they were so nice, so down-to-earth (Shane meadows told a story about buying a pirate copy of This Is England in a cafe on Alfreton Rd and being genuinely impressed by the quality of it) and so passionate about what they do that it wasn't just an academic excercise for them, it was a way to get back to the basics of film-making for the love of it.
Anyway, here's a little bit of Le Donk for you:
Go and see it at the Broadway, it's on from today.
Bex
x
Went to see a preview screening of "Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee" at the Broadway last week. There was a Q&A afterwards with Shane Meadows, the producer , Paddy Considine and Scor-zay-zee. It was ace. I've read a couple of snotty reviews since (take a bow, The Times) which say "why make a film in 5 days for £48k when you could make it in 7 for £55k and it would be better?". I think it's a great idea and what they are essentially doing is trying to democratise the film-making process a bit.
It helps that the film is really good too. Paddy Considine is amazing as Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee is a natural comedic actor.
It's a mock documentary about a guy who's a roadie, landlord, plumber, manages some musicians and probably more stuff too. Shane Meadows said it's a character Paddy has been doing for years, based on loads of guys they met in the "music industry" (loosely speaking) when they were in a band when they were younger. Le Donk is a bit of a loser, and he sort of knows it and sort of doesn't. He manages Scor-zay-zee (a real-life rapper, not just a character for the film) and tries to get him a support slot when he goes to be a roadie at a big Arctic Monkeys gig.
Contrary to The Times I think the low cost, low time approach has made this feel really real, fresh and fun. Plus when you heard the guys talking at the Q&A you realised that they were so nice, so down-to-earth (Shane meadows told a story about buying a pirate copy of This Is England in a cafe on Alfreton Rd and being genuinely impressed by the quality of it) and so passionate about what they do that it wasn't just an academic excercise for them, it was a way to get back to the basics of film-making for the love of it.
Anyway, here's a little bit of Le Donk for you:
Go and see it at the Broadway, it's on from today.
Bex
x
Friday, 2 October 2009
Goose Fair
A few pics from last year's Goose Fair:
Just realised that Goose Fair is back in town.
Me and Anders went with our nephew Luke and Anders' Mum last year.
(By the way, don't you think there's something creepy about the dodgems?)
I do like going to the fair, but you really can't get a better metaphor for capitalism being empty than candyfloss and garish temporary amusements. Maybe that's why there's always a slight sadness to it?
That is very definitely an adult's point of view however, as while we were wandering around choosing our next ride Luke declared "it's right you know, there ARE no limits to FUN!!". So sweet.
B
x
Just realised that Goose Fair is back in town.
Me and Anders went with our nephew Luke and Anders' Mum last year.
(By the way, don't you think there's something creepy about the dodgems?)
I do like going to the fair, but you really can't get a better metaphor for capitalism being empty than candyfloss and garish temporary amusements. Maybe that's why there's always a slight sadness to it?
That is very definitely an adult's point of view however, as while we were wandering around choosing our next ride Luke declared "it's right you know, there ARE no limits to FUN!!". So sweet.
B
x
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Do you think songs are too long and too boring?
The brilliant brains behind Eat Yr Hands and Death By TV/Pork Swords/Maury Povich The Band/Squirrels have just released a frighteningly awesome compilation.
Short Attention Span (released on World Rabies Day of course!) contains 47 tracks all under 60 seconds long. It's crammed with (midget) gems of juvenile junk rock, spazzed-out hardcore and just plain ol' bat crazy beat music.
The whole thing is free to download and features the likes of Vivian Girls, Pens and Best Fwends doing their utmost to smash the shit out of whatever's at hand. Every day I have a new favourite. Today it's Sissy Spacek's thrash anthem Gore Jet 2
Please download it so that ML INC do it all over again very soon.
x Anders
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Friday, 18 September 2009
A twitter recommendation from Questlove
Stick with it through the first little bit, I think it's a bit messy early on, but then it levels out. It's actually a cover of a Lil Wayne tune from Tha Carter III, but I think perhaps I like this cover a bit more?
Maybe that's just because it's live and more immediate, or maybe it's because no Lil Wayne song can match up to "Mrs Officer" for me... I love that song!! I'd say it's a guilty pleasure, but I like it so much I don't even feel guilty about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kohfsnvLTCY
ok, maybe I feel a little guilty about it...
Bex
x
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Hubby Hubby makes me happy!
Being a bit of a marketing/design geek I regularly read lots of branding blogs and creative agency's websites. One of my faves is JKR and I was really heartened to see this story on there about Ben & Jerry's Hubby Hubby Ice Cream, a great bit of creative thinking and boost for sexual equality. Who knew ice cream tubs could make a stand!
For the record, I LOVE ice cream even more than mulling over marketing and design concepts so having ANOTHER reason to buy some delicious dairy naughtiness is good news to me!
mmmmm, Anders
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Literal Video Versions of songs
A literal take on the masterpiece that is the Bonnie Tyler video for Total Eclipse of the Heart. Thanks to Sally for recommending this. I saved it up for a "working from home" day and laughed out loud at my desk in a room by myself... like a weirdo.
It's funny:
Enjoy!
Bex x
p.s. if you decide to watch some more the Aha one is ok, but definitely don't bother with the Nirvana one, it's dreadful!
It's funny:
Enjoy!
Bex x
p.s. if you decide to watch some more the Aha one is ok, but definitely don't bother with the Nirvana one, it's dreadful!
Friday, 11 September 2009
Micachu
Anders is big into Micachu. Here's the new video. Not a massively exciting video, but a good tune:
Bex x
Bex x
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Weddings are brilliant
I don't know about you, but I'm currently very much of the opinion that weddings are brilliant. Not only did Anders & me recently attend the very beautiful and wonderful wedding of our good friends Anna Ray & John, but we also celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Yay! Go us!
Anders got to DJ at the wedding and played some brilliant tunes to a room full of people high on wine & ceilidh dancing. The highlight for me wasn't Brass In Pocket (despite the fact that I drunkenly demanded it at an inopportune moment) it was the final tune of the night... We could've been anything that we wanted to be from Bugsy Malone. An inspired choice Anders, well done! I loved seeing the bride & groom dancing 20s-style with lots of happy friends & family - a golden moment. It also turned out that Anna Ray (like me) used to watch that film every day when she was little and knew all the words, so she loved it! What a great film it is too.
Anyway, here's a pic of us living it up at the wedding in beautiful Ross on Wye:
We also stayed in a lush cottage, got to hang out with lots of our wonderful friends who live in London and who we don't see very often AND we got to go canoeing in the rain. Magic.
Last weekend me n And popped up to Masham, which was where we got married last year. The Yorkshire Dales are brilliant. If you haven't been I'd recommend it. You can now get goat's cheese and probably even felafel, but that's all surface gloss, underneath it hasn't changed in 50 years. We went to the oldest sweetshop in Britain at Pateley Bridge and I reminisced about happy times there in my childhood. It's a lovely part of the country and very well stocked with tea & cake, if you like that sort of thing. We also discovered a mutual love of darts. Yep, me and Anders were living the high life on our anniversary! The only thing that was a bit weird was that I chose to take a book with me which turned out to be about a vaguely sinister boy living on the Yorkshire Moors (God's Own Country by Ross Raisin) which lent the whole weekend a slight air of menace somehow! This is it, I'd recommend it unless you're going to stay on the Moors for a romantic first anniversary weekend:
So, last night it was Anders' 32nd birthday (yes Anders, 32... not 31) and we met lots of dear friends in our local. I've been living practically next door to this pub for nearly 1 year and yet I haven't been in since before the smoking ban. That's bad isn't it? Anyway, we had a major darts tournament involving a game called "Killer" which is AMAZING and lots of darts bouncing off and hitting the floor. We were PRO. I nearly won apart from Bones had brought a ringer in and so Simon walked off with the glory. Still, at least I didn't go out first like Tom Whalley. SHAME!
I'll leave off this ramble now, hope you have a good week,
Becky
x
Anders got to DJ at the wedding and played some brilliant tunes to a room full of people high on wine & ceilidh dancing. The highlight for me wasn't Brass In Pocket (despite the fact that I drunkenly demanded it at an inopportune moment) it was the final tune of the night... We could've been anything that we wanted to be from Bugsy Malone. An inspired choice Anders, well done! I loved seeing the bride & groom dancing 20s-style with lots of happy friends & family - a golden moment. It also turned out that Anna Ray (like me) used to watch that film every day when she was little and knew all the words, so she loved it! What a great film it is too.
Anyway, here's a pic of us living it up at the wedding in beautiful Ross on Wye:
We also stayed in a lush cottage, got to hang out with lots of our wonderful friends who live in London and who we don't see very often AND we got to go canoeing in the rain. Magic.
Last weekend me n And popped up to Masham, which was where we got married last year. The Yorkshire Dales are brilliant. If you haven't been I'd recommend it. You can now get goat's cheese and probably even felafel, but that's all surface gloss, underneath it hasn't changed in 50 years. We went to the oldest sweetshop in Britain at Pateley Bridge and I reminisced about happy times there in my childhood. It's a lovely part of the country and very well stocked with tea & cake, if you like that sort of thing. We also discovered a mutual love of darts. Yep, me and Anders were living the high life on our anniversary! The only thing that was a bit weird was that I chose to take a book with me which turned out to be about a vaguely sinister boy living on the Yorkshire Moors (God's Own Country by Ross Raisin) which lent the whole weekend a slight air of menace somehow! This is it, I'd recommend it unless you're going to stay on the Moors for a romantic first anniversary weekend:
So, last night it was Anders' 32nd birthday (yes Anders, 32... not 31) and we met lots of dear friends in our local. I've been living practically next door to this pub for nearly 1 year and yet I haven't been in since before the smoking ban. That's bad isn't it? Anyway, we had a major darts tournament involving a game called "Killer" which is AMAZING and lots of darts bouncing off and hitting the floor. We were PRO. I nearly won apart from Bones had brought a ringer in and so Simon walked off with the glory. Still, at least I didn't go out first like Tom Whalley. SHAME!
I'll leave off this ramble now, hope you have a good week,
Becky
x
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Best Birthday EVER!
Just wanted to say a thankyou to everyone (especially Anders) who made my birthday really great. I had LOADS of fun all weekend and am still in a good mood now!
Friday was just a night for hanging out, watching Big Brother, icing cakes, pottering in the garden and generally relaxing.
Saturday was the launch of We Show Up On RadaR's new single on Hello Thor. What a brilliant gig that was. Nick had hatched an elaborate plan to hold the launch in the central library in Nottingham. Seemed like a great idea until Saturday dawned and people stared at us as we made more noise than you should, setting up and sound-checking as quietly as is humanly possible. Still, we made paper chains, set up a stall to sell the afore-mentioned cakes, got the filming all prepped and we were ready to go. And suddenly it didn't seem so weird, in fact it seemed like the most fun ever. Midsr played first while we discovered that cake & wine are a very popular combination and frantically dished out as much of both as we could. Alloy Ark followed and were wonderful - a great voice, songs which sound fresh and yet you feel like you already know each one, really lovely. Finally Andy came on and totally charmed the room. It was so great to see him somewhere where the focus was on listening to the music, rather than chatting or going to the bar and his songs really stood out for it. There were high emotions, laughter and even a very small amount of impromptu singing along. Brilliant. Thanks everyone!
From the top, Anders & Nick, Andy & Blake (a.k.a. We Show Up On RadaR) and Alloy Ark playing to a full room. (Hope you can see in this last pic there was a real mix of people, including some people who seemed to come for the reading and then ended up staying for the music!)
After the gig, we packed away as quickly as possible and me and Anders headed home to transform our mud-patch back garden into this:
Now obviously it looks a little crazy in broad daylight, but in the dusk, with candles and bunting all around, music playing, mojitos BBQ and cuban cigars on the go it felt pretty special to me! Anyway, the party was really fun. It must've been a good night when you're whirling round the kitchen to "Danke Shoen" (from Ferris Bueller) at 4am.
Sunday was my actual birthday and involved a bit of a hangover, pancakes for breakfast, playing on my new DS and a trip to the park with Anders, Jim & Abi. We did all the fun you can do in a park, except for going on the swings... the very reason we went! Still, in about 45 minutes we managed to: eat ice-creams from an ice-cream van, have a race, play 'helicopters' with sycamore seeds, climb a tree, go on a roundabout til we were nearly sick, play football, look at flowers, have piggybacks, do some competitive jumping, make a robot noise with my shoes, stroke a white dog, sing in the bandstand, do cartwheels and handstands, almost attempt a roly poly and more stuff I can't remember. Two thumbs up for Woodthorpe Park!
Anyway, thanks again to Anders and everyone, I had a lovely weekend.
Bex
x
Friday was just a night for hanging out, watching Big Brother, icing cakes, pottering in the garden and generally relaxing.
Saturday was the launch of We Show Up On RadaR's new single on Hello Thor. What a brilliant gig that was. Nick had hatched an elaborate plan to hold the launch in the central library in Nottingham. Seemed like a great idea until Saturday dawned and people stared at us as we made more noise than you should, setting up and sound-checking as quietly as is humanly possible. Still, we made paper chains, set up a stall to sell the afore-mentioned cakes, got the filming all prepped and we were ready to go. And suddenly it didn't seem so weird, in fact it seemed like the most fun ever. Midsr played first while we discovered that cake & wine are a very popular combination and frantically dished out as much of both as we could. Alloy Ark followed and were wonderful - a great voice, songs which sound fresh and yet you feel like you already know each one, really lovely. Finally Andy came on and totally charmed the room. It was so great to see him somewhere where the focus was on listening to the music, rather than chatting or going to the bar and his songs really stood out for it. There were high emotions, laughter and even a very small amount of impromptu singing along. Brilliant. Thanks everyone!
From the top, Anders & Nick, Andy & Blake (a.k.a. We Show Up On RadaR) and Alloy Ark playing to a full room. (Hope you can see in this last pic there was a real mix of people, including some people who seemed to come for the reading and then ended up staying for the music!)After the gig, we packed away as quickly as possible and me and Anders headed home to transform our mud-patch back garden into this:
Now obviously it looks a little crazy in broad daylight, but in the dusk, with candles and bunting all around, music playing, mojitos BBQ and cuban cigars on the go it felt pretty special to me! Anyway, the party was really fun. It must've been a good night when you're whirling round the kitchen to "Danke Shoen" (from Ferris Bueller) at 4am.
Sunday was my actual birthday and involved a bit of a hangover, pancakes for breakfast, playing on my new DS and a trip to the park with Anders, Jim & Abi. We did all the fun you can do in a park, except for going on the swings... the very reason we went! Still, in about 45 minutes we managed to: eat ice-creams from an ice-cream van, have a race, play 'helicopters' with sycamore seeds, climb a tree, go on a roundabout til we were nearly sick, play football, look at flowers, have piggybacks, do some competitive jumping, make a robot noise with my shoes, stroke a white dog, sing in the bandstand, do cartwheels and handstands, almost attempt a roly poly and more stuff I can't remember. Two thumbs up for Woodthorpe Park!
Anyway, thanks again to Anders and everyone, I had a lovely weekend.
Bex
x
Disney Doubles
This is an interesting little video showing how Disney re-used animations from previous films to make new ones:
Have a look at this website too for some interesting discussions under the main post:
http://boingboing.net/2009/04/13/loop-of-disney-video.html
Lazy film-making and declining standards or clever use of resources?
Bex x
p.s. I really like the song!
Have a look at this website too for some interesting discussions under the main post:
http://boingboing.net/2009/04/13/loop-of-disney-video.html
Lazy film-making and declining standards or clever use of resources?
Bex x
p.s. I really like the song!
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
CUBA
Hi there!
Me and Anders have been away for a few weeks, hence the lack of posts, on a trip to Cuba. It was amazing. If you get the chance I would really recommend it to anyone. It's a really beautiful country, with lovely beaches, lush green countryside and all that, but most of all it's a fascinating communist country, trapped in the fifties to a large extent, like a living museum.
Here's a few pics, just to explain a little what I mean:
A shop in the Old Town. When we got back we were a bit overloaded with all the signs, imagery, ads and visual clutter in Britain. That sort of thing is really at a minimum in Cuba. Even road signs. There are only about 10 signs on the whole motorway there, there's about a million here!
A restaurant near where we stayed in Vedado.
This picture illustrates a story which itself neatly illustrates what's so fascinating about Cuba. The building is the American Embassy. In front of it there are 138 flags. In about 2006 the US started to broadcast anti-Castro propaganda from a TV in a window of their embassy. They had messages saying things like "It's a shame that everyone who knows how to run this country is driving taxis". Castro was obviously not happy, so he erected 138 flags in front of their embassy so no-one could see the messages. It's kind of like a piece of public art in a way, the flags make an amazing sound as you stand near them. Plus on the other side there is an area used as a stage... for political rallies and public celebrations. A lot of public space in Cuba seems to be used for these dual purposes - speeches & salsa.
This is a bookshop. Anders read a phrase in a guidebook which has really stuck with us... a modernist gorilla of a building.
The museum of the Revolution.
Wish we were still there!
Bex
x
Me and Anders have been away for a few weeks, hence the lack of posts, on a trip to Cuba. It was amazing. If you get the chance I would really recommend it to anyone. It's a really beautiful country, with lovely beaches, lush green countryside and all that, but most of all it's a fascinating communist country, trapped in the fifties to a large extent, like a living museum.
Here's a few pics, just to explain a little what I mean:
A shop in the Old Town. When we got back we were a bit overloaded with all the signs, imagery, ads and visual clutter in Britain. That sort of thing is really at a minimum in Cuba. Even road signs. There are only about 10 signs on the whole motorway there, there's about a million here!
A restaurant near where we stayed in Vedado. 
This picture illustrates a story which itself neatly illustrates what's so fascinating about Cuba. The building is the American Embassy. In front of it there are 138 flags. In about 2006 the US started to broadcast anti-Castro propaganda from a TV in a window of their embassy. They had messages saying things like "It's a shame that everyone who knows how to run this country is driving taxis". Castro was obviously not happy, so he erected 138 flags in front of their embassy so no-one could see the messages. It's kind of like a piece of public art in a way, the flags make an amazing sound as you stand near them. Plus on the other side there is an area used as a stage... for political rallies and public celebrations. A lot of public space in Cuba seems to be used for these dual purposes - speeches & salsa.
This is a bookshop. Anders read a phrase in a guidebook which has really stuck with us... a modernist gorilla of a building.
The museum of the Revolution. Wish we were still there!
Bex
x
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Having your ears and brain tickled
On my way to work this morning I had the pleasure of Stephen Fry for company.
I found an old podgram of his and was laughing all over strangers as he pronounced people "fifty types of watery twat" in my ear.
Most enjoyable.
I found an old podgram of his and was laughing all over strangers as he pronounced people "fifty types of watery twat" in my ear.
Most enjoyable.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Guess Huw?
So, here we are at Glastonbury meeting Huw Stephens.
He was dead nice and kindly made Hello Thor his DIY Label Of The Week!!!
Glastonbury was awesome and there's much too much to cover here but my highlights include Micachu, Metronomy, Jarvis Cocker, Neil Young and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. And of course seeing Fists up on the BBC Introducing stage. You can check out all the footage from Fists (and the other BBC Introducing bands) here
Nick from Hello Thor also met Pink Eyes from Fucked Up. Who was AWESOME!
He was dead nice and kindly made Hello Thor his DIY Label Of The Week!!!
Glastonbury was awesome and there's much too much to cover here but my highlights include Micachu, Metronomy, Jarvis Cocker, Neil Young and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. And of course seeing Fists up on the BBC Introducing stage. You can check out all the footage from Fists (and the other BBC Introducing bands) here
Nick from Hello Thor also met Pink Eyes from Fucked Up. Who was AWESOME!
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Hello Thor interview!
HI!
I'm very excited because Anders, Nick & Tom are going to be on Radio One tonight! They went to Glastonbury with Fists to promote the band, the single & the label and they met Huw Stephens (who is apparently very nice!). Lovely old Huw did an interview with them and is making them his DIY Record Label of the Week tonight!
I'm very proud and I can't wait to hear them on Radio One.
Bex
x
I'm very excited because Anders, Nick & Tom are going to be on Radio One tonight! They went to Glastonbury with Fists to promote the band, the single & the label and they met Huw Stephens (who is apparently very nice!). Lovely old Huw did an interview with them and is making them his DIY Record Label of the Week tonight!
I'm very proud and I can't wait to hear them on Radio One.
Bex
x
Friday, 26 June 2009
June's Jumpers for Goalposts
Hello!
Just wanted to take a moment to reflect on last week's Jumpers for Goalposts, at which Joey Chickenskin proved how easy it is to write a play with his masterpiece: "A Tale of Two T-Shirts".
The premise was that Hello Thor are fattist for only making t-shirts in sizes S, M & L. Joey had leveraged the promise of a t-shirt out of Nick from Hello Thor with the guilt of their obesophobia, but, unbeknownst to HT, had also constructed a "XXL-O THOR" t-shirt himself to get his revenge. He capitalised on his hard work by dramatising the whole saga and getting Anders, Nick & Tom to play themselves and me to narrate. It was lots of fun to do, not sure it was AS much fun for the audience, apart from the bits where Joey threw those banger things onto the floor to simulate gunfire, and where he sang songs and made people join in with "He's got the whole world in his hands".
Anyway, here's some pics from the "play" and the competition to create something to replace the Colonel, who is being removed from KFC packaging:
The start of the "play"
Nick & Tom see their scripts for the first time
Daydream sequence
XXL-O THOR
Contrite (with signs Joey made for them which say SOZ)
Presenting Joey with his official Hello Thor Tee
Tom following stage directions from Joey to puff out his cheeks and mime fatness behind him
This took Silver
Gold medal winner... as usual the winning competition entry was disgusting!
2nd Place went to Gareth's team, well done guys!
3rd Place, not to be sniffed at!
I don't know why Joey is just doing his normal face... why doesn't he pull a funny face instead? Here he is presenting the winners with their prize... booze!
Love Bex
Just wanted to take a moment to reflect on last week's Jumpers for Goalposts, at which Joey Chickenskin proved how easy it is to write a play with his masterpiece: "A Tale of Two T-Shirts".
The premise was that Hello Thor are fattist for only making t-shirts in sizes S, M & L. Joey had leveraged the promise of a t-shirt out of Nick from Hello Thor with the guilt of their obesophobia, but, unbeknownst to HT, had also constructed a "XXL-O THOR" t-shirt himself to get his revenge. He capitalised on his hard work by dramatising the whole saga and getting Anders, Nick & Tom to play themselves and me to narrate. It was lots of fun to do, not sure it was AS much fun for the audience, apart from the bits where Joey threw those banger things onto the floor to simulate gunfire, and where he sang songs and made people join in with "He's got the whole world in his hands".
Anyway, here's some pics from the "play" and the competition to create something to replace the Colonel, who is being removed from KFC packaging:
The start of the "play"
Nick & Tom see their scripts for the first time
Daydream sequence
XXL-O THOR
Contrite (with signs Joey made for them which say SOZ)
Presenting Joey with his official Hello Thor Tee
Tom following stage directions from Joey to puff out his cheeks and mime fatness behind him
This took Silver
Gold medal winner... as usual the winning competition entry was disgusting!
2nd Place went to Gareth's team, well done guys!
3rd Place, not to be sniffed at!
I don't know why Joey is just doing his normal face... why doesn't he pull a funny face instead? Here he is presenting the winners with their prize... booze!
Love Bex
Michael Jackson
Not really got much to say, I'm just surprisingly sad to hear the news about MJ. I never expect news of the deaths of celebrities to make me genuinely sad, but I guess this is someone I grew up with and whose music has played a big part in my life.
Really sad.
I also need to notify people that the Hello Thor Michael Jackson tribute gig that was planned to coincide with his tour is now cancelled in light of the news.
Bex
Really sad.
I also need to notify people that the Hello Thor Michael Jackson tribute gig that was planned to coincide with his tour is now cancelled in light of the news.
Bex
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Visit to London
Hello!
Me and Anders went to London at the weekend. Primarily to go shopping for a bridesmaid outfit for me for the wedding of one of my very best friends later in the summer. I got a dress, but i'm not sure it's "wedding-y" enough so I'm going to keep my eye out for other things. It is super cute though, so I'm not complaining!
We went to the Art Car Boot Sale on brick Lane on Sunday. I was really disappointed. We went last year and thought it was great... loads of artists, some pretty well-known ones, affordable pieces of artwork, some participatory pieces you could buy and so on. This year was the same. And that was actually the problem. I think it was a carbon copy of last year, to the extent that the same artists had stalls in the same places. It was so disappointing and felt like everything art shouldn't be... staid, samey, repetitious. The bright shining light however was the chance to see Peter Blake. he is one of my very favourite artist and all round inspirational pieces and even to see him sitting signing things in the hot sun with a shirt and braces on made it worth the trip for me.
Best thing about visiting was actually the chance to catch up with lots of friends. We saw all our old friends who have moved down from Notts and it made me realise just how much I miss them and how I'd really like to do that a lot more, and get to spend a lot more time with them.
Hope your weekend was fun too!
Bex
Me and Anders went to London at the weekend. Primarily to go shopping for a bridesmaid outfit for me for the wedding of one of my very best friends later in the summer. I got a dress, but i'm not sure it's "wedding-y" enough so I'm going to keep my eye out for other things. It is super cute though, so I'm not complaining!
We went to the Art Car Boot Sale on brick Lane on Sunday. I was really disappointed. We went last year and thought it was great... loads of artists, some pretty well-known ones, affordable pieces of artwork, some participatory pieces you could buy and so on. This year was the same. And that was actually the problem. I think it was a carbon copy of last year, to the extent that the same artists had stalls in the same places. It was so disappointing and felt like everything art shouldn't be... staid, samey, repetitious. The bright shining light however was the chance to see Peter Blake. he is one of my very favourite artist and all round inspirational pieces and even to see him sitting signing things in the hot sun with a shirt and braces on made it worth the trip for me.
Best thing about visiting was actually the chance to catch up with lots of friends. We saw all our old friends who have moved down from Notts and it made me realise just how much I miss them and how I'd really like to do that a lot more, and get to spend a lot more time with them.
Hope your weekend was fun too!
Bex
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
On the bus this morning
...someone's phone rang and their ringtone was the Chuckle Brothers theme tune, "Ch-ch-ch chucklevision, chuckle chuckle vision, chucklevision!"
It begs a lot of questions. The main one that came to my mind at ten past eight this morning was "What The Fuuuuuuuuuck?!"
It begs a lot of questions. The main one that came to my mind at ten past eight this morning was "What The Fuuuuuuuuuck?!"
Friday, 5 June 2009
Auto-Tune The News
My favourite bit is the climate change part in the middle with Katie Couric.
Bex
x
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
busy-ness
Things have been busy lately, right? The sun makes me busier too, because I don't want to do boring things while the sun shines. One brilliant thing about the sun shining though is "Summer Tea", which just involves sitting eating our food on kitchen chairs in our little garden. It's brilliant.
Fun things over the past couple of weeks have been:
- Seeing Fists play in Sheffield. It's really great to see your friends doing something they are really good at. It just makes you see them as something else besides your friend who you've known for ages and have lots of fun memories with. I think seeing them play in Sheffield did this x2, because in a little room above a nice pub there was a bunch of strangers really loving them and their music. It makes you sure that you don't just like them as a band because you know them and reminds you how good they are.
- Playing SingStar R&B with my friend Abi. We already owned SingStar Classics and were pretty high up the score table for Depeche Mode, but SingStar R&B is a different ball park altogether. I have a new respect for R&B singers... their songs are HARD! It has also introduced me to Teardrops by Womack & Womack, and I'm very pleased about that.
- Making a draught excluder snake. He's lovely. He's called snakey and so far hasn't been used to exclude any draughts.
- Seeing our veggies growing really big in the garden. We are going to be overrun with beetroot soon.
- The guilty pleasure of the BGT final last Saturday. Oh dear, what have we come to? Loved Britain's Got Talent all week through the semi-finals, felt slightly tarnished and ashamed as soon as the final had finished.
- The Tether Art Crawl. Truthfully I didn't actually crawl. But me and Abs met up at the Ropewalk with Anders who had been leading a group round the various venues, teaching them about the history of Nottingham and sharing some of his favourite stories. Go Anders! Everyone involved was really nice and I wished I had booke in time to do the full crawl. We went on from the Ropewalk back to Tether where the Tom Tomas Club performed a "greatest hits" set after a painfully protracted set-up which involved boo-ing random people (including Dan Toporowski) as they came into the room. The TTC were as terrible/amazing as always. The room at Tether was mental, it was like a cardboard igloo. I don't know why, but it was warm and oddly comforting.
- Planning our website at work. I work for my family firm, which is mostly a little bit dull. At the moment though I'm beginning work on setting up an ecommerce website for us. This is a lot more fun. The internet is fascinating. Last month something like 70% of everyone who went online visited Facebook. It's huge.
- Looking up stuff about CUBA! Me and Anders are going in July. Can't WAIT. If you know of any "must do" things please let me know!
Hope you've been having fun in the sun too.
Bex xx
x
Fun things over the past couple of weeks have been:
- Seeing Fists play in Sheffield. It's really great to see your friends doing something they are really good at. It just makes you see them as something else besides your friend who you've known for ages and have lots of fun memories with. I think seeing them play in Sheffield did this x2, because in a little room above a nice pub there was a bunch of strangers really loving them and their music. It makes you sure that you don't just like them as a band because you know them and reminds you how good they are.
- Playing SingStar R&B with my friend Abi. We already owned SingStar Classics and were pretty high up the score table for Depeche Mode, but SingStar R&B is a different ball park altogether. I have a new respect for R&B singers... their songs are HARD! It has also introduced me to Teardrops by Womack & Womack, and I'm very pleased about that.
- Making a draught excluder snake. He's lovely. He's called snakey and so far hasn't been used to exclude any draughts.
- Seeing our veggies growing really big in the garden. We are going to be overrun with beetroot soon.
- The guilty pleasure of the BGT final last Saturday. Oh dear, what have we come to? Loved Britain's Got Talent all week through the semi-finals, felt slightly tarnished and ashamed as soon as the final had finished.
- The Tether Art Crawl. Truthfully I didn't actually crawl. But me and Abs met up at the Ropewalk with Anders who had been leading a group round the various venues, teaching them about the history of Nottingham and sharing some of his favourite stories. Go Anders! Everyone involved was really nice and I wished I had booke in time to do the full crawl. We went on from the Ropewalk back to Tether where the Tom Tomas Club performed a "greatest hits" set after a painfully protracted set-up which involved boo-ing random people (including Dan Toporowski) as they came into the room. The TTC were as terrible/amazing as always. The room at Tether was mental, it was like a cardboard igloo. I don't know why, but it was warm and oddly comforting.
- Planning our website at work. I work for my family firm, which is mostly a little bit dull. At the moment though I'm beginning work on setting up an ecommerce website for us. This is a lot more fun. The internet is fascinating. Last month something like 70% of everyone who went online visited Facebook. It's huge.
- Looking up stuff about CUBA! Me and Anders are going in July. Can't WAIT. If you know of any "must do" things please let me know!
Hope you've been having fun in the sun too.
Bex xx
x
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Popcorn, shoots, jumpers and other random things
Hello!
The Hello Thor gig at the Broadway on Saturday was mental. Here are my over-riding memories from the evening:
1 - Dan T's visuals looking AMAZING properly projected on a big screen
2 - Looks of dread from all 3 Hello Thor boys as BattleCat rampaged round the room almost causing destruction
3 - The wonderful aroma as Yunioshi distributed popcorn in cute individual little bags during their set
4 - VERY LOUD Wu Tang Clan as Nick stormed his way through a DJ set
5 - A weird fight and a man being wrestled out... the perils of a late licence
6 - Tez calmly standing by in the big window with a guy who was dancing & almost stripping for the crowd
7 - Saying a man's feet looked like bananas because he had yellow shoes on
In other news, it's Jumpers for Goalposts tomorrow and Hello Thor will be celebrating their birthday with a calamitous Tom Tomas Club performance.
We've planted some vegetables in our garden, after a couple of strenuous weekends building wonky home-made raised beds, and our first shoots are already coming through!! We've got radishes, rocket & lettuce growing away in the garden!
Fists are playing in Sheffield this weekend and at Dot To Dot on Sunday! Can't wait to see them playing live again so I can hear the new song Ace is the Way. It's brilliant!
Tonight is Apprentice night round our way. I love it. What a bunch of idiots. I've got my fingers crossed that James doesn't get booted off because he's ace. A big smiley slightly goofy wordsmith who comes up with beautiful phrases like "codshit". No Sir Alan, fire Braces Ben instead!
Bye for now!
Bex
x
The Hello Thor gig at the Broadway on Saturday was mental. Here are my over-riding memories from the evening:
1 - Dan T's visuals looking AMAZING properly projected on a big screen
2 - Looks of dread from all 3 Hello Thor boys as BattleCat rampaged round the room almost causing destruction
3 - The wonderful aroma as Yunioshi distributed popcorn in cute individual little bags during their set
4 - VERY LOUD Wu Tang Clan as Nick stormed his way through a DJ set
5 - A weird fight and a man being wrestled out... the perils of a late licence
6 - Tez calmly standing by in the big window with a guy who was dancing & almost stripping for the crowd
7 - Saying a man's feet looked like bananas because he had yellow shoes on
In other news, it's Jumpers for Goalposts tomorrow and Hello Thor will be celebrating their birthday with a calamitous Tom Tomas Club performance.
We've planted some vegetables in our garden, after a couple of strenuous weekends building wonky home-made raised beds, and our first shoots are already coming through!! We've got radishes, rocket & lettuce growing away in the garden!
Fists are playing in Sheffield this weekend and at Dot To Dot on Sunday! Can't wait to see them playing live again so I can hear the new song Ace is the Way. It's brilliant!
Tonight is Apprentice night round our way. I love it. What a bunch of idiots. I've got my fingers crossed that James doesn't get booted off because he's ace. A big smiley slightly goofy wordsmith who comes up with beautiful phrases like "codshit". No Sir Alan, fire Braces Ben instead!
Bye for now!
Bex
x
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Jean Gene-y and Electro Pop-corn
Hello
There's (at least) 2 brilliant things happening this weekend...
1. There's a big charity fundraising party thing (or Arts and Fashion exhibition as I believe the organisers are referring to it!) happening at Lizard Lounge this Friday. For more info check out Leftlion and/or Facebook
2. Me and Tom and Nick are putting on a free gig at Broadway on Saturday.
It's going to be full of 303-busting beats and electronic mayhem. Line, Battlecat! and Yunioshi are playing and there's going to tons of free popcorn for everyone.
Both should be ace.
Hope you can make it
x Anders
There's (at least) 2 brilliant things happening this weekend...
1. There's a big charity fundraising party thing (or Arts and Fashion exhibition as I believe the organisers are referring to it!) happening at Lizard Lounge this Friday. For more info check out Leftlion and/or Facebook
2. Me and Tom and Nick are putting on a free gig at Broadway on Saturday.
It's going to be full of 303-busting beats and electronic mayhem. Line, Battlecat! and Yunioshi are playing and there's going to tons of free popcorn for everyone.
Both should be ace.
Hope you can make it
x Anders
Star Trekkin'
We saw the new Star Trek film at the weekend. Has anyone seen it?
Me and Anders had spent a lovely quiet weekend pottering around the garden, cooking risotto, having a coffee in town and generally living the slow quiet life. We decided to go and see Star Trek on Sunday evening and snuck into the cinema just as the film began. Somehow we had both forgotten it was going to be a big action film and were just picturing nice peaceful scenes on the white bridge, so the shooting, crashing & banging were something of a shock to the senses.
Aside from not being able to hack the pace I really enjoyed the film overall. The cast are really great, it looks brilliant and it a good strong story with a baddie and action and a bit of heart too.
The only disappointment was that the Star trek music didn't kick in til the end credits! What a waste!
Hope everyone else liked it?
Bex
x
Me and Anders had spent a lovely quiet weekend pottering around the garden, cooking risotto, having a coffee in town and generally living the slow quiet life. We decided to go and see Star Trek on Sunday evening and snuck into the cinema just as the film began. Somehow we had both forgotten it was going to be a big action film and were just picturing nice peaceful scenes on the white bridge, so the shooting, crashing & banging were something of a shock to the senses.
Aside from not being able to hack the pace I really enjoyed the film overall. The cast are really great, it looks brilliant and it a good strong story with a baddie and action and a bit of heart too.
The only disappointment was that the Star trek music didn't kick in til the end credits! What a waste!
Hope everyone else liked it?
Bex
x
Friday, 8 May 2009
Music, magic & politics
Wow, busy busy weeks!
Things have been HECTIC since the Hello Thor Fists record launch party at The Art Organisation a couple of weeks ago. What a great evening, Rory McCarthy charmed everybody, Mexican Kids At Home were as much fun to listen to as they were to watch, Harry Merry split the room as only a fully-grown man in a sailor suit can and Fists rocked, of course. They also debuted a new song, Ace Is The Way, which I hope will become another single because it was both hypnotic and addictive. Some photos:
After the gig it transpired that Drunk Tom had tickets to see Derren Brown on the Sunday at the Concert Hall. Ace. Derren was amazing, he somnambulised people (aka hypnotised) and performed tricks with them in the "spirit cabinet" like mediums in the olden days. He somehow knew episodes from people's childhoods after only 2 questions, and had someone's grandma's name engraved on a coin in a box in a box. AND he had an amazing finale which we are sworn to secrecy about.
Our busy week continued with me and Anders going to see Eddie Izzard in conversation with Alistair Campbell. It was nearly as odd as it sounds. Alistair C was charming and likeable, despite me expecting the exact opposite. Eddie was the same, if a little vague-er on the political front. About half way through we realised his politics mainly consisted of putting two words together like: I'm a social democrat... i'm a radical centralist... and so on. Alistair Campbell told a story after the world's dumbest question ("What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you in politics?") which went something like this:
"Tony Blair
In his underpants
Lying on his bed in a hotel
In Tokyo
Reading instructions for what to do in an earthquake
Wearing a crash helmet"
He said he just thought "If the British public could see this now..."
Then, last weekend we built a raised bed in our garden to grow vegetables in! It's very wonky, very homemade and very exciting. Manure arrives tomorrow, let's get growing!
On that bombshell, I should go and do something productive...
Becky
x
p.s. since all this the records arrived, we all got together and had a listening party and drank wine. They sound GREAT, even better than expected and look brilliant with Angi's sleeve design and Rob Garner's label design inside. Plus they're selling like hot cakes! Well, very warm cakes at the least! Yeah!
Things have been HECTIC since the Hello Thor Fists record launch party at The Art Organisation a couple of weeks ago. What a great evening, Rory McCarthy charmed everybody, Mexican Kids At Home were as much fun to listen to as they were to watch, Harry Merry split the room as only a fully-grown man in a sailor suit can and Fists rocked, of course. They also debuted a new song, Ace Is The Way, which I hope will become another single because it was both hypnotic and addictive. Some photos:
After the gig it transpired that Drunk Tom had tickets to see Derren Brown on the Sunday at the Concert Hall. Ace. Derren was amazing, he somnambulised people (aka hypnotised) and performed tricks with them in the "spirit cabinet" like mediums in the olden days. He somehow knew episodes from people's childhoods after only 2 questions, and had someone's grandma's name engraved on a coin in a box in a box. AND he had an amazing finale which we are sworn to secrecy about.
Our busy week continued with me and Anders going to see Eddie Izzard in conversation with Alistair Campbell. It was nearly as odd as it sounds. Alistair C was charming and likeable, despite me expecting the exact opposite. Eddie was the same, if a little vague-er on the political front. About half way through we realised his politics mainly consisted of putting two words together like: I'm a social democrat... i'm a radical centralist... and so on. Alistair Campbell told a story after the world's dumbest question ("What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you in politics?") which went something like this:
"Tony Blair
In his underpants
Lying on his bed in a hotel
In Tokyo
Reading instructions for what to do in an earthquake
Wearing a crash helmet"
He said he just thought "If the British public could see this now..."
Then, last weekend we built a raised bed in our garden to grow vegetables in! It's very wonky, very homemade and very exciting. Manure arrives tomorrow, let's get growing!
On that bombshell, I should go and do something productive...
Becky
x
p.s. since all this the records arrived, we all got together and had a listening party and drank wine. They sound GREAT, even better than expected and look brilliant with Angi's sleeve design and Rob Garner's label design inside. Plus they're selling like hot cakes! Well, very warm cakes at the least! Yeah!
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