tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43260589153226769862024-03-14T09:02:16.907-07:00M34 to YO31Im not sure exactly the reason for starting a blog, I have many issues good/bad/awesome/painfull/annoying, that i wish to speak about, and what better way than to bore other people, with my laborious troubles.
Enjoy
LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-77210375761681182112011-03-21T14:13:00.000-07:002011-03-21T15:39:41.943-07:00Monday Good Times<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://superbadassmom.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/roy-ayers2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 399px; height: 399px;" src="http://superbadassmom.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/roy-ayers2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The sun has eventually decided to make an appearance over York, and remarkably I feel a lot chirpier for it. You never really understand how much you miss the sun until it's gone, AND THEN done a full circle and come back again. Once it's gone, you realise that the weather is shit, and a bit of sunshine would cast a golden light over everything, somehow washing away all the burdens of ones mind. But that's the problem, it goes and it stays gone, and always for longer than you care to count, but now, it has finally made a return. Your damn right <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M36OGCfYp3A">Roy</a>!<br /><br />I've made some great progress on some of my compositions today, so for that I have given my self a <a href="http://blog.voipsupply.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/tom-cruise-gives-thumbs-up.jpg">pat on the back</a>. But during my day, whilst happily getting on with my work, a couple of friends were sat waiting patiently for a third person to arrive. They had arranged a meeting that could not go ahead with 2 people, so what did they do while they waited? What any normal person would do... Kill time on Youtube.<br /><br />They must of watched at least 30 videos, some of which were musical and some of which were comedy, but I'd like to show a few selections from their "Most Watched" today.<br /><br />1. Harry and Paul - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4GXAmB1w6o">Football Manager</a><br />2. The Muppet's - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yvHWyvexZA">Animal does "Fever"</a><br />3. Rowan Atkinson - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_kloG2Z7tU">Invisible Drum Kit</a><br />4. Ray Charles - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST8z3cuHi5g">Going absolutely mental </a><br /><br />As I really didnt get chance to show any of my favourite videos to them, I'll show them to you! So here, for your viewing pleasure, are some of my favourites from the past few days...<br /><br />1. Rowan Atkinson - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN-8G0HCD5U">Church Service</a><br />2. Erik Mongrain - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YCntZrqlgY">Air Tap! (Unbelievable)</a><br />3. Jason Mraz - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYhrYHmUPn0">I'm Yours</a><br />4. James Taylor - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5qyibwry3k">Your Smiling Face</a><br /><br />Still on the subject of Youtube, there's been a lot of press about a certain pop song over the past few days. I've noticed a lot of new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme">memes</a> about the "artist" in question, and there's also a lot of hate going around the web, especially on Youtube. I was aware of said phenomenon for a few days before actually taking the time to view the video, so if you haven't seen it, here it is. "Rebecca Black" with her song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0">"Friday"</a>.<br /><br />If you watched that video without having an overwhelming sense of nausea then congratulations, you probably like <a href="http://www.memehumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/justin-bieber-640x5121.jpg">Justin Bieber</a>. If on the other hand you felt this sensation then you easily fit into a sizable community of haters and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29">trolls</a>. On a serious note it truly is bad. Really bad. SO bad in-fact that out of 166,396 people who chose to leave visible feedback on Youtube, nearly 150,000 chose to 'Dislike'. There is also a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/12784330">BBC article</a> basically saying that its shit and 29 million people hate it. Need more proof?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_57eZj1aqrtuadump9Pp4Lml-zSNWioaOt12ZCjKdrwoUVYPjUNAKai0q4N11Chc9_YYX9LL2sFuJv19lUVgG7jtFzLqOdfQ7SZEotXFF-CAxFZ0Ulxvjlv7UqxiU0NnOjw0W36z9KPB/s1600/RB-friday-Likes.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 108px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_57eZj1aqrtuadump9Pp4Lml-zSNWioaOt12ZCjKdrwoUVYPjUNAKai0q4N11Chc9_YYX9LL2sFuJv19lUVgG7jtFzLqOdfQ7SZEotXFF-CAxFZ0Ulxvjlv7UqxiU0NnOjw0W36z9KPB/s400/RB-friday-Likes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586658503502465506" border="0" /></a><br />One last video before I go. A good friend of mine from Uni was recently involved in a short film, and although I haven't had chance to watch the entire 15 minutes yet, my friends and I were amused no end at his silly haircut and hilarious faces. Nice work Gordon.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKFEqvdkMWcOA8ZefBskgHAzgj7C0eD7lsADTJXwB2lrtnPwG-Jy3Vctqt2aZLlkGrYeK_rqHBCga2TdfJ2djr6KqG-2JJ72Xv_ToFdqfC-F6VcuVN1L1SalGFH1UVVFwQgnT8TUwiz8I/s1600/Gordo.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKFEqvdkMWcOA8ZefBskgHAzgj7C0eD7lsADTJXwB2lrtnPwG-Jy3Vctqt2aZLlkGrYeK_rqHBCga2TdfJ2djr6KqG-2JJ72Xv_ToFdqfC-F6VcuVN1L1SalGFH1UVVFwQgnT8TUwiz8I/s400/Gordo.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586660018450860482" border="0" /></a><br />Also keep an eye out for the dude dancing like a crazy person in the club, he's also a really good friend, needless to say I was nearly on the floor in tears watching him in that scene. I'm not sure of the proper title (or if this IS the proper title) but it's on Youtube as <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20onblur=%22try%20%7Bparent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully%28%29;%7D%20catch%28e%29%20%7B%7D%22%20href=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKFEqvdkMWcOA8ZefBskgHAzgj7C0eD7lsADTJXwB2lrtnPwG-Jy3Vctqt2aZLlkGrYeK_rqHBCga2TdfJ2djr6KqG-2JJ72Xv_ToFdqfC-F6VcuVN1L1SalGFH1UVVFwQgnT8TUwiz8I/s1600/Gordo.png%22%3E%3Cimg%20style=%22display:block;%20margin:0px%20auto%2010px;%20text-align:center;cursor:pointer;%20cursor:hand;width:%20400px;%20height:%20213px;%22%20src=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKFEqvdkMWcOA8ZefBskgHAzgj7C0eD7lsADTJXwB2lrtnPwG-Jy3Vctqt2aZLlkGrYeK_rqHBCga2TdfJ2djr6KqG-2JJ72Xv_ToFdqfC-F6VcuVN1L1SalGFH1UVVFwQgnT8TUwiz8I/s400/Gordo.png%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22id=%22BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586660018450860482%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E">"Mismatch for second look"</a>. Please like it if you do and leave some nice comments, a lot of effort went into the project and I'm sure they would appreciate some kind words. If you don't like it, don't just on the Rebecca Black bandwagon and start disliking. <a href="http://images1.memegenerator.net/ImageMacro/4420398/Youve-been-warned-Dont-be-an-asshole.jpg?imageSize=Medium&generatorName=Pissed-off-Obama">That's just not cool</a>.<br /><br />That's me done for this post, I'm off to do some more composition. Because of the sheer volume of Youtube videos today, I'm going to do something a little different. In homage to my girlfriends favourite game of listing all the US states, I will present you the same challenge. 10 minutes for 50 states, <a href="http://www.sporcle.com/games/states.php">good luck!</a><br /><br />Thanks always for reading<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-63307311739928300982011-03-16T09:52:00.001-07:002011-03-16T10:26:27.203-07:00Busy Busy Busy<span style="font-size:100%;">Once again I find myself rushing around to fit in work, rehearsals, concerts, lectures and time to sit and compose. Whilst also trying to keep my lovely lady on my good side by spending plenty of quality time together. Therein lies a fundamental problem. There is time... but not enough of it. I also heard that the dreadful earthquake that hit Japan a few days ago shortened the earths day slightly.<br /><br />On a serious note, the events that are currently happening in Japan are beyond anyone's imagining and I was really happy to see some celebrities getting behind the "Financial Relief" effort, E.G raising money. There are too many to mention them all by name but I particularly liked the contributions from Mark Hoppus (Bass player of Blink 182). I've been a fan of the band for a long time, and all of the guys come across as genuine, caring and pretty down-to-earth. My perception of at least one of them was confirmed (not that the other two have done anything to make me think differently) when he began auctioning off personal effects that he has obtained from his time in Blink 182. Stuff like Guitar's and Basses, original lyric sheets, costumes and clothing from video shoots and other general Blink paraphernalia. I can't help thinking that all these items must have great sentimental value, and it got me thinking about sacrifices that people make when others are in need. It's a humbling thought that some people are willing to sell things of their own so that others can benefit. I'd also like to take the opportunity to extend my thoughts and prayers to the people of Japan at this horrible time.<br /><br />Speaking of time, I saw this picture the other day and really, REALLY hope that some awesome brainchild actually did this. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Disclaimer</span><span style="font-size:100%;">: The views in the picture are the veiws of an awesome school child (hopefully) and do not represent my opinions... although to men it makes sense... sorry ladies.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUx7HM9iTJCFg3SkXHT6T-eSy4uVJ2j9Se2WJ6hEuJMus3oYux5YsSfrE0buhaqUz7jWcQ56zcLiJv56uqForrGb7zph4Xe1tyKK4_7B4I2-oZN_6erRikQf1dwswg3hQGwtaIfIbs7vKs/s1600/women-problem.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 290px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUx7HM9iTJCFg3SkXHT6T-eSy4uVJ2j9Se2WJ6hEuJMus3oYux5YsSfrE0buhaqUz7jWcQ56zcLiJv56uqForrGb7zph4Xe1tyKK4_7B4I2-oZN_6erRikQf1dwswg3hQGwtaIfIbs7vKs/s400/women-problem.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584726205950498434" border="0" /></a>As is becoming more and more common this is only a short post. I'm gonna get stuck into some composing, but I'll leave you with a song that's been in the heads of all my friends thanks to a moment of stupidity on my part. It was a quick but long lasting series of events...<br /><br />1. Came into my head.<br />2. I sang it<br />3. We all laughed.<br />4. We all sang it.<br />5. We tried to think of alternative lyrics.<br />6. It won't stop...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBx6mAWYPU">Enjoy!</a><br /><br />As always thanks for reading, and much love to those who check in regularly even though I'm useless.<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-91267277880733665552011-01-24T11:21:00.001-08:002011-01-24T11:42:44.817-08:00Another Update...Hello intrepid readers, no doubt, if you continue to read this, you will have been extremely disappointed with the number of blog posts. I assure you that this is not a conscious decision, I'm not, NOT writing on purpose, I just don't have a usable internet connection in my flat (still) and I have been extremely busy with my MA and also with working in a shop.<br /><br />If you do still read my blog, thank you very much indeed. And very soon, I promise to sort myself out and blog regularly. At this moment in time I'm sat in my University Students Union bar, having a quiet pint with friends and generally just shooting the breeze. I've got a huge essay in for a week today, that I'm behind on, but I'm dedicating my entire day to its progress tomorrow so I can afford an evening off.<br /><br />Ok onwards and upwards, firstly I've JUST learned that scientists have just discovered a new type of cat. I'm a big animal lover, and its always great to hear about species being discovered and protected. I usually only talk about stuff that's funny or morbid, but if you watch the little video, HE'S SO CUTE!!!!! More info on that after the drop. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9369000/9369238.stm">MEOW!</a><br /><br />Also a few weeks ago, a friend of mine showed me some crazy videos of some kids (I think from Russia, judging by the videos) generally fucking around and endangering their lives. I was literally, shocked and a little scared when I saw them. The first involves a bunch of friends, pushing one of their brood down a hand made snow ramp, off a building with a homemade bungee chord to protect her. Needless to say she could of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBs185Ej_bw">slammed into the side of the building</a>.<br /><br />The second is another bunch of kids, messing around on a huge structure, maybe a phone mast or something, but whatever it is, it's CRAZY high. Nothing to stop them from plunging to their deaths, they without thought, put their <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfZ1NyS6Mzw">lives on the line.</a> <br /><br />Only a short one from me, there's a game of pool going on and I'm playing well recently.<br /><br />As usual I'll leave you with some musical delight from Youtube. This post is dedicated to my good mate Phil, and because he just put some awesome tunes on the Jukebox, I'll try to recreate the mood in here, where you are. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM29PW3sO9c">GET THE FUCK UP!!!!</a><br /><br />Thanks as always for reading<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-87679188046398642832010-08-27T14:42:00.000-07:002010-08-27T18:20:51.552-07:00An Update.The internet... I never realize how much I actually need it until it's out of reach.<br /><br />Just recently I've moved into a new flat back in my old stomping ground, the beautiful city of York. I'm preparing to begin my MA in September (have I mentioned this? I'm sorry if I have) and like most new flats it lacks the basic amenities you require everyday to survive. Internet, Kettle, TV, the list of seemingly unimportant appliances stretches on. When we moved in about a week ago, the smallest but most vital things came with me, such as the kettle and toaster, because as a proud Englishman, I will admit the first thing you do after doing anything remotely strenuous is have a cup of tea. Eventually a few days later, after much kerfuffle, the TV was stricken from the list and the Freesat was installed, but not in time to watch the Big Brother final as Sam gave me an earful for (sorry =^.^=). Slowly but surely the list has dwindled and all that remains is the internet. Being a creature of habit (according to Sam, to which she constantly reminds me) I need home comforts and I don't settle in quite right until I have the internet. I would try and explain why, but it would probably make me sound like more of a mentalist than I actually am, so I hope that you empathize. All is well in York and I will post more on my MA and the comings and goings of everyday York-town.<br /><br />After getting home today I sat down with a cup of tea to scroll through the latest headlines feed. I immediately found some more ludicrous stories on the BBC News website, after my last post, I thought people couldn't get more mentally deranged... I was wrong. The first one made me laugh but after a few seconds the morbidity of it all sunk in and I suddenly felt a bit weird about it all. A family from Japan have been arrested for failing to declare a member of their family as deceased and continuing to collect his pension. The detainees consist of an elderly lady named Michiko Kato (aged 81) who is the daughter of the deceased and also her daughter Tokimi (aged 53). The mummified remains of Sogen Kato were found inside the family home last month but the funny part is how they found him. Government officials were preparing to throw Mr Sogen Kato a birthday party, because he was about to become Tokyo's oldest man, at the ripe age of 111, just like <a href="http://michaelmay.us/08blog/awesomelist/0616n_holmbilbo.jpg">Bilbo Baggins</a>. They visited his home and obviously discovered the truth, but the scary thing is, it could be a common crime. The Police launched an investigation and over 200 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centenarian">centenarians</a> registered as alive... are missing. Apparently he could of been dead for 30 years, I hope they didn't get him a huge cake to fit all those candles, what a waste.<br /><br />The second story is strangely more sickening to me because it involves an animal. Now before you close the page and cease to read on, it doesn't involve the animal getting hurt physically, and there are no gruesome pictures of poor creatures maimed and being treated in an inhumane way. I would never write about such barbarity as it upsets me to even see stuff like that. The animal involved was a cat named Lola, who was cruelly put into a bin by a passer by and was left there for 15 hours until her owners discovered her, hearing her cries for help. The pedestrian who committed the offense is Ms Mary Bale of Coventry. Amazingly it was all caught on CCTV, the poor cat was on her own garden wall minding her own business when Ms Bale was walking past and stopped to stroke her. She seems friendly enough when all of a sudden she lifts the dustbin lid, picks up the cat by the scruff of the neck and drops her in, walking off without a seconds thought to what she'd done. When questioned by the police she said it was a "split second of misjudgment", whoa whoa whoa. Back up. Misjudgment? Walking past and putting a cat in a bin is not a "misjudgment", how about I come round to your house, Ms Bale, and dump you're fat arse in a wheelybin for 15 hours and see how you like it? Some people have no clue of their actions. I can safely say, without any doubt, I wouldn't piss on her even if she were on fire. Too read the article and see the video <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-11087061">click here</a>.<br /><br />I doubt that I'll write another post before heading back to York on Monday morning, but you never know, crazy things happen when you least expect it.<br /><br />As always I'm going to leave you with a little treat from Youtube and in the spirit of the Leeds/Reading festival going on this weekend I thought I'd give you some inspired rock. I was supposed to be there but my cash flow wouldn't allow it. So... much more choices than usual but I wanted it to be a bit different and because there's no 3 bands I can say are my favourites, I'm going to give you the headline act from each night of this years Leeds fest, and then 2 acts that I really like from each day. I hope you enjoy.<br /><br /> Friday ------- Saturday ------- Sunday<br /> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V41qkhU-98">Headline</a> ------ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLg4i5HJLzg">Headline</a> ------ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_enNmzWn6Y">Headline</a><br /> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSuhq0oueoE">Other</a> ---------- <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXouEijFV18">Other</a> ---------- <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coGaPe3YC08">Other</a><br /> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_hKfAFWOIE">Other</a> ---------- <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjHeNjFXwuY">Other</a> ---------- <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-RTXHvh8z8">Other</a><br /><br />Thanks as always for reading<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-76851715483184524852010-08-09T07:34:00.000-07:002011-05-07T01:08:53.123-07:00People Die In Hot... Saunas????In my last post you may remember I was slightly distressed about my upcoming performance at the University of Sussex. Well for those of you who were wondering, I can announce with great pride, that it went very well. Needless to say I and the rest of the choir were very tired after a long days traveling, but we still impressed the audience consisting of nothing but singing teachers. Which was nice. For you're reading pleasure, and to get stuff of my chest, he's the blow-by-blow as they call it.<br /><br />5:30am - I wake up, I try my damnedest NOT to fall back asleep and I slowly drag myself out of bed.<br />6:15am - On the bus towards Manchester town centre, looking forward to a caffeine laced hot beverage from <a href="http://collegecandy.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/starbucks-iv.jpg">Starbucks</a>. When I arrive in the centre of town, I get my legal addictive stimulant swiftly and walk across the deserted city streets to Manchester Victoria train station.<br />7:10am - Catch my train heading towards Hindley (where the choir is based and where the coach journey begins)<br />7:45am - Get picked up from Hindley station by Deb the choir director, David and Jen (an old friend from Uni).<br />8:15am (approx) - We depart from from Hindley heading south to Brighton.<br /><br />During the journey we stopped a couple of times, once for a short toilet break the other for just short of an hour to get some lunch. I paid 6 quid for a large coke and beans on toast, which I thought was ridiculous seeing as though the coke was barely fizzing and when the lady behind the food counter asked "Is brown toast ok? I haven't got any white done" I replied "No, how long to wait for white?", to my surprise instead of a civilized answer like "A few seconds" she let out a loud grunt like a fat little boar snuffling for food in the filth it stood in. She gave me a nasty glance and told me to wait further along the line, literally a few seconds later my beans on toast was on my tray in front of me. I said "Thank you" with a healthy side order of sarcasm and went to pay. Before I left I purchased the second installment in the Twilight Saga, called New Moon. Yes I'm still reading it and Yes its really very good.<br /><br />3:30pm - Arrive at the University Of Sussex and make our way to the chapel to stow our belongings. After a little break and some tea and biscuits we went in to watch Deb (our choir director) do her lecture. Despite being used as a guinea pig for the purposes of a demonstration, the talk on the whole was awesome and the audience I imagined to be very critical seemed to be very approving and warm hearted (A lot of them past middle age).<br /><br />The talk lasted an hour, after which we went for a rehearsal inside the chapel. Once our voices were polished up and ready to go we went for "Food". I don't know what the cooks at this university had in their minds but it wasn't bloody food to me. Not one person said that the food was nice and I had to settle for some bread rolls with butter and ketchup. We were on at 8:30pm and the moment of strewth drew ever closer. Before the performance my nerves were not the worst they've ever been by a long shot, but they were somehow different, I just couldn't put my finger on why that was to help me relax. Eventually we got going and I gradually managed to settle into the performance. It had been a long while since I last sang publicly so it felt great to be out in front of an audience again. After the performance we were greeted with lots of really nice comments from the seemingly delighted audience, so we must of done something right. Immediately after getting changed it was back on the bus and back up north we headed.<br /><br />10:30pm (ish) - Set off from Sussex University Campus. Driver told loads of shit jokes on the way home, I was tempted to put in a complaint as he said "Ladies and Genitals" over the microphone to announce we were stopping for a toilet break, bearing in mind, it's a youth choir so we had people as young as 12 on the bus. I and a few others had shouted to him that we needed the toilet and he proceeded to drive past two service stations (45 minutes in between) before stopping at a third. He shouted "10 minute break" in the dopey Wigan twang that he had, conjuring images of his rotund frame bounding towards the nearest pie shop. So I thought "He made we wait for a pee, I'll make him wait to get home" I went and ordered some fries at burger king, then while they were being cooked went to W.H.Smith to buy some crisps and chocolate. He'd already been to complain but we just replied "Were starving" and he stormed off back to his little bus. We eventually arrived back where we started at 4:00am, much later than expected because of diversions on the M25 & M6 Toll road. I climbed into Debs small Nissan Micra looking forward to some sleep and soon enough I was on a comfy couch in my pajamas looking forward to the most eagerly awaited shuteye ever recorded in my life.<br /><br />I've Just realized I described the whole day in great detail, whoops. Hope that wasn't too boring for you. I won't bother with the day after... Oh go on then, quickly. We went for breakfast, I stroked a dog in a car park, I went home, I saw my girlfriend, I slept more. Done. Oh and here are some pictures of the chapel, it was perfectly round with coloured glass windows dotted all over like honeycomb, a really strange building but the acoustics were lovely for a choir. (Pics off the web, I didn't take them)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZQY6rFejWzgvOM-tiS-IBhImZnGyBjGSK2l48YrAV46ImyVuvdoS0mgh_LAeFRk54LbZsBMEyGnXvzLPQ7nTpIUFSKpLJTbw9XgslnoGaRWIczOTWZAaPXwMPoTxfh7E-qxSkMbnYz2G/s1600/SUC1"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZQY6rFejWzgvOM-tiS-IBhImZnGyBjGSK2l48YrAV46ImyVuvdoS0mgh_LAeFRk54LbZsBMEyGnXvzLPQ7nTpIUFSKpLJTbw9XgslnoGaRWIczOTWZAaPXwMPoTxfh7E-qxSkMbnYz2G/s400/SUC1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503577071498729426" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Rci0dIJ-fmtZpntg6fTsWDu-xF40izPZFeeWEToP8wLuwtJZ4uT2akpRKPnO4v-9FSMhsMQtrl3yST8kyl0oJ8VFNhNLgjA1befysSpvhLNN0gvIaecBuz_LuNOuQCchWoz_mjnOrXp5/s1600/SUC2"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Rci0dIJ-fmtZpntg6fTsWDu-xF40izPZFeeWEToP8wLuwtJZ4uT2akpRKPnO4v-9FSMhsMQtrl3yST8kyl0oJ8VFNhNLgjA1befysSpvhLNN0gvIaecBuz_LuNOuQCchWoz_mjnOrXp5/s400/SUC2" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503577075831696498" border="0" /></a><br />Anyways in other alarming news, I was on the bus today reading the free paper that they shove on all public transport to keep you're mind of how crap it is and I read a truly <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10912578">horrific story</a>. Basically, in Finland they invented the sauna, and stupid people like to have a competition who can withstand the hottest sauna. Yesterday that game ended up in tears (real tears, definitely not sweat) when a competitor at the "World Sauna Championships" died, not only that but the other guy inside with him suffered major burns all over his body. Now call me cynical, but what kind of idiot does that as a sport? Apparently <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOArsNMVqGg">it's not unusual</a> for people in these contests to withstand temperatures of 110 degrees CELSIUS, not Fahrenheit... CELSIUS. And a few of the people "train" in temperatures of up to 140 degrees C. That's just lunacy in my mind, absolute crackpot, "you should be in a loony bin" mental. Looking at a picture of one of the competitors in the paper (presumably the one who snuffed it) he looks in absolute agony, hunched forward clutching his torso as if he was on the verge of spontaneous combustion.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNQAE7JsfGI1zpAJvQYJVWTGaAvr7oIxyxmOO1B3YahQQnzyIXfFmz07P3BzuE5RSAsi5VvTV_ydMh5YP8DS8ckC4L8rt5AW4Apguu3Ug8sybi3xnlhML6iqXpKCVUVpVfo6_dx80N-pm/s1600/IMG_1121.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNQAE7JsfGI1zpAJvQYJVWTGaAvr7oIxyxmOO1B3YahQQnzyIXfFmz07P3BzuE5RSAsi5VvTV_ydMh5YP8DS8ckC4L8rt5AW4Apguu3Ug8sybi3xnlhML6iqXpKCVUVpVfo6_dx80N-pm/s400/IMG_1121.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503579749308382562" border="0" /></a><br />It makes me feel uncomfortable thinking about how that sort of temperature affects the body. Please excuse the weird music but seeing visually what <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ae94ECbm0">100+ degrees C looks like</a> makes me think even less of these absolute dumb arses. If you're gonna do that to you're body then you're going to get hurt, simple as that, and don't expect anyone to feel sorry for you when it goes tits up like that blond freakazoid.<br /><br />Well, its time for me to leave you with a musical treat for you're listening pleasure. Once again I haven't got a single song in mind, so I present you with another choice. Some authentic 90's pop or some 90's inspired pop. The first reminds me of when I was younger, this particular song was never off the radio. The latter is a very guilty pleasure by one of todays pop "phenomenons". In my eyes, maybe not a phenomenon, but they certainly are doing a lot to shake up pop culture which is refreshing to see instead of the same old manufactured drivel all the time. Anyways... Enjoy.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt-KMPvgKPo">90's - Authentic</a> or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVEG793G3N4">90's - Inspired</a><br /><br />Thanks as always for reading,<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-15305504137827474392010-08-06T07:12:00.000-07:002010-08-06T09:00:56.828-07:00183 Days Of... Not Much<span style="font-size:100%;">After a brief time away from my blog, I always begin with an apology to those very few (but very appreciated) people who actually take the time to read it. This time round, I don't think I will. I'm not sure why, but in the huge gap between then and now I just didn't feel like writing anything. I'll use the excuse of writers block, but I'm not quite sure what it was. From now on though, I will endeavor to keep my <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mio3sJ_GJoc">brain hydrated</a> with stuff that you good people may find interesting/amusing.<br /><br />Over the past 6 months (and 2 days to be precise) I don't think I've done anything that is worth highlighting, I've been unemployed for the majority of it (not by choice) so I rode my bike a lot, that's about it. Me and my gorgeous girlfriend Sam celebrated our 6 year anniversary a few days ago so that was really cool. Oh and I started reading Twilight! Is that sad? I liked the movies so I thought why not. Anyways that's enough babble.<br /><br />The date as you can clearly see from the top of this post is Friday 6th of August 2010, and tomorrow I will be performing with a choir at the convention & AGM of The Association for Singing Teachers. I've been to 2 rehearsals with the choir and the final one is today, my nerves are fine at the moment but I'm pretty positive when the time comes tomorrow it shall be a very different story. For me It's the fact that the entire audience will hear the slightest mistake like it was a blatant curse word in the middle of a Hymn, and whats even worse, is that they are LOOKING for the mistakes. Not because they are evil or sadistic because that's what musicians and teachers do. I think as a general rule people who have a dedicated profession, wherever they are just instinctively look out for indicators of there work. For example, a singer could go to an open mic night with friends, having a few drinks, enjoying the evening, but as soon as someone is singing, without thinking about it they would listen and critique the person(s) singing. A Dancer could go to watch a performance and again from the moment someone walks on stage, instinctively he/she would critique the performance without thinking about it. I'm not saying this works for every profession, shelf-stackers wouldn't be arsed if the muesli wasn't evenly spaced on the shelf, but in saying that shelf stacking isn't really a profession, it's just a job. A painter and decorator or a kitchen fitter may go round to his/her friends house for a party/watch the football, whatever, and once more they would check the work, it's not a bad thing, its just what people do. A bad example would be a gynecologist, they are clearly NOT going to go to their mates house, kneel down in front of the wife/girlfriend and say "Ok deep breath, this might be a little bit cold", that just wouldn't happen, but of course you see my point. The main point of all this is that I'm shitting my pants and the audience will sense that like a shark in a blood soaked paddling pool.<br /><br />Moving swiftly on, reading the news on the web as I often do, I came across a story about a set of parents who have had their children taken away from them, presumably because they are crazy. The parents on the other hand think it's because of what they named the children. Now before I tell you the names, you will need to understand that if you call you're child something ridiculous then immediately warning bells flash up for the social services and you will either be court ordered to change the name or you get you're children removed from you're care. Heath and Deborah Campbell from New Jersey failed to realise this when naming their children...<br /><br />Adolf Hitler Campbell, 4<br />JoyceLynn Aryan Nation, 3<br />Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie, 2 (taken supposedly from Heinrich Himmler)<br /><br />I shit you not, this is true, and I'll post the link towards the end to prove it. Apparently the case came to light in 2008 when a shop refused to decorate a cake with the name Adolf. Now firstly, what retard actually allowed them to use those names in the first place? I can see it now, at the registry office, "What name?" "Adolf Hitler Campbell mam" "Oh what a pretty name!". The mind boggles. Secondly on a more serious note, the name Adolf (synonymous with Hitler, obviously) is a traditional name in Germanic countries, Scandinavia and The Netherlands. It comes from the Old German <span style="font-style: italic;">Athalwolf </span> which means Noble Wolf and has been the name of many Kings, Princes, Dukes (Including Prince Adolphus, The Duke of Cambridge) not to mention countless composers, musicians, scientists, sportsmen, even a mayor of San Francisco. In my opinion a store should not refuse to put some icing on a cake in the shape of a name, doing so only facilitates that particular name is bad. If a man named Kyle (random name) came along and massacred millions of people in our time, yes I can understand that the name Kyle would therefore be blacklisted and boycotted everywhere for an extremely long time but WW2 and its atrocities happened many years ago and even today, there are still repercussions from it. Refusing to write Adolf in icing on a cake is just stupid. That child isn't Hitler and neither is anyone else that bares his first name, so why should they be discriminated against because of it. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the store was Jewish and they felt a particular religious objection to doing it, I don't know. All I know is, I feel sorry for the children. The full article is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10891733">here</a>.<br /><br />Well I think I'm gonna run and start getting ready to go to rehearsal, need a shower and some food before I head out. Tradition runs strongly on my blog, so I will leave you with a YouTube delight, in the form a Happy and Sad choice. The happy option, an amazingly up beat song and the Sad option reminiscent of my lack of a blog post. Enjoy<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bF9X7qnWro">Happy</a> or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=araU0fZj6oQ">Sad</a><br /><br />Thanks as always for reading,<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LW<br /></span>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-17687091549288267592010-02-04T12:47:00.000-08:002010-02-04T12:55:10.746-08:00Ello, Ello, Ello, What's Goin' On 'Ere Then: UpdateIn my previous post I was talking about weird news stories, and how I seem to be reading about them a lot recently? Well I just stumbled across a story that made all the other ones I discussed, seem like regular, everyday occurrences.<br /><br />I give you a tale of <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/teen-girl-vagina-pregnant-sperm-survival-oral-sex/story?id=9732562&page=1">pregnancy and knife fights</a>. Yep, knife fights.<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-30056953652855121092010-02-02T16:04:00.000-08:002010-02-02T17:29:38.441-08:00Ello, Ello, Ello, What's Goin' On 'Ere ThenWithin seconds of starting this post, the words that appeared on my screen sounded slightly like a part from a cliche gangster film, you know the old, "Forgive me father, for I have sinned, it been 6 months since my last confession" lark. Well honestly I have no idea how long it's been, and I refuse to check my previous posts to work it out. All I know is, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=araU0fZj6oQ">it's been a while</a>. Fortunately for me I don't look like a bald, pierced, smoking, Mr. Potato head lookalike like Aaron Lewis and the time away from blogging has done little to change my physical appearance.<br /><br />Recently I've had a sudden urge to dive right back into my blog, so that's exactly what I'm going to do. I've been compiling photo's and articles over the time away from posting so I have a few things to waffle on about. So here I go.<br /><br />Everyday I check the Latest Headlines feed on my browser to see whats going on in the world, not because I have the NEED to know, it's just because I'm extremely curious. So imagine my face when I read this headline from the BBC News website...<br /><br />'Body Sold To Russia Kebab Shop'<br /><br />Now a number of things sprang in to my mind when I read this, and for your benefit, I will list them. I dearly hope similar things are appearing in yours at this very moment.<br /><br />1. Where does someone get the idea to do this?<br />2. How do you disguise a PERSON good enough to pass it off as cheap kebab meat<br />3. Where do you get a person?<br />4. If you found them, why wouldn't you report them, not think "Oh I'll sell the body to a Food and Drink Kiosk!"<br />5. If you murdered them, why wouldn't you hide the evidence, instead of thinking "Oh I'll sell the body to a Food and Drink Kiosk!"<br />6. When a person you've never met comes up to you with a huge bloody sack asking do you want to buy some cheap meat, surely alarm bells MUST go off. How dumb is the person that bought said meat.<br />7. How dumb are they to actually cook it and sell it on as safe, edible meat.<br />8. What about the poor people that PAID for this Man-Kebab<br /><br />Reading on, I discovered that the 3 men charged with the offense, were homeless, and they had in fact murdered the man. They claimed it was an act of "personal hostility". So they obviously disliked him enough to kill him, but thought he had a good enough body to flog him to a Kebab and Pie stall. They attacked the 25 year old victim with knives and a hammer and after killing him they consumed part of his body (presumably the best bits).<br /><br />All in all a pretty sick story, but I couldn't help but laugh at the final words in the article. "It was not immediately clear if any customers had been served". Which is clearly code for "They sold the lot of it, and we don't wanna scare the shit out of people who have eaten a Thigh and Kidney Pie (I assume that was a combination on offer)"<br /><br />In other news an Indonesian man has been given compensation after a cigarette he was smoking, exploded and blew out 6 teeth! He was awarded 5 million rupiah, which equates to about £335, so I now feel even more sorry him. But really, what is going on with the world? Human kebabs, exploding cigarettes, what next? I guess I'll find out tomorrow.<br /><br />As always I'll leave you with a You tube feast for the eyes and the ears. It's a song that I hadn't heard in years, and if you've seen the original Transformers: The Movie, then you'll know how awesome I must of felt to rediscover it. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKpByV5764">Enjoy</a>.<br /><br />Thanks always for reading<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-90704290928061351392009-08-18T12:48:00.000-07:002009-08-18T14:13:28.993-07:00The Glory Of A Low Budget FestivalOn the Sunday just gone, I had arranged to go for a ride with my brother Dan and his girlfriend Aimee. The weather was slightly overcast which as Tom Jones would say, is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrwO8b9iq34">not unusual</a>. But we didn't let that stop us and we made plans of where to go. My bro suggested a festival that was happening relatively nearby, where we could go watch some bands and have a few drinks. A couple of years back my brothers band had played the same festival and at the time he said it was really good, so it seemed like a good idea. Here's a little <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=53.484547,-2.062812&daddr=Manchester+Rd,+Mossley,+Ashton-under-Lyne,+OL5+%28The+Roaches+Lock%29&geocode=%3BFS68MAMd-gDh_yEdEPiN5Cl9-A&hl=en&gl=uk&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=15&sll=53.487126,-2.056546&sspn=0.015857,0.061798&ie=UTF8&ll=53.50612,-2.035904&spn=0.0634,0.181789&z=13">map of our route</a>, it starts from the local train station not far from my brothers house (I obviously don't want to give away his address). Unfortunately when it came time to set off, Aimee wasn't feeling to great, so she decided to stay at home leaving my bro and me to brave the harsh beast that was a local music festival.<br /><br />The festival itself was in and around the grounds of a pub called The Roaches Lock. The Roaches is right on the side of a canal so the tents and stages were spread out along the banks. They had a stage in the car park (a topic of great interest) as well as a tent with a makeshift bar. Just slightly further on they had a few burger vans where some hippies had seen it as a perfect place to set up some tents selling spiced tea. I thought this was an interesting image, the people in the tents were probably no more than 25, only a few years older than me, and by their standards in seemed, they were living the hippie lifestyle. Maybe I'm stereotyping, but if you saw them you wouldn't believe they were proper hippies for a second. I wanted to walk up to them and quiz them on hippie-history. I bet if you asked one of them when the summer of love was, they'd probably say "Last year when I went to Magaluf". Just because you wear dirty, shaggy clothing and bandannas of various colours of the spectrum doesn't qualify you to sell spiced tea and give advice on all the "far out" comings and goings of the world. I'm also going to assume that a handful of them were Vegetarian, only because of stereotyping of course. Now don't get me wrong, if you enjoy eating animals that's fine, a lot of people do, but IF you do, don't put your tent, directly next to a f***in burger van. Baffling.<br /><br />Even further on that there was a dance tent (Weird) with what looked like two 8 year olds pilled off their heads, raving their backs out to some <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49fIDR7UO7k">mental trance</a>. Just next to that was a makeshift stage in a white marquee where the 15 strong crowd stood at the entrance to it, instead of actually inside it, I bet that was a confidence booster for the band. The last was an acoustic tent, this seemed to have drawn the biggest crowd, I think that's because half the people there knew each other and only came to see one band play.<br /><br />What really made me laugh though, was their so called "Main Stage". As I said earlier its a topic of great interest, bearing in mind that the phrase "Main Stage" itself brings up thoughts of huge festivals, like Glastonbury or The Carling Leeds/Reading Festivals that are famous for having enormous stages. Hundreds of thousands of people stood with their eyes fixed on the same ginormous structure, cheering and screaming for one band. Mozfest... It wasn't <span style="font-style: italic;">quite</span> like that, here's a picture of the main stage at Mozfest...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgIUNpal4vx184Pm2wL4QrAmp0YgH7_PHhwnXJr9YnhQWFr0KuzvMfkscHkEoyCNFkTpjga_N2y1kGBwznhDQuxBSRHnWpEVgO7DUw-CeWqKEyrixp-0alI75hD0yvZii6M0Cu1fgelMh_/s1600-h/IMG_0746.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgIUNpal4vx184Pm2wL4QrAmp0YgH7_PHhwnXJr9YnhQWFr0KuzvMfkscHkEoyCNFkTpjga_N2y1kGBwznhDQuxBSRHnWpEVgO7DUw-CeWqKEyrixp-0alI75hD0yvZii6M0Cu1fgelMh_/s400/IMG_0746.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371412559470789282" border="0" /></a><br />Get your tickets for next year, judging by the crowds for the "Main Stage", they will be selling like hot cakes.<br /><br />Thanks always for reading<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-70989157408359347342009-08-10T05:13:00.000-07:002009-08-17T05:33:59.910-07:00So Little To Do, So Much TimeThe time has come to pick up where I left off. Before I finished university I was blogging quite a lot, I had tons to rant about and the stuff I whined about always seemed to be important to me. Most things are the same accept I no longer have to worry about essays and deadlines. At this point in my life, I'm searching for a job, broke, but I have a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HczP-vSadNM">strange amount of time on my hands</a> that I haven't felt in a long time. This abundance of free time has so far been put to good use, spending time with family, riding my bike as much as I physically can, building 2 sets of massive wardrobes from IKEA, taking my driving theory test (I passed by the way, no applause please) and general tom-foolery. But so far I havnt written a blog post, so I'm being pro-active in my laziness and writing one now.<br /><br />Can I start by confessing that Twitter is officially taking over my life. I love the simplicity of it, I like that I can read exactly what my friends and my favourite celebrities are doing at any given time. I don't usually buy into the whole celebrity culture, I hate gossip magazines and the f***'n retards who sell their stories for some quick cash deserve exactly what they get. They sell em' then months down the line complain that the press are invading their privacy and won't leave them alone. YOU DID IT TO YOUR F***ING SELF! Anyway I prefer to see my Twitter experience leaning towards empathy instead of a <a href="http://dontbechi.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/asl-creepy_guy.jpg">psycho stalker</a> type celeb hunter, who lusts after their every breath. I love being able to see what <a href="http://twitter.com/trvsbrkr">Travis Barker</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/markhoppus">Mark Hoppus</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong">Lance Armstrong</a> and many others are doing because I have respected them for a long time, and worshiped the ground they walk on (In the case of Travis Barker), so being able to look into their personal lives, instead of what you read on poorly written blogs they leave on their websites is a crazy thing to experience. Mostly though I'm embracing it as kind of a portable venting tool. What I mean by that is, I have an iPhone and I can pretty much access Twitter everywhere I go, I used to have to remember stuff I was pissed off about then blog it all later, but now if I witness something annoying or extraordinary I can immediately let everybody (a limited number of followers) know about it.<br /><br />Other than that I have nothing to report at this time. Gotta go and sort through all my stuff and decide what needs throwing away and what doesn't. I far too much crap.<br /><br />I'll leave you with a video from Youtube. It's one of my favourite bands of the moment playing live in their rehearsal room. Just an amazing band. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSuhq0oueoE">Enjoy<br /></a><br />Thanks always for reading<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-54182541590255861352009-07-18T12:53:00.000-07:002009-07-26T14:22:29.123-07:00Oh Say Can You See... The Longest Post I've Written So Far<span style="font-size:100%;">Well here we are, it's time, it's the post you've all been (very patiently) waiting for, it's the full length account of my 3 week trip to the United States Of America.<br /><br />You may or may not know, that usually before any sort of event, such as sports games, the American people being the patriotic bunch they are (nothing wrong with that!) like to play their national anthem, so in tradition with honoring America I would like to do the same.<br /><br />Please rise for the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1CmKRpqa_E">national anthem of the United States Of America</a>.<br /><br />That version is from the 1991 Superbowl XXV (25 for you non-Romans) and it sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it.<br /><br />Formalities aside, lets get on with the trip. Onwards!<br /><br />The trip was a three week adventure for my girlfriend Sam, my Mum and Dad and myself. It all began on Sunday the 7th of June, when we started the trip by flying from Manchester airport to Nashville, TN (with a change over at Philadelphia). At the airport we were greeted by scorching hot weather and also my sister (who I've definitely spoke of in my blog before). We collected our hire car, which as far as I was concerned was not the best looking, but damn was it comfy! And by typical American standards, to open the door you had to push a button and it magically opened itself for you, which I definitely wasn't complaining about. Me and Sam got in my sisters car (for fear of my dad driving on the wrong side of the road and killing us before the trip had even began) and drove to Pulaski, TN where she now resides. We spent a nice relaxing night there, and with a well earned rest, the next day we drove to Atlanta.<br /><br />The whole reason for going to Atlanta was to go see the Atlanta Braves play. I'm a huge fan of North American sports, I've played basketball and hockey since I was about 15, and over the years a general interest for baseball, American football and other stupid things like NASCAR slowly crept in. Now, I'm a huge baseball fan, and thought of seeing another live game was immensely exciting (The first time I saw a baseball game was on a school trip to New York, where I saw the Yankees play the Toronto BlueJays. Being a juvenile I found the abbreviation of BJ's to be heavily amusing).<br /><br />So we arrived in Atlanta at our hotel which was a few minutes walk away from the stadium. Our hotel was also right near the Olympic torch and a huge monument to commemorate the 1996 Olympic Games, which was really cool to see.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirufH6KCgKAYBMWFO9H7TwS7HOjClSQEtmW0KEah9Vhpx_R1MdK2ZBheM67T2HM-3nUaf9fqcusiuiqVJKL4VowBFzegNjLch4UtjxBSd_H5FBL65ojNsI12Z456-lQifcJqSS-x0pqtFO/s1600-h/IMG_0506.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirufH6KCgKAYBMWFO9H7TwS7HOjClSQEtmW0KEah9Vhpx_R1MdK2ZBheM67T2HM-3nUaf9fqcusiuiqVJKL4VowBFzegNjLch4UtjxBSd_H5FBL65ojNsI12Z456-lQifcJqSS-x0pqtFO/s400/IMG_0506.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359900122667879778" border="0" /></a><br />We got to the game after plenty of happy snaps en-route, and a minor detour for me to buy a Braves jersey, but eventually we found our seats. We all enjoyed the game, the atmosphere was great and everybody seemed to get into it a lot more than I expected, especially Sam, who insisted I did <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDNY--Ah9ws">"The Chop"</a> about 10,000 times over the duration of the night. Regardless of the arm ache, the game was awesome. Amazingly the game went to 15 innings, which if you don't know baseball, is like having extra time in football (soccer for you yanks) for nearly as long as the original game itself. We also found out that it was Bobby Cox's (Braves Head-Coach) 2000th career win, which is a nice milestone to witness.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8ehOLxsqT-PHuMpJsUIATyaz87rMZHqDXA_nmobaY3HkjLbahOmoEtO1kBJ26lTeCr8V5mJgpzx6O3LpX0y2f_KaV6g2F4I_GnRJOtiUqRprD71_YPFWdTtJLLESJZtrRjVPzofvPNx7/s1600-h/IMG_0518.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8ehOLxsqT-PHuMpJsUIATyaz87rMZHqDXA_nmobaY3HkjLbahOmoEtO1kBJ26lTeCr8V5mJgpzx6O3LpX0y2f_KaV6g2F4I_GnRJOtiUqRprD71_YPFWdTtJLLESJZtrRjVPzofvPNx7/s400/IMG_0518.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359903243662693602" border="0" /></a><br />The next day we flew directly from Atlanta to Las Vegas! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EFQ8X4VNCE">Cue the music</a>!<br /><br />Vegas was one of the highlights of the trip, but it's probably the craziest place I've ever experienced. We stayed at the <a href="http://www.stratospherehotel.com/">Stratosphere</a> hotel right at the end of the strip, not the best positioning if you want to be on the strip every night, but the great thing about Las Vegas is their Monorail system, it cost us about $25 each for an unlimited 3day pass, and the nearest stop was at The Sahara hotel which was literally a few minutes walk so it didn't turn out that bad at all.<br /><br />When we arrived at the hotel, we checked in and went to investigate the rooms, after sorting out who had what view from their window we went downstairs onto the casino floor to find somewhere to eat. As we made our way through the casino, we saw hundreds of people buried in a cloud of their own smoke staring intently at a slot machine, just hoping it would just explode in a flash and glory of bells and flashing lights, but unfortunately (and not surprisingly neither we nor anyone else we saw experienced this). Eventually we came to a traditional American diner called Roxy's, being hungry and also wanting to get into the spirit of the trip in general, we decided to eat there. We sat down and ordered our food, the menus were shaped like vinyl records, which I thought was cool.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Y6X28qZhtaU2LuswcDbgrrKeH7aUymPSAckX_ATCcaMWwPt3uMQ07h8K6xiWPmID7XWs8IB-60hlkdpPx0InFIvUSH-96OhdnWBQdzt3c0HKkWnpSHG-RTC7rLTnYUcGCdm3d75NbPJW/s1600-h/IMG_0538.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Y6X28qZhtaU2LuswcDbgrrKeH7aUymPSAckX_ATCcaMWwPt3uMQ07h8K6xiWPmID7XWs8IB-60hlkdpPx0InFIvUSH-96OhdnWBQdzt3c0HKkWnpSHG-RTC7rLTnYUcGCdm3d75NbPJW/s320/IMG_0538.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361777285723312866" border="0" /></a><br />We also noticed that they had their own in house DJ, playing oldies and things on "Roxy's Radio", we all thought nothing of until one of the waitresses came up from serving a table took the microphone off him and perched herself high upon one of the booth seats. To our amazement she starting singing to the song, and honestly it wasn't bad at all, I expected a lot worse. As we continued to eat we noticed a pattern where slowly one member of staff after another would come forth and sing a song, luckily we were leaving so it didn't get too tiresome, but I couldn't of stayed there all night. Good milkshakes though, oh yeah.<br /><br />We decided from the beginning to visit all the hotels that were worth seeing over the three days we were in Vegas, overall my favourite was the MGM Grand, but they were all amazing in their own ways. In the MGM Grand they had a huge enclosure off the casino floor where they would bring in Lions at certain times of the day from a specialist ranch that was about 12 miles into the desert. They have about 15 lions so they rotate them so as not to keep one set traveling back and forth. It was incredible to see.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ljibn62sk-Z3mdhMH-3Z7X8oaPkH3ha9HHtUny_rsZkb8WFpwUyI-zbkeSxlKUTL9r6bkNPfRYUPk2UbzQRrXLcDRMRK19czETaHKnzdJgjusyMlLDBM2kwd14JdESfsL5TNPcAgm0qA/s1600-h/IMG_0546.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ljibn62sk-Z3mdhMH-3Z7X8oaPkH3ha9HHtUny_rsZkb8WFpwUyI-zbkeSxlKUTL9r6bkNPfRYUPk2UbzQRrXLcDRMRK19czETaHKnzdJgjusyMlLDBM2kwd14JdESfsL5TNPcAgm0qA/s400/IMG_0546.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359907459766342754" border="0" /></a><br />They also had a tunnel going from the casino floor into their gift shop, which was made of a thick plastic (I think) where the lions would sit and you could see them from directly underneath. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly the tunnels roof was pretty scratched so photos didn't come out that well, but here's a few of the best ones.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5CayaeUF9j5UnRMVBANEAqYUmrbLb3grNxA3QLlutcpTI4UaJONLd2SBG8j2U4Raj2JN90CI_pSYZUig6p1aivCL_o_WsbPMZ9W7DPWZYr9_ZaCO5X2C0M0J-fa6SejV3aOavAc0_2V17/s1600-h/IMG_0549.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5CayaeUF9j5UnRMVBANEAqYUmrbLb3grNxA3QLlutcpTI4UaJONLd2SBG8j2U4Raj2JN90CI_pSYZUig6p1aivCL_o_WsbPMZ9W7DPWZYr9_ZaCO5X2C0M0J-fa6SejV3aOavAc0_2V17/s400/IMG_0549.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359908409271433618" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjleD3P6YC2Xyv-WSEtKGuZkjCpTRKhhxqJxWPohV9dye5ZDc2cOPe8uKLy1Qj3g4WPajeNrZD8UzG7qMTfnm4V0RFe-SXtBTmpcZZ5WadRLyw_-E3hkQgptssU67EjutpVrSR8slWVavc/s1600-h/IMG_0565.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjleD3P6YC2Xyv-WSEtKGuZkjCpTRKhhxqJxWPohV9dye5ZDc2cOPe8uKLy1Qj3g4WPajeNrZD8UzG7qMTfnm4V0RFe-SXtBTmpcZZ5WadRLyw_-E3hkQgptssU67EjutpVrSR8slWVavc/s400/IMG_0565.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359908593808080962" border="0" /></a><br />The Luxor which is the Egyptian themed hotel, was also just as impressive, the architecture was just stunning.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM__ZhuLOq_zBlCudJvMTF5QyJGYEujFe77eNjzWrF3VMFAH_HuAs9PdG1ahwoKXcBqbiOEaH9kMEe-9pl0be87CqqeTlBfefdMakd4Qb4jNDGhyphenhyphen_rVMOTk0p9djeXItzlD5AxHD6lw81R/s1600-h/IMG_0574.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM__ZhuLOq_zBlCudJvMTF5QyJGYEujFe77eNjzWrF3VMFAH_HuAs9PdG1ahwoKXcBqbiOEaH9kMEe-9pl0be87CqqeTlBfefdMakd4Qb4jNDGhyphenhyphen_rVMOTk0p9djeXItzlD5AxHD6lw81R/s400/IMG_0574.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359910947573626162" border="0" /></a>And the view from inside the hotel was just as amazing, I found it crazy how they've managed to incorporate the rooms into the shape of the pyramid.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51CBb3LyfutD-zLX2y_xPIls1e0r_dlIA2FU_KEE-Cjwuqh6HKocxgpg2PFPRTP-Uk_WQL69Bu36k8LGvdb_u01fpcVaCVZaeAhcbGYIdgHBUSk34lq3h95A5OH3UiUsOhuzwNJgZ5BES/s1600-h/IMG_0570.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51CBb3LyfutD-zLX2y_xPIls1e0r_dlIA2FU_KEE-Cjwuqh6HKocxgpg2PFPRTP-Uk_WQL69Bu36k8LGvdb_u01fpcVaCVZaeAhcbGYIdgHBUSk34lq3h95A5OH3UiUsOhuzwNJgZ5BES/s400/IMG_0570.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359911255214234402" border="0" /></a>Excalibur is the medieval, dungeons and dragons themed hotel, and for those of you who know me well, you know that I'm a bit of a geek for stuff like that, so I absolutely loved it! Unfortunately all the photos on this post have been taken on my iPhone, and its range is limited so for Excalibur I didn't really get any good shots of the exterior as its surrounded by a mote and next to a massive highway. <a href="http://www.thelasvegasadventurer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/excalibur_hotel1.jpg">Heres a good picture of it though</a>.<br /><br />The New York New York hotel is exactly what is says on the tin, it's a hotel that looks like the New York skyline, complete with the Statue Of Liberty and a roller coaster going round the buildings, again my iPhone was unable to capture it in full glory. <a href="http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles31055.jpg">Check it out</a>. At the NYNY hotel they encourage you to...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgJZ-fm9KXDD3sBu7fo38lggOQU9Vh2LESbfNqXSuiGqjnzU_8pdK8g_HRHTdj2oZD9x7JWa_92LosxYRWxYIHQpBfu-rSXD4MkpQB8IyJ1xEFouLDaibKSZzjNAiMEt_kvuyjApITGE9/s1600-h/Picture+11.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgJZ-fm9KXDD3sBu7fo38lggOQU9Vh2LESbfNqXSuiGqjnzU_8pdK8g_HRHTdj2oZD9x7JWa_92LosxYRWxYIHQpBfu-rSXD4MkpQB8IyJ1xEFouLDaibKSZzjNAiMEt_kvuyjApITGE9/s400/Picture+11.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359915857797274514" border="0" /></a><br />Or...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXCKwxMUorQ3rk_jUwHhTIRMLRn-h3pzHklL9KupWQHRmikBqnhBN14xTa0OihMNSIXK0rQs2NaBxS6qqJNZpv7rCcUrEd29KdNsa7z9a0fTZh9jU4Mgs_Jmb4c4F6TVggiB9PyLV3-Tu/s1600-h/Picture+12.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 115px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXCKwxMUorQ3rk_jUwHhTIRMLRn-h3pzHklL9KupWQHRmikBqnhBN14xTa0OihMNSIXK0rQs2NaBxS6qqJNZpv7rCcUrEd29KdNsa7z9a0fTZh9jU4Mgs_Jmb4c4F6TVggiB9PyLV3-Tu/s400/Picture+12.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359918115590097554" border="0" /></a><br />Or my personal favourite...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie-A_HWOnRSZ9MBO6JYV11WG-KRXCz8vLaeAABQJZCnCI_XxXzfkOBleSeRF8sifutoXJ86sRATedrYJQEDwPAuK3o7vpx8MXn-Dv2arSTQx_PXAtYy7cUREnpjg2Xm-CsSVTNSyXZEFW1/s1600-h/Picture+13.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 115px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie-A_HWOnRSZ9MBO6JYV11WG-KRXCz8vLaeAABQJZCnCI_XxXzfkOBleSeRF8sifutoXJ86sRATedrYJQEDwPAuK3o7vpx8MXn-Dv2arSTQx_PXAtYy7cUREnpjg2Xm-CsSVTNSyXZEFW1/s400/Picture+13.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359918481774515330" border="0" /></a><br />Unfortunately I didn't ROK my "Insert Choice Here" Off, because we had other things to do, one of the things was to go and spend a copious amount of money in the arcade whilst Sam, my sister and my dad went on the roller coaster, only to find out that you get tickets back INSTEAD of money! I felt abused, "This is F***'n Vegas!" I took one look around to realize that probably the entire under 21 population of the hotel had congregated in the same place. What a rookie. After losing a number of times on a basketball game (to everyone accept my mum, by that's only because I didn't play against her) I decided to give up my tickets and move on. I did however indulge my childish side by playing on this pointless drum machine thing, you pick a song and the pads just work as a drum machine so you can play along. I chose "Jump" by Van Halen, and lets just say, there was a small crowd gathering and they were moderately impressed by my skills. I was quite happy with my performance, I threw in a few things that weren't in the original recording, only the Van Halen aficionados among them would of known, but of coarse there were none there, just my dad, Sam, and like three American's who I think had never seen a drum kit in their lives. Regardless, It was fun.<br /><br />The Bellagio was a gorgeous hotel with an amazing interior and a strange indoor garden type display. The highlight of the Bellagio and possibly of the whole trip was the fountains at the front. If you've never heard of these before you may of seen them at the end of Oceans Eleven where they've just scammed all that cash and they all stand nonchalantly around looking at the fountains. Here's a video of them, but I have to say in the flesh it was truly a life changing experience, and one that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP0K6H2QK7A">I'll never forget</a>.<br /><br />The Mirage was also a really nice hotel, not as nice in the casino's as other hotels but they had something very special that makes me rank it above most. If your familiar with Vegas hotels or you've watched The Simpsons, at some point you will of seen the two famous animal crazed performers known as Siegfried and Roy. At The Mirage they have a specialist animal reserve where u can pay about $15, and when you get inside its like a miniature zoo, I couldn't believe it. They had dolphins, leopards, and various different types of lions and tigers, it was amazing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzs0q5hLmBRMgChUC6q1ybfZhsejUFYvTOyKbatDFNoi02BMEmu-kw9XgvPCEQe6qoav1ipd0QB_9YTaGTnWn-Fp-KKqCf_B2yB7JZ75FdW8bFVHZWFkZUD1aBc4vBtBAUBstZCT5kI-YM/s1600-h/IMG_0596.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzs0q5hLmBRMgChUC6q1ybfZhsejUFYvTOyKbatDFNoi02BMEmu-kw9XgvPCEQe6qoav1ipd0QB_9YTaGTnWn-Fp-KKqCf_B2yB7JZ75FdW8bFVHZWFkZUD1aBc4vBtBAUBstZCT5kI-YM/s320/IMG_0596.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361774357078812866" border="0" /></a><br />My dad, my sister and Sam all did the rides at the top of our hotel, and we got some great shots of the sun setting looking down over Las Vegas, it was beautiful.<br /><br />After reluctantly leaving Vegas we flew back to Atlanta, this wasn't as straight forward as we would of liked because upon landing in ATL (Wadup Gangsta!) there was a huge thunder storm so literally seconds from touching down the pilot put the jets back on and we aborted the landing. We flew to Charlotte about 45 minutes away and sat on the runway for about an hour until the storm had subsided back in Atlanta, then we flew back.<br /><br />After a good nights rest we began the journey to Destin, Florida. It was a long drive but when we got there it was completely worth it. After some apartment mix ups on the booking companies part, we ended up in another complex that we weren't happy with. My dad took numerous pictures to show his disgust, my sister had no plug for her sink, and when I stood on the balcony my dad couldn't see my face through the glass because it was so dirty, "Just a silhouette" he said. We spent a night there because it was late, and we were all tired, so the next day my dad (who was an absolute hero) went for several meetings in one day and eventually in the early evening called a family meeting on the balcony. He'd been negotiating all afternoon, and he managed to get the penthouse apartment in the original place we'd booked, we couldn't believe it, it was the best news. Soon after we packed our things and moved to the new place, I am not exaggerating it was the nicest place I've ever stayed in on holiday. I wouldn't even want to guess how much it would be worth, but it was amazing. The balcony looked right out to sea and every morning about 10:30 a huge flock (is that the collective noun?) of pelicans flew right past, about 10 feet from us. We also saw dolphins swimming past whilst having breakfast, that blew my mind a bit.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-4LOON7y5eKtSq0IHRuReyFLuk7VIcutiu0-6BbfIo9PYx5aFVGuTe7_TINWPh2brhebXewaNzrliE5SqPX7ClBoHOav5SzumTbi_vJy9txcGdjeduF3C9BHPEFPzCIkVkr6ecLISA3G/s1600-h/balc"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-4LOON7y5eKtSq0IHRuReyFLuk7VIcutiu0-6BbfIo9PYx5aFVGuTe7_TINWPh2brhebXewaNzrliE5SqPX7ClBoHOav5SzumTbi_vJy9txcGdjeduF3C9BHPEFPzCIkVkr6ecLISA3G/s320/balc" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361784389950689490" border="0" /></a><br />For just under a week we lounged on the beach, swam in the sea and just had tons of fun, we went to a water park (which was crazy expensive), and we went playing crazy golf (I won and my mum nearly killed a child). It went far too fast for my liking but I just had to put into perspective that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I was extremely lucky to have the time I already had.<br /><br />After Florida we moved on to New Orleans, another crazy place, its like a constant party down there. A friend of my dads, Paul, is a local, so he picked us up and gave us a guided tour of pretty much the whole New Orleans area, which if we wouldn't have had, I don't think I would of enjoyed it as much as I did. We went out drinking and Paul took us to a famous seafood restaurant. Those of you who know me, know I'm the fussiest eater ever, so I had french fries and everyone else had a crazy amount of different things. Sam had her first Oyster, which to my surprise she enjoyed and if I remember correctly had more than one.<br /><br />The next day we drove to Memphis, where we visited Graceland (The home of Elvis Presley) and also Beale St. It was a beautiful place, so rich with cultural and musical history, I felt really at home there. We also went to The Peabody hotel to watch ducks come out of a lift (elevator), across a red carpet and into a fountain in the center of the lobby. It was a surreal experience and I almost pissed my pants laughing at it.<br /><br />Before arriving in Memphis itself we took a huge detour to visit "The Crossroads". If your unaware of what the significance of it is, I will enlighten you. A famous blues singer named Robert Johnson, considered to be the father of the blues, reportedly sold his soul to the devil for the mastery of the guitar at those very crossroads, and he wrote a song about it. Cream famously did a cover of it, because Eric Clapton was heavily inspired by Johnson's playing. It was a strange place, and I did feel a strange vibe around the place, like it was somehow important. I don't know if that was me saying to myself, "This is where the blues began, FACT" or it was actually the place itself, I like to think it was the latter, makes the whole selling your soul business seem cooler than before.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCPXMthlSXdY-xOdbLa7jdZ47K6Gr1ZGi1SZCopSnbZQEc51IVlL7tnAJT-LR5JO790cDRdUN9NI0znhM6dpdp-VB7px53hfg-EHrsaGACuxldbKTrvlQWOELa6jmblnCEQed_HpKK59Hi/s1600-h/IMG_0629.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCPXMthlSXdY-xOdbLa7jdZ47K6Gr1ZGi1SZCopSnbZQEc51IVlL7tnAJT-LR5JO790cDRdUN9NI0znhM6dpdp-VB7px53hfg-EHrsaGACuxldbKTrvlQWOELa6jmblnCEQed_HpKK59Hi/s320/IMG_0629.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361787550543907762" border="0" /></a><br />In the last week of the trip, we had a pretty relaxing time, we visited Birmingham, Alabama, and we also went to Lynchburg, Tennessee to do a tour of the Jack Daniels distillery. It's a free tour and if your a fan of JD then its a must see. I went for a joy ride in my sisters Dodge Neon (which has no air conditioning, so during the heatwave that was going on whilst we were there, it was very uncomfortable inside the car), Sam also drove for the first time on American roads, from a car park (where we were joy riding) to the nearby Walmart. A few days before we were due to leave for home, we drove to Nashville for a few days to do some shopping and to go on the General Jackson Showboat.<br /><br />And that ladies and gents was pretty much the trip, I apologise to everyone who reads my blog for talking so long to write it, and if you have been checking regularly for posts then I really appreciate you sticking around. Also apologies to my family if I've missed anything particularly important to you out, it was a crazy trip and half of it is a blur.<br /><br />8 Flights, 10 States, 9 Hotels, 2 Apartments, 1 House, 11 Suitcases, 1 Trip of a lifetime.<br /><br />I'm going to leave you with pictures of things I found particularly strange or disturbing on the trip and at the end a link to Youtube to play the song of the trip.<br /><br />Thanks so much for reading.<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LW</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid71JKsa-Xfnu6paCMxRQO-wvMo4s2o6r6KCudlMA-6DKlWHMPUy_Ye82uwi8uHjBx9Ry77axp6X1_0XIuziCl5BJywBR_o2003G4MiIrKIsCOYOaiiKxwwcTxV9ra6BUPjydRFFGIZOwY/s1600-h/IMG_0647.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid71JKsa-Xfnu6paCMxRQO-wvMo4s2o6r6KCudlMA-6DKlWHMPUy_Ye82uwi8uHjBx9Ry77axp6X1_0XIuziCl5BJywBR_o2003G4MiIrKIsCOYOaiiKxwwcTxV9ra6BUPjydRFFGIZOwY/s320/IMG_0647.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361789817152445042" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">This dude is officially a mentalist, search for the ad on Youtube. Also search for "Slap Chop".<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFqNziJPYVguXtYezUzM0cfXJzUr0uzpi1tWboLgqkE3fV63baodJIZfrqodGBzd_prXvNgbXSZqXY8LM5CJBPTUQwyWRNyckT2smBPCf6q8x29ovkIfR2Vt1lbLaG6MvW_UVBJggixVVz/s1600-h/IMG_0605.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFqNziJPYVguXtYezUzM0cfXJzUr0uzpi1tWboLgqkE3fV63baodJIZfrqodGBzd_prXvNgbXSZqXY8LM5CJBPTUQwyWRNyckT2smBPCf6q8x29ovkIfR2Vt1lbLaG6MvW_UVBJggixVVz/s320/IMG_0605.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361789729916328818" border="0" /></a>4 of our traditional 2-finger KitKats in ONE PACKET!!!!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDQhe5FEUsjhB4cUMAxOWmcSvMcZj-ksVx9cZM9AdzDG82Jdq1pph9D5UulQ8NdBT9aM1WP7jjI_KImiVZ7_dscDaww792V-X6O3jgTTEf5oa1lVF6ELCOan2FNwo5H352a2JxM9Qrz2k/s1600-h/IMG_0586.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDQhe5FEUsjhB4cUMAxOWmcSvMcZj-ksVx9cZM9AdzDG82Jdq1pph9D5UulQ8NdBT9aM1WP7jjI_KImiVZ7_dscDaww792V-X6O3jgTTEf5oa1lVF6ELCOan2FNwo5H352a2JxM9Qrz2k/s320/IMG_0586.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361789617431692722" border="0" /></a>That's just wrong<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQFkyNdRh6LwfsL_cqPxgx12EydcT0jEHPsggJGNBygo7SlvH-mDhl5970vGL8gM1G5foDBEj5tOw9GwOR1PaJNXG0Hfi6bbRUKZ82OHgo1nDbPaFcZpy_yYmFETM-AYsxlJF7Cc-PNrwg/s1600-h/IMG_0544.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQFkyNdRh6LwfsL_cqPxgx12EydcT0jEHPsggJGNBygo7SlvH-mDhl5970vGL8gM1G5foDBEj5tOw9GwOR1PaJNXG0Hfi6bbRUKZ82OHgo1nDbPaFcZpy_yYmFETM-AYsxlJF7Cc-PNrwg/s320/IMG_0544.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361789532444298642" border="0" /></a>A vending machine that sells, iPods, Sony PSP's, $350 Bose noise reduction headphones. Wow.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1UsQbIiBxK82K9QWkMR6O3u6hyphenhyphen7j-9bCb25UkuVtn9XgNtWByFJS5YN5HmG8LZFUFHtoqUGJDbTYmhko_oAcoALEMHUlHtFPILGmzOlHhgrLF9Ovd6MWbytafTU8Sk79H6f3CqXNJaiw/s1600-h/IMG_0542.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1UsQbIiBxK82K9QWkMR6O3u6hyphenhyphen7j-9bCb25UkuVtn9XgNtWByFJS5YN5HmG8LZFUFHtoqUGJDbTYmhko_oAcoALEMHUlHtFPILGmzOlHhgrLF9Ovd6MWbytafTU8Sk79H6f3CqXNJaiw/s320/IMG_0542.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361789388538970194" border="0" /></a>I nearly vomited every time I walked past this shop. Just NO.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmkwlpImxJ4l6hyCVcUScr0L89r_hOvuvS8kVUhTZ01zQsSQRJmcqyTDDfGe3dH1SWRRJWk5zqCjB46dFVpeX9ryFjaDbspEUdq6fUv7HQ1YElIRajgFHGFuMNRHgG05HayGvjfP9jTbc/s1600-h/IMG_0500.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmkwlpImxJ4l6hyCVcUScr0L89r_hOvuvS8kVUhTZ01zQsSQRJmcqyTDDfGe3dH1SWRRJWk5zqCjB46dFVpeX9ryFjaDbspEUdq6fUv7HQ1YElIRajgFHGFuMNRHgG05HayGvjfP9jTbc/s320/IMG_0500.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361789246353054178" border="0" /></a>Go figure</span><br /></span></div><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Thanks again for reading. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2XsMjQ3XaE">Enjoy</a></span>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-20224653377114064742009-07-07T14:13:00.000-07:002009-07-07T14:34:11.698-07:00Update: Back And ForthHello there, this is just a small update letting anyone who is interested know whats going down. The large post regarding my trip is still under construction, I've been backwards and forwards from university to home ever since I've got back from the USA, so I havn't had chance to sit down and get it finished properly. So hopefully it will be up in the next week or two.
<br />
<br />As I said i've been quite busy working and traveling back and forth, but in my spare time whilst at home I have been watching the Tour De France, which I can honestly say is probably my favourite sporting event of the year. This year is especially important as Lance Armstrong has made his return to the peloton.
<br />
<br />Here is a little video Lance posted on his Twitter page, of a famous actor you should recognize, interrupting the pre race preperations. This particular nuisance is apparently a massive cycling fan and also had the honor of awarding Fabian Cancellara the yellow jersey for his 4th day in the lead. Im a big fan of his and its always good to see that not all celebreties, whether they are sports personalities or actors, arn't all up their own arses. Enjoy.
<br />
<br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://cdn-i.dmdentertainment.com/DMVideoPlayer/player.swf" id="player" height="356" width="430"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="movie" value="http://cdn-i.dmdentertainment.com/DMVideoPlayer/player.swf"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="flashVars" value="skin=http%3A//cdn-i.dmdentertainment.com/DMVideoPlayer/playerskin.swf&demand_iconurl=http%3A//cdn-www.livestrong.com/images/video/favicon.jpg&demand_show_replay=true&demand_content_id=5062&video_title=Ben%20on%20Lance%27s%20TT%20Bike%20Before%20Stage%204&demand_iconlink=http%3A//cdn-www.livestrong.com&demand_content_sourcekey=livestrong.com&sitename=http%3A//www.livestrong.com&demand_preroll_source=http%3A//cdn-www.livestrong.com/swf/LS_logo.swf&height=37&v=2.1.9&demand_page_url=http%3A//www.livestrong.com/lance-armstrong/video/ben-on-lances-tt-bike-before-stage-4/c36bf9fe-c56f-4470-9f81-f2565a078836/&demand_related=1&demand_autoplay=1&demand_buffer=5&demand_related_feed=/ajax/video_spinner/%3Fkey%3Dc36bf9fe-c56f-4470-9f81-f2565a078836&source=http%3A//cdn-community2.livestrong.com/ver1.0/content/videos/store/3/1/c36bf9fe-c56f-4470-9f81-f2565a078836.AVI.flv&demand_preroll=true&demand_report_url=http%3A//www.livestrong.com/api/video_report"></object>
<br /><div>
<br />
<br />Take it EZ
<br />
<br />LW
<br />
<br />LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-40544393969015280142009-06-29T18:50:00.000-07:002009-06-29T19:01:41.202-07:005, 4, 3, 2, 1, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand We're BackThis is another small but informative post to let you know I have arrived safely home from the USA (in case you were <a href="http://www.coolfreeimages.net/images/thankyou/thank_you_05.jpg">worried about me</a>). The trip was unbelievable, and within the next week I will regail you with the events of the trip. The post will probably be longer than the independent research project that I had to do for my final year of university, but nevertheless It will be done, and done in great detail.<br /><br />As always thanks for reading (even the small and pointless posts)<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-58451518753214026152009-06-15T12:48:00.000-07:002009-06-15T12:55:10.592-07:00Public Service Announcement<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It has become clear to me on my travels that getting an internet connection has proved more difficult that I anticipated, and as a result I haven't been able to post a blog from every location I travel too. So I've decided that when I return home to the UK, I will forge a gargantuan post from nowhere, and tell you all the tales from my epic adventure.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thanks always for reading</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take it EZ </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LW</span></div>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-79240588041068327572009-06-06T11:50:00.000-07:002009-06-06T16:40:20.583-07:00We're Spinal Tap From The UK! You Must Be The USA!If you know me, by that I mean I actually socialize/converse/debate/argue/laugh/get drunk with you, by now you've probably heard that I'm going on a little trip. For those of you who don't know me, and only have a vague idea of my complex personality through the rants and moans of my blog... I'm going on a little trip. Tomorrow morning, I will be jetting of the the United States of America, with my Mum, Dad and my girlfriend Sam. Were off to meet up with my sister, who as I've said before in an early blog, resides there these days. As soon as we arrive its pretty much all systems go for the busiest 3 weeks of my life, but no doubt the most fun I'm ever likely to have.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbhvVdJnDb4bkmd6EvnwO3n8TgKEbsHROJ7yv5l_GYlnS0sV__RQf8bqX-a6e_Nzfbigxwecw9ELlfNsKp9dvB1HNYNfxl-Ur77ixGAkJwS3FzZ7x4jJzDx6orIBAEhfgxQFdvv85G1c_O/s1600-h/Trip.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbhvVdJnDb4bkmd6EvnwO3n8TgKEbsHROJ7yv5l_GYlnS0sV__RQf8bqX-a6e_Nzfbigxwecw9ELlfNsKp9dvB1HNYNfxl-Ur77ixGAkJwS3FzZ7x4jJzDx6orIBAEhfgxQFdvv85G1c_O/s320/Trip.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344337103814500546" border="0" /></a><br />So that is how the rest of my June will be spent, and needless to say, I'm slightly excited about it. But fear not, I shall be blogging on my travels, I'm going to attempt to do a new post every few days with small updates and pictures, but obviously it all depends when/where I can get a wireless signal.<br /><br />For more spontaneous and more frequent updates, follow me on Twitter. You can read them on the right hand side of this blog.<br /><br />As I'm in a great mood, here's a little ditty for you that always puts a smile on my face. If you don't know who Flight Of The Conchords then I have only one question for you... Are you a hermit in east Mongolia farming <a href="http://blog.pennlive.com/lehighvalley/2007/11/yak.jpg">yaks</a>? You must be. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlYkIJVguCU">Enjoy</a><br /><br />As always thanks for reading, and the next time I post, I will be across the pond.<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-63762033779633686942009-06-05T08:05:00.000-07:002009-06-05T12:14:36.933-07:00Chin Up Labour<span style="font-size:100%;">Put this date in your diary, you are probably witnessing the end of an era.</span> The following picture is the election results as from 8pm on the 5th of June 2009.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbQEWByxKlcxSJkKYkK_zOae-Nzn2GzMiHCSrWHdKavE4g0ENma_zP0w-NfQPRGaG-uVGF59xJR5mc3KBQmoVbhtw_EVfEwzdkFnxnIqvnEfk_ddJm75QppDgnqGZRrqfTqr63pCORxPoJ/s1600-h/Election+Map.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbQEWByxKlcxSJkKYkK_zOae-Nzn2GzMiHCSrWHdKavE4g0ENma_zP0w-NfQPRGaG-uVGF59xJR5mc3KBQmoVbhtw_EVfEwzdkFnxnIqvnEfk_ddJm75QppDgnqGZRrqfTqr63pCORxPoJ/s400/Election+Map.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343922915164300994" border="0" /></a><br />Thanks always for reading.<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LWLIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-40623481556511249032009-06-02T11:58:00.000-07:002009-06-02T17:09:59.381-07:00Take A Deep Breath... Post Number 25 Incoming... Finally<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span>Well I've finally got round to writing a post worthy of reading, after many short bursts of cerebral waste. Its been a busy few weeks for me, and eventually the crazy ride that is university came to a reluctant stop. All my work has been completed and handed in, and I will never have another lecture, seminar or group meeting ever again (unless I decide to do a Post-Graduate course, but for the moment, it seems permanent). Thinking back to previous years, if I had thought about the position I'm in now (being free from any sort of work) I probably would of greeted it with cheers and celebration, but now I'm actually <span style="font-style: italic;">in </span>that position, I think Melancholia might be setting in. However there have been many things over the past week that have really cheered me up, and in this long winded and possibly pointless post I intend to cite them all. On with the show!<br /><br />First up was the Friday that every 3rd year student at York St John was waiting for, that was the day of the Summer Ball. For anyone who is unsure of what that is, it's basically a little festival for the students, loads of booze, multiple places to watch live music and a few fair ground attractions thrown in for good measure. It was extra special for because I performed with the YSJ Big Band and my funk band aptly named Super Pelvic Thrust (There were other names thrown around, among them was "Break Your Funkin' Hymen", but that was scrapped for obvious reasons).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3360/3585557393_82cc409801.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 375px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3360/3585557393_82cc409801.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Both gigs went really well and the crowd really enjoyed the stuff we were playing, but I think the most important thing for us as a band, was to go out and have fun playing together. This was the last chance we had to play a proper gig and it felt really special to us all. The night was a little messy due to drinking 3 different types of lager and doing about 12 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IsIZp5sW3M">Jagerbombs</a>. If you also examine the above poster you can see that The Futureheads were the headline act at this years ball. When I first found out I was ecstatic, I've been a fan of the band for a long time and I was unbelievably happy that a band as good as them were going to play on our tiny little campus. If you haven't heard of The Futureheads, they are a 4 piece band from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunderland">Sunderland</a>, and to put it bluntly, they are <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnzTHsaO3Gs">f**kin' awesome</a>. When I arrived on campus to sort out my gear for the gigs we were playing later that evening, I heard one of their songs in the distance. I thought it was just coincidence that someone was playing it, when they were due to play later that night, but then it clicked... SOUNDCHECK!! I ran round to the front of uni and there they were, playing to an empty room, only me, the sound engineers and the PR woman (pictured).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLR1xuKIzH8Up8rQ11_czIgorp7gZVO6q48-lGkE_AGsHXWlByHFoSpMlfChyphenhyphentNK8xjVQUfvOtLUhRgYy1gzo5-N5nemmWJ6lv1m2su_Q6O34TNygD9ofY03qLi6LQtw7JhrwelxQeRy4/s1600-h/IMG_0367.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLR1xuKIzH8Up8rQ11_czIgorp7gZVO6q48-lGkE_AGsHXWlByHFoSpMlfChyphenhyphentNK8xjVQUfvOtLUhRgYy1gzo5-N5nemmWJ6lv1m2su_Q6O34TNygD9ofY03qLi6LQtw7JhrwelxQeRy4/s400/IMG_0367.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342866986743952194" border="0" /></a><br />When it was finally time for the gig, me and a few mates (Sean A.K.A Sloth and Spally) arrived two bands early to ensure we had a perfect view of the action.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsn9XcyJcutUwACfDWBH0XktLbD5-xgVTIRiAa_ugdXCfMyjDFYXudKd5dRDmPeEwkivGo61rgUs2lplFTytNvehaaAbhaPIqCli2PHNjPvk2wq8orpcIkhNZD18WfgaaAL9Bn6D32Ieu/s1600-h/IMG_0376.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsn9XcyJcutUwACfDWBH0XktLbD5-xgVTIRiAa_ugdXCfMyjDFYXudKd5dRDmPeEwkivGo61rgUs2lplFTytNvehaaAbhaPIqCli2PHNjPvk2wq8orpcIkhNZD18WfgaaAL9Bn6D32Ieu/s400/IMG_0376.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342867868820684498" border="0" /></a><br />When they came out on stage I was directly in front of the bass player (which because of my inebriated state, I informed my friends of about 20 times) but if your reading this Jaff (why you ever would is beyond me but just in case), I showed you about 5 messages on my iPhone and I met you briefly backstage (which I also told my friends about) and you were a legend, so thanks a lot for that.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9rKQa48TbkfqyXQIsqpWQAiXftaS7ldPnvP1251GV0kHqUaNIt24lf9DZ23rhyphenhyphenaA73dkShR_IEV_0Ishpj8ebHZQ3NCdTVMw0BlTrlLQWV4Vni-bqvLKussaqAd83-r_cD8ohQPEYaYJ/s1600-h/IMG_0373.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9rKQa48TbkfqyXQIsqpWQAiXftaS7ldPnvP1251GV0kHqUaNIt24lf9DZ23rhyphenhyphenaA73dkShR_IEV_0Ishpj8ebHZQ3NCdTVMw0BlTrlLQWV4Vni-bqvLKussaqAd83-r_cD8ohQPEYaYJ/s400/IMG_0373.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342870070637684162" border="0" /></a><br />Overall the night was an unbelievable success on all accounts, everyone had an awesome time and I will always remember it as a night of great fun and laughter, not beer fueled depression as I and a lot of my mates expected it to be.<br /><br />In conversation with my girlfriend Sam earlier this afternoon I promised I'd include her in my next post, so here's a picture of us in the Acoustic Tent at the ball.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqeIs7I5odBkHOLIE_TIPtHWXaebZAVNbwafSVFTbhuR5jXQpuT9MHL-5d6LjH7XqgNyBzFE-3sDXLTwhb-MkRlWboPQ9LtBh3ggmW2ovII0vzyK0Ckk3mk3lT7Syenbz250unko51K7nJ/s1600-h/me+n+sam.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqeIs7I5odBkHOLIE_TIPtHWXaebZAVNbwafSVFTbhuR5jXQpuT9MHL-5d6LjH7XqgNyBzFE-3sDXLTwhb-MkRlWboPQ9LtBh3ggmW2ovII0vzyK0Ckk3mk3lT7Syenbz250unko51K7nJ/s320/me+n+sam.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342540352467262050" border="0" /></a><br />The next day I awoke with a slight ringing in my ears, but it felt good knowing what a great night I'd had. Dont get me wrong it was painful, but a <span style="font-style: italic;">good </span>painful, like when you've been to the gym and you've worked really hard, and the next day you walk like you've been brutally sodomized, that sort of painful. After getting dressed and testing my hearing with some more of The Futureheads, I went for breakfast with two very good friends Edric and Spally, before heading to Scarborough with them and a group of friends all belonging to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrigal_%28music%29">Madrigal</a> Choir from our uni. Most people when you say to them "Im in a madrigal choir" they look at you as if you asked them to write down the theory of Quantum Mechanics on the back of a <a href="http://m34toyo31.blogspot.com/2009/01/and-nobel-prize-goes-toodrumroll.html">Jacobs Cracker</a>. So to give you an example of the stuff we sing, here's a video of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYbN_2hqFoI">The Kings Singers</a> doing there thing. As the day progressed, the sun was shining and the hangover soon wore off, but even though the company was great and the weather was even better, the day didn't go without a hitch.<br /><br />Mid afternoon, a number of us required lunch, and where better to go to at the seaside than a chip shop for fish and chips. Harry Ramsdens is a well known and long running chip shop chain that was situated not far from us on the beach, and seemed like the logical choice. Four of us purchased food from there and from what was said its reception was very good (for me it was anyways), but for one member of our group things weren't to standards befitting of a... "human" shall we say. Whilst tucking into her fish and chips which she'd payed about 5 pounds for, she found a bolt. A metal bolt, like the hexagonal shaped ones with the little dome on top in the following <a href="https://www.z-power.co.uk/merchantmanager/images/P1016171.JPG">picture</a>. It was actually buried somewhere IN her food, needless to say we made her go back and complain about it, to which to she received a free fish and chips as well as a free drink (rightly so). But come on were not <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64">f***ing robots</a>, don't put metal in peoples food.<br /><br />Whilst on our little trip to the <a href="http://nextday.diy.com/app/jsp/home/homePage.jsp">B&Q</a> of chip shops I noticed a road sign that really shocked me. I'm not shocked very often but I was actually taken back by what was in front of my eyes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dKlNfAg3mdJ4bVtg98WAsMOatT-4YJ1_t7qSAsUiO8COWu2VWzJCr4LC50JJmnnn3Ex7E8lAbONAK112hHSEUvo1sG9GsHlnNvoqfClkRaqp8Ptch1KSiTG8tbPhTiPr8j3G6seW6QgX/s1600-h/IMG_0398.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dKlNfAg3mdJ4bVtg98WAsMOatT-4YJ1_t7qSAsUiO8COWu2VWzJCr4LC50JJmnnn3Ex7E8lAbONAK112hHSEUvo1sG9GsHlnNvoqfClkRaqp8Ptch1KSiTG8tbPhTiPr8j3G6seW6QgX/s320/IMG_0398.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342532493075859554" border="0" /></a><br />This is probably the most phallic image I've ever seen that wasn't blatant pornography, and whats crazy is that its on THE main road by the seafront, with families and children walking past just minding their own, not realizing there's a giant penis right above their heads. Why hasn't some prude old woman complained about it? I mean, its incredibly detailed, there's little hairs coming off it, the only thing it lacks is the West Pier road being slightly curved or having a small roundabout, then it would be perfect.<br /><br />On my way back from the chippy, whilst walking leisurely down the beach, I saw a man and his son kicking around an inflatable ball, I thought nothing of it until it flew into a drove of donkeys. The donkeys obviously have a problem with random colourful objects, so their natural reaction was to scatter, the only problem was that they were waiting only yards from nearby sun bathers. A few people were VERY narrowly missed and the owner of the donkeys didn't seem to think any urgent response was necessary, she just kept on shouting "Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" to which the donkeys didn't bat an eyelid too.<br /><br />The time eventually came for us to go home, whilst walking back to the train station we stopped at various points along the sea front to sing our little songs. We did stop briefly outside a shop so that one member of the group could buy some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_%28confectionery%29">rock</a>. Whilst waiting on the street, a flying shit machine, more commonly known as a seagull let rip directly above us, hitting the pavement and narrowly missing everyone. We all laughed and thought what a narrow escape, little did I know the little bastard was just having some target practice. Further along the road we veered off through some gardens up a very steep hill, it was here I was effectively cornered off. I was moving further towards higher ground, enabling the <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/DefecatingSeagull.jpg">RAF ShitFlicker</a> to get lower. He eventually locked me in his sights and let one rip all over me. I was livid. Ive not felt that angry in a long time, I wanted to find the nearest gun shop and go seagull hunting, the little bastards had ruined my good mood and there was nothing I could do about it.<br /><br />We arrived back in york, slightly pink and tired, and in want of a good beer, me and Edric traveled to The Last Drop Inn for a pint of Guzzler. It was severely needed and it did help take away the horrors of the day from my mind. <br /><br />Sunday was work... Boring ... Enough said about that.<br /><br />Finally Monday arrived and if your are a regular reader of my blog, you might remember from a previous post, that the first Monday of every month is what me and the boys have dubbed Dress Up Monday. This months (the second of many to come) was no exception, we went to the Indian Lounge (just like last time, I feel its becoming a tradition) and had an immense curry. The only thing that could be improved about their service are the waiters photography skills, as you can see he managed to take a picture of his finger at first...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwEx2KqGKZ-0gRAYI0EyZykCKtp6oS3s2kjW-pbxkJSPEmDc-ZPmvOVaz8xxo9MAUUbUKJiJPBBhdkCnbm0AEE4xHg46u9hbFyomiVz8lPXOgqQyt33C8ieYkGNVGlpy0tsL7lL7DYn2p/s1600-h/IMG_0416.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwEx2KqGKZ-0gRAYI0EyZykCKtp6oS3s2kjW-pbxkJSPEmDc-ZPmvOVaz8xxo9MAUUbUKJiJPBBhdkCnbm0AEE4xHg46u9hbFyomiVz8lPXOgqQyt33C8ieYkGNVGlpy0tsL7lL7DYn2p/s320/IMG_0416.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342536665132939474" border="0" /></a><br />Classy. Then when we informed him he had his finger over the lens he took another, to a poor standard.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhec7zHXzo3BumVGlucFFJ-ADfkgUxJwc-6nNo40Gr3DxhWmKubWIA8WO0dz8giBuCEjfKRqQ0unbqQbjZGwUNnbqZAqAcCSd59KrQL6y7s_ABSjNU0Roj4iIP1AhSifDK-n1LUGyfqPmQB/s1600-h/IMG_0417.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhec7zHXzo3BumVGlucFFJ-ADfkgUxJwc-6nNo40Gr3DxhWmKubWIA8WO0dz8giBuCEjfKRqQ0unbqQbjZGwUNnbqZAqAcCSd59KrQL6y7s_ABSjNU0Roj4iIP1AhSifDK-n1LUGyfqPmQB/s320/IMG_0417.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342537059909350514" border="0" /></a><br />Overall the really good times have outweighed the bad these past few days, and It's times like this I'm really glad I started writing a blog, so I can document this sort of stuff and look back on it whenever I feel like it. So my mates can relive stuff that they've done, and so people who have never met me and have no clue who I am can get a taster for it too. There not the only reasons though, most of the time I'm just a miserable bastard who likes to moan about pretty much everything.<br /><br />Anyways, as always I will leave you with some pearls of Youtube wisdom, and if you have read any of my twitter posts in the last few weeks you might of seen that my girlfriend showed me the video for Beyoncé's single "Ego", and that I liked it very much. So without further introduction, enjoy the sexy beat, sexy horns and the sexy dance moves. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNzeXmaWToY">Enjoy</a><br /><br />Thanks always for reading<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LW</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span></span>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-53270047907933706342009-05-27T09:33:00.000-07:002009-05-27T09:39:17.474-07:00Another Aperitif<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Seems recently I'm the king of tiny little posts, but I can tell you a substantial post is on the way. I have handed in all of my university work, but I still have performances to do and compositions to record, edit and produce for a friend. So it will most likely be over the weekend at some point. Keep your eyes peeled for that.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now however, I wanted to share a little video with, another Fixed Gear related video, but this is a beautiful looking trailer for a documentary around the track bike culture in Germany. I hope you enjoy it.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(100, 95, 94); font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><object width="300" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4812603&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4812603&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object></span><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thanks always for reading</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take it EZ</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LW </span></div>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-66400094964603549652009-05-25T08:05:00.000-07:002009-05-25T12:05:52.224-07:00I've Gotta' Go Hungry Have I?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ive got something to share with you, as a little nibbler until I write my full post over the next few days. While reading the twitter of well known author and blogger Michael Marshall (Smith) or for you twitterate (see that? Twitter and Literate? good stuff that) people among you he's known as <a href="http://twitter.com/ememess">@ememess</a>. Anyway, his "tweets" are usually very funny, but this one especially made me cry tears of absolutle joy, all because of some severly retarded welshman.<br /><br />I will set the scene. A man has been to ASDA and bought a pizza. He gets home, looking forward to his little "slice" of heaven, and opening the packet only to find theres no topping. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw">Oh no!</a> So he decides to ring ASDA to complain and here is where I leave you.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.entertonement.com/clips/mcfrwvjtpw--ASDA-Customer-Services-Idiot-With-Pizza">Enjoy</a>.<br /><br />Thanks always for reading<br /><br />Take it EZ<br /><br />LW</span>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-20744551403377350602009-05-20T19:01:00.000-07:002009-05-20T19:08:41.077-07:00Feel The Vibes<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">J</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ohn Mayer - Vultures. Crazy funky, Crazy talented.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Enjoy</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; font-family:Arial;font-size:10px;"><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L_zRDchkDXg&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L_zRDchkDXg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="360" height="250"></embed></object></span><br /></div>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-52052086274395494892009-05-19T18:50:00.000-07:002009-05-20T09:40:55.978-07:00Weeks Of Absence In One Post.<div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSEUjiewFmy7HcpnGR5te-fUEJMwQxIlCTiesrXdo2kv-FxgkaWqtgQltSvLNwC_YxFP4UW6WWNDFWFqgxrGtIZJ1-RVaTPSxj96NMTH9YDtA4sDUJUuRwEnslEMIdKA5vC4KXc4QSCLB/s1600-h/IMG_0300.JPG" style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span><img style="text-decoration: underline;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSEUjiewFmy7HcpnGR5te-fUEJMwQxIlCTiesrXdo2kv-FxgkaWqtgQltSvLNwC_YxFP4UW6WWNDFWFqgxrGtIZJ1-RVaTPSxj96NMTH9YDtA4sDUJUuRwEnslEMIdKA5vC4KXc4QSCLB/s320/IMG_0300.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337703605304328274" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(My Dissertation Minutes Before Hand-in. A Proud Moment)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Its been a while since my last post, but this is not due to a lack of material, its due to a lack of time. In the weeks away I've handed in the single most important piece of university work, performed in multiple concerts and have been preparing for more essays, and more performances.<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My university life is drawing to a close now, and to be brutally honest, I'm not f***ing happy about it. I love university, I like my friends here, I like having my thirst for knowledge quenched to the point of confusion, but more importantly I'll miss the places. The music block, where I've spent hours and hours singing and drumming, the library (where I've spent less time than anywhere else, but thats not the point) reading and learning. The chapel, where every tuesday for the past 3 years I've either watched or performed in the Lunchtime concert, and finally the students union bar. This place holds some of the fondest memories, no matter when it was, whether after after concerts and in betwixt lessons, times were always fun. Im so glad I know people in their second year so I can come back to visit and use their student status to visit my beloved university once more.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Enough of the sob fest anyways, I've got more annoying matters to attend to. First things first. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Eurovision Song Contest. Now don't get me wrong, I watch it every year and I laugh my arse off at some of the s**t that perform, but it used to be funny because of the unbelievably politically incorrect comments </span><a href="http://roverchris405.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/terrylge.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Terry Wogan</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> came out with. </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01071/health-graphics-20_1071862a.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Graham Norton</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> who took over from Wogan this year, was, to put it frankly, shit. There was no </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8tuRKUlUS4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">outright ribbing</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> that would of been commonplace with Wogan.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Because of the lack of my mate Terry, I decided to make notes on all of the performances, as if I was commentating. So here is what I wrote. These haven't been edited from when I wrote them as the performances happened. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">1.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Lithuania - strange guy with a stupid hat - Shit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">2.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Israel - Drummers playing biscuit tins - Shit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">3.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> France - Woman who sounded like she had a "FROG" in her throat. Pun definitely intended.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">4.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Sweden - Happiest but weirdest woman ever... POP-Opera with the Magic Flute-esq Queen of the night aria bit... White stage for chorus is a bit weird, can hardly bloody see.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">5. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Croatia - Huge pervert right off the bat. Crazy creepy smile. Keep your children away.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">6. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Portugal - Shit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">7. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Iceland - A young, normal looking Girl... woah is it possible? Great voice. not a bad song. Mammoth backing singers though... PUT DOWN THE FORK! </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">8. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Greece - Gayest Guy Ever... WORST ROUTINE EVER!!!!! - Shit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">9. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Armenia - Sisters... Inga and Anush... An amalgamation of Shakira, The Corrs and Depeche Mode... weird... Strangely catchy...Everytime I Hear it back it gets better.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">10. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Russia - shit song...Weird that her face is all over the stage slowly aging. Disgusting.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">11. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Azerbaijan - boy and girl duet - very ricky martin. weird dancing/Gymnastics. Again... Shit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">12. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Bosnia & Herzegovina - A Band - apparently have supported the rolling stones. Absolutely wank...REALLY WANK. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">13. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Moldova - Weird woman, good voice. Shakira style. Muppet men backing dancers. They look like there desperate for a pee. One bloke backing singer stood way back, with a huge spear thing. no idea why. Shit.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">14. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Malta - Voice sounds like the opposite of what she looks like. </span><a href="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00472/snn1919q_472233a.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Michelle McManus</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> springs to mind. Power ballad, not bad to be honest.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">15. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Estonia - a sextet of string playing ladies. Nice song, classical yet modern.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">16. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Denmark - written by </span><a href="http://www.360magazine.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/ronan-keating.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Ronan Keating</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">... Very stars in your eyes. Hes singing doing an impression of Ronan Keating... WHY?... Surprise surprise, Shit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">17. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Germany - </span><a href="http://wiwibloggs.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/dita_von_teese_021.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Dita Von Teese</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> is on stage and gets down to her smalls... Gay electro/swing song...Lead singer has SILVER sparkly pants, For f**k sake... Awful scatting section... AND Tap Dancing! f**king tap dancing! Shit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">18. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Turkey - Yet another Shakira/Beyonce wannabe. Shit song. Skimpy costumes... for Turkey... STANDARD!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">19. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Albania - Shit. Weird.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">20. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Norway - favourite to win... How?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">21. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Ukraine - Weird set...centurian dancers... </span><a href="http://www.catalogs.com/info/bestof/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/joan_rivers.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Joan Rivers</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> face, Shit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">22. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Romania - Lovely ladies, but still poor.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">23. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">UK - here we go...shit song. Powerfull voice but a bit too screechy.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">24. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Finland - I feel like I'm 14 again, one bloke rapping, 3 girls singing. Catchy dance song, nice harmonies. One of the best (of a REALLY bad bunch).</span></span></p> <div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">25. Spain - Weird dancers again. Rubbish song with stupid lyrics. "I wanna shake me, I wanna shake me".</span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Grow a pair Norton. You've got big shoes to fill, and sort your voice out. Muppet.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Moving swiftly on, I went to my local supermarket the other day to purchase some much needed food items. I went to the appropriate isles, collected the things I needed then proceeded to the checkout. The choice of which checkout would turn out to be my downfall. When I arrived at the checkout (The last one at the far back of the store, probably about a quarter of a mile from the entrance) the man was serving a girl in front of me. I thought nothing of it as I was texting my girlfriend at the time. The girl gathered her stuff and moved on, and I moved forward, "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeello" said the man, I looked confused for a second, whether I had dreamt his strange greeting, but he stared at me waiting for some sort of confirmation of it. I quickly muttered "Hi" to break the strange staring match, snap, immediately he proceeded to run all my items through the till. When he finished he told me the amount to pay and signaled to the chip and pin machine with no less enthusiasm than </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FID1CiB4bcU"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Vincent Price reading Edger Allen Poe</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. I mean for f**k sake, you work in a supermarket, your not </span><a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2008/12/10/hamlet460.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Patrick Stewart doing Shakespeare at The Globe</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, get some perspective. He even folded the receipt in the most peculiar way, he looked at it for a few seconds before starting it. I thought to myself "Jesus christ, judging by the 'Enter your pin' performance he's gonna go at this hammer and tongs and make some sort of f**king swan out of it". Inside I was crying with laughter but on the surface I looked confused and slightly angry, I don't think he noticed to tell the truth, he probably gets it alot. Make no mistake I was gone before he could break into a parting song.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On monday afternoon/evening I went for a few drinks with the usual suspects from uni. Edric, Dave DB, Dave "Windbag" and Mark, or alternatively, Horse, Bull, Meerkat and Badger respectively. Sean and Phil (Sloth and Otter) were indisposed so were unable to make it. Needless to say, we had a great laugh, we were all half cut and DB was off his face on nicotine patches so that provided plenty of entertainment as well. We moved from a pub called The Last Drop Inn (which does a cracking pint called Guzzler, try it if you know where it is) to another old man pub called The Handsome Cab (which is a Samuel Smith's brewery pub, which means 2 things. Good quality and cheap). After a pint and 5 bags of Mini Cheddars for the badger, we were just about ready to leave, but previously the badger had told me about the prophylactic machine in the mens toilets and that I had to check it out (No idea why, he can be quite strange). But I was curious to what could of amused him so much, and behold, the answer lay before me. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb7G-G66fhb8GJDDjXmj6lN3b8D1mftW10frqLOK0zkBNOFtj6GWQu40RrTF5FQ-4uEZUFC2MEDaA0TUAkmQRAyyo6fywFXI1UsXZPVYZwAbvgzLPxgSFfPOF5WaAVcSsovur9h6LIA5h_/s1600-h/IMG_0305.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb7G-G66fhb8GJDDjXmj6lN3b8D1mftW10frqLOK0zkBNOFtj6GWQu40RrTF5FQ-4uEZUFC2MEDaA0TUAkmQRAyyo6fywFXI1UsXZPVYZwAbvgzLPxgSFfPOF5WaAVcSsovur9h6LIA5h_/s320/IMG_0305.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337704015752298434" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Notice the amount of time taken to brand their product, oh wait, there ISN'T a brand, only the name of the company who owns the machine itself. Now I didn't purchase any of these, I wouldn't even bother out of curiosity, because quite frankly, a plastic shopping bag and an elastic band would do a better job than these "Super Lubricated Protectives". I thought the small piece of information on STI's was a nice touch too, nothing gets a mans juices flowing more than the thought of some genital disease. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As always I will leave you with a little slice of Youtube, and this week comes in the form of an A Cappella performance of a Randy Newman song by The Kings Singers. These guys are absolutely awesome and the whole performance is just top class. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANIj1wfMuK4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Enjoy</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thanks always for reading. My next post might not be for a few weeks, but keep your eyes peeled.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take it EZ</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LW</span></div>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-57348333740777069332009-04-28T17:13:00.000-07:002009-04-28T18:57:59.725-07:00Things That Just Don't Mix<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tonight I went out for a few drinks with friends at a local restaurant. En route, my friend Edric and I were walking innocently along the pavement (as a pedestrian should do) and unbeknown to us there was the mother of all f***ing puddles ahead of us by the side of the road. In fact I would go so far as to call it a pond, this thing was gargantuan. Anyway, we continued along the street towards our destination when some brainless f*** </span><insert><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">chose to drive directly through the puddle thus giving us the </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Md6LBdfIcY"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">soaking of a lifetime</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Needless to say we weren't best pleased and as such, we hurled every name under the sun at the driver</span><insert><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. After a good few moments of moaning like disgruntled old men, we continued on to the restaurant called El Gringos, which is a tiny Tex-Mex place that does a student night on a tuesday.</span></insert></insert><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><insert><insert><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35290856@N04/3484920964/" title="Picture 4 by M34 to YO31, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "></span></span></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35290856@N04/3484920964/" title="Picture 4 by M34 to YO31, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3341/3484920964_141e034876.jpg" width="500" height="325" alt="Picture 4" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div></insert></insert><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Thanks to Google Maps for the Picture including a Chavvy Mum)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We got there, less than happy, more than damp, and ordered some beers. Edric and myself sat at a table at the far end of the restaurant with a large group of friends, on closer inspection of the interior decor, as I expected there were obvious native american paraphernalia, as well as american junk too, but for some strange reason, completely un be-known to me (And I think other people too) they had Jamaican flags and posters of Bob Marley. Please can someone explain to me what that signifies? Because I really don't have a clue. But upon a second probing I noticed something else that was extremely disconcerting, the ceiling was leaking directly over the light fixtures. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRoV07hvAlIcmezDJjjNdmY9-vD0xbjLMl9lJ2ehK2xObqxESUB5nVo_DtT4VMAEyZDRsg9gnU0VLMGO6oZvxJszX9YzWkGXp-gyhOYcdt6dt2L967du7uI7zKmjFVTxWQ-FZl_mBY5uP/s320/Elgringo+ceiling.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329913194660531602" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now I'm certainly no expert, and please do forgive me if I'm wrong, but electricity and water, aren't they two things that should be kept separate? Like </span><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3484166863_9863be27a2_o.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Manuel Uribe and McDonalds</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">? Yep he definitely <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">is </span>"Lovin' It". Call me old fashioned but come on, isn't that something that shouldn't really happen in a restaurant? I bet they payed off the health and safety officer with San Miguel and Burritos. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So in summary, things I have seen today that just don't mix.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1. Pedestrians, cars and puddles</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2. Tex-Mex restaurants and Jamaican Paraphernalia </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3. Electricity and water.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">4. Manuel Uribe and McDonalds</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As always I will leave you with a treat from the bottomless pit that is YouTube, but seeing as though it worked so well in the past... </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqc5_zTswDo"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Heaven</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> or </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY5bLkaEX2w"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hell</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> awaits. Enjoy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As always thanks for reading.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take it EZ</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LW </span></div><div><br /></div>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-5796735861051144042009-04-28T09:05:00.000-07:002009-04-28T13:11:47.242-07:00Update On Last Nights Events...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">his is just a small post to confirm last night was officially a success. A few people who s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">hould </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">of been there (not naming names Sean and Phil), weren't, so there was an air of disappointment at the beginning of the night, but all was soon forgotten. There were also a few issues where to eat (we visited two places before we decided on the third) but when we did decide it was apparent that our choice was completely justified. We settled on a place called the Indian Lounge, which is situated in the centre of York. I'd heard great things from a few friends who have made this their regular curry house. </span><div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV3SGdcVIiajPdvVljQXBQ2rYi8jHm6enYXjlQ6gUdf8gGaJYGjzoJAXbRaa8YCvWPGifqAA8YtRsHCYRIlqdy5cK13khvKQR6UpLb1WfwjQb8i104x-phszA_u1S5mB9lVR30SA0f21BR/s400/thumb_Indian_Lounge_web_1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329828371610134930" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Sorry for the shit picture)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anyway, after ordering four glasses of water and four bottles of Kingfisher, we tackled the menu. After much deliberation we ordered, and we waited in anticipation of the a variable smorgasbord of delights that was incoming and also to the evening ahead.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSTX0rn3GR_0B6Ob3VzarTU5s-JbLNKP3cOhENhRy0SIvvxfFiN3krsyT_naBG97AS1jV3VvFoIIkIUePJ8doLsLNnBJwxzWJTsqHsmvIxjq-bGz04X99_Ok0cbjIz5FwbAke2rDNLl15Z/s320/IMG_0267.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329829793954783074" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Mark and Ed clearly happy with their food selection)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The food arrived after a short wait and its safe to say we weren't disappointed. No time was wasted getting stuck in to it, and soon all four of us began to feel quite stuffed. The food was absolutely awesome and I think I speak for Ed, Mark, Dave and myself when I say that. </span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgBVj07Yo-h7KZ4fV9hz7iqRu0Rz5dxdBv7utaBkkA1TMi2LFGTC9Na6bZEVu_c5RziV-Aj9gBoEmY1o4-WLt_r4vBlWyzNzL5jmDzPGYmKbqBeRUBn7wpUJPHXxJfbaRq6zYA67DqZPM/s1600-h/IMG_0274.JPG" style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><img style="text-decoration: underline;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgBVj07Yo-h7KZ4fV9hz7iqRu0Rz5dxdBv7utaBkkA1TMi2LFGTC9Na6bZEVu_c5RziV-Aj9gBoEmY1o4-WLt_r4vBlWyzNzL5jmDzPGYmKbqBeRUBn7wpUJPHXxJfbaRq6zYA67DqZPM/s320/IMG_0274.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329830914398230834" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(The Post-Feed Destruction) </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We continued on to a few bars for some drinks and a good night was had by all. Thanks to all the boys for making an effort and roll on the next Dress Up Monday. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As this is only a tiny post I won't leave you with anything crazy, or funny. Just a great song with a great video. I hope you </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBCVbgT4dY"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">enjoy it</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thanks as always for reading.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take it EZ</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LW</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">P.S - Apologies to anyone who tried to decipher yesterdays post title. The last two digits were spelt incorrectly in the morse alphabet. I have rectified the problem, so consider the competition re-open. Thats of coarse if you really care. Thanks - LW</span></div>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-66790795808374054422009-04-27T06:45:00.000-07:002009-04-28T10:08:08.903-07:00.--. --- ... - -. ..- -- -... . .-. .---- ---..<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you are wondering why the title for this post consists of only dots and dashes, you might recognize the seemingly unrecognizable jumble as Morse Code. It is in homage to Samuel Morse who would of celebrated his birthday today. Unfortunately he died along time ago, but I enjoy the simplicity of what he invented, so I thought I'd use it. If you want to decipher it, be my guest and I might even arrange a little prize for the first person to do it and email the answer, probably in the form of a congratulatory note or something of equivalent value.<br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6lv_M7AWuR4NZ1kM0FMIQT9ACOmr7X-fAaLPSWeFpzGHzbu_pg85iA6Poz2mFUWhf9uFkGGO9YWfjvIHib5Z8Fks5kI4aoxMN687hj7o2sgwNyodjwKBFE_Ly-oEtZbUkz_qKgMGe2nAT/s320/IMG_0266.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329404120282662882" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On my time away from posting, I've been on my travels somewhat. I've been back to Manchester for a few days and I also traveled to London for 3 days with my girlfriend Sam. I was looking forward to going to "The Big Smoke" as they call it, because I've only been when I was younger and when I've been accompanied with my parents so this was a guaranteed dose of adventure heading my way. At Manchester train station I spent £10 on a new razor and some shaving gel only to leave it on the train when I arrived at London so it wasn't the best start for my wallet, but the excitement soon over shadowed it. Sam had an audition at Laban dance school on the friday, so our plan was to do as much sight seeing on the wednesday and thursday. And god damn did we do some sigh seeing! Our tired feet were dragged everywhere, and here for your viewing pleasure is a small slideshow of our trip. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><object width="400" height="350"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F35290856%40N04%2Fsets%2F72157617393101926%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F35290856%40N04%2Fsets%2F72157617393101926%2F&set_id=72157617393101926&jump_to="> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=70933"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=70933" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F35290856%40N04%2Fsets%2F72157617393101926%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F35290856%40N04%2Fsets%2F72157617393101926%2F&set_id=72157617393101926&jump_to=" width="400" height="350"></embed></object><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Captions:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1. Tube Map</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2. Random Fixie</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3. Two sharks Chillaxin'</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">4. Nemo</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">5. Dory</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">6. Me stood above the sharks</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">7. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">London's equivalent of York's stupid Purple dude.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">8. The Eye</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">9. Relaxin with some legends. John Cage, Merce Cunningham</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">10. More legends. Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">11. Me after some experimental surgery</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">12. Random nice street in Shoreditch</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">13. St. Pauls</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I hope you enjoyed that, obviously the trip was alot more involved but I didn't take a great deal of photographs, so do forgive the lack of consistency. But Sam and me both had an amazing time and if you've never been, then I would urge you to make the effort to go. You won't regret it.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Moving swiftly on to more current matters. As I'm writing this, I am in great anticipation of the night that lies ahead. Tonight is the first of many events that we have dubbed "Dress Up Monday". Basically for no apparent reason, were going to get gussied up, go out and have some beverages. Its only going to happen once a month so its important for everyone to make an effort. Im sure I'll be posting a few pictures of my friends making idiots of themselves or a certain friend trying to attract the </span><a href="http://m34toyo31.blogspot.com/2009/03/one-for-ladies.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">opposite sex</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCaQNtYZ24EHJF3hGu1QM4ZND0eckLZ8Y6uRCuH3o7Fgw9oyMK9SR_WAx8eQscB3sLBb57QpyThyQn6iVEDeRwAC6Rb2UxVfF2zLodxobqK3x825H3xYlr8MDHS4G3XyYla_9IVZRpjqF/s1600-h/Ed.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCaQNtYZ24EHJF3hGu1QM4ZND0eckLZ8Y6uRCuH3o7Fgw9oyMK9SR_WAx8eQscB3sLBb57QpyThyQn6iVEDeRwAC6Rb2UxVfF2zLodxobqK3x825H3xYlr8MDHS4G3XyYla_9IVZRpjqF/s400/Ed.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329423178087827282" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Its O.K to want a piece ladies!</span>)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On that note, I will leave you with a classic song that I somehow stumbled across again. If you don't sing along then you really arnt human! </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iy3uy65xmI"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Enjoy</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thanks always for reading</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take it EZ</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LW</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326058915322676986.post-78519043192098129112009-04-15T17:28:00.000-07:002009-04-15T17:50:55.060-07:00New Look!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Whilst sat watching Tv I decided that I fancied a change. So like <a href="http://www.holofote.com/files/imagem-909-nomeThumbImagem.JPG">Carol Smillie on acid</a>, I went forth with the make over. I hope you like the new look, if you don't, its tough shit really. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In celebration of my pretty looking blog, heres a beautifully shot video from Paris. Thanks to Sam from Leeds Fixed Gear for making me aware of this.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><div><br /></div><div><div><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://video.mpora.com/ep/HkULoNAbv/"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://video.mpora.com/ep/HkULoNAbv/" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">More <a href="http://mpora.com/other/">Other</a> >></span><br /><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take it EZ</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LW</span></div></div>LIam Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920714160965090474noreply@blogger.com2