Christmust Haves Vol.2

Sorry for the delay in getting this out. I didn’t want to launch it without any artwork. I worried about it too much in fact so in the end so in the end the cover is an image I randomly found online. The guy has a Jesus vibe to him and his t-shirt carries a sweet irony. At some point I am going to work up a painted portrait of this pic. Anyway, I hope you like it, I enjoy hearing artists try something out of their normal reach but also hearing artists do a style of song in their own way.

I will put a slight warning in to say that one track has a ‘bleeped’ expletive. Choose to omit this when you listen if you wish.

Download Christmust Haves Vol.2 here.

For those who want Volume.1 you can access it here.

Keep on running.

On Sunday the 11th Oct Becky and I are both running the Royal Parks half marathon in London.

We are running for 2 reasons.

For Andy
A friend of ours who was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in his right femur in February 2008 at the age of 41. Since then he has had the primary tumour removed by replacing his right knee with a Titanium one and had six months of Chemotherapy. In November 2008 he had secondary tumours removed from both lungs. Andy has not been declared free from cancer and is still receiving treatment. To read more about Andy’s fight against Cancer, visit his BLOG. He’s a top bloke and a great dad.

For Pauline
Oct 14th this year will mark one year since Becky lost her mum to cancer. Pauline was an amazing mother, grandmother and friend.

So how can you help?
We are running as one of Andy’s Angels, a team of Andy’s friends and family who have run a fair few races to raise money for charity, specifically the BCRT and the Willen Hospice. To read more about these charities and about Andy and his angels and indeed to help us out and make a donation/sponsorship type gift, please click here.

Anything you can give will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

The Fourth Kind

The fourth Kind, ladies and gentlemen is the dark brother of that Richard Dreyfuss movie we know so well. Using the lead actress to approach us as herself to create anticipation for this ‘true events’ story. Real footage, apparently we are being shown hints that Owls may well be the devils of the stars. Check it out here

Eye of the Tiger

There are just 6 weeks til Becks and I run the Royal Parks half marathon. We have been training for some time and I would safely say that I’m still shattered every time I run but it’s moved on from being a ‘I’m gonna throw up’ exhaustion to a ‘yeah!, feel the burn!’ exhaustion.

Running disciplines are some of the hardest in my opinion. You have to make time to do it, which is harder when time at home on weekdays is limited already. You have to progress and make goals, running 3 miles over and over won’t cut it, you have to increase your distance and you have to try and adapt your pace.

Our training has been international with the first few weeks consisting of long runs across the beaches of Mojacar and lately my runs have included an audiobook on learning Japanese.

Which brings me to your companion. If you are fortunate to actually have a running partner those mountains soon become hills, but for the majority of people, your friend is your iPod. So what do you listen to? I have tried podcasts which definetely pass the time but I find my pace and stamina all off because my focus is distracted, however it’s still a great choice. Musically I have tried out several options. Calming yet rhythmic classical music although a joy to listen to doesn’t cut the mustard for me. I’ve tried all sorts of Christian and mainstream artists and again not had the drive required.

Then it happened … Becks and I made the decison to watch all 6 Rocky movies which we achieved fairly quickly. Don’t care who you are you can’t help but get behind Balboa in anyone of those films. The Rocky soundtrack, specifically Rocky IV is packed with the kind of music you could run forever on. So now a run can start with something podcast based or a dash of this and that musically, but I always stick to a high majority and finale of Rocky music. It’s like running with boxing gloves on your feet. Every foot pound another knock to Ivan Drago’s face, another uppercut to Apollo Creed. So if you run, then do so with the Italian Stallion in your corner. Hearts on Fire people, Hearts on Fire.

Angels and Demons. No really.

Legion tells the story that God is tired of mankind so sends his angels to start the apocolypse, but the Archangel Michael is not gonna let this happen without a fight. Paul Bettany seems to be taking what I think is his first action hero role (correct me if I’m wrong). BE WARNED: If you don’t like scary movies don’t watch the trailer.

G.I. Joe Ballad

I like it when celebrities don’t take themselves too seriously and let loose. Nice job.

Iron Man 2 Comic-con Teaser

It goes without saying that Iron Man made a big leap in the field of ‘good’ comic movie adaptations. People who have been fans of Iron Man were not let down and people who were new to the franchise fell in love. Jon Favreau did a great job, so I’m confident he can deliver again. This comic-con teaser looks great.

The work of a Fairey

Sheperd Fairey has inspired many but also faced criticism from many. I’ve always been a fan of the style but also the process of his work. This video gives a hint into just how much effort he puts into his pieces.

Greatest Laugh. Ever.

Mark Twain once said

“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.”

This Jamaican tour guide is no exception. I love that a laugh can make a laugh. This guy = legend.

KFC, Rolf Harris, Quail Eggs, PVC and Jesus

Amongst the many perks of my job, our directors are kind to the obsessions of the staff, so Richard our resident West Ham fan wanted to watch his boys take on Tottenham as they played in China, but the game because of time differences was on during the day. So we had the projector out in the office with the game on. The projecor being up encouraged some horseplay with what specifically could be projected onto a persons chest.

Then somehow we progressed onto a photo being taken with each of us and an image that represented us most. As you do. So we had one with KFC, one with Rolf Harris (guess what nationality he is), one with quail eggs, one with burlesque dancers in PVC and for me an image of buddy christ as featured in Dogma. Amidst the random images I’ve just described it makes me smile that when they think of me, they think of Jesus. I now need to live up to it.