12/10/06

SITE UPDATE
I have updated my Design Portfolio adding contents pages and some additional work. I have added a lot more pictures to the Photography section of the site. Pictures from my two recent surf trips to Newquay can be found in: England: Devon and Cornwall. There are a few pictures from this years Reading Festival in: England: Reading Festival. Photographs from my 10 year HND reunion are in: England: London and: Greater London.

Cool as has now been viewed by over 10,400 people.

LIFE UPDATE
I have been extremely busy since I last updated the news section of Cool as... I wont bore you with all the details, as I don't have the time or the inclination. So here's the condensed version:

The day after V Festival (21/08/06) drove down to Cornwall with Steve, Lee and Indy for four days of surfing etc... See the Photos for more. Had an excruciating 8 hour drive back, helped out by Steve Smith. Although my car did not appreciate his Schumacher style of driving.

Next day (27/08/06) I headed to Reading Festival with Pete, my brother Andrew and his wife Sharon. Excellent day, highlights included: Forward Russia, Broken Social Scene, Placebo and Pearl Jam. Fantastic to finally see Pearl Jam live, Pete and I were down the front loving every minute.

(31/08/06) Supergrass playing a small hometown gig at the Zodiac. Excellent to see them in such a small venue. The rest of the crowd seemed indifferent though, plebs.

(02/09/06) Inigo's 30th birthday bash, held at his parents in Guildford and included the twin delights of a Bouncy Castle and Sumo suits. Excellent fun.

(05/09/06) Rocco Deluca gig at the Zodiac with Pete, Kris, Steve, Chris and Sue. Preceded by meal at Aziz. Very good gig, much better than I was expecting.

(09/09/06) Out in Oxford with Peks, friend I met whilst traveling in Australia, and his mates. Good night on the town. Saw our friend Sie and his heavily pregnant girlfriend the next day. Good to catch up after a year or two.

(13/09/06) Badly Drawn Boy gig at the Zodiac. I thought he was going to storm off the stage after the first song because the guitar amp wasn't working. He wasn't a happy man, but all was fixed and the gig went on. He played a great collection of songs, I'm hoping the new album will be another good 'un.

(15/09/06) The HND Reunion, 10 years on. Darrell was back visiting from Oz. Steve, Darrell, Diggs and I hit Kingston town on Friday night before going back to Diggs' and causing carnage. Saturday was the main event, we caught the train to London and were joined by Warren, Tom and Inigo for a memorable night on the sauce. Photographic evidence on my site.

(19/09/06) Back into London, with my Dad. Spending some quality time together. Checking out the National Gallery and the Palace of Westminster.

(23/09/06) Over to Cambridgeshire to visit the gramps before I head across the globe to Australia. Saturday night out in Ramsey with my old friend Stuart.

(24/09/06) Another gig at the Zodiac, The Bluetones. They were on good form, showcasing songs from their soon to be released eponymous album, which should be good judging by the new songs they played.

(06/10/06) Back down to London for the weekend. Out for a drink with Nicola on friday night. Caught up with my old buddy Stuart, before we shot over to Richmond for a beer or two. My first time out there since my student days 10 years ago.

(10/10/06) Watched the Lemonheads at Oxford Brooks Uni with Steve and Pete. An excellent gig, they must have played at least 40 songs. Including a solo acoustic set by Evan Dando, who must have been cryogenically frozen for the last 10 years because he still looks exactly the same as he did in the Lemonheads heyday.

12/09/06

SITE UPDATE
Cool as has recently been listed on the German website www.coolwebsites.dk. As a special treat for all the German visitors here's a few links you might appreciate:
Jump in my car
The Hoff
Knight Foundation

08/09/06

SITE UPDATE
I have recently added some more pictures to the Photography section of Cool as. You can see the photographs from the wedding of my brother Andrew and his wife Sharon. A rare (actually, the only) opportunity to see me clean shaven with short hair and a suit. I have also added a few pictures of Placebo and Pearl Jam from the Sunday at Reading Festival. There is also some aerial photography from my friend Steve Smith in England: The Shires.

Cool as has now been viewed by over 10,000 people.

19/08/06 - 20/08/06

V FESTIVAL SATURDAY
I met up with my friends Adam and Nick as we entered the festival camping grounds. For the last few years we had camped at a small unofficial site that had better facilities, space and, rarest of all, clean toilets. On arriving this year we were presented with an all too different situation. Official status had been awarded to our once small and friendly space mutating it into a sprawling monstrosity.

We trekked to the furthest part of the field in the vain hope that we would find enough space to erect our tents as the heavens opened in a short sharp downpour that soaked us to the skins. We found space for Nicks four man tent and decided to keep mine in reserve. After another trip to the car and another soaking we were safely ensconsed in the tent and set about consuming one of the crates of beer and bottles of vodka we had bought as we sat out the storm.

We arrived on the festival site, laden down with alcohol smuggled past security, in time to see Kula Shaker do their thing. A welcome return from Crispin and the boys, although their new songs did seem rather insubstantial and throwaway. I'm hoping that they can produce another album as good as their first one, otherwise their return will be a short lived one. We headed over to the main stage and caught the end of The Magic Numbers and consumed the remainder of our alcohol. Adam and I moved our way to the front for Bloc Party, managing to lose Nick to the crowd in the process.

Bloc Party were on excellent form and played a great set, although it would have been nice to see them play for longer and in more intimate surrounds but this is a festival so you take what you can get. Bloc Party stand head and shoulder above the current slew of indie bands, justifying the hype that surrounds them with superb songs that they can actually play live. More than enough to persuade even the most hardend synic.

After Bloc Party there was still no sign of Nick. Adam and I stayed down the front for Keane, I got tired of their albums very quickly but they did put on a good show and the crowd were into them.

After Keane Adam attempted to contact Nick on his mobile only to have Nicks phone answered by someone from St Johns ambulance, who informed us that Nick was in the First Aid tent. Adam and I made our way there to discover Nick being nursed back to sobriety by some helpful volunteers. Rather appropriately Beck was playing the openning chords to 'Loser', as we walked in. I'm sure Nick will thank me if I dont go into all the gory details. As Nick was in good hands, I decided that my time would be better spent back at the main stage watching Beck. It's what Nick would have wanted, had he been able to form a sentance I'm sure he would have told me to go and enjoy myself.

Back to Beck, a great performance with puppets, bear suits, cutlery and even a few songs thrown in for good measure. Good to see Beck taking things a little less seriously and enjoying himself. After Beck it was the moment I'd been waiting for, the time had finally arrived to see the boys from my home town and possibly the most innovative band currently in action. I'd seen they supporting R.E.M. at Milton Keynes Bowl many years ago, and had been forced to forefit seeing them on my 26th birthday due to a knee operation. After years of waiting I was finally going to see Radiohead. They fully lived up to my hopes and expectations, pulling off one of the greatest festival performances I've ever seen.


V FESTIVAL SUNDAY
Despite the torrential downpour and guttural screeching of the surrounding plebs, I managed to get a few hours sleep. Nick was surprisingly chipper, that drip must have really sorted him out. After a hearty breakfast Adam, Nick and I made our way to the main arena to meet up with Pete and Kris. We headed to Cider sponsored dance floor and bounced up and down for a while, before deciding it was far too early for that kind of thing. So we wandered over to the second stage to witness The Dandy Warhols.

I'm a big admirer of a great deal of The Dandy Warhols' back catalogue. Despite selling their souls to the corporate machine by licensing one of their songs to a mobile phone company, I was willing to give them a chance. I had seen their contemporaries 'The Brian Jonestown Massacre' (as featured with The Dandys on the documentary 'Dig') and had been blown away by the performance, one of the greatest gigs of my life. Whilst The BJM have yet to successfully capture the energy and amazing sound of their live performance on record, the complete opposite is true of The Dandys. Who proceeded to make even their best songs sound like ill conceived drivel.

Next up was a trip to the second stage for 'The Feeling' and their brand of insipid guitar pop. I'm not sure what it was that I was meant to be 'Feeling'; nausea, hate, indifference. Who knows. The Preening, sorry Feeling performed looking like they had just walked out of a marketing campaign for a soft drink company, they subjected us to a very dull set of songs. The fact that they had spent far too long in front of the mirror practicing their rock star moves was plain to see. Needless to say the crowd loved them.

After the disappointment of 'The Dandys' and 'The Feeling' I was hoping to be blown away be a great performance by Hard-Fi. They played with enthusiasm and they have a few great songs, but their performance didn't really do it for me. Maybe it was too early in the day, and the poor sound quality that let them down. I'll reserve judgment and give them the benefit of the doubt.

Paul Weller was next up on the main stage. The Jam songs he played were well received, as were the hits. I felt my attention begin to drift mid set though, not being a big fan myself. Faithless followed Weller, and whilst I'm no fan of theirs, my friends and the rest of the crowd lapped it up. The atmosphere they created can't be faulted and I found myself jumping up and down with the rest of the crowd.

Morrissey was the last act on the main stage, a strange choice for V(irgin) Festival. Which is usually very mainstream, as Morrissey himself pointed out 'You wont hear this new single on Virgin Radio'. The Crowed Booed and hissed at the injustice of it all, and Morrisseys' transition to pantomime dame was almost complete. His shameless plugging of the new single is probably just a sign of the times. All beside the point, perhaps, the music is what counts. I couldn't really fault Morrissey and his band on that score. A great performance from the opening strains of The Smiths' classic 'Panic' all the way through to the final crowd pleaser, another Smiths staple and one of the greatest songs ever made 'How Soon Is Now?'. Morrissey was in fine form tearing off three shirts and throwing them to the adoring crowd during the set.

18/08/06

FESTIVALS AND SURFING
This weekend I'm heading to V Festival in Chelmsford with a few friends to see Radiohead, Morrissey, Beck Morrissey, Editors, We Are Scientists, Gomez, The Dandy Warhols and a load more besides. Then on Tuesday I'm heading back down to Newquay with some friends for some more surfing until the Saturday when I'll be heading back in time for the Sunday of Reading Festival. Where I will finally get to see Pearl Jam play live.

SITE UPDATE
Although I have loads of photos to add to my site I haven't been completely idle. I have added a new 'Design Portfolio' section to the site, showcasing my commercial design work from my last seven years of employment. There is still more to come. Cool As... has now been visited by over 9,500 people.

12/08/06

RUGBY SEVENS
A day out in Twickenham with the family watching the 12 Premiership clubs battle it out in the Rugby Sevens on the Twickenham turf. My Dad is a big fan of Rugby and invited me along, I've never been a big fan myself but I enjoyed watching England beat Australia in the World Cup. The Sevens games were very fast paced and held my interest for the whole day, which is something of an achievement in itself. It seems like a long time since I used to work behind the bar at the Harlequins Rugby ground in Twickenham whist studying graphic design at Kingston University. It was ten years ago, time flies. After the Rugby I jumped in my car and headed to Bicester for the annual beer and jazz festival with Pete, Kris and other assorted friends. I didn't manage to sample all 23 beers on offer, but I gave it my best shot.

29/07/06

THE TEMPEST
A trip into Stratford-upon-Avon with some friends, spending the afternoon seeing the sites before heading to 'The Dirty Duck' (formerly known as the black swan), for a meal. The main reason for the trip was to see William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre. We had fantastic seats in the third row, as I'd booked the tickets almost a year ago when they went on sale. The play featured RSC Honorary Associate Artist Patrick Stewart (X-Men and Star Trek: The Next Generation) playing Prospero. It was amazing to see one of the Worlds greatest actors on the stage performing Shakespeare.

24/07/06

BANDWAGONESQUE
Took a half day off work and wandered along the south bank in London, before checking out the latest exhibits at the Tate Modern. In the evening I headed over to Kentish Town to see the band Teenage Fanclub perform their second (and in my opinion, greatest) album 'Bandwagonesque' in its entirety. Followed by an encore that lasted over an hour, featuring some of the greatest songs from their six other albums. The gig was organized as a part of the 'don't look back' series where an artist or group who has created a seminal, or bloody good, album plays it from start to finish. This made for a unique and truly exceptional experience.

13/07/06 - 20/07/06

NETHERLANDS
My third trip to Holland in as many years. I flew into Amsterdam and spent the afternoon wandering around the centre before getting the train to Eindhoven, where I was staying with my friend Loes. Who I met in Perth (Western Australia) whilst traveling. Loes and I, and a load of her friends, went to 'Extrema', a dance festival held on the shores of an artificial lake. There were over seven stages and hundreds of DJs including Sasha, Deep Dish, Speedy J and Josh Wink, to name a few. We also spent some time at the bar where Loes' brother works, where he kept us well supplied with free beer. Great guy. I had a relaxing week spending a couple of days at her parents beach house. The weather was fantastic whilst I was there. Although the heat did cause the train I was meant to catch back to Amsterdam, to melt. As a result I missed my flight home and had to fly early the next day and head straight to work from the airport. I'll be adding pics from my trip as soon as I get the time. I have a big backlog of pictures to add, I still haven't put any pics from my brother and Sharon's wedding in May. A very rare chance to see me in a suit.

06/07/06

MY BIRTHDAY
That time of year again. The last time I'll be celebrating my birthday in England for a while.

30/06/06 - 03/07/06

NEWQUAY - SURF CITY UK
On Friday the 30th of June, Lee, Dave and I drove down to Newquay in North Cornwall for an extended weekend of surfing. The weather was beautiful, it being the start of the short lived heat wave. We camped just outside of town and consumed our fair share of alcohol in the evenings to ease our aches and aid our sleep. We surfed Porthtowan beach on the north coast, which is in a fantastic location with high cliffs surrounding the beach. I tried Lee's short (pro) board on the first outing but found it hard to catch anything and when I did I lost momentum and sank almost immediately. Dave hired a beginners board which he leant me on the second day as he had decided to divide his time between the beach and the bar. I got on a lot better catching most of the waves I went for. The surf wasn't really up to much on the last day so we spent the afternoon fishing before heading back home. Lee took some time out to complete a death defying dive into a rock pool. I took a load of pictures which I will add to the site when I get a chance.

23/06/06

SITE UPDATE
The Foo Fighters gig in Hyde park last Saturday was very an excellent day out, could have been louder but the weather and company couldn't have been any better. Pictures from the day are on my site in Photography: England: Foos at Hyde Park. I have also added photographs from my brothers stag do last month in Photography: England: Andrew's stag.

16/06/06

GIG UPDATE
I have been to see loads of live music over the last couple of months, managing to get to six gigs in May as well as moving house, organizing my brothers stag do and writing a speech for the wedding.

The day after my brothers stag do I went to see The Mystery Jets at the Zodiac in Oxford. A good eclectic gig with support from the Spinto Band and some energetic kids on crystal meth whose name escapes me.

The day after moving house I went to see I Am Kloot at The Rising Moon in Putney. Another good gig, although I was flagging by the end after the previous days exertion and a beer or five at the pub whilst the FA Cup final played out in the background. The following day I went to see The Rakes at Oxford Brooks Student Union. Well worth seeing live, they blitzed through just about all the songs from their debut album along with a smattering of new tracks which sounded equally impressive.

I had almost a week off before seeing The Decemberists at The Zodiac in Oxford, which was one of the best gigs I've been to in ages. The songs were pretty much note perfect and the band were up for a good time, exchanging some friendly banter with the crowd. A couple of days later I saw The Shins at Brooks, they pulled of a good set but had the worst support band I have ever seen.

A whole week past before the next gig and it was up there with the best gigs I've ever been to, and I've been to quite a few. I was very impressed by The Brian Jonestown Massacre who played for a whole two and a half hours at The Zodiac in Oxford. Having only recently discovered them I had spent the last couple of weeks familiarising myself with their impressive back catalogue of 12 albums (all available to download for free from their website). The albums do not do their sound justice, the songs sounded a hundred times better live, amped up to the max with five guitarists giving it their all. Fantastic, go see them if you ever get a chance.

Tomorrow I'm off to Hyde Park to witness The Foo Fighters, Motorhead, Queens of the Stone Age and a couple more bands besides in the warm summer sun. Right I'm off to get a six pack and sit in the garden whilst the sun is still shining.

05/06/06

NEW BEGINNINGS
May was a very busy month featuring some life changing events, starting with my brother Andrew's Stag do, followed by moving house and ending in my brothers marriage to Sharon. I also managed to get to a gig or six in between these momentous occasions.

ANDREW'S STAG DO
Andrew, my little brother (not so little anymore), gave me the dubious honor of being his best man. After much debate we whittled down the options to; A weekend in Prague, an off-road rally session followed by a night on the ale or paintballing followed by a night on the ale. The logistics of organizing a trip to Prague was far too complicated so we scratched that idea. My brother was rooting for the off-road rallying, but as he does not hold a driving license and has no sense of direction I thought paintballing was the safest option. Plus we had the added bonus of being able to shoot Andrew repeatedly and watch him cry like a little girl.

The big day arrived on Saturday 06/05/06. Although Andrew is the biggest wimp in the county Andrew fought back the tears and smiled throughout the day. Although his face did drop when I showed him what he would be wearing; a full length red sequined dress and blonde plaits. Unfortunately the dress would not fit over his combat fatigues so he wore it in the evening instead, after some gentle persuasion. He slipped into it in the toilets of the Bullingdon Arms on the Cowley road in Oxford, and I must say he looked very fetching. I will put some pictures on my site as soon as I get a chance. Despite being extremely reticent to get dressed up, he was glad of the female attention he received and I think he may well have found his 'look'.

After several rounds of drinks in the Bully we headed up the road to the indian restaurant Aziz. The meal was great although one of our party, Stuart, felt aggrieved at the cost of the popadoms and made his feelings abundantly clear. Which got us a refund and Stuart banned. After the Indian the drinking and merriment continued unabated.

MOVING HOUSE
Less than a week after the stag do (12/05/06), it was time to move house. My home on and off for 23 years, had been sold after a year or so on the market and it was time to go. It was down to myself, Mum and her friend Colin to shift all our worldly goods a mile down the road to the new house, with the help of a van and all the strength we could muster. Everything was packed and ready to go by about 12.00am the previous night. The van was loaded by 1.00pm, so we enjoyed a brief respite in the sun drenched garden and scoffed down fish 'n' chips from the Chippie across the road.

At 2.30pm we had the call from the Solicitors that the money had been paid and we could collect the keys. On the way to collect the keys we had a call from the people moving into our old house asking what time we would be out, as they were ready and waiting with two huge lorry loads and about twenty removals men. When we got to the estate agents it turned out that although the money had left our account it had not arrived in the other account, even though we were using the same solicitors as the person whose house we were moving into, so they could not release the keys. After waiting for almost an hour we were finally handed the keys, and dashed back to unload the first van full.

We unloaded the first van in record time and rushed back to load up the second lot, but the pressure was on so the van wasn't as efficiently loaded. We were good to go at about 5.00pm. Rush hour on our busy road with no room to maneuver. I saw a break in the traffic and went for it, unfortunately the guy who had bought our house had chosen to park his car in the path of the tail lift of my truck. This resulted in a nice scuff on his bumper and a neat little scratch along his wing. Fortunately, for me, the vans insurers picked up the cost.

Everything was off the truck by about 8.00pm. Although there are still boxes waiting to be unpacked almost a month later. Never again. I have resolved to sell all my worldly goods on ebay and live out of a ruck sack from now on.

ANDREW AND SHARON TIE THE KNOT
After five years together as a couple, my brother Andrew and his fiancé Sharon got married at Aylesbury registry office on Saturday 27/05/06. As best man I was in charge of making sure that Andrew and the rings got there in a reasonable state. Little did I know that I would also have to actually pay for the wedding as well. Andrew had conveniently forgotten to bring the money to pay for the actual wedding to take place, fortunately I was planning on having a few beers that evening so my beer tokens covered the cost and I didn't have to have a whip round. The service itself was very good with Sharon and her uncle both reading poems and Andrew managed to repeat the wedding vows with only a few minor errors.

After the wedding we headed over to The Fisherman at Shabbington for the reception and photos, and let's not forget the speeches. All the speeches went down well, you can read mine here if you like: Al's Best Man Speech

Unfortunately it rained for 90% of the day so the majority of the photos were taken inside. I'll put some of the pics online as soon as I get hold of them and a spare five minutes. We didn't let the rain spoil things and a good time was had by all. The evening do was held in the function room at the Snooker Club in Thame. I was in charge of handing out drink tokens and sorting out trouble makers, but everyone was in a good mood and everyone was well behaved so I could concentrate on the serious tasks of drinking and dancing like a fool. Outdone, only by my brother.

Andrew and Sharon are currently on their Honeymoon in New York City. They made it through customs after a few hours of queuing, finger prints, retinal scans but no full body cavity searches this time.

SITE UPDATE
I will be starting work on an update to my portfolio section shortly. Cool As... has now been visited by over 9,099 people.

25/04/06

URBAN COLLECTIVE
See my latest submission for Urban Collective: Theme: Warhol, at: www.urbancollective.com

SITE UPDATE
The photography section of Cool As... is finally up to date. There are 1,065 pictures for your viewing pleasure. I have also added a couple more sketchbooks to the illustration section. Cool As... has now been visited by over 8,900 people.

03/04/06

THE CRIMEA, SECRET MACHINES, SETH LAKEMAN, SIGUR ROS, MOGWAI AND MICHAELANGELO (ALMOST)
I have been a busy abusing my eardrums at a bunch of gigs around town over the last month, starting with The Crimea downstairs at the Zodiac in Oxford on 19/03/06. It was a tiny gig but the band played as if their lives depended on it, putting their heart and soul into every song. A very good performance, their debut album 'Tragedy Rocks' is well worth checking out as is their single 'Lottery Winners On Acid'.

The following week I took in Secret Machines, who were playing upstairs at the Zodiac in Oxford on 23/03/06. We missed the support group, as a consequence of spending a bit too long in the pub before the gig. Secret Machines themselves were very good and very loud. People were leaving with blood pouring from their ears as well as their eyes. Their lighting crew must have thought they were illuminating a Jean Michelle Jar concert at Wembley Stadium (stadium, what stadium?). We were subjected to bursts of blinding strobe lights as well as searing spotlights aimed at head height that continually swept the crowd. As a result the Secret Machines were in silhouette through the majority of the gig and by the end of the night my eyeballs were running down my cheeks like some kind of Dali-esque clock.

A few days later on 26/03/06 I went to see Seth Lakeman at the behest of my friend, Katie, who's a big fan. Although not so much of a fan that she would recognize Seth whilst buying his latest album from him at the T-Shirt stand. He played a very good set and his music is definitely worth checking out if you want some laid back folk.

A couple of days after that I headed into London on 26/03/06 to see the mighty Sigur Ros, who created the best album of 2005 with the sublime Takk... Those of you lucky enough to live in the UK and own a TV will have heard the Sigur Ros song hoppípolla being used as the soundtrack to the BBC’s epic new nature series ‘planet earth’. I'm digressing, the gig was a fantastic awe inspiring experience. I could go on but I'll spare you.

The day after the Sigur Ros gig I attempted to gain entry to the new Michelangelo exhibition at the British Museum, which reunites material not seen together since the dispersal of the artist's studio more than 400 years ago. Unfortunately it was completely sold out for the day. So I went for a wander in and around Hyde Park. I took a few pics which you can see in the Photography section of Cool as... under England/London check them out.

I attempted to get tickets for Radiohead the weekend before last. Even though I was online as the tickets went on sale, at the ungodly hour of 9am on a Saturday morning, I was thwarted by my slow 56k connection at home.

On Saturday 01/04/06 I went to see Mogwai play at Oxford Brooks Student Union with a few friends. They created some truly epic soundscapes, switching between subtly realized piano symphonies and searing feedback soaked full on in your face guitar, although I think they lost the attention of a couple of my mates a couple of times.

03/03/06

THE MIGHTY BOOSH
I saw the Mighty Boosh live on stage in Oxford, the weekend before last. Much hilarity ensued. It's not every day that you see a man sodomised by a seven foot tall rabit live on stage. Coming at you like a bag of cocks, genious.

LIVE MUSIC
On Wednesday I headed to deepest darkest Nam (Birming-Nam, that is) to see Jack Johnson at the NEC, quite a big venue for his more layed back sound. I was fortunate enough not to have anyone taller than myself standing in front of me so my view was great and I got close enough to the front for it to still seem slightly intimate. Although, of course, it would have been a lot better in a small venue, but Jack seems to be heading for the big time at the moment. He was on for over 2 hours and must have played just about every song he's written, a good gig.

I saw the Futureheads play a special little gig in Oxford on Tuesday night, showcasing the majority of the tracks from their second album. Which sounded good live.

I also saw Aussie band: Wolfmother at the Zodiac in Oxford on Satuday, very retro a rocking Zepplin/Sabbath sound. They are massive in Oz with a number one platnum selling album, but no one has heard of them over here, so I got to see them in a venue half the size of my village hall.

I have loads of other gigs coming up soon including: Sigur Ros, Mogwai, The Crimea, The Rakes, The Decemberists, The Secret Machines, Seth Lakeman, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and Motorhead.

I attempted to get weekend tickets for the V Festival today but after finding tickets and putting in my credit card details I was informed that there was a problem with the transaction, and told to start again. By which time it was sold out. A full 20 minutes after the tickets went on sale, must be verging on a record. All is not lost, I did manage to secure a ticket for the Sunday so I'll be able to see Manchesters favourite miserabilist, Morrissey.

14/02/06

SAN FRANCISCO MAN BECOMES FIRST AMERICAN TO GRASP SIGNIFICANCE OF SARCASM
Chuck Fullmer, 38, yesterday became the first American to get to grips with the concept of sarcasm. "It was weird" Fullmer said. "I was in London and like, talking to this guy and it was raining and he pulled a face and said, "Great weather eh?" and I thought - "Wait a minute, no way is it great weather". Fullmer then realised that the other man's 'mistake' was in fact deliberate. Fullmer, who is 39 next month and married with two children, aged 8 and 3, plans to use sarcasm himself in future. "I'm, like, using it all the time" he said. "Last weekend I was grilling steaks and I burned them and I said "Hey, great weather."

Thanks, Pete for that joke at the expense of our American chums.

URBAN COLLECTIVE
See my latest submission for Urban Collective, not a pretty sight: Theme: My Super Hero, at: www.urbancollective.com

SITE UPDATE
I'm currently updating the photography section of the website, adding dates to all the pics and sorting out the loading transitions. Cool As... has now been visited by over 8,500 people.

20/01/06

HAPPY NEW YEAR
A belated happy new year to everyone. I hope you had a good Christmas break. I headed up to Scotland with a bunch of mates for the New Year. You can see the photographs from my trip on my site in: Photography: Europe: Scotland East.

22/12/05

SITE UPDATE
I have finally updated the illustration section of Cool as... I need to add some more content but the interface is finished. It was hard work and took a lot of scripting but it looks great and it actually works fantastically well, check it out