The sweet life.

These folks seem to have things pretty much figured out...



I've noticed a trend, on this blog, to just embed videos. In order to shake things up a little bit, along side the video link in this post I'll also include a link to a fantastic looking recipe for tomorrow's dinner...

http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/lentils-and-beef-stew-estofado-de-lentejas-con-carne

Check it out! I looks delicious!

Edward Teach

I was feeling a little artsy last night and so I sketched an image of Blackbeard to use as a reference for a later work. I was so happy with my preliminary sketch that I decided to run with it. This is the direction I ran...

What do you think?

Splendid!

Professor Elemental in a film? I shall eagerly await it's release from across the pond!

The Royal Wedding

Did you ever play 'Where's Waldo?' (Where's Wally for the English readers) when you were younger? Here's your chance to relive the experience! Aside from being in the background as When we went to London to see the wedding there was a picture taken of the crowd in Hyde Park that will be kept in the official wedding album. It just so happens that you can see my face and hat in said picture, see if you can find me...

http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Hyde%20Park%20Family%20Photo%20Panoramic%20(Kois%20Miah).jpg

Overall the entire day was fantastic. We got a seat near the front of the crowd in Hyde Park (which at it's peak swelled to 130 000 people) and when the airplanes did their royal wedding fly over on the big screen in the park, we all turned around and watched them appear, from behind some trees, and fly above our heads as they circled the park. It really felt like we were a part of something amazing. Then, after a jug of Pimms in the park, we went out walking in London just to see what else was going on, I got a roadside view of Prince William and Duchess Catherine driving away from Buckingham palace. I'm sorry to say that, because nobody was expecting them to drive past, I was too overwhelmed to actually snap any pictures, but I got a good one of Camilla as she and Prince Charles drove past. I'll post more pictures of the day when I get them off Fiona's camera.

Gentleman me?

This Friday I had planned to, with Fiona, accompany a friend to Oxford for a few drinks. This was the plan until Thursday when I found out that Mr. B was going to be playing at the Vaudeville Rave in Reading on the same night. Needless to say I amended my plans accordingly!

It was a really, really good evening and I plan to attend another at some point. The whole experience really reminded me of the Unfair that I went to when I lived in Halifax. The only difference that really stood out was that at this Vaudeville Rave everyone was in costume. It was an eclectic mix (trust me, this is not an exaggeration) of gypsy, burlesque, renaissance fair, chap and steam punk.

The evening unfolded along the following lines...

DJ Dubious rocked the party with his Balkan/Swing from the turntables. (I've just realized we heard him play once before at the Global Cafe! It's good to know these guys are all local!)

Our MC for the evening was Bass6 who's beat boxing was incredible!

The first half of the show was a cabaret including sword swallowing, belly dancing, light bulb eating, unicycling, magic, a very strange contest between 2 fellows who reckoned they could solve a rubics cube faster than their opponent while being distracted by volunteers from the audience, and various other acts.

Following the cabaret the chairs facing the stage were removed and the music began. The first group was Tankus the Henge followed by the main act Mr. B, The Gentleman Rhymer (you've already been introduced). I bumped into him in the clutter of people in front of the washrooms. I tapped him on the back before I realized I didn't really have anything to say to him, so I just shook his hand, said that I wanted to say hello, and then said I wouldn't keep him as I knew where he was heading. Smooth aren't I?

The next band was Sam and the Womp who blended Balkan and Dubstep with outstanding results. It was during their set that we bumped into Gentleman Jeeves who invited Fiona and I backstage for a cup of tea. We had a choice of Jasmin or Darjeeling. I chose Darjeeling but should really have chosen Jasmin as there was no milk on offer. Behind us was a 4 poster bed upon which people were jumping. It was all very surreal and only compounded by the fact that the entrance to the back of stage area was just next to a croquet field where ladies and gents were competing.

At this point it was 3ish in the morning and Fiona and I decided (in light of the fact that all of our friends had already departed) that we would head home. That meant we missed the last act Dutty Moonshine who I'm sure was excellent.

And that was our evening! Since the carnaval in Dunkerque there's been a lot of occasions for costumes! I'm going to put some serious thought into the possibility of establishing one of my own!

Colourful traditions

As promised, here are the pictures from our recent road trip to the Dunkerque Carnaval!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48141953@N02/sets/72157626147664009/

If you're inclined you can learn more about the history of the carnaval here or even visit the official site here.

Coming home from Carnaval

We heard this song as we were heading back to the Ferry to England after our weekend of cross dressing, drinking, singing and my first proper Carnaval. I'll post some pictures of the weekend here when I get to see them myself. 'Till then listen to this song and let me know what you think...

Merry Christmas

I hope this picture turns out alright. It's a composite of pictures I took yesterday in town. It's the Galway Cathedral and middle arch. As you can see things are lookin' exceptionally festive as this year in Ireland it was, indeed, a white Christmas! The cheeky cherub in the bottom right is Fiona after getting the last of her shopping done in town before heading up to Mayo for Christmas eve with her Dad on Inismacatreer.

Kyle Smith

This is a picture of my good friend and yours, Kyle Smith. In reality it's William the Conqueror (or William the Bastard, depending on your particular historical preferences) but I know that Kyle Smith secretly longs to be like him!

As it turns out

Well, it would apear that I've been pfaffing around with the HTML of my blog for the past 5 years (sweet Jesus! It's been 5 years since I started this blog!) when low and behold, I could have just abandoned the whole thing and picked a new template from blogger.

I'd known that was an option for a while, but I didn't know I could make something look as cool as I could! I'm still going to try to personalize my blog a bit, but I decided that it was time to upgrade a little. (hopefully everyone can read the text on this blog!

So in addition to that, Ayden has been over to visit England and it was great to get a chance to hang out with him! It's been 3 years since we really hung out, and even before that, with me living away at University, the time we spent together was limited! It was good to see him and I'm going to miss him now that he's gone back to Canada!

The pictures I've posted were either taken by or of Ayden on our bike trip out from Salisbury over to Stonehenge! Because we took the old byways we ended up spending a great day together and seeing a lot of countryside in the bargain. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed being outside and breathing the fresh country air! (I mean that literally! It's not a figurative reference to the wafting scent of bovine feces!) I'm going to make a point to do this more often! Fiona is keen as well, so I think we'll be railing and trailing on weekends in the near future!

My Steampunk Style

The Ragamuffin

29% Elegant, 21% Technological, 37% Historical, 44% Adventurous and 69% Playful!

You are the Ragamuffin, the embodiment of steampunk playfulness. Chances are, you approach the genre from a much more casual and lighthearted standpoint than most other fans. To you, there is always an element of play inherent in the genre, and you may very well enjoy fashion as much for the opportunity to dress up as for the style itself. You probably wear goggles as an accessory, and rarely as actual eye-protection. Your outfits are likely to incorporate a lot of brown or cream, and combine large boots, Victorian corsets or vests, aviator caps or bowler hats, and gypsy skirts or slacks, simply because you like them all.

http://www.helloquizzy.com/

Strange, but true

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's being back in Caistor, perhaps it's the autumnal weather we're starting to experience (I loves me that autumnal season! 's my favourite of all!)

But I'm feeling inspired. I'm feeling creative. I'm feeling motivated!

The catch...

It's not gonna help me get any money flowing in (that's right, I want a full on flow. None of this ebbing BS). At least not in the short run.

But perhaps. Perhaps if I manage to maintain this level of inspiration. Perhaps if I can remain motivated. Perhaps I could accomplish something that would be incredibly satisfying, worthwhile and ostentatious. (Although that last one is really optional. It's not really one of my main criteria.)

Anyway, I'm feeling bloggsy lately as well, so perhaps you'll all get to hear about my exploits and chronicle my progress. But in the meantime, riddle me this...

Who the heck were the ancient sea kings?

We're living the dream...

I wish I had a VW camper!