Organic Guitar Sound (Part 2)

Man, that was a long break between OGS1 and OGS2. I kinda got caught up with one or two rather unexpected ‘surprises’. Some welcome, others not so, but we move onwards and upwards. Time for some music methinks. “It’s Slade” (BBC4) – When I saw this on Pirate Bay, I had the feeling that it was going to go one of two ways. First, it might just go on and on about “Merry Christmas Everybody” as the documentary was shown around the festive period. You know, it would be all novelty and kitsch-like? Tinsel and tartan. Or, it might be an insightful, entertaining story about four rather dodgy looking fellas from Wolverhampton who went on to sell a mere fifty million (yes, count them – at a time when sales did count more) records worldwide? Although done on the cheap (the BBC obviously still splashing all their cash on Attenborough’s wildlife extravaganza’s), the film perfectly conveys the bands persona. Rough, ready, creative, talented, and very, very loud. I have a soft spot for Slade (but not for those who think that Quiet Riot’s version of ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ is any good). I remember getting my first batch of records and a record player as a kid from my cousin. In amongst the Bay City Rollers, David Cassidy, and other dubious vinyl that a teenage girl of the time would like (this was a long, long time ago…) this caught my eye -

Scary, huh?

There’s some great stories told by the band themselves, as well as the omnipresent, celebrity/muso, talking-head types maintaining the band’s credibility and legacy for the youth of today. Not just a one-hit, novelty wonder. Another nugget from BBC4′s rockumentary archive was “Can You See The Real Me – Quadrophenia” – a look at the making of the album and a close look at the band themselves. Yet another bit of a flashback for me, going back to when I was about 13 or 14. A time when the whole idea of a rock opera concept album wasn’t really cool. I remember taping my buddy’s double-album of ‘Quadrophenia’, and coming to the conclusion that it was OK to have a bit more to a song than just 3 chords and a tune. Although I may not have shouted that from the rooftops at the time. “Can You See The Real Me”, with a running time of bout 70 minutes, fills in a lot of the blanks about the band themselves before moving on to discuss Townsend’s magnum opus. There’s lots of  being a ‘Mod’ and what all that meant. Personally, it’s something akin to today’s ‘metro-sexuality’. Jibbering on about what’s fashionable, having a smart haircut and using the latest grooming products. All bollocks, of course.

Of further irritation, there was  also participation from an American music writer whose main objective in the film was to apparently keep stating the obvious. He was particularly annoying. However, the good outdoes the bad, and “Can You See The Real Me” is an absorbing, poignant documentary, filled with vibrant stories and some great anecdotal material. (Q – “What was Keith (Moon) like in 1973?” A- “He was a bit more drunk than 1972.”)

As well as looking (albeit somewhat briefly) at the eclectic personalities of the band members, the film goes to great lengths to show just how the recording of ‘Quadrophenia’ affected Townsend in particular, and his gradual decline into what can only be described as a ‘bit of mad scientist’ towards the end. The obsession (and consequences) to find the perfect result is definitely one of the film’s strengths.

“Can You See The Real Me”, for me at least, raised a few questions regarding liking the people who are making the music? Does it really matter if you like them or not? Townsend comes across as somewhat egotistical, arrogant, and going by his recent questionable use of the internet, a bit more than self-righteous. Also, with Keith Moon, I don’t have much a liking for him as a drummer or as a ‘dude’.  As good and as pioneering a drummer as he was, there’s still this cloud over his ‘eccentricities’.

What the film does do well is look at the albums photography and excellent artwork. It also looks at each of the four sides of the record and the themes contained within them. There’s plenty of chatter about the financial and emotional toll that the recording of the album caused, as well as dealing with the aforementioned characteristics of the band themselves. It’s also on Youtube -

Finally, there was the highly enjoyable “Rush – Beyond The Lighted Stage”. Another one of those slick-looking films that take one of the great iconic rock bands of all time, and well, tell you their story. Well, the band tell the story (for the most part), which is a far better device in this instance than having someone else mumble along for them.

One of the questions that ‘Beyond The Lighted Stage’ asks is “Are Rush the worlds most popular cult band?” The answer to which is probably – yes. The other question is – “How many rock star-types can you get to pay homage to these three Candians?” The answer? A lot. These guys, as the film suggests, ‘are the real deal’. It’s hard not to disagree, even if you’re a fan or not.

The honesty, sincerity, and general ‘goofiness’ of the trio are key to the film’s narrative. The ability to laugh at themselves and not take things too seriously (unlike the seemingly never-ending line of pretentious asshats that corner the market today) really shines through.

At times, there’s a resort to cliche (how they earned their stripes by being on the road for so long, for example), but this doesn’t really deter from telling the band’s unique story. Even if you’re not a fan of prog-rock, ‘Beyond The Lighted Stage’ is a thoroughly enjoyable rock’n'roll romp, spanning the six decades of the band’s career. Long live the time signature change.

Heaven Knows Les Miserable Now…

It was made known to me a couple of weeks ago that my better half would like to go to see ‘Les Miserable’ while it was still showing in the cinema.

Of course, instead of demanding “we’re going” (no chance of that happening), or the more subtle “I’ve asked with my friend/sister, but they’re so busy” (not listening), MBH was smart and let the thought fester with me for a couple of weeks. She wanted US to go together. Shit.

Oh well, being the diligent type, and feeling like it would be nice to do something together other than laugh at the dog’s old/new/same tricks (a much underrated pastime for those of us without TV’s), I looked into what cinema chains were still showing it and what times it was running. Too late to back out now. It was a done deal.

So, it was with a mixed sense of fear, apprehension, and over-acting that we toddled off to the local world of cine.You see, it’s not that I didn’t really want to got to the movies with MBH. Far from it. It’s just that musicals and me, well, we don’t get along that well. Or at least my experience of them (however limited) would be a tad biased. Let me explain.

Winter 1999, I visited New York. First time. Awesome anticipation at experiencing lots of firsts. Greenwich Village, Empire State, Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island…you know, all that good stuff. As I was located on W46th Street, Broadway was just around the corner, it was suggested to me (by my companion and native New Yorker) that we “go see a show”. And from there it went a bit “Pete Tong”.

As we sat in our discounted matinée seats, over-priced, weak drinks in hand (very civilized theatres are), the performance started (FYI it was ‘RENT’ we were watching). The band/orchestra in the pit at the front of the stage (a good thing) started, followed shortly by a huge burst of very loud singing.

“OK, it’s a musical…”, I mused in a sage-like fashion, but after about 30 minutes with nothing else but singing I asked my companion “so, when do they start talking?”.

The reply, when it came, was one of considerable disdain and disbelief, “They don’t – it’s a musical!”.

 ”Oh…?”, I replied. It must have been one of those moments when you look like a  dog that had just been shown a card trick.

The next two hours or so were spent rather uncomfortably and somewhat impatiently waiting for something to happen. Something other than folk asking singing why there was no milk in the fridge, but in a mildly operatic, look at me I’m ACTING, kinda way. I hated it. Every single second of it. It was boring and loud. Camp (nothing primarily against things being camp per se) and cheesy. Eugh…if only there had been talking in it? At least I tried?

Fast forward to the movie theatre, present day, and as we’re about to take our seats my heart sank. This could only happen to me, right?

We have the outside seats on the row and there’s a guy with a kid of all of 4 years old (I shit you not) wanting to get past to get to his seats. What are some people thinking? I’m all for getting kids into the arts and all, but that’s just too much. However, the guy has the right idea. He pushes the kid along the row to her mother, then he splits. Good call buddy.

To her credit, the kid must have been force-fed Nyquil or something as there wasn’t a peep out of her. But then again, they left about halfway through the film.

So, with one eye on the potentially annoying kid (although, personally, I blame the parents) I was keeping a lookout for other random acts of muppetry as the film commenced. There were a few random flashes of flickering smartphone screens, but on the whole not too bad. With one exception.

Also on our row, was Old Man A. I’d rather use a more sweary description of him, but in hindsight I’m feeling generous. Well, if he didn’t stop messing around with his ‘flip’ cellphone. Opening and shutting. Opening and shutting. A good Scottish word came to mind – ‘footering’. Hmmmm….

 Eventually, he answers his phone (this is about 20 mins in to the film) and relays the following information.

” Mumble, mumble, incoherent mumble…kong-il-kong (공일공 – zero-one-zero)…” He’s telling someone on the other end his phone number.

“Mumble, more mumble, getting louder so now everyone can hear me, not quite so incoherent…kong-il-kong (공일공 – zero-one-zero)…”

Now almost shouting – “KONG- IL – KONG….”. Three times.

Man, he has no idea how close he was to becoming the recipient of the Glasgow Kiss that had his name written all over it. KONG IL KONG indeed.

I had that weird feeling that I was somehow being tested on the levels of my patience. Something I’m not exactly renowned for. Mild palpitations narrowly avoided, it was on with the show.

I’ve never read Victor Hugo’s book, nor had I (for obvious reasons) seen the stage production of Les Miserables. I had however, listened to a review on the BBC via Kermode and Mayo. Truth be told, it mostly went in one ear and out the other. In other words, I was prepared to be as open-minded as I could.

As it turned out, I quite enjoyed it. Surprisingly.

It looked great. It wasn’t boring, even though it ran for more than two and a half hours. There were some good set pieces. Some interesting camera work. A bit of light humour here and there.  And as weird as this may sound, the songs (with the exception of the excruciatingly annoying “One Day More” – where you have 6 different characters all singing different parts about what ‘they’re having for tonight’s tea and oh, let’s have a revolution’- this was the only part of the film where I unleashed a BIG sigh, but still refrained from getting all ‘sweary’) were, (whilst not the most memorable, with the noted exception above), decent. I just tried to let it flow. All in all, the cast did a pretty good job of  it I thought.

Hugh Jackman is very good in the central role and thankfully wasn’t as camp as Christmas. He can obviously hold a tune, act, all of that. Much better in this kind of stuff  compared to that Wolverine rubbish.

Russell Crowe sings like he’s reading a traffic report. He’s pants. You’re not supposed to empathize with his character (he’s the ‘baddie’ – if you didn’t know already?), but he just plays the part with so much “CHEEEZZZZ”. Actually, he’s the kind of baddie that you don’t really ‘hate’ that much. He’s just a bit annoying, continually spoiling everyone else’s buzz. Good news for RC was that as all the other actors apparently had to ‘drop’ 30-40lbs for their respective roles while he maintained a steady consumption of pies. To keep in character, of course.

Anne Hathaway – Has gathered about a squillion nominations and awards for her performance, but I’m not sure why myself? I mean, she was OK. Not terrible. But I just don’t get all the fuss? Maybe it’s because her character ‘Fantine’ has such a shitty time of it and is (literally and metaphorically) in the gutter and has to resort to the unimaginable to survive?

Come Oscar night, when she’s all glammed up in her uber-expensive frock, draped in jewelry that has the same value as the GDP as a small Caribbean island nation, she might come up with a better quote than this one when asked about her character…

“So what I did is I tried to get inside the reality of her story as it exists in our world. To do that I read a lot of articles and documentaries and news clips about sexual slavery,” Hathaway continued. “For me, this particular story … I came to the realization that Fantine doesn’t live in the past- she’s living in New York City right now; she’s probably less than a block away.”"This injustice exists in our world, so every day that I was her, I thought, this isn’t an invention, this isn’t me acting- this is me honoring that this pain lives in this world, and I hope that we see an end,” the actress added.

Really? How quaint.

Borat was also in the movie, playing himself, but with a Cockney accent. His wife, also playing it ‘Cock-er-knee’, was played by Helena Bonham Carter. She must have it in her contract to always be typecast as some kind of ‘goth’?

However, my favourite bit in the film was when Fernando Torres turned up, acting all a bit upper-class revolutionary (never a good thing), but ended up coming across as more of a foppish, soppy twat. Oh, Fernando…

Fernando Torres sings the blues…

I was longing for ‘Nando’ to take one ‘right between the eyes’. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. Oh, is that a plot spoiler? In fact, after ‘googling’ yer man, I wasn’t surprised to find out that he’d been a bit typecast. I’m sure the advert in ‘The Stage’ said something like -

“Wanted – Old Etonian, must also have attended Trinity College Cambridge, to play oneself in Les Mis. No psuedo-foppish twattery, only the real thing will do. Can sing ‘softly’, a bonus”…

There were also a couple of random urchin types, running around, being all leery and geezerish (I thought this was set in Paris?). Did somebody think they could through in some Oliver Twist or Mary Poppins for good measure?

All my good-natured jibes and natural cynicism aside, I came away from the film not really feeling much in the way of empathy with any of the characters (with the exception of the quite ‘fit’ Samantha Barks’ ‘Eponine’), but kind of enjoyed it nonetheless. At least I enjoyed it more than I thought than I ever could. Who’d have thought, eh?

Would I watch another one? Mama Mia, Evita…eh, not sure I’m quite ready for that just yet. Let’s just leave it there, shall we?

Gangwon Holiday…

This is a short piece that I wrote as a competition entry for…? Well, the title isn’t exactly clear, but something like ‘weird things that happen whilst travelling in Korea’. Kinda rolls off your tongue, no?

I guess it’s more about the chase than the kill (not the story, but the winning part) , but I thought it would be a challenge to get something down in the required 500 words, and a set amount of time.

It’s a true story…read on…

If you were one of those who started your Korean working lives in a ‘hagwon’ (a private academy), the opportunity to take a vacation was somewhat limited.

I’d been planning my first trip in the country to Gangwon-do, (Seoraksan National Park in particular), and had spent many an evening in a PC room planning with an almost militaristic detail on how I was going to spend my inestimable week away from work.

For many of us, coming to a new country to live and work can be a daunting and somewhat intimidating prospect. So many barriers. The language (or in most cases – the distinct lack of), the food, the smells and the seemingly endless list of cultural differences. On the other hand, there’s also room for a certain unbridled enthusiasm to get out there and see what your new host has to offer. It has the potential for being the biggest adventure that you’re willing to make it.

Gangwon province had everything that I was looking for in a Korean vacation. Only a few hours from Seoul. Plenty of golden beaches. A stunning National Park, resplendent in the natural surroundings of the Taebek mountains. The sleepy, seaside town of Sokcho was only about thirty minutes away where one could walk down by the harbour and sample the wide array of excellent (if at times indeterminable) seafood that was on offer.

However, the highlight of the trip for me was Seoraksan National Park. Once inside, there were several trails to choose from, numerous waterfalls, temples, and the hugely impressive “Unification Buddha” (or통일대불). All highly recommended.

Before returning to Seoul, Gangwon-do still had one surprise left in store for me.

As I was enjoying my last night over some drinks with my travel companion, I began to feel a bit unwell. My condition worsened at a seemingly breakneck pace after returning to my room. Thoughts of all the weird and wonderful things I’d been gorging on over the past few days flashed by me. The excrutiating, intense pains in my stomach soon had me reminiscing of ‘that’ scene from the movie Alien. I thought I was going to burst, but I didn’t know at what end. Something was very, very wrong.

I somehow managed get through the night without splitting in two and found my way to a doctor’s surgery the next morning. My worst fears were confirmed when the doctor asked me if it hurt when he pushed down on my lower abdomen. The squealing like a pig probably answered the question for him.Yes, it hurt.

He diagnosed appendicitis, gave me an injection of something strong and told me to get home ASAP and to get it removed.

This happened back in 2000, but within my first six months of arriving in Korea. I guess it didn’t deter me from staying?

One last piece of advice – just remember to keep an open mind, but still leave some room to expect the unexpected on your travels.

 

2012 in pictures

Having an iPhone (or whatever your weapon of choice) is an all too convenient way to snap something – right there and then. It captures the moment – if you will.

Add your ‘app’ to that, ‘Instagram’ or whatever you fancy, and you too can look like someone with a keen eye for a photograph.

Of course, we end up with mostly nice, high quality photos of the kids, the dog, the sunset, inanimate objects, last night’s dinner, dodgy spelling mistakes on signs, or a part of the body that used to require the services of a ‘dark room’ not that long ago (if that’s your thing), and we’re happy campers. This would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. Unless you were some kind of tech-bod. Which I’m not.

I remember my first trip to New York in the winter of 1999. It’s just as well, as I don’t have any photos of it. Maybe I’m making it up for that now? Here’s to something and nothing…

 

The Shadow Of The Wind – Book Review

The Shadow of The Wind

Going through my hard-drive and I found all the book reviews that I did for TBS EFM radio in Seoul a couple of years back. I’ve put them on to Youtube for posterity and not egotistical reasons. Of course…

It’s a bit weird listening to myself as we talk about ‘accents’ at the beginning of the show and the host asks me if I have a strong accent or not? I’ll let you be the judge on that. But, it’s fair to say that if I spoke like I wanted to then conversations may well indeed be a bit on the short side. Can you get subtitles (for the hard of thinking) for radio? I’m sure Steve Jobs probably already patented it?

It was the whole “trying not to swear” for 30 minutes that was more of a challenge.

An enjoyable novel AND a swear free zone for your delectation.

The Year of The Snake…

So, it’s soon to be the Year of The Snake. Tomorrow (Sunday 10th February) to be more precise.

In this part of the world it’s a huge deal (think Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve, and a good weekend on the lash – combined) and you’ll get the idea. Plenty of scran, a few drinks (well, quite often more than a few), lots of banter (usually with me partaking in various drinking games with Eun Jin’s  - not that I’m one to abstain such a request), and some more eating. All in all, it’s not a bad day out with my wife’s extended (and very large) family.

It’ll also be the first time visiting Eun Jin’s parent’s house since her father passed away just before last Christmas. Never an easy time, but I’m sure they’ll remember him tomorrow in one way or another with a few well-versed stories. And a toast.

Ten-Virtues-For-The-Modern-Age

I’m in the middle of reading “Religion for Atheists” by Alain de Bottan, and I know it probably sounds like a pretentious, smart-arse, kinda thing to do, but it’s something that I have found to be quite interesting.  The author (a non-believer himself) claims that religions have some important things to teach the secular world. It’s a bit long-winded to fit into 500 words here, but he did publish an interesting list of ‘virtues’ that I think we could all take a look at (see link above). Food for thought?

Another great thing about the Lunar New Year is that it’s also the second chance for anyone to make a New Year’s resolution (새해 다짐 -sae-hae da-jim), which reminded me to post this nugget. Whether you’re familiar with Woody Guthrie or not, I think there are a few things that we could all take on board from his most excellent list (written in 1942).

1. Work more and better
2. Work by a schedule
3. Wash teeth if any
4. Shave
5. Take bath
6. Eat good — fruit — vegetables — milk
7. Drink very scant if any
8. Write a song a day
9. Wear clean clothes — look good
10. Shine shoes
11. Change socks
12. Change bed cloths often
13. Read lots good books
14. Listen to radio a lot
15. Learn people better
16. Keep rancho clean
17. Dont get lonesome
18. Stay glad
19. Keep hoping machine running
20. Dream good
21. Bank all extra money
22. Save dough
23. Have company but dont waste time
24. Send Mary and kids money
25. Play and sing good
26. Dance better
27. Help win war — beat fascism
28. Love mama
29. Love papa
30. Love Pete
31. Love everybody
32. Make up your mind
33. Wake up and fight

Well, all that’s left for me to do is to wish you all a Happy Lunar New Year.  Be safe, happy, healthy, prosperous and very, very groovy! 설날 즐겁게 보내세요!

Bonafide

Trying to sum up in as few words as possible (it takes a bit of practice) what the trip was like, took some thought. Yeah, OK, almost 6 months of thought. But, the title of this blog probably says it all. And yes, I know you’re supposed to spell it the ‘other way’, but rules are meant to be broken. Remember?

It’s also the name of the song on this third collection of photos and a nice way to tie things up. It really was ‘The Real McCoy’.

For our mini-Tartan tour, we’d decided to make the trip to Skye (via Oban), then onto Inverness, then Scone Palace (near Perth) on the way home. For so much of this trip the weather had been really kind to us and it only really went into full-blown scary storm/blowing a gale/can’t see for shit/ on the A9 from Inverness to Perth leg of the journey. That wasn’t fun.

The bendy, mostly single-lane roads all the way up to Skye were deserted for the most part, and at times it felt like we were never going to get there, but the scenery more than made up for it. Eilean Donan is just before you get to the Skye road bridge and was chockablock full of tourists taking it all in. Do I count as a tourist?

Eilean Donan Castle

When we eventually got to Portree,  we settled for a shared room in one of the youth hostels (we were ‘keeping it real’), plus it left more money aside for the necessities, i.e. beer. Priorities and all that. Next day, the sun was out early so we had to make the most of it.

We were able to round off the day by going to the pub (of course) and watching Scotland beat Australia (it wouldn’t matter who it was – a win’s a win). So, all in all, not a bad shift.

I think my photos probably don’t do Skye much justice? Seriously, I was blown away by the natural beauty of the place. It really was a pleasure to be able to share it with Eun Jin and Jason.

Up early the next morning and drove through to Inverness. After a quick stop at a castle I don’t remember the name of, we did the Nessie thing. It’d be wrong not to.

She wasn’t in…

After finding our digs for the night (after many, many, many failed attempts at getting directions), we set out for a night on the town. All you can eat Chinese buffet was maybe not the best idea if you want to scoop a few pints, but we did our best. There was more live music and some entertainment from the ‘locals’, provided free of charge. We also met a Finnish barmaid with the best ‘sheepy’ accent. The folk you meet along the way, eh?

En route home, we stopped off at Scone (pronounced ‘Skoon’ and definitely not to be mistaken for the dough-based, cake like treat ), where we spent the afternoon going round the Palace and the grounds. Scone Palace, is a category A listed building and was also the crowning-place of King of The Scots. Of course, that was when we still had them. A pleasant afternoon was had by all.

We had a great time. Of course, it was nice to spend some time with my Ma’, have a laugh my with brothers, see my nephew Mason for the first time (look out ladies!), and generally try to make the most out of the short time we had. Having Eun Jin and Jason at hand just made things more memorable. I think I’ll just let the images and music do the talking for me…

Home

It’s only taken me since the end of August to do it so I thought I might as well do something a bit creative (creative for me) with the photographic proof that I was in Scotland last summer. I added the photos to some music and put them on Youtube. The level of my technical nous and savvy. Don’t be shy, click the links.

Scotland – August 2012 – Part 1

There were lots of changes and lots of things that hadn’t.

At times, it felt like I was an extra in some kind of tattoo reality show – “Spectacularly Tattooed Fuckwits Present…” or something? Lots of ink. It seemed to be that 8/10 folks were wearing some kind of Aramaic or Assyrian themed logo or script on their appendage of choice. Nothing wrong with having something you don’t understand scrawled over your neck. None at all. I just don’t get it…I must be getting old(er).

It’s one thing reacquainting yourself with the finer points of Scottish daily life, i.e. having not seen a teenager (of either sex), walking down the street, fag in one hand, cellphone in the other, pushing a pram and shouting at their dog, for all of five years or so, but it was different this time as I had company. Someone new to share all this with.

Eun Jin’s third time in Scotland, and I think you could say she doesn’t mind it too much? I know she likes Inverness, (but there’s more chance of us moving to the moon than there is of moving there) and road trips here and there, the shops (of course), castles (big and small),  deep fried gigantically calorific breakfasts, The Jeremy Kyle show (for those of you who don’t know – think Jerry Springer with shittier accents but better tattoos) and even spending time with my family! Crivvens!

On this trip, my friend Jason, – in fact, he was the first guy I met when I moved to Seoul in February 2000, my first roommate, (very regularly hung over) co-worker, Best Man at our wedding, lots and lots of stories and stuff from our time in Korea – was coming to stay for a couple of weeks. Shenanigans ahoy!

Scotland – August 2012 – Part 2

We’d not seen each other since 2007 or 2008 (I’m not good with numbers), so there was plenty of catching up to do, plenty of beers to quaff, and much merriment to be made. Man, I’d need another holiday to recover from this one. Still, it’s not often (if at all) that you’re able to share the good and the bad of your home with friends and those closest to you, is it?

In fact, on one of Jason’s photo’s he called it a “Wee Korean reunion”, and he’s not far off the truth. Difference was we’d be getting all a bit more ‘shortbread’ than ‘kimchi’ and taking in as much as we could in a couple of weeks. I think we did a good job of that. Judge for yourselves…

Organic Guitar Sound…(A Two-Parter)

So, it’s been an eternity since I sat down and wrote something that wasn’t in someway linked to either Confucian views and values on show jumping, or a 20-page paper that delved into the minutiae of economic integration and cooperation in North East Asia. In a way, I’m glad that I won’t complete my thesis semester this spring, but will hopefully put it to bed after the summer. It’s a long story (hey, it’s a thesis, right?) and one that’ll save for another day.

After working through Christmas (yes, even Christmas Day) and into the middle of January, I’ve now had a couple of weeks off and I’m trying to batter into the ‘to do list’ that has been piling up since our trip back to Scotland last summer. Of course, I could have written to everyone that I said I would? Or, incessantly called family members, regaling them with stories about the ever decreasing temperatures in Korea, and that it’s getting colder every year? Or posted the photos from our trip? And then there’s the…well, you get the drift? Instead of doing any of this I’ve slept a lot (a good thing), tried to balance the sleeping with working out (with mixed results), read a ‘Jack Reacher’ novel (not too bad, and it beats ‘Fukuzawa’s “An Encouragement of Learning” for action and one-liners) and now working my way through Keith Richards autobiography “Life”. There’s been some guitar playing and some fiddling (can’t think of another appropriate verb) with my Zoom G2.INu effects unit (great for hackers like me with headphones). All good fun.

I caught up on TV shows that I liked (Homeland/Dexter) and downloaded some new ones that I ‘d read about (from Denmark), ‘The Bridge’ and ‘Borgen’, both of which are pretty good. In fact, in comparison to the quite dull (all that rain…) and snail-like pace of ‘The Killing’, both these shows were a pleasant surprise. However, a fair bit of time has been spent watching music documentaries and movies that have been cluttering up my hard-drive. With the exception of one, it was great just sitting back and getting stuck in, so to speak.

The turd in the fish tank (for choice of a better title) was a BBC documentary “Prince: A Purple Reign”. Prince, however bonkers he may be (always thought he’s make a great baddie in a James Bond flick) is a true one of a kind. This, like so many other cut-and-paste docs didn’t feature the artist themselves, instead relying on vacuous nonentities like Trevor Nelson to pop up and talk utter bollocks from time to time. I switched it off after 30 minutes. Probably less. Watched (and air-guitared) to this instead.

I also finally caught up with “It Might Get Loud”, a documentary about the guitar and guitar players, but not as we know it? Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White (it was hard to find the balance between the talking time and the brass tacks of what the film was about – how they play) get all lyrical (if you’ll pardon the pun) about what the guitar means to them and how they get their ‘sound’. Not a bad watch, a bit patchy at times, and probably one for the purists.

As these are in no particular order, the last one on this list is one of those classic album documentaries – ‘the making of…’, and in this case “Black Sabbath – Paranoid”. Awesome! Great album, interesting anecdotal stuff, BIG riffs, no shoes, proper Brum accents, organic guitar sounds and plenty of cosmic, groovy tempo changes. You can find this, in its entirety on Youtube.

Some Things Never Change

It’s been 5 years since I was last here and some things don’t change.

So, a wee bit of rain, temps of 14-16c (we left Seoul it was 35c), but it’s great to see my family again. As it’s Saturday, we shall be mostly having some cheeky pints later on. I also like listening to the ‘fitba at a proper time on a Saturday.

It got off to  a bit of a ropey start as there was nobody at the airport to pick us up. My Old Dear (bless her), had for some bonkers reason got our arrival dates mixed up (don’t ask) and thought it was Friday we arrived and not Thursday. Anyway, after a rather tetchy 2 hour wait, wondering whether we’d have to kip in the departures lounge or not, the cavalry finally arrived.

Unpacked, bit of a chat, then off to bed. Up early (not through any choice of my own) on Friday morning, met up with my brothers Fraser and Iain, picked up a hire car, groceries etc bought, early to bed.

Today, cheeky workout at Broadwood gym, now waiting on my brother, his wife and my nephew to arrive. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen him. I’m looking forward to giving the wee man a hug.

Eun Jin is ‘so far, so good’, but the real test may be when we go for a few beers later on and then the ‘weegie’ banter might get really going. She can hold her on though. Some retail therapy may help?

My Iphone won’t switch off automatically, so that’s not great. I’m  trying to get hold of KT Oll’eh, but they’re at their muppet best.

I hope to get some more pics  and stuff up soon. I’m glad to be home.