Well since arriving in Scotland in February I met a real nice guy called Doug Carroll, who is the guitar player of the Sensational Mary Barclay Band, who has a page on here (check it out). We decided to do a few loose acoustic gigs together and so we're in the process of getting a set together.

Last month Lex van Moorsel came over to visit me and by chance we had a gig at The Clonyard Hotel in Colvend, nr. Dalbeattie, in the Stewartry here in southern Scotland. Lex is a great singer as all of our Thai friends know, so Doug Lex and I played a couple of hour set at the Clonie and had a great time! We got well paid, had a lot of drinks bought us, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Judging by the reaction afterwards, Lex is becoming a bit of a legend here too! It made a change from reading the news on Channel L1 in the Netherlands anyway!!

A couple of weeks later, Doug and Mary threw a party for Dougs Musical friends and students, so naturally I went along, met some interesting people, and had a good time. Got to play 3 songs electric on one of Dougs Strats and then had to retire due to the amount of alcohol consumed!

I'm going to ask Barrie to submit our album masters to Last FM so we can put our album on sale. I'll update on here as soon as it's done.

That's it for now,

 

Steve

Just recently I had a sudden urge to watch a few movies, so I went to the local cinema and watched The Golden Compass which I thoroughly enjoyed, and so decided to get up to date with a few more recent Movies. Here's a review of some of the movies I've watched in the last couple of weeks.

The Golden Compass

I've always loved fantasy, and I expected big things from this movie. People with Daemons, an animal representative of ones soul, and fighting polar bears intrigued me, and I was looking forward to the effects created by these film makers. On that front, I wasn't let down, the effects were superb, and the fierceness of the bears was really well put across. The romance of an animal soul mate was a superb idea which appeals to me greatly, and later I went to the movies' website to find out what my own Daemon might be. I was pleased when I discovered mine to be a Tiger, Valthera, as I've always loved Tigers! Living in Asia and searching the Sumatran jungle for wildlife was one of the highlights of my years in Asia. But, let's get back to the film….
There was something about this movie that just wasn't perfect, but I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it was the "Englishness" of it, so unusual to hear the mother language in movies these days, but to be honest, at the time I found it refreshing. It may be that the movie seemed too much like a BBC or ITV TV series, a bit too much like "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe", or something like that. Maybe it was the acting of the peripheral actors, specifically "the Gyptians", a gypsy like wandering folk who speak with some kind of forced West Country lilt. Yes, I guess it was the acting, so for marks out of 10, I'll give it 7. I would still recommend it though, so go and see it, download it, or buy the DVD.

I am Legend

Well, what a load of old crap! If it wasn't for Will Smith, this would be a total disappointment for me. He say's in the publicity trailer that it's a novel idea, the mixing of various genres of movie, but that is far from the truth. I can remember seeing 2 or 3 similar movies in the past few years, namely "28 Days Later", an English movie, and of course the "Resident Evil" movies and game. So, this is far from original. It's one of the few movies I've seen out of Hollywood where the hero dies at the end. What is nice is the companionship between his dog and himself in the story, and a lot of the filming and the general production is very good. It's only the story I have a beef with really, and it's one of the better films I've seen recently. I'll give it 8 out of 10.

Atonement

Now, I'm not one for romantic films, but this one is good! There's a good story line, and a bizarre ending, which is also a bit of a surprise. It's also refreshing to hear English dialogue as opposed to Californian US English. There are some great moments in this film, some bordering on blatant sex, and some depicting a typical upper middle class lifestyle in that era which I liked too. The acting is superb and it may just win a couple of Oscars. The movie is set just before and at the very beginning of the Second World War, and there are some great sets on the beach of Dunkerque as the British army pulls back from the German advance. Not a lot of gore, which would have spoiled the film somewhat, and some good moments of human interaction. I give this movie 9 out of 10…really good.

Surfs Up

Well, not much to say really, except that it's a surfing film which you might have guessed. It's one of those movies where the storyline is based on a documentary about a person, which is intertwined with narrative. The animation is great and the characters very good. The accents to a non US American speaker are a little over bearing, but one gradually gets used to it. It's a little bit "High school" in the story line, meaning there's the nice guy and the Big Head, and there's the guy who used to be everybody's hero, and has dropped out of everyday life for all intents and purposes, and he undergoes a revival of his confidence gradually throughout the film. By the way, the characters are all Penguins. I'll give it 7 out of 10……For Surfers, it's a must!

National Treasure, Book of Secrets

This was a very enjoyable adventure movie, with overall good acting and a pretty good story line with good action. There are some moments where it is slightly embarrassing though, such as when our hero's ex girlfriend finds the hidden code on the parchment under a microscope. Not at all convincing! If you're looking for entertainment where you don't have to think, then this is it. There are some good action moments and some great locations including London and Paris. Of course there's also the compulsory "God Save America" moments which one has to endure in most Hollywood stuff these days, but once you've finished retching, you can enjoy the movie again. Anyway, I'll give this movie 8 out of 10……Good entertaining stuff!

Formula 51 (51st State)

This is an old movie which I downloaded because I've not seen it for years, and I wondered how it would measure up to all the modern stuff. Well, it's great, and I will give it a nine as it has great humor, good action, and its set in Liverpool, including a scene in one of the hospitality boxes at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC. It stars Samuel L. Jackson who wonders around in a kilt throughout the movie, and another favorite Scottish actor, Robert Carlyle. Jackson is a chemist who gets busted smoking a joint by a California Highway patrolman just after his graduation, and so loses his right to practice. So he goes into the drugs business and works for the Lizard, no other than Meatloaf. There are also a couple of moments when one is introduced to some of Great Britain's finest representatives, the Skinheads. The thing I like most about the 51st State is that it seems calculated to annoy pretentious idiots with their heads stuck up their own asses. It doesn't take itself seriously at all, and is therefore a very good psychological device that can be employed to weed out those people that do. I LOVE the fact that it's an American style movie that takes place on English shores. Who on earth wrote the rule that if it's British it needs to look crap, have bad acting, have laughable dialogue (Guy Ritchie) and generally be embarrassing to watch? We live in a global age, and The 51st State is very much a global movie appealing to people in whatever country they happen to be. Hence British writer, American Star, and Hong Kong Director.

AND IT'S A DAMN GOOD LAUGH. SEE IT!!!!
9 out of 10.

I spent new years evening in bed, having had a very busy 24 hours before it....probably a good thing!

We went to a party on the 30th and we all got pretty drunk, but it was very good fun, and even involved a game of Musical Chairs! The trouble was it was Thai music so I had a problem noticing when the music had stopped....in fact I didn't even realise it had started. Thai music is so quiet and boring one hardly notices it.

Yesterday we went to the Zoo, which turned out to be a bit of a nightmare as one of the Orang Utang's recognised Maeow and Justin and insisted on a family reunion which was pretty heavy going after lots of alcohol the night before....Seriously, we were all pissed, even Justin somehow got his hands on some booze, so the Zoo with a hangover is not to be recommended. The streets of Bangkok were pretty much empty yesterday and when we got to the Zoo we realised why.....Everyone was there! They probably heard about the reunion planned by the Orang Utang's in advance. People are pretty good at keeping a secret as Nobody told us! I hate crowds so I was very uncomfortable. Anyway, we eventually escaped and went to another Zoo called Tesco Lotus opposite the Mall, and observed human primates in an un natural habitat.

Any way, we wish you a very happy new year, stay healthy wealthy and wise, and stay in touch!

Best wishes

Steve, Maeow and Justin