Night shifts + No sleep for 48 hours =

Right guys, Sorry it's been a month. I've been busy Gigging with my bands (posts to come) and I've also been at work solid 3 weeks. that includes an 8 day solid stretch. Safe to say, it wiped me out.

After doing night shifts in a row and not having chance to sleep between to of those shifts I started feeling it! When I get to the point when I can hardly concentrate I try and play a little game where I choose very hard rhyming words and try and make a 4 line poem. This is what I managed... it's not exactly William Blake but considering I hadn't slept in over 48 hours I think I deserve a TS Eliot award!


Waking nights, this weeks Rota
37.5 hours, to fill my Quota
5am im like a stalling Motor
7am nearly time to grab my Coat...a

Having to work while you get to Slumber
fatigue and stiffness cause me to Lumber
the bags on my eyes starting to Encumber
...need 2 slices of thick Cucumber

Midnight munchies going to Forage
nachos and salsa I pay Homage
Jalapeno cheese maybe some Borage
6am cook up some Porridge

--------------------------------------------

There once was a lad called rich
who night shifts were causing a twitch
Half way through his shift, his mind it did drift
being up at 4 is a bitch

---------------------------------------------

seriously a 12hour shift were there is nothing to do can get mind numbingly delirious; I had abit of a Jack Torrance moment...

All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Richa dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes rIch a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes RiCH A Dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boyall work and no sleep Makes rich a dull boy
aLl work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy All
work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Richa dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes rich a dull boy
aLL WORK AND NO SLEEP MAKES rICH A DULL BOY
aLL WOrk and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes RIch adull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
 All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy All work
and no sleep
makes Rich a dull boy All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All
     Work
              And
                      No
                            Sleep
                                     Makes
                                                 Rich
                                                          A
                                                               Dull
                                                                       Boy
                                                                              All
                                                                   Work
                                                           And
                                                   No
                                        Sleep
                           Makes
                 Rich
                         A
                             Dull
                                     Boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy

All
Work
And
No
Sleep
Makes
Rich
A
Dull
Boy

All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy

All                       all           Allworkand        Allworkand      All work
work                    work      no                        no                     work      and
and     no             and         sleep                   sleep                  and            no
no         sleep       no          makes                 makes                 no               sleep
sleep             sleep             Rich a dull         Rich a dull          sleep           makes
makes                makes      boy                     boy                     makes         Rich
rich                     rich         all                       all                       rich                a
a                          a             work                  work                    a              dull
dull                      dull        and                     and                      dull       boy
boy                      boy         nosleepmakes    Richadullboy      boy  all

all work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
aLl work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
ALL work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
ALl work and no sleep makes RICh a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy

                All            All                      Allworkand       Allworkand        Allworkand
      Work                 Work                   no                      no                      and              no
And                          and                     sleep                    sleep                 no              sleep
        No                    no                       makes                 makes                sleep         makes
            Sleep           sleep                     Rich a Dull        Rich a dull        makesRich a     
                Makes     makes                   boy                    boy                    Rich
                   Rich     Rich                      all                       all                     a
               A              a                            work                  work                 dull
         Dull                Dull                       and                     and                   boy
Boy                         Boyallworkand      nosleepmakes    Richadullboy    all

All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
ALL work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
oh god please be 8am please
soooo tired and bored it's All this damn work and no sleep
its making me so dull
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
all work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy all work and Sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy
All work and no sleep makes Rich a dull boy

Resevior dogs

I go through long periods of inactivity when it comes to art; I can find myself not so much as picking up a pencil for months, no motivation, no inspiration, no reason etc... I occasionally get commissioned to do a picture for a friend or design ideas pitched to me for tattoos and even an album sleeve, but on the whole I only spend 1 maybe 2 weeks in a year gratuitously pumping out pieces like a machine. The most recent form of inspiration came from one of my all time favorite films...
Reservoir Dogs
If you've not seen this film stop what you are doing, and sort your life out! It's amazing, it's cool as fuck and has afew of the best dialogue pieces ever scripted.
Anyway, for the next few days I started drawing scenes

 

This is the movie Poster

 

 

Just a contrast picture of all the guys walking

 

Mr Pink (playing the world's smallest violin)

 

 

Mr pink and Mr White face off

 

Mr pink pulling his gun on Mr White

 

 

Mr Blonde after he cut off the Cop's ear

 

 

Mr Orange after shooting Mr White

 

 

 

I also drew some Pulp Fiction scenes, unfortunatly I never finished afew of them... guess I'll have to wait until my next bout of insperation ha. Heres what I did finish anyhow:

 

 

Mia Wallace, from the movie's poster

 

 

 Captain Koons and the Watch

 

Zed, Maynard and the Gimp

 

Marsellus Wallace and Butch tied up 

Well I hope you liked my little sketcharoos. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of them people; And if you have an Ideas or suggestions to get my creative juices flowing again, please, be my guest and demand I get off my arse and do some damn drawing!

A bit of advice to your Teenage self.

"Message to your teenage self." A fellow blogger did this post and challenged others to do one too. At first I thought it was abit silly, but about 5 seconds in I had a nostalgia overdose! It's actually quite touching to imagine giving yourself advice, now you have the experience of life (I get bonus points for rhyming btw) so following the generic questions here we go:

Fashion DOs For Your Teenage Self?

Do, wear your usual gear, black T-shirt with vinyl Band logo; Iron Maiden tops are good for any occasion.
Buy yourself a leather jacket sooner than you did; although the Czech army jacket covered in band patches you usually sported was awesome, a leather jacket can't be beaten; you'd of looked sweet at the concerts and gigs you went to... and you'd probably of have less people approaching you trying to buy drugs...

Fashion Don'ts For Your Teenage Self?

Don't wear baggy jeans with stripes down the side from Latif's, you knew they looked stupid. Just stick with the Tescos "cherokee" boot cuts.
Kudos to washing your hair (which was freaking awesome cause it was long, and well past your shoulder blades), unlike your fellow mosher compadres; but straighten the ends, yeah, using strainghtners is abit poof like, but you'll have less of the feathered/dragged through a bush effect.
Tie your hair back occasionally Cousin It... remind people you have facial features!

A deep and meaningful piece of advice for your teenage self?

Don't be shy, don't be so afraid of an outcome. Say what you want to say, do what you want to do, don't let pratts stop you from expressing yourself. You were a brilliant poet, writer and composer in school, you should of wrote that stuff down, 'cause I'll be buggered if I can remember anything or match it now!

Tips for School?

Well, if you actually went to school that would probably of helped your grades; not drawing Iron Maidens 'eddie' (I still have them, they are top ha) on every blank text book surface and doing the assigned work may of helped too.. . Then again some of your best memories will be of wasting away days skiving on the park with your mates.

Tips for Friends?

You were always a good friend, you never let a person down ever. you always kept your word and never acted two faced; because of this you're friends still respect you... unfortunately many of them are now cave dwellers that prefer playing WoW to socialising outside; As a result you've never developed a night social life.
Do more with Drew, he's always and always will be your best friend and a true champion among men, make more of an effort to visit him at collage and uni.
Finally. don't keep a feud with Chris, he did what he did because it was the right thing, no matter how you or the rest of the group felt. You're going to make up with him anyway so just bury the hatchet there and then.

Tips for Fun?

Just do what you did, Parties and game nights at Kierans were brilliant, few things have come close in the past 8 years. Pull the puppy eyes on Mam more often, get her to buy you more Gig tickets! Try new things, food, (you'll be 19 before you realise you love Indian food and things that burn your tongue) experiences, talking to different people. Get in a band sooner. And sod buses off as soon as you turn 17, get a motorcycle, you laaav them now!

Jolly Hollies

This was the morning... Cold, dark, wet... The usual Northern England really, BUT WAIT! What's that? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's... Well yeah actually it is a plane. It's taken me to my favorite place on the planet; Malta.

This is the view as a write this post:

Glorious no?

Yup I've finally gone on holiday this year. Or more like I've gone to my home away from home. I've been coming to Malta for 23 years (yeah, I'm 22, bonus points if you can figure that riddle out) and love the place. It's a tiny island, 16 miles by 8 miles, full of truly amazing people and places. I stay in the north of the island in an area called Qawra, Buggiba (I'm northern to the core) here I will spend most my time drinking the local brew 'Cisk' and eating as much Bigila (google it) as I can manage.
I decided to make this a sort of holiday diary rather than regular posts (solely to preserve my data allowance abroad)

Day 1: Land around 11, it's glorious, 28degrees not a cloud in sight, the only time you see weather like this in England is when you are watching T.V programmes on places like Malta! I go to sleep and wake up around 7pm, the rest of the evening is spent getting totally rat arsed in the Queens Head (aka Queen's) this place is awesome, big tv n sky sports, good beer and ale, friendly service and patrons, and best of all FREE FOOD! and I ain't talkin peanuts, check this out...

 

Bigila, it makes me happy...

 

For every drink you buy you get a free bowl of deliciousness; butter beans, sauteed potatoes, bruschetta, pasta, salsa and crackers, escargot (if that's ur thing) olives, and best of all BIGILA! Being that the owner is a family friend he made damn sure I got my bigila bowl topped up :D

'Queen's'

Day 2: lounge about in the sun, eat at Chaplin's bar (also run by family friend, Reno) then I went to the closest Red Lion (guaranteed to be showing UK sports, and serving John Smith's) to watch Warrington Wolves play in the super league cup. I was the only person in there, everyone else was outside watching the football. I'm glad, no one saw my money face as Warrington got their arses tanned by Leeds Rhinos. Then went back to the hotel room to cry into my enormous 20" pizza.

The Pizza I cried into

Chaplin's

 I left this momento to add to the memrobilia decorating Chaplin's walls

Day 3: swimming in the sea and working on my tan. *For once my tan did not wash of in the shower to reveal a crimson burn*

Day 4 through 7: more swimming, afew trips to the city * Malta has a DUZ its where the towns overlap to make one huge dense urban zone.* we went by bus. Here's some fun facts; Malta only installed traffic lights within the last decade, inot many people care. It's roads have mainly been dirt or gravel until it entered the EU and got abit of a needed overhaul. Malta is the scariest place in the world to drive. The people are lovely, but they are fucking maniacs behind a wheel! Several people I know who have been over there have agreed and shared their stories: sights such as people driving in the shade, regardless what side of the road the shade might be; cars drop gear and accelerate when approaching round abouts and junctions. Horse and carts over taking and cutting up vehicles. One of my coworkers even saw a bus driver having a fist fight with a motorcyclist whilst in motion!<br>
The bus rides are... Interesting; standard size buses hold roughly 100people seated and stood. Maltese buses cram people in to the point you don't need to hold on, your packed in so tight there's no need; add to that the crazy fucking style in which they drive this becomes a very intensely scary/fun experience. I was next to the driver for a while and saw him clocking 60 going round a blind bend on a coastal road in which the sea was only 2 metres away.

We also went on a cruise on a big sailing boat to the northern islands of Gozo and Comino. This was fun; all u can drink, fresh food n fruit, Sun bathing space on deck, you could dangle your legs over the side and we stopped at some utterly beautiful lagoons to jump in the sea and go swimming and exploring heuwage caves.

Our mighty vessel of fun and the Blue Lagoon of Comino

Day 8: drove all over the island in an open back jeep, the highlight of which was when we were in the middle of nowhere and could see a storm cloud afew miles out to sea "it's a while off yet" - my sisters boyfriends famous words... Literally the moment he said that a hurricane force wind threw every speck of dust up in the air the Mummy style and we had to burn Rubber and haul ass out of there. 70mph down dirt roads, dust, sand, rain and wind battering the jeep, and I had Metallic blasting out 'the four horsemen'... The words totally, fucking and awesome describe this adventure best...
Watching the thunder storm, the lightening kicked ass.

My phone's camera rocks.

Day 9: visited Mdina, a truely beautiful old town. These pictures say it all.

Day 10: come home :( it was 28degrees when I boarded the plane, it was 8 when I got off.
It's been 4 days and I still can't get warm!

Ah well, only another year before I an afford to go again!

Taken 2... The cleaners

I watched Taken back when it first came out. I was utterly blown away by it's merciless grit. The story was excellent, the acting was awesome, and the directing was superb. It is currently honoured in my DVD collection. So when I found out Taken 2 was out I was giddier than a puppy on smack. The second I got back from my holiday I made a beeline straight for the Cinema... I came to fully regret it.
What a sack of shite.

I'm a movie buff, cinema is one of my true loves, but Taken 2 made me sink to the grotty chewing gum stained overpriced Odeon "Premier" seat to point where I wanted to leave before it was even over.
Here's why. (The following contains spoilers... But tbh the directing and writing already spoiled the film so fuck it, but if you still don't want to know the plot and it's colossal flaws just skip to the very last sentence)...

The film was bearable for the first 30mins, Neeson takes his ex wife n daughter all have a Disney style protective dad, disapproving mum, rebellious kid moment then they go to Turkey, bad guys plan on kidnapping and murdering them. Neeson and ex-wife get taken. Neeson manages to sneakily phone his daughter so she could go throw grenades about, and he pinpoints his location by calculating sound speed and direction. Aside from the story being unimaginative and lame, I have 2 issues with this part of the film:
1. Why ring his daughter when he could ring the police, or atleast tell his daughter to contact the police rather than running around lobbing grenades.
2. There was no repercussions for the grenade lobbing, either immediatly or later on. That means absolutely no questioning from either Turkish or USA about a 17year old running around rooftops throwing grenades in one of the world's busiest cities.

After a while Neeson and his daughter jack a cab, shoot the police chief to death with out questioning (seems they assumed he was a crook, and not just investigating a girl throwing grenades willingly) and then  go on a crazy drive about the city, the gimmick is she's not passed her test yet. They end up driving directly at the USA embassy building, break though despite taking fire and are safe. 3 issues here...
1. The USA embassy troops unload afew 50cal. Machine gun rounds into the car. A few 50cal. Round would tear a Jeep in half, yet this car takes a dozen hits, keeps moving and Neeson and daughter aren't liquidated.
2. The USA embassy aparantly doesn't use their mandatory basic security installations in Turkey... Where were the tyre spikes, the radio operated steel bollards, the gate even?
 3. Once Neeson and daughter and jacked cab take 20 high velocity huge caliber rounds and crash dramatically through a security check building (seemingly built from balsa wood and lolly pop sticks rather than bricks and concrete) the car finally stops; here's the most annoying part...
Neeson makes a goddamn transcontinental phone call and then has a 5 minute conversation with his daughter about how he will find the men that did this, get back his ex-wife and kill those responsible; and about how he loves his daughter and about what they should have for tea tonight, who are you going to vote for this election and what's your favorite Pokemon and why... Ok maybe not all of that, but seriously, if a car in a Muslim country was driving full speed at the USA embassy, and actually got past the Yanks I SERIOUSLY don't think the Americans would take 5 minutes to do anything; that car would of been obliterated before a monologue could start.

A car at the moment a 50cal. round hits it.

Fast forward 2 seconds...Neeson is now walking the streets of Istanbul in a black leather jacket.
Well, cohesion obviously doesn't matter in this film so I won't even question how he got out of the above situation, the ramifications of the aforementioned actions or even why the Americans let this man loose on a vengeance rampage WITHOUT ANY HELP. Fuck it, I only want to know how he got the jacket; did he stop to buy one on the way to the badguys den, or did the embassy stock the exact same jacket he had from the first movie?

Neeson kills a bunch of bad guys, has a fist fight - shit choreography and camera work btw. Then faces down the boss man, gives him a telling off then says he's free to go. Boss man tries shooting him with the gun Neeson put down after the stern talk; surprise surprise no bullets SHOCK!!! Neeson is pissed about this and shoves the guys face.

Yeah, the man who kidnapped his daughter, her mother, and him then promised he was going to chop them all up and feed them to pigs, then collect the pig poo, use it to fertiliser a field of corn, then burn the field down and salt the ground out of pure hatred etc... Got his face shoved.

creen shot directly out of the film (I promise it is) Neeson slap fights badguy

6 WEEKS LATER

The whole family is having ice cream because you know, a kidnapping, getting tortured and a the whole horrific experience is no biggy, hell the daughters boyfriend even joins in and everyone has a good old knee slap because Neeson cracks a overprotective dad joke.
Doesn't it make you blood fucking curdle? The original was an 18, it was brutal, and real. This was a 12a sell out for kids. Imagine if they made a Rambo or Terminator film (i believe the original Taken is on par) but made a sequel where there was no real violence, poncy fight scenes and Disney style family friendly jokes. Blood Fucking Curdling.

12A (PG13) certificate.

I found this quote on Wikipedia from one of the producers when asked about another sequal: "We didn't start talking about Taken 3 until we saw the numbers, But then we said, 'Oh, okay. I think we should do a third one.' And Fox wants us to do a third one. We've taken everyone we can take—it's going to go in another direction. Should be interesting."
Hopefully they'll go in the direction of making the next a good film? maybe deepen the plot? maybe make it make fucking sense?

Don't waste your money or time on this shit.

it's abit wet outside mam!

If you live in the North West of England then you've probably noticed the recent rain. To those who don't live in the North West of England I'll explain; WE HAVE INCURED GODS WRATH, AND HE HAS SENT 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS OF GAILS TO WASH AWAY THE SINFUL. (retort for sensible people and atheists- It's been raining pretty damn hard).
2 months worth of rain in 3 days. Oh by the way two months worth of rain during September and October in NW UK is around 170mm of perspiration; so that's a lot of rain. Warrington had around 6 inches of rain pour down on it from Sunday night last week until Tuesday night this week. Warrington is also in a valley, so the majority of rain from the surrounding higher areas pooled here; this is my street...

This is a street about a mile down the road.

Learner driver... lol

This is not the first flood we've had in a month either, right at the end of August, Warrington was host to a festival known as Creamfields... it also got a tad damp and had to be cancelled...

Well the bright side is the autumn rain can't last forever; We can soon be looking forward to the Winter Snow!

6myth Style n fashion tips

I've had bloggers block recently. The last few 'hardcore reviews' and 'Bff Andy...' were all written in one night, but cleverly spaced apart to make it look like I can do this shit regularly. My Terrible affliction has left me unable to come up with any worthy blogging ideas of my own; So once again I've decided to completely rip off a fellow friend blogger's niche... Fashion, style n tips... 6myth style.
I'm a rocker. Always have been. Cut me in half and I'm sure the words 'Iron Maiden' and 'Metallica' are stained into me as if I was a piece of Blackpool rock candy! Now any self respecting rocker needs these 5 things.

1. The foot ware.

Elegant, comfy, and not to mention eternally and universally stylish; of course the first thing that comes to mind are Steelies. A good pair of Black, Steel toed, above ankle shit kickers are a must. They go with anything; denim, leather, tuxedos... They offer protection all round, be it from heavy work equipment, to riding your motorcycle, or even the occasional boot to the jaw (it's called a black aspirin in my trade.)

These pair are "groundwork" from Shoezone at a bargain of £25.

2. Trousers

Denim Jeans. What self respecting fan of Black Sabbath will wear anything but? Acid washed with a hint of brown, turned up at the bottom n slightly creased. Beer/Oil stains optional.

3. Undies

1. Pair of old Calvin's will do. Wear for afew days, take em off, turn em onside out BOOM fresh enough for the weekend!

4. Shirts

Who gives a shirt about collars and buttons when you have band T-shirts (did you see what I did there?). Show the world how refined your taste is by wearing your favorite artists on your chest.

 

 I like all types of nut busting music.

 The only other option is plain white, black or grey.

5. Jacket.

Leather. Anything that didn't require an animal to die so you can be warm and look cool is not rock and roll.

This is a carboot WIN at £5! black classic James Dean Rebel Without a Cause, looks great while you straddle a motorcycle, looks great while you tear out a sweet guitar lick, looks great.

6. Accessories.

Things you need to finish the look.
Hair wax, plenty of it, slick that do back like your an Italian in a wind tunnel!
Comb - make sure your blast back stays blast back. You don't want to look like Robert Smith from the Cure (even though he is a freakin' legend)
Rag- for cleaning grease, oil, n wax off your hands, nonchalantly tucked into your back pocket.

Look at you, Cinderella! Ready for the (head bangers) ball!