Justified
The new series of Justified started this week, and the first episode hit the spot bang on target. Being English we have the shittest TV known to man, we very rarely make anything worth watching and so looking forward to my US series gives me a reason for having a TV (plus my xbox).
Makes you wanna shoot guns, drink Bourbon, eat fried chicken make moonshine and generally do man stuff all while wearing a cowboy hat............so ill see you at the weekend Thud.
Makes you wanna shoot guns, drink Bourbon, eat fried chicken make moonshine and generally do man stuff all while wearing a cowboy hat............so ill see you at the weekend Thud.
Prometheus
This film not only looks good im sure it will be one of the top films of 2012. What makes it even better is that one of me ex students worked on the special effects. most of which is in the trailer.
Zombie Beetroot
Over at OTW today for a catch up with the kids and family and to play with my new Semi Auto 12g shotgun that Santa dropped off at thuds for me (thanks Family OTW). While we wait to get the clay flinger up and running we did a little target practice and shot off a few shells. Now myself and thud are both highly regarded as some of the most established beetroot growers and from time to time our red creations step out of line and try to take over the patch. So its lock and load and if your a veggie turn away now (in fact get off my site meat eaters only)
Happy New Year
Happy new year one and all, a little late on the post but i spent the past few days in cumbria with family and friends, shut off from my technology i refused to open my laptop and left my mobile in my room. It was great to get away from the very over done new year celebrations and although the weather wasn't the best we got out did some walking and sampled the local country pubs. Of an evening we eat well drank and had great conversation. what more could you ask for? 2011 was a very special year our family got bigger and for tenbellies and i, we got married and will be a major chapter in our lives i cant wait to see what 2012 brings.
Oh and the picture is my Beef Wellington that i cooked and came out better than i could have expected and made for a great new years eve meal.
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas one and all, nursing a slight hangover is only natural for the festive day but no time for sympathy its a quick bacon buttie and pack all the prezzies in the car and off to Leek to celebrate with family. And more booze no doubt. Merry Christmas.
Strike Day
so its been strike day today and across the country thousands of people have down tools and walked out of work in protest of one thing and another. Because i work in education i too have had the the luxury of having a day off, unpaid of course but instead of marching with my fellow brothers and sisters i have gone out and done something that i enjoy completely unrelated. Now whether they are right or not to strike you cant argue that its done some good in areas they didn't expect. As i walked through central station this afternoon it was packed out , the town was busy and the shops full but not with the commies, no. but with families out shopping in the run up to Christmas, everyone i saw had a shopping bag or bags and was ether with their spouses or children and instead of a hostile crowd there was a merry family atmosphere that was almost festive, not seen or felt for some time. If this is the result of the strike, that people pump money back into our economy and spend time with family and friends then bring it on.
Zenit E
Its official i have an addiction and not of the drug kind, alcahol i already have but this new addiction is much much worse. Its ebay, and in particular its film cameras. I have have started to mont up quite a collection of 35mm cameras some slr, some point and shoot and even an half frame. Im shure i have enough but the urge is still there and seeing as i very rare spend above a tenner for each one it wont see me out on the streets robbing from my mother just yet.
I have started to buy faulty cameras too, ones that are not working at there best so that i can break them down have ago at fixing them and increase my understanding of how different models work. It rather enjoyable and if i mess it up then its only a small price to pay.
My latest fixer upper is this mighty fine Zenit E SLR, made in the USSR its chunky and heavy but the best thing i like about it is the sound of the shutter, sounds like a Russian slamming the hammer down. This one had a problem with the shutter in that it needed tensioning and the light meter was faulty. so i stripped it down cleaned all the lens and mirrors tensioned the shutter and replaced the lightmeter from another Zenit E that i got for 2 quid. Gave the cosmetics a bit of a spruce and bobs your auntie. I replaced the lens with my Yaschica 50 mm which takes awesome pics. I tested this out on a recent visit to Rome which you can check out on my Flickr. Absolutely love this camera and will use it as much as i can. Its funny now that work has given me a new Cannon 400D you would think id be playing that but it just doesn't have the appeal like these old cameras do.
Lasers at the ready
Being a bit of a technology freak loving my toys and anything that is a little bit space age i jump at the chance to make things, although its seems I'm going backwards in the context of photography as yet again i bought another camera off ebay the other week. However I'm a practical person and love to make things whether its using technology or my own two hands. My recent little creative spell has been for my brother in law Thud, using a design he found in one of his many books on old building i designed two Gothic arches for two of his rooms. The process is quite simple and watching the laser cut them out is hypnotising. Just a few little finishing touches tomorrow will have these looking top notch. I wonder if Mrs Monkey will let me have one of these, along side the 3D printer, darkroom and workshop hmmmmm think I'm gonna need a bigger boat...or a shed. 
Picking up the Leaves
Lomo Film
I have recently been dabbling in out of date film both colour and black and white. Iv kind of got to grips with developing my own film but found printing to paper costly and time consuming so i recently got a negative scanner for ones birthday which cuts out both those factors and fits into what i want to do. I had My first attempt at processing colour film, something that most people seem to think complicated and yet its nearly the same at processing B+W with only a little more care time and temperature. I love using this out of date stuff has your never to sure as to what your going to get from it when you process it. the results have been great so far like taking your images back in time, saturating the colour and giving small imperfections which i really like. I love my digital camera but my film cameras have personality and their own style which some presets cant beat. These images were not touched or altered in any way and taken on my Rollie xf35, processed in my kitchen.
