Ahhh, what a day

Today has been a wonderfully nice day. The sun has been shining, it's been gloriously warm, and I wasn't stuck inside!!

Even though it isn't officially summer until about this time next month, it sure feels like summer, and we've already had more of it than last year, with it's blink and you miss it summer season.

Today, I was woken up by Roo, and I got up and went down to the control room, got my laptop out, and went on MSN. When on there, my good friend Eloise asked me to go out for a walk with her, so she got in a taxi and came round to the studio. We started off the day by me showing off the size of the projection screen, we took photos stood next to a massive picture of her tits. We're pretty classy, I don't know if I've ever mentioned that.

We went out onto the promenade, and walked down it, with a can of pop each. I felt like reminiscing my childhood, and opted for a can of Shandy Bass, something I used to always drink at my nanna and grandad's, usually with a packet of Walkers Prawn Cocktail Crisps, whilst reading The Dandy and The Beano (The Beano was WAY better in my opinion). So, we were walking along the promenade, got up to Central Pier, and decided to go on the big wheel, something, in my almost 21 years of life in Blackpool, I've never been on. Ever. It was great fun, and as you can see, El loved it!!

"Hi, My name is El, and I'm fucking terrified!"

After scaring El on the big wheel (the reason she looks so scared, is because not only I was trying to spin it round by grabbing the pole in the middle, the ride operator of the wheel span it round when we came to the bottom on seeing me trying to spin it... twice), we carried on walking up the promenade, stopping for photo opportunities, such as me walking along the wall that follows the promenade, which I think is a cracking photo.

"Hi my name is Kris... now admire my skills of walking!"

We eventually made it all the way to the worlds biggest mirror ball, and hung out there, had a good sit down too (we were shattered, walking in heat like today!). We popped over the road, went into the solaris centre (which is a complete waste of time if I'm being honest), we went down onto Highfield road, popped into B&M bargains, bought ourselves some San Miguel, a can of G&T for El (my birthday present for her) and a can of salt and pepper cashew nuts. Went a bit further down the road to the Tesco, and I got myself a pasta and chicken bowl.

We carried on further down the road and sat on the grass in the park and had a picnic! Look at us lounging about, having fun!!

What better things could you suggest for such a summery day?

Oh... I know! How about a BBQ when I got back to the studio? Well that's what we did have ourselves for tea when I got back to the studio, and glorious it was.

A day, crammed with Shandy Bass, Central Pier, The Big Wheel, The Worlds Largest Mirrorball, The Solaris Centre, B&M Bargains (who sell cheap booze!! :D), Tesco, Picnic, BBQ with jerk chicken, chipolata chorizo sausages, smoked bacon chops, burgers and some nice fancy flatbreads. Washed down with beer (including the amazing Cobra Lemon Grass Beer, which I think I have mentioned before.

I'm off to drink more beer now, and be more sociable.

Peace.

Kris

Bank Holiday Shenanigans

Ahh, May. A month with two bank holiday weekends in it, to do whatever you feel like doing.

Well, I'm going to bore you with tales of my weekend.

It started slowly on Saturday, when I woke up with no plans for the weekend, having decided to not bother going to Preston for a party, as it was needless expense. So, I spent Saturday daytime mooching around the studio, I went for a walk into town. General Saturday stuff really. I was in front of the TV with a beer in my hand for Doctor Who (which I am watching on iPlayer right now on a BIG screen)

So, in geek tradition, after Doctor Who finished, I went onto the Doctor Who Forums to discuss the episode and all that. A couple of pages in, and the internet stops working. "Oh no!!" I think to myself, what did people do before the internet?... ahh... they saw people... in real life... I remember that, I think.

I went to the party in Preston.

It was fantastic, at a new coffee shop that opened yesterday in Preston town centre, called Harbl's. There were loads of people I only knew the Prestone forum, and not IRL. What a friendly bunch of people they all are, some of them are fit too ;) haha!!

The night was fun, I started off with a can of beer, went onto a mug of tea (I had to support the business), and then Red Stripe. There was acoustic music upstairs, I sang The Prostitute Blues, it went down well (no puns please!!), everyone enjoyed it, Bill Orrick sang some songs, I went downstairs, drank beer, socialised, Lord Beaker gave me beer too (he's the owner/admin of Prestone) which I was very grateful of. There was a slight altercation between one of my friends friends who tried to steal my beer in a jokey way, but was drunk and came across aggressive and got kicked out of the place.

I was there till about 5am and went to crash on the sofa of Fort Meme (thanks to Hex, Chojin and Procopious for letting me stay there, not that they will read this blog), also thanks to Harbl and Partyvan for the great night, free tuna sammich and the lift home in The Partyvan.

I woke up on Sunday morning at Fort Meme, and felt pretty good. I was made a brew by the other nice lady, whose name I must apologise for forgetting, who lives at Fort Meme, played with Kai the dog, and went off into town, grateful for being given a crashing space and being offered it whenever I needed it.

In Preston city centre, I went to a gig at The Mad Ferret, where I spent most of the day with Crumble, trying to drink away a hangover that had caught up with me by that point (I hate hangovers like that). Throughout most of the gig we were in the beer garden, huddling underneath the parasol, as the rain had began to set in (and it was lashing it down!!). Sat underneath a parasol in the pissing down rain, surrounded by a million smokers, drinking gin and lemonade... just how I love to spend my hangovers.

After sticking it out till about 8 o'clock, I had to retire back to Blackpool and curl up and die.

Monday morning came around, and off it was to spend a bank holiday Monday doing something quite productive, helping my dad move house. There's not much to talk about other than it involved quite a lot of lugging things upstairs and carrying things to the new house round the corner. A tiring day.

I returned back to the studio, and there was no internet. STILL. I couldn't believe I'd managed so long without access to the internet!!

So, without internet, here is what happens...

You go to parties
You go to gigs
You help people move house
You read a good 150 pages of a book about zombies...

Basically, you get a social life... it's bloody crazy I tell ya!!

Anyways, I've written quite enough now.

Kris

I WAS RIGHT!!!

OH YES!!

DANNY MILLER WON!!

YES!!

I AM SO GREAT!!

Next week, the south west.

I'll let you know who is going to win ;)

Danny or Noel?

Great British Menu?

I'm watching it on BBC iPlayer now.

I put my money on Danny earlier on.

My 50th blog will hopefully confirm my suspicions.

Kris

I fucking HATE Pete Doherty

Not because he's a talentless drugged up waste of space. That doesn't really bother me at all.

What does bother me, is that I like to wear a trilby, and last night my band played a gig, and after the gig, I put said trilby on, as my hair was a sweaty mess. I was wearing jeans, a tequila t-shirt and some trainers, other than the trilby, nothing like Pete Doherty.

Much to my annoyance, SIX separate people came up to me making comments like "aw'right Pete, aren't you supposed to be in jail? hur hur hur", "Are you supposed to be Pete Doherty?" and the most fucking annoying one, two pissed up hippies who'd just been to see Björk at the venue down the way, hassling me for ten minutes following me round trying to get photos with me and saying "I'm a bit embarrassed to be talking to you Pete, but could I get your autograph"... it wasn't funny when they first said it, it was met with silence from their other friends, yet they carried on for about ten minutes.

It really got on my nerves, and they weren't giving in so I had to leave the pub for a bit.

So basically, I just want Pete Doherty to stop wearing trilbies, because I wear them, and I'm not him



Kris

BBC iPlayer and why I love it

I'd like to say how much I love BBC iPlayer. It's bloody great, and I'm going to now dedicate a blog to the programmes which I mainly watch on it, all three of them, and they're all reality television programmes.

Now, I can sense some of you already shaking your heads at the fact that I watch reality television, but no! This isn't Big Brother we're talking about (well, it's BBC for a start, and we all know Big Brother is a Channel Four programme), but the following three programmes.

Great British Menu - A cookery show, where two chefs compete against each other to cook a meal for my culinary hero and many other top chefs from across the world, at The Gherkin in London.

The Apprentice - A show, where 16 of the country's best (read completely incompetent idiots) businessmen and women compete to land a job as an apprentice to Sir Alan Sugar.

Funny Business - A comedy talent show, looking for a welsh comedian, who goes on to win a £30,000 contract with the manager of The Comedy Club who promote comedians and own comedy venues across the country.

Now then, let's discuss these shows in a bit more detail, or to be exact, no discussion, just my opinions.

Firstly, Great British Menu, we're onto the last of the heats at the moment, and for all but one episode, I've predicted the right winner (the episode I got wrong being the Welsh episode, neither of the chefs where Welsh anyway, they just lived there!). At the moment they are in Northern Ireland, and the two contestants are Danny Millar and Noel McMeel, and my money is on Danny Millar. I like underdogs (Noel has been in it before and has more experience of the competition), also, the welsh competitor who lost had been in the competition before, and she lost the last time around, and the Noel lost the first time around, so I've got a feeling that he will lose again.
The emphasis this year is on modern British cooking, and whilst both have some modern techniques in their cooking style, Noel presents his meals in a very classical way (and some I would call somewhat twee), whilst Danny's meals not only employ modern cooking methods, but also push boundaries of what people come to expect, desserts are tomorrow, and then judging on Friday, and we'll find out if my tips are right then, the proof is, as they say, in the pudding (ho ho ho).

The Apprentice is something I've only gotten into this series, but I'm finding it compelling viewing, and a fellow blogger I've come to know about through Rhys' blogs has already blogged about it.

I can't really comment much on the contestants (known as candidates in this programme), because as a foodie, this business stuff isn't something I'm too familiar with (unlike how I can comment on chefs and cooking styles)... however, what I can say, is that I wouldn't employ a SINGLE person on this programme, I wouldn't even put them in charge of organising a piss up in a brewery, nor would I leave them to plan a shag in a brothel. They are a hopeless shower of shit, who seem to have some crazy idea that brainstorm diagrams, showing how they could promote things, spend all day in an office, and then panic when they've planned it all, yet not gotten on with it.
The level of bitching on that programme too, it makes me want to kill. Grrr, it's fascinating, but really, the people on that programme make me despair!

The final programme I have to comment on, is Funny Business, which was great, although I do not agree with the winning contestants. Not in the slightest do I agree.
The first winner was the skinny bloke, I think he was called Rob. How he won, I don't know. He just regurgitated jokes that have been going for years, that I heard when I was in school. The second winner (because they were indecisive twats) was called Kev, I think. He was a bit smutty, but that doesn't bother me... what bothers me is that he wasn't all that funny with smut, in the semi's and the finals, he made mistakes, in the semi final, he totally forgot his lines, and they put him through because he recovered it. In my opinion, he should have been dropped from the competition because of that, and sent to do more gigs, practise in front of more people and not forget lines.
I think the overall winner should have been the guy who went on last, I can't remember his name, but he did a joke about him looking like Elvis Costello. I liked him, I like Elvis Costello, he's good, and he was funny (not Elvis Costello, I've never heard him tell a joke, I'm talking about this comedian who did a joke about him looking a bit like Elvis Costello)

In short, BBC iPlayer is great, because I live in a place where the TV doesn't receive signal that well, and the only thing I watch on it is Doctor Who, and when I'm not watching that, Matt is playing on his Xbox with it.

This has been my longest blog in fucking ages, and my fingers are tired.

Kris

Coffee and Croissants can fuck off

All you need is a cup of tea, none of that pansy French coffee nonsense. It will set you up for the day, I tell ya!

Why am I telling you this I hear you ask? (that's a cue for you to ask that out loud, then you can carry on reading) Well, it's because a wonderful thing just happened, and I feel it really shows the connection we have here at the studio. I put the kettle on, without telling Roo, I went upstairs to get dressed, I came back down dressed, and Roo was in the kitchen making brews for us both. Tea is such a wonderful thing! Who would have thought that a few dried leaves stewed in water could bring such unity amongst people?

Another reason for blogging today, is to share with you all some pictures of my bands gig on Thursday at The Blue Room, I think this one really sums me up as a person;

Mildly Dangerous

Ooooh, look at me, I'm such a rebel aren't I?

Well, I can't be bothered chatting much more, but do check out the rest of the pictures here

Kris

Last Nights Gig

Well then, last night Peter Simple played our second gig ever, and my god it was immense. I'll post our set list later on in this blog. I'm really enjoying only doing vocals, and using my guitar every now and then. It means I can really jump about, get into the audience, skank, injure myself in varying ways with microphones and act out my songs a bit more (I think in the style of musicals, most of the songs I write feature characters, which in my head have a back story and such)

The set list for last night was;

• Theme from Bottom
• The Ballad of Sonny Gritts
• Can You Feel The Love Tonight?
• Getting Everything But Having Nothing At All
• Monkey Man
• Where The Hell Are You?

We started off a bit shaky and tentative, but it really got good (although I forgot lyrics to Getting Everything But Having Nothing At All) towards the end, with my personal highlight being Monkey Man, it's at that point where I really jumped about, I climbed things and jumped off them, cutting my lip open (like in the old days with TEPODD) when I landed, sang the "la la la's" with my mate Jake, skanked with strangers. I think during that song, we definitely sounded at our best, the band was tight and well rehearsed, and everything was good!!

After the gig it was time for a couple of drinks, I say a couple... I dare not open my wallet to get an idea of how much money I managed to spend on alcohol, I'm hoping that I was bought drinks more than me buying them. There was drinks at The Blue Room (where we played) over a game of GIANT WOODEN CONNECT FOUR (which I lost all three games I played haha!), then we were going to go to Frenchmans Cove, but decided not to and to go to Scrooges, where I was bought a gin and tonic... then it would seem we went to The Tache, I have vague memories of it, but it's confirmed by the stamp.

Anyway, enough of me wittering on, I'm bored and need a brew.

Kris

Well, I've been up for over an hour already today

I've been up for an hour already today, which at 10.40am is a rather shocking thing, it's going to be a rather quick blog post as me and the guys at the studio are going to look around a hotel that they are considering getting for us to live in, (although then I will need to pay rent, so if you're an employer and reading this blog, gizza job mate).

So far today, I woke at 9.25am when the new Mac Pro came for the studio, now I think I've mentioned this before, but I live in a recording and rehearsal studio, it's an interesting life indeed. Recently their PC decided to melt, so it was an ideal time to get on with the upgrade on the studio of getting a Mac Pro, which are much better (apparently) for using to record music and media editing stuff.

The Mac Pro was supposed to arrive with a projector for the HUGE projection screen which is now on the wall facing me as I type... safe to say, it didn't. What it also didn't come with, which wasn't something it was supposed to come with, was a PCI Express Card (I think that's what it is called, Dan keeps saying it on the phone). The PCI Express Card is needed for them to be able to do music based things on the Mac... thus rendering the studio temporarily unable to record bands, which is no biggie, since nobody is in until the bank holiday weekend, but it means that Interracial Buttsechs (our studio band to test new equipment) can't make any music, our next song is going to be a jazz song in 3/4 time.

Anyway, I must dash, hotels to look at and such.

Kris!