Happy Christmas with The Wailers - 'She's Coming Home'

So. It's nearly Christmas and here is one of the best ever Christmas songs.

It's 'She's Coming Home' by The Wailers.. No, not those Wailers. This here is the 60's American garage band who came to nothing. They have a track on Nuggets, and an album that's not any good. But this track is something special. I play it all year long. So if you're reading this in July download it anyway.

Get it here - http://www.mediafire.com/?fgmn30vscdj

Running in December

I have been running. It's been a good month so far. My calf feels good. I can feel it twinge on occasion but I now know how to handle it. Two things - 1) try to never run on consecutive days (I now run every other day) and 2) stretch.

I've not been doing long runs, but that's more due to lack of time than to lack of will. I have however noticed my speed has increased quite considerably since my injury and with the rehab.

I had one of those magical runs on Wed. I was in London and I ran on my own to Brondesbury and back over the High Road. It was bitterly cold. I ran a fast 08:52 (mile) pace and I was flying along. It was hard but my heart and lungs stayed on it matching every step. I kept the pace up. It was wicked.. I don't know what makes some runs so great. The last time I had one like that was back in the summer one night with Morgan; it just feels as though the act of running is the most perfect thing for me to be doing at that time. It's quite special. Those runs are like gifts.

30th Nov - Maygrove to Hampstead Heath (hills) - 4.07 miles / 09:56 pace

1st Dec - Gym treadmill - 2 miles. I was knackered. I'de been biking the day before and had given the rowing machine a thrashing before I got to the tread...

3rd Dec - Woolpit, Suffolk - cat shit path - 2.71 miles / 09:37 pace.

4th Dec - Woolpit, Suffolk - cat shit path twice - 4.64 miles / 09:31 pace. Horrible run. Cold, dark and depressing. Rural England on this afternoon was old ladies in beige coats, men in white vans, headlines about the recession and the vast leaden sky. Somewhat bleak.

6th Dec - Home / Longstomps/ Central Park - an evening run. 4.39 miles. Hard work. Rain. Cold wind and house full of ladies buying xmas decs when I got back.

9th Dec - Home/Private rd/ Hylands Park / Writtle - Great run. 7.17 miles / 09:44 pace. Tried to enjoy run and ignore form.

11th Dec - Treadmill - 3 miles.

12th Dec - Maygrove / Brondesbury with Iain - 2.94 miles / 09:05 pace.

14th Dec - Maygrove / Hampstead Heath - 3.25 miles / 10:05 pace. Hills.

17th Dec - Woolpit, Suffolk - Usual route + new footpath - 4.14 miles / 09:04 pace.

19th Dec - Maygrove / Brondesbury / High Rd - 3.32 miles / 08:52 pace - this was the good one.

20th Dec - Maygrove / Brondesbury / High Rd, with Iain - 3.35 / 09:04 pace.

22nd Dec Home / Longstomps/ Central Park - 4.39 miles / 08:39 pace. Yesterday. Great run. I pushed myself. Really into getting my speed up.

T

A feast of musical greatness - the best music of 2008

One of the true highlights of my year is the summing up of the years cultural events at the end of the year.

For someone like me who cares very little about football, the end of the year lists in NME, Uncut etc are like the FA Cup. This year has been a great year, particularly for music. For the first time in recent memory the best album has been by a British artist, so maybe we just won the World Cup.

I love it when I find something great. It rarely happens.

People use the word genius far too much. People also tend to get excited about stuff that we all know they don't listen to. But me... when I say something is great, trust me, it is. So here is the greatest music of 2007. Read and weep. If you do not know this stuff go and get it now. Download it all. It's out there right now.

A menu for a feast of greatness.

(Music is here now today. The best books, films, TV and other tings will follow when I get round to it, in the next day or so.)

BEST MUSIC - TOP 6...

1. Findlay Brown - 'Separated By The Sea' - an otherworldly album of great songs that chime with love. It sounds both classic and thoroughly modern.

2. Radiohead - 'In Rainbows' - a band in 'full flight'. Free of their guilt, they rattle this album out. It flies at you - pushing and pulling. I feel kinda lost in this album; there always something going on that takes me away from where I think I am with it.

3. Richmond Fontaine - 'Thirteen Cities' - to start by saying another masterpiece by Richmond Fontaine could sound to the uninitiated as a little lame. But to those who know Richmond Fontaine, another great album by RC is as good as it gets. Poetry and country rock, with the sound of the desert in background; it sounds epic in parts. Full of tender despair.

4) Arcade Fire - 'Neon Bible' - better than Funeral. The sound of the apocalypse as per a group of nice Canadian people. BUT, they pull it off. It is dramatic . It takes itself very seriously but despite this it works. I can't fathom it out. It just sounds great.

5) Six Organs Of Admittance - 'Shelter From The Ash' - More end of the world stuff. This time the menace and paranoia sounded real. For me there's poetry in the sound of Ben Chasny's guitar strings buzzing against the frets. The sparse words foretell something coming that is not good. It sounds prophetic and sad. It illuminates the dark corners not to show you what is there but to remind you that you are not alone.

6) Lucky Jim - 'All The Kings Horses' - a lost classic. Great songs. AOR, MOR ? Sounds like Gene Clark fronting Interpol, at times. 'Don Quixote' is truly a song to live with.


There you go.

Happy Christmas

T

The Meaning of Life

Liam Gallagher has always been right. I don't think he has ever told a lie or been wrong about anything.

There's a big difference between talking shit and being full of it.

In this month's Uncut magazine there's a feature about John Lennon's greatest songs as picked by a bunch of celebrities and the writers of Uncut. Liam is in there choosing Beautiful Boy and comes out with this pearl of wisdom -

"People who've got any soul will realise that there's a day when you go home and put your feet up and cuddle your kids. If anyone slags it off, they've either got no heart or they don't know what the meaning of life is."

There you go. He's right. I've spent the weekend just hanging out with my kids. We've not been out (apart from a 7 miler on Sunday morn for an hour) all weekend. We put up the Christmas decorations, and cuddled the kids - perfect.

T

Been Running

I've been running.

Tuesday 14/11 - treadmill - 5k in 30 mins appx
Sunday 18/11 - Chelmsford old route with Morgan - 5 miles / 9.42 pace. Great to be running with Morgan.
Tuesday 20/11 - factory to Brondesbury with Iain - 2.98 miles / 9:21 pace.
Thursday 22/11 - treadmill - 5k in exactly 29:20.
Friday 23/11 - treadmill - 4k in 25 mins ???
Sunday 25/11 - Home/Village/Britvic/Washing/Hospital/Longstomps - 4.49 miles / 9.32 pace
Tuesday 27/11 - Factory / Brondesbury with Iain. Great run. We went for it.. Fast on the way back. 2.98 miles in 26:38 mins... Well fast for us.

My leg is better. It still twinges sometimes. I need to stretch every day. And I a now run every other day.

T

Duffy - Rockferry

Erm. Listen to this - http://www.mediablahblahbla - I removed this sorry. You can get it on itunes for 79p.

This is a track called Rockferry by a lady called Duffy. And it is quite spectacular.

The observer writes thus - "There she is, 22 years old, all puppy-eyed and delicate, looking like the sort of shiny pop pin-up that adorns young girls' bedroom walls. Yet her songs - elegiac paeans to heartbreak and treachery, delivered in a voice that has all the gorgeous, aching depth of a seasoned soul diva - bring to mind the dark, sensual performances of Dusty Springfield in the late Sixties."

I think it may be the best peice of music I've heard all year..

Go here for more info -

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,1892762,00.html

http://www.iamduffy.com/

Arcade Fire Live at Alexander Palace

Here's my brother in law's review of Arcade Fire at Alexander Palace -

I went to see Arcade Fire at Ally Pally this evening, so chew on that one sucka!
I didn't even have to pay as i went as the gimp of my Greek friend Simon Imcraptatquizes.
We agree that 'The Fire' are a band that one simply MUST see live. As their chaotic and 'big' sound transcends their recordings.

(see self portrait of brother in law above)

my stiff calf is getting better

So. I've been running. Have you been running ? I've not been writing; but you, you've done some reading no doubt. Try some writing, like running, it's good for you.

However, hang on. My running hurts. My running gave me a bad calf. Although, maybe according to my physio I have a tear in my calf from years ago. And if I hadn't upped my weekly mileage from 0 (zero) to 35 in 6 months I would never have felt it. But hey. It's getting better and I have no idea what I am going on about. I have no point to make. I just want to post my run data.

So. Yep. Running again. Finally -

On the treadmill for what seems like weeks. Alternate days starting at 8 min runs to finally 20 mins until last Wednesday (1st Nov) when Iain and I ran at lunchtime from the Factory to Brondsbury Park and back (2.8 miles ? / 28 mins). We stopped and stretched 10 mins in. There's a slight hill off of Kilburn High Road covered in leaves. We dodged the dog shit, hidden like mines. It was very great to be outside running in London again.

Sunday 4th Nov - (3.34 miles / 10:03 pace) On my own. An early morning misty run through the park. The route Morgan and I did in the summer (I miss you Morgan..). My leg twinged a bit. I saw another runner. A slender young man with all the kit. I passed him on Waterhouse Lane.

Tuesday 6th Nov - (2.91 miles / 10:00 pace) From Maygrove to Brondsebury again with Iain. We sprinted at the end. My legs feel heavy but my heart and lungs could go for miles.

Thursday 8th Nov - 30 mins on the treadmill. No stiffness or pain at all.

Saturday 10th Nov - Today.. (4.42 miles / 9:59 miles). Great run. Cold. I could have gone for ages but with the words of the physio forbidding me from even 10 mins on the road, and scared I'd see her as I bounded through the park I came home to eggs and bacon and a slightly stiff leg.

Bye
T

THE WIRE

I have a new obsession. This new obsession is The Wire.

The Wire is a HBO TV show set in contempary Baltimore in the USA. It's a cop show. It is also the best thing I have ever seen on TV. I am not the only person to say this, countless other people have also described it thus.

It is simply perfect. The characters are almost stereotypes, there are no real 'good guys'and there is no hope. But you cannot help but sympaphise with almost everyone and care so much about every aspect of the world yo are presented with. The show is truely multi-layered and the deep pull of the show is overtaking all my other current obessesions (my leg, jihadists, buying a new bike, finding Batman things for my boy).

I've downloaded the first 3 series on bittorrent (over 3 weekends) and have been watching them on my ipod. I've been going to bed watching my ipod, travelling to the factory watching my ipod, even sat in my car eating sandwiches watching The Wire on my ipod. It's been great.

Series 5 is due to start in Feb next year.

Go here for bits of The Wire -

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ2iGYwdEi8

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QFQVSvG5x54

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p3XQIqgAtCg

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y3rVGW24wc

Our Lives..

I went to a new physio on Saturday and she has diagnosed the problem with my left leg as a 'damaged calf muscle'. Not achilles tendonitis. My achilles is apparently fine. I've spent the last 5 weeks icing my achilles and doing achilles stretches. I've been ignoring my calf. Great eh ?

But, I'm back. Kind of. Nearly.. The physio showed me calf strectches, did a load of ultrasound. And this morning I ran on the treadmill for 10 mins. I feel fine. In fact it felt 100% great to be running again. Even if it were on the bloody treadmill. She advised me to walk for ten mins every other day this week and then do 5 mins walk / 5 mins run on the treadmill every other day next week. But I literally could not stop myself. I found myself running and it was so good. I did'nt go fast. I had no incline at all. It was good. Next week I intend to get back on the road...

So. Now I'm back..

Download this http://www.mediafire.com/?1m0jx1ftxxw

It is a track by Oddessey called 'Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love'. I downloaded this track as part of a compilation and was drawn to it by the title. It's really quite special. It moves with swing and vibe. It puts me in a good mood. Music is like fuel to me sometimes.

The Concretes

I was in a pub in Bedford on Tuesday talking about karaoke with a young lady called Tammy. Tammy suggested to me that ladies are more reluctant to sing karaoke than men. We both opined why this might be the case; I suggested it was because in popular music many iconic male musical artists do not have 'perfect' singing voices, yet are successful. I gave Tammy the examples of Bob Dylan and Morrissey. I then suggested that there were not many popular female singers with anything less than 'perfect' voices. Tammy looked at me like I was a crossword and suggested the main reason, in her experience, for men to be more keen to do karaoke was, 'cos most men were dickheads'.

Here is a track by The Concretes. It's called 'A Whales Heart'. The girl singing this has not got a technically perfect voice, but she sounds great. Download it here - http://www.mediafire.com/?2tzmh9gxjmz

T

PS - ankle still wasted. Not run in 3 weeks.

Death Proof

I finally got round to watching the new Tarrantino movie 'Death Proof'. It's a good film. It's not half as good as any other Tarrantino movie. But a half good Tarrantino film is still better than pretty much anyone elses, in my humble opinion.

The film ends with the following track played over the credits. It's by April March and the song is called 'Chick Habit'. Get it here - http://www.mediafire.com/?3qt1l0petmt

T

REST

Ignore that last post about doing the 'drops' to stretch the tendon.. My ankle on Friday was worse than it had been in a week... I spent the weekend not bounding up stairs (as I do at work), walking miles or cycling like a lunatic to and from the station. I went to the gym and ignored the cross trainer and now, finally, it feels as though my leg is healing.

So. I deduce that for my achilles tendon to heal I must avoid all strenuous leg excerises. Pity the physio did'nt advise me on that 2 weeks ago. This morning my ankle feels 100% fine.. But I am not running for at least another week. I want it to heal properly..

Anyway, yesterday I went to Decathlon in Lakeside and bought loads of winter running bits, including men's running tights. I look like Spiderman... The evil Spiderman, they're black..

T

Cobwebs

My ankle feels a lot better. I woke this morning to no soreness or stiffness, in my ankle.. Went to the gym and it still feels ok.

I've been taking Nerofen and icing the ankle 2 or 3 times day and have been doing heel drop exercises recommended by a PT at the gym, who has just qualified as a physio. Apparently in Canada, where this chap did 6 months training, this is now the latest way to heal Achilles tendonitis.

What you do is -
1) Start with both feet on a step with heels hanging off the step. Weight should be on the balls of both feet to start.
2) Drop down off of the step and decelerate quickly at the bottom of the movement. Don't bounce at the bottom but halt the lowering movement as fast as possible.
3) do a toe raise slowly. Start with both feet. Then progress to one foot at a time.

I've been doing these exercises since Saturday along with the Nerofen and icing, and not running; *maybe* things are getting better. I am going to London Marathon Store at lunchtime to see if I can now sort out if my current trainers (Brooks Vapour) are to blame. And hopefully I may run at the weekend.. But we shall see. I am not going to push it. And it is early days.

On the way to the factory today I found myself playing a favourite Spiritualized track. This being a cover of a Junior Kimbrough track 'Sad Days and Lonely Nights'. And on a cold London morning trudging through the 'transport' system it blew my cobwebs away. Go here for a copy and play LOUD - http://www.mediafire.com/?6uknnynggpmjavascript:void(0)
Publish Post

T

1 Week and 0 Miles

It's been a week. I have not run since last Sunday.

The ankle does feel better, but when I cup the ankle and lift it back towards my calf the Achilles tendon hurts.

I've been to the gym 4 or 5 times. But I need to run. It was raining this morning. I would have been as happy as I could ever be heading out into that for a hour today. Instead I ambled in to work listening to Bob Dylan's 'Love & Theft' - "today has been a sad and lonesome day" he sang. And it was only 10:00.

Oh well. Eat 'Reggae Reggae Sauce'. I did and it was nice.

T

Findlay Brown - Paperman

Music means different things to me now than it did before. Listening to say, the Nuggets Box Set now is a very different experience for me than it did when I first heard it as a teenager. Then, Nuggets (a box set of once obscure and now iconic 60's American garage pysch rock) was an 'authentic' soundtrack to my teenage hedonism. It sounded like the real deal. And within it I felt there was some psychedelic cypher waiting to be decoded. Now when I listen to those same songs I consider the musicians, then American teenagers with terrible trousers and lots of attitude, but now old men fading into horizon of middle America. Their passions and anger left behind like a forgotten hangover. It is, for me now, a rather more melancholic affair.

As the summer is now finally disappearing fast and I settle in the for long haul of winter, the choice of what to music to play is also changing. Spring and summer for me is about getting outside and living with the sun overhead and grass under my feet with my kids at my side. I love England in the spring and summer. My choice of music these past few months reflects this and has been psych folk, pastoral country and chiming guitars; the likes of which I have on occasion posted here. But now I feel myself looking for something harder and processed. Recent choices have been 'Satan's Circus' by DIV, and the Knife album. I've even been playing one or two Radiohead tracks.

However, one album I know I am far from finished playing is the Findlay Brown album 'Separated By The Sea'. It is in essence the psych folk blues of spring and summer but it is also more than the soundtrack to my bucolic daydreams. It is an album which I am told is very specifically a collection of love songs. To me it ducks and rolls and buzzes with life. It is occupied with temporary loss and yearning. It is also a record that affirms life and hope. It is a wonderfully sung and performed album. The production is perfect. Findlay's voice is close, almost as if he singing just for you. The arrangements both classic and modern. A truly remarkable record. The best album of the year so far and possibly the best British album in years.

I saw Findlay outside Niketown in Oxford Street two weeks ago. I went up to him and congratulated him on such a great record. He was a nice bloke, a little taken aback by me, a big skinhead extolling the virtues of his album back to him, but hey what's to be done ?

Check out Paperman, one of my fave tracks from 'Seperated By The Sea'. You can get a copy here - http://www.mediafire.com/?0zskzzyhtcy

Go here for more Findlay - http://www.findlaybrown.com/

T

2 Weeks Off

I've been to the physio and I have small tears in the fibers and sinews near the Achilles tendon. I may also have mild tendonitis. I need to rest long enough for the leg and foot to feel 100% better and then rest, from running, for a further week. I reckon I'll not be running for 2 weeks... This will be difficult but overall I feel good. All this is provided the prognosis is correct.

T

Achilles Tendonitis

I ache. The back of my left ankle hurts. I can't walk properly. I am having to walk up and down stairs sideways..

I ran to Hampstead on Thursday - 4 miles. Rested till Sunday when I did 9 miles (but the Ipod stopped after 7...).

My left ankle has been hurting for a week or two now. But after Sundays run, or more specifically Monday morning (today), my ankle has nearly seized up. I've been online and I am fairly sure I have a damaged tendon and it looks like achilles tendonitis. It hrts more when I flex my foot straight out / point my feet and toes. I am gutted. I'm going to rest it now for as long as I can. I am very worried.

T

Hampstead Ponds - lunchtime run and swim

I just ran to Hampstead Heath, from Kilburn. Swam in the mixed pond for 20 minutes and then run back to the factory. It was great. The last time I swam in a pond was Frensham Ponds when I was a child. I went with Lee today. He rode his bike and I ran.. What a fine way to spend a lunchtime in September. It beats eating a packet of Monster Much and staring at some rubbish on You Tube.

4 mile run - not sure of the pace. It'll be sub 10 mins though. The Nike+ will split it into two runs.

What did you do for lunch ?

T

Songbird

So. I got distracted from the new Tarantino movie by last year's Willie Nelson album 'Songbird'. Produced by Ryan Adams, who along with his band the Cardinals, also plays on the album. 'Songbird' is an album of covers with some originals.

It's wonderful record. I don't think it had great reviews when it was released, but what does everyone else know ? Not a lot.

'Songbird' is peppered with 3 or 4 kinda standard country rock tracks. The rest are celestial modern country classics; shimmering guitars with Willie's iconic voice set in the middle of the mix like the north star. The whole record swings and reflects on life. It's melancholic and yet resigned. Perfect company for a Friday night.

I particularly like the title track, 'Songbird'. You can get a copy on this track here - http://www.mediafire.com/?exmsli9n2gx

I did 11 miles on Saturday. Private road / Hylands Park and woods, Writtle, path(s) to Admiral Part, Station, etc. Fantastic run. I'd not run since Thursday. So I'd been waiting for this chance to get out. Perfect way to spend a couple of hours.

Oh, and I did appx 5 miles on Thursday in the evening in Chelmsford. But the Nike Plus wasn't working so I don't know how far and at what pace. Good run though.

This morning (Monday) I did 26 mins on the treadmill at the gym. I pushed the speed up to 8 min miles, for appx 9 mins, and nearly fell off. It was hard work. I kept the speed up and ran as hard and fast as I could. I came off there feeling more knackered than my 11 miles on Saturday.

T

The Pugilist At Rest

In preparation for this week's diabolical journeys to and from the factory I grabbed my old copy of 'The Pugilist At Rest' by Thom Jones. I have been struggling through George Sheehan's 'Running And Being' and felt I needed something else to chew on whilst stuck on the Jubilee Line.

George Sheehan has been described as the 'philosopher king' of running and indeed his work is littered with remarkable quotes that make you realize why maybe you do the stuff the you do, or think the things you do when you run.

Running and Being's basic premise is that to achieve our true goals and become who we really need to be we must learn to 'play' again and be childlike, fearless and strong. It is very Nietzsche in parts.

Although the book is split into chapters (Learning, Doing etc) I'm halfway through and it is kind of melding together in an endorphine like stream of consciousness. It can also be a bit slog. So I picked up the 'Pugilist At Rest'.

The 'Pugilist' is Thom Jones first book; a collection of short stories. The stories are largely based on the writer's own experience as some kind of special forces marine in the Vietnam war. It's real macho writing that aspires to Hemingway and Buckowski. He lacks the innate craft of these writers but in the end makes his points and takes you where he intends. The overall theme of the book is redemption through manly pursuits such as boxing, shooting guns, having mental breakdowns etc.. It's a good book. But it struck me how both books, the 'Pugilist' and 'Running and Being' are in effect saying the same thing; This being rise above yourself. Rise above your alloted place in the world and grasp reality becuase you live but once. Don't be afraid. Be the best you can be and let yourself be your only judge.

I'd recommend both.

Anyway, after work today I found small bag of skunk on the pavement outside. Tonight wifey is 'out on the town'. I'm at home on my own. I'm going skin some of that skunk up, drink a beer and watch a download of the new Tarrantino movie 'Death Proof'. Then tomorrow get up at 06:30 and run till I feel sick. I guess I'm more of a Thom Jones man.

T

Lunchtime run to the ponds

A lunchtime run with Lee to the Mens Swimming Ponds at Hampstead Heath. I ran and Lee rode his bike. 4.96 miles 09:50 mile / pace. A good good run. Hot, sunny with constant hills but not at all busy. My legs felt strong before (my post 10 mile stretch session on Sunday worked) and if I wasn't rushing to get back to the factory I could have gone on for miles..

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I have done 3 runs which I need to log here.

Sunday (yesterday) - 9.6 miles. 9:47 / mile pace. An early morning run in Chelmsford, up Longstomps / private road / Hylands / Writtle / Chelm. Fantastic. Loved it. Tried a gel booster thing. I think it worked.

Friday - 5 miles 9:58 / mile pace. At lunchtime to Parliment Hill. Hilly, hard work. My ankles ached like hell after.

Wed - 4 miles 10 / mile pace. At Lunch to Hampstead Heath. Those hills are still there..

I have also -

1) watched Sunshine, the latest Danny Boyle movie. Really quite good apart from the dreadful closing credits with a terrible I Am Kloot track. This aside the movie has stayed with me. Certain details are starting to make sense to me now (the dust on Icarus 1..). Recommended.

2) watched Transformers; rubbish. A big toy advert. Preposterous. But it is for kids, not old men like me.

3) watched Bourne Ultimatum; thoroughly enjoyed it. Although, I have been trying to work out why.. I keep thinking I like Matt Damon in it, and he does carry the movie. But thinking back, all I can recall of Matt is a of baby faced amorphous frowning action man. Can you remember what he was even wearing ?

4) listened to the Cramps 'Human Fly' all weekend, as my little boy (who is 3) loves it, and so do I. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Go here for a copy - http://www.mediafire.com/?aiy7zslz31z

T

Antony Loyd - Another Bloody Love Letter

I just read Antony Loyd's 'Another Bloody Letter'.

'Another Bloody Letter' is Antony's second book. The first being 'My War Gone By I Miss It So'. Both books are sequential memoirs of his life as a war correspondent in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sierra Leone. He writes with experience from within the thick of battle to the raw devastation that seems to exist forever after in these places.

Both books also chronicle his parallel life as a heroin addict. He places himself clearly in centre of both books, and in a lesser writers hands this would be a problem. But Antony is such a skilled and open observer it is through his honest but fallible character that you breach the boundary to a unique empathy for the subjects he writes about.

In 'Another Bloody Love Letter' he drills even closer to the dark heart of his work by traveling to Sierra Leone to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of his close friend and fellow journalist Kurt Schork. In doing so he finds a little clarity on what draws some men closer and closer to the spectacle and sport of violence.

Antony writes beautifully, with great warmth and humour. He can detail in almost romantic prose the multitude of landscapes he travels through and then with great depreciating humour describe the assorted characters he meets. He draws you in and then confronts you with the bare facts. He positions himself and you the reader on the side of humanity but with the abyss of evil inches from where we tread. It is powerful stuff. This is real writing; dispatches from the hinterlands and killing fields of the modern age.

T

Go here to read more and purchase -

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/biography/0,,2052256,00.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Bloody-Love-Letter-Anthony/dp/0755314794

10 Miles

I ran 10 miles on Sunday. This is the furthest I have ever run. It was easy. In fact this Sunday I am going to attempt 13 miles..

My 10 miler was through the common to Walberswick from Haw Wood in Suffolk. Early morning. I left at 0650 and ran at a 10:12/ mile pace. I could have gone faster but the terrain for at least a third was sandy track, puddles and paths. It was a great run though.

I did 5 miles yesterday morning. Again in Suffolk. This time an 'out and back' from Haw Wood. And today I may head out to Hampstead for the 4.5 mile hilly route. But we'll see. I am busy, busy, busy.

I am thinking of changing my training routine. Currently I run 5 / 6 times each week and average 4 - 5 miles on each run. I am thinking of running less often but for more miles. Any ideas ?

T

Who Knows Where The Time Goes

Go here for one of the greatest songs that has ever been recorded - http://www.mediafire.com/?2fhj0dhimnx

This is 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes' by Fairport Convention.. Yep, that's Fairport Convention... Trust me this song will change your metabolism, make you smile and think about those you love. This is a perfect song. It is performed and sung with a languid, understated passion that to my ears is about as good as it gets. It is one of those rare songs where you know the musicians and songwriters accomplished what they set out to do. The place this song will take you is the exact same place this group of 1970's folkies intended you to go. This song is an aberration. An accidental time machine. In fact the song is about time and Sandy Denny is a Timelord.

The last time I was in LA my man Snoop Dog had this track on constant play on his pod (ipod). Happy memories of me and Dre and Snoop 'kicking back' with Richard Thompson's silvery guitar chiming through the Hollywood hills. Good times..

If it's good enough for Snoop. And it's good enough for me and Dre, it's going to be good enough for you too.

At the end of summer we acquiesce in to Autumn. I'm kinda desperate to get there; I need to know we made it through another season.

Amen.

T

Donuts

So. Last night I went running. I was planning 5 miles in 50 minutes. However, I didn't set up my Nike+ properly and ran the first 30 mins with no record.. But I reckon I did 5 miles in appx 50 minutes. I didn't set up my Nike+ cos as I opened my front door there was a middle aged man on the street outside our gate kneeling down doing something to the next door neighbor's cat. He looked up at me and asked if the cat was mine. I told him it wasn't and gave him the evil eye. He got up and walked down the road fiddling with his phone.. I ran around the block in an event to see where he was going. I found him walking into town. He was still fiddling with his phone but seemed rather innocuous from the other side of the road so I didn't confront him, in fact I don't think he even saw me a I puffed along on the other side of the road.

It was a good run, but I had been in Brighton earlier in the day for a meeting and visited the pier with my assistant Toni. Toni and I ate 42 donuts. Big proper donuts. We sat in a shelter, the wind and rain whipping past us, the sugar from the donuts stuck to our top lips and down our fronts. It was great. So anyway, the donuts may have slowed me down a nano second.

We are away again now in our caravan till Monday or Tuesday.

Go here and read this - http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/andrew_anthony/2007/08/by_happy_coincidence_comment_i.html

T

Bat For Lashes 'I'm On Fire'

Here is a fantastic cover of a Bruce Springsteen track by Bat For Lashes. I've not heard anything else by BFL; or rather I cannot remember hearing anything by BFL. This track, 'I'm On Fire' stopped me in my tracks though when I first heard it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2i0vqny3gz4

It's great.

Is anyone reading this ?

T

Orange Lights

I have been running. And here are my runs..

14/08 Tuesday 4.38 miles / 10:09 pace - a good lunchtime run to Parliment Hill with Iain. All the other runners we see in Hampstead are so po-faced and posh looking. I feel like pushing them in the boating lake. Sometimes.

15/08 Wednesday 5.22 miles / 10:07 pace - the best run in ages. Back home in Chelmsford up the private road with Morgan. An evening run. Cold gusts of light rain. The orange glow of the street lights and some leaves on the ground. Autumn is coming and I feel fine. Let's write this summer off and get on with Christmas. Fantastic. I could have run all night. I felt 100% great. Loved it.

16/08 Thursday 4.33 miles / 9:47 pace - lunchtime to Hampstead with Iain. Hard work. Hot.

19/08 Sunday 7:08 miles / 10:07 pace - early morning run in Chelmsford up Beehive etc. I wanted to do 10 miles but needed to get back to bring the wife breakfast in bed. Not a great run. Chelmsford is hardly the most pretty place but this morning with the detritus of V festival and the usual litter and rubbish stuffed and scattered everywhere it was especially grim. Sweet wrappers, soft drink cartons and crisp packet after crisp packet, like flies buzzing around my head.

20/08 Monday 4.47 miles / 9:38 pace - lunchtime on my own to Abbey Road and then to the Heath. I felt strong and good on this run.

21/08 Tuesday 4.62 / 9:37 pace - lunchtime to Brondesbury with Iain. A good run that started with my legs and knees aching and creaking and ended with us both flying down the road, sprinting back to the gates of the factory. Iain reckons he was in the zone. I was just behind him.

T

28 Weeks Later

I watched '28 Weeks Later' last week. This is the Danny Boyle produced follow up to the Danny Boyle 'directed' '28 Days Later'.

I loved '28 Days Later'. In fact I would go so far as to say it is one of those rare movies that I consider or remember almost every day. The dystopian vision of a Great Britain torn apart within days by a the 'Rage' virus irked something in me; I often reflect on the empty London streets or the point where you see Manchester in flames as it is approached on the M1. The idea that our society could be as fragile as depicted. And that without the framework of law and order our morality becomes a mirage is is a bit of a theme of interest for me in recent times. It has, in a small part, influenced my thoughts on extremism which in turn has made me update my own liberal views on how to order and conduct society.

So. I am sorry to report that '28 Weeks Later' is a disappointment to me on almost every level. Where '28 days' excelled in an implied back story to push the vision of a dying Britain, '28 Weeks' very obviously dictates the full scenario; this being a Britain being 'resettled' by an American led NATO task force. The violence and terror shown in the first film, although pretty full on, was in pace with the rest of the film. The violence in '28 Weeks' is simply silly (a helicopter cutting a swathe of people down with its blades) and is there to satiate the standard horror film expectations. Robert Carlyle was kinda predictable and the two kids far too posh to be allowed on screen. It plays to as many lowest common denominators as possible; consequently it doesn't really have its own identity or the understated intelligence and ethos that marked '28 Days' out.

Many commentators, including Mark Kermode (the BBC film critic), believe '28 Weeks' to be a well made film making a great political point. Mark says "the film knowingly evokes the ongoing battles of Iraq, with the peacekeeping forces turning out to be every bit as dangerous and destructive as the insurgent infection they are struggling to contain.... To assume that the Americans are somehow complicit in and to blame for the daily slaughter of innocents in Iraq is both a dangerous simplification of the situation and an affront to the ordinary people in Iraq being murdered by these, usually foreign (and not American) psychopaths. It is also symptomatic of our lack of understanding and interest in what is really happening beyond our cosy world. To create a juvenile piece of work such as '28 Weeks' and then make a half arsed socio-political point, that plays again to the lowest common denominator - 'anti Americanism', sums up the thinking behind just another lackluster movie and also maybe our modern malaise as we slide ever so slowly into oblivion.

See here for Kermode's article - http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2073279,00.html

And this chap's review is good also -
http://paulbensblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/28-weeks-later-review.html

And another here also -
http://www.chutry.wordherders.net/wp/?p=1640

T

Silver Morning Branches

Here is a great track by Voice Of The Seven Woods. I just heard it on the Sean Rowley 'Joy Of Music' radio show on BBC London and it is very great. The song is called 'Silver Morning Branches' and is from their new album. It's a dark psych folk track that to me sounds just perfect as our summer falls apart and Autumn is looming (loaming..) fast on the horizon. It seemed to get dark real quick last night.

http://www.mediafire.com/?alzpdwfahfd

I ran, with Iain, to Hampstead Heath and back at lunch time today (4.32 miles / 10:02 mile pace). It was a really good run. Nice and quiet. A good pace. Hilly. A cool breeze and some drops of rain.

The view from Parliament Hill is always great and today there was a haze like curtain just in front of the skyline that made the buildings on the horizon behind barely visible. The whole of London was rendered in shades of smudgy white and grey.

Amen

T

The Ringing In My Ears

And then we came home..

Had a great holiday. Hard work. Weather was fantastic for half the time. Kids had a ball. I read some bits and pieces and watched a movie or two, listened to music and got wasted. Did some running. Ate food. Wore clothes. Slept. Argued and fought with the noisy people in the caravan next door.. etc etc.

The highlight though were my kids; the best bit was touching their cold sticky faces with the backs of my fingers as they finally stopped shouting for ice creams and 'accidentally' hurting one another, and blissfully watched Cars on the portable DVD player in the caravan after a hard day on the beach.

I am sure they perceptively change and grow in front of my eyes in a week like that. My boy seems more patient, my girl even more precious. They drove me occasionally mad; I can still hear their voices ringing in my ears. Which is good.

Anyway, a running log follows here -

11/08 - Saturday - 2.66 miles (10:30 mile pace) - ankle hurt. through the back roads in Walpole. Finished early. It was hot.

10/08 - Saturday - 5.53 miles (10:05 mile pace) - seemed longer and further. An out and back route from Walpole. Warm. A good run.

09/08 - Friday - 4.08 miles (9.46) - with Mike on the other side of the site to the 'natural healing place'and back. A great run.

08/08 - Wed - 6.32 miles (10:02) - a hard early morning run from Haw Wood Farm through the common nearly to Walberswick. The common was silent. Cold dew flicking up and hitting my shins until I hit the sandy track (see the self portrait above).

07/08 - Monday - 8.23 miles (10:11) - an early morning run to Walberswick from Haw Wood through the common past the 'great big house'. The best run of the week. I could have carried on and I think it was nothing more than habit that made me turn around and head 'home'.

06/08 - Sunday - about 3 miles with Alec. More of a run / walk. He found it quite hard.

05/08 - Saturday - the 'loop' from Haw Wood and back again. Not sure of the pace, but it was sub 10:15 and that's all that counts. Good run. Cloudy.

03/08 - Thursday - lunchtime run with Iain in London from Kilburn. About 5 miles. We were quite fast. We just headed out and then zig-zagged our way back to Maygrove. I think I prefer running in London to anywhere else.
T

Van Morrison

No one sounds as great as Van Morrison does. To me he sounds, on occasion, almost divine.

I've seen him perform live once. He was playing at The Royal Albert Hall in 1987; I was only 19 and was probably the youngest person in the audience. His backing band were Georgie Fame etc. He grumbled on to stage looking like a giant hamster stuffed into suit that was too small. He was pissed off and looked like he was only going to be around for 5 minutes. But then he scuttled to center stage. He glared at his band and at us the audience and he started to sing. He sounded majestic, proud, strong and cool as fuck. He took control of Royal Albert Hall. His band like his shadow behind him; menacing his words and voice like a some kind of bodyguard but kept at bay by the subtle flick of Van's podgy little hand.

I can't remember what he sang, but I do remember him stalking the stage during instrumental parts holding his microphone up to the sky like an aerial. His face rapt and grumpy as he waited for the inspiration from 'on high'. He was truly great.

I was listening to him this morning on the ipod on the way to work and his music gives me a connection to our landscape like no other music does.

I'm now on holiday. I will listen to Van some more as we spend a week in our caravan in the Suffolk countryside. The kids like the album he did with the Chieftains, 'Irish Heartbeat'. My 5 year old daughter calls it 'cowboy music'.

Check out - http://www.mediafire.com/?6tjxnn3c2zz

This is a track of Van's from his Veedon Fleece album. Veedon Fleece is currently being repised as a 'Van album it's ok to like'. So you never know you might like it too..

I am now 'off line'.

Amen

T

Myipurts

Erm. Check out my last two runs on the Nike widget to the right...

Saturday - a slow run to Hylands with Dom.

Sunday - an 8 miler with Simon, Joseph and Claire. Great run. Finished in the pub.

Today, Tuesday lunchtime - a quick 3 miles to Hampstead and back from Kilburn. With a record pace of 10.06'.. And this route is one big hill (Arckwright Hill). Great run. Hot. My hip hurts now.

But, really all I'm thinking of now is going away next week for a week in the country with my beautiful wife and kids...

As I stare out of the window of Liverpool Street train this morning I listened to 'More Specials', by the Specials. And on the way home I listened to Jill Scott's 'Golden' three times in a row.

I am longing to get away from London, Chelmsford, this bloody computer, the TV, work, emails and letters. I want my kids with me 24 hours a day for 9 days. I want to eat only barbecues and fish and chips. Get stoned with Mike and drink wine with Libby.

3 more days to go..

T

Ho hum

Another week.

Some runs to list:

20th July - Thurs early morning, up the hill at home in Chelmsford - 2.38 miles / 24 mins.

21st July - Sat morning down the private road to Hylands (saw the Scouts). A great run. - 4.7 miles / 49 mins.

23rd July - Mon lunchtime to Parliament Hill in Hamspstead Heath. Great run. 4.4 miles / 44.49. Good pace too. With hills and everything..

24th July - Tues lunchtime to Hampstead Heath with Iain as part of our Great North Schedule. A hard run; hot, no water. 5.2 miles / 55 mins.

26th July - Thurs morning, early. Private Road route. Great run. I loved this one. Picked up a good speed in the last half. I was flying through the park like a bronzed god. The mist parting before me like the ocean breaking on the shore.

27th July - Friday lunchtime, in Woolpit in Suffolk; I don't like not knowing where I am going. This was one of those runs. I also don't think I'll ever forget getting stuck in 'cat shit passage' in Woolpit last week; Woolpit has now been sullied in my mind. Even thinking of it is making me itch.

Do you want a coat with Bench written on it ? I would love one. It needs to be a kinda distressed denim / military type coat with BENCH emblazoned on the back in massive letters. It would be so good.

I saw the drummer from Razorlight a week or so ago when I was running in London. He appeared to be carrying an unopened Pot Noodle (a raw Pot Noodle). Three weeks ago I saw Jeremy Paxman at Liverpool Street Station and he was eating a lemon, with the skin on an all.

On that note here is 'Johnny Cash' by Sons & Daughters. Play loud when you should be doing something else.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2z2cjoltn9m


Amen

T

America Alone

I have been reading America Alone by Mark Steyn.

Steyn's premise is that Europe is going to be swallowed / subsumed into the Islamist Umma leaving America alone, as the only free and viable society in the world.

Steyn maintains this will happen because us lazy liberals are not breeding enough and that it is only the Muslims who are procreating at a sustainable rate. This coupled with a global Islamist agenda and an unsustainable economic future means we are headed for dark days.

Reading this book is rather like being cornered a lunatic clutching a bunch of statistics and making them all add up to the end of the world. And like most conspiracy theories it has a delicious streak of logic running through it. However, this book is a conspiracy or doomsday theory and nothing more.

I do not have the time nor tenacity to offer anything against Stein's set of statistics about our declining birth rate. But to assume that the UK, for example, is going to become a Islamic state is quite simply nuts. Why ? Because, at it's most basic level, there is not a global conspiracy by ALL Muslims to take over the world and if there were the 'good old boys' down at the local Yates Wine Lodge will indeed make sure the streets do run with blood before they are told to not shave again.

My real concerns with this book are not really with the main points above. What bothers me most is the constant criticism, within the book, of our basic libertarianism and society's foundations in relativism and multiculturalism. Steyn sees this is a weakness. To him we simply reign it back in; we control the media, we stifle free speech, close borders, force people to assimilate culturally.

Given the current climate, where my liberal counterparts are willing to march through London with banners stating "we are all Hezbollah now", along side asylum seekers in the UK who once they have been given refuge, freedom and opportunity by this country are then willing to commit indiscriminate mass murder within it. It pains me to say that there is a valid point to be made in highlighting our lack of resolve in the face of these fascists. It pains me equally to note that the loudest voices highlighting our inability to deal with this situation are right wing crypto-fascists, such Steyn, who declare multiculturalism as a folly and a weakness. Instead of the pinnacle of civilization it is.

The basic danger here is some are trying to fight fascism with fascism. I believe in freedom of speech and multiculturalism, Steyn and Bin Laden do not. Our enemy's enemy is not my friend.

So what to do ? Answers on postcard please, or maybe leave a note in the comments.

T

Melody Day

Ok. This is a remix of the new Caribou (nee Manitoba) single by Four Tet. It is called Melody Day. I love it. I suggest listening to it whilst you gaze at the sky.

http://www.mediafire.com/?0ogeymbpzwz
This is also my first mp3 post. If you can successfully download it (or not), please leave a message in the Comments.

Amen

T

Very Great

So. Yesterday Nike emailed me and offered me a free place in the Great North Run. I accepted. This is a half marathon at the end of September in Newcastle. I've never run anything like a half marathon before; indeed before February the farthest I had run in 20 years was quite literally no more than a few hundred yards, and here I am..

You know what ? All that stuff about sport being great and everything ? Well it is.

So in celebration of yesterdays news I went for a quick 30 min jog at lunchtime. I was in Woolpit in Suffolk working and took off kinda blindly following a footpath across a field. I ended up behind some prefabs in one of those 'back passages' some houses have that are totally overgrown and are covered in invisble, but smelly, cat shit. (2.75 miles in 28 minutes).

Today, back in London, at lunch I did my route to Hampstead and back, which was nice. I find myself insulting the traffic wardens in that part of London (Camden). It's one of my many public services, insulting these crooks. Today this chap called me 'wanker' back. Fair enough really. (3.25 mile in 33 minutes).

It was great in London today though. My run was easy. It is a precious time, running like that.

I have been listening to Six Organs Of Admittance. They are very great.

Namaste

Indoorsman

An update, for my records. This last week I -

Finished 'Between A Rock And A Hard Place' by Aron Ralston. This is the American mountaineer and 'outdoorsman' (I love that term. I am an 'indoorsman')who whilst solo canyoneering gets his arm stuck behind a great big rock.. and has to amputate it. Quite a story, and the book is full of great bits but also loads about 'chockstones', 'grapples', and 'camelbacks', which kinda passed me by. Check out - http://www.aralston.com/

I also nearly finished 'The Islamist' by Ed Hussain, but had to take it back to the library. Really good. Goes someway towards explaining how British Muslim youth can be seduced into the fascist death cult that is modern islamism. He also tackles and identifies how moderate Muslim society in UK failed, and also continues to fail, to address this issue.

Since Friday I have done the following runs -

10k in Chelmsford with Morgan. Early morning. Great weather. Morgan going on about Apocalypto, Roy Hattersley and anti-semitism etc etc etc. Great run.

6k in London, at lunchtime with Iain. To Hampstead Heath and back. Warm and hilly. Iain did it without stopping. And he sprinted at the end..

3.5k This morning, at home in Chelmsford. Early morning. Up the hill and back on my own.

And I have been listening almost exclusively to Richmond Fontaine. Go here for free mp3's - www.richmondfontaine.com/downloads/down.php

Neon Bible

I was listening to the new Arcade Fire album 'Neon Bible' yesterday. Unlike the majority of people I know I really like Neon Bible. I really like this new 'widescreen Springsteen type' sound they somehow distilled. It sounds big. Almost bottomless. It has drama and it sounds to me exactly like than an album that could only have been made in 2007. It is a true modern masterpiece, an epic.

I've seen a TV interview with the band recently and they are young. When you see their videos or press shots they somehow seem old, almost like they stepped out of some lost America imbued with wisdom, if a little po-faced. But in actual fact, as I say they're kids. They seemed impossibly shy, but polite and nice and all very Canadian. Which is nice.. Anyway, how could someone so young and possibly unwise (and nice), have written a doom laden epic such as Neon Bible, and have done so it well ? An album that, I feel deals with impending mortality and the breakdown of civilization, with such passion and romantic vision, and yet somehow makes you feel they are performing just for you..

This ability for the youthful to somehow transcend their world, and create a sense of truth, has always occurred. Bob Dylan, was like 20 years old when he wrote 'Like A Rolling Stone', perhaps the most popular example of a song that can transcend almost any barrier and mean something to almost anyone, whoever, or wherever they may be.

But what is it that makes a great song work in this way ?

Is the magic in the artist ? Is the magician here Win from Arcade Fire or the elemental Dylan or is it somehow the music ? I'd like to think it's the music. And that somehow music, like all art, is often summoned through sweat, intelligence and innate skill and craft, but sometimes art is also touched by 'something else'. And what is this 'something else' if not some kind of truth; a truth or a simple fresh perspective that somehow 'fits' into any situation ? In which case, maybe, it is us the audience who create the truth. We are the filter that distills the bullshit, discards the millions of cultural or artistic attempts to engage us from the moment we wake each morning, and on the rare occasion find something that 'resonates'...

Anyway...

T

So I ran at lunchtime. From Kilburn to Hampstead Heath. 6.05KM in 39:29 minutes. Not fast, but hilly. Iain and I ran together.

I love to run. I truly love to run. You are part of the everyday life of the street, but detached from it. I love the otherness about running. It's like you're a ghost; people only seem to see you fleetingly. They glance at you, as they shuffle about with their cigarettes and you spur by them. Or maybe this is just the endorphins talking as I sweat over this keyboard, but for now I feel good.

I ran this morning.

I ran this morning. I got up at 05:30. I was out of the door at 05:50 and I ran for 37 minutes. I did 3.59 miles. I ran faster than usual. I saw a dead pigeon and a female truck driver outside Britvic. The pigeon was surrounded by its feathers, scattered far and wide. The female truck diver was away from me climbing out of her cab. I did not see her face but I could smell her cigarette smoke.