Stuff

** 8+ years out of date info! **

Never sure how much info I can safely put up on the interweb without getting my identity stolen so I’ll leave out my mother’s maiden name and favourite childhood pet for now and just give you the basics… if that’s alright… good. Thanks.

I grew up in Kingston St Mary , Somerset with sojourns in Swansea, Seville, Massachusetts, California, Guadalajara, Mexico, Oregon, Maine and New York City. Now we’re in Salt Lake City, Utah and it’s proving to be one of the best yet…

I keep a fairly up-to-date blog where you can read, in more detail than you’d probably like, about my trials and tribulations. It’s more of an online diary than anything else and a handy way to keep me folks and friends abreast of what I’ve been up to. With the shocking state of my memory these days, it’s somewhat akin to a black box recorder… You’ll also find the occasional film review, book review and links to strange and wonderful sites on ‘teh intarwebs’. Chances are you came from it in the first place…

OK, brace yourself, here comes the self-absorption…

My interests include: foreign languages (well, Spanish, French and American “English”), digital photography, photoshoppery, guitar, computing, travel, Latin-American literature, cinema, and graphic design. And scrabble. And Boggle. On an industrial scale.

Dislikes include: Dentistry, MS comic sans and, increasingly, Papyrus fonts, FOX News and US cable television. The adverts more than anything.

Favourite authors: Jasper Fforde, Julio Cortazar, Borges, Louis de Bernieres, Iain Banks, Mil Millington, Garcia Marquez, Charlie Brooker. And okay, I’ll admit it, Terry Pratchett.

Favourite films: City of God, The Game, The Big Lebowski, This is Spinal Tap, Twin Town, Shaun of the Dead, Requiem for a Dream, Ghostbusters, Withnail & I, El Laberinto del Fauno, In Bruges

Favourite TV: The Thick of It, Peep Show, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Father Ted, Family Guy, Ivor the Engine, Spaced, LOST, Colbert Report, Life on Mars, Look Around You

Favourite music: Tricky one this… Black Box Recorder, The Smiths, Julieta Venegas, Suicidal Tendencies, Metallica, Spice Girls (first album), Levellers, Air, Fiona Apple, Coldplay, James, Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Manu Chao, Pixies, Primal Scream, Kylie. I’m also overly fond of Happy Hardcore and is pretty much the only music I will consider dancing to.

My Nanny (Welsh for Granny) lived down the road from us from most of my life. She was 63 years old when I was born, and had had quite a life that I heard about through her many anecdotes and stories. When I was little she still lived on her own in Swansea, then moved down to my parents’ village in Somerset when I was 7 or 8. I have great memories of going to stay with her in Wales when I was little, going to the Gower and Mumbles, cooking all manner of treats, travelling on the top floor of double decker buses up front, pumping the pesticide spray in her garden while she aimed the nozzle at the aphids on her fruit trees, and visiting her good friends and neighbours.

Some of my favourites stories she’d tell were the ones about sending rapidly decomposing laverbread to London in the post, the day she was teaching in a Swansea school classroom and a monkey came in through the window and chased the kids and her travels with my ‘Auntie’ Myf. She also had vivid stories about The Blitz in Swansea when she had to look after the boys and girls in the bomb shelters during the sustained air raids. Despite Nanny’s fair share of hardship she was always stoical and ready with a smile and a conspiritorial wink.

For me, Nanny seemed at her happiest when people were doing odd jobs for her and she could be there looking over your shoulder checking your work and offering Welsh cakes and cups of tea. Nanny taught me how to prune her roses right back so they’d grow with increased vigour the next year “Let your worst enemies cut your roses” she’d tell me and would single out weeds to take out with her walking stick because they grew “like the Dduw”. I also learnt my DIY skills painting and decorating her house probably more times than it needed but it was a good excuse to spend time together and, fair play, she always paid me a very good hourly wage. After working we’d sit down with tea and a well-supplied biscuit tin and natter away or watch Countdown or Eastenders together. Occasionally we’d play Scrabble too. Playing Scrabble with Nanny was enjoyable not just for her impressive recall of the official WI list of two letter words, but also because of her stock phrases such as “Just opening up the board” as she’d place some high scoring word right where you were going to go. Bless. She started my whole obsession with Scrabble thanks to playing Junior Scrabble with us when we were little.

Nanny was always very active and lived very independently right up to very recently. Her social calendar put mine to shame. Visitors would stream through her house and enjoy her hospitality and she, likewise, had many reasons to leave the house and take part in church events, Red Cross meetings, mystery trips, pub lunches… Nanny had an impressive knowledge of where you could get a decent pub lunch, cream tea or fish and chips all over the south west. “Craft Evening” was another perennial favourite where Nanny and several of her friends from the village would meet up weekly and knit clothes for charity. As Nanny’s rheumatism played up in later years her knitting became un-knitting where she’d take apart jumpers etc so others could use the wool. The craft was just a thinly veiled excuse to meet up and keep abreast of village gossip and display her baking prowess though I feel. Nanny was excellent at keeping in touch with people by phone and by post. Last year I even got an email from her. Yearly proof of how well she’d stay in touch with her friends from all over the world came every December when she’d send out the Xmas cards she’d bought in the sales the January previously and start to receive the 100+ cards from friends and family wishing her well. Hanging the cards from strings on the beams was getting to be an industrial operation. Then of course, afterwards, she’d check the senders against her list for next year in case there were any new friends, save the cards and stamps and donate them to Oxfam or somesuch charity.

Nanny had a stroke in March this year and following this, after a stay in hospital, went to Calway House a new nursing home in Taunton where she could get proper 24 hour care. She was comfortable, well attended by family, staff and friends, even dabbling in scrabble, apparently… I feel extremely glad that I was able to visit her over her last two weeks. I got to tell her about what I’d been up to, show her photos of life in Mexico and around and even take her to the Taunton Welsh Society’s Christmas Carol service. She still had her smiles, the occasional wink and offers of Maltesers for everyone. Last Monday we got a phonecall saying she was unresponsive and we rushed to the home to see Nanny having suffered another in a series of mini strokes. She was peaceful, breathing deeply with her eyes closed. Mum, Dad and I kept Nanny company and comfortable until suddenly she stopped breathing and quietly passed on.

That was last Monday. Today is her funeral. I’m sorry I can’t be there. I’m sure I missed a great celebration of her incredible, long life. A friend of hers, Chris Rusling was available to lead the service and I can’t think of anyone better suited to do it. I’m so glad I got to spend some more time with Nanny before she died. She was a truly special person in my life who will be acutely missed.

Last Summer we all rented a cottage in Llangynidir in the Brecon Beacons and had a week’s worth of adventures, picnics, walks and scrabble… Here are some of the photos.

Bath and Taunton and Quantocks

Have I mentioned I’m in the UK…? Off to Bristol this evening, so far no one’s said they’re going to be there. Hope it doesn’t rain too much as I trudge from door to door. Cadbury Arms around 7ish if anyone’s reading…

Cesar- Can’t find any curry powder, but I got some Madras sauce stuff. Should do the trick.
And just to show it doesn’t always rain…

sunny and windy. Hope I’ll not freeze when i get to London manaa… Yesterday I tagged along with Sita and her entourage of professors to a Citrus Museum in Riverside and some Mission or other. Photos here: Slideshow, separately. Amongst many other things, learnt that lemons are a genetically diverse bunch. Bit like dogs, I s’pose. Hence the Buddah’s Fingers variety, which we may try to cultivate one day:

California to be precise. 48 hours to go…

I saw some Taunton photos on Flickr today and went to the blog of the photographer, she’s an American considering moving to Taunton or thereabouts with her family and is in need of some restaurant recommendations. They’re currently staying in Holford. Here’s my list of possibilities and observations:

Food options are tricky though. I’m not sure how long you’ve been in the country but (pull)there just isn’t the same culture of dining out like in the States(/pull). It’s almost always for a special occasion / celebration with prices to match. This changes the bigger the city, so the nearest gastronomical hub would be Bristol. It’s quite common to get “take away” meals from the Chinese restaurant or Indian, or, obviously, fish and chips (my favourite: on Kingston Rd, by Gladstone st.) though. For a good, cheap(ish) meals your best bets are pubs and the prices’ll be higher and portions smaller that stateside…

I forget the name of the one in Bishop’s Lydeard, not far from holford, but it has a skittle alley and does fine food. There’s only 2 pubs there and I think only one of them does food, The Bell?
The Blue Ball (at Triscombe Quarry, your side of the Quantocks)
Porlock: Lorna Doone Pub, nearish minehead specialises in seafood i think…
Taunton: You can’t go wrong with either of the Weatherspoons pubs: The Perkin Warbeck and the Coal Orchard. They often have special deals and their food’s not half bad at all. They also have well enforced no-smoking sections.
There are a few chain restaurants at the Hankridge development (where the multiplex cinema is)
The Merry Monk in Monkton Heathfield’s also good….
Plenty of Indian / Chinese restaurants down East Reach and for takeaways, near the train station on Station Rd..
The Swan in Kingston St. Mary’s just changed management and they’re out to impress with their food apparently…
Ooh, there’s a Mexican restaurant just off St. James’ street called The Old Gringo or somesuch. Which, though the food bears little resemblence to US or even Mexican ideas of what Mexican food is, is very nice but a bit on the pricey side.

Any other food places to recommend? Brazz has been done… And I’m not sure how 4 yr old friendly Henry’s is…

Also, what’s the difference between nondenominational and CofE schools. I can’t think of many in rural somerset except there’s maybe more singing involved in religious schools and prayers can be boring.

More or less packed and ready for the off… Comment away if you fancy any anglo goods being brought back your way in time for xmas/new year…

Also in the middle of making mashed potatoes for Victor & Jana’s belated Thanksgiving feast… Looking forward to going home for a bit, shall be taking it easy and posting bloggery nonsense very sparsely. Hopefully photos aplenty over at Flickr though.

Here’s the first official link to recently more or less finished amourfou.com.mx. Still a few minor glitches to iron out here and there, but overall I’m pretty chuffed wit how it’s looking.

Here’s me dad’s photo of some sheep up the road from where I’m headed, bit too early for snow prob’ly:

Yesterday I went round Amour Fou (soon at amourfou.com.mx) and jammed a bit with carlos. I played the mini guitar and Carlos was on the 10 stringed instrument thingy and singing. Here’s the mp3 of us. I’m basically playing 3 chords and he’s doing all the work. But it sounds well good if you ask me…

For reasons I may go into another time in more depth, today I had to go, in person, to some government offices downtown to prove that the bloke who owes 3 years of road taxes or somesuch doesn’t live here anymore. There was threats from bailiffs involved and this was the third warning apparently… Anyroad, Long story short, I sorted it out and went to McDonalds as I felt I’d earned it. And I’m glad I did because I took this here photo. I’m fairly near certain you don’t get a molcajete full of green chiles coming as standard in other McParts of the world…

You’ll either like this. Or you won’t. Probably the latter… Use the comments to enter into the debate

Bullfighting photos with a Flash interface. Won’t work for everyone…
List of links to the photos.
Cute Overload . com to redress the balance…

My first bullfight for the record. Still analysing my feelings on whether to go again… It’s a tricky one. I really enjoyed it on the one hand and feel there’s tons to learn about the long history and culture of the bullfight, on the other hand it does have many barbaric moments. But as a carnivore it would be hypocritical to condemn it. Before yesterday I’d never seen an animal die. Let alone 6 huge beasts in a row at extremely close quarters…

On a lighter note, “Olé” is pronounced differently in Mexico. In Spain it’s oh-LAY whereas here it’s OH-lay.

Pahrump, Nevada is where one of Sita’s aunts set up shop a couple of years ago. It’s basically a weird martian landscape with scattered casinos, incongruous golf courses and enormous industrially air-conditioned houses with gardens full of gravel and cacti (see photo). Anyroad, this article on a new law they just passed banning foreign flags does not bode well for its political future. Reminds me of when the kids in my Spanish class in California told me off for having flags from Spain, Chile, Mexico and the UK but not the stars and stripes. They’re only flags for christ’s sake…

Meanwhile, in Wales… Dragon Sausages must contain dragon meat. Normal sausages don’t have to be called Mechanically Recovered Offal and Rusk Bangers. Yet.

Just to another part of the city (near Plaza Bonita) but after a hastily put together excel spreadsheet of cost-benefit analysis decided against it… taking into account cancelling/recontracting services, removal vans, deposits, and the all important 4 extra flights of stairs it would have resulted in a grand saving of 30 bucks a month. Also there was no area for a BBQ, it would have been nice to have a bath though. Especially with waterjets. Oh the luxury. I would have needed to figure out how to waterproof the laptop though.

Anyway, deciding not to move, this month at least, is a HUGE weight off my mind. I’ve only got one more week in the big city before the US, UK jaunt kicks in which pretty much puts me out of action for a few weeks and after all the fun with plumbers, cleaners and fridge repairers in the last week I’ve learnt not to go making plans that involve short periods of time and heavy reliance on the Mexican service industry.

Today I’m working on some translation and shall also be hitting the travel agents trying to find hotels for Mum and Dad’s visit in Feb. We’ll all be flying into Cancun and from there on in it’s unbounded adventure.

Also working on Amour Fou’s website. I’ll not link to it cos I don’t want it indexed by search engines yet. But if you fancy a look (there’s only 20 dvds in the catalog for now, (Allen – Almodovar) it’s presently at agaveweb.com/amourfou with the blog at agaveweb.com/amourfoublog . I think the design stage is almost over, but the uploading of 500 odd dvd descriptions has barely begun…

Tonight, fiesta round Meghan’s. Tomorrow was going to be josé’s house warming but the Mexican Electricity Board had other ideas, so that’s off, Sunday… Bulls? Hope so because it’s been a while since I went out with me camara. Apologies in advance to vegan/vegetarian readers. And Morrissey…

Spanish Word/Phrase of the week:
“Me sale mas caro el caldo que las albondigas” roughly: The sauce is costing me more than the meatballs.
To use when you’re being shafted by service charges and such like. Eg when you’re sending a 5 peso keyring to California and the postage costs you 70 bucks.

(c) Mariola Zepeda 2006

(c) Mariola Zepeda 2006

For a fine set of pix from last night, check out Mariola Zepeda’s Flickr photos

He referred to the Smiths obliquely as a ghost who is always nearby but still gave it some welly with songs like Panic and Girlfriend in a coma. The crowd, myself included, couldn’t help but join in more with those songs rather than his relatively sedate solo stuff. He made the odd stab at Spanish with some, frankly, baffling dialogues seemingly influenced by his recent move to Italy. “Is there a Julia in the audience?” which is something to do with the police in Italian. (pull)Fair play to him for shouting “Tapatios” to the crowd though, we liked that.(/pull) And there was the requisite booing when he mentioned that tomorrow he’d be playing in Mexico City. Sita especially appreciated the changes of shirt with an average of 4 songs to each ripping off of silk shirtery…

Interesting backing band too, shaven-headed 25/40 yr old men forced to wear some bizarre dungaree outfit. They had the songs down pat.

Overall a fantastic concert and it was definitely worth arriving early to get to the rows where you could see every passionate expression. Even if it meant watching Eurovision clips from the 60s, New York Dolls footage and a Bjork/Kate Bush percussionist/keyboardist act named Kristeen Young.

The setlist via a source I will soon track down:

William
In the future when all’s well
Don’t make fun of daddy’s voice
Panic
Dear god please help
I’ve changed my plea to guilty
First of the gang to die
Disappointed
You have killed me
Ganglord
Let me kiss you
Everyday is like sunday
Girlfriend in a coma
I just want to see the boy happy
Life is a pigsty
Please please please
How soon is now?
Far off places
Irish blood English heart

Sorry about the sparse posting, been spending quality time with young Sita… Service as normal Thurs/Friday

Follow Sita’s little plane.

Rumsfeld out and a Democrat majority in the House of Representatives. Still doesn’t fill me with hope for a brighter future but it’s a step in the right direction. Here’s Steven Colbert’s take on it.

First off the good news. If you like insanely paced, utterly unbelievable, adolescent male wish-fulfillment films, Crank (2006) will be right up your street. I was feeling slightly sleepy, but it picked me right up. Jason Statham’s heart will explode if his BPM goes below 150 and spends 87 sex, violence, drugs and jumping around-filled minutes trying to kill the baddies before he expires… Excellent stuff. Snappy dialogue too… He’s goes to a hospital to get some Ephedrine, “I’m looking for something beginning with E”… “England?” asks the chemist. Fine editing and SFX. Never a dull moment… 4 Lulus.

Next up The Killers- Sam’s Town (2006)… not so good. As every review will tell you it’s a change in direction from their excellent debut album. I went right off the actual band after reading an interview in Q with the vocalist who came off like an immensely irritating git. Still I’ve never let my feelings about the members of a band change my opinion about the music. However this album is not my cup of tea at all. According to most reviews, they’ve rediscovered Bruce Springsteen as an influence, and that’s definitely apparent. not being a fan of the Boss won’t help you here, but worse still they appear to have rediscovered Meat Loaf too. And that’s unpardonable. 1.5 Lulus

No sos vos, soy yo (2004) was the only option at the cinema on Sunday night. A film about a fairly nasty break-up and the aftermath on one very sensitive young man. It was very tenderly observed and, though predictable, a nice little film. Even though I’m not sure about the redemptive powers of dog owning… Always nice to hear argentine spanish in the cinema though. 3.5 Lulus