crenimugil-labrosus

An A-Z of my iPod: Part20 - T

2012-01-30T06:02:00.001Z

And so we get to T.

Not sure this technically counts as a T but my iPod thinks it is.

So here's Thee Fourgiven and the 20th Anniversary issue of their 1985 debut album 'It Ain't Pretty Down Here'

The bass player is Dog Town skateboard legend Ray Flores.

I nearly bought one of these decks when they came out in 2002. I reckon this must be the wildest design ever. Would be a shame to grip it I guess but I expect most of them never got ridden as they are BDS decks.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part19 - S

2012-01-29T18:24:00.000Z

Too much choice for S.

Most bands seem to begin with S, especially Surf bands.

Surfin' Lungs, Surfer Blood, Surfaris, The Surf Mariachis, The Surf Raiders, The Surfdusters, The Surfin' Robots, Surfmen.

And of course The Surf Punks.

My Beach was officially their second album although it was just a rehash of their first small label release on a big label.

Check out that skateboard guitar, Turning Point deck.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part18 - R

2012-01-28T06:02:00.001Z

The finest instru-mental surf-punk rock 'n' roll band from Germany...

...The Razorblades.

The Dark Side Of The Beach

Cheers to Buz for turning me onto them...

An A-Z of my iPod: Part17 - Q

2012-01-27T06:02:00.000Z

Not a lot of Q's on my iPod.

In fact only a newish discovery of mine Queens Of The Stone Age.

2005 album Lullabies To Paralyze

An A-Z of my iPod: Part16 - P

2012-01-26T06:02:00.000Z

P...

I gotta lotta P's on my iPod.

The Passions, Paul Weller, Pere Ubu, Peter Bruntnell, Peter Frampton, Peter Tosh, Pigbag, Pink Floyd ;-) , The Piranhas, PJ Harvey, Placebo, Plasticland, Plastics, Pokey LaFarge, Poly Styrene, The Pop Group, Porcupine Tree, Portishead, Primal Scream, Prince, The Prisoners, Psychic TV, Public Image Ltd, Pulp, and todays choice...

The Psychedelic Furs and their eponymous (good word that) first album.

This was an absolute favourite album of mine in early 1980 when it was released, I played it over and over, it still makes the hairs on the back of neck stand up when I hear the 2 minute intro to India building to it's climax.
I don't think they ever bettered this album, great sax.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part15 - O

2012-01-25T06:02:00.000Z

Not much O on there.

OMD, Orange Juice, The Orb...

Here's their 2010 collaboration with David Gilmour, yes that bloke from Pink Floyd, I don't really like Pink Floyd honest...

Metallic Spheres

An A-Z of my iPod: Part14 - N

2012-01-24T10:24:00.000Z

Not so much choice with N.

New Order, Nikki Sudden, New York Dolls, Nick Cave, New Age Steppers etc.

But this N is one of my all time favourites...

Naz Nomad & The Nightmares and their one and only album from 1984 'Give Daddy The Knife Cindy'.

Naz Nomad & The Nightmares were in fact the Damned. The album only contains two original tracks but the rest are all excellent cover versions of 60's garage tracks. At the time of hearing this album for the first time when it came out I wasn't even aware of some of these tracks being covers but it led me into the 60's garage scene.
Luckily I saw Naz Nomad & The Nightmares play live a couple of times.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part13 - M

2012-01-23T06:02:00.001Z

Halfway there now.

M.

Lotta M's on my iPod.

Magazine, The Members, The Marketts, MC5, Mark Stewart, Messur Chups, The Meteors, Misty In Roots, Mungo Jerry, Moloko...

Very nearly carried yesterdays theme of The Medway Sound on with The Milkshakes but then noticed Man and their 1969 album '2 Ozs Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle'.
How could I resist an album that contains a track entitled Spunk Box.

I first stumbled across the Welsh Psychedelic Prog Rockers on the compilation 'Greasy Truckers Party'

An A-Z of my iPod: Part12 - L

2012-01-22T10:25:00.001Z

And so we get to L.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Lemon Jelly, The Lemon Pipers, Les Sexareenos, Link Protrudi & The Jaymen, Little Axe, The Lively Ones, Luke Haines.
I very nearly chose The Lambrettas but in the end went for...

The Len Price 3 and their 1st album from 2004 Chinese Burn.

Garage/Pub Rock with a Mod influence the latest in a great tradition of what has become known as The Medway Sound.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part11 - K

2012-01-21T06:02:00.000Z

Here's a treat for you seeing as it's the weekend.

2 bands/albums today. Basically I couldn't decide between them and there is a common theme too.

First up we have The KrontJong Devils with their 1998 album On Tour

Next up, The Killer Bananazz with their 2001 album Riptide, contains the obligatory Pipeline cover.

Two Dutch surf bands both beginning with K.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part10 - J

2012-01-20T06:02:00.001Z

Well I got to double figures. Yay!

Wow I gotta lotta J's on my iPod.

Jack Nitzsche, Jah Wobble, Jah Whoosh, James Brown, James Taylor Quartet, Japan, Japandroids, Jeff Beck, Jesus & Mary Chain, Jesus Jones, JFA, Joan Jett, JoBoxers, Joey Ramone, John Foxx, Johnny Moped, Jon & The Nightriders, Jonathan Richman, Joy Division, Julian Cope and of course The Jam.

Check out Where's Woking? a bootleg of 25 rare tracks from 1975 - 1980.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part9 - I

2012-01-19T06:02:00.000Z

Not so much choice today for I.

So how about INXS and their 1987 album Kick, I think I probably bought this as I was swayed slightly by the Vision Psycho Stick skateboard on the cover.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part8 - H

2012-01-18T06:02:00.002Z

And so we get to H.

I very nearly went with The Higsons, famous for their lead singer Charlie 'Fast Show' Higson but decided to plump for The Human League, not the chart topping Human League complete with dancing and singing girls but the all male line line up from '79 and their album Reproduction.

A classic insight to Sheffields post punk electronic music for those of you too young to have lived through these exciting futuristic times.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part7 - G

2012-01-17T06:02:00.001Z

Well one week in, G.

Only one choice really.

Gabba.

According to Wikipedia "Gabba is a London-based British tribute band performing ABBA songs in the stripped down punk style of the Ramones, a style of pop punk they dubbed discopunk and claim to have invented"

So here's their album Leave Stockholm, containing such classics as Super Shock Trooper and The Pinhead Takes It All.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part6 - F

2012-01-16T06:02:00.001Z

Day 6 in the alphabetical journey through my iPod and we get to F.

A choice from Steve Caballeros band The Faction, Fad Gadget, The Fall, The Family Cat, The Fantastic Baggy's, The Farmers Boys, Fever Tree, Fifty Foot Hose, The Fleshtones, The Fuzztones and loads more.
A couple of close ones there in that list but in the end based on yesterdays blog I decided on...

The Flaming Lips, or to be more precise...

"The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon". Now as previously stated I'm not, I repeat not a big fan of Pink Floyd.

So here's another cover of Dark Side Of The Moon. Enjoy!

An A-Z of my iPod: Part5 - E

2012-01-15T14:15:00.000Z

Righto we've got to E.

Elastica, Eddie And The Hot Rods, Edgar Winter Group, Edwyn Collins, The Electric Prunes?

Nope, I decided to go with The Easy Star All Stars and their first album from 2003, Dub Side Of The Moon.

Now I've never really been a fan of Pink Floyd but this is great.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part4 - D

2012-01-14T12:06:00.002Z

So we get to D.

Could have been Devo, Duran Duran, The Damned, The Dead Boys, Defunkt, The Delmonas, The Dictators, The Dickies or even Delta 5. In fact it very nearly was Delta 5 but at the last minute I decided to go with Dee Dee Ramone.

Not his utterly crap rap album but Greatest & Latest an album of his songs he wrote whilst with The Ramones and some cover versions including interestingly a version of Chris Spedding's 1975 UK hit Motorbikin'.

Co-incidently there is a track called Sidewalk Surfin' on here after yesterdays post.

;-)

An A-Z of my iPod: Part3 - C

2012-01-13T06:02:00.003Z

Going well so far I think.

So C, Crispy Ambulance, The Clash, The Cure, The Creation, Count Five, Culture, nah.

The Challengers, 60's surf instrumental band.

Here's their 5th album, The Challengers Go Sidewalk Surfing!

Oh and the first track? Why Pipeline of course.

Checked today and I have 8 versions of Pipeline on my iPod.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part2 - B

2012-01-12T07:28:00.002Z

So here we go with B.

So many to choose from...

B52's, Barmy Army, The Balham Alligators, Blondie, Bauhaus, I very nearly went for skatepunk band The Boneless Ones album Skate For The Devil complete with it's cover of Pipeline but in the end settled for...

1960's garage band The Barbarians and their 1966 album "Are You a Boy Or Are You a Girl"

The title track was covered by Wayne County in 74 and Jayne County in 79.

This track isn't on the album but still great.

They were famed for their one armed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton who had a prosthetic hand.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part1 - A

2012-01-11T20:11:00.001Z

Well let's see how long I can keep this up and how infrequent it becomes due to my usual slackness.

Start at the beginning with A and work through.

So A, could have been so many from Adam & The Ants, Athletico Spizz 80, Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, The Astroglides etc. but here we go with Californian surf-punk/skate-punk band Agent Orange.

I really like their 1st album Living in Darkness.

Even got the obligatory cover of Pipeline on it. What more could you want?

A Day Out

2011-12-29T20:29:00.000Z

Had a day off work today.
Went down to Brighton, parked in London Road Multi Storey near Preston Circus and walked into town.
Did the usual shops before a spot of lunch in favourite pub The Mesmerist.
Had one of these to wash it down.

Brewed with Chocolate and Crystal malts to produce this deep bronze-coloured beer with a subtle malty flavour. Bittered by the traditional Golding hop varieties, and then cask conditioned with Chinese stem ginger and other warming spices to add that distinctive aromatic warmth.

Very nice it was too.

Then it was off to favourite cinema, The Duke Of Yorks to watch The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
The new one with Daniel Craig in it. Hadn't seen the other one or read the book so can't compare them. Enjoyed it though.
Really heavy rain on the way home made the M23/M25 interesting.

Project Death Trap part 5

2011-12-28T20:14:00.001Z

Slight cock up on the wheel front part 2.

I thought I'd nabbed a bargain on ebay when I picked up some Power Paw wheels for 99p + £2.75 p&p.

Should have asked how big they were before bidding I guess.

47mm dia x 40mm wide.

Doh!

Trucks Of The Past Part 6

2011-12-27T20:27:00.000Z

How about these then?

I'm pretty sure that I saw a pair of these at Old Skool Jam 2.0 earlier this year on an old slalom board of Dave Boyles.

Here's a couple of DCS boys checking them out whilst Dave look on.

Christmas Cheer

2011-12-24T11:50:00.000Z

A mate at work had a tour of The Windsor & Eton Brewery he was very impressed especially so by the Special Edition Black IPA, 7.4%.
He gave me a bottle.

Next day another mate at work who came to the end of his contract gave us all a bottle of Adnams Broadside as his leaving present to us to remind us of him as he's a Suffolk lad.
Cheers RCB, you'll be missed mate.

Say Cheese!

2011-12-22T20:50:00.000Z

Had our works departmental photo taken the other day. This years car and trophies.

Motoboard Hero

2011-12-05T21:32:00.001Z

Been busy recently, not busy with the Motoboard unfortunately.

Found this a while back.

Car jumping on a Motoboard. Looks like the record could still be 5 cars (for now).
Best get busy...

I wonder what happened to Vaughn Shafer?

Hey he's still doing it!!!!

Vertically Challenged

2011-11-28T19:53:00.000Z

Click for bigger image

This was in the April 78 Road & Track magazine that I got the other day.

Carlsbad Mogul Maze. And hey look I found the picture here too.

Looks like Bryan Beardsley on the right and Ty Page on the left? Both wearing Free Former team shirts so I guess so.

Project Death Trap part 4

2011-11-27T14:09:00.000Z

During research into the motoboard I discovered that US car mag Roar & Track ran a feature and road test on it in the April 1978 issue, I managed to track a copy down on eBay.

I've scanned it here. (click on pages for supersize readable pics)

There's some great ad's and articles in the mag too, I might scan some of them at a later date.

Project Death Trap part 3

2011-11-19T17:37:00.000Z

No work on D-T today.

Here's a picture from Skateboard! magazine issue 5 (January 1978).

I've also discovered that mine is a pre 1979 board dated by the two addresses, Sunnyvale and Carlsbad on the sticker.

Think I'll swap the ACS 500 on the front for something a bit wider, the original in the ad looks to be Fultrak size, I've got some ACS651 knockoff rollerskate hangers so think I'll bung one of those on until I can track down an original Motoboard International front truck.

Original price tag was a hefty $650

Project Death Trap part 2

2011-11-18T18:12:00.000Z

Started to strip the board down today.
Non-drive rear wheel is a Motoboard International branded 63.5mm (2") diameter, it had no bearings but a strange arrangement of washers, spacers and locknuts.

The back has a moulded in metal insert which is threaded, look like at sometime somebody has attempted to fit the sprocket to it.

The drive wheel is a Blue 65mm Kryptonic (2nd gen) which is worn down to 59mm.

This had bearings in it (gasp) but they were a slightly unusual size. Should have dug out the vernier calliper and had a proper measure up but look like 10mm internal diameter, 22mm outside diameter and 8.5mm thick. As opposed to normal bearings 8x22x7.

Now obviously I'll need some 10mm internal bearings to fit on the axle. I see Octane sell some for £18.50 a set of 8, can probably find cheaper from a non skate supplier I reckon and I'll only need 4 anyway.

Screwed to the back of the Kryp is the sprocket, fixed in place with 4 x 1.5" self tappers. As you can see I started loosening them before I remembered to take the photo.

This sprocket looks in okay condition but the one on the engine end has a tooth or two missing. The chain is fairly knackered too.

The engine is fixed to the rear truck so that it leans meaning that the chain runs straight as you turn.
It had a bottom bushing which had been compressed to death and no top bushing. Kingpin nut is oversized.

I had planned to fit some Hang Ten wheels that I purchased a while back from ebay but they are only 59mm diameter so a bit on the small side. I have some old Powerflex 5's which I turned down years ago to use on my rollerskates. They have a flat back which is good and at 65mm a nice size.
I'll have to keep an eye out for other options I guess.

Realised as I was packing everything away this evening that I haven't checked to see if I've got a spark at the plug yet, turns over okay so hopefully if I've got a spark it should run.
A friend at work has a petrol strimmer engine which may have to be brought in to service as a very last resort.

Project Death Trap

2011-11-16T18:14:00.000Z

A few years ago I saw something bulky for sale on ebay which was collection only in Nottingham, got in touch with TonyG from MAS ( a man I've never met but knew he lived in Nottingham) and asked if he could pick it up for me if I won the auction, he said of course he could.
Well, I won the auction and he duly picked it up for me, after photographing it for me he passed it on to MonkeyLegs Pete from MAS so that it could make it's journey further south towards me, and it then sat in Pete's garage for a couple of years as we couldn't get our arses into gear to organise anything.
Recently I realised that a guy from work was making regular trips to the vicinity of Petes house and mentioned I needed to pick it up, he offered to collect it for me and delivered it to work for me.

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Motoboard...

Obviously mine isn't in as good nick as one in a 33 year old advert and will be an ongoing project for some time I should think.
Got the original stickers on the bottom though.

Handy as it's got the 2 stroke mix ratio on it.

Lots of work to do on it, wheel bearings have collapsed for a start, front truck is a replacement ACS500 with no name wheels and strange looking bearings. HT lead is cracked, pull start missing, carrying handle missing, air filter box missing (?) the list goes on.

More Spooky Tweaking

2011-11-14T16:18:00.000Z

Finally got around to putting the Spooky back together after the recent repair.

I'd also recently ordered a drop through mounting kit from Octane Sports which contains some thin rubber shockpads which sit between the baseplate and the deck, in fact they are so thin I don't think they'll actually do much and some funky rubber backed washers for the underside.

Whilst I was at it I also installed my new carbon fibre baseplate covers.

That griptape and sticker job is still bugging me though.

Day Off To Skate

2011-11-07T20:34:00.000Z

Went up to XC again today

Took a few photos, this chap was good.

Bloody Shrink Wrap

2011-11-06T16:19:00.002Z

I hate it, why do this to wheels?

The people at Abec11 are tormenting me, they know I can't bring myself to open it.

Snot Shots and Big-Zigs

Alex Barton

2011-11-05T21:54:00.000Z

I took this at XC on the 3rd October.

I like it.

Taken with the Canon from a distance with the 28-200 zoom, 79mm f5 1/200.

Alex Barton - Lovenskate team rider.

Project Spooky

2011-11-04T21:41:00.000Z

The Spooky had a small chunk out of the tail when I bought it.

now thanks to one of my mates at work it doesn't, carbon fibre implant bonded in.

thanks Russ.

Happy 50th Des Mondo

2011-10-30T16:23:00.000Z

I made the long trek to the far north (of Essex) for Des Jam.

The old fella was 50 yesterday, showing no signs of slowing down yet though.
Good job there weren't candles on his cake...

I had a bit of a bad day photo wise, the battery on the Canon is shagged and went flat after only 4 photos. Looks like I can get a 3rd party replacement for under 20 quid mind.
I'm also still struggling to get the settings right with the K20d and my timing was a bit out too.

Managed to get a couple of ones I was semi pleased with.

This guy was crazily good or maybe just crazy, this wasn't a make. He did drop in from here though and made it half way across the flat.

Sean Goff was there too, good to see him enjoying himself, Rock 'n' Roll in the big bowl. The only semi acceptable shot I took of him.

Jellyhead was trying to wear the coping out.

Dean was too, in the pool...

...and in the bi bo

I managed a few scratchers in the pool, but still struggle in there with the uphill to the deep end.
I did hear a rumour that phase 2 of the park is planned and Dreamland are building a clover and a snakerun, fingers crossed it's true (and that they aren't uphill)

I Want One

2011-10-24T20:55:00.000+01:00

Wanted one of these for a while now after reading about it in a camera magazine.

The Kalimar Action Shot 16.

16 lenses take 16 small pictures on 2 frames of 35mm film over a 2 second period, originally designed and marketed for golfers to analyze their swing.

I've had a search on ebay going, I was excited when I saw one pop up, until I saw the price.
Action Shot 16 on ebay

A bit like my Lomo Action Sampler but with 4 times as many lenses.

Wiggle & Bomb

2011-10-23T21:38:00.002+01:00

Had a text from Trev on Saturday inviting me along to Ash Ranges for a longboard session. Not the first time he's invited me to be honest, usually had family things going on or have used up my skatepass already in the morning.

Nearly didn't make it again as I had a house full of sister-in-laws, a brother-in-law and a nephew. Got rid of them in time though, that sounds harsh but needed a skate on the Spooky.

Met up in the station car park and after a short walk/skate reached the hills, some people already there including a guy with a Slick Willie's Pool Rider complete with some nice Trackers, I would rather have seen some period correct wheels, Road Rider 4's, Powerflex 3's or 5's or something along those lines instead of the Krypto Impulses.

So the slalom cones were set up and then after a while we went off to walk/skate the hills to the top.
Then set off back down avoiding the dogwalkers.

The last ride back to the cars was interesting as the light faded very quickly and it was darker under the trees.

p.s Agent Orange soundtrack as demanded by GoofyFootGray.

Seeing As It's Nearly Halloween

2011-10-21T21:59:00.000+01:00

I bought myself a Lush Spooky.

eBay (sort of) purchase, Lush team rider/warehouse manager Mark Penman's 2010 Spooky Prototype with Sabre trucks and Cult Death Ray wheels.

Those random stickers are gonna have to go. There's a small 2 ply delam chunk out of the back which I will patch up.

And There's More

2011-10-19T11:51:00.000+01:00

Two photos taken yesterday with the Canon, I'm quite liking the shots taken with the zoom, makes a change to the fisheye shots.

Here's Paul on the miniramp...

And here's Des going over the deathbox...

More XC

2011-10-18T21:28:00.000+01:00

Another day off and another trip to XC.
Trev suggested we take the 8 wheelers so we did.

Trev warmed up on the mini ramp

before taking it to the pool...

I hadn't skated mine for over a year, in fact it was the first skate on it since I redrilled it and chopped the nose off.

It was all coming together by the time I was too tired to do anything about it.

Des was there today and was doing his usual ripping, including this deathbox grind...

And an over the steps shot ended in a front wheel to fisheye lens incident...

resulting in a crack lens hood...

Things Of Beauty

2011-10-09T23:25:00.001+01:00

All taken at Shoreham Old Skool Dayz 2.0.

Top - Bottom:
Tony Lords G&S Wonkers
Orange Star Trac Kryptonics
Paul 'Vilms' Williams Sims Woodkick with Gullwing Phoenixs
Sean Goffs Strokers on a Sims Taperkick.

XC

2011-10-03T21:47:00.005+01:00

I finally got my arse into gear and made the trip up to XC in Hemel Hempstead, The Bob and Biffa were gonna come but Mrs The Bob is about to drop their first sprog so he decided to stay closer to home and I think Biffa was standing by with clean towels and hot water.

Anyway I went along and after a detour through some residential streets in HH due to my satnav not recognising the postcode finally chanced upon a sign for XC and managed to find the McD's where I had arranged to meet up with Trev, and Gray. Trev was there with Paul and Gray was on his way.

It's a big building, the skatepark is basically everything to the left of the big XC sign in this photo.

crappy blackberry picture of The XC

After filling out a form with name, address, inside leg measurement etc and signing that I agreed to abide by the rules which I didn't read I then had to fill out another form and show my drivers licence as proof of ID for permission to take photos.
Then after paying my money I was allowed through the electronic security door to be able to skate this.

An indoor concrete pool with steps in the shallow, proper coping and tiles and a bigger bowl and also wooden 4' mini ramp and street course.

It being a schoolday it was very quiet, a couple of the lads that got us into the tunnel turned up with 2 jump bikes and a BMX, a few random kids that should have been at school, a solitary scooter rat and some young and not so young rippers.

The pool is a strange thing, the transitions are eliptical, getting tighter as they get closer to the coping, a feature that had me bottling the drop in all day. The steps are in a funny place, well I thought so, being goofy and starting from the shallow to the left of the steps a backside carve in the deep took me back to the wall above the waterfall opposite the steps, a frontside here aimed me directly into the steps if I wasn't careful.
The surface is buttery smooth though, there was a hole in the miniramp but it looked as though the staff were on the case, also good to see a store of coping blocks hidden under the miniramp.

Anyway I signed the form to allow me to take photos so here are some...

Trev - FS grind in the shallow

and BS too

Over the steps

Not sure who these guys were, they were both taking their fair share of slams though.

Wheeler!

Boneless One!

I feel a bit bad about this last one, I made the guy do his over the steps run 3 times to get the shot, he was really chuffed that I'd got the shot and said he'd never had a decent shot of his skating. I then forgot to get his email address or name, so if anyone knows him let me know.

I've got some more pics on another camera but waiting for a CF card compatible reader before I can upload them.

Back there again on the 18th. . .

Old Skool Dayz 2.0

2011-10-02T22:36:00.000+01:00

Had a rad day out at Shoreham today for Old Skool Dayz 2.0.

The weather was hot and sunny, the skating was hot too.

The Dread City Skates boys were there again, pictured is John Nicholas.

I bought a rad t-shirt, more about that another day.

The longest carve comp was great, Lee Tilbury walked away with the prize of a vintage Sims t-shirt.
Sean Goff did a great job of compere/judge for it.

Locals Only

2011-10-01T10:39:00.000+01:00

Just over 4 years ago I was strolling through the North Laine area of Brighton battling my way through the hipsters and I came across a display of skateboard photos from the 70's.
They were by a photographer who's name I didn't recognise, Hugh Holland.

I saw recently on another blog that a book of his work had been published, totally awesome stuff, I treated my self to this book for my birthday with some money my parents gave me.

It's a big book, 16" x 12", there's an interview with Hugh about how he stumbled upon skateboarding in 75 in California and devoted 3 three years to photographing it. Apart form that it's big glossy photos all the way.

Inky Arm

2011-09-24T15:27:00.004+01:00

I've been planning this for a few years, never got around to it, sometimes I amaze myself at my ability to procrastinate.

Anyway, today I finally got around to it, mainly because it was a birthday present from the wife.

Thanks to Clive at Tattooland in Woking..

Super 8

2011-09-23T06:59:00.001+01:00

This just blew me away.

An eight wheeler based on a Sims Brad Bowman design.
The guy that built this has a great blog and is a very talented board builder.

Check out Under A Tin Roof in a Hailstorm

The Tunnel

2011-09-18T22:31:00.000+01:00

Well I got an invite to the Nike 6.0 Tunnel in deepest darkest Hampshire, had instructions to meet up at a cafe where we would be met and shown the way there.
After paying a few quid each for fuel for the generator we set off in a convoy of cars the short drive down the road, we then turned down a dirt track which turned into a dis-used railway track before arriving at a very imposing looking bricked up railway tunnel.

The genny was fueled and fired up, the lights lit up and we saw our first glimpse of what was to come.

We set to with brooms as the place was very dusty.

It was very tricky to skate, the tarmac bottom was nice and smooth but the joints at the bottom of the ramp coupled with the rough wooden surface sapped the speed out of all but the fittest.

Trev managed to get up onto the brickwork...

And get some nice grinds on the copingless ramps...

So did Gray (slightly mistimed my shot here) after he switched to some softer wheels to soak up the bumps...

Thanks to the local BMX boys for the chance to skate it.

Chilli Banana Chips

2011-08-25T07:01:00.000+01:00

A friend at work brought these back from his holiday in Mexico.
I liked them, a lot of people didn't.

Little Hondas

2011-08-21T20:43:00.000+01:00

I went to the "Employee Motor Show" at work on Saturday.
Basically it's a chance for all the staff to show off their cars and motorbikes.

There were some exotic things there and then there were some not quite as exotic...

I'm in two minds over the Yoshimura pipe on the SS50 my Jock Kerr Racing pipe looked better imho as it went under the engine and exited behind the pedals. Also sure that 5 speeds came with the higher wider bars and not the flat bars, unless they are a retrofit for lower/sportier look.
Got the urge to get one again now

Cheap Beer 2

2011-08-11T20:24:00.000+01:00

Got this in France recently.
€0.54 for a plastic 66cl bottle.
Not too bad, given that it works out at about 47p a bottle.

See my earlier post Cheap Beer for another from the same source.

Latest Camera

2011-07-17T20:53:00.000+01:00

Did a deal with Dad, I bought him a lens in exchange for this, Pentax K20d with battery grip.
Does all my K100d did and then some.
Took it for a spin at Goodwood and Silverstone, happy with the results.

Speeeeeeeeeed!

2011-07-03T20:34:00.001+01:00

Had a cracking day out with my dad at Goodwood Festival Of Speed, freebie tickets courtesy of work.
A few quick pictures.

Some more JellyJam

2011-06-30T00:01:00.000+01:00

Found a couple more Jellyjam pics.

Mike Day, Layback Air

TonyB

Cretesham Friday Loop Up Session

2011-06-27T21:59:00.000+01:00

Well we took the day off to go and skate Midsomer Norton not realising that the schools would be closed due to "It's Glastonbury Innit" so the park was over-run by a swarm of scooterists.

We decamped to Cretesham after saying goodbye to Rick...

Overview of the park

Bob rolls in

Bob fs 5-0

Muttleyphilmateslash

Bob fs disaster

Bob fs summat-or-other

Muttleyphilmatedilton

Bob Layback

Tony gets a lesson on axle drops from DTB whilst Phil and Bob watch

After the schools turned out we went to the pub; The Hare & Hounds, to rest our scabby knees and have a couple of pints of lovely beer. Mmmm beer.

Brighton Weekend

2011-06-06T20:49:00.000+01:00

Just had another weekend away in Brighton.

Drank a bit of this...

...in here.

Went to see this...

...in here.

Gnarler

2011-06-05T19:25:00.000+01:00

James "Gnarler" Breeze at Shoreham during the JellyJam.

I held back on publishing this as I submitted it to Harvey for skateboardingphoto but it was a bit too 'noisy'.

So here it is.

Sigla A Bowlio*

2011-05-29T20:58:00.000+01:00

It was the JellyJam at Shoreham on Friday.
Some major ripping going down.

Don't know who this dude is but suspect he's Welsh, as he's wearing one of Grim's t-shirts.
Bob'll know, he knows all the Welshies he does.

*That's Welshie for Rock 'n' Roll

Small Or Far Away?

2011-05-22T20:52:00.002+01:00

Got asked to flog some stuff on ebay by oldest stepson.
Some model cars.
Had fun taking photos.
1:18 Escort MkII RS1800, Lombard RAC Rally 1975. Roger Clark/Tony Mason.

Sidewalk Bob

2011-05-18T20:50:00.000+01:00

Bob gets a mention in Sidewalk (again).

(clicky to make bigger)

New Stuntplank

2011-05-16T21:45:00.000+01:00

Got my stoke back again, ebay bargain.
Was a bit worried when I picked it up and the guy selling it was on crutches after breaking his foot at Meanwhile 2.

Black Label/Red Cross Steve Olson 11" x 34", Indy 215's and 60mm 92a No Skoolz.

Panoramic Camera Tweaking

2011-05-15T22:06:00.000+01:00

I picked up a cheapo 'Panoramic' point and shoot from a charity shop over a year ago.
Boxed, looks unused.

Now seeing as I sold my Vivitar UWS on ebay to fund my addiction for buying more useless crap, I had a look at this thinking it might be a substitute. Cheap, all plastic blah blah blah.

Now the way the 'panoramic' bit works is a just a plastic bit which masks the film, this means there is a black strip along the top and the bottom of the negative and then you need to ask the developer to print them 3.5" x 10".

I figured I might be able to trim the masking bit away leaving a wider angle full frame. In the end it just pulled out, so I tried it without it in.

One problem is that the viewfinder is also masked so you can't see the top and bottom of the subject when looking through it.

Results with Kodak 400 not too bad, got that UWS lens-flare when pointed into the sun, no vignetting though.

Some results.

Mystery Machine

2011-05-14T21:28:00.000+01:00

Pass this occasionally, stopped and took a phone camera pic today.

Yum

2011-05-11T21:16:00.000+01:00

Tomorrows lunch, homemade pasty.

And the view will be like this...

Snap!

2011-05-10T21:00:00.000+01:00

HaHa, following post on my new shades, check out Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel.

Good call fella, even if you drive for the opposition.

Royal Wedding Escape

2011-05-01T17:57:00.000+01:00

Didn't quite go as planned as it was all over the radio and tv so I still didn't manage to avoid it totally.

Saw this sweet Peugeot 604 GTi, 2.8 litre V6, about 84 or 85 vintage parked in the carpark of Cité Europe

Stayed in the Ibis hotel at Coquelles opposite Cité Europe as usual.
Snapped this sunrise on my phone just before breakfast on Saturday morning.

Popped down the coast to Wissant on Saturday for a spot of lunch, had a stroll along the seafront first then a sarnie and a beer in a local restaurant.

I treated myself to the coolest pair of sunglasses on this planet (imho), Oakley Fuel Cell, polished/matte clear frames and violet iridium® lenses.

HIKKADUWA... THE MUSICAL

2011-04-28T20:44:00.000+01:00

From Graham Taft, all round ripper, Rom/Shoreham/Unit1 local and master of the 8 wheeler.

Pic By Jelly

A musical based on his surfing adventures in Sri Lanka.

HIKKADUWA... THE MUSICAL by HIPKILL

We'll Have Fun, Fun, Fun

2011-04-23T21:32:00.001+01:00

One of my nephews was about to take this to the dump.

I have adopted it.

Onza T-Bird.

Magura Hydraulic Brakes.

Got a chunky bashplate on it too.

That shoud make light work of the coping ;-)

Needs a bit of fettling obviously but a free bike is a free bike innit.

I Feel Like Chicken To-Knight

2011-04-10T23:44:00.000+01:00

Not Grey Mullet

2011-04-07T22:08:00.000+01:00

Dug out some ballooning photos tonight.

Makes me feel old, less than 15 years ago, August 97, Metz, France, my first hands-on unaided landing, look at me looking proud for keeping the basket upright. No,I'm sure stripey shirts and check trousers weren't fashionable even back then but hey ho.

Rom

2011-04-03T21:58:00.000+01:00

Found thissun on my hard-drive when I was sorting some photos when playing with Lightroom.

Jelly in the pool grinding one frontside whilst PW carves up the banks on the slalom run.

The Cheesecake Continuum

2011-04-02T19:54:00.000+01:00

Today I went to The Cheesecake Continuum.

A pop up art shop/exhibition in Wokingham featuring the work of my daughter and 3 of her friends.

Rosie Brown
Roseanna Clare
Graham Read
Lily Rossiter

Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Really Sirius

2011-04-01T20:04:00.000+01:00

Bought this lens off of ebay t'other day.
Collected it from the sorting office this morning.

Sirius 18-28mm Zoom. It's for the Minolta X-700, just a tad wider than the 20mm Vivitar.

Fury

2011-03-30T22:50:00.001+01:00

Saw a review of the Royal Enfield Fury in the paper at the weekend, mentioned my local motorcycle dealers/florists.

The Fury is a good looking bike, got that Flat Tracker style I've always loved.

Shoreham

2011-03-29T11:52:00.000+01:00

Went down to Brighton for the weekend, popped along to Shoreham on the train on Sunday.

It was PW's b'day.

PW: shallow end corner carve frontside

This fella was there too, don't know who he was, didn't get to chat to him to find out.

BS 50-50 into corner

Big BS Ollie

Odd Socks

2011-03-21T20:20:00.000Z

My youngest step-son Alec has published a comic.

You can check out some more of the pages and buy it here

Out & About In Brighton

2011-03-20T17:33:00.000Z

Sunday 13th Feb, Canon Sureshot Supreme, Kodak 400

HP St.Patricks Day

2011-03-17T00:01:00.001Z

Got some of this last week, couldn't resist it when I saw it on the supermarket shelf.
Lovely stuff, suitable for vegetarians too.

In A Windy Place

2011-03-02T18:58:00.000Z

Inside a windy tunnel today.

The round bit is about 12' diameter then turns into a square with transitions getting tighter and tighter towards the camera where they are non-existent.

PPG

2011-03-01T20:45:00.000Z

I've just had 2 photos accepted for the Pentax Photo Gallery
(warning tediously slow and un-user-friendly site)
In fact the first 2 photos I've submitted for inclusion so 100% acceptance rate so far, chuffed with that.

They are these ones.

Winner

2011-02-27T19:09:00.000Z

I was the winner in a competition in my favourite music mag - Shindig!

Got this record,

'A phase we're going through'

I'll have to dig out the turntable soon and convert it to an empeefree.

Oh and I got a medium size t-shirt which is a bit tight to say the least.

Pack Yer Bags

2011-02-11T21:31:00.000Z

Fancy suitcases for the boys at work to take on business trips.

Working suspension too, dunno what if any bearings they got in them.

Snowy Woking SureShots

2011-02-06T21:32:00.000Z

Finished my film up today that was in the Canon Sureshot Supreme.

Some of snowy Woking taken on Saturday 18th December last year.

The footbridge from Brewery Road carpark into the town

The frozen Basingstoke Canal looking North East

The frozen Basingstoke Canal looking South West

Pyrford Common Road taken whilst driving with camera out of window

Des Laying Back

2011-02-04T20:19:00.001Z

Des: Saffron Walden

Taken 22nd October 2010, last time I skated. :-(

Submitted this to skateboardingphoto.co.uk but Harvey didn't publish it, probably thought I was biting his style.

U1 on the X-700

2011-02-03T06:56:00.000Z

Got my prints back after finally using the film up.
Verdict? Need a wider angle lens or stand further back.

Shame I cut DaveH's head off in this one.

Minolta X-700, 20mm lens, generic flash, Fuji 200asa

Timelapse

2011-01-30T19:58:00.000Z

Went down to the river at lunchtime today and tried out my intervalometer.
30 shots at 10 second intervals, needs a lot more really.

...A-Ah Saviour Of The Universe

2011-01-25T20:37:00.001Z

Remember the other day I said I'd got a Minolta 132PX?

Well today it's mahoosive brother arrived in the shape of the Minolta 360PX.

Tilt and swivel, bells and whistles. Syncs with the motordrive on 1/16th power but only at 2fps using normal batteries, seems like I've got to find the Power Grip 2 to sync at 3.5fps.

Oh yeah, I've also ordered an off camera flash lead and 132PX instruction book for the and a kook friend in Kentucky has bought, paid for and is going to post me a wide angle diffuser to fit the 132 (of course I'll refund him his costs) thanks Adam

Warren Bolster, Master Of Skateboard Photography

2011-01-22T20:32:00.000Z

I treated myself to this book the other day. Thought it would be good for inspiration and indeed it is.

I actually downloaded the pdf file of it from Silverfish a few years back but it's nicer to have the hardback book to look at.

PDF download

Flash...

2011-01-12T20:09:00.001Z

Picked this up off of ebay for the bargain price of just over a fiver.

The slightly rare (rarer than the 280 or 360's anyway apparently) Minolta 132PX...

"With one of these flash units attached, the X-700's Direct Auto flash Metering system provides through-the-lens (TTL) off-film flash control in program (P) mode or any-aperture (A) mode"

Happy days, should be better than the one I've been using up until now.

Back In The Darkroom

2011-01-10T22:27:00.000Z

Back at college again, hopefully the course will run as we were short of people this week.

Did some tweaking in the darkroom.

Black and white print from a colour negative, in fact it started out as slide film, cross processed to produce a print and then I did a black and white print from it.

And here's the cross processed colour print.

Crazy Legs Tone Gets The Grind

2011-01-02T16:53:00.000Z

Unit1 this morning with Bob and Tone.
Not skating myself due to the world being very wobbly.

Tone was all over the minimini.

Reminded me of this.

Happy Kookmas

2010-12-26T13:10:00.000Z

Secret Santa time again.

This year I received a great print of a Praying Mantis from Rhode Island artist William Schaff.

Really loving his work, check out his Flickr stuff here.
You can see the original papercut of the print here

Workmates and Wind Tunnel

2010-12-21T20:34:00.000Z

Some of my workmates as pictured on day 21 of the company advent calendar.

Click for massively large version

(l-r, Stuart, Anthony, Joseph, John, Martin, Simon, Jon, Vinnie, Aaron, Gavin, Dave)

Here they are posed with a MP4-23 1:6 model which they test in the wind tunnel which they are stood in front of.

Looks skateable to me, about a 12' full pipe (behind the words DAY 21) which blends into a square section with transitions of about 3 or 4' (at right of picture) I haven't yet been inside that section yet.

Check out the shiny floor.

Fancy Daps

2010-12-18T19:27:00.000Z

Well it's one month down at the Tracey Island lookalike where I am now working so they had a sale to honour the fact. (may not be strictly true but they had one anyway)

After queuing for bloody ages I managed amongst a few other things to get these...

Fancy box.

Carbon Fibre look.

Inside

Sole Detail

Not bad for a fiver, my guess is that the magnetic sealing box is probably worth that without the shoes. Don't think I'll be skating in them, ah skateboarding I remember when I used to do that.

http://mclaren.com/seasons-greetings/

skateboardingphoto.co.uk

2010-12-01T20:42:00.000Z

Check out the new online skateboarding mag that Harvey Mills has produced.

http://skateboardingphoto.co.uk/

Got one of my shots in it too.

Pretty In Pink

2010-11-28T17:19:00.000Z

I parked next to this split screen VW in Woking this morning.

Another Day At The Office...

2010-11-25T19:12:00.000Z

I bumped into this fella at work the other day..

Neil Trundle F1 tweaker extrodinaire

He's the guy responsible for the tweaking of the historic collection we've got on display.

Working on a 25 year old F1 car at the moment, said he changed the injectors and it fired up first time.

Gonna run it in the parade at Bahrain or summat next season.

Pic and that from here F1: McLaren's impressive Historic car collection

MD's And Rokkors

2010-11-22T08:38:00.000Z

Bought myself a 50mm lens off of ebay for the Minolta X-700 with some of the money my parents gave me for my birthday.

When I popped round a few weeks later my dad said he had a lens for me that he'd got from a car boot sale.

A 50mm lens for my Minolta X-700. Doh!

Turns out they are different though.

The one I got off of ebay

The one my dad got from the carboot

Comparison

The MD (above left) has a min aperture of f22 whilst the MD Rokkor (arove right) has a min aperture of f16.

Guess I'll have to do a comparison roll of film.

Good News!

2010-11-20T19:40:00.000Z

Spotted a Dacia Sandero Stepway in a hypermarket carpark.

Actually like the look of this.