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Tweets
- Have been out of the office for the 4th set. Looks like this was wise.
- I'm at Hair By Fairy (8-10 Neal's Yard, Covent Garden) http://t.co/SM3giXtn
- Game on! #murraydjoko #tryingtoworkandwatchmatch
- @Poptastic really?!?! Oh no...
- This sounds amazing. http://t.co/nW20CPi9 Makes all other corporate parties look appallingly shit
- @MilkySteve True. Although given how anti-Eric you were last year, I doubt we'll agree!
- @MilkySteve I am prepared to hit "redial" if I have to
- @MrStevenWhyte It's got a hard drive (just a solid state one). Or do you mean DVD drive?
- However I think Touch My Fire would have been a better slogan http://t.co/7FJJfVD5
- So UK can vote for Sweden and Norway - this is (potentially) USEFUL. http://t.co/rlWon1Ev
- @thisisjonbills @ianmasterson Cheapest bottle of wine at City was £30 when I was passing through in October. Had to neck it too.
- Very good of #radiotimes to send free cock shots this week. BBC only sold it a few months ago and look what happens... http://t.co/Pu7k9Bbj
- You must watch this. And dance to it, & sing to it, & say "here's to 25 more amazing years of pop from @kylieminogue " http://t.co/gALQyqVM
- Still find this kind of parliamentary shenanigans geekily fascinating http://t.co/m1PSQGLd
- @Popjustice And your answer was...?
- @MilkySteve Oh yes
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Posts
- Jan 24, 12
Yeah yeah, bit later than billed - but you know that's cos I was in Florida, don't you? Unlike past times we didn't really blog or upload photos or anything while on holidays. I guess the difference between 2006 and now is that Foursquare and Facebook cover off the social side of things, to the detriment of course of actually saying much of substance.
Still, let's not dwell on that too much. I had a lovely time, that's what you need to know.
One thing that I failed to do this year was a round-up of the best music of 2011. This formed the basis of the last hour of the Battersea Bauble. Now this isn't comprehensive, but you'll find 10 of the best bits of pop of the year (if not necessarily the best performances thereof, but that's YouTube-on-the-iPad for you) here
(As ever, excluding Eurovision and Melodifestivalen, lest we'd be here all day).
Popjustice's Top 45 of the year is a pretty good way of spending some time in the company of pop, too... - Nov 28, 11Many others, more diligent than I, have taken photos and blogged about their visits to Aldwych tube station over the weekend. I've written before about my visit in 2004, but this time I've bunged a few snaps up on Flickr and will leave it at that.
(Although we had Preston on our tour (although it only clicked afterwards that it was he), which is, er, notable.)
I travelled on the Aldwych shuttle (and Ongar too) before it shut in 1994 - can't quite remember when, either that year or the year before. I often wonder if we took any photos or not... hopefully some will turn up one day! - Nov 13, 11
Had a bloody brilliant night on Halloween, seeing A1 perform in the UK for the first time in ten years. All the hits (apart from No More, but, er, we'll see No More about it pet etc).
They had energy, they looked good, they sounded great... the songs were as good as ever (and the recent stuff is, of course, brilliant) - probably the best night of pop for some time (and, hey, we've seen a lot of it).
Some pretty useless photos here, and a delightful minute of video (including some pretty decent movin' to Ready or Not) here: - Aug 21, 11
Another week, another rigorous testing of Olympic facilities. Stratford was playing host to two major events this weekend - at the Basketball Arena (with all its undulating, albeit, temporary, outer skin) and the BMX, er, Mound. Or track. Call it what you will.
We were off to the latter, although the two were pretty close to each other - which probably helped the security guys and the organisers. A fleet of retired (from London service) bendy buses took everyone from the nondescript entrance off Leyton Road to the heart of the park, via some relatively straightforward airport-style security.
On our arrival, the first few drops of rain started. Nothing too worrying at that point, and Hog Roast rolls were consumed and beers purchased. But then the heavens opened... and stayed open for almost 3 hours. We sat, for a very long time, in our seats, sheltered by a sole umbrella and attempting to keep ourselves from getting wet and cold despite the summer attire. (You can "see" us annotated in this shot here, and a few rows in front of the main umbrella-weilders here).
But, hey, the sun soon shone, and the racing got going (somewhat later than billed) - and it was brilliant fun. With a British victory too. Bring it on!
The esteemed Diamond Geezer has a much better write-up than me (of course), as well as a host of snaps via his Flickr profile. Check out the Beeb's gallery too. - Aug 15, 11Not only are we now passed the point of one-year-to-the-Olympics-ness, in 12 months from today the main event will actually be over, rather distressingly. True, the Paralympics are to follow. But the usual post-Olympics comedown will be even more intense than ever. Hopefully, though, we'll be looking back over a few weeks worth of amazing sport, well-organised packed-out events, British medals galore and a tube system that functioned so well we become the envy of the Western world. Or something.So with fewer than 366 days to go, it's time to start savouring every moment of the build-up, as it really will end up being blink-and-you'll-miss-it when we get there.
Over the last couple of weeks Carlbob.com has been doing its bit. We popped into Trafalgar Square for the One Year To Go event. It was faintly disappointing - a little shambolic at times, and the actual countdown itself, at 1930, which we assumed was the whole point, was completely missed. But it was still exciting; we got to see the medals; and Boris's speech was a definite highlight.Time for a repeat visit to Stratford to see progress on the Olympic Park. It didn't feel hugely changed from the trip we did in November in many ways, but that's largely because the stadium's been completed for a while, and the landscaping will have the most noticeable effect and no doubt that'll be last. Most notable changes were that the ArcelorMittal tower was progressing, and the Aquatic Centre was complete - including the temporary seating wings that ruin the whole look of it a tad.
Saw some Diamond League Athletics in action at Crystal Palace. In a few years time, of course, them's'll be fields - or something else I guess. While it'll be great to have a shiny Athletics stadium post-Olympics (some time post given that it'll take a few years to convert it post-games), and the Palace really is pretty run down (the men's loos haven't had a clean since 1982 I understand), it's kinda iconic and I've seen some top athletics there (I vividly remember watching Jonathan Edwards jump 18m at the 1995 McDonalds Games on a scorching post-World Champs August day).
London Prepares got underway and we've done our bit in helping it do so. Firstly Mark made a big sacrifice and plunged into the Serpentine to give the Triathlon a whirl (and did bloody well - great time!). Then this morning we both made a further sacrifice and hauled our hungover selves out of bed and down the road to Putney High Street to see the riders in the London-Surrey Classic on the final stretch of the race as it heads back into London.
After which we trotted down to Horseguards Parade for the Beach Volleyball - the final session of the week-long tournament. The British duo of Johns and Boulton played in the bronze medal match, but lost out to one of the Brazilian pairs - whose fellow countrywomen then triumphed over the USA in the final afterwards. It was a great few hours - high-energy, shortish matches, no chance to get bored. Plus dancing girls, extensive amounts of whooping and, best of all, more clapping...
Next Saturday (following a bit of athleticism in the morning at the Pride Run) we're helping out London once again with the BMX - and a chance to see an event in the actual Olympic Park!
London Prepares: Beach Volleyball, a photo by carlbob on Flickr. - Jun 15, 11
(Not my imagination - it really was a good show.)
So, we went to XOYO (me neither) last night for Sophie Ellis-Bextor's album launch 'gig'. It's always nice to go to a little midweek concert. Makes one feel marginally less like an old bastard for one thing. Although having said that - when Sophie announced that her little boy was 7 years old, I was slightly struck that I remember seeing her on stage at G-A-Y, heavy with child, as part of one of my birthday weekends... 7 years. Blimey.
Anyway, I digress into slightly scary age-related territory. It was a lovely show, good atmosphere. Reminded just how many good songs there have been across 3 albums (and now she's here with her 4th, Make A Scene... finally!). And that she's now 11 years on from Groovejet. God, another flashback to 2002 NYE at Alexandra Palace. Old old old.
50secs of moving-image SEB below, plus some really rubbish iPhone pics here. As ever there were loads of cameras out last night so there will be better stuff out there on the web.
(Click here if you can't see the embed or are on iPhone/iPad)
Oh and here's one cover that she didn't do (but did do at Ally Pally):
ps: Turns out her ma was there last night too! Amaze! - Jun 11, 11
Yes yes... it's been quiet on here hasn't it? Twas ever thus. But there are some plans afoot to update this. Promise. In the meantime, I had to post something just to get Happy New Year off the homepage...
Meanwhile I guess the most appropriate sentiment is expressed by this video - Jan 01, 11
Happy New Year, reader! Yes, it is 2011, and yes, New Year's Day has passed by with the usual post-NYE blur. But, before drawing a line under 2010 in its entirety (a year, you'll note, that was not especially blessed with frenzied blogging activity from me) it is time for the tradition of a blast of Top Pop.
I'm not going to claim this is a definitive or comprehensive "Top 10", and I've definitely missed stuff off the list. It is, to quote Dermot/Tess/Thornton, in no particular order. It's actually been a pretty good year in pop - I refer you in the main to Popjustice's Top 45 singles, most of which are ace - so the 10 is sort of arbitrary (and missing some of the more obvious suspects, not because they aren't great songs, but because no further exposure is really required for them). So if you are looking for some choons and accompanying visuals to pass half-an-hour of your time, then please click here and enjoy the YouTube playlist or click through these links (as playlists don't work if you're braaaahsing this on your iPhone):- Love Don't Live Here - Bananarama
- Love Made Me Stupid - Elin Lanto
- Naturally (Dave Aude Remix) - Selena Gomez
- Lose My Mind (7th Heaven Remix) - The Wanted
- Bittersweet - Sophie Ellis-Bextor (in both original and Freemasons versions)
- All The Lovers - Kylie Minogue
- Dancing On My Own - Robyn
- Ambitions - Joe McElderry
- One Touch - Mini Viva (sadly a pop casualty this year, but they leave a good legacy of 3 brilliant singles)
- Shine on Forever (Photo Frame) - Same Difference (second album coming in 2011)
One other song I loved, that never saw the light of day, was My Lonely Valentine by Dandy Andy - sadly no video on YouTube anymore...
ps: I've featured a remix of one of them here - mainly because, in a small lowpoint in an otherwise great NYE at the Brewers last night, when this came my initial huge excitement turned to being massively disheartened at the total lack of interest from the entire floor at dancing to it. :-(
pps: Deliberately not included any Eurovision or Melodifestivalen - we'd be here all day otherwise - but let me take the opportunity to remind everyone of this amazing treat (in every sense). Oh, and while we're at it, this.
ppps: Proverbial lick of paint to the blog - or, rather, demolishing a whole host of crap that was on the page. - Nov 01, 10
So, a little day out yesterday. We:
- went to see the Olympic Stadium from the Greenway and had a delicious flat white
- had a stroll around some of the Bow Back Rivers, saw the £20m barely used Three Mills Lock and found the site of the first Big Brother house
- got a semi-secret bus from the arse end of Stratford station, drove past the under construction Athletes Village and got a high-speed train back to St Pancras from a vast, eerily quiet station
- ate Sushi
An enjoyable day... and the backstory is much better told by others via the links included above. It's all quite fascinating - especially to see how much is changing already. Think more visits to the Olympic site in 2011 will be in order to watch the transformation. - Sep 22, 10In fact was a surprise to find we were on one on the way back from BCN. They're a nice place to be in Club in the front section. Always less convinced behind the front galley in either cabin.
PS: On a related note - see this odd sign at BCN. - Aug 30, 10Yes I know, for a non-cyclist like me, it's a little obsessional. So much so that, despite the torrential (and distinctly non-Augustal [word?]) rain that was chucking it down on Wednesday, I wanted to get on my bike and
look for work, er, meet the others for Red Wine Wednesday in Holland Park.
It was, after all, a perfect route all told - through parks, across dedicated bike crossings, on segregated lanes and quiet roads. The scariest it got was 50m in Notting Hill Gate on the A40. It really was wet though...
I'd set out on my second trip, btw, the day before, from Dolphin Square to Sloane Square - another backstreets route through Belgravia. Therein lies one of the attractions of cycling - seeing nearby streets that I'd just never otherwise head down, like Ebury Way and roads around Pimlico generally. And also heading up that road next to Kensington Gardens with all the embassies and posh houses on.
My fourth and, so far, final hop was from the office to Pall Mall. I spent 30 mins trying to find a bike - a balmy Friday evening clearly one that encourages people to pop on and cycle to the station/pub. And of course I could've walked it in less time than that...
I still can't see myself ever going on any road even remotely busy or scary - I'm a wuss when it comes to these things - but with a few more perfectly planned routes on back streets hopefully a few more journeys will be made. (Subject to making my way through TfL's crunk back-end systems that is). - Aug 08, 10Hello
So I have a vague idea that, with a bit of discipline, I could write a blog entry once a week, to stop carlbob.com looking like a barren wasteland of inactivity.
Mind you, apparently blogging is in decline somewhat - with Twitter taking over as most people's main means of sharing their thoughts and putting the world to rights. Which I guess is pretty much reflected in what's been going on here - carlbob.com's healthily represented on Twitter, folks - meaning that blogging is, well, a bit harder to muster.
Also, I really have very little to say most of the time. Or nothing I can be arsed to say in more than 140 characters. Occasionally I'll think "I'll blog this later", but when it comes down to it... it's hard work ain't it?
ANYWAY, I've almost talked myself out of writing a weekly blog update, but not quite.
This week's photo is of one of the Barclays Cycle Hire docking stations (is that the word?) near m'office. Now, regular viewers will know that I'm not much of a cyclist, yet the whole thing has pretty much caught my imagination and excited me, and basically I wanna take part. This is tempered by the fear that I might die - probably not through being hit by a truck, but more due to general incompetence on my part and just tumbling off my bike into the path of a car or something.
However I've signed up and am awaiting my key. No doubt I'll let you know (probably via Twitter) how it goes. Or check your local press for details...
Incidentally I am thoroughly bored by the people who bore on about Barclays' branding being on the bikes and their sponsorship generally being moaned about by the lefties. Welcome to the real world, for god's sake - a) A, b) I think visually it looks pretty good and it's hardly been done unsympathetically to the TfL branding, c) welcome to the real world. It's business. If someone's willing to pay a few million quid that saves the Council Tax going up (or, more realistically, means schemes like this can actually happen) then bring it on!
Ooh, politics! - Jul 24, 10We're up close and personal with an A380 here at Farnborough. As ever I'm mainly fussed only about the commercial airliners, although I'll admit the helicopters and military planes all look quite impressive.
I'm also excited about the "international cuisine to suit all tastes". Have only seen Dave's burger van so far. And lots of Italians enjoying corporate hospitality in the enormous Finmeccanica marquee. - Jul 06, 10
This didn't work back in January, so seeing if it does now...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone - May 31, 10Pretty gutted today - both about the injustice of last night's result, and the imminent return to post-EUROfiasco normality.
More considered thoughts to follow back in Blighty! - May 31, 10So, what a day... after the relative calm of three days with just 3 of us in Oslo, Thursday saw 13 more arrive off the plane and, it's fair to say, that means the EUROfiasco has begun!
The randomness started even before that - we popped to the Eurovision Village to see Josh perform at 6, and so gave the T-shirts their first airing of the trip. More photos to follow of the full range of 12 on Saturday, but it is fair to say they look brilliant - on a par with our fab Scooch range from 2007!
In the ensuing mayhem we appear to have got ourselves interviewed by ITV Local News (check your screens tonight, although we may have been ditched following the Welsh boys of Cyprus making it through the semi), had photos numerous times, plus - best of all getting to meet the legendary Mrs Dubovie... oh, and Josh too. Did I not mention that? - May 31, 10We saw Hera at Latter last night... she rocked! Even better close up. Go Iceland!
- May 31, 10It really does get dark late, and light early... this was 3.30 on the way back from Euroclub.
Heralded a gorgeous day today! Currently lunching in a lovely part of town to the north of the city, on Bogstadveien. Like the Kings Rd on a sunny day. Shortly off to the ski jump (which Our Josh has already graced with his presence). - May 31, 10Ah, the wonders of an iPhone camera. Ahem. That, there, is Josh Dubovie who, as readers know, looks good to us. The BBC had got a prime position in the Telenor Arena for their piece-to-camera bits with Josh and others, and as we left the arena following the semi-final Josh was there looking down. A shout of "I love you Josh" elicited a wave. No idea who hollered that at all (blush).
The semi? Always the weaker of the two but the only disappointment for us was poor, ever-overlooked Malta, not going through. Iceland had an amazing reception - rightly - which made for quite a buzz when Hera was on and, of course, then Svante delayed announcing their qualification until the very last envelope. Not random perhaps but great TV.
We went to a few different bars, the majority of which were deserted, and then the Euroclub at 1am which was packed. Hopefully things will even out later in the week, as the Euroclub is accredited-only til that 1am so we need the other places to pick up a bit. We'll see how it goes tonight.
We left around 3.30am and I was gobsmacked by the morning sun. Was basically daylight by bedtime at 4! Good news is it is bright sunshine and gorgeous weather today - fingers crossed it stays this way! - May 31, 10A very pleasant day spent wondering the streets of Oslo... in slightly better weather than yesterday at least! One thing we are struggling with, though, is, well, whether anything is actually bloody "going on", particularly on Saturday night in terms of big screens etc.
There's conflicting information and, well, a lack of clarity. It's a bit like the Crystal Maze - with every turn we find out a little bit more of the jigsaw. Hopefully by the weekend we'll know exactly what the piss is happening!
Off to the Semi imminently. Just having vorspiel drinks in the hotel room to offset the inevitable cost of drinks at the Telenor Arena later! - May 31, 10Despite the best efforts of Unite (still fighting the battles of the 70s), the Leslie Ash cloud (allegedly now in remission, but seemingly represented in art form by BA in this picture) and, more generally, the eye-watering cost of everything in Norway (including our accommodation)...
..we are on our way to Oslo for EUROfiascoLive 2010!
Consider us the advance delegation, if you will - with the rest due to fly out Thursday.
Currently in the T5 Galleries complex for the first time, having a glass of wine looking over the sun-drenched runway. Alas by all accounts this may be the last Sun we see for a while as Oslo is wet and mildly chilly.
Still - who cares? It's 3 years since we hit Helsinki and if it's half as fun as that it'll be a ball. - May 23, 10
[from EUROfiasco.com]At the risk of repeating/boring you all... we’re off to Oslo tomorrow. Unfortunately the weather there is going to be somewhat different to this weekend’s tropical UK conditions but hey-ho, who cares? The Eurovision love will see us through!
While Team EUROfiasco is in Oslo we’ll aim to provide a few photos, updates and the like. For reasons of technological expediency you’ll find these over on our sister (I said, eat up their girl, mm-hmm sister etc) site Carlbob.com, including the Flickr stream and Twitter timeline. We’ll aim to wrap things up back on EUROfiasco 7 days from now!
Here we go...! - May 23, 10I like to think of it as an homage to Kylie's PWL era and the fabulous 12" Extended remixes thereof.
- May 23, 10Truly delightful - it's properly hot and we are lying in the sunshine in Wandsworth Park. Nothing much more to say than that - enjoy the day everyone...!
- May 03, 10
On a bit of a high today thanks to amazing music. Last night's UK Eurovision Preview Party set the tone - read more over at EUROfiasco.com - but 5 hours of solid dancing to Eurovision and Melodifestivalen pop stonkers was electrifying.
And, meanwhile, this is out this week. BUY BUY BUY people!
Amazon here. iTunes here. Go now. Buy more. We need this kind of stuff in our lives.
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