Roller Derby

Roller derby is a badass sport. You can probably find accurate rules by googling it, and definitely more complete, but anyway: There are four blockers and one jammer from each team on the track (an oval). The jammer scores points for her team by overtaking the other team's blockers. Each set of blockers helps their jammer and hinders their opponents, using whatever hip-checks and shoulder-barges they feel like. (Use of the arms, legs, punching, kicking etc. are forbidden.)

It's played indoors in relatively low light, and they can skate impressively fast, which makes it supremely challenging to photograph. Enough whinging, I tried anyway and here are some results:

Bam.

Tape. Tattoo.

High speed cornering.

Jammer.

Food Diaries: Lucha Libre

A couple of weeks ago some friends took me to a Taco shop. I got very excited when we got there as it turned out to be Lucha Libre, as featured on the much admir'd Man vs. Food. As you can see, the decor is understated and minimal, with subtle Mexican wrestling influences. The Champion's table is only available to those who make a reservation.

I went for the California Surfin' Burrito (As Seen on TV!) which contains everything good; carne asada, prawns, french fries, cheese, avocado, salsa... I hope I'm not forgetting anything. I had to dig deep, but I found room in my hollow legs for the whole thing. I'll have to do some serious training if I'm to have any hope of taking on the Broken Yolk Cafe's Iron Man Challenge (a 12 egg omelette with lots of extras).

"Why not do it with some style?"

Seen and snapped by the Gliderport, where there are people flying, so why not time travel? There are also stunning sunsets over the Pacific.

Photography: Assignment 2

These are the un-photoshopped jpegs that my camera has probably meddled with a little, they're not the same as the RAW files. The assignment was two images, one very shallow depth of field, one deep. Enough pre-amble, here they are...

Balboa: The Botanical Bit

I think this is a wonderful building and it's filled to bursting with plants of many kinds. I visited the park shortly after arriving in San Diego, and will probably be returning a fair few times. In fact, we went back the day after this was taken...

Kitchen Diaries: Tagliatelle alla Romana

According to Theo Randall's book Pasta, tagliatelle alla romana is "a true classic you'll find in every trattoria in Rome." I hope to one day verify this by visiting a large enough sample of said eateries, but until then I'll take his word for it. He is, after all, an expert pasta chef. The sauce is made with red onion, chicken liver, and canned tomatoes, so it's easy and extremely cheap. My first attempt at the dish looks like this:

There were fewer people here for dinner than expected so there is now a vast bowlful sat on my kitchen worktop, causing me no end of angst as I fret that it will congeal into a vast starchy mush! I'll survive.

If it doesn't turn into a carbohydrate brick, it's breakfast, lunch and dinner tomorrow...

Sample of work for I-House application

Prints: shoes

Pinhole photography

Multiple portraits: Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Mixed media type: "O great creator, grant us one more hour to perfect our lives."

Bands I may well see at Glasto 2011

U2, Mumford & Sons, Fleet Foxes (missed their much talked-about set last time they played), The Naked and Famous, I Am Kloot, Newton Faulkner, Coldplay, Elbow, The Gaslight Anthem, Noah and the Whale, Laura Marling, Queens of the Stone Age, Eels, TV on the Radio, Bombay Bicycle Club, Cold War Kids, Everything Everything.

And then because my taste is just that mainstream I'll get my much cooler mates to introduce me to all the more unusual stuff they love.

Scribble

I haven't done any drawing for months now. I used to draw all the time, making up characters and worlds to my heart's content. Usually complete rip-offs of existing ideas, but that's just the way it is.

But over time I got all self-concious and hung-up and neurotic about drawing.

A good friend gave me advice ages ago; be alone, put some music on and just draw. So tonight I followed it (at last).

I also set out with a simple purpose - to draw some rubbish. Some really awful drawings - a toddler could capture more accurate representations of objects, but accuracy wasn't the point - it worked to get me past that initial fear of ruining a perfectly good blank sheet of paper with a failed attempt at a portrait.

Inspiration, Motivation &c.

"There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician." - Hans Bethe

Frank Turner, Live at Trof Cafe

I was lucky enough to catch the end of a solo set last night. It was free entry, with a collection for charity inside (£20 donation to make a request). The small crowd (of maybe 100-200) belted out every chorus, Frank going as far as to unplug his mic for a couple of songs during the encore. The PA turned out to be superfluous anyway, since he could out-sing us all.