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January, 2010:

A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Clair & Dad Who Writes

Jan 29th, 2010
by Dan.
11 comments

In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine posts I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Clair

Clair writes over at Moon in the Gutter, and before that she blogged at Sad Sweet Songs. And if you can show me two better names for blogs than that then I’d like to see them.

I’m not entirely sure how Clair and I first became aware of each other, but I suspect it was because we’re both readers of the rather excellent Becky’s T-blog (probably he finest British transvestite blog in the world. Who said blogging wasn’t diverse).

Clair is a comedy geek. A serious comedy geek. She has a passion for the Goodies and for I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue that puts my own fandom to shame. She’s also seen comedians live that I’d give my left arm to see (give my left arm to, but not travel down to London for apparently). She’s even seen Daniel Kitson who is on my all time wish list.

And of course she’s been one of the superstar DJs on my kids podcasts (and has also contributed to episode 2, which will air as soon as I get my arse in gear to put it together)

She also takes damn good photos.

Dad Who Writes

What can I say about Dad Who Writes that adequately sums up my feelings towards him? Ah yes, I know…

Dad Who Writes for President of the Internet!

Intelligent, knowledgeable, fascinating, cultured, and honest. What’s not to like about this man? Sure, some of his posts might go over my head on occasion (he blogs about Dante’s Inferno for gods sake. I blog about my top ten superheros), but he never fails in having something interesting to say.

I find him most interesting however when he talks about the anthropology of blogging, especially after the periodic storms in teacups that the community seems to go through at regular intervals. He is able to be simultaneously diplomatic, independent, insightful, and spot on the mark. Pretty impressive stuff.

He’s also a damn good photographer, although hasn’t posted anything like that up for a while (if at all now I come to think of it. I may have only seen his stuff on flickr). In fact so far every blogger I’ve featured here has an interest in photography. At this rate there is going to be a pretty impressive photo album of the walk.

But above all, Dad Who Writes comes across as an honest man writing about fatherhood. He doesn’t only report the sugary stuff, nor does he preach about the way he thinks others should do it. He just talks openly about the struggles of parenting that we all go through every day.

If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Arjan & Catherine

Jan 28th, 2010
by Dan.
20 comments

In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine days I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Arjan from Dutchnid

On my trip to Wisconsin last year I was talking to my friend Greg about the people who comment on the blog.

“That Arjan” he observed “comes across like a really nice guy”.

Never a truer word was said.

Arjan is our sole Dutch walker (unless you count Martin, who’s Irish really), and at 25 is the youngest member of Team Ocelot. He’s unfailingly warm, pleasant, enthusiastic, and supportive. And his English is a hell of a lot better than my Dutch.

Arjan blogs rather sporadically over at Dutchnid. He writes about a variety of stuff, Warhammer 40k, Dutch culture, photography, films, and his every day life. I’m always pleased when I see that he’s posted in my feedreader, and only wish he’d do so more often. His posts highlighting models he has painted always fascinate me. No mater what your opinion on the merits of wargaming, you can’t deny that painting this level of detail on a figure only a couple of inches high is anything but amazing:

Arjan’s blog is a window into another world, similar – but also very different to my own (Sinterklaas? what on earth is all that about then!?).

I’m pretty sure I first encountered Arjan over at Lee’s blog, although it was so long ago now I can’t really say for sure. Our friendship is a good example of how blogging can bring together disparate people who never would have met otherwise. I’m glad we did meet though, and I’m very much looking forward to doing so in person this July.

Cathrine from Some Vague Utopia

Cathrine wasn’t a blogger before signing up to Hadrian’s Walk – but she thought she may as well start one up seeing as though half the other walkers have one. You can now find her over at her wonderful blog Some Vague Utopia

If I remember rightly we first “met” in my comments section when she responded to one of my rant’s about misery memoirs.

There is another connection however. Both she and her fiance Richard are friends of Oli Walker, one of the original Dales Walkers. Still there is no reason to hold that against them, and I’m extremely pleased that both of them are coming on the walk. Especially as they have decided to arrange their own accommodation and food, thereby not acting as contributory factors to my impending nervous breakdown.

Considering she’s only just started, Catherine has managed to avoid all the pit traps of the novice blogger. She’s forgone all the tales of what she had for lunch at Debinhams cafe and painfuly dreary accounts of the dream she had last night, and gone straight in with interesting posts, wonderful prose, and beautiful photos.

The swine.

If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

Blogging: 4 years, 1071 posts, and the chance to make a difference.

Jan 27th, 2010
by Dan.
34 comments

It’s All That Come’s With It‘s blogiversary today. Four years old, can you believe it. And still no signs of slowing down.

Well, ok, there might be some signs of slowing down. Like the fact I used to post daily and now it’s generally two or three times a week. Or that I’ve had all the ingredients for a new special kids podcast for a month now, yet I still haven’t got round to putting them all together.

But that’s not due to a lack of enthusiasm. I’m still as excited about blogging as I ever was. I just spread myself around a bit more these days, that’s all. Take the Midnight Movie Club for example – who knew that talking about popcorn movies from the 80′s and 90′s with a Aussie reprobate would be so much fun?

And then of course there’s this Hadrian’s Walk thing.

Five years ago my very good friends Neil and Rachael lost their three year old son, Joseph. He died of streptococcal pneumonia. There were no warning signs. He wasn’t ill when they put him to bed. But when they went to wake him up in the morning he was gone.

I can’t even bare to imagine how that feels.


Joseph

Determined to grasp something positive out of such a tragedy, Neil and Rachael founded the Joseph Salmon Trust in their son’s name. If he wasn’t to be able to reach his full potential to leave his mark on the world, then they would do it for him.

The Trust provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This may be to help with funeral costs, or to allow the self employed a break from work in order to come to terms with their grief. Bereaved families have enough to cope with without the added concern about where they will find the money to pay for a headstone, or pay the next electricity bill if they can’t face going to work.

The Trust deals with each family on a case by case basis, providing help to those who need it most. Families that the charity has helped include that of twelve year old Jordan, who died in a prank gone tragically wrong; and Ryan, a four year old boy brutally murdered as an act of revenge against his mother.

These are horrific, heartbreaking tales. But every single family that the trust helps has a similarly tragic story. There are no “it’s probably for the best”‘s when a child dies. No “they had a good innings”. Just heartbreak, despair, and a beautiful hope lost. There is nothing we can do to make things better. But we can do something to stop them getting worse.

Back in 2008 a group of eleven friends and I hiked 76 miles along the Dales Way footpath in aid of the Trust. We raised £6,000, gained a great sense of achievement, and had a fantastic time int he process. Back in June of last year I announced my intention to do it all again. But this time I asked if anyone who visited my blog wanted to come with me.

The response was staggering.

As it stands there will be over sixty people joining me on a 86 mile long walk of Hadrian’s Wall this July. People are coming from all over the world to walk the path and show their support for the Trust. We’ve got people from England, Scotland, Ireland, America and Holland. We’ve got paramedics, nurses, policemen, teachers, bankers, writers, editors, and stay-at-home parents. We’ve even got a university professor and an American superior court judge. And all this is through the power of a blog.

Now try telling me that you can’t use the internet to make real friends.

Not everyone who is coming on the walk is a blogger themselves. In fact the majority aren’t (although most are friends or family of those who are and are being dragged along for the ride). But over the coming few days I’d like to use my blog to showcase the bloggers who are coming with me. There isn’t one among them that I don’t admire as a writer and a human being, and sometimes I just like to show off about my friends.

If you would like to make a donation to the Joseph Salmon Trust you can do so on our Justgiving Page. All the charities running costs are paid for corporate sponsorship, and so every penny of your donation will go straight to the people who need it most.

Porridge and Diet Coke – an experiment

Jan 25th, 2010
by Dan.
58 comments

I’m not sure calling her a minion is the best idea, but…

Jan 22nd, 2010
by Dan.
42 comments

My quest to take over the internet has his a small stumbling block. Apparently there are a finite number of hours in the day and you can’t spend all of them tinkering with the internet. It’s so unfair!

However I have come up with a cunning plan. I shall co-opt others into my quest. If I can’t conquer the net single handedly I shall recruit a mighty army of minions to do so for me.

So, introducing my first minion:

My wife Kerry has just started a blog: Cloud of Starlings. And it’s good. Bloody good. A little TOO good to be honest.

It’s a photo blog. She’s just started Project 365 again (where you have to take a photo every single day of the year), but she’s doing it with a twist – she’s only taking photos with her iphone.

So it begins... - 1/1/10 (1/365)
1/365 Self Portrait

I’ve posted previously about her decision to accept the flaws of the notoriously crappy iPhone camera and use it to her artistic advantage. So here’s the evidence of her immense photographic talent:

1/9/10 (9/365)
9/365

And the crowd goes wild... 1/12/10 (12/365)
12/365 And the crowd goes wild

Lunchtime fog - 1/19/10 (19/365)
19/365 Lunchtime fog

Your face pressed up against the glass - 01/20/10 (20/365)
20/365 Your face pressed up against the glass

I am very proud of my wife.

Go visit Cloud of Starlings, comment, and subscribe.

Of course I haven’t been resting on my laurels myself. Although most of my work has been going on behind the scenes of Hadrian’s Walk, and so isn’t really available for public viewing as yet (if you are one of the walkers however, make sure you take a look at the various bits and bobs waiting for you on Google Wave).

Of course I’ve always got time for Lee, my antipodean pop culture guru.

Over on the Midnight Movie Club podcast this week Lee and I were joined by Jeff from the blog Caddickisms to discuss the 1982 movie Tron.

It’s staggering when you stop and think about it how the internet has enabled three geeks from three separate continents to come together to talk crap for their own amusement. Al Gore must be incredibly proud.

See the original post here, or hopefully you’ll be able to listen to it below:

[display_podcast]

Lime Crusha anyone?

Jan 18th, 2010
by Dan.
49 comments

It’s a well known scientific fact (made up by me, just now) that at some point in their childhood every human being on this earth has tried mixing orange juice with milk.

As a result of this experiment in rudimentary cocktail making most people have subsequently developed a stomach flipping aversion to the idea of mixing milk and citrus fruit ever again.

So when I saw this bottle of lime flavoured milk-shake on the shelves of our local supermarket I couldn’t quite reconcile it in my brain.

But if they make it then surely they must have at least some hope that someone is going to buy it? I mean yes, it sounds revolting, but maybe it’s one of those hidden gems – like pork scratchings, bananna sandwiches, or that stuff you pick out from between your toes.

So with a bit of encouragement from Evan I bought a bottle.

When I pored it out it’s colour did little to ease my qualms. Greeny white is not a good look for any beverage, especially not one containing milk. In fact it looked so much like something that had been left on top of the radiator for a week that I hatched a delightfully devilish wheeze.

When Kerry came home from work I would be waiting with a glass full of the stuff. I’d wave it in her general direction. Say something like “This milk smells a little funny, do you think it’s ok?”. Then swig the whole thing down, no doubt to the accompaniment of her horrified screams.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

In oder to celebrate my evil genius I took a congratulatory swig. And then promptly spat it out in an explosive spray into the sink.

Ladies and Gentleman, don’t believe the hype. This stuff is the foulest concoction known to man.

Should you too wish to revolt and disgust your wife/husband/loved ones for your own amusement then trust me, you’d be better off using real fetid milk rather than this stuff. I’m pretty sure the aftertaste would be shorter and less acrid.

Amazingly a quick google search shows that there is actually a very vocal bunch of advocates for this flavour on the internet. Some entrepreneurial/delusional soul is even listing it for twice the market value over on ebay.

So if anyone fancies buying a bottle of nearly full Lime Crusha Milkshake Sryup then I’m starting the bidding off at £3.50.

Pillock Conquers The World

Jan 17th, 2010
by Dan.
26 comments

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before on the blog, but my brother has recently been talking about it and has re-sparked my interest.

In the late 60s my Dad, my Uncle, and a bunch of their friends went round the world in a double decker London bus. Yes, like Cliff Richard in Summer Holiday. They traveled through Europe, Asia, over to Australia, then finally through the USA before reaching home again.

Oh, and they paid their way partly by playing folk music to bemused locals. Bloody hippies.

My dad never actually made it all the way round. He met my mother in Oz and returned back home with her. It’s a lovely story, which to be fair, didn’t turn out to end happily ever after – but at least it resulted in the birth of a blogging genius (and two sub-human imbeciles).

Over on his blog my brother Sam is currently recounting some my Dad’s stories of the trip, including positing up some of the footage from the film they made on the journey. Seeing as though his blog is criminally undersubscribed I thought I’d post a video up here too.

I really should do a proper series of posts at some point about their journey, as it is well worth chronicling. However for now a few youtube posts and my brother’s jottings will have to do. I recommend watching the clip below as it really is fascinating. Even more so because the places they were traveling through would be completely impassible at the time.

For the record my Dad is the one playing the accordion near the beginning of the first video and my Uncle Clive is the chap with the guitar (I think).

On another note – If you have not already done so please consider heading over to the Bloggers For Haiti Justgiving page and donating whatever you can spare. All kudos go to those that have set this thing up.

In which I attempt to take over the internet

Jan 11th, 2010
by Dan.
7 comments

I’ve been pretty busy on the net this past week and so thought that I’d point you in the direction of the various stuff I’ve been up to.

Our epic 84 mile walk along Hadrian’s Wall looms ever nearer (less than six months now). I’ve posted about it over on The Joseph Salmon Trust website:

During the fundraising for our Dales walk we got a great deal of support from the readers of my blog. In fact donations from the blog accounted for over a thousand pounds of our total raised. So when I started thinking about organising another walk I asked if any of my readers fancied coming along.

The response was incredible.

As it stands there will be over sixty people joining me on Hadrian’s Wall this July. People are coming from all over the world to walk the path and show their support for the trust. We’ve got people from England, Scotland, Ireland, America and Holland. We’ve got paramedics, nurses, policemen, teachers, bankers, writers, editors, and stay-at-home parents. We’ve even got a university professor and an American superior court judge.

Read more here

I’ve also posted a logistics update over on the Hadrian’s Walk blog:

Dates of the walk

Remember, we set off walking on Monday July 5th, 2010 and reach the end on Saturday July 10th, 2010. This means that you will have to book these dates off work. I am talking specifically to Oli here. Oli – you need to book those days off work. Do it now Oli. Go talk to your manager and do it now.

Fundraising

So far we’ve raised a little over £400 [actually now this stands at £569] , which isn’t bad going since we haven’t officially started fundraising yet. I’ve done this via a couple of plugs on my blog and also by agreeing to do a couple of PR companies pitches as long as they make a donation to the Trust.

The ultimate aim is to raise the equivalent of what the trust gives out in a year, about £20,000. it’s a lofty goal, but I honestly think it’s achievable. As the walk draws nearer (exactly six months away now in fact) it’s probably time we at least started thinking how we’re going to raise the cash. It would be really good to pool our collective brains on this one, so if anyone has any ideas or leads then please let me know and I’ll put together a post/email of collected ideas.

As you know the walk has a Justgiving page where people can donate online. Justgiving is by far the best way of gathering donations as it’s automated and the charity gets the cash straight away. Plus only legitimate charities can get listed on there, and so it acts as reassurance that we’re not just pocketing the cash.

Read more here

Meanwhile over at the Midnight Movie Club Lee and I have been having our childhood memories shattered:

Dan:
Hey, hang on a minute! Has someone somehow secretly switched the beloved Cannonball Run of my youth with this huge great steaming turd?

Far from being the modern classic of my memory, the movie seems to be merely a long and rather pathetic excuse for a series of fairly unimpressive car stunts and poorly written comedy set pieces. Surely this can’t be right?

I’m almost scared to watch Smokey and the Bandit again now.

Lee:
I’m having trouble believing that they had a good enough reason to make a sequel. The first two films are really mashed together in my memories so I wonder if the second one was much better because frankly, this first one was awfully hard to get through.

It took me five attempts to watch this all through.

I’ve never seen Smokey and the Bandit, I don’t know if I want to now.

Dan
Smokey and the Bandit was much, much better than this film. At least I think it was. I’m beginning to think I can’t trust my memory anymore.

Someone please tell me Look Who’s Talking wasn’t a duff film too? or Jaws 4? Surely Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure can’t be anything other than a modern classic? Please! Someone!?

Lee
Caravan of Courage IS a modern classic. Actually now that I think about it, wasn’t it a semi Christmas movie or was that the other one?
I mean there were two Ewok films outside of Jedi wasn’t there? *Sigh* I would look that up if I cared enough :)

Read the rest of the post here

And last but not least, Lee and I have been venturing into the world of podcasting too. In fact there is a strong possibility we are going to shift the focus of the Midnight Movie Club purely into podcasting (basically it takes a lot less time and is more fun to do).

You can listen to our Cannonball Run podcast here

And don’t forget that you can also subscribe to us on iTunes!!

And that’s about it.

My Favorite Photograph

Jan 8th, 2010
by Dan.
37 comments

Tara over at Sticky Fingers has created yet another meme that’s currently sweeping the blogosphere: the “Favorite Photo Meme”. The rules are pretty simple: pick your favourite ever photo and post it.

Interestingly enough the first thought that sprung to my mind was to try and find the most technically and aesthetically pleasing photo I’ve taken. Whereas I’ve noticed that the majority of people who’ve taken part in the meme have gone for one that has the most emotional resonance for them. I’m guessing that it’s probably a gender thing.

After a minute or two’s thought I picked out a photo I took during one of Evan’s stays in hospital for breathing difficulties:

Evan in hospital

When I tweeted it to Tara (@tara_cain) she replied:

@dghughes Oh brother. That pic with an explanation with it will have me blubbing! Can see why it would be a favorite.

Oh… yeah… um… yes. If I’m honest I’d not even really considered the emotive side to the photo – I was just smugly please with myself about the way I’d bumped up the redness of the oxygen monitor using photoshop.

I am a shallow, shallow man.

But anyway, I’m not even choosing this one now.

I’ve not been taking as many photo’s as I used to do recently. I’m not really sure why, but I suspect it’s a combination of lack of time and a general malaise that I’ve been under for the last nine months or so.

However Kerry, the real photographer in our family, has recently rediscovered her photography muse. She’s even had her own personal epiphany about using the camera in her iPhone. Instead of complaining about it’s crapness (and trust me, it’s notoriously crap) she has decided to embrace it’s flaws – much like the owner of a Holga camera might do.

The results she has been getting are stunning. Here’s one she took yesterday on the way home from work:

Of course the downside to her rejuvenated love of photography is that I keep finding her on my our computer uploading stuff to her flickr account, damn her eyes.

So anyway, as I’ve been inspired by Kerry’s use of the iPhone as an artistic tool I’m going to chose a photo of Amy I took with mine this summer:

IMG_0177

Yes, it’s probably not going to be my favorite photo of all time – but it’s my favorite photo at this moment right now, and that’s about as much as I’ll ever be able to say really.

I didn’t get tagged by anyone for this one (no one likes me apparently) so I’m not tagging anyone else specifically. However if you do fancy doing it then make sure you let Tara know as she’s putting together a gallery.

Snowy School Run, part 2

Jan 5th, 2010
by Dan.
40 comments

IMG_0231

I know this is all old hat to Americans living in the north of the USA, and my constant bleating about the snow must seem very baffling – but this really is usual for us and I’d be neglecting the life documenting aspects of this blog if I were to ignore it. Especially as the pundits are all predicting this is going to be the coldest winter in the UK for 100 years.

So, it snowed again.

In fact it’s still snowing. Amy’s school is still open, but only four kids out of her class turned up and I’m guessing I’m going to get a phone call at lunchtime asking me to come get her.

We had to walk in though as our drive was impassable, and even if it was there was no way i was going to attempt driving on our road. I’ve done that once before in conditions like this and I ended up almost sliding backwards down the hill.

I’ve not bothered taking evan to nursery however, the hassle of walking him down there too just wouldn’t be worth it.

I’m not overly grumpy about the snow at the moment, but that’s probably got something to do with the fact I don’t have to go in to work until Friday. I’ll be plenty grumpy then however, so I should probably enjoy it while it lasts.

I’ve said it before, but the snow certainly makes things look very lovely. On the way to school I saw a black crow flying against a background of white fields which was almost spiritual in it’s beauty. Unfortunately I only had my notoriously crappy iPhone camera with me so had no chance at all of capturing it. Stupid iPhone.

And that’s it. That’s all I’ve got. Not very entertaining was it, but as I say one of the purposes of this blog is to document stuff too, so that’s what I’m doing. There’s also a lengthy update on the Hadrian’s Walk blog going up today – but that’s not particularly thrilling if you’re not directly involved in it either.

Come bak tomorrow when I shall be eating fire and juggling chainsaws.

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