maleghasty

I logged on to Livejournal this week, to read a post by

kylecassidy about the back story to the cover photo that he shot for Amanda Palmer's new album, and I remembered that I liked Livejournal.

We fell out a little a few years ago when I started to run my own blog, and since then I have started another blog, published some posts on Medium, and all told I thought that I was done with this account, but it turns out that I am not.

A couple of people that I really like to read are still here, though most of the people I discovered blogging with have also moved onto pastures new, but there is still plenty for me to read here, and I like coming back to visit.

So in the spirit of showing Livejournal some love, here are some thoughts about some recent TV...

The night before last Lee-Anne and I finished a quick sprint binge on the latest season of Modern Family that is available on iTunes (season 7), and I have to say that for me at least the show just goes from strength to strength. There are no "filler" characters, and I love the various dynamics that have been maturing over the last few seasons between the various families and the friendships that are so delightful between siblings and in-laws. Oh yeah, and the laughs.

I have also been watching Bloodline on Netflix, a story of family strife and revenge set against the backdrop of the Florida Keys. It is dark as Hell, and filled with moral ambiguity; I love it. I don't want to say anything more, really, as I hope that you, dear reader, will give it a go (assuming that you have Netflix), and if I say any more I will ruin it for you...

And so I come to Mr. Robot... Four episodes in after two evenings of viewing pleasure and I am in AWE. I know that all the cool kids are already watching Season Two, but we are behind out here in the Pacific... I have never before seen a show about "thingz cyber" that I did not immediately hate on a professional level and thus had to fight really hard to even tolerate. There are pieces of artistic license, of course, but the tech is at least believable, even for someone that writes code and builds systems for a living, and really the tech is not the most important aspect of the story, not by a long shot. The cast is just amazing, the writing blows me away and the story has my attention, even when I am not watching ;-)

Right, so, time for bed... Night LJ-Land, I will be back sooner than it was the last time.

I first became friends with Jim and Liz by dint of being friends with their daughter Sarah. I have written before of the delightful welcome they offered to me when I tipped up at their home in Saint John, New Brunswick, on the eve of Sarah's wedding in August, 2008. As a complete stranger to them, known of only via what Sarah had told them about me, they welcomed me into their home and startled my reserved, British little self with their easy going nature and generosity, though I like to think that I got into the swing of things before my brief stay with them ended. The following year they invited me back, this time for Canadian Thanksgiving, and I spent some time at their camp on the Musquash, near to Saint John. I have to say that, amongst other delights, I enjoyed the best nights of sleep I have known in adult life there, the most tranquil and peaceful place I have ever spent any reasonable amount of time. Have a look for yourself (this is a photo I took in 2009)...

Lee-Anne and I saw Jim in 2011, he stayed with us for a couple of days on his way back from the Bi-Annual Balloon Festival in Chambley - need I mention that amongst his many talents and surprises he is an accomplished hot air balloon pilot - and it was really great to renew our friendship, sit and talk about his recent adventures in France, and reminisce about times shared in New Brunswick.

Last year, when I was in New York for work in October I was invited to renew my acquaintance with the Musquash, once more for Thanksgiving, but it just seemed too difficult and too expensive to get there; I was offered a 14 hour flight, via Toronto, to Fredericton New Brunswick (about an hour from the camp by road), for $850, which seemed like a lot of money to be there for 12 hours all told. I looked into hiring a car and driving up to the camp through Connecticut and Maine, but there are strange rules about foreign nationals and taking rental cars over the border, so that idea got shelved too... (As it happened, Sarah came down to NY from Toronto and we raised a glass to all in the Musquash, so in a sense we were there).

Cut to yesterday, when after a bit of texting back and forth during the previous few days, my family and I pulled into the Citgo station in Calais, Maine and parked up our rental car next to Jims truck. After transplanting the car seats and then the kids into the back, we loaded up and headed over the border and thence to the Musquash to spend a delightful and peaceful evening with Liz, Jim and Libby (their dog) in a magical, wonderful place where there is no electricity, no TV, no plumbing even, and all of those things seem to make the place even more perfect. A combination of their lovely, easy-going and friendly way - and let's face it, with our two kids running around and making noise and generally breaking the place up they must be saints to have taken so much pleasure in it all, let alone putting up with us - and the glory of the woods and the lake and the quiet and the full moon... Once more I experienced a brief spell wherein I felt as though I had left the world behind and entered a more real one. I cannot describe it more plainly than that.

And so my contention is that I am blessed. Once more a fabulous, nay priceless, experience has been laid out for me all through the kindness of friends and I have no doubt that I will never forget it, nor ever be able to properly thank them for it. Not only that, but this time they welcomed my wife and children with the same generosity and friendship that they have always shown me and the impact that it had on them was so plain for me to see that I now want to thank my friends for giving this gift to those closest to me as well.

If nothing else, this last couple of days has reminded me not only how lucky I am for this one thing, but how lucky I am to have the other friendships that I have. It has reminded me of all the amazing things that other people have done for me out of fellowship, friendship and love that have kept me sane, alive and afforded me the chance to experience some amazing and wonderful places, things, emotions and times.

Friends are awesome, and I want anyone who knows me and knows that I call them my friend, that I not only value their presence in my life, but that I am truly thankful for it. Let's spend more time together when we can...

Right, must sleep - tomorrow there is more of Maine to explore!

Don't let anyone tell you that travelling by air with small children is easy; it ain't. Having said that, don't let anyone tell you that it's so hard it's not worth doing either, because it definitely is.

We had a very long day yesterday, getting up at 0400h (BST), taxi to Heathrow, flight to Newark (LIberty International) and then driving the hire car from the airport to Livingston, NJ. By the time I crashed at around 2130h (EDT) I had nearly been up for 24 hours, and doing that with two children under three is no picnic, but overall it was not only worth it, but it was also "not that bad".

Clearly, we were lucky that K slept for four out of the seven hours, and we were lucky that O is very keen on drawing and colouring, and that even she deigned to sleep a little. We were also lucky that the flight crew took pity on us and moved us to a set of bulkhead seats that had been vacated by a group who had been lucky enough to be upgraded to Business Class. Even then, we had our moments - there was the pencil situation, and the constant screaming all the way from the airport to our hosts' home to name but two issues - but the general feeling of utter relaxation that has come about from being on vacation would have made an ordeal a hundred times worse completely worth it.

Later this week we are going to drive off into New England to take in the sights and sounds of a part of America that my wife and I have long been keen to visit, and it is my sincere hope that we are allowed to enjoy it by the kids, but I am optimistic based on the idea that the flight was more than twice as long as any of the drives we are planning to do.

Pictures and more musings to follow...

Oh yeah, there were wild deer in the back garden when we got up this morning.

(Originally posted on Facebook)

Right, I've thought about it...

I didn't like Margaret Thatcher, at least within the context that I was able to make a judgement on liking or disliking her, and that is to say in terms of her politics and the manner in which she conducted herself as Prime Minister.

That she made history as the first woman to ever hold the post is to be remembered and respected; it's hard to understand how we do not have far more visible and accomplished women in British politics given the massive impact she had upon the zeitgeist while she was running our country.

I make no apology for having enjoyed, immensely, her fall from power - that is a part of "the show that never ends" and even though one might say she took it with good grace, I was cheering along with all the others as she was driven away from Number 10, and it was all the sweeter for the tears that were visibly about to erupt from her eyes.

Am I happy today? No. Today an elderly woman who was unwell passed away, leaving her family to grieve. I cannot begin to imagine how horrid it must be to be her child or grandchild and see otherwise lovely normal people cheering and planning parties to "celebrate" the passing of their Mum or their Granny. If she had truly been a dictator, with no mandate from the electorate, or if she had truly presided over illegal actions, or if indeed the record of history could show that she did anything but that which she believed to be right within the confines of the system she was put in charge of by the people, then that judgement should have come through the courts during or after her time as P.M., not posthumously as portion of the populace dance on her grave. Certainly history will judge her; if you've not run a country I am of the opinion that the day of her death is not the time to criticise - should have got it in while she was still alive, or at least wait a decent interval and stick to the facts.

Above all it's hard not to concede that if passions run this high across the spectrum about someone, then they were not coasting through life or choosing the path of least resistance. For all her faults, as I see them at any rate, you couldn't call her a coward or a milk-sop or frankly anyone's bitch. It's not that hard to respect someone while disliking them and disagreeing with them, when you get right down to it.

So, no party for me, no crowing or jubilation; let's just do our best to remember that when our Mum's die we'd probably rather no one threw a party either.

To be clear, I don't like her now, even now she's dead - just in case any of you were wondering...

I thought of this right away, but I left it too long for anyone to see this as in any way original :-(

Oh well, here it is anyway:

Enjoy!

This is a test ( of the lj-cut tag )

Hello friends, acquaintances and unknown internet-based lookieloos...

Next week I am going to be in New York, for work, but I should have a little time in the evenings, and I am not flying back until the Sunday morning, so Saturday becomes a possibility too...

It would be lovely to see / meet American Online people, if you are around and fancy meeting up with a random Limey ;-)

Please let me know...

Current Mood: Happy
Current Location: Work (Soho, London)
Current Music: Kellar

I find this rather odd, but it would appear that I have had my LJ account for a decade today.

Once the home for all my musings and ramblings (and the site of more than a few bits of hideously self-indulgent whining along the way), LJ has ceased to be important for me in terms of creation and / or publication, but I do still read the journals of those that post here, they who remain...

Since getting married I've found myself devoting less and less time to blogging of any kind, and LJ has suffered more than most. I had a brief spike of posting when I was in New York for work last year - I think that this was mostly because I was on my own and had time to kill - but I haven't posted anything since, until today.

Nonetheless, I find myself unwilling to simply back up the journal and delete it, and I log into it most workdays, if only to scan the work-safe filter that I have on here for reading friends' journals; I sometimes comment...

I wonder if I will still have this account in another ten years..?

Current Mood: pensive
Current Location: Work
Current Music: none

Originally posted by

kylecassidy at Trillian's new play

Clickenzee to Embiggen!

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[Roller Derby Portraits]

...so I thought that I would share it ->

Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012 from The University of the Arts (Phl) on Vimeo.

I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. :-)

Originally posted by

kylecassidy at It's finally out!

I've had difficulty keeping this one under my hat (mostly because they move around so much) but I just did a video for my good friends Ego Likeness for a really fantastic song called "Treacherous Thing" off of their new not-yet-out album. I've known them for years and years now and it's wonderful to work with them, it's a really comfortable relationship and I love hanging out with them.

I can't really say much except watch the video. Makeup by Vince Miles. I shot the whole thing with a nikon d800 and a 50mm 1.4 lens. had a small softbox with a fluorescent tube in it. Part of me thinks i should have lit Steve with another softbox but on teh whole, if I did it again I'd do it the same way to keep from getting complicated. This is a really simple setup.

I love this song.

Watch on YouTube

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[Roller Derby Portraits]

Via the "magic" of Facebook, I noticed that

hepstar posted about cycling and trains today (linky), and as well as making me sad for her and her plight, for good or ill it made me angry all over again that I cannot use my bike to get to and from work because of the crazy situation with South Eastern Trains.

So, in order to vent this feeling;

"South Eastern Trains, like many other UK train companies, are a bunch of ignorant, anti-cyclist, anti-green imbeciles who I would merrily boycott if it were not for my inescapable need for their monopolistic service. I AM NOT AMUSED!"

(I restrained the desire to use MUCH harsher language for the sake of hoping to retain a little of the high moral ground.)

Thanks, that is all
.
EOT

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: United Kingdom, London
Current Music: KEXP.org

Anyone want to see "Plus One per Diem: Live" with me tonight at the Prince Charles off Leicester Square?

I know that I may well have people tuning out of Twitter and Facebook due to 4sq, so I figured I'd boost the signal here...

Basically it's a live Q&A / Podcast recording featuring Kevin Smith and Jen Schwalbach, you can find out details at http://www.smodcast.com/

Let me know if you want the ticket...

...I have lost the last bit of love for LJ...

I'm not going to delete my account or anything that drastic, but this is me saying that I am not going to be posting any more, or logging in here either - it tells me all that I need to know that I have not been here for over a month when once I was logged in all day.

It's been fun, and sometimes not so much fun, but I will always remember the good times and think of LJ fondly as my first blog / blogging experience.

Those who care at all will be able to find my irregular witterings in the following places, not that I am suggesting that any of you should care at all:

http://www.techno-mage.co.uk/
http://maleghast.tumblr.com/
http://maleghast.posterous.com/
http://www.twitter.com/maleghast
http://www.facebook.com/c.oliver.godby

For those still using it avidly, I hope you continue to have fun, but for me the party is over, and so I bid you all a fond farewell

*bows deeply*

exit, stage left, pursued by a bear

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: KEXP.org

(Click the Image to see a bigger one)

I'm working from home today, if for no other reason than it took me about four hours to get home last night and when I got up this morning the snow was considerably deeper and still falling.

Before we started on with our work (Lee-Anne is at home working as well) we headed out into the snow to take some pictures, and I decided not to risk my good camera and have a go at what

kylecassidy brilliantly dubbed "iPhonetography", seeing as the conditions were at least interesting, but there was too much moisture falling from the sky for me to want to have my DSLR in my hands...

Anyway, here's hoping that te weather gets all of this disruptive behaviour out of its system before Xmas - too much going on over the Festive Season to be trapped indoors!

Well anyway, I hope you are all enjoying rather than suffering the snow if you have any, and well, happy Advent to one and all :-)

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: Seal, Kent, UK
Current Music: KEXP.org

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

I’m tagging no-one as I don’t appreciate being tagged myself.

Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Meddle - Pink Floyd
The Wall - Pink Flyd
Violator - Depeche Mode
Ultra - Depeche Mode
101 - Depeche Mode
Songs of Faith and Devotion - Depeche Mode
Pretty Hate Machine - Nine Inch Nails
The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
The Fragile - Nine Inch Nails
With Teeth - Nine Inch Nails
Eudora - The Get Up Kids
Unsolved - Karate
Two Suns - Bat For Lashes

(Less than 3 minutes; I think that I could probably write a much longer list "without thinking about it" in 15 minutes, to be honest)

TTFN

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Broadcast Centre, BBC Media Village, White City
Current Music: None (at the moment)

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I have always said that I would want to be played by John Cusack if fantasy was appropriate to the question, but being more realistic I would have to go with Jack Black ;-)

So, after a day of rest yesterday when I could barely walk post 21 miles on Sunday it was back tot he routine, and I decided that this morning I would push it out and do the longer return route that I did on Saturday (not GPS'ed) through Caversham town centre and over Caversham Bridge instead of Reading Bridge. Unfortunately the GPS did not pick up the last three quarters of a mile - d'oh! AND my pace was off, despite the extra distance, so this week is going to be all about getting that pace back ;-)

RunKeeper Shared Fitness | Cycling Activity

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Radio 1

This morning I got up __early__ and did my "daily miles" (that I would normally do between Paddington and the Office) before leaving for work. At least while the days are long, and specifically light in the morning, I am considering switching over to this approach to my daily exercise, as it makes in-Town social life more do-able after work, and with no shower facilities at the new office leaves me more colleague-friendly through the day...

I LOVED the feeling / buzz I got from doing it this morning; I am going to do it all next week and hope that the shine doesn't come off it... Oh yeah, and I knocked nearly four minutes off my time too, and I __think__ that I can do it faster too... ;-)

RunKeeper Shared Fitness | Cycling Activity

My gorgeous new bike..., originally uploaded by Oliver_Godby.

I've always wanted a Road Bike, a proper one as opposed to my lovely but basically inferior folder, but one always wonders if the desire will in the end be better than the reality... I am pleased to report that as I sit here winding down from our maiden voyage together around the Greater Reading area that the reality is so much better!

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maleghasty

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Recent Entries

A memory of things past...

"How blessed am I?" or "Having awesome friends is awesome"

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A Decade..?

Trillian's new play - Re-posted 'cos I'm going!

I was put in mind of this today...

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