Sunday 31 October 2010

Bit Disappointing

It looks like SoulBoy went straight to DVD at least it didnt reach the cinematic venues of the sunshine resorts oop north. Ah well guess its an Amazonian splash for cash to get to see it.


GRAB IT HERE: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003YXZHIK/ref=s9_newr_gw_ir03?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1SB36K5MA9WMNSDW646B&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

Saturday 30 October 2010

Blinkin' 'Eck...

... I thought I'd lost Phoenix again and was shunted onto the dreaded Viewer 2; I loathe the official viewer for two reasons:
  • I can never find any of the functions everything has been altered and after three years I'm kind of stuck in my ways
  • more importantly, and this is crucial, it doesnt work properly on my screen, it cannot cope with curves so the brim of my bowler is all angular and looks shite.
'nuff said, its all about looking good and Viewer 2 fails on that score spectacularly, I can adapt to new layouts but not to looking naff.

Other web like things worth checking, the massive zip files on Drek's Daily blog, giving access to over sixty beat and soul tunes is well worth investigating, check link to your right. And the uber cool Lupo has been on TV in Spain promoting his album so defintely check it, then get over to Amazon and buy the download for REAL pounds, dollars etc etc.

Check it: http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/videos/20100930/conciertos-radio-290910/890092.shtml

Back in the virtual world I caught Kim's set at Soul Mods, listening in whilst doing some other stuff, that earnt me a place in the cupboard as the devilsh Josie shoved me there. Sure I heard some talk of boxes and other fiendish plots, they're all envious of my good looks. Some great tunes played and I enjoyed listening in, far better than the radio!  Hope your having fun in your virtual life and those using the wibbly wobbly HUDS just beware of power surges dont want anything being wrenched off, so remember enjoy but try not to lose your head. WIBBLY WOBBLY HUDS? YEAH ITS THE RAGE MAN ,,WHO WAS IT TOLD ME THAT? HAHAHA Ciao Aimegos

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Happenings in the Virtual World

After spending yesterday trampling the Lakeland fells in the rain pursuing game I can guarantee that the virtual life is much easy on middle aged knees and feet. So I have slapped a Norman Wisdom film [yes that right film, not a bloody movie I'm a Brit not a blinkin' colonial, howdy you wonderful American folk love ya!! and I was brought up on films not on movie, on a Saturday morning I went to the pictures.s End of movie rant] on I-Player; grabbed a mug of coffee and thought I'd have a warble on my poorly neglected blog on the happening in the virtual world of mod. There's only about half a dozen of us but we have fun.

First off, I am back on Phoenix which makes Second Life much easier.And despite the lure of the post Stella sofa I have also managed to attend a couple of cool virtual events. Headed to the AAi and heard Kim play some cool ska and beat tunes. There was a good turnout of people there and we all had a great laugh whilst listening to some very cool tunes. Then I wandered out of my mod comfort zone and attend the AAi on a Wednesday for the indie night with Graz DJing. As there were a few of us cool virtual mods present Graz slipped the odd mod tune onto his play list to keep us sweet. I opted to continue with my new bowler look, faded jeans, boots and T-Shirt to ska stomp my way through the indie music night. Mods are adaptable y'know, virtual ones especially so.

Continued with the bowler hat theme on my return to Soul Mods where Eden was spinning the tunes, she looked kind of scruffy but we cant all be virtual fashion messiahs everyday can we. I went with a smart Madness look: crombie, two tone jeans boots and the Fred Perry. All the sharp geezers and girls were present and we heard some fantastic tunes had a great laugh and chilled away for a couple of hours. It had been quite a while since I had heard Eden deliver a set and the intervening gap has done nothing to dull her ear for a sharp tune. She played several and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, although Slate in hes "jam shoes" and Lupo just being Lupo sent me spiralling down the cool ladder, gits hahaha.

I stuck with this look through into Friday night at Soul Mods where DJ Tabs was ion the decks and blasting out some foot stomping Motown tracks. The tunes sounded fantastic the crowd seemed eager to have fun and we enjoyed a fourth night of great music in good company in the midst of the virtual world. Sadly the demands of the real world meant I cut short my stay at Soul Mods on the Friday night, which meant I missed out on Slate's rezz party at the OSR HQ. Hope they had a great laugh and listened to some awesome tunes, that's what the virtual life is for. So nothing much to comment on, the same jokes same people different tunes and fun all the way through. Lets keep it virtual and leave the hill walking to the young uns.

ciao

Monday 11 October 2010

113 Reasons Why I am Still Here

No euro lottery win for me; but if you did happen to strike it lucky the odd donations towards my cottage in the country is warmly appreciated. And, despite the attempts of my server to frustrate me into abandoning the Internet forever I am still here waffling and scribbling rubbish in this blog to all those generous enough to read it. My server has been vying all week with the dreaded Viewer 2 as the most irritating thing about computers . All week they have played like a tag team fuelling my frustration and sending me into a frenzy of computer loathing. Why does the Viewer 2 irritate me so much, hmmm lets see. Thursday I was busy so logged in and placed myself in Soul Mods early, when I finally got away from household chores I found the Viewer had logged me out then had a hissy fit about letting me back in, so that was reason enough but even when I am logged in the camera controls [which I like to remain up constantly] consume a large amount of the limited screen space, finding things can be sluggish and also consumes a lot of screen space; its just a very unsatisfying experience and the sooner I can get an independent Viewer to load up the better. All this rubbish also meant I missed the second instalment of the Radio documentary on the Small Faces and now I'm too late to catch it on the I-Player, feck! Saturday gave me a welly full of water, so I am truly not one happy bunny; and an audition for grumpy old men is definitely forthcoming, lets move on.

My three Trojan compilations turned up so that was good:


and I am currently listening to these as I type so there is a mere crust of a silver lining, but I need to get my virtual mod existence back on track and am missing way too many good nights due to technical frailties and my own impatient thump it first technique of computer management.

Talking Second Life, and why not its supposed to be the raison d'etre for this blog after all, I took a stroll through the vast House of Edo store the other day and discovered much that the prospective virtual mod may be interested in. They have an extensive if pricey range of suits in many colours and also a nice range of shirt/tie combinations.

Despite being mightily impressed by the range of items on offer on this occasion I opted not to buy, the recession an' all that, but there are some superb suits that would fit neatly into the retro fashion style. The shirt/tie combinations were also very good and could be very useful for those who wish to move away from the rather drab white shirt coloured tie style, I might pay a return visit to try a couple of these combinations out. As ever with these fashion houses you need to be somewhat flexible in your approach; they are not designing for the retro market specifically and so you need to rifle through there stock to find the odd items here and there that will slot into your sixties fashion wardrobe. Who knows maybe one day us geezers will be as well catered for as the girls are; but for now its basically snapping up whatever items you think can give you that cool mod image from whichever stores supply clothing with a retro feel. On that note I am off to sit in the October sun drink Stella and listen to some ska, ciao.

Thursday 7 October 2010

Modernist Fashion in SL

I think Ive probably blogged these jackets before but as I've been wearing them a lot recently I thought I would reprise my last report on them.The jackets are from Meriken Co the wonderful button collar shirts are from the Unknown Boutique, whilst the trousers are from Beck and Carter. Whilst I like whole outfits I appreciate the facility to mix and match that such layered clothing affords. I wore FKNY loafers with these ensembles, black with the grey/silver and brown with the gold.

Unlike many fashion genres in Second Life its highly unlikely you will find items specifically designed for the male sixties retro market, more often it will be indie Brit Pop items that draw from this period. Those classically modernist retro items you do find should be treasured; but more often than not you will have to seek out items that have modernist potential. Items that when matched with classic mod accessories or mod ancillary items [such as shoes or shirts] will clearly define your style as mod to any in the circle of virtual mod. Your look may not be that of the classic early sixties mod but it still screams mod, NeoMod to all with the eyes to see.

As ever our modettes are well catered for with some great retro stores, notably Eden and Kim's over at Moonletters, go check it. But, us geezers scrabbling in the piles of sale box just have to persevere every now and again some really cool items rise to the surface, its a chore but who said being cool was easy.

If you are struggling to hear some awesome tunes whilst sat at the computer you could do worse than check out this site: Mod Radio its full of mixes and pod casts from the acid jazz, NeoMod and mod genres along with some great R&B. so why not take a punt. I am currently listening to Extracurricular Weller-ties Volume 1 by Capt Stax and am pleasantly surprised by the tunes get an airing. Mostly contemporary and several have that smooth acid jazz flavour that us old eighties mods slid into, circa Weller's Style Council era. That's probably not to everyone's taste, so if you're hooked on sixties beat bands might be best to scour other mixes or maybe look elsewhere; but anyone looking to chill with a latte pull up a chair. Remember that Weller's Style Council period is vastly underrated.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

First Night back in

Ah I think it was fated that my return to the virtual modernist world would be an auspicious one. Logged on and donned some sharp threads before bracing myself and teleporting into the AAi. Success I wasn't a cloud and neither was anyone else. Shocked to discover Scotney Sean present, but I've been absent so much he may be more of a regular than me; also there Kim getting ready to deliver her set and the other modette superstar Eden.  Struggling with the Viewer 2 I failed to engage Sean in any kind of witty repartee; and any witticisms he may of delivered swooped over my head as I got into a greater muddle attempting to access IMs, inventory etc. My Viewer 2 experience was far from pleasant but the fun in virtual mod land was highly appealing. Dugi and Aston, Graz the hairmeister [more on that later]; Josie, Gemma, Shauna the full monty tonight were here enjoying the tunes and delivering some fun chat. Laugh I almost lolled.

Kim was our DJ tonight and she delivered a stormer with plenty of modtastic tunes to keep the beefits bouncing [welcome to the new lexicon of Albionism, I forget who coined that phrase so I'll steal what little glory it bestows]. Was great to hear so classic Jam tracks, sixties standards and soul sensations, a varied and well constructed set, with a Peelism at the end when Kim hit the wrong button, the great man would have admired that DJ bollox. It was an exceptional bollox too as it meant we got a couple of extra Jam tracks ... that always a bonus. Sharon Tandy up next ... who?

Poor Graz took the brunt of some mockery, although to be precise his hair took the punches. Is it a Mohawk, a mullet or merely and extravagant comb over caught in the breeze. The sharp tongues of the AAi lashed him mercilessly but as ever Graz took it in his stride rolled with the punches and joked along with the rest of us; the epitome of a virtual mod. Leave your ego at the front door and have a laugh, ironic egos are encouraged real ones...jog on! As for my take on the hair, my eyesight is so bad i can barely see him let alone his hair! To console poor Graz Meri threw on a Mohawk, but that seemed to encourage further jokes, blimey its a tough life being virtual. Fortunately I'm so awesome I suffer no such afflictions. Ask anyone. Err please refrain from mentioning my wreckless jumping about each time I hit the chat line when I was confused it was the viewer at fault, not me, obviously.

So a successful conclusion to my technologically imposed Second Life sabbatical. Err no; I'm stuck with a viewer I loathe and unable to access the Phoenix viewer I crave for [if you're feeling generous post a possible link, although all the ones I try lead to 404 ERROR]. But on the plus side I do get to interact with some of the coolest funniest people on the grid; this virtual life has its ups and downs but good friends make the effort and the swearing and thumping computers worthwhile. Enjoy your virtual life, and Ms DJs stick this one on next time,,TUNE!!!



CIAO

Tuesday 5 October 2010

The Return of the Mod

Well it appears my sabbatical is over [touch wood] I finally managed to reinstall Second Life, but still failed miserably to even locate Phoenix, and after a few test log ins to check i was no longer a sun burnt naked Ruth, with a few odd prim attachments, I think I am ready for a return. Seems as though I am not the only one with wispy cloud syndrome as both Eden and Shauna have been afflicted, being non-techy not sure if its a Phoenix or overall Second Life issue, but fingers crossed its all been resolved and I can maintain some sense of virtual cool. Its all probably some kind of virtual karma for my merciless mocking of Graz when he had his Viewer 2 rezz issues. What goes around comes around... as they say, bugger!

An absence from the virtual world has meant I have been dabbling my feet in the Real World, I discovered the lady who brings me cuppas and beers is actually my wife, who'd have thought that,; and the big black shiny thing hanging on the wall. Well, that's called a TV its a touch like Second Life except the avatars have had more surgical work done. What else have I found myself submerged in, not having Kim's reggae/ska top up I had to buy some Trojan compilations from Amazon along with the crazy Julie Driscioll Brian Auger Trinity album. Entertained myself on YouTube and Twitter, hurling insults at celebrity irritants, I make do with the simple things.

Oh I have also read a few blogs, nice of Shauna to ask where I was in her post on Moonletters blog, and also requesting a few blog posts. Unfortunately a few technical issues both virtual and visual have curtailed my blog wafflings of late but I shall endeavour to make a blog post on Moonletters some time soon. Just need to get in world and come up with an idea beyond whinging. So that's about all, I hope to be in world at the AAi tonight so fingers crossed the mod night is on and I can raise the cool bar a little by my sublime presence. C'mon admit you know I'm the coolest..ok Lupo is, and Slate can make stuff, and Dugi and Aston have the cool club, and Eden and Kim can DJ, and the Baron is a Northern Soul legend, and Shauna has the coolest blog...but apart from that lot, c'mon I'm obviously the best. Honest, would I lie to you?