Kick Axe Weekend

Wow, what a weekend! First up, Friday night Mr-JC arrived at ours and we went for a take away curry from The Village in Thornton and watched a couple of films at ours ('Chasing Amy' and 'Orange County'). A few beers were involved too. We also did that obligatory 'staying up until 2.15am for no real reason' thing too...

Saturday morning Mrs-MaFt went shopping for girly stuff so me, Mr-JC and Mini-MaFt went to Bradford to look at boys stuff. Mainly CD's and guitars! Mr-JC bought a dead nice Ibanez hollow-body electric guitar and I sold £130 worth of CD's that I no longer listen to. Ever!

Saturday dinner DTN and Scru' arrived from the north(ish)-west and we headed down to Burger King for a healthy lunch. It was a cold day but really sunny and the sky was clear so we headed up to Ogden Waters for a walk around there. The picture below is from May 2002 but as you can imagine it looked pretty similar on Saturday (just a bit colder though - funnily enough temperature doesn't come across well in a photo...)


Ogden Waters

Saturday tea-time we all headed down to The Village in Thornton for another curry - this time in their seated restaraunt. Again, it was very nice! Brother-N picked us all up and we headed to The Cockpit in Leeds for the gig. And what a gig it was! On the door you had to show ID to get a wrist-band in order to get served at the bar - Scru' the 25 year old didn't have any ID so couldn't drink... well, couldn't get served at the bar (that didn't stop him drinking - naughty us!). For a change, the merchandise was sensibly priced - I got an MxPx t-shirt for a tenner.

First band were I Am The Avalance (featuring ex-singer from The Movielife) - they were pretty good but nothing too special. The Matches were very entertaining but quiet vocals spoilt it a bit - still the songs were good and they had great stage-presence too.

The first of the co-headliners was The Starting Line. These seemed to get the kids really excited but I failed to see why. The songs were nothing spectacular and of the three that stood out for me I couldn't tell you anything about them twenty minutes after... Ah well... Soon after came MxPx - the reason we went to the gig in the first place. They played a great set with songs from every album and had their 2nd guitarist, Ian, playing so the newer songs sounded fuller with both rhythm and lead guitars. The pit was mental to say the least! Pity about the muppet who took it upon himself to elbow anyone who went near him... If you're at the front of a 500-strong crowd you've got to expect a bit of pushing... Still, I got a few elbows to his back after he nearly winded me in the 3rd song! The strangest part of the night was drinking Grolsch. Not that that's strange in itself but when it comes in plastic bottles it's a bit weird. Mr-JC picked up his first bottle and stared at it for 5 minutes to make sure there was something in it cos it felt so light! The bar staff must have been wondering what his problem was... Got some dead-good photo's of most of the bands so I'll try post some in the next few days.

So, anyway, we got home and had a bit of food then went to bed. Yesterday was a big group trip down to church trying not to fall asleep during the sermon (don't you just hate it when they have one point to make but they take 40 minutes to make it?!). Later in the afternoon everyone went home and I began de-stickering my 2 guitars. Cheap deoderant is great for removing the sticky bits - just don't use anti-perspirant cos you get a few extra white-bits!

Today, on my dinner, I headed up to the Northern Drum Centre to part-exchange my guitars for my new toy: an Ibanez GAX75 in Pewter Grey. Mmmm, nice :)


My New Axe

So, a fun-filled weekend was had by all! Back to work you lot!

MaFt

Small Is Beautiful

One thing I like about seeing small bands is you never know what you're going to get. They never feel obliged to play a 'greatest hits' set; usually because they don't have a greatest hit! I can go and see Broadways Not Ready twice in a week and hear a totally different set each time. This also extends to bands that have never really had any songs in the charts, such as Rancid and NOFX - as popular as they are, they don't have to bow down to popularity and play their number one hits at every gig.

Don't get me wrong, Green Day are a great band and equally great live but recently it just seems like you've seen it all before. You know exactly what's going to be played and in what order before you've even got there. Still, it's a good show - and it IS just that: a choreographed-to-perfection show.

There are also bands in the middle, with some limited success, such as The Offspring and Therapy? - both of whom always seem to vary their setlist but throw in a couple of obvious 'hits' - but not for the entire set. I'd love to see Green Day again but to have them throw in a few surprises like 'Aramtage Shanks' or 'Scattered' instead of just the songs released as singles.

NOFX and Rancid have massively varied setlists from night to night and tour to tour - both big bands but lacking the 'we need to keep the kids happy by playing only the songs the radio played' thoughts. Reports from the current MxPx UK tour are looking good - some nights they've just taken requests and torn up the setlist! Again, with no real hits, they're more free to do it that way.

It does make me wonder though: does the record label have a say in what songs get played live? And, if so, does it really affect their sales that much? Surely they'd get more sales with some more obscure songs played live as this would make people want to go out and find more songs from the band by buying the albums instead of just the singles promoted by Radio 1...

Just a thought.

MaFt

Time For A Review

Today I got sent a Garmin nüvi 300 to review on behalf of Pocket GPS World. Mrs-MaFt phoned me up demanding to know what I'd been spending money on as City Link have just dropped off a parcel! Thankfully the company (Easy Devices), who have provided the unit, included a letter stating that it's for review and to have it sent back in 30 days - good job really, cos I'd have been shot if they'd have included an invoice for £500!!

So, now I have an excuse to drive around aimlessly! However, I'm not going to have time for a few more days... I need to clear the attic cos Mr-F is coming up tomorrow night for a bit of an acoustic jamming session then on Friday Mr-JC is coming up followed closely by DTN and Scru' on Saturday. Saturday night Brother-N, myself and the rest of the visitors are all off to see MxPx which should be very good! I've not been this excited for ages! I think Brother-N is getting fed up of my constant wittering though... Hey ho, such is life!

In other news everyone in my office has installed Google Earth which is dead good fun - if I find anything interesting I'll post some pics and some .kmz files.

Ta-Ra for now!

MaFt

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

I'm currently sat up in the attic with a beer, listening to the wonderful Derby band, '3 Storeys High' (who I saw last weekend) and writing thankyou notes from Mini-MaFt. Childhood is full of lies! Especially when it's to do with Christmas... First up, as parents, we have to lie about the existance of a bearded bloke who wears red and eats mincepies; then, secondly, we write letters (and emails) as though our kids have done them themselves... Surely that's forgery? The way things are going I'm sure in 20 years time Mini-MaFt will have me in court suing me for forging his signature on various letters etc. What if he didn't actually like the Thomas hat and scarf that was bought for him that we wrote to Mrs-B to say thankyou on his behalf for? What if he's actually deeply scarred and unable to live life as a normal 20 year old because of our forgery? How will we ever live with ourselves? Pretty easy actually, delete the Word document, format the hard drive, in fact, scrap the whole computer! If it saves me being sued in 20 years time then it can only be a good thing...

MaFt

Warts And All

Today I had my portrait done; "Warts and all" as the saying goes. I feel it captures my inner beauty whilst not diminishing my rugged manliness... or something. I particularly like how the artist even included the fact that I had my MxPx t-shirt on at the time of drawing.

So, without further a-do, here is the debut piece from Neice-K:



Enjoy!

MaFt

The Final Chapter

Basicallly he's going to film me whilst i'm raising money for charity. What i've got to do is dress up in some sort of costume (at this current moment in time i don't know what) and teach a year 7 class, and he's going to film me and keep it as a bribe. After just speaking to Mr-JC it sounds as though you're not going to bother helping me. I do hope that you change your mind.

Tee hee, he got the hint that I wasn't bothered!! Some kids eh?

MaFt

The Saga Continues

"What can I say it must be Mr-JC's teaching! Hope this is better!
As I explained in my last e-mail Mr-JC is trying to pull a rotten stunt on me, and I'm trying to get my own back on him.
If you have any embarrassing photos of him please could you send them to me, I've already found two on your site but there not that embarrassing.
By the way cool site, and I hope you can help me!!!"

My reply (again, BCC'd to Mr-JC):

"Hello again! My, you are persistant! However, I have found the following to be slightly untrue: 'As I explained in my last e-mail Mr-JC is trying to pull a rotten stunt on me' - you see, you didn't really explain what rotten stunt he was trying to pull, did you? Once I have a bit more information then I can fully decide whether to devote any time to this project. Glad you like the site though!"

MaFt

A Break

Well, i got the thumbs up from mr-jc on how i handled his student. i just thought it was the natural thing to do, if young jam-face wants to embarrass someone then he should be able to take embarrassment himself. i wonder if he's been reading this blog... anyway, i'm off home now, finally got chance to use this overtime i've built up. see ya, and have a good long weekend like me. MaFt

That'll Learn 'Im

A mate of mine, Mr-JC (not the Jesus one), works at a school in Lincoln. He's head of IT or something to do with computers anyway! He's probably having me on and he's really the bloke that goes around blowing the dust out of all the fans, but anyway I digress. The other week I got an email from Mr-JC along the lines of:

"Ey up MaFt, I love you so much and needed to remind you again of my undy..." [SNIP]

...sorry, wrong email...

"Ey up MaFt, just thought I'd warn you that if you get an email from one of my students to ignore it. I gave them your URL as an example of good web-design," [dunno which site he's looking at though] "and then realised there was stuff about me on it... whoops, I am a fool! See ya at MxPx in a couple of weeks. Love n kisses, Mr-JC"

So, time whittled on and today I got that email:

Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 15:21:02
From: "JAMMY-MAN, BADGER" [xxxx@xxxx.lincs.sch.uk]
To: Mail@maft.co.uk
Subject: Mr-JC

Am a pupil of Mr-JC's, and he's trying to pull a rotten stunt on me. i just wondered if you had any imbarassing photoes which i could have in order to get my own back?
If Yes please reply to xxxx@xxxx.lincs.sch.uk
Thanx!!!

This was my reply, which I BCC'd Mr-JC into as well so he knew what was going on. I may be able to have some fun with this one ;)

Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:02:35
From: MaFt
To: "JAM-BOY, FISHBREATH" [xxxx@xxxx.lincs.sch.uk]
Bcc: Mr-JC
Subject: Re: Mr-JC

I'm not doing anything until you learn how to spell.

In the mean-time check out the amazing punk-worship tracks at
http://maft.co.uk/media.htm

Cheers

MaFt

Is it wrong to lull a youngling into false hope? Ooh, the moral dilemma's I face every day... I'll keep you updated :D

MaFt

Shoot The Parrot

Various papers are telling the story of an unlucky lass from the Leeds area who's parrot grassed up to her boyfriend about her other boyfriend... Apparently the parrot staring mimicking the girl by saying 'Hello Gary' and then, later, 'I love you Gary'. However, boyfriend 1's name wasn't Gary and confronted her about it.

You'd think that by now most people know that parrots can copy what you say. I mean, there's been plenty of documentaries about pirates and their talking parrots ('Treasure Island', 'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'Hook'; to name but a few) - all of which have been on TV/DVD/VHS at some point. All it takes is a bit of research...

Did you know that ornithophobia is the fear of birds (and, I presume, parrots)? I've always been scared of birds - something that can bleed for a week and still batter you with a tea-towel is something to be afraid of in my eyes. My favourite phobia though has to be arachibutyrophobia. Make ya wonder, doesn't it?


A Parrot

MaFt

Pointless Fact

I've only shaved twice so far this year... MaFt

Plan B

Well after waiting 15 minutes for a cup that's supposed to be every 10 minutes or less the one that finally came drove straight past... this weekend better not be like the rest of the week has been... MaFt

Bullets!

Seriously fed up with the forced overtime at work at the moment. i've resorted to listening to metal! ya can't beat a bit of 'bullet for my valentine' to help vent your anger! maybe there'll be some 'demon hunter' on the way home too, who knows?! right, my bus is almost here now! see ya, MaFt

Figures

Just been scouring through my site stats cos my bandwidth is being obliterated recently... Not 100% sure what's killing it yet but it's nice to see that 257 people have been directed to my site after searching for '01554754901' - those bastards at Landmark Communications seem to be pissing a lot of people off... Great way to run a company eh?

Anyway, nothing else really to report... Work has been crap the last few days...
See ya

MaFt

"Everything's Chaaaaaanging (When I Turn Around...)

...all out of my control, I'm a robot"

Name the song and you can have 4p.

I was supposed to be going on a training course tomorrow entitled 'Coping With Change' however, yesterday my boss told me I had been moved to todays course. Unfortunately I'd not had the training and didn't know how to react and cope with the change.

Today I found out that I should have gone through a period of shock followed by denial. I should then have moved onto anger and then depression before getting to a stage of bargaining and, finally, acceptance. Three hours for that? How much do these management consultant people get paid? They didn't even bring any nuts, grapes or orange juice to help us get through the morning... (I'm currently in the 'angry' stage)

MaFt

Digital Revolution

Tired of paying £5.50 exc VAT for our Telewest TV we decided to get rid and go for Freeview instead. Damn, Telewest were pushy when I was trying to cancel! First I was offered it half price for 6 months then free for 6 months. I was honest with the lady on the phone, I said after those 6 months I'd forget to cancel it so 'no' but thanks for the offer.

Anyway, it was a cinch to set up but there was a weak signal on a few channels. So, I bought a signla booster which seemed to solve things. However, I can't get Mux-D (mostly radio channels but a few others too). I spent all last night re-positioning the aerial and the only way I could get these channels was to llse all the ITV and Channel 4 channels... I can live without the radio channels :)

Now my next project is to look into getting a proper roof aerial fitted! That'll be fun!

MaFt

Get Out My Space!

Apologies for no update today, I've been trying to get my head around MySpace - it is possibly the most user-unfriendly site I've ever met... I much prefer Purevolume which seems to keep getting better.

Why do companies / organisations / people etc make great things (such as MySpace) but really skimp on the important user-friendly parts? Such as why do Creative make such great MP3 players but such terrible software to go with it? Why did Garmin make the wonderful Street Pilot i3 but provide next to no instructions? Why did Tom make MySpace with such an awful user-interface? Why does your nose itch as soon as your hands are full?

Some things we'll never know...

But in the mean time take a look at both my MySpace and my Purevolume pages and add me as a friend if you want to!

http://www.purevolume.com/maft
http://www.myspace.com/maftmaft

MaFt

Belated Christmas List

Just thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you what good things I received for Christmas. In no particular order (and no capitals cos I'm lazy):

cocktail encyclopedia, cocktail making kit, homer socks & deoderant, book: why the toast always lands butter side down, book: does anything eat wasps?, book: sudoku, homer sope-on-a-rope, leather wallet, homer marshmallows, wire-detector, £10, £10 virgin voucher, 4 budweisers and a pint glass, selection box, tube of white buttons, asbach brandy, milk chocolate droste pastilles, tin of celebrations, lynx deoderant & shower gel, homer mug & cookies, socks: i'm only scary cos i'm hairy, socks: beer monster, socks: best daddy in the world, socks: little britain - andy, socks: little britain - lou, boxers: star wars - yoda, boxers: star wars - darth vader, guitar cufflinks, star wars episode 3 dvd, marshmallow pizza, tube of haribo starmix, tube of haribo kids mix, talking darth vader mug, 1/2 a microwave (mrs-maft got the other half), mexican cheese / pizza toast.

I think that covers everything! For once I actually needed all the socks I got.

See ya, for a more interesting post, later

MaFt

Thanks!

Oh yeah, forgot to say thanks to the nice people who broke into our neighbours car and 3 others last night. very kind of you! MaFt

Newness

Happy new year you lot! hope your head feels better than mine... managed to get free drinks for the night at the local so mini-MaFt went partying with his nanna and granddad. thing is, he slept all night for them but always wakes us up at 5am... little bugger! see ya. MaFt