Went to see the A-Team last week. Its frikking AWESOME!!! To be fair I was pretty excited when I heard that they were making this so I had pretty high expectations. I must say I wasn’t disappointed. Its really just a good old fashioned action movie. I thought the plot was well paced and the action scenes were amazing. I would say that its more of a “re-imagining” than the prequel it appears to be. In the TV program there are a lot less guns and no-one died. I suppose you could say the characters in the film were more caricatures of the characters in the show. They all seem to have notched it up a level, Murdock seems crazier here than in the show and Face is borderline sleazy but isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, which (if I remember) is a bit of a change to the TV character. If you haven’t see it, you really should, if you like a good action flick then you wont be disappointed…remember your popcorn! On a side note another action movie worth seeing, though you’ll now need to wait for the DVD is The Losers. Based off a comic book……does no-one have original ideas any more?? Its also worth a watch. now I’ll just sit back and wait for someone to make a Thundercats movie…….

What a weekend! Spent Saturday plonked in middle of field in Lochearnhead surrounded by some seriously stunning Scottish scenery(try saying that drunk!). Hills on three sides and a loch on the other. What a crackin’ highland games. The Balquidder and Lochearnhead event is up there with the best of the year. It was a highland games in the traditional sense. The Clans native to the local area were there dressed up to the nines in blazing tartans adding some technicolour the occasion. The organisers were great, the locals were fab as were the million and one Spanish tourists who had decended on the Lochside. What made it really special was that there were no carnival shows! There was no recording of an over excited Dutchman shouting “Scream if you wanna go faster” on the waltzers..followed by ……yes….screams from kids who wanted to go faster!! Bliss…

I know the kids must love it….but there is only so much Soft Cell Tainted Love one can listen to without wanting to chew off one’s own arm.

After about two minutes (or so it felt ) sleep we headed back up to the Kingdom for the gathering at St Andrews on Sunday.

We were bathed in sunshine for the duration and were able to watch lots of the events from the tent which was dandy.   Controversy hit the games when a local resident tried to “throw” the visitors race by pretending to be from Hong Kong….needless to say the MC was not buying any of it!….

We had a nice guy with a kids stall beside us which had one of those machines where you hit the base with a hammer and if you hit it hard enough, the bell rings….Kids were playing with it all day wining oversized blow up balls of spongy danger and stuffed animals.. About 4 o’clock an old lady (and I mean old) passed by the stall being helped to walk on both sides by her daughters.. She was crooked and looked about 150.

The old yin made her way to the hammer machine and asked how much.. Despite looking about as strong as a mini gem lettuce, the old gal paid her £2 managed to hit the bell…We couldn’t believe it, she could barely stand, but is clearly taking more than aspirin every morning with her weetabix!  Amazing!

Thanks to every body who bought at the weekend and supported Urban Pirate…we had a blast! x

After the  gazebo debacle, we thought, thats it….things will be on the up,  but then it happened, something else.

It came in the form of BurntIsland Highland Games.  Let me set the scene.

When you think of Highland Games, like me I’m sure you think of clans coming together – drinking usige beatha from a  quaich.   Flashes of tartan against a backdrop of heather covered hills. The haunting sound of pipes travelling through the pea soup mist.       Well, let me tell you,  like me you would have been disapointed.

It rained…it rained a lot.   There were a lot of grown men wearing tracksuit trousers with dress shoes(can some one explain that look to me please).  We were put in a pitch beside a man selling bath-towel sets who claimed they had been designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh himself!  Now, I’m no Mackintosh expert, however I am fairly positive that in between designing Glasgow School of Art his masterpiece and Hill House, Charlie was not sitting in front of his drawing board pondering which designs would look good on the side of an avocado bathroom suite.

Burntisland just wasn’t how I remembered it as a child.  School trips on hot June days, screaming on the waltzers and eating chopped pork sandwiches washed down by irn bru warmed at the bottom of my school bag.

Some of the stalls were doing great business; unfortunately we weren’t selling sweets, candy floss, Mackintosh Bath Towels, inflatable hammers…or pedi-eggs.  But heh there’s always next year!

To top it all off, when coming back(depressed) from the loo at the end of the day (they charged me 30p wot happened to spend a penny!)….I managed to slip on the muddy path of the links and fall face first in the mud. A few lovely boys came to my aid but it was too late.  I was covered from the waist down in good old Fife mud and not in a sexy  lady wrestling sense.

However, we won’t be beaten..We will be back on the road this weekend stronger and annoyingly more enthusiastic than ever!      Stopping off at Lochearnhead and Airth on Sat and St Andrews on Sunday…  If you are around, please come and say hello…meeting people is the best bit of this whole thing……Let’s hope the sun shines!  Jacq x

Ceres(Fife)…was in a word, brilliant.. We arrived at stupid o’clock in the morning to be given such a warm welcome it made getting up at 6am worth while.

Ceres if you have never been there is tiny! The event field was about the same size as a school footy pitch, but what Ceres lacks in size it makes up for in personality. It was sunny, the customers were lovely and people were just loving the designs. We went home happy, sunburned and looking forward to next year’s games.

In between then and now we have been touring quite a bit….Glengarry(lets not talk about that..no really), Cupar, Luss, Stirling, Loch Lomond. We met some fabulous people from home and away and had a great time at all of the games.

We met the Ghurkhas in Alva which was totally special and one of whom left the stall chuffed to bits with his map print tee-shirt which I think he was wearing home – no bag required!

But I’m digressing; let’s get to the here and now. And what a keeker of a time we’ve had this past week. Some ranting follows but please indulge me.

Having discovered a little too literally in Cupar that the tent wasn’t waterproof, we treated ourselves to a new gazebo.

The website said that this thing was all singing all dancing. It was waterproof, hurricane proof, bullet proof and did everything short of putting your lipstick on for you.

Alas it wasn’t true. We got a gazebo yes, it did have a frame and a cover and yes, some sides too.. But that’s where the similarity of it being a gazebo ended. Call me cynical, but when I think of a roof being waterproof, I think of something that doesn’t have holes in it. I think of something that doesn’t look like it has been in a fight with a half man half Alsatian in an east end pub. We were disappointed ( correction I was fuming…David was disappointed).

Crux of the story is….Gazebo people(you know who you are)  saga on going…but we will fight the good fight! Jacq x

So my latest outing, attempting to bring my art to the masses, was situated at the Southside Festival next to Victoria Park in the south of Glasgow. I was looking forward to this one for a number of reasons, a) it was only 15mins away from where I live/am based, 2) it is a festival that is free…ie, loads of people and c) it was to be the hottest day in May in Scotland since records began!!

So the day began at a nice and healthy 8am, no need to get up at stupid o’clock, although Jac felt the need to get up at 6 to get herself ready……I dunno….Anyway, loading the van was nice n easy, only had a few boxes, things are starting to streamline! When we got there there weren’t many other people setting up, so seemed pretty empty but people soon started to arrive. Most of the stalls had been taken up by around half 10, the majority of those were charities, however the pitches either side of us were still empty. That didnt last long, I was just in the process of telling Jac that we were the only ones selling the specific type of products when we noticed that someone was about to start setting up next to us.That person was none other than Gillian Kyle (you can find her website at gilliankyle.com). For those that dont know, she sells items, such as tote bags and t-shirts, that have been branded with illustrations of Scottish products. Gill is a thoroughly nice person and even gave me some advice for places that I could go to help promote my stuff. It was quite a nice looking section of stalls if I do say so myself, Gill had her items which were predominantly white contrasting with mine which were predominantly dark (I had put up a marquee side behind me to protect from the wind) it was almost like a wee boutique in itself.

The day progressed nicely, lots of really positive feedback from customers and visitors. Jac was out front sunbathing whilst I decided to play it smart and stay in the shade. I had decided against the kilt for this occasion purely based on the weather, it was crazy hot, was starting to sweat whenever I went for a wee wander. However Scotland being Scotland there was a slight problem with the weather, namely the wind. It wasnt too bad to begin with, however it did start to pick up, and in doing so had started to destroy one of the stalls next to us. The stalls were common market stalls, metal frames covered by a tarpaulin. The wind had caught the tarp next to us an was pulling apart the metal frame. The event person on hand wasnt doing much help, whose only suggestion to solve the problem was to take the tarp off the entire row of stalls….which quite frankly was just mental. In doing that would have put everyones stall in jeopardy, had it rained (which it didnt in the end) and it would have been biblical rain due to the crazy heat, everyones stock would have got wet, also the wind would then have just been blowing everyones stuff around…So it came down to yours truly to solve the problem. Tie the metal frame together so that it doesnt come apart…..It baffles me why people try to solve problems that would end up causing bigger problems. It’s like using a hammer for a thumb-tac….bizarre.

After that like fiasco, everything started to calm down. All that needed to be done was to take apart the stall and pack up. This also ended up being really easy, I think I’m getting the hang of it! The next event I’ll be at is the Highland Games in Cornhill, which is near Banff and Macduff, in two weeks. So its a crazy o’clock set off time for that one. The difference with this one is that I shall be accompanied by my father, due to Jac setting up an indoor carboot sale…Fingers crossed for a good weekend.

So immediately after our long slog at Gourock Highland Games we had to make our way to see Gogol Bordello. Having missed out on Stephen Lynch and Airbourne, I was really looking forward to going to another gig. That added to the fact that we had seen Gogol about a year and a half ago and I can safely say that it was probably one of the best gigs I had ever seen. there was a plan for a few of us to go along and see Gogol, but due to unforeseen circumstances, drink and babys, it was just myself and Jac. We did later meet up with our friend Andy, but that was later on in the gig. Big props to that man, gave us a lift home!!

Anyway back to the gig, when we arrived the place was fooking rammed. People all the way to the main bar area, the “Carling” (its now an O2 but I’ll still refer to it as the Carling) has also had a brand spanky new bar put in, so there is now two bars right next to each other…. We had missed the first warm up act, though by looking at the forums the first warm up act didnt turn up…no loss anyway, cos we were there to see the Bordello! The warm up act we did get to see were a mariachi band from California….mmmk….I didnt really think much of them, but thats just me. We had managed to position ourselves right in front of the sound guy, which was on a raised platform, so it wasnt too bad a view if a bit far away. However Jac had decided to nip to the loo and found some good spots near the front. So I headed down to join her. I’m always very conscious of my height at gigs. Being 6’6″ I dont really like to barge in front of people because I know how I would like it if some giant walked in front of me….not that ever happens.

Gogol rocked the house!! I have some good footage of everyone bouncing to the tunes, it was INSANE!!! Gogol have so much energy its unreal. I dont know how they can keep going for a full tour. They played all the tunes I wanted to hear, including some new ones, I’ve not got the new cd yet, but I shall! “Its not a Crime” and “Start Wearing Purple” were my personal highlights, totally gets the crowd going. Its nice to be part of that kind of atmosphere, I didnt see the hint of a mosh pit just everyone jumping up and down in sync. A real party!

Don’t get me wrong, if people want to mosh go ahead, I just prefer to listen to the music and enjoy the performance rather that some wee naff trying to run into me.

My girl...:D

The gig went on for ages, it was brilliant. Jac and I had left slightly before the end to avoid the mad rush. But we ended up missing out on the very very last song. But the song before that (the second last) was on for what must have been 10 minutes. It was brilliant, giant drums, fiddlers, accordions, three guitars symbols. It was all happening!! I loved every second of it, my left ear took a bit of a battering, but it was worth it! I cannot wait to see them again. I would urge every single one of you to go witness the madness of Gogol Bordello!!

Well my first event of the year has been and gone, all in all it went rather well.

Ok so I’ll not be giving up the day job just yet, though I would need to get a day job to give up first, but I think I did ok for my first crack of the whip.

The day started at 6.30 am when I decided to get up, with the aid of my girlfriend, and make a move. Had to load all the stuff into the spanky new van….well new to me. True to form it didnt run smoothly. I found out that the clothing rail, which I had  to purchase specifically for the event (I was given other rails, but my nephew would have been able to blow them over) wouldnt fit into the van….aahhh panic! It was too long by about an inch….redonkalus!!  I managed to fix sed problem by removing one of the sides/legs, even then its a tight fit, just as well that I dont mind about scratches….

The journey then began, took only 20 mins to get to Gourock, iPod told me it would be 44 with traffic…..liar!! So we were miles ahead of schedule. Set up at the event in no time as well, so we ended up having a good few hours to kill. Nothing really kicked off until around 12, and no-one really started visiting the stalls till 1.

There were the same faces passing rather often, so I was starting to lose hope a bit on whether I was going to sell anything, I had sold some t-shirts and bags to the stall holders next to me which was nice, so at least it wasnt going to be a total waste of time. The parents then turned up, complete with sandwiches….which was very much needed as hadnt really eaten anything other than breakfast. they bought a few items which was nice, if you cant even sell to your own parents you gotta be doing something wrong!!

Around 3 things started to pick up!! Yay!! Bags were going, badges were selling and people were commenting on the t-shirts. Only sold a few of my Seconds Map t-shirt (thats a whole other story) but people were liking the Creamola foam prints. The crowd pleasers (pictured above) were doing a good few rounds and seemed very interested in the stall. Thoroughly nice people.

There was plenty going on around the event, heavy events, pipers…..alot of them and highland dancers. Everything I guess you would expect at a highland games I guess. I keep forgetting how MASSIVE the heavy events guys are. Built like brick houses!! My aim for this year is to have one of them, at any games, to buy a t-shirt from my “Urban Heavy Events” range. (Ok theres only two of them at the moment…but I’m working on more)

In the end it was a great day, and a very good test for my first event. the next one will hopefully be even better.

I’ll be at the Southside Festival on the 22nd May, my next Highland Games is in Cornhill, up near Banff and Macduff. So will be a very early morning for that one…..

My advertising crew

]]> http://urbanpirate.net/archives/116/feed 0 http://urbanpirate.net/archives/139 http://urbanpirate.net/archives/139#comments Sat, 08 May 2010 11:33:01 +0000 Dave http://urbanpirate.net/?p=139

I went to Ironman 2 with my girlfriend the other day. I have to say it was amazing!! Ok it might not be a good as the first one, but it was definatly on par with it. Robert Downey Jr is my top actor for the moment, he was amazing in Sherlock Holmes and if you’ve not see it, get your eye balls round Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Its brilliant!

The whole film moves forward at quite a good pace, there is a lot going on in this one compared to the first. Whiplash, poisoning, Warmachine, Hammer, the government and the mental stability of Stark. everything is tied together rather well, I’ve read reviews slagging it, but I would say they dont know what their on about. The scene were the Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) unleashes her “powers” is just amazing! Very well put together. I thought the final “boss” scene was over a big quick, but as the film is on for a good few hours, I guess they needed to end it some time. I do wish that they used more AC/DC tunes though, considering the soundtrack is a compilation of tracks I would have thought there would have been more than two songs in the film, especially considering that they have a track call War Machine!! (it is used in the trailers….)

I cannot wait for the Avengers, as well as Thor and Captain America next year. (Good choice of Chris Evans for the Cap’)

By the way, wait after the credits if you’ve not already seen it…theres a wee teaser for the next marvel film.

Its official!!

So I’ve finally done it, I’ve made my own t-shirts. I’ll be selling these at the stalls during my tour of Highland Games.

I’ve only got 2 designs made up in bulk just now (all my other designs are made to order). I’ve got 35 of each designs made up, but I will be getting more….just need to sell the ones I’ve got…and get more hours/websites to do. I’ve got plenty designs planned, nothing short of ideas.

You can buy the t-shirts on my website right now!!