Hackney Life

Live From Manchester......

2009-01-30T16:49:00.001Z

Manu Katche - Rose HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2008-12-31T14:11:00.001Z

This is a rare special video I uploaded to YouTube...enjoy....

iFart on the iPhone

2008-12-29T00:55:00.001Z

Apple just allowed iFart onto the app store. This is cutting edge
technology!

Turkish Teapot For Christmas!

2008-12-27T16:07:00.000Z

Santa brought me a proper Turkish teapot - wonderful tea!

Stef's Italian in Soho 'Special Yorkshire Menu'

2008-12-15T12:23:00.005Z

Great news for anyone from planet Yorkshire who have stepped out of their comfort zone by visiting 'Rat Race' London - "I could never live in London, I much prefer the poverty of ambition in Yorkshire!".Anyway Stef's Italian restaurant in Soho now have a 'Special Yorkshire' Menu More details on Stef's HERE

Favourite Recipes

2008-12-12T08:55:00.002Z

Thanks To Evernote I have scanned all my favourite recipes from 50 cookbooks. They are all searchable by the scanned text and work on the iPhone and other platforms. Much better than scanning with pdf etc as its all searchable!

Christmas Gift Ideas....

2008-12-10T10:25:00.004Z

Chocolate Christmas Stars with Nuts and Cranberries Recipe

2008-12-07T20:57:00.002Z

If Our Pete rings again tell him I'm out!

2008-12-06T23:53:00.000Z

Chinese Viagra

2008-12-02T15:55:00.000Z

Walking past this shop today In Dalston I saw this sign for Chinese
Viagra. Their printer must be broken.

Boy George's Hackney Flat

2008-12-01T11:23:00.005Z

Stayed in the Hoxton Hotel last night and our room overlooked Boy George's flat, the one with the 3 (hetrosexual) chimney pots.

Google Voice Search Released today !

2008-11-18T23:26:00.001Z

This is crazy but works!

Evernote

2008-11-13T10:55:00.003Z

With an iPhone App for free this has to be one of the most useful ways to have your own 'Scrapbook' for recipes, articles etc!
LINK

Brian Blessed Bonanza!

2008-11-08T06:36:00.002Z

My Mentor

Brian Blessed recalls the director who taught him to play the fool

The Guardian, Saturday November 8 2008

When I was 11 I played the part of Rumpelstiltskin and my teacher told me I would make a great actor. But I was the son of a coal miner and I had to leave school when I was 14 because my father had an accident. I became a plasterer and I did amateur theatre at night. It was there I met Harry Dobson.

He got a hold of me and guided me from then on. He was the best director and teacher I ever met; he was of the same stature as Peter Hall and Trevor Nunn, or at least would have done as well as them had he not stayed in amateur theatre and helped people like me.

Harry was a great bull of a man: he had a huge physique with sausage fingers and a penetrating gaze. He rode a motorbike and wore leathers and said things like: "Give yourself the luxury of making a fool of yourself!"

He thought the greatest risk in life was not going for the adventure and told me often that my determination was getting in my way and that I should lighten up and ease up on myself. He taught me not to try too hard, and that I needed to get out and have fun.

I went through a phase when I became uncaring, the way teenagers do. I was horrible to my parents and to everyone around me and Harry was appalled. One evening I was talking to him in an offhand way and he slapped me straight across the face. It stung, it was powerful and it almost unbalanced me. "You uncaring bastard - you're forgetting everyone who has done so much for you, you're big-headed and egotistical!" he roared. "You can bugger off; I don't want to talk to you!"

I got a fever that night that lasted a couple of weeks. I apologised to my parents for my behaviour and then I went to see Harry and told him I was back to myself and apologised profusely. He hugged me and said, "Come here, you great ape!"

I kept in touch with Harry. When I was in Z-Cars I got a message that he was in hospital with cancer. I rushed to his bedside and there was this bull of a man now about five stone with wires coming out of his nose. I was crying my eyes out, but he reassured me. "Oh Brian, I'm having the most wonderful dreams. You go for it and don't let the bastards grind you down." A few hours later he was dead.

I always feel when I play parts that he's watching over me, saying: "Give, you bugger, give!" and as a result in rehearsals I always make a fool of myself and throw myself into it, trying new things out.

Happy Halloween With A Roasted Stuffed Pumpkin Recipe.

2008-10-22T02:04:00.005+01:00

Must remember to make a list of the ingredients here to make this over the weekend.....

Recipe: Roasted Stuffed Pumpkin

Time: About 2 hours

1 6 1/2- to 7-pound sugar pumpkin, or other pumpkin suitable for eating
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, 2 minced, 1 halved
1 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
Finely grated zest of half an orange
2 cups basmati rice
4 cups vegetable stock
Salt.

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Fill a kettle with water, and bring to a boil. About an inch below the top of the pumpkin's "shoulders," about where it would be cut to carve a jack-o'-lantern, slice a lid from top of pumpkin, and set it aside. Remove seeds and fibrous flesh from inside.

2. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, heat the oil, and sauté the onion until it is softened. Add 2 minced garlic cloves, and sauté for 30 seconds. Stir in the cranberries, ginger, allspice, saffron and orange zest. Add the rice, and stir until it is glossy. Pour in stock, and bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat as low as possible. Cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile rub the inside of pumpkin with cut garlic clove, and rub with some salt to taste.

3. When rice has cooked for 15 minutes, it will be damp and not very fluffy. Adjust seasoning to taste, and spoon into pumpkin cavity. Press lid firmly on top. It may sit above stuffing a bit like a jaunty cork. Wrap bottom two to three inches of pumpkin in a double layer of foil to protect it from contact with water during baking. Place in a roasting pan, and add about 1 inch of boiling water to pan.

4. Bake the pumpkin until it is tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 1/2 hours. (If there is resistance when pumpkin is pierced, allow more baking time.) To serve, remove pumpkin from pan, and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes. Discard foil, and place pumpkin on a serving platter. Slice into segments like a cake. Place a wedge of pumpkin on each serving plate, and mound with rice stuffing.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

shiveringgoat - chill 2008 free download

2008-10-18T12:55:00.001+01:00

DOWNLOAD HERE

Tracks:

1. John Carpenter - Julie 2. Fenonomen - Pacific Memories 3. Télépopmusik - Don't Look Back 4. Afterlife - Lovedub 5. The Album Leaf - The Outer Banks 6. Ganga - Hi-Fi Love (Kenneth Bager Re-edit) 7. True Stories - Crazy Girls 8. Dousk - Anagram 9. The Album Leaf - Thule 10. Bent - Beautiful Otherness 11. Abakus - Under The Stars 12. Caia - Le Telecabine 13. Sundial Aeon - Azure Aquarings 14. Tennishero - Alone 15. Electronic - Free Will 16. shiveringgoat - Bad Wind And Other Stories...

Tosser.

2008-10-15T09:10:00.000+01:00

'Funding Mentalism' - Jihadi Comedy Pledge. Chris Morris Needs Your Help!

2008-10-01T17:32:00.004+01:00

Turn terrorism comedy into movie!

From Popbitch;

"We told you that Chris Morris' terror cell
comedy had been rejected by a fearful Channel 4
and BBC. It seems they have a history of
this. Muslim comedian Omar Mazouk was to
present a mockumentary about misguided
suicide bombers for BBC but this was also
nixed. He took the idea to a TV network in
Denmark instead, where it's getting rave reviews.

And putting two fingers up to TV commissioners,
Morris is turning his Jihadi sitcom into a
film. He's got producers at Warpfilm and a
distributor. All he needs now is enough money
to make the film. Which is where we come in.
Popbitch readers donating between 25 and 100
quid to help get the film made will get the
chance to be in it. So get out your cheque book
and burkha and email:
fundingmentalism@warpfilms.com

Chris would not deny or confirm that recruits
who sign up will also get a free al-Qaeda
explosives handbook.

Chris is asking for donations to finish the film email fundingmentalism@warpfilms.com

I emailed them and got this back;

"Thanks for your email offering support for the “Four Lions” project.

The response so far has been extremely encouraging and our next move depends on numbers. We won’t ask for your money until we have enough people involved to make the system work.

So whether you want to be in the film or just fancy a binge of coin chucking, please spray the news around.

And if passing this on seems like a bit of a hassle? Well think about it. Yesterday, over a hundred thousand people - alive and breathing and not passing it on just like you are thinking of not passing it on - died. It’s unlikely they were all wiped out precisely because they weren’t passing it on but its not impossible is it? Not totally statistically unimaginably impossible. Run that by yourself a couple of times before you decide not to pass it on.

Thanks

CM"

Bronski Beat - SmallTown Boy :)

2008-09-23T23:51:00.000+01:00

Air Share - No.1 iPhone Application

2008-09-18T17:55:00.001+01:00

Found this free application you load onto the iPhone. You can then use
it like a data stick except it works by WiFi - you can share the
public folder with an ip address to anyone on the internet so they can
drag files from your iPhone onto their computer or really handy if you
want to totally secure and password protected. Amazing and free too,
just wish they would allow you to attach to email as I carry around in
my phone all my important docs - scans of birth certificate etc in
case I forget who I am or what sex I am etc.

Mark Bittman

2008-09-14T08:36:00.005+01:00

I love reading the New York Times online - its full of really great stuff and one of the chef's on there Mark Bittman makes a great contribution every week you can check out his page HERE there is some great videos there too with simple but great cooking. He has also written a really thorough Vegetarian cookery book which I cannot recommend highly enough its one of the best books I have used packed with hundreds of recipes - 600 pages!HERE

"LEAVE HIM OUT OF IT!" (Quote On Beethoven from Clockwork Orange)!

2008-09-12T22:38:00.006+01:00

Great night tonight at the penultimate night of the 2008 Proms - Beethoven's glorious 9th Symphony - what a great performance by the BBC Philharmonic! Gianandrea Noseda was the lightening conductor, Emma Bell soprano Jane Irwin mezzo-soprano Timothy Robinson tenor Iain Paterson bass City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus.

They play same program in Manchester 26th September.

The Drobo - Robotic Hard Drive Back-Up

2008-09-05T21:56:00.002+01:00

Amazing new way to back up all your data - this is one of the cleverest ways to do it as you can keep replacing the drives the cheaper they get....

Here's a review I found online...

New Hackney Podcasts

2008-09-03T23:19:00.011+01:00

Hackney is changing fast. In 2001 when I first moved here the streets were awash with discarded fried chicken boxes, now the streets are littered with empty sushi boxes (Fairtrade!)

now there is a podcast pouring local information straight through your ooko and into your gullivar via the iMac...its all good news....very enjoyable - shame Jules Pipe wouldn't have inhaled helium stood on a see saw whilst he responded to the questions on the Olympics that would have been funny....

give it a listen....

www.hackneypodcast.co.uk

Nick Drake

2008-09-03T21:42:00.003+01:00

Do you know Nick Drake's music? its timeless and beautiful like me. More info on Nicks short life HERE

Meanwhile I put together an iMix of my favourite Nick Drake tracks (he only made 3 albums)