Run For Cover!!

OK so last time I wrote about John Sykes so this time I'm going to write about Gary Moore the guitarist from Northern Ireland. He's often to mistaken to Irish. He probably is Irish but he was born in UK so I'd say he's British guitarist. He's been around for quite long time. His first recording were called "Grind Stone" in 1973. He's a close friend of legendary Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy and he had few stint with Thin Lizzy too like "Black Rose" album. Then he did another solo "Back To The Streets". Some weird compilation called "Spanish Guitar" with original song "Spanish Guitar". Then he formed G-Force. After G-Force he had relatively stable solo band. What can I say about this guy. Jaw-droppingly good! Deserve the knighthood title, SIR GARY MOORE! His guitar play is just awesome really. Brilliant! Super technique! Not just the guitarist but also a great singer. Very very talented and influential musician. I think he's also very versatile as musician too. His style is very varied. Not necessary hard rock/metal. Nowadays he's known for Blues (since the beginning of 90s) but before he changed he was a great rock musician. My mum's friend Bob Daisley played bass with Gary Moore! His guitar tone hits really high and sounds very clean, heavy and fast yet very melodic and emotional. Some war themed lyrics make you think that peace is necessary. Even to this day PEACE is needed/wanted!! I did compare him with John Sykes and I'd say John and Gary are sometimes similar but I don't really think they are the same. Gary's been around so much longer and John admires and influenced by Gary so no surprise there. They are both great guitarists and they are in my top 5 really. I'd recommend his albums "Run For Cover", "Wild Frontier" and "After The War" trilogy. Best 80's Hard Rock. No doubt about it. If you like guitar music or traditional hard rock/heavy metal then I'd strongly recommend his music to you!!

Bless!!

My SON!! 2

I've been rather busy visiting my wife and our baby Justin. Both of them are doing fine and I'm pleased. I run again today but shorter distance 3.5 km. My time was 15:48:67. Not too bad I think.

My SON!!

He's born today at around 1:05 this afternoon! Weight is 3.6 kg. I feel great becoming a father!!

Bless you!!

5.1km course 4

My time is getting better each time. Yesterday I managed to run this distance within 26:43:25 very pleased indeed! And the big news is that I'll be a father maybe tomorrow...

We All Fall Down!

It's into middle of September 2010... Hot weather is fading slowly but still pretty hot here in Japan. August and September so far only few rainfall in Tokyo. Anyways I've been watching films a lot but I'll write about music here. I'm going to say something about John Sykes the English rock/metal guitarist. He's 51 now! Time flies... He's 20 years older than me! Lets go back to main subject, he's often compared to Gary Moore, in a good way or bad way. I like both just as much and can't pick who's better. It's like McDonald's and KFC?! He started his career just after I was born (1979) and played in a NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) band called Street Fighter but they've never recorded any materials I think. Then he joined famous NWOBHM band called Tygers of Pan Tang from Newcastle, North East of England. Then he left his mark with great guitar play and they also had good singer Jon Deverill. I think Tygers of Pan Tang peaked after "Spellbound", because their music wasn't good anymore. Then Phil Lynott asked John to join legendary Thin Lizzy band to record mega heavy "Thunder and Lightning" album. He revitalised lethargic group like them and beafed up the music to more hard and tough, metal sound rather than good hard rock music for what they were known for, then he joined David Coverdale's (ex-Deep Purple vocalist) Whitesnake. Coverdale wanted to hire Sykes to break into US market. Whitesnake had orthodox and subtle blues/hard rock feel to their music but with Sykes they can toughen their image as well as music and he eventually joined. I think somewhere between Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake, John played for John Sloman's (Lone Star/Uriah Heep) band called Badlands (He also did some solo called "Please Don't Leave Me" and one instrumental for a Xmas album - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"). I got the demo tape on mp3 format but not very good really. Whitesnake released "Slide It In" and "1987" with John Sykes on guitar and I'd say it's there best material. "1987" is one of the all time best hard rock/heavy metal really. Sykes left the band after a row  with Coverdale. Not just Sykes but all recording member had left the band. Coverdale is a great singer but he's a egomaniac, dictator and control freak and he only care about image and money!

So he formed Blue Murder with Tony Franklin (The Firm) on bass and Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, King Kobra etc) on drums. "Blue Murder" self titled album and "Nothin' But Trouble" both great albums. Latter album had unknown Marco Mendoza on bass and Tommy O'Steen on drums. But the band didn't get enough recognition and John dropped the band name to simple Sykes.

With Sykes more or less same line-up from above mentioned musicians and some guest and he released "Out of my Tree", "Loveland", "20th Century" and "Nuclear Cowboy".  And then he hasn't released anything for a decade now! He does occasional live gigs but only play Thin Lizzy tribute stuff with main members from original Thin Lizzy members but really bit dull to be honest. I prefer his solo stuff.

I really love John Sykes and he's one of my all time favourite guitarist ever. Not just the way he plays his trademark old and battered Black Beauty Gibson Les Paul guitar but he's a great singer as well as song writer and music is great. Melodic yet fast and aggressive. It's really rare to find such talented musicians really. He deserve a knighthood really. He should be called Sir Sykes!! He's often under rated but I would put him very high. And great thing is that every time you listen to him live music sound different but each one is great. He has released quite a few live albums too but it's all brilliant. I can't praise him more.

Lucky I've seen him once live in London! I hope he'll release more solo albums!

His best albums are... "Spellbound", "Thunder and Lightning", "1987", "Blue Murder",  "Nothin' But Trouble" and "Out of my Tree". I think these albums should be enough!

5.1km course 3

Last night my time improved by more... 27:10:66!!

I'd like to run this distance within space of 26 minutes!!

Well done me!!

5.1km course 2

I checked my time again cos I run same distance. It did improve little. Time was 27:51:44 not bad. I think if I was fitter I could do better...

Satisfied!

Brüno

This is the 3rd comedy sketch by Sacha Baron Cohen. He's a Jewish/British comedian and I've seen him on Channel 4's programme called The 11 O'clock Show. At first I thought his sketches are rather funny and these characters he play are based in real life. He plays 3 characters. 1st one was a British Wigger (Check urbandictionary ) called da Ali G. 2nd one was a Kazakh called Borat and finally the 3rd person is the gay Austiran Brüno. It was funny but after a while Sacha Baron Cohen's characters become very repetitive and boring at times and I didn't find it funny later. But having left UK for 5 years I found it rather fresh and interesting to see these films. Actually he didn't really play that much Brüno. Anyways this film is basically it's about Brüno the gay Austrian fashion journalist gets fired from TV presenter job and moves to LA in US then develops this desire to become famous in US, Hollywood etc. There's plenty of sick gay f**king scenes and very graphic, including a scenes like bicycle machine converted to dildo poking machine and it goes Brüno's ass in and out. 360 degree rotating anal f**king with a little south east asian man. It was horrible BUT if you like these extreme sick jokes then you'll love it. Also he auditions for an interviewer for the TV and he tries to interview Harrison Ford then he says "F**k off!" then there's this penis full on TV screen and rotating and talks! It was outrageous! Latter part of the film he discovered that to become famous he needs to be straight and he opt for conversion. But he fails and can't remember how it ended... I think I would spoil it so I won't write it. I'd recommend this movie if you can take graphic gay jokes and someone with strong stomach.

Easy Livin'

Yes this is a famous song title by Uriah Heep. Amazingly their career has lasted for over 40 YEARS! This year the band has been active for 41 years under control of Sir Mick Box! There career started from late 60's under name of "Spice" then changed the band name to Uriah Heep from Charles Dickens novel. Their musical style is heavy hard rock with progressive rock twist with folklore based theme. Their album covers always had folklore based children's book look. Very arty. I forgot to mention it but Uriah Heep are one of the pioneers of hard rock/heavy metal genre with Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. They are like deities of Metal. They had distinctive high pitched, charismatic singer called David Byron, keyboardist/guitarist, the main songwriter Ken Hensley and main man Mick Box on guitar. They were quite successful at beginning of their career but by the end of 70's there popularity kinda declined. They also had many line-up changes but the classic line-up was above three and Gary Thain on bass and Lee Kerslake on drums. Best albums would be difficult to choose because they released 22 studio albums to date. I think "Demons & Wizards" and "The Magician's Birthday" are great David Byron era albums and "Firefly" is good for John Lawton era and I think "Abominog" is great. Pete Goalby is great singer. The band nearly disbanded in 1980 after the release of "Conquest". Everyone has left the band apart from Mick Box and he decided to carry on. What a WILL!! Since then he managed to keep very stable line up. I should mention current members: Barnie Shaw on vocals, Trevor Bolder on bass, Phil Lanzon on keyboard and Russell Gilbrook on drums.

Last saturday

I forgot to write/type about event held in Yoyogi Park last Saturday. It was a 5th annual Brazilian Day event. I went there with my wife and soon after my friend joined. We drunk Acai juice, Caipirinha and ate beef known as Churrasco and some sausages as well. It was very hot and we saw some famous Brazilian celebrities and musicians. We saw a group called Kid Abelha. Not really my cup of tea but it was alright.

Last night I run 5.1km distance and time was 28:35:76. This is my excuse but I think I could run little faster if my stomach was in better condition. My best was like something like around 27 minutes.

So I'm running 1km within space of 5 minutes +. It's not great but it's not bad either!

Wednesday there was heavy rain in Japan with typhoon arriving and caused some flood and landslides but it didn't effect Tokyo. It was tad cold but today is pretty hot again. It was nice to have rain for a change.

That's it.

5.1km course

This is the running course for extended run that I sometime do. I usually run just 3.1km but when I've got enough time then I go this way.

I manage to run this distance for about 27 to 30 minutes. I will count next time.

My mac history...

I've been using apple mac computer for quite a while now. I don't really use them fully like some expert does but I think I am alright for using certain applications. My mother bought a Apple performa desktop first back in 95 or 96 I think. I was like age of 16 or 17 at that time. It was for family use to make some attractive documents etc. Then we had the slow dial-up internet connect with motorola modem. I remember using internet for the first time and after a month or so I got caught for over using it. You know young lad would use internet for viewing dirty stuff. I was caught because of the bill. Then couple of years later my mum bought a new iMac. It was like round television box or something like that. It looked more like modern interior. Then I left UK and my father bought me a iBook G4. I think iBook G4 was rather crap and couple of years later I'm using this MacBook Black 250G. I'm really happy with current MacBook because it has lot of memories, built-in webcam etc. I payed half for my wife's current new iMac. Mac is great but expensive...

Switzerland v England

I woke up today around 8 o'clock in the morning because I had to take my wife to hospital and I found out on BBC news that we beat Switzerland away 3-1. It was good to see the good results BUT still far away to EURO 2012. Rooney, Adam Johnson and Darren Bent scored the goal. Goal from Switzerland was awesome though. Rooney had tabloid speculations and he was in trouble. I don't know if it's true or false but it didn't effect his game so it was alright. Hope it is false though. Good to see Adam Johnson scoring 2 goals in 2 games for the Three Lions. He might become a new young hero for England.

England v Bulgaria

I just woke up about hour and half ago and read the results 4-0 and saw the highlights on footytube.com website. I must say all the goals scored by Defoe (Hat-trick) and Adam Johnson was awesome but this is only weak team like Bulgaria and we've all seen how good they were in world cup 2010 qualifications. I'm not too convinced yet. European Championship 2012 qualifications has just started and still long way to go. Interesting score from other matches were Portugal v Cyprus 4-4 and France v Belarus 0-1! I thought Belarus weren't that bad in World Cup 2010 qualifications against England but French also have great players. Maybe French are having bad patch. International football can't be estimated... Even how shit and small they usually are at club or individual level. I might watch Japan's game tonight after Brazilian Festival in Yoyogi Park in Shibuya. They've got a new manager Alberto Zaccheroni.

Anyways it's a good start for us and well done Defoe! Next game against Switzerland.

Rebel Yell

This is the last one for today! Blond, spiky haired, twitching mouthed, leather clad punk called Billy Idol! Despite his intimidating looks his music is quite pop. Popular new wave from the 80s. He sometime sings hard rock and some punk. He's a Englishman and started his career with a band called Generation X and then he went solo and cracked the big time and popular and famous in the 80s. He disappeared for while and made a comeback around mid 2000s and he's old but more powerful masculine physique. I first discovered him on TV or radio I think. Can't really remember but liked his old promo videos like "White Wedding" and "Rebel Yell". His partner is called Steve Stevens. I think he's been good with creative side and fun guitar play. I think his first couple albums were good but I think late 80s and 90s materials are s**t.
His Greatest Hits albums were really good in beginning but mid to late tracks were awful. But overall he's good musician!

Improved time!

My jogging/running time has improved to 15:26:36!

3.5km Jogging

My best time is 15:59:09! Start from home and back to home!

*Batteries Not Included

This is a warm hearted family oriented science-fiction movie made in 1987. It's about building/cafe owner Frank and Faye Riley and their tenants were asked to move by evil shopping complex building/property building managers called Lacey. The Latino called Carlos who was hired by Lacey causes trouble by threatening them with gangs and destroying things and forcing them to take dirty money etc. Frank almost gave up but one night strange UFO like machine aliens save them with magic. I've seen this movie ages ago and I quite liked it and I downloaded it couple of days ago and watched it. It's really good. I liked when that little none functioning baby UFO came back to life by accident. Steven Spielberg don't make much crap movies and you are almost always guaranteed with good movies.

SD Gundam

SD Gundam is cute little robots created by Bandai the large toy company from Japan. Gundam is a science-fiction, animation series from Japan and story is rather complicated and appealed to more older audience rather than small and younger kids. Cartoon with war and political theme. It's about a rich royal family up in space created an empire called Zeon and decided to take over the whole world both the outer space and the earth. Earthlings are opposed to Zeon and fight against them and they are called Earth Federation. That's it really and I haven't really pay much attentions to character's drama side and only interested in robot fights. Rather more like War Machine (Not the one from Ironman!). So anyways let's get back to main subject.

Bandai owns Gundam franchise so they created this SD thing. SD stands for Super Deformed. Deform means to change. They just created these Gundam robots to extremely small cuddly characters. First it was designed by an illustrator called Koji Yokoi and also Susumi Imaishi. I used to like the Yokoi's illustrations because he was the originator and I was reading his comics on monthly BombBomb magazine. But now I prefer Imaishi's illustration because he's technically better illustrator and well detailed and well drawn. So with bit of time opinion changes. Also the toys were better quality with Imaishi's drawings.

This SD was so popular many cartoon and live-action characters were turned into Super Deformed format. SD Gundam was the most popular and it was massive back in late 80's to early 90's. Don't know too much from mid 90's cos I wasn't in Japan then. I literally had hundreds of SD Gundam toys and cards. As I get older I took interest in proper original cartoons instead of these little cute ones.

I decided to write about it cos I occasionally play games about SD Gundam.

I will leave a picture here and you'll get an idea!

Launch of new umbro England home kit 2010

I think umbro (nike) and FA decided to release this new kit because of disaster in last word cup this summer. Just to forget the bad memories and it's a new start. I think it's good because all the countries release new kit just before the major tournament. Also I personally hated the previous all WHITE kit. Because of the colour of the shorts. England aka Three Lions always had a white shirt, navy shorts and white socks. So we should keep the tradition. I hear some idiots are saying that St. George's Cross is white and red so should be white and red but the AWAY kit always had that red shirt, white shorts and red socks so I don't want bloody red in it. FFS.

I personally want adidas to supply England kit because I just don't like nike being american and when I was younger no one was wearing nike. Nike started to become big around mid-late 90's. Before always umbro and nike, sometime Kappa, Puma or Reebok etc.

Anyways I personally wouldn't buy this retro classic style kit and not so much difference to previous home kit. I'd prefer modern style kit...

Hope England will beat Bulgaria tonight!! COME ON!!

Difficult time...

I'm struggling with life now and people are suffering out there like war torn  countries, minors trapped underground in Chile, flood in Pakistan etc. So it's not just me and my family who are suffering, but there's so many people better off having luxury life too! Life isn't fair indeed. Hope my/our life prosper quickly.

Seems like little by little things are getting sorted and heading to better way...