Category: Favourites

Well, we finally made it back safely from Nashville today and it was (broken neck aside) a great time, infact my injured neck has healed up significantly since yesterday, so all’s well…

To wrap up the weekend, we went to The Opryland Hotel (recommended by a few Atlanta Area Flickrites) or to give it it’s official name, The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, or Gaylord Opryland for short. And it is a most bizare place…

Admittedly it was built when Opryland was a theme park so it is a cross between Disney World and Las Vegas, just minus Mickey Mouse and slot machines. It’s a massive hotel, spread over 4 or 5 atriums, all under a huge glass roof so the weather and temperature is completely controlled. It just seems so out of place in Nashville… But I can only pass on my recommendation also, if you ever find yourself in Nashville be sure and spend some time in the Opryland Hotel, if only for the Delta River Flatboat Tour, or even to ride The General Jackson to see Nashville at night.

And so ended our long weekend in Music City, highly, and somewhat surprisingly, enjoyable on the whole…

To round things off, you can see my Flickr set here and here are some obligatory, and gratuitous panoramas. Firstly of the Statue of Athena in The Parthenon, then inside the Delta Atruim of The Opryland Hotel and finally a whoping 360° shot of Nashville from the banks of the Cumberland River.

Downtown Nashville

Originally uploaded by FLC.

At around 11:45 yesterday morning, we had a nice little power outage, or what I thought would be a little power outage… I waited for around an hour or so before guessing that, after that period of time, the power wouldn’t be back anytime soon. So I packed up a few things onto the bike and went out to see what Sandy Springs has to offer.

I calculated (via Google Earth) that I must have cycled for approximately 16 miles and on my travels I came across something that looked completely out of place in Georgia, and America in general.

A couple of British red phone boxes (a rare breed in Britain also, it must be noted). It just struck me as a kind of odd thing to see in the land of strip malls, especially odd when you consider there was a Tudor-esque building that housed Blockbuster Video behind it… Very odd indeed.

Red Phone Boxes

Originally uploaded by FLC.

As an addition to my last post, here is the prime example of how bizarre things can be when you’re out in the boonies, courtesy of The Eatonton Messenger.

Who cares about life, death, taxes and general misery in the world when a couple of kids open a lemonade stand? What makes it even better is it is (was) top story on their website too…

It put a little smile on my face, that’s for sure…

It’s that time of year, that time when American celebrate their independence from Britain by setting off several tons of dynamite…

We spent part of the weekend down at Robyn’s parent lakehouse in Miledgeville on the shores of Lake Sinclair where we watched dvd’s, swam in the water, roasted marshmallows on an open fire and set off several tons of dynamite (including an awesome depth charge). Very relaxing all in all…

We left mid morning on Monday and made our way back to Atlanta for the Braves games against the Chicago Cubs that night…

It was a prety good game with the Braves winning 4-0 off the back of two Adam LaRoche homers and Kyle Davies pitching, but the best part was the crowd… It was a full house in Turner Field and there was a large group of Cubs fans so it made for a really enjoyable time and after the game there was a fireworks display, no doubt serveral, several tons of dynamite was set off during this one that lit up the Atlanta skyline all set to “patriotic” music like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” (go figure) as well as “rousing” songs like Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.” The capacity crowd lapped this up while hollering at important moments displayed on screen.

Now I can take all the fake psuedo-patriotism with a pinch of salt, especially here in the south but there is a few things I will not do (but did do yesterday to prevent a lynching mainly)… I usually don’t stand for the national anthem or when they sing “America the Beautiful” in the 7th inning, call me disrespectful if you wish, it’s just my beliefs and it’s not my national anthem… and IF I do stand (to prevent said lynching) I also make a point not to remove my cap (if I’m wearing one), again, call me disrespectful if you wish, it’s just my beliefs and it’s not my flag… I only did it yesterday as it was July 4th as it could be considered something of a big deal. I don’t really have a point to this, I guess I’m just trying to say that it’s fine if you want to be patriotic to your own flag and country, just don’t be expecting me to be…

As a special treat, there are a few panoramas with high resolution alternate versions…

Firstly here is a view from the cheap seats high above home plate (hi-res alternate), then a view from the cheapest of cheap seats in right field (hi-res alternate), and finally a view from our seats.

About 5pm we were sitting around doing nothing in particular when Robyn’s friend and co-worker, Charles, asked us if we wanted to go see the new movie “War of the Worlds” at the local cinema, well Robyn had been feeling not so well during the day but decided to go see it anyways…

The movie was very “whelming”… It wasn’t overwheling and it wasn’t underwhelming, it was right in the middle, and can basically be broken down into 3 acts, the first 15 minutes sets the stage, the middle 1 hour and 40 minutes is a little bit adventurous and a little bit boring and the final 5 minutes is the finale, and I ain’t even kidding… There is next to no build up, save for a little monolouge and the introduction of Tom Cruise’s character, who, we’re told, isn’t exactly an ideal role model for an action movie. As Michael Hanscom put it, there is no heart to this movie, none at all. You’re just thrown in and expected to pick up the pieces you’re given.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that it’s a bad film, it could be enjoyable for some, it’s just not an enthralling movie, it tends to lose it’s self from time to time, most noteably when Tim Robbins character is introduced, and the resolution, which is pretty well known if you know anything about the books, radio play or other film adaptations, is just so sudden that even though the end credits are rolling and the lights are up, you’re waiting for something more to appear. I can safely say it’s possibly the worst ending I’ve seen in a long, long time… Even if it is true to the original story…

It’s probably best viewed as a rental later on down the road…

Robyn, meanwhile, dislikes “suspence” movies (which this had in spades, as well as it’s fair share of gruesome scenes) and is most likely deeply traumatised by the whole ordeal. I’m not sure if that is a recommendation or whatever, I’ll let you draw you’re own conclusions.

Remember I said Google Earth would take up a lot of your time?

Well, this is a prime example, a 3D rendering of downtown Atlanta, as viewed from just north of Bank of America Plaza, the largest building in Atlanta…

And this is me only just beginning, I wonder what other fabulous views I can find…

Atlanta in 3D

Originally uploaded by FLC.

With the nightmare that was “Batman & Robin” still reasonably fresh in my mind after all these years, we went to see the new “Batman Begins” in IMAX last night, and I’d easily say it’s the best Batman movie yet, yes, even better than Tim Burton’s “Batman“…

It’s the usual Batman back story, Bruce Wayne see’s his parents killed by a mugger, he then vows vengeance on the evil of Gotham City, he spends his life travelling the world, learning the appropriate skills needed and when he’s old enough, he creates the Batman persona. The start of this film focuses on Bruce learning the mystic ways of the ninja off Ra’s Al Ghul, flashing back and forth to Bruce’s early life, once his training is complete, Bruce returns to Gotham to single handedly save it just as The Scarecrow arrives…

It’s a pretty cool movie visually, showing the origins of the Batcave, Batsuit, Batmobile and Batman’s relationship with Jim Gordon, played by a very un-Gary Oldman-like Gary Oldman, and is very close to the dark nature of Tim Burton’s Batman movies. It’s, again like Star Wars Episode III, recommended you see it in IMAX if possible, the halloucination scenes will most likely make you feel a little dizzy.

Highly recommended, even if your not a Batman fan, as it will explain everything you need to know…

For the forseeable future I’ll be a full-time blogger/photographer as I’ve taken an extended leave of absense from my job, home and life…

I’m not going to go into details, but things have been brewing for quite a while now and it’s all reached a point where I deided that it was time to take a break, for the sake of me and everyone around me. See, I have issues with things I’m not even going to go into, but it’s compulsive behaviour that I really need to stop, otherwise I’m probably going to ruin the best thing I got going, ever. So last night, I packed my belongings into a suitcase and 4 boxes, crated Sally, loaded them up into a car and drove away, luckily my ex (and possibly my current right now, not got round to figuring that out just yet) offered to take me in, otherwise I’d be in a hotel, then the airport, then gone…

So I dunno how long this will take, a few days, a few weeks, a month, possibly longer, but it’s nice to know that even though I’m a selfish, miserable bastard at the best of times, I have this circle of friends, albeit a small circle of friends, who still support me even though I’ve hurt them more than they even care to tell.

Right now I’m just sad I had to leave two of the nicest people you could possibly find in the lurch so to speak… I really do not deserve the patience and the amount of last chances they have given me over the last 18 months.

Thanks for everything Phil & Erika, I’ll be back, I promise that…

Yesterday would be our second and last day at this years Music Midtown festival. And a busy day we had planned too…

Starting with Bloc Party, I bought their CD a month or so ago but never really got round to listening to it properly, so this set was quite an eye opener for me. Admitedly it wasn’t as good as Interpol or The White Stripes from the night before, but they rocked pretty hard, despite the start of the rainfall during their set. I definately need to listen to the CD more now…

After a pause for food was Keane, and to be brutally honest, they were pretty average at best, a lot of their songs have a similar sound, and when they played a new one, it could well have been “Somewhere Only We Know” with different words. Really, the piano, drums and vocal setup limits their options of what they can do. The rain was coming down like a tropical storm by now and showed no signs of relenting, which didn’t help matters… At least from where I was standing.

Then we moved onto the main reasons for going in the first place… And the rain let up just as The Killers came on stage, which was nice as far as timing goes…

They kicked off with “Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine” and immediately lifted the damp crowd, a damn huge crowd mostly here in preperation for The Pixies, and they kept it up even as the rain threatened to begin again. They played most of “Hot Fuss” as well as a few other songs, including a new one, which was pretty cool, especially as everyone was singing along with all the songs.

My one complaint, if it could be called one, is that they had the stage not lit very well, so a lot of my pictures didn’t come out as I would have liked, but that’s a completely moot point. It was an awesome show and prepared me for the awesomeness that was about to unfold before my eyes…

Now, if you’re ever lucky enough to see The Pixies play live, don’t be expecting a show in a wider sense of the word… They just come on, play the songs and then they’re gone… There is very little crowd interaction from the band, except sometimes Kim Deal says “thanks” after a song. But damn, the songs rock, I almost shouted myself hoarse during some of the them. Another great show, probably the best of the weekend (in my opinion, which counts the most on this site) and they completely lived up the the hype I’ve been building in my mind for the last, oh I dunno, 5 to 10 years, they played almost every song I wanted to hear (what, no Velouria?) and it was an extremely worthwhile experience, even the douwnpour of rain wouldn’t ruin it for me…

A great weekend, and a lot of great bands, only Keane were slightly disappointing as the rest were excellent. Shame about the weather though, but you cant have everything…

Today was the first day of Music Midtown, which is basically a three day music festival placed right in the heart of Atlanta’s Midtown area… Barry and I decided to go as there was 6 bands that we would like to see and it seemed worth paying $75 for the priveledge of standing in a car park in the rain for… So off we went, tonight’s menu was the double bill of Interpol and The White Stripes.

We arrived about 30 minutes before Interpol were scheduled to start, and surprisingly the main stage wasn’t as busy as we thought it might have been, so we shuffle our way down, grabbing a few beers along the way and wait… They only played for an hour, but I thought they were really good, I hadn’t heard much beforehand, but I did like what I heard, so I’ll be looking into obtaining a CD or two sometime soon.

Then came Jack and Meg White, it was their first show since the release of their newest CD “Get Behind Me Satan,” they were scheduled for 90 minutes and they gave for every second of it, old songs, new songs, cover songs and a whole lot more inbetween… Including Jack singing “Passive Manipulation,” which is sung by Meg on the CD and was also played by Meg earlier in the set, during one of his guitar tangents… But it’s funny what a distinctive sound the twosome have, and what noise they can make, seriously overpowering at times. Anyways, a great show and a full-on sonic assault, now it only leaves tomorrow (we’re skipping Sunday) starting with Bloc Party, then Keane, then The Killers and finally the moment I’ve been waiting for for so long… The Pixies!

Sweet line up, I think you’ll agree… Though I’ll be too busy dreaming about Kim Deal to notice much else going on…

AKA: When Good Burgers Go Bad

Following on from the 1lb. Monster Thickburger last month it was time to take the ultimate fast food challenge… The 1½lb. Monsterous Thickburger!

Weighing in with easily over 2100 calories, this bad, bad burger is for serious folks only… It’s currently just over two times the size of Hardees current 2/3lb. Monster Thickburger (comparison to the right) and is made up of THREE ½-pound slabs of Angus beef, six strips of bacon, four slices of cheese and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame seed bun.

All you can say is “Fuck Yeah!”

Anyways, Barry consumed this unholy delicacy in a little over 30 minutes… But the burning question remains, will he take the 2lb. challenge?

The 1½lb. Monsterous Thickburger

Originally uploaded by FLC.

I’ve been accepted as a new contributor in the Atlanta Metroblog, which is pretty damn cool, course it now means I’ll need to get out and about more in the Atlanta area as I’m sorely lacking in ATL knowledge, oh well, a hard price to pay for the apparent fame and no doubt fortunes this endevour will bring me.

Anyways, I best go and post a little hello post over there, but don’t worry, I won’t forget about you, you’re still my first love, always was, always will be…

Now it isn’t a proper birthday without a cake, and Phil, Erika and Barry surprised me with a really nice ice cream cake after dinner yesterday…

This is me trying to cut the damn thing, but it was pretty much frozen solid, and when it was eventually cut, the icing stained everything blue… No joke, lips, teeth, fingers, all blue.

Gregor and his Ice Cream Cake

Originally uploaded by MrFill.

I’m finally back from my 6½ day stint at Hilton Head Island and it was wonderful… Seriously, when you’re sitting back in high 80° weather, sipping down frozen margaritas while watching the Atlantic Ocean slowly lap it’s way towards the shore, you soon forget ALL your troubles…

And seeing as I’m just back after a long ass drive home (made memorable by a 100 mile+ search for KFC that started south of Macon and ended in South Atlanta… KFC? Try NFC (No Fucking Chicken)) I’ve decided to throw all my pictures up on Flickr in a set so you can browse them at your leisure as a) I couldnt be assed choosing a handful from the 91 pictures I took to post here and b) making my own thumbnails is a total pain in the ass. Hmmm, three mentions of the word ass in one paragraph.

But yeah, great time, great friends, great weather, great drinks and I’m still alive to tell the tale, doesn’t get much better than that. Not a lot really happened, we sat around, biked around the island, played a few rounds of mini golf, drank at a tiki bar on the beach and swam in the ocean. It was never going to be an exciting week (of sorts), just relaxing…

Welcome To South Carolina

Originally uploaded by FLC.

For fear of upsetting every nerd/fan who come across this in the minuscule time before they actually see it, I’ll try and keep it as spoiler free as possible.

OMG! Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader?? Who woulda thunk it???

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