Merry Christmas!!!!!

Just want to wish you all a very very Merry Christmas and an even better New Year! I hope to talk to or see you all soon. I miss and love you all very much.

p.s Just so you know, England don't have the Charlie Brown Christmas special!? I know, I couldn't believe it either!!

Corbycards is now online!!!!

Hey everybody or anybody who might stumble upon this pointless little blog, one of my very best and closest friends, Ryan Bradshaw has just started a greeting card business(a venture he has been planning for a long time) and its now online!!!!! And you should all go check it out now! It looks way better then this website and he has worked hard and deserves your attention! His cards are unique and beautifully designed with the focus on the words rather then artwork or pictures. And the words are something else indeed. Ryan is a born poet. One of a kind. And I'm incredibly proud of him. And I miss him very much. So do Ryan, me and yourself a favour. Go to corbycards.com. The link is just over on the right side of your screen. Thanks! And congratulations, Ry, I'm very excited for you!

A picture of pure, precious beauty.

Man alive, tell me this isn't the cutest picture of the cutest baby you ever done saw? I just received this in an email from my Aunt and thought everyone has to see this. Her name's Jessi, she's just turned 7 months old and good lord, shes the most precious thing I've ever seen. Look at that expression. She'll steal your heart with the slightest of glances.

Just had to write something, get some words outta my head.

So...its teaming rain outside. The kind of rain that soaks you right through. Down to your bones. I'm still reading Tom Waits collected interviews. Its captivating. He's never written an auto- biography, and he's notoriously evasive in interviews, frequently telling tall tales about his past. So this book is the closest you can get to the man behind the myth. All you can do is read, listen to him in these interviews and read between the lines. If you read real careful you can catch a glimpse of him here and there.
I bought some books yesterday in Ulverston, a small village outside of Barrow. I got Charles Bukowskis' first book, Post Office. I was reading it later in Poppies Cafe, enjoying a extra strength cappachino. I took a swig, swirled it around in my mouth and somehow a big stream of coffee squirted out of my mouth, landing right smack in the middle of my book. A little splashed onto the crotch of my pants too. I glanced around real quick expecting to see people starring at me and my stupidity but no one had noticed. That or they hid it well. I sat there thinking what the f was that all about? Then had to make my way home with a big yellow coffee stain on my crotch. The book is great though. Funny and honest and sad.
There's a great poem by Bukowski in my Tom Waits book, its full of great lines but here's one of my favourites: "the grace is being able to like rock music, symphony music, jazz...anything that contains the original energy of joy." The poems called One for the shoeshine man.
The front page of the Independent yesterday had a huge picture of a mother gorilla with her new born baby. The story was amazing. Two female gorillas, captured by hunters eleven years ago, were returned to the wild this year and each just gave birth to healthy babies. Only the second and third times that a previously captive Gorilla reproduced after being returned to their natural environment. So there's still hope for the gorillas yet, having faced extinction for so long. The picture was beautiful. Amazing. Even more amazing was a genuinely positive news story being on the front page of a newspaper, or there being a positive news story,period.
Thats all for now. I just wanted to talk for a minute.

bye bye

1,2,3,4,5: Some classy black and white pics from the fabulous bier halle in Glasgow.

Its autumn, its rainy and grey and if I had a cat I'd probably name it Kambei.

Hello, family and friends. How the heck are ya? Good I hope. I know Scottish Ryan is good. Real good after that incredible result on Saturday. I'm alright. A little restless. Just watched Seven Samurai and Yojimbo and they got the old creative juices flowing. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend a day off?
So yeah, summers long gone, autumn has settled in nicely, winters in the mail and the shops are already selling christmas decorations. Crazy. I'm still terrible at keepin in touch, I'm still strugglin to hit the gym regularly, I'm still struggling to write my story regularly. I've been stuck in a real lazy funk lately. Workin, watchin the ol boob tube. The new series of Extras is just as brilliant as the first series. Can Gervais do any wrong?Nope. I've been spending too much cash on cds and kurosawa films. But shit,I'm only human. Just finished Reservoir Dogs the x-box I borrowed off of Nics brother. It was really violent and really satisfying in a faintly unhealthy kinda way. I'm gonna give the x-box back very soon though,I get hooked on video games very easily. And its far easier for me to waste time in the virtual world of video games than write more of my story or read one of the two dozen books I have waiting in big piles up stairs. I'm a horrible procrastinater. I'm pretty sure thats not how you spell that too. Holy cow that looks ugly. Procrastinater. Jesus.
Anyway,I might be goin to see the Fall on Friday night. If you stand on the middle of walney bridge around dusk, you can watch these little black birds fly in these beautiful weirdly choreographed patterns in the sky. They fly around and around in one big tight group. The other week I was watchin em when two pigeons tried in vain to join the group. They tried their best to keep up but those little black birds are quick and apparently not interested in letting outsiders into their circle.
Pictures from mine and Nics visit to Glasgow last month will be up very soon hopefully,along with a few other snapshots. Thats all for now...hope your all getting on brilliantly. Oh and congratulations Shawna, thats very exciting and inspiring news!Campbell publishing sounds fantastic. News like that pushes me. Canadian Ryan inspires me too, his card business is going to be brilliant. Who am I kidding, it probably is great right now. And Tash and Christy startin their video store business. Everyones suddenly doin shit.
Ok, I'm goin now!

p.s here's the music mix I listened to on the train up to Glasgow last month(I know,I'm an ass):
1. Insomnia - Faithless
2. The Message- Grandmaster flash and the furious five.
3. Extraordinary- Joel Plaskett emergency.
4. Beat Connection- LCD Soundsystem.
5. Welcome home(Sanitarium)-Metallica.
6. Bridge to nowhere- Sam Roberts.
7. Honey bee- Tom Petty
8. Instinct Blues- White Stripes.
9. Make it rain- Tom Waits.
10. Sharp Darts- The Streets.
11. Home for a rest- Spirit of the west.
12. You think I ain't worth a dollar but I feel like a millionaire- Queens of the stone age.
13. Don't believe the hype- Public enemy.
14. Give the drummer some- Ultramagnetic mc's.
15. My Philosophy- Boogie Down productions.
16. Break it down(James Brown)- Offcuts.

Next stop...Glasgow central!!!!Yeehaa!

Finally!

It took awhile but I finally got em on here. Our legendary celebrations in York!In glorious techni-colour! For your enjoyment!
Coming very soon will be tons of pics of Nics birthday celebrations in the incredible city of Glasgow! Scotlands "No mean city"! If you haven't been,then what the hell are you waiting for?Its friggin brilliant. The music scene there is especially good. One might be inclined to say it was thriving if they were being interviewed by a journalist of some sort and the question "How would you describe the current music scene in Glasgow?" was posed.
Anyway, hope you enjoy em!

p.s by the way for those who aren't astute enough to have already noticed, chronologically, the pictures start at the end of the trip and slowly go back to the start. Just like that Coldplay video for The Scientist. Only these pics aren't half as heartbreaking. If only the girl in the passenger seat hadn't taken off her coat. She would have still had her seatbelt on when the car crashed. And she'd still be alive.

York 06' !

1. .epatxiM.(Thats mixtape backwards,cause he's in a mirror...get it?

2. Ryan the Scot in mid dance freak out...I hope.

3. Me and Keit'. Bi-atch.

4. Nic(lookin good) and me(looking sorta bewildered).

1. Nicola composing a digital portrait.

2. Nic getting her photo taken with Graham Norton.

3. Me and St.Kev(enjoying the view).

4. A portrait of hardcore dance addicts!!!

5. Apparently when me and Kev pose together at least one of us has to look seedy. Weird.

1. I said freakin' dance party! Don't let me down mixtape.
2. Yep,you know it, Crockett and Tubbs. Just a sec and I'll get Lee to play you the miami vice theme tune on his mobile.
3. Possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen in my twenty-seven years on this planet. Do me a favour and stare at it for 30 seconds. It just keeps getting funnier.
4. Look into my eyes...
5.Ya,you don't wanta miss with us,motherf*&$%!
Especially Clash on the left.

1. Ahhh, the sweet nectar that is laughter.

2. Nic and mixtape.

3. Old man Cummins lookin like sly young man Cummins.
4. We're gonna have a freakin' dance party tonight!!!

5. The cool kids in the corner at The Gallery.

1. At the Sheep and something or other,its purportedly haunted.
2&3. Ryan playing in the playground at Roses Place.(also the name of his dear Mother)
4. Kev and Nic.
5. Football.

On the steps of York Minster

1. Thats right, we wear our sunglasses all day and all night. Just like Corey Hart.

2. Man, its bright out here.

3. You know our names.(Crockett and Tubbs)

4. The minster.

1. The dark lord.

2. Crockett and Tubbs(after a few drinks).

3. Mixtape and uhhh..me.

4. The dungeon bar.

5. Mixtape.

Chillin in the dungeon bar!

1. Crockett and tubbs.

2. Penny lane, mixtape and st kev.

3. The aussie bartender doin her famous sambuca shot.(She just lit it on fire and tossed some cinnemon over it really.)

4. Ciarans name in cinnemon.

5. The boys.

York ' 06

1. Nic, Ciaran and me.

2. Same again, with Keit' in the background.

3. Ciaran and Nic(making moves on my woman, does Ann Marie know about this?)

4. Another group shot.

1. Nic and me.

2. Our beautiful thai meal.

3. Ciaran and Tom demonstrating that no man is an island.

4. The group at a club on the river.

5. Nic, Ciaran and Tom.