Senses working overtime #518

1 Study break has arrived! 

Looking forward to some well deserved indulgences in California. Donuts - here I come!

2 Listening: California Road Trip playlist

Getting in the mood via this nicely curated playlist.

3 Gobsmacked viewing: Declan Rice

I could watch those free kicks over and over - things of beauty!

4 Listening: Return To Ommadawn - Mike Oldfield

5 Listening: WTWMC - Aussie Battlers

And, we're done!

Overtime: Danny Kaye

Life is a great big canvas and you should throw all the paint on it you can.

Senses working overtime #179

1 Max confusion 

Another difficult week for interweb activities as my senses this week were largely engaged in work related subjects. 

Then I bought an HP printer and spent a large amount of time on Saturday (my JFTT day) trying to get it to connect and do basic things. Grrr.

Why are these things so complicated now?

So this week's addition is late. Sorry 'bout that, chief.

In fact this week I HAVE felt a lot like Maxwell Smart - some clumsy bumbling daft moments. 

Ar well. You get that on the big jobs. 

On to the jewels...

2 King Arthur - Legend of the Sword

Guy Ritchie's style is instantly recognisable. As I watched his Good Fellas take on the Arthurian legend I wondered about how Margo would have reacted. I think she'd have loved it!



3 Underground

One of the week's highlights was getting the train into Londonium a few times and riding the Underground.

I. Love. The. Underground!!

For some reason waiting for a District or Circle line train at Monument gets me very emotional. Weird.

4 Emirates

Met up with Randy and Patrick at Emirates last week to watch my team take on and beat Everton. From a Director's box no less. 

Glorious sounds!! We're north bank, we're north bank, we're north bank Highbury!

5 Ponti's Italian Kitchen

We had dinner here on Friday night with old friends from Nu Zild - Steph and Duncan. I've been there loads of times but by Friday night my brain was fried and I forget A) where it was and B) its name. Eventually the fog cleared and we got there!

It's a cool place with lovely food. 

Overtime Frank Zappa - Roxy By Proxy
This was on high rotate in the Purdmobile this week.

Senses working overtime #169

1 Hmm... not-sure-about-this-one category

New season kit. Doubt I'll be buying this. We shall see. Away kit may be more aesthetically me.

2 Nu Zild leading the way with a four day week concept.
I've already had one message suggesting we do this at our school! Could it? Should it? Would it? Bring it on!

3 Poetry corner
from Quarto

I'll tell you about the mermaid
Sheds swimmable tail    Gets legs for dancing
Sings like the sea with a choked throat
Knives straight up her spine
Lancing every step
There is a price
There is a price
For every gift
And all advice

Adrienne Rich (2009)

4 When DNA tests go wrong

Interesting human interest story about when DNA tests tell you too much. A worry?

5 Tom Kirkham!!

Big plug for Tom's book - Pop Life. Can't wait to get my hands on a copy. In the meantime - enjoy this interview!

Overtime

Another great primer via Vox - Stradivarius violins and why they are the dogs...erm, why they are great and pricey!

Senses working overtime #120

1 Disney's Star Wars Hotel

Last time we were at Disneyland we saw the huge area where the Star Wars stuff is under construction. The Hotel concept is explained here. We'll be there!

2 Arsenal v Leicester

Premier League is back! Read all about the first weekend.

3 The Last Jedi...

is getting closer.

4 U Thant Island
Loved this Vox video - best thing I watched on a computer this week!




5 THOR...

...is also coming. Great poster!

Extra texture
In praise of San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), actually their museum store which looks splendid.

Senses working overtime #113

1 Annie and Alvy

True confession time - I'm a huge Woody Allen fan, and so I enjoyed this film review of the classic Annie Hall.

2 The Simpsons inserted

Great fun. More here.

3 Rock stars
Gotta love em.

4 21st Century movies - best of...so far
Some movies here I need to see (and some I can recommend).

5 Oh Yoko

Fair's fair - very pleased with the decision to add Yoko credit to John's Imagine. If you have read Grapefruit (Yoko's collection of stuff) you will know this rights an injustice of sorts.

Extra Texture
Arsene Arsene, give us a wave!

Fancy some stats on Arsene's 20 year reign at the greatest club the world has ever seen? Me too. Check it out fellow gooners.

Senses working overtime #79

1 In Arsene we trust

My happy place!

Great piece about Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, the man.

2 Google map treks
Been exploring this during the week. Some wonderful technology, great sights and use is only limited by your imagination.

3 Burj Khalifa

While exploring the Google maps trek I came across this one on the Burj Khalifa, a.k.a. the world's tallest building. Amazing scenes!

4 Time travel photos
This is a great photo essay looking at some urban locations over time.

5 Bill
More reasons to love and appreciate Bill Murray.

Overtime

So sue me, I'm a sucker for photos of old buildings.

Senses working overtime #65

1 Barack - the night guy

Like so many on planet Earth, I am an Obama fan. Unlike Barack, I have always carved out my alone time in the morning. Whenever it's carved out, it's important. Getting a peak into his routines is pretty cool.

2 Proxemics explained
Great little video from Vox on personal space bubbles as studied by Edward T. Hall.

3 OMG

Bobcat on a cactus! How did that happen (thanks to JW for the link).

4 Arsenal in Aussie

Adam (pictured - thanks Ashleigh) sent me this - pretty cool - Aussie tour by the greatest team the world has ever seen!

5 Bill Murray
An overview of Bill's appeal is always good fun.




Overtime
Great video of Lennon doing Imagine live.

Senses working overtime #37

This is the second (or maybe third) week I've been in London to do the senses working overtime.

What an amazing city - yes there are problems, yes there are crowds, yes there is more rubbish on the streets, yes there are many smokers still but I can live with all that because there is an energy and a buzz and a sense of being that I don't get anywhere else.

But anyway - enough of me - what has assaulted my senses this week? Let's get to it...

1 2016 has rolled around
This is a pretty cool summary of 2015 (in four minutes!)

2 Emirates
omg OMG OMG OMG

The smirk says it all!

I took the tour last week. It was beyond awesome!!

3 Movies for 2016

Looking forward to a lot (A LOT) of these 2016 releases. 

4 Jazz noises

This little post from The Guardian is pretty cool - a run down of the best jazz noises from last year, including a great track from Polar Bear.

5 Hitchcock

These story boards from Hitchcock's films are works of art in themselves.

Overtime
1 Margaret Drabble
Here's another reason why I love reading The Guardian.

2 Drone photos

Drone photography (thanks to Mr Whatley's Five Things)

Senses working overtime #6

1 Clint Eastwood's Blues Piano 
This DVD has some brilliant moments - I love boogie piano. There's a great clip of Marcia Ball playing Red Beans and some older clips of my favourite - Pete Johnson with Albert Ammons



2  Presentation tips
This article gave me some great tips for a presentation I had to do for the staff. I was asked to share my thoughts on Twitter and Blogging at the next professional learning group meeting thing. Along the way the article led me to a fantastic Ted talk by...

3 Rory Sutherland
Rory is hilarious - if he wasn't an ad man he would have made an excellent stand up comedian. This Ted talk is well worth your time. I chortled away for a lot of the nearly 17 minutes. Aside from the jokes, he is really on the money with his thoughts on life and our perceptions.

4 San Francisco
I love San Francisco. One of our daughters lives there and our visit in 2013 for her wedding to a San Franciscan boy made all of us fall in love with SF's past charms. These photos from Life magazine are spectacular.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti in his iconic bookshop.

The Fabs arrive at SF airport.

5 The Arsenal

This weekend is the FA Cup final versus Aston Villa. A fitting time to remember this magic moment from the 1971 cup final win over Liverpool.

COME ON ARSENAL!!

Overtime 

Michelle Obama comes across as a very genuine person. Like the rest of the world I love how she conveys herself. This photo collection of her hugging people is awesome. I chose that one for the reactions. Sheer joy from such a simple human act. Well worth a visit!