30/11/09
Well folks, it seems that my desire to lose weight has beaten my lack of exercise and dietary restraint and somehow, the pendulum of poundage hath swungeth again to kill the two pounds I put on last week. I know, I can’t believe it either. Bearing in mind that I kinda feel it’s boring for y’all to read “This week I lost x pound(s)” and then the next week, “This week I gained x pound(s)”, I wondered about adopting a different system.
Howabout, if I lose weight, and my body has slightly shrunk, I’ll just post the word “IN” – likewise, if I gain weight and my body has expanded I’ll just post the word “OUT”. That way Lardwatch will be quicker for me to write, you’ll still know what’s going on and then after a few posts, I’ll post “SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT” and if it still keeps happening, I’ll post “WHOA-OOOH THE HOKEY-COKEY!!”. Then we can all bend our knees, stretch our arms and shout “RAH RAH RAH!”.
Just a thought…
Tags: dieting, weightloss, weightgain, exercise, oakeycokey
27/11/09
I’ve seen Paul Weller once before – but that was on South Moulton Street and he didn’t have his guitar with him. Me and Mrs K saw him at the UEA last night – but this time he did have his guitar with him. Plus a brilliant band. He stormed through a two hour set (with two encores) playing songs from his back catalogue, including songs from The Style Council (‘Shout To The Top’) and the Jam (‘Start’, ‘Strange Town’). Larvvely!
Tags: music, paulweller, uea, norwich, thestylecouncil, thejam
Hello Fri-llustrator fans! This week we’re going to the East End of London to walk up the apples and down the pears to see see me old china*, fellow-Capricorn and flat cap wearer, Paul Bommer. I discovered Mr B’s work via Ellis Nadler’s blog and what lovely gear it is too! He illustrates in one of those ‘looks-easy-until-you-try-it’ styles of drawing – lovely loose, angular marks with every line drawn with a knowing wink to his audience.
Of course you’ll want to see more of his work, so why not whizz along to Paul Blommer’s blog or his spot on the Association of Illustrators web site or visit Paul Bommer’s own site with it’s fantastic home page (below).
*(By the way, I don’t really know Mr B, I just got carried away with the rhyming slang).
All images © 2009 Paul Bommer.
Tags: illustration, paulbommer, ellisnadler, london, associationofillustrators
23/11/09
Hi there, Lardwatchers! Two weeks ago, I was going to kill Lardwatch ’cos I thought the yo-yo weightloss/weightgain thing was boring (ie. gaining a pound one week, then losing it the next, regaining it the week after, losing it again etc, etc). Well, I’m glad you all made me change my mind, as this week the pendulum of poundage has swung harder and faster transforming the two pounds I lost last week, into a two pound weight gain this week! That’s twice the excitement!
Seriously tho’, I am fed up of all this and I wish it was weightloss all the way, but I’m kinda trapped into one of those ‘can’t-take-as much-exercise-as-I’d-like’ periods of my life, coupled with ‘not-really-watching-what-I’m-eating’ periods, thereby giving myself a bit of comfort to forget how fed up I am for not exercising. This is the usual vicious cycle that most people losing weight face and for me, my failure is the lack of exercise. It’s not just the fact that exercise kills calories, but it also makes you feel better and is a great stress buster. And I say this, as the most unathletic, unsporty person you’ll ever meet – so much so, that once in a gym someone mistook me for a piece of furniture. But I digress. I will try to lose those two pounds by next week, gentle reader, and dare to dream that with Christmas and then my 50th birthday approaching, I can keep my weightloss dream alive.
After all, I don’t want people saying “Is he on a yo-yo diet, or is he just breathing in and out slowly?”
Tags: dieting, weightloss, weightgain, exercise, gym
19/11/09
When I started teaching myself front end web development, instead of doing what any young, smart individual would have done (ie Google everything) I bought myself a few books to get hold of XHTML, CSS and Javascript. However, me being me, a few books turned into a mountain and pretty soon I had all of Waterstone’s web design section residing on my study bookshelves, while their directors took early retirement based on the profits from my web book purchases.
But now I say, enough already! I have too many of these things and it’s time the books find themselves a new home and also to clear the decks for the new comic books I’m planning on buying in the new year (ahem). So, before I put them onto eBay, are there any web designers out there who would like to buy any of the books pictured above? They are all in excellent condition, some could even be described as new (only a few of them could be described as used) – just offer me a fair price, I’ll add a non-rip off postage price and get ’em to you.
Contact me via the comments below – but be quick, they’ll soon be appearing on eBay!
Tags: webdesign, google, xhtml, css, javascript, waterstones, ebay,
17/11/09
Last night the third Novemberfest, Virgin Money’s annual brew-your-own beer competition, took place in the beautiful, traditional surroundings of Trowse Ski Club (no, really). This year the live music was supplied by Marketing’s finest band, The Marketing-tings, for whom I play bass guitar and sing falsetto (often at the same time – that’s talent for you). Me and my band mates, Jenny (vocals), James (lead guitar), Rich (Rhythm Guitar) and Simon (Drums) whipped up a dancehall frenzy that made we wonder if we were going to create on avalanche outside (if it’s possible to create an avalanche on a dry ski slope). It seemed to go really well, with much clapping, whoopin’ and a-hollerin’ from the audience at the end.
UPDATE: My colleague Ellie sent me a selection of pics of the Marketing-tings in full flight. From left: James, Jenny, Simon (on the drums behind Jenny) and my good self. Not pictured: Rich on guitar on the extreme left (so extreme he’s out of the picture). Oh, and here’s the set list (below).
Tags: music, novemberfest, virginmoney, marketing-tings, trowseskiclub
16/11/09
Well, after I tried to put Lardwatch out to pasture last week, I was inundated by a mountain of emails, blog comments and rude post-it notes demanding that it should continue. And so, rising like a Phoenix from the ashes (or a cake in the oven), Lardwatch lives again!
And amazingly, considering the recent Paris trip, boozy Halloween and general calorie-scoffing, I have actually lost two pounds since last week! How I am doing this I do not know – I can only put it down to my hectic schedule both at home and at work. Anyway, here’s to more good news next week!
(Sings to the tune ‘Hey Jude’) La-la-la-la-la-la-la…. La-la-la-la…. Laaaarrd-watch…
Tags: dieting, weightloss, weightgain, paris, halloween
13/11/09
This week we look at one of my very favourite illustrators, the brilliant Darwyn Cooke. A graphic designer/art director turned cartoonist/animator, he draws in a wonderful classic style that he varies for great effect, creating the appropriate vibe for whatever story he’s illustrating. Mind you, it’s a wonder he can move his drawing arm, weighed down as it is by three Eisner Awards, two Harveys, a National Cartoonists Society Award (USA) and Canada’s Shuster Award. He even has shares in an Emmy. Blimey!
He left animation ten years ago after doing sterling work on Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and Men In Black: The Series to concentrate on comics or more accurately, sequential story strips (we really are going to have to come up with a better name than that one day).
Of course, I’m still playing catch up with his work mainly because I’ve been living under a stone these last few years with regard to reading comics. I bought his Batman: Ego And Other Tales (above) and enjoyed it enormously and recently picked up his latest meisterwerk, his adaptation of Richard Stark’s Parker The Hunter (top) when I was in Paris the other week. Even though I was supposed to be on a dedicated French comics mission, I couldn’t resist this book. The fact that the main character was a favourite of Ed Brubaker made it even more attractive (Mr Cooke has, of course, worked with Mr Brubaker on Catwoman).
And now I find myself atop a diving board (oh alright, my drawing board) waiting to plunge into his version of The Spirit, Absolute DC: The New Frontier and anything else of his I can lay my hands on. Are you listening, Santa?
PS. Rob and I were in London last night for the Paula Scher D&AD Presidents Lecture and we popped into Gosh on the way, where I couldn’t help noticing that their copies of Parker The Hunter had signed limited edition bookplates by Dawyn Cooke. I should’ve bought one, but I behaved myself. Mental note: Check Gosh first…
All images © 2009 DC Comics/IDW Publishing/Darwyn Cooke.
Tags: comics, illustration, animation, darwyncooke, eisnerawards, harveys, nationalcartoonistssocietyaward, shusteraward, emmyaward, batman, superman, meninblack, catwoman, , parkerthehunter, edbrubacker, thespirit, dc:thenewfrontier
11/11/09
That most cars’ horns beep in the key of F?
This and other highly important facts are over at Learn Something Every Day a lovely little site put together by those creative geezers at Young.
Via Swiss Miss.
Tags: cartoons, graphicdesign, weareyoung, swissmiss
09/11/09
Rest in peace? Whaddaya mean, rest in peace? Let me explain, gentle reader. You see, yet again I am reporting only another small weight gain of a pound (but that’s very good considering Paris and the lake of Budweiser I drank at our Halloween party last week) – next week no doubt I shall be reporting another small weight loss of a pound and the week after that I shall probably report another weight gain of a pound and after that… I feel that if you are becoming as bored as I am (and Mrs K is) of reading about this on-going pound ping-pong, instead of massively motivating weight-loss, followed by a best-selling book, book tour and maybe a workout DVD, then it is time to end Lardwatch. I cannot lose the weight I want as my commitments make it impossible to take regular exercise and I don’t want to give up what few foodie treats I do have. And I think that if I’m keeping at around 12 stone, that’s a whole lot better than 12 and a half or indeed 13 stone. So until I launch a new weight-loss regime anytime, this is the final Lardwatch of the series, folks.
However, if you want to follow somebody’s weight-watching progress, check out Tom Haczewski’s brilliant One Fat Git, his innovative way to help him shed pounds. I should’ve mentioned this fantastic site weeks ago when it first launched – an experiment in (anti) social weight-loss, he invites readers to leave comments, the nastier the better, to spur him on to to lose weight. It’s a beautifully designed site and really funny too.
Tags: dieting, weightloss, weightgain, paris, halloween, tomhaczewski, onefatgit
05/11/09
If you buy a fridge from this guy, does that make you a cool customer?
Via our man in Hackney.
Tags: selfridges, fridges
04/11/09
In this, my last post about Team Kirkendall’s Paris jaunt, I just wanted to let you know about some of the other events of our trip. I mentioned on Monday that we visited the trendy Canal Saint Martin, full of funky cafés, restaurants and shops (including a really great design bookshop) – while we there we saw this amazing brass band busking (see below). They really made me laugh as they were playing songs not typically played by a brass band, like ‘Born To Be Wild’ and Donna Summer’s ‘Hot Stuff’.
We finally got to the Louvre this time and spent a lovely morning there (although I was a bit disappointed that the new Apple Store under the Pyramid hadn’t opened yet) crowding around the Mona Lisa and enjoying the great Egyptian section, where I got to make lots of corny mummy jokes, much to eveyone’s chagrin. And I got to wear my great new hat that I bought the night before. Does it make me look like a trendy geezer? Jason Bradbury from the Gadget Show? Or a silly old fool? You decide!
We also visited the Musee D’Orsay. As we were leaving, we bumped into Jean Rochefort, the famous French actor who’s had a long and distinguished career in French theatre, film and TV but who my kids know from playing the Maitre d in the last Mr Bean film! I, of course, remember him from “The Hairdresser’s Husband” to which Mrs K said “You are SUCH a Guardian reader…”.
One other highlight I should mention, was our last evening meal. We wanted something not too far from our hotel and discovered this amazing little pizzeria called The Pink Flamingo. It was a really small place, with a little row of tables up against the wall on one side and a sound system on the other. The kitchen was behind the counter and there they created one of the best (if not the best) pizza’s I ever had in my life. All the pizza names had a film theme – my pizza was called the ‘Almodóvar’. Another highlight was the beatbox above the seat in the loo which you could play as you were having a wee (not sure how that would’ve worked for you girls). As it was such a small place, they had parked a VW camper van outside with a table inside that serving as another setting for four, nicely decorated with candles and tres romantic. Health and safety here would have put the kibosh on it in seconds flat, no doubt.
And finally, my French is never going to let me be mistaken for a Parisian (or any kind of French-speaking individual for that matter) but it served me well – apart from a highly embarrassing conversation in a very trendy clothes shop in the Marais, where I was trying to find out what time they closed and they assistant thought I said ‘Fumée’ (smoke) instead of ‘Fermé’ (closed) and was probably wondering why I wanted to know what time she smoked. Mrs K was mortified and said “Why ask? The business hours are on the door anyway!”.
One last thing – the bonkers Gaudi-esque mirror at the top of this post was in the breakfast room of our lovely little hotel, the Hotel Jeanne D’Arc in the Marais. Fab, non?
Tags: paris, marais, hotaljeannedarc, canalsaintmartin, louvre, museed’orsay, applecomputers, jeanrochefort, gaudi
03/11/09
OK, as promised yesterday, here’s my bande dessinée haul from Album in Paris. As I mentioned earlier, Simon Gane recommended (among others) Dupuy and Berberian, who despite filling the world with wonderful illustrations and strips since the ’80s, I have been blissfully ignorant of. Unique for collaborating in such a way that no-one can tell where one starts and the other begins, they have produced a fantastic body of work. I bought as much as I could carry (and as much as I thought Mrs K and my credit card would tolerate) which made a grand total of five books (I’m not as strong as I used to be). I got two editions of their Boboland albums (‘Bienvenue a Boboland’ and ‘Global Boboland’), a copy of ‘Monsieur Jean’ and a copy of ‘Henriette’. I also bought a retrospective of their work Tout L’Universe De Dupuy Bereberian. I have since discovered from the Dupuy and Berberian page on Wikipedia they have been working solo since 2003, so maybe they felt that now is as good as time as any for a retrospective book. Whatever, I can’t recommend their work highly enough. Check out the Dupuy and Berberian website for more, but if your French is anything like mine, you’ll probably need Google to translate the page for you!
Another little treasure I found was A bas la rentrée! by Jaques Azam about the adventures of a 12 year old schoolboy called Hic. It’s a collection of strips that have appeared in Les Clés de l’Actualité Junior from September 2005 to January 2009. I was attracted to it because of the lively scratchy drawings and lovely colour palette.
Tune in tomorrow for folks for the last installment of my Paris trip – A tout a l’heure!
Tags: paris, comics, album, bandedessinee, simongane, dupuyandberberian, jaquesazam
02/11/09
In case you’re wondering why I havn’t posted anything for a while, wonder no more. Things have been so hectic here, what with everything being so busy at work, at home and yes at play, that Team Kirkendall decided to slip off for a little break to Paris. As this wasn’t our first trip to the city of light, we decided to mop up the sites we hadn’t seen and skip Disneyland to make time to see them.
So we had a lovely three and a half days of wondering around – exploring Montmartre, the Canal Saint Martin, visiting the Louvre and the Musee D’Orsay. We finally went up the Arc de Triomphe (where my picture of the Eiffel Tower impersonating Godzilla was taken) as well as taking a trip on the Batobus up and down the Seine. We ate well to mixed results (the youngest members of Team Kirkendall didn’t like everything they tried) and we also did some serious shopping. More importantly, Number One Son and I went to Album (Paris’ biggest comic shop) not once, but twice! I made some great discoveries, thanks to recommendations from Simon Gane – the result of which 75% of my purchases were of books by (or about) Dupuy and Berberian. I will review my Album haul in part two of ‘We Love Paris’ tomorrow.
Stay tuned, folks!
Tags: paris, disneyland, montmartre, canalsaintmartin, louvre, museed’orsay, arcdetriomphe, eiffeltower, comics, album, bandedessinee, simongane, dupuyandberberian