A Quick Piece About The TV B Gone On Stripboard

Well as you may or may not know i dabble (and fiddle) in Electronics & Microcontrollers so after having met the US hackers Mitch Altman/Jimmie Rodgers at a Fizzpop workshop and successfully built a AVR ISP programmer i thought i'd have a bash at making a TV B Gone on stripboard from scratch. Here it be (well attempt #2 t.b.h) , the main circuit was pretty much built 'on the fly' with a homebrew LED driver being a PNP transistor powering 2x IR emitters in series (my calculations are a bit ballpark so it's probably under powered). Does the job though, just a shame the 3xAA batteries that power it dwarf it and spoil the illusion hence them being cropped out the picture.

(PS: The ongoing competition in geek circles with these things appears to be in ever increasing the range, so hang around for the TV-B-Gone bazooka, coming to a Nielsen box near you soon!)

Ghouls on Film*

You know that uneasy feeling you get when you walk around the Custard Factory 'will the brickwork finally fall on my head?', 'will i go through that hole in the rickety boardwalk?', 'how rank will the toilets be today?'. Well Saturday bought a whole new world of pain to the venue with the arrival of the Ghouls On Film event at The Mixing Bowl, part of the international Women in Horror appreciation month. Put together by film student Nia Edwards-Behi we were treated to a smorgas board of Gore and weirdness featuring several short films and two full length features, 'Slaughtered' and 'Dead Hooker In a Trunk' (which unfortunately i had to miss). The popcorn intermission included a Q&A session with Directors Melanie Light (Switch) and Kate Glover compared by the delectable scream queen Emily Booth (i got the stage fright and didn't speak to her) which included enlightning views on women making their way in the scream flick business and Castration Anxiety. You couldn't wish for a more blood drenched way to spend an afternoon and it's a pity you don't see more of these events around Birmingham (though The Sunflower Lounge and The Black Horse are starting to do B-Movie nights) especially at the underused Mixing Bowl. Happily the outlook isn't as bleak as the films subject matter,as Emily pointed the equipment costs and technical nous needed to make shorts is rapidly becoming within everyones reach so with a bit of luck Ghouls on Film will be back next year with a bigger roster of new talent.

* i was trying to think of a witty title but if it ain't broke don't fix it

My Crap Jewellery part two

#2 in an occasional series of whatever.

U.S.A 1925 Ring Ahh, Glastonbury 1989, the sights, the smells, the music, the relentless Trustafarians trying to sell you over priced Special Brew. Amongst the Melee sits this 'Street' hawker native American Indian guy with his blanket of wares. The 9% proof tramp fuel and extra curricular substances work their magic and i walk away with this for the bargain price of one whole quid. I have absolutely no idea of the significance of 'U.S.A 1925', i found him there a year later but his command of English (or intolerance of inquisitive gadgies) didn't lead to the path of enlightenment and Google has since turned up nothing. Had it Twenty years, the embossing's worn and sadly the 'arms' are wearing quite thin so i'm not sure how much longer it's going to last 9/10

Crap Jewellery part One

#1 in an occasional series of whatever.

Gyroscope Bangle Being a bit of a science geek as a kid i used to have one of those Gyroscope things (surely magically held in the vertical by Satan himself) much fun had trying to knock it over/balancing it on that little plastic Eiffel tower widget (gawd knows what that was all about). Well some years later whilst having a clear out, i didn't find the Gyroscope but i did find the metal guard thing that used to sit around the flywheel, perfect size, straight on wrist. Very durable, never broken, never loses it's shape (accessorised with a keyring) 8/10.

Premature Obituaries

In these fast moving digitally 'enlightened' times where people aren't sure of what's in, what's out and which haircut is cooler it's easy to get influenced (bullied even) by new media Snake Oil salesman. Now having had an interest in the early DIY nature of Punk my two particular bugbears are the musings from people who really should know better that a) 'Myspace is dead' and b) the demise of print media is imminent.So today i switch on my Twitter feed (you REALLY have to be on Twitter) and in the space of ten minutes get two links which restore my faith in the common man and the fact that life will always find a way.

This Piece by Kristian Carter (about Myspace) and This piece by the Unsigned Guide about 'Zine culture.

I really suggest you read them back to back.

(ps: oh, and there's also this piece by The Blackbeard Blog also about Myspace where i've left some of my thoughts in the comments))

Bemoof The Cromolls!!

Costermongers Last Stand.

Truth be known it's been a shadow of its former self for some years and long gone are the days when come Saturdays it was packed to the rafters but it's still sad to see the Costemongers pub finally closing it's door. If you know me at all you'll know my infamous diminutive stature pre empted me from underage drinking but it can't have been long into my (alleged) adulthood before i was introduced to the delights of this dingy basement rock saturated haven. This was before all day drinking (yes, there was such a time) so typically it'd be down Mr Bills Beerkeller* on Needless Alley on the afternoon and then onto to The Costers on the night for more sickly pints of Snakebite n' Black (a pre alchopop alchopop affectionately known as Diesel amongst the Motorcycle inclined).
Since then it's been through several refits, numerous wall coverings and outstayed it's many 'characters' but it never lost the dinge (you just cannot repel the dinge) which has cemented it in legend as one of Brum rock fraternities favorite long lost drinking holes.
So Saturday sees the end of an era to which i'm happy i had a passing acquaintance with leaving us with about two or three suitable backups which in a hygiene obsessed world will never achieve the same level of sleaze and piss flooded glory as the Costers, basement bars will just never seem the same again.

More disturbingly there's rumours that as part of the whole redevelopment of that block the Oasis is next for the chop, now there's another former shopping themed haven of dinge that surely deserves a Blue plaque preservation order!!.


PS On saturday as a last bash there's a bunch of bands so you can see the old warhorse off in a fitting style Click Here for details

*Both basement pubs and now both gone!!

Why Isn't Anyone Else Doing It ?

As you may or may not know (or in fact even care) i tend to slog my lonely ass around many of Birmingham's finer Punk/Rock venues (ie The Wagon and Horses, Scruffy Murphys, Costermongers, The Flapper and once upon a time The Market Tavern and The Royal George (opposite Selfridges)) to get a three chord fix of your louder type of entertainment. The always constant thing in this environment is the surviving DIY network of badly Xeroxed flyers being bandied about which typically end up, ink running in a puddle of Special Brew (or Frosty Jack) but still keep the scene and people connected. So then in a blinding flash of boredom vs. inspiration i thinks well why not start a Punk related Twitter listing account, twenty minutes later i have Twitter.com/BrumPunks* complete with hastily Inkscaped graphics and everything. It's quick, it's dirty, takes about ten minutes a day to run and two seconds to follow, perfect for the Slacker trying to get a handle on Social Media (which i'm STILL not convinced about) so why not?. Why?, because Business Studies 101 declares you should do your market research first, Punks can actually be a very conservative bunch in their tastes and it appears not many have strayed from Mypace and even fewer have stumbled onto other networks (indeed why should they, but that's for another post). I'm constantly searching Twitter with various combinations of punk/venue/band related words and have found Three likely candidates in Brum (hi if your reading) and not much else. So stage two it's off to Osbornes for some sticky paper,onto the printer and then Myspace Bulletins to try and drum up some trade lesson learnt that sometimes setting up stuff on the interwebs can be too bloody easy!.

* Even though i set it up i'll be the first to admit i'm not the best person to be running this site, i can think of several 'embedded' tech' savvy Punksters who could be doing the job better.