Over the last few weeks I have made same discoveries that I am going to share with you in this post. Don’t get too excited, there aren’t any eureka moments and I won’t be leaping out of the bath and running around naked – although that might be a bit of a laugh (maybe when the weather’s a bit nicer and I’ve drunk a few too many Leffes with the madcap Richard Davies)!
Punk
First up is music. I have discovered a band that I think is brilliant. I speculatively purchased a CD for not much money in a Daventry charity shop. I had never heard of the band but thought I’d take a punt anyway…
…it turns out that the Voodoo Glow Skulls is a band that plays fast, lively, mosh-inducing punk music. And having initially bought one CD, I now own five (thank you Amazon) and will ultimately acquire the entire back catalogue. This American band, which has been around for years, sings in English and in Spanish and has a brass section so is decidedly unusual for the punk genre. The stuff is energetic, irreverent, entertaining and I love it – the music is ska-influenced, proper bouncy stuff; not naff US pop-punk (Richie D. – you’ll like this band too).
Staying on the subject of music, there are a couple more discoveries to share: I bought Jeff Lynne’s disc entitled “Armchair Theatre”. It’s an album from 1990 but one that had eluded me until recently. It’s since been played dozens of times and is one of my best finds of 2014.
I am a fan of the music of the Travelling Wilburys, the super-group that Lynne was a member of. Lynne’s influence on the Wilburys is clear from his own album and songs from Armchair Theatre could easily have been included on “Volume One” or “Volume Three”.
Moving on to another Wilbury; Tom Petty’s latest album “Hypnotic Eye” is just fantastic. Another one of 2014’s top discoveries/purchases, this CD has also been played a lot.
From punk to pawn
My next discovery involves pawn and fishy stuff. ITV4 has recently proved itself quite entertaining.
“Pawn Stars”, named with tongue firmly in cheek, features a US pawn shop run by Rick Harrison and his Simpsons like family. People come to value and potentially part with their stuff (or crap as Mrs Baldwin refers). River Monsters features a chap called Jeremy Wade who travels the world catching the largest, most bizarre, most dangerous freshwater fish in existence.
I have watched enough episodes of both programmes now to appreciate that they are rather formulaic; my guilty TV secret is that I enjoy watching them anyway.
Discover these programmes for yourself on the ITV Player.
From pawn to parks
The Baldwin family spent last weekend at the new Center Parcs complex in Woburn (well technically Millbrook, Bedfordshire). We discovered the following:
This Center Parcs is virtually on our door step and really convenient but our next trip will take us further afield again – Nottingham in fact.
From parks to politics & Peston
My final discovery, or maybe even a revelation, is that economics, a subject I largely hated at university, can be fascinating after all. Of late I have found myself thoroughly engaged by the global economics and politics of energy.
The actions/reactions of OPEC around oil production levels and prices per barrel; the sanctions on Russia because of the Ukraine (oil/gas exports declining), the free fall of the Rouble because of reducing oil/gas revenues per given volume (and Putin’s knee jerk reactions in terms of interest rate hikes and moaning about the west); the US shale oil industry reducing the reliance on the OPEC nations; China’s reducing energy demands in light of economic slowdown; the predicted collapse of the North Sea oil industry; the effective curtailing of funds to Muslim extremist groups by the reduced value of oil sales; the different relative importance of oil revenues to the GDP of OPEC member countries etc. has been essential reading.
I have even discovered that the views and opinions of Robert Peston are worthy of consideration.
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Punk
First up is music. I have discovered a band that I think is brilliant. I speculatively purchased a CD for not much money in a Daventry charity shop. I had never heard of the band but thought I’d take a punt anyway…
…it turns out that the Voodoo Glow Skulls is a band that plays fast, lively, mosh-inducing punk music. And having initially bought one CD, I now own five (thank you Amazon) and will ultimately acquire the entire back catalogue. This American band, which has been around for years, sings in English and in Spanish and has a brass section so is decidedly unusual for the punk genre. The stuff is energetic, irreverent, entertaining and I love it – the music is ska-influenced, proper bouncy stuff; not naff US pop-punk (Richie D. – you’ll like this band too).
Staying on the subject of music, there are a couple more discoveries to share: I bought Jeff Lynne’s disc entitled “Armchair Theatre”. It’s an album from 1990 but one that had eluded me until recently. It’s since been played dozens of times and is one of my best finds of 2014.
I am a fan of the music of the Travelling Wilburys, the super-group that Lynne was a member of. Lynne’s influence on the Wilburys is clear from his own album and songs from Armchair Theatre could easily have been included on “Volume One” or “Volume Three”.
Moving on to another Wilbury; Tom Petty’s latest album “Hypnotic Eye” is just fantastic. Another one of 2014’s top discoveries/purchases, this CD has also been played a lot.
From punk to pawn
My next discovery involves pawn and fishy stuff. ITV4 has recently proved itself quite entertaining.
“Pawn Stars”, named with tongue firmly in cheek, features a US pawn shop run by Rick Harrison and his Simpsons like family. People come to value and potentially part with their stuff (or crap as Mrs Baldwin refers). River Monsters features a chap called Jeremy Wade who travels the world catching the largest, most bizarre, most dangerous freshwater fish in existence.
I have watched enough episodes of both programmes now to appreciate that they are rather formulaic; my guilty TV secret is that I enjoy watching them anyway.
Discover these programmes for yourself on the ITV Player.
From pawn to parks
The Baldwin family spent last weekend at the new Center Parcs complex in Woburn (well technically Millbrook, Bedfordshire). We discovered the following:
- The newly designed and built villas are the nicest Center Parcs has to offer anywhere
- The pool complex looks nice but is nowhere near as good as Nottingham (at Woburn, the main pool is small, there is no fitness pool, the outside pool space is tiny, there is no plunge pool, there aren’t any standalone Jacuzzi pools, the slides are not as good etc.)
- The takeaway food, delivered to our villa on the last night was poor, my jalfrezi curry was horrible (never again). We probably should have complained.
This Center Parcs is virtually on our door step and really convenient but our next trip will take us further afield again – Nottingham in fact.
From parks to politics & Peston
My final discovery, or maybe even a revelation, is that economics, a subject I largely hated at university, can be fascinating after all. Of late I have found myself thoroughly engaged by the global economics and politics of energy.
The actions/reactions of OPEC around oil production levels and prices per barrel; the sanctions on Russia because of the Ukraine (oil/gas exports declining), the free fall of the Rouble because of reducing oil/gas revenues per given volume (and Putin’s knee jerk reactions in terms of interest rate hikes and moaning about the west); the US shale oil industry reducing the reliance on the OPEC nations; China’s reducing energy demands in light of economic slowdown; the predicted collapse of the North Sea oil industry; the effective curtailing of funds to Muslim extremist groups by the reduced value of oil sales; the different relative importance of oil revenues to the GDP of OPEC member countries etc. has been essential reading.
I have even discovered that the views and opinions of Robert Peston are worthy of consideration.
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