Bed Tech – MyLight

Posted by on 02/12/2013 2 comments

Whilst doing our annual Xmas Cyber Shopping Marathon me and Mrs Billy Goat came across this product – MyLight Bed Light which is a neat, high tech way of lighting up your bedroom automatically, based on motion detection.
We were actually buying presents for other people at The Glow Company site where we bought a bunch of stuff last year and got majorly distracted by this gadget. To cut a long story short we sprang for a set and I got these installed at the weekend. Actually they are very cool (once you figure out the best placement for the mini PIR type sensors).

Currently ours are not quite right, it’s a trade off between getting the whole 120 degree sensor range so there’s no blind spots in your bedroom vs. having some intentional blind spots to cover moving duvet, random limbs hanging over edges of bed etc. The first night was half hilarity, half blind range when every single movement triggered the fecking PIR’s….

Fitting was very fast and easy and so far we left them on the default ‘on for 30 seconds’ setting.

Probably best explained by both these vids, courtesy of the manufacturer:

Their website is here: http://www.mylight.me/#!home/mainPage
The Glow Company are here: http://www.glow.co.uk

Last Patrol

Posted by on 10/09/2013 No comments

One of my all time favourite bands Monster Magnet are back!  The band has confirmed an October 15th North American release date for their new album entitled Last Patrol via Napalm Records.  Today MONSTER MAGNET has unveiled the artwork and tracklisting for Last Patrol.  Dave Wyndorf and Phil Caivano produced Last Patrol, while Evil Joe Barresit mixed the album with additional production duties handled by Matt Hyde.  The artwork was created by John Sumrow with consultation coming from Chris Ryall and designs by Ryan Clark for Invisible Creatures Inc.  The album will be available as a Limited Edition CD, standard CD, 2LP and digital format.

In support of Last Patrol, MONSTER MAGNET will be embarking on a full-blown North American Tour!  Although the band has toured Europe relentlessly over the past decade, this is MONSTER MAGNET’s first full North American tour in over 10 years!  The band is eager to hit the road in the states for the first time in what seems like forever.  Prepare to hear MONSTER MAGNET classics and new cuts from Last Patrol for the first time live! Support will come from Prosthetic Records artist Zodiac.  The tour is scheduled to kick off November 14th in Grand Rapids, MI and will run through December 14th in New York, NY.

Last Patrol

Frontman and MONSTER MAGNET mastermind Dave Wyndorf checked in with his thoughts about Last Patrol:

“Last Patrol is a return to our roots in terms of vibe and recording style. It’s full-on psychedelic space-rock with a 60’s garage feel, recorded almost exclusively with vintage guitars, amps and effects in our hometown of Red Bank, NJ. The songs are a kind of Space-Noir, tales of cosmic revenge, peaking libidos, alienation and epic strangeness. It’s a weird trip through the back alleys of a dark, retro-future, which not by coincidence very much resembles my own life. (laughs) The lyrics aren’t fantasy really, rather a recounting of my musings on, observations of and general emotional reaction to my life and environment during a 1 week writing period in February of 2013. But I tend to use the vernacular and imagery of science fiction and surrealism to express myself and that’s where these lyrics get trippy. There’s also our cover version of Donovan’s “Three Kingfishers” which I thought fit the mood of the album – Dave Wyndorf”

Sample track from the new album The Duke:

Machinewerks: CS X51 (Support local industry!!)

Posted by on 02/09/2013 No comments

Many UK people who were involved with the dance scene back in the early 90’s will recall The Black Dog, well they never really went away and have been tirelessly involved in the music scene ever since, releasing stuff, DJ’ing etc.

Now they are trying to realise a much bigger project and want support for it, please take some time to check out their Kickstarter page and their product site for the CS X51

If you can, please pledge something!!

 

 

 

 

 

Campaign Links
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/machinewerks/cs-x51-usb-midi-control-surface
http://machinewerks.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/MachineWerks
https://twitter.com/machinewerks_
https://vimeo.com/machinewerks

Ken Block Gymkhana GRID Ride

Posted by on 15/08/2013 No comments

I love Ken Block video’s and this one just made me smile. Actor Nick Swardson is taken along for the ride, 100% of the video shot on a GoPro HD Hero3

For Kevin

Posted by on 13/08/2013 No comments

Kevis is a work colleague, not based at our site but he drops in every once in a while. Months and months and months ago he started asking me about the GSi Turbo steering wheel I had behind my desk.
I said “Oh, that’s going in the Astra soon”

Weeks would pass, Kevin would drop in again and joke about the steering wheel still being there. Then months passed and although he called in he stopped asking about the GSi wheel.

I’ve been called a Sloth with bike builds, in fact someone once said glaciers move faster than me and now I come to think of it even my niece calls me Gary The Snail.

So this is for you Kevin…..IT’S DONE 🙂

Old one off…

‘New’ one on

Gaitor Aid

Posted by on 03/08/2013 No comments

My leather gear gaitor (which turned out to be fake leather halfway thru this task) has been with me for 168,000 miles so I guess owes me nothing. He was starting to get very tatty around the top though so 10 minutes on FleaBay later and I’d scored a new, real leather, replacement.

In fact it was a twofer deal and I got a handbrake gaitor thrown in the bundle too. Not in a big rush to change him though as there’s lots of aggro involved and my current one is still fine.

I found a neat ‘How To’ online that helped this task immensely and it was all done in a little over half hour (20 minutes spent trying to stretch the new gaitor over the gear knob…)

Before & After shots 🙂


Gaz Brookfield – New song – New video

Posted by on 24/07/2013 No comments

This guy is great if you’ve never heard of him.

We saw him doing support for The Levellers back in June and he totally aced it, so much so I rushed out and got his album from Band Camp (via www.gazbrookfield.com) the next day 🙂

This via email today:

Hello!

Here is a link to the video for “Land Pirate’s Life”, the first single to be taken from my forthcoming album, “In The Company Of Thieves”.
The single will be released on my Bandcamp page (accessible via www.gazbrookfield,com) as a download only track on August 26th. AND IT WILL BE FREE! Until then, you’ll have to just watch the video.
It stars the wonderful Simon Friend (of The Levellers) as my pirate mentor.  Huge thanks to Si for this!
If you’re in the Bristol area on Thursday August 29th, we are having a single launch party at The Bank Tavern, John Street, Broadmead, in the form of a Pirate Party.  Featuring performances from myself, and also from Zeptepi, a pirate folk band all the way from Australia! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zeptepi/126314431058?fref=ts
Pirate attire in encouraged!
Hope you like the song, and don’t forget that the album itself will be coming out on December 2nd 2013.

More Leather!!

Posted by on 28/06/2013 No comments

Been on the hunt for one of these for a while, an Irmscher Leather Armrest. Neat for stashing various items in to keep the cockpit clean and uber cool for that relaxed driving posture when out on the open road.

As with all Irmscher products its very well made and very well designed, you don’t lose access to the rear passenger ashtray (even though I don’t smoke) and it doesn’t screw up access to the handbrake, unless you are into doing handbrake turns (I’m getting too old for that shit now).

Piece of cake to fit, set some pilot holes with the Makita Cordless and used a quarter inch drive ratchet with Torx bits to drive the fixings home 🙂

 


‘Before’

‘After’

Stop The Pigeon

Posted by on 12/06/2013 No comments

I’m not a violent person and these days I go out of my way to avoid killing anything that walks, crawls, flies or slithers but every now and again there is an unavoidable situation….and this was one.

I do a LOT of miles in my car, most weeks 500+ and on this occasion a 1000+ miles in one week and I never engage in any acts of roadkill, in fact wild things rarely even try and sacrifice themselves so I should consider myself lucky. This is a good thing as the front of my car has now been rebuilt several times..

Anyway’s I was on the home commute, doing round 80mph when this Wood Pigeon (Brainus Smallus) tries to take my Astra on, suffice to say it was all over rather quickly and the view in my rear view mirror looked like someone had just put a King Size duvet through a garden shredder…!!

When I got home I discovered the full extent….pieces of skull wedged in small crevices with pieces of flesh still attached…..brains all over my bumper, bird crap on the splitter and feathers?….well EVERYWHERE in the engine bay, in my AC radiator, my coolant radiator.

Two hours of hot water, Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II and Dodo Juice Tropical Red Mist later and you would never know I played Stop The Pigeon

I’m on the Lamb But I Ain’t No Sheep

Posted by on 07/05/2013 No comments

Personally I would say 10 months sucks for the lifespan of a Lambswool Wash Mitt, especially when it doesn’t get used every weekend due to the crappy UK weather we have. This guy below is (or was) a Meguiars Lambswool Wash Mitt so should be good quality with Megs being generally a good detailing brand.

All he has been used with is Chemical Guys Maxi-Suds II and hot water, no nasty chemicals or other detailing products. I then use him for the rinse too, then he gets put on a hot wash with Persil Non-Bio and hung out to dry until the following week.

So, I’m not too impressed with Meguiars, or did I kill him with the 95 degree Persil Non-Bio wash….?

Now I’m looking for a Dodo Juice – Supernatural Wash Mitt AKA the Wookie Fist but they are mysteriously out of stock everywhere….

 

Dodo Juice - Supernatural Wash Mitt wookie Fist