Don Juan's Reckless Daughter

Had the record since it first came out in 1977 but had gone off my listening radar for a number of years. Until really the past two weeks, and oh what a glorious recording. From the opening 'Overture - Cotton Avenue' with what some say is the greatest opening bass guitar note, yes its not bad, right through to 'The Silky Veils of Ardor' (probably my least favourite). For me there are five outstanding tracks "Talk to Me" , "Jericho", "Dreamland", "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" and "Off Night Backstreet" . "Paprika Plains" would be up there if the long free piano in the middle was cut down to two minutes long.
We all acept that Joni can write a song, thats a cast iron given, she is peerless but what really elevates the recording into the stratosphere is Jaco Pastorius's bass playing. It just makes you weep to think he went of the rails, and was knifed to death outside a Miami nightclub. Just listen to the recording, put the bass up if you wish, and follow the bass line. This is easy, as apart from Joni's guitar, there is not much more to obscure your listening pleasure. There is, but its very much secondary. A must for any music lover's collection.

Green Zone

Visually a great film, with Greengrass's style very suited to this genre. It made fighting in the Somme look like a piece of cake. The Americans did not take to the film as it exposes the flawed/rewritten intelligence that they used to go to war, and which unfortunately Tony Blair was duped into accepting. It also highlights America's administration attitude as what to do after the battle was completed and summed up neatly in the interpretors last line "It's not up to you to determine what happens in this country."

8.5/10

Journey into space with a balloon and duct tape

It all sounds very Heath Robinson but a digital camera, a GPS device, some duct tape and a balloon were all that was needed to take some breathtaking pictures of Earth that had Nasa calling.

Robert Harrison, 38, used a collection of cheap parts costing £500 to create a balloon-mounted camera that can travel up to 21.7 miles (35km) above the surface of the Earth. The result is a series of pictures taken from a height that only a rocket or weather balloon can reach. Mr Harrison, an IT director from Highburton, West Yorkshire, has launched 12 high-altitude balloons (HABs) since 2008.

The hobby began when he tried taking aerial photos of his house using a remote control helicopter. The experiment failed and Mr Harrison began to research the possibility of using a meteorological balloon to carry a camera. The resulting photographs, which he published online , were so impressive that Nasa has been in touch.

“A guy phoned up who worked for Nasa who was interested in how we took the pictures,” Mr Harrison told The Times. “He wanted to know how the hell we did it. He thought we used a rocket. They said it would have cost them millions of dollars.”

A GPS tracker enabled him to follow the balloon’s progress to an accuracy of 10 metres (33ft) and to retrieve it upon its return to Earth. Both the camera and the GPS device are wrapped in loft insulation, which traps the heat given off by the devices and allows them to function in -60C (-76F) temperatures high in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Describing his first successful launch, Mr Harrison said: “We were sat in a local pub at the time and I was gobsmacked when I got the images. Seeing the highest pictures was amazing — that’s a lifetime achievement.”

The UK Met Office sends up similar balloons every day to measure a range of weather conditions but Mr Harrison holds the record for the highest HAB flight at 22 miles (35km). He is working on his third model, which has a rotating-lens camera and a rear fixed-lens camera, as well as pressure, temperature and humidity sensors

Crazy Heart

Simple, real story, with characters you believed in, filmed very naturally, (lighting especially, or should I say lack off) with a top drawer performance from Jeff Bridges. Good little cameos from Robert Duval (fellow producer) and Colin Farrell, with a note to for Maggie Gyllenhaal who played the leading female role.
A very decent film.
8.75/10

Teeth

Having had a front upper tooth smashed out some 25+ years ago, today I finally had it replaced with a bridge. And no ordinary bridge, the technique is called A Maryland Bridge, It is fixed to the back of the other upper front with a platinum fixing glued to its back. So its cantilevered, and I must say, they have done a good job. For the first time for many years I can feel the roof of my mouth.

Alice in Wonderland

Had its moments, but overall it felt rather half hearted. Trouble with Disney films, they dont want to offend, should have been far more darker and hallucingenic, after all what was the Rev Dobson on anyway?
5/10

Crane

On a neighbouring site, but very close to our offices is another construction site. Old railway buildings are being converted to form the campus of the University of the Arts London. Between us and the large granary building in the background is the Regents Canal and this mobile crane turned up one day to put in two large section of pre-cast bridge sections. It was huge, must be one of the largest mobile cranes around. It stayed for about five days, getting set up, waiting for the two large pieces to arrive, and then lift the sections into position. Even hardened site men from our side were impressed, and we watched in awe as it simply just picked them up a swung them over.
We were standing five stories up, and the granary is six, it is big!