Re-Cycling

In Praise of … Re-Cycling

Going back to visit a place that you’ve already visited on your bike, or re-cycling, as we professionals like to term it, is a pure joy …  and, coincidentally, a damn site more interesting than taking bottles to a bottle-bank.

I’ve been a cycling aficionado since my early teens, and my passion for this pneumatic past-time is obviously shared by the many readers on my blog site

Some time ago, I posted an article concerning Lance Armstrong’s cancer charity fundraiser, the “Livestrong Foundation”, illustrated with a photo of him on his bike, naked in a wind-tunnel, seemingly testing aero-dynamics.  I’d also included a similar photo of UK Olympic cyclist, Victoria Pendleton, in the same position, and equally nude.

Whilst looking at the recent statistics of which page or article on my blog site had received the most hits over the past year, I was astonished to discover that this particular cycling article had actually received four times as many hits than any other article on my site.

My readership obviously shares my passion for cycling, rather than all of those comedy, clips, humorous articles, new band videos, and topical items, which I regularly post.

Or, so I thought … until I discovered a wee icon on my visitor statistics which allowed me to find out which relevant “tags”, or subject headings, had directed the viewers to my particular site, and that particular article … which turned out to be the phrases: “Victoria Pendleton”/ “Nude”/ and the title which I’d given the article – a reference to Lance’s custom-made, carbon-fibre, racing bicycle.

The article is, in fact, entitled …  “I’d Ride That”

Ah, well … so much for me attracting a higher-class of reader, folks.  It seems that I’m getting them under false pretense, second-hand, and re-cycled.

Whatever works.

SAVALAS

My son’s sound production company, SAVALAS, is involved in TV, advertising, games, drama, and music

Here’s a few examples of their work

I think they’re DAMN GOOD … but, of course, I’m biased .. but they are bloody BRILLIANT

http://www.savalas.co.uk/

 

Roger Federer – Trickshot

Federer knocks can off crew member’s head during a Gillette / British Skin Foundation shoot

Inspired Bicycles – Danny MacAskill

WWow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!

Filmed over the period of a few months in and around Edinburgh by Dave Sowerby, this video of Inspired Bicycles team rider Danny MacAskill features probably the best collection of street/street trials riding ever seen. There’s some huge riding, but also some of the most technically difficult and imaginative lines you will ever see. Without a doubt, this video pushes the envelope of what is perceived as possible on a trials bike.

HIDDEN GLASGOW

HIDDEN GLASGOW

Semi-regularly, I drop in for a wee visit, to the Hidden Glasgow Forum, whose topics range from Old Glasgow-New Glasgow photo comparisons, which are great and sometimes surprising, to debates over the biggest daftness imaginable

http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=3

Here’s a memorable interchange that I spotted, for example

Re: Station Cafe

Used to get chips from the said Station Cafe, before getting the 41 bus home to Barlanark in the 70’s … stopped going there when the Evening Times printed a story about someone finding a deep fried fag in their chips

TO WHICH THE REPLY READ:

Re: Station Café

by scaryman2u on Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:30 pm

That was a bit hasty …

You could’ve given them the benefit of the doubt

QUEEN STREET – THEN

QUEEN STREET – THEN AGAIN

MAKING AN EXHIBITION OF OURSELVES?

THE FIRST IMPRESSIONISTS

 

 

The adorable Mrs Who? and I decided to pay a visit to Glasgow on Saturday to some shopping and to visit the famous Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum.

Many moons ago, when I was a young shaver, making my way in the world of graphics and exhibition design, I was seconded as a trainee to the Kelvingrove facility and spent a highly enjoyable month working there mounting a large exhibition in the main entrance hall

Having seen the press reports of the major refit of the galleries, which took some two years to complete, I was really looking forward to seeing what modifications and improvements had been made to the place

Boy, was I disappointed

Apart from the dreadful new, under-stocked & over-priced tearoom, the place showed no visible modifications that impressed me, and the whole dimly lit, badly displayed, poorly managed facility was, in my eyes, a bloody disgrace considering how much time, effort and finance has gone into the refurbishment

As you enter the main hall, the first thing to catch your eye is the sign that directs to the “Glasgow Stories” exhibition … a must for me, as a writer whose interests at present are very much concerned in Glasgow’s past … and, surely, an immediate interest for any tourists to our city … and what’s the first thing on display?

A large exhibit of two huge cases containing two football scarves, of the Rangers and Celtic variety, a sash from the Orange Order, and a huge banner portraying William of Orange … seemingly a representative cross-section of Glaswegian culture, and the religious intolerance that our city is famous for

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh … I was furious!!

Maybe our city is well-known for this sorta puerile nonsense because writers, commentators, and the media in general, keep giving it such bloody prominence in any exposition of Glasgow.

I’ve lived my whole life in Glasgow and have rarely ever witnessed any real bigotry or religious intolerance … this might well be explained by the fact that I’ve only ever attended one football match, when I was in my teens, and …. I don’t hang out with assholes!

Sure … I know there are plenty of pig-ignorant bigots, racists, and twats here in Glasgow … as many as you’d find proportionately in any large conurbation … but I bet Leeds doesn’t “celebrate” the culture of BNP twats in its community in exhibitions, or does Aberdeen have a photographic homage to drunken oil-rig workers on a hooker-based night out

Glasgow can be its own worst enemy in continually portraying itself in a negative stereotype, whose basis actually resides in the events of past decades

Football and bigotry?

Is that the face of Glasgow we wish the world to see?

The Glasgow I know bears no relationship to the crap that’s being peddled n Kelvingrove – the Glaswegians that I meet are not being represented by these portrayals of excess, whether in bigotry, in sport, whether in violence, in drinking, or in the average day-to-day life of the average punter

But maybe that would be difficult to illustrate in an exhibition

The rest of the exhibition, to be honest, was lost on me, as I was so pissed off by this first exhibit, … but the other displays that I looked at were so badly lit, obscured by reflections on the glass cases, and bloody boring, that we just checked out the French Paintings (my two favourites were on loan to other galleries), had a quick once-around-the-houses of the ground floor exhibits where an inordinate amount of dead animals are displayed, and left … a bit dejected, and annoyed.

Maybe I’m being a bit over-the-top, as Mrs Who? usually suggests, but c’mon Glasgow, can’t we show ourselves to be slightly better than this?

Remember … it’s hard to change first impressions.

I’D RIDE THAT

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Sadly, my reaction to seeing these two fotos was …. “I’d ride that”

Even sadder was the fact that I was referring to the bike!

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It must be auld age … or a compliment to the lovely Mrs Who’s charms?

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The lovely lady, by the way, is Victoria Pendleton

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Pendleton won the gold medal in the Women’s Individual Sprint Event?

The nude shot is a recreation of the famous photo of Lance Armstrong.

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By the way, Lance’s autobiography “IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE” is a brilliant read, even if you have no interest whatsoever in cycling or, like myself, no interest in sport.

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It’s a truly inspiring story where Lance gives a very unflattering account of his early life, being raised by a single parent, subsequent rise to fame, and eventual fight against cancer.

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His recovery was all the more amazing in that he refused to be involved in all the “spiritual-miraculous-god-bless-amerika” type nonsense that the media tried to foist on his fight against cancer

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READ IT

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And also … check out the LIVESTRONG site which Armstrong has created to support and help cancer sufferers and survivors

http://www.livestrong.org/

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