Spare a thought for Jimmy

If you think it's cold where you live, just think of Jimmy up in Edmonton, Canadia. The brass monkeys have definitely had their balls frozen off. I am not gonna complain that it's skirting around freezing here anymore, well for a few days anyway.

P.S Jimmy it's gonna be about 18 C here in the next few days. Methinks you chose the wrong place to do a postdoc.

A night at the 506: the great 8 showcase

Here is a little photoblog update. It is me playing with my new camera at a red collar gig. I took all these without a flash for that old school grainy black and white effect. Remember to click on the photos to see them big.

One of the best things about being back in Durham is the music. On Saturday I caught a show at the aptly named Local 506 showcasing national, sorry, local talent. The so called great 8, which you can see a cool flash applet about. The first band I saw properly was 'I was totally destroying it', I have seen them before, and are pretty damn cool. I think they fit into the local scene well as the local bands round here seem to be trying to reclaim pop music or at least rock 'n' roll. Unfortunately I was still working out how to use my camera and the pictures I got were pretty bad.

I did get some of Red Collar though. The first shot is actually of a film that was being shown throughout the night of the great 8. I just thought it came out nice, especially as the guy in the white t-shirt is the guy in the white shirt.

Things started off pretty quiet.

When you don't use a flash it's hard to capture motion in focus, but it does show the energy the band have.

They do move around on stage.


I got this shot on the go of 'hey come on let's go go go' from the song 'stay'

A shot with the whole band. It's tough when you're trying to fight off all the fan girls and boys for a good space to take photos.....

Durhamarma

It's been a mad mad week in Durham, NC. As I posted a few days ago a duke Ph.D student was murdered. Since then there has been a spree of people being held up at gun point. This includes somebody in my research group. They think they have the people who did it according to WRAL. It has been a scary week and also a week of paranoia. It was pretty scary walking to the pub the other day as somebody was sat on a wall. I'm sure they had an innocent reason to be there and I have walked past this same wall with people on it maybe 100 times. The paranoia got to me and it went through my mind that I was going to get mugged and/or shot. They win if you start thinking like that.

What does need to be looked at is the divide in Durham of the haves (i.e. in general white people connected with duke) and the havenots (i.e. a lot of the African-American/Hispanic populations). While this is a big generalisation, it is for the most part sadly true. Durham could have so much to offer but people are scared of it. Everywhere else in the triangle is expensive. Downtown Durham could be so much fun... we just need one first, this in turn would create jobs and maybe take the emphasis off the great divide. I know it won't solve all the problems but it could be a start.

Anyways on a lighter note. It snowed last weekend, here is the view from my porch.

Google Search Terms

Here is a list of search terms that people have used and found this blog, thanks to the good people at stalkcounter for the information. I don't know if I should be pleased or slight worried. If you type superman pants into google, I am top 10. Woo hoo. I really hope that the top one from this list isn't somebody trying to find me. Although it looks like people are trying to find Ryan Hill. So if you are looking for him I can tell you where he lives. Nutters welcome.

crazy brit nc
streets of philadelphia cftpa blogspot
streets of philadelphia casiotone blogspot
pub golf nyc
"1600 block anderson street, durham"
casiotone for the painfully alone streets of philadelphia
cameron crazies and chef hats
dronfield sunday lunch
duke basketball lede
"beerfest wilmington,nc 2008"
who did el gigante play basketball for
"dunkin donuts, nc hockey contest"
pub golf nyc
mocha pronunciation english
derbyshire north carolina
duke shit basketball
affair with landlord
t-shirt myfootballclub
going to carolina december
casiotone streets of philadelphia blogspot
el gigante raleigh nc pic
superman pants
filmed in wilmington nc
duke basketball action shots
superman pants
afrobats central park
manhattan island north carolina
dan may chapel hill
"derbyshire, north carolina"
derbyshire north carolina
mcdonalds manhattan island
filmed in wilmington nc
gut melting
afrobats new york
mankini uk
red collar band
el gigante north carolina
sports bars in wilmington nc with english soccer
polish mead blog
wrightsville beach pelicans
ciemas
gigante carolina
queens brooklyn accent
pub golf american version
pub golf american version
"the el gigante, north carolina"
"iam going to carolina, song"
el gigante carolina
cameron crazies
3d photos of houses
an american going to yorkshire
ryan hill postdoc
where to eat christmas dinner in southeastern nc
buy yorkshire pudding new york city
el gigante banditos
bbc adverts
dawson's creek house pics wilmington nc
boars breath nc
banditos el gigante
yorkshire pudding nc
"wrightsville beach, nc sea oats"
what to think of when going to north carolina
tales from the bar
dain's place pub quiz
dook basketball
dain's place pub quiz
dain's place pub quiz
ryan hill chilkoti
ryan hill chilkoti
el gigante banditos
banditos el gigante
poll americanness
wrightsville beach t shirts
"dain's place, durham"

Welcome to Durham

I and everyone else related to Duke received this e-mail on Saturday morning:

Alert -- Shooting Death

A man believed to be a Duke University graduate student was found shot to death at an apartment complex in the 1600 block of Anderson Street, several blocks south of the Duke campus, at approximately 11:30 p.m. Friday. According to Duke Police, the incident is under investigation and more information will be shared as it becomes available. Updates will be posted on www.duke.edu/today. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Durham Crimestoppers at (919) 683-1200 or Duke Police at (919) 684-2444.

This is scary stuff. In 2005 there were 37 murders in Durham. I was aware that it was around that figure. I just didn't realise how close to home these can be. Most of the cities I have lived in had some problem like this, but it was mostly in the not so nice areas. I am not really worried, it is just a terrible thing to happen to somebody so young and who had a bright future ahead of them.

Back in Carolina, I think

Well I made it back to NC after a jaunt back to the UK. It was good to see some old faces. It is so difficult to see everyone, so I am sorry if I missed you. I was strange being back. I think I did finally get used to it by the end. Although I did miss NC. It's strange, even though it is really hard leaving friends and family back in the UK and I do miss everyone, I was ready to come back home to dirty D. It does feel like home now. One thing I don't miss about the UK in the winter is the short days and the miserable weather. We get about 2 and a half hours extra of daylight here. Also a big smile on my face.

Speaking of England, here is the end of my road in Dronfield. We got a light dusting of snow. For the colonials, that is a bend in the road.

I really wouldn't recommend doing four transatlantic flights in about 6 weeks. It really does mess with your head. Although my last flight (Philly - Raleigh) was really nice as it was the first time I have chatted to a random on a flight. It was this old guy from NY state and was flying down to see his grandson. We just talked about England and Engineering.

Just in case I hadn't mentioned it, I am now here till March 2009. I hope everyone had a good festive season. I will be updating the blog more from now on. I am even buying a new camera. Get me.