Clockwork Orange (1971)

There's nothing as queer as a clockwork orange

I've been lucky enough to meet some wonderful people recently via this Blog. It's been a real treat. As you know, I'm not a huge online socialite, but I do get a kick out of hearing what other people think about reviews I've written, and I love getting tips and suggestions for new stuff... so don't be shy!

Clockwork Orange, Warner Brothers 1971

About a month ago the marvelous Christy Dempsey asked me what I thought of a Clockwork Orange. It's a film I'd been meaning to get hold of for some time. Can you guess what happened next? Yeah... here's the review...

From Hell (2000)

A couple of months ago I got talking to a living legend on Google+ by the name of Andrew Clifton-Brown. We were chewing the fat on reading matter and Andrew recommended that I get hold of a copy of "From Hell", the graphic novel created by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell.

You know that I'm very easily led!

I am Sir William Withey Gull...
From Hell, Moore & Campbell 2000

Fretting over Ukulele Necks

Have you ever heard the phrase about knowing just enough to be dangerous? That's me that is!

"Kung Fuke!"

Last month I made the decision to make myself an electric ukulele. It's not something I've ever done before but I thought that it might be fun to give it a go.

Ever since then I've been fretting over the ukulele neck part of the build. Whilst I know that I could easily buy one, I'd really like to make my own. And being a long-time guitarist I kind of know just enough about guitar necks to realise that there may be more to this than meets the eye.

Sin City Ukulele Designs

I had a bit of fun last year mocking up some Yusaku Hanakuma-inspired Ukulele Designs. Since then I've been overdosing on Sin City. Having done photos, and comics, it seems only right now to pay tribute to Frank Miller with a few choice ukulele designs. Enjoy...

Oh yeah... before you go suing me Frank... these are only mock-ups!

Designer Ukulele - A Dame to Kill For

Taming the Piezo

Not too far back I fitted a piezo pickup to one of my ukuleles. It was a cheap and fairly painless exercise. Today I'm going to talk about some of the mechanics of amping the instrument.

First let's get some technical stuff out of the way:

"Piezoelectric fields result predominantly
 from atomic layer displacements along
 the nanowire axis within both the core
 and shell materials."
 - American Chemical Society

Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy (2010)

I didn't want to buy this comic, but it was there and I had a few quid to burn.

Zombie Spock? Live long and prosper...
Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy, CBS 2010

Zombies: Wicked Little Things (2006)

The first film that I ever took my wife to see - before we were married - was an afternoon screening of Arachnophobia. Yeah... I know! Sometimes I'm such a romantic fool...

The Ukes watch Arachnophobia

It seemed like a great idea at the time. I can't really remember much about the film itself, but I do remember that we sat up at the front and that there was this scary bit that made me jump out of my skin. I think that I might have actually screamed. Unfortunately for me, I was the only one to jump.