Chalkie Blogs

Dive, Dive, Dive!!!

2005-09-22T17:45:00.000Z

I've just re-watched the movie U-571. What a great little film it is, a real homage to all those black and white films from the late 40s and early 50s that glorified the actions of those involved in derring-do.

The soundtrack is actually the best bit. As any good soundtrack should be it totally compliments the visuals and brings you right in to where its happening. If you get a chance, watch it on DVD through a good surround sound system in a darkened room and you'll believe you really are aboard a submarine!

Fashionable?

2005-09-22T11:26:00.000Z

Kate Moss certainly isn't right now! What a pity.

Not.

I'm sorry, but if you're in the public eye and you have a drug addict boyfriend, a large disposable income and you move in the right circles, there's no way you're not going to succumb to drugs. Kate Moss knew exactly what she was doing, and knew the consequences, so I have no sympathy at all for her.

It's good to see that her employers are seeing it that way too. Maybe she's finally learning that being a supermodel does not make you invincible. Maybe she should've learned a lesson from her "colleague" Naomi Campbell. She had an equally harsh fall from grace, and has pretty much vanished from the limelight since. Good riddance, I say! These people are yet more examples of why we desperately need to dump this cult of celebrity and bring daily life back to a level of lesser excess and that need for bigger, better, faster, more in public life. We can see through it, can't we?

Sorry seems to be the hardest word......

2005-09-17T15:00:00.000Z

So there I was, standing in the supermarket just now looking for something tasty for supper when I heard a woman's voice behind me.

"Sorry", she said.

I looked round, wondering why she was saying sorry when I wasn't aware she'd done anything to me.

She hadn't done anything, she just wanted to pass through the narrow gap I was standing in. Realising what she really meant I let her through, but it made me think about people's inability to use the English language properly so I conducted a little trial. Whereever I went in the store I tried my best to make myself an obstruction to others so that they'd have to ask to pass by. I was hoping people might use the correct phrase "excuse me", but sadly I was wrong. Each time it was "sorry". Why be sorry? You haven't done anything! If anything I should be saying sorry for being in the way. I was doing it deliberately on this occasion, after all!

I wonder how this trend has come into being. I was always told to say "excuse me" if you wanted to pass by someone in this manner. Sorry can be a powerful word if used correctly. Using it flippantly like this makes it loose its true meaning. Maybe next time you need to pass by someone who's in the way, use "excuse me" instead........

Wayne Rooney

2005-09-15T17:46:00.000Z

Sportsmen often court controversy, and none more so than Wayne Rooney. Rooney is fast becoming the Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne of his generation. In the last week or so Rooney has hit the headlines on several occasions for his on-pitch behaviour. As expected, the pundits are shrugging it off with platitudes such as "well, he needs to calm down", and so on.

So it falls to me to say what they're not.

GROW UP!!

Throwing a strop on the pitch just becuase things aren't going as you want for you or team is not big or clever. These people need to remember that they are role models for the youth of today, and when they see the likes of Rooney and his colleagues acting like the spoilt children they are, it's not surprising they follow suit. In my opinion modern footballers are very much over payed and over valued. Youngsters aspire to be like them, and it's encouraged, yet people don't see they're aspiring to be talentless and ill-educated. It's high time someone started putting them in their place and show the young people who are our future that there are goals much higher than kicking a ball to aim for in life.

Gas Guzzlers

2005-09-14T15:45:00.000Z

There's been some hype here, in the last week or so, about blockades to protest against the high price of petrol in the UK. The UK has pretty much the highest fuel prices in Europe, and compared to the US they're extortionate. Sady, those who wanted to cause disruption by allegedly creating rolling roadblocks and blockading oil refineries have managed to cause it by pure implication. Motorists have been panic buying and most petrol pumps that would have supplied the UK have now been run dry, thanks to the morons who wouldn't listen to the petrol companies, police, and government.

A few weeks ago terrorists attempted to bring London to its knees by detonating bombs on public transport, but failed. Maybe they should've tried the tactics that the fuel protestors did this week, they might've had a better result that way. In their own way the protestors have waged their own form of terrorism.....it makes you think, doesn't it?

Why Chalkie?

2005-09-13T13:00:00.000Z

Those people who've known me professionally for the last 10 years or so will already know all about the alter-ego that is Chalkie. Actually, alter-ego is probably the wrong term, as Chalkie and me are one and the same.

Chalkie was born one evening in the BBC Club Bar in Western House (next door to Broadcasting House) in London W1. His arrival was a total accident. At the time I was working as a "studio manager" (BBC posh term for sound engineer) for BBC national radio and on the day in question had arranged to meet up with a number of colleagues who were all finishing around the same time, for a post-work beer or 5.

Most of those who'd said they'd be there had arrived, but after an hour or so we were still lacking 2 people. Tony Earnshaw, our most senior studio manager, was holding court (as usual!) and began asking who it was we were missing.

"Alison and Chris", someone said.
"Ah, "crispy" ", said Tony (Chris' surname was Bacon you see!)
We all laughed, at which point Tony just turned to me with a big grin on his face, and pointed saying.....
"...and you can shut up Chalkie..."
We laughed some more.

The next day I wandered into the office to check my duties for the day only to find that the duty sheets had been altered. Instead of my days tasks being headed by a column that said "White", they now said "Chalkie". And so Chalkie was born. I've been known as Chalkie ever since that day and will continue to be so.

I left the BBC in 1999, going to work for a radio production company. About 18 months later I was back at Broadcasting House to do a freelance shift when I bumped into one of my former colleagues. He had some sad news to share. The previous Saturday Tony had died, very suddenly at home. He'd had a massive heart attack. It was quite a shock, understandably, but it gave Chalkie a whole new raison d'etre.

So Chalkie lives on, a testament to a much loved and respected colleague to all those whose path he crossed. He taught me many things professionally and personally and for that I'll always be grateful. He always had a glint in his eye though, even when the shit was hitting the fan and things were falling over left, right and centre. You were right Tony, it was "all a bunch or arse"!! (he knows what I mean!)

Frost Free

2005-09-13T10:16:00.000Z

There was an interesting piece on the local news last night. A London based company has developed a way of keeping roads, runways or any area you like to be free of snow and ice. See their site at http://www.icax.co.uk/flash.html

It's such a simple idea I'm surprised no one's thought of it before......apart from the Romans! All their villas had underfloor heating after all. A by-product of this whole thing that was brought out on the news item was the fact that not only could you use the heat to keep roads clear, but there was enough left over to supply hot water to dozens of nearby homes. It's a win win situation as far as I can see, free energy, clear roads in winter, free hot water, reduced need for fossil fuels, reduced global warming. It's gotta be done, surely?

We Know Major Tom's a Junkie!

2005-09-12T19:23:00.000Z

Cricket's an odd game. I've never been able to fathom it, but as England won The Ashes today (do you see what I did there?!) I thought I'd find a way of enlightening you and me. So this is what I discovered......."You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including thosewho are not out, that is the end of the game!" There, I'm glad we've got that straight.......

Out of Context

2005-09-12T14:30:00.000Z

I've just come back from food shopping. Outside the small supermarket I go to I saw actor Clive Owen (Closer, Sin City etc). Now I'm not someone to be star struck. I've worked in the media for far too long for that sort of thing to bother me, but I always find it amusing to see "famous" people in everyday surroundings especially when they're pretending to blend in. In the very same supermarket I saw Simon "Shawn of the Dead" Pegg doing just that. He might as well have been wearing a big sign saying "yes, it IS me, but don't pay any attention". Not very humble! Mr Owen, however, was not trying to hide himself and nor was he being noticed. Just goes to show you can hide anything in plain view.

Celebrity

2005-09-11T21:00:00.000Z

There's just been a nice little "documentary" on Channel 4 about pointless celebrity. The trend these days for someone to make a million based on absolutely nothing at all/getting your tits out. Amusingly Channel 4 conducted an official poll and the "most pointless celebrity" was voted to be Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham; her husband took 2nd place. In a way I'm glad, yet disagree with the verdict. Surely as a celebrity she does have a point, which is to make people who have an ounce of sense and intelligent feel justified in sneering at her stupidty and pointlessness.

By today's standards I myself am a celebrity. I made the front page of the Christmas edition of my local paper once for taking part in a mince pie making marathon, along with a former lesser footballer turned local tv sport presenter, in aid of charity. Unfortunately for me I was unable to sell my story to the tabloids due to the lack of any shagging of anyone famous, exposing parts of myself or appearing on any reality tv shows. Mind you, that's not stopped some people.......

The irony of this tv show is that it was presented by a former newspaper editor whose tabloid publications glorified the people he was now condemning. A case of "if needs must" i suppose. At least the fact was openly acknowledged by the guy. The point of it all was to highlight (as if we needed telling) that we need a return to the times when a celebrity was a person to celebrate; the likes of Monroe, Sinatra, Elton John and similar who have a talent and use it wisely. Maybe if we stopped buying trivial magazines and watching so called reality tv shows we'd find a little more meaning to the word celebrity. Here's hoping, but I won't hold my breath.

Anyway, enough of this, I need to call my agent and arrange to be photographed at the opening of an envelope!

September 11th

2005-09-11T11:35:00.000Z

So today is September 11th. It's hard to believe that 4 years have past since the terrible events that polarised the planet and changed the face of modern life forever. That day will be the Kennedy Assasination of our generation, everyone will remeber where they were and what they were doing when it happened.

I was at home, and caught a snippet online that a plane had hit one of the towers. When I heard it I assumed a light aircraft had somehow flown into it by mistake but as soon as I switched on the TV it was obvious it was something much bigger. I had the misfortune to start watching litterally seconds before the 2nd aircraft struck, and so the full horror unfolded before my eyes, albeit from a few thousand miles away.

I'd visited NYC for the first time a little over 2 years previously and had been right there where it happened. Like for so many onlookers, it made it a much more personal attack for that reason, even though I had no direct connection with anyone actually affected. As a result, the photos I took on that trip hold a different poignancy now and will always be cherished possessions.

4 years on, the city that never sleeps has taken it in its stride and continues to symbolise everything thats amazing about America. I'll get back to NYC again one day, but there's so much to explore over there. Luckily I have a chance to do some more exploring when I do a tour of the "wild west" next month...I can't wait!

Stench!

2005-09-09T23:30:00.000Z

It's just rained REALLY hard for about half an hour. There's a sewage treatment work over the back of where I work and when it rains you get the most ungodly smell, so imagine how it smells when it rains REALLY hard!

Ewwwwwww!

Driving

2005-09-09T13:18:00.000Z

I drive a fair amount. Not as much as some but I'm in the car to and from work at all sorts of odd times. You see some wierd things. Like the guy in the middle lane of 3 on a busy road reading the Koran! What's that about?!

It's not the wierd stuff that gets me though, it's people's inability to do the basic things. Like today, coming in to work, the woman in the Audi estate (with a top box...you've got an estate car and no passengers, why do you need a top box?!!) who was adamant that she was going to barge through in the right hand lane just as it ran out into bollards. You could see the lane ran out but still she came bowling through expecting to be let in. Think again!!

Or it's the moped riders who think it's fine to weave their way through the traffic and then obstruct you at the traffic lights as they've not got in the left turn lane in time, so they sit there at right-angles across your path to make the turn. It's amazing more people aren't hurt (or worse) on London's roads with this sort of behaviour. And that's just the beginning, I could rant on about bad driving till the end of time!

Apart from the so called "bendy buses", my other main hate at the moment is people on the phone. And when I say on the phone I mean holding it and driving. That's meant to be illegal in the UK now, and the Police say they're stopping more and more drivers doing it, but in my experience it's not having any effect. On a daily basis I'll see 3 or 4 people blatantly on the phone while driving. Ok, so I talk on the phone when I'm in the car, so I can't shout too loudly. However, I've at least made an effort to invest in the technology to allow me to do it safely. It seems I'm the only person who's heard of Bluetooth though......

It's all about common courtesy really, something this world seems to be lacking these days......

Actually, there is one other thing I really hate on the roads right now....estate agents who have fleets of Minis all logo'd up and with a totally obscured back window cos it's touting something or other. You guys really are making WAY too much money. Do you know how much a Mini costs? It's not the cheap little car Alec Issigonis designed all those years ago!

Chalkie has arrived!

2005-09-09T06:20:00.000Z

Well I've finally joined the 21st Century with my own little blog. Now it just a case of populating it with witticisms, thoughts, observations and ramblings. Those who know me well would say "that won't be too tricky for you", but I'm not so sure.....you be the judge!

Why am I here? Well I have my friend Oscar to thank for this. His site is awesome, funny, thoughtful and sometimes just totally random...well for a Brit it is!

Check him out at http://www.xtranger.com/blogsk

Osk also alerted me to an excellent web based photo album, Flickr. It's part of the Yahoo family and true to form I've made my own little area there too. Go to http://www.flickr.com and search for chalkie.

Well, it's time for bed; a day in the office tomorrow beckons me!