Kernow pt1. Far east of Eden Project.

Well that was a nice trip, we stayed as the title suggested in a small holiday camp outside of Polperro on the north cornish coast.  We have always loved Cornwall, it just seems warmer than the rest of the UK, and the weather we had there was pretty nice overall.  Sharing with my mum, dad, aunt, her friend and her dog (a peke with a snoring habit), it was quite cramped but overall quite cosy.  

We took a couple of trips out while there, this include worthy ecobubble the Eden project, the lost world of  Heligan gardens oh also Liskeard which is pretty nice.

Eden Project.

Pretty nice if you can resist the urge to freak out and burn down some rainforest.  Set in an old clay quarry, it has two domes and an array of gardens ringing the quarry itself.  Some kudos goes to the WEEE man, a hideous mechagodzilla reinvisioned as some sort of scrap monster possibly as a comment on our wasteful society.  Which is rich seeing as it looks like some skinless giant ape, don't take your eyes of its manic grin it'll lash out and disembowel you soon as your backs turned.  Its traditional enemy of course is  large bee thing, impressive last time we visited, though it looks quite different now (I.E threadbare.)*

Cacti wise the outer gardens have some lovely Echeverias and Sedum including a chocolate coloured Ice Plant Sedum Spectibile.  They also have a maidenhair tree and a ferns along with more traditional garden plants looking  rather spectacular.

Mediterranean Biodome. 

If you like cacti and succulents you can't fail to be amazed here (non cacti people are catered for too, as there's a wealth of other non xerophytic stuff as well as I'll explain).  Covering those areas of the world with a mediterranean climate, this covers the southern states of the USA, South Africa, Argentina and Chile.

For the likes of me, the South Africa exhibit is the most interesting, with a vast mat of Oscularia and a large Lampranthus Goodieanus in flower, there were smaller bits and pieces to including a stand of Glottiphyllum about 2ft across in full bloom and another that had set seed.  If I had a water pistol we could have opened up their water sensitive fruits and seen the seeds inside, but that probably would have got us kicked out.
There's a full compliment of Aloes including Striata, Brevifolia and what looks like Plicatilis lurking throughout the display as well as a nice Gasteria Maculata in pots.

Cactus wise there is a lone Prickly pear and  a Ferocactus to bring up the rear in the California exhibit.

For those non cactaceous amongst you there are some nice displays of popular crops, Sorghum proving popular with the sparrows and a massive tobacco plant with some drying out just in case Eden is considering making their own Eden eco fairtrade fags.  Last time we visited they just had robins dotted around the dome now they are joined by sparrows and blackbirds too.

The Jungle Biodome.

Theres nothing remotely cactaceous here at all, no Epiphyllums lurking in the trees and certainly nothing whatsoever to do with the Cactaceae.  There is a Moringa and a Chorisia that are the sole representatives of succulence and both are about 20ft tall (thats almost a billion metres in metric).  There are lots to see including a few quail lurking in the undergrowth, and a huge variety of massive and not so massive tropical plants.  Buildings include a Malaysian hut in the forest looking not unlike a jail and a rusting tin shack that is part of the African exhibit.  

Food fans are quite well served here with Banana and its cooking equivalent Plantain both growing here.  Jackfruit and Papaya as well as Starfruit are all to be found here as well as Konyakku root (also known as Konjac) being displayed by a traditional roadside stand with various goodies on display.  

Finally there was a few hokey fairtrade bits and pieces that grated not considerably with the whole project, which were hardly few and far between.  It seems that every step you are assaulted with banners for some eco project in the rainforest or climate change.  Some are worthy others actually aren't so bad, but be warned that there are legion and nigh on unavoidable. 

*Sadly the cactus dome / storage area, that I saw in a Eden Project Documentary Circa 2005 hasn't materialised.  This would be a putative third dome covering desert areas and xerophytes in general but now seems to be taken over by the core centre instead. 

Anyway not that anyone is remotely listening anymore thats...

the Eden Project, Bodleva, Cornwall. 

£17.50** to get in,  Kids, Students, Pensioners and the Less Able are of course allowed in with a discount. 
**Gitfaiding your fee, gets you free entry and a clear conscience too.

Hiatus #2

We feel another extended break coming on so as always heres some music to tide you over.
http://www.mediafire.com/?hjf585drvphp4ysVideo version of Nightwriters vs Neyo Mashup.

September Round up.

We don't really have a big overarching theme to this Sunday's update.  We forgot we were going to talk about MTV, and that so you'll have to deal with various little things.

Contra Puzzle.
We got this freebie from an old copy of Mean Machines (purchased in Penzance, with Parodius on the cover), stuck in with a larger puzzle.  Rather than a video game its an actual 200 piece puzzle from the SNES game Contra Spirits (or Super Probotector as it was here).  Memory is telling me Konami actually did jigsaws as a sideline as well as YuGiOh! cards and Tokimeki pillows.  Anyway seeing as the internet has failed to come up with a single image this is an upload of my own (with crucially a piece missing).

This is, crucially the Japanese Box Art.

Beckenham and Croydon.

Two towns that we decided to make a trip to yesterday.  I haven't been to Beckenham in a long long while.  Home to Raven games , who used to sell PC Engine games from the back of CVG (oh arcade games too) back when it regularly gave 6 page reviews to Darkstalkers on the Saturn.

We didn't find Ravens shop and we suspect that they are soley an internet entity now.  However we did explore the town and came to the conclusion that it was rather nice with a decent Smiths and a good few charity shops.  Croydon on the other hand has gone downhill.  As a kid, we went there for Christmas shopping and to see Father Christmas over the Army and Navy store (showing my age).
Now it is totalled through the joint efforts of  junior gangstas and the happy clappy brigade of African churches.   There are a few places where its not a total abortion.  Where Beanos used to be is a few market stalls with one selling corsets! of all things.  X Electronics are still going though with a variety of odd stock in, a mix of electronics at the front and video games at the back.  A broad mix of the current and the retro with a few speccy and even Vectrex games there {It remains the only place I've actually played on a Vectrex}.

Amanda Lear.

Bizarrely shortly after we put up the post on Sat 1 and Electric Blue then I was contacted through my Myspace page to be a friend of mine.   Funny how stuff works out.

A bit about MTV.

Oh joy of joys, not only is FDS Monty Mole finally getting a translation, (thanks Pennywise) but they're bringing Beavis and Butthead back.

I'll say that again they're finally making more proper shows on MTV and not relying on shit like they have done the last 10 years.  Beavis and Butthead were fucking awesome simply for the fact that they were not only the class idiots but because they were sharply observed class idiots.  They're the slackers slacker, whether rooting down the couch for stuff to go couch fishing with, panhandling with Z from Police Academy (he played a Harold Ramp in the episode of the same name) and of course Cornholio Beavis's alter ego emerging in times of extreme crisis (read sugar rush) chatting about his bunghole and TP the best thing ever.

Finally its the best things that are largely absent from the video compilations and DVDs put out, Music Videos and B'N'Bs stock demolition of each and every one of them.   Edie Bricknell Pinching a Loaf, to wanting to pee on Blur (and apart from the sublime Monkey soundtrack who wouldn't) their put downs rocked.
A raver like me getting into weird metal stuff like Suicidal Tendancies and Danzig (hey Mother does rock even if I still hate guitar stuff with a vengance).  They sometimes played other weird stuff too like MC 900ft Jesus with Beavis singing throughout much to Buttheads annoyance. 

I can sort of remember B'N'Bs church song, Beavis yelling fire at things oh and Butthead being summoned out of the crapper by Beavis because there was bare ass on TV (and him to repeat the trick because there was a dog with a surgical brace round its neck thus earning him a dig to the nads). 

Though I like King of the Hill, and am pretty sure Hanks a relative to Tom Anderson, its great to see Beavis and Butthead return.  May the new episodes rock as hard as the older ones.  I said hard Heh Heh.

Oh and they'll be more on MTV mainly Partyzone stuff and the birth of the career of Davina Mc Call for all the good its done mankind.