Ginger DJ Rob

According to Data Transmission and Last.fm, Daft Punk will be touring Europe next year (2010). This hasn't been confirmed properly but worth looking out for ticket news. Instead of cramming everyone in a tent or small field they're playing in stadiums including Wembley Arena , London. There's nothing on the Arena or Le Zénith website yet but the search continues. Jul 30 Le Zénith, Paris, France Aug 1 Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, Netherlands Aug 3 Allianz-Arena, Munich, Germany Aug 5 The O2, Dublin, Ireland Aug 7 Parc des sports, Nice, France Aug 15 Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York NY, United States Aug 22 Sydney Football, Sydney, Australia Aug 28 Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne, Australia Sep 3 Wembley Arena , London, United Kingdom Sep 6 City Of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

Image via Wikipedia Influenced by our friend, Julian's impressive (and slightly worrying) collection of retro games consoles plus the recent BBC4 Electric Dreams programming, I raided the attic to find Kerry's ZX Spectrum for some classic gaming. I'd bought this for her birthday or Christmas present some years ago, not the rubber keyboard version but the newer 128k '+2' with proper keyboard and integrated tape deck (according to Wikipedia it cost £149 at launch) plus a heap of games. We were amazed it still worked and the legendary loading sound brought back memories of worry and paranoia whether the tape would load (until we got bored of listening to it). Over the past few evenings we've tried a Dizzy game (you played an egg character), Manic Miner , Hyper Sports and Atic Atac . Manic Miner is still hard-as-nails to play, Hyper Sports surprisingly addictive and Atic Atac a recurring nightmare with a finger twister to play on the keyboard with all keys on ...

After a few weeks break, our super-team of quizzers won the 1st year anniversary of Horace McSquirter's Quiz me Hardy at the Pond pub. It was very exciting with the place decorated with knob shaped balloons though I'd say we were robbed of the best team name prize (c'mon Horace, keep up with the news) with a nod to Amy Winehouse 's year free cold-turkey "They tried to make me go to quiz night but Horace said no, no, no". The music round was a tie-breaker between us and another team but we lost that too. The last laugh was with us as we scraped through to win the grand prize with a cheeky half point. Fredag (Friday in Swedish) We celebrated Sukey's first day at work, which started for her on a Friday. Our chosen meet up point was the Northern Lights , the Scandinavian bar on Little East Street. It was a gloomy, wet evening but the atmosphere inside was cosy and cool. Shame their gin and grapefruit speciality was sold out but I did get a chance to sample ...

Our Friday night cocktail evening based on Spaced went well, I think. Thanks to Kerry, we had a late inspiration to base it on Simon Pegg and co. and designed the cocktail menu accordingly with every character receiving their own drink. Thankfully the ice-crusher bought on ebay arrived just in time though typically only got used twice. There was a frantic 3 hours of shaking, mixing and washing then it seemed everyone realised how drunk they were and calmed down taking it easier preferring to extend their stay. Personal favourites were the Bubblegum shooter made of Creme de Banana, Blue Curacao and Baileys Irish Cream which actually tasted like Hubba Bubba. Saturday teatime/evening was another comedy festival event. I'd never heard of the theatre group Spymonkey but they were presenting their version of Moby Dick at the Brighton Corn Exchange. With our front row tickets we got slightly more than we expected from the performance. The stage props and scenery looked quite basic ...

After our complete bender of a 1920's night out, dragging ourselves out again was a huge challenge (I really wish my mind could switch off and let me rest). We'd promised ourselves a Wagamamas for an evening treat and invited Paul and Sarah along for the nosh. The spicy katsu chicken went down just but its destination didn't quite appreciate or expect it. With our stomachs full we headed over to the Brighton Dome for the Simon Amstell show without any expectations. The settling-in music was like a repeat of the night before with 1920's swing music pumping from the speakers literally next to our seats so no snoozing for us. The warm-up act was slightly forgettable but didn't draw away from the main show, titled 'Do Nothing'. Instead of the fast paced, witiness of Never Mind the Buzzcocks (of which I can say he's sorely missed from the current series), it was a slow-burn of a performance like the feeling of our day. He dealt with an over-friendly heck...

Wow! What a night! With some costume headaches and worries throughout the week everyone turned up at Riki Tiks looking the part. Kerry's side-parting, facial twirl and Louise Brooks look won me over (and a few others). Julian and Sukey were a pair of dapper gangster bosses, Clare transformed herself into a living Bonnie Parker , Charlotte looked amazing in her Flapper outfit whilst I went for a more blue collar look, a black-shirted fascist Andy Capp . Go-Bang DJs were playing the house sounds in the bar and sat just behind the decks was my boss which was interesting... A couple of drinks later and we went down to the venue, the Old Music Library opposite the Brighton Dome , which from the front window looked like an old funeral parlour complete with coffin and flowers. We were a little bit miffed at having to queue even though we had tickets but once in we were impressed by building's atmosphere and décor. The ground floor had a few clothes rails for the cloakroom (which...

Game & Movie news Couple of pieces of news to make the future seem that more brighter in a week of rainy gloom. The soon-to-released mixing game, DJ Hero from Activision has released its full listing of song mash-ups. Data Transmission has the full details but highlights are DJ Shadow , Beastie Boys, David Bowie (Let's Dance), Justice (Genesis), Gorrilaz, Killers and Tears for Fears plus, of course, Daft Punk as mentioned in a previous blog entry. Speaking of the Paris Punk Princes (c), as well as scoring the new Tron Legacy film, they'll also be appearing in it - hopefully as their full robot selves. Worst Previews website has the details.

After an enjoyable weekend away in Janner land ("Green Army") to see Donna and favourite niece Morgan, our telly addiction continued thanks to a new series of House . No sooner had the last series finished the other week, all of a sudden Sky pulled out another series which starts with the grumpy medic doing mental time. Another drama-drug we're doing is Flash-Forward on Channel 5 . I had tried to avoid it but thanks to other users/abusers recommendations we're already hooked. The characters are a little one-dimensional at the moment which I'm hoping its down to the early episodes and the mood music just dumbs down the atmosphere for the audio warning signs e.g. tinkly piano moment for emotional pull, dramatic orchestra bit for tense action, sinister sounds for the baddies - are we keeping up American viewers (or do US TV execs think they need it)? Still, the concept is really clever but simple, the writers have an easy job of taking the story forward in any angl...

Must be time for a break from the pub quiz as we came second last Thursday. Luckily we had an opportunity to earn some money instead of trying to win it but more on that later. The weekend was a new cosy one with Kerry for a change. Our Saturday night was an unplanned meal out but quickly learnt that not booking ahead meant many restaurants were fully booked at 8pm. After the third place we tried we headed into Seven Dials (Brighton) with the intention of visiting The Tin Drum . We checked the other restaurants within the area but settled for our original choice. Although the décor was a little scruffy with a relaxed cafe/pub style, the food was really tasty. The organic, locally sourced range of food was delicious. We had some small problems with the service but after some polite nagging we were given the desserts for free as well as a round of drinks. The bill was well under what we expected so won't have any problem going back or recommending it. Retro tech TV I'm likin...