Ginger DJ Rob

Here's my first set from the Heroes and Villains party. Heroes and Villains Party by Gingerdj on Mixcloud

I really wanted to have a party to remember my 40th by so chose fancydress. Thankfully my wife came up with the theme of Heroes and Villains which allowed a wide-interpretation. It wasn't all smooth sailing with the planning and preparation. Finding a decent venue in Brighton before Christmas proved to be expensive or couldn't offer a late closing time. Fortunately, good friends Paul and Sarah stepped in to host it. Rejected costume ideas for me were Link from Zelda, Snake (with cardboard box) from Metal Gear Solid , Han Solo , Mad Max, Tron or a Galdiator/Trojan Warrior. Instead I kept it simple and played it for my look-a-likee, Simon Pegg having done Shaun of the Dead at a previous party. So, discounting films like Paul (not that funny), Run Fatboy Run (as a jogger?!) and Star Trek (love to but too geeky) I went for Sergeant Nicholas Angel . Hot Fuzz costume Possibly the most iconic part of the costume which had to be just right was the Police stab vest . I'd seen...

My HTC Desire smartphone updated last night with the new Facebook and Twitter apps. Really like them both with Facebook finally looking more like its full website version. But its the Twitter new look and function that's inspired me especially as I use it so often for both personal and professional purposes. I've never really bothered with third party apps for Twitter and maybe I've been losing out on some cool gizmos but my phone's internal memory is already full with non-movable apps. For the mobile version of Twitter you can now switch accounts. Plus there's new icons to deal with: I must admit, Twitter had been looking a little stale for awhile especially with Facebook making some 'marmite' changes and Google + trying desparately to pull in punters upgarding all its services like Gmail, Blogger etc.with the G+ corporate identity. Embed this Tweet is a new feature which will allow you to add a related tweet to another website. In my line of the w...

I'd always missed the previous year's Zombie Walk perhaps down to being the same Saturday as Halloween parties or White Night. For this year's Beach of the Dead a few of my friends decided to join the undead celebration which by the end of the day seemed to be the biggest and best yet. Zombie friends consisted of office worker, disco dancer of the dead, dead Alice, senorita and a dead Jane Austin. The dining table was covered in copydex glue, fake blood, powder, some mirrors and a bottle Tuaca , the zombie choice of poison. As if a distant church bell rang at 3pm, all zombies shuffled over to Victoria Park in Brighton where everyone compared bites, cut off limbs and zipped up skin. There didn't seem to be much organisation as for a starting time to get the mass killed off conga through town as everyone was either posing for the living. Somehow, they all set off down Church Street past the Brighton Dome causing traffic queues. I managed to find a good position awa...

First of all, thank you to those who came along to make our first Sonic Sushi night a success. We had a blast and from the grins and giggles of those dancing, looks like you had a good one too. We didn't quite expect the crowd to want it quite so hard and fast but you all lapped it up like tech-house nymphs! As well as our normal party crowd it was great to see and meet some new friends including some from my hometown (Dereham) in Norfolk. Hopefully the venue will get their air-conditioning to work otherwise we'll have to bring in even more fans (the blowing kind). We've already been asked back but haven't quite decided when's the date. If you missed the opening set of Sonic Sushi by myself, gingerdj at the Globe then look no further (well look a little further than this awkward statement...its below here, right.) House set - Sonic Sushi at the Globe (Brighton) 15/10/2011 by Gingerdj on Mixcloud   ...

A date for your diaries: 15th October 2011 will be my first public DJ appearance in Brighton! Along with (secret after-party Disco Dungeon regular, Porntsar (or Kev to his mates) we'll be taking our bouncey, positive house music to the Globe Pub on Middle Street in Brighton . For a taster of the sounds we will be playing visit my Mixcloud page (gingerdj) . Both Porntsar and myself use Traktor and Native Instrument's excllent Kontrol S4 and plan to link our two laptops and controllers to mix 8 channels. Inspired by Xpress 2's legendary 6 deck DJ performaces future Sonic Sushi play outs could involve multiple sound, sample, loops and effects.

I'm a bit late finding this out but my Twitter spies led me to find this very old pilot for The Blackadder . I'm a huge fan of the first series where Rowan Atkinson 's character was completely different to the Ben Elton influenced creation. Controversial for some I know but it just worked better for me. Its this more confident character that gets a practice within this pilot episode. It's based on the second episode of the first series, ' Born to be King ' where Edmund plots revenge on the Scottish Supreme Commander, McAngus. I've added both videos below so you can compare the two versions where they use alomost the same jokes and script around Edmund having to book the entertainment for the coming feast (i.e. Morris dancers, Eunurchs etc.). Its amazing that only Edmund, the Queen and Lord Percy were the only characters to be played by the same actors. Can't imagine Blackadder not having Brian Blessed and Tony Robinson, plus Prince Harry in the pi...

If it hadn't been for Underworld , I doubt any of us would have gone to South West Four festival on Clapham Common . The previous few times we'd been it had a slightly shambolic organisation and the crowd were getting less interested in the dancing and music aspect and more about the getting twatted and annoying others. Looking back through my blog and it seems that the last time was 2005 titled 'Cheesy daytime disco' ! Although the line-up was great, the organisers of SW4 really did skimp on the essentials such as tents that have enough room for people to actually dance instead of constantly being jostled and barged into by others and security staff who could give a fu*k. But it was the sound levels that were the main issue and according to South West Four website it was 'restrained by conditions set on us by the (Lambeth) Council'. First thing that put us in a bad mood was the queue. Seemed that the vast majority of those attending arrived after lunchtime...

After the major disappointment of failing to get Olympics tickets, Kerry found an alternative to get our bike sports fix. London Prepares was the organiser's way of testing out the newly built venues for next year's Olympics (and perhaps making a little money on the side). As well as basketball at the weekend, the Olympic Park was to host the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup . It was a two day event across a Friday and Saturday. Saturday's ticket instantly sold out so we had to buy Friday seats. Unfortunately, though annoyingly not known at the time of purchase, there would be no actual racing but just the riders doing their time trials for qualification. Getting there was a simple tube train along the Jubilee line to Stratford. After that there was about a 5 minute walk around the new Westfield shopping centre being built. Before getting on the Olympics site bus, we had to have our bags scanned and walk through a metal detector. The site itself also had a airport feel wi...

Although I've lived in Brighton for fours years this was the first time I've been able to see the Brighton Pride Parade. Starting at 11am from Madeira Drive it snakes its way up West Street then down North Street turning left past Old Steine and down to Preston Park via London Road. We staked out a good shaded spot along Gloucester Place. It must have taken nearly an hour to reach us but it was worth the weight in gold glitter. There were some excellent costumes and some cheeky moments. The local police got a nice cheer after the riots business last week. Surprised to see many politcial parties having their own float and dressing up as outlandish as possible keeping within the brief of 'Out of this world' with so many sci-fi and alien costumes. This year's Pride was no longer a free event at Preston Park (at £12 pre-booked or £18 cash entry). I didn't really enjoy it the other year , mainly because of the soaking wet rain that drowned even the highest platfor...

We'd been meaning to take a break around Snowdon for years but it was the long drive that always put us off. We booked the Courthouse bed and breakfast in Betws-y-coed for £70 a night whilst our camp(ing) friends, James and Emma stayed at Cae De Campsite further west of Snowdon. The drive was as long as we dreaded and with the M25 being typically busy and reaching the M6 around Friday hometime it was a headache-inducing longhaul. Thankfully our B & B hosts settled us in without fuss explaining the breakfast arrangements (they only served between 8 and 9am but this suited us fine). The Courthouse itself was situated right next to the river and Betws-y-coed and its surrounding countryside was beautiful, clean and almost traffic free. We stayed in the Interrogation Room and the whole place was decorated with old police bric-a-brac. Headed into town (I say town but more like a single high street) for some food and settled for the Royal Oak Hotel for their Llugwy River restaur...

Birthday celebrations for Emski and Affy at the Disco Dungeon. Two new mixes from the night: Before Midnight mix by Gingerdj on Mixcloud After Midnight mix by Gingerdj on Mixcloud

Been planning to do this for years but I think Wireless Festival had always been on the same date. In comparison it was about the same price for entrance at £50 a ticket plus Goodwood FoS didn't specify what would be showing. It was also a chance for me to have some quality father-son time however when he turned up he was not alone! In fact he brought his new (since February) girlfriend along who he'd forgotten to mention...at all. Awkwardness ensued and luckily (for him) we were able to buy another ticket. We knew we had to get up early expecting some traffic (arriving about 9:30am) but really the queues for the car park wasn't too much to complain about. What we didn't expect was the time to walk and queue to the main entrance. It must have taken half an hour with no toilets along the way. You couldn't ignore the amount of helicopters flying in or out which I mistakenly took as a famous person taxi service. Alas it was just a pleasure flight, a very popular ...

Lucha Future had been advertised at the Brighton Dome for a while but we had resisted buying tickets partly because of price. It wasn't until a mate gave us a 2-4-1 code via the Dome website we bought some quality tickets. What is Lucha Future? Basically Mexican wrestling for the Pepsi generation., young, bold and masked! The Dome put on some Mexican food behind the bar plus a few special margarita cocktails. The bar started filling up with some true fans donned in wrestling masks with one guy dressed up as Hulk Hogan adding to a great atmosphere. Inside the Dome, you quickly realised how many seats were unsold. The event started with the announcer dressed in some sort of space-suit escorted by a couple of space hostesses. He really knew how to big up the wrestlers and the forthcoming action. Before we got to see any wrestling the electronic band came on the stage behind the smaller than expected ring. It was a four-piece band officially titled, Nortec Collective Presents Bos...

This year's British Heart Foundation London to Brighton Bike Ride was a mixed bag to be honest. I really enjoyed last year's #L2B as there was the challenge of doing my first plus the weather was a lot more kind. I'd originally missed the deadline to sign up but was given a second chance with only two weeks to prepare. With those positive memories still buzzing I instantly signed up for a second go. Stolen pleasure With just over a week to go I arranged for my beloved mountain-bike to be serviced by South Coast Bikes (picked up on the Thursday night). I'd replaced the cassette and chain a few weeks ago but the gear changing wasn't quite right. Having been in London all day Friday and getting home late, South Coast Bikes were due to return my bike on Saturday morning. A slightly subdued message left on my mobile-phone from the repair shop to call them back resulted in the bitter news of my Giant XTC1 had been stolen that previous evening. Thieves had broken in...

Saw this Sunday night at the Duke of Yorks, Brighton. I always knew how good Ayrton Senna was as an F1 driver though before his unfortunate death back in the early 1990's I remember being slightly put off by some of  his 'godly' quotes. What the film did explain very well was the F1 politics that worked against him at times, the worshipping of his Brazilian fans and perhaps some of the worst crashes Formula One has seen. The result was an engrossing documentary making a change from the big budget sequels that the summer will be churning out. Good to see the cinema packed out to proving motor racing's popularity. Related articles Formula 1 - In-depth Interview with Prof. Sid Watkins about Ayrton Senna's death (beyondtheredline.org) Senna: the Top Gear review (topgear.com)

There's some tasty tunes out there at the moment which have inspired me to do some DJing. First of all I've created a new chart of my recent downloads. I have a couple of DJ mixes out there on Mixcloud. First one is a 30 minute 'studio' mix for some competitions I've entered with. I say 'studio' but I actually mean dining room table. Sonic Screw-up by Gingerdj on Mixcloud The second mix is a live one direct from the Disco Dungeon for Paul's birthday party. It starts off quite tame after Paul's house mix then adds more tech-house influences. Quite pleased with this one as the crowd enjoyed it too. Double-D Mayor in the house mix by Gingerdj on Mixcloud

So loving this!

We've been seriously busy over the past week with practically every night out at a different Brighton Fringe show or Great Escape gig. More on that when I invent that time-machine. But first, a pair of sweaty fellas I've been looking forward to seeing (no, I don't mean the contents of my pants after a cycle ride). Tonight Matthew, Max and Iván were going to be 'The world’s greatest detective' tackling 'Chicago’s murky underworld'. It was going to be 'A prohibition-era tale of revenge, whiskey and javelins.' In case you're still confused I'm referring to the latest show from a pair of talented comedy actors who are a regular feature at the Brighton Fringe. Their previous shows used their own style of comedy sketch with their 2009 Televisionaires show (their Mario & Luigi meets Martin Scorsese was hilarious) then their 2010 show, simply titled Max and Iván (loved their bad stand-up comedian character with inner monologue). Unlike La...

To open the Great Escape festival , DJ Shadow brought his Shadowsphere for some top trip hop sounds and AV delights. We arrived just after the doors opened expecting an early show but were treated to two very good support acts. No idea who the first act was but he did manage to whoop up the small crowd with his guitar and sampler set. Beardyman I was a virgin before hearing him but for a first time Beardyman broke me in good and sore for more. I knew he was talented but his range of beatboxing and bang-on accurate rap impressions were excellent. He had such stage presence and confidence that you couldn't help but smile and laugh at his mouth-making beats. There was no mention of McVities though though he'd probably never buy a packet of biscuits again! Personal highlight was his rendition of Daft Punk's Around the World. The Shadow appears All throughout the support acts there was a sphere structure on stage but no mixing table for the Shadow. After Beardyman...

I've only blogged about this Fringe event as it was organised by my employer and I helped out with the social media promotion and event photography. As a public event I was expecting some off-the-street nutters but they didn't really turn up. For a slightly academic debate we had an excellent turn-out with the Friends Meeting House caretaker having to put on extra chairs. Slightly random woman asking me who the speakers were but I let her off for being partially sighted. We had the Telepgraph foreign affairs editor and a Guardian journalist attending/speaking (pictured). At the end we had a Brighton Fringe rep turn up and requested a copy of my photos! The next day they were on the Facebook page - result! All the photos can be seen on Flickr .

I only discovered that the story was based on real events instead of the Michael Caine version that made it a British icon. With last year's excellent Breakfast Club still in my mind, I was expecting this show to use another Brighton and Hove public building. Instead there was a multi-level stage with pub bar, a single bed and a lounge. It started off with a telephone conversation with Carter saying he was going up North to bury his brother and investigate who killed him. Carter arrives at what I assumed to be a relatives house but only work out later that its his dead brother's spirit replaying old memories and giving the audience some background to keep the story on track. As well as the main scenes, instead of playing out the complicated action sequences, the actors would narrate to explain what they were doing or feeling - sometimes this over-simplified the situation. At other times, you glad of it as some of the actors didn't project their voice enough to be heard p...

Atters is a Brighton Chap legend who models himself on English scoundrel, Terry Thomas . His show is almost a PowerPoint presentation on his paranormal investigations then has special, sexy guests filling in with saucy acts. A kind of Carry on X-Files . Catchphrases involved 'swabs' and 'probes' etc. I loved his persona and caddish approach but you couldn't quite help thinking it was a bit unreheresed. The cabaret element was a little borderline at times especially the pant-wearing pervy female strippers giving the audience an eye-full more than expected. Perhaps the show would have been better on a Friday night at about 10pm. Since writing the above I've since discovered this video which is dated three years ago and is the same material. No wonder some of the audience were a little quiet, perhaps expecting some new jokes?

Saturday night was a Brighton Festival free event in a Hove public park . The fire-art installations were beautiful with some eerie jazz music for a chilled feel. Very much like the hedonistic feelings of Glastonbury and Big Chill.

Location: Three and Ten Pub, Upstairs Theatre One of our favourite's from last year's Fringe returned with 99% new comedy sketch material. These five guys pack in some great laughs and seemed to have invested in some in-between videos as the next gag gets set up. The humour is low-brow, silly and childish in places but that's typically perfect for my level that's guaranteed to shock you into laughter. Highlights for me were the CCTV of one of the Gimp's mum and her bedroom plus the opening and closing musical numbers were brilliant. When will these guys get a TV break?! See the Late Night Gimp Fight website Related articles Fringe Review website - Late Night Gimp Fight Ginger DJ Rob: Late Night Gimp Fight 2010 review

Image by Ginger DJ via Flickr Its Easter Sunday and we'd always planned to see the Easter Bonnet Parade up at Fifth Avenue . With cash getting short we attempt to buy a cheap breakfast. It was an even harder challenge as we couldn't really find anywhere open until we came across PAX Wholesome Foods. With a name like that we expected something special however it was possibly the worse pre-packed breakfast yet with the majority being thrown in the bin and we were overcharged. We arrived at Fifth Avenue with crowds swelling around a number of posers with their bonnets. As we got deeper into the crowds the hats got better and more TV crews interviewing the owners. The guy (pictured) in the wedding dress within the slideshow below drew particular attention though I wouldn't say he was wearing a bonnet as such but his pet parrot. Judging from the activity on Flickr this guy is a regular at any public parade . Everyone was in high spirits and those wearing the bonnets we...