After two months of feverish activity stretching across both our new & old avenues, features, reports & reviews aplenty, with other aspects of our life taking hold, we have decided to succumb to a short spring sabbatical, taking stock of where we are, where we have been and where we want to go.
We are in absolutely no doubt that the past couple of months have been both challenging & yet rewarding, the tough task we set ourselves of publishing one post per day, stretching the limits of our capabilities, especially given all the other aspects of our life we have needed to balance. But while we confess that we have sometimes been a little lacklustre in posting and then promoting each & every publication on time, we are proud to say, we achieved what we set out when we re-launched back at the beginning of February, a total of sixty posts across the last two months and, just yesterday, our first for April, although given our decision to take this short spring sabbatical, it (along with this) will be our last. So why the break, and what is the plan when we return? Well, given the feverish activity of the last two months along with an ever increasing self-imposed pressure to hit our one post a day target, that along with other personal 
issues having taken their toll, we are simply in need of recharging our batteries, rejuvenating our desire & reinjecting some inspiration to our work, we facing not quite the writer’s block we have suffered in the past, but a lack of flow in our compositions along with needing to box off some issues outside of this writing work. But while the break will hopefully allow us to achieve this, when we return, we are expecting it to be business as usual as fair as publication volumes are concerned, while we are aiming for that website redesign we hinted towards back in February, an expected return sometime in May unless fortunes & material dictate otherwise.
So as we take our break, we leave you with extracts from our most recent five posts as a fond farewell for now, while we are sure we will return stronger & more steadfast with content & material aplenty to share and splendour in. (DISCO MATT)
“THE FUTURE IS FALTERING” – FORMULA ONE – MONDAY 4TH APRIL
Amidst crazy new qualifying procedures, clumsy language by both the F1 supremo and Freeview television presenters, plus enduring unhappiness with the new hybrid era and tyre troubles, just two races into the current season and the sport in more turmoil than ever before, what does the future hold for what we see as a faltering formula
When it comes to spectator sport, for us, there is nothing more exciting than watching cars racing, whether it be on the dirt or on the tarmac, while when it comes to the latter, it is difficult to beat the pinnacle of the sport, Formula One still very much up at the top of the pile and also at the sharp end of innovation, technology and most of all, money. Yet while we can count ourselves lucky to have enjoyed some of the best years this sport & formula has had to offer, the Mansell, Senna, Hill, Schumacher & Alonso era’s all thrilling for all sorts of differing reasons, while we are happy that Hamilton has enjoyed superb success in the last two years, catching up on the dominance of Vettel, an individual who is clearly the most successful of the current era, there is so much more about this superb sport that we are desperately unhappy with………
See the full report via short link http://wpu.ir/8eq5k
“IMMENSE BRAZILIAN INSPIRED BEATS” – STEVE PITRON –
THE WEEK “TOY CANDY” PODCAST – SATURDAY 2ND APRIL
With some seriously stiff competition from within his own ranks yet with this latest podcast in the Steve Pitron production stable catching us a little by surprise, how does “The Week – Toy Candy” measure up against what we think are his best two compilations in a colossal collection over well over a dozen delights
Being picky about podcasts has always been our way, after all, like so many music fans, we know what we like and rocks our boat the best and when an individual sets a brilliant benchmark time after production time, it makes the task of tipping the balance by others very difficult indeed. And when some simply flood the market with mixes and with only a certain amount of new music around to match their style, the risk of repetition is greater by simple statistics, while balancing output is perhaps the way to go, of course avoiding long drought periods. So, without naming names, the vast majority of main music producers on our favoured list tend to lean towards over output while the man in focus here has, in the last couple of years, gone a little too far the other way, 2014 seeing two podcasts, and 2015 not one, “Beyond NYD 2015” technically fell into 2014 by release design, Steve Pitron has come out of the 2016 blocks running with his WE “Paradise” production……..
For the full post, go to http://wpu.ir/n6c2m
“END OF A MARTIN ERA” – SATURDAY KITCHEN LIVE –FRIDAY 1ST APRIL
Last Saturday morning saw the end of an era as after ten years of presenting one of the most popular cooking programme’s on television, James Martin hung up his “Saturday Kitchen Live” apron, and as a series of special guest presenters attempt to fill the boots James has left behind, we look back on his best bites and what’s instore for this Saturday morning institution now Mr Martin has moved on
The beginning of any weekend always comes with a sigh of relief and generally also comes with kicking back for most of the morning as we ease ourselves into Saturday, one wonderful way of doing so for the six years or so, has been to tune into what is, for us, one of the best cookery programmes on television, “Saturday Kitchen Live” ruling the roost over a sea of others that can only dream of the veritable feast of chefs, food & clips celebration. And at the centre of this Saturday mooring staple has been James Martin, himself a chef who came to television in 1996 and has since starred in a number of shows including “Ready Steady Cook”, “Operation Hospital”, “Stately Suppers” and his very own cookery show “Home Comforts”, although while James will, without doubt, forever be intrinsically linked with “Saturday Kitchen Live” and its off-shoot “Saturday Kitchen Best Bites” which runs on a Sunday morning……
To view the whole report, head to http://wpu.ir/g4s6u
“TRESURED COMEDEIAN TRIBUTE” – RONNIE CORBERT –THURSDAY 31ST MARCH
With the sad news that has not long broken of the passing of Sir Ronnie Corbett, as we mourn another high profile & treasured individual from the entertainment industry, we look back of the life of this pint sized Scottish comedian, celebrating a career that spanned over 50 years and included one of the most famous partnerships in comedy history.
There can be little doubt that this year has already seen more high profile people leave our lives than we can ever remember, David Bowie the first shock announcement that left us in floods of tears. But then came more, amazing actor Alan Rickman, Earth Wind & Fire frontman Maurice White, fellow soul come disco singer Natalie Cole and classic stage actor Frank Finlay, while as shocking & stunning as Bowie’s untimely & sudden passing, was that of Sir Terry Wogan, this one still leaving us numb when we think of it, not least because of his national treasure status & brilliance in radio & television broadcasting. As if these were enough, news of Harper lee’s passing shock the world, she of “To Kill A Mockingbird” fame while two George’s were not long after actor George Kennedy swiftly followed by the passing of the fifth Beatle, George Martin, music also losing a family icon as Frank Sinatra Jr was lost to the world just days before majestic magician Paul Daniels died. So, with so many huge names having departed this world so soon into 2016 (it’s not even April yet) you could be forgiven for asking the question, “who next?”, sadly that question answered today following yet another shock announcement, this time it national treasure and comedic legend Ronnie Corbett…….
Find this full tribute feature at http://wpu.ir/ydv0x
“MISERY MEETS ALIEN MASH-UP” – 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE – SUNDAY 27TH MARCH
Amidst a huge amount of hype and a very tempting trailer that stepped carefully in its reveal, “10 Cloverfield Lane” was very much a must see movie, but what did we actually think of this Misery meets Alien mash-up with its gripping twists & turns?
With whisperings that a new sci-fi thriller was looming, one produced by the man behind the latest Star Wars adventure “The Force Awakens” as well as the current run of Star Trek screenplays, one JJ Abrams, it seemed that this was destined to be a headline hit on the silver screen, the tile of the movie hinting towards a previous monster horror cult classic, “Cloverfield”, the message was already getting mixed around “10 Cloverfield Lane” which we were being told was part of the same film franchise, one overseen by Abrams, he being extremely guarded about the content of this latest release. Indeed, while the film had been trailing in cinemas for a while, we were left guessing exactly what it was all about, the only clues being that the three main characters in the movie found themselves contained in an underground bunker shielded from what is intimated as a bio-nuclear attack, an attempt by the female in the three to escape giving the only serious hint in an otherwise head scratching scenario……..