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Dave Kean
What will happen next?

Category Archives: Pictures

A day playing in the snow with my Land Rover…

Written on January 28, 2012 by in Pictures, Travel

It all started a few days ago, the plan was that would meet in a little town up in the mountains at 8 for breakfast and we would go from there. Of course Carey could not remember the name of the restaurant. But Gold Bar is a little town, how tough was it going to be to spot a place with a bunch of Land Rovers parked outside.

Turned out to be pretty obvious, with us there were a dozen Land Rovers of various types. Series II, Series III, Defenders, selection of Discos and even a Series II Lightweight that still had the British Army number plates on it.

After breakfast, a little looking at each others cars and a quick briefing we drove towards Stevens Pass and up into the snow. Mine is an almost totally stock Discovery II, the only modification was putting the right tires on for the snow and that was it.

One thing I found today, it’s a very capable car. I grounded the chassis rails (hard) a couple or times going over fallen tree trunks, but it kept on going and never missed a beat.

On the trails the surface was hard packed snow, this was as wide as the tracks of the car in front. Off the track there was 3-4 feet of snow, a hard ice crust with powder under it, I sank up to my thighs a few times.

A new LR4 got really stuck, the Lightweight grounded and the single-track road got really slippery. This was a very fun way to spend a day, the scenery was beautiful, the laughs plentiful and new respect for what my car can do.

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View from the kitchen – Part Deux

Written on January 19, 2012 by in Pictures

So this is what the view from the kitchen looks like after another 6 or 7 inches of snow…


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View from the kitchen

Written on January 16, 2012 by in Pictures

Not only would that be a good foodie blog title, but this is what Snowmagedon 2012 looks like from my kitchen window after an additional couple of inches of snow. It’s been fun, power sliding the Land Rover was a blast (“just a dab of oppo”), but it can melt now…

I know that for my friends in Vermont this is but a slight dusting, in Snohomish it’s taken very seriously.

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A wander around Guildford

Written on December 22, 2011 by in Pictures, Travel

I went out to lunch with friends in Guildford today, it was a beautiful December day, mild and sunny.  With only two more shopping days until Christmas the town was a busy place.

Guildford Guildhall on the High Street

River Wey

Public art on Woodbridge Meadows

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Creatures, aliens and monsters

Written on November 30, 2011 by in Books, Personal, Pictures

The have been a lot of movies full of CGI creatures, aliens and monsters. Lots of directors want you to know they spent a lot of money on them, spend way too much time showing them off and leave little to the imagination.

I’m someone who can happily sit through badly dubbed dialogue of just about any Godzilla movie to get a glimpse of the big guy fighting clouds of smog or giant moths. It’s the journey that makes it so special, put the monster front and center and the suspense and magic is lost.

First up, this isn’t a rant against CGI. Computers have given us some monsters or aliens for the ages. Top of the list was the guy with the eyes on his hands from Pans Labyrinth, I caught it on TV recently and had forgotten how good it was. Also making my non-exhaustive list are the mindless bugs from Starship Troopers, the tentacle faced guy from Pirates of the Caribbean, Mummies, Megalodon and the Kraken from the otherwise horrible remake of Clash of the titans are all wonderful.

My problem comes from lack of imagination, in an industry that’s history is built on the stuff. Just because teen-vampires are cool right now, doesn’t mean we can’t have the occasional Bram Stoker type vampire to switch it up.

Lets look back to the classic monsters of pre-CGI. As cool as CGI can be, does anything really compare to Giger’s xenomorph from Alien? Has there ever been a monster that had made an impression on you like that? And I mean from the first movie, perhaps the ultimate thriller in outer space. I saw it when I was about 12, and it still scares me today.

Runner up on my old-school monster list is the Shark from Jaws. The limitations of the technology forced Spielberg to be creative in his camerawork and editing. And arguably made a better, more original movie as a result of working around the limitations, rather than with in them.

I love the low budget movie Darkstar, it’s great sci-fi. The captain preserved in a block of ice, intelligent nuclear bombs and a crew gone partially mad after decades in space. Of course there is the monster, and it’s a painted beach ball. Clearly director John Carpenters money had run out by this point, but everyone remembers it, and it’s impossible to argue its originality.

Which is most of what makes a monster cool.

I’ve been trying to work out the last movie monster that really left an impression on me. I think it’s the creature from Cloverfield. And that worked in part because we never really saw everything.

So much was left to the imagination, and that’s way scarier than anything Hollywood can throw at us.

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A little late but…

Written on November 15, 2011 by in Pictures

This month got away from me with work, some stuff getting done around the house and travel, it’s been good. Today I finally got a little time and it was not raining to get the monthly picture from the back window.

The autumn is certainly here and I do need to sweep the leaves from the deck. That will be followed by probably do my least favorite job getting onto the roof to clean the gutters. But the view is beautiful.

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Sounders 2 – San Jose 1

Written on October 16, 2011 by in Football, Personal, Pictures

The home regular season finished tonight, and it’s been a great year hasn’t it? Unfortunately for the first 75 minutes or so the Sounders were not at their best, there was little creativity and only one chance worth the name, but how quickly things change in this game.

The headlines will be dominated by two things, a crowd of a little over 64,000 and Keller. The crowd number is unquestionable impressive, it was a terrific atmosphere in the stadium and another landmark in the remarkable story of this team.

San Jose went up shortly before half time. Unsurprisingly it was Chris Wondolowski that got on the end of a nicely weighted through ball that split the defense and really gave Keller little chance.

The second half did not start too well for Seattle, they were still flat and the game started to get away from then a little. First there was a rather contentious moment when Fernandez almost started a fight after giving a San Jose player a kick. A few minutes later Alonso lost his head somewhat when a player perhaps went down a little too easily from one of his challenges.

Just after the hour mark Sigi made the change that made all the difference. Rosales came on for Fucito, who had been totally anonymous tonight. It took a while for Rosales to get into the game, but when he did the difference was clear.

Keller had a huge moment with 20 minutes left, four stand up saves one after the other kept it a one goal game. This was the moment that perhaps turned the game as shortly afterwards the equalizer arrived. It was a beautiful through pass from Rosales to Sammy Ochoa that split the defense and gave the new-boy a fairly straightforward tap in.

With a few minutes left to play the winner went in. It was a through ball from Neagle to Montero just outside the six-yard box. Montero did exactly what you expect him to do and gave the keeper no chance.

It was not a great game tonight, but that was fine as last night Salt Lake dropped points and ensured Seattle could no longer be caught for second in the table. It was good to have Rosales back; his importance to this team was clearly seen tonight.

Sigi and his tactical changes were a large part of this win. On reflection it’s difficult to say it was fully deserved as the team did not play well for long stretches, but that’s football and we’ll take the three points. It’s Chivas away next week to close out the regular season then it’s into the playoffs with the big one waiting to be taken by the team that can put three or four great performances together, dare we dream?

The night finished with a tribute to Kasey Keller. As his 20 year career as a professional football is coming to a close he had a huge game again tonight. We are fortunate to get at least one more chance to see him in action; we’ll all be back in a couple of weeks for the home leg of the playoffs. Hopefully another chapter on the clubs history is written that night as they advance towards to MLS Cup. There is unfinished business to be taken care of in this magical season.

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Sounders 2 – Chicago 0 – The Open Cup stays in Seattle

Written on October 5, 2011 by in Football, Pictures

Two years ago I was getting on an airplane when there were a couple of minutes left to play and I never found out the result until I got to London. For the 2010 final I was at Royal Brougham Park and the atmosphere was incredible.

Last night I was back at RBP and I think that was the loudest I’ve ever seen the place. From kickoff through to showing the cup off after the final whistle it never stopped.

For a supporter big nights under the lights with something important on the line don’t come along very often, and when they do walking into the stadium feels a little more special. Last night was outstanding. We were treated to two teams that wanted to win the 2011 US Open Cup. No negative tactics from either side, no hanging on for a draw and a referee that let the game flow.

Even better, it was a really good game, and that only added to the night. Either side could have won it. Had Chicago come out on top it would have capped a huge turn around from their awful beginning of the season.

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The view (once again)

Written on October 2, 2011 by in Personal, Pictures

OK, so I’ve missed a couple of months of the view from my window at the beginning of the month, but here is this months. The trees at the back of the house are hanging on (but you’d never know it looking at all the leaves on the deck) better than the ones on the front.

Another week or two and I’m sure the deck will be buried under fallen leaves. I’ve friends that talk wistfully of “sweater weather” and the autumn, I miss summer.

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Spoiled little beasties

Written on July 10, 2011 by in Personal, Pictures

I was in Safeway today grabbing some cat food for the guys, not sure I should have driven, but there we go… Sitting on the shelf next to the tinned stuff was this:-

Appetisers for cats… This is worse then the dog cologne, I know how the cats eat, there is no appreciation of fine dining or quality prep. They are fussier than dogs (bar set high there), but if it smells vaguely meaty or fishy they will have a go at it.

One of the things that did get done this week was some work around the house. I don’t know much about flooring, but I know people who do, and that’s what I need right now.

I’ve documented the state of the house when I moved back in, it was bad and one of the things I made note of was the black light glow in the living room carpet where the dog went to the bathroom. If dog crap under the crappy sofa gets ignored, you know dog pee was never cleared up.

I had the carpet cleaned, but that never really cleans the underlay and the root of the problem never gets taken care of. So this week I had the carpet taken up and the underlay replaced with clean stuff, in combination with the cleaned carpet the difference is immense.

Here is an example of what I found on the underlay, going by stench the stain is dried pee. Awesome, oh and this was one of 7 or 8 places found in the living room. And before the question is asked, it was not the cats as there was no corresponding black light stain on the carpet, these all come from before I had the carpet cleaned.

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