The Noisy Cricket

Whilst trawling on the internet I came across the enticingly named "Beavis Audio Research". It's a website run by a couple of guys who like to mess around with electronics and design effects pedals and so on. One of their projects was a 1/2 watt transistor based guitar amplifier called "The Noisy Cricket" that runs off a 9v battery. It only had about 30 components in it and I could get all the parts from Radio Shack for about twenty pounds. So I thought I'd have a go. Electronics is not my strong suit but looking at the schematic for the design I could begin to get a feeling for what was going on. I like the idea of building something and learning at the same time. Because I'm so sure that I'll cock it up I have actually ordered twice as many of the super cheap components so I'll have spares to hand when I short things out or solder them to death.

If it does ever actually work I felt that I'd like to design some kind of enclosure for it. As it's a transistor amp that set me thinking about 1960s transistor radios and so I've been playing around with designs influence by that aesthetic. The amp has three knobs but other than that I felt I could do as I pleased. The casing will be small, i.e. about ten inches wide. These are my three designs. I think I like the last one best. I'm still waiting for the actual parts to arrive before I can begin the build but I'll try and post some pictures as I go. Wish me luck, I shall need it.

HCB Pastiche 2

Here's an even more direct pastiche. You can't see the view, know the original and not take the photo.

My horrid copy:

The master's original:



It is interesting to see how much Paris has and hasn't changed though.

HCB Pastiche 1

You can't spend time in Paris with a camera and not pay tribute to (insult the memory of) the great Henri Cartier-Bresson. Here's T re-enacting HCB's famous portrait of Jean-Paul Sartre on Le Ponte des Artes:

And here's the original. I love T's recreation of Sartre's wonky eye. Oh and we didn't have a pipe so a pen had to substitute.

I Love Paris in the Springtime

T and I have just got back from a brief holiday in Paris. I've only ever stopped in Paris on my way somewhere else so this was a good opportunity to get to know the place a bit. It's a fabulous city and we enjoyed the art and architecture very much.

The only major let-down, and this may come as a shock, was the food. T is a vegetarian which does complicate matters where French cuisine is concerned but in this day and age if your kitchen can't cook something interesting without meat then it's not a very good kitchen; all it proves is that you're lazy and not creative. We ate in a variety of places, with friends of ours who live in Paris, at places highly recommended by guide books and had two dinners out at restaurants recommended by the hotel so I think there was plenty of opportunity to impress. Nothing I ate, and I didn't eat any vegetarian options, was beyond average and considering that last night's meal cost a small fortune whilst featuring limp overcooked asparagus and over cooked fish was not really acceptable. I get the impression that city has rested on its laurels for far too long.

After five meals at several price brackets from multiple recommendations I can only conclude that Paris falls well behind New York and London in culinary big cities. A real shame. The rest of the trip was great though and here are the inevitable photos:

Weekend of Excellence

I had a pretty amazing weekend. T was away with friends so I was free to play all the guitar I wanted. I did sate my guitar needs but I also managed to see my first cricket match of the new season which was a lovely day out on Saturday even if the game itself ended up coasting to a dull draw. The added bonus was that despite apocalyptic weather forecasts it remained dry all day so sitting outside was very pleasant. I treated myself to fish and chips on my way home and managed to time my arrival at the chippy to perfection as a fresh batch of both fish and chips were just coming out of the fryer as I entered the door.

In the evening I watched a lot of Bob Dylan footage and the Dylan documentary "Don't Look Back" before settling down to watch another documentary,this time a surf one, called "Crystal Voyager". I'd found out about this movie through a CD purchase I'd made earlier in the week. I love surf music and I love stoner psychedelia rock too. For this reason "Chairman of the Board - Surf Soundtracks '64 to '74" leapt out at me and I had to have it. Having loved the music I found that one of the films featured was available on DVD and one Amazon visit later "Crystal Voyager" was winging its way to me.

The film is great, the first two thirds are a reasonable matter of fact documentary about surfer and film-maker George Greenough and his attempt to build a yacht for sailing to places too remote for others to try and surf. That was fascinating enough but the last third of the film, which is separate from the rest of the movie is a 23 minute short of abstract footage shot from within the tube of waves and under water. Greenough made a camera mount he could wear on his back whilst surfing and it was using this that he got the footage. The music for that last sequence is "Echoes" by Pink Floyd and the sound and picture complement one another perfectly. Awesome movie, I completely recommend it.

On Sunday I cleaned and tidied the flat and then in the evening I walked up to Camden to see Bob Dylan play the Roundhouse. I'd never seen him before and apparently this was the smallest gig he'd played in about a decade. The music was great although the more successful songs were the more modern ones that played to the Tom Waits style growling delivery which is all his voice is capable of these days. His band is a rootsy, rock and roll, bluesy type outfit and on the newer tracks the whole sound, including Bob, were amazing. He played "All Along the Watchtower" as an encore which was extra special because Hendrix played a really noted gig at The Roundhouse so there was a real sense of history to it. It's a bit bizarre to me that songs like that were written. They seem so much part of our culture that must surely have always been. The idea that this little old geezer on stage in front of me created those things out of nothing is a bit magical. It was a great end to a great weekend.

Magazine Title FAIL

Magazine title FAIL, originally uploaded by Mr Atrocity.

Nothing to add. Amused me no end.

Little Frangipane Tarts

Little Frangipane Tarts, originally uploaded by Mr Atrocity.

These little tarts were made from a recipe by James Martin. I used my own sweet short-crust pastry methods though. I used the 4 silicone baby flan tins I got for my birthday for the first time and they worked a treat when it came to turning the tarts out. The filling is frangipane with prunes; a really tasty combination. The other good thing about using the silicone was that I could turn them out earlier than I could with a traditional metal tin meaning that they could cool in the air thus preventing a soggy pastry which sometimes happens if the tarts spend too much time in the tins once they're out of the oven.