I'm Late Again #2

Well for the second week out of only two weeks i am late for the sunset of the start of the week.

I've had quite a difficult time choosing which sunset to put up but here is my next choice

Since i couldn't decide between the two here they are;

Taken in Thailand, one of our better photos because everything is as perfect as we are going to get.

And heres just one to show the beautiful range of colours in the sky

We Are All Mature Are We Not

So being all 16yr olds or 15 for the few out there still.

So with all that 16 years off experience of living in the big bad world should we all be able to:

make a meal to eat

turn on the washing machine

have a shower by ourselves

dress ourselves

get on a train or bus by ourselves

Or even maybe even eat some concrete and Harden The Fuck Up

The Progression of James Pt3

Well in this small segment we will not see a progression in the fact of my age, but a progression of what has made me me in only about a week or so.

In this small period of time i learnt so much about myself as a person and what i do in an emergency that some people dont learn in their lifetime.

I am grateful but also have some emotions that i can not really describe that makes my heart beat faster and if you have ever talked to me about it, i can become quite emotional. But dont be afraid to ask if you want to know what really happened please ask.

We are of course talking about the boxing day tsunami that affected the Indian Ocean. During this time i learnt what mother nature can really dish out if someone has pissed her off.

I learnt whether i am a fighter or a flighter and i'm a latter one which in this case saved my life.

Above: Tsunami in action (between the waves, if you look in the picture in the left you can see the next wave in the horizon)

From the top of the hill we fled up with numerous other people

A boat that was ripped off its morning by one of the first few waves and was brought crashing though the place next us. to give a perspective this isn't a small boat its probably 20+M

Left: Before

Right: After

WARNING; This Post Has Haywood Looking Like A Tool

Cake is Yum

Cake is Yum, yes indeed

But I'm referring to the American band "Cake"

Cake has been around since we were just tiny babies or even before that when you were just little... well since i just had dinner i will let you finish that sentence.

I would be quite surprised if the fact that any of you haven't heard of them as they are quite famous with their unusual music style of somewhat alternative rock combined with Jazz.

If I'm completely honest (no offense to brass playing person) i can often find brass somewhat annoying and somewhat screechy, but in the cake albums i have fallen somewhat in love with the Trumpet with its simplicity but moves the song into the 3rd dimension.

Another reason i really like Cake are they way their songs sound so simple but when you listen there are really tricky guitar rifts (sounds tricky, i wouldn't know a clue) that really power the songs along.

But i must say one of the best reasons i like this band apart from the great songs like Daria, I Will Survive (Great cover) & Wheels. Is the fact that most of the band sound out of time when in fact they are not, its really just a Mind F*%$.

Heres the link for my favourite of their songs at the moment Wheels, although the song is good, the music video leaves a lot to be desired

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2kCYYjTGFo

Off For Now

Laterz

Newest Segment

Well I'm a day late of my latest segment:

Sunset of The Start of the Week

Well every sunday night I will update this segment with some of our best sunset photographs that we have taken over the years.

To commence this segment i will start with a nice Kiwi sunset; Look its not raining :P

Enjoy and have a great start of the week

James Living Rural In NZ

Well the title really explains it.

This is probably my second favourite house of all time behind our red house that we designed ourselves, i will try to get some photos of that house up soon.

Well this house was probably around 15Km from the closest main road and we couldn't see any other neighbours or hear anybody else for miles.

If you like being a hermit; live there

A Little Help Please

Now all of you out there now i'm quite shocking with computers etc

I just want to know how u change what it says on the comment IE: brandons says super dupa fans, annie's & liss says adoring fans.

Just wondering how you change that because comments is just boring

Many thanks

Jimmy

Freaky Photos

You know when you are bored on holiday and decide to look back on your photos that you have taken for that day or week or whatever.

Have you ever found some weird action or just usual senario in that particualar picture.

I have 2 that are stand outs.

One taken in Bangkok of my face but in the reflection of my sunglasses you can see both my father taking the photo and my mother who is also in the picture with me.... oooooooh

The second is taken in Laos (between thailand and vietnam but north of Cambodia) of a normal day where a man is taken his family and cow down to the river but when at the exact moment i took the photo BAM

He falls straight on his arse

Absolutely classic

Finally 2 more pictures from Laos where money is practically useless

here is only $20US

Just A Tribute

Well after not feeling well today i spent most of the day watching movies and seeing Conor update his blog from the school laptops.

One of these movies was one of the possibly best movies ever made and will ever be made in all existence

Tenacious D in Pick Of Destiny

And that made me remember my super amazing freaking thing to the max which in fact will just be a let down...

So here it is

During the time of filming in King Kong in my hometown of Wellington we went into the city one night for some reason i cant remember and in the early hours of the morning of a wellington bar called "The Tasting Room" walks in Jack Black.

After a while we got enough courage to ask him for an autograph and here it is

And its true the rock has been with me at all times

High Expectations

After being kept awake until the unknown early hours of Sunday morning by Noisy Mc No Sleep Brandon (Thanks a lot)

After waking up from my comatose to wake up and see Brandon in my house (Not a pretty sight... LOL i'm joking brandon it was a pleasure watching Jesus TV at the early hours of the morning)

Well after Brandon left me at around 11.30ish or so i dont really know i was still pretty much still a sleep i went to see if i got any emails or something like that i noticed a newly purchased CD on the desk called "Artwork" by The Used

Not sure if anyone has heard of it but yeh.

So as you do while your computer is turning on i start to read the cover etc stickers you know just trying to wake your brain up in the morning or afternoon i couldn't tell.

Now these are quotes from the cover:

"10 out of 10...Possibly the best album you will hear this year" Outburn Magazine

"The used have delivered not only the defintive album of their career, but one of the best records your'll hear in 2009" AP Magazine

Now with these where quite high statements so i was like piss off this is going to be crap but when i listened to it, it wasn't that bad, not the best album of 2009 but ok

Its sorta your guys/girls type of music dont know who to compare it to but i'll put it on my phone and i'll play it tomorrow and you guys might like it.

I dont know why my dad bought it though; not his type of music, nor mine infact but as brandon would know its would come in the class of my angry music

Cheers

J.E.H OUT

Super Amazing Thing Coming Up Soon

As the title suggests i will soon be posting about something that is totally awesome and something i will remember for my whole life. when i find out how to get photos off the camera and find the dock thingo but i'll give you a clue...

"Stay Back Here, Devise a plan. Dive into the Bushes"

"Two Air Vents Roof, Thats what the guy was talking ab... SHIT"

The Progression of James Pt2

Now lets see if the computer has recovered from uploading numerous photos already.

And sorry for this but i found older photos from when i was still in NZ i know old.

Here they are:

The one above this is my class in NZ on my final day at school with my friends, and can anyone guess who i liked.

The next one is my NZ cricket team which we probably played one game through the whole summer because of rain but look its not raining in any of my other photos too. AMAZING

The next one is just in there because Brandon just loves me with short hair LOL

Me with my daddy a long while ago before we moved out into the bush (shale get a photo soon) to never see any neighbours ever again

And finally the last one we see our Primary school adventure day that involved going white water rafting in freezing water that turned ur boy bits into girl bits in a matter of seconds which was just right next to my house in NZ

s

The Progression of James

Now looking back over most of the photos on our computer which go back to 2002 i do believe.

I have realised how much i have changed physically most of all.

Some of you will know and may have even experienced being a little "large" in the weight department during their life. Even now i'm no where near skinny but i have grown into my body so i cant believe i'm going to do it but lets see the progression of James from 9ish to 16 today.

Enjoy people and be lad i took the ones where i have no shirt on out

This photo is on a boat in Thailand probably late 2003
Koh Samui 2003
My first digital photo of me and i'm the one holding the lizard although there is a resemblance Malaysia Early 2003

Koh Lanta Thailand with a "trumpeter" (help me emerson) of the Swedish Philharmonic Symphony orchestra (of course i was better than him) January 2004

Finally the last one for tonight because it broke my computer is of course my "best" tsunami photo you all know the date

Tune in for the next edition as i slightly get older or not oMFG

Props To Brandon For this one

Thanks to Brandon for reminding me of doing something for so long i actually became retarded.

As you all know i play a lot of PS3 specially online on Call of Duty.

Well last Christmas holidays when i got back from Cambodia i had realised that OMFG my world ranking on CoD World @ War had dropped from just under 15,000 in the world to well over 300,000 in just over a month

So i thought Fuck this i'm gonna try to get back up to where i was which i knew was a pointless activity but still tried hard.

It was the holidays so i wasn't up before 2pm but when i finally got up i decided i had to go shoot some yanks and i was playing well so i keep on playing and playing and i think i actually went from around 2-6, stoped for dinner and then went from about 8-7am which i finally went back to bed.

Now apart from my eyes feeling like they would explode i knew i had spent to much time when i finally went to bed and tried to sleep and all i could hear and think about inside my head were Call of Duty quotes like "Bomb planted at A" "Dogs Approaching", "Recon Plane aquired".

But after that night i have decided to limit my PS3 intake "slightly" although it doesn't usually work as i become nocturnal for the weekend and holidays, but since then i have never ever played for that long straight.

So what you think brandon during the christmas holidays we do an all nighter a pwn some noobs (Sorry the gamer is coming out of me) all you need are a few redbulls and your'll be fine and try not to get too pissed off when you play yanks who have just gotten up and you've been playing for 12hours straight kick your ass and you end up throwing your controller into the TV.

Nearly done that but i stopped myself thank god

Yours Truly

James A.K.A KiwiJim, Online Coroner, AA_BEST_CLAN_EVA, MDC_KILLER and soon to be suseJ_rotpaR (read it backwards, i tried it forwards but the PSN said it was insensitive so they denied it)

Cambodia

Might As well share some Cambodian photos

The ancient city of Angkor Wat

Big Brother is watching numerous times in-fact

Remind you of Tomb Raider anyone?

Stay tuned in for more snaps from around Asia, New Zealand, Europe and even maybe Australia

Transport in Thailand

"What is the easiest why to transport heavy machinery from island to island" i hear you say.

Its not to take it by road then car ferry or even put it on a proper boat for moving large machinery.

ITs to...

Drag It Across the Ocean

As you can see i've begun posting some of my recent holiday snaps and i hopefully will post some more of the good, weird and wrong ones as i see them

Why You Always Use Sunblock

We all know the damage of what the burning ball of hydrogen gas can do to our bodies if we dont use protection.

Last holidays when i was in Thailand i was out most day in the sun without my shirt because thats what the ladies want and i'm not one to disappoint am i :P

I got the usual talk from my mother "James remember to put on sunblock"

Which i did but i missed some spots.

Can anyone guess where i missed?

You would not believe the amount of shit i got from my dad and surprisingly it didn't hurt or peel but i did get alot of flicks to my burnt nipple

Uncovered

Welcome to the next edition of Expanding Your Octaves With James Hastings

As you have probably noticed all of the albums i have commented on so far are covers and i'm continuing on in that theme for the last week.

You all would have heard of Ministry of Sound that is a very popular brand now that started out as a small nightclub in london city.

They are mostly famous for their "resident" DJ's who release numerous CD's per year.

This CD "Uncovered: A Unique Collection Of Cool Covers"

features these usual Dj's but also some famous faces as well covering all well known songs.

We see these famous songs with some very strange and cool versions

Some of the most famous songs include (Name of song- Artist covering that song) I would tell you who the original artist was but CBF going up to the studio to get the case, but i will tell you if i know it off the top of my head

Riders On The Storm- Yonderboi (The Doors)

Use Somebody-Pixie Lott (Kings of Leon)

Rebel Rebel - Seu Jorge (David Bowie)

Bettie Davis Eyes

Ms Jackson-The Vines (Outkast) Better than Original

Toxic- Yael (Britney Spears) Better than Original

Call Me (Blondie)

Live & Let Die- Duffy (Paul Mccartney)

Seven Nation Army (White Stripes)

Magnificent Romeo-Basement Jacks (The Clash)

Blue Monday-Flunk (New Order)

Ghost train (The Prodigy) AWESOME

Horse With No Name- A Human (America) Very Good

Plus Much more

Absolutely stunning arrangement of songs

And my personal Favourite To Cut a Long story Short - Cazals

Because of the awesome rift and awesome drums later in the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcUPBz0GNq8

Check It Out

What I Learnt Today

I learnt numerous things today some good, some bad and some utterly useless.

I learnt that a kiwi guy managed to shoot a nucleus through a gold plate. Thats right a New Zealander, but lets not mention his theory because that doesn't matter.

I learnt that some people are way to easily offended at one simple action that includes using a triangle button and the delete function which was automatically fixed.

I learnt that the only maths i can do this year is for something i dont know what it is used for or what it means and dont know how to do it properly.

I learnt not to host a movie night which coincides with after ball party

And finally the most hurtful thing of all that Brandon is too homophobic to go to the ball with me

PS; Brandon dont EVER mention the river cruise in a public place again its for eyes only

To end with one of my favourite quotes from the late Sir Edmund Hilary "I climbed that mountain, jeez it was big"

Jazz & 70's

Welcome to the next edition of Expanding Your Octaves With James Hastings

Now i'm going on the route of different and unusal music and to follow up on the bossa nova genre the same record label have put together, jazz versions of hit songs in the 70's.

Some of them are awesome such as Smoke on the water, Stairway to Heaven and have you have seen the rain.

My personal favourite is Stairway to heaven and hopefully this link works but if it doesn't dont bother me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAY8xb5WUto

Keep reading for the next installment

Because Its Japan

It wasn't that scary but me and conrad were going to put our hands up but with all the japanese people being tiny i didn't think my hands would fit under the brigdy thing it went under so i was worried for the remaining life of my hand

Conrad's first time giving birth as well

Holidays that i don't go on

Now my father left last night to go back to the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand= Awesome)

Now what annoyed me was that i wasn't invited to go back home :(

My Dad is going with some friends both South Africans one of them the other dude at the indoor final and the other the DJ at the gig. They are mainly going to see the All Blacks smash SA in the rugby (which i wanted to go because i have never seen the all blacks play, i know shocking). But an other reason i wanted to go was to see my family in Auckland that i haven't seen since i was like 7 and especially my great grandmother, because shes absoultly tiny scottish woman.

Another reason which got me annoyed was that they are doing the awesome stuff apart from the rugby including Black water rafting through caves and bunggy jumping which is one of the things i have to do before i die. I would like to do zorbing too but that wouldn't be fun when i start rolling around in my own vommit.

But all well and good because i got plenty of holidays coming up later on

Bali at christmas

Sri Lanka next april

And possibly South Africa for a rugby trip

The Previous Title Was Wrong

I was trying to convey the fact that you wouldn't recognise the song not the fact thats its crap which its not

Some Freaky Music That You Will Know But Not Like This

Just trawling through my music library and in the playlist we did for in between our sets at the Fly By Night i discovered some really weird shit.

We purposely chose all covers but i found a group of CD's from in the city as a complication from all different artists of their greatest hits. But all a little different because they are all done in the genre of Bossa Nova. For those people who dont know what bossa nova is, its the little relaxing music they play in the background of really flash restaurants or like lounge music. And if you dont know what that sounds like, you need to get out more people.

Well listening to these CD's i really enjoyed them as you know all the songs but you need to take a second "glance" because if you didn't look for it, you would completely miss it.

The CD's range from Bob Marley, Rolling Stones, Ramones (My Favourite) and i think the Guns and Roses one has just come out recently.

And some i might start reviewing albums i find by mistake in my music collection that are unusual or you haven't heard of before or are just totally Awesome

And this segment may be called

Expanding Your Octaves With James Hastings

Making better names is going on the list of to dos in my life from now on

Just had the first practical practice since the fly by night gig since most band practices (Since the recording of Here We Go) we sit down listen to the new weekly mixes and make notes of whats wrong and levels and so on.

Latest mix was of the gnarly female vocals which are amazing (Not as good as my backup vocals though, i know, james singing on a CD=fail. But it is there)

So tonight was our first time playing as a band in about 2months so what did we decide to do , not play all the songs we just recorded and know off by heart, but play the songs we hadn't played in over a year and one song, Sharp Dressed Man (Long Live ZZ) we hadn't played in 2 years so as you would expect there was a lot of scratching heads thinking, oh no theres a bridge coming up and dont remember it at all. But a good key (no pun intended) is just to solo through all the bits you dont know which is awesome as well.

But all i remembered about sharp dressed man is that it had 39 A's in a row.

But i must say jamming is the funnest thing as you can do what ever you want and you can drag 3minute song out to a 30minute song.

Long Live Rock and Roll

Mr James

PS: Dont forget you can buy the CD Here's to you off iTunes or off me personally because your helping a good cause because at the moment i have no drinks in the fridge at the shed :(

Its What We Do

For all those people who managed to live under a rock for the past 5 months or so here are our music video links

http://www.youtube.com/user/Aleglasstheband#play/all/uploads-all/0/EufkUv7paa0

http://www.youtube.com/user/Aleglasstheband#play/all/uploads-all/1/vrxUoTgmIRI

To All The arty People Out there

The band are looking for some images that could be drawn for the website, future artwork etc.

We mainly would like artwork done because we dont want our ugly mugs on a website in plain sight for the world wide people (And before you say something Emerson like "well maybe you shouldn't make a website" you can go stick a carrot up your ass)

We will supply the photos etc of what you may need to draw off by we are mainly looking for a sketch drawing style with only black and white that you can only just make out what it is etc.

Just like this one of che guevara