http://www.nestedelements.com/andismith/

Over the coming weeks I'll add the design I'm working on, and transfer it over to the new domain along with these posts.

Enjoy!]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2010/01/18/im-back http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2010/01/18/im-back Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:52:12 GMT

Pick your Artist:

Maximo Park

Are you a male or female: The Unshockable

Describe yourself: Sandblasted and Set Free

How do you feel: Now I'm All over the Shop

Describe where you currently live: By the Monument

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: In Another World

Your favourite form of transportation: Acrobat

You and your best friends are: Postcards of a Painting

Favourite time of day: Parisian Skies

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: Nosebleed

What is life to you: Once, a Glimpse

Your relationship: I Haven’t Seen Her in Ages

Your fear: The Night I Lost My Head

What is the best advice you have to give: Signal and Sign

Thought for the Day: Apply Some Pressure

How I would like to die: A Cloud of Mystery

My soul's present condition: Calm]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2009/08/15/my-life-according-to-maximo-park http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2009/08/15/my-life-according-to-maximo-park Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:24:19 GMT previous visit where her luggage hadn't turned up, the good people at Air Canada had sent her a nice voucher which helped her pay for another trip.

Amy and I were very pleased when Heather decided to stay at our flat during her time in England, and as the time approached we began to plan what to do.

My basic aim for Heather's trip was to make sure that a) she saw everyone she wanted to see, and b) that she saw any parts of London that she wanted to see, while also giving her a feel of rural England. I feel fairly confident that we met those two criteria.

On the first day, Kev picked Heather up from Heathrow Airport, fed her breakfast round his and Gemma's, before dropping Heather off at ours. Once Heather had settled in to the spare room, we grabbed some food, grabbed a Jimbob and headed down to the good old Skylark to meet up with everybody.

On the second day Shel came over to visit and we went for a long walk over Happy Valley, starting at Old Coulsdon and walking to Chaldon Church before heading back to the car in Old Coulsdon.

In the evening, Amy and I were going to Jav and Hannah's Engagement Party so we left Heather in Shel's capable hands and they went for a curry.

On the Monday, we headed in to London meeting up with Mr Hockley. We did the (now traditional) Green Park dance, walked around Westminster and went on to the London Eye.

We were actually aiming to go on the London Eye during the day as Heather hadn't been up in the light, but there was a bit of a wait (luckily, you don't have to queue just buy your tickets in advance) so it was actually dark by the time we got on.

Ian left us one large bag of Muffin tops(!?!) better off and we headed back home for the evening - planning to go to Winter Wonderland on the Tuesday.

To be continued...]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2009/01/03/heather-comes-to-visit http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2009/01/03/heather-comes-to-visit Sat, 3 Jan 2009 19:21:34 GMT

For the first seven months of the year I didn't eat a single McDonalds, Burger King or KFC. For the last five months of the year, I changed my diet - swapping my eat out at lunch schedule for a more healthy bring in lunch option, which by the end of the year consisted of carrot batons, celery sticks, grapes, raisins, a banana and a cup a soup.

While sticking to that same diet, this year I'm doing something different. Something for me. Something to say "I've lived" before life gets too complicated. I've hinted at this before, and now I'm actually getting on to doing it.

As I said in that previous journal back in October, "I'm going to try and aim to do something I've never done before each and every month. I'm not sure if I'll succeed for the entire year, but if I do just 5 new things then perhaps a few of my life's wants will be answered."

And that begins now, with learning Salsa on a Thursday evening. I'm quite excited by the prospect of not having two left feet any more. Stay tuned to find out how it goes!]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2009/01/02/new-years-resolution http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2009/01/02/new-years-resolution Fri, 2 Jan 2009 14:53:40 GMT

Andi's 2008 Film of the Year

The Dark Knight - There really wasn't going to be any other, was there? I actually spent the first 20 minutes of my first viewing worried that The Dark Knight wasn't going up to the hype. I was actually scared. I had nothing to worry about - it was superb.

Other notable films of the year: Juno and Iron Man. Yeah, another superhero film. Very unlike me.

Andi's 2008 TV Series of the Year

Lost - It's back. After a poor second half to season 2, and an even poorer start to season 3 (improving later on), season 4 was totally awesome. Like season 1 quality awesome. Only another couple of seasons of this left, but it'll be good to finally know all the answers!

Andi's 2008 Music Album of the Year

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night - Toughie this one. There's been so many good albums throughout the year, but the only one that really sticks in my head is the new Kings of Leon album. It's pretty damn good though. Coldplay's new album is also worth a (large) mention.

Andi's 2008 Music Single of the Year

Estelle - American Boy - I'm sorry, but I love this song. It's a now public guilty secret. I love it so much it was my favourite song of 2008. Yes, I don't care what that makes me. I LOVE THIS SONG. Kaiser Chief's "Never Miss A Beat" was a close second, and has quickly promoted itself to my favourite Kaiser song.

Andi's 2008 Game of the Year

Fable 2 - Xbox 360 - Totally awesome. Fable 2 is a British RPG where you can choose between the path of good or evil. To quote someone at work when I told them I was taking the good path: "only someone like you could be as nice in a video game as you are in real life." I have a pixellated conscience, what can I say?

Andi's 2008 Celebrity of the Year

Barack Obama - The president elect, Barack Obama. If he does everything he says he will, America will be a better place!

Andi's 2008 Celeb Babe of the Year

Mila Kunis - So, I managed to convince Amy to come and see Forgetting Sarah Marshall with me, despite the possibility of my drooling over 2006's winner Kristen Bell.

Except I didn't, I drooled over Mila Kunis instead. She's hot, and therefore wins this year's celeb babe of the year. Amy continues to win the non-celeb award.

Andi's 2008 Formula 1 Driver of the Year

Robert Kubica - So good, he doesn't need a powerful car to win. Believe me when I say Canada is just the beginning.

Andi's 2008 Craze of the Year

Twitter - And it's getting bigger everyday! When I joined, I didn't know many people using it, now it seems a week doesn't go by without someone else I know joining!]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/28/2008s http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/28/2008s Sun, 28 Dec 2008 18:30:51 GMT

We saw The Zutons at the Hammersmith Apollo, where they performed an excellent 90 minute set comprising mainly of songs from their first and third albums. These guys didn't stop, with there being several occasions where two or three songs ran into one another.

Coldplay were playing at a less intimate venue - The O2. Our seats were pretty high up, which made the band look like ants, but there was still a great atmosphere. As well as playing tracks from their latest album and all the classics, they came into the audience to perform with Simon Pegg. It was quite special.

Lovely.]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/16/our-christmas-tree http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/16/our-christmas-tree Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:01:04 GMT the first one, I think so it could fit through the letter box easier, but the items inside weren't as interesting. Suddenly, it felt like advertising rather than freebies.

Still, there were a few nice ideas in there.

• A fireplace DVD from Pimm’s, Baileys, Bell’s and Gordon’s.
• A BBC audio CD of classic comedy clips
• Another Original Source shower gel. (I got the orange one)
• A special Cadbury's chocolate bar that I saw for all of about 2 seconds before Amy snatched it - so I've no idea what flavour it was.
• A leaflet from O2 with an expired deal - woo.
• The 30 days LOVEFiLM trial that is not as good as the 3 month trial you can find by Googling.
• And two extracts from Harper Collins books

Not too impressive this time round.

In other news, is it me or have The O2 nicked the Matter box logo for their new nightclub? They look very similiar...]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/14/matter-the-second http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/14/matter-the-second Sun, 14 Dec 2008 19:03:47 GMT

Things didn't go too well from the start for me when Abi and Esty managed to drop Andy on top of me (the crotch of my jeans, and my new shirt) while I was holding a drink. But I was still smiling.

For the next hour I pretended to have raced the world while Abi (bless her) quickly washed and ironed dry my shirt.

The rest of the evening was catastrophe free, staying at a more drier, enjoyable level.

Photos from Vodka Revolution and Oceania follow!

Part of the reason may be due to the new boom in micro-blogging. Since September, I have been twittering.

You can catch my updates here. Generally during the week I post 4 or 5 times a day, so there's always something to read. Hopefully that will fill your Andi void - if not, there's always the other blog.]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/05/twitter http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/05/twitter Fri, 5 Dec 2008 20:27:31 GMT

Hamilton needed to finish fifth or above to win the title and Massa was required to finish first. On a good day, an order of fifth or higher would have been no problem for Lewis. But this wasn't such a good day. Nevertheless, Hamilton managed to hold on to fifth place for most of the race.

During the final few laps, the rain came lashing down and almost everyone jumped in the pits for wets, including Hamilton and Massa. When the top cars pitted, Glock in the Toyota didn't and managed to climb up the field.

Vettel overtook Hamilton for fifth place on the penultimate lap, leaving a struggling Hamilton trailing further and further behind, but as he reached the top of the final hill he passed Glock, who was now struggling and took fifth place.

Amazing stuff, and possibly the most exciting finale. Of course, if the stewards hadn't interferred, it would have been over ages ago!]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/01/super-lewis http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/12/01/super-lewis Mon, 1 Dec 2008 22:21:06 GMT

Still, we managed to find a gigantic greenhouse to keep dry and warm in for a while and visit Copenhagen's famous statue "The Little Mermaid"; so the day was not completely lost.

In the evening we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and stumbled across happy hour (running for 3 hours), which made all our drinks nice and cheap (and they seemed to have the second best tasting beer in Copenhagen); followed by the staff dancing on the bar and a lovely meal. It was just a shame we discovered the happy hour on the last night!

And that was Copenhagen. A mixed bag, and I'm not sure if I'd recommend it to others, but maybe we'll go back one day for Tivoli Gardens and to see the new Aquarium. Never say never.]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/11/17/copenhagen-2008-part-5 http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/11/17/copenhagen-2008-part-5 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:09:25 GMT

The first thing that catches your attention at the Carlsberg Brewery (after the elephants) is the amount of beer on display. There's tons of it! Unfortunately, you can't just take a bottle off the shelf and drink it, but this picture gives an example of one of the four or five cabinets which profile every bottle of beer Carlsberg have ever made:

The brewery told an interesting story of both how beer is made and also the history of the Carlsberg and Tuborg brands. But the far most interesting part of the trip was the beer tasting at the end. Coming straight from the brewery, these beers were possibly the best beers we had ever tasted, and with beer being pretty expensive to drink in Copenhagen, the combined tour/beer tasting actually worked out good value too.

After the beer drinking, we decided to visit Copenhagen's Planetarium where we got the opportunity to watch a whole host of IMAX 3D films; see some interesting space-themed models and play about with some green screen computer games.

Another day was over and our holiday was almost at it's end. Which we were actually getting quite thankful of due to running low on funds!]]> http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/11/16/copenhagen-2008-part-4 http://www.andismith.com/journal/journal.php/2008/11/16/copenhagen-2008-part-4 Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:55:31 GMT

There was a bit of a walk from the station to the aquarium, but it gave us the brief chance to see the sea. I say brief, because the sea air was absolutely freezing and we quickly made our way back inland to the aquarium!

The aquarium itself had quite a lot of unusual varieties of sea creature, including an antiquated looking tortoise creature (that's as technical as the names get I'm afraid) which sat the sea bed pretending to be asleep until fish were close enough to eat.

At the end of the aquarium was the shark pool, where we got to watch the sharks being trained and fed.

Whilst we were leaving I spotted a model of what the aquarium will look like in 2013 (see the website here). This is going to be one impressive building.

In the evening, we headed back to Copenhagen and visited Europe's oldest observatory. The night was cold with a fair number of clouds, but we did get a chance to view a close up of the moon (think normal moon, but bigger). There was an observation area too, where we could view the city but again it was windy and cold up there!