The glamorous world of MacFormat photoshoots II

Worlds collided today as the MacFormat team descended on Bathampton for a photo shoot at Steve’s swanky new flat. Looking to get a nice shot of MF Editor Graham Barlow using the fancy new 24 inch iMac in his role as an ‘iLife Guru’ for the latest issue, Steve and Helen were kind enough to [...]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I think your opinion of the new Indy film largely depends on just how much emotional investment you have in the character, and as such how high your expectations are. If you love Indy, then there is no way this can match up to your expectations, but if you’re not a massive fan, then there’s [...]

The glamorous world of MacFormat photoshoots

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to get the whole team photographed for the latest issue of MacFormat. As you can tell from the expression on my face, I came to regret it!

Al’s World of Pies #5: The Raven of Bath (Bath)

Aah, the Raven of Bath. The best pub in Bath and the inspiration for this very blog. It seemed wrong to have written so many posts on this blog without a visit to it’s spiritual home, and so this Thursday seemed the perfect opportunity to rectify that situation.
I can still remember the first time I [...]

Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Ridiculously Cool Merchandise

With only a handful of days remaining before the mighty Indiana Jones returns to the cinema screen, I couldn’t but notice one of these while browsing around the toy section of Amazon. OK, so I know all the arguments against it (I’m too old, I’ve got enough toys and I wasted too much money on [...]

Al’s world of pies #4 – The Pasty Shop (Bristol Templemeads Station)

One of the keys to a good pasty shop, is location. With the emergance of the ‘urban pasty shop’, such as Pasty Presto or the West Cornwall Pasty Co., then you find them popping up in the most curious of locations. For years, you were only ever likely to find a dedicated pasty shops in [...]

"This is your wake-up call Bohdie, I AM AN F.B.I. agent!!"

According to Empire magazine, the source of all things filmic, there is a sequel to Point Break coming to a cinema (or rather a Blockbuster bargain bin) near you soon. All I can say to this is, dude, how can you make a sequel to all time-greatest bank robbing, wave-riding, sky-diving, dude shouting, man-on-man action [...]

Je ne pas parlez Francais

With Tim’s wedding fast approaching, Steve and Helen persuaded me to join them in attending some basic French lessons at Bath uni this week, in order to brush up on our linguistics. Well, the first class was this evening and it’s amazing just how much you forget having not spoken the language in 14+years!! (Although [...]

High octane bulls**t

“As all the thoughts of flowers fill the air, we must remember, they cannot hurt us.”And so speaks the great sage James ‘Lord of Bath’ Ellerbeck. If ever you need a bon mots or pearl of wisdom then all you need is to take James to a pub and ply him with real ale. However [...]

Al’s World of Pies #2: Wetherspoons (Dorchester)

Wetherspoon’s pubs are famous for many things; cheap bear; a tendancy for drunk old men to frequent them on a Saturday afternoon; and an right wing owner with the finest mullet this side of the 1980s. So it was, with a little trepidation, and a considerable hunger, that I decided to not go for the [...]