Barcelona waves

So the move to Catalunya comes ever closer (beginning of May now) and we are just starting to get plans in order. There is a lot to do and think about - how do we get out there (fly/drive/ferry), how much/what stuff to take, bank accounts, accomodation etc.

The only one thing that has been worrying me about Barca is that, for all the amazing climbing nearby, the quality mountain biking just outside the city, and the fact that the ski-lifts of the Pyrrannees are only a 3 hour drive away, the fact is that the Med is not exactly famous for it's waves. In fact, for 8 months of the year it is pretty much as flat as a mill-pond. I had heard rumours that the winter months bring some small swell every now and again, but months of web-searching only found a couple of low-res pics, and a lot of hearsay.

Yesterday though, while searching for an example to show Mr Rhys, I happened to stumble upon www.funkysurfing.com, a photo-diary dedicated to "the waves of Barcelona and Tarrogona". Check the waves of two weeks ago, at Barceloneta (the city's main beach). Needless to say, my mouth hit the floor, and perusal of the rest of the season's waves revealed at least some sort of consistency. From the pics I'm guessing that the winter waves of the Med are about the same size and consistency as summer waves in Wales (i.e. usually a foot or two of wind-chop, with the occasional bigger and/or cleaner day). I guess I'll only be able to see how consistent it really is when I live out there, but one thing's for sure - if waves like the one below come along even once every couple of months, I'll definitely need my board!

7a+

Two weeks ago I was sport climbing down at Portland with Macca and Hugh Merrick and, bearing in mind the difference between trad and sport, worked the moves on a 7a+ called Victims of Fashion. 7a+ is a bit of a funny grade for me, technically I've onsighted at this level in the past, but that was in Spain and everybody knows that Spanish grades are soft(!); the highest I've managed over in the UK is a redpoint of a 7a at Blacknor (also in Portland - Medusa Falls for those that know it). So anyway I worked Victims of Fashion two weeks ago and got completely knackered, I couldn't even link it on a top-rope let alone think about trying to redpoint it, so I put it in the bag for another day. That day arrived on Sunday, and I was pretty keen. I'd been doing a bit of finger strength work in the last fortnight and I was hoping that it would make the difference.

The key in this sort of situation is to remember that you're trying to redpoint a sport route. So after warming up on a couple of other routes (including an onsight of Out of Reach, Out of Mind) I didn't jump on my project and try and climb it one push straight away, I spent half an hour hanging around on it (thanks Al!), resting at each bolt, not using too much energy, working the moves over and over until I was satisfied. Then I came and rested for 20 minutes, went through the entire sequence of the route in my head, and set off for the lead. The result: 7a+ ticked on first redpoint, and a big smile on Alun's face.

In fact, I had so much energy left in the bank that I redpointed a 7a (Trance Dance) an hour later! Chuffed!

Trad vs Sport

One of the threads on UKC has raised a very important point with regards to the difference between 'traditional' and 'sport' climbing (non-climbers: see note*). As sport climbing is so rare in Britain, many climbers here don't understand its attraction, as it is simply not as adventurous (no real risk, relying less on your own initiative, usually not even reaching the top of a given crag).

But of course they are different games, something that was summed up nicely by UKC poster abarro81:

I think a lot of people in the uk, particularly those who dont enjoy pushing themselves technically so much, just arent used to climbing sport so they do it in the same way they go trad climbing.

They'll go out and do a bunch of stuff below their limit and maybe top rope something their mate lead which is a bit harder. I can see how they find this lame - I find easy sport climbing boring tbh. i think those who like sport climbing generally like that you can onsight at your absolute limit and work stuff that at first seems absurdly hard.

A lot of people i know who dont like sport so much have just gone trad climbing with bolts rather than sport climbing in the above way. i think it takes a different approach than trad.

Which mirror my thoughts exactly. There's no doubt that the rush you get of getting to the top of a brilliantly exposed trad route is amazing - but succesfully reaching the lower-off chains on a really hard sport route, which you have been practicing and trying for days, is also a brilliant feeling. As Lito Tejada-Flores wrote years ago, there are lots of different games in climbing, and being able to appreciate the draws of the different games makes climbing the satisfactory and fulfilling hobby that it is.


* 'trad' climbing is when you ascend the rock placing your own equipment in natural features and fissures to save you in the event of a fall, which is removed with little damage to the rock by the person following you; whereas 'sport' climbing sees you relying for safety on bolts and hangers that have been drilled into the rock. Trad is more adventurous than sport, but the relative safety of sport climbing makes it easier to climb at a higher standard, as the only thing you risk hurting when you fall is your ego).

Finally

Well, we managed to get a victory at last. And let's face it, if you'd come up to me, or any other Welshman, before the tournament saying "you can only beat one team this year, which do you choose" then it's a bit of no-brainer.

But let's face it - England just did not show up on Saturday, and Wales didn't really play any different to the how they played in the rest of the tournament. This isn't actually such a damaging statement - we should have won against Ireland (people forgot that pretty quickly), drew against Italy, and while the Scottish game is one to forget, we didn't embarrass ourselves in Paris. Yet the reality is that we're still not clinical enough. On Saturday was that the our pack got the upper hand and turned the screw on the English from an early stage in the game, which meant quick ball and consistent movement over the gain line. That, coupled with Hook's excellent kicking game, meant that 75% of the game was played in England's half and to lose a game with that amount of territory is a almost impossible - but the scoreline didn't reflect the Welsh dominance. Let's be blunt about this, Wales should have been 30 points up at half-time, and should have won by 40, and only a lucky bounce, a moment of magic from Ellis and several moments of selfishness from Shane Williams prevented that. There is still a lot of work to do before the world cup.

As for England... only more questions, no answers...

News flash: time warp discovered in Stadio Flamino, Rome!

Science boffs worldwide are in shock this afternoon, after a freak time-warp incident occurred at a popular sporting event.

Awarded a penalty in the dying seconds, and with the choice to draw the match by kicking for goal, or go for the win by going for a lineout in the corner, the Welsh rugby team were clearly told by the match official that there were 10 (ten) seconds remaining on the clock. The Welsh decided to go for the win, and so drilled the ball into the corner for the lineout.

Yet, amazingly, the mid-flight ball must have entered what scientists are terming a 'local anomaly in the space-time continuum', because despite leaving James Hook's boot at high velocity, the time it took to travel the 30 yards to the touchline must have been greater than 10 seconds, because the ref blew for full time immediately afterwards.

Controversially, some Welsh supporters have suggested that the referee made a mistake, thus robbing Wales of at least a draw, and maybe a win. However their calls were jeered by the mass of physicists all excitedly discussing the new era in physics

Gower Bouldering Wiki

Over the spring of 2006 I was writing up my PhD, and during my better efforts to avoid it I went off bouldering around Gower. Finally, my labours have now come to fruit (it was a hard job etc. etc.) with the Gower bouldering wiki:

http://gowerbouldering.wetpaint.com/

check it out...

Another training article

Dave MacLeod has written a short article for UKC. The most interesting bit of it for me was this:

...[improvement] isn’t possible without showing a bit of backbone. Everyone makes excuses, you can hear them all the time if you listen. Keep one ear on the ones coming out of your own mouth and every so often you have a ‘wake up call’ moment. Right there is the scaffold of your motivation to make a break to the next level.

I like this attitude; it emphasises a can-do approach to becoming better at whatever you're doing. Training to improve at anything is all about identifying your weak-points and working to improve them - and the first step to doing that is to admit what your weak-points are.

No more Capoeira

After a few days of jet-lag, I'm just about getting back up to speed with the world here back in London, a feat that's been double hard thanks to the fact that there is just so much ar y gweill at the moment. Work is busy, PhD viva soon, and I am preparding for the move to Spain, both professionally and logistically. The upshot of it is that play time is in short supply at the moment yet, as I have said before, all work and no play makes Alun a dull boy.

Recently, play-time has been split between climbing and capoeira, but I'll be honest the situation hasn't been ideal. I have reached the 'first peak' in capoeira - I can confidently step into the roda and play a simple game, and enjoy and appreciate and enjoy a good game when played by others. Yet rather than being happy about this, it's actually a little daunting: I've scaled the first peak, only to see the huge mountain range ahead, and realised just how much hard training is required to scale those mountains.

The mountaineering allegory is a good one, because it leads back to climbing. I realised last night, when riding home from the wall (or rather, the pub next to the wall), that climbing is still my number one. It is what inspires me and motivates me, drives me and pleases me. Because of capoeira, my climbing has suffered over the last few months, and I'm not happy about it. I have realised that I have to dedicate to one or the the other - trying to do both means that I will never improve at either, and risk getting bored with both.

If this reads a bit like a confessional, then it's probably because it feels like it is. I love capoeira, I think it's brilliant, and strangely I feel guilty for stopping. But stop I must. You know you've made a correct decision becuase once you've made it, you feel this massive weight lift off your shoulders. That's how a felt last night.

Bouldering in the Peak District on Sunday. Alright!

USA Trip: Final Photos

Well we're back safe and sound, and recovering from the jet-lag, which has been awful for the last few days.

Of the 350 (!) photos we took there's a more manageable 60 now uploaded here. Let me tell ya somethin'...

USA Trip: Back to Vegas

There's a classic Monty Python sketch in which Death (that's with a capital 'D', i.e. the Grim Reaper) loses patience with a Yank who's trying to butt in all the time. Death, who is frightfully English, of course, snaps:

"You always talk you Americans; you talk and you...talk, and you say things like, 'let me tell ya somethin', and, 'I just wanna say this!'. Well, you're dead now, so shutup!"

It makes me chuckle every time I hear it, yet the truth is they talk different over here, and the worse thing is that I've found myself joining in - for example, it takes the average waiter a couple of seconds to realise that "can I have the bill please" actually means "can I get the check please"; or that "we're going to leave now" is actually "we're gonna shoot off right now". So me and DJ have found that changing the way we speak is easiest, at least temporarily. I draw the line at subsituting 'real' for 'really' though e.g. you're never going to hear me say that something is 'real nice', or 'real sweet'. Ych a fi.

Anyways, so today is the beginning of the end, as it were, and we have a 10-12 hour drive ahead of us, from San Francisco back to catch our flight in Vegas, although we are splitting it over two days. We've done a lot of driving - from Vegas to Oceanside in 'SoCal', then up Highway 1 past plenty of famous spots: Laguna, Newport, Huntingdon and Venice Beaches, Santa Monica, Malibu, Santa Barbara, the coastal road all the way up to Santa Cruz, and finally to San Francisco. It's been great.

From a surfing point of view, it's fairly obvious why so many world class surfers hail from California. The waves have been uniformally superb, all the way up the coast. Usually glassy clean and I've barely seen a single closeout. I managed to fulfill a lifetime dream and catch some pacific ocean waves down at Oceanside, perfect 3' peeling waves, no wind and totally glassy. Even on a crappy rental foam board, the waves flattered to deceive and I caught more good waves in 2 hours than I think I've caught in the last five years. Going back to relentless onshore Gower closeouts is going to be difficult! Up at Santa Cruz we nipped out to the point at Steamer's Lane a couple of morning's ago. It is one of the most famous breaks in the world, and you can see why in the photo in the post below. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to get in - though the be honest the thought of tackling that wave on a slippery 8' rented foamy didn't really inspire me, not to mention having to freeze in a 3-2 rental suit in the 10 deg water - the Pacific is cold in the winter!!

If you look in the gallery you can see our car. Due to it being the only one they had left, we were 'upgraded' by our car hire people from a little economical run-around (which we chose specially for it's ability to do 30mpg) to a complete behemoth of a Lincoln, which does 20mpg if we're very lucky. It's very comfy for travelling, but less pleasurable for the bank balance, and not to mention the environment.

Still, we've got two days of solid driving ahead of us, so maybe the added comfort isn't too bad...

PS You may also notice that, after 10 years, I have cut my hair! The dreads are still there, they're just really short. Feels different!

USA Trip: Vegas and Joshua Tree

Well, of all the stories I had heard about the States before I came here, there's one that is 100% right. The cars here are huge; and I do mean huge. In fact, pretty much everything is huge, the landscape, the food, the roads, the people, everything. It's quite overwhelming, to be honest.

Djanira, her mum Uby, and I flew over here on Christmas Eve and we fly back to Britain on the 7th Jan. We flew into to Vegas, which is just as dros ben llestri as you'd imagine it to be, eveything is done completely over the top. We stayed in the Sahara hotel and casino, which is one of the cheaper places to stay, but still on the strip and quite good fun. We spent Christmas day wandering the strip in the sunshine, and had a massive buffet lunch at Flamingo - all the casino's have these amazing all-you-can-eat buffets, which are pretty good value. I'm not much of a gambler so I didn't play much, a few goes on the slots and computers, and one go on a blackjack table. I lost about 20 bucks on the machines but stayed even on the table. Good fun though.

You may notice the photograph above is not in Vegas - in fact it's the Grand Canyon! As a christmas present to ourselves we flew by helicopter from Vegas to see the canyon, passing the Hoover dam on the way. It was all very impressive, and we landed on the canyon floor for a champagne brunch. Very nice indeed!

After returning to the city we picked up a hire car (which, naturally, is huge, and I do mean huge), and drove through the desert to Joshua Tree. J-Tree is a national park that represents the boundary between the Mojave and Colorado deserts, and is famous for the unique Joshua trees that grow there - U2 stayed there when writing their seminal album of the same name. It is also one of the most famous rock climbing areas in the whole world, so I was very excited to pull on my boots and do a bit of bouldering, when I get more time I'll dump the photos in my album.

After stopping there we drove an impressive road from Palm Springs over the San Jacinto
mountains, and are now in the house of DJ's uncle Francisco, in Vista, just to the north of San
Diego. Lovely weather today, and we're off to see 10ft swells breaking on the pacific shoreline - I don't think I'll go in the water today!

More to come soon...

Multilingualism

Being bilingual, and living with somebody who is trilingual, I am a big proponent of the importance of learning foreign languages at school. The issue has raised its head again in the news recently, with the government promising a drive to get kids to do more foreign languages - though it baffles me why they are suggesting this now, when only a few years ago they changed the curriculum so that it isn't mandatory to do a foreign language GCSE.

There is an interesting article in the paper about it today, written (in very elegant English) by a Frenchwomen, which got me thinking a little more on why I think learning a foreign language is so important.

"The global culture we live in is a double-faced creature, part angel, part devil. It induces two sets of behaviour in world citizens: a greater openness and a new curiosity towards others, or the illusory and self-satisfied conviction that the world has come to them. The first group, embracing multilingualism, have learned that a better understanding of other cultures, based on mutual knowledge of each other's languages, can foster stronger business partnerships, richer cultural exchanges and lasting peace. The second, often found in the English-speaking world, are proud of their monolingualism, and have retreated into a fantasy world in which it seems everyone speaks their language."

The monolinguist's arguments are usually along the lines of "all the world speaks English, what's the point in learning another language?". In that respect, they have some sort of point, even it is a touch arrogant. Yet, to me, the main benefits of learning another language are not limited to the ability to converse in that language; rather, they are the enlightenment of realising that you aren't limited to a single method of expressing yourself linguistically*, and the appreciation of different cultures that can only be acquired by immersing yourself to the level where you have to use that culture's language.

At school I learned French to GCSE level, and went on two exchange visits to France, staying with French families. Being forced to speak French meant that I began to see the world a little bit through French eyes, and as a result I am a big fan of France, and the French people - not a view shared by many of my fellow Brits! But how many of them went on a French exchange? And if they didn't, would their prejudices against the French still exist if they had gone on an exchange?

The point I'm trying to make is that, even though I have forgotten much of my French now, I don't think for a second that learning the language was a waste of time. I learned far more than 'just another language'.

* For some time I've pondered the best way of describing this (the idea that there isn't always an equivalent translation) to an English monolingual, and the best example I've come up with is translation of the word 'Welsh':

Cymraeg = Welsh (the language e.g. "she speaks Welsh")
Cymreig = Welsh (something that is from Wales e.g. "a Welsh harp")
Cymry = Welsh (the people of Wales e.g. "the Welsh sing very well")

so;
the English can talk about English things in English;
but (to paraphrase)
the Cymry talk about Cymreig things in Cymraeg

Changes afoot...

If you link to this page via my main webdomain, alunthomasevans.co.uk, you may have already noticed that there has been a bit of a change. If not, go there now to have a look at the first iteration of my 'professional' website. The idea is that I'll be applying for jobs again soon (I stop work here in the Ear Institute at the end of April), and so I wanted a more professional presence on the web...you know, a place to list my papers, download examples of my work, my CV etc. etc. and this is the first effort.

Being the bit of the geek that I am, I decided to make it a bit more impressive to fellow geeks (i.e. people that may be employing me in the future, and write it in a way that completely separates content from design. Hence I nipped off to learn about XSL, and the result is a page that always has the same design, despite the changing content, if you have a peek at the source code, you'll see it's all in XML, which is transformed by an XSL stylesheet to create the HTML, and I have used this to show-off my language madskillz, so that the same stylesheet transforms the content in three different languages. I'll probably write a bit more about it in Code Corner soon.

Some requests for help:

-My designing skills are atrocious, if anybody has any ideas how to make it look nice (without going over the top) then please do tell me.

- Siaradwyr Cymraeg: dwi heb ysgrifennu unrhywbeth ffurfiol ers talwm, felly dwi'n siwr bod 'na digonedd o gamgymeriadau yn fy iaith. Os oes gennych unrhyw cywiriadau neu syniadau, dwedwch plis!

- Los que hablan español: bueno, es obvio que todavía estoy aprendiendo español, por eso si tienes algunas correcciónes o sugerencias, por favor, dime!

if you don't know my email it is alun AT alunthomasevans.co.uk

Pinochet is dead

So, like Pol Pot, Idi Amin and several other criminals before him, General Augusto Pinochet cheats real justice and escapes to the land of the dead. He will not be missed by the majority, yet his death still comes as a blow to the thousands of Chileans, Spaniards, and people of all nationalities who wanted to see this man stand in the dock and face responsibility for his crimes.

Pinochet assumed power in Chile in a military coup d'etat in 1973. The incumbent president, Salvador Allende, had led a socialist government which had followed policies unpopular with the Chilean right, such as the nationalisation of industry and health service, and the seizure and redistribution of land and wealth. The coup was short, bloody and violent, with troops and tanks surrounding the Chilean palace in Santiago while it was bombed from the air. Allende died in the attack, and Pinochet emerged from the shadows to head the new military dictarship. The following months were a humanitarian disaster, with thousands of 'subversives' picked up by the secret police. At least 3000 people were killed, and several tens of thousands tortured - 40,000 alone were detained in Chile's national stadium, which had been converted to a concentration camp.

Despite these horrors and others, Pinochet remained a hero for many in Chile for some time after his removal from power, as some on the right still saw him as the saviour who prevented the country's slide into communism. However, this support had gradually eroded since it was discovered that he stole millions from the country's exchequer, skimming off funds and transferring them to a private swiss bank account. This was no upstanding citizen doing his best for his country; Augusto Pinochet was a common thief.

Baroness Margaret Thatcher is said to be 'deeply saddened' by his death. While I appreciate her point of view that his assistance during Falklands War may have saved British lives, it reflects rather badly on her judgment that she should continue to support a man who's name will forever be mentioned alongside some of the most infamous in history, and who be remembered by most as a repugnant man who had not a single redeeming quality.

Game reviews: Oblivion and God of War

What with all current the hoo-haa regarding various new console releases, recently I had the urge to dust off my gaming madskillz and play a couple of titles that I have meaning to look at for a while. Mr Paul kindly gave me a copy of God of War about a year ago, but to be honest I dismissed it completely at the time, because it looked a little bit of a teenagers game. You see, I'm an adult, I like mature games with decent storylines and non-linear interaction and if they must be violent, then at least make it tasteful violence. :P Hence the reason that for the last few months I have been playing a rather different sort of game to God of War, called Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Oblivion is a role-playing game in which you play some punter who is rather randomly drawn into a whirlwind quest to save the world from ultimate doom. Okay - so the story's a bit of a hack, but the game is pretty much about as non-linear as you can get, without making it so random that the player doesn't know where they are or what to do. The game world is completely huuuge, and while it is possible to 'fast travel' by clicking on a map, you can quite feasibly walk the whole way should you choose to do so. And you might as well - this is first game I have played where, when descending a mountain trail at sunset, I have actually stopped to admire the view. It really is rather impressive.

The vastness of the world, and the non-linear method you can use to explore it, is both the game's strength and weakness. There's no doubt that having such a large and engrossing world is wonderful; there's one large city and several small towns dotted about the map, and loads of stuff to do and explore in each one. You can spend hours, days even, just poking around and sticking your nose in to the thousands of side-quests that exist. And the 'main' quest, where the central story of the game unfolds, is always there in the background for you to do as much or as little as you like - until you complete it of course.

Yet therein lies the problem. Classic epics like Final Fantasy VII worked well due the world developing alongside the main story, Oblivion's world feels static by comparison. It doesn't help that they used the same five actors to voice every character in the game, and the 'random' conversations between NPCs (non-player-characters) become laughably repetative. At the end of the day, Oblivion's failings in this regards highlight an interesting point - while non-linear gaming gives a greater sense of freedom, unless the gaming world develops over time, that same non-linearity hamstrings the game as much as fully-linear-walk-this-direction-only experience.

Which, neatly enough, returns us to God of War. After getting it, the game gathered dust in it's box for a while until my old flat mate, Chris Jennions, picked it up one bored evening, about a year ago. While half-watching him play the first few levels, my initial suspicions seemed to be confirmed - it appeared to be nothing more than button-mashing, disengage-brain, 3D scrolling beat-em-up. Yet, after a few weeks, I noticed that Chris was still playing it, and thoroughly enjoying it. When I discovered, some time later, that itwon a few 'Game-of-the-Year' awards and that even the very strict Edge magazine awarded it 8/10, I decided that one day I would get round to playing it. A fortnight ago, that day arrived. And don't you know it, it's rather good.

It is still, of course, a button-mashing, disengage-brain, 3D scrolling beat-em-up. What separates it from the dross that is 99% of the rest of the games in this genre is the fact that it obviously has very high production values. The camera, traditionally a sticking point in such games, is almost always in exactly the right spot, following you relentlessly through corridors and across deserts, and panning, zooming and rotating to show your environment when necessary. The graphics are great considering it's only the PS2, and everything from the greek-mythology story, to the control system that expands throughout the game, to the suitably grandiose soundtrack, is well conceived. It is undoubtedly an entirely on-rails linear experience, with little chance to deviate from the path in front of you, and as such it couldn't be more different to Oblivion. But if I was forced to play one of the two games again, I would probably choose God of War - maybe I'm still a teenager at heart!

Capoeira Canal Christmas Roda

My capoeira teacher, Monitor Risadinha (Jacob is his real name, Risadinha is his Capoeira apelido - once you get to certain standard you get 'baptized' and given a nickname. Monitor is his 'grade') is on a plane to Brazil as I write, for a three week holiday and to train with an academy out there, and last night we had our final lesson of the year with him. So we decided to make it a bit of an occasion, especially as it coincides with the two year anniversary of the school, Capoeira Canal, which is a good achievement for Jacob.

The class followed a slightly different format to normal. Usually, we warm up together, then the beginners and intermediates split for the majority of the class, and we get back together at the end for a little roda. The roda (Portuguese for 'wheel') is the circle of people and instruments, within which two people play Capoeira. It is the whole point of Capoeira, really. Anyway usually we just have a little roda at the end of the class, lasting 20-30 minutes, everybody has one quick game, and that's it. Yesterday, however, as it was a special occasion, we had decided in advance to start the roda early and have a 'proper' one. So after a quick warm up we got the instruments out and started playing.

It was great. My capoeira has improved loads and now I feel confident enough to not embarrass myself, and I really enjoy playing the instruments and singing also. Towards the end of a roda the music speeds up, the capoeira speeds up, and the whole thing becomes really engrossing - especially when you're watching two really good capoeiristas play a game, it's spellbinding. It's also amazing how fast the time goes, I had barely had two games before I glanced up at the clock and realised an hour had gone and I was unlikely to get another, as time was running out. Ah well. Still a brilliant evening, which we discussed and washed down with a couple of pints afterwards. Very nice indeed.


So now I'm really enthused for Capoeira and, fortunately, classes are continuing, despite Jacob being away. For the next couple of weeks we have some intructors from our 'parent' school (i.e. Jacob's old school) the London School of Capoeira coming to take the next two Monday classes, so it will be interesting to see how their teaching methods differ to Jacob's. Cool beans.

Katherine Schirrmacher article

Katherine Schirrmacher, who recently recently has been signed up for the Moon climbing team, has written a short article for moonclimbing.com, "10 ways to revamp your climbing".

It is only a few hundred words long and yet I can't think of any other article that contains so much excellent information that is so concisely written and expressed.

https://www.moonclimbing.com/index.php?form_action=school&school_id=27class=

Portland sport climbing

It's been a busy weekend so I'm treating you to two posts in one day, you lucky things! Saturday morning found me loitering outside Hammersmith at some god-forsaken hour, waiting to picked up by Paul Mac on the way to Portland. We picked up Paul Mealor on the way, and after boring them to tears telling them just how good Casino Royal is, we met Darcy for breakfast in the Blue Fish cafe at Fortuneswell (nice place, incidentally, good food, though a little overpriced for what you get) at around 10.30.

The slightly late start suited us nicely actually, as it meant the sun had time to get round onto the Blacknor crags on the west coast (see pic), where many of the routes are a decent 28-30m long, so you really feel like you're getting your money's worth on every route. The last time I did any proper climbing was in the Wye Valley with Alastair in September, so it was good to get back on the rock again. I climbed with Darcy and we did several routes around the 6a-6c range, all very pleasant - yet the problem with this cliff is that all the routes follow the same pattern: 5m of heaving on dusty jugs, 10-15m of delicate conglomerate balancing, followed by 5m of really good clean limestone at the top. As a result the routes feel rather similar to each other, even though they are very good if considered individually.

So we spent a night in the old lighthouse (now a bird-watchers haunt) and got up bright and early (well, ish), and set off for The Cuttings, where the route of the day for me was The Cutting Edge, which I was quite chuffed to onsight, especially given that I've been off climbing for the last few months. Then I went and burst my bubble with a fall off New Saladin, though I wasn't too miffed as it was a juggy pump-fest, a bit more fitness would have dispatched it. So another good day was had by all. Special commendation should go to Macca who is a having a bit of a purple-patch at the moment, it seems that a summer off has done him good and he's come back with a vengeance. Oh yeah and props go to Paul Mealor who red-pointed his first 7a during his recent visit to Thailand!

And I'm really pleased because I had a brilliant weekend which has relit my passion and enthusiasm for rock climbing. Roll on some decent training over the winter, I'm looking forward to Easter at Pembroke already...

Casino Royal review

For some time, I have had a suspicion that the Sunday Times' chief film reviewer, Cosmo Landesman, doesn't actually know what makes a good film. Perhaps, if I were to be more polite, I would say that my opinion of what makes a good film differs from his. Either way, the fact is that I now have final conclusive proof that I am right and he is wrong, because the latest James Bond film, Casino Royal, is the best film I've seen all year, and certainly one of the best Bond films ever made.

Short of Tomorrow Never Dies, the more recent Bond efforts have been, if not completely pathetic, then largely forgettable. This is probably due to the fact that they ran out of Ian Fleming's books to convert to films some time ago, and so the films have relied on action and gadgets to get by. For Casino Royal, this isn't the case, because it is a remake of the original film, and based on the book of the same name - the first ever James Bond book. As a result, the film is very very different to almost every Bond film, with our hero being a slightly naive raw recruit (albeit one with an ego the size of Vauxhall Cross) who has just been promoted to his new title of 007. We get to see how the plot of the film moulds Bond gradually; tellingly, the famous Bond theme tune only appears right at the very end of the film, perhaps indicating that only then has transformed into the character that we have seen over the years. The scenario is given a clever twist by the film being set in the modern day, with internet, wireless communication and computers featuring heavily.

Daniel Craig is excellent in the main role, although I think he was lucky with the situation - the whole point of the film is that this 007 is very different to the more experienced one we have seen so many times before, so he had some license to stamp his own mark on the character. The rest of the acting is adequate, although it occasionally hampered by the slightly clunking script, which rather overstates the plot in case any thickos are watching and don't get it. In a way, though, this is a compliment to the plot which drives the movie at a relentless pace and high level of tension. Constantly twisting and turning, and with several factions all playing against each other, it is the plot that really raises this Bond effort high above the bar.

I haven't even mentioned the action sequences - - but quite frankly I needn't bother. Even if they were rubbish (they're not - one of them Djanira thought was the best chase scene she'd ever seen, the others all having you on the edge of your seat) it wouldn't really matter. Go and see this film, I can guarantee that you will enjoy it. Unless, of course, your name is Cosmo Landesman.

Viva date

I have received word for the date of my PhD viva - 2pm on Tuesday 30th January 2007. I'm not sure whether I'm happy/scared/excited/nervous/relieved or what. Probably a mix of everything. My fingers are sweating now just thinking about it!