Nov 22 2007

Video For John

Category: Videos — ChrisM @ 2:16 am

and any other motor home or Top Gear fans out there. I’ve ripped the section from Series 10 Episode 6 (last Sunday’s?) where Richard Hammon and James May team up with some Touring Car drivers to race various motor homes around an old track. That is if it ever completes uploading to YouTube… I’m glad I didn’t include the last segment (otherwise I would be waiting all night) that featured Jeremy Clarkson showing a behemoth of a motor home, big enough to hold a sports car in one it’s storage areas!

I still think the little red Toyota was a bit of a cheat, calling it a camper van clone maybe, but a proper motor home? Nope…

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May 01 2007

The World According To Clarkson

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 5:40 pm

The World According To Clarkson – Jeremy Clarkson

Although this book may at first seem quite like the other Clarkson books I’ve reviewed here, if you like his style, you probably won’t regret buying this book, as not many ideas are repeated. If you don’t like his style of writing, I’m assuming you wouldn’t buy this book in the first place, so I’ll not worry about that section of my readers too much ;>

Some of the style of writing is carried over from ‘Clarkson on Cars’, but this is hardly surprising, as Jeremy started his life as a newspaper (Motoring) journalist, HOWEVER, this books mainly concentrates on the world at large, not so much on the motors.

The World According… is a much more recent book, so if you found the Clarkson oon Cars to be a little dated, fear not, you won’t find many things to dislike here. Jeremy takes a look at all things in life that either annoy him, or simply hold his attention a little longer than most. Althought he format is slightly constricted, due to the book basically being a collection of articles he wrote for the Sunday Times, as I didn’t read that paper in Britain, I didn’t find myself frustrated at having read anything before.

Subjects covered vary from the sad ending to Concorde’s career to why you shouldn’t trust a man with a beard. As the majority of subjects covered are from newspaper articles, each is only a couple of pages long, so you can easily read this in little sections, so ideal for a plane journey, toilet reading or just something by the bedside table.

To summarize, if you like Jeremy Clarkson, and DON’T read the Sunday Times, yes, I’d recommend this book.

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May 01 2007

Jeremy Clarkson’s Motorworld

Category: Books,Kazakh Driving — ChrisM @ 4:27 pm

Jeremy Clarkson’s Motorworld – Jeremy Clarkson

Despite not having seen the original TV series that this book is based upon, I do tend to like Jeremy’s style of presenting and writing. Aware of his own foibles, he still is very happy to talk about his greatest love, which is motoring. For those of you who have seen him in the Top Gear TV series, this isn’t simply a car review show in paper, it is so much more than that.

He travels around the world, to 12 different countries, and observes the different ways people interact with motor vehicles.
I do so wish he’d do an update on this series, and try and fit in a trip to Kazakhstan. (See my previous articles (You Drinking. Other People Driving , Driving Contd. and a few other shorter posts can all be found within the Kazakh Driving category on this blog) on the Kazakh driving style so prevalent over here.)

Enough shameless plugging of my own posts, back to the review :=>
From the khamic beliefs of some Indian drivers (seatbelts? why, if today is my day to die, it will happen anyway!) to the draconian laws in Switzerland, he takes a very light hearted look at the global relationship with cars. Although the book does now show its age in parts, I still believe it to be a worth read.

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Apr 23 2007

Clarkson On Cars

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 6:18 pm

Jeremy Clarkson – Clarkson On Cars

Although this book isn’t original material, nor particularly recent, I still enjoyed reading through it. The book basically collects the best of all of his newspaper & magazine articles from the 80s until the mid 90s.
If you’ve not come across Jeremy before, he is Top Gear‘s main presenter.
Although obviously a petrol head, he does tend to write about motoring from the perspective of a man in the street, rather than a cars salesman or Formula F1 driver.
If you have a son/daughter/husband/wife who is into cars more than you, I’d recommend buying the book for them. Then read it yourself, and be pleasantly surprised at the quality of his writing, and the way he can relate seemingly complex motor issues to your average reader.

Oh and by the way, in case anyone is reading these reviews and wondering if I’m ever negative about a book, yes certainly, its just the ones I’ve reviewed so far I actually enjoyed…

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Oct 10 2006

A Couple Of Video Clips

Category: Personal,Videos — ChrisM @ 11:54 pm

I was catching up with some of the last 6 months of UK TV today, and came across these gems…

OK first one is Billie Piper, in Dr Who, with a moment of pure honesty :> …

Secondly we have James May, from Top Gear, proving his posh, slightly boring guy appearance is mis-leading …

This was just after Jeremy had read out a letter complaining about his comments regarding bus drivers, and James mentioned it was a lot easier, in his experience, to drive a bus than work on Top Gear.

Finally, we have a shot of James in his new series on Sky – Shark Attack, not exactly his normal brogues and sensible shirt…
James May - Shark Attack

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Sep 17 2006

All Consuming

Category: Books,Personal — ChrisM @ 11:43 pm

As you can see in the column on the right, I’ve signed up at allconsuming.net. You can enter the details of what you’re reading/listening to/doing/meeting.

I need to finish updating a few details, and change the widget used, so it displays previous items properly, but for now, here is the book list (roughly in the order they’ve been read since I arrived in Kazakhstan, in April) …

Jeremy Clarkson – Motorworld
Jeremy Clarkson – The World According To Clarkson
Raymond Khoury – The Last Templar

Lois McMaster Bujold – The Mountains of Mourning
Lois McMaster Bujold – Falling Free
Lois McMaster Bujold – Shards of Honour
Lois McMaster Bujold – Barrayar
Lois McMaster Bujold – The Warrior’s Apprentice
Lois McMaster Bujold – The Vor Game
Lois McMaster Bujold – Cetaganda
Lois McMaster Bujold – Ethan of Athos
Lois McMaster Bujold – Borders of Infinity
Lois McMaster Bujold – Brothers in Arms
Lois McMaster Bujold – Mirror Dance
Lois McMaster Bujold – Memory
Lois McMaster Bujold – Komarr
Lois McMaster Bujold – A Civil Campaign
Lois McMaster Bujold – Winterfair Gifts
Lois McMaster Bujold – Diplomatic Immunity
Lois McMaster Bujold – The Curse of Chalion
Lois McMaster Bujold – Paladin of Souls
Lois McMaster Bujold – The Hallowed Hunt

Richard P. Feynman – Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)

Dave Barry – Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to make a Tiny Person in only 9 months, with Tools You probably have around the Home
Dave Barry – Claw Your Way to the Top: How to Become the Head of a Major Corporation in Roughly a Week
Dave Barry – Dave Barry’s Bad Habits a 100% Fact-Free Book
Dave Barry – Dave Barry is not making this up
Dave Barry – Dave Barry slept here: A Sort of History of the United States
Dave Barry – Dave Barry’s greatest hits
Dave Barry – Dave Barry’s only travel guide you ll ever need
Dave Barry – guide to marriage and/or sex
Dave Barry – Homes And Other Black Holes
Dave Barry – Dave Barry’s Stay Fit and Healthy Until You’re Dead
Dave Barry – The Taming of the Screw

Neil Gaiman – American Gods
Neil Gaiman – Stardust

George Orwell – 1984
Michael Crichton – Rising Sun

Max Brooks – The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead

Edwin A. Abbott – Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

Isaac Asimov – I, Robot

Ray D. Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451
Ray D. Bradbury – Quicker Than The Eye
Ray D. Bradbury – Zen in the Art of Writing

Arthur C Clarke – A Time Odyssey 1 – Time’s Eye
Arthur C Clarke – A Time Odyssey 2 – Sunstorm
Arthur C Clarke – 2001 A Space Odyssey – Odyssey 1
Arthur C Clarke – 2010 – Odyssey 2
Arthur C Clarke – 2061 – Odyssey 3
Arthur C Clarke – 3001 – The Final Odyssey – Odyssey 4
Arthur C Clarke – Rendezvous with Rama
Arthur C Clarke – The Star

James Clavell – Shogun

Phillip Kindrick Dick – A Scanner Darkly

Diana Wynne Jones – Howl’s Moving Castle

Jasper Fforde – Thursday Next 1 – The Eyre Affair
Jasper Fforde – Thursday Next 2 – Lost in a Good Look
Jasper Fforde – Thursday Next 3 – The Well of Lost Plots
Jasper Fforde – Thursday Next 4 – Something Rotten

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