4 Oct
3 Oct
I woke up this morning to the news that Tim has officially launched his much-anticipated new album – Oh Restless Heart. For now, the lad is living a one-man army trying to promote and achieve his dream of entertaining listeners from all over, so give him a listen at http://timhassall.bandcamp.com/. Once you appreciate his talents, support a budding artist and purchase the album from his site directly (contributions start at $5 but dig deep and double that). Other music platforms like iTunes and Amazon will feature him come November so get in there early.
Below is a video of him jamming on the back porch of the Wooster house in LA after playing on Sunset Blvd.
Ta.
30 Sep
Saturday morning, 7:45am. Wake up. Drag myself outta bed and grab my boardies. Don’t forget that chorizo sarnie.
Randy is soon to arrive and we swiftly head 62 klicks out of Dubai towards Abu Dhabi in the already grilling 35 degree heat. It’s now only 8:15am. Ouch.
On arrival at the Golden Tulip in Ghantoot, Jay and Spew are ready to hit the boat and own that wake.
What happens next, is Boom-time.
15 Sep
Well, it’s been time since my last post and to be fair lots has been going on since then. This summer has been epic and as I couldn’t be arsed typing everything up, I thought I’d put together a little video which you can view below – just remember to click on 720p HD to get the best quality out of it.
Otherwise, hope you all had a great summer.
Ta.
30 Jul
K9 Friends – Dubai’s longest serving non-profit organisation solely dedicated to looking after the best interests of local dogs – was established in 1989. Their actions have been to home thousands of abandoned dogs; as well as fund veterinary treatment, reunited lost dogs with their owners and offer counsel to dog owners and rescuers.
The organisation relies solely on volunteer work and donations, and has helped create a sanctuary of hope at their facility tucked away in the sandy dunes of Jabel Ali. I took a drive over and below are just some of the the sights and stories I came across.
Tiger was found at eight weeks old in Umm Al Quwain with two other siblings - Tia Maria and Tequila (below). All are typical puppies - cute, playful and full of energy. Oh, and tiny. Fortunately, they have now all found new homes where they are settling in well and have started their puppy training.
Tia Maria and Tequila
Kim & Kyla were found dumped in a bin in Jumeirah with a bag of dog food at 6 weeks old. Both were extremely nervous and very dirty, yet they went into a foster home for 2 weeks until they were old enough to be vaccinated. They have since settled and began to socialise with other puppies and were also taken home by some of the volunteers to try to build their confidence. Kyla has now been homed, but Kim is still waiting. Eagerly. She is extremely nervous of new people (loves other dogs though) and would need time to settle into her new home.
Dexter was brought to K9F by the municipality at 1 week old with 5 other siblings and their mum. All have been homed now (including Mum) except Dexter. He's an active kid with a great attitude.
The puppy block. Three big air-conditioned kennels that can hold up to 8 puppies in each.
Wilson was found on a factory in Al Awir with 3 other adult dogs and 6 puppies. They factory owners couldn't cope so K9F's were called upon. He's a big fella but gentle. Having not lived in a home before he has adjusted extremely well since being homed.
Max's original owner lived in an apartment in Sharjah and was told they were no longer allowed dogs. He was passed from here to there before eventually coming to K9F at 9 months old. He hadn't had any previous training however now has a new home and is doing well. His new owners take him to training classes which has helped him to settle in fast.
Boo - she was found in Jumeriah with another dog and taken in by an Emerati man. He kept them for a month while trying to re-home them but could no longer cope as he already had four dogs. Once brought in to K9F, she has been successfully homed along with another puppy.
Mabel was born on a junk yard in Al Quoz along with a litter of eight other pups. Sadly, one died due to heavy rain in the winter before they were rescued by K9F. The remaining eight have since been homed except for Mabel. She is now seven months old and would make a great addition to any family with time for a bouncy puppy.
Boo.
Disinfecting foot tray. Any dog that comes into K9F has to go into quarantine to ensure they are not ill or carrying disease. Outside each quarantine block there are foot dipping trays which helps to isolate any infectious diseases such as parvovirus, distemper, wring worm, giardia, etc. Anyone who comes into contact with dogs in quarentine must also disinfect themselves before handling dogs in other blocks. Safety first.
Dakota was found with his best friend Tremble by a Sheikah whilst walking her dogs. She took them in temporarily but with seven of her own to look after it was difficult to cope. Dakota was found with no ears. They had been cut off by some inhumane bastard. Considering his scars, his calm temperament is complimented by a friendly and playful behavior.
Bebe is a two year old St Bernard and was brought in when her owners were leaving Dubai. Traditionally a breed that is accustomed to living in colder climates, she has been really suffering in the heat. K9F quickly realised it would be best to find her a home outside of Dubai and they have been working hard looking for a suitable situation. She is currently at a foster home in RAK.
Somewhat of a local veteran, Abby is between 9-12 years old and was found running around International City a few years ago. Suitable conditions for her would be a quiet home with a comfy bed, and she loves to sunbathe outside. Lazy bugger.
Abby.
Polley originally came to K9F at three months old, but seven years later when a new baby came to her home she was no longer wanted - and she loathed being back in the kennels. Four months into her second stint she was homed but returned - again - because she was considered too boring (WTF?). She remained uncomfortable staying in the kennels and developed a sore on her leg from where she'd been repeatedly licking due to stress. Luck seems to have come her way though as a couple have now taken her in and given her a stable home. No word on the sore however.
Polley.
'C Block' is one of the four main kennel blocks. K9F facilities also include an isolation block, quarantine dogs, quarantine puppies, pups & teens and a quiet room. In total they have 52 kennels and 6 cages (for little ones when they're chocka block).
Goblin's is one of the five "fairy puppies" that all came in from the local municipality. Perhaps due to their previous conditions, they were all painfully shy and it was about two weeks before K9F staff could go into the kennels without them staining themselves out of fear. The pups that is. K9F put them through individual socialisation programs and foster homes in order to built their confidence however more work needs to be done. A permanent home would prove to be the ideal solution.
Dick came to K9F's as a pup in a litter of six. Four have been homed but two years have passed and Dick and his sister (Kath) remain. Of saluki cross they are full of energy and need a home where they will get lots of exercise and some basic training. One of the dog trainers that volunteers with K9F's has been working closely with Dick. He's eager to learn and is very intelligent, but does get distracted easily. Silly Dick. Having more daily exercise will help his concentration. but he's a great dog who would require an experienced owner.
Angel came to K9F as a six week old puppy and is now four years old - marking her as K9F's longest serving free agent. Sadly, she has never been out of the kennels but is absolutely fine and K9F's are desperate for her to be homed. She will need a experienced owner who has time to dedicate to training her and would be best in an only dog situation.
The food board acts as a guide for the four kennel boys when it comes to feeding. With over 140 woofs in the kneels its difficult to remember who gets what.
Within the office walls, a whiteboard shows the dogs recently brought in, homed, fostered etc. Incoming dogs are numbered in ascending order ... with over 3100 abandoned on the K9F's doorstep so far.
K9F run a sponsorship scheme that allows the pubic to donate towards a dog and kennel program. The money goes directly to the up keep of the dog/kennel. It is one of K9F's main sources of income as they are a non-profit organisation run solely by donations.
Troy, the gangly yet powerful great dane, was dumped at a kennel as a 5 month old pup and regarded as an unwanted gift. His owners never came back, yet he was spared three months later when a family took him in but were unable to look after him long term. K9F's stepped up to help and he has now been adopted by one of their volunteers and is doing really well. A little basic training and regular exercise has gone a long way with this gentle giant.
As an organisation, K9F greatly rely on the support of the public and there is so much local residents can do to offer a helping hand. Whether you have spare time and would like to volunteer at the shelter, or decide to put forward some of your drinking coin to sponsoring a dog/kennel – the crowd at K9F would welcome the kind gesture.
For more information visit their website at http://www.k9friends.com/.
Ta.
13 Jul
WWF UAE recently launched an awareness campaign – the Al Basma al Beeiya (Ecological Footprint) initiative – to broadcast the effect those of us living on its sunny shores has on the local and global environment. This was brought about by a behavioural trend by most of us living here that helped spotlight the UAE as having one of the largest ecological footprints in the world – not bad really for a desert inhabited by a few million residents and even more V8 bruisers. Part of their campaign includes an online video which I have included below.
Creating this stop-motion video took a development team from Aya over 150 hours of set building, 300 newspapers and 200 hours of shooting for 2500 stills. Shot in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and London it needed over 50 hours of meetings – and an estimated 400 cups of coffee. Regardless of their efforts, all this will go to waste if those of us who live here refuse to change our ways.
While we’ve all seen those pricks whose disgusting actions vary from throwing their rubbish out their car window to polluting the beaches with ciggies, broken bottles and eye-soreing swimming attire… well, unfortunately they’ll all still stick around. What you can do is either have less of an impact on your day-to-day by reducing your imprint, or take the lead by throwing any rubbish left behind by ignorant twats back at ’em.
Having shared the above, I’m not ready to get rid of my Defender.. but I will walk to the local pub if it’s just around the corner.
11 Jul
Recently I was lucky enough to temporarily get my clumsy hands on a new toy – the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR. While at first I thought it would transform my photos to look awesome with complete ease, I quickly found out that because of it’s advanced features and brilliant abilities, it actually took a lot of skill to get the best out of it. Having said that, once I got the hang of it’s insane ISO range and s.u.p.a-q.u.i.c.k frame rate which seemed to slow down time, I was able to put it’s 39 cross-type points to work and have a lot of fun with it. Here is some of what I was able to capture.
Aerial beach rat. .
Class in session. Watch and learn. We did.
Getting set to show the kids how to 'make it rain'.
Extreme volleyball - one on four.
Crouch. Touch. Pause...... Engage.
Game. Set. Match.
Posers.
The Hoff getting set to patrol the beach at sunset.
... erm, seriously, how do blokes reckon they can pull off white trousers. On the beach as well. It's just outrageous.
A cyclone hits our local shores so it's time for the boys to dust off their surf boards and show it off for the camera.
... the turn and run.
Kimbo was unimpressed with his new skateboard.
Evening rush hour traffic is hectic for some... and the metro is just plain inconvenient.
Don't forget to stretch it out at the end of the session.
Marina walk by night. Glittering lights pretend to pimp out the surrounding council estate that is polluted with tourists shagging on the beach, and paraded with virgin adults cruising in their parents cars.
A chance to get off the road and onto the metro. It's only a 10km mission that way.
All in all, I had heaps of fun shooting lots of outdoor snaps – particularly action/sport – however felt to really get more out of the camera I’d need to invest in better/quicker lenses…. which is a big ask when an upgrade to the Mark IV alone (just the body) would set me back around AED 21K. Someone please sponsor my arse.
More pics to come soon so don’t forget to subscribe on the right and feel free to be leave your comments behind.
Ta.
14 Jun
To wrap up what was an epic road trip through Ozzie, here’s a posting of a few images from Adelaide… and more specifically, the MacLaren Vale region. This part of South Australia is internationally renowned for the wine it produces, particularly their Shiraz, and has a history of acclaimed wineries dating back to as early as 1838. Boasting more than 88 active cellars, Ben and I made the most of the four days I had there by visiting as many as possible. And sampled a bevy of reds and whites like no other. With a few Jaeggers in between. And some Jim Beam. It was awesome.
The hills of MacLaren Vale. This particular spot was popular with joy riders of stolen cars. Ditched at night, the morning sunshine reveals the mess of the evening before.
Barbed wire is all that keeps the mountain sheep from wondering onto the winding coastal roads.
Once the cars have been pulled off the mountain, they end up in the yard to rot away.
A busy highway into town. Hitchhiking is encouraged, the bus only comes through once a week.
Bullies. They steal shoes.
At the Wirra Wirra winery, they had a competition for visitors to guess how many corks it took to build this giant bottle. The prize? A year supply of wine. Basel (a very determined mathematician and part time boozer), took his time to carefully count each cork. I reckon he's still there counting.
Takeaways are always an option, and here at Mac, they offer an upsize!
Tapping into the source. Some of these plants are over 100 years old.... now that's quality wine you can down by the bottle.
Out on the Forester's farm. Feeding this dog was not easy.
Ben schooning away. Afternoon beers in the sun was the only way to do it.
Inspirational. The aftermath of a boozy lunch.
Sunset down at Port Wilunga. Nothing beyond the coastline except for the end of the world. Epic.
Burning sunset. Quite possibly the greatest spot in Australia to watch the sun go down.
Our pilot coming in to land.
Border patrol prided themselves on their intimidating tactics and harsh fines.
Our taxi for the day. Booya.
Birdseye view of MacLaren Vale's coastline from 1,000 feet. I had my own steering wheel ... yea boi.
The mouth of the Murray river - which extends for 2,375 km - making it the longest river in Australia.
Coming in for a smooth landing. We hoped.
Another beach sunset to close out an incredible day.
Yalla bye.
… ta.
8 Jun
Australia is infamous as a continent that homes an array of animals that reserve the natural ability to kill. Be it Kylie Minogue legs, Russell Crowes temperment … or Steve Irwins stingray (ouch, sorry). Regardless, whilst driving up towards Fraser Island we took a day out to discover just what can be found in the backyard bush of the aforementioneds’ Australia Zoo. And this is what we found, crikey!
On arrival, zoo keepers approach visitors with baby crocs as a sneak preview of what's to come.
Open area bird sanctuaries remain consistent with the zoo's policy of allowing visitors to get close with their timid celebrities.
The Carpet snake is a subspecies of python, can grow up to 2.5 meters long and will comfortably stomach a full-grown chicken when on the munchies.
Female kangas (less aggressive towards visitors) scattered across the zoo are often found basking in the sun.... and not doing much else.
Fact. These hoppers have talent.
Lazy bastard.
Terry Irwin feeding the beast. Crazy woman.
With maximum growth of 7 feet in length, the green python is an awesome tree slugger. Feasts mainly on small mammals, such as rodents and sometimes reptiles, their prey is captured by holding onto a branch using the prehensile tail and striking out from an s-shape position and constricting the prey. Fuck yea.
The Irwins - still keeping the family tradition strong in running the zoo. That is of course, before mother Terry commercializes it by branching out to Vegas (fact) and sells out for a healthy fortune.
Marginally smaller than the king cobra, the king brown can grow up to 3 meters in length and is one of the deadliest snakes in Australia. It's venom isn't particularly poisonous compared to other snakes, it's just that it spits so much more than the regular bastards. For example, the average tiger snake produces around 10–20 mg and by comparison, a good sized king brown snake can deliver 150 mg in a single bite. Apparently.
Cuddly, lazy and high on eucalyptus. Koalas are facing fears of extinction due to deforestation of euco trees in Australia. The zoo actively sources the plants from all over Queensland just to maintain supply for the koalas they care for as they take responsibility for many that are brought to them injured in the wild.
Not sure what this guy is called, but he's a big fella.
These mini t-rex looking lizards are scattered across the zoo and are relatively approachable. Too quick get a boot on though.
An HDR image of a roo at rest.
Spiders like these - and their enormous webs - are a regular throughout the Australian bush.
The non-venomous spotted python is a common house pet among enthusiasts due to its small size and even temperament. They're commonly found hiding away in caves munching away on bats.
Teasing the audience...
... making her move.
Elephants doing the rounds after a feeding session by zoo visitors, and showing off their 'pull my finger' trick.
Wombats are another member of Australia's marsupials. Although not commonly found wondering through the bush in numbers, it's advised to get a leash round it's neck and drag 'em home if you come across one. Then keep it as pet, 'cos they look awesome.
The Rhinoceros Iguana is a threatened species of lizard primarily found on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Despite its fearsome appearance, it is a vegetarian and lives forever. An ideal pet for families with young children, really.
.. and finally, a burning sunset to finish off a wild and adventurous day.
Ta.
10 May
Cape Byron is Australia's most easterly point, 153° 39´ east, located on the north coast of New South Wales.
Cape Byron Lighthouse
Wicked camper vans. Easily noticed cruising and polluting the coastlines of Australia.
Go on... have a perv. For just $2.
Byron Bay, main beach. This was the day after more than 30,000 piss-nuts left the beach side town at the conclusion of the annual Blues Fest. It still looked like paradise.
By the main beach at sunset. Stoners with musical ambition gather round and partake in an organised chaos of drums, guitars and flutes. Not bad really.
At sunrise, the local fishermen head for all the good spots.
Moonee Beach, Coffs Harbour. Idyllic little spot this... too bad the rest of Coff's is a dive.
Hip Hopper.
Driftwood on Wooli Beach.
Wooli beach at sunset.
Gloomy sunset at Wooli.
Sadly this seagull was beached in the water with a broken wing at sunset. We moved it to the beach, tried to feed it but no luck. It was gone by sunrise, we assumed as breakfast.
Parked up at sunrise.
Cicada shell.
Sunrise. Surprisingly I woke up in time to take this photo. A trend I do not expect to commit to.
Crip Walking
Boganville postage.
Wild kangas getting at it.
…….. and done. Ta.
Audience of 1 