Holding onto sanity

Writing essays, or attempting to, around the Christmas period is not fun in the slightest, however it needs to be done :(
Thankfully, as usual, some music is helping me stay relatively sane and focused. Currently listening to Late Night Tales a very nice collection of songs picked by Snow Patrol, check it out.

Anyways back to the books.

Dixons advertising fail

I have a feeling someone in the marketing department at Dixons should be looking for a new job...


Apparently its supposed to be "clever" in the same way as "its always in the last place you look", however to me, and I'm guessing most people that don't try to find philosophy within advertising slogans, it just reminds me of the poor service I've had from the Dixons/Currys/PC World collective

The Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic Adventure Race.... extreme!

I was having a quick look at hrxxl, a German lightweight hikers blog, and came across an interview with Andrew Shulkra a full time outdoor adventurer who since 2002 has trekked over 23,000 miles. Its an interesting article and well worth the read, discussing Andrews career so far, how he has achieved it and what the future holds for him. However, what really caught my attention was the video posted for the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic Adventure Race (below.)

The race must be one of only a few left that have next to no rules on the method of travel, organisers that openly admit no responsibility for you and a required kit list of only two items (a satellite phone and a inflatable raft) for a race that will last at least three days. Pretty crazy!

Its pretty incredible to see the type of rivers they their tiny used inflatable rafts for, it is truly a wild race. Andrew has written an article that can be read at backpackinglight.com, and it is definitely worth the read, if not for the lovely looking feet near the bottom of the page.

My feet have ended up in that state if not worse, and it is really pretty grim. I'm not surprised they didn't stop too often, as with feet like that getting going again is possibly the worst feeling ever.

Ultralight, Ultracheap 4oz insulated "jacket"

Send that expensive down vest back to the shop, you can be warm on the hills for less than the cost of a pint (presuming you already have a wind shirt.)

Novel idea or what? It would be perfect for a mountain marathon, you could even scrap it after the night camp if you were super weight conscious. A great example of function over form.

Seen on OM. Courtesy of Chris Napton

Like A Smile On A Monday - Mixtape

Like a smile on Monday | An Ulsterwalker mixtape

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

In between cramming and making my eyes square I have been throwing a new mix-tape together and it is now ready for the world to critique, complete with covers. I am far happier with this concoction of music, which may in part be due to using different software to mix the tracks, but most probably has a lot to do with abandoning a distinct topic, which seriously hampered the cohesion of Deep clouds above.

Stepping in at just over 41 minutes the mix-tape is certainly worth a gander, hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do!

P.S If you give it a listen, please drop us a comment, good or bad.

Chrimbo Presents..... The horror the horror

Finding it hard to find the perfect pressie? Don't sweat it!

If you're like me, Chrimbo shopping takes forever, however, at least now I can do it while staring at a screen and not having to interact with real people. I like to find something rather unique that most people won't have seen and is also pretty cool, well in my eyes anyways, while still being of some use. This can be very time consuming, but finding something perfect is a great feeling. Below are a couple of links to help you find some pretty cool stuff.

First up is Magma Books. Obviously they sell books, but I'm yet to buy one from them. The reason I list them is because of the cool range of design related products they carry, certainly some of the finest caps (below) prints and other genuinely novel creations.

Coolest headgear ever?

Second in the list is Folksy an online catalog of pretty cool handmade crafts. Its hard not to look through the pages and want to buy something. There are some great little items that seem quite competitively priced. You can also be happy in the knowledge that your money is supporting the artists, and going direct into their pockets (well except possibly the host site and paypal.) Also on the site is a section of instructions for anybody that would like to get creative.

I neeeed this in my life!

Urban Outfitters is a high street clothing store and I assume is quite well known for stocking rather quirky items, items which I for one always appreciate. The realisation of simple play on words is always quite amusing.

I had a 12 gauge (shot) forced on me

Lazy Oaf sell some pretty cool stuff.

Thats the black tie function sorted.

Last but not least is To dry for. They don't sell overly cool items, tea towels, however they certainly make them pleasing to the eye.

Unfortunately none of the above sites has bribed me for these links, however I am certainly open to such things.

Well hopefully no one I'm buying for reads this blog or they might be finding their presents on the above sites!

Happy shopping everyone!

Red mornings and frosty nights

Being up from six and revising when its still dark doesn't usually have too many good things going for it. However, this morning while busy cramming for a test later in the day I was rewarded with a magnificent looking sky of glorious pinks, oranges and blues.

Well the shepherds definitely got it right today, it was a rotten afternoon.

In other news, next time there's a frost out have a look at the roof of your car and check out the amazing icicle formations. Kewl!

Frosty.

Watch and be inspired

Wow the post count for November is terrible, two, surely I wasn't that busy?

Anyways the next month is gonna get pretty hectic with exams, coursework and then this Christmas lark. However, no matter what I want to get up the Mournes to get a winter camp hopefully with some snow on the hills, and maybe even a BBQ if the rucksack will allow it.

A couple of vids for y'all to feast your eyes on. First up is a short film/montage of footage of an "illegal" cycle tour of Tibet. Some beautiful shots and also a rather interesting cultural aspect to it that many of these shorts don't delve into, well thats enough of my dribble.....

Journey as Destination - HD from Dave A on Vimeo.

Next up are a couple of trailers for upcoming films. Both touch on environmentalism and conservation to certain degrees, which I'm sure will be of interest to most people that stop by here. I won't be surprised if the only way to see these films in the near future will be by downloading them via torrents.

180° SOUTH from Mark Kalch on Vimeo.

P.S I should really give credit to Kevin Shannon of because its there for my stumbling onto the above vids.