1992, I was 15 years old, starting my GCSE’s at Corpus Christi High School in Preston.  I was working at a Frozen Food shop in the town centre, earning a grand £1.75 an hour, and even then I could still afford to buy a lot.  I still had a Spectrum computer, but a friend of mine had got a Sega Master System.  This is post is all about my first induction into the world of music.  The Prodigy Experience, The Prodigy’s first album has become one of the most emotion provoking album I can listen to, and the funny thing is I have never owned the album.

My first album (if you could call it such) was an LP by ‘Adam and thr Ants’ that my mother bought when I was 3 years old, she said I liked the songs when they came on the radio, lucky for me Adam and the Ants have become somewhat cool and retro in recent years.  Unfortunatley the same cannot be said for the next set of singles that were bought for me, ‘Shaking Stevens’, the less said about that the better.  However it wasn’t until my 15th year, sat in my friends bedroom playing Alex Kid on his Master System (II), that he put this amazing album on.

I had never quite heard anything like it in my life and it really captured my imagination.  The samples from various different programs, news reports and the infamous Charlie adverts that were iconic in the 1980’s.  I still listen to this album 15 years on and it still strikes me as fresh and original even now.  My only regret is that unfortunatly I didn’t carry on listening to cool and trendy music like my friend.  Instead I got into what was called ‘Rave’ music at the time, I say what was called ‘Rave Music’ because no self respecting Raver would have listened to the comerical rubbish that they were selling at the time. ‘Now thats what I call rave music’ was a keen favourite and it should never be spoken of again.  At least I can look back and I think there was a time when I listened to the best.  This album will stay in my memory as a doorway to my childhood and one of the brighter moments from that time.

Good Hunting

Very Cool Warcarft Movie

For the last few years (in my late twenties thats why it counts) I have been playing a small relatively unknown game called ‘World of Warcraft’. I recently stopped playing due to the fact that I found I was not playing (or doing for that matter) much else in my life apart from playing WoW. However I still keep informed as to what developments are going on and I am eagerly awaiting the next expansion when it comes out. For now though there are many excellent machinema movies that have been made from the WoW game. The one I have added here has got to be the best, loaded with movie references and genuinly fuuny, go watch it and find out just why WoW is such an interesting and good game. (It allows people to do stuff like this)

http://mmovie.voig.com/

Happy Hunting

Chris

Our Trip to New York

Originally uploaded by Chris Haythornthwaite

I may have mentioned this in previous posts, I may not, but I am a college lecturer at Runshaw College in Leyland, Lancashire and I teach Media Studies. Last wednesday we took a group of 38 students to New York for three days. I have included one of the photos from the trip here, you can see the rest of the photos at the following address.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrishaythornthwaite/

What, (you may be thinking), does this have to do with my childhood and growing up, well I shall tell you. Ever since I can remember I have always wanted to visit America as many of us probably have. The kids I teach these days seemed to have been all around the world, but it is only in my thirtieth year, (this year 2008) have I had the chance to fulfill this childhood dream.

As I had been told it is like visiting a film set, we went to all the obvious places, the Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station, The Dakota Building, The Museam of TV and Radio (in Queens) and of course Times Square.

The students we took were fantastic, mature and responsible and I managed to pick up some great pressies for my finacee and family, as well as some great pictures. My favourite part of the trip had to be those times where I was wandering around New York on my own, catching the subway and going into the local 24 hour deli to get some breakfast and a cup of gorgeous French roast coffee. Oh and New Yorkers are very polite and really friendly.

I would love to go back, especially without having the responsibility of 38 teenagers, but the expense and a wedding to save up for will probably stop me from doing that for now. I will have to make do with watching all those great films that feature New York, like Ghostbusters, I am Legend, Cloverfield, Gangs of New York etc.