A Very British Earthquake...

Don't worry Folks, we survived the biggest Earthquake for 25 years Though living on the Manchester Airport flightpath I did have to look out of the window...just to check!

Photo Comp Winner! ( well 2nd place anyway )

Here is a random one for you. Whilst checking out UKRGB ( a whitewater kayaking forum...check the graphics in the top left, I made those!), I spotted a thread for a photo competition. It must have been a quiet day as I actually emailed over some different pictures for the different categories. From the outset I didn't think that my pictures fitted the competition ( as it was centered around camping and caravaning in the UK and all of my top shots are taken abroad ), so really didn't expect the special delivery when it came yesterday morning! Believe it or not, this shot came 2nd place in the 'Championing Camping' category and it has won me free tickets to the National Boat & Caravan Show at the NEC ( where the image will be on display ), membership of the Camping and Caravanning Club ( woohoo? ) and a 'compact Olympus camera'. It may be a pants shot, but can't grumble with that can I?

2nd Place...no cigar ( but a free camera! )

Now where is the next competition to enter...

p.s. These were the others shots I entered:

On the Water & The Great British Outdoors

Movie Review: Cloverfield

Saw the Cloverfield movie yesterday. Godzilla meet's Blair Witch Project does indeed sum it up. No big name actors, typical 'Lost-esque' plot line and a whole lot of hype doesn't always make for a good movie. Fortunately this time it was 80 minutes of solid shakey-cam action.

I've read some reports of some Yankee-doodles feeling sick after watching it...seems like even more reason to watch it if you ask me?

Crusty Demons Unleash Hell Tour Movie

After the carnage of Christmas I managed to fit in a trip to see the Crusty Demons UK 'Unleash Hell' Tour at the MEN last night. Freestyle MX is massive in the US ( it always gets the biggest viewing figures during the X-Games ), but in the UK the majority of Motocrossers are hardcore mud racers, that said the arena was full of fans in their various different bike company jackets ( think F1 jackets but with a little more dirt ).

The show was insane, three huge gap jumps, 10 riders and some balls out riding. I'm not sure if they understood the Manchester crowd, but it is good to see events like this finally hitting our shores.

I put together a short movie with footage from my little camera ( apologies for the quality ), what you don't get from this is the scale of these jumps ( 70ft+ ) and the ease at which these guys defy gravity.

Click here or the image above to check out the footage.