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#6 A Week In Beer: Loddon, Reunion Ales, Vale Brewery

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#6 N.O.T.U.S and Isotonic YES. I'm killing it a bit this week. I've been pretty glued on the same beers. I've had a lot of pales. I haven't really left the pub. Guilty. Again. Warwick & Laure @ The Catherine Wheel, pint of N.O.T.U.S - Copyright Lee Robert Bouzida, 2018 I'll keep it short, as there wasn't a lot of variation for me this week. I've tried a few different things, including Wild Weather's new collaborative beer with Weird Beard, 'My Milkshake Brings All The Beards To The Yard'. The name is better than the beer. It's a peanut butter milkshake IPA, and it smells horrendous. It tastes very, very sweet, and unnatural for a beer for me. However much it clearly doesn't work on cask, it may well be one of those beers that works nicely as a canned brew. Also this week, I dove into a can of TOOL's 'First Frontier' again, and I must say I genuinely think it might be one of the best canned IPA's aroun

#5 Album Review: Coup De Grace - Miles Kane

#5 Miles is back, big, bold, but not life threatening Miles Kane has been a staple of indie rock's finest for the last decade, particularly brilliant alongside Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner at the front of The Last Shadow Puppets, creating one of my favourite albums ever in 2016's 'Everything You've Come To Expect'. Kane might well be one of the best guitarist's in indie (Turner once described him as being able to 'make a guitar sing') and is one of my personal heroes vocally and with some of his songs becoming classics amongst indie rock's faithful. In his first effort as a solo artist, Miles collaborated with Alex Turner to write timeless 60's inspired tunes such as 'Come Closer', 'Rearrange' and 'Colour Of The Trap' that are now synonymous with festivals and cans of dark fruits in hand, being sung by every kid who ever bought an Arctic's record. The second album, 'Don't Forget You Are' was a de

#4 Old Friends, Same Places

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#4 Why do we keep meeting old friends in the same places? It was a week of reunions for me. With everyone having trickled back from university, whether departing fully or taking the summer, a lot of old folk returned to our town this week, so I thought I'd say hey. Met a friend of mine for lunch on Friday, and we had a lovely time I can assure you, however tired I've been. However it felt like our relationship had changed somewhat? I didn't realise it had been a YEAR since she came down to Falmouth, and that being when I saw her last. Crazy how fast time moves on. Newbury, The Wharf and Kennet & Avon Canal. © Lee Robert Bouzida Then Saturday night was the big one. After going for dinner with my Dad (had some beautiful ribs, in Bill's in Newbury, with some damn tasty spicy sauce mmmm) I met up with some old pals in the Market Place to watch a Killers tribute act (The Kopycat Killers; they were pretty good, but their Brandon was less than convincing). We

#3 A Week In Beer: Exmoor, Two Cocks, Kona, Arbour

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#3 Exmoor Ales, Viscount, Classic Kona, Arbour Mosaic IPA... Good morning, All sorts of beer to talk about this week; maybe I drank too much! On Monday I tried a few of varying quality, and all of which were relatively fruity. Except for the Seafarer's. Yes, the Seafarer's was the first beer I tried this week and my word was it so painstakingly average. It was Fuller's, so what should I have expected? The badge is pretty I guess? Beer was a relatively flavourless bitter in taste, but a little deceptively light on the eye. Tasted like malty water. 2/5. Seafarers, Fuller's. The Lamb Inn, Newbury. I then moved back to my beloved home (The Catherine Wheel) to test out the Bristol-brewed Arbour range that had been a fridge takeover from the week before. Now, whilst Mosaic hops are one of my favourites, I'm not super keen on their Mosaic IPA that I tried on Monday. It was a little less hoppy, a little too smooth and fruity for what I was after. Still a good

#2 Book Review: I, Alex Cross - James Patterson

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#2 James Patterson's Alex Cross Series: Another Stunner ⓒ Lee Robert Bouzida, 2018 James Patterson has become probably the biggest thriller writer of the past twenty plus years (Lee Child might have something to say about it, but sales win, sorry Jack Reacher) and his style has become almost a staple for writing a fast-paced crime novel. It works, undoubtably. Short chapters, crossed story lines both personal and business, and a lead character so familiar and relatable our hearts often bleed.  When I first got back into reading in my teenage years, JP, and in particular Alex Cross, came to be a huge part of that. Such easy, yet brilliant reads. That's why I chose to review one of Patterson's Cross series first.  Whilst the title may not seem clear throughout, this is certainly full of the staple Patterson diet. A very delicious appetiser of brutal murder, followed by the personal link to Alex Cross' life. A tragedy to arrange even the coolest of heads

#1 Everything I'm Far Too Interested In

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#1 - Everything Good morning, The weather is dull this morning; as is the ordinarily the trivial matter of starting a blog. I've done it before, a few times, to little success. I have had a blog about my own musical exploits (entirely ripping off Noel Gallagher's tour blog really; mine was far less eventful), a blog about psychology (a fascination of mine, and a minor success, but hard to sustain) and a mental health blog (probably one of the bravest I've done, but I continued to lose confidence). After much analysis I realised that perhaps I was trying too hard to invest myself into one hole and define myself as having one string to my bow each time, but that is mundane. Humans aren't generally invented to be one thing. There's no one is who solely into music. No one is solely into climate change. No one is solely dedicated to their own mental health. No one is solely dedicated to various smelly forms of blue cheese pasteurised in Canada (I know nothing abo