daveydave

This is the first time I have seen a film directed by Guillermo del Toro, it will certainly not be the last. The Devil's Backbone comes highly recommended, so that will be going on the to-hire list. This is a tale of a young girl growing up during the Spanish Civil war, her mother is widowed and now married to a brutal captain of the fascist regime. It is to the captain's base deep in the woods of northern Spain that the young girl, Ofelia, comes to live with her pregnant mother. Life there is grim and terrifying for such a young girl, but she has the labyrinth to which she can escape. She is told on her first visit that she is really a princess and must complete three tasks in order to return to her true parents and gain immortality. Moving between the world of war and the world of the labyrinth is handled beautifully by del Toro, both worlds are visually wonderful and the performances of the cast excellent. Civil war and fantasy do not sound like comfortable bedfellows, but t...

I've recently been getting re-familiarised with my guitar after a bit of a break. This is not an unusual happening, over the course of the last 28 years I've been playing, there have been long periods of dust gathering - but for now: I'm a guitarist again. I was just having a bit of a spring clean of my main guitar, a 16 year old Washburn Chicago Series KC90 and was pretty amazed how well it was shaping up - despite the fact I don't look after it very well. I bought it new with my first student grant cheque (as you do) when it was going cheap in a closing-down sale. I say cheap, these things were over £500 back in 1990 so even on sale I think I paid £350. It was expensive, yes, but the fact it's still in fine fettle (more than can be said for my playing) speaks volumes. If I remember rightly, the 90 was pretty much the top-spec Washburn at the time. It's made up of the following: Contoured ash body 24 jumbo-fret, flat rosewood fretboard Maple neck Black h...