Tag Archive: bucket list


Plant powered marathon man

Filed under: Health and fitness, Italy — Leave a comment
September 19, 2017

mboy258There are no books or websites (at least none that I’ve found) written for vegan men who decide to run their first marathon at the age of 59.

By way of contrast there are plenty of guide books and blogs with photos of healthy young athletes; a fact that tends to have a de-motivating effect on mature runners like yours truly.

This post therefore has the twofold aim of plugging a gap in the market and sharing my experience after finishing the gruelling 42.195 km (26.219 mile) course.

I am living proof that you can go the distance on a plant-based diet and at my age.

I am not one of life’s natural runners. At high school I made a conscious attempt to avoid the cross-country races that were part of physical education curriculum.

I only really started seriously jogging late in my 40s when the effect of the ‘dolce vita’ in Italy was starting to be evident through a rapidly expanding waistline. Continue reading →

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KICKING THE BUCKET LIST

Filed under: Atheism, Health and fitness, Movies — Leave a comment
March 29, 2014

THE BUCKET LIST directed by Rob Reiner (USA, 2007)

Death is no laughing matter but mainstream movies still have a hard time taking it seriously. How we come to terms with our mortality is rarely addressed at anything more than a superficial or sentimental fashion.

The story of two terminally ill men making full use of their final months ought to be different but isn’t. It is also dishonest in its unwillingness to show the true ravages of cancer or the messy business of dying.

The premise of the movie is that the bucket list, things to do before you kick the bucket, takes on a new urgency when you get to learn how long you have left to live. The subtext is that procrastination or postponement of these actions is never recommended.

Morgan Freeman plays Carter Chambers a car mechanic with a high IQ whose humility is at odds with brash billionaire Edward Cole played in typically over the top manner by Jack Nicholson.

Remission following surgery and intensive care is tantamount to a miraculous recovery. One minute the two men are lying in their hospital beds, seemingly at death’s door, the next they are skydiving and road racing or gadding about the globe to visit the seven wonders of the world.

Carter is a man of faith while Edward is a sceptic. Mercifully, we are spared crass religious propaganda but Christian morality is still implicit in the film’s advocacy of family values and kindness to strangers,

The underlying message is that it is the things that money can’t buy that bring joy and fulfillment in our lives. This is something I knew already and didn’t need this lame ass movie to remind me.

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DREAMING OF ICELAND

Filed under: Music, Photography — Leave a comment
July 28, 2013

iceland

It’s 9.30 in the evening and the temperature is still over  30 degrees.  I take solace in my screen saver photograph  and nurture the dream that this time next year, if all goes to plan, I’ll be  where this was taken – Iceland.  Travelling to this country is top of my bucket list and I intend to spend a good part of the year doing some armchair travelling before taking the actual trip.

My soundtrack to get me in the zone is :

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY FLANNERY O’CONNOR

Filed under: Books, Fiction — 1 Comment
March 25, 2013

Had she not been struck down by lupus at the woefully early age of 39, Flannery O’Connor would be celebrating her 88th birthday today.

Wise Blood is one of my all time favourite novels and I read it thinking it was a religious satire so was shocked to find that O’Connor lived and died a devout Catholic.

She was, by all accounts, a real eccentric and her skewed view of religion and the world around her comes through in her writing.

Although I am not a Catholic, or a believer for that matter, I can still appreciate the wit and wisdom of her work. I think it’s her compassion for the freaks of the world, of which she was probably one, which I value most.

Her ear for dialogue and compassion for the frailty of human beings also makes her all too slim body of work unique.

On my Bucket List is a literary tour of the USA and one of the stop off points would be her childhood home in Savannah, Georgia. The video tour at least allows me to see what I’m missing from the comfort of my study:

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TRIPPING WITH ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE

Filed under: Italy, Music — Leave a comment
November 19, 2012

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. live at Il Clandestino, Faenza, Italy – Sunday 18th November 2012

Last night, my bucket list was reduced by one as I finally got the chance to witness a show by the current incarnation of the cult Japanese ‘soul collective’ Acid Mothers Temple (AMT).

The announcement of this free show in a small club/bar in Faenza was only made through social network sites the night before. This five-piece version of the AMT extended family of inspired dysfunctionals appear to be putting together the Italian leg of their European tour on the fly with further dates added at the last minute in Milan and Rome.

On posters, web-links and T-shirts this is billed as the “Last Tour in UK & Europe 2012” which presumably (hopefully!) is meant to be read as the final set of gigs this year rather than their last ever shows.

As befitting a band whose name is a corruption of 70s Krautrockers Ash Ra Tempel, they treated us to a killer 90 minute set that alternated between ear-splitting space rock and improvised psychedelic ambience. Continue reading →

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