August 31, 2009 20:05 by
Ben
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August 31, 2009 17:03 by
Danny
The Wood Brothers have a soft spot for the occasional zombie movie. With their friend Justin, Ben and Danny went along to FrightFest 2009 - an annual film festival showcasing the latest horror movies - in London's Leicester Square. They had the opportunity to see the Norwegian film, Dead Snow, which combined the compelling genres of war movies and zombies into one. In this particular film, Nazi zombies were the focus: 'Eins, Zwei, Die!' goes the tagline for this gory horror flic. The director was there to answer questions from the audience after the movie. Perhaps the most memorable was delivered in a rather philosphical tone and went something like this: "I notice that your movie seems to draw on the older genre of zombie movies like Evil Dead for a lot of its stylistic influences, but rather than the slow moving zombies from these classic 1980s movies, your zombies move particularly quickly, rather like the zombies in 28 Days Later. So how exactly did you decide between fast moving zombies and slow moving zombies?" Unfortunately Sam couldn't come along for this treat because he was at a wedding.
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August 26, 2009 16:13 by
Danny
Wood Brothers are lucky enough to have their touring bikes custom built by Paul Hewitt Cycles in the town of Leyland, north of Manchester. That's Paul in the blue t-shirt. With Paul's expert advice, they ended up going a for a Cheviot SE Special Edition touring bike which has been voted touring bike of the year. This is a very elegant, sturdy machine. Wood Brothers drove up from London to collect the bikes, but before handing over the cycles, Paul measured each Wood Brother astride this purpose built measuring rig and then made the final adjustments. It turns out that Ben is in proportion, but Sam has longish arms and Danny has both long legs and shortish arms. After handing over three magnificent bikes, being shy and retiring gents, it took a bit of convincing to coerce Paul and his team to pose for photos. In the end we convinced them, but one mechanic escaped. The stars in the group photo are, from left to right, Matthew Waters, Paul Hewitt, Sam, Ben, Danny and Gathin Butler.
While Paul and his team were working on the bikes, Wood Brothers did a bit of exploring - after a snack. Nothing like a friendly greasy spoon! This feast took place in a cafe in the main street of the town of Leyland. Not everyone went for the 'big breakfast' option, but the smile says it all.
After our light meal we visited Astley Hall, in the neighbouring village of Chorley. This Elizabethan manor house has fabulous plaster ceilings complete with fully rounded cherubs and impressive furniture dating to the 16th century and, oddly enough, a pair of boots thought to belong to Oliver Cromwell. Definitely worth a visit and set in beautiful grounds and free to get in.
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August 26, 2009 06:13 by
Sam
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August 24, 2009 13:45 by
Ben
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August 24, 2009 13:42 by
Ben
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August 23, 2009 03:50 by
Ben
Jetlagged Sam thoroughly testing our new air beds.
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August 22, 2009 16:07 by
Ben
Our water proof riding/hiking shoe for the trip. Bad photo but they are actually very nice shoes.
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August 21, 2009 05:40 by
Ben
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August 21, 2009 05:33 by
Sam
I had lunch with Professor Dexter Hoyos yesterday at Sydney University. We discussed Hannibal's route over the alps. He knows by far the most about our topic of anyone we have talked to yet and was kind enough to look through our work and made many excellent suggestions. We will defintely be using him as our expert consultant!
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