A guide for the modern gent who likes good living. You'll find tech, travel, cars, TV, music and everything else all us guys are interested in. Whether it's watches, the best TV and films or tech, if it's to do with life and it's popular, it's here.
So today was the hottest day of the year so far…Which will probably mean the hottest day of the year full stop 😛
I decided to make the most of it and headed down to the beach…The good thing about living in Newcastle is that it’s really close to the coast, so I went to all of our coastal places; Tynemouth, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay which are all next door to each other. There’s a few beaches such as Longsands and King Edwards Bay, which I think is the best one.
It looks like everyone else had the same idea, I was there quite early but the beaches were starting to fill up pretty quickly. I then headed into Newcastle where we have Seaside at the Quayside…A really cool idea which has been going for a couple of years now. We have a little beach right on the quayside, which comes complete with sand, chairs and of course beach huts. What other place has this in the middle of their city?! 😀
I hope you had a great day today, hopefully it will be one of many, and we’ll get more over the weekends rather than a “work” day 😉
I cannot imagine not having the radio in my life. It’s something which I wake up to, and have done for so many years, from school days right up to today, I still love the radio in the days of online which I obviously love too.
VQ got in touch with me to feature one of their cool radios and put it through it’s paces, so I naturally said I would. If you’ve not heard of VQ you can sum them up in a few words; Stylish, British and colourful. With that in mind you’ll understand the naming of the models of their products, this pocket radio has been named Blighty, and comes in traditional colours of dark grey, and red and cream. Style and colour are two important key factors to the design, which has a high quality anodised aluminium finish and plastic chrome style buttons.
DAB+ Radio
I am new to DAB, very new. I have always wanted a DAB radio, but I’ve never actually went out and got myself one. If you’re unfamiliar with DAB, it’s Digital Audio Broadcasting, which basically means digital quality, and there’s more stations than what’s on the standard FM dial. There’s lots of stations which I listen to on TV via Freeview or SKY because they’re not on FM, which is kind of odd listening to the radio through your TV, but it’s the only way. I was a fan of the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show, and was sad when it left Radio 1, but now he’s back on Radio X. This is a DAB only station, so it’s not on FM and so I’ve had to listen to it via SKY. Now I will be able to listen to it on a morning once again but through the Blighty radio.
Other stations on there which I love is 1Xtra, my favourite show being Charlie Sloth (the best looking fat guy in the universe) on weekdays. It has traditional FM stations too, so you can listen to Radio 1 or 2, or any of the other stations on there.
As for the Blighty itself the build quality is pretty good, it’s fairly small and is easily pocketable in jeans or a jacket, and the battery is said to last 10 hours, so if you’re using this on your morning commute to work it should last for a good few days if not all week. It comes with a USB charger cable and pair of ear bud style headphones and has a small 1.6″ screen which is big enough to tell you details including the station, battery life, time and signal quality, as well as the digital read out which the station is using…Usually for the artist and song title; I find this so cool since I’ve never had that feature before, there’s no more wondering what the song is which I love 😉
You can get this from the VQ shop online here for £49 in either the red or grey colours.
I do like the classic cars in the NE1 Motor Show, they are really cool and the ones from the 90’s bring back memories, but perhaps the cars I like to see the most are the more modern sports cars and prestige cars. Once again there were lots of these out in force, and Grey Street looked beautiful with so many high end modern day cars. A new addition to the line up this year was Tesla, who brought a couple of cars. It was really good to see them up close, and with the bonnet open there was something missing, an engine of course! 😉
Infiniti was there once again, last time round they brought the Red Bull F1 car, and this year they brought the Renault F1 car. Bentley and Aston Martin had their cars there, and I just love them. There’s something which is so brilliant about a DB9, the Vanquish was looking really good. Porsche had a stand with an electrifying looking Panamera, BMW brought out their i8 again alongside the brand new BMW M2 which was just featured on Top Gear, and Jaguar were there with some cars, one of my favourites the F-Type.
Check out all the sports & prestige cars from the NE1 Motor Show below
It’s that time of the year again! It’s the NE1 Motor Show in Newcastle, which made it’s debut last year. I was at the 2015 NE1 Motor Show and it was really good and very busy, so I am not surprised it’s made a return. As with last year it’s on Grey Street in the town, I got there fairly early today and it had already been busy. The weather is not the best, but that did not damped peoples spirits who were out in force looking at cars from normal to classic, sports and prestige.
There were cars that had returned from last year, as well as some newcomers. Plenty of vintage cars, sports cars from the 90’s and American muscle cars. The Jaguar E-Type was there with other classic Jags, lots from TVR, Porsche, Austin, Corvette, Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang, and more! If you prefer things more modern check out the sports & prestige cars from the NE1 Motor Show here.
I took so many photos again, so I have split this into two parts…Here’s the best of the classic cars from the NE1 Motor Show below.
When I am using my PC or listening to music indoors, I always use headphones, so I can listen to my music as loud as I like. I’ve done this for over 10 years now, and in those 10 years I have pretty much only used my Sony MDR-V700 headphones. In fact, I’ve had at least 2 pair (maybe it was 3?) but they’ve always broke after so many years, which is what you may expect, so it’s not so bad. The problem is that Sony stopped making these headphones a few years ago, so I have not been able to buy any. They’ve never really replaced them, there’s a few pair out there, but none as good as the V700.
As you can see in the pic below mine need replacing, they actually needed replacing a long time ago. So many parts have snapped and they’re literally falling apart. Finding a replacement has been tough, I basically wanted exactly the same ones, with the same quality and the same everything. they’re actually DJ headphones, and have closed back, a coiled cable on one side, and large 50mm drivers.
When I was looking around most the headphones come with 40mm drivers, lots are either Bluetooth or have a straight cable, or just don’t seem to have the same power. I almost went with the Sony MDR-1A headphones, I was looking at these for a while and seemed to fit my needs, other than the fact I’d have to buy a coiled cable separately.
Then I came across the Audio Technica ATH-M50x. They’re really popular, have great reviews, and look almost the same as my old Sony’s I loved so much. They have everything I want, so I went for them, and they’re great!
The sound quality is good, good enough for me, they come with different cables including the coiled cable which I want, and are really comfortable to wear. They come in at around £100, which is around the price-point I want to pay, they’re all black and look sleek, and the build quality seems to be good. They come with various different cables which are interchangeable depending on what you like, and a carry pouch too.
I am so happy I have found the pair of headphones I wanted! I hate looking around for replacements for things because they’re usually never as good as what you’re used to and love, but I am happy to say that these make a good replacement for the old Sony MDR-V700.
The emoji has taken over the world…We all love them, and we all have favourites. One I use the most, and what I see the most is the crying with laughter emoji, and I do like the little bit flirty kiss and wink emoji too, as well as the hearts for eyes emoji. When I was in Madrid I saw these in the shop window of Ale Hop, so I had to get myself two of my favourite smiley faces. I could not see the wink kiss one, but I got these two which I think are really funny and just a bit of a laugh.
They were only €7 each, and definitely the most random thing I have ever bought when I’ve been abroad! They are really soft and plush, and feel like good quality. A real bargain for something just for a laugh. I’ve never seen them in the UK, but I’ve never actually looked for them. Since I got back I’ve had a search and there’s a couple of places which have them, all more expensive and look bad quality, so I am happy I got the ones I did 🙂
So last night we went out and went down the Quayside. We watched some of the football, about 60 minutes of the Portual vs Austria game, which was not the greatest game of Euro 2016, and it finished 0-0. I did not see Ronaldo miss his penalty, but I heard about it 😀
It was sunny and a nice night, it’s always good to go down the Quay in the Summer. We went to places like Popolo, Redhouse, Akenside and then headed up and went to Canteen And Cocktails, which is a really cool place. Popolo was really chilled out, and it’s always been a place I’ve liked, and was quite quiet. I was really tired and went home early!
Have you been watching the latest new show on Sky Atlantic, Billions? I have, and I love it!
It stars Damian Lewis who plays Bobby “Axe” Axelrod who is a billionaire and runs his own firm, Axe Capital. The show is heavily based around money and the financial markets, but you don’t have to really be into Wall Street to enjoy this show.
So far it’s been about Axe who runs his business, but making all those billions is never clean and easy, and the U.S. Attorney for New York, Chuck Rhodes, is gunning for him and wants to take him down.
The plot thickens, because the psychiatrist at Axe Capital, Wendy Rose, just happens to be the wife of Chuck Rhodes. Axe’s wife is Lara, who’s brother was a New York City firefighter who was killed in 9/11, which is significant in some of the plot.
I won’t spoil any more of the plot and what happens, but it’s really good and I am hooked!
As you know, I recently visited Madrid, and stayed in the brilliant Dear Hotel. If you’ve read my other reviews, including The Square in Copenhagen, you’ll know that I really like modern hotels, and ones with a boutique feel. I had a look at the Dear Hotel and it looked like it would fit the bill, so I chose it for my stay in Madrid.
