Holiday - Here We Come.....
22nd August 2010, by russandjilly
Friday is the big day for us as we go on holiday. And not that we're desperate or anything, but here's how long we have left to wait until we get on the plane
Just Sunday! (Part 1 - Incognito)
15th August 2010, by PlanetRuss
So I got to thinking - been a long time since PlanetRuss did a music reviews. Oh don't worry - I'm still downloading plenty, but listening more than writing. Recently I discovered that file sharing has an interesting dimension in Switzerland, in that it is illegal to upload to something like Limewire or Bit Torrent, but it is perfectly OK to download stuff. So if you can put up with the virus infected files that people put there for fun (just use Norton and a Firewall or something for goodness sake), then you can download whatever you like.
The latest album downloaded (from ITunes as it happens) is Transatlantic RPM by Incognito.
Now you probably remember Incognito as the British Jazz Funk band from the 80's, and of course you'd be right. Super songs like "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" still get a lot of airplay. So are they relevant in the naughties? Well considering that they just got nominated for an award at the 2010 American Smooth Jazz Awards I'd say so.
And the album is nostalgic, funky, jazzy and completely brilliant especially for old soul boys like myself. (May mate Sax would love it!) The album features guest vocals by Chaka Khan and Mario Biondi - both worthy and slightly ancient soul disco legends. The music kicks off with a cover of Boz Scaggs "Lowdown" and right from the very first drum kick you feel - oh oh - this is going to be good! Mario's voice is like chocolate and Chaka's slightly mad screeching fits beautifully!
And if you hanker after the heady days of Jazz Funk, check out the totally Incognito-signature-like "1975". In fact it's got a bit of everything this album - Disco is taken care of by "Can't Get Enough""Put a Little Lovin' in your Heart" and "Let's Fall In LOve Again", Latin comes up in the wonderful instrumental "Expresso Madureira", and Soul is represented by "Tell Me What to Do" and Chaka Khan's effort "The Song".
It's a top album and I'm loving it - definitely one to rip just as soon as you can!
Just Sunday! (Part 2 - Wanna Get Dirty? Get Adidas)
15th August 2010, by PlanetRuss
Some of you know that I like to go running a bit - although the speed that I run could probably be defined more accurately as jogging. I'm not sure what the technical definition really is - but it's 45 minutes of torture anyhow!
Anyway, recently reading some stuff on a running web site, I realised that actually what I do these days in the woods and hillsides round 
So I thought maybe I should take a look at my running shoes. For the last 6 months or so I have been using a pair of Nike Equalon 3 - a perfectly good road running shoe, but I decided I needed something a bit more rugged.
So off to the running shop and the recommendation was a pair of Adidas Kanadia TR3 - an aggressive looking shoe with a mud repellent soul with spiky yellow nobbles that just shout grip as soon as you look at them. And how do they fare?
Brilliant! I run up the steepest and muddiest bits of Switzerland I can find, just to feel the four-wheel traction. So if you are thinking that you need to make your running a bit dirtier - Get Adidas TR3's.
Just Sunday! (Part 3 - Dinner with Nick and Jennie)
15th August 2010, by russandjilly
Only to put a note in that this sunday we're a little hung over, which is an inevitable consequence of having the Burchells over for dinner!
The Road to Makkah
24th July 2010, by russandjilly
Five days over the last week Russ had some work to do in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
It seems that this place is one of the only places left on earth where you can really feel alien to the rest of society. For a start it is a legal obligation for women over teen age to wear the full Burkah, where only the eyes are exposed when out and about in public. And many choose to go a step further with the full fact veil as well. This is particularly strange to a western European person when you see a family on the beach, and the father and children all happily splash about in the sea wearing shorts and tee-shirts, but the mum sits on a towel still in full Burkah.
I asked a local what happens if the mother wanted to go for a swim? No problem, he said. They just go into the sea in their Burkah!
The other thing that makes Saudi Arabia different, is that Alcohol is completely illegal - even if you are staying in an international hotel as I was. You cannot get a beer or wine anywhere, although I heard there are places in the city that you can buy stuff on the black market, but those places are so criminalised even the police do not enter. I thought about trying it, but the idea of spending time in a Saudi Arabian jail was not appealing.
So a detox week it was then!
I had another suprise when I got home as I went for a run and did a work-out on the Wii Fit, because I thought my week of abstinence would have led to massive weight loss. Did it? No - just 1 pound. So if that's the case - I'll keep the drink habit.
So Jeddah was an interesting experience, but I hope not a place that anyone would think about sending me to for a relocation - can you imagine Jilly in a Burkah?
By the way - always good to fly long distance as you get the chance to check to out some latest movies. I watched the Jennifer Aniston film The Bounty Hunter.
The funniest bit of the film occurs in the first scene where the boot of the car is on fire, so it's not exactly a rip-roaring funny all the way through.
However - what's not to like with Jennifer Aniston in a sexy LBD? (Don't worry ladies, Gerard Butler is easy on the eye too....)
E Viva Espania!
8th July 2010, by PlanetRuss
So now we know the finalists for the world cup on Sunday and sorry to Germany and all that. Jilly has a certain way of looking at any teams exit from the championship - when England went out, she said "oh well, at least we get our lives back now".
And who will you be supporting this weekend in the final? (obviously we're not bothered about the "losers" final)..... It's either Spain or Netherlands / Holland.
By the way, if you are vexed about why one country has two apparent names which seem to be completely interchangeable, you can find a rambling ranting explanation about why the distinction is important over here.
Actually it's a bit like people who find it difficult to understand that England is different from UK and how Great Britain fits into the picture.
In fact when Jilly took her England flag into the office, a number of her colleagues asked what the flag was, why are their lions and roses on it, and shouldn't she have the Union Jack. (She patiently explained each and every time someone asked).
Looking towards the final we are not so sure that Netherlands have too much to worry about.
Watching Spain play is a bit like watching Flamenco dancing -
full of enthusiasm and spirit, pretty to watch, but with no discernable purpose.
Bring on the final! Ole
Summer = Soccer and Sneezing!
4th July 2010, by russandjilly
Hello all and happy independence day....
Well into summer and the regular misery has hit us. No not hay fever - the embarrassment of the English football team coming home from the World Cup early and putting the flags away for another few years.
People say "they buckled under the pressure" and some reckon "they're a bit knackered after a long season". Well I don't know about you, but we sometimes have to do pressure things at work and at certain points of the year feel like we could do with a holiday, but we get on with it.
We don't think our bosses would take kindly to us saying "I was a bit rubbish today, but I havn't had a day off since last Sunday"!
And of course we're not paid £100,000 per week just to play football are we?
Whatever the reason, you certainly know you're working in a multi-national environment when people are queuing at your desk to tell you how crap your football team is!
But it didn't stop us having a great time when we hosted a World Cup Barbeque at home. It just so happened that the parents of Nick and Jennie and Matt and Nickie were all in town too, so we had quite a house full as you can see below.
As you can tell from the title, the past week has been real misery for hay fever sufferers and Russ has been sneezing non-stop since last weekend. And that nose just won't stop running.
Talking to people at the office who have been treated, they say that the injections and acupuncture both work, but that you have to get it started in September. Now although we know that, by the time September comes and everything is fine again, it kinda slips off the agenda. So note to selves this year - in September get along to the allergy specialist!
AAAAaaaaa - chooooo!
PS: Liking the new style? We thought we'd go for a summer makeover with some fresh new colours...... Hope you like it.
Got the Horn? Please Put it Down and Cheer!
13th June 2010, by PlanetRuss
So the morning after an average performance by our national side saw us at least not lose, we now think about having to win the next two games. We went to a barbeque at Matt and Nikki's to watch the match with a mixed English, American and German group (the referees), and at least we didn't have to fight at the end I suppose!
But Robert Green's schoolboy error is not the focus of PlanetRuss displeasure today - it's the horn!
If you've watched any of the matches of the World Cup so far, you can't have missed the droning, annoying buzz of the horn known as the Vuvuzela. This feature is a tradition of football in Africa, where they believe the "instrument" to be of tribal significance. I personally find the monotonous paaaaaaaaaarp to be a huge irritation when watching the football matches and I'll tell you why.
No longer can you enjoy the crowd chants, the rise in excitement as a player approaches a scoring opportunity, or the boo's of derision when a player makes a mistake and allows the opposition to score (Yeah that's you Robert Green - you donkey).
Also if, like me, you enjoy to snooze a bit during a match, the rise in crowd noise normally tells me that I'd better open at least one eye because something might be about to happen. For this championship though, I'm afraid that I am lulled to sleep whilst a plague of mosquito's buzz over the game. Or am I watching the match while sat on the perimeter of an aircraft testing facility where they are warming up the engines.
But it's not only me who doesn't like the Vuvuzela - doctors have warned that the noise level at about 130 decibels can permanently damage hearing, and due to the blowing required to make the "music", the incidence of transfer of colds, coughs and influenza are increased dramatically.
So, if you are going to a bar to watch a World Cup match and you've got your horn in your hand, please do us all a favour and kindly put it away!
I really hope we can get back to the good old chanting days like "You're mother is a W**** and your sister takes it up the A***" and "Who's the W***** in the black", and other family based football fun!
For more Vuvuzela related information so you can regale other fans with your horn-based knowledge, you can go here to find out more.
By the way, if you feel the same you can join a facebook group created to allow people to vent their fury at the annoying trumpet - it's at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=129240890430851
Plus you can complain right to the top - FIFA has a feedback site, which you can reach here http://www.fifa.com/contact/form.html
Russ and Jilly's Spring Break
30th May 2010, by russandjilly
It's official that russandjilly is lucky with the weather! For our spring break we had some things to do in the garden, but the forecast was looking decidedly dodgy. But as it turned out there was lovely sunshine that allowed us to get on.
We really enjoyed working outside as it built up our appetite for a glass of wine with our first barbeques of the year.
Wednesday night was Michael Buble night and we had a dinner package to see him at the Hallenstadion in Zurich.
It was a fantastic night and our seats were only three back from the front, so Jilly was very excited to be so close and get a good view.
Mind you, he did have to tell the crowd off after initially inviting everyone to get up and boogie, some of those in the cheap seats stood right in front of the first rows, so he told them to go back where they came from - yeah!
Then we went for a few days to the French speaking part of Switzerland that Gruyere cheese comes from - Neuchatel. We stayed in a beautiful hotel with a room built on stilts standing in the lake of Neuchatel itself - it was so relaxing and peaceful. You can see some shots from the week in the animation below.
So how quickly it goes by, and tomorrow we're back at work...... Oh well life can't be all fun n frollicks can it now!
Can You Wait for Crazy Love?
16th May 2010, by russandjilly
We're excited. (we know, you'll say we're always excited).
The week after next we're going to see Michael Buble as he continues his European "Crazy Love" tour, and he's coming to the Hallenstadion in Zurich. We've got VIP dinner tickets, so that means free booze and great seats.
If you haven't experienced the Crazy Love album so far, then we say download it immediately. We think the album is his clearest indication yet that he wants to either be the next James Bond, or that he at least wants to sing the next bond tune.
If you don't believe us, just check out the first and third songs of the album: Cry Me a River was used by the BBC as the song introducing the recent winter Olympics and Georgia On My Mind both have definite Bond themes running right through them.
If he was to be Bond, he would officially be the best looking super-spy ever and easily the one with the best voice!
We're also looking forward to seeing the support act Naturally 7. These guys are an accopella band that make sounds like instruments and you would never believe that there's no electronic gizmology involved.
They also feature on the album accompanying Buble when he sings the American songbook classic Stardust. You just gotta check that song out as it is Russ' favourite track on the whole album.
We'll be sitting down to watch him when he takes to the stage at 8:00pm on Wednesday 26th May 2010, and because we can't wait, we have decided to put a countdown clock here to see how long left until we're there.
Unfortunately, time has already rolled by and we had a fab time at the concert. See the text above!
Nice to Meet You. My Porn Star Name is.....
9th May 2010, by russandjilly
We had a lovely evening last night at Sabine and Andi's with a dinner to celebrate her 29th Birthday. Both Russ and Jilly can't wait until they're 29 - Ha Ha!
We also had the pleasure to meet Mike (or Michel / Michael - we were not sure whether to pronounce it as English, French or German pronunciation, so to be safe we used all three variants at one time or another).
As the evening proceeded, we played a game that I am sure you have all played at a dinner party before - "what's your porn star name?" If you haven't tried it before, why not do it right now?
There are various ways to do it, but our favourite is take the name of your first family pet, followed by the name of the first street you lived in.
For Russ: pet = Midge / road = Mountfitchet. Porn star name..... Midge Mountfitchet.
For Jill: Mimsy Mornington
Now they are both classic porn names (someone told me - I wouldn't know).
But Mike's porn star name was one of the best I have ever come across (if you see what I mean)....
His first pet was a german word that means kind of brown sugar, but we all agreed was most like "fudge" and his street was Kirche or "Church" in English.
We all decided that made his porn star name: Fudgy Church.
Not sure if that sounds like chaps-together type porn, or something from the Catholic speciality shelf! We should inform the Pope.
Cupid Stunt Meets Gloria Stitz
17th April 2010, by PlanetRuss
I was talking with a few colleagues at lunchtime in the office this week about brand attachment - the concept that someone would love a brand so much that they align their whole lifestyle to it, and hope that the perception of others is aligned with the same brand aspirations as their favourite.
There are easy examples of course, the most obvious being designer clothes brands like Hugo Boss and St Moritz Polo. Clearly people showing up in their Hilfiger polo says they have money and are fashionably cool. Or Fat Face which says I am a true casual and like outdoor activities like skiing and beach walking. (With fashion it's a bit easy to overdo it - like chavs dripping head to foot in Burberry - but you know what I mean).
The arch Love-Brand has to be Apple though, and we were talking about the new IPad and how at least two of us would get one at the earliest opportunity. In fact Jesse's wife is in the US at the moment and he sent her an email demanding "get one now!". I'll be trotting along to the Mac store as soon as they hit Switzerland - russandjilly.net is authored on a MacBook and I am forever downloading apps to my Ipod Touch.
But the main point of our conversation was the development of the brand behind BMW-owned Mini, and their new advertising hoardings that have appeared around the place. Not since the "Ali Kebap - New in Town" campaign has the appearance of posters made a buzz.
The Mini has had a playful persona since it's reintroduction, and with the launch of the new diesel they have developed a cheeky new strapline based on the fuel efficiency of the engines.
Unfortunately there are no images of the poster to show you so far, but I'll give you the strapline here and hopefully you get the idea.....
"Don't Be a GasHole"
Funny!
PS In the last post I mentioned that we were going to see the Nils Landgren Funk Unit on their Funk for Life tour. We went and the night was brilliant with the band performing the whole of the album and then an encore of earlier stuff - fantastic! If you like to funk yourself and you get a chance to see it I fully recommend it.
Funk is for Life - Not Just Easter
5th April 2010, by PlanetRuss
Hello Easter Bunnies - hope you had a good bank holiday.
We had Marion and James over for the weekend and a good time had by all; plenty of walking and fresh air, fondue and of course lots and lots of wine......
Meantime we are very excited, because this Friday 9th April, we're going to see the Nils Landgren Funk Unit at Kauflueten in Zurich as he proceeds around Europe on the Funk for Life tour. Before the music, here comes the background to the Funk for Life project.
The idea was put together by Nils Landgren together with fellow Jazz artist and funk unit member Magnum Coltrane Price and photographer Mattias Klum. It's basically a project that raises public awareness of the plight of those who live in the slums of Kenya, and working together with Medecins Sans Frontier and Air France they aim to help those that live in Kibera.
Kibera is Kenya's largest slum, covering an area of 2.5 square kilometers and home to over half a million people! The incidence of HIV affects 13% of this population, much higher than the average of 7% in Kenya generally. Nils has a history of supporting such ventures, having previously provided musical instruments and education to children in South Africa and Brazil.
There is an album to support the project and tour, and it's called (unsurprisingly) Funk for Life. The band will donate 1 euro of every album sold to the project.
And what a classy album of jazz and funk it is. It starts with a wonderfully smooth lilt with Kibera Sunrise, and that segues into the title track. Funk for Life drives along like Jeremy Clarkson in a new Aston Martin but without the piss-taking. Mag Runs the Voodoo Down features the vocals of Price and Landgren together and is truly catchy. In fact the whole album is classy, nostalgic funk, and when the band counts Ray (Ghostbusters) Parker Junior in the line up you can imagine the quality of the music. PlanetRuss thoroughly recommends this album to anyone who likes to move their stuff or shake their booty.
And we are very excited to be seeing the band for the second time. Last time we saw them in Dusseldorf and after the official set, the band just continued to jam and invited audience members to come onto the stage and join in with the jamming. Seeing people hanging off Ray Parker Junior as he was paying guitar was a fantastic sight! We are really looking forward to more of the same.
You can find out more information about the Funk for Life project by clicking here - there's even a competition where you can win tickets for two to see the band play in Paris!
And if you want to find out more about the Nils Landgren Funk Unit just go here.
Don't forget - keep funkin..........
Snow and Sun with Darren & Gill
20th March 2010, by russandjilly
Last time Gill and Darren came to visit it was autumn time and it rained non-stop, and the mountains resolutely refused to appear as they hid behind the clouds.
This time it was all different.....
We couldn't have imagined that the weather would be sooooo nice that we would be able to sit outside for drinks, and we even got hot walking in the snow up at Flumserberg.
We drove to Unterterzen on the banks of the Walensee, where there is a cable car that zooms you straight up to Tannenboden at 1300 metres. And from there it's a 45 minute walk up to the restaurant at Chruz another 200 metres higher. It was so warm that we all had to take our coats off.
As you can see below, it was sunglasses all around as we paused for a breather half way up. On the way down there were some dodgy moments as it proved to be a bit steep and slippy!
But on the flat we had a lovely walk and being a friday there were very few other people around so we had the place to ourselves!
The only downside of the snow and the sunshine was that Darren and Russ (both slightly follically challenged) both had burnt red heads afterwards, and even Gill and Jilly were a bit sun-faced.
Tasty! Spring Lamb Anyone?
As if the weather mentioned above was not clue enough, there's another way to tell that it's spring time.
We have some new neighbours, Hans sheep have had lambs - there were two born a few weeks ago, there are three due next week, and the ones pictured below are just six days old. In the picture you can see Hans' son Urs looking after the little fellas.
And Jilly couldn't resist having a stroke.......... Cute huh?
England Rugby? Balls......
14th March 2010, by PlanetRuss
Well what a very unpleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Watching so-called professional sportsmen play turgid rugby in front of a childish, booing Scottish crowd.
I'm sorry, but both England and Scotland have no chance in the world of rugby if you look at the magic of form teams like France and Ireland, who use flair, imagination, individual and team skills to produce something that anyone would actually want to go and watch.
Instead, we get a boring game peppered with threats of sin-bins due to sloppy schoolboy foul play, and a crowd that boo any time the opposition get a penalty kick. In fact the only time the crowd cheered was when the announcer said the Johnny Wilkinson was going off - a very adult reaction!
Ironically the Scottish football supporters are welcomed the world over for the cheery, colourful support and good nature - how can this booing, baying crowd be from the same streets?
The only excitement in the game was the score line that constantly remained at even-stevens, but not a spark from the play. And I would even go as far as to say that Martin Johnson and his team wasted 80 minutes of my life yesterday. I am seriously thinking about boycotting the team until they can earn my support.
And that's probably not a bad decision in advance of next weeks final match against France, where I forecast very bad things if England play the same way. We'll be cut open by the speed and agility of the French backs and I hope we get beaten well by them.
Maybe then someone will take the game seriously and train the squad to win.
Snowed-in in Barcelona? Yeah..... A likely tale!
You couldn't make it up! Last week I was in Barcelona on Monday and due to return to Zurich to catch a flight on to Helsinki on Tuesday.
So what?
Well you may have seen pictures from the Catalan capital, which had the worst snowfall for over 40 years on monday, resulting in the whole city grinding to a halt: The busses stopped because they were unsafe as they slipped about the place. No cars have winter tyres (of course) so were also waltzing elegantly into each other and roadside objects. The points controlling the trams froze up so they stopped and the trains ground to a halt too.
If you don't believe me, here's a pic taken from the staionary taxi. (I didn't go outside - I had nice leather soled shoes on and I didn't want to ruin them now did I?)
I sat with a colleague for 90 minutes in a taxi trying to get to the airport, to travel only 2 km before finally making our way back to the hotel we just left to spend an unscheduled additional night.
All that meant I missed my flight to Finland and had an unexpected week in the office after all.
By the way. We've all had a lot of snow this winter. It's been freezing cold.
So Question. Where are all the mouthy scientists who usually rant on about the global warming myth? Skiing?