As I write, listening to Nick Luscombe, his final Flo-Motion show on Xfm :(
(what a tune Nick closed with, Mr. Finger's "Can U Feel It?" the original instrumental, not the one with the Martin Luther speech over the top - "FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST!!!!"), I've such a 'back-blog' (backlog of blogs), some draft-written, others scribbled notes & nearly always it's time stopping them from being posted. Often though, ian instant quickie makes the grade, something that just has to be shared and/or noted for reference.

After some late last night YouTube-ing, clocking epic '9 Dart Finishes' like this one from John Lowe (or 'Lowbo' as one of my childhood heroes, commentator Sid Waddell used to call him) and another highly focused sporting feat, Snooker's 147 break (Cliff 'The Grinder' Thorburn nailed it first on TV in '83 and f*ing big up the speed when 'Rocket' Ronnie O' Sullivan did the same but in just over 5 f*ing minutes!!), tonight it's the turn of the real life Spiderman, Alain Robert.

Tired of the usual Xmas terrestial TV, I channel hopped to EPG '150' i.e. 'ZoneReality' to be immediately 'gripped' by this cool crazy climber (who I had noticed a few times in the press previously) by a documentary about his exploits where he climbs ridiculously tall buildings with NO safety support, ropes, suction grips etc. Yes, just bare hands, the occasional bit of chalk and Superhero credentials, mainly balls of steel. This really was a serious case of, "Do NOT ever try this at home kids".

Julie Cohen, producer of 'The Wall Climber' had all the breath-taking spot-on shots of Alain scaling terrifying heights/buildings such as San Francisco's 'Golden Gate Bridge', the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Ironically, when watching Alain climb the highest building back then in 1988, Kuala Lumpur's 'Petronas Twin Tower', it looked easier than many of his previous conquests as it had layers to grasp.

Anyway, further fascinating insight came from listening to Alain explain some of the method in the madness, psychiatrist quotes including Alain being classified as 'Personality T' (for 'Thrills') as well as the bizarre repeated ritual of Alain reaching the top, receiving rapturous applause from fans/crowd below then police arrests which resulted in fines, imprisonment and even Brazil cops giving the 'Get out of jail free' card in exchange for an autograph (!)

Further research on his Spidy-web-site revealed more intriguing information to avoid simply labelling Alain as some crackpot crazy French Frog (!) He's climbed for charity, has vertigo (!) and 60% disability (!) - I'm suprised he's not, to the best of my knowledge been employed by Hollywood for serious stunt-double bizness.

Truly inspirational mind-matter which is often what fills my thoughts during the quiet close to the year which brings me to the cliched yet compulsory, "Happy Holidays!!"

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