. The Addict

This is the first bit of stop-motion I ever did, back in 1991.

Were you even born then?

It's quite awful.

. NYC

Nif went to New York City for a week with her art school chums. See how arty they are.


I went too, and wandered the streets. See how street I am.


We blew all our air-miles on a schmancy hotel in Soho.


Then we stayed for a few days in Brooklyn with our lovely friends Tina and Colin and Una.


Here's a movie I made -

. Pressure

On Valentine's Day we did some pressure printing at Nif's college. You stick a bunch of stuff on a piece of paper and then run it through a letterpress machine. It's good for making interesting textures and backgrounds. Nif told me this repeatedly before we began. But I wanted to make a complete picture, not just a background, so that's what I did. And then when it turned out a bit crap I asked Nif why she hadn't told me just to make a background.

. SF Beer Week

It's Beer Week here in San Francisco, so we took the bus up Haight Street, past the long line of people queued round the block to get into the Toronado, and went to Magnolia instead.

They had "strong beer and cheese pairings." Here is our in-depth report on the situation.

. Superbowl Sunday

. 33 years ago

In 1977 I am 8 years old. What else happens?

Let's take a look.

Star Wars opens and becomes the highest grossing film of all time.


Mull of Kintyre becomes the UK's best selling single of all time.


The Sex Pistols release "Never Mind the Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols"


Elvis Presley dies.


Apple Computers release the Apple II. It costs $1300, and has 4K of RAM.


The Queen has her silver jubilee.


We have a street party and I dress as an octopus.


The USA reinstates the death penalty and executes serial killer Gary Gilmore by firing squad.


Red Rum wins the Grand National for the third time.


Ford launches the Granada.


A 44 pound lobster is caught off Nova Scotia.


Kenny Dalglish becomes Britain's most expensive football player ever.


San Francisco elects Harvey Milk.


The cold war continues.


I am at my Uncle Jeff's farm in Skipwith, North Yorkshire, in little brown shorts and a Micky Mouse t-shirt.

. Merry Christmas

. The Last Piece

. Foot Warmer

. Michela and Brent got married

The wedding was most spectacular. Unfortunately I did not manage to video any of the spectacle due to an abundance of jolly good wine. After two glasses, this is what happened to Nif's high school friend, Miya -



We were at the best table (table 15) with a bunch of fancy musician types. Laurie and Bill and Jayne & Greg the Kiwis. Greg (or Grig as he prefers to be known) reminded me a bit of Mark Gatiss from the League of Gentlemen, although I never told him that.

Bill and Greg had an arm wrestling competition - Bill lost, and so -



Should I stop uploading these movies in HD? Are they taking to long to buffer? Let me know.

. Tomales Bay

. Caipirissima Croquet

Last Saturday we went to Sebastopol and came second in the Bailey Brent Birthday Croquet tournament.

In HD!

. A Decade Ago...

Welcome to an exciting new feature of the mothkettle blog called "A Decade Ago..." In it I will be reminiscing about the olden days and talking about how old I am. Now I've written that down it sounds even more exciting than when it was just in my head.

Shall we begin?

A decade ago this month, on the week of my 30th birthday, we went for a walk through Muir Woods with our friends Oliver and Victoria.

Here we can be seen struggling to keep up with new technology called the "self timer".


And here we can be seen having an invisible light saber battle.


A couple of years later I was back in Muir woods walking the coastal trail with my friend Joe, and we were asked by a middle-aged couple going in the opposite direction if we knew where the bar was. We said no we didn't know where the bar was, and after they were gone we laughed about how silly you would have to be to think that there was a bar in the middle of Muir Woods.

Turns out there is a bar in the middle of Muir Woods. So on the week of my 40th birthday we went to find it with our friends Bryce and Jenny. Here is a video documenting that historic occasion.

. mum in california

Last month my mum came to visit us. Here are some things she did.

. Levitation

. This movie made Nif feel a bit strange

. Wolfie

. Cooking with Anthony

This recipe is from the Cafe Flora Vegetarian Cookbook. It's extremely tasty to eat, and relatively easy to make. And I've documented the whole thing on video, just for you.

. Hilary

I made this film at the Royal College of Art in 1993. It is 9 minutes long and features the excellent voice of John Woodvine who was the doctor in An American Werewolf in London and Bob's dad in Bob and Rose which we thought was great but you probably didn't like because, let's face it, we're not really into the same stuff these days are we.

If you would like your very own copy of "Hilary" you can buy it here.

. Popularity

How's your popularity this week? Mine's up 46%.

. Shaking and Nodding

My first test with imovie 09

. Murun

You know all those times over the years that I said to you, "Remember Murun Buchstansangur?"

And you said, "No."

And I said, "Really? Murun Buchstansanger. He was on Channel 4 in the 80s."

And you said, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

And I said, "He lived under the kitchen sink and he was gray, and sad, and he had a crush on a girl, but she always liked the other guy, and he went to bed a lot like a depressed person, and it was always raining."

And you said, "That does sound like someone I know."

Well, I finally found an episode. It's not one of the best. But it is Murun. Do you remember now?

. Olompali

Olompali State Historical Park is in Marin, a bit north of San Francisco. The Miwok Indians lived there from about 6000 BC. Then Francis Drake arrived, and they didn't live there much longer.

. Beer and Ice Cream

This movie is rated J for Juvenile.

. Abby Marloh Pees Like a Man

An excerpt from last year's Movie Of The Year, "Nif and Anthony in Austin, Texas."

. Up Mount Davidson

. New Year's Eve at Julie and Nick's

. Tater-Mater Pie Maker

. Printing

I helped print our Christmas card. And for some reason I wore a dress. Does it make my bum look big?

. Spinning Mum

Several years ago when my mum was visiting, we went up Mount Davidson, and she spun around.

. Seiko's Fingers

. Least Favourite Beer of the Week

My least favourite beer of this week was the second beer I drank while watching Batman Dark Knight at the Sundance Kabuki. I did not know it was such a long movie. And I have never needed to pee more in my life. I seriously thought I was going to damage myself.

. Sometimes I dance like this

. Hilary on DVD

You can now buy my crusty old stop-motion short "Hilary" as part of this smashing box-set, or as part of this even more smashing set of box sets. Or if you can't handle NTSC, you can get this slightly less smashing PAL disc.

Please note, I receive no money from the proceeds of these DVD sales. If you would like me to receive money, please just send it straight to me. I will not send you a DVD in return, but I will be grateful, and will probably write a thank you note.

. Some Days by Billy Collins

Billy Collins was the American poet laureate a few years ago. I like his poems because my small brain can make sense of them. And he has a great droning voice. I like a good droner.

. Mount Tamalpais

1800 elevation-foot hike up to Mt. Tam.

First training hike with Diane to prepare for this year's Grand Canyon expedition & to avoid embarrassing her with another Death Valley incident (see below).

(Lofty photo & shaming video, courtesy of Diane)

. Three Guys In A Car