(+) Large aperture, reasonably portable, good optics, dual axis drive on motorised model (-) Polar alignment scope difficult to use, heavy but necessary counter weights
Advantages: Light, easy to drink, delicious flavour Disadvantages: Can be hard to find in shops
Walking into an off licence these days we are faced with what is often a bewildering array of new drinks all designed to make more pleasurable the ingestion of that old drug, and poison, alcohol. Every year there seems to be an increase in our choice with all manner of outlandish cream or fruit flavoured liqueurs becoming available and wines from countries of which few of us have heard. Sometimes though, if you are lucky, you may chance upon an ancient drink which has been quenching thirst and invigorating soul for many hundreds of years, a drink which has been around for possibly as long as wine and beer.
☼☼☼What is Mead? ☼☼☼
Simply put, mead is just a type of white wine. However, whereas most wine is made from grapes or other fruits, mead is made from honey. The high sugar content of honey ...
Advantages: Quirky, wordy, brainy, zany Disadvantages: Christopher Biggins
Eagle-eyed TV viewers may have spotted a recent three-part series about Scotland that sneaked out on BBC4. Although, hidden away at bedtime as it was, they could have been forgiven for missing it. Called Off-Kilter, it was the latest quirky outing by one Jonathan Meades. If it had been fronted by Griff Rhys Jones or Michael Palin, it would have been endlessly trailed, given a feature in Radio Times and a prime-time slot on BBC2.
As it is, the BBC seems mildly ashamed of a programme-maker who, almost uniquely today, fulfils in each programme the complete mission of its founder Lord Reith - to educate, inform and to entertain.
Still, we should be glad that Meades is allowed to make programmes at all. If most current TV is dumbed-down, Meades is the opposite - smartened up, maybe? Dressed in his trademark dark suit and tie, as in all ...
Advantages: original, well-executed, musically diverse and hugely enjoable! Disadvantages: vocals arent very accomplished ( though they still fit somehow)
Crusader-themed black metal played by a bunch of English blokes that like to pose on their album covers stood in front of ruined castles dressed up in medieval armour and waving swords around... sounds well and truly cringeworthy doesn't it?
Fortunately, The Meads of Asphodel are a hugely talented and entertaining band with a strong sense of humour, and their second full length, "Exhuming the Grave of Yeshua" is a pleasure to listen to from start to finish.
In keeping with the band's image, "Exhuming..." deals with the outbreak of psychological and ideological epidemy that was the crusades, and the brutal violence they involved, as well as the insanity of religious war in general. It highlights the xenophobic and fanaticial perspective of Christian Europe at the time, whilst simultaneusly decrying religious war in general, thus ...
