Thanks

It's been over three weeks since the London Marathon and against all the odds I didn't shit myself or fail to make it all the way round. In fact, it was all done and dusted within 3 hours and 52 minutes - there was a lot of sweat, a lot of groaning, some serious swearing and a weird wee within the first half a mile where my penis appeared to be inflating with wee rather than acting as a conduit for its extraction. No matter, it's done and that's that. Thanks to everyone who sponsored me, watched me, shouted at us with words of encouragement, trained with us, helped us raise dosh, and greeted us at the finish line with some fags and Kronenberg. Beer and cigs are a great combo but they never tasted better than they did then...

The fundraising page will be open for a wee bit longer if you'd still like to throw some dosh into the ring.

The last plea

As you may know from previous posts I’m running the London marathon in April. In fact in 14 days I'll be there in me ever so tight running vest squealing breathlessly in pain. Please revel in that image...

This is the last update/plea before I shut up banging on about running. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

I've wangled a place in this gruel-a-thon via a small north London charity known as Kith and Kids. They do mint work supporting young adults and kids with a learning disability or autism to overcome their social exclusion and learn new skills via weekly club and projects. You can check out more of their business on their website here.

 I'm aiming to raise £1,500 to in aid of the charity and I'm close (within sniffing distance if one flares the nostrils) so if you can/feel the urge please donate a little money via the link below. It would be greatly appreciated...

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JimOttewill 

You've had a top night yo - here's five reasons why

At the fag end of February, we hosted our We Run Tings club night. The do was thrown to raise money for my London Marathon effort in April and props to everyone involved. Although slightly chaotic and drunken we had a top time and woke up the next day totally dazed and confused. When I opened my eyes and looked around, I knew it'd been a good do for five keys reasons. I've compiled them below just in case you've got up after a large one and you're just not sure whether you had a boom time or not...

1. Waking up with blood on the face - classic pre-London marathon training regime in full effect. Don't ask where it's come from. Just make sure it comes off.
2. Benjamins in the bed - fundraising must have gone aight.
3. Boots in the bed - one was so relaxed after the night's festivities that one couldn't be arsed taking the boots off. Winner.
4. Car keys to beamer in front room - 'literally' no idea who this person is. Who drives a beamer anyway? Who leaves them in a basement club full of pissed people?
5. Snotty arms - who needs tissues when it's Saturday night. Use your arms you fucking pussy

Benjamins

Boots

Keys

Snot

I like CDs and I want (some) of them to stay

Like most folk in their early thirties, CDs have been a thing for more than half my humble existence. And because they were once the best way to consume sound (and I'm unable to chuck anything without some serious heart-wringing), there are stacks and stacks of them lying around our gaff - fucking hundreds of the wee shiny little bastards.

I've lugged them from one rented place to the next for yonks, playing increasingly small amounts of them in lieu of listening to albums I really wanna check on Spotify via the tinny, shitty laptop speakers. Why am I so pathetically loathe to get rid of them? Each one has some sort of memory, shitty or otherwise attached. Whether it was the first splurge of discovering Fopp and their three quid bargain bins or going without lunch for a week in a bid to save enough coin for a CD single by a no-mark indie band I was infatuated with at the time, there's something behind each one. Anything else? Well laptops sound like a pair of tins being bashed together by a chimp who's sticking sugar up its arse. CDs also used to be fucking expensive back when writing a song could make you any money so it feels like you're lobbing pound coins into the fire by getting rid of the bastards.

I've been wrestling with the dilemma of binning them, the main obstacle being that I'm too disorganised to back anything digital up so keep losing everything every time my computer dies. However, as part of a controlled experiment, I'm flogging some CDs to raise dosh for this marathon (zzzzz) attempt all via our work intranet. There's a mixed bag of shit going up for sale but I've shifted some 70 quids worth. Which ones have shifted you (don't) cry? Anything to do with Zappa, Led Zepp, Bowie, The Smiths and bands of yore while the DJ Semtex grime mix has gone untouched. The buyers are almost all blokes aged 25 and above which (possibly) proves something about how old habits die hard/I'm not alone in being a CD keeping weirdo/blokes love CDs or something else entirely. But if you're looking for tangible facts (and being a lover of physical product this is exactly what I'm after) the only real thing to happen is that (some) of these CDs are here to stay. Certain dinosaurs may have been eventually wiped out but the ones round here are still breathing...

Kiss the Fist present; We Run Tings

To help us hit this marathon fundraising target, we're throwing a party. All proceeds go to the running fund innit... Check the spiel below;

We Run Tings - feat. KTF Allstars (Ashley Bibble, Jill Nando, Jimpotent),

Pat Mandu,

Brother 2 Brother…

Playing yacht rock, italo, disco, rave,

Saturday - February 22nd Marquis of Lansdowne's Basement - Kingsland Road, Dalston.

9 until 2 - £4 in...

It’s February and 2014 is all over us like a disgusting, rabid bear. It’s been grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrizzzzly.

To welcome the new year, the ever-so slightly longer days and Jill’s recent lottery win, we’ve decided to reanimate the skanky corpse of electronic disco party Kiss the Fist.

The original team of Domination3000, Jill Nando and Jimpotent are back on speaking terms after coming to blows last summer over the ownership of a bag of piss porn - all it took to get the band back together was a hit of amyl, a firm handshake and a side order of hot wings.

After bringing in New Year’s eve with a rabble rousing night of Hi-NRG, italo, wedding disco and yacht rock at Clapton’s latest gentrified grief hole the Crooked Billet, we’ve decided to do it all over again in the guts of our favourite boozer, the Marquis of Lansdowne.

This one is a ‘benefit gala’ with all monies raised on the door going to Jimpotent’s marathon fund. The twerp is attempting to run the London Marathon in April and raise £1,500 for charity Kith and Kids.

If you’re feeling sorry for him, then you can donate on his page here - http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JimOttewill - if not, you can come down to the Marquis of Lansdowne’s basement on Saturday 22 February, egg him and get your freak on in our charity disco.

Joining us will be our chums Pat Mandu, Bob Funkhouse and Danny M - these long-term friends of Kiss the Fist will be bringing large buckets of additional vibe and hot sonics to our soiree. Pat is big in the game, being addicted to speakers and played with Andy Blake – Danny M does tings in Leeds and Bob is well good at drinking Kronenberg.

Come down and get firmly involved…

Running tings in the London Marathon

More talk, more action has been a maxim round our way for some time after we got sick of chatting big but never following through. The ultimate bit of action (without jumping off a cliff or shooting someone in the ass) is to go out and run the London marathon. So this year, I'm following in the illustrious footsteps of Gordon Ramsey and Katherine Jenkins, strapping on the short shorts and giving it a fucking go.

As anyone who's been following my behaviour vicariously through this blog over time may guess, I've been hungover for about 20 years so this could be the end of me. Fingers crossed I live to tell the tale as runners who die probably don't get to donate their money to their charity of choice. And it would be a real shame if the £1,500 I'm hoping to rustle up for Kith and Kids doesn't reach them.

Kith and who you say? Not 'kissing kids' (although that's unfortunately how it sounds when you tell people).  Well Kith and Kids do amazing work supporting young adults and kids with a learning disability or autism to overcome their social exclusion and learn new skills via weekly clubs and projects.

You can check out more of their business on their website here;

http://www.kithandkids.org.uk  

I've been struggling in to the Sunday clubs with a hangover for the last couple of years as well as kicking a football with their soccer team so this feels like a good way to thank them for all the vibes from up in Tottenham. 

Want to donate and help me raise the dosh? Nice one - click here and visit my Just Giving page innit...