John Anthony

08/10/2024

Should be good

29/09/2024

Loves her new teddy 🧸

24/09/2024

If you grew up in the 2000s you'll probably relate to this

Millennials.
Generation Y.
Some even call us ‘Digital Natives’ as we were the first generation to grow up with access to the internet.

But I remember different names.

The A.S.B.O generation.
Hoodies on account of the clothing worn.
Sometimes you'd still here the occasional insult of YOB.

And then there were Chavs!

It was Charvers where I grew up in Newcastle, but Chavs in the news and other parts of the country. And if you weren't a Charver, you were a ‘Hippy’ or a ‘Goth’ in their eyes.

I spent my formative years in the early 2000s, a period now referred to by some as the Naughties. Our parents had bought their drugs from strangers and listened to obscure new music. They insisted on telling us drugs were bad, not to trust strangers and that our obscure new music was just noise.

We grew up with Pokémon, WWF wrestling and Fresh Prince of Bel Air. We only had five free television channels, so we watched the soap operas and had to wait a week between episodes of TV series episodes. We played on Playstation and Nintendo, and then the Xbox came along. We had multiple controllers to play games with our friends because we didn't play online. We had grand theft auto back when they released 5 games in 5 years.

Musically we listened to Eminem and 50 Cent, Linkin Park and Evanescence, or even Blink 182 and Green Day. We wore Lacoste, Rockport and Fred Perry, or Dr Martens, Vans and band t-shirts. Transport was a BMX, a skateboard or a mountain bike, and our phones had no internet. Some of us had MSN and later MySpace, but generally we mostly spent our time out and about.

We grew up and drank cheap cider like White Lightening, Fosters or Carling, and Glens vodka mixed with cola or energy drinks, Lambrini or Bellabrusco for the girls or when the lads had finished their peeve. We smoked Richmond snouts and bought £5 deals of tac and necked ‘cowies’.

Chances are if you grew up then you'll understand. We were kids doing what kids have done before us and what they continue to do now. Entertaining ourselves was what we knew and we were good at it without relying on taking the internet in our pocket and spending all our time staring at our phones.

Drop me a follow to hear of my recollections growing up in that time, and if you've got your own stories send them in to share with people, you can do this anonymously if you prefer.

19/09/2024

The life cycle of a paintbrush

18/09/2024

Looking forward to the football this weekend

09/09/2024

06/09/2024

Hi everyone, I'm John. I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself.

I'm a professional decorator based in Newcastle Upon Tyne. I've been doing this since 17 which I realise means half of my life. I've spent 13 years self employed and have worked on some amazing projects in that time. I love wallpapering the most out of the different aspects of my trade.

I'm a fan of learning and you will usually find me wearing a pair of headphones listening to documentaries, podcasts or audiobooks on everything from science, history and true crime, to mysteries, biographies and health/nutrition.

I enjoy watching new shows and movies with my wife (we enjoy the cinema if we're child free), typically I lean towards dramas and thrillers.

I enjoy being outdoors, whether walking, cycling or on occasion even hiking, and I'd love to get a bit camping done in the future. I've got a lovely dog who's company I adore, and taking her out for walks or even just sitting together watching the TV is always a nice way to spend a bit of time. My daughter and I are lucky enough to be season ticket holders for the upcoming season at Newcastle United Women, so we're looking forward to chasing on the team.

Lastly I'm a bit of a nerd and I have been since I was a kid. I collect video games and consoles mostly even through I rarely seem to find the time to play on them, but I also keep my eyes peeled for related artefacts including old gaming magazines and media. I'm lucky enough to be able to share a lot of my hobbies with my daughter who has started collecting Marvel related items recently, including comics, games and books.

Cheers for reading.

02/09/2024

🎮

24/08/2024

Next game to play 💪 haven't played this since 2010

23/08/2024

When I was young I was obsessed with Spider-Man. I watched the cartoons, collected the comics, played the games and bought the figures. With my interests, it was probably second only to Pokémon. I re-read the comics so much they started to become dog-eared, the figures were given away as I grew up and the games were sold to fund other interests when I got a little older.

Yesterday I convinced my daughter to watch the Spider-man (2002) with me for the first time. I was only 11 years old when the movie opened in cinemas, and the home release took up permanent residence in my bedroom VHS player when I managed to get ahold of a copy. I think most of my generation consider .__.maguire to be THE Spider-Man, and his story is the classic Peter Parker tale with everything from the iconic arch-nemesis that is the Green Goblin, played to great reception by Willem Dafoe. played a fantastic Mary Jane Watson, and the perfect unattainable girl-next-door to Maguire's geeky protagonist. Aunt May was played perfectly and in the traditional kindly elderly lady most of us had come to know and love.

My daughter didn't have high hopes for the film ("It's quite old isn't it"), but by the time the credits rolled she was hooked.

"Can we watch the second one dad?"

So now we're on a mission together. Watch all the movies, try and find some comics wherever we go, collect whatever old video games we can get ahold of, and enjoy becoming father-and-daughter Web-Heads together.

22/08/2024

Some bits and pieces from my personal collection for sale
Boxed GameCube with official controller and leads (no inserts) - £60
Gameboy DMG - £65 (please let me know if this is steep)
Gameboy colour - £65 (3rd part Pokémon shell)
Street fighter 2 - £4
Super mario world - £8
Beavis and butthead - £22
Pokémon x - £30 (2 available)
Pokémon diamond - £35
Pokémon ultra moon - £30
Pokémon black - £50

18/08/2024

Today's game of choice is Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on playstation 5.