Morely heart-throb Dylan Brierley’s wishes you a merry Christmas with his latest Rattle Media production

Come Back to Me – by Dylan Brierley DylanBrierley.com

For more information on our productions visit RattleMedia.co.uk.

This recent video is a very emotional tribute; Dylan Brierley’s latest production.

For more information on our productions visit RattleMedia.co.uk.

Well no… This is Rattle Media’s second project for Sustrans: a new bridge built for Brompton-on-Swale. Our local creek!

More information at sustrans.org.uk.

For more information on our productions visit RattleMedia.co.uk.

In association with Nile Special Lager, A Dam Relief has released this video showing how simple acts can have large effects on a community.

For more information on our productions visit RattleMedia.co.uk.

Rattle Media’s first project for Sustrans: a new bridge built in Bradford. More information at sustrans.org.uk.

For more information on our productions visit RattleMedia.co.uk.

If you care about the developing world, you don’t have to do much; watch, maybe read, and then share.

Day in the life of Juma is not about rafting on the source of The White Nile (Jinja, Uganda).

It is about how one industry has effected Juma Kalikwani’s life (Over the last 15 years) and allowed him, not just to live a good life, but to pursue his dream of becoming a talented musician.

This has a tremendous effect on Uganda’s social and economical development.

But you have to ask “Why is this important?”. And by answering that question, by seeing the big picture, you will understand what a developing country really is.

The first track is by my Ugandan friend, Ssuuna Matthias.

The second is by Juma himself.

Big thanks to Izzy Bruno, Colin Wong and Sam Ward for helping us out with the cinematography.

For mor information and updates, click on the image below:

Have a look at our latest music video.

‘When the Wind Blows’ is written and performed by Josh Healey.

Another great music video from Dylan Brierley.

You can find out more abut Dylan and www.DylanBrierley.com.

All our music videos (and pricing) can be found at on the Rattle Media website.

OK, maybe there are millions of people who already don’t hate Invisible Children‘s co-founder, Jason Russel; star of the viral movie, Kony 2012 (I was about to start explaining what the film was about but then I realised you don’t want me waisting any more of your time).

Anyway… the original film was seen by hundreds of millions of people world wide and succeeded in raising awareness of the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army, in Uganda between 1986 and 2006, by enormously oversimplifying a twenty year conflict in a developing nation.

NOTE: for the sake of simplicity, I am not going to talk about all the neighbouring countries that have also suffered but somehow not drawn as much awareness as Uganda.

So as I was saying – like many Ugandans, and other people who’ve actually been to Uganda, I was royally outraged by the type of awareness Jason’s film had created: 200 million people now thought Uganda was unsafe – a huge blow for tourism and investment…

But then I realised: Kony 2012 is a blessing in disguise. Before its release, the world’s population could be split into the following three categories:

1. Those who know Uganda well and are angry at it being portrayed as unstable
2. Those who have never heard of Uganda, let alone can find it on a map
3. Those who’s knowledge of Uganda boils down to: “Uganda? That’s in Africa, isn’t it? It must be dangerous there…”

The fact is that all Jason Russel has done with his movie is put more of group 2 into group 3. Group 1 are not going to be convinced that Uganda is unstable, however all those people now in group 3 are hungry for the truth, and they are now very much aware of a little African nation called Uganda… “Awareness”.

A Blessing In Disguise?

So not only has Kony 2012 increased the number of people in group 3, who now know Uganda exists, it has also riled the inhabitants of group 1; those who know the truth – who wan’t Uganda to stand out for the right reasons.

Ugandans all over the internet are speaking up, shouting in a way, because they want to reclaim their country’s narrative (the goal of this new website, set up by a group of young Ugandan professionals, called Uganda Speaks).

More Ugandans than ever before are logging onto Facebook and Twitter to share their truth. Even our project, A Dam Relief (conceived initially to raise awareness of tourism opportunities in Jinja, Uganda) has gained more support and passion from Ugandans and expats who want to correct the country’s identity. And you can watch our teaser video here:

“The biggest problem Uganda has is identity”

But this is why we shouldn’t hate Invisible Children, Jason Russell or Kony 2012. “Awareness” was the name of the game and, regardless of intent, it has truly worked. To clarify my point, the fact that you are reading this sentence suggests that Kony 2012 has increased your interested in Uganda…

The Bottom Line

There is a point to all this: I believe, and an awful lot of people in Uganda agree, that the way to help a developing country is through development. For development to occur, you need an economy.

A Dam Relief is a FOR PROFIT organisation. Profit for us, profit for our investors, profit for their staff and profit for all the local business that their staff buy products and services from during day-to-day life. And this can only work if more people are willing to visit Uganda, enjoy themselves and, for the odd entrepreneur passing through, invest.

So… if you really want to see Uganda become great, and I truly believe it can, then all you have to do is spread the truth – Uganda’s truth – that she is a safe and stable nation; full of fun, adventure and the most incredibly hospitable people you will ever meet. Like every country, she has her problems; like every democracy, she has her share of disagreement and discussion – but so much progress has been made.

Please share our videos with as many people as you can. Tweet the above video at every famous person you follow. Reinforcing these positive messages will help.

This is the latest Rattle Media music video. I’m the Busker is written and performed by Dylan Brierley, a 14 year old artist from Morley!

I reckon he’s come a long way since this cover of a Frank Turner track…

Lost but found footage from one night in Altai; the peak of a guitar showdown between me and one of my Russian comrades.

by Three Sheets T’ Wind, featuring Leesa Mae.

Video made by Rattle Media.

New Rattle Media music video for the band ‘Little Vegas Lies’.

The Track is called: ‘Standing Room Only’

Картини

Ben Greaves’s song: A Life Less Igorant – The latest music video from Rattle Media.

Chris ‘The Man in a Hat’ Marting’ features in this Rattle Media production…

Rattle Media moves into the business of making music videos…

Also downloadable via the podcast.

Make sure you look out for all the bonus features and deleted scenes on The NSR 2011: The Movie! Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/channels/nsr2011/

And if that isn’t enough, we’ve uploaded all previous NSR/Liquid Satisfaction videos to the following channels:
vimeo.com/channels/nsr2008/
vimeo.com/channels/nsr2007/

мека мебел

I know I haven’t posted much in a while…. So I’ll just let this new “NSR 2011: The Movie!” trailer do the talking.

Subscribe to the NSR 2011 movie channel on Vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/channels/nsr2011

кухненско обзавеждане

As we all know, creating a top kayaking movie is a painstaking process. Part of this process is the long and laborious task for composing and performing music to fit the quick cut scenes of a fast-pace extreme sports film.

In this episode of ‘The making of Mop2′, Ben Greaves from Hurricane Sunday is laying down another one of hie brilliant tracks.

All the hard graft that goes into making a top kayaking movie is now in full swing. Just check out the new ‘making of’ documentary series, beginning soon…

So over the past seven months I have been trying to pass my induction year as a newly qualified Maths teacher. As a result of this –  in the seven Months since I returned from Russia – I have been burning the candle in a particularly inefficient way.

I have there for decided that I will not likely find the time to write an appropriate story to accompany the following photos.

However there will be more detail available for those of you who are following the development of Means of Production 2:

New trailers will be available, in the near future, that will include footage from The Republic of Gorgia, Vietnam, Mexico, Iceland, Corsica and a couple of undecided destinations.

A waterfall on a brilliant little tributary to the Choosman

Anton takes a break

I can’t remember where this is but it looks fun. That’s Anton before he broke his Diesel.

The walk out of the Choosman valley is almost worth it for this view. However we would have preferred Vasilii’s van to have been able to drive us all out!

Kostya is still learning the meaning of ‘homoerotic’.

If you’re fed up of walking, you can always paddle the scrapey tree-infested source of the river… not all boats will make it down intact.

A can’t remember what river we’re driving to. It was a 5 day trip and seemed bigger than the Zambezi at points! I just can’t remember what it was called.

Our modest camp on day 1.

Ivan and the Gray Wolf: my first Russian book… I’m still reading it.

Watch out for potholes!

Another fun rapid on the choosman.

However I had to walk out after cracking my ribs on a awkward seal-launch.

маси

Anton on the earlier mentioned waterfall.

After which it is necessary to portage the 35 metre fall that lands on rocks.

The above picture is from (probably) my favorite river in Altai: The Majoy Gorge.

It starts of with 10k of continuous, and slightly crucial, class 4-; this brings you to a short inaccessible class 5 canyon (portagable) leading into 10k of 4+. Brilliant.

And this I believe is an angry fish.

Top Tip: Write you blog entries as soon as you can; not seven and a half months later!

Coming soon (really): Some vaguely exciting waffle about our recent jolly in Corsica.

The award winning National Student Rodeo 2008 Movie has now long since sold out.

In light of this, I have released the 24 minute extravaganza on the Liquid Satisfaction podcast: http://www.maxbilbow.com/?feed=podcast

Download the movie or watch the trailer in the videos section.

It’s 3am UK time and I’ve had little-to-no sleep since I left. However I am in Irkutsk and Vasiliy is telling me (in what he calls Monkey English) that my journey begins now.

So I try to assemble all the things I might need for a 10 day expedition on the Kitoy River, where we shall be hundreds of kilometres from any notable civilisation and surrounded by mountains.

Fortunately for me, a couple of the 9 Russians on this trip have a fairly good grasp of the English language. This makes it possible for Vasiliy and me to improve our understanding of each others’ languages without too much frustration.

So after only a couple of hours of class I/II (Thank God!) we make it to our first camp and, while our food supplies for the trip get divided between everyone, I am able to brush-up on some basic Russian. Nye Prosto.

That night, before I pass out from exhaustion, I am handed a cup of Vodka and a piece of raw onion. Drink the Vodka then eat the onion… Like a Tequila slammer I guess, but more oniony.

Day 3 and I was all geared up and ready to film 9 indiscriminate Russians toss themselves down the first class V of the trip when Vasiliy says, “Come Max. We go now”. At this stage, I have not developed the linguistic skills to refuse, so off we go.

The rapid is short, not too dangerous but pretty hard to nail. However, after a quick natter about the line, we both get it spot on, chicaning around the cushions and holes that lie in wait.

Now it’s into the main gorge section. There may have been some chatter but I missed it and all the Russians pile over a horizon-line leaving me a little bemused. So I follow anyway, making my best guess at what the pour-over will look like and which direction to aim my boof… I am mistaken but fortunately I am in the mood for a little freestyle and am able to work my way clear to the whooping of many cheery Russian kayakers in the eddy below.

Every day the trip seems to get progressively harder. Today we seem to spend a lot of time paddling a fairly continuous class IV gorge. Water levels are high and the enormous amount of equipment is making kayaking feel a little more like raft guiding, with technical decisions being made much earlier than usual.

But I’m used to it now and, having moved my seat forward and mastered the art of using Russians as hole-bait, I’m even enjoying the extra challenge.

Then we reach the main gorge. Most of it (class IV+) can be paddled. However we must first portage a big class VI section that could not be inspected or portaged once inside the canyon.

In the evenings I attempt to brush up on my Russian… even if everything I say is still a sort of comedy show for everyone else.

Getting naked on this trip seems to be something of a daily ritual but well worth it after hours of hiking through wilderness… It turns out my mosquito spray is some kind of horse-fly aphrodisiac. Not impressed!

I’ve never really tried fishing before so I was quite keen to have a go. I find it interesting that fish always look so surprised when they are caught.

Vasiliy leaves me on my own and I catch the biggest fish of the day. But what do I do with it now? After some gruesome amateur fish wrestling, Vasiliy is there to show me how to gut it, skin it and eat it raw. The fish was flabbergasted.

Later that night, someone hands me a cup of Vodka and a raw fish. It’s a bit like a Tequila Slammer… only more fishy.

This trip involves running two tributaries of the Kitoy, both of which involve a hike up to the put-on. The first of these tributaries, The Ehe-Gol, has some good class III/IV technical creeking  which culminates (just below our camp) in the following…

A 16 metre high waterfall that is not for the faint hearted, especially considering just how far we are from any form of civilization.

So with that out the way, it’s off – via some awesome class IV/IV+ Kitoy big volume canyon paddling – to our next camp for a big meal and some rest… Because we all know what’s coming.

Later that night, someone hands me a cup of Vodka and a cube of raw pig fat. It’s a bit like a Tequila Slammer but less lemony and more… chewy.

In order to paddle the second trib – The Beluty – we must spend one day off the river… off the river and hiking through wilderness with our kayaks (and kit for 2 days camping) on our backs.

For over 10 km, we hiked up and down the valley’s side, through the trees, guided only by Vasiliy’s GPS system.

Towards the end, it was necessary to cross a steep tributary, making a rope bridge for out kayaks (above).

The next day is not much easier; hiking almost the same distance as again, now only with kayaking kit, we head to the put-in for the Beluty.

This beautiful section of class IV/IV+ creeking takes us all the way back down to our current base camp.

Amazingly there was only one real portage on the entire section.We stop for the night at our camp and the following day head on down the Beluty to rejoin the Kitoy.

The day kicks off with a 12 metre waterfall that is similar (if slightly cleaner) to Norway’s ‘Nose Breaker’ fall in Voss (as featured in Means of Production).

It’s so much fun that we spend a good hour here practicing out big-drop boofing technique; much fun.

This was followed but a few more waterfalls, the last of which being the most difficult move of the day: A ‘double drop’ that, after watching Vasiliy and me take dreadful lines, the rest of out team decided to portage.

The last night included a well-earned sauna and night in a wood hut… luxury!

But possibly the highlight of the trip for me: Sitting naked in a sauna with my new comrades, attempting (with little success) to explain to Vasiliy the meaning of ‘homoerotic’ whilst Kostya vigorously slaps his back with a leafy branch.

As usual, I had missed a lot of the finer logistical details and was expecting a short bumpy ride to the main road, followed by another short ride to Irkutsk.

Nope. 12 hours of disused track and off-road driving that would make even the most hardened Ugandan boda-boda driver tut in disapproval.

And now? After 2 days on the inter-Siberia express (a surprisingly agreeable and sociable train journey) I am sitting in Vasiliy’s house in Novosibirsk, waiting for our boats to arrive by train so we can head out tomorrow and start running the gnar of Russia’s Altai rivers.

For anyone considering a trip to Russia, I’d strongly suggest you consider travelling with Kayak USSR. Take a look at their website and, if you have any questions about my experience, drop me a line!

You can also check out some of these rivers on their latest film: Empire.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the latest updates to the British Universities Kayak Expedition in Vietnam: www.kayaknam.com.

Photos by: Alexey Markushev, Ivan Kozlachkov, Sasha Steklov, Kostya Lubyagin and Artem Palvelev.

More Photos…

It has been a long year, stuck in the UK all winter. But with my PGCE course over and a job secured for September, I have a bit of time to play with…  So before my 5 week jolly to Russia, Emily and I decided a 2-week warm  up holiday in The Alps would be just lovely.

Rory Woods (above) paddles a particularly narrow and fun slide on the Sorba.

After a bit of a ‘chossy’ start in the French Alps, we headed over to Val Sesia, in Northern Italy, where we were told to expect high levels; even quite late in June… We were not disappointed!

After a quick look at the Sorba Slides, on the advice of a friend, we drove a few kilometres upstream on The Grande – a tributary to the Sorba – to find the gem pictured above. A 10 metre waterfall with an exciting run-in and a clean landing.  What more could you want? 2 hours of steep creeking back to the car? Snap!

Nothing but tight drops and slides all the way to the take out. I haven’t felt the need to wear elbow pads in a while but this run seemed worthy. (Above: Me on the lead in to the waterfall)

The above shot is the drop just below the fall. I opted to leave my cameras in the car for the rest of the run, hence why there are so many pictures of me.

Every time we reached the horizon line above a drop (which was usually at the foot of the drop before) our internal clocks would tell us that we had underestimated the descent time of this run.

But with a bit of look down stream we were amazed to see that yet another tight drop or slide contained a perfectly navigable line. Sometimes the lines were less orthodox than others, as Matt (above) demonstrates.

And of course it would be rude not to paddle the well-photographed Sorba Slides at the end of the run.

But it’s not all about the steep creeking. We had a great time paddling a few sections of the Sesia with Sheffield Uni.

And back in France, Triple Step (on the Guil) was going off with the massive water levels. (Above: Rory Woods, Below: Max Bilbow)

Though that is all well and good, The French Alps wouldn’t be The French Alps without the statutory trip to the Fornel for a boof and hammer work-out. (Below: Jake Holland throws his weight)

Too late for the Student Boater X (in more ways than one), we had a little race of our own. Textbook shenanigans, really (Below: Max Bilbow, Jake Holland).

All in all, a fine Alpine holiday that wouldn’t have been as great if it weren’t for all the lovely Brits we hooked up with over the duration: Students (and old boys) from Sheffield, Leeds, Warwick, Southampton and Bath University clubs; Jake and Danny and others.

I’ve got a big old sticker in my passport and am heading off to Russia on Saturday. So until next time, play safe and enjoy my latest podcast (below).

- SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST -

Photos: Emily Bayne, Jake Holland, Danny Malkin, Rory Woods

Download the Means of production trailer as a Podcast. More coming soon,

iTune users can subscribe using the following link:

http://www.maxbilbow.com/?feed=podcast

The official NSR 2008 DVD is set to be released at the beginning of April, at a price to suit students, and will be chock full of extra features.

Somehow we managed to cover every event and not break a single ankle running about the place!

See www.NationalStudentRodeo.org.uk for more information.

Track by The Dub Dentist.

Read the full article.

Widowmaker, a back-channel on the Silverback section of the White Nile, has not been run since 2006. However with recent rising water-levels and a bit of a balls-out mission to run every rapid on the main sections of the White Nile, we had a go.

The rapid consists of two fairly gnarly holes, front and back, with a huge curling wave separating them. The line involves cutting left to right over the crest on said wave. Enjoy the video.