Kayden's Rambles

Kayden's Thoughts On: Michael Nesmith's Different Drum A Brief History If I were to say: 'The Monkees' to you, most people my generation would be like: "Who?", but if you were lucky enough to grow up in the good old days, you would know it as a TV show about 4 lads,  Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith who formed a band together, trying to make it big in the world. It was meant as America's answer to The Beatles and their hit film 'A Hard Day's Night'.  However, they did get a wee bit of controversy upon audiences discovering none of the band members were actual musicians, thus leading to a few labelling them as 'fake'. But even if so, they certainly put in plenty of work to become musicians in their own right.  Nesmith certainly stands out the most in this regard, in my opinion. He had already tried writing songs prior to joining the Monkees and even tried pitching a song to the producers to have in the show. Unfo...

Kayden's Wheel Reports: Great Leisure Heritage Rail Editor and Technical Consultant: The Steampunk Savant (https://steampunksavant.com/) MANUFACTURING PROGRESS  | STEAM LOCOMOTIVE 564.25 (From Great Leisure Heritage Rail's YouTube Channel) It has been over 30 years since the last steam locomotive turned a wheel under her own power in West Malaysia, the land I have called home for the past 19 years. All the old 'iron horses' that were lucky to escape the cutter's torch now lay dormant in varying states across the country, some in the care of museums, others plinthed and uncared for, exposed to the elements and left to rot. But recently, the fate of one of these is being changed, by a company I had previously doubted no less.  (My Personal Photo of 562.04 'Dungun', plinthed at Bukit Mertajam Railway Station, 25/11/23) Built in 1939 by the North British Locomotive Works of Glasgow, Scotland, 562.04 'Dungun' had sat on display initially at Butterworth Ra...

Well, seems I'm somewhat of a weeb now. (Mild Spoiler Warning!) Kanojo Mo Kanojo (Girlfriend, Girlfriend to those of us in the Anglosphere) is a Japanese 'romantic comedy' manga that's now been adapted into an anime series that has just concluded its second season. If I am not wrong, most episodes are free to watch on Muse's YouTube channel.  It follows the story of Naoya Mukai, a Japanese high school student who's just confessed to his childhood crush, Saki Saki ( Spoilers: her family decided to name her that as they thought having the same first and last name was a good luck charm of sorts ), but a few days later, another classmate of theirs, Nagisa Minase, confesses her love for him too, winning him over (some of us ought to take notes) by the magic of homecooked food! Impressed but not wanting to let her down, he proposes to date both of them at the same time. With initial opposition from Saki, he eventually gets both of them in on it, and the story goes fro...

Railway enthusiasts are some of the most passionate people on the planet, and we're not afraid to make our opinions known. While we may come from different places and walks of life, opinions about the more well known figures and locomotives have become extremely widespread, and with the advent of social media and the Internet, the spread of these opinions has only increased. One of these is concerning Edward Thompson (1881-1954), the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway from 1941 to 1946, who's tenure has been the subject of much controversy, primarily concerning his rebuilds of various designs from his predecessor, Herbert Nigel Gresley (1876-1941). Many railway journalists, historians and even ex-railway staff have thus criticised Thompson as 'attempting to rid the LNER of Gresley', doing what he did merely to befit his twisted goals of ridding the railway of his predecessor's influence. Resultantly, most enthusiasts share the view tha...

I won't really call myself the biggest expert on music, but I can't resist a good tune when I hear one, and I must say, I've been on a bit of an Elvis kick as of late. Back in 2022, I watched Baz Luhrmann's Elvis film and it gave some great insights into the life and achievements of the man, his success and fame, his downfalls and missed opportunities too, truly shows how human he was, how we should appreciate life, taking chances where we can to see how far we can go. There are numerous songs in Elvis' discography that we can go through and if I were to name every hit, we would be here all day. So today, I will focus on one of my personal favourites, Burning Love. This wasn't even intended as an Elvis song in the first place, initially being written as an R&B tune in 1972, but I'm glad Presley got the chance to record it, for it, for me, is  one of Presley's signature hits, showcasing his powerful vocals and energetic style. The song's lyrics sp...