when memories can't wait

hello there again


wowee, what a surprise - another post relating or otherwise pertaining to the wonder of the Commodore 64, look you see. but, with something of a change or twist. as in this shall feature some actual Commodore 64 stuff, rather than just a Commodore 64 mode on a camera.

ok, so yeah, not actual actual Commodore 64 as such, but a near enough is good enough Commodore 64 emulator on one of them computer things. it does the job quite nicely indeed, despite lacking the obvious glitz and glamour indelibly (if not intrinsically) linked to the days when one "loaded" a game up via the smart cassette deck what came with the computer.

anything in particular on the Commodore 64 (emulator)? yes, as it happens. for reasons we shall go into (or, i will, and so shall you if you read), the legendary game Football Manager came to mind of late. to this end, so, behold, a still of the "match highlights" section off of the game.

yes, quite, no, one does not see such superior graphics in computer games no more, to be sure. now it is all "CGI" and "video capture", i guess. realism has barged simplistic joys out of the way.

what can i tell you of Football Manager? it's widely regarded as the first ever "football manager" strategy game for a home computer, whether you played it on a proper machine or any lesser, non-Commodore 64 device. it was also the start of an ill-advised move to turn them blokes what made computer games into some sort of pop stars, for game creator Kevin "Kev" Toms appeared on the game cover, sporting a suspiciously Acker Bilk like hairstyle and facial beard.

some more, of course, on the charms and whims of this game as we go. but first, why. as in, why exactly did this game, an essential one to have back in 1984, come to mind? simple, really. it is all due to my (considerably) better half and her whimsical, magical ways. specifically, placing a phone on the "enter" key of her laptop, which was not a Commodore 64.

for what reason did she do this? to save having to stand there and keep pressing "enter" on something or other what she was doing that required "enter" to be pressed, a lot. oh, undoubtedly she could have programmed something, or "done a script", that allowed for an automated enter pressing, but when the phone is so handy and so perfect for the job then why not?

but why would this make me think of Football Manager? simple, really, Richard. once, in 1984 or 1985 (prior to the Frankie Goes To Hollywood game coming out), i went off with my mates somewhere, and asked my brother Richard to manage my team whilst i was out. he clocked that as you always just had to press the space bar to continue, he just put a book (the 80s version of a mobile phone) on the space bar and left it to it.

unfortunately the Commodore 64 game was not as intuitive as Richard may have hoped. when a player was out injured (it happened a lot), you had to pick a new one yourself. or, you know, field less players by pressing space. as it turned out, then, under Richard's masterplan, i ended up fielding precisely 0 (zero) players and suffered a number of relegation disgraces as a consequence of not fielding teams.

some video of Football Manager in action? i can think of no single reason why one would not wish to see this. apologies for any ambient sound on the recording; the game was of course silent, so you may focus on the tactics. or at least i think it was silent, perhaps i just had the computer on mute or similar.

oh, yes, by the way. i thoroughly enjoyed playing this game again. my intention was just to switch it on, right, and grab some pictures, but i found myself thoroughly enjoying it all once again. this is particularly true of buying and selling players such as Sammy Lee, Kenny Dalglish and Peter "Shilts" Shilton.

should i remember right, the game also had an endorsement from Charlie Nicholas, the "Scottish John Moncur", on the front cover. i think for some reason it was felt that getting a footballer to play the game and say something nice about it would be a major selling point. and yes, sorry, in Scotland indeed i am sure it is that John Moncur is referred, with some affection you would think, to as "the English Charlie Nicholas". i am not sure anyone in Wales particularly cares about either of them, but you never know.

how does Richard feel about being the father of the "just weigh the relevant key down" approach to monotonous, repetitive and time consuming computer keyboard related activities? that's a really, really good question.

unfortunately, however, i do not have an answer. this would be because i have not asked, or otherwise posed, the question to him, at him or of him. in my imagination, though, if asked, then he would say he felt nothing but pride in being such a pioneer.

no, indeed you can't do that any more. in days gone by it was perfectly acceptable to do what i done above, which is refer to someone as "the Scottish (or other nation)" and then name someone who is celebrated or known to be a great. this was always done in a respectful, perhaps even reverential way. now, though, if you do that, some sort of "SJW" keyboard warrior will get all offended and outraged on behalf of some group or concern what has nothing to do with them, spew their bile all over twitter and what have you, and cause all sorts of manner of rail and sky bound transportation companies to irrecoverably change how they do things in response, and for no apparent reason.

still, they might have a point, i suppose. when you think about it - and from a legal perspective (i checked) there is little i can say, but imagine the (possibly detrimental) effects to be had by labelling someone, for instance, "the Brazilian John Terry" or similar. it is still ok for me to do it above with the 80s being the context, though.

yes, indeed, that there above is what many of you might consider to be "the ultimate". it is an image of one of the greatest things to have ever been seen on a Commodore 64, taken in Commodore 64 mode. nice one.

further yes would be to play this game again some more, as in no, i have not just got it all set up and done for this blog post. well, that was the intention, but doing it all has reminded me how much simplistic fun it all was.

sure, "better" and more involved football manager games came along, and the ones what allowed you to impose fines on players that displeased you were particularly enjoyable. but, what, 34 or so years later, it was indeed a delight to discover that Football Manager had lost no charm at all.

well, there you go. should you recall this most smart game, hopefully all of this has delivered, or otherwise brought to mind, some fond memories for you, too!




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

deceptive day of release

howdy pop pickers


well, heck. i thought i was well and truly on top of these things, look you see, but alas not.

my understanding was that the very latest record off of Suede, The Blue Hour was all scheduled, or pencilled in, for a release date of Friday September 28. 2018, AD, if you must. imagine my horror and surprise to learn that, as point of fact, it was changed without my knowing to Friday 21 (rest of date info same).

this somewhat knacked, to be sure, any efforts or plans i had in place or aspired to with respect to a day of release or day after day of release purchase. hey ho.

no matter, i have since been to HMV, and procured it. perhaps i should switch my ambitions to week of release these days, then, since i do seem to be quite busy and am apparently prone to musicians deciding on different days to release stuff.

so far i have only listened to the first 3 or 4, maybe 5 tunes. a proper review shall follow, but for now this is Suede. very Suede. uber Suede. it might be the most Suede record ever to exist, and this is a very good thing. i am loving this album and i suggest you go get a copy, now.

a proper review, or set of musings, to follow as soon as i can, then. for those of you interested. but, for now, as of track seven, this is my album of the year. closest challenger would have been James, if only they had not polluted their recordings with unnecessary references to domestic American matters.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rothmans

heya


just another of them posts where i try some exotic, peculiar or out of the ordinary (for me if no one else) fags, look you see. so, if you are one of the enlightened many what do not like cigarettes, now would be a good time to skip this post. alternatively, stick around, for yes, enthusiasts of the great man, there is indeed some quality Spiros action to come.

to that end, indeed my chum Spiros has been on his travels again. well, as the greatest legal mind of his generation he is in some demand, and so is required to visit various nations from time to time, so as to make them resplendent with the benefit of his vast knowledge.

it was to South America that Spiros was summoned this time. which part? pretty much all of it, from what i could work out. well, it's a continent with several issues, and the legal talents of Spiros are the ones most likely to fix them, with particular emphasis on undoing the mess what the Spanish left.

my hopes, dreams, ambitions and aspirations were that my chum would be able to find me some fancy, exotic cigarettes which were exclusive to South America. perhaps a brand called Gringo, maybe, or even better one called Panama. alas, no. he search and sought and all that he could find for me was some Rothmans, as in yes, Rothamns of London. although Roth Man sounds better, as a tribute to David Lee Roth.

quite how time have changes is there for all to see in the fact that one can now purchase Rothmans in a place such as South America. once they were, of course, (probably) the reserve of the elite and the landed gentry. up until the turn of the 20th century, perhaps as late on as the eve of the First World War, one was only permitted to purchase Rothmans tobacco products if they were a property owner in a posh, swanky area of London, such as Grosvenor Square.

undoubtedly certain economic pressures, including but not limited to the impact of the First World War and the emerging presence of American tobacco products, led to a fiscal rethink. a decision was (probably) taken to let certain well kept middle class patrons, such as merchant bankers or those with an interest in shipping, purchase them too, before finally all sorts of riff raff (like me) could access them.

yes, that is some South American wildlife, or nature, what Spiros sent us a pictue of. that, i am fairly sure, is a llama. or, if not, a beast of the fields of South America what looks a good deal like what i would imagine a llama to look like, so same thing.

strangely, or perhaps even curiously (probably the latter), one does struggle to buy Rothmans in England these days. it is entirely possible that they are made to be sold exclusively in non-UK territories these days, so as to export memories of a bygone age pertaining to the golden era of the London life.

as you can observe in the above, there's a bit of niche branding on the filter of these Rothman cigarettes. the presence of the word "Belmont", and for that matter the Rothmans seal (or emblem), would of course not be permitted on fags for sale in the UK, what with all forms of unique branding now outlawed.

provenance of Belmont? my understanding (and i could be quite mistaken) is that it was a place name made up by that Shakespeare fellow for one of his plays; undoubtedly a lighter comedy. needless to say, it has been borrowed or culturally appropriated by several others since; so that they may cash in on the association. and why not, so they say, or to be, or not to be.

some proof or other such evidence that Spiros was indeed in South America so that he may get me these most smart fags? why not.

yes, yes, you can say he is "making a footprint on both sides of the world", etc, if you wish. also, he went into some detail about how he tried to ensure that his gentlemen bits were evenly spread across north and south, but the people he was with advised against photographic evidence being taken of such.

what came first, the place Ecuador or the equator? that is a good question if you are interested in such things. sadly, however, i am not particularly interested at the moment. with that being the case, then, back to the most splendid Rothmans of London fags experience.

formidable, i think, would be the best word to describe the filters on these Rothmans / Belmont cigarettes. as you can see the filter end of the fag is of a normal, rudimentary length, but as pictured above the actual filter part itself is only half of the allotted length. that's quite a statement. i am not all together sure what the statement is, but it is one.

the effect of this half filter thing is to give a stronger smack off of the fag. whilst our nanny state fags are filtered and have all sorts of smart ingredients removed, these are the full deal. you know you are well and truly smoking like it was always meant to be done when you have a go on one of these, cor blimey.

yes, of course there is every chance that the half filter thing is an economic measure, which is to say that Rothmans have cut the filters in half to save money. it would strike me as more costly to design such a filter, but what do i know. perhaps an effect of this will be that people all around the world who taste the Rothmans think all English fags are like this. not so, i can tell you.

oh, that's just some random picture of a bar in South America what Spiros sent me. no doubt he was there to have some sort of top level meeting, but hopefully he had a pint of the local sauce. i am particularly impressed with that drinks cabinet,  "Tequila Patron". this is probably due to the inexplicable joy i take from the word "patron". it's smart, it's sound, it's classy and it should be used a lot more than it is.

that's just the side views of these Rothmans / Belmont fags, for those of you with a peculiar or particular interest in cigarette packaging. at times like this i do perhaps wonder if i should have learned Spanish or something so that i may understand such frugal wording. i can make out Colombia and Chile on the above, but i have no idea at all how them two countries relate to the fags. perhaps they don't, and that is all saying that they do not.

some video of Spiros down in South America? i see no reason why not, especially as this video shows him in a quite natural state despite being in a foreign land, which is to say wearing a hat and surrounded by happy, merry and other such descriptive words men, some of whom he may well indeed have formed short term yet mutually beneficial friendships with.

what do i know of South America? not that much. i studied Che Guevara, of course, and as something of an indirect consequence saw Evita too. mostly, though, i would say the vast amount of my knowledge and understanding of South America comes off the song and the video for Undercover Of The Night by The Rolling Stones. oh, yeah, now i think, there was that Oliver Stone film with James Woods and James Belushi, plus some actors not called James. Salvador i think it was.

oh yes, this other picture Spiros sent me has just reminded me that, i think, the documentary Cannibal Holocaust was recorded down there. looks a bit dangerous, then.

picture above is, i believe, a statue or similar of a traditional South American fisherman, or if you like (and Spiros likes, very much), sailor. i have had to guess that, for all Spiros spoke of was the intricate sequence of knots and ropes what a gentleman of the sea had on and around his personal space area. in short, discussions and practical examples of this were most enthusiastic, it seems, and Spiros was able to make some even more interesting that usual short term yet mutually beneficial friendships with members of the gentry of South America what are practitioners of such.

but, back to the fags. as i have shown every other aspect of these cigarettes, so far as i am aware, i suppose it would only be fitting and fair to have a gander at the "business end" of them. this would be the case should you, like i very much do, consider the tobacco content to be the business end. no, i have not yet met someone who considers the filters, or the warning labels, to be the best part.

something of a darker leaf tobacco in them, then. not quite so dark as to be black like what Russian or Turkish ones are reported to be like, and ones that i want to try one day, but dark all the same. so you can't say "none more dark", for there are darker ones out there. i think.

perhaps this is a new experimental blend of Russian tobacco anyway, laced with that rather splendid sounding novichok stuff. if it is, don't worry so much about me. should the Russians want me out of the way they will find a means to do so, and to be honest if they want to do it via supplying me with cigarettes, well i am not going to argue. besides, as per previous posts, it is a proven scientific fact that i am immortal, for as i have not died yet there is no scientific, factual evidence to say that i will die, ever.

overall, these are some of the finest and bestest of fags what Spiros has ever sent me, even if it does turn out that they have some pesky, minor illegal chemical weapon in them. sure, i mean, no, they are not my beloved Marlboro Red, but hey, these have a name what sounds like they are a tribute to David Lee Roth. that's an instant sign of quality.

anyway, time that i spend writing this is time taken away from smoking the Rothmans or similar. so, i had best get going.

normally i would say something like thanks for reading, etc, but for some reason all these posts what i do about the fags (and Spiros) get loads of readers anyway, so all i can say is i hope you got what you looked for, or came back to see more of.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a presentation of The King, Elvis Presley, in commodore 64 mode

hello


it has occurred to me, look you see, that i have let you all down. so far as i am aware i have not nearly presented enough images of The King, Elvis Presley in Commodore 64 mode. this is despite me having the Commodore 64 mode imaging capacity for some five years.

saying sorry for this is, i know, only going to go so far in appeasement. what would be better, to be sure, is for me to simply upload loads and loads of pictures of His greatness and His majestic ways in that particular format, all for your viewing pleasure.

to best curate these images of The King, Elvis Presley, i have selected not one, not three but two films featuring Him. they are the celebrated Aloha From Hawaii film, which featured the unusual sight of  The King, Elvis Presley crossing a body of water of significance, and Elvis : That's The Way It Is. in truth the latter is one of my all time favourite things of all time; i have at least two copies of it on DVD and the most splendid double CD of it. yes, i may well pick up further copies, just because.

perhaps this goes without any need to say so, but yes, then, 70s era, so called Vegas era The King, Elvis Presley is indeed my favourite. all of us, when we hear His name, picture Him as our preference for His style and His era. this just so happens to be mine. not that i object to the others.

have i used my newly discovered deft skills and abilities with respect to being able to make those "animated GIF" things in Commodore 64 mode so as to present The King, Elvis Presley in such a manner? of course, indeed, here you go.

to create them is needlessly complex. for a start, Commodore 64 mode camera has a "lag" of a couple of seconds (perhaps one) between what you see on the screen and what you capture. making one of these GIF things becomes all the more problematic, for one must allow for that lag, plus for some reason it makes you count down 7 seconds before making the actual 7 second GIF.

with this in mind, then, i did the best that i could do. my hope is that it is sufficient and pleasing, and that you enjoy watching them on repeat, quite as i do.

a seemingly perpetual, if not maybe eternal, question concerning The King, Elvis Presley and his relationship with the other Vegas stalwart, Mr Sinatra, is somewhat partially answered by Elvis : That's The Way It Is. this is a tacit, or otherwise implied, answer, and comes in the form of the presence of Glass Eye, himself, Sammy Davis jnr, being in attendance at one of the six performances recorded for the purposes of the documentary.

there is absolutely no way that Glass Eye, no matter what independence or freedom he believed he had, would be in the presence of The King, Elvis Presley if Mr Sinatra had expressed a wish that it was not to be so. it is how it all worked, to be sure. and it worked beautifully for all, so long as no one rocked the boat.

whereas Mr Sinatra was known to be not at all fond of this "rock and roll" business, he did have a strong, professional relationship with The King, Elvis Presley. to this end, thus spoke Mr Sinatra concerning The King, Elvis Presley -

"a warm, considerate and generous man"

there can be but few accolades or other such appraisals one could receive in life that would match having such praise placed upon you by Mr Sinatra. no one, i fear, shall ever speak such of me.

yes, another of them animated GIF things, in Commodore 64 mode, above, for you. that is indeed taken from the celebrated Aloha From Hawaii one. my DVD of it says it is the "special edition", but i do believe there is another, even more special "special edition" out there. i am certain i saw a variant where He, The King, Elvis Presley, arrives on a helicopter at the start. no such scene is on my disc.

would i purchase another copy of Aloha From Hawaii if i was certain that the second, additional copy had that scene in it? perhaps. to be honest, it is quite rare that i watch it, opting instead for the splendid ways of the Elvis : That's The Way It Is one.

actually, i've got the most excellent disc one of the most excellent Prince From Another Planet set on, featuring Him, The King, Elvis Presley, performing for the people of New York, i think. He is informing the audience, through the conduit of song, as is His way, that He has "never been to Spain". one tends not to hear modern musicians do that sort of thing, not that i particularly listen to such. well, why would i, when it is the case that i have ample recordings of The King, Elvis Presley to have on the stereo?

on a not entirely unrelated note, there is one splendid thing in Elvis : That's The Way It Is. well, no, sure, there are many splendid things in it, for i think He is off screen only for a few seconds. but, specifically, a segment of a show - when He performs Love Me Tender - is marvellous.

in His wisdom and His generosity, during the song The King, Elvis Presley wanders along the stage and around the audience, allowing (and remember this was the 70s so there was little in the way of crossover or that sort of thing) female members who so wish to do so to kiss Him, and gentlemen patrons to bow in His presence and shake His most noble hand.

there is, you would think, absolutely no way such would happen today. for a start, just which musician would command that kind of sentiment or wish for expression in an audience? exactly, none. also, even if there was, it would be a minefield of lawsuits, allegations and "public liability insurance" claims, whatever they are. for better or worse (yes, worse), we have created a society where things are simply not allowed to just happen as they are. i do suspect that He, The King, Elvis Presley, would be quite sad with the state of affairs of today, should he ever observe and comment on such.

i think that the animated GIF, in Commodore 64 mode, of The King, Elvis Presley, is the favourite one of the ones what i have made thus far. no doubt at some stage, should time permit and i remember, i will make more of Him, but for now this is my number one.

also, looking for words to fill in around all these pictures and animated GIF things what i have, the next image of Him, in Commodore 64 mode, to be sure, is a most splendid one and i am very happy with it.

if you took a moment to read the last bit of text then you may have observed that i appear to be a bit short of things to write. quite right. honestly as much as i would like to ramble on about His greatness, the purpose of all this is really just to admire Him, as presented in Commodore 64 mode.

there was just a lovely moment on this Prince From Another Planet disc what i am listening to. on it, He, The King, Elvis Presley, introduced the chap or if you like gentleman he had on stage whose sole purpose it was was to hand The King, Elvis Presley scarves and a drink of water as and when He wished for either. so, two sole purposes then.

as far as i am concerned, or aware, no musician in the present day warrants having such an assistant. if, for example, someone like that Ed Sheeran bloke said he wanted someone to be on stage to hand him water, he would probably get told to f*** off by the concert organisers, and rightly so. even if they agreed, who on earth would wish to do such a job? no one is in need of work that badly. why would anyone care if he was thirsty or for some reason required a scarf? 

not that i am picking on that Ed fellow. the same is true of all "modern", and i use the next word very carefully, musicians. they just do not have the stature, the class, the appeal or level of interest what one finds with The King, Elvis Presley, or indeed Glass Eye or Mr Sinatra, to mention them again. whether it is that Sheeran, or Mr Kim Kardassian, or that lad off of Detroit who seems angry with his Mum and doesn't quite grasp what retirement means, they are all interchangeable and perfectly disposable.

this is not at all like The King, Elvis Presley. it's not so much that we shall never see the like of Him again, rather we have built a word where the rise of someone so special and spectacular is now impossible.

which, i guess, makes it all the more relevant or important to cherish these images of Him, The King, Elvis Presley, in Commodore 64 mode.

another bit of animated GIF in Commodore 64 mode action of The King, Elvis Presley very much in action, doing his thing? certainly.

that is indeed off of the trailer for Elvis : That's The Way It Is, and captures one of my most favourite bits, when He goes off biking around the MGM studios. on a tandem, no less, with one of His people or associates or similar on the back.

well, that's that, then. undoubtedly at some stage i shall make more Commodore 64 mode images and animated GIF things featuring Him, The King, Elvis Presley. but perhaps i shall not add them all at once as was the case here. although this was far from being all the images i created.

hopefully you have found this to be all as splendid as i have.





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fight the future

heya

there are a number of questions which are recognisable both, look you see, by the nature of them and the frequency with which they are posed to me. one of the most intriguing and complex such questions is that concerning what exactly was happening on Saturday August 11 1985 at around 7pm. 

it's not really my place to question why someone would have such a question, for to respond to a question with a question is surely, if not certainly, rude. one really does wonder, however, as to why so many are fascinated by this matter. 

anyway, whereas i cannot answer the question (or resolve the query) complete, i can at the least account for certain aspects of it. 

yes, indeed. if for some reason you elected to stay home on the evening of Saturday August 11 1985 and were not particularly interested in either the left wing propaganda on BBC1 (or the aloof "arts" on BBC2), then chances are you were watching ITV, and watching Winner Takes All. although that is, of course, an abridged version of the title. back in the 80s it was more commonly, and affectionately known as Jimmy Tarbuck Presents Jimmy Tarbuck's Winner Takes All, Hosted By Jimmy Tarbuck.

was i one of the many watching this? i don't think so. to be honest, it sounds like the time of year when we might have been off on a family holiday somewhere. also, i never really took to Tarby as a Gameshow host. please, don't get me wrong - i am a strong advocate of the man and his vast talents. it was just i was always more interested in his pioneering, cutting edge stand up comedy work than his gameshow stuff.

speaking of gameshows, here, have a look at just how transient and progressive things turned out to be across the final 50% of the decade that was, or is, the 1980s.

yes, that's right, a Casio Pocket TV. that you could actually buy, as in go to a store and purchase (there was no real such thing as "online shopping" then) (except for catalogues and places what took phone orders). this advert was from 1989. quite remarkable, really. from what i recall the Casio Pocket TV was first introduced to the UK around 1985, but "not for sale". the only way you could obtain, or if you will attain, one was through the grace and generosity of His Greatness, the revered and treasured Jim Bowen, via the conduit of trial by darts and trial by temptation of greed on Bullseye.

delays in things existing and things being available to the general public are of course not the exclusive preserve of the final 50% of the 1980s. such things happened in the initial, or first, 50% too. as part of the total state control of all thought and all deeds of the people by the Thatcher government, as many things as possible which might let us, the commoners, the proletariat and other such discarded types, dream of or aspire to a sense of freedom, or a better life, were curtailed, banned and suppressed.

here was one of the more worrying examples of this in action.

indeed, that is Mr T's Christmas Dream, a documentary featuring revered raconteur and celebrated philanthropist Mr T spreading his joy and his dream across the people. this was first broadcast on 21 December 1985. it is important to remember this aspect.

Thatcher and her conspirators took one look at Mr T, as he was known, and his ideals of equality and all working together for a better life for all and did not like it. at all. this was why, up until late 1985, when the Conservatives sensed they needed some votes from the proletariat in order to maintain power, Mr T was kept well away from the British public, except for The A Team.

one of the most bizarre incidents on preventing the British people from knowing of the philosophy of Mr T came in the heavily edited original presentation of the documentary Rocky III. mostly the Conservative government of the 80s were most enthusiastic about commoners watching the Rocky documentaries, for they believed that they would encourage poor people to punch each other in the head, quite hard, in the hope of a better life, thus preventing them expecting the ruling authorities to do anything. but, this came to an end with Rocky III.

as many of you will be aware - we all are now, thanks to the uncensored version being freely available - Mr T featured in the documentary under his real name, Clubber Lang. Thatcher, or one of her conspirators, ordered the BBFC (who in fairness needed little encouragement to censor) to remove as much footage of him as possible. the result was that the first version of Rocky III to be screened in the UK ran for about 52 minutes. with Clubber Lang (Mr T) all but gone, audiences were confused by watching Rocky Balboa come out of retirement for no apparent reason, fall over in a ring and lose his belt for no apparent reason, homoerotically embrace and dance in the waves by the beach with Apollo Creed for fairly obvious reasons, then dance around in a ring and win his belt back for no apparent reason.

our friends in America were, of course, having no such nonsense. here, above, as you can see, they celebrated him. from what we understood off of television shows not censored by the Thatcher government in the 80s (both of them), absolutely everyone in America read this People magazine. quite impressive that it features the word "intriguing", as we were always assured that Americans had no time for such complex words, hence the James Bond film Licence Revoked having its name changed to Licence To Kill, with the justification being that American audiences "did not like complex words". a similar thing happened with one of them Harry Potter documentaries.

do we live in better or worse times? this really depends on what you want from life. sure, certainly and decidedly, our society is now one where Mr T is common knowledge, and one may speak freely of him in public without fear of persecution or arrest by the constabulary. there is a price for this, but i am not exactly sure what it is.

for some reason people believe that "the internet" only came about in the 90s. not so, we had it back in the 80s, and you did not require a computer to access it. also, as you can see below, it came with a quite useful and well organised directory, meaning no need or requirement for a "google" or other such rubbish.

sure, it was a fairly basic variant of internet. no, there were no downloads, "streaming" or, to be blunt, filth or disgusting things on it. but it was just as dynamic. also, if you wrote a letter to whoever was in charge of the internet, back when it had the much better, posher name of Oracle, they sometimes put it on one of the pages so many could read it. when they did do that, no newspapers or governments went off changing editorial policy or laws, making it somewhat more common sense than, say, Twitter.

would i like to return to the simplicity of the Oracle rather than the "internet" we have today? not really. i, honestly, really do appreciate the filth and disgusting things what the new one offers. but, i tell you what, the TV guide section what Oracle offered was way better than this "electronic tv guide" now on the go. faster, too. perhaps, or possibly, because there were less (fewer?) channels.

anyway, yes, by 1989, the barbaric, totalitarian Thatcher government had become aware of the fact that you can only beat people over the head for so long in order to maintain control. like the Politburo of the Soviet Union before it, they tried to save themselves by giving people "freedom". this ultimately meant that the Thatcher government sanctioned in 1989 what would have been unthinkable as recently as 1988 - members of the public were allowed to purchase and retain ownership of documentaries on video cassettes, in their own homes.

yes, one did not even have to leave their home to do this, except to go and post off the order form. of course, the documentaries one was able to purchase and own were heavily butchered and censored by the thought police of the BBFC, but every now and then some nudies were allowed to remain in place.

what three would i have ordered from the above, since it was get two free when you bought one? certainly Return Of The Living Dead, because then, as now, it is f****** excellent and one of my favourites, and Queen Greatest Flix for similar reasons. third, not sure. Terminator, perhaps.

but that was 1989. let us now return to 1985, so we may look forward to 1986. well, not we, as in the sense of you and i directly do so. rather more we look at what one of the more (in)famous soothsayers of the day predicted, via conjuring and the dark arts, would happen to each and every one and all of us.

the ceremonial show trials and subsequent burning of witches, charlatans, warlocks and so forth was pretty much eradicated by the mid 80s. i mean, yes, sure, it still happened (and does to this day happen) in certain villages and some communities, but for the most part the practice ceased. no, no altruistic or righteous reasons for the end of it; it was just that the Thatcher government determined that the cost of ritualistic burnings was higher than the benefit they got from their impact on suppressing the masses. 

how accurate was the predictions of the soothsayer Grant, one of the warlocks to take the most advantage of the policy of appeasement towards his type with his grasping of fame and celebrity status, in regards of me? i cannot say much for it might reveal personal information, so my answer is yes, no, maybe. also, i do not recall much of it.

did we feel like we could fight the future? i mean, when they stopped burning warlocks and mystics for their arts, were we compelled to take their readings, their findings and their charting of what was to come as the thing we had to follow? this is a most complicated question and, to be honest, i would rather you asked me another, easier one, like, for instance, the one about Tarby at the start.

one such fight that failed was the Christmas Hamper. this was a treat. in the above, Christmas 1985 is being used as the platform for we, the people, to start contributing and saving so that we may secure our hamper for twelve months forth. 

Christmas hampers were magical. they were filled with all sorts of stuff that you only got in them, and it really did make Christmas seem all the more a special time to be in. no, of course, the magic has gone. in our disposable society, there are no "seasons", or "times"; the relentless drive for instant gratification means that one can access anything at any time. which is useful, convenient even, but spoils the celebratory was associated with many such items. 

anyway, i really do not have any other thoughts or comments that i would care to share on any of these matters, for now at the least. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cricket closes

g'day

and so, as the sun sets sooner that one would wish to permit play for two innings in fair light, another cricket season has drawn to a close, look you see.

this, to be sure, means that summer is quite nearly at an end for us here in England, indeed the wider UK, and of course much or most of the northern hemisphere of this planet. or northern "half" for them of you what think for some reason the world is flat. bless all of you for what you believe, dig what you dig.

so, it has been a splendid season of cricket. this is true of both us and, i am led to believe, the English national side, who did really (or ever so) well against the formidable team representing India. i say "led to believe", because and but of course i, like many millions of others, was unable to actually see it, since the ECB grabbed all the money Sky could offer them and thus stopped anyone with any sense being able to watch. hey ho.

what's that, less of my commentary and observations, more of the cricket? certainly, here is a video to that effect.

indeed, James having a bit of a bowl. not a bad delivery at all, that. as point of fact, a rather splendid effort.

has it been a good season? pretty much yes. in every game of it the spirit and ethos of cricket has triumphed, so indeed that is great. also, James and his team won more games than they lost, i believe, and thus so much the better.

that is indeed James getting ready to bat.  the "profile" shot was the best i could do. he is now of an age where he is not all that keen to have his picture taken at all times by his Dad, in particular when he is out and about with his mates. i am "cramping his style", no doubt.

how about a nice bit of video of James batting, then? sure, that i can do.

yes, no mistake. that is indeed James striking the ball in a most splendid manner, sending it merrily on its way across the boundary line for a four.

someone somewhere this cricket season decided to embark on most peculiar advertising. whilst it was noble in intention, assuring all and sundry that everyone from all walks of lives were welcome to the game, the tagline "cricket has no boundaries" caused some comment. no doubt this seemed quite witty and playful to a power tie, horn rimmed glasses, braces wearing, cocaine snorting ponytailed mother****** advertising executive, but to the rest of the world - some 99.99% of the planet population - it just sounded like it was written by someone who did not understand cricket.

another picture i managed to grab of James, then, whilst his attention was distracted by, or drawn to, how his team were getting on.

but, you don't really want my waffle here, so here you go, a last video, another of James bowling. gee, cor blimey, wow, my comma button, on the keyboard, is getting quite a beating in this paragraph, and others.

did i manage to get a decent, face on images of James? one last one, for this season? yes.

well, then, that's that. i hope you, dear family and friends around the world, have enjoyed the updates from this season. should the passion for the game continue into next year, then tune in for more!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

more days

hello there


well, well, look you see. this could well be one of them is the glass half empty or half full things, to be sure. yes, quite right, it is calendar update time for all of you what for some reason rely on my blog to give you important, if not critical, date information.

you can look at this, well, in truth you can look at it however you want i suppose. but for those of you requiring guidance or a starting point, either you can lament that half of the days of the month (more or less) are gone, or you can be quite satisfied that a calendar is now in place to give you guidance for the days to come.

since it was so popular the last time i did it, here's a look at the Winnie The Pooh one for this month. as you can see, via the means of Commodore 64 mode, the bear one and the pig on out of the expanded universe of Winnie The Pooh are having a picnic of sorts, resplendent with a nice pot of tea.

indeed, this is quite timely seeing or considering a film ostensibly about the creator of Winnie The Pooh is now something you can watch. no, i have not seen it. also, no, so far as i am aware, bears and pigs are not usually or naturally friends. one really has to accept that the splendid world of Winnie The Pooh is not put forward as a factual documentary as such, but rather a pragmatic, partially metaphorical and sometimes whimsical glance at a philosophy of how society could operate, if only we had the political will to do so.

just a pause in this important, top level calendar business to give one of them "shout out" things to them what are south of the equator, for now they are in the vicinity of ice cream weather.

yes, indeed, that's Mum & Dad (or Dad and Mum in terms of the order seen in picture, should you be looking at it in a traditional way), enjoying copious amounts of ice cream.

undoubtedly Dad is, in particular, eating some to test the resolve and success of his beloved love bead toothpaste. indeed i have sent him several (actually i believe six) tubes this year, so he is reasonably well stocked. no, i have not done posts on the subject, for i really believe over the last 5 or so years there has been ample written in concern of how one sends love bead loaded toothpaste from one side of the world to the other.

for the purists, then, the usual Minecraft calendar glance for this month, being September 2018. as you can see, and again this is all Commodore 64 mode, depicted is the dude what one plays as in the game (i think) taking a bow and an arrow to some sort of villainous types who are holding up in what appears to be a skull looking fortress or other such bunker.

right, well, i rather suspect anything else that i added here would distract you from observing the dates on either calendar for this month and planning (or indeed plotting) actions to take. let me then leave this matter all here, and see if i can't get the October one up a bit earlier (if not a good deal) in the month it is relevant to, so as i may help you all out.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

better books

hello fellow reader


yes, indeed it does feel strange addressing you as a fellow reader when at this stage i am writing, look you see. but, presumably, you worked out that this is in reference or if you like relation to yet more books what i have read.

oddly, or to be sure with some curiosity, it's an old school style three book reviews i bring this time. although only two of them fall into the "better" category of the title. those of you who read these review musing things i do from time to time (and happened to have read the last one last month) will know the last two what i read were quite poor. happy days are here, then, for these ones were much better.

quite, yes, a look at (two of) the books what i have read, followed by something close to quick, spoiler free comments about them.

Blacklands by Belinda Bauer is one of the best, if most eerie and disturbing, books what i have read. not what i was expecting but most impressed with what i got. Artemis (pronounced "Artemis") would be the much anticipated second book off of Andy Weir, him what wrote The Martian. it kind of sort of delivers some more of the same in a slightly very much different way, and is just as wonderful to read as his famous debut.

the third book is not pictured here, so as not to desecrate the quality of these two. we will get to that in a bit. for now, though, please be so kind as to observe that a splendid *** SPOILER WARNING *** is in place, but of course i shall do my best not to give too much away. and, as ever, links are for your convenience, and are in no way, shape or form an endorsement or affiliation from me. i intend to keep this blog all ad and sponsorship free, so long as them what do the bloggger and the google allow me to do it all gratis.

starting where i did, then, would be to commence with Blacklands by Belinda Bauer. not a new books as such, what with it being published first in 2010. but, then again, a "new" book only really becomes an "old" book once you have read it, no?

provenance? provenance. no idea why this is so important to so many of you, but very well. from what i remember, £2 at Tesco when they still did the books cheap (i bought this a number of months ago). i tend not, however, to simply buy their cheaper on sale novels on autopilot. this one had an interesting and intriguing suggestion of a plot on the back, one which reminded me of aspects of Problem Child, a much loved film.

anyway, actual plot? sure. Steven is a fairly average young teenage boy. not too bright, not to dim, and a bit socially awkward. his life comprises of putting up with the domineering ways of his one good friend, avoiding the local bullies, and feeling a sense of sorrow, sadness and nothing being as it should be in terms of his relationship with his Gran and his Mum.

he stumbles on a well guarded family secret. Steven was supposed to have an Uncle, but he is missing, presumed dead at the hands of a serial killer. this all happened when the Uncle (Billy, i think) was the age Steven is now. and so Steven sets off to dig up the Moors where the serial killer buried his other victims. when he finds this quite tough going, he can think of no reason whatsoever not to write to the killer himself and ask for some help.......

this is dark and disturbing stuff, broken up at times with some wonderfully dark, macabre humour. i give you another warning on that front, but still i say this is one of the finest novels i have ever read. i mean, it's just plain brilliant. you feel all sorts of empathy, sympathy and what have you with/for Steven, and the nature of his plight really breaks your heart. all the young lad wants is for his Mum and Gran to at least stop begruding him or resenting him, at best he wants them to hold him, to love him. that's why he quietly and secretly goes about his quest, hoping it will put everything right.

i am not sure if i have said too much or too little with my account of Blacklands, in truth. my instinct is to kind of just leave it there as it is, now. there are warnings, to be sure, but if you are confident you can handle the emotional turmoil and upsetting content, then i would encourage you to go off and read it, as soon as chance allows or otherwise permits.

at the other end of the scale of that would be The Executioner - Chicago Wipeout by Don (pronounced "Don") Pendleton. from what i can work out this is or was book six or maybe seven in the Mack Bolan Executioner series.

provenance? charity stand at a supermarket, possibly Tesco. i think i paid 50p or £1 for it, really hope the charity what it went to got some benefit.

the plot? it seems this Mack Bolan goes from city to city around the world knacking any and all mob or mafia types he can find. in this case, and there is a clue in the title, he does it in Chicago. whereas the cover promised loads and loads of sex and violence, the actual book contained very little, at least in any graphic way. perhaps we in the UK got a heavily censored version of it; the book was published in 1973 when the government of the day was pushing for a return to Victorian values.

why did i read it? well, i wanted to take something away with us on holiday to read. i thought it would be a quick, short read, and it was. also, an awful one.

much happier reading times were to be had, then, with Artemis. if such a poncy, high brow "see i read this so i am not racist or anything no matter what i do because i read this" newspaper such as The Guardian can review it as "does for the Moon what The Martian did for Mars", well then i have no idea if anything i have to say is going to be of value.

provenance? Tesco, but full whack £4 for it, which is their premium or prestige price for a paperback. there was no argument from me, The Martian was such a brilliant read (and in fairness a fairly decent film version) that i wanted this one as soon as possible.

the plot? we, as in people, as in the humans of earth, have quasi colonised the moon (at last, maybe). this is kind of for tourist reasons, but mostly as it has turned out that manufacturing certain things (doing my best to avoid spoilers) on the moon in fact turned out to be the cheapest option. so yes, just like with countries on our very own planet, the colonisation of space is only likely as and when commercial reasons come to the fore and businesses may profit from such. don't blame me, that's the way our world has been made, and we all just stand by and accept it, do we not?

anyway, of course there's a working population on the moon. yes, indeed, they are normal, working people, with wishes to access certain things what are contraband or if you like illegal. getting such items in is tricky, but not impossible. Jazz, the protagonist and narrator of the novel, happens to be the best at this. And so she is a natural choice to turn to for an illicit attempt to disrupt business on the moon.....

this is all as wonderfully well written and engaging as The Martian was. let us not forget, dear reader, that The Martian was engrossing, entertaining and hard to put down stuff, even though the first 100+ pages were effectively all about farming. Artemis is somewhat shorter and more taunt, but the delivery is the same.

just as was the case with The Martian, Andy Weir takes a science fiction scenario that seems to be preposterous but makes it all vividly believable whilst keeping the science stuff down to a level that a simple chap such as i can understand.  no, i have no hesitation at all in recommending this one to anyone; it's a really fun and enjoyable read.

well, then, that's that. two most superb and splendid reads, and yet also one which was not really either of those but might have been.

let me get on with reading some more, then. as ever, hopefully this has been of some, if only the slightest, use to someone somewhere out there.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!