yet more new shoes

now then

well, as the post says, more shoes. indeed it has not been all that long since i last purchased a pair, look you see. however, i have managed to put a hole in the top of one of them (the right one, if of interest) and this, it turns out, has greatly undermined the scant waterproof qualities they had. now is not the time of year to be wearing shoes what get your socks wet, no matter what Traffic or Neil Pye have to say about it. 

at the risk of the accusation of being some sort of fashionista or trendy, yes, i went and bought some Nike ones this time. no matter what you may think, or "know as fact", the only reason for this was that they were the only ones which fitted me. and fitted exceptionally well. 

for purposes of complete disclosure, and surely all actual disclosure is complete or it is not disclosure as such, where was i, oh yes, these shoes (or trainers, or whatever people call them now) are of the named style "defy all day". no, i have no idea what it is i, or these shoes, shall defy all day, and i cannot find any documentation in respect of what they may do on a night. 

going on what it says on the label, and indeed how they look, it is the "triple black" style of this type of quality footwear off of Nike. i have never really considered it, but am now sure that Nike define a shoe as consisting of three bits, and in each instance all of them on this shoe are black. admittedly yes i did have a think about some what had a white bottom part (tread, i believe), but up to now my interesting three quarter life crisis has not delved so deep into insanity. 

size 13 for me, which apparently is a 14 in America. my feet would not be cursed with such an unlucky measurement if i were on the other side of the Atlantic, then. provenance is indeed Sports Direct, and once again quite the farce with price. as you can (vaguely) make out, they were "supposed" to be £59.99, but were rather clearly marked as £48. when i got to the till of course the price came up as a straight, if not flat, £50. briefly i remonstrated, drawing the attention of the cashier to the marked price. he consulted with a colleague, and they had a debate about "incorrect labels", and muttered stuff along the lines of how it was the "table stock only" which should be marked such, with the shoes stacked either next to or under the table being slightly higher. a few moments of this were enough, i just said f*** it and agreed to pay the £50, as i wanted/needed the shoes and getting the absolute f*** out of Sports Direct that bit quicker was easily worth £2.

just why does this keep happening at Sports Direct? i do find it fascinating that i always seem to get hit with these "unexpected" higher prices at the till, and would speculate i am not alone. could it really be their highly regarded, much admired owner loves "getting one over" people to that extent? had it been a case of the shoes being marked £50 i would have bought them anyway. baffling that they appear to relish, or get some thrill from, overcharging at the till. especially such a relatively negligible amount. 

indeed my preference would have been for further Sketchers, despite the fact that they don't seem to hold up at all well to a (lit) cigarette being dropped on them. sadly they had none of the "proper" Sketchers in my size, just those ridiculous "slip on" or "lace free" ones, which are slippers and i am not walking around the world in them. actually not buying Sketchers for a while may well prove a good idea. this little incidental no choice boycott might send a signal to them about the silly lace free ones, and teach them a lesson about using Jamie Redknapp to promote them. probably not, but still. 

don't really have that much else to say on the subject. have i done the size thirteen (13) shoe jokes? likely, but still, go on then. it is true what they say about men with big feet; we need big socks and big shoes. feel free to use that one in conversation. or just randomly fax it to people. 

if you were hoping for any sort of practical review then i suppose you haven't read many of my other posts here. the top bit is a leathery like (or leather) tough material. i am assuming this shall prove more resilient to a cigarette (or two) being dropped on it, unlike that mesh material on the other pair. 

right, let me go for a stroll in them. or just stand around looking all cool. 

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

roll 'em over the bridge

ow do

every now and then i get to do a sort of (kind of) tourist like thing when down in that there London place. mostly, predominantly (or even ostensibly) i am there for concerns of verk, look you see. at the least i am when not being struck by sleeping drivers. whilst not really there to take in the sights, once in a while there is an incidental possibility to do so. 

this very thing happened not so long ago. it was the early (ish) throes of October of this year (2024) when it was so that the only practical way to get somewhere for verk was via the historical site of Tower Bridge. well, not me as such, but my driver, or if you will co-pilot. just to be clear, all images and video (yes, we have got a video) were taken by moi from the safety of the passenger seat. 

had it been, or were it so, that you hoped for some sort of "proper" images and video here, well, no. i opted to use VHS mode for it all. this is how you would have captured the scenes of Tower Bridge if you were reasonably wealthy in the 80s, or at any point in the 90s when VHS cameras, or if you will camcorders, became more affordable. 

when one finds themselves in the south east area of London (innit), be it by choice, misfortune or a direct instruction, they become aware of just how difficult it is to get back across to the northern side of the river, as it is affectionately known, or the Thames. effectively to do this you must pay, be it cash, fines or a lot of time. one could use the celebrated dartford crossing, which costs money as it is a toll and takes you around the M25 to get somewhere. the blackwall tunnel is about to become a toll too, thanks to that awful mayor. an option for regular (as in not commercial) vehicles is something called the rotherhithe tunnel, but cross that in anything but a car and you get a fine. so, tower bridge it is. 

one suspects, if not fears, that restrictions and costs shall some come the way of tower bridge. that it is presently free of such suggests that the mayor has simply forgotten about it. with the heavy traffic on it as it is, and the likely increase in such from 2025 on, undoubtedly it shall soon have "structural damage", needing urgent fines and repairs (in that order). 

for those of you who really, really like moaning about the shocking state of London roads, hold on as there will be a bit more later. right now, though, some of that video which was mentioned. yes, of course it is all VHS mode. did they even do a Betamax camcorder? 

my experience of crossing tower bridge was more or less like that of doing a fairground or theme park ride. there was an hour or so of waiting to go on it (surrounded, of course, by impatient, ignorant and quite often entitled people), the experience of being on it lasts somewhere south of two minutes and one was left wondering if it really was worth the effort. the bridge, i suppose, was slightly cheaper than one of them rides, in coins of money terms at least. sat in that traffic is an hour i am not getting back, and is not really how i would have necessarily expected to spend such time. 

some of the lengthy delay was due to roadworks. these are a never ending thing in that there London. it is almost as if absolutely no one takes them to task, or has any sort of deadline in place. one really cannot blame them doing the work, for left unchecked why would one (anyone) not simply drag it all out forever and ever so as to ensure they perpetually got paid. from experience it is only them what do the actual job they are paid to do that get any attention, and then bewilderingly negative. 

a view of the Thames above, for you, then. this is (of course) off of the left hand side as one travels from south to north. west, i suppose, then. unless there is some backward thing and going south to north in this way meant i was looking to the east. don't think so, but bases covered if so. 

certain other things caused extensive delays to getting to the bridge and crossing it. one such matter was vehicles of a service nature parked here and there. a temptation exists to call them "ignorant, inconsiderate f***heads" and indeed people do this. however, presuming that people want their houses or things in them fixed and want deliveries (to homes or shops) they have to park somewhere, and of course no one has provided any space to do so. sure, some of the parking endeavours were based on pure selfish ignorance, or perhaps even spite, but not all. 

roughly three quarters of a million japanese tourists milling about the bridge certainly didn't help the flow of traffic. as is pretty standard for japanese tourists they all seemed mesmerised (or perhaps even hypnotised) by it all, aimlessly wandering in and out of the road, taking images on all sorts of devices. for all i know this is a rite of passage for japanese people; that they must contribute to the chaos of tower bridge at least once in their life and document such. this would certainly account for the roughly three quarters of a million japanese tourists staying at the same hotel i was in. 

what next for tower bridge? at least so far as vehicles go? i would not be at all surprised if the mayor of London announces a full tilt ban on all "commercial" vehicles, forcing them onto crossings which are well out of the way and are, of course, ones you have to pay to use. undoubtedly he will use his celebrated co-incidental interpretation of "science" to do it, rather than an actual, causal one. it shall not be a surprise if this is where he first introduces the "pay per mile" scheme everyone knows is his dream. a wish of many is that he would care a little less about milking motorists and a great deal more about concerns such as children stabbing each other, but they voted for him.

do i recommend, or suggest, going along to tower bridge? not really. well, if being in an overcrowded place and adding to existing chaotic confusion is your thing, off you go. also apparently if you are a japanese tourist this is a formality. essentially it's a semi-functional bridge and serves that purpose in a vague way, with it being a curiosity that it looks different from others. the actual Tower Of London thing near it is more than likely worth a visit, in particular if you are into history and such. 

by the way, if any sort of soundtrack struck you in the videos, what you are (or were) hearing is (or indeed was) Dead Against It off of David Bowie. should it be so that you've not heard it then i suggest you go and source a copy of the album it is off, The Buddha Of Suburbia, as soon as possible. 

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

blossoms before the cure, then

howdy pop pickers

well, what do you know. yes, i know the answer to that is probably more than me, look you see, but still. the last time i gone done a post on vibes was Now 18, and i rather foolishly said that it was rather unlikely for me to have any other new tunes before the much lauded return of The Cure. i at the time had no idea that i would take ownership of an album off of someone called Blossoms, something aided by the fact that i had not a clue they had a record out. or how many they have actually done. 

so, there i was, as usual (when chance permits) browsing the Oxfam music shop in Ealing. from time to time it is so that record labels (or their hired pluggers) drop off a few copies of a new release as a donation, for them to sell at whatever price they feel appropriate. which is exactly how i came to own the most recent Kaiser Chiefs album, before posting it on to Dad as he seemed rather keen on it. 

prior to picking up this tape (yes, for £1.99, which admittedly was the selling point) i don't believe i had ever knowingly heard anything off of them. quite likely that i have heard them, via the crime of listening to Zoe Ball every now and then. she will have had them on and been drooling about them as they are rather handsome lads and that's her way. beyond that my working knowledge of Blossoms would be that they did some covers of The Smiths songs with Rick Astley, and they are one of several bands enthusiastically lobbying to be on the support bill for the imminent Oasis legal costs tour. 

currently i have this tape (disc), Gary, on. it is quite likely the 10th time i have played it, since it's all of 30 minutes long, and i am not sure it shall ever be played again. this doesn't necessarily mean it is bad, just pretty meaningless and apparently designed, as is so much of this century i detest, to exist and be forgotten fast. 

my best possible description of this Gary album, and perhaps Blossoms all together, is that it is all surprisingly and remarkably anonymous. no, it's not the bland, beige, soulless stuff like what Coldplay and The Killers do, all designed just to fill stadiums. there's very, very clearly some talented musicians here, and some passion for great music. which makes it somewhat curious that it's all restrained, there's no risks, no exposing themselves (not like that), no saying much of anything. bar the titular track i suppose, which i believe references a stolen statue of a gorilla (or similar).

a bit of a strange phenomenon with the 30 minute (or half an hour) running time. whereas this length seems to be the "new normal", going on Kasabian and the previously linked Kaiser Chiefs records being of this same time, this feels longer. it's not like it is dragged out, it appears not to be as punchy or as free flowing as the other two. 

the best parts of this album (and i have no idea if this is standard for whatever else they have gone done) is when they sound quite like a breezy, whimsical Serge out of Kasabian on a particularly psychedelic day. nothing wrong with that, except of course we already have a Serge out of Kasabian what does that sort of thing. massive, huge alarm bells on the admittedly catchy song Perfect Me, where they appear to be trying to sound like ELO and Ringo Starr doing some generic thing that they know would sell plenty to people of a certain age and disposition. you are young lads, stop it. 

i find myself in a weird position here, as much of anything i can think of to write is going to sound like an attempt to knock them (or knock them more) where i generally have no wish to do so. again, there's clear quality, passion and talent lurking in this band, but they are flat refusing to let it come to the fore. my immediate comparisons are, oddly, Seven & The Ragged Tiger off of Duran Duran and Pop by U2. as in albums by bands who could and would do much better, but delivered what they could get away with when a foolishly planned release date was looming. 

oh dear, something called Cinnamon has come on. it's a nightmare flashback to all that quasi acoustic sh!t off of America which plagued the world around the turn of the century. it's even worse than that one where they try to sound like ELO, as much as that gets you Radio 2 airplay. 

yes, this album, Gary, is both the first and the last Blossoms album i shall ever own. i have every confidence they can do much, much better but i simply don't have the compulsion to explore. rather likely that the band shall survive just fine without my interest, which is a good thing. 

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

kind of sort of not bad

hello there

well, a bit of a rarity for me these days as chance allowed me to watch something on that Netflix thing. indeed i do pay for it, look you see, but as they have "locked down" stuff i leave the account for them at the house to watch whilst i rely on videos (discs) for the most part in my place of exile. so, for reasons i shall not disclose, time at the house meant that i got to watch Beverly Hills Cop 4, or as it appears to be called Beverly Hills Cop Axel Foley. 

again i am loathe to call anything of this nature what i write a "review" as such. presumably all that wish to see the film, or avoid it, will have comfortably done so without my input. but, for those in a rush and wishing to avoid "spoilers", it's enjoyable as far as being the ultimate personification of what they call "fan service", but overall deeply flawed and shockingly poorly made. 

by "fan service" i mean we are well and truly, somewhat unexpectedly, in Lethal Weapon 4 territory here. there's a vague, marginal plot, but overall the film is effectively a quasi reunion home video shot on the fly. happily, or luckily, all of the lead actors remain true to their characters as they are so fondly remembered (The Last Jedi this is not, perhaps there is a god) and so little of that matters. 

to pick up on the flaws is to nitpick, but here we are. firstly, the "plot", basically about police corruption. we, the audience, are expected to accept that Rosewood and Taggart would fall out over whether one high ranking copper (Kevin Bacon) is corrupt or not to the extent that Rosewood quits the force. if this is unlikely in the "Beverly Hills Cop universe" then it is all the more unlikely that Taggart would have not spotted the copper in question very much is corrupt, be it the expensive shoes or the fancy rolex watch giving the game away early doors. 

one early source of amusement is also a bit of a flaw. i am reluctant to say "plot hole" as that generally implies a plot exists to feature holes. most, if not all, of the opening credits are of Axel Foley driving around Detroit, being told to "f*** off" or "f*** you" by most of the city. yes, amusing, and a lovely self-depreciating touch by the affable Eddie Murphy, but it does somewhat undermine that his legend is that he's one of the best undercover cops the world has ever seen. 

for poorly made, well, i am not sure if it was all lazy or sloppy or everyone involved went "it doesn't matter, people will be thrilled to see the beloved characters and too busy laughing". in one of the earlier chase scenes, and there are many, a stunt double (or stunt actor) falls into a fountain. presumably they were supposed to look like they had been knocked in, or taken into it with momentum. nope, they just fall into it for no apparent reason. 

sadly this sloppiness (or what have you) quite ruins the return of Serge. it wasn't so long ago i rewatched the original, and my word has it held up well. of the many moments of genius in that film there was the perfection of comic timing. when, in the original, Axel said "get the f*** out of here" the split second Serge response of "no i cannot do that" was comedy gold. an attempt is made to recreate that, but there's too much of a gap between the two talking for it to work. rather deflating. 

it was somewhat disappointing to have, at long last, Kevin Bacon back in a major film title only to see his talents wasted. whereas in the original Steven Berkoff absolutely rose to the extremely well constructed part of the villain, Victor, here Kevin Bacon is expected to just stand around and be Kevin Bacon whilst everyone else gets on with whatever. 

but still i enjoyed it. Eddie Murphy, the now sadly late John Ashton and Judge Reinhold played their parts once more to perfection. so what at, if times, it was like watching some videos of them messing around? that's where a lot of the love for the original (and second one) came from. i would rather this existed than it did not, and would take the film all day every day over some dreadful remake. but no, rather unlikely i would watch it again. 

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

i was always looking left and right

now then

at the risk of indulging the theatrical, or even simply being disposed to the dramatic, that was something of a close call, look you see. in respect (or regards) of what was a close call, that would be finding myself, moi, being involved in a reasonably significant automobile incident. or a crash, to be sure. 

this happened not too long ago, at least in terms of time of writing. recently, even. for those hoping to learn of some physical harm to me, alas none was incurred. i was (perhaps to state the obvious) left in some distress, if it pleases you to consider me so. 

nothing has been confirmed (as such) but i suspect them what are responsible for the vehicle, as in whoever it is verk has handle such things, shall declare it a write off. to be fair my mode of transport had reached an age where they usually take it off the road. indeed i shall miss her, for in total we did enough miles to go around (circumnavigate, i believe the proper word is) earth just slightly north of ten times. we have had some quite jolly adventures. 

what, exactly, happened? i was driving along as usual when i noted the car going (or coming) the opposite way was weaving rather badly. mostly they were staying in their designated lane, but with nowhere to turn off (as such) i elected to keep as far to the left as possible. with left being the proper, correct side to drive on, no matter what the Americans or French think. as it turns out it was wise to do so, as they veered right into me, somewhat or contextually "thankfully" colliding mostly with the rear, or back, as you can see in the above. 

it is good to be able to advise neither of us involved were (physically) hurt or injured. quite the tank, my vehicle, and in general the safety of cars has advanced somewhat over the years. the police were in attendance relatively quickly, and the other driver admitted to them that they had fallen asleep at the wheel. my sense is that it would be inappropriate to comment any further. 

my main regret here, overall, is the "last song" played. obviously i had no idea that it would be the final ever (unless they deem it worthwhile to repair), but still i would have had a preference for something a bit cooler than Come Back And Stay off of Paul Young. oh well. 

since this blog is, after all, ostensibly called superstition is all we have left, it would be rather amiss not to give some consideration to the matter of a smashed mirror. the second mirror to get smashed on me during the year (2024) when prior to that i had experienced none. a question of "luck" is posed. from what i recall if you smash a mirror then seven (7) years bad luck is on the way. however, i didn't personally or directly smash either, yet i was the (ostensible) custodian of each. we shall see how all that sort of thing goes, then. 

yes, there is the temptation for speculation. had the collision been more to the front then it could have been all rather bad for me. but then had i not been there at all it's likely the car was heading straight into a house. so as to give a final thought, if you feel for any reason that you are in no fit state to drive, please give thought to not driving.

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

eighteen now

howdy pop pickers

so once again it's so that there's been a re-issue of one of them Now That's What I Call Music sets. in this instance, as the title suggests, it's number 18, look you see. no, i had no idea it was due to come out, and yes there was something of a sigh when i saw it on the shelf (Morrisons, i believe) for there was every sense of resignation about me purchasing it. 

from what i recall these re-issues, or in several cases released on CD for the first time ever, all started with them issuing (and this was the first official instance of it) the first one as a sort of quasi commemorative thing when volume 100 came out. they appeared surprised that the re-issue of the set, featuring actual, proper decent music, very nearly outsold the new release. on they have gone to issue all of the early ones, then, and not without controversy, since they have omitted certain tracks and used the wrong versions of others. 

my intention was to stop buying them at volume 6, with 4 being my all time favourite and the sixth one being the last one that i remembered in any fond or positive way. but they kept coming out, and so then i was certainly only going to get them up to 10, and definitely stop once the sets had finished off the last bit of the 80s. and yet here i am with Now 18, which covers (roughly) summer to autumn of 1990. 

as it turns out this set has been mostly a pleasant surprise. my memories of the early 90s music scene are of it all being somewhat dire, with it only really picking up (and then some) 93 onwards. so finding a reasonable amount of high quality tunes here was a delightful revelation. 

best of what's on here? no, i can't be bothered to check what's been omitted on this one. quite tricky to pick the single best single on here, but in a refreshing change it's likely that it will reside on tape (or disc) two. on that one you find both So Hard off of Pet Shop Boys and a remixed, jazzed up Close To Me off of The Cure. in respect of the latter, cannot for the life of me recall why this got reissued in 1990. 

going back over to tape (disc) one and there's some singles many would, from personal preference, suggest are even better. like, for instance, Sacrifice off of a pre-knighthood Elton John, Nothing Compares 2 U off of Sinead O'Connor, There She Goes off of The La's and It Must Have Been Love off of Roxette. and then back on tape (disc) two there's Tom's Diner off of Suzanne Vega and DNA. i believe i am correct in thinking that's the very same diner that featured in Seinfeld, and also this was the song used to perfect (or test) the creation of the mp3 format. 

how much rubbish is on it? not as much as you might think, or i feared. the two worst songs, ones off of MC Hammer and Jimmy Somerville, are right at the end of tape (disc) two and so very, very easy to avoid. something called Megamix off of Technotronic is easy to skip, and one can always pop outside for a cigarette or make use of the bathroom whilst Anniversary Waltz by Status Quo plays. 

easily the most absurd thing here is the "remix" of Englishman In New York off of that [text removed on legal advice] Sting, which is effectively just the original and they have had Ben Liebrand throw some out of place drum samples and what have you over it. for fun there's also Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini off of someone called Bombalurina and, most importantly, the much loved Timmy Mallett. it's a lovely reminder of a time when fun and novelty records had a lot of talent and effort invested in them, rather than have some complete and utter [text removed on legal advice] simply shout "sausage rolls" over a record. 

other highlights include one from Betty Boo, who for modern readers was a lot like that Meghan Trainer (or whatever) on the go these days, doing fun, infectious pop tunes. also Kylie with Step Back In Time, which is another top pop tune. 

not really sure how many of these "re-issues" they can possibly keep doing. at £8 a go i will, probably, end up getting what they care to release. once they get into the 20s, however, they are in a territory where one can with some ease pick up the original issues (very) cheap at charity shops or flea markets. 

right, well, i would (reasonably) expect the next vibes related post to be when this new album off of The Cure turns up. a few weeks to go before that, though, so you never know. 

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

here i am, not quite dying

hello there

my wish was to commence this with a greeting in belgian. the reason for this shall make sense as we go, if you keep reading, look you see. alas, the more widely used variant of dutch flemish translated as "hallo daar" and that just didn't seem appropriate.  

few, if any, will believe this, but i did not intend to write quite so many bits on cigarettes here as i apparently have done over the last few months. indeed it is so that smoking is not clever, quite likely as bad for you as they make out, don't start, quit, etc. leaving that aside, i do indeed smoke (sorry), and when some new (to me) cigarettes come along, well, what else would i write of? 

in this instance, i had an ambassadorial like (or esque) visitor off of that there belgium recently. they were so kind as to enquire as to if there was any item of belgian provenance that they could bring over me, and i said yes, very much so, some of them far (or rather considerably) more better and reasonable priced cigarettes what they have over there. 

and so it was that i got to experience, or try (or if you will smoke) some cigarettes called Next, or to be specific Next Original, as you can see in the above image. not sure if they are specific (or even unique) to belgium, but so far as i am aware it's a brand i had not heard of before. yes, probably, being presented with (or facing) some new cigarettes should likely have prompted me to quit instead, but no.

how are they? really, really good. on lighting one up, the first one (at least), i was rather taken by the full, rich sense of a smack they gave me. perhaps they are allowed to use all sorts of smart stuff in the making of them over there, or maybe they use a different (likely better) blend of tobacco. whatever is behind the improved taste, my goodness it works.

pictured above is some warning that i cannot understand, along with the price. yes, indeed, these cost a mere €7.50, which is around £6.50 in actual, proper, real money. this translates (at the moment) as roughly half the cost of legally purchased cigarettes here in the UK. cheers for that. soon these shall seem even cheaper, for our recently elected, demented, train driver loving government shall no doubt quite soon push the taxes up even higher. as they have already set out an ambitious plan to kill as many of the disabled, the elderly and children as they possibly can this winter i do wonder why they don't encourage smoking too, since death is what they patently do. 

just a quick throwback to the last thing i wrote on cigarettes in case you missed it, or have some interest in such things. once again, for those who berate all things "brexit", pretty much  all Cameron and his cronies needed to do was to make an unbreakable pledge to reduce the price of cigarettes to the same as one finds across the EU and he would have likely bribed enough of us to vote for what he wanted. no, he elected to simply threaten us instead. 

obviously i cannot disclose too much about why, exactly, i held a meeting with a (kind of) ambassador from belgium, but no harm can come from sharing the official press release picture. more of a "G2" sort of meeting rather than a full tilt "G7" one, i suppose, but note this does not mean that i presently recognise belgium as an actual, proper country. 

to tie in with all that "Brexit" and "EU" business, a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one was to see familiar warning images on the packets of Next cigarettes. some of you shall recall that, at the absolute height of their pettiness, the EU declared it "illegal" for the UK to use their cigarette warning pictures after "Brexit" was complete, with a tacit threat of war if we continued to use them. more on this subject can be found here, and overall i suppose it's nice we declined to fight to use them. 

indeed it may very well be so that i do go to belgium, irrespective of whether it's a proper country or not. were it so that i was to go then i would probably expect to be purchasing a few more of these cigarettes, what with them being very pleasing and sensibly priced. likely i shall do other things whilst there, but that's not important right now. 

so far as i am aware it shall be just the regular, (ahem) independently procured cigarettes that i shall be using for the remainder of the year that is 2024. unless something like death happens, or i consider it a good idea to quit. one is just as likely or plausible as much as the other. 

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

the substance

greetings

blimey, a fifth (5th) cinema trip it was this year, then. that is, i think, more times than what i have been to the cinema in the last five, possibly ten years, look you see. all down, i guess, to the convenience of being able to walk to one. that and the price being agreeable. 

in this instance i went to see, as i think i alluded to hoping to when seeing the trailer before Alien Romulus, one called The Substance. much like that film i feared that i might have missed the opportunity to see it at a cinema, but also merrily such fear was incorrect.

for those in both a rush and keen to avoid 'spoilers', i am delighted to say overall it's a really, really good film, if not for the squeamish. the unusual pacing makes it feel needlessly long in all the wrong places, but overall worth the investment of your time. not really sure if all them awards, like the Oscars, are actually still valid, but if they are i would expect Demi Moore to be a very serious contender for recognition. horror films have not done that well with awards, at least not since the magnificence of the silence of the lambs demanded recognition, but she truly is breathtakingly brilliant here. 

a splendid *** SPOILER WARNING ***  is now in place for the remainder of this post. not just for details of the film but also there's the obligatory, needless and indulgent selfie at the end. 

plot? essentially (or effectively) a spin on Wilde's The Picture Of Dorain Gray, but with an obviously modern setting and of course a rather more hetero slant than that particular writer would have considered. in the film, acclaimed actress and tv celebrity Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is greeted on her 50th birthday with news that her tv show has been cancelled, with that information being delivered by the sleazy producer (a very much on form Dennis Quaid). after a mishap (which is some brilliant shock cinema) she is offered the chance to try "The Substance", a mysterious process which allows her to "be" a better, younger self on a seven day cycle. she gives it a go, and does indeed give birth (ahem) to Sue (Margaret Qualley), with them being under strict instructions to switch roles (as it were) every seven days.......

you can probably guess how that switching goes. well, if it was all smooth and as planned then there would not be much of a story, would there? 

to answer the question anyone would have of me of any film i watched, mindful of my main interests in selecting a film, oh goodness me yes, there's lots of nudies here. more than i was expecting, really. this was very welcome indeed, but not the only reason i was taken with the film. as i mentioned before, Demi Moore is exceptional here. essentially, or at heart, this is a "shock gore" film, but with superbly written parts which are, on the whole, performed superbly. 

flaws in the film? pacing, really. it runs for somewhere north of two hours and it really, really has no need to in terms of the material. in no way am i inclined to say i somehow "know" better than those who make films, but at times it does feel like certain aspects of the story are needlessly drawn out, and then you get some bits that are fascinating yet feel weirdly rushed and condensed. dear me, writing that gives me the sense that i might be writing an actual, proper review. 

going into the film knowing nothing other than the trailer made it look f*****g scary (which it was) meant i knew nothing of the development or making. it was with some sadness, then, that after seeing it i learned that Ray Liotta was originally to play the Dennis Quaid character. Quaid is outstanding and delivers an amazing performance, it's just sad to be reminded that another great is no longer with us. 

just to be clear, when i say gory i really mean gory. no, not (so much) the selfie above, but the film itself, The Substance. at times i was inclined to momentarily look away, to be honest. but of course soon returned focus. i was not alone in the cinema taking this approach. perhaps i am finally getting too old for such things, but then again isn't it lovely after all these years of watching gratuitous depravity they can still make films which make me squeamish.

seeing an unexpected number of films released this year shall make it a bit of a challenge when i come to determining which was "best". i suspect, up to now, Civil War remains at the top, but this would be a very close second. yes, mostly (to say it once again) for just how extraordinary a performance Demi Moore delivers in the film. 

do i have plans for yet more cinema visits? oddly the trailer for a new one with Hugh Grant, i think it's called Heretic, looked quite class if a little contrived. if chance permits, i shall go see it. and oh, by the way, indeed it was that rather good Ealing Project cinema where i went and saw this one. 

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

car wash returns

hello there

indeed it has been quite some time since i have, perhaps inexplicably, documented my making use of a car wash facility. this is with good reason, look you see, but let me save that particular text for later, so as to pad this out somewhat. 

once again i am baffled as to why anyone would wish to look at a post of this nature. for whatever reason, however, these posts (on car wash stuff) seem to get a lot of "hits". so far as i am aware i write this, the whole blog, for my own amusement, but if passing strangers find some of it interesting then so much the better. 

yes, as you can (most probably) determine anyway, i went with the "thermal" camera approach for it. i do indeed very much miss the great days of Commodore 64 mode, but it just doesn't work on whatever version of whatever phone i have. so many times in this peculiar century technological advances appear to take us backwards and limit rather than go forward and expand. Orwell would indeed have much more to write of than he ever feared. 

as to why there's been no car wash updates of late (or for a bit), mostly it struck me as unwise to do so. there's a bit of a story here with much of it, alas, i can't really divulge. perhaps it would be prudent to say that them what are responsible for my vehicle being in tip top condition have an as yet unexplained score to settle with me. which is why for three (or so) months i had a (vaguely legal) temporary side mirror in place; the sort that is mostly tape based and unlikely to fare well in a car wash. 

some video for those of you what like that sort of thing, then. yes, that's the video above. i went with VHS mode because why not. actually i think there's a way to do video with both the thermal and, if we are honest, mostly disappointing psychedelic app things i have. up to now i haven't really been inclined to experiment with either, although now i think the thermal one might make some quite class videos. 

how did it feel? i mean, going and using a car wash after so long? not as exciting as you may presume. it's a necessary thing i suppose, and it was a bit of an irk in life not to have been able to use one for a while. satisfactory, mostly, would be the answer. that said it didn't clean up my vehicle quite so much as i would have expected for the fee (just south of £5), but as it was not for me to pay then i cannot complain too much about it. 

there's the big floppy wet brush thing going past what is the passenger side of the vehicle for those living in countries where they drive on the proper side of the road. undoubtedly our friends in America, Germany and that lot in France will be confused. yes, that is a collection of cassette tape shaped air fresh things what i have on the go. no idea what they smell like, or if they actually enhance the scent of the vehicle, i just think they look good. 

now that i have armed and fully operational mirrors all around, or at the least ones which (the evidence to hand suggests) can survive a car wash, yes, i will be going to one again. quite likely sooner than the unexpected time between the two most recent visits. perhaps i shall use a different facility next time, see if that doesn't do a better job. 

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

on the stereo

howdy pop pickers

well, two (2) new albums up for a look at here. no, not just one, nor as many as three or any number what is higher. yes, normally i would do this sort of thing on an individual basis, as in a post for each. alas, i have something of a temperature, look you see, and doubt much that i could concentrate for a prolonged period. also, it kind of makes sense to pair these up, very much equally to how it kind of does not make any sense at all to do so. 

there would be little (or no) value in me trying to do proper "reviews" anyway. for a start i am not sure i am any good at such, but mostly in this era of disposable i would take as a given that anyone who wished to hear these albums has already done so. going on the basis that nobody i know is particularly interested in anything that i think about anything, maybe a decade or so from now a stranger shall stumble on this, read it and go "oh". or something. 

between the end of August and mid September i came to own the tapes (discs) of Wild God off of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, along with The Death Of Slim Shady off of Eminem. for those who know me, whether they care to confess to that or not, the latter would indeed be a surprise, as i have never been overtly keen on him. well, things change, and not just because of my current three quarter life crisis, although the way i feel momentarily it might be ambitious to say that i am as early in the journey as 75% done. let's not worry about that. 

despite there being no formal (or decent, central) source of music news no more it was so that i was vaguely aware of Eminem releasing a new album. i think my thoughts were mostly along the lines of oh, right, another return from retirement, then. again, i really don't follow him much, but have some notion in mind that he retired, returned and then retired again. this cycle he has done at least once. 

how i became aware of the details of the release is down to a colleague and, if i may, good friend. they were considerably more interested in whatever Eminem did than i was. it was so, though, that he was curious as to just how fast i would work out which song he (Eminem, not colleague/friend) had sampled or otherwise utilised for the lead "single", Houdini. yes, it took barely a few seconds to observe (or rather hear) that it was Abracadabra off of Steve Miller Band. listening on, though, i was delighted to hear that it was both a really good song and really really f*****g funny. 

i am a custodian of a copy of the tape (disc) of The Death Of Slim Shady thanks to my colleague and friend. he was so taken that i was so impressed with that one tune he insisted on getting it for me. and yes he bought a copy for himself, despite being of the era where streaming is "the norm". 

mostly, or for the most part, i've not paid all that much attention to whatever Eminem has done over the years as little really resonated with me. oh, fear not, i have every confidence that he's coped ever so well with me not being too bothered. certainly i can appreciate the talent and understand what he's saying, it's just not been "me". this one is somewhat different, though. often i have written of how i don't care much for this century and don't understand it. apparently Mr Eminem considers quite a lot of what's going on with this century entirely f*****g stupid, and so off he goes to "dis" it, or antagonise it as much as he can. well worth supporting, especially as the "death" would mostly seem to be as much to do with retiring a persona as it is, encouraging if not daring, to get the world to "cancel" him. 

as far as i am concerned this album is free flowing genius. not for everyone, of course. i am guessing i have missed out on something (or simply forgotten controversies) but Christopher Reeve and people what are shorter than average (referred to on the album as "midgets") appear not to fare well. still, he appears to have an inexplicable fondness for Tobey Maguire, which is nice. 

up above you can see the initial chart position for the return of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with the album Wild God. that's quite impressive, considering that the long planned release date for the record turned out to be the week what Oasis (or related divorce lawyers) announced a reunion. so yes, three of the four placed above were taken by, via streaming and an anniversary re-re-release, Oasis tapes. circumstantially and for someone who is peculiarly niche in appeal, that's impressive. 

of all the records known to be coming out in 2024 it would be extremely fair to say that this was the one i was most excited about. if it is so that people over 50 remain allowed to get excited. looking forward to then, or anticipated greatly. whilst my much vaunted "album of the year" is not a given for it, the record has certainly not disappointed and has definitely delivered. 

hard to believe, what with the vagaries of time, that it's now three (3) years since i got to see Nick Cave live and in concert. there is a great temptation to go and see his (at time of writing) imminent tour in support of this album, but mostly (and yes possibly irrationally) i fear the disappointment of the experience not being the same. sometimes it is better to clutch to what was than risk reaching for what might be. 

do i have anything to say of the actual tape (disc) of Wild God? well, here's where i am intimidated, but not in a bad way. just what words can i use as a description of the genius words flowing from Nick Cave? it's all one would expect from an album he deemed essential to gift to the world, yet all at once a fresh revelation. darkly witty and macabre, as sacred as it is profane, immersive as in one experiences it rather than just "listens" and, ultimately, beautiful. 

my suspicion would be that all who(m) wish to hear from Nick Cave bought this new recording the week, if not the day, it was released. should you be reading this many years from now, in some sort of perverse society where the genius of Nick Cave is not spoken of daily, then do seek this out. 

so far 2024 has been really, really good for new vibes, man. that's excellent, and that's also without me troubling myself with whatever it is a Beyonce, a Swifty, an Ed Sheridan (or whatever) or a Coldplay actually do. from memory i don't think i have heard as many good "new" albums in one year since that strange era of 2016. more is yet to come, with The Cure having a "long awaited" record soon. not sure how excited i am about that, but still. oh, of course i like them, but also i don't think i have really been too taken with any record of theirs since the masterpiece that remains Disintegration. 

highly unlikely any of this has been of much practical use, but all the same, hopefully one or two of you found something of interest. thanks, as ever, for reading. or just looking at the pictures. 

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

neither recent nor american

yeehaa folks

blimey, October already. we are thus truly in the realms of the business end of this year, then, what with months now measured in double digit figures. low double digit, look you see, but low all the same. for those what do all finance and business stuff, a life i am now (relatively) free of, indeed you may refer to it now being the "final" or "4th" quarter of the year. actual year, of course, and not "fiscal", which for some obscure reason works different. yes, indeed, i am sure our governments and other forms of grown ups know precisely what they are doing with that. 

anyway, the business end of October (see what i did there) brings with it Halloween. no, not the film of that name, but the date it is marked. my plan was to post this on the day (or close enough), but what the heck, let's get this cleared up here and now. or on the day if that is when you read this. 

every year, without fail, a whole load of people here (England, or the wider UK) decide to spout off about how ridiculous it is that "we" go ahead and "do" Halloween. fair enough view if you don't particularly care for it all. usually, though, their argument stems not from any personal contempt or disdain, but from the belief that it is "only recently" we have (for want of a better term) celebrated all things Halloween, and then only because of the proliferation of American influence on our world. neither of these arguments are true, and thus not particularly valid. depending, i suppose, on how flexible one wishes to be on "recent". 

up there above these words is a picture of myself (at the back) with my rother and sister. this shall be from the late 70s or, at the latest, 1980. it cannot be 1981, for we would all have been resplendent in summer attire for the season of October in Australia (g'day). you in all likelihood do not need me to point this out, but indeed we are wearing (quite dapper) Halloween hats. doing all of that "trick or treat" stuff, and spooky things, was very much a thing before "recent", thanks. 

i would presume (or suppose) the idea of Halloween somehow being an "American" thing is because of just how big a deal our friends across the pond make of it. being secular means they don't particularly do "the biggies" we do (Easter and Christmas) on a national level, and so they make a fuss over other dates, such as Halloween, their Independence Day, Thanksgiving and that Superbowl thing. indeed they even refer to Halloween as a "holiday", despite them not getting what we call a public holiday for it.

we do (sadly) have many things here which are a direct and overt influence from America. many of them are ones which we could do with getting rid of. not an exhaustive list, but the idea of having someone celebrated for incompetence in charge of government is one we would be wise to drop. then there's those calling to "defund" various things, which don't work the same as they do in America. my personal pet hate is how people now refer to "seasons" of a tv show, when for decades we managed rather fine with (correctly) calling them "series". squirty can cheese, stabbings and all sorts of things like that are matters which would probably have been left on the other side of Atlantic. if anything, though, it's them what borrowed Halloween off of us, with them (admittedly) jazzing it up a lot.

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

pager

ahlaan bik

yes i do, believe it or not, appreciate that this should perhaps not be the main thing to take away from recent news. equally it is true that i can stand accused of being "inappropriate" here, look you see. such allegations are not new and also not entirely denied. but all the same, i was rather fascinated to note in the news the return of the pager, if not (quite) for the intended use. 

when had i last considered, or thought of, a pager? not for a few decades, i would think. once the mobile phone became profligate the device so treasured by those wishing to appear important became as redundant as it did obsolete.  yes, it has been fun explaining the basic idea behind a pager to those of the generation of this century. 

for those of you baffled (or just curious) as to what a pager was (or "is"), well it was like a sort of radio or whatever thing, long before we had constant communication, where you could alert someone of presumed importance when they were required urgently. 80s and (very) early 90s films were littered with doctors, lawyers and such that had them, with a bleep on their device (often attached to their belt) saw them rushing off to a payphone to get the message someone had left. 

thank you for the picture

as far as i am aware the only people i knew what ever had a pager were Spiros and his brother. no, i am not sure what level of importance they felt they had to need one, but have one they did. from what i can remember i left the odd "f*** off" or similar message for Spiros to call and hear, whereas i treated his brother to aspects (or elements) of really, really bad songs that were on the radio. don't think i ever saw anyone actually get a pager "bleep" and need to rush off for an emergency or what have you, which speaks volumes of any limited social circle that i have held. 

how likely are we to see a revival of the pager? not at all. if anything it will be that the most recent news events will simply see all existing pager technology (or use) banned, because them in power just love to ban things as it's a way of showing they are "doing stuff" and an easy flex of control. quite a shame, really, as it's been a lovely reminder of a time when we did not feel obliged to be in touch and contactable at all times for anything, with sufficient means existing to reach someone in the instance of an unfortunate, extreme emergency. 

still, it would be nice if this heralded a return of other now obsolete forms of communication. 

thank you for the picture

realistically, if not essentially, we should be embracing the simplicity, the efficiency, the accuracy and the relative privacy of the fax machine. as i have commented on before, though, the world is trying to get rid of them all. no one has ever caused mayhem by pressing "reply to all" on a fax, and nor has anyone ever accidentally sent esoteric pictures to their mother via a fax machine. deliberately, perhaps, but this is not important right now. indeed it was quite class to phone someone from a fax machine and hear their distress as they just heard a whole load of electronic waffle.  

no, i never did have a pager myself. despite the obvious risks to them, yes it is (reasonably) tempting to maybe get one now. as far as i am aware you can't actually get them off of any provider here in the UK these days, and it might look suspicious if i started going around making enquiries. 

the only "legacy" form of communication we  appear to retain is the written, posted letter. even then it's very much the case that Royal Mail and/or the Post Office here in England are trying their absolute best to stop people using that too. perhaps not, but we may come to regret letting go of perfectly fine means of correspondence for "better" technology. 

תהיו מצויינים אחד לשני!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cinema again

greetings

well, how about that. i have made a 4th (fourth) visit to a cinema this year. yes, the very same cinema in each instance, look you see. i would not care to call such a number of visits "unprecedented" entire, but it does somewhat feel like it's the most i have been to one in one singular year so far this century. depending on where i am and what comes along who knows, a fifth is not out of the question. 

but, presumably, you are not interested in the above. quite (as in very) likely you have no interest in anything here, which would prompt the question why read. on the off chance it's to see what i watched and if it was any good, that would be Alien Romulus and yes, it was really good. 

for those who absolutely feel that such should always exist, please note there's a ***WARNING*** in place for the rest of this post. not just for "spoilers" but also a selfie. yes, of moi. 

plot? well, it's an Alien film, so yes, humans (once again) manage to (knowingly or otherwise) let an alien loose amongst them and all mayhem breaks loose. in this instance we find a group of people mining on a planet on behalf of the Weyland-Yutani group, technically "employed" but apparently unable to leave, except via death. unexpectedly a (seemingly) disused space station comes into the oribit of this planet. so, off they go to it to "borrow" cryo chambers which shall enable them to fly considerable distance to unemployment or, if you will, freedom. except the space station is perhaps not as disused or empty as it appeared..........

should some elements of that description sound "a bit" (or a lot) like the original Alien film, well, yes, i got that sense. especially when a "cameo" of sorts happened. to be honest a lot of the first 20 or so minutes of the film felt somewhat pedestrian, until it became clear it more or less existed just to set a premise that made the film not a totes remake. familiar enough to be comfortable and thus avoid any needlessly length set ups of what an alien is, yet more or less its own thing when it gets to the business end. 

once more it was off to the Ealing Project, then. lovely cinema. my hope was to have gone on a Tuesday, as they do a (quasi) half price thing. alas, a Thursday (i think) it was, and i discovered they were having a "September sale", with all tickets £6 (plus booking fee). perhaps i should have shared this somewhat earlier in the month. anyway, i believe a "regular" diet coke zero thing (they did not have regular, or "full fat" as it is now bewilderingly called) and modest (small) popcorn was just south of £9. i could get a specific number, but that would mean looking at my bank account and i have no wish to trouble myself with such things this side of payday. 

in respect (or regards) of how full the (early evening) screening i went to was, it was not. whilst i didn't sit and count i believe there was only another half dozen or so people in. doubtful that this could count as any sort of gauge for "box office", as it was a good three to four weeks after the film was released. so far as i am aware it has been a success, but then more and more are waiting for "streaming" services to show them the films they want to gone done see. 

and that, in this instance, is a great pity. just as Civil War really benefitted from the full tilt cinema sound system, Alien Romulus created one hell of a terrifying, claustrophobic experience on the big screen. at home i imagine this will simply seem "exciting", no matter how good the set up this is. over the course of this last year i have kindly been reminded of just how formidable the cinematic experience really is. well, when one sees "proper" films, and not all just these generic "expanded universe" comic book or superhero ones, all of which seem to be made with a sense of being for home viewing anyway. 

to give some sort of abstract "ranking", this one (Alien Romulus) sits right behind Alien and Aliens, and above Prometheus which to my surprise has aged rather well. indeed Alien 3 in any version shall always remain bottom (or worst); even below any Alien vs Predator complaints. should you be looking for a sort of recommendation, oh yes, see it if you can if you have not already. 

just the one disappointment - they had a trailer for Gladiator 2. it looks absolutely f*****g awful, and it would seem the trailer gives you any twists and all of the ending. should have gone with the Nick Cave idea for it. that said, The Substance with Demi Moore looks boss, hopefully i can see that at the cinema too. 

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