lynx unity reimagined under renewed review

greetings

it feels like quite some time since i did a review (or what have you) of any sort of lynx deodorant, or fragrance or body spray or whatever they call it now. yes, look you see, i am going to do that thing i do whenever the subject is lynx and declare that i am full tilt aware the branding (or name) of it in certain parts of the world is "axe". 

somewhat unusually it is so that, as the title kind of suggests, i am revisiting one of their vast, diverse range. just slightly south of six years ago (!) was when i first encountered the "unity" style, although it was packaged (branded) quite differently. you are welcome to have a look at the post i did then, which can be achieved by clicking here. 

once again i also further declare that yes, i am (quite) aware of the target market for any lynx (and presumably axe) product is feral teenagers, with the idea that the scent enables or encourages them to be drawn together for quasi mating / breeding purposes. generally it is so that no one over, say, 15 or 16 should be wearing (or using) it, but alas i have not found a "grown up" one that i like. not that i particularly care for all of the lynx ones, with "gold" being my go to. 

looking back on my post (and it is indeed rare that i read my own stuff, no idea how you lot all manage it) and it would seem that in the first instance lynx, with "unity", were rather keen to latch onto all of that "gender fluid" market. whereas then they used "unity" as meaning boys and girls could use it, which doubles a demographic for sales quite nicely, now it's all trying to sell to that mysterious LGBT+ market. to that end, there's a "helpline" number on the tin. not exactly sure what help they offer, or in respect of what concern, but i do happen to know, much to the chagrin of Spiros, it's not a sort of impromptu service dedicated to helping gents find similar minded gents. 

whilst it would be a bit too much to suggest (or declare) the above image as being one of the "lamppost of lesbianism", it all the same feels quite apt to share it here in this post. i must confess it had never occurred to me to use the phrase "sucks fanny" as an insult or in any disparaging way, but here we are. by the way, as usual, for our friends in America, fanny does not mean what you think it does in this instance, and you are using the word all horrendously wrong. 

how does this lynx unity smell? well, on the tin it implies the fragrance (built, apparently, on essential oils) is of a "rose and pear" scent. to be fair it is not as overtly musky like musk as the overwhelming majority of their offerings, but still. it all, to my sense of smell (admittedly eroded by smoking, or at least it is according to curiously unspecified experts), seems to have a scent of zesty lemon, or something along those lines. 

does it work? i don't rightly know what the intention was here. having used it for a couple of weeks it is simply not so that anyone has approached me to discuss my scent. oddly, yes, people in the past have taken a shine to what deodorant (or whatever) i have used and asked about it. in this instance, nothing. was it that lynx designed this to make people who wore it a sort of ambassador for all things LGBT+, or to show off "acceptance" or to advocate it? if so then it failed. no one said "oh wow, you smell like you are open minded and accepting". also, in respect of the general use for lynx (see earlier comments concerning feral teenagers), no one said "wow that smells great, please bum me" or anything like that t all. people moved away from me no more than usual, at the least. 

for provenance concerns i seem to recall purchasing these quite some time ago, at Superdrug, for some silly giveaway price, circa £2 i believe. it was almost like they were just trying to get rid of it as quickly as possible. very doubtful that i shall ever get this one again, unless (of course) i see it cheap. 

there is every chance you think (or believe) the "swirl" thing on the can art design is familiar. so far as i am aware it's not standard branding, but did indeed feature on the ill-fated, short lived "love" deodorant what they did. yes, click on the word there (its name) and you should get to see my post on that one, if for some reason you are interested. 

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

gulf of spalding

hello there

in this strange (if not quite brave) new world of ours it's relatively easy for seemingly important stories, or news events, to be overlooked. we have a constant stream of information hitting us, all usually resplendent with variations of fact and fiction, look you see. today would appear to be as an appropriate day as any other (kind of) to have a look at one story which slipped through the net. 

one of the more dominant matters to clog up the flow of information is, without question, the rather perplexing, contradictory actions of the incumbent rulers of america. at once their brilliant, curiously orange leader is embarking on both a path of isolationism with excellent tariffs placed on whatever item that comes to his fantastic mind and expansionism, going on the number of other nations he seems quite eager to make either further states of the union or just basic colonies. a third option for the latter is now on the table, however, with a provincial town in england (or "england-land" as it is usually called over in america) eager to sell their waterway to him. 

 

spalding, a village like picturesque town in quasi central east england (land) celebrated for its tulips, has, apparently, put a "come and buy it" offer on the proverbial table of the americans. information has emerged that the river welland is "available" for the "right price". the decision to sell seems to have come from a wish to avoid any unnecessary, if not entirely needless, military incursion to claim it. 

exactly who(m) has decided to make the welland river available to purchase is a little murky. so far as research, or a little digging, can find, it is not so that any elected representatives of spalding, nor the somewhat infamous parish council, has anything to do with the move. rather it is so that the whole idea has come from a clandestine organisation calling themselves the spalding revolutionary port authority. 

being honest would be to say that it's seldom (if not rare) that i would take any sort of risks simply for something to write here. also it would be reasonably truthful to suggest that i don't really get all that much in the way of an "exclusive" to report on. yet here i have both, for after some careful (if not strategic) negotiations i managed to secure both a meeting and a kind of interview with this revolutionary port authority. 

vital to achieving this was some secrecy. after some provisional (and quite delicate) contact being made with members of this port authority it was agreed that i could attend one of their meetings. some conditions were put in place but it was made clear that i would be granted an audience with the apparent leader of the revolutionary port authority, a gent who was keen to express his true vision and purpose so as to address an alleged "smear campaign" against him and his ambitions. 

getting blindfolded and then bundled into the back of what appeared to be a serviceable van of french provenance is not something i do all that often. still, in this instance, it was made clear that this was the only way i could secure an audience with the spalding revolutionary port authority. at this stage they feel it imperative to remain as anonymous and hidden from view as possible, lest there be any unfair or unjust repercussions stemming from their plan to sell the river welland to america. they wished to make sure that i was kept in the dark as far as possible as to where they met so if i got waterboarded (or some like for like torture method) then i would suffer, yes, but not be able to reveal their base. 

in accordance with their instructions i met representatives of the council at grantham north services. this was after the initial plan to meet at cromwell services fell apart when one member worked out it was a bit of hard work to exit them. on being blindfolded we drove for around an hour or so. the blindfold was taken off, and i found myself in the secret base of the spalding revolutionary port authority, which also doubles as the bin storage area for the cley hall hotel. 

due to this being considered an important but still extraordinary congressional meeting of the spalding revolutionary port authority i was somewhat honoured to find that all four incumbent members had elected to attend the meeting. feeling overwhelmed by the audacity of it all, so as to break ice i congratulated them on their remarkable "hiding in plain sight" approach to a secretive base. i did, however, ask them if they were not concerned about being discovered whilst their negotiations to sell the river welland to the americans were still at a stage best defined as provisional and delicate. apparently all the staff leave the hotel grounds by around 8pm or so, earlier on weekends. surely, i enquired, there existed a risk of residents (or guests) of the hotel "rumbling" them and speaking somewhat out of turn? one of the port authority spoke up, saying that the guests of the hotel were known for appreciating secrecy. he followed this up by stating that the residents now knew only too well that they should "keep their mouths shut", tapping his nose and winking as he explained this. 

the gentleman who said this turned out to be the current leader of the port authority. when i asked his name he replied that usually he preferred to be addressed as the admiral, for this he believed (based on a misunderstanding with the thames water port authority that he asked me not to be revealed due to pending legal action) was the correct title for his position. but, for the sake of making this meeting less stiff and more relaxed, he advised that i could call him Bertrand Fettlebottom. 

quite a lot of what the admiral told me was (to be honest) waffle. there were also one or two comments made that i cannot repeat here due to libel laws, but mostly they concerned his feelings of injustice at the hands of the council in respect of a misunderstanding of what he considered to be recycling. still, it was (eventually) possible to get some information from him in respect of the plan to sell the welland river to our friends in america. 

as the admiral gazed at the steady, tranquil flow of the welland, he spoke of his dream of seeing it all lined with flags of the stars and stripes, with (in his words) them big massive container ships sailing on by, delivering load after economically rewarding load of things to various places. of these places it seems he was particularly keen on the idea of a significant amount of chlorinated chicken being delivered to ipswich, with the expressed hope (or wish) that the residents would "choke on it". 

many questions came to mind about this. the most obvious were, of course, about the logistics of his vision, in particular if it was even feasible to get any sort of containership onto the welland. such questions were waved away as trivialities and logistics. on being asked why he wished to "sell" the welland to the americans the admiral said it would be "far more lucrative" than just sitting around doing nothing but waiting for them to come and invade, as appears to be what awaits panama and, in his words, "greenland or iceland or whatever the other one he wants is". 

it would have been (somewhat) remiss of me not to point out to the admiral that as things stood there was no indication at all of anyone in america proposing to "invade" england (land), either to take control of the waterways or for other purposes. further i diplomatically suggested that the river welland, nice though it is, was not usually (or normally) considered as important for trade routes as, say, the mentioned panama canal is. to this his more or less simplistically shrugged, stating that "all them tree huggers, gay actors and what not" thought they were "saving the planet" by buying electric cars and not, as it according to him is, "funding right wing militia". part of me wished to take him to task on this interpretation, but i couldn't be bothered. 

so as to conclude our meeting, i asked the admiral if he was by any chance related to the somewhat notorious Bertie Fettlebottom, a gentleman various authorities are eager if not keen to speak to with regards to matters such as fly tipping, instigating gang wars in america, claiming to be from silton and terrorist insurgence in portsmouth. whilst he remained silent in the face of these questions, his gesture of making a cutting motion to his neck with one hand whilst pointing overtly at me with the other hand presented a pretty conclusive answer. 

how, exactly, all of this pans out of course remains to be seen. should any more details of this plan come to light, or if i hear any further activities by the admiral, i will be sure to post them here. 

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

rather blurry

heya

yet again this is one of those "nothing really" posts, just something that i add here for the sake of it. in this instance what i have for you (assuming you are as bored as me to be here) is an image sent on from Spiros, look you see. 

as regular readers will know Spiros is often described as being the greatest legal mind of his generation. he is also renowned for making a prolific level of short term but surprisingly mutually beneficial friendships with like minded men. usually (but not exclusively) in public restroom facilities for the gentry. 

for reasons best known to himself he (fairly recently) elected to forward on, or if you will send, the below image to moi and other fellow contemporaries of his. please note, however, the definition of contemporaries in this instance does not extend to his friendship seeking ways. 

when i asked him, what, exactly, the f*** that was supposed to be a picture of, he (eventually) replied that it was an image of a full moon in the sky over where he is. indeed i did, for no apparent or sensible reason, asked if he wouldn't at all consider sending a less blurry one he simply forwarded on a couple of images of some (dressed, please note) gentlemen he had met in a pub. well, i would imagine in the bathroom facilities of the pub, but certain things are best left unsaid. 

i don't rightly know if i am supposed to reveal where, exactly, Spiros was when he took (and duly sent) this image, for there are a number of people eager to reconvene with him and, to be blunt, kick his f*****g head in for him. quite unlikely anyone is scouring here for details of his locale, but just in case i shall just say (more or less) northern hemisphere.

everything about his further messages suggested that Spiros was somewhat crestfallen, if not outright dismayed, that there was not whatever specific reaction he was after to his image. to sort of address this, because theoretically he's a mate, i sent along this image of what was probably a full moon over my lodgings in place of exile. not that you can make it out so well, what with this Samsung A14 not really being much use as either a phone or a camera. 

should you pose the question was (by any chance) Spiros rather refreshed when he took the image what he sent on, i would suggest yes, probably. in the unlikely event of him sending any more, well, perhaps i might put them up here at a later (rather than previous) date. 

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

football statues

hello there

despite the fact that (so far as i am aware) no one in particular cares i am, all the same, somewhat happy that i have been able to continue a quasi sequence of presenting here at least one (1) statue pertaining to football each year. i never actually intended to do such, look you see, but as a creature of habit, or if you shall label me such a builder of routine, it has become a matter which rests if not plays on my mind. 

in this instance, as you may well already be aware from any images you have looked at prior to reading whatever i write around the pictures, it was potentially some of the statues (as a plural) what they have gone done put on display around the stadium what Arsenal play at. so far as i am aware the stadium is called the rather commercially lucrative Emirates, whereas before they played at Highbury. 

no, so far as i am aware, it is not so that this pair (for there are two) of cannons outside the ground count as one of the statutes. initially, to be honest, i did consider taking just a picture of these and passing them off as the football statues to showcase for this year (2025), for it looked like an extraordinary amount of effort to go and see the "proper" ones. 

without bothering to look it up, for research really isn't my bag, baby, i have always assumed, or otherwise taken as a given, that the origins of Arsenal as a name for a football concern is in some way related to the manufacture (or what have you) of presumably military grade weapons. that would certainly account for why they have the nickname of "Gunners", and indeed the cannons stood on proud display. unless they frequently expect pirates of the seafaring nature. yes, thank you, i am perfectly aware of several other "nicknames" they have, mostly christened if not ordained by fans of other footballing concerns, but none of those are suitable to repeat here. 

for the first of "proper" statues, there's (above) Thierry Henry, captured doing what i take as a given as being his "trademark" just scored a goal celebration. i think i can recall seeing him do some sort of slide on his knees celebration, but it has been a fair while since i saw him play. well, he has been retired for a few years now. currently, or at least at the time of writing, he is Arsenal's all time record goal scorer, having netted north of 200 for the team. i did indeed check this, as i could recall the fanfare when Ian Wright became this, but yes, Henry went and scored even more. 

a curious thing is that i really rather admire Henry, despite the obvious concern that he is French. it is fondly i recall his most celebrated incident, that one where he was alleged to have deliberately "done a handball" in an international match; one which the Irish team (and nation) who(m) he (and France) were playing against at the time claim as being the "only" reason they didn't qualify for a World Cup (2010, i believe) and the French did instead. had such a thing happened to England the world would have very much gone and p****d itself laughing, but because of the very carefully cultivated (and false) image they project all of the world was expected to be sympathetic to the "poor, downtrodden" Irish. it was wonderful when, for a few years after, one Irish paper every year in their birthday section acknowledged Henry's birthday and described him as "cheat, footballer". 

many accolades of variations of accuracy get thrown around about footballers these days. one needs only be a third choice goalkeeper at a premier league club, for instance, to get referred to as an "ace" or a "star". there's also some who get called "legends" or described as the "goat" (which i believe is a decent acronym for "greatest of all time") irrespective of if that is accurate or (likely) not. for Tony Adams, the footballer depicted in the statue above, he is in a  limited, hard to get into club of players that you would call "a footballers' footballer". a player who has earned the respect of his fellow professionals, then, one that others consider an honour to play against. not many get that level, if you wanted an immediate suggestion at who else has such stature i would say Roy "boom boom" Keane, but he is busy trying to erode that with his work as a commentator. 

quite a lot of Tony Adams' career was when broadcasting football was a rarity. mostly, i suppose, i recall him being at the heart of the defence for England rather than Arsenal. there was always a sense of the, in a positive way, imperious about him, in particular the manner in which he marshalled the defence in the face of a corner or free kick. anyone who ever got the "better" of him knew they had just played the game of their lives. one other abiding memory of Adams was that he never ever celebrated one of the rare goals he scored. i seem to recall that he always just went and grabbed the ball from the net and charged to the halfway line, wanting to get the game going, wanting more. 

waxing lyrical about Arsenal legends was not something i had ever anticipated doing, really. as a general thing i would normally describe myself as "indifferent" to them. nice to find, then, that i in some unexpected way am giving an unnecessary endorsement to the representatives of the club they have elected to honour with statues. good choices made, then, for they are people whose reputation extends far beyond just how they served their club with distinction. 

that said, and just to be clear that i am not some form of Arsenal acolyte (or what have you) i do have some concerns about the sectarian nature of a certain fixture, with fears that it may stretch beyond. i refer of course to the "traditional" rivalry they have with Tottenham. once this was based purely on the geography of north london (innit), and that time Arsenal coerced some "alphabetical" interpretation of the league which meant Tottenham got relegated. unfortunately in the modern world this match has become "Islam vs Hebrew", mostly due to one Osama bin Laden being (obviously many years ago) a season ticket holder at Highbury. you kind of hope that they (the authorities or what have you) find a way to tone down this narrative for this fixture, all before it becomes the disgusting mess that the infamous Glasgow derby has become. 

my first "encounter" with Dennis Bergkamp, whose statue is above, had absolutely nothing to do with Arsenal or which nation he played for (Holland, or the Netherlands, i think). towards the latter stages of the middle of the 90s (or possibly the earlier stages of the late 90s, i do not care which is correct so please do not bother me with it) there was a surprise transfer when Newcastle sold Andy Cole to Manchester United for a whole bunch of coins and one Keith Gillespie. various names were thrown around as to who(m) Newcastle would replace Cole with, and this Bergkamp fellow was top of the list. no, he didn't end up joining them.

overall, no, i do not like this statue. yes, of course i think the player depicted was brilliant, but that pole is far too distracting. i "get" that they wished to show him in a "classic" pose and suggest a fluidity of movement, but it simply does not work. for the sense of "energy" in a statue, consider the magnificent one of Bob Stokoe, which was last year's statue presentation. also i am not convinced he really did any sort of "jazz hands" thing when he was leaping in the air to connect with the ball. 

last but not least of the statues (or at least the ones i saw, there could well have been more) is Arsene Wenger. he was undeniably a "game changer" for both Arsenal and the rest of the premier league. quite impressive, since when he arrived he was immediately derided as "someone who couldn't even get success in the Japanese league" and mocked for buying "failed winger" Thierry Henry. 

he, Wenger, changed things. not really my place to tell all of his tactics and changes, but there is no doubt he heralded a cultural change in footballer behaviour and the dynamics of management. easily his greatest achievement - not since equalled and unlikely to ever be so - was managing his team in such a way that they went undefeated for an entire season. sure, yes, i recall one or two "fortunate" decisions that helped them secure draws from potential defeats, but luck (or chance) has a part to play in virtually anything you care to name. 

under his (Wenger) leadership Arsenal should also have been crowned European champions on the instance they got to a final. alas, this was during that particularly frustrating time when UEFA had something of a fetish for Barcelona which saw an "encouragement" of on field decisions and subsequent results to go the way of the Catalans. this saw them (Arsenal) have to play some 66% of the match with ten players as the ref elected to send their goalkeeper off. not quite so blatant "encouragement" of a result as the infamous Chelsea v Barcelona semi-final a few years later, but bad enough.

certainly, yes, as a final picture a most needless and gratuitous selfie for you. by the way, the club shop for the team is a massive rip off - £3 for one (1) postcard they charge. to be fair, though, the £1.50 drawstring plastic bag they sell is quality and worth it, but one is generally not inclined to write on a plastic bag and post it. 

these pictures all come from the final days of my era of being in that there london (innit) on a regular basis. not sure when, if ever, i shall return to the place. perhaps that gig i recently went to at the 100 Club shall turn out to be my last visit. still, quite interesting to go and have a gander at a stadium and its statues that previously i had only seen from a train in passing. no idea if i shall get anywhere near any other football statues so as to keep this all going next year (2026), but you never know. 

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

more books what i read

greetings

well, merrily (or indeed happily) my rejuvenated passion (or plain enjoyment) for reading appears to be a long term thing. as i now have (considerably) more "free" time, and am less (or "fewer") of a travelling nature i've found that i presently find just sitting and reading (with some quality vibes on) most agreeable, look you see. as such, or as a consequence, there's another two (2) books what i have gone done read. 

following the norm, or if you will, standard pattern on finishing reading this number of books (two) it is time to put some comments on them here. as always i presume that such an action shall add precisely, give or take, zero value to the life of anyone, but you never know. so as to pursue the "norm" further, here comes an image of the books, followed by some spoiler free comments, and then there's every chance of some of them spoiler things cropping up. 

deciding to take on another Ben Hope novel off of Scott Mariani (for he is the only one that writes them) was a bit of a gamble i suppose, but as it turns out The Golden Library was quite enjoyable. i had picked up The Drift quite some time ago but never got around to reading it, as much as i have been (for the most part) impressed with the novels off of CJ Tudor. this one was quite good, but tends to have an overall feel of the author concentrating more on a narrative trick, less on a comprehensively great story to tell. and now a glorious *** SPOILER WARNING *** for you all for the rest of this. 

commencing where i did with reading this, as i possibly alluded to in the last post of this nature, and that's The Golden Library off of Scott Mariani. as you can likely see from the supposedly psychedelic image of the cover somewhere near this text. for provenance this was likely bought at Tesco, but maybe not as a "book of the week". usually these Mariani novels get sold even (or "fewer") cheaper at Tesco the first week they are out, so long as you purchase an edition of the daily mail or similar newspaper. 

plot? Ben Hope is just chilling in a posh, luxurious mansion in Switzerland, as one does, ahead of his sister's wedding when his future brother in law's sister goes "missing" somewhere in a rural province of China. so off he, and his future brother in law, go to either find or rescue her.......

quite a bit of my educational (or scholarly) career - not all of it, but a significant percentage - was built on the idea that my presumptions, assumptions and very much off the cuff, on the fly thoughts on a subject were likely to be far more interesting and probably close enough to correct as to suffice instead of using any form of traditional research or fact checking. it never occurred to me, bar one or two isolated incidents, to continue this approach in any sort of employed, paid for capacity. bravo, then, to Mr Mariani for showing this to pretty much work with his curious if not overtly outlandish "assumptions" of what China might be like, how law enforcement and what have you works there and so forth. so formulaic is this novel, like so many in the series (but certainly not all), that i suppose the location doesn't matter that much, but still, some effort into accurate descriptions might have been a nice gesture. 

to my surprise i really enjoyed this one. perhaps i am just in a (more) better frame of mind for relaxing and reading, but all the same i had a distinct sense that the pacing of this one was miles better than the previous, say, three or four. it's all preposterous stuff in it, of course, from the premise to the unlimited resources the protagonist has and on to the rather fortunate conclusion, but still it's fine reading. yes, the one after this is sat in a pile waiting to be read. as far as i can tell one would have had to read most, if not all, of the other novels in the "expanded universe" of Ben Hope for this to make sense. should you have done that, well, i suppose there's no advice i can give. 

so far as i am aware it is that we, people who read, have been threatened with the return of Dan Brown later this year (2025). i think his new one is called The Secret Of Secrets or something, and is due in the ninth month. considering how the overwhelming majority of the Ben Hope novels could feasibly be described as "a bit Da Vinci Code but with more violence" it will be wonderful if the new one from Mr Brown turns out to be "a bit like a second rate Scott Mariani novel". 

from what i can remember The Drift off of CJ Tudor has been sat on my pile of "to read" books for two years, possibly three. i do feel quite bad about that, as there's at least two of hers i remember enjoying a lot. yes, provenance fans, i am certain i got this one from Tesco as a "book of the week" club, costing £4 or £4.50, depending on how much they charged then. strangely i can recall buying a second copy off of Sainsbury's. that one was for William, who(m) i had taken shopping, and he expressed an interest in reading it. not sure he finished it, but he certainly started it. 

and the plot? we are presented with stories from three perspectives. this is during a time when the world is ravaged by a "mystery virus", or if you will plague. like the one we kind of had, i suppose. you know, and remember, that one, which saw people go and do most peculiar things to procure bread at a decent price. getting back to the subject, and the three stories told are of groups of people being trapped - one is in a cable car, one is in a quasi mysterious lodge like building and one is in a crashed bus. as each story progresses we, the reader, may or may not get close to understanding how each story connects or is linked.......

do you recall that i put a *** SPOILER WARNING *** earlier? yes? good, remember that as you read on here. the narrative trick here is that each of the three stories involves at least one common person. so, if you will, it's all a "time displacement" narrative, with you reading three different stories at the same time. should it be so that you've not read the novel but have read this, well, whoops, sorry, that is really all there is here, that's the "big twist". you don't get anything about the virus ("plague"), the reason the novel has the name it does is rather mundane and, well, here we are. it took me a while to clock that was what was going on, and when i did i kind of felt a bit deflated, immediately recalling this style or if you prefer trick, was done fairly recently (and possibly better) by Michel Bussi in Black Water Lilies, my review of which will be somewhere on this blog. 

yet it remained a thoroughly engaging, interesting and rewarding novel to read. this i more or less attribute to the phenomenal writing style of CJ Tudor. even when her novels have not been as great as one had hoped (i think it was Annie Thorne that was a let down, maybe Other People whilst Chalk Man and Burning Girls were masterpieces) the writing draws you in enough to keep reading. her next novel, which looks like it may well be vampire in nature, also sits on the shelf and i will almost certainly be reading it. 

i did have some idea that whilst i wrote this a greater sense of my feelings on the novel would become a bit clearer. not really. at both i feel somewhat impressed by the deployment of an elaborate narrative trick and slightly disappointed that the narrative trick was the true substance of the novel itself. ultimately i would kind of wave this novel around in an english class, for it really is a great example of how one can use a different to the usual narrative style. by no means is that a criticism. 

as it happens i'm about 200 or so (give or take) pages away from finishing reading the second of two novels what i have commenced since the ones featured here. so it's entirely possible that quite soon i shall have read more books this year than i managed in the whole of the last (2024). can't think anyone will be particularly keen or eager to know this, but still, now you do. 

many thanks as ever for reading all of this. or just looking at the pictures.

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

vhs car wash festival

now then

well, no, i suppose that's not entirely accurate. in retrospect it does feel a bit much to refer to this post as being any sort of "festival", look you see. i am, however, running out of ideas as to what to call this kind of post, which ties in quite nicely with how i am pretty much bereft of anything further to write on this particular subject. 

once more, then, or yet again (if you prefer) i went to a car wash. this was, since i am sans car myself, very much in the vehicle which verk provide. quite likely that, of late, i have not visited such a facility so often as they would like, for they do have a (perfectly reasonable) expectation that i, the ostensible custodian of it, keep it "neat and tidy". the mandate for that extends to "clean". strangely it has been a struggle to get this (cleaning it done), but further musings on that in a bit so as to pad this out. 

yes, as you can see above (probably), i elected to use the medium (if not forum) of VHS mode for this account. i do rather like my (paid for) VHS camera thing on the phone. if we are honest the image quality is no worse than the standard camera on the rather flawed Samsung A14 phone. a peculiar thought has struck me. should this blog somehow still be accessible (or exist) 100 years (or so) from now, when i shall truly be long gone, i wonder if someone shall stumble across it and declare moi if not the "best" then the most prolific, overt VHS and Commodore 4 mode artist (or similar) of this era. 

it took longer, and this is the padding out bit, than you may think to find an armed and fully operational car wash to get the vehicle cleaned and be able to present it all. for about a month or so, towards the early aspects of this year (2025) each such facility was "closed" or unavailable. you would not think that all that much could go wrong with a car wash, but i was reliably informed that the "pipes" had become frozen on at least one, presumably down to the adverse weather what we gone done had. perhaps, maybe, i could have addressed this by the procurement of a bucket and taken to the task with some hot, soapy water and a rudimentary cloth, but i did not. 

some rather striking VHS mode video above, then. that is indeed the left hand side of the windscreen being all soaped up and cleansed by them magnificent big, floppy wet blue soft brush things. maybe it isn't the single most exciting video ever made but i have the peculiar sense that it is satisfactory. 

for further padding out i decided to do one of them "google" things to see if one was able to take one of them fancy "electric" cars through a car wash. apparently the answer is yes. showing that all of this "AI" business is still quite far from sending naked Austrians from the future to study phone books it was so that it, they or whatever (google) thought i would also wish to know if you can take an electric car on a ferry. yes, you can, but not if the battery is all busted, or gone f****d. my basic understanding of these electric cars is that if the battery is busted they don't work. it would take some ludicrously eccentric wealth for one to have an electric car taken on a flatbed truck (for they are too heavy to tow) to a dock so as to argue to be allowed to deposit it on a ferry, but such people exist. apparently you can't charge one of them electric cars on a ferry either, so perhaps just don't bother. 

there's an image (for clarification yes, in VHS mode) of the left hand side of the windscreen being washed. if for some reason you were interested in this but had no interest whatsoever in watching the video i provided of such, you are very welcome indeed. 

looking at the vehicle just now and it perhaps would benefit from another visit to a car wash quite soon, as it has that dirty, dark streak thing on the go from rain, bits of "wintry mix" further rain and driving through a range of puddles formed in the flaws of our magnificent road system. however, for this week i am on leave (if not holiday) so such pursuits will have to just jolly well wait. and even then it depends on me being able to find a functional car wash. for all i know they are now presently closed because the unbearable heat of (ostensibly) spring has caused the pipes to expand. 

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

KillerStar at the 100 Club

howdy pop pickers

but first a 'warning', or if you will note. on top of (or in addition too) the usual poor, shoddy writing and awful, low quality visuals, this shall contain pictures of moi, look you see. full well i know some of you inexplicably visit here with a preference not to see me, so pursue this post with all requisite discretion that you may feel you need. 

so, first gig of the year this year (2025) done, dear readers. and what a gig it was. unexpectedly, to distract, over the last three (3) years i have been able to give myself a late-ish birthday gift of a March attendance at something at the legendary 100 Club. the instance of my 50th saw me see the magnificent Lust For Life tour there, and last year i got to (oddly undocumented on this blog) go and hear Julien Temple speak for a bit prior to a (hideously and inexplicably butchered rather than edited) screening of The Great Rock N Roll Swindle. in this instance it was, as the title here gives every indication, it was so that i was there to see the magnificence of KillerStar do a gig.

unless you have arrived here via a fairly specific (if not pacific) google (or whatever) search there is, alas, every chance that you have not heard of the band KillerStar. this is somewhat fair enough, as the band would appear to be (somewhat bewilderingly) taking a low key, under the radar approach to gifting their incredible music to the world. were it so that we lived once again in more better times, when music was truly the be all and end all, there would be massive fawning over and celebration of this band. as it is, well, i will gladly take being part of the fanbase in the know. 

ostensibly the core of the band are guitarist and singer Rob Fleming, along with James Sedge on the drums. it is, however, the additional musicians - on the album and with slight variation live - which kind of drew my attention to them. apologies (and respect) to the other members, but seeing that Bowie stalwarts Earl Slick, Gail Ann Dorsey and Mike Garson played on the album was what drew me in. this also drew in quite a few others, going on just how much of the audience was resplendent in clothing which celebrated Bowie. 

for live performances it's slightly less Earl Slick on guitar (although he did guest perform for the last half an hour or so), more Kevin Armstrong. who(m) you can see in the above picture. for clarification, if required, that's the Kevin Armstrong. as in the chap who played guitar for Bowie (amongst several such incidents, but still) at Live Aid. i got to stand this or that close to him (whichever is the correct term), which pretty much made my attendance at the gig a triumph in itself. but yes, there's more to come. 

how was the gig itself? it was totes ace, frankly. leaving aside the outstanding musical performances, it was perfectly paced, with the setlist featuring most (if not all) of the KillerStar album, along with two new songs, which gives the promise of another album on the way. many would, i suppose, have an expectation of a Bowie cover (or two), but no, they declined to do something so overtly obvious. they did, however, conclude with a breathtaking cover of Children Of The Revolution. 

quite likely i have wasted an hour (or so) of my time converting and uploading below, but here we are. now is the time for video, or if you will videos, for here are five (5) snippets what i gone done recorded. mostly, i suspect, these shall simply showcase just how f*****g awful the Samsung A14 phone what has a camera welded to it is. 

looking at these from my side of the screen (so to speak) it is a case of oh dear, they appear to have uploaded "sideways". it is possible i could have worked out a way to rotate them, but there's only so much time i am prepared to give to poor quality video. 

sadly no, i simply do not have the budget for a more better phone. i have no interest in one of those contract things what give you access to a "mega phone" and there's only so much i am prepared to spend on a new phone. this shall just have to do. 

with some luck, or good fortune, anyone being brave enough to play these videos shall at the least get a kind of sense, or if you will feel, of how excellent the gig was. presumably people with considerably better phones than me filmed it and uploaded it somewhere; i would suggest you search for them. 

by chance, or maybe due to how i held the phone, the last video is (as far as i can tell) orientated correctly, or the right way round. a great shame that the sound is so f*****g awful as this last clip is of them doing Children Of The Revolution. 

do i have "favourite" songs off of KillerStar? yes, i certainly do, and they played them both. for those who have some interest, the two top ones for me are Go (Hold On Tight) and Everybody Loves A Hero. from what i recall at least one (1) of those feature in the above video clips, best of luck working out which ones. not the last clip. 

each instance of me being at the 100 Club has had a connection to the Sex Pistols. the third one was kind of unexpected. first time i went i got to see Glenn Matlock play bass, as for still unclear reasons the man who organised the Lust For Life gig, bass player Tony Sales, dropped out. second time was to see the film (in a butchered form) The Great Rock N Roll Swindle. and the third is pictured below, which does indeed go full tilt circle is complete to the first. 

there are surreal moments in my life, and this was one of them. for the story, as you have clocked from some of the pictures i was stood to the side of the stage, mostly. it got to the point where Earl Slick was going to take to the stage, so i was (politely) asked to move aside. one bloke tapped me and said that i could sit in an empty chair, and that bloke did indeed turn out to be Glenn Matlock. i did have a suspicion that he and/or Billy Idol would be there, as they'd been pictured out and about in that there London (innit) with Earl Slick. no, sorry, no Billy pic. 

perhaps i broke some unspoken (and/or unwritten) etiquette of the 100 Club, maybe i should not have disturbed him. but this was a once in a lifetime shot, so i shook his hand, said it was an honour to meet him and got this picture. my celebrity encounter experiences continue, then. between the two of us, and it wasn't intended he should be hidden, is one of the main "customer safety liaison officers" at the venue, the people we used to call bouncers. i spoke to him a few times as i went out for a cigarette (sorry) and he was a top bloke. not my story to tell, but when i asked him what was his best ever night there it was a birthday party Bill Wyman held. at that stage i was possibly too drunk to ask if Bill was wearing his celebrated blue suit, but let us assume he did. 

above is a picture of moi with Frank. he was someone else i also got chatting to when i went out for the occasional cigarette (sorry). truly a great bloke. he had a mosty smart Ziggy Stardust jacket on, signed by many, many people who had a Bowie connection. indeed as i was with him Dana Gillespie (no i did not take a picture) added her signature to the jacket. quite a night, really. anyway, Frank graciously accepted my offer of a pint, and we enjoyed the gig very much. he was one of the ones lucky enough to have been at both nights of the quasi residency KillerStar had taken. 

cost of this adventure? well, there's a school of thought which says one should really avoid discussing money, politics and religion in polite company. but i have no idea what company i am presently in. the ticket for the gig was, surprisingly, south of £25. ridiculous, amazing value. for associated costs, it is with extreme good fortune that my stature with a certain hotel (more than one tree is involved) that meant i secured lodgings for the night gratis. beyond that, about (or around) £100 on trains and the tube, say £20 or so on food and probably around £50 of my coins now reside in the bar account at the 100 Club. totes worth it. well, it was a birthday treat to myself. 

in respect of one aspect of those costs, what can i say, a big massive thank you and shout out to all employed by the rail services of our nation for, and likely for one weekend only,  all doing the f*****g job they get paid a f*****g fortune to do for a change. each and every train ran on time and with no issues, and that peculiar breed naturally attracted to work for TFL were not on strike. hopefully all of those working for the rail services who actually f*****g turned up and just did what they are ostensibly contractually obliged to f*****g do (for a change) over the weekend of March 8 2025 get a thoroughly deserved f*****g knighthood for this spectacular, valiant effort. perhaps i shall write to Sir Keir and suggest this to him, but he is likely working on it already. 

warning for those who need it, as the next (and last) picture below is a selfie. perhaps, or possibly, the last one i shall take at the 100 Club, which might be some relief to those who are "connected" or what have you to moi on social media, since i have shared a few there. 

one does get to a point where there's a reflective finality to some experiences. you get to a stage where you are, intrinsically if not acutely, aware that a momentary meeting of someone, or being in a specific place, may well be the last time you ever are. don't be sad that it finished, be happy that it happened has, over the years, (very much) become my perspective on such. after north of 3 (three) years of virtual residency in London (innit) my time there is at an end. whilst it would be lovely to think another trip to the legendary 100 Club to celebrate another birthday is possible, it is not certainty that i shall see another such celebration dawn; it is unlikely that funding (or accommodation) would be available for such a voyage. oh, well. 

right, well, that's that for this post. admittedly no, i haven't spent quite as much time as i perhaps should have done celebrating the excellence of the band KillerStar. not sure what else i could (feasibly) write of them beyond they are a truly outstanding band and it was one hell (or heck) of an amazing night. please give their album (or possibly by the time you read this albums) a try. thanks, as ever, for reading. 

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

captain falcon vs indiana hulk

hello there

well, another cinema visit to document. actually i have made two (2) trips of late, look you see, but will document them separately. it is quite likely these shall be my last trips for a while, and certainly the final ones to the wonderful Ealing Project cinema, since my frequency of days in that there London (innit) have finally reached closing time. 

moving on, then, and in the first instance i went (on my birthday, no less) to go and see something what i believe is called Captain America Brave New World but is essential Captain Falcon vs Indiana Hulk. for those in a rush, and wish to have a "spoiler free" overview, actually this was really (surprisingly) very good indeed, but as with all of these Marvel things one really needs to see about 20 other things to fully follow (or grasp) all that is going on. 

for which Marvel things one should watch in advance of this one, them would be at the very least the last two (2) Avengers films, which were (i think) called Infinity War and Endgame. these explain why Captain America is no longer the proper American Chris Evans (not the sh!t rubbish English one). on top of that the "streaming" TV series Falcon & Winter Soldier (or whatever) is kind of a must watch. as a kind of backdrop / quasi-sub-plot thing, seeing something called The Eternals (unless it was actually called The Immortals) would be partially handy, but i never saw it and managed fine. 

plot? some new uber super precious material now exists thanks to some mystery island. i checked with the boys and that's the bit you need to know off of The Eternals (or whatever). all of the world is rather keen to get their hands on the stuff, and American President Indiana Solo kind of calls on the incumbent Captain America, or if you will Captain Falcon, to do Avengers like stuff to help peaceful negotiations about sharing, or something. this involves some fancy stunts and some fighting. 

this was all rather good, as in one level up from quite good. honestly, like i suspect a few, i felt that all of this Avengers stuff had reached saturation point. especially when virtually all of the films were essentially Blues Brothers remakes, featuring a "getting the band back together" premise for a road trip of mayhem. quite likely i shall upset someone with this comment (so called fanboys or what have you) but i found this one akin (or closer) to a DC comics thing, what with more focus on an investigative or detective like approach rather than "in your face let us blow it up" stuff. 

saying the acting and/or writing was really good feels like i am unintentionally shaming all of the other three thousand (or so) Marvel films, for credit where it is due this has always been above average for what would be reasonably expected. but, that said, credit to Harrison Ford for doing an actual, decent performance, stepping into the role once made (somewhat) famous by the late William Hurt. all too often of late Mr Ford has turned up in a "fine i will do it" mode, not so here. 

as it was my birthday, yes, i went full tilt bankruptcy on a large popcorn and large coke, with the above costing a flat £9.50. if, indeed, that is a flat amount. since it was "tuesday treat" at Ealing Project the movie ticket itself cost £7.50, i really have no concept if that's good or bad. my feeling was that it was all fine and not unreasonable. 

briefly back to the film and no, of course not, the "big bad" isn't the "red hulk". if you want a spoiler warning, this sentence is it. no idea where the character originates from in the Marvel universe, but the of course sinister force lurking in the background is a kind of rip off character akin to Egghead out of the 60s Batman series and Braniac (i think that was what he was called) out of Superman things. quite an interesting character, too. presumably he will be the villain at the core of future Marvel things. i would guess he (or contemporaries) pitched up in mid-credit or end of credits scenes but, to the overt bewilderment of people in the cinema with me, i simply could not be bothered to wait to watch them, needing (not in this order) a cigarette and a bathroom. 

gratuitous selfie above for you. indeed that is also a poster for the latest Bridget Jones thing behind me. at not stage was i tempted to see that myself, but i imagine it will be all right for people what liked all them other ones. i would agree that my beard is (somewhat) excessive and i probably should get it cut off (or trimmed at the least) but quite a few people seem to like it. 

not entirely (or at all) sure that this film has "done the business" to the levels what others have. my suspicion, as mentioned above, is that there's a few of us that feel we have now "been there done that" with all things Marvel. still, quite likely this shall have scored some reasonable coins for Disney, and they will undoubtedly keep making them. should they remain of this quality, win win. 

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

two tapes that got to 2

howdy pop pickers

and so some 25% or so into the new year (2025, look you see) i finally get around to procuring some new vibes. played them too, and as would be standard write comments on them here. yes, indeed, usually i would do one (1) post per album, but as they are now (at time of writing, look you see) things which are a month or so old they are effectively obsolete in this insane, disposable century which i fail to understand. or fail to understand why i should even bother to understand it. 

for the specifics of the tapes (actual tapes) what i gone done played they are (or were) Open Wide, being the third album off of Inhaler, or Inhale® as they now seem to prefer, and Critical Thinking, which is album number i have lost count and they probably have too off of Manic Street Preachers, or Manics as they are now quite comfortably called. who(m)ever would have thought they would have attained universal single word of band name recognition like the Stones. 

yes, them are actual tapes off of each band, as it happens. in both instances i ordered "bundle" things what came with the album on both CD and tape, as well as a signed thing (see below). from what i recall there was a negligible price difference between purchasing the disc alone or it with the tape and a signed thing when it came to a "pre-order" thing. which, by the way, is simply "ordering" it, or at a push "ordering it in advance of the release date". a "pre-order" is all of that time prior to placing an actual order, but maybe that's just me. quite surprised that the novelty factor of tapes remains a thing, but i shall take it. presumably they are cheap to manufacture, and the extra "physical format" sale doesn't half help boost chart positions in this very silly "streaming" era. 

is it the case that either, or both, of these albums are any good? well, they are not bad, so by default yes, they are good. not particularly great as such, although each has moments. 

starting where i did is to start with Open Wide, being as it is (and mentioned) the third offering off of this Inhaler band, or (once more) Inhale® as they now seem to be called. oddly, in that there London place, i saw a lad walking around in an Inhale® branded hoodie thing. i see such merchandise on sale, but never in my size and have wondered who(m), exactly, buys it. true, for all i know, it was an actual member of the band what i saw wandering around. well, obviously not that one. 

my recollection of the days of their "difficult" second album was an interview which proclaimed the headline "we are not in this just to play afternoon slots at festivals". this suggested they were looking at somewhat bigger, be it headlining festivals (or at least second on the bill) or headlining stadiums under their own steam. bold, brash and very much to be applauded in this era when rock and roll bands which do not have a nostalgia market to tap appear to be doomed. 

just what it is that Inhaler (or Inhale­­­­®) wish to do is reasonably unclear. the first song, with the i am sure it makes sense to them title Eddie In The Darkness, sounds pretty much like it's actually going to be a cover of the wonderful Mary's Prayer. it isn't, but it also isn't the sound of a band all set to be a major headline act. quite good songs all over the album, with some really great lyrics, but absolutely nothing in the way of "anthems" or a sound that would fill a stadium. 

comparisons? well, at its best this album sounds a bit like the better parts of latter day Crowded House albums, and at the parts it dips (not often) it comes across as anonymous as that Blossoms thing i gave a wild try to last year. the thing is, then, is that it doesn't sound like a pure Inhaler or Inhale® record. oh dear. i truly hope they persist and deliver the masterpiece clearly within them, but all of the way the modern music business works kind of stands against them.

up above in the image (a purple blessed thermal one) are the signed "insert" cards what i got with each purchase. actually i was sure i just bought the disc of the Manics one, but it seems not. once upon a time getting signed stuff would have been ace, but now it feels close to mandatory. to be honest, and this shall sound flippant or what have you, but i have in the vicinity of 20 odd releases signed by the Manics. quite enough, thanks. if this is still a successful sales gimmick, someone should have told Ringo Starr. had he flogged a thousand or so signed copies of his recent offering, even if it was all done by that controversial "autopen" thing, his record might have got higher than the mid 70s in the chart. 

on, then, to the Manics album, Critical Thinking. i will be honest, i did not rush to order this, i had very little enthusiasm for it. no, i remain a Manics fan, i don't think you can get out of it once you are in, but after seeing them twice in one week last July there's some fatigue. also there's a bit of a "law of diminishing returns" sequence with their last few albums, with the exception being the truly brilliant James Dean Bradfield solo album Even In Exile. 

immediate concerns, if not alarm bells, came about when i discovered the name of the record. across, or on, the internet there are "discussion forums". sometimes intelligent conversations happen, but often also they do not. in my experience it is often that utter, utter w@nker$ or complete t0$$ers accuse others of "not using critical thinking" with their point, with the implication being that if they used this mythical "critical thinking" then of course they would agree with them. 

for the lead single of the last album, Orwellian off of The Ultra Vivid Lament, i speculated that the lyrics felt they were "super computer" generated, all before this "AI" business was so prominent in our world. this kind of perpetuates here. no, i am not saying that's what they have done. more a case of most of this feels like they are simply doing what they believe Manics songs should be, rather than being inspired to write about subjects. they can still do such songs, and for an example refer to 30 Year War off of the Rewind The Film album. 

quite a few more songs than you may think on this record feature Nicky Wire on vocals. i know for years they have toyed with a second (or full tilt new) vocalist to give James a break. no, the answer is not to Kasabian this, Nicky is not a lead vocalist. strange that he "makes" James sing easily the worst song on this album, Dear Stephen, which appears to be an appeal to Morrissey to cease being quite so right wing (and alienating) as the last few years have seen him be. alas, what made Morrissey who he is was the lack of fear in speaking what he felt, what he believed in. one does not have to agree with him but to plead for him to stop being him strikes me as peculiar. highlight of the record is, likely, the lead single Decline & Fall, which got played heavily on Radio 2, which seems to be the main target audience for them of late. make of that what you will. 

both of these albums, on successive weeks, made it to number two in the album chart. in each instance the top spot was taken by Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, both of who(m) i am not all that familiar with yet know they are huge pop stars. considering the singles chart all went to bland sh!t and then was corrupted forever by Ed Sheridan (or whatever), it's pretty awesome that diversity still exists in the album chart, that different genres can sell (or stream) in relatively similar numbers. 

nope, no idea who of my favourites has an album due out later this year. i don't think too many do, to be honest. well, it was a bit of a bumper year last year. oh hang on Suede might put a new one out. for another comparison, Suede's last record, Autofiction, still gets frequent plays. these two albums i have played ten or a dozen times before writing this and i would suggest it is quite unlikely i will ever play either of them again. 

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