giving thanks to our glorious government

greetings


of the many, many wonderful popular sayings of the present day there are surely few, look you see, that it could be claimed are as succinct and successful as the phrase "not all heroes wear capes". this is a most splendid reference - perhaps holding origins in The Dark Knight Rises, if i recall a concluding aspect of that motion picture correctly - to the fact that our society is littered with those dedicated to acting for the common good, yet feel no need to dress up, wear a cape and/or adopt an insect/animal/rodent moniker to do so.

the personification of this "not all heroes wear capes" business must surely be seen as being our hardworking, dedicated and reasonably regularly at the least not entirely unsuccessful in their efforts politicians. yes, our elected members of parliament, either serving for, against or as part of the government of the day, and in some instances all three at once.

quite often - very, as point of fact - their heroics are a thankless task, as for some reason few are prepared to offer thanks to those working ever so hard in parliament. such treatment by us, merely the electorate, could, would, should and must stop. by no means do i see myself as leading such a reversal of trend, but i am determined to "so something".

yes, indeed i have elected to bestow upon our non-cape wearing heroes some gestures of thanks in the form of gifts. well, ok, just the one hero for now. when i saw the above, my first thought was exactly what, presumably, your thought was. absolutely everything about this particular item said "Jacob Rees-Mogg". instinct grabbed hold of this thought, then, and carried it all the way through to purchasing it and subsequently posting it to him at his parliamentary address, which is to say the house of commons. strange, of course, as there is little or nothing "common" about the chap, but as i said, or rather the saying goes, "not all heroes wear capes".

provenance of this rather splendid bottle opener, featuring the much cherished Thug Life motif? well, it feels rather like i am devaluing the gift by revealing such, but it was on sale at Poundland for not £1 but 50p. this provenance was of course a major consideration to the purchase and subsequent posting. it is quite rare that i would make any form of wager, but i'd be prepared to make something of a small change bet on it being the case that Jacob Rees-Mogg has not ever set foot in a branch of Poundland. thus, he would not know what he has been missing out in in regards of Thug Life branded utensils and related items, making this gift (i trust) all the more special.

a possible, or indeed likely, flaw in this gift of mine is that Jacob Rees-Mogg might not be entirely familiar with the Thug Life motif, or way of life. one would reasonably assume - presume, even - that the stores which he would usually frequent would not carry any such related items, least of all a bottle opener. it might be that my gift my not, in itself, be as appreciated as intended.

fear not, dear reader. i took the liberty of enclosing a letter with the gift, giving Mr Rees-Mogg a rudimentary outline of the key aspects of members of the community of what he would no doubt refer to as New Amsterdam, outlining the high value they place on the Thug Life motif. going further, i offered Mr Rees-Mogg assurances that such people would both value and appreciate him, expressing the belief that they would speak both highly and well of him, with it being likely the would reference him in terms of an inverted negative as an adjective to a rather coarse but unquestionably direct reference to the mythology of Oedipus.

do i expect to receive a response from Mr Rees-Mogg in respect of this gift? not really. although i included my address in my correspondence, the people who run the website for Mr Rees-Mogg, where i got his address, make it perfectly clear that he is a busy man, and cannot always respond to musings, gifts or incoherent ramblings sent to him by non-constituents. i, for my sins, live in an area well outside of his constituency. but it does not really matter too much, just knowing he is enjoying this most splendid of items is reward in itself.

but, then again, he might be deeply touched and moved by the gift, and elect to respond. if he does, and the correspondence is fit and suitable for such a purpose, i shall share key aspects of it here.

has my generosity of gifting come to an end with this one incident? not really. so splendid, and so reasonably priced, are these Thug Life branded bottle openers that i decided to impart the gift of them on others. Spiros, the greatest legal mind of his generation, is well pleased with his. i trust the same is true too of his excellency, his grace, the self-styled Viscount of Stockton.




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

ripples

howdy pop pickers

and so a fourth single is ours, look you see. it is, at time of writing, about a week to go before Ian Brown's new solo album Ripples is released, which made it a bit of a surprise that another track of it has been "dropped" by the artist. hey ho, here, have my 99p for the digital download that masquerades as a "single". 

how does it sound? you are asking me to give an unbiased, objective review of an Ian Brown release, are you? brave. quite smart it is, or if you like proper smart. 

i am not 100% sure how best to describe the tune accurately, but let me give it a go. after some sort of whispered quasi faux false start some splendid drums and ace bass kick in, all with a sound reminiscent of, say, Can't See Me off of Unfinished Monkey Business, with a trifle of a hint of Fool's Gold for good measure. and why not, or why wouldn't you, if you were Ian Brown. 

the song moves on quite nicely from there, with Ian seemingly taking one of them wooden xylophone contraptions and testing the patience of it with a massive funkadelic twatting stick. what sounds like it could well be a kazoo solo rounds it all off. 

lyrically no, there are no references to "roses" or "stone" in this song, unlike singles two (Black Roses) and three (From Chaos To Harmony) what got released. so not really much in the way of possibly thinly veiled allusions or statements. just funkadelic funk. 

that's my last ten digital purchases, then. Ian Brown would appear to take up just south of 50% of them. no, hang on, if he is four of then ten then, should my maths not fail me, he is responsible for 40% of the last ten. and why not. 

whereas i am quietly comfortable in saying that Black Roses is my favourite 25% of the four singles release thus far, all of it is sounding boss. yes, i am rather jolly ho excited for this release, to be sure. just as long as HMV remains in business for a week or so i shall be there, buying it, on the day it is released to us all. 

anyway, i am back off to the funk. dig what you dig, man. 

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

battery secrets

hello there


when i was of an age at which it was reasonably expected of me to attend such an institution, i had a teacher at school. actually, yes, several teachers, look you see, but one comes to mind at this moment. he, for his balding, exposed forehead and protrusions of facial hair exposed great folly in doubting such gender, made himself memorable by waging what can only be described as a one man war against what he saw as the scourge of batteries.

in showing the blinkered thinking which can distract such noble warriors, it was his belief that as it took more energy to make a battery than you would ever extract from it, they were a complete waste of time and so our world should be rid of them. admirable, perhaps, in terms of wishing to secure an agreeable environmental condition for those generations to come. but, also, not as helpful a crusade as it could have been, for without batteries i would not have been able to power my walkman and listen to some splendid tunes as i strolled around.

this all came to mind as i have recently experienced, or had, something of a revelation. one particular form of battery always held a secret. i have now, with some research and gentle investigation over and indeed across the realms of the internet, come to know the secret. bravely, then, i shall share this with you here.

should the above seem, to you, to be those spiffing, rectangular batteries of varying thickness used on video cameras and camcorders, that is because they are. indeed, yes, somewhat similar to the batteries which would have powered the most excellent video camera what Marty McFly used in the startling Back To The Future documentary, but not quite the same.

anyway, those who are familiar with such will be aware of the "switch" on them. on the ostensible top part of the battery, and this assumes you have inserted the battery correctly, one always found a little slip switch. should you have opened it then a little red dot would appear. this dot would disappear once you closed it.

what was this switch for, and what did the red dot signify? no reference, that i can recall, was ever made to it in any of the instruction manuals which came with these most splendid devices. in this silence, then, many took it as a given that it was a great secret shared only by the higher echelons of the great companies what made and sold these cameras, and indeed the batteries. some attributed their own meaning to the switch, with the most common conclusion being that it was "probably something to do with discharging excess energy from the battery prior to charging it again".

for my part, it is, or was, for years that i sought an answer. well, as and when i recalled to do so. this saw me scale significant mountains, so as to speak with reclusive spiritual leaders on the subject. also, on more than one instance, i travelled deep into undisturbed forests, seeking out tribal elders on the off chance that they, in their seclusion, might have been aware of what the switch was for, and what the red dot signified.

it turns out, or has transpired, that it is little more than a mechanism designed, created and implemented to be of significant benefit to the end user, or if you like the consumer who bought the camera and used it. yes, a bit like that Marty McFly. the purpose of it is for those who carried a number of batteries with them, perhaps like when they were making a documentary about how lightning and town clocks can facilitate time travel. when one battery was exhausted, or had no charge in it, the user (or documentary maker) could move the switch so that it showed the red dot, and then they would know that it was not to be used again on this particular excursion, or at all until it was once more resplendent with charge.

yes, i am aware of the great risks i have taken in exposing this secret. actually, just the one risk i suppose, as it is only one secret that i have spoken of. undoubtedly this information shall now appear, or if you like "trend", on various social media platforms. it is also possible that the camera and battery manufacturers shall seek me out, wishing to admonish or otherwise punish me for speaking of that which must not be spoken.



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

sit with elders of a gentle race

greetings


it would be quite rare, look you see, that i find myself either falling foul or coming a cropper (if that should be the correct wording for the term) of the laws. this would be all laws, should they be defined by nature, parliament, the judiciary or the prevailing moral code of society. recently, however, such shame befell me. whilst i can, to a degree, protest some innocence, for i was merely party to it and not the protagonist as such, the guilt remains mine.

a number of contemporaries and i - all of a reasonable level of education, i suppose, and generally functioning adults - took to that there facebook thing so as we may converse on an ecumenical matter. to our thinking, that there facebook thing really seemed like the ideal forum, or platform, or indeed if you like conduit, for such an insightful, enlightening conversation.

the rather draconian approach to prohibiting such which facebook has, however, struck. and, if i may say so, struck rather hard. our entire ecumenical conversation was deleted, discarded to the wastelands of some digital landfill, all due to a perfectly forgivable oversight.

one of our party - a good friend, a gifted musician and a gentleman renowned for his ecumenical knowledge - elected to share an image which was relevant to the conversation. it was, i can assure you, a most agreeable one, showing not one, not three, but two nuns in a quite natural state. however, as you will note or otherwise observe in the above, facebook thought differently on the subject, and deleted the conversation entire.

my assumption, or conclusion, looking at the harsh wording off of facebook, is that our friend, my contemporary, upset them what control what is and what is not on facebook by allowing his exposed thumb to appear in the image. to this end, i have taken the measure of obscuring the apparently offensive stark naked thumb, so as to cause no further distress or upset. no, in truth, much i imagine like you, i had absolutely no idea that "thumb nudity" was either a thing, or a source of many of the ills in modern society.

yes, i would have no hesitation at all in likening the deletion of this conversation to the destruction, or if you will the burning, of that massive library of alexandria all those years ago. now, just as was then, the loss of knowledge has probably set back human knowledge and advancement by decades, if not centuries. this is particularly true of the aspects of conversation which explored the magnificent trousers with arse flaps what Vernon Wells wore in Mad Max 2. and, you would think, whenever he went shopping, or visited garden centres.




be ecumenical to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

observed

hey there


i have had something of a rich and rare spell of free time, look you see. so busy is it that life tends to be i seem seldom to get the chance to take a breather. well, i have, to be sure, and elected to use it watching stuff that was not simply repeats of NCIS, CSI and variants thereof. also, i have (ever so) slightly cut down on my diet of Bullseye repeats, as sacrilegious as doing so is.

what have i done with the time? as it happens, watched some films. predictably, perhaps, yes, watched some films again, as i have looked back (as opposed to forward) on some films which hold or held fond memories for me. but, no, hang on, there is at least one new film in the following.

a look, a gander or an observance of the films i have watched in an overview way? sure, although not every film watched is pictured here, and not all the ones shown have been watched (again) as of yet. which might make this all a touch pointless i suppose but i am in the groove now.......

so, yes, then. i have jolly blooming well been down HMV and got some shiny new tapes, to be sure. well, it felt prudent and best to do so, since by all accounts they are in danger of closing down. not if i can help by investing the bulk of my disposable income with them. a move endorsed by others, it seems, who also do not wish to see the store go, for the last time i went in it was quite full of fellow patrons. lovely to see.

here, then, in no particular order, and for whatever such might be worth, is a look at which ones i watched, and more or less what i thought about such.

it was not all that long ago that i wrote here of delighted i was to find that Trading Places remains just as funny now as when i saw it first, north of some 30 years ago. a very natural step, then, seemed to me to be to take the step of revisiting Beverly Hills Cop. happily i was able to pick it up in the same stylish quasi-mock-VHS box presentation as was the case with Trading Places.

plot? a maverick cop called Axel Foley from Detroit has a less than legally minded friend. he gets killed, and Axel follows the trail of who and why all the way to Beverly Hills. something, to say the least, of a culture clash commences when he arrives in the place to find the truth.......

this film was nothing short of spectacular when it came out in the 80s. not being of an age to see it at the cinema, i, or we, as in my mates and i, probably wore out at least one VHS copy of it with repeated viewings. and yes, you could wear out a VHS tape, quite easily so as point of fact. with absolutely nothing less than delight i can say that i found Beverly Hills Cop has stood up to the inevitable test of time exceptionally, exceedingly well. it is just as good now as it was then, perhaps seeming even better.

i would think that the most overt observation anyone would make watching this now is just how bloody good an actor Eddie Murphy "was", although in hope i think that should be "is". there is no certainty to this, but i would like to believe that any "modern" or "new" audience, a generation not there for the 80s, would watch Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop and Coming To America (i really must find a copy of the latter), observe that Eddie gives three solid gold 10/10 performances and ask how the hell is it he never went on to win awards and get more acclaim. film studios letting him do so-called "vanity" projects, i suppose, are at fault a bit.

splendid trivia for the film? for quite a while the part of Axel Foley was to be played by Sylvester Stallone, yes that one. this is all confirmed in the documentaries on the blu-ray. quite an interesting story, but he wanted to cut just about all the comedic moments and insert more action scenes. budget constraints meant that was not to be, so Stallone walked in an amicable way, taking from it all the ideas and inspiration to make Cobra instead.

on to a "new" film, then, or a recently made one. for the record, a film only moves from "new" to "old" when you have seen it. should there be a film that was made in the 50s, 60s or what have you and you've not seen it, well, then that is a new film to you, is it not? a dear friend, sadly no longer with us, once said that to me, and so it stands.

so, yes, then, Mandy, released in 2018, and starring Nicolas Cage. i kept catching comments here and there about the film, some sort of "word of mouth" thing via comments posted on the internet, along the lines that it was a "gem" of a film; if you will a "masterpiece". on seeing that the blu ray version was an HMV exclusive, and HMV had it on sale at half price, a not at all unreasonable £7.49, i figured i might as well take a chance on it. oh, indeed, for those looking towards the end of the second paragraph concerning the film, ostensibly, i am very glad indeed that i did take a punt.

plot? a reclusive couple (Red, played by the NC and the titular Mandy, played superbly by Andrea Riseborough), live a reclusive, private life whilst clearly carrying some alluded to but never overtly explored emotional baggage and psychological scars. when a zealous religious, quasi doomsday cult led by the peculiar Jeremiah bring torturous pain and suffering to their sheltered lives, Red seeks out on a quest to avenge the fallen Mandy.......

where to begin? this film is brilliant, but certainly not for all. it is perhaps the most audacious work i have seen since Natural Born Killers, truly testing conceptual boundaries. Cage, in a remarkable return to form after several years (decades?) of effectively working off tax bills, channels everyone from Eastwood in the Fistful films to Gibson in Mad Max 2 to Gosling in Drive to deliver a performance by acted out gestures and movement rather than relying on dialogue.

did i mention it is not for all? well, there i go again. it's a deeply visceral, esoteric and disturbing work, conjuring up images far more challenging than just the occasional extreme graphic violence presented. should you be someone who appreciates the films mentioned in the previous paragraph, plus Evil Dead, then promptly move this title to the very top of your "must watch" list as soon as possible.

sure, there is a great deal more i could say about Mandy. the director, however - a talented fellow called Panos Cosmatos whose career i can assure you i shall now follow with great interest - has left absolutely everything in this film to be decidedly subjective and open to audience interpretation. i shall respect that by trying to put as little of my spin in on it as possible. that said, how wonderful to see the legend that is Bill Duke, he of Commando, Predator and American Gigolo fame, be present in this most wonderful of cinematic endeavours.

my motivation for revisiting The Untouchables, in this instance for the first time on the wonders of the blu-ray disc? firstly, it was cheap at £3.99. secondly, and most importantly, it had the unedited artwork, which i am fairly sure you can see here clearly in Commodore 64 mode.

for those of you unaware, the UK authorities, ostensibly via the conduit of the BBFC, do not like, under any circumstances, firearms or guns being visible on movie posters or video covers. to this end, usually such are airbrushed out, or ludicrously doctored. most copies of The Untouchables in the UK feature Costner as Ness stood alone, with the worst photoshop / ms paint job in history done to cover up his gone with a nowhere near close to scale or physically possible to hold it in the manner presented US Treasury badge. in truth, i could care not whether a film has a gun on the poster or not, but to distract by removing it or covering it up in a woefully and blatantly obvious way just makes it quite annoying.

plot? it takes as inspiration the history (as in based on truth not presented as such) of prohibition in the United States (of America) during the 1920s and 1930s. but of course the complete ban on alcohol created an illicit market for it, with one Al Capone (played superbly here by Robert De Niro) sat at the top of the tree for sales and distribution. a US Treasury Agent, Elliot Ness (played superbly here by Kevin Costner), is tasked with bringing him down. he sets about it, finding help from the few non-corrupt police officers available to assist in Chicago.

so yeah, refer to my comments about Beverly Hills Cop - a film which was brilliant at the time would seem to have aged into an even better than remembered one, what close on if not exactly 30 years later. this is quite rough justice on two of my all time favourite films, Scarface and in particular Body Double, but there can be little doubt that The Untouchables was, or is, the true masterpiece made by director Brian De Palma.

what makes it so good? an exceptional script, stunning camerawork and a staggering level of superb, rarely have any of the actors (except perhaps De Niro) been better. Costner, Oscar winning Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia and Billy Drago all, to borrow a term from our friends in America, "knock it out the park". sure, the events depicted in the film might not be all that historically accurate, but then again no such claim of them being so is made.

the only eyebrow i raised was at the start, when Ennio Morricone's famous and rightly celebrated opening march kicked in. it is only now that i have noticed it has "more than a passing" similarity to the instrumentation to 1984 off of Bowie's Diamond Dogs album. but, still, if you are going to "borrow", then borrow from the best.

best bit of trivia related to The Untouchables? that would of course be Bob Hoskins. he was going to play Al Capone, but then De Niro became available. it is true that Bob got a nice pay off - unsolicited and unexpected - for being dropped. depending on which variation of the story you believe, the amount was between (all USA currency) $20,000 and a staggering $250,000. whatever the amount, most agree - or hope - that the part which is true is that Bob responded by phoning the studio (or director) and asking if there were "any other films they didn't want him to be in".

moving on, then, and a somewhat tough one, this, in the form of a film i always considered to be a classic comedy - one of the best ever, indeed. but i am not so sure that Airplane!, or Flying High! as it was called in some countries, has stood the test of time too well.

plot? well, it's a loose parody of a 1950s film called Sero Hour, and a quite direct parody of several "disaster" movies made in the 70s, most overtly and directly a series of ones called Airport, no less, hence the original release title of the film. in short, a commercial airliner is in danger of crashing and it's down to an unlikely hero to steer (fly?) the plane to safety. but there's much more to it than that.......

i suspect it might be true that i was, as i watched again, laughing more at the fond memories of laughing at the film the first, oh, thirty or so times i watched it, rather than finding it funny all over again. quite a few of the jokes - the visual gags, Lloyd Bridges and most decidedly the Jive Dudes - hold up just fine. some aspects, however, do not. like, for instance, Leslie Nielsen. in a post-Naked Gun and similar world, there is no "shock value" or surprise to seeing him in comedy, but at the time it was a huge deal. on that note, some of the other casting, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, might well be jokes or cultural references which simply have no relevance to a modern audience whatsoever, or if you like at all.

overall i would suggest that the film has not aged as badly as it could have, but i would be surprised to learn of a whole new, born well after the 70s and 80s audience took to it. so much of it is locked into specific cultural references, and "the way things were" then, that i could only assume born in the 90s or onwards might be inclined - reasonably - to look at it and ask for an explanation as to why this was considered funny, like, totes ever.

righty-ho, or allrighty then, i suspect that's quite enough wording for one post. undoubtedly more to follow, not limited to but in particular as and when i get around to having a gander, or observation, of the other three films pictured in that first, erm, picture.




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

everything alright

hello again


not so much, look you see. it's just that i was going through a few files recently, as opposed to some date in the future yet to dawn, and found quite a gem.

if for some reason you think that this means i am going to post an image of a signed picture sent to me by legendary, and sadly no longer with us, hard man actor John Hallam, you are most prescient. a good idea for you might be to buy one of them lottery ticket things with the numbers you see being drawn, but that is up to you. normally yes, those blessed with the latent talent of being prescient take a solemn vow not to use such power for financial gain.

anyway, yes, the picture.

i got it off him when i wrote to him, via the BBC (which was easy to do in the 80s as they only had that one address in that London), congratulating him on his triumph in the complex, demanding and important role of Barnsey, the cellmate of "Dirty" Den Watts, in EastEnders.

we - for more than i is this true - were mesmerised by his performance. it is estimated that the casting of Hallam is what effectively "saved" EastEnders, as the strong, brooding silent performance he gave drew some two to three million extra viewers every week. or twice a week, or however often it was shown then.

for several episodes he remained a mesmerising, haunting and decidedly silent presence in the show. then, the spell was somewhat broken when he finally spoke in the one episode, asking "Dirty" Den "everything alright"? it was, arguably except no one can disagree, the one true Olivier moment the show has ever had.

did i ever write to Peter Dean, who played "Horny" Pete Beale in the show? no. i mean, he was ok, but no Barnsey. also, a good friend at school assured me that Peter Dean only ever responded to fan letters off of Lambeth, or other such demarcated cockney areas. the 14p i would have spent on a 2nd class stamp in 1988 would, then, have been wasted.



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

beautiful barbs, wonderful walls

howdy pop pickers


there has been something missing from this blog, look you see. quite a few who know me, and are aware of my proclivities and idiosyncratic ways, might well have wondered why (a) there was no day of release post for the new Barbara Streisand album, released on 2 November 2018, (b) it didn't feature in my best..... nonsense towards the end of 2018 and (c) why there has been no mention of it, at all, until now. 

well, simple, really. my (considerably) better half requested of me to make the ultimate sacrifice. this involved me not purchasing the new Barbs album and waiting for a bit, so that she may have something that it would be known i would want, wish for and appreciate for all that Christmas business. an impossible situation, but i agreed to it. guilt has hung upon my shoulders ever since, of course - without my purchase of it at the time the album "only" reached number 6 in the UK album chart.

so, anyway, i have it now, as in Walls by Barbra (Barbs) Streisand. and yes it is good. and yes this is a post on the subject.

just what is this record? why, it is the 36th officially recognised studio album to be recorded and released by Barbs. it also marks a return to her doing some original compositions, something not seen, or rather heard, in a fair while. no, the last few years for Barbs has been things like Partners, Encore, Christmas Classics and an assortment of compilations.

a welcome return, then, but one (that is, a return) that does not lack reason. this will crop up as we go, should you elect to continue, but, surprise surprise, Barbs is not, funnily enough, all that happy, enamoured or delighted with what she observes in her native grounds of America. yes, this is with specific emphasis on the current political arrangements and clients.

strangely, happily or maybe against expectations, the above dislike is not overtly dominating in the songs, and nor is it distracting. for now, however, on with a bit of a gander at the music. but, that said, the motivation and inspiration behind Barbs making this record is never all that far away.

three songs off of the album have enjoyed a fairly healthy amount of radio play. it is a sign of the peculiar times that we must now assume the three songs which have had radio play are the lead "singles" off of the record, despite them never actually being released as singles. anyway, the three songs / singles off the album to get radio rotation are Don't Lie To Me, the titular Walls and The Rain Will Fall.

as an ultra-loyalist, hardcore Barbs fan, i would say that these three songs in particular stand up to scrutiny and appreciation normally reserved for her "classic" hits. this is by no means an easy thing to say - quite controversial in fact. mostly this would be due to the fact that, at times, and in particular on The Rain Will Fall, Barbs is sounding less like Barbs, and a good deal more like Cher than even Cher currently sounds. but, hey, who doesn't like Cher?

of course, this being where we are in this century, and Barbs being Barbs, just the one thing comes to mind when a word like "walls" is mentioned; the ambitious plan by a certain President Trump to build a wall that will supposedly block Mexico, actually specifically Mexicans, from the United States.

Barbs is perhaps the personification of the democrat (in American political party terms) dream. she is also an unapologetic acolyte, advocate and tacit apologist for the Clintons, the political dynasty that never was. whilst the (lavish, extensive and beautifully presented) linear notes make clear how "proud" Barbs would have been if history had brought us a second President Clinton, the commentary within the songs - in particular Walls - is far from over.

it's a more constructive than narrative in the lyrics, then. idealist, perhaps, and at times so hippy fantastic that you might be forgiven for thinking you are listening to Art Garfunkel at his solo airy best rather than songs partly penned by Barbs. in a song like Walls Barbs takes a concept or idea that has little but negative connotations and turns it into an expression of how the world could, would and should perhaps be.

on a practical and blunt level, Barbs is experienced and wise enough to know that releasing a record which effectively screams "f*** Ttump" is of little value. such statements are of course bandied about frequently, and often serve to get the speaker of them some polite applause for being right on rather than they do to change anything.

a sticker on the front of the CD and a comment on the back say that this record is Barbs singing about "what is on her mind". it is not like you can turn around and complain that no warning was presented, then.

pictured below is the booklet section which concerns Don't Lie To Me. unless it is just me getting "old" and that, i quite agree with the sentiment she expresses. other than all this "fake news" nonsense, in which people dismiss stories they happen to disagree with as "fake", there is the problem of social media in general but all this "twitter" business in particular.

for some reason we have allowed the forth estate, the world news media, to present "what is trending on twitter" as being the most important news going. dangerously, there's an assumption that anything put or "trending" on this twitter thing immediately equates to it being true and right. no, not quite. how it has escaped the attention of so many that twitter is essentially an echo chamber is beyond me.

i mean, i get the entertainment and value people get off of something like twitter, and no, i would not seek for that to cease. what i don't quite understand is how it's been allowed to have such a sway and influence on the media, which in turn means sway and influence on the world we live in.

the remainder of the album, other than these three highlighted songs? at the risk of sounding disrespectful some "standard Barbs", but then again standard Barbs happens to be very good. one thing i am wrestling with is an "orchestral mash up" of Imagine (yes, the John Lennon one) and What A Wonderful World (the Louis Armstrong one, not to be confused with Wonderful World off of Sam Cooke). it's an intriguing vocal performance, but after a couple of plays i still cannot determine if i like what she's done here. all, of course, whilst accepting that it is Barbs what done it, so yes it is brilliant, as i am duty bound to say.

would i suggest or recommend to you, the people, procure and secure a copy of Walls by Barbra Streisand for your listening pleasure? yes, absolutely. i can say that on the basis of the three lead songs / "singles" being used to promote the album alone. all three are superb, and the remainder of the album gives you more of the same.

yes, indeed, had i heard it at the time of release, this record would have featured in the positive part of my "albums of the year" section. not the best, of course. as interesting as what is on Barbs' mind is to hear, ultimately what is going on in America is of little relevance to me. but still, the songs are all very good indeed.

unless a spectacular surprise release happens in the next couple of weeks, i would have thought that the next music or album related post here shall all be of the return of Ian Brown as a solo artist. but i would suspect with confidence that i shall find other things to write of between this and then.



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

sed iam quod erat ignotum

salve est


time again, then, look you see. another glance into the future for you, using my special powers in the dark arts, extracted from knowledge that is known but was always intended to remain unknown. normally it would be acceptable and right to say that my "mortal soul" is at risk by learning such, but as i have pointed out before according to science i am immortal. this will remain to be the case until science proves conclusively that i can, as point of fact, die or otherwise be killed in some fashion or other. with this failing to happen, the empirical scientific answer is that i shall, much to the disgust and contempt of some, live forever.

quite an unusual twist in my vast powers of summoning answers now for questions then, with then being one day in the future. it is the case that these powers, if powers is the appropriate word, have been doubled by my obtaining a second device to consult for tales of the future.

yes. to go along with my powerful and all seeing, all knowing Magic 8 Ball, i now have something called a "bitter lemon". in truth, it had not occurred to me to see a lemon as a conduit to knowing the future. for me, a lemon was - simply yet effectively - an important ingredient in the type of shampoo what Jason Donovan uses. or used, at least, for he mentioned such in an interview he did in the late 80s, on a children's tv show if i recall right. but, when i saw it on sale in Poundland for 50p, i knew it was meant to be, that i must have it.

anyway, it is unlikely you want to know the technical stuff, just answers to questions of the future. to this end, i have posed questions to the Magic 8 Ball and the Bitter Lemon. in this instance, then, i have summoned my powers to ask key sociopolitical questions that many shall be demanding answers for. so best to differentiate which device speaks which future, the answers provided by the bitter lemon are the ones presented in yellow across what follows.......

will Japan win the war against whales?

SO IT SHALL BE
NOT LISTENING


shall Brexit be a spectacular success?

WHEN PIGS FLY
CHANCES AREN'T GOOD

will Trump make America great, apparently "again"?

CONSULT ME LATER
NO SH*TS GIVEN

shall Scotland be free of English "oppression" and become a minor slave state of the EU?

NO, U KNOB
VERY LIKELY

will France surrender to the first person that asks?

CANNOT FORESEE NOW
I DON'T CARE

shall Australia win the Eurovision?

NOT LISTENING
YOU CAN COUNT ON IT

well, quite interesting that. but before i go on, yes, the answers to questions that are key from the Magic 8 Ball above are indeed in green. why? to be sure, why not.

just how often it is that the Magic 8 Ball and the Bitter Lemon either agree or disagree is almost as curious as how coarse and crass the Bitter Lemon is with certain answers. quite an uncouth mouth, this device to tell the future has.

due to the remarkable popularity of these tales of the future, yes, indeed, i shall do some more at a later date. in the future, so to speak, although to say such feels like a terrible joke or poor play on words, considering the subject matter. for now, though, however, i can only hope that some or all of the findings in this incident have been useful or beneficial for some of you.




sublimis inter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thinking of a different time

hey there


much as the title suggests, this will be one of them "nostalgia" things, to be sure. it would be fair to assume that some of you, look you see, find such things quite tiresome. so, fair warning has been given before you carry on.

a little while ago, probably during one of them day of release posts what i try to do for the vibes, i highlighted some fancy VHS style branding for dvds and blu-rays that HMV had in stock. whereas i don't recall the exact post or the details, i can remember being impressed with them, but disappointed with the high price and the fact that i already owned all the titles they had of interest, albeit in more conventional, or if you will standard packaging.

most happy day, then, when i went to HMV over the christmas period (boxing day, if you will) and discovered that they were both of a more agreeable price and featured titles that i did not, for some reason, already own. well, at least not in or on the blu-ray format.

two celebrated and classic 80s comedies, then, in the form of Trading Places and Airplane!, or indeed Flying High as it was named in some countries for some peculiar reason. yes, of course i had these much cherished films on dvd, but had simply not gotten around to upgrading them to the fancy blu-ray versions. most merry a day it was that i could do so and go on the nostalgia kick of these mock VHS boxes with them.

cost? HMV had them in a 2 for £15 section (or 1p south of £10 if you bought just one), which to my mind makes them come in at £7.50 each. a quite reasonable price for a blu-ray title.

a look at what you get for your (if my maths is correct) £7.50, or an understanding of how much, exactly, bang you get for your buck? surely. let us start with how the discs are housed, outside of the smart replica VHS outer box.

inside the outer VHS slipcover is a not entirely flimsy but not entirely sturdy cardboard recreation of a VHS tape. not really accurate, as the holes on the back are far too close together (actually it looks a bit like a Beta cassette), but a decent and respectful enough effort.

whilst i write this i have the blu-ray disc of Trading Places on. subsequently this is taking quite some time to do, since i am thoroughly enjoying watching it again. i can recall fondly my first time watching it. this was all before the government and the bbfc interfered with video, enabling anyone of any age to rent any video, in particular off of the video shop at the petrol station. it was late 83, or early 84, i believe. the BBC had a snippet of the film on some show or other, and i thought "that looks good". as this was all pre-Beverly Hills Cop and pre-Ghostbusters, i was not quite aware of the cast, except that i was fairly sure that the white dude on the cover was one of The Blues Brothers.

my reaction to watching it for the first time was very much to rewind the videotape and watch it again, straight away. yes, it was that good, and going on what i am watching now, remains that good. great, in fact. excellent, even.

to the inside of the mock VHS box, then, and the two discs. both the blu-ray and the dvd discs have been done up like VHS reels or spools, which is a lovely touch.

a decision which has long since baffled me is that what the film industry took to often bundle a blu ray version of a film with the dvd version. i believe Disney argued that they did it so you could watch the blu-ray at home and have the dvd in the car for the kids, or something. in the majority of cases in which i have bought such a set, the dvd disc has remained blissfully untouched. but, i suppose, here it at least lets the mock inner VHS tape case look "a bit" more authentic with the two reels / spools inside.

speaking of which, and you can sort of see this later on with a look at the back of the boxes (not in Commodore 64 mode), the blu-ray and dvd discs would appear to contain different versions of each film, for the blu-ray has a longer running time. also, and but of course, the blu-ray of each is loaded with extra features, whereas the dvd seems to have just the film. thus far, though, i have not noticed any "extra" or "new to me" scenes in the blu of Trading Places. perhaps later, when Dan Aykroyd makes his "superbowl" analogy, is what they mean by the extra scene. that bit got cut for time in some UK prints, for at the time with no NFL / American Football coverage a lengthy scene comparing something to the "superbowl" meant precisely zero to us.

anything else within the packaging? oh goodness me, yes. as show above, assuming the pictures all upload ok, you see what you get. basically, then, a poster for the film, a sticker and a "trading card" or "bubblegum card".

the above, in truth, had me itching to go back and splurge more on these, what with them being a not entirely unreasonable (actually very good) 2 for £15. other titles which excited, interested and tempted me included The Thing, Scarface and An American Werewolf In London. but, they are all films that i have at least once on dvd and for certain as standard packaged blu-rays. in those terms, then, it would seem excessive and indulgent - bourgeois, perhaps - to spend so much for a poster a sticker and a collectable card.

who, exactly, are these aimed at? me, i suppose. well, not me specifically. but, you know, them like me. collectors and so forth, and those who suffer the torment of nostalgia. that said, absolutely no one in their right mind gets nostalgic for the quality of VHS, but i - hopefully we - do for the memories. home video, when it came along at a reasonable price (it took a while, on a school trip to London in the late 80s HMV on Oxford was selling Commando for some £60), was outrageous and exciting. getting a film on tape was exciting and special. now, with cheap discs and all this streaming, it all feels rather disposable.

how come i selected Airplane! to go with Trading Places? well, other than not having it on blu-ray, it is a film which competes very favourably with Life Of Brian, This Is Spinal Tap and Four Lions for the title of funniest film ever made. yes, we had the video of it, and it got watched repeatidley. whereas i cannot remember if it was in Australia or England, i think the first time i watched the tape was with my brother and sister, one weekend morning, whilst Mum & Dad were asleep and we were trusted or otherwise left to just amuse ourselves.

the only other alternate that i could think to pick up was The Breakfast Club. however, it seemed that it featured precisely zero extras, and as the version on the blu was the same as on the dvd then it made little sense to upgrade. nice though a poster of Emilio, Judd, Molly et al would have been.

anyhow, that's that then. let me just get on with watching them. if for some reason you have not worked this out, or if for that matter my opinion is of some value, then yes, absolutely these VHS packaged discs are well worth getting. this is all the more true should you find them at the price i did, or if truly fortunate an even better one.



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

musings on sharing a packet of greek fags with the third best hugh laurie tribute act in leicester

hi there


it is perhaps fair, look you see, to say that just about all you need to know of this particular post is right there in the title. true, yes, that a good headline does indeed give you the story, but in this particular instance i suspect that i've gone somewhat beyond that motto of the fourth estate.

no matter, i will press on. or i shall, if that is the correct way to word it. up to you really, just read whichever of the options i have given you for wording it that you believe to be correct and accept that is it and move on.

for what reason is it that i am in a position to speak of, or have musings on, the subject of the title? a not unreasonable question, but one that i do not have a reasonable answer for. the truth is it just struck me as something that some of you might quite like to read, and so i arranged it.

yes, pictured above is the third best hugh laurie impersonator one can find in leicester. no, that is Atari 2600 mode, as it is what he requested. part of the agreement to post all of this was that i only used 8-bit style images of him, and didn't reveal his name. it turns out that the society, or if you will union, of hugh laurie impersonators is hotly contested, and they are reticent if not outright reluctant to reveal the ways in which they look like hugh, for fear of competitors stealing their act. beyond that, i did promise Phil that i wouldn't put his actual name up here, so he shall be referred to as P from here on out. which, in fairness, will save on typing a bit.

how did i come to arrange a meeting with leicester's third best hugh laurie tribute act (impersonator?) some research, hard work and dedication. the top two were, perhaps unsurprisingly with the massive upsurge in demand at this time of year, solidly booked out. happily the third was free. this was mostly due to him only being relatively new to the leicester based hugh laurie tribute act circuit; in some of his words apparently "the arse has fallen out" of the will young tribute act market and so he's diversified a bit.

securing the services of P to share a pack of greek fags was by no means straightforward. certain conditions for this were put in place. firstly, as indeed the first image gives every indication of, alcohol had to be present. the meeting also had to take place at least one hour drive outside of leicester, with what P referred to as "the wolverhampton axis" being a preference. further, the greek fags had to be of the finest quality. in respect of this, some rather splendid old friends in the form of George Karelias (or however you spell it) were procured, with thanks as ever for this going to Spiros.

exactly how big is the market for hugh lauire impersonators (or tribute acts) in leicester? massive, man. bloody huge, in fact. as far as leicester is concerned, modern culture peaked, or reached a quite natural epitome, with the rise to prominence of hugh laurie. as everything what came after hugh is thus considered a waste of time, leicester simply continues to celebrate hugh, flying the flag or burning the candle for him, or whatever. why? well, why not. i am a fan of hugh.

for what reason is it that i wished to engage the services of a hugh tribute act to smoke greek fags? i don't know, really. a lot of it was spontaneous, i suppose, that classic "it seemed like a really good idea at the time" thing. looking back it is possible to say it was an accidental tribute to the celebrated Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, or if you like A Bit Of Fry & Laurie sketch set in a greek restaurant, but i don't honestly recall us eating any baklava or stuffed vine leaves.

does being a (predominantly) leicester based hugh laurie tribute act (or impersonator) attract a lot of fanny? oh, goodness me yes. quite remarkable stuff, really. for the sake of avoiding rival impersonators, or indeed the paparazzi, we selected a location rather off the beaten track instead of the usual tourist hot spots associated with the so-called "wolverhampton axis". a somewhat barren and formidable place, the type which makes The Slaughtered Lamb out of An American Werewolf In London seem rather cosmopolitan in comparison. and yet still the ladies flocked to the hugh.

how did this all work out for me? quite well, as point of fact. in truth P was a little hesitant in trying the greek fags, as he had "heard stories", and they were not tales which he was at all comfortable with. i gave him several assurances, however, and so he tried, and found that they were indeed most splendid.

is there any chance of this post featuring a picture of me with an enormous glass of gin, loaded with all sorts of fruit but of a predominantly citrus based nature? sure, of course.

no, i am not really a gin fan. there was a period that i wished i was, of course. like most who saw the film, my conclusion on seeing Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth was that it must be awesome to just sit in one of them roadside cafe things, wearing a splendid hat and just basically drinking loads and loads of gin. i went off and gave this a try, then, but found that i was not overtly keen on gin. as that was well north of twenty years ago, however, who knows? maybe i should try again, perhaps i have developed a taste for it.

was this not all a quite costly venture? it depends on how you look at it. should you take the entire spend and weigh it against that which was gained from all of this, i think a "break even" point was most decidedly reached.

perhaps it is fair to say more than break even, as in a slight weight push in the direction of that which was gained, when you consider the below "animated gif" thing. in a rather kind gesture, Phil, who has requested to be referred to as P here, agreed to smoke one of the greek fags in a "very hugh laurie way".

yes, i would have very much liked to have experienced this in what one might describe as the natural environment for a hugh laurie impersonator / tribute act, which is leicester apparently. my understanding is that leicester is "all sangrias and sunchairs from 10am every day", which sounds quite lovely. one never knows what the future holds, perhaps one day this will happen.

since he is central to all of this, for he provided the greek fags what made it possible, where is Spiros? that is a good question. no, i am not protecting him as usual here, i really don't know. well, maybe. reviewing my correspondence with him, the greatest legal mind of his generation, it seems that the last thing i sent him was a "know your own urine" guide. perhaps he has taken this with him as he goes about his proclivity for making short term but nonetheless mutually beneficial friendships with gentlemen (preferably in uniform) in bathrooms and other such public lavatories and restroom facilities.

one more picture emphasising how the ladies flock to hugh laurie impersonators (tribute acts) whilst they are enjoying a greek fag? i see no real reason not to share another. how about, to "mix things up", this time we see it in all the glory possible with the nintendo gameboy mode?

right, ok, well, then, that's that. i really do not believe i have much more else to say on this. actually, and you may well have noticed, i ran out of things to say about this several paragraphs ago. but, with all these pictures, i may have added some padding and a bit of waffle.

by the way, i was only going to publish this in february, but Phil, who wishes only to be referred to here as P, got a bit Australian about that and insisted it be this month. so, here.

if for some reason i find myself in another land, smoking cigarettes of greek provenance, in the presence of some form of impersonator or tribute act, yes, i shall surely do all that i can to record or capture the moment and share it here.


until then, then,



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

from chaos to harmony

howdy pop pickers


and so we have been blessed with a third "single" from the newly once again solo artist Ian Brown, look you see. unless you read (and rely on) NME, as they are reporting on this third track to be released, or "dropped" in apparently modern parlance, as the "second". what a shame, they are missing out on Black Roses.

this third and presumably final (prior to the album release) track is called, as the title of this post gives every indication, From Chaos To Harmony. it's a bit of a loose, varying tempo stoned blues traveller number with a fair bit of wah wah pedal guitar on, the latter by none other than Ian Brown himself. effectively it's the sound of the sort of thing we have been led to believe that John Squire wished the band he and Ian were in, the name of which escapes me for the moment, to sound like. and no, that is not where subtle and in no way subtle references cease.

let us be honest and clear on this one, or if you like about this. under no circumstances can you be Ian Brown, as in the Ian Brown, and casually reference or use words like "stone" and "roses" in a song without it having a very overt meaning and implication. make what you will, then, of lines such as "dried up roses all turned to stone, born again? you don't know you've been born" and "dried up roses all turned to stone, too much poison to ramble on". quite hard not to hear that as giving every indication that the wonderful adventure which has been the return of The Stone Roses has really all come to an end. he rounds all of that off with one of his favourite things from the latter stages of his pre-reunion solo stuff; that is noting how "Own Brain" is an anagram of "Ian Brown".

other Roses references are apparent in the lack of a mountain of lyrics to hide them in. we get mentions of a "magic carpet ride" (Where Angels Play) and "the kingdom's all inside" (Breaking In To Heaven). it shall be with interest that i seek out interviews, if he grants them, at the time of the new album, Ripples, coming out. but of course journalists are going to ask of The Stone Roses, it's just a question of whether or not he will answer. if you go back 20 years, as opposed to forward, Ian was certainly not shy about telling it both how it was and how it is when Unfinished Monkey Business came into the world.

well, that's three really good songs the world has had chance to hear from Ripples. bring on the album, i say, or says i.



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

a high wind in the trees, a cold sound in the air

hey there


i am aware of a quotation, look you see. not just any quotation, to be sure, but a quite fancy sounding one off of one of them philosopher type dudes. fancy sounding, indeed, but when you think about it one which simply states the (possibly bleedin') obvious.

anyway, the quote is something along the lines of "life must be lived forwards, but can only be understood backwards". yes, it sounds all clever and poignant and that, but since none of us know how much time we have, or what will happen with whatever period we have here on this particular planet, this is not as profound as the Welsh one out of the Manic Street Preachers who brought it to my attention might think it is.

no, ostensibly certainly i am aware that all of the Manic Street Preachers are Welsh, but you know the one i mean. the really or uber Welsh one off the band. more on that later, if i remember. but for now, to get to the point, the relevance of the fancy philosopher quote to this post is that if one doesn't know exactly when the end point of life is, then one truly cannot be sure as and when they are having a so-called "mid-life crisis".

which all makes it tricky, perhaps even a bit of a bugger, to understand or otherwise contextualise my recent decision to purchase a can of lynx (axe) apollo deodorant as being either a symptom of me having a midlife crisis or some other sort of matter for concern.

this is not, of course, my first experience with lynx apollo. i have purchased this particular make and model before, and did not particularly care for it. as a deodorant it kind of serves a purpose, but the scent is not really all that enthralling. curious, then, that lynx (axe) elected to call this "apollo", as it would strike me that this is not a suitable, fitting or respectful tribute to any of the well known people, projects, deities or what have you which one would normally associate with the name Apollo.

now that i think, for what reason is it that whoever makes lynx (axe) decided to name any of their produce after a concept so complex as Apollo? as per previous reviews of this lynx business, the main purpose or point of all lynx deodorants is that it is used by feral, rather unsavoury teenage types to attract a mate for breeding purposes. people, you would argue, of an age, social class and educational level that would care not for any of the incarnations of Apollo.

so yes, then, midlife crisis. am i in the midst of one, i wonder? probably not, in truth, for as i have established in previous posts according to science i am immortal, what with a lack of evidence of an empirical scientific nature that i can die or otherwise be killed. should i be here forever, well, then, there is not really going to be any "middle bit" for a crisis or anything else, is there?

on the off chance that i am not, as point of fact immortal - let me dare to say the lack of scientific evidence does not matter and i shall take it on faith that i can indeed die - then there is every chance that i am in the middle part, heading towards the business end. which may well go some way towards explaining why, as illustrated above, i appear to have ended up as part of the cocktails brigade.

so anyway, there i was, stood in one of them supermarket things, before the altar what the supermarket proprietor had designated as being for the celebration of deodorants. i dismissed the concern that i am not a feral teenager and set about selecting a can of it. despite several variations of it that i actually like (well, two) being available, for some inexplicable reason i found myself internally vocalising "yeah, go on then, i fancy some Apollo for a change". as my arm protruded to pick up a can and place it in my shopping basket i had a sense that i was doing wrong, but i proceeded anyway.

did i mention to Spiros that i had apparently joined the cocktail brigade? yes, in passing. he was tremendously excited about it, and with some enthusiasm proceeded to state that he had some rather splendid cocktails to share with me. it was not, believe me, all that long into the conversation that it transpired Spiros had heard "cocktails" as "cock tales". unfortunately i cannot share with you any of the details of the subsequent conversation, but i can assure it was all rather exciting.

indeed, Spiros enthusiasts, that above is - unless i am mistaken - the first picture of Spiros for 2019 to be showcased here. a heavily censored or edited one for security reasons, to be sure, but nonetheless a most splendid image. what is he up to here? something something peninsula, something something nuclear proliferation, something something negotiated disarmament, something something Korea. oh yes, don't you worry, he will be making a pile of coins of money off of it.

any lingering regrets about my decision to purchase a tin or if you like can of lynx apollo? my understanding would be that this post exists purely to expunge or otherwise address those regrets; to face them and try to make sense of it all. just what the devil, what the bloody hell, for goodness sake what on earth was i thinking?

to make matters worse - or better - i took a decision to wear / use the vast majority of this can of lynx apollo in an area of England, or the wider United Kingdom, known as the black country. further, i combined its use with some "new" hair gel what i got off of Poundland; one that they advertised and promoted as being either used in or "of" London.

a certain element still exists within marketing and advertising circles (actually squares) that believes referring to something as being "the London" or "of London" makes it, in the mind of consumers, superior and better to all others. yeah, sure. whilst there is much of merit to, from, and about London, let us not forget some things. like, for instance, their inability to elect a decent mayor. or the fact that London black cab drivers prefer you not to pay your fare in any combination of Euros, Scottish Bank Notes or Northern Irish Bank Notes. believe me, try the latter and just see what happens.

how does the gel perform? not so bad, as you will see in the very next picture. appearance wise it is rather suspect, though. it is a purplish concoction, far too explicit to publish here as it looks like the secretions or other such discharges what might be made by a fiendish alien sexual beast off one of them space movies.

well, with little else to say, and there being every chance that you are quite excited by the promise of the above, here you go - a picture of the hair gel in action. and yes, another brave venture into the world of cocktails.

oh yes, that whole Manic Street Preachers and Welsh and philosophers thing. actually, i did have something to say further about it in mind, but i cannot recall what it was. never mind, i suppose if you really wanted to know you could listen to a couple of their albums and see if you can't work out whatever observation it was i was contemplating.

it would be highly unlikely that i shall purchase or obtain any further cans of lynx apollo. my hope, perhaps aspiration, is that this whole sorry episode has now got whatever it is that was in my system about it well and truly out of my system. but, you never know. should i for some reason by another can of it, i will do everything i can to let you know.



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

welcome to ladies night

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