commodore 64 car wash

hello there


if it was, or is, look you see, the case that there was a game called carwash or car wash made for the Commodore 64, then sorry. should you have come here looking for more details about a game what i have never heard of, there will be none here.

this, rather than what it is not, is rather just another example of me refusing to withhold from you, the reader, any or all exciting things which happen or occur as i try to make my way through life. it's all a matter of perspective of course, but i would respectfully suggest that if your life is pretty much mundane, routine and dull, then a visit to the car wash is truly indeed an exciting detour.

yes, that one picture is it, alas. i had made one of them animated "GIF" things, in Commodore 64 mode, of them massive roller things brushing down the windscreen. for some reason, however, it did not save on the phone. no, i was not prepared to spend somewhere either slightly north or south of £4 once more to go through it again just to try and film once more.

without much in the way of doubt it is entirely possible that i shall visit a car washing mechanism facility once again. if i do, then perhaps i shall be able to capture a more moving visual of it all for you. but, for now, this shall just have to do.



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

some reading

hello reader


so, some more reading, look you see. having read a further two novels, or if you want this to sound all posh and that "tomes", it has come to the time where i reflect on them, on the off chance that someone, anyone is particularly interested in my thoughts.

in sticking with a belief that continuity is a strength, the standard here would be to display an image of the books which were, or have been, read. this would then be followed by some spoiler free observations, with that it turn followed by further, if not quite deeper, comments on each.

let me not disrupt belief, continuity or strength, then.

the really splendid thing to say here is that Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh is truly brilliant. a wonderfully constructed mystery / thriller type of thing, and indeed the best advice i can give right now is to rather stop reading this, find a copy of the book and just read it. somewhat less splendid, but not awful, would be Ghost by James Swallow. this is the third in a series of books featuring a protagonist inexplicably called Marc Dane, and overall there are just too many tired flaws to see me go out of my way to praise anything good in it.

whereas i shall do my best to limit such, please note that a fabulous *** SPOILER WARNING *** is now in full effect for the remainder of this post. but, honestly, all you probably need to know is in the paragraph before this one. assuming my deft formatting is in place.

to start where i did with these two would be to start with Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh. and why not.

in respect of the all important provenance of my copy, as is becoming the standard that would be Tesco. whereas their "2 for £7" deal of splendid on books has long since changed to a less than splendid "2 for £8", they still have novels randomly priced at £2, £3 and sometimes £3.50. i am quietly confident that it was the latter, or if you like 50p south of £4, that i invested.

plot? a young new mother is coming to terms with both being a mother and the fact that her parents have died within the last year, separately but apparently by suicide. certain events and happenings start to make her believe that the deaths of her parents were maybe not quite so open and shut straightforward affairs as the police had initially concluded......

i am really reluctant and hesitant to say much more. other than the price, what attracted me to this novel was that i had read one by the author before. whereas for the life of me i cannot remember what it was - possibly I See You - there is an inescapable sense that i had that it was very good. this is just sheer brilliance. all twists and turns and red herrings and such time up very well for a consistently excellent read, with that consistency going all the way through to a highly satisfactory conclusion.

there does not feel like much more i can say without risking spoilers. also, i would perhaps just repeat myself (again), saying how excellent it is. let me rather leave it with the highest recommendation i can give you all, then. just read it.

slightly less good news, alas, in terms of Ghost by James Swallow. whereas it is not all bad, this just could have been much better. that's in terms of actual content and, most importantly, presentation.

yes, provenance. again this was Tesco, and i am almost sure it was their centralist £3 book of the week. but if it was £3.50 i dare say i would have paid, as i can remember getting all excited, recalling that the first of this series, Nomad, was really good. and that the second, whatever it was called (also one word title) was not bad.

of plot? Marc Dane and his merry band of well funded, not at all shy of killing people for the greater good organization called Rubicon are at it again. in this instance they are accidentally drawn into a massive, global plot to cause chaos, indeed "hold the world to ransom", via means of.....computer hacking and taking advantage of how we have made everything reliant on computers and something called an "internet". if it's on the internet, to be sure, then it can quite easily be hacked and controlled by someone else, no matter what it is or what "security" is in place.

yes, i hear the yawn. it seems that the go-to "bad guy" for many, many plots these days is "computer hackers" and the great evils of relying on internet connected computers for anything. even people what have been President of that there America place find it a most attractive plot device. who knew that Die Hard 4.0 (or Live Free Or Die Hard if American) would be the greatest source of inspiration for 21st century writers? in the case of Ghost, they also pretty much borrow the fine resolution to the problem posed in that film, which was when John McClane memorably sorted it all out by twatting a helicopter one with a car.

Ghost is supposed to be a pacy thriller, but at times it feels far too long and drawn out. this is because it is, really. there are Dickensian length chapters here, which just leaves you bored and distracted. i am surprised the editor or publisher did tell Mr Swallow to go back and chop it all up into much more agreeable chapter lengths. the much loved mother of a dear friend of mine once summed it up perfectly, she said that the perfect length for a chapter is "one that lasts exactly as long as you need to sit on the loo".

i persevered with the novel, for i can never bring myself to ditch one, but i am not convinced the resolution or payoff was worth that which i had invested. the overriding arc of the "series" of books, the supposedly righteous Rubicon Groups vs the presumed evil shady institution called Combine, really is going nowhere fast. there are hints that this will all be dragged out further, but in truth i am not sure that i am particularly interested. but watch me get all excited and make the purchase as and when the fourth volume is published.

anyway, that is about that. one really, really, really good book, one that i felt obliged to read and i bet that i end up reading the next one too. make of this what you will.

many thanks for reading, and as ever hopefully something here has been of some use to someone somewhere!



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

partially good pointless

heya


it is an unavoidable, and yet for many quite happy, truth that i must surely be on the downward slope with my days. there is no possible way, look you see, that i shall survive to double my present age, and so this is all now well into the second half as such. of course, that has to be tempered with the fact that, according to proven scientific fact i am immortal, due to no empirical (only presumed circumstantial) evidence that i can in fact die being shown.

anyway, the point here is that as i go on in years i find myself being most content with the simpler, less challenging things in life. which is how come, i suppose, i am drawn to regular viewership of the television show Pointless.

for those of you unaware of the show, the contestants (starting with four pairs of them) are presented with questions that have many answers. they must guess the least popular or well known answer, so as to score the lowest score and win. being pointless wins you money. yes, it is a touch like golf, except for the lack of balls, sticks, a course and mostly sand.

quite a few people i know, and further am aware of, do not like the show at all. this is purely because of the hosts. often they have been described as a couple of cosy, aloof, smarmy smug twats. whilst i can totes see that, they don't particularly bother me. for a start, at least 50% of them are related to someone out of (the london) suede, so they can't be all that bad.

one episode of this show in particular pleased me. this is because some of the answers to questions were one that i approved of tremendously. like, to commence, this one. although as we shall see, the answer which pleased me a good deal is somewhat incorrect.

the question was of "musicians and singers what had left bands". i say musicians too, for in the previous round one Pete Best was possible answer, although on display here are, so far as i am aware, just singers. and indeed, it is the bottom one which pleased me most. it is always splendid to see the name of David Lee Roth randomly crop up on my tv. bravo, then 18 people, what identified him as being the singer with Van Halen, when Van Halen were decent.

i didn't catch the first part of the show so they may well have qualified this, but still i am not entirely convinced that David Lee Roth is a correct answer to this question. all the other answers were people what had left bands and not returned. my basic understanding is that Roth left Van Halen, Van Halen clocked that they were nothing without him, and so by his grace he agreed to return. unless someone can tell me different, at the present moment Roth is once again a member of Van Halen, propping up the lesser members with his vast talents.

whereas one pleasing answer is normally sufficient to have me satisfied and pleased with watching, it is always simply super when a second one comes along. in a later, or latter, round, this is exactly what happened with these ones relating to all that Star Wars business.

should we move away from the accepted fact that Star Wars Episode VIII : Surely They Will All Just Pay To Watch And Worship Anything Called Star Wars is the ultimate pointless answer, the ones above are quite interesting. for a fan, even in passing, most of those answers would be known, but the fun, or if you will challenge, is in considering which of those answers would be the least well known.

yes, these images are all off of the BBC. and indeed, as far as i am concerned, i have a vested financial interest in this, since i am one of the apparent few what pays their tv licence. my understanding would be that as i have paid for this show to be made no objections shall be raised to me using images thereof for not for profit information purposes. besides, i dare to speculate that all their legal types are still rather busy ascertaining what exactly it is they are liable for in regards of Sir Jimmy.

does Pointless ever disgrace itself? oh my word, yes. here is where the accusations of smarmy and smug come into it. a recent episode featured two of them vicar types, or priests, who got into the final. look at how the short smug one and the tall smarmy one decided to torment and terrorise them with options on the final question.

everything about that says "oh, look, we have religious types, let us humiliate them with some questions on the quasi poster boy for atheism". why would you do something such as that, either to members of the clergy or members of the public watching? anyway, them vicars were clearly well versed with the ways of their natural enemy, as they got an answer that only 1 other person did. probably the subject of the question himself.

no, you are right - Bullseye has not featured here for a bit. absolutely no way is Pointless being showcased here as a replacement, for it is complete sh!t in comparison. i just have not seen much of the magic of Bowen on tele lately, perhaps they have stopped screening it on repeat or maybe now it only comes on after i have been to bed.

what were the pointless answers to them Star Wars questions? well, none had pointless answers as such, but you could have scored 4 with one of them.

so, in the realm of the people who get called up and asked to answer questions for contestants to guess at on Pointless, one less (fewer?) people knew who played Boba Fett than know what band David Lee Roth was (the most important) part of. that is quite a statement. i am not certain what the statement is saying as such, or what it means, but still.

well, anyway, that is pretty much all i have for you on this particular subject.




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

caught yourself a trick down on sunset and vine

now then


one of those sorts of posts which may or, look you see, may not be of interest to you, the people. i dare say that what shall be on show here is already on show in other corners of the internet. but, having said (or typed) that, these are pictures what Spiros sent, which makes them rather special.

indeed, yes, Spiros has from time to time sent me any number of "special" pictures. these are usually of a nature which are decidedly not suitable to be shared here, no matter how much enthusiasm he has for whatever gentleman (normally uninformed) that he's formed a short term but mutually beneficial friendship with. with some delight i can say that there are no such concerns regarding content of that nature here.

and what we have here, then, is, or are, selective highlights from the somewhat legendary and partially well known Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

nice one Spiros, for going and seeking out for me the David Bowie star. this is quite a gesture off of him, for the Hollywood Walk Of Fame is bloody massive, so it is, to be sure. how massive? somewhere north of one mile in length, or if you are one of them metric enthusiasts just north of 2km. that's a significant area to look across for one particular star, and Spiros expended some valuable drinking time to find this one for me.

just what is the Hollywood Walk Of Fame? well, if you are unaware of it, the above picture tells you most of what you would need to know. it's a strip of fancy marble, gilded tiles on Hollywood Boulevard, resplendent with stars showcasing the name of the most celebrated of celebrities.

i, or most likely we, back in the 80s looked from the UK to the USA at this with a sense of awe and wonder. everything about it seemed ace, with big, massive mega stars being treasured in such a way. our glances were almost certainly tinged with jealousy. and why not? whilst our friends in America got to celebrate the likes of Jack Nicholson and what have you, what would we do similar? put stars down on some random street in London, emblazoned with names such as Jimmy Tarbuck and Leslie Crowther?

yes, that is the star what celebrates Chuck "Chuck" Norris. usually he would of course be associated with the class Star of Texas what he wore as a Texas Ranger in Walker Texas Ranger but this is a nice touch.

it was rare to be growing up in the 80s in the UK and encounter Chuck. most of his films were either cut to ribbons by our draconian, prudish censors, or simply refused a release. every now and then one sneaked through, though, and i was well impressed with films such as Delta Force, Invasion USA and the most smart Code Of Silence. on many instances the internet has chosen to celebrate Chuck Norris when it is not busy with Rick Astley, which is nice.

do we have anything comparable to the "Hollywood Walk Of Fame" in England, or the UK? sort of. there's a kind of "blue plaque" thing, where buildings of some significance get a round blue plaque on which something noteworthy happened. in truth there are only a few decent ones, and they are the ones which reference The Who, Bowie and Hendrix. other than that, i suppose we just dish out knighthoods and lesser honours to those we want to celebrate, rather than placing stars on the ground. the main difference, i suppose, is that a knighthood or lesser title cannot be tarnished by a tramp, vagrant or similar soiling their trousers or otherwise disgracing themselves whilst standing on it.

that there is the star in place to celebrate Alice Cooper, not to be confused with Alec Cooper or even Alice Copper. he's one of Spiros' all time favourite musical acts of all time. and why not, really. whereas, despite his lavish stage shows, he is not quite so extrovert to be on my top list, his music is absolutely boss it is, to be sure. from what i recall these days he is less music, more golf, but never mind.

just what was Spiros doing to be in the vicinity of Hollywood Boulevard to take these pictures? mostly as ever that is classified stuff, i fear. however, yes, a great deal of his reason for being there does indeed relate to the highly anticipated 42nd anniversary celebrations to commemorate the release of San Francisco by the Village People. and why not.

more stars? sure. here's one in celebration of a chap whose two biggest films i had the pleasure of re-watching earlier on this year. as early as it is in the year still.

indeed, Eddie Murphy. having watched Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop once more recently, i really do have an inclination to just watch them again. both are just that darned good, really, and a lot of the reason why they are so is the Eddie factor.

am i permitted to say who it is wearing the red shoes and who it is wearing the blue shoes in the pictures? no, i am not.

can one see things other than stars on the ground as they wander Hollywood's Walk Of Fame? with this being Hollywood, sure. look, a really smart statue.

unless i am quite mistaken, that is a super ace boss statue of Bruce Lee, the martial arts kung fu legend considered to be one of the greatest of all time. i in particular enjoyed that one movie he made where he went to that island to be in that tournament and absolutely knacked everyone.

does Spiros still engage in kung fu and other martial arts? well, kind of. he will, of course, never give up his greatest passion, which is classical, traditional Greek style man on man wrestling. but as for kicking people in the head whilst making high pitched noise and other similar kung fu moves, he really tends only to showcase this as and when a London Black Cab driver really asks for it.

the Hollywood Walk Of Fame is, of course, not to be confused with that other celebration of celebrities in the area, that one where celebrities put hands and feet in a cast and that is then all in the ground. so far as i recall that one is all happening outside something called the Chinese Theatre.

stars often turn up for, erm, stars at most unexpected times. like, for instance, the one above, in celebration of David Hasselhoff. you would assume that it was awarded for his deft, boss performances in shows such as Knight Rider or Baywatch, or for his outstanding musical career. even, maybe, for his omnipotent internet presence. but, no. The Hoff's star turned up around the time he was inadvertently cast as the "great political healer", when he unified Germany. probably.

those childhood memories of how special and glitzy these stars are is somewhat tainted with these unfiltered times we have. as it turns out, these stars on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame are not so much "awarded" as they are "paid for", with one simply having to pay a quite trivial US$30,000 a year ("per annum") to have one in place.

which means, in theory, absolutely any bellend or has been with enough latent royalties kicking about in their bank account, assuming their accountant has not borrowed it, could have their very own star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

yes, that's the star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame for Sting, the noted Geordie. alas, there are no notes or anything near the stars, so i am unsure if he appears on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame for being the third best member of The Police, or for his celebrated cinematic career, with particular emphasis on Dune.

if it "only" costs $30,000 a year to have a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, then surely we could all club together to have a few more British legends feature. this is all the more true with what a spectacular success our economy shall presently be, which will no doubt feature a most favourable exchange rate. surely there are enough of us only too happy to commit the requisite funds to ensure that a Robin Asquith, or Macbeth era Keith Chegwin, had a star on display?

the only real risk is that, i imagine, you never can tell whose star your own star shall appear next to. it might turn out that you are in exalted company, or it might be that your star is placed next to someone that you would really rather it was not.

someone out there somewhere will wish to see this Phil Collins one, so there it is. i am quite surprised to see how shoddy this one is, what with the tip of the top star cut off to make way for a drain cover, or what is possibly something to assist wheelchair bound people, like a ramp i guess.

actually, i have just done some quick calculations. for US$30,000 you could get a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, or you could (at current market price) buy 4,385 copies of Vernon Wells in Commando on Blu Ray. or 2, 448 copies of Mad Max 2, starring Vernon Wells, also on Blu Ray.

will it ever be that i walk the Hollywood Walk Of Fame myself? it is a lovely thought. i have many most smart friends living out in the States, and it surely would be class to visit them. also, where better to smoke Marlboro Red than in America? hopefully i get there one day.

let's say that's that for this, then. as ever hopefully this has been of some interest to someone somewhere.




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

the dead tower and the (partial) resurrection

01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101


yes indeed, look you see. as you may well have clocked from that outlandish and outrageous introduction, this is, to be sure, one of them computing like digital posts what i do from time to time. one of them ones that i do, from time to time, to help out those what, like me (a bit) know "a bit" about computers and that, but far from all required knowledge as and when something goes wrong.

and, in this instance, things went quite wrong. my pc, one of them "desktop" or if you like "tower" things, sort of kind of went right ahead and died. well, maybe not. if we are to use medical terminology, it all went into a sort of comatose, vegetative state, as in "lights on nobody home" was what happened when i switched it on.

how then am i able to write this if the pc is dead? well, this all happened just prior to Christmas, when i tried to change a DVD Recorder drive, but there is no evidence to suggest that action in itself was the fault. since then i have been using one of them "laptop" or if you will "mobile computers" to do all of this stuff on.

but did i get the tower fixed? well, that would rob me from telling and you of hearing the whole story, would it not. however, yes, i am still typing all of this on one of them more mobile computing devices, which should tell you enough.

first then, a history. maybe wallow in some nostalgia, or otherwise engage in sentimental hygiene once more. as i recall this pc is around ten years old, purchased either in late 2009 or quite early in 2010. the funding of it was interesting. my former, and much beloved fondly recalled place of verk, had a jolly good idea to issue us staff some shares and that. however, the regulators and the tax man took quite a different approach, and so my employers were more or less forced to purchase from us the shares what they had given us gratis. it so happened that i required a new pc at the time, so before anyone else could step in and do something or other with shares, cash, etc, i went ahead and invested.

despite the fact that this tower had travelled far, and i had not done much to maintain it or look after it in any way ("disc defrag" and "disc clean up" just take too long), it had been a pretty good servant. excellent, in fact. sure, it had got ludicrously sluggish and slow for the last year (or two), but i just chose to ignore that. also i ignored the wheezing sounds it made from time to time, and by from time to time yes of course i mean "whenever it was on". so yes it came as quite a shock when it just flat out stopped working for no apparent reason, right after i changed the DVD Recorder drive some four times within the space of five days.

that is an image of inside the tower then, and yes of course in the greater glory of Commodore 64 mode. whereas i was, am, comfortable doing stuff like adding a DVD Recorder (obviously), adding RAM (whatever that does) and plugging in a video card, what goes on with the "motherboard" and the hard drive were, are, something of a mystery. and it seemed like it was the hard drive that was the issue, for when i powered up and some lights came on the front of the tower the one light of note which did not was the "HDD" one, which i took as being the disc drive with the operating system and data on. oh, dear.

what to do, then. i took out "bits" and put them back in, to see if that would make the whole thing magically work, then. no, it did not. some consideration was given to popping along with it all to one of them computer and pc menders, but that is quite risky these days. one can never be sure if them pesky, mischievous Russian hackers might have sneaked some mucky, filthy videos and images on to my computer without me knowing about it. about, say, 300GB or so of the stuff. whereas i would totes of course never ever have anything to do with such things, it might be that the mender, and the custodians of the peace in our society, might have a wildly inaccurate interpretation as to how such stuff got on my computer in an entirely unsolicited ways. plus, of course, these days we all keep strictly private and confidential documents of a personal nature stored on such devices.

i just kind of left it in a corner, then, figuring either it would work out how to fix itself, or i would do something with it "eventually". as it turned out, just a couple of months after "the crash", a dear old friend - one who has known me since the 70s - got in touch. i recalled that he was quite the wizard with computers and that. also, that he would be "understanding" of any nonsense placed on my computer by Russian hackers, and could be trusted without question in respect of any personal information.

my enquiry as to whether or not he would care to have a look at it was greeted with a most enthusiastic yes, so long as i obeyed the unwritten code of incidental computer mending. that is, if i wished for my computer to be blessed with his skills, then i must ensure that when his doorway was passed i presented him with three bottles of exotic sounding beer. such terms are something that i would consider most agreeable, and so i presented him with the above.

was this the first hard drive related adventure in error this pc had experienced? not really. it was not all that long after i got it - perhaps a year or so - that a peculiar message came up, giving every suggestion that the hard drive was about to fail, and that i should act now. this i did, after carefully removing any and all files what Russian hackers might have placed on it, by taking it to a mender, as my familiars who might know what to do were on the other side of the equator. quite far over on the other side. in that instance, with it all working, i simply paid the mender to "clone" the apparently about to crash 500GB hard drive onto a shiny new 1TB hard drive, which he did, and it had been all plain sailing since then, right up to it all bombing out.

i should point out, for i know that he is an avid reader, that yes, indeed, i do have another familiar who is most smart with computers. also, he has known me since the 80s. we shall refer to him as Codename Flinty, and of course i would have asked him for assistance and i dare say he would have provided, just that he is about somewhere slightly south of 250 miles from me.

anyway, let us now celebrate the familiar somewhat nearer, who in the interests of fairness we will refer to as Codename Atari, for reasons that would make sense to him and to me if not to some Japanese corporate concern. he graciously accepted the customary offering of three exotic sounding beers, commenting after the fact that the one which appeared to be some sort of tribute to Apocalypse Now was in particular splendid. as it should be.

wasting no time, Codename Atari did all sorts of splendid things so as to understand an work out just exactly what harm or distress had befallen my pc. i shall not bore you with the explicit details, as to do so might give you misleading ideas on how to fix your computer that could make it worse if it is an entirely different issue. but what i will highlight is one of the best things that i have ever seen. Codename Atari, right, took apart one of his computers (he has many), got some special wires out and effectively "jump started" my pc off of that one. it was amazing, man, really cool. but, alas, did not fix the computer.

it did, however, give him valuable, critical information about what had happened, what the consequential problem was and the best way forward. the technical terms are all a bit much for me, but in short either the power supply to the pc or an aspect of the motherboard was "completely f****d", as it were, with a "short" or some loose wiring totally knacking it.

oh dear, i said, and oh no. but not all was lost. Codename Atari said the hard drive was in fact perfectly fine, despite my lack of maintenance and care. in theory all i had to do was purchase one of them "external hard drive cases", pop the hard drive into it, plug it into another pc and extract any and all data that i wanted to from it. presumably whilst doing so being careful not to accidentally copy or back up any files what Russian hackers might have added.

it was so then that i was instructed to leave and purchase such casing. which i did, as can be seen above. as an act of kindness Codename Atari indicated that he could assist me in putting the hard drive into the casing, but further indicated that i should not be a big fanny or a gaylord about it and just have a got at it myself. so, i did.

finding a suitable casing was straightforward enough. Codename Atari provided me with some links to consider, ones that were cases designed for my shape and size hard drive. all i had to do was purchase any of them which struck me as being the right price and the preferential form of delivery. something of a rudimentary review was undertaken by me who did not really know what qualities i was looking for, and soon enough one was purchased for south of £15.

actually the appeal with the one i picked was it seemed to be quite literal "plug and play". the other drives on offer seemed to wish for me to mess about connecting wires and similar within the casing and to the drive. this one featured a simple slot to add the drive on, being not entirely unlike how one might shove a USB stick into a (working) computer.

but yes, when the kit or set arrived i did go a little fanny with it all, contacting Codename Atari and seeing what he suggested. once again the advice was not to be a big fanny and just have a go and setting it up. so, i did.

most happily, it all went together just fine, and powered up with no problems whatsoever. yes it was a little tricky and fiddly to connect it, but no i did not have to use force. also, getting the case to close up after i had taken it apart was a little annoying to, but done.

with that all done, all which remained was to plug the newly created but yet still (hopefully) populated drive into a working pc. in doing so, i had to hope that both the data on the drive was there and available, and that plugging it in to another pc would not somehow total the pc being plugged into, for i am now running quite short of spare computers. off i went, then.

victory! the "new" external drive picked up, and i was able to see all my files (and the ones what presumably Russian hackers put on). well, with some patience. as it turned out there was some 930GB of data on the drive. this took the computer what i plugged it into somewhere north of one hour to "index" or sort and list, as it were. but, all good.

what is there in this story for you, the people, to take away with you? a bit, i guess. should you have a computer what has died, it might be that like me you go "oh bother" at the prospect of the fear that you may not have gotten around to backing up important stuff. this is not so by default. quite a few things can go wrong with one of them computer things. hopefully if this fate or harm befalls you, it is so that luck rides with you, and the information and data can still be accessed.

as for where to next, well i do not know. i suppose at some stage i shall get a new PC, or one of them "refurbished" ones. this will depend entirely on me being able to get a Windows 7 one set up. no, oh no, i am not having anything to do with Windows 10. the very fact that such proper computer luminaries, such as Codename Atari, will not have it within any discernible radius of their own devices pretty much tells another story.

my thanks to all involved with this story, and that does indeed include you, dear reader.




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

girl at the end of the world

howdy pop pickers


just a random celebration, to be sure, of the third anniversary of the release of Girl At The End Of The World. it was, is, according to them official registers and that, their fourteenth album. and full worthy of celebration.

at the great risk of getting punched in the face off of Roger Daltrey, disrespecting two superb albums off of Suede, disgracing myself in the face of Bowie's final release and offending Ian Brown, it remains, look you see, the case that this record is the best one i have heard in the last three years. if i do one of them "best of the decade" posts, should i make it to the end of this decade, i dare say it would argue the case for being the best of that, too.

it is a fluid, fluent album, drawing rather than commanding your attention from start to finish. once bands prided themselves on constructing an album that "made sense" as a collection. whereas those days are mostly gone (bar the two Suede records of late), James showed there is still the means and the opportunity to do it still.

one of the best things about this record was that it is not "just me" who fell in love with it. famously, perhaps infamously, it was number one on the basis of sales in the mid-week chart on its week of release. and yet somehow within 3 days the then current Adele album managed to be "streamed" enough to ensure that James were not officially number one with it. whereas once our charts were our pride and the envy of the world, they have now been inexplicably corrupted by all this very easy to manipulate "streaming counts as sales" nonsense, with the powers at be, in what can only be described as a demented way, absolutely ruthlessly determined that the biggest sellers and the most successful chart acts of all time must be Adele and that Ed Sheridan (or whatever).

but, the positives. Girl At The End Of The World remains as fresh, relevant and as damned near perfect now, three years on, as when i first heard it. i can recall the first time i played it. the initial reaction was "wow", and then some 30 or so minutes later being astonished that they had kept the momentum right across it all. for people who appreciate and wish to listen to music, rather than having it as droning, streaming wallpaper, this is an album that will live on.

astonishingly, the followed it up with an album which was almost as good, in the form of Living In Extraordinary Times. sadly, though, the ten or so really good tracks are weighed down by the (at least) two which fall into the folly of populist, at the moment "Trumps's a w@nker, ha ha ha" business. whether the statement is valid or not, it's a displaced one coming off a Manchester band, and manages to pollute the sense of the whole record, making it feel instantly dated. i don't listen to it a lot at all, whereas i frequently return to Girl At The End Of The World.

whilst i suspect you can "stream" the album, from what i can see Girl At The End Of The World can be bought, or if you like purchased, for south of £10 on CD. this would be, for those who do not have it, what i would wholeheartedly suggest you do.




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

alien box

heya


just over a month ago i placed an order on one of them website things for something what looked quite smart. and, look you see, just south of two weeks ago that which i ordered finally turned up. nice one, it is always merry when commerce is successful.

there is a school of thought which says let me leave the story there, for it is a really lovely one and should give all readers some warm sense of happiness. but, considering i have taken the pictures and gone to the length of uploading them let me carry on.

yes, as you can see quite graphically in the above - and may well have ascertained from the title of the post - it is a whole load of stuff relating or otherwise pertaining to that smart film Alien. well, when i say whole load, i mean three, but then again i suspect only two are visible in the picture.

quite right, with the latter part of the above in mind, perhaps a closer look at what is inside the box of stuff would be best. and so here we go.

that there is a 'Dorbz' vinyl collectible figure of one of the aliens, or if you will xenomorphs, from basically all of the Alien films except, i think, Alien 3, where the only alien was one cast from a dog or similar. which is probably why that one is not quite so fondly remembered as the others. not that all the others are.

speaking of which, next to it is the back of a (it says here) "Mini Mates" packet of figures. this, in terms of my order, was a "lucky dip" thing, and you had absolutely no choice in which one (1) of the 4 (four) sets pictured you would get. needless to say, i just crossed fingers that it was not the one off of Alien 3, for as you can see it is bereft of even the most basic alien. except, i guess, for the fact that (spoiler warning i guess) there was one in Ripley's tummy at the time.

my level of interest in the above was not quite precisely zero, but probably best measured all the same as "ok in passing". with that being the case, a perfectly valid question would be of why i then bought it. absolutely it came down to price, but not even in respect of them things.

yes, there we have it. a very smart, and somewhat scary and also quite sexual looking (in a way) 5XL size t-shirt celebrating the by default sexual beast known as the "face hugger" out of Alien. this, or that, is why an order was placed - them two other things off the previous picture came with this.

and price was certainly a motivator. i think, from memory, the whole lot cost north of £15 but slightly south of £16 delivered, which is smart, even allowing for the delay in turning up. from what i recall that's about what i paid for my most class Evolution t-shirt what also features Alien, and probably what i spent on a t-shirt showcasing Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight. as opposed to all them other films what Heath Ledger played The Joker in, i guess.

why 5XL? i really, really like baggy shirts, man. yes, i am on the bigger size of large, but 4XL would also have been baggy. well, why would you not go one baggier if you could? undoubtedly Shaun Ryder would. i just feel comfortable in baggy shirts. they make me feel like Brando as Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, with particular emphasis on the (wisely) cut scenes of him wandering around in daylight. or Hannibal in Hannibal when he rescues Clarice off them killer pigs. and yes, i suppose, a but Demis Rousoss too.

no, nothing to do with Alien but Star Wars, to be sure. a lovely set of four extra large socks sent on as a gift by a dear friend. he was particularly delighted to find some that would fit my "clown feet", which i suppose they are at size 13 (14 in US measurement).

what's the deal with all the Alien stuff? i mean in general, as well as what i have here. this year marks, apparently, the 40th anniversary of the release of the original Alien film, allowing for the fact that some argue about just how "original" it was. the film (and indeed music) industry (industries) really, really love arbitrary anniversaries, in particular decimal friendly ones what end in a "0". 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th and 50th anniversaries tend to be the point at which some films get re-released, or re-issued, and us fans are invited and encouraged to hand over more money for stuff relating to it.

this isn't bad, but it does get frustrating when not all films and that get this treatment. so far, for example, we have not to my knowledge had any anniversary editions of the two greatest films of the 80s, Commando, starring Vernon Wells, and Mad Max 2, starring Vernon Wells.

i think there is some fancy, la-de-dah new "4k ultra restored high definition" blu ray steel box dvd release of the original Alien film so as to celebrate this anniversary. no, i won't be getting it. other than the artwork being awful, there's nothing new on the set and it is all on the dvd copies i have of the film (i think i have at least two, possibly 3 copies). this "cleaned up" and "restored" does not sell it to me at all; the film is supposed to look dark and gritty, not all pristine and clean.

which of the four "none really all that great" "Mini Mates" sets did i get? let use look....

indeed, with some relief, one of the two sets which you can say "could have been worse" about, which is a great deal better than the "oh no that one with no alien in it" sets. all four sets are, in truth, probably not the sort of thing what would appeal to Alien fans. bizarre that they do not have ones featuring Hicks, Bishop, Newt or basically anyone off of the first two films. probably would cost a lot more to licence them, i guess.

oh, yeah, that is indeed an "exclusive to Toys R Us" sticker on the box. i am guessing that is why this set of stuff was so cheap, it is "excess" or "clearance" stock from somewhere that someone is just trying to shift and be rid of.

but, as i have said, no real grumbles here. the real win, and the reason i happily spent the cash, was for that most smart t-shirt. it is one i shall wear with pride, in particular to formal events and engagements.

in addition to being the 40th anniversary year of Alien, 2019 also marks the equally important 33rd anniversary of the last time we all got a decent Alien film. well, Alien 3 was rubbish, Alien Resurrection was a fleetingly interesting attempt to salvage the series, the Alien vs Predator films were mostly missed opportunities, the best parts of Prometheus had nothing to do with the aliens and Alien Covenant is one of the worst films in motion picture history.

oh yes, anyway, i am most happy with this haul. despite a lot of this post feeling like i am grumbling.



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

more observance

heya


well, i have watched a fair few movies over the last few weeks. perhaps. maybe i have watched more than you, or less than you have, look you see, but by my usual ratio it feels like decidedly more than would be "the norm". so, as ever, if for no reason but to have something to put here but forever with the hope someone might find my musings of interest, here's a look.

a rather appropriate name for this post would instead be watching with William. that would be because a hefty number of the films covered here were done so at the behest of the young lad, for they were movies what he wanted to watch. i have every confidence that you will work out the titles which were not of his choosing, and certainly not seen by his eyes.

if for some reason you wanted a form of preview rather than just reading all of this, well then yes i can confirm that "a significant" number of films what have Batman in them feature. oh yeah, also, please note that for everything below the first image a quite significant and you should pay attention to it *** SPOILER WARNING *** is in place.

yes, indeed, quite an eclectic, or if you will diverse, selection of motion pictures this time around. except for the fact that a significant percentage feature, as mentioned, Batman, whereas a slightly smaller yet still noteworthy quota feature vampires.

hey ho, on we go, then.

in starting where i think i did with this most recent bout of film watching, we have The Hunger. this came out in 1893, i think, and i am fairly sure it was the directorial debut of Tony Scott. which is fine, but the selling point for when i first watched it and the selling point now was the presence of David Bowie.

provenance of my copy? HMV. it was in the "2 for £15" section where i picked up a couple (three) of them ones what had been made to look like VHS boxes. just a standard case for this, but yes, like those VHS replica sets, the DVD and Blu Ray versions were included.

the plot? a vampire (Catherine Deneuve) takes (frequently by vampire standards) lovers. they stay with her for one or two hundred years (after she has bitten them and that), but at the end of that period they rapidly age. it is this fate which is about to befall her current lover (David Bowie). in seeking a way that might prevent the rapid aging she consults one of them science types (Susan Sarandon) who is working on slowing down or preventing the ageing process. but, as it turns out, the vampire thinks about it and decides a change is as good as a rest, and thus courts the scientist with a review to making her the new lover.

i was hesitant about both buying and watching this one again because my memories were of it being very boring. as it turns out, i should have obeyed the hesitancy. this really is not a good film. some will speak of the "innovative" and "stark" editing, which is in fact just clumsy and hamfisted.  the acting is ok, the visuals are nothing special and for the most part the story is a borderline incoherent mess. of those points, the latter is made true by a nonsensical ending, one which does not tie in with much of the film and was apparently forced on the film in the hope of making sequels. it is unlikely that i shall ever watch it again.

no, William most certainly did not watch The Hunger, but i happened to find myself watching the 1989 Batman by Tim Burton again as he very much wished to see it.

provenance of my copy? i actually have a couple of it kicking around, but this one was all of 49p (sans box) off or that That's Entertainment shop when it was still around.

do i really need to cover the plot for this one? i didn't think so. briefly, then, it refreshingly trusts the audience to accept who or what a Batman is without an opening 30 minutes of an "origins" story, but does give us one possible origin tale of The Joker, here of course played memorably, and exceptionally profitably, by Jack Nicholson.

it would have been at least 20 years since i last saw this one. possibly closer to 25, actually. my memories were that it was ok for the time, but ultimately the massive hype surrounding the release of the film was actually better, more enjoyable and more fondly recalled than the actual movie itself. with this recollection i was half wrong, half right, or some similar such ratio.

one of the easiest things to do is forget just how good Jack Nicholson was as The Joker. in terms of acting performance, and sheer audacity, one must bow at the altar of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. that would be because it's not just that Ledger gave the greatest performance anyone could ever hope for in the role of The Joker, he simply flat out delivered one of the single greatest acting performances ever. as a consequence some - i, for one - have thought back and said "well maybe Nicholson wasn't so great". oh, by my word, watching again, he was.

indeed, Nicholson is so good he basically carries was is an entirely rubbish film. Burton presented a very Disney influenced idea of what counts as "gothic" and "dark". Keaton is rubbish as Bruce Wayne and terrible as Batman. Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and certainly Pat Hingle woefully miscast as Commisioner Gordon are simply awful. other than Nicholson the only actor to have any credibility in the film is Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent. looking back at it, the mind boggles as to why they did not stick with him, instead recasting the part with Tommy Lee Jones a few years later.

anything else wrong with it? sure. the decision to shoot just about all of it on a sound stage at Pinewood Studios for security reasons makes all of the big scenes seem cheap and tacky. also, the plot is dull and the way the story is told is woefully badly paced. but yet, and still, Nicholson, Billy Dee Williams, the Elfman score and moments of Prince songs let you wander through the film.

another film absolutely not watched by William would be The Exterminator. but, i watched it, after he and his brother James were reasonably safely out the way one evening.

provenance of my copy? one of them shops that sold stacks of second hand or excess stock discs cheap. this cost me all of £1 in a bargain bin.

the plot? classic 70s / 80s trashy exploitation. a Vietnam Vet returns home, finds his friends being abused and bullied by criminals, and so to takes a flame thrower to them.

my reason for getting this one was sheer curiosity. it was banned outright in the 80s by the BBFC, so no UK release. strangely i had seen Exterminator 2, as for some reason a very heavily edited version of that film was indeed allowed to be released here. going on my memories of that film, it seems that an awful lot of Exterminator 2 was made up of "flashbacks", which is to say reused footage, of the first one, as well as a lot of simply flat out recreated scenes.

at no point have i ever hidden away from the fact that i love trashy, graphic rubbish films loaded with gratuitous sex and violence. this film pretty much has it in abundance. whereas it is no masterpiece, The Exterminator is a most smart "video nasty" for those of a mind to watch such things. and indeed i am always of such a mind.

moving about as far away as you possibly could from the joys of The Exterminator would be to head towards ET The Extra Terrestrial. how handy that this where we are at, then. and yes, another one watched again as William was curious.

provenance of my copy? either £10 or £12 at Tesco. whereas i had a whole load of copies of this on DVD, Blu Ray and VHS (somewhere), i was drawn in by the price of the "special" 12", vinyl record style packaging of it.

again i would be quite confident that all and sundry out there are familiar with the plot. but, if not, or for the sake of completeness, a curious alien is accidentally abandoned on our planet. he is taken in by the middle child of a broken family, hiding and hoping to be rescued whilst being determined to avoid detection by the authorities.

i was quite reluctant to watch this again as i knew all too well what an emotional experience it was. and indeed it was. this film stands as incredible testament to how genius, how gifted and how extraordinary Steven Spielberg is as a storyteller. basically for prolonged periods of this film i had tears of sorrow and tears of joy all swelling up and wishing to flood forward. an absolutely brilliant, near flawless work of art. to make this "topical" to the time of publication, it is little wonder that the Oscars keep experiencing dwindling interest and viewing figures when they do things like ignore and snub works of the highest quality. which is precisely what they did with this film.

to reminisce, this is of a time when cinematic art was appreciated and protected. although we had a (very good quality) bootleg of it on VHS, there was reluctance and resistance to this film ever being made available for home entertainment. should i recall correctly, this came out in 1982 (i can at least remember seeing it at the cinema in Australia), but the home video release was only as late as 1988. as instant gratification appears to be the order of the day, what with all this "streaming" business, one really cannot see audiences being so patient now.

one more film watched at the behest of William would be the much maligned and heavily criticized "franchise" crossover that is, was Alien vs Predator. as he was fascinated by my smart "evolution" t-shirt celebrating how birth works in the Alien world he has been mad keen to see one of the films. this, quite deliberately, as the lowest age restriction certificate, so this one had to do.

provenance of my copy? 49p again, and once more from That's Entertainment, a shop sadly no longer with us. still, what a price for a Blu Ray disc.

the plot? ancient pyramid discovered under the arctic (or the other one) circle, turns out it is a sacrifice chamber used when Predators came along to prove their worth against some Aliens. humans come along and disrupt it, mayhem ensues. well, heavily sanitised mayhem, as famously - and much to the disgust of some fans in some corners of all things Alien and Predator - this was inexplicably and bewilderingly made with a "family" audience in mind.

here is a list of excellent films to feature either an Alien or a Predator - Alien, Aliens, Predator. this is the list of really quite good films to feature similar - Predator 2, Predators, The Predator, Prometheus (kind of). you will note that Alien vs Predator is missing. in parts it is an ok film, but by holding back on the horror and the violence in order to seek a non-existent bigger audience for the film they kind of missed the point of these wonderful creations.

if the aim was to make this a franchise for a huge audience, along the lines of, say, Marvel superheroes or that Star Wars stuff, then it failed. how do i know this? because William would fall into that demographic and he was, for the most part, absolutely bored senseless by the film. quite a shame, really, as there was always great potential for this.

another vampire film, then, and improbably another 80s one featuring an actor called Sarandon, only this time it would be Chris and not Susan.  i think the two of them were married at some stage, but apologies if it was some other form of relation. oh yeah, anyway, this time the film is Fright Night.

provenance of my copy? can't say, really. sadly age has caught me and i do not remember which, but this rather splendid DVD and Blu Ray set was a gift off of the family, either for a birthday or for father's day. or maybe just at random.

the plot? a (presumably) teenage Charlie Brewster (great character name) is trying to get down and dirty with his girlfriend when he cannot but help notice that his new neighbour appears to be smuggling a coffin into his basement. on that note, do all American houses have these basement things? it seems that way, going on films and tv shows, with particular emphasis on The Brady Bunch. anyway, some investigating happens and it turns out that Charlie's new neighbour is a vampire. with few, if any, prepared to believe him, he has to turn to former vampire film star turned tv host Peter Vincent (played superbly by Roddy McDowall) for help......

as i watched it what became clear the most was how much the BBFC had fiddled with the video i saw in the 80s. for a start, and most obviously, the demise of "Evil Ed" was far more prolonged and graphic than i had recalled. what also became apparent was just how good this film was, and remains to this day. it takes the rather basic, always there elements of any vampire film and yet feels like a fresh new spin has been given. well done, i say.

for the record, i remember watching the relatively recent remake with him off the rubbish Miami Vice film and him off Doctor Who, and it was pretty good. but yeah, i would rather go watch the original Fright Night again, for it has "stood the test of time", etc.


finally, then, and once more at the behest of William, three films in the form of the much celebrated Dark Knight trilogy. or, if you prefer, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

provenance of this copy? not too sure. either bought online or down at Musica, not so long after we had upgraded to one of them fancy Blu Ray player machines. but yes we have the films on DVD too.

the plot? erm, these are the Christopher Nolan Batman films. they are, then, the finest cinematic treatment we have yet had on this character, and going on efforts since, the best we shall ever get.

what was the William perspective on this presentation of his beloved Batman? he thought Batman Begins was really good, that The Dark Knight was the best thing he has ever seen, and that The Dark Knight Rises is ok in places but ultimately is far too long and slow. basically, then, the opinion of the majority of critics and so forth what going paid to watch them. nice work if you can get it, i believe the appropriate phrase is here.

it is, i believe, in underlining the above, just the three times that William has had me watch The Dark Knight over the course of a week. well, he had it on, and once it started, with that brilliant opening, i had no inclination at all to do anything but sit and watch it again.

well, anyway, or strewth, as an Australian might say, i think that's that. many thanks as ever for reading, and if something here has been interesting well that's smart.



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

on the lash

hi there


just one of them sort of posts for those of you who for some reason quite like seeing peculiar and seemingly abandoned things. it is, look you see, that i note such things on my journeys. once there was a time where i would not have given them all that much of a second thought, but now i do. whereas yes, i do write all this stuff for my own amusement, it is splendid to shove stuff on here that people might actually like.

on this instance, or if you will occasion, mostly it is once again abandoned garments, and quality footwear. i would encourage you to disregard the conventional waste and refuse in the below, casting an eye on the other, more luxuriant, designer items.

as far as i could or can make out - i certainly wasn't going to go touching them or rifle through it all - that's a mighty dapper pair of shoes. this is somewhat unusual, as normally it is just the one shoe i tend to see, left to fend for itself.

what interested me most, if interested is the right word, was the juxtaposition of lower half of lady garments in relation to the shoes. that seems to be a provisional skirt or dress or similar, as well as the item of clothing a lady might wear underneath such, so as to cover her parts of shame and protect her modesty.

not, as it seems, that the wearer was quite so willing to uphold such modesty. i do, in my boring, meandering life, find it all quite exciting to think that someone out there, somewhere, is able to act with neither fear nor hesitation on any such romantic inclinations they might be touched by, and as a consequence happily discard any superfluous wardrobe items at the site where such splendid sexual congress was attained or reached.

yeah, one of them selfie things, not too far inland from a coastal region of some note, noted most recently for their reluctance to accept that Christmas had been and gone. if it looks like i am squinting then i probably am, it was an unfashionably and unusually sunny day when all this happened.

also, windy. that's the main motivator for this selfie really. for some reason the last time i showcased how my hair looks in the wind was quite popular, so here is another such instance of that happening.

do i ever see anything of true, tangible value discarded on the streets? what, like money? yes.

that there is a 2p (two pence) coin what has seen better days. but still, the economy cares not for the look or appearance of money, just that it exists and is circulated.

at present there is somewhere substantially north of 30 (thirty) billion legal tender coins in the UK. many of them (i have no idea of the specifics), in particular the lower value ones, are scattered across the streets of our land. if our current Chancellor of the Exchequer were really that arsed about stimulating the economy, sustainable growth, etc, then perhaps he should be out there gathering up all these coins and handing them over to the Treasury. but no, he is lazy and unpleasant, and much prefers to rather stand around, looking like a complete twat in an ill-fitting suit, unfairly slamming taxes on cigarettes instead.

well, anyway, that would be that for this. oh, undoubtedly further things shall strike me as being both discarded and noteworthy as my travels continue. yes, indeed, i will post them all here.




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

random bowie - station to station

howdy pop pickers


and so here we are. this, look you see, is the last, or if you will final, edition (or if you prefer episode) of these random bowie things which i accidentally started. as far as i am aware this one marks me having covered all of the commonly agreed solo albums, along with two which are regarded as such but not officially counted. i have covered bits and bobs along the way, and over the years have dedicated much of my life to championing the easily and incorrectly dismissed Tin Machine venture.

for the last episode, then, i have saved the one which i dread writing of the most. this is because it, being Station To Station, is, for the want of a better word, my "favourite", the one which i hold closest to my heart. one, or simply i, often finds it a struggle to speak (to write) coherently about that which is held dearest. let me try.

i shall no doubt waffle and be distracted as i go, but first some quickfire fantastic facts? surely. Station To Station is, or was, the 10th studio album proper by David Bowie, as per the commonly agreed method for counting them. it came at quite a chaotic time for the artist. recorded during and shortly after his film debut "proper", The Man Who Fell To Earth, as has been well documented in the past this was a time of Byronic, hedonistic, indulgence, excess, darkness and despair.

as i would do a great disservice in not at least mentioning some of the interesting myths and legends of the time, so here they are. up to you whether to believe them, want to believe them, dismiss them, consider them irrelevant or find them a reason to love Bowie all the more. stories added together for the 75 - 76 period of Station To Station suggest it was a time for Bowie of huge volumes of sex across all genders and ages, of drugs, in particular cocaine, on Fleetwood Mac Rumours levels, of sustaining life by consuming milk and peppers alone, of being convinced that witches were attempting to steal his blood (changed to semen in some of the more exciting tellings) for no specified reason, and living in fear of Jimmy Page out of Led Zeppelin, who Bowie apparently believed was trying to "get him" via the dark arts taught by Aleister Crowley.

with respect to the above, i would once again - possibly for the last time - refer you to Bowie's own comments about if he'd ever do an autobiography. sadly i do not have the exact quote to hands, but his response was effectively "just look at all the books already written about me. find the one you consider the most interesting, or would wish was true, and take it as it is". for ever music fan that wants their stars to be all wholesome and clean cut, there's one who really loves the excesses of gratuitous sex and drugs and rock and roll, feeling that it is the only reason to become a megastar. my interest, despite finding such stories entertaining, has always been of what the music says to me, of how it makes me feel.

now then, in order to have some form of pretence of structure or order here, how about i have a go at one of them "track by track" things for this album? yes? sure. but it feels wrong to break it down part by part.

Station To Station - the titular track and, i think, by some 13 or 14 seconds, the longest single studio recorded track by Bowie. whereas "epic" should not automatically be taken as "great" in general, it does have to be said that this opus does make a mockery of a presumably jealous Charlie Watts off of the Rolling Stones claim that Bowie "was not some kind of genius".

despite the somewhat literal meaning one could take from the title, the opening trainesque sounds and the wailing, evoking train engine images sound of the guitar, Bowie maintained that a train journey was not the reference intended. rather, he noted, it was intended to conjure up images of the stations of the cross, or if you will the christian way of sorrows. this is very much in keeping with a key theme to the album, that of a challenged and questioned faith, that we will get to.

lyrically, the first half of the song is a downbeat, gloomy and somewhat marauding wallowing in alienated solitude. the second half is pure Bowie subversion, with the downbeat gloomy sense forever remaining all whilst celebrating a bleak optimism for breaking the alienation and solitude. if that makes any sense. here i'm trying to write of something that i at once find indescribable and giving me thoughts and feelings i would never wish not to have.

prior to hearing this album for the first time i really quite liked Bowie. things changed after this set of lines -

once there were mountains on mountains, once there were sun birds to soar with, once I could never be down, i've got to keep searching and searching, and oh what will I be believing and who will connect me with love?

maybe it was the time, the place, the state of mind, the who i was, what i could be, what i could become and all that when i first heard it, but those words just really struck me. at the point those words impacted on me, i knew then as i know now that i would become acolyte and advocate of Bowie, whatever was to come or happen across however much time i had would be soundtracked by what he had to say. i do not believe this has been incorrect.

or, you know, you could say "bit long but a really good song".

Golden Years - a seemingly conventional quasi ballad of a love song, with an ace groove and a funky beat. interestingly - and this will be of relevance later on - Bowie was quite happy to say that he wrote this in the hope that The King, Elvis Presley would consider recording it, but alas He did not.

i said "seemingly". there is a great danger in reading too much into stuff, into making connections that are not there. but, anyway, my observations. whenever i hear this set of lines, late in the song, i can't help but think that it's connecting to two previous tunes, Cracked Actor off Aladdin Sane and Fame off Young Americans -

some of these days, and it won't be long, gonna drive back down where you once belonged, in the back of a dream car twenty foot long

just the idea of the big car being a symbol - and trapping - of the signs and the excesses of "success", perhaps.

another line of interest would be i'll stick with you baby, for a thousand years. other than surprise that a good deal more fuss was not made about the (not actually there but still) possible third reich connotations when some corners of the press (have a guess) were trying to nail Bowie as a neo-nazi, this got echoed a few years later in Cat People (Putting Out Fire), i can stare for a thousand years. again, maybe looking for a connection that is not there.

on that last point, measurements of time seem to have been a constant in Bowie's lyrics. perhaps one day that Pointless tv show will have a category that is name a David Bowie song which mentions or makes reference to the measurement of time. off the top of my head, Five Years, Golden Years, Time, Thursday's Child, Seven, Seven Years In Tibet, Time Will Crawl and others. i can recall a fan asking him about it in one of those Q&A things, from what i remember Bowie claimed not to have noticed the pattern.

who is the ostensible man, woman or child that's the "baby" of the lyrics? a little bit of research says that every single man, woman or child in the life of Bowie at that time has made a claim that it was written about them. in all probability, a combination of people or no one at all, it just sounded good. and the song does sound really, really good.

Word On A Wing - considering His love of gospel, one really cannot help but wonder if Bowie would not have had greater success had he offered this song to The King, Elvis Presley to record.

a song that their can be no mistaking the meaning or intention of. lines such as Lord i kneel and offer you my word on a wing, and i'm trying hard to fit among Your scheme of things and my prayer flies like a word on a wing, does my prayer fit in with Your scheme of things? can leave little doubt, surely, of christian faith, of devotion to a God as creator and an omnipotent God who might make sense of things.

but it is not a blind faith devoid of conflict. another truly great line to be found on the album is just because i believe, don't mean I don't think as well, don't have to question everything in heaven and hell. at no stage in his life did Bowie ever shy away from the fact that he had faith, that he believed, but the same is also true in the form of his frustration, disappointment and perhaps even loathing of what "man", in the form or organised religion, had done to such faith.

we also have Bowie on record saying that this song in particular was written in the depths of darkness and despair. he had commented that the lyrics came about as his cocaine habit became all consuming, as he felt pressed to breaking point by the fame, adulation, pressure of being Bowie and huge demands of playing the role of The Man Who Fell To Earth all at once. it would be fair to say this beautiful, poignant song is then Bowie catharsis, clutching for hope and light.

i don't really have anything constructive or intelligent to say about this point, but i do feel obliged to draw your attention to Bowie's performance at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert at this stage. you know, the one where he concluded by kneeling and saying The Lord's Prayer.

TVC15 - let it not be said that drugs are all bad, then. although often for sad reasons of desperation and a need to escape, a great many people commence a relationship with narcotics because they are just so much damned fun. they can, for instance, make you hallucinate the idea of being sucked into a television set, which is what happened during one session on the lash for Bowie and his chum Iggy Pop, with this song being a recollection of that.

it's a fun, witty, almost ragtime jazz piece.  the "oh OH ho Oh HO" bit is absolutely wonderful to sing along to.

did this song perhaps echo over the years which followed? maybe. the concepts and ideas of holograms, indeed virtual reality, had surfaced in science fiction before, but this is surely one of the first instances of such being the subject of a pop song. mostly, with this song, i have often wondered if the one line from Talking Heads in Burning Down The House, i don't know what you expect staring into a tv set was some form of subtle nod to this song.

Stay - the last original composition on the album. yeah, six tracks. when i first picked up the record, looking at the number of songs rather than the running time, i confess that i did wonder if it was "some sort of EP" rather than an album.

one can have little doubt about the ostensible subject matter of Stay. the sultry, dirty guitar, the impassioned drawl of Bowie's vocals and the obscenity of the thumping bass all point to the joys, or perils, of sexual conquest and sexual gratification. however, i seem to disagree with the commonly shared view. there's a clue in the title. whereas most journalists, critics and writers who i have read what they have to say of the song seem to limit focus to it being about a "one night stand", for me the key is the lingering longing to not have that, to have someone to "stay", to have the will and desire to stay with someone. i would have thought my understanding of the song was the most obvious?

an interesting dynamic - possibly subversion - for me in terms of this song is that it's thematically at odds with the rest of the album. or perhaps not. whereas all other songs apparently deal with movement or passing - being station to station / stations of the cross, the passing of time, into a tv set, the flight of a prayer - this one laments the passing, and clearly expresses a wish, a will or a desire to remain still. but then maybe it is not so much at odds, but Bowie underlining the point or the ethos of the quasi narrator of the album, the "thin white duke".

Wild Is The Wind - at least one cover version was the norm for a Bowie album up to this time. here he selected this ballad, apparently inspired to by a meeting with Nina Simone that by all accounts left him quite besotted with Nina Simone. and why not.

sigh, in this day and age where one cannot have a full, frank and honest conversation, i can totes see someone picking on me and slamming me for some form of racism here. which is a shame. as a pale white English boy, i absolutely fully get Bowie's fascination with Nina, and others. it is an often unspoken thing, but for the majority of us pale white English boys (the less savoury right wing types being an obvious exclusion), well, we get "quite excited" and have "funny feeling" in a very, very good way indeed as and when a lady of colour from a more exotic part of the world happens to glance our way. just how we are, really, happily. for further illustration of this, by all means stick Prince Charles in a room with Tina Turner and watch what happens to him, it's quite class it is, to be sure.

many have hailed this as Bowie's "best, greatest and strongest ever" vocal performance. for me that kind of came every single time he opened his mouth, but there is absolutely no doubting or questioning that this is a truly remarkable delivery. alas, for reasons of association and other things it's not one that i have ever been too fond of. it does not do much for me as a song, and whilst i don't reach to switch it off, it is not like i actively go and play it.

phew, ok, that's the song by song stuff done. in a clumsy, poorly written way, i would accept, but i can only do what i can do. now, then, i am free to waffle even more than i have, in the hope it makes some sense.

one of the reasons i so dearly love this album is because it is what i believe to be his most personal. my listening to it says that the artist poured every ounce, every calorie of their heart and soul into the words, the sounds, the structure and the feel. this is at odds with the general view. in what might be the greatest act of subversion ever done by Bowie, he routinely dismissed questions about the album with the line "i did so many drugs at the time that i cannot remember a single thing about writing or recording it". what a lovely rock legend, and Bowie must surely have known that journalists would happily just run with that juicy headline and not worry so much about looking for anything else.

Bowie once said that he had never read an article about Station To Station which he believed "got" the record. in that i can feel safe in writing as i have on the topic, then, for surely i can be no more wrong than anyone before me. part of me, then, is curious in connection to the above. when all those journalists happily went off with their sensational headline "ha ha Bowie can't remember doing an album because he did so many drugs", was it that they were lazy or did they simply miss the clue, the line (so to speak) in the title song it's not the side effects of the cocaine?

what does it mean when we speak of an artist being "brave"? there are those who would say that describing people as "brave" or "having courage" should be reserved for those who serve and defend, those who put their literal life on the line for others. but, how about exposing your entire heart and soul to the world through your art? you surely risk utter (and yes, granted, self-inflicted and self-absorbed to a degree) destruction of you as a person if rejected. when artists have done this, it's invariably been less the commercial success or the fame to gain, more to grasp at an acceptance, and understanding, to connect. examples of this, off the top of my head, would be Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, The Joshua Tree by U2, Automatic For The People (maybe excluding Sidewinder but all need to smile sometimes) by REM, maybe Misplaced Childhood by Marillion and possibly The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses, although none of us shall ever penetrate the majesty of that one. for the darker side, see (or hear) also In Utero by Nirvana, and in particular The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers. in saying absolutely none of them are better or worse or greater or smaller than each other, it would be to me that Bowie with Station To Station laid out a sort of blueprint for those albums to follow.

back, then, to Bowie's apparent casual dismissal of the album, and how i believe that's quite the act and the art of subversion which has been hit on several times in these random bowie episodes, or if you like editions.

for an album Bowie would go on and describe as one that he either "couldn't remember" recording, or did but said he "didn't connect to it", he sure spent a lot of time going back to it. the recently released Glastonbury 2000, for example, features four of the six songs from the album in the set, including the title track.

also, if not everything, then a lot of Blackstar, or if you prefer ★, said "please go back to look at and listen to Station To Station". for example, and as some of you quite like, i believe, bullet points

• the title song Blackstar is the longest one Bowie's done since the title song for Station To Station
• Blackstar only has seven songs, the smallest number on a Bowie album since Station To Station
• the song Blackstar references The King, Elvis Prelsey, who Bowie wrote a song that he had hoped He would perform that was on Station To Station
• in the video for Lazarus, in particular the last ever moving image we shall ever see of Bowie, Bowie is dressed as identically as he can be as to how he appeared on the back cover artwork and promotional images for Station To Station. 

oh, to be sure, there are probably a lot more references to Station To Station tucked away in Blackstar. but, to be just as sure, certainly those strikingly obvious ones are enough to see and say that Bowie wanted anyone interested in doing so to reconsider Station To Station. 

for those with an interest in how the record industry works, the 89 / 90 "Ryko" CD release of Station To Station featured two live tracks from Nassau Coliseum, Word On A Wing and Stay. lovely quality, far superior to the "taped off the radio" bootleg which had done the rounds for it, and i have tucked away somewhere. despite the masters clearly being available then, it was only in the 2000s, when a lavish deluxe reissue of Station To Station was Bowie's will, that the whole set got released. it is a really, really good live album - in particular as the official release trims some of the lengthy, monotonous drum solo from Panic In Detroit. went on for 12 or so minutes on the bootleg.

i bring up the above to illustrate that nothing ever seems to be "wasted". stuff gets stored, and sat on, waiting for release. to this end, the myths of the soundtrack for The Man Who Fell To Earth, which has cropped up in previous episodes. many myths and rock legends exist about Bowie's proposed soundtrack. the top two are that he was so trashed on cocaine that he simply couldn't record one, or that he was so trashed on cocaine that what he produced was garbage. neither were true. as the linear notes of the recently issued used soundtrack state, Bowie went off and "did a soundtrack" without considering the timing and tempo requirements for matching music to move. what he did was good but simply not suitable. i contest, then, that there is no great "lost" album in the form of Bowie's soundtrack for The Man Who Fell To Earth; as far as i am concerned he will have simply used what he did on tracks for Station To Station, Low and perhaps "heroes" too.

everyone has "their" Bowie. by that what i mean is when you say to someone "David Bowie", they imagine him by the image they hold. some would have an image of him as Ziggy, or resplendent with the Aladdin Sane lightning flash. others may think of the swaggering pop icon of Let's Dance and Live Aid. more than would be prepared to admit it would instantly think of the massive hair, massive codpiece Goblin King of Labyrinth. some might even think of the mid to late 90s, mid life crisis, "i am down with the kids and i done a sex" Earthling Bowie. several might consider those final images we had of him. for me, whenever someone says Bowie, i picture the impeccably dressed, torn, tormented, desperately lonely, wishing to connect, wanting love, longing to believe Bowie of Station To Station. this is the Bowie i lay prostrate before, this is the Bowie i unashamedly fell in love with. 

which would be why, in the year of his passing, my (considerably) better half set her talents to work so as to produce this magnificent portrait painting for my birthday. quite the gift of love and understanding, for this would not be the Bowie which would come to her mind, but knows that it is most decidedly the one which comes to mine.

the conclusion of these episodes has normally been is the album discussed worth a listen or a purchase by you, the casual Bowie listener. well, yes. it is an album i would suggest everyone should own a copy of. should it be, in bizarre and unimaginable circumstances, i was forced to select just one Bowie album and one Bowie album only to listen to for the rest of my days, it would be Station To Station. and i am not alone - if my reading of facts and figures is correct, this album (despite feeling like it was always a bit under the radar) remained the biggest selling of all his releases in the USA, up until the coming and the aftermath of Blackstar.

a quick wrap of other 70s work not covered in other posts? sure. The Man Who Fell To Earth is a quite strange but very satisfactory film, in which you see Bowie do nudies if that is your thing. All The Young Dudes what he did for (and with) Mott The Hoople is an amazing tune. them two records what he done with Iggy Pop, The Idiot and in particular Lust For Life (featuring the brothers Sales, and thus making it a sort of quasi prototype Tin Machine), are outstanding records. his narration of Peter And The Wolf is also most worthwhile. 

so, that is that. at some stage, and by popular request, i will do a "mega post" which features links to all of the episodes of random bowie. the only thing left here for me is to thank you, sincerely and very much, for indulging my passion and dealing with my poor writing across these posts. i really hope someone, somewhere, found something of interest in one or two of them.

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