kubrick too

hey there

a little while ago - two (or so) weeks as point of fact, or just click here, look you see - i did one of these sort of posts in honour of those who honour Sir Roger Moore. which, i would like to think, is everyone, really, so better to say a presentation of a manifestation of honouring Sir Roger. kind of. 

that opening paragraph really, really didn't go well. let me move on, then, in the hope that everyone just ignores it anyway and looks at the pictures. 

so, the place where i was at did not just honour Sir Roger Moore. no, not at all. quite a few film celebrations were in place. of particular interest, to me, was the respect for Stanley Kubrick. 

my apologies - or if you will appy polly lodgies - for the peculiar angles for these picture. due to light, reflection, etc, i figured it would be better to get these images at an angle where little or as little as possible was reflected, rather than full tilt face on. 

yes, then, i was at that there Elstree in that there London (innit). the images of the great one himself, as shall be clear in the second (a bit further down), come from when he was in the area to film The Shining, somewhere north of 40 (forty) years ago. 

need i speak, or write, much of Kubrick's legendary "it takes as long as it takes to take as many takes as i wish for" approach to filmmaking? quite the urban legend stemmed from his way of doing things for The Shining though. apparently his extended time filming this one caused "a bit" of an issue for those needing the studios to make the next Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back. 

back when stories spread through whispers, hearsay and the occasional not necessarily fact checked snippet in a magazine, a story emerged that some of the delay on The Shining, and for that matter The Empire Strikes Back, stemmed from Kubrick deciding he wanted to film "a bit" of this Star Wars motion picture. 

unlikely to be true, for a whole range of contractual and financial reasons, but it is a wonderful idea. also, it would kind of explain why Empire routinely gets regarded as the very best of all the films, for a reason beyond that it simply features the three best and most important Star Wars characters; Lobot Lando and Boba Fett.  

yeah, had i started (commenced) with that picture above, there would have been no need at all for me to clarify that this was during the making of The Shining. man, that Jack Nicholson is scary when he wishes to be. hence him being cast, i suppose. still not convinced he would have managed Napoleon, had Kubrick been able to film it, but we shall never know. 

going back to the urban legend, the question would be what "bits" of Empire did Kubrick supposedly film? i can't really see him just "directing" a scene or two and saying "there you go". yet, well, the quasi torture of Han Solo scene, not to mention his carbon freezing, does have a vague Kubrick feel. just not as direct or overtly unsettling as Kubrick would have done it in a full tilt Kubrick film. 

selfie? moi? me? of course. 

nice of the hotel to name one of their meeting, or conference, rooms after Kubrick. so yes, it is very much an ambition of mine to one day hold a meeting in this room. what about? no idea. how excellent Kubrick was, maybe, or an all day session discussing if he really did film some of Empire Strikes Back. this room is also quite close to the door to the smoking section, which is handy. 

well, in truth i am not all that sure as and when i shall next be near somewhere what celebrates, or honours, the greats of cinema. but should i be, yes, probably, i will put a reference here. 

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

just turn on with me and you're not alone

howdy pop pickers

well, this is all rather unexpected. it is around about now, or a couple of weeks (if not just one) that i reasonably expected to be speaking of how the David Bowie Estate, or Warner, look you see, now had a substantial amount of my net worth in their bank account. it is the big one, as it were. yes, the 50th anniversary, or if you like "birthday", of The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. 

did Bowie do better records? all in the ears of the listener, but yes. what about bigger selling records? very much so. and yet it was, is and always shall be Ziggy which slammed Bowie into the realm of the iconic, the extraordinary, the superstar who shall be heard so long as we all have ears. a reasonable assumption would be that the 50th anniversary of this album, even allowing for this disastrous and frankly "f*** you, fans" nature of releases by the Estate for the last three or four years, would herald a new way and a great deal of commemorative celebration. 

yet no. something weird is going on. after a sustained two (or three) year bombardment of Space Oddity, then release after release for The Man Who Sold The World, anniversaries and Bowie appear to have been ceased. for some reason they jettisoned any celebration of Hunky Dory turning 50 so as to punt the quite considerably worse Toy official release. and now, for Ziggy, then have done, from what i can see on the official site, a vinyl release, a vinyl picture disc, a jigsaw puzzle and a mug. 

it is quite rare that i would ever have much business to conduct with a turf accountant (the bookies), but above is, well, there we are. my reason for entering such a premises was strange, and not really related to the above. during a random encounter, someone abruptly ceased a sentence to rather tell me that my fortune waited with a horse that had an "a", either as an initial or of name. intrigued enough to test this, i went into a turf accountant (bookies) and gazed at the horses running. which was when i noticed a horse called Ziggy running, and so got distracted. 

as it happens, the horse Ziggy was what they call a "non-runner", which i am reliably informed means that the horse did not start, or subsequently run, the race. so, i got the (massive) £1 wager i placed on it back, leaving me having gained nor lost not a thing. except the time to place the bet and then to retrieve the money. 

rather an apt metaphor for the lack of celebrations of Ziggy Stardust proper, then. here, Bowie Estate, here Warner, have some money. oh, you don't wish for it. fine. let me muddle on with the copies of the album i already have then.

certainly i understand that it is so vinyl is having an unexpected (yet very welcome) revival, and so any release now comes on that much loved format. but, really? nothing for those of us presently unable (such as i, in my time of exile) to play records? a bombardment of CDs for Space Oddity and Man Who Sold The World, CD and tape for Toy, but for considerably better, easily more important albums, not a thing, bar a jigsaw or mug? 

strange. as mentioned, the Bowie Estate has excelled in limiting availability of things of interest, yet flooded the market with things that are not quite so interesting. one had hoped, considering how they handled (in a very fan friendly way) Fleetwood Mac and Prince, Warner would have worked wonders with the Bowie catalogue, but not so far. 

let me keep my money, then, and just enjoy the music as it was originally released. also, not having to worry about jiggling the shelves to house more CDs is a weight lifted, i suppose. 

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

filthy reading

hey reader

so yes, then, i have (at last) finished another two novels. well, reading two, look you see, and not writing them. another time, another place, i did kind of do something along those lines, but, well, i got lazy, life got in the way, and so forth. 

it is quite by random chance that i read the two (2) under discussion here. and, as the title of this post gives every indication, somewhat gritty, or dirty, is what i read in both instances. to mixed results, and of differing levels. no, i was not expecting it in at least one, but that's my issue for not checking up on it first. one does try and avoid "spoilers" and that sort of thing. 

on the note, or subject, of which, as usual an image of the two books follows, with a brief overview. from that point on, i would encourage you to note an obligatory *** SPOILER WARNING *** is in place. 

firstly i read (and yes, i appreciate a decade or so after most people) Sharp Objects, off of Gillian Flynn. i was vaguely expecting a "thriller" sort of novel, with no idea of the plot. this i got, but considerably darker, more haunting than i had anticipated. brilliant, but proceed with caution if (like i was) you were one of the dozen or so people on the planet yet to read it. to Bad Blood Rising, which i believe is another debut novel (if Sharp Objects was), only in this instance from Eva Carmichael. i was, frankly, expecting this to be the "dirtier" novel, and it deals with some rough stuff but not quite so graphically as i had anticipated. since people wishing to avoid spoilers will leave here, certainly worth a try if you were (or are) a fan of the 'Max Wolfe' crime novels of Tony Parsons. 

to get on, get down, and get with it, then. and starting where i did is to commence, or kick off, with the one from Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects. 

i am unsure, or uncertain, if many (or any) of you are really all that @rsed about the provenance of where my reading comes from. but still the second is interesting, so i shall engage such here. and as you can probably see, i spent all of £1 on this novel, from The Works, no less. pretty sure i purchased it two, three maybe even four (4) years ago, but just never ever got around to reading it. well, until now. 

plot? i think (hope) the best that i can do is say a journalist of mixed success is struggling with many issues, the least of which is seemingly never hitting a really good, big story. a sympathetic editor dispatches her to her former home town, where a story of missing children possibly being linked hasn't yet been picked up by any other news or media outlets. with reluctance off she goes, knowing full well she will face unhappy memories of the past and a bleak future. 

the above, i appreciate, may (might) sound a bit cliche, been there, done that all before. if that is so, then i have not really done it as much justice as i could, really. probably, also, as this novel is at least a decade old now, i am quite sure many "inspired" by this work have turned up over the intervening years. overall, though, here it is the narration, the story telling, or simply of course the writing which is frankly astonishing. 

on picking up this novel, one may well go "oh", thinking it is quite slender (thin) and thus may be a little shy on content. not so. rather not the old saying don't judge a book by its cover, but instead not by its length. actually, someone i know did that, buying only really large books, figuring they were better value for money. for context of the stupidity of that, the average album by the (i believe) now ex Mr Kim Kardassian, or Sammy Hagar, lasts twice as long as a standard record off of The Beatles (or anyone else, really) so no, length is not a reliable guide for quality or value. at all. 

right now i am a couple of months down the road from reading Sharp Objects, yet full well can i recall the stark, vivid imagery. not just of the conclusion, but aspects from it. this is not a novel for the fainthearted, by the way. should i recall correctly (if not the attribution or the quote) i believe it was no less than the great Anthony Burgess who said a novelist, to be true, to be good, has to be filthy with the filthy. there is nothing gained and all lost by holding back in text from the reader. Gillian Flynn certainly does not hold back. i do not believe, as a simple (if not humble then frankly stupid, innocently ignorant) man, i do not believe i have ever been exposed to such a salacious, deep view into the psyche of a woman before. 

yes, indeed i should probably read more of Gillian Flynn, for this novel was excellent. but, also, i have a mountain of books to read already. perhaps i shall keep an eye open for others. my understanding is that her "big" one (thus far) was, or is, Gone Girl, so maybe i will have a look. 

moving on, then, and to the second of the 2 (two) books i have read of most recent times. which is Bad Blood Rising by Eva Carmichael. up front, no, i did not enjoy this novel quite so much as i had hoped, but it's far from entirely free of merit. 

earlier (rather than later) i did mention that the provenance of this one was somewhat different from the norm. hopefully i have not built this up too much, or can meet any vague expectation i have set. it is so that i purchased this from the author, direct, who(m) had set up a market stall from which to sell all (three) of her novels. 

from what i can gather (going on details inside the book) the author was selling this novel (and two others) via amazon, likely in that "ebook" format. it would seem she took the decision, or plunge, to get a number of copies printed as actual, proper books and have a go at selling them. generally, or as a rule, convention says "avoid self published books", for if no publisher will touch it why should anyone else. and yet look at how frequently JK Rowling had her Harry Potter novel rejected, and yet still look at some of the ghastly, terrible tripe what publishers have committed to in the past. never mind "generally" anyway. whatever someone's dream is of course (so long as it harms no one) i would say go for it, if their passion is to write and be published then absolutely i am going to give it a go, supporting it however i can. undoubtedly i am far from alone in this view. 

plot? a 'then and now' affair. the novel commences some 20 / 30 years back from the present (hence the then reference), where a (let us be honest) pimp is on the verge of expanding (muscling) into the big time. he does a few naughty (and highly questionable) (also illegal) things, all (or most) of which are set to come and haunt him, all at once.......

to use the word once more, earlier i suggested (or plain stated) that this novel may well be of interest for people who, if we are fair, like me rather enjoyed reading the copper books that Tony Parsons has written over the last few years. believe me i am not being negative, or sarcastic. a thing is, though, is that in those books Tony tended to be more concerned with telling a story, rather than character development, motivation, etc. which is what happens in Bad Blood Rising. the ostensible protagonist is the pimp (Karl Maddox), but one never really gets any "motivation" or understanding of the character beyond he is a greedy, violent bully. but sometimes that's enough for the story. 

events in the novel tend to happen, rather than be described. the same is true of any consequences, or ramifications. plausibility of some of the twists and events is stretched quite far, but hello, fiction. although my understanding is that a fair chunk of this was based on, or inspired by, a real life character of questionable qualities. perhaps not as sordid or filthy as i was expecting (hoping would be too strong, but the subject matter is what it is), but still. anyone who really likes crime novels, and is looking for a straightforward read, here you go, worse than this exists. 

it does feel like some time has passed since i last wrote of novels read. no, i am not going to check when i last did such. time, alas. demands of verk and other such things, like oddly and quite unexpectedly being social, means that i no longer get chance to read so much as i would wish. or write for that matter, hence the usual barrage of posts here going quiet of late. 

but also yes, i am already stuck into my next read, and it is going well. that tall one off of Pointless, or formally of (i believe), is quite the writer, to give you a preview of what is to come. for now, though, if you have read this far, many thanks as ever for doing so. 

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

wreck of the trolley

hello there

another trolley spotted along my travels across this land, then. but a slightly different sort of one, look you see. my guess, or assumption, would be that you are quite aware of me having seen a trolley in some distress being at the heart of this on the basis of the title. 

first, though, let us momentarily rejoice and make merry at news that it is just the one (singular) trolley i noticed, or saw. observed, even. this of course means that i can, except for this paragraph, save anyone from being further subjected to my plight in respect of wrestling with the correct plural (as in multiple) spelling for more than one trolley. 

now, though, it is indeed time for you to have a look. 

well, yes, a look in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode. unless you clocked that i as usual would commence with such an image and simply scrolled down for a look in a less 8-bit form. 

initially i had assumed that i was looking at a trolley what someone had attempted to burn. not sure why one would do such, but anyway. doubts soon crept in, however. for a start, the earth surrounding the wreck was not quite so scorched as to say this was so. also, the wheels of the trolley were not melted or what have you. 

perhaps what i saw was an attempt to burn it, but by someone who was not the brightest. maybe they had a go, but were oblivious to the considerable temperature fire one would need to melt metal. you can't get the job done with a box of matches and some lighter fluid. erm, not that i have tried such. 

there is no certainty in my voice when i say this, but i really suspect that this trolley has recently been retrieved (or rescued) from a particular saline laden body of water. all that, to me, looks more like a rudimentary commencement of rust rather than burn marks. 

should you have any thoughts (or ideas) on this trolley, please feel free to share them in the comments bit below. well, if you can work out how it works, i think i clocked it once, but forgot. 

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

so as to honour sir roger

greetings

well, what a splendid few days that has been. yes, i know at this stage i have not made clear why, look you see, but the title gives you a bit of a clue. for it is so that yes, i have been to the part of that there place called London (innit), with specific emphasis on Elstree. and Elstree, in the modern sense, is one big massive shrine, or cathedral, devout to Sir Roger Moore. depending on where you look. 

i was indeed very excited when i learned of how my verk travels would take me to Elstree. there is no point being modest of such; as a movie lover of course i was over the moon to be near where one of the most famous film studios in the world was based. over, or across, the years certain classic, iconic motion pictures have been made there, be it all them Space Trek Wars things with him in the helmet, or of course Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. 

also, i knew full well that Sir Roger Moore had strong links to the studio. but would they, i wondered, indeed feared that it might not be so, honour him to a satisfactory level? the answer to this is a resounding yes, indeed they do. 

presented above, of course in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode, is a portrait picture of Sir Roger Moore which is proudly on display in the (magnificent) hotel what i stayed in. how dearly i would love to say that it was proudly on display, but it still is. no, i could not work out how to both get it off the wall and out of the hotel. anyway, i would not do such, for i would get arrested or something, probably. 

my hope is that you really, really like the look of that image of Sir Roger Moore above, for it shall feature a fair bit across this post. but not always in Commodore 64 mode. 

chance, or fate, allowed me to wander near the Elstree Film Studios. not quite so close, or as within them, as i would have cared to, but their security is sh!t hot, trust me on this. but yet they know the public are going to flock there to pay homage to Sir Roger. to accommodate the acolytes, the above sign is on display in an area where members of the public are allowed to go. lovely. 

just why, exactly, would i get so excited or (even) concerned about paying respect to Sir Roger Moore? well, it's Sir Roger, isn't it. for his most famous, or iconic role, i truly don't believe there's a "best" overall to have played the part of James Bond. but everyone has the actor who they grew up watching in the role, and for me that was Sir Roger. plus, he always struck me as being the personification of quintessentially British, the best of us, and loved life to the full. 

one of about three thousand (give or take) selfies i took of moi (me) in front of this magnificent portrait image of Sir Roger. yes, certainly, every time i walked past it i did slow down, or even pause, to admire it. needing to take a stroll outside momentarily every now and then for a cigarette (sorry) meant that i went past a fair bit. sure, there was a polite request from the hotel staff for me to stop kneeling before this portrait, as it was causing some distress to my fellow patrons. i genuinely believed that Sir Roger himself would accede to such a request, so i did cease such. 

some of you, i appreciate (and understand) may wish to see this magnificent portrait of Sir Roger Moore without me in it, and not in Commodore 64 mode. well, should that be you (and it probably is), then here you go, below. 

having resigned myself to not being able to (ahem) "borrow" this, i made some enquiries at reception as to the provenance of it, to see if i could procure my own copy in a more legitimate way. the answer, alas, is no. apparently all portraits on display (and i may share further later, but this is Sir Roger) were donated from the cast and crew of various films made at Elstree. so, from what i can gather, all of the images on display are unique to the hotel. also, it means that Sir Roger himself selected this portrait of Sir Roger, presumably from Sir Roger's personal collection of Sir Roger portraits. 

for those interested in such, or wishing on more information, the portrait picture was taken, or if you will composed, when Sir Roger was at Elstree making the motion picture The Man Who Haunted Himself. it was made a couple of years before he took on the James Bond Role. if your preference is for limited further information on that motion picture, here you go. 

a little video of the portrait? i see no reason why not to. 

i do have a bit more video from the hotel, but that is (or was) exclusively for select friends and family. when i got all excited about the Sir Roger Moore portrait, i asked the hotel to confirm that Sir Roger once stayed in the same room as i, even if they had to be flexible with the truth in their answer. they said yes he did. i asked if they could put a plaque on my room door, indicating it as the Sir Roger Moore suite. unfortunately they could not do this. but they did present me with a clear, yet not legally binding, letter, apparently confirming that Sir Roger did stay in the same room as i. 

go on then, one more image of that portrait of Sir Roger Moore. presented, of course, in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode. 

whereas, on a sliding scale of such things, generally i am proud of all images i present in Commodore 64 mode, this one is quite dear to me. as you can see, i have kind of angled the reflection, so it looks like i am staring out the window at Sir Roger, revelling in awe at his magnificence. 

you have probably (possibly) looked at, and read of, Sir Roger Moore enough for one post, then. so i shall leave this hear. but please, scroll back up and look further at him, if such is your want or wish.

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

return to donington services

heya

yeah, no i do not have all that much to write about momentarily, i guess. hence me composing some stuff about a motorway service station, look you see. 

recently, as in the last few months (i think) i once again had reason to stop off at donington service station on my travels. this was undoubtedly to go spend a penny (which is a polite way of saying i was probably bursting for a p!ss), or maybe required a coffee. so of course i took some further pictures. 

erratic, impromptu regular readers of this blog (and thank you for doing so) will of course appreciate that donington picked up the prestigious "best service station of the year" awards in 2021. this was of course awarded to them by me (moi), right here on my blog. an award is an award, and they should be proud of it. that said, they have not updated their official site with a note saying they won this particular award. maybe who does the web for them is busy. 

what's the appeal of this service station? mostly, of course, it's Bad News, but for wider context, how close it is to where Monsters of Rock was held at Castle Donington. indeed i do like to imagine, as i wander around the place (briefly, and in the allotted break time, should anyone off of my verk be reading) (doubt it), the great names of metal doing the same. perhaps Lemmy wandered around here, allowing his legion of acolytes to gaze upon him and give him gifts. or even an Izzy Stradlin, hoping to be recognised by at least one person. especially if he wore a massive "Izzy out of Guns N Roses" badge. 

the obligatory selfie, of course. no, i very much doubt any of the metal stars who played donington stayed at the hotel here, but you never know. and no, i very much doubt i shall check in any time soon. but still, it's nice to go and have a look, and wonder. and use the facilities. 

anyway, no promises, but certainly i shall consider thinking of writing something of interest here next time. not that this is all that bad, i suppose. 

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

go out and find my boat

howdy pop pickers

and so another month, another gig. this is getting to be a bit of a regular thing, look you see. perhaps this is how it should always have been, but it hasn't. yet, and i appreciate this is annoying as an intro, for now it is, then. oh. 

moving on, or indeed marchin' already, it was just recently that i had the distinct pleasure of being able to go and see Simon and Oscar out of Ocean Colour Scene do an acoustic gig. a very much added plus was that this gig happened within (reasonable) walking distance of my lodgings in time of exile. no more than two (2) cigarettes walk away, for a measurement (sorry). 

oh, yes, this post shall be all poor, blurry pictures and badly recorded "bootleg" standard video clips. just so you know, and don't get expectations, but some of you may like this sort of thing. 

how is that i came to be at this gig? well, i bought a ticket and went. for how i found out about it, that's a big thanks, Dad. a little while ago he suggested (insisted) i go see Andy Fairweather Low. that was a really good gig (here you go), as it happens, and they had a poster up for Simon and Oscar. fortune of fate would be that i was to be in the area when it all was going. 

in what has become the way of all things for me (moi) i did indeed, as point of fact, attend alone. well, no, there were loads at the gig (nearly sold out, bar a handful of seats), but i had no companion. an invitation was extended to someone who rather likes OCS, or The Scene, as much as i, but they declined. probably would have been an instance for another time, another place. sure, i get the odd funny, somewhat quizzical look at being at a gig on my own, but then this is now the 3rd such instance of this. i am there to dig the vibes, to get my groove on. 

first example of the poor quality footage, then, is above. should i have uploaded the clips all the right way around then that will be Simon doing an introduction. the way he talks and speaks there, right, is how he does it all gig. and it's amazing, man. wonderful, witty, charisma laden bloke. no, Oscar did not say much, except the odd thing away from the mike, so as to correct Simon on a point or two. 

who, exactly, are Simon and Oscar out of Ocean Colour Scene? or who are Ocean Colour Scene? a fondly loved, often spread story - and frequently rock mythology is more entertaining than the reality - is that the band were a "side project" for Steve Craddock, giving him something to do when not doing is full time job as a guitarist of Paul Weller (that one) on tour. the reverse is more or less true. Craddock, as he gets called off of all, is a remarkable guitarist in high demand. but, The Scene existed long before the Weller gig(s), if anything doing (admirable) work for Weller let him make sure OCS survived financially until they hit the big time. and hit it they most certainly did. 

right now, then, he they affectionately call Craddock is off on his "other" job with Weller. think it might involve that Suggs out of Madness lad too. so, Simon and Oscar are off on an acoustic tour. depending on how you view the "classic" or current lineup of OCS, this is either 50% or 75% of the band. by no means was this a one off; for many years these two have done these tours when Craddock is "off on one", or however rock stars may speak of such. and, looking at the web a bit, the setlist more or less remains as a constant over the years.

just what is the sound of Ocean Colour Scene, or Simon and Oscar of that provenance? i think they were one of the few bands that didn't get all @rsey or precious about 'Britpop' as a label, in fact embraced it. mostly i would say full tilt groove, swing, free flowing catchy vibes, man. from what i recall, of happier times when music was decent and the journalism good too, NME at one stage described them as "basically four men shouting over a bunch of Small Faces and Kinks records". 

now, then. time for some sentimental hygiene, if you will excuse me. should you not, then skip forward a few paragraphs. 

the advantage of a pretty much solid in stone fixed setlist is that you know what you shall get. before going to see Simon and Oscar doing a gig, for instance, one is aware that certain classics off of The Scene will not feature. this includes Hundred Mile High City, alas. also Riverboat Song, which is a quite unexpected exclusion, for the song sounds like it would be a natural acoustic number. yet they do play one of my all time favourite ones, and not just favourite off of them, favourite ever. 

sorry for the poor quality of it (if i have uploaded the right one) but right there (above) is a segment from the great, great, great Traveller's Tune. hearing the guys who did it do it, live, with an audience as blown away by it as i, well, not a sense of vindication, maybe more validation or affirmation. this is just one of the best songs, like, ever, dudes. rather stop reading this and go hear a decent recording of it. 

quantifying my love for the tune shall just have me flummoxed and saying the wrong things. every now and then something just exists, and should be admired. if i had to full tilt justify it, the feeling the song gives, man. i don't know how or why but every line says something to be on some level i cannot understand. just dig the groove. and yes, i should have danced with some people in my life the way the people in the video dance. 

other highlights? from the set, not a single, solitary bad tune. no filler whatsoever. i got to get a whole new appreciation for several Scene songs that i tend to neglect, what with me if left unattended being very happy to just play Traveller's Tune on repeat. a wonderful reminder, the gig was, then, of how excellent tunes like So Low, The Clock Struck Fifteen Hours Ago and It's My Shadow are. but, every tune. 

i have no (zero) musical ability myself, so it never feels like my place to speak of others. but yes, by jove, these two are damned good. shout out to Oscar, for i only have ever known him as the drummer off of the band - a drummer a certain Noel must have wished he could have grabbed for his group, but there you go. his keyboard and bass were boss. Simon, it goes without saying, is a legend. 

right, anything else i could write here will be all Ocean Colour Scene are brilliant, these two out on their own are ace, if you get the chance see them, that sort of thing. so let me rather (mostly) bow out with a few more (poor quality) video clips. 

mindful of the way of the world right now, easily the most poignant part of the evening was Profit In Peace. i don't need to say what cruel events were on the minds of all, but man, the emotion you could hear in the audience as we all sang along was remarkable. all i can do, like anyone else, is hope that emotion goes because it all ends, soon. 

biggest Ocean Colour Scene tune is, of course, The Day We Caught The Train. as with the Manics ending gigs with A Design For Life, so it was that Simon and Oscar held off on doing this one to the end. 

with some luck i have the above and below clips the right way around. indeed we were all stood up, swaying and singing along with this one. but yeah, i tried to keep my (terrible) voice down a bit, so as to make sure this poor quality bootleg video was all the more better. 

off and on to the next gig, then. which shall be my third of the year, but was intended or planned to be the first. things happen. 

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

midnight at the switching yard

greetings

such is the vagaries of my life that i have, over the last twenty four months (or two years, look you see) gone from no using a train at all, to using it frequently, to using it now and then. this isn't radically different from a lot of people, i know, and does not make me special. but it does mean a lack of usual observations from them. 

very little in this world irks people of the UK (or specifically England, for all i know it's all better in different areas) as much as the trains do. once upon a time, we are led to believe, they just "were". as in, trains more or less ran on the schedule presented, and it was relatively fuss free. they were kind of affordable too. now, of course, we live in a "better", more progressive and advanced time. 

how, or in what ways, are these "better" times characterised? well, we as a society (if not nation) have evolved, or progressed, to the point where trains are now extremely expensive, so taking one is generally an act reserved for the bourgeois elite or ruling classes. i say "take", but rather mean purchase a theoretical ticket. quite a big part of improved rail services is no trains running, apparently. 

of course there are reasons for trains not running. it's not just to make them more efficient. sometimes they are not running as they are perpetually "improving" the tracks. train staff also appear to get quite a lot of plague, which means staff shortages. and, of course, the train staff simply must go on strike on a frequent basis, for no discernible reason. 

with respect to the latter point (above), something all in that there London (innit) really, truly love is that Transport for London (affectionately called TfL, or sometimes simply c***s) go on strikes a lot, for reasons such as being "insulted" by being offered (even) more money for less work, or just because they have not been on strike for a bit. 

my most recent (at time of writing) train experience, which yes featured a delay, revealed another reason why trains are getting so efficient that they seem not to run so much. those with a keen eye may have spotted it in the above picture, presented in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode, but here, have a close look at the one below. 

do you spot it? can you see the issue? if not yet, then i shall do a slight break in text here, so as to allow you to look again. answer, for those interested, in the next paragraph. 

extraordinary, that. it seems them what do the trains have now abandoned any pretence of using the same calendar as what normal people do. theirs is clearly a special one, featuring as it does a 31 April. i wonder what other curiosities lie in their version of days. 

not a particularly great deal i can add, except to say that if you are currently planing on taking that gamble of booking a train ticket on the off chance it actually works, well, best of luck. 

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

now that's what i don't call a nigel tufnel use of eleven

howdy pop pickers

what is and what should never be. that's probably the best way to describe this post. or rather the subject of it, look you see. 

my understanding of how it was going to go when they commenced re-issuing the first (or original) now that's what i call music compilations - often on compact disc for the first time - they were to cease at a round, roman and decimal ten (10). on this basis, as well as my natural attraction to shiny things, i made a tacit pact to purchase them all. this despite only really, really being interested in one particular volume, that being number four, and yeah the first for "historical" nostalgia, etc. 

now, of course, it is so that them what do the now sets have since (or now) broken this pact, or agreement, and gone right ahead with a release of 11. oh. whilst, well, yes, sure there are one or two really smart tunes on it, it was somewhat annoying that they had extended beyond the ten (10) that i was led to believe was intended. making it all the stranger is that this one, and i think 10 (ten) before it, came out on compact disc (in full) at the time. 

that last point is kind of important. ever since they commenced these releases, or re-releases, or release on cd for the first time, the main review or observation is how messy they all are. clumsy, even. in some instances songs are omitted, be it for issues of licensing or for issues of how appropriate a song is in this modern era. here there are two songs missing, which just feels farcical since the original compact disc set had them included. 

of the two (2) songs missing, one is a real loss. it would have been boss to have Give Me Hope, Jo'anna off of Eddy Grant on disc, but not to be. the other was a song off of Whitesnake, but it wasn't the 87 reissue of Here I Go Again, so there you go. mind, no Whitesnake means that i cannot write too much of David Coverdale, the man who has gone to exceptional lengths - further than you would think necessary or required - to establish himself as "the most famous person ever to come from Saltburn". well, everyone has to be known for something. 

going to what's here and when it is all from (should such be of interest) it looks like quite late 1987 into the early aspects of 1988. this i establish from the inclusion of, arguably, the two best (or most established, well known) tunes on here. for the record, they would be Always On My Mind, the Christmas number one (when such a title meant something other than sh!t about sausage rolls) from 1987, and Heaven Is A Place On Earth off of Belinda Carlisle. that last one was number one when my then immediate, or nuclear, or what have you, family were all together in our place of origin for the very last time. 

beyond the two on the set mentioned (and the one missing tune), anything else of consequence on here? as it happens, yes. this is not a lesson in average, as was more or less the case with 5 (five). sticking with disc one, and there's Suedehead off of Morrissey. an all time classic, and of course his debut as a solo performer, but still i do prefer the two singles which came next. on the subject of debut hits, the first one off of Sinead O'Connor is here too. plus a smart song off of Billy Ocean, a very decent tune off of Billy Idol and Valentine by T'Pau, which is every bit as good as their massive other two singles, but for some reason doesn't get that much of a play on the radio. 

over on disc two and well, you start with another debut. this one being I Should Be So Lucky off of Kylie. which is proper Kylie, as in Australian, Minogue, and not some hideous American sort. at the time yes, for i am that old, she was usually just called Charlene out of Neighbours. indeed many of us kind of assumed it was a novelty single off of a daytime soap star, but time has very much proven the hit was far from a one off. 

also on disc two there's a song off of Jellybean, who seemed more famous for being Madonna's boyfriend briefly, and was presumably better at that than music. make no mistake, as we in our teenage years saw Jellybean as a role model - basically he was proof anyone could have a music career, or date Madonna. i did indeed wish to do both. from memory it feels like I Can't Help It was the last really big hit from Bananarama, except for a Comic Relief hit maybe. rounding off decent and Beat Dis off of Bomb The Bass remains boss, O'Lamour as covered by Dollar was ace and i am not certain if Stutter Rap by Morris Minor And The Majors remains funny, or just feels funny having heard it again for the first time in north of 30 years. 

for the rest of the set, kind of average to mediocre covers it, alas. i mean, it's nice to get a reminder of the tune Tired Of Getting Pushed Around by (i think) two out of Fine Young Cannibals that were not Roland Gift, but i have no need to hear it again. don't recall why this "live" version of Elton's Candle In The Wind, in Marilyn not Diana form, was a single, but here it is. the song Say It Again by Jermaine Stewart is really, really sh!t. as is Joe Le Taxi off of Vanessa Paradis, but for some reason this one frequently comes up (in one form or another) as the answer to questions on Pop Master, so you may want to be familiar with it if you play on a regular basis. 

regarding what would have been side four of the record or tape, the second half of disc two here is overloaded with songs what have the word "house" in the title. this really was a rough time. some of us were lucky enough to know someone who knew someone that had the proper Chicago House records. for me, i believe i owe thanks to Craster getting his brother to tape (on a tape) loads for me. alas, so as to cash in, various record labels in the UK just shoved the word "house" on and indeed in records to try and make money off of the scene. well, record labels are not charities. 

sigh. is this it, i wonder, or shall they press on, re-issuing (with varying degrees of accuracy) the early editions of the now series. perhaps if people like me keep buying it (and i resisted for a few weeks) then sure they shall. no, i can't blame anyone but me, i suppose. 

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

4k car wash

heya

indeed, regular readers, no. this is not the usual car wash experience shared in some ultra high definition known as "4k", look you see. rather, what's on offer here is what some may call (or consider) "old school" 4k. which is the 4kb on offer on an Atari game console and cartridge. 

being honest is to say that i believe i have pretty much exhausted the ways in which a car wash can be captured, or pictured, in Commodore 64 mode. if you do not believe so, well, feel free to look at the dozen or so posts i have done in that much loved format and tell me what's missing. mixing it up a bit in the past has had, well, mixed results. not sure the ZX Spectrum, or if you like Spacktrum, one was good, at all. yet the Nintendo Gameboy one wasn't that bad. even if few read it. 

certainly i had some reservations (if not concerns) about capturing moments of a car wash in Atari format. the audacity, or daunting challenges of the task didn't really worry me too much; rather i was just worried that it would come out all a bit "blocky". as much as i love the Atari, what with oh so many fond memories of it, nothing of it struck me as a good medium for presenting a car wash. 

as you can see above, then, blocky yes, but interestingly a good deal clearer than i had anticipated, or imagined. you can, for instance, clearly make out that them big pillar things are clearly the big floppy brush things, heading in the general direction of the windscreen. precise direction, i suppose, rather than general. 

that said, the above may well be a false impression of how clear this is in Atari mode. from here on out i really, really do believe one would need some sort of narration, or text, to understand what part of the car wash is being shown. kind of. here, let me illustrate with an animated bit. 

maybe you can work that out without me saying. if not, that is the floppy brush thing going past the drivers side window, or right hand side window. the latter clarification is for our friends in America, as well as them silly people in France, what drive on the wrong side of the road owing to their cars being backwards. or in some sort of mirror state. basically, built not like how proper cars should be so that they could all drive well on the correct side of the road, as designated (or determined) as being right by us here in the UK, of course. 

so, moving on then, and an image which just might underline my blocky reservations about using the Atari format. or may not. 

no, i don't rightly know which aspect (or part) of the car wash it is that i captured there. it might be a shot of the side of my vehicle getting washed, or could be an off-angle look at the front. honestly i have no clue. rather abstract, i suppose. make of it what you will. 

let me consider other formats, then, when i next go to a car wash facility. but don't be too surprised if i retreat to the safety, and quality, of the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode. 

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

baby ducks

hello there

as i was wandering around that there london (innit), i happened to see, well, lots of things. not all of them would be of all that interest or concern here. however, i thought a glimpse of some baby ducks, doing their thing, would be of slight appeal to some, look you see. 

not sure if you can make them out too clearly in the above, for they are darting around in the debris and waste which would appear to populate this stretch of the thames, located in the east. considering i was in a part of the east bit of london (innit) where just south of one of every thirty people are classified as a millionaire you'd think they could afford to clean it up some. but, no. at the least, parent (or guardian) ducks are reasonably clear to see.

ducklings is indeed the "proper" name for baby ducks, but i prefer baby ducks. sounds quite smart it does, to be sure. well, at least to my ears. and certainly i have some (brief) video, which may let you see them all the more better. 

well, i would reasonably safely speculate that just looking at the above duck stuff would be more interesting that much else i could write here. so, that's that. 

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

hello sailors

yoho, ahoy

fairly recently i was browsing that there internet for something. it was a specific thing, but in the time since then i have forgotten what it was, look you see. maybe i found it, or possibly i did not. during my looking around - and it would be helpful if the internet was just arranged alphabetically - i got a trifle distracted by something. hence this post. 

these images (below), or "screen grabs", are off of some magazine published specifically for navy types. by navy times, i of course mean people who were in the navy. i say were, for this is an edition of it which was published a mere 45 years ago this very month. 

overall, or all things considered, i found it a reasonably interesting read. well, partially so. at the very least, a couple of things caught my eye. 

like, for instance, the above. i am pretty sure that you would have read some of that (at least) before reading this part, but for clarification that's a set of adverts for accommodation. sailor friendly in nature accommodation. hence, i suppose, them featuring in a navy magazine. 

whereas no, i had not ever given the subject all that much thought, it hadn't occurred to me that once we had a time that sailors of the navy needed specific friendly places to stay. back in the seventies, i guess or indeed presume, servicemen had a 'reputation', so to speak, and thus not all places would accept their business. now, i guess (or think) the ministry of defence has, in some instances, residential places all set up for them. certainly they do, at the least, for the raf, and they don't like people just turning up unannounced. 

and yet, mostly, the life of a sailor is not really concerned about being on land, is it? i mean, it would be reasonable for someone who had signed up to join the navy (be it royal or merchant, i guess) to expect to spend a good deal of time on the high seas, or oceans. 

not all life on the sea is cruising around with men in uniform, looking for other ships doing similar but with a view to twat them with torpedoes or what have you. everyone needs a break and a bit of downtime. on the seas, it seems, watching a (then) recent cinema release (film) was one of the ways men on a boat together could relax. 

i find, in the above, it quite interesting that the publishers declined to promote the screening of The Sweeney with an image of John Thaw or, for that matter, Dennis Waterman. quite progressive, by assumed standards of the seventies, for them to focus on the ladies in the film. also, it would seem that there was quite a few certificate 'x' films being screened. well, i guess all on board would have been over the age of eighteen, and so allowed to watch such. 

eventually, i suppose, one might tire of a life on the waves, all remote and with all them men in uniforms. or reach retirement age, even. what to do then? or what would one have done having served and then left the navy in the seventies? 

going and inspecting shops, or twatting about with electricity, actually sounds quite tempting. this would be particularly true of doing so in the cotswolds, which i believe is lovely. not so sure about going to work in a northern ireland prison, though. at the best of times prisons don't sound all that pleasant, and northern irish ones in the seventies were likely not so much fun. 

anyway, let me go off and have (a bit of) a think about just what it was i was looking for in the first instance, and see if i can find it. likely not, but you never know. i tend to misplace memory rather than lose it, for sometimes it comes back to me. 

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