eighteen now

howdy pop pickers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

here i am, not quite dying

hello there

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the substance

greetings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

car wash returns

hello there

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

on the stereo

howdy pop pickers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

neither recent nor american

yeehaa folks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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