australian halloween

g'day

following on from a post a year or so ago (here, look you see) it's time to once again dismiss this idea that halloween is either an "American" thing or "wasn't celebrated in the rest of the world" until fairly recently. well, this one doesn't go quite so far back as the last one, being as it was the 70s. still, the rather early 80s is a lot longer ago than i would wish it to be. 

so, recently i have been (via a newly procured flat bed scanner) scanning a rather large amount of photographs. yes, photographs "from the past", rather than all them images of the future i have. many brought back memories whereas some were ones i could not recall much of anything about. like, for instance, this one. 

yes, that is moi, in the Colorado shirt and suspiciously Robert Plant style bulging jeans, wearing a Fidel Castro mask as some sort of celebration of Halloween. the carved pumpkins and ostensible trick or treat bags give that one away. indeed, as the title suggests, this was Australia, i think 1982, if not 1981, making me, what, 8 or 9 or thereabouts. oh the rumours spread that i was ageing fast. 

why a Fidel Castro mask? absolutely no idea. i can remember it was one Dad got on his travels and for some reason i took quite the shine to it. unlikely i would have any idea at all who or what a Castro was at that time. 

pretty sure that this exhausts all images i have of me celebrating (or what have you) Halloween, but all the same quite certain that gets rid of it being a "recent American thing". oh, make no mistake, our friends across the Atlantic do go big for it, but around the world it has more or less always been marked if not celebrated for many decades. 

be fair dinkum to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

under autumn lights

hello there

sometimes i do fear posts like this create an unrealistic (and plain wrong) sense of me having any form of what one would call a social life, let alone an interesting or exciting one. it's more the case, look you see, that on the rare instances of moi doing something vaguely interesting i feel compelled, if not obliged, to document it here. then again i suppose the number of car wash posts (and laundry ones) i have gone done probably stresses how dull, if not mundane, life is. 

anyway, off to another football match i went. earlier (and as it turned out later) this year i was lured to going to one on the basis of it being a lovely sunny afternoon and it was rather cheap. with me enjoying that experience, and (to be fair) my ostensible team, Middlesbrough (The Boro) doing rather well, i figured why not go again. so i did, hence this post. 

quite a few reasons (or factors) swayed my choice of going to watch Middlesbrough vs Ipswich. mostly, i suppose, it was the memories of autumn (and winter, but we are in autumn) night games. there was, in my mind, always a special atmosphere at them, fans gathered in the face of tempestuous and sometimes treacherous weather to support their teams. also, with the form of both sides it at least promised to be a decent game with, surprisingly, the visitors Ipswich being the bookies favourites to win. one seldom, if ever, sees a poor bookie. but, also, there's one particular person i really loathe and detest who(m) is a fan of them, so it would be nice to see us beat them. and also the small matter of that awful, hideous minstrel that supports and invests in the team. 

cost of going to the match? well, the ticket (since i am eligible for no discount) was £33, plus an unexplained yet real £1.50 "booking and admin fee". throw on top of that just south of £4 for the train there and back, plus another £4 (which is reasonable as it's really good) for the matchday programme. for those of a sensitive nature, be warned in respect of the latter, for yes, a selfie is coming up. know that there is another one later, too, but my (considerably) better friend is in that one to distract. 

yes, as i mentioned in a post not so long ago, my outrageous beard has gone. got one too many moans off of Mum & Dad about it from the other side of the world. hair remains totes wild and (if we are honest) f****d, but it remains like that as it momentarily amuses me. this will digress, but a dear friend a few miles away saw my hair and called concerned, worried that it was a sign of me "giving up", or letting myself go, or what have you. no, thank you, fear not, it really just does amuse me. they did say that the mixture of pills i am on which vaguely prop me up and somewhat keep me alive will inhibit or impact on what i "hope" my hair will do, to which my reply is that i have neither hope nor ambition; quite happy to ride this one out and see what happens. 

back, then, to the match. with a very real sense, or fear, that once again i have added far more pictures and videos than i can comfortably add words around. oh dear. let me try my best. since this is all some time after the actual match and anyone who wants to know the score will already be aware of it, i can freely tell you that yes, happy days, Middlesbrough ended up winning 2-1. 

it, the match, was a really good one. what makes a game of football "good"? if you are entertained by it, mostly. i have seen a few reports suggesting the first twenty (20) or so minutes were not so great, but i found it pretty good going from start to finish. when we managed to get 2-1 in front the whole game got quite nervy, but we held out. one could see why Ipswich were the favourites, but we had the resilience and the tactics to hold on and record something of a statement win. if you are going to reach the heights of our division and gain promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, well then these are the matches you need to win, giving you vital points and denying rivals the same. 

there is absolutely no way i would call myself an "expert" on football, not any more at the least. i have kind of drifted away from it, what with the exorbitant costs of paying to watch on the tele and i really, really can't be bothered pirating it. but, if you will (this is my blog, after all), some observations. i would suggest that one of the biggest talking points for Boro fans is Morgan Whittaker. there's been a lot of talk of him not quite fitting in to the way we play, or the way we wish (aspire) to. in that regard, in the first half i sat and watched two pretty good attacking moves break down when he got a little careless, or sloppy, and gifted the ball back to Ipswich. you know what, though, i also saw him be pivotal in defending quite a dangerous free kick, and of course he scored the winner. credit to our manager (or coach if that is what he prefers) Rob "Relegation" Edwards in standing by him, and the rest of the team for that matter. 

you may wish to watch the above video (or at least listen to it) before reading the rest of this paragraph, so yes, to give a bit of a buffer, that's a spoiler warning. above is the video, zoomed in from the other end of the stadium, of Ipswich taking a somewhat contentious (but probably correct) penalty and not scoring from it. the noise of our fans celebrating the save is a glimpse, of sorts, into the atmosphere that i remembered as being so, so special at those dark autumn night matches.

lots of credit to all the fans, by the way. first and foremost to the travelling Ipswich fans, who(m) made the 500 or so mile round trip. not an easy ask for a Friday, with quite a lot (you would think) needing to be on leave from verk, as well as missing school, to be there. in this respect, the Boro fans were as welcoming as you can be, but importantly supportive. our hardcore fans over in the south stand held up a banner which was less than complimentary about the broadcaster for games, since this was shifted to being on a Friday night for the sake of TV coverage. accusing the broadcaster (Sky) of "killing the game" with decisions like this - which unequivocally is unfair on travelling fans - creates a bit of a quandary. unfortunately football in the modern era has become financially reliant on TV deals for some three decades now. a high profile match like this is one they want and need to broadcast to get returns on their investment. no easy answer to this one. maybe if we had a more affordable and considerably more reliable public transport system fixtures like this might be "easier" for the fans. but, ultimately, i have to agree with the protests, the broadcasters really don't give a f*** about the fans.

perhaps i should have put as warning in for the above selfie, but you can just jolly well distract yourself with how handsome my chum Payney is, thanks. he and his family are season ticket holders. i have nothing but respect for season ticket holders of this or any club. not only is that a lot more commitment to the team than i apparently have (no, i suppose i am not a "proper" fan) but it is also one hell of a financial thing. 

during the match Payney shared a quite interesting and (kind of) memorable insight with me. he said that he believed our "secret weapon" was Delano Burgzorg, due to his "magic trick" of having the opposing team have no idea what his legs were going to do next. mostly, he continued, this was due to the player himself apparently having no idea what his legs were going to do next. 

and a bit more video for you above, although you have probably worked that out. it's from the final whistle, after we had won 2-1 (yay us) and the fans are indeed celebrating that it was a result which put us top of the league. where we stayed for as long as 18 (or so hours), after which Frank Lampard's very impressive Coventry side also won, returning them to the top spot.

for more atmosphere stuff there was a lovely moment when an old favourite came on the pitch. Chuba Akpom was highly regarded when he played for us and fondly remembered. this fondness came to the fore when he was introduced as a substitute for Ipswich, with the Boro fans giving him a warm, heartfelt round of applause. which gave way to some chants telling him that he should never have left us, which he might agree with going on his career since, and then some "playful" boos whenever he next touched the ball. which wasn't often. still, all in good spirits, and he came and applauded the fans after the match. 

getting to the match was relatively straightforward. of course there were some delays and cancellations with trains, but enough ran from my lodgings in my place of exile to Middlesbrough, after which it was a twenty or so minute walk to the ground. the return to lodgings, however, was not so straightforward. fewer (or less) trains run later on, and of those that were scheduled some cancelled. it meant a train ride on a train packed like a London (innit) rush hour tube. worst case i could have got a later train, for i had enough cigarettes (sorry) on me to wait it out, or got a bus, a taxi or "uber", or walked. 

will i be going to further matches? i would like to think so. for a start i would very much like to go and see us play Blackburn, for i have a good friend what supports them so it would be good for the banter. also Middlesbrough vs Blackburn has a bit of points deduction related history, but mostly it is very fondly regarded as the Stuart Ripley Derby. costs and, despite my lack of a social life, timing of that or any other matches will be the biggest factor. 

UTB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rollin stoned

howdy pop pickers

not so long ago i received (or got) an email reminding me that "my event was soon". mostly my reaction, at least initially, was "what f*****g event", look you see. on opening the mail i discovered that it was, the weekend of that week, the rescheduled Rolling Stones tribute act coming up. oh. this was supposed to be either the weekend before or after the quite class Fleetwood Mac one i saw, but they had to postpone when their Brian Jones was taken ill. no, i have no idea if the illness was swimming pool related. 

off i went, then, to go and see The Rollin' Stoned, for that is what they call themselves. don't think i came up with that term for a class title here, dear reader. whereas i would not say i was all that bothered about going, for the initial purchase was (very much) taken on a whim on seeing a bit of video of them full tilt performing, i am glad that i did, as it was a fun night out. 

there are (of course) those that get quite precious about "tribute acts", saying such aloof or pious things like "only the original artist should play the songs" or "musicians should only want to play their own stuff". i kind of get the logic (or thinking), but no. should this sort of thing be a law then, presumably, we would not have been able to hear any Beethoven music performed for the last 200 or so years. for the latter, to be honest, if i had an ounce of talent (i do not) then i would love to live a life where i am playing the classics of rock all day every day. besides, as the charts prove, mostly we have to accept that every great rock and roll song has probably already been created. 

quite an interesting thing with the line up of the Rollin' Stoned. they have (of course) a Mick, a Keith, a Charlie and a Bill, but also a Brian and another Mick (Taylor), but no Ronnie Wood. you can make of that what you will, although to help the band proudly announce they do "none of that new sh!t". apparently the line in the sand for "new" is 1981, for Start Me Up of that year is the most recent one they play. only two (2) songs from what you might call the "Ronnie Wood" era feature entire, being the one i mentioned and then Miss You. that latter one takes an interesting diversion, too. 

my new phone with a camera welded on it appears to do much (more) better video than the last one, which hopefully comes across in the above clip. indeed that is some of the performance of You Can't Always Get What You Want, especially for those mentioned above that would prefer to stand in a field for a few hundred pounds (or dollars) peering at the remnants of the original band rather than go and see a different band do decent versions of the songs. 

in respect of the set, pretty much all you could wish for from the "classic" era of the Stones. sure, i mean yes, i would love a 2000 Light Years or We Love You, but it's not like the original band play them too much, if at all, these days. unusually on that theme, they do indeed play Brown Sugar, commenting how they felt it was "stupid" for the (actual) Stones to ditch it. leaving aside any politics or what have you with the song and, well, it is one of the greatest bits of rock guitar of all time, and it would be a tragedy if it were to be never played in any capacity by someone ever again.

performance wise and there's little to fault with the band. but note the "little" part there for just now. if one accepts that the greatest of Stones songs are unquestionably more iconic than complex, it would to my ears still take some formidable talent to do, say Gimme Shelter properly. which the band very much does. realistically no, the singer does not sound all that much like Jagger, but then who does. what's important is that he gives full tilt great performances of all the songs. put it this way, better than how i could gone done sing them, or many others. no matter how much me and others in the audience were singing, or rather shouting, along. 

back, then, to the "little" part of that last paragraph. any what you might call Spinal Tap moments? oh, my word, yes. by chance i captured the below video as part of doing clips to send to family and friends all around the world, for most i know love the Stones as much as i. don't think this was staged, but decide for yourselves. 

yes, this was indeed at the (very same) venue i was at more or less the same time last year when there was the quite class "we shall put the smoke machine on as much as we want" incident that brought a somewhat abrupt end to that particular gig. i have attended gigs there where all went as it was planned, by the way. but yes it's quite class when the unexpected turns up or happens. 

for appearance one could argue that's just as an important part of a tribute act as the sound. to this end bravo the band for wearing outfits easily and readily associated with the Stones. well, mostly. it would have been smart if they made the Bill Wyman have a feather in his hair like the band did on their early 80s tour of America, or dress him in a blue suit. more, improbably, on Bill later, but extra special praise for the Mick Taylor, who(m) looked like he could easily have another tribute career, but one that celebrates Robin Askwith. should you think that is a slight or a dig, no it isn't. famously Robin Askwith once got to do full tilt nudies with Jill Gascoine, so he is a massive hero of mine.

an unexpectedly long (30 minutes!) interval gave me chance to step outside momentarily for a cigarette or two (sorry). that Brian Jones (not the real one) decided to do the same was a plus, and it was a delight to have one (a cigarette) with him and get the obligatory selfie. yes, the beard (mine) has gone since this was taken, but my hair remains in chaos theory mode. i find it uncomfortable to write this, but all the same, whilst the rest of the band were great (plus points for Charlie Watts doing a perfect Charlie Watts holier than thou, i am superior look), Brian was the star of the show, be it musically, crowd banter or just plain having a good time. were i to go and see the Rollin' Stoned again, Brian would be the draw. 

since i vaguely mentioned it, the show is split in two, with each bit (or "act") being an hour or so each. the first part covers a mix of "ballads" and sort of rock songs, like the previously showcased You Can't Always Get, plus the likes of She's A Rainbow and Ruby Tuesday. part two is pure rock, and it's amazing. especially when they take a really unexpected but all the same very welcome detour. 

oh, yes. they did, in the middle of Miss You, elect to go and pay homage to the often inexplicably overlooked greatness of Bill Wyman's solo career, giving us a couple of minutes of Je Suis Un Rock Star. all that i could have said of this song is in the earlier Bill Wyman link and also this one. with all the material from the Stones available quite peculiar that they would go for this, but i am glad that they did. if anything makes me all the more certain that the Fleetwood Mac tribute band should have let Lindsey Buckingham have a crack at Holiday Road. 

nice to see (and yes i am running out of things to say) that i was not the only gent there on his own. as point of fact, or rather from what i could see, the lure of hearing some classic Stones tunes saw several gents, either of a similar or older age to your humble narrator, turn up. i don't mind doing "things" with friends, or people i know, but ultimately i am perfectly comfortable doing my own thing, thanks. when i see something like this coming up i'd rather go and enjoy than worry about if someone wants to go with me to it. 

right, i am now all but certain i have added more images and videos than i have words. to be honest i expected to be doing a lot more waffle on Bill Wyman and quite a bit more on the overt lack of Ronnie Wood, but not to be. oh, yes, there were ladies there. one seemed to get up and dance to some of the songs one would say "here is one for the ladies", and a couple of gents joined in, apparently vying for her attentions or affections. indeed i did take a look, and decided (with considerable respect) that i would rather just go home after the gig and have a nice cup of tea. 

go on then, a bit more video for you. most of the clips i took seemed to be just at the time someone decided to walk in front of me, but i think this little part of Sympathy For The Devil is pretty much just the band in focus. 

just to give me something to write of here, go on then, another link thing for you to a bit i wrote of the film of the Stones creating Sympathy For The Devil. i really do with, as with The Beatles' Let It Be thing, someone would go back and re-edit that, taking out all the Jean-Luc Godard pretentious scenes and just showing the bits on how the band created the song. what version of the film exists is still truly an astonishing grab from history, with things like the lyrics needing to change from "who killed Kennedy" to "who killed the Kennedys", and the all of a sudden empty cushion where Brian Jones was sitting at the start of it all. 

there are, as it happens, quite a few of these "tribute band" gigs coming up near me over the next few months. of the ones on offer i am somewhat (and obviously) tempted by a Bowie one. we shall see. i don't need to rush to a decision on it right now, for the end of November remains relatively a bit of a way off yet. 

well, that's that then. i haven't (knowingly) seen any other Stones tribute bands, so can't compare. but yes, absolutely, if you get the chance (or are considering it) going and seeing the Rollin' Stoned is very much a worthwhile use of what time you have. 

either i can put more stuff about Bill Wyman, or Ronnie Wood, or going to gigs alone, or heroes of mine what have appeared in full tilt nudies with ladies that i would (very much) like to have done, or i can just call it quits. 

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

hear my train a comin'

heya

in the realm of music speaks there's a rarely correctly applied phrase. that phrase (or if you like saying) is all killer no filler. basically it means that every single track on an album is a classic, with nothing included just to pad out the running length. just to make all aware, this post is probably the opposite of that phrase, look you see. 

oddly i do have one or two things of (comparative) interest to put on here, but i am apparently not doing them right now. consider it a mix of finding time forever slipping away from me and sheer laziness. still, i feel compelled (or obliged) to put things here regularly, so a couple of pictures and a video (yes, we've got a video) of a recent train journey (not really an adventure) shall do. 

the above picture, and indeed the below one, was captured (of course) with my VHS mode "app", with me opting for the "poster size" filter. really not at all sure what makes it poster size, yet i quite like the visual effects of it. indeed i do sorely (and sadly) miss having a Commodore 64 mode camera thing. 

with me electing (or opting) not to own a vehicle, feeling it an elaborate expense and i do enough driving during the week for verk as it is, i am somewhat reliant on the trains to see as many as possible of my (known) children. such is the sorry state of "public" transport in this country now the buses do not run on the day most convenient to see them, so train it is. as and when the trains actually run. being fair for a few weeks now they have run as scheduled, but they do tend to have bursts of issues which for whatever reason sees them cancelled at quite short notice. 

as for the title of this post, well, i dare say some of you will have got the reference. not entirely sure how accurate it is. this "split screen" VHS style video above is kind of interesting, i suppose, but not too sure any decent sound comes with it. it's not that the trains are particularly loud these days anyway, but if you can hear some of it in motion, well that's so much the better. 

nothing particularly noteworthy or interesting about this train journey. quite full, as it happens. a lot of people were using it to head north. by that of course i mean the actual north of this country (England), and not the pretend, fashionable branding of "north" as embraced so fondly by Manchester (rave on). where all the people were going i know not; i was just returning to lodgings in my place of exile. 

perhaps i should look at getting a bicycle, either of pure pedal or one of them "electric" ones. somewhat cheaper (long term) but then i would have the issue of where to store it, since such things are frequently stolen. getting a car would kind of remove the stress and worry of whether the trains are just going to do what they are suppose to, but it's all sorts of costs and other forms of stress. hey ho. 

right, well, that's all there is for this one. i can't promise the next post will be any more interesting than this one, but i shall jolly well give it a go. 

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

books what i eventually read

greetings reader

well, as the title suggests, yes i have indeed read some more books. novels, to be specific, look you see. and, as ever, just the two (2) gone done most recently, hence this post being a thing. 

for the usual sort of thing i would write right here (perhaps i should just copy and paste from a previous, rather than future, post), coming up is a picture of the 2 (two) novels completed, along with a brief overview sort of thing which isn't quite an executive summary, but still. beyond that be warned that there is every chance things people call "spoilers" may appear. 

going from left to right (i think), and the order in what i gone read them, The Hotel Avocado off of Bob Mortimer is, at very best, "meh". i am indeed sad to write that, but more later. next was We Solve Murders off of The Tall One Formerly Of Pointless and celebrated Sonia dancer, or if you like the brother of the bass player out of Suede. he also gets called Richard Osman, fact fans. despite this one not featuring quite so many retired people as in the Thursday Murder Club novels, all the same this is similar, comfortable and ultimately enjoyable reading. 

provenance of the copies of my novels is, i suspect, the part most of you readers find interesting. to dispense with the usual style here i can confirm both were purchased when "book of the week" or what have you down at Tesco, with each costing £4.50 thanks to me waving my club card at the machine when purchasing. my apologies to those of you who(m) prefer to learn this only when looking at one of the two novels read, but i just felt like a change to the norm. 

on, then, to where i started with these two, which is The Hotel Avocado off of Bob Mortimer. it is indeed his second novel, and is also a sequel to the peculiarly named The Satsuma Complex, which wasn't all that good. better on reflection (or in retrospect) than it felt when i read it, but still. absolutely nothing at all of the initial (or original) novel suggested more of the characters was either wanted or needed, and ultimately this novel succeeds in proving that to be true. 

it more or less picks up where that one finished. so i kind of (i guess) need to be double careful with spoilers for that one and this. of the (main) returning three (3) characters, ostensible protagonist Gary finds himself under pressure not to testify on a certain matter (as spoiler friendly as i could), Emily is getting the titular hotel ready to open and Grace is, pretty much, Grace. 

you have to be exceptionally careful with what you say about anything off of Bob Mortimer. if not universally so he is at the least deeply (and widely) loved and cherished. quite rightly so, for he is a wonderful bloke. but this novel is just awful. mostly it lacks any "identity", as i was left wondering ok, is this actually meant to be comedic with some dark elements or is it supposed to be "serious" with a sprinkling of light (and unfunny) relief. it gets to a point where all each new chapter has you wondering is which character will call Gary a "sh!thouse" in this one, and will he be forced to eat uncooked meat once again. 

enough in the novel (just about) suggests Bob Mortimer can write really well, and has all the capability of translating his erratic, often absurd, humour to a novel. the sections about general corruption within the realms of local councils, for a start, genuinely held interest. it is not so, alas, that this novel reflects what he can do fully. i believe his next novel, which has only just come out in hardback, has all new characters. yes, will give it a go in paperback, and i do hope it turns out that these first two novels of his were all just him finding his feet. yes, he would respond to that by saying he had checked and they are very much on the ends of his legs. 

next was We Solve Murders, which sees (or saw) Richard Osman briefly depart from the wonderful and wonderfully selling books of The Thursday Murder Club. wasn't all that much of a surprise to see him elect to try doing a different kind of story, but also it was no surprise at all to see him not stray all that far away from the same kind of style or theme. 

this novel, in short or in terms of the plot, features a bodyguard (or personal security type) teaming up with her father in law (a retired copper) by choice and a client (a wealthy novelist) reluctantly to both stop her getting murdered and to solve some murders what she is being framed for. which involves going to all sorts of exotic places and getting chased by all sorts of interesting people. 

at first it was tempting to dismiss this all with the characters being simply too much of an absurd, if not preposterous, mix to make for feasibly believable reading. then, on reflection, i thought hang on, i have more or less met someone meeting the description of everyone here, so why not all at once. leaving that aside, this is indeed really, really good reading, with the story almost holding its steam all the way to the end, only starting to run out of it (steam) towards the last few chapters. maybe like The Thursday Murder Club novels it possibly should not all work, but via the deft talents of the writer it does. 

certainly this is all (the novel) quintessentially quaint, it is the personification of all the ideals which for the very much middle class idea of the English way of doing things. one could indeed argue, or state, it being that Richard Osman is the most middle class writer of middle class perspective stories ever to exist. whether you take that as a compliment or a slight has more to do with your view of such rather than me simply saying it. 

no real qualms about having read either book, although i do just deeply wish the Bob Mortimer one was much more better. as has been the case of late, my reading indeed (more or less) limited to a chapter or two on a morning, awaiting some medically obliged cream to dry. i am (kind of) due a trip to the laundry rather soon, so no doubt i will take the book what i am reading at that time with me to get a good hour or so of reading in. 

unlikely, as would be usual, that much or any of this has been of any practical value, for i suspect that anyone wishing to read either of these novels (or determined they had no interest) would have done so long before this turned up online. still, my thanks, as ever, for reading this. or just looking at the pics. 

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

slightly different car wash

hello there

up to now there's been something of a peculiar (or unexpected, look you see) pattern of rotation on this blog in terms of "cleaning" stuff. as far as i can tell, and no i am certainly not checking, i have been following a car wash one with a laundry visit one. well, although i am due another laundry visit, for i have changed bedding once more, it turned out i went to the car wash before such. so, here we are. 

oddly, in a quite unexpected set of circumstances, there is something slightly different to write of with this particular instance. which you possibly (or potentially) worked out from the title. them what are in charge at verk have elected to replace my previous vehicle with another. at least this time it was due to it needing changing because of age or lease concern, and not via someone crashing in to me. 

yes, that's the big blue wet floppy brushes heading towards the windscreen, presented in that "video wall" format what i recently found the button for. there's some actual video in this format just below, if you are interested in that sort of thing. 

what sort of vehicle is my new one off of verk? as in make, model and all that sort of thing? well, i can happily (merrily, even) tell you that it isn't French, so it's obviously pretty good. no CD (or tape) player, mind, but i am slowly coming to terms with this wretched mp3 format. 

just for the sake of something to write here, yes, that's the "video wall" actual video i mentioned not too long ago. not sure the format works that well on phones or similar devices. but for all i know you are presently looking at this on one of them massive screen televisions. even then i would suspect the quality of the video, and my filming skills, don't make it all that much more better. 

the main part of excitement, or something a bit (slightly) different came with this new vehicle in the wash. on my previous vehicle one folded the side ("wing") mirrors in so as to avoid any damage. it was very much the case that they remained folded in until you pressed the button to have them go back to being in a position of use. on this one you have to fold the mirrors in yourself, or if you like manually. 

as it turns out, these manual fold in mirrors are not quite so robust, solid or prone to staying where you tell them as they were on my previous vehicle. it was with a mixture of interest, concern and slight horror, since we are in October, that i watched them big massive floppy brushes play away with the mirrors, knocking them in and out, pushing them backwards and forwards. oh dear, i said. 

fortunately it was so that no harm befell the mirrors. phew. the most immediate issue (if they had gone all busted) would have been the legality of driving. my understanding is that if the driver side mirror is knacked you cannot drive at all, but you can (sort of) get away with the passenger one being busted, so long as it isn't leaving a trail of broken mirror glass as you go. tape can be a friend. also explaining it to the grown ups at verk may have been awkward, but as it didn't happen nothing to discuss. 

i think the video above is just standard (or regular) VHS mode. could be in that "poster mode", with all the excitement of what was going on with the mirrors i simply forgot what mode, or "filter", i switched on. anyway, yes, that's some footage of the big floppy brushes not breaking any mirrors and finishing the job. the cameras you can see are probably them "automatic number plate recognition" things, presumably there to catch anyone doing a naughty. 

shall i be returning to the car wash in this (relatively) new vehicle, knowing now what i know of the plight of mirrors with it? yes, of course. there is an expectation i keep it (reasonably) clean since it is one of them branded ones and i shall be f****d if i am washing it myself. especially when verk pays for the machine what does the washing and pays me for the time it takes. living the dream. 

when i checked the video i gone done in the "split screen" format you can see above it just looked like all i managed to capture was reflections. oh. anyway, there's a picture in that format. bit of a shame, really, as i would image video split in three like that would be smart. 

quite likely, if we are honest, that yes, as and when i next go to a car wash i will once again document it. but, that said, no guarantee i will share it here. if by some chance one or both of the mirrors gets damaged or all busted, well, then it shall probably be for the best if i delete all evidence of it. 

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

prince variations

howdy pop pickers

currently i am doing some mental gymnastics about a potential tape (disc) purchase. this is nothing new, look you see, and invariably the wresting ends with me making a purchase. factors such as cost and no existing shortage of tapes (discs) are in play, however. also, and this is quite rarely an aspect i stop to consider, i am wondering if i actually want this imminent release. well, it is imminent at the time of writing. 

as to what tape (disc) this is, well, it's the "special edition" (or if you will deluxe edition) of Around The World In A Day off of Prince or, to be specific, Prince & The Revolution. but yes, Prince. not sure if this has been done specifically for the 40th anniversary of the record or if it is just, as has been the case thus far, Warner just issuing whatever is "ready to go" with the exhaustive work being done to in respect of the massive vault of music Prince left behind. 

whilst writing this i have my existing tape (disc) of Around The World In A Day on. the sound quality is just fine, so the "remastering" side of it holds little appeal. indeed the album is really good, yet noticeably i would suggest the really good aspect rotates around the truly great, outstanding Raspberry Beret. i am not entirely sure i need variations of the other songs here, with particular emphasis on spending north of £20 on a north of twenty minutes (!) version of America. 

yet i have ended up buying most of the Prince "deluxe" reissues. of the ones from the last few years i believe i have only skipped Diamonds & Pearls thus far, mostly as it was an album i wasn't overtly keen on. also i have gone with the "modest" versions of any "special editions", rather than the "ultra" or if you will deluxe ones with dozens of discs in them. 

it occurred to me that listening to Around The World In A Day once again would kind of help me decide on laying out cash. also playing the existing special edition tapes (discs) what i have could not hurt, as the very worst which would happen is that i would be listening to some quality tunes. so, that's what i have gone done, and of course musings (or thoughts) on them follow here.

bit of a contradiction here, for the "worst" of the special editions just happens to be what i would consider Prince's greatest artistic accomplishment, being the Sign ☮ The Times album. saying debating or even "arguing" what any artists' "best" or "greatest" work is generally something i would avoid, since it's all so subjective. also it tends to suggest other stuff is "worse" or weaker in some respect, which is a ridiculous thing to do with a body of work like Prince left behind. quite likely i could go on about the album and bore you, but that's not the point of this post. 

tapes (discs) one and two of this three (3) set are the Sign ☮ The Times album "as is". split according to the double album on record (vinyl) it was released as. not 100% sure but i think it got released as a single tape in the 80s. whereas it states that the album is "remastered" it doesn't sound noticeably different from my 80s CD set, or the 90s re-issue i picked up to play as i drove around. not really a surprise, as Prince absolutely did not p!ss about or compromise; what you got on the record was exactly as he wished it to be heard. 

i did indeed knowingly buy this fully (or totes) aware that the third disc, the "extras", would be of exceptionally limited, if any, interest. no "lost" recordings here, just b-sides, remixes and very, very bad single edits of songs. whilst it's nice to have relatively rare Prince songs, like Shockadelica, i have never ever been a Prince "completist". remixes of U Got The Look and Housequake are pretty decent, but then the as is originals on the album are fine. absolutely awful are the single edits, in particular the alarmingly cut in half I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man. this epic song is one of my favourites by Prince, this "single edit" is virtually unlistenable. 

debate all you will (or want) about what Prince's "best" album may very well be, but there is absolutely no possible, logical or cohesive argument against the fact that Purple Rain is his most iconic. however great the music was before this album (and film) it was this what put him on the map and assured it as being so that, no matter what he did after, he would remain there. of course there are those who would say this is also his "best" or greatest work, and it is difficult to fault such a view. 

leaving aside the intrinsic genius of the album proper and this is probably the bestest, greatest ever special edition of a specific album what i have ever had. the disc or unreleased or (ludicrously) rare tunes is outstanding, if none are quite the high grade to make it to the album proper. another disc of singles is actually good. dismissing the "single edits" and then the b-sides and remixes are a very welcome addition to the Purple Rain collection. then you have the video (disc) of a televised concert from, i think, 84. might be 85. i can kind of remember my dear friend who introduced me to Prince getting hold of a copy of this video when such was reasonably rare. 

for sheer quality of music and lavish presentation this is value for money. all too often extras are something you might play once out of curiosity. not so with the Purple Rain set, as each disc is worth repeat plays. well, ok, the concert film maybe not all that often. there are only so many times one can watch Prince ask an audience what they think of his posterior (not the word he uses) and then witness him make sweet, sweet love to the stage. only so many times, yet more times than you may think. 

what, if not this, would be "bestest" ever album specific special edition? immediately the only competition i can think of is either the two or three tape (disc) editions of Rumours off of Fleetwood Mac, with the 3rd disc being a live one that's "nice but not essential". that Warner Bros are behind both that and this Purple Rain one offers a glimpse of promise as to what they might eventually do with the Bowie catalogue they spent so much money on procuring. 

yes indeed i have just noticed that i have gone done this in a "reverse chronology" way, since the third and final here is the earliest album of the lot, 1999. oddly, and usually i need no such excuse, i did have quite a decent reason to buy this. my existing copy of the album was a first disc release of it, back when the maximum time on one disc was something like 74 minutes. so as to release the double album as a single disc they dropped DMSR off of it. so this represented a chance to get the album "proper" on a compact disc for the first time. 

not much i can say about this album that has not been spoken of, except to say, yes, probably, i would think the titular 1999 is the song most likely to be as strongly identified with Prince as Purple Rain. go on then, i will say something. the first six tracks - 1999, Little Red Corvette, Delirious, Let's Pretend We're Married, DMSR and Automatic are a superb, sublime, vivid, ecstasy fuelling, brutal, stark, bold and thoroughly enjoyable trip. not sustained across the remainder, which is possibly why this one does not get quite as celebrated as the two above. 

as to the extras on this "special edition", quite the revelation. to go against what i have said before, weirdly the single edit of 1999 really works, in the same way the single edit of Bowie's Let's Dance worked - taking an epic song and cutting it down to pure pop gold. exactly why anyone was doing a mono mix of anything in the early 80s is beyond me, yet the (relatively) rare mono mix of 1999 is a curious, interesting listen. the other mixes are good, and for the win the b-sides How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore and Irresistible B!tch are as strong as what made it to the album proper. 

right, that's got that out of my system. and indeed i do have the tape (disc) of 1999 on right now. i think that's made up my mind, with the proposed extras on the "special edition" of Around The World In A Day not particularly feeling worth the coins from my collection. much like how i possibly should have done with Sign ☮ The Times i think a "woah there" is in order, reserving any purchase for a time when i am all of a sudden sat with a surplus of cash or the price falls. just looked at the Diamonds & Pearls set once more. price is down a bit on it, but still not keen. 

unlikely that any of this will have been of any "practical" use, but then again i am rather surprised to see a whole load of you reading my recent post on Bowie variations. mostly i think the consideration here is that Prince absolutely did not compromise, any and all versions of his albums got released with some precision to sound exactly as he wished them to be heard. you can't really go wrong getting any kind of official release of any of these three. 

my dream Prince releases? well, i was lucky enough to get a copy of The Black Album when it got a quite limited reissue, but would buy again for fun. otherwise the sheer "sex is awesome" funk of Dirty Mind and Controversy have long been favourites, if there's any more of the material from them sessions in the vault they can release them and have my money. 

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

dubai style chocolate muffin

ahlaan bik

whereas every now and then i get accused of being one of them "social media influencer" types, i would suggest that i am not really such. usually i am quite behind the times, look you see, what with me stuck in my ways, hankering for a past that shall not return. none of my fingers are taking the pulse of anything current or new, which is (somewhat) evidenced by me doing a post on this dubai "style" chocolate a fairly decent amount of time after all the fuss. 

it was a trend that i only became aware of via a bombardment of adverts and what have you from various preferred retailers assuring me that they were now selling it. with it being this "dubai style chocolate". so far as i can tell (and this is fair) it is only that which is the "original" what can call it self dubai chocolate without any further qualification. to be even further fair, it's quite interesting, and generous, that the people (or person) what would (or could) claim proprietary over the name (if you can do such when it features a place name) seem to have no quibble with others using it. could be mistaken, but it looks like for whatever reason they are happy to let the name, or if you will branding, be more or less freely used. a quick check suggests that any and all search for the term "dubai chocolate" just delivers results for this confectionary, and a lot of them.

rather a fair, reasonable and appropriate question here is that of whether or not i should be trying out anything at all to do with this dubai chocolate phenomenon. mindful of my recent medical plight, the first instance of which is here and the most recent update here (with ones in between), i would suggest, or outright state, the answer is not really, not really, no. but, hey, i did anyway. the curiosity, and a discount voucher, got the better of my common sense. also the odd treat is surely not that criminal. oh yes, as you can see (or worked out from the title) i elected to go with a dubai "style" chocolate muffin rather than the bar (or slab), not that this would make it healthier. 

exactly what is dubai chocolate? or dubai style chocolate? there's a rather lovely story behind it, if one that does not make immediate sense. apparently, from what i can ascertain, it was made by someone, and i shall suggest a lady, to help "deal" with cravings during pregnancy. this is quite a lovely origin tale, but the lack of "immediate sense" here is that my (basic) understanding is pregnant ladies should generally avoid nuts in case the child (or children) pregnant with have a nut allergy. since pistachio seems to be the "big" addition here, well. famously i am not really to be consulted on anything to do with positive or productive medical matters. maybe the world has moved on and now nut items are just fine for ladies expecting, although i would think not. 

how was it? not too bad. bit rich, really, but that may well be because i am no longer used to eating things like this, what with me mostly sticking to a diet directed towards keeping me alive. as i had no actual expectations there was no disappointment, yet still i think if i had paid around £10 for a bar of it, which i believe is the usual price, i would have been asking myself why. yes, the answer to that is a blend of the cost of ingredients and the economic laws of supply and demand. 

am i likely to try any variation of dubai style chocolate again? no. this has more to do, and apologies for showcasing this once more, with my medical odyssey than any grumbles about the product. but, at the least, i can say i was "down" on what was likely the biggest fad or trend of this year, going off of what them internet types all say. 

كونوا ممتازين مع بعضكم البعض!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quilted sunshine daisy

g'day

every now and then - not often, look you see, but still - i rather like to do a sort of "follow up" post to something what i have gone done written. no, that's not it. more that i feel obliged to, or rather simply have nothing else better to write of. that is very much what is likely here. 

around the start of the year i elected (or opted) to share with you a bold, brave decision to make a brand switch in respect of toilet paper. you can, if you wish, click here to read of the logic, the methodology or decision that went into it all. should you be in a rush, or just interested enough to know but not that interested, mostly it came down to availability and using a koala for advertising. indeed i am that simplistic at heart, no matter how complex things seem to get. 

for those following the plight (or what have you) of how much toilet paper i may use, and which type, presently (or at time of writing) there are three (3) rolls left off of that mega pack. so it has lasted quite a decent amount of time. as i had no wish to find myself bereft of the stuff i made the decision to purchase some more. whereas i did not specifically seek to get more of the koala endorsed Cushelle ones, well, they were the first ones i saw and with the magic of a Tesco club card thing this pack of six came in at what i considered an agreeable price. 

not quite or exactly the same as the ones i purchased before, as you can (vaguely) work out from that picture above. these are, it says here, "quilted sunshine daisy" ones. presumably they are called such so as to avoid any legal mishaps off of Andrex, who(m) have a type called "quilts". the ones which were the same as what i had before, if that makes sense, were even more agreeably price (from memory i believe a further £1 cheaper) but what can i say, i have decided to pamper my behind, or live a slightly, albeit modestly so, bourgeois lifestyle in terms of bathroom concerns. 

this declaration of "average content" (or length) of the toilet rolls fascinates me. we live in a time where very nearly everything they can regulate is regulated. nothing highlights this more than the fact that all forms of food have to have things like salt and sugar content clearly marked, both to the nearest 0.1g and as a precise percentage. any sort of business that can get away with just giving an average in this brave new world have a charmed life. no, i am (decidedly) not unravelling a roll to either count the sheets or measure the overall length. where the f***, for a start, am i going to find a 30m space to roll one out (so to speak) and how would i explain it to passers by?

it was of course that the toilet paper industry were pioneers, or if you will legends, of the "shrinkonomics" games. should you be unaware of that term, it is when a company elects to sell you a product for the same price, but to a lesser ("fewer") content. credit where it is due, they were quite cunning with this. for years and years they gradually increased the diameter of the cardboard tube which lies at the heart, or centre, of a roll of toilet paper. so, the roll always looked the same, but has less (or if you insist fewer) sheets of paper on it. took longer than you might think for we, the people, to clock what was going on. ever since other industries have done the same, be it coffee types selling a few grams less ("fewer") in the same size jar, and toothpaste too. 

but then some confusion comes in. as you can (kind of) see in the above, the packaging promises 50% more sheets, but then goes and does a graphic to state that six of these rolls equals nine of another. if six was nine, so to speak. what is it, then? i mean, 50% more than what? oh, never mind, i, like most shall if truth be told, will just get on with using them (it) as intended. 

how, exactly, one would delicately word a review of the business end use of toilet paper eludes me. just as well, then, or fortunate, that i have not actually used any of this new batch yet. it is my hope that it, this fancy named and vaguely measured toilet paper, serves its purpose and does the job asked. 

be fair dinkum to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

killerstar ep

howdy pop pickers

and so here we are, as i feel obliged to say just about every day this year, into the "double digit" months of the year. or another year, look you see. that whole thing about how time "flies" as you get older is so very scarily true. been an unusual year, too, where that "quiet normal life" has evaded me. nope, none of this is relevant to what i wished to post. 

every year i, for some reason of nostalgia (mostly), do all that i can to purchase at least one (1) "physical format" single released in that year. not as easy as one may think, assuming that the purchase is going to be of a recording i actually want. not a great deal has come up in that respect this year (2025), but i am very much going to consider this boss live EP off of KillerStar as counting. 

if you are (somewhat) confused by that actual decent quality image above appearing here on this blog, fear not, for i have not raised my skill or standards. that is the image what came with the digital download of this EP (or single, to validate myself), which i got at the same time as the very impressive 10" record of it. 

technically i suppose this doesn't strictly speaking (or "officially") count as a single, since the overall playing time goes north of 20 minutes. a rule change was made, i think late 80s or early 90s, to limit the length so as to stop record labels effectively giving an album worth of material for the price of a single, so as to boost charts. when the singles charts mattered, and since them what do the singles charts managed to contrive to corrupt it forever, well, f*** them and f*** their rules, this is a single. 

getting quite good at getting distracted here. anyway, KillerStar, and this magnificent live EP. yes, go on then, let me once drop that i had the good fortune to see this band live at the 100 Club earlier this year. one can even get a "digital download" of a single recorded at the gig i was at, but enough with the links added here for now. when by chance i saw that they were releasing a live EP, i thought yeah, i will get the digital download thing of that. and then i saw that the limited edition (250, i believe) blue 10" vinyl would (along with the download) come to £15 (ish), i went well why not. 

saying that KillerStar seem quite content to exist under the radar feels misleading, for i have no radar. i mean, it's only twice i have bought music magazines in the last decade or so, and then only as i wanted the free tapes (discs) what came with them. for Radio, well, i am of an age for Radio 2, and they are only really any good at telling me "old" favourites have something new out. but still, you know, it really surprises me that there's not considerably more attention paid to this band by the world at large. they truly are that good. 

for all i know they are quite content, and confident, that the "right" audience shall find them. no idea if i was an intended demographic, but nonetheless delighted that i am here. there's no flogging themselves to be "viral", or media / radio / television attention, nor (so far as i know) selling the licencing of their music for games, what have you. it does genuinely feel they are a band quite content doing gigs in very specific venues alone, making ludicrously good music. not sure about anyone else but they are, in this rather odd if not strange world we have created, exactly what i need. 

the song selection here is unquestionably superb. a highlight for me is the inclusion of Go (Hold On Tight), which i can't quite say why touches and affects me so, it just does. but don't let that distract you in any way at all - every song here is a triumph. since playing vinyl is tricky for me, here in exile in my place of lodgings, the tape (disc) i have made of the download is getting a lot of play. not bad, since it competes with the excellent new Suede album for airtime. 

how do i describe the KillerStar sound for you? mostly by suggesting you give them a spin. it's really the best way to find out, and this era of "streaming" does have advantages. the best i can do is say they have that quintessential "classic rock" sound. no, they are not like some "throwback", i mean they have the qualities of music that one finds in records north of 40, 50 or more years old that are cherished still. indeed i do understand that's quite a statement, but i stand by it. 

bit of an afterthought this (the above picture) is, but still. for some reason it might be that some of you don't have a concept of what, exactly, a 10" single (EP) is, or what that is in scale to other formats. well, yes, it's 10" (ten inches) in diameter. so you have a rough idea, from top left going across, that's a standard size (5") CD single, in this instance Falling off of Julee Cruise and as featured in Twin Peaks. next to that is a cassette single, sometimes called "cassingle" or "singlette" (ZTT in particular got quite picky on the name), with this one being Sledgehammer off of Peter Gabriel. i may well be wrong, but i suspect, or think, one of the tracks on there is exclusive to the tape. big 12" is the beautiful looking 2023 reissue of True Faith off of New Order. show me a "stream" that you can hold and admire like that and i will be interested. next row, or below the CD single, is a standard 7", with the example here being the magnificent A View To A Kill off of Duran Duran and from the James Bond film of same name. bottom is the KillerStar 10" single, and then an A4 size magazine just to fill space. 

indeed i probably should have put (at least) some effort in and included a 3" CD single here, as well as a video single. whereas i have examples of both, i could not be bothered getting them out (so to speak) for a picture. at the risk of yet more links, and if you are all that interested, here is a recent 3" CD single what i procured. from a quick search there's a vague, brief look at what a video single is right here. yes, also there is such a thing as a DVD single, but that would (usually) be the same size and packaging as a regular CD single. 

nice leaflet which they included with the record, which i thought it would scan in and share here. oh, recently i "had" to get a flatbed scanner, but that's a different story for a different time. 

were it so that i have piqued your interest, then here's the link for the digital download and vinyl, if any copies of the latter remain. on that note, i really don't care if it is "scarce", "rare" or "worth something one day". to me it is where i am right now, i wish for it and need it in my life. pretty sure you can play the songs online off of that link, as well as look at (and listen to) their other releases. most probably on all the other "usual" streaming things, too. 

cheers for reading my usual mishmash of words, and hopefully what you've taken from this is that KillerStar are a class band well worth your time listening to. if you like them, please support them and buy the music!

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