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elvis_chimney
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "elvis_chimney" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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11:22 pm
[Link] | Ok I know that I've been neglecting Livejournal a bit lately. I'm sorry - it's not you, it's me! Besides, I've gone over to the dark(er) side lately and all my blog/social networking/whateveryoucallit energies are directed towards the internet behemoth and timesink Facebook these days.
However, I saw this and I felt duty-bound to share it with you all. Don't ever let me hear you say I don't have your best interests at heart. (I also like the way I say 'you all' despite the fact that about 3 people read this).
Ladies, you may want to make sure you have your underwear in the refridgerator in preparation before watching this one:
(Possibly NSFW depending on your point of view)
The poor, poor ottoman... A piece of furniture should never have to suffer that form of indignity.
I was speechless for a good while after seeing this one, but I was eventually left feeling quite pleased once I realised that even though I was a bit of a weird kid, I was never THAT weird.
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08:06 pm
[Link] | Yesterday, the Black Cloud that follows me around made its long-awaited transition
from the realms of metaphor to reality, as I was pissed on from above
all the way home down Leith Walk while clear skies and sunshine remained a
tantalising hundred metres ahead at all times.
It also seems that whatever demonic power is in charge of making me as
grumpy as possible at all times has decided that the job of ruining my mornings
is far too much fun for scotrail to do on its own, and has enlisted the help of
the Edinburgh bus service in its schemes. This morning they both successfully
conspired against me to make me late for work. I don't want to come over all Ben Elton
here (i.e. shit, hackneyed observational comedy) but it really does seem as though the only days when the train actually leaves on time are when you are a minute late.
And to improve my mood even further - the bloody SNP won the election
the other day.
Admittedly they'll be forming a minority government and will hopefully
be able to achieve so little that no-one will consider voting for them again for
quite some time, so it's not all bad.
Aside from the fact that Alex Salmond makes my flesh crawl (sleazy creepy uncle
really isn't a good look for a party leader, much less first minister), I just
don't buy the claims of the pro-independence mob. I think Scotland does quite
well out of the Union and I can't help thinking that a lot of the independence
arguments are born out of a large chunk of misguided romanticism mixed in with
more than a hint of racism.
Current Mood:  cynical
Current Music: Maximo Park - Books For Boxes
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05:32 pm
[Link] |
I love the bloke out of Bloc Party
I was actually going to mention Bloc Party in my last post - I got hold of their new album and I've been really impressed by it, both musically and in its mostly successful attempt to ring a bit of lyrical substance back into the modern indie rock song.
Not everyone's a fan, though, as it seems that Liam Gallacher has attempted to string a sentence together and called them "a band off university challenge". Presumably he meant this as an insult, and the lead singer of Bloc Party has responsed:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6505739.stm
My favourite quotes from the article are:
--
Okereke responded by saying Oasis were "overrated", although he admitted the University Challenge comment was "quite funny".
"It probably would have been a lot more funny had he not used exactly the same words to describe Travis a couple of years ago," he added.
--
and
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The singer, who studied English literature at King's College, London, also called Oasis "repetitive Luddites".
"They claim to be inspired by the Beatles but, and this so saddens me, they have failed to grasp that the Beatles were about constant change and evolution," he said.
--
Bloke out of Bloc Party, I love you.
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01:23 pm
[Link] |
Bye Bye Oslo...
This is my last week in Oslo before my triumphant return
to Scotland. I'm expecting to be greeted at the airport by
cheering hordes of tearful women demanding assurances that I'll
never leave again.
Well, I can dream can't I?
I spent the saturday night of my final weekend here in a
rooftop nightclub surrounded by the beautiful people of Oslo,
and so I felt thoroughly out of place. It was a very interesting
place though with fantastic views of the city. It would probably
be pretty stunning in the summer as it doesn't ever get completely
dark.
I'm going to have to conjure up a retrospective at some point
as I'm aware that I've not really posted that much about Norway
beyond the occasional moan about workmates. It's an interesting
if expensive place and I'm certainly glad that I took the
opportunity to come here, but I think i'm pretty much ready to
go home now.
I'm in a sort of limbo at the moment where I'm looking forward to
going home but I'm fully conscious of the fact that after about a
month back in Edinburgh I'll be sick of the place again. Also,
I'll have to resume my daily trips to Fife and The Most Depressing
Office Environment in the world (that title is pending
confirmation by Norris Mcwhirter though).
And of course it wouldn't be a proper update from me without the
mention of a band that none of you are going to take any
notice of. Lately I've been giving a lot of time to the new
Malcolm Middleton album.
Malcolm Middleton is one of the members of the now sadly
broken up Arab Strap and his new record is his third misery-laden
solo album, although the music appears to be a bit more upbeat
this time round and the lyrics have continued to develop the touch
of tongue in cheek irony that has appeared from time to time on
previous releases.
On the song 'Break My Heart' on his second record, we got
"You're gonnae break my heart I know it, and if you don't
you're gonnae break my run of unhappiness and destroy my career"
This time on "A Brighter Beat" we have
"Now you've gone and left me and there's nothing here, but a
tenner in my pocket and a fridge full of beer"
Add to that such gems of song titles as "We're All Going To
Die" and "Death Love Depression Love Death" and you get a classic
fit for any kid's birthday party.
I know you always ignore these recommendations but if you're only
going to listen to one ever then I really can't rate this one
highly enough (and if you think it's a bit downbeat then listen
to his first solo record "5.14 Fluoxytine Seagull Alcohol John
Nicotine", wich makes this one sound like Girls Aloud).
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11:15 am
[Link] |
Chimney's Tip For The Top
Another band reccomendation for you all.
It seems that the country responsible for the aural crimes of Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Shania Twain and the Barenaked Ladies has finally decided to start doing something about its musical karma and has sent us that rarest of things - a great Canadian band.
The group in question are called Dragonette and they do an excellent line in shimmery electro-pop. If they don't become absolutely massive and top the charts for the whole of the summer then there is something deeply wrong and rotten at the core of the Britich record buying public.
Check them out at:
http://www.dragonette.com (listen to "I get Around" - it's been on repeat on my Ipod for the last couple of days and shows no sign of getting tired so far).
Right - public service done - what's been happening?
Ben and Sarah came to visit last weekend on what was the coldest weekend of the year so far. So we did some touristy stuff which was a lot of fun and something that I don't really do all that often - including a trip to the Munch museum. I could easily spend all day in that place so it was nice to go again. Sarah seemed pleased by the ready availability in Oslo of gluten free pizza and pear cider so I reckon it was a pretty successful weekend all in all.
Current Music: Dragonette - I Get Around
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12:19 pm
[Link] |
Depressing...
Today is the final day of my Twenties. When I wake up tomorrow I will be 30 years old. Old being of course the important word in that sentence.
I feel I should be spending today doing something wild and outrageous or doing all of those things that they say you're supposed to do before you turn 30, but instead I'll be sitting on planes and sitting around in airports.
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11:04 pm
[Link] |
More free advertising
Oh god this download site is incredible - i'm finding all these obscure albums I've been looking for for YEARS. The latest purchase is an album by a band called The Ukranians (bizarrely enough - they're all from Ukraine) that I last heard on the John Peel show circa 1992. Fucking sweet!
If you've never heard a cover of the Smiths' "The Queen Is Dead" sung in Ukranian then you've never lived.
Current Music: Koroleva Ne Pomerla - The Ukranians
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08:26 pm
[Link] |
I really don't update this as much as I should
Ok first up - Happy new year everyone.
Right - what's been happening?
This one's going to be a bit of a mish mash of pish (a pish mash if you will) so prepare yourselves for a tsunami of inanity.
If you're one of the few people who has stuck with this excuse for a blog for any length of time you may remember that a couple of years ago my brother bought me a laptop for Christmas, and that I felt very guilty about it as I'd bought him shite.
You may also recall that I recently destroyed that laptop in an act of stupidity involving a glass of apple juice combined with a stray elbow. This made me feel even more guilty.
Well - news of my folly obviously reached my brother as on Christmas morning I unwrapped a brand spanking new Macbook (one of the lovely new dual core Intel numbers). He's trying to kill me with guilt and turn me into an Apple whore both at the same time and it's working dammit!
So - at least I've now got something to occupy my time with now that I'm back in Oslo - although a no drink near the laptop policy has been put into practice.
Remember my last post where I stepped out of the closet by admitting to liking girls aloud (not THAT closet - the girls aloud liking closet)? Well, allow me to blow your minds even further when I own up to being rather keen on the new Kelly Osbourne single "One Word". Dunno if it's been doing the rounds in the UK but I saw it on Norwegian TV the other day and it's REALLY good. It's like she's had her previous songwriters and producers (and, thank God, stylists) humanely destroyed and got Gary Numan in to sort things out. Give it a listen. It's dead good. Well - it's quite good at least.
Another recent discovery has been the music download site http://www.emusic.com which I've been very pleased with.
Primary benefit is that all the songs are in MP3. Along with all right thinking people I'm opposed to downloading music from iTunes due to the whole DRM issue (even though, as previously mentioned, I am fast becoming an Apple Whore (tm) (I imagine the correct term is probably iWhore in fact)).
It's one of those monthly subscription jobs - 8.99 a month for 40 downloads which works out as being fairly reasonably priced, at least compared to iTunes. The music selection is towards the indie end of the spectrum so I've been pleasantly surprised to find some records I've been looking for for ages - including an album by a band called Prisonshake which I heard once on the Lee and Herring radio show in 1994 and I've been looking for ever since.
I'm still one of those old fashioned people who prefers to own the physical CD and artwork etc. so I'll probably unsubscribe when I get back from Oslo but it's pretty good in the meantime. If you're looking to try out a download service then I'd recommend giving it a go.
Current Music: Prisonshake - 2 Sisters
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10:14 am
[Link] |
Girls Aloud Get Political
For the record - I really like Girls Aloud. They do catchy pop extremely well and they seem, alleged racist outbursts in nightclubs aside, like reasonable nice people. Turns out they've got a bit of a political conscience as well as shown in an interview in the New Statesman, covered by this Guardian article:
http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1971633,00.html
Anti war, with some good ideas about getting people more involved in politics, all good stuff. Unfortunately though, the journalist couldn't resist a dig with the following quote at the end of the article:
"The band blame the media for the aspiration of some young girls to be a footballer's wife. "Footballers' wives are just as bad as benefit scroungers - it's just a higher class of sponger," said Cole, wife of Chelsea left back Ashley Cole"
Shame on you Guardian! (although admittedly it must have been a pretty hard joke to resist) :)
Current Music: Mogwai - Christmas Steps
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04:13 pm
[Link] |
Rocking In The Oslo Nightclubs
The next few months are handily split up into bite-size two week periods. I have another two weeks here before I get to go home for the weekend. After that I have another two weeks in oslo before going back home for a period of.... ?
Yes you guessed it - two weeks. I can't wait. Oslo is beginning to get to me.
This evening I'll probably have to endure the now excruciatingly familiar ordeal of going out in Oslo - where I get dragged out to a dodgy nightclub by my workmate where he spends the evening staring at women and I spend the evening wishing I could afford to get drunk enough to enjoy the experience.
The fundamental problem is that he and I have very differing ideas of what constitutes a good night out. As long as I have decent company, decent music (of any type), and a bar then I'm a happy man. To him - going out means going 'on the pull', and so choices of bar or nightclub are scrutinised on the basis of their woman to man ratio and likelihood of him pulling that night (at the risk of sounding harsh, my estimation of his pulling potential is probably far less than his own, which, given that he is the standard common-or-garden personality-free computer geek, would be best termed as wildly optimistic. I should know. We can smell our own).
"But Chimney!" I hear you cry, "If you dislike it that much surely you don't have to go out!"
A fair point. However, not going out would have a few issues of its own:
Firstly, I'd have nothing to moan about. Moaning about things occupies a fairly high place on my list of hobbies. "You do the math" as an American might say purely to annoy me.
Secondly - it's either that or sit in the flat watching the same three episodes of pimp my ride that seem to have made up the majority of MTV Norway's output for the last 6 months. As previously stated - there's no way I can afford to get drunk enough to enjoy that.
Thirdly, for all I complain about him, he's not actually a bad guy and I have no real desire or right to ruin his weekend by being the unreasonably grumpy twat we all know I can be. Plus, there's always the chance that I might enjoy myself I suppose...
Current Music: Sigur Ros - Sæglopur
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11:08 am
[Link] |
Belated Update
First things first - apologies for the lack of updates recently. I managed to break my laptop a while back and since I'm pretty far off being able to afford a new one, my access to the internet has been curtailed somewhat of late.
I'm still in Oslo, where I've recently found out that my stay here is to be extended. I'd originally expected to be home by the end of November - and I'm now told that I can expect to be here until January at least, possibly as late as March. I have some mixed feelings about this in that Oslo is nice but I think I've pretty much seen everything it has to offer by now. Also, It would be nice to spend a bit of time at home. I never thought I'd miss Edinburgh, but a proper old fashioned night out drinking Diesel in Opium is featuring quite highly on my list of Things I'd Quite Like To Do.
I could post a summary of what I've been up to for the last few months but frankly I can't be arsed writing it and I very much doubt that you can be arsed reading it so I'll not bother. However, if I were to write it, it might include stuff about Norway (obviously), including the story of what happens when Colin, Nick, Bink and I go out drinking in Oslo, tales of dodgy Norwegian nightclubs and "cultural" stuff, and stories of my CRAZY (in a bad way) next door neighbour. Actually, the stories of my next door neighbour are worth an entry in themselves. Perhaps I'll get round to writing it.
I just got back to Cyprus where I was on a sort of holiday for 2 weeks. I say "sort of" holiday because the main reason I was there was for Lorna's wedding (her husband is Cypriot). This involved 5 days in Nicosia (the capital) for the wedding and to meet the groom's family (there is a bit of a language barrier there so communication was performed mostly through the internationally accepted medium of nodding and smiling). They were lovely people though and made us feel really welcome (and Harry's mum is an outstanding cook. On our arrival she had made a huge selection of Cypriot food for us all which included what was easily the best lamb I have ever tasted).
The wedding itself was great - in a lovely Greek Orthodox church, although thankfully the service was conducted in English as well as Greek so I had some idea of what was going on.
Nuptials concluded, we headed off to the reception, where I
discovered a few things.
Firstly, it was a free bar.
Secondly, the free bar contained several bottles of local spirits lying around in a "help yourself" policy.
Thirdly, the local brandy is REALLY nice.
Fourthly, so is the local wine
Fifthly, the local wine and brandy are REALLY potent
Sixthly, when a bottle of wine or spirits is removed and consumed, it gets magically replaced by a fresh one.
Seventhly, Nicosia is very hot, and when it's hot and you're wearing a full kilt outfit you tend to perspire a lot. Replacing those lost fluids with brandy is not an optimal solution.
Eighthly, when the blood in your body reaches the point where it is 50% brandy, Greek dancing looks really easy and fun.
I'll leave your imaginations to fill in the rest, whilst I quietly cringe at the memory...
Also, I discovered that they don't get many people in kilts in Cyprus, and as I was the only guy at the wedding wearing one I found myself on the receiving end of even more funny looks than usual. At one point the waiters asked me to pose for a photo with them, and as they had been dutifully attempting to fulfill my insatiable appetite for brandy all night it would have been churlish of me to refuse.
All in all it was a great day - Lorna looked lovely and It was great to see her get married to such a nice guy. The people honestly could not have been nicer and I'd definitely consider a return visit.
I'm sure I could post more but I think I've trambled on long enough so I'll leave it there for now. I'll stick a link to the wedding photos up once I get them downloaded.
Current Music: Our Shining Path - Urusei Yatsura
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05:31 pm
[Link] |
T In The Park
I'm back in Oslo after a weekend back in Scotland to go to T in the Park. It was fun as always although to be honest I thought the lineup was a little bit weak this year. Saturday in particular was almose devoid of decent bands.
Saturday started with Seth Lakeman's brand of folky violin/guitar. I thought he was a bit dull although I've been told by a number of people who are better equipped than me to judge these things that he's very fit so that might account for his otherwise inexplicable popularity.
Placebo were excellent as always - it was a bit of a safe set without many surprises but they did the job well. Likewise, Franz Ferdinand did an excellent job of keeping the crowd energised despite the rain that had started by that point. I also had the pleasure during Franz ferdinand's gig of running into a couple of galaxy_girl00's friends who i hadn't seend since about 2 T in the parks ago.
I also caught a bit of the White Rose Movement who were quite good electro-goth-indie eighties throwbacks, and some of The On/Offs who sounded like a bit of a substandard jam tribute band - they looked like a bunch of art teachers on their holidays.
Slightly more impressive on Saturday (and chimney's tip for future success) were Union Of Knives who played an absolutely storming set in the T Break stage. If there's any justice they'll be headlining in a couple of years time.
Final band for me on Saturday and my dual-highlight of the weekend were the utterly sublime Sigur Rós. I could go on for hours about how moving and incredible their live performance was but i'd only end up sounding even more pretentious than usual. All I'll say is that if you havan't heard their music then go out today and get some, and if you get the chance to see them live do not miss the opportunity. If you aren't completely blown away then there is something very wrong with you.
Sunday was a bit more impressive (as it usually tends to be) - excellent performance from Fuck Off Machete at the start of the day (best band name ever by the way) including a storming cover of Olivia Newton John's "Let's Get Physical".
We Are Scientists were less good than i'd hoped (disappointing since their album was been one of my favourites of last year) but they still played a decent set.
Two bands on the sunday really impressed me by playing a pretty much textbook example of how to do a live set. Firstly, The Eels came on dressed as vietnam vets with a burly security guard at the side of the stage doing kung fu moves and lifting weights while they played a set of rock covers with more commitment and energy than any other band that weekend.
Lastly, my other highlight of the weekend apart from Sigur Rós were Death Cab For Cutie who i'd never seen live before but were everything i'd hoped for. Again, if you don't know much about them get a hold of their most recent album 'Plans' - in my opinion easily one of the best albums of the last few years (although that might just be the deeply buried emo inside me coming to the surface).
God how long is this entry? I'll shut up now. If you're still awake then congratulations. Right - i'm off to drink something that isn't lager and eat something with vitamins in it.
Current Mood:  tired
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01:49 pm
[Link] |
Germany
*In which I break my record for "Most superlatives in one post"*
Just got back from Germany where I was at Keith and Bea's wedding.
It was the first time i'd been to Germany and I really don't think the experience could have been a better one. The people were incredibly friendly and the country itself is absolutely beautiful. All in all I couldn't find a single thing to fault the experiance. We were staying in a little village a couple of hours south of Berlin next to Bea's home village in a lovely part of the Saxon countryside in what for Scotland would be classed as heatwave conditions but which the Germans seemed to be taking in their stride. I was completely blown over by the generosity of our hosts and the friendliness of the locals - a great weekend.
Thw wedding was lovely and it was great to see Keith and Bea tie the knot. Great reception too - the German Ceilidh band hired to provide the entertainment were brilliant - far more entertaining than any one of their Scottish equivalents.
On the friday before the wedding we went on a trip to Dresden which, as you know, was completely destroyed in 1945 by the RAF in fairly barbaric circumstances. Dresden has been doubly unlucky over the last 60 years as immediately after its destruction it came under the control of the communist government of the DDR where it would be fair to say the appropriate steps to return it to its former glory were not taken. In fact, I'm told that lacking the funds to restore some salveagable buildings the DDR simply tore down some buildings that could well have been restored.
Ever since German reunification however an absolutely stunning restoration job has been done. There a number of complete medieval buildings in the centre of town that I assumed had managed to survive the bombing until I was told by our guide that they had been mostly or in some cases completely rebuilt over the last decade using the same materials and techniques as the original builders. The trick to spotting the scale of reconstruction we were told, is that Saxon sandstone darkens over time. So, the light coloured areas of the buildings were new and the dark coloured sections were the ones that survived. Equipped with this knowledge, the staggering scale of reconstruction became apparent. Most of these classic buildings which we had assumed were hundreds of years old had been rebuilt in the last ten.
In the case of the Frauenkirche, the cathedral of our Lady, it had been transformed from literally a pile of rubble into a beautiful replica of the original church building. Particularly poignant is the display inside the building of the cross which had sat on top of the old cathedral but which is now a blackened and twisted piece of iron.
The amount of effort and money required to create such a transformation must have been incredible and I can't help thinking that such a feat would have been impossible in this country. Hopefully Dresden's reversal in fortunes in recent years can be taken as a symbol for the whole of the former East Germany and maybe in a couple of decades all signs of the negative aspects of the last 60 years and the events that lead to them will appear only in the history books.
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05:35 pm
[Link] |
More from Oslo
Well it's the end of my first week in Norway and any images of Norway as "The frozen north" have been comprehensively dispelled from my imagination. The weather for the last week (today in particular) has been incredibly good. The sun has been bright (apart from a period of twilight around midnight) and it's really hot - all in all exactly the wrong sort of weather for me :)
I decided to take a different route to the station the other day and found that walking through the park takes me right past the entrance to the royal palace - so it turns out the King is my neighbour! (the Norwegian word for King is 'Kong' a fact, which has been causing me no end of amusement)
The palace is a fairly understated building in comparison to Buckingham palace - no gates or walls, just a open gravel square which you can walk across. The only signs of security are a couple of Royal Guards in comedy hats, the temptation to take the piss out of them being kept at bay by the fact that they're carrying assault rifles and looking serious.
I paid a visit to the Henrik Ibsen museum today. A visit to a museum about a 19th century playwright might not seem the ideal way to spend a hot sunny day but it was quite interesting - if you're ever in Oslo then I'd recommend you give it a try.
Just before I left i bought a new phone (a Nokia N80 if you're interested) using the excuse that since because it has a 3 megapixel camera i wouldn;t need to take a camera on holiday with me (I'll use any excuse to justify the purchase of new technology it seems). However, I didn't reckon on the new camera's potential being hamstrung by my complete lack of ability as a photographer. In short, any photos i've taken so far have come out looking like shit. If I manage to overcome my handicap I might stick some on the web.
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09:26 pm
[Link] |
Oslo
This update is being done from my flat in Oslo, which will be my home for the best part of the next 6 months. For those who are shockingly out of the loop, I've been sent here to do a job for a Norwegian company so they've given me a flat in what i'm assured is the nice part of Oslo, a very limited amount of expenses and sent me on my way.
Oslo is, to be honest, a little bit dingy based on what I've seen. There are admittedly some very nice buildings but unfortunately there is a lot of bad 1960s architecture which makes marks of the centre of the city look unfortunately a bit like Dundee.
I'm lucky that most people speak excellent English - generally what happens is I walk into a shop, the shopkeeper says something to me in Norwegian, I look confused, they instantly switch into near-perfect english, I feel very silly.
I arrived yesterday and today was my first day at work - to get there I had to get the tram from the national theatre station. Not wanting to be late and not entirely sure where I was going I arrived there at 7am to find the place deserted. To get to my platform you need to descend a couple of escalators which take you what must be a good 30-40 foot underground out into a huge, cavernous room where the main platforms for the huge locomotives they use in Norway are. It's a massive, cold, dank, grey concrete cavern with the walls covered in black and white pictures of people's faces. It reminded me of a set from some dystopian orwellian sci-fi movie. Early in the morning when you're the only person there and you think you might be a bit lost it's an incredible eerie experience. I almost expected the faces to start talking to me. If I ever find myself drecting a matrix-style action move I'm going to stage a shootout there.
This coming weekend is will be my first on my own in Oslo so I'm hoping to do a bit of sightseeing and maybe a bit of cultural stuff. I'll post the details here if it amounts to anything interesting.
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10:36 am
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Gigs and Christian Punk
it down and think, having reread it, that it contains any worthwhile information I'll post it. This means that you may miss out on the shocking revelations of my affair with John Prescott - I'm holding out in the hope of a huge bid from the
Daily Mail.
Couple of music related things to mention:
I was at a Dresden Dolls gig on thursday night. If you're not familiar with them The Dresden Dolls are one woman on piano and a guy on drums and sound a bit like Tori Amos woke up one day, grew a pair, got pissed on whisky and decided to start telling like it is. It was a fantastic gig - there's something about the live environment that can bring a whole new life into material that might seem a little stale on record. While I quite like their records I can honestly say i was completely blown away by their live performance. Someone should force The Strokes to go to a Dresden Dolls gig and take notes. There you go boys - that's how it's done.
The support act were pretty impressive too - Devotchka - a sort of mix of latin american and eastern european influences fronted by a bloke who looks like what would be produced if Antonio Banderas and George Clooney had a kid, accompanied by a guy on violin & accordion, another bloke on drums/trumpet and a pretty girl on a massive tuba. Top quality stuff.
The crowd were a slightly different matter - lots of skinny emo boys and Pete Docherty wannabes, pseudo goths and indie kids plus one girl inexplicably dressed in an outfit made almost exclusively from green body paint and gaffer tape.
Meanwhile, I was standing there in my Arab Strap T-shirt with my pint of Tennents looking to all the world like one of them had brought their dad along.
Other things on my playlist at the moment are the We Are Scientists album and the Death Cab for Cutie record. Both are
excellent - the Death Cab For Cutie one (Plans) in particular is a really beautiful album so I'd urge you to acquire and
listen to both.
Staying on the subject of music I have a favour to ask of anyone inclined to help out. Look up a christian punk band called "Knights Of The New Crusade" and let me know whether you think they're for real or if they're an ironic joke. MY current thinking is joke but I'm really not sure and would value a second or third opinion.
I'd hate them to be genuine because the music is actually pretty good.
Current Music: Lipstick Lesbian - Knights Of The New Crusade
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10:52 pm
[Link] |
The Great Spam Experiment
Google mail handily provides a spam folder into which it filters
all of the messages it considers to be worthless. It does its job
fairly well but occasionally an email that actually interests me.
gets filed away along with the ads for penis enlagrement, cheap
viagra and degrees from educational institutions of questionable
academic integrity (Glasgow Uni, Edingurgh Uni, Herriot Watt
etc.). For this reason I occasionally find myself checking the
contents of the spam folder (don't worry i'm gradually getting to
the point).
Controversially, Gmail also provides context-sensitive
advertising where it scans the emails you are reading and provides
adverts at the top of the page related to their content.
Upon selecting the spam folder, this advertising bar invariably
gets filled with links to recipes based upon the overlooked and
much maligned canned meat, Spam. I can only hope that this tie-in
is planned - the product of the fervered imaginations of the
underappreciated talent at the Spam Marketing Board.
Well - i've decided to take the bait. The recipes are too
stomach-churningly interesting to disregard (Spam Breakfast
Burritos anyone? ) so i've decided that every now
and then (I'm hardly a health food nut but even I am doubtful
about the health benefits of a spam-rich diet) I'm going to
give one a go and report the results here.
Watch this space for further info...
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08:05 pm
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Witch update, smoke-free booze, and bad news
Wicked turned out to be a fairly good read. Turns out the
wicked witch of the west wasn't actually all that wicked or
in fact a witch - she was actually just an animal rights
activist and political dissident. So there you go. The
promised discussion of the nature of good and evil didn't
really arise though except in the form of some people at a
dinner party towards the end of the book having a conversation
about the nature of good and evil. If this sounds as if it
was bolted on to the end of the book in an attempt to add
some substance then I'd imagine that's because it probably
was.
I was in the pub on wednesday night for the first time since my
incredibly ill-fated trip to the mission a few weeks ago,
and it was my first opportunity to experience the new
smoke-free drinking environment. While I think the smoking
ban is a good thing, the lack of smoky haze did allow me to
see and unfortunately smell my fellow drinkers far better
than before - I'm not sure that's the kind of progress i'm
all that keen on.
While I was in the pub I received a phone call from an old
school friend I've not spoken to in about two or three years
telling me that she'd broken up with her husband. While this
would be sad news regardless, I felt even worse when I
realised that I'd been at the wedding. Hopefully that's the
only time that's going to happen.
Current Music: NOFX - You're Wrong
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10:00 am
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Punks, Fairies and Witches
Went to see a Henry Rollins spoken word gig in the usher hall at the
weekend - he was great as always although I still don't know how he
does it. It was about 3 hours of constant talk from him, sometimes
at a frenetic pace, without pausing to even take a sip of water.
Great stuff but very intense - I felt a bit exhausted by the end of it.
Had to come in to work on saturday and sunday which was bit rubbish.
Travelling to Fife during the week (or at all for that matter) is bad
enough but having to do it on my days off is an inignity I'm anxious
not to have to repeat.
Also finished reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman - I'd sort of
forgotten about Neil Gaiman for a few years since I read the Sandman
graphic novels and Good Omens when I was at uni (I think there's probably
a law somewhere that makes them required reading if you're at uni and a
bit geeky. A bit like the more general undergraduate commandments "Thou
shalt get pissed on cider" and "Thou shalt become a Pink Floyd fan").
I recently read his novel American Gods and was impressed by how good
it was so I'm slowly working my way throught he rest of his books.
Stardust is excellent - a great fairy story with a liberal helping of
old fashioned blood and guts.
Carrying on in a similar vein I picked up a copy of "Wicked - The Life
and Times Of the Wicked Witch Of The West" by Gregory Maguire at the
weekend. It's a sort of prequel to the Wizard of Oz detailing the
wicked witch's life from birth to her unfortunate encounter with a
bucket of water at the hands of Judy Garland. It's interesting because
in the Wizard Of Oz we're never given any reasons for why the wicked
witch is so wicked - she just is. The book claims to present things
from her perspective and promises to be an examination of the nature
of good and evil along the way. If it doesn't take itself too seriously
then it should be quite good (and it looks great too - the cover is all
black and silver and green. Very goth). Maybe the author can give the
same treatment to similarly misunderstood characters from classic fiction.
Fenella the witch (litte old lady!) from Chorlton and The Wheelies
springs to mind as a potential candidate.
Current Music: The Widow - The Mars Volta
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12:51 am
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Weddings etc
Was off at a wedding in sunny Cumbernauld at the weekend. The people
getting married were work friends of Angela's so i didn't really know
anyone but it was good fun all the same. All the necessary wedding
reception ingredients were present - cheesy wedding singer, drunk
uncles, older ladies in inadvisably outdated dresses, rubbish dancing
(mostly from yours truly), and the cutest little flower girl you'll ever
see. She almost managed to upstage the bride. Aaaaw.
It would be very easy for a grumpy cynic like me to look upon the whole
thing as a tragically uncool experience but that's what weddings are
all about - old-fashioned excuse-free fun. Sometimes, having fun really
can mean dancing in a kilt to a medley of Wham songs sung by a wedding
singer who feels the need to insert "It's party time here tonight at the
Glenskirlie house. Whoo!" before every song.
Ah - you cannae beat a good wedding.
I recently finished reading "If no-one speaks of remarkable things" by
Jon Mcgregor and I'm feeling quite evangelical about it. It's one
of those books where if you were to describe it to someone it wouldn't
seem all that special - it's a set of intertwining stories surrounding
the lives of the residents of an unnamed town in the north of England.
What makes the book so interesting is the writer's ability to bring his
subjects to life. Completely normal things like a boy cleaning his
trainers or some kids playing cricket in the street are written about
in such a way as to acquire a real poignancy. It's the writer's ability
to reveal the beauty in the mundane and to make the ordinary seem
profound that makes the book something very special indeed.
Read it if you get the chance - you can even borrow my copy if you see
me.
Current Mood:  blank
Current Music: This Boy Is Exhausted - The Wrens
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