Disordered Thoughts and Curmudgeonly Ramblings
We’ve lost one of the greatest authors, philosophers and human beings of our time.
Sir Terry Pratchett, renowned fantasy author, dies aged 66
When I heard the news this morning I felt like I wanted to make some grand gesture as a tribute. But then I realised that the core message of Terry’s work is that we should all do our utmost to be decent human beings. So be particularly decent to each other today people.
Work Colleague: I watched an entire season of Friends last night.
Me: Could you be any more insane?
(On a related note, what the hell is up with Gunnerkrigg Court at the moment? 🙂 )
Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quod,
So little time, so much to blog!
So much indeed! But instead of blogging about any of it I thought I’d just hop in to mention that I was recently reminded of how Tonight She Comes and You Might Think by the Cars are two of the best songs ever written.
I mean, that keytar riff – particularly when backed up by the guitar – is just glorious! Of course from a modern perspective the video clip has something of a stalky vibe about it, but it was the 80’s when people didn’t know any better, and the computer effects were groundbreaking for the period (go Quantel Paintbox!).
That’s all I have to say right now. Stay tuned!
Deville’s Pad is closing for good on March 21st 🙁
That sucks, and is all.
As part of my whole not-swell-up-like-a-walrus-and-die plan I’ve been eating cereal and yogurt for breakfast for the last month or so, as opposed to scarfing down whatever the hell grabs my eye when I stumble to the fridge in the morning. This has been keeping me feeling nice and full until lunch, resulting in much less snacking, but my weight has not changed one wit – which was puzzling.
Until today when I checked up on the nutritional figures for my cereal of choice – Uncle Toby’s Healthwise for Heart Wellbeing.
This fine product – approved by the National Heart Foundation no less – turns out to be just over 30% sugar. 30% SUGAR.
So it’s not really surprising that I haven’t loss any weight eating this crap. In fact what’s surprising is that I haven’t gained any weight.
So tonight on the way home I’ll purchase some cereal that isn’t made by Oompa Loompas and then bin the rest of Uncle Toby’s Healthwise for Sugar Barons.
Fuckers.
In a follow up to yesterday’s surprising Eurovision news, there’s a petition begging TISM to reform and represent Australia in Vienna.
Naturally I have signed it. Can you watch this performance, and dare to claim that TISM would not fit right in in Eurovision?
Of course they couldn’t perform any of their classic tracks, one of the rules being that songs cannot have been commercially released prior to competing, but I’m sure they could whip something appropriate up. In any case a song like I Might be a C**t, But I’m not a F**king C***t would probably give Europe a collective stroke.
We’ll see, we’ll see…
Apparently, in recognition of the 60th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest and the fact that a lot of Aussies (including myself) watch it, Australia is going to compete in this year’s contest!
We get automatic entry into the final (along with all the usual suspects) and – assuming that they can figure out how to do it in a sensible fashion given the time difference – we’ll get to vote! In the event that we win (not entirely impossible given the huge novelty factor) next year’s contest will be held somewhere in Europe with heavy Australian involvement. It’s also the only way we’ll get to compete in 2016 – if we don’t win then it’s a one-off.
This is going to be interesting…
Of course I can hardly mention this without posting the greatest Eurovision song never to be entered in Eurovision.
They really must lose that sax solo.
A few hundred years ago – according to legend – an inhabitant of one of the Blasket Islands off the west coast of Ireland heard a strange, eerie tune floating out of the night air. He grabbed his fiddle and tried to imitate it, creating a tune that was eventually named Port na bPúcaí – the music of the Ghosts. And there the tale remained, with the resulting tune becoming part of Ireland’s rich heritage of traditional music.
Until the mid 1990s when musician Ronan Browne was going through some tapes, and to his great surprise heard the opening notes of Port na bPúcaí. What was on those tapes? Recordings of the songs of killer whales, which are well known to swim by the Blasket islands on their migrations.
We can’t ever know for certain that the tale of the composition of Port na bPúcaí is true. But if it is, then think of that islander, out alone at night, hearing the mysterious songs of the whales wash across the island and frantically scribbling down the notes of a tune from another world.
Jimmy Carter says Yes!
Here’s a riddle -what do you get if you cross the riff from Louie Louie, the verse from Prince’s 1999 and the chorus from from the B52s’ Roam?
You get Transvision Vamp!
This was a big hit back in 1989, probably more from Wendy James jumping around in a skimpy dress than for any musical merit, although I must admit it is rather catchy.
That is all.