Walking Off The Walking Dead - #Oktoberfest #16 - Jockey Full Of Bourbon - Tom Waits

I've finally given up on The Walking Dead as it seems to have drifted too far from it's main concept. Yes it's post apocalyptic and things can go off it so many directions but I am still vaguely wondering what happened to Rick when he was spirited off in that unknown helicopter. I'm not that observant so I may have missed something and the latest series started and it was like I couldn't remember where I was in it and the zombies are just an embellishment rather than the result of what caused this situation. No doubt people will be able to enjoy it and I didn't stop watching because it was bad, but because it had run out for me.

One of the problems is there is some much excellent television and only a limited amount of time. There is nothing wrong with ending a series, I'm thinking "Game of Thrones" , "Black Sails" and "Breaking Bad" but I have now picked up "Vikings" and "Preacher" and with "His Dark Materials" on the way I think my television time is spoken for well into 2020.

For some reason I thought I could hit a record number of annual posts this months by instigating #Oktoberfest but I still have to post 43 more seventeen days to go , so three posts a day is not going to happen but I will likely complete it in November.

So the #Oktoberfest song today is "Jockey Full of Bourbon" by Tom Waits from "Raindogs", and it was Hannah Berry (Comic Laureate) on here Paperback Writers show on 6Music yesterday who played it and reminded that if I need songs about drink Tom Waits provides a rich vein to mine. I had been having problems trying to think of songs related to drink but I am sure I can hit another 15-20 by the end of the month.

It's a greyish Monday but go out and hit the world.

Violency - #Oktoberfest #13 - White Lightning - Big Bopper

I was walking past a King Koby Barber Shop called "Brotherhood of Defiance" which had a load of baseball bats hanging on the wall, and I don't think they were there as sports items and I got thinking how we enjoy violence and violent characters in entertainment, but how close does that come to spilling into normal life. We see toys of Negan's Lucille (a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire) and how many guns , knives , machetes and chainsaws especially around Halloween. As a child I had loads of toy weapons and I've not become a murderer so maybe I am just getting a bit unnecessarily perturbed, and I suppose the toy "Lucille" the most worrying because  I wondered if it could be used and it would be very easy to make one. That was still one of the most traumatic scenes in "The Walking Dead" which I have finally decided to call time on.

BB King's guitar was called Lucille but that is a completely different story.

For the #Oktoberfest I am running low on potential drink songs but will go with the excellent Big Bopper cover of George Jones' "White Lightning". The Big Bopper (JP Richardson) was killed with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens when their plane went down in Iowa..

The Day After Halloween

Last night was Halloween, I stayed in and watched episodes of Constantine and The Walking Dead, got two tubs of sweets from Tesco (two for seven pounds) and had one knock on the door, a pleasant and well made up family (the parents as zombies the children as witches) who were made up when I told them to take two each.

It seems everyone was out apart from me, though I wasn't aware of anything that was on, and no one would ask me to anything because these days I usually politely decline.

But it's a new month, and I am off to York today (that's twice in a week) so although it's the day after I'll leave you with Sonic Youth's "Halloween" just to include the "Bad Moon Rising" flaming pumpkin headed scarecrow cover although I was thinking  of John Carpenter's superb minimalist "Halloween" theme.

Have a good day

Television....Another Time Vampire

Over the last two evenings I could have done many things, but what I actually did was catch up on a few TV shows and also watch a few entertaining quiz shows. Pointless and Letterbox are entertaining and make you think (not too hard)  but are hardly essential viewing, but do pass an entertaining half hour. You watch both and that's an hour of your evening disposed of.

I don't know if this is affecting my social life, but the option of pressing a couple of buttons and actually being at home dos hold certain attractions, in that it's a lot easier, doesn't require any efforet and you can just go to bed when you finish. You probably have all the food and drink you like on hand and I have the added convenience of two  six til eleven convenience stores and several excellent takeawys and restaurants a short walk away.

It not so much me being anti social as me being lazy, there are events to attend, and people to share time with but more and more I am showing a preference for staying in and watching TV. This may have also been exacerbated by my anaemia / iron deficiency and I have been trying to address that and certainly I am feeling more energetic but not perfect. My recent illness may also have contributed but I do need to start getting out more, which may mean my "To Watch" list starts to grow to an unwatchable length.

Anyway it's Wednesday so I will continue on my way, and would be interested to hear what you think.

Ravensward

I haven't a clue what that word means or is. It sounds like a house or place is a gothic or fantasy novel, so given my general musical and reading propensity maybe it's not surprising if I have heard it and it has stuck. This is the result of a Google search and it is a place and a charater in Final Fantasy. So I must of heard of it before, or heard it mentioned.

I'm still getting over Shiva's death rescuing Ezekiel in The Walking Dead, it's funny I dealt with Negan's vicious evil but this really made me hurt and sad. I was thinking it had finally run it's course but the is, ironically, life in The Walking Dead yet. I know it's only a story, but it still has power, so it is still on record, along with so many other programs.

So in memory of Shiva I'm including Jah Wobble's take on the William Blake poem "Tyger,Tyger", which I have always loved. William Blake's poetry is amazing, and I've included it for you to read:

Tiger! Tiger! burning bright 

In the forest of the night 

What immortal hand or eye 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

In what distant deeps or skies 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 

On what wings dare he aspire? 

What the hand dare seize the fire? 

And What shoulder, and what art, 

Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 

And when thy heart began to beat, 

What dread hand? and what dread feet? 

What the hammer? what the chain? 

In what furnace was thy brain? 

What the anvil? what dread grasp 

Dare its deadly terrors clasp? 

When the stars threw down their spears, 

And watered heaven with their tears, 

Did he smile his work to see? 

Did he who made the lamb make thee? 

Tiger! Tiger! burning bright 

In the forests of the night, 

What immortal hand or eye 

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? 

Wonderful , read , listen , enjoy

Keep On Keeping On

Last week was very grey then yesterday was actually looking sunny for a while before slipping back into the greyness of the last week and today looking out, I can see all the cars are frosted up. Not the most inviting of Monday mornings, but another week of work is waiting for us.

I had intended to take a walk out to Cow Hill on the Town Moor to take some photographs but was not feeling up to it. Also there's various house related things I need to sort out, and then noticed that my Virgin TIVO box had decided it wasn't recording the first two episodes of the next half season of The Walking Dead but was going to record from episode 3 (well 10 actually cos of the mid season break) onwards, then they seem to have moved The Blacklist onto Sky1 for the next half season and it wasn't going to record that either.

So all that is in hand, but I really need to get some positive uplift into my life, as currently loads of my time is taken by apparent mundanities, the problem being , I think my complete withdrawal from social interaction may be part of the contribution to this because people do inspire me and  give me a lift, even meeting for the odd coffee is good.

The thing is as people get older they seem to almost ossify in their views, what they want to do, and where they want to go. Sometimes an evening in a warm house with a good book or film is more inviting than trying to engineer a social occasion.

I've also not been to any gigs, as I have mentioned previously, and need to get out to see more bands , and there are opportunities to see lots around Newcastle, with venues such as Trillians, The Black Bull and Think Tank? and bigger venues such as The Riverside, The O2, The Tyne Theatre, The Sage, and Wylam Brewery, so it's not as though there's nowhere to go.

In fact I've just checked and Wilko Johnson is playing The Wylam Brewery in April and there are quite a few gigs on before then.

I really must apologise for the down nature of this post I promise to put a smile on my face and do something positive this week and will leave you with Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner" just cos it's brilliant , and music is always uplifting and this makes me feel better.

Everybody Must Get Stoned - #ALifeInNumbers #35

Well today started out full of hope and tonight I feel totally crushed. While I was aware that the new opener for The Walking Dead was brutal, I still wasn't prepared for it . Then that was followed by Preston not putting up much resistance to Newcastle in a six nil defeat at St James' Park. Any Newcastle player's weekly wage is probably close to the value of the whole Preston squad but today was a particularly bad night at the office, not helped by a numpty screeching "send him off" at every Preston challenge and then "you're getting sacked in the morning" , though tomorrow is probably the repayment day on his Wonga loan.

Anyway  the song has to be Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" , with it's refrain of "Everybody Must Get Stoned" . Dylan used to be difficult to track down on Youtube but I found a copy.

It's time for bed now, so enjoy yourself, for me things can only get better as we have Newcastle at Deepdale on Saturday. This time we will turn up.

Football Makes Me Nervous At Time

Preston play Swindon at Wembley today. This is Preston's tenth attempt to win promotion by the playoffs. The media make a great deal  of this but Sheffield United have tried 8 times and fell at the first hurdle despite putting five past Swindon.

However this time we have a manger who has done it several times before , plus a team that included the best strike force in league one and a midfield that can do the job and the best defence in the division, but Swindon have come as far as us with a young team that includes the Australian David Beckham (Luongo)  and in Williams and Obika they have players who can find the net.

Shoot and Win

Prior to that Newcastle are hoping to stay in the Premiership, it's probable that they will because Hull have to beat Manchester United , although that is by no means an impossibility. I'm just wondering with Sam Allardyce's impending departure from West Ham ,  he could put Newcastle down and end up managing them next season ... now that would be quite amusing.

I bought myself a Sky Sports Day Pass  from NOWTV which means I could watch the Newcastle match , but I have and episode of The Walking Dead to watch.

Today will finish at the Riverside watching Pop Will Eat Itself , so basically that's my day planned out already. Enjoy your Sunday my friends.

Chose the song because my friend Patrick Murphy is a Swindon supporter , so appropriate for today.