Sometimes I'm Suddenly Awake

It's half an hour after midnight and I'm wide awake. I don't know why. I just am. I really wish I could feel like this on a work morning, but on those days i could well easily turn over and go back to to bed. It is quite amazing how clear headed and awake I feel.

I keep thinking of reading a book or watching some TV or listening to music but that might disturb the neighbours. So instead I'm just going to write another blog post.

Now Then Now Then

This week has been good and I'm looking forward to next week, barring an unnecessary trip to London when I have some extremely interesting stuff going on at work, though I will be able to cope, and looking forward to seeing the grammatically challenged The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing at Think Tank on Friday with a few friends, a great venue where I've already seen a few gigs.
Their name is a reference to the chalked graffiti discovered above a section of blood-stained apron thought to have been discarded by Jack the Ripper as he fled the scene of Catherine Eddowes' murder. I nicked this information from the Wikipedia page although Fiona had pointed out the Jack The Ripper connection.

So obviously I've taken a band video for this with a picture of them to peruse at your leisure. Right I will now try and go to bed , who knows , if I sleep on the edge I may soon drop off ......

One Misty Moisty Morning

Well woke up today to a grey day and and Steeleye Span song which was one of my mum's favourites, though I think I introduced her to this version.
at 1 pm it's still grey , moist and cold. Not the most inspiring weather and a day to be wrapped up and warp inside. The

Today has been quite manic, firstly I had to do some major coding changes on the website as Amazon have changed their tracking method, at least they actually tell you unlike Play.com and Emusic who just stopped their tracking years ago.  That took me a coule of hours and got me thinking about mortality and the fact that as you get older time seems to go faster. As a kid when you were six you got six weeks holiday in the summer and that was like forever. It was like 1/52 of your life  so far. To do the equivalent summer holiday now I'd need more than a year off. It doesn't really pay you to pay too much attention to these sort of statistics, though I suppose I am a little fore resentful of things that take away my leisure and enjoyment time such as work, although actually I do enjoy my work as well, despite some exasperating situations that do crop up.

The French Oven

After that I nipped into the Grainger Market for some fruit and veg and I nearly came out because of the queues at the stalls and the sheer volume of people in there. It was wonderful to see people at The French Oven and all the cafe's with barely a seat free. I didn't bother venturing into the town center as, no doubt , it will be full of Christmas shoppers, despite the fact that it's still six weeks before Christmas. My dad's Christmas strategy usually consists of complaining that there is nowhere open at 8pm  on Christmas Eve.

So I am now back home, and I've cleaned out the wood burning stove and made up a fire , though not yet lit it, it's had one run out this week and it does warm the room very well. So I'm all set up to have another excellent weekend and hope you are too. Have a good one.

Sharing is Wonderful

While it's good to have things and be able to do things it's no use at all if you;re the only one who benefits from those things. The problem is with modern society is that the emphasis is on accumulation and possession to the point where it's not enough for you to succeed but others have to fail. The has resulted in a plethora of TV programs which often promote non intellectuality as a desireable trait. You all know what I 'm talking about and hopefully you hold the same disdain for such things as I do.

Just Smile

Today I shared a lovely lunch with Fiona , Juliet, Kirsty and Mark at Dat Bar in Newcastle and it was an absolutely wonderful couple of hours, and the food was good too. I could have gone there on my own five times but it would not have been anywhere near as enjoyable. The food was wonderful and the conversion about everything from Mark's Nokia phone to TV programs , why Juliet and Kirsty didn't like Gotham and Fiona's handbag expertise meant that every second was totally enjoyable and is another thing that I can look back on with enjoyment.




Too many times we put things off for one reason or another, and sometimes weeks turn to months turn to years turn to never, so you should never put off things like this more than once as they can be so rewarding for everyone involved. There were lots of smiles and laughs today and that's the way things should be when it's practicable to be so. It should essentially be the norm in life.

So I know the weekend is nearly over, but do something enjoyable and share it with someone , and have a lot of fun doing it. Put a smile on everyone's faces.

Remembrance Sunday Is Not A Photo Opportunity

One of Rebecca's Beatifully Poignant Paintings

It's Remembrance Sunday , and I really want to be positive on this blog, but this day should be a solemn remembrance of people who gave their lives to defend their homeland. However all I see is cynical manipulation and photo opportunities by politicians celebrities and corporations who would happily send decent men and women to their deaths , to swell their bank balances.

It makes me sick the idiots in the current government who glorify war while making sure that they are in no danger and ensuring that their war bonds and arms shares are paying handsome dividends.

It makes me angry every time I see a Help For Heroes plea for donations, not that I have anything against Help For Heroes , they are a selfless caring organisation dealing with the fallout from a government and their corporate cronies who sent men to defend their selfish interests then washed their hands of them leaving Help For Heroes to pick up the pieces. Click through on the Help For Heroes link and provide some help , also write to your local MP and ask why THEY aren't  looking after war heroes and casualties.
 

Paths of Glory

The problem is that since 1914 nothing has changed , the government and corporation still see us as expendable cannon fodder. Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory is still a brilliant damning indictment of the system endemic in almost all modern society. We really do have a long way to go before this changes.

They even have a song The Green Fields Of France (No Man's Land) by Joss Stone and Jeff Beck which you can buy here and raise money to help the returned war injured , but it's better to listen to the uncensored version which is truly anti war written and performed by Eric Bogle (who also wrote "The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda").


Anyway  , sorry if this post has been a bit of a downer, just remember how horrific war is , most of us don't have a clue, like the people who actually cause wars. Remember in silence and don't glamourise war and do what you can to support those who return , and do all you can to make sure we don't have to fight over oil and money.

Frozen

Woke up this morning and it's cold. Clear cloudless night meant that the temperatures seem to have plummeted but surprisingly I don't see any ice on the cars outside. The guy on the radio has told be to expect zero temperatures (which I assume is centigrade).

Also the radio has just played "Default" by Django Django  which is a fantastic record and made me realise how much great stuff you hear and then semi forget about. It's one of the things I love have about having a big record collection combined with an eclectic taste and when you add to that things like Radio 6 and the internet options you have no excuse for not listening to good music.

Who's Next?

Original I was going to have Frozen by Madonna, but have now decided to go with "Swamp Thing" by The Grid as  Chris Hawkins just played it on the radio introducing the concept of "air banjo" which must bring a smile to everyone's face. Incidentally The Grid was a concept used by Pete Townshend in his abandoned Lifehouse Project which became Who's Next.

Anyway have a brilliant day , I'm off to work.

Gunpowder and Treason and Fireworks

Well it's Guy Fawke's Night and the fireworks have been going on for weeks. It's ironic the the government are the biggest bunch of self serving crooks you could imagine and the supposed opposition are not much better. So if I were to go on about this, then this would be a very depressing and negative post.

The thing is while the banging of the fireworks can be annoying , the colours and designs can be amazing and it means I can use a brilliant video set to to Fireworks from the Blue Oyster Cult's Spectres.

So really this is just a nothing much post in the middle of the week as the weather gets colder, but we've had excellent weather this year and it's been rather good. So enjoy the fireworks , have a good night and remember we're half way through this week. Have a brilliant night.

Halloween is Gone.November is Here and a Tenuous Link between The Toon and Nick Cave

Janus Looking Forward and Back

Well it's the ninth month (of the Roman calendar) and one of those where they'd run out of gods and politicians to name them after (it's been like that since September and will stay the same til the new year when Janus hit's us). The good news is it's Saturday and though it's five am I've had a decent night's sleep despite another early night.

Last night we had a few trick or treaters which were all young kids accompanied by their parents which was nice with on young witch deciding she wanted a tour of the house. They were all well costumed and very well behaved.




Although I find the initial concept of Halloween great fun , it's essentially adult and there's nothing cute about it.  While dressing up as a vampire or zombie can be great fun I wouldn't want to be one or live in a world populated by such creatures.

A friends of mine asked why women had to make their Halloween Costumes sexy , well all I would say is that it's personal choice, and you can still have a great costume without displaying any flesh, but the main thing is to have fun. There's a local Goth Night called the Charnel House and they published some pictures which I used for a slide show of one of the Spoon recordings from a long time ago which I have included as the video for this post , and it contains a lot of different costumes , but more to the point a lot of people having fun and enjoying themselves.



Added to that Newcastle fans are on a high after dumping Manchester City out of the League Cup . City did put out their second string , but their second string was still multi million pound buy internationals , Newcastle put out their second string with a lot of names I hadn't heard of. A Very impressive win. I've just realised I need to include two more videos because of this ( the match and The ShireHorses Nick Cave misappropriation)




Anyway, it's Saturday, I'm going to have a major rest because my body feels like it's been beaten with big sticks , so I think I'll be lounging on the settee watching catch up TV, and still enjoying the weekend. Take a leaf out of the Charnel House crowd's book and have a brilliant weekend everybody.