random cds from wikipedia

As l am a sad bastard and can occupy my time by pushing the random on Wikipedia to see what comes up, l have recently been alerted to the existence of these albums. I have not heard the music from them, or bothered reading about the artists, l just skipped through quickly to see what came up. As stated earlier though, l am pretty sad, so will probably download some of these in the immediate future to hear what they are like, as my curiosity could not stand it if l didn't.

More of my valuable minutes on this Earth which will be squandered away (or enriched by the experience, l don't know yet). Stone me...what a life.

toodle pip

tonights menu - live sushi, squid and cuttlefish

This looks disgusting and is nearly enough to make me go vegetarian. I am aware that the fish and squid are just moving because of nerve reflexes, and l certainly hope that it is the same for the cuttlefish, but it does not look that way. There are plenty more videos like this out there, but three is certainly enough. Urghh!

toodle pip

the new york heatwave

New York and the east coast of the USA are having a heatwave at the moment, with records matching previous highs (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14252768).

Bastards! What the hell has happened to our summer?

I shall be writing a strong letter of complaint to God in the morning.

toodle pip

the chilean volcano photos

These may be old hat by now as l was sent them by my brother in law a while ago (Hello Dazzer!), but they are pretty spectacular and deserve a viewing. Mother nature at it's best, or maybe it's the old Gaia hypothesis and the Earth is trying to destroy us to protect itself. Bring it on l say, it's about time l was put out of my misery, what with my aching knees, dodgy ticker, delicate back and dented skull. I guess l will never get to play for Manchester United now. Damn and damnation!!!!

toodle pip

marc bolan's mr freedom jacket from 'born to boogie'

This has just been sold for £9,375, and was worn by Marc Bolan in the 'Born to Boogie' film.

One of the benefits for the FPO of me not being loaded, is the fact that l do not fill the house with even more junk/memorabilia/worthless artefacts/bits of history, as l would definitely have wanted this (although l very much doubt that l would have been able to squeeze myself into it).

toodle pip

documentary time - lemmy and dave davies

Caught these two documentaries at the weekend, and enjoyed both of them, although l did think both could have done with being a bit shorter.

Dave Davies came across pretty reasonably, considering how he has had to live in the shadow of his brother Ray all of his life. It was telling how Ray was quoted to Dave that if he had the chance to do it again, he would change everything, whereas Dave said he wouldn't change a thing, as 'There is no such thing as failure, just learning experiences'. Not too sure about his belief in all the spiritual stuff (see http://www.davedavies.com/), but each to their own.

Lemmy was as you would expect, still drinking, smoking, playing one armed bandits, and collecting war memorabilia. He could easily appear to be a sad bastard, but he seems to have settled into a lifestyle he enjoys. I do think, along with Keith Richards (the great man himself), he has morphed into a caricature of himself, dressing in black, wearing the big boots etc, when he never used to be like that in the past. A bit too much of people just praising Lemmy, when they could have been showing more of the back story, but still entertaining for someone like me, who used to go and see Motörhead on a regular basis. The FPO got bored after about an hour or so, but valiantly stuck it out till the end.

Nearly forgot, his home is also messier than ours (unbelievably).

toodle pip

big fat important movie - an american carol (2008)

Bloody hell, if l thought Dinner for Schmucks was bad, this film made it look like Lawrence of Arabia. Leslie Nielsen did some crap films in his time, but this one takes the biscuit. The version l saw was called 'Big Fat Important Movie', but it was also released as 'An American Carol'. They should have called it something else such as 'A Big Fat American Waste Of Time'. I didn't even make the half hour mark without wanting to boot the TV in. How on earth do these films get made? Can't anyone tell they are not funny? How can l get back the precious time l have wasted watching this shit? Answers on a postcard please (usual address).

toodle pip

dinner for schmucks (2010)

This is a remake of the (rather excellent) French film Le Dîner de Cons , but is in no way an equal to it. As usual, the Americans have simplified and over egged it to such a degree that it is not funny. I really like Steve Carell in the American version of The Office but this was just embarrassing, so l only tolerated about half an hour before cursing and heading for the off switch. Thank God l didn't pay to see this at the pictures. Crap.

toodle pip

charlie brooker writes about the norway killings

So, the events in Norway on Friday turn out to be by a Norwegian citizen, rather than by Al Qaeda. What a surprise (see earlier post). Charlie Brooker writes about it a lot more eloquently than l could ever envisage

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/24/charlie-brooker-norway-mass-killings)

and nails it with his assessment of the (so called) experts when he states :

'If anyone reading this runs a news channel, please, don't clog the airwaves with fact-free conjecture unless you're going to replace the word "expert" with "guesser" and the word "speculate" with "guess", so it'll be absolutely clear that when the anchor asks the expert to speculate, they're actually just asking a guesser to guess. Also, choose better guessers. Your guessers were terrible, like toddlers hypothesising how a helicopter works. I don't know anything about international terrorism, but even I outguessed them'.

A voice of reason, backing up my ideas and cynisism, which pleased me no end. Experts! Pah!!

toodle pip

round at louise and dazzers

One of the stinking cats getting comfortable on me

Remains of the curry

Dazzer hard at work (I have a hay fever sick note)

The willow tree

My shadow

Another comfy cat picture

As Louise and Dazzer (and she that shall not be named) moved into their new home on Thursday/Friday, myself and the FPO popped over on Friday night to welcome them to the new abode and prevent them calling round to our place (where the doors are both now kept locked). We were rewarded with a curry for our enevours, so it worked out pretty damn well. Hurrah! Stayed for a while chatting and drinking the finest ale known to man, and even returned for a brief chat yesterday as the parents and Nora also made an appearance (their's not mine, l am a poor orphan). I prefer the new home to the old one in Stockton, and there is a great view of a willow tree from their living room. The home needs some work doing to it, but at least it has character and potential, and they have plenty of time, as, unlike me, they are not old gets. What the???!!.. I am starting to sound like an estate agent! Keith would be ashamed off me, so l will have to overcompensate with booze and drugs for the next couple of days so l can earn back my rock and roll spurs. Chin chin!

toodle pip

roxyrama at the georgian theatre richmond

Off with the FPO to the Georgian Theatre Royal last night to see Roxyrama. who are a tribute band of Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry. They were pretty good, and we had great seats next to the stage, but by the time of the interval, we had seen enough (too many later slow songs) and went for a drink at the Cavern instead, where we chatted to Mark (the owner) for a while. Another lad (Steve) and his wife/girlfriend came in, and it was good to discover that he also collects comics and records, and keeps a little list of the comics he still needs (who in their right mind dosen't?). Back to sunny Catterick afterwards for a quick one in JT's and The Wine bar, then it was back home for some Vodka and coke while we watched Elvis in Vegas (which was pretty rubbish). Another date night ticked off! Hurrah!!

toodle pip

oasis - liam and noel argue cartoon style

This is an old argument recorded during a 1994 interview with John Harris from the NME , after being thrown off a ferry, which was released as a single (Wibbling Rivalry), but it makes it funnier when it is done as a cartoon. Classic stuff.

toodle pip

size of a planet

I am sure l have posted this kind of stuff before, but space and the planets, they are big....very big. People always think we are so important, we have souls, we are special, created by God or whatever, but in the great scheme of things, we are all insignificant in the vastness of time and space. Here are the sizes of the planets in relation to one another. As l said, space...it's big (l would argue infinite).

toodle pip

scarborough flat in a church for sale

This is a Church in Scarborough that has been modernised and is presently for sale. It looks pretty impressive, but l am not sure l would want to be staring at the plate glass window in the top photograph every day. Is that sort of filth allowed in a Church?

toodle pip

the oslo bombing and the news

The bombing and shooting in Oslo has taken everyone buy surprise, but l was annoyed at the news coverage as it was unfolding, as all the commentators (and obviously the editors/producers etc) were trying to do was blame it all on Al Qaeda, without a shred of evidence to support their statements. Reasons for the so called Al Qaeda attack were debated, such as the reprinting of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, the Norwegian troops in Afghanistan etc, but with not one jot of evidence put forward to substantiate the claims by the mouth pieces and (so called) experts. It is conveniently forgotten that some of the past worldwide attacks have been by citizens attacking their own people, such as happened with the Oklahoma City Bombing and the Admiral Duncan pub, so don't be amazed if this turns out to be the same. The News...Pah!! Don't trust anyone and always be cynical. Saying that, l am still amazed at the destruction a car bomb can make.

toodle pip

some new york city photographs

I don't know who took the photos, but as they say, only in America.....

toodle pip

olly moss posters for captain america

Very good indeed. I like the German one the best.

toodle pip

a short history of tractors in ukrainian - marina lewycka

Even more Majorca stuff. Two daughters, one a hard faced capitalist (Vera) and Nadezhda, the narrator of the story (and a bit of a hippie), try to deal with their ageing father, who has decided to marry a young woman (Valentina) with outrageous (like twin warheads) breasts. Throw in some history about war, tractors, and the Ukraine (it's better than it sounds) and it turned out to be a lot more readable than l was expecting.

toodle pip