a girl walks home alone at night and white lines, plus clubbed to death (lola) and rob dougan

I stayed up last night until the early hours and watched my recording of 'A girl walks home alone at night' an Iranian film from 2014, and was so glad l did, as it was one of the best films l've ever seen.
Bear in mind that l enjoy films which are foreign, slow paced and quirky, subtitled, and unlike other films. Oh, and with a good soundtrack if possible. This film ticked all of the boxes to the degree that l have not deleted it yet, as l will watch it again pretty soon, probably more than once (because that's how sad l am).
One of the best uses of music in a scene was the one below, 'Death' by White Lies, which was not just atmospheric, but really moving, especially if you knew what went on before this scene. I think l may even have got a bit of dust in my eye while watching.



Go check out the film, and put on subtitles to understand the lyrics of the foreign songs to enhance the experience.

On a related note, the atmospheric combination of music and a slow paced scene from above reminded me of another classic by Rob Dougan from the French film, 'Clubbed to Death / Lola (im Technoland)' - 'Furious Angels'. A film l first watched years ago, alone at night and on acid. I absolutely loved it (still do), and l cried like a baby at this scene. Happy days!
Remember kids - don't do drugs.
Compare and contrast.

toodle pip

the handsome family on the simpsons - far from any road and weightless again

Watching a repeat of The Simpsons tonight, and this song came on during an extra segment at the end, after most of the credits had already been shown.
A moody and atmospheric little number by The Handsome Family, 'Far from any road', which was the theme music to the True Detective series. 'Weightless again' used to be my favourite song of theirs, but this has maybe surpassed it.
However, both are great.





toodle pip

the house is more of a mess than usual

Apart from all of the hard work involved in cleaning out the garage, it's the long hours l'm having to put in to sort of some of the stuff from in there. Sadly, that means that the home has been more of a mess than usual for the last few days.

Then again, it's also been great, discovering things l had forgotten about, and luckily, because l am such a sad geek, l had wrapped items up well, so they are mainly in excellent condition.

Hurrah!

 The living room looking clean

Not so clean while trying to sort some of the stuff out

toodle pip

spider alert

A more than usual scary looking spider in the garage. It wasn't very big compared to some of the monsters in there, but l certainly didn't like the look of it.
It has now ceased to be, so panic over.

toodle pip

beer dilema

Since l've had a new garage door fitted, l've been crapping myself (due to fear of spiders) cleaning it out. Thirsty and dusty work, but at least l've discovered some beers left in the spare fridge in there. They do however, have an expiry date that was eight years ago.
Mmmmmmmmm...shall l risk it?

toodle pip

apparently, my brother's not in leeds any more

Bloody Hell!!  I thought my brother lived in Leeds, but apparently l'm wrong, as Robert here seems to be the real deal.

It's like looking in  a mirror, with or without glasses.

Scary! 

toodle pip

a monster in paris (un monstre a paris) - sean lennon and vanessa paradis

I finally got round to watching the 'A Monster in Paris' animation film the other day, and loved this song by the giant flea ( Francoeur). The lyrics appealed to me the most, to the extent that l checked in the end credits to see who it was by, with the intention of downloading it.
As a  massive (in more ways than one) Beatles fan, you could have knocked me down with a feather (Clever Trevor) when l discovered it was by Sean Lennon, son of John.
Anyone who knows me will now be aware that l will have to dig out all of Sean's solo stuff that l have listened to briefly in the past and then stashed away, in case there are other undiscovered gems to be found.
It's a hard life being interested in everything (and time consuming).

Here's the song with lyrics



And here's the animation version



Also, Vanessa Paradis (as Lucille in the film) sings a pretty fine version of La Seine.
Here's the slow French version, which l, being a cool and trendy dude, prefer.



au revoir / toodle pip

donald trump and manchester united - plus gillan

Donald Trump.
He may be a privileged, monied, thinks he knows it all twat who gleans his knowledge of world events by watching crappy USA news feeds, talks of being an isolationist while bombing other countries, and may well increase the prospect of nuclear war and a return to Mutually Assured Destruction, but since he has been president, Manchester United have not lost in the league (Premiership to you modern hipsters), beating Chelsea 2-0 this afternoon.
So maybe his reign of bluff, blunder, backtracking and buffoonery may be worth it.
Swings and roundabouts brothers and sisters.



From where I stand
I see a blind man on a hill
From where I stand
I see the teacher in the valley
From where I stand
I see the blind man on a hill
And he is standing very still
The way it's planned
They'll only let the fools survive
The way it's planned
You would not want to stay alive
Just one big band
It's all they're leaving you to think about
From where I stand
I know just what they're planning
I know they're planning one big bang
And they call it Mutually Assured Destruction
From where I stand
I can see the mushrooms in the sky
From where I stand
I can watch the bleeding children cry
And they will die
And you have no wings to fly
From where I stand
I see the man on the hill
And he is standing very still

toodle pip

marc aspland aintree photograph

It's taken me just over a week to get over not winning anything on the Grand National last weekend, but on a related note, here's a rather impressive Aintree photograph by Marc Aspland, at Beecher's Brook in the Foxhunters (whatever that is).
It's all about the focus and timing, something l will never achieve with my crappy camera.

toodle pip

ricky gervais helping the nearly dead at easter (squirrel style)

Easter. The the time of the dead being resurrected, a tall tale l don't believe.
Instead, here's a feel good story along similar lines.
Ricky Gervais has posted some pictures of an injured squirrel, which he found and tended to, feeding it strawberries and nuts. The squirrel then decided he had made a friend, and nestled up in Ricky's hoodie. All on Easter Sunday. The feel good photos are below.
Now that's what l call a twitter feed (Boom Boom).

toodle pip

stephen collins' ed sheeran cartoon

From The Guardian.
Rather sadly, l can relate to this waaaaaay too much. And l used to be so hip.
Ah well - Time for my Ovaltine and off to bed to listen to The Cure (early years).

toodle pip

a tiny donald trump

Want to see photo mockups of a tiny Donald Trump?
Here we go!
More can be found here (Where l got these ones from)

toodle pip

nan and pauline are missing

Brilliant!
From here

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german children are kinder than you

An excellent tweet by Mr Stanley

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a happy, windswept dog

I don't usually post pictures of cute animals, but l couldn't resist this one.

toodle pip

spiders - avoid australia!

Some very sensible reasons why nobody in their right mind would go and visit Australia.

toodle pip

sasha and john hartson, plus john and nobby stiles

Two scary looking fellows you don't want to meet in a dark alley late at night.
It's Sasha, one of my mates who l've played football with on numerous times over the years, with John Hartson, after last weeks 'Gentlemans Evening' at Catterick / Colburn's 'Hanson Sport and Social Club' (or, as we still call it, 'The Arc'). A splendid evening for all, which also featured Nobby Stiles' son (John) in his role as compere and stand up comedian, and who was much, much better than l was expecting, although, as he said himself, nobody remembers him playing for Leeds United, it's always as Nobby's son.
Mind you, Nobby did play for Manchester United and England, and is one of the few English players to have won both the European Cup (in 1968) and World Cup (in 1966).
Sadly, Nobby has had dementia and very poor health for a while, as aging and illnesses are bastards, but l hope he and his family are not suffering.
Here's John and Nobby

And here's Nobby at a charity match in 1968, pre owning the 'Spud' look that was later used in Trainspotting. He may not look it from the photograph, but he was one mean, hard player.

toodle pip

london - fulham broadway 1977 - and the clash

Fulham Broadway in that London, 1977. When life was grim, violent, apparently devoid of good taste in clothes, but without traffic congestion.
Luckily, punk had kicked off.
Here's The Clash's take on it.
Altogether now - "No Elvis Beatles or The Rolling Stones, in 1977".



toodle pip

alan aldridge has died

It has just come to my attention via the Afterword site that Alan Aldridge has died.
Bugger.
For those of you that don't know, he was a much in demand illustrator, and has had his work featured on many books and records, probably the best known of which are for Elton John and The Beatles.
Here's a selection of his work that l currently own, in fact the Bob Dylan poster is framed, at the top of my stairs.
Aldridge also did a load of science fiction covers for Penguin books back in the day, that l used to have, but have since gone walkabouts.
I may have to start collecting them in the future, to go with the rest of my crap, as they just look so good.

And here's Alan Aldridge himself, supporting the Labour party in 1970, with a tiny Edward Heath in the palm of his hand (from Getty Images).

toodle pip

little mix - touch (without the music)

Normally, the thought of listening to Little Mix at all would fill me with dread, let alone just the vocals without the music.
This however, is superb.



toodle pip

lookers have got competition!

I had to take in a car for an MOT in Northallerton, at Lookers VW garage. I didn't notice it when going in, but on leaving the building to pick up the vehicle, spotted the sign from the adjacent Snigwig garage, opposite the main entrance to Lookers, and had to admire their cheek (and take a picture).
Top advertising, and although it must annoy Lookers, l assume they can't have it removed, or they would have done so.
It certainly made me chuckle thinking about it on the journey back home.

toodle pip