an owl coming in to land (in slow motion)

What's not to like?

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macaque monkey self portrait

This macaque monkey grabbed a camera and took a photo of himself, with hillarious results. Full story is here.

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bloody riots - they've got it easy - try bootle years ago

This is the sort of deprivation l was used to in Bootle when l was a nipper. Tin baths, outside toilets, prating about in the cinema car park and catching pigeons in the back yard, it never did me any harm.

There is a ridiculous article about the riots and the supposed causes here (from the Daily Telegraph), but to show not all Tories have outrageous views, there is a more reasoned one by a Tory here.

My own view is no matter what original grievance the rioters had, they are now just having a laugh, causing destruction, being excited about being on the TV and part of what is going on, and looking upon it as a way to act tough and nick some goodies. Rather sadly, they also wreck their own communities and local stores, rather than heading somewhere like Harrods or Harvey Nichols. Although the news will throw up instances of Teachers assistants or students being arrested, the majority will be poor and working class. I bet there will be no one from Eton/Cambridge/Oxford University caught looting JJB sports or the local mobile phone shop (especially now that the likes of Charlie Gilmore has been dealt with). This is not students and toffs/anarchists protesting about student fees, it's (mostly) young males with hardly any aspirations and very poor role models, such as drug dealers. It does not help that most magazines aimed at youth highlight the 'bling' culture and aspirational consumptionism (watches, mobiles, TV's, trainers, designer clothes etc).

I am reading The Golden Ass by Apuleius at the moment (Ooh - get him!), and during it, he talks about a bandit wanting to recruit lads to join a gang for looting and pillaging. His reasons for them joining are :

"Some might have to be impressed and kept loyal by a sense of fear, some would be attracted by the prospect of loot, and come forward as volunteers, others would be only too pleased to escape a life of drudgery for membership of a company which exerted an almost sovereign power"

I would say nothing much has changed since the Second Century AD when the book was written. That would still be the reasoning behind most lads joining a gang of drug dealers or looters. Power and a sense of worth.

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the usa air force stop the 'jesus loves nukes' training

The USA Air Force have decided to stop their 'Jesus loves Nukes' training. This is the kind of stuff that you just couldn't make up. It's a funny old World out there (if you look hard enough).

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injured boy robbed in the london riots

I hope they catch the gits that did this. It's one thing robbing a shop (yes yes, l know that is wrong as well), but this is pretty damn low.

There's an excellent piece about the riots here.

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shrek forever after (2010)

Shrek Forever After is meant to be the final Shrek film, and l am pleased that they are stopping, as the films are getting progressively worse as they go on. Antonio Banderas as an overweight Puss in Boots was hilarious, but l didn't enjoy a lot of it, and it would be best to remember the films as they were, which was great. I also didn't know anything about Rumplestltskin, although l have since read about him, as l had heard the name before, but was not aware of who he was. Hadn't missed much.

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hedgehog and the bear

I have just been putting the bins out for tomorrow morning, when l saw some movement in the front garden. It turned out to be a hedgehog, which eventually trotted off and went underneath my car for protection. It looked a bit like this beauty (a bean bag bear), but with spikes. The countryside on the doorstep.

the usa - up to date map

terence chang long exposure photographs

These are long exposure shots taken at airports by Terence Chang in San Francisco. Nice.

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the verve - bitter sweet symphony and the stones

After the earlier post regarding the Verve, here's the song they ripped off for Bitter Sweet Symphony (and ended up losing all the royalties to it).

Class songs though.

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the verve and demis roussos

Afer watching the repeats of Top Of The pops 1976 with my FPO saying how much she loved Demis Roussos (because it bought back memories of her of living in Cyprus when she was a kiddy winkle), it reminded me of the similarities of these two songs. I loved The Verve, and Aphrodite's Child were pretty cool, but l really hated the Demis' solo stuff, although it was a lot more successful than his earlier group recordings (people have no taste as far as l am concerned..)

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footie, the new sky box and the pub

I was out and about on Friday and made various promises that l was going to to to a local pub (hello The Arc!) to watch the Charity Shield game.

Obviously I could not be bothered when it came to it, and as l was also setting up a new Sky box in the morning, I was unsure if l could be arsed to appear.

As is took me ages setting up the box, I decided to go and meet everyone at half time (God knows why, l hate leaving the house, everyone's a boring bastard, but.................................................................................. l'm a sociable guy (when it suits me).

When l got there, United were 2-0 down, so it looked pretty bleak, and there was a lot of piss taking by the Liverpool fans.

However... thanks to the glory that is United, they came back to win 3-2, with Nani going round the goalie (Hart) like it was 1968 again (but in the last minute of injury time).

Joy Joy Joy to the World.

Football

Praise the lord.

You are back.

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schrodinger's cat

I want this on a t shirt (to mess with everyone's minds)

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the bloody rain today

a cock and bull story (2006) - michael winterbottom

I watched A Cock and Bull Story again today, as myself and the FPO were going to go to Richmond Live, but is has been pissing down all day (with some really loud thunder) so we couldn't be bothered. She has been upstairs getting addicted to Second Life, so l watched the Paul Scholes testimonial, and then this film again. I actually really like the film and the way both Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play versions of themselves. It is meant to be the filming of Tristram Shandy, so it shows scenes from the book, as well as behind the scenes and the making of it. Very post modern indeed.

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l could have ruled the world (part two)

Another gift l was not bought as a kid, holding back my dreams of World domination.

Damn my parents!

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power planter

What a great idea. A nuclear plant blowing up. Very pleasing to the eye.

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the life of buffalo bill - william cody

I finally finished this yesterday, as I have been trying to finish it since going away with work a few weeks ago. Buffalo Bill is prone to exaggeration, and some of it is repetitive, but what a life he led. They certainly were hard bastards back then, and his tales of Wild Bill Hickok towards the end were excellent.

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jim denevan sand artwork

Jim Denevan is an American chef who creates temporary land art . A lot of work is obviously involved for something that will not last very long. I'm impressed both with the work and his dedication.

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17 year old gets killed by bear

The boy from Eton (Horatio Chapple) got eaten (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14415592) (OK Mauled - cheap joke). Because l am an insensitive working class guy, l obviously have a skewed (not stewed - the bear never got the chance to cook him) opinion on the subject. But...If the spoon fed gentleman (l would normally say tosser, but l have never met him) decides to go into the bears habitat, it's at his own risk. Spare the bear and kill the rich, that's what l say, so justice was served until the bear was made to suffer and die. And........anyone called Horatio was evidently a privileged individual who made an informed decision beforehand and was obviously aware of the risks. Apologies to his family and friends who are naturally suffering, but if rich kids decide to go travelling the world looking for kicks, they also have to take responsibility. If they decide to get too close to the 'Real Word', it is at their own risk, let's try and keep the animals alive.

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the lost weekend (1945) - billy wilder

Based on the Charles R. Jackson book of the same name, but without any mention of Don Birnam's (played by Ray Milland) homosexual experience when he was younger, or thoughts of murder at the end. This tells the story of an alcoholics weekend and his downward spiral. It bugged me, as l kept trying to remember what else l had seen Ray Milland in, until l finally remembered it was Dial M for Murder. Much better acting from Ray Milland than you usually get in most of these old films (in fact he won an Oscar for it), and not the kind of film l would usually have expected from Billy Wilder, as, although l know he did thrillers at the start of his career, l always associate him with Some Like It Hot, which (of course), is class. Now where did l hide my bottle of whisky?

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oldman river viaduct at lethbridge, alberta 1908

This is the erection of the viaduct over the Oldman River at Lethbridge, Alberta, circa 1908.

It's a pretty large erection (fnarr fnarr - ooh my sides - stop it etc).

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the itch and the brain

There is a great article in The New Yorker about a woman who had an itch and scratched it so much that she went through to her brain (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/30/080630fa_fact_gawande).

There is also information about treatment, phantom limbs and sight. Interesting stuff, especially regarding the eyesight and the brains memory.

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bill and ben - the flowerpot men

No wonder l am messed up - The Flower Pot Men was the top entertainment for young Jamie when l was a tiny Scouse nipper. Bill and Ben are my first TV memory, and as far as l am concerned, Peter Hawkins (who voiced them) was a genius, it was great.

I also remember watching Felix the Cat from about the same time, but that does not hold any great memories for me, as even then, l thought it was a bit rubbish. The combination of the two still messed with my tiny developing head, and l have never recovered.

Nurse! The screens! The drugs!

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the adventures of robinson crusoe (1954) - louis bunuel

This was better than l remembered, and apart from the colour being a bit washed out (washed out - get it?), was one of the better olden films that l so enjoy watching. Let's face it, everyone already knows the story. Robinson (Dan O'Herlihy) gets stranded on an Island after a shipwreck, survives, gets scared of neighbouring cannibals, rescues Man Friday, then escapes the Island (after 28 years!), leaving other (baddies) sailors on it. He has to cope with his loneliness and it also deals with attitudes towards slaves (Robinson was on his way to get some more slaves for his plantation when he got stranded) and his relationship with God. Luis Buñuel put in a fantasy sequence when Robinson had a fever and was desperate for water, but apart from that, it was pretty much a straight (condensed) retelling of the book. Takes me back to my childhood in Bootle watching stuff like this, sitting in the cinema at the top of our road for the Saturday morning matinee, although l don't know if that is a good thing or not!

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the bitter tears of petra von kant (1972) - rainer werner fassbinder

Petra (Margit Carstensen ) is a fashion designer who falls in love/wants to possess Karin (Hanna Schygulla), but she (Karin) decides to go back to her husband. Petra is sadistic in her words and actions, especially to her assistant, Marlene (Irm Hermann), who appears to worship Petra. After many arguments and cruelty (and lazing on a sunny afternoon), Petra is left apologetic and swears to be nicer. This is when Marlene decides to leave as she enjoyed her own masochistic side of the relationship. Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and based on his own play, the above makes it sound like there is a lot of sex. There isn't, and there is mostly lots of talking regarding the women's relationships. Exciting eh?

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the invisible man (1933) - james whale

As l remembered from seeing this years ago, the plot could not make up it's mind whether it was a comedy or horror film. James Whale directed, so he certainly has a lot to answer for. It stars Claude Rains as Dr. Jack Griffin, (although you do not see him till the last couple of seconds), who has successfully turned himself invisible, but is also going mad, thanks to the monocane he has used as part of his experiments. He keeps getting interrupted at the inn, (a superb looking place, supposedly situated in Iping, Sussex), while trying to find an antidote, then goes on the rampage, after unsuccessfully trying to recruit his rival in love (for Flora Cranley, daughter of Doctor Cranley) as his partner. The effects are really excellent for the time, a few of them obvious, but some take a bit of working out. The end of the film is rubbish and over too quickly, and Gloria Stuart's over the top histrionics as Flora got on my nerves, but it was still good. Doctor Cranley was played by Henry Travers (from It's A Wonderful Life ), and l would normally say it would have been interesting to see Boris Karloff playing the invisible man, as he was the studios first choice, ( he wanted too much money), but of course, l would not have seen him until the end anyway. The book by H. G. Wells, (The Invisible Man 1897) does not have The Invisible Man going mad, but his exaggerated speeches in the movie about how he could rule the World were a bit of a laugh, but closely followed after the film's release by the real life threats of Adolf Hitler (which were not as funny).

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