einstein and little albert

There are a few wacky photographs of Einstein floating around, and some have been mass produced on posters or t shirts (like the ones below).  I like the one above though, taken in 1931, as it has the great man himself, playing with a dummy of little Albert.  I don't know who dressed or made the dummy, or where it is nowadays, but it looks like it is wearing a skirt.  Maybe Einstein is trying to drop us all a hint he was a cross dresser.  Then again - maybe not.

toodle pip

take shelter (2011) - jeff nichols

I kind of enjoyed 'Take Shelter', but strangely, never felt that moved or involved with the characters, and didn't feel a lot of empathy towards them, but l couldn't say it was due to bad acting. Maybe it was the pace of the movie, or the script itself.  As l said, l can't really put my finger on why l felt unmoved, as it all appeared to be fine, but there was (to me) a lack of tension, and at the films end, l just kind of shrugged and got on with my day.
It stars Michael Shannon (the God fearing police officer in Boardwalk Empire) as Curtis LaForche, a husband who starts to have terrifying  apocalyptic visions, which make him prepare a shelter so he can save his family.  On the other hand, his mother had mental problems, and maybe it's the case that he is having them as well, and his wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and Hannah (his deaf daughter) need to be protected from him.  His family and friends doubt him, he acts crazy and he loses his job, but one day, the sirens start to wail, so the family head to the shelter to 'Take Shelter'.  Has he been proved right?  Is he a hero?  Watch and find out.

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the home made skeleton

As l have a lot of time on my hands, l had a go at making a paper skeleton (as you do).  I gave up halfway through, as it was looking nothing like the one in the black background photograph that l was striving towards, and l felt like smashing its grinning little face in.  No wonder l have never had the patience to learn guitar.  If you want to download the template and have a go yourself, head over to digitprop.com..

toodle pip

l'm ahead of my time with handy hints

I've always known l was an ideas man who is ahead of my time! On a website with handy hints for the home (OK, l have too much time on my hands), l saw these.  Things l am already doing, although l use a vodka bottle for my pancake mixture (it's more rock and roll).  The FPO thinks l'm a sad git, but sites like this confirm that l have been right all along!  Methinks it's time for a re-appraisal in our household.

toodle pip

hitler learns about jimmy savile

Is there no end to the ways the Hitler clip can be used?  Great stuff.

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wilbur wants to kill himself and circle of eight

Two films that l tried to watch today, but gave up on.  Wilbur is trying to kill himself, but his brother keeps saving him.  He then meets a girl in the bookshop they own, and.... by then l couldn't care less, and wished he had managed an early death, to put us both out of our misery. Based in Scotland, the characters aren't likeable or interesting, and it just stank of dreariness.

As for Circle of Eight, a woman moves into an 'artistic' apartment, which is inhabited by weird, wacky, cool and sexy inhabitants, who soon make themselves known to her.  She hooks up with one of them, but then strange things start to happen.....The consequences of which, l have no idea, as non of it was convincing, most of the characters were two dimensional and annoying, and l was hoping they would all be killed by the end, but there was no way l was going to stick around for another hour to find out if they would make my wish come true.  I did switch over with my fingers crossed, just in case, and full of hope.

Who commissions, makes, and knocks out this crap?  Haven't they got eyes, ears or a brain?
Bastards!

toodle pip

hell bent for leather - seb hunter

I picked up 'Hell Bent For Leather' in the local Oxfam shop last saturday, and it was an enjoyable enough read, as a lot of the bands that are referenced in the book, l know from when l was into Metal/Rock (a lot more than l am now).  This is the story of Seb(astian) Hunter, who discovers music (AC/DC) and guitars, plays in bands around Winchester, and then leaves for the bright lights of London to make it big, and have all of his rock and roll dreams come true. It doesn't happen of course, and he eventually becomes an author, but along his individual path of knowledge there are treaties on guitars, band logos, metal bands and how to look cool while playing in metal bands.  That is, until Glam Rock (the 1980's version) comes along and he is swept up with the Dogs D'Amour look and attitude, until Nirvana and Indie come along to kill the scene and force him to reconsider his musical outlook.  I don't agree with some of his views on bands (Deep Purple and Status Quo used to be great in my eyes), but l enjoyed most of the book, as it was pretty self deprecating, and mostly spot on.  Memories of staying in squats, bumming about, and drinking in 'The Intrepid Fox' (when it was in Soho) and 'The Hellfire Club' were stirred, as l used to go to them myself, and many a mad night was had in them (Oh Yes!).  There was no mention of 'The Spice Of Life', which was also pretty popular around the time frame he is referencing, but l'll forgive him that.  For those of us that were in bands, wearing hats and bangles, dreaming of stardom, and loving Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Rolling Stones etc, parts of this rang way too true and close to the bone. I even met the FPO when l was into Hanoi Rocks and wearing a hat with a scarf around it. The only trouble now, is she can still fit into my old tour t shirts.  My father was also a sarcastic alcoholic (now dead), but in the school of hard knocks l inhabited, there were no guitars or pianos around the house, no trips to buy guitars, and certainly no rides to concerts or offers to manage the band. Despite all of this, it was purely my lack of talent that prevented me being a star, no matter where l came from. Still, better to try and fail than not bother and regret it later (he says bitterly).

toodle pip

jimmy savile's flat up for sale

It looks as though Jimmy Savile's penthouse flat overlooking Roundhay Park in Leeds is up for sale.  A snip at £325,000, although it needs some work doing to it, and l bet there will be a few stains that will be hard to shift.  If you are interested in seeing more photographs of it (or making an offer), go here.

toodle pip

the rained off football game

I switched on the TV last night to catch the end of the Poland v England game, only to find it had been postponed because of a waterlogged pitch in Warsaw.
Now l may well be an idiot, and there might be an easy explanation for this, but why didn't they close the roof of the stadium if they were expecting so much rain?  Otherwise, what's the point?
You know who l blame?  The foreign betting syndicates for it not closing, and God himself for the downpour.  Maybe he just didn't fancy England's chances on the night (It's been re-arranged for this afternoon).
Maybe it's true.  God is an Englishman (or doesn't like football)!

toodle pip

the endeavour space shuttle transfer

This must have been pretty amazing to see, with a side order of surreal thrown in for good measure.  The Space Shuttle Endeavour has completed it's last flight, so has been moved from LAX (Los Angeles) Airport to it's new home at the Californian Science Centre in Exposition Park.  Along the route, it had to travel very, very  slowly, as it could only just fit past some of the houses and trees, and overhead wires and some signs had to be dismantled.  It's something you don't get to see on an everyday occurrence, that's for sure.
The photographs are from The LA Times and more details of the day by day transportation can also be found on their page.

toodle pip

starbucks pays no tax

This is the sort of stuff that pisses me off when we are 'All in it together'.  I get sick of going on about how the Tories look after the rich, but there's more about the Starbucks tax avoidance at Channel 4 news here.  Boycott them and their stinking overpriced cups of froth (and eat the rich). 'All in it together' my arse.

toodle pip

cowboys and aliens (2011) - jon favreau

Cowboys? And Aliens?  In the same film, and with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig?

Bring it on!  Much better than l expected (which wasn't a lot).  Based on the graphic novel.

toodle pip.

gandhi (1982) - richard attenborough

Based on facts (but embellished a bit), Gandhi features a superb performance by Ben Kingsley as the titular hero, who preaches non violence as he gains independence for India from us nasty English. There's strikes, fights, shootings, boycotts and rebellion, as the English try to deal with actions they have no real defence against. The scenery was stunning and the filming of the funeral (Gandhi dies) looked amazing.  The film rightly gained a lot of praise (and honours) upon it's release (I am way behind the times), and rightly so, it's an epic all right, but in the good sense, not a sprawling mess that is too long and boring, like others l have suffered over the years.  Kingsley makes you believe you could easily kick the crap out of him in this, yet in 'Sexy Beast' he is frighteningly manic and unpredictable.  The sign of an outstanding actor.

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the daily mail, hypocrisy, and the stars

The Daily Mail is having a go at John Peel at the moment because he had sex with (and allegedly got pregnant), a 15 year old girl.  Peel has been open about his sexual exploits in the past, and this is nothing new. However, the implicit fact in the story is that she was only 15, under age, and should not be treated as a sex object.  But what is the other story in the same paper?  Only photographs and a statement about how fit Chloe Moretz, another 15 year old is looking.  Talk about double standards and hypocrisy.  On a similar note, Jimmy Savile is getting a (probably well deserved)  kicking at the moment due to all the allegations against him.  Non of these have been proven yet, and a lot of what l have read is hearsay, and therefore couldn't be acted upon at the time.  I wouldn't trust Savile any further than l could throw him, but l also don't believe everyone that has come forward is telling the truth, and some of the 'revelations' are just scraping the barrel   He is an easy target because he was odd and is dead, but while stars are living, it seems to be the 'strange' ones the press go for, such as Jonathan King or Gary Glitter (or in the Mail's case, BBC institutions like Peel).  What about other stars that have pretty damning evidence against them?  I'm not just thinking of Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones, or Elvis Presley and his courting habits, but of rock gods such as Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, who targeted Lori Maddox when she was a child model, arranged to meet her, and started a relationship with her.  All of this while he was an international star, and Maddox was 13, possibly 14. Targeting and taking advantage?  I certainly think so.  Is it all over the papers?  Is it fuck.  There will be plenty more stars who have skeletons in their closets, and this is sometimes used as the defence of 'not everybody can be prosecuted', but some cases certainly stand out from the rest, and nothing is done, because they are 'liked,' 'cool' or 'respected'. Then you also get other stars wanting to defend them and work with them, such as with Roman Polanski, or they have some kind of power, and everyone turns a blind eye, as it seems to be with the Savile case, or the recent Penn State University one. The papers should stop chasing after the strange and dead (such as King, Glitter and Peel) and do something about the living, if they are that bothered, otherwise they can stop pretending they are. What a load of crap, and if crap and dodgy stuff is what you are into, Ed Savitz (now dead) was the man to go and see.  He certainly knew what he liked.

toodle pip

jumping from space

So, Felix Baumgartner managed to do his dive from the edge of space and back to Earth in one piece, and the edited video above shows just how high (just over 24 miles) up he was, and how impressive it looked.  It's a remarkable thing to do, and is unlikely to be beaten, but it also made me think about the astronauts that risked their lives travelling further out into the great unknown.  The most famous ones are the Apollo 11 crew of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, who were the first ones to successfully go to the Moon, land, and then return (although Collins did not go onto the surface).  If you are so inclined, the item below is for sale at RR Auctions.  It is signed by all three Apollo 11 astronauts, and is a snip at just over $1,500 at present.  This is one of the many times when l should be loaded, so l can fill up the house with more junk.  Saying that, if l was stinking rich, l'd have a go at doing the jump myself.  Anyone can jump, it's the landing you have to worry about..

Phew!  I have managed to do the whole piece without going for the obvious 'The Man Who Fell To Earth.'

Damn!

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