Showing posts with label All 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All 4. Show all posts

Tuesday 11 May 2021

The Split

I have decided to stop posting my Vocal writing on SevendaysIn. I will continue posting on both platforms but this will be less focussed that the Vocal posts , and more just to record what is happening and to share music and links to books , and not to be too bothered about how many words I am posting.

This week is mainly not doing anything in Thirsk, and spending time away from work, although I have had a nice Whatsapp chat with my lovely boss.

The place I am staying is excellent and has a smart TV that is allowing me to watch whatever I want to, so I have re picked up "Better Call Saul". I find it amazing that now you can go on holiday and take the minimum of entertainment with you because ereaders mean you can take books on a device and it's the same with music and films and TV thanks to streaming services such as BBC iPlayer and All4, so I'm not short of anything to watch although I took an age to work out how to get rid of subtitles off iPlayer. You need to pause the program and then the subtitles icon appears on the pause screen.

So I'm not writing for Vocal so I can share the semi appropriate "Holiday Road" from "Nationl Lampoon's Vacation" by the genius Lindsey Buckingham. I call also reign back my posting on here although my Vocal posts may continue on an almost daily basis.

Saturday 15 August 2020

Timefolder - #AnimalAugust #10


I've had an idea for a short story or even a book called "Timefolder" , obviously I can't say any more as the concept is fairly nebulous and cloudy and I do need some time to flesh it out. Whether this will happen or it will just be forgotten about , I don't know , and given my  previous track record it will probably just be left.

We are well into August and today's weather is as grey as ever. I have been trying to set up a subdomain to no effect (ie using the proper channels nothing actually works).

This is a very short insubstantial post and had a few things I wanted to say but like many times before everything has trained from my mind, leaving me with very little to share with you.

The thing is I think my posts average about 250 words and even though I feel there is absolutely nothing in this post this has hit that word count so it's not like my early posts which were about a sentence long, but also I suppose there is a lot of word fluff in this that is waffle to expand the post.

I have finished "The End of The F**king World" this week , which I found rather good if challenging and you do laugh but sometimes feel you shouldn't because of what has happened. You can watch for free on All 4 . I keep getting adverts to subscribe and go advert free , but I am fine if adverts are the price I pay to watch the series.

I actually pay Virgin to watch Sky and Sky carry adverts even though I am paying to watch them anyway.


For #AnimalAugust I've gone for a Christmas record from Alan White and Chris Squire when they were with Yes , "Run With The Fox" , possibly a bit trte but I've always liked it . I'm surprised it doesn't seem to be available for digital download but is on the Yesyears boxed set which is available art a reasonable price through Amazon.

Sunday 9 August 2020

Dreamworks - #AnimalAugust #6


Would this morning from a weird dream sequence. I was in an open plan office with my boss and team and someone started playing loud music but I was on a call . My boss suggested we move to an office (my normal response would be to tell whoever was making the noise to quieten down) , then I wanted a shower but couldn't because there was some guy in the shower bed (that is a bed that you had to sleep in before having a shower) so I couldn't and thought I will have to go home. The dream made no sense at all, although probably influenced by the fact that I listen to a lot of music while I am working from home. One of the things about the dream was to keep on going to get things done which I do normally anyway , but really it's Sunday afternoon , and the dream is almost completely gone from my memory.

This morning I tried to share an article on Facebook , but know I would probably be banned because it would not share the link without the Guardian image. The article is here and the image is not pornographic or offensive but Facebook's algorithms are dodgy to say the least. Her Instagram posts are here. The article's headline is :

"Instagram ‘censorship’ of black model's photo reignites claims of race bias #IwanttoseeNyome outcry after social media platform repeatedly removes pictures of Nyome Nicholas-Williams"

Now if this were a topless white man , nothing would be said.

TV is still providing a lot to watch though I have just finished "The IT Crowd" on All 4 and thought it was great , love the room with all the seventies technology like the 8-Track Sphere and the Sinclair Spectrum and Commodore Pet and the Altair 8000 (wasn't that a planet in "Forbidden Planet" ?

So to keep #AnimalAugust, on track I'm going with  "I Love My Dog" by Yusuf Islam as part of a live "greatest hits medley"  ,  when he originally released it he was Cat Stevens , and his is one of the box sets on my #MusicWhileYouWork list ("On The Road To Find Out") while I am working from home.


Wednesday 13 November 2019

Stille Nacht


Last night, oddly and exceptionally, when I decided in was time for sleep , I thought I don't want anything playing, I just want silence. Normally I have something playing, maybe Brian Eno or some space rock /  Krautrock such as Hawkwind or Tangerine Dream and let myself get lost in the sounds and drift off into the realms of Morpheus.

I know a lot of people who have difficulty sleeping and going to sleep is a bit like riding a bike, if you think about it, you can't do it.

This morning I posted off a CD to Germany and had difficulty writing the letter "ß" as it sort of comes out as a "B" when I write it, but hopefully it will get there.

The "Silent Night" aspect of this post reminded me of two takes on the Christmas Carol by Franz Xaver Gruber one by Can and the other by Sinead O' Connor (from "The Ghosts of Oxford Street" by Malcolm Mclaren, a great album / documentary if you can track it down. My friend Alison just found that it's on All4 here , so watch , learn and enjoy.

I've inclluded both for your enjoyment.



Thursday 20 December 2018

Xeronius


Another made up word, although it may be real. Sometimes Google is a positive. Turns out there are bands, artists , twitter users with that name but no definition, but a name wouldn't have a definition.

I heard some lyrics to a "Christmas" song on 6Music this morning which were essentially:

"I Hate This Time of Year
 It's Dark and it's Cold
And I Feel I'm Getting Old.."

To me that doesn't exactly give me positive vibes, quite the opposite. I don't think it'll be on my Christmas playlist. The song is "Home Alone, Too" by The Staves and can be listened to here (a radio session).

I decided to watch the final episodes of "Electric Dreams" Channel4's series based on Philip K Dicks' short stories, and"The Father Figure" played like and excellent Stephen King story, "Autofac" featured the wonderful Janelle Monae (her "Dirty Computer" is my album of 2018) in a post apocalyptic Amazon scenario which featured, for me, a brilliant twist. I am currently watching "Safe and Sound", with the chilling exchange:

Q: "Have your ever seen a terrorist attack?"
A: "They're on the news feed all the time"

You can see them on all 4 here.

So I think to accompanty this pre Christmas post we got to have more Janelle Monae, haven't we.



Thursday 2 August 2018

Post


Well I'm home after the Liver Biopsy, slightly fragile side and sore shoulders for some reason, but remember the right shoulder being a side effect of the Liver Biopsy.

It's quite amazing that  the rooms now have basic TVs although I was tooled up with my Kindle, my Phone and a Matt Haig book, "How To Stop Time".

So I spent some time reading then binge watched Nathan Barley abd was surprised and the number of name actors in it. Benedict Cumberbatch, Noel Fielding, Ben Whishaw and it's written by Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker and it's thirteen years old and I've only just watched it thanks to All 4,

Again it's been another example of how brilliant and efficient the NHS is despite being under such enormous pressure due to lack of investment.

I also found the 360º Camera app on Facebook on my phone, so that is another plus from today. I now need two days of total rest before slipping back into real life.

Today I was worried I would have my lowest ever step total , but I have hit just over 3K although tomorrow and Saturday will both be very low, then it's a case of trying to catch up.

This morning I was going to share "Hospital" by The Modern Lovers (featuring Jonathan Richman) but that will do for me to sign off tonight. You can hear the Velvet Underground influence in this excellent brooding song, and it's a cool one to sign off with tonight.

Saturday 16 September 2017

Saturday Morning


Just been out for a short ten minute walk to get the papers and it's like a summer's day without the warmth. Nice to walk out but you do need a cout, I think that the T Shirt weather may be over for this year.

My Smart Meter is telling me thatit's already cost me a pound to power the house so far today, which I suppose is a good thing to be aware of. Our house is fairly energy efficient but the biggest cost is gas, we are above average for gas usage but way below average for electricity usage so I assume that makes us averag doesn't it?

Anyway hopefully today I can hit 11.5K steps (this is a bit repetitive I know) and hopefully I can see something interesting and report it to you this afternoon, or tonight.

I've started watching Strike which is actually great fun, and enjoyed episode one of Valkyrien which is available on All 4 but has disappeared from Virgin. My sony blue ray player has a web browser ... but no keyboard option, how good is that. The remote only allows the option of tabbing. That's been well thought out, like so many systems these days, I 'm beginning to think when you get something that really works well it's just a lucky accident.

So before I jog off to do my stuff I will leave you with "Sunshine" by Nazareth for no other reason than it's a very sunny day. Have a good one everybody.