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.

TV IS KING!

Well it is and it isnt. I'm old enough to remember only two channels, being really annoyed when Kennedy got shot because ITV took all their programs off and just had some woman playing piano and I missed my weekly episode of Bonanza. I saw the transition from black and white to colour, the moon landings and England winning the World Cup..

I remember getting BBC2 and that was a 50% increase in available TV , then we got Channel 4 and Brookside and Channel 5 was a relatively recent terrestrial addition , plus there was the proliferation of satellite , Sky's money managing to make and sterilize football in one fell swoop.

When we had limited channels , audiences could be huge , but people complained like hell about repeats. We now have digital channels that are completely repeats. People complain about the TV License but happily shell out five times as much for subscription TV that STILL is full of advertisements.

The switch to digital came and gave most people loads of effectively free content funded by adverts. Plus these days we can have catch up TV and recording boxes that allow you to skip adverts, enabling you to watch what you want when you want.

It's very seldom these days that you need to get home for a TV program unless it's a televised live event, but we now probably watch more TV than ever before. It#s ubiquitous. We have TV on Mobile devices and there's a TV screen visible wherever you sit at work.

TV IS KING!

And my point is people still say "There's nothing on television" , apart from the off switch you have all the options above. My TIVO box is 90% full and Netflix and Amazon Prime don't even touch my radar. There are times when you channel hopand cant find anything you want but there are so many catch up and record options you should always be able to find something.

And if not, why not read a book or call a friend , that's even better than TV!

Though the Tubes song was appropriate as it gave the  post it's title.

Just An Excuse to Be Happy!

I've had a fairly quiet weekend, watched some TV and read the papers, quite impressed at the coverage that the sad passing of Sir Tom Finney got in the media. Anyway it's the end of the weekend now and another week awaits. I can't say I'm looking forward to going to work but I am looking forward to having a good crack with all the good friends I have made there. I also know that I actually have a lot of good things going for me.

A quote from watching Channel 4's Babylon (which I enjoyed) . "I love going to work, It's the eight hour wait to go home that I can't stand!".

Today we had blue skies and sunshine, though it has been very cold without actually freezing. It's still February so I suppose still technically winter, but the sunshine is on it's way back and spring is coming.

I've been listening to some British Sea Power today, their latest album "From The Sea To The Land Beyond" which is wonderfully atmospheric. But I really must get recording and writing again which I keep promising to do.

There was a phone call last night for a plastic surgery appointment which I've had to cancel, but may be rescheduled in  May although I think it's linked to the specialist appointment I have in August about the damaged nerves, but we shall see soon.

I finally heard Pharrel's Happy today, and was shocked how insipid it is. The Carpenters and Rolling Stones both have songs called Happy that are actually joyful.....now which one should I choose.

Anyway I am going to make the most of what is left of the weekend, I hope you do too. Have a good one.