Random Precision

Yesterday my rando play played three consecutive tracks from the Van Der Graaf album "Present" starting with the opener "Every Bloody Emperor" and finishing with "Nutter Alert", this was followed by a couple of Spirit songs thwn that awful Cream song then two Stone Roses songs. At first I thought it had slipped off random play but as I was walking and I like the album I was OK with it.

A couple of months ago I was talking with Juliet and Kirsty and about how people don't really understand the concept of "random". She had provided a "random" data sample, then the requester came back and said they wanted data from Area "A" , Area "B" , well each area they covered. Kirsty pointed out that that this wouldn't be a random sample if you started applying criteria.

Jordan Ellenberg point to an American Lottery result where the same numbers were selected two draws in a row. In a true random selection 1,2,3,4,5,6 is just as random and likely as any other. Ellenberg points out that the improbable is highly probable. The nature of random is that it may appear ordered, it's not, but our minds always try to order things, and see logical patterns, and we can see logical patterns where the probability is just complete randomness and even chaos (think reading tea leaves and the I-Ching which is basically throwing sticks. You can add divination by cards like Tarot (I do have two Tarot decks but they are just works of art), which again uses randomness to determine fact, which really is not a practical or logical path to go down.

Well we are at Friday , and the real Football season starts today whith Sunderland playing Derby and Nottingham Forest take on Millwall. It looks sunny, but it looked sunny yesterday. I will walk into work today and listen to more random music

Sunshine Smiles and the Lost Welsh Martial Art of Llap Goch

Llap Goch - Fear No Man

Well I am very hot and sweaty, I bet you really wanted to know that. This morning I have cut down a leafy bust to fit in te brown bin (I actually cut it last week) , mowed the lawn , put up a shelf that fell off a wall months ago, well I think I have, those rawlplugs weren't working so I hope the no more nails strips will hold, they say up to3Kg each strip but we all know the phrase "up to" includes the number zero. I got that from the Llap Goch Advertisement in Monty Python's Big Red Bok. Click on the image to read the text a lot more easily.

I've also been and bought a rucksack for of shopping and walked about 3 miles, so I have had a fairly productive morning.

I still didn't want to get up though, but the fact I have doe all this and am writing this blog post is a good sign.



The weather is excellent and there have been a lot of greeting and smiles when I was out, the sun and good weather can bring out the best in people.


The football season has started although for some it will feel as if it never ended, teams complain of too many games and once there is space they organise a tour on the other side of the world or some new made up cup competition. Newcastle lost their opening Championship encounter with Fulham leaving the bottom of the division much to the delight of Sunderland fans. I'm obviously more concerned with how Preston fare against Jaap Staam's Reading.

I thought the Smashing Pumpkin's Today was a sort of appropriate song for today.

But whatever you are doing have a wonderful day today , enjoy the sun and I hope everything goes perfectly for you.

Clocks Gone Back #26- 1982 - Blancmange - Living On The Ceiling

Today is the day of the Sunderland vs Newcastle United Derby . Sunderland have won the last 5 and not lost in the last 7 that's like every match this decade almost. This is the only match that seems to matter to Sunderland supports , mainly because they seem to get tonked by everyone else. Can't say Newcastle are that much better , but what do I know , I'm a Preston supporter, and we also have Australia vs Argentina in the Rugby World Cup today which may match the excitement of of yesterdays close match between the All Blacks and South Africa. I wouldn't be surprised by an Argentinean victory as they are well organized and are not there as cannon fodder. The fact they are semi finalists says it all.

Jerome Kaino's second try of the tournament gave New Zealand an early lead

Anyway I've just finished putting all my analog clocks right , and just rememberd I need to do the same for my heating I think. I will check this after I post this.

So my musical Odyssey , I hit year 26 and have chosen the excellent Blancmange - Living On The Ceiling , a brilliant duo who's music has a great cutting edge and they still tour today.

Have a great Sunday everyone , the sun is shining and you did get that extra hour in bed.

A Very Good Start To April .... Record Store Day Is This Month

Hot Chilli

I was going to do a post on Whitby when I got back from a good weekend on Monday but due to my extreme laziness. Whitby is brilliant , I love the place and I managed to restock my Howling Goth Chilli Sauce , visit lots of place , but got the slightly bad news the the Folk Devils shop is closing in a fortnight although they are continuing online which is very good. While I was in there they were playing some Ty Segall who I've heard great reports of , but not got round to buying , so I've now rectified that with a few other additions to the playpile.

That Building

Then yesterday and my Metro to Sunderland was redirected to South Shields requiring me to go there and take a bus to Sunderland. This meant going into places that I 'd not been for years and I noticed a Barclays Bank , which was handy as I needed to drop some stuff off so that was handy . I also noticed and incredible looking red brick building on Fawcett Street. At street level there's a CEX and some furniture shop, but above street level it is very impressive.


 When I went yesterday to the bank and to photograph the build I then noticed a new record shop opposite , Pop Recs.

Outside Pop Recs

Inside Pop Recs

I went in and it's very roomy and an excellent layout with a lot of vinyl , and a few CDs , settees a stage area and a jukebox, reminding of the new Rough Trade store in New York, which hosts live music.





It's run by Frankie and The Heartsrings , and I was chatting with the guy behind the counter who was telling about how they set it up when HMV shut down, and the fact that they'd had The Cribs and The Vaccines playing for free recently. The good thing about the place its that it has the space inside to support a live band. He also told me that the Red Building across the street was owned by Nadine Shah's family and that she was a frequent visitor to the shop. Nadine is a local girl and has produced two stunning albums so that was just an amazing coincidence.

Unfortunately I was in a rush so only had a short visit and didn't buy anything this time, but seriously this one shop is a reason to actually go to Sunderland. The people are friendly and you can also get coffee and a lot more there, another positive is that they obviously care about people and music , you'll know why when you visit.

With National Record Shop Day coming around in a couple of weeks (18th April)  this will be the place to be in Sunderland , you really should go.

So really it's been a great start to the month and the sun is shining , I hope your month goes as well as mine is going to do.

Sometimes It's Too Early

Woke up an 3AM , I haven't a clue why. It's Saturday so I know I can go back to bed if I need to. The wind is howling outside , but it isn't raining., though they say if March Comes In Like A Lion , It Goes Out Like A Lamb , so that may bode well for the end of the month weather wise. The best thing is , is that it is the weekend.

From The Back

This week I have been listening to some great music, and am fascinated by the picture of the simple mirrored arch I took in Sunderland this week , just love the disconcerting affect it has. When I look at it from the front , because of the very blue sky I don't see it at first and really have to look before I do see it. Looking from the back it is obvious but from the front , in the photograph it hides in plain sight.

When I took the picture I could obviously see it, which is why I took the picture, but then when I looked at it on my phone I couldn't actually see the thing immediately. It reminds me a bit of the effect of Anthony Gormley's "Domain Field"  which when you look at a photograph or from a distance you don't immediately see the figures.

From The Front

 Maybe it's my eyes and age but would be interested in your opinion. The Domain Field figures are below from an exhibition in the Baltic a few years back. Anyway I might go and grab a few hours sleep, so you all have a brilliant weekend. For a change there's no music on this one but hope you like the pictures

Domain Field With People

Domain Field Figures

THe Dangers of Decent Music Ring Tones

Sunderland

It's 2am on the Saturday before Christmas, and I'm still suffering from the current UK novovirus, but after going to bed at seven , woke up at eleven, managed to do most of my online Christmas Card sending from Moonpig , plus a few Christmas Presents which means that tomorrow will be a little less physically stressful. Sunday will not be a good idea for a shopping perambulation as it's the Newcastle vs Sunderland derby, so Sunday will be stay at home.

Anyway I'd been meaning to write this post for a while , but due to being laid low, have not really been up to writing it, but here goes. I like many other people assign favourite songs as ringtones for friends and colleagues. One of the benefits of this is that you immediately know who is trying to contact you and you can answer or ignore as is your predilection:



Here's a few that I have set up:

• Dad - Sabre Dance
• Fiona - Game Of Thrones
• Juliet - Bat Out Of Hell
• Kirsty - Hysteria
• Nick B - April Skies
• Carol H - Carol
• Lee - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
• Andy - Oh Yeah
• Sue - We Care A Lot
• Chris - Arnold Layne

You can click through to listen to the samples if you so desire, but all of these are excellent pieces of music, not sure why I chose Andy's but he's got it anyway. So the thing is if someone rings you when you're in work or out and about , that's absolutely fine and it serves it's purpose, but and here's the punch.......

...when I work from home I usually have Radio 6 or a CD on, which generally means good music while I work, but when one of these people call I just think it's the Radio, so a couple of weeks back Sue was wondering why I was out of breath as a suddenly sprinted across the room realising Faith No More were coming from my phone and not my radio. Earlier in the week it was the Smiths.

So something to be aware of if you have music ring tones and work from home while listening to music.

Right I'm now going to listen to some classical music music and hopefully drop off into a deep sleep.

Four Seasons In One Day

Well that's what I've seen to day , lovely blue skies and sunshine the winds and rain as the golden leaves fall from the trees , it's certainly not dull and makes you glad to be alive and experience it. The Sunderland vs Newcastle derby is going on as we speak so there will probably be some disapointed fans in an hours time, I keep telling them it's just a game!

Anyway my weight is coming down slowly so quite pleased about that, and after this I need to go out and post off a CD for a friend, before settling down to write some more of my book , which is progressing as expected.

I chose the title of the post after the rather excellent Crowded House song , one of the many brilliant antipodean bands that have surfaced over the years. I saw them as Split Enz when they still wore their amazing make up and costumes sometime in the 1970s.

Anyway I can't keep blogging, books to write , CDs to post , Catch up TV to watch and coffee to drink, but it's all part of the rich tapestry of life that makes it worth hgetting out of bed every morning and just doing things. Enjoty the rest of the weekend , listen to your music and give a friend friend a big hug, they might not expect it and you both might enjoy it. Have a great day.

...but I'm Feeling Good

.. rather physically better than I have for a long, long time. If something is working then you tend to do more of it , even if it may not seem logical or you don't actually know why it's really working. Still I haven't noticed that I've lost any weight but three sets of scales say I have , so I'm going to try and keep doing what I've been doing in the hope that I can get weight down a lot further.

I've made efforts in the past and read articles that diet drinks can actually cause you to put weight on because they mess with your metabolism , but the six teaspoonfuls of sugar in your average full fat Coca Cola can't do you any good either.  The guy at the hospital says if I lose too much weight I'll be pulled from the trial for the fatty liver treatment , but if I'm losing weight I'm not going to stop for the sake of a trial , they can find something else, just hope it's not the tablets that are causing the weight loss.

I think it's something else that is helping me with the weight loss though , which will sound too mental to be true , but I'm going to keep on with it. Anyway basically despite the odd cloud on todays horizon , I feel good and we had victories for Preston , Newcastle and Crystal Palace which also means Sunderland are still without a win in the League so good times are coming ..

4.45 ... The Deluge Is Here

An Exception at The Tynemouth Volkswagen Rally

Just been woken up by a noise that was actually the promised rain coming down. Plans for mowing the lawn , making newspaper logs and maybe even going out for the papers and into town could be out the window. Well the first two are anyway. After a great day yesterday meeting friends and seeing lots of Volkswagens in Tynemouth, and the Red Arrows doing their stuff at the Sunderland Airshow south of the Tyne , finished by a barbeque and taxi journey home , I'm sat here in the middle of the deciding what I'm going to do today.

Coincidentally yesterday I watched this excellent TED talk about the car as art , though I'm certainly not a petrol head myself.:


Well actually things and ideas are formulating in my mind now , which include tracking down a Southern Comfort advert favoured by my friends Dawn and Colin which should appear here. Actually it's the first one on this list featuring Odetta singing the elusive Hit Or Miss

It's slowly coming light and dawn is breaking , wondering whether to go to bed or to stay up messing around , I'm sure I can find things to do but then I may be tired later , but my mind is racing with a million things.

Is this the end of last week and the start of the sew work . One thing is certain it's been a extraordinary week in many ways including lots of sunshine and a little rain. You need the rain though ore else everything dies off , but I do enjoy the sunshine .

Fighting With My Left Hand #2

Thought I would use my blog to document this. Been to the hospital and confused the experts even more. Everything seems to be OK that should be , but I can't grip laterally with my extended fingers of my left hand. Have an MRI scan being planned just to make sure my brain is still functioning , snd that's about it. Still can't do much with my left little finger either which makes it awkward putting gloves on and the like, but things seem to be slowly improving , although whether that's just me compensating I don't really know. I keep trying things with my left hand and then thinking .. "Could I do that with my left hand before this happened?"

It's probably diabetes related but we shall see how it progresses.

After the unfortunate derby result (well I suppose we have to let the Mackems have a little hope before they get relegated) I have Omid Djalili to look forward to this afternoon at The Stand . Only joking Sunderland folks !!

I shall keep you posted....

Omid Djalili in a Chelsea Top !!

The World Ends Today

Thought the art of John Martin, soundtracked by Aphrodites Chid performing The Four Horsemen from their 666 album ,was an appropriate watching for this post.

Someone once said there's two things certain in life , death and taxation. There's also the obsession with the end of the world . The Mayan one is interesting in that it looks a significant date 21/12/12 asssuming you use the correct format and notation, but the Mayan's were on ourt calendar and sometime in the middle ages we lost a big chunk of time to correct the calendar.

Any way there will be billions of blog posts about this , some like this not expecting it to happen , others telling you to prepare by building a boat or hitching a lift on an alien spaceship. And if it doesnt happen there will be some kind of excuse offered about a slight miscalculation. The irony of course that if it does happen , the ones who got it right cant say "I Told You So!".

Anyway here's mty apocalypse playlist , I'm sure lots of peole have done this , hope you can enjoy it.

For some people the end of the world is always nigh , for people in Newcastle it's at the end of the Metro line ... Sunderland !!

Mobile or PC?

Another short post , while the mobile blogger is fine for this sort of thing , if you need to add rich content you really need to use the PC.

Another sunny day today despite doom and gloom from the radio , and today I try to get to Doxford Park by public transport using bus , metro , taxi and whatever else there might be. This video is sort of appropriate , I could use the the ferry , but don't need a plane to get to Sunderland:

It's The Tyne Wear Derby

..and absolutely nothing hangs on on it!! . At the start of the season hopes were , in Toon, that this would be the match where Newcastle put Sunderland down. The Mackems dont look like they're going anywhere , and until three weeks back there talk of relegation in Toon.

Anyway, there's nowt riding on this bar pride (which is very important, as Ruud Gullit found out to his cost. Hopefully we'll see a lot of goals and given so I'll just have a punt of four or more goals in the match or maybe both teams to score.

Have a bet here if you fancy it:



As an addendum to this I had to tke a trip down Clayton Street, and had to weave my way through the overspill from Thr Black Garter and The Clock , very scary indeed. On Derby Days it's a good idea to avoid areas like Clayton Street , in fact it's a good idea to avoid any day!!

See the Toon won 2-0, keeping another clean sheet and ruining my bets (though I also had Owen to score so not all was lost).