Walking On Thick Ice

The weather has curtailed my walking. It is cold . It has snowed and turned to slush and them frozen , then rained and then frozen again , although the sun is now out and seems to be melting snow and ice. The temperature is up to 6ºC so nowhere near the -5ºC of the other day.

When walking , it's like you are on a think sheet of  ice that crumples underfoot so you are not skidding all over the place , although very often the cleared areas get a film of very slippy black ice.

A lot of the snow is gone but we shall see what tonight brings.

Musicwise I took delivery of a couple of 12" singles of "America:What Time Is Love?" by The KLF although I've seen a picture disc version but £40 is too much for me to pay. I shared a few plays on my Instagram Channel here. The record player I was cajoled into buying by Marek from RPM  has been one of my most impressively joyous purchases that I have made (you see it a lot on my Instagram feed)

I will share with you with the excellent "Walking On Thin Ice" by Yoko Ono (with John Lennon on guitar) as it fits with the current weather

Darts Illuminatus

2023 is finished and I loved it complete with it's "Keeper of The Page" list and now I am going to read "The Illuminatus Trilogy" which clocks in at 800 pages , double the length of 2023 and ⅔ the length of "Lord of The Rings" if I remember rightly, though at the hospital today I was enjoying the ideas coming from "Acorn", making the time at the hospital fly by despite the retinal scan and the needles to check my feet were still OK.

The font in "The Illuminatus Trilogy"  is fairly challenging and the book looks like it was photocopied, maybe to give the impression of being subversive.

It seems I'm not in too bad shape after all, well not at the moment.

I then ended up walking back from the hospital because I thought I could walk part way to Netherby Drive to catch a bus closer to home then realised I was three stops away so though I may as well just walk all the way, so ended up walking all the way and well over four miles today. While that is not a lot to most people it is fine for me.

So time for an early night.

An Acorn

Thanks to reading 2023 I am considering buying Yoko Ono's "Grapefruit" but it seems to me perfectly suited to an ebook reader, though is not (yet) available in ebook format. However the follow up "Acorn" is, so I bought it and have started skimming through it on my Kindle app on my Google Pixel phone , and am enjoying what I am seeing.

The only book I have ever read on my phone is "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu and that is a book that can actually be dipped into, although a polar opposite of Yoko Ono's writing. I am also trying to read "Ulysses" by James Joyce though that is much ard going.

The joy of "Acorn" and lot's of Yoko Ono's writing is that you can take a little or a lot and it will still satisfy. Some people will be left cold but we cannot all like the same thing.

I do hope "Grapefruit" is released as an eBook as I will definitely purchase it , it would be nice to have it with me most of the day, when I'm on the bus , or in a hospital waiting room (my annual diabetic check up tomorrow), but I do have "Acorn" , "The Art of War" and a "QI" compendium to keep me going.

So why don't we go with "Walking on Thin Ice" by Yoko Ono ?

The Oblique Grapefruit

Thanks to reading 2023 I am probably going to end up buying the book "Grapefruit" by Yoko Ono , metamorphosed in 2023 to "Grapefruit Are Not The Only Bombs", essentially a series of instructions to direct people to do things to create radical art or change the world in radical ways. The book consis of "event scores" such as:

"Imagine the clouds dripping. 

  Dig a hole in your garden to 

  put them in.  

   — 1963 Spring"

There is more information here. and a few more event scores here

This reminded me of the "Oblique Strategies" card set by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt (who also collaborated on the cover of "Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy". You can use and online implementation of it here.  , and the first card says "Is It Finished?" the answer , for me, on this post , being "No"

The second card says "Don't Be Afraid To Display Your Talents" so you can see how this could randomly help you in the creation of an artistic piece. I often say to people that for something to be art you just have to say that it is art, and that should cause an effect in the viewer. The effect may be positive or negative but if you have an effect  then the art piece is valid.

Follow the Oblique Strategies link and see where it takes you.

If you want to produce something these two methods may help unblock any mental brick walls, and these are probably just two high profile art aids or directors and they may help with everyday life, not only art.

"Emphasize Repetitions"

So will take the opening song from from "Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy" with an image of the album cover.

Edinburgh 2017 #2 - Elvis Shakespeare

When I was last in Edinburgh I researched where there were any record shops in Edinburgh other than FOPP (who are owned by HMV I believe) and found a a few that looked more than interesting. HMV had been moved out to Leith in their shopping centre and while I went there last time that area really didn't bear a repeat visit, but on the bus to and from there I did notice Elvis Shakespeare which is one of the best names for a shop ever.

Elvis Shakespeare is full of music and printed words and theguys in the shop were great to talk to and one of them reckoned I was the same age as him (53). There is lots to browse and I walked there on Saturday morning so this was helpful in me hitting 20K steps on Saturday. We chatted and I said the problem now is finding something interesting, ideally on vinyl when I saw a copy of The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" EP , and I loved the film when I saw it as a kid (it had the Bonzo Dog Band and strippers) but remember my uncle's friends bringing it to a party at my parents.

It was released as an album, and I have the DVD of it and now I have it as the 1981 reissue vinyl double EP.

I was talking to the guy and I mentioned that I'd bought the "Star Wars:The Force Awakens" soundtrack on vinyl just for the 3D Tie Fighter and Millenium Falcon hologram etchings which, while they are not hugely impressive to look at, the very fact that someone thought of it , did it, and it works still has my mingd in knots. You can see it here.

As I was leaving I saw a green vinyl copy of "Happy Christmas: War Is Over" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono so I took that as well.

On the Sunday I was in FOPP and heard someone asking about a Star Wars soundtrack with a hologram, the assistant wasn't sure so I told him what it was and it turned out that the guy asking was the guy from Elvis Shakespeare , so that was a coincidence.

So maybe I will go for "Happy Christmas:War Is Over" for you to listen to. Have a great Tuesday everybody.

1111

Well this is post number 1,111 that's one thousand one hundred and eleven in words. Sometimes I've missed significantly numbered posts and this is only significant because it's a load of ones. It's come on a Friday and just in time for the weekend and this is one of those posts (like most of them) where I'm going to waffle on about nothing significant.

Most of the posts probably come in about two hundred words although when in Craster I did sit down and write two thousand words to see if I could ever be a writer. I suppose it showed that although I did it when I sat down to it, I can't be bothered to do it on a permanent basis, and part  of that I suppose is that I just have a select audience , not a mass audience. Most posts tend to get about 50 views, with the odd ones that have hit over a thousand and many that have no views.

My Nick Cave / Dr Seuss take  on Red Right Hand (none of which is my work , I just put them together) is now closing on ten thousand views. Red Right Hand was the first non commissioned piece used in the X-Files and as such is a favourite of both my daughters , who while having different musical tastes both love Nick Cave.

Anyway it's now time to pack up and get off to work.

This post clocks in at 250 words so it's about average, I can't remember how many words essays had to be at secondary school but I think I would be struggling to hit the required number of words for an assignment, but this is just  like a diary so some days will be a lot, and some days there'll be a little.

It's got me thinking , how few words could I get away with, if I were Yoko Ono I could have a blank post and give it a title, and that's not a bad thing. For something to be art you just have to say that it's art.

With that thought I am going to be out the door now. Have a brilliant Friday everybody.

Power To The People

No it's not about Jeremey Corbyn , although with the state of voting in the leadership contest Owen Smith and Angela Eagles and the PLP will be preparing their next leadership challenge , probably just stopping anyone from them voting.

It Had To Be

Anyway for the first time in months I forgot to submit my power readings (due the face of some extremely enjoyable company). I'm in my third year with Ovo and signed up with them after their CEO accused the "Big 6" of being liars about theire wholesale costs. I was coming to the end of a 5 year fixed deal with E-ON and they told me that to continue for another 12 months I would have to hike my monthly payments by 20%. I contacted OVO and they gave me a two year fixed price deal for a 4% increase on what I'd been paying E-ON. I know I don't get Tesco Clubcard points any more but I get get payed 3% on my credit balance which sounds good but probably works out about a pound a month.

At the end of my deal Scottish Power contacted me (I said they could ring me in the evening, they rang at 1pm the following day, maybe the sun sets earlier in Scotland, and said they could give me a deal for £70 a month, then have rung me several times since causing me to put them on auto reject).

I went online and Ovo recommended I reduced my payment by more than 50% (£60 a month) so I decided to reduce to £100 a month. They are also good and helpful on the phone.

Anyway that's where my power is coming from in the foreseeable future.

September is here, The Smiths are playing on Radio 6 and I'm drinking a cup of tea ready to go to work. I hope you all have a brilliant day and it is nearly weekend. The obvious song is John Lennon and The Plastic Ono  Band's Power To The People.

Have a good one.