Too Lazy To Learn

I think we are all guilty of this to varying degrees. Often it's because the learning process is time consuming , expensive and even difficult. Sometimes it's because it's time consuming. While I can doodle about on most musical instruments I can't actually play apart from basic rhythm accompaniments and maybe the odd simple solo. However something like Trace Bundy's take on Pachelbel's "Canon" just leaves me awestruck. Learning takes practice, time and dedication.

There are other instances where people cannot master computer basics, yet can drive a car. I point out that , generally , learning to drive a car is a lot more complex, difficult and dangerous than using a computer, but lots of drivers eschew computers as the black arts.

Sometimes it's the fact that people refuse to use short cuts and simple methods because the have used a particulal method of doing things and would rather take fifteen minutes doing it their tried and trused way rather than the two minute simple method that has exactly the same  result. It's like they would rather gather woould and make a torch that they burn to provide illumination but you would rather switch on the electric light.

The same could be said of cooking, although millions watch cooking programs for many of those cookery consists of sticking a ready meal in a microwave or ordering a takeaway. I sometimes have a mental battle over this, I can cook an Aloo Chole in about two hours and it costs me about a pound plus heating (it does for two servings)  or I can can order a portion from Rajnagar (my local Indian Restaurant) for six pounds. I value my time at a lot more than six pounds an hour so I ofetn go for the takeaway option , although that is a decision arrived at by weighing up all th eoptions and making the best decision rather than laziness.

One of things I have noticed is that cooking vegan / vegetarian is usually much simpler than cooking with meat or fish, so my next experiment is a chickpea and apricot curry. I think that should be quite good.

Jamie Oliver has a book called "Just Five Ingredients" so that gives people an option to get into cooking for theselves very easily, but again, for some people reading is too much of a chore,

There are probably a million other examples but I thingk that's enough to be going on with and I will leave you with Trace Bundy's TED Talk showing what you can achieve with practice.

A Photograph

Usually when you have a hospital visit for a scan you are told to fast, and you vaguely know why but lats week his was brought home to me. I was having an Endoscopy but had forgotten about it so had some porridge in the morning . this was three ours before I had the camera pushed down my throat and everything was fine.

However....

They gave me photographs of my insides and one was "partially obscured by food". The clarity of the photographs was amazing, but this one brought it home in no uncertain terms why you need to fast and drink only water or black coffee or tea, It is so you don't obscure the photographs with food.

Only a short post but thought that I could just share this with youso if it happens to you you know why. And keeping with the body theme ......

I've decided to go with a song from the soundtrack of the Roy Battersby documentary The Body  (IMDB here) by Roger Waters and Ron Geesin who also collaborated on Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother". The film also features Vanessa Redgrave.

A Muse Ment

This is my thirteenth post on the thirteenth day of this month and is post number 1913 since I started this blog. That is quite a lot of 13s coming together and it was not contrived at all, I promise.

Still enjoying Stephen Fry's "Mythos" and one of the things that I love about it is that it reminds me of things I'd forgotten and expands my knowledge of something I know. Stephen Fry does make a very good teacher.

Again, going through the origins of Greek Mythology he points out the origins of the words and  you think "oh is that where THAT came from" or I didn't know that" or "I'd forgotten that".

He's  listing The Muses, and the first one on the list is Calliope. I know Calliope from the line in Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded By The Light":

".. the Calliope crashed to the ground"

I'd always imagined a Calliope being a circular ride and the image was of one coming off its axis and crashing down, but no, it's the steam driven fairground organ that we've all heard, so the image still works, and I now know that Calliope is the Muse of Epic Poetry.

Then there is Terpsichore and both Stephen Fry and I were introduced to this Muse via the Monty Python Cheese Shop sketch:

O: Oh, I thought you were complaining about the bouzouki player!

C: Oh, heaven forbid: I am one who delights in all manifestations of the Terpsichorean muse!

O: Sorry?

C: 'Ooo, Ah lahk a nice tune, 'yer forced to!

O: So he can go on playing, can he?

C: Most certainly! Now then, some cheese please, my good man.

So it is a beautiful sunny morning, even though it's Monday, and I am looking forward to this week. The song has to be "Blinded By The Light" which features the line at the end of the first verse.

The End of The Weekend

I was apprehensive about reading Stephen Fry's "Mythos" mainly due to the number of pages and the small type after James O'Briens' excellent "How To Be Right" (both shorter and with larger type so easier to read for my ancient eyes).

That's one of the benefits of eReaders, you get to choose the size of the font, although the bigger the font the more pages / page turns you effectively get, but it really does put you in control.

Anyway I am a fan of all mythologies and in "Mythos" Fry takes on the Greeks and it is incredibly readable, dashing all my apprehensions. It's like having a lesson from a really good teacher or watching an episode of QI, and he illustrates the very beginnings of Greek mythology often using contemporary illustrations and more than a little humour. He also brings his ego to bear, but non of this is to the detriment of the book, which I am now looking forward to having a very enjoyable ride through.It really is that good.

Today also saw the culmination of the English Premier League with Manchester City pipping Liverpool who were 25 points ahead of Chelsea. Liverpool finished second with 97 points after losing only one match this season, a stunning achievement, but even more stunning was Manchester City taking the title. LIverpool now have a Champions League Final to play.

So a great end to the weekend, and tomorrow sees another visit to the Freeman Hospital for me, though this time it is relatively minor and nowhere near the extreme discomfort of last week's endoscopy.

So I hope your weekend has been good, and just to vaguely find a related song and thought I would go for "Pandora's Box" by Procol Harum, which I always found vaguely sinister with it's off kilter signature motif, though apparently their name is Latin for "Far From Things" so not Greek, although Greek and Roman Mythologies were always interchangeable.

Going Back With Janelle Monáe

In my opinion the best album of last year was "Dirty Computer" by Janelle Monáe (I hadn't noticed the acute accent on the a before today, but that's just my English linguistic ignorance),and this is what I thought of it here which includes the accompanying album length video. This album is where she was getting to at that point and it is a damned near perfect album, which I still play regularly and is definitely on my top ten.

So I decided it may be a good idea to revisit here earlier output. The actual production quality is consistently excellent and the songs are good from the off although throughout her albums there is a definite upward curve.

It started with a planned multi part suite "Metropolis" starting with  the mini album "The Chase" which sets the story in "The March of The Wolfmasters" , one of five suite overtures over her first three albums. She collaborates with other writers and all her output has a heavy science fiction presence, but it is so well executed it enhances rather than detracts from the music.

The Chase ends with an expected take on Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" , which does fit in with the dystopian future that Monáe's narratives display.

"The ArchAndroid" , containing "Suite II" and "Suite III"of "Metropolis"features her developing soul / rock with attitude style taking in The Slits, X-Ray Spex and Todd Rundgren , check "Mushrooms and Roses" that closes "Suite II" . She has no fear of collaboration and really the best way to experience this is to listen to the album.

"The Electric Lady" consists of "Suite IV" and "Suite V" of "Metropolis" as is a step closer to artistic perfection. The thing is the closer you get to "Dirty Computer" the harder it is to pick something that says this is Janelle Monáe because you know that you will always miss something.

She really is one of the most important artists performing and producing today. We will go with here collaboration with Erykah Badu "Q.U.E.E.N."  and this gives a great idea of what she is about.

One Book To Another

Well last night's visibility experiment was inconclusive, but I am doing another evening post. This time it's about  the books I'm reading. I've just finished the excellent "How To Be Right" by James O'Brien and I am following that up with "Mythos" by Stephen Fry.

"How To Be Right" was easy to read with decent sized type over 220 pages, but "Mythos" sort of gives me the horrors because it's over 400 pages of small type.

"How To Be Right" helps to prepare you for dealing with with, shall we say, the difficult people and situations of the modern world and has been great to read, if more than a tad worrying , but a lot of people I know fall into that category, who refuse to examine what causes their beliefs that certain situations are true and cannot be challenged. Their paper of choice is The Metro (published by The Daily Mail) because it's free. I really shouldn't say any more.

"Mythos" is a completely different ball game tapping into my love of all  mythology , though this one is hitting the Greek strand. As a kid I loved reading Norse, Celtic, Roman , Greek and further mythology, so despite the small print I am looking forward to it.

So I will not go with another Pete Wylie song, but this time I will go for "Jason and the Argonauts" by XTC from their album "English Settlement" as it does fit in with the Greek Mythology connection.

Six

I had a good reason for calling this Six , it does follow the wrongly named "Five" post but I've forgotten why I was going to call it that . This is also an experiment to see if I get more visits if I post at night rather than in the morning. In the morning the USA is asleep but in the UK evening the USA is awake. I'm not sure that will make any difference.

I've had Pete Wylie songs for that last two posts and this time I found a live take of "Four Eleven Forty Four" at King Tuts in Glasgow. A guy I worked with at Littlewoods , Dave Homan was a friend of Pete Wylie's , and Wylie has been responsible for some amazing tunes and should really be a much bigger name than he is.

Even his sketch songs and gorgeous and when I chose this, lots more came to mind, but I stuck with this lovely live take.

It's dark outside, it's Thursday night and maybe time for bed....