An Apple A Day

Just noticed that Apple is my second most tagged item after Newcastle. While I love Newcastle , Apple I can take or leave, and in fact some folk think I detest Apple. I actually don't , but anyone who tries to get complete control of me in any way whatsoever, I tend to give short shrift to. So that includes , Google , Microsoft,  Sky, BT , Virgin, Politicians and almost everyone who wants me to follow their line.

Then I started thinking am I just whingeing on this blog? If you look at Twitter and Facebook the things that get picked up on are where people are complaining or laughing at others' misfortune, and that is no way to be, but is the may of the world unfortunately.

Social Media can be good or bad , I hate things like Fail Army , but it can mean that you can quickly encourage people and offer them support and spread good news, which is the way I always try t do something. I always try to make my posts positive and have something good connected with it.

So I'm going to have the Onion's Apple Device review on here, which is a fun ridiculous dig at Apple.

It's the weekend and a grey day but there are lots of ways to have fun, if you can read this you're connected , and if you're connected , connect with others positively. It will make you feel better and them feel better.

If something annoys you try and deal with it , instead of moaning, bring sunshine into people's lives and they will usually return it, and you will feel good.

Right that's enough ne age do goodery for today, I 'm going to take some serious drugs and continue having a brilliant weekend. YOU enjoy yourself , lookk in the mirror , smile and say "I am wonderfully happy" then keep the feeling up throughout the weekend.

Have a brilliant day everybody.

The Porridge Fairy

I never know how to spell porridge, if you follow the link it lists a few alternatives (porage, porrige, parritch, etc.) so that could explain my confusion , so it's not just the fact that my IQ is less than my show size. Anyway today one of those series of events came together to cause a particular  non situation.

Faerie Tales

Breakfast

I started cooking my breakfast of organic porridge and also made a cup of tea. When I'd measured the stuff out I elastic banded the bag an chucked it in the cupboard. This was stuff I'd got from the excellent Mmm in The Grainger Market ages back and very nice it is too. Anyway I then noticed that the milk in the tea had curdled, and I'd used the same for the porridge , so chucked it away and went back into the cupboard for more oats .... and there were none there!! I thought I saw the bag but it was noodles. Then I finally found the errant bag and it was hidden behind some cans of beans and pulses. How did that happen?


Unless someone ..... or something moved it! Well actually what happened is I threw the porridge bag a bit harder than I though and there was a gap behind the cans where it landed.

Then I thought about the similarity with faith, haunting and magic situations where people don't want to really know the answer and in most cases are just too lazy to find it. It's the basis for atrology , psychic charlatans and religious fraud like Creationism. Oh I cant think the Devil or God or The Fairies did it. Derek Acorah and Most Haunted play on this situation. I mean this are as as valid.

• My car has stopped, God must not want me to go to worker so he stopped my car: 
• NO - You've run out of Petrol!
• The lights have gone out, Satan has plunged us into darkness: 
• NO - A fuse has blown or you've not payed your bill
• The porridge has disappeared from the food cupboard, the porridge fairy must have moved it:
•  NO - you chucked it in there too hard and it went to the back of the cupboard

Fairies

So anyway that's what happened this morning , but the sun is shining brightly this morning just in tome for a great weekend. Have a fantastic Friday everyone and have an even better weekend.

Thought the rather excellent Bastard Fairies would be an appropriate song for today.

Autumn, Hemp, Nettles and Australian Penetration from Pauline

Autumn is definitely here, the leaves are turning yellow , gold and brown and falling from their trees covering paths and gardens, and it's windy and rainy but we are in the middle of  October. It's dark when I leave for work and dark when I'm getting back and the heating is now on for longer and getting turned up.

There's a couple of upcoming gigs, next week including a warm up one for Pauline Murray at the Tyneside Bar and Cafe before her first tour of Australia. I've seen her twice fronting Penetration recently , check out posts here. so I am looking forward to that. I recently went for an evening of Nic Cave songs so as yet my gigs there have had an Australian connection.

Blood Better

The other thing this week is that I had noticed that my blood sugar was getting high, yes I'd been on holiday , but it was hitting 12 to 20 at it's worst. I couldn't think what had changed , and then realised I'd run out of hemp oil tablets, and at the same time I read that nettle tea was good for reducing blood sugar , so I got myself some and the blood sugar is now back to normal after a couple of days. I'm quite amazed that something can have an actual effect that quickly so I'm going back to see my doctor to discuss it with her.





So an interesting week, and hopefully we can all keep warm and cozy while enjoying the good things in life. Have a great day everybody. Thought I'd include the Philosopher's Song from Monty Python as it always bring a smile to my face and I'm sure it will to yours.

Ai Weiwei at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The Iron Tree

Back from holiday but I was mightily impressed by The Yorkshire Sculpture Park . It's big and it's impressive and it's mostly outdoor. I originally wanted to go for the Ai Weiwei exhibition, but this turned out to be one of many wonders at the place. I've found a copy of the documentary "Never Sorry" to include with this post , but there's details of the exhibitition Ai Weiwei "In The Chapel" , which includes poetry from his father and some wonderful exhibits, The Iron Tree being my favourite, here.

Ursula Von Rydingsvard

I was also impressed with the work of Ursula von Rydingsvard , one of her sculptures hits you when you when you enter the park , which is just off junction 38 on the m1.

The brilliance of the park is that it attracts you to an exhibit, and then as you are studying it you will see another, five or ten minutes walk away, and before you know where you are you are way off your original planned visit.



Because it's mostly outdoor it's best to have a good day for a visit, and make sure you have a camera with you. If you are reliant on film , make sure you have plenty of rolls, and if digital , you may need an extra memory card or two because not only are the exhibits worth picturing, the landscape is wonderful too.

My photographs of the day are here and you can use the website to find out more about the pictures I took.

Ok have a brilliant Saturday , the weather here is fantastic.

Hardwick Cottage Ampleforth and a Vinyl Record Shop

I may have posted this before , but Ampleforth along with Whitby is one of the few places I could probably live. Obviously I love Newcastle and that's where my life is full of friends and family, and I come from Preston and have lots of friends and family there.

This is about the fourth time we've stayed in Hardwick cottage and it provides the ability to be cut off along with the convenience of local amenities within walking distance, as well as pubs and the option to eat out or have take aways. The cottage is here. In May I thought that would be my final visit, but the situation has changed slightly and we will be back at the beginning of December and maybe again next year which really pleases me.

Slim Whitman 78

Elvis at the door

There are lots of small towns near such as Helmsley, Thirsk and Northallerton which I visited yesterday and shockingly found a vinyl record shop. I'm not a vinyl junkie but it was a pleasant surprise to actually find somewhere selling records just off the main street. The name of the shop is BetterDaze and has lots of vinyl, memorabilia, jukeboxes and record players, mainly rock and rock and roll. They also have a Facebook page here.




You're greeted by an Elvis figure when you enter the shop and there were quite a few people in there when I dropped by yesterday afternoon.

So I'm just having a great holiday here and am really enjoying it, and the Happy Days intro always puts a smile on my face. Have a great day everyone.

Consequences

It's quite funny how simple things can have unexpected consequences. I'm on holiday in Ampleforth and manages to forget a lot of things, but thank god not the remote for my media player, but I forgot my glasses. Without my glasses I can't really see much detail without them, enough to get by but not to do the stuff I want.

I don't like showering with contact lenses in so effectively to actually do what I want I have to get up and shower and then I may as well get up. It's not a problem but it does mean that I need contact lenses in all day that I don't usually do.

Freakonomics

This post is probably the most boring one that I've ever written but I'm on holiday so I'm allowed to do things like this. Although I could have gone on about unexpected consequences and that reminds me of a great book by Levitt & Dubner called Freakonomics which details the unexpected consequences of events and actions and poses such scenarios as:

• What do estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?
• Why do drug dealers live with their mothers?
• What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
• How can your name affect how well you do in life?

And a lot more, it is amazing how simple events can have a domino effect on other events. Anyway that's as deep as I'm going to get today, so enjoy your day  and I will continue enjoying mine.I thought the Guinness advert was fairly appropriate for the subject of this post. Have a great day!

Sunday Sermon:Pitch Black Into Naked Religion

Apologies for this being slightly ranty rather than positive, although it's just some things that have recently crossed my mind brought tho the fore by last nights dream. Given the nature of the post I thought Randy Newman's "God's Song" would be appropriate.

I slept well last night,, but woke up from a dream that I remembered some of. It didn't finish, and nothing bad happened but it was a pre disaster scenario which could be dealt with with certain precautions. This is the dream as it happened. Basically I was is a Pitch Black scenario (Pitch Black being the best sci fi "B" Movie since Alien starring Vin Diesel as Riddick). I was in the deserted outpost building with the knowledge from diaries that were strewn about that the previous occupants had been wiped out by the inhabitants of this planet. I was with a group of people who sounded like eastern European Bond villains, and they had returned from a reconnaissance trip with what looked like tatty Russian dolls about two feet high. I knew from the diaries that these were eggs of the vicious creatures that had destroyed the previous occupant. I said that we had to get the m outside immediately. Then the argument started.:

Them: "How do you know they are dangerous?"
Me: "Look at the evidence, theres been violence here and the diaries have drawings of eggs and descriptions of the creatures that hatched and probably killed them all"
Them: "How do you know that these are the same"
Me: "Even if they're not we should err on the side of caution, leave them outside then we are safe and we can observe with a lesser amount of danger"
Them: "We think they are cute, so they're staying"
Me:"That is not a good idea, being cute in a hostile environment is not an sensible objective stance to take"
Them:"They're staying, we think they'll be fine"
Me: "What do you base that on?"
Them: "The look cute"

Then I woke up, and thought , this argument is a lot like religious faith (Mainly Creationists)  vs  Science. Science always questions itself and that's how truths are discovered, and extreme religion uses this to deny science while refusing to question it's own belief. I know it was a laboured tale to illustrate a basic point but I've met many religious people who use it as a moral supportive code and do not force it others or question others beliefs. My problem is when religion is used as a bludgeon to spread ignorance (ie Creationism).

The Lovers

Anyway the second vaguely religious point was something I noticed from this Facebook post here.  When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden they were happy, God was happy and all was great until Satan got Even to eat the apple and they discovered SHAME and started wearing makehift clothes which got God angry and he chucked them out of the Garden. So using that scenario wearing of clothes is and obvious sign of Satanism , because God wanted us to be naked.

David

So why is there such a furore when we see a nipple, willy or pussy or bum?  If God's will were to be carried out we should all surely be naked. Actually there is the practicality of weather and keeping dry and warm, and let's face clothes can make a person with the most unappealing body look good. It's that that if we see someone "exposed" there's far more uproar than a knifing or shooting, so if you do see someone either laugh, appreciate or ignore, don't act like a Daily Mail reader.

OK that's my Sunday Sermon , have a brilliant day everyone, I'm enjoying my holiday (and fully dressed)

Starless and Bible Black

Starless......

I must admit that the first time I came across this ominous beauty of a phrase is when King Crimson used it as the title of one of their great albums. Of course it comes from the opening of Dylan Thomas' wonderful tone poem "Under Milk Wood" :

"To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits' wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboatbobbing sea."

Anyway, it perfectly describes the feeling of being here in Ampleforth in the middle of the night, but here it id perfect calm and very relaxing, though it was initially disconcerting when I first came as I tend to get a little unnerved in absolute  total darkness when you have no point of reference such as a chink of light through the curtains or late night taxis taking people home or the police helicopter chasing someone down the A1. In Ampleforth there is none of that, just calm and serenity, admittedly in the dark.

Actually the local Church clock auto chimes on the hour, or something does because as I awoke I heard three bell chimes.

Anyway after a good journey down, I found I'd managed to leave my contact lens solution at home (none to be found in Helmsley and about the only thing the loacal Post Office doesn't stock), then realised that I'd left my glasses at home, so once lenses are out the eyestarin gets a bit much for any reading or messing about on the computer, then I realised I'd left the DAB Radio at home (and we have 4!) so that's three things I've forgotten.

Anyway it's almost four in the morning now, so I am going to get back to bed, and leave you with the DubWood Allstars treatment of the intro to Under Milk Wood, which I have loved since Cerys Matthews played it on her 6 Music show. And if you want to watch the recent excellent BBC production, it's here:

This is Tomorrow ... Wishing You Were Here

This post is part challenge but part something I want to do. It's my birthday and usually you do something special on your birthday. I'm starting this at 6.10 am and will finish it tonight. The challenge as I said before is to write my best blog post ever, but how do you do that? Should it be short and punchy , should it be epic and informative? I know it will be somewhere in between as I have had some thoughts about it and now is the time where the words have got to flow from my fingers to produce this post. The thing is, it wont be edited, these are the words that are coming out, and this is actually part of what may be my best post ever, although you can always say that because if you check out my first posts, they were quite brief, and the observations of single points usually.

Today I tend to ramble a bit more, like today was my birthday and had a lovely surprise at work when my friends bought me a very nice cake which I managed to divide up using plastic knives (we really need to get real knives) , also I have had lots of messages from lovely friends around the world, and close to home, which gives a wonderful feeling that there is so much love and good will among the people I know. I always try to be positive and look for the good in things and today, and the past couple of weeks have made that extremely easy for me.

So what makes a good blog post, I've not written fiction, and reporting on something (like the awesome GOAT gig on Monday with my friends Jon and Julie is not a thing for something memorable, the gig itself was memorable but my scribblings could never really do it justice.

So what is left , well it's good to keep positive and throughout like there are often things that aren't people  that have an effect of you and are things that you want to share with others, and one of the best things in life is sharing things with people, because that get's you talking and helps with the initial lasting hooks and threads of friendships and relationships. It may be a place , an event, a book , a Tv program or a film. ALl of these thing we can all share in.

The sentiment at the top is from a Bryan Ferry song, not one of my favourites but a wonderful line, and sometimes you would just love people to be here with you but that cannot be because of where they are or what they are doing. It's not a bad thing and it is good to have that desire because it will get you out and get you socialising. So if you don't know these are a few of my favourite things:

BOOK:

Magical Imajica

Imajica by Clive Barker. It's fantasy, it's big, it's full of love, sex, magic , adventure and a huge circular multiverse and I never tire of it and love going back to revisit.

It has similarities with other books such as Lord of The Rings and His Dark Materials, both of which I love but this is my personal favourite and will hopefully be reading it again soon.

 

FILM:

My Favourite Film

True Romance by Tony Scott, with a Tarantino script and an A list cast of thousands, or it seems like that. You get romance, a mexican stand off, the ghost of Elvis , Dennis Hopper as a good guy, Gary Oldman as a white negro rasta drug dealer , a comic shop , Brad Pitt stoned on a couch and Patricia Arquette taking out James Gandolfini with a cistern top. And that's not the half of it , add a lovely theme from Hans Zimmer and a top soundtrack and you have a perfect film.

 

 

ALBUM:

Spirit of Adventure

Future Games by Spirit. Basically this is an aural film with vague Star Trek  and Muppets connections, going into trippy pschedelia but always lovely and perfect listening. The film snippets were later picked up by bands like Big Audio Dynamite , and I love them too , but the Spirit album is always with me and will always be my favourite.











So that's a few things that I like to give you a small insight into  me. I hope you found this interesting, but be positive and look forwrd to tomorrow because the always great things waiting round the corner, it's just sometimes you have to go and find them , and when you do it feels absolutely brilliant.

Busy Doing Nothing - What Goes On In Your Mind?

The intention was to really not do much this weekend , but I've ended up to doing work , shopping, making beds , and am going to write another two posts on my music blog here due to the fact that I've been to two excellent gigs this week, one for the opening of The Old Fox in Felling with Rigid Digits and the other for a Nick Cave tribute gig and the Tyneside Bar and cafe featuring my friends Jon Lee, Sheena Revolta and Bethany Elen Coyle, though obviously I don't need to say anything about them here otherwise I'd be repeating myself, although repeating yourself is a good way of filling up the page , that's if you you feel you have to fill up the page, which I don't as I'm not being paid for this, just doing it ofr myself and maybe for. your entertainment.

VU

It's funny how when you maybe don't want to do much, you sometimes find lots of things to do, like I set up a Facebook  Your One Song page to see what peoples' favourite song will be if they only had a choice of one! I would hate to only be able to listen to a single song but, the thought of minimalising the Desert Island Discs concept appealed to me. It's like while I have the utmost respect for guitarists who can play complex tunes in complex times with complex solos, I have have a great deal of respect for the one note guitar solos and single (ok maybe two or three) chord songs because that enables ANYBODY to get up and play a song.



Examples are "I'm A Hog For You Baby" by The Coasters, "Tommy Gun" and "White Riot" by The Clash , "Roadrunner" by Jonathan Richman and "Gloria" by Them - there's an instant set list for any band.

Anyway the music I've choset for this post post is "What Goes On" by The Velvet Underground, which The Bok covered for their first gig in the seventies, the band formed on Wednesday, first gig on the Saturday and we'd written half a dozen songs by then!

Anyway I've got a lot of stuff done so far, two more blog posts to go and then I may sit down and watch some catch up TV. Hope you are having a brilliant weekend .

Downs and Ups and The Graham Norton / U2 Connection

This has been a weird week , exhausting and I was looking forward to a quiet weekend , but that's  unlikely to happen , although it's all my own fault, I could stay in and not oversee so work stuff, but really where's the fun in doing nothing.

The Schooner

The other thing Australia and Pirates (see the Mac Barnett talk)  and the Middle East have cropped up quite a lot this week from various sources such as the brilliant TED talk about books that I've included in this post. Tonight the is a Nick Cave night at the Tyneside Cinema Cafe, on Sunday a U2 tribute band on at The Schooner (I assume it'll be a standard tribute although with the Schooner you might expect a Joshua Trio  - which I believe included Graham Norton though I may be wrong -
type tribute), then on Monday night it's GOAT at Newcastle University.



Also it's my birthday next week and have been tasked with writing my best ever blog post, though best is a very subjective adjective although I have it planned out, but it will be personal and substantial , this is a fun challenging gauntlet to pick up. My current most read post is here and the irony is that if you click through to see what it is it will become even more read. While it's a reasonable post , I don't think it's my best post so far , although to be quite honest I haven't a clue what that is.

Anyway it's time for work so I will sigh off now , have a great Friday and a great weekend.

Time To Have Fun

Right it's the weekend and it's time to have fun. So many good things have happened this week (and I don't include the iPhone6 Launch, iOS8 and the new U2 album, which I like) that really I am in a very good mood.

I woke up to early , have got a rant out of my system , and am looking forward to the whole weekend with lots of things to do. I've been invited to lots of free bashes and may or may not partake of some of them. Have an upcoming GOAT concert which is going to be even better because one of my great friends (who's planning a huge Wedding Anniversary bash next year) is also coming.

Hold That Happy Thought

I unexpectedly ran into friends this week and really it's just been an enjoyable if busy week. Two hospital appointments the first of which was not pleasant but the results have been fine. Oh Preston threw away a three goal lead , but it was against my friend Chris's Chesterfield so I'm not too down about that, these things happen.

So I suppose I going to have to take drugs, have breakfast , get showered get up and enjoy myself, and I suggest that you do the same. There may be things to complain about but there's a hell of a lot to enjoy.  Like the fact I can put my fingers to the keyboard , update this blog and wish you all a most excellent weekend.

Go out there and be very, very happy!  And on that note I'll post "Happy" by The Carpenters, because it was one of my mums favourite songs , it makes me happy and I know it makes a lot of my friend happy!!

There But For Fortune

I woke up too early , and I don't know if I'm "getting old" but something recently has started bugging which morally should kick off my sympathy switch. If people are worse off than me , if I can I should look out for them but ....

These Guys Help

When it's raining there's a beggar camped in an unsheltered area near where I cross the road for my train . The guy is treating it almost like a marketing campaign , when I know if I were in that position I would be going to St Vincent De Paul in Shieldfield or trying to find somewhere I could shelter. And I well know that there but for fortune go I.






Then coming back from work in the short walk from Central Station to my bus stop on Grainger Street there were three beggars (One of who is fairly aggressive and I've seen often in pubs) and three Big Issue sellers. I have adopted a Big Issue seller and she is a very nice lady with a pitch on Grey Street and have bought from her for years, but three in a ten minute straight walk I just ignore. Again the beggars do have support  in Newcastle , but I don't live on the street and don't even know if I could or what the answer is.

In a full employment economy there shouldn't be a need to beg or to sell the Big Issue but both seem to be multiplying.

Everybody Wants One

This is the day the iPhone6 launched which can set you back £800 for the top end model and Apple sold four million on the first day, and in the week that Apple also negotiated a free download of U2's new album much to many people's annoyance. I'm fine with it but it's a publicity stunt. There is a lot of money in the world , plenty for everyone, but not everyone gets access to it.






I don't really do posts like this but just had to say it. I don't know the answer. I also think I need to write another post very quickly which illustrates my normal positivity , because this makes me feel too much like a Daily Mail reader for my own comfort. It doesn't help that it's September and grey and it's six o' clock on Saturday morning.

I nicked the title from the Phil Ochs song although maybe the Joan Baez version is better know to you. I suppose there 's a lot of articles linking opulence with poverty, which has just reminded me of an excellent TED talk by Nick Hanauer that I need to include:




Right that's that done next up some positivity.

Tomorrow Belongs To Me .... or Does It?

Go Alba!!

Well today Scotland get a say on whether they want to be part of the United Kingdom, and to be honest would you really want to be part of a Union which was being run for the benefit of people like David Cameron and his mates. While I would prefer Scotland to stay, I would also like them to go for independence and give Cameron and his cronies a bloody nose, so I'll be happy for Scotland whatever the result but I've not been happy with the posturings of the Westminster politicians over this.



What song , well a couple from my favourite son of Glasgow. Maybe after tonight we'll have to
rebuild the Wall , and thank God Newcastle is North of it!!

What A Shower .. and The New U2 Album

Last week I took the last plaster off my left elbow, with a little trepidation after the last time it was open to the air, but it's brilliant to have a shower and just wash your arm instead of trying to avoid getting it wet.

Also I've listed to the new U2 album "Songs Of Innocence" and it's fine, if a bit U2 by numbers, but this is a band still going after 35 years with it's original line up and they have produced an album that is good to listen to. As yet nothing jumps out like say "Vertigo" or "Desire", and still thing that "Zoo Station" is very hard to beat as an opener.

The whole thing is a marketing stunt by Apple and U2, but it's generally a win/ win situation they get the publicity and the consumer get's an album by a major band. Simon Donald (Him off the Viz) is not pleased though and reckons this wouldn't have happened on Steve Jobs watch. Under Jobs he reckons yo had the illusion of your iTunes library being yours and private, and the U2 album appearing there is like a thief has broken into your house and left you a present , but he has still violated your privacy by coming into your house uninvited and with no announcement.

U2 Live

Anyway playing the new album reminded me of how great "Under A Blood Red Sky" is. It's very short and remember it was a "budget" album when it came out, and songs like "Gloria" , "Electric Co" and "40" still often play over in my head.

It's the start of a new week, I'm gonna have a great one , you have one too.

Thunderstruck By Bagpipes... another installment Fighting With My Left Hand

Its's been a SAD day, that's SAD as in Seasonal Affected Disorder, as you know I seldom let life get me down, but today's weather has been mostly grey skies and not exactly warm, just one of those days where things don't really inspire you to get up and go.

This week I have two hospital visits, the first of which I'm not looking forward to because it will cause discomfort (and related to the cirrhosis diagnosis a couple of weeks back) , the second will be fine because it's the end of an observational period on my liver that has included two biopsies, but the consultant and nurses I've had looking out for me have been brilliant. I love the NHS.



The same consultant, because he is so good , spotted that I may have nerve damage in my left arm that resulted in the op and that seems to have majorly improved my control and strength in my left arm. I'd set my sights on learning to play AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" until I checked out the tab and found that's it's all played on the second ('B') string m so after ten minutes I'd made a decent stab at that on acoustic guitar (with a lot of buzzes and clicks) , so I need something a little more challenging, though I still think the Red Hot Chilli Pipers version on bagpipes is well impressive.

Uneasy Listening

Then I found a friend who with her husband has gone through traumatic times recently, but her little girl has started school , he husband's band (Omnihility)have released a new album and she is going for a dream job so lot's of positivity there which is brilliant.

I've done lots of walking about today, so have got some exercise, and actually had an enjoyable day.

U2 and iTunes gave us their new album whether you wanted it or not and it's playing at the moment and is fine, if just another U2 album, but really it's just a marketing exercise.

I've got another three weeks before a holiday in Ampleforth and have some gigs coming up , including GOAT, which I am really looking forward to.

Anyway enjoy what's left of the weekend , I certainly will

In The Future Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Seconds

I very seldom have a rant, more just have a feeling of exasperation at the apparent idiocy of the masses, however after having seen the Sunday Express'  headline today about another migrant invasion I thought I'd let you have my take on the "Ice Bucket Challenge" thing.

Over the years various people have done things to raise money and awareness for certain illnesses and causes. Today the Great North Run took place , which is now the world's greatest half marathon and raises millions for lots of worthy causes. People have trained for months to get into shape to give them a chance of finishing the race and hitting their target.

Now this IBC, it's supposed to be to raise awareness of ALS , I don't know what it is but think it's something to do with Motor Neurone Disease / Syndrome. ALS stands for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and I was right in my presumption. Here is a wiki definition. IBC seems to be a sort of "charity thing" for the iPod / You've Been Framed / Reality TV generation, the people who can't concentrate on anything for more than two minutes. It requires no training , no planning, and when it's done it's forgotten about. I believe some people have made money from it but eveybody can now put themselves on Youtube for two minutes and may or may not be seen but in most cases will be forgotten.

This is the same generation who buy into the broadband blurb that you can download an album in 40 seconds, but it should take 40 minutes to listen to, but then people skip tracks make playlists and maybe never listen to the album they've downloaded, because it's more convenient to download than it is to listen.

Andy Warhol

In the past Andy Warhol stated "In The Future Everyone Will Be Famous For 15 Minutes", he didn't take into account the idiocy accelerometers.

I think the the fact that the IBC is so ubiquitous has really annoyed me, and many of my friends have taken it to raise money for charities and all power to them, but I think it's good to take a challenge that you can put yourself into.

Anyway that's my rant over and obviously the only song I've going to choose is David Bowie's Andy Warhol so enjoy the rest of your Sunday , I've mowed the lawn and now others are following suit and if you must IBC say what your doing it and promote your charity upfront. Have a great day

First Week Of September - Judas Priest and Sodom and Gomorrah

..and I've been lax in my posting, but actually busy. Work quietened down so I could actually take a day of to enable me to go for a job interview, however I had also to fit in a visit to the plastic surgery bit of the RVI to follow up my visit to casualty last Saturday and all seemed good and they gave me a new supply of big plasters for my elbow.

Rebellious Jukebox

Because the interview was finished by twelve I had a half day to myself and wandered into down , finally ending up at the The Laing Art Gallery to see a couple of exhibitions , including Kelly Richardson's amazingly hypnotic "Mariner 9" which I'd seen before at Whitley Bay's Spanish City. Also the excellent "All That Is Solid Melts Into Air" with some brilliant juxtaposed images such as John Martin's "Sodom And Gomorrah" close to Judas Priest's "Unleashed In The East". There was also a brilliant jukebox setting which I wasn't supposed to photograph but did anyway.


Incidentally you can explore The Laing online here which gives you an idea where I was.

Today I'm off to see Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick at the Tyneside Irish Centre which should be a good night.

The weather is great and rainy , but it is September so what can you expect. But all in all an excellent week and if you are in Newcastle this weekend get yourself along to the Laing to see some amazing exhibits.

We Are The 801

This is post 801. In 1974 Brian Eno had a dream , or was inspired , and came up with a chorus for a song "The True Wheel" which went:

"We Are The 801,

  We Are The Central Shaft"

He wrote the song and later, apparently discovered that the number 801 represent the central shaft in Geomancy / Geomantics . This has always fascinated me, but always seemed far to esoteric for me to understand or delve into. Now I have the biggest information repository ever at my disposal, I writing this as I listen to the song, and am still bamboozled by the cabbalistic and magical symbols and numbers that make up the geomantic character set, and also wondering about their purpose. 

One of the definitions is:

 

 " a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy involves interpreting a series of 16 figures formed by a randomized process that involves recursion followed by analyzing them, often augmented with astrological interpretations."

Which may or may not pique your interest.

Taking Tiger Mountain

The song is from "Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy" probably my favourite Brian Eno album , full of interesting side stories like the unique lithographic production of the cover, the fact that the vinyl version finished on a closed groove, and songs were produced using Oblique Strategies while being incredibly accessible . This wiki article is a great jumping off point.

Anyway that's it for 801 , my next post will probably be a little more on the normal side , but I hope this has made you want to at least listen to the album.

800

800 Up

This is my 800th post. It's taken a few years to get here and will probably be next year when I hit 1000. Again I didn't know what this blog would turn out like , or whether I would keep on writing , but it's a sort of diary and helps me remember things. The original idea was a travel related blog hence the name "Seven Days In" although it could have been read (and has been by many) as "Seven Day Sin" which could imply much more fun depending of the nature of the sin.

S.O.P.H.I.E.

I do believe that life should be fun, and people who look for faults in everyday life must lead a very sad existence. I tend to expect the best from people and situations , and never get mad at anyone or anything , just exasperated, although I have no time at all for bullies which is why I am mightily impressed with coming into contact with Bad Pollyanna who support the extremely worth Sophie Lancaster Foundation. I didn't know what I was going to write about in this blog , apart from the fact that it was number 800 (I also have a theme for number 801). If you download the song Invincible Girl by Bad Pollyanna you will help support the foundation and that is a brilliant thing to do to combat bullying and promote acceptance. It's also available here on itunes.

Anyway it's Sunday afternoon and still a nice day.

By the way thanks to all my friends concerned about the cirrhosis of my liver. If I hadn't been on a trial I wouldn't have known about it , and if I didn't know about it I couldn't take the required action (which is essential 6 months ultrasound scans and the odd other camera based intrusion) but I am totally fine with it. If there is something wrong it's good to know because then you can actually do something about it, problems occur when you don't know. I have a lot to look forward to and I am going to enjoy it including seeing my daughters this week, trying out a couple of new bars and cafes , and seeing two of my heroes Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick gracing a stage I've dis(graced) myself several times at the Tyneside Irish Centre.

So go on, Enjoy Yourself , I certainly will!

And So To Bed

I must thank everyone for their good wishes and concern via text and facebook , email and here.  I really feel fine although a bit worried that I'll wake up in a small pool of blood again. My arm is sore, bruised but I was told to expect that , and I've obviously not been as careful with it as I should have been.

Bloodbath

When I was posting earlier I was thinking of using the movie above for the title , which still tickles me , I do like a bit of Kenny Everett.

Anyway I am going to go to bed and will hopefully not be writing about bodily ills. This is my 799th post , so the next one , which will probably be tomorrow should really be something special. Who knows I may get inspired , then again I may not.

But the main thing is that I am relaxed , and enjoying my weekend and you should too.

Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed and Lots of Blood

When you wake up, feel a ping in your elbow and look down and you are lying in a (small) pool of blood, it's probably not the best way to actually start the day. So you get up , run to the tiled bathroom , bleeding all the way, looking at the gaping wound thinking , what do I do? There's no pain just blood. Then lots of toilet roll and Fiona got me a tea towel as the blood started to subside.

I knew I had to go to casualty, but I was fine apart from the blood, so do I call an ambulance, get a bus or get a taxi. We found a big plaster given as a spare from a previous hospital visiABC taxi.
t and that seemed to stem most of the blood, so thought I'll get an

Space Oddity

The thing is as when your bleeding like that your priorities go all askew, so I couldn't wash , shave or shower, so hence the title taken from David Bowie's 1969 album Space Oddity, a song that I've always loved.

Five minutes later they're at my door , then half there I'm thinking "Have I got any money?" . It wouldn't have mattered as I had my wallet and there is a cash machine at the RVI.

Anyway gets in , and there's no damage done, lots of sterri strips applied and a new big plaster and now I'm back home. Walked through Leazes Park and the weather this morning is glorious. So the weekend has got off to an interesting start to say the least.

I hope yours is excellent , just without the blood.

Saturday Morning 2:30 AM and an unprovoked dig at Apple

Martin and Dave

Wide awake , although feeling slightly tired, but as it's still effectively late Friday night , very early Saturday morning after a manic couple of week both at work and socially and the fact that I 'm going to see two of my all time heroes Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick next Saturday at The Tyneside Irish Centre, I thought , what the hell , I'll just get up and go and write something and see what's happening in the world.

I've just realised that this has taken me 45 minutes to put together though I've managed to learn a few things, and put another smile or two on my face. I do love the way how one thought can lead to another and if you don't reign in your mind who knows where you will end up.


It's quite funny how online spelling checkers keep tryting to tell me it's "center" not "centre"  , but when I'm using the HTML tag it's <CENTER> not <CENTRE> in one of those rare situations where you get conformity in the name of standards , though I can see Apple trying to change HTML tags just because they are Apple to something like MIDDLEIZE and then patenting the word and their users defending it on the principle that "there must be a good reason for it". Oh and by the way I do have an iPad, which I bought because of Garageband , which, when it decides to work and not hide necessary controls is brilliant, but there's probably a good reason why it does that. As this is just text I'm not going to put in a smiley face or say "LOL", but I am obviously saying these things with my tongue firmly in cheek.

The fact that I was able to write that paragraph means that my mind is obviously wide awake even if my body is not quite there. Though tonight is the first time in ten days I've gone to bed without bandages on my arm, and I can't tell you how good that feels. Having them on was neccessary but , getting them off is brilliant. While I'm not sure I'll be able to play the intro to AC/DC's Thunderstruck just yet I am feeling absolutely great now.

The other thing I'll be able to wash and shower without trying to keep my left arm dry. God bless the NHS.

Anyway everybody enjoy your weekend and this gives me an excuse to post this video as well, by Finnish band Steve'n'Seagulls which really is impressive.