…more than just Bette Davis Eyes.
Like this sinuous earworm.
Musings on the byways of popular culture
…more than just Bette Davis Eyes.
Like this sinuous earworm.
Loads of pre-publicity about this, surprised it hasn’t yet gauged a post here, but I sort of can guess why, the spirit for vicious trollfests being o so last year for the current AWer. I have just watched the 4 episodes back to back. I thought it in turn stunning and terrifying, believable and unbelievable, best TV of the year, despite the supposed sensitivities. I can thus fully expect it will not have necessarily appealed to some of our media guardians, small g. So I looked: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4807862/CHRISTOPHER-STEVENS-reviews-Channel-4-s-State.html Am i alone in finding way more offence in the “review” than the programme could possibly offer? Or was that the point?
Hmm. The first two seasons were the best long-form TV I’ve ever seen. Best everything, from a screenplay that never got too clever or too dumb, performances that unfailingly hit the character bang in the middle of the note, Oscar-quality cinematography and editing (the newsreel clips added to, not distracted from, the realism – an amazing feat), and utterly convincing violence (the way I like my violence). So I’m hoping that S03 won’t harsh my mellow. But I’m guessing it probably will.
..forget the flowers in your hair, just mind your step.
Since it’s the Summer Of Hate, the Grauniad reports that hundreds of San Franciscans plan to prepare Crissy Field – the picturesque beach in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge where right wing protest group Patriot Prayer will gather – with a generous carpeting of excrement.
They should put some acid in the water while they’re at it.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/24/san-francisco-dog-poo-protest-patriot-prayer-rally
Advent calendars now on sale at Cheshire oaks shopping centre.
I fucking despair.
A male dominated Mumsnet? That’s this place isn’t it?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/41024387/group-of-men-form-dads-version-of-mumsnet
This year Finland celebrates 100 years of independence from Sweden and in honour of this, there is a three day festival of Finnish culture here in Stockholm. Lots of fine artists such as the marvelous Iiris Viljanen who you will remember made it onto Locust’s Best of 2016 list.
The big attraction for the younger audience however will be pop star Alma who is enormously popular over there on the other side of the Baltic. The song I’ve posted is very catchy. Watch out Signe! You have competition.
There will also be a performance of scenes from a new show about Tom of Finland. Famed for his gay erotica, it has now been suggested that he is now as famous as Finland’s other great export, Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll. One magazine picked up on this and produced an hilarious image of two podgy moomins cruising in leatherware.
My jazz neighbour tells me that Finland has some of the most exciting young jazz acts in Europe.
Aki Kaurismäki, Lordi, Maria Kalaniemi, Tove Jansson, Värttinä, Heavisaurus, Kimmo Pojhonen, Vasas Flora & Fauna: these are a few of my favourite Finns.
Have you any? Or do you draw a blank after Moominmamma, Sniff, » Continue Reading.
Last week, the future Mrs Japanese and I decided to play a game to whittle away the time during a long car journey. We decided to explain the first lines in a song as a brief synopsis, without using any of the actual lyrics.
These should be easy to guess, and additions are encouraged.
1. A gentleman addresses a married woman belonging to a fruit drink manufacturing business.
2. Set in the north of England, a jealous impresario recalls the moment he was first aquainted with a front-of-house employee at Revolution Bar. Sixty months later, things aren’t so promising.
3. A Rayleigh lies, temporarily out of action, upon the Moors, overlooking the city below. Our lonely narrator longs for a romantic liaison.
4. Two men meet in a pub which is far from empty. The latter of the two gentlemen is privately educated and a wine conniseur. He yearns for a career in the criminal underworld.
5. Between the hours of sunset and sunrise, two lovers are entwined in an intimate embrace. Anxious, the girl is keen to know if her feelings will be reciprocated the following day.
6. Our lusty narrator is equally impressed with the fashions of » Continue Reading.
It worked for me a few days ago.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=11301518031&ref=uk_gc_vc_promo_b55g9
by dai 78 Comments
However, this one brings up a lot of albums I have never heard. I think I only own (exactly) a quarter.
http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/
This started as I pulled up in the car park this morning. Most interesting – the ‘scream’ chord this week.
First episode was July 26th, so get listening/get_iPlayering quick!
I desperately need ten thousand dollars right now. If every Afterworder contributed, ooh, say, five hundred dollars each – well within your means – I could afford to buy this reel-to-reel tape of a completely heretofore unknown Van Morrison album from ’75. Think how happy it would make me! Every contributor to this bold new crowdsourcing initiative would receive an authentic laser-printed picture of me holding the tape and looking happy, suitable for framing – a constant reminder of the Power Of Charitable Good Works and your own personal worth as a human being.
Once you’ve done that, have a look around the site and see what else you could have scored for your meagre five hundred – nothing to match that inner glow of satisfaction at having helped an Afterworder out!
Well it’s 23/8/2017 and as promised The KLF aka The JAMS aka The K Foundation aka K2 Plant Hire and whatever – are back back back. I’m not on the scene but apparently Drummond and Cauty pulled up in – yes – an Ice Cream Van on Bold Street, Liverpool about an hour ago. If you’ve not ‘across’ this story, basically 400 ‘volunteers’ have each paid £100 each to participate in a 3 day happening which starts now. It’s been pretty clear there will be no musical performance, this absolutely isn’t a KLF reunion gig and it certainly isn’t a music festival. I don’t know what the F**K is going on and nobody knows for sure.
The first event – by all accounts, is basically a book signing – although they’re rubber stamping books rather than signing and, amusingly, participants have been warned that anyone bringing any other memorabilia to be signed will have it confiscated and destroyed. (How about that Roger Waters and Ringo?) Tomorrow, those paying volunteers will be given ‘jobs’ to do followed by participating in various interventions and rites around various locations in Liverpool over the next 3 days. Apparently strong swimmers, guitarists and make-up » Continue Reading.
I can’t get the video to work!!!
https://youtu.be/4M7gKZqgHn4
Wanting to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Scotch, a recent googling led me to this wonderful treasure trove.
YouTube as we know is home to ne’er-do-wells of all stripes but let’s not forget that it makes sites such as this possible. Armed only with a rudimentary understanding of video technology an ordinary bloke (well as ordinary as an undertaker can be!) with a passion for a particular subject such as Ralf Mitchell can build a global audience.
For those such as myself wishing to delve slightly deeper into all things Scotch the first video I’ll post below is a good place to start but there is a positive cornucopia of information on his channel, including the occasional detour into the world of sipping rums, bourbons, even absinthe.
Also, a video he posted that made a greater impression on me than any amount of nanny state hectoring is shown below. All quality stuff and highly recommended.
Any other suggestions of similarly unlikely YouTubers welcome…
by Twang 6 Comments
Just came across this clip of Bert I’ve never seen before. Fab stuff and reminds you how magical and unique his playing was. Serious moustache action at the beginning too. @colin-h – doubtless you’ve seen this?
https://tv.nrk.no/serie/blanda-drops/FBUA07002773/07-05-1973
by Rob C 98 Comments
All the effervescent predictable outrage of the usual PC mob, counter ermine clad huffing and pufing, Nelson getting it in the neck in the Guardian (he’s a statue, donchaknow – Robert E Lee I can understand, but come on folks, let’s draw a sensible line), the CPS lady calling for more internet policing of online hate crime – fair enough as it goes, but define?, professional hugs available, stress puppies, Owen Jones, Nigel Lawson…
Madness all.
I’m offended by that Hastings advert. My ancestors suffered at the hands of the Normans. Perhaps. I dunno.
by chiz 44 Comments
Released 20 years ago today, apparently, so I’m listening to it for the first time in, ooh, nineteen years and fifty-one weeks. 10 years ago, at a press event, I found myself at the bar with the then editor of Q. I asked if he ever got grief for Phil Sutcliffe’s infamous 5-star review, even though he’d probably still been at school at the time. He shook his head and said “Every cunt in the world still says ‘You owe me £10 for Be Here Now.””
So is it all that bad? Not all of it’s that bad. There’s just so much of it. Too many tracks, and too many tracks on each track. Everything’s an ounce too long and an eighth too loud. Noel and producer Owen Morris famously had a problem turning things down, in more ways than one. No excess is too excessive here. Be How Now assaults the eardrums the way it assaulted its makers’ septums.
Listening to it now, the problem’s obvious enough – the songs aren’t very good, and making them longer won’t cure that – and Noel’s a one-trick guitarist, so multi-tracking won’t hide that either. It’s a new musical sub-genre: Thrash-Plod. It’s » Continue Reading.
I’m ready.
I could have sworn I’d seen this on here before, but a search returns nothing. So, in case you missed it in April, here’s the 55-minute BBC Radio Scotland documentary on the least-prolific of Edinburgh acts.
‘Hi Christopher it’s the studio here…yeah just stoked about the Dunkirk numbers. You crushed it buddy. So, we’re thinking here about what’s next. I mean not Dunkirk 2 – that would be crazy. But where you might want to go next. We’re thinking maybe The Dambusters here. Everyone loved the planes – so let’s have more of those. And there’s even a dog. What do you think?
So, there’s a stiff upper lip B and W film ripe for re-imagining. Check. Only really need to see the Germans in long shot. Check. So no tricky subtitles or ‘For you Tommy zee war iz over’ moments. Check. We’re so over all that cheap stereotyping. Planes. Check. Can we get some Spitfires in again? The Lancaster’s a bit more…utilitarian. Cross-cutting narratives building to a climactic moment. Ok maybe we need to think a bit more here. So far I’ve got – Guy Gibson in a plane obvs but also: Barnes Wallis suddenly realises there’s a fatal flaw in the bomb design…but they’ve already left. So can we get him in a Spitfire doing some mid-air crucial repairs while they’re being shot at. The dog story needs fleshing out – maybe he’s got » Continue Reading.
The ultimate Rick-Rolling, as the Never Gonna Give You Up Hitmaker joins The Foo Fighters on stage at the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan. Whether you like Mr Grohl’s music or not, you have to say his band always look like they are having a bloody good time. Warning: contains loud ‘melon-farmers’.
An hour or so of your life you will remember if you remember them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b086tw3q/bob-monkhouse-the-last-stand
Secrets! We’ve all got them! They’re fun! It’s like knowing something no-one else knows! But what makes secrets even more fun is sharing them! Who’s got the best secret? The SECRETEST secret? Now’s our chance to find out! What’s YOUR secret? What do YOU know that nobody else knows? It can be about you, or someone you know, or someone very famous that everyone knows! Or maybe someone not so famous that quite a few people know! Like Jarvis Cocker out of Pulp! Maybe it’s your pin number, and that three-digit code on the back of your card! Were you in the Crusaders Christian Youth Movement? Have you been cautioned for stealing underwear off your neighbour’s washing line? Share your most treasured – or perhaps shaming – secret here! And don’t worry! Only about a dozen or so people read the Afterword blog, and three of them are bricameron, so your secret’s safe with us! Spill those beans! Sing like a canary! Dish the dirt!
Over to you, Afterworders!
http://i.imgur.com/oWz9Wup.jpg