20% of the repertoire!

So as I set myself a mission a few weeks ago to go through my entire catalogue of music from start to finish. I have experienced some cynicism of whether I would actually finish the challenge and now I can safely say that I am about to reach the 20% mark.

So why did I decide to start this venture? The answer is not why, but why not and no before some individuals start texting half their contact list, I am not making a tape in a High Fidelity kind of way!

It has appeared to me that historically there is a pattern to my music listening, I get an album listen it to death over two weeks, bury it into my music collection and have occasional joy when ‘random’ play occasionally exhumes the odd track. Another characteristic pattern I have is for my friends to lend me music which I listen to once and decide thats not bad , but as I am still infatuated with the fortnights current album of choice, I just gloss over the other music.

So at the start I stood with an entire catalogue and pondered what is the best way to embark on this voyage:

1. by artist alphabetically. (Would probably lead me to artist fatigue and just being totally cheesed off with some of my all time favourite bands).
2. by date of first release chronologically. (Not a bad idea as I would start with some classsical, then grooners and swooners, then rock and roll, and then the eighties and nineties through which I have lived would be such an anticlimax).
3. by album alphabetically. (Probably for my own sanity – a varied and sensible random mix).

4. chronologically by date of first being obtained. (This would be nice and sentimental but thankfully completely impossible for me to remember).

 

So after much deliberation the usage of alphabetical album name has in the first fifth had its highs and lows.

Highs

• Definitive Ray Charles
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• Dance With The Devil
• Amnesiac
• Africa Unite: Bob Marley

Lows

• Chris Moyles Podcast
• Disney: Lilo + Stitch
• Bravery

So in a High Fidelity kind of way I will continue to have arrogance as I critic my collection as it finally hits the 20% mark with: Do they Know It’s Christmas?. (In November in my own house!!)

Television is a vast wasteland!

Recently I have discovered why the idea of a podcast came about, was not because it was another means by which you could be brainwashed by James Bondesque media moguls, but that I could actually be entertained and potentially educated by them.

After having experimented with various podcasts from, Italian lessons to a DJ’s summary of his daily rants, I finally discovered a gem. Now before you begin to chisel at your monitors while searching for podcasts no I didn’t discover Amethyst, Ruby or Emerald allotropes which were solid state podcasts. (Don’t be afraid to google allotrope I would be more concerned about you, if you don’t!). Hopefully at this point you are still able to read this and your monitor is intact. Anyway what i discovered was a podcast solely dedicated to, ‘ Great Speeches in History’. Some may see this as sad I know, but it has actually been quite an eye opener. Probably the best that I have got round to listening too before my great quest, more details will follow, was entitled, ‘Television is a vast wasteland’.

This speech by Newton Minno, in 1961 could have been written yesterday and the one line that really struck me was;

“I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and loss sheet or rating book to distract you — and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland”.

This really struck home to me why at times it is referred to as, “the idiot box”. Jeremy Kyle doesn’t help the case for TV either. It has also made me realise how much television we watch for the sake of just merely watching TV.

Not all TV is bad, it does have the classic sitcoms, documentaries, news and sport. What would life have been like without, Dougal Maguire, Del Boy and Eric from Acacia Road. Would I have been the same person if I didn’t see the Venezuelan, “Iginia Boccalandro” , on the luge. It is still one of my happy places!!

 

This speech has made me sit down, turn the wireless on and begin to read more, and after two weeks I could have said that I don’t miss TV. That was until I realised that, Gladiator was on tonight. The good one i.e. the one with Jaquin Phoenix where he has that snake like attitude throughout that makes even a reptilian vets skin crawl!

So instead of coming home to collapse in front of the TV and snoozing to what ever is on in the background. I now have a concious decision to make, which paper / book to read, do I listen to the radio or continue with my quest as I chill out, or does the idiot box get a second chance??

 

 

 

 

 

Where rules are laws!

Not since the Magna Carte being first penned beside the Thames, has man actually realised how little civilized society actually understands about rules, or to better phrase it has one man realised how little he knows about the laws of a game.

So why in rugby is it laws and not rules, and why if Rugby was invented in England, i.e. Rugby is it currently being run by the IRB from Dublin. Some of the best things in life are simply unexplainable. Who could have imagined that one of the finest things ever to come out of England, it was decided to let the Irish look after.

To begin to explain how and why certain decisions are made on a rugby pitch to an alien of the game, is like explaining why the Italians have style. Sometimes we just have to accept that they have both come about over a period of time for reasons that we can’t fathom.

Upon downloading the rulebook for rugby, sorry laws. It appears that somewhere in the 182 page document I may learn why decisions by referees are made. On first appearances, the referees signal section looks like some Village People choreographed dance. Who would have thought that a referee had 46 separate hand signals. Sir Francis Drake probably used less for the entire Spanish Armada, (that is probably because he was tending to his dysentery).

So after finally getting to grips with the 182 pages, I may hopefully finally understand that the referee is not just blowing his whistle and waving his arms around, because he has small man syndrome and wants attention.

It probably also won’t cover such topics as :

1. Why footballers look like they have been shot when the invisible man tackles them?
2. Why footballers have conferences with the ref?
3. Why New Zealand always enter as favourites to a World Cup?
4. Is Sebastien Chabal a Neanderthal and does he live in a cave?

God bless Webb Ellis for being a petulant schoolboy who took a huff and sat on a ball until his friends played by his rules – sorry laws!

So Really What is the Point?

It occurred to me over the last seven days that my mane was in need of some restructuring and it was out of control. This fact probably had been realised by quite a few female colleagues quite some time ago.

I noticed this on Monday when i realised that I could actually get a good grip of my own hair and it was beyond being just literally possible.

So the more I set plans in motion to get the, “lawnmower treatment”, the more impossible it became to get to the barbers. One thing after another just occurred and I was now contemplating just pulling the hair out, and having a chrome dome. So, as I continued to tread through the snares of wanting to leave on time the more hurdles I managed to flop over. As closing time of the barbers passed I was just walking out the door heading for home.

Upon arrival at the house I was greeted with a marvelous unexpected request for cash to be removed from my account. Added to this the fuel which had entered my car on Sunday and subsequently ensured that I had no, “true acceleration”, for a few hours of a five hour drive.

So all was going swimmingly, I just began pondering what to do when I decided to go to the pool. Guess what, not allowed in as Adult Swimming Lesson Time! So if i get into the pool and swim doggy paddel and attempt to drown on at least two occasions thats ok, but if I want to merely swim lengths and not annoy anyone thats a no-go area. Anyhow after I got back from the pool, (dry), and chilled out I headed back to the office the following day to be greeted with queries which should have been resolved the following day.

Now at this point the camel and the straw had been having a soiree and I uttered the, “So really what is the point?”. Now why I said this I just don’t know. I was merely wanting one of those moments of looking to the heavens and just having a laugh, but no I had opened the nature vs nuture, what is the meaning of life, is the colour blue really a shade of red debates. After having my arm stroked and the conciliatory sympathy, I am still looking just for a moment to look at the heavens and smile and have an inward moment of joyous laughter!!