angels
A phone call today from a cheerful young chap from Future Music. He wanted some quotes on whether I felt software production could ever take over completely from the 'hardware' studios, and whether the production values were as tight in software production. I couldn't think of anything inspiring on the spur of the moment so I had to phone him back. I remarked that he was working on New Year's Eve and he told me they were working to a deadline for the March 2002 issue! This made me reflect on our humble blogging life, where today's hot news is tomorrow's archive.
Anyway I called him back and mouthed on about how some producers favour the Leonardi da Vinci approach, but how I am more of a Jackson Pollock in the studio - splatter it about, that's my motto.


London's Capital Radio have just compiled a 'hot 500' based on listeners' votes - they just reached the number one a few minutes ago.
Here's the top five:
5. U2 - With Or Without You
4. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?
3. George Michael - Careless Whisper
2. John Lennon - Imagine
1. Robbie Williams - Angels
OK, hats off for Marvin, but dear oh dear, eh?

moving story
Thanks to the very wondeful Tara, I now have a website.
Tara built it for me yesterday.
I've retained the same format, but it means far more flexibility to do stuff - post photos, stream music, etc.
I'll keep posting here in tandem with the new site for a few days, but if you'd like to keep in touch (and I hope you will), please change to my new address:
www.stupidlyhappy.com

pas de deux
To London, on a blisteringly cold evening, to see 'The Nutcracker' at The Coliseum. I saw Derek Deane's eccentric, but endearing, production two years ago and in the intervening period (when it has toured extensively), there has been some tweaking and twiddling but, essentially, the choreography has remained intact.
We had dinner at (surprise!) the Italian restaurant next door to the Theatre, where, by an odd coincidence, an old friend of mine was seated at the next table but one.
There was, however, one very noticeable difference from my last visit to see this production, in 1999. On that occasion, the Theatre was full to capacity. Last night, the place was barely half full. The 'bin Laden' effect, I guess, as the centre of London was also remarkably quiet for a Saturday night.

twinkle twinkle
One of my favourite places to stop off each day, amongst the driftwood, flotsam and jetsam of the web, is APOD - or to give its full title, 'Astronomy Picture of the Day'. Each day NASA produce what is generally a stunning shot of the wonders of the universe. It's worth visiting just for the sheer beauty of the compositions.
Throughout history, of course, those that have added to our knowledge of the universe have often been ridiculed. Galileo was an extraordinary man who invented the microscope; and developed the use of telescopes, in order that he could make detailed studies of the planets in our solar system. Galileo endorsed the theories of Copernicus and asserted that the planets revolved around the sun.
It seems incredible now, that this theory was not only scorned by his peers but that he was accused of heresy by the Church and, indeed, forced to renounce his beliefs and live his last years in exile.
However, the spooky denouement to this story is the bizarre tale of Galileo's finger.
Even today, some people are far from convinced.

first hand account
This guy was on the flight with Richard Reid

tongue 'n' groove
Lawdy, lawdy - this is what she's done now!
Every day is a new adventure for Laura.
I think she's great.

bacon sandwich with granary bread
Sasha stopped by the office this morning and so we went to lunch, with her friend, Ranu.
We were talking about movies and, in particular, the way Bollywood movies just don't crossover through the cultures.
Bollywood movies are (generally) made in India and tend to follow a strict format:
Girl falls in love with bloke; parents don't approve; they are kept apart; bloke finds opportunity to undertake heroic deed; girl's parents change mind; joy is unconfined.
I went back to the office and watched the planes landing as the sun set.

83 with a bullet
Amazon.com have taken two more of my musical outpourings and so now three can either be downloaded for free, or you can just listen to thirty second sound bites. It's quite strange because I had an email from Amazon just before Christmas, requesting CDs for them to hold in their warehouse, to sell to an unsuspecting public ;-) but it seems that because I'm not resident in North America, some contractual thing is in the way of that.
Their chart changes daily I think - but as I type this, 'Vietnam' is number 83 which is better than being number 84, I guess!
It'll probably be number 183 tomorrow.....

my relationship with kylie minogue
Well, The Kylie thing started out in a very innocent way, when I just happened to mention, in passing, that whilst out for dinner two weeks back, some of us were debating who was the cooler, Kylie or Madonna. A deep philosophical debate, I agree.
I said that I opted for Kylie, because I had seen her new cinema/movie theater ad for Agent Provocateur. Well this started a flurry of people visiting this site, via search engines, as they clearly desired a peek at Ms Minogue wearing her undergarments.
Soooo.... to be helpful I re-posted the link to where this ad may be viewed.
This brought about another surge of visitors, through the search engines.
So I put the link for the ad right at the top of the page, so visitors could just link right to it and not have to scroll down and search.
Now, if you try searching for Kylie/Agent/Provocateur through, for example, Yahoo you'll end up right here. I hope Kylie appreciates the career boost I'm giving her here!
;-)

sizzling
Wooo! I'm number 92, and apparently 'hot'.
heheheheheh.

without a paddle
I don't have a very good attention span for films or tv drama. I tend to lose interest after about thirty minutes, so I did well over the holidays (by my standards) as I watched two movies: Elizabeth, with Cate Blanchett; and Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow.
Last night BBC1 ran a two hour 'feature length' version of 'Jonathan Creek' (wonder if it has found it's way to the USA yet?) - it's a series which has made an unlikely sex symbol of it's star, Alan Davies. It was too long at two hours and had an outrageously daft plot, but it was curious in that the writer, David Renwick, managed to throw in some passing references to other films, dramas, novels and legends, including such diverse entities as Batman and Oedipus.
However, it was very comforting to find that the storyline agreed with my first rule of drama:
As soon as you see Steven Berkoff's name in the cast list, you won't have to look too far for the murderer.
In this case, Berkoff was the murderer of the murderer, which was a novelty, I guess.


Blogger.com got hacked into, yesterday, and Ev. has had to spend a lot of time (from his holiday base in Iowa) fixing the holes. I was one of those affected, my password got changed twice and I had to fix a few bugs in the template. Maybe Ev could find a role for Jonathan Creek in Blogger.

disposable society
I'm going to sound like I'm 105 years old here, but.... we're becoming a very untidy nation, here in England. Driving back through Surrey at the weekend, skirting the North Downs, and the Pilgrims' Way I became ever more aware of the discarded cigarette packets, plastic bags and other 'environmental art' that (I assume) had been thrown, on a whim, from passing cars, and now sat patiently awaiting the next gust of wind to send it cascading further in it's journey along the hedgerows before becoming snagged for eternity on some well meaning twig, or branch.
A more bizarre and irritating form of invasive littering is the new vogue to put up stickers or banners on traffic light poles, exhorting the captive viewer to phone (usually a mobile or cell phone) number to make a fortune in five minutes, give up smoking, or lose weight with absolutely no effort at all.
I am very tempted to print up my own version saying :
"Lose weight NOW!!!!! Eat less and exercise more!"
.... and that reminds me - the diet starts here on January 1. It could be a tricky journey


Late news just in: I burned my toast this morning. The smoke is clearing now, but for a while there, it was like a scene from Apocalypse Now.

two brandy glasses
S'funny really. Sliding Doors had kinda passed me by and I remembered her, mainly, for that Oscar speech but it was a strong performance and I'm glad I finally caught up with the movie.


I rode Becker this morning. I don't think he realised it was Christmas. The stable girls had put tinsel around his bridle, and I took him two carrots. Windsor Great Park has an air of mystery in the early morning; there was a wispy mist over the lake, and it drifted over the pathways and swirled around the trees by the water's edge. Becker's 'clop clop' heavy feet echoed across the lake and came back over to us, like an equine Pink Floyd. "Floating down the sound resounds around the icy water underground", I said to myself.
It made sense at the time.

peace
Whether you are zooming about and living it up, or spending this Christmas on your own, I wish you a peaceful time.

comment
(v) To interpose, note, observe, opine, point out, remark, say or utter.
The comment thing is back thanks to a tip from the lovely Karen at Kacroon.
Thanks Karen. xx