Oct. 25th, 2008

Baffled

Oct. 25th, 2008 12:24 pm
rhythmaning: (cat)
How come out of all the pictures I stick up on flickr, pictures of kittens get more hits in one day than any others?

The internet really is run for the sole purpose of transmitting pictures of cats.

So much for art!

Baffled

Oct. 25th, 2008 12:24 pm
rhythmaning: (cat)
How come out of all the pictures I stick up on flickr, pictures of kittens get more hits in one day than any others?

The internet really is run for the sole purpose of transmitting pictures of cats.

So much for art!
rhythmaning: (on the beat)
I have an admission to make. The very first single that I bought wasn’t an uber-cool record – say, the Velvet Underground or the Rolling Stones or the MC5 or something like that. It was Rolf Harris’ “Two Little Boys”.

I was nine at the time, and I asked my mother to buy it for me.

I only point this out because I have just learnt from the radio that Harris’ has rerecorded it for Armistice Day.

It still makes me sad!

(My first LP wasn’t very cool, either: ELP’s “Trilogy”, in 1973.)
rhythmaning: (on the beat)
I have an admission to make. The very first single that I bought wasn’t an uber-cool record – say, the Velvet Underground or the Rolling Stones or the MC5 or something like that. It was Rolf Harris’ “Two Little Boys”.

I was nine at the time, and I asked my mother to buy it for me.

I only point this out because I have just learnt from the radio that Harris’ has rerecorded it for Armistice Day.

It still makes me sad!

(My first LP wasn’t very cool, either: ELP’s “Trilogy”, in 1973.)
rhythmaning: (sunset)
A couple of weeks ago, I went to St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh. I realised that I had never actually been inside Edinburgh’s Anglican Presbyterian cathedral, despite spending nearly twenty years of my life here, and whilst I seem to spend a lot of time visiting cathedrals in other cities, I really ought to make an effort to see the cathedral in my own.

There were two thoughts that immediately struck me. First, it was incredibly friendly: I was there quite early in the morning, and the information desk wasn’t open for me to buy a photo licence – the volunteer who was greeting people told me not to worry about it. (I paid later, when there was someone there.) Second, it was very dark, almost gloomy, inside. This meant my first impression was a little disappointed: it lacked the grandeur of other cathedrals I have visited.

But actually, once I started exploring, I found it fascinating. I watched the sun come up through stained glass, hunted around several small chapels and looked at the National Covenant.

These are some of the things I saw.

DSC_0028 cut
Read more... )

rhythmaning: (sunset)
A couple of weeks ago, I went to St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh. I realised that I had never actually been inside Edinburgh’s Anglican Presbyterian cathedral, despite spending nearly twenty years of my life here, and whilst I seem to spend a lot of time visiting cathedrals in other cities, I really ought to make an effort to see the cathedral in my own.

There were two thoughts that immediately struck me. First, it was incredibly friendly: I was there quite early in the morning, and the information desk wasn’t open for me to buy a photo licence – the volunteer who was greeting people told me not to worry about it. (I paid later, when there was someone there.) Second, it was very dark, almost gloomy, inside. This meant my first impression was a little disappointed: it lacked the grandeur of other cathedrals I have visited.

But actually, once I started exploring, I found it fascinating. I watched the sun come up through stained glass, hunted around several small chapels and looked at the National Covenant.

These are some of the things I saw.

DSC_0028 cut
Read more... )

rhythmaning: (bottle)
For many, many years, I have played drums; and I often recognise pieces music by their rhythms.

I was sitting watching Strictly Come Dancing this evening. The last couple were Jodie Kidd and Ian Waite. They were dancing a paso doble.

The music started, with just a drum beat; and I thought, that's sounds like Blur's Song 2. Which was absurd, this being a ballroom dancing programme and that being a raucous rock song.

But I was wrong, and right: it was Song 2, played (in the same rhythm!) by the BBC dance band.

Kidd was excellent, by the way - the dance worked really well with the song.

But it was a little surreal. And I was shocked to recognise the music from the first few beats.
rhythmaning: (bottle)
For many, many years, I have played drums; and I often recognise pieces music by their rhythms.

I was sitting watching Strictly Come Dancing this evening. The last couple were Jodie Kidd and Ian Waite. They were dancing a paso doble.

The music started, with just a drum beat; and I thought, that's sounds like Blur's Song 2. Which was absurd, this being a ballroom dancing programme and that being a raucous rock song.

But I was wrong, and right: it was Song 2, played (in the same rhythm!) by the BBC dance band.

Kidd was excellent, by the way - the dance worked really well with the song.

But it was a little surreal. And I was shocked to recognise the music from the first few beats.

A1 OK

Oct. 25th, 2008 09:04 pm
rhythmaning: (cat)
After watching Strictly Come Dancing, I caught up with a tv programme I recorded a ten days ago, about building a stream locomotive. From scratch.

I like steam trains. I'm not obsessive or anything. But I have been watching a lot of BBC4's recent (and ongoing) series of programmes about steam trains.

Tonight I watched Absolutely Chuffed1, about a group of men who decided to build an A1 class locomotive. It took them eighteen years or so, and three million pounds.

And it made a really good tv programme. There was a lot of the Titfield Thunderbolt about the enterprise: a certain professional-amateurishness and the fact that everyone kept telling them that it would never work.

It did; and I wish I had been there.


1Although the programme is still on iPlayer, I have no idea how long it may stay there, since usually programmes only stay for a week - and it is over seven days since this was shown...

A1 OK

Oct. 25th, 2008 09:04 pm
rhythmaning: (cat)
After watching Strictly Come Dancing, I caught up with a tv programme I recorded a ten days ago, about building a stream locomotive. From scratch.

I like steam trains. I'm not obsessive or anything. But I have been watching a lot of BBC4's recent (and ongoing) series of programmes about steam trains.

Tonight I watched Absolutely Chuffed1, about a group of men who decided to build an A1 class locomotive. It took them eighteen years or so, and three million pounds.

And it made a really good tv programme. There was a lot of the Titfield Thunderbolt about the enterprise: a certain professional-amateurishness and the fact that everyone kept telling them that it would never work.

It did; and I wish I had been there.


1Although the programme is still on iPlayer, I have no idea how long it may stay there, since usually programmes only stay for a week - and it is over seven days since this was shown...
rhythmaning: (bottle)
Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire at the centre of the Mandelson-Osborne spat, is universally described as an "aluminium magnate".

But I though aluminium wasn't magnetic...
rhythmaning: (bottle)
Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire at the centre of the Mandelson-Osborne spat, is universally described as an "aluminium magnate".

But I though aluminium wasn't magnetic...

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