Noah and the Whale - Give it All Back

IT'S ONLY NOAH AND THE BLOODY BLOOMIN WHALE!!!


Noah and the Whale - Give it All Back

VIVA STEVE WRIGHT!!!

Found this page on t'tinterweb. Gold!

Steve Wright's one liners

10 Rites of Passage, from Listverse

Fascinating, surreal and sometimes painful - 10 rites of passage for children to become adults, from various places in the world.

10 Bizarre Rites of Passage

MORE Faces

3 newies that I thought were funny.

Pengu!ns - Warm Up

A song by Zak Starkey's new band. I think it's with his daughter. He is, of course, the son of Ringo Starr (real name Richard Starkey) and his first wife Maureen. It sounds like a really promising band. I heard a track called Hate Male too, but it's not on Youtube I don't think.

Pengu!ns - Warm Up

Oh! I just found a clip of Hate Male.

Hate Male

For the Clown

A poem I thought of about a cartoon type painting I'm doing.

For the clown

you see, it's hard

finding words

to fix a heart.

A haiku style poem by Francis Howell and a TuNe by LCD Soundsystem

Not at all related, but juxtaposition is the spice of life.

LCD Soundsystem - Yr City's a Sucker (London Session)

Cloud maps shift across

a windy sky, as unknown

countries ebb and flow.

By Francis Howell

It reminds me of looking through an aeroplane window. My favourite place to be - above the clouds!

Pumpkin Carving and Veggie Animals

I can't say how much I love these. I love all kinds of art and these are creative and beautifully made. The first link shows pumpkins carved by Ray Villafane and the second shows veggie and fruit animals. I'm not sure who by but they're very lovable like vintage toys. Not everything in the second link is great, but the ones that are are double-great.

http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2010/10/26/scary-halloween-pumpkin-carvings/

http://www.funzug.com/index.php/artwork/even-vegetables-can-be-interesting.html

Babies 'cry in mother's tongue'

I was sitting here at the school I work at, wondering what to do, when I suddenly thought "I wonder if the crying sounds of babies are different in different countries?". "I bet they are!" I thought. And I was right! Hooray for me! Here's an article from the BBC about some tests that a German scientist did.

I know that at some of the schools around here (language schools) mothers and fathers take their babies and the foreign teachers talk to the babies for about 45 minutes. And get paid. Super! I imagine it does help though, as crazy as it sounds.

Here's the link, but I'll copy and paste it any way.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8346058.stm

German researchers say babies begin to pick up the nuances of their parents' accents while still in the womb.

The researchers studied the cries of 60 healthy babies born to families speaking French and German.

The French newborns cried with a rising "accent" while the German babies' cries had a falling inflection. 

Writing in the journal Current Biology, they say the babies are probably trying to form a bond with their mothers by imitating them. 

The findings suggest that unborn babies are influenced by the sound of the first language that penetrates the womb. 

Cry melodies

It was already known that foetuses could memorise sounds from the outside world in the last three months of pregnancy and were particularly sensitive to the contour of the melody in both music and human voices. 

Earlier studies had shown that infants could match vowel sounds presented to them by adult speakers, but only from 12 weeks of age. 

Kathleen Wermke from the University of Wurzburg, who led the research, said: "The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are human neonates capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their foetal life. 

"Contrary to orthodox interpretations, these data support the importance of human infants' crying for seeding language development." 

Dr Wermke's team recorded and analysed the cries of 60 healthy newborns when they were three to five days old. 

Their analysis revealed clear differences in the shape of the infants' cry melodies that corresponded to their mother tongue. 

They say the babies need only well-co-ordinated respiratory-laryngeal systems to imitate melody contours and not the vocal control that develops later. 

Dr Wermke said: "Newborns are highly motivated to imitate their mother's behaviour in order to attract her and hence to foster bonding. 

"Because melody contour may be the only aspect of their mother's speech that newborns are able to imitate, this might explain why we found melody contour imitation at that early age." 

Debbie Mills, a reader in developmental cognitive neuroscience at Bangor University, said: "This is really interesting because it suggests that they are producing sounds they have heard in the womb and that means learning and that it is not an innate behaviour. 

"Many of the early infant behaviours are almost like reflexes that go away after the first month and then come back later in a different form. 

"It would be interesting to look at these babies after a month and see if their ability to follow the melodic contours of their language is still there."

Interesting!

Gorgeous!

Massive Attack vs Burial - Paradise Circus. Introduced by May Anne Hobbs from BBC Radio 1.

Richard Wilbur - Mind

MIND

Mind in its purest play is like some bat
That beats about in caverns all alone,
Contriving by a kind of senseless wit
Not to conclude against a wall of stone.

It has no need to falter or explore;
Darkly it knows what obstacles are there,
And so may weave and flitter, dip and soar
In perfect courses through the blackest air.

And has this simile a like perfection?
The mind is like a bat. Precisely. Save
That in the very happiest of intellection
A graceful error may correct the cave.

– Richard Wilbur

I don't know if I fully understand the last verse, but it paints an amazing image.

I've heard this song on Radio 6 so many times, and never noted what it was and then came across it elsewhere by accident. I love it. It's got such a cool and simple swagger. The band are from Brooklyn, New York and have only been together since 12th September 2010! I think this is their 2nd single and it's released on 31st October on Lucky Number Music. Enjoy!

This next band foxed me for a while there. I thought they sounded a bit English putting on an accent of sorts and subsequently discovered they come from Oxford. I subsequently subsequently found out it's Oxford, Mississippi! So there you go. From their facebook page:

Young Buffalo was born in the summer of '09 in a small house in the country. Without much more than song ideas and one booked show, the guys began crafting a sound steeped in 3-part harmonies and pounding percussion. Young Buffalo self-released the Catapilah Demo with plans to release an EP in spring '11.

Here's their website http://www.youngbuffaloband.com

LCD Sound System, LEGO and Uranium

How could LCD Soundsystem get any better? LEGO!!! THAT'S HOW!!!!! 

How could LEGO get any better? LCD BLOOMIN SOUDSYSTEM THAT'S HOW!!!!!!!

How could uranium get any better?! Radioactive Man - THAT'S HOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swimming - Sun in the Island

I know nothing more at this juncture.

Marconi Union - A Shower of Sparks

I just heard this group on Jarvis Cocker's radio show. I couldn't find the track they played, but I loved the title of this. The track starts opening up around 1.35 and it gets really nice towards the end.

Here's their website:

www.marconiunion.com/index.asp

Shabazz Palaces - SWERVE The Reeping of All that is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding)

Golly gosh, this is amazing. It's the same group as yesterday. According to Wikipedia they are a Seatle hip-hop collective led by Butterfly of Digable Planets.

Aphex Twin - On [µ-ziq remix] and Shabazz Palaces- The King's New Clothes Were Made By His Own Hands (Yours Truly X Gorilla vs. Bear)

µ-ziq is an amazing artist! As is Aphex Twin.

YTGVB: Shabazz Palaces "The King's New Clothes Were Made By His Own Hands" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

First time I heard these! Sounds really interesting.

 

We Are Amused

Chiharu is Japanese and when we were in a bar one time, and I'd let my stubble grow a bit too long, she started pointing at my chin, saying "Red, brown, black, gold" etc. It was the first time  I'd noticed that I had different coloured beard hairs. It was a big novelty for her. It's one of my favourite memories, since it made me chuckle!


Counting my whiskers, 
which've grown far too long, 
as if they're autumnal maple leaves -

"Red, brown, gold,
 red, brown, gold,
 red, brown, gold,
 red, brown, gold,"
 
scarcely believing 
her eyes aren't in wrong, 
it appears she's amused 
and amusingly pleased!

King Midas Sound - Earth A Kill Ya (Gang Gang Dance Rework Hyper Dub 2011) )

This guy is called Kevin Martin and just the list of labels he's worked on is amazing on its own. He's got a handful of pseudonyms and has worked with some great artists, including El-P and Alec Empire. I shall be investigating the chap further. I love the video (don't know who by) and the rework by Gang Gang Dance, an experimental band from New York. Here's the original tune, which is hypnotic and pretty amazing:

The funniest man on Earth

David O'Doherty is the funniest man on Earth and I shall share his funniness... NOW:

Bare Branches

This is a short poem I wrote trying to finish another one. I like this one better though!

Autumn's here,
avert your stare,
the trees have stripped
their branches bare.
Their leafy robes
lie everywhere.

St. Vincent - Cruel

This is the first I've heard of her. She's an artist rather than part of a band, although she used to be in The Polyphonic Spree and toured with Sufjan Stevens' band. She resides in Manhattan currently, her real name is Annie Erin Clark and her moniker of St. Vincent is a nod to Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center, where the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas died in 1953.

This information has been brought to you with the help of Wikipedia.

This is her website   -   http://www.ilovestvincent.com/

I'm not sure what label she's on in the UK and USA but I found that she's on Beggar's in Canada

http://www.beggarsgroup.ca/releases (just scroll down a bit).

tUnE-yArDs - Gangsta

I love this song. Need to get tune-yards albums. I  think it's one woman from New-York.

3 Great Songs

British Sea Power, Frank Wilson, and Public Image Limited (PiL)

Source Code

Amazing movie! Hopefully this works. Coninue to content! Putlocker is awesome! DivX can kiss my shiny metal ass!

www.alluc.org/movies/watch-source-code-2011-online/watch1922984.html?hc=4e668c79138c6d202318fb0d3d76b907|1316797294

Dave's are WISE!!!

The wisdom of David Mitchell.

Ha ha ha ha ha! Thank you David.

A Couple More Poems (Less good ones! Ha ha!)

I'm not so sure anyone will like these, but I do, so I thought I'd stick them up here.

Strange

Stranger,
you're a  friendly face.
No stranger
than the human race.


My Poem, My Rules

Concrete is not an
attractive material.
A meal after morning
should not involve cereal.
A rabbit or pig
does not need a lead.
These are my rules -
the world should take heed.
Sweetcorn's a veg and a
fruit and a seed.

A Couple of Poems

These are just a couple that I've had in the notes section on my phone for a while. One is about 2 business men (salary men in Japan) dropping their coins everywhere in the supermarket (again and again and again!) and the other's about feeling a bit down one night, a long time ago, and the power of tea to cheer you up!

All Over the Place

Two salary men,

With bright red faces,

Dropping coins

All over places.
Thinking the checkout

Might be a bar - 

I think they've already 

Been for a jar.

The SS Cuppaty

Night has fallen

and all at sea,

with broken sails,

I'll make some tea.


An additional note - when Asian people have been drinking, they sometimes get red faces and 'jar' is British slang for a pint of beer (although it's not massively common to hear it said).

Lady Songs!

Yes - lady songs exist! I discovered them and they're sung by ladies! Not like the Spice Girls, but by proper ladies with brains and hearts and souls! Here's 3 that I came across. P J (Polly) Harvey with The Words That Maketh Murder (Live at the Mercury Music Prize ceremony), Planningtorock with Bolton Wanderer (live at Bestival), and Anna Calvi with Suzzane and I.

Arcade Fire, Manchester, Aug 2011

I'm back from the UK and Barcelona. I'll write about it soon, but for now here's a few of music vids from the Arcade Fire's amazing Manchester gig on August 31st. I went with my sister, Steph and they were so much better live than on cd. Really incredible. It brings their albums to life after you've seen them live.

A Few of My Least Favourite Things

I was thinking about the song 'My Favorite Things' from 'The Sound of Music'  and wrote this. I thought it was funny, but I would appreciate comments. It's not definitely finished. A couple of the references are Japanese ones, but most are just general things that annoy me!

These are just some

of my least

favourite things.

Big Chinese spoons

that spill soup

down my chin.

Two holes for recycling

that go in

the same bin.

Volume controls

that don't do

what they should.

When I step in

a poo,

when I thought

it was mud.

Concrete

soul-prisons,

which I wish

could be brick.

When I must be

polite,

when I think

you're a...

moron.

Two hours to go,

with the onset

of boredom.

Walking 

and txting

and stepping

in sick.

Second-hand goods,

which should

have a cord on.

Big dogs

in front gardens

(some owners are thick!).

When my watch

rubs the hairs

on the side 

of my wrist.

Having to clean

when there's folks 

who made robots.

Ruling supreme, but

still feeling

like no-one.

Laziness,

apathy,

procrastination - 

that means

every morning

I run

to the station.

People who push 

into queues

for the train.

When people

curse sunshine

and then curse

the rain.

Groups who walk slowly,

the breadth of the street.

I want to stick

drawing pins

into their feet.

Things I won't kill,

but can fly

and can hurt me.

The impulse to kill

that can make me

feel guilty.

Kids who forgot

about Burt,

about Ernie,

about Egon Spengler

and Penfold

(THAT hurts me!!!)

My favourite

auld trainers,

at the end 

of their life!

How to 

dispose of 

an old rusty knife?

Putting my fingers

through cheap

toilet paper.

Never doing 

stuff now...

then not doing it 

later.

Laughing and making

the noise of a pig.

Things that are small

that should really

be big.

When I get

pins and needles

and my foot

starts to float.

Scraping

dried food,

that's not mine,

off my coat.

A kid at the zoo, who

just wants to see goats.

You smokers think

maybe

you can waft all 

the smoke

away from my eyes

and my nose

and my throat.

When elderly people

don't know 

they're half deaf,

yet they hear

every word

like the wind's

wispy breath.

When the tock-ticking

clock

keeps me awake,

but it's troublesome

moving it

further away.

Toddlers with shoes

that go squeak when

they step.

The annual boil

that engulfs

half my neck.

Having to stare

at a strip

of material

stretched to it's limit

round a stomach

that's spherical.

The grossness 

of treading

on slugs

when they pop.

The big sniff

that gives me

a mouthful of snot.

Plug-hair

paranoia

that my hairline's

grown thin.

A civilisation

of flies in my bin.

Big spiders.

Pop Idol.

Having to sing.

These are just some

of my least

favourite things.

3 Colours Brown

The leaves have lost their colour,

That I picked up off the ground.

Their colours numbered three before,

But now they're only brown.

A Girl Like You

I want a girl

with your complexion,

A girl unhindered

by correction,

I want to wallow 

in your words,

I want to drown 

in your affection.

S s s s s s ummer ssssOOOOnic 2011

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Live on French TV

Morning Benders - Love Fool (cover version)

 

Red Hot Chili Peppers -  Dani California

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge

たのしみ 千晴！！！

Sumer Sonic vids

Just as I climb into my futon zzzzzzzzzz 

Night night zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

(summer sonic 2011) (^^)/

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Dang

Morning Benders - Virgins

Androp - Bright Siren

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

sUmMeRR sSsOOnIcccccc 2011 (^-^)/

Friendly Fires - Hawaiian Air

Smith Westerns - My Heart (Live in Texas)

PIL (Public Image Limited) - Death Disco

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue

Summer Sonic - 3 vids!

More Summer Sonic 2011

Smith Westerns, Morning Benders, House of Pain and another Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Summer Sonic Bands!!!!

These are some vids for Chi to listen to in preparation for Summer Sonic 2011 at Osaka! HOORAY!!!

Japan-Bees

Bees here have massive big shadows,

I don't think a shadow should be

Cast from them 

Like they're stealth bombers,

Shadows from bees

Should not be.

Tokimonsta - Cheese Smoothie

I thought she was a Japanese DJ, which is why I bought the album on a whim. But, in fact, she's from LA and the album is amazing! I've never heard of her before (although the album was on display) but I really think she should at least be as big as Flying Lotus, because it's really good stuff. Just my cup of cheese-smoothie.

Like Cats and Mice

They are thin.
They are fat.
They eat like mice.

They eat like cats.
They should eat more

Food that's BIG!

They are greedy

Like a PIG!

I wrote it the other day, but I don't know if it's good or not. It's just meant to be funny.

Louis C.K on Jimmy Kimmel

I like Jimmy Kimmel, but knew NONE of the guests when I looked down the list on youtube. There was one, however, who's great. He's pretty rude in his stand-up routine, but not so much so in this interview. Can't wait to watch his show.

Robin Ince, funny comedian.

Came across this guy. He's very funny, so please listen. Stand-up. (Him, not you). Message ends.


Robin Ince, stand-up comedian.

Robert Johnson - Sweet Home Chicago

I know this through The Blues Brothers really, so I posted both.

David Mitchell - Unusually Smart Men

Sorry David Mitchell, but I HATE wearing a dickey-bow! I'm certainly not cool, just not a natural bow-tie wearer. I have a black tie with a black paisley design on it though, so sorry for ruining things for you. Funny rant from David M. Enjoy!

ee cummings - why must itself up every of a park

I just read this and it blew me away. I want to read more poetry and I think this was a good start. It's the beginning of a poem.

why must itself up every of a park
anus stick some quote statue unquote to
prove that a hero equals any jerk
who was afraid to dare to answer "no"?






I take it to question what is a hero. Sometimes I think it's strange too, when someone's elevated above other people because they got shot.

Fry's English Delight - Stephen Fry Talking About 'Brevity'

I'm either getting old or... no, that's it really. I'm getting old and I found something on radio 4, about language, incredibly interesting. Here's Stephen Fry talking about 'Brevity' and the English language. Includes Tim Vine, which can only be a good thing.


Fry's English Delight - Brevity

Shawn Lane's Guitar Has a Face! (And It's Friend Plays a Solo and Abstract Logic)

 Why on earth wouldn't the little blighter be happy with stuff like this (albeit on a different, but equally merry,  guitar)- 

Crazy Parkour! Damien Walters

Parkour is insanely skilled, athletic and amazing. This is Damien Walters and here's some info I stole off Wikipedia (which I edited a bit):

Damien Walters is a former British gymnast of Derbyshire. He participated in four Trampoline World Championships... Since then he has not participated in further tournaments and has focused on his other projects, mainly his career as a stuntman, but he also appeared in a few commercials and performed in acrobatic shows.

Walters has had the role of stuntman in the films Hellboy II, Kick-Ass, Ninja Assassin and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. In 2010, he won the Taurus World Stunt Awards for "Best Fight" in the film Ninja Assassin'.^[4] He will also appear in the upcoming films Blitz, The Eagle and Steven Spielberg's I Am Number Four.

Damien Walters also has a passion for Parkour and Freerunning where he incorporates his gymnastic skills as well as his stuntman abilities. On YouTube he is one of the most watched Freerunners with his videos having a total of over 30 million views.

Currently he is running his own gym in Derbyshire and shooting films.

So there you go - talented bloke!