I do not breathe your politics
"Comment is free but facts are sacred." (C.P. Scott)
Monday, November 28, 2005
The headline bottom line
Google News is such a rich provider of entertainment. Just now, I spotted one of those "No ***t, Sherlock!" headlines, from CNN:
RSNA: Long Needles Needed to Penetrate Fat in ObeseThis is obviously a great headline to test out a given newspaper editor's position on the discreet-to-blunt continuum, and no more do we need to wait for What The Papers Say, with Google News: Reuters goes factual: Study - Longer needles needed for fatter buttocksMSNBC is factual but adds the common touch: Longer needles needed for fatter buttsScripps Howard News Service takes the common touch ickily, cutely, and above all, americanly too far: Fat heinies causing problems for doctorsForbes (restroom reading for the MBA generation) has the rather more rounded and poetic: Obese Buttocks Leave Drug Therapy BehindEntertaining stuff. But you have to hand it to the national treasure (er, you sure? - inner Ed.) that is The Sun, for one of their classic headlines you could drum out on a desk. Imagine this being shouted out by a newspaper caller, or one of those forthright voiceovers from What The Papers Say: JABS DON'T WORK ON FLABClassy. posted by Michael at 11/28/2005 07:29:00 PM 0 comments |
Saturday, November 26, 2005
3AM with The Proclaimers
OK, so it's almost halfway through the night for most of you, but I'm awake, and as is not too uncommon, listening to old CDs to provide a background noise to code to. Right now, it's "Hit The Highway", by the sadly underrated scottish folk nerd twins, The Proclaimers. The lyrics are great. Some examples:
From Let's Get Married:
When I'm old, if they ask me / how do you define success, I'll say / you meet a woman, and you fall in love / and you ask her, and she says yesand the cracking throwaway line: Alright, you can get a cat / just as long as it barksFrom the savage What Makes You Cry?: I thought you liked football / you didn't mind those videos / and my dog didn't mean to ruin your clothes / (he can't help it)From Follow The Money: You can drop all the mystical celtic bull / cos that stuff's just jerkin'From The Light (a rather good song by two gruff scottish christians, taking aim, I suppose, at pious english evangelicals): I believe in God alright / it's folk like you I just can't standFrom Don't Turn Out Like Your Mother: It's not her looks / or the way she cooks / that wakes me up in a cold sweat / It's just the knowledge / that if it happened / I couldn't drink enough to forgetEnds with the sound of Craig shouting: "and I won't turn out like my dad!" and slamming a door. Cracking stuff. Oh, and a guitar nerd's side note: Jerry Donahue. Telecasteriffic. posted by Michael at 11/26/2005 03:14:00 AM 0 comments |
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Chris Whitley, RIP
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OK, so you probably won't see that many people blogging this, but I stumbled on his obit earlier in a discussion about dobro/national steel guitar players. The beeb has a little bit too. It seems he died on sunday, five weeks after a lung cancer diagnosis.
I think I came to hear him first on a Shawn Colvin track - the astonishingly sexy 'Set The Prairie On Fire', from 'Fat City', which he underscores with an incredibly evocative slide part. Since then he's been one of those session musicians that weaves his way through my slightly odd music tastes, who I always meant to follow up on. As a guitarist wannabe (I never have learned to play slide), he's one of those minor heroes, and I find myself a little gutted. As he was also a busker's busker, I suspect a few guitarists will be playing 'Dirt Floor' on american street corners in the next few weeks.
posted by Michael at 11/23/2005 06:17:00 PM 2 comments |
Monday, November 14, 2005
A double dustbuster
First photo post in a good while, and for that matter, first photos I've taken in a good while... There you are, sitting not waiting for one of my photos, and two come along at once.
I bet you all have an intense urge to pop bubblewrap now. And yes, they are two distinct photos, not photoshoppery.
Technical details for those inclined: Fuji S2, Cosina 100mm f/3.5 macro. Yes, really, that plasticky monstrosity you see in camera shop discount windows, looking like it was made by a drunken halfwit moonlighting at Tonka. Trust me, it's a great little lens. Manually metered SB-28 flash into silver brolly; f/6.7 or f/8, can't remember which. So much for technical detail. Tripod with nifty removable centre column thing. Scrappy piece of bubblewrap. Coloured paper. Small side table that never had a use before, except to support telephone directories. One uncharacteristically sleep-free sunday afternoon.
posted by Michael at 11/14/2005 12:36:00 AM 0 comments |