I Am Not Dead (Yet)

I have been sick.

Sicker than sick.

As sick as sick can be.

I am still sick.

It’s been 13 days now.

I’ve had enough.

[cough, splutter]

At least I am no longer coughing up blood. That was not fun.

Tonsillitis. And the Flu. And a generalised infection.

I haven’t felt this sick since I had Glandular Fever (Mono). I was in hospital for two weeks. Mainly because I had Viral Meningitis as well, but I was sick for months that time.

I hate being sick. [grumble, grumble]

Thankyou to everyone who has missed me. It feels good to be missed.

This is me:

This happened a lot when I was at my worst:

Breathing made me cry. Don’t even talk about swallowing…

NOTHING helped (except the antibiotics). All these drugs are a ruse by the pharmaceutical companies to make a load of cash out of people’s suffering. Take note.

I have done nothing but sleep and watch television and movies for 13 days. This is what my eyes look like now:

Here is a list of movies I have watched. Some I barely remember due to my state of semi-lucidity, but I’ve seen most of them before anyway. Some of them more than a few times:

Mildred Pierce

T.I.S.M – Incontinent In Ten Continents

T.I.S.M – TV Primer

American Psycho

Bad Timing

The Virgin Suicides

Harold and Maude

The Taste Of Others

Sunset Boulevard

Inside Deep Throat

True Romance

In Her Shoes

ENRON – The Smartest Guys In The Room

Puberty Blues

Stoned

Love My Way – Series One

Monster

The 40 Year Old Virgin

I *heart* Huckabees

Shampoo

Don’t Look Now

Withnail & I

Hi Fidelity

Swing Time

The Birds

Shaun of the Dead

Thank You For Smoking

 

 

 

I will write more when I am able.

 

 

The cats always get the last word:

 

 

 

Song Of The Day – Tex Williams – Smoke! Smoke! Smoke That Cigarette

Yacht Rock 5 & 6 (bumper edition)

Yah, it’s been a while….

I’ve no excuse for slacking off with my postings of Yacht Rock, but I’m quite sure than no one but Jules will have noticed. Mind you, I do get a lot of search engine traffic for it, so it’s on with the show….

Let’s see. Where are we up to?

Ah, yes. Episode 5 – “I Believe In It”.

I’m quite fond of this one…

In this episode, these questions and more, may or may not be answered:

1. Who really put the smooth in Michael Jackson? It appears a spear gun plays some part…
2. How could Michael Jackson possibly be a catalyst for Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald to kiss and make up?
3. Who knew that Vincent Price had supernatural powers? And here I was, thinking he was just an actor…

Go! Go! Toto go!

Bye bye Koko! [waves]

And as a special bonus, here is Episode 6 – “The Seed Drill”.

I’m not only posting this to make up time, but also because it’s an odd episode and I’m not sure it would stand too well on its own…

It’s a history lesson with a difference.

And the lesson is Jethro Tull. The real Jethro Tull. Watch and you’ll see…

Hint: You will appreciate it a whole lot more if you’ve watched Episode One.

Is it wrong that I can name every Jethro Tull song included on the soundtrack? I feel like such a tragic…

Yacht Rock 1 – “What A Fool Believes”
Yacht Rock 2 – “Keep The Fire”
Yacht Rock 3 – “I’m Alright”
Yacht Rock 4 – “Rosanna”

Yacht Rock Online

 

Coming in Episode Seven: Dr Dre saves Michael McDonald? Can it be true? (Michael sure does need a lot of saving…)

 

Song Of The Day – Jethro Tull – Songs FromThe Wood

Yacht Rock #4

Greetings, groovers…

Yes, it’s that time again.

Time to pull on your deck shoes for another episode of Yacht Rock.

In this week’s episode, ‘Rosanna’, the following questions are posed, or answered (or not):

1. Will Michael McDonald save himself from becoming an irrelevant joke? Or will someone do it for him, in the name of “chakra alignment”?
2. Did I just see Christopher Cross’ head explode?
3. Why did Steve Perry run away?

I just can’t get enough of those smooth montages…

Yacht Rock #1 – “What a Fool Believes”
Yacht Rock #2 – “Keep The Fire”
Yacht Rock #3 – “I’m Alright”

Yacht Rock online

Coming in episode 5: Michael and Kenny reunited? Could it be? What part might Michael Jackson and Vincent Price play in this miracle….?

Song Of The Day – Toto – Hold The Line

Spidey… and me

I went to the cinema today.

Spidey!  Yay!

I’ve never been a comic book freak, but I’ve always loved me some Spidey.  I think it had a lot to with the theme song being so deeply imprinted, watching Saturday morning television as a kid.

I won’t harp on about it at length, as the hype is bordering on overkill as it is.  Also it’s quite boring to read about a film you haven’t seen.

Here is a list of a few things that occurred to me during the movie (no spoilers to speak of):  

Yeah, I’m critical.  I’m an ex-film critic.  So shoot me.

• Kirsten Dunst has a most unfortunate voice.  She does sing in the film (she’s actually meant to not be all that good), but I’m talking about her speaking voice.  It annoys the bejesus out of me. She sounds like she’s being strangled.  Every time she opens her mouth, I feel an uncontrollable urge to clear my throat.  Use your diaphragm, woman!
• The opening credits are really naff and almost as long as the film.  That’s very, very long.
• There is a lot of crying in this movie.  I mean, it’s really noticeable.  I didn’t feel terribly affected by the drama, so by the end of the film I was starting to giggle every time someone started snuffling. 
• It drove me nuts when every time Peter Parker pulled his sexy cozzie out of the trunk, he would hold it out in front on himself and gaze at it in earnest for what seemed like aeons.  This must have happened about six times, at least.  People to save, Peter!  Get a move on, lad!  It was actually quite comical (ahem)…
• People who criticise the amount of CGI in Spiderman 3, need to stop and remember that it is a comic book!  Next stop: animation!  It was almost blurring the line between cartoon and reality, but it really worked – unlike in Superman Returns.
• It was nice to see a cameo from Stan Lee.
• One of the things I like most about the Spiderman franchise is its sense of humour.  There are some cack laugh-out-loud moments in this movie.  Shame that the rest of the (very young) audience missed it.
• The action scenes are hot.   See it on the big screen
• Is it just me, or does anyone else find Spiderman in his cozzie really bloody sexy?  Makes me all a bit fluttery in naughty places , I tell ya….

Come and get me, Spidey baby….(just leave your costume on)

All in all, a jolly enjoyable romp, as you would expect.    I give Spidey 3, ***1/2 stars.

Oh!  I nearly forgot to tell you.  Just as well it’s not a film you where need to concentrate terribly hard to follow along, because there was a group of unsupervised children in the session and they were taking turns running up and down the stairs in the theatre.[thud, thud, thud-thud, thud, thud-thud-thud, thud]  You get the picture.  They also didn’t shut up for the entirety of the film – vocally or with their constant rustling.  Fortnuately I was in the fourth row and they were at the back, so I managed to mostly tune them out…..

….Unlike the guy 4 rows behind me who had not one, but two loud conversations on his mobile phone in the middle of the movie.  How rude!  The second time he did it was the last time, because I turned around and yelled at him:

“GET OFF THE PHONE!!!”

He got off the phone.  :)

In other news:

I coloured my hair today.  Woohoo!

Damn.  It didn’t really come out all that well in the photo.  It’s quite….. red.

Alright.  That’s all.  Carry on.

Song Of The Day – Kasabian – Reason Is Treason

I don’t shop for clothes…

It was my birthday in February.

I know, you most likely missed it.

Don’t worry, there’s always next year….

Every year on my birthday, I am given a sizeable shopping voucher for my favourite shop in Perth, 78 Records.

78’s is brilliant. My cup of tea, entirely. It’s a huge place, for Perth. Two stories full of CD’s, DVD’s, books and all kinds of other paraphenalia, all waay left of centre.

When I was neck-high in the music industry, this was the coolest place to take bands for an instore appearance. I had a fine old time babysitting Weezer for a couple of days, and that equated to 78’s most successful instore appearance to date. 700+ people spilling out the door. It was a crazy day. They played an acoustic set. If I could be bothered uploading photos, I would….

Yay!

(it’s very nice to get gushing, congratulatory notes from head office…)

I become very, very excited at the prospect of going to 78’s and having money to spend…

 

Doesn’t look like much, I know. This is only a corner. I was a bit iffy about getting told off for taking pictures…

 

After shopping, it was time for some lunch…. (who thinks they’ll mind me giving them a plug? heh)

 

…and a beer… or several. Little Creatures make some of the best beers on the planet. They’re based here and I know people in other parts of the world, who are so very knowledgable about beer, and they will agree….

 

And, it’s on to the purchases. [blissful sigh]

 

I couldn’t believe my luck finding this. Love are one of my favourite bands of all time. They were around in the 60’s and are completely and totally underrated. Oh, Arthur Lee, for you are my hero….

 

He died late last year. It was a sad day.

 

Ol’ Hunter is a jolly good writer and I love me some boozy adventures….

 

Hehe. I also have a thing for B Z-grade schlock horror…..

 

Speaking of which….. A Russ Meyer favourite. Nude ladies, crazy psychedelia and murder. What more can you ask for?

 

(Not to be confused with Jacqueline Sussan’s ‘Valley of the Dolls’, parody aside…)

 

Brilliant film. It’s what I imagine life to be like on a submarine in wartime, and is highly regarded in terms of realism. Tommy, care to comment?

 

I haven’t seen this for nearly 20 years. For someone like me, who feels very at home blissing out in a mid-late ’60’s kind of way, it’s essential. Born at the wrong time…

 

I’ve never heard of this film. It’s Australian. It just tickled my fancy so much that I bought it simply by viewing the cover art. I’m thinking, poor man’s ‘Tommy’, minus the music… or maybe with some. It has impressive musical credentials, if you’re Australian. I haven’t watched it yet. It’s probably unwatchable, but I’m a curious cat…..

 

Silverchair are mostly regarded overseas as a teenage grunge band from Oz, made good. That was 15 years ago. They grew up. They started working with Van Dyke Parks (think, good Beach Boys) on their last album, Diorama. Stuff happened. It was good. Very good. Daniel Johns is a fucking genius. He grew up in a way nobody would have expected. I could go on about where that came from, but I’d bore you. What I will say is, there was a lot of physical pain associated with that, and all that goes with it. This is their new album.

 

I was sitting on a balcony. The day looked like this down below :

 

 

… and there was good food to be eaten. So very good…

 

 

 

Then there was more beer…. (and wine)

 

 

 

 

After that, things looked a little wobbly….

 

 

 

 

… but I managed to take a dodgy photo of myself in the lav…

 

 

 

[Photo of self removed due to overwhelming feelings of utter self disgust]

 

 

Ok, that’s it. The ending has changed now since I removed that photo and I have an horrendous hangover.

 

Ow.

 

 

Song Of The Day – Magic Dirt – Pace it

 

PS I’m tired of battling with the spacing on posts. If anyone wants to give me a tutorial, I’m up for it, but other than that…. deal with it. As I know you willl…

 

 

Yacht Rock #2

I’m a little quiet on the posting front this week, due to being somewhat under the weather.

This, like all things, shall pass.

A bit of a shame, really. I was quite looking forward to attending the ANZAC Day Dawn Service this morning, but somehow I think getting up at 3.30am to stand around in the cold with 30,000 strangers in my current condition would have been counterproductive.

So, without further ado, fellow cheesemeisters, it’s time for Yacht Rock – Episode Two.

In which our friends Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins are challenged to a songwriting duel by Hall and Oates. Who will take the (non-existant) prize? And why does Christopher Cross have a piece of wire hanging from his face?

There is also a death in the Yacht Rock family. Quite the tragedy.

(Can anyone shed any light on how Oates pulls off such an impressive imitation of a kookaburra? It has to be accidental…)

Yacht Rock – Episode One

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think it’s time for a Bex and a good lie down.

 

Coming in Episode Three: Will Kenny Loggins leave behind his smooth roots for a world of hard beats and primal screams? Steve Perry wants to make sure of it…

 

Song Of The Day – Joy Division – She’s Lost Control