For 30th Nov 2005.

Guido’s award for the worst cut & paste artist is gather pace. As they say its your duty to vote so get voting.

If your track was being reviewed what would you think of this review?

I am thinking Forty Deuce here which considering how bloody amazing the band is that is not a bad thing at all. Melody, pace and good musicianship combine for quite a good track in the end that is both catchy and good. Got me head-banging which is always a good sign I think. Good mix, production and length…quality bit of hard rock pretty much. A definite cut above the rest of most of this genre.

Someone was so upset with my compliments that he gave my review a 2/11 rating! Gee wonder if has anything to do with my 5/5 reviewer rating. Nah, that would be just petty…right?

Creative types are more sexually attractive, according to this report in the Telegraph.

According to a Dr Nettle,

Creative people are often considered to be very attractive and get lots of attention. They tend to be charismatic and produce art that grabs people’s interest.

It could also be that very creative types lead a bohemian lifestyle and tend to act on more sexual impulses and opportunities, often purely for experience’s sake, than the average person would. Moreover, it’s common to find that this sexual behaviour is tolerated in creative people.

Before anyone gets too excited at this point, Dr Nettle goes on to explain this as a result of

“certain personality traits that artists and poets were found to share with schizophrenic patients ”.

Guys doing what guys do best: blowing up stuff.

Money quote—... because it’s old, it’s white, but more importantly, because it’s French.

Warning: music, sfx, commentary.

the blog québécois

Seminal blogger Luke Ford had been signed up a PJM/OSM pundit but was dropped the next day when it was discovered that he had resumed blogging the adult film industry.

From Wikipedia entry.

Burgess has a new series on “the project” and it will not make for very comfortable reading. He will be providing a breakdown of something called Towards a worldwide strategy for Islamic policy.

No doubt the Islamist will be pleased by this paddy idiot who claims that Israel has no right to exist. Wonder what his reaction would be if someone said the same thing about his beloved Ireland?

The latest Homespun Bloggers Radio edition is up in its 11th iterration. It contains an audio tribute by me to our own beloved Mommabear.

You may have noticed things on this blog have been a tiny bit slow of late. It is a combination of the loss of such a strong force in my blogging life and all the other things I am up to. It is sometimes very hard for me to write for this blog. There is not once that I open the WP posting area that I do not think of her and how much I miss her presence. You might notice a large black ribbon on the left side of the blog. That is for MB and will remain as a memorial to her.

The 9 Days of Judgement is the perfect antidote to the most vile of Xmas tunes.

Times Online:

VILLAGERS who protested that a new housing estate would harm the fairies living in their midst have forced a property company to scrap its building plans and start again.

Marcus Salter, head of Genesis Properties, estimates that the small colony of fairies believed to live beneath a rock in St Fillans, Perthshire, has cost him 15,000. His first notice of the residential sensibilities of the netherworld came as his diggers moved on to a site on the outskirts of the village, which crowns the easterly shore of Loch Earn.

He said: A neighbour came over shouting, Dont move that rock. Youll kill the fairies. The rock protruded from the centre of a gently shelving field, edged by the steep slopes of Dundurn mountain, where in the sixth century the Celtic missionary St Fillan set up camp and attempted to convert the Picts from the pagan darkness of superstition.

I’m thinking that it didn’t quite take.

the blog québécois

Over at Liberty Cadre, John Harrison has contributed a nice piece about Conservative attitudes towards the issue of lower taxes. He worries about the fact that many in the party seem rather scared of the issue or worse yet opposed to lowering them at all.

The release of Tookie Williams from his death sentence. Well besides the fact that Snoop Dog thinks its a good idea. If Tookie was the man he claims he would take responsability for the crimes he committed and accept his fate. Let’s hope that Arnie does not back down.

What card am I and can you think of cards for other bloggers?

The funniest bloke in the blogosphere has set up a site just for discussion l’affaire PJM/OSM. In fact, he has set up a discussion board. He has also written an interesting post on the subject.

Update: It seems Tim Blair has left the editorial board. Tim “I am not nice honest…its a bloody lie” Blair has decided he does not have the time to devote to it. Its a decent and professional decision on his part. Kudos to him that is for sure.

NB: I am on the PJM Blogroll.

The Arsebishop of Canterbury is off sucking-up to Muslims again in Pakistan. What does he think Bin Liner and company are going to do with his words of idiocy? He is, in effect, apologising for Christian Europe’s self-defence.

We need to come up with a new name for Christian leaders who do this sort of idiocy and in turn empower our enemies (ie: Islamists). How about: Dress wearing surrender drones?

Suggestions in comments please. (Which now thanks to the valiant efforts of Aleister seem to be working fine.

This post, which I wrote a few weeks ago, drew this reply and a question that I’ve been meaning to get around to for awhile. So here goes:

These are primarily Pre-Raphaelite painters, a group who consciously tried to recreate the ideas of the early Renaissance in the mid-to-late Victorian era. To me they are the most beautiful of all paintings, and are specifically what the cubists and fauvists and dadaists of the early twentieth century were reacting against.

Which do you think will survive the judgement of history?

I think there’s room for both, but the critics of any particular era tend to be an incestuous pack of herd-followers, incapable of appreciating anything that doesn’t fit their narrow view.

What isn’t going to survive are the Dadaists of today, who are so eager to negate the idea of art that they’ve entirely succeeded. At least Duchamp, et. al. seemed to have a sense of humor about what they were up to. A hundred years from now, if it’s remembered at all, something like Serrano’s “Piss Christ” will be thought of as only a cheap stunt.

Many thanks for the question, Bruce. I’d like to expand on some of these ideas in a post on my blog (I’ll most likely crosspost it here, too) but I probably won’t have much time to do so until next week.

Bruce responded:

Good. A balanced and thoughtful answer. Now let’s rephrase the question. Which will President-For-Life Timur Goering Khan remove to his capitol in Nuevo Cheyenne in the year 2505, A.D., and which will he consign to the flames?

I understand Man Ray. But I know which paintings I’d steal.

He’s trying to pin me down, I can tell. Watch me weasel out of this one.

Not knowing much about our hypothetical Pres-for-Life (except that it’s refreshing to see a dictator against abortion), I can only speculate that he’d opt for the most valuable pieces.

The highest price ever paid for a painting (as of May 2004, unless I’ve missed something more recent) at an auction was $104.1 million for Picasso’s Garon la pipe (pictured at left). This is misleading, though, in that much of the world’s finest art is not and probably never will be for sale. The Louvre had the Mona Lisa appraised for insurance purposes in 1962 prior to a tour of the US and came up with a figure of $100 million; in today’s dollars that would be about $630M. You could expect similar or even higher prices for Rembrandt or Michaelangelo (how much would the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel command?).

Our presumptive world dictator isn’t going to be concerned about price, but the status of possessing priceless objects will prove irresistible. So I’m guessing that his collection would largely consist of classical/Renaissance pieces—what he, and the public at large, would consider easily recognizable as “art.”

The question is: do these have greater intrinsic value than more abstract work? I would say yes, because they display the artist’s utter mastery of his craft. And art without craft remains at best an interesting idea, undeveloped. Now I would argue that artists like Cézanne, Matisse (who, ironically enough, studied under Bouguereau) etc., exhibited similar expertise in rejecting formalism—it’s a debatable point, but I think a strong case can be made for it.

The painting at right, Primera Comunin, was done by Picasso at the age of 14. The studies of nudes by him in his only year in art school are near photographic in their detail. Whatever else he was, Picasso was no phony; as T.S. Eliot remarked, “You must understand the rules before you can break them.”

Modern art is too often an exercise in intellectualism—more energy is spent in explaining why a particular piece is important than, it seems, was spent in producing it. I’m fully capable of appreciating art non-verbally: if I like the composition and execution, then I like it, with no further explanation necessary.

Enough, or I’ll never get this posted. Here’s a game that might tickle your antiquated fancies:

Curator Defense is a homebrewed blend of the Real Time Strategy and Puzzle genres. The player must defend his museum from the hordes of modern art that attempt to raid his storeroom in hopes of being put on the main floor. Using an array of unique defensive objects, the player must stun, slow, and eventually defeat each wave of modern art.

Unfortunately, you can’t play online—it’s a 55MB download. I’ll just link to the main page, as it’s offered on 5 different mirrors. Click “Download” on the left side of the screen to get to them.

the blog québécois

The Beeb is running another good bash at heavy metal. This time they are calling for a ban on black metal because a bunch of retards in Italy went over the edge. Its the listeners not the music guys. Wonder if they realise the more they villify Glen “I will kill myself at the same age Christ died…oh maybe not” Benton they just give the dolt what he wants.

Found via Gnorhat’s keen eye.

Don’t eat too much and spare a thought for those who can’t be home with loved ones.

Those of us who have been bullied at school, as I was, sometimes wonder what has happened to our tormentors. I am not that bothered and have managed to get over my unpleasant experiences, although I was a pretty shy sort of person for a while until I hit my late teens.

The other day my dear brother, a lawyer, called me up:

“Remember that guy X who used to be a bit of a tosser towards you at school?”

Me: “Er, yes.”

Brother: “I bankrupted him this morning.”

Early in the broadcast he noted that throughout the St. Anger record, the snare drum is tuned so that it produces an unusually bright “ping” or “ting” every time it’s struck. When Lars Ulrich is playing a lot of snare hits very quickly, which is often, it creates a persistent, high, almost insectile overtone. Having pointed this out, I have now made it impossible for you to watch the movie or listen to the album without wanting to gut Bob Rock like a flounder.

Ouch! Colby tells it straight and true.

Go nominate someone…please.

The chiefs at Blogcritics have given Marty his own weekly column. Its called Marty’s Musical Meltdown and it will be a round-up of the discs/gig reviews. They finally broke and gave him a column after figuring out no other way of dealing with Marty’s prolific output.

This is apparently a real estate listing. I say apparently because it’s in Swedish. That need not concern you, though. Just keep clicking on the pictures until you come to the bathroom. Notice anything odd about it?

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It seems someone took exception to one of Gnotalex’s posts and so he sent me a nasty email. Not able to read the different name and link at the bottom I guess.

My reply to his first bit of idiocy:

Um, you’re a fool; I am not Gnotalex. I have forwarded this email to him lest he feel the need to reply. It would help if you targeted your sophmoric vitriol at the right person at least.

This is what I got in reply: Yarock@aol.com

And how would one know which of you dimwits had actually written the “sophomoric vitriol” which masqueraded as a critique of my cartoon, site, etc.? As a young jagoff,you still haven’t learned about the law of Karma. When you spew nasty negativity about strangers, you get it back in your face. Whether you wrote it, or one of your butt buddies wrote it, you’re still a moron toiling anonymously in that big blog hack fantasy land.

Nice to see he thinks anyone who disagrees with him is gay. Wonder what Madam Hilary would say to such a knuckle- dragging reaction?

Its not just the name-problem that is affecting the organisation formerly known as Pajamas Media but some of the smaller bloggers who were asked to sign on are feeling a wee bit hard done by. Of course, it ain’t just “small” bloggers who are feeling a bit tender after their treatment by PJM; there are some fairly well known bloggers who are not exactly pleased either. Nicholas’ post is surprisingly without vitriol and anger; it makes some very interesting points and is well written. Methinks it might be time for OSM to go into some PR overload as their reputation looks a bit shaky at the moment. Let’s hope this mess can be sorted out in a suitable and timely matter.

MikeP, guesting at Damian’s, takes a sober look at l’affaire OSM. And you have to read this well written piece.

Here are two other takes: Bryan has several posts as does Armed Liberal. Some people got to learn to take a bit of criticisms…

Oh yes and read Kenton’s diary of his experience.

You knew this was coming:...Open Sore Media

Andrea has found another Deep One. Has anyone checked him for webbed feet?

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Relax Thumb, Come Through Ball

Don’t try to over lift or turn the ball during the release. It will only cause muscling and misdirection of your arm swing. Instead just relax your thumb and come cleanly through the ball as you release it and follow through, keeping your eyes focused on your target. For a strong release you need good lower body leverage (legs) and you also need to finish up close to the foul line . . .

Above all else, mentally fix your release point and stick to it.

the blog québécois

Fiddling young girls in a country that considers it a capital crime.

You can take the Glitter out of the country but you can’t take the Glitter out of young girls.

Wonder if he will end up in Bahrain with Michael Jackson?

Muslims are not intergrated into British society because: we drink. You see Muslims can’t be near booze; its not just not drinking it.

And you thought it was something a bit more complicated. Who knew?

and there’s nothing wrong with me
this is how i’m supposed to be
in a land of make believe
that don’t believe in me

green day

What is it about rock operas? Think of Tommy. A vaguely Christ-like figure who struggles through tribulations and eventually inspires the adoring throngs. Think of Jesus Christ Superstar. A vaguely Christ-like figure who struggles through tribulations and eventually inspires the adoring throngs. Think of Quadrophenia. A vaguely . . . Christ, I’ll bet even Pete Townshend himself couldn’t tell you what that was all about. Think of Kilroy Was Here, by Styx.

Check that. We won’t think of Kilroy Was Here, by Styx. Thank you. Domo arigato. (Nooooooooooooooooo!)

Which brings us to Green Day’s American Idiot. A vaguely Christ-like (albeit with more drugs and swearing) figure who struggles against anything you got. He doesn’t like war, or Dubya, or consumerism, or the media, or time-share condo deals. (OK, I made that last one up, but he’d probably be against ‘em, too.) For those interested in more description than I’m willing to come up with, Wikipedia fleshes it out somewhat. Here’s my favorite part: (Emphasis mine.)

Homecoming: Eventually Jesus decides to abandon his St. Jimmy identity, which he had been using as a crutch. In order to abandon his title, Jesus symbolically “kills” St. Jimmy in a personal kind of suicide. (I)

Following St. Jimmy’s death, Jesus gets arrested on East 12th St. (II) (East 12th Street is a real location of a police station in Oakland, California, where Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong had to fill out paperwork for his DUI in 2002) . . .

All grist for the mill, eh, Billie?

So the plot’s basically an incoherent mess, but that’s not a dealbreaker for me. People don’t go to traditional opera to mock the often-goofy libretto—they go for the singing and music.

And musically speaking, Green Day’s at the top of its game here, writing tuneful, punchy anthems with more hooks than a fisherman’s tackle box.

“Jesus of Suburbia,” the second track on the album, is actually a five-song suite. It’s quite big, so I’ve included a low res link for dial-up users. Broadband here.

Warning: Cigarette smoking! By young people! Also: partial nudity in the service of meaningless, joyless sex; alcohol and drug-related references; violence. But priorities, people —cigarettes!

the blog québécois