Old and Grey

If you're that way too, you'll remember the Mamas and the Papas? 'Monday, Monday'? Or Boomtown Rats--'I don't like Mondays'?

Well--It's ALL TRUE. Mondays suck. Or blow. (never did get the hang of those two)
So to all those miserable oxygen-wasters that couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, or a shag in a brothel--go take a flying leap. Bugger me, run a organisation? Most of them couldn't run a bath. It's truly amazing how people can fuck up so much when the rest of the civilised world is trying to catch up with itself. It's the WEEKEND people. Stay home.

Not only that, but I discovered that most of my chest hair is grey. GREY, damn you!

The aforesaid notwithstanding;

The schizoid monk in Tibet? He's at two with the universe.
You gotta laugh, for fear that you cry.

The Images meme

Visit: images.google.com

Search for: Place you grew up. Place you live now. Your name. Your grandmother's name. Your favorite food. Your favorite drink. Your favorite song. Your favorite smell.

Then post the first (or your favorite) result for each.

Favourite smell

Posted by Hello

Favourite song

Posted by Hello

Favourite drink

Posted by Hello

Favourite food

Posted by Hello

Gran's name

Posted by Hello

My name

Posted by Hello

Where I now live

Posted by Hello

Place in which I grew up.

Posted by Hello

Quo Vadis?

Caught ‘Hotel Rwanda’ on the ‘plane, Wednesday night. Don Cheadle was excellent,
but I wasn’t sure how to react to the movie. Documentary? Drama? Somehow it
seemed to lessen the tragedy, to sanitise it. What I was supposed to feel? It’s
unimaginable, therefore I can’t feel. There are too many stories, too many
tragedies; is Darfur any less? Liberia? Somalia? Eritrea? And coming soon to a
news show near you…Northern Uganda. Imagine 19 years of Darfur? Imagine a
minimum of 12 500 kids under 12, acting as armed militia for the Lord’s
Resistance Army. It’s there now, today. You didn’t catch that one? Oh, yes
that’s right—no oil. So that’s why Kofi Annan went to the Sudan! So we can turn
our air conditioners on, that’s it. Silly me.
It’s too much. We’re sinking here. Donors cutting the aid to Kenya, because of
rampant corruption. Kenya was doing pretty well, too. Ethiopian famine again,
Quo vadis, Zimbabwe? We have to relay messages to the office in Spanish because
our phones and email are tapped. We are forbidden to distribute food, because a)
there is no starvation and b) the government will insist that only it may
distribute food--to its supporters, so Matabeleland starves. The list just goes
on. And there’s no good reason, no damned reason at all. One of our countries is
swamped with USAID money. How much can we get? A pittance. Why? Insane labour
law that encourages--nay guarantees--employment for life and therefore sloth and
indolence. How much to pay off the slackers? Oh, a mere US$1.4 million. At an
average of say US$240 a year to support a child--do the arithmetic.
On the other hand, I had a bottle of very good Rioja on Friday night with two
dear friends.
So one does what one can for the greater good.

Star Woes

...revenge of the Syph?

Besides, I think 'Jedi' is the plural.

Overheard on the Tube

This is why I lerve London...

"My body is not so much a temple--more like an amusement park."

"If vaginas made music they'd sound like Enya."
*boggle*

Complete the following....

If penises made music they'd sound like......

(I fancy a marching band, but y'know, whatever.)

Six Months Ago

was not entirely a happy time...

They circle as packs of wolves
Or ambulances on this wet night
Invisible, immune to the threats that plague
And so out in this gloom, beyond the ice and dark and fog
Lies some haven protected by light
And visible from far
A harbor, sanctuary
From all your fears and woes
Made right only by this bed, this heart
This winter, she froze
This spring, he rose
Waiting still, hopeless, but hoping for a
Miracle.

Tower of St. Stephen

Posted by Hello

London Eye

Posted by Hello

Insomnia

Bugger.
babyBlue wakes up with cramps (in the foot, dears) and can't get back to sleep. So gleefully tries to get on-line. His DEAR sysadmin has configured his personal laptop--the one where the 'l' and 's' are worn out through over-use--and now it's slower than a herd of terrapins in peanut butter (or should that be 'flotilla'? I can never remember.) 'Why?' you may well ask. It's constantly up or downloading something.
However.
babyBlue acquires a brand-spanking new HP machine with all the bells and whistles, including wireless (yay!) from work. Somebody appears to like me. (Lifehint; stay friends with the financial people. And personal assistants to The Suits, while you're at it.)
So all the data's still gone, gone, gone, despite the no doubt relentless efforts of the Surrey Police, who will leave no stone unturned, blah, blah, blah.
Notwithstanding that, but the fiddly bits of the famous blog--the important stuff--brought to you by the even more famous Sasha.
Thanks Sasha. You've now officially acquired 'Honey' status in the Blue Pantheon of heroines.

..and if only I knew a bit more code, I'd find a way to re-do the links to all my heroes.

er, but mostly the heroines.

*slinks away in profound embarrassment*

Shit

....and some miserable piece of pommiebastardturdshitfuckerdickheadarsewankerprick stole my laptop.
From the damned hotel room while I was away.
Their response?
"Sorry, mate. There's some real professionals round 'ere"

Yeah, well. Thanks a fucking million, chum.

(and if you read this, you corksoaker, eat Brussels sprouts and die.)

I am not impressed.

The End of Civilisation as we know it.

Unless you're a total 'Hitchhiker's' loon or a complete novice....I wouldn't bother going to the movie.
And (shock, horror) 'War of the Worlds' was shot in New Jersey.
'scuse me. I must just quickly go and commit ritual suicide.

Panoramic View of the Game

This pic is quintessential England. It's resplendent with all manner of social, cultural and historical motifs, rather than merely sporting.
Here's just one. Cricket was the game of the Empire, and the game today is played almost exclusively by the former colonies; Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa and so forth. It was, in those days--that is up to the '30's--undeniably elitist and exclusivist--for example one famous game was 'Players' vs 'Gentlemen'.
The guys in this photo are in roughly equal proportions of Caucasian and Asian. Hence the game unites. Or something.
This 'village' game is gentle. As is--albeit to a lesser extent--the professional game. Sport is conflict? Whereas perhaps gridiron football is nuclear exchange, this is more akin to an academic contretemps over the precise meaning of the Latin 'In excelsis Deo'. Or more probably whether Guinness is better than Boddington's.
 

Village Cricket

Sorry for the quality of the pic. The bod at the far end, crouched over, is the bowler, the batsman--about to whack the ball--is this end. He'll bring the bat down more or less vertically, rather than horizontally. The speed of a delivery is about the same as a baseball, except it's bowled with a stiff arm rather than thrown, and at the end of a short sprint.
This is not a sticky wicket. 

Southern England in May means bluebells 

I'm free

....next weekend. Meet me here. Give me flight number.I'll get lunch. Promise.

*Thud*

Oooookay.
here's one for Friday;

'Why are there no Disprin (read; local painkiller) in the Jungle?'
'Because the paracetemol.'

Lunacy in the Third World, too.

Now then.
The South African courts are considering changing the law to recognise different kinds of relationships, including same-sex marriages--unlike the monstrosities in Zimbabwe and Namibia. With our history, it's unthinkable that any form of residual discrimation could be allowed to linger. South Africa is rightly proud of a wonderful constitution.
No, fine.
And tonight on the main news? A coalition of 40 churches have got together, apparently representing 18 million people, to petition the constitutional court not to enact that legislation.
It would, and I quote; "...destroy the institution of marriage and threaten democracy in South Africa." Thus spake Dr. Michael Cassidy, a highly-respected theologian-an avuncular character not dissimilar to your friend and mine, Dr(?)James Dobson.
The bollocks migrate it seems. I would guess that they don't stand a snowball's chance in hell, but I guess I'd better start making a fuss too.

Interview

Interviewed by Supes

1. People always claim to see God when they drop acid. What do you think God would see if He dropped acid?
Dolphins. To my mind, lots of the other creations have plenty of design flaws--I mean, what's with sinuses--but dolphins are about as good as He got. Plus they're grateful for all the fish, right?

2. What's the best name you can come up with for a blind ostrich that only has one wing?
Either 'Slew' or 'Lunch'

3. What is the official definition of "sticky wicket"?
With reference to cricket, in the early days of the game the wicket (the turf playing surface) was left uncovered, therefore open to the elements. Should it rain, the wicket was, well, sticky. If you were the batsman, then it was almost impossible to play--unlike baseball, the ball in cricket is pretty much required to bounce when delivered. Colloquially, any 'unplayable'/impossible situation is 'batting on a sticky wicket.'
There.
Now you know.

4. Favorite position?
Easy. The White Tiger Tao position.

5. If you had to be either paralyzed or totally insane, which would you choose and why?
Insane. So much more fun. Plus, it's a much shorter journey


The rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog (if you have one) with the answers to the questions OR you answer them here in the comments if you don't have a blog.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Sunset

DarOil, originally uploaded by bluecricket.

..over Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam

Cliffview2, originally uploaded by bluecricket.

Indian Ocean from Seacliff Hotel, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Call. Your. Mother.

If you can.
I'm gone for a few days. Darkest Africa and all that; duty calls.
Take great care.

Blue raves

Alrighty then.
No doubt I'm 6 weeks behind--but go down to your local music store and have a listen to '...something to be' by Rob Thomas.My son Chris brought the first CD by Matchbox 20--Mad Season--ages ago. He was convinced 20 were brilliant. Yeah...Ok, but not really my thing. Too poppy. But daughter Jenna brought Daniel Bedingfield yesterday. Nope. One great track, the rest--filler. So, she changed it. (You can't do that here, but then she is a law student...)

And brought Rob Thomas.

One thing about my sprogs. We've always enjoyed more-or-less the same music. Pity about the wife, but you can't have it all. Can you?
'...something to be' is superb. Some good meaty rock, ballads, clever lyrics, the whole thing. I didn't realise that he does piano, and I've always enjoyed pianists; Billy Joel, Elton John, Bruce Hornsby and so forth.

For my money, the best song? 'Now comes the night' Just the voice, a piano and a tiny bit of synth. Agghh. But don't listen if you miss someone too much, or you're feeling a shade gloomy. Otherwise 'Streetcorner Symphony', or 'My, my, my.' There's not a weak track on the whole album.

OK, enough raving.

My new frequent flyer card from Air France came today. Their scheme is called 'Flying Blue'. Say no more.

And since it's 1am, and I'm entirely unable to originate, (no change there) some quotes. I'm reading 'All the Right Places.' by Brad Newman. He quotes various people at the start of each chapter. Here's two on marriage;

'As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he is sure to regret it.'

Diogenes Laertius
Socrates

'A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if is married.'
H.L. Mencken
A Menchen Chrestomathy

Be safe. Don't be naughty. Or at least, don't get caught.

..and in the news this morning

Tony wins. Who WAS the other guy? (I'm not even really going to acknowledge the Liberals, even though my old man was a practicing member)

In Texas, there's a move afoot to monitor cheerleading routines to ensure that they're not too salacious. And presumably if they are, the team will have the Cheerleader Police modify said routine. Or ban the team. Perhaps a square dance would be more appropriate. Or the polka? One must be careful not to imflame tender passions, not so?

A Benton Harbor middle school marching band has gotten permission to perform "Louie Louie" in a parade this weekend. Superintendent Paula Dawning had sent a letter to parents saying the song's allegedly raunchy lyrics makes it inappropriate.

Dawning changed her decision after hearing from parents who supported their children playing the song.

Richard Berry wrote "Louie Louie" in 1956. It's one of the most recorded songs in history. The best-known, most version was a hit in 1963 for the Kingsmen. The FBI spent two years investigating the lyrics before saying it couldn't understand them.

Two whole YEARS?

May Fifth

Good grief.
It's 05/05/05
An auspicious date.

And as the biggest non-sequitur this week; what was the greatest thing BEFORE sliced bread?

Especially for Superman...but you can read it too. Or not.

The Brontosaurus Theory.
By Blue

Brontosauruses are very thin at this end.
Much, MUCH thicker in the middle,
and thin again at the far end.

That's my theory. It belongs to me.
And is mine.

You can't have it. Because it's MY theory.
If you want your own theory on brontosauruses, you'll have to find another one.

Huh?

This is just too bizarre. Needless to say, it is not moi.

YEAH, baby!

That's nifty--all this and HTML too.
Where will it ever end?

Thank you, thank you.
*waves to admiring fans*
I'll be here all week.

Glass

S4010019
Originally uploaded by bluecricket.

Purely experimental, you understand...

Lambert's Bay

Lambert's Framed
Originally uploaded by bluecricket.

Finally.....!

....someone's woken up and made a movie of Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I am seriously chuffed. Not only, but also War of the Worlds , with Mr Cruise. Wot? Now here's the two options as I see them; either he does a Brit accent, which would be unforgivable, or he plays it as an American, which would be unspeakable. Don't get me wrong, ol' Tom has a lovely voice, but some things are just not done.