RECENT COMMENTS

Friday, September 30, 2005

have been

Have been playing Has Been since birthday having waited a year...
Meanwhile, more Shatner at PCL Linkdump


Comments: have been

bzzt..Guru Bill..bzzt...lounge Buddhist...bzzt
Posted by peacay at September 30, 2005 01:42 PM

sounds smooth to me...
"he wants you to be moved, but he doesn't care what you think"
Posted by boynton at September 30, 2005 01:58 PM

Oh definitely smooth. I liked it.

He could look back on a good career as a future 'has been' in radio. Like Kennnnn Sherry (love serenade). The tinnitus wouldn't be fun though.
Posted by peacay at September 30, 2005 03:53 PM

Drivel of the very highest order.
Posted by Dick at October 1, 2005 08:00 AM

...and lovin it... ;)
Posted by boynton at October 1, 2005 04:15 PM

woogle

A  Tale  in Five  Parts

told by Woogle words in pictures

via the presurfer


Comments: woogle

A longer story at Twists and Turns.
http://michaelgates.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_michaelgates_archive.html#112787162871703738
Posted by boynton at October 3, 2005 09:12 PM

Thursday, September 29, 2005

moments

"Haystacks, End of Summer, Morning Effect, with Horsies"

Joan's Moments via Plep


(this moment seems to resonate at the moment)

persuasive

I was persuaded by the cover to buy Persuasive Percussion up at the local op-shop on Tuesday.
Among these infinite varieties of jingle-jangle, the omnivorous sound fancier will certainly find a few new sonic titillations

A man browsing near me sang an evergreen beautifully, flirting in that perfect-spring-day way when everything has a lilt and a tilt and you walk home singing in the air.

Other degrees of persuasion


Comments: persuasive

So, what's on the album? What are the best tracks? Does Orff's Musica Poetica get a guernsey? We need to know these things, damn it!
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at September 29, 2005 02:51 PM

.... boom, tish.
Posted by Tony.T at September 29, 2005 04:20 PM

A friend who studied the Orff method heard his music once described as "An orgy of indiscriminate bonking" - but no such sonic titillations on this disc.
All very Loungey. I sang along in the lounge.
"The Breeze And I" was my favourite for such mock-karaoke which I performed to an audience of 2 indifferent pigeons in the back garden.
Posted by boynton at September 29, 2005 04:23 PM

Given the surface imperfections on some tracks that might be more...

Bo...sh-

or

Boo!

Ssh ssh... ssssh
Posted by boynton at September 29, 2005 04:54 PM

How's the sckrrriittch sckrrraattch backtrack?
Posted by Tony.T at September 29, 2005 05:06 PM

it jumps
Posted by boynton at September 29, 2005 05:10 PM

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

max

Smart's charm lay in his utter humanness, the opposite of Bond's preposterous competence
New York Times

Maxwell Smart was always Mr Right in my book
apart from his shoe and his car
his ineptitude kept him charming and yet
he was disarmingly ept at the crunch.


The Age photo gallery Maxwell Smart remembered

Catchphrases
Sorry about that Chief!
This phrase really caught on when late in 1965 one of the Gemini astronauts used it when he made a mistake.


Sunbeam Tiger Marketing Materials


Comments: max

Ve don't comment here!
Posted by Sieg.T at September 27, 2005 06:34 PM

Apparently he modelled his vocal delivery on William Powell in the "Thin Man" movies. But somehow added a spirit of incurable optimism.

And don't forget he was also the voice of Inspector Gadget.

He died at the same time a certain something else seems to be dying too in the current Empire. I can't quite put a finger on it but I know it's not a sense of childhood innocence for our generation.

Perhaps more a sense of what Bottom in a Midsummers Night Dream meant for Albion's perception of itself. A gentle and cheerful everyman clown who kept putting his foot in it but came up trumps in the end.

And lovin' it.
Posted by Nabakov at September 27, 2005 08:35 PM

Apparently he modelled his vocal delivery on William Powell in the "Thin Man" movies. But somehow added a spirit of incurable optimism.

And don't forget he was also the voice of Inspector Gadget.

He died at the same time a certain something else seems to be dying too in the current Empire. I can't quite put a finger on it but I know it's not a sense of childhood innocence for our generation.

Perhaps more a sense of what Bottom in a Midsummers Night Dream meant for Albion's perception of itself. A gentle and cheerful everyman clown who kept putting his foot in it but came up trumps in the end.

And lovin' it.
Posted by Nabakov at September 27, 2005 08:35 PM

Apparently I'm too quick on the trigger. A subconsicous homage perhaps?

Delete what you think fit Boynty.
Posted by Nabakov at September 27, 2005 08:37 PM

First Gilligan now Max - both in their eighties. Sheesh.

I said to a co-worker making a coffee the other night, "Push the button Max". She had no idea and trying to explain was going to be futile. A bit like another esoteric favourite of mine, "Keepa dancin Maria". Is television funny any more? Get Smart was so clever and way ahead of its time.
Posted by Link at September 28, 2005 07:18 AM

Shouldn't we be discussing this in the Cone of Silence?
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at September 28, 2005 09:37 AM

Sig T - I asked you not to tell me that.

Nabs - The old too quick on the trigger trick...;)
I wonder if Fang modelled himself on Asta?
I agree - that gentle fallibilty factor is rare.
These days most flawed clowns have to have lashings of tv irony or psychological profiling to balance the books. I love the way that the world of Get Smart is taken as read and not explained or framed with reflexivity. Makes everything more...dense...

(It's been a week for le temps perdu for me with childhood heroes and memories and colours congregating)

Link - Don't think there's much that matches Max in complexity - and simplicity.
A lot of comedy of our times is brutal.

Gummo - What was that?!


Posted by boynton at September 28, 2005 10:51 AM

'What was that?'...(err... that is)
'Sorry, I didn't quite catch that' or
'I can't hear you' ...etc

(was in a bit of a rush with those comments yesterday and didn't spot the ambiguity in my last until back on-line today.
Missed it by ...)
Posted by boynton at September 29, 2005 11:14 AM

Monday, September 26, 2005

oddmusic

Some of Barry Hall's creations...
Barry Hall's Globular horns are a very uncommon instrument

Nah - even though too much football is never enough at the moment it's not that Barry. The ceramic instruments are part of the Oddmusic Gallery where you can see and hear some odd Instruments

via the ultimate insult

Sunday, September 25, 2005

unbelievable

"They wore the red and white and they have done it proud. It's 'never say die'."
Bob Skilton

My father's voice was choked with emotion when I rang..."Unbelievable"
(More fact than cliche after a lifetime of barracking for the red and the white)



Comments: unbelievable

I knew there'd be some excitement in these parts. Good luck to the winners.

Me? I went to lunch instead.
Posted by cs at September 25, 2005 04:42 PM

I watched it quietly (HA) at home - then went out to join the celebrations later, cs.
So you're not more inclined to follow the Swans now?
Posted by boynton at September 25, 2005 04:55 PM

Well I've never seen a swan in Sydney. T'was an ok game though.
Posted by peacay at September 25, 2005 09:51 PM

Herals Sun described it as:
"B-grade show an A-grade thriller"
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16711323%255E11088,00.html

I was too anxious to concentrate. Definitely had an ok finish.
Posted by boynton at September 25, 2005 11:49 PM

Leo Barry is a legend, I was there, he took the mark right in front of us. What a nerve wracking 2 seconds that was. Mad Monday tomorrow. I will sober up sometime later this week.
Posted by Guruann at September 25, 2005 11:58 PM

Hey Guruann!!!!!! How good is that.
Mad Monday should last a month I reckon - relative to time between drinks.
I'm with Bob: "Those last two minutes where the longest bloody two minutes of my life," the nine-time best and fairest said...
Apparently members of my family had to walk in and out of their respective lounge-rooms it was so tense.
I've seen the Barry mark numerous times since - what a mark!
Great write up in Age
http://www.theage.com.au/realfooty/news/afl/the-mark-that-saved-the-flag/2005/09/25/1127586746802.html
Posted by boynton at September 26, 2005 12:11 AM

I have seen many swans in Sydney. I used to walk my dog in centennial park regularly. She met her match in swans. So graceful; so fearsome, able at a blink to turn those curling knecks into darting arrows. Yes, it was a stand-off. I gotta lotta respect for swans.
Posted by cs at September 26, 2005 12:58 AM

The local swans have always had my respect.
Meanwhile the geese at the Boathouse can be fearsome (oarsome)...Funny that no football team adopts that moniker.

And David Williamson may have answered that earlier question?
"Will the premiership mean that AFL will become the great new game in Sydney? No, it won't. Allegiances to a sports code, passed from parent to child, run deep. But it will raise the level of respect and interest for the code to new levels."
http://www.theage.com.au/realfooty/news/afl/how-long-is-eternity/2005/09/25/1127586746796.html
Posted by boynton at September 26, 2005 01:06 PM

*yawn* - I dug around the foundations for a new garden shed, had several coffees, read weekend newspapers, while listening to the always wonderful Denise with TWANG on 3RRR.

I found out that one of the teams had won on a new s cast later that night that interrupted Sat Night Country with John Nutting.

All in all a day well spent.
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at September 26, 2005 03:01 PM

An afternoon of blood and bone over the Bloods?
That's very unVictorian of you, FX.

Actually checking my archives I notice that last year, (for the first time ever) I turned off the TV at 3/4 time and went for a walk, all bah humbug.
Luckily I refound the passion this year, ay.

How's that banjo interlude of the Club Song btw?
I went to sleep sometime Sunday morning with "Cheer Cheer" running through my head for the 109th time...
Posted by boynton at September 26, 2005 03:06 PM

"I have seen many swans in Sydney...centennial park"

Aaaaah...Vaucluse ducks.
Posted by peacay at September 26, 2005 05:58 PM

Yeah but last year Port Adelaide won, so turning the TV off is a natural reaction.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at September 26, 2005 09:43 PM

I was standing at a bar looking at the ocean. THE Game was on the telly. So who's winning? I asked my friend. "Pelicans" says he, gazing out the window. Seemed fair.
Posted by Link at September 26, 2005 10:10 PM

Hmmm is that a Sydney thing, peacay?
I wonder if Vaucluse Ducks hang out with Toorak Quacks?

Yes I think it was possibly the Port thing, Scott. Maybe if they were called the Teals?

Ha. Love that, Link.
Expert commentary.
(Wonder how the Seagulls went this year?)


Posted by boynton at September 26, 2005 11:24 PM

I daresay Vducks & Tquacks would get on. They both swan about town.

But it was just a snipe at the eastern suburbs - centennial park - there's no local duck-swan meme that I know about. Well, until now..
Posted by peacay at September 27, 2005 02:11 PM

Two cities, One Meme...
Posted by boynton at September 28, 2005 10:23 AM

A Tale of Two Memes
Meme me in St Louis
I left my meme in San Francisco
Meme me up Scotty
I have a meme
The dream meme

Ok, my work here is done..


Posted by peacay at September 28, 2005 06:16 PM

Friday, September 23, 2005

partisan

Pardon my frankness, Peddle, but you're a bit one-eyed in this matter



from The Hope of His House by R.A.H. Goodyear. Illustration by J Phillips Paterson. Nelson 1926

fever eve

The streets smell of freesias and freshly mown lawn
The papers are talking up the Swans and the heritage.
Last night on the Footy Show, Bob Skilton describes South supporters as the most loyal in the League
my sister calls to see if I'm watching and we talk along those old lines
the code of memory
The radio is full of die hard Bloods fans and a lifetime of waiting.
After months of melbourne-black I'm wearing red.


Comments: fever eve

Congratulations!
Posted by Kent at September 24, 2005 11:58 PM

Cheer, Cheer, etc...
Posted by Scott Wickstein at September 25, 2005 12:58 AM

Karnabludz.

(I'm only saying that because their colours are more or less the same as Man U's).
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at September 25, 2005 10:38 AM

Thanks - this is very sweet.
Posted by boynton at September 25, 2005 02:19 PM

- victory, I mean.
Posted by boynton at September 25, 2005 11:42 PM

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

no distance

and Two Love Letters To My Dogs


Comments: no distance

The second, in particular.
Posted by cs at September 20, 2005 11:34 PM

Yes, though the last two lines of the first...
(in particular- I really like the whole, the 'mine')

- oh and I've fixed the link now.
Posted by boynton at September 21, 2005 11:55 AM

Yeah, they are both very good.

Thinking of a dog's eyes, my kelpie would raise her eyebrows, sometimes just one. I don't know if other dogs do this, but haven't noticed it before or since. Sure used to crack me up.
Posted by cs at September 22, 2005 01:39 AM

Your kelpie soundspretty special cs.
Don't think I've ever seen that, though a lot of "eyebrow by proxy" (ear) acting.
My lab used to have one expression that used to crack me up - an accidental show of teeth in an expectant glance.
Posted by boynton at September 22, 2005 06:21 PM

clip

I thought I had lost Clippy in the recent PC crash.
Am I in the majority of one who likes him?
I mean the design of course, not the behaviour.
A passive rather than provocative agent apparently blessed with a small footprint, I just don't understand the bad press.

...animators have exploited Konrad Lorenz’s “Kindchenschema” for years, noting that characters with certain baby-like biological triggers, such as large heads, short arms and legs, round skulls, big eyes, and round cheeks are perceived as “cute” and likeable. Presumably, these traits would also be desirable in a likeable user interface agent character. However, the default Office Assistant character, “Clippit the Paperclip,” has virtually none of these features; especially in its original version, it features a small (or nonexistent) head, long wire “arms,” and slanted eyes
Why People Hate the Paperclip: Labels, Appearance, Behavior, and Social Responses to User Interface Agents

clippy

Maybe it was years of being watched by a labrador's round eyes, I find the blinking gaze of the paperclip benign, calming.
I have restored him to the office environment.


Comments: clip

l think clippy is rather cute!
Posted by clippy admirier at September 20, 2005 11:49 PM

Maybe 'cute' is right in this case, usually a word that grates with me. But maybe cuteness is what it is in this minimal design? Or the fact of being maligned?
In any case, he does remind me of the expression of my late dog, and even the Jack Russell watching me by the computer. Certainly more canine-like than that animated dog whose presence does annoy me.
Posted by boynton at September 21, 2005 12:01 PM

Well, If I want a digital amenusis, it certainly wouldn't be a Gates' inspired piece of boring office equipment.

Why not a owl? Owls are good. I used to hand feed a semi tame barn owl that roosted in our backyard mango tree. We called him "Neddy" because he occasionally sounded like the famous Seagoon ("What, what, what, Whoo!". He liked cold meat scraps, stale kokoda and leftover prawns and would stamp his talons and bob his head up and down when he saw us coming into the lower garden with a plate of leftover cocktail party shit. The cats hated him 'cos he could fly and they couldn't.

Can't see that fuckin' paper clip ever being as useful, decorative or as full of attitude as Neddy.
Posted by Nabakov at September 22, 2005 01:08 AM

The design becomes inextricably linked, unfortunately, with the behaviour.

Because he is what is known in scientific lingo as a first rate pain in the &#$^&^#& a^&e, his 'cute' smile becomes offensive, like he's making fun of you while you scream and bash the keyboard.
Posted by armaniac at September 22, 2005 05:28 PM

along these lines, Nabakov?
http://australianprints.gov.au/Search/Detail.cfm?SearchID=2&WorkID=44292&SRCHV=1&ZoomID=6

It surprises me that I like the Gates' inc design, I know it damages what little cred I have to admit it.
Maybe it's the very mundane nature of the thing - the boring office equipment, who knows. Anything more literal doesn't work, that's for sure.

You are in the majority of millions, armaniac.
But I don't get the 'making fun of you' aspect of the behaviour. Any more, that is. Maybe it was a journey - like having a canine companion around, whose watch first unsettles and then becomes rather comforting.
(I am a rather pathetic MS Office worker who seeks the consolation of paperclips I know - but such is life).
Posted by boynton at September 22, 2005 06:30 PM

 

Sunday, September 18, 2005

OMG

OMG WTF I've joined the ranks of mobile phone owners 20 years late.
If you see me strolling down a supermarket aisle muttering about brands of biscuits
or if you see me rifling through the bras at the lingerie sale looking for a lost phone
or if you see me txting like a teenager at a cafe in the presence of non-cellular companions
u cn call me and give me a reality check.

(On the other hand- if you see me walking down the street alone deep in conversation, don't assume I'm on the phone.)


Comments: phone

boynton makes a call in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does anyone know she's 20 years late?
Posted by Sedgwick at September 18, 2005 04:21 PM

Just text the word "word" to 1800-FOREST to find out. Go on, call now. You know you want to.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at September 18, 2005 07:18 PM

Er, that should be text "WOOD". Just blew the double entendre.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at September 18, 2005 07:21 PM

I'm fairly sure I can't be the only person who never thought the words "OMG WTF" would appear on Boynton's blog even in jest/irony...
Posted by James Russell at September 18, 2005 09:06 PM

OMG sedge...
f 1 pRsN W ful hearin wr 2 st& nxt 2 a deaf unique n ea experienced D abov scenario, dis wd B D 1 circumstance n wich D sound wd simultaneously Xist n not-exist. 4t wmn W D workin ear, D sound wd B brought 2 its ful realization, yl 4t deaf wmn, D sound wd remain 1ly a non-existent potential, a pen havN writ bt lEvN D ppr blank. 4 unique XperENs S dat wich defines reality...
http://personal.clt.bellsouth.net/t/a/tarabyl/ifa.htm

Gummo is that XX years?
Maybe the bears know ...
http://www.esato.com/ringtones/polyphonic/index.php/c=Nursery+Rhymes,id=15066

James - maybe I'm turning blue with Age.
Or maybe I'm regressing to the teenspeak I never spoke.
Wonder what the letters stand for anyway?
Posted by boynton at September 18, 2005 09:49 PM

You now have to learn to say "I'm just ..." whenever you answer, Miss Boynton. "I'm just walking ...", "I'm just driving...", "I'm just strolling down a supermarket aisle ..."," I'm just rifling through the bras at the lingerie sale looking for a lost phone."
Posted by cs at September 19, 2005 12:13 AM

Or arrange for someone to call you when you are on public transport so you can say "I'm just on the tram...".
Posted by another outspoken female at September 19, 2005 10:04 AM

I think my favourite is: " Can you see me? ...I can see you waving and I'm walking towards you now"
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at September 19, 2005 11:13 AM

I'm just starting to dread that modern affliction: contactability.

I'm just on the tram... but what I'll never do is what I (we all) overheard a guy saying on a tram once..."Do you want to go out on Saturday night...Oh...No that's ok...Bye"

There must be a keystone type of ending to that gag, FX, with sound fx?
Posted by boynton at September 19, 2005 02:27 PM

Just got my 1st mobile, too. (Commandeered from teenage son, who's not inclined to spend pocket-money on credit anyway...)Can tell I'm new to it - have to stand still to talk. A bit like patting head while rubbing tummy, innit...? Or maybe it isn't & I'm just very very unco(ol).
Posted by wen at September 29, 2005 08:57 AM

I want to stay at the low end of the motor skills scale in regard to txting.
Have never thought 'turbo thumb tapping' was a good look in anyone over the age of 13.
Posted by boynton at September 29, 2005 01:50 PM

Saturday, September 17, 2005

swans


source


Cheer Cheer



Comments: swans

We did it, I have no voice left, but wild horses won't stop me from being there next week.
Posted by Guruann at September 17, 2005 09:28 AM

Yay - I still can't believe it - I had thought we were a chance, but didn't feel that good at 3/4 time. Anyway, the old Beanie will be getting a lot of exposure this week.

(Nice way to kick off a birthday, eh!)
Posted by boynton at September 17, 2005 10:14 AM

Happy B can l ask how old?
Posted by My b too at September 17, 2005 10:39 AM

29

(well ... you know. The real answer is classified info)
Posted by boynton at September 17, 2005 11:19 AM

Yeh.......if your that old best to keep it to yourself!
Posted by My B too at September 17, 2005 12:39 PM

She's a bloody liar. She is 31. I host this blog so I know all these sordid details.

Even since her 30th she's been sooking on this issue.

Wait till you get to my age, Miss B!
Posted by Scott Wickstein at September 17, 2005 10:26 PM

Oh, and congrats for the old red and white. Good luck for next week.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at September 17, 2005 10:27 PM

Another Virgo blogger! Many Happy Returns Of The Day.
Posted by Brownie at September 18, 2005 12:05 AM

Thanks Scott, and thanks Brownie.
(ie Cheer Cheer)
Posted by boynton at September 18, 2005 12:29 PM

Happy birthday. Here's a little something by way of a belated virtual gift (sorry about the lack of gift wrapping):

http://nsm1.nsm.iup.edu/rgendron/Caminalcules.shtml

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/photos/snouters.html
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at September 18, 2005 03:51 PM

Many thanks.
Always wanted to find a phylogenetic tree.
(I do like the Earwings, and I guess the Bombats are active tonight.)
Posted by boynton at September 18, 2005 09:34 PM

Friday, September 16, 2005

fab 4 top 10

ABC radio's Jon Faine has been running a Beatles competition this week, as you do, inviting listeners to guess his top ten favourites, in order. It turns out his are:

Let it Be
Something
Yesterday
Cant Buy me Love
Michelle
She Loves You
I Want to Hold Your Hand
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
A Hard Day's Night
Here Comes the Sun

Hmmm...there's only two that I would put on my top ten, which is rather hard to compile and subject to variations in mood and weather. But for today, my top ten list is over the fold, (see uber comments) and if you guess it, I'll buy you a



diamond ring a drink

Hey Jude
Something
Here Comes The Sun
Good Day Sunshine
Here There and Everywhere
Dear Prudence
Don't Let me Down
I've Got a Feeling
Things we said today
Why Don't We Do It in The Road


meanwhile my top ten for singing with friends who can harmonise:

Here There and Everywhere
I'm Looking Through You
Blackbird
Two of Us
I've just seen a face
If I fell
Things we said today
Baby You're a Rich man
I've Got a Feeling
Why Don't We Do It in The Road

see also a good top 40
and beatlehead's faves



Comments: fab 4 top 10

Let it Be
Something
Got to get you into my life
Norwegian Wood
All you need is love
Michelle
Eleanor Rigby
Blackbird
With a little help from my friends
In my life
In no particular order after 1 & 2
Posted by norabone at September 16, 2005 06:14 PM

"In no particular order after 1 & 2"

Don't recall that one.
Was that a Macca in the McCartney years?

btw - should have put 'Twist and Shout' on my list but excluded covers for some reason. Probably number 2.
Posted by boynton at September 16, 2005 06:50 PM

Ho. Hum. Fainey once again demonstrating his lightweightedness.

In My Life
A Day In The Life
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
I've Got A Feeling
What Goes On
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
I'm Only Sleeping
Taxman
Hey Bulldog
Paperback Writer

Point of order please: Is the second side of Abbey Road one song?
Posted by Tony.T at September 16, 2005 07:33 PM

I came here to say Paperback Writer, of course.
Posted by Brownie at September 16, 2005 11:23 PM

A transistor radio under the pillow, a little past bedtime, spring of '63. The local AM station had a contest every week called "Battle of The Bands" where the DJ would play 3 records and kids called in for their favorites.
One of the records that night was "Please Please Me". It made my pre-adolescent hair stand on end.
I forget who won but it wasn't the Beatles.
By early autumn they were launched for interstellar space, just in time to carry America through the asassination of JFK.

That song's always had something for me.
Posted by Juke Moran at September 18, 2005 07:26 AM

exactly what Tony said re the lightweightedness of Jon Faine.
and no way is the second side of Abbey Road one song! Maybe one track - but probably not even that on CD.

to business:

Dear Prudence
With A Little Help From My Friends
Can't Buy Me Love
Strawberry Fields Forever
She's Leaving Home
The Ballad of John and Yoko
Hey Jude
Because
Helter Skelter (until Live 8....not so sure, now)
Blackbird
Norwegian Wood

That's more than ten. oh well!
Posted by laura at September 18, 2005 11:21 AM

TT - I like all those except 'What goes on' and prob 'Taxman'. Any other day I might pick "Hey Bulldog"

Brownie - Jon Faine played "Paperback Writer" eraly in week - maybe to trick people? But it's great ain't it - with that famous bass line.

Juke - Yep, I love "Please Please Me", and a few others around then. "Hold Me Tight" almost made my top 10. That and "Twist and Shout" - a rather stirring duo...

Yeah Laura, the Abbey Road Medley songs are all separate titles in my song albums. Had a boyfriend once who didn't like the Beatles (natch) but thought Helter Skelter was kool enough. (Maybe that's a scary thing) I chose "Why Don't We Do it In the road" as that kinda song, but kinder, gentler - though it is a lot of fun to sing.
Posted by boynton at September 18, 2005 12:43 PM

Thursday, September 15, 2005

davies on n'awlins

New Orleans - the ideal place to get shot
Ray Davies
Away from the partying it was obvious to a dedicated follower of the city that disaster was around the corner

via J walk.
(Also of interest is this comment: My first boyfriend used to write me poetry. Found out later they were plagiarized Kinks songs.)


Comments: davies on n'awlins

Good piece.

He never says why he chased the robber though. I have to say; gallantry has limits and they involve being thankful all you lost was your wallet/jewellery.
Posted by armaniac at September 16, 2005 12:51 PM

You Really Shot Me.
Posted by Tony.T at September 16, 2005 03:05 PM

Alas, I agree, there are defintely limits to gallantry.
All I got's this sunny afternoon.
Posted by boynton at September 16, 2005 04:03 PM

You are right. It is a very nice Days.
Posted by Tony.T at September 16, 2005 04:19 PM

well...chilly, chilly is the evening time
Posted by boynton at September 16, 2005 04:24 PM

with a wet-in-Kew sunset.
Posted by Tony.T at September 16, 2005 07:23 PM

But I am so lazy, don’t want to wander
I stay at home at night
But I don’t feel afraid*
As long as I gaze on Jolimont sunset
I am in paradise...

(*go swans)
Posted by boynton at September 16, 2005 08:16 PM

Kinda Pinks.
Posted by Tony.T at September 16, 2005 09:12 PM

Monday, September 12, 2005

worthwhile






From a book purchased today: The Hope of His House by R.A.H. Goodyear
Illustration by J Phillips Paterson. Nelson 1926



Comments: worthwhile

Ironically, this may be the last post for a while.
My computer is attitudinizing...
Posted by boynton at September 13, 2005 04:50 PM

Tell it to behave.
Posted by Kent at September 13, 2005 05:06 PM

It's in boot camp.
(Hopefully that's 'boot up' camp, after a little re-education.)
Posted by boynton at September 13, 2005 05:55 PM

Boot Camp..have you got help?
Posted by Concerned at September 13, 2005 06:40 PM

It's in good hands.
Blogging (or reading) from a friend's place now.
Posted by boynton at September 13, 2005 06:44 PM

Kent: Start another blog !!! I'm sick of not reading your stuff, you South Australian crow eating bastard!!! :-)

Boynton: Whilst there is eclectricity, there is hope....
Posted by Gerry at September 13, 2005 10:02 PM

Oh, I have a new one. Sort of. I just forget to link it with my name but have done so this time.
Posted by Kent at September 14, 2005 01:38 AM

It's been a couple of weeks now, Kent. 'Bout time you changed blogs isn't it?
Posted by Tony.T at September 14, 2005 11:37 PM

Yeah. Don't tempt me.
Posted by Kent at September 15, 2005 12:34 AM

Well - thanks to the amazing feats of Computer Doctor, we're up and running with all files saved and new Hard Drive...to boot.
Farewell win98.
Posted by boynton at September 15, 2005 03:10 PM

Glad your back..good computer doctor?
There are hacks out there that can ruin a computer.
lt's happened to me.Can be a real culture shock if you get a bad one.
Posted by concerned patron. at September 15, 2005 06:59 PM

Excllent.
(A professional.)
Posted by boynton at September 15, 2005 08:04 PM

vintage projects

Actually these Vintage Projects seem like projects for our times...

As a toy or for experimental purposes the periscope shown has many possibilities, and will appeal to youngsters.


Build a Wet Submarine Seated in such a vehicle, you can cover more bottom simply because you do not expend your energy in swimming and your precious air can be made to last much longer.

Also, they're fun to operate.



Oh - and if indeed the cricket crumbles, there's always whimmydiddle and flipperdinger...
Folk Toys are Back Again

via the presurfer


Comments: vintage projects

I trust the bull-roarer comes with safety glasses. Can't be too careful. I think those toys would have trouble passing the Play Safe Assessment Bureau of Finger Nipping and Eye Poking. (Aust Branch)
Posted by Tony.T at September 12, 2005 07:43 PM

Depends on the branch?
Posted by boynton at September 12, 2005 08:06 PM

Speaking as somone who did fool around underwater with battery powered propcages, that above does not look like the shizzle.

Unlike "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zizzou". Now that's the shizzle. It got mixed reviews ("sloppy", "unfocused"- which is what got me in) but who gives a dolphin's fart about 'em anyway.

I LOVED IT! and would heartily recommend it to anyone who's into a lovingly Tatiequese yet kinda slyly sardonic pomo take on Willard Price's 'Adventure' series and Cousteau docs -and who also thinks Bill Murray, Noah Taylor, Anjelica Huston, Owen Wilson and a pregnant Kate Blanchett could all look really sexy in wetsuits. The boat, the seaplane, the sub and the marine wildlife are awful cute as well. Also Willam Defoe turns out to be a brillant comedian - stealing every scene he's in...as a neurotic German electrician.

Think of it not a as a classically structured movie, but rather as a series of increasingly deranged postcards from a person's last great marine expedition, going completely off the rails in an Ahabish quest. Bounty for the Muntiny.
Posted by Nabakov at September 13, 2005 12:26 AM

Now that sounds like my sort of movie.

As well as Cousteau, once was Flipper fan, you know.
(Indeed who gives a 'Flipperdinger' about crickets)
Posted by boynton at September 13, 2005 12:56 AM

"Now that sounds like my sort of movie."

It's a date. I'd happily watch it again and again. The next Grogflog session? Which will be lady-friendly this time. I'm thinking Sunday 31st, the week after the Grand Final.

Other licks tentively scheduled for the session include "Winter Kills", "These Are The Damned" and "Night Moves".

cc: TT.
Posted by Nabakov at September 13, 2005 01:38 AM

sounds good
Posted by boynton at September 13, 2005 04:54 PM

It crumbled. Out with the whimmydiddle and flipperdinger...
Posted by Dick at September 14, 2005 07:54 AM

I've been building a submarine actually. ;)

Have to say it.
Well played England.
Good. For. Cricket.

(Hard to watch though)
Posted by boynton at September 15, 2005 03:07 PM

Saturday, September 10, 2005

red and white

I've been switching into IE to play this song.
It seems to go with this picture you might have missed.

Another version here.
An old link to the local albeit Mike Brady faux Faber singers hybrid here still plays.


Comments: red and white

There was a lot of luvin to be had when the siren went, I reckon I hugged 100 people. I have watched the last minute of the game 10 times today and credit should go to Jason Ball for the tap to Davis, it happened right in front of where we were sitting, it was so fast that we were in shock. ONWARD TO VICTORY, Can't wait till Friday night at the G, we'll be there.
Posted by Guruann at September 10, 2005 08:43 PM

As noted at Surfdom, I couldn't watch the last quarter - was sure we were gone...Paced around the house until I heard the incredible result!
Will watch a Tape of the game tomorrow, many times and will watch out for that tap!
Must have been great to be there - heard them talking about that ROAR!
Go swans!
Posted by boynton at September 10, 2005 10:10 PM

Friday, September 09, 2005

fancy dress

Kent has found a great collection of photos at the State Library of South Australia from a Childrens's Fancy Dress Ball 1887


A. May aged 14 years old, dressed as a Clock

Antonia Bircher aged 10 years old, dressed as a telephone

Effie Conigrave : age 17 dressed as 'Good Luck'

Leslie Gardner : age 10 dressed as 'Eclipse'



Comments: fancy dress

Simply tremendous!
Posted by Jeff Ward at September 11, 2005 04:15 AM

"Telephone" is amazing given the date. A new and rare invention.
This one also is quite striking as "Sunbeam" seems a proto-mini. Could make an appearance 100 years later - maybe it was 1880's Nouveau Age.
http://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au:1084/search/fChildren's+Fancy+Dress+Ball%2C+1887+Collection/fchildrens+fancy+dress+ball+1887+collection/-2%2C-1%2C0%2CB/l856&FF=fchildrens+fancy+dress+ball+1887+collection&181%2C%2C388%2C1%2C0
Posted by boynton at September 11, 2005 01:25 PM

shade and light

Shadows Everywhere by Anthony Doerr
The shadow of apocalypse, it seems, is on everything
(via things)

Meanwhile, for mirth:
Things I’ve learned from British folk ballads
Don’t ignore warnings. If someone tells you to beware of Long Lankin, friggin’ beware of him. If someone tells you not to go by Carterhaugh, stay away. Same goes for your mother asking you not to go out hunting on a particular day. Portents about weather, particularly when delivered by an old sailor who is not currently chatting up a country maid, are always worth heeding.



Comments: shade and light

And never, under any circumstances, shove your cane with an 'orses 'ead 'andle into anything resembling a lion's ear:

http://www.monologues.co.uk/Albert_and_the_Lion.htm
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at September 9, 2005 08:14 PM

Aye - By Gum!

I'm sure there's an oz version to be written featuring the dangers of camping under coolibah trees and the doleful ghosts of shearers/drovers/diggers.
Posted by boynton at September 10, 2005 12:01 PM

Let's not forget, either, the dangers of taking a stroll along the banks of the Ohio River with Olivia Newton John. Don't let her squeaky clean white bread image fool you. This woman is dangerous.

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/olivia-newton-john/banks-of-the-ohio-11915.html
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at September 10, 2005 06:01 PM

She's quick to show OMG WTF remorse though...
(Scary)

Meanwhile, if things are crook when "Andy's Gone with The Cattle"...they could be worse:
http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-an6065685
Posted by boynton at September 10, 2005 10:02 PM

Thursday, September 08, 2005

nutritional bang

The 29 Healthiest Foods on the Planet
the biggest nutritional bang for you caloric buck
via Follow Me Here

Just off to stock up on the apricots, peanuts and raisins. Not forgetting the fig:
the dried variety make a great portable gym snack.


Comments: nutritional bang

Hi Boynton - I just read this at a US blog titled A Tiny Revolution, and I thought you might enjoy the punchline

"Everyone remembers this famous quote from Condoleezza Rice:

"I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon; that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile."

You probably know this wasn't, uh, 100% true. In addition to lots of other evidence, we just learned this:

American aviation officials were warned as early as 1998 that Al Qaeda could "seek to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark," according to previously secret portions of a report prepared last year by the Sept. 11 commission.

But here's something I bet you didn't know:

William Harlow was the Director of Public Affairs—ie, chief spokesman—for the CIA from 1997 to 2004. He was quoted all the time in the news after the September 11th attacks. But Harlow did more than just PR; he also had written a novel published in 1999 called Circle William.

The plot of Circle William revolves around an attempt by terrorists to crash a commercial airliner into the Knesset in Israel.

It would be incredible enough that Condoleezza Rice would say what she did, while all the while the public face of the CIA had written a book with almost that precise topic. But here's something more incredible: the media never, ever noticed this.

In fairness to them, of course, it was extremely difficult to find this out. I was only able to do so by using a special technique I developed, which I call "Having a Library Card."

(and a punchline of my own: The 1970's film '3 Days Of The Condor' was about a man whose job it was to read novels and find terrorist plots in them.)
Posted by Brownie at September 16, 2005 11:20 PM

Thanks Brownie.
The comments on the post are good too.
http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/000614.html
Posted by boynton at September 17, 2005 12:49 PM

ruins

My family’s conversations seesaw between the tragedy in its full dimension—how many dead and how much destroyed, and, worse, what proportion was needless—and the quotidian minor resonances that the mind can’t help offering up. My oldest son called demanding to know what had become of a particular rock in Audubon Park where I used to perch him as a toddler. I’ve been preoccupied with our family burial plot in Metairie Cemetery, where we laid my mother to rest six summers ago...
Nicholas Lemann. In The Ruins

From The New Yorker Hurricane Katrina via bifurcated rivets

 
There by Ernesto at Never Neutral


Comments: ruins

gracias for the shout-out! :)
As always, your blog is an awesome reading resource!
Posted by ernesto Priego at September 12, 2005 11:38 PM

cheers

& I love your "Cities" series, e.
Posted by boynton at September 13, 2005 12:51 AM

...thank you...

(again!)

e
Posted by ernesto Priego at September 14, 2005 04:30 PM

...thank you...

(again!)

e
Posted by ernesto Priego at September 14, 2005 04:30 PM

...thank you...

(again!)

e
Posted by ernesto Priego at September 14, 2005 04:30 PM

...well, I guess that was quite emphatic...
Posted by ernesto Priego at September 14, 2005 04:39 PM

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

link blogs

Three very fine blogs retired from link-blogging recently: exclamation mark, life in the present and lonita - as discussed at Bibi's and Eye of the goof: The End of the 'Blog As We Know It?

Perhaps there is a season for it?
I was interested to read the comment from the nonist.
i know i'm comparatively new to this game (compared to you three old salts) but my recipe is as much original content as possible using links to fill the gaps. even then i try to offer as much commentary on a link as i can. "make it my own" as it were. works for me fairly well. also i was careful to keep things as open ended as i could so even massive change could happen comfortably


Such recipes for avoiding burn-out (for bloggers and readers alike) are good.
In link-logging mode, I try to cut the numbers back, and to describe and highlight the material. Some links are worth a dozen posts.
In link-blogging mode or making links your own it's waiting until something from the data-stream strikes a narrative chord.

Of course, some links speak for themselves. So do some days.
Some days I only want the links straight.
Some days I only want to read one sentence.
Some days I only want to read the comments.
On the best days, the links end up talking to each other.

I've always been a sub-sifter- half link-blog, half dog-blog, with weather - so I've managed to avoid the burn-out of the primary sifter thus far.
(But this is always provisional - tomorrow is another day.)
 

In other blogging news: bluejoh is back at Created Metaphors
Writer Wendy James has gone solo at My Career goes Blog
Scott is blogging at Unoriginal Prankster
and Kent is back again at Supermaxwell.


Comments: link blogs

Talking about the weather - I always get a lift when the days are * good drying days*
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at September 7, 2005 10:12 PM

Yes - as long as the drying wind is not much stronger than today. Though it switched to Mild later in the afternoon from a wilder setting.
Posted by boynton at September 7, 2005 11:53 PM

Thanks for the link, Miss B. Though I'm afraid my place is still a little unsitely...
Posted by wen at September 8, 2005 09:35 AM

Ah, "the burn-out of the primary sifter"...That'll be it then. Sounds vaguely existential. One imagines The Primary Sifter, in long-shot, under a burning noon-day sun... At any rate, in what they used to call "hiatus" I may be (and partly due to wanting to do something other than simply point, and partly, alas, for more complicated, personal reasons), but I've kept up my TypePad Pro account, so I shall return, in some sitely fashion, some time soon...
Posted by dave at September 9, 2005 06:39 AM

Great to see you blogging again, wen.
Are you having a housewarming?

Slightly better than a Pure Finder, Dave.
http://boyntonesque.blogspot.com/2003/11/wild-goose.html
but existential nonetheless. (Not to mention the Loneliness (stats-wise) of the long distance sub-sifter)
I recently read another well-regarded link blogger lamenting the state of pointing, or 're-blogging'. That is the way the exi crisis seems to go.("What's the point?")
But there's a lot to be said for good simple pointing when you see it elsewhere. The big dilemma. And as good as deli-ci-ous is, I still prefer a blog.
Glad to hear that your wonderful blog is back soon from hiatus.
Posted by boynton at September 9, 2005 12:31 PM

Saturday, September 03, 2005

rantwittering

A group of bloggers gather around the water cooler in 1939 to discuss open source software, sponges and inverted swans. *

(A very pleasant rantwittering last night chez Gummo who has now embarked on a novel weekend)


Comments: rantwittering

Where are you Boynton..no posts for 4 days.

l miss it.
Posted by Concerned Reader. at September 7, 2005 10:47 AM

What's Nabs doing there lurking around the back of the water cooler?
Posted by cs at September 7, 2005 11:23 AM

Too much to read about Online to blog at the moment.
And too much sunshine offline...
Stand by.

Nabs? Maybe a hallucinination, though I don't think I drank quite that much mineral water. I drank enough to go teetotal in September though. (And we don't want to talk about the swans - inverted or not... except we woz robbed)
Posted by boynton at September 7, 2005 12:20 PM

too much sunshine in melbourne?

I'd like to see that.
Posted by cs at September 7, 2005 12:43 PM

You would not believe the recent weather then, cs.
Mon,Tues = perfect.
We should bottle it.
Posted by boynton at September 7, 2005 12:57 PM

Friday, September 02, 2005

katrina

They stayed because they could not run, and now they might die because they cannot swim.
Disjointed thoughts on the socio-economics of disaster via making light

Home to the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, & JazzFest, a city rich with tradition, art, and culture, now drowned. How does one write about losing an entire city?
The Next Atlantis via wood s lot
and see link to a first hand account by poet Camille Martin

Sullivan said museum workers had taken down some pieces in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden before the storm.
But a towering modernist sculpture by Kenneth Snelson was reduced to a twisted mess in the lagoon.

NOLA via wood s lot
 


Comments: katrina

"The animals in the New Orleans zoo got free and are roaming the city.
Sharks from the Gulf ended up in NOLA and are swimming around the flooded city."

Just rumours. This bunch of predominantly New Orleans people on LJ have made for interesting and poignant reading lately:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/docbrite/friends?skip=25
Posted by Kent at September 2, 2005 01:01 AM

Still such stuff of rumours and nightmares seems to be occurring...
Posted by boynton at September 2, 2005 12:55 PM

Each step each day, in, the news gets more fantastic. It's as though what we are is still not attainable, so that what we are is a striving toward what we are. Looters. And collapse. Gas prices. And it's distant from something we think of as real. This is real. That is real.
Inisist on the validity of what you hold dear.
Posted by Juke Moran at September 2, 2005 03:00 PM

Did you know Fats Domino is one of those missing?
Posted by Tony.T at September 2, 2005 03:06 PM

Oops. That was timely, they just found him.
Posted by Tony.T at September 2, 2005 03:09 PM

I can see the headline:

THAT AIN'T A SHAME!
Posted by Tony.T at September 2, 2005 03:17 PM

Well I googled news to check the headlines, and found this, (which may tie in with Juke's comment).
"They could tear the whole place to the ground and within a couple of weeks, you'd hear somebody walking around playing a trumpet," he says. "Thank God we have music. It's the one thing a hurricane can't blow away."
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/entertainment/stories/DN-nomusic_0901ove.ART.State.Edition2.13c83284.html
Posted by boynton at September 2, 2005 03:42 PM

- though watching the latest news that might seem rather optimistic?
Posted by boynton at September 3, 2005 07:24 PM

Why, what was in the latest news?

I was going to say a hurricane is music's greatest enemy - try singing outside into a windy day. Doesn't work.
Posted by Kent at September 4, 2005 02:17 AM

Playing cymbals presents all sorts of problems.
Posted by Tony.T at September 4, 2005 06:59 PM

I've got a list of NOLA musos lost and found at my spot.
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at September 5, 2005 01:13 AM

The city i've most wanted to visit in the US, one of the only places I wanted to visit in the US, is no more.

This is like losing venice.
Posted by armaniac at September 6, 2005 10:31 AM

"Muisti|kirja" has posted a long passage on New Orleans from Bob Dylan's 'Chronicles'
"A city like A very Long Poem"
http://karrikokko.blogspot.com/2005/09/city-like-very-long-poem.html

(via Topher Tune's Times)
http://toph.blogspot.com/
Posted by boynton at September 6, 2005 11:03 PM
Post a comment

Thursday, September 01, 2005

wattle day

Wattle Day Group Portrait

Wattle day
 

So there I was yesterday in the park, thinking you know, wattle I blog...
I lie. This is actually one of the selection of photographs published in 1921 in a book titled "Golden Wattle Our National Floral Emblem"

Although - I did walk out yesterday into 30 acres of park at lunchtime that was completely deserted. Despite the still sunshine, everyone must have heeded storm warnings. The emptiness was creepy.
The only storm damage I saw was two wattles that had fallen across the path, which was sad so short of spring. I souvenired two windfall bunches of unsprung blossom to sneeze at in private.


Comments: wattle day

I took this near the top of Mt Lofty last week
http://ummm.net/wattle_25thaugust.jpg
Posted by Kent at September 1, 2005 05:47 PM

Great photo.
I love the cyprus too.
Road seems to be saying: Spring's just around the bend...
Posted by boynton at September 1, 2005 06:13 PM

Well a cypress is nothing to sneeze at. Especially one that managed to grow on the island of Cyprus, if any.
A tree I confuse with cedars for some reason.
But wattle now ... avec le daub you have - le maison! Non?
Or is this another alternate-world language bit?
Posted by Juke Moran at September 1, 2005 06:56 PM

No no no - just an alt-boynton-world language gaffe that causes me to blush, and now I can't even sneak into the comments and correct it ;)
Especially as I grew up with cyprESSES and have rhymed a few odes with the word.
(Grew up a mile down the road from the house of the wattle-photographer as it turns out)
Posted by boynton at September 1, 2005 07:03 PM