and so on

I am infinity You may worship me, but from afar _

what number are you?

this quiz by orsa

 

But where am I, I wonder?

---

Comments: and so on


Curious - I am not certain if this tells you what you are or what you want to be. When I tried to be nice, I got a nice answer. When I tried to be weird I got... well, you know. As for where - we have Melways for that.
Posted by phlip at April 1, 2004 11:22 AM

actually I thought it was a pretty good quiz in terms of questions. (I would have loved to have been 'imaginary' but didn't try to skew it that way.)
And I just consulted the Book. Alas, there is no "Infinity" rd, avenue, circuit or close in Greater Melbourne. Nor "Eternal St" - though Springvale Road must seem like it sometimes.
Closest I could get to it is the old "Eden" again, Philip.
And while Eden Court at Cape Woollamai (634 D 8) sounds good, maybe I am more situated at Edenhope in Kilsyth?
Posted by boynton at April 1, 2004 11:41 AM

I am the Natural Number e
I go with the flow
Posted by Nora at April 1, 2004 04:16 PM

I go with the Flo

I have the scars to prove it.
Posted by boynton at April 1, 2004 04:36 PM


Yes - 51 K6 is a possibility. Other than that we are hard up. Perhaps someone could knock over (literally) an Eighth Street for you.
Posted by phlip at April 1, 2004 05:06 PM

I could always oblige - as I recall, that is the way I drive.
Yes I could souvenir a sign from 245 D9,E5, once I had driven through and knocked it sideways.

(for those of you without a Melways handy this is
a reference to "Eighth Avenue" in a place called Eden Park - which I confess I hadn't heard of.
On the Northern Fringe. Looking at the map, it looks quite the place for such an enterprise with a series of long straight roads stretching into sprawling melways infinity.
Posted by boynton at April 1, 2004 05:20 PM


That is a handy coincidence.

Someone with a lot of imagination got involved in the town planning in that place. I wonder what happened that in the midst of the numeric nomenclature a "Murray Road" appeared? There is a really good toboggan park just a handful of blue squares away, that's a positive. Many a happy day has been spent there risking life and limb.
Posted by phlip at April 2, 2004 08:22 AM



via okir - (who is Imaginary which is infinitely better)

musiciennes

In the mood for the Organ

Les Femmes Musiciennes A collection of 10 prints from the 16th century by Tobias Stimmer illustrating female musicians

meanwhile Percussion is challenging

(another of the wonderful links on the Elizabethan Costuming page)

lifter

dog lifter

(via the Presurfer)

e collar

The vet draws a diagram that looks like an eye. I watch it and nod as she runs through all the contingencies starting with c and ending with pathology.

And we wouldn't like to see him become fecally incontinent. We agree.
It would be a profound irony, given that he has always been fecally gifted.

He's just been described as a dream patient as he wakes up from another general and a week of the indignity of an E collar ahead.

(this was his condition)

---

Comments: e collar

am glad for you that he is helped now and will get better (I assume?). I don't even want to imagine how it must be if my dog would get ill and need surgery. Anyway, good luck, I'm sure you'll be extra nice to him this upcoming week with the collar.
Posted by Anne at March 30, 2004 10:57 PM

Thanks.
He's 15 in June, so he's at the age where I would celeberate his longevity and ignore any lumps if I could. Unfortunately, this one would cause complications if left alone.
The whole pack is adjusting to the oddness of collar and the disruption of routine. We all blame the collar. It obviously has mysterious powers.
Posted by boynton at March 31, 2004 09:56 AM

ruff

constructing an Elizabethan Ruff

from the vast Elizabethan Costuming Page

Lucky Doug won't be needing me to construct any post-operative elizabethan corsetry

ustinov

"I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilised music in the world." Sir Peter Ustinov
BBC News. A life in Quotes


He was inexhaustible. It was like talking to Europe, talking to history.
- Clive James

I tried to find some online audio. Peter Ustinov reading The fables of James Thurber

adam west

It was all very exciting to hear the theme song over the cartoon skyline at Adam West.com ( even if the song stopped just short of the batman!) - the Pow! of nostalgia.

via a vast collection of things to see at Exclamation Mark

dahlia time

I happened to hear the phantom extra hour announced on radio in the early hours of the morning (as we adjust our clocks around about the equinox)
Six hours later I heard kids skateboarding down the empty street on a sunday morning with its sundry hour somewhere up its sleeve
So suddenly we can't leave our evening stroll much later than six and the park is already getting dark around seven.

It's dahlia time, a lovely time of the year according to the gardening pages of the Age.

Nora Heysen Still Life of Dahlias in a Jug

dahlias

(and the time of the date stamp also needs adjusting)

ping pong3

Badda-Ping! The Whacky World of Olympic Table Tennis
You may think of Ping-Pong as a goofy game that bored adolescents play in suburban basements until they lose the ball under the radiator. But talk to Reed and her teammates and you learn that table tennis is an intense sport with all the earmarks of big-time athletics -- steroid scandals, colorful characters, Byzantine romances and groupies. Also, there's a lot of glue sniffing.
(via Arts and Letters daily)

I keep running into ping-pong, arts and whiff-whaff daily. Almost inspires a quest for a second- hand table through the Trading Post to set up in this generous suburban carport.

---

Comments: ping pong 3

I always thought ping-pong was the version where you had to bounce the ball on your own side rather than hitting it over the net?
Posted by dj at April 1, 2004 10:48 AM

Really?
According to dictionary.com Ping-Pong was
"A trademark used for table tennis and associated equipment.", in a 'sailboard' sort of way?
I don't know if it's taken on this sort of definition from the recreational player's point of view.

btw According to dictionary.com Ping-pong also means:
"A phenomenon which can occur in a
multi-processor system with private caches where two processors are alternately caching a shared location. Each time one writes to it, it invalidates the other's copy."

that's got something to do with bouncing twice over the Net, hasn't it? ;)
Posted by boynton at April 1, 2004 12:43 PM

heartmap

Heartmap

Watermark translates the complexities of medical and technical subjects into persuasive, aesthetic, and easy to understand visuals

(via Quiddity)

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Comments: Heartmap

So it's left at the Overpass and then go past the toll booth and turn right?
Posted by Scott Wickstein at March 27, 2004 04:05 AM

or left, as the persuasion takes you ;)

And maybe that would be the third (over)pass -

for whom the triple bypass tolls?
Posted by boynton at March 27, 2004 06:53 PM

A gallery of old Board Games (via Life in the present)


I like this one.
My copy of the game is overall in excellent condition but missing both the false teeth and the monkey

Something to play at a retro fondue party maybe?

---

Comments: games

It might be just me, but judging by the girly's reaction (frog aside) it appears the blonde fellow's hand might be a bit more peregrinatory than permitted under the rules.

Yes, it might just be me. (The student formerly known as the undefeated Ararat High School Form Party Spin the Bottle Osculatory Champion. 1958 -64.)

Ps. the 'ch-a-ppy (later replaced by 'fellow' appears to be questionable content. My point entirely.
Posted by Sedgwick at March 25, 2005 05:06 PM

She looks pretty content too.

Yes it seemes like spin the bottle writ large.

"Do you want to play Feeley-meeley?" would certainly sound bolder in a social situation I imagine. Tho' perhaps some mystery would be lost in its bored directeness...
Posted by boynton at March 25, 2005 05:38 PM

Bawd games ... just the ticket.

And let it be placed on the record that in all my years of playing Spin the Bottle, never once did I receive a writ, large or otherwise.
Posted by Sedgwick at March 25, 2005 05:49 PM

I liked this game growing up and am looking to buy for my grandchildren. anyone know where? have been looking for years.
Posted by at September 15, 2005 01:59 AM

sheep pool

Sheep pool is kind of combo of the dreaded demon balls and the more orthodox sheep dog trials of Mouton's park.

(via diversionz)

p&p

I believe you belong in Pride and Prejudice; a
world of satire and true love. A world where
everything is crystal clear to the reader, and
yet where new things seem to be happening all
the time. You belong in a world where your
free-thought puts you above the silly masses,
and where bright eyes and intelligence are
enough to attract the arrogant
millionaire/prejudiced young woman of your
choice.


Which Classic Novel do You Belong In?
brought to you by Quizilla

I know this has been around but any excuse for a remotely hosted picture and the result surprised me. I thought I had blown my chances at belonging in P&P by several un-austen-like answers.
(via cup of chicha)

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Comments: p&p

I got this response:"In my not so humble opinion, you, of course, belong in the Picture of Dorian Gray, and do not try to deny it. You belong in the fashionable circles of Victorian London where exotic tastes, a double life, decadence, wit and a hypocritical belief in moral betterment make you a home. You belong where the witty apothegms of Lords, the silly moralities of matrons, the blinding high of opium, and the beauty of visual arts mingle to form one convoluted world."
Posted by Nora at March 25, 2004 04:30 PM

better take your smelling salts with you when check in to see how your portrait's doing, Nora.
Posted by boynton at March 26, 2004 11:43 AM

dorian gray. such an opposite to my scruffy, genial, penny challenged life..
Posted by David Tiley at March 26, 2004 11:30 PM

the portrait must be living the high life behind your back, David ;)


Posted by boynton at March 27, 2004 06:48 PM

interrobang

Yes, I'm with Sarcasmo in endorsing the interrobang - the question/exclamation mark combo as a punctuation mark of our times. (Although the page in question does describe it as A twentieth century punctuation mark. Passé already? Perhaps the levels of curiosity have dipped since 1962, a bit like OMG gradually leaving WTF to it.

Alas there is no html code to render the sign. One promised a bang but delivered a whimper:

¿

although maybe the inverted question mark is more 21st century. Less excitement, more of the shrug.

I hope the code is created soon, along with a whoosh

(more at wikpedia)

brazilian music

Joe Sixpack's Guide To Brazilian Music
By popular demand, I've finally created a list of Brazilian records that I would recommend above all others. It's a difficult, reductionist task, and one that I've resisted for years, since I feel that Brazilian music has such beautiful variety that it demands a more extensive consideration.

reaffirms my old vow to buy some Joao

via a cool collection of links at Quiddity

aibo

After another bad incident in the park, I'm half thinking of swapping the evilFlo ® for an Aibo

AIBO® is Sony's Entertainment Robot. The name AIBO® is derived form the words "A.I." (Artificial Intelligence), and roBOt. Also, in Japanese, "aibo" means "companion" or "pal" (via fishbucket)

The LED's in the Illume-Face may be more entertaining in a christmas-tree-light sort of way, if pets are to be clowns, although I doubt that the organic interaction of the tactile touch sensors on the back, head, and chin is as pleasing as the old analog way of patting an animal. Anatomically the rear view suggests that a fundamental problem of urban dog ownership has been eliminated.
And judging by evilFlo's record of anarchy, I don't like the sound of Various autonomous behaviors based on recognition of owner’s face and voice
A little autonomy can be a dangerous thing - and send owner's face into an Illume spin.

Maybe K9 might have an idea.

rap rat

There was a sign on the bridge at the Park yesterday with gaps in the letters from weathering or tampering. This is what was left:

heir natur

raps encourage the rat

passion players

I was offered a piece of cake by Pilate yesterday. Or maybe it wasn't Pilate but one of the High Priests. They were taking tea casually after rehearsing the annual Passion Play in the park. Earlier I had jumped as I rounded a corner and heard men shouting passionately in a quarry. I don't think it was in Aramaic. I wonder though if the passion will be jacked up a notch this year under the influence of Mel.

Some churches putting more 'Passion' in Easter plays
To become a more "physical" Jesus, Campbell hit the gym with a personal trainer. "I don't think Jesus was buff but he was certainly fit, like in the movie."

cyber shopper

Online shopping has buyers entranced
but who is regulating quality

Cyber shopper at Jeff Bohlander Illustration (via life in the present)

desert discs

After-show googling State of Play took me to the BBC Desert Island Discs program and Bill Nighy's choice, with a sprinkling of Stones. Past guests include Margaret Attwood, P.D.James, Billy Connolly and Henry Blofield.

sate of play

State of Play concluded on ABC TV last night. Even though the conspiracy thriller is not my genre of choice I thought it was great story telling. I read this English review that scoffs at the cliches of the newsroom setting and problems of the plot more holes in it than a chunk of Edam?...as a conspiracy thriller, State of Play works better as a soap
Pretty good soap that can produce such great performances, from a great set of characters. And pretty slick soap too, where the big questions are always subject to the larger drama that kicks along, the moments of personal crisis (soap?) beholden to the action. But in this tight narrative economy there are enough small details in dialogue and visual moments that fill in the possible gaps in street cred with emotional cred. Is it the Macguffin principle? At the end of the story, it's the inner lives of the characters that prevail over the secondary details of their outer lives and inhabited spaces.
"I hate doing heavily researched drama. It just gets in the way of a good story. As long as you're not too wide of the mark, people let you get away with it."
State of Play writer Paul Abbot The Age

pop themes

McSweeney's Analysis of the Batman Theme song. (via diversionz)

What's Popcorn in Aramaic? (via grow a brain)

imagination

Some Imagination for a slow Sunday afternoon (via exclamation mark)

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Comments: imagination

Of course. You are a gun at finding this sort of thing Miss b.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at March 22, 2004 12:12 AM

Thanks but I'm rather low down in the finder food chain, Scott. There's usually a lot of via's in front of me.
Posted by boynton at March 22, 2004 09:41 AM

war and blogging

works for me

and in the next roll of the related searches dice, I got the combo Listen and Blogger which is a pretty good 2 word summary of the enterprise really.

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Comments: war and blogging

Good old Leo. Thankfully he stopped when I was ahead ... just!

http://www.titansfan098.com/uploader/tolstoy.JPG

BTW this is a quick and dirty way to get a pic uploaded and displayed in circumstances like this - http://www.titansfan098.com/uploader/ - if you aren't requiring archival longevity - i.e. should the host site goes belly up, which these places do regularly.

I use it (and similar ones) for emailing, just send a link rather than clogging up people's inboxes with graphics attachments.

Community announcement over ...
Posted by Sedgwick at March 20, 2004 04:29 PM

heh heh...
If Pepys can blog, why can't Leo I wonder?

And that's a great tip there, Sedge. I may even upload my emphemera to there rather than uber.
I even like the look of a blank graphic with a cross where a jpeg used to be.
Nothing is forever.
Posted by boynton at March 20, 2004 04:40 PM

As if Uber could ever die! I'm shocked- SHOCKED! at the suggestion.

Seriously the new plan I'm moving to will have enough space for anything you want to upload, short of entire DVD movies.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at March 22, 2004 12:15 AM

Scott, the reference to sites going belly up relates to freeby image hosters not Uber. Never. I've always assumed (as long as you remember when the bills are due) that it will be uber alles.

Boynton thrown out onto the streets, sleeping under bridges, a blag lady panhandling for links. Perish the thought.
Posted by Sedgwick at March 22, 2004 07:53 AM

an image not too far away from reality, actually.
Posted by boynton at March 22, 2004 09:43 AM

more bands

Hilda Tansey (1901 - 1975)
Australia's first lady conductor
She was a cunning poker player, loved her budgie, had a great sense of humour and she was my aunt. She was also a fine player of brass instruments, conductor and teacher, and the first lady conductor of a brass band in Australia
( via vintage brass bands pictures)



The National Library of Australia's Lewis collection of photographs
Photographs of singer and saxaphonist Barbara James, her husband, musician and band leader, Reg Lewis and Barbara's parents, entertainers Will James and Malvena Moore. Also includes photographs of various bands and musicians

The New Embassy Cabaret, Melbourne

Reg Lewis and the Prince Edwardians

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Comments: more bands

the Apollo Bay story buried on that site is terrific.
Posted by David Tiley at March 21, 2004 08:14 PM

Yes I read that - among the other family treasures there.
Posted by boynton at March 21, 2004 08:26 PM

theme park brochures

you are a companion to the birds

Bob Hope says "The mermaids are the greatest and it’s fun!”

from two 1950's examples of theme park brochures (via the Presurfer)

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Comments: theme park brochures

My favorite description of mermaids comes from a japanese writer whose name escapes me. I did have it scribbled down on the back of my hand some time ago ... then there's showers and baths. (I defy my english heritage.)

"Not enough fish to eat, not enough woman to love."
Posted by Sedgwick at March 20, 2004 01:55 PM

guess bob hopes eternal
Posted by boynton at March 21, 2004 01:53 PM

ping pong2

Online Ping Pong game (via bifurcated rivets)

I like the disembodied game, ghosts playing whiff whaff, but my PC kept crashing. There are certain moments when I can relate to the impulse to punch the computer (via J walk)

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Comments: ping pong 2


My computer lacks a 3-D accellerator, I have just discovered. I know how it feels. I think it is an issue of age. I am sure I was faster through all three dimensions 20 years ago. Anyway, I am still getting frustrated at those damn demon balls, Boynton, so I probably didn't need another 'challenge'.
Posted by phlip at March 19, 2004 05:51 PM

I think this may just be a bad or temperamental windows or IE. Who knows. But I have now played Ping Pong elswehere, and it is rather challenging.

I'm getting slightly better at Demon Balls.
(I made a big leap once I read the instructions properly and realised that blue has to go on the left!)
Posted by boynton at March 20, 2004 10:41 AM


Yes - it is a frustrating game when you nicely get all the red balls together alone on the wrong side...
Posted by phlip at March 24, 2004 03:05 PM

vintage bands

The two images below came from a search inspired by seeing some great Vintage Brass Bands Pictures via Ramage - who has selected three striking images.

Ladies Salvation Army Band 1906 is from the Australian section.

But in the spirit of the tramps and clowns here is another local picture I found elsewhere
Muswellbrook football team in fancy dress with town band at carnival in aid of hospital - Muswellbrook, NSW

vip

Young bandsman presents floral tribute to VIP lady


Palmalmal Plantation, Jacquinot Bay, New Britain. 1945-07-17. Private J. Rumlls, Australian Army Medical Women's Service, taking a turn on the band's drums during interval at a special dance held at the Australian Army Medical Women's Service Recreation hut, 2/8 General Hospital. Sergeants and Warrant Officers from 5 base and 5 division areas were invited.

short rules

Writing short is hard. This practice is the one that improved my writing the most, the fastest.

Rebecca Blood's extended reply to a reader on writing and thinking (via anil's daily links)

Listen. Listen harder.

crazy

Women love these
songs about "my life"
and always "always"
and "forever" and "survive"
as if these were possible.

from another gem at Tram Spark

Love the poem. Alas, I confess I have caught myself singing that dreadful desperate affirmation song I will Survive recently. I wonder if I have yet.
I hope though that in my mind such a song is always laced with a bit of irony, po-mo or pracatan.

I tried to find a mp3 of the complete song as sung by Margarita but could only find the sample above, which stops short of the chorus. But you can hear Crazy in full here, which is almost as good.

web sights

Spider Webs at Fragments From Floyd

Bark in the Park at Giornale Nuovo

real facts

Real Facts might be a good workout for pubtrivia players. (via sarcasmo)
Once into the factory rhythm of the trivia dispensery, boynton became slightly distracted by the non-real facts of the X variety.

There are more useful unreal facts at Dave's Web of Lies est. 1873
(via as above)

---

Comments: real facts

Which is real?
The Square dance is the official state dance of Washington? OR
UFO sightings are more common in times of economic recession?
Posted by Nora at March 16, 2004 01:31 PM

Hair is heavier than water?
Posted by boynton at March 17, 2004 11:20 AM


Just when I thought I was getting a good average established, I happened to look in the highscores screen and found a list of people who had 0 errors. Very depressing. I wonder how many times they played it to get that? (refusing to acknowledge, you note, that they might actually be that smart).
Posted by phlip at March 19, 2004 05:48 PM

readers

The link to Alan and Marilyn Bergman on Songwriting is a good read, and you may have missed it in that long winded windmill post.

What are your main sources of inspiration?

AB: You have to be a reader in order to be a writer, and we read a lot.

MB: When I'm really stuck and feeling stupid, and feel that there are no more words anymore, and everything has been said, and everything has been said better -- I'll read.

AB: There's wonderful story about writing. Richard Brooks is a wonderful director/writer who wrote and directed Elmer Gantry, The Professionals, In Cold Blood. We worked with him on a picture called The Happy Ending -- we wrote "What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life" for that picture. He was a product of the Depression, and when he was 15 or 16 years old, he went on the rails from city to city, and he'd get off and try to write a story for the local newspaper for five dollars, and then go on. And one night he was in a typical hobo camp, sitting around with a can of soup, and a man said, "Hey kid, what do you do?" He said, "I'm a writer." The man said, "Have you ever read Dostoyevsky? Tolstoy? Nietzsche? Let me tell you something: for every word you write, read a thousand." So we read a lot: it stimulates writing... (part 2)

Just adding a twist of Dostoyevesky to the 2nd sergio martini scenario now...

sergio

Thanks to a comment from nardo below, I have been chasing up more funny quotes about swinging songs, this time Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66's cover of For What It's Worth.

completely ludicrous (though I'm sure, considered a "classic" by true fans of cheese...) source

Sergio wins for funkiest rendition of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" source

It shouldn't come as a great surprise, but boytnon is of course a fan of cheese, and the lightweight side of the street, wherever that may be. And a Sergio fan, although this track has so far eluded us here on the lightweight side of the breezy EZ cheesy street. Sounded so good that we had to find a web sample, and there is a little teaser here that makes us almost put on our (roller)skates and zip up to a record store pronto to purchase the disc.

Also good to discover that Sergio Mendes' brand of Brazilian pop has gone from "hip" to "lounge" to "hip lounge" and beyond...
Brasil '66 music has become almost a sort of cinematic shorthand to evoke the martini-and-mink-stole era. source

Just out to sit in the sun and sip a martini while listening to sergio...

mind the windmills

I was idly following a link to Dusty at Apothecary's Drawer and within this review of Dusty in Memphis noticed the assessment of that jingly simile-laden windmills song

But Springfield's version is still a remarkably bizarre song.
"The Windmills of Your Mind" is too crazy to be anything but a piece of its crazy time, and it is almost airily psychotic: "Is the jingle in your pocket/Or is the jingle in your head?" A question like that made a lot of sense in 1968.

A view that is shared here:
Springfield even makes the cod psychedelic inanities of Michel Legrand's 'The Windmills of Your Mind" seem almost meaningful.

On the other hand - maybe they just missed the eros?
And there was a pronounced undercurrent of erotically flavored pop fatalism, typified by "Windmills of Your Mind" with its spirals within circles(source)

Like that other oblique sixties hit A Whiter Shade of Pale, attempts to unravel the mystery of the similes within the similes can seem a bit silly. This is explained in a simple manner here:

'The Windmills Of Your Mind' also illustrates the difference between simile and metaphor, for the title phrase is itself a metaphor rather than a simile. Nothing is being explicitly compared to a windmill: rather, the mind is being described as if it actually had windmills in it. In literal terms this is obviously nonsensical and wrong, for there are no windmills in anyone's mind. In the same way as a simile, however, the metaphor connotes a set of images or concepts that no literal description could do.
(Simile And Metaphor In Pop Lyrics)

and explained in a more philosphical manner here:
The fact is that, as the philosopher William James put it, "it is natural and even usual to human nature to court the arduous". And so it is. We like difficult stuff. Not too difficult so as to get frustrating of course,but who would want to bother with a jigsaw which only had two pieces?

and contemplating windmills may lead to greater things:

If you are entranced by 'Windmills of your Mind', may I suggest a little philosophical journey? Have you read The Tao Te Ching of Lao-Tze(I recommend the James Legge translation), or The Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam? You might try Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra or flick through Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.Sit back and enjoy them, but don't necessarily expect them to 'mean' anything. They're not always meant to make sense, they're meant to make you make your own sense

But if you like your metaphors made literal, you can buy this little windmill and listen as the blades of the mill turn to the hauntingly beautiful tune

And as you look at Nebraksa windmills you can hear Dusty's version of "the greatest hangover song ever written, in case you're ever in need".

The lyricists talk about the song in this interview:

Norman Jewison, the director, wanted a song that exposed no character, that didn't tell any plot -- he just wanted the restlessness and uneasiness of the character underlined. Michel wrote six or seven full melodies, and when we work with him, we write to his melodies, because even though he expresses himself perfectly in English, his French accent is such that things can come out sounding a little like calypso songs! He played us these wonderful melodies, and we agreed to sleep on it. The next morning all three of us had independently chosen this oddball melody, almost baroque in feel. It was the opposite of what we had thought we would have chosen the night before.
AB: I think we chose it because it's kind of a ribbon, a circular melody that reflected the flight of a glider very well.
MB: And it reminded us of those moments when you're trying to fall asleep and you can't turn your mind off. Anxiety is circular, actually.
Alan and Marilyn Bergman on Songwriting

This makes sense to boynton, who is quite happy to run with the wheel within a wheel restlessness of meaning, and especially if Dusty is clarifying it

---

Comments: mind the windmills

I only know the song from Vanilla Fudge's version of it. Damn but it's an odd little number.
Posted by James Russell at March 14, 2004 05:33 PM

'Tis odd indeedy.
But you gotta listen to Dusty, James. And you can at that Nebraska link if you scroll down to the ram.
Posted by boynton at March 14, 2004 05:56 PM

...keys that jingle in your pocket
words that jangle in your head
why did summer go so quickly?
was it something that you said?
Posted by Nora at March 14, 2004 10:15 PM

It wasn't me, I never.

And I didn't throw no pebble in the stream neither...
Posted by boynton at March 14, 2004 10:26 PM

I personally favour the Muppets version (although it's been many years since I last saw it).
Posted by mcb at March 15, 2004 12:02 PM

Alas - I never saw it - but a bit of googling suggests that it may indeed be the perfect rendition for the nutty-bizarre school of WOYM thought, mcb.

described here
"Did you ever see the scene from the Muppet Show with a bird singing "The Windmills of Your Mind"? The bird/creature--you never know with Muppets--has three legs arranged like a three-spoked wheel. It runs faster and faster as it sings, impressing me with the voice actor's ability to enunciate clearly while singing so fast. At the end, the creature crashes into something. For some reason, every time I look at this chapter, I think of that scene..."
http://www.geocities.com/hooooooooe/00000029.htm

And a pic of the bird/creature is here.

http://www.muppetcentral.com/guides/episodes/tms/season2/25_knotts.shtml
Posted by boynton at March 15, 2004 12:16 PM

The Muppets did a lot of songs better! Like Buffalo Springfield's 'For What It's Worth'... "stop, children, what's that sound / Everybody look what's going down..."

Altho' Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66 had a good crack at it too.
Posted by nardo at March 15, 2004 03:09 PM

Missed the Muppets doing that one too.

But your reference to Sergio got me googlin'
(having thought I was something of a fan)
- and posting the results...
Posted by boynton at March 15, 2004 04:54 PM

bloopers

BBC radio bloopers (via J Walk)

boynton hasn't rated them, but the one that had her laughingoutloud amid the puking and the pigeons was the surreal dialogue of 'Dazed and Confused'

whiff whaff

I think it was during a bad round of demon balls I happened to notice a google ad on the side entitled Table Tennis Pioneers... This may indeed be a large firm supplying recreational equipment, but my first image had been some mythic characters from Australian History battling the elements with paddles, making do with ping pong. Or whiff whaff ( as the after dinner amusement was once called.)
I wish I had been around to witness the craze of 1901, if only to receive an invitation like this:

"We are having Ping-Pong on _________ at ___ o'clock. Do join us".

See Table Tennis Postcards at this Table Tennis Antiques Site

There is a fabulous collection of memorabilia to be viewed at the Table Tennis Museum. We've only completed one round of slide-show categories to date - the vintage photographs- that included one South Australian image of Ladies playing Ping Pong under the Vines, but there are many wonderful items to be seen here.

Australian Airmen Relax in London

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Comments: whiff whaff

Here's some more Ping Pong...
http://www.punchbaby.com/media/gitfakt/clips/funny/MatrixPingPong.wmv
Posted by Nora at March 12, 2004 11:02 PM

the airmen are fantastic. munsters.
Posted by David Tiley at March 12, 2004 11:29 PM

Jolly good fun, perfect for a morning in a motel outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Posted by .s at March 14, 2004 01:42 AM

Nice movie, Nora.

I can see the Muntsers connection, David.
The Big question is: Which Airman is holding the Bat?

Hope there is a Recreation Room at the Motel, .s
These always featured a whiff-whaff table with fading bats and nets that had seen better days.


Posted by boynton at March 14, 2004 05:12 PM

diot

British girl named Diot Coke - in 1379

(via bifurcated rivets)

Hope she avoided associating with a Lemuel or a Lyman

demon balls

a slow blogging day but some improvement in Demon Balls

This game is fast edging out Free Cell in the desktop diversion stakes.
As is often the case, my best strategy is sometimes the old do-nothing approach. It'll sort itself out eventually.
(via the ultimate insult)

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Comments: demon balls

In the same ball park as demon balls is Simon "The original memory game" at:
http://www.collegemix.com/content.php?q=2&id=593&action=previous
Posted by Nora at March 12, 2004 04:08 PM

I'me doing better with Simon than Demon
Posted by boynton at March 12, 2004 04:29 PM

Blue 10 ok red 10 ok 57 seconds...HAH!
Posted by Nora at March 13, 2004 11:54 AM

wood chairs

Beware of Penny Dreadful - so many wonderful links...( you might not leave your chair for hours).

Like Black and White Dreams - The black and white photography of Ed Deasy
Among the beautiful images, among the chairs, the one that particularly struck me yesterday was My Reading Chair in the Woods
It was such a lovely balmy moomba day (Moomba is a strange Melbourne non-specific festival from the fifties, but the name might as well mean that short season of late February and March when there is a beautiful balminess about, a lazy hazy feel of the sniff of Autumn and the last days of daylight saving evenings.) It was a long weekend, and all around neighbours seemed to be elsewhere. No kids, no barking, no stereo or ambient air con hum. The garden here was quite still. Under the green tree you could read a book and be deep in the woods, or the wooded shelves of libraries.
See also Chair/Guitar/Woods

and on such a lovely day it was hard to linger in cyberspace, even with such compelling things to see. Even so, a reminder like this would be quite handy sometimes. (via Sarcasmo)

kaleidodog

sample KaleidoDraw (via Diversionz)

Just before sampling I had seen a picture of Giacamo Balla's Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash at wood s lot. This and the fresh observation of three domestic tails drove me to render the dynamism in kaliedoscopic form.
I failed and suspect that the non-figurative splotch might be the way to go.

rosa revsin

"...And the scream bounced off
like the thunder of a storm"

"There is a country..." Rosa Revsin's photographs

(via wood s lot)

simms

Fortunately there was no switch to the moomba masters night niche sport of the sixties and I watched Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House as scheduled. This is part of a Cary Grant Festival but after sufficient grant watch, boynton became interested in the actor playing the architect, Simms (no less). This was the lovely Reginad Denny, whose understated congeniality I recognised from Rebecca.

Googling I was quite surprised to find a very comprehensive section on Denny at a local site on Aviation history, (previously visited here - thanks to a tip off from Barista.) Denny was a pioneer in the field of Pilotless Aviation. This fascinating tangent provides filmography, biographical details, photo galleries and a small section about his log cabin located in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California - which seemed to tie in with the last shot in Mr Blandings, a scene that Simms might have imagined.

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Comments: simms

A pioneer in "flightless aviation" -- how did he ever get that field off the ground? :)
Posted by MG at March 8, 2004 04:17 PM

whoops

deeply blushing, MG

have since corrected my terrible error, committed in haste.

I am an old hand at editorless citation

or witless imagination...
Posted by boynton at March 8, 2004 04:44 PM

Being in a recursive mood, I have taken the Denny and popped him into another story.. Back and forth, back and forth..
Posted by David Tiley at March 12, 2004 03:42 PM

ping pong

the chinese-whispering blogging tongue ...

(and my topic for today, anon)
Posted by boynton at March 12, 2004 03:56 PM

rest day

Yesterday the uber domain was unter which meant over-blogging boynton was forced to have a rest day. Refreshing. We spent a large part of the morning exploring The Diaries of A Working Man - The Daily Life of Alexander Goodall.

meanwhile über dem langen weekend Geelong was playing Melbourne and biking beckoned on a lazy Sunday in an empty suburb, über moomba.

Thanks to .s for this delightful find.

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Comments: rest day

Glad to see you are quick off the mark; the domain's only been back up for about an hour.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at March 8, 2004 02:13 PM

Actually it seemed to be up around 11 ish when I first checked in?
It was good to have a post-free, 'read only' day btw.
Posted by boynton at March 8, 2004 02:17 PM

Good site - I'm hoping that everything interesting in the SLV will end up online.
Posted by David Tiley at March 9, 2004 04:59 PM

as long as o.s. bloggers alert us to the finds on our RL doorstep, roll on the digitalisation ;)

that's half the lure of the web, IMHO, hoping that such things are somwhere online waiting to be uncovered...
Posted by boynton at March 9, 20

bumped

On ABC TV The Secret of Roan Inish was bumped for The Moomba Masters Water Skiing.

Hope that Mr Blandings gets to build His Dream House tonight.

Meanwhile in the park I notice a kid playing with one of those giant tennis balls.
The scale throws everything out. Think I need a great big cup of tea before I can record my great big thoughts.

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Comments: bumped

These are very popular round here...
http://algri.myftp.org:81/Fotos/Amsterdam/Big%20clogs.JPG
Posted by Nora at March 6, 2004 09:01 PM

look like mysize ;)
Posted by peggy hill at March 7, 2004 08:14 PM

typo graphic

Watch Dear Prudence in Book Antiqua

typo graphic illustration via J Walk

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Comments: typo graphic

Century Gothic also has a certain poignancy I can't quite define.
Posted by Nora at March 5, 2004 10:23 PM

I'd guess homesickness.

Garamond is good, in a 'beatnik eyeballs' sorta way.
Posted by boynton at March 5, 2004 10:58 PM

Pretty cool. Much better than MTV, and it loads quickly, too.
Posted by Mark at March 6, 2004 10:15 PM

I agree - I've 'watched' it over and over again -
Lucky the sun wasn't out and the sky wasn't so blue today...
Posted by boynton at March 7, 2004 08:16 PM

bronte sims

Historic Sim Houses via Quiddity

Among the famous designs are a few literary houses, including the Bronte Parsonage.
I've been comparing the sim rooms with real thing .
Although the 360 ° views seem to be frozen at this end.

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Comments: bronte sims

I imagine Emily, Anne and Charlotte were constantly in the entrance hall fighting over whose turn it was to write a novel on the PC!
Posted by Nora at March 5, 2004 09:38 PM

As Bramwell blogged
Posted by boynton at March 5, 2004 09:43 PM

passion blooper

Paul Ford The Passion of the Christ: Blooper Reel
(Translated from Aramaic and Latin)

(via Anil Dash)

prairie photos

Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters. (via Plep)

I was browsing the photos by subject starting, obviously, with dogs (500 images) which led to:

A bachelor, southwest of Ansley, Custer County, Nebraska

But then I spotted the intriguing category of Accordions
Which led to this amazing family group. Yes, there is an accordion to be found in the tableau. The even larger photo is recommended viewing. On dial-up, there is something rather exciting about waiting for the image to unfurl, from the speckled sky to the impressionist tree, and scrolling along to discover the haloed dog and faceless horse framing the woman with accordion. Wonderful.

Another arresting family angle with accordion

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Comments: prairie photos

Good eye in re: The Accordion. While not quite a concertina—or, should I say, simply more than the concertina—the accordion's presence in these photographs have caused the visages to become burrowed into my heart and given much needed pleasure and respite.

Goodish!
Posted by .s at March 4, 2004 11:15 PM

ah - yes. An Accordion covers a multitude of concertinas. There is a similar looking hybrid here in this house, of the same vintage, played out on another continent.
"Only Connect"...

btw - have since placed the link to concertina variants within post. There are only six to be spotted.
Posted by boynton at March 5, 2004 11:38 AM

We've launched a new site, and I gave the search results the honor they deserved.

Well, relaunched, I suppose. It was the one that rhymed with 'very fretful'.
Posted by .s at March 5, 2004 01:04 PM

a puzzle that I fretted over and solved 2 minutes ago.
Wonderful news.
(I temporarily removed s-istic in the template shift)
Posted by boynton at March 5, 2004 01:32 PM

You may dispose of the solipsism, my dear, it shall never do you an ounce of good.
Posted by .s at March 5, 2004 01:41 PM

Oh, and now that I have you in rapt attention, did you get the email? I thought you would hopscotch in merriment, perhaps I am deluded.

Ha! Of course I am, S, yes, you, bring me the Flipper at once!
Posted by .s at March 5, 2004 01:43 PM

Penny D will steal lots of my time.
Dozens and dozens oz. of good though.

Hope that is a bold enough announcement.
Posted by boynton at March 5, 2004 01:49 PM

just checking email now.
hotmail was cold before. Kaput. crashed my pc.
Posted by boynton at March 5, 2004 01:50 PM

Ah yes. Nebraska--The Good Life. Now you know where I live.
Posted by peat at March 6, 2004 12:33 PM

It looks pretty good.

Plan to go back and explore more categories soon. Like 'birdcages' and 'tambourines.'
Posted by boynton at March 6, 2004 02:42 PM

What I really like about that pic is that the horse's head is obscure; as if it needs to be kept anonymous lest some gangster identify the horse and eliminate it.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at March 6, 2004 11:55 PM

"...In the desert you can remember your name..."
Posted by noname at March 7, 2004 08:22 PM

fire time

Currently 34 with a hot northerly and four fires burning across the state.
Last week in milder times, Barista linked to the excellent on line documentary
Black Friday
Tragedy struck on Friday the 13th of January 1939 - "Black Friday", when a firestorm swept across Victoria. Millions of hectares burned and 71 people died.

It's been sobering to read some of the survivor stories of tragic loss and injury, and bereavement. I read of a widow's stoicism and see a photo with the caption: While the Black Friday fires devastated many people’s lives in the country regions, life carried on as usual for many of the city residents

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Comments: fire time

good on you ms boynton - this one is worth spreading around.. and the radio gives me the creeps on a hot february day..
Posted by David Tiley at March 4, 2004 04:52 PM

February is one thing - but do we expect fires in March? I thought the balmy Moomba weather kicked in, of mild haze, and no more Total Fire Ban days.
Posted by boynton at March 5, 2004 11:42 AM

dog lit

Brian Sefans Il Conformista (Poem for a Dog) (via Jerz's Literacy Weblog)

A short audio sample of A Dog's Tale by Mark Twain at TellTale Weekly which seeks to record, produce, and sell performances of at least 50 public domain texts a year...(an) audio equivalent of Project Gutenburg

link thanks to .s

chick flicks

I like only one of the Top 10 Chick Flicks on this list, and GWTW crosses the silly essentialist divide anyway, doesn't it?

(And by their own definition
First, if there's major emoting--emoting that does not revolve around wars, cars or sporting events, that is--it could be a chick flick
some of the epic GWTW emoting is not about ashleys but wars?)

I consulted some other lists and have concluded that my top 10 would be heavily located in the nostalgia section of the video store. In fact, I like half of Bob's list. Perhaps movies with a score by Max Steiner would be a good place to start?

Even though the classic Women's Picture offered more than one note emoting, I guess my top 10 CF's would be found in the hybrid category of Romance.
the American Film Institute's 100 greatest love stories of all time
The Romance Reader's 150 Romantic Movies

and probably somewhere in the 1930's and 1940's with a bit of Sound of Mary Poppins on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown thrown in.

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Comments: chick flicks

Where was "love actually'?
Posted by Averil at April 6, 2004 05:28 AM

probably too fresh?

and err, I haven't seen it yet actually, Averil
Posted by boynton at April 6, 2004 02:01 PM

dog trials

Think I've finally made a breakthrough with Flo. Specifically - with her greatest flaw - her frenzied barking (sometimes with nipping) that occurs when we first step out into the street lasting a good 100 public metres and whenever we see another dog on our way to the park.
Nothing helped. Not kind whispering, food rewards, threatening with birch, tennis racquet, stopping and starting, shouting, being walked by a six foot something man, being pushed into walls and fences (to show dominance apparently), prayer, despair.
But last night for some reason I just happened to grab a small toy water pistol as I left the house, as you do. Bingo. She pauses. She barks. A squirt. She recoils. Suddenly subdued. I tote the toy with new found joy. She behaves.
It's too early to confirm, and too hot today to try again, but I'm hoping that this small plastic pistol is the answer, and a lot cheaper than $$$ dog training or behavioural sessions.

In the meantime, I can try to think border collie and round up the recalcitrant sheep in the addictive game Mouton's Park (via the ultimate insult) On y va

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Comments: dog trials

My mother trained our battalion of sheep dogs to stop their barking whenever a car came up the driveway near their 44 gallon drum kennels in the plantation.

She yelled through the kitchen window and banged milk billies or enamel soup-pots at them. Eventually they got the message. When a car, ute or combine harvester made its way up to the farmhouse the dogs (fine, highly trained kelpies bearing noble breeding names, "Eastleigh Barton 111", "Shoulden Maidment Barr-Smith 1V" and "Moyston Jallukar-Rhymney 11", but with paddock names of Bonnie, Teddy and Trixie) put their heads into the drums and barked furiously, well out of my mother's hearing range.

Pots ceased calling the dogs black and the dogs started down the inevitable path to industrial deafness ... which neatly retro-segues back to the hearing aids for dogs posting.

Posted by Sedgwick at March 4, 2004 01:27 PM

well I was feeling rather dull-ish today, Sedge, but your anecdote has delievered the goods.
LOL by the 'paddock names' and L IH (in head) later as I walked down the street, in 30 something heat, thinking of it.

Googling the water pistol training method, I did notice noise detterence methods involving cans.
Think I'll stick with the toy pistol for walks. A 44 gallon drum would be hard to carry in my FLO-free hand.
Posted by boynton at March 4, 2004 03:56 PM

air con

In 1911, Willis Haviland Carrier disclosed his basic Rational Psychrometric Formulae to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers... Carrier said he received his 'flash of genius' while waiting for a train
The Father of Cool Willis Haviland Carrier - The History of Air Conditioning
(via bifurcated rivets)

Meanwhile the mother of all air conditioners is poised to start humming on the roof next door as the temperature climbs. (Oh well, yes, I exaggerate.)
It seems that one day we may be able to talk to our air conditioner. Not sure we'd have a lot to say. Maybe : please don't shout, or Ssssh!, but then talking might just encourage it.

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Comments: air con


I think ours understands now. My wife or I will look up at it and say "I'm hot!". It not only understands but solves the problem. I wish I had staff who would do that.
Posted by phlip at March 2, 2004 06:06 PM

When you say 'now', Philip, did it take some time to GTKY? Was there a teething time of miscommunication?
Not sure I could ever really relax...
Posted by boynton at March 3, 2004 11:37 AM


There was a time it was prone to responding to people on the television making comments about the weather. We are over that now. And we are having a lot of trouble with other requests, like "I'm hungry". Mind you, I did mention I was thirsty last night in its hearing, and it squeezed out a little drip of water in response. I know - not exactly a cocktail with an umbrella, but you have to start somewhere.
Posted by phlip at March 4, 2004 11:31 AM

welsh fairy

And there are some more dog tales (enchanted) in the wonderful The Welsh Fairy Book by W. Jenkyn Thomas [1908] (via Plep)

GOING home from Pentre Voelas Church, the good wife of Hafod y Gareg found a little dog in an exhausted state on the ground. She took it up tenderly and carried it home in her apron. This she did partly from natural kindliness of heart and partly from fear... A Fairy Dog
(boynton is hoping that the fairies may yet come to collect Flo. Not sure if we'd take the cow in exchange, though.)

boynton was first told the sad tale of The martyred hound at school. It was a cheery story for captive young children to hear.

And a topical tale - March's Ears.

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Comments: welsh fairy

This is marvelous, thank you for it!
Posted by .s at March 3, 2004 02:46 AM

- and Plep of course, who finds all these things.

Yes, I love them. Another of these links which I have to bookmark and read my way through.
(Often think I should slow down the blogging to reflect a link's worth - or at least let it settle.)
Posted by boynton at March 3, 2004 11:42 AM

okay.. charge your kleenexes.. here's a hard one.

a sad dog story - among other things..
Posted by David Tiley at March 3, 2004 10:52 PM

sorry. go here - http://www.abc.net.au/blackfriday/oral/oral_mary_robinson.htm
Posted by David Tiley at March 3, 2004 10:58 PM

a haunting detail in a haunting tale...

Posted by boynton at March 4, 2004 03:47 PM

resilience

I think everybody is resilient though, that's my other thesis in the book. That I think resilience is the stuff of life. I think it is the life force. I think it is regeneration when you go into the bush and there's been a fire and you see this charred stump of a tree and this absurd and wonderful triumphant crown of green, and you realise it's life kicking back again. With humans it's different because we have a developed consciousness, so we're able to be aware of what's happening to us, and hopefully to learn wisdom from it. So you learn from the things that happen to you, that are difficult, that are sad. And we don't always do that. You have to allow everyone to be human and fall down in a heap sometimes.
Anne Deveson and Resilience on ABC TV Compass

Caught this half-way through - so I was glad to read the transcript.

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Comments: resilience

"You have to allow everyone to be human and fall down in a heap sometimes."

Generally and foolishly us blokes aren't all that good at that sort of thing. Hawkie went some way to assist. (In his pre "I'm taking John Curtin as my role model" days, his falling down in a heap might have been for quite a different reason.)

Annie is a fine lass, resilient above and beyond the call of duty.
Posted by Sedgwick at March 2, 2004 12:23 PM

Yes - life trips us up eventually.

"I think life is chaotic. I think that we fool ourselves if it's not. We try and pin things down and we try and make things predictable. Life is not predictable, nor is it permanent. And I think a certain amount of chaos is fine..."

(btw, perhaps not good blogging form to link to one's self, but boynton@blogspot once went looking for John Curtin.)
http://boynton.blogspot.com/2002_12_29_boynton_archive.html#86856077
Posted by boynton at March 2, 2004 02:36 PM

Sometimes one has to be self-referential. No one else is going to do it for you.

Though I do baulk at the oft 'eard "I myself personally think that ..."
Posted by Sedgwick at March 2, 2004 06:15 PM

open poem

contribute to the world's longest poem

(via collision detection)

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Comments: open poem


Well, apart from length, I don't think this poem has a lot going for it. The more I read, the more I wondered what on earth it was all about. Still, I recall having this experience with poetry before. What was your line, Boynton?
Posted by phlip at March 2, 2004 09:51 AM

Haven't as yet contributed. Just reading.
Some lines work.
Actually Philip, I think at its best such a poem/project should mean "what on earth" - the www - eveything and nothing ;)

Posted by boynton at March 2, 2004 02:04 PM


Yeah, well, it is probably achieving that. Its all a bit like most chat rooms I seem to stray into. They may have a published purpose, but they end up being forums for some idiots to make the sensible people wonder why they bothered.
Posted by phlip at March 2, 2004 03:36 PM

Yeah - sometimes it seems that the idiots are winning. Everywhere.

Hopefully, in that forum, it might be seen that a rhyme can carry more punch than a curse.
Or a dead piece of verse.
Posted by boynton at March 2, 2004 04:00 PM


Nice note of optomism - not to mention poetic. Let's watch on and see what happens, eh?
Posted by phlip at March 2, 2004 06:03 PM