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Wednesday, August 31, 2005

ytbc

Searching for cockatoo posts and checking back into Birding Aus mailing list there's news of the flock that I was lucky enough to see last week.* (They didn't seem strung out to me but who knows what happened south of the river...)
At lunch today (after a kick of the footy, around 1:30pm), saw 50+ Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flying Albert Park'wards


we heard familiar squealing calls which somehow sounded out of place. But sure enough, as we turned eastward along Alexandra Avenue, first a pair and then a whole flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos (total about 20) were flying northward across the Yarra and beyond. A striking and unexpected sight.


...a strung-out flock of YTBCs flew over, heading east and not very far up...
I tried counting and ended up with a figure of 59...

 
And I notice Birding Aus has just started a blog

Monday, August 29, 2005

films

One of my favourite link blogs, Exclamation Mark, has transformed into a B-Movie Reviews site. A fan of the genre reviews the b-movies and cult films of yesteryear.

Meanwhile Silliman on Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet, plus some good discussion on Shakes-pictures and the Elizabethan postal system...

Worth 1000 Mate a Movie 10 Two or more movies, combined to make one much funnier movie (via Sarcasmo)


Comments: films

Hey, thanks for the publicity and kind comments!

Right now I only have a few films reviewed, but I'm going to stick with it and eventually all of your b-movie favorites will be represented.
Posted by Mark at August 30, 2005 05:35 AM

Sounds great. I look forward to it.
Posted by boynton at August 30, 2005 01:01 PM

Rather OT, but if you wanna get yer groove on with B-stuff, then I don't think you can go past "Alfred, King of the Disco" -
http://www.spaceagepop.com/music/a003.mp3

Umm, sorry. Just had to share.
Posted by Nabakov at August 31, 2005 09:21 PM

Ah yes
"...the Reader's Digest cachet...
This is Hyman solo on electronic organ with rhythm effects and some kind of wah-wah peddle...
The engineering standards are impeccable"
http://www.spaceagepop.com/rc003.htm
Posted by boynton at August 31, 2005 11:23 PM

oops meant to say: love it.
Had to check my Ultra Lounge collection but alas, "Space Capades" does not include Alfred...


Also, Nabakov, as this is a film thread, one should alert readers to your latest Film Post up at AGB...
http://aftergrogblog.blogs.com/agb/2005/08/pet_sounds.html
Posted by boynton at August 31, 2005 11:27 PM

ubersport

And didn't we hit the rails, that red train with jammed-open carriages, through the wintry rains to Glenferrie, Moorabbin or Arden Street, arriving soaked but pie-hungry, six-pack thirsty for the full four quarters in those days when going to the football was not like going to the cinema...
The Age

 

Meanwhile, another big weekend with the cricket and the football

 

Sunday, August 28, 2005

conversations

The blog originated in January as a catch basin for mental detritus, for the kind of stuff not good enough for print, but too good to waste on casual conversation or, worse, mere thinking. But this spring I began allowing "comments," and the blog suddenly mutated. ..

The general trend in blogs seems to be the diminution of the blogger and the elevation of the commentariat...

The Tail that wags the Blog (via J walk)

 


"Writing for the blog is more like having a conversation," Mr. Battelle said.

For years, book authors have used the Internet to publicize their work and to keep in touch with readers. Several, like Mr. Battelle, are now experimenting with maintaining blogs while still in the act of writing their books...
Dear Blog: Today I Worked on My Book (via you cried for night)



Comments: conversations

Batelle's idea is interesting. I thought of doing something similar at one stage, and even wrote a post on an aspect of my book. Couldn't put it up, however, as I was blocked by an old superstition about talking your writing away.
Posted by cs at August 28, 2005 05:41 PM

Fascinating area.
There's that old superstition, and there's a mind-set of collaboration that could possibly difuse any disquiet? Writer becomes more editor or moderator? Parallels in some writing work I've done, not always a good experience.

Perhaps it's knowing when to float the ideas, as with the Weinberger example.
Posted by boynton at August 28, 2005 06:00 PM

It was Hemingway who impressed upon me the "fragility of writing", and he was always concerned that "talking about it can spook it".
Posted by cs at August 28, 2005 06:12 PM

I've walked the talk with that spook myself.
(Dramaturgy is a delicate game.)
Posted by boynton at August 28, 2005 06:19 PM

BTW, the first link doesn't work for me Miss.
Posted by cs at August 28, 2005 07:23 PM

whoops - fixed now. Thanks.
Posted by boynton at August 28, 2005 07:50 PM

Oh - I should have checked Media Dragon...
http://amediadragon.blogspot.com/2005/08/just-because-i-turned-61-this-year.html
Posted by boynton at August 28, 2005 11:57 PM

He does a good job, our Jozef.
Posted by cs at August 29, 2005 12:07 AM

Yes indeed.
Anything meta - better check 'a media dragon' ...
Posted by boynton at August 29, 2005 01:53 PM

mis pronounce

Moog was not alone in having a name people couldn't pronounce properly. People called HÃ¥kon, Jiye, Michi, Elissa, Asa, Nara and Laszlo have each written on the web about going through life with people not knowing how to say their names. Some have resorted to publishing MP3 files of the correct pronunciation.

How are you spelling that?

A story I can relate to, as I have a name that is often mispronounced.
I got so used to the revised standard version that once I inadvertently introduced myself with the incorrect emphasis...(instead of emPHAsis).
via I like

Friday, August 26, 2005

australien

There must have been one hundred black cockatoos flying over the Parkland towards the city, which reminded me of all the bats flying the other way, a kind of symmetry six months down the track. (Unless Grey-headed flying foxes mysterioulsy turn into Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos somewhere along the Upper reaches of the Yarra.)

You hear them before you see them. Even an Australian can find that sound alien*, at least in the city. Alien and awesome...
 

* See Creature of the Shade on making the familiar alien again.
(One of many great posts by a literary geographer)

Thursday, August 25, 2005

show of spring

Well it felt like spring today anyway, even if it's a week or so away.

After this bitter Melbourne winter, Spring works


Comments: show of spring

yeah - I got little buds busting out all over in the garden misty wet with rain. (obscure Van ref.)
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at August 25, 2005 09:12 PM

I'm as jumpy as puppet on a string
but I should never think of spring,
For that would surely break my string in two...
Because it's August...August August August
Posted by boynton at August 25, 2005 09:29 PM

- sorry, the sniff of spring's gone to my head I think ;)

It feels like years since it's been here
Posted by boynton at August 25, 2005 09:37 PM

Its a long long way from June to September.
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at August 26, 2005 12:02 AM

that is a *very* far from obscure Van ref, FXH.
Posted by laura at August 26, 2005 12:36 PM

ok laura you are right. I was assuming the boynton family was not a bunch of vanatics but just the fan variety from moondance, gloria, bright side of road etc. mea culpa.
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at August 28, 2005 03:04 PM

Can't speak for my sibs, but me - I'm so unhip I thought you meant some sort of Teardrop or Teapot in The Garden.
http://www.teapottery.co.uk/Mid-Size_Teapots_4/Caravan_Teapot_42.htm
Posted by boynton at August 28, 2005 03:26 PM

btw - FX - a supreme day for Drying washing today, ay...
Posted by boynton at August 28, 2005 03:29 PM

too right missus. i've done all the sheets, towels and other stuff. filled the hills hoist 3 times. also did a bit of gardening in the sunshine. sat and had a beer and a cigarette while i listened to terry lane at midday. changed cats litter. washed the floors. polished the wooden floors. listening to hank williams of course after the Lost Highway doco last night. then watched that marvellous doco on the abc at 4pm. Damn Right I'm Cowboy - about the Hillbilly Hoot Show on Monday nights at 3D FM Adelaide. http://www.drivingpollyhome.com/rblog/robinfoindex5.html#driacbit
then the fat orange cat spewed all over about 6 feet of my clean floor whilst pretending to run out the door.
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at August 28, 2005 07:36 PM

Yes I have a hankering for Hank now too...
Did 2 loads of washing myself, then had a very pleasant (dog-less for once)walk around the river with maginficent wattles in full bloom. Beautiful.

Oh and re Orange cat - that's the Murphy's Law of pet ownership isn't it?...
Back to "Broadway"... (as I hear Begin the Beguine...)
Posted by boynton at August 28, 2005 07:55 PM

If it's Van, we must be talking about a Celtic spring ... won't you come and go.
Posted by cs at August 28, 2005 10:47 PM

Gotta get through August

Spring in my heart
Posted by boynton at August 28, 2005 11:54 PM

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

slow game

"I like this," says Peter, "but not as much as cricket. Some people say cricket is a slow game, but I do not think it is slow".


The Retro Kid - a Flickr group by Ward Jenkins that focuses on children's book illustrations from the mid-40's through the the mid-60's
via PCL Linkdump


Comments: slow game

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Posted by content learning management system at October 23, 2005 11:50 PM

I feel this sort of strange obligation to write something when I see contentless comments here late at night. I figure if I throw in s.th then they have one less link at least; or that it's less likely that someone will give the doinks any patronage.

That said, I might steal the flickrlinky. I know j u s t where to put it!
Posted by peacay at October 24, 2005 12:48 AM

thanks peacay...
maybe if I chant it, I'll learn me some content.
Posted by boynton at October 24, 2005 11:13 AM

but wait

Coincidentally I had been reading through the history and poring over the photos at Full Points Footy before reminiscing about the old-time religion in comments yesterday.

In 1967, London-based Victorian footy enthusiast Ted Ford decided that the time was ripe for a systematic Australian Rules invasion of Britain's capital...

Ford's final coup came when Athol Guy... a member of the popular singing group the Seekers, who were in London at the time, agreed to take part in the match. Guy was a former reserves player with Victorian Football League team St Kilda, and his involvement was seen as providing the final stamp of credibility to the venture...


With the venture obviously catching the attention of the public, follow up games were quickly arranged. A match between Earl's Court Magpies and Australian Dentists attracted 700 spectators and resulted in a win to the former by 36 points after a high standard contest.

London Footy Sixties Style


and also...
I notice some broken links from my blogspot days as you do. But the excellent SLV Victorian Rules Football Exhibition has been archived here

Monday, August 22, 2005

more sport

oh and of course in the football, a good result yesterday...



Comments: more sport

OK and all vewry well for you Miss Boynton, but try being a rugby fan. Woe.
Posted by cs at August 23, 2005 12:42 PM

Is this a better result?
http://www.netomer.de/flickrtagfight/wallabies.springboks.fight

Had to look that up btw, (the mascots) not knowing my thugby...Not inclined to switch codes, cs? ;)

(If South Melb supporters can shift their allegiance to a team based in Sydney of all places, anything is possible.)
Posted by boynton at August 23, 2005 01:06 PM

A link of great beauty Miss.

Have tried to follow the men in tight shorts a couple of times, but failed dismally to grow an interest. My theory is that it's all grounded on the social base you grow up with.
Posted by cs at August 23, 2005 01:52 PM

Hmm, as the link to my humble and not very original theory didn't come out in that comment, here tis: http://backpagesblog.com/weblog/archives/000322.html
Posted by cs at August 23, 2005 01:54 PM

Thanks for the link.
I can relate - Football was huge in our household,
(seemed to be 'universal') but most of my family fell away (in the language of 19th century religion), including my father who had barracked for South fervently since he was a child.
(Depsite only one GF appearance and the last flag being in 33!)
After the 80's travesty of Edelsten inc etc, I had to manufacture interest myself.
I was "de-leagued", and the old feeling has definitely gone, but such was the imprinting it is impossible to barrack against the red and the white. Just can't do it.

And the game still gets me in.
Objectively ;) (as a Victorian I mean) it's just a magnificent spectator sport.
http://boyntonesque.blogspot.com/2003/09/colours.html

http://boynton.blogspot.com/2003_04_20_boynton_archive.html#93237930
Posted by boynton at August 23, 2005 06:03 PM

lit action

via dumbfoundry I've just caught up with the Jane Austen Action Figure...
This 5-1/4" tall, hard vinyl action figure comes with a book (Pride & Prejudice) and a writing desk with removable quill pen!


Jane is about 11" tall if you stand her up. describes another JA model, alongside 11" Tall and oh, so smart! Emily Dickinson

Jane vs Emily
Flickr Tag Fight via Diversionz


Comments: lit action

I saw Beethoven and Einstein action figures at Creative house, the Yarraville emporium of all things cool and useless. I'm still regretting not buying the Einstein.
Posted by Helen at August 23, 2005 10:57 AM

Does that mean you bought the Beethoven?

"All things Cool and Useless" is indeed a new category in consumption isn't it.
Posted by boynton at August 23, 2005 01:02 PM

Jane Austen and Beethoven action figures?

Wow! Sounds even cooler than this.
http://www.jesuschristsuperstore.net/lfigurespages/lfgod.html
(the Allah one alone is worth the price of admission alone)

Myself? I have perched on my work computer a 5" high all moveable-limbs Hunter S. Thompson (Uncle Duke) action figure, complete with accessories like a Uzi and a martini glass.

Sometimes I let even it answer the phone for me.
Posted by Nabakov at August 23, 2005 08:27 PM

Yes the Allah one is cool, but I notice Moses has sold out.
I'm waiting for a Godot action figure myself.


& what is The Duke's telephone greeting, I wonder
Posted by boynton at August 23, 2005 11:14 PM

"& what is The Duke's telephone greeting, I wonder"

'Whatever number you think you called, you're wrong. But if that's you Persephone, I can't talk right now. Your Mum is here and has just discovered the gun and 'shroom case."
Posted by Nabakov at August 24, 2005 12:40 AM

Meanwhile from "Answering Machine messages of Jane Austen characters:
"Mary Musgrove: "I am very ill today and quite unable to answer the phone. If I had a visitor, I suppose that person could have spoken with you, but it does not suit the Miss Musgroves to visit the ill, and I dare not rise from my bed for fear that I may be seized in some dreadful way!"
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/austt10j.html#misc

Whereas Emily D might say:
"I heard a phone buzz...
Please leave a message after the dash -"
Posted by boynton at August 24, 2005 04:53 PM

Wittgenstein's answering machine message:
"Hi, I may or may not be in. If you don't have a message, then don't leave it."

Henry James:
"I do thank you for attempting to communicate with me, though why yet I cannot fathom although it is perhaps premature to raise this point so early, through this wonderously thin wire, one as tenous yet potent as the threads which connects so many lives, but which yet do not so depend so much on the motive powers of electricity, but a link none the less that binds in- *beep, beep, beep*

Sam Beckett:
"Speak! I will listen eventually."
Posted by Nabakov at August 25, 2005 07:32 PM

"I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, boynton, for it is a telephone"


Posted by boynton at August 25, 2005 08:02 PM

I would, on balance, take Emily over Jane, though it would be a close run thing - perhps the width of a bit of ivory between them...
Posted by dave at August 27, 2005 05:50 AM

Or a tiny hard vinyl -
removable quill pen?
Posted by boynton at August 27, 2005 04:14 PM

Saturday, August 20, 2005

golf glasses

Visiball glasses They are designed to be worn only when searching for a golf ball.
(via J walk)


Miss Boys... wearing glasses

Friday, August 19, 2005

laundry

The washing machine in the kitchen is a convention so entrenched that it is barely questioned. Granted, British houses don't all have the luxury of a utility room, but what's often required is a more realistic allocation of space

New world order An Australian architect considers British homes. (via I like)

It is indeed curious to Australians that the English do their laundry in the kitchen.
Makes more sense to me to have a washing machine in the Lounge-room as an alternative to TV. I'd rather watch socks spin than soap or grinning detectives. Of course I only know of this phenomenon from watching British television where laundry makes a cameo.

You can watch videos of washing here...
And it's classic retro viewing to boot courtesy of the fab Automatic washer


Comments: laundry

Hancock's Half Hour.
Posted by Tony.T at August 19, 2005 01:43 PM

ah yes

but which episode?
Posted by boynton at August 19, 2005 02:24 PM

The one in the laundromat.

"It's rather interesting watching your clothes go around." Turns to the old man sitting beside him. "I don't much fancy your show."
Posted by Tony.T at August 19, 2005 03:12 PM

That Title sounds like Friends...

Thanks to my old Eastenders viewing I remembered it was "Laundrette" (site of much eastender soapy drama) So finally tracked down the Ep.
http://www.phespirit.info/hancock/hancock_44.htm
Posted by boynton at August 19, 2005 03:20 PM

Better still (not hard when comparing it to the laughless drudge that is Eastenders - no matter what era) The very first Minder was called Gunfight At the OK Launderette.
Posted by Tony.T at August 19, 2005 06:58 PM

Yes I only watched EastEnders for a few years in the late 80's/early 90's when Albert Square (exteriors) seemed very much like the inner suburb where I was living, and both Cockney and Laundrette-as-dramatic- set (sette) seemed exotic. I used to mimic the dialogue (You what?) but didn't ever make it to the local Laundrette.
http://www.lookupuk.com/aboutus/ee43.html
Posted by boynton at August 20, 2005 02:06 PM

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

domestic

I bought a copy of Ogden Nash's Versus for a dollar with critical notes...



poem


Comments: domestic

Finding more Nash
Is always nicesh

And I'm sure Ogden
would appreciate
more attention from blogdem

However the ink in the pen
On page one sixty three
Has come to an end
Before it made sense to me

It may have been dandy
To test your biro on
Something so handy

But it's much more quick
To ask for a hand
If you're testing your Bic
Posted by Nabakov at August 17, 2005 10:21 PM

Oh, just thought of this one too.

It"s true that Odgen Nash is longer in fash
But who else would you save from the trash?


OK, I'll go to sleep now.
Posted by Nabakov at August 18, 2005 12:26 AM

Was it the word girdle that made the mood curdle perhaps?
as submissive mrs corsetry snaps?

I thought there was a touch of Betty Freidan
In the freehand mystique
More than just a messy Bic.
A longbow retro rorschach view
A sign of a blue
But the biro spiralling downward as it did
I think it was a kid
Bananas to mash.
A toddler monsters Nash
Posted by boynton at August 18, 2005 12:41 PM

A notepad here I do not see,
But here's an old anthology,
Now tell me please, why it is you called,
Oh damn - this biro doesn't work at all!
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at August 18, 2005 03:14 PM

Scrawl Called...
I wrote it in the Nash
I drew most of the details
and then pressed hash.
Posted by boynton at August 18, 2005 03:45 PM

Thank you gang for the amusement. My view is with boynton - mrs corsetry, not having one of her own, snapped when she read of those helpful girdle-gripping hubbies . . .
Posted by Crystal Ballroom at August 19, 2005 10:48 AM

An interesting variation, CB, ...
I thought Mrs was just having a bad day and saw Red when she read the word "Perfect" (sic). The rest is Bic.
(But I think the Toddler theory has legs)

All is whimsy though, and no offence to Ogden. Read some Versus last night, very nice.
I read this one as two dogs slept.
http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6637&poem=32956
Posted by boynton at August 19, 2005 11:54 AM

Have you a perfect husband Boynton?
Posted by at August 19, 2005 06:39 PM

Ummm...I answered the first time you asked.
Posted by boynton at August 20, 2005 01:52 PM

Oedipal toddler does not like the idea of papa touching his Dearest mama. "ba, ba, ba, I will scribble on you Daddy!"

I've been away too long, I forgot to click on the timestamp to get into the commenting sanctum....
Posted by laura at August 20, 2005 11:53 PM

You do not do, you do not do
Any more, bic blue...

(sure there's a mash of nath and plash in there somewhere anyway...)

Yes I still hear tales about the impassability of commenting and wonder whether I should upgrade the
instructions. May seem a tad desperate though ;)
Posted by boynton at August 21, 2005 12:13 AM

l didn't see your reply !
Posted by at August 21, 2005 06:04 PM

but who really cares!!
Posted by at August 21, 2005 07:56 PM

Tony - I deleted your poetic comment, but will keep it up my sleeve, so to speak.
Posted by boynton at August 22, 2005 02:03 PM

"l didn't see your reply!"
"but who really cares!!"
That was a feeble try
A disgrace to mug lairs

(What was Tony's thing? Do share.)

I kinda hope anon returns and then discovers this apparently polite and civilised site is also where some of the Aus blogosphere's bigger cats and badder dogs come for a romp.

This is your first and last warning growl anon.
Posted by Nabakov at August 23, 2005 08:16 PM

I guess blog dogs and cats are good anonymousers
Posted by boynton at August 23, 2005 11:30 PM

What are you going to do to me Nabakov?

l have every right to comment.

And yes l do like this site but we can't always be happy all the time with comments posted.
Posted by at August 25, 2005 08:56 AM

I'd rather not answer personal questions on this blog, anon.
Posted by boynton at August 25, 2005 11:40 AM

you don't have to ........nothing personal
Posted by at August 25, 2005 01:32 PM

"l have every right to comment."

But nothing to say and no name to say it with. You're not even a stalker's nappies.
Posted by Nabakov at August 25, 2005 07:17 PM

l'm no stalker !!

Just a person reading blogs and making comments.

There is a difference.

lf l have worried you Boynton....no need to be,
just another opinionated( hope its spelt right )
person.
Posted by at August 26, 2005 10:14 AM

But you haven't even expressed any opinions. Just the online equivalent of a toddler's squeak for attention.

Get a life, or failing that at least a net de plume before some here start amusing themselves by making up ones for you.
Posted by Nabakov at August 26, 2005 03:24 PM

Now who's being personal Nabakov?

lt sounds like you are having a tantrum yourself.
On the subject of attention isn't that why bloggers have blogs.
Posted by at August 26, 2005 06:48 PM

Oh and by the way.........YES l do have a life!!
A pretty good one at that !!!!!!
Posted by at August 26, 2005 06:49 PM

I hope that this blog - being primarily of the link-blog genre, draws attention to others rather than myself.
Posted by boynton at August 26, 2005 07:45 PM

blah blah blah

bye
Posted by at August 26, 2005 07:58 PM

Ah well then.

Nabs
was
right
all along.

Cheerio.
Posted by boynton at August 26, 2005 08:50 PM

Yep. Comment deleted.
Language issues.
Posted by boynton at August 26, 2005 09:26 PM

is this better uck you
Posted by at August 26, 2005 09:28 PM

l'll call a truce .
Posted by at August 26, 2005 09:33 PM

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

regendered

A Different Kind of Translator
Regender via As Above

boynton regendered produced this nice translation *
Sir Arlene Conan Dorothy loses her wicket for 2 runs
Cricket Match between Actresses and Authors at Lady's Cricket Ground, 1905.


I tried to think of a macho song to reverse, but for some reason could not get past Danielle Boone was a Woman
From the coonskin cap on the top of ol' Danielle
To the heel of her rawhide shoe;
The rippin'est, roarin'est, fightin'est woman
The frontier ever knew!



Comments: regendered

Update: this one's for FX:
http://regender.com/swap/http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/i/imgonnawashthatmanrightoutamyhair.shtml

Also of interest - "Dame" wasn't recognised as a gender specific word, so wasn't reversed - still the last line is good.
http://regender.com/swap/http://www.lyricsondemand.com/s/southpacificlyrics/thereisnothinglikeadamelyrics.html
;)
Posted by boynton at August 16, 2005 06:40 PM

Have you got the "Perfect Husband" Boynton?
Posted by at August 18, 2005 06:34 PM

GOing nuts, how do you find these items??

Given rapper Snoop Dogg is such a dumb homophobe/mysogenist, I thought he'd make an interesting subject. Highlights:

(WARNING: contains explicit, if indecipherable, language.)
---------------------

"Groupie"

He was just a groupie (He just a groupie)
He was just a groupie (All he wanted was Snoopy)
...
[Verse 1: Tha Dogg Pound (Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt)]

Beeyatch! (Beeyatch!)
...
Fifteen's humpin, dropped the top, he moaned
countin my dough
....
Niggas got hos but lords in the world
they wanna play wit their minds like little boys
...
Skinny boys come a dime-a-dozen
but I play hos like plenty-leany cos I get greedy
...
hold the key to unlock the door
From long clothes he rolls with gold thangs we ridin for sure
...
You're just a gigolo (you know)
To the heart you're just gigolo (you know)
...
ran into this pretty ass skirt, Mexican-Puerto Rita mixed with a sprinkle of black
So I'ma approach his like dat
and let his know where I ride and reside at
....

[Bridge: Nate Dogg]

Someone wants to score and get laid by the D-O-double G, Hey boy, what's your name? Ya wanna go a couple rounds with me?
I told his Nate Dogg is just the same but he kept screamin out Snoopy
...
He say he was no groupie, coochie lookin juicy

----------------------
etc etc sorry for long post I enjoyed doing that though!
Posted by armaniac at August 18, 2005 06:38 PM

"Masculist debate here - what little of it there is - seems to be mainly about whether Big Sister is empowering to or patronising of young men. Many of the same young men would rather die (metaphorically speaking) than own the title of masculist."

Paul (formerly Pamela) Bone in The Age last Monday.

This opens up some very amusing possibilities ...
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at August 18, 2005 07:14 PM

Nope not even an imperfect one...

Yep, Rap works pretty well, armaniac.
I think this and Gummo's example shows the potential of this generator, even a seriousness which I ignored.
I just hope Evil P doesn't discover this or we'll never hear the end of masculist debate.
Posted by boynton at August 18, 2005 11:55 PM

Yeah I don't want to sound reactionary (golden) but it has lots of potential to show the polemicism in much feminist discourse, in the same way it works on mysogenist rappers.
Posted by armaniac at August 19, 2005 10:24 AM

As a jargon-buster yes, but is it still that dominant ideology thang?

A less serious example:
"I'm gonna to wash that woman right outta my hair" sounds a lot nastier than the original to me.

Don't try to patch it up.
Tear it up, tear it up!
Wash her out, dry her out.
Push her out, fly her out.
Cancel her and let her go!
Yeah, brother!

sung by a chorus of men sounds scary - rather than mock-militant?
Posted by boynton at August 19, 2005 11:41 AM

Sunday, August 14, 2005

meta reading

Tim Berners-Lee Towards a rewritable web (via the presurfer)

ML: When you think in terms of what it has allowed, what is the achievement of the web?

TBL: It allows people to exist in an information space which doesn't know geographical boundaries

 

William Gibson God's Little Toys. Confessions of a cut & paste artist. (via rebecca's pocket)

The remix is the very nature of the digital.


Today, an endless, recombinant, and fundamentally social process generates countless hours of creative product (another antique term?). To say that this poses a threat to the record industry is simply comic. The record industry, though it may not know it yet, has gone the way of the record. Instead, the recombinant (the bootleg, the remix, the mash-up) has become the characteristic pivot at the turn of our two centuries
.

 

Chris Sheil on blogging Following the proud highway
The presence of readers writing back within the blogging medium has added a further declension to Gonzo, and the results can be sensational...
If you fancy yourself with a keyboard, the challenge is irresistible. No publisher needed to be sold on my ideas. No editor stood in the way of my copy. There were no limits to my distribution. I could write to the world, before breakfast every day
...

experimental

J-Walk Blog Link Experiment or something like that


Update: results

Friday, August 12, 2005

in the mail

I have switched my email from hot to g.
After some consideration I have kept the direct link AT the side.
Where would I be, on days like these, without the gift of unsolicited spruikers and their strange words:

I do not hold one natural gift, I dare say, that I to love so dear. Oh, my heart is breaking when I think about it.
After premising thus much, it would be a work of supererogation to
broke up the establishment.
After severely himself; so let him do.
All I have to say on that score is, that the cloud says to me, thats gone for ever. Cheerful along with me; retired of working hands on all that shore but would have laboured hard for springs, that fly out of fictitious snuff-boxes



Comments: in the mail

You seem sad today Boynton?
Posted by at August 12, 2005 07:21 PM

Well the words aren't mine - they are spam's.

But... maybe a touch of the August/aout blues.
Bleak weather.
Posted by boynton at August 12, 2005 07:47 PM

Thursday, August 11, 2005

desensitising

I've been dealing with my aracnophobia - specifically fear of the huntsman - by creating something resembling that type of spider with Insect Shop and containing it within the closed window. Everytime I click and check there it is happily crawling around the screen, sealed away, almost an object of affection.

via J walk


Comments: desensitising

I think the incident that had the most impact on my (still strong) arachnophobia was when I moved into a new place in Darwin which had been sprayed, and there was this little wolf spider, and he was wretched; dying but not quite there yet, and I threw him out of my room twice, and he came back each time, and the third time I went to throw him out he just looked at me... so I put my hand on the floor in front of him, and he walked up and stepped onto it, then just sat still.

I carried him around with me everywhere for 2 days until he died.

I gave him a burial.
Posted by armaniac at August 12, 2005 03:54 PM

Oh...
That's a novel isn't it?
(Or a short story)

I am working on my hunstman-phobia.


Posted by boynton at August 12, 2005 04:01 PM

I'm glad I am not alone in my huntsman-phobia. I've been told by a lot of people, "I'm terrified of spiders, but not even I am afraid of those things."

I just think they are creepy. VERY creepy. I have learned not to act frightened when others pick them up, or else they will throw them on me. Terrible, nasty, things.

And they stink when you squish them. Which I never do on purpose, as I don't like being near them.

Good luck with your cure. I'm just going to try and avoid them.
Posted by Mark at August 13, 2005 01:57 PM

Until now I hadn't realised that they were in the US. Via Wikipedia I see they're in other places
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsman_spider

I also clicked on that Clock Spider link which has not helped the phobia ;)


Posted by boynton at August 13, 2005 02:58 PM

Yikes! Those really are terrifying.

I made a mistake. I was confusing "huntsman" with "harvestmen." It's the harvestmen (aka Daddy Long Legs) that I dread and no one else seems to have a problem with:

http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

Huntsman spiders are much scarier. I now have a new phobia.

Posted by Mark at August 14, 2005 11:23 AM

Growing up we mistakenly called Hunstman spiders "Daddy Long Legs" - I think this was a ruse to make them seem less terrifying. Didn't work. Even though they're harmless...
Luckily for me no other common spiders induce fear.
I am better than I used to be, but still need to be desensitised.
It's the old car sunvisor scenario I worry about...

Mcb at "Invisible Shoebox" has had a long *running* huntsman character in her cartoons. Checking into the latest I see a pertinent post:
http://invisibleshoebox.blogspot.com/2005_07_31_is_archive.html#112285170269204047
Posted by boynton at August 14, 2005 02:14 PM

Wow, that is pertinent. The internet is a wonderful thing.
Posted by Mark at August 15, 2005 06:45 AM

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

theatrical

Portrait of David Garrick as Hamlet (via philobiblion)
Bust length, forward, facing slightly left. His eyes are wide and staring as though in horror. His hair (wig?) appears to be standing up at rear.
(from Hamlet on the Ramparts)

 
Shakespeare And the Players (via life in the present)

Shakespeare and the Players is a survey through postcards of the many now unfamiliar English and American actors who played Shakespeare's characters for late Victorian and Edwardian audiences.

 

Snarkout: The most secret method contains a link-fest of theatrical history and acting from full-sinew'd swordplay to motivated nuance.


Comments: theatrical

On the list of 'Players' there is a link on the bottom for the 'unidentified actor'. When you click on it there is no information. Which begs the philosophical question, 'If a Shakespearean actor is unidentified did he ever exist?'
Posted by Russell Allen at August 12, 2005 09:22 AM

Hmmm... Maybe he or she played the Ghost and had transmogrification issues. A proto-Method actor?

Interesting that the related photo shows the Unidentified cast in A Comedy of Errors...
Posted by boynton at August 12, 2005 11:46 AM

I did notice that too. We know exactly who they are but we are too lazy to ask them their names.
Posted by Russell Allen at August 12, 2005 05:49 PM

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

hit otw

I was looking for more on the Yacht Club Boys and found some sample tracks...

and somewhere along the phonograph trail found Dismuke's Hit of The Week from Dismuke's Virtual Talking Machine



Comments: hit otw

Listening to that Dismuke stuff, I didn't know whether to laff or cry. Fortunately they've got all that newfangled phonography jiggery-p*kery for that now too.
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/4264/laughing.htm
Posted by Nabakov at August 17, 2005 10:05 PM

I think I should bookmark "Uy, uy, uy, uy..."as a *marvellous* antidote to those moments of self-pity when I'm tempted to post something tirribly maudlin.
Posted by boynton at August 18, 2005 01:06 PM

lubitsch

Super Special Picture of the Year
Promotional/comedic song about Ernst Lubitsch from 1934. Performed by "The Yacht Club Boys"

The Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch
via exclamation mark



Comments: lubitsch

Love the clarinet opening.

Ernst must be disappointed. Leaving Germany, as he did, only to end up as Californian toast.
Posted by Tony.T at August 9, 2005 06:00 PM

Ernst toasted:
"Lubitsch had the greatest sense of humor of any individual I've ever met. The actors all loved him. He had a very . . . human quality about him. He was the type of man that became your friend after you met him once. A great man." -- Joseph M. Newman
Posted by boynton at August 9, 2005 06:41 PM

"What? Me worry?"

-- Alfred E Newman
Posted by Tony.T at August 9, 2005 09:31 PM

who newman
Posted by boynton at August 10, 2005 01:06 PM

Monday, August 08, 2005

meta letters

Last week I read those scary technorati figures about macro growth of the blogosphere (a new blog and 10.4 posts per second) and then happened to follow a link to Just Letters where there was a fair bit of fridge activity dragging along with x others. The scramble for letters to spell out names or random word associations that last a few seconds .

via J walk

see also cs at lp



Comments: meta letters

And that's not counting LJ!
Posted by sm at August 8, 2005 05:57 PM

oh. um. retract that.
Posted by sm at August 8, 2005 06:00 PM

How long before everyone has a blog? Or it becomes compulsory? Or when you apply for a drivers license you have to fill in a space: Your Blog Name _________ ? Or at the supermarket: "Do you have Fly-Bys, Sir? And a blog?"

It's just a matter of time.
Posted by Tony.T at August 8, 2005 07:55 PM

Wonder how the Spikes in posting volume break down.
across the blogging software? - (is there a LJ 'Event Milestone?')


"Do you want Blogs with that?"

How long before 'No Blogging' signs start to appear in Public Spaces. Blogging and Non-Blogging Sections in Pubs. "Than You For Not Blogging' in restaurants?


Posted by boynton at August 8, 2005 09:12 PM

"Than You For Not Blogging"? That would be in a Chinese restaurant.
Posted by Tony.T at August 8, 2005 10:21 PM

"Someone eeps stealing my K"?
Posted by boynton at August 8, 2005 10:37 PM

"Smn ps stling my"? The K-O-R-E-A ns are attacking 'Just Letters' at the moment.
Posted by sm at August 9, 2005 12:08 AM

Weird, isn't it.

I was reminded of "Bad Etiquette when doing Jig-Saws.." when I was last there.
Posted by boynton at August 9, 2005 12:17 AM

And yet I had a brief and heartfelt exchange with someone while the Koreans were busily building a heart, letting us use a few letters. Perhaps this is what conversation in the post-blog world will be like.

No more "why are you ignoring me?"

"Why are you stealing my letters?"
Posted by sm at August 9, 2005 02:19 AM

Everyone does, have a blog, already. We just don't know all their names and addresses, yet.
The reason that "k" is still there is because it was silent and they couldn't find it.
Posted by Ajax at August 9, 2005 05:40 PM

silent knife.
or knot?
at blogspot...
Posted by boynton at August 9, 2005 05:47 PM

Friday, August 05, 2005

film quiz

British Cinema Quiz

BBC Hollywood UK: British Cinema in the 60's (via I like)


Update: Spot The Score

Spot the Musical


Comments: film quiz

I got 9 out of 10! Time for another large single malt...
Posted by Dick at August 6, 2005 08:45 AM

Hmmm - I won't disclose my result then!

These are the kind of questions that rarely surface at Pub Quizzes, alas. I'm still waiting to be asked about films pre-1970, and/or Popular Music That Will Live Forever.
Posted by boynton at August 6, 2005 02:43 PM

"Your final score is 10 out of 10.

You're doing well!

Try again"

Whaddaya mean? Shouldn't it read 10 out of 10, you are a guru. Typical Bebb talking it down!
Posted by Tony.T at August 6, 2005 05:57 PM

Err .. Beeb.
Posted by Tony.T at August 6, 2005 05:57 PM

Maybe they mean:
Now try Spot the Musical, guru. ;)
Posted by boynton at August 6, 2005 05:59 PM

5 out of 10 on the quiz. How come Mr Miracle above knew all 10?
Posted by Brownie at August 14, 2005 07:04 PM

The man who knew too much?

But I notice he hasn't submitted his score for "Spot the Musical"...

3rd time doing that quiz and I still got less than 10. But then, at least I did get to see this nice result again:

"Incorrect, it was A Matter of Life and Death"
Posted by boynton at August 15, 2005 11:46 PM

What a pathetic quiz. I got 11 out of 10.

Ask some hard ones why don't you Aunty Beeb?

For example:

Who was originally slated to direct "If" before Lindsay Anderson?

Of which British actor (and in what film) did a reviewer say "Even his teeth are funny."

What film marked the screen debut of both Dick Lester and Peter Sellars?

What was the name of the hit film based on the book by the only British novelist executed for treason last century?

Which film has Terence Stamp appeared in twice - ie: from two different eras at once?

Name the park where David Hemmings photographed something strange in "Blow Up"?

Which Archers' film did Winnie want banned during WWII?

Who played James Bond before Sean Connery?

An easy one now. Which film starred an ex-WWII commando, a South African politician and a former East-End barrow boy?

Which US director was Michael Reeves absolutely obsessed by?

Which theatrical adpation of a VS Naipaul novel helped inspire Monty Norman to write the James Bond theme?

What is Charlotte Rampling's email address?

NB: Aside from the Charlotte thing above, every other question has a real answer.
Posted by Nabakov at August 17, 2005 10:53 PM

I think you should flog this quiz at AGB.

Failing that, I wish you could write the questions for a Pub Trivia gig.
I don't mind scoring 0/10 if the questions are good.
Posted by boynton at August 18, 2005 12:46 PM

Thursday, August 04, 2005

iln library

conan doyle


Sir Arthur Conan Doyle loses his wicket for 2 runs
Cricket Match between Actors and Authors at Lord's Cricket Ground, 1905.

A topical link (at the fall of the first wicket) from the wonderful
Illustrated London News Picture Library

(via cynical-c blog)

blends

LitQuotes via the ultimate Insult

Of couse too much blogging and you immediately want something found or blended, so LitQuotesDuos it is...
Duos may be similar, surprising, contradictory or odd. They can make you smile or even make you think.

This was today's blend:

Affery, like greater people, had always been right in her facts, and always wrong in the theories she deduced from them.
Little Dorrit


Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day, like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.
The Professor at the Breakfast Table



And, as noted by twists and turns, mixed words or "blends" are big in the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary. To suit the pace of our lifestyle apparently.

(Although: Lifestyle is from 1929, originally a specific term used by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler (1870-1937); broader sense is from 1961.)

mini putt

For something that sounds as if it was named by a child, Putt-Putt has a surprisingly grown-up creation story. Clayton was otherwise successful and healthy, but one day he went to a doctor in his hometown, Fayetteville, N.C., complaining of a strange symptom: sometimes while driving in his car, he found himself crying. The doctor ordered a monthlong vacation. Clayton decided to relax by playing miniature golf, which turned out to be a bad idea, since there are few things more challenging to sanity than missing short putts, especially when the cause is poor design or an errant windmill.
Putting for the Fences
via diversionz


Playing mini golf ...

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

thesaurusizer

I put my recent cross-country post through thesaurusizer a few times.
As I climbed the Boulevard on board was unmistakable guy racing softening the delinquency on skates. He looked pat on the utter he was armed to the tenacity relent console fox chase deadbolt. At in the first place I figure to oneself he was some ten or a dozen be willing of unreformed patriot angler But he was crediting in greet stock for cross-country skiing. He looked aspersion. On an prompt the weather gauge, he and so on looked a bit stick up for Mr Fisher


I do like he looked aspersion for he looked lost, although an earlier rendition produced he looked host which was nice. And he was slowly turning into an unresconstructed cosmopolitan angler with bespangle lines...

via As Above


Comments: thesaurusizer

That is funny, and a little sad.
Posted by Jay at August 3, 2005 01:00 PM

... translates to:

difficult to sting with jocosity is ridiculous, and a illiberal sad.

or:

squeamish to foam afford consolation comicality is comical, and a illiberal sad.
Posted by boynton at August 3, 2005 01:21 PM

Clearly. Patriotism is the last refuge of a mackrel.
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at August 3, 2005 05:21 PM

Indeed.
A Leatherjacket is the last refuge of a Trumpeter?
Posted by boynton at August 3, 2005 06:04 PM

A thesaurusizer is a bottle of scotch whisky?

Similar fun can be had with bablefish, which for some reason I can't open on my work computer.

I remember trying a line from a french girl I was once flirting with where she was attempting to send me kisses I think and it ended up reading something like:

Mostly muchly I will cover your face with raspberries.
Posted by groomzilla at August 4, 2005 09:51 AM

Tres memorable.
One might be tempted to test some lines from wedding vows through a web generator in a search for such mostly muchly poetry? ;)
Posted by boynton at August 4, 2005 11:42 AM

That's really funny:

I rub the lamp thee to be my legal matronage baron as the sparks fly upwards beyond remedy do us still small voice within, in stick in the throat and in denominational, for richer or for working for the privileged duty, and refusal if you force down the throat a point of sex devise regeneration someone and so on or energy on which occasion me up the picket fence or buy a porsche.


I'm posting it, woo ha!
Posted by groomzilla at August 4, 2005 02:58 PM

Makes sense to me.
Makes poetry, even.

It's a worry. Hallmark will need to get with the program.
Posted by boynton at August 4, 2005 03:55 PM

im glad i amused someone with my little translator
Posted by kris at August 12, 2005 01:50 PM

I was very impressed with the rhymes generated.
"bespangled/mangled/angler"

I think it's great.
Posted by boynton at August 12, 2005 03:39 PM

extreme cricket

Also from Strutt's Sports and Pastimes
* CRICKET ON HORSEBACK.--The advertisement columns of the Kentish Gazette of 29th April 1794, contain the following:--
"Cricketing on Horseback.--A very singular game of cricket will be played on Tuesday, the 6th of May, in Linsted Park, between the Gentlemen of the Hill and the Gentlemen of the Dale, for one guinea a man. The whole to be performed on horseback. To begin at nine o'clock, and the game to be played out. A good ordinary on the ground by John Hogben."

* In Lilywhite's Score Sheets it is stated that, in or about 1800, Sir Horace Mann caused a cricket match to be played on ponies at Harrietsham



Comments: extreme cricket

the poor bloody ponies. I also believe that Tyke Tossing was a pastime of the 18thC
Posted by Brownie at August 3, 2005 06:31 PM

Oh yes - it would certainly frighten the horses wouldn't it.
A flipper might be ok - but a bouncer or a bean ball...
Maybe it was the likely cost of equine protective gear that meant it was never going to rival the conventional game.
Posted by boynton at August 3, 2005 06:53 PM

Cricket on horseback would present some serious challenges for spin bowlers, wouldn't it?

Still not sure how the batting would work. And the LBW rule might get a little complicated to apply. And would we need new categories of out? For example: out (thrown by horse), out (horse bolted) out (horse fouled wicket).
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at August 3, 2005 07:35 PM

off the subject......Are you also Norabone?
Posted by at August 4, 2005 10:03 AM

Yes and a Run Out might be difficult to call.
Suspect the 3rd umpire would become standard.

I wonder if a batsman/horseman was injured, whether a proxy would run between the wickets? If so you'd want a thorougbred as a runner(12th horse) I imagine.

No - I am not Norabone. I find one web pseudonym is enough.
Posted by boynton at August 4, 2005 11:51 AM

As compared to the great Australian tradition of playing one handed, with a beer can in the hand.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at August 4, 2005 08:42 PM

well - we have to be fair to England, don't we.
How else are they going to feel at all competitive?
Posted by boynton at August 4, 2005 08:51 PM

have you tried running "Cricket on Horseback" through thesaurusizer? To comment cross-post, if I may.

"The vigorous to be performed on horseback", it says, among other things. Now that I'd pay to see...
Posted by dave at August 5, 2005 06:21 AM

A passing unattended achievement of fives legacy be played in Linsted Music Hall, betwixt the Gentlemen of the plummet and the Gentlemen of the dingle, for one tester a man.
Sir Horace Mann caused a contention cohabitation to be played on ponies at Harrietsham.
Posted by boynton at August 5, 2005 12:47 PM

"Sir Horace Mann caused a contention cohabitation to be played on ponies at Harrietsham."

He did? What a cad!
Posted by Scott Wickstein at August 5, 2005 04:38 PM

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

covered

tree covered


Comments: covered

The canopy, perhaps?
Posted by Tony.T at August 2, 2005 01:12 PM

A cover up?

Defama tree?
Posted by boynton at August 2, 2005 02:21 PM

It's a bit like that European artist bloke who wraps up big buildings and bridges in fabric. Nutso!
Posted by Russell Allen at August 2, 2005 10:35 PM

The caption is wrong. It's no tree, it's a giant plum pudding!
Posted by sm at August 3, 2005 12:34 AM

What makes you so sure it's a tree under there, hm? Could be anything...with those numbers on, and all..
Posted by dave at August 3, 2005 07:17 AM

I mean, sure, they say it's a tree, but then they would, wouldn't they?
Posted by dave at August 3, 2005 07:19 AM

Artistry.
Pastry.
Sophistry.
Psychiatry? ;)
Posted by boynton at August 3, 2005 11:15 AM

Monday, August 01, 2005

cross country

As I climbed the Boulevard there was this guy racing down the hill on skates.
He looked like he was armed with fishing lines.
At first I thought he was some sort of lost urban angler
But he was probably in training for cross-country skiing.
He looked cross.

On an angle, he also looked a bit like Mr Fisher ...


fisher


Comments: cross country

It's called Nordic Blading, Boynton.

http://www.nordicblading.com/portal/nordic_blading/english/
Posted by nora at August 1, 2005 10:57 PM

Or roller skiing - which kind of rolls off the tongue better.

"The lack of downhill braking is a big deficiency unless you live on the Nullabor, and the lack of recognition by car-drivers, or even cyclists is a far more serious threat than you think..."
Posted by boynton at August 2, 2005 09:53 AM

Yeah, there used to be a guy who did that down Barkly street, St Kilda, through all the intersections and everything.. there's just a great chasm between me and other people when it comes to physical courage.
Posted by Helen at August 4, 2005 06:42 PM

This guy was actually rollin' down the road

as opposed to the
a) bike path (for slow/recreational cyclists like me)
b) on road - bike lane (for the lycra lizards/serious commuters)

I guess that takes courage. Often though the bicycles (and roller skiiers) exceed the 60km and 40km speed limit of the winding boulevard. (me too - downhill)
Posted by boynton at August 4, 2005 07:04 PM