nigeblog

#SameStupidJokeEveryYear

Dear Danny Robins at Uncanny,

We have a cat who likes to hide in out of the way hidey holes around the house. A couple of times recently we’ve found it impossible to find the cat, but with all exterior doors locked the cat has turned up hours later, just wandering around looking for us…

Danny: So team, what do we think?

Evelyn: Well, it sounds like the cat might have discovered a portal in to the world outside the house that allows it to come and go without detection. Or maybe, here’s one to think about, the cat is going through a timeslip and it’s actually present in another time when they’re looking for it in their own time.

Danny: Very good ideas, certainly something to think about. And Ciaran what do you think?

Ciaran: Cats can be very good at hiding so it sounds like the cat might have found somewhere in the house that the family just haven’t checked yet.

Danny: But they said they’d searched the whole house and found no trace of it…

(continues in a similar vein for the next 55 minutes)

Listening to my Wee Red Bar record fair haul, the highlights being Exhibitionist by Jeff Mills on CD and Pay It All Back volume 1 on vinyl.

I like the TFEH Presents gigs at the Fruitmarket. This time it was the Bohman Brothers with support from []. I hadn’t heard of the Bohman Brothers before but their tour got a mention in Stewart Lee’s monthly newsletter. The show was very funny (a rural disturbance in West Linton, 8 foot man-eating woodlice etc. etc. ).

At vinyl listening group the theme was death row records, i.e. what you would request they play while you’re awaiting execution. I picked A Brave Man Once Said by Fierce Ruling Diva, Somethin’ Else by Eddie Cochran and Bela Lugosi’s Dead, which I always used to say I wanted playing at my funeral.

Reading A Very Short Introduction to Consciousness by Susan Blackmore, which seems to advocate the consciousness is an illusion theory. I’ve been well aware of most of the arguments for this theory for a long time (e.g. actions precede thoughts) but rejected it because of my own strong self of self and the need to believe in free will (which has its own problems). For now at least I am back in the illusionist camp (I know, I’m fickle).

Watching A Real Pain. We enjoyed this current movie on a rare trip to the Fraser cinema in Tranent. I was impressed by the Kieran Cullin interview in the Guardian a few weeks ago and thought he did a great job of being a real pain 😉 We all know people who are full of life and what a pain they can be, but it’s only in recent years that I’ve really started to appreciate that they’re not up all the time and they can be suffering real pain.

I also watched the BBC 1984 play from 1958 with Peter Cushing as the lead. It’s a story I’m pretty familiar with through many re-readings and viewings of the 1984 movie. I liked it but was surprised at the explicit post nuclear exposition at the beginning and also how long it takes to get to Winston’s captivity.

And we both watched Amandaland and Am I Being Unreasonable on their return to the BBC and neither seemed particularly funny this time round. Ho hum.

I started reading this letter to the Guardian about the property Adele once rented and claimed was haunted. When I got to the bit about long running science fiction strip I had to skip to the end to see who wrote it and it’s only Sydney Jordan #JeffHawke

Listening to my Fall in Festive 50s playlist, the first Mott the Hoople album, Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live, the Art of Noise, Elvis Presley Almost in Love, yet another charity shop Northern Soul comp, Andy Votel, Jacknife Lee and Richard Hawley’s 28 Little Bangers compilation. Lots of top tunes on that comp including Hornet’s Nest by Curtis Knife and the Squires which Hendrix played on back in 1966.

Reading The Steep Approach to Garbadale by Iain Banks, more early Cerebus, more Garth Ennis Hellblazer and 1987 Punisher by Mike Baron and Klaus Janson which has a nice Scarface vibe.

Watching Shetland and the Outlaws on the BBC iPlayer

Listening to the first Throwing Muses album, the first Underworld album, A Brave Man Once Said by Fierce Ruling Diva, my Fall Festive 50 and best of 1984 playlists, a bunch of 12″ singles I picked up in Oxfam and the Cherry Red Industrial CD box set compilation I got for Christmas.

Vinyl listening group was last week. The theme was weather and I played Rhythm of the Rain, I Wish it Would Rain by Wreckless Eric and Hazy Shade of Winter. Gareth brought Date with the Rain by Eddie Kendricks which I hadn’t heard before.

Reading Jamie Delano/early Garth Ennis Hellblazers, Tekken Kinkreet, Cerebus #1, Zavej Zizek for Beginners and the Influence by Ramsey Campbell.

Watching Civil War, the Matrix and The Wandering Earth. I first watched the Matrix the night Manchester United won the European Cup — fact! I still think the physics of farming humans is too silly. Also why care what goes on in the virtual world? Civil War I think is a reality check for where we might well be in a few years time. That’s certainly how it looks from the outside (of the USA). The Wandering Earth, like the Three Body Problem, gave me some cause for optimism. We often hear the argument made against decarbonisation that India and China and the developing nations aren’t interested so what difference does anything we do matter. I think Wandering Earth (and also Three Body Problem) show that communist China is able to think long term in a way that we in the west can’t because of our devotion to short term gain — capitalism and democracy means we’re stuck stuck stuck.

I know, I know, resolutions don’t really work, and it’s hard to find the motivation for anything in this cold weather (hence no blog for 11 days), but my general aims for this year are…

1. Find abundance (either through paid work or a whole bunch of side hustles)
2. Find peace (with my place in this mad world)
3. Travel (planning trips to Serbia, Lithuania and our walking London project)

#SameStupidJokeEveryYeat

I’m really sorry we lost Ed Piskor, Graham Thorpe and Steve Albini this year.

I hadn’t been expecting Donald Trump to win and that’s what I told my kids and friends before the election. Once Joe Biden pulled out of the race I just couldn’t see how more people would vote Trump than in 2016 or 2020. Shows what I know… I guess the lesson here is it’s very difficult to know what’s going on in another country, which is one of the reasons I am planning to consume a lot less news in 2025.

I didn’t campaign for Labour in our election, but I was very pleased they won such a big majority. The mood of the country is still essentially pessimistic which leaves us vulnerable to our own populist front, but surely in time things will start to improve.

I’ve gone a whole calendar year without working and another full year without foreign travel. I’m seriously committed to work and travel next year.

I’ve lost weight through 5:2 fasting and am back to my pre-pandemic self. I’m sticking with it through next year because 1. it feels good and 2. I’m fast approaching normal weight for someone my size.

And I achieved an average 10k daily steps for the second year running, or should that be walking. I’m letting go of the step goal for next year, but I do intend to keep active and to do regular long walks with Jan, but 10k daily just takes too much time out of my day.

At this time of year lots of folk produce their top tunes of the year. Well here’s mine, but instead of this year, it’s a top 25 of 1984 when 17 year old me was actually a bit more up to date with current music 😉

Open share for importing in to your own streaming service here: https://www.tunemymusic.com/share/05HyXGISZz

I’ve tried to reflect my taste back in the day, which in fairness is pretty much my taste now. There’s only 23 tracks in the playlist because Marc Riley with the Creepers and Tools You Can Trust don’t appear in any streaming services. Come on Cherry Red, give us the Marc Riley compilation we’re all waiting for… Cure by Choice and Show Your Teeth are the missing tunes.

I’m trying to migrate from Spotify to Tidal for artist royalty reasons, but I think there’s likely to be some opposition from the other users of my family account. This playlist was created in Tidal with the share generated using TuneMyMusic. Any feedback much appreciated.