i got that from thoughtcat - lynx which is just a page of interesting links on art and poetry and literature....with loads of satire/comedy sites listed at the bottom.....well worth a browse...and then delete the lynx.htm bit and its a darned interesting blog:)
posted by Listener at 9:53 PM
I've been awake since 3 and up since 4, you know those kind of nights when you wake up and thousands of thoughts are whirring through your brain and you just cannot get back to sleep :/
posted by Listener at 6:51 AM
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Liked this a lot....its very sobering to see how little of the world one has actually seen even though I feel quite well travelled.....of course the other thing is for example whilst I have been to Florida I haven't really done quite as much of the country as this implies.....I've been to Hong Kong but that was included in China, and I once stepped foot in India (across the border from bangladesh, briefly - the armed guards looked like they were getting freaked!!) and whilst it'd up the percentage, again i haven't really been to China so refrained from these!!!
Note to self - when you update your ftp password you need to update it on the blogger control pages!! D'oh, wondered why my posts weren't appearing ;o)
posted by Listener at 10:04 AM
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Been reading the excellent HTML Goodies for lots of tips about web design.
Most importantly we have booked out holiday - we're going to Kos in Greece and it should be excellent, the hotel is not far from Kos town which has most to do of an evening and lots of sites for the day's I can drag the girls away from the pool :)
Other than that its been a quiet weekend, my head cold had mostly gone by Saturday which was good, not looking forward to work now as I've been off for four days and there'll be shed laods to sort out :o/
posted by Listener at 7:08 PM
Friday, January 23, 2004
Booked our holiday for July - we're going to Kos in Greece - nice!!
posted by Listener at 5:58 PM
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
You kind of had to be there......
Ode to A Dead Fish
You lay there (uncomplaining) Fish like (but in a dead way) One eye up (eyeing me up) With one cut (made falteringly) Your dead eyed, dead head was gone And my thoughts turned (slowly) To your flat smooth stomach (Or what lay inside anyways) This went the way of you head (Swiftly under a plastic bag) I berated you then You were supposed to be a fillet (I said as you were filleted) And did I hear (from under the bag) Your dead eyed dead head Laugh somewhat ironically?
posted by Listener at 3:26 PM
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Been off work with a head cold :/
Other than that things are fine, am really enjoying the new way of eating, I am less hungry, am loosing wieght and am feeling like I have more energy. D. and I are doing the gym thing twice a eek as well which I am enjoying getting back into :)
Not much else to report.
posted by Listener at 7:05 PM
Sunday, January 18, 2004
We went to see Lost in Translation yesterday. Its a beautiful film and now sits proudly and firmly in my top 5 best-evers.
Its set in Tokyo over the course of a week or so. Bill Murray, an actor I've always liked, plays a fading star over doing promo filming/photoshoots for a Japanese whiskey, the other main character, the beautiful Scarlett Johansson is staying at the same hotel with her husband a famous photographer hoping to get some quality time with him but finding he is always off working so is left largely alone. Both characters are feeling lost, both are suffering insomnia which is accentuating their inner thoughts and feelings and both find Tokyo utterly bemusing. The host of supporting cast all add to the film, Anna Faris' shallow, vacuous 'look at me' movie starlett perfectly counterpointing everything Bill Murray's character isn't to Scarlett's and everything she hates about her current lifestyle her husband's work is immersing her in.
Against this backdrop they slowly drawn together........but I'll leave the plot there so as not to spoil it. The ending in particular is stunning and so so clever - it simply accentuates the perfectness, the totally apt and poignant way the storey has been told to us and fits naturally into the great scheme of things.
The style of the film suits the mood, the scenes of Tokyo are wonderful, the soundtrack is awesome. Anyone who has ever been there will recognise the cultural characteristics, the sense of alieness and bemusing amazement and the lovelieness of the people. There are many instances of people and places reflecting the characters moods, threads woven cleverly through the film to build the atmosphere and plot.
Aside - I have 'heard' some critics have suggested the film is non-PC at best, racist at worst. I don't think so. Having been to Tokyo twice and working for a Japanese company for 4 years, and even having a girlfriend who's half Japanese, I think the film got it spot on. One of the most clever bits of the film is that it really showed just what it is like for a 'westerner' first visiting the place. This is not derogatory of Japanese, its just showing how different it is.
The acting is top rate, the script funny, tender and beautifully crafted and the storeyline follows a natural passage that is entirely plausible. Its a film about real life and real thoughts and real emotions shot as they would really be experienced.
there are some wonderful comic moments too, one senses the director, Sofia Coppola, let Bill Murray run with some ad-libbing producing some very funny moments.
This is a film that stays with you, that makes you reflect on life, that makes you feel and it is most definitely a film that should be seen, especially if you've ever traveled alone and felt out of place.
posted by Listener at 2:16 PM
Thursday, January 15, 2004
I heard a defence minister on the radio today - his name was Ivor Captain - how apt! Well I thought it was funny :oP
On the way home tonight I had a very intense and specific feeling of love for D. its hard to describe, the best way is that I wanted to wrap her up and make all her worries my own so she had not a care in the world, I wanted to take the slightest thing that worried her and make it all alright or anything that could possibly go wrong or awry and make them work out well......this prolly makes no sense and I again wish I had better words at my disposal. But it was very specifc on this one aspect, it was triggered by a not wholly important thing she had said.
It got me thinking about times when one feels 'love' acutely rather than in just the happy, safe, warm, comfortable way it is normally felt......like when you get a child out the bath and snuggle them in a towle and they smell warm and clean and it overwhelms you all of a sudden, or when you share a moment of fun and suddenly as your laughter turns to chuckles you suddenly see someone differently and again it washes over you just how happy and in love you are. When you are maybe just walking, or wathing TV, or reading or any one of a thousand inocuous things and you look up and see, as if for the first time, something in the other's face and you smile and feel lucky and special to be with this person. And the times when you're maybe on your own and something special happens and you think 'I wish 'x' was here' and suddenly your thoughts are not of the thing that's just happened but of them.
They're the best kind of feelings in the world aren't they.
posted by Listener at 7:53 PM
Friday, January 09, 2004
Everyone else is doing it so why can't I - heh - this is the soundtrack to my life if my life was a film....ta to Ariel for the cool idea :)
Opening Credits I think this would have to be Bat Out Of Hell – Meatloaf as it was the first album I consciously purchased myself and as ,music is a big part of my life it make sense that the soundtrack to my life would reflect such things.
Waking-up Scene Have A Nice Day – Stereophonics, because I do generally try to hold an optimistic viewpoint on life and to make the most of every day that spins around;
Average-day Scene On an average day I’d probably slap U2 to on the CD as I love pretty much all of it…something like Where The Streets Have No Name
Best-Friend Scene This is quite easy, Something Changed Pulp is THE song that Angie and I used to listen to all the time when we shared a flat, we loved the whole Different Class album but this was the stop what we were doing and sing along track!!
First-date Scene Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison, do you remember when, we used to sing…..sha la la la la la”. D.’s my brown eyed girl and I had this on a CD I cut for her on our first date (tho it wasn’t actually strictly speaking a ‘date’ as such but that’s another storey).
Falling-in-love scene The Year’s Love – David Grey, I just love this beautiful song.....So whose to worry iIf our hearts get torn, when that hurt gets thrown, don't you know this life goes on. And won't you kiss me on that midnight street, sweep me off my feet, singing ain't this life so sweet......
Love scene Just The Night In My Veins – The Pretenders, a darned sexy song, he’s got his chest on my back across a new Cadillac, oh yeah, feels good……’……………
Break-up Scene U2’s Walk On from All You Can’t Leave Behind, I heard it one day and just knew I would have to summon the strength to end the current relationship as it was so wrong for me.
Get-back-together Scene Its Written In The Stars – Paul Weller, I used to listen to this after D. and I ‘splitup’ and tried to work out why it didn’t feel right that we were apart when I had thought it was when I instigated it.
Wedding Scene She – Elvis Costello (yeah I know he didn’t write it) if I were to get married again it would have to be to someone I feel like this about, though I know I can feel like this about someone and not want to get married because that’s what I feel at the moment.
Fight-with-friend scene Elton John Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word
Fight-at-home scene Fariytale of New York – The Pogues and Kirsty McColl, the best Christmas song ever but also it captures the mood of a fight ‘at home’ (by which I’m thinking ‘;fight with girlf!!) as it starts of sweet and then gets more bitter ‘in the heat of it’ before winding down again and getting all contrite and apologetic – cool song.
'Life's okay' scene Sunday Shining – Finlay Quaye, a top happy tune.
Heartbreak scene Heartache Weather - Mathew Ryan says it all……'Its heartache weather, please remember, things are going to get worse, before they get better!
Mental-breakdown scene this would have to be the bit of the film where all my demons come out to play, where all my well meaning and optimism and trying to do the right thing and keep the peace fall away and I go a little mad for a while. So Firestarter – The Prodigy sounds like a laugh at this point ;-)
Driving scene Telegraph Road – Dire Straits. Its just a darned fine song to drive too and will remind me of driving to/from uni across Salisbury Plain and its long long straight roads with telegraph wires along the side.
Lesson-learning scene Time Of Your Life – Greenday, I always liked the song but never realised just how feckin’ cool and poignant the lyrics were, am glad I do now!
Deep-thought scene Brand New Start – Paul Weller, it says it all.
Party scene Tainted Love – Soft Cell, I make no excuses for just loving this song to bits and wanting to get up and dance down every time it comes on
Happy dance scene Dignity - Deacon Blue, we always always put this on after the pub at uni and it usually kicked off a drunken dance frenzy.
Regret scene Trouble – Coldplay, I particularly like the line ‘a spider’s web and its me in the middle’ – I have very very few regrets and mostly I have them because of the way my actions or thoughts or deeds made other people feel which was not intentional.
Long-night-alone scene Drops of Jupiter – Train…..I know not all the words are wholly appropriate to me but I do love some of the ideas in this song….tell me, did you sail across the sun, did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded, and that heaven was over-rated……..
Death scene Tough one this, we played Theme From A Summer's Place at mum's funeral and it is a beautiful peiece of music to reflect to.
Triumph/Closing credits Not so much a rousing finale as a slow playout, Beautiful World Louis Armstrong….I remember driving to a hostel at the end of an ace day in Australia seeing beautiful things and the sun setting and this song playing – oh yeah….
Am sure I've said before how cool AVG Anti-Virus software is but after a week of not checking my mails at home its great to download 74 emails of which 57 were junk mail and not have to trawl through them in my inbox but have them all nicely filtered for me :)
I'm in a top mood, the 'healthy living' is making me feel really good and I think I have lost 3.5 pounds already but really need to wait till the end of the week to get a true picture.
I really love D. in many many ways, I think the best thing is that we fit together so well, we work things out in a mutually conducive way, her bad is my good (what little there is!) and vice versa. I love the way we support each other and bring out the best in each other. And mostly its lovely having someone to share stuff with who appreciates similar things, and even the things which are not similar.
D.'s stayed at the folks' house to cat sit and I've come home for the night just because I wanted a night in my own home. I'm going to see Dad tomorrow. I'm starting to appreciate just how brave Dad has been, is being. He's determined that life should continue as normal, that my sis and I should still do the things we've always done and so should he. My sis and I thought we'd all go away in the summer - we don't usually but thought it'd be a good idea for Dad so he doesn't have the stress of working out a holiday etc but Dad didn't want to because he and mum never used to go away at that time, he has commitments he wants to keep (he plays a lot of bowls in the summer) and because its not something we all used to do and its extra expense. This is typical of him and I'm glad he's trying to 'get on with life' and let the grieving take place around that rather than to put everything on hold while he gets over it, am sure its harder but I think it is the best path to tread.
I was driving in listening to music today and noticing how its a little lighter in the mornings and how beautiful the dawning sky looked...I haven't blogged about that kind of stuff for a while, in fact the blog's been a little too much of a sometimes hastily jotting down of things that have happened. I originally started this site claiming I wanted to talk about the passions in my life, love, music, the way the weather makes me feel sometimes and I'm inclined to try and bring it back to that now.
Well I'm gonna surf awhile and see what happening. Later y'all :)
posted by Listener at 6:39 PM
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
D. and I are cat sitting at her parents this week and enxt. Main advantages are its five minutes from where we work and it avoids the new Roadworks on the M25 for a couple of weeks which may be horrendous.
We've started a healthy eating plan, well its a diet I guess but its intended to set out a way of eating for life rather than jsut to loose a few pounds, so far we've had a whole day's worthof meals and haven't been hungry (one 'worst fear' of diets) and have really enjoyed what we've had so that's cool. I hugely need to loose a couple of stone as I feel fat and bloated and uncomfortable and unfit. Oh and I haven't had any caffeine for 24 hours and I have the worlds worst headache (I don't usually get headaches either) but its prolly worth it as my caffeine addiction was second in terms of badness for me to my smoking (touch wood also a thing of the past for some time now!!)
posted by Listener at 5:32 PM
Saturday, January 03, 2004
Doctor HTML v6.1 tells me my site is quite well designed - how cool a service is that :)
posted by Listener at 10:55 AM
Friday, January 02, 2004
Was really tired last night so was tucked up in bed by 11 and now have woken up at 4.30 and haven't been able to get back to sleep :o/
Back to work! Bah! Although its been a perfectly lovely holiday. I t was great to have the girls down and spend some quality time with them and D. and my family.
After the girls went home we did some quality chilling and went to visit Ikea and got a new bookshelf for the lounge to match the one I got last year. One wall of the lounge now goes bookshelf/cupboard, TV cabinet, bookshelf/cupboard, PC unit, all in light beech except the PC cabinet which is in birch. We also saw some wardrobe units which would fit into our bedroom well as well.
Sorry I know discussing furniture is not the most interesting of topics. The thing I really liked about the shopping trip was it again made me realise how lucky I am to have found D. We work together really well and compliment each others strengths and weaknesses [except I don't have any weaknesses ROFL ;-) ]. Its good :)
New Years Eve was ace. We were loosely planning to hook up with a couple of D.'s friends but they had to make other arrangements. The local Italian restaurant in town, which is totally ace, still had places left so we went there. It was a five course menu, I had a fish 'kebab' type thing for starter (D had mushroom and courgette topped Brushcetta), next was seafood risotto for me and roasted vegetables with pasta for D. Main course was duck and D had veal and then we had apple pie and D had ice cream wrapped in icecream!! It was ace and we slowly got drunked and then New Year came and the restaurant had half emptied and everyone had pretty much finished 'being served' so the waiters and waitresses (its pretty much a family run place I think) put on some music and we danced away to 2ish.
I have always found the best New Year's parties to be the less well panned more impromptu affairs like what this was :)
well as I say - back to work so had better be off.. Oh eyah - NEw Year's Resolutions....well don't really do these as such, don't see the point of tying them into New Year, but D. and I are going to change the way we eat (using the G.I. Diet and get fitter, and I am still working hard at controlling my money. After years of strggling (burying my head in the sand I guess) I have not gone overdrawn (over over drawn that is!!) for 6 months, I ahve not used a credit card to tide me over at month end and I budgetedand stayed within it too for Christmas. It actually feels good to be in control of it - rather than it being in control of me. So I'm determined to keep this going and really eat into my 'debts' so I can free more money up for me and D. to do the things we want :)
Spirits of love
The souls of the sad
Dance out this tango
In a minor key
Da da da da daaaaah
Take my hand
My dear
My card is marked
With your name
Step as one
This last time
Our final dance
Perfect timing
As the music dies
We take our leave More Of My Poems
02/01/2002 - 02/28/2002
03/01/2002 - 03/31/2002
04/01/2002 - 04/30/2002
05/01/2002 - 05/31/2002
06/01/2002 - 06/30/2002
07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002
08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002
09/01/2002 - 09/30/2002
10/01/2002 - 10/31/2002
11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002
12/01/2002 - 12/31/2002
01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003
02/01/2003 - 02/28/2003
03/01/2003 - 03/31/2003
04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003
05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003
06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003
07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003
08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003
09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003
10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003
11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003
12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003
01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004
02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004
03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004
04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004
05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004
06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004
07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004
08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004
09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004
10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004
U2
My RSS Feed
