‘bout the difference,
one man to another,
how come some people are always running?
Written by Chuck Berry whilst in jail, through movie stardom in Pulp Fiction to a German country-pop band, one of the most covered songs...here is the Texas Lightening version and the Uma Thurman/John Travolta dance:
Find it, buy it, love it. Enjoy...and comment please!
Early,cold,want bacon sandwich
Your five?
I heard a good quotation recently " I like a good story, as long as it doesn't go on too long", no idea whose quotation it was. Sadly this is how I feel about John Irving's latest novel Last night in Twisted River. To be upfront I am a John Irving devotee and have followed his work since I discovered Setting Free the Bears, and Garp when I was at college. I look forward to every new novel that he brings out, buying them as soon as I can get my hands on them, and devouring them.
John Irving is a master at developing characters and is one of the better storytellers it has been my privilege to read. I feel as he's getting older, his books are getting longer. In my humble opinion he would benefit from a good editor who would tell him to keep the page count down slightly which would keep stories more pithy. The length of the novel did not worry me with Until I Find You, which I still find to be a wonderful read, but in the case of Last night in Twisted River, for the first time I could put the book down.
As always the characters are just wonderfully developed, especially Ketchum the maverick woodsman. The story itself is a captivating. There are the usual John Irving references to wrestling, early-age sexual initiation, and hands being chopped off. As always there are moments of sheer comic brilliance - this time with a naked skydiver landing amidst the pig roast. The read is very enjoyable and I of course recommend the book, but rather than this being a full-on flat-out recommendation for once it comes with a slight rider, which is that 100 pages could have been taken out of this book is without there being any discernible effect on the story, the outcome, or the beauty of the writing.
I'm not a literary professor but I've read many many great novelists, and one thing that they all have in common is that every word counts, be they Dickens, Shakespeare, John Fowles or Dostoevsky. I will still await John Irving's next novel with bated breath but sincerely hope that next time around is more concise & I can get back to enjoying one of my favourite novelists.
My mother-in-law Eira is a lovely woman with a heart of gold. Due to various incidents over a number of years, we have thought of her as being mad as a box of frogs, and this has earned her the nickname "Frogs".
She just announced that she has hooked up with a group of ladies she used to work with before her retirement called, Fairwater Retired Old Girls Society. Yes you guessed it, her new group is called FROGS.
Coincidence? I don't think so.
From The Kinks in 1968 to Kate Rusby 40 years later, used in the TV series Jam and Jerusalem, The Village Green Preservation Society is an English classic. I have never been a mad keen folk music fan but Kate Rusby has just got the most perfect voice.
Find her work, buy it, love it. Enjoy...and comment please!This is a public service announcement, with guitars...
Know your rights, all three of them:
Right number 1 - You have the right not to be killed....
Right number 2 - You have the right to food money....
Right number 3 - You have the right to free speech, as long as you're not dumb enough to actually try it,
Know your rights, these are your rights.
I used to do Tai Chi some years ago, but after a couple of years of it I got all tied up in work, and let it lapse. This week Ruth and I decided to give it a go together. Ruth had never been before. It was a less formal group than the one I had previously belonged to. Instead of the strict adherence to 48 forms that I had been used to this version was only doing 18 forms, and may extend to 24 in time. It was so good to be back doing it again.
What was really interesting to me, was how quickly the bug sets in again. In a busy busy life Tai Chi gives a complete exercise system, but perhaps far more importantly a quiet place during the week. There are lots of ways to get exercise but this always seems to quiet the mind as well as moving all the muscles around. The constant surprise with Tai Chi is how such slow movements can be so tiring. At the end of the session I was absolutely exhausted, but glowing.
My fascination with Tai Chi started many years ago on a business trip to Tel Aviv. I looked out of my hotel room window and saw someone doing Tai Chi (at least I think it was Tai Chi) in the early morning light, in the waves, on the beach. Apart from the fact that they were probably just a poser, it looked incredibly cool and stressfree. It only took me five years after seeing that to muster up the courage to go along and try.
Anyway, I thought it might be worth sharing a picture of where I see myself in many years time. I will be that small man in the park, probably dressed in blue, doing Tai Chi with a bunch of equally elderly people, who will be smiling and amazingly supple.
If you haven't tried it, seek out a class and give it a go.
I think I have found a new game :). Here is what you do, buy MacSpeech Dictate for your MAC, install and train it - and it has to be said it works astonishingly well when the headset is on, and the microphone positioned correctly.
Then forget to turn it off whilst having Word open, take the headset off and put it on your desk, then have a normal conversation with someone. MacSpeech Dictate will then partly pick up what you are saying, partly miss it, and partly get it completely wrong.
What you get is a stream of consciousness page of text in Word, containing best interpretations by the application. Take a look at this:
"My wife is attacking my left foot with instruments of torture roll with just two very very gently and that when you brush down over it then you moved it back on putting pressure on the not right when you rub it at the same point in every streak of rubbing press harder and it hurts now there rightly described over something very likely there that would see that it was touching it all will obviously I am because it hurt although she won't die before the end of the day there they were set up a full code to do than to an income and white white downwards slightly now know again but that's my molten metal there is actually there are now dancing I say yeah.
The home built likewise down slightly on the now again this hotel is it really comes I might publish this to the well I didn't say anything and we saw the stream of consciousness blogging into shiny."
There will be a prize of some sort for the best (clean) interpretation of that by comment. Weird or what?
So that is the challenge I gave to the team at work when we got back after Christmas and that's the kind of year it's a gonna be!
This isn't a work blog, its a me blog, but as I don't really do long lists of New Year resolutions I thought it was worth saying what is going on and what is going to be going on this year - it is a big big year this year.
We have two companies which grew 50% in the last financial year. That is great but not enough. The challenge to the team in the companies is to keep up with me during this year whilst we transform the companies and achieve a multiple of that growth rate this time around.
The family is likely to be starting a new business this year - not me so much as the rest of them, so watch this space! Looking for a Wales based cartoonist to help out.
I'm writing a book in my (yeah I know) spare time - does anyone know of a fledgling graphics person who might like to get involved?
I have a list of things that are not resolutions but are more things I would like to fit in this year:
Restart Tai Chi (lessons already booked)
Do more Paying it Forward
Do lots more Guerrilla Gardening
Try wild swimming
Get a tattoo
Drop a belt size
Have a really good holiday this summer