Bear Trapped On Bridge!

The BBC have a report on a bear who was trapped under a bridge in California.

Dublin's big problem

The really big problem with Dublin is that there are too many hills.

CSS "Cansei de Ser Sexy"

My middle name is Adonis, so I am entitled to throw stones from my glass house, so one thing that strikes me about this band is that, for people who go on about being sexy all the time, they really are a bunch of munters. Apart from the gay bloke, obviously. But of course, it may be that I have not seen the right photos, and in any case I don't buy records for the attractiveness of those who make them (as my numerous Pink Floyd albums will attest). These Brazilian sensations may not have the looks, but they really make the sounds – if the kind of sounds you like are utterly infectious synth pop confections. I think most people say that most of the songs are not as good as 'Let's make love and listen to Death From Above', and they're right, but the rest of the album is still very enjoyable when you listen to it all at once.

I Can Has Bike

Emboldened by my recent trip to Amsterdam, I have taken to sitting in my window in my kecks inviting passers by to pay me for sexual favours. Or maybe I have in fact transformed Carwash Mansions into a place where the finest relaxing herbs are always available for a price.

I'm joking of course. What I have actually done is BUY A BIKE. My new bike is built like a tank, has only three gears (how many do you need?), and has a basket. I will soon be the talk of the town.

My hope is that my cycling adventures are less dramatic than those experienced by the one who calls himself Chocolate Socialist.

God Exists, But We Do Not Recognise Him

You may already have seen that A Soviet Poster A Day blog. If not, check it out. It is deadly. I would include a picture, but the blog's bourgeois class enemy owner does not seem to allow linking to his pictures.

He also has a blog featuring posters from Cuba.

Yet another Great Idea!

If the slash fiction doesn't work out, I could always form a band called Crotch City Pandas. Surely a band with that name would rapidly sweep to global domination!

M.I.A. "Kala"

This is another record of the year candidate. OK, so it maybe trails off a bit, with the later tunes not living up to the promise of the first batch, but the overall level of quality attained leads to Kala likewise attaining astonishing heights of musical achievement. Just in case you never read what I write, M.I.A. is this Tamil-English woman who makes insurrectionary pop-hip hop collisions with added crunchy dance beats. On this one, on the great tracks, she goes for total dance mentalness, producing a slew of tunes you could play in sequence to keep a dance floor permanently in dance madness – provided they are forward thinkers, of course. I won't mention the odd covers or references she includes to certain other tracks as i) you have probably already heard about them or ii) it would be better for you not to have the surprises spoiled. More generally, this has a lot of Bollywood/Bhangra samples but has a considerably ravier sound than that on Arular, M.I.A.'s first.

One thing I will say about Kala is that it totally rocks as something to listen to while walking around, especially if you want to arrive there quickly.

Another Great Idea!

I have had another great idea, one which will surely make my fortune: I will set up a LiveJournal blog in which I write slash fiction about the Momus Lolz people. Watch the cash roll in!

Justice [black cross]

This is the record by the latest crazy French techno pop funsters, the ones I keep mentioning for remixing Simian's dreadful 'Never Be Alone' into the totally awesome 'WE! ARE! YOUR FRIENDS!' so I reckoned I would take a punt on this. On a first listen, my beloved commented "I already know what Daft Punk sound like", but since then we have really grown to love this, and it gets heavy rotation on Vinyl Sunday. The music is all of the pompous French dance that will fill the floors of ATP discos everywhere. The album opens with the glorious bombast of 'Genesis' before mutating into the kind of music you cannot but dance to, if you are human. 'D.A.N.C.E' and 'Stress' are probably particular favourites, while I am still a bit ambivalent on the one with a feat. by novelty rap sensation Uffie. Overall, though, this is a truly awesome album and one that must surely be a most serious contender for record of the year. I must learn off the words to 'D.A.N.C.E' and make up a dance to go with them.

Winners and Losers

Lizard King:
Enda Kenny T.D.:

Ryan Tubridy, New Man

I heard that Ryan Tubridy fellow on the radio today. He told Lucinda Creighton T.D. that she would make a great Minister for Prada. Some suggested that patriarchal social structures might be a factor explaining the relative lack of women members of the Oireachtas, but Mr Tubridy scoved at this; we are apparently now living in a time of equal opportunities for all, so that kind of explanation is some kind of throwback to the 1950s.

Where do you think you are, Crotch City?

China is to discontinue the practice of giving away Pandas to countries it wants to impress. Instead, other countries will be able to rent Pandas at competitive rates.

More: 1,300 years of global diplomacy ends for China's giant pandas

Dog Bath Car

I have already mentioned Bilbo the Lifeguard and his campaign against unsafe swimming. Further research reveals that this wonder dog is not so fond of baths.
However, he does like patrolling the beach at Sennen, making sure that people always swim between the flags
More Bilbo action

B.A. Robertson har mycket på sitt samvete.

This blog looks great: Elektrofon

Unfortunately, it is all in foreign, so I don't know what they are on about. I wish I could read foreign.

Wedding of Rock

I was at this wedding recently (by which I mean ages ago), and it was that of a golden couple I shall refer to as Emily and Niall. This was a somewhat louche and casual wedding of the modern type, with the focus on non-stop fun. They had a DJ who was playing total classics of 1980s miserabilism when we arrived. Over the night he became a lot more rock oriented (Emily and Niall are keen attendees of the ROCK JIHAD club). My dancefloor research yielded a number of tentative conclusions:

1. A lot of rock music is not quite so good for the dancing as you might think, partly because it goes on a bit, partly because the beats are just a bit boring.

2. The intro bit to 'Freebird' is so lame and drawn-out that basically CDs should figure the song as two tracks: 'Freebird (shite intro)' and 'Freebird (solo)'. In the meantime, people should just play 'Sweet Home Alabama' instead.

3. You really can't beat Boney M classics as floor fillers. While charging to the dance floor to get down to 'Rasputin', I heard Paul Watts say something about my ironic approach to music. I did not have time to reply that my love of the M is entirely genuine and un-ironic, and that there will always be sincere affection in my heart for tracks like 'Rasputin', 'Daddy Cool', and 'Ma Baker'. One of the great things about Boney M tracks is that you can do the Lizard King when the talky bits come up.

4. People still seem to really like Jane's Addiction's 'Been Caught Stealing'. I suppose it is a pretty good song, and it has a good beat, but in retrospect Jane's Addiction were plainly not much cop at all, taking this song's cred down with them.

I should have more things to say about this event. Non-musically, I was astonished at all the people I knew here. Although I know that Emily and Niall know many people that I know, I didn't know which people they knew, and was very surprised by some of the people who were present. Like old pal Tony Wall, for instance (who revealed himself to have been a classmate of Emily's at one stage). Crazy world.

Nom Nom Nom!

You You the Panda is celebrating her birthday, and meeting with more success than this unfortunate. I wonder is her cake made out of bamboo.

So Not Gonna Happen - the story continues

I have previously mentioned the So-Not-Gonna-Happen Guy (pictured, with friends). It turns out that there is a sequel to that picture. Click here to see what exactly happened next.

IN YR INTERNET, POSTING PICS OF YR MINOR MUSICIAN/ARTIST RENAISSANCE MENS

This is only really amusing if you know who Momus is: Momus_Lolz

Road Runna Road Runna

More detailed response to follow, but for the moment note my opinion that M.I.A.'s Kala is a most excellent candidate for album of the year.

Strange Omission

The Irish Times printed a rather heart-warming obituary today of Pat Higgins, founder of the Pat The Baker bread empire. Oddly, it fails to mention the time he sacked all the workers in one of his plants after they tried to unionise.