Might be the best thing I've seen this month

Speed like Wind

Yesterday there was a rather fierce storm in Scotland. Winds exceeded 160 mph at one point. When I first heard about the storm, it was simply called a storm, a weather bomb.

But then, something interesting happened.

It was around 8AM my time that the hashtag #hurricanebawbag began making its way into the consciousness of Twitter.

A bawbag is a Scottish derogatory term for a part of the male anatomy. Its American equivalent would be Al Roker calling a storm Hurricane Dickhead, or Nut Sack.

Meanwhile the storm was happening, Hurricane Bawbag was trending and the Scots were posting some amusing things.



The Edinburgh Zoo just received two pandas.

Soon after that video started coming in. The Clyde River in Glasgow was close to overflowing due to the storm surge. Then a young man named Conor Guicham posted this on Facebook, which moved to Youtube and became a viral hit.



OMG! Trampoline then received a musical soundtrack.



All of this was happening in less than three hours from the start of Hurricane Bawbag. Enterprising companies began selling T-Shirts! The storm even received a Wikipedia entry.

It was amazing how fast it was all happening, and more than a few of the comments on Twitter were very funny. Luckily, there were few injuries reported and the storm damage was minimal. I could picture my Father-in-Law in his living room, observing the fair breeze blowing in Duntocher.

By the end of the day, Hurricane Bawbag had its own song.



My wife was giggling most of the day, like a thirteen year old boy, and she asked to see this clip again.



I'm still not sure who coined the term "Hurricane Bawbag" yesterday morning, but I'm sure that will be revealed in the fullness of time. I salute this person, and Scotland, for sitting in their homes, staying put and taking the piss out of the storm instead of cowering in fear. Well played!

What I'm Drinking

Tonight is tomorrow

Since I'll be busy with the Merseyside Derby in the morning. Shopping in the afternoon, and the Doctor Who finale at night - here is what I've been listening to over the past few weeks.



He's coming to Columbus on Wednesday. Just him, and a guitar. We're going.



I know very little about the Eurovision Song Contest. I've been finding some very interesting songs on youtube from it and am thinking of doing a weekly feature here. Again, I know nothing about this, but digging around one can find the scary, the plain weird, and the amazing. I really like finding international music through youtube, you learn a lot.



Case in point.



Stevie Jackson, the guitarist of Belle & Sebastian has just released his debut solo album, and it's pretty darn good.



Been listening to 12 Songs, always loved his original version that Three Dog Night turned into the hit.



I was going to post something off his wonderful new record, The Old Magic, but stumbled across this video, which I had never seen before. Listened to a set of his from Maryland last Sunday. He opened for Wilco and sounded sweet. This man has a deep catalog of great songs that have been long ignored and overlooked. He's one of the best.

That's what's been on in the car, and in my headphones.

Two Nights in a Row at the Ohio Theater

It had been a long time since I've seen Airplane, and last night The Summer Movie Series at the Ohio Theater was showing it, one night only.

It still holds up very funny. A silly film that the large crowd really enjoyed. So much love was given Leslie Nielsen when he first showed up on screen, and when he delivered the seminal line, the masses nearly gave him a standing ovation.



Worth missing Writers' Block for it.

Tonight we hung out downtown as well. Columbus Commons has a Thursday night music series.



Nick Tolford was playing. That man can sing! We hung out there for awhile and enjoyed a decent, reasonably priced beer. This scene can only grow in such a large space, it's good to see steps taken to get people downtown.



A few eating establishments were still open as well. Great to see spots not shutting down at five. We went to one of our favorite places.



After dinner it was time to head to the Ohio for tonight's feature.



Each year, when the series presents it's silent, members of the local Ford Motor Club bring out some of their vehicles. This year they brought more than usual.




We got our tickets early enough to snag some front row balcony seats, which are great to get the whole screen in while watching the organist play to the film.

Clark Wilson is always exceptional.



We got one of his shorts, Neighbors, before the feature. Despite a seriously racist scene (thank you 1920) it's a witty short with some fun stunt work.



Steamboat Bill Jr. is not one of my favorite of his films, I've always thought the pace was slow and the plot rather dull. But the hurricane sequence, in which objects break apart, dissolve and reform into other shapes and angles is rather amazing.



The determination in which he fights the wind, fights nature, makes my jaw drop, every time. Everyone mentions the danger of the house falling scene, but the wind, his fight against God, that makes it for me.

My Scottish Wife tried a new candy (to her) also. She gave the counter a once over and got some Necco Wafers. I tried to talk her out of them, "Dear, they taste like chalk." But she would have none of it.

She said one tasted like Fairy Liquid, which is dish soap. Another root beer, which she hates.

Not sure if she finished them or not but I do not think she'll be getting them again.

Downtown Columbus is not dead, if you think it is you're going to the wrong places.

This One Time, I Saw 24 Hour Party People

Had a good time at a friends gathering last night. There were a number of Brits there and they were reminiscing about the Manchester music scene of the late 80's early 90's.



I did not listen to this band. I have been lent a copy of their first album, the legendary one.

Then there's The Inspiral Carpets, I'm sure I've heard them once or twice.



They were talking about a lot of bands I'd never heard of, nor was very impressed with when I did hear them. Then again, I do not think the nineties were a great decade for music, but what the hell do I know about anything? I did not follow any 'scenes' from Manchester, Seattle or even Columbus.

In the late eighties and early nineties, I was not stable. I was drinking too much, doing a few other things I should not have been doing. Not healthy. Certainly not paying too much attention to the music. Not paying much attention to anything, other than opening up a red or white. And what music did catch my ear, well, I remember a certain person in my life calling this band The Noisies.



In hindsight, she don't know shit.

There were more than a few lost years in there, 88-89, 95-97, I have no idea what I was listening to. Crowded House, Counting Crows. My ears did not open back up again with any attention until I heard Summerteeth.



Spent the next few years listening to some good and bad Americana. After that came Arcade Fire, and the the rest of the crazy decade.

When we head back to my wife's house in the olde country, we'll be going though her cd collection and bring a bunch of it back - what will fit in the suitcase next to the IRN-Bru, anyway. I'm sure some of it will be pretty good music, she has good taste, after all.

No Mean City

Got an early start today. The lawn was mowed before 10AM and I got my son's sandbox out of the shed and cleaned it off. After I set it up I realized it would be too hot out during the day for him.

The three of us went to Jeni's before grocery shopping. While we were eating she and I talked about how we must seem. We're eating our ice cream while he sits there. I offered, put some peach buttermilk on his lips. His reaction was if I threw battery acid on them. Poor guy is a tough nut to crack. It's hard. We want him to eat, express interest in some sort of food. Right now, it's not happening.

Later in the day he went out and played with the sandbox. He's towering over it now. I think he's grown about six inches in the past year. He ran his hands through the sand and watched it fly off his fingers when he shook it off. He filled the cup with sand and put it in the water, then put his hands in the mud, messing about with textures. He got himself pretty eight year old boy dirty in the process so he got a second shower today.

Later in the evening, the emergency broadcast came on about a flood warning in Perry County. He was in the back room at the time and heard it. He is terrified of the sound it makes. When I went to check on him he was quiet and still, unlike moments before. We sat in the chair until the alert was over. When he walked into the kitchen he peered around the corner, looking toward the television, to see for himself that all was clear.

Been watching Taggart, a detective show set in Glasgow. It ran for almost thirty years before being cancelled earlier this year. I'm enjoying the early episodes with Mark McManus as the star.



He was a surly man, grouchy and troubled off and on set, but it gave the show a lot of grit. A lot of location footage of Glasgow resulted in more than a few "Hey I was there!" moments. It's a bit gruesome, the last episode we watched had six murders, a shooting and a suicide. Sadly, McManus died in the mid-nineties and the show continued, writing his death within the show. I've seen at least one of the later episodes and was not impressed. Like many long running shows, there is a catch phrase.



Also been enjoying the first reboot of Doctor Who, the Christopher Eccelston season. I plan on getting the first season of David Tennant also. I think I came along in the midst of his fourth year, so I still have a bit of catching up to do.

I see those fighter planes

Beautiful day for a mini road trip. We headed to Dayton to see the Air Force Museum. I had not been there for about twenty years and was wondering what types of changes had been made. There seemed to be a lot of improvements. A stunning amount of information on the walls and exhibits. What impressed her, and surprised me, was how little flag waving and blatant America F-yeah there was, especially since I have not been there since the end of the Gulf war.



She'd never seen a Wright Flyer up close before. Yes, that thing flew. Both of us were appreciative of the exhibits about the early days of military aviation. Here she is with a Sopwith Camel.



There are a lot of stories about the men and women who flew and did not make it that will rip your heart out. It's an overload of information that is very difficult to absorb in just a few hours. We got through a lot of the exhibits until world war two, and then it became too much.



Approaching the later exhibits up to today I started realizing we really have not learned anything from the lives lost. We're still blowing people up, but with prettier, more technologically advanced machinery. Here's what it's like looking into a bomb drop of a B-52.



There was a very moving exhibit about people from Dayton who had family in the holocaust. They donated a lot of photographs and other personal items, including a death camp uniform that somehow survived the war.

The enemies this country had and defeated were, for the most part, treated with respect. There was a kamikaze plane on display, along with a Japanese fighter and a MIG. The Berlin Airlift was given a good amount of space, with models depicting a Candy Bomber, who dropped parachutes filled with candy and chocolate to the children of Berlin.



You never know when you may come across a Russian checkpoint.



Above all though, the men and women who fought in these wars were all damn brave. You have to respect that. And the astronauts who flew in a Lunar Module the size of a well equipped hot tub get their due as well.



That's Apollo 15.

It's a great place to learn about military aviation, admission is free. Just remember, do not touch anything.



And remember to leave when you have reached your information limit.

Just getting started

I've been seeing clips of a BBC show that aired last year on youtube. It's called The Trip and it stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. They essentially play themselves while on a food reviewing trip through Northern England. The improvisational riffing is incredible. Both stars get to shine and you don't know what's real and what's part of the act. There's some genuine pathos going on amid all the sniping and lack of affection.

There were only six episodes aired and it's been edited together for a feature film which will be released later this year. I watched the first two episodes tonight and my wife and I were in hysterics. Great stuff. If you like impersonations, this show is for you.



That is the clip that made me want to see more. I bought the DVD from amazon.uk for just over ten bucks. While I was buying I figured something had to be added to make the overseas postage worthwhile.



I've never seen any of the Eccelston episodes and I'm excited. We watched the first one tonight and he's a fun doctor with some hints of sinister. Looking forward to the next twelve over the summer.

What I paid for this at amazon.uk is less that half what I would have paid if I went the domestic route, and it took less than a week to get here. I can be patient.

Tea Candy at Blas

A song that reminds you of someone.

There are a few choices here. How far do I want to go back? Not much, to be honest. So I'm keeping today's post real, and very close to home.

Back in 2006, the year her country was around every corner of my life, this group showed up too. This band is her favorite.



Even though this video is another part of Stuart Murdoch's brunette fantasy, you should see how much she reads.

When I Say Assam, You Say Lovely

There's an ad before, but there's so much to love about this.



Chap-Hop. Look it up on youtube. I'm going to be laughing for hours playing this at home later.

Various Administrative Things

I do check the stats for this blog to see how many hits it gets, what people are reading, how they're getting here and where they're from.

I joined Networked Blogs via Facebook and that has had some good results. So if you're coming from Facebook, hello.

A few others have joined from unknown and known reasons, hello to you also.

The U.S., Canada and the U.K. are the top three countries that read this.

Ohio, New York, Illinois, California and Minnesota are the top five states, in that order.

The search keywords people use and somehow wind up here can be amusing.

"Weiner Mobile" is something that gets people here. The post about it remains one of the most popular pages.

"The Blog of Mystery" is another search.

"Make Me Dance I Want to Surrender" another.

Two of the oddest ones are "John DeBella 1981 WLIR" a blast from the past! And "Esther Craw, Ohio State"

Bless her.

As always, thank you for stopping by and feel free to comment.

Last night was a first for my Scottish Wife and something I had not done for a long time.



She mentioned to me she had never had Jiffy Pop. I guess it was a part of America she wanted to experience. Do the Scots have it over there?

So I bought one and cooked it up last night. First off: Electric stove and Jiffy Pop does not mesh well. We ended up with a lot of burnt popcorn despite the constant shaking and motion. The house still smells like it was on fire and it was not because we watched The Expendables.

Let Me Grab Your Soul Away

Finally got around to watching Crazy Heart last night. I liked better it when it was called Tender Mercies. It's not that I hated Crazy Heart, but the story has been told before. Jeff Bridges did his usual great performance and I'm glad he finally got the hardware. What did put me off was the relationship between the alcoholic country singer and the writer. Maybe it was the age difference between Bridges and Gyllenhaal (60 vs. 33), or maybe it's that Gyllenhaal, despite her lovely baby blue eyes, was a bit out of her depth in this film.

I watched a couple of Robert Bresson films last week to, which alters how I watch film. If it's not in French, with a bummer of an ending, it most likely will suck.

My wife wanted to kill me after we saw Au hasard Balthazar, saying it was two hours of her life she cannot get back. I get that. It's not for everyone. But after seeing this film, you will believe a donkey can act.



It's a bleak film, but the camera work and sound are magnificent.

Kate Bush turns 52 today. Here's a video to send you off on a positive note from a performance during her only tour. She was 21.



So darn sweet when she jumps and waves at the end.

Cese Fabergas Changed the Complexion of the Match

Yesterday was my parents 39th wedding anniversary. Mom was in the hospital earlier this month so I'm happy she was home for it. The frustration continues, being so far away from them. Airfare is ridiculous right now, and for the foreseeable future.

Just did the math, had I stayed married the first time, the end of this month would have marked twenty five years. A tarnished hunk of silver for sure.

I was asked Friday what I'd do if my first wife showed up at the radio reunion in October. I honestly did not have a good answer. She's the one who tried to interfere in my second marriage. Called me a sociopath after lying to my face. She's very bitter. This is not the time for bon mots.

My son has been making improvement in the pool. He's been going underwater on his own. Swimming along, putting his head under, very cute. I'll post video when I get time to upload it.

Fun night of music and poetry on Saturday at a friend's place. They have a cool music room in their house. Piano and drums, people were playing some very pleasant blues. A bunch of us read a few poems. I ended up playing Words of Love to an empty room. Then we got home in time to watch Doctor Who. We follow on BBC America so we're still two weeks behind everyone who watches on the torrents.

The World Cup has ended. Kudos to South Africa for putting up a great event. No love for vuvuzelas and even less love for FIFA and some wretched officiating. Much love to Spain for finally winning the whole thing. I called it! Cese set up the goal!

EPL starts next month. Celtic are playing Man U. on Friday in Toronto. I should be going to a Crew game on Wednesday night. Good things are happening for my wife at her job. It's a busy life.

Not Fitting in the Strategic and Tactical Plans

I was out shopping at the corporate bookstore I used to work at last night. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that the octagon was gone.

The octagon was the large, eight sided display unit that held all of the new releases. The first impression the customer received of the store was that it sold books, and boom, here are the current ones.

It has been replaced by a kiosk that is promoting the store's electronic book reader.

I have nothing against the electronic reader. It is not something I am interested in using. Give me an iPod Touch and I'd be happy, I'm not that much of a technology hater, but the kindle/nook/reader has little appeal for me. Call me old and in need of paper, still.

I did have an item in mind to purchase when I went in there. Went into the music department and continue to notice that most of the music is being replaced with blu-ray DVDs. Looked around for the cd I wanted by Janelle Monae, looked at the endcaps, in the pop rock and soul sections - did not find it. Finally asked the clerk, who asked my how to spell her name (never a good sign) then told me the store did not have the item. It had one copy, but sold it and they were waiting for another copy to arrive.

This is why people have migrated to shopping online. When you go to a store, have to root around the displays climbing over the new Renee Fleming crossover record or special Celtic music displays and still do not find what you are looking for, why waste your time?

Age has caught up to me, time has passed me by. I have to lower my expectations of going to a store and actually finding what I'm looking to purchase to, well, not getting what I want and taking my money elsewhere.

Remember the days of shopping when you actually found what you were looking for, the first time? Man, those were good times, how long ago were they?

My Scottish Wife insisted on seeing the A-Team movie. I guess the original series was big in Scotland the way Anne of Green Gables is popular in Japan. So she was stoked to see it on opening night.

Seeing Liam Neeson kick ass on screen is worth the price of admission, and in that case, the A-Team delivers. If you like explosions over plot, this is the movie for you. It's a cartoon on film. There are no expectations of thespians showing up on screen. I never watched the A-Team series, but lowered my bar of film snobbery and had a good time, which made my wife happy - and isn't that what it's all about sometimes?

You're Scottish, Fry Something

Hope all the poems are not completely tuning you all out.

Went to the Winking Lizard for the first time today. I was not completely sold. For all the screens they had and not one was showing soccer. Come on, Spurs and Chelsea were playing and they had on cheer-leading and women's beach volleyball.

Oh, it's that kind of sports bar.

The draft beer selection was adequate, if not predictable. The bottled beer selection was a bit pricey but there were a few interesting selections. My eyeballs keyed in on a German Berliner Weisse. It's a very rare thing to see in this country so I ordered one. It's not brewed in Berlin, so it's not a true Berliner Weisse. Back in one of my previous lives I actually made a home brewed beer in that style, without having ever tried one. That's how obsessed I was. Did it all grain, if that was poetry, I would have been reading it off paper. I even went mail order for the special yeast and the lactobacillus culture that soured the beer. Yes, it was quite hardcore. Yes, I buried a few bottles in the backyard.

When we got around to trying it, well it tasted quite sour. The color was very pale. A very light beer, low in alcohol. We still had no commercial example to compare it too, it was not until that beer was long gone that a commercial version (Kindl, I think) was available for us to drink here. It was decent, sour, and we had the special syrups and unique glassware for customers. By then the business was starting to go bust and my memory gets a bit fuzzy.

Back to the Winking Lizard though. Had a decent, but not especially memorable burger. Doubt I'd go back, unless I was meeting someone there.

One thing they did have was a large, live iguana.



It's quite the sight when you exit the men's room. His name is Barley.

My Scottish Wife and I avoided the torrents and streaming websites and watched the Dr. Who premiere on BBC America, good cable viewers are we!

I'm a recent convert to the phenomenon, never watched it on PBS or wherever it was aired here in the seventies and eighties. First time I ever saw any of it was in the bar at the Hotel Belhaven in Glasgow on Christmas Day 2008. I think the barman was watching too and Emma noticed it was on and went over to watch. All I remember was some weird cheap special effects and Kylie Minogue's face taking up the whole screen.

What I have come to appreciate and respect is that the show is a huge part of British culture. It's been on for well over forty years and it's now up to the eleventh Doctor. I'll miss David Tennant in the role and regret that I did not see any of Christopher Eccleston's shows. The new guy, Matt Smith, seems well suited for the doctor and Karen Gillian is certainly an eye pleasing companion.



I'm looking forward to seeing what Steven (Coupling) Moffat does with the series.

April's been quite busy with life and writing projects. Sleep has been hard to come by, that's what I should be doing now.

Somewhere to the North and East

My Scottish Wife asked me about a place we went to, long ago. "You know, the place with the tap handles that were all high. I had a veggie reuben."

Well, no. I did not remember. Until just after I woke up this morning. Wracked my brain for nothing most of yesterday afternoon.

The boy was on the toilet last night. We're all waiting for poop. He's sitting, reading 'Go Dog Go!' My Scottish Wife is reading it to him. He's letting her, which is rare. I go up to sit with him and he's making his stim noises and other sounds. I join him with some weird shrieking of my own. He looks right at me and says, "You're silly!"



Needless to say, he did not poop, in the toilet that is.

While goofing off on Youtube last night I discovered a series of George Harrison demos I've never heard before. Really cool tapes of him on an acoustic in 1970, playing for Phil Spector. George has a bit of a cold but they're sweet performances. Here's my favorite song of his.



From a bootleg I do not have called Beware of ABKCO. There is so much undiscovered material out there.

Turn the place to dust

A short rant to start. The Polaris Fashion Place, shopping mall or whatever it calls itself is the most car-centric area in the state of Ohio, perhaps the country. It is also the most convoluted in its design and traffic flow. The roads in and out are inadequate, the parking is not friendly to cars or pedestrians. I wish no harm to the businesses or employees (who must go through Dante's nine circles to commute to work) who work in this location. However, I would like to see them relocated to calmer and more reasonable shopping areas. Then, I would like to see the developers of this monstrosity forced to live in the buildings they created and have a sudden bomb fall on them, turning the place into what City Center is now.

Ok after soup and whisky at Claddagh, also writing here - I feel better.

I've been on a thrift store kick recently. Revamping my trousers due to wear and, full disclosure, a weight gain. I've found an Adidas Columbus Crew sweatshirt for fifty cents and am still searching for the right ironic t-shirt. Today we went to the Goodwill store in Powell, in search of designer cast offs at the right price. I did find a cool shirt, but was so put off by an idiot bluetoother talking to someone like he was on the surface on the moon. After he left there was a father talking to his baby in a carriage as if he was Curly from the Three Stooges. Which would have been fine and cute, if daddy was capable of using an indoor voice. The store is quite small, and everyone in the place was blasted by the baby daddy talk.

The good thing is that I was looking through my Scottish Wife's cds before the mini road trip and found this one.



I had not listened to it yet and a very amused and impressed by what I heard. Melvin by The Belles is worth the price of admission. It's a knockoff of Gloria, and yes, they spell it out!

My Scottish Wife is a music geek who has many, many girl group compilations in her collection. Including this one, which is a sound I've been hearing in my head for years.



In other good news, it was great to get up early today and watch Everton beat up on Manchester United. I went a bit crazy when Rodwell scored the third goal.



Kid's only eighteen and scored his first Premiership goal against Man. U., how awesome is that? Now Sir Gasbag is going to be sniffing at him all summer and offer Moyes all kinds of money for him. Everton creates stars while other teams can only purchase them.

Narrowing the Decision

Working on my submission to the Columbus Arts Festival poetry competition. Came in second place last year and have to defend, or something.. I've got the two poems chosen. One needed a bit of editing, taking out the curse words, giving the line breaks more eye appeal. I'm fairly confident.



My son's toilet training is a step forward and slightly back. We're getting number one eliminated most of the time. Number two involves too much time on the toilet, then when we give up and pull his pants up - ten minutes later there is poop. That has not happened tonight. Not yet anyway.

My Scottish Wife is upstairs watching Law and Order. The Scots love crime shows. She's also eating Cadbury creme eggs. We found some more at Kroger last night. She was having withdrawal. Son is watching his They Might Be Giants DVD. I've been editing. That's Friday night.

Back on the Bank Block

On New Year's Eve, I find myself in Stauf's again, just like three years ago. The background music is The Pet Shop Boys and not a bad Hallelujah cover.

What have I, What have I, what have I done to deserve this?

I'm here because Emma's across the street at the dentist, not to sit and reflect on my life falling apart - as life was then.

Two years ago I was in Glasgow, wandering around a chilly damp city that was getting ready for Hogmanay. We drank champagne, hung out in a jacuzzi and watched Jools Holland ring in the new year. One month later my divorce was finalized.

Last year Emma was here, still on the tourist visa, and we went to Dave's and I sang The Candy Man. It was a perfect way to start the calendar year.

Today I wait here, post-bagel, drinking a french vanilla coffee and waiting to see what condition my wife will be in after her procedure. The music has changed.

Holiday, it would be so nice.

Oh man, now it's Shalamar.

I can tell by the look in your eye that you're a dead giveaway. I'm finding out what you're all about.

I did one of those year in review memes on Facebook, not going to subject it to you here. One thing though. There is a resolution. Something I need to do. Need is a very powerful words but when I see that number on a scale I know something has to change.

I see Limbaugh is in the hospital with chest pains. I do not want the man dead, but to live long enough so he can realize how wrong he is about so many things.

Speaking of death. Had only three hits in the deathpool this year, including the Farrah/MJ double. I know the day is not over but I have submitted next year's 40 to the proper compiler.

Had no idea at the beginning of last year that I'd abandon my live journal for this place. I think I'm happier here. It's hard to log on to live journal and see the deterioration. The people who have disappeared. If you're still there, I'm not picking on you for staying, not at all. It has changed, and it was a change that was hard for me to stay with. After the divorce, the drama stopped, comments dropped and I kept a lot of the personal stuff quiet. Good for me, bad for business. Losing a few friends was tough, and you miss some of that interaction. Moving forward is the new black though.

It's good to be here, on blogger. I see the number of hits increasing, but the comments are not increasing in proportion to the page views. I appreciate the readership. A lot. Thank you for coming. Please stay. Introduce yourselves. And have a happy new year.

And the train conduction says driver 8 take a break we can reach our destination, but we're still a ways away.