Sunday, April 18, 2010
Regard the best; ditch the rest...
Sure, the first 'cheezburger' schtick was kinda funny, with that grey cat asking for a cheezburger (surprisingly convincingly too...) but this one is the funniest, hands down. Awwwwwww......
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
OE
Dear Kitty
I plan to go on my big OE soon, and I shall have a wondrous time! I shall stop in for a wedding in Finland before heading to the fatherland for Devonshire teas with Earl Grey and whatever other outlandishly exciting things they eat over there! It shall be quite the undertaking, but I am just thrilled! I believe 2 July is my last day at work, and I shall be glad of the break - which is exactly the thought I was relishing as a certain grumpy Judge told me off quite unnecessarily!
With much love from Jon
(The above should be read aloud in an overly Enid Blyton way, preferably in the middle of a picnic with scones and lashings of ginger beer)
I plan to go on my big OE soon, and I shall have a wondrous time! I shall stop in for a wedding in Finland before heading to the fatherland for Devonshire teas with Earl Grey and whatever other outlandishly exciting things they eat over there! It shall be quite the undertaking, but I am just thrilled! I believe 2 July is my last day at work, and I shall be glad of the break - which is exactly the thought I was relishing as a certain grumpy Judge told me off quite unnecessarily!
With much love from Jon
(The above should be read aloud in an overly Enid Blyton way, preferably in the middle of a picnic with scones and lashings of ginger beer)
Saturday, April 10, 2010
You won't believe it...
But good things do come from Australia. And I'm not talking about my Aussie cousins. Love you guys, and technically you're from South Africa anyway. No, I'm talking about the new prog rock movement from Perth. Three great bands have emerged and there are some lesser try hard ones too, but this post isn't about those poor losers.
And in case you're sceptical following my previous post, this post isn't about some album or song of which I have only listened to the demo. Rather, it is about three bands which can do no wrong.
1. The Butterfly Effect. If given a fair go (ie more than one listen) I can't imagine anyone actually disliking these guys. Their music is melodic and unrepetitive, their lyrics are great and the singing is awesome. Their two recent albums ("Imago" and "Final Conversation of Kings") are especially well constructed, in that one does not feel tempted to skip any songs to "get to the good ones". They're all good. Alas, while they are big in Aussie, you are unlikely to find them on the shelves in NZ, so "borrow them from a friend" today!
2. Karnivool. I have to credit my bro Mix for getting me on to these guys. Just like the above band, these chaps have the ability to make incredibly good music and albums you can listen to all the way through, time and again. The lead singer is especially talented, and also performs in the band "Birds of Tokyo" which is more pop-focused.
3. Dead Letter Circus. I hesitate to say the third best, but really, they are. Mind you, they are still awesome. The only issue is that they have not released any real album to speak of, only two EPs. And these EPs are even harder to obtain than the Butterfly Effect albums. So listen to them on Youtube if torrents prick your conscience. I don't even know if they're on Itunes, but they sure should be.
And in case you're sceptical following my previous post, this post isn't about some album or song of which I have only listened to the demo. Rather, it is about three bands which can do no wrong.
1. The Butterfly Effect. If given a fair go (ie more than one listen) I can't imagine anyone actually disliking these guys. Their music is melodic and unrepetitive, their lyrics are great and the singing is awesome. Their two recent albums ("Imago" and "Final Conversation of Kings") are especially well constructed, in that one does not feel tempted to skip any songs to "get to the good ones". They're all good. Alas, while they are big in Aussie, you are unlikely to find them on the shelves in NZ, so "borrow them from a friend" today!
2. Karnivool. I have to credit my bro Mix for getting me on to these guys. Just like the above band, these chaps have the ability to make incredibly good music and albums you can listen to all the way through, time and again. The lead singer is especially talented, and also performs in the band "Birds of Tokyo" which is more pop-focused.
3. Dead Letter Circus. I hesitate to say the third best, but really, they are. Mind you, they are still awesome. The only issue is that they have not released any real album to speak of, only two EPs. And these EPs are even harder to obtain than the Butterfly Effect albums. So listen to them on Youtube if torrents prick your conscience. I don't even know if they're on Itunes, but they sure should be.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
This must be the longest hiatus... But the book review was well worth the wait!
In fact, I think if I wait only one more year my blog will self destruct from lack of usage. It happened to that impostor who used to occupy www.jon.beck.blogspot.com. Possibly the strangest blog I have ever seen and now lost to the world - since about mid-08.
So anyway, it just struck me that it has been too long. You think it woulda struck earlier. So I'm gonna return with something totally unoriginal like a book review. Eat your heart out, Mike Crowl.
And the book of the week is "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown. The excited reviews which called other Dan Brown books "Unputdownable" and "...with a unusually high IQ" gave me a pretty good idea of the calibre of the readers. Naturally someone who describes a book in that way is going to feel a tad threatened by the IQ of an inanimate object. I myself was unfazed by Mr Brown's split infinitives and his utter failure at the plu-perfect tense and the definitive descriptive. I ploughed ahead regardless and was pleasantly surprised by the suspense and intrigue which can be woven into a day or so in the life of an academic who now looks in my mind unsettlingly like Tom Hanks. Of course no-one would believe that that much thought was really put in to Washington DC by its founding fathers, or that a symbologist would be a useful human being, but that's what makes great fiction.
Then I finished reading the dust jacket (and a good job too, because that was about all I could handle) and moved on to greener pastures.
Next time I will review a movie I saw the preview of. And at the rate I've been churning out posts - look for it in 2013!
So anyway, it just struck me that it has been too long. You think it woulda struck earlier. So I'm gonna return with something totally unoriginal like a book review. Eat your heart out, Mike Crowl.
And the book of the week is "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown. The excited reviews which called other Dan Brown books "Unputdownable" and "...with a unusually high IQ" gave me a pretty good idea of the calibre of the readers. Naturally someone who describes a book in that way is going to feel a tad threatened by the IQ of an inanimate object. I myself was unfazed by Mr Brown's split infinitives and his utter failure at the plu-perfect tense and the definitive descriptive. I ploughed ahead regardless and was pleasantly surprised by the suspense and intrigue which can be woven into a day or so in the life of an academic who now looks in my mind unsettlingly like Tom Hanks. Of course no-one would believe that that much thought was really put in to Washington DC by its founding fathers, or that a symbologist would be a useful human being, but that's what makes great fiction.
Then I finished reading the dust jacket (and a good job too, because that was about all I could handle) and moved on to greener pastures.
Next time I will review a movie I saw the preview of. And at the rate I've been churning out posts - look for it in 2013!
