a little too much champagne

For someone who isn't overtly ambitious, I do every so often surprise myself with my delusionary, ambitious behaviour.

A few weeks ago I bought Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, of The Fountainhead fame. It's small print and over 1000 pages, this for somebody who'll take weeks to knock of 300 pages of pulp and who already has three piles of books waiting in different areas of the flat and in a couple of stray bags for odd commutes.

How totally ambitious of me to think, I'll get the through this, that'll there'll be time. Still the most important thing is that I've got it and will try to slot it into my list of Summer things to do, the next set of books that are going to be read are the Walter Mosley, Fearless Jones series which will anchor my Spring's fictional needs.

Next time you need to read the article ( or search for related articles ) but don't need to buy the magazine, try : http://www.mygazines.com/

It feels like we've skipped Spring and just moved straight onto Summer. I can dig that even though I wouldn't have minded a little bit more of a warning to warn away the wibble but since pretty girls are walking dogs and jogging on the promenade I can dig it...and then there's this feeling of drinking Pimms with ginger ale in a tall glass garnished with slices lemon and orange and listening to Air which needs to be satisfied.

But Big Bad Oil and Gas alas will have none of it, they've got me stuck in the 2009 planning cycle which is just dreary. The third Quarter is important but dull as dishwater and when you get a couple of unseasonal Summeresque type days, it's hard to keep your focus on the straight and narrow, on that realistic insipidness that is spread sheeting and wording.

Still I may not have the drink but I've got the music in the phones, here are some of my favourite Air tracks especially for these lazy days.

1. playground love 2. kelly watch the stars 3. Ce matin la 4. remember 5.alpha beta gaga with rhymefest

We miss these programmes, this was when we really looked forward to TV, now the sets are bigger and the picture digital but it doesn't have the same charm.

Gone are the days when we'd stay home to watch the X-Files first on a Friday before going out. Then once on the town we would launch into lengthy discussions on the subject of the 'truth' that was 'out' there, 'somewhere.'

We followed Dallas, our all time favourite series from the Digger Barnes days to Pam's dreaming of a second reality, JR's devilish schemes and Cliff who loved Chinese food but that was as cool as he ever got - loser.

Today we still learn from watching Yes Minister, it's the one dvd series set that every Consultant worth their salt should own, that shit still happens today in Corporates everywhere but without the diction, style and panache of a Sir Humphrey.

And lets not forget those detective series, Miami Vice, damn they sure did stop all of the drug trade into that city. Remington Steele, Laura Holt with those Bogart hats in season one, still races our motor and the snappy Dr. Seuss like dialogue of Moonlighting makes us smile whenever we hear it.

Even the simple things like Maya and the Bee and Pinky and the Brain would be welcomed back with open arms.

Now we've got the variety but we've become stuck with cheap reality shows and obscure sport. Lets have some more of these shows...again...please:

1. Dallas
2. MASH
3. Remington Steele
4. Yes Minister
5. Maya and the Bee
6. Pinky and the Brain
7. Moonlighting
8. Kojak
9. Miami Vice
10. Bonanza
11. Mike Hammer
12. Northern Exposure
13. Seinfeld
14. Die Tier Brigade (Brigade du Tier)
15. Corporation Stories (Kooperasie Stories)
16. V

Oh make us happy again satellite tv provider.

Spotted this at Groundworks, here's what a little too much champagne looks like after it's been wordled.

Where do you start?

Another Soul legend comes to the end of his cycle and you are filled with sadness and warm memories.

I remember driving that 1800 Datsun with its blue exterior and dark green interior, the car that was forever breaking, down the Main Road with a c90 in the tape player listening to Isaac Hayes, myself and my best friend, on route to Kalk Bay, to Olympia before it was trendy for Saturday afternoon coffee and pastries. Then further down to Simonstown before getting back to our rooms in suburbia, where we did lots of nothing yet time seemed to pass so quickly.

We loved Isaac Hayes he was good to us, our favourite driving track was that opus, the Look of Love, we didn't mind the Theme from Shaft either.

I'm sure lots of people would have had similar experiences as Isaac set the scene, long after he had made it.

---

One of Hayes' greatest abilities was not to take himself altogether seriously. In the late '80s he sent up the Blaxploitation genre which he was so closely associated with, through shaft, by starring in Keenen Ivory Wayans' film I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka and of course, there is a whole generation who know him only for his Chocolate Salty Balls as Chef in South Park.

Daryl Easlea, June 2000.

---
These are a few of my favourites tunes:

1. It's heaven to me.

A beautiful bit of tender magic, a must download.

2. The theme from Shaft

It wouldn't be fair not to include it.

3. Sweet music, soft lights and you

A fun tune with Millie Jackson.

(tracks to follow shortly)

And that's where I'll stop - look out for the tribute albums which are sure to follow.

I've spent the better part of the last week listening to Yesterday's New Quintet's tribute album Stevie. An eleven track album of some Stevie Wonder's gems.

I've had the album for an age but I've not listened to it like this, sometimes fleetingly, sometimes with discerning concentration, hearing things that I haven't heard before and then coming to the cd to try to find the song or the spot of that melodic discovery.

It's a good album, the cuts are short and they are played with an enthusiasm and a generosity of a phantom group of fans rather than a few musicians trying to capitalise on the Stevie Wonder name.

But here's the rub, the sound whilst modern still has so many different hooks, it's as if this album should be listened over a period of time because as the day changes so the music finds a quiet synergy with its differing moods and accompaniments.

It pretty much took me a week to find the spot, then to find the spot, then to try to unravel it again, nothing bites like a sleeper in the cd player and this is just that and a little more.

Favourite tracks: Send One Your Love; Too High and Superstition.

Will up a couple of tracks in the week. See an alternate point of view.

Footnote:

Bought a new TV today, I use to think that I anchored the 302 lounge, now there's a new sheriff in town and another remote control to master, mr Life's Good - watching you watching me.

And officially happy birthday RK.