Azrael scores another hat trick

typed for your pleasure on 26 June 2009, at 10.57 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Pencil skirt’ by Pulp

You know how it goes with these things — celery debts come in trees. Wait, that’s not right.

Ed McMahon (06 Mar 1923 – 23 Jun 2009): Back in highschool, I could usually be relied upon for a decent Ed McMahon impersonation. Let’s see if I can still pull it off… *clears throat*

‘Heyy-o!! That’s a good one Johnny, and topical, too!’

Yep, still got it

Farrah Fawcett (02 Feb 1947 – 25 June 2009): As my mind is firmly stuck several decades in the past ninety per cent of the time, I nearly typed ‘Farrah Fawcett-Majors’, there.
Singlehandedly responsible for the sexual awakening of many a young lad during the Seventies thanks to ‘Charlie’s Angels’ — with the exception of myself, as I always preferred Kate Jackson — Farrah never did any harm to anyone. And good on her

Michael Jackson (29 Aug 1958 – 25 June 2009): Hurrr. As the adage goes, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Mmm hm.
Let’s just say this: growing up during the years back when the mighty MTV walked the earth, I liked MJ. I can recall back in eighth grade, my homeroom class was herded into the school’s library, where we all watched the full-length version of the ‘Thriller’ video. For a while, I even had a cassette copy of that album. But as time passed and I got older, I began refining my musical tastes more. Sure, I used to like MJ, but then, I also used to like Wham! and Prince. I used to like eating flapjacks with catsup slathered all over them, but I grew out of all of those things. Also, for sure he was a bizarre individual, but eccentricity should be praised, not damned. But I would say that.
So I suppose ultimately I didn’t dislike him because his music didn’t appeal to me, or because of his strange behaviour, but really it comes down to the whole child-touching thing. You know.

See? I managed to not say anything that can’t be considered not nice about Wacko Jacko! O, wait

Epilogue (this happened today before my work shift began):
WOMAN AT WORK: I know you a Michael Jackson fan, right?
ME: No.
WOMAN AT WORK: Awww! Well, I’m devastated.
ME: Huh.

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18 May 1980

typed for your pleasure on 18 May 2009, at 12.23 am


Hangman looks round as he waits,
Cord stretches tight then it breaks,
Someday we will die in your dreams,
How I wish we were here with you now

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You and me and the Continuum

typed for your pleasure on 19 April 2009, at 4.24 pm

Sdtrk: ‘NCR’ by Ike Yard

James Graham Ballard, one of my favourite authors, has passed away today at the age of 78.

Cult author JG Ballard dies at 78
BBC News | Published Sunday, 19 April 2009

The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness.

His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill “for several years” and had died on Sunday morning.

Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Jim Ballard said his books were instead “picturing the psychology of the future”.
the rest of the article is here

My first encounter with Ballard was back in the Nineties: my best friend Sean and I were getting into Industrial music — the proper stuff, such as Throbbing gristle, SPK, and the like — and I’d picked up an issue of a counter-culture magazine with a very sporadic release schedule called RE/Search. The issue I’d bought was number 4/5, and dealt exclusively with Throbbing gristle, William S. Burroughs (another author I admire), and Brion Gysin. As there was no other publication out there that we knew of that covered the subjects and topics we liked, we figured RE/Search would be worth keeping an eye on. Issue 6/7 was the highly-influential Industrial Culture Handbook, whose interviews with luminaries of the scene such as Genesis P-Orridge, Boyd Rice, Monte Cazazza, and others, make it entirely invaluable. Now, there had been mentions of J.G Ballard in both of those aforementioned issues, as his erotic-yet-clinical style of writing was an inspiration to many in those circles, so our interest in him was piqued. So when we managed to find issue 8/9, which consisted entirely of interviews and articles concerning Ballard, it was a must-buy.

The thing I liked most about him is that he wasn’t a science fiction writer; he trafficked in speculative fiction. His earlier works were arguably more straightforward scifi, to which I admit I haven’t read them, but the works he’d written that really resonated with me were stories like Concrete island (a businessman is stranded on an abandoned section of land beneath a motorway overpass), High-rise (the micro-society within a penthouse apartment rapidly degenerates into chaos and warfare), The Atrocity exhibition (a series of experimental short stories that dealt with deviant medical professionals and pop culture icons), and one of his most infamous, Crash, which, in a nutshell, dealt with the sexualisation of automobile accidents, and was made into a reasonably-good film adaptation by David Cronenberg in 1996. The speculative fiction label comes from the fact that the events in aforementioned stories are something I could readily see happening if people in society were given that little extra push, the push that strips away all semblance of civility in a person and reverts them to an instinct-driven being that either has morals that are purely self-serving, or who no longer has any morals at all.

Apart from doing things such as writing fictional stories in the style of medical reports or biographical appendices, his stories were populated by characters who were extremely sexual, yet simultaneously incredibly detached. There’s a starkness to Ballard’s stories that appeals to me — Sean had once mentioned that after reading High-rise, he felt as if he’d been beaten with a baseball bat — and his style will always remain unique and undisputably original

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Six of Khan

typed for your pleasure on 15 January 2009, at 1.30 am

Sdtrk: ‘Sur ta moto’ by Karo

Well, this is bollocks. I come home from work to find that not only has Ricardo Montalban passed away, but Patrick McGoohan, too??

Prisoner star McGoohan dies at 80
BBC News | Published Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Emmy-winning actor Patrick McGoohan, best known for starring in cult 1960s TV show The Prisoner, has died at the age of 80.

He died in Los Angeles after a short illness, his film producer son-in-law Cleve Landsberg told Associated Press.

McGoohan played the character Six in the surreal 1960s show, filmed in the north Wales village of Portmeirion.

He won two Emmy awards for his work on TV detective series Columbo, playing different characters.

The first came for an episode of the series in 1974, with another 16 years later.
the rest of the article is here

As I’ve often stated, being within broadcast distance of Windsor, Canada, I grew up watching a large amount of English television, and The Prisoner was one of my favourites even then. Sometimes the reception wasn’t exactly crystal-clear, but I do recall the very first episode I watched was ‘Free for all’, where Number Six believes he can instigate a revolt in the normally placid citizens of the Village by running for the office of Number Two, with predictable results. I’m fairly certain my reaction was pretty much the same as those who watched it when it first aired back in 1968 — one of delighted astonishment, that a television show could be revolutionary, surreal, and engaging all at once. In the hands of someone else, the series probably wouldn’t stand the test of time, but Patrick McGoohan made it happen.
Also: Rover still freaks me out to this day.

Fantasy Island’s Montalban dies
BBC News | Published Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Actor Ricardo Montalban, who starred in the popular US TV show Fantasy Island in the 1970s-80s, has died aged 88, a Los Angeles city official says.

The Mexican-born actor died at his home, the official said.

Fantasy Island ran for six years and centred on a magical island where guests could live out their dreams.

Montalban – who had a long career in entertainment – was also well-known for playing the villain in Star Trek, both on television and in a feature film.

Montalban’s death was announced by Eric Garcetti, who represents the LA district where the actor lived.

David Brokaw, the actor’s friend, described him as a “very courtly, modest, dignified individual,” the Associated Press news agency reports.

Montalban had been a film star in Mexico before moving to Hollywood in 1946.

Despite the fact that I find Star Trek to be a bland series overall, I will fully admit to enjoying ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’, as it goes without saying that Ricardo Montalban’s role pretty much makes the film. Once, I’d seen him on an episode of David Letterman; Letterman had asked him what exactly was the deal with the whole ‘reech Coreenthian layther’ that Montalban used to promote in old Chrysler adverts from the Seventies and Eighties, and Ricardo jokingly confessed that there wasn’t such a thing. Awesome.

RIP Patrick McGoohan, RIP Ricardo Montalban. Both of you will be sorely missed

Technorati tags: Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner, The Village, Ricardo Montalban, Fantasy Island, Corinthian leather, KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN

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Now with the latest go-faster stripes / Pet a cat and roll your Rs in her honour

typed for your pleasure on 26 December 2008, at 11.15 am

Sdtrk: ‘I’m in love with a German film star (long mix)’ by the Passions

‘Shouting etc etc’ is down to DEFCON level 5, as yesterday, I successfully upgraded my WordPress version to 2.7. I didn’t have to sacrifice any goats or children or anything! Well, just one child, but he was a spotty little bastard, so I actually did the neighbourhood a favour. How did I manage to pull that off, you axe? The WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin. Unzip it, upload it, activate it, click a couple of buttons, honk the horn, ring the bell, and voila! New version acquired! As I backed up some unneccesary stats, the backup process, and therefore, the entire upgrade process, took a wee bit longer than it normally should’ve, but nothing on ‘Shouting etc etc’ shattered like glass when it finished up, so I’ll call it a success. Not one hundred per cent success, mind you — I don’t think the Plugins list plugin (how very meta) that I’m using works properly with WP 2.7, as it doesn’t list all the plugins I’m using as links, but still. (FUTURE EDIT: Plugins list plugin updated 27 Dec)
All hail the Automatic Upgrade plugin! Making life easier for lazy unattentive tossers like myself. Well done!

And while I was at my parents’ house for Crimbo, I learned that Eartha Kitt, Catwoman and cabaret star, unexpectedly passed away.

US singer Eartha Kitt dies at 81
BBC News | Thursday, 25 December 2008

American singer, dancer and actress Eartha Kitt has died at the age 81, her friend and publicist has said.

Kitt died of colon cancer on Thursday, Andrew Freedman said.

She was one of the few artists to be nominated in the Tony, Grammy and Emmy award categories and was a stalwart of the Manhattan cabaret scene.

She famously played Catwoman in the Batman television series in the 1960s and was known for her distinctive, feline drawl.

She also had a number of hit songs, including Old Fashioned Girl, C’est Si Bon and Santa Baby.

Kitt was blacklisted in the US in the late 1960s after speaking out against the Vietnam War at a White House function.
the rest of the article is here

First Bettie Page, and now Eartha? I’m not liking this

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18 May 1980

typed for your pleasure on 18 May 2008, at 2.14 am

We won’t forget you, though in violence you go,
As the wheels turned in the theatres below,
An escape from the ends never met,
In apartments with the lives not formed yet

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Whither Anthony?

typed for your pleasure on 12 August 2007, at 4.20 am

Sdtrk: ‘Liebeszimmer’ by DAF

First Ian Curtis, then Martin Hannett, then John Peel, and now Tony Wilson? This is looking extremely grim.

Tony Wilson: Driven by music and Manchester
Former Factory Records boss Tony Wilson, who died at the age of 57, kept up his two major passions until the very end

By Cole Moreton
Published: 12 August 2007 | The Independent

Tony Wilson was a twat. The poster for the film about his life, 24 Hour Party People, said so right under a picture of his face.

Actually it was comedian Steve Coogan, who played the founder of Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub in the semi-autobiographical movie. But Wilson approved the image, saying: “I found it very funny.”

Abrasive, acerbic and well aware of his own legend, Wilson would have laughed, too, at some of the more fulsome tributes paid to him yesterday, after his death at the Christie hospital in his home city on Friday night, aged 57. Pop stars and politicians alike praised a man who remade Manchester, crediting him with inspiring a cultural renaissance that began with the post-punk sound of Joy Division and resulted in a confident modern city.

“He had two driving passions,” said Stephen Morris of New Order and Joy Division. “One was the music and the other was the city that he lived in. In later life he was a campaigner for devolution for the North-west. I strongly suspect this was so that he could become Prime Minister of Manchester.” Hacienda regular and writer John Harris said Wilson showed Mancunians that they did not have to leave, and “sowed the seeds of the cultural regeneration of Manchester which has now come to pass”.

But Wilson knew that his abrasive, fast-talking personality got up some people’s noses. “People have treated me with contempt,” he said in his last television interview. “Quite rightly.”
the rest of the article is here

Without Tony’s forward thinking, Punk wouldn’t have gotten as big of an audience in Northern England, and without Punk, there would be no Post-punk, and without Post-punk, there would be no Joy division, and tracing the many myriad lines of influence Joy division’s made on music would be far too detailed for me to get into. Cliched as it sounds, Tony Wilson had a huge influence on the music culture of Northern England, and put Manchester on the map as far as the starting point for hundreds of bands.

Not since Sex pistols manager Malcolm McLaren had there ever been a band manager as ‘rock star’ as the rock stars he supported. We’re gonna miss you, mate

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