and then there was the sound of silence....
That pause was not on purpose, but rather the result of circumstance. At work I have to work with an old, a very old version of IE which wouldn't let me on blogspot anymore. Then I lost interest, then I started writing slash fiction again and then I got busy. Now, a few days before my holiday, I'm not taking any new assignments anymore so I returned to slash writing. I finished two chapters and had nothing for the last chapter, so I stopped. Anyway, that was not what I wanted to blog about.
I got older, I think they call it being grown up. This means I don't feel such a strong need for heroes anymore, and the heroes I still have, well... I'm very conscience about them being rather imperfect to the point of being childish. It used to make me sad and depressed. It had an effect on my life and my emotions. These days, I tend to just put that knowledge aside and return to the music.
I love Simon & Garfunkel, and when I say that, I mean I love their music. They as persons make me feel depressed and annoyed. Just like the rest of the world I just don't understand them and why they're still not really working together. It doesn't matter, not to me. I've got their records, I've got YouTube, a well of music, concerts, interviews, blabla, anything to get me through the day.
However, I am still using my heroes in my life, now to learn how not to. That can be very telling. I am listening to Simon & Garfunkel because I'm at a certain point in my life. There is something about them and their music that attracts me. Who am I? Why did I get obsessed about them now, why not earlier or later? Is there something, am I someone, at this point in time, that needs to learn from them now, from their mistakes? I believe so.
It will be good.
Monday, October 10, 2016
Friday, July 1, 2016
Sound of Silence(?)
Here's two gentlemen doing 'the Sound of Silence' many miles apart.
BTW, did you notice these two videos carry the same date?
I'm rather awed by it's ironic beauty.
I'm rather awed by it's ironic beauty.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Art Garfunkel fan
This here site to: http://soundcalledmusic.com/art-garfunkel/
I thought it was so cute and so naive.
I thought it was so cute and so naive.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
To...
We’re on a road, travelling at our own speed, creating our own footprints. The scenery flashes by, frame by frame, like a stretched painting of colours and sounds. The painting goes back to where we started like memories woven into tapestry. Names and faces on the way like portraits, telephone numbers, e-mails and yellow coloured letters and wrinkled photographs, like leaves fallen on the ground.
We met a few junctures, crossroads to reflect, to check the roadmap of our lives. We say goodbye to old friends and make new ones. We choose our new travelling companions, new shoes or vehicles. We consulted our planned routes and old decisions, while new ideas and dreams nestled in our hearts. The first steps have always been scary, no matter how clear the view, on the new path with the new shoes on and new companions.
We still run ahead with the scenery flashing by, leaving our footprints as legacy behind, our children by the hand, their children running ahead. The sounds and echoes behind us like photo albums, films, birthday cards, older and older memories. We leave behind.
And then we stop. We let go, to leave it to our children. The road ahead…
I’m pretty much at the end of their lives. What a strange thing to say. Nothing I want to be true and I hope that definitive end lies ahead quite a bit further. They both seem very healthy, active, energetic even. Neither of them seems to have slowed down. Though, you can’t deny most of their lives lie behind them. It still frightens me.
A lot of thoughts about how much longer they might go on, or when it ends, have crossed my mind. I’m not looking forward to the day the news comes. I’m definitely not looking forward to the day my chances of seeing them live have faded. Not even for that concert I might attend, but just to be able to hear from them on a regular basis is comforting.
Even though Simon & Garfunkel have only been prominently in my life for the last few weeks, their deaths would still feel as if someone’s hacking away at my youth. I am lucky I’m sharing a world with two men who helped deciding what the 60’s would sound like echoing straight into my times. It feels like the last remnants of splendour spilling out of the 60’s. I did not live through them, but I am living through the echoes.
If I ever meet them I would like to shake their hands, I would send them ahead to the rest of their lives. I would tell them to take the last chance to discover who else they are. I would tell them I would give back the times we’ve taken from them, if I only could. As long as we can keep the music. I would tell them to go enjoy the rest of their lives, with their families and friends. To ignore us, because they’ve given more than we deserved. If someone owes anyone anything, it’s us owing them the time to rediscover their identity apart from what they’re known for. I wish them good luck on that last journey.
And last but not least: Thank you very much. You won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
Anyway, those thoughts made me write the first half of this post.
We met a few junctures, crossroads to reflect, to check the roadmap of our lives. We say goodbye to old friends and make new ones. We choose our new travelling companions, new shoes or vehicles. We consulted our planned routes and old decisions, while new ideas and dreams nestled in our hearts. The first steps have always been scary, no matter how clear the view, on the new path with the new shoes on and new companions.
We still run ahead with the scenery flashing by, leaving our footprints as legacy behind, our children by the hand, their children running ahead. The sounds and echoes behind us like photo albums, films, birthday cards, older and older memories. We leave behind.
And then we stop. We let go, to leave it to our children. The road ahead…
I’m pretty much at the end of their lives. What a strange thing to say. Nothing I want to be true and I hope that definitive end lies ahead quite a bit further. They both seem very healthy, active, energetic even. Neither of them seems to have slowed down. Though, you can’t deny most of their lives lie behind them. It still frightens me.
A lot of thoughts about how much longer they might go on, or when it ends, have crossed my mind. I’m not looking forward to the day the news comes. I’m definitely not looking forward to the day my chances of seeing them live have faded. Not even for that concert I might attend, but just to be able to hear from them on a regular basis is comforting.
Even though Simon & Garfunkel have only been prominently in my life for the last few weeks, their deaths would still feel as if someone’s hacking away at my youth. I am lucky I’m sharing a world with two men who helped deciding what the 60’s would sound like echoing straight into my times. It feels like the last remnants of splendour spilling out of the 60’s. I did not live through them, but I am living through the echoes.
If I ever meet them I would like to shake their hands, I would send them ahead to the rest of their lives. I would tell them to take the last chance to discover who else they are. I would tell them I would give back the times we’ve taken from them, if I only could. As long as we can keep the music. I would tell them to go enjoy the rest of their lives, with their families and friends. To ignore us, because they’ve given more than we deserved. If someone owes anyone anything, it’s us owing them the time to rediscover their identity apart from what they’re known for. I wish them good luck on that last journey.
And last but not least: Thank you very much. You won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
Anyway, those thoughts made me write the first half of this post.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
That article in which Art said about Paul....
...that he was a jerk and an idiot for walking away "..from this lucky place on top of the world..."
Source: Telegraph interview
This has been bugging me a bit for a little while. Fortunately, on the 23rd of this month this was posted:
"...“I say some stupid things about him to the press,” admitted Art Garfunkel..."
Source: Another Telegraph article
And Paul was asked about it and he said...
"...There's nothing much to say. It's just Artie. He's wrestling with his demons. That's him. It's his life. I'm sorry he's angry to that degree, at this point in life...."
Source: Billboard article
Thanks, guys! That's some relief....
Now. What about a phone call, eh?
Source: Telegraph interview
This has been bugging me a bit for a little while. Fortunately, on the 23rd of this month this was posted:
"...“I say some stupid things about him to the press,” admitted Art Garfunkel..."
Source: Another Telegraph article
And Paul was asked about it and he said...
"...There's nothing much to say. It's just Artie. He's wrestling with his demons. That's him. It's his life. I'm sorry he's angry to that degree, at this point in life...."
Source: Billboard article
Thanks, guys! That's some relief....
Now. What about a phone call, eh?
Monday, June 27, 2016
Review site
This is a good site for S&G reviews: Review Site. He’s funny
My favourite Introduction (to his review of the album “The concert in Central Park”) of his: “A groovy record. Paul and Art parted ways (or should I say 'paul-arted ways' instead! Ha! Ha!)…”
HAHAHAHA!!!! ….. That’s such a dumb joke…
Still: Review Site.
My favourite Introduction (to his review of the album “The concert in Central Park”) of his: “A groovy record. Paul and Art parted ways (or should I say 'paul-arted ways' instead! Ha! Ha!)…”
HAHAHAHA!!!! ….. That’s such a dumb joke…
Still: Review Site.
Hello! Goodbye!...and Hello again...
God thank for the ability of looking back over history.
Remember the 90’s? I do, unfortunately. Everything including the drab music that was played on the radio. Remember 2Unlimited or 24/7? My head makes unvoluntary movements when I only think those two names. I, however, was listening to the Beatles. Hello!
I have no desire to talk about the Beatles. My personal Beatles era was over. Goodbye!
So, why am I writing this post? I just thought the title was funny. How did the Beatles suddenly became a subject again? They do that. And hello again…
On YouTube is a video of Paul Simon and John Lennon handing out Grammy’s and Art Garfunkel accepting it for Olivia Newton-John and her producer(?). Hilarity ensues…. Can you sense my enthusiasm?
The first time I saw that clip was in a video named “THE BEATLES (The Simon & Garfunkel connection – Two). There must be a first part somewhere. I know, cause I saw it, just can’t find it anymore.
Here’s the whole thing without the other stuff around it:
I like Andy Williams.
Also, for good measure:
Remember the 90’s? I do, unfortunately. Everything including the drab music that was played on the radio. Remember 2Unlimited or 24/7? My head makes unvoluntary movements when I only think those two names. I, however, was listening to the Beatles. Hello!
I have no desire to talk about the Beatles. My personal Beatles era was over. Goodbye!
So, why am I writing this post? I just thought the title was funny. How did the Beatles suddenly became a subject again? They do that. And hello again…
On YouTube is a video of Paul Simon and John Lennon handing out Grammy’s and Art Garfunkel accepting it for Olivia Newton-John and her producer(?). Hilarity ensues…. Can you sense my enthusiasm?
The first time I saw that clip was in a video named “THE BEATLES (The Simon & Garfunkel connection – Two). There must be a first part somewhere. I know, cause I saw it, just can’t find it anymore.
Here’s the whole thing without the other stuff around it:
I like Andy Williams.
Also, for good measure:
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Troubled Waters
Today I was listening to 'Keep the Customer Satisfied' a lot during work. It kept me going and I felt understood(?)
During my search for the lyrics google suggested I should take a look at the meaning of the lyrics as well, so I did. I read a few interpretations, some serious, some somewhat less serious, one read: "It's probably about anal sex. Most songs are." There was one comment I found interesting and made me think. A part of the comment was: "...By the end, Paul Simon was chafing under the expectations to keep turning out the "Simon & Garfunkel" works people had come to expect ..."
Then it hit me: Paul is basically screaming on the album 'Bridge Over Troubled Water" that he wants out, and ironically everybody LOVED it....till they realised what was said and it was happening...
....
...Obviously, I mean the split of Simon & Garfunkel...right....?
During my search for the lyrics google suggested I should take a look at the meaning of the lyrics as well, so I did. I read a few interpretations, some serious, some somewhat less serious, one read: "It's probably about anal sex. Most songs are." There was one comment I found interesting and made me think. A part of the comment was: "...By the end, Paul Simon was chafing under the expectations to keep turning out the "Simon & Garfunkel" works people had come to expect ..."
....
...Obviously, I mean the split of Simon & Garfunkel...right....?
Simo...Si..S...Simon'ed?
The post "Garfunkeled".
That's not to say I don't like Paul's voice, because I really do. It's just that "Being Simon'ed" doesn't work and all the things I said about Artie's voice are just simply not true for Paul's voice.
However, his voice has a sweetness and a boy-next-door kind of quality which I like; you can easily relate to it. And of course, in the end, the signature Simon & Garfunkel sound was these two voices in sweet dissonance and from what I understood Roy Halee's magicianship.
I don't know what I'm saying. Why don't you go read a good book (Artie's got a list for you) or listen some good music. I've got just the artists for you.
Source of the picture: http://www.milkandbreadvintage.com/2012/12/young-paul-simon-old-paul-simon.html
That's not to say I don't like Paul's voice, because I really do. It's just that "Being Simon'ed" doesn't work and all the things I said about Artie's voice are just simply not true for Paul's voice.
However, his voice has a sweetness and a boy-next-door kind of quality which I like; you can easily relate to it. And of course, in the end, the signature Simon & Garfunkel sound was these two voices in sweet dissonance and from what I understood Roy Halee's magicianship.
 |
| According to the site I found this on: A gentle, surprised ginea pig |
Source of the picture: http://www.milkandbreadvintage.com/2012/12/young-paul-simon-old-paul-simon.html
Garfunkeled
Did I listen in a different way?
It only happened this last week and it only hit me yesterday: “I’ve been Garfunkeled.”
Paul sang it in one of his early songs, a Simple Desultory Philippic, he got Garfunkeled. I’m sure he meant something else than what I’m trying to say here. I’m sure he was talking about the effect and influence Artie had on his life, whereas I’m talking about how his voice drew me in and attracts me to listen to songs over and over again. Though I’m sure Paul got Garfunkeled in the truest sense of the word too.
I was wondering if I was listening in a different way, because it happened only this week. This week I’ve been listening to ‘Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall” on a loop, because I love the harmonies and Artie’s voice when he sings ‘Soooo I’ll continue to continue…” His voice was also the reason I put ‘For Emily Whenever I May Find Her’ in the playlist, and his voice is the greatest ingredient that makes the Simon & Garfunkel sound. His voice is so unique, so recognizable, so etherical; it really does sound as if it comes straight from heaven. It gives the more upbeat and darker stuff of Paul a strange edge.
No matter how much I hate writing this down, Artie’s voice really was something else, something really good and attractive.
You might wonder why I hate to write it down. You might not. It won’t stop me from explaining. I hate to write that down, because I believe Mr. Garfunkel needs no more lift up into the heavens; his wings might melt.
Anyway, that is what I mean with being ‘Garfunkeled’.
Have you been Garfunkeled yet?
It only happened this last week and it only hit me yesterday: “I’ve been Garfunkeled.”
Paul sang it in one of his early songs, a Simple Desultory Philippic, he got Garfunkeled. I’m sure he meant something else than what I’m trying to say here. I’m sure he was talking about the effect and influence Artie had on his life, whereas I’m talking about how his voice drew me in and attracts me to listen to songs over and over again. Though I’m sure Paul got Garfunkeled in the truest sense of the word too.
I was wondering if I was listening in a different way, because it happened only this week. This week I’ve been listening to ‘Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall” on a loop, because I love the harmonies and Artie’s voice when he sings ‘Soooo I’ll continue to continue…” His voice was also the reason I put ‘For Emily Whenever I May Find Her’ in the playlist, and his voice is the greatest ingredient that makes the Simon & Garfunkel sound. His voice is so unique, so recognizable, so etherical; it really does sound as if it comes straight from heaven. It gives the more upbeat and darker stuff of Paul a strange edge.
No matter how much I hate writing this down, Artie’s voice really was something else, something really good and attractive.
You might wonder why I hate to write it down. You might not. It won’t stop me from explaining. I hate to write that down, because I believe Mr. Garfunkel needs no more lift up into the heavens; his wings might melt.
Anyway, that is what I mean with being ‘Garfunkeled’.
Have you been Garfunkeled yet?
Song for the Asking...
Of course after a day or two of bitching about both Simon and Garfunkel, about how unpleasant and personally undeveloped they are, I find articles and interviews in which they’re both all considerate, charming and they’re basically behaving like angels.
Last Tuesday I received the special edition of the album Bridge Over Troubled Water due to its 40th anniversary a couple of years ago. In that special edition is also a DVD with two interesting lengthy things on it: 1) Songs of America and 2) The Harmony Game – the Making of Bridge Over Troubled Water. Both give a rare and close insight into the Simon & Garfunkel carousel around the time of the making of the above said album. Both gave me a fuzzy (happy) feeling.
And of course the music.
For the last few weeks (8 of them?), every other day, I’ve been adding songs to my “Simon & Garfunkel” playlist on my phone. Every other week I managed to get obsessed over another song. I’m keeping track to: First two weeks: Sound of Silence. Weeks 3 to 7: Cecilia slowly trailing off. Weeks…now: Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall, might already be changing into “Keep the Customer Satisfied”. This is a new kind of obsession I’ve never had before. Interesting. No, wait, that’s another lie.
All colours of Simon & Garfunkel are available to me. It ranges from the nasty to the heavenly sweet to the mild indifference. From the extraordinary affectionate to a mild hate and deep disappointment. From outrageously joyful to an intense sadness and everything inbetween. And with me being obsessed and rather sensitive to these moodswings, it’s a rollercoasterride that’s taking me to highs and lows. I swing from being very happy to being very angry. That’s what they’re doing to me right now.
Fine…I’ll deal with it.
Last Tuesday I received the special edition of the album Bridge Over Troubled Water due to its 40th anniversary a couple of years ago. In that special edition is also a DVD with two interesting lengthy things on it: 1) Songs of America and 2) The Harmony Game – the Making of Bridge Over Troubled Water. Both give a rare and close insight into the Simon & Garfunkel carousel around the time of the making of the above said album. Both gave me a fuzzy (happy) feeling.
And of course the music.
For the last few weeks (8 of them?), every other day, I’ve been adding songs to my “Simon & Garfunkel” playlist on my phone. Every other week I managed to get obsessed over another song. I’m keeping track to: First two weeks: Sound of Silence. Weeks 3 to 7: Cecilia slowly trailing off. Weeks…now: Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall, might already be changing into “Keep the Customer Satisfied”. This is a new kind of obsession I’ve never had before. Interesting. No, wait, that’s another lie.
All colours of Simon & Garfunkel are available to me. It ranges from the nasty to the heavenly sweet to the mild indifference. From the extraordinary affectionate to a mild hate and deep disappointment. From outrageously joyful to an intense sadness and everything inbetween. And with me being obsessed and rather sensitive to these moodswings, it’s a rollercoasterride that’s taking me to highs and lows. I swing from being very happy to being very angry. That’s what they’re doing to me right now.
Fine…I’ll deal with it.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Definately not "Tours"...
In an earlier post I wondered if there was a tab "Tours" on the Simon & Garfunkel website. I was obviously wrong: "No, they do not have a tab "Tours" on their website. It's just the one "Tour"." However, they also seem dubious about it, or optimistic?
...and Flowers never bend in the rainfall....
For my mind is in a state of new obsession, I’m blogging surprisingly little. I had some ideas for posts, but most have left me already. Evaporated! …Poof…!
There are a lot of things I can say about either Paul Simon, or Art Garfunkel, or both at the same time, or maybe even a combination of neither. I don’t really want to. Whatever I have to say, or have an opinion on, has been said many times, in many different ways, by many different people. I don’t feel any need to add to that pile of 50 odd years of opinions on Simon & Garfunkel, or just Garfunkel, or Simon, or neither. I’ve got nothing, or I’ve got nothing new. Case in point, this piece of text.
I can say something about the people opining about said gentleman, be it together, separately or apart. It’s been an interesting introduction in what is generally accepted as classic popular music. I can say: “All people learning about my new obsession with Simon & Garfunkel have reacted in the same way”. I can, because it’s true. Of course I also could if it wasn’t true, but then, my dear readers, it would be a lie. However, that is exactly what happened; they all said, without exception: “Oh Simon & Garfunkel, that’s good music.” Not necessarily in these exact words, but let’s not dwell on that.
They also, almost all of them, later on reacted, after I went on a bit, like this: “They’re not that good.” Actually, that really is a lie; only one person reacted like that. Another person simply explained he thought some of their stuff was a little too sweet, and another was impressed with my endurance in my obsession. Other than that, I’ve been mainly keeping it to myself.
They’re interesting to watch. It’s interesting to listen to them, and that’s not (though mainly) their music, it’s also their talk. When it comes to musicianship and music, they say a lot of sensible things and can get rather passionate and lengthy about it. When it comes to emotions, they either don’t know or spout a lot of bullshit.
I noticed I have trouble staying nice when it comes to S&G. It’s so easy to get nasty about them. It’s something about them that pisses me off. On the other hand, I’m still thoroughly enjoying their music. It’s that irony that keeps hitting me, the messages in the songs versus the way they live their lives. Other people noticed it too. Quite a few times I saw the comment: “Can’t they build a bridge over troubled water?” to do something about that “..sound of silence…” between them? Well, anyway…
What I really wanted to say is that I don’t remember hearing their music for the first time. Their existence and music seems a fact of life; something you automatically learn. I mean, at some point you learn to talk, you learn to walk and you learn that Simon & Garfunkel do harmonies.
There are a lot of things I can say about either Paul Simon, or Art Garfunkel, or both at the same time, or maybe even a combination of neither. I don’t really want to. Whatever I have to say, or have an opinion on, has been said many times, in many different ways, by many different people. I don’t feel any need to add to that pile of 50 odd years of opinions on Simon & Garfunkel, or just Garfunkel, or Simon, or neither. I’ve got nothing, or I’ve got nothing new. Case in point, this piece of text.
I can say something about the people opining about said gentleman, be it together, separately or apart. It’s been an interesting introduction in what is generally accepted as classic popular music. I can say: “All people learning about my new obsession with Simon & Garfunkel have reacted in the same way”. I can, because it’s true. Of course I also could if it wasn’t true, but then, my dear readers, it would be a lie. However, that is exactly what happened; they all said, without exception: “Oh Simon & Garfunkel, that’s good music.” Not necessarily in these exact words, but let’s not dwell on that.
They also, almost all of them, later on reacted, after I went on a bit, like this: “They’re not that good.” Actually, that really is a lie; only one person reacted like that. Another person simply explained he thought some of their stuff was a little too sweet, and another was impressed with my endurance in my obsession. Other than that, I’ve been mainly keeping it to myself.
They’re interesting to watch. It’s interesting to listen to them, and that’s not (though mainly) their music, it’s also their talk. When it comes to musicianship and music, they say a lot of sensible things and can get rather passionate and lengthy about it. When it comes to emotions, they either don’t know or spout a lot of bullshit.
I noticed I have trouble staying nice when it comes to S&G. It’s so easy to get nasty about them. It’s something about them that pisses me off. On the other hand, I’m still thoroughly enjoying their music. It’s that irony that keeps hitting me, the messages in the songs versus the way they live their lives. Other people noticed it too. Quite a few times I saw the comment: “Can’t they build a bridge over troubled water?” to do something about that “..sound of silence…” between them? Well, anyway…
What I really wanted to say is that I don’t remember hearing their music for the first time. Their existence and music seems a fact of life; something you automatically learn. I mean, at some point you learn to talk, you learn to walk and you learn that Simon & Garfunkel do harmonies.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Friday, June 17, 2016
List of Facts: June 2016
• The passed two years haven't helped me to readers who leave me comments telling me they at least read my blog. That's okay, tho it hurts... editions in red...blogger gives now the possibility to check how many times your blog has been read. It seems people do find my blog, but don't leave comments. Gee thnx people! Or they still don't bother to read it. Turns out, most of the visit counts come from bots using my blog to only further their own advertizing. Bots have lots interest since I don’t post all that often anymore. Might increase again.
• My computer is not ready to log on to the rkop-chatbox...still not after two years, but who cares..I don't at least...I hardly ever visit RKOP these days and I forgot what chatting is (j/k) What's RKOP? (j/k) What’s a computer? (j/k)
• The new sound boxes I bought...SUCK! With a Capital SUCK and an exclamation mark...still do...still do, but I bought new ones which make me happy...The sucky sound boxes are now near the end of their lives; one has already given up completely. I'm thinking of buying a new set for in the bedroom. Now my good boxes are slowly joining the choir of dead sound boxes. I'm thinking of buying new ones for in the livingroom and for in the bathroom and maybe for in the bedroom. I still own those good boxes; they’re now in my bedroom. I bought really bad boxes for in my bathroom which produce some light and bad sound. I now also added a bluetooth version in the bathroom. In the livingroom I’m using my friend’s old boxes which have a heavy bass.
• Dennis Morris and Charlie Mingroni -without the ‘e’ at the end. I can also spell "Gyllenhaal". …and Garfunkel…I can't however, write "Roy Hal...Hall..H-hh...Hal-Halee?" Oh, fer chr...!!!
• I was up at 7.00 am this morning....I could have been....I was awake and up at 7 am to empty my bladder, then went back to bed to play the Sims FreePlay. Bad (bed?) me. I was up real late. I really need to change my life rhythm. Maybe try getting up at 8.00 instead of 9.30. I'm pathetic. Nope, still pathetic (got up at 9.20), I just don’t care anymore.
• I reviewed my passed two years using my review from a couple of years ago which I recycled as well...I actually took the time to review several lists and brought them back together in a list that lists what is applicable now. I used that last revised list, see the link below. Still old list. Might add another point.
• I'm too lazy to write a completely new review...I thought it would be funny to use this list again...See previous addition...and again. I'm wondering when this stops being funny. I might have reached that point already. Personally, I still think it’s funny. I love the fact I can now trace the history of a personal futility; my speakers.
• I hate the font I used for this list. Maybe I should change it. I did start to use more colours; might get a bit much after a while.
List of Fact: Ala 2014
• My computer is not ready to log on to the rkop-chatbox...still not after two years, but who cares..I don't at least...I hardly ever visit RKOP these days and I forgot what chatting is (j/k) What's RKOP? (j/k) What’s a computer? (j/k)
• The new sound boxes I bought...SUCK! With a Capital SUCK and an exclamation mark...still do...still do, but I bought new ones which make me happy...The sucky sound boxes are now near the end of their lives; one has already given up completely. I'm thinking of buying a new set for in the bedroom. Now my good boxes are slowly joining the choir of dead sound boxes. I'm thinking of buying new ones for in the livingroom and for in the bathroom and maybe for in the bedroom. I still own those good boxes; they’re now in my bedroom. I bought really bad boxes for in my bathroom which produce some light and bad sound. I now also added a bluetooth version in the bathroom. In the livingroom I’m using my friend’s old boxes which have a heavy bass.
• Dennis Morris and Charlie Mingroni -without the ‘e’ at the end. I can also spell "Gyllenhaal". …and Garfunkel…I can't however, write "Roy Hal...Hall..H-hh...Hal-Halee?" Oh, fer chr...!!!
• I was up at 7.00 am this morning....I could have been....I was awake and up at 7 am to empty my bladder, then went back to bed to play the Sims FreePlay. Bad (bed?) me. I was up real late. I really need to change my life rhythm. Maybe try getting up at 8.00 instead of 9.30. I'm pathetic. Nope, still pathetic (got up at 9.20), I just don’t care anymore.
• I reviewed my passed two years using my review from a couple of years ago which I recycled as well...I actually took the time to review several lists and brought them back together in a list that lists what is applicable now. I used that last revised list, see the link below. Still old list. Might add another point.
• I'm too lazy to write a completely new review...I thought it would be funny to use this list again...See previous addition...and again. I'm wondering when this stops being funny. I might have reached that point already. Personally, I still think it’s funny. I love the fact I can now trace the history of a personal futility; my speakers.
• I hate the font I used for this list. Maybe I should change it. I did start to use more colours; might get a bit much after a while.
List of Fact: Ala 2014
Old Friends
Something I have no experience in, and won't ever have; I don't call any of my old friends still friends.
I liked this blog: The unbeatable love and hate of old friends
The best part about old friends is their ability to overcome and overlook your flaws
Priya Ramani
Actor and comic Billy Crystal gave a funny, lovely eulogy about his 42-year friendship with Muhammad Ali at the boxer’s funeral. Photo: AFP I was so excited when Babyjaan met her first bestie at the age of 3. Three years on, they’re enrolled in different schools, but I have a feeling that, one day, in the words of singer-songwriter Paul Simon, they’ll be old friends sitting on their park bench like bookends.
They’ll cackle and recall their cantonment teenager days riding a Royal Enfield Classic 500, silencer removed, the air around them thrumming with that testosterone-filled Yeh Dosti vibe.
Of course, Simon’s relationship with his old friend Art Garfunkel, which began in class VI and resulted in a partnership that won 11 Grammy awards, ended badly. They recorded their first song at 16 but split at their professional peak, shortly after their biggest-selling album, Bridge Over Troubled Water. They’ve come together often after that break-up but it’s never been the same. On the live recording of Old Friends: Live On Stage, a reunion concert held in 2003, there’s this bittersweet exchange that only old friends who’ve loved and hated each other can appreciate properly:
Garfunkel: They cast the two of us in the elementary school graduation play Alice In Wonderland and I was the Cheshire Cat, and it’s been a lot of laughs ever since. With a few interruptions, this would be the 50th anniversary of this friendship that I deeply cherish.
Simon: We met when we were 11 years old in Alice In Wonderland and I was the White Rabbit—it’s a leading role—and Artie was the Cheshire Cat—it was a supporting role...a very important supporting role. Now, we started to sing together when we were 13 years old, and we started to argue when we were 14 years old. So that makes this the 47th anniversary of our arguing.
Old friends are like that worn T-shirt that’s become a second skin now—the one your spouse sometimes wonders why you’re still wearing. They are a repository of your growing up memories, a dependable backup of your hard drive that will not be easily lost. That day you, a cocky pre-teen, sat on the edge of the 22nd floor parapet, posing for a picture (that your mother later saw, alas), is etched as clearly in their mind as it is in yours.
Staying up late on an overnight train ride counting the cockroaches and exchanging dark secrets, falling in and out of love (sometimes with the same person), not leaving you alone when you lost a parent, getting drunk, being introduced to Ozzy Osbourne, hitching a ride, casually stalking a crush, joining a Gorkhaland march while on a trek in Darjeeling, cookouts in an oversized handi because back then nobody worried they were eating too much—your old friends are standing right beside you in all the early snapshots of your life.
The best kind of old friends are those who have exchanged letters (not to be confused with texts, WhatsApp messages or Facebook updates) along the journey. When I was homesick as a graduate student in the US, old friends took turns to write to me, ensuring I received a letter every single day for the first few months.
But the best part about old friends is their ability, cultivated over a lifetime of knowing you, to overcome and overlook your flaws. “Old friends allow me the comfort of being myself. There are very few places in life where you can be yourself, most places there is a certain amount of performance involved in what you do,” says one of my philosophical friends. Another pal says old friends are those to whom she can vomit out her thoughts, no matter how ugly they seem inside her head. “You know they won’t judge you,” she adds.
These days though, in a world that’s become increasingly polarized, many of us judge our old friends for their political views. It’s often easier to exit than to engage. What’s the point of arguing with someone who may have gone to all the same liberal educational institutions as you but whose views diverged sharply along the way, right? But losing an old friend is like giving up a part of yourself, so some of us do a precarious balancing act, hoping that we’ll touch common ground one day.
Old friends are great when you need someone to stand up and talk about you. Actor and comic Billy Crystal gave a funny, lovely eulogy about his 42-year friendship with Muhammad Ali at the boxer’s funeral. Their unlikely friendship began when Crystal got a chance to impersonate Ali in front of him. After he was done, Ali gave him a bear hug and whispered, “You’re my little brother”. From then on, he always called Crystal that.
“Ali forced us to take a look at ourselves. This brash young man who thrilled us, angered us, confused and challenged us, ultimately became a silent messenger of peace, who taught us that life is best when you build bridges between people, not walls,” Crystal said at the funeral. Old friends can be counted upon to say good things about you when you’re gone.
I met my oldest old friend when I was nine years old and we were both selected to be on the school’s athletics team. We were polar opposites (neat vs messy; language vs math; proper vs most inappropriate). The days the phone didn’t ring repeatedly my mother would ask: Fought again? But that was childhood. After a deep trough that lasted a few years, we’ve recently been clawing our way back into each other’s lives again, helped in no small part by our daughters, born three days apart.
On WhatsApp, that scary place that can immediately recreate the dynamics of a group of old friends exactly the way they left it on that battered stone bench behind the college canteen 25 years ago, I gathered the courage (because who knows what she might say) to ask my oldest friend to share some thoughts about old friendships. She messaged back several one-liners which I’ve reproduced without tinkering.
How you hate and love them.
No walls.
Knowing the essence.
Knowing the buttons.
No need to explain anything.
Trust.
No need to read deep into anything.
And then, just as I was relaxing, her killer conclusion: Old friends can love each other yet grow apart. Have deep loyalty but not know what the fuck to say to each other any more.
Old friends can always be counted on to be honest—even when you don’t want them to be.
I liked this blog: The unbeatable love and hate of old friends
The best part about old friends is their ability to overcome and overlook your flaws
Priya Ramani
Actor and comic Billy Crystal gave a funny, lovely eulogy about his 42-year friendship with Muhammad Ali at the boxer’s funeral. Photo: AFP I was so excited when Babyjaan met her first bestie at the age of 3. Three years on, they’re enrolled in different schools, but I have a feeling that, one day, in the words of singer-songwriter Paul Simon, they’ll be old friends sitting on their park bench like bookends.
They’ll cackle and recall their cantonment teenager days riding a Royal Enfield Classic 500, silencer removed, the air around them thrumming with that testosterone-filled Yeh Dosti vibe.
Of course, Simon’s relationship with his old friend Art Garfunkel, which began in class VI and resulted in a partnership that won 11 Grammy awards, ended badly. They recorded their first song at 16 but split at their professional peak, shortly after their biggest-selling album, Bridge Over Troubled Water. They’ve come together often after that break-up but it’s never been the same. On the live recording of Old Friends: Live On Stage, a reunion concert held in 2003, there’s this bittersweet exchange that only old friends who’ve loved and hated each other can appreciate properly:
Garfunkel: They cast the two of us in the elementary school graduation play Alice In Wonderland and I was the Cheshire Cat, and it’s been a lot of laughs ever since. With a few interruptions, this would be the 50th anniversary of this friendship that I deeply cherish.
Simon: We met when we were 11 years old in Alice In Wonderland and I was the White Rabbit—it’s a leading role—and Artie was the Cheshire Cat—it was a supporting role...a very important supporting role. Now, we started to sing together when we were 13 years old, and we started to argue when we were 14 years old. So that makes this the 47th anniversary of our arguing.
Old friends are like that worn T-shirt that’s become a second skin now—the one your spouse sometimes wonders why you’re still wearing. They are a repository of your growing up memories, a dependable backup of your hard drive that will not be easily lost. That day you, a cocky pre-teen, sat on the edge of the 22nd floor parapet, posing for a picture (that your mother later saw, alas), is etched as clearly in their mind as it is in yours.
Staying up late on an overnight train ride counting the cockroaches and exchanging dark secrets, falling in and out of love (sometimes with the same person), not leaving you alone when you lost a parent, getting drunk, being introduced to Ozzy Osbourne, hitching a ride, casually stalking a crush, joining a Gorkhaland march while on a trek in Darjeeling, cookouts in an oversized handi because back then nobody worried they were eating too much—your old friends are standing right beside you in all the early snapshots of your life.
The best kind of old friends are those who have exchanged letters (not to be confused with texts, WhatsApp messages or Facebook updates) along the journey. When I was homesick as a graduate student in the US, old friends took turns to write to me, ensuring I received a letter every single day for the first few months.
But the best part about old friends is their ability, cultivated over a lifetime of knowing you, to overcome and overlook your flaws. “Old friends allow me the comfort of being myself. There are very few places in life where you can be yourself, most places there is a certain amount of performance involved in what you do,” says one of my philosophical friends. Another pal says old friends are those to whom she can vomit out her thoughts, no matter how ugly they seem inside her head. “You know they won’t judge you,” she adds.
These days though, in a world that’s become increasingly polarized, many of us judge our old friends for their political views. It’s often easier to exit than to engage. What’s the point of arguing with someone who may have gone to all the same liberal educational institutions as you but whose views diverged sharply along the way, right? But losing an old friend is like giving up a part of yourself, so some of us do a precarious balancing act, hoping that we’ll touch common ground one day.
Old friends are great when you need someone to stand up and talk about you. Actor and comic Billy Crystal gave a funny, lovely eulogy about his 42-year friendship with Muhammad Ali at the boxer’s funeral. Their unlikely friendship began when Crystal got a chance to impersonate Ali in front of him. After he was done, Ali gave him a bear hug and whispered, “You’re my little brother”. From then on, he always called Crystal that.
“Ali forced us to take a look at ourselves. This brash young man who thrilled us, angered us, confused and challenged us, ultimately became a silent messenger of peace, who taught us that life is best when you build bridges between people, not walls,” Crystal said at the funeral. Old friends can be counted upon to say good things about you when you’re gone.
I met my oldest old friend when I was nine years old and we were both selected to be on the school’s athletics team. We were polar opposites (neat vs messy; language vs math; proper vs most inappropriate). The days the phone didn’t ring repeatedly my mother would ask: Fought again? But that was childhood. After a deep trough that lasted a few years, we’ve recently been clawing our way back into each other’s lives again, helped in no small part by our daughters, born three days apart.
On WhatsApp, that scary place that can immediately recreate the dynamics of a group of old friends exactly the way they left it on that battered stone bench behind the college canteen 25 years ago, I gathered the courage (because who knows what she might say) to ask my oldest friend to share some thoughts about old friendships. She messaged back several one-liners which I’ve reproduced without tinkering.
How you hate and love them.
No walls.
Knowing the essence.
Knowing the buttons.
No need to explain anything.
Trust.
No need to read deep into anything.
And then, just as I was relaxing, her killer conclusion: Old friends can love each other yet grow apart. Have deep loyalty but not know what the fuck to say to each other any more.
Old friends can always be counted on to be honest—even when you don’t want them to be.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Stranger to Stranger
About a week or something ago Paul Simon released his umpteenth album, Stranger to Stranger. Go listen! It’s actually good.
If I sound surprised, it’s because I am. I tend to get bored with albums quite quickly and just listen a few songs before I turn it off or start dreaming about other things not hearing anything anymore. This album…Can’t say it had my undivided attention (that would be a trick), but I do want to go back and listen again.
If I sound surprised, it’s because I am. I tend to get bored with albums quite quickly and just listen a few songs before I turn it off or start dreaming about other things not hearing anything anymore. This album…Can’t say it had my undivided attention (that would be a trick), but I do want to go back and listen again.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Simon & Garfunkel
So far, 2016 has already seen many famous people die. To me it seems evey other week one of them drops out. I find it depressing. One of them was Alan Rickman; that really saddened me, I loved Alan Rickman.
Last year I wrote this blog: http://wiwipedia.blogspot.nl/2015/06/save-me.html
It was a rather sad and confused piece, yet clear in its intentions. It’s a sentiment I still feel, but now on the other side of emotions.
Obviously, as the tag told you, that was a piece about James Beck, best known as Private Walker in Dad’s army. I reacquainted myself with the series out of sentiment.
In my early teens I got interested in popculture and started soaking up every little detail of information or utterance from popartists. In those same early teens I also started to discover what was worth in popmusic and that the 60’s were a pop palace of richness, creativity and a new sense of identity. I got the message; it got hammered in by all who lived through those days and those younger once who had already learnt the significance of the music that came out of it and the musicians that had created that music.
I don’t think at that age, I quite got the importance. It was my first venture into general popculture, not kiddie entertainment, and everything was new and overwhelming. It was all too much to take in at once, so I selected my favourites by means of natural interest.
As I wrote many times before, my first interest was Take That. A new group that took me into the world of popmusic, like a first walk in a big city. Shortly before that time I came across Michael Jackson and Madonna. During that time I heard names like Freddie Mercury (from Queen) and Paul Simon (from Simon & Garfunkel). It was brought to me in exactly that way: “Freddie Mercury, from Queen…” and “Paul Simon, from Simon & Garfunkel…”. The former had just died and the latter had just had a hit. I both stored them in my brain for later research. In 1999 it was Freddie’s turn, or rather Queen’s turn and now, in 2016, it’s Paul Simon’s turn, or rather Simon & Garfunkel’s turn.
Now I’m back to where I came into the circle, my teens first realizing Paul Simon was really someone. I can draw this back to Alan Rickman as well; his was another name I stored for later research. When I got into my Alan Rickman phase, I realized I watched ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ and Alan Rickman already got hold of my interest. I had forgotten a lot about the film, but it all seemed very familiar to me. It was nice going back in time, but having new experiences and new objects to study in pop culture. It felt like I just walked around the block and decided to give that building I had seen before, a proper look. That’s exactly how I feel about Simon & Garfunkel.
I remember sensing Simon & Garfunkel were a duo you just simply had to know. If you didn’t, there were serious gaps in your pop culture knowledge. I got that, I didn’t do anything about it, until now.
I was bored and watching top 10’s on Youtube. One of the top 10’s were of songs that make you cry. On number 9 was ‘Sound of Silence’. I knew ‘Sound of Silence’, I even knew it was a Simon & Garfunkel song. I picked up that much, apparently. It was the trigger for me to finally check out their music proper. So far, no regrets, not even about being late to the party.
What’s there to say what has not yet been said about them? Yes, their music really does grant their status of legendary. I am thoroughly enjoying the songs as they were written, as they were recorded, as they were performed and sung. And I thoroughly enjoy that’s there so much of it and the density of quality in their work. I fully understand and under scribe the goo-ish glory and hallelujah that they get for their songs.
In the previous post I said I was happy, because of a little tidbit from an Art Garfunkel interview. Now I am happy, because the songs just make me happy.
Last year I wrote this blog: http://wiwipedia.blogspot.nl/2015/06/save-me.html
It was a rather sad and confused piece, yet clear in its intentions. It’s a sentiment I still feel, but now on the other side of emotions.
Obviously, as the tag told you, that was a piece about James Beck, best known as Private Walker in Dad’s army. I reacquainted myself with the series out of sentiment.
In my early teens I got interested in popculture and started soaking up every little detail of information or utterance from popartists. In those same early teens I also started to discover what was worth in popmusic and that the 60’s were a pop palace of richness, creativity and a new sense of identity. I got the message; it got hammered in by all who lived through those days and those younger once who had already learnt the significance of the music that came out of it and the musicians that had created that music.
I don’t think at that age, I quite got the importance. It was my first venture into general popculture, not kiddie entertainment, and everything was new and overwhelming. It was all too much to take in at once, so I selected my favourites by means of natural interest.
As I wrote many times before, my first interest was Take That. A new group that took me into the world of popmusic, like a first walk in a big city. Shortly before that time I came across Michael Jackson and Madonna. During that time I heard names like Freddie Mercury (from Queen) and Paul Simon (from Simon & Garfunkel). It was brought to me in exactly that way: “Freddie Mercury, from Queen…” and “Paul Simon, from Simon & Garfunkel…”. The former had just died and the latter had just had a hit. I both stored them in my brain for later research. In 1999 it was Freddie’s turn, or rather Queen’s turn and now, in 2016, it’s Paul Simon’s turn, or rather Simon & Garfunkel’s turn.
Now I’m back to where I came into the circle, my teens first realizing Paul Simon was really someone. I can draw this back to Alan Rickman as well; his was another name I stored for later research. When I got into my Alan Rickman phase, I realized I watched ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ and Alan Rickman already got hold of my interest. I had forgotten a lot about the film, but it all seemed very familiar to me. It was nice going back in time, but having new experiences and new objects to study in pop culture. It felt like I just walked around the block and decided to give that building I had seen before, a proper look. That’s exactly how I feel about Simon & Garfunkel.
I remember sensing Simon & Garfunkel were a duo you just simply had to know. If you didn’t, there were serious gaps in your pop culture knowledge. I got that, I didn’t do anything about it, until now.
I was bored and watching top 10’s on Youtube. One of the top 10’s were of songs that make you cry. On number 9 was ‘Sound of Silence’. I knew ‘Sound of Silence’, I even knew it was a Simon & Garfunkel song. I picked up that much, apparently. It was the trigger for me to finally check out their music proper. So far, no regrets, not even about being late to the party.
What’s there to say what has not yet been said about them? Yes, their music really does grant their status of legendary. I am thoroughly enjoying the songs as they were written, as they were recorded, as they were performed and sung. And I thoroughly enjoy that’s there so much of it and the density of quality in their work. I fully understand and under scribe the goo-ish glory and hallelujah that they get for their songs.
In the previous post I said I was happy, because of a little tidbit from an Art Garfunkel interview. Now I am happy, because the songs just make me happy.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Yay! New obsession!!!
And this time it's: Simon & Garfunkel.
I'm reading an interview with Art Garfunkel and came acrosse this tidbit:
"9. Kindness
When I ask what advice he has given his son he makes me laugh with his answer: “Watch out for traffic.” Anything else? “Be kind to people. I’m working on that second one myself, because I’m not always kind. I’m judgemental and picky. When I order room service and they get it wrong I try so hard to be kind and I fail. ‘But I only asked for three things! How could you get one wrong?’"
I'm so happy....
I'm reading an interview with Art Garfunkel and came acrosse this tidbit:
"9. Kindness
When I ask what advice he has given his son he makes me laugh with his answer: “Watch out for traffic.” Anything else? “Be kind to people. I’m working on that second one myself, because I’m not always kind. I’m judgemental and picky. When I order room service and they get it wrong I try so hard to be kind and I fail. ‘But I only asked for three things! How could you get one wrong?’"
I'm so happy....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)