The View From Here

22/12/99 - Your favourite popstars in miniature. I like Bis, Velvet Underground & Nico, Bob Dylan, Robert Palmer, and Orbital. Oh and Stephen Hawking.

22/12/99 - Finally got round to adding a search engine to the page.

22/12/99 - Just found a new UK themed weblog, to go with Haddock, Gorjuss and Need To Know.

22/12/99 - If you're planning on an extra special New Year celebration with some absinthe, you'll have to read this. (via SciTechDaily)

22/12/99 - One of the greats of cinema has died, Robert Bresson. Thirteen films over forty years, a workrate comparable to Stanley Kubrick, thirteen over forty-four years. Here is an article on some of his best films.

22/12/99 - This pic always makes me shudder:

22/12/99 - The Man shuts down a fellow weblogger:

"America Online deleted the entire kempa.com directory on their server this morning based on two "questionable" images of semi-naked kids at krazyfest 99."

He should be here.

22/12/99 - Here is a worthy cause, campaign for the unaired episodes of 'Action' [warning: flash] to be released on video, or shown on cable. (via TVBarn)

22/12/99 - Here is the worst poem ever, as decided by the book Very Bad Poetry, appropriately entitled "A Tragedy":

                    Death!
                    Plop.
     The barges down in the river flop.
               Flop, plop.
          Above, beneath.
     From the slimy branches the grey drips drop,
     As they scraggle black on the thin grey sky,
     Where the black cloud rack-hackles drizzle and fly
     To the oozy waters, that lounge and flop
     On the black scrag piles, where the loose cords plop,
     As the raw wind whines in the thin tree-top.
               Plop, plop.
          And scudding by
     The boatmen call out hoy! and hey!
     All is running water and sky,
          And my head shrieks -- "Stop,"
          And my heart shrieks -- "Die."

And that is only half! More wincingly bad poetry can be found at the Bad poetry page.

22/12/99 - This made me choke on my cornflakes. (via ObscureStore)

"Teen-agers who get an allowance typically receive about $50 a week, according to a national study..."

And that's just from their parents, not to mention part-time jobs. In 1997 kids were getting up to $40 in the UK but about half came from outside work, and that was for older teens. Kids today, grumble, grumble, in my day, ...

20/12/99 - Are there seriously many Catholics who are offended by this?

"Three network television shows this week featured lines that were offensive to Catholics.
In the December 13 episode of the CBS sitcom, "Becker," there was a segment about a Christmas pageant that revolved around Joseph and Mary. Dr. Becker, played by Ted Danson, at one point told the man dressed as Joseph, "You told the ‘Virgin Mary’ she had a nice ass, didn’t you?"... "

I have two main gripes with the Catholic League, it portrays itself as representing all Catholics, and by picking on minor things it allows more serious complaints to be dismissed. The only thing wrong with the above is that it is predictable (and old!)

[It reminds of the 'Seinfeld' episode in which Jerry's dentist converted to Judaism, "for the jokes". "Does this offend you as a Jew?" "No, it offends me as a comedian!"]

20/12/99 - The Urban Legends Christmas page.

20/12/99 - Your ultimate gossip summary, now updated.

19/12/99 - Another piece on The Magnetic Fields.

19/12/99 - Another 60's survivor, Roy Harper (warning: frames). He has put little comments and anecdotes to all his albums. So you find that for Stormcock you learn:

"The record was made in the era when I still wasn't used to buying too many guitar strings and I can remember blagging at least three from Hank Marvin who was in studio three with Cliff [Richard] and the boys. Bruce always used to say hello, but Cliff never seemed to want to acknowledge my existence! I must have seemed like the beaming anti-christ. Far too happy."

19/12/99 - I saw Richie Blackmore on VH1's 'Where are they now?' I must have expunged it from my mind, but up he pops again:

"We arrived in a "medieval themed" restaurant in Long Island, where Blackmore was holding court with his partner and collaborator, Candice Night, at his side. He looks like Guy Fawkes, complete with pointy hat, jerkin, tights and boots. I felt I had to ask him, as tactfully as possible, had he completely lost his marbles?"

19/12/99 - Robin Williams must be stopped!

"[John] Travolta had more than his share of sanctimoniousness in "Michael,'' but he has also played degenerates, crooks, drug addicts, even lawyers, for crying out loud. Williams, at least in his recent choices, has not."

17/12/99 - There seem to be two publications called The Idler, although the one I want to read has no content online. The other does have some interesting looking articles

17/12/99 - Latest bits on Roman Polanski and 'The Ninth Gate'. Roman gets inducted into the Academie des Beaux Arts (via Arts Journal) and Ninth Gate release gets put back:

"Release Date: March 31st, 2000 (moved back from December 24th, 1999; No reason was given by Artisan, but it may be due to the recent saturation of religiously supernatural thrillers.)"

17/12/99 - Another sign of the impending Apocalypse? (via Cardhouse)

"His [Tom Cruise!] production company has optioned a New Yorker article called "Meet the Shaggs," about an obscure pop group..."

17/12/99 - As 'The Clash' said, Know Your Rights, courtesy of the ACLU's bustcard. (via lake effect)

17/12/99 - It must be the end of the world. Jarvis, Jarvis, Jarvis:

16/12/99 - Gratuitous pig link.

16/12/99 - A (British) cultural phenomenon that has passed me by, Great Pop Things. Their 'NME down the ages' cartoons are good. There are some more here. And of course they are good socialists (and Welsh):

"Should the royal family be scrapped?
I belong to an organisation called The Royal Communist Party, which advocates making the UK a socialist utopia but keeping the Royal Family for the tourists, though they would of course be paid the same as everybody else.
Do you believe in capital punishment?
Yes, especially for the Royal Family if they step out of line in the Royal Communist Party Socialist Utopia. And all comedians who make crap jokes about the Welsh language not having words for things, who would be punished by all the English words which come from Welsh carved in their backs, in a brutal Kafkaesque scenario."

16/12/99 - If you're planning on going to Sheffield university (who could I mean?) then you should check the student paper. It has this guide on where to live if you're a student, but I think the author is biased:

"Broomhill: The quintessential student area... everyone wants to live there. And let`s face it, who wouldn`t?
Broomhall: ...very popular with international students. Unfortunately why they would want to live in Broomhall is beyond me.
Walkley: Bloody miles away from everywhere...
Crookes: No cash machines have been included for convenience, so guess what? Yes, it`s back down the hill again... to Broomhill...
Crookesmoor: ...is close to most of the places that matter; well Broomhill and the Union anyway.
Nether Edge: I have no plans to even visit Nether Edge in the near future, never mind live there.
Hunters Bar: Not as popular as Broomhill..."

16/12/99 - Stupid things vegetarians hear:

"What did you say gelatin was made of? You're joking.
...
Can't you just pick out the bits of meat in (insert name of dish here) and eat the rest of it?"

16/12/99 - Often good for a laugh is the Grauniad's corrections column. It seems that it's a bit of a cult item. (via MediaGossip)

This is a quiz based on all the homophone errors. And this could be best correction:

"On page 8 of Monday's sport section we captioned a picture: "Mark Rivers swoops in on Tranmere Rovers' Alan Mahon during Crewe Alexandra's 2-0 win." The Crewe player was Shaun Smith, not Mark Rivers. The Tranmere player was Dave Challinor, not Alan Mahon. Crewe did not win 2-0. They lost 2-0."

16/12/99 - Funny survey on 'What Would Jesus Do?' (via ObscureStore)