Something weekend this way comes…

Well now… its Thursday… one more and the weekend is here.

I know I should be more excited and all that, but weekends have lost their charm a little. For me the weekend is now simply Saturday night and Sunday.
And in this I’ve learned once again that no wisdom compares to that of 6-year old Calvin who said that Sunday isn’t really a day-off because in the back of your mind you will need to sleep early and wake up to Monday morning.

And before anyone tells me this – AGAIN, I’m neither jaded nor disillusioned. Merely a little bored and tired.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sliding into ennui anytime soon! But truthfully its like living two lives – on the one hand Im motivated and intrigued and mentally firing on all cylinders because of the comic writing projects, concepts in development, alternative projects like an old radio-style pod cast, etc, etc… and on the other is the same old, same old 9-5 and home and blah, blah… I don’t even dislike my job as such and have no issues being at home, but I guess this is the point when you find trying to work two such diametrically opposite lives at the same time.
Of course it doesn’t help that socialising (such as it is) has taken an even bigger back seat then usual and with so many folks I’m close to not in the same town and all that jazz – well I suppose its all catching up in spurts.
A change of scene is needed!!
Perhaps a vacation? Hmmm…

In any case, while I mull on my future plans, my many little projects – both mental and real – and try and motivate myself to find time to go and mingle… *shudder* … with people my own age, I have more new randomness to share with you in a new cocktail blog post!

Note to self: try and be more tolerant of less interesting people and be less of an ass if possible…

To start with here’s a little something I came across that made me laugh out loud for the first time in a few days with genuine mirth and lightness of spirit – and of course it would be the ready British wit of John Cleese that would make it so! Surprise! For those of you that don’t know him – Cleese is a very respectable and highly regarded man of no small intellect… at least in certain circles… And he has been a part of some most excellent enterprises such as Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, etc, etc… He is of course also the man who brought us this handy dandy guide from the Ministy of Silly Walks – what would you have done without it all these years eh?

This little thing is a piece he seemingly wrote at some point (though there is some debate about that it seems) but my efforts to trace out the origin had me running in circles so Im sharing this one dated January from the Cleese forums and blog which was the earliest version I could find – if you want to verify the veracity of this being the man himself, well you’re on your own there lads and ladies!
So without further adieu:

John Cleese on Terrorism
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.”
Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a
“Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 400 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire… (to read more click HERE)

Next up here’s the latest edition of my wayfaring over at ComicAddicts.com for those interested, this week we traverse the extremely awesome looking madhouse that is DC’s upcoming FLASHPOINT event:

Good day folks!
Welcome back to another Weekly sit-down with yours truly. A pleasure, as always, bringing comic thoughts to you.
I was going to write about a new madcap series in an effort to top last weeks Kill Shakespeare piece which Ive actually been told was enjoyed by more than a few – but at the last minute decided to shelve that till next week because there’s something I really want to talk about NOW!! (While there’s still time…)
Those of you who saw the previous post here by our venerable leader himself know have read DC comics announcement of the relaunch of all DC title post August when the latest event “Flashpoint” by the nigh-legen-waitforit!-dary Geoff Johns comes to a close.
What I want to touch on is a little more of a readers perspective on the event itself and the aftermath…
(To read the rest, click HERE!)

Hmmm… lets see, what else… Ah yes! I wanted to share some tune-age with you – something I’ve been listening to a lot off lately and thought worth sharing.
This first one’s a lovely and moving song about whats happening to music, about the money vs. quality and passion battle, essentially about the death of truly great music as it is being smothered by media hype, marketing and gimmickery while genuine music fades into the background. At least that’s what I got from listening to it! Its by one of the few bands today that I would say people should listen to much more, Porcupine Tree, arguably one of the finest bands of this generation! Don’t agree? listen and decide for yourself:

Next up is this lovely little ditty called “Even After All” by a talented young fellow named Finley Quaye who is yet another British born musician. I had no clue who he was but this track which was used in the documentary ”

” (8/10 on imdb!) left an indelible mark in my mind somewhere and I had to track it down.
Im going to post a little blurb about this guy since I think few will have even heard of him, but if you’re not inclined to bother, just scroll past the text on to the killer track:

Finley Quaye is the son of jazz musician, Cab Kaye, and the brother of noted guitarist, Caleb Quaye. Finley went to school in London, Manchester and Edinburgh.Finley was inspired early on in his child hood by jazz musicians, Pete King and Ronnie Scott, and Lionel Hampton, additionally, Duke Ellington was Finley’s god father. Finley heard jazz as a child living in London with his mother who would take young Finley with her regularly to Ronnie Scotts jazz club catching very rare performances of American jazz musicians touring Europe such as Buddy Rich who recorded his live album there in 1980. His mother introduced him to Lionel Hampton in Edinburgh. Duke Ellington made an indelible impact on Finley’s life and his musical outlook. Finley was on tour with his band, when he met his father for the very first time. Music is in very much in the blood. He made a solo record deal with Polydor Records, and moved to New York. His reputation was established by Maverick A Strike, an adventurous but accessible album released in September 1997. It went gold less than three weeks later, and led directly to the Brit Award victory. Maverick A Strike is now multi platinum.

Now with that out of the way we can get to the music!

And of course as with all my mega-mix posts I feel the need to sign of with something lovely and memorable – a homage to one of the most under-rated beauties of our time: (click for full size)

Cheers till next time!

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