I was walking to my nearest supermarket called Carulla (the one above) and on my way there was a man standing and staring at me as I crossed the road. I thought at first he was threatening until I saw his scooter leaning on his leg. It was indeed threatening seeing a man about my age with a scooter leaning on his leg because I couldn’t get it out of my mind the rest of my shopping trip.
What does it possess a man, not a millennial or GenZ ideologically hypnotized nut running the Press, Corporations and Universities and who mandates my children to still wear masks after 2 years, but an actual man about my age to buy a scoooter? I mean seriously; a grown up human-being who has been around the block not just on his pussy scooter. Well this Gen X actually owned a scooter and stared at me.
What does it take for a man about my age to buy a scooter? Even the modern battery ones? How fucking lazy and hip do you have to be to do that? What would a woman think to see you with your scooter leaning up against you? I doubt such a look entices a woman or the rest of the LGBTQ community or whatever the fuck remains in that acronym. I couldn’t get this hipster doofus with a scooter out of my mind until I wrote it here… Thank you for letting me unload. Now bliss…until the scooter dude and his henchmen mandate more laws.
This movie currently sits at No. 8 on my all-time list of favourite movies. Songs from La La Land have featured here before and I will exhaust the soundtrack by the time this music project is over. Apart from Remains of the Day (1993), I have never seen another movie where two main protagonists had so much chemistry. The composer of the music Justin Hurwitz was a friend of director Damien’s Chazelle at Harvard University. Damien won best director for La La Land at 32 years old, making him the youngest to win the award.
Due to its originality, flamboyance and bizarre parallel universe ending I think La La Land will age well and be regarded a musical masterpiece. It’s Damien’s Chazelle’s ‘Citizen Kane’. It was his passion project which he was able to make after Whiplash became such a big success. For movie trivia fans out there – Chazelle was in an actual band with the pool party singer in the movie.
Today’s musical extract from the movie is from the parallel universe ending. The masterstroke of those who decided what should be in the trailer was to incorporate the kiss in the alternative universe restaurant as seen in the epilogue below. Because when we entered the cinema, we expected Gosling to kiss Emma Stone as it was presented to us in the trailer. That’s genius right there.
The first time I saw La La I wasn’t overly impressed since musicals aren’t really my cup of tea. But the movie resonated in me and I felt compelled to revisit it at the cinema and that’s when I knew I was onto something. I saw it another 3 times at the cinema, which I haven’t done before with another movie. I love La La, even hearing the piano taps now of Gosling I feel sad, but at peace. One for the ages.
Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. You can find more information about Ankidroid in my post – Learning a Second Language and Ankidroid.
Philology
Philology is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics.
René Descartes
A French-born philosopher, mathematician and scientist who is regarded as one of the founders of modern philosophy. He increased the attention of epistemology and laid the foundation of 17th century rationalism, known as the ‘Age of Reason’. He coined, ‘I think, therefore I am‘. This and Isaac Newton’s 1687 ‘Principia Mathematica’ is said to have marked the beginning of the Enlightenment(European Intellectual and Scholarly Movement 17th and 18th Centuries).
Gnosticism
A first century AD early religious sect who emphasised personal and spiritual knowledge over orthodoxed teachings.
During the first three centuries of Christianity, there was no central authority until after the conversion of Roman emperor Constantine the Great in 312 CE (see previous post about the fall of the Roman empire). Christian communities taught many different views. In the 2nd century CE, some groups, now collectively referred to as Gnostic Christians, claimed to have access to ‘secret knowledge’ about the nature of the universe, the nature of Christ, and what his appearance on earth meant to believers.
Today’s song is about as commercial as it gets, but I always liked it. It was written by Lionel Richie and recorded with Diana Ross. It was recorded for Motown and it became the second biggest single that year behind Bette Davis Eyes. It was the biggest seller of Ross’ career concluding her 18th and final number 1 song.
Lionel Richie claimed he’s been asking Diana Ross to perform ‘Endless Love‘ with him for “37 years” as he played the Hampton Court Palace Festival in London 2018. He said: “One of my favourite songs to sing is ‘Endless Love’, and for 37 years I have asked Miss Diana Ross to sing it with me, and for 37 years she has said ‘no’. But I still ask her every time”.
The song was covered by Mariah Carey and Shania Twain. Both of which I wish I had the good fortune to meet! Like in Bogota, Colombia. Anyone know when they are coming next? Anyhow this song always struck a strong chord in me and it’s a Karaoke favourite, wherever you live.
I am painting the trees. For whom am I painting the trees? The trees say, this is for us. It is our portrait. The moon says, you are painting the trees in my light. Really, this is a portrait of how I perceive the trees. I outline them in silver. The river says, you are painting the trees reflected in my water. (Read the entire poem here)
‘One day in 1971 a man called Jack Rieley called me up at the Melody Maker. He’d read a piece in which I’d attempted to persuade readers to listen again to the Beach Boys, who had fallen into disfavour as the evolution of rock gathered momentum in the late ’60s. Rieley told me that he’d recently taken over as the group’s manager. He was, he said, a former journalist and disc jockey. He liked what I’d written and started to tell me about his plans, which majored on the idea of restoring Brian Wilson to his role as the centre of the group’s creativity. Amen to that, I said. And when he added that his initial step was to get “Surf’s Up” — the legendary lost track from the lost album, Smile — into shape for release, I was completely on his side.’ (Read whole article here)
If you like puns then Stewart Francis is your guy. He stated that he rather just make an audience laugh straight off the bat than have them hearing a story. There is probably no better example of this than today’s video. (Watch video excerpt here)
This is simply one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard. It made such a huge impression on me as an adolescent that I tried writing the lyrics of it to give to a girlfriend. My first ever girlfriend was Tonia Anderson and I was smitten with her. You could find us at Colo High School smooching at the entryway of the Year 12 building in 1989 or thereabouts, which undoubtedly repulsed our fellow students having to enter.
The day Tonia would come to my house on a date, my old man tried to set me straight on …you – know, umm kind of a hybrid ofbirds and bees and don’t impregnate your girlfriend in my house‘ type of warning. It was funny how he tried. ‘I get it Dad‘! Eventually my parents headed out and Tonia and I had the whole place to ourselves. ‘Yes’!!!!. So we were on my bed downstairs and listening to some Elton and I produced these lyrics I transcribed from today’s featured song and gave them to her.
This is a true story…. I wrote in my lyric interpreting today’s song as I heard it – the Chorus – ‘End of the Andersons‘. Not the true lyric ‘The end of the Innocence‘. Andersons for Innocence. Even now when I hear the song I hear ‘End of the Andersons‘. You want to know stupidity? Well, it never occurred to me her family name was Anderson, but I gave the lyrics to her anyhow. As Tonia was reading them learning about the end of her family, she didn’t look too impressed if I remember, much to my dismay.
Separating my stupidity from all the above, what are the chances I decide to write a lyric for someone where the song title could be misinterpreted as the family name of the girl I was trying to court? And not just that, but it suggests her family’s demise. I mean one in a thousand, million, perhaps billion? Anyway, I have some backstory with this song to put it mildly.
The End of the Innocence not the Andersons, is the title song from the third solo album by Don Henley. I think it’s one of the best lyrical compositions I have heard and despite having reheard it over the decades it never grows old to my ears. So without further to do, below is The End of the Andersons…. Innocence rather.
Someone asked me the other day, who are your favourite actresses? Last week’s protagonist Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine is one and the Swedish blonde lass with sunglasses who heads this blog – Bibi Andersson in one of the all – time greatest films – Persona (1966) is another. The third actress I adore is Toni Collette who came to fame in today’s featured film – Muriel’s Wedding. Most cine-goers will know of Toni in The Sixth Sense (Bruce Willis), About a Boy (Hugh Grant) & Hereditary where she killed it. ‘Like an Angel‘ scene from TheSixth Sense.
I have a penchant for Australian movies and actresses. So when Toni’s breakout movie Muriel’s Wedding came out in my homeland and was adored by all and sundry, then we we were all wondering where would Toni go from here? Well stardom, that’s where folks! Muriel’s Wedding like the recent small-budget Australian movie featured here – The Castle captured homegrown Australian audiences like few others. After Muriel, ABBA music became celestial especially in Australia. It and Elton John’s music were on many family’s shelves.
IMDB Storyline: Muriel finds life in Porpoise Spit, Australia dull and spends her days alone in her room listening to ABBA and dreaming of her wedding day. A slight problem is she never had a date. Then she steals some money to go on a tropical vacation, meets a wacky friend, changes her name to Mariel, and turns her world upside down.
I like how it’s described on critical consensus -‘An Awkward Comedy‘. But this movie is much meatier than it appears to be. There is some life-growing substance to it and often it makes you question what kind of movie you are watching. Apart from the natural performances I really like the storyline – how a girl gets from living in her family house with her ABBA posters to living her dream although she connivingly concocts it.
The director P.J. Hogan based Muriel’s personality on himself, but Muriel’s actions were inspired by his sister, who embezzled $15,000 from their father and then disappeared to Sydney to live with a friend.
(In the year this song was written..a singer-songwriter steadfast in their conviction and humble in their manner, see above)
This is the second song to appear from Dylan’s maligned 1985 record Empire Burlesque. I reviewed the last track Dark Eyeshere not so long ago and it is the stand-out on the record, but Emotionally Yours isn’t far behind. His delivery of it live below with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at Farm-Aid really does it for me. It’s as though he was there break-of the morning and pleasing some early birds, but the reality wasn’t that..and I don’t care.
I never grow tired of seeing this Emotionally Yours performance, even though Dylan said in the above video interview that they couldn’t hear and didn’t have monitors at Farm Aid. You can actually see him remonstrating during the performance. They had it against them as he put it.
Still Dylan had a conviction and a no-nonsense manner in his approach and that remarkable intonation and inflection of voice to carry the message. It may not resonate well with the general listening public unlike his commercially released video of the song, but I generally prefer his Burlesque songs live than on the record.
Come baby, shake me, come baby, take me, I would be satisfied Come baby, hold me, come baby, help me, my arms are open wide I could be unraveling wherever I’m traveling, even to foreign shores But I will always be emotionally yours.
As I wrote in the Dark Eyes article, Empire Burlesque is an overly produced 80’s churn-out session, but when the songs are interpreted live they are really solid. The only track in my estimation on the record which can’t be superseded live is Dark Eyes. Dylan by 1985 was well out of his gospel-song stage and exploring a new world in songwriting.
Emotionally Yours was played just 19 times in concert. As the marvellous Untold Dylan blog states:
And does he remember what he was going through with all the religious music of five years before? Well, maybe not…
‘It’s like my whole life never happened When I see you, it’s as if I never had a thought I know this dream, it might be crazy But it’s the only one I’ve got.’
Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. You can find more information about Ankidroid in my post – Learning a Second Language and Ankidroid.
Monolith
A large impersonal, political, social or corporate object regarded as indivisible and slow to change. Or a large single upright of stone serving as a pillar or monument.
Neo-Liberalism
Below includes the first results I got from searching Neo-liberalism in Google images. Let that sink in!
19th century ideas associated with Laissez faire-economic liberalism and free market capitalism. This reminds me of the presentation below by Jonathan Haidt: Questions for a Resilient Future: Culture, Conscience, & Capitalism
Microbes
At a later date this will lead to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA).
A bacterium causing disease or fermentation. A living organism too small to be seen to the naked eye. They live in water, soil and air. They make us sick or can make us healthy.
El Niágara en Bicicleta (Niagara Falls on a Bicycle) is a song written and performed by Dominican singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra. It is the fifth song to appear here so far from this immensely popular Latin music-artist. El Niágara en Bicicleta is a merengue rap song and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs. It was also the best-performing tropical song of 1999 in the USA. It also won the Grammy in 2000 for best tropical song – ‘tropical’ being that from Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries.
The song’s title Niagara Falls on a Bicycle refers to a Dominican Republic idiom meaning “one is suffering economic misery“. There are many idioms/regionalisms like this in the Latin culture including here in Colombia ‘Ganarse la papa‘ (Earn the Potato) – ‘to bring home the bacon‘ or to earn a living and ‘Sigo en la lucha‘ (I’m still in the fight) – ‘I’m keeping on keeping on‘ or ‘putting up a good fight‘.
This song is based on Juan’s experience he had in a hospital Guerra following a high bilirubin diagnosis. He recalled “I told the doctor when I was getting out of there that I was going to write a song about my experience. After that, I wrote ‘Niagara en Bicicleta‘. In the lyrics, the protagonist finds himself in an emergency room only to “confront the tragicomic miseries of health care in the island“. Due to a lack of supplies however, the person is asked to wait for his turn in a long line of people. The narrator is in disbelief about the lack of medical supplies and the nurse cannot perform an electrocardiogram due to common blackouts. ‘Ben Gay’ refers to a pain relief ointment that a lot of Dominicans use.
A loose English translation of the lyrics follows:
[Verse 1]
I had a fit one Sunday morning when I least expected it. I fell flat, like a soursop, into the gutter. Is it my blood pressure, or is my bilirubin high? And I got a fever, and I started turning white as a mothball. They took me to a hospital full of people, supposedly In the Emergency Room, the receptionist was listening to the lottery (Thirty thousand pesos!) “Someone take pity on me!” I screamed, losing consciousness. And a nurse leaned close to my ear and said, “Calm down, Bobby, calm down.”
[Verse 2] She stroked me with Ben Gay ointment and said, “What’s wrong, athlete?” And I told him in great detail what had happened to me. “We need to check your blood pressure, but the room is full, and, my dear, There’s no light in this hospital for an ultrasound.” I opened my eyes like a full moon and grabbed my head. Because it’s very hard to cross Niagara Falls on a bike.
[Chorus] Don’t tell me the doctors left (Woh-oh-oh) Don’t tell me they don’t have anesthesia (Woh-oh-oh) Don’t tell me they drank the alcohol (Woh-oh-oh) And that the sewing thread was embroidered on a tablecloth Don’t tell me the tweezers were lost (Woh-oh-oh) That the stethoscope is celebrating (Woh-oh-oh) That the X-rays fused (Woh-oh-oh) And that the serum was already used to sweeten the coffee
[Verse 3] I leaned on her shoulders like a lame man on his crutch, and I said: “What do I do, princess?” And on a prescription slip, she wrote very sweetly: “I’m sorry, athlete.” (My princess, what will become of me?) she caressed me with Ben Gay ointment and went on his way. And I heard clearly when he said to another patient: “Calm down, Bobby, calm down.” I lowered my eyes to half-mast and held my head. Because it’s very hard to cross Niagara on a bicycle.
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