pinch punch

a good day to end a rubbish month...

ah Tuesday. it's the new Sunday. i love Tuesday. and not just because it's not Monday.

keli came over today for a couple of hours to hang out. i had various bits of online business to attend to, so while i typed, we chatted with coffee and cantuccini, fetishising (see below), a quick dip and some lunch... and as i took my recycling bin down the drive for collection in the morning i realised it was actually warm. i wasn't wearing long sleeves. or a cardigan. the sun was not only shining, it was actually warm. summer day. finally. is the weather really going to turn a corner? it's much warmer tonight. still no cardigan. while the south of europe is scorched, we've been sodden. i love days like this. productive and yet relaxed in pace. i felt calm today. another corner turned. and yet excited. motivated. i feel the mojo again. optimism returning... a sense of being if not found, then certainly less lost... july feels like the longest month i can ever recall... a black hole. i am not sorry to see it go. for all it's lessons and moments of self discovery, they have come in dark waves. mining in fault lines. welcome august and all who sail in her. may you be green and creative, and depression free.

so, here is bits n bobs currently on the radar, that feel much more like sunshine than rain...

Musik Bits

...for that sweet sound...

a saving grace last month, BBC6Music. god bless 'em. a flippin amazing radio station. i'm loving having a DAB radio in the kitchen and one in my stereo system in the lounge. i've always had trouble with getting the beeb to work on my laptop so with digital radio in my possession at last, i've had six in the morning, six in the afternoon, six in the evening, six late into the night... wall to wall six. so much never before heard music. and stephen merchant's show (produced by my beautiful Joodles and yet bias aside) is one of the best. highly entertaining. sits up there with Jonathon Ross on Radio2 and Vernon Kay on One.
as i type, i'm listening to a beth orton live recording - glasto '99. i've never been sure if i connect with orton's vocals. and yet i'm loving every track. this is what i love about 6music - it's opening my ears to stuff i'd never otherwise listen to and i'm learning fast to trust their judgment.

if i can tear myself away, padraig, my love's been reccing loads of stuff in the KCRW archives. but for now music is my hot hot sex. i mean six.

::

full of woe it is not, ::thursday:: by asobi seksu has the same chord sequence as the breakdown in ::god bless mom:: by the frames, (well,certainly the live version from set list anyhow.) ewan, you've probably heard this but track it down if you haven't. i think you'll like.

::



lovely soul sister julie lee has a new album, ::take me out to hear the band::
i haven't yet worked out how to get a copy, (i'm not member of myspace so i can't see past her main page) but i suspect sarah or tom can tuck a copy or 5 in their bags as they pack for greenbelt. 3 lovely tracks on the her myspace. gorgeous album cover photo. interview here at the Tennessean website that's as lovely as she.

::

i am excitedly waiting for the morning i open my mail box and discover contained therein an order from Over The Rhine. i'm gonna pick up their new album, ::the trumpet child:: (details at that link and you can hear the whole thing for free) at greenbelt, but i have a six cd back catalogue order coming my way. thank the lord for the weak dollar. i have missed some of these albums since the great cd collection break up of 2005 and there's a couple i've always wanted. OTR are one of my must-sees at gb and i'm looking forward to an early dinner and then launching into festival with this show. it'll be amazing to be sharing the experience with some serious beloveds. what a way to begin.

the order:
till we have faces (1991)
patience (1992)
eve (1994)
good dog bad dog (original 1996 independent version)*
ohio - 2 cds (2003)
drunkard's prayer (2005)


*one of my favourite albums of all time. it should be one of yours. read why here.

::

a blink...

this may not mean much to many of you but this is a rather lovely professional blog from frank spotnitz at big light productions. stumbled upon this surfing for news of TXF2 and ending up spending an age in the archives. FS has always come across as a cool guy and has proactively maintained a great open relationship with 'philes online. many of the posts are letters from appreciative and enquiring fans of his various projects (incldg TXF and the lesser known but incredible Millennium, amongst others) his gracious and enthusiastic responses.

i like to think if CC is 'God' in TXF world, FS is kinda like the holy spirit.
i've kept dropping back to this blog as his tone is so damn nice and he's full of intruiging bits of insight.

unlike websites, given the reflective/personal nature of some blogs, and the desire of some folks at least initially to keep them fairly covert and just for RL friends, i've generally kept a policy of only blinking when it's been specified it's cool to do so, either in person or by mail. (if you have blog i've not blinked at and want me to, let me know) so, in that tradition, despite being a professional blog, i decided to show some manners and emailed frank at big light and cordially let him know of said policy, my intention to blink at him, conveyed i was enjoying his posts and wished him a good day, because well, it seemed like a nice thing to do. i got this back:

hello cary,

mr. spotnitz said it's fine to link our blog!

thanks for asking us first!

best to you

jana
Big Light Productions

see what i mean? nice folks these. so here's the frank spotnitz blink, with the approval of the man himself, and a permanent one's going in the sidebar since they were so good to bother replying when no doubt they've got more important things to do than being cordial.

::

Other bobs

you won't reroute the fruit...

This is Belfast Pride Week. the parade is on saturday (the 4th). i have visitors and doubt i'll be walking it this year. details are at that link if you want to show your support with your feet, on a day when Belfast looks at its brightest and best. protests were significantly more contained by police last year compared to 2005. let's hope the trend continues and the sun shines. belfast weather is not typically suited to outfits consisting of nothing more than DMs, lycra hotpants and fairy wings...

::

::jesus me wants for a sunbeam::

greenbelt07 - i've stuck in an atom feed on the side bar - i am led to believe we can optimistic about the weather (i'm still bringing wellies) and the festival is going ahead after nervous inquiries from 'belters given the racecourse's latest incarnation as a drinking water supply centre for flood devastated gloucestershire.

::

another stunning interview worth watching...

bill moyers interviews jonathan miller (from april last, when PBS started showing ::a brief history of disbelief::)
you can see ep 4 of the series and quite a few of ::the atheism tapes:: (a spin off series showing the full interviews he did for the other) on YouTube. [search jonathan miller disbelief]
it's stuff like this that makes we wish i hadn't given up tv. but it ain't all like this.

::

::inside::

keli brought the latest ed of Living Etc for us to fetishistically peruse. let's just call it a porn mag and leave it at that. featured interiors include the couple behind SixxDesign in New York. you can see their new york home here. Wow.

::outside::

i forget to take the camera out into the garden but i did remember to shoot a couple of frames while waiting on my espresso this morning...



::

social action on darfur

thanks to lee for doggedly refusing to stop sending reminders about the ongoing crisis in darfur. a major social voice on the ongoing crisis in darfur started in his department at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. incredible what a bit of student action can do. but much remains to be done. i'm committing myself to exploring every corner of this site over the next few days and then doing something. it is an indictment of our generation that this tragedy rolls on largely ignored. thank god some will not turn away...and colour me ashamed to call myself a global citizen...

genocide intervention network PLEASE VISIT!

::

yuuuuuum...

i was on dessert duty for team fury tonight. i provided my latest favourite: strawberries briefly marinated in balsamic vinegar and sugar served with a heavy dollop of marscapone. (i threw in blueberries and rasberries too.) this odd but ingenious combo came from jamie oliver via Paul. the strawbs work well in a salad too.

short on time, and having tasted it done the quick way last week chez paul i simply threw the balsamic and sugar liberally over the strawbs and let them sit for a few minutes and just served the marscapone straight from the tub. to do it proper, the recipe is this... i am assured when done like this it is sensational.

Strawberries marinated
in balsamic vinegar

YOU WILL NEED

(serves 4)

2-3 500g punnets strawberries

5 tbsp sugar 10 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 vanilla pod

400g/14oz mascarpone cheese

5 leaves of fresh mint or basil

1 When the strawberries taste pukka and are juicy like they should be, pinch off the stalks, place in a bowl and scatter generously with the sugar, followed by the balsamic vinegar.

2 Stir and allow to marinate for 2 hours.

3 Score the vanilla pod lengthways, remove seeds and mix these with the mascarpone cheese. Sweeten to taste with a little sugar.

4 Place a big blob of mascarpone on a plate covered with a generous heap of strawberries and the balsamic juice.

5 A scattering of finely sliced mint or basil will freshen it slightly.

Copyright 2003 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

enjoy...

LB,x