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5 Reasons Why Bikes Are Best.
“Stuck on a dilapidated bicycle, riding up a steady incline, as the wind and the rain do their level best to destroy me” would be a good answer to the question “where do you never want to be?”. This does not mean that bicycles are not the best. I bought a new bike this week, and here are 5 reasons why bicycles rule:
- They are a fantastic way of getting exercise. If you find yourself hankering after some of that stuff, then a good bicycle will hook you right up. A good bicycle will make you feel more alive.
- Bikes are mega environmentally friendly. I do not know how many hours I have spent looking into a mirror and practicing the smug smile that I’m going to start flashing at every one of those petrol-chugging death cans that I pass, or that pass me. The passing situation will depend on the speed of the traffic.
- I have heard several accounts of bikes getting stolen. However devastating this is, I cannot help thinking that if bikes sucked, then nobody would bother stealing them.
- We live in a world that often does all it can to remind us that we are edging closer, day by day, to old age and death. I hear bicycles everywhere laugh in the face of this notion. This laughter becomes most raucous and bold when bicycles are ridden down hills.
- Did Freddie Mercury want to drive his car? No, no he did not.
Life in General | July 26, 2010
5 Train Facts.
English public transport is not very good. I have concluded that living in London and having a car would be just like saying “I’d really like my life to be more annoying”, but public transport in that smokey town is not a hugely superior alternative. I have probably taken hundreds of trains, and wasted hundreds of hours on train travel in and around London. Here are 5 things that will happen on London trains:
- You will wait. For at least half of your life.
- You will notice several different smells, and all of them will be bad.
- You will be uncomfortably close to loud people. These people will often be on their phones and yelling in foreign languages. As a bonus, you might find out what it is like to smell their armpits or have their rancid dreadlocks in your face.
- You will start to feel like you are in a dilapidated third world country.
- You will often be carrying something that is heavy and awkward, which will only increase the aggravation of the train experience.
These facts also apply to buses and other modes of public transport, and are replicated and evolve when you see them in other British towns. They are the reasons why I am going to get a bike.
Life in General | July 16, 2010
The voice of Bob.
In all honesty, when I saw Bob Dylan live for the first time, I was disappointed. I must say that it was not easy to type that word; it was so close to getting stuck in my fingers. In fact, I regret letting it slip. That was careless of me. The Dylan performance that I saw was not as mind-blowing as I wanted it to be, and this certainly was a disappointment. A real part of me wants to be annoyed, and rant about how he is a used up, cranky has-been, but if he is a has-been, then I would say that it is worth thinking about exactly what he once was. Doing so might not be enough for some, but it does the trick for me, and I would maintain that much of what makes him great endures. It is just sad that his voice has fallen on the croaky side of things. Or maybe he can still sing, but after so many years he is just tired and grumpy and cannot be bothered.
The fact that the 2010 model Bob Dylan, who will hit 70 on his next birthday and has been active since the dawn of the sixties, did not perform with the same intensity as some of the young bucks who prance about on the stages of today, inflicts next to no damage on the monumental contribution the “poet laureate of rock ‘n’ roll” has made. Some nerd somewhere needs to pull their finger out and concentrate on building a time machine, so that I can go back to watch Dylan perform at The Gaslight Café, or at some other moment during his prime. We need time travel for this and so many other reasons, but do not get me started on that, for it is another issue for another time. Sadly that pun was not intended.
I am waiting for someone to show me the young artist of today who is making the same sort of contribution that Dylan was making when he had more spring in his step, and who promises to be around and as active for as long as Dylan. I would say that I am looking for someone in modern music that I will enjoy just as much as any of my old favourites. It might not be so easy to see who this person is without the benefit of hindsight, all I know is that I prefer a younger Bob Dylan to most of the youngster musicians of today. It sounds awfully gushy and mega cheesy to say something like “there is nobody else quite like him” (I would probably make fun of myself if I ever said something that sounded as silly and lifted from a press pack as that), but these days it seems impossible to recreate the legendary characters of the good old days. Perhaps the nature of music today means that it is no longer possible for exactly the same sort of musical legends to exist; music has certainly evolved and perhaps I need to learn what a legend might look like in the context of the 21st century. I just hope that one day I will be able to still see performances by older versions of my current favourites, who have beaten the odds and survived and are still playing their hits. Then I will be able to look back and think, with eyes glazed over and fixed on the middle distance, of the happy times when we were all young and lively and their tasty jams were just getting started.
Hopefully this guy will be around when I am a nostalgic old git:
Music and Entertainment | July 9, 2010
5 Childhood Musical Movie Moments.
Karate Kid is a staple childhood film that taught us all that it is really cool to do karate and hang out with strange old Japanese men who have an enthusiasm for peculiar sayings and household chores. Everyone has seen Karate Kid, so I’m sure this song (by Joe Esposito) will be most familiar. It’s the best. I cannot think of many other songs that would be as good as this one for getting a person psyched in the morning.
Cobra Kai are the coolest Kai around, are they not? I also just got goosebumps from the bit at the end of the video where the Cobra dude gives Daniel the trophy.
The Transformers cartoon had some rollicking good rock and roll songs on it’s soundtrack.
I count watching Wayne’s World for the first time as one of my life’s defining rock and roll moments. Soon after this, I got a copy of Get A Grip by Aerosmith on CT. That’s Cassette Tape, not any of this Compact Disc nonsense.
I have seen Grease 1 and 2 more times than I can count. I think that’s all I should say about that.
And finally, I wonder how many kids were seriously injured as they attempted to replicate this scene…
Film, Music and Entertainment | July 1, 2010