As regular readers of this blog are aware, your faithful correspondent is an advocate of cheap musical instruments. He believes that good and enjoyable music can be made with a cheap First Act guitar and a pair of bongos as well as it can be made with a Fender Strat and a Ludwig drum set.
Be it known that this author has a $40 uke, a $70 guitar, a $7 pennywhistle and a $20 harmonica, none of which he plays well, or even competently. But he enjoys playing those instruments.
He also owns a thing called a StrumstickTM. The instrument is also known, and will be known heretofore as a stick dulcimer because the StrumstickTM is a trademarked name and the "inventor" of said "stick" is not loath to complain about other builders of stick dulcimers calling their products being called "S-sticks."
This writer has owned a "S-stick" for some years and has enjoyed fooling about with it, although he has never taken it very seriously. The tuning is usually G-D-G, which allows for a good range of songs, and the thing is usually played in a diatonic mode. It has only three strings and some people think that it is easier to play than a proper dulcimer, though yours would dispute this since the diatonic spacing of the frets make the thing easier to play on the lap than as a half guitar.
But it is a fun thing to fool around with. It actually sounds more like a banjo than it does a guitar or dulcimer. And the cost of the thing, the last time checked, is not awfully high especially if one buys one of the many stick dulcimers besides the "S-stick." In fact, the quality of the construction of the "S-stick" is lacking and feels really cheap. The neck is very narrow making it difficult to finger chords and the neck feels almost as if it were teak. Teak is a great wood, but it's not very smooth. Considering the fretting demands of a stick dulcimer one would expect that the neck be not only smooth, but slick. One can fret faster with a proper dulcimer than a "S-stick."
So if you want to have a cheap stringed instrument that is fairly easy to play you might consider the stick dulcimer, or in a bind, the "S-stick."
Here's a YouTube thing of an explanation of the "S-stick" not "S-stick" controversy:
This is NOT a Strum Stick! - YouTube
Sunday, January 22, 2012
When Actresses Go Bad
Sometimes one, while watching a motion picture, will see an actress that one sees some promise as a proper actress in. And often one is disappointed in that said actress decides that she would rather be a "Star" instead of an actress.
This is a short post about the two Kates - Kate Winslet and Kate Beckinsale. One decided to become an actress and the other decided to become a "Star."
Both women entered the motion picture industry at about the same time. Beckinsale perhaps a bit earlier. The first time this writer became aware of Beckinsale was when she co-starred in a movie version of Much Ado About Nothing. Your faithful correspondent first saw Winslet in Beautiful Creatures. And he hoped that both women would go on to become skilled and real actresses.
Beckinsale went on to star in Cold Comfort Farm, Emma and The Last Days of Disco. All three films, while not art films, were movies that demanded acting skills. Winslet went on to star in Titanic and was in danger of becoming a "star", but she seems to have come to her senses and has deigned to go into movies that were examples of acting and writing instead of special effects. Meanwhile Beckinsale has gone into a series of vampire/werewolf themed action pictures and the result has been that, while she's been pulling down a bit of coin, has not shown that she has any acting chops anymore. She'll occasionally co-star in a bit quieter movie, but she's the co-star and is not asked to do much than support another actor. A walking stick could do that.
It's a sad thing to see a woman of such talent as Kate Beckinsale fall to the "action star" bit. In a few years she'll be too old to be an action star and she'll have a hard time finding a job as a middle-age actress. She'll always be thought of by the casting directors as the lanky Limey carrying a sword.
This is a short post about the two Kates - Kate Winslet and Kate Beckinsale. One decided to become an actress and the other decided to become a "Star."
Both women entered the motion picture industry at about the same time. Beckinsale perhaps a bit earlier. The first time this writer became aware of Beckinsale was when she co-starred in a movie version of Much Ado About Nothing. Your faithful correspondent first saw Winslet in Beautiful Creatures. And he hoped that both women would go on to become skilled and real actresses.
Beckinsale went on to star in Cold Comfort Farm, Emma and The Last Days of Disco. All three films, while not art films, were movies that demanded acting skills. Winslet went on to star in Titanic and was in danger of becoming a "star", but she seems to have come to her senses and has deigned to go into movies that were examples of acting and writing instead of special effects. Meanwhile Beckinsale has gone into a series of vampire/werewolf themed action pictures and the result has been that, while she's been pulling down a bit of coin, has not shown that she has any acting chops anymore. She'll occasionally co-star in a bit quieter movie, but she's the co-star and is not asked to do much than support another actor. A walking stick could do that.
It's a sad thing to see a woman of such talent as Kate Beckinsale fall to the "action star" bit. In a few years she'll be too old to be an action star and she'll have a hard time finding a job as a middle-age actress. She'll always be thought of by the casting directors as the lanky Limey carrying a sword.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Men In Hats
After a bit of an absence it is time for another Men in Hats feature.
Having in the past covered the majority of types of hats worn in the United States and Europe it has become time to travel farther afield. For this edition we travel south of the border to Mexico to take a look at the sombrero, or as it is more properly know in Latin America and Spain, the sombrero mexicano.
Properly speaking, sombrero in Spanish means "hat." "Hat" meaning a head covering with a proper brim going around the crown of the hat and not a cap with just a bill in the front (or back or side if one is into the hip-hop nonsense).
The sombrero descends from the Spanish "grandee" hat -- a felt hat with a straight flat crown and a fairly large flat brim. One sees picadors in bullfights wearing such hats. The native Mexicans changed the hat to something with a much larger curled brim and a sugar-loaf type crown.
There are various styles of the hat ranging from the woven straw or reed hat, usually worn in the southern parts of Mexico, to the heavy felt and straw spangled charro version worn by Mexican vaqueros and frontera singers to the chaparral, in which the back of the brim is almost folded up flat against the crown somewhat like a bi-corn.
The most practical variation is the straw/reed type. It is fairly light, gives plenty of shade and the tall crown allows the heat of the head to escape.
Nowadays the hats are worn by country people and vaqueros and singers. At one time the Mexican Federal police wore them as part of their uniforms. And of course, Mexican revolutionaries wore them.
Who should wear a sombrero? A Mexican rural person, a Mexican cowboy, a Mexican country singer, and anyone on the beach on a hot day.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Progress Doesn't Always Mean PROGRESS
We here at Bloody Nib Manor try to maintain a positive view of life in the United States, but to tell the truth, while walking down the street or going to the local emporium, we find it difficult not to believe that manners and behaviour are undergoing a de-evolution.
Be it known that this writer is no prude. And that this writer is no snob. Your faithful correspondent is a working man who works in the manufacturing industry in order to put bread on the Nib table.
But this writer is often taken aback by the, to put it mildly, the lack of self respect with which some people dress themselves while in public. In other words, they dress like idiot children or just plain slobs. A trip to the local Wal-Mart did nothing but re-enforce this thought. Men and women, all chronologically adults, walking about wearing tee-shirts, singlets, short (often very short) pants and thong sandals as if they were at the beach scaring the fish in the ocean.
Is there no sense of propriety? In fact, one the way home this writer saw a young woman wearing short cut-off jeans with lace tights.
We live, despite the current economic downturn, live in a much more materially rich world than people did during the Great Depression , and yet, if one watches old films of the Dust Bowl, bread lines and strikes, one can see that the people then dressed more properly than they do now. The men wore proper shirts and pants and hats, and the women wore dresses that did not make them look like refugees from some sort of adult-child summer camp.
Why is this? Is it because we have become more "free" or because we have just become a bunch of lazy slobs?
It's a sad thing to see.
Be it known that this writer is no prude. And that this writer is no snob. Your faithful correspondent is a working man who works in the manufacturing industry in order to put bread on the Nib table.
But this writer is often taken aback by the, to put it mildly, the lack of self respect with which some people dress themselves while in public. In other words, they dress like idiot children or just plain slobs. A trip to the local Wal-Mart did nothing but re-enforce this thought. Men and women, all chronologically adults, walking about wearing tee-shirts, singlets, short (often very short) pants and thong sandals as if they were at the beach scaring the fish in the ocean.
Is there no sense of propriety? In fact, one the way home this writer saw a young woman wearing short cut-off jeans with lace tights.
We live, despite the current economic downturn, live in a much more materially rich world than people did during the Great Depression , and yet, if one watches old films of the Dust Bowl, bread lines and strikes, one can see that the people then dressed more properly than they do now. The men wore proper shirts and pants and hats, and the women wore dresses that did not make them look like refugees from some sort of adult-child summer camp.
Why is this? Is it because we have become more "free" or because we have just become a bunch of lazy slobs?
It's a sad thing to see.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
The New Year
We here at the Manor are not given to making New Years resolutions, but this writer has decided to make a resolution to be a little more upbeat and humorous this coming year. Let's face it. This year is an election year and promises for this reason alone to be nothing but depressing. Plus one has the Iranian acting like Iranians, the Chinese acting like Chinese and the Norks acting like the crazy uncle deciding that the attic would look better if it were on the ground floor.
So to start things right your faithful correspondent offers these stories about animals in war and animal heroes:
File:LostBattalionMonument.JPG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animals In War Memorial - The Animals In War Memorial - Park Lane, London
Churchill's mission to rescue the war horses and how he made officials bring tens of thousands home | Mail Online
Dickin Medal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It makes one wonder if animals are not better than us.
So to start things right your faithful correspondent offers these stories about animals in war and animal heroes:
File:LostBattalionMonument.JPG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animals In War Memorial - The Animals In War Memorial - Park Lane, London
Churchill's mission to rescue the war horses and how he made officials bring tens of thousands home | Mail Online
Dickin Medal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It makes one wonder if animals are not better than us.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
The Arab Spring and French Common Sense
Not so many months ago the popular press was trumpeting the glories of the Arab Spring and how popular protests against the rulers of Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia would result in liberal democracies of the Western European type. So far it appears that the movement has resulted in a strengthening of conservative Muslim control over those nations.
In Egypt the Coptic Christians are in worse shape than they were during the reign of Mubarak. Murbarak, as authoritarian as he was, managed to protect the minority communities of Egypt from the hate and idiocy of conservative Muslims. In Libya the Muslim Brotherhood is poised to take control. In Tunisia, a nation that was, in culture at least, was friendly to the West having been a French colony, the M.B. waits for it's chance to strike and take control.
Recently in Egypt, in Cairo, in fact, there were protests against the military regime (who seem to be working at the behest of the M.B.), and it has been shown that the Muslim "respect" for women isn't worth much. In fact, the demand for "modesty" in women is not a big deal as long as one is beating them publicly. This writer is of no doubt that these protesters would have much preferred to have been pepper spray as the Occupiers in Santa Cruz (or was it UC Davis?) were. One recovers from a pepper spraying a lot faster than a beating by steel rods:
The brave women of the Middle East: Female protesters brutally beaten with metal poles as vicious soldiers drag girls through streets by their hair in day of shame | Mail Online
David Cameron has thrown the "defi" at Archbishop of Canterbury Rowen Williams and the Church of England in general. In a speech celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible he stated what the chin scratching crowd would like to deny: that Great Britain is a Christian nation. The King James Bible is the glue, that in a sense, holds the Anglo-sphere together. And it is Christianity that that spread the KJV to the world.
David Cameron: "We are a Christian country and we should not be afraid to say so" The Tory Diary
The French often take the politically correct route, but as bar as the burkha goes, they have taken a stand that the U.S. should. There is nothing in the Koran about the burkha. The burkha is a national cultural artifact from the Middle East. If a person immigrates to a nation and does not want to become part of that nation they show not bother to unpack their grip. Just go the hell back home. And if you want to be a member of a primitive society despite being born into a modern society just go to the primitive society you so admire. Don't expect to have it both ways:
Burka ban. New French law forbids Islamic women from wearing full-face veils in public (but the only real protest was in London) | Mail Online
In Egypt the Coptic Christians are in worse shape than they were during the reign of Mubarak. Murbarak, as authoritarian as he was, managed to protect the minority communities of Egypt from the hate and idiocy of conservative Muslims. In Libya the Muslim Brotherhood is poised to take control. In Tunisia, a nation that was, in culture at least, was friendly to the West having been a French colony, the M.B. waits for it's chance to strike and take control.
Recently in Egypt, in Cairo, in fact, there were protests against the military regime (who seem to be working at the behest of the M.B.), and it has been shown that the Muslim "respect" for women isn't worth much. In fact, the demand for "modesty" in women is not a big deal as long as one is beating them publicly. This writer is of no doubt that these protesters would have much preferred to have been pepper spray as the Occupiers in Santa Cruz (or was it UC Davis?) were. One recovers from a pepper spraying a lot faster than a beating by steel rods:
The brave women of the Middle East: Female protesters brutally beaten with metal poles as vicious soldiers drag girls through streets by their hair in day of shame | Mail Online
David Cameron has thrown the "defi" at Archbishop of Canterbury Rowen Williams and the Church of England in general. In a speech celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible he stated what the chin scratching crowd would like to deny: that Great Britain is a Christian nation. The King James Bible is the glue, that in a sense, holds the Anglo-sphere together. And it is Christianity that that spread the KJV to the world.
David Cameron: "We are a Christian country and we should not be afraid to say so" The Tory Diary
The French often take the politically correct route, but as bar as the burkha goes, they have taken a stand that the U.S. should. There is nothing in the Koran about the burkha. The burkha is a national cultural artifact from the Middle East. If a person immigrates to a nation and does not want to become part of that nation they show not bother to unpack their grip. Just go the hell back home. And if you want to be a member of a primitive society despite being born into a modern society just go to the primitive society you so admire. Don't expect to have it both ways:
Burka ban. New French law forbids Islamic women from wearing full-face veils in public (but the only real protest was in London) | Mail Online
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Trump Trump
We here at the Manor are conservative, though we are loathe to call ourselves Republicans. We support the conservative candidate and will have no truck with any party machine.
Having said that, let it be known that this writer will not vote for ANY candidate, Republican, Democrat or whatever, who kisses Donald Trump's ring.
Donald Trump is nothing but a big blowhard and bully, a self promoting bankrupt, a man who thinks that his money buys him wisdom. He is, in a sense, the financial version of Alec Baldwin -- a bloviating anus that thinks it's a mind.
All politicians are whores. Some are call girls. Others are skid row kneelers. Any politician who does not denounce Trump, or at least ignore him, is nothing but a strawberry kneeling on broken glass in a gutter to make five bucks.
Having said that, let it be known that this writer will not vote for ANY candidate, Republican, Democrat or whatever, who kisses Donald Trump's ring.
Donald Trump is nothing but a big blowhard and bully, a self promoting bankrupt, a man who thinks that his money buys him wisdom. He is, in a sense, the financial version of Alec Baldwin -- a bloviating anus that thinks it's a mind.
All politicians are whores. Some are call girls. Others are skid row kneelers. Any politician who does not denounce Trump, or at least ignore him, is nothing but a strawberry kneeling on broken glass in a gutter to make five bucks.
Suck It Up, But Don't Be Afraid to Protest
This writer has long been of the opinion that certain groups are all too thin skinned. Examples of such groups are feminists. Muslims, blacks, evangelical Christians, Catholics, liberals and conservatives, among others.
We live, due to the rise of the psychiatric professional, in the age of the sensitive. Counsellors are called out to comfort children when a mountain lion has been killed near a school or when a bad man has been shot down by the police at a shopping mall. It is assumed that every living thing has a right to live despite the fact that that particular living thing undermines the society. The individual is important, but a bent individual is less important than the good of the polis.
The end result of all this nonsense is that people have become very thin skinned. They hurt and bruise easily. They take offense easily. They make it almost impossible to express one's opinion without being accused of being "hateful." Well, guess what. Some people do hate things and hate ideas. Some people hate some ideas and they hate some ideas. They see some things, some ideas and some people as dragging the nation down to the level of a Norway where the idea of nationhood is an embarrassment.
Your faithful correspondent is of the opinion that this thin skin attitude is partly due to the fact that most people do not perform manual or skilled labor. They sit in cubicles and they really do not deal with other people. Their dealings with other people are limited to company sponsored "sensitivity training". In other words, one is told that to call something wrong is wrong in itself.
Here's an article from the Tory party in Great Britain that is interesting:
Andrew Lilico: For a tolerant society to work, we all need thick enough skins Conservative Home Columnists
But that doesn't mean that one should allow one and one's beliefs to be kicked around by the art crowd. Modern art stands for nothing but the shocking and itself:
Catholics protest against 'blasphemous' play in Paris | World news | The Guardian
We live, due to the rise of the psychiatric professional, in the age of the sensitive. Counsellors are called out to comfort children when a mountain lion has been killed near a school or when a bad man has been shot down by the police at a shopping mall. It is assumed that every living thing has a right to live despite the fact that that particular living thing undermines the society. The individual is important, but a bent individual is less important than the good of the polis.
The end result of all this nonsense is that people have become very thin skinned. They hurt and bruise easily. They take offense easily. They make it almost impossible to express one's opinion without being accused of being "hateful." Well, guess what. Some people do hate things and hate ideas. Some people hate some ideas and they hate some ideas. They see some things, some ideas and some people as dragging the nation down to the level of a Norway where the idea of nationhood is an embarrassment.
Your faithful correspondent is of the opinion that this thin skin attitude is partly due to the fact that most people do not perform manual or skilled labor. They sit in cubicles and they really do not deal with other people. Their dealings with other people are limited to company sponsored "sensitivity training". In other words, one is told that to call something wrong is wrong in itself.
Here's an article from the Tory party in Great Britain that is interesting:
Andrew Lilico: For a tolerant society to work, we all need thick enough skins Conservative Home Columnists
But that doesn't mean that one should allow one and one's beliefs to be kicked around by the art crowd. Modern art stands for nothing but the shocking and itself:
Catholics protest against 'blasphemous' play in Paris | World news | The Guardian
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Some Links
The United States has spent lives, blood and money in an attempt to rid Afghanistan from the influences of fundamentalist Islam and the Talaban. Apparently our investment is not paying off very well:
AFGHANISTAN Afghan women victims of violence and abuse like under the Taliban - Asia News
Your faithful correspondent has often stated that the American civilization is now living on the interest of the investment that Christian-Americans made up until about two generations ago and that that interest is running out. In Great Britain it appears that it has run out and the heathens have taken over:
The National Secular Society doesn't get it: Christianity is integral to our national life – Telegraph Blogs
Britain: Islam In, Christianity Out :: Hudson New York
AFGHANISTAN Afghan women victims of violence and abuse like under the Taliban - Asia News
Your faithful correspondent has often stated that the American civilization is now living on the interest of the investment that Christian-Americans made up until about two generations ago and that that interest is running out. In Great Britain it appears that it has run out and the heathens have taken over:
The National Secular Society doesn't get it: Christianity is integral to our national life – Telegraph Blogs
Britain: Islam In, Christianity Out :: Hudson New York
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Links Galore!
While it is too early for those of us at the Manor to start pulling for presidential candidates, Michelle Bachman seems to have more sense than the rest of the field:
Gates of Vienna: Michele Bachmann on Pakistan
And a church seems to have realized that Sharia law is more of a danger to the US than the pols:
Anger, fear, determination permeate anti-Shariah conference at Madison church | The Tennessean | tennessean.com
Some people seem to think that Islam and its adherents are a "protected" species when it is, in fact, the gray squirrel displacing the red squirrel. The end result is a damn mess. This guy gets it:
Protecting Muslim honour at the price of freedom of speech: Bruce Crumley, Time and Charlie Hebdo – Telegraph Blogs
Usually, in India and especially the West Hindus are considered peaceful and non-confrontational. This dude proves that their is more to cow love than most sahibs realize:
INDIA VHP leader calls for decapitation of those who convert Hindus to Christianity - Asia News
We here at the Manor shop at Fresh and Easy which is owned by Tesco. The following does not do anything to insure our custom:
Tesco backs gay festival but drops support for Cancer Research charity event | Mail Online
Gates of Vienna: Michele Bachmann on Pakistan
And a church seems to have realized that Sharia law is more of a danger to the US than the pols:
Anger, fear, determination permeate anti-Shariah conference at Madison church | The Tennessean | tennessean.com
Some people seem to think that Islam and its adherents are a "protected" species when it is, in fact, the gray squirrel displacing the red squirrel. The end result is a damn mess. This guy gets it:
Protecting Muslim honour at the price of freedom of speech: Bruce Crumley, Time and Charlie Hebdo – Telegraph Blogs
Usually, in India and especially the West Hindus are considered peaceful and non-confrontational. This dude proves that their is more to cow love than most sahibs realize:
INDIA VHP leader calls for decapitation of those who convert Hindus to Christianity - Asia News
We here at the Manor shop at Fresh and Easy which is owned by Tesco. The following does not do anything to insure our custom:
Tesco backs gay festival but drops support for Cancer Research charity event | Mail Online
Holy Logic, Batman!
This from Frank Miller, the creator of the Dark Knight concept of the Batman:
ANARCHY | Frank Miller Ink
ANARCHY | Frank Miller Ink
Sunday, November 06, 2011
A Couple of Links
The offices of a French humor magazine were bombed a short while ago because the magazine decided to publish some material that the Orcs deigned to be offensive to the memory of the Pedophile. Unlike the Danes in the Mohammed cartoon controversy, the publishers and editors of the French magazine have decided that they will not be bent under the pressure of Islam.
Charlie Hebdo attack: No more excuses | Index on Censorship
A Norwegian writer and thinker has written something pointing out a few things that the Norwegian government (or most European governments) refuse to face, realize or understand.
Gates of Vienna: Time to Uphold Western Roots
Charlie Hebdo attack: No more excuses | Index on Censorship
A Norwegian writer and thinker has written something pointing out a few things that the Norwegian government (or most European governments) refuse to face, realize or understand.
Gates of Vienna: Time to Uphold Western Roots
Sunday, October 30, 2011
What a Dope!
We here at Bloody Nib Manor have suffered the residence of a cat for the past 12 or 13 years. This is not to say that the cat is "our" cat. The cat just lives on the grounds. The cat is a pretty little female tabby with a bobbed tail with some interesting habits. But the cat is, in reality, a feral cat. We made the mistake some years ago of feeding the cat and we can't get rid of it. If we do not feed it it sets up a yowl. And despite being fed by Lady Nib and this writer, the cat will not allow itself to even be touched. When a hand approaches it the cat hisses and strikes with claws.
This situation reminds your faithful correspondent of the unchecked immigration. A nation lets in what are, in effect, a feral people with no love for the host country, feeds and supports said immigrants and ends up with a group of people with no loyalty or appreciation for the host nation.
Take Great Britain, for example. Tony Blair, for some reason a loved Brit of both Clinton and Bush fans, decided to let the feral into Britain and the result has been not good. London has turned into Londonistan and Birmingham has turned into Birmingstan. And all the while the newcomers have been given favors tat are denied the native Limies.
But guess what? Blair defends his decision. Probably because he isn't living in the East End:
Tony Blair defends opening door to mass migration | Mail Online
This situation reminds your faithful correspondent of the unchecked immigration. A nation lets in what are, in effect, a feral people with no love for the host country, feeds and supports said immigrants and ends up with a group of people with no loyalty or appreciation for the host nation.
Take Great Britain, for example. Tony Blair, for some reason a loved Brit of both Clinton and Bush fans, decided to let the feral into Britain and the result has been not good. London has turned into Londonistan and Birmingham has turned into Birmingstan. And all the while the newcomers have been given favors tat are denied the native Limies.
But guess what? Blair defends his decision. Probably because he isn't living in the East End:
Tony Blair defends opening door to mass migration | Mail Online
Mitt Romney = Pancake
Be it known that we here at the Manor are not too crazy about anh of the Republican candidates for President. But we find Mitt Romney especially distasteful. Here's why:
Day by Day Cartoon by Chris Muir
Day by Day Cartoon by Chris Muir
The Last DJ? Pffffffft!
Those who have lived in the Los Angeles area between 1972 and the present day, if they listened to rock music on the FM band have probably heard of, and even listened to Jim Ladd on the radio. During his career he has worked at at least four radio stations, being fired from some and having one fold up and change formats.
This writer remembers Ladd best from his days at KMET (aka The Mighty MET), and this writer remembers him as being the most self-absorbed, self-congratulatory and most pretentious disc jockey on the air. He was one of those idiots who thought that music could save the world. Actually, to be more accurate, he was one of those knuckleheads who felt that rock and folk-rock and art-rock music could save the world when in fact said music was not able to save a good number of the musicians in the genre (Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, John Bonham and on and on).
Ladd was clever with his choice of music and his play lists, but he was no better than most of the DJs at KMET or KLOS. In fact, your faithful correspondent would posit that Mary Turner, Rachel Donahue, Allen Burton and Pat Kelly were better than Ladd. There were, and are, better DJs on public radio (one of the best being Ian Whitcombe on his show about the history of popular music), but, for some reason or another, Ladd survived until a few days ago.
This survival has done nothing to make the man modest and has done nothing to promote rock music. The man long ago became a bit of a fossil. His playlist was stuck in the '70s and '80s and his mind set was stuck in the same period. And while some of the music from that time was good and entertaining, it was nothing really exceptional. It was music of its time. Listeners to Boss radio on the 1960s got a much later variety of music than did any listener of Ladd's show. But Boss radio was a product of a time before teenagers and young people still spent time with real adults and were exposed to singers ranging from Perry Como to Mungo Jerry. Ladd appealed to an audience stuck in amber-- fifty year old men still wearing Led Zeppelin t-shirts and grandmothers reminiscing about how high they got at the last Cheap Trick concert while telling their grandkids to just say no.
Ladd, although he will deny it, acts as if he invented free-form FM radio. He gives a nod to Tom Donahue, but does not realize that the AM station KLON had the same thing before Donahue hit the air. He likes to think of himself as the last DJ. But he forgets that the last passenger pigeon (a species that once was so numerous that when it migrated in the East and Midwest that its numbers hid the sun for hours) ended up in a zoo until it died and was later stuffed and exhibited in the Smithsonian.
Unlike the passenger pigeon, there will always be another free-form DJ somewhere in the US. Said DJ may not be playing Tom Petty and the Doors, but he will be playing something that appeals to his crowd whether the crowd be in Los Angeles or Bangor.
In fact, this writer posits that Ladd will find another gig. And as much as he is an irritant, that is probably a good thing. If nothing else it shows that for a few hours a station will not have an auto tune play set. It's just too bad that a more worthy person could not get the gig.
This writer remembers Ladd best from his days at KMET (aka The Mighty MET), and this writer remembers him as being the most self-absorbed, self-congratulatory and most pretentious disc jockey on the air. He was one of those idiots who thought that music could save the world. Actually, to be more accurate, he was one of those knuckleheads who felt that rock and folk-rock and art-rock music could save the world when in fact said music was not able to save a good number of the musicians in the genre (Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, John Bonham and on and on).
Ladd was clever with his choice of music and his play lists, but he was no better than most of the DJs at KMET or KLOS. In fact, your faithful correspondent would posit that Mary Turner, Rachel Donahue, Allen Burton and Pat Kelly were better than Ladd. There were, and are, better DJs on public radio (one of the best being Ian Whitcombe on his show about the history of popular music), but, for some reason or another, Ladd survived until a few days ago.
This survival has done nothing to make the man modest and has done nothing to promote rock music. The man long ago became a bit of a fossil. His playlist was stuck in the '70s and '80s and his mind set was stuck in the same period. And while some of the music from that time was good and entertaining, it was nothing really exceptional. It was music of its time. Listeners to Boss radio on the 1960s got a much later variety of music than did any listener of Ladd's show. But Boss radio was a product of a time before teenagers and young people still spent time with real adults and were exposed to singers ranging from Perry Como to Mungo Jerry. Ladd appealed to an audience stuck in amber-- fifty year old men still wearing Led Zeppelin t-shirts and grandmothers reminiscing about how high they got at the last Cheap Trick concert while telling their grandkids to just say no.
Ladd, although he will deny it, acts as if he invented free-form FM radio. He gives a nod to Tom Donahue, but does not realize that the AM station KLON had the same thing before Donahue hit the air. He likes to think of himself as the last DJ. But he forgets that the last passenger pigeon (a species that once was so numerous that when it migrated in the East and Midwest that its numbers hid the sun for hours) ended up in a zoo until it died and was later stuffed and exhibited in the Smithsonian.
Unlike the passenger pigeon, there will always be another free-form DJ somewhere in the US. Said DJ may not be playing Tom Petty and the Doors, but he will be playing something that appeals to his crowd whether the crowd be in Los Angeles or Bangor.
In fact, this writer posits that Ladd will find another gig. And as much as he is an irritant, that is probably a good thing. If nothing else it shows that for a few hours a station will not have an auto tune play set. It's just too bad that a more worthy person could not get the gig.
You Have a Nice Little Business Here.
In the old movies about fighters against organized crime there was always scene in which an "enforcer" would walk into a barber shop, look around and then walk up to the barber and say something like, "You have a nice little business here. It would be too bad if anything happened to it. We can insure that nothing does if you co-operate. If you don't, something will."
Now-a-days the racket still goes on with the only change being that not only are the Mafia, the Black Hand, the Tongs and the White Fence pulling that gag, but "human rights" organizations are using it to get their way.
Two cases in point:
A seven-year-old boy in Colorado, who apparently is under the mistaken apprehension that he is a girl, has decided that he wants to join the Girl Scouts as a Brownie. When his mother applied for him to be a Brownie the local Girl Scout Council told her that the Girl Scouts is an organization for girls, not boys, and that no matter how much her boy feels that he is a girl he is, in fact, a boy. Therefore, her boy could not be a Girl Scout. The mother, being the modern easily offended type, instead of perhaps talking to her son about becoming a Boy Scout and actually behaving like a boy or looking into join the Campfire organization (which accepts both boys and girls), contacted the press to air her grievances and accomplished two things: revealing that her son is an oddity and the fact that she is raising her son as a daughter, and drawing the attention of the homosexual slat kickers. The result is that several lesbian/gay organizations complained about the lack of "inclusiveness" of the Girl Scouts. The Girl Scouts, being afraid of being called meanies did a quick about face and are welcoming the little fella with open arms. It remains to be seen whether the boy will wear the traditional Brownie dress and beanie.
In Washington, D.C. there is a university named Catholic University. Needless to say, it was founded by and for Catholics, but now accepts students from all backgrounds and religions. A bunch of Muslim students at the university are complaining that the university is too Catholic and they demand a change:
Do Crosses at Catholic University Violate “Human Rights” of Muslims? | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes
So we have people who want to join a club because they like the club, but they want the club changed to their liking because the club isn't quite what they think it should be. They don't want to bother to start their own club because it's just too much trouble and there is too big a risk of failure. In other words, they behave like parasites feeding off of, and hoping to master the host. If such a thing were happening to your body you would not think twice about getting rid of the parasite, but for some reason when the same thing happens to the body politic nobody bats an eye.
Now-a-days the racket still goes on with the only change being that not only are the Mafia, the Black Hand, the Tongs and the White Fence pulling that gag, but "human rights" organizations are using it to get their way.
Two cases in point:
A seven-year-old boy in Colorado, who apparently is under the mistaken apprehension that he is a girl, has decided that he wants to join the Girl Scouts as a Brownie. When his mother applied for him to be a Brownie the local Girl Scout Council told her that the Girl Scouts is an organization for girls, not boys, and that no matter how much her boy feels that he is a girl he is, in fact, a boy. Therefore, her boy could not be a Girl Scout. The mother, being the modern easily offended type, instead of perhaps talking to her son about becoming a Boy Scout and actually behaving like a boy or looking into join the Campfire organization (which accepts both boys and girls), contacted the press to air her grievances and accomplished two things: revealing that her son is an oddity and the fact that she is raising her son as a daughter, and drawing the attention of the homosexual slat kickers. The result is that several lesbian/gay organizations complained about the lack of "inclusiveness" of the Girl Scouts. The Girl Scouts, being afraid of being called meanies did a quick about face and are welcoming the little fella with open arms. It remains to be seen whether the boy will wear the traditional Brownie dress and beanie.
In Washington, D.C. there is a university named Catholic University. Needless to say, it was founded by and for Catholics, but now accepts students from all backgrounds and religions. A bunch of Muslim students at the university are complaining that the university is too Catholic and they demand a change:
Do Crosses at Catholic University Violate “Human Rights” of Muslims? | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes
So we have people who want to join a club because they like the club, but they want the club changed to their liking because the club isn't quite what they think it should be. They don't want to bother to start their own club because it's just too much trouble and there is too big a risk of failure. In other words, they behave like parasites feeding off of, and hoping to master the host. If such a thing were happening to your body you would not think twice about getting rid of the parasite, but for some reason when the same thing happens to the body politic nobody bats an eye.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
What the Hell?
Mohammar Khadaffi (Kadaffi, Qadaffi or whatever) was killed this past week in Libya. The guy was, to put it simply, a rotten bastard. But he was no more a bigger bastard than any other Middle East or North African leader.
But when Qadaffi was killed this week there was a controversy about how and who killed him. Was he killed by a Libyan rebel? Was he killed by cross-fire? Was he killed by NATO cross-fire?
The United Nations has decided to investigate the death of Qadaffi and how he was killed. Apparently there are some people at Turtle Bay who worry about the method and manner in which a crazy dictator was killed.
Those people are removed from the real world. They live in a swank area of New York City. They never have faced true badness. To them the whole thing is academic. They've never gotten slapped in the face with a wet fish, let alone had an AK-47 shoved in their back.
The UN geeks have bought into the whole Soviet pushed idea of trials to judge and punish the bad instead of just killing the bad.
Those who have, through their history, have denied the rights of others really don't deserve any rights, especially by those who they have denied rights. There is such a thing as justified hate.
Having said that, this writer is of the opinion that the killing of Qadaffi and the overthrowing of Mubarack will not result in anything good. The old boss will be replaced by the new boss, and that boss will be waving a Koran while he squashes dissent.
But when Qadaffi was killed this week there was a controversy about how and who killed him. Was he killed by a Libyan rebel? Was he killed by cross-fire? Was he killed by NATO cross-fire?
The United Nations has decided to investigate the death of Qadaffi and how he was killed. Apparently there are some people at Turtle Bay who worry about the method and manner in which a crazy dictator was killed.
Those people are removed from the real world. They live in a swank area of New York City. They never have faced true badness. To them the whole thing is academic. They've never gotten slapped in the face with a wet fish, let alone had an AK-47 shoved in their back.
The UN geeks have bought into the whole Soviet pushed idea of trials to judge and punish the bad instead of just killing the bad.
Those who have, through their history, have denied the rights of others really don't deserve any rights, especially by those who they have denied rights. There is such a thing as justified hate.
Having said that, this writer is of the opinion that the killing of Qadaffi and the overthrowing of Mubarack will not result in anything good. The old boss will be replaced by the new boss, and that boss will be waving a Koran while he squashes dissent.
A Few Words on Words
As those in the know are aware, we here at Bloody Nib Manor are Christians of the conservative type. This is not to say that we are Christians of the modern American evangelical type. We do not appreciate bad rock and praise music during the church service or the happy, clappy stuff. We do not sit around and talk about the Left Behind novels. We do not spend our time standing on street corners passing out religious tracts. We are Christians of the John Bunyan type or the later Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones type.
One thing we absolutely do not do is read the modern versions of the Bible. We do not read the RSV, the NIV, the ESV, the NKJV, the Living Bible, the Good News Translation or any other translation written after 1611.
We will occasionally read the Tyndale translation or the 1599 Geneva translation in order to gain more understanding about certain passages, but the King James Version is our favored text.
We hold that the translators of the KJV, Tyndale and the translators of the Geneva Bible had a much more comfortable knowledge or Greek and Hebrew, and were much better educated men, than are the translators of the modern versions. Many of those men learned Greek and/or Hebrew in their childhoods, while almost all the translators of the modern versions learned those languages in college. Also, the earlier translators were immersed in religious and classical learning; they lived, in a sense, a bubble and ignored the wider world while the modern translators are of the world and seek to please the world so their work will be well-paid.
Also, the KJV reads much better than do the later versions. The KJV is majestic and yet simple. And, probably more than any other work the KJV made then modern English language (not the contemporary English language, which is an awful mess). Shakespeare comes a close second. If this writer were asked to suggest a text to use to teach the English language to a non-English speaker he would suggest the KJV. Aside from the "thees" and "thous", the text will teach a form of English much better than the average native English speaker uses.
But to get to the point, this year is the 400th anniversary of the KJV. Here is an Anglican priest (an evangelical) who appreciates the KJV for both it's teaching and its language. In the little video on the right side of the page he manages to make a rap type thing of over one hundred common sayings that are from the KJV that are still in use. And he does it all in less than 3 minutes:
The King's English
One thing we absolutely do not do is read the modern versions of the Bible. We do not read the RSV, the NIV, the ESV, the NKJV, the Living Bible, the Good News Translation or any other translation written after 1611.
We will occasionally read the Tyndale translation or the 1599 Geneva translation in order to gain more understanding about certain passages, but the King James Version is our favored text.
We hold that the translators of the KJV, Tyndale and the translators of the Geneva Bible had a much more comfortable knowledge or Greek and Hebrew, and were much better educated men, than are the translators of the modern versions. Many of those men learned Greek and/or Hebrew in their childhoods, while almost all the translators of the modern versions learned those languages in college. Also, the earlier translators were immersed in religious and classical learning; they lived, in a sense, a bubble and ignored the wider world while the modern translators are of the world and seek to please the world so their work will be well-paid.
Also, the KJV reads much better than do the later versions. The KJV is majestic and yet simple. And, probably more than any other work the KJV made then modern English language (not the contemporary English language, which is an awful mess). Shakespeare comes a close second. If this writer were asked to suggest a text to use to teach the English language to a non-English speaker he would suggest the KJV. Aside from the "thees" and "thous", the text will teach a form of English much better than the average native English speaker uses.
But to get to the point, this year is the 400th anniversary of the KJV. Here is an Anglican priest (an evangelical) who appreciates the KJV for both it's teaching and its language. In the little video on the right side of the page he manages to make a rap type thing of over one hundred common sayings that are from the KJV that are still in use. And he does it all in less than 3 minutes:
The King's English
Sunday, October 16, 2011
It's All Gone to Hell
By now only the most idiotic fellow traveler has not realized that Vladamir Putin is a neo-Stalinist and a Russian nationalist of the worst sort. He's not a friend of individual or religious freedom. He sees religion as an arm of the state in the same way that old Joe did, and those religions that hold to a God that is higher than the Russian state or Russian leader are traitors to the State. For that guy the State is all, and thus, the State is God.
Here's an example:
RUSSIA Permission to build a Catholic church in Pskov denied - Asia News
England, or at least London, has gone to Hell. It is no longer English. It is a multicultural amalgam that stands for nothing other than inclusiveness. And that means that a nation, or city, is no longer a nation or proper city. It means that it is a big mess:
The Islamization of London: A Photo Tour | FrontPage Magazine
As the almost divine Brigette Bardot said twenty some odd years ago, it's a pretty sad state of affairs when the prostitutes in a city are made up of Arabs and North Africans instead of honest French women.
Here's an example:
RUSSIA Permission to build a Catholic church in Pskov denied - Asia News
England, or at least London, has gone to Hell. It is no longer English. It is a multicultural amalgam that stands for nothing other than inclusiveness. And that means that a nation, or city, is no longer a nation or proper city. It means that it is a big mess:
The Islamization of London: A Photo Tour | FrontPage Magazine
As the almost divine Brigette Bardot said twenty some odd years ago, it's a pretty sad state of affairs when the prostitutes in a city are made up of Arabs and North Africans instead of honest French women.
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