Song for Sunday

Whew. Original video is even better, but sadly can't be embedded ...

The Sun Smells too Loud

Hurray! Mogwai have a new album coming out in September! And if the advance free MP3 from their American record label is anything to go by it is going to be great. As pootly1 says it sounds like they have fallen in love. All of them. About two days before they went into the recording studio ...

And once you have downloaded that have a listen to Everything that Happens will Happen Today David Byrne and Brian Eno ...

Song for Sunday

make a cup of tea, put a record on ...



More mid-90s Britpop next week, but if you can't wait that long try this.

Song(s) for Sunday

Apologies for the less than perfect sound. If it bothers you try the second clip below ...

Seven sucks

Anyone reading from Australia will already know what the title refers to, but for everyone else Seven is one of the three commercial television stations. And they suck ...

Sorry to sound like a petulant teenager. They don't suck particularly more than either of the two other commercial channels – they do show Grey's Anatomy (which Pootly1 likes) and Better Homes and Gardens (which is obviously the essential companion to the first glass of red wine on a Friday evening).

As the official Australian Olympic broadcaster you would think that they would actually be interested in showing the games. Not that there was much on, only the first day of the athletics and the track cycling. Not to mention a few swimming races ...

But no, far more important than the greatest sporting event in the world is Collingood versus Port Adelaide. AFL. Can you believe it? I know people in Melbourne think that the footy is a matter of life and death. (Or more likely share the great Bill Shankly's sentiments when he said 'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.' Different football code, and Bill did have a point, but anyway.) Thinking about it financially, this obviously means that the ratings (and hence advertising revenue) for AFL must be better than the Olympics. At least in Victoria. What a depressing thought.

And, just to make matters even worse, the 'complementary Olympic Broadcaster' SBS couldn't show any of the good Olympic stuff, because Seven was showing it in those parts of the country that don't think the world revolves around marks, behinds and bounces.*

Oh well, at least it spared us the agony of watching Australia miss out on a medal in the men's team sprint by 0.008 of a second ...

*technical AFL terms.

Song for Sunday

An oldie, but a goodie. Reminds of a holiday in Lanzarote ...

Song for Sunday

On a Tuesday ...



Low life of the party. Enjoy.

Song for Sunday

In defence of Cadel

Boring ... wheel-sucker ... never attacks ... most unworthy winner ever (if he wins). There are a lot of people who don't rate Cadel.

I still think he is the best rider in the race and will be pulling on the the yellow jersey later tonight.

The way he rides to his strengths reminds me a lot of Miquel Indurain. I doubt Cadel will manage five wins, but if you think back to the flack that Big Mig used to get for blowing everyone away in the time trial and then sitting on wheels in the mountains it is quite uncanny.

In my opinion a lot of the negative publicity is purely down to the number of journalists covering the race and looking for any small piece of controversy. Sure, Serge the bodyguard is a bit over the top and his tantrum after the crash didn't show him in the best light. There is also the annoying whiny voice ...

But, you have to admit that has shown himself to be a pretty interesting and complex character. On the bike he looks confident and in control even when losing time. Off the bike he seems less sure of himself and more nervous. And, even though it often seems to be about so much more, the beauty of The Tour is that the best bike-rider is always the man in yellow on the Champs Élysées.

The Alp

Last night I made the tactical decision to go to bed once the race leaders crested the Cime de la Bonnette-Restefond, gaining an extra 20 minutes sleep and assuming that nothing much would happen on the run-in to Jausiers:

• Menchov loses 35 seconds on the descent (he must be glad that today is an uphill finish)
• John-Lee Augustyn goes from likely stage winner to lucky to be finishing in one mis-judged corner
• And Cadel Evans headbutts a cameraman

Hmmm. I feel almost as silly as Felix Lowe must be feeling today ...

I won't be making the same mistake tonight. By the time the stage finishes atop Alpe d'Huez it should be much clearer who will be in yellow on Sunday night. If Cadel can stick with Frank and Bernhard then he will likely be the first Australian to win, if he loses less than a minute or two he will probably still be OK, more than that and it will be one of the others in the top 5.

One of my favourite items of clothing when I was younger was a t-shirt from Bourg d'Oisans at the foot of Alpe d'Huez. I can't remember what the image was, but it was a white t-shirt with bright green text and drawing.

New books

For some reason getting books in the mail is far more exciting than going into a shop and buying them. Maybe the delay heightens the anticipation and whets the appetite. Maybe the extra expense means that only truly interesting titles get the privilege. Or perhaps in this case it is the knowledge that I couldn't just go into a shop and purchase them off the shelf.

Both of these look great. I haven't read anything by either author before, but hope that they might become new favourites. I have read a review and some poetry by Kathleen Jamie in The London Review of Books and am embarrassed that I hadn't found her books before know. From the same school of Scottish writing as Andrew Greig (who she seems to have had a bit of thing going on with ...) and treading a similar path to Robert MacFarlane's The Wild Places how could it not be brilliant?

Sputnik Caledonia is about a young boy who wants to become Scotland's first cosmonaut. For someone who was born the year that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, just missed the excitement of the space-race, but grew up with visions of rockets and space travel this is an irresistible premise for a novel.

Song for Sunday

One of my all time favourites. From one of my favourite bands.

Rain falls likes Elvis' tears ...

Liquid ether

Lovely piece of writing by Christos Tsiolkas, from The Age a few weeks ago, about the pleasures (and dangers) of the night, growing up in Melbourne and the transition from childhood to adult.

The print article is accompanied by one of my favourite Bill Henson photographs, which complements the writing beautifully.

Song for Sunday

Song for Sunday

23 days in July

My favourite time of the year is just around the corner, the greatest annual sporting event in the world is about to begin and I have been in training for sleep-deprivation, swotting up on facts and form and examining stage maps and profiles ...

And the big question this year is Cadel can win it? I really do think he can. The course suits him, the preparation has been good, but not too perfect and the changes to the rules will help him. I also think he has the experience and confidence to ride his own race and not be distracted worrying about the competition.

Sastre and Valverde are going to be the main rivals. I still don't think that Cunego has the legs for the high mountains, but hope to see Andy Schleck and Ricco do well in that arena. Menchov will also be a threat, but I just think he will have one bad day that will put him out of reach of the podium.

The Silence-Lotto team has obviously been built around Cadel's potential this year, leaving Robbie out in the cold, but ironically I think this will help him take the jersey for the fourth time. Cavendish is gaining in confidence every day and will be close by, with the ever reliable Hushovd just behind.

So here's the full list of predictions. Two jerseys and the overall for Australia? Yes, I think it just might happen.

Yellow

1 Cadel Evans
2 Carlos Sastre
3 Alejandro Valverde
4 Andy Schleck
5 Ricardo Ricco

Green
1 Robbie McEwen
2 Mark Cavendish
3 Thor Hushovd


Mountains
1 Andy Schleck
2 Ricardo Ricco
3 Cadel Evans


Oh, and Davy Miller will get a stage win somewhere ...

Best of the Booker losers

Moderately interesting poll on Scott Pack's blog – me and my big mouth – to find the best book that was shortlisted, but didn't win the Booker prize. I always find it hard to resist anything in this vein i.e. something that involves lists and books.

Of the ten books chosen by Scott and his illustrious panel I have read four and enjoyed three. Of the ones I enjoyed it was hard to make a choice between three very different novels.

Waterland was the first I read, probably in my early twenties, and I remember thinking that I wouldn't like it (sounded too much like a period novel, which of course it is, but not like that), but found myself loving the story and the writing.

The Butcher Boy came next a few years later when I was working in a bookshop and paid attention to things like the Booker shortlist. It is great, although pretty disturbing, and it isn't surprising that it lost out to The English Patient and Sacred Hunger.

But the book that ended up getting my vote was Cloud Atlas. I suspect this will be a runaway winner – published recently, entertaining and readable but still cool – but in the end I just decided that it was the book that I had enjoyed reading the most.

A prize for anyone who can guess which one of the list I have read, but hated.

And for the sake of debate here is my version of the top ten books shortlisted for the Booker that didn't win:
1 Tibor Fischer – Under the Frog
2 David Mitchell – number9dream
3 Bernard MacLaverty – Grace Notes
4 Peter Carey – Illywhacker
5 David Mitchell – Cloud Atlas
6 JG Ballard – Empire of the Sun
7 Graham Swift – Waterland
8 Patrick McCabe – The Butcher Boy
9 William Boyd – An Ice-cream War
10 David Lodge – Small World

And remember to add your vote before the closing date on July 9.

Song for Sunday

Regular readers will know I had high hopes for the album this song comes from. Safe to say I wasn't disappointed. Starts out quiet, but just wait to about 2.20 in ...

It's the little things ...

... that brighten your day. Not that I am saying Smoke is little or anything. Perfectly formed at 210 x 150 mm and roughly 52 pages thick, it always makes me happy whenever I know a new issue is on its way from SE11 to my letterbox. As Matt Haynes, publisher-in-chief, says it is probably the greatest small-format magazine ever published.

Even more exciting than the imminent appearance of Smoke 12 however was the news that Matt now has his own (typically unique (or is it uniquely typical)) blog danger: void behind door. First two entries are vintage Matt and I am looking forward to the next weekly installment. Also hoping that the collected Shinkansen news pages will make an appearance at some time ...

Smoke always makes me a bit homesick for London. And while we are on the subject here is my top 10 things that I will miss about London when I amn't there anymore:

1 Walking over Waterloo Bridge. Either way or either side doesn't matter. But if you did press me probably north to south was better.
2 Standing on the back platform of a Routemaster number 19 bus going over Battersea Bridge just before the last stop
3 The box file next to the photocopier outside the west kitchen labelled 'Broken dreams 1997 –'
4 Christmas lights in the trees in Sloane Square in November
5 Chelsea Kinema
6 Polish Vodka bar
7 The Albert pub at Friday lunchtimes (and sometimes Friday afternoons too ...)
I never did write down what 8 to 10 were.

Song for Sunday*

*Apologies and thanks to Scott Pack

Ballard USA

Great essay about Miracles of Life and JG Ballard's life and work by Paul DiFilippo on the Barnes and Noble website. Thanks to the ever reliable Ballardian for pointing it out, as it is unlikely I would have seen it otherwise.

Ballardian also has a link to an interview conducted by mail between DiFilippo and Ballard in 1991, published originally in Science Fiction Eye. Again, not a publication that I read regularly...

The original interview was beautifully presented around cut-up text from an anatomy textbook accompanied by striking black and white artwork. It is full of fascinating morsels about Ballard, his work, the UK in 1991 and, of course, has some wonderful quotes –

Doctors are no more to be trusted than lawyers or estate agents.

... post-modernism represents a dead-end, a desperate admission that the author has nothing to say and can only think of evermore devious ways of disguising the fact.

And now I need to work out how can I get to Barcelona before November.

Euro 2008

My tips for the Giro went so well that I think I should try some predictions for Euro 2008:

1 Netherlands v Portugal final, Netherlands win 3-2 after extra time
2 Neither host country makes it out of their respective groups
3 The best game of the tournament is one of the quarter finals, probably Croatia v Czech Republic

Giro d'Italia hat eating

Well I was right that di Luca wouldn't make it two in a row, but wrong about almost everything else including Contador's form. Although, to be fair, he did start slowly and ride himself into the race ...

Pellizotti was good, but never looked like he would be in the maglia rosa in Milan. Dave Zabriskie crashed on the first road stage, Mauricio Soler retired on stage 11, Karpets was 31st and Klöden dropped out on the penultimate stage. I was right about McEwen going home early, but of course Förster didn't last much longer. Cavendish did make it to Milan (and with two stage wins) but he was a long way from Bennati in the race for the maglia ciclamino.

Hopefully I'll do better in July ...

Which is more harmful?

Listening to 2GB or posing for a Bill Henson photograph? I know which I would be more worried about my children doing.

Interesting article in yesterday's Age about the seizure of the Bill's photographs from the Roslyn Oxley 9 gallery. Is it just me or is anyone else disturbed that the police raid was prompted not by complaints from members of the public, but by an email from a producer trying to stir up controversy and consequently boost ratings for a commercial radio station?

Of course this is the radio station that already has previous, including promoting race-hatred, contempt of court and defamation ...

Meanwhile, the police have passed a brief to the DPP to decide whether to press charges and, of course, what charges to lay. Rudd reiterates his moronic comments and the Arts minister is struck dumb. The only politician who has had anything sensible to say is Malcolm Turnbull. I almost feel pity for Peter Garrett and wonder how long it will be before the suppression of all his true feelings becomes too much for him and what will happen when he reaches this point.

MONDAY UPDATE
And now Germaine Greer joins the party.

Top 10 albums of 2007

What do you mean this is late?

1 The National – Boxer
My sister casually said have you heard anything by The National, they're pretty good. At the time I was between chemotherapy cycles and, to be honest, didn't really pay much attention. But I did borrow four albums from her and they lay neglected in a corner of my iPod for a month or so. Finally one afternoon in hospital, idly flicking through artists, bored with all the music I knew, I happened upon this album. It didn't take too long for me to be completely hooked. First thoughts were of the Tindersticks and Stuart Staples in particular (or Vic Reeves' pub singer according to pootly1), but without the melancholy or heavy-hearted weariness. The music is dark and brooding, late night and smoky at times, but never portentous or forced. The drumming is amazing and the other instruments sparkle and spar over the top, surging from sparse and spare arrangements to dense walls of rhythm.

2 Burial – Untrue
The sound of walking for hours alone through London after the tubes have stopped running, all the night buses have fallen off the edge of the world and you don't quite know where you are going.

3 Sigur Rós – Hvarf / Heim
Five (sort-of) new songs and five live recordings from 2006. Sounded like a clearing-out-the-cupboards type of project – not enough ideas for a new album – but in fact it is pretty good. Not exactly Agaetis byrjun, but certainly no Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do either. I think it also figures pretty high on the list because of the wonderful DVD that came out around the same time.

4 Lucinda Williams – West
That voice. Until 2007 I don't recall hearing anything by Lucinda Williams. I had read reviews which sounded interesting, but was always put off by the stigma of buying something from the country and western section. Anyway in March I noticed that iTunes had Car Wheels on a Gravel Road for $10 and given the relatively anonymous nature of the transaction I was unable to find a good reason not to buy it. Straight away is was hooked. In classic country and western style this, her latest, album is all about pain – the death of her mother and a lost love – but the songwriting and music is so far removed from my understanding of country and western as to make the genre irrelevant.

5 Art of Fighting – Runaways
At times last year I found this almost too sad to listen to. While it is undeniably downbeat and even pessimistic in places it also often soars to the heavens, the lows somehow emphasising and accentuating the joyous.

6 Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Seems a long time ago now, but I played this endlessly when it came out. I like it even more than Funeral and that was a stunning album. Lots of reviewers mentioned Springsteen's influence, but I can't see it myself. Not that this would necessarily be a bad thing as I have always (well since 1985 anyway) been a huge Bruce fan. (Although 2007s Magic was a disappointment to me, sounding like a very workmanlike copy of a real Bruce Album. Even the song titles sound like cliché Bruce – Gypsy Biker, I'll Work for your Love, Devil's Arcade ...) The music is dark, apocalyptic and frankly pretty scary if your listening on headphones. Also great played gut-kickingly loud in a darkened room.

7 Malcolm Middleton – A Brighter Beat
I feel happy that Scotland has its own parliament now and look forward to them honouring Mr Middleton with the freedom of the country or some other suitable recognition for services rendered. Aptly named, this a more consistent and coherent set of songs than Into the Woods, but for me it doesn't have anything quite as sublime as Choir and Loneliness Shines. If you haven't heard the former please drop everything and go find a copy right now. This sounds churlish, and when you've got songs like Fight Like the Night, A Brighter Beat and Stay Close Sit Tight it probably is. (Oh, and full credit for releasing a song called We're all Going to Die as your attempt at a Christmas number 1.)

8 Idlewild – Start a New World
Nothing earth-shattering – Roddy Woomble's lyrics can still veer perilously close to pretentious bed-sit poetry, the music is a little more polished than their best work, but it's still great. Soaring choruses, crunching, spiky guitar riffs and even a little bit of trumpet. Listen to Make Another World, Once in Your Life or Finished it Remains and tell me that this isn't a great rock band.

9 Manic Street Preachers – Send Away the Tigers
I guess that this is the album that I hoped the Manics would make after Gold Against the Soul. It is direct, nothing superfluous, heart-on-sleeve, righteous-anger rock music and sounds like they are finally having fun as a band again. Your Love Alone is Not Enough is just magnificent and I find it hard to believe that anyone could be unmoved when the Nina Persson and the strings take off together around 1.10 into the song.

10 Gersey – No Satellites
Mining a similar vein to Interpol, but somehow when I went to buy Our Love to Admire I ended up with this instead. And undoubtably it was the right choice. While it doesn't have the range or passion of some of their early music it is (along with Idlewild and the Manics) another fantastic set of rock songs.

And an honourable mention for The Twilight Sad's Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters.