Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Unicorns and pigs fly?

This is something friends of mine should have read first...
Beware! When shopping for a potbellied pig, do not buy one at a swap meet or out of the back of a van at the corner truck stop. You are just asking for trouble. I don’t recommend getting a pig from a pet store either, unless they can supply appropriate food and support information as well as the pig’s litter registration paper indicating the breeder.
Don’t get caught up in the moment.

Here’s the picture. You’re holding a cute and cuddly, three week old bottle baby who is being touted as everything you could hope for. You are not given the opportunity to see the parents or littermates. You are told the circumstances surrounding the young, preweaning age piglet you are snuggling. "The mother got sick and couldn’t nurse her babies."..WHY? "The piglet wouldn’t nurse, so was taken away from the litter and bottle-fed."...WHY? Be wary of these kinds of stories. I can guarantee you that heartache is just around the corner.

But hey... sometimes fairy tales are more believeable than facts. What makes me mad is that someone actually raises these critters and fobs them off on the unsuspecting public. Shame on you!
But enough of that, listening to my Groove Coverage music I came across this song called The Last Unicorn, after some digging I came across this:

It seems this film has also been done in a non animated version.
Other artists that have sung this song are Kenny Loggins on his album Return to Pooh Corner (1994).
I think I will watch out for it in the rental shops.
Here are the lyrics then;
The Last Unicorn - Written by Jimmy Webb and sung by America
When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain

And the last lion roars at the last dusty fountain
In the shadow of the forest though she may be old and worn
They will stare unbelieving at the last unicorn

When the first breath of winter through the flowers is icing
And you look to the north and a pale moon is rising
And it seems like all is dying and would leave the world to mourn
In the distance hear the laughter of the last unicorn
I'm alive, I'm alive

When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning
And the future has passed without even a last desperate warning
Then look into the sky where through the clouds a path is torn
Look and see her how she sparkles, it's the last unicorn
I'm alive, I'm alive
Well... enough fantasy, all you folk out there... watch out for piggery pokery, otherwise you may wish you had rather...
"Never played leapfrog with a unicorn." Benny Hill (italics me)

Friday, March 25, 2005

Quantum cat revistied

Top of the page!
This is my first flickR posting, I must say it is a tad trickier to edit but I seem to have the hang of it now.

Quantum cat
Originally uploaded by
bobc.

One has to edit some of the image controlling html out otherwise the picture is placed way out of whack on this layout. Great fun though and I will be using this to post images from now on, especially when one gets 10 megs!
My flikR url-a
My flikR url-b
Still very exited about Belinda's tour... so here is another song from her repertoire, also used flikR to update the posting on the tour.
We can change
In my head I hear a haunting melody
It reminds me of the way things used to be
There was a time when we had everything
We gotta stop living in that dream
No nothing remains the same
We can't hold on but baby, baby
We can change
Oh - we can change anything we want to yeah
Oh - we can change the world
And make it better
But first we gotta change together now
Oh baby baby we can change
There's a message in the falling rain outside
There's a message in the tears falling from your eyes
I swear we don't have to hurt anymore
Throw the old ways out and close the door
No, nothing remains the same
We can't hold on but baby, baby
We can change
Baby, when you're trapped something snaps
And you start to die
Living all those years with our fears and
You wonder why.
"The more things change, the more they remain...insane." Michael Fry & T. Lewis, Over the Hedge, 05-09-04

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Whoooooooo Man!

OFM - 94-97 FM: OFM presents Belinda Carlisle LIVE in concert

At flipping last! One of my favourite singers is coming to Bloem and on Campus at that!
Here are dates for an upcoming Belindatour in South Africa in August:
TOUR DETAILS:
CALLIE HUMAN SENTRUM - BLOEMFONTEIN, 12TH AUGUST-R185-R285
CARNIVALCITY – SPRINGS - JOHANNESBURG, 13TH AUGUST-R185-R315
HEARTFELT ARENA – VOORTREKKER HOOGTE PRETORIA, 19TH AUGUST-R255
UPE SPORTS ARENA - PORT ELIZABETH, 20TH AUGUST-R185-R285
Tickets on sale now from this link: Shoprite Checkers Ticket Shop and also:
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW AT MONEY MARKET COUNTERS AT ALL SHOPRITE, SHOPRITE CHECKERS, and CHECKERS HYPER STORES!
Some of the songs she sings were composed by Per Gessle of another favourite duo, Roxette. Here is one of my favourites:
Love doesn't live here anymore
I wake up each day
Want to sleep that day away
I catch a train
In the rush hour rain
Some people are talkin’ to me
I don’t care what they say
’cos I know

Love doesn’t live here now you’ve gone away
Love doesn’t live here but I’m left to stay
And I thought it was me and you who gave it all
Yes I thought it was me and you who couldn’t fall
But it’s all over now
Over now

Friends on the phone
Life is good. life goes on
But I spend my days
In a heart broken haze
Of movies and lonely tunes
Every song seems to be about you
Oh oh

Love doesn’t live here since you went away
Love doesn’t live here but I'm left to stay
And I thought you and me we were the chosen ones
Yes I thought you and me we sailed into the sun
But it’s gone.
it’s over now

Do you ever think about it?
Do you want to talk about it with me?

Love doesn’t live here since you went away
Love doesn’t live here but I'm left to stay
And I thought it was me and you who had it all
Yes I thought it was me and you who stood so tall
But it’s all over now
Yes it’s all over now
Over now

It’s all over now
Love doesn’t live here.

I am really looking foreward to the concert... the quote fits in with another of my favourites from her, Heaven is a place on earth.
"To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven." Karen Sunde

Monday, March 21, 2005

Firesky

The sky is burning, or so it seemed.
Taken on the way back from Rouxville just outside Smithfield on the 21 March 2005 @ 19:10:50 and 19:08:22

It was amazing and the scene changed from second to second as the sun set, we felt so priveliged to have been in the right place at the right time to witness this lightshow. The only song that even fits in remotely is this;
Sky Falls Down by Oceanlab

You know when you feel it
You know when it hits you
There's no mistaking when you fall
You don't anticipate it
And you can't calculate it
It just comes crashing through your walls

I'll love you 'til the sky falls down
I'll love you 'til I can't feel anything,
Not anything at all
And even when you're not around
I'll love you 'til the sky falls down
I'm flying 'til I hit the ground
And lying there and I don't feel anything
Not anything at all
And even when you're not around
I'll love you til the sky falls down

You lose all sense of reason
You have no sense of danger
It's like you're living in a dream.
It lets you float through crowds and
Makes you smile at strangers
It's just the greatest state of being, Oohh...

I'll love you 'til the sky falls down
I'll love you 'til I can't feel anything,
Not anything at all
And even when you're not around
I'll love you 'til the sky falls down
I'm flying 'til I hit the ground
And lying there and I don't feel anything
Not anything at all
And even when you're not around
I'll love you til the sky falls down.

"Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid." Jules Feiffer (1929 - )

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

March Madness or Asche zu Asche

Seeing as March is the month of madness I thought I would put together a mad compilation... ashes to ashes, dust to dust and all in between. All in all it turned out to be quite listenable as well...
Asche zu Asche
45 tracks in playlist,
average track length: 4:11
Playlist length: 3 hours 8 minutes 43 seconds
Playlist files:
1. Rammstein - Asche zu Asche (3:57)

2. Nightwish - Devil & the deep dark ocean (4:46)
3. Wess Lee - What the hell did we do? (5:22)
4. Bruce Springsteen - I'm On Fire (2:41)
5. Peter Gabriel - Black paintings (4:36)
6. MLTR - Stuck in the heat (3:51)
7. Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire (4:49)
8. Ash - Burn Baby Burn (3:28)
9. Train - She's On Fire (3:51)
10. Vanessa Carlton - Paint it black (3:30)
11. Drop Dead Gorgeous - Pain (4:12)
12. Doors - Light my fire (7:06)
13. The Rasmus - In the shadows (4:06)
14. The Awakening - The dark romantics (4:45)
15. Simon Walsh - Eat The Ashes (3:16)
16. Staind - Warm safe place (4:36)
17. Hoobastank - Crawling in the dark (2:54)
18. Sandra - In The Heat Of The Night (4:57)
19. Jimmy Eat World - Pain (3:07)
20. Paul Simon - Flame (2:20)
21. John Parr - St Elmo's fire (4:08)
22. Strata - When It's All Burning (4:44)
23. HIM - Close to the flame (3:46)
24. Santana - Feels like fire (4:40)
25. Bangles - Eternal flame (3:55)
26. Savage Garden - Crash and burn (4:42)
27. The Rasmus - Time to burn (4:32)
28. Ana Johnsson - Don't Cry For Pain (3:48)
29. The Rolling Stones - Paint it Black (3:50)
30. Silwerchair - Ana's song(open fire) (3:42)
31. Novaspace - Beds are burning (4:35)
32. MLTR - Eternal flame (4:39)
33. The Troggs - Hot days (2:58)
34. Gregorian - Ave satani (the omen) (3:27)
35. Frank Mills - Chariots of Fire (3:34)
36. Vanessa-Mae - Warm Air (3:38)
37. The Awakening - Dreams in fire (4:47)
38. Gregorian - In the shadows (4:29)
39. The Offspring - Burn it up (2:42)
40. Santana - Black magic woman (5:19)
41. Rammstein - Wollt ihr das bett in flammen sehen? (5:20)
42. Meatloaf - Bat out of hell (9:43)
43. Sum 41 - Pain form piecsure (1:44)
44. Kelvin Declined - Girls in black (2:45)
45. Damageplan ft Jerry Cantrell - Ashes to ashes (5:06)
Some songs did not seem to fit in intially but with some re-arranging things slotted in quite well, as to a favourite well it must be Vanessa Carlton and her version of the Stones hit Paint It Black followed by Billy Joel and We Did'nt Start The Fire... I have always liked the song as it has a sort of snapshot of my experience of history in my lifetime. The theme of fire, ashes, pain and heat is continued in the lyrics from Santana and Dido and Feels Like Fire;
Feels like fire - Santana & Dido
I'm telling you it's over
Now there's an angel
Holding me
My way's easy
Even if you're fallen
Oh you're struggling
There's still beauty
In what we do

So que sera
Let's go sailing on
There's a wise man
In every fool

Chorus:
I say come back
Come in from the cold
Into the warm
I feel like fire
Guiding you back home
As darkness falls

So everyone stands in line
Cos they wanna stay alive
To wait alone
No dog no bone
And then you find it's over
Still it tears your heart
To slip away
From the crowd

But if you have
What it takes
To return to where
All the world
Knows your name

Then que sera
Lets go sailing on
There's a wise man
In every fool

Chorus

I say come home
Leave it all behind
And settle down
I feel my love
Can give me what I want
For all time

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." Jack London (1876 - 1916), Jack London's Tales of Adventure

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Almost... not blogging anymore

Seems like I am only managing a weekly blog lately... so here goes, put together a short playlist for this week and the theme is a melancholy one. Sort of looking back and counting costs and getting things in focus. It has been an eventful week, got a new boss and changed departments... still the same job though... Ces't la vie... or as we say in Afrikaans "Selle ossewa, selle osse, net die sweep is nuut" losely translated... nothing has changed except the whip!
Today's Playlist is called Almost.
10 tracks in playlist,
average track length: 3:36
Playlist length: 36 minutes 5 seconds
Playlist files:
1. Delta Goordem - Almost here (3:49)

2. Sarah Brightman - So many things (2:58)
3. Dido - My lover's gone (4:26)
4. Gene Pitney - I'm gonna be strong (2:14)
5. Gabrielle - Out of reach (3:19)
6. Cranberries - Just my imagination (3:13)
7. The Verve - Bittersweet symphony (4:35)
8. Shania Twain - It only hurts when I'm breathing (3:32)
9. HIM - Wicked game (4:06)
10. Cher - Love is a lonely place without you (3:53)
Some comments regarding the playlist; HIM do a very good version of the Chris Isaak hit Wicked Game as well as a stunning version of the Neil Diamond hit Solitary Man, Delta Goodrem and Brian McFadden have an amazing duet hit on their hands with today's featured song. All in all a really blue sele
ction with my favourite from Dido Armstrong being My Lover's Gone.
Almost Here - Delta Goodrem
Did I hear you right
'cause I thought you said
Let's think it over
You have been my life
And I never planned
Growing old without you

Shadows bleeding through the light
Where the love once shined so bright
Came without a reason
Don't let go on us tonight
Love's not always black and white
Haven't I always loved you?

But when I need you
You're almost here
And I know that's not enough
And when I'm with you
I'm close to tears
'cause your only almost here

I would change the world
If I had a chance
Oh won't you let me
Treat me like a child
Throw your arms around me
Oh please protect me

Bruised and battered by your words
Dazed and shattered how it hurts
Haven't I always loved you

But when I need you
You're almost here
And I know that's not enough
And when I'm with you
I'm close to tears
'cause your only almost here

Bruised and battered by your words
Dazed and shattered now it hurts
Haven't I always loved you

But when I need you
You're almost here
Well I never knew how far behind I'd left you
And when I hold you your almost here
Well I'm sorry that I took our love for granted
And now I'm with you
I'm close to tears
'cause I know I'm almost here
Only almost here

Sjoe! as we say in Afrikaans... this is a song with so much meaning, reflecting on my life it seems to be a mirror...

"It is almost impossible to smile on the outside without feeling better on the inside." Author Unknown