Epic. That’s the only way to describe Noel Gallagher’s “Shoot a Hole into the Sun,” the first track released from his collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous for his next album. Seven and a half minutes of psychedelic, trippy stuff mixed with reverb, echo, and stinging guitar work. This is to “If I Had a Gun…” whatContinue reading “On Noel Gallagher’s Next Release”
Monthly Archives: February 2012
On Rare Tolkien CDs
Last weekend at Farpoint this Tolkien fan found something that excited him — the soundtrack to the Rankin/Bass Hobbit on CD. It was pricey — $40.00 — but I knew I had to have it. It’s the Rankin/Bass Hobbit! I love the Rankin/Bass Hobbit! The vendor told me that he had the soundtrack to theContinue reading “On Rare Tolkien CDs”
On Space and Boyish Wonder
You’d be forgiven for mistaking today for spring even though, by the calendar and by Copernicus, spring is still a month away. Nonetheless, today was gorgeous, and there was nothing prettier than seeing the crescent moon, itself a bare sliver, in the western sky at twilight with Venus and Jupiter shining brightly higher in theContinue reading “On Space and Boyish Wonder”
On Revisiting the Enigmatic Barsoom
In a week and a half, Disney’s John Carter, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first Barsoom novel, A Princess of Mars, reaches theaters. I’ve not decided if I’m going to see the film; I know what the film is, because I know what Barsoom is, but the marketing for John Carter has been nothing shortContinue reading “On Revisiting the Enigmatic Barsoom”
On Rewriting a Podcast Script
Three weeks ago I wrote the script for the introductory episode for the podcast I’m planning to launch later this spring. I made some revisions the next day — I realized I’d completely overlooked something crucial — printed it out a few days later… And then I let it sit, so I could come toContinue reading “On Rewriting a Podcast Script”
On Recent Website Issues
Last week my website was down for about twelve hours. Yesterday, my SQL database developed a problem — a temp file couldn’t be written, which made some SQL queries (which WordPress makes a lot of) fail spectacularly. How spectacularly? The front page of my blog went 90-percent blank because WordPress couldn’t see the categories (andContinue reading “On Recent Website Issues”
On Slavery, Ancestry, and Richard Dawkins
For inexplicable reasons, the Sunday Telegraph decided to run a hit piece on the outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins because he’s descended from a Jamaican slave owner. In the mind of the writer of the piece for the Sunday Telegraph, apparently because a distant ancestor owned slaves Dawkins “may have inherited a ‘slave supporting’ gene.” AContinue reading “On Slavery, Ancestry, and Richard Dawkins”
On Things I’ve Been Reading
Orbit: John Lennon Bluewater Productions Written by Marc Shapiro Artwork by Luciano Kars I’ve been a Beatles fan for two-thirds of my life. I have official CDs by the Beatles as a band and as solo artists, bootleg CDs, books, posters, toys. I’ve seen Paul McCartney in concert. I’m thinking about seeing Ringo Starr inContinue reading “On Things I’ve Been Reading”
On Being More Like Mr. Rogers
At times, I feel unfinished. I have days where I feel unimportant. There are times that I feel that I have done nothing of note in my life. Sometimes I feel alone in my life, that I have no friends and that no one cares about me. There’s nothing remarkable about these feelings, I thinkContinue reading “On Being More Like Mr. Rogers”
On the Patron Saint of Beekeepers
Are you (like me) single and a Sherlock Holmes fan? Have no fear, you too can celebrate Valentine’s Day today! In addition to being the patron saint of marriage, St. Valentine is also the patron saint of beekeepers, and as all good Holmesians know Sherlock Holmes retired to the Sussex Downs to become a beekeeperContinue reading “On the Patron Saint of Beekeepers”